PN:
Joe’s Comment – The overwhelming feeling of guinea pig-ness that occasionally springs to my conscious mind often has roots in reality. The above cartoon immediately reminded me of the Cuban Missile Crisis. At the time, in my 13 year old boy’s mind it seemed terrifying and grossly unfair that a Russian premier and an American president were on the brink of plunging their respective superpowers into a conflict that could destroy my world, without my consent. Hell, other than in a general, global sense, they had no knowledge of my existence!
Now that I’ve grown to be a man, the terror is gone, replaced by a vigilance and a feeling of having control to a small degree. The depth and breadth of our experience and knowledge, our “tool box”, our weltanschauung, has dissipated those childhood fears and replaced them with a calm resolve. Every so often, there is a sign that reinforces this maturity. The following might just be one of those signs –
Words o’ the Week
Pleonasm – The use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; redundancy.
Tautology – A phrase or expression in which the same thing is said twice in different words (literary meaning).
Joe’s Dream – Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to write so well that your pleonasms and tautologies were music to the ear and balm to the conscience.
Note: This Sunday Rant is “hair of the dog”, a follow-up to the U.S. election rant last Sunday. The most intense, heated, polarizing presidential election cycle of our (all 37 of me) lifetime has culminated in a “Republican” trifecta.
Who knows what “Republican” means anymore? Like radioactive elements where the half life is indicative of the threat – short half life = danger danger Will Robinson! – who knows how long this instability will take to decay? And decay into what sort of stability? These are interesting AND dangerous times. Our personal fave in this week’s rant is Stefan Molyneux – look for his video re: New York Times below. Some marching music for the army of We the People (even two people can make big sound!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuRd1yqGDeE
At the Fun House
Cousin Delsie forwarded the following excellent diatribe by angry journalist Jonathan Pie (aka British comedian Tom Walker – a political satirist) in a spoof quizzing who let Trump win? He says all the things the left needs to heed. Not much chance of that happening, da?:
YouTube has plenty of Pie for your viewing pleasure. His channel here.
Another timely “discussion” of Brexit:
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Illegal Votes
Legal action is pending. Various sources (in links) have identified in excess of 3 million votes cast by people not qualified to vote (not citizens).
From the GellerReport.
From TopRightNews.
From VDare.
From LifeZette., and again.
In addition to the above 3 million claim, these sources state there were 4+ million dead people on the voters roll on election day. In this climate of heavily polarized and highly charged political discourse, these numbers are troubling. As it stands today (Tuesday, Nov. 15) the popular vote number difference is quoted as 300,000 give or take, with 7 million votes as yet uncounted. Whom, do you think, 3 million unqualified voters might have chosen? And what will be the ratio of votes in the uncounted 7 million?
I say it is no wonder the Democrats are fighting so hard to oppose voter ID.
Joe says when Artificial Intelligence® takes over, it will no longer be Pogo time.
Until then, truth in data, facts, and logic are our best hope. If only there were a trustworthy source…… I hope there is an “Erin Brockovich” solution that is as palatable as Erin Brockovich, let alone Julia Roberts.
Joe, that hard nosed skeptic, for once agrees.
Gray Lady Down
Stefan Molyneux completely exposes the New York Times by reading then commenting on the NYT article published on the seventh of August this year by Jim Rutenberg. Stefan maintains that this is the NYT declaration of war against Donald Trump, the first volley, the first barrage. Sentence by sentence and word by word, he reveals the faces behind the article, behind the facade of “journalism”. Fantastic. Line by line, phrase by phrase, he explains (as did “Jonathan Pie” above) what delusional “echo chamber” dwellers are the writers and editors of the NYT, and by extension, the progressive cause. There IS a difference between theory and reality. Bravo!:
Wild, White, West
Joe and I have great respect for the history of humanity. We are presently reading “Human Accomplishment”, an opus by Charles Murray (co-author of “The Bell Curve) endeavoring to document the pursuit of excellence in the Arts and Sciences in the period of time from 800 B.C. to 1950 A.D. We, as humans, have come a long way, baby.
The following video makes a point about the modern time period when the growth and advancement of human accomplishments has accelerated at an exponential rate. Dr. Michael Savage discusses his 1999 essay on just who created Western Civilization:
Paris Is Burning
Joe and I received a link to this video of a”multicultural soiree” in gay (not that way!) Parie. Thanks to Jim C.
I didn’t see too many burka clad individuals in the crowd.
Testosterone levels ARE these events.
The political climate is wrong (will events change the politics soon enough?). The sentiment is wrong (people are not all the same). The morality is wrong (these men need to return to their homelands). The assumption of “moral equivalence” is wrong (their foundation beliefs are not ours). The justification is wrong – especially the concept of “sanctuary” (we owe nothing to the middle east cultures). There are circumstances for “all for one, one for all”, and this invasion is a glaring example. Overlapping sets……
Joe’s Garage
This Sunday was the final NASCAR race of 2016. The championship was a four way contest. The winner, Jimmie Johnson, drove his Chevrolet to the checker flag at the Homestead track in Miami, and won his 7th title, tying Richard Petty and Dale Earnhart.
Although Joe and I used to watch religiously, our interest has waned. The technology is so expensive, to build and field a winning team is astronomical. A form of “riding the tiger” where the tiger is technology. The experts say the old adage of “race on Sunday sell on Monday” is still valid, but the Chev you buy to celebrate Jimmie Johnson’s victory will have nothing in common with his car save the namesake .
One of Joe’s fondest, earliest memories of childhood is when father Don and uncle Jack took him to a nighttime demolition derby in Toronto. We must have been 3 or 4 years old. Mother Rose used to say that for weeks after the event, we would line up all the shoes in the foyer of the house and race them and crash them for hours and hours.
Our personal entertainment time budget includes a lot of “stumbling” on the Internet. Sorta like someone left the door to the knowledge store open, and while pursuing excellence (our modest facsimile of the same) we detour, sidebar, reroute, extrapolate, associate, navigate, and plain old ramble wherever our interest sniffs a curiosity.
On a YouTube binge Joe and I tripped over a documentary history of stock car racing in America titled “American Stock”. Joe chose to feature Volume 3 (below) because it starts with some history of Junior Johnson, a true wild man of the sport. He spent time in jail for producing moonshine; he also built, modified, and drove souped-up cars delivering moonshine. He was very successful in stock car racing, and became a team owner / car builder back when the cars were modified factory products. This volume also features Holman-Moody and the Wood Brothers teams – Joe favors the Ford teams. The other volumes are every bit as informative and entertaining. The focus is on the human interest side of the “sport” while presenting the politics and conflicts with the history of growth. Gear head rated 9 out of 10:
The other segments of the documentary: Volume 1, Volume 2.
POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS, STUPID
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, SMART STUFF
They, Robot
Remember a few years back (2008) when the folks at Boston Dynamics had a prototype four legged robotic “Big Dog” that ran with the power of a small internal combustion engine? The video was in a previous rant, years ago. It was interesting but anyone watching it perform realized the time hadn’t come. After you watch this video, you will realize the time is coming….:
SUNDAY SERMON
Joe and I have the greatest respect for big minds that have changed the human world for better with their thinking or invention(s) or insights into matters pertaining to improving the human condition.
One such person is Freeman Dyson.
A peer who rubbed shoulders with intellectual giants, Freeman Dyson was made professor at Cornell University when he had no doctorate in any subject. His work in physics and mathematics have enriched understanding and added to the intellectual capital of science.
Mr. Dyson was featured in a previous Sunday Rant re: climate change. In this video he is being honored / feted and engaged in conversation about his life’s work. He was born in 1923 which makes him 92 years of age! Joe says we wish…..
WEATHER (OR NOT)
This week in Vernon continues the month + trend of raining for some time during the day. In the past 40 days it seems about 38 have had “liquid sunshine”.
Yippee….
The ray of sunshine?
As long as it rains it ain’t snowing.
How’s that for a silver lining…..
Joe (drenched) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez is waterproof –
