WTH

Today's blog probably belongs on "WTH" (wherever that may be) rather than on the Daily Wot. At any rate:
* Austerity. It's the present in some parts of Europe. It's a subtle present and less-subtle future in the US. What's it mean? Essentially, that when the rich abuse the system and bleed a country a dry (such as in Greece where a handful of families possess the wealth to solve the entire country's debt crisis), the regular people bring the country back into balance by giving up a myriad of government services that their taxes are supposed to pay for.

Why? Because although most of the money ends up in the hands of the richest rich, it's more difficult to trace that cash flow because it's generally in the form of taxes avoided and income exported from the country. The only cash flow that can be readily traced and is obvious to everyman is money spent on education and families. Money spent on prisons and weapons are sacred cows. What's left to cut? Humanity. Now why would people protest or fight against that?

* Socialism. For our less-politically-savvy friends, COMMUNISM and SOCIALISM are not the same thing. Not even remotely. Not even a little bit. So when people wish to dismiss socialism as evil, pointing to the failure of the Soviet Union (that would be a COMMUNIST state) only reveals your own ignorance; it doesn't help your case. Want to point at socialist states? Finland, Sweden, England, Holland, Australia.... (It's a long list of countries that you probably like.)

Don't ask the Wiki. The first header in the Wiki article on "List of socialist countries" is "Socialist states espousing communism". WTH? Those would be communist states, not socialist states. And their list does not include the states with socialist systems, such as England, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Canada... ETC!!!!!!!! sheesh (In the Wiki's favor, the page has a ton of complaints for inaccuracy.) How much do I love articles titled, "Why Socialism Failed" when countries we love (like those mentioned above) are still socialist and thriving! This is the same tactic used by enemies of the populist Occupy movement in the US: Pretend it has failed and maybe it will just go away.

* Pakistan. WTH is wrong with you? You cannot simultaneously claim that you did not know that bin Laden was in your country and charge the man who gave up his location with treason! You just can't. 'Cuz you know that robot guy, Data? The one from Star Trek who could handle subtlties of illogical humanity without blowing his circuits? Even HIS head would blow up at the logic of those two arguments. Either you supported that #@%^#^@$, in which case the US bombs you back into the Dark Ages, or you didn't, in which case the good doctor did nothing against your country. Your pick.

* Obama. OK I love you 99% of the time. But I have issues with this whole drone killing thing. It's what I would expect of a Republican president, not of you. I get that you're in a tough, complex spot. That was made obvious by the failure of your attempt to close Gitmo. You signed a Presidential Order to close it and... it's not closed. So there are CLEARLY complications in those international policies that have not been shared with the public. But still... I just have trouble swallowing how right-wing you are on some areas of human rights. You're tougher than I can possibly envision Romney being on the Middle East, and how scary is that?

I have more rants, but I'm going to stop now because there are only so many things one can rant about at one time without sounding rabid.

Dear American Men--

The next time you are in a room with more than 2 women of childbearing age (this may not happen frequently for some of you), look right, look left, look forward: it is extremely likely that one of the three women in the room has had an abortion.

We don't bring it up at dinner. We will often deny it when asked. But yeah... we want sex as much as you do and want a child with every sexual partner we have as little as you do. Go figure. It's almost like men and women aren't that different after all.

I do not believe that the majority of you are thoughtless pricks. Yes, I mean that in the derogatory sense of penile comparison applied to personality. Anyway, you're not. Mostly, you're pretty good guys! You do give a crap when the people you care about are hurting. You do work your butts off to do, alongside your co-parent, the best you can for the kids you have. You do think for more than 2 seconds about birth control before putting part A into slot B. But not much more than 2 seconds. Just like women don't think about it in that moment for more than 2.5 seconds either. So why don't they take the pill? Well why don't you. There IS a pill for men, you know. Oh it has side effects. Welcome to our world.

Here's where it gets messy. When part A and slot B are not ... properly treated... well hell. What are we gonna name it? Is that really the way children should come into the world?

And my sense is that you guys, as great as you are, kinda sorta secretly (apparently at the moment not so secretly if you happen to be a State Legislator or Rush) blame the woman if it does come to "What are we gonna name it?" Contraception is HER job. (Except that we're not going to require private insurance plans to actually pay for that.)

And while I'm trying REALLY hard not to rant here... seriously?

How many of you take active responsibility for contraception? Do you? *eyes the male person who might be reading this*

Tell ya what: If your religious beliefs bar abortion, then you pay for every child you have some part into bringing into this world. AND ... yeah that's it. No shoving your beliefs down other people's throats.

I won't make your wife/girlfriend/mistress/hooker have an abortion if you don't take away my right have one.

Or anyone else's. I get that you ("you" being the nutsos I'm actually addressing and not the 90% of you who are actually sane but powerless) feel it's murder. Other people feel it's murder when you eat a steak. Does it give you pause? Didn't think so.

Because you feel their opinion is baseless. Good morning. Other people feel your opinion is baseless. How about thinking about how to figure out a way for as many people as possible to live by their own standards instead of shoving yours down... up... you get the picture.

Don't Land Or I'll Shoot

"Alas, poor Yorick Astro! I knew him [not], Horatio Dear Reader, [yet he was] a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath bore me fleas on his back a thousand times, and now how abhorr'd in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it."

Worthy of Shakespeare it is, even bastardized.

You may or may not know that the Dutch currently have an astronaut on the International Space Station, orbiting some 350km above the planet's surface. Apparently this event has proven inspirational to more than the budding scientists in the country.

At the old-new year change festivities, which in Netherlands include the explosion of massive amounts of fireworks, two 20-year-old youngsters tied a mouse to a firework--to send him to space? The youngsters are not forthcoming on their reasons. They were discovered before the unfortunate rodent was sent into the ether, but the mouse died a few days after the incident. No worries, the Dutch take animal cruelty seriously and the hooligans will get their punishment.

At any rate, the mouse, nicknamed Astro, has now been stuffed and is being put on display at the Fries Natuurmuseum in Leeuwarden. Eww. (My gorge rises at it.)

But what actually made this a Daily Wot topic was the casual mention of the company Astro is now keeping at the Fries Natuurmuseum. Among other exhibits, he's joining the Domino Sparrow. Now this is the event you really need to try to get a clear picture of in your head.

Domino Day was an annual event in Holland from 1998 to 2009. Each event combined the efforts of domino-chain experts to try to break the standing record for the number of dominoes falling in a single chain-reaction event. In 2005, this event was set up in Leeuwarden. Yes, the same town as the Natuurmuseum. Four million dominoes stood waiting for their big day, just four days away, as the experts continued working on the setup. Each attempt at the record involved around 4.5 million dominoes (4.8 million in 2009) precisely placed to hopefully be triggered in one huge domino fall.

The Domino Sparrow was curious. Finding a way into the building (birds do that from time to time), the Domino Sparrow appears to have appreciated the pattern on the floor made by all the standing dominoes. So much so that he decided to land on some of the dominoes, triggering a fall that eventually took down 23,000 dominoes. No further damage was done because the dominoes are arranged in sections with gaps that are kept in place until immediately before the event begins, and the shouting and efforts to catch the bird kept him from landing again.

The Frisan Expo Center called in animal experts, who called in a hunter, who spent several hours attempting to catch the sparrow with nets and sticks. Eight hours after the sparrow entered the building, he was shot.

It's probably my own dysfuntion, but the only thing I could think of was, "Damn that guy must have been a really good shot."

As the sparrow in question was a member of an endangered species, the shooter was fined. Animal rights' groups were outraged and a bounty was placed on the dominoes. The domino event went on as planned, the bounty stood uncollected (thanks to heightened security by the Expo Center) and the Domino Sparrow's stuffed body was put on display in the Natuurmuseum in Rotterdam until 2007. It's now housed in the Natuurmuseum in Leeuwarden.

Animal rights debates aside, I really had a time trying to wrap my head around the tension in the room when the people setting up these dominoes have invested thousands of man-hours and they realized there's a bird in the room and then the bird actually lands on the dominoes and they begin to fall. I freak out if dinner doesn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I'd have lost my entire mind.

Today's lessons: Mice cannot get to space on fireworks. And don't touch the Dutch dominoes; they'll shoot you.