…need to learn from the history of Dresden. Because they are the modern-day equivalent of the Nazis. But the Left refuses to recognize that. Or worse, sympathizes with them (as it did then, until Hitler violated the pact).
The Sunk-Cost Fallacy
…in love, and automobile manufacturing.
This is a big problem for space enthusiasts. “Oh, we can’t cancel SLS/Orion! We’ve already spent so much on them, all that money would just go to waste!”
Well, since the purpose was really never anything except to maintain the work force, it wouldn’t really have gone to waste, and continuing them would waste even more, if our actual goal is to do useful things in space. We need to cut our losses as soon as politically possible.
New Computer Question
She kind of likes the Linux set up, but she really doesn’t want to give up things like (and this is an immediate issue), Turbotax. From what I find in searches, it doesn’t seem to play well with Wine, but it might be OK if I ran it in a virtual Windows machine. But don’t I still need to buy Windows in order to set one of those up? And is there an advantage to running it in a VM, other than not having to reboot into the OS?
Why The Media Hates Scott Walker
They think he has a time machine.
It would be nice if he did. That would be the best way to fix ObamaCare. Of course, the best use of it, at least in the recent past, would be to shove some sticks in the spokes of the 2008 Obama campaign, knowing now what we didn’t know then.
[Update a while later]
“Our most intelligent presidents have often been our worst presidents.” I think it’s a mistake to conflate “intelligence” with amount of “education.” Barack Obama (or Bill Clinton) has never struck me as particularly intelligent, unless by that you mean “cunning.” They’re certainly not wise. But yeah, Wilson was pretty bad, just as Obama is.
Chelyabinsk
Two years later, how much progress have we made? Not enough, I think.
Scott Walker Didn’t Finish College
And…?
I, for one, am glad Howard Dean went to medical school before becoming a doctor. But most liberal arts degrees are overrated as a precondition for success and they are indisputably overpriced — hence the current student loan crisis. In the Internet era, there are many, many new ways to become educated. This sudden suspicion of Scott Walker seems a product of the fact that higher education is a world that liberals control utterly, and the entire economic model supporting it is on the verge of collapse.
Also, it seems to be the only “dirt” they can find on him.
If you think that a college degree is a critical requirement to be president, you're likely an overcredentialed fool.
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) February 13, 2015
@robfit If there was any serious dirt on Walker, the public-employee unions would have found it years ago. @chasrmartin
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) February 12, 2015
Computer Problems
Welp, Windows (7) isn’t happy with the computer upgrade. It keeps running start-up repair, but it never boots.
[Update a while later]
It occurred to me that Windows might not have liked the BIOS settings. So I went into it, and found something under “Advanced” that enabled it for Windows 8 (which I was planning to upgrade to, anyway). When I did that, it told me that the graphics card was incompatible with that setting. So I pulled the card, and am running directly off the mother board. But now when I try to boot, it dumps me into an EFI shell…
[Update a few minutes later]
Well, this doesn’t seem to be an unusual problem…
I tried moving the SATA port of the hard drive, but no joy.
[Evening update]
Well, isn’t this wonderful. I now have a computer that wantonly destroys USB drives.
[Update a minute after I typed that]
OK, it didn’t destroy the drive. It just made it take a couple minutes to recognize it. I guess that’s not quite as bad, but it still isn’t bootable.
[Late-evening update]
OK, now seriously, it is wrecking flash drives. That’s the second one today. I copy a bootable ISO to a drive, it doesn’t boot, then no other computer can even see the drive. That’s two. Today.
LauncherOne
…moving to Long Beach. Guess they’re not put off by California taxes and regulations. Yet.
The Latest From Iraq
Breaking: ISIS stormed al-Asad airbase in Anbar Iraq, Several US advisors and marines are trapped inside the base. – @RamiAlLolah
— MK reports (@MKreports) February 12, 2015
Great. The Junior Varsity strikes again.
[Update a while later]
Pentagon says no assault on Al Asad air base (where US advisors training #Iraq pilots) but "heavy fighting" in al-Baghdadi 10mi away
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) February 12, 2015
Guess we have to wait and see.
Jon Stewart
Kevin Williamson isn’t going to miss him.
Me, neither. Of course, I almost never watched.