Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Some Fast Thoughts Under the Fedora: Virtue Signaling on Fire, Dishonest folk acting dishonest, Disney Death Spiral, The Bottom Line and an odd development.

Posted: September 2, 2023 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Electric car sales might not have caught fire throughout the country but in Florida they’re catching fire for completely different reasons:

Owners were being warned to move their EVs at least fifty feet away from any structure. That’s how serious of a fireball can be created. Authorities said that the fires don’t happen immediately, but tend to break out several days or even up to two weeks later. Apparently, as the salt water dries up it can leave behind a trail of salt that can form a “bridge” between the terminals of the EV’s batteries. And if that causes the electricity to arc across, your battery is burning and you’re off to the races.

Well yeah, so your car can burn down and your house can be burned down but at least you can feel good about yourself when it happens.

I keep getting reminded of John Adams words concerning public business:

Public business must always be done by somebody. It will be done by somebody or other. If wise man decline, others will not; if honest man refuse it, others will not.

That came to mind when I saw this story:

City Health Department workers already making six-figure salaries allegedly ripped off thousands of dollars in gift cards purchased with taxpayer money and meant for HIV-prevention programs.

Three staffers from the agency’s Bureau of hepatitis, HIV, and sexually transmitted infections swiped a total of 131 gift cards worth $4,855, which they blew on pizza, iTunes, and Amazon purchases, according to Queens Criminal Co

That applies to all public business, not just elected office.

Ace reports on another bad sign for Disney:

I noted yesterday that the television app Samba reported that the new Force Is Female Star Wars failure Ahsoka had only garnered a Brian-Stelter-like 1.2 million views over its first few days of release, which is much worse than the previous Disney Star Wars disaster’s ratings. Obi-Wan garnered 2.4 million viewers in its debut, and was, as far as I hear, just a wretched piece of shit top to bottom and back to front.

I hear that Ahsoka is far less aggressively awful, and that’ a problem: You expect your terrible shows to get bad ratings. But if you put out a show that is good — well, let’s not get carried away; I hear Ahsoka is okay and at least has a bigger budget than these other cheapo-beepo Disney Star Wars shows — and that also gets terrible ratings, that means people aren’t deciding not to view based on the quality of a specific show.

Disney’s problem is a lot like Bud Light there are just too many other entertainment options for people to be forced to watch shows made by folks who hate them.

If you want to know why the Biden Admin’s diplomacy isn’t working you can’t do better than this line:

“But the truth is, when we’re engaged with the Chinese, we get an airport. And when we’re engaged with you guys, we get a lecture.”

The world isn’t full of liberal leftists no matter how much the right people want to pretend it is.

Finally something odd that I’ve noticed lately that doesn’t involve any links.

I’ve been driving for the past 40 years or so and I could count the number of times somebody passed me over a double yellow line on the fingers of one hand with digits to spare.

This week alone it has happened three times, this last month it has happened over a half a dozen, over the course of this year almost a full dozen and at least one of those times it was done in full view of a police car that didn’t bother to move.

I can’t account for this change except for the idea that people no longer worry about being pulled over because they know the police aren’t going to bother to take any risk that doesn’t have to be taken.

If you can think of a different reason feel free to let me know.

Pintastic T-5 Two Views of the Extra Ball Lounge Plus One of the great Secrets of Pintastic

Posted: September 2, 2023 by datechguy in fun, pinball, special events, Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

Today we give you two videos from Pintastic NE, the first is a glimpse of the extra ball lounge from Pintastic 2021.

And if that video of me in full beard at Pintastic 2021 tempts you into visiting Pintastic 2023 (get advanced tickets here) let me share with you this video from Pintastic 2022 which reveals one of the great secrets of how to max out your pintastic experience.

As the video notes there is always at least one game in the extra ball lounge that is never empty. Last year it was Toy Story 3. No idea what this years choice will be.

The Biden Regime is going to try and limit how much alcohol you can drink

Posted: August 31, 2023 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

Progressivism, like all other collectivist ideologies, is all about elites controlling every aspect of the lives of the common folk, who the elites believe are too stupid to decide for themselves.  Once you understand this, everything about these collectivist ideologies becomes clear, including these new alcohol consumption guidelines, just released by the Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Americans could be urged by officials to drink no more than two beers a week as part of strict new alcohol guidelines.

Biden’s health czar told DailyMail.com the USDA could revise its alcohol advice to match Canada‘s, where people are advised to have just two drinks per week.

Right now, these are just suggestions made by a member of the Biden Regime.  How long will they remain just suggestions?  Given the track record of the Federal Government during the Wuhan Flu Pandemic, and the long history of progressivism in general, I believe it will not be long before an attempt is made to make this guideline mandatory.

Progressives were responsible for the disastrous Prohibition of the 1920s and 1930s.  They have been responsible for countless attempts of banning substances they believe are harmful. Just look at how Progressives handles the Wuhan Flu.  They are now attempting to bring back forces masking and vaccine passports.

The Daily Mail article I got the quote from goes on and on about the negative health effects of alcohol.  None of that matters at all when it comes to the Federal Government banning or limiting consumption of any substance.  The Federal Government does not have the Constitutional authority to ban or limit the consumption of anything.  The plain meaning of the Interstate Commerce Clause has been distorted since the 1940s to make it seem like the Federal Government has that authority.  Life would be better off for everyone in the United States if we returned to the original understanding of that clause.

The cynicism of today’s elites

Posted: August 29, 2023 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
Tags: ,

By Christopher Harper

If you want to know what’s wrong with America’s elites, read on.

The New York Times asked 17 elite writers to opine on “one piece of culture [that] captures the spirit of our country.”

The answers are startlingly cynical. Maureen Dowd thinks Americans are ‘highly susceptible.” Her suggestion for the piece of culture that captures today’s America is the 1956 motion picture, “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” in which aliens take over the bodies of ordinary people to march in lockstep with the country’s leaders. I always thought the film showed how a few people could fight the majority.

Like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby,” Ross Douthat argues that Americans are “on the make.” I never really was a Fitzgerald fan during my college days when I majored in English literature. I was more of a John Milton man.

Farhad Manjoo writes that we are “gleefully nihilist” and cites the cartoon “South Park” as representative of today’s America. Fortunately, I’ve never watched the show.  

Nicholas Kristoff complains about “the lie of individual responsibility,” where people can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. As Kristoff puts it: “Why is the United States one of very few wealthy countries to lack mandatory paid family leave, universal health care, child allowances and national pre-K and child care? Why do we tolerate a failed foster care system?” Methinks Nick favors socialism!

Jamelle Bouie describes a country “living with existential fear.” He argues that “the United States is in the midst of a second Gilded Age. For millions of Americans and for many young people in particular, the 2020s have been — thus far — a time of anxiety and dread, marked by social disruption, failing institutions, and a deepening sense of urgency over the ability of humans to survive on this planet without destroying its environment.” Does he really think we are in that bad a shape? I’d put him on suicide watch if he does.

My favorite is Zeynep Tufekci, who was born in Turkey and came to this country for her education. She calls the United States “painfully exception,” meaning, in her words, exceptional in its lack of “universal health care, lots of guns, a violent drug trade, voluminous drug overdose deaths, and middle-class jobs that allow skating by, as long as people don’t get sick.” To her, “Breaking Bad” symbolizes a cultural event that captures America. I would suggest that Ms. Tufekci spend time evaluating her home country.

I have had the opportunity to visit and live in more than 70 countries worldwide, seeing the historical landmarks of the Silk Road of China to the pyramids of Egypt and from the poverty of India to the wealth of Denmark. I’ve reported on celebrations and wars in the Middle East. I’ve even lived near the place where, in 1835, French author Alexis de Tocqueville described “the exceptionalism of the United States.”

I still believe that our country is exceptional–as do many people in the countries I’ve lived in and visited. What’s most likely to change that exceptionalism is the cynicism of our elites.

Older Entries
Newer Entries