Ruminations - 28dec2011

You can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out.

George Rebane

Hope that all RR readers did as well as I did in the book department for Christmas gifts.  I got a passel of real good ones that covered topics ranging from global energy strategy, through ‘how our brains make … feel so good’, celebration of Germanic ethnicity, to great works on debate and history.  All of them were in pulp format, and I can state with little fear of contradiction that those trees did not die in vain.

Santa brought Jo Ann a Kindle Fire, and we saw new tablets galore when in soCal with our kids and friends over Christmas.  I’m in the market for a new laptop, and was impressed by the latest Mac offering in this department that lets me swing with both Windows and Mac OS.  Also, the latest iPad seems like something worth having around the house.  With all these ‘I wannas’ dancing around in our heads, where can the economy go but up in 2012?

Well, it looks like Newt’s about to be neutered in the Iowa caucuses and beyond.  I’m drawn to his smarts, but my fellow voters are very finicky when it comes to the man’s background in affairs of the heart and reconsideration of public policy positions.  We want our leaders to be forever loyal to one mate (at a time?), and on public policy to be unchanging once having made up their mind years ago, no matter what new data or experiences occur in the interval.  Newt fails on both counts, and must now forfeit his few weeks on top of the Republican heap.

Asian-American students are facing discrimination in being admitted to colleges.  Apparently something in their double-helix, or culture, or the water they drink makes them smarter than the round-eyes.  The response by the progressive college administrations is to quota them down so that the racial make-up of entering classes are more ‘balanced’.  The response from the high achievers is to check any box other than Asian-American on their applications if they have any smidgeon of non-Asian ancestry in their background.  Social engineers who know better eschew meritocracy.

Those pesky ‘birthers’ just keep bringing up all kinds of revelations that require new layers of judicial denial and protection of information about the President’s background.  Among the latest is that his SSN is slightly used and of the wrong pedigree.  It appears that it was originally issued to a Connecticut resident now long dead.  There’s more here, and then there’s the little item of his Selective Service registration.  And, of course, the doctored long-form ‘Birth Certificate from Hell’  just keeps waving in the wind.  Is it not strange that the whole issue cannot be resolved in the President’s favor, and must forever remain an historical black hole?

Both the Right and Left are becoming more than uneasy about the way the Patriot Act’s provisions have been expanded in the latest National Defense Authorization Act for 2012.  Everyone, from Rep Ron Paul, through ex-gov Jessie Ventura, to national Leftwing trumpet Amy Goodman, is letting their constituencies know that the federal government seems to be up to no good.  Apparently there is more to the Civilian National Security Force, “fusion centers”, barbed-wired “residential camps”, and police arming themselves with military gear than just idle rumors here and there.

Comments

[Russ Steele]

We saw lots of new tablets and Kindles, and Amazon gift cards around our tree also, looks like a lot of family reading this year. There was also a lot of talk about sharing Kindle books among family members. I am still deciding on a tablet. May wait for the Google Tablet, rumored to be the iPad killer. Yes, I know they all say that until is isn't.

[Russ Steele]

Opp should read "until it isn't"

[billy T]

Meanwhile, back in California and back to reality: http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2011/12/28/california-town-abusing-funds-state-finds/ Now, beginning Jan 1st, you can't buy Robitussin, NyQuil and Dimetapp without a prescription. Just in time for cold, cough and flu season. "Hey Doc, you know I am allergic to alcohol, so can I get a script for Robitussin? Here's the cash for this visit. Now, where can I get that $8 bottle of cough syrup I used to buy at Safeway?" Yes, dear reader, I don't mind that it will be illegal to transport or distribute shark fins. No problem. I don't even mind that come January it will be illegal to sell beer with caffine in it. Last thing we need is some wired up drunk that simply won't pass out. But Robitussin?? Guess I will have to learn to get by on Therma-flu while it is still legal. OK, to tie this in to a topic, how about "Merry Christmas. Did you see what the Nanny State California politicians left under my tree? Nothing. They took away one of the American-Chinese favorite foods (discriminatory)and my sleep good syrup." Glad you guys got books. Signed the artist formerly known as Bill Tozer

[Douglas Keachie]

Bill, the stuff in Robitussin can be used to make meth, as I understand it.

[Douglas Keachie]

TSA rolls on: http://laist.com/2011/12/27/tsa_screeners_will_be_on_patrol_at.php

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawmNWbVtDRGQBpPJEsSqSh1AePLXrZrp3tc]

You guys just don't get it. What is best for you when you get a cold is to get so stoned on pot that you don't know who you are. Then you won't even know you have a cold. And we all know pot is good for you while NyQuill is a dangerous drug. Get with the program conservatives!

Signed Bob W. I don't have any of those "social network" personalities. Too timid.

[Todd Juvinall]

Nyquil will spawn a lefty rehab program with the requisite union employees to run it.

[Gregory]

California public universities are forbidden the use of discrimination on the basis of race, creed, etc., so Asians and even Caucasians are overrepresented in top UC's just as they are underrepresented at private schools like Stanford who are able to put the admissions thumb on the scale of the races they want to boost.

It's discrimination, nothing 'reverse' about it, at Stanford, and other private schools.

On the other front, if you want dextromethorphan, the cough suppressant being banned, drive to the Costco in Reno once a year and stock up on Delsym or some other single ingredient DM remedy.

[billy T]

Robitussin rocks. Heck, you can fail a field sobriety test on Nyquil. Its like 18% alcohol. Never shot up Dimetapp, so yours truly cannot address that product. However, I buy about one bottle of alcohol free Robitussin a year and rarely finish the bottle. The wayward ones make meth out of antihistamine capsules, not liquid. Back in the day one could make crank out of chicken squat. Burned like Draino, but you could thread a needle on a running sewing machine once the burning subsided. I once got booted out of rehab. Oh, they snooped around every kook and cranny in my room and even the toilet bowl. They could not figure out how I was getting looped on a daily basis. Finally they caught me. Two fingers of Vitalis hair tonic with 8 oz of water in a Styrofoam cup gets you where you want to be. They said I was making a mockery of "the program" and showed me the door. I have been kicked out of a lot better places than that. Anybody buy a bottle of Vitalis Hair tonic (grease free) lately? That's because it probably got banned as well. So, now that I don't drink or dope and am too slow to catch young girls, they take away my one yearly pleasure in life. These are indeed tough times, bro. Happy New Year. Signed Bill Tozer, the former alcohol free Robitussun nipper.

[Douglas Keachie]

A friend in the EMT business says that some of their street drunk pickups have the freshest breath ever, as they drink mouthwash with alcohol in it.

[Douglas Keachie]

Bob, getting stoned on pot does indeed occasionally off the strange property of seemingly stepping outside of one's self, and watching how one appears to others, in split personality real time. That was one of the cool things about it I remember from college.

[Dan Getz]

I switched back to a Mac early this year specifically because of how well it runs Windows in addition to the benefits of Mac OS. I'd highly recommend Parallels for running Windows on the Mac.

[Todd Juvinall]

Now that the courts have ruled the State can dissolve our local redevelopment agencies the final stake in the heart of local control has been achieved. What is the left's slogan now? Hmmm, Grab the uture or some such crap? The California future is third world flop status. The overpasses will now be crumbling so there won't even be them to live under. What a state!

[George Rebane]

DanG 531am - Thank you. Is Parallels the Mac environment in which Windows runs in virtual mode? Do you also run Windows in native mode? How do you partition your hard drive?