Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for October 06, 2019

And the worm has turned.

Don’t forget Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!

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The conclusion of this experiment: “Resistance is futile!”

As long as there are “grants” for the ridiculous studies out there they will come.

Where’s the cheese for my reward?

to design a more depressing cubicle farm

This is why I trust company-sponsored research about safety and efficacy about as much as I trust the GOP to tell the truth. It has  happened, but not much and not recently.

A maze ing.

Any time you are asked to do a study on something the first step is to ask what you are trying to prove. The results can always be shown to prove what you are asked to do. Otherwise you won’t get much repeat business or new business once word gets around that you are ethical.

“They happen to be very clever hyper-intelligent, pan-dimensional beings, but every time we talk, all I want to do is climb on a table and scream…”

Thinking through his initial puff of doom: “I smell a rat.”

I instantly though of a-ha (LOVE living in the youtube era). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914

Mental exercise common to commuters as they think about desirable alternatives to their daily drudge. Sadly, results are always the same.

So that’s why it’s called a “Rat Race.”

Although I get all the Hitchhiker’s references, my initial reaction was more toward “Being John Malkovich”.

It’s a-maze-ing how the the experiment went rogue…

According to Congress, the National Science Foundation is prohibited in engaging in any research unless it is “scientifically significant.” Congress (few, if any can even spell science) decides what is “scientifically significant.” You can be climate change and stem cell research are NOT “scientifically significant.”

From my experience, this is more like government funded research.

You mean scientists work for money? I thought they worked only to for the satisfaction of expanding our knowledge and understanding of life, the universe, and everything.

Ah, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. . .

This is no place for politics.

Or, as long as we have government entities paying for research that validates the conclusions they’ve already come to…but you knew that too, didn’t you?

Flowers for Algernon ;)

It is always a mistake to investigate anything that you think exists, and want to exist. You will always conclude what you want to conclude. Examples include Germany investigating the D-Day landings they thought would be on the Pas de Calais, or England and the US investigating the weapons of mass destruction they thought Saddam Hussein was about to unleash. Seems it might apply to politics in the US.

I wonder what sort of wonder land he was hoping to find. It seems like those ‘Hitch Hikers Guide…’ mice are still up to no good.

“These creatures you call mice you see are not quite as they appear, they are merely the protrusions into our dimension of vast, hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings.” – Slartibartfast

“We have a hypotheses and want your research organization to independently verify our results.” “Please remember, your full funding rests on a positive outcome which will satisfy our shareholders.”

I just flashed on The Twilight Zone episode in which a cranky married couple, who “blacked out” coming home drunk from a party, wake up in a “quiet little town” with nobody else around and a train that goes in a circle. Turns out they’re now pets in a terrarium.

Semi-related comment: Back in July, my wife and I attended a conference / retreat for Type-1 diabetics and their partners in the Seattle area. During the keynote address, the speaker asked the group, “Who believes that there will be a cure for Diabetes?” Out of 160 people attending this event, not one single hand went up. General consensus is that “Big Pharma” are making too much money selling supplies to treat the disease.

This isn’t the comic in my local paper! It’s the box of facts strip. Whatsup?

I was so happy for this poor schmuck by the sixth frame. Sad how it ended. We all need to get out of the rat race for while.

Shades of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.”

And this is an example of “free choice” within a narrow environment.

@[Unnamed Reader – 00b493

Brown is German, Blue is Democrat and Red is Republican. Now which lies are you speaking of for recently not in the distant past, something this week? The Red Shirts not only lie every day they also support and defend their chief liar who is a Republican. A fascist leaning president who disdains what an American president does.

Hmm, i’ll bow out of a politically charged comment here.

In my experience, when a company sends out surveys concerning “internal climate” it’s best NOT to answer. Also, as i was told by a tenured prof at the university where i was employed, “When a company starts talking about ‘ethics’ run for your life!”

Ever hear of the Stanley Parable?

Yeah, those “validated by an independent research company” always brings up the question, “Who pays the independent research company?”.

Thank God I don’t work in a cubicle. I think I’d lose my mind (what little there is of it anyway).

My comment was deleted because it didn’t line up with someone’s expectations?

The Demo party follows the rule used in Nazi Germany. Tell a lie enough times and people will believe it is the truth.

I get requests for donations from a law enforcement agency. The letters start with sayings like “I’m sick and tired of police officers being gunned down in the line of action.” Another one tells of a little girl who lost her policeman daddy to a criminal with a gun.

I wonder if the money is going to a beneficial cause or a political group.

They never bring up that every year, nearly 1,000 unarmed people are fatally shot by police. I’m sick and tired of unarmed civilians being gunned down by police I am sure some of them are a parent of a little girl.

How about “EVERY life matters?”