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More material for all - 21 February 2010
Feb. 22nd, 2010 11:39 amGreetings, connected and interested persons on social networks! A warning to us all - the more we share, the easier it is for malignant forces to know when we aren't with valuable things.
Additionally, don't count out your local library, especially when it comes to providing training in new literacies outside of the school environment. And if you have some additional ideas on making the library hip for the 20-40 age group, we'd be totally interested.
Finally in the headlines, suing someone for infringement because you have similar ideas is going to get you nowhere. Seriously. New ideas that someone else hasn't thought of already are rare-to-nonexistent.
Out in the world today, a Tesco store posted a requirement that all its shoppers be shod and not in their pyjamas. Well, we've always seen "No shirt, no shoes, no service", but "no payjamas"? That's cutting out the late-night and early-morning shopping divisions, it would seem. The nightwear ban was apparently so that other people would not be offended by the persons in their nighwear. Oy.
An Australian psychologist instrumental in creating a Satanic Panic in the country has been banned from practice, much to the dismay of the General, who liked his faith-based fetal exorcism approach.
The European Union affirmed that those wishing to join and stay as members of the EU must put in place protections for LGBT individuals, meaning the European Union and its members must be part of the Century of the Fruitbat to join up.
In the domestic setting, the budget reconcilliation process is the favored venue for a resurgence of public option support, with the appealing rules that restrict the ability to endlessly delay the proceedings and prevent anything other than a simple majority as the threshold to pass.
The Department of Homeland (in)Security lost more than 240 guns, many of them due to negligence by agents that resulted in their loss or theft.
A person died after placing ten calls to emergency services, many of which were met by an ambulance dispatch, but the ambulance was unable to make it to the residence because of the snow accumulations, coming within four blocks of the place before turning around after insisting the person calling be able to walk or make it to them.
Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother, finds that life imitates literature, with a school using the webcames on their issued laptops to spy on the home lives of their students, including calling kids in for reprimands based on what they did outside of school. (We note in Little Brother, the main character has a SchoolBook, a laptop loaded down with spyware, keyloggers, and other tracking material on it, issued to him.) Elsewhere in schooling, a Utah state senator suggested that the 12th grade be cut so as to make up a budget shortfall. Well, there's something to be said for making your education count, but I don't think cutting out a grade is going to do it for you.
What will the jobless future look like? Less wages for the young through their careers, along with potential social and health problems, if the people resemble the data collected on other recession graduates. Men might take serious self-esteem blows (based mostly in the societal expectations that a man's job and income is shorthand for him as a person), and relationships might fray and deteriorate because of the bitterness that happens because of that self-esteem loss. That's without, we note, the threats of the loss of insurance from losing a job, or worse, the insurance company deciding it doesn't want to pay your expensive claim and canceling your policy completely based on alleged fraud on your application or any other excuse they can come up with that will take you time and lawyers to fight. (In this particular case, the person who denied won her case for millions. But she's an anomaly.)
The Conservative conference CPAC got underway, replete with Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics. Also wingnuttery based on the race of the guy in the Oval Office - his predecessor did the same thing and got nothing. Then again, said predecessor didn't have a significant amount of the country believing he wasn't a United States citizen, too.
In religiously-motivated affairs, A case brought by a pagan chaplain and several inmates demanding that prisoners of Pagan beliefs be allowed the same religious protections as those already covered under California statute. Some of the arguments against are predicated on "paganism isn't a real religion and thus not entitled to religious protections". The unstated why, I'm guessing, is because the arguers believe pagans are Satan-worshipers and the antithesis to the True and Monotheistic Religion. (Which are four of the five currently permnitted, the fifth being religious practice of the First Nations.) Elsewhere in the country, the governor of Virginia silently removed the state's nondiscrimination protection for homosexuals, by virtue that his executive order supercedes the last one. Furthermore, he says that his own order covers discrimination against everyone.
Beyond that, if you take a poll of Texans, they're fairly anti-science, which might help to explain why it should be cause for serious discussion when Texas starts trying to rewrite their textbook requirements so as to be more anti-science and pro-monotheistic subsection of Judaism as the single driving force through the country's history. Perhaps coincidentally, the people arguing for this inclusion should do as the NYT does and take the scholarly path in trying to figure out what was really intended by the Founders in terms of keeping religion outside the realm of the State or letting it in with restrictions. Good education will also increase the chances of, say, making good decisions about education. It's a nice self-reinforcing cycle for once. Paradoxically, one of the people interviewed believes that textbooks are written by anti-religious liberals, and thus it's their duty to change the standards to force textbook makers to be anti-science and sometimes anti-reality. According to the article, textbook makers might feel a tad sensitive about including religion, probably rightly expecting those groups to be completely offended if not portrayed in a totally flattering light. (Like how offended they were that people kept linking them to the kill-the-gays bill in Uganda despite their insistence they had nothing to do with it. Kind of like the pastor showing homosexual pornography and attempting to pass it off as how homosexuals really have sex and the police starting high-profile attacks against homosexuals. Worse yet, the hysteria spreads when you let it go like that. Unless, that is, even your high school students know how to defuse an agitator. (Not that state policies give students much help or cover.)
And last out from that, Sir Elton John suggests that Jesus was a super-intelligent gay man. And thus, with the bait set, we'll see who responds with angry denunciations.
Finally, Dick Cheney said he supported waterboarding. He should be investigated for war crimes. Even though he supports a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell because the military commanders support it. (Perspective, as always - even people who commit war crimes are not always evil to the core.)
In technology, the need for electronic books to resemble their printed counterparts in having a standardized format, even if the size, shape, and font change.
Down here in the opinions, the ex-governor of Alaska takes a drubbing from an actress over Down Syndrome. the ex-governor seems to be having trouble deciding whether she's going to be completely humorless about all of those jokes about the disabled or she's only going to get on someone's case when it's politically convenient to do so.
Who broke the political process? The people that are using procedural rules to stall and slow everything down to the point where there's gridlock, despite the PR spin that makes it look like the majority can't get anything done. The problems extend past this point, though, where previous things boiled up to create rage against a government that's not for the people controlled by corporations and wealthy CEOs who only see the people as revenue streams to be sucked dry - sometimes resulting in planes being crashed deliberately into IRS buildings. Read the manifest of Joe Stack yourself and see whether you can find the strings of the past and the present that created this knot.
The Slacktivist suggests in the wake of the Citizens United decision, that corporations with the right to engage in electioneering be taxed as such when they do, including revocation of tax-exempt statuses for those groups that hide behind their non-profit exemption while breaking the rules that are in place to keep that exemption.
The WSJ people believe the Anthem insurance increases are a sign of what will happen as a result of the health care bill passing, not something that will be avoided by a health care bill passing, becuase they find it foolish and expensive to require companies insure people who are well past the point of profitability, err, coverage.
Mr. Chapman points out that historically speaking, approval ratings fall in the first year of a presidency, while also saying that President Obama will need help from things beyond his control if he wants those numbers and his re-electability up. Being on Townhall, of course, such an artcle immediately draws fire and low voting, because they want to hear something like Mr. Birdnow, who blames the President for the problems the country is in because the President stuck to his agenda instead of becomnig a Republican, or Mr. A. Williams railing against the budget, because government doesn't operate on the same rules of business, which would have required the government to restructure or go bankrupt, instead of continuing to deficit spend.
The Slacktivist returns with a salient point about the difference between responsibility and blame, and how confusing one with the other produces bad results and people who think snow disproves climate change.
Last for tonight, the questions that people ask and the responses that they receive, the rumored relationship-killing boats, and a decidedly un-PC game that bits actively anarchic homeless persons against each other and the system they're trying to milk.
Additionally, don't count out your local library, especially when it comes to providing training in new literacies outside of the school environment. And if you have some additional ideas on making the library hip for the 20-40 age group, we'd be totally interested.
Finally in the headlines, suing someone for infringement because you have similar ideas is going to get you nowhere. Seriously. New ideas that someone else hasn't thought of already are rare-to-nonexistent.
Out in the world today, a Tesco store posted a requirement that all its shoppers be shod and not in their pyjamas. Well, we've always seen "No shirt, no shoes, no service", but "no payjamas"? That's cutting out the late-night and early-morning shopping divisions, it would seem. The nightwear ban was apparently so that other people would not be offended by the persons in their nighwear. Oy.
An Australian psychologist instrumental in creating a Satanic Panic in the country has been banned from practice, much to the dismay of the General, who liked his faith-based fetal exorcism approach.
The European Union affirmed that those wishing to join and stay as members of the EU must put in place protections for LGBT individuals, meaning the European Union and its members must be part of the Century of the Fruitbat to join up.
In the domestic setting, the budget reconcilliation process is the favored venue for a resurgence of public option support, with the appealing rules that restrict the ability to endlessly delay the proceedings and prevent anything other than a simple majority as the threshold to pass.
The Department of Homeland (in)Security lost more than 240 guns, many of them due to negligence by agents that resulted in their loss or theft.
A person died after placing ten calls to emergency services, many of which were met by an ambulance dispatch, but the ambulance was unable to make it to the residence because of the snow accumulations, coming within four blocks of the place before turning around after insisting the person calling be able to walk or make it to them.
Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother, finds that life imitates literature, with a school using the webcames on their issued laptops to spy on the home lives of their students, including calling kids in for reprimands based on what they did outside of school. (We note in Little Brother, the main character has a SchoolBook, a laptop loaded down with spyware, keyloggers, and other tracking material on it, issued to him.) Elsewhere in schooling, a Utah state senator suggested that the 12th grade be cut so as to make up a budget shortfall. Well, there's something to be said for making your education count, but I don't think cutting out a grade is going to do it for you.
What will the jobless future look like? Less wages for the young through their careers, along with potential social and health problems, if the people resemble the data collected on other recession graduates. Men might take serious self-esteem blows (based mostly in the societal expectations that a man's job and income is shorthand for him as a person), and relationships might fray and deteriorate because of the bitterness that happens because of that self-esteem loss. That's without, we note, the threats of the loss of insurance from losing a job, or worse, the insurance company deciding it doesn't want to pay your expensive claim and canceling your policy completely based on alleged fraud on your application or any other excuse they can come up with that will take you time and lawyers to fight. (In this particular case, the person who denied won her case for millions. But she's an anomaly.)
The Conservative conference CPAC got underway, replete with Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics. Also wingnuttery based on the race of the guy in the Oval Office - his predecessor did the same thing and got nothing. Then again, said predecessor didn't have a significant amount of the country believing he wasn't a United States citizen, too.
In religiously-motivated affairs, A case brought by a pagan chaplain and several inmates demanding that prisoners of Pagan beliefs be allowed the same religious protections as those already covered under California statute. Some of the arguments against are predicated on "paganism isn't a real religion and thus not entitled to religious protections". The unstated why, I'm guessing, is because the arguers believe pagans are Satan-worshipers and the antithesis to the True and Monotheistic Religion. (Which are four of the five currently permnitted, the fifth being religious practice of the First Nations.) Elsewhere in the country, the governor of Virginia silently removed the state's nondiscrimination protection for homosexuals, by virtue that his executive order supercedes the last one. Furthermore, he says that his own order covers discrimination against everyone.
Beyond that, if you take a poll of Texans, they're fairly anti-science, which might help to explain why it should be cause for serious discussion when Texas starts trying to rewrite their textbook requirements so as to be more anti-science and pro-monotheistic subsection of Judaism as the single driving force through the country's history. Perhaps coincidentally, the people arguing for this inclusion should do as the NYT does and take the scholarly path in trying to figure out what was really intended by the Founders in terms of keeping religion outside the realm of the State or letting it in with restrictions. Good education will also increase the chances of, say, making good decisions about education. It's a nice self-reinforcing cycle for once. Paradoxically, one of the people interviewed believes that textbooks are written by anti-religious liberals, and thus it's their duty to change the standards to force textbook makers to be anti-science and sometimes anti-reality. According to the article, textbook makers might feel a tad sensitive about including religion, probably rightly expecting those groups to be completely offended if not portrayed in a totally flattering light. (Like how offended they were that people kept linking them to the kill-the-gays bill in Uganda despite their insistence they had nothing to do with it. Kind of like the pastor showing homosexual pornography and attempting to pass it off as how homosexuals really have sex and the police starting high-profile attacks against homosexuals. Worse yet, the hysteria spreads when you let it go like that. Unless, that is, even your high school students know how to defuse an agitator. (Not that state policies give students much help or cover.)
And last out from that, Sir Elton John suggests that Jesus was a super-intelligent gay man. And thus, with the bait set, we'll see who responds with angry denunciations.
Finally, Dick Cheney said he supported waterboarding. He should be investigated for war crimes. Even though he supports a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell because the military commanders support it. (Perspective, as always - even people who commit war crimes are not always evil to the core.)
In technology, the need for electronic books to resemble their printed counterparts in having a standardized format, even if the size, shape, and font change.
Down here in the opinions, the ex-governor of Alaska takes a drubbing from an actress over Down Syndrome. the ex-governor seems to be having trouble deciding whether she's going to be completely humorless about all of those jokes about the disabled or she's only going to get on someone's case when it's politically convenient to do so.
Who broke the political process? The people that are using procedural rules to stall and slow everything down to the point where there's gridlock, despite the PR spin that makes it look like the majority can't get anything done. The problems extend past this point, though, where previous things boiled up to create rage against a government that's not for the people controlled by corporations and wealthy CEOs who only see the people as revenue streams to be sucked dry - sometimes resulting in planes being crashed deliberately into IRS buildings. Read the manifest of Joe Stack yourself and see whether you can find the strings of the past and the present that created this knot.
The Slacktivist suggests in the wake of the Citizens United decision, that corporations with the right to engage in electioneering be taxed as such when they do, including revocation of tax-exempt statuses for those groups that hide behind their non-profit exemption while breaking the rules that are in place to keep that exemption.
The WSJ people believe the Anthem insurance increases are a sign of what will happen as a result of the health care bill passing, not something that will be avoided by a health care bill passing, becuase they find it foolish and expensive to require companies insure people who are well past the point of profitability, err, coverage.
Mr. Chapman points out that historically speaking, approval ratings fall in the first year of a presidency, while also saying that President Obama will need help from things beyond his control if he wants those numbers and his re-electability up. Being on Townhall, of course, such an artcle immediately draws fire and low voting, because they want to hear something like Mr. Birdnow, who blames the President for the problems the country is in because the President stuck to his agenda instead of becomnig a Republican, or Mr. A. Williams railing against the budget, because government doesn't operate on the same rules of business, which would have required the government to restructure or go bankrupt, instead of continuing to deficit spend.
The Slacktivist returns with a salient point about the difference between responsibility and blame, and how confusing one with the other produces bad results and people who think snow disproves climate change.
Last for tonight, the questions that people ask and the responses that they receive, the rumored relationship-killing boats, and a decidedly un-PC game that bits actively anarchic homeless persons against each other and the system they're trying to milk.
