Words of the Weasel. Part 46

"Issue"  all purpose low meaning word that replaces all sorts of real words.  For instance computer programs don't have bugs, they have "issues".  Veterans suffering from traumatic head injuries have "memory issues" not memory loss.  When you hear people talking "issues" know that they are lying to you.

DVD crashes DVD player

This happened last night.  Was playing a Netflix DVD in my plain Jane  Magnevox DVD player.  After some 20-25 minutes of playing the disc, the picture froze and the sound stopped.  And, the player refused to respond to the remote control or the front panel buttons.  The bad code read in from the disc crashed the microprocessor in the player so hard I had to unplug the player and plug it in again to regain control. 
   We know that the DVD structure includes player commands to move the read head, jump to another spot on the disc, freeze the video, disable fast forward and other things.  That's how those menus at the start of the DVD work.  Presumably some damage to the DVD mangled a player command.  And the player code has a bug in it too.  Properly coded players should examine all player commands read from disc and reject any unknown commands or improperly formatted commands.  Halt and catch fire is never a valid player command.  Looks like my player ain't properly coded. 

Congress punts again.

Congress passed a "continuing resolution" last night.  Rather than perform its Constitutional role of  allocating Federal funds to needed programs, it punted.  The continuing resolution says in effect, "All you bureaucrats can keep on spending money the way you did last year."  
   No killing of wasteful and unneeded programs.  No new programs.  Stasis, nothing changes.  With the economy headed for the rocks,  Congress says "Steady as she goes.  Full steam ahead."
   In stead of passing departmental appropriation bills like its is supposed to, Congress has spent its time threatening to shut down the government, investigating Hillary's email, passing highway bills, and general purpose bloviating.
   Way to go Congress Critters.

Sunny Skies in NH

Sun is out, it's getting a little crispy, but not so crispy as to have frost.  TV is full of hurricane stories, but you would never know it from looking at the sky around here.

I oughta turn in my U of Delaware degree

I got my engineering degree from University of Delaware back in the early 1970's.  It was a decent place, with excellent faculty, and reasonable students.  Since then things seem to have gone downhill.
   Back some years ago, FIRE denounced Delaware for running an indoctrination program on the dorms.  The RA's  were holding mandatory meetings, advocating all sorts of lefty multi culti things, and quizzing students about their sexual activity, and sexual identity.  After the FIRE story broke, the alumni (myself included) sent in a blizzard of disapproval letters, emails, and phone calls.  It was enough, and the resident indoctrination policy stopped.
   Now we have a new story.  Students reported nooses hanging from a tree near campus.  Hate crime they cried.  Police investigated next day and found the "nooses" were actually the remains of paper lanterns from an event held on the premises months ago.  Students so wanted a hate crime to demonstrate against, that they totally ignored the police report and went on to hold demonstrations. 
   Back when I was a student at U of D, the students were better balanced, better informed, and not looking for a cause celebre to spark political activity. 
   Maybe I should turn in my degree.
  

Another Homicidal Maniac allowed to run loose

Flips out and kills six, seven, eight, or more college students in Oregon.  Before the bodies are cold, Obama is on TV bleating for gun control. 
  How about some nut case control?  Someone should have noticed that something wasn't right before he started killing.  Parents, teachers, relatives, friends, co workers, someone.  Some psychiatrists should have examined him, diagnosed him as a homicidal maniac, and committed him to a mental hospital. 
   Well that didn't happen.  Apparently it never does.  If someone else had been carrying, they might has stopped him.  Wanna bet the college forbade carrying on campus? 

What to read for light reading?

Long ago I used to read "mainstream fiction" and science fiction.  The mainstream drifted off course, yielding immense thick tomes with wimpy protagonists who whined a lot but never did anything.  Science fiction especially back in the John W. Campbell era was more readable.  Likeable protagonists had missions, set out to accomplish them, and usually succeeded.  The stories had life, often had thought provoking future societies, and the story moved. 
   Well they don't right science fiction much any more.  The really great golden age authors are mostly dead by now, and the few survivors are getting too old to write anymore.  The newer authors mostly try to do Tolkien style fantasy because they never took physics, chemistry, and biology in high school and feel they are to ignorant to do science fiction.  Fantasy, especially when you can invoke magic, means you can dream up anything you like, you don't have to know anything.  Trouble is, none of the Tolkien wanna-be authors have written anything nearly as good as Tolkien.
   At this time, I have started reading what the trade calls "Young Adult" books, mostly fantasies.  At least they have likable teen age protagonists, who have a mission, go out and do it, and don't whine. Rick Riordan's  stories of classical gods and goddesses surviving into modern times (21st century) are fun.  Phillip Pullman's stories set in an alternate earth are good.  George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones stuff is OK except he keeps killing of all the good guys and letting the bad guys flourish.