I Meant To Do That

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

We had a cat — Pixie! Best cat ever — who had an habit of pretending everything that happened was part of his master plan.

Lick himself and fall from the chair? He’d look around with that smug expression, like “I meant to do that.

Now combine this with the fact that humans make up stories out of anything.

So, what I am trying to say is that it’s normal for humans to make up stories and to make things make sense. This is why you need to be very careful about conspiracy theories. Because it’s really easy to look at assorted facts and make up a theory where they all “just fit.”

It’s the same part of the brain I use to make up stories.

I’m going to tell you a secret, though: not everything fits. It just seems to, but there’s always stuff that sticks out. Always. Whether it’s your theory, or a novel, or a story the people in power are selling you, it’s hard to make up a story without holes. So, for instance, when you they were selling us the covidiocy, what stuck out for me was “why aren’t the homeless dying in droves?” Look, you can’t know everything. I happened to know that the cruise ships were virus boats, which means that I knew the numbers from Diamond Princess meant there was no real danger. But a lot of people fell for “top of the line care at cruise ships.” However the other great big problem was the homeless. You can’t know everything, but you’ll know some things. And I knew that the homeless were like the collecting pool for every disease possible and also that the homeless have a ton of people who just crossed the border illegally, or came in on a plane to distribute drugs or…. whatever. And yet the homeless weren’t falling down dead.

And that was the hole in the story that allowed me to see it how it was all glued together with spit and wish powder.

You can do this to anything. Yes, stories too, though I try not to. Though of course there is a problem when you first become a proficient story teller because you can’t help seeing the gears of the story, and the holes. it’s why most writers stop reading for a while after they become proficient.

But that’s neither here nor there.

This post is about the tendency of EVERY totalitarian regime to act like Pixie, only infinitely less cute. So, you get everything that happens being “I meant to do that.”

There are videos explaining how everything that happened in the west, all the decline and the bad stuff was a clever plan by the the Soviet Union, and everything is just following their plan.

I think I fell for them when I was young and stupid and they were in late night programs. But you know, guys, even then, I’d been telling stories for a while and things stuck out.

Mostly what sticks out in that type of video is that the story only works if you stay inside the story. If you only look at the facts they show you and not outside them. For instance, the so called decline of the west was mostly something that the media sold us. Under the elites machinations and the barrage of media telling us we sucked, we thought these things were true, but they weren’t. As we know given how hard they’re finding to shove decay down our throat, and how they keep importing third world basket cases to plump up the “failures.” (Mostly because the idea we were in decadence was a stupid Marxist just-so-story and they were mostly lying to themselves. This is the whole idea that living well makes you soft and “decadent” is a soviet idea. It’s also a lie. Living without challenges makes you decadent and soft, but there are challenges in prosperity if you don’t let the government hamper you.)

Look guys, we continually tell ourselves The Arabs, the Chinese, the Russians, whatever the authoritarian group we’re up against are “careful planners. They plan for centuries. They’ll win in the end.”

To be fair, they in general believe that about themselves, too. But that’s because by and large they have all these myths. It’s the only thing they have.

Look, guys, let’s be serious. What is the big problem of totalitarian societies, like the Chinese and the Russians (not just commies, but historically, though communism makes it worse)? Information.

No one could tell the Soviet leaders the society was falling until it was completely beyond salvation, because no one wants to give their supervisor bad news in a totalitarian society. The same reason no one could tell Putin they couldn’t take the Ukraine in a weekend, because they just didn’t have the wherewithal.

In the same way, I bet you Xi thinks his country is much stronger and more capable than it actually is.

So, how can they plan for a thousand years if they don’t actually know what is happening in their own country?

As for the Arabs? Bah. They culturally have serious problems with time and keeping track of why things happen, as well as a bunch of their very own cultural blindspots that means they don’t understand Western culture at all. Yes, they think they do, but they don’t. (Not to mention they too are poisoned with Marxist story telling.)

They can’t. It’s bullshit. They’re selling you a story. And there are holes you can drive a mac truck through.

Yes, they will take the latest spill and tell you that they meant to do that. Every time. Every single time.

But in the end, in the very end, they didn’t mean to do that. They’re not in charge of their own plans. They just keep adjusting them and saying “hey, I meant to do that.”

Be not afraid. And don’t attribute magical powers to the enemy.

Humans don’t plan for centuries. Nope, not even us.

We just stumble from disaster into salvation by the skin of our teeth, to disaster again. And then we say “We meant to do that.”

Even us.

However, over the long time, individual freedom that gives us the ability to react to and recover from disaster in many ways, without holding on to some “grand plan” dreamed up by a single brain or a consortium of single brains have a better chance of surviving and thriving.

No one has a plan. Not even us. All is chaos.

Fortunately chaos is America’s native environment. We thrive on it. We eat chaos for breakfast and then go out and create new challenges.

Be not afraid.

We’re entering a time of high chaos.

We’re coming home.

135 thoughts on “I Meant To Do That”

  2. Sarah: that is one refreshing perspective, of which I frequently lose sight. Thank you for yanking me back from my own tendency to attribute to others abilities they do not possess. Enjoy the day.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Well, they attribute those things to themselves, and in many cases they honestly believe it, so it’s natural on a human level to wonder if they’re right.

      Liked by 2 people

  3. Quote from a German General Officer: “The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.”

    IF you work with people of their own free will and choice as equals, their inputs will make you need to adjust your plans. Over time you get good at it and the final result is better.

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      1. A carry on from that is we’ll sometimes go “Ooh. Ooh. That not-what-we-planned went really well. Can we make it the plan next time!?!”

        Or, of course:

        Liked by 1 person

    2. I think the American military has worked well in the past mostly because they provide the framework that allows for distributed decision making within the chaos of battle. Everyone knows the end goal, everyone knows the plan on how to get there. Everyone is allowed to try a different way to get there when the plan goes belly up.

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      1. Adapted (kidnapped?) by Joel Rosenberg (may he RIP*) in his Masada series: The last line of every battle plan reads, ‘If this fails, improvise’. Thus, whatever happens, it’s technically According to Plan.

        *Dang I miss that cantankerous fellow.

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          2. My personal acquaintance with him was limited to a single carry permit class, but I would not have called him a pompous jerk. He was opinionated as are most really interesting people. I imagine there were those among the Minnesota law enforcement community who would call him a pompous jerk, but that’s mostly because he tended to embarrass them with some of his stunts.

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      2. Or the “Little groups of paratroopers.”

        After the demise of the best Airborne plan, a most terrifying effect occurs on the battlefield. This effect is known as the rule of the LGOPs. This is, in its purest form, small groups of pissed-off 19 year old American paratroopers. They are well trained. They are armed to the teeth and lack serious adult supervision. They collectively remember the Commander’s intent as “March to the sound of the guns and kill anyone who is not dressed like you” – or something like that.

        Or: “War is insanity – and Americans are crazy.”

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        1. “Happily they go about the day’s work….” 😎

          Life loved me so much that it led me along a convoluted path to becoming a paratrooper, which brought me great joy, exhilaration, pride, and $110 extra pay per month. Life tempered that love by making some sections of that path less pleasant than I enjoyed at the time.

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  4. I take comfort from Churchill’s, “The Americans always do the right thing, after they’ve tried everything else.”

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    2. Maxim 6: If Violence Wasn’t Your Last Resort, You Failed To Resort To Enough Of It.

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  6. China is a mess and I’d bet Xi doesn’t know though I suspect he has some notion about the corruption since his corruption is so vast.

    back in (I think) the 1st Sino Japanese war, China had a few fairly modern ships, but the corrupt officials filled the warheads with cement or sand. The admiral and his men went out and fought bravely, but the shells were filled with cement. Ended about as you might expect. Todays China is very much the same.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. If it’s the war I’m thinking of, even a lack of corruption likely wouldn’t have helped. The Chinese had ordered two battleships from the French that would have finally turned the northern fleet into something that could be an actual contender against the Japanese. But the Japanese knew that a war was coming, and so they persuaded the French to delay delivery of the two battleships until after the fighting was over.

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      1. true. But the battle was a massacre rather than a loss and even had the ships been there, the officials would still be stealing … everything.

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      2. Sort of like with the Mirage fighters that Israel paid for and never received, back in (1980-something?).

        That seems to be a habit of the French.

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        2. Israel split the development costs of the Mirage 5 with France. But the French government was upset with the Israeli’s actions in the Six Day War, and refused to ship any planes to Israel.

          Israel’s response has been called “Mossad’s greatest victory.” Mossad agents broke into the Dassault offices night after night, busily photographing every blueprint and binder they found, until they had everything they needed to build their own Mirages in Israel. Which they then did, and the first the IAI “Nesher” flew just a few years later. And then they sold them (and upgraded variants) in the world market, lowballing French Mirage prices for basically the same aircraft.

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  7. Just sayin’ “Merica, Heck Yeah!” doesn’t hide the reality of a country hollowed out and people that has been fatten for the kill since the end of WWII.

    You don’t have to plan for a thousand years, but you do need to understand logistics and have an industrial base and trustworthy culture that can enable your freedom.

    We can’t even build the ships, bridges, and power transmission infrastructure required for a free country. It’s possible to accomplish in a generation or two if the barriers and layers of rent seekers are removed. (See Japan in the 1950’s, South Korea after the truce, etc…)

    Before we try recreating what we lost and what we need for the future, we have decide how we deal with those punching holes in the hull of the nation and setting the cabins on fire.

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    1. THE WORLD has been “fattened for the kill” by that measure.
      That’s how do you call it? Bullshit. Ancient bullshit.
      We have problems, but they’re not the problems they claim we have. And we’re working on them.

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    2. You might want to remember that we built all that infrastructure from howling wilderness.

      Sure, losing part of it would be a time of much annoyance. We would also overcome it, faster than anyone expects. We would also express our displeasure with the vandals.

      It will take time. It is entirely possible to do. We just decide to do it, kick the quitters our of the dang way, and sweat out the needed things. Like always.

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      1. We would also get rid of a lot of dead weight, when there’s nothing to spare for the entitled whiners and ‘activists’ and grievance studies graduates. The ones that can’t understand that only the prosperous, affluent civilization they hate allows them to exist, and indulge their fetishes.

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        1. Or a number of them would suddenly become converts to the cult of “sweat of my brow” in order to feed themselves, and the country would pick up a lot of workers.

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        2. “We’re going to use our cell phones to bring down capitalism, while wearing $1000 shoes and sipping a latte.”

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        1. check r/AmericaBad for great examples of “Wow they really don’t get it do they?” My favorite so far is the European who proclaimed were not “allowed” to build sturdy houses of bricks and concrete in most of America, (because of the president no less!) And if we did they wouldn’t get blown away by tornadoes.

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          1. Saw a great video from a structural engineer type in response to that trend showing photos of brick and concrete buildings taken out by tornados—E3 for the most part. The best part was the end, when he revealed that the photos were from a rare Czech Republic tornado, you know, EUROPE.

            Satisfying on multiple levels.

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      3. You might want to remember that we built all that infrastructure from howling wilderness.

        Your analysis is missing a key component: “over 150+ years, while the capacity to support the population needed to build all that infrastructure was intact.”

        If we have a major destruction of infrastructure over a broad area, so that we can’t shift resources to mitigate the localized damage, you just might find picking yourself up and reclimbing that cliff to be harder than you can imagine.

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        1. Plus, there wasn’t a gigantic intrusive government constantly getting in the way, and a bunch of semi-organized dumbshits tearing it all down while we were trying to build it.

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        2. Based on North Carolina that might differ based on where you are at. Pretty sure some mine road builders have told both state and federal helpers to “take a hike. They’ve fixed the problem.” Same with some supplies by helicopter. Not that the national guard couldn’t get the supplies in, but it was a lot more difficult logistically, which they train for. More trips, but those smaller private copters could actually land. Even bigger items, a lot easier for smaller copters to lower items down, because they could get closer to the drop zone.

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    3. Oh well. I guess we’d best give up and meekly submit then. *eyeroll*

      Or perhaps you’re the type who wants a Strong Leader to come about, take over and make the people trying to destroy use Pay or similar?

      Neither seems a great idea.

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      1. The “and then they will meekly submit” part of the plan is the only way the Formerly Red Army could have rolled in and taken Ukraine in a couple of days.

        Absent surrender and flight by the government, and the effective quad bikes-and-javelins-and-flood-the-fields resistance that constrained to the roads and then stalled on those roads the threadbare logistics part of the Russian “plan”, all those glaring but unreported upwards flaws doomed the thing.

        The word is the only area where things basically went to plan was down in the south, where they apparently paid off the Ukrainian General in charge and his staff, so no bridges were dropped and no effective resistance initially encountered, and even then the Russians still ran past the end of their logistics tail and got stopped cold.

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        1. It’s a common refrain from the gun ban drones on Twitter: “Your gun won’t save you from the government! You’ll just get drone striked!” (Yes, drones droning on how their masters will drone rebellious peasants into oblivion if they do not submit. Cue “So tiresome” meme gif.)

          Liked by 1 person

          1. F-ers have to come outside sometime, and no security cordon is perfect – re Matt Bracken’s “What I Saw at the Coup”

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          2. Oh well. I guess we’d best give up and meekly submit then. *eyeroll*

            A “so tiresome” meme for straw-manning people’s arguments wouldn’t be out of place either.

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        2. Early word was the Russians in charge of suborning Ukrainian mayor’s in the north pocketed the money for themselves…..

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    4. You don’t have to plan for a thousand years, but you do need to understand logistics and have an industrial base and trustworthy culture that can enable your freedom.

      Well that automatically disqualifies everyone else by default.

      Most of them pride themselves on not understanding logistics/economics.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. A couple of years ago, some idiot (non-American) thought that China would surpass the US because of “Central Planning”. 😅

    What’s really funny is that the idiot was posting from Russia. 🤣

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I have been literally asked online if I really didn’t think that the economy would be better with wise planners. (By someone who had nominated himself as one and — really didn’t qualify.)

      I limited myself to explaining the information problem.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Yeah, the U.S. economy has 300 million moving parts, and the parts are people. They are interconnected in odd patterns and do not always behave rationally. Every previous attempt at centrally planned economies have been dismal failures, resulting in privation, starvation, misery and death. Surely, if the job were possible, somebody would have produced some level of success. So far, none have. In fact, the more central planning that is imposed, the worse the failures have been.

        The U.S. grew the biggest, richest economy in the history of the world with almost no central planning. Every time the government tries to control the economy, we get inflation, recessions and depressions. The Biden* Regime tried to plan the economy; look how well that worked out.

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        1. I see it as the logic of overgrown children:

          “If everyone only did X, things would be perfect!”

          (People do not do X and do not want to do X).

          “Well, then we’ll make them do it! It for their own good!”

          And we know how that turns out.

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            1. Yep. But the overgrown children of Lenin just know, in their hearts, that once everyone is forced to Do the Right Thing they will realize how right the Left was to force them and they will gratefully thank the brave and foresighted people who led them to Paradise.

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              1. There’s a chilling quote from the architect who designed the Berlin Wall about how, once people could not leave and had to work on socialism, they would see how good it is and wouldn’t want to leave. He died a true believer, still certain that Socialism would Work!

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                1. Besides the “Wreckers”, there are the Evil Ones who lure the People away from The True Way.

                  People like Rush Limbaugh, Trump, etc.

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            2. That’s why the “proletarian revolution” was so untidy to manage, and the Soviet Union looked forward to breeding/indoctrinating the New Soviet Man, who presumably would do what he was told.

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        2. The old water and sand problem. Tighter you try to hold either, the more that slips from your hands.

          “government tries to control the economy,” causes the economy to slip from their control “resulting in privation, starvation, misery and death.”

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  9. I suspect that the sudden death tariffs are an effort to get as much of the industrial power at least out of China, and before Xi decides to go after Taiwan. Getting it back into the US and getting our economy back into shape is a nice bonus, but throttling Chinese ambitions is a big one.

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  10. I think a classic example people not know what they had was Saddam Hussein and his WMD.

    I suspect that Saddam had conversations like this

    Saddam: How are the stores of Tabun and Sarin coming along?

    Head of Special Weapons division: Oh Very well your Excellency! Many tons in warheads for SCUD and in artillery shells. Production continues rapidly. Everything going to plan maybe even better than plan.

    Saddam: And the nuclear weapons?

    HoSWD: Soon your Excellency soon, we have some minor technical difficulties on that front

    Afterwards discussion in HoSWD office with Assistant to Head of Special Weapons division (who was in office overhearing the conversation).

    AtHoSWD: Abdul are you nuts? we have a few SCUD warheads and some Artillery shells. We’re not even sure the delivery system for the SCUDs will work. Production on Tabun and Sarin is stopped as we can’t make the precursors and after 9/11 even the perfidious french b*stards wont sell us the precursor chemicals. We can crank out a bit of phosgene and Mustard gas but all that will do is kill our unprotected people. As for Atomic weapons yes we have a technical difficulties, we have no fricking supply of either enriched Uranium or plotonium which is indeed a large technical difficulty

    HoSWD: Barak keep your voice down, do you want folks to rat us out to the old son of a dog? Do you want to tell him we don’t have what we’ve been reporting for the last 10 years. I certainly don’t as I do not relish being fed into a car shredder by his sadistic illegitimate sons? Crank up the Phosgene and Mustard gas production

    AtHoSWD: Urrgh when you put it that way it is clear we do have tons and tuns of Tabun and Sarin and yes we could use the lesser WMD’s we’ll need that for the Swamp Arabs and the Kurds

    The somewhat ironic thing is that the Phone discussion was likely picked up by “National Technical Means” via US, and USSR satellites, and UK and French listening posts. The encryption (if any) is laughable and soon we and other world powers have the clear text. The Analysts always wanting make sure they don’t get caught out under reporting treat the information as gospel. Also the analysts also note that other intelligence services are reporting the same thing based unknown to them on the same crappy evidence. The analysts are not getting the raw take the other groups see they’re just getting the analysis and hints.

    And Voila that with a variety of other violations of the armstice from the Gulf War gets us Gulf War II. And likely HoSWD and AtHoswd make an appearence at the car shredders or are blown to itsy bitsy pieces when we attack the National Labs.

    To quote Sir Walter Scott “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!”.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I wonder sometimes if Saddam knew his program was crap, but knew if he ever admitted it the Iranians would be over the border at once. So he ran a bluff to keep Iran off his back….and then fell to the Americans.

      although he did have gas, and who knows what lies in the sands of northwestern Iraq, or Syria?

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    2. Agree.

      Iraq, i.e. Saddam, by all reports, did have WMD, i.e. lethal gas. The supplies were used on their own citizens. Now were the quantities there that were “reported”. Not likely. But evidence and actual product was found. More labs were found than product. But there weren’t zero WMD.

      Back to the “agree”. Also agree that Putin, and more than Putin, Xi, are facing the same tyrannical regime problem. It isn’t they have nothing. But they definitely do not have what they think they do. Enough to hurt the US, not enough to destroy the US even a little bit. But enough to make the US destroy them.

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    3. Except that he did have them and pretending he didn’t have been one of the most effective propaganda coups the MSM has ever pulled off.

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  11. The left-wing ‘news’ media are still flogging the long-dead COVID horse. Saw a headline yesterday about a supposed ‘new’ strain that’s gonna end the world. Moar Masks! Moar Needles! Mass Panic! Hair On Fire!!

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    1. Chronic viral diseases trend towards the less-lethal, because that’s what gets spread. And since finding out that the second “more lethal” wave of the 1918 flu was actually an iatrogenic issue with the new wonder drug, aspirin, which they were prescribing at kidney-killing levels, I know that is the way it goes.

      (Polio notwithstanding. That was apparently a germ that went through a killing mutation, which is why we don’t hear of polio death waves in the 19th century like there were for all the other vaccine-preventable diseases.)

      Liked by 1 person

    2. If you read down those stories, past the “more transmissible! Woowoo scary!” parts, they list the NB.1.8.1 symptoms:

      Common symptoms include sore throat, fatigue, fever, mild cough, muscle aches and nasal congestion. Some people may also have gastrointestinal symptoms.

      So it’s a cold.

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      1. It always was the common F-ing cold. If we had been allowed to treat it as such, the whole ‘COVID Crisis!’ would have been a non-event, no worse than a bad flu season. Tens of thousands of people die from colds and flu every year, and we never shut down the economy before.

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  12. Of course there are ‘things’ that outlast ‘planning’. Belief systems that advocate for their own unchangeablility via deliberate ignorance; ie, Islam and Communism. While we have many belief systems and subcultures that practice selective ignorance or channelled learning (orthodox judaism, the anabaptist cults, creationists, christian scientists, ‘orthodox’ LDS, JW, black muslims, etc.) none of those afflict or have shaped entire cultures. None have a history of massive and recurring murders. And, of course, most of those interact peacefully and productively with the majority populations in which they reside. Awareness of the belief system undertows is necessary for probability comprehension/expectation.

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  13. The cat says, “I meant to do that.” The dog says, “Who, me?”

    Or, like our son’s mildly neurotic dog, seems to be perpetually auditioning for a spot in a ASPCA commercial.

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    1. Our dog, when he was but a wee puppy, once came strutting (yes, he could strut, and prance, and swagger) out of my brother’s room with a balled-up pair of socks in his mount, right past me, Mom, and Dad. The three of us looked at each other in disbelief, then Dad very gently called the dog’s name.

      Dog froze, and I swear the look on his face said, “Socks?! What socks?! I don’t know anything about any socks! I have no idea where these socks came from!”

      We had to put him down this past March. He was an obstinate, stubborn, spoiled mooch. I miss him so much…

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      1. Our dog, she’s 8, still hasn’t gotten over the sock fetish. Her attitude is “They are mine now! What are you going to pay for me to give them to you? Hmmmm?” All bright eye and bushy. She’ll grab them, go running to show whomever socks they are suppose to be, then come show me as in “Guess who didn’t pick up their socks?” Other than slobber, she’s at least not eating the socks. My response to “Pepper took my socks!” Is “Pickup your Socks!”

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    2. Besides being singularly unrepentant, cats also maintain a sense of dignity. Long ago, I was awakened by the thunder of paws racing through the house accompanied by the loud rustle of plastic. Investigating, I found my dear Kitten sitting on the back of the sofa. She had put her head through the handle of a green plastic shopping bag that had lodged around her ample tummy (The Caped Catsader!). Her expression was like “Move along, nothing to see here”.

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  15. Meanwhile, in the US:

    “We’ll follow the plan!”

    Plan does not cooperate, ie, first cannon volley includes the stick used to load the cannon, or the paratroopers get blown all to heck and back.

    Americans: “Ok, TIME TO IMPROVISE!”

    :chaos, but often effective chaos:

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    1. I took improv—a class in high school, and a club in college. Honestly, that was a great set of life-skills training. The biggest thing you learn is how to discard your preconceptions of how “it should have gone” and then work with what’s actually in front of you.

      The number of people still working off of the idea of “but it was supposed to happen THIS way” is very obvious once you’ve learned that shortcut. (And it was very obvious to me on 9/11, when I was talking with coworkers. “We’re going to war with someone.” “What?” “And nobody is taking responsibility for this unless they did it.” “What?” They were still in the mindset of “I can’t believe this happened.” It happened. Move forward.)

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      1. See also, military folks over seas being the one that actually do stuff…even if it’s some little sneeze of a gal.

        Because the best tool is to actually act, instead of goign “but the plan-!”

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      2. We did a lot of Commedia delle’ Arte when we were running the baron.y. You know where you want to wind up, but how you get there depends on the other players. You have to keep improvising to steer things in the proper direction. And yes, we did intend to end one court with my beloved tied to a chair with the suggestion he be burned at the stake, whereupon his “loyal,” minions produced hotdogs and marshmallows. (His Majesty, part of the gag, changed his mind).

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      3. Music also. When you’re performing, mistakes will happen. If you just act like you *meant* to do it that way when you flub a note or get lost in the sauce, 99.9% of the audience won’t even notice. Whenever things go wrong…as they will at some point…you keep right on playing, doing your best to keep your head above water and fit your part into whatever the heck is happening at the moment. If you do that, things will come together sooner rather than later as everyone gets back in sync.

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        1. Usually. I do remember one memorable performance when I was backstage for the soprano’s solo song, and she tangled it up so badly that I heard the conductor quietly state, “Orchestra, measure A.”

          It did go smoothly on the second round, but that’s also how I got to see a soprano in a beautiful ballgown quietly and emphatically screaming “fuuuuucccck!” backstage.

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        2. “There are no mistakes in music; there are only different arrangements,”

          quoth AesopFan the choir director.

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  16. *Licks shoulder, acts cool*

    At Day Job, we joke about our motto being “Semper Gumbi,” or always flexible. In spring, the normal schedule is something we dream about, not a regular occurrence. And occasionally at other times of the year.

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  17. “…the story only works if you stay inside the story. If you only look at the facts they show you and not outside them.”

    Like the ancient astronauts? Yeah, there’s a lot of that going around.

    Today’s howler is “de-carbonized oil.” I am not kidding you. The Prime Minister of Canada came out and said that the (imaginary) new pipelines would only be for special “de-carbonized” oil which would make Canada a world leader in oil production and Eco-friendliness.

    I call it the External Reality Check. If X is true, we should see X all over the place. If Covid is as dangerous as they say, we should see the homeless stacking up.

    If Glowball Warmening is as bad as they say, China should be glowing in the dark right about now.

    If “Safe Supply” worked, why do we have all these druggies dropping dead inside and outside and all around the Safe Supply place?

    And so forth.

    Used to be they kept all this stuff hushed up, I guess. But now? Google it, it’s busted, next myth please.

    Oh, by the way. I found out why there’s so much HamAss propaganda and demonstrating in Canada. Iran is paying for it. YEP, THAT’S RIGHT, Iran is for realz paying all those weenies to wave the HamAss flag in Toronto and vandalize Jewish schools etc.

    Iran.

    And that’s why Donald Trump is kicking Canada in the nethers this week.

    Like

    1. Tucker Carlson’s on Twitter ranting about how the Powers that Be want war with Iran, when obviously Iran has no nukes, nor is it trying to get nukes, because they’re smart and see what TPTB did to Gahadaffi, and it’s all Mark Levin’s idea and….

      I’m really disappointed in Carlson. He’s like a bad parody of a ’30s isolationist.

      Liked by 2 people

      2. Also his stupidity in Russia:

        “Look what a hundred bucks gets you at the grocery store here! It is so much better”

        Yeah dude, now compare it to the average wage in the store’s neighbourhood.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. I’d like to see someone make a case for isolationism that demonstrates they understand theory of mind of (potential) adversaries and can argue the trade-offs.

        But ‘No War for Oil’ and defense stock boosterism ain’t it.

        Tucker’s Putin interview undermined several conspiracy narratives about NATO, biolabs, etc. I was willing to defend it on those grounds. Carlson’s subsequent behavior, not so much.

        Like

    2. He said what!?

      He’s also in trouble because apparently Parliament asked him for a budget. He said no, he would instead provide one in the Fall. But could he have 500 billion in the meantime?

      Parliament said No!

      My Canadian friend alerted me to this interesting series of events by telling me that they’re probably going to be having new elections shortly.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Works for me – the key is how it gets triggered. As long as it doesn’t appear to be “sore loser syndrome” then there is a decent shot at dislodging him. Otherwise, good chance for a Liberal majority.

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    3. ‘De-cabonized oil’? Gee, that would be hydrogen. Notoriously hard to handle and transport, low energy density, nothing exists that would run on it, and ‘de-carbonizing’ the oil would take a huge amount of energy, which they would get from…where, exactly? But I guess that’s what you get for putting ‘gender studies’ graduates in charge of national energy policy.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. And H atoms are really tiny, so gaseous Hydrogen squirm their way out through any and all of the tiniest cracks or flaws or seams or threads. And liquid Hydrogen is really cold, even colder than Canada.

        To quote that FP great philospher, Bugs Bunny, “What a Maroon!”

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          1. Not so much because of the hydrogen. The fire started near an engine and set the butyrate waterproofing dope on the canvas envelope on fire, along with the powdered aluminum and iron oxide sun shielding. Then the hydrogen caught and finished the job.

            Liked by 1 person

          3. Apparently a small fire on the outer fabric then kicked off the hydrogen festivities, which would not have happened if the evuul Ameri’s had sold them helium. So it’s FDR’s fault.

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              1. From the timing, I suspect a YUGE static electricity discharge when the Hindenberg got near enough to the mooring tower for the spark to jump the gap. But, yeah: Heat (million volt spark) + H2 = Boom!

                Like

      2. I’ve read periodic musings about running IC engines on H2. Back when I subscribed to Analog (late ’80s or so), somebody suggested that if H2 was a good idea, we should include an O2 tank for better oomph.

        There might be an experimental car running around on H2. I think I’ve seen it mentioned on the webs.

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      3. Hydrogen has been touted as a potential non-carbonated fuel source for cars. It would only produce water vapor! Hooray! I wait for someone to point out water vapor is a more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2….

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        1. My nearest brother had a presentation on fuel cells as a college senior, back in the late 90s. (His internship class got to deal with fuel cell “testing to destruction.”) The last part of the talk was “Why I Am Not Investing In Fuel Cells.”

          Basically, as cool as the whole process was, it wasn’t Ready For Prime Time, and wasn’t going to be for decades, if that. I think we’re still in the “if that,” stage.

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      4. Hydrogen is also an extremely poor motor fuel, highly prone to knock. And it has a high flame temperature, so when burned in air (which is 70% nitrogen) is generates massive amounts of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), the double-throwdown bad-boy pollutant. (According to the US EPA, anyway) And NOx is notoriously hard to manage; normally it’s done with high amounts of exhaust gas recirculation, which lowers the flame temperature so the nasty nitrogen compounds don’t form as easily. But that also reduces volumetric efficiency and power output.

        And the knee bone is connected to the ankle bone… for some reason, both Toyota and Mazda have supported multi-decade hydrogen-fueled engine projects, apparently hoping that they’ll find a loophole in basic chemistry.

        Now, if you had a supply of oxygen along, instead of that nasty “air” stuff, things would be different… and you’d basically be doubling your tankage and supply problems.

        What did the cranky old dude say? Ah, yes: “There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.”

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        1. “if you had a supply of oxygen along, instead of that nasty “air” stuff, things would be different“

          –

          Isn’t that called an opps? Or a big bang?

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        2. Would a molecular sieve (like in an oxygen concentrator) squeeze enough nitrogen out of the incoming air to solve (enough of) the NOx problem? (Not that I’d be willing to ride in a car that had a big (and light-as-possible) tank full of hydrogen on board.)

          Like

      5. I posted this as a comment over at Insty a couple days ago, and it is relevant here:

        Hydrogen is great. If only there was a chemical formulation that would somehow bind atomic hydrogen into a stable liquid form, easily transportable and storable at normal pressures, with high energy density, but with low enough molecular binding forces that it could easily burn, so all the expensive and complicated cryogenic and high pressure stuff for pure hydrogen use wasn’t needed, and the combustion physics could be easily studied and well understood after a few decades. Maybe one of the most common elements in the universe, carbon, could somehow be stably bound to hydrogen? They could call it… a carbohydrogenous molecule!

        Like

      1. Have you seen the Reason series “Great Moments in Unintended Consequences”? It’s presented with an old-timey radio announcer voice, and the catchphrase at the beginning of each section is “What a great idea, with the best of intentions! What could possibly go wrong?”

        So I will never see that phrase without thinking of that voice.

        Like

    5. Dafuq is “Decarbonized Oil”???

      I mean, I already knew that Carney is a WEFtard with the Mierdas touch, but seriously?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Likely oil that has a carbon credit attached. I think that was once called buying indulgences.

        Like

    6. Bet you a buck they’re “decarbonizing” it by offsetting its carbony evil with something virtuously non-carbony, like plastering solar panels all over somebody’s farmland.

      Liked by 1 person

    7. “de-carbonized oil.”

      “The mind, she boggle.”

      [clickety Best as I can figure, from mostly very-non-technical Canadian newspaper articles, is that “de-carbonized” is a term-of-art for oil produced by refineries that use something other than oil for the energy it takes to drive the chemical reactions that turn crude feedstock into useful products.

      At least, I think that’s what the articles were trying to say. Providing “news” while avoiding specifics seems not to be entirely an American thing.

      Liked by 1 person

  18. Rapport de chat.

    It’s possum season in Speck, Appalachia. Thrice in a row Neighborcat has dragged a possum carcass up to the back porch for his daily rent. You’d think they would learn that playing dead never works with Neighborcat. But no, they fall and die twice, every year. Fat ones, skinny ones, doesn’t matter. Should they slink their way onto the property, they are LUNCH.

    Caught sight of Neighborcat’s hunts just the other day. From a crouching start to a silent leap to snapping their necks with a full body wrench, then gutting them just to be sure. You’d think the smell of blood would keep the idjits away. But no, vermin, birbs, RLF squirrely nation, and all still try their paw and claw at taking the territory. All fall prey to kitty claws.

    Othercat gets in on the action regularly. He and Nastycat, too. Nasty is the distraction. It’s a job he does well, capering, hissing, making a menace of himself as the others flank the prey. Othercat is damned silent, even for as big a chonk of cat as he is. His heavy paws knock them tail over teakettle, and once he latches on he doesn’t let go ’till they die. Neighborcat is the sneaky assassin of the three. Hard to detect, explosively quick, and a natural knack for going for the weak points. The ditch in the back is almost getting full already from this Spring’s cullings.

    The orange floofmonster got taken to have his knotty fur cleaned. He hates going outside, but loves the pampering. The kitty cleaners want to keep him, but he declines. He has his hooman trained, and his chicken addiction to satisfy. All he wants is them to move in with him, not the other way around! His orangeness must be pampered at all times. And his napping spot needs to stay put so he can listen to the tippity tap of the keys and get the occasional scritch in between.

    Nastycat has gotten over the gallumping crazies, at least somewhat. he’s been to the vet again for his checkup and passed with bleeding colors. He doesn’t like being handled by strangers. I have to pick him up and hold him for them- he’s surprisingly slippery and hard to keep hold of for them, even for trained vets. He buries his head in my armpit and sulks until we get back, not even picking up his pink dino again until in the car. Then it’s okay to come out again. He doesn’t mind the car rides. Keep the windows cracked and he’s fine, sniffing out all the greasy joints we pass on the way to the vet.

    Of late, there’s been something of a turf dispute in the world of the fuzzmonsters. A trio of Siamese moved in down the street. They have been checking out the neighborhood, sniffing at all the places that need sniffing, and made the mistake of challenging Neighborcat. From the street.

    Of course, Nieghborcat ignored them. They weren’t on the property. Not his problem. The Siamese went away. Then, a couple nights ago, they came back, nosing about again. This time, within the fence line. They made the mistake of not greeting the boys properly, and paid the price.

    Oh, they’re not dead though. Or bleeding. Much. Neighborcat and Othercat aren’t ones to back down from a fight, ever, even if it’s probably a losing one. The Siamese got knocked around and bruised, though. If the boys had been serious, it’d have been a different story. Which is what the new neighbors got told when they tried to talk up how vicious the cats of the Lane clan were.

    They got told right quick that it was nothing serious. This being from the neighbor across the way. The one with Old Dog in his back yard, who’s still kicking even if slowly these days. This coincided with Othercat bringing in a squirrel bigger than two of the Siamese combined, up to the front porch. Wherein he got his scritches, and the corspe got tossed into the ditch in the back.

    Other than that, things are as they’ve been. Nastycat has been craving fishyness lately, going from how hard his nose was twitching as the salmon patties were cooking. I saved him some, and he gnoshed it down with metaphorical relish. He’s glad to be home from the vet, by all appearances, even brought the pink dino to play with Doofus for a bit. The two have gotten closer over time, as Doofus loves everybody but dogs and the outside world as a whole, and chicken the bestest, but Nastycat is okay. Nasty puts up with Doofus’ silliness, his terrible sense of place (he got “trapped” in an open cabinet and yowled for someone to get him out).

    Life continues more or less as normal for the furry foursome, uncouth intruders and all. Y’all keep your chins up out there. Find something to enjoy in life, even if you’re in the middle of a fight. I swear I heard Othercat purring while he roughed up those idjits the other day. Sounds like a tiny diesel engine when he does. Walked right back up with his tail held high as if to say, “see how good I did?” Of course they all got their scritches. Y’all don’t let the world get you down. Just keep your own patch of it right and good, as Neighborcat would say.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. My son maintains possums are spawn of the Devil. Something about the Possum That Would Not Die. He would definitely approve of the cats.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Poor opossums. They’re quiet and don’t bother anyone. They share the same ecological niche with cats and raccoons.

        They were almost extinct when the first Europeans started settling the east coast, found mainly in Virginia and neighboring states. The settlers used to raise them for meat and fur, and they spread all the way up and down the coast, escapees living quietly alongside the settlers.

        You can see the big “H” shape of their current population distribution; the horizontal bar is the Oregon Trail, where westbound settlers brought their opossums along. And then all the way from Baja to Vancouver along the west coast.

        In recent decades they’ve been filling in the gaps; a friend saw one in Nebraska a few years ago. And they’ve been spotted in Toronto as well.

        They mostly stay near areas with humans, because humans generally exterminate the predators that eat opossums. Though some dogs and cats seem to hate them, alas.

        Like

        1. The dog goes after local possums, just barking. Funny to see them frozen in place where she’s trapped them on or against the fence. Cats ignoring them for now, but then they aren’t allowed out at night. We have something living under our shed, again, suspect it is a possum but could be a feral cat. Dog is paying attention but cats are not.

          I like possums. They kill and eat, slugs, snails, snakes, ticks, and fleas, etc. Everything except snakes, go team Possum! Snakes I’d be on board with if we had rattlers this far out into the urban valley (should, don’t). But the garters are harmless and also eat snails and slugs. My roses and flowers thank them. They also will not normally attack dogs or cats. But if they do, the vet bill is not inexpensive (having learned that lesson some 40+ years ago, stupid cat. Just a nip. But that “nip” cost $3k, early ’80s, and $3k isn’t chump change now, but then? Really, really, expensive. Not that any of our babies wouldn’t have gotten treatment, but she was a bottle baby. Or why we do not, will not, put pet food outside.)

          Possums are also rabies free, cannot get it, cannot pass it on. Unlike the bats, skunks, and raccoons.

          Like

          1. A few years ago, I noticed my Beagle Lilly nosing something in our backyard.

            I went out to check what she was nosing, and it was a possum.

            Since it looked dead (and not thinking of playing possum), I got a snow shovel and got it under the possum.

            I was planning to dump the possum in our garbage can (inside the garage), but I realized that the possum was staring at me and then thought of “playing possum”.

            Since I didn’t want a live possum fighting to get out of the garbage can and then it being trapped in the garage, I dumped the critter over the fence into the neighbor’s yard.

            I didn’t see it the next morning, so I’m sure it was alive, and it made its way elsewhere. 😁

            Liked by 1 person

        2. They eat eggs and disembowel my chickens if I don’t notice them when I shut the coop door at night. Just eat out the entrails and cower, hoping not to be seen, when I open the door in the morning.

          They’re no more welcome on my property than the rat snakes.

          Liked by 1 person

    2.  Nasty puts up with Doofus’ silliness, his terrible sense of place (he got “trapped” in an open cabinet and yowled for someone to get him out).

      So he’s the Joe Biden cat, lost in the closet? 😸😸😸

      Liked by 2 people

    3. Opossums don’t have a choice about playing dead, apparently. It’s like fainting goats, it just happens.

      On that note, my eldest’s Eagle project is going to be building possum boxes for the local wildlife rescue. Poor critters are currently in cardboard. (Yes, it will be more than just the boxes, but that’s the key part they requested.)

      Like

  19. Something that I thought might amuse people here.

    The online game Guild Wars 2 dropped a new content patch yesterday. Part of the new content is a series of achievements based around the new content. Two of the achievements involve what appears to be a celebratory event at the end of the new story content. One of the achievements is earned by talking to every single person present at the event (there are apparently 32 of them). The other is earned by ignoring all of the people present, petting the cat, and leaving.

    Where are your priorities? :P

    (the story segment can be replayed so that you can get both achievements)

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Pingback: Instapundit » Blog Archive » TURNS OUT HUMANS, ALL HUMANS, ARE REALLY BAD AT LONG TERM PLANNING:  But the enemies of freedom are

    1. If they were built by Apple they would only take Apple fuel and travel Apple-approved roads, and if one had to be repaired, you’d have to scrap it and buy a new one.

      Like

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