From Pine View Farm

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Politeness is a family value.

Police say the boy was playing with a handgun when it discharged, shooting his sister in the back.

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Stray Thought, Potboiler Dept. 0

After being in a room where someone was watching Gray’s Anatomy:

If there were that much drama amongst the staff of a real hospital, no patient would leave alive.

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QOTD 0

Edward Albert:

Fear is the only true enemy, born of ignorance and the parent of anger and hate.

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“The Best People” 0

PoliticalProf.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Headline: Confederate statue “Silent Sam” on University of North Carolina campus toppled by protesters.

Title:  Silent Sam's Base.  Image:  Confederate Lady

Click for the original image.

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“They Don’t Know What They Don’t Know” 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Bobby Azarian explores how the Dunning-Kruger Effect may help Bolster Donald Trump’s support. A snippet (emphasis added; follow the link for the rest):

As predicted, the results showed that those who scored low on political knowledge were also the ones who overestimated their level of knowledge. But that wasn’t all. When participants were given cues that made them engage in partisan thought, the Dunning-Kruger effect was made even stronger. This occurred with both Republicans and Democrats, but only in those who scored low on political knowledge to begin with.

These findings are fascinating but equally troubling. How do you combat ignorance when the ignorant believe themselves to be knowledgeable? Even worse, how do you fight it when America is becoming increasingly polarized, which certainly increases the salience of partisan identities?

(snip)

This effect may help explain why certain Trump supporters seem to be so easily tricked into believing proven falsehoods when the president delivers what have become known as “alternative facts,” often using language designed to activate partisan identities. Because they lack knowledge but are confident that they do not, they are less likely than others to actually fact-check the claims that the President makes.

Add the white-wing proganda machine, and voila!, Donald Trump.

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“Truth and Reconciliation,” the American Way 0

Girl No. 1:  What we need to understand about white fragility is . . .  Girl No. 2:  The phrase

Via Job’s Anger.

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Unsecurity 0

Image of John Brennan in a dignified pose, labeled

Click for the original image.

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“All the President’s Men” 0

Shaun Mullen discusses the implications of Michael Cohen’s copping a plea.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Surprise politeness is the politest kind.

There was a startling sound and a frightening situation inside a hotel in Sharonville Saturday night.

A man in a nearby room called 911 after a gun was fired.

“The room next to us, somebody’s shooting and it’s coming into our room. We need, uh, we need help here now,” the man said.

Sharonville police said Booker was drinking and fighting with his girlfriend at the Quality Inn and Suites on Sharon Road, when his 9mm gun “went off by accident.”

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QOTD 0

Noah Webster:

When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor; he betrays the interest of his country.

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The Tinder Trap 0

Meet the dating gamed.

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Light Bloggery 0

The wheel fell off the tractor.

In other words, there are hardware issues down on the farm. Blogging will be sporadic until they are remedied.

Update:

The most excellent tech support at my ISP determined that my cable modem died. I’ve had it for a number of years, and, as my old auto repairman used to say, it doesn’t owe me a dime.

I have my beefs with my ISP, but they are mostly policy-related. Their tech support is competent and capable.

In the meantime, I’ve been using my cell phone’s hotspot capability, and it has worked quite nicely; indeed, it has exceeded my fears expectations. It’s not as fast as cable, but it’s faster than DSL.

I won’t mention my carrier’s name, but I’ve used it since it was called Voicestream, and I have no intention of changing, because, with it, I get what I pay for.

Update De-Dum-Dum:

It turned that it was the router, not the cable modem, that was kaput. I got a new router, a Netgear, today, and configured it up and it’s working quite nicely. I still need to tweak it a bit, but I am favorably impressed with the interface.

I never liked the Belkin anyway. I’m glad it’s kaput.

The tech from my ISP who identified the culprit was adept and competent, as well as pleasant to deal with.

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All the News that Fits 0

Steven M. wonders at the delicate sensibilities of the New York Times.

Full Disclosure: At the end of the post, he notes that the article in question has been updated. Nevertheless, I submit that his post is still worth a read, because it illustrates how easy it is to fall into the trap of the “Lost Cause,” that myth constructed to get persons to forget what, exactly, was the cause that was lost.

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Precedented 0

Donald Trump walks by painting of Richard Nixon.  Nixon's image is thinking,

Via Job’s Anger.

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A Legend Comes to Life 0

A tale of ancient Greece materializes in modern dress.

A Request:

When I am not logged in, no posts more recent than this one display. I’m trying to figure out what the problem is, but I’m not out there in the big wide world.

If you cannot see more recent posts, please drop me a note from the email link on the sidebar. Thanks.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

The requirements of politeness place great expectorations upon the polite.

An 18-year-old man was driving a vehicle on West Maple Avenue, with a 20-year-old passenger from Texas, the chief said.

The passenger had his gun in his hand, and opened his door to spit, and the gun went off. The driver was hit in the back, and is listed in stable condition.

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The Courage of Their Conniptions 0

Sparky:  So you want to end abortion.  Man:  Absolutely.  Someone must stand up for the sanctity of life.  Sparky:  Then defunding planned parenthood is counterproductive.  If you want to reduce unplanned pregnancies--and therefore reduce the need for abortion--the best thing to do would be to make sure women have easy access to contraception.  Man:  No.  The best think would be for all the slutty sex-having sluts to stop having so much sex  . . .  with men who are not me.  Sparky:  Because of your profound commitment to the sanctity of life.  Man:  Exactly.

Click for the original image.

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QOTD 0

Leonard Goldberg, in the voice of Joanna Blalock, the daughter of Sherlock Holmes:

Everyone has a hiding place.

Goldberg, Leonard, A Study in Treason (New York: Minotaur, 2018), p. 135.

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Geeking Out 0

Debian 9 with the Fluxbox window manager on a ThinkPenguin E-Box.

screenshot

Click for a larger image.

Debian, for some fool reason, does not include the “Fluxbox Regenerate Menu” script in its Fluxbox package. To regenerate and then customize the menu, I had to copy the script from another instance and run it under Debian.

So you don’t have to go through this annoyance, I have published the “Fluxbox Regenerate Menu” script here.

And in case you are wondering, yes, I do quite like Fluxbox. It combines the eye candy of a desktop environment with the simplicity of a window manager. I’m currently defaulting to it on all of my machines.

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From Pine View Farm
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