ricketyclick

I was rummaging around under my bathroom sink the other day, and noticed two things:

• A strong mildew odor.
• A new in the box Delta faucet.

I have no idea where the faucet came from, which I strongly regret, because I hated the old two-knobbed faucet. Not only could I not repair its dripping with a simple washer, I prefer single-handle faucets, which are the Hot Setup, and if I’d known I had one, I’d've replaced it long ago.

The mildew odor turned out to be from the cold water nipple, which was mostly corroded through and had begun to drip. I think it was probably no more than a month or two away from actual squirting; I would have come home from work some day and found the bathroom floor awash and the hallway carpet soaked.

Here’s the new faucet:

The whole saga will appear below the fold when I get back from an errand.

I’ll be updating this over the next hour or so as I find things I want to post:

JRM at Patterico’s asks President Elect Hussein to keep his promises.

Far and away the best thing I’ve read so far.

Mark R. Levin:

John McCain just gave a classy concession speech. If McCain had won, we were told of possible riots.

Bruce at No Looking Backwards points to the single scariest and most immediate threat we now face:

That sound you just heard was the sound of millions of Israelis shitting their collective pants.

E-yup. When I find it again, I’ll post the link to the prediction that Iran will have a nuke within two years now, and shortly thereafter there will be an exchange with Israel.

We’ll see, I guess.

Say Uncle:

I blame Republicans who abandoned every principle that got them elected in 2000, 2002 and 2004.

Reap, sow, blah blah.

And from Uncle’s Token Liberal:

To my conservative/libertarian friends: Chill the fuck out. It’s a bad day for you — and believe me, after 2000, 2002, and 2004, I know exactly how you feel — but the world doesn’t end because of this election. Remember how you told us, upon the expiration of the [Assault Weapons Ban], that there wouldn’t be blood in the streets because of that? And remember how you were right? Well, I can tell you: You’re going to get to keep your guns. You’re probably not even going to see a renewal of the AWB — you’ve got enough Senators for a filibuster, and you’ve got Feingold. So you’re going to be fine.
…
Where to go from here? Use this as an opportunity to do what my party, the Democrats, wasted too much time not doing — you could argue from about 1994 to 2005 — cleaning up your own house. Get rid of the dead weight. Your side should be every bit as embarrassed by the Ted Stephenses as mine should be by the Robert Byrds. And while you’re at it, start lobbying the other party on the issues you care about — if guns are your thing (as they are for so many here), then angle for more Feingold Democrats.

Yup. Number one on my list of traitors for this election is the press. Number two is the Republican party, who ran a weak liberal instead of a strong conservative. So much for compromise.

It’s not all doom and gloom; some folks are genuinely happy. Like…evil Stalinist Dictator Fidel Castro.

I’m really gonna hate reading, over the next several days, the world’s most disgusting despots either gleefully praising Pres-Elect Hussein, or sternly warning that he not disappoint them.

McCain gags and appears to grab at Hussein's ass.

This is a frame grab from this video, which makes it clear that the apparent ass-grab is a result of camera angle. The expression, however, appears to be authentic.

Via Pharyngula, whose readers seem to think McCain is expressing his uncontrollable man-lust.

I am generally not a fan of this kind of shot, in service to any candidate, because if you continuously photograph anybody who is not a corpse or a robot, you will catch them out in embarrassing poses and expressions. Nevertheless, funny is funny, fair is fair.

Here’s my other favorite untended self-cartoon, of the glueball-wormening Goreacle His Own Self:

[Via Uncyclopedia, although at the time, this image was everywhere. Speaking of the Uncyclopedia, read this on Political Advertising.]

Bailout Not Funded by Taxpayers

The Skeptical Optimist explains that the bailout will be funded by the bond market, not the taxpayers.

If this is an accurate statement of what’s happening, I am much less concerned, although I still think the bill should still provide what Lawdog called a “reach-around“.

Wooden Arrows Not Added to Bailout

Ace of Spades explains, “They didn’t attach that crap to this bill. They attached this bill to that crap.”

Why? Because all bills dealing with revenues must originate in the House. This one, the wooden arrows tax break one, already came up from the House — and it already passed the Senate 93-2.

So, to get around that, they took the bill that already passed the House — one dealing with revenues — and attached the bailout to it. The bailout bill is not being voted on, technically, itself (rules prevent that), so it’s being voted on as an amendment to a House bill already passed.

It’s purely a bit of procedural chicanery.

OK, then. I’m breathing a lot easier already, and if this is what needs to be done to keep the banks and stock markets from crashing, so be it.

But that reach-around? I want that to include Pelosi, Reid, Christopher Dodd, Barney Frank, and the other Dem jackals who caused this mess resigning the day after the bill is signed.

Systems Analysis is the art and science of making explicit the assumptions underlying decision making, and then organizing those assumptions and the available facts, not to predict outcomes, but help decide amongst a range of possible actions.

Hermann Kahn gave a series of lectures on Systems Analysis at the Rand Corporation, at least one of which is now available for download [PDF, 6 MB] . Regretably, this is an image-scan, not a text transcription, but it is at least math-free, although chart-heavy.  However, it looks like a good introduction to the ideas involved.

Some of Kahn’s other papers in the series are availalbe as:

Monte Carlo

Game Theory

War Gaming

Ten Common Pitfalls

All are available for download as PDFs, or as printed, bound pamphlets for about $20 each.

Note: I am not competent to review or even recommend these papers, not least because I haven’t read them yet. However, the topic is of interest, and Kahn is generally well respected. And at least the first one comes recommended by a real systems analyst, Jerry Pournelle [scroll down].

There’s graffiti.
Then there’s the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

There’s tightrope walking.
Then there’s The Russian Bar:

[Youtube link]
The pacing of this act is a bit odd–there’s some totally mundane prancing about at one point which I suspect is necessary to allow the performers to get their breath–but stick with it. The finale is…doubly spectacular.

There’s worse ways to spend ten minutes than to  watch this, which explains why tech support guys sometimes seem…less than helpful.

Via Rob Topolski.

It’s really raining now. Not heavy rain, but the streets are wet, and given the wind behind it, I don’t like to stand in it.

Computer power backup keeps flicking on, although the lights are not dimming and the TV is OK.

Well, no, actually, not quite yet.

But I can’t get this random, irrelevant song lyric out of my head.
[Embedding disabled]

And I hope that tomorrow I won’t be “Walking on Broken Glass“. I love the intro and hook for that song. It is the perfect musical metaphor for the title.

In a few hours, I will be in the middle of what’s shaping up to be one of the worst natural disasters in the U.S. in my lifetime. Wind’s blowing pretty good, but it hasn’t started raining.

On the other, I live in America, not Burma. Tens of thousands of people will not die here tonight. We will not starve to death because of George Bush’s ego and fear keeping him from accepting the world’s help, if it is needed, although frankly I think it will not be. I live in the strongest, richest, most powerful nation on earth, and although it sometimes takes a few days to crank up the machinery, the fact is, sooner or later, help will come.

On the gripping hand, whatever happens will be an act of nature, not an ugly act of mass murder and war.

If you have power and a connection tonight, watch those videos. Please. Remember. I think there are many people, people who call themselves Americans, who are grateful for this storm tonight, because it gives them an excuse for not reminding us what happened seven years ago.

I am so grateful to be under threat of hurricane tonight, and not a threat of war. I thank George Bush for that, and all the soldiers who have fought around the world to keep that from happening.

I look to elect the man who will continue to fight to see that war does not come here, not the man who will sit down and talk to those who wish to destroy or enslave me, and give them whatever price they demand.

The lights just flickered. My UPS kept me going long enough to make this post, but I expect not have much longer before I am cut off.

Stay safe. Stay free.