Month: February 2015

Need some feedback on video card specifications.

Well, since the pledge drive is almost over (but feel free to hit the tip jar, if you like) and I can pretty much start to spec out what I’m going to be able to go with, I’m hung up on the video card.  Basically, this:

[+$230.00] AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB Video Card (Require Min. 600W Power Supply)
[+$444.00] AMD Radeon R9 290 4GB Video Card (Require Min. 600W Power Supply)

Obviously, I see that the 290 has better performance than the 280 (and Witcher 3 recommends the 290, although people are blanching at that). But is it really worth the extra $200?  Will I even notice?

 

Oh, for the record: I will keep declaring myself to be better than murderous death cultists.

Because I am. Anybody who doesn’t like my religious/cultural chauvinism?  Well, they are cordially invited to go engage in a vigorous round of self-fornication.  Hopefully followed by a healthy dose of self-reflection to ascertain why they have such a crippling case of self-doubt, but that’s not really my problem.

I don’t need to link on this one.  Everybody who reads this knows what Barack Obama said, and that he meant what he said.  …God save the Republic.

Moe Lane

My God. It’s true! there IS a shadowy transnational Jewish group plotting to influence elections!

…Of course, it’s a progressive group of American Jews and the election in question is Israel’s, but that’s probably just a minor detail: “A coalition of U.S.-funded progressive groups has planned a massive get-out-the-vote effort to influence the Israeli elections, targeting communities that are most likely to vote against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-leaning Likud Party, according to a confidential strategy memo obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.” The group in question is called Ameinu, and while I do not actually personally care that it’s apparently engaged in an international Zionist campaign* to influence foreign elections, I would like to note that there’s at least a bit of historical awkwardness, here. Not to mention, historical irony.  Who would have thought that there might one day be an international Jewish plot to maybe destabilize Israel?

…Huh.  Progressives are weird.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: One other thought: perhaps Ameinu could have found someone to do their voter analysis who was once not accused of having written a “Jewish Protocols of the Elders of Zion?”  Look, I understand fully that Israeli political debates are not for the timid, but nonetheless this Seffi Rachlevsky fellow seems to be at least a little bit twitchy about Orthodox Jews. I mean, can you be really sure that some of that stuff won’t leak through and get on the analysis?

PPS: No, this article was not paid for by AIPAC.  Also: hold on, is that a thing?  What’s their per-word? Do I need to fill out a 1099 first?

*Not quite a conspiracy, but they probably shouldn’t have called that memo ‘confidential.’

Quote of the Day, @TheRickWilson Tells It Like It Is About An Alan Grayson Senate Campaign edition.

Oh, this is some prime stuff. Gold. Gold, Jerry!

Republicans, for their part, seem positively giddy at the prospect of [Alan] Grayson in a Senate general election. As Rick Wilson, a prominent Republican consultant in Florida, chortled, “He’d be a mixture of Sharron Angle, Todd Akin, and Hannibal Lecter.” While Wilson said Grayson would be nearly unbeatable in a Democratic primary, he gave him little chance in a statewide election in November. Wilson did add the caveat that he could see a path to victory for Grayson “if all the other Republican candidates were found to be part of a child pornography ring.”

…Yeah, maybe a little unfair to Sharron Angle, but she did under-perform.

Via @BenjySarlin, whose quote of the title (“Florida’s Craziest Liberal Wants to Be a Senator. It’s Nice to Want Things.”) reminds me of one of my late father’s favorite sayings (“It’s Good To Want.”). So I am actually well-disposed and beaming serenely at the the Daily Beast, at this precise moment in time.  …Yeah, I dunno how long that’ll last, either.  Hopefully until after lunch?  I like cheerful lunches.

Moe Lane

I’m kind of feeling pushed to go see ‘Jupiter Ascending,’ now.

I mean, when I saw the first trailers and the upcoming features I looked at it and I said Stupid.  Then I saw some more and I said Crazy. But now I’m reading these two reviews and I’m thinking Crazy-Stupid:

  • Washington Free Beacon: “Jupiter Ascending is a totally nuts, lavishly costumed, deeply funny, completely campy, ridiculously dense space opera that is, more or less, about evil businessmen trying to destroy the Earth and about love saving it. It is so nuts and lush and weird that there is almost no chance it will find an audience in theaters. It demands repeat viewings. It practically screams Basic Cable Classic.”
  • Filmdrunk: “The movie isn’t really about anything, it’s just this massive ball of baubles and frosting. Which makes it not a very good story, but… not entirely uncompelling either. As bad a movie as it is, it’s also a singular event, a monument to strange and bizarre decisions stacked one on top of another. Jupiter Ascending is the Winchester Mystery House of movies, why shouldn’t they charge admission? Take a friend, point at the stairways to nowhere, gawp at the toilets built upside down.” (H/T: @drgonzo123… well, actually, Dennis Detwiller*)

Continue reading I’m kind of feeling pushed to go see ‘Jupiter Ascending,’ now.

Tweet of the Day, Today’s “…Man. White People” Will Be Provided By Portland Hipsters edition.

Man. White people:

Look, I understand how a person might think that getting a tattoo of an airport carpet pattern* might say to the world that you are serious; but, speaking as a representative of the world, I regret to tell you that in fact the opposite is true.

Moe Lane

PS: Mind you, if the hipsters want the old carpet and the Portland airport can’t get rid of it otherwise, then by all means: give the hipsters the damned carpet. I mean, the hipsters want it, right? Better than just throwing it in a landfill.

…What? Hipsters can have nice things, too. For given values of ‘nice.’

*I AM NOT MAKING THAT UP.

The Friday Last-Chance Update to the I Wish To Replace This Computer fundraising drive.

It’s an aesthetic thing: I assumed it’d take about two weeks to get a qualified success (ie, some freelancing checks would come in that would put it over the top). That I’d be able to generate the funds in five days is most gratifyingly surprising… and, of course, it makes the pledge drive kind of, you know, done. So I’m just going to formally end it at midnight tonight. I also put up a last-day stretch goal because, hey, all the cool kids are doing it and I figure that more RAM couldn’t hurt.

fundraising thermometer




The usual reminder about my Patreon account: at $60/month there’s going to be a short-short story every month. And, again: thanks, folks.

Tweet of the Day, I REFUSE To Stop Using White People Jokes edition.

It’s a matter of principle.

Because I’ll tell you: after watching a certain flavor of progressive do stuff like this, I have really and truly come to a genuine appreciation of the shaken head, and the mused Man. White people. I will not give this up. You can’t make me give this up.  I will not be shamed into giving it up.  Accept that.

Moe Lane