vxbush 1/17/2020 5:54:43 AM

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Morning, campers. Really nasty weather coming through Central Illinois and the surrounding midwest today. With temperatures around 32ºF, it might be snow, it might be nice, it might be rain, sleet--who knows?

JCM 1/17/2020 6:37:46 AM

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Warmed up and the snow is gone. Back to normal Seattle gray and rain.

On weather and climate...

While NOAA/NASA claims 2019 as the “second warmest year ever”, other data shows 2019 cooler than 2005 for USA.

vxbush 1/17/2020 6:47:14 AM

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Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 6:47:16 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 1/17/2020 6:57:20 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 3:

Very interesting; thanks!

buzzsawmonkey 1/17/2020 7:01:33 AM

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In #5 buzzsawmonkey said: Good morning.  “Defund NPR” should really be part of the Trump second term agenda. If the Democrats want their own network of radio stations, they are free to pay for it themselves. 

I barely listened to them this morning; what, if anything, new?

I've thought for some time that since NPR is "national public radio," and still at least partially publicly funded, there should be a concerted legal effort by conservatives to force more "balance" at least into the news shows.  The real genius of NPR, though, is not the news shows, slanted though they are; it's the talk shows, quiz shows, and culture shows, which create an entire Leftist world-bubble.  Conservatives have never done that; Mark Steyn is the closest I can think of to someone who actually looks at culture, and he's only one man.

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 7:06:15 AM

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In #6 buzzsawmonkey said: I barely listened to them this morning; what, if anything, new?

Nothing new, exactly; I was just particularly repulsed by the wall-to-wall Democrat talking points this morning.  

"I've thought for some time that since NPR is "national public radio," and still at least partially publicly funded, there should be a concerted legal effort by conservatives to force more "balance" at least into the news shows.  

Tilting at windmills, IMHO. Progs would still control it, any "forced" "non-Prog content would be shunted to the redeye hours, etc.   Defund the thing. 

buzzsawmonkey 1/17/2020 7:14:48 AM

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In #7 Occasional Reader said: Tilting at windmills, IMHO. Progs would still control it, any "forced" "non-Prog content would be shunted to the redeye hours, etc.   Defund the thing. 

You don't think that attacking NPR by demanding equal time/participation might soften up the other side to agree to defunding?

lucius septimius 1/17/2020 7:15:40 AM

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Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 7:20:22 AM

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And I continue to think the US Navy authenticating the Nimitz UFO videos is the most under-reported story of, at the very least, the last year.  

Somebody apparently possesses aircraft capable of doing things that are seemingly impossible; and there's a good chance that somebody isn't us (the US, at the very least). Why is this greeted with a yawn, and jokes?

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 7:21:43 AM

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In #8 buzzsawmonkey said: You don't think that attacking NPR by demanding equal time/participation might soften up the other side to agree to defunding?

I'm no longer interested in getting them to agree to anything, to be frank.  Oderint dum metuant. 

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 7:22:13 AM

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In #9 lucius septimius said: I have a disability!!!

Me, too - I'm a moral cripple! 

buzzsawmonkey 1/17/2020 7:28:20 AM

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In #10 Occasional Reader said: Why is this greeted with a yawn, and jokes?

If the Vogons are here to build an interstellar bypass, there's not much we can do about it.

lucius septimius 1/17/2020 7:45:04 AM

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In #12 Occasional Reader said: Me, too - I'm a moral cripple! 

That's what I say when I'm at home and swipe mom's handicapped hang-tag to go to the bar.

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 7:50:21 AM

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In #13 buzzsawmonkey said: If the Vogons are here to build an interstellar bypass, there's not much we can do about it.

And - no offense- but that's the sort of response most everyone comes up with.  I find that a little weird.

Again, summing up:

1) There is video taken by US Navy fighter jets of a (pretty) clearly-visible flying object performing seemingly impossible feats of aeronautic maneuverability.

2) The US Navy has now stated the video is authentic. 

3) The US Navy has also stated they have no idea what that thing was.

Whether or not that object is extraterrestrial in nature, the implications here are staggering. 

lucius septimius 1/17/2020 7:56:25 AM

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Description of Baijiu, the Chinese elite's liquor of choice:

"The last whiff one sense before waking up in a serial killer's rumpus room ... smelled as if someone had wrung a garbage bag full of soiled gym shorts into a bucket of fish sauce, stirred in an equal measure of Drano, rotten fruit, and blue cheese, and left it to marinate a few days."

doppelganglander 1/17/2020 8:32:50 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 9:

I feel like a terrible person being excited about that, but anything that gives you an advantage is good in this context.

doppelganglander 1/17/2020 8:33:32 AM

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In #4 Occasional Reader said:  “Defund NPR” should really be part of the Trump second term agenda. If the Democrats want their own network of radio stations, they are free to pay for it themselves. 

Because Air America worked out so well for them.

vxbush 1/17/2020 9:13:14 AM

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In #10 Occasional Reader said: Somebody apparently possesses aircraft capable of doing things that are seemingly impossible; and there's a good chance that somebody isn't us (the US, at the very least). Why is this greeted with a yawn, and jokes?

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. There's a lot more going on with this story and it's being completely spun as "UFO!" rather than "Dear God, someone's tech is insane! We need to catch up!" Why isn't it generating the same angst that Russia's Sputnik did? 

vxbush 1/17/2020 9:14:25 AM

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In #9 lucius septimius said: This one was a pain, but guess what -- I have a disability!!!

Let me guess--you're a white male? 

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 9:22:06 AM

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In #19 vxbush said: and it's being completely spun as "UFO!"

I don't know about that.  AFAIK the Navy's response is very neutral, "unidentified aerial phenomenon" and that's that.

As far as the MSM, i haven't even seen the story mentioned enough to say that it's being "spun" as anything at all.

I'd love to believe "this is actually our technology, and what's happening with this planned "leak" is that we're deliberately allowing adversaries to catch a glimpse of it in order to keep them off-balance", but I have no basis for believing that, and it seems illogical.  

vxbush 1/17/2020 9:28:29 AM

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In #21 Occasional Reader said: I'd love to believe "this is actually our technology, and what's happening with this planned "leak" is that we're deliberately allowing adversaries to catch a glimpse of it in order to keep them off-balance", but I have no basis for believing that, and it seems illogical.  

Oh, I see the story being bandied about as proof of UFOs. Not in the MSM, but in lots of other sites. 

And your argument here about us using this opportunity to warn our adversaries actually doesn't seem that farfetched, although you're right about not having a basis for believing this. Except that Area 51, despite being a test bed for testing planes for decades, has been carefully crafted as a UFO site for those same decades. That type of reasoning isn't out of line. 

PaladinPhil 1/17/2020 9:48:02 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 16:

Yeah, that seems like a legitimate description. Was at a Chinese wedding where they served the "good" stuff. I think I would have preferred cheap tequila. The cheap baiju is a different level of awful. My brother would by the cheap stuff and use it as an antiseptic because it was cheaper than rubbing alcohol.

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 9:50:03 AM

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In #22 vxbush said: Oh, I see the story being bandied about as proof of UFOs

Well, by definition, it's proof of "UFOs", per se.

And to hypothesize that this video demonstrates non-human technology isn't crazy, IMHO, given how wildly beyond any known technology this thing seems to be.  E.g., there is NO visible evidence of a known propulsion system - none.   In contrast, for instance, even if you'd gotten a good glimpse of a prototype F-117 in flight circa 1978, while it would have made your jaw drop, you'd have been able to recognize wings and jet engines. 

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 10:06:11 AM

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In #24 Occasional Reader said: it's proof of "UFOs", per se.

Or “evidence”, to be more precise.

PaladinPhil 1/17/2020 10:08:22 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 24: 

I have seen videos of the "Tic Tac's" and everyone is talking about the propulsion system. What makes me curious is if their manned, what are they doing to counteract inertia?

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 10:14:21 AM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 26:

Hell, even if it’s unmanned (or, um, unklaatu’d), how would it perform those maneuvers without tearing itself to pieces?

doppelganglander 1/17/2020 10:18:15 AM

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The Root’s ‘world-renowned wypipologist’ writes piece trashing NRO contributor Peter Kirsanow for criticizing the 1619 Project ‘whitely’ — there’s just one problem 

lucius septimius 1/17/2020 10:22:35 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 27:

According to a friend of a friend (the real Dr. X of "Independence Day" fame -- no, he is a real person), extraterrestrial vessels move by changing time.  The reason they are able to make such radical shifts -- stopping and then moving horizontally -- is that they create temporary highly localized distortions of time.  This requires massive amounts of energy, which are provided by machines operating at a sub-atomic level (the smallest circuitry we have successfully devised involves semi-conductors 3 atoms in width).  The ability to change time obviates the need for "thrust" in the way we think of it.  This avoids perhaps the most significant obstacle to interstellar powered flight -- the amount a matter it would require for constant powered flight to Alpha Centuri with a conventional rocket exceeds the known mass of the universe.

lucius septimius 1/17/2020 10:23:51 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 28:

My God -- it's Hercule Poirot's Algerian love child!

doppelganglander 1/17/2020 10:28:42 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 30:

Exactly! You win a lifetime supply of mustache wax!

lucius septimius 1/17/2020 10:30:59 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 31:

Countess Rossakoff is going to be seriously pissed off when she finds out.

buzzsawmonkey 1/17/2020 10:39:43 AM

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In #31 doppelganglander said: Exactly! You win a lifetime supply of mustache wax!

One Hundred Hairs Make a Man...

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 11:21:08 AM

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In #29 lucius septimius said: extraterrestrial vessels move by changing time.  The reason they are able to make such radical shifts -- stopping and then moving horizontally -- is that they create temporary highly localized distortions of time.  This requires massive amounts of energy, which are provided by machines operating at a sub-atomic level (the smallest circuitry we have successfully devised involves semi-conductors 3 atoms in width).  The ability to change time obviates the need for "thrust" in the way we think of it. 

Well, sure, I mean, I knew all that.

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 11:23:26 AM

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In #29 lucius septimius said: Dr. X of "Independence Day" fame

I do not recall a "Dr. X" from that film, by the way.

vxbush 1/17/2020 12:35:25 PM

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lucius septimius 1/17/2020 12:38:35 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 35:

Whoever the crazy scientist was -- can't remember his name.

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 12:46:53 PM

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In #37 lucius septimius said: Whoever the crazy scientist was -- can't remember his name.

"Dr. Brakish Okun", I am informed by the interwebz.  (Played by Brent Spiner, aka "Data" from ST:TNG)

Are you even partially serious that your friend knows someone on whom the character was based? 

lucius septimius 1/17/2020 12:48:11 PM

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In #38 Occasional Reader said: Are you even partially serious that your friend knows someone on whom the character was based? 

Completely serious.  

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 1:01:23 PM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 39:

Okay, so I'd like much, much more context to the story, if you'd be so kind.  Your friend knows Dr. X how, Dr. X works/worked where, purports to know what he's stating because of what, etc. 

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 1:21:52 PM

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In #40 Occasional Reader said: Okay, so I'd like much, much more context to the story,

P.S.: Lucius, if some men wearing black suits show up at your door and say they're supposed to give you an "eye exam', DON'T LET THEM IN. 

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 2:06:59 PM

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Okay.  I definitely think they have taken Lucius.  He knows too much. 

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 2:45:57 PM

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PaladinPhil 1/17/2020 2:49:37 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 43:

Had to go pick up the niece. The Squire was supposed to be away this weekend, but he's been sick with a stomach bug. So ED and I decided that he should stay here and recuperate. Will take him down next weekend instead.

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 3:33:51 PM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 44:

Aww, hope he’s all better swiftly.

PaladinPhil 1/17/2020 3:59:05 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 45: He's improved from this morning. Not quite his bouncy self, but not a slug on the couch.

Occasional Reader 1/17/2020 4:09:10 PM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 46:

We’ve been really, really lucky with Little OR so far in this cold/flu season.