None So Blind

Q: How stupid are socialists?

A: Astoundingly.

Been Away

Thanks to Lynn Marie, something all too appropriate:

I, at least, will be back soon.

School

Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.

(Edward Gibbon)

Stuff I Almost Put On Social Media

...before realizing that it'd do more harm than good, at most. But I'll tell you here:

It's kind of amazing to me to watch folks get all het up about things they can't affect (outside of some seriously math-impaired fantasies, at least), pretending it all changed even so much as their own opinion and that their rehashing it will change anyone else's.

Am I describing TV or sports? Could do, but at least that counts as entertainment. It's enjoyable. Nope, folks seem to get off on being angry to no effect. Thus the masochistic charm of politics.

Meanwhile I'm over here actually doing things. Which is why I haven't posted much anywhere for a while. Apologies.

Wolves

Once again, this is the most neglected part of a mostly neglected aspect of my life - and to think that, all things given their due, it'd be the most prosperous! Well, my quest for freedom continues (and begins to peek at blossoms, if not fruit just yet), and the stuff I've learned is mostly not yet ready for putting to text.

Sometimes there's something that cuts through so sharply, and is so on the nose with my own observations and experience, that I can't look away.

This is from commenter DC Sunsets, who I see all over the place but who doesn't seem to have a blog of his own. Pity. My reaction to his writing ranges from "Well, damn" to "Come on, man, you gotta be kidding," but even when I disagree with his conclusions I can't fault his insight.

This one is golden:

There are no (open) wolves in corporate America. The ambitious aren't wolves, they're (100%) sociopaths who know they face no real risk from their viciousness as long as they don't step on any of the 3rd rails (sex, race, etc., harassment.) The only wolves in the modern corporation are dog-mimics, any in 25 years I never saw anyone remotely like this move to and stay in management. No true man can tolerate the politics. This is reason #349 why American society is circling the drain. Virtue & honor are immediately disqualifying attributes for advancement in any organization.

And The Oscar Goes To...

Eh, honestly I don't care. I've seen most of the Best Picture nominees and the Test of Time will not be polite to them.

Understand, when someone says a movie (or whatever) is "powerful" what they usually mean is "preachy." And "important" invariably needs, yet lacks, a "self-" before it. A vast number of films are lauded by people who would claim to hate formulaic features but which are as predictable as a Hallmark Christmas movie from scene to scene. Which, by the way, is why I find Hallmark movies to be easily as enjoyable as a lot of big production pictures: they have no pretension at all, and are simply a pleasant time. Everyone knows romantic comedies, action flicks, and the like have their formulae and no one minds acknowledging it. The dysfunctional family drama (for example) has it no less, but somehow is considered Important or something.

Whatever.

Let's have a look, shall we?

Vanity

Why do I subject myself to award shows? Endless ego on parade, an industry patting itself on the back in so many ways, awful stuff.

Ok, I do have a reason to watch them. Two, in fact. First, the whole red carpet business is usually fun and picturesque. Second, there are often interesting performances embedded in the broadcast, and telling the DVR to record the thing and starting a bit late lets me skip most of the idiocy. Bless that little fast forward button!

But sometimes... well, sometimes something is so bizarre that it grabs the attention. Even as you see more and more clearly what a moral/staging/philosophical/whatever sort of trainwreck its very concept is, you just can't look away. It just keeps digging deeper.

Thus, the most gloriously self-congratulatory, hubristic, even self-deifying thing I have ever seen at the Grammys. I'm a little surprised lightning didn't strike.

Related, down to the hand wavy motions of the backup priestesses dancers:

Many Bets, Won

Today marks the official end of a variety of bets made 4 years ago, which mostly continued from a rather larger batch of bets made 4 years before that.

To wit: Obama has survived his terms, uninjured by anyone wishing to harm his semi-black skin.

I should make some more bets today. People deliberately ingesting pretty transparent propaganda, and freaking out all over as a result, need to be taken advantage of.

Come on. Tell me what horrible things are about to happen. Put up or shut up.

Trolling For Trolls

If you ever wonder what "concern troll" means, post something like this:

New Year: Whee.

Normally I don't do New Year's resolutions. If I attempt to set goals of that sort it's usually based on my birthday, which admittedly is only a 2 week shift from there, but the feel of it is different and less arbitrary-feeling. Yes, I know it's still arbitrary, if more tied to my actual being. You have to start somewhere.

I'm not a bad person, really.

Look, I'm not trying to say that I'm more intelligent than most people, just that it's really hard to explain things, no matter how simple I make them, far far too much of the time. I swear, it's like an armor of preconceived dumbth covers most brains, and if you even try to make headway, the pre-programming nabs the idea on the way in and runs off with it.

It's like this:

Ok, I am a bad person.

I'm also getting pretty pissy about having to explain not only that 2+2=4, and why, with several examples, but that it always has and always will because reality doesn't bend to feelz, math is not subjective, emotional investment does not produce either truth or reliability, and deliberately missing the point is not remotely clever.

It would appear that I may be a much worse person by the time I'm done.

Super Annoying

It happens way too often: I'll be thinking about something on the (long) road to work, and have a nicely-crafted article ready to go in my head, but once I've got the initial rush of stuff out of the way, I can't even remember what the topic was.

 Ngngngngng

Why Genius Is Misunderstood

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see." - Arthur Schopenhauer

An Ode to Hyperbole, Mistress of the Season

O hyperbole! How thou dost my laughter
Ring from lo, thy many invocations!
How indeed hast thou such deft and graceful
Might to, with a mere few syllables of
Unthought blatheration, sever any
Prospect of respect from e'er accruing
To thy loyal servants and disciples?
Such a rare and wondrous gift thou givest,
Op'ning mouths and closing intellects and
Eyes (though whether brain was e'er engaged, I
Dare not make presumption, oh, not ever),
Yielding such hilarity as ever
Made a villain roar in cruel amusement.
Yea, thou hast a conundrum contriv'ed:
I, a heterodox yet no villain,
Forecasting the truth's inevitable
Vindication, deeply wish thy solid
Grasp upon so many were the lesser;
Little would give pleasure more than yet to
Separate the comic'ly absurd from
Those whose happiness I wish to see, yet
Slav'ry to thy bitter thirst addicted.
Carry on, hyperbole, until through
Surfeit of thine own inane outrages
Merriment give way to gentler respite,
Once again, lucidity arriving.

Sperg, indeed.

For reasons I've no intention of going into right now, I am very aware of what a fit of Asperger's-spawned verbarrhea looks like. Pretty distinctive, to the experienced observer. It always amuses me when people accuse a pretty basic logical premise as "sperging out" while they themselves are in the midst of actually doing so.

I try to be nice.

Generation X is tired.

I swear, it's like I wrote this and then forgot I had. Except that its writer somehow thinks that the self-impressed coffeehouse marxist in the White House could possibly represent us if he was a bit younger. Nobody's perfect.

Look, I'm going to save the entire thing here, just in case, because things on the Web disappear sometimes and I don't want to lose this; but you should absolutely go read its originating post because it's the right thing to do and I'm pretty sure Mat has other things you'll enjoy.

Generation X has to be up really early tomorrow morning.
Generation X is tired.

It wonders where its 30s went. It wonders if it still has time to catch up.

Right now, Generation X just wants a beer and to be left alone. 

Yeah.

Feerth. Rowr.

Just a friendly recommendation:

Avoid using the word "fierce" to describe humans, unless you're able to do so without meaning "hilariously arrogant; as self-impressed yet harmless as a kitten with delusions of grandeur."

Answer The Damned Question

No one who needs to see this is likely to, in this most obscure corner of the Web. But here it is, just in case.

If you have a blog that gives advice, if you are perhaps even an expert in a particular area, and someone leaves a comment with a request to clarify some point or another, it might behoove you to respond. Even if your blog has a modest following and generally few comments to the articles, odds are that someone else has had the same question. And honestly, if your readership isn't overwhelming you with hundreds of comments there's no good excuse not to improve your relationship, and many reasons to make that connection.

I know of several blogs who do have what I'd consider daunting numbers of commenters who nonetheless make sure all is well in a visible and friendly way, daily. Yes, I'm slow to respond to comments sometimes, but in my defense (a) I'm not usually giving advice, and (b) I know I suck at this. Plus, I am very rarely asked anything like follow-on clarifications. All 3 of those items are scheduled to change. Those who have been doing it for some time, and on a professional level, should really have that very easy part of things figured out by now.

Getting Their Outrage Fix

A lot of people match this pattern exactly:

1. They always, always, always vote for the same party.
2. The only question is in their own primary.
3. They watch the opposing party's convention - often more than a couple hours of it
4. ...going straight to the pundits who give them their talking points
5. ...so that they can fluff their feathers and How Dare They to the rest of their own echo chamber.
6. They are certain this makes some sort of difference, somewhere.

I find this crew to be deeply, abjectly pathetic.

The stupidity usually manifests in other areas of their lives, too. Once you see the pattern listed above, it becomes hard to miss.

Right Side of the Vocab Curve

It's kind of nice to find a quiz that isn't all obvious stuff, and won't end up with results far, far too heavily loaded up on the 100% correct side. In fact, something where 100% is dang near impossible is the only way to make any quiz worthwhile.



Not sure about that Shakespeare thing, but I do have a love for my language, as you know.

I made the image a link. Have a go.