A 94 year old prophecy is fulfilled...

A 94 year old prophecy is fulfilled...  Via my card-carrying pissed-off-American mom:

H.L. Mencken (born 1880 - died 1956) was a journalist, satirist, critic, and Democrat.  He wrote the editorial below while working for the Baltimore Evening Sun, which appeared in the July 26, 1920 edition.

"As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron."

— H.L. Mencken, the Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

So it was written, and so it has come to pass.

Someone finally did it...

Someone finally did it...  An Internet TV channel that's all cats, nothing but cats, all the time...

Is this why Jay Leno was involuntarily retired by NBC?

Is this why Jay Leno was involuntarily retired by NBC?  A collection of his one-liners that just may have contributed to the network's decision, via reader Simi L.:

"I was going to start off tonight with an Obama joke, but I don't want to get audited by the IRS."

On NSA surveillance: "We wanted a president who listens to all Americans - now we have one."

On a new IRS commissioner: "He's called 'acting commissioner' because he has to act like the scandal doesn't involve the White House."

On closing the Guantanamo prison for terrorists: "If he really wants to close it, turn it into a government-funded solar power company. The doors will be shut in a month."

Concerning the Benghazi, Associated Press, and IRS scandals: "Remember in the old days when President Obama's biggest embarrassment was Joe Biden?"

On Obama saying he didn't know about the IRS scandal: "He was too busy not knowing anything about Benghazi to not know anything about the IRS."

"The White House has a new slogan about Benghazi : Hope and change the subject."

"It's casual Friday, which means that at the White House, they're casually going through everybody's phone calls and records."

"It is not looking good for President Obama. Today his teleprompter took the fifth."

"Fox News has changed its slogan from 'Fair and Balanced' to 'See, I told you so!'"

On Obama's commencement address: "He told the young graduates their future is bright unless, of course, they want jobs."

On a Chicago man who set a record for riding a Ferris wheel: "The only other way to go around and around in a circle that many times is to read the official report on Benghazi."

On White House claims of ignorance on the scandals: "They took 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' out of the Pentagon and moved it into the White House."

"These White House scandals are not going away anytime soon. It's gotten so bad that People in Kenya are now saying he's 100 percent American."

One can easily imagine a petulant That One phoning Steve Burke: “Dude, stifle that Leno guy, would you?”

Jason and Cici, together again...

Jason and Cici, together again...  Jason and Cici, together again.  A retired Army sergeant who was a handler for Cici, the bomb-sniffing Army dog, are reunited – and Cici's last years will be at home with her buddy.  I never tire of these videos...

California leads the way...

California leads the way ... in Congressional insanity, business unfriendliness, and doom.

Liberal Maryland rejoices – because some other state is so business-hostile that it might drive some to consider relocating to not-quite-so-business-hostile Maryland.  More likely, Texas will get the fleeing entrepreneurs, though...

Have they not eyes to see with?

Have they not eyes to see with?  This self-proclaimed progressive does.  Perhaps the cruelest aspect of modern progressivism is that its anti-capitalism stance dooms millions of people to short lives and abject poverty.  Caleb Rossiter wants nothing to do with that...

Loopholes in the laws of physics...

Loopholes in the laws of physics...  Interesting stuff!

The trees are gone...

The trees are gone...  The big trees planted right next to the house, that is.  Debbie and I took the last one – the biggest – down yesterday afternoon.  Its trunk was roughly oval at the bottom, 14" by 11", so there was quite a bit of wood in it.  I sure was glad to have a chainsaw for that one :)  After we cut it all up and loaded it onto my pickup, we had a pile of debris occupying roughly 3 cubic yards, quite compressed – more than the other two trees combined...

This changed the appearance of the front of the house considerably.  It also opened up several south-facing windows, so the house should be considerably brighter now on a fine day...

California leads the way...

California leads the way ... in government-mandated employee leaves of absence...

Debbie and I are working hard...

Debbie and I are working hard...  Hard physical work, for a change.  We have several largish trees planted right next to the house.  They are so close that they pose a hazard to the house, and our insurance company (rightly, I think), insists that they be removed.  Yesterday Debbie and I took down the first one (a Norway Spruce, my mom thinks); it had a 7 inch trunk.  This morning we took down a second Norway Spruce, this one with a 6 inch trunk.  Armed with a chain saw, loppers, and a pruning saw we chopped them up into bite-sized pieces, loaded them in the pickup, and carted them off to a brush pile we're accumulating.  Now we're sitting and resting up, preparing to take down the largest of the three (a juniper of some kind).  This one has a 12 inch trunk, so there will be considerably more wood in it...

Cute? Check.

Cute?  Check.  Cuddly?  Not so much...

Busy day yesterday for us...

Busy day yesterday for us...  Debbie and I were running all over Cache Valley, meeting with our flooring guys, our painters, our cabinet makers, and with some paint color experts.  Then we went grocery shopping!  We were very tired by the time we finally got home – but then we took a drive up into the Wasatch Mountains, the base of which are just a mile from our new home.  We drove through an elk preserve (Hardware Ranch) and beyond into the National Forest.  It was our first visit into the Wasatch Mountains after the snow melt, and it was beautiful.  Spring is springing: the first grass shoots are emerging, the streams are engorged, and you can see it won't be long before things start blooming...

Speechless, I am...

Speechless, I am...

Weird people...

Weird people...  An interesting article that actually is about weird people.  No, I'm not the subject of it.  Though perhaps I should be :)

SpaceX gets injunction prohibiting ULA from buying Russian rockets...

SpaceX gets injunction prohibiting ULA from buying Russian rockets...  I wouldn't have expected them to win this injunction, but they did.  SpaceX now has the chance to compete for the deal...

For 20 years now...

For 20 years now ... I've been saying that magnetic tape data storage is going to die, imminently.  I've always been wrong.  Now this – and I may be even wronger...

Geek: co-routines and state machines do basically the same thing...

Geek: co-routines and state machines do basically the same thing...  I've never had occasion to investigate co-routines, as I've never written programs in a language that supports them intrinsically.  But as I read this article and thought about it, I realized that my implementations of state machines in languages like Java, C, or assembly were basically indistinguishable from a co-routine implementation in the same language.  So ... languages that intrinsically support co-routines are actually also intrinsically supporting state machines.

State machines are one of my favorite programming techniques for dealing with a messy real world with minimum complexity.  This makes me want to investigate Ruby – and nothing else I've ever read about Ruby did that :)

Ukraine: it's on...

Ukraine: it's on...  I can't help but be reminded of the run-up to WWII, specifically Hitler's deceptions and subsequent invasion of Poland.  I also can't help but worry that the West's non-support of Ukraine will lead to further “explorations” by Putin.

Only time will tell.  The choices now are Putin's, as the West has already decided to leave Ukraine to its fate.  What will Putin do?  Will he back off, worried about the reactions from Obama, Merkle, et al?  Or will he sense opportunity and start the troops rolling into eastern Ukraine?

My bet is on the latter.  I'd love to be wrong...

The Debbie has arrived!

The Debbie has arrived!  That is all...

You wanted the truth. You'll take abashed silence...

You wanted the truth.  You'd take abashed silence...  Ace, at his best, on the latest Benghazi wrinkles...