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Up top, reasons why librarians and educators love slang and its entry into the dictionary, instead of bemoaning the presence of neologisms - language conveys meaning, slang is language, and thus, if we resist the addition of sland and new words, we make it harder for ourselves to convery the specifics of meaning. That's doubleplusungood.
The world of protests continued apace - a runoff election in Haiti marred by missing names, lack of materials, and at least one instance of gun violence, the complete sacking of the cabinet by the president in Yemen in response to 150,000 protesters, the destruction of a symbol of the protests in Bahrain by destroying a statue in the square where the protests gathered, and the continuation of several protests and revolutions throughout North Africa and South America. Even those not under active protest are still weighing how to change their government, doing changes to the government, or trying to buy off their people.
In Egypt, constitutional amendments that pave the way for free and fair elections went to a vote, with Fourteen million Egyptians voting to adopt the amendments, four million against, which is about 41 percent of the population turning out to vote.
Airstrikes against Libya, started by France, and including missile strikes against a Gaddafi compound. Before this started, though, the government's forces attacked rbel strongholds, trying to win the battle before the West got involved. All of this happens even though, apparently, the stated objective is not necessarily to overthrow the people in place. Not to mention the attack on Libya is another war started without Congressional approval and the latest catalyst to bring back a proposal for the forced conscription of young men into military service. Hooray. Aren't you glad President Obama is behind all of this?
All of this does lead to some important questions, like whether or not the West's involvement in these protests actually garners any sort of good will, or whether the people have a longer memory of how the United States and others supported the oppressors for a very long time and have only now come to the side of freedom and democracy. And there are several other long-term questions still without answers despite United States military involvement in much of the world for the last decade.
Finally, The Bioware company explains to someone claiming to represent straight male gamers that they have other fans, too, who want to play their games who aren't straight and male, and they deserve options as well.
Out in the world today, A Norwegian prison on an island, where the inmates are perfectly free to live their lives, where they have to work, are paid, but otherwise have to manage themselves for the duration of their prison term. It seems to work out fairly well...for those that can hack living on the island with each other.
Workers at the Fukushima power plants were pulled from power restoration activities temporarily based on the presence of potentially highly radioactive smoke.
The United States ambassador in Mexico has resigned his post after a leaked diplomatic cable described his critique of the Drug War's effectiveness in Mexico. Maybe it's me, but I seem to be seeing a lot of these kinds of articles - "Actual opinion about something The Company is involved with revealed, person who gave truthful opinion resigns" Whatever happened to being able to be someone that could speak freely and honestly about how things are going and be safe at one's job? Furthermore, when 30 people are arrested for their protest rally to support someone else who is alleged to have sent truthful things out, you wonder just how much the government really believes in that First Amendment everyone's swinging about in the U.S.
Last out, in New Zealand, a jury acquitted a parent who admitted to trying his son's wrists to his own with a tie, washing his mouth out with soap, and shaving his head as attempted discipline for the kid, believing that the child's actions warranted the out-of-the-ordinary punishment and using a section of the law that allows for the "justifiable" use of force in discipline. Just a reminder to our under-18 readers - you have no rights in relation to what your parents do in most countries in the world. You also likely have no rights in relation to what a lot of other adults in authority do, or if you do, some of the flimsiest defenses will be considered valid.
Domestically, the shooting of an unarmed old man lying on the floor and complying with police instructions during a drug raid was ruled an accident and the officer responsible will not face charges. The story he provided about losing his balance and accidentally discharging his weapon was plausible enough for not charges to be filed.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is rife with tensions, sniping, and unparliamentary language between various factions of the court. And they're likely to be deciding on whether or not Governor Walker's attempt to bypass the elgislative process was legal or not. Wheeeeeee. As for this and other states, the wave you're seeing was probably written by an outside think tank and then rubber-stamped by the Republicans in power who are enthralled to Our Corporate Overlords.
The Transportation Security Administration is reacting to the threat of four well-publicized attacks ago and accepting proposals for a scanner to scan your shoes while going through the security checkpoint.
Last out, The Half-term Governor of Alaska turned reality show star said that if she had been the presidential candidate instead of the vice-presidential candidate, she would have won in 2008. We'd like to believe the electorate is a tad smarter than that. Then again, if this poorly-constructed e-mail is indicative of the electorate that would have elected Palin, then we withdraw the previous statement.
In technology, A request for a Facebook Friend Reset to allow everyone to rebuild their social network in light of all the new features and privacy changes Facebook has made from its inception.
American Telephone and Telegraph made an offer to buy the United States division of Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile division for $39 billion USD in money and stock certificates. The federal regulators are likely to have a look at it to see if it violates competitiveness rules (but we're not holding our breath on them).
A device allows those without the use of the bodily limbs to compose and play music through the use of brainwaves.
In opinions, a suggestion that American media get up to the standards of professional journalism, since it's unlikely we'll ever have a low that forbids lying in journalism like Canada does.
Mr. North is unhappy that the President of the United States isn't dropping everything on his schedule to (myopically) focus on the protest events, Libya, and the Japan crisis, and calls it "attention deficit disorder", clearly meaning for the phrase to be taken as a problem of paying attention to what Mr. North deems important, rather than the more common usage as the syndrome that makes it impossible to focus on any one thing for long stretched at a time. Those remembering how the President decided not to suspend his campaign, quipping that Presidents must be able to multi-task are commended, once again, for Paying Attention. Much like the children in a story time session, just because they're not sitting quietly, face front, doesn't mean they're not paying attention. In much the same vein, Mr. Pendry claims the current crop of leadership are not actually leaders, whose walk does not measure up ot their talk, and that the people who are best to lead the country are always the ones being complained about by the mainstream media (and possibly the major political parties). Which could mean Mr. Pendry endorses Green and Socialist candidates, since they're usually harped on, but based on his previous writings, I suspect he means Libertarians, Randites, Corporatists, and Messrs. Paul and Paul are the right people to lead us, because he agrees with their special interest groups instead of opposing them.
The WSJ thinks one of theirs is being smeared unfairly when the Huffington Post pointed out that said opinion writer worked at Goldman Sachs for a few years and thus might not be the most unbiased person to criticize Elizabeth Warren. The Journal plays it off as "we require our writers to actually have practical experience in what they're writing about, unlike the poeple at HuffPo", but considering they're a Murdoch Newspaper, I doubt they'd get anyone who worked in there and is now more than happy to see regulation reinforced on the financial sector - it's against their mission to be the heralds of The Market (A.P.T.I.N.).
Mr. Walsh believes that Middle Eastern unrest is an open door for Iran to take control of the region and exert its influence, because it happens to be the Shia flavor of Islam that is currently rebeling against the mostly Sunni governments most of the time, and because...it apparently has fingers in every revolutionary pot and is sufficiently skilled to ensure all those outcomes are favorable to them.
Finally, Mr. Giles says, "I'm a let you finish, Amy Chua, but my book about raising street smart daughters is the best thing of all time", because Everyone Knows that a girl with lots of book smarts in her head is just an easy target for all the people with real wisdom, street smarts, so dads need to make sure their daughters can detect when a boy is bad for her and fight off anyone that gets closer to her with bad purposes in mind. And so, y'know, buy my book and I'll show you how. Riiiiiiight.
Last for tonight, 110 companies that are supposedly ethical, including companies known not to be ethical, like Microsoft.
The world of protests continued apace - a runoff election in Haiti marred by missing names, lack of materials, and at least one instance of gun violence, the complete sacking of the cabinet by the president in Yemen in response to 150,000 protesters, the destruction of a symbol of the protests in Bahrain by destroying a statue in the square where the protests gathered, and the continuation of several protests and revolutions throughout North Africa and South America. Even those not under active protest are still weighing how to change their government, doing changes to the government, or trying to buy off their people.
In Egypt, constitutional amendments that pave the way for free and fair elections went to a vote, with Fourteen million Egyptians voting to adopt the amendments, four million against, which is about 41 percent of the population turning out to vote.
Airstrikes against Libya, started by France, and including missile strikes against a Gaddafi compound. Before this started, though, the government's forces attacked rbel strongholds, trying to win the battle before the West got involved. All of this happens even though, apparently, the stated objective is not necessarily to overthrow the people in place. Not to mention the attack on Libya is another war started without Congressional approval and the latest catalyst to bring back a proposal for the forced conscription of young men into military service. Hooray. Aren't you glad President Obama is behind all of this?
All of this does lead to some important questions, like whether or not the West's involvement in these protests actually garners any sort of good will, or whether the people have a longer memory of how the United States and others supported the oppressors for a very long time and have only now come to the side of freedom and democracy. And there are several other long-term questions still without answers despite United States military involvement in much of the world for the last decade.
Finally, The Bioware company explains to someone claiming to represent straight male gamers that they have other fans, too, who want to play their games who aren't straight and male, and they deserve options as well.
Out in the world today, A Norwegian prison on an island, where the inmates are perfectly free to live their lives, where they have to work, are paid, but otherwise have to manage themselves for the duration of their prison term. It seems to work out fairly well...for those that can hack living on the island with each other.
Workers at the Fukushima power plants were pulled from power restoration activities temporarily based on the presence of potentially highly radioactive smoke.
The United States ambassador in Mexico has resigned his post after a leaked diplomatic cable described his critique of the Drug War's effectiveness in Mexico. Maybe it's me, but I seem to be seeing a lot of these kinds of articles - "Actual opinion about something The Company is involved with revealed, person who gave truthful opinion resigns" Whatever happened to being able to be someone that could speak freely and honestly about how things are going and be safe at one's job? Furthermore, when 30 people are arrested for their protest rally to support someone else who is alleged to have sent truthful things out, you wonder just how much the government really believes in that First Amendment everyone's swinging about in the U.S.
Last out, in New Zealand, a jury acquitted a parent who admitted to trying his son's wrists to his own with a tie, washing his mouth out with soap, and shaving his head as attempted discipline for the kid, believing that the child's actions warranted the out-of-the-ordinary punishment and using a section of the law that allows for the "justifiable" use of force in discipline. Just a reminder to our under-18 readers - you have no rights in relation to what your parents do in most countries in the world. You also likely have no rights in relation to what a lot of other adults in authority do, or if you do, some of the flimsiest defenses will be considered valid.
Domestically, the shooting of an unarmed old man lying on the floor and complying with police instructions during a drug raid was ruled an accident and the officer responsible will not face charges. The story he provided about losing his balance and accidentally discharging his weapon was plausible enough for not charges to be filed.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is rife with tensions, sniping, and unparliamentary language between various factions of the court. And they're likely to be deciding on whether or not Governor Walker's attempt to bypass the elgislative process was legal or not. Wheeeeeee. As for this and other states, the wave you're seeing was probably written by an outside think tank and then rubber-stamped by the Republicans in power who are enthralled to Our Corporate Overlords.
The Transportation Security Administration is reacting to the threat of four well-publicized attacks ago and accepting proposals for a scanner to scan your shoes while going through the security checkpoint.
Last out, The Half-term Governor of Alaska turned reality show star said that if she had been the presidential candidate instead of the vice-presidential candidate, she would have won in 2008. We'd like to believe the electorate is a tad smarter than that. Then again, if this poorly-constructed e-mail is indicative of the electorate that would have elected Palin, then we withdraw the previous statement.
In technology, A request for a Facebook Friend Reset to allow everyone to rebuild their social network in light of all the new features and privacy changes Facebook has made from its inception.
American Telephone and Telegraph made an offer to buy the United States division of Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile division for $39 billion USD in money and stock certificates. The federal regulators are likely to have a look at it to see if it violates competitiveness rules (but we're not holding our breath on them).
A device allows those without the use of the bodily limbs to compose and play music through the use of brainwaves.
In opinions, a suggestion that American media get up to the standards of professional journalism, since it's unlikely we'll ever have a low that forbids lying in journalism like Canada does.
Mr. North is unhappy that the President of the United States isn't dropping everything on his schedule to (myopically) focus on the protest events, Libya, and the Japan crisis, and calls it "attention deficit disorder", clearly meaning for the phrase to be taken as a problem of paying attention to what Mr. North deems important, rather than the more common usage as the syndrome that makes it impossible to focus on any one thing for long stretched at a time. Those remembering how the President decided not to suspend his campaign, quipping that Presidents must be able to multi-task are commended, once again, for Paying Attention. Much like the children in a story time session, just because they're not sitting quietly, face front, doesn't mean they're not paying attention. In much the same vein, Mr. Pendry claims the current crop of leadership are not actually leaders, whose walk does not measure up ot their talk, and that the people who are best to lead the country are always the ones being complained about by the mainstream media (and possibly the major political parties). Which could mean Mr. Pendry endorses Green and Socialist candidates, since they're usually harped on, but based on his previous writings, I suspect he means Libertarians, Randites, Corporatists, and Messrs. Paul and Paul are the right people to lead us, because he agrees with their special interest groups instead of opposing them.
The WSJ thinks one of theirs is being smeared unfairly when the Huffington Post pointed out that said opinion writer worked at Goldman Sachs for a few years and thus might not be the most unbiased person to criticize Elizabeth Warren. The Journal plays it off as "we require our writers to actually have practical experience in what they're writing about, unlike the poeple at HuffPo", but considering they're a Murdoch Newspaper, I doubt they'd get anyone who worked in there and is now more than happy to see regulation reinforced on the financial sector - it's against their mission to be the heralds of The Market (A.P.T.I.N.).
Mr. Walsh believes that Middle Eastern unrest is an open door for Iran to take control of the region and exert its influence, because it happens to be the Shia flavor of Islam that is currently rebeling against the mostly Sunni governments most of the time, and because...it apparently has fingers in every revolutionary pot and is sufficiently skilled to ensure all those outcomes are favorable to them.
Finally, Mr. Giles says, "I'm a let you finish, Amy Chua, but my book about raising street smart daughters is the best thing of all time", because Everyone Knows that a girl with lots of book smarts in her head is just an easy target for all the people with real wisdom, street smarts, so dads need to make sure their daughters can detect when a boy is bad for her and fight off anyone that gets closer to her with bad purposes in mind. And so, y'know, buy my book and I'll show you how. Riiiiiiight.
Last for tonight, 110 companies that are supposedly ethical, including companies known not to be ethical, like Microsoft.
