February 28, 2007

One more down, hopefully a trillion left to go

Steve at Hog On Ice has his newest book out. Here's the Amazon link. I'm fairly lazy, but I will put up a sidebar ad sometime soon. Not that anyone reads this blog, of course. Anyway, as a reminder, I'll post the book's cover right here.

goodspamugly.jpeg

Update: Very cool. Lucianne gave prop's to his book.

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February 23, 2007

Government insanity

But I repeat myself.

The Puppy Blender links to a BoingBoing article which, frankly, I thought was an April Fool's joke until I realized it was still February:


Two Florida teenagers, Jeremy and Amber, ages 17 and 16 respectively, boyfriend and girlfriend -- snapped digital photos of themselves engaged in sexual activity. They were prosecuted under state child porn laws, and convicted. . . . In Florida, Amber and Jeremy did not break the law by having sexual relations -- even though they're both teens -- but the courts decided they were criminals for having documented it digitally.

I think that I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.

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February 21, 2007

Because the truth hurts sometimes

That's why I posted this picture:

more...

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February 20, 2007

Sewing up the anti-Semitic vote

Well, it looks like Edwards is about to reach out and tag Jimmy Carter as his running mate. From the original article that Geraghty links:


There are other emerging fissures, as well. The aggressively photogenic John Edwards was cruising along, detailing his litany of liberal causes last week until, during question time, he invoked the "I" word — Israel. Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. As a chill descended on the gathering, the Edwards event was brought to a polite close

John, I know that you're desperately courting the moonbat vote for the primaries, but you might be laying it on a little thick. I'm just saying.

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So who's counting?

For those of you who want to blame Bush for the astronomical number of dead US men and women fighting in a war overseas, you might want to see how many soldiers were killed when we weren't at war:


The total military dead in the Iraq war between 2003 and this month stands at about 3,133. This is tragic, as are all deaths due to war, and we are facing a cowardly enemy unlike any other in our past that hides behind innocent citizens. Each death is blazoned in the headlines of newspapers and Internet sites. What is never compared is the number of military deaths during the Clinton administration: 1,245 in 1993; 1,109 in 1994; 1,055 in 1995; 1,008 in 1996. That's 4,417 deaths in peacetime but, of course, who's counting?


Link via Jonah.

Update: Even more perspective:


Jonah,

You asked for more information on military deaths. Here is a table of all military deaths, broken down by cause, over the 25 year period 1980-2004. This includes all active duty and reservists.

The gist is that soldiers are more likely to die from accidents than hostile action (combat and terrorist actions combined). The death count from accidents has been lower than the death count from hostile action. The fall in accidental deaths is greater than the increase in deaths by hostile action.

Note that there were far more military deaths in 1980, the last year of Carter's presidency, than any year of the current administration. The death rate was, also, higher. This was because of lower standards and less care in training.

The bottom line is that we're fighting this war with lower casualties than that expected from normal training accidents in a peacetime army. You should be embarassed that you didn't know this. It's a testiment to the near universal innumeracy and incompetence of the journalism profession that most journalists haven't even seriously considered looking at basic statistics and putting things in context 5 1/2 years after 9/11.


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February 19, 2007

Damn it!

All of Jack Bauer's damn its from seasons 1-4.

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February 13, 2007

I pity the fool...

...who challenges my geekiness. To be fair, Harvey made a strong showing. For normal people. My score? Read it and weep:

58.38264% - Extreme Geek

I watched Monk a couple of weeks ago and Adrian was showing some home movies of his childhood. Here's my best recollection of the conversation:


Monk: And here I am playing Hide.

Assistant: Oh you mean Hide and Seek.

Monk: You just don't get it, do you?

Now I have to tag some people. Let's hope some of them are actually, umm, still reading this blog. Let's see:

Val, of course. Robb Allen because he also brews beer. Helen, because it might make her laugh. Annie, if she still stumbles through this geekish dreck I create. And CalTech Girl, just because.

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February 12, 2007

An idea whose time has come

Presenting the Autorantic Virtual Moonbat, courtesy of Sean Gleeson:

I believe that I'll add the smaller version in the sidebar, which differs in this respect from the original:


Unlike the live chat module, which lets you talk back to the robot, the sidebar module won’t let anyone else get a word in edgewise. All you can do is click the “RANT” button and get ranted at. (Although if the robot sits idle for a couple of minutes, it gets antsy and rants without you.)

Cool. It'll be like talking politics with one of my lefty friends. KEEP YOUR PATRIARCHY OFF MY UTERUS!!!(apologies to Jeff Goldstein).

Update: I asked the AVM for some sports predictions. Q&A below the fold. more...

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Screwing with us some more

Don't forget that Daylight Savings Time has been changed for 2007. Now you will spring forward on the second Sunday in March, instead of the first Saturday in April. And you will fall back the first Saturday in November, instead of October.

YOu know what's the best thing about this switch? Ever since Windows 95 appeared, my computer has automatically updated its internal clock for the EST/DSt switch. Now I will have to manually update my PC's clock. It's a trivial problem to be sure, but it still pisses me off.

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February 11, 2007

Instant classic

But then it's Iowahawk, so it's not entirely unexpected.

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February 09, 2007

This fits

This won't surprise anyone who actually knows me, including my beloved wife:




Your Candy Heart Says "Get Real"



You're a bit of a cynic when it comes to love.

You don't lose your head, and hardly anyone penetrates your heart.



Your ideal Valentine's Day date: is all about the person you're seeing (with no mentions of v-day!)



Your flirting style: honest and even slightly sarcastic



What turns you off: romantic expectations and "greeting card" holidays



Why you're hot: you don't just play hard to get - you are hard to get

Thanks, Val. I needed a good laugh.

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I guess that I need to STFU

Annie provides a link to a great spoof of the OS war commercials.

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Tobbaco Road supremacy

DUKE BEATS UNC!!!

Okay, it was the women's team, but I'll take what I can get this year. Besides, I root for all Duke athletic teams. I was quite disappointed when Duke lost to Maryland last year.

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February 07, 2007

Renewal of the bloodfeud

Duke entertains UNC tonight in what's likely to be another epic battle. And much as I enjoy a UNC loss(thanks NCSU), I don't much relish meeting UNC immediately after a loss, especially since Duke has lost its last two, both of which they had chances to win at the buzzer.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Paulus reminds no one of Bobby Hurley. Heck, he doesn't even remind me of Quin Snyder. A crappy point guard, a sloppy handling 2-guard and a decent interior game doesn't exactly bode well for the future of this current Duke squad. Then again, Cal Tech Girl is probably excited, so glass half full and all. more...

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February 06, 2007

I knew a little bit

But not all. It appear that the Bard of the Internet has had quite a career.

But Penthouse? Really? I was always more of a Playboy guy myself.

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February 05, 2007

Bill Gates, handmaid of Satan

The Emperor linked to this great FAQ which dismantles in great detail the theory that Vista! will usher in a new era of prosperity and freedom from want. As everyone knows, Pelosi's ascension to Speaker was the signal that the new Golden Age was upon us. In any event, you should read the article at length, and then go back to this article which I linked to some months ago and realize that there are alternatives.

The reality is that Xandros is may be your best bet if you don't want to spend a bunch of money upgrading your hardward to support a beastly system hog of an OS, but don't want to spend much, if any, time on the steep part of the learning curve.

Update: Heh. Looks like Microsoft effed up just a little bit, which is likely to cost them some money as people opt for the upgrade version, rather than the fresh install version. Then again, I won't be "upgrading", so it doesn't really matter to me.

Thanks to DJ Allyn for the heads up.

Update: For reasons that escape, I am the #2 returned search item on the Huffington Post for the word "satan". So welcome, I guess. For those of you expecting a direct link to Bush's official website, feel free to move along.

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I'm going to hell

Emily linked this website which made me laugh. A lot.

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A documentary about me

Check out this "article". It contains pretty good pictures of me, although I'll admit that I've gained a little weight since they were taken.

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I don't think so...

I disagree with Reynolds's assessment of John Edwards decision to hire Amanda Marcotte. In fact, I think that it was a wonderful choice because that vituperative harpy probably killed Edwards' campaign before it got fully underway.

Let's be honest: I can't be the only one who wants to know how much the Clintons are paying Amanda.

Update: Quote of the day over at Reason's blog. I'll excerpt a little bit more to put it context:


Not exactly the best defense disgraced Durham DA Mike Nifong has received, but interesting in the same way that ramblings about CIA radio transmitters in your teeth are interesting -- as a marker for raving moon-bats.

So you might be thinking, at last and at least, a presidential candidate has had the balls to hire on a full-fledged, out-front propagandist, someone boldly willing to not just fudge facts, but fuck them in the ass. A Marcotte-led Net communications op may actually give the jaded among us some reason to pay attention to this 08 election-thing -- there'd be no telling what she'd say.

Update: Patterico offers some of his thoughts on the matter:


And there was a post about Katrina looting that termed “racist fucks” anyone appalled by the looting in New Orleans. The post was titled Dear racist fucks who complained about looting, and said:

And as for the racist fucks behind this foot-dragging and lying and all those that support them, I hope that when you get to hell, after youÂ’ve been greeted nicely by Satan and checked in by Ronald Reagan, your punishment is to be drowned over and over and over again until you fucking realize that suffering is suffering, no matter what race or class or ethnicity the people suffering are.

I responded here — and I also detailed the habit of the bloggers on her site: namely, squelching comments that they disagree with, or that make them look bad. Seems consistent with the more recent allegations of Amanda trying to cover her tracks regarding the Duke lacrosse rape case.

But hey — if John Edwards wants to have a psychotic, profane, illogical, man-hating feminist as his chief blogger, more power to him. This is much better for us than if he had hired someone unlikely to embarrass him.

Eh, I don't mean to give Amanda a hard time. It's only 99.9999% of her qualities that give the rest of them a bad name.

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February 01, 2007

Easy Debian install

While it's true that there are a large number Linux distros, it's also true that a great many of them are based on Debian. So why don't you install Debian? Well, to be honest, it can be a bit tricky. However, the folks at project EasyDeb have done their best to simplify things for you. Here's what you do:


1) Download the net install cd that you need - you can get at debian.org or get the daily build that we have tested here at the downloads. {right now we only support x86 and x86_64 (intel/amd 32/64bit) systems}

2) Do a "STANDARD" install. - this means that the only thing that's need or needs to be checked ist the box that reads:STANDARD.

3) When the install is finished & you have been rebooted, login as ROOT

4) type => init 3

5) type => cd /usr/local/src

6) type => wget http://www.easydeb.org/SKRIPZ/install-easydeb.sh

7) type => sh install-easydeb.sh

ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTION AND/OR ANSWER THE QUESTIONS ON THE SCREEN. - most of which can be answered with the default answer (hit the enter key)

That's about all...


Looks pretty easy, doesn't it? I've got an older laptop gathering dust in the corner that I'd like to try this method out on. With two small children around, what I don't have is lots of time. However, the process looks fairly straightforward. I'll probably download the net install CD image and burn a disc tonight, just so that I'm ready when I find the time. At some point, I'll report on what happened.

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