September 11, 2011
— Open Blogger There's a recent concept called a Technological Singularity. To oversimplify it, that's the idea that exponentially accelerating progress in Artificial Intelligence will lead a new world that we can't even begin to comprehend before it happens. The point I want to get across is that when we cross a singularity the stuff on the other side seems weird and incomprehensible based on what we knew before.On Sept 11, 2001 we passed a cultural singularity. Imagine that you fell asleep on Sept 10 and woke up on Oct 10, 2001 and saw this newspaper front page.

In October 2001, I thought about that as I was looking at the front page of the LA Times (I couldn't find a good LA Times front page so the Mirror will have to do.) A man from Sept 10 would have no concept of the world shown on the Mirror's front page! Anthrax? Guys in bio-hazard suits? It's deliberate? The RAF is at war? Wait a minute - backing up US strikes?! Then the US is as war too! A terror war? Fourteen Pages of war coverage!?
This Mirror front page just has 2 stories. The LA Times front page I recall was mostly text and had story after story - None of which made sense to a Sept 10 person.If you had looked at a paper from Jan 1942 (after skipping a month of existence) you'd see all sorts of stuff about the US involved in WW2 - but WW2 was already running hot a month earlier. The only real surprise would be that US was in it up to its neck.I was born in 1956. The 9/11 attacks were the most shocking, impactful, non-personal* events of my life. Not the most important event (the end of the cold war, for example, was bigger) but the biggest change.*I had a massive heart attack a month earlier. That was a personal singularity!The famous Chinese curse goes, "May you live in interesting times.". Here we are.(published out of draft by Andy)
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Posted by: CoolCzech at September 11, 2011 08:07 AM (niZvt)
I then ask the liberals if the muzztards 'overreacted' to ? by killing 3,000 civilians. Fucking eunuch pricks...
Posted by: model_1066 at September 11, 2011 08:13 AM (2j/Mv)
Posted by: I'm in a New York state of mind at September 11, 2011 08:13 AM (4sQwu)
Posted by: model_1066 at September 11, 2011 08:15 AM (2j/Mv)
Posted by: cleaningmygun at September 11, 2011 08:15 AM (iwSVR)
I'm tired of all this crap.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman at September 11, 2011 08:16 AM (qITqt)
Posted by: jocon307 at September 11, 2011 08:16 AM (bbVJG)
Posted by: GnuBreed at September 11, 2011 08:18 AM (ENKCw)
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman at September 11, 2011 08:19 AM (qITqt)
Till then a lot of work remains, but there's never a reason to despair.
Posted by: JB at September 11, 2011 08:19 AM (7T+Mz)
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman at September 11, 2011 08:20 AM (qITqt)
Posted by: model_1066 at September 11, 2011 08:21 AM (2j/Mv)
They are in shock, shock, I tell you, at what has become of Barry's world.
Posted by: I'm in a New York state of mind at September 11, 2011 08:23 AM (4sQwu)
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman at September 11, 2011 12:20 PM (qITqt)
Yeah, on that subject: Egyptian protesters pull down Israel embassy wall
Posted by: blue star at September 11, 2011 08:24 AM (11cwq)
Someone's "Targeting" my Butter.
Should I call Homeland Security?
Posted by: franksalterego at September 11, 2011 08:27 AM (7/sDI)
Meanwhile, we've given Egypt and Libya on a silver platter to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Our President is a Muslim / Palestinian Sympathizer.
You'd think they'd be thanking him.
Posted by: garrett at September 11, 2011 08:30 AM (PqyOZ)
Posted by: Osama bin Truck Monkey, TEArrorist Son of a Bitch at September 11, 2011 08:34 AM (jucos)
Our President is a Muslim / Palestinian Sympathizer.
You'd think they'd be thanking him.
Very likely they are thanking him.
Posted by: Retread at September 11, 2011 08:35 AM (BO5ap)
Fuck Paul Krugman.
... and fuck this SCoaMF and his 'Day of Service'.
Posted by: garrett at September 11, 2011 12:25 PM (PqyOZ)
This.
As for a "Day of Service"...hubby is at work, fixin' Marine Corps helicopters. So, I'm ironing his shirts.
Posted by: antisocialist at September 11, 2011 08:36 AM (DMvUp)
Posted by: chillin the most for Perry at September 11, 2011 08:37 AM (6IV8T)
Here is the "first black president" telling Americans that they have to (pseudo-voluntarily) do something for others without pay.
And there was not one wrinkling of the nose over this, most noticeably from African American leaders.
You'd think that anything with the whiff of imposed service would be instinctively odious to them.
Posted by: AmishDude at September 11, 2011 08:39 AM (73tyQ)
I take great offense at your comparison, sir!
Posted by: America Hating Shitstain at September 11, 2011 08:40 AM (p+mzQ)
Posted by: Mindy at September 11, 2011 08:41 AM (o38Nb)
Should I call Homeland Security?
By the looks of her, Big Sis has had enough butter already.
Posted by: Ian S. at September 11, 2011 08:42 AM (WXhxA)
Posted by: bernverdnardo at September 11, 2011 08:42 AM (xXhWA)
24.....Has anybody else noticed this?
----------
I have. It's....strange, isn't it... I have a feeling that we still don't know what was really behind Glenn's departure from Fox. He said one day on his radio show that he finally realized that there was "No honor" in any of his fellow journalists.
Posted by: ConservativeMenAreJustHotter at September 11, 2011 08:43 AM (Sim4P)
As for a "Day of Service"...hubby is at work, fixin' Marine Corps helicopters. So, I'm ironing his shirts.
Posted by: antisocialist
Glad to see you are attending to "pressing matters".
Thank your husband for doing his job, for all of us.
Thanks.
Posted by: Reader C.J. Burch writes..... at September 11, 2011 08:43 AM (sJTmU)
Posted by: Reader C.J. Burch writes..... at September 11, 2011 12:43 PM (sJTmU)
Hey Mr. Burch, have you been by the Firefighter's Memorial at Station 111 yet?
I visited for the first time on Friday and, uh, got something in my eye.
Posted by: ErikW at September 11, 2011 08:47 AM (/bR9I)
--My first thought would be, "How the hell did I get to England in my sleep?!"
Posted by: logprof at September 11, 2011 08:50 AM (lh7Yc)
Hey Mr. Burch, have you been by the Firefighter's Memorial at Station 111 yet?
I visited for the first time on Friday and, uh, got something in my eye.
Posted by: ErikW
Good call. I will find time for that today. I may drag along my teenage brats too.
Thanks for the reminder.
Posted by: Reader C.J. Burch writes..... at September 11, 2011 08:51 AM (sJTmU)
I have. It's....strange, isn't it... I have a feeling that we still don't know what was really behind Glenn's departure from Fox. He said one day on his radio show that he finally realized that there was "No honor" in any of his fellow journalists.
Posted by: ConservativeMenAreJustHotter at September 11, 2011 12:43 PM (Sim4P)
Glenn has a bit of a persecution complex himself. I'm sure that many times he thought he had the "next big thing" and was angry and frustrated that people at Fox wouldn't agree with him that it was. And I'm sure sometimes he was wrong.
Posted by: AmishDude at September 11, 2011 08:51 AM (73tyQ)
>>"It's....strange, isn't it... I have a feeling that we still don't know what was really behind Glenn's departure from Fox. He said one day on his radio show that he finally realized that there was "No honor" in any of his fellow journalists"
You've just reminded me of the sudden mental reaction I had at the time when he said that.
Posted by: Commissioner Gordon at September 11, 2011 08:55 AM (L00d6)
It was clear that Hannity never liked him (whether for his own reasons or in solidarity with his human-centipede-mate Levin), and that O'Reilly was using him. I'd be interested to know the real story behind his departure too, because I believe it was anything but amicable.
Posted by: The War Between the Undead States at September 11, 2011 08:56 AM (KxADM)
Posted by: Fish the Impaler at September 11, 2011 12:49 PM (Lt/Za)
And yet Michelle got that fancy nothin' job just by waiving around that Harvard Law diploma.
That's the way they think the world works. You get a fancy degree, you make some contacts with influential people and you become successful.
And I guess that's the way it is in their world, but they're trying to impose it upon the rest of us.
Posted by: AmishDude at September 11, 2011 08:56 AM (73tyQ)
Posted by: AmishDude at September 11, 2011 12:39 PM
Yep, my dad, who was drafted into the army in 1946, said to never, ever, ever, not ever volunteer for anything.
Posted by: huerfano at September 11, 2011 08:57 AM (kD+se)
Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at September 11, 2011 09:05 AM (cbyrC)
Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at September 11, 2011 09:37 AM (7Ahkq)
Many people will no doubt continue to ignore the fact that objectively, most of these terrors are fake or inconsequential. Even the highlighted headline - the Anthrax scare, was largely overblown and not a threat to the general public at large.
The "Could eggs kill your children?!? Stay tuned for our report at 11:00 that could save your life!" phenomenon.
Good advertising. It offers a choice between a false dichotomy: 'WATCH OUR PROGRAM OR DIE'.
Are eggs an actual threat you should be worried about? To put it simply: no.
Sort of like "Continue to occupy an increasing amount of 3rd world crapholes OR have another 9/11 with 3000 dead people". That cannot be shown as a causitive relationship, it's purely hypothetical and speculative. You may as well speculate about the presence of alien life. The chance of encountering aliens on any given planet is equal to N*fp*ne*fl*fi*fc*fL.
Where N is an unknown or unquantifiable variable, fp is an unknown or unquantifiable variable, ne is an unknown or unquantifiable variable, fl is an unknown or unquantifiable variable, fi is an unknown or unquantifiable variable, fc is an unknown or unquantifiable variable, and fL is an unknown or unquantifiable variable.
Do the math and it you get the precise number, between 0 and infinity, that perfectly validates your assertion.
But then again, could eggs kill your children? Maybe. Better watch, and better worry, or you might end up dead. There is a chance, albeit smaller than the chance you'll be struck dead where you stand by lightning or mowed over by a drunk driver or given cancer by your neighbor's smoking.
Not many get hysterical about the risk of being killed in a motor accident every time they go within 200' of a roadway, they drive to and from work everyday seemingly without any concern whatsoever. They do not limit their driving in order to limit their exposure to the risk, they think of it is an inconsequential, unavoidable and acceptable level of risk. But a great many get quite hysterical about the precense of substantially smaller risks.
Posted by: Entropy at September 11, 2011 10:40 AM (sDP2b)
Posted by: steevy at September 11, 2011 11:40 AM (fyOgS)
I was an Arab linguist and PSYOP analyst for the US Army in the mid Eighties. And I also have a degree in Economics. Which is why I considered 9/11 the second most shocking event of my lifetime. I lost more sleep over the financial meltdown of 2008. I knew we would recover quickly from 9/11 and that there was small likelihood of a repeat attack
On the other hand, I thought the 2008 panic was the end of the world; that we wouldn't recover from it in my lifetime. And I'm not sure I've been proven wrong about that .. yet
Posted by: Callmelennie at September 11, 2011 11:55 AM (GOsSG)
I think rooting that out will be an order of magnitude harder than stamping out Islamist violence.
Posted by: Trimegistus at September 11, 2011 05:24 PM (/7xxR)
Here is the "first black president" telling Americans that they have to (pseudo-voluntarily) do something for others without pay.
And there was not one wrinkling of the nose over this, most noticeably from African American leaders.
You'd think that anything with the whiff of imposed service would be instinctively odious to them.
Posted by: AmishDude at September 11, 2011 12:39 PM (73tyQ)
=====
It would have been pure outrage had this come from a conservative President. I remember such from the Left when Dubya came up with something along those lines. Maybe someone has a link showing their (the Left's) hypocrisy?
It's just like their resistance to the GWOT: so much of their disdain for all these 'horrible things' disappeared like a fart in a windstorm when Chairman Zero was elected.
Posted by: Glenn Frey at September 11, 2011 11:48 PM (wQ2p4)
Posted by: christine at September 13, 2011 01:02 AM (UE+Pv)
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Posted by: GnuBreed at September 11, 2011 08:07 AM (ENKCw)