The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

We Needed ‘Science’ to Tell Us This?

Posted on | December 15, 2011 | 24 Comments

Unattractive guys lacking social skills are — unexpectedly! — poor judges of women’s interest in them:

There are “tons” of studies that show men think women are interested when they’re not, says lead author Carin Perilloux, a visiting professor at Williams College. But her study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, found that not all men do. And surprisingly, it appears that the dorky, less attractive guys are more likely to think they’re babe magnets than their more attractive counterparts. . . .
The more attractive the woman was to the guy, the more likely he was to overestimate her interest in him, researchers found. And it turns out, the less attractive men (who believed they were better looking than the women rated them) were more likely to think beautiful women were hot for them. But the more attractive guys tended to have a more realistic assessment.

Read the whole thing (hat-tip to Hot Air Headlines) but you don’t need psychological case studies to explain this phenomenon. The more success a guy has with women, the more experience he has in judging which chicks he has the best chance with.

If a guy is regularly scoring with chicks in the 6-to-7 range on the 10-scale, but has little luck with any chick who rates an 8 or better, he learns to spot chicks in his feasible range.

Less-attractive guys are sometime unfortunately unwilling to settle for the less-attractive chicks in their range. Popular entertainment (e.g., sitcoms in which chubby middle-aged losers have beautiful wives 10 years younger than them) suggests to these guys that they’ve got romantic opportunities they don’t actually have. And because the “dorky” guys also are usually lacking in social skills, they don’t have enough real-world romantic experience to judge either their own attractiveness or women’s interest in them.

As a result, the nerd’s only barometer of such matters is:

  1. Is she hot? and
  2. Will she talk to me?

Attractive women learn at an early age to spot guys like that and never give them any encouragement, lest they find themselves followed around by a lovestruck nerd who mistook her polite smile for a gesture of erotic passion. Guys who think pretty girls are “stuck up” fail to understand this as a necessary defense mechanism on the woman’s part.

Having seldom been mistaken for Brad Pitt myself, I spent my youth learning to make the best of what few advantages I possessed in the Darwinian competition for, uh, mating opportunities.

Learned to dance. Learned to play guitar. Dressed sharp. Told a few jokes. Also, and most importantly, I was always grateful for whatever female companionship I could get, without much caring that none of them looked like Vogue fashion models. While this any-port-in-a-storm attitude — romantic pragmatism, we might call it — may not strike you as ideal, it beats the hell out of being alone.

The ironic thing, of course, is that I eventually ended up married to a lovely woman who, as anyone who knows us will agree, is way too good for me. (Luck? No — it was skill, my friends.)

Here’s the thing: Actual real-life experience with women has the effect of teaching that beauty — however much we may admire it — is still only skin-deep. To quote Smokey Robinson: “Pretty girls are a dime a dozen. Try to find you one who’s gonna give you good lovin’.”

Back in the day, I’d go to a party and see guys hovering around the prettiest girl in the room, while less attractive girls sat unnoticed. Hey, “hunt where the ducks are,” as they say: Let those idiots chase the Queen Bee, I’ll be over here applying my charm where the odds of success are greater.

Unattractive guys do themselves a disservice when they eschew the companionship of unattractive women, while pining hopelessly for the “10” they’ll never get. Experience matters, and you’re never going to get any experience — except perhaps the experience of repeated rejection — by constantly chasing girls who are out of your league. Practice makes perfect, and if you get good enough at the game, you might one day get called up to the major leagues.

Guys talk about “geting lucky,” but it isn’t entirely luck. Ask my wife.

Category: Science, Sex

Rep. Jim Moran Does The Right Thing On The National Defense Authorization Act

Posted on | December 15, 2011 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

The Senate’s bill to make CONUS part of the battlefield has been one of the creepier items of recent news. My Representative, of whom I am not always the biggest fan, let us say, had the following to say of this legislation, via Blue Virginia:

“While the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes important provisions for our national defense, reluctantly, I must oppose the bill because it contains language that sets a frightening precedent which severely compromises the ideals, values and principles our nation was founded upon.
“It is a grave mistake to allow the government to detain terrorism suspects, even those who are American citizens, without charge or trial in military prisons. If an individual is accused of supporting terrorist groups or of committing an act of terrorism, they should have an opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law. It takes little imagination to consider how such a policy might be grossly misused against innocent people by future administrations.
“Further, the military should not – nor does it want to – enforce American law. But this bill would do exactly that, by imposing law enforcement duties upon our troops. Our civilian law enforcement agencies have proven themselves capable of apprehending, interrogating and prosecuting terrorism suspects. The United States is home to a world class civilian court system – one that has overseen the successful prosecution of more than 400 terrorists.
“The United States should never hold an individual, American or otherwise, indefinitely without charge. These provisions were poorly constructed and undermine our defining principles of liberty and justice for all.”

One could pick at the civil law/law of war distinction a bit, but, nah: let’s allow for a rare moment of substantial agreement with the fellow, and not bicker and argue over ‘oo detained ‘oo.

Category: Jim Moran, Virginia

Kedging

Posted on | December 15, 2011 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Kedging in the Golden Era.
The Manual of Seamanship for Boys and Seamen of the Royal Navy, 1904 (a recent fathers day gift) defines kedging as follows: “Laying the kedge anchor out in a boat and warping ahead to it”. In more practical English it meant that sailing ships in the days before steam power was invented, used kedging as the only way to enter harbours at the heads of river estuaries or tight anchorages, if sailing was not feasible. How was it done? Well, a long boat with a bunch of strapping young sailors was sent out with a light kedging anchor and rowed ahead as much anchor line as the ship had, dropped the anchor and then a crew on the ship used the capstan to pull the ship ahead. The same book mentions that HM shipyards made anchor hawsers to a maximum length of 113 fathoms (678 ft), so one gets the impression that it was a laborious exercise to bring a ship to its final destination.

Yeah, I somehow don’t feel that fleeing the Surface Warfare community at my earliest convenience was a bad thing. When I say “Old Navy”, I’m referring to hard core types of the Ernest E. Evans category.

That’s actually a cheap shot at the SWOs. They really are doing their job. It’s the elected leadership that is running the fleet aground, along with everything else.

via iOwnTheWorld

Category: Military, Uncategorized

Joe Scarborough’s Weird Man-Crush on Jon Huntsman: Get a Room, You Two!

Posted on | December 15, 2011 | 25 Comments

MSNBC has in recent weeks become the daily venue for one of the most bizarre reality shows on cable TV: Morning Bromance, starring Joe Scarborough as a man helplessly smitten with “Republican presidential candidate” Jon Huntsman.

When he isn’t blowing air-kisses at Huntsman, Scarborough is citing every possible media blurb about Huntsman as ratification of the former Utah governor’s make-believe campaign. Joe is to Jon what 11-year-old girls are to Justin Bieber, or what Chris Matthews is to Barack Obama. If Scarborough hasn’t yet announced his leg-tingles for Huntsman, it’s only because the MSNBC host wants to save his final orgasmic gush for the eve of the New Hampshire primary, where some polls show Joe’s teen-idol candidate in third place behind Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

Today, for example, Scarborough cited an editorial from National Review that mentions Huntsman as a possible alternative to Gingrich. The obvious conclusion anyone would draw from that mention is, “Gee, Rich Lowry really hates Newt, doesn’t he?” But the conclusion pushed to the Morning Joe audience was that Huntsman’s conservatism has been Officially Validated, the ghost of William F. Buckley Jr. anointing Huntsman as spiritual heir to the Reagan legacy.

Scouting around for further evidence that GOP voters have succumbed to Huntsmania, Scarborough touted something nice that Erick Erickson had said about Huntsman. Evidently Joe isn’t well-informed enough about Erickson’s habits to recognize this for what it was: Proof that the Huntsman campaign recently hired one of Erick’s consultant buddies.

While no intelligent person could be fooled by this ridiculous Huntsman hype from MSNBC’s token Republican host, permit me to reiterate the facts about the man I’ve dubbed “Governor Asterisk.”

If Gary Johnson is a poor man’s Ron Paul, then Jon Huntman is a rich man’s Tim Pawlenty — an unimpressive governor whom self-interested Republican consultants saw as a potentially lucrative vehicle for employment during the 2012 campaign season.

Much like Pawlenty, Huntsman embraced the climate-change/green-energy theme as a triangulating gesture during the 2006-08 era of GOP “brand damage.” Going beyond that, however, Huntsman endorsed a gay-rights group’s agenda in February 2009, three months before joining the Obama administration as ambassador to China. Two years later, when Huntsman announced his presidential candidacy, a headline writer for the Salt Lake Tribune published this masterpiece of understatement:

Huntsman’s civil-union stance
may prove political liability

Gee, ya think so? Huntsman’s record practically guarantees his last-place finish in Iowa and South Carolina. Even if Huntsman should do well in New Hampshire, were that to give him any actual traction elsewhere (which I sincerely doubt), his destruction would be as simple as cutting a 30-second ad with video footage of the event at which Obama announced Huntsman’s ambassadorial nomination.

He’s Charlie Crist 2.0, complete with perma-tan. Huntsman represents no actual Republican constituency. The only reason he’s still running is because his bankrupt campaign got an infusion of Daddy’s Money. 

Huntsman’s “base” is the media, and being MSNBC’s favorite GOP candidate ought to be the final kiss of death for his Disney Princess fantasy of a campaign, and the schoolgirl crush he inspires in the lovestruck heart of Token Joe.

UPDATE: In a New York Times story two weeks ago about the help Huntsman’s getting from his billionaire father, we read this:

“If Huntsman is the story coming out of New Hampshire, he’s got a real shot,” said John Weaver, the candidate’s senior strategist. …

With an albatross like Weaver attached to his campaign, the only “real shot” Huntsman’s got is at being the candidate with the highest ratio of dollars spent to delegates received, which will most likely be zero. Yet hope — and hype — springs eternal with the latest poll numbers in New Hampshire.

It’s the colossal waste of time and money that annoys me.

Category: Election 2012, Jon Huntsman, MSNBC

LIVE AT FIVETENNINE – 12.15.11

Posted on | December 15, 2011 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Panetta Cases The Flag In Baghdad

U.S. Forces Iraq flag is lowered before being cased and returned to the U.S.

Formally marks the end of the war in Iraq; 4000 troops remain to train Iraqi security forces

Ron Wyden, Paul Ryan Propose Bipartisan Medicare Reform Plan
Would preserve current Medicare until 2022, then give seniors option of private plans



Democrats Abandoning Millionaire Surtax
Closer to compromise on payroll tax cut bill?



POLITICS
GOP Proposes $915 Billion Continuing Resolution

U.S. Capitol dome

Congress had originally agreed on bill Monday, but Senate Dems bowed to White House pressure, used bill as bargaining chip in payroll tax tussle

#OWS Occupies Manhattan Courtroom

Governor Asterisk Claims He’ll Catch On After “Silly Season”

It’s Witchcraft: Christine O’Donnell Endorses Mitt Romney

NJ Town Defends “Christ In Christmas” Banner Against Activists, Atheists

Senate Rejects Two Balanced Budget Amendment Bills On Party Lines



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Spanish Bonds Advance As Demand Rises At Auction; Bunds Decline
European Stocks Expected To Open Lower; Asian Stocks Weigh “Grim Data” From PRC, Japan
SNB Acts To Counter Deflation, Leaves Franc At 1.2 Euros
PRC Tariffs On US Autos Turn Up The Heat In Trade Dispute
Gasoline Falls To Two-Week Low As OPEC Raises Output Limit And Euro Drops
Eurozone Manufacturing & Services Contract For Fourth Month In A Row
Market Turning Bearish On Gold?
Research Shows Hands-Free Cellphones Just As Risky
WinPhone 7.5 Vulnerable To SMS Hack?
Google Pulls 22 Apps From Market To Prevent Fraudulent Charges
FBI Director: Bureau Never Sought Carrier IQ Data
Nokia Re-Enters U.S. With $50 Smartphone
Wintel Ultrabooks Match Mac Airbooks In Speed, Lightness



SPORTS
Stern Says Paul To Clippers Is Better Trade For Hornets

Soon to be former Hornet Chris Paul

New Orleans gets three players and a 2012 draft pick for their star

Red Sox Swap Damaged Goods To Astros For Closer Melancon

NFL Completes Deal With Fox, CBS, NBC


Waiting Game Begins For Japanese Ace Yu Darvish

Magic Call A Halt To Dwight Howard Trade Talks

Bruins Break Free From Senators



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Paris Jackson Fills In For Missing Lindsay On “Ellen”

Paris Jackson, Ellen DeGeneres, LiLo (inset)

Michael Jackson’s 13-year-old daughter talks about acting and school

Giulia Rancic Doing Well After Double Mastectomy

Surprised Judge To Lohan: “You’ve Done Your Work”

Angelina Jolie: Brad & I Cooked Our Own Turkey

Clint Eastwood: Go Ahead, Punk, Make My Reality Show

Madonna Inks Three-album Deal With Interscope

Megan Fox In Bed With Sacha Baron Cohen For “The Dictator” Trailer

Demi Moore: Who Cares If I’m Still “MrsKutcher” On Twitter?



FOREIGNERS
Former French President Chirac Convicted Of Corruption
Putin Accuses Protest Organizers Of Working For The West
Hooch Toll Rises To 131 In West Bengal, 7 Arrested
West Bank Mosque Torched
U.S.: Syria’s Assad “Dead Man Walking”
PRC Villagers Defy Government
Monti Government Calls For Confidence Vote On Austerity Package
Panetta Says U.S., Allies Winning Afghan War



BLOGS & STUFF
Lonely Conservative: Democrats To Drop Millionaire Surtax From Hostage Demands?
FDL: President Won’t Veto Defense Authorization Despite Detention Provisions
National Review: Winnowing The Field
iOwnTheWorld: National Review Makes Their Case – NO GINGRICH
Rush Limbaugh:: GOP Race Not Over; Mitt And Newt Both Have Problems
Legal Insurrection: “Zany” Is Looking Pretty Good Right Now
Don Surber: Birth Of A Defamation
Ed Driscoll: MSNBC Keeps F***king That Chicken
Power Line: Tom Friedman Goes Full Metal Mearsheimer
Gateway Pundit: Governor Gary Johnson (R-NM) May Announce Third-Party Run As Libertarian
IBD: Docs Show Breuer Lied About “Fast & Furious”
American Spectator: Politico’s Nuns’ Story
Atlas Shrugs: Muslims Offended By Pa. House Bill To Outlaw Sharia
Da Tech Guy: The Left’s Endgame For Illegal Immigration
Tim Blair: The Siege Of Wukan
Weasel Zippers: Ron Paul Lands Coveted Andrew Sullivan Endorsement


SOTD: It’s On The Rocks

Category: Live at Five

OMG

Posted on | December 15, 2011 | 1 Comment

by Smitty

Observing My Government’s

Overwhelming Monetary Gouging,

One Might Guess

Our Main Guarantee:

Obama Must Go

And, for a chaser, the Ott:

Update: things that would be raaaaacist if I did them:

Category: Barack Obama, humor

Judges [Update: Or Legislators] That Should Be Cashiered

Posted on | December 15, 2011 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Volokh:

If you buy a card that allows you unlimited access to a city subway system, and you then sell swipes from your card to let others access the subway system on your card, are you guilty of theft? No, says the New York Court of Appeals in People v. Hightower (Dec. 11), because you legitimately own the access that you are selling:

Oh for Crying. Out. Loud. In. The. Dark.

So, one person buys a card, lets everyone else use the system, bankrupting it, and some berobed clown in New York thinks that’s just ducky? Really?

I was called for jury duty, and pled the fact that I was in Afghanistan for not showing. Down the road, if called, I may bluntly tell them during the voir dire that I may have to vote against the legislators, or the judge, if the law or the jurisprudence is sufficiently out to lunch. Isn’t that the point of a trial by jury, to let We The People retain sovereignty in the legal system?

Postmodern silliness is all fine in the privacy of one’s own head. When laws are written or judgements handed down that are utterly stupid, we suddenly discover that the assertion of wisdom on the bench may have been perverted by a pack of godforsaken fools.

Category: Progressivism

Complete Insignificance of This Blog Now Confirmed by Recognized Expert
UPDATE: Necessary Correction

Posted on | December 14, 2011 | 48 Comments

Once you’re deemed “Not Good Enough for BlogCon,” it’s just a matter of time before people decide you’re Not Good for Anything Else.

Hat-tip to A Blog That Matters.

UPDATE: I’m told that the fine print on the “Best Blogs” list explains that contributors to Right Wing News (of which I am one) were not eligible for inclusion on the list, so therefore:

  1. I’m OK with John Hawkiins;
  2. I’m too stupid to read  the fine print; and
  3. I’m still “Not Good Enough for BlogCon.”

Don’t mind the bleeding, Doc. Just give me something for the pain.

UPDATE II: By the way, “Deep Fried Manatees” is an awesome name for a blog, no matter what PETA tries to tell you.

Category: Blogging
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