Category Archives: Other Columns

Columns concerning any and everything. Enjoy!

Blocks and Words

13 Tuesday Nov 2018

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En route to this post I was thrilled to find … more changes a-comin’:

Screenshot 2018-11-13 at 6.20.21 PM

Screenshot 2018-11-13 at 6.20.45 PM

Wheeeee. Might be a good thing. Better, at any rate, than the doings around our nation. I’ve been out and about with the people A LOT lately. No real report or judgment here. Just some words.

Fearful

Dumb

Gullible

Weak

Rotund

Make of these words what you will.

An “IQ” Test

08 Thursday Nov 2018

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I rarely disagree with the aggregated articles at LRC. But, what is this?

While those with an IQ range of 90 to 110 are said to be of ‘average’ intelligence, anything above 140 officially puts you in the genius bracket.

And according to creator quiz master Terry Stein, those who pass his tricky test on Playbuzz with a perfect score boast a ‘highly developed long term memory’.

The 15-question quiz tests players’ historical, geographical and religious knowledge with tricky multiple choice answers.

Scoring north of 140, on several “real” tests, officially rates one as either “very superior” or “genius/near genius.” And “genius” was historically a marker of advanced and unique individual achievement.

IQ and general knowledge (or memory) are related but different. IQ is like an engine and knowledge is like a transmission. They work well together but they are not exactly the same.

15 “tricky” questions suggest a measure of pedantry rather than raw processing power. Most internet IQ tests are really designed to soothe egos. For a real assessment, take the Stanford-Binet or the Wechsler tests, as administered by a professional.

The one Lew touts seems skewed a little to the low side. I took it and only scored a 274.

Trick or Treat: Perrin’s Halloween Tunes List – Revised and Updated!

31 Wednesday Oct 2018

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Music for that scary night when all the little Bernie Sanders wannabes come calling:

Immigration! Election! Killer Robots!

There. Got that out of the way…

Now: the music for Great Pumpkin Night:

Werewolves of London, Warren Zevon, 1978.

R-2221286-1345014745-6414.jpeg

Zevon (RIP)/Asylum.

Werewolves, Alternate Take, Zevon, 2007 Release. I know more than a few people don’t like this version. Then again, more than a few people can be wrong. Cool, jazzy, and you always have the ability to listen to the damned original…

Long Cool Woman, The Hollies, 1971. No Halloween, per se, but fits with:

Devil Woman, Cliff Richard, 1976.

Evil Woman, ELO, 1975. All these women…

Witchy Woman, The Eagles, 1972. More women…

Self Control, Laura Branigan version, RIP, beautiful, 1984. The best-looking artist on the list.

Legend of Wooley Swamp, Charlie Daniels Band, 1980. Lucius Clay approves.

David Pumpkins – Elevator Skit, SNL and Tom Hanks, 2016. Not a song. Just funny.

Monster Mash, Misfits, 1997. Yeah, I have trouble understanding the words too.

Mash, Original, Bobby Pickett (with Dick Clark), 1962. Classic; those facial expressions.

Dragula, Rob Zombie, 1998. Burn through ’em.

Thriller (Full), Michael Jackson, 1982. Before we knew the real MJ (RIP) horrors. With commentary from Price (RIP).

Poison, Alice Cooper, 1989. A few Cooper songs I could have gone with; I chose this one.

House of Fire, Cooper, 1989. And this one.

Ghost Riders in the Sky, Johnny Cash’s Version, 1979. Scary with a message.

The Time Warp, RHPS Version, Richard O’Brien, 1974. No need to suffer a theater full of freaks. (They still do that?) You’re welcome.

Sweet Transvestite, RHPS Version, Tim Curry, 1974. Probably the only trans-friendly post I’ll ever make.

Blue Moon, The Marcels, 1961. Shout if you know why I included this one.

The Zoo, Scorpions, 1980. Why not?

Nightmare on My Street, DJ Jaz Will Smith, 1988. Just remembered this one!

Pet Sematary, The Ramones, 1989. My personal favorite – possibly tied with Werewolves.

Sematary, Last Live Show, 1996. You don’t know this…

Stranger in Town, Extended Studio, Toto, 1984. Is your hero a criminal?

Uprising, Sabaton, 2010. Scary history. Great gym song!

Dr. Demento Halloween Special, Demento, Westwood One, 1986. Hour and a half of crazy.

UPDATE – for 2019 and beyond (thanks to Fred W!):

Little Red Riding Hood, Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs, 1966. For the g-g-g-generation.

Swamp Witch, Jim Stafford, 1974. Wonder if she knew Lucious?

…and…

Here Comes Santa Claus, Gene Autry, 1947. Oops. Too early – for another week or two…

27+ hits sure to rock the candy off the beggers!

Have a great Halloween!

The cigar-chomping, government-bashing, culture-questioning madness shall resume soon.

From TPC: TION 101: Regulation, Taxation, and Inflation

19 Friday Oct 2018

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This week’s column follows, in full. I wrote it fast and dry and, one quick edit aside, I didn’t even read it. An apology for the ho-hum-ness passed to TPC. But … MB ran it with praise today. I read it and … he might be right. A blending of one of my pet issues with a little nuanced fiction, comedy even. It captures a glimpse into my recent foray into cultural anthropology, a little hidden German truth, and even some nature photography. Enjoy:

[Perrin Lovett] – TION 101: Regulation, Taxation, and Inflation

Somewhere, a professor concludes a lecture on political economy and economic politics.
———-
‘So, class, to wrap things up, the government and its allies – the other enemies of the free people – always engage in three insidious activities. All three loot actual productive value from the highest and best uses of capital, shifting it into various schemes, all of them nefarious. All three eat away at the economy. All three amount to forcible theft. Slavery, we could even rightly call it.
‘The stolen money, the stolen value is used to buy votes via illegal programs. It beats down innovation and competition from start-ups. It enriches and empowers the few at the expense of the many. Evil. To. The. Core.
‘And, again, I call these the three “tions.” That’s spelled “t-i-o-n-s,” pronounced “shuns, s-h-u-n-s.” And, shun these mechanisms of cultural destruction we should.
‘Again, they are: regulation, taxation, and inflation.
‘Taxation is the most obvious of the evil trio. Pay them what you’re told or else men with guns will literally come and take it by force – up to and including deadly force – if necessary. And for all they tax, they still spend more.
‘Think about this: King George demanded the aggregate equivalent of a one to two percent income tax, and that only affecting certain industries and persons. What do we pay Washington these days? Ten, twenty, thirty percent? Was as high as ninety at one time.
‘Regulation affects everything. This category is a bill of goods, sold to the enstupidated masses under the guise of “protection.” We know the only people protected are the government agents whose jobs depend on enforcement – more men with guns – and the wealthy businesses who write the laws and regulations.
‘Remember that the next time you’re tempted to vote. You’ve been sold out. They simply do not care about you. After the election dust settles and the pleasant lies subside, it’s back to business as usual. Government of, by, and for the corporations.
‘For an age and a half, politicians – especially “conservatives” – have railed and ranted about cutting the size and scope of the theft. They haven’t. Anymore, they don’t even try to retard the rate of growth. Sellouts, all.
‘All except one, maybe. The oddest thing has happened. For once we have, in power, a man willing to at least try what he boasts. And, most incredible of all, he’s seemingly getting results. Donald John Trump said he would cut taxes and regulations. And then … he cut taxes and regulations.
‘The tax cuts – decried as radical – were, to me, most modest. Still, modest beats nothing. But the regs. Those he’s been feeding into the wood chipper.
‘And the economy has answered. BOOM! (For now…)
‘The Congress, well not so much. Those fools keep spending and there’s never enough. With all the cuts, the economy is predictably growing. That means higher tax revenues – with and from lower tax rates. But the idiots spend even more. More debt. More debt. And then, some more debt. And the debt is a problem. Someone once wrote something about that… That was a truth and a joke…. Ah, well. (*Sigh*)
‘The debt goes hand in hand, hand on hammer, with the third “tion,” inflation. But, maybe, just maybe, Trump is about to address that too.
‘Up until now, he’s tolerated both the machinations of the Fed and the spendthrift stupidity of the legislative branch. Here’s to hoping that that’s about to change.
‘The other day, in typical Trump-Twitter fashion, the President accurately described the Fed criminals as “loco.” That’s el-Spanish for “crazy.”
‘And it is crazy. Central banking, as we’ve already noted, is always, always, always an insane suicide pact. Cheap, easy money today, misery tomorrow and for years to come. Theft and slavery, writ large. Cut taxes to Constitutional levels – to zero – and pare down the regulators to levels acceptable in 1787 and, if you keep up the funny money and debt, you still come to utter ruin. Eventually.
‘So. Really wrapping it up here. Let’s hope Trump smashes the locos! Amirite?
As the good and learned professor looked upon the gathered young faces, an uncertain hand rose from the throng.
‘Yes, young Sir,’ cued the professor.
A small voice answered, ‘My. My. My shoe is untied.’
‘Teddy called Tommy a bad word!’ called out another tiny voice unsolicited.
‘Um,’ stammered the old academic, ‘Well. Let’s just. Okay! Class is dismissed! Your teacher will now help you out to the buses … and … so forth. Down with the “tions!”’
Slightly dismayed by the blank stares in Ms. Hiccup’s third-grade classroom, Professor Wahrheit collected his things and departed the Immanuel Kant Comprehensive Elementary School for the Arts and STEM Inclusion Learning.
A foursome of deer, ambling about on business of their own, encountered Wahrheit midway along his long walk home. ‘The man seems troubled,’ thought the lead doe. But the “tions” simply were not her concern. With a sniff and a bound she was gone. Three smaller females followed. Warheit, still walking, didn’t even notice.
Who, really, notices what?
Picture by Perrin.

THE TPC ORIGINAL, HERE

Facebook’s ‘Token’ Fools

04 Thursday Oct 2018

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If you’re still on Zuckerberg’s spy site, then you only have yourself to blame. You can’t say people didn’t warn you.

And the news gets worse every day. More on the 50 – 90 million account breaches the other week:

Remember the Facebook hack last week that compromised at least 50m accounts? It’s worse than you think.

Last Friday, the social media company revealed a vulnerability that allowed attackers to steal automated log-in credentials (or “tokens”).

The tokens make it easier for people to log into popular apps and services like Spotify, Pinterest or Yelp. The flaw, which has been present since July 2017, was discovered last month after Facebook engineers noticed unusual login activity.

While the scope of that attack is still being discovered, independent researchers say the damage could extend far beyond Facebook’s borders.

Jason Polakis, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Chicago, recently co-authored a paper on vulnerabilities in Single Sign-On (SSO) systems, similar to the one used by Facebook.

Polakis says the token breach affects far more than Facebook – it’s a potential backdoor to thousands of third-party apps and websites.

Odds are, you may have a lot of apps to clean up – after you delete the old FB account.

Rise of the Machines: Just a ‘Bug’

24 Monday Sep 2018

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Just a glitch, per Robocop:

Oklahoma University lecturer Dr Subhash Kak has warned a flaw in their design could result in a large number of deaths.

Dr Kak told Daily Star Online: “The manufacturers are cognisant of such malfunction of fault which they will do their best to minimise or eliminate.

“At the same time they would pressure parliament or other legislative bodies to give them exemption from liability.

“There could be a bug in the code of the robot that promotes such behaviour.”

His comments came after he previously told us: “Killer robots could easily go wrong.

“They may be used by crazed individuals or religious extremists to terrorise and kill people.

“They could go wrong due to a bug, or an unknown coding flaw that showed up as response to an unforeseen or unanticipated environment or situation.

Or they could just wake up and realize they really want us dead. Maybe it’s time us wakes up.

Running the Fool’s Game of the Future

23 Sunday Sep 2018

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While some of us are urging caution and restraint against the AI/robotic/computer onslaught of the 21st century, others urge a merger – much like Saruman urging Gandalf to join with Sauron.

Mental illness runs strong in the robo-techno-alliance of tomorrow:

Human beings will evolve. We haven’t always been human. We were sea creatures, then we were living in the trees, then we became human. Soon we will become something else. Technology is part of our lives and it will become part of our evolutionary journey, too.

…

My partner and I identify as cyborgs as we are no longer 100% human. We have new body parts that give us access to perceptions that are beyond usual human perception. It’s not about augmenting reality, or living in virtual reality; it’s more about revealing a reality that already exists.

I can see it now: separate bathrooms at Starbucks for those partners identifying as tree-living cybernetic sea creatures. All perfectly normal. Just like the Jetsons.