Nigel Farage is a big fat jerk.

This just in UKIP doyen Nigel Farage is a big fat jerk. 

A big giant bag o dicks. Sorry, my british friends, but Nigel needs a brain transplant.

Update : (7/4/2016) : 

Nigel Farage has stepped down as head of the UKIP.  Apparently he is like a kid who throws a brick through a window. Having seen the damage he caused and hearing the alarm bells, he's run for it, hoping the neighborhood copper doesn't grab him by the collar. 

Some poetry.

The thought is never far from the surface of my mind, that good men and women today fight on in countries far from the "Civilized" USA. Men and women who have lives, families, friends, and children. I'm no poet. I'll borrow from A.E. Housman.
Although misleadingly titled "An epitaph on an Army of Mercenaries" Housman wrote it as a tribute to the British Expeditionary Force, who in 1914 crossed over to Belgium to defend that nation against the onslaught of the Imperial German Army. Critics labelled them Mercenaries because they were men who volunteered to serve as soldiers in a time of peace. Apparently some then believed that fighting men should work for free. Housman thought differently, and I agree.
Here it is.

Women as central characters.

A couple of years ago, Disney released their animated production "Frozen" to theaters around the world. This movie followed on ground already broken by "Brave" and "Mulan" , in presenting a strong female character as the central figure in the story.  At the time, some commentators were actually angered by Frozen, because it had two good women heroes (Elsa and Anna) and the largest male part was relegated to a part-comic-relief part love interest for Anna, or an entirely comic relief snowman.

Person of Interest is Over . . .

I caught the first episode of Person of Interest on CBS, and tonight I saw the last one.

The show was apparently not popular enough to stay on the air, so CBS crammed the last 13 episodes into this last month and a half. Or perhaps stars Michael Emerson, Jim Caviezel, Sarah Shahi and Amy Acker were tired of doing it. For whatever reason, the show came to an end, Tuesday 6/22/16.

Is Trump's house of cards falling ?

A measly 3 mil in May, with a lousy 1.3 mil on hand. Corey L is out. Is Trump's organization failing ? 

It certainly looks like he's floundering. Stalling out. No money coming in, no operating funds coming from Trump. For a billionaire he's certainly being penurious with his cash, assuming he really has any. So what's Trump's next play ? The cash he has on hand isn't enough for another month's operations unless he minimizes everything. So what's he going to do ?
Meanwhile, I see that there is an "insurgent" group of GOP delegates who are working toward exempting themselves from being bound to vote for Trump in the convention.
According to The Rachel Maddow Show 
there is a move on by some within the delegates to add a rule in the convention rules to allow delegates to not vote for a candidate based upon what amounts to any conscience reason.
So we have Trump with no money, with Delegates plotting to desert him, and what next? 
Trump will market himself and his book, make sure he gets enough campaign contributions to pay himself back for the 45 mil he loaned his campaign, and then what ? quit ? I think he'll flame out well before the election. He'll be the Michael Dukakis of the GOP. But, am I indulging in wishful thinking ? Perhaps.
Myself, I saw the choices as being Hillary Clinton or John Kasich.
I guess I was half right.

Homeopathy is Bunk.

Yes, I'm not going to soft-soap it. Homeopathy is bunk. bollocks. built on stupidity. 

In the 1800s one Samuel Hahnamann came up with the idea that if a substance taken internally at regular strength caused certain symptoms, and if giving that substance in lesser, diluted forms caused lesser symptoms, then diluting it until there couldn't possibly be any more of the substance in the solution -- so that there was a negative amount of substance in the solution -- must then cure those symptoms. To this he added in the mumbo jumbo of praying over the water and slapping the bottle of solution being mixed against a leather bound book -- usually but not always a copy of the christian bible. The resulting stew of pseudoscience he passed on to his followers, who keep at it to this day, diluting stuff in water, alcohol or glycerin, sometimes dropping drops of it on sugar pills, and then selling the resultant useless crap for big sums of money. Because of placebo effect, and a phenomenon known as "regression to the mean" or because human beings sometimes get well on their own, People allow themselves to be deluded into thinking the stuff works, when in fact, it is only water, alcohol, glycerin or sugar pills. Entertainer and renowned skeptic James Randi has often challenged homeopaths to bring him a "fatal overdose" of Homeopathic sleeping pills, which he takes entire boxes of without ill effect (other than perhaps on his blood sugar.)

I am also reminded of the statement made by comedian Tim Minchin, who has said "if a vial of water can remember the memory of one drop of onion juice why doesn't it remember all the poo that's been in it ?"
One of these days I'm going to have to look for some quality research on why this stuff (and other weird quack treatments) persist in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary.
Somehow, I suspect it will be for similar reasons to why people continue to subscribe to damnedfool ideas like flat earth, geocentrism and young earth creationism.

Vin Scully.

It's not unusual for Baseball announcers on TV to go off the script. 

Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray was famous for it. He'd be going on about some player, some play in the game, or some statistic, and the next second he would be babbling happily away about something off in left field. Last night, Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully must have been really bored, because he went into a discussion of the failure of Socialism, citing the alleged failure of Venezuela's government under the late Hugo Chavez. Personally, I thought it was just a rather humorous non sequitur. Sort of like reading the weather on TV only to suddenly mention how tight your shoes are. Well, apparently other people weren't so happy about Scully's discourse. By the way, the Dodgers won it 10-6 over the Brewers. 
Someone play Take Me Out to The Ball Game. 

Father's Day 2016

I don't usually do these holidays created by marketing execs.
My father was gathered unto his ancestors in 2012. He left behind 3 sons
and his loving wife, Jo. My Dad was not always the best of men. In his youth, he drank, he fought, and he philandered. In later years he would reform, drinking only in moderation, not having a temper, and joining the baptist church. His life in later years was marked by his love of his wife, Jo and his good nature. He loved fishing and golf, and spending a good time. Dad and I didn't always see eye to eye, but we settled our differences years before I moved to Arizona, and decades before he passed on. I wish he were still with us. Unfortunately, my family are not much for photos or I would post one here. Dad was a tall man, large framed, with red hair and blue eyes. I'm larger, and have greying chestnut hair and blue eyes. I don't really resemble the old man except in size.
Today I remember him. Rest in Piece,  Dad.


- DLC

A few more thoughts on gun control.

More on the guns issue:

(I apologize if this seems a bit disorganized, but it's been a long and chaotic day, and I had many things to say, which I tried to cram all into one post. -- DLC)

The debate continues in it's usual cycle, with one side demanding gun bans and more restrictions and the other side pointing to the second amendment and demanding constitutionality.
I've already written about how I'd change the background checks system here , but now I want to add in something I left out then -- the Ammunition issue.
I've heard a lot of talk about banning rifles that can hold more than some number of rounds of ammunition, mainly from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former Governor Cuomo. (This happened, in the NYSAFE act )

A dream, perhaps.

I have dreams. Sometimes they're the seeds of stories, and sometimes they're just my brain going on holiday and taking me along for the ride. 

This time, it was the seed of a story, but probably not one with any publishable content. Yet still, I think there's some meaning here, so I'm going to try to write it down while I can. The setting is the well of the United States Senate. The principal character; Senator Robert Coughlin, R- AZ, a fictional Senator from my home state.

When religion and hate mix.

I think everyone in the United States has this Sunday seen what can happen when you mix Religion and Hate. 

I'm not going to sit here and give a sermon. I'm not a priest and make no claims to special wisdom. God does not talk to me. I do not talk to God. By and large, if you subscribe to a particular set of beliefs in the unprovable or supernatural, I might disagree with you, but I will not attempt to dissuade you of your beliefs. If those beliefs are particularly wacky, I am likely to deride your weirdness,

Some sad sporting news.

Word has reached me that hockey legend Gordie Howe has died. 

He was 88 years old. While I am not the biggest Hockey fan, as a child I was shown video of Howe playing in his heyday. Being no expert I have to admit I didn't really understand it at the time, but I knew I was watching one of the top men in his field doing what he loved doing. Hats off for Number Nine, folks.
My condolences to his family and friends. 

Some good things about The Sims 4

Some good things about The Sims 4

I usually don’t talk about my computer gaming experience, aside from the ones I mentioned in my profile.  Usually, games are a sideline, a diversion from boredom when I’m not working or trying to sleep. Well, my internet service has been down this week, and it has given me time to reflect on a few things. Among them is the computer game The Sims 4™, by EA Games subsidiary Maxis.   The game itself is fairly smooth, although it has some bugs that can make playing it annoying. But let’s handle the good things first.

Weed War 2016!

Weed War 2016:

Already into phase 3; digging out the enemy one stubborn holdout at a time. I was able to wipe out a small formation of the enemy using the string trimmer, but had to stop due to a lack of ammo. Then came the backup weapon, the hula hoe. With that, I was able to clear more small groups of the enemy, taking them en passant, using Halsey’s maxim of Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit Often. Finally, hula hoe amenable targets having diminished, I took to the most primitive of weapons, the spade. I was able to spade up about ¼ of the hardest held enemy positions, but two clusters will require actually digging in by hand with a trowel, as they are too close to the concrete sidewalks. Oh, for a small supply of Round-Up™.

Final Note:

The enemy has retaliated in force using biological weapons and mine warfare. (pollens and goats-head thorns) I’m going to be down for cooldown and then for allergy symptoms for the next 3 or 4 hours. I went out at 10 AM and it’s already in the 90s. Tis what comes of living in Hell Central Arizona.

Gluten-free ≠ healthier

This from Orac @ Respectful Insolence. Have a read, he's right on the money here. Gluten Free Diets are the bunk. 



Gluten-free ≠ healthier: One of the more annoying health crazes going around right now is the gluten-free diet. While it’s a boon to the very small proportion of the population who have real celiac disease and thus truly c…

Zimmerman trial, and vigilantism in general.

A funny thing happened to me while watching the Zimmerman trial.

Back in 2012, there was an incident.
I came home from the store one afternoon, and there was a suspicious unmarked white van out in front of the house next door. This was about 2 months after the family who lived in the home had moved out, having discovered that their home was under water and they would never be able to pay it off. Well now there were strange men lurking around the place, after there had already been 3 break-ins in the area, including my car. What should I have done ?

This one reminder got lost in the shuffle.

(delayed due to my being busy, I now make amends . . . )

Seventy-Two Years ago this day. 

Seventy-Two years ago, on this day, June 6, 1944, on the beaches in Northern France, the United States, British, Canadians, Free French and others embarked on "The Great Crusade" to free Europe from the Nazi tyrant. 
Before dawn, some 156, 000 men, under the overall command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, got down into landing craft and prepared to go ashore. Awaiting them were some 31,000 men of the Armed forces of Nazi Germany.

Things you miss when your Internet is down.

Things you miss when your Internet is down.

As much as I find listicles annoying, I still see the usefulness of them sometimes. So here’s a list of things I have found to be bothersome about not having internet:

·         No Google. No Alta Vista, Webcrawler, Excite or Bing either. You don’t appreciate the usefulness and ubiquity of such things until you haven’t got them.

·         No web resources – no Wikipedia, Snopes, History pages, Smithsonian, New York Times, or even Huffington Post.

Belated Obituary for Muhammad Ali.

And another icon of a bygone age has passed . . .

Word has reached me earlier today that Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay Jr in 1942, has died, likely of complications due to Parkinson’s disease. He was 74.  I never met Ali, though I did meet his onetime opponent Joe Frazier. Ali, once known for his brash, brassy showmanship and improv poems, later became known for his gentlemanly demeanor and his humble charity. He was a man of his time, but also in ways ahead of his time. While I did not agree with his draft dodging – he should have declared himself a conscientious objector, in my opinion -- His life eclipsed his boxing career. He was a man who lived with Parkinson’s disease, who saw his illness as a challenge to rise to, and a cause to fight for. Unfortunately, not even The Greatest was able to banish Parkinson’s, but he kept at it until the end. His family and closest friends were by his side when he went. My condolences to his family and friends. Goodbye, Champ. You were The Greatest.

== Muhammad Ali: b.1942 d.2016. ==

(note: written while I was offline between June 1st and June 7th. )

This whole gun control issue. . .

The entire "gun control" issue has been spun off backwards onto it's ear.
First, it's the NRA and the extreme wing of gun owners who see any regulation as a diminution of their rights and so both unpatriotic and evil.
Then on the other side is the crying, screaming often legitimately anguished people who demand that everyone give up their guns or else right now because it's For The Children™ and besides, "The Constitution isn't a Suicide Pact!®" Well, I'm tired of both damn ideas.

Let's look at the right to keep and bear arms, in the most general sense, without the legalities.
First, there are four main reasons to own firearms. These reasons are (in no order) defense, either of yourself, your family or or your nation; providing sustenance by way of hunting; target shooting and collecting as either artifacts or as investments or both.

A piece of short Fiction

Some of my early work. Perhaps not so good, but what the heck. 
An attempt at writing a military techno-thriller, dealing with the possibility of a continuation of the war on the Korean Peninsula.
(technical discrepancies between this story and reality are the author's and are either honest mistakes or dramatic license. )

      *      *      *     *

A Beginning . . .

Inaugural Post : In which I introduce myself and give a brief look at who I am and what I'm doing.

Well, I am your host, known elsewhere by my (and the blog's) Initials -- DLC.
I am not the Democratic Leadership Committee, or Downloadable Content.
I am a man of middle age and some education, much of it acquired  on my own. Like everyone, I have things I like and things I do not like, and so those things are likely going to be frequent topics here.
Some of those things I write about are (in no particular order) :

• Current Events  -- news and political items worth noting.
• Science -- scientific developments, discoveries and related material.
• Sport -- Auto Racing, Baseball, Football, Shooting sports and others.
• Computers -- Computer technology, programming and related stories.
• Writing -- I try to write fiction. Short stories mainly but there is a novel in progress. I may publish some of that here.
• Skepticism  -- I like to say I have an open mind, but a hard nose. If you want me to believe something, offer me some proof, either empirical or logical, but preferably both. I may from time to time deconstruct various bits of nonsense, woo, conspiracy theories or whatnot in these pages. 
• Gaming. I play World of Warcraft, including the Legion Beta. So you might see Beta reports here, time permitting. I also play D&D and similar roleplaying games, as well as some board games and tabletop miniatures games, any or all of which may be written about in these pages.

 I look forward to writing more and hope that people like what they read here.
As I am broke (at this writing, it is not known if I will even have an internet connection tomorrow, let alone electrical power to use one with ) any financial contributions you care to make are welcome. If all you have to donate is your time, feel free to link back here to any story you find worth sharing. Comments and suggestions are accepted, but I reserve the right to block and or delete any comments I find unacceptable or offensive to the general public.
Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again!


Sincerely
      DLC.

Apropos of nothing, a picture of my cat, Witchcraft.

and also, in case anyone wanted to donate to keeping me out of the streets, here's this thingy.
paypal.me/DarinCochran