November, 2017 archive
Idiot Abroad, Reprise 0
Warning: Language.
The Galt and the Lamers 0
In the Hartford Courant, Colin McEnroe looks at the results of Tuesday’s elections and makes a some predictions. In particular, he suggests that the inside-the-beltway punditocracy will invariably draw the wrong conclusions (after all, that’s what they do–he doesn’t say that, I do).
I particularly want to highlight his “Three Commandments of Political Analysis”:
II. Thou shalt occasionally ignore I.
III. If a Libertarian lieth with a Green, everything whereon they subsequently sitteth shall be unclean.
In the bulk of his column, he focuses on item II, suggesting that Tuesday’s outcomes may well offer lessons for the 2018 national races; follow the link for his reasoning.
I want to comment a bit on item III:
Remember, a Libertarian is one who seeks an elaborate, fancy-smancy rationale for denying the existence of the common good. Libertarianism is a creed that appeals most notably to 15-year-old boys, regardless of their ages.
For all practical purposes, a Libertarian in today’s political scene is little more than a Republican who’s ashamed to admit it.
Idiot Abroad 0
Dick Polman assesses Donald Trump’s performance in China and finds it shedding light on his character–nope, not the right word modus operandi.
Follow the link for his reasons for saying that.
Droning On 0
It appears the drone has finally come home to roost.
Cole Kelley has been charged with reckless endangerment, having reportedly flown the drone around pyrotechnicians while they set up the traditional fireworks show, according to police reports.
Space Needle security were alerted to the incident about 2:45 p.m. Dec. 31 after Kelley reported crashing the nearly seven-pound aircraft on the roof of the structure.
The device was captured and subdued by aforesaid “pyrotechnicians.”
All the News that Fits 0
Consider what news reporting would be like if all news worked like Fox News.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Anomie 0
Thom and Richard Wolff discuss American gun massacres and wonder what about American society produces these solitary wolf predators.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
About those responsible gun owners (emphasis added) . . . .
(snip)
The report says they parked and the arguing continued.
The woman said she pulled a gun out of her console but did not point it at anyone. The deputy asked her why she pulled out the gun and she said that she sometimes has a bad temper, according to the report.
Literacy Test 0
Gina Barreca suggests that we would be wise to expect our leaders to be literate. A bit:
I do.
Apparently this marks me as an “elitist” when it comes to education. But, to those who accuse me of elitism, I want to borrow the words of Inigo Montoya from “The Princess Bride”: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Just the Equifax, Sir 0
Bruce Schneier has posted his written testimony to Congress about the Equifax breach to his blog. Here’s a bit:
2. Equifax was solely at fault.
This was not a sophisticated attack. The security breach was a result of a vulnerability in the software for their websites: a program called Apache Struts. The particular vulnerability was fixed by Apache in a security patch that was made available on March 6, 2017. This was not a minor vulnerability; the computer press at the time called it “critical.” Within days, it was being used by attackers to break into web servers. Equifax was notified by Apache, US CERT, and the Department of Homeland Security about the vulnerability, and was provided instructions to make the fix.
Two months later, Equifax had still failed to patch its systems. It eventually got around to it on July 29. The attackers used the vulnerability to access the company’s databases and steal consumer information on May 13, over two months after Equifax should have patched the vulnerability.
Just the Facts, Ma’am 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Alice LoCicero provides an interesting set of links to studies about the positive correlation between the “presence of firearms and violence.”
I commend her article to your attention.
(When you read the article, you will understand why this happened.)