Jesse Jackson Sr. To Attend Hugo Chavez Funeral
“I had the opportunity to know President Chavez in a direct and personal way,” Jackson Sr. said in a statement to Fox News. “I extend my deepest condolences to his family and along with people around the globe, am deeply saddened by his passing.”
Uh-huh.
“Flow my tears,” the socialist said.
One friend emailed me yesterday, wondering why, if I’m now sitting in front of a computer all day, I can’t interact more quickly to emails to me or stuff on Facebook.
I’m helping the company catch-up — themselves — on long-neglected databases, photo libraries, and their website. The programs I’m working with are: Filemaker Pro, Photoshop, InDesign, Portfolio, and Coda. The work I’m doing demands full-time attention. I don’t keep any other windows open. I can’t deal with any distractions.
Young folks can multitask seemingly without effort but at my age, I just can’t. Sorry about that.
I can’t reproduce the cartoon here without permission, but this is hilarious.
Not “Survival” but rather “Reproduction of the Fittest”
Darwin uses the phrase “survival of the fittest” in chapter four of On the Origin of Species to describe the process of natural selection. But he did not coin the phrase. It was borrowed from English philosopher Herbert Spencer, who first talked about survival of the fittest in his Principles of Sociology. “The term ‘natural selection,’” wrote Darwin in The Origin, “is in some respects a bad one, as it seems to imply conscious choice.” Referring to the process as “survival of the fittest,” Darwin thought, helped clarify things. But the famed naturalist’s appropriated turn of phrase turned out to be rather inappropriate, itself.
Princeton biological anthropologist Alan Mann told io9 that in most cases, “survival of the fittest” has been replaced by the term “reproduction of the fittest,” or “differential selection.” This holds particularly true in discussions concerning mammals — humans, especially. Mann says there are two main reasons for this.
Well, to find out why Alan Mann says this, you’ll just have to go to the link.
A very interesting (and logical) article.
I’m not “reproducing” anything, but with all of my bad habits that’s a good thing.
It’s Like Déjà Vu All Over Again
For all the noise, I predict that the impact on the country of “the sequester” will be about the same as Y2K was.
You might have noticed a new button on the right sidebar under my email address.
Yup; I’ve joined Facebook.
Here’s why: First, I wanted to be able to “like” other sites, or things, and the only way to do that is to have an account myself. So . . . I’ll go with the flow.
Secondly, it’s the modern way to enter online contests and I’m trying to win an acoustic guitar in one of them and the only way to do that is to “like” them.
So, there you are.
Like it or not.
80 million law abiding gun owners in this country did not murder anyone yesterday.
CA: Yet More Gun Control Proposed
You wouldn’t think there were still any stones left unturned but you’d be wrong:
Among the measures is one that would outlaw the future sale of semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines. The restriction would prevent quick reloading by requiring bullets to be loaded one at a time.
[ . . . ]
Those buying ammunition would have to pay a fee and undergo an initial background check by the state Department of Justice, similar to what is required now before buyers can purchase a weapon. Subsequent background checks would be done instantly by an ammunition seller checking the Justice Department’s records.
The legislation also would ban possession of magazines holding more than 10 bullets, even by those who now own them legally. All weapons would have to be registered.
What’s sad is that the Democrats spear-heading claim that they want California’s gun control laws to be tougher than the ones just enacted in N.Y.
2013: A Good Year for Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
Some good news for fans of the genres. From io9:
This year’s science fiction books are going to rock. John Scalzi returns to the Old Man’s War universe, there’s a brand new Neil Gaiman novel, and Stephen King’s long-awaited sequel to The Shining. Plus brand new books from Austin Grossman, Nalo Hopkinson, Christopher Priest, Diana Gabaldon, Robert J. Sawyer, Joe Hill… and J.R.R. Tolkien?
A month-by-month look at 54 books due out this year.
I know that in some quarters there is controversy over vaccines. With all of my bad habits (like sneaking meat into my diet despite my gout), I’ve never worried about adding one more risk.
A casual inspection of today’s Drudge Report shows that the current version of the Flu is running rampant in some areas.
Here’s what I know for myself: For the last 19-years, I have gotten the ‘Flu Shot’ vaccine. I’ve never had any side-effect from it. Most of the time, it’s been offered for free by either my employers or the local medical center. And, for the last 19-years, I have not gotten the Flu.
I understand the axiom that “correlation does not imply causation” or, in this case, the (sorta’) reverse. I’m just saying. . . .
Maybe it’s just luck but, you should know that for the last 19-years I have been employed in jobs that bring me in near physical contact with other humans. Most of those years I was a salesman (shaking hands), and for the last three, I’ve been a ‘car porter’ which is basically a valet who doesn’t get tips. My hands are on a hundred steering wheels every day, as well as shift knobs and door handles. And, when was the last time anyone cleaned, or at least sprayed their steering wheels, shift knobs, and door handles with Lysol? Granted, I DO wash my hands a lot because there are no vaccines preventing colds or Norovirus. And, until I do wash my hands, I keep them far away from my mouth and eyes.
Okay, go ahead, tell me all about autism and other dire effects of vaccines. I haven’t gotten any of them and I haven’t gotten the Flu. Nineteen-years without the misery of the Flu. I’m doing something right and I believe that it is getting the Flu vaccine every year.
I’m just sayin’. . . .
How Many of You Enjoy the Game of Chess?
You might find this hard to believe but I’ve been hooked on Chess since I was a teenager and PBS broadcast the Fischer vs Spassky matches back in, um, er, well, the distant past.
I have a few friends that I semi-regularly play the game with. Other times, I play against the computer (and several dedicated Chess computers as well — sometimes I even pit them against each other) and have a row of Chess books and have faithfully cut the chess corner out of each Sunday’s paper for years and worked through solutions.
Anyway, I’ve amassed literally hundreds of “solve in two” type clippings and other positional problems or demonstrations and would like to know if enough of you are interested in my posting them here, maybe once-per-week. I have a spiffy (and old) program that turns out swell HTML (web) graphics of Chess board positions and moves.
Is this something that some of you would enjoy seeing here?
Thanks in advance for your comments.
Again, Happy New Year’s!
Now NY Gov Cuomo Talking Confiscation of “AW” Guns
In an interview with a radio station. Here’s a link with the audio.
That’s regardless of the fact that NY already has an “assault weapons” ban.
Coverage of NRA Press Conference
From the Daily Caller, here’s a report and it includes a video of protesters trying to interrupt it.
Related: More here:
On Friday, the NRA announced that [former Arkansas Congressman Asa] Hutchinson - also a former Homeland Security official and now a lawyer predominantly focused on white-collar crime - will spearhead an effort to put armed guards at schools in hopes of preventing mass shootings like the one on Dec. 14 in Connecticut that killed 20 young children and 6 adults.
Or, for much less money and bureaucracy, we could just let school teachers and administrators — who so desire — to CCW.
The National Rifle Association has seen a huge jump in both new memberships and contributions following the Connecticut school shooting. From Fox News:
While this broadly aligns with trends seen after similar incidents in the past, the surge in membership this time is said to dwarf past trends.
I suspect it has more to do with all the talk and fears of new gun control laws than with the shooting itself. From the same article:
In its first public statement since last week’s shooting, issued Tuesday by an aide to NRA President Wayne LaPierre, the organization also conveyed condolences to the murder victims’ families and expressed the group’s willingness to offer “meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.”
Hmmm, what “meaningful contributions” would that be? Hopefully not concessions.
Today is Pearl Harbor Day, 71-Years Later
President Obama spent a lot of time his first term apologizing to other nations for America’s supposed imperialism and bad behavior.
Can we expect that Obama will finally get around to apologizing to Japan for our country drawing them into World War II?
. . . Which has some very strict gun control laws and requires all guns to be registered, gun sales are booming.
Although frankly, I’ve seen longer lines here in Vermont at the Post Office and DMV.
I like this Forbes article and wish that politicians would follow its advice. Of course, then they’d lose elections . . .
Yeah, so?
Started in October of 2002, Alphecca is an occasional blog of OPINIONS by a conservative, gay gun nut living in Vermont. I write about politics, OTR, books, science, gun rights and the media bias against firearms, and anything else that strikes my fancy. Your opinions about my opinions are welcome in the comments and as I always say, thanks so much for stopping by.
Alphecca is a member of "the lunatic fringe of the US right"
--Guardian (UK) 6/26/06
Email me at:
gunnut -at-
alphecca -dot- com
