American Values: Guns over Education

"We should have more guns in schools."
"We should allow college students to carry guns on campus."
"We need to cut teacher salaries."
"We need to cut public school funding."

THESE are not bullshit headlines.  They're fucking American "values."
Americans - as a national class of idiots - have their priorities screwed up.

Musical Monday - Patty Gurdy - What the Hell is a Hurdy Gurdy?

Until recently, I would have sworn that a "Hurdy-Gurdy" was one of those made up noises, like "Razzle Frazzle."

Turns out, the Hurdy-Gurdy is a real thing, and people really play them, and they're kind of cool.  I could totally see my DnD bard picking one up :-)

I really like that Patty explains this weird thing.  It is clear that quite a bit of serious engineering went into designing the Hurdy-Gurdy.  I mean, according to the Wikipedia article, this instrument is over a millennia old!

"The hurdy-gurdy is generally thought to have originated from fiddles in either Europe or the Middle East (e.g., the rebab instrument) some time before the eleventh century A.D.[2] The first recorded reference to fiddles in Europe was in the 9th century by the Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911) describing the lira (lūrā) as a typical instrument within the Byzantine Empire."

That is an old design, and very impressive. I mean, I'm sure the design has changed a lot over ten centuries, but the core seems to remain the same - that is, strings, a wheel and keys.

Now, as a historical/political aside for a moment, here in the 21st century, we like to think of Europe and it's descendants (specifically the full-of-itself United States) as the "civilized and industrialized world."  But, go back and read that quote above.  The use of the fiddle in Europe was recorded by the "savages" of the Middle East.  In other words, when the Europeans were still picking their noses and congratulating themselves for being able to shape iron, the Middle East had colleges with scholars who kept records of what the Euro-savages were using to make music.

Speaking of engineering, "The pitches on the organistrum were set according to Pythagorean temperament and the instrument was primarily used in monastic and church settings to accompany choral music."  Who does that?  Especially in the 9th century?

And here is an example of Patty Gurdy actually playing one.  "Sweet Dreams" is a classic song, for a long of reasons, not the least of which is that it has a very recognizable sound.

And, just for comparison, here is the timeless original:

Actually, I find it amusing that the "Who am I to disagree?" line is almost quaint by today's standards where kink is practically vanilla.  Ah, the impact of the Internet in mainstreaming the weird.

Musical Monday - Russian Rammstein - Du Riechst So Gut

This video makes me happy.  I love classical instrumental rock songs.  (For example, The Harp Twins.)

I'm torn which amuse me more - the audience reactions, or the performers themselves. It's always funny to see how people react to a heavy metal song (in this case, Rammstein) played on classical instruments.

I think the video shows a splice of multiple performances, possibly some of them with an audience.  I think the audience segments are probably also spliced from different performances.

Whatever. This video makes me happy.   :-)

Fluent in English? Stay humble

The Internet reminds me that I'm not automagically special just because I'm fluent in English as my native tongue.

Oh, I'm special in lots of good ways, but knowing one language doesn't mean jack shit in the grand scheme of things.

Stay humble and get educated.

Destroy colleges - breeding grounds of liberals

So, we've known since Reagan began the war on colleges and grade-schoolers that the GOP had figured out that the less educated are easier to control. Bush upped the ante with "no child left behind," and Trump wore the fucking lampshade with "I love the uneducated!"

Turns out that education makes people liberal thinkers, and college education makes them more so. Thus, it becomes obvious why the GOP block efforts to reduce the cost of college education, and why they make people afraid to be on college campuses by letting people carry guns on campus.

It's not rocket science, merely social science, and class warfare.

Ergo, it also becomes obvious why the GOP want more guns on college campuses - hey, you know, scaring quality educators and intelligent students away from colleges means less education, and easier to control sheeple.

And while we're at it, let's also sell the idea that college education is a waste of time and money - 

Because, you know, that's really the only reason to go to college, right?  To have more money?  Because money is the root of all happiness, right?  At least, that's the line of bullshit we're sold every day. 

I mean, hey, let's have those kids go out and get jobs, instead of getting educated.  Because, we all know that blue collar, high school graduates, with no unions to protect them, are easier to control.

...which is my whole fucking point.

So, go to college. Get smarter. Become a liberal.

Musical Monday - Word Crimes and Bad Grammar

Language is important.  Word choice and grammar are important for clear communication.

Weird Al is classic. He's been making fun of everything since the dawn of time.  Well, at least since the 70s, or something.

James at War, Sheena Melwani and HotforWords, also do a wonderful job of mocking the crappy mangling of language.  I think they recruited HotforWords, because she's attractive, she was a rising YouTube star about the time this was made, and she takes language very seriously. It's funny that a Russian woman, who studied English in college, is now teaching Americans how to stop screwing up their "own" language.

Language is important.  Word choice and grammar are important for clear communication.

Batting 10 000!

Wow! Thank you all so much!

When I launched this blog in September, 2014, I really didn't know what I was going to do, let alone did I think I'd have over TEN THOUSAND page views in under a year. And that's just "Icarus Rants!" The two sister blogs ("Church of the Ignorant Fool" and "I Tell You, You Decide If You Care") are getting all kinds of love, too!

I feel confident I've found my voice. I know what I like, and what I dislike, and the things I want to draw attention to. I've made friends, and influenced people. I'm having fun, and enjoying your company, and it seems reciprocal, so It's All Good :)

view count	days (delta)	days (total)	views per day during the period	posts (delta)	posts (total)	views per post (total average)
1000	94	94	10.6	85	85	11.8
2000	72	166	13.9	52	137	14.6
3000	34	200	29.4	28	165	18.2
4000	21	221	47.6	16	181	22.1
5000	15	236	66.6	12	193	25.9
6000*	30	266	33.3	17	210	28.6
7000	17	283	58.8	18	228	30.7
8000	34	317	29.4	18	246	32.5
9000	14	331	71.4	10	256	35.2
10 000	18	349	55.5	10	266	37.6

* 6000 views happened while I was on hiatus, so I have no concrete values, and so extrapolated based on available data.

(As I said somewhere, at this rate, my inevitable bid for world-conquering demagogue should peak about the time the Enterprise-D is ready for launch ;-)

Okay, now that I've hit 10K, I'm going to stop doing one of these every 1K views. The love seems to be accelerating, and if I'm lucky, every 1K would get really silly. I'm going to do 15K, 20K, and 25K, because those seem like natural checkpoints. After that, we'll see what happens, but "35K" seems like a silly number, so I think there should be a jump after that, right?

Thank you all so much for the love, and for sharing this ride with me!






Image text from CoolText.com

Fictional Friday: Whom to Save in the ZomPoc

When the ZomPoc arrives, here is the order of priority of people to protect. Remember, the long-term goal is to save the human race, and the short-term goal is to keep the humans alive long enough to be saved. It’s a small, but vitally important distinction.

• Farmers (society needs a foundation, and the canned peaches won't last forever);

• Medical professionals (doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, etc., etc.);

• All other Doctors (this is the PhD group, and variants on the lettering, e.g. JD [lawyers], since this group is your reliable source of knowledge and solutions, e.g. history and the lessons that can be salvaged from it, and it's going to be the biochemists, not the medical doctors, that find the cure to the ZomPoc);

• Engineers, Artisans and Artists (you need engineers to design your fortifications and electrical power plants, artisans to actually build them, and artists to keep the people motivated and your oral history alive, since the paper is going to run out eventually, and unless your electrical engineers really have their shit together, you can totally forget about computers);

• Everyone else (warriors like to think they are important, but they are important only in the small picture of the daily grind, since warriors alone won't keep the soul of society alive, won't rebuild the infrastructure, and won't find the cure, thus won't be the salvation of humanity, even as they die every day to make sure humanity lasts long enough to be salvaged).

Here is a basic question to ask yourself: “If there was no gasoline, and no electricity, what would I do to contribute to society?” If you've got no answer, then when the ZomPoc comes, some warrior is going to recruit you as cannon fodder, or some farmer is going to recruit you to plow, so you might want to bone up on your chemistry or carpentry, so you can get a job away from the front lines ;-)

Contrary to popular belief, the function of warriors is not to kill things, it is to keep people alive. This is often best served by killing the enemy, but warriors that lose focus get themselves killed, and fail in their primary function of defending others. Many people misunderstand this. True warriors serve the greater good, not esteem themselves as the greater good itself.

And just for the record, this came from a friend of mine. He blessed my reposting of it (understanding someone my steal it), but strangely insisted I leave his name off.  People are funny ;-)

#Zombies

Musical Monday: "Can't Hold Us" - Pentatonix (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis cover)

These guys blow me away. I love purely vocal music, and these guys are so talented it literally becomes impossible to tell they're not using instruments other than their vocal cords.

Truth is that I often enjoy Pentatonix song covers more than I like the original artists.  I think they bring a lot more life to the music.

Their vids are fun to watch, because they obviously have crazy passion and love for what they are doing. They obviously have great chemistry together as people, which is lucky and wonderful, since their backstory is on YouTube and they literally only came together the day before their first major competition.

Avi gets insane credits. Apparently he has the freakish magical ability to generate two tones at once. I can't hear it, which is probably also why I can't sing :)  But, Avi has great presence. Kevin has a wonderful voice. Scott just radiates team leader/team glue charisma. I like Kirstie and Mitchs' voices the best. Kristie has this kind of quiet sass, while Mitch is a very flamboyant sass.

These guys are young, and their lives have gone nuts. They seem like nice people and I wish them all the best personally and professionally.

Science is cool

Science is cool. It's good to know, that despite the best efforts of the neo-feudalists, scientists press onward with discovering the true wonders that God has hidden deep in the folds of Creation.

Religion is like alcohol: too much and you become too stupid to tolerate

Religion is one of my favorite topics, because I studied it at University. Few things bring out human stupidity like religion - it's a bit like alcohol: the more you swallow recklessly and carelessly, the more stupid you become, and the more you embarass yourself, and the less the relatives want to invite you to holiday dinner.

Rape Survivor Wants the World to Grow Up and Act Like Adults

Let's be honest: Running a University is all about the money. Mostly, it's about money for the top brass, and the football coaches, but it's all about money.

This is why rape is swept under the rug whenever possible. Everyone knows (well, used to know) that rape is wrong, and a bad thing. So college administrators try to hide it, because it's bad press.

Well, here's the deal: hiding it and ignoring it, and LETTING WOMEN GET RAPED is bad press, too.

Here is one very brave young rape survivor hellbent on pulling back the shades and trying to make the world pay attention and get people to act like grown-up adults, and accept the fact that some shit just needs to stop being allowed to happen.

(Okay, for the record, the title of this post is my editorial interpretation of her motivation, so don't get all cranky if you watch her interview and don't find my words in her mouth.)