Isaac Schrödinger

The Euro Empire

Vox Day:

In the Eurozone, the state of democracy is even worse, thanks to the latest version of what is improbably described as the "Greek rescue deal." The "stability union," which was announced in Brussels last week, removes the power of national governments to make decisions concerning issues of taxing and public spending. This means that the two central economic functions of national government, monetary and fiscal policy, are now completely out of government control.

This is scary. The Euro took away monetary control out of the hands of smaller European governments and concentrated the power mainly in Germany and France. But soon taxation and spending will no longer be decided upon by national governments in Europe! No wonder the peoples in many nations are angry. Their voice has become meaningless.

Eat da what!?

NSFW alert: One example why multiculturalism just doesn't work.

Hussein gets spanked

Michael Berry does the honors.

Whittle on America

Via Instapundit: WFP Interviews Bill Whittle.

Whittle's comments on the self esteem movement are especially good.

Hot money

CBC:

Canada's new plastic money may give you a little more bang for your buck.

New documents show a focus group mistook a strand of DNA on the $100 bill for a sex toy.

So, it'll soon be banned in Islamic countries.

Every focus group thought they saw religious iconography on the face of the Peace Tower clock.

"It was often described as 'The Star of David.' Others referred to it as a 'pagan' or 'religious' symbol," the document says.

My suggestions:

• I think the $50 note should have a subtle photo of Muhammad with a turban in the shape of a bomb.
• The $100 note should have the delicate writing of Mordor: "One Bill To Rule Them All". Of course, such writing only becomes visible when a bit of heat is applied to the note.

The Obama Equation

Aptly summed up by a commenter at Jihad Watch:

Hear no Evil + See no Evil + Speak no Evil = No Evil

Here's the proof:

Dwight C. Holton, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, emphasized that training materials for the FBI would be purged of everything politically incorrect: “I want to be perfectly clear about this: training materials that portray Islam as a religion of violence or with a tendency towards violence are wrong, they are offensive, and they are contrary to everything that this president, this attorney general and Department of Justice stands for. They will not be tolerated.”

Ignoring fourteen hundred blood-soaked years of Jihad does require some impressive, er, skill.

Steep 8

I'm hoping that Windows 8 + Ivy Bridge CPU + next-gen SSD will be lightning fast. Of course, something has to suck:

OEM BIOS activation is nothing new. OA was first seen in Windows XP, and OA 2.0 with Windows Vista and Windows 7. Both of these mechanisms are now easily bypassed by pirates looking to install/sell unlicenced copies of Windows.

However, now rather than shipping PCs with a COA, keys will be incorporated in the system’s UEFI firmware, and this will increase production costs for ODMs because each machine will require individual attention to squirt the key into the UFI firmware.

Link via Code Monkey Ramblings.

Right to choose extended

Vox Popoli on a chilling incident in China:

It is sheer lunacy to attempt to blame capitalism for the more than a dozen people who walked by, indifferent to the suffering of the dying little girl. These are people who have been taught for the entirety of their existence that a) there are too many people and b) killing little girls is a social good. Now they're supposed to suddenly switch gears because there is one less undesirable little girl to overpopulate China?

Nikon D800 sometime later, maybe

The rumor was too good to be true:

Since there were no significant leaks up till now, I would say that the Nikon D800 will not be announced this week.

Best guess: January 2012. Nikon announces the next generation of DSLRs with volume shipping to start in March 2012.

Islamic culture

The National Post:

“May the devil s— on their graves,” Mohammad Shafia told his second wife, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 20 days after the bodies of the couple’s three teenage daughters and Mr. Shafia’s first wife were recovered from a car in the water at the locks.

More:

He said whenever he saw the pictures taken by Zainab and Sahar on their cell phones – these were goofy shots of them posing in bras and panties, or with their forbidden boyfriends — “I am consoled.

“I say to myself, ‘You did well.’ Were they to come to life, I would do it again.”

His daughters acted like normal, teenage, solipsistic girls. They were probably quite annoying but they didn't deserve death. Their father and brother -- the two men who ought to have protected them from harm -- should rot in jail for the rest of their life.

Here's another article about the diary of the murdered wife.

Dogs > muslims

Gates of Vienna:

Two Islamic groups in Lerida are already asking officials to regulate the presence of dogs in public spaces because dogs are seen as unclean, and their presence in public could offend Muslims. They are also demanding that dogs are banned from all forms of public transportation, which would include all city buses, and areas frequented by Muslims.

The irony is that the world would be a far better and compassionate place if Muslims behaved like your average dog. Simply writing about Muslims and dogs in the same sentence is akin to disrespecting dogs.

There are so many things that offend Muslims. As their population grows, I wonder what will be next on their dhimmi list.

It also makes we wonder what will happen when they make up 30-40% of Lerida’s population. Will they ask for the crosses be removed from churches? Will they want to abolish any other outward sign of a non-Muslim religion?

Of course. The rules of sharia are not geographically limited to Saudi Arabia or Iran. For Muslims, they apply everywhere.

Skirtgate

Marcotte vs. Walsh. The same questions are asked and then the answers of the two women are presented. What kind of questions? Here's one:

What was your reaction to the Park Slope incident in which cops warned women about wearing short skirts?

The image below is from the link. Why did I post it? I really like, er, pink.

Pipping the POTUS

Jobs to Hussein:

"You're headed for a one-term presidency," he told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where "regulations and unnecessary costs" make it difficult for them.

Jobs also criticized America's education system, saying it was "crippled by union work rules," noted Isaacson. "Until the teachers' unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform." Jobs proposed allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on merit, that schools stay open until 6 p.m. and that they be open 11 months a year.

Wow. I read that Jobs was blunt but this is off the charts. Obama must have been furious. He had wanted to meet the inventor of cool but then ended up getting spanked!

Still, it's strange. Why did Jobs support Obama?

Allah dislikes bacon

David Menzies:

the police have announced they’re going to accommodate Muslim policewomen who want to wear the hijab on duty.

Some might hail such a move as another shining example of “reasonable accommodation”; others — count me among them — look upon this directive as another assault against Canadian traditions.

RACISS!!!!

Do Muslim police officers reserve the right not to work with the Canine Unit, given that many Muslims consider dogs “unclean”?

Will ham sandwiches be banned from police stations due to dietary restrictions?

Of course and of course. As long as we've got useful infidels, that will come to pass.

Fudge that haj

Just do the work:

This is clearly just another attempt to force American workplaces to change the way they operate in order to accommodate Muslims, once again reinforcing the principle that where Islamic law and practice and American law and practice conflict, it is American law and practice that have to give way.

Safoorah Khan asked for "almost three weeks of unpaid leave" so that she could go on the hajj. She wrote that "based on her religious beliefs, she could not justify delaying performing hajj," although since a Muslim has his or her entire lifetime to perform the hajj, it's unclear what would have made it impossible for her to justify delaying doing so -- was she in imminent danger of death?

It must have been the cooties.

Ode to tit

Some people truly suffer for science:

In a plastic surgeon’s quest to find the ideal female proportions, he turned to 100 glamour models.

It sounds almost like parody – a top consultant plastic surgeon spends three months studying models appearing on Page 3 of a bestselling British red-top newspaper. Later this month he reveals his findings: the mathematical proportions of the perfect breast.

For some reason this reminds me of Feynman. He could appreciate beauty but then go further than that.

Those crazy jews!

OMG, they're locking objects into space. It's the end of the world!

Airheads of the world, unite!

David Thompson:

Because socialism is never, ever about being selfish or opportunist or exploitative. Or greedy.

Of course. The first video showcases that very selflessness. Honest.

True muslim

The assassin of a Pakistani politician will not get the death sentence.

The Islamic fundamentalist fringe, the association of lawyers in Rawalpindi, a famous judge of the court of Lahore and thousands of Pakistanis are on the streets: a large chunk of the country is challenging the judiciary and the government, guilty of condemning to death Mumtaz Qadri, the bodyguard and self-confessed murderer of the Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, who was killed on January 2 for defending the Christian Asia Bibi and asking for changes to the blasphemy laws.

The defense of the assassin:

In a surprise decision, the former head of the Lahore High Court has decided to take the legal defense of Qadri in the appeal process in Islamabad. "Qadri’s gesture is justified - says the judge – as one of a true Muslim."

It's an excellent defense. If you disagree with him, then you're going against Islam! That can be quite hazardous in Pakistan.

Link via Jihad Watch.

Slow motion descent into barbarism

A video report on sharia courts in the UK at Vlad Tepes.

Better than jihad

The Sydney Morning Herald via Instapundit:

Just months after telling its members to serve their husbands better than prostitutes, prompting widespread criticism, the Obedient Wives Club of Malaysia has stirred further controversy by publishing a guide to Islamic sex.

The 115-page pocket-sized book, which will outrage many Muslims and non-Muslims, says a Muslim man can have sex with all of his wives at the same time.

So ... what's the problem?

Cat ladies of tomorrow

Alpha Game:

The reluctance of women to admit that the choices they have made are responsible for the consequences they have realized is remarkable, although not surprising. But the concept is not that hard to grasp. If a woman is going to spend the 12 Prime Years from 20 to 32 chasing and involving yourself with unsuitable men, she is going to have to either learn to a) adjust her behavior and her sights or b) find herself childless and alone.

I know a woman like this at work. She's hot, single and 33.

She got a cat last year.

I blame the Jews

Behold the fearless, brave and manly Islamists of the 21st century:

In a first for the garrison city, sixty masked men carrying iron rods barged into a girls’ school in Rawalpindi and thrashed students and female teachers on Friday.

What "provoked" this attack?

The gang of miscreants also warned the inmates at the MC Model Girls High School in Satellite Town to “dress modestly and wear hijabs” or face the music, eyewitnesses said.

Fear gripped the area following the attack and only 25 of the 400 students studying in the college were present on Saturday. The school employs 30 female teachers.

What did the cops do?

A police official of the New Town Police Station, asking for anonymity, told The Express Tribune, “We were under strict instructions to do nothing.”

But, of course.

Loud and frustrated

Mike writes about the "99 percent":

The price we've paid for their "find yourself, you're worth it, indulge" culture has been a weakening of the social supports that the state needed to support the community and the increasing isolation of individuals.

I doubt there is any good way out of this. These people demand a return to the 1950s economy when our working class enjoyed global middle class quality of life because most of the world's industries were recovering from World War II.

Read the whole thing.

D800 + more

More rumors connected with the impending launch of the Nikon D800. I'd prefer the 50mm f1.2 lens. Their current 50mm fixed lens isn't really up to par with their 24mm and 85mm primes.

Again, it will be shocking if Nikon releases a 36-MP monster at a price of approximately $4,000. I just hope that the image quality doesn't suffer compared to the previous generation.

Intel bulldozes AMD

Intel released the Core 2 Duo architecture in 2006. Since then they have been thrashing AMD. After years of hype, AMD finally released their 'bulldozer' CPU and its benchmarks are so bad that even Hitler is pissed.

Life of cowardice

Terry Jones from the Monty Python crew:

Asked if he would make a satirical film about Muslims now, he replied, “Probably not – looking at Salman Rushdie. I suppose people would be frightened."

Excellent incentive structure there.

New inflation

Vox Popoli in the comments:

It appears I should start publishing the monthly Day report to track hooker prices in European capitals the way Case-Schiller tracks US home prices.

Hmm, perhaps someone can come up with The Whores Index. It'll likely perform better than the sham consumer price index.

Riddled with fun

A few videos from Geeks are Sexy:

• Super Mario Kombat
• Awesome Photoshop
• Batman Meets The Riddler

Comment of the day

Simon at Althouse writes:

Sarah Palin's the black guy who used to be the Illinois Senator, right?

Yup.

Famous for mischief

One of my favorite breeds: a siberian husky. The color of his eyes is really intense. He looks intelligent in some photos and like a vampire / zombie in one.

Latent talent + sick deception

Cricinfo:

The alleged spot-fixing trial, involving Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif at Southwark Crown Court, has entered another operative phase with the first witness, the ICC's chief investigator Ravi Sawani, being called.

It's sickening just how coordinated they were:

The bet was for three pre-determined no-balls but bad light ended play for the day before the third no-ball could be bowled, the jury heard.

A series of "frenetic activity" on the phone between all four then takes place within a couple of hours of the match being called off for the day.

"It is an irresistible inference, say the prosecution, that between these four men, what is being sorted out is that third no-ball," Jafferjee told the court.

Why did these cricketers decide to sell their soul?

For cash, apparently. Lots of cash:

Much of the money was found in a locked suitcase that Butt said belonged to his wife and for which he did not have the key. When it was opened they found a "large" amount of currency - some of which was in envelopes and some not. In total the stash included £14,003 in one spot, and £15,999 in various denominations in envelopes. There was also US$12,617, 24,300 of UAE dirhams, AUS$710, 26,015 Pakistani rupees, $350 Canadian, 440 South African rand - as well as four mobile phones.

That makes sense. If he was cheating and obviously getting paid for it, then he couldn't deposit the money in banks.

Nikon > Muhammed

Quite a few people are using google to search for the Nikon D800 and surprisingly my blog is showing up on the first page of links!

It's certainly an improvement over Muhammed in google images.

Complex numbers

Sex both real and imaginary:

Young women seem to want to keep their numbers lower, while men want their numbers to be higher. A 2001 study of college students in the U.K. published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior titled “Which Behaviors Constitute Having Sex?” showed that, compared with women, a greater percentage of men count oral sex and manual sex as “sex” when they’re tallying their partners—presumably because they want to boost their number. Of the 11 sexual acts that the study’s researchers counted, there was only one—anal sex—that women were more likely than men to “count” as sex. The results of this study jibed with previous studies which also found that men counted a greater number of behaviors as sex than women did.

While women are concerned about their numbers getting too high, they also don’t want their numbers to be too low, lest they be seen as prudes. Lisa Wade, an assistant professor of sociology at Occidental College, says that a lot of women she’s talked to deliberately lost their virginity before going to college, because they didn’t want to be viewed as unsophisticated.

That's one thing I've noticed about women: they crave social acceptance a lot more than men. I've known many men who couldn't care less about how society views them but women think they're being oppressed if someone, somewhere merely disapproves of their actions.

Nikon D800

36-freakin'-megapixels!? That's the camera rumor of the year. I will be absolutely stunned if Nikon actually did announce that by the end of this month. I'm thinking it'll be more in the 18-24 MP range.

Update
It will likely be a Sony sensor. If all of this is true, then the most important question pops up: What will be its price? Nikon sells the D3X -- a 24 megapixel beast -- for over $7,000. So, I guess it's time to sell another kidney.

Perverse incentives. Example 87,451

WSJ via Greg Mankiw:

Social Security judges and employees in Florida, Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio and Arizona were among those instructed to set aside disability cases this week, with the slowdown allowing managers to boost their performance numbers for the coming fiscal year, which starts Monday.

Top officials, in a bid to meet goals to win promotions or thousands of dollars in bonuses, directed many employees to refrain from issuing decisions on cases until next week, according to judges and union officials. This likely would delay benefits paid to thousands of Americans with pending applications, many of whom are financially needy and have waited for a government decision for more than a year.

The bureaucracy is already painfully sluggish and now they're being intentionally slow to get a fatter paycheck.

Fair warfare

Vox F. Day:

Ask not what your country can do for you, but who you can do for your country.

I wonder if the system would work on the same logic of marginal tax rates. The hottest girls will have to provide, er, more.

Nein nein nein!

Excuse my language: What a bunch of fucking idiots!

Egypt already has a major problem with the decades-long history of the Muslim Brotherhood and their increase in stature and power in recent years. And, of all things, we get an Egyptian version of the Nationalist Socialists on the scene. But don't worry, they "respect" Judaism! Also, read the asinine subtitles at 05:48.

You know your country is screwed when the main choices in the political arena boil down to either the Islamists or Hitler wannabes.

Perpetual war

A Nina Shea interview in which she describes what the Saudis teach their kids in school and how they export this poison throughout the Islamic world.

The punishment for apostates is showcased at the five minute mark.

The cursed people

The Tribune:

Faryal Bhatti, a student at the Sir Syed Girls High School in Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) colony Havelian, erroneously misspelt a word in an Urdu exam while answering a question on a poem written in praise of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The word in question was ‘laanat’ instead of ‘naat’ – an easy error for a child to make, as the written versions of the words are similar.

Naat, if I remember correctly, describes a poem that glorifies Muhammad the pedophile. Whereas, laanat basically means a curse.

So, what's the mistake?

On Thursday, Faryal’s Urdu teacher was collecting the answer sheets from her students when she noticed the apparently offensive word on her pupil’s sheet. The teacher, Fareeda Bibi, reportedly summoned the Christian girl, scolded her and beat her. Her punishment, however, did not end here.

Of course, not.

Prayer leaders within the community also condemned the incident in their Friday sermons, asking the colony’s administration to not only take action against Faryal but her entire family.

Quite a tolerant bunch.

Faryal was not the only one who got in trouble for her spelling error, however, as her mother, Sarafeen Bhatti, who was a staff nurse at the POF Hospital Havelian for several years, was immediately transferred to POF Wah Cantonment Hospital.

Link via Cool Infidels.