“It is not worth the while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar” - Henry David Thoreau
A lovely quote from Daniel Hannan yesterday that I’ve only just noticed.
Regulation was what prompted the recent crisis: it encouraged MPs to ask themselves whether their behaviour was within the rules rather than whether it was right.
As true generally as it is of MPs expenses.
Sometimes in real life I have discussed climate change with people who tell me how they have personally seen evidence of it in the changing weather. Over the decades, winters here have got milder. (Which is true.) We have been told by government-directed, taxpayer-funded experts that there are signs and portents in the skies, that the wildlife is behaving strangely, that the land is burning…
The following three graphs show extracts from the HadCET record of temperatures in central England. One is from about 1680, another from around 1850, and one from the modern period. Is it obvious which one is the dramatic and unprecedented change in climate, and which two are just natural variation?
The scale across the bottom is in years. The scale up the side is the annual average temperature in degrees C.
In the 1600s, they thought it was witches doing it.
You have a new Kitty Counter! I’ve been asked if I’d like to join the crew. What else could I say?
I would first like to express my thanks to Counting Cats for trusting me with his blog. A great deal of work and passion has gone into its creation, and attracting an appreciative audience - from all the team. And Cats has absolutely no idea what I’m going to say! He’s probably a bit nervous about that.
This also comes as a bit of a shock to me. While I have commented for a while, I had not expected to be blogging myself, and have not given it that much prior thought. My intention is not to make any firm plans at this point, but to see how it goes. I need to find out if I enjoy it, and if anyone else is interested in reading what I say. My views have from time to time been outside the libertarian mainstream. Hopefully it shouldn’t start too many fights.
I expect my posts will occasionally be oriented a tiny bit more towards maths and science stuff. (I am, after all, a mathematician.) It’s not something I make any apology for – it’s what I’m best at, and there is no point in not being different. But I want to make it clear that when I say that, I’m not going to be putting up stuff like this*:
Because I know that the audience will simply run away screaming with smoke pouring from their ears. (Or at least, that’s what they always told me would happen.) That stuff’s boring. So while I hope and expect many here would celebrate mankind’s achievement in being able to do stuff like that, just as we appreciate all the other clever things people can do, we all agree that it is best appreciated out of sight.
What is a lot more interesting is the application of scientific thinking to politics and media, so you can expect a few posts that allude to global warming and government statistics and stuff like that, but without getting into anything heavy.
And if anyone doesn’t like it, please do complain. I’d rather know.
So, on with the show!
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* I couldn’t resist doing this mainly because at last I can now post graphics! As a commenter, the thing I’ve been frustrated by most has been the inability to use diagrams sometimes to explain what I mean. And now I can!
I hope Cats has a decent bandwidth allowance…
Just before IanB made his abrupt departure from the blogosphere he suggested that another be invited to join the Kitty Kounters.
You have seen Pa Annoyed wandering the land, making sane and intelligent comments wherever he parks his butt.
Pa has now agreed to join us and make his own postings, rather than simply responding to others witterings. I don’t know what he is so perpetually annoyed about, although I guess I can make a few reasoned guesses, but this is my chance to find out.
I look forward to reading what he writes.
I was in a shop today.
Yeah, unusual. Normally I don’t go into shops, too broke to buy anything. So this was a treat for me, and in more ways than one too.
One too?
Geddit?
1, 2?
Yes?
No?
Ah, fergeddit.
Anyway, back to the shop.
One of the other customers made a joking and slightly derogatory comment about greenies, and then said, “but we aren’t meant to say things like that”.
You think I let an opportunity like that pass? If you do you don’t know me at all. I said “Of course you can. I loath the greens, bloody ecofascist wankers”.
There were six people present, all strangers to one another, and each one of them grinned, laughed, or nodded their head happily. For a couple of minutes I was the most popular person in the shop.
We really have a lot of support out there, it is just hidden by too much “but we aren’t meant to say things like that”.
"Knowing and understanding, from a young age, the principles, the procedures and the successful history of the European Union, the generations of tomorrow will be immune to any distortion of the perception of the role of the EU and will much better embrace the advantages of this unique project of voluntary sharing of sovereignty."
In other words, if we can get our hands on the kids from a young age we can propagandise them, feed them the right political indoctrination, and tell their parents to go bugger themselves.
The EU wants your children.
Did you hear about Zachary? A young lad, six years old? He took his favourite camping tool to school, and got sent to a special offenders school for forty five days.
Six years old, and he had this thing, a knife, fork and spoon device, and he loved it and took it to school to use it to eat his lunch.
Ok, a knife at school is a no no, admittedly, but he was SIX YEARS OLD. Hell, I had one of those type things, sort of like a fat Swiss Army knife, and I thought it was one of the greatest things it was possible to possess.
Or what about the girl who was expelled for taking a birthday cake to school, and a serrated knife to cut it?
Shall I rave? Yammer on about sense of proportion yadda yadda yadda?
What is the point? Sanity is leeching from this universe, and it is about time I went looking for it somewhere else.
Anyone up for joining me in a bit of transdimensional reality hopping?
Just had this program on in the background while I was preparing dinner, about people who collect things.
Some people really will collect anything, and become experts in the most obscure topics. Takes all sorts I guess.
Anyway, enough rambling. One bloke on tonight had a collection of Australian military slouch hats. You must know the thing, it is as much associated with Australia as kanga rouge, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and and blokes named Bruce.
So, this collector told of when he started: “I was at University and I was spending my money on hats. I didn’t know how to explain this to my parents so I told them I was spending it on beer, so they gave me some more.”
Must be Australian.
God, they’re at it again.
I posted this about a year and a half ago. Go read it, because now, a year and a half later, the bloody Australian government wants to lower the bloody voting age to sixteen bloody years.
Yep,
sixteen.
Jesus wept.
The standard crop of lefties are wetting themselves in excitement at the idea of Australia leading the world in this brave experiment, of course.
When don’t lefties wet themselves at the thought of being idiots?
Sure, there are sixteen year olds who are capable of making many of life’s decisions, as well as many who aren’t. If they want to, let them. No skin off my nose. Thing is, sixteen year olds are children, not adults, and while I am happy for children on the cusp of adulthood to make decisions affecting their own lives, I am buggered if I want children of any cusp making decisions that affect my life.
It’s all about lefties gerrymandering the system.
A couple of years ago a member of my family told me that if they were ever in a vegetative state, or otherwise incapable, they should be allowed to die.
Well, I wouldn’t be able to do it. These days ‘allowed’ to die includes withholding food and water, in past times known as committing murder through starvation or dehydration. Although, dehydration would do someone in long before starvation.
I couldn’t do it. Ever. Providing food and drink to the sick was once known as decent behaviour, but in hospital these days it is called ‘medical treatment’, and withholding it can be considered part of the regime.
To hell with that.
Do you believe doctors always get it right?
Do you?
You think anyone will be done for murder here? Or even manslaughter?
Any censure at all for getting it wrong?
Well, I could make all the guys out there glow like kryptonite if I said their average age was twenty three, which would be true, but saying one of them was two would give all the information need about the age distribution.
Well, two and a half, and a real cutie with it too.
Under NHS guidance introduced in England, medical staff can withdraw fluid and drugs from dying patents and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.
Withdraw fluids?
You too can die of thirst on the NHS.
It really is a subterfuge for legalised euthanasia of the elderly on the NHS.
Euthanasia? Euthanasia translates as ‘good death’, how is dying of thirst a good death?
Murder most foul.
Really, what sort of vile people classify food and drink as medical care? To be provided or withdrawn at a ‘doctors’ discretion.
No fucking doctor them.
Posting is a little slow right now, I have visitors. I am entertaining a pair of delightful ladies, and they are keeping me busy. I mean VERY busy.
And if you think I would rather blog for the benefit of a faceless crowd than devote my time to a duo of the fairer sex you are insane. Either that or your memories are faint.
So, although there is a vast amount to post about the unfortunately believable lack of integrity Barry demonstrated when he further devalued the Nobel Peace Prize by actually having the gall to accept it, I am afraid I just can’t do it.
How about I try and get something up tomorrow about how revolting* the transnational progressive tendency are collectively showing themselves to be?
* Actually, they are repugnant, and I look forward to the day when it is the rest of us who are revolting.
These [pictures] connect Barack Obama to Jesus Christ because you look at the pictures of Obama and think … Jesus Christ.
Yeah, forget abuse, derision really is the best way to go.
From a horrible right wing bastard to a foaming at the mouth, deluded barking moonbat - good luck chum. I can’t contribute more than my best wishes, but you got them in spades.
