Day: February 7, 2019

Fare Well

I broke the word “farewell” into its two pieces to express my wishes that you all fare well in the future.
But this is also a farewell in the more usual sense.
It is hard to write these words. I’ve struggled with this for days. It may be hard for you to read them; be assured it was very hard for me to write them and actually hit “Post.”
It has been reported by the other authors here that I was feeling “burned out” and they spoke the truth. That is what I told them back on the 30th when WolfMoon re-opened the daily thread schedule.
But as I thought about it more and more…I began to realize that under the immediate sense of feeling burned out is another problem. I’m feeling less and less like I belong here. There are a couple of reasons for this. I’ll explain them. But I’ll do so by a rather roundabout way.
Do all of you know who I am? No, I don’t mean my IRL name and address, but do you know who I am in the sense of WHAT I am?
And do you know WHAT you WANT me to be?
The two might not be compatible.

What I Am

For as long as I can remember, the universe has fascinated me; I absorbed books written for children on astronomy, then I moved on to stuff like chemistry and even things like how nuclear fission works.  Remember when Wolf wrote about the isotopes of uranium? I knew that stuff by sixth grade.  (NO, I didn’t (and still don’t) know enough to design reactors and bombs, and I still have no idea what the mathematics is like.) I also cheerfully admit I’d be lost in a chemistry laboratory.  But I do speak some of the language.
I was that super annoying kid that I imagine most of you hated in school, whose combined SAT scores were over 1500. In fact, based on that meme someone posted about PDJT’s SAT scores, and some sites I found that would translate my scores into IQ and percentile–I actually scored slightly higher than he did. I must be the world’s most egregious example of an underachiever, eh?
I got a formal education in electrical engineering and computer science, which means a lot of physics, a lot of math (calculus is just the beginning), a lot of Maxwell’s equations.  Then my masters in space operations where I learned astrodynamics.  Of course, I’ve used very little of it since then because I went into software.  And a lot of self-education on everything from particle physics to biology to geology to astronomy and chemistry–not enough to hold my own but enough to understand the broad sweep.  I know a little about a lot, and a lot about a little.
Most importantly, I’ve concentrated not on just what they say the world is like, but why they think it is the way it is.  Not just the conclusion, but a lot of the arguments used to support it.
Is this of value here?  Only sometimes.
I have a hard time holding back when someone, out of ignorance (which isn’t a character flaw if you’re willing to fix it) posts something flat-out wrong. I’ll try to explain why it’s wrong. As often as not my explanation is blown off and I get a hostile response. Sometimes the explanation isn’t understood, sometimes I suspect I’m contradicting someone’s religion but either way–it’s rarely appreciated.
So when I see comments to the effect people want me to do science posts, I have to ask: Are you sure about that? I’ve got some beauts lined up in my head.
And when I tell you I’m no longer in a mood to let ignorant comments slide sometimes…are you sure you want me back?
I’ve alluded to knowing how one knows something to be true.  I was thinking of specifics, but as a general question, it’s actually a branch of philosophy known as epistemology. And it’s implicit in the sciences, sometimes quite explicit; a large part of the gruntwork in science is determining the likely error in measurements and assigning a confidence to conclusions. There are also fairly simple rules for determining how many “significant figures” you’re entitled to cite.
Occam’s Razor is a (proposed) epistemological rule of thumb (and a fairly good one, as long as you’re dealing with inanimate things and not with people who could be trying to deceive you). But here are a couple of others, ones I think are pretty solid.
1. It’s important to correctly identify things; words mean things. Attacking this principle is an attack on rational thought itself, which is why the Left does it, and why we cannot afford to do it to ourselves.
2. Emotions are not tools of cognition. You can’t determine what is true from your emotions. That’s not to say emotions have no place at all; there’s no need to go Vulcan. But their role is in evaluating facts, not determining them.
So when I try to correct a mis-identification, and get the responses I got, and then the justifications I got…those responses tell me a lot about you. Some were purely emotional. I can understand (though not agree) with that. The worst, though–yes, the worst–were those from people who told me I was technically correct, but they planned to go ahead and misuse terminology anyway. Put bluntly–they’re declaring their intention to lie.
I really don’t want to be around that.
[Nebraska Filly, put your mind at ease–I’m not leaving because of anything you said.]
And here is another thing you may or may not be aware of about what I am.
It has been mentioned, from time to time, that I am an “unbeliever.” Another term for “unbeliever” is “atheist” which, going back to the Greek, is literally, “without a belief in god.” Any god.  Which means we are not Satanists, because we don’t believe in him either–contrary to the assertions of about a million fools I’ve encountered over the course of my life.
So I, as of right now, refuse to mince words any more. I’m an atheist. (And I’ll bet at least five of you just became glad I’m gone, simply because of That Word.) I give your beliefs as much credence as you give to–say–Hinduism. If you ask why, I would counter by asking why you give Hinduism no credence. Chances are good my reasons would be very similar. The difference between us actually is: Instead of rejecting all but one system of religious belief (loosely, belief in a supernatural power or powers), I reject them all.
This is a tough stance to take in today’s society. I could tell the three of you who are still reading this some stories, but I’ll hold back; this is already overlong. Suffice it to say, anyone in the United States who feels “persecuted” as a Christian has never been in the shoes of an atheist, and has never had to deal with the treatment an atheist gets at the hands of some Christians.
My blog is moribund. I’ve not written anything for it in years, but in between the science articles, are articles I wrote when I was still quite bitter about that treatment. My attitude now is that if you don’t start a fight, there won’t be a fight.
I’ve let pass a few gratuitous swipes at atheists on this site. Were I to remain, though, that would change–and I would likely again be jumped on by everyone.  But those swipes tell me that I–the actual me–am not considered fit to associate with, by some people here.
Even leaving that sort of bigotry aside, it remains true that there is a vast gulf between me and Christians. You don’t make sense to me, and I’m sure I don’t make sense to you either–I’m sure of this because I’ve seen more than a few rants about how clueless we are. But I can go through life without having to pay attention to that gulf most times, with the exception, of course, that I’d better stay silent.
I bring up the whole atheism issue because lately I have noticed a trend here–this site is resembling, more and more, a big revival meeting.
It is your privilege to do so as Wolf is not only allowing but encouraging it.
But it holds no value to me. I have to go through more and more of what is, to me, meaningless noise, but I am expected to “respect” it, even if only by remaining silent–while knowing that if I posted my opinion on such matters just once in the vast sea of overtly Christian postings, it would get little to no respect and certainly wouldn’t be greeted by silence.
As the great Q tree Revival atmosphere grows more pronounced, and there is little or no Q and a shrinking percentage of Trump here, I feel more and more out of place.

What You Want Me To Be

As near as I can tell, the only things you actually want from me are cheerleading and snark and the occasional interplay with Morose Marica.  But guess what, folks, it’s a package deal.  You get that, and I will feel free to call you on nonsense, scientific and otherwise…and you’ll dismiss my critique and get angry at me.  Rather than go through all that, I’ll just take the package deal off the table.

Closing

I wish you all the best.
But truly, I don’t belong here any more.
And I’m not sure I ever did.

Democrats In White Forget That Phyllis Schlafly Was Right

On Tuesday evening when the women of the Democrat Party appeared in the House of Representatives Chamber wearing white jackets as part of their ensembles, there was a piece of flair on just about every outfit that gave this writer pause. It was a button that simply read “ERA YES.”
This writer’s memory of the original ERA, the Equal Rights Amendment, that passed both sides of Congress with supermajorities, and fell three states short of ratification by its ten year deadline, was the failure of passage. (I was a kid.) The darn thing died in 1982 thanks to a campaign spearheaded by a woman hailed among conservatives by the name of Phyllis Schlafly.
Mrs. Schlafly passed away during the 2016 presidential campaign at the end of a fight with cancer which she had endured for quite some time. Headlines screamed that summer of her removing a daughter from the board of her Eagle Forum which spawned a lot of unfounded speculation. (The truth is the daughter, Mrs. Schlafly’s primary caregiver within the family, wanted her mother to rest in her final months, and Phyllis being Phyllis wouldn’t do it.*) At the time, this writer did some research on the fight against the ERA, and came to the conclusion that the women of the United States had Phyllis Schlafly to thank for saving them from themselves.
Mrs. Schlafly’s primary concern in opposing the ERA was not to stop women from being who and what they were meant to be, she did go back to school to get a law degree after all, but to protect the American family. At the beginning of her fight in the early 1970s, Mrs. Schlafly predicted that with the passage and ratification of the ERA, several social changes would occur that would be detrimental to the future of the nation.

Why “STOP ERA”? Phyllis Schlafly traveled across the U.S. throughout the 1970s calling for opposition to the ERA because it would lead to the following, most of which pro-ERA lawyers argued were not actually real threats from the ERA:

  • Homosexual marriages: traditional gender roles were, Schlafly argued, essential for preserving the family.
  • Women in combat: women, Schlafly argued, would weaken the military’s combat strength, and serving in the military would violate traditional gender norms.
  • Taxpayer-funded abortions: Schlafly, a … Catholic, ardently opposed abortion.
  • Unisex bathrooms: one of the best-known of the arguments Schlafly promoted, this was likely meant to create fear of losing a safe space. Schlafly argued that the ERA would also remove laws that depended on gender to define a sex crime, and that it would weaken laws about rape.
  • Elimination of Social Security benefits for widows: she believed women should not be in the paid workforce (though she herself was paid a salary) especially if they had young children, and so a Social Security benefit for women who had not earned their own benefits was essential to the mother’s ability to stay home.
  • Hurt families: She argued that the ERA would abolish a husband’s legal responsibility to support his wife and family, and making child support, that it would alter child support and alimony laws to make them gender neutral. In general, she argued that it would undermine the authority of men over women, which she saw as the proper power relationship for well-functioning families.

Many of these claims about what the ERA would do are disputed by legal scholars. On the other hand, some of these results evolved after the 1970s to become public policy, accepted by a majority of the electorate.
The Eagle Forum and so-called states’ rights groups warn that the ERA would transfer a great deal of power from state to federal governments.

Amazing isn’t it, that many of her predictions came true whether the ERA passed or not.
All these years later, Mrs. Schlafly’s ability to think logically down stream, as it were, and sound the alarm on so many issues that the people of the United States have been fighting in recent years did inspire Bloomberg, at least, to admit she was correct.
So if she was correct, and the ERA would have been a disaster for American women frankly by putting us on the same legal footing as men (can be drafted into the military, etc.), and it was defeated by the deadline imposed by Congress in 1982, why were the women in white pushing support for the long ago departed?
Basically, because they don’t believe it is dead.
In recent years, two states, Illinois and Nevada, ratified the amendment despite its cadaverous state. That means that only one more state would be needed for final ratification if Congress would only lift the time limit of ten years required for the ERA’s passage.

After its passage by joint resolution of Congress, the amendment had until 1982 to be ratified by the required 38 states. The deadline passed, but as [Alaska Sen. Lisa] Murkowski and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) wrote in a recent op-ed in the Washington Post, a renewed effort to ratify the amendment at the state level began about two years ago, and was buoyed in part by #MeToo.
Nevada ratified the amendment in 2017, and Illinois did the same in 2018, meaning only one more state is needed to get to 38.
And, Murkowski and Cardin write, Congress could remove the deadline, allowing the amendment to become law if a 38th state joins in.
“Women should not be held back or provided less opportunity, respect or protections under the law because of their gender,” they write. “This is not a partisan issue but one of universal human rights. Gender equality should be an explicit, basic principle of our society.”

It looks like, now that Mrs. Schlafly and her ability to rally the troops and circle the wagons are gone, the women of the Democrat Party and the men who are too spineless to stand up to them are going to try to revive the corpse of the ERA regardless of the consequences.
The reality is that the Senate may well be the roadblock on this one as amending the original legislation would take a big vote, but rest assured, the other side of the aisle will keep pulling out all the failed ideas of the past as the generations go on and have no idea of why such measures were defeated and who is responsible for making such things come to pass.
* The six degrees of separation in Mrs. Schlafly’s hometown is really two, and this writer has information that was on the ground, but never reported about the family fight in question.

Best Ever Valentine's Day ~~ On a Shoestring Budget.

After the President’s SOTU, we’re all feeling the love. How about sharing the love for Valentine’s Day? The timing is perfect. We have one week to plan.
Remember when you were a kid and we all brought Valentines to other schoolmates? And some kids didn’t get as many as others? And when you HOPED you might get a special Valentine from a secret crush? Well, we’re all grown up, but this year, be generous with the Valentines. Think of the people who have been kind to you over the past year. An UNEXPECTED Valentine magnifies the impact. The payback comes as a surprise but it’s magnificent sight to behold.
Because we catered and did so many big parties, I had the same commercial accounts as florists. I really don’t like to pay retail prices and wholesale pricing means a bigger bang for the buck. I would often order the flowers for a wedding or party, and then hire a florist, off hours, for a set rate. It saved me and the bride, thousands of dollars. Win-win, right?
But I hair-brained idea for Valentine’s Day, which is easy for anyone to do. I had a reputation in town for being a little tough. Some MEN would send in a “sacrificial lamb” to deal with me, because they thought I was difficult or intractable. Scaredy cats! Nonetheless, I needed to soften my image a little. Valentine’s Day was an opportunity to make amends.
From a wholesale house, long stemmed red roses come in a bunch of 25 or 35 and they cost me about $25 for the bunch. I ordered two bunches of 35 each. One for me to give out and one for my husband to give out. I ordered 2 bunches of gypsophila, commonly known as baby’s breath. Now, I’m tall, so my arms are a little longer than most women, but the bunches of baby’s breath were so big, I couldn’t get my arms around them. Cost for a bunch of gypsophila was about $6.25/each. Then, I order 4-5 bunches of ‘leather-leaf fern’. Cost was about $1.50 each. These are the standard ingredients anyone would expect to see in a bud vase from a florist – but you don’t need the vases.
For about $70, I had supplies for 70 terrific Valentines, about $1.00 each. I ordered a bigger quantity from a wholesale house but the idea is easy to replicate with flowers from WalMart or any grocery store, which might cost you $2/each.
Roses come dry-packed, whether from a wholesale house or WalMart, and they need a little attention. Remove the outer petals, cut the stem at an angle, strip off the bottom leaves, and plunge into lukewarm water with an aspirin dissolved and a capful of bleach. Do this the night before and put the buckets of flowers in a cool place. Your roses will be in peak condition in the morning.
I wrapped each rose with a few sprigs of baby’s breath and leather-leaf, in a waxed tissue paper and tied with a big red bow, using inexpensive leftover red Christmas ribbon. If you don’t have waxed paper, dry the stem with a kitchen towel or wrap in Glad wrap. You really don’t need the expense of a water pic for each flower. Just make sure to put your tissue paper and bow in the center of the stem so you can plunge the bottom of the stems into a bucket of water while you deliver your Valentines.
Now, the fun begins, and I can’t begin to tell you how much fun you will have. By the time you are done, you will feel like Robin Hood, or Oprah, giving out cars….., all for about $1.00 a piece.
I had 35 for me and 35 for my husband. He delivered to women we knew and I delivered to men we knew. It will take you several hours to deliver.
He delivered Valentines to the tellers at the bank, the women in the office at the city, the lady who answers the phone at the police dept, the sec to our lawyer, the mom of the guys who own the lumber company, the ladies at the school office bldg, our son’s teachers, etc.
I had a blast delivering mine, because I got the old crusty guys, who NEVER expected to get a Valentine from any woman, let alone a rose with a bow.
My first choice was Leroy, the block-layer. He’s the biggest black man I’ve ever seen, and he blocks the sun when he enters a doorway. He wears a size 18 ring. Biggest hands – from picking up concrete blocks everyday. I love Leroy and he’s come to my defense more than once. I caught him on a jobsite, and in front of his men, asked him to be my Valentine, because our family loved him. I explained, “People don’t often take the time to say thank-you, enough. I pick you to be my Valentine because you’re a good man.” I fussed all over him and he deserved it. Stopped the whole crew. Leroy had tears in his eyes and picked me up to hug me.
My next choice was the CEO of the bank and a prominent lawyer in town, with whom I had crossed swords on more than one occasion. Never mind that he was in the church the day I was baptized as an infant, never mind he has 4 daughters as old as me……, he was squirrely and thought I was hitting on him. What a jerk. I hit him with my rose and made him feel about 2′ tall. I won.
My mailman, Mr. Charles-my favorite checker-guy at the grocery store, the guys at the lumber company, several of my police guys and fireman friends, Wayne – the old court clerk who adored my grandfather, men who were clients – strong masculine men who’ve never received a rose in their lives – blushed – and for the REST of the day, had to explain where the rose came from. PRICELESS!!!! They had to go and get a vase for my flower, and it became a big production in their offices. It made them feel handsome, appreciated, and walk a little taller. It was perfect.
I found the crew of bricklayer brothers and gave them all a Valentine. I found our roofer, and his father who was a roofer, and planted a big kiss on his cheek. I gave a rose to my excavator, the man who uses a grader like a surgeon uses a scalpel. He brought me vegetables for the next 10yrs. He adored me, because of that rose.
I found the mentally handicapped guy who swept the parking lot of a local fast food joint. Everyone in town knew him, and I gave him a rose. He handled it like it was breakable treasure. I don’t think he ever received a Valentine before…. from anyone.
I found our pediatrician, who was an Indian national, which necessitated an explanation of what a Valentine really is. That was a pretty interesting conversation. Our maintenance guy for the city school completely understood. I delivered to husbands of my girlfriends who worked in town, because they were all my “cousin” husbands. The Mayor put my rose in his teeth and danced. He felt special. And I located my minister, who was a good man, cause Valentine’s Day is about all kinds of love, right?
The best of all, though, was our HVAC subcontractor. We’ll call him “L” for this story. L was the kind of man you would want as your dad, grandfather or uncle. He was a multi-millionaire who wore the same three shirts. He was everything good about men, all rolled into one. He was crusty and hard on the outside, and such a good negotiator, he would have given President Trump a tough time. His favorite word was, “No!”, but inside, he was a teddy bear. I respected him and we understood each other. When we got married, I registered with a frilly local gift shop. His wife went in and dutifully bought me a crystal stem. I learned later on, “L” went back in, personally, to the prissy gift shop, and sent me 11 more. I loved him. He was the last one to whom I delivered a Valentine, and he saw me coming. He knew my car.
By the time I got to “L”, word was out in town as to what I was doing. He yelled at me across a field and said, “I was wondering if I was going to see you today…” I smiled all the way through my eyes but didn’t say anything as I walked a long way across a wet and muddy empty lot. “You know how much I love you ‘L'”, I said. “Awwwww,” and he threw his arms around me and hugged me like I was the daughter he never had. He whispered in my ear, “I love you, too”.
I went home that afternoon floating on air. Best Valentine’s Day ever. My husband’s experience was equally surprising. He found several women, friends to his mom, who lost their husbands….. and had not received a Valentine in years. He was kind of misty-eyed about it. Those damn onions…..
But something strange happened along the way….
For months, the effects of our Valentine’s Day reverberated. I never had to worry about a bankdraft charge. Our subcontractors showed up to work, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The school maintenance guy mowed half of my lawn and he even edged it! My minister’s sermon the next Sunday was about “All kinds of love”. I didn’t wait 10 minutes to see the pediatrician. Even the jerk of a lawyer was nice. After the Valentine, we “had an accord”. It was a psychological reciprocation overload, like a vaccination for the whole town.
If I had known all it took was a bunch of Valentines to make people happy, I would have done it long ago. Yet, we know it wasn’t the Valentines at all. The Valentines offered the opportunity, the excuse. It was a genuine thank-you, appreciation, friendship, expression of all kinds of love, and that we took the time to think about “you”, which made the difference.
No, we don’t tell our spouses or children we love them, enough. We don’t thank people, enough. We don’t appreciate good service or simple kindness, enough. We should. I can’t imagine what the impact would be….
Therefore, to everyone on this forum, thank YOU, and yes, I do love you all. You’ve made my life richer, and I learn something new, every single day. I do appreciate you all, and especially Wolfie, for allowing us to come together and revel in our successes and commiserate on bad days. Our camaraderie is real.
And please, this Valentine’s Day, think about my suggestion. Even better, come up with an idea of your own. Do something, anything, to make this Valentine’s Day memorable.
Hugs and Kisses, from our house to yours,
D++++

Dear MAGA: 20190207 Open Topic

This special Thocialism Thucks Thursday Open Thread is VERY OPEN.

You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on. Keep it civil. Rules much like the Old Treehouse, except of course Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged. A couple of other important things to consider. This here link….

https://wqth.wordpress.com/2019/01/01/dear-maga-open-topic-20190101/

….contains some general guidelines for things that are really, really not kosher to post here.

Also consider Wheatie’s Rules (as amended by SteveInCO):

  1. No food fights.
  2. No running with scissors.
  3. If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
  4. No shooting at the nuclear warheads.

Remember – this is a free speech zone. Barring the few minor things that can get this site closed down, you ain’t gonna get banned.

And once the Gab commenting layer is here – BOOM.

– – · –

The current plan for Dear MAGA threads is to switch to a format where people have ONE NIGHT A WEEK that they take care of the thread. For example, Wheatie will put up the SATURDAY thread on FRIDAY NIGHT.

  • Monday – Wolf
  • Tuesday – Wolf
  • Wednesday – Wolf
  • Thursday – Wolf
  • Friday – Wolf
  • Saturday – Wheatie
  • Sunday – ThinkThinkThink

If anybody else would be interested in being a Dear MAGA author one night a week, feel free to let me know.

Remember that our greatest gift to President Trump is PRAYER!

WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU!

AND YES. Not only should we continue to pray for our President, who is of course a fellow believer, as well as for our nation, and for our world, but let me suggest praying that our resident non-believer, SteveInCO, finds his way back here soon! Surely I’m not the only person who misses him! 

Finally, let us pray YET AGAIN for an end to the slaughter of the unborn, particularly when they have almost made it safe and sound into this world, and are being cruelly cut down just before birth by those who profit on their deaths.

Let us further pray that INFANTICIDE never again appears on this planet as an acceptable practice!

W

Vuvuzela Occasional Cortex