
Have a great Sunday.
16 Sunday Apr 2017
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≈ Comments Off on Happy Easter 2017!
14 Friday Apr 2017
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≈ Comments Off on Rise of the Robots: Armed and Dangerous
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I can see it now. In the end it will be me versus these damned things up at the mountain retreat. Most of you will be long gone by then. We’ll have at it. They will win, ultimately. But, then, they won’t know what to do with all the cigars. Revenge….
Seriously, folks, do you really want the following mechanical monsters running loose at Epcot?
Humanoid robot F.E.D.O.R., set to fly into space in 2021, is now capable of shooting using both of his arms, according to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.
“The robot of the F.E.D.O.R. platform showed skills of firing using both arms. Currently the work on fine motor skills and decision algorithms is underway,” Rogozin wrote on his Twitter.
Tweeting, like Trump, … about killer robots from sci-fi. Except these are real – and improving daily. Armed, trigger-happy, ambidextrous droids, robotic tanks, Big Dog, the Terminator. Fun! “Tweet! Tweet!”

The Russians.
Some far-distant, android Sean Spicer will say the early robots weren’t that bad (compared to the latest AI monster): “At least F.E.D.O.R. didn’t use poison gas at Disney World; he used bullets…”
Do what you can. Resist and stuff….
14 Friday Apr 2017
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≈ Comments Off on On That White Privilege Thing
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App. State, civilization, Fred Reed, SJW, society, white privilege
Yesterday, I remembered once reading about “white privilege” at Appalachian State University. All schools, it seems, have a horde of SJWs hell-bent on pointing out privilege and whining about it. I though this particular story was interesting, because Boone. The resident multi-culti association put a display in the student center attacking straight, white, Christian men – all the rage, don’t you know.
I checked with their “diverse” school website and got a good chuckle. It’s nice that these hateful but generally harmless people are no longer confined to padded rooms in a hospital.
It was Fred Reed’s take on the matter, yesterday that made me remember the App. State episode.
Look around your university. Who do you see taking the hard subjects–math, chemistry, physics, engineering, philosophy, computer science? Whites and Asians…right? Are they the kind of people who complain constantly about White Privilege? You may notice a pattern here: Those who can, do. The rest bitch and moan.
How about your own classes? You are not blind. If you think for yourself, you can see who the smart ones are, and who are those getting a free ride. Usually, a free ride at your expense. Your professors will not want you to notice this either. The question is whether you have been so profoundly brainwashed that you cannot see the obvious.
Being very young, you will probably have little idea of the vast body of knowledge, won over millenia, behind all the things you take for granted. At your age, I didn’t either. It takes years to get a handle on things. It will be harder for you because your universities will discourage you from looking around you. But glance at the very partial list below (I paste from an ancient column of mine) to get an idea of what the white race has done over the centuries. You will never have heard of many of these things. And that is curious. While your nose is being rubbed into the virtues, often real, sometimes imagined, of other groups, your own race is seldom motioned except to revile it.
Euclidean geometry. Parabolic geometry. Hyperbolic geometry. Projective geometry. Differential geometry. Calculus: Limits, continuity, differentiation, integration. Physical chemistry. Organic chemistry. Biochemistry. Classical mechanics. The indeterminacy principle. The wave equation. The Parthenon. The Anabasis. Air conditioning. Number theory. Romanesque architecture. Gothic architecture. Information theory. Entropy. Enthalpy. Every symphony ever written. Pierre Auguste Renoir. The twelve-tone scale. The mathematics behind it, twelfth root of two and all that. S-p hybrid bonding orbitals. The Bohr-Sommerfeld atom. The purine-pyrimidine structure of the DNA ladder. Single-sideband radio. All other radio. Dentistry. The internal-combustion engine. Turbojets. Turbofans. Doppler beam-sharpening. Penicillin. Airplanes. Surgery. The mammogram. The Pill. The condom. Polio vaccine. The integrated circuit. The computer. Football. Computational fluid dynamics. Tensors. The Constitution. Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Aeschylus, Homer, Hesiod. Glass. Rubber. Nylon. Skyscrapers. The piano. The harpsichord. Elvis. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. (OK, that’s nerve gas, and maybe we didn’t really need it.) Silicone. The automobile. Really weird stuff, like clathrates, Buckyballs, and rotaxanes. The Bible. Bug spray. Diffie-Hellman, public-key cryptography, and RSA. Et cetera at great length.
If you talk about these things on campus, you will be called a “white supremacist.” This is silly. But calling you a racist is an effective way of making you shut up. Do you want to be supreme over anyone? I do not. Yet other races are proud of their achievements. Why should you not be? Ask where they would be without electricity, sterile water, telephones and–well, just about everything.
Fred points out that bragging is inappropriate – as is taking abuse for nothing. A little humble pride in achievement goes a long way. Maybe the others will be motivated to get off their low horse and excel. Maybe…

Nothing to see here. Just mean, old, white men at work, exploring the universe. Fred / NASA.
Of course, if the Apple State-ling Gang was really serious about doing something to terminate modern civilization white society, then they would join this yahoo in Minnesota.
Or, better yet, they could support these causes.
Or they could just shut the hell up. I suspect that is the native reaction around Boone. But, of course, I think, suspect,and type from privilege. Wonderful, wonderful, white privilege.
11 Tuesday Apr 2017
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Little known fact: Perrin is (was) obsessed with flying cars. I have studied these concepts (they’re never anything more than a concept) for over 25 years. Every two or three years it’s the same thing: “The Flying Car is Here! Today! Err…Tomorrow! Soon…ish…. sometime. Sometime soon, maybe in a year or 40….” Like this, today:
IF flying cars are the future, the future is right now.
The first ever production-ready flying car is due to be shown off later this month at the world’s most exclusive supercar show – Top Marques Monaco.
Why chose between driving or flying when you could do both?
Built by Slovak pioneering company AeroMobil, the vehicle was first revealed as a concept in 2014, and now a much improved version is ready for the world’s richest to take for a spin and purchase if they wish.
Fully functional as both an aircraft and a four-wheeled car, it is powered by hybrid propulsion, with wings sweeping back against the body when the vehicle is in driving mode.

The Sun.
“If”. If is the worst, damnedest word in the all of auto-aviation. “The future is here, today! Well, today is next month at the auto show … where the think will be a mock-up. Flight testing in 2019. On sale in 2022 2260 never….”
Spare me. That thing looks cool, much like the Moller Skycar … in 1990…

Never. Took. Off. Moller / Wikipedia.
I’m waiting patiently as I have for the past 1,000 years or so. In spite of my (what?) 1,000,000+ miles driving experience, I really, really hate traffic. That, coupled with my rudimentary and aging flying skills, make me the perfect driver/flyer for this, the Moller, or anything else that will get me up over and off of the Interstates.
Must I duct tape a hang-glider to a dirtbike or something?
How about this?

This will probably fly first.
*The ready solution is a Cessna and a rental car. Plausible, yes. But the flying car is – well, it’s the all in one package.
10 Monday Apr 2017
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≈ Comments Off on Words of the Day
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GAMMONACIOUS: something duplicitous. “The Gammonacious-faced political scum in Washington bleed us dry”.

This and 14 other words of the double meaning.
You’re welcome. You’re welcome.
08 Saturday Apr 2017
Posted in News and Notes, Other Columns
Here’s one more terrifying reason to speed up that planned visit to Orlando or Anaheim: the robots are coming.
Soft-body robots could someday be roaming Disney theme parks, playing animated, humanoid movie characters and interacting with visitors.
A new patent application by the entertainment giant doesn’t name specific characters, but it describes “designing a robot that will move and physically interact like an animated character.”
A prototype sketch filed with the patent application shows a round body, echoing the shape of the Baymax soft-robot character in Disney’s 2014 movie “Big Hero 6.” The application, and theme park observers, say the big issue for robotic interaction is safety. The document, dated Thursday, shows Disney research scientists in Pittsburgh have worked on prototypes identified only as “soft body 300” or “soft body 1000.”
“It’s hard to know why Disney decides to file for a patent, but they have been looking at soft-body robots since ‘Big Hero,’” said theme park writer Jim Hill. “Disney is still terrified that even with this soft technology, a robot could accidentally harm a child. They do a lot of testing.”
Some corrections: First, the droids are coming, period – no “could someday” about it. And no one is terrified, though they should be. The Disney men, Walt and Roy, are long gone. The people in charge now care more about your money than your kids’ experience or anything else.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of human Goofies, Donalds, and Princess Jasmines will be out of work. Ticket prices will rise. Lines will be long. Some kids will probably be eaten…

Pinterest.
I warned you…
06 Thursday Apr 2017
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≈ Comments Off on Par Three Wednesday, 2017
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Alas … there was no Par Three Contest this year! Yesterday’s weather terminated activities around Noon. Dustin Johnson went home only to find a banana peel on the stairs…
Well, here’s a look back at Par Threes of the recent past:
Oh, weather or not, I did run into Mrs. Par Three, 2017, last night:

There was that!
04 Tuesday Apr 2017
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The other evening, under the big tent at Hooters, I talked cigars with some gentlemen from Tampa. On one of the 300 or so big TeeVee screens the news lingered over Lexi Thompson’s tragic loss at the ANA Inspiration.
The stain that will always hang over this tournament is that for the third time in less than a year, one of golf’s major championships was marred by a rules situation that could have been avoided. This time, Thompson was the victim. It cost her a second title at the ANA, for moving her ball less than an inch.
Someone who apparently has little going on in their life sent an email to the LPGA fan website during Sunday’s final round, pointing out that Thompson had misplaced her marked ball on No. 17 in Saturday’s third round.
That email arrived as Thompson and Suzann Pettersen were on No. 9 on Sunday, playing in the final twosome of the day. Two rules officials went to the TV compound to study the tape and as Thompson walked off No. 12 green with a two-stroke lead, she was notified she’d been penalized four strokes.
Lexi lost as a result. Visibly shaken, she told an official, “that’s just ridiculous”. Maybe it was though I do not know the rules involved. Others agreed with her. Tiger Woods tweeted: “Viewers at home should not be officials wearing stripes. Let’s go @Lexi, win this thing anyway.”
ESPN described Tiger as another “victim” of the same scenario with a similar rule at the 2013 Masters. If I recall correctly, Tiger’s error was more egregious, an over-liberal placement drop. At the time some speculated he could have been disqualified.
Again, I don’t know the rules exactly. However, when it comes to ball placement I imagine they call for exactness and no moving, intentional or accidental. If this creates victims (and what doesn’t), then that’s for others to call. Things used to be different.
Another champion once succumbed to a tournament loss for nearly the exact same reason as Lexi. Bobby Jones lost the 1925 U.S. Open due to a one-stroke penalty. At some point Jones inadvertently moved his ball ever so slightly. It seems the same rules applied then as now.
The differences are several. In 1925 there was no risk of television interference. No viewers at home saw anything. In fact, no one saw anything period. Jones called the penalty on himself. “Praised for his classy move, Jones quipped, ‘You might as well praise me for not robbing banks.'”
Jones was no robber. Nor a victim. Things change.

All caught up in the rules of victimhood…
The good news in Augusta is that the John Daly just finally rolled up to Hooters yesterday. Rules or not, all is once again right.

Big John’s Big Bus.
02 Sunday Apr 2017
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≈ Comments Off on Cigar of the Year? LA FLOR DOMINICANA ANDALUSIAN BULL
This past week, on the recommendation of my tobacconist, I sampled the LFD Andalusian Bull.
The Bull was named Cigar Aficionado’s Cigar of the Year, 2016, and with good reason.
Andalusian Bull
Invoking the spirit of Spain’s famous Toreros, this cigar has character and flair in both its flavor and presentation. A Dark natural Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper covers some of the most powerful fillers and binder grown on our farm in the Dominican Republic. The flavors are complex, with a myriad of spices and a touch of sweetness creating an exquisite full-bodied smoking experience.

From my picture one can see that the Ecuadorian Corojo is nearly perfect – a little veiny – but spot on in supple appearance and construction. The taste, mated with those signature DR leaves, is a notch above impressive.
The hefty, if creative tapered, 6.5X64 stick is the creation of Litto Gomez. The leaf work yields consistent notes of woody, leathery smoke, punctuated with subtle hints of spice. The flavor picks up immediately upon the first puff and lasts until the last inch and a half.
I read somewhere the taste is bold (it is) and strong (true, though not overwhelming). What I got out of my test subject was a smooth strength with the various notes constantly blending in and coming through, noticeably but without fanfare. I call it a heavy-medium body. Again, it’s not something to knock the socks off, though it certainly does grab the attention. The draw and burn were utterly flawless, owing to the exquisite construction.
Had I a rating system, this one would qualify for my top mark. Let’s call it “excellent”. However, I am not sure about my pick as cigar of this year or last. Stiff competition abounds. I might, without insult to Litto nor pomp for Kaizad, rate the Gukha Cellar Reserve 18 a little better. But only a little and on a “might” basis.
The Bull recalled to my confused and blurred mind the LFD Coronado of yesteryear. I might also rate the old “Big C” a slight bit better – that may come from ten-year-old memories that I can’t quite now quantify. Anyway…before this devolves into another trip down the nostalgia trail:
Get one while you can. And if you can. The Bull is a very limited release. I don’t know the exact number but it is small. My lingering flagship store exhausted their only box as soon as it arrived. I’m not sure how the big super-shops in FLA fare – I’ll know this week. I have heard of shortages and resulting despair from Miami to D.C.
You’re on your own finding the experience. But, once you find it, you won’t be disappointed. Unlike so many “premium” orders, the $15-17 price tag (dependent on how greedy your state tax jurisdiction is) is actually worth it. And, that’s no bull…
01 Saturday Apr 2017
Posted in News and Notes, Other Columns
Washington, D.C. – In a move which surprised even some within the Administration itself, President Donald J. Trump tapped author and political forecaster Perrin Lovett as the incoming White House Press Secretary. Lovett is slated to replace the embattled Sean Spicer as early as next week.
Sources close to the President speculated that Mr. Trump wanted someone in the position who would engage the press corps a bit more combatively. “Sean says crazy things, alright,” mused Steve Bannon, “I think what [Trump] wants is crazy and dangerous…”

Okay, the good news is that this is as much of a corny April Fools spoof as you’ll get, here, today. Happy April! This one almost didn’t happen…
The bad news is this is all your getting.
Happy April.
-P
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