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Greetings, sports fans! While many of the cameras have gone on to other things, including the men’s college basketball tournament, remember that the Olympic Games are not the only Olympic games in Vancouver this year - the Boston Globe provides some excellent shots of the Paralympic competitors. Fascinating to see how it all comes together. Myself, I’d like to see how wheelchair curling and sledge hockey work at full speed, and how “visually impaired” competitors compete in the skiing events.
For those watching sports, have you ever heard of a pizza box that can then be broken down into plates for slices?
Finally, a game design professor scraps grades in favor of experience points, with each assignment worth a certain value. Sufficient leveling earns you better grades. If school itself were more like this, I think we’d all do better. Plus, we’d have a more accurate picture of our skills handy for when we applied for employment. (Eight ranks in Library Science, with the Feat: Youth Services, and so forth.)
Internationally, pictures of the Arctic and its residents to start.
Domestically, Right before the earliest day a vote could be held on the health care bill, fake and true grassroots organizations are attempting to put out one more protest, and/or raise funds for their organizations to fight whatever the next thing is. For an example of the exaggeration flying about in such events, Mr. Voight provides. According to him, Speaker Pelosi “will stop at nothing to fulfill her corrupt conquests. She will bring all of the corrupt ACORN liars to try to bully all the Democrats that may be having pangs of guilt knowing quite surely what their votes can and will do. If they’re bullied into saying ‘yes,’ it will destroy America.”
If that were anywhere near reality, then why are the AMA and AARP backing the bill, considering something better than nothing? Finally, what does it say about the ugliness of the whle affair when false memoranda are passed off as genuine material, and then printed somewhat uncritically by media outlets? Maybe I’m naive, but I didn’t think we had stooped to this level until the health-care debate. Remarkably, Fox takes a fairly balanced view on the lack of follow-through for some promises the President has made, outlining correct reasons like “Congress doesn’t want it”, “the parliamentarian said that wouldn’t fly in reconciliation”, and others, while still rightly taking the President to task on transparency issues.
Some of the early reports from said protest include the hurling of racial and homophobic epithets and the usual colorful, violence-espousing, Hitler-comparing, Birtherism-promoting signs.
A different exaggeration comes from Representative Boehner, claiming that reform that would eliminate private banks as middlemen for student loans would destroy every bank in America. Hyperbole is the way of life now, sure, but obviously wrong hyperbole just makes you look stupid.
If you want to look in on what really could destroy America, recently released documents describe the waterboarding protocol in great detail, going well beyond even the SERE school training, into dangerous and torturous levels. We’re sitting on more than enough documents to prompt a real investigation, so why hasn’t that already been started?
The War on (Some) Drugs took a hit, as 185 cases were dropped or had their convictions overturned due to allegations of evidence tampering, after a probe of the police involved turned up the strong possibility.
Technology and science offer us the seductive promise of The Future, starting with drugs that improve visual memory, so we can remember where we put our keys (or other important things), being able to analyze the left hemisphere of a medieval child thanks to a well-preserved brain bit, set-top boxes to run Web applications, sort of a WebTV on steroids, but from Google, DARPA wanting to develop cameras that can tell stories, GM developing windshields that function as HUDs, through phosphors directly integrated into the windshield and UV beams to excite them, and using the human body as a pathway to transmit high volumes of data quickly, something that would be very helpful for implanted monitors.
They also, however, remind us of our very worst tendencies, replicating the Milgram experiment, this time in the context of a reality show, and finding that most people would still kill someone else if told to do so, especially if on television. And if you think we’re better about it, Mr. Greenwald bursts that bubble, with special disdain for Fox, a network that makes lots of money and ratings off of people approving of torture for others, whether as entertainment, like 24, or in their “News” division.
The Pentagon believes that sites like WikiLeaks are dangerous to national security, instead of praising them as the important muckrakers that they are. Government entities embarrassed by the revelation of their secret stupidities will, of course, want to get rid of the things making them look bad, but in this case, it was a hypothetical analysis that landed WikiLeaks on the dangerous peoples list.
In our opinions department, when taking the measure of someone's approval rating, note that approval tends the way of the economy. Reagan suffered poor approval as well with this economy, and then when things got better, so did his approval.
On health care, the National Catholic reporter shreds the misinformation on the health care bill and urges Congresscritters, Catholic or otherwise, to vote for it, offering a study that places that have near-universal coverage have lower abortion rates as a carrot to the people who still believe falsely that the bill will provide federal funding for abortion. It makes sense - if you know that you can get the care you need to have a child, and it won’t bankrupt you, then you’re probably more likely to carry an unplanned pregnancy to term than to abort it because you can’t afford the child. Thus, Bart Stupak is a moron in more ways than one by continuing to hold his position and claim that more people will go with him if things aren’t written to his exact specifications. Time to put up or shut up, Bart.
On the other side, Mr. Barnes says that, if passed, the bill will only continue to spark fights in Congress, encourage more states to pass nullification laws, as well as apparently creating a perpetual budget crisis as the true costs of the program come into being. Mr. Curl thinks there will be bad political consequences for Mr. Obama, while detailing all the ways that the President was doing what he does best on the campaign trail. And Mr. Elder still believes the Democrats are operating on a "we know better than you" mode, with the intent of putting something into place that will be nearly-impossible to oust, and that there will always be a plan to make things better when the complaints get loud enough. We thank Mr. Elder for an object lesson of lawmaking and politics in this country and remind him that some of the time, what’s best for us is the very thing we don’t want to do.
Finally, from opinions, Ms. Coulter believes she has the perfect health care reform bill - allow interstate competition, remove the anti-trust exemption, and then forbid the federal government from regulating the insurance market, allowing The Market (All Praise To Its Name) to cull weak insurance companies that pull coverage out from under their policyholders, offer a multitude of plans that fit people’s needs and budgets, and avoid being trapped in regulations that require them to do X or cover Y. It’s brilliant and fits on one page, says she. Well, being able to trustbust would be nice, yes, but the rest of it requires an almost unrealistic faith in The Market. Considering that insurance makes profit through the twin demons of rate increases and denial of coverage and care, to believe that people will simply flock away from an insurer that spikes its health risks when they need them most is, well, silly. Not to mention the problem that occurs when nobody will insure you, because you’re guaranteed to be expensive an unprofitable. And the one where there are limits on your plan, so that if you get sick with anything major, you will be spiked. And the one where your rates contine to go up for the same coverage because the companies feel the need to pad their bottom lines and pay for some bonuses. The Market does not discourage rate increases, it encourages them all the way up to the maximal point you can get away with.
Last for tonight, a quick re-visit to the Christian Domestic Discipline movement, from the eyes of someone who hasn’t seen it to that point. I could call it “BDSM without the consent”, but that would likely be an insult to those who do practice that lifestyle. Then again, maybe there are some people for whom that is their kink - so long as they enter into it consensually, I’m not the person to judge.
If that last link was a bit too jarring for you, relax with an image of Yosemite.
For those watching sports, have you ever heard of a pizza box that can then be broken down into plates for slices?
Finally, a game design professor scraps grades in favor of experience points, with each assignment worth a certain value. Sufficient leveling earns you better grades. If school itself were more like this, I think we’d all do better. Plus, we’d have a more accurate picture of our skills handy for when we applied for employment. (Eight ranks in Library Science, with the Feat: Youth Services, and so forth.)
Internationally, pictures of the Arctic and its residents to start.
Domestically, Right before the earliest day a vote could be held on the health care bill, fake and true grassroots organizations are attempting to put out one more protest, and/or raise funds for their organizations to fight whatever the next thing is. For an example of the exaggeration flying about in such events, Mr. Voight provides. According to him, Speaker Pelosi “will stop at nothing to fulfill her corrupt conquests. She will bring all of the corrupt ACORN liars to try to bully all the Democrats that may be having pangs of guilt knowing quite surely what their votes can and will do. If they’re bullied into saying ‘yes,’ it will destroy America.”
If that were anywhere near reality, then why are the AMA and AARP backing the bill, considering something better than nothing? Finally, what does it say about the ugliness of the whle affair when false memoranda are passed off as genuine material, and then printed somewhat uncritically by media outlets? Maybe I’m naive, but I didn’t think we had stooped to this level until the health-care debate. Remarkably, Fox takes a fairly balanced view on the lack of follow-through for some promises the President has made, outlining correct reasons like “Congress doesn’t want it”, “the parliamentarian said that wouldn’t fly in reconciliation”, and others, while still rightly taking the President to task on transparency issues.
Some of the early reports from said protest include the hurling of racial and homophobic epithets and the usual colorful, violence-espousing, Hitler-comparing, Birtherism-promoting signs.
A different exaggeration comes from Representative Boehner, claiming that reform that would eliminate private banks as middlemen for student loans would destroy every bank in America. Hyperbole is the way of life now, sure, but obviously wrong hyperbole just makes you look stupid.
If you want to look in on what really could destroy America, recently released documents describe the waterboarding protocol in great detail, going well beyond even the SERE school training, into dangerous and torturous levels. We’re sitting on more than enough documents to prompt a real investigation, so why hasn’t that already been started?
The War on (Some) Drugs took a hit, as 185 cases were dropped or had their convictions overturned due to allegations of evidence tampering, after a probe of the police involved turned up the strong possibility.
Technology and science offer us the seductive promise of The Future, starting with drugs that improve visual memory, so we can remember where we put our keys (or other important things), being able to analyze the left hemisphere of a medieval child thanks to a well-preserved brain bit, set-top boxes to run Web applications, sort of a WebTV on steroids, but from Google, DARPA wanting to develop cameras that can tell stories, GM developing windshields that function as HUDs, through phosphors directly integrated into the windshield and UV beams to excite them, and using the human body as a pathway to transmit high volumes of data quickly, something that would be very helpful for implanted monitors.
They also, however, remind us of our very worst tendencies, replicating the Milgram experiment, this time in the context of a reality show, and finding that most people would still kill someone else if told to do so, especially if on television. And if you think we’re better about it, Mr. Greenwald bursts that bubble, with special disdain for Fox, a network that makes lots of money and ratings off of people approving of torture for others, whether as entertainment, like 24, or in their “News” division.
The Pentagon believes that sites like WikiLeaks are dangerous to national security, instead of praising them as the important muckrakers that they are. Government entities embarrassed by the revelation of their secret stupidities will, of course, want to get rid of the things making them look bad, but in this case, it was a hypothetical analysis that landed WikiLeaks on the dangerous peoples list.
In our opinions department, when taking the measure of someone's approval rating, note that approval tends the way of the economy. Reagan suffered poor approval as well with this economy, and then when things got better, so did his approval.
On health care, the National Catholic reporter shreds the misinformation on the health care bill and urges Congresscritters, Catholic or otherwise, to vote for it, offering a study that places that have near-universal coverage have lower abortion rates as a carrot to the people who still believe falsely that the bill will provide federal funding for abortion. It makes sense - if you know that you can get the care you need to have a child, and it won’t bankrupt you, then you’re probably more likely to carry an unplanned pregnancy to term than to abort it because you can’t afford the child. Thus, Bart Stupak is a moron in more ways than one by continuing to hold his position and claim that more people will go with him if things aren’t written to his exact specifications. Time to put up or shut up, Bart.
On the other side, Mr. Barnes says that, if passed, the bill will only continue to spark fights in Congress, encourage more states to pass nullification laws, as well as apparently creating a perpetual budget crisis as the true costs of the program come into being. Mr. Curl thinks there will be bad political consequences for Mr. Obama, while detailing all the ways that the President was doing what he does best on the campaign trail. And Mr. Elder still believes the Democrats are operating on a "we know better than you" mode, with the intent of putting something into place that will be nearly-impossible to oust, and that there will always be a plan to make things better when the complaints get loud enough. We thank Mr. Elder for an object lesson of lawmaking and politics in this country and remind him that some of the time, what’s best for us is the very thing we don’t want to do.
Finally, from opinions, Ms. Coulter believes she has the perfect health care reform bill - allow interstate competition, remove the anti-trust exemption, and then forbid the federal government from regulating the insurance market, allowing The Market (All Praise To Its Name) to cull weak insurance companies that pull coverage out from under their policyholders, offer a multitude of plans that fit people’s needs and budgets, and avoid being trapped in regulations that require them to do X or cover Y. It’s brilliant and fits on one page, says she. Well, being able to trustbust would be nice, yes, but the rest of it requires an almost unrealistic faith in The Market. Considering that insurance makes profit through the twin demons of rate increases and denial of coverage and care, to believe that people will simply flock away from an insurer that spikes its health risks when they need them most is, well, silly. Not to mention the problem that occurs when nobody will insure you, because you’re guaranteed to be expensive an unprofitable. And the one where there are limits on your plan, so that if you get sick with anything major, you will be spiked. And the one where your rates contine to go up for the same coverage because the companies feel the need to pad their bottom lines and pay for some bonuses. The Market does not discourage rate increases, it encourages them all the way up to the maximal point you can get away with.
Last for tonight, a quick re-visit to the Christian Domestic Discipline movement, from the eyes of someone who hasn’t seen it to that point. I could call it “BDSM without the consent”, but that would likely be an insult to those who do practice that lifestyle. Then again, maybe there are some people for whom that is their kink - so long as they enter into it consensually, I’m not the person to judge.
If that last link was a bit too jarring for you, relax with an image of Yosemite.
