Trans-living, perhaps?

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, Worldwreckers, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Dec 022022
 

For probably a quarter of a million years, the natural response to teenagers being moody, weird and uncomfortable in their bodies has been “Get over it, kid, it’s just a normal part of growing up.” Today, of course, we are now being informed in no uncertain terms that the proper response includes pharmaceuticals, hormones, massive life-altering surgeries including amputations and removals of evolutionarily vital organs and the celebration of contra-factual positions.

Canada is doing one better: making it not just legal, not just socially acceptable, but *praiseworthy* for teenagers who are depressed to seek out medical professionals to END THEM. The “MAID” (Medical Assistance In Dying) program is apparently advancing by leaps and bounds; it’s not just people with horrifying terminals illnesses that promise nothing but agony and degradation, but things as tenuous and potentially *temporary* as depression and PTSD. Something like 7.5% of the deaths on Vancouver Island are the result of doctors helping people off themselves.

Let Me Be Obama-Clear: if you want to off yourself, that’s your decision. If you are an adult of sound-ish mind and you don;t want to live on this planet anymore… it’s your life to do with as you please. Getting the government to help you out with that, though, gets a little weird. If you have a terminal case of explosive xenopolycythemic ass cancer eating you alive causing chunks of your flesh to drop off and detonate, then, sure, I can even get behind your decision. But if you’re just *sad?* If you are not yet an actual adult? Naw. There ain’t no role for the government helping out here, and a pretty big argument for the government trying to prevent that sort of thing.

The Canadian government getting involved here makes sense from a purely ledger-based point of view: make it acceptable and in fact praiseworthy for an increasing fraction of the populace to be euthanized, then you can go after the people you as a government *really* don’t want hanging around: those who consume but do not contribute. Elderly retirees living off pensions and social welfare. People in loony bins. The homeless. Criminals. Imagine a Canada where such people were peacefully marched into Carousel, never to be heard from or paid for again. From a bureaucrats point of view, it’s a spectacular system. (One wonder what happens when they realize what an economic drag “migrants” are.) From the point of view of a conscientious religious person, it’s demonic. From the point of view of a pragmatic skeptic, it’s equally horrifying.

Even Canadian clothing retailers are getting in on the action, producing public service spots extolling the virtues of ending oneself, with no actual valid reason given:

 

There are times when bringing on death is the proper course of action. But it is never a good thing; at best, it is merely the least bad option.

 

 Posted by at 7:43 am

US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol 1 has arrived!

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, Book 3, books, news, projects, sales & specials, US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol 1, weapons  No Responses »
Dec 012022
 

Twenty copies of the new book have finally arrived, fortunately entirely intact. They took two days to cross an ocean, one day to cross half a continent… and two weeks to cross the customs office. Shrug.

Anyway, here’s what I’m gonna do: signed, numbered and dated copies will be $20 plus postage (media mail). These will come with two 18X24 prints, also signed and dated. If you would like to be on the list for one of these send me an email:

But the first five copies will be auctioned off, with the highest bids getting the lowest numbers. Additionally: numbers 3,4 and 5 will receive three 18X24 prints, while numbers 1 and 2 will receive four 18X24 prints, all signed, dated and numbered. If this sounds interesting to you, email me what your bid is. Bidding ends Sunday night, after which I’ll let bidders know. If there are more than five bidders, six and beyond won’t be held to their bids… but they won’t *necessarily* get the next numbers in line. Once the auction winners are processed, I’ll send out PayPal invoices for the regular copies, and they will be sent out based on the order of payment.

I also have ten “SR-71” copies and five “B-47/B-52” copies. The SR-71’s, singed and dated with two 18X24 prints, will go for $20; the B-47/52 signed and dated with three 18X24 prints, will go for $55 plus postage. If you would like one of these, let me know.

 Posted by at 11:12 pm

They say this like it’s a bad thing

 blather, Hmm..., news, politics, weapons  No Responses »
Nov 292022
 

Several news reports (example) have come out in the past few days saying that stockpiles of weapons such as anti-tank missiles, MANPADS, artillery shells, etc. are running low in NATO countries. We have apparently sent a *lot* to Ukraine, which has spent the last nine months using those weapons to grind down the Russian military. The result is that NATO may soon run out… meaning no more for Ukraine, and little enough left for us. This is, perhaps naturally, portrayed as a Bad Thing.

But, utilized correctly, it’s not. It is in fact a Good Thing. Why? Because the war in Ukraine is, comparatively, a small one. Compared to Russia invading NATO, or China invading Taiwan or Japan, this war is dinky. And if we’re running low on ammo now… that is one hell of a bright shiny message that we need to stock the frak up. Doing so will take time of course… and we’d better start that clock *now* rather than waiting for when the Big One actually comes. Some of these weapons will take two or more years just to ramp up production… often, the last time these weapons were made was before the soldiers likely to use them were even born.

This will of course cost a lot. But the war in Ukraine has shown that western weapons are pretty damn effective, certainly compared to the Russian systems; it’s not just NATO and Ukraine that will want them, but *everybody.* It’s conceivable that the costs involved in restarting production could be paid for by export sales. Hell, just avoiding the insane student loan forgiveness idea would save the funds needed; perhaps those student loans could be paid off by said students working in the arms factories. Put those gender studies degrees to good use running lathes.

 Posted by at 9:07 am

Gosh. Who could have possibly foreseen this?

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, Worldwreckers, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Nov 292022
 

But he seemed like such a sensible, straight-laced and rational fella…

 

DOE spent fuel chief Brinton charged with felony theft in Minnesota

The state of Minnesota has charged the Department of Energy’s recently-hired head of spent nuclear fuel management with felony theft, court documents show.

According to a criminal complaint filed Oct. 27 in Minnesota’s 4th Judicial District Court, Sam Brinton, who began working in June as DOE’s deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition, is accused of stealing a bag from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport’s baggage claim area in September.

Under Minnesota law, the crime with which Brinton was charged carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both.

This… guy:

 

I wonder how J Edgar’s FBI would have handled this situation.

 

I’m not the biggest fan of dress codes, but there’s something to be said for having some friggen’ *dignity.* This is the look of the men who got us to the moon:

 

On the other hand, there may be some small benefit here. “Looks crazy” stands a chance of mapping fairly linearly to “is crazy.”

 Posted by at 8:05 am

Can I buy one square foot of a star and call myself Star Lord?

 AARRRGH, blather, Hmm..., Meh., news, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Nov 262022
 

Doutbless there are more than a few readers old enough to remember when “buying a star” was a thing. You’d send someone money, they’d send you a certificate telling you which of the bajillions of stars in the sky is now yours, and let you know that your name for it has been entered into some “star registry” or some such. I suspect most people of average-and-above intelligence knew that it wasn’t anything of any real seriousness; it had no force of law behind it and is wholly unrecognized by the International Astronomical Union. It was uncharitably a scam; charitably, a briefly amusing gag gift, maybe a nice gesture for a friend or family member.

 

Something similar has popped up in recent months: “Established Titles.” You can pay someone fifty bucks to buy one square foot of Scotland and call yourself “Lord” or “Lady.” The idea seems to have a *lot* of similarities with the star naming bit from decades past. I’m unschooled in British/Scottish law but I do know there’s this bit in the US Constitution:

 

https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-1/section-9/clause-8/

 

Article I  Legislative Branch

Section 9 Powers Denied Congress

        • Clause 8 Titles of Nobility and Foreign Emoluments

        • No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

           

If I’m reading that correctly (who knows), this says two main things:

1) The UNITED STATES won’t issue titles such as “Lord” and “Lady,”

and

2) Nobody holding some sort of governmental office in the US will be allowed to accept such a title from a foreign power.

 

So (again assuming I’m reading this correctly), Joe Schmo can be freely granted a title of nobility from the Brits, no problem. But Representative Bill Yahoo or Senator Joe Schmuck is legally barred from doing so. It would, it seems, be a Federal crime for an officeholder to spend fitty bucks and buy themselves that one square foot. Shrug.

Me, personally, I’ve no interest in it. I’m an American; the basic idea of being called a “Lord” or being in any way associated with royalty is distasteful; any American who takes such a title seems to me to have something a little askew about them. But I have little problem with anyone else if they want to buy into this… just so they do so with adequate knowledge of what it really is.

YouTube has been *crawling* with “Established Titles” sponsorships for a few months now, rivaling the “World of Warships,” “World of Tanks,” “League of Legends” and “Raid Shadow Legends” sponsorships that lousy up so many videos. I’m just glad that YouTube has a fast forward function. > > > >  Some YouTubers, though, are less sanguine about this. If you’ve been tempted to spend money on this, perhaps as Christmas gifts, maybe take a look. Some points:

1) These “souvenir plots” aren’t registered with the Scottish government, You don’t actually own the land.

2) You don’t actually become a “Lord” or “Lady.”

3) “Established Titles” is apparently a *Chinese* company. Send them $50, and you end up not actually owning a bit of Scotland, not actually being a “Lord,” and actually funding the Chinese Communist government.

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 1:27 pm

Now this is how you make politics interesting

 Crazy, dumbassery, Hmm..., humor, news, politics, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Nov 252022
 

Just try to imagine this happening in the US Senate or House of Representatives. We have much to learn from the enlightened citizens of Sierre Leone. I look forward with great interest to Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy throwing down. Of course this raises questions: would doing so be “cultural appropriation,” or would failure to do so be “cultural erasure?” Hmmm…

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 11:09 pm

Detected 3.5 hours before impact

 Hmm..., news, science  No Responses »
Nov 242022
 

Not enough time to do anything about it, but then it was only a meter or so wide. At that side it was probable to be harmless. Ten times bigger, though, it starts to get worrisome. A hundred time the diameter, you need to stand up, take notice and consider launching the nukes.

 

This was not the first impactor to be detected prior to impact. In March, a 2-meter asteroid was detected 2 hours prior to impact.

 

NASA program predicted impact of small asteroid over Ontario, Canada

 Posted by at 10:31 am

Shoplifting 101

 dumbassery, Forward!, humor, news, politics, Worldwreckers, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Nov 232022
 

“Locked doors” are important things to be aware of if you are planning on stealing… both when to avoid them and when to embrace them. But if you’re a shoplifter, chances are you’re not too bright, and simple observations and basic planning for the future are likely outside of your skillset. Witness these oxygen thieves in action:

 

This example of societal decay brought to you by the letter D.

 Posted by at 11:10 pm
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