GUNS: Old home owner 1, armed burgler 0

Friday, May 28, 2010

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2320350,home-invasion-suspect-shot-052610.article

Man, 80, ‘did what he had to do,’ killing home invader
Intruder had a history of drug and weapons convictions, records show
May 26, 2010
By KIM JANSSEN Staff Reporter

*** begin quote ***

An 80-year-old Army veteran shot and killed an armed man who’d broken in to the two-flat where he and his wife live in East Garfield Park early this morning and fired at him.

*** end quote ***

And, of course,t eh liberal press reports that the poor dead fellow was starting a new job next week.

Argh!

“God created man, Sam Colt made them equal.”

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INTERESTING: Benford’s Law

Friday, May 28, 2010

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/25155

The Physics arXiv Blog
Friday, May 07, 2010
Benford’s Law And A Theory of Everything

A new relationship between Benford’s Law and the statistics of fundamental physics may hint at a deeper theory of everything

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In 1938, the physicist Frank Benford made an extraordinary discovery about numbers. He found that in many lists of numbers drawn from real data, the leading digit is far more likely to be a 1 than a 9. In fact, the distribution of first digits follows a logarithmic law. So the first digit is likely to be 1 about 30 per cent of time while the number 9 appears only five per cent of the time.

That’s an unsettling and counterintuitive discovery. Why aren’t numbers evenly distributed in such lists? One answer is that if numbers have this type of distribution then it must be scale invariant. So switching a data set measured in inches to one measured in centimetres should not change the distribution. If that’s the case, then the only form such a distribution can take is logarithmic.

But while this is a powerful argument, it does nothing to explan the existence of the distribution in the first place.

*** end quote ***

Haven’t heard about this since injineering skrool. (Thanks, Brother Barry Austin. Engineering Measurements 101. I’ll never forget the difference between “blunders” and “errors”. I’ve made a lot of both since.)

Still don’t know what to make of it.

Perhaps, it’s like “the Name of God” in the Indiana Jones sense. The Ark! The key to creation?

Still fascinating! After all these years.

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GAMBLING: The Zen of Penny Slots

Thursday, May 27, 2010

The Zen of Penny Slots

① You can lose lots of “real money” at Penny Slots; the casinos have them for a reason. (Don’t fail to underestimate just how much you can lose “chasing rainbows”!)

② “Money management” is essential to winning. (Machine limits, session limits, day limits, trip limits) It’s not “winning” unless you take “their” money; that’s management!

③ Any currency that you put in a machine is at risk; includes green backs or the paper take out amounts. (If it’s in YOUR wallet, then it is NOT in the casino’s till!)

④ For your bankroll, think about how many plays you want; then decide how much to play. Decide what you will risk and lose it. When in a hole, STOP DIGGING!

⑤ Play the first half of your machine stake with as big a bet as you can stand. (That comes from the “jump in your grave” strategy.)

⑥ Play the second half of your machine stake with an eye to staying around for the big hit. (That comes from “you have to be in it to win it.”)

⑦ When you hit the “big jackpot” or have seen all the bonus games, leave with what you got. That machine session is over. (That comes from how rare the big payoffs are.)

⑧ Never, ever, put more currency into a machine. The big payoff is NOT just round the corner. “Just another twenty and it will hit” is a logical fallacy and a wallet buster!

⑨ Never, ever, drink when gambling. (There’s a reason that casinos give out free booze to players.) Don’t gamble when you are tired or upset either. It’s supposed to be fun; not therapy.

⑩ Remember your vocabulary. It’s gambling; not investing. It’s a random number generator. There are NO patterns. Despite what you brain, heart, or other body parts tell you. Don’t be stubborn. (A big win is great; a big loss ain’t! Better a small gain taken quickly, smartly, and spritely. Even a small loss can be the best you can accomplish.)

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QUOTE: Art Linkletter who made childhood gaffes funny

Thursday, May 27, 2010

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/wire/sns-ap-us-obit-art-linkletter,0,634064.story

“Life is not fair … not easy.” Art Linkletter (Arthur Gordon Kelly; July 17, 1912 – May 26, 2010)

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INTERESTING: Wash your hands and forgive past mistakes?

Thursday, May 27, 2010

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100506141601.htm

Wash Away Your Doubts When You Wash Your Hands

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ScienceDaily (May 7, 2010) — Washing your hands “wipes the slate clean,” removing doubts about recent choices.

*** and ***

“It’s not just that washing your hands contributes to moral cleanliness as well as physical cleanliness, as seen in earlier research” said Lee, a doctoral candidate in social psychology. “Our studies show that washing also reduces the influence of past behaviors and decisions that have no moral implications whatsoever.”

*** end quote ***

What interesting people the Creator made. How weird is our wiring? I’m not sure to make of this, but I’m going sure start washing my hands more often.

OCD?

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POLITICAL: O’Reilly vs. Weiner Over Gold Controversy

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4210901/oreilly-vs-weiner-over-gold-controversy/?playlist_id=87937

O’Reilly vs. Weiner Over Gold Controversy

I listened to O’Reilly interview Wiener about Beck and Goldline. Now there is no doubt that Goldline is not my choice for a gold coin vendor. I recommend KITCO. And there is no doubt that they and Beck are tight. Like the View (i.e., where the hosts do a live in program ad read that appears like content), the ads are becoming part of the show. And, there is no doubt that Wiener has an agenda. Wiener has a whole industry to target; they have a lot of ripoffs, but he picks out Beck’s sponsor. There is no doubt that the liberals and their willing dupes in the media are out to silence Beck. Either by criticizing him, by their boycott, or now by their smear. It’s a sad day when a sitting member of Congress from the House of Reps takes such visibly partisan swipe at a media comentator. You never see that from the other side. The liberal Press wouldn’t tolerate it. We shouldn’t empower these criminals in the District of Corruption to attack law abiding members of the media and their sponsors with impunity.

Bottom line: (1) The citizens, who can vote, should be ashamed of this man’s attempted use of force in their name. (2) Everyone one should be upset about this backdoor attack on the First Amendment.

imho!

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MONEY: The Lost Decade may be the Lost Epoch unless we act

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

http://www.ricedelman.com/cs/pressroom/pressroom_detail?pressrelease.id=1161

The Lost Decade – The decade has been awarded a cute name, but it’s not very accurate

For Immediate Release

May 07, 2010

*** begin quote ***

As of December 31, 2009, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 Stock Index, the NASDAQ and the EAFE were all lower than they were on December 31, 1999 — a lot lower. The NASDAQ itself is 44% lower than it was 10 years ago — you know, when you were worried about Y2K.

*** and ***

Such diversification proved its worth, as gains in some asset classes were able to offset losses in others.

Surely some might have exited the last decade with a lower net worth than when they started. They are likely lamenting the fact that they’ve “lost” 10 years of wealth creation opportunity.

But the bulk of our clients, by contrast, have more money today than they did 10 years ago, thanks to the smart dual strategies of continuing to invest and diversifying.

Who says you need a rising stock market to make money?

*** end quote ***

Unfortunately, the collapse in the market is going to cost the nation greatly in it’s mind. It has demonstrated several things that, like the Great Depression scared generation of people, (1) the total failure of Wall Street; (2) the corruption of politicians; (3) the ineptitude of bureaucrats.

That will hang like a millstone around our necks forever.

We have to address the National Debt, the Federal Deficits, the unfunded liabilities of Social Security, and the out-of-control Federal Gooferment, the fiscal crisis of the States, inflation, and the rape of the public treasuries.

We have several fundamental issues to “fix”: (a) welfare; (b) warfare; and (c) confidence.

We’re not going to have a “rising stock market” until we do. So we better figure out how to make money in a down market.

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RANT: Libertarians are misunderstood

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

http://channel-surfing.blogspot.com/2010/05/about-that-progressive-agenda.html

Saturday, May 22, 2010

*** begin quote ***

*** end quote ***
>Libertarians are supposedly anti the Democrats and the Republicans

“Anti” is such a strong word. As a little L libertarian, I bear them no ill will. Unfortunately, they keep trying to impose their will, their vision of Plato’s “the good”, on all the rest of us by force. When they do, we’re a little more forceful than the Amish voicing our displeasure.

>they say a pox on the Ds and Rs.

I’d never wish ill on anyone. Like the Buddhist, we know that ill will comes back to haunt you. THe D’s and R’s are like children, who JUST don’t understand that bad things result form their initiation of force on other human beings. So us little L libertarians have to just patiently just have to keep explaining it. Over and over. Eventually they will get it. It’s human destiny to be free. Tyrants and dictators can’t bottle up the human spirit to be free.

>But their libertarian heroes are Ayn Rand Paul and Ron Paul, GOPers.

Us little L libertarians have very few “heroes”. Lysander Spooner, Thomas Paine, Gandhi, MLK, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and such come to mine. But no one is perfect.

>When it comes down to crunch time, libertarians (the 2 Pauls) choose to associate themselves with the evil Gopers.

In the rigged game that is the American political system, it’s impossible to mount an effective challenge. The two parties conspire to keep it just that way. Think a game of old maid where only two players can play because they set the entry rules impossibly high. When Ross Perot, who was in just to take votes from Bush, came surprisingly close, the duopoly quickly revise all sorts of rules to make it harder. SO you have to worm your way in and like a vampire or parasite, take one over. For example, Libertarian members of the Free State Project are infiltrating the D’s and running.

>Isn’t that precious.

It’s expediency!

>Libertarians are supposedly for freedom

Not supposedly. We forsake the initiation of force. That’s the platinum standard. Libertarians come in a vast number of flavors, but all adhere to that Zero Aggression Principle.

>they always end up being against unions and for the giant corporations

Sigh! Most libertarians have absolutely no problem with unions except in two cases: (1) they initiate force against others; or (2) if they are gooferment captives (e.g., the Post Office workers union; the teachers’ union). When the unions use force to prevent “scabs” from working, that’s immoral. When the teachers’ union, for example, exerts political power or uses children as hostages, that’s immoral.

>like BP, which killed 11 workers and Massey Energy which killed 29 miners.

In the examples cited, where was OSHA? Where was the Gooferment law enforcement? If the workers of BP took out an ad saying “don’t buy BP they endanger workers”, then who would buy from them? If they are so dangerous, why are people working there? Does BP chain their legs like a slave ship? No only the gooferment can do that; like in the military.

>In libertarian world, unions are evil blood suckers and >workers are a nuisance to be barely tolerated.

No, if you ever saw a libertarian world, then you’d see no need for unions. People could vote where they would work by the feet. Bad conditions or low wages, I’m outa here. No, the gooferment conspires with big biz and big labor to lock people in. With pensions and “benefits” and laws that supposedly protect them from bad treatment. Argh! Business doesn’t necessarily equate to a “limited liability corporation. That LLC is a gooferment creation to protect the monied interests.

>Those damn unions want good wages, good benefits, safe work >conditions and a voice in their employment conditions.

Please don’t make me laff and insult everyone’s iq. The unions have long since stopped representing the workers and are all about “the union”. Dues and handouts from the gooferment. Workers have to vote the right way. It’s not about good anything.

>serfs who lose their first amendment rights

“First amendment” ONLY applies to restrict the gooferment.

>Libertarians always end up being for the rich and powerful

NAH, WHERE DID YOU EVER GET THAT IDEA.

>private property more than they value human rights.

“Private property” is the essential human right. Your property is your past. It’s the sum of your past efforts. What gives you, any collection of “yous”, or the gooferment to steal it?

I’d suggest that you watch a little video about Liberty at https://youtu.be/muHg86Mys7I?si=ts0EsFVSkUFICnnv and tell us what you think. Essentially it says “we all own ourselves” and everything flows from that. It’s pretty good. And simple enough for even a D or an R to understand.

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POLITICAL: Isn’t this supposed to be the “home of the brave”

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

http://original.antiwar.com/pitts/2010/05/07/living-with-risk-is-the-cost-of-freedom

Living with Risk is the Cost of Freedom
by Leonard Pitts Jr., May 08, 2010

*** begin quote ***

We always seem surprised.

Even after Oct. 1, 1910, when a bomb destroyed the Los Angeles Times building and killed 20 men.

*** and ***

There’s a saying: I’d rather be lucky than good. Last week, we were both. But at some point, we will be neither.

So what can you do? The answer is that you do the best you can, take what precautions you can, and then you get on with it, learn to live with the risk freedom entails. You accept that risk because freedom is worth it.

And because living in fear is a contradiction in terms.

*** end quote ***

The Gooferment, while its raison d’Eter is protection of our rights, is incapable of keeping us completely safe. We see that result in the movies — “The Matrix”, “V”, and “I, Robot” — and in countless Sci Fi texts. We couldn’t breathe with a complete cloak of protection around us. And, mistake would still happen.

So let’s recognize there will always be risk. Someone always wins the lottery. Reasonable mitigation, Mutual Cooperation as needed, strict restriction of unjustified Gooferment intrusions should be the “order of the day”.

After all this is supposed to be the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”.

We all don’t need “no stinkin’ badges” to keep ourselves safe.

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GUNS: Every one should carry concealed

Monday, May 24, 2010

http://uncabob.blogspot.com/2010/05/guns-as-equalizers.html

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Guns as Equalizers

*** begin quote ***

I am reminded of the classical definition of a liberal: someone who would rather see a woman raped and strangled with her own panty-house rather than defend herself with a handgun.

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I trust a woman with a gun more than any cop or politician!

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