Guard Dog

What was it Aristotle said? Some vices miss what is right because they are deficient. Others because they are excessive. Virtue is found in the mean. Repression of behavior and overindulgence in that behavior certainly strike me as vices. And the latter often follows the former (looking at you Prohibition). As a society we haven't found the mean on trans-gender stuff yet. But we'll get there.

Trump & Adam Schiff are sniping at each other over Twitter. I think they should fight by the slides during recess. You know, say what you will about George W Bush (and I was certainly not a fan) at least he was always cognizant of the dignity and role of the office.

I watched Blade Runner 2049 after the Super Bowl last night. Loved it. But I'm betting there were quite a few deleted scenes because the plot made several unexplained... jumps. I hope there is an extended or "directors's cut" coming.

I'll say one thing for sure. As fads go it's a heck of a lot healthier experimenting with cross gender stuff than eating laundry detergent.

Is this a fad? Or is gender dysphoria more widespread than we thought? I'm guessing the former. https://www.yahoo.com/news/not-just-boy-girl-more-teens-identify-transgender-050223523.html

Last night I was reminded why I dislike the city of Philadelphia. They celebrated by trashing their own town and lighting things on fire.

Voting isn't the answer huh? Well Val, what do you suggest?

I'm not really concerned because when we all go in the voting booth there are no Russians in there with us. Yeah maybe they are spreading disinformation. But considering who are last three Presidents were and the four nominees who didn't get elected I'd say it was all just a choice of bad options. Not one of them would have been better than any other. And some maybe a good deal worse. So because of the Russians unflattering things end up in the news? OK, I figure most Americans aren't watching anyway. You know the problem with all those ugly e-mails and other info released to wikileaks? If the principles in the DNC and Hillary Clinton's campaign had conducted their business in a professional manner, like people do at their jobs every single day, there would not have been much to release. I'd hazard a guess and say no one with any sense voted for either Clinton or Trump. They voted against the alternative. And until people figure out there are more than two options the race to the bottom will continue.

If I had to name the greatest invention of the 21st Century (so far) I'd have a heck of a time not saying it's the e-book in general and the Amazon Kindle specifically. This book has been out of print for years and is hard to find. I've been looking on e-bay, flea markets and other places like that. It's now on Kindle. Huzzah!

What annoys me is the notion that is must be changed because it is pronoun specific. It can't just be accepted that "him" is a generic term in today's parlance. It can't be accepted that the quote is 153 years old and uttered in a time when only men served in the military. But it is no less appropriate today with the understanding that the VA cares for ALL veterans. Not every goddamned thing needs to be spelled out in gender neutral terms to be accepted as being inclusive. Step one on the journey back to sanity begins with the understanding that institutions like the VA are not excluding anyone because they chose a quote from Abraham Lincoln when the Department of Veterans Health (which later merged with other organizations to become the VA) reorganized in 1919.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/02/03/va-should-drop-lincoln-quote-as-official-motto-group-says.html

Ballpark concession prices at Candlestick Park in 1977. It's gone up a little since then!

Winter has been longer and colder than expected. I have to cut and split some more firewood today. Also here is tip for getting rid of fire ants if you have critters and don't want to use pesticides. Pour a pot of boiling water on the mound. That works really, really well. And you get to gloat over their bodies.

Remember how everyone really liked Sarah Palin at first? Until she started.. you know... saying things.

Guard Dog definitely didn't vote for Trump. I seem to recall him saying, however, that Trump might just be what the current corrupt system needs. Regarding checks and balances that's exactly what I was getting at. They may pretty good, but they amount to pretty much nothing at this point. Hahahahahah.... no I never said anything like that. The nicest thing I've ever said about his is at least he isn't Hillary Clinton. But then I said the same thing about her and him. And you're right, we've now had two power hungry narcissists in a row with little or now previous experience. I might hope for better on 2020 but past history is NOT encouraging. And I have voted Libertarian exclusively in every race where there was one on the ballot since 2012. And will keep tilting at that windmill into the future. I did vote for McCain in '08, or more accurately, against Obama.

There are three kinds of people in government: Moral busybodies, radical idealists, and power hungry narcissists. None of these three would be desirable to have unchecked power over their fellow humans. So it is absolutely in our own interest, indeed for our own very survival, that we vigilantly watch what the three flawed archetypes are up to with the power they have. They should never, ever be allowed to operate unsupervised. They should never, ever be trusted to do the right thing when eyes are not on them. If your government does not want you to see something regarding what it's been up to, then you really, really need to see it.

Actually Trumps opposition to releasing the one the Dems produced makes me think that one should be releaed too.

The fact that a liberty-hating statist like Pelosi is so opposed to the release reinforces that it MUST be released.

Wow. Rothfuss is much snarkier in real life then!

The blog post linked to that is funny! There is another difference between the two. Rothfuss has a regular job that isn't writing books. Martin has hobbies and other interests. That isn't to say Martin should be more productive. My life won't change one iota if either never writes another word. If they finish it I'll buy it, if they don't oh well. One thing about Rothfuss, given his interest in games, including two Obsidian titles he mentioned by name, it would not surprise me to learn he is a member on this board that we talk to all the time!

I finished that last night. It was a pretty interesting read. I first became interested in the NHL when the Panthers entered in 1993. So league history, particularly before the '80s is all new to me. I wonder if the team would still be there if Jerry Seltze had bought the team rather than Finley.

To be honest, I'm more interested in the memo. I want to see if it's really that big of a deal or if people here are right about it being useless and irrelevant. It's irrelevant. Either everything in it is true. Or everything is a lie. Or it's somewhere in between. The people who swear it's true are all liars. The people who swear it isn't are all liars. The safe thing to do is just assume the worst is true. The FBI did abuse their power, the Democrats want to cover that up, and the Republicans are lying about how much they know about it. But here is the thing... no matter what that memo says, nothing will come of it. In a week it will be forgotten.

While liars and scoundrels bicker over memos and spying much more interesting things are happening on the other side of the Mall: http://reason.com/blog/2018/02/01/neil-gorsuch-and-samuel-alito-butt-heads

Rothfuss, maybe (his first book blew up out of nowhere), Was that a pun?