Cheezburger of the Day

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Congratulations to our Pater of Prowling!

Perhaps he is prowling no more. Go see for yourself.

Much Cuteness

Dig this.

A Ride in a Prius

On our mini-vacation last weekend, I got to take my first ride in a Prius. It's a nice enough car, comfortable and well-appointed, but I'm not sure I understand what all the fuss is about. According to the readout on the dash, the thing was averaging about 38 MPG. That's great and all, but my 2001 Nissan Altima FredMobile gets 22-25 MPG. There's a difference, but I just don't see that big of one.

More to the point, I bought my FredMobile used. A Prius is most likely bought new because there are so few used ones available. No ore was strip-mined in order for me to obtain transportation, no streams polluted with the leavings of polyvinyl extrusions. The Prius, I'm afraid, leaves a great deal of refuse in its wake. The FredMobile was the ultimate in recycling as is buying anything used. Extending that, the furniture in our house all came from consignment stores. That's recycling, right?

Doesn't that make my FredMobile and my Dave Ramsey lifestyle more eco-friendly than that of the Prius drivers? Of course, I don't get to parade my ecological sanctimony around town and drive with my nose in the air, but shouldn't I? Hmmm. That leads me to an interesting idea for a bumpersticker.


You can buy one here.

The First Line is the Best

... and I mean best. You'll see what I mean in this quote from California legislatress Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa).

Well, there is this mantra out there - "live within our means" - and while that sounds really nice . . . and it sounds really responsible, it's meaningless. Our means are completely within our control . . . We have just given away huge corporate subsidies in February; we have given away other tax reductions over many, many years; we've created tax loopholes; in good times, we routinely give away taxes, and then in lean times we never replace those tax deductions or close those loopholes. . . . So "live within our means" doesn't mean anything. The fact is, we have a state with a population that have [sic] needs that we have a moral obligation to provide.

Emphasis mine. This is the argument that goes on inside every marriage where money is a problem and one of the two can't control their spending. Need Want triumphs over means.

In lieu of a divorce from our legislature, some Californians are opting for a trial separation. I wonder why?

(F)or the fourth year in a row, a survey of 543 CEO's found that California's toxic combination of high taxes and intrusive regulations made it the worst place in the nation to do business.

Maybe if we nag, harass and abuse our employers and taxpayers a little more, they'll give us more money to spend.

Update: That quote from Noreen sounds like it was dialogue lifted from the last third of Atlas Shrugged.

Who is John Galt?

The Perfect Family Vacation

We're currently up in Santa Clara on a mini-vacation and having a great time. More will be blogged on that later, but for now I want to propose the perfect family vacation and then take your improvements in the comments.

What's the perfect vacation, you ask? Why, that's simple! It's one so awful, so horrid, so indescribably bad that all subsequent vacations, no matter how boring, seem like paradise by comparison.

Here we go.

Start with a minivan and 5 people - 2 parents and 3 kids. Go to a location that is over 100 degrees and leave the windows rolled up. Don't turn on the AC - explain to the kids that it uses too much fuel. Turn the radio to either country western or death metal. For entertainment, tour tract homes from the car, homes you have no intention of buying. For refreshment, buy McDonalds strawberry shakes, but don't drink them until they're melted and warm.

There. That's a good start. The floor is now open for improvements!

Scurrying Around the Theocracy

... I came across this.

OK, so this isn't from the theocracy, but it's still a great bit. Go check it out.

Enjoy!

Cheezburger of the Day

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Let the Politicians Use VA Hospitals

Shannon Love, blogging over at the Chicago Boyz, has a great idea.

We should create a legal requirement that political elites have to use the same system they foist on everyone else. They should have to wait for hours in doctors’ offices. They should have to wait weeks or months for tests. They should be fobbed off on emergency rooms if they get sick over the weekend. They should be denied any Hail Mary test, medication or procedure. They should get the entire politically-managed health-care experience.

This standard should extend to all elected officials, political appointees and their immediate families.

Awesome. She needs to add one extra caveat. The politicians should also be taxed according to what they spend in the government budget. That is, if the deficit per capita is $1500, then the politician with a family of four should pay an additional $6000 per year in taxes.

What's sauce for the goose ...

Do You Still Visit Shopping Malls?

Over a two or three year period, I did not visit a shopping mall even once. Recently, I went shopping for clothes and found myself at a couple of malls here in San Diego. It was a surreal experience. I had lived my life without such things - without walking around a huge structure built for the purpose of keeping my attention so that I might buy what they offered. Instead, when impulse struck or I needed something, I used the Internet or went to a single-purpose store like Office Depot or a grocery store.

I haven't been able to put my finger on just why the shopping mall has become so alien to me. Perhaps I've become so steeped in Dave Ramseyism that the concept of buying-as-entertainment is subconsciously morally repugnant.

How about you? How often do you visit shopping malls? Is it a pleasant experience or is it something you avoid at all costs?

An Ocean of Clouds

... lapping at a shore of mountains.


I took this photo today as we flew from San Diego to San Jose. I used my little Canon PowerShot to take the photo and then loaded it onto my tiny Acer Aspire One netbook. I used Picnik to edit it - in this case, I just reduced the resolution so I didn't use so much of my memory in Picasa where this blog's photos are stored.

I'm not sure what it looks like. The windows of the plane were clouded with scratches and the screen of the netbook is pretty small, so quality control is difficult. I'm not surprised at this - there's got to be a price to be paid for such a tiny footprint.

On the plus side, this whole blogging travel kit is so small and so light that I packed it in my normal luggage and didn't need an extra case like I do for my normal laptop.

I'd love it if you left a comment and let me know what you thought of the photo.

Who Needs HDTV?

In the battle between Internet entertainment and TV entertainment, the scales are tipping towards the Internet.

June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Television programs such as “The Simpsons” and “CSI” are for the first time commanding higher advertising rates at Web sites including Hulu.com and TV.com than on prime-time TV.

The premium rates in the just-ended 2008-2009 television season are mainly for shows that rank among the most-watched by Nielsen Co., said David Poltrack, chief research officer at New York-based CBS Corp., which is home to “CSI” and owns TV.com.

Marketers, who are now considering commitments for the 2009-2010 TV season, are willing to pay more because TV.com and Hulu.com, owned by investors including News Corp., NBC and Walt Disney Co., provide committed viewers who actively seek out shows. There are fewer commercials, and consumers are twice as likely to recall Web ads, Poltrack said, citing Nielsen.

It's all about the cash and chasing the consumers who have it. Can't you see some fantastically novel entertainment that combines video and audience feedback? I wonder if you could create a serious TV show and turn it into a comedy by running a filtered set of audience tweets across the bottom of the screen a la Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Quote of the Day

... comes from a chat session at work.

"Just focus on process improvement. The actual work will take care of itself."

Hilarious!

We Need a Second Stimulus Package!

... that way we could buy the Chinese something really nice and maybe then they'd stop being angry with us.

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- China’s central bank renewed its call for a new global currency and said the International Monetary Fund should manage more of members’ foreign-exchange reserves, triggering a decline in the U.S. dollar.

Let's borrow some more money from the Chinese and get the a really, really nice present.

An Unsolvable Mystery

Scientists have recently discovered that the ancient Roman Empire was able to construct an elaborate system of aqueducts and roads without the use of Microsoft PowerPoint or Lean Six Sigma. It is unknown how this was accomplished as these two tools are seen as crucial to all civilization.


It's possible that this was the creation of interstellar alien visitors that did use MS PowerPoint and LSS.

America Will Become the Ayatollahs' Protector

... if the current revolution fails and Iran develops nuclear weapons. We won't have a choice. Here's why.

Imagine that the revolution taking place right now in the streets of Tehran re-occurs in 2013. Further assume that Iran has the bomb. Several, in fact. Assume further that this time, the Iranian Army decides to intervene on the side of the revolution because everyone except the Revolutionary Guard has had quite enough of the mullahs and their corruption and incompetence.

What happens as the mullahs' world falls apart?

First off, as Christopher Hitchens points out, the mullahs really believe all that death to America and death to Israel stuff.

One of the signs of Iran's underdevelopment is the culture of rumor and paranoia that attributes all ills to the manipulation of various demons and satans.

Christopher Hitchens also points out that their paranoia and hatred of the US, UK and Israel has very little to do with reality.

There is nothing at all that any Western country can do to avoid the charge of intervening in Iran's internal affairs. The deep belief that everything—especially anything in English—is already and by definition an intervention is part of the very identity and ideology of the theocracy.

It is a mistake to assume that the ayatollahs, cynical and corrupt as they may be, are acting rationally. They are frequently in the grip of archaic beliefs and fears that would make a stupefied medieval European peasant seem mentally sturdy and resourceful by comparison.

So, given this, as their regime collapses, will the mullahs:

a) go quietly into the night

or

b) launch everything they have against the objects of their hate?

I would suggest that option b) is the most likely. America would then be faced with the choice of losing one or more cities to nuclear weapons or supporting the Iranian regime against the protestors. The cost of losing a city might be higher than you think. The problem of a nuclear attack doesn't stop with the hundreds of thousands that would be vaporized. If you thought 9/11 was bad for business, just wait until a major transportation center like Chicago is blasted off the map.

Now let's assume that there is no revolution and that instead, Iran continues its meddling in other countries' affairs through the use of proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah - perhaps enhanced by similar groups in the UK or US. Unless the destruction they cause in the US rises to the level of nuclear attack, how do you stop it? Israel has shown that police forces and conventional armies operating under restrictive rules of engagement can't prevent attacks. You have to cut off the source of their support.

However, you won't be able to do that because that leads you back to the first scenario wherein the cornered mullahs unleash nuclear weapons on your cities. You would be reduced to protecting the demented regime that attacks you because you value life and civilization and they do not.

Finally, you won't be able to let anyone overthrow the mullahs because no matter who it is - Russia, Pakistan or the combined Arab states, the end result is the same for the US and UK. As the Great Satan, it won't matter who is actually attacking them, some of those bombs will be reserved for us. We will become Iran's de facto ally against the rest of the world.

This revolution in Iran could be our last chance to prevent the world from becoming a knowing, willing host to a very dangerous parasite.

Cheezburger of the Day

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On Last Chances

So it looks like the revolution in Iran is getting shut down violently. Iran has pledged that there will be no negotiation of its nuclear weapons program. It has renewed calls for the destruction if Israel and continued its standard polemics against the US and UK. Meanwhile, President Obama has expressed concern, but refuses to "meddle" in Iranian affairs no matter how much they meddle in everyone else's. (See also: Hamas, Hezbollah.)

If this leads to the incineration of Chicago, what will we give then to take all of this moral purity back?

At least we won't have "meddled."

Acer Aspire One Review

For Father's Day, my kids (and fiancee) got me an Acer Aspire One netbook PC. I've had a few days to play with it now and have formed a pretty good opinion of it.

Quick review: It's a full-featured laptop, only smaller. I like it!

Slightly longer version: It's essentially a standard laptop with a small screen and no CD drive. The screen size is only a mild sacrifice as you can still read Cheezburgers with it and watch YouTube videos. I don't miss the CD drive at all. It comes with Windows XP, my preferred OS, already installed. The WLAN connected to my home network without any fuss.

The most surprising part about the Acer are the speakers. They have an impressively rich sound. I dialed up the celebration scene from The Caine Mutiny and the dialogue was just as deep and manly from the tiny Aspire One as it would be from a normal TV - no tinny, wimpy voices here!

Having said all that, it suffers from the same problems that all laptops do. It's small. I still love working on my big, dual-monitored desktop machine (where I am writing this now). Neither the Aspire nor my other laptop have the CPU horsepower to run Adobe Creative Suite programs for anything other than emergency situations. The Aspire is clearly underpowered in this respect, but you don't buy a Netbook to edit videos with Premiere Pro, you buy it because you can take it anywhere and surf the Interweb Tubes.

I haven't used it for mobile blogging yet, but this weekend we will be going up to Santa Clara. I'll bring the Aspire and one of my small cameras (not my Nikon artillery piece) and see what I can do mobile blogging with a very small footprint. I'm sure it will do just fine.

Finally, its compact size and low cost make it ideal for toting around the house for those times when you want to surf the web or stream music and you don't want to set up a base camp for some bigger laptop. It will be great in the kitchen when I want to scan through Cook's recipes or watch instructional videos on cooking like this one. I plan to have a stereo jack waiting for it on my home audio system so I can use it for Internet radio or Pandion or just listening to my music.

All in all - I really like it.

My test video.

The Template On How To Deal With Iran

... comes from The Gipper himself. I've never been a Sean Hannity fan and I think conservatives spend too much time worshipping Reagan, but this one is priceless. Enjoy.

H/T: Our Grand Inquisitor

Update: Christopher Hitchens points out that Obama's fears of being a foil for the Iranian government are pointless. Because of their delusions and paranoia, we already are a foil and no amount of washing our hands and self-flagellation for real or imagined sins will change that.

There is nothing at all that any Western country can do to avoid the charge of intervening in Iran's internal affairs. The deep belief that everything—especially anything in English—is already and by definition an intervention is part of the very identity and ideology of the theocracy.