28DEC2024 – Quote of the Day

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[Isaiah’s Job; The Atlantic Monthly (June 1936) (Part 4)]

In the year of Uzziah’s death, the Lord commissioned the prophet to go out and warn the people of the wrath to come. “Tell them what a worthless lot they are.” He said, “Tell them what is wrong, and why and what is going to happen unless they have a change of heart and straighten up. Don’t mince matters. Make it clear that they are positively down to their last chance. Give it to them good and strong and keep on giving it to them. I suppose perhaps I ought to tell you,” He added, “that it won’t do any good. The official class and their intelligentsia will turn up their noses at you and the masses will not even listen. They will all keep on in their own ways until they carry everything down to destruction, and you will probably be lucky if you get out with your life.”

Albert Jay Nock

A Better Grip

photog Current Events, Trump , ,

In the aftermath of Christmas I’m lazing around the house eating leftover desserts and reading whatever news and commentary appears on-line.  All things considered that’s a pretty relaxing way to end off Christmas week.  There were a few dominant buckets of news and opinion.  There were the, “What’s the first thing Trump will do?” and, “How can we stop Trump from doing anything?” and, “What will be Joe Biden’s legacy?”  Well, that last one will be easy to answer.  A VHS copy of “Weekend at Bernie’s” for the Biden Library.

But one of the more interesting things I listened to was Al Franken talking to some journalist about why Trump won or more exactly, why Harris lost.  So, this investigative reporter tried to explain to Franken that people voted against Harris because they didn’t like how their values were demeaned by the Democrats.

Now this idea had to rattle around in Franken’s head for a good long time.  His guest reminded him several times about Hillary calling people deplorables and even Obama lecturing working class people about clinging to God and guns.  And, of course, the idea of criticizing Obama disoriented Al Franken, “Are we allowed to say that?”  Eventually Franken even began to see how Latino men and even black men might eventually get tired of voting for a party that disrespects men and then actually vote for the white guy.  Of course, all this crazy talk had to be toned down and they both started genuflecting to Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris and howling and shrieking Trump’s name because he’s evilll!

But it’s interesting.  They were devilishly close to uttering the statement that the Democrats have become the party of rich white people and Trump is the man of the people, even people who aren’t white.  Now that’s funny.  Al Franken was cast out during one of the #metoo pogroms because back when he was a comedian for Saturday Night Live, he committed some practical jokes against women that were sexual in nature.  If I remember correctly, the jokes were at about the maturity level expected of sixth graders.  For this he was cast out of the United States Senate.  This makes him one of the most severely punished Democrats falling afoul of cancel culture.  I wonder how this makes him feel about the whole left-wing culture project?  Losing a senate seat must really, really sting.  But I guess he still gets his money from the Left and money talks.

Well, anyway, it is interesting to see how even leftists can recognize obvious facts even if they defy all the tenets of their faith.  They may not be able to admit the consequences of those facts if they’re particularly blasphemous but they can tentatively poke at the facts with a stick and point out how they remind them of this or that thing that would make sense if it wasn’t so frighteningly close to admitting that Kamala Harris is an idiot and the Biden Administration was a dumpster fire.

So, you see, the Democrats have been working their way through the seven stages of mourning.  They may not be all the way to acceptance but they’re darn close.  What will come next is the search for a savior.  The most amusing name I heard floated was … Kamala Harris!  Of course we couldn’t get that lucky.  Even the crazy cat ladies of the Democrat establishment and their loyal eunuchs wouldn’t allow their political correctness to permit Kamala anywhere near the 2028 election.  Josh Shapiro or Gavin Newsom or even Bozo the Clown could get on the primary ballot but Kamala has chewed through (supposedly) $2.5 billion.  From what I’ve heard, the donors are kinda mad.  There are probably as many hit squads trying to get her as are after Trump.

So today was a relaxing day and although I am a little embarrassed to have bothered with the goofy stuff I read, it was a way to catch up with where the world is currently floating.  And it made me think.  Right about now Trump must be saying to himself, “Less than a month to go.  I better get a better grip on this tiger’s tail because I’m about to get a hell of a ride.  And so are we all.

27DEC2024 – Quote of the Day

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[Isaiah’s Job; The Atlantic Monthly (June 1936) (Part 3)]

This story is much worth recalling just now when so many wise men and soothsayers appear to be burdened with a message to the masses. … I can not remember a time when so many energumens were so variously proclaiming the Word to the multitude and telling them what they must do to be saved. This being so, it occurred to me, as I say, that the story of Isaiah might have something in it to steady and compose the human spirit until this tyranny of windiness is overpast. I shall paraphrase the story in our common speech, since it has to be pieced out from various sources; and inasmuch as respectable scholars have thought fit to put out a whole new version of the Bible in the American vernacular, I shall take shelter behind them, if need be, against the charge of dealing irreverently with the Sacred Scriptures.

Albert Jay Nock

Guest Contributor – War Pig – 26DEC2024 – Elemental

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war pig

Given the choice between kids with simple toys and physicists, I’ll take the children every time. There is something elemental about children learning a new skill. They have to understand trajectory, momentum, judging speeds & accurate distances, bound orbits; and then teach their bodies to react precisely to intercept a bound orbit vector at speed and to furthermore cushion the landing of the ball to prevent it bouncing out of the cup again.

Small wonder we have so much trouble programming humanoid robots to do simple things children can do.

Now Prove Me Wrong

photog Current Events, OCF, Reclaiming the Family, Science ,

So, Camera Girl works double time for a week and I just spend two days eating thousands and thousands of calories of delicacies over the long holidays but I’m the one who’s exhausted and complaining!  I guess we each have our own strengths and weaknesses.

So, mission accomplished.  Two days hanging out with the grandkids and all the rituals were observed.  I even bonded with my sons-in-law.  They were good sports and tolerated all of my quirks.  They uncomplainingly watched my showing today of W.C. Fields classic “The Man on the Flying Trapeze.”  They even laughed at several of the most absurd scenes of Ambrose Wolfinger with his cellar full of singing burglars, his career as a “memory expert,” his criminal adventure as an unlicensed manufacturer of apple jack, his passion for professional wrestling and his trials and tribulations dealing with his truly awful wife and her mother and brother.

The kids fell right in with the silliness on display.  The only protest came from my six-year-old granddaughter who recognized both Fields and the actress playing his wife from the previous showing of the other Fields movie where they played a husband and wife, namely “It’s a Gift.”  Princess Sack of Potatoes wanted to know where the son and daughter in that previous movie had gotten to in this movie.  I explained that even though Fields and the actress were playing husband and wife again they were different characters.  I think this situation didn’t sit well with her.  Apparently, she felt that her suspension of disbelief was being abused and she wanted those interesting characters returned.  I did my best to smooth over this outrage but it took half the movie to return her to willing participation.

And as everyone was heading home, I was thinking what a strange world we live in.  All the silly rituals and behaviors that we associate with happiness and family.  Three generations of people playing penny ante poker or watching movies from ninety-some-odd years ago or eating peasant foods from a country none of us has ever lived in.  It’s all just a hodge-podge of things that make up a stream of experiences that we all share together travelling down the years.

And for me, those are the realest things in the world.  All the other things I read about “on-line” and the important progress that is being made by artificial intelligence, global convergence or whatever else they call what they are doing with government money are utterly fake.  Watching my two youngest grandchildren trying for the first time to master the silly game of getting a wooden ball on a string to land in a little wooden cup was more meaningful than listening to two physicist talking heads debating about whether dark matter was faker than modified gravity.  These high powered (we hope) intellects should be concentrating their efforts on solving the world’s energy problems.  The physics they need to be studying is defining the criteria for engineering a safe fission reactor.  Humanity needs to snap out of its stupor and produce an ecosystem of abundance and prosperity that fosters human happiness and maximizes human intellectual potential.

It’s amusing to hear people who “believe in science” stating categorically that there is no God and that the universe and life are just meaningless accidents.  And their proof is “The Big Bang.”  They declare confidently that the universe began x number of billions of years ago with all the matter and energy of creation appearing out of nowhere and all of that creation is still expanding at an ever-greater acceleration into empty space with entropy leading to the heat death of this universe in y billions of years from now.  But if you ask them where the big bang came from, they just shrug their shoulders and say that is unknowable.  In essence they are saying they don’t know anything about the beginning and end of the universe.  So basically, they’re saying, “and then there was light.”

I tend to think life is not an accident.  From my point of view, what I experience in my small piece of the universe is the point of the whole thing.  A little kid playing with a ball and cup toy is the reason for the big bang and everything else that has been put in motion.  Now prove me wrong.

26DEC2024 – Quote of the Day

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[Isaiah’s Job; The Atlantic Monthly (June 1936) (Part 2)]

A prophet of the Remnant will not grow purse-proud on the financial returns from his work, nor is it likely that he will get any great renown out of it. Isaiah’s case was exceptional to this second rule, and there are others, but not many.

In any given society the Remnant are always so largely an unknown quantity.

An assignment that you can really put your back into, and do your best without thinking about results, is a real job; whereas serving the masses is at best only half a job, considering the inexorable conditions that the masses impose upon their servants.

You do not know, and will never know, who the Remnant are, nor what they are doing or will do.

Albert Jay Nock

Tom’s World – 25DEC2024 – Photography – Fast lenses

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Tom | Flickr

TomD

That (Sony 135mm f\1.8 lens) is a nice lens but, as you note, the range is sort of a “tweener”. But with that IQ, you can always stand a crop.

Like you, I’m still sitting on a collection of A mounts but will probably die with them leaving my heirs to wonder what the devil they’re gonna do with these.

My most expensive lens is an E mount, 24-70, f2.8, GM. I forgot the cost but it was in the low 2,000’s. I rarely use it because it is big and heavy. It is capable of stellar results but almost all the really good results were with my now gone A7R2 body with the 46 mp sensor. My current A7IV, almost always wears a Sony G series, 24-105, f4.0. It has a more usable range, I rarely need f 2.8, weighs half, costs half, and if there’s a difference in IQ (image quality), I’ve yet to discern it.

The main reason f2.8 (or lower) was needed was to gather more light or to increase bokah. These new cameras are astonishing in their low light performance. I limit my ISO to 12,800 but constantly come up with images at that ISO that need no “noise” reduction and are usable as shot. My old A850 (like yours) was getting to be unusable at an ISO of 1600.
Anything around 2400 and forget it. That’s why I am perfectly fine with f4.

Below is a photo that I think I recently posted here, it was shot at 12,800 and has had no noise reduction. It is perfectly clear but if you look at the blurred background, you can barely make out the beginnings of noise. I don’t need 2.8, this camera will almost shoot in the dark. This lens is the 24-104; read the reviews, it’s an incredible lens.

DSC07623

Canada, Greenland, Panama Canal.  Deal or No Deal?

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When I was a kid one of my best friends was crazy.  He was wired so that whenever the opportunity arose, he was ready and willing to poke a beehive (metaphorically).  He possessed a razor-sharp wit that had only one track; hilariously cruel mockery.  He could mimic and belittle anyone or anything.  The problem was he never selected his targets based on the blowback he could expect.  And so there were very serious consequences; beatings, expulsions from schools and youth organizations and vendettas of various sorts.

I think Donald Trump has a similar knack.  Going all the way back to the days of “Little Marco” Rubio and “low energy” Jeb, Trump has demonstrated that making his opponents look ridiculous is completely in his wheelhouse.  Does this explain his recent statements about annexing or buying Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal Zone?

I guess we’ll have to try and sort these things out.

Let’s start with Canada.  For starters, geographically speaking Canada is the second largest country on planet Earth.  With a population of about 40,000,000 it’s only slightly more populous than California and it is mostly quite cold.  But it obviously has plenty of natural resources and potential.  But it is kind of a real country so how exactly does it become part of the United States?  Well, obviously it doesn’t.  Right now, the Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party are the extremely unpopular majority party with him as prime minster.  After the various COVID debacles and the following downturn in the economy, the Conservatives are expected to win the 2025 elections and send Trudeau packing.  Now I have to assume that any Canadian politician who gave a positive response to this suggestion by Trump would be voted out of office during the next election.  Who knows, maybe the Canadian parliament might vote to impeach him immediately just to punish such a thing.  But I don’t think there’s a chance in the world of Canada agreeing to join the United States unless the Gates of Hell opened up in Ottawa and it was the only way to prevent their annihilation.  So why would Trump say such a thing.  Of course, because he was taunting Trudeau.  And in this case what could be the consequences to him?  None.  Canada has no leverage over the United States and serves as the impotent straight man to any jibes that Trump cares to make.  So, let’s just say this one is just rhetoric.  It’s just like my boyhood friend exhibiting a penitent for cruel mockery.

Then how about Greenland?  Now this is a totally different animal.  It is the largest island in the world but only about 50,000 people live there, mostly Inuit.  Apparently, Denmark; the current owner of the island doesn’t know what to do with it.  They have white guilt over colonizing it a thousand years ago and want to give it back to the Inuit.  So, Trump talking about buying it is actually a doable thing.  Currently most of it is covered by glaciers.  But if the ice continues to melt the way it is going someday this could be a very valuable piece of real estate.  Also, the probable quantities of natural resources (including fresh water) are almost incalculable.  So, let’s call this one more than just rhetoric.  Let’s attribute it to Trump’s love of a good deal at a good price.  I think he’s serious about this one.

Now, what about the Panama Canal Zone?  I think we can call this saber rattling against the Chinese.  Chinese commercial interests in Panama may be related to very large increases in the cost of using the canal for shipping.  Saying we should take it back may be Trump’s way of threatening the Chinese with a fight they can’t win if they take advantage of American companies using the canal.  Does that mean he wouldn’t actually take back the canal by force?  Well, nothing is impossible but I would rate it as extremely unlikely.  Blockading it, on the other hand, might be something he would do.  So, let’s call this one a special case where the rhetoric has some basis in reality.

And finally, what other bargains remain out there for Donald Trump to annex?  Mexico?  Australia?  Japan?  Well, who can say?  Mexico would actually make some sense.  Not as a state but as a protectorate.  We could crush the drug gangs and rebuild Mexico as a client state with our own puppet government installed to allow for its people to live decent lives.  But honestly it would be more work than it would be worth to us.  Better to build a wall four hundred feet tall and a hundred feet deep with laser-armed drones guarding it.

And the rest of the world?  Look we have enough problems with our own people.  Mr. Trump, I know you like a deal but how about just reclaiming our own country.  Is it a deal?

Which Place Will Trump Add to the United States?

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