Author: James Higham

The boy who asked why

Housekeeping

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Messy day today, various obligations, so I can’t see any more blogging happening till evening [probably a late quiz], though I’ll check for comments when possible.

Tomorrow evening is the autumnal equinox around 21:00 and then Nibiru supposedly snuffs us all out on Saturday the 23rd. Fun time coming up.

Meanwhile, here’s this:

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Two tales of all things

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Quite sure there’s no need to even mention this – you’re au fait with the sort of thing.  Via Chuckles:

One – how they were hacked

Internet-enabled devices are so common, and so vulnerable, that hackers recently broke into a casino through its fish tank. The tank had internet-connected sensors measuring its temperature and cleanliness. The hackers got into the fish tank’s sensors and then to the computer used to control them, and from there to other parts of the casino’s network. The intruders were able to copy 10 gigabytes of data to somewhere in Finland.

Two – follow the money

The wasted and misspent money at NASA GISS and all climate research institutions is staggering. But what do you expect when you shovel money at herds of unqualified carpetbaggers?

NASA GISS, in the building over Tom’s Restaurant, used to have its own supercomputer, which are very expensive.

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The Emmys

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They don’t seem to understand:

Hey, who’s up for several hours of celebrities droning on about politics and how their audiences are idiots for their electoral choices? Anyone?

The article went into ratings for this year’s Emmys, then:

If this firms up in final ratings, it will surpass 2016 as the worst-rated Emmys of all time, and 2016 surpassed the previous low, and so on.

In fact, as Newsweek pointed out yesterday, the Emmys have lost 50% of their audience since 2013 and the lowest ratings since 1990, and last night’s extravaganza certainly didn’t turn the ship around.

One could blame the plethora of TV choices viewers have, including streaming, but those didn’t arrive only in 2014. Consumers have had lots of choice for two decades or more, and yet the sharp decline only started in the past few years. Why?

And so it goes on:

No one is under any delusion that Hollywood’s political and cultural environment matches with that of broader America, except perhaps Hollywood itself.

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A timely reminder

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Via Chuckles, a timely reminder.

UC Berkeley:

“We recognize that as a public institution, we are legally bound by the Constitution to allow all viewpoints on campus. However, there are forms of speech that are not protected under the First Amendment,” the letter said. “These include speech that presents imminent physical danger and speech that disrupts the university’s mission to educate.”

PJ Media:

If the Left now think they can determine the limits of free speech they are more trapped than empowered, captives of their own stare decisis. They are on a treadmill sometimes called a “national conversation” from which they cannot get off. Often when the Left talks about having a national conversation they mean the thoughts that occur to them and no one else. Then having adjudicated their own internal reflections they author what they regard as binding opinion on themselves and all the rest. As Mark Lilla told David Remnick in the New Yorker the only flexibility ever available to a progressive is tactical.

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Floating home

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As mentioned many times on this blog concerning boats, everything’s a compromise.

But there are aspects to what James Wharram has done which the cruising multihull sailor really should take note of on a tight budget.  His boats are proven at sea and he puts it down to configuration and relatively slack rigging, low tech, which militates against the western yachties’ perceptions of precision something awful.

One thing he designed in and then went away from is the tied-down beams across two pontoons, something the Pacific yachtsmen have been doing for millennia as voyaging canoes.  He added between-hull infrastructure for comfort and left it there, as he never needed to demount in his case.

However, a boat which can go both on the English canals and to sea will rely heavily on this ‘foldability’, with the infrastructure on the platform needing to be detachable and using much in the way of awnings and canopies.… More here ...

Girls are boys

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Dawn French is right: Why do so many shameless young women want to match the worst behaviour of men, asks LIBBY PURVES

Dawn French has done us a favour: with refreshing force. In an amiable interview at the weekend she was reflecting — as a comedy creator will do — on the absurdities of modern life when she landed, with sudden anger, on the ladette thing.

She had been watching reality shows about ‘young lasses out on the lash in Ibiza’, not only helplessly drunk but having reckless sex with all and sundry.

Yes, Dawn French has done us a favour, us here being the broader society, not just women.  I’m glad it came from one such as her, rather than from a Mary Whitehouse or a CofE minister of the old kind.  I’m glad it’s coming from someone who’s been a bit of a lass herself.… More here ...

Should Torvill and Dean be knighted?

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There’s been a suggestion that they should.

However, as you’d gather, there are those who’d suggest that many others should come before them, that entertainers/sportsmen should not be included or if they should, then what about John Surtees?

John Surtees never got one despite being the only man in the world to ever win both motorcycle and F1 world championships…..a feat unlikely to ever be repeated and also with his charity work with his Henry Surtees Foundation…. and then they gave them to the likes of Wiggins, Peter Bazalgette who created the vile big brother, Holmes, Forsyth, Ferguson… I could go on and on….so no….they don’t really deserve one…neither do those above…..

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