Maxims, rules of thumb and other observations on human cognition and sociocultural affectations

This will be added to on an irregular basis...
  • What is said to humans directly is received with skepticism and considered with dubiousness while that which is heard in passing, especially that which most conforms to their mentality or prejudices, is readily believed.
  • Humans have a certain cognitive latency between exposure to new information or experiences and the ability to think dispassionately and intellectually about it.
  • Humans have a certain cognitive spectrum starting with the moment of exposure to new information or experiences and ending with some point at which the thing is effectively "in the past" for them.
  • This cognitive spectrum is linked to the emotional process often referred to as shock, anger, denial and acceptance.
  • The more and faster information or experiences are presented to people and the closer the quarters and the lesser the distance between people, the more their early reactions in the passionate emotional stage are reflected back to them in the manner of responses to those reactions from others in light of those responses.
  • The more outrages which are suffered without sufficient time to allow emotional bleed-off, the farther the bar for subsequent reaction and outrage are pushed, and the more further events must progress before reaction and outrage.
  • It is possible for serious detriments to eventually sit below this threshold for long enough for their damaging effects to build and multiply until their entire society undergoes some reactive convulsion.
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Friday, February 29, 2008

Hamas will soon be able to strike any target in Israel' | Jerusalem Post

Uh, Israel ALREADY CAN strike any target in Gaza. Does it not occur to these yahoos in Hamas that if Israel was the new Nazis as they rabidly posit in the quote in the article that Gaza would now be a part of Israel, occupied by Israeli troops, and to complete the assertion, the Palestinian people loaded onto trains headed for death camps?

No, of course not. They're nuts and truth isn't the point.

Hamas will soon be able to strike any target in Israel' | Jerusalem Post

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Did UFO aliens kill Russian Skiers?

Okay, that melodramatic tease worthy of The History Channel aside, read and judge for yourself: The St. Petersburg Times - Feature - Mysterious Deaths of 9 Skiers Still Unresolved

If you take the description at face value, it's kind of unusual that bones are smashed without soft tissue damage, and the bodies and the point at which the flight began show every sign of a sudden run in terror and desperation.

West Virginia stereotyped as home of inbreds...

In other news, water is wet.

For crying out loud, this is a state where joking that their golf course carts have gun racks isn't actually a joke.

Film's casting call wants that 'inbred' look - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Signal... creepy way for this movie to hit the screens...

Man randomly stabs two in theater during horror film - AOL News

Monday, February 25, 2008

Further reports from the rebellion...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan blocks YouTube website

The government has valid reason for that, but they have to find a better way of doing it. If we continue blocking popular websites, people will stop using the internet.

Mmmmmm... no.

The government has valid reason for that, but they have to find a better way of doing it. If we continue blocking popular websites, people will stop using find other ways to access the internet.

Fixed it.

If the government is going to feel free to wiretap any time, any way they want, and deal with the Constitutional niceties later, then people will by default go to encryption. They will go to composite and multilevel encryption techniques. They will rapidly implement ever newer and more complex methods. They will defy the government and make wiretapping totally useless. THAT is the result of this idiocy.

Around the world, governments are trying to close the barn door after the horse have already gone to town to catch a porn flick and go gambling. They're doing everything their tight-ass self-important anal-retentive nannies don't want them to do, and the more you tell them no and without a logical rational basis that resonates with their conscience, the more they want to break the rules.

Great fucking counterproductive way of making dealing with criminals impossible. Instead of doing things by the book and taking the chance of maybe catching them, you're rewriting the book and virtually insuring that human nature will make their maximum defenses go up and you know what? They'll buy the solutions online at Dell.com and at WalMart while they go shopping for bread and batteries. They'll buy the new encryption packaged standard with their PCs, download it casually from CNet.com, and have it mailed to them by friends to their Yahoo mail.

How are you gonna keep them down on the farm now that they've seen how little you trust them?

Friday, February 22, 2008

A reminder about Iran, Israel, and nukes

Israel: bonafide nuclear power
Iran: would-be nuclear power

Israel: never threatened to use any such power to eliminate Iran
Iran: constantly threatens directly and indirectly to eliminate Israel

Israel: surrounded by over a dozen nations within reach of nuclear fallout
Iran: would evidently not care about dropping that fallout all over those predominantly Muslim nations, Arab, Persian, and Turkic alike

Israel: has thousands of Palestinian citizens living and working there
Iran: would evidently like to incinerate those Palestinians as much as the Jews

Israel: has solid documentary evidence of Iran backing terrorist actions responsible for the death of their citizens
Iran: has solid documentary history of proudly backing terrorist actions responsible for the deaths of Israeli citizens

To you in charge in Iran, I hope you enjoy the hell you're going to bring down on yourselves. When that bomb slaughters Palestinian Muslims, Palestinian Christians, Druse and others, when the fallout lands in Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia, what do you think your Muslim brothers will do to you to avenge their dead?

To you the Iranian people... it was nice knowing you. Too bad your leaders are looking to get the entire eastern hemisphere of the Earth to turn on you.

Oh wait, did I forget the inevitable involvement of Russia and China and that your country will be center aisle, front row seat for that aftermath?

Sucks to be you.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Obama scores 10th straight victory - portals open between Earth and Outworld - Raiden nowhere to be seen!

Obama scores 10th straight victory - Yahoo! News

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Iran switches gears, tries radiology...

Iran: 'Cancerous' Israel to soon disappear | Jerusalem Post

"The cancerous growth Israel will soon disappear," Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Muhammad Ali Jafari wrote to Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the FARS news agency reported Monday.

In a letter of condolence following last week's assassination of Hizbullah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh, Jafari said: "I am convinced that with every passing day Hizbullah's might is increasing and in the near future, we will witness the disappearance of this cancerous growth Israel by means of the Hizbullah fighters' radiation [therapy]."

Satellite 

^^NOT Harvey Fierstein.^^

I am now imagining hordes of Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorists in white lab coats charging forward into battle with x-ray results...

Kosher Marshmallow Cereal!

Bang It Out breaks the news (at least to me): Bangitout.com - Sign of the Moshiach: Kosher Marshmallow Cereal

If you don't have anything against Triangle K, sneak over to the Little Debbie section. You have nothing to lose but your portion of Olam HaBa... MUHAHAHAHAHA...

Oh yeah, thank you BangItOut.com for this tidbit and the buy it by the case link.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Texas catapults forward into twentieth century...

Selling Sex Toys Now Legal In Texas - Offbeat

Should buying sex toys be as easy as buying guns?

Yes, absolutely. Easier, even. Can you imagine how much better Columbine would have been with dildos, vibrators, and buttplugs instead of guns and bombs?

Who ya gonna call? China!

Offending content included "wronged spirits and violent ghosts, monsters, demons, and other inhuman portrayals, strange and supernatural storytelling for the sole purpose of seeking terror and horror", the administration said.

China bans ghosts from the net. - Unusual Tales - Specials - smh.com.au

This is the kind of thing that happens when you cross the streams.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Can words be overused? Some say they can.

TheKnish.com | "Baruch Hashem" Usage at Epidemic Levels, Baruch Hashem

B"H...

Monday, February 11, 2008

Alleged "scientists" watch too many Sci-FI channel alleged "movies" and formulate "allegedly" serious theory of danger

But scientists have urged NASA to be more cautious, saying aliens could misinterpret the song, and even take it as a battle cry.

"Before sending out even symbolic messages, we need an open discussion about the potential risks," New Scientist magazine reported Dr Douglas Vakoch of the SETI Institute as saying.

Professor Barrie Jones of Open University said: "the chances are slight, but the consequences would be huge the end of life on Earth".

Space songs 'could attract alien danger

In related news, the RIAA was investigating suing NASA for retransmission of copyrighted material without permission as well as considering asking SETI to track down any civilization that may have received the song, and their location so they could be sued as well. Said the RIAA spokesperson on condition of anonymity, "we may have to ask NASA to find a way to convey our subpoena, but we're sure that several administrations in Washington will have come and gone by then and the new and more intellectual property protective management won't hold the past legal action against us."

Friday, February 08, 2008

Feds continue to take easy path in War on Terror: define our own citizens as the enemy!

Maria Udy, a marketing executive with a global travel management firm in Bethesda, said her company laptop was seized by a federal agent as she was flying from Dulles International Airport to London in December 2006. Udy, a British citizen, said the agent told her he had "a security concern" with her. "I was basically given the option of handing over my laptop or not getting on that flight," she said.

Clarity Sought on Electronics Searches - washingtonpost.com

This is why I memorize URLs and retransmit them to other people by urinating in the snow. Makes it harder to share interesting links and limits it to the winter but it's better than having my cell phone savaged by the same sort of people who can't keep our border with Mexico less porous than a screen window, and regularly screw up my driver's license photo.

In the meantime, I suggest that all laptops be set up to do remote desktop thin client sort of use and NOT have ANY info stored locally AND to have time and IP range restricted VPN connections mandatory to do it, preferably requiring a call to a corporate vice president to clear access from the IP address being used at the time of connection when on the road. DRAG THESE FASCIST MOTHERFUCKERS INTO THE CESSPOOL OF CORPORATE AMERICA AND THEIR LEGAL MACHINE. Sooner or later, a federal judge is going to call bullshit and issue an order for someone high up to explain this and justify it or see it struck down on the spot.

Remember, we have freedom and freedom means freedom from interference, not freedom from freedom.

Better not wear this to shul...

BagOfNothing.com » Felted Bacon Scarf

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

England: serious law and order!

 

She denies a charge of "knowingly causing the deposit of controlled waste, namely an apple core, on land which did not have a waste management licence".

BBC NEWS | UK | England | West Midlands | Woman faces trial over apple core

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Dutch, clouds of smoke...

Members of the Dutch Royal guard of honor rehearse by guiding ... - Yahoo! News Photos

which was on the sidebar of this...

Official says no drugs for off-duty police

which might only be unfortunate, might be ironic, given today's news, who knows...

Mississippi Pols Seek To Prove Their State Still World Leader in Moronic Stupidity

Mississippi Pols Seek To Ban Fats - February 1, 2008  <---ENOUGH SAID, CLICK IT ALREADY

Notre Dame, another brain trust in touch with reality...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Does Britain really exist? I think people like this are a myth...

Britons are losing their grip on reality*, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real.

*Emphasis mine...

Quarter of Brits think Churchill was myth: poll - Yahoo! News

Now THAT is a way to start a story, huh? Unfortunately, it is entirely accurate to go by the poll detailed within the story.

Indian political leader Mahatma Gandhi and Battle of Waterloo victor the Duke of Wellington also appeared in the top 10 of people thought to be myths.

Meanwhile, 58 percent thought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Holmes actually existed; 33 percent thought the same of W. E. Johns' fictional pilot and adventurer Biggles.

Could it be proximity to pot smoking nordic countries? The cuisine? The tea? I mean, come on, you're competing with us Americans for Kings of Stupid now and that's a tall hurdle to leap.

Because there's nothing like warning bad guys where the good guys are at all times...

In the first counterterrorism strategy of its kind in the nation, roving teams of New York City police officers armed with automatic rifles and accompanied by bomb-sniffing dogs will patrol the citys subway system daily, beginning next month, officials said on Friday.

New Operation to Put Heavily Armed Officers in Subways - New York Times

Soon, similar techniques will be brought to bear against The Pirate Bay, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Wyoming school children, allowing them to snub their noses at authority when it is safe to do so.

Here's some other people who thought highly visible heavily armed police presence was a good idea for society:

And, as we all know, it was completely effective in the defense of their states, wasn't it? Oh wait, we're not supposed to be defending our state FROM freedom.

A new way to increase the metrosexual population has been achieved!

The cyber wars continue, and just as I said, the word "distributed" rears its head and takes a chomp of the technically unsophisticated and the historically ignorant...

It's a distributed system. We don't know where the servers are. We gave them to people we trust and they don't know it's The Pirate Bay," Kolmisoppi said. "They then rent locations and space for them somewhere else. It could be three countries. It could be six countries. We don't want to know because then you'll have a problem shutting them down.

Pirate Bay Says It Can't Be Sunk, Servers Scattered Worldwide | Threat Level from Wired.com

Already, encrypted torrent systems are online. Soon, trackers will be the traders themselves, pieces distributed and flitting between them like stock ticker data flying by, and as Princess Leia pointed out 31 years ago, once more with feeling, everyone repeat after Princess Danish-head...

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

The mean nasty nature of women at the start...

I've always been of the belief and more importantly the live experience that females are downright nastier, meaner, and more rotten than men when they want to be which in this world of victimhood über alles, including any responsibility for your actions seems like constantly. I know few men who will strike down low in the emotional balls (they'll kick you in the real ones though) while women... will. Sorry, but I had a sister who definitely had a set of attitudinal demon horns and a load of friends who ran in the same infernal circles.

Teens Unremorseful After Stealing From Girl Scout - West Palm Beach News Story - WPBF West Palm Beach

Smith's mother, Charlene Rubenstrunk, told WPBF that the girls returned to the store Thursday to taunt her daughter.

Parents, I may not have said this before, but it should be said: spay and neuter. Please.

Further tales of zero tolerance, dateline: Wyoming

The principal of Laramie Junior High and a police officer had warned students during an assembly the day before the French fry launch that if they threw food, they would suffer the consequences, Police Chief Bob Deutsch said.

The warning came after school officials had heard rumors of an impending food fight.

"They saw it as really the planning of a riot*, when you think about it," Deutsch said.

*Emphasis mine...

Cops in Wyoming ready to string up 13-year-old French-fry-toss plotters

"Zee plotters, zey haf been arrested!"

Sorry, just flashing on the keystone cops Nazi police state thinking.

Virginia Beach, bastion of visual morality (but for all the wrong reasons)

 

 

Virginia Beach police seize photos from Abercrombie store | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

Police, saying they were responding to citizen complaints, carted away two large promotional photographs from the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Lynnhaven Mall on Saturday and cited the manager on obscenity charges.

I have several questions...

Should we be worried that they are more obsessed over young men's asses than the tacky tasteless nature of the fashions purveyed?

Will Virginia Beach forge ahead in the fight against the buttcrack and modify plumbers' license laws to require pants be kept up at all times?

Do you think the manager still thinks that job is worth $8.50 an hour?

Monday, February 04, 2008

Qutoable me

"Marriage is a forge that makes great blades of dull blanks."
-Me

Friday, February 01, 2008

Bag of Nothing pointed this out: Top 10 Bizarre Bible Moments

Top 10 Bizarre Biblical Tales - The List Universe

Over at Bag of Nothing, there was this post and so curious as usual I went over to see. I note they found my favorite moment of WTFBBQ in the bible. That would be number seven on the list.

Every time I read things like this I remember Kirk asking, "what does G-d need with a starship?"