QOTD

"The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

--Senator Barack Obama

Old School Trolling

Back in the days before the intertubes took over the world, people were engaging in troll behavior. We just never called it that. The activity usually went by the name of screwing with people or playing mindfuck. Being an unpleasant human who has always found it amusing to screw with my fellow man, I've ended up knowing a lot of trolls.

I was reminded of one this morning. One of my friends in high school used to take family vacations to the beach every year. His father would walk down the beach and pick all the shark teeth he could see. Later, upon their return from the beach, his dad would scatter shark teeth all over the backyard in suburban northern Virginia. What made this even more amusing to a 16 year old was the stated motivation: someday, in the distant future, people would find a quantity of shark teeth in the hills of Virginia, miles away from any ocean, and try to figure out WTF happened.

This is obviously a man who planned his trolling well in advance. He'll probably never see the results of his work, but someday, somebody's going to find shark teeth and go "wait, what?". And all I can say to that is "Well done!"

Coincidence?

"One choice, at this transformational moment, is to say, 'We are satisfied with what we are doing. We — in radio — are providing 11 percent of America with an extraordinary service'."
- Sue Schardt, Current.org

"11% Say Communism Better Than U.S. System of Politics and Economics."
- RasmussenReports.com

I don't think so...

A Short Diatribe About The Metric System

So, I hate my job and haven't had the time or energy much to blog lately. I'd much rather tweet random statements and make snarky comments over at Hit & Run.

Anyhow, my ire was raised by the absolutely bastardized implementation of the metric system that exists in the US. Now, I'm not talking about the SI system of units, a lovely idea in theory that has failed to catch hold here in America. I'm discussing the ancillary bits and bobs of technology that are specified in metric units. Today's example will be bolts.

As I peruse my handbook of all things mechanical I note an M8 x 1.25 bolt has a head size of thirteen millimeters. This means one uses a 13 mm wrench to remove said bolt, right? Perhaps in a perfect world, such is the case. Here in ugly reality, oh, but hell no. I have before me two M8 bolts, which go in the same piece of equipment. One was removed with a 12mm wrench, the other with a 1/2 inch wrench. I mean seriously, people, WTF?. There is no system of bolts I am aware of where you use metric threads with inch heads.

On the other hand, if I go buy a 3/8 inch bolt anywhere in the country I have a close to 100% chance I will be able to use a 9/16 inch wrench to remove or install it. Metric? Luck of the draw. Somewhere close to the nominal size will be what you need.

This is why people who work with things in this country have a propensity to hate the metric system. We're just not very good at it.

Welcome to Bizarro World

I don't expect any better, but it doesn't prevent me from wanting to vent about it nonetheless.

It has been for a long time established, that aside from the great American geographical parentheses (East & West Coasts), Democrats have to lie to win elections. The second a Democrat becomes honest about what it wants to do once elected, it goes down in electoral flames. So you only very rarely hear words from campaigning Democrats about raising your taxes, controlling everything you eat, dictating your health care/killing your Grandma, or promoting the murder of every unborn black child possible.

The national media has obviously grasped this problem the rest of us seem to have with its ideology, and has learned to diligently and tightly control the portrayal of its candidates to make sure even their past statements aren't publicized or even questioned. Once elected, however, when our new plucky Donk elected official sets out to do exactly the opposite of what it campaigned to do, and the masses inevitably complain, these same "news" readers preach to all of us about the "will of the people", "mandates to govern", and "how elections matter." Said complainers are then portrayed as extremists, nut jobs, and terrorists.

And yet, when anyone who opposes this ideology runs on a specific issue, manages to get elected despite the typical advocacy and propaganda against him or her, and then sets out to do exactly as promised, this person is denounced as a dictator, little Hitler, and some how acting against the will of the people. How in the hell does that work? If I tell you what I'm going to do, survive the rampant media editorializing against me, win my election, and then do what I promised, aren't I engaging in honest governing according to an actual mandate? Well not according to our wannabe betters. Those 23 hired hands who are bussed in from out of town to set things on fire and advocate the lynching of black officials are just our honest neighbors who may be forced to starvation if we all don't agree to make sure they can retire at 50 on 3 times what we all currently make. The honest person in this equation is always the bad guy.

Hmmph...I guess I could've turned this post into a tweet: The left constantly projects its own attitudes and behavior onto the right.

That stated, I hope those who are actually trying to solve problems like Scott Walker, Chris Christie, and Rick Scott don't relent and don't let the bastards get them down. Lord knows they get me down.