2021 archive
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
My professor for the history of the early federal period (roughly the early 1800s) when I was in graduate school (where my most significant learning was that I was not cut out to be an academician), Dr. Shade, was fond of saying that “history is irony.”
Here we have persons protesting the teaching of the existence of systemic racism–something not being taught–proving the existence of systemic racism.
There are none so blind as those who will not look.
Legacy 0
Michael in Norfolk points out that Barry Goldwater got one thing right.
Meta: Down at the Farm 0
A little while ago, I installed a plugin to make this site more mobile-friendly, and it crashed the site.
When I tried to load the site, everything loaded except the posts. If I clicked to go to behind the curtain to the admin area, a message popped up from WordPress telling me that the site had suffered a fatal error and directing me to the WordPress help files. It was “down at the farm” for about half an hour.
After 16 years, I would rather not lose this blog.
After puzzling for a few moments, I went to the backend of the website, which was accessible via my hosting provider, and opened phpMyAdmin and tried routine database maintenance (check, repair, optimize), to no avail.
In a flash of quite accidental what turned out to be brilliance, I opened the file manager in cpanel, navigated to the appropriate directory, and deleted the directory containing the files of said plugin.
And I’m back.
(Wiping sweat from brow) That was a close one!
And I’ll not try that plugin again, as it clearly is a malignant kludge, but I will thank it for giving me a chance to learn something.
The Culpable Criticize the Capable 0
I normally don’t pay much attention of Ross Douthat–he has a long history of rationalizing the irrational–but, as my old boss used to say, “Even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes.”
California Scheming 0
Several of my favorite news sites are run by major California newspapers, so I’ve seen many headlines regarding the attempted recall of California Governor Newsom, and I remember well Arnold Schwarzenegger’s* rise to the governor’s office a couple of decades ago.
I have never been a proponent of recalls and, frankly, am glad that my state does not embrace them. Also, I have long thought that there was something seriously broken about California’s recall procedure; in other states that have recall provisions, you do not see the recall frenzy that you see in Cali.
Now comes Michele Cottle to explain. A nugget:
Later in the article, she details what makes California’s recall procedure so vulnerable to abuse. It’s an object lesson in how to get it wrong.
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*My favorite Schwarzenegger quote is, “In Hollywood, there are two kinds of people, actors and stars. I am a star.”
All the News that Fits, War and Mongers of War Dept. 0
Sam and his crew marvel at how much noncombatants seem to love themselves some combat (which, natch, they will view from afar).
A Diet of Worms* 0
Over at Skepchick, Rebecca Watson takes a deep dive into the origin of the tale that horse de-wormer can somehow provide a defense against COVID-19.
It is a fascinating and timely read.
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*Sorry. I could resist the temptation no longer.
The Wall-Eyed Piker 0
The rain came, and the wind blew, and the wall came tumblin’ down.
Return of the Know Nothings 0
