Ten year old terrorist?!

A ten year old child in Mountain View, California, was arrested on charges of making terrorist threats.

WTF? We're talking about a friggin' FOURTH GRADER, for cryin' out loud. Fourth grade boys can be rowdy and bombastic, but terrorists? Come on now! The boy didn't need to be arrested and shit. What he needed was a good ass-paddling and then sent to his room without supper. Sorry for being politically incorrect, but crap, have we lost all common sense in this country, or what?!

-- Badtux the Astounded Penguin

Sunday morning

Mencken is walking around howling complaints for no reason at all. The Mighty Fang is eating some cat puke that Menken left on the carpet yesterday evening.

Life with cats continues.

-- Badtux the Cat-owned Penguin

From last night: The boys relax.

Let's party like it's 1932!

The March employment statistics came out yesterday, and as expected, they sucked. The number to look at if comparing to the Great Depression is the U-6 Alternate Measure, which more closely resembles the definition of unemployment in the 1930's (i.e., you wanted a full-time job but didn't have one). This measure hit the princely total of 16.2% in March.

So how does this compare to the Great Depression? Well, let's go look at our handy timeline of the Great Depression. Unemployment hit a peak of 15.9% by the end of 1931, meaning that on the Great Depression timeline, we're in about February of 1932.

So, will we see a U-6 of 23.6% by the end of 2009, which would correspond to an "official" unemployment rate of around 15%? Well... I hope not. Because if we do... cue the food riots. And, probably, a fascist revolution (Communism having gone out of style over the past half-century or so).

-- Badtux the History Penguin

I'm losing my mind

After taking the previous photo of The Mighty Fang bicycling, I noticed that my battery indicator was showing that my camera's battery level was low. So I walked over to the place where my Sony smart-charger for NiMH batteries lives, and assembled four AA batteries from those that had recently been charged, and opened the bottom cover of the camera, and... err. This new camera doesn't use AA batteries. It uses special Lithium battery cells. Err, yeah, that's right, I remember now, I bought a spare battery and I have a battery charger around here somewhere. So I opened up the drawer under the Sony smart-charger, where batteries and associated hardware live. Erm, nothing there. Where did I last see it? Oh yeah, charging in the plug near the stove. Glance over there. Nothing. Hmm. Check assorted other drawers and containers that have various electronics junk in them. Nothing there. Go check the boxes full of camping gear, I had it last time I went camping. Nothing there.

Sigh. I guess I'll have to go order a new spare battery and a battery charger for it from the place I got the first spare battery. Sigh. Then, a brief glance around, and I realized where the spare battery and its charger were. I checked there, and yes, they were there!

Where is this mysterious location that I only checked after ripping half my apartment to pieces looking for the spare battery and charger? I'll let you guess. But it should be immediately obvious to anybody with half a brain. Which, obviously, I didn't have yesterday evening :-).

-- Badtux the Brainless Penguin

Activist court in Iowa dooms marriage

ABC News, April 3, 1949:

A Republican congressman from Iowa warned Friday that the state could turn into "the miscegenation Mecca" if the state legislature does not begin restricting marriage licenses to in-state residents.

The statement from Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, which followed the Iowa Supreme Court's unanimous ruling striking down a state ban on cross-race marriage, underscored the emotional power the issue holds for social conservatives in the state, which will hold the GOP's first presidential nominating contest in 2012.

Iowa is now the third state where Negro and white mixed-race couples are permitted to marry. The other two are Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Conservatives like King are pushing for a state constitutional amendment banning mixed marriage.

"It is the Iowa legislature's responsibility to pass the Marriage Amendment to the Iowa Constitution, clarifying that marriage is between one man and one woman of the same race, to give the power that the Supreme Court has arrogated to itself back to the people of Iowa," said King.

Given that Iowa is the state which kicks off the presidential contest, several Republicans who are eyeing a White House run in 2012 criticized the ruling and reaffirmed their opposition to mixed-race marriage.

"I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman of the same race and the definition of marriage should be left to the people and not to activist courts," former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., said in a written statement provided to ABC News.

The governor of South Carolina -- Republican Mark Sanford -- also criticized the ruling and touted his support for a constitutional ban on mixed-race marriage in his state.

"The governor supported a constitutional amendment here banning mixed-race unions. That position still holds," Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer told ABC News. "He's not the governor of Iowa, but he's against mixed-race marriages."

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who supports civil unions for mixed-race couples, reacted to the Iowa decision by reiterating his support for restricting marriage to same-race couples. In 2004, Huntsman successfully backed a constitutional amendment banning mixed-race marriage.

"He believes all people should have equal rights," Huntsman spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley told ABC News. "But when it comes to marriage, Gov. Huntsman believes that should be reserved for a man and a woman of the same race."

Asked if he favors the passage of a constitutional amendment in Iowa, Roskelley said, "He would leave that up to Iowa and trust that they would address that appropriately within their state."

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the winner of the 2008 Iowa Republican caucuses, called the decision "disappointing." "All Iowans should have a say in this matter, not a handful of legislative judges," said Huckabee in a written statement. "This issue is too important to not be made by the people of Iowa. It is my hope that the legislature will take the necessary steps to properly resolve this matter."

Erin Isaac, a spokesperson for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, said, "[The governor] supports civil unions but believes that marriage is for a man and a woman of the same race."

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty also spoke out against the Iowa ruling.

"Gov. Pawlenty disagrees with the Iowa Supreme Court decision and believes that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman of the same race," said Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung.

An aide to another potential Republican presidential candidate, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, played down the decision's relevance to his state.

"Does it include Louisiana?" asked Jindal spokeswoman Melissa Sellers.

Pam Pryor, a spokeswoman for Sarah Palin, told ABC News that the Alaska governor would not comment on the Iowa marriage ruling even though she is an ardent opponent of mixed-race marriage.

Despite losing in court on Friday, social conservatives are hoping that they will prevail by amending the state constitution.

"Mixed-race 'marriage' continues to be a movement driven by a liberal judicial elite determined to destroy not only the institution of marriage, but democracy as well," said Tony Perkins, the president of the Washington-based Family Research Council. "The casual dismissal of the facts of human biology and thousands of years of human history, simply to pander to a small band of social radicals, is bizarre and indefensible."

While mixed-race marriage opponents are hoping that Iowa will follow California in overturning a decision of its state Supreme Court, supporters of mixed-race marriage are emboldened by the fact that it is considerably more difficult to amend the state constitution in Iowa than it is in California.

"The Iowa Constitution can't be changed quickly," said state Sen. Matt McCoy, Iowa's first openly gay state lawmaker, in a YouTube video released Friday.

A state constitutional ban on mixed-race marriage would need to be approved by two consecutive legislative sessions, the 2009-10 session and the 2011-12 session, before going to the voters in a general-election referendum, according to the Iowa Secretary of State's office.

This means that the earliest Iowa voters could weigh in on this issue would be in November 2011: smack-dab in the middle of the Republican Party's 2012 nomination fight.

Original article: ABC News, April 3, 2009. It's only coincidence that, with very few modifications, it could have been written in 1949 about marriages between blacks and whites -- something which was illegal in most states until Loving v. Virginia overturned state miscegenation laws in 1967.

-- Badtux the Civil Rights Penguin

Exercise kitteh

The Mighty Fang objects to the notion that he needs to exercise more. "I'm big-boned, not fat!" he complains loudly while using the exercise bike for what it's intended -- as a place to relax on the seat while looking down on the rest of the household.

-- Badtux the Cat-owned Penguin

The smell of desperation

I got this email in my inbox this morning. It simply reeks of flop sweat:

From: Michael Steele, RNC Chairman:
Dear Supporter,

When running to become your new Republican National Committee Chairman, I campaigned on a need for responsible change for our Party.

Not a change of our core values, but real change of how we go about listening to our supporters, how we communicate our message to all Americans and how we organize and win elections.

Translation: We know you, our Republican base, are batshit crazy, and don't worry, we're not going to change in any meaningful way, we're going to stay batshit crazy too.

While I'm excited about the challenges and opportunities we face, I have no illusions. I am fully aware of the hard work ahead and obstacles we must overcome to start winning elections again.

Translation: Send us some money! Wah!

But this isn't about me -- I can't do this alone.

It's about you and every Republican grassroots leader who believes in our conservative principles of limited government, economic growth, personal responsibility and a strong national defense.

And it's about empowering you to lead and giving you the tools to help our Party set a new direction for our country.

Successful campaigns cannot be run from a building in Washington. The strength of our Party comes from people like you who believe in our values and ideals and promote them in their communities.

Translation: And oh yea, be our fascist brownshirts if you won't send us money, we got us some of them nasty DEMON-crats to "promote" our ideas to via threats and raising our voices very, very loud!

As one of my first official acts as Chairman, I've commissioned a survey of Republican activists in EVERY state. I want to hear from each of you to understand your thoughts and opinions about our Party and how we can once again be the party of ideas.

Translation: I just don't understand it. Sure, our only solution to any budget problem is "Tax cuts for the rich!", and our "budget" was a sick joke that included pictures like the one on the left in it (actual picture, BTW). Why won't people take our ideas seriously?

That's why I'm asking you to do two very important things for me:

1) Please take a moment right now to fill out online the State of the Republican Party Survey for the RNC. I want you to be honest and candid in your answers -- there's no need to sugar-coat your responses after our Party's performances in the last two elections.
2) And when you complete your survey, please make a secure online contribution of $1,000, $500, $100, $50, or $25 to help move our Party forward and elect more Republicans in the 2009 state and 2010 congressional elections.

Translation: We're broke! Maybe if we pretend we're listening to you, you'll give us some money? Please?

If you choose not to participate in this crucial project, the RNC cannot create a campaign plan to educate and mobilize the millions of Republicans we need to resist the liberal agenda Barack Obama and the Pelosi-Reid Democrats are attempting to ram through Congress.

Translation: Socialist! Nigger! Uppity bitch!

Your guidance will also help us develop new strategies for winning the two Governor's races held this year.

The elections in New Jersey and Virginia offer Republicans a chance to demonstrate that we got your message and will help us seize the momentum.

But we cannot lay the groundwork for winning this year and next without your participation in this survey and your active involvement in the RNC.

Translation: Send us money! We're broke, bitches! Or at least serve as our unpaid brownshirts. Please?

So please complete your State of the Republican Party Survey online today and support the RNC's efforts to grow our Party by making a secure contribution of $1,000, $500, $100, $50, or $25.

Supporter, our Party cannot do this without you. Please take this survey today.

Translation: We'll pretend we're listening to you, just send us money! WAH!

Sincerely,

Michael Steele
Chairman, Republican National Committee

P.S. As the new Chairman I'm eager to hear your views about what our Party must do better to promote our message and win elections. I want our Party's strongest supporters to have a voice in setting our new direction. Please complete your State of the Republican Party Survey online today and make a special contribution of $1,000, $500, $100, $50, or $25 to support the RNC's party-building programs. Thank you.

Translation: We're dyin' out here! Why, I might have to give up my black Mercedes limo soon if you don't send us some money! Money, bitches, money!

Flop sweat. You can smell it on the Internets, y'know.

-- Badtux the Republican-prodding Penguin

Mark to market? Really?

So... the value of the assets that the banks hold should be marked to market, rather than to their long-term value (which is going to reflect the income that they bring in) because the market valuation is always the correct valuation?

Cool! Webvan really was worth $1.2 billion dollars, despite losing money on every sale! And all those other overpriced dot-com stocks that had no income and no profits and no hope of either? Why, they weren't really overpriced, their market valuation truly did reflect their long-term value, even though they had no income and no profits!

So yessiree, mark to market is just a great idea for estimating the true value of an asset. In some alternative universe where Webvan and pets.com did not exist. Somewhere other than this universe, in other words.

There are well-known algorithms for valuing assets such as home mortgages and such, which include a number of factors such as LTV ratios, default rates, and so on and so forth that will tell you what future income and thus what value you can expect from the asset. A $100K mortgage on a $500K home occupied by two professionals each of whom pull in a six-figure salary, vs. a $100K mortgage on an $80K home occupied by a single-parent autoworker who makes $15/hour, are two different animals. The first one, assuming it's got 20 years to go on the mortgage at 5.6% interest, has a future value of around $295K (the value of the principal+interest that you'll get from it), the second one has a future value of about $50K (your profit on selling the house when -- not if -- you repossess it). But right now, the market is so scared that you'd be lucky to get $10K if you tried to sell either mortgage on the open market -- assuming you could find any buyers in the first place. Does this mean that these mortgages are worth $10,000? Only if you're an idiot. Which, apparently, describes the people who want to "mark to market" all these mortgages.

So how do we value these mortgages if we don't allow this magical "the market" which is just oh so accurate (sarcasm intended) do it? Well, same way any reasonable person values any investment -- by looking at the future value of the investment. Unfortunately, this rational "reasonable person" does not seem to exist in any large numbers, because if he did, Webvan would have never been valued at $1.2B...

-- Badtux the Market Penguin

The final sad demise of SGI

SGI was one of the innovators in the computer world, and they had some unique and exciting technology all the way to the end, but they were never well managed and had a habit of making the wrong move at the wrong time. When the Internet happened, they decided just as the demand for Internet servers was taking off that they would stop selling network servers and then spent all their cash building a gigantic headquarter complex that is now the Googleplex. When massively parallel NUMA architectures powered by Unix became popular replacements for Cray supercomputers, they decided they would stop selling NUMA Unix servers and instead buy Cray and start selling generic Windows NT powered servers. When massively parallel Linux clusters on the x86-64 architecture created by AMD with the Opteron became popular, they decided to instead sell massively parallel Linux clusters on the Intel Itanium architecture that was about as popular as George W. Bush. In the process they racked up three bankruptcies and emerged from each as a shell of what had been before. And the Itanium disaster led to their latest bankruptcy.

And that, alas, was the end of the line -- the final assets are being sold off, the company shut down forever. Now comes the last humiliation: last remaining pieces of SGI to be bought at bankruptcy auction for $25M by vendor of rack-mounted badge-labeled Dell servers. And yes, Rackable Systems sells rack-mounted badge-labeled Dell servers (though to be fair, they sell other stuff too). I know that for a fact because I've seen one of Rackable's 1U modules, and it is exactly identical to the 1U modules that one of my former employers sells, which I know is a badge-labeled Dell that happens to be running their own variant of Linux.

So how did the leader in Unix workstations fall to this point -- that their corpse is picked over by vendors of generic Linux servers? Massive Fail over a period of fifteen years, that's all you can say. It's sad, because they had great technology. But even great technology can't survive that kind of massive fail for that many years...

-- Badtux the Geeky Penguin

What I'm watching

Today's Netflix pick:

Ergo Proxy.

I'm just on disk one (the first three episodes of the television series) so I can't say too much, but those three episodes were plenty to suck me in. Disk 1 goes back tomorrow and hopefully Disk 2 gets here for the weekend...

-- Badtux the Video Penguin

The plot to bring socialism to America

I am going to tell you a very important and little-known fact: I am part of an Antarctic conspiracy to bring socialism to America.

Now, I hear you saying, "oh get out with it!". But consider. We penguins are amongst the most socialist creatures on this planet. We do everything in groups. We swim in groups. We fish in groups. We huddle together in groups while protecting our eggs from hungry critters. We are socialist from top to bottom. So we hatched this plot on August 4, 1961 to bring the benefits of socialism -- the raw herring, the huddling together in the cold, etc. -- to the rest of the planet.

Yes, Barack Obama is ours, in most cunning disguise. The reason why he doesn't have his original birth certificate, just the re-issue from the State of Hawaii Birth Registry? It's because he doesn't really have one. Because we penguins are cunning hackers (see: Linux), we hacked into the Birth Registry's computers and placed a fake birth record there. We also bankrolled his career, using the vast wealth of the Antarctic, until now... now he is where we engineered him to be. Bwahahaha!

So what next for America, you ask? Okay, first, we ban home heating oil, natural gas, and electricity. Nobody needs heat or light. If shivering in the dark and cold and eating raw food is good enough for penguins, it's good enough for you naked monkeys too. Next, we send our crack penguin goon squads to take away all your guns. No more guns. Then we round up all Republicans and place them into concentration camps where raw herring will be flung over the fences from time to time for the conservatives to fight over. And then when all you naked apes are shivering and freezing in the dark, puking on your raw beef or raw herring, then is when we shall dispatch our penguin armies to take over and impose a socialist paradise upon America under the leadership of our brave fellow penguin, President Barack Hussein Obama.

What, you thought the right-wingers were engaging in tin-foil-hattery when they whined that President Obama was a foreign tool who was here to impose socialism upon America? Hah! You didn't know the half of it! Your problem is that you simply did not have the imagination to realize how daring the real plot to bring socialism to America was. Prepare to meet your new penguin overlords. Bwhahahahahaha!

-- Badtux the Evil Penguin

Mutual grooming

Mencken is getting happily groomed as he sits on my lap, with me combing out his fur with the cat brush. He, in turn, is happily grooming my arm with his raspy tongue.

Life with cats continues...

-- Badtux the Cat-owned Penguin

Makers and takers

One of the idiotic things that the modern followers of Ayn Rand whine about is "makers" and "takers", people who create things vs. redistributionists who would take their wealth. Problem is, these people doing the whining are almost universally takers, not makers.

Look. I'm an engineer. I design things, whether it's a bracket for adding cruise control to a KLR-650 motorcycle, or a new software system for cluster management of clustered replicated NAS systems. And my total assets after subtracting my debts are maybe $20K. That's it. And my relatives who work in the GM plant are even worse off. They make cars, for crying out loud, one of the most expensive single items (other than houses) that anybody will ever buy. And they have problems putting tables on their food. I mean, they were required to take a month off WITHOUT PAY, when they are barely surviving paycheck to paycheck. That rich bastard Wagner never had to take a month off without pay. Of course, now he gets the rest of his life off, but still with pay, over $25M worth of retirement pay for running GM into the ground. Who's the redistributionist? Who's the taker? It sure the fuck isn't the poor bastard putting the cars together, that's for sure!

Meanwhile, the takers -- the CEO's making millions of dollars, the Wall Street mavens pulling in seven-figure bonuses, the investment bankers living in mansions on Long Island -- make *nothing*. Nada. They are creative as rocks and wouldn't know how to make anything. Unless you count bullshit and an unwarranted sense of entitlement to be something. Yet they're taking the wealth created by people like me, people like my relatives who work in the GM plant, as if it's just their due for being "makers". What do they make? Nothing. Less than nothing. They're takers. Yet they, not us working stiffs, are the ones whining about how "redistributionists" will punish the "makers"? When they themselves are the redistributionists? What kinds fucking BULLSHIT is this, anyhow?

-- Badtux the Maker Penguin

Quote of the day

"Let's start with a premise that I don't think a lot of Americans are aware of. We have five percent of the world's population; we have 25 percent of the world's known prison population. There are only two possibilities here: either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States; or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice." -- Senator Jim Webb, D(Va)

If only we had more politicians with courage...

-- Badtux the Wistful Penguin

Not ready for prime time

The much heralded Skype For iPhone arrived today, and like the dutiful geek I am, I installed it on my iPhone. I put in my user ID and password, and hey, worked! Well, sort of. My contacts list came up, so I decided to send a message to a friend. I hit his name, hit the 'Chat' button by his name, and started typing in the first line of the message... and as I hit characters on the keypad, the phone got slower... and slower... and slower... to respond, until finally it locked up altogether and Skype crashed and put me back at the Springboard application menu. Okay, so something went wrong there, so I tried again... and again... and again... out of four attempts to send a single-line message to the friend, only *one* went through, the rest ended up with crashes.

Too bad. Good idea, lousy execution. Skype must be taking programming lessons from Microsoft(tm), when they should have been taking programming lessons from Linux. Sigh.

-- Badtux the Programmer Penguin

A modest request

Can anybody direct me to a webcomic of similar quality to Girl Genius?

-- Badtux the Geeky Penguin

Marines really *do* have brass balls

Bored Marines doing typical Marine duty (i.e., lots of sitting and standing around being bored). Watch as one Marine, bored out of his skull, moves a metal detector wand over his body just to wand himself. Listen to the beeps as it encounters metal stuff like buttons and grenades. Listen to the beeps when it reaches his crotch area. Heh.

This is what it means to be a Marine 90%+ of the time, not the romantic shit on the television commercials. Methinks if Gordon of Alternate Brain fame came around, he'd be amused.

-- Badtux the Easily Amused Penguin

The Huffington Post is twits

They are now proud members of the "Twitter Generation", which is incapable of holding any thought in its pitiful little "mind" that is more than a few dozen words long. Yes, Huffington Post now prohibits long comments in their comments section. Fuck them and the fucking Twittering twit morons that they rode on in. They're as useless as bicycles for fish.

- Badtux the Not-twit Penguin

Good riddance to bad rubbish

Rick Wagoner is out at GM -- Obama said to GM, "not a dime more as long as Wagoner is CEO", and Wagoner quit before he was fired by the board. Given Wagoner's unblemished record of failure as a manager, I agree with Jerry Flint: good riddance to bad rubbish.

You'll note that neither Ford nor Chrysler are being asked to change management. That's because both companies already have new management rather than the management that got them into trouble. That is not, however, stopping the tighty righties from getting their panties into a knot over the firing of Wagoner. Nevermind that any investor investing money into GM would have said, "not a dime until Wagoner is gone" because the man was clearly utterly incompetent, for some reason the job of a rich white man is more important to them than the jobs of the tens of thousands of working people that Wagoner's mismanagement has eliminated.

But then, the Republicans only pretend to care about those tens of thousands of working people anyhow. What they are is the party of rich white men, in the end. Anybody who fails to see that is being blinded by ignorance and propaganda, because every single Republican policy -- *EVERY* single Republican policy -- is intended to benefit rich white men at the expense of, well, the rest of us. So now they huddle together and whine in defense of yet another rich white man -- Rick Wagoner -- while saying not a yelp about the millions of Americans who've been thrown out of jobs over the past year by the Bush Depression. How suprising.

-- Badtux the Unsurprised Penguin

PS: The rich bastard is heading into the sunset with a $20M retirement package, so the tighty righties sure are getting their panties in a knot about nothing, we won't find Wagoner destitute and homeless and begging for pennies on the streets of Detroit anytime soon... alas, given how many of his victims have been reduced to that.

Oh yeah...

What I spent my day doing: House cleaning, then discovering what color my carpet was under all the encrusted cat puke. My little Hoover carpet shampoo machine does a great job, but it's slow, slow, slow -- one tank of water cleans about five square yards of carpet, then it's time for a refill. But now I can proudly proclaim that my carpet is the color of... err, cat puke. Except not encrusted. It's that beautiful beige-tan color that was so fashionable in the mid 1990's when this apartment was built. Sigh.

-- Badtux the Cleaning Penguin