Jan 242021
 

A few weeks ago, some folks got rowdy and weird in D.C. A Capitol cop summarily executed a woman for trespassing; the rowdy types have been declared to be just this side of enemies of the state, the police involved are universally media-hailed as heros. OK… now consider this:

Police SUV surrounded by violent insurrectionists. Police SUV decides to flee the scene; at least one of the domestic terrorists gets rolled under the SUV wheels. Note how the news puppet describes the incident. Suddenly violent protestors are back to being the victims, cops are back to being the bad guys.

Come on, people, how about a little consistency?

But wait, there’s more. For all of 2020, Antifa were “mostly peaceful protestors,” and, according to the poster child for senility, “just an idea.” They were given free reign to do whatever, destroy whatever. But now…

It will be interesting watching the sudden turnaround.

 

It would be nice if the media would actually agree to a set of consistent labels. You set fires and break windows? You’re not a peaceful protestor, you’re a rioter, a criminal. You take over government buildings? Insurrectionists. You use violence to get your way politically? Terrorist, domestic or otherwise.

 Posted by at 3:25 pm
Jan 232021
 

This looks interesting… a Lovecraftian “horror survival” game. The graphics looks a little rough, but then this seems to be a game developed by *one* *guy.* Imagine trying to 3D model not only every monster that appears in a game, but every tree, rock and artifact. Madness!

 

 

 

 Posted by at 6:30 pm
Jan 232021
 

“I Think My Gmail Has Crashed”: The Teacher Who Made Bernie Sanders’ Mittens on Watching Them Go Viral

So back in 2016 a fan of Bernie Sanders gave him a gift of hand-made mittens. During the recent inauguration, Sanders was photographed wearing said mittens, and because why not, the photo went viral. Slate hunted down the maker of the mittens, who remains a fan of Sanders. Where’s the irony? Well… the mittens-maker *used* to have a business making mittens, but no more. Why?

People have been contacting me thinking that they can get mittens, and actually they can’t. I don’t have any more, and I don’t have much of a mitten business anymore because it really wasn’t worth it. Independent crafters get really taken for a ride by the federal government. We get taxed to the nth degree, and it wasn’t really worth it pursuing that as a business, even as a side hustle.

Huh. You complain about taxes being so high as to crush your business. Sure, I’m  right there with you. Buuuuuuuuutttttttt……. you remain a supporter of Bernie Sanders, a socialist?

Further evidence that what the United States needs is NOT to expand the voting franchise, but to institute some basic civics tests before your vote is allowed to count.

 Posted by at 5:19 pm
Jan 232021
 

Just a thought. If someone were to take a model of the CVN-65 USS Enterprise nuclear powered aircraft carrier and modify it with the Douglas “Ithacus Jr.” rocket transport as in the concept art below, what should go along with it? The art depicts the Enterprise modified with a bow extension, two movable “VABs,” and two of the rocket transports (an aft extension is implied but not visible). The flight deck is shown as deserted, which is reasonable under the circumstances… with those VABs, most of the flight deck would be unavailable for takeoffs and landings. Only the angled deck would seem to provide some functionality there.

The concept dates from 1964. If a model was made, it would probably tend to represent a time frame from the mid 1970’s onwards. What should be on the deck in that case, to help dress it up (it seems like it’d be kinda bland without some other things populating the deck)? A few things seem reasonable:

Boeing Heavy Lift Helicopter:

A VTOL C-130:

Convair 200 VTOL fighter:

Lockheed CL-1090 (or similar) passenger compound helicopter:

Anything else to consider?

 Posted by at 12:28 pm
Jan 222021
 

Second from left, in a photo from 2014, is U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Jennifer Psaki. She is now President Baizuo’s spokespuppet.

The story was that it was a gift from some Russian officials. Uh-huh. If some German officials showed up with a hat with a swastika on it, or some Japanese officials gave her a hat with the rising sun w/rays on it, or, heck, some Southern officials gave her a hat with a CSA “battle flag,” would she proudly wear that too?

 

I guess it’s good that these people are open  about their views. What’s bad is that their views are so fundamentally anti-American.

 Posted by at 9:43 pm
Jan 222021
 

An AI learns to impersonate a certain “special” someone and replaces Abe Simpsons voice…

Ol’ “Abe” sounds like he’s tired. Doesn’t have the enthusiasms of the original, but that’s common for these sort of AI voice replacements. So far, they haven’t nailed inflections; everyone has a pretty flat affect. Still… the sound of being tired, ready for bed, had one too many… it’s appropriate.

 Posted by at 9:32 pm
Jan 222021
 

Frak’s sake. 2021 already blows.

RIP Mira Furlan, the Heart of Babylon 5

 Posted by at 4:03 pm
Jan 222021
 

With all the burning last  year, I missed this story. The next time you hear or read on one of those Antifa goons torching a place, and some oxygen thief defends their actions because “arson isn’t violence” or “it’s just stuff” or some such vacuous drivel, hit them with this story:

Fundraiser for beekeeper raises £24,000 after his life’s work was destroyed by arsonists

Now, the defender-of-arson will likely point out “but there was a funding effort and he got a lot of money” or “he probably had insurance” or some such nonsense. Never mind the emotional distress of having *your* *stuff* destroyed, there is also this:

Ron had spent 20 years breeding a super-bee that was able to survive attacks from a killer mite that destroyed millions of bees across the world.

The arsonists didn’t just take away a hobby or a source of income… they endangered the very existence of bees. And without bees, a lot of other species will suffer -including humans – due to bees being important pollinators. The arsonists can fairly be faulted for a mass attack on the environment, attempted (perhaps eventually successful) extermination of whole species, and genocide against large swaths of mankind.

No fundamental difference between these arsonists and those who burned Uncle Hugo’s science fiction bookstore… or anywhere else. That’s why I stand foursquare with those calling for the identification, arrest and charging with insurrection/domestic terrorism all those who set fires within the Capitol building earlier this month.

 

 Posted by at 8:18 am
Jan 212021
 

‘We feel incredibly betrayed’: Thousands of Guardsmen forced to vacate Capitol

It’s an interesting read. More than 20,000 Guardsmen were uselessly sent to protect the Capital from phantom insurgents; they were meant to play guards, but were unarmed, vetted, insulted and name-called by their political masters… then once their utility in an episode of political theater was over, they were sent to be packed neck-deep in a parking garage with vastly insufficient facilities.

Good job.

 Posted by at 10:38 pm