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"Aw, it's a funny old world," Said Henry's Cat.

So I went from being the engineer doing something while training up the PHB above to being a PHB organising a bunch of people to being...?

This is the thing: what am I?

I did the PHB stuff because it needed doing. I put in new processes, got some infrastructure in place and got some stuff going, LART'd more senior people, did lots and lots of work outside business hours, just about lost the plot... and then got some more technical stuff to do.

Here I am, compiler, interpreter and VM in hand, fixing bugs, telling people that compiler warnings are Useful(TM), stopping things from crashing and generally doing stuff.

I'm not sure I can do it fast enough, though. We'll see.

They gave me a pay rise (hooray!) and so I thought I might treat myself to some new second-hand toys (junk) from Ebay and today I got a motherboard, CPU and RAM bundle (AMD Phenom II X6 3.2GHz, 16GB ECC RAM), and a new case and got it all up and running.

Yesterday, my Phenom II X4 940 BE broke. It boots, and crashes (in the kernel) after a few seconds. I'm sad. That CPU goes back a long way, and it keeps my feet warm under my desk during the day while I'm working, but no more. I have tried cleaning out the heatsink, a different power supply and I have run memtest86+ on it. Single-threaded it passes. Multi-threaded it fails. I wonder whether years of being a little too hot have broken it?

Fortunately, the CPU I got today will work in the old motherboard of the X4. This motherboard will take an AMD FX processor. I'll look out for one of those. That should really keep my feet warm.

And I finally wrote a line of Python on company time!

Failure to hold confirmation hearings for any judicial appointee means by default that judicial appointee is confirmed.

This either eliminates stalling of confirmation hearings, or . . .

This makes such hearings unnecessary if there is no objection. After all, if there were any objection, a confirmation hearing would have been held!

It makes government more efficient in either of the two ways just stated. (eliminates stalling, or was unnecessary) Saves government resources for more important matters such as lobbyists.

This idea works either way with the shoe on either foot. What is good for the goose is also compatible with the gander without need of any special adapter cables or dongles.

https://bigleaguepolitics.com/poll-support-for-black-lives-matter-is-plummeting/

A new poll by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that support Black Lives Matter has been dwindling since April 2021, especially among African Americans.

These figures came right before the two-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd.

The poll was conducted by YouGov between May 5 and 9. It revealed that support for BLM’s goals had fallen from 48% to 31%.

Similarly, support for BLM’s strategies and tactics fell from 40% to 31%.

Some of the starkest declines in support for BLM were present among African American respondents to this survey. African Americans’ support for BLM’s goals fell from 67% to 56% since April 2021.

In a similar vein, African Americans’ support for BLM’s strategies and tactics dropped from 65% to 49% in this timeframe.

BLM's biggest mistake was allowing Antifa to be involved, and even to hijack BLM's mission and goals.

BLM's second biggest mistake, was allowing graft and corruption at the top levels of - uhhhh - leadership.

BLM's third largest problem is, they fail to distinguish between genuine victims of racism, and common thugs being taken down when they pose a threat to other people.

And, that's not good at all. BLM's core complaints still need to be addressed, and dealt with. Law enforcement needs to be brought to heel, and law enforcement needs to end it's double standards.

I don't want to see BLM go away, but I really want them to mature a little, and get more serious with their strategies and tactics.

Instead of participating in a riot with Antifa, they should be visiting state capitols. Staging sit ins instead of riots would be far more productive. Separate themselves from anarchist Antifa, and make the distinction clear.

The nation will not tolerate much more lawless anarchy and violence. The midterms will prove that.

Clicketey clickety click . . . the wheel slows down and stops on . . .

TEXAS

Local coverage
14 students killed, 1 teacher dead in elementary school shooting, Texas governor says: LIVE

Gov. Abbott also identified the shooter as an 18-year-old student at Uvalde High School.

UVALDE, Texas -- Fourteen students and a teacher are dead after a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, according to Gov. Greg Abbott.

The 18-year-old suspect, a student at Uvalde High School, is also dead, he said.

"He shot and killed horrifically and incomprehensibly 14 students and killed a teacher," Abbott said during an unrelated press briefing.

The suspect also allegedly shot his grandmother before entering the school and again opening fire, Abbott said. He did not say anything further about her condition.

Abbott said the shooter had a handgun and also possibly a rifle.

But oh no! We don't have no gun violence problem in this country! Nope! Nosiree!

We shouldn't try to keep guns out of the hands of people who have no business having a firearm!

And try this one . . .

This will never build until there are eventually some kind of gun control regulations that none of us like.

See Also:

15 killed in shooting at Uvalde elementary school, active shooter killed, officials say

Shooting at a Texas elementary school leaves 14 students and a teacher dead, governor says

Breaking News: 14 students, 1 teacher killed in Texas school shooting, officials say

Deadly shooting at Texas elementary school

The Washington Blob: Its Blind Arrogance May Lead to War with Russia
by Doug Bandow Posted on May 23, 2022
The Washington foreign policy elite, aka the Blob, hates nothing more than dissent from the conventional wisdom that the US must always do more, ever more, in the world. Those who disagree are treated as fools or traitors.

Every Friday the Washington Post engages in its weekly act of journalistic masturbation, when one of its establishment journalists interviews its other establishment journalists. The conversations are always informed, usually interesting, and often drenched in condescension. Last Friday was no different.

The Posties took on congressional passage of the $40 billion aid bill for Ukraine, expressing shock and dismay that 11 Republican senators voted no. Can you imagine – putting the interests of Americans first!? Playing the perfect Tartuffe was Josh Rogin, brimming with pietistic outrage. He singled out Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, announcing that the former ambassador "knows better." Rogin huffed: "It seems pretty simple." It is better to spend the money now than to have World War III if Russia wins, he explained.

Eh? That’s the best the Post can come up with? Rogin’s argument is simple, or more accurately, simplistic. Surely Rogin knows better. However, his attitude is typical of the Blob.

For a city filled with masters of the universe whose fondest desire is to run the world, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a gift from the Devil. The war provides an excuse to add to America’s bloated military budget, transfer massive amounts of weapons and money, fight a proxy war, increase US control over Europe, browbeat the Global South to follow America’s lead, and remake the world. Which Washington rushed to do with nary a dissenting thought. Perhaps even more remarkable, though, is the fact that a succession of US policymakers helped generate the very crisis which fulfilled their ambitions, all the while piously proclaiming their sacrificial dedication to others. And preparing to lead America to disaster.

First, though Russian President Vladimir Putin bears sole responsibility for the decision to attack Ukraine, the US and European governments created conditions for war. They recklessly violated security assurances made to Moscow and acted aggressively in ways Washington would never have accepted in the Western hemisphere. And bleated sanctimonious cant about the sacred sovereignty of other nations.

Imagine if Russia (or China, or another adversarial great power) attempted to draw Mexico away from America toward an alternative trade block, promoted a street putsch ousting the elected, pro-US president, pushed political favorites for the new government, and promised Mexico membership in a hostile military alliance. Blob members, including the Washington Post editorial page and journalists, likely including Rogin, would have joined in frenzied unanimity demanding action, with nary a thought about Mexico’s right to make its own decisions and chart its own destiny. So much for the Blob’s commitment to the "rules based international order."

Second, members of several administrations callously and recklessly set up Ukraine. Since 2008 Washington, NATO, and European governments assured Kyiv that they looked forward to its eventual membership in the transatlantic alliance. Yet no one in Europe, and few in Washington after the disastrous Bush administration mercifully passed into history, were prepared to go to war over Ukraine. By repeating this faux promise, they simultaneously fueled Russian anger – oft articulated by Putin and a gaggle of Russian officials – and Ukrainian overconfidence. For instance, feeling secure, Kyiv signed, with apparently no intention of fulfilling, the Minsk agreements; Washington and Brussels placed no pressure on Ukraine to complete the deal. Perhaps peace was impossible, but allied malpractice ensured conflict.

Third, America’s interests are different from Kyiv’s. Washington’s view of the world differs, sometimes dramatically, even from European states with which it has been formally allied for decades. (For instance, their primary security goal always has been to cheap ride on Americans.) The divergence is greater the more distant and less connected the nation. Unsurprisingly, Ukraine wants to not just rebuff Russia’s attack, but recapture lost territory, even against the wishes of its population, as likely in Crimea’s case. In doing so, Kyiv would be perfectly happy to drag the US and NATO into direct combat against Russia. In contrast, Washington has no significant interest in reversing Ukraine’s past. Ending the war should be America’s highest priority.

Fourth, US interests in Ukraine are limited. In a perfect world the lion would lie down with the lamb and members of the global community would join in a rousing chorus of Kumbaya. The result would be perfect justice – international law respected, popular desires fulfilled, security concerns resolved, political miscreants ousted, military criminals punished, tragic history repaired. However, this is a fantasy. What major conflict, even if a convincing victory, concluded thus? Certainly, neither World Wars I and II nor Iraq I and II. And many wars, such as Korea, Iran-Iraq, and the Balkans, had messy, inconclusive outcomes and equally unsatisfactory results.

In today’s imperfect world Washington should seek a "good enough" conclusion. The war would end with a stable peace. Necessary would be respect for Ukrainian sovereignty and understanding of Russian insecurity. The rest would be negotiable. The Biden administration should temper its ambitions since the cost and risk of pushing for more is far too great.

Fifth, determined to give life to their inner feldmarschall, Blob members are prepared to fight to last Ukrainian, spend Uncle Sam’s last dollar, and perhaps even send in the Marines, along with quite a few other Americans. The $40 billion just approved by Congress, on top of $13 billion already provided to Ukraine, is more than what Russia spends on the military annually, greater than what all but three European nations devote to their own defense every year, and a multiple of what the Europeans have provided and will provide Kyiv. This makes no sense given Ukraine’s disproportionate interest to Europe and limited importance to America.

Worse, administration officials are not just pursuing inflated war aims, but promoting them publicly, expressing desire for regime change, war crimes trials, and a weakened Russia. This ostentatious challenge raises the stakes for the Putin government, increasing pressure on it to respond. Public discussions of America’s role in combat operations, including targeting Russian generals and ships, also highlights Washington’s status as a cobelligerent and tempts Moscow to retaliate.

Escalation could be striking Western aid shipments before they reach Ukraine, perhaps in Poland; encouraging attacks by Russian or proxy forces on US garrisons elsewhere, such as in Syria or Iraq; augmenting the military capabilities of American adversaries, most dangerously Iran or North Korea; employing more destructive weapons and firepower, including nuclear weapons; and declaring full mobilization, thereby committing the Russian people to a modified version of total war. All of these would set up a potentially dangerous confrontation with Washington. It would be madness for the US to match or trump Moscow, given the stakes. However, backing down, seemingly abandoning Ukraine, would sacrifice US credibility.

This is how World War III could start. Washington treating Russia like Serbia, Afghanistan, Libya, or Iraq, as Rogin and many others advocate. In those wars even stupid, disastrous policies had limited impact on America despite wrecking other nations, killing hundreds of thousands of foreigners, and displacing millions of people. Being a superpower often means you can destroy and kill with little consequence at home. Get Russia wrong, however, and Americans, too, could pay a very high price. Surely Washington’s foreign policy elite understand that.

This is the moment for someone in the Biden administration, assuming there is an adult in the room making policy, to call a halt. The US must balance Ukraine with other American interests, reverse the thoughtless rise in war objectives, and limit Washington’s involvement. Despite the Blob’s self-reverential belief that it is entitled to run the world, its members’ principal duty is to the American people. Washington policymakers should know better than to risk a devastating conflict over Ukraine.

https://original.antiwar.com/doug-bandow/2022/05/22/the-washington-blob-its-blind-arrogance-may-lead-to-war-with-russia/

Has anyone wondered how many genders will survive WWIII?

The raise of independents

usian guys, it is possible, stop whinging.

Edit 0:

One thing that I strongly resonate with, a National Anti-Corruption Commission... we may have it before Christmas

How do you find the time to do the things you want to do as well as the things you need to do?

What are your time management strategies?

Why Arabs aren’t laughing at George W. Bush’s gaffe on Ukraine and Iraq

A small stone found in the Egyptian desert 25 years ago is changing what we know about how the universe was created.

The stone, named Hypatia after the Alexandrian philosopher, was found in southwestern Egypt in 1996, but it continues to puzzle scientists to this day. Researchers from the University of Johannesburg believe the stone is the first tangible evidence we have of a rare type of supernova.

They’ve published their findings in a study published in the journal Icarus.

A supernova is the biggest explosion known to humans. It can occur by one star exploding as it runs out of fuel, or by a collision between stars. According to Nasa, about two or three supernovas occur each century.

In 2013, researchers from the university discovered that the stone was not from Earth, evident from the concentration of elements within it. In 2015 they determined it was not part of any known type of meteorite or comet. Then, in 2018, nickel phosphide, an element that has never been found in any object in our solar system, was found in the stone.

Fast forward to 2022, and scientists have determined that not only is the stone from beyond our solar system, but that it holds traces of an “Ia,” a rare type of supernova that is one of the most energetic events in the universe. This occurs once or twice per galaxy per century and manufactures most of the iron in our universe.

It is unlikely that this is the last discovery to be made on the heels of Hypatia, and it is a reminder of what late American astronomer Carl Sagan once said: “The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena.”

By Mohammed Abdelbary

https://theconversation.com/a-quest-for-significance-gone-horribly-wrong-how-mass-shooters-pervert-a-universal-desire-to-make-a-difference-in-the-world-183199

A quest for significance gone horribly wrong – how mass shooters pervert a universal desire to make a difference in the world
Published: May 19, 2022 8.17am EDT

Agonizing questions are being raised by the recent tragic shooting incident in Buffalo, New York, where 18-year-old Payton S. Gendron is alleged to have shot 10 people dead and wounded three. As in the recent years’ similar acts of horror at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, a Walmart in El Paso, and a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, people want to know how such senseless acts of violence can even happen, why they happen so often, and whether anything can be done to stem their dreadful tide.

An easy answer has been to shunt the discourse over to mental illness as the cause and in this way marginalize the problem and identify a ready, if superficial, solution to it: improving mental health. It also absolves the rest of society of responsibility to address a pernicious trend of mass shootings that between 2009 and 2020 claimed 1,363 lives in the U.S. alone, more than anywhere else in the world.

The idea that committing atrocities and killing innocent victims reflects mental illness has been long discarded by terrorism researchers like me. The over 40,000 foreign fighters who joined the Islamic State organization to kill and die weren’t all mentally disturbed, nor were the mass shooters who in the first 19 weeks of 2022 managed to carry out nearly 200 attacks on U.S. soil.

There is a mental and psychological dimension to the problem, to be sure, but it is not illness or pathology. It is the universal human quest for significance and respect – the mother, I believe, of all social motives.

I am a psychologist who studies this ubiquitous motivation and its far-reaching consequences. My research reveals that this quest is a major force in human affairs. It shapes the course of world history and determines the destiny of nations.

It also plays a major role in the tragic incidents of mass shootings, including, it seems, the Buffalo killings.

Triggering the quest

This quest for significance and respect must first be awakened before it can drive behavior.

It can be triggered by the experience of significant loss through humiliation and failure. When we suffer such a loss, we desperately seek to regain significance and respect. The quest for significance can also be triggered by an opportunity for substantial gain – becoming a hero, a martyr, a superstar.

Both circumstances appear acutely in adolescence, during the momentous life transition between childhood and adulthood, marked by soaring hormones, turbulent emotions and gnawing uncertainty about one’s self-worth. Gendron is 18; most school shootings were carried out by young people between 11 and 17 years old, although the average age of mass shooters is 33.2.

Yet, neither age nor the quest for significance alone can explain the occurrence of mass shootings. After all, the vast majority of adolescents go through their teen years without resorting to murderous violence. What is it, then, that tips the scales for those who don’t?

‘Shortcuts to fame and glory’

The research my colleagues and I have done suggests that a crucial factor in turning a person into a mass murderer is the significance-promising narrative – essentially, a story – that individuals come to embrace. This story acquires its powers of persuasion through the support of the individuals’ social network, the group from which one seeks approval.

The mainstream narrative that most of us follow promises significance and social worth as rewards for hard work, notable achievements and social service.

Yet there exist alternative narratives that offer tempting shortcuts to fame and glory. These identify an alleged villain, scheme or conspiracy that threaten one’s group – race, nation, or religion. The mortal danger being invoked calls for brave heroes willing to sacrifice all on the altar of the cause.

A striking example of such a narrative is the so-called “white replacement theory” that Gendron allegedly embraced. It is the idea that progressive leftists are planning to flood the country with people of color, aiming to disempower the white population and destroy its values and way of life.

The sense of existential danger this theory invokes fuels blind hatred against the alleged usurpers, and presumed conspirators, a loathing that overrides all restraints. It unleashes the rawest, most primordial impulses of which the human reptilian brain is capable. Murderous rage and mayhem are often the result.

In 21st-century America, such toxic narratives not only proliferate but increasingly gain legitimacy and currency within public discourse. Some politicians are quick to recognize the seductive appeal of these ideas, particularly in times of widespread, significance-threatening uncertainty engendered by creeping economic inequalities, the pandemic, inflation and other destabilizing problems.

The wide availability of social media platforms exacerbates the problem by orders of magnitude. In the not-so-distant past, those with heinous views would need to look hard for similarly minded others. But these days, no matter how deviant or morally abhorrent their beliefs, people have no trouble finding soulmates on 4chan, 8chan or Telegram.

First, understand the psychology

This technologically based predicament, and the primitive appeal of violence as a path to significance, make the problem of violence in our public spaces particularly difficult and unlikely to respond to quick solutions.

I have studied this appeal to violence for decades, and I believe that to conquer it requires first understanding the psychology that drives it all. It requires parents to appreciate the dread of insignificance their children may be experiencing, their quest of proving themselves worthy and how the combination of human needs, narratives and networks can produce murder.

It also requires educational and community institutions to provide youngsters idealistic alternatives to violence, to quench their thirst for mattering.

It requires attention to social justice and economic inequalities that leave millions feeling disrespected and left behind. And it requires resolutely confronting hateful narratives, and our demonization of one another.

No doubt, these challenges are a tall order and call for a whole society’s effort, all hands on deck. But if we fail to measure up to the task, murder will not stop. The horrific shooting incident in Buffalo’s supermarket is but a grim reminder of the evil that can happen. Ignoring it is at our own peril.

Portions of this article originally appeared in a previous article published on March 11, 2021.

As always, click the link for connecting links.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/18/buffalo-shooter-journal-discord-google-docs/

Buffalo shooter invited others to his private Discord ‘diary’ 30 minutes before attack

According to Discord, the suspected shooter created a private, invite-only server that he used as a “personal diary chat log.” The server had no other members until 30 minutes before the attack began, when a “small group of people” received an invite and joined.

“Before that, our records indicate no other people saw the diary chat log in this private server,” a Discord spokesperson told TechCrunch. TechCrunch reached out to the company for more details about the server’s activity and insight into how it handles moderation for private servers and messages.

Oh my. There is little indication whether anyone accepted the invite, when it was given. Presumably, someone accepted, and watched, or the live stream probably wouldn't have been 'leaked'.

So, someone was actually watching, for ~30 minutes. That person, or persons, could have contacted law enforcement, to warn them of an impending terror attack. Did that person do so?

Hard to say - maybe he/she did contact law enforcement. The cops did respond within 2 minutes of the first shot being fired. Possibly they were already enroute?

To be fair, a cold call out of nowhere informing a desk cop that a terror attack is imminent probably wouldn't get super high priority. Desk cop may or may not have done a BOLO alert, may or may not have dispatched a cop to the scene. That's all open for speculation.

But, holy crap, NO ONE would want to be 'that guy' who failed to alert authorities that some nutcase was driving to a location, intent on murder and mayhem, with the weapons designed for the job.

"Small group" the article says. So, potentially 20 people?