The Great American Autumn Stupidity

The Entropy of Leaves

Birthday Salutation

Happy Birthday Anniversary! To Bill McCorkle. 

The world is much less for your absence!

Unanswerable Question

Why is it that the wider a person smiles, the more stupid they appear?

Candidate Cacophony

In Alibam (at least,) Conservative Republican = Mud Slinger Extraordinaire & Egregious Slanderer.

Based on what all of the candidates have said about all their opponents, all should have been aborted in the first trimester.

Expectation of Failure

This morning my primary computer decided to go belly up. Happily it turned out to be a simple wiring glitch that I could fix by swapping out a cable.

Once I got back up, all the morning information deluge descended, having clogged my provider – THE ONEONTA TELEPHONE COMPANY – somewhere near the gills on their Nintendo servers.  And yes, I know there are better alternatives these days, but She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed won’t change. 

Anyway, one of the first packets to hit my browser was an ABC article [Link] entitled ‘Unthinkable tragedy’: U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses 1 million. My immediate reaction was “huhhhhhhh?” 

Let’s put this in context. The population of the Yankee Republic is (approximately) 331,893,745 on July 1, 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

That’s approximately 0.3%. 

If we compare this to the Bubonic Plague that ravaged Europe in the 14th century, the death toll varied among the coutries from 30 to 60 percentum.

So lets take the median – 45% – and compare that to 0.3%. 

Looks like we dun gud.

Of course, the plague ain’t necessarily over yet.

But we have treatments and preventatives. and we aren’t drinking the urine of (supposed) virgins. So when are we going to retire this national show of hand wringing and such? 

Popular Certainty

This morning, I ran across an article [Link] entitled “Overconfidence kills: The CDC and WHO still haven’t learned how to effectively communicate uncertainty” and I felt compelled to put my opinion forward.

Let me remind those who can’t read the name of this blog (or remember it, for that matter,) that I am a physicist and have some familiarity with the Uncertainty Principle. 

I also want to mention that we shouldn’t expect a lot of certainty from the CDC or WHO, largely because they are medical organizations and hence tend to think that way. Which isn’t mathematical. Other than thing like dosage calculations.

But the primary problem is the “general public.”

Here in Alibam, which is pretty much a worst case in Amerika for maths understanding, the standard of maths excellence in schule is for the student to have memorize the twos multiplication table by his/her senior year. Algebra is considered a Yankee Communist plot and is officially banned by the Alibam Repulsian Party. The Alibam Democrud Party has no policy on maths.

So blaming the CDC or WHO for ineffective communication of uncertainty is a null activity largely because the political classes wouldn’t know what was being talked about.

I can’t say this is the situation in other states, but as one who does Mechanics of all sorts almost every day, I can say that I have yet to be in a state (of the Union) where maths are understood by the average citizen.

So we have to postulate that it is impossible for the CDC/WHO to effectively communicate uncertainty since the majority of citizens don’t (and can’t) know what uncertainty is to begin with. 

Ex Oram Stupidus

One of the hilarious (and disgusting) aspects of Alibam political campaigns is the stupidity displayed by the candidates.

This takes two forms: the stupidity of the candidates; and the stupidity of the electorate. And, of course, the candidates completely depend on the latter to get elected.

Right now, the only candidates displaying their stupidity are the Repulsians, but that’s only because the Democruds haven’t made any display at all. One has to wonder if the Democruds have written Alibam off as not worth saving?

The most amusing (and distressing) of the Repulsians is Tim Fob’sSon who displays all the stupidity aspects possible. Almost everything he says is wrong and one has to wonder if the boy hated his dad so much that he ignored all advice and upbringing? Anyway, the fellow (and I use that term loosely and with grave doubt,) not only utters pure stupidity, his utterances indicate that he thinks the Alibam electorate is terminally stupid as well.

The second run-up is the woman (at least she appears to be a woman on television but that is in question since it seems impossible that a woman can be so stupid. Is “she” really trans?) who seems ignorant that immigration is a Federal (as in Yankee Government) matter that the state of Alibam has NO control over.

So the real question of this election here in Alibam is which is the more stupid: the candidates or the electorate?

The World Wonders.

I also heard a rumor that Mr. Putin’s next target is Alibam because the citizens are too stupid to resist and won’t give him grief like the Ukranians. And, he supposedly expects, that Mr. Biden will happily give him Alibam without contest. 

Toilet Trumphant

It  appears that we can add a new nickname to the list standing for our previous presidente, Der Dumpfh.

He will now also be known as “The Flusher.” [Link]

Alibam the Holey

Brrrr. No, Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Winter returned to Alibam this morning, at least to the point where my feet seem to lack any sanguine circulation at all.

And to make the morning more joyous, I was greeted by an article [Link] entitled “Alabamians are a bunch of couch potatoes, according to CDC analysis.”

Of course, the colding, which is the proper word for describing conditions that cause one to feel cold, but is for all practical purposes unknown by all Alibamians, is the foretelling of a Noahish flood to descend on the state tomorrow.

We can only hope it inundates some, preferably all, of the Repulsian candidates for public office.

On which point, I ran across an article [Link] this morning entitled “5 Star Trek Shows Is Not Nearly Enough Star Trek for Paramount+” that struck me as being a tight analogy to the situation here in Alibam with regard to those Repulsian Candidates. 

I should comment that I consider Patrick Stewart an talented actor but not even he is able to make John Luke Picard either believable or enjoyable. In fact, Picard ranks dead last – as in dropped off the page – on the list of Star Trek  commanders. 

Even so he is much more believable than several Repulsian candidates. Notably Tim Jim and Katy Brittle.  Both of whom come across as misguided Nazi storm troopers. Which they seem likely to be given the nature of their campaign messages. 

Neither is in favor of the  health nor longevity of the citizens. Which probably indicates they are tools of the Monied Interests of Alibam.

I should also mention that the only reason I am not criticizing the Democrud candidates is because none have started to campaign yet. I am unsure of whether this is indicative of stupidity or brilliance.

Humor in Guvmint

It amazes me how all the Repulsian govnuh candidates – save one – are Nircissistic Nincompoops.

The exception? Our beloved guvnuh. 

Incidentally, the same applies to the Repulsian senatorial candidate who is not only a narcissist but a prevaricator. The latter, of course, is unsurprising since it is a necessity for an Alibam politician.

Perhaps for all politicians?