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When The Best Is Unknown

Music

…at least to me, it is.

Nineties anthem from iconic rock band is crowned the best British song of all time

and here it is:  Live Forever (Oasis)

Okay, I admit that I’m not the best one to judge this poll-driven decision, especially as I couldn’t hum or whistle any Oasis song with a gun pointed at my head.

But I would humbly suggest that this silly, simplistic song isn’t only not the best British song of all time, but it doesn’t even come close to songs like, oh, the Beatles’ Hey Jude  or for that matter The White Cliffs Of Dover  or Keep The Home Fires Burning, to name but three that predate Oasis’ jangling, annoying ditty.

This is why all GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) comparisons are irretrievably flawed:  different eras breed different greats, and if we’re even going to compare a nondescript song of thirty-odd years ago with songs that have emerged since then, I’d also suggest that Live Forever doesn’t match up to Adele’s Rolling In The Deep, which sold over twenty million singles (and which I don’t especially care for, either).

Pointless nonsense.  I’m kinda sorry I even took any notice of it.  Sorry.

Speed Bump #2,158

Grammar Nazism

Seen on Twatter recently:

The problem is that our system has a crisis of legitimacy.

ex-President Applesauce illegally and deliberately imported somewhere between 10mm and 20mm illegal aliens into the USA and illegally provided them with tax dollars you and I earned on the sweat of our brows.

I’m not taking issue with the argument, as always, but I am taking issue with its presentation.

This abbreviation of millions and thousands has always been problematic for me.  The problem, as usual, starts with the Romans and their poxy language, while their stupid numbering system also comes into play.

Latin for 1,000:  mille (M).  So 2,000 (e.g. in dates):  MM.

Unfortunately, when we try to make the M into a million, we have to multiply the Ms into MM.  See the problem?  While numerically it makes sense (1 millimeter = one-thousandth of a metre = 1mm), linguistically we get into all sorts of trouble because when we try to abbreviate millions, as above, the appearance of, say, 20 million (20mm) comes out as 20 millimeters because it’s what we’re used to seeing, thanks to the equally-poxy metric system.

Frankly, we can overcome all confusion by not using abbreviations altogether, i.e. writing “10 million to 20 million”, or even “10-20 million” (inferior, but almost acceptable) instead of “10mm-20mm”.

Mixing Latin with metric is where we all fall over, by the way, because in the metric usage, “m” is also the abbreviation for “metre”, e.g. “Olympic 100m sprint”.  Some have tried to compensate by capitalizing the “m” when you need to express “thousand”, but that muddies the literary reading even more.

Lastly, a free box of .22 ammo goes to the Reader who can first explain to me what “milliard” officially means.

 

Quote Of The Day

Muzzies, QOTD

From Pam Geller:

“Islam’s modus operandi is as follows: when Muslims are in a minority in countries to which they have migrated they claim Islam is a religion of peace. Once their numbers increase they start to agitate for considerations unavailable to non-Muslims in those countries under the guise of obtaining civil liberties. When they gain power it’s, ‘Do as we say or we will kill you.’ That is how a country loses its culture, its values and its traditions.”

This taken from here, which follows on from several articles on Islamist expansion and Shari’a promotion, mine included.

My opinion?  It’s time we put an asterisk on the First Amendment, in that “religion” paragraph.

News Roundup

Bad News

And on a related note:


...I mean, what’s the point of stealing all that technology from the U.S. when you can’t sell it back to them?


...yeah, let them steal jet technology from Airbus, for a change.

Speaking of Chinese work practices:


...but but but if this happened in Norma Rae Country, where is the Textile Workers’ Union in all this?  Oh… they went out of business when all those textile jobs moved to China, huh?
#IronyCentral

And from The Great Cultural Assimilation Project©:


...as if that were a surprise.


...to be filed under “Politicians’ Broken Promises”.  Now, if the incoming Reichkanzler was from the AfD party… but that would be schrecklich.


...silly people, that was the Labour Party’s plan all along, you racist Enoch Powell supporters.  That’ll teach you to vote Conservative.


...wait:  you mean there are illegal Mexican immigrants in Chicago?  I am shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you. [/Captain Renault]

Let’s Trust The Science:


...what’s that, Lassie?  Loud hoofbeats, you say?
#JapanNotChinaSurpriseSurprise

In Crime News:


...just wait till you see why he was in jail before you get all judgey.


...so you see, children:  smoking cigarettes can be bad for your health.  Also, Muslims.

Oh, and 

  (no link because paywall)
...I bet most of them just thought the Earth was moving for that other reason.
#SexManiacs


...okay, who’s doing all that unseemly cheering for the earthquake?

Oh.

And now ’tis once more time for 

   

...I know:  all names courtesy of Scrabble / illiterate parents.

Just checking in with Train Smash Times:


...she never fails to delight us all.  However, the next TSW is a real disappointment:

Lindsay Lohan, 38, looks phenomenal in a sexy leather corset as she hits the cover of Vogue Czechoslovakia
...and here she is:

And as we remember her fondly from those Train Smash times:


...oooh, I can forgive anything for those freckled young boobies.

At Long Last, Choice

Education

Some excellent news for Texas parents:

On Wednesday, Texas finally passed a comprehensive school choice bill after years of trying and failing. The legislation could reshape the way the Lone Star State does education.

The state House vote followed a long day of deliberations that lasted well after midnight before passing.

The bill now goes to Gov. Jim Abbott’s desk for signing, and in case anyone has any reservations about his feelings on the topic:

“This is an extraordinary victory for the thousands of parents who have advocated for more choices when it comes to the education of their children,” Abbott said.

The Usual Suspects (i.e. Democrats) were against this bill, along with a couple of malcontent Republicans who (surprise surprise) were formerly public-school superintendents.

So instead of getting “free” education from state schools tied to their home address, Texans will be getting the chance to set up an education savings account (ESA) which can fund their kids’ education — and if their choice of school happens to be the home, that’s just fine.  Instead of funds going to schools, in other words, the money will be going to parents to spend on their kids’ education, at schools of their choice.  Some details:

The ESA proposal would establish dedicated accounts fueled by public funds that families could tap into to pay for education expenses. An ESA could fund private school tuition, support homeschooling costs or be used for other education-related expenses.

Families in private schools would receive roughly $10,000 per year per child. Children with disabilities would receive $11,500. Homeschooled students could receive $2,000, and homeschooled students with disabilities would be eligible for $2,500.

All in all, excellent news.  I just wish we’d had that option when our kids were of that age.  Instead, we paid taxes into a system that we never used, and had to fund our kids’ education out of our post-tax dollars.

This will go a long way to alleviate that problem.