Moral relativism

I'm tired of hearing:

“It's okay that Trump is a liar, because Clinton was, too.”

NO. It's not okay that either of them were liars. 

To claim "It's okay when my guy lies," is moral relativism, and bullshit.

Lying is either wrong, or it isn't.

(Hint: It's wrong.)

This isn't rocket surgery.

Why I am generous

Thankfully, I've never actually been homeless, but I have had times where I had to live with someone else, when I would much rather have had my own home. I learned to share, because it could be me.

I'm also a big tipper. Not because I'm wealthy, but because I know that even small compliments - small kindnesses - can go a long way.

Think, Guys, Think

Yeah, I think that about covers it. 

I need to get me a Twitter account.

Sinclair Broadcasting: Fuck Them Back

Ultra-Fuck America Corportist Propaganda media company Sinclair Broadcasting Group is public stock.

That means, for about 40 bucks, you can buy a share, and get the annual stockholder report, get other special insider reports, and have a say in who sits on the Board of Controlling Assholes.

Okay, for one share, you don't get so say shit about who sits on the Board, but here's the trick: You do get a ticket into the annual shareholders meeting.

Once you're inside, you don't have to advertise how many shares you own. You just act like a grown-up. You act like you own the place. You express your dissatisfaction with the current Board. You sow all kinds of dissent and fuckery. You meet up with other socially conscious shareholders. You learn what the Board of Assholes is up to and leak it to the world to undermine their underhanded fuckery.

For about $40 and a couple days a year, you can fuck with the biggest American fucking assholes in the world.

I just bought myself a pile of shares, because I'm tired of this shit, and I'm fighting back.

This from NBC News

The source video from Deadspin. It really is creepy.

The original article on Deadspin

(see also)

Please Do Not Feed the Trolls

This is a nice, self-contained meme.  Internet Trolls are, by definition, assholes.  Generally they are also angry and get off on bullying and arguing with people, which is childish and stupid, but so are most trolls.

Need a new phrase...

I'm running out of ways to say:

"The world is full of buttwipes, and they all need to be kicked in the teeth."

Any suggestions?

Never Make Death Threats

Listen up liberals, socialists and general lefties (and any mature sane person): DEATH THREATS ARE NEVER OKAY.

Just NO.

Death threats are for morons, assholes and shittards too stupid to think. If you are angry, that's fine. But DO NOT stoop to the level of brainless troll and make death threats.

If you make death threats, ever, it means:

1) you're an asshole;

2) your hated enemy has won, because he has dragged you down to his troglodyte level;

3) your enemy has won, because - in his mind - you have just validated everything he ever projected onto you, and he's going to entrench even more into his stupidity and congratulate himself on being right about you, even though he never has been up until the moment you made a death threat.

MATURE ADULTS DO NOT MAKE DEATH THREATS.

EVER.

End of discussion.

Zak Smith?

Who the crap is Zak Smith, and should I care?

A lot of my gamer friends are talking about this guy - AGAIN! He's like some kind of cyclical force of nature that stirs up shit every couple of months, or something. Why the crap does he have so much influence?

No, I don't want to Google him. That's too damn much noise. I want to hear from you! Because I care about you, and I value the distilled thoughts in your head.

I'm Nostra-fucking-damus

Just a heads up: My mantra this month will be "I fucking told you so."

Communication is 50-50

Yes, it's a cliche, but cliches start somewhere.

You are reading what I am writing. That means an attempt at communication is happening.

I'm trying to share a point of view, and you are trying to understand my point of view (and then you can agree or disagree later).

I have a responsibility to make myself clear. To use clear language, to use words that are relevant to my point, and to include enough details or examples that you have a reference point in the myriad of possible interpretations of my words and phrases.

You have a responsibility to put some effort imto understanding what I'm saying. If my point is not automatically clear, you have a responsibility to take a deep breath and think about it. If a word or phrase has multiple potential meanings, you have a duty to put some effort into figuring out which meaning I intend, so that you can help yourself understand what I'm trying to say.

In my practical experience, people fail to carry their weight in one side or the other, leading to pointless and unnecessary conflict, especiallyion the Interwebs.

I'm sure you've seen it:
- Someone makes an unclear statement with multiple potential meanings;
- An audience member makes no effort to interpret the intended meaning, and instead either gets pissy or provides an invalidating retort;
- The original speaker gets pissy about how stupid the audience member is for failing to understand "the obvious," and/or takes offense at not being validated, and escalates the pissiness;
- Blah, blah, stupid fight that didn't need to happen.

I see it online and offline every damn day. That's why I make an effort to make myself clear ("Use more words!") and make an effort to slow down, try to understand, and try to not get pissy.

Sometimes I do a good job, sometimes I don't, but I'm sure as fuck bragging about trying harder than the average bear.

Icarus Rants - Things to See and Do

I've tweaked the blog interface a smidge.  Some of you have probably noticed that I reference my old posts frequently. Hell, if I wrote something once, why write it again?  Plus, COMMENTS - comments are awesome - you get this history of good ideas and conversations, all linked to a central point (the blog post).  See?  This isn't just ranting, it's creating a knowledge base!  (Okay, fine, that was a stretch, even for my ego.)

Anyway, if you look at my blog page, there are lots of ways to find old posts.  I cover bloody well near any topic (other than Human Stupidity), even Batman/Iron Man/Pepper Potts, Beetle Costumes, and things I really don't want to know that people are doing in the privacy of their own homes.

So, if you look to the right (or see the handy graphic below, showing you where to look on the right), you can see there is a search field - so, say, search the word "nexus" and see what comes up.  (Or, maybe not, since I was looking for the Amaranthe video, but there's that whole NSFW post that comes up before that in the search results.).

(Irony - "Fuck Social Media" - haha)

And there's "Labels" - where I tag my posts and group them together into clumps that make sense to me.  Okay - fishing for feedback here - give me some ideas (comments!) as to what kind of labels you would find useful - or if you think any of the ones I already have are crap.  I'm crowdsourcing for suggestions to improve your user experience with my blog.  Thank you!

And the "Archive" - I'm a busy beaver.  Click the drop down arrows, skim the titles, pick something that looks interesting (or gloss over anything that doesn't).

"Blogs I Monitor" - this is new.  These are Google Blogger/Blogspot blogs, until I figure out how to add others.  It's a widget, and a feature.  Anyway, I check in on these people to see what they're up to, and you might also find them enjoyable.

Thank you for going on this tour of "Icarus Rants!"  Love you and have a great day!

:-)

I think I have a stalker - Troll Ken Simpson

Okay, is this Ken Simpson guy just creepy, or what?  He's been stalking me for over a year, just randomly dropping these one-liners, and resisting efforts to engage him in actual conversation. So, fuck you, Ken, now the world can see what a sad little wanker you are. Finally, just yesterday, he blocked me.  Good riddance to his mentally-damaged ass.  

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Reality has a Liberal Bias

Or, rather, reality doesn't have any bias, but so-called conservatives have gone off the rails batshit crazy twisting facts to create their own reality - a fantasy reality that is in opposition to the facts. A fantasy reality that appeals on an emotional level, and supports an agenda of transfer of wealth and power from the masses to an elitist few. Not coincidentally is it those elitist few who are creating the false narrative.

"Liberal butthurt" - that one makes me laugh.

"Liberal butthurt" - that one makes me laugh.  ** (footnote)

Especially since the people Trump is going to fuck most are the daft fools who worship him.

Trump runs a cult of personality, and always has.  It's really amazing how people worship his massive ego.

Trump has absolutely no clue how to run anything - the man has destroyed countless businesses - he's like the only one ever to lose money running a casino. How incompetent does one have to be to lose money on a cash cow?

He has no concept - and no interest - in running a government - which is not like running a business.

Even if Trump wanted to run the government, he'd fuck it up, because he has no clue how.

Trump doesn't want to run the government - he did the entire thing as a publicity stunt.

But, now, a bunch of fools have given Trump the keys to the biggest damn cookie jar in the world - and people expect him  to do anything other than raid it for his own personal benefit, fuck everyone else?

The man routinely tramples the little guy - and now the Trump Special Snowflakes expect Big Daddy Trump to Make Everything Right in their special little worlds?

OMG, talk about naive!

Liberals at least know WTF Trump is, and Liberals at least know to take steps to protect themselves against Trump's depredations.

Trump Special Snowflakes are going to have to look up the word "depredations," and then will still think Trump will fix their little worlds and be terribly, painfully, butthurt surprised when Trump - and the entire GOP - do what they've always done, which is Fuck America.

This isn't rocket science.  It's just digging your head out of your ass long enough to notice reality calling.

** (This was cathartic to write, in response to a bunch of idiots [way down at like comment 125]. It was also worth reposting here.)

Rethink your priorities little troll

Yeah, listen, if your ability to have a satisfying life is in any way constrained by me being around to have an argument with, then you need to rethink your priorities. Seriously.

Hedge Zero - zero proof, zero credibility

Why is it always easier to believe that some bogeyman billionaire - in that lone, and lonely, liberal bogeman, Soros - is in charge of our lives than that some asshole on the Internet made shit up for attention?

My first concern about Zero Hedge was the reference to Wikileaks docs but not even a link to Wikileaks let alone the supporting evidence. Sorry, Zero boys, but when your claiming bogeyman, burden of proof is on you, not your reader.

Zero Hedge full of shit about magical billionaire giving such a shit he's got lackeys paying for buses to move people hired (apparently with no paper trail anywhere - that's missing cash on the level that Haliburton employees lost in Iraq).

And here is my favorite "Hey, unlike those guys at Hedge, here are our supporting links to sources outside our own blog" fact checkers (what a concept) at Snopes explaining why buying Hedge's story at face value is just silly.

When Liberals bully Liberals

I'm resharing this not so much because of his advocacy of the candidate, but because he calls out the fucked up bullshit of the vitriolic, aggressive, threatening and violent stupidity with which bullies and assholes descend to express the irrational depths of their loathing for the candidate.

No, seriously, people - especially women - are getting bullied for wanting to support a candidate this year. (Any candidate, really, but especially for supporting the woman candidate.)

Yes, all the candidates kinda suck! But - especially the "liberals" - need to remember we're supposed to better than the thugs and troglodytes on the other team.

"Liberals" are doing a damn fine job this year of acting indistinguishable from the trolls, trogs and thugs they've been congratulating themselves on being better than. Which suggests that deep down, all humans suck.

Having said that - I am very grateful that my G+ community consists largely of people who are articulate and intelligent, in addition to being passionate.

We're all passionate. But, I thank you for also being able to rise above that and remember that there is more to life than just arguing mindless over ... well... anything . I mean, Just Bieber is still making music! Bleah!

(Hey, check it out! I discovered how to embed G+ posts into Blogger posts! I love new toys...)

Happy Independence Day!

July 4 - Independence Day - is a national holiday in the United States.

It's a day when people hang out with friends and family, and bond over burnt meat, badly cut grass, and generally just appreciate being alive.

And that love for fellow human beings is the focus of this post.

And that's why this is the only post I'm making this week.

Go hug someone. It will make you both feel better about life.

Displays of fireworks, such as these over the Washington Monument in 1986, take place across the United States on Independence Day. 

Small actions can make big heroes

Story from a friend of mine, he said I could share it here.

A month ago, at the Puyallup Spring Fair, we were wrapping up the night with one last run down the giant slide. It was late, and time to get my toddler home. I think she'd done that slide with my wife seven times, or so.

They were just coming down and I heard a little girl crying. Paternal autopilot kicked in and I looked around. There was a mom trying to console a wailing child as she kept pointing to a family in line for the slide.

I took a risk and asked if it was because she wanted to go down the slide.  The mom looked a little embarrassed and said "We don't have enough tickets."

I replied "I have lots, and we're done. Would it be okay if I pay?"

A brief embarrassed awkwardness for both of us, and she accepted, and her little one beamed as she jumped in line.

I felt good about that, and collected my family and we went home.

A month later, I'm sitting at the McDonald's play place, and this woman says "It is you!"

It was her, and her kids, and she and the little girl thanked me again. That one ride had made their entire night. The little girl had screamed with joy the entire way down.  I admit, my heart swelled with pride 

Small actions. Being a little attentive to the world around us. Small gifts of time, or money (that was $3.50 worth of tickets for the ride), and what might have been an evening of misery and broken heart for that child and her family turned into a positive memory for years.

Small actions can make big heroes.

The correct way to punctuate an Internet Troll

We all know Internet Trolls. They irritate us by saying dumb things, and often do so using bad spelling, foul language, poor grammar, and too many CAPITAL LETTERS.

Now, I'm going to swipe from a post from the delightful Julie Ritt -

That being the case, I favor Heinlein's advice on dealing with the people who spout such idiocy as disingenuous qualifiers:

"The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: "Of course it's none of my business, but..." is to place a period after the word "but". Don't use excessive force in supplying such a moron with a period. Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you talked about."

Heinlein was awesome.