To my simple mind the next chance for any kind of rudimentary intelligence test dating sequence will be 5.10.15. See ya then!
Saturday, December 13, 2014
gratituitous 12.13.14 post
I hate to miss my last chance to log onto a sequential date (in the US and subsidiaries) this century, so here's a timelapse video of the Grand Canyon at high tide two days ago:
To my simple mind the next chance for any kind of rudimentary intelligence test dating sequence will be 5.10.15. See ya then!
To my simple mind the next chance for any kind of rudimentary intelligence test dating sequence will be 5.10.15. See ya then!
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Another (very) Modest Proposal
I just read that James Watson is auctioning his Nobel medal -- 1962 Medicine (DNA) -- at Christie's on Dec 4 due to a cash flow problem resulting from some clueless past pronouncements.
It's too late to do anything about it now, but wouldn't it have been grand to do a kickstarter to fund buying it in order to award it to Rosalind Franklin's -- 1920–1958 (DNA) -- heirs?
I know, I know, the Nobel is only awarded to the living. But if she actually beat the W/C/W team to the punch then maybe they didn't really deserve those medals.
I know, I know, the Nobel is only awarded to the living. But if she actually beat the W/C/W team to the punch then maybe they didn't really deserve those medals.
always a few dollars short of a load
Monday, November 17, 2014
YATC -- Yet Another Taxonomy Compiler
For decades my friend Brian has self-identified as a Moron. In his defense, because he is obviously much smarter than me, I declared myself an Idiot. Recently affairs of the world have come to such a point that I was sorely pressed for descriptive expletives, so I asked Brian if I could join him in order to free up an appellation for other uses. He agreed to upgrade me to moron and now I can freely use idiot as needed.
In order to have a clear order of precedence I looked for the ur-meanings of my terms, and the ever faithful wikipedia came through under the Idiot sub-heading of Disability:
From this I have developed my idiosyncratic taxonomy for use in further discussions.
An Idiot does stupid and or dangerous things over and over. In current American medical classification, these people are now said to have profound intellectual disability.
A Dunce is an idiot who is specifically incapable of learning.
An Imbecile has an intellectual disability less extreme than idiocy. This is now usually subdivided into two categories, known as severe intellectual disability and moderate intellectual disability (again, thank you wikipedia). I apply this word to media personalities who just make up information and then get huffy when someone argues with them.
A Moron misses connections which are staring him/her right in the face. They do however usually have the ability to learn once something is explicitly explained to them (Brian, and now I, pretty clearly fit in this category).
Then the various categories which reflect lack of experience, education, or tact rather than missing capability, and thus may be redeemable.
A Fool is unwise or lacking in judgement.
An Ignoramus is stupid, uneducated or ignorant.
A Dolt is stupid and entirely tedious at the same time. According to the Urban Dictionary they may also be oblivious to their own mental incapacity.
A Dullard is an unimaginative person. Again with thanks to The UD: An omnipresent, boring, annoying, and frequently idiotic being who is a master of inane conversations. Note that Websters has an extensive set of synonyms under dullard, but only two antonyms...
A Cretin is a vulgar or insensitive person, c.f.: clod, lout. A special sub-class (which may not be redeemable) was created by Karl Marx and best described by Friedrich Engels:
A Jackass will do anything that might make them seem to be popular. I apply this to most politicians.
An Asshat has their head up their ass, or more technically:
A further set of categories applies to working environments:
Dweebs are people that aren't really capable of anything but sometimes try anyway. Most employees throughout the management hierarchy are dweebs.
Then there are the Nerds and Geeks. They're pretty much the same except for one important quality. Both Nerds and Geeks are fairly tightly focused and capable in some, usually technological, subject. The difference is that the nerd thinks he actually enjoys doing what he's doing. The geek knows better.
Yahoos are egregious people whom you can't live without because they get things get done.
And finally, Gurus can be truculent and unpredictable. They amuse themselves by solving obscure problems and, if you are lucky, one of those problems will be yours.
Many of these folks are intelligent enough to believe that they know everything. Some few realize that they don't. An even smaller number actually do know everything, or at least how to figure it out.
In order to have a clear order of precedence I looked for the ur-meanings of my terms, and the ever faithful wikipedia came through under the Idiot sub-heading of Disability:
Individuals with the lowest mental age level (less than three years) were identified as idiots; imbeciles had a mental age of three to seven years, and morons had a mental age of seven to ten years.This is reasonably close to how I would classify actual children of those various ages so the glove fits nicely. The entry also mentions that Idiots are barred from voting in Kentucky, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio, and British parliamentary elections. Would it were so...
From this I have developed my idiosyncratic taxonomy for use in further discussions.
Intelligence
An Idiot does stupid and or dangerous things over and over. In current American medical classification, these people are now said to have profound intellectual disability.
A Dunce is an idiot who is specifically incapable of learning.
An Imbecile has an intellectual disability less extreme than idiocy. This is now usually subdivided into two categories, known as severe intellectual disability and moderate intellectual disability (again, thank you wikipedia). I apply this word to media personalities who just make up information and then get huffy when someone argues with them.
A Moron misses connections which are staring him/her right in the face. They do however usually have the ability to learn once something is explicitly explained to them (Brian, and now I, pretty clearly fit in this category).
"Moron" was coined in 1910 by psychologist Henry H. Goddard from the Ancient Greek word μωρός (moros), which meant "dull" (as opposed to oxy, which meant "sharp" (see also: oxymoron)) [!emphasis mine!] [wikipedia:Moron]
Education
Then the various categories which reflect lack of experience, education, or tact rather than missing capability, and thus may be redeemable.
A Fool is unwise or lacking in judgement.
An Ignoramus is stupid, uneducated or ignorant.
A Dolt is stupid and entirely tedious at the same time. According to the Urban Dictionary they may also be oblivious to their own mental incapacity.
A Dullard is an unimaginative person. Again with thanks to The UD: An omnipresent, boring, annoying, and frequently idiotic being who is a master of inane conversations. Note that Websters has an extensive set of synonyms under dullard, but only two antonyms...
A Cretin is a vulgar or insensitive person, c.f.: clod, lout. A special sub-class (which may not be redeemable) was created by Karl Marx and best described by Friedrich Engels:
Parliamentary cretinism, an incurable disease, an ailment whose unfortunate victims are permeated by the lofty conviction that the whole world, its history and its future are directed and determined by a majority of votes of just that very representative institution that has the honour of having them in the capacity of its members. [Encyclopedia of Marxism]Working our way further into politics:
A Jackass will do anything that might make them seem to be popular. I apply this to most politicians.
An Asshat has their head up their ass, or more technically:
Their cranial capacity has been reified by the hegemony of the interiority of their posterior. [Schippling, 2014]Asshats believe what imbeciles (media) and jackasses (politicians) say.
Work
A further set of categories applies to working environments:
Dweebs are people that aren't really capable of anything but sometimes try anyway. Most employees throughout the management hierarchy are dweebs.
Then there are the Nerds and Geeks. They're pretty much the same except for one important quality. Both Nerds and Geeks are fairly tightly focused and capable in some, usually technological, subject. The difference is that the nerd thinks he actually enjoys doing what he's doing. The geek knows better.
Yahoos are egregious people whom you can't live without because they get things get done.
And finally, Gurus can be truculent and unpredictable. They amuse themselves by solving obscure problems and, if you are lucky, one of those problems will be yours.
Many of these folks are intelligent enough to believe that they know everything. Some few realize that they don't. An even smaller number actually do know everything, or at least how to figure it out.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Should be Local Color....
In a slight departure from our usual NM stupid-tricks theme, here's a CA competitor:
Updated 8:33am, Tuesday, October 7, 2014
And a bonus photo of the female suspect.
Ross principal found with drugs, passed-out woman, police say
By Kale Williams
Updated 8:33am, Tuesday, October 7, 2014
 |
Thomas Price, 54, was arrested at a Rancho Cordova hotel on Friday, Oct. 3, 2014, after deputies said they found him in a room there with an unresponsive woman and large quantities of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Price is the principal of Branson High School in Ross.
Photo: Sacramento County Sheriff |
And a bonus photo of the female suspect.
Note to self, mugshots seldom do justice:
 |
Brittney Hall, 21, was arrested at a Rancho Cordova hotel on Friday, Oct. 3, 2014, after deputies said they found her unresponsive in a room in the company of Thomas Price, the principal of a private high school in Ross. Large quantities of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine were found in the room, police said.
Photo: Sacramento County Sheriff / Sacramento County Sheriff |
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
impending autumnal anxiety
Last Sunday morning I dreamed that my friend Jen and I had a baby. It was gestated in a water cooler like thing:
When the time came I somehow knew that I needed to disconnect the black vacuum cleaner hose that lead down to a drain in the floor:
And out spewed a damp lump of cloth and flesh. Yup...fully clothed, something like a well used doll that one would find in the Goodwill reject bin.
Like any good new Father I sorta paniced. I grabbed the baby and turned it over. She -- one of those things you just know in dreamland -- started breathing frantically, her stomach distending and reddening with each gasp.
I rushed into Jen's office -- apparently Jen worked though the entire pregnancy and birth -- thrust the child into her arms and told her she needed to feed the baby. She was unimpressed.
I only add this to my permanent record because Jen insisted that I keep track of our relationship's ups and downs.
When the time came I somehow knew that I needed to disconnect the black vacuum cleaner hose that lead down to a drain in the floor:
Like any good new Father I sorta paniced. I grabbed the baby and turned it over. She -- one of those things you just know in dreamland -- started breathing frantically, her stomach distending and reddening with each gasp.
I rushed into Jen's office -- apparently Jen worked though the entire pregnancy and birth -- thrust the child into her arms and told her she needed to feed the baby. She was unimpressed.
I only add this to my permanent record because Jen insisted that I keep track of our relationship's ups and downs.
Monday, September 8, 2014
first person shootees
Video Game Proposal
I discovered that "third person shooters" are a class of omnipotent view games where one gets to see those whom you kill from a global perspective. So I looked for "first person shootee" and found that it only exists as a typo on a sister blog here in the garble blogsphere or as score minus-one entry on the Worst 100 Computer Games of All Time:
-1. Suicide! (Dutchco, 1999)
This first-person-shooter / first-person-shootee game never gained wide acceptance due to lack of repeat customers.
Therefore I propose First Person Shootee as the latest new thang:
You start out cowering behind a wall or other simulacra of shelter ("you" can be set to any avatar, e.g., small child, wandering goat, or comely female; and "shelter" can be selected from a popup menu visible for two seconds at the start of the game). If you remain cowering you have a small chance of being blown apart by an errant mortar shell or eventually starving to death. Should you choose to make a run for a seemingly safer shelter there is an increasing chance of being hit by sniper fire. The faster you run the more frequent the fire. Once you have achieved safer shelter, say a school or hospital, it will be deemed to be an enemy gun emplacement and targeted by larger weapons. The game ends with you. It is played in real time.
I'm sure you will all thank me for this. Sometime. Later.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Local Color XVI
asshat division
Case# 0214013638 DWI
Deputy Assigned: Deputy Jared MosherCommander Entering: Lieutenant Joe McLaughlin
Location: Santa Fe County Detention Center
Vehicle: Black, 2003, Chevy, 2 door
Suspect: Marcos A. Deleon, 28, Santa Fe, NM
Charged: DWI, Providing Alcohol to Minors
On Tuesday, August 26, 2014 at 3:31 AM deputies responded to the location in regards to a call of the suspect driving to the location to post a bond and possibly being impaired. The suspect was found to be under the influence of an intoxicating liquor and had a Breath Alcohol Content of .08 or greater. The suspect also provided beer to the 19 year old male passenger in the vehicle.
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