Varmints!

Roberta X is a bit exercised over Indiana’s program [PDF] to “encourage” the Allegheny Woorat [caution: Nature Conservancy link].

Meanwhile,

Spotted in my back yard last evening. Undoubtedly the critter who’s been decimating my hydrangeas.  Hey Tam!

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:33:41 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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World Cup Sucker

If stuff like this (and this, and this) had gone on during– say– a weekend’s NBA basketball, the feds would have been all over Las Vegas, looking to find out who had money down on what.

Previously:  Oh, so THAT’S why...

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:36:29 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Maliciously scripted

If you’re gonna do this:

...then you had better watch out for this:

First Things website had a Malware attack today.  We are working on the problem now.  The warning messages should go away by tomorrow afternoon.  We have removed the ad script that was causing the problem so there is no chance that you will get an infected browser.  It looks like if you run Internet Explorer you won’t see the warning messages but, with Chrome, Safari or Firefox you will still see the messages.

By the way, the attack came from China.

Not a new problem, and in most cases fixable by not permitting scripting code that originates from (or receives variables from) third-party sources, i.e., ad networks.

Of course the networks would scream, but they’ve repeatedly.been.found to be untrustworthy.

And since we seem doomed to a bright new javascript-required-for- even-minimal-functionality web^[1], wouldn’t it be nice if some browser creator would come up with javascript controls that give us greater granularity than No Scripts At All/All Scripts?   Possibly one that blocked any scripts not originating within the parent domain, or maybe even one that could be configured to block (or at least warn) when some of the language’s more problematic functions (“eval,” anyone?) are called?

Elsewhere:

(Via)
------

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:48:50 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Why buy the cow...?

The National Post:

The head of Canada’s spy agency says foreign governments have infiltrated Canadian politics, CBC News reported Tuesday night.

Via Insty, who sez (tongue firmly.in cheek):

Luckily, this could never happen here.

Rrrrriiiiiggghhht.

But then, given the people currently running things in Washington, why should they even bother?

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:21:01 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Typical– but then you knew that

R.S. McCain:

“The American Left:  Shamelessly Following Orders Ever Since Stalin Told Us to Endorse Hitler’s Invasion of Poland.”

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 22:56:37 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Gander, sauced

The BBC:

“Appalling.”  “Diabolical.”  “A nightmare.”

Those were some of the terms MPs used to describe the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) even before they found out it had failed to pay them their full salaries.
...
The former Labour Europe minister Denis MacShane says: “I’ve never in my 16 years seen morale so low.

“People are just very, very miserable.  The rules keep chopping and changing.”

They are furious about an online system for claiming expenses which many struggle to use and changes to rules which mean they have to put in claims for stationery, occasionally without success.

Some members of Parliament consider the organisation unresponsive and unhelpful. “Their helpline is an anti-helpline,” says one. “No information is given, absolutely none.”

Gee, dealing with the gov’t (the way ordinary citizens have to) is a real bitch, ain’t it?

Via:  genes

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 18:14:13 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Peggy’s rose-colored history

Peggy Noonan:

On 9/11 we were rocked but held together.

No.

For example:
Associated Press:

Beyond the immediate needs to improve security and dismantle “organizations of destruction,” Obama wrote, lay the more difficult job of “understanding the sources of such madness.”  He wrote of “a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers,” of “embittered children” around the world, of the seeds of discontent sown in poverty, ignorance and despair.

The towers had yet to fall when the “progressives” began bleating “Why do they hate us?” and calling for “understanding” of “root causes.”  Most were soon shouted down, but their minds remained unchanged:  Soon they’d be trotting out the same arguments to oppose any concrete action by the “eeeevil Boosh.”

The progressives *never* “held together” with the rest of America  after 9/11 (although they often loudly proclaim that they did).  Just because Noonan the Nitwit has forgotten her liberal buddies’ behaviour doesn’t mean the rest of us have.


HT to “Editor” for the AP link.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 15:16:51 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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“I don't think this is comedy. I think it's pathetic and sad.”

Ace:

An audiocard in which a cartoon rabbit speaks of the solar system and “black holes” is deemed racist, because a bunch of ignorant, uneducated subcretins have never heard of “black holes,” and therefore insist on hearing it as “black whores,” even when they’re shown the script.

Allahpundit:

The bad news?  Rather than stand up to this idiocy, Hallmark looked at its bottom line and figured a PR war with the NAACP wasn’t worth it.

Ace:

You know what?  If you’re going to be stupid, uneducated, and ignorant -- and willfully, even proudly so -- you can’t really blame other people for noticing.

Allahpundit:

If this is what the L.A. NAACP now considers a priority for direct action, Los Angeles must be completely racism-free.  Three cheers for progress.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 21:30:00 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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U.K. = “Unlimited Kafka”

The Register:

We spoke to Poole Council in an effort to get to the bottom of the affair.  They were quick to reassure us that there was no requirement for a licence to take photos on Poole beaches.  So did Mr 8 actually tell someone that they needed one?  Their spokesman was unable to help us with that.

What about the guidelines?  Where can individuals obtain a copy of them?  They were not, according to the Poole spokesman, available on the web – but he was unable to explain exactly where they might be found.
...
Poole Council are not without form on this issue...  ...Freelance photographer Steve Cook claims that a council official said he was not allowed to take pictures on Sandbanks, another Poole beach, without a permit.

Mr Cook alleges that the official says this was because of a new by-law - despite the fact that the official council line is that no such law exists.

Elsewhere:

Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 20:43:21 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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And speaking of “out of patience”...

What the hell is the National Rifle Association doing endorsing John McCain over J.D. Hayworth?

Via:  The Other One.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 23:17:44 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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