Isaac Schrödinger

Craptastic

Dan Mitchell wins the post title of the month award.

Boring Misbah

That's the biggest sin of the current Pakistan cricket captain: the dude is seriously boring. He doesn't have the good looks of Imran Khan or the bursting talent of Wasim Akram or the flair of Shahid Afridi. He's slow, methodical and oh so dull!

His virtue? He wins most of the games. That ought to be good enough. 

Anyway, this statistic about the new T20 format is just incredible:

Afridi, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal are the top three wicket-takers in the history of T20Is and Misbah felt it was Gul's bowling that made the difference on Thursday.

Wow! The three "best" bowlers in T20 are all in one team! Imagine what they could do if they only had more consistent batsmen. Pakistan is the only team to make it to at least the semi-finals of all the T20 World Cups. The fourth edition starts in September. It should be fun.

Master the sexy

Vox gives advice to a woman regarding her marriage:

And fifth, in the comments you referred to having let yourself get out of shape. The chances are reasonable that your husband finds this embarrassing and that he is embarrassed by your appearance, even though he would probably rather get his teeth pulled without anesthetics than admit it to you or even to himself. (In other words, resist the temptation to ask, if he has any sense at all he will lie to you if he feels that way.) Men not only judge themselves by their wives, they are judged by others that way too. Rise to the level of the potential competition, don't sit in front of the television and tell yourself that because you managed to get someone to put a ring on your finger a while ago, you no longer have to put much effort into your appearance.

I wonder how women would feel if they married a doctor who after the marriage were to quit his work and go on unemployment benefits etc. for eternity. I'm sure women would still love the soul of the man since that's what attracted them to the man to begin with. Status, heaven forbid, had no influence on their decision to marry.

I've heard variations of the following conversation multiple times at work.

Woman 1: OMG, my boyfriend / husband recently told me to go on a diet! The SOB has some nerve.

Woman 2: Get out! How can he be so shallow! We all know that it's inner beauty that matters -- not our figures. He should love you regardless of how many dozens of pounds you gain.

Woman 1: Mmm-hmmpf. [Shoving the way too large lunch down her throat.]

A few minutes later woman 1 is talking about this awesome pancake / pizza / ice cream place she visited during the weekend. Mmm, so good. She's thinking of going there again and again and ...

What's funny is that when the boyfriend / husband gets fed up with the whale and leaves, then they start to lose weight to attract, apparently, another sucker. These women are fully aware of what attracts men and yet they blow up the attraction and are then shocked! surprised! when men are no longer interested in them.

So, women of the world: Be sexy! Especially if you're married. Do it for him and the keep the marriage strong and healthy.

So predictable

6 rules of modern poster design.

The superhero movie poster is often the biggest, er, offender.

Just take a look at this poster for the Avengers. Those who're not familiar with the Marvel universe will likely be left confused by it.

Immigration and assimilation

Phyllis Chesler:

In the past, an immigrant undertook a long and sometimes perilous voyage to the New World. In order to plan and execute this transition, such immigrants usually began to cut their ties to their native customs, even to their families; they wanted to assimilate and become “Canadians” or “Americans” or “Englishmen.” Visits back home were not easy or even possible. Ties were painfully cut — or new lives, far from persecution, were begun.

This is no longer true. What may have taken weeks or months in terms of travel can now be accomplished in a matter of hours. Modern wide-body aircraft means that someone can have their breakfast in central Asia and a late-night dinner in the New World. Satellite television means that an immigrant can continue to watch the news and be entertained in their home country’s language.

Many immigrants are, of course, attracted to the comforts of the Western world. However, they do not support the tenets that made that lifestyle possible. That's profoundly stupid. For their behavior ultimately weakens the system from which they derive their material pleasures. One would think that were they rationally selfish, they would celebrate and copy the West (like Japan, South Korea and Singapore). However, their rotten beliefs override common sense.

Religion of peace. Exhibit 1,078,441.

European Son via Vlad Tepes:

“Insulting the Prophet [Mohammed] is considered blasphemous in Islam,” notes OnIslam.net, “which is a crime punishable by execution in Saudi Arabia.” Hamza Kashgari, a 23-year-old Saudi blogger, now faces the prospect of execution for tweeting this message on Islam’s Prophet Mohammed’s birthday.

He likely wasn't in Saudi Arabia when he tweeted that message:

Kashgari was en route to New Zealand when he was detained by Malaysian authorities at the request of Interpol because of the tweet. He was then deported to Saudi Arabia, where he was arrested for blasphemy.

Microsoft fail

The behemoth has redesigned their Windows logo. It's atrocious.

This logo would have been a better choice.

Slices of Venice

Rick Lee has a series of posts. The second photo there is so cool. The haughty, indifferent look of the foreground creature makes the shot.

There be ghosts

A very nice use of slow shutter.

Honest sluts

Alpha Game:

Remember, this is the attitude with which you may, unbeknownst to you, be dealing. "[A]nother pretty, young Miami college girl, who does not want to be identified, is more direct, asking specifically for 10 to 20-thousand dollars monthly. The 22-year old claims to be looking for someone who will never say ”NO” to her needs."

So much for the idea that all women want is for a man to be nice and confident with a sense of humor.

Is there really some guy out there willing to pay $20,000 a month for the same, boring prostitute? I can understand a few hundred or thousand dollars but 20k is mighty shocking.

Vox asks:

Question du jour: As a college man, would you prefer to enter into a long-term relationship with a typical college slut (N=15+) or with a sugar hooker with N<6?

I'd reject both choices. Such girls have never interested me. I prefer someone with N=0.

How a man lives

Classical Liberal left a comment; he provided this link where one can read a speech by the late, great sci-fi writer, Robert Heinlein:

The simplest form of moral behavior occurs when a man or other animal fights for his own survival. Do not belittle such behavior as being merely selfish. Of course it is selfish. . .but selfishness is the bedrock on which all moral behavior starts and it can be immoral only when it conflicts with a higher moral imperative. An animal so poor in spirit that he won't even fight on his own behalf is already an evolutionary dead end; the best he can do for his breed is to crawl off and die, and not pass on his defective genes.

The example Heinlein provides at the end is quite incredible.

Lincoln hunted what!?

Stunning.

I want to see Hollywood make Mohandas Gandhi: The Terminator. I bet Connor won't see that one coming!

The queen is tough

Many people in England, it seems, have trouble grasping mathematics:

Universities are dropping maths from degree courses because students – and their lecturers – cannot cope with it, a report warns today. Decades of substandard maths education in schools has led to a ‘crisis’ in England’s number skills, threatening the future of the economy, it says. Universities are being forced to dumb down degree courses requiring the use of maths, including sciences, economics, psychology and social sciences.

Mathematics was part of my major in university. It does get freakishly complicated by fourth year but that's not what most other students take for their degrees. We're talking calculus and statistics up to second year which is not that difficult. Plus, there are many students / tutors who can help you if you're stuck on a topic or problem.

This whole dumbing down the curriculum is only going to make the present and future graduates worse off. There will be more of them with less ability in a job market that is not very healthy. Therefore, many won't find jobs and those who do will be working for wages that will be considered most unsatisfactory given the university tuition which they paid by, likely, borrowing thousands of pounds.

Spoiled daughter gets a lesson

The awesome video has over 18 million views.

Link via Hardocp.

D4 super burst

The last video in this post is cool. Maybe Nikon can market the D4 in Pakistan with this tagline: It shoots faster than an AK-47!

Avada kedavra me now

Alpha Game on short hair vs. long hair.

Long hair wins! I don't think I've ever found a woman with short hair attractive. I know it takes some work and effort to make long hair look good otherwise it gets kind of a wild look but its attractiveness should be a consideration for women who're thinking of cutting it.

The best example for the preservation of long hair follows.

Before:

After:

Why Hermione, why!?

Pakistan v ... Afghanistan?

The Afghanis are trying to become a 'full member' of the cricket world. They played Pakistan and, predictably, lost.

Pakistan's all-round might proved too much for Afghanistan's carefree spirit, as Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan and Imran Farhat set up an emphatic win with 77 balls to spare.

More:

To Ajmal's third ball, the portly Shahzad calmly reversed his stance and heaved a flighted offbreak a good 20 yards into the stands behind square leg. It was just one shot, but it came against the bowler who had looped circles around England's celebrated top order through six innings of tortuous Test batting. It was a statement as telling as any - Misbah-ul-Haq smiled wryly into the distance as the ball disappeared.

Figures. The pathans are known to be audacious and fearless.

Patriarchy fail

A good video from a mother: Feminism and the Disposable Male.

She said something very profound at 7:23: "To be important to society a woman merely has to be; a man has to do in order for his life to have any meaning to anyone other than himself."

Can there be compromise?

Bill Whittle on The Grand Jihad.

The nature of such Muslims is quite obvious: the will to dominate all life on Earth and subject it to the laws of their mythical god and his pedophile prophet.

What's baffling is the appeasement of such monsters. Do the Western leaders truly think that they can negotiate with the Muslim Brotherhood? Are they really that obtuse?

D800: to E or not to E

Nikon has finally announced it. Two things:

1. It is 36 megapixels! What an epic jump.
2. It is shockingly cheap! Only $3,000. The E version is an extra $300.

This is the biggest DSLR news from Nikon since 2007 when they introduced the 'full frame' D3. Nikon better have enough production at that price because the D800 is going to have amazing demand.

Humiliation complete

Ugly stats for England at Cricinfo:

Pakistan became the first team in over 100 years to win a Test after scoring less than 100 in the first innings of the match. The last time this occurred was when England scored 76 but still defeated South Africa in 1907.

More:

For the second time in eight months (the first being India's series in England), the No. 1 Test team has lost all Tests in a series.

At present, neither India nor England are a 'great' Test team. The manner of their defeats shows that they're not even close.

Islam is inferior

Vlad Tepes:

French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, who also holds the immigration portfolio, caused political uproar by claiming that not all civilisations are equal, with some more advanced than others.

“Contrary to what the left’s relativist ideology says, for us all civilisations are not of equal value,” Gueant on Saturday told a conference in the French parliament building, but closed to the media.

Such a simple truth.

“Those which defend liberty, equality and fraternity, seem to us superior to those which accept tyranny, the subservience of women, social and ethnic hatred,” he went on his speech, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

Danko, a commenter, writes:

The west is racist if it wants to cure itself, but it is tolerant if it allows itself to be wiped out. The world has never witnessed such idiocy.

Not a great team

Cricinfo:

Alastair Cook has warned his England colleagues that they face a thorough examination of their character if they are to avoid the humiliation of a 3-0 series whitewash against Pakistan.

Wouldn't that be a brownwash?

England still have a chance to win if they can quickly take wickets on the third day. The longer it takes them, the more tired their batsmen will be and the more rested the Pakistani bowlers will be. Fourth innings of Tests are almost always hell for batsmen.

Most impressive

Nikons makes their premium cameras in Japan. So, of course, their production was damaged because of one of the most powerful earthquake ever to hit that weird place. Later, in the same year, their low-end camera production went under because of the floods in Thailand.

Yet some people in the comments here are upset because of the product delays and high prices of Nikon DSLRs. Thom Hogan provides perspective:

Everyone needs to think about this in a different fashion: in LESS THAN A YEAR, Nikon will have completely replaced ALL of its DSLR manufacturing with completely rebuilt facilities, all while manufacturing a record number of DSLRs. If that doesn’t impress you, nothing will.

Prices for their cameras are not high when compared in Yen. The stronger Yen has pushed Nikon to increase prices in non-Japanese markets. Again, this is something out of their control.

Anyway, moment of truth coming up next week. The long-rumored Nikon D800 is supposed to be announced. Will it be 36 megapixels of goodness? Or will it be a let down in either quality or less megapixels?

No sexy time in Japan

A staggering number of young people in Japan are not interested in sex.

Combine an economic downturn with the increasing excellence of porn and video games, then throw in female economic independence and this is the result. For all that they are decried as soshoku danshi, the position of the "herbivores" is a perfectly reasonable one.

It's likely that the modern Japanese teenage girl is ultra-materialistic. Japan has lost 'two' decades to poor economic growth. Therefore, a majority of guys in her age group are utterly unappealing.

Evil role models

I wouldn't be surprised if Zafar Bangash supports Saudi Arabia in addition to Iran and Afghanistan. He lives a comfortable life in a Western society but supports some of the most vile and repressive regimes in the world. What's worse is that some in the audience at McMaster University applauded this dolt.

Simply precious

Boromir Explains MMORPGs.

Must not nag

Alpha Game has a post on nagging.

There's no question it poisons a marriage. Just yesterday, I saw a woman nagging her boyfriend in the supermarket. They were likely in their early 20s. The guy was replying in a disgusting, appeasing manner but she just wouldn't stop berating him. I was in their proximity for a mere twenty seconds and I wanted out! 

Why do guys put up with such crap? Aren't these people interested in being partners instead of having a mother-child relationship?

To me, it's one of the things that's non-negotiable in a girlfriend or a wife: read the title of the post.

To infinity ... kinda

The low budget Canadian space program:

The Toronto Star reports that Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad have been friends since middle school. A couple of summers ago, Ho saw a video online that showed some Massachusetts Institute of Technology students sending a balloon into space. The two teenaged boys began working on their project in September, and four months of Saturdays later, they were able to launch their balloon, with Lego man astronaut, into the skies.

Cool.

Test no. 2032

The number one team in the world gets beaten by a team which is ranked fifth. The current England team is the strongest of the last 20 years at least. They've annihilated Australia in Australia and crushed India at home. They have earned the right to be called the best.

But then they folded against a rising Pakistan team twice!

... a total of 72 can never be acceptable. It was their lowest score since the debacle of Jamaica in 2009 and the first time they had lost two Tests in a row since 2008. It was also only the second time in a century that they have failed to chase a target under 150 in the fourth innings.

Two things become clear from the two Tests:

1. Pakistan have recovered from losing their two best bowlers who cheated and were sent to jail. Their bowling department is, I think, the strongest in the world right now.
2. Even with excellent players like Strauss, Cook, Trott, Pietersen and Bell, England cannot conquer the Asian conditions. Their performances have been exceptional in England but in the UAE, they've been wretched for a team ranked first.

England will try their mighty best to save the third Test. Otherwise, the end will be an utter humiliation.

"I guess you wear red then!"

Geeks are Sexy:

Imitation is the sincerest form of annoyance.

I played this game in arcades in Pakistan. Brings back memories. The Sagat comment and Blanka dragging Balrog's drunken ass makes it hilarious.

WWII for Generation Z

Facebook version of the Second World War.

They got the big stuff right but still they should have mentioned North Africa, Canada and Australia.

Those peaceful muslims again

The deadly result of an innocent infatuation:

Rehnaz Bibi, 13, was allegedly shot dead by one of her cousins in September 2010. According to reports, Bibi left home to convince the boy she liked to marry her without her family’s consent. However, she was sent back home by his family, who lived in the same village, with the promise to send a proposal for her later.

When her family found out about the incident, her father, who was in Karachi at that time, allegedly asked one of his nephews to kill her.

According to an application filed in Haripur district and sessions court by a local activist Qamar Hayat, Rehnaz was fired at with an AK-47 and received 30 bullets. Her family had termed her death as an accident.

I initially thought it was a suicide.

Link via Jihad Watch.

Moocher lifestyle

Zero Hedge:

Tonight's stunning financial piece de resistance comes from Wyatt Emerich of The Cleveland Current. In what is sure to inspire some serious ire among all those who once believed Ronald Reagan that it was the USSR that was the "Evil Empire", Emmerich analyzes disposable income and economic benefits among several key income classes and comes to the stunning (and verifiable) conclusion that "a one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has more disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year." And that excludes benefits from Supplemental Security Income disability checks. America is now a country which punishes those middle-class people who not only try to work hard, but avoid scamming the system. Not surprisingly, it is not only the richest and most audacious thieves that prosper - it is also the penny scammers at the very bottom of the economic ladder that rip off the middle class each and every day, courtesy of the world's most generous entitlement system.

There really are Two Americas. One is where people work hard and don't scam the system. The second is filled with entitled parasites.

Muhammad the Wicked

Tambi Dude emailed me the latest post from an ex-Muslim woman:

... the so-called Holy Prophet of Islam is nothing but a sick, perverted sex maniac, a pedophiliac misogynist, and a heartless creature who had absolutely no sense of morals or ethics. He was a self-proclaimed prophet who wanted nothing but power and pussies.

She provides plenty of quotes from the Islamic canon to back up her conclusion. I certainly can't disagree.

Hard fought football

Tom Brady goes to his fifth Super Bowl. Truth be told, he gave a horrible performance today given his lofty standards: 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.

The other game is still going strong in overtime. It'd be cool if the Giants won.

The Patriarchy strikes again

Times Live:

Q: Roughly 9 out of 10 Wikipedia editors are male. Why does the Wikimedia Foundation consider that a problem?

Sue Gardner: It is a priority for us to raise the number of women who edit. The reason is quality: Wikipedia aspires to contain the sum of all human knowledge, and we are not able to do that if our editor base is a narrow group of people. Women have a very wide range of interests and experiences and backgrounds. But we can assume that if they are not represented roughly to their equivalent of the population, there are gaps in the coverage. To me, it is not an ethical issue, it is not political correctness, but it is to ensure the quality of Wikipedia.

Perhaps, Wikipedia can make the text pink.

The crueler sex

Alpha Game:

It is deeply ironic that men are generally considered the commitment-phobic sex when it is easily observable that the main reason they tend to increasingly avoid making commitments is because they are forced to take them very seriously. Women, on the other hand, superficially appear pro-commitment, but this only holds true so long as there is no substantive and quantifiable aspect to the commitment for which they can be held accountable. It's rather fascinating to see the way in which marriage has been transformed from an institution wherein wives were expected to provide actual "marital duties" to one in which sex is now widely considered to be at the sole and unilateral discretion of the wife while the husband is not permitted any reliable expectation of it, much less right to it.

The first comment there:

Man has an obligation to go to theater, to prepare breakfast in the morning, to help wash the dishes (dishwasher), to say good words, give the occasional massage, listen to a whole day's nonsense when he wants to relax, give a hug, give a caress, challenge intellectually, make money, buy food, carry the grocery, carry the garbage.... add infinitum

A two minute handjob needs to be earned. Even then, she needs to be in the mood.

Funny, at my workplace today, two guys were talking about a cost benefit analysis of a girlfriend versus a prostitute. The prostitute won. It wouldn't be much different with a wife instead of a girlfriend.

Justice shattered

Vlad Tepes:

If one were to extrapolate this reasoning then all of us could become vigilantes of the harshest kind. Of course, we know full well what would happen if our annoyances at day-to-day realities were to motivate us to take action against random strangers being nice to us in a fully-appropriate location.

Test no. 2030: third day

Game over!

What I said last month:

Pakistan, India and Bangladesh were one nation before 1947. Yet, the most consistent and impressive bowlers keep on originating from Pakistan. Right now, Pakistan seems to have the most potent bowling attack in the world. The series against England will be interesting.

England were defeated in three days by Pakistan. I didn't expect that. I thought their batsmen would fight in the second innings but shockingly they failed even more miserably.

England were disappointing, a batting performance unworthy of their status. But Pakistan have also made Sri Lanka look miserable here, and perhaps there is more substance to this revival than could have been hoped for? With Saeed Ajmal in such mesmeric form and Misbah's leadership more impresive by the day, Pakistan are capable of turning their Middle East abode into as much of a fortress as Karachi once was. On this evidence, Pakistan can be a power again in Test cricket and the world game will be better for it.

Yeah.