Day By Day

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Dr. Thomas Sowell on intellectuals and Society

This is long but well worth listening to.





Friday, January 15, 2010

Yon delivers

Some very cool photos from Micheal Yon at his website, here's a sample:



Click the picture to see the rest.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The world should realize by now

any culture where teenagers can do this might not be someone you want to mess with


Christmas Tree Rocketry - Watch more Funny Videos

We have only days, err weeks err months to save the planet from umm global umm

Remember that? Everyone claiming we had a seriously short period of time to "save" the earth from CO2 induced global warming, and then the tipping point would be reached and no amount of wealth distribution would save us from certain doom.

Except it was all bullshit, and they knew it. 
The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists.
Does it seem like they're making it up as they go?

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Strange Guitars

Some pretty interesting stuff here





Corporatespeak

No doubt all of us are exposed to the mind numbing drivel that populates the corporate world, well most of us, I guess some people do drive dump trucks and aren't trapped in "Town Hall" meetings where upper level management shares the profound and glorious things that they fill their days with while the rest of us keep stoking the fires of industry. Being one of the corporate wage slaves and not a manager I've developed a certain scorn for such blather over the years; I've amused myself mocking it from time to time, playing buzz word bingo and in general attempting to look interested while thinking to myself "these f'ing idiots are playing word games while the place burns down around them".

Recently I came across the best ever in a meeting where we were talking about this coming year's group goals. My manager threw up a slide that contained both this years, and last years group goals for our database engineering counterparts in the Great White North; buried within last years goals was this gem:

Leverage Industry Thought Leadership For Impact


I was stunned, I couldn't form a complete word, my mouth moved and nothing came out. Suddenly I burst out laughing and shrieked WTF does that mean? The group cracked up, pandemonium reigned, some choked on their beverage attempting to keep it separate from their nasal cavities. Hilarity ensued.

I wonder how they scored it?

Made me laugh

So just fire the blithering idiot, please

I'm not a Republican. I used to be but it became obvious decades ago that Republicans are Conservative in Name Only; they love to be the king makers when they wield the majority and can't stop themselves from acting just like democrats; the Politician as Godfather, handing out favors or leaving a stinking bloody horses head in your bed overnight. I'm a conservative, a small government, less spending, strong defense, local control conservative. The Republicans aren't. I used to think that the contrast between the two parties was this:

Democrats are enthusiastic socialists. Republicans are reluctant socialists. 

Thanks to the Bush Presidency and that miserable 6 years of Republican control of congress I fail to see even that much difference anymore.

Even so it's clear that for most of my adult life the Republicans more closely resemble my thoughts than the Democrats; I've held my nose and voted for the lesser of two evils for what seems like forever and what do I have to show for it? Olympia Snowe? Susan Collins? I'd rather poke myself in the eye. If this is the best conservatives can get on the ballot then we may be well and truly screwed. Forever.

I liked Michael Steele's ads when he was running for Governor; he seemed intelligent, witty and was rumored to be my kind of Republican. When Steele took the helm of the Republican Party I hoped he could do something positive. I think the Republicans, at least a majority of Republican incumbents at the Federal level, are hopelessly corrupted, I thought perhaps Mr. Steele can lead them; Reagan certainly managed to lead them; Reagan's years being the last political bright spot in recent US history. History shows us that as soon as the strong hand at the helm of the party goes away the Republicans reveal that they lack the moral courage, standards and fortitude to actually stand for much of anything. In the months since Steele has taken the helm the Republicans have accomplished nothing; Snowe and Collins are still out of control, the party backed a closet commie in NY, one that even Newt, flush with warm fuzzy feelings after selling out to Democrats on "climate change", well let's say Newt made a huge ass of himself in the NY special election. The RNC raises the bar for the most dysfunctional political organization ever award.

So Steele blunder's along, shooting off his mouth and accomplishing nothing towards establishing a philosophy, platform, brand whatever you want to call it suddenly allows his personal pique to overrule his intelligence (again) and quips something as stupid as this "If you don't want me on the job, fire me. But until then, shut up." I think you should take him up on it. Fire him. Boot him so hard he bounces. Twice.

Mr. Steele your tenure as the Chair of the Republican party has been a disaster. You have accomplished nothing. You've consistently embraced the wrong candidates, in NY, in Florida, now in Mass you're ignoring a good candidate in a tight race that might actually take Kennedy's seat for your party. Instead of helping Scott Brown you're out pushing your book, the one no one gives a flying fuck about since you're a walking, talking disaster. That list of accomplishments you're touting are circumstantial to your leadership of the Republicans; Gollum could win seats against Democrats this year.

Dear Republicans I say do it. Fire the fool and find someone who can actually do something positive.

Oh yeah like that's going to happen.


See it before You Tube blocks or removes it again

It's been posted on you tube numerous times in the last week; The obots keep getting it taken down, you tube locks the view counts, then posts that the video has been "removed by the user"

They're lying

Thursday, January 7, 2010

And now for something mildly retro and amusing

Click the pick for even more retrofitted ads


Sometimes things work out right

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Fourteen suspected terrorists died Tuesday night when the bus they rigged with explosives blew up prematurely, police said. The explosion occurred as the suspects were riding the bus in the province of Kunduz, said police chief Abdul Raziq Yaqobi. Yaqobi said the suspects wanted to attack Afghan police or foreign soldiers.



So how's that working out for us now?



The largest middle class tax in history

Click it I dare you.

The shine is wearing off the Obama apple

When the democrats lose CNN they've pretty much lost it all.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

This is stunning

This video shows the winner of "Ukraine’s Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.

The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about £75,000. 

She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated. 

It is replaced by a woman’s face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman’s face appears. 

She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier. 

This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house. 

In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye. 

The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine , resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million. 

Kseniya Simonova says: 

"I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there’s surely no bigger compliment."



Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Monday, January 4, 2010

Body Language



Think Joe needs a new job in 3 years?


A 3rd uninvited guest discovered

So the Secret Service says a 3rd uninvited guest was at the now infamous State dinner at the white house.

This administration can't secure the white house but we're supposed to trust them with the WOT?
They can't manage a state dinner but they should be allowed to manage our health care?

This is beyond surreal.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Green Nukes!

A very cool article on the coming use of thorium as a fission fuel for reactors. The greens don't want us to build more hydro power, we can't burn fossil fuels, we can't burn waste, can't build solar or wind right there because that spot is special and we can't have nukes because of 3 mile island and Chernobyl; yet something has to give in order to sustain our technological civilization. This looks like a really good choice to me and despite my rejection of CO2 as the driving force in so-called climate change I'm all in favor of reducing emissions as soon as technology permits. Here's an interesting summary albeit with a bit of condemnation for Hiram Rickover
In 1965, Weinberg and his team built a working reactor, one that suspended the byproducts of thorium in a molten salt bath, and he spent the rest of his 18-year tenure trying to make thorium the heart of the nation’s atomic power effort. He failed. Uranium reactors had already been established, and Hyman Rickover, de facto head of the US nuclear program, wanted the plutonium from uranium-powered nuclear plants to make bombs. Increasingly shunted aside, Weinberg was finally forced out in 1973.
 That seems a bit quaint to me, I'm sure Admiral Rickover was not a fan of thorium (and it'd be better if the author was astute enough to spell his name correctly) but I suspect there were far more people than just the Admiral who wanted that plutonium for weapons.

Welcome to 2010