CSotD: And another thing …

This is hardly new: It’s an illustration from a 1903 book of nursery rhymes by Charles Robinson, who did much more elaborate work elsewhere and go have a look, because it will be worth your while though you can also read that nursery rhyme book here.

As with most nursery rhymes, there are a kabillion interpretations of what it means, but I am using it here to refer to the fact that income taxes are due today in the US, an extension from our usual April 15 deadline because you can’t do math as quickly when you’re wearing a mask.

Or something.

I sent the beggars their money in February, so when I got a letter Friday with an Internal Revenue Service return address, I wasn’t all that pleased.

However, it was from the President telling me he was sending me some more incentives with which to stimulate the economy and (A) if you want someone to open your mail, putting IRS on the return address will do the trick and (B) it’s odd to have them sending me money, especially when it isn’t my own.

The past 12 months have been pretty weird.

 

I haven’t heard what the Canadians are up to, but I’d say Bruce MacKinnon got this one in just under the wire and it made me laugh, though I suppose now we’re going to have to live with all the people who never complied with things and didn’t die after all.

This came out last week just before the CDC announced we don’t necessarily need masks in the US and Boris Johnson announced a policy of hugging in the UK.

Not that coronavirus won’t kill anyone anymore. People still die of lung cancer, and, btw, people still smoke.

We’re never going to be able to explain to these lunkheads that nobody expected everybody to die, and that it’s much like all the times they drove drunk and weren’t killed then, either.

 

Or, for that matter, the times they filled ridiculously unsafe containers with gasoline and didn’t blow themselves up.

There have been several comparisons of the toilet paper hoarding and the gasoline hoarding, but Steve Sack adds silos in the backyard and brings it all to the exquisite level of absurdity it deserves.

I am surprised we haven’t had news stories about people blowing themselves up. The decent part of me is grateful but the “that’ll learn ya” part of me is thinking that these dumb bastards are going to think they can get away with anything.

Charles Darwin has a lot of explaining to do.

Though I have a theory that is somewhat counter to his, which is that the reason starfish can regrow missing limbs is that they’re not smart enough to know it’s impossible.

Same reason bumblebees can fly.

“Survival of the Dumbest.”

Meanwhile, those of us who do know how things work are paralyzed with guilt, as seen here:

 

First Dog on the Moon is involved in a lovely confrontation with both mortality and climate change today, and you should definitely go read the rest of that.

I don’t know how old First Dog is, but he speaks of growing up listening to the Ramones which makes him young enough to be my son if I’d been a lot more socially adept in high school, but old enough to have begun to earn the scorn of younger people, which I’ve been able to do for quite some time.

As usual, he’s hilarious except that letting young people down isn’t funny and yet we’ve done it again.

It’s a tradition.

 

While young people seem aware of the somewhat distant dangers of climate change, I wonder if they’re picking up on the more immediate topic of this Patrick Chappatte cartoon?

The caption translates as “Disperse or we’ll charge,” and the imbalance of power is nearly as Chappatte depicts it. Hamas unleashes rockets, and perhaps we should compare the rockets they’ve got with the rockets Israel has, and then add in Israel’s high-tech anti-rocket defenses.

But the imbalance in fatalities speaks for itself. As John Oliver said, you can’t refer to “tit for tat” warfare when one side has inflicted 10 times as many deaths.

Only it’s grown since he said that.

The new accusation going around is “Progressive Except Palestine.”

It’s for people who weep for Rohingas and Uighars, but don’t see similar issues in Gaza or on the West Bank.

I’d say “If the shoe fits,” but the shoe isn’t suppose to fit.

It’s supposed to pinch.

 

Juxtaposition of the Day

(Signe Wilkinson – AMS)

 

(Joe Heller)

You might expect the choking off of that pipeline to have inspired people to do something or other, but I haven’t seen anyone rushing to widen the Suez Canal, either, have you?

Wilkinson notes that it doesn’t take a fleet of bombers anymore, that a geek with good hacker skills can bring a nation to its knees.

And Heller points out that, rather than develop defenses, we’re prepared to simply pay ransom, in this case, $5 million, delivered to a DarkSide encrypted “digital wallet.”

 

Michael Ramirez (Creators) credits/blames the Russians, but it’s more complex than that.

Which isn’t to say that he’s wrong, but, rather, that Putin may simply be allowing it, not directing it.

If it came from Russia, it’s unlikely that Putin doesn’t know about it and even less likely that he doesn’t have sufficient cyber talents of his own.

After all, we’ve all got skilz, too, as demonstrated when the US took out an Iranian computer system in 2015, and smacked them again under Trump.

But things aren’t that centralized anymore, and haven’t been at least since Saudi terrorists struck Manhattan on orders from a guy in Afghanistan who then fled to Pakistan.

Wilkinson is right: It’s wherever you can get on line.

But Heller is also right, and that’s interesting, because bitcoins aren’t just a fad anymore. They’re for major cybercriminals who don’t want to be traced and caught.

Bear in mind that one of the major coming-of-age moments for cybercurrency was when the Silk Road was busted.  

Cybercurrency is the currency of the DarkSide.

This could become interesting. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, there’s this: