*sigh*
While the few remaining adults in high federal positions may be concerned about Iran with nukes, no one in the administration is. They may say they are, but I don't honestly think they're taking this matter seriously: "They won't attack us now; we're in charge!"
I think this is so because no one in the government seems terribly worried about Iran getting nuclear weapons.
* * *
This administration is terribly soft on national defense, even softer than I feared it would be. Obama subscribes to the ludicrous notion that if we give up our weapons, the world will become all peace and love.
Why doesn't Obama try this on a more personal scale? Have the Secret Service give up carrying firearms. By Obama's theories this ought to prevent anyone from wanting to assassinate him or his family, right? I mean, if the US having nuclear weapons is why people want to do us harm--if the only way to guarantee peace is for us to disarm--and if he seriously believes this, why is he not making every possibie effort to ensure his family is safe in the same manner?
* * *
The Anchoress points out something today which I hadn't thought of.
Remember how Jews were supposed to light one less candle on the menorah to save the Earth from global warming? Remember how that was supposed to be such a helpful thing?
Apparently that miniscule reduction in carbon dioxide would reduce global warming much more than, I don't know, a volcanic eruption which spewed so much ash into the air that most commercial flights in Europe are grounded. Yeah, that's right: it's not going to cool the Earth at all and global warming will continue unchecked.
...the same global warming which hasn't been happening at all since 1995, by the way....
* * *
Do you think China's a worker's paradise?
Yeah, those ChiComs really do make things wonderful for the oppressed workers, don't they? Gosh, how wonderful it must be to work a 16-hour shift for $0.50 per hour with no bathroom breaks. Those Chinese people living under their communist dictators sure have wonderful, enviable lives.
* * *
Sex sells. And the stuff in these books which Mr. Porretto is panning is what sells these things to more people than you'd think.
Let me put it this way: I know someone who would love those books to pieces. Not me, not anyone related to me; someone I used to know. A woman. She'd love them. In fact, I'd bet she's read them.
I'm grateful to Mr. Porretto for providing this selfless service to all mankind.
* * *
While we're about it, let me dis-recommend a book, too; the worst book I have ever read, bar none: Virtual Death, it is called. It is rare for me to read thirty pages of any novel and to stop; yet I did, because that book is just awful. In the book, the main character was among a cadre of "athletes" whose "sport" was dying. For minutes at a time, for as long as possible, using machinery and drugs to prevent brain damage.
I never got as far as finding out what the story was about; it was so stupid and badly written I didn't even get to the plot hook before I gave up on it. C'mon: if you don't have a plot hook within 30 pages of the beginning of the story, when your characters are all unlikable jerks, when the scene and tone are dystopian at best--damn it, you have to give me a reason to read your story, and if you haven't managed it after 30 pages I have my doubts about you ever managing it.
Nearly all the time there is something about a printed, published story which gets my attention. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but something keeps me reading.
I stopped reading Tom Clancy's work after Red Rabbit. The next book (the name escapes me) just didn't grab my attention. After getting about 50 pages into it, I realized, I don't like this book and stopped reading. (Thank God I got it from the library!) Tom Clancy, whose every new book I bought in hardcover because I always enjoyed them that damn much.
I can still read Clive Cussler's books, even though Dirk Pitt retired. But I don't enjoy them as much now that it's Pitt's son instead of the man himself.
*sigh*
* * *
Breda has the right attitude about blogs and the trolls which infest them. Her policy is much like mine.
* * *
My BakaBT ratio is for the birds. I need to figure out a way to hook the P3 back up and let it be my torrent box. Then it can seed torrents all the time.
Fortunately, seeding torrents from this machine doesn't interfere with WoW too much, so I can play my game while seeding.
* * *
Ormus hit 54th level, and thanks to some randoms is doing quite nicely on 55th.
I queued for randoms three times last night. I forgot what happened the first time, but it was an example of someone being a moron. The second time, the tank and healer quit after a wipe. The third time, the group cleaned the place out. (The third time was really an extension of the second time, as me and one other guy stayed in the group.)
"Oh, whaa, I died! This group sucks! I quit!" I suppose those people would probably find Hello Kitty's Island Adventure more their speed? C'mon. Yeah, it blows chunks when you get killed, but the game isn't Happy Time Cakewalk: Free and Easy Loot.
I don't get it. Then again, I suppose I'm not the average WoW player. To me, getting killed and having to rez is part of the game. (It's an annoying part, but it's part of it.) WTF, WoW doesn't work like NetHACK, where when you die that is it and you start over with a new character. Usually someone can rez the party, and you go back and try again.
Quitting partway through a dungeon is stupid, not the least of which because you get a penalty for doing it. I guess Blizzard ought to make the penalty stiffer. Maybe make it like the "rez in graveyard" penalty, where you have resurrection sickness for 10 minutes and have all your stats reduced by 75% and you only do 25% of your normal damage. Also your equipment takes 25% damage, too, for which--at higher levels--repairs get spendy.
You don't have to resurrect to the graveyard, of course, but sometimes that's your only option. Sometimes it's preferable to hieing your ghost all the way to where you died. Then you take the penalty and shrug it off. Go to town and hang out for a little bit, maybe reorganize your inventory and bank tabs.
Quitting partway through a dungeon, when your teammates are depending on you--it's kind of asinine, IMHO. Then again, teamwork seems to be a dying art these days.