text:
Memo to Norway
Chow down, bruddah!
Millions of giant Pacific crabs, whose ancestors were brought to Europe by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s, are marching south along Norway's coast, devouring everything in their path.
I call this a perfect time for open season on crabs.
The monster crabs, which can weigh up to 25lb and have a claw-span of more than three feet, are proving so resilient that scientists fear they could end up as far south as Gibraltar.
Energised by a mysterious population explosion a decade ago, whole armies of the crustaceans - known as the Kamchatka or Red King Crabs - have already advanced about 400 miles along the roof of Europe, overwhelming the ports of northern Norway.
Mmmmmmmmmm, King Crab!
Many Norwegian fishermen hate the crabs, blaming them for falling fish stocks and complaining that they get tangled in their nets. But for others, they have brought unprecedented wealth. At the Rallarn, a pub near the harbour, a fierce debate raged this week. Some favour annihilating the crabs, an almost impossible task, while others are tickled pink at the chance to gorge for free on a rare delicacy they find almost at the bottom of their gardens.
Elvis Jenssen, 41, said: "The bloody things hoover up everything off the bottom of the sea and all the fish are disappearing. They came over from Russia and now they're taking over."
But Glenn, a 30-year-old car mechanic, replied: "It's true the seabed now looks like the Sahara but they certainly taste good."
That's it, I'm headed to Norway. I'm taking crab pots, a big frigging kettle, and 20 pounds of butter with me. I'll be back in a month or so. Anyone else want to come? If these crabs are a problem, the solution is to catch them and eat them.
King Crab! Yum!
UPDATE: Looks like the Rott saw this as well, and the comments are farking hilarious!
Peter: To think that the entire Western World once trembled at the mere thought of the Long Ships. The actual sighting of only one brought panic.
Now the progeny of the Vikings are defensless against the invasion of...supper.
Thor is weeping in shame.
In all seriousness, I could eat ten pounds of fresh crab all by myself! I just can't figure out why Norway is going all ga-ga over this! This isn't a problem, this is dinner and a buttload of cash for exporting fresh King crab legs!
OK, that's it
From now on, anyone who makes a serious arguement FOR communism shall be considered worthless, idiotic, moronic, and berift of anything remotely close to rational thought.
Don't take communists at their word, laugh at them. Thwart them. Do everything in your power to destroy them. But once a communist is identified, they must never be held up to the same level as anyone else. These America-hating parasites deserve a bullet and an unmarked grave.
Read this and tell me that you don't feel the same way.
Hat tip to Cold Fury.
CA Donks support Rapists!
You think I'm kidding?
Last July, a 20-year-old thug named Stewart Pearson soaked a rag in toilet bowl cleanser and Ajax and used it to smother 17-year-old Tina Phan while she was sleeping in her Terra Linda, Calif., home. Tina gasped, trying to fend off Pearson, but he wielded a knife and overpowered her. Pearson raped and brutalized her. According to Phan, Pearson told her he had committed the same crime before and planned to do it again. Phan bravely persisted in pressing charges against Pearson. He initially denied raping Phan, but admitted guilt last fall.
If this son of a bitch had done it to one of MY family members he would have been leaking much bodily fluid by now, but I digress.
Enter Rep. Woolsey. As first reported by the Marin Independent Journal, the outspoken feminist and anti-violence-preaching Democrat attempted to intervene in the case. She used her official stationery to send a letter to the local presiding judge in support of . . . the convicted rapist.
In a bleeding-heart plea for leniency, Woolsey wrote: "Stewart Pearson is a young man from a supportive family. I believe he has a promising life ahead of him, and I urge you to consider these factors when deciding on a suitable sentence." Woolsey noted further that Pearson had volunteered for her campaign, as if stuffing envelopes for Woolsey somehow mitigated the violence he committed against Tina Phan -- whose promising life Woolsey didn't bother to show an ounce of concern for at all.
I beg your pardon? Excuse the hell out of me? Did I just enter some bizzaro world where the life of a rapist is worth more to a Democrat than the life of the young victim?
Oh, wait, felons overwhelmingly vote Democrat. Never mind, I see the pattern here.
Thankfully, the judge ignored Woolsey and sentenced Pearson to eight years in prison, the maximum allowed under a plea deal.
HALLELUJIA!
What explains Woolsey's soft spot for this violent sexual predator? Pearson is the son of one of Woolsey's aides. Did she believe him to be innocent after carefully reviewing the facts of the case? "(I)n my mind, he is not a criminal," Woolsey told the Marin newspaper. Yet, Woolsey never bothered to fill her mind with the truth. She admitted she "knew nothing" about Phan's rape case and "had no idea what the courts had found." (Spoken like a true Clinton defender and callous cronyist.)
The House Ethics Committee in Washington is probing whether Woolsey intervened inappropriately. But Woolsey is guilty of a far bigger sin -- the fraud she has perpetuated in the name of her "progressive" ideology at the expense of teen-age rape victim Tina Phan.
The plot sickens thickens!
Woolsey has continually raked in campaign cash based on her reputation as a tireless champion for women's and children's rights. She lambasted college campuses for inadequate collection of rape and sexual assault data. She aggressively pushed for the Violence Against Women Act, the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Victims' Housing Act, the Stalking Prevention and Victim Protection Act, the Date-Rape Prevention Drug Act, the Protection of Women in Prison Act, and the Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act.
Woolsey has promoted women's rights in Afghanistan; called for stronger prosecution of rapists in East Timor; performed in the "Vagina Monologues" to show her solidarity with victims of rape, domestic abuse and genital mutilation; and crusaded for the "United Nations Convention to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women" to show how much she cares for the oppressed women of the rest of the world.
Look at me! I care about women! Look at everything I do! Donks are great at talking about how much they care, but when push comes to shove they are sadly lacking any substance.
Maybe if Tina Phan had been raped in a Third World country thousands of miles away and demanded a U.S. tax-subsidized abortion, Woolsey would have come to her aid. Instead, when it came down to putting her high-minded liberal ideals where her mouth was, she betrayed an innocent young constituent without hesitation.
Phan has courageously gone public to hold Pearson and Woolsey accountable for their actions. Her congresswoman, Phan blasted over the weekend, "represents the rapist who took advantage."
Lynn Woolsey, The Rapist's Representative. Liberal hypocrites in Marin County will probably forgive her. For Tina's sake, the rest of us should not let her forget.
Just another disgusting example of why the Democrats in this country are unfit to hold any power what so ever.
Hat tip from the Rott.
OK, I just had to do it.
BEHOLD THE KILT!
Although that has got to be one of the worst pictures of me I've ever seen. Mollbot, we gotta work on your photo snapping skills, bro.
Posted by Tim at 20:26 No comments:
Eugene Volokh has some bisexual statistics.
Mucking it up with seaborne British commandos. Literally.
Analog Kid has the time and date for the next Blogger (and friends!) Blastorama.
Once again I'll put my offer out. If anyone wants to learn how to shoot, or wants to get re-aquainted with shooting, you can borrow my guns, some of my ammo, and all of my advice. AK has put out the same offer. All you have to do is show up, and we'll do the rest.
Question for the crowd: How is it that Democrats in Congress can muster the votes to block Miguel Estrada and stop Medical Malpractice legislation, but not the votes to stop President Bush from starting a murderous lie-laden war or running up record deficits? Where are their priorities???
I'm going to be out of the house most of today, so I can't post much. Maybe later tonight...
Andrew Sullivan is foaming. I don't believe I have ever seen a previously rational man reduced to a spittle-ejecting vein-bulging near-psychopathic raver. It was the Amendment that President Bush proposed that did it. With a bit of Mel Gibson's movie sprinkled in. Bottom line according to Sullivan: this is the start of a Falwell-Robertson-Santorum gambit to remove all privacy from American life. The Passion is a "pornographic" attempt to rile all evangelical Christians to drive people unlike them into the cellars and sewers.
It's sad, really. Sullivan has been a favorite read of mine.
Right now he is nothing more than a frantic and raving madperson.
Time to make Tender Vittles
I just found out that one of my mangy good for nothing bitchs cats has been pissing in a corner of the bedroom. Right in my dirty laundry basket. So now I get to do laundry, and scrub the floor, and the walls, and anywhere else that flea-ridden pusbag cat might have gone. If I ever find out which one of the worthless soon to be strangled soul sucking demons cats it was, I'm feeding the damn thing to the dogs.
This is why fur shedding hellspawn cats will never rule the world. A dog at least waits to go outside, and only piddles inside the house when it simply can't hold it anymore. Cats just do whatever the hell they want, where they want. Resulting in the sudden depopulation of furniture shredding assmonkeys cats by people who object to their socks and shirts getting peed on when I clean out the litterbox every damn day!
Forcing Ideas Onto Other People
No, this post isn't about gay marriage -- that horse is already dead and beaten, and let me tell you, he's not terribly happy about that at all. However, the gay marriage issue is as good an example as any, especially considering that it's the most recent example.
Take away inertia, historical precedent, etc. Why is it that some people stay awake nights worried that two gay strangers a thousand miles away might get married? Or, with other examples, why is it that someone in Illinois can worry that someone in California may see a breast? Or have oral sex? Or (from the opposite end of the spectrum) that someone may have a bad day, week, or year? Why is it that someone in Vermont thinks that someone in Florida should pay for the health care of someone in California?
In other words, why do people worry about everyone else and not themselves? If we all minded our own business, half of the problems we have in this country would simply go away. Gay marriage wouldn't be an issue if people minded their own business -- there is no argument on earth that could convince me that two gay men getting married somehow undermines my parents' marriage. Welfare wouldn't be an issue if people respected the fact that, ultimately, we are all responsible for our own destiny -- if that includes charity, so be it, but if not, that's life. Censorship -- from both directions, language/sex/etc. and PC-ism -- wouldn't be an issue if parents actually acted as parents instead of glorified nannies.
None of these would be a problem if we just left well enough alone. So why don't we?
Posted by Ari at 12:35 No comments:
John Fonda Kerry - Communist Tool
So says one former communist who used him. As usual, all emphasis is mine.
As a spy chief and a general in the former Soviet satellite of Romania, I produced the very same vitriol Kerry repeated to the U.S. Congress almost word for word and planted it in leftist movements throughout Europe. KGB chairman Yuri Andropov managed our anti-Vietnam War operation. He often bragged about having damaged the U.S. foreign-policy consensus, poisoned domestic debate in the U.S., and built a credibility gap between America and European public opinion through our disinformation operations. Vietnam was, he once told me, "our most significant success."
After 1989, when more and more facts were coming out of the USSR, I was amazed at how much the Left in this country had been duped. They had drank the kool-aid entirely, and now people were actually coming out of the Soviet Bloc and proving it! When McCarthy was saying that the Reds were everywhere, he was shouted down, but then the KGB files proved he was right!
The KGB organized a vitriolic conference in Stockholm to condemn America's aggression, on March 8, 1965, as the first American troops arrived in south Vietnam. On Andropov's orders, one of the KGB's paid agents, Romesh Chandra, the chairman of the KGB-financed World Peace Council, created the Stockholm Conference on Vietnam as a permanent international organization to aid or to conduct operations to help Americans dodge the draft or defect, to demoralize its army with anti-American propaganda, to conduct protests, demonstrations, and boycotts, and to sanction anyone connected with the war. It was staffed by Soviet-bloc undercover intelligence officers and received about $15 million annually from the Communist Party's international department — on top of the WPC's $50 million a year, all delivered in laundered cash dollars. Both groups had Soviet-style secretariats to manage their general activities, Soviet-style working committees to conduct their day-to-day operations, and Soviet-style bureaucratic paperwork. The quote from Senator Kerry is unmistakable Soviet-style sloganeering from this period. I believe it is very like a direct quote from one of these organizations' propaganda sheets.
Kerry sold out his country, and then he sold out his fellow military members. Not once, but time and time again. POW/MIA, anyone?
The Stockholm conference held annual international meetings up to 1972. In its five years of existence it created thousands of "documentary" materials printed in all the major Western languages describing the "abominable crimes" committed by American soldiers against civilians in Vietnam, along with counterfeited pictures. All these materials were manufactured by the KGB's disinformation department. I would print up these materials in hundreds of thousands of copies each.
The Romanian DIE (Ceausescu's secret police) was tasked to distribute these KGB-concocted "incriminating documents" all over Western Europe. And ordinary people often bought it hook, line, and sinker. "Even Attila the Hun looks like an angel when compared to these Americans," a West German businessman reprovingly told me after reading one such report.
When a former Soviet spy comes out and says "HAH! We fooled you!" don't you think it's time we finally let these lies rest? Oh wait - that would mean that the Donks would have to dismantle half of their party platform, which is based on those lies. And as we all know, deciet and lying is a major foundation of the Democratic Party.
I'm about to be sick.
Hat tip to DANEgerus.
OK, a few more things before I go
Once again, Orsen Scott Card manages to put everything into perspective.
That's all I'm going to say. I would hope than anyone who has read Card in the past would be clicking that link fast enough to break their mouse buttons.
I want to kill someone.
I was over at RNS when I came across this little piece about a typical Donk.
Brown sat directly across the table from Noriega and yelled into a microphone. Her comments sent a hush over the hourlong meeting, which was attended by about 30 people, including several members of Congress and Bush administration officials.
Noriega later told Brown: "As a Mexican-American, I deeply resent being called a racist and branded a white man," according to three participants.
Brown then told him "you all look alike to me," the participants said.
The Democrats are proving more and more that they are unfit to hold any kind of power, that more and more they are becoming petulant children even when they WIN, and that they are so mentally unstable that forced medication may be their only hope.
But reading down the blog, it got worse.
An innocent 4-year-old girl is molested by a teenage brother. Now, the state thinks it's a good idea to force her to live again with her attacker.
KIRO Team 7 Investigators expose the inner workings of Washington's most powerful and secretive agency: Children's Administration.
Our investigation shines a bright light on how "Protective Services" deals with a growing number of convicted juvenile sex offenders who assault members of their own family.
Despite many roadblocks, KIRO Team 7 Investigators discovered the state routinely recommends that young victims of rape be housed with the teenagers that raped them.
We reveal just how far CPS will go to meet its goal: a family reunited at all costs.
This is the same fucked up worthless shit eating mouth breathing group of parasitic dipshits who put a little abused 2 year old back with his parents who beat the shit out of him. He died two months later from massive fractures in his skull. And now THIS???
Fuck it, I'm off to the range. I have to shoot something, and I'd go to jail if I actually did the world a favor and wiped out these fucking wastes of oxygen.
Drumwaster writes about [gay] Marriage Acts and Plays.
The subject material here is risque, and the pictures are not safe for work, BUT this is a really good read.
Aaron left the room while I put on a condom and got between her legs. The initial pleasure of Karen's tightness was tempered by the feeling that I was humping a cadaver and was about to experience my first morgueasm. The sound of her wig rubbing against the back of the sofa was chilling.
Aaron, understandably reticent to be in the same room while I used the world's most luxurious masturbatory device, returned to take a few posed shots. "Um . . . what's it feel like?" he said, using his camera primarily to avoid making eye contact. I gave Karen a few hard pumps to illustrate. "Y'know what?" he said, taking shots as he backed toward the door. "You can tell me later."
No, really. It's good stuff.
Nerve.com - I Did It for Science: Sex Doll by Grant Stoddard
Andy Duncan notes that the only Englanders who strike these days are public sector workers.
England is very much like the Democratic Party - it's an amalgam of public sector unions and societal remorae.
Random Thoughts on Gay Marriage
Just a few things that I had to toss out there:
1) Don't give me a bullshit line about how you are fighting for "civil rights", OK? Let's just get that bullshit out in the open right now. I still can't carry a gun in San Francisco without getting tossed into jail, and THAT particular right is guaranteed in the FUCKING 2ND AMENDMENT of the Constitution! If people actually gave a fuck about civil rights, they would fight for ALL of them. So as far as I'm concerned, everybody who whines about how marriage is a right but won't let me carry a gun in California can go fuck themselves gently with a chainsaw. I'm calling bullshit on the whole damn lot of hypocrites and assholes in San Fran whining about people's rights. Newsom and his gang don't give a fuck about anything but power.
2) This whole problem would have never come up if the god-damned government would have just stayed the FUCK out of what is supposed to be a religious institution. You want to know my entire opinion on marriage? Marriage comes from a church. Everything else is a civil union, no matter what you want to fucking call it. Were you married by a Chief of Justice instead of a Priest? Fuck you, it's a civil union. Call it whatever the fuck you want, that doesn't change the fact that a CoJ cannot perform a ceremony that is reserved for priests and pastors (or clerics or whateverthefuckyoucalltheminyourworld). In all honesty I put more stock into a marriage ceremony performed by some Wiccan witch than I do a CoJ. Call me weird, but those people who are married in a religious ceremony have something more than just two people in their marriage. I'd be interested in seeing the divorce rates for those married in a church of some sort vs. those "married" by some judge.
3) Now that you know how I feel about marriage (from thought number two) you can see exactly why I don't give a flying fuck about the whole "should two gays be married" issue. As far as I'm concerned in my personal opinion, some gays have already been married. For me it's a matter of how it's done, rather than if it should be done at all. Seriously, if anyone wanted to protest gay marriage, they should have started years ago. That battle is already lost, folks. The question now is do we do it legally and properly through legislation, or do we allow some fucking black robed piece of shit petty tyrant dictate how our lives are going to be from now on?
4) My main opposition is to the fact that a small group of people has just forced their opinions down the throats of everyone else in America. Sorry, but you just got my temper up, and I'll be damned if I allow a group of arrogant fucking assweasels to just TELL me "It's this way now, just deal with it". FUCK YOU! Fuck you, fuck your whore of a mother, and fuck the father you never knew because he didn't pay for the first time! You want to keep this shit behind closed doors and protected from honest debate, FUCK YOU! You want to just wave your hand and make it so? FUCK YOU! You want to prevent people from having a say in how this country is going to be run? FUCK YOU! You want to remove MY voice, bypassing MY elected representative, just so that you can have YOUR way all nice and smooth?
FUCK YOU!
Have I made myself clear on that?
5) My solution to this is simple: Get the government out of marriage entirely. Let the government recognize civil unions all they want to, but leave marriage to a church. I don't care if it's Jewish, Christian, Islam, Wicca, Nosepicking Schlockjockeys, as long as it's a formal recognized religion, you can call it a wedding. But weddings do not belong in government at all.
Voting is for Old People
Canada's military is going bankrupt. But don't fret, Canucks. We'll stand on guard for thee.
Reader Bob C. emailed me a link to the Village Voice. Yes, THAT Village Voice. It seems that some on the Left have taken notice of Kerry's actions AFTER Viet Nam.
Senator John Kerry, a decorated battle veteran, was courageous as a navy lieutenant in the Vietnam War. But he was not so courageous more than two decades later, when he covered up voluminous evidence that a significant number of live American prisoners, perhaps hundreds, were never acknowledged or returned after the war-ending treaty was signed in January 1973.
I'd post more, but quite honestly reading it all made me sick. This is the man many Donks want for President? This sick bastard sold out many of the very same men he calls his "Band of Brothers".
How many brothers have a knife sticking out of their back with Kerry's fingerprints on it?
How many men died in a Viet Cong prison so that John Fonda Kerry could further his political career?
In the end, the fact that Senator Kerry covered up crucial evidence as committee chairman didn't seem to bother too many Massachusetts voters when he came up for re-election, or the recent voters in primary states. So I wouldn't predict it will be much of an issue in the presidential election come November. It seems there is no constituency in America for missing Vietnam P.O.W.'s except for their families and some veterans of that war.
A year after he issued the committee report, on the night of January 26, 1994, Kerry was on the Senate floor pushing through a resolution calling on President Clinton to lift the 19-year-old trade embargo against Vietnam. In the debate, Kerry belittled the opposition, saying that those who still believed in abandoned P.O.W.'s were perpetrating a hoax. "This process," he declaimed, "has been led by a certain number of charlatans and exploiters, and we should not allow fiction to cloud what we are trying to do here."
Kerry's resolution passed, by a vote of 62 to 38. Sadly for him, the passage of ten thousand resolutions cannot make up for wants in a man's character.
How many men were left behind to assuage Kerry's greed and corruption?
I'd rather be castrated with a bandsaw that have John Fonda Kerry as president.
And Hey...
...isn't it odd that Democrats manage to muster the votes required to block Charles Pickering and block malpractice insurance, but they couldn't find enough to stop President Bush from unilaterally attacking Iraq or running up record deficits?
I mean, where are their priorities???
As an aside, if you read the story linked above, you'll find this Golden Nugget from Reuters:
"Bush is running for re-election this year."
I think it is supposed to explain why Bush is concerned with doctors when there are more pockets at Halliburton to be lined.
I guess what gets me the most is that so few people in America live by principles anymore. We're so inundated by anecdotes that few of us seem to ever sit down and think "What do I believe?"
The Gay Marriage issue is another in a long line of issues that highlight this disturbing aspect of contemporary American life. Judge ignores the law, does what he thinks is right. People on the Left celebrate, people on the Right object. The reverse of what happened when a judge in Alabama tried to disregard the law with his Ten Commandments statue.
One of the things feared most by Christianfolk is that if Gay Marriage is legal in California, does the "full faith and credit" clause of the Constitution mean that, say, Texas has to recognize that marriage? The Left would argue "yes".
But that wouldn't apply for something like concealed carry permits, would it? Or does it? If you are licensed to carry in Texas, can you carry in Oregon?
One of the most interesting events in the past ten years where principle is concerned, in my opinion, is what is happening at the University of Colorado right now. I wish I could summon the time and energy to fully comment. The short story is this: a number of women allege that they were sexually abused by athletes. Black athletes. The football coach came out and said that one of the accusers had tried out for the team, but she stunk.
The whole of Boulder, a Liberal city, is in uproar. I think it is because there are so many Leftist ideals colliding and those Liberals, like most, have no idea what they really believe in. They've no foundation to rely upon. Look at the mix:
- women alleging that they were victimized -- PC-protected class
- the women are charging that the University didn't take their claims seriously -- victimizing paternal society!
- one woman said her attackers were "big and black"
- Boulder police have been questioning big black fellows - but that's another PC-protected class
- and then there's the coach.
The Left want him fired.
From a University.
For speaking his mind.
At a University.
Where freethought should reign. They want him out. What he said was insensitive.
At least the coach is White. What a relief that must be for the PC crowd.
See what I mean though?
It sets your head to spinning if you think about it too long. Does anyone believe in anything anymore? Or is it all just catch-as-catch-can, all day, every day?
And if so, is that the way it should be?
Time for the backlash
If you don't like to hear me cuss, don't read this fucking post!
The backlash that everyone and their mother tried to tell the "gay rights" movement that was coming. I can't count the number of people who tried to warn everybody. Mrs. du Toit tried, I've tried, hell there were legions of people out there screaming "STAY OUT OF THE COURTS" at the top of their lungs, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, you didn't want to listen to us! No, you had to decry us as bigots, you had to scream about MARRIAGE APARTHEID, you had to sneer at us "redneck conservatives" who were stuck in the 19th century, DIDN'T YOU?!
FUCKING DIDN'T YOU?!?!?!?!
Bush flat out stated that if the judges continued to legislate from the bench, he would back a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman, didn't he?
But you didn't listen to him either, did you? No, you would just continue to get some judge to wave his hand and make it the way you wanted it! You would bypass the ENTIRE FUCKING LEGISLATIVE PROCESS, thereby insuring that the people, through their elected representatives, would have ABSOLUTLY NO FUCKING SAY ABOUT IT, didn't you?
FUCKING DIDN'T YOU?!?!?!?!?!
Well congradu-FUCKING-lations, you now have a constitutional amendment being written to erase EVERY LAST FUCKING BIT OF PROGRESS YOU EVER MADE! Since you tried to bypass legislation WHICH PEOPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE WITH, you now get to reap the rewards! When you took the voices of the people out of your nifty little solution, you in effect gave them a figurative kick in the nuts and said "FUCK YOU, PLEBE! WE DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK, WE'RE DOING IT THIS WAY!"
But people only stay down for so long after they get kicked. And when they get up, they're mad.
You could have gotten legislation passed, and it would have been fine. You could have argued your case in the open, and it would have been find. YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN THE DESIRED RESULT BY LEGISLATION, and it would have been fine. But you didn't. And now this country is worse off because of it!!! Thanks to all you people who think that legislation by judicial fiat is just hunky-dory, we are now about to have a FUCKING CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT! ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY NOW???? ARE YOU FUCKING PLEASED WITH YOURSELF????
The worst part is that this Amendment stands a good chance of being passed! Maybe if people got the hell out of San Francisco and Vermont, you could figure out what the hell people in this country think! But you didn't fucking do that, you just told everybody to shut up and deal with it! And now the people are pissed and they're about to shove back in a way that will set this country back YEARS! ALL BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T FUCKING BOTHER TO DO IT RIGHT!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Fuck it, you've made your bed, now you get to sleep in it. You wanted to have your way, and you wanted it right now, and fuck everybody else YOU'LL JUST THROW A FUCKING JUDICIAL TEMPER TANTRUM UNTIL YOU GET YOUR WAY FUCKING WON'T YOU!
I hope you're happy. I'd like to say that this would be my last post on the whole subject, but I know I'll probably get pissed AGAIN and rant AGAIN, so fuck it. I tried being nice. I tried yelling. I tried to point out that by getting a judge to force your opinion down citizens throats was the wrong way to do it, and I got called a bigot. Now the backlash that everyone and their mother predicted is here.
I'm going to try to fight that backlash, but I don't know if I can. I honestly think that this Amendment is a bad idea. I might just be in the minority.
People sure do go nuts when it is their ox that gets gored, eh? Over at AndrewSullivan.com there are a plethora of emails just excoriating the President. One threatens to leave the country, another claims this will be Bush's legacy, Sullivan himself claims a "whole generation" of gays will never vote Republican. The common theme is that gays are being "discriminated against".
John Moore thinks that the whole "Bush was AWOL" meme was a trap set by the White House, that the Left eagerly stepped into.
After all the brewhaha over Bush's Air National Guard service, I think the Bush campaign's trap has finally been sprung.
What trap, you say? Kerry has some very damaging history regarding his behavior after he returned from Vietnam. But attacking this is tricky, as it can be dismissed with the line "but that was thirty years ago!"
Now the Democrats have been attacking Bush's record from the same period, angering many veterans and current service members, and have opened up the whole subject of the Vietnam era behavior of the candidates.
The White House strung them along... a little info, then some stonewalling. Then a little more. Finally a total release of records that utterly exhonerates the president.
Yep, that's pretty much how it went, only much more slanderous and full of vile bullshit (a democrat staple). Next?
This trick required the national press to be true to form - spending all of their efforts trying to dig up dirt rather than exculpatory information. Fortunately, they fell for it.
It required the Democrats to be true to form, failing to understand the sensitivities of those with military service backgrounds (and their families') and exposing an instinctive loathing of the military.
I will say that this caught a lot of Donks with their pants down and their asses hanging in the breeze. The 4-F was busted with his "Deserter" comment. Terry McAwful looks like an even BIGGER piece of partisan shit. And good 'ol John Fonda Kerry makes statements that causes entire brigades of National Guard members to damn near self-combust with rage.
How do we know that the trap has finally been sprung?
At the Daytona 500, 2 days after the final records were released, Bush was asked if he wanted to drive one of the cars.
He said "When I served in the National Guard, I was a fighter pilot. I like speed..."
In other words, he's not afraid of this issue. He's proud of his service (as he should be). And now the coast is clear for the counter-attack on Benedict Arnold John Kerry.
And that does tie in with Tim's "Bush Returns Fire" post down below, doesn't it!
Wolf 2-4 to Wolfpack 1: Fire at Will.
American Soldiers as Persons of the Year?
ADBUSTERS says that's "War Porn". Nice, eh?
And oh yeah, there's too many Jews among the neocons.
For those of you who have broadband. It's like a cross between Tom Jones, Grace Jones, and Genesis.
N.E.R.D. : She Wants to Move
Good Bye, Comanche
We hardly knew ye.
I can't say that I'm all broken up over this. The original design kept getting outdated, and the task that the Comanche was assigned to do was overtaken by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. There was no reason to keep a very high-priced almost obsolete piece of equipment on the table. Recon can be done by UAVs, and to be honest the Apache Longbow carries more weaponry than the Comanche could, for a heck of a lot less money. The Chomache was supposed to be armed recon and light attack. When we can put a drone with a Hellfire missile in the air, the Comanche isn't needed.
It was a very cool, very kick-ass helicopter, but we need to focus our resources right now. The $6.9 BILLION dollars could have bought quite a few Apaches and Predators. (That's $6,900,000,000 for those who want to see the zeros.)
Is Usama bin Laden boxed into some small region in Afghanistan? Some outlets are reporting this, some are not.
The Backcountry Conservative has a buncha links.
Here's a database of coalition fatalities in Iraq.
Harry Binswanger waxes quickly about the so-called "Intelligence Failure" in Iraq.
This is totally bizarre. I found it at Kids4Dean.com. It's a Flash game called Dean for Iowa. You place your delegates on the map of Iowa and then depending on the county you either walk your cartoonic self across a cartoonish neighborhood to knock on doors or you walk your cartoonic self down a cartoonish sidewalk waving your "Dean For America" sign at passersby. No wonder this guy went through all his money so fast. It was a Kiddie Campaign, but with real live money.
Stand by with Tar and Feathers
Because if this goes through, we need to teach some congresscritters a lesson.
A Republican-led bill to immunize gun makers from wrongful-death claims is expected to hit the floor tomorrow, but Democrats and liberal Republicans will propose an amendment to extend the federal assault-weapons ban, possibly setting up a showdown with the House.
I want to know who the liberal "Republicans" are. I want their hides tanning on my wall, and their treacherous heads sitting on stakes in my front yard! Let's make it perfectly clear to all the gun-grabbing communists that WE. HAVE. HAD. ENOUGH! The very fact that these snot-nosed slimeballs are even THINKING about continuing the abridgement of all of our 2nd Amendment rights tells me that they do not fear the citizens of this country enough! It's time to put proper fear into their black, shriveled power-hungry hearts! I'd happily string up every gun-grabbing Donk and the worthless RINOs who play along with them if I had half a chance! I think the sight of those worthless parasites swinging from the lamp posts in Washington DC would send a very convincing message, don't you?!
Just remember, the first step in taking absolute control is ensuring that the citizens cannot fight back. That is what these corrupt shitheels are working towards. It's time to remind them just who is in control of this country.
Here's a hint. IT. IS. NOT. THEM!
Found at Publicola via the Amazing Kallini Brothers.
Geek with a .45 has this up on his blog -
What To Do About It:
You wrote your letter? Good! Write them again. Even if your rep is a schmuck. Let them know that they aren't appreciated.
On an average day, there's about 250 or so folks who wander through here. I want each and every one of you up and at 'em on this, no excuses.
From AWBansunset.com:
S.659, the bill that will help eliminate frivolous lawsuits against the firearms industry, will be taken up in the Senate this week, possibly as soon as tomorrow. It is widely reported that Sen. Feinstein will attempt to amend the bill with a renewal of the 1994 "Assault Weapons" Ban.
The anti-gun lobby is staging a "phone-in" tomorrow (Tuesday, February 24th) in opposition to S.659. Though the bill already has enough co-sponsors (54) to ensure passage, a filibuster could still be attempted, which is presumably what the anti-gun side is hoping for.
To ensure our elected officials know they will lose more votes than they gain by supporting a renewal of the AWB, we all need to do our part by calling our Senators and voicing our strong opposition to the Feinstein AWB renewal amendment that will be offered for S.659... not only should this ban not be renewed, it should not be allowed to cloud the issue of whether S.659, an unrelated bill, should be passed.
The anti-gun folks are asking their people to call between the following hours:
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Central Standard Time
7:00 AM - 11:00 AM Mountain Standard Time
6:00 AM - 10:00 AM Pacific Standard Time
Call 202-224-3121 and ask for one of your Senators' offices (you'll have to call back to reach the other one).
Even if you've already called your Senators in the past few weeks, CALL AGAIN tomorrow. Be polite,
but firm in your opposition to Feinstein's AWB renewal amendment. Please spread the word to everyone
Thank you, everyone, for taking an active role in ensuring this useless ban does indeed sunset this
Granted, every Rep from my district is a gun-grabbing Hoplophobe, but I'm still going to try. Maybe I'll contact Nethercutt and tell him that should this damn abomination pass, I'll vote nothing but Libertarian until it's finally gone. Although hanging the fucking cunts in charge of this piece of shit still sounds like a much better idea. Christ, I'm so pissed I'm seeing red!
Kallini has a few words to say about the failures of socialism in Britain.
Bush Opens Fire!
Love this line:
"America must never outsource America's national security decisions to the leaders of other governments."
HOT DAMN!
Memo to our Canuck pals in B.C., Alberta, Ontario, and every other province that isn't Quebec:
There's still time to get out.
More Leftist Idiocy Exposed
So, the Pentagon hires a firm named Global Business Network. This is a company that comes up with several different scenarios for the organizations who hire them, in order to help those organizations plan for the future. Let's say that I inherited millions of dollars, and I want to plan for this blogs future. I ask them to come up with scenarios and plans for them. They come up with something like this:
1) Posting increases, followed by loss of readership.
2) Posting increases, followed by gains in readership.
3) Posting decreases, followed by loss of readership.
4) Posting decreases, followed by gains in readership.
5) Posting stays at the current level, but readership declines.
And so on and so forth. GBN comes up with all the different scenarios, as well as plans for them if they occur. Now, obviously there are several companies who would be interested in finding out different scenarios that could occur in the future, as well as plans for them if they should occur. Companies do this all the time. So does the government. The US DoD has the "Rainbow Plans" that contain strategies to invade every single country in the world, for the simple reason that if the SHTF, and the US needs to roll, we can at least have some sort of plan ready instead of running around like headless chickens.
So the Pentagon hires GBN to come up with scenarios and plans in regards to the climate. GBN does so, and hands back it's package to the Pentagon. All is fine, all is well. And then the hysterical Left, being what they are, grab ONE of those scenarios and start hyperventilating.
Whereupon they are promptly exposed as the childish, silly, imbecillic morons that they truly are, by Greyhawk, Tim Blair, and others.
My only question is when we will see some sort of retraction by the bloggers and other assorted dipshits who peddle this sort of trash as the gospel truth? How many times do they need to be exposed as frauds and liars before we get one single apology?
Oh wait, I forgot. Being Left means never correcting yourself, just take another bong hit and forget that you're a brain-dead asshat.
Busy as Hell
So don't expect too much from me for a few days. I'll post when I can.
Gaddafi was pretty darn close to having a bomb.
Glenn Reynolds highlights a couple instances of the latest Liberal lies. The first is about Tom Daschle saying the occupation of Iraq has gone well. In one speech. The in another speech, for a different crowd, well, you know. Then there's this little slice from the NYTimes.
I have never understoods why Oliver Willis is considered smart and inventive. The guy's a simpleminded and dull parrot. In my opinion.
Heheheee. HAAAAAAAAAAAaaahaaaa haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
BWAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
And the politicians who practice it.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry accused President Bush on Saturday of using surrogates to attack his military service in Vietnam and his subsequent activism against that war.
In a letter to Bush, Kerry wrote: "As you well know, Vietnam was a very difficult and painful period in our nation's history, and the struggle for our veterans continues. So, it has been hard to believe that you would choose to reopen these wounds for your personal political gain. But, that is what you have chosen to do."
Tell you what, John F**king Kerry... Since you choose to bring up Viet Nam in every damn speech you make, since you surround yourself with the very men that you smeared, lied about, and decried in Senate testimony, since you have made such a big deal about your service, WE WILL RE-OPEN ANY DAMN WOUNDS WE FRIGGING WANT TO! The very fact that you are boasting about your Viet Nam service is an insult to every servicemember who was put through the hell of lies, disrespect, and slander that YOU YOURSELF foisted on them!
Kerry was reacting to criticism earlier in the day from a leading Georgia Republican who, speaking for Bush's re-election campaign, predicted trouble for Kerry in the state's primary.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss said during a conference call arranged by the Bush campaign that Kerry has a "32-year history of voting to cut defense programs and cut defense systems."
So, someone spoke the truth about your years in government, and now you're pissed? Too bad. Perhaps if you hadn't been a slimy shitheel stabbing the military in the back at every chance you got, this wouldn't be such a big deal.
When Kerry responded later, at his side was Max Cleland, a triple-amputee Vietnam veteran who lost his Senate seat to Chambliss in 2002 after being portrayed as soft on homeland security.
He said the president "decided once again to take the low road of American politics."
"Saxby Chambliss, on the part of the president and his henchmen, decided today to question my commitment to the defense of our nation," Kerry said in Georgia, one of 10 states choosing electoral delegates on March 2.
Max Cleland, the token Viet Nam vet, trotted out like a damn trophy every time some Democratic fucknozzle wants to earn points with the military. Screw you, Kerry. And screw Cleland as well, since he wants to play the roll of lapdog. "Oh, but he lost his limbs in Viet Nam!" Yep, that's what happens after you drink a few beers and get stupid around a live hand grenade!
Kerry also defended his military record during an interview taped Saturday for broadcast Sunday morning on ABC's "This Week."
"I don't know what it is that all these Republicans who didn't serve in Vietnam are fighting a war against those of us who did," the Massachusetts senator said.
Kerry has campaigned on his Vietnam combat record, which includes three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.
Chambliss said Kerry, despite his service, has a weak record on military issues.
"He has a long history, particularly in the last decade, of not only voting to cut intelligence spending, but introducing bills to cut intelligence spending," Chambliss said.
Kerry has used his military medals (Ya know, the ones he supposedly tossed over a fence?) as a major point in his campain. "Hi, I'm John F**king Kerry, and I was in Viet Nam!" But he's voted against every military upgrade that's hit the senate floor! B-1? He voted against it. Bradley Infantry Vehicle? He voted against it! Patriot Anti-Missile system? He voted against it! He's voted against pay raises for the troops, voted against upgrading their equipment, and now he wants to brag about his war medals? FUCK YOU, KERRY! I WOULDN'T VOTE FOR YOU IF I WAS TIED UP AND UNDER THREAT OF DEATH!
The Donks have had months of free media time during the primaries, and they've been engaged in one huge long Bush-bashing festival. I can't wait for the Donk primary, because once the candidate is selected, it's time to open fire. And if Kerry's the guy, I'm going to be firing away. If that snot-sucking, anti-military, traitorous little shitpile wants to play the negative campaign game, that's fine with me. I'll be exposing him for the worthless rat bastard he truly is.
Hat tip to the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler for getting my bloodpressure up.
UPDATE: Via DANEgerus comes the opinion of a Marine who has doubts about Kerry's Viet Nam Service.
Here we have a JFK wannabe (the guy Halsey wanted to court martial for carelessly losing his boat and getting a couple people killed by running across the bow of a Japanese destroyer) who is hardly in Vietnam long enough to get good tan, collects medals faster than Audie Murphy in a job where lots of medals weren't common, gets sent home eight months early and requests separation from active duty a few months after that so he can run for Congress. In that election, he finds out war heroes don't sell well in Massachsetts in 1970, so he reinvents himself as Jane Fonda, throws his ribbons in the dirt with the cameras running to jump start his political career, gets Stillborn Pell to invite him to address Congress and has Bobby Kennedy's speechwriter to do the heavy lifting. A few years later he winds up in the Senate himself, where he votes against every major defense bill and says the CIA is irrelevant after the Berlin Wall came down. He votes against the Gulf War (a big political mistake since that turned out well), then decides not to make the same mistake twice so votes for invading Iraq -- but that didn't fare as well with the Democrats, so he now says he really didn't mean for Bush to go to war when he voted to allow him to go to war.
I'm real glad you or I never had this guy covering out flanks in Vietnam. I sure don't want him as Commander-in-Chief. I hope that somebody from CTF-115 shows up with some facts challenging Kerry's Vietnam record. I know in my gut it's wildy inflated.
Memo to Norway Chow down, bruddah! Millions ...
OK, that's it From now on, anyone who makes a s...
CA Donks support Rapists! You think I'm kidding...
OK, I just had to do it. BEHOLD THE KILT!...
Mucking it up with seaborne British commandos....
Analog Kid has the time and date for the next ...
Question for the crowd: How is it that Democra...
Busy day I'm going to be out of the house most ...
Andrew Sullivan is foaming. I don't believe I...
Time to make Tender Vittles I just found out th...
Forcing Ideas Onto Other PeopleNo, this post isn't...
John Fonda Kerry - Communist Tool So says o...
OK, a few more things before I go Once again, O...
I want to kill someone. I was over at RNS w...
Drumwaster writes about [gay] Marriage Acts an...
The subject material here is risque, and the p...
Andy Duncan notes that the only Englanders who...
Random Thoughts on Gay Marriage Just a few thin...
Canada's military is going bankrupt. But don'...
Reader Bob C. emailed me a link to the Village...
And Hey... ...isn't it odd that Democrats manag...
I guess what gets me the most is that so few p...
Time for the backlash If you don't like to hear...
People sure do go nuts when it is their ox tha...
John Moore thinks that the whole "Bush was A...
American Soldiers as Persons of the Year? A...
For those of you who have broadband. It's like...
Good Bye, Comanche We hardly knew ye. I can'...
Is Usama bin Laden boxed into some small regio...
Here's a database of coalition fatalities in I...
Harry Binswanger waxes quickly about the so-ca...
This is totally bizarre. I found it at Kids4D...
Stand by with Tar and Feathers Because if this ...
Kallini has a few words to say about the failu...
Bush Opens Fire! Love this line: "Ameri...
Two Words HOT DAMN! Memo to our Canuck pals ...
More Leftist Idiocy Exposed So, the Pentagon hi...
Busy as Hell So don't expect too much from me f...
Gaddafi was pretty darn close to having a bomb...
Glenn Reynolds highlights a couple instances o...
I have never understoods why Oliver Willis is ...
Heh... Heheheee. HAAAAAAAAAAAaaahaaaa haaaaaaa...
Hypocrisy And the politicians who practice it. ...


There was a great episode of South Park this week. The main plot was about Canada being upset that everyone in the world doesn't care aboot them. However, the sub-plot of the kids making a very inappropriate video on YouTube and earning millions of internet theoretical dollars was priceless. They even brought back the classic ending where Kyle said that he learned something today. His monologue at that point was a very fast talking soapbox about how the internet is cool but hasn't proven to be a real channel for revenue generation. A little jab at the writers guild/strike situation you think?


Your favorite all-time Ravens moment? For me, not even the Super Bowl victories can beat the overtime playoff win in Denver. I can't watch the Jacoby Jones catch to this day without tearing up!
The biggest way you've displayed your Ravens fandom? When my husband proposed last spring (with an engagement ring complete with purple amethyst stones) when knew we wanted a Ravens-and-Orioles-themed wedding. In April we started planning and went back and forth about a date. We knew we wanted a January wedding but feared that a Ravens playoff off game might fall on our Saturday date. I couldn't miss a Ravens game, not even for my own wedding! Then it hit us — AFC Championship weekend would be our best way to ensure that all of our festivities finished up with an amazing Sunday victory. We planned everything about our wedding and honeymoon around the timing of the Ravens run to the Super Bowl long before the season even began. We were that confident in our championship chances, and despite some naysayers who doubted us months before, we had the last laugh and it ended up being the most wonderful time of our lives!
Your favorite place to see a Ravens game (besides M&T; Bank Stadium)? I'm very superstitious, so I spend most games sitting in my lucky chair, in my lucky outfit, with the same crowd at my parent's basement decorated Ravens bar. We call ourselves the Russell Tavern gang and it's the best group of Ravens fans you'll ever meet!
What does it mean to you to be a Ravens fan? It means being a part of something that represents people that I love, a city and state that I love, and a mindset of never giving up and always playing for the man next to you. I'm so proud to bleed purple!
If you could invite three Ravens to dinner, who would they be? If I had to go with current Ravens- Joe Flacco, Torrey Smith, and Jacoby Jones. If I could include past players I'd have to throw Ray Lewis and Jonathan Ogden into the mix.
Your favorite Ravens player of all time? #52. They'll never be another like Ray for me.
How did you celebrate the Super Bowl win? First, I burst into tears! Then there were hugs and celebration shots all around! Then more crying. After all the ups and downs, years of waiting, and dreams of victory, I couldn't handle all of the emotions!
If you could be one Raven for a day, who would it be? Ray Rice. He does so much in the community and reaches out to so many fans and organizations. I love the way he uses his success to help others.
Fill in the blank. I am a Ravens fan because _____ I'm a Baltimore girl and this is the only way to be! Nothing in this world looks better than orange and purple!
Your prediction for Sunday's game? Ravens win 28-10. After the loss to the Broncos, the guys are going to re-group and come out with a hunger. I wouldn't want to be a Browns player next Sunday.


text:
<?php
/**
 * This source file is proprietary and part of Rebilly.
 *
 * (c) Rebilly SRL
 *     Rebilly Ltd.
 *     Rebilly Inc.
 *
 * @see https://www.rebilly.com
 */

namespace Rebilly\Entities\PaymentInstruments;

use InvalidArgumentException;
use Rebilly\Entities\PaymentMethodInstrument;

/**
 * Class AlternativeInstrument
 */
class AlternativeInstrument extends PaymentMethodInstrument
{
    private $alternativeMethod;

    public function __construct(array $data = [])
    {
        if (!isset($data['method'])) {
            throw new InvalidArgumentException(self::MSG_REQUIRED_METHOD);
        }

        $this->alternativeMethod = $data['method'];

        parent::__construct($data);
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    protected function methodName()
    {
        return $this->alternativeMethod;
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Nicole has been visiting annually for a few years with girlfriends for the annual Ice Wine Festival (January). If you've never tried ice wine, do yourself a favor and do! Then you'll want to visit this wine region known for its dedication to the winter grapes.
Started in 2009 and named for its red clay soil and large stones. Added bonus is the beautiful property with an onsite restaurant. Nicole's favorite, and what she keeps going back for, is their Cabernet Franc ice wine.
As the name of the restaurant indicates, the food is farm to table and changes seasonally. Great food and if you have difficulty getting a table, there is a small wine bar across the alleyway that might be able to accommodate you (they offer food from the same kitchen). Reservation recommended.
Ravine makes a nice range of still wines in addition to their ice wine. Nicole's preference is their sparkling wine, but if you do a tasting give them all a shot and see what you enjoy. Also, going for dinner at their onsite restaurant is a great opportunity to try their variety of wines paired with their yummy food.
Nicole enjoyed their reserve white wines and Shiraz ice wine, but like her other recommendations, given the wide variety of wines offered at most of the wineries it is worth it to try other ones offered that you are curious about. The atmosphere is inviting and service friendly.
Good all around selection of wines and right down the street from Redstone.
Important Note: During the ice wine festival each year, Malivoire has a cheese truck parked outside selling some delicious cheese. Buy some!
For the nights you don't want to go out for dinner and just want to stay in for some cheese, Cheese Secrets is your answer.


Thanks to the economic spiral going on as of late, we've had some disheartening news about several third parties and independent developers either laying off large amounts of their staff or preparing to close outright. Some of the more recent companies include Midway (who has laid off a ton of their Midway Chicago staff), Factor 5 (who reportably have laid off half of their staff and are in danger of closing up for good), and Free Radical (who, according to this, are finished). Clearly this is a dangerous time for our industry. Success is being measured in different ways than before, and, as Factor 5 and Free Radical learned, spending massive amounts of money on next-gen exclusives does not equal profit anymore. Maybe we have reached a point in our industry that development costs are too much for even well-established studios with a long line of quality products to keep up with.
There seems to be a lot of gossip about just how hard these studios are being hit.
According to 1up, Free Radical is not closed up yet.
On the other hand, GoNintendo reports that Factor 5 has shut down for good.
Of course, who knows what the news will be tomorrow.
I just heard about the (hopefully not true) news about Factor 5 and I'm surprised to see them close.
I find that there is an interesting connections between both FR and F5.
Their last released games were both PS3 exclusive (Haze and Lair, sadly Haze was originally going to be released on 360 and PC as well but became a PS3 exclusive).
Both games got very negative repection both games getting less than 58% from Game Rankings and Metacritic. (Haze was not very good and Lair only reilied on SIXAXIS controls which didn't work properly and a patch was created to allow people to use the buttons.
I don't know the slaes figures but since they aren't mentioned on wikipedia, I would assume they sold less than a million.
This console generation is really proving than exclusives do not work anymore, isn't it?
THQ is closing five studios. No details on which ones. I hope it doesn't include Rainbow Studios. I was really looking forward to Deadly Creatures.
It's almost like we're seeing the beginnings of a second industry crash.
I think you may be onto something, Nester. We may be in a second industry crash thanks to the financial woes the economy is suffering already. The amount of studios closing or slashing jobs is not very positive. EA cut staff too, if I recall correctly.
And it's interesting that all this happens after those reports that the video game industry is recession proof.
Here's an article from Gamasutra about EA's situation. Basically, analyst Doug Creutz thinks EA didn't plan out this generation too well, and they may be too far behind to catch up.
"[EA]'s attempt to chase market share [on the Wii] has run up against the reality that third-party economics on that platform are simply not that attractive due to Nintendo's dominance of the software market," he says.
We've heard this song before. Is it really Nintendo's fault? They haven't had the best year, either, as far as "core" games go, so there was less competition in that regard. And frankly, considering that EA didn't jump into Wii development from the get-go, they came out with some pretty good games. Once again, that leads a path to the installed base who, for whatever reason, refuses to buy enough of those games.
It really getting annoying when 3rd parties say comments like that.
Also possibly more (unfortunate) confirmation of Factor 5 going under?
It appears that on Factor 5's website they had a section that listed job openings and now that section has no job opening anymore.
Also here's a rumored version of the Lair engine made by F5 that they got running on the Wii.
No, this just tells you that PS3 exclusives do not sell unless they are Metal Gear Solid. Xbox 360 exclusives like Gears of War & Halo, and Wii exclusives like Mario and Zelda sell really well. Best selling game for the PS3 this Christmas? Call of Duty: World at War. Logically, they shouldn't as PS3 is the worst selling system of this generation.
All the Western publishers but Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft are actually losing money in the game industry despite all the revenue they are receiving. Add to this the fact that banks refuse to make risky loans in this economic crisis, and it paints a bleak picture.
Western Europe is part of 'the West' too you know.
Or is this some sort of 'lol french' joke I'm missing.
Teev - European publishers tend to get lumped with the Western group for some reason.
SAMaine - You have a decent point, but the exclusives you list are all first-party releases for the 360 or Wii. I'm sure there's some third party exclusives for both that have done quite well (even for the Wii, as odd as it sounds).
I thought that everything what's blue on this map is "The West".
Western Cultures, yes... since everything there in blue has countries that were founded by Europeans. You guys sure do get around.


text:
Q: Mean time to get $k$ heads for a coin with growing bias For integers $n,k\geq 1$ we repeatedly toss a coin and count the number of heads that occur. The probabilty of getting a head is $min(t/n,1)$ where $t$ is the current discrete time step. I am trying to work out the asymptotics of the mean time to get $k$ heads. My claim is the following.

Claim:  Let $X$ be a random variable which represents the number of
  coin tosses at the $k$th head.   If $k$ is $o(n)$ and $n \rightarrow \infty$, we have:  $$\mathbb{E}(X) \sim \sqrt{2n}\frac{\Gamma(k+\frac{1}{2})}{(k-1)!}$$

My "proof" uses a limit approximation of a nonhomogeneous Bernoulli process by a
nonhomogeneous Poisson process.  We then compute the expected number of tosses by transforming the nonhomogeneous Poission process to a homogeneous process by an application of the inverse transform method.
Let $T_k$ be the time taken to see $k$ events in a Poisson process with increasing rate $t/n$, $t >0$. Define
 $$\Lambda(t) \overset{\text{def}}{=}\;\; \int_0^t \frac{x}{n} dx = \frac{t^2}{2n}$$ with inverse
 $$\Lambda^{-1}(y) = \sqrt{2 y n}.$$
The key observation is that $T_k$ has the same distribution as $\Lambda^{-1}(S_k)$, where $S_k$ is the time taken to see $k$ events
in a Poisson process with rate $1$.
We want
\begin{align*}
\mathbb{E}(T_k) &= \mathbb{E}(\sqrt{2n S_k}) \\
&= \sqrt{2n} \int_0^\infty \frac{x^{1/2}  x^{k-1} e^{-x}}{(k-1)!} \mathrm{d}x\\
&= \frac{\Gamma(k+\frac{1}{2})}{(k-1)!}.
\end{align*}
The problem is that when $k$ grows with $n$, as is permitted in the claim, I don't see how to give a formal justification for this line of reasoning.  In particular, how can you justify the limit approximation?
Any help gratefully received.

As Douglas Zare points out, when $k$ grows with $n$ (and is also $o(n)$), the claim is equivalent to $$\mathbb{E}(X) \sim \sqrt{2nk}.$$
If my particular approach can't be justified, is there another way to get the same result which has a surer footing?

A: Let me just consider the case when $k$ is growing, but still $o(n)$ (in fact, we can even let $k$ go up to $(1/2-\epsilon)n$).  I will show that the expected number of coin tosses is about $\sqrt{2nk}$ as conjectured.   In fact the argument shows more, getting bounds for the probability of getting $k$ heads after exactly $y$ tosses.
Let $P(k,y)$ denote the
  probability that we get $k$ heads exactly after $y$ tosses (so the $y$-th toss is heads, and
  there are $k-1$ heads up till then).  If $y\le n$, then note that $P(k,y)$ equals $y/n$ times
  the coefficient of $x^{k-1}$ in $\prod_{i\le y-1} (x(i/n)+(1-i/n)) =Q_y(x)$ say.  Now $Q_y(x)$ is a polynomial
  with non-negative coefficients, and therefore the coefficient of $x^{k-1}$ is bounded
  by $Q_y(r)r^{-(k-1)}$ for any positive real number $r$.  Thus we have that
  $$
  P(k,y) \le \frac{y}{n} \min_{r>0} Q_y(r) r^{-(k-1)}.
  $$
Now note that
  $$
  Q_y(r) = \prod_{i\le y-1} (1+ (r-1)i/n) \le \exp\Big(\sum_{i=1}^{y-1} \frac{(r-1)i}{n} \Big)
  = \exp\Big( \frac{(r-1)y(y-1)}{2n} \Big).
  $$
  A little calculus shows that $(r-1) y(y-1)/(2n) - (k-1)\log r$ attains its
  minimum when $r=2n(k-1)/(y(y-1))$.  Taking this value for $r$, we obtain with $t=y(y-1)/(2n(k-1))$
  $$
  P(k,y) \le \frac{y}{n} \exp\Big( -(k-1)(t-1-\log t) \Big).
  $$
Now note that $t-1-\log t$ is approximately $(t-1)^2/2$ if $t$ is
close to $1$; and that if $|t-1|>\delta$ then $(t-1-\log t)$ is at
least $C\delta |t-1|$ for an absolute positive constant $C$.  Thus if $|y(y-1)/(2n(k-1))-1| > \delta$ then
from the above estimates it follows that
  $$
  P(k,y) = O\Big(\frac{y}{n} \exp\Big(-C\delta (k-1)\Big|\frac{y(y-1)}{2n(k-1)}-1\Big|\Big) \Big).
 $$
 In other words, the probability is tiny (exponentially small in $k$)
 unless $y(y-1)$ is very close to $2n(k-1)$; that is, unless $y$ is about $\sqrt{2nk}$.  From this it is easy to see that the expected value is $\sim \sqrt{2nk}$ as conjectured.
If one argues carefully using the saddle point method, one could obtain asymptotics for $P(k,y)$; as the
 argument above indicates, the likely values of $y$ are sharply concentrated around $\sqrt{2nk}$.
Added:  In the range where $y=o(n^{2/3})$ and $k=o(\sqrt{y})$, directly from the definition one can compute that
$$
P(k,y) \sim \frac{y}{n} e^{-y^2/(2n)} \frac{(y^2/(2n))^{k-1}}{(k-1)!}.
$$
So in the range $k=o(n^{1/3})$ one can compute the distribution directly (getting Gaussian fluctuations) -- this will also give the right result for bounded $k$.  For larger $k$ one can use the previous argument of bounding the probability away from the peak (or work harder and get asymptotics using the saddle point method).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Let's start with China and see how it works. In 2010 they consumed about 100 quads. The EIA projects that to rise to about 163 quads by 2030 (based on Figure 14 of their report showing China as consuming 23.7% of the 739 quads projected for the world). That's a CAGR percentage of 2.47%, higher than their estimated growth rate for the rest of the world—1.4%. But is it high enough? As mentioned above, China's energy consumption grew in 2010 by over 11%, and they look set to match that in 2011.
On a per capita basis, China's energy consumption rose from 29 million British Thermal Units (mbtus) to 56.2 mbtus between 1996 and 2006, the latest date available for examination at the EIA website.
China's per capita GDP is also set to grow, from its 2010 level of $2,802 (measured in 2005 U.S. dollars) to $10,718 in 2030. And during this period, China's population is also projected to grow from its current 1,341,335,000 to 1,393,076,000.
As it happens, Hungary had a very similar per capita GDP—$10,676—in 2006. It's certainly not absurd to conjecture that their energy consumption per capita might be quite close to China's energy consumption when it reaches Hungary's level, whenever that might be.
Hungary's per capita energy consumption that year was 114.7 million btus. Applying that to China's projected population yields a total of 159.7 quads—and that's far less than the EIA projects.
However, Hungary has been a well-developed nation for a long time, with a stable population and needing little in the way of fresh housing stock or road building, and its population's needs for appliances and cars are for replacement rather than new acquisitions by people joining the middle class for the first time. The same would hold broadly true for other European countries with similar incomes. Is there a better example?
I offer for consideration Oman—a developing country whose population and GDP has grown quickly in recent decades, if not as quickly as China's, and which had a per capita GDP of $11,528 in 2006. Their per capita GDP doubled between 1980 and 2006, showing that development was vigorous and sustained, much like China's.
Although much smaller than China, Oman has many parallels, even to the extent of using 5-year plans to steer their economic development. They have spent the last 40 years taking a development path that may not be radically different from what China will be doing in the next 25. Their population growth rate has been similar to what China expects. They have a long coastline, and maritime developments may be similar between the two. Their neighbors have been as touched and troubled as China's. The CIA World Factbook lists many features in common. So Oman seems a very good comparison and far more appropriate than Hungary, primarily due to China's continuing development of basic infrastructure and the number of people moving into the middle class over the next 20 years.
Oman had per capita energy consumption of 177.2 mbtus in 2006. If China's per capita energy consumption were to reach the same level as Oman's, it would total almost 247 quads. Whether China achieves that level of development in 2020, 2035 or 2050 is not significant here; when their per capita GDP approaches $11,500, their energy consumption may be near 250 quads. And as far more analysts make their living projecting financial trends than energy consumption (and have far more at stake), we would expect to see fairly accurate projections of when China would arrive at that point. If the EIA has their GDP figures right, it will be in 2035. The Price Waterhouse Coopers study mentioned earlier predicts that China's GDP will grow more quickly (at a 6.3% CAGR). If that's correct, it would happen in 2032.
I should look at one more point before expanding our examination. Is it realistic to think that China actually can provide adequate energy to achieve the increase demanded by their rising GDP? After all, we are talking about a rise from 56 mbtus per person to 177 mbtus in as short a period as 20 years.
It would be nice if history provided some examples of that happening in non-island countries (island countries frequently have wild swings in energy consumption for a variety of reasons, usually stemming from dramatic changes in the primary fuel sources used).
There are several—the states comprising the former Yugoslavia increased per capita energy consumption from 77 mbtus to 174 between 1980 and 2006, and Iceland went from 250 to 348. And a number of countries either doubled (Turkey, Hong Kong) or even tripled (Malaysia) per capita energy consumption during the same period. And, as luck would have it, Oman doubled its energy consumption and per capita GDP between 1980 and 2006. There is also one other country that tripled its energy consumption in that time frame—China went from 17.6 mbtus per capita in 1991 to 56.2 in 2006. So it can be done.
I do not think it will be continuous. However, I think that that fact will not be usefull for your estimate. The most likely scenario that knocks out China's continuing surge, would be another developing country. This would mean more quads sooner.
The rationale was well posted by RPJr in his decarbonization works. I think your model would be better if you would use China continuing on this path as the best alternative, since, and I beleive it was the EIA that pointed it out, that output/quad is lower, the lower the per capita wealth of a nation is. This means if a country(ies) knock off China it will mean more quads at an earlier date.
I am curious about your model though. One of the items I think should be included and do not know if yours or others have it, is the energy effieciency income factor. Typically, as developing nations develop, effeiciency goes up as the per capita income goes up at about 2% per annum. If this translates into consumer buying power as it normally does, this will mean quad demand will grow, but the output/quad ratio will drop that 2% per annum.
I don't think many understand the nature of the Chinese market. I know that in certain food value added products, that China could literally take 100% of the world's market and still be a little short. It is expected that in the next 10 years they will be able to buy by economic power or build their own. The demand is there. As their economy matures and China becomes also a buyer rather than just a seller as mature markets do, the capacity of their market is more like 20% per year rather than 6.3%. It has more to due with risk and capitalization markets, than the market demand itself.
One of the interesting studies from ecology was the Odum brothers work equating money to energy and vice versa. Those who would posit a slow growth rate or a break in this run by China, need to review what the Odum brothers wrote about mankind. China needs to become poor again in order to realy break this streak. "Poor" can be loss of wealth or competition. They have too much money (potential energy an ecological sense) not to be able to convert it to energy, and energy demand.
I think you are underestimating. I think those estimating below you are not even in the ballpark yet.
Going through Qinghai Province a couple of years ago I was struck by the number of houses that were being converted from mud brick to fired brick. Small brick factories were ubiquitous, all coal fired. There were also a lot of solar water heaters on both domestic dwellings and factories. This is in a province that gets most of its power from hydro. China is putting a huge effort into building an infrastructure to open up the more remote provinces of the country, (lots of tunnels and interstates where possible) and this will have a "knock on" effect that is, I suspect, underestimated.
China is really serious about green energy and I wish them luck with it. They need it far more than we do. But they have a very steep hill to climb and I think they're going to need a lot of help and even more luck to avoid serious environmental problems due to over-consumption of coal. That's a theme that I will probably be beating to death here–fair warning.
serious environmental problems due to over-consumption of coal.
What is over-consumption? As China grows its GDP local entrepreneurs (vide the brick factories) have to look somewhere for their fuel, given that the state provided power is strained (particularly when rains don't fall as planned). Small locally owned mines spring up to provide the power – they are generally poorly run and the operators rarely have adequate training so that they have high accident and death rates, but they provide a source of power that is the only one readily available. (Remember that in parts of Mongolia they still collect animal dung to burn for fuel).
The plateau that we are on now in terms of crude oil production and the rising internal consumption of oil in the producing countries means that, according to the Export Land Model the amount of oil available for export will decline at an increasing rate. China recognizes this and is generating long term agreements for oil and natural gas, with pipelines into Turkmenistan and Russia as just a couple of examples. It is now trying for better agreements with Saudi Arabia. But it will not be enough, because once you start to modernize you can't take your people back for long and survive.
The price of oil will rise with increase in demand, and lack of significant increase in global supply. Poorer countries will have to turn to their own indigenous coal, because it is all they will be able to afford. (See in particular Botswana and adjacent countries in Africa). China will help those Southern African countries to develop their infrastructure (as they are offering to do for Saudi Arabia) because it gets them into the circles who decide where the energy exports go.
China is thus acting in its own self-interest. There is not yet enough prospect for renewable energy, particularly in the case of renewable liquid fuels to help China in this regard. You might want to review how America changed with the advent of the automobile and the arrival of the paved road network – China has still to see all those effects in the Western states.
No, China will need all the coal that it will get, not to "over consume", it will not be able to produce or transport enough to meet demand, and there is nothing else on the horizon with enough credible volume of supply to help meet their needs.


text:
WIZO Mexico is Honored With Prominent Award for Social Activism at the Mexican Congress
Chairperson of World WIZO Prof. Rivka Lazovsky was invited to speak at the Mexican congress at a historic moment for WIZO Mexico.
On Friday, at a ceremony held at the Mexican Congress, the Mexican federation of World WIZO was awarded the Benito Juarez National Citizen Merit Award for 2016, one of the country's most prominent awards, which recognizes individuals and groups that work on behalf of the country's people and society.
Alongside Mexican WIZO leaders, the Chairperson of World WIZO, Prof. Rivka Lazovsky, spoke at the ceremony. She was in Mexico as part of a WIZO mission to the region, of which this historic event was a highlight.
WIZO Mexico, ever since its founding in 1940, has supported various local institutions in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Tijuana-San Diego and Cancun. Most admirably, the group members perform volunteer work of all kinds across Mexico.
Prof. Lazovsky congratulated the members of the federation saying "Thanks to your great efforts, children and youth at risk from Mexican public schools gain scholarships and furniture to create a comfortable classroom environment. WIZO Mexico also contributes to the annual campaigns of the Mexican Red Cross, the National Telethon and provides aid for those who are hit by natural disasters. For the last 75 years, WIZO Mexico has been contributing to the welfare and development of disadvantaged people in the Mexican society. Your dedication and efforts support thousands of children and young people, and help them fulfil their full potential."
Mrs. Shula Shrem, the proud President of WIZO Mexico, commented, "This is the very first time the government and the congress have granted such recognition to our institution in 75 years of continuous work in Mexico,"
Prof. Lazovsky stressed the connection between the federation's work in Mexico and its work in Israel, and its unmistakably Jewish nature, "WIZO chaverot around the world are ambassadors of the Jewish values of charity and tikkum olam – "repairing the world". Your outstanding work is a representation of these important values and a tribute to our movement."
EGM 2020 - Celebrating 100 Years of WIZO
Can We Talk? The WIZO Men's Hotline Conference
WIZO Lights Up Israel in Red on Intl Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women
WIZO Updates on Security Crises in Israel
GIRL POWER: WIZO MARKS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Amir Goldberg, Stanford University, and Sameer B. Srivastava, UC Berkeley December 06, 2016
Should you hire for cultural fit or adaptability?
Companies increasingly view their cultures as a source of competitive advantage and hire employees on the basis of cultural compatibility. But is it better to hire someone who "fits" initially or someone who could be able to adapt quickly?
Recent years have seen a proliferation of assessment tools designed to identify, screen, and select employees who match an organization's culture. But people vary not only in their initial levels of cultural fit but also in their "enculturability," their capacity to adapt by reading and interpreting subtle cultural cues. So what matters more for an employee's career success in an organization—initial cultural fit or enculturability?
This question cannot be readily addressed using data and methods that are commonly used to study culture and cultural fit: interviews and surveys. These methods rely on self-reports of how people think of themselves in relation to the organization and only provide static snapshots of these self-perceptions.
Instead, we developed a language-based model of cultural fit that focuses on how people behave, in particular, the way they express themselves in emails. Observing individuals' behaviors over time helps reveal the dynamics of enculturation.
In our approach, a person exhibits high cultural fit when she matches the linguistic style of her colleagues. Imagine an organizational culture in which direct and aggressively stated views are interpreted as a signal of authority and competence. This same language might be frowned upon in a culture that values indirect expression and tactfulness. Our approach does not assume that certain behaviors are more effective than others; rather it assesses the cultural match, as reflected in language use, between an employee and her peers.
Because we can measure this match over time, we can also observe how employees' cultural fit changes, or their "enculturation trajectories." As a result, we can distinguish between initial cultural fit at the time of hire and enculturability—the rate of adaptation to the culture in the first few months after hire.
We applied this language-based model to a corpus of email messages exchanged among employees in a mid-sized technology firm over a five-year period and matched these data to personnel records from the firm. The data set is de-identified, and raw message content is transformed to statistics about linguistic style so as to protect company confidentiality and employee privacy.
Our results indicate that both cultural fit and enculturability do matter for individual career success (e.g., getting promoted or not getting fired.) But we also find that employees with low initial cultural fit and high enculturability do better than employees with high initial cultural fit and low enculturability. Enculturability appears to matter more than initial cultural fit for career success. Moreover, we find that the energy people put into keeping apace with the organizational culture is indicative of their attachment to the firm. Those who cease to adapt to the evolving culture are at higher risk of leaving voluntarily.
So what does this mean for managers? Our results suggest that firms should place less emphasis on screening on cultural fit. As other work has shown, matching on cultural fit often favors applicants from particular socioeconomic backgrounds, leading to a reduction in workplace diversity. Instead, our work points to the value of screening on enculturability. For example, to what extent has the candidate sought out diverse cultural environments? How rapidly did the candidate adjust to these new environments? How did the candidate strike the balance between adapting to the new culture while staying true to herself? We believe that this kind of screening will help companies find employees who not only fit the current culture but who can adapt to and thrive in the organization's culture of the future.
Amir Goldberg is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Sameer B. Srivastava is Assistant Professor and Harold Furst Chair in Management Philosophy and Values at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Together, with V. Govind Manian (Stanford U.) and Christopher Potts (Stanford U.), they have co-authored a paper on this research that is forthcoming in Management Science.
Use structured interviewing
Using consistent questions and grading rubrics can improve the candidate experience and be predic...
library_books Guide arrow_forward
Hiring, honeybees, and human decision making
Taking a tip from how teachers grade a stack of tests, "chunking" job applications has been shown...
Gusto hires for culture enhancement, not culture fit
See how a fast-growing company finds candidates who will not only thrive in their culture, but en...
Structure your hiring process with these re:Work tools
Hiring someone new is a critical decision for a team or organization, and every step of the hirin...


text:
Home » Parker Products breaks ground on new facility
Parker Products breaks ground on new facility
By Matt Hamer
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Parker Products broke ground on a new 90,000-square-foot facility. The food ingredient and flavor systems company has been located in Fort Worth since it was founded in 1926, and its new facility will remain in the city at 3001 Strawn Drive.
Parker will move all of its operations to the new location upon completion, which is expected to take place in early 2018. The new facility will triple the company's total production capacity and serve as the hub of Parker's kill-step validation and food safety initiatives.
"Our current plant was built in the 1950s, so there were multiple drivers behind building a new facility," said Greg Hodder, president, Parker Products. "Primarily, the additional space will accommodate anticipated future growth.
"The new facility is a collaboration among Emergent Technologies, Elements of Architecture, the City of Fort Worth, the HWH Group and Todd Hubbard with NAI Real Estate. We appreciate the work all of these organizations have done and will do as the plant is completed over the next year."
Selling cookies, crackers on the perimeter
Aryzta appoints new c.f.o.
PepsiCo joins New Plastics Economy initiative
Mondelez opens R.&D. hub in Poland
Teasdale acquires Rudy's Tortillas


text:
Q: Waiting for DeleteForgeAppAsync to proceed I am using the Forge .NET SDK. To clear all appbundles and activities under my Forge App account I call :
        await _designAutomation.DeleteForgeAppAsync("me");

Right afterwards I need to (re)create a new nickname for my Forge App then (re)create the needed AppBundle and Activity :
        await _designAutomation.ForgeAppsApi.CreateNicknameAsync("me", new NicknameRecord { Nickname = NICKNAME });
        await EnsureAppBundle();
        await EnsureActivity();

Quite often one of three calls above fails because the Forge App is still being deleted, so for instance there is a conflict for the nickname creation, or the AppBundle/Activity cannot be created.
The Forge documentation at https://forge.autodesk.com/en/docs/design-automation/v3/reference/http/forgeapps-id-DELETE/ says : This may take up to 2 minutes. During this time the app will not be able to make successful requests.
Would not the asynchronous call to DeleteForgeAppAsync have to wait for the deletion to be complete ?
Thanks for your help.
Maxime

A: You could handle this scenario by doing retries on 409 response following a forge app deletion.
If you want to add more logic around 409 retries you could always also inspect the body.

A: Per documentation here you'd need to wait a few for the delete action to take effect despite the SDK  API appears to be synchronous:

This may take up to 2 minutes. During this time the app will not be able to make successful requests.