We Wonder...

Chris Christie Has a Story...

Why Pilots Prefer Airplanes Over Women...

Via reader Simi L.:

Why Pilots Prefer Airplanes Over Women

• Airplanes usually kill you quickly; a woman takes her time.
• Airplanes can be turned on by a flick of a switch.
• Airplanes don't get mad if you do a "touch and go."
• Airplanes don't object to a pre-flight inspection.
• Airplanes come with a manual to explain their operation.
• Airplanes have strict weight and balance limitations.
• Airplanes can be flown at any time of the month.
• Airplanes don't come with in-laws.
• Airplanes don't care about how many other airplanes you've flown before.
• Airplanes and pilots both arrive at the same time.
• Airplanes don't mind if you look at other airplanes.
• Airplanes don't mind if you buy airplane magazines.
• Airplanes expect to be tied down.
• Airplanes don't comment on your piloting skills.
• Airplanes don't whine unless something is really wrong.
• However, when airplanes go quiet, just like women, it's usually not good.

Curiosity: A Piece of Fluff...

Here's a close-up photo of the little piece of plastic that fell off the Rover.  The folks at JPL have concluded that it's likely a piece of detritus that fell off the skycrane during landing, and then subsequently fell off the Curiosity rover – most likely while it was waving it's arm around over Rocknest...

The Casual Vacancy...

I've just finished reading The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling (the author of the Harry Potter series).  I enjoyed it, well enough that I'll buy and read whatever she writes next – but it sure was a big surprise!

First, it is most definitely not aimed at kids.  Unusually mature young adults might find it interesting, but clearly the main audience is adults, especially those with children (or at least with an interest in children).  Unlike with the Harry Potter series, in this book the plot isn't the core of the book – instead, it's with the detailed study of different personalities, of personal interactions (and their consequences, intended or not), and most especially of how children are impacted by the behavior of the adults around them.  There are quite a few interesting characters in this novel, and every one of them is painted with great attention to detail.  The entire novel is plausible – even, unusually, the bit of technical wizardry that is part of the plot (some kids hacking into a web site). 

When I finished, I wondered to myself if there was anything about her new novel that was like the Harry Potter series – because at first blush they seem utterly different.  But I did identify one common thread: complexity.  This novel, like the Harry Potter books, is engineered – by which I mean that she absolutely must have started by thinking out all the characters, their inter-relationships, and the timeline of events.  I know for certain that she did exactly this with the Harry Potter series, because I've seen her worksheet (a sort of handwritten spreadsheet) for that published on the web somewhere.  I'd be willing to bet you that she did the same thing for The Casual Vacancy.  It's just too darned complex to have happened by accident.

Bottom line: thumbs up.  It will take you a chapter or two to get immersed in the world she crafts, but after that you'll be completely engrossed...

WTF Happened Last Night???

Well, that was just about the strangest political “debate” I've ever seen.  I was expecting entertainment, but I got something else instead.  I don't think either Ryan or Biden was the clear winner on either substance or debate style.  But I do think there was a winner: everybody who watched the debate – because we learned a lot about both men.

We learned that Ryan was out of his depth, and is somewhat uncomfortable, with foreign policy issues – but despite this, he was able to hold his own with the much more experienced Biden.

We learned that Martha Raddatz was an excellent moderator, despite the right's trashing of her before the debate, and accusing her of pandering to Biden after the debate.  She did no such thing – she was professional and even-handed throughout, and did a very effective job of asking questions that provoked potentially interesting answers.  The candidates didn't live up to the expectations she set, but that's their fault, not hers.  Kudos to Ms. Raddatz.

We learned that Biden was an uncouth, impolite, bullying jerk; full of bluster and blarney, and fond of yelling from the bar stool.

We learned (or rather, had reinforced) Ryan's strength on economic issues.

We learned how lucky we are that Obama hasn't been killed or incapacitated – because the idea of Joe Biden as president is positively terrifying (I would thing that's true even for loyal Democrats).

We learned that Ryan looks and behaves like a level-headed, grounded adult.  At least from behavioral cues, it's at least not frightening to imagine him as president.

We learned (or rather, had reinforced) how effective Biden's down-home, folksy mannerisms are.  Unfortunately for him, this was more than counter-balanced by his downright bizarre behaviors and constant rude interruptions of Ryan.

We learned that women find Ryan strong, comforting, and easy on the eye (despite his party affiliation), and that they find Biden kind of creepy and definitely not comforting (despite his party affiliation).

The winner?  Us, hands-down.  The loser, politically?  Probably the Obama/Biden ticket, because they didn't get the sort of boost from this debate that they so badly needed after the first Obama/Romney debate.

Here are some thoughts from others:

Nick Gillespie, Reason: The Smirk Store Is Out of Smirks...
Michael Barone, Washington Examiner: Biden Didn't Put a Dent in Romney...
Neoneocon: Biden Was Like the Drunken Blowhard...
Peter Suderman, Reason: Very Specific Malarkey...

Less than an hour after the debate finished, the Republican National Committee had a new ad up, making extensive use of Uncle Joe's bizarre debate behavior.  On nearly a daily basis something like this happens with a speed that leaves me gobsmacked.  An hour?!?  Before I could really even collect my thoughts, they had a polished and effective ad up on the Internet.  Just amazing...

Oh, Boy...

I can hardly wait for tonight's debate.  Not for the political content; I'm not expecting much of interest there.  Not because I think the debate is likely to be consequential, either – I suspect the VP debate won't mean as much to the outcome of the election as will the weather on election night.  I'm looking forward to this for the pure entertainment value.  Ryan vs. Biden in a vice presidential debate is kind of like F-35 vs. MiG-1 in a dogfight...

I'll be watching, with a glass of wine and a snack or two...

Little Red Hen, 2012 Edition...

Via my mom, whom I suspect is not voting for Obama:

The Little Red Hen

"Who will help me plant my wheat?" asked the little red hen.

"Not I," said the cow.

"Not I," said the duck.

"Not I," said the pig.

"Not I," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself." She planted her crop and the wheat grew and ripened.

"Who will help me reap my wheat?" asked the little red hen.

"Not I," said the duck.

"Out of my classification," said the pig.

"I'd lose my seniority," said the cow.

"I'd lose my unemployment compensation," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen, and so she did.

"Who will help me bake the bread?" asked the little red hen.

"That would be overtime for me," said the cow.

"I'd lose my welfare benefits," said the duck.

"I'm a dropout and never learned how," said the pig.

"If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen.

She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share but the little red hen said, "No, I shall eat all five loaves."

"Excess profits!" cried the cow (Nancy Pelosi)

"Capitalist leech!" screamed the duck (Barbara Boxer)

"I demand equal rights!" yelled the goose (Jesse Jackson)

The pig just grunted in disdain (Harry Reid)

And they all painted 'Unfair!' picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.

When the farmer (Obama) came, he said to the little red hen, "You must not be so greedy."

"But I earned the bread," said the little red hen.

"Exactly," said Barack the farmer. "That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle."

And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, "I am grateful, for now I truly understand."

But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the 'party' and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established.

Individual initiative had died but nobody noticed; perhaps no one
cared so long as there was free bread that 'the rich' were paying for.

And perhaps...this is the end.

And the next week, there was no bread, or anything else to eat. So, they all starved equally.


EPILOGUE

Bill Clinton is getting $12 million for his memoirs.

Hillary got $8 million for hers.

That's $20 million for the memories from two people, who for eight years repeatedly testified, under oath, that they couldn't remember anything.

DO WE LIVE IN A GREAT BARNYARD OR WHAT?

Remember this when you vote next month...

Summary: Obama Administration on the Benghazi Attack...

I Hope Voters Listen to This Man...

About a decade ago, I worked for a now-defunct company called FutureTrade.  We made an electronic trading platform aimed at professional traders (mainly in hedge funds).  The company went through the usual sad failing company maneuvers, including a string of layoffs in which I lost my job there.  Eventually, months after I was gone, the company was sold to Interactive Brokers.  Their founder and CEO is Thomas Peterffy, who grew up in Hungary when it was a satellite of the Soviet Union.  He knows first-hand what socialism does to a country and its people, and he emigrated to America to escape that.  Listen to what he has to say:

LOTR Palate Cleanser...

If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, you'll get a chuckle from this:

What Do Doctors Think of Obamacare?

Anecdotally I know that many doctors despise Obamacare, and are planning major changes to their practices to deal with it.  Basically those changes involve them not accepting Obamacare-funded patients.  But is there a better measure than the stories I've heard locally?

Here's the best thing I've seen yet: a poll of doctors to see whether they supported Obama (a proxy for Obamacare) or Romney (who has repeatedly said that he'd repeal Obamacare).  The answer: doctors want Romney, by more than 2 to 1...

Stiff Duties on Solar Panels...

The U.S. government has just slapped stiff import duties on Chinese-made solar panels and solar cells.  This is the kind of thing that just makes me crazy – an action that is clearly against the national self-interest, an action that raises prices for American citizens.  Why would we do such a thing?  Because it's very popular politically, that's why.  It allows a politician (Obama) to claim that he is protecting American jobs from those hateful, marauding Chineses faux entrepreneurs who want to push prices so low that it's unfair to American manufacturers.  American manufacturers stuck with the costs of unions, labor costs near the global top, chained down with regulations that inhibit innovation, and just plain beat by eager Chinese entrepreneurs.

Import duties never work to protect American industry.

Import duties always hurt consumers, both directly and indirectly (from the ensuing trade wars).

And yet we keep trying them.

How long can a nation of idiots survive, anyway?

Disturbing...

I happen to be a white male, so this is unlikely to happen to me were I to visit New York City.  But if it did happen to me, I would be royally ticked off.  Why are we doing this to American citizens?  Why are our courts allowing it?

This doesn't seem like the America I grew up in...



Stacy Dash's Tweet...

I'm sure you've heard about this: Stacy Dash (an actress I'd never heard of before) recently tweeted her support for Mitt Romney.  From the response of our tolerant, peace-loving Progressives, you'd think she'd declared nuclear war on Big Bird, single-handedly clubbed every Harp Seal cub born this year, and personally sprayed DDT into every bird nest in North America.  The reason?  She's black.  According to the Progressive narrative, authentic blacks are Democrats, period, full stop.  Can't have them wandering off the plantation now, can we?

Listen to her reaction.  I cheered.

Curiosity: A Piece of Itself...

Scientists studying photos taken by Curiosity (currently working at Rocknest) noticed something odd a few days ago: a bright object of some sort right near the Martian rover.  The immediate suspicion was that something had fallen off the rover, and that might not be good.  So they directed the high-powered lens of the Chemcam to take a closer look (see circled object at right).  They've now concluded that it was some insignificant piece of plastic, such as cable insulation.  It doesn't appear to indicate any sort of problem at all.

While it proved to be most useful, I don't think that this sort of use was what they had in mind for Chemcam :-)

Paul Krugman is a Useful Idiot...

Useful to the Progressives, that is.  And yes, I know he won a Nobel Prize in Economics.  He's still an idiot.  Winning a Nobel Prize doesn't prevent either idiocy or assholery.  If you'd like some evidence for that, just look at the list of Nobel Peace Prize winners.

Anyway, John Hinderaker of PowerLine does a great job of spanking Paul Krugman, who shows every sign of desperately needing a good spanking...

The Day the Progressive Narrative Died?

It's too soon to declare that happy day, but here's a development that is at least quite interesting, and possibly an indicator of a sea change.  Lara Logan is a reporter for CBS News (a conventionally biased charter member of the lamestream media), and has evinced a decidedly Progressive viewpoint in the past.  Here, Logan is being reported on by Laura Washington of the Chicago Sun-Times – itself a cherished member of the lamestream media:

Logan stepped way out of the “objective,” journalistic role. The audience was riveted as she told of plowing through reams of documents, and interviewing John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and a Taliban commander trained by al-Qaida. The Taliban and al-Qaida are teaming up and recruiting new terrorists to do us deadly harm, she reports.

She made a passionate case that our government is downplaying the strength of our enemies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as a rationale of getting us out of the longest war. We have been lulled into believing that the perils are in the past: “You’re not listening to what the people who are fighting you say about this fight. In your arrogance, you think you write the script.”

Our enemies are writing the story, she suggests, and there’s no happy ending for us.

As a journalist, I was queasy. Reporters should tell the story, not be the story. As an American, I was frightened.

Logan even called for retribution for the recent terrorist killings of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other officials. The event is a harbinger of our vulnerability, she said. Logan hopes that America will “exact revenge and let the world know that the United States will not be attacked on its own soil. That its ambassadors will not be murdered, and that the United States will not stand by and do nothing about it.”

In the “good old days,” reporters did not advocate, crusade or call for revenge.

In these “new” days in a post-9/11 world, perhaps we need more reporters who are willing to break the rules.

What fascinates me the most about this story is that in two major media outlets, two reporters are drifting way off the Progressive narrative.  This is something not often seen.  Let's hope it's just the beginning...

Rape?

I trust that the vast majority of my readers will instantly recognize the iconic photo at right.  I'm certain that the first thought that photo brings to mind isn't “Rape!”.  Which just goes to show you that most of my readers aren't progressive feminists.

Over at Riehl World, they have a decidedly less progressive and more traditional perspective.  The comments are fun to read, but one of them jumped out at me, from Mike C.:

Wow… just, wow.

Let me frame what I’m about to say: I scored a 1520 out of 1600 on my SATs. My family and friends consider me a pretty smart guy with an extensive vocabulary. I run my own business in a field which requires top-notch writing skills, data management skills, critical-thinking skills, and a lot of creativity.

However, in this situation, profanity is the only appropriate response.

F@&k you, you f@&king f@&ked-up “feminist” f@&ks.

Perfect.

Warning Letter to Employees...

David Siegel is the founder and CEO of Westgate Resorts, a timeshare resort company.  He's a self-made multi-millionaire, and one of those folks quite insulted by Obama's “You didn't build that!” speech.  He recently wrote a letter to his employees, the conclusion of which I've reproduced below:

Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate business, not kill it. However, the power brokers in Washington believe redistributing wealth is the essential driver of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change they want.

So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company. Rather than grow this company I will be forced to cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone.

So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, which candidate understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of protecting and saving your job. While the media wants to tell you to believe the "1 percenters" are bad, I'm telling you they are not. They create most of the jobs. If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the "1%"; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country.

You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about.

Yes, this has been verified.  You can read the whole letter and the backstory on Gawker...