Saturday, March 29, 2008

Yesh

I got to meet an Iraqi kitty that came back to the states with his hoomin. He ossim too. This clearly Intelligence hoomin who knows kitteh is Superior Being and should get pets. And cheezburger if PX has.

Humorous Pictures
see more crazy cat pics

Of course you realize, this means WAR



It's nearly April, for heaven's sake. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and I don't ever recall snow that stayed on the ground this late in the year. Yet the AGW folks are *convinced* we have rising global temperatures. I'll just send them my heating bill, then. And I'm having a bonfire this weekend. Feel free to join in. We obviously aren't polluting enough.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Happy Pi Day!

Secant, tangent, cosine, sine,
3.14159

Yay pi! See, it's March 14. 3.14, geddit?

What?

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Character is what you are in the dark

The Snarkatron's reaction to the latest sordid sex scandal is mixed. From the curious reticence of the Mainstream Media to mention Mr. Spitzer's political affiliation I rudely assume he is a Democrat. So yay, the sewage isn't in *my* house, but ick, it's still sewage. And the industrious members of the Fourth Estate seem to think my life would be a trial and not worth living if the latest details aren't shoved in my face with red banner headlines every 15 minutes. Come on, folks, this isn't the crash of the Hindenberg.

In between breathless updates about the party of the second part's MySpace page (0y...) we get Deep Thinkers and Pundits and other heavily-brained folk who opine on the legalization of prostitution (pro and con), is it really exploitation of Modern Women who Own their Bodies, and Men Have Urges. (No, really? Stop the presses! This is NEWS!)

The Snarkatron's opinion has not been asked, strangely enough, but here it is. Legalization of prostitution will not make a damn bit of difference, except hookers will get to experience twice as much government efficiency as the rest of us who merely have to deal with the Department of Motor Vehicles for licensing. It will still be a scandal for highly placed government officials to be found patronizing the ladies of negotiable affection, and the pro's won't exactly be taking out ads in the New York Times with their vital statistics and independently verified suction strength either.

It all has to do with respect. What does it say about a man who patronizes women who will only have sex with him if they are paid? Maybe he's so repulsive it's the only way he can get any. Maybe he just wants to have sex without having to pretend he gives a damn about how the woman feels. Maybe the cool chicks *he* thinks he rates can't see him with a telescope. (I am leaving out situations where the only women available are prostitutes, since all the others are hidden or locked up. This is about free actors on both sides.) Not very flattering to the man, any way you look at it. Especially in this modern day and age, with working birth control and other wonders, a reasonably polite, attractive man has other options that don't have a fee schedule. Then there's the women. I don't think we're ever going to get to the science fictional "socially acceptable courtesans". Prostitutes will always be looked at askance for the same reason you don't see hetero male prostitutes all over the landscape. Yes, women view sex differently than men. If a woman is paying for sex, to her way of looking at it she's already lost since it clearly isn't about the emotional connection, is it? In the same way, a woman *selling* sex isn't expecting an emotional connection either, and is also saying "I wouldn't do this guy if I wasn't getting paid". She doesn't respect herself, so why should anyone else? Please note I'm not saying prostitutes should be stoned or branded. Plain ole social stigma is all, just like for drug abusers and people who don't bathe.

Please. I don't WANT to know about your sex life! Really.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Power Windows

Sometimes your humble Snarkatron hears people complaining about how hard they have it, and just has to wonder. If you aren't being shot at, have a roof over your head and enough to eat (even if it isn't FairTrade/Organic/Free Range/Cruelty Free/Martian Friendly) an awful lot of people would like to trade places with you. Some people, it seems, can't be happy no matter what they have. Other people can be happy with very little. I've lived *officially* below the poverty line, in an apartment with cinderblock walls and linoleum floors. Most garages were nicer than that place (and sometimes the sink drain burbled up ... things ... I had never put down it) but it was clean, cheap, and the heat worked. I even had a cat who thought hunting the cockroaches was great fun. Since we both liked liver (he preferred his share raw) we could afford meat now and then too, when the Ramen noodles began to pall.

I live in a house that I own, now. Like the Obama's house that has been in the news of late, it has mahogany paneling--but there the resemblance ends. The guy who built my house back in 1935 *made* the paneling his own self. The only wine I have is Three Buck Chuck, and I sure don't have a thousand bottles of the damn stuff. I don't have, or want, cable, or air conditioning, or a host of other things I have been assured are "necessities". When I bought the house I didn't need to resort to dodgy financial arrangements, because (as a friend once described it) it "looked one step up from a crack house". Yeah, it needed a lot of TLC, but that was why I could afford it. What is all this whining about not having the time to get fresh fruit for the kids, or the hassle of picking them up from all their expensive lessons and how tired you get? I filled an entire construction dumpster (by hand) with siding I and my trusty crowbar pried off (by hand). THAT was work. I'm not a glutton for punishment, either. I couldn't AFFORD to hire anyone to do it for me. Ergo, I did it myself. See a pattern here?

And yet, I am happy. I like my life, and I look forward to puttering around my house and garden, seeing my friends, writing my books. I doubt I will ever earn as much as Michelle Obama does, and I don't mind. So why is she the bitter one?

Power Windows, the video.