Isaac Schrödinger

How to survive

What to do when robots go insane?

My solution is simple: ammo. Lots of ammo.

Egyptians love slavery

Pew Global via Micheal Totten:

Egyptians clearly want Islam to play a role in shaping the nation’s laws – indeed, a majority says Egypt’s laws should strictly adhere to the Quran. And most say they see Saudi Arabia as a model for the role of religion in government, rather than more secular Turkey.

61% of Egyptians consider Saudi Arabia to be a role model for their own society. The Muslim Brotherhood has a lot of potential supporters.

Work and no play

Started at my job around 8 a.m. Finished after 8 p.m. 

It's amazing how much reading and blogging I used to do before my full-time job. Now, at the end of the day I just want to listen to music or watch a TV show. Thinking requires too much effort.

I feel old.

Smash!

$200 million in three days for The Avengers.

Damn.

Be not raciss!

Instructors provide more positive, and thus useless, feedback to minority students than to white students:

"The social implications of these results are important; many minority students might not be getting input from instructors that stimulates intellectual growth and fosters achievement," notes Harber. "Some education scholars believe that minorities under-perform because they are insufficiently challenged -- the 'bigotry of lowered expectations,' in popular parlance," he explains. "The JEP study indicates one important way that this insufficient challenge might occur: in positively biased feedback," according to Harber.

It's funny that teachers behave in this extra-favorable manner largely so that others don't accuse them of being biased. If they weren't super nice to blacks or hispanics, then obviously they'd be racist.

Link via Instapundit.

The Tobacco Nanny

Ezra Levant talks about cigarettes.

The Avengers!

I watched it. Marvel's risky strategy has paid off. The movie was immensely entertaining. There were many good parts; both in terms of dialogue and action.

The first hour can at times seem sluggish as there's a fair amount of setup and exposition that needs to be endured. And there are times during the final battle when the special effects take over and things edge toward Bay's fetishistic fascination with hardware over everything else. Yet those are isolated moments in a jaw-droppingly intense 50-minute battle royale (with cheese). Every hero gets his/her time to shine, although some shine more brightly than others.

The Hulk got tremendous applause just moments after Dr. Banner shared his secret and later the audience was laughing out loud when he faced the main villain.

Another part I liked was just before the movie had started: the new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises.

Is the BBC raciss?

Mail Online:

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen claims the BBC have placed a ban on his latest character from new film The Dictator.

The 40-year-old alleged that top TV and radio shows have all mysteriously pulled out of talks over interviewing him as Colonel Gaddafi-style leader Admiral General Aladeen.

The Dictator is not amused:

While I am a huge admirer of state-sponsored censorship, the BBC banning me from their meagre channels is an outrage.

One very frustrated cat

The kid is completely oblivious.

The composite girlfriends

One of the most cruel comments evar!

Plus, from the comments: “Similarly, the dog he ate was a composite too. It wasn’t one dog, it was an amalgam of many breeds, like casserole.”

Eew! Damn you brain for showing me a combination of siberian huskies, golden labs / retrievers, German shepards ... all chopped up!

Eew.

Leading to the house

Excellent use of dodging and burning in this photo.

Finis justice

This news out of Finland sounds insane:

According to the Finnish justice system, you might as well get used to the reality of being found guilty of a ‘crime’ for merely defending yourself during an attack, if you ever have the misfortune of encountering one, or just succumb to your attacker willingly, with hope of coming out of it alive…and not being brought up on charges.

Recognizing the poison

It is exceedingly rare to find a Muslim who doesn't reflexively support the Muslim world (the ummah) over the "evil" West. Hassan Nisar is that guy. Watch the video. The audio is in the Urdu language. The subtitles are mostly correct; there are a few minor errors but none of them alter the essence of what he said.

Related: My dad worked in Saudi Arabia for three decades. Upon his retirement, the Arabs told him to go back to his country. He wasn't allowed to buy a small property in Saudi Arabia and live there in his old age. The Saudis thought it a smart idea to give a large sum of retirement cash to a law abiding fellow and then kick him out of the country.

I had been in Canada for less than 10 years when complete strangers donated money to me so that I could hire a lawyer who would fight on my behalf. After a bit over 10 years here, I became a Canadian citizen.

The contrast between the pious Muslims and the wicked infidels is very stark.

Have a nice day!

Crazy Russian always entertains.

The balloon slayer

How long till the lightsaber?

Fading lithium-ion

That's right:

According to battery-testing firm Cadex Electronics, a fully charged lithium-ion battery will lose about 20 percent of its capacity after a year of typical storage. Increase the temperature to just above 100 degrees Fahrenheit—as in a hot attic, for example—and that number is 35 percent.

I bought a laptop for work two years ago. At the time I got a nice 5 hours of battery life. Last year, the time dropped to 4 hours. This month, the battery is running out of juice in about 3 hours. A software included in the laptop states that the battery has basically degraded to around 60% of its original capacity.

It sucks but that's just the nature of lithium-ion.

Link via Instapundit.

An unattractive scrap of paper

Alpha Game:

the possession of education credentials is increasingly likely to come hand-in-hand with debt, older marriage, and a reduced likelihood of having children. Since men primarily value youth, beauty, and fertility in a mate, and because people seldom advertise the extent to which they are in debt, it shouldn't be too hard to understand why a woman waving around her degree(s) is not merely a turn-off, but a material strike against her.

Just as there are many men who don't understand what attracts women, there are also many women who simply don't understand men.

I finished my university degree at the age of 22. I have no desire for further "higher" education. However, I know multiple women who're still studying till their late 20s and beyond. The whole situation has two odd features; a) the women think they're gaining prestige and becoming more attractive to men and b) the women also think highly of themselves and do not want a male partner who is not as well "educated" as them.

Such women lead miserable lives. If only universitites offered courses on the SMV ...

Look at that bokeh

Some rich and warm colors at the Venice Carnival.

No lassi for you!

Vox Day on Obama:

It confirms what many of his detractors, and increasing numbers of his former supporters, have long suspected about the man. While he is a United States citizen, he simply isn’t an American in the cultural or nationalist sense. He does not share the traditions, customs and fundamental perspectives of most of the people over whom he presides, which is why his administration has been one of the most bumbling, tone-deaf and obtuse in American history. He remains, at heart, a foreigner, a stranger in what to him will always be a strange land.

Very true. The hints have been like anvils. For example, the 57 US states, Marine corpses, and of course, spreading the wealth around.

Camel piss with lime

Vlad Tepes:

They really do believe everything written about Mohamed, and anyone with head full of sense who declares otherwise, is either intimidated or murdered into silence, with all four schools of Islamic jurisprudence nodding in agreement.

Compared to keeping women as slaves, murdering the Jews, rampant inbreeding, etc., I don't think drinking camel piss is a big deal.

Green is okay?

Some people are complaining about the green hue of the even generation Nikon cameras but Nikon states that the new greenish screen is more accurate. My question: Can't people make that judgement by themselves?

Nikon may well be correct but those who have an issue can surely check and see if Nikon's statement is in the right by simply comparing multiple images on the screen with reality. Perhaps, some like the blueish cool look compared to the greenish warm look.

Crazy women

Alpha Game:

I've written before about how women tend to treat those to whom they are close much worse than they treat complete strangers. This, of course, is one reason why female friendships seldom tend to last as long as male friendships do. I've never quite understood myself why women will make the effort to get all dolled up for the office or a girl's night out, only to swap it all for a bare face and the usual sweatpants when they get home in order to ensconce themselves in front of the television more comfortably.

I've also noticed this behaviour. It's thoroughly reprehensible.

The lassi confusion

Oh, this is gold:

One time Barack Obama went to an Indian restaurant and ordered the lassi. Was he ever disappointed when the waiter brought him a yogurt drink!

Click here for your lassi lesson.

First link via Instapundit.

Bad Economics

Vox Popoli:

In a free and well-governed society, exile is a punishment. In an unfree and misgoverned one, exile is impermissible. There is no stronger indication that America is no longer free than the fact that its leadership is seriously contemplating the idea of attempting to imprison its citizens within its borders.

That's one reason why increasing numbers of Americans are renouncing their citizenship. It's difficult to appreciate freedom when you feel like a slave.

Nikon D800E is here

It has started to show up with customers in the US and Europe. In fact, one guy sold his Nikon D800 (for a $2,000 profit!) and got a Nikon D800E.

PC trouble

My PC has been behaving most erratically since Saturday.

The pattern is simple. It crashes 60-90 minutes after boot up. I don't think I've seen so many blue screens of death (BSODs) before in my life.

I have not installed any software this month; so that's likely not the issue. I have tested the CPU and RAM and they seem to be fine. What's frustrating is that after wasting almost the entire weekend I still don't know the cause of the problem. Motherboard? Power Supply? A miserable SATA cable dying a slow, annoying death? Who knows!

I've got more work coming up at my workplace in the next three weeks and now I have to deal with this headache. So, blogging will be lighter that usual.

A smart frog

All that he (it?) is missing is the glasses.

Useful infidels

Daily Mail via Vlad Tepes:

A university is considering ending the sale of alcohol on campus due to concerns from Muslim students. London Metropolitan University could take action because a ‘high percentage’ of its students thought drinking was ‘immoral’, according to its vice chancellor.

I had to read the following twice to fully appreciate the utter absurdity of the "logic":

Professor Gillies said he would work with the student body to move towards having areas on campus where ‘one serves alcohol and others don't’, but could foresee a time when the university was an alcohol-free zone. He added: 'That's what education's actually about, modeling diverse behaviours so we create liberal students in a liberal intellectual environment.'

The fellow is quite, er, liberal with his language.

Rejecting the pink

I didn't wear any pink this Wednesday last. Quite a few people at my workplace wore pink to support anti-bullying.

I, of course, support bullies.

More on that from Mark Steyn:

In Thomas Arnold’s day, the object was to punish bullies, and teach their victims to stand up to them. Now a defensive and enfeebled educational establishment lets the bullies get on with it, and Dalton McGuinty’s ministry has decided everyone else should be taught how to be victims — or, at any rate, members of approved victimological identity groups. Gays? Sure. Muslims? You betcha. Gay Muslims? We’ll cross that Rainbow Bridge when we get to it. For the moment, let’s stay focused: Bullying is merely the sharp end of “heterosexism,” as the Ontario “Human Rights” Commission calls it. Chief Commissar Hall defines heterosexism as “the assumption that heterosexuality is superior and preferable,” which will come as news to anyone who’s had sex with me.

That's FUBAR. Somehow holding the belief that procreation is superior to ending one's line is now bigoted!

Siri on acid

Do not mess with her.

Hercule Poirot lives!

Bon ami, with his principles, he is most rich:

“I have left my dear homeland, my friends and relatives,” he said. “I am prepared to sacrifice all that but will not compromise my moustache.”

What a truly asinine religion. Muslims have been beating women, spewing venom on the kufr, lying about their true beliefs to the West -- all of which is perfectly Islamic. But growing a istylish moustache! NO! That is not consistent with Islam! Death to the moustache!

Ugly truth II

Mark Steyn via Vox Popoli:

The net result of Derb’s summary execution by NR will be further to shrivel the parameters, and confine debate in this area to ever more unreal fatuities. He knew that mentioning the Great Unmentionables would sooner or later do him in, and, in an age when shrieking “That’s totally racist!” is totally gay, he at least has the rare satisfaction of having earned his colors.

Understanding sharia

The Independent via Jihad Watch:

Despite countless emails, letters and telephone calls to the Sharia council as well as joint mediation and reconciliation meetings, the Sharia council refuse to provide Nasrin with an Islamic divorce. Why? Because of Nasrin’s sex. An Imam at the Sharia council told Nasrin that her gender prevents her from unilaterally divorcing her husband, instead the Imam told her to return to her husband, perform her wifely duties and maintain the abusive marriage that she was forced into.

I'm shocked! I thought Islam respected women.

Having observed Sharia law bodies ruling on legal disputes it is all too apparent that they operate within a misogynist and patriarchal framework which is incompatible with UK legislation. For instance, the cost of an Islamic divorce is £400 for a woman compared to £200 for a man at the Islamic Sharia Council in East London; this is an example of blatant gender discrimination which is incompatible with the Equality Act 2010.

The cusp of frustration

One cannot derive it.

No more mini IMAX

I found a google maps guide to IMAX theatres in Canada. It's about three years old. So, the listed theatres are the real IMAX ones.

Ugly truth

John Derbyshire is let go from National Review over this piece:

There is a talk that nonblack Americans have with their kids, too. My own kids, now 19 and 16, have had it in bits and pieces as subtopics have arisen. If I were to assemble it into a single talk, it would look something like the following.

Thank heavens, Derbyshire didn't talk about Muslims and their pedophile prophet. That would have really caused a media meltdown.

Mini IMAX?

It was disappointing to watch an action movie on a newly constructed "IMAX" screen last Christmas. Why? Not because the movie wasn't entertaining. It's because the screen wasn't even close to the usual IMAX size. Click the image below to get a better view.

I'm not sure of the exact size of that screen but it certainly did not feel like IMAX. Apparently, this has been going on for many years. Cinemas are putting in "IMAX" screens within approximately the same space as regular screens and then charging $5 or more for the, er, experience.

Aziz Ansari was not amused. Here one can find a google maps guide to real IMAX and the new fake IMAX locations in the US. I wonder if someone has made a similar guide for Canada ...

Update
Found a guide for Canadian IMAX theatres. 

Those crazy women

A couple of years ago, I needed to get a work-related answer from a co-worker. So, I walked over to her desk. Her intense concentration was being directed at her computer. The website which she was checking out had numerous photos of ... wedding dresses.

I stood and watched for a few seconds and then asked her, "Why are you working so hard?"

"Oh." She grinned and clumsily minimized the browser. She was shopping around for her daughter's wedding.

Now, guys aren't angels. Usually, most of us check sports. But I've found women shopping for clothes, nail polish, shoes (what is up with women and shoes, seriously!), planning which restaurants they want to go to, checking out which vacation spots are reasonably priced, etc.

A dream

I walk into a computer store called Canada Computers. They are selling some uber high-end systems with a price tag of $6,000. I sit down with a customer service rep. I ask if they can build me a system with components chosen by myself. They say sure; it'll just cost an extra $50. I'm considering if I should go for it or just get extra RAM for my current system.

Then, I wake up.

I don't think I've ever dreamed of buying a computer before. I bought my last system in 2009. Perhaps, it's true. I'm afflicted with ... tech lust!

Nothing but the truth

A video from Pat Condell: Tell the truth about Islam.