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Done and done again - 10 March 2008
Mar. 11th, 2008 12:07 amOkay. Three days worth of stuff, all rolled into one neat little bite-size package. Here we go!
Up top, because it should be visible, LiveJournal has proposed a draft set of new policies to help address all the concerns over strikethroughs and related material. Comments are, of course, welcome.
In international affairs, despite having had Turkish troops inside the country not too long ago, Iraq is seeking closer ties with Turkey, likely to try and build some stable partnerships for the time when the United States removes itself from the country.
North Korea provided a Potemkin village for the visiting New York Philharmonic orchestra. And after the Philharmonic has left, the city became dark and the perks that were there disappeared. Some similar sleight of hand is occurring in Brad Schiller’s insistence that the economy has gotten better, even if statistics say the top 20% lives on 50% of income and the bottom 20% live on 3.4%. The numbers have gone up, says he, even if the percentages don’t change. The problem is, even if incomes go up, so do prices. Just because they make more doesn’t mean they can buy more. Plus, assuming that things like big-screen televisions are going to become necessities tells me that Brad isn’t really that familiar with how that bottom 20% lives.
Dirty water made troops sick in Iraq from 2004-2006, and there’s a sneaking suspicion that it’s Haliburton/KBR to blame for it. Yet another thing that may have been done on the cheap with bad consequences.
Domestic matters has drugs in the drinking water, albeit in very tiny amounts. While the science currently says those trace amounts aren’t going to harm us, there is a distinct possibility of conspiracy theorists and/or the easily panicable going through a Chicken Little routine at this news.
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bradhicks wonders why the TSA hasn't been dismantled yet, considering how much of a joke they are in terms of actually making things more secure and safe. The prevailing opinion seems to be “Like hell I’d give my political opponent that kind of opening.” as the reasoning.
The Slacktivist takes the media to task over not calling torture torture, because the editors want to avoid controversies. Call a spade a spade, and tell the person in the White House that continues to block the legislature’s efforts to actually not permit our intelligence people to torture that he’s been the worst thing to this country since Nixon.
Elsewhere, Cat killer receives reduced sentence. His girlfriend did not apparently want to go to the witness stand and describe the trauma of having her boyfriend slam a bed against the wall that the cats were underneath, and then pick up the cats and throw them across the room. The boyfriend, after four months in jail, may turn his eyes on other humans instead, as he wants to join the Navy.
There’s something about New York and infidelity. the Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, is being investigated in relation to a prostitution ring. Must be something about the water there, or something.
Creativity and imagination results in critical condition, as a ten year-old child was buried head-down in a sandbox by his playmates. They saw someone who could manipulate sand in a cartoon, and devised a mthod that they thought would work to grant the power to the buried child. And with no parents keeping close tabs on them, it took the kids a little while to realize that things had gome wrong and to get the parents to help them. If this were earlier times, I’d expect blame to be on sandboxes for being inherently dangerous and cartoons for putting strange ideas into people’s heads. I wish there had been an adult playing with them, or at least watching them so that when the creative idea came through, it could have been stopped without serious consequence.
In matters of the general election to arrive in November, Jonah Goldberg praises the uncertainty of this year's election process, at least on the Democratic side - the Republicans don’t have to worry about whether or not “superdelegates” will decide their nomination. Instead, they’re trying to figure out who would be a good veep for Senator McCain. David R. Stokes lavishes praise on Mike Huckabee for his campaign and suggests that Huck be kept in Republican party politics.
In technology, dedicated hackers claim that China is paying them occasionally to break into sensitive government and commerce sites, a claim that the Chinese government denies (naturally).
The United Kingdom’s police have developed a device that can supposedly detect the presence of drugs and weapons through clothing, utilizing terahertz waves and looking for telltale signatures. I wonder how much detail shows up in those pictures, and whether or not we’ll suddenly have a lot of terror arrests of females.
Other technology reports that (apparently, back in December), the upcoming Internet Explorer 8 passes the Acid2 test. Quite the interesting thought. Although I’ll bet the Frefox 3 branch probably gives it a shot, if not passes it itself. For reference, the Acid2 browser test.
In our News of the Weirder, a gentleman is able to withstand otherwise-fatally cold temperatures without (too much) clothing. Running barefoot on ice, taking a swim in freezing water, and holding the world record for longest time submerged in ice, without apparent effect. How strange is that? Further strange stuff involves skepticism over the claim that Moses was high when he received the commandments, Also strange, The Wicker Man is being made into a musical. And finally, Bone is being made into a film. Finally, a remote-controlled robot trying to keep the streets safe - armed with a smoker and a water gun, and a very loud voice.
Our Unabashed Feminism Department’s Bureau Chief took one for the team and read the Surrendered Wife. Her conclusion is that the book is every bit as bad as it appears, if not worse.
Expose the Church of the SubGenius as a Threat, says someone trying to sell you a video. Apparently, he’s taken the joke a little too seriously and things the SubGenii are seriously a cult of X-Day. Well, they could be “ha, ha, only serious”, but as best I can tell, this person really only wants you to be afraid so that you can buy his video. Would Bob approve of the commercialization of his image like this?
More serious that J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and his ubiquitous pipe, it is not just Christians who are/have been fearful of homosexuals in relation to their religion. Mind you, most of these quotes are decades old, unlike the fresh ones beign generated daily out of Focus on the Family. But it’s true that nobody has an exclusive claim on prejudice. Or stupidity. For an example of both,wishesofastar reports the Upper Arlignton Public Library is being sued because they refused to let a church group hold a religious service in the library. Business meetings, fine. Debates and forums, peachy. Revival meetings with prayer and singing? Sorry, no. Can’t be showing preference. Although there have been several comments already to the effect of “Well, if they win, I’m scheduling a Pagan service at the library as fast as I can.” Just to see if suddenly, having religious services in the library becomes a bad thing.
A mall in Greece, New York has adopted rules prohibiting persons under 19 from being alone on the premises. Which will do a whole lot to encourage youth to actually come shop at said malls. Driving away a good customer base doesn’t make all that much for sense to me, but maybe there’s a reason for it there.
For matters in schools, Greg Laden at Scienceblogs details how evolution units in science classes are frought with conflict from creationists and what teachers can do to ensure that good science is the only thing taught in the science classroom. If science at some point should be able to devise a test that can conclusively indicate the presence and work of a creator-deity, then we’ll have to re-evaluate. For now, however, evolution’s processes are the best that we have.
As an excellent example of poor tactics and pandering to a particular element of society, David Bellavia and his Vets For Freedom claim America will not be defeated, because America won’t leave, even when their training says they should. Bellavia calls the tactical retreat training wasted time because he “knew”, like John McCain “knows”, like George W. Bush “knows”, that the United States doesn’t retreat once engaged, no matter how many people die or money is expended, even if the solution isn’t possible. That Bellavia calls military persons and the veterans the “warrior class” implies that his rhetoric is based on Sparta, instead of the “Moveon.org-controlled senators” and “defeatists” of Athens. To proudly declare that you never retreat calls your commanders tactical idiots. And to insist that you stay on to the end because some people have died and some money has been spent is not only overweighting sunk costs, but it continues sacrificing to Moloch many of our nation’s youth. Bellavia might find a friend in Daniel Doron, who says that the only way Israel will win its conflict with Palestine is to crush them completely.
Go with your gut feelings, according to new Leds research - they’re the result of processing cues and information at the subconscious level, which leaves us with a good feeling or a bad feeling, but one borne out of evidence, apparently. Whether all gut decisions are right or wrong, they are apparently worth taking into account.
the Sober Women’s brigade of earlier times. Although there’s a good bet that it was tough for them to exercise all that control, as even in simple tasks, maintaining self-control takes energy. Which might explain why dieting can be a problem - exercising self-control on things that will help you restore your energy levels is tough. Thus, the idea of healthy snacking, not only to keep appetite down, but perhaps being able to snack on carrots or protein bars or something like that will help keep the glucose levels high, so that you can resist the high-sugar, high-fat treats.
And because no entry is complete without lists, 7 Insane Conspiracies that actually happened and The gruesome origins of five popular fairy tales, which are generally decently preserved in Grimm and left out in Perrault. Last for tonight is an excellent juxtaposition, even if it doesn’t exist any more. So I’m going to bed and sleeping now.
Up top, because it should be visible, LiveJournal has proposed a draft set of new policies to help address all the concerns over strikethroughs and related material. Comments are, of course, welcome.
In international affairs, despite having had Turkish troops inside the country not too long ago, Iraq is seeking closer ties with Turkey, likely to try and build some stable partnerships for the time when the United States removes itself from the country.
North Korea provided a Potemkin village for the visiting New York Philharmonic orchestra. And after the Philharmonic has left, the city became dark and the perks that were there disappeared. Some similar sleight of hand is occurring in Brad Schiller’s insistence that the economy has gotten better, even if statistics say the top 20% lives on 50% of income and the bottom 20% live on 3.4%. The numbers have gone up, says he, even if the percentages don’t change. The problem is, even if incomes go up, so do prices. Just because they make more doesn’t mean they can buy more. Plus, assuming that things like big-screen televisions are going to become necessities tells me that Brad isn’t really that familiar with how that bottom 20% lives.
Dirty water made troops sick in Iraq from 2004-2006, and there’s a sneaking suspicion that it’s Haliburton/KBR to blame for it. Yet another thing that may have been done on the cheap with bad consequences.
Domestic matters has drugs in the drinking water, albeit in very tiny amounts. While the science currently says those trace amounts aren’t going to harm us, there is a distinct possibility of conspiracy theorists and/or the easily panicable going through a Chicken Little routine at this news.
bradhicks wonders why the TSA hasn't been dismantled yet, considering how much of a joke they are in terms of actually making things more secure and safe. The prevailing opinion seems to be “Like hell I’d give my political opponent that kind of opening.” as the reasoning.The Slacktivist takes the media to task over not calling torture torture, because the editors want to avoid controversies. Call a spade a spade, and tell the person in the White House that continues to block the legislature’s efforts to actually not permit our intelligence people to torture that he’s been the worst thing to this country since Nixon.
Elsewhere, Cat killer receives reduced sentence. His girlfriend did not apparently want to go to the witness stand and describe the trauma of having her boyfriend slam a bed against the wall that the cats were underneath, and then pick up the cats and throw them across the room. The boyfriend, after four months in jail, may turn his eyes on other humans instead, as he wants to join the Navy.
There’s something about New York and infidelity. the Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, is being investigated in relation to a prostitution ring. Must be something about the water there, or something.
Creativity and imagination results in critical condition, as a ten year-old child was buried head-down in a sandbox by his playmates. They saw someone who could manipulate sand in a cartoon, and devised a mthod that they thought would work to grant the power to the buried child. And with no parents keeping close tabs on them, it took the kids a little while to realize that things had gome wrong and to get the parents to help them. If this were earlier times, I’d expect blame to be on sandboxes for being inherently dangerous and cartoons for putting strange ideas into people’s heads. I wish there had been an adult playing with them, or at least watching them so that when the creative idea came through, it could have been stopped without serious consequence.
In matters of the general election to arrive in November, Jonah Goldberg praises the uncertainty of this year's election process, at least on the Democratic side - the Republicans don’t have to worry about whether or not “superdelegates” will decide their nomination. Instead, they’re trying to figure out who would be a good veep for Senator McCain. David R. Stokes lavishes praise on Mike Huckabee for his campaign and suggests that Huck be kept in Republican party politics.
In technology, dedicated hackers claim that China is paying them occasionally to break into sensitive government and commerce sites, a claim that the Chinese government denies (naturally).
The United Kingdom’s police have developed a device that can supposedly detect the presence of drugs and weapons through clothing, utilizing terahertz waves and looking for telltale signatures. I wonder how much detail shows up in those pictures, and whether or not we’ll suddenly have a lot of terror arrests of females.
Other technology reports that (apparently, back in December), the upcoming Internet Explorer 8 passes the Acid2 test. Quite the interesting thought. Although I’ll bet the Frefox 3 branch probably gives it a shot, if not passes it itself. For reference, the Acid2 browser test.
In our News of the Weirder, a gentleman is able to withstand otherwise-fatally cold temperatures without (too much) clothing. Running barefoot on ice, taking a swim in freezing water, and holding the world record for longest time submerged in ice, without apparent effect. How strange is that? Further strange stuff involves skepticism over the claim that Moses was high when he received the commandments, Also strange, The Wicker Man is being made into a musical. And finally, Bone is being made into a film. Finally, a remote-controlled robot trying to keep the streets safe - armed with a smoker and a water gun, and a very loud voice.
Our Unabashed Feminism Department’s Bureau Chief took one for the team and read the Surrendered Wife. Her conclusion is that the book is every bit as bad as it appears, if not worse.
Expose the Church of the SubGenius as a Threat, says someone trying to sell you a video. Apparently, he’s taken the joke a little too seriously and things the SubGenii are seriously a cult of X-Day. Well, they could be “ha, ha, only serious”, but as best I can tell, this person really only wants you to be afraid so that you can buy his video. Would Bob approve of the commercialization of his image like this?
More serious that J.R. “Bob” Dobbs and his ubiquitous pipe, it is not just Christians who are/have been fearful of homosexuals in relation to their religion. Mind you, most of these quotes are decades old, unlike the fresh ones beign generated daily out of Focus on the Family. But it’s true that nobody has an exclusive claim on prejudice. Or stupidity. For an example of both,
wishesofastar reports the Upper Arlignton Public Library is being sued because they refused to let a church group hold a religious service in the library. Business meetings, fine. Debates and forums, peachy. Revival meetings with prayer and singing? Sorry, no. Can’t be showing preference. Although there have been several comments already to the effect of “Well, if they win, I’m scheduling a Pagan service at the library as fast as I can.” Just to see if suddenly, having religious services in the library becomes a bad thing. A mall in Greece, New York has adopted rules prohibiting persons under 19 from being alone on the premises. Which will do a whole lot to encourage youth to actually come shop at said malls. Driving away a good customer base doesn’t make all that much for sense to me, but maybe there’s a reason for it there.
For matters in schools, Greg Laden at Scienceblogs details how evolution units in science classes are frought with conflict from creationists and what teachers can do to ensure that good science is the only thing taught in the science classroom. If science at some point should be able to devise a test that can conclusively indicate the presence and work of a creator-deity, then we’ll have to re-evaluate. For now, however, evolution’s processes are the best that we have.
As an excellent example of poor tactics and pandering to a particular element of society, David Bellavia and his Vets For Freedom claim America will not be defeated, because America won’t leave, even when their training says they should. Bellavia calls the tactical retreat training wasted time because he “knew”, like John McCain “knows”, like George W. Bush “knows”, that the United States doesn’t retreat once engaged, no matter how many people die or money is expended, even if the solution isn’t possible. That Bellavia calls military persons and the veterans the “warrior class” implies that his rhetoric is based on Sparta, instead of the “Moveon.org-controlled senators” and “defeatists” of Athens. To proudly declare that you never retreat calls your commanders tactical idiots. And to insist that you stay on to the end because some people have died and some money has been spent is not only overweighting sunk costs, but it continues sacrificing to Moloch many of our nation’s youth. Bellavia might find a friend in Daniel Doron, who says that the only way Israel will win its conflict with Palestine is to crush them completely.
Go with your gut feelings, according to new Leds research - they’re the result of processing cues and information at the subconscious level, which leaves us with a good feeling or a bad feeling, but one borne out of evidence, apparently. Whether all gut decisions are right or wrong, they are apparently worth taking into account.
the Sober Women’s brigade of earlier times. Although there’s a good bet that it was tough for them to exercise all that control, as even in simple tasks, maintaining self-control takes energy. Which might explain why dieting can be a problem - exercising self-control on things that will help you restore your energy levels is tough. Thus, the idea of healthy snacking, not only to keep appetite down, but perhaps being able to snack on carrots or protein bars or something like that will help keep the glucose levels high, so that you can resist the high-sugar, high-fat treats.
And because no entry is complete without lists, 7 Insane Conspiracies that actually happened and The gruesome origins of five popular fairy tales, which are generally decently preserved in Grimm and left out in Perrault. Last for tonight is an excellent juxtaposition, even if it doesn’t exist any more. So I’m going to bed and sleeping now.
