I don’t know what was wrong with the old thread.

You young kids like Gavin keep wasting threads, and what will become of it?

WHAT?!?

Man, I go pay a token visit to RL for a couple hours and this place just goes all splodey! 580 comments in the last thread–what is that, some new record. I have to admit I enjoyed the parody troll’s meltdown. I’m just pissed he never “did”me. Guess I don’t rate around here. Oh, well.

Kewl tune. I have to get that from iTunes now. Peace out.

Once you go troll,
You link with a straight face to a VDARE poll.

Nice tune, BTW. Reminds me of later Joe Jackson.

Address my posts, libs!

Steerpike, it seemed to be more a function of who was posting at the time than “rating”. Anyway, it appears he’s now homophobically name-jacking again in the previous post, so now’s your chance!

Ooooh, say it ain’t so, Joe!!!1!idottedwithsmiley!!

WTF is this, Atrios?

And *I* got namestolen in the last thread… so…

Survey my coast, libs!

Is it modern?

Ooooh, say it ain’t so, Joe!!!1!idottedwithsmiley!!

THAR YU GOAGEN JOOOOOOOOOOOH

(the sound of a hundred thousand boners clapping, Bill Kristol decides to put the finishing touches on his Team B-themed Attorney General stationery, etc.)

Undress my stoats, libs!!!

Cancer Donnie Most, libs!

An interesting communication I had recently on the subject of “Assassination Politics.” My commentary is preceded with >> or nothing; the other person’s commentary starts with a “>”. The subject is how to actually implement this system, and my first comment notices the fact that despite my efforts, the government has not attempted to use this issue to justify some sort of crackdown on net rights, or anything like that.

I think they’re actually afraid to start the debate,

I think they don’t believe you’re a threat.

You’re probably right about this. I guess I’ll have to think of something to change their minds, huh?

Remember, they have incredible >amounts of money with which to hire bright but greedy people. All they have to do is find the people running the “Guess the Death Date” lottery. They would have great incentive to apply their considerable resources to this end.

Your logic is excellent. But as strange as it may seem, there may be a different way… Let’s see, how do I explain? First, a little diversion that may or may not be relevant to this subject, but initially won’t appear to be so.

Somewhere around 20-25 years ago, I read some item concerning Howard Hughes, the late billionaire. It described the history of his business ventures, in fields such as aircraft (“Spruce Goose” is a well-known example) but also mentioned that Hughes Tool was (originally?) into oil-well drilling equipment.

I don’t know how much you know about oil well drilling and drill bits, but they look nothing like the classic fluted drill bits common in hardware stores. Oil well drill bits consist of multiple ultra-hard carbide points mounted on rotating shafts mounted at the end of the drill “string,” and these shafts must be connected to the main shaft with bearings. They roll around on the rock, not sliding, and they “spall” off pieces of rock due to enormous applied pressure.

Oil well drilling is done by lubricating the drilling operation with what is called “drilling mud,” which is actually a slurry of solids in water, which is primarily used to cool the cutter and wash away the rock chips and dust produced in the operation. Now, since the rotating cutter wheels must spin on their axis, that means they have to be run on shafts with bearings installed. These bearings cannot be perfectly sealed and thus protected against rock and mud dust, and their useful lifetime is strongly limited by their quality.

And since every time they wear out the whole drill string has to be pulled from the well, that’s an EXTREMELY expensive proposition for well-drillers. So it should not be surprising that these guys considered bearing quality to be very, very important. A little improvement was worth a lot of money.

“Quality”, to a bearing manufacturer, is strongly related to surface hardness, and traditionally, the best bearings were (and, mostly, still are) the hardest. But there’s a problem: Ultimately, a very hard circular bearing rotating on a very hard flat surface (especially if its heavily loaded) applies nearly all its for on a single point (for ball bearings) or on a single line (for roller bearings) and that eventually causes bearing failure. So there was an upper limit, generally, on how good you could get in bearings. And the hardest won. Until Hughes.

[don’t go to sleep yet… it gets relevant real soon]

According to the source I read, what Hughes Tool did that made them really rich was quite simple and counter-intuitive: Rather than trying to make his bearings as HARD as you can get, he made them SOFT, very soft, “almost as soft as lead.” (Which, if you know anything about metals, is very soft indeed.) The bearings deformed on their raceways, spreading out the load over a far larger area, and the resulting bearings were the best in the business. (He probably also applied a lot of research into how to avoid “metal fatigue,” but that’s quite another story.)

Very counter-intuitive, but he “won” precisely because he did exactly the opposite of what everyone “knew” was the proper way to go. Okay, so that explains a genius who later became a billionaire who later turned into a neurotic, or worse. “What,” you will ask, “does this all have to do with Assassination Politics?”

Well, to draw an observation originally posited in an essay titled the “Libertech Project,” about 7 years ago, libertarians (of all people) are “non-Euclidean thinkers.” Basically, this means that we recognize that the best way to go from “point A” to “point B” is NOT NECESSARILY a straight line. And like Columbus, who sailed west in order to go east, sometimes it is necessary to sit down, and totally re-think your strategy if you’re trying to accomplish some goal.

By “classical” thinking, “Assassination Politics” would have to be the best, tightest-security, more protected organization that has ever existed on the face of this planet. Just about EVERY powerful person would want to kill anybody who had anything to do with such a system. The codes would have to be unbreakable, the remailers would have to be certain, but most importantly, each and every participant would have to be perfectly anonymous to even have a prayer of pulling it off. Especially the operators of such a system. Especially them.

That’s classical thinking. And that’s what I thought a few months ago. I thought, “it’s do-able, but it’s gonna be a lot of work!”

But let’s suppose, for a moment, that somebody “pulls a Hughes.” Rather than trying to make the hardest bearings in the world, why doesn’t somebody try to make the softest? Rather than trying their darndest to stay anonymous, or wait and let somebody else implement this system, why not just “let it all hang out,” (as the saying went in the 1960’s) and publicly announce that they’re implementing this system, come hell or high water, and invite anyone who wants to participate to help form what will be the LAST revolution on earth, the one that’ll take down ALL the governments.

This sounds crazy, right? I mean, who wants to die? Who wants to commit suicide just to… just to… just to… make an ENTIRE WORLD FREE FOREVER? Free from wars, militaries, governments, taxes, political oppression. Free from the kind of totalitarian governments that existed and currently exist. Free from the Holocausts that have killed Jews, Cambodians, Armenians, Russian Kulaks, Iraqi Kurds, Chinese dissidents, Native Americans, and oh so many others? “Who, exactly, would be stupid enough to risk death to make the world free???”

Everyone who volunteered to fight to fight Hitler, to name just one example. Remember, or have we forgotten so soon, that occasionally people die to keep the rest of us free. That’s the way it’s been for hundreds of years. The United States of America was founded by people who risked death to shake off the yoke of a government that was, by the standards of the day, not particularly bad.

Think about it. Somebody had to be the first one to start banging on the Berlin Wall, with a sledgehammer, in 1989. Somebody had to be the first to walk through. Somebody had to be the first to stand up and say, “Enough!” And the ironic thing is, the most strangely unusual thing, is that the entire Eastern Bloc fell, almost bloodlessly, in a couple weeks, because one by one everybody realized that all that’s sometimes required is to finally stand up and be counted, and to just say no to the government. When the time was right, all it took was a slight push and the dominoes tumbled down.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that EVERYONE would be identified. The “donors” to the system would remain perfectly anonymous, and the “guessers” would likewise be perfectly anonymous, but the organization itself would be made up of real people, who have published addresses, who have simply decided that they have had enough of the current system and are going to participate in a PERFECTLY LEGAL enterprise by the laws of the country, and just DARE the government to try to stop them. The organization wouldn’t have to buy ads; the publicity firestorm would be enormous. Suddenly, all the politicians would be put on the spot! Instead of being asked by the reporters for their position on the economy, pollution, the budget deficit, or some other thing, they’ll ask, “Why should the public NOT want to see you dead?”

When would be the best time to do it? Why, during a major political campaign! When Congress is out of session, and they can’t pass legislation without calling some sort of emergency session. But it won’t matter anyway, for a few weeks the organization doesn’t actually have to take bets or make payments, they’ll merely publicize their efforts for all to see. To reassure the public, they could announce that they’ll only take bets on elected and appointed political officeholders…and anyone who tries to stop the system. And the politicians will be scurrying around, looking for political cover, trying to figure out how to NOT look scared, but at the same time each is wondering if he’ll be the first to go. And all the while, the public will be loving it, laughing at the efforts of the politicos to cover their collective asses, and taking private bets among themselves on who will be the first one to die.

Prosecute the participants? On what charge? “Conspiracy to commit gambling”? Which prosecutor would risk appearing to be impeding the progress of a useful system? At that point, the organization’s members will just be publicly exercising their first-amendment rights. Which judge would take the case? Now THEY’RE on the spot, THEY have to decide what to do. I contend that in an election year, before the election, there would be mass resignations from Congress, or members deciding “it’s just not fun anymore” and decline to return even if re-elected, as well as the complete loss of whatever residual confidence the public has in the government. Whew! Is this all just wishful thinking? I really don’t know!

Please delete Ass Politics Cut ‘n paste. It’s just tooo stupid and boring.

Shorter assassination politics: And that’s when I ran out of crack….

I am devoto to this blog

There’s not enugh Barry Adamson on youtube but try this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghvlwxEDI14

It’s from here

Imagine for a moment that as ordinary citizens were watching the evening news, they see an act by a government employee or officeholder that they feel violates their rights, abuses the public’s trust, or misuses the powers that they feel should be limited. A person whose actions are so abusive or improper that the citizenry shouldn’t have to tolerate it.

What if they could go to their computers, type in the miscreant’s name, and select a dollar amount: The amount they, themselves, would be willing to pay to anyone who “predicts” that officeholder’s death. That donation would be sent, encrypted and anonymously, to a central registry organization, and be totaled, with the total amount available within seconds to any interested individual. If only 0.1% of the population, or one person in a thousand, was willing to pay $1 to see some government slimeball dead, that would be, in effect, a $250,000 bounty on his head.

Why I do believe that Troofers is advocating assassination of the President!

Are we not Devo?

Fur, they’re Moar! Central to my point, and such as!!!one!won!1!
~

Oh, he seems to be advocating the assassinations of a lot more politicians than that.

Get. The. Fuck. OUT!

Seriously, I first heard this song when I was … 12 and loved it. Tapped it off the radio. Listened to it A LOT.

Never, ever, ever, knew the name of the band.

[Kiss your feet]

ittdgy: Devo actually does an amazing live show, as an even cursory pick over Youtube will demonstrate. I wouldn’t think that would be common of new-wave outfits, but to be fair they’re just a weird, weird type of punk.

For Troofers:

Video of the day

Well, to draw an observation originally posited in an essay titled the “Libertech Project,” about 7 years ago, libertarians (of all people) are “non-Euclidean thinkers.” Basically, this means that we recognize that the best way to go from “point A” to “point B” is NOT NECESSARILY a straight line. And like Columbus, who sailed west in order to go east, sometimes it is necessary to sit down, and totally re-think your strategy if you’re trying to accomplish some goal.

Oh my god, I don’t know which part I like better: using Columbus thinking the world is round as an example of unconventional thinking (in point of fact, his innovation was thinking the Earth was smaller than Mars, and if he had been right about both that and sea access to Asia he and his crew would have starved to death somewhere equivalent to Easter Island) or the businessese “sit down and totally re-think your strategy […] to accomplish some goal”. (You know, nothing specific. No pressure or anything.)

This just goes to show what non-Euclidean thinkers libertarians are, you know?

One of the best songs ever from one of the most undeservedly obscure bands of all time. (Though I admit, as much as I love this song, I have a special fondness for “The Light Pours Out Of Me”.)

BTW, Gavin, you seem like you might be the sort of person who has Howard Devoto’s “Jerky Versions of the Dream” in digital/CD format. If this is true, I would like to see if you know of any way I can get a copy. Plz contact me if that’s the case.

I’m lame – I had no idea that Peter Murphy was doing a cover, there.

Columbus thinking the world is round as an example of unconventional thinking

I glanced at the copypasta for long enough to see that the non-Euclidiean-thinking author was under the impression that Howard Hughes and Howard Hughes Jnr. were the same person, and would be hard-pressed to get more things wrong in his rant about drilling technology. So I didn’t actually read down to the Columbus bit.

EZ for you 2 say, S.C.

You don’t live in Columbus, unlike in stark contrast to some of us who might just happen to suffer the sorry-ass fate of having to go to work in Columbus, OHIO tomorrow, which is only a small amount of time from the present, and such as, also.

Bass turd.

BTW, Gavin, you seem like you might be the sort of person who has Howard Devoto’s “Jerky Versions of the Dream” in digital/CD format. If this is true, I would like to see if you know of any way I can get a copy. Plz contact me if that’s the case.

Dan Someone, Gav has it on vinyl, which he doesn’t have up here in Mass yet. When we get his set-up up here, he may be able to help you out.

I live in Columbus (Westerville).

Well heck, M. Kong, if you’re saying you live 23 minutes north of me (I’m downtown and I walk to work everyday!), then we should meet for beers sometime.
~

Thanks for the reply, Dr. Missus Marita. I could swear I had JVotD on CD years ago, but it disappeared, and I cannot find it anywhere. (I may also be delusional in even thinking it was released on CD.)

I will look forward to the day his gear arrives en Mass. (That pun really doesn’t work in writing.)

Sounds good sometime when I’m in town. I’m an air freight pilot so I’m on the road right now.

My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.

And I still don’t know the correct use of soap. Also.

OK, I read that Ass Politics thing, and my first thought was, “This is like the bastard child of Time Cube and Tom Clancy.”

A million Mogadisha do what now?

I thought the song from under the floorboards went “‘scuse my finGAHs”.

The shithouse floorboards, that is!

I had also heard this song and then forgotten it. I must confess I’m proud as hell of that fact.
Ass destruction Boy done good. The badgers were getting fat.

Magazine -> Barry Adamson -> BA/Nick Cave – The Sweetest Embrace

“’scuse my finGAHs”

Forgive the newbie question, but what’s the deal with that phrase?

Forgive the newbie question, but what’s the deal with that phrase?

http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/22376.html#comment-938708

Read on from there. If it starts making sense at some point, seek professional medical help immediately.

“By force of habit, I am an insect.”

Man, I love Howard Devoto.

“I am angry, I am ill, and I’m as ugly as sin.”

They don’t make lyrics like that any more.

I just watched that video of my own accord yesterday. Coincidences are following me around lately.

Drink your milk, kid. You’re gonna need it.

Oh yeah, assasination politics. I remember coming across that back in the USENET days, and it’s what i think of as the logical end-state of libertarianism. Amazing how the engineers that came up with it know lots about the digital cash encryption system for pament, but nothing about human psychology or why we elect leaders.

And all the while, the public will be loving it, laughing at the efforts of the politicos to cover their collective asses, and taking private bets among themselves on who will be the first one to die.

See, here’s the problem. Sick fucks like this are incapable of seeing how truly fucked up they are. They honestly believe that everybody shares their flexible morality and their twisted perversions of depraved sadism.

The vast majority of people who use phrases like FOAD or DIAF – they wouldn’t actually condone assassination attempts on their targets of ire. It’s a rhetorical whatchamacallit.

“I am angry, I am ill, and I’m as ugly as sin.”

“I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. I am an unpleasant man. I think my liver is diseased.”

Time for some Garfield Minus Garfield!

http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/page/9

Amazing how the engineers that came up with it know lots about the digital cash encryption system for pament, but nothing about human psychology or why we elect leaders.

Actually, that’s pretty much Steven den Beste in a nutshell.

In your latest “WTF Happened to The Atlantic” – Sully is tasked with throwing WunderRoss’ 2-month old lunch out of the lunch room fridge.

It’s really very funny – because undying devotion to Palin was one of the litmus tests required during teh Purge. And now a bunch of always wrong nitwits get to rub it in the faces of their brethren. I wonder if we’ll see any right-bloggers apologizing to K-Pax?

I had to laugh at one of Sully’s phrases:
He mentions not a single policy issue, nor a single actual accomplishment this hood ornament of a candidate can be credited with.

What a great phrase – perfect for Sarah Palin.

It’s a rhetorical whatchamacallit.

Yes. Just like how Vinny Barbarino would never really put a rubber hose up anyone’s nose.

Actually, that’s pretty much Steven den Beste in a nutshell.

It’s pretty much every libertarian I’ve ever met in a nutshell.

… put a rubber hose up anyone’s nose.

Hey – let’s not go too far there. For all we know, “up your nose” might be part of some sort of Clear Thetan auditing procedure.

So what do all the O-bots have to say for themselves now that unemployment is at a 26-year high and skyrocketing towards 10 percent? Even Biden yesterday admitted that the administration miscalculated.

I wonder what this means for 2010? With unemployment in double digits by that point, its safe to say no Democrat is safe, especially not the ones responsible for this whole crisis (Barney Frank and Chris Dodd).

Clearly what’s needed is torture, increased military spending, and tax cuts for billionaires.

So what do all the O-bots have to say for themselves now that unemployment is at a 26-year high and skyrocketing towards 10 percent?

You mean it’s as high as during the vaunted Reagan years????

I know what’ll solve this: scapegoating immigrants, forbidding gay marriage and no-bid contracts to Xe.

And *demanding* the statue of Justice cover up her tit. It’s bringing down American with her slattern ways!

It’s bringing down American with her slattern ways!

And blinding us to the horrible threat that is Tommy Chong selling bongs online.

Also, what I think we need, in this time of desperation, recession, and unemployment, is another Enron/WorldCom-style bust-up where it’s revealed major corporations actually have no money whatsoever.

Actor, that recession was induced on purpose by raising interest rates to finally purge the Carter Inflation, which it did.

You also forgot the part where the Obama administration projected unemployment to be much lower by now.

Apparently actor212 was not here Da Twoof’s epic meltdown yesterday. Otherwise he would know the difference between troll baiting, which leads to LLLLLLLLLLLL and awesome, and troll feeding, which is tedious and boring.

So Troofy Prufrock admits it: the stimulus was too small.

The stimulus was a waste. More would be an even bigger waste of hard earned taxpayer dollars.

We could just suspend the income tax for a few years instead, then the economy would really take off.

then the economy would really take off.

To Aruba.

It’s odd how Simba always shows up just after Troofus does…

Actor, that recession was induced on purpose by raising interest rates to finally purge the Carter Inflation, which it did.

Would that were accurate.

How is it not accurate?

Because, numbnuts, the hyperinflation of the late 70s was caused by two things Carter had no control over: OPEC’s second artificial oil shortages and Nixon’s wage and price controls expiring.

But nice try.

Besides all of which, the term “Carter inflation” proves you’re an imbecile–inflation rates peaked at over 10% in 1973, under Nixon, stayed just about as high under Ford (WIN buttons, you moron?), were slowly declining under Carter, till the sharp recession after Reagan got in cooled things off.

Dan Someone, Gav has it on vinyl, which he doesn’t have up here in Mass yet.

I have it on cassette. I think a USB turntable lies in my near future.

My point was that the early 1980s recession was done on purpose, to finally end inflation. Which it did. Quite unlike the current Obama Recession, which Hope and Friends seem to have no idea how to get out of, or even lessen slightly. Their projections have been wildly, wildly off.

Who do you think Independents and even Blue Dog Democrats will vote for when unemployment hits 14, 15, or 16%? Certainly not the Party of Bawney Fwank and Fwends.

We Shwud awl dwive widdle ecowogicawl cawrs mawd in Union fawcivilities in Massachwestwetts.

I like cock.

Oh yes, they’ll come bounding back to the Republicans that drove us into the fucking depression and still thought there was nothing wrong in fucking October 2008, so long as the rich folk were doing a-ok.

And the Blue Dogs already vote for your braindead Republican masters. That’s why they’re called fucking Blue Dogs, you lackwit.

Did somebawdy swy cawk? I weally weally wove cowk!

I’m afwaid I dwove us into the dwepwession. I wan Fannie Mayw and Fewddie Mawk into the gwound.

Don’t forget me, Barney! God, my poll numbers are making me piss my pants. I’m so going to lose in 2010.

Hey, anybody know where I can get a sweetheart mortgage deal?

So, I was thinking, and I decided:

You’re an idiot.

You can’t go more than five minutes without talking about cock.

And you lie at every given opportunity.

So I’m done with you now.

Have fun playing with your dolls.

You can’t go more than five minutes without talking about cock.

Ha ha, almost every last one of my friends are gay men, and Troofie talks more about cock than all of them combined.

You like being gayer than a bunch of fags, Troofie?

Chris, when you need some renovations done let me know and I can hook you up.

Simba, isn’t obvious every conservatard is a flaming closet case?

Huh. Turns out Jerky Versions of the Dream is available through Amazon and Amazon Download.

Probably the best musical adaptation of Dostoyevsky, with I know, the exception of the musical Karamozov! with Ethel Merman (hint: Notes from Under the Floorboard is another way of translating a book title better known here as “Notes from Underground”). I love Magazine–“Parade” is real suicide-note music, their minor hit “About the Weather” is the all-time best white Motown pastiche.