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Richard Addinsell - Warsaw Concerto

Classical Music is sometimes thought of as a dusty relic of history.  It's not.  It's alive and well in Hollywood (or in the case of today's selection, the UK's Sheparton Studios).

(Image source)

1941 was the golden age of wartime propaganda films.  While the Nazi examples have faded from memory (except for Leni Reifenstahl's), the American and British ones brought us great music.  The ultimate American example is without doubt Casablanca, with When Time Goes By.  The more formal British gave us Dangerous Moonlight, and the Warsaw Concerto.

The studio wanted Rachmaninoff, but he wouldn't sign the contract.  The approached English composer Richard Addinsell, asking him to write something "like Rachmaninoff".  As the RAF might have said, Mission Accomplished.  Or more likely, Jolly Good Show.

Today, this is mostly forgotten, which is a shame.  But Mom hasn't forgotten it, and suggested it for today's post.  Not only is this a full service blog, it's a full service blog powered by most of the Borepatch clan.  Jolly good show, old chap ...



Here's a scene from the film Dangerous Moonlight:

Stalin was a Yankee fan? Who knew?

I mean, other than Hitler.



It seems that Hitler is not happy that Terry Francona is gone, but at least he doesn't have to see J.D. Drew in a Red Sox uniform again.  And quite frankly, Hitler (and Stalin) would have had Lackey and his $40M contract liquidated.

Somewhat NSFW, but epic nonetheless.

What causes a scientific paper on storm damage caused by Global Warming to be rejected by a Journal, as needing a "major revision"?

It's a trick question.  Orthodox papers by the friends and supporters of the IPCC would never have been rejected.

And Deniers Skeptics those not friends and supporters of IPCC orthodoxy won't be told what it is they have to revise.

Wow.  Good thing that the CRU's Dr. Jones was able to get the editor of Geophysical Research Letters fired a few years ago.  Who knows what might have been published under those arbitrary standards?

Will every Progressive who ever spoke the words "Republican war on science" please shut up and sit down in the back of the room?  Grown ups are talking.

Math FTW!

This just cracks me up.

The incomprehensibility of "the other"

Interesting, and true:

• The honest liberals want to protect the weak, and find libertarian and conservative ideals indistiguishable for their lack of protection of the weak.
• The honest conservatives want to preserve the good we have now, and find liberal and libertarian ideals indistinguishable for their lack of preservation of the current good.
• The honest libertarians want to enhance liberty, and find liberal and conservative ideals indistinguishable for their lack of freedom.

There's a lot more, all food for thought.

Trace Adkins - Just Fishin'

(Image source)

#1 Son beat me bowling last night.

When we lived in Georgia ten years ago - when the kids were small - we loved bowling.  One of my fondest memories as a Dad is a dozen six-year-olds doing the Y-M-C-A song at a Cosmic Bowl birthday party.


#1 Son is between quarters in College, and has been visiting me here in Austin at Forward Operating Base Borepatch.  It's been awesome.  It's more than just having someone here for company; we've done the things as father and son that I had almost given up hope of ever doing, in a strange time not so very long ago.  Drinking beer together.  Getting snow cones, for old time's sake.  Cooking dinner together.

These moments mean a lot to me, partly made sweeter from those lost moments in the past, partly bitter sweet from the realization that he's a man now, and there won't be as many of these.  These moments are fleeting.  Seize the day.

Trace Adkins has a song that captures the emotions of this moment.  #1 Son is grown to manhood, and I think feels this in his gut.  Those of you with smaller children are blessed with the ability to watch them while they're still outside of that flow of time.  When they still see you as Mom or Dad, not as that person who is not always who you'd like to be.

When they think they're just fishing.  Or doing the Y-M-C-A song.  Or maybe, beating you at bowling for the first time.



Just Fishin' (Songwriters: Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell, Ed Hill)

I’m lost in her there holdin’ that pink rod and reel
She’s doin’ almost everything but sittin’ still
Talkin’ ‘bout her ballet shoes and training wheels
And her kittens
And she thinks we’re just fishin’

I say, “Daddy loves you, baby” one more time
She says, “I know. I think I got a bite.”
And all this laughin’, cryin, smilin’ dyin’ here inside’s
What I call, livin’

And she thinks we’re just fishin’ on the riverside
Throwin’ back what we could fry
Drownin’ worms and killin’ time
Nothin’ too ambitious
She ain’t even thinkin’ ‘bout
What’s really goin’ on right now
But I guarantee this memory’s a big’in
And she thinks we’re just fishin’

She’s already pretty, like her mama is
Gonna drive the boys all crazy
Give her daddy fits
And I better do this every chance I get
‘Cause time is tickin’
(Yeah it is)

And she thinks we’re just fishin’ on the riverside
Throwin’ back what we could fry
Drownin’ worms and killin’ time
Nothin’ too ambitious
She ain’t even thinkin’ ‘bout
What’s really goin’ on right now
But I guarantee this memory’s a big’in
And she thinks we’re just fishin’

She ain’t even thinkin’ ‘bout
What’s really goin’ on right now
But I guarantee this memory’s a big’in
And she thinks we’re just fishin’
Yeah, aww, she thinks we’re just fishin’
We ain’t only fishin’
(This ain’t about fishin’)

The young lady in the video is Adkins' youngest daughter, Trinity.

Fixed iit for ya

Progressives are complaining that companies are sitting on higher than normal amounts of cash.  Progressives seem to think that making companies spend this (to get the economy going, natch) or confiscating it (so that government can spend it to get the economy going, natch) is what every "Smart" person would want to do.

Fortunately, we have Sonic Charmer to 'splain it to them:

I think this is a case of what, I assume, are basically correct facts (companies holding lots of cash) being misdiagnosed. Let me try to help by suggesting that instead of ‘piles of cash’ we all start thinking of that cash as a rainy-day fund.

Now restate the complaint: lots of companies are holding larger-than-normal rainy-day funds. The good thing about this construction is that it naturally leads to a question: Why?

There’s only one rational answer: Because they think they might need it. But why would they think that?

Again, the answer is almost obvious: Because in their estimation, they are likely to face larger costs and/or smaller profit margins down the road.

What, I wonder, could possibly give companies that idea? Could it have something to do with – current government policy?

Read the whole thing for the whole delicious mockery.  Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm (Barack Obama!).

Drug dealers yes; medical marijuana users no

The ATF has an interesting idea of which people should be allowed to buy guns.

Now let's think about this for a second.  Seriously ill people, weak from chemotherapy, with a prescription from a doctor for a drug that can help them counter the terrible effects of their treatment - and which drug is attractive to shady, underworld thugs - no, those people are a serious risk to the community.

Selling guns to drug dealers, on the other hand, is the shiznit.  Just another day in the Bureau.

I think I know where we can find $1,147,295,000 to reduce the deficit.

Seriously, there are too many people working there, and especially too many stupid people working there.  Government employment should not be a subsidy to stupid people.  Just sayin'.

Shana Tova

To my Jewish readers, let me just say Ketiva ve-chatima tovah! כתיבה וחתימה טובה

May the New Year - and the philosophical reflections on the New Year - be rewarding to us all.

Thinking about .303 Brit

You will know that I'm shooting this regularly when you see ads go up here to help finance my shooting habit.  Ouch.

I have to say, though, that it's cool to shoot a rimmed rifle cartridge.  It feels so Old School and retro.  Of course, if I got a Moisin-Nagant, I'd be paying half as much for rimmed Commie surplus rimmed rifle ammo.  With whopping great fireballs at the end of the muzzle.

And you can pick them up for a buck and a quarter.  I guess this might be my next addition to the gun safe ...

Why do environmentalists hate the environment?

I mean, clear cutting old forest in Vermont?

Some well spoken and well meaning opposition to a wind power project in northeastern Vermont today in the New York Times. At issue is whether the clean electricity that would be generated from Kingdom Community Wind project in Lowell, and its planned 21 turbines totaling 63 MW, stretched across 3 miles of ridgeline, is enough of an environmental benefit to offset the environmental impact of building it.

...

This discussion of the appropriateness of any development in sensitive environmental areas for clean power is certainly a widespread one--Earth First! has protested wind power projects in the Maine wilderness, there's been well-publicized protest of planned solar power plants in sensitive areas of California, and don't forget the opposition to Cape Wind. It's bound to be a growing one too, and one which requires some hard situational thinking. On different projects I personally come down on different sides of the issue.

In this case, it's quite true that development of wind power projects along Vermont's iconic Green Mountain ridges will seriously change the landscape.

Gee, ya think?

Here's a thought for the folks over at Tree Hugger: T. Boone Pickens is on the side of the windmills.  Have you thought what the corporate connections might be?  Hint: corporate profit is involved.

Me, I don't actually have a problem with corporate profit.  Taxing the poor and middle class to subsidize corporate boondoggles that require raping the pristine wilderness so that the middle classes and poor can pay higher electricity bills?  Yeah, I have a problem with that.

But then, I'm a 1970s style leftie, one who thinks that our governmental policies shouldn't hurt the poor or the environment.  I guess that these days, that makes me a wingnut.

Quote of the Day - First Amendment edition

Ken at Popehat, as is his wont, brings the snark about the University of Wisconsin's censoring of a professor's Firefly poster that he had hung on his office door.  The snark is directed at the UW Chancellor's pathetic public response:

If your “UW System Legal Counsel” told you that these posters could be censored based on their content, then stop hiring lawyers out of the back of a bait shop.

Actually, legal counsel found in the back of a bait shop would likely be an upgrade for the University of Wisconsin.

Facebook is twitchy over privacy and security

It seems that they have a Quick Reaction PR team in place, to dispute claims that they're cavalier about their user's security.  Like leaving behind cookies that can track the web pages you visit even after logging out:

Cubrilovic’s conclusion after examining the behavior of Facebook’s cookies is simple: “Even if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit.”

This is because instead of telling browsers to remove cookies when users log out, Facebook merely "alters" the state of those little parcels of data – including the cookie that stores your account number.

As a result, if you happen to pass by a page with a Facebook “like” button, "share" button, “or any other widget”, your information – including your account number – will be sent back to Facebook. And if you log into Facebook from a public terminal, those cookies could be left behind.

Enter the Facebook PR Ninja Strike team, with a quiver of denial:

In a comment on Cubrilovic's blog, a Facebook engineer – identifying himself as staffer Gregg Stefancik – said that “our cookies aren’t used for tracking”, and that “most of the cookies you highlight have benign names and values”.

"Generally, unlike other major internet companies, we have no interest in tracking people," the insider added.

[*COUGH* Google! *COUGH*]

Interesting that Facebook is getting edgy when people point out Yet Another Privacy Fail.  Interesting that they do it so quickly.  Interesting that they call out Google.

I almost never use Facebook.  Are they tracking my surfing?  Dunno.  In the past, they're been entirely cavalier about their user's privacy, and Mr. Stefancik doesn't actually dispute Cubrilovic’s claim.  A non-denial denial, if you will.

Me?  I don't trust them, based on their past behavior.  Your mileage many vary, void where prohibited, do not remove tag on penalty of law.

Interlude

For #2 Son.

The Man who knew too much, didn't

G.K. Chesterton famously told a parable in The Thing:

In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, "I don't see the use of this; let us clear it away." To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: "If you don't see the use of it, I certainly won't let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it."

This paradox rests on the most elementary common sense. The gate or fence did not grow there. It was not set up by somnambulists who built it in their sleep. It is highly improbable that it was put there by escaped lunatics who were for some reason loose in the street. Some person had some reason for thinking it would be a good thing for somebody. And until we know what the reason was, we really cannot judge whether the reason was reasonable. It is extremely probable that we have overlooked some whole aspect of the question, if something set up by human beings like ourselves seems to be entirely meaningless and mysterious. There are reformers who get over this difficulty by assuming that all their fathers were fools; but if that be so, we can only say that folly appears to be a hereditary disease.

This is an argument that Progressives love to ignore, because it is a direct attack on their perceived intelligence.  Can't have that.

But the historical result of Progressive policy prescriptions is a never ending recital of unintended consequences.  Advantage: Chesterton it would seem.

Eric Raymond has a very thought provoking post about what sexual liberation has done to women:

Women are hypergamous. They want to marry men who are bigger, stronger, higher-status, a bit older, and a bit brighter than they are. This is massively confirmed by statistics on actual marriages; only the “a bit brighter” part is even controversial, and most of that controversy is ideological posturing.

OK, so what happens when women get educated, achieve economic equality, etcetera? Their pool of eligible hypergamic targets shrinks; the princess marrying the swineherd is a fairytale precisely because it’s so rare. More women seeking hypergamy from a higher baseline means the competition for eligible males is more intense, and womens’ ability to withold sex vanishes even supposing they want to. Thus, college campuses today, and plunging marriages rate tomorrow.

The question becomes: what are we going to give up? Family formation? Sexual equality? Sexual liberty?

The whole thing is very thought provoking, and is entirely unconsidered by the last generation of Progressives.  They tore down a gate because it was inconvenient.  None of them foresaw where we've ended up.

But don't forget, they're smarter that you or I.  And they have women's real interests at heart.  If those interests include a lack of marriage prospects and a lifetime of loneliness, then eggs, omelets.

What's the solution?  Beats me.  I don't understand where all these dang gates came from.  Besides, I'm clearly a Thought Criminal and an Enemy Of The State.

Note: Yes, this wasn't from The Man Who Knew Too Much.  I was going for the post title.

How about those Red Sox?

This is the strangest season I can remember.  Their April opening month was the worst I can remember.  Their summer was spectacular, perhaps the best I can remember.

And their September flame out was equally spectacular, and maybe the most spectacular I can remember.  And I can remember a lot of Red Sox September flame outs.

With two games left and the Sox tied with Tampa for the wild card, it's over.  Tampa is 6-4 in their last ten games.  The Sox are 2-8.  Confidence does not remain high.

What a weird season.

All work and no play

It makes Borepatch a boring blogger.  The problem with conference calls with Europe is that they start early in the morning.  The problem with conference calls with Asia is that they start in the evening.

Blogging will catch up, but Lord it was a long day.

Quote of the Day: Class Warfare edition

Ouch:

Warren Buffet has figured it out. What you do is, you write an op-ed pleading for the government to go and take more money away from people who are on the order of ten thousand times less wealthy than yourself. Progressives, having evidently taken sides in the perennial war of the uber-rich against the merely nouveau-riche and upwardly-mobile, will applaud the idea and fawn all over you for your selflessness in asking the government to go and get more money from other, poorer people.

Ouch.  All I can say is that this is just one more demonstration that Progressives are cheap and easy.  Tell them they're pretty and that their policy prescriptions are so hot, and you're getting lucky.