Retread your DVD library..watch them in B&W

from Flavorwire: 10 Modern Movies That Are Better in Black and White
Great idea.. turns adventure films into suspense films! And makes suspense films like Halloween and Fargo even spookier

Great example of that:



You appreciate them in a whole different way

O'Reilly / Stewart on Common at WH sends my blog hits up 500%

Note: 'Pettifog' means 'Make a big deal over little or nothing.'
-You're welcome. That's not exactly how I write on my blog but reflects how I like to look at everything related to an issue.

Blog hits went from minuscule to noticeable in one fell swoop... because first O'Reilly then Stewart use the term 'pettifog' several times to describe overstating the importance of an issue. In this case inviting the Rapper 'Common' to the White House.
Article in HuffPo on the 'debate'. The word first comes up about 4:48 of part 1.

All the traffic increase came from Google search of 'Pettyfog'.. meaning users were unfamiliar with the term and misspelled it.
I explain my spelling in 'about'

{So when} I got on the then young internet, I adopted the identity "Pettyfog" as my online personna. It was a play on words from the Dickensian use of 'pettifog' {self-important minor bureaucratic blather, not the 'evil lawyer' use, and I used 'y' instead of 'i' for two reasons. 'Little Fog' being one, identifiability the other.

- the HuffPo staff did add a definition later, spelling it correctly.

But.. on the issue of Common: I expected from the HuffPo account that O'Reilly had gone off the deep end again. He truly is often guilty of blowing things up to ridiculous extents and he did pettifog here, somewhat. But hell, Stewart does the same thing. I dont watch either of them for that reason.

O'Reilly is right in that it does define the White House. Stewart's on shaky ground.

But it's still trivial because we already should know this would happen, the invite's a sop to Obama's most solid constituency; 2012 is just around the corner and he hasn't done much of anything for them, yet.

Apparently there is now ..

.. GOOGLE ENTRY FOR “CAPTAIN SEXY BANJO.”

Instapundit posted:

THERE’S NO GOOGLE ENTRY FOR “CAPTAIN SEXY BANJO.” Well, maybe this will fix that problem.

And lo.. it sure did

And yet... none of the 90 or so links listed were for Amazon{dot}com.

Taliban 'Tet' a dud; MSM weep!

On May 8 the Taliban attacked the provincial capital of Kandahar in a much anticipated effort to repeat the NVA/ Viet Cong Tet offensive which the US won militarily, utterly destroying the attacking forces, but the press blew into a 'We Cant Win' meme.

Despite their loads of bombs and sniper tactics, the Taliban failed miserably.

But Time Mag and the NYT aren't giving up on their Cronkite-ish theme. 'Analysts', particularly those with facial hair to make them look serious and wise, are free to put any sort of spin on it they can think of:

NYT: Broad Taliban Attack Paralyzes Kandahar

The attack ended as night fell Sunday, when the last two suicide bombers were killed in a hotel near the provincial headquarters of the national intelligence department. Spent casings littered the streets “like hail after a storm,” one Kandahar resident said, and ranks of police officers stood guard at official buildings.

The scale and organization of the attack as well as the targeting of government buildings suggested that the Taliban had been planning it for some time — and that they had relied on support from inside Kandahar.

Among the places singled out were the provincial governor’s palace, the police headquarters, the transportation police headquarters, a police substation and other buildings used by the military, according to a NATO statement.

Those are among the most well-guarded spots in Kandahar, the biggest city in southern Afghanistan and a major base for NATO forces. Still, the 27 insurgent fighters involved in the attacks were able to move in those areas while toting explosive vests or driving vehicles laden with explosives, raising questions about complicity with the attacks.

- summary. None of those targets were captured, let alone occupied. And yet the tone is one of 'woe' with the inevitable negative statements from locals who fit the profile.

Time holds out hope even after the one sided debacle:
Afghanistan: A Taliban Offensive Hopes to Repeat Vietcong's Tet Effect

So much so that Time's bearded wunderkind writer former anti apartheid activist brings up a totally off the wall statement by Gen Westmoreland about the enemy in Nam, months previous to Tet:

{{Tet's} historical impact was to mock the triumphalist claims of General William Westmoreland, who had told Americans months earlier that the Vietcong were on the ropes and unable to mount a major offensive, and that the war would soon be over.

Of course there's no parallel example in the modern military effort, but hey.. that was just too good to pass up. And never mind most of us who were actually voting age adults, and paying attention at the time, thought Westmoreland was an idiot.
Well the writer was alive, too. Maybe ..what.. six years old.

The Washington Times has a different view of the Taliban flop.

...the Taliban launched a major attack on Afghan government targets in the insurgent’s spiritual capital of Kandahar. Press reports called it a “vengeance attack” for the killing of Osama bin Laden a week earlier. Time magazine forebodingly compared it to the 1968 Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. The general tone of the coverage was thick with knowing dread.

The outcome of the attacks was far from the doom presaged in the press. “All of the Taliban involved in the Kandahar attack were either captured or killed,...”

At a heavy price, no doubt? Well it disrupted everyday life in the city for 30 hours. Does that count.. guess it depends.

The series of attacks in Kandahar reached none of their assumed objectives. No Afghan government public buildings were seized and the insurgents inflicted few casualties. The most underreported good news story was that the defense of the city was conducted by the Afghan National Security Forces. “The ANSF did a really good job,” our source said. “They were calm; they were capable.”

But all that good news didn't change the theme for the IDIOT Leftist press. And it never will.

Bureaucrats rethink "All your cash are belong us"

Dallas police have change of heart on cash found by teen 

From WFAA

There are new developments in the story of Plano teenager Ashley Donaldson, who turned in $2,000 she found in an envelope on the ground in North Dallas — only to find out that when no one claimed it the city planned to keep it.
Dallas police Chief David Brown issued a statement Wednesday afternoon saying the department will follow a provision in state law in determining what happens to the funds.

 But previously:

On Tuesday, police said under a new city policy, the unclaimed money will go into Dallas' general fund — not back to the person who found it, as in years past.
"We appreciate your honesty," said Dallas police spokesman Senior Cpl. Kevin Janse. "We're going to put the money to good use. It's not going to be wasted, but put to good use for the City of Dallas."

 Now the reason I highlighted Cpl Janse is that he probably hasnt been a civil servant long enough to become SO EVERLOVING FREAKING STUPID as to think the government claiming found money is a good idea.
And it probably wasn't even the Dallas chief.. No, that takes years of 'public service' and would be someone who has a law degree and also one in 'political science'.

It takes that sort of training to acquire the myopia needed to believe that it was a good idea for future crime solving.
Because, you see, the first think I thought when I read the original article was
"What!!! No one who hears about this and finds an unmarked envelope with cash in it will bother turning it in."
And lets face it, that could be money from a drug deal. And the loser might be dumb enough to claim it; it's happened before.
If that was the case, THEN the police would keep it and there's precedence for that but the finder would get some satisfaction from helping out the police.

And you know what.. I'm just a guy with some common sense but I noted there were others who got that point. Only those who think the people are there to serve government wouldn't get it.

* * *

There's a lot more to the story about Ashley and her family on the WFAA site, read the 'related' links

WSJ: Giggles and Grins column

For some muted chuckles on world and national affairs, in a large national paper, you could do worse than bookmark the Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web Today"

In the May 9 edition, The bin Laden Book Club, we learn:

- bin Laden was a fan of idiot savant Noam Chomsky and commented favorably on Jimmy Carter's geo-politics

- John Kerry thinks it's a good time to raise taxes.

Now that Osama bin Laden is defunct, John Kerry, the haughty, French-looking former junior senator from Massachusetts, who by the way served in Vietnam, thinks it's time to raise taxes.

note: Rush probably wishes he had copyrighted that.

- The New York Times still largely has a staff of Blow-hards and Coastal Elitists

But the best stuff is the skim of the 'net - linked news articles, at the bottom of the article, which usually include things like:

Life Imitates the Onion

which uses wordplay to add silly summaries to straight news headlines
and

Questions Nobody Is Asking

and

Answers to Questions Nobody Is Asking

which are not pointing to the same issues, btw.

Everyone should bookmark that section.

Science: Man-Brain > Food, Sex, Sleep.. all the same.

LiveScience Article: Men Think About Sleep & Food as Much as Sex

... men paid no greater attention to sex than they did food and sleep, Fisher found.

Men think about sex every seven seconds, right? Not according to a new study that finds men ponder sleep and food as much as they do sex.

The median number of thoughts about sex by college-age men was 18 times a day to women's 10 times a day, the study found. But the men also thought about food and sleep proportionately more.

"In other words, there was nothing special about sexual thoughts," study researcher Terri Fisher, a psychologist at The Ohio State University, Mansfield, told LiveScience. "Males thought more about any of the health-related thoughts compared to females, not just thoughts about sex."

So... since men think about those three more than women do, the question is 'What are the women thinking about, instead?
- Hmmm.. On further rumination, I'm pretty sure it relates to what they are wearing and how they look in it.

And the subjects of beer and sports wasn't even covered, leaving an even larger gap. One that surely can't be explained completely by "Do I look fat in this?" can it? Naw.. it's probably "Wonder if the kids are all right?"

I was a little troubled, at first, by the 'thinking about sleep' part. Then I realized it was college kids and I remembered being that age. I too missed a fair amount of sleep on occasion. Closing time was 1:30 even on weekdays back then.

Now I'm sixty eight and for me it's mostly 'food - nap - food - sleep'.

And I never think about beer unless someone else brings up the subject.
But when I DO think about beer, I think about a Dos Equis

Taking out the Trash

First, kudos to President Obama for giving the go ahead to erase the Al Quaeda mentor.
Second kudos to Navy Seals for collecting and sanitizing the garbage.

But we all must realize that this is somewhat equivalent to 'capture the flag', where one side steals the talisman of the other and it was not only captured but deep-sixed so that it could never be used again.

As a symbolic victory it cannot be denied as a scoring coup. In reality it changes little other than to underscore that the US will only put up with so much humiliation from its supposed 'ally', Pakistan, who knew full well where bin Laden was stashed and did absolutely nothing about it in order to appease its large population segment who still live in the dark ages.

There will, no doubt, be reprisals from these cretins, and we don't know where or when. But it's important that they don't get away with it, on the premise of 'allowing free expression from other cultures'.
You can be sure there will be some sort of street demonstration, in the UK, against this action. You can also be sure that unless it breaks out into full riot, the British will treat these stinking Islamists with kid gloves. Jailing and charging as few as possible.
On the other hand if native cultural Brits counter demonstrate with the same sort of rhetoric and actions, they will be jailed and prosecuted for hate crime or anything else that applies and to the full extent of British law.

And THAT would serve greatly to repair the damage to Islamist morale that losing bin Laden inflicted. Nothing is more important to terrorists than to show how weak and ineffectual their opponents are. From the embassy hostages in 79 to the first WTC bombing to the Cole to the attacks on the two African Embassies. they had their way until the two towers fell.
It could even happen that way in the US... already the 'progressive left' is mewling about International Law being violated. Well when the other side is bringing knives to the fight, you throw away the Marquis of Queensbury rulebook.

So... Taking out the Trash, finally, is a good thing. That the garbage collector comes around often and as scheduled is most important.
___________________________________________________________

Deep Background:
The Secret Team That Killed bin Laden

Taxes: WWJD? - "Jesus would take it all"

.. or so says Monsigneur Larry O'Donnell of the Holy Church of Social Justice. aka MSNBC.

Seems that Rush got on the subject of what Jesus would say about the rich being taxed enough. And the 'WWJD' thing got him probably a little flummoxed so he shifted the meme to what most of us would consider firmer ground; "What Would Jesus Take?" Rush answered himself; "Nothing."

Obviously this is too much for some people, especially those who might say Jesus was a social activist, or a community organizer:



Now I'm not a very good Christian, but I believe. And I've read the Bible through a few times. The first, when I was young, scared the stuffin's out of me. Then as an adult I learned how to read it. And read it through twice. With all verses in context of those coming before and after. In fact the Gospel only really makes sense in context of the Old Testament.

So.. in those terms this guy's takedown covers the particulars O'Donnell cited pretty darn well.

But I've got another thought on it. Or maybe.. would like to advise O'Donnell of a few words also in the Bible.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

as well as..

Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's.

Now since we all have to act on our own beliefs and free will, something that O'Donnell seems to have a problem with, I'm gonna have to desist writing 'My Judgment' on that. After all it's possible O'Donnell is right and I am wrong.

If we believe the Bible, we know the devil is a great deceiver and may have pulled scales over my eyes and I've got it all wrong. But, from what I've always believed, I have to side with Rush.. Jesus wouldn't TAKE anything. Isn't that what Free Will is all about?

So, I can't speak for Jesus any more than Rush can. But, when I see what O'Donnell thinks, 'Pharisee' comes to mind.
Read more:
MSNBC's O'Donnell Slams Limbaugh As Biblically Ignorant

"Trump, you Magnificent Bastard!"

.. so says the creator of Dilbert, Scott Adams in his blog.

This morning I read a news item saying that some folks at NBC think Trump might be pretending to run for president to boost ratings. The story noted that ratings for his TV show are up 20% lately. I laughed out loud because sometimes I forget that at least half the country doesn't realize he's just screwing with the media.

The magnificent part of this whole thing is that he's putting no effort whatsoever into concealing his prank. That's what I love about the guy. He knows that no level of clownery in a field of clowns will single him out as the one clown that doesn't really mean it.

In other words, the conservative electorate are being 'Punked'.

Sadly this is one more time Adams shows his acumen in separating out all that is unattractive in human nature.

He goes on to cite Trump's loudly voiced opinion on the birther nonsense. Then explains that Trump is no dummy having graduated from Wharton. While I'll demur on how smart that really makes you, I can't really argue it.

The birther issue is a stupid issue. It attracts the same sort of divisive, idiotic thinking that the 9/11 'Truthers' projected.

Somehow Trump has managed to cross basic issue agendas and gain following from those in both the mainstream GOP and Tea Party, despite some glaring inconsistencies. Approving Eminent Domain for Commercial Development being another sore point. Of course he approves it, he uses it.
I've seen similar behavior before and thought.. well maybe the guy really could open up some discussion, though certainly we dont need yet another narcissist President. so I didn't say anything. Now I think it's true, especially now that 'Dilbert' points it out.

Yet another elitist showing that the electorate are foolish.

Just 'Bastard', in my view.

80/80 rule: Why the Masses are too stupid to govern

Australia is set to implement a carbon tax in 400 days or so. The interesting part is the present Labor/Greens coalition was elected on a promise of no carbon tax. Yet it seems that was the core of the coalition agreement, so there will be a carbon tax.

The purported aim of the tax is to help save the planet. Australia's efforts, if totally effective, reducing global CO2 emissions by a whopping 1%.
Except the PM, Julia Gillard is now solemnly saying that it wont hurt the poor, or industry, or energy companies; somehow all these will be kept whole and job-producing coal exports won't suffer a bit.
Amazingly enough, the 'rough crowd' doesn't buy it.

Tim Blair, a columnist-blogger, who amuses greatly just by pointing out things things like this, focuses our attention on a great piece by thinker/writer/PhD in Architecture,
Elizabeth Farrelly: Democracy is blocking intelligence

It may be, as one correspondent wrote last week, that advertising works on the "80/80 principle", the assumption that 80 per cent of Australians have an IQ average of 80. Now I'm fine with stupidity in advertising. Indeed, I expect nothing less - isn't that why God gave us the mute button? But what makes the 80/80 thought especially gripping - as in, by the throat - is how much it explains that branch of advertising we call politics.

Everything is dose related. Whether it's arsenic in your diet or radioactivity in the sea, small amounts now and then are OK, even beneficial, but large amounts, repeatedly, are bad and even terminal. It's the same with almost everything else - cars, houses, chocolate, holidays, even happiness.

For one person to live in an acre of grass and trees is perfectly harmless, even lovable. But for the numberless hordes to do it means an end to wilderness, clean air and polar bears.

By the last, I assume the verdant one-acre domicile is meant for those who truly appreciate and will protect it, like herself and her peers. Certainly not for a jobsworth, barely getting his ticket out of high school, who owns a couple of pizza stores.

She sets all this up by invoking Thomas Jefferson and the beloved 'pursuit of happiness' phrase. And the summary is that either the pursuit or the happiness - maybe better, BOTH- must be rationed and regulated for the good of the whole.

I wonder if maybe the government might issue a license to pursue? Hmmm..
Or just POSSIBLY.. that license to pursuit of happiness is inherent in completing post-graduate studies.
You know, I think that's it! After all it IS a 'Doctorate of Philosophy' isnt it.
And Elizabeth Farrelly has one in Architecture! Leads one to think it isnt so much continuing education in engineering and architectural sciences as it is meant to further appreciation and application of architecture in civilization and society.

So that PhD, really not mattering what field it's in, is indeed a pass into the hallowed halls of the intellectual. Giving the bearer full rights and privileges of the governing elite / protector of the stupid masses.
Which is probably what Jefferson had in mind in the first place, right?
And which, taken to the utmost, explains Noam Chomsky {Dr of Linguistic Mechanics} so beloved by the progressive intellectual elite that he needn't even bother debating his awesome philosophies.

The whole point is that when you read opinions like hers, you should start thinking about what the attack on the previously benign, harmless, beloved of all plant life Carbon Dioxide, really means.

Fragrant Dried Petals and Leaves

Attractive men have long... ring fingers: study

For the visual test, the results were unambiguous. "The longer the ring finger compared to the index -- that is, the greater the exposure to testosterone -- the more attractive the face was rated," she said by phone.

"I feel pretty.. oh so pretty..."
pffffft!

______________________________________________________________________

Facebook poll:

Do you think they should put prayer back in school?

The knee jerk for most who've seen it eliminated is 'yes'.. BUT.. the keyword is 'put back in'
The older I get, the less I believe in Ritual Prayer and more I believe in spontaneous silent prayer. And that is Biblical.
Which means: No, not really. Look at it this way.. watered down invocations to everyone including Gaia. And possible use of prayer rugs to show 'solidarity'.

No thanks.
_______________________________________________________

How Japan Compares With The World In English Proficiency

or

'Which Furriners Speak English Good?'.. note the Dutch rank #2 to the Norse. Why do the Dutch seem to have a more North American, than British, accent? Dunno.

Texas History Re-Writ

President Obama: "Texas has always been a pretty Republican state, for, you know, historic reasons."

'Aggresive Reporter' Interview seen here: NPR
LBJ? Sam Rayburn? Lloyd Bentsen? Ann Richards?

And this was from a Columbia University Poli-Sci major. As far as we know.

Well, I'm not. so there's that. Reckon the girls on 'The View' will comment?

h/t Powerlineblog

What an odd coincidence!

April 13, 2011
Internet gambling is coming to D.C.

April 15, 2011
FBI shuts down poker sites in major online gambling crackdown

I'm sure it's just a failure to communicate.. or something

Geeks v Suits

Sometimes even cynics take Sunday off
It occurred to me after a little tiff on a soccer message-board that I'm becoming far too sarcastic and cynical in my typing. Paying too much attention to current events and news coverage of those events can do that to you. At least that's the excuse I'll use for the moment.

So I decided I would look around for some good news to comment on.  There really isn't a whole lot of that, unfortunately, but I'll settle for anything the least bit neutral and I did stumble across a theme I'm pretty familiar with:

Code Monkey vs Biz monkey
- To put it another way, the eternal struggle for supremacy in the workplace of the Geek squad and the MBA mob.
The discussion seems to boil down to which is most important in the pecking order of a startup company

In search of a biz monkey (why bother?)

MBA's with buzzwords and the ability to raise a million dollars around some web idea are not scarce. They are fungible.
People who understand technology and are willing to bend it to their will, on the other hand, are scarce. They can't be found with a classified ad on Craigslist or in a blind project ad on eLance.

Which was referring to...

.. and if you can't teach it, regulate it

Not always a good idea to match up a bureaucrat with a politician/lawyer/small businessman, that has more than half a brain.

Easy pickin's ... courtesy  HotAir



Of course they don't look at jobs, they just look at political leverage and tax/fee/fine possibilities.

Nor do they even attempt to address the Cost of Living multiplier effect of any energy tax.
- If tax adds one cent at the beginning of a product's supply chain, it's probably 10 cents or more at the end of it.

This tax and regulation environment explains why there's a freaking mob rush of even 'Green' industries to get out of California.

Gore: Global Warming a lot like the Civil Rights Movement

via Ed Morrissey


The Hill: Gore to young advocates: Battle industry lobbyists to turn the tide on climate

“You need to ask that question and other related questions. Don’t they see the evidence, don’t they hear what the scientists are saying, do they actually believe this lying from the large carbon polluters, that the scientists are making this up?” Gore added.
He went on the offensive against climate change deniers, citing a litany of extreme weather events – ranging from floods in Pakistan to droughts in the U.S. southwest – and noted that nine of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred in the last 12 years.

All of which has been proven bullshit by scientists NOT trying to make a buck in more funding.

Want to see Al go red-faced to critical mass?  Bring up his claim that Venus is super hot because of runaway carbon warming.
Ask him what the median temperature is in Venus atmosphere where the air pressure is the same as earth sea level.
Interesting that, despite Venus being closer to the Sun and CO2 making up about 60% of its atmosphere, Venus' median air temp at an altitude equating to 1 BAR is about the same as Earth's
 No Al.  It's NOT like the Civil Rights movement.  It's more like the Carpetbaggers era.

How Guvmint Stuff Works

Back in 2005 the Science was settled. The climate was warming like never seen before and we were causing it.
The UN wanted its share of the carbon mitigation/reparations pie but it had to provide something to justify the shakedown... so it put some eager interns to the task and somehow found an estimate of 50 million climate change refugees by 2010.

And that story remained on their website right up until this week.

Anthony Watts has the story of the inept effort to 'disappear the inconvenient facts':

The UN “disappears” 50 million climate refugees, then botches the disappearing attempt

How much credibility should you give any group, which YOU indirectly fund, that attempts to cover up their mistakes rather than simply say they were wrong and explain how it might have happened?
_____________________________________________________
More from WUWT, this time real climate science.
Ocean cold/warm water fronts mix CO2 much more than previously thought

More Pie?

Look at this pie again!


- Townhall: Michael Ramirez

via Ace:
 Another way of looking at that pie. Take those numbers, Divide by 100 MILLION

We have a family that is spending $38,200 per year. The family’s income is $21,700 per year. The family adds $16,500 in credit card debt every year in order to pay its bills. After a long and difficult debate among family members, keeping in mind that it was not going to be possible to borrow $16,500 every year forever, the parents and children agreed that a $380/year premium cable subscription could be terminated. So now the family will have to borrow only $16,120 per year.

 Need a video.. there's yet another way of seeing it.....

Two Signs of the Times: Lady Liberty Faux and Personal Massagers

Post office uses image of Vegas Liberty statue for stamp by accident

- somehow seems fitting, dunnit!

Walgreens as a Sex Shop?

- yeah, I've been noticing those 'personal items' sections have been getting more and more 'in yer face'.

Oh.. I almost forgot: a little bonus sign of the times:

Carbon-neutral Bra's

- Funny, I thought that problem was solved in the sixties.