![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptWell, sort of. At least, as normal as it gets around here. Back to the normal work schedule, anyway, which means working late at night on Mondays. The Moisture Festival was a blast - I got to laugh lots, ooh and aah at the incredible abilities of aerial performers, singers, jugglers, clowns, and all sorts of interesting people. And I bought the Godfrey Daniels doll. That’s not the last of the Fremont Philharmonic, however. Now that we’re warmed up and semipracticed, perhaps we’ll ply our trade elsewhere for a few bucks. Kind of funny - I think of this as a neat way of occasionally making some scratch, but in a sense, I’m playing the trombone professionally. Which is something I didn’t really think I’d ever end up doing. Funny how life changes on you and puts opportunities in your path to do all sorts of interesting stuff. And thanks to the Food Dude at the festival, along with the sword-swallower, who taught me that I shouldn’t limit myself to what I think I am.
Onward to the news. Updating a previous story, the lawmaker that went off on an atheist testifying in the chamber has apologized, blaming her outburst on being upset from receiving news of a student dying.
The physicist best known for coining the term "black hole", John A. Wheeler, has died at 96 years of age. As he passes beyond the event horizon, let everyone go dark for a bit and suck all the light into a hole.
In international matters, there’s a lot of talk about underage girls. The eight year-old who was married and wants a divorce, for example. And her “husband” says that he has the right to have sex with her because she is his wife. Even though the law forbids marriage contracts before 15 years of age. And, supposedly, the girl can’t actually prosecute, because she’s underage. Isn’t that pretty messed up? Compared to that, a company being accused of marketing padded brassieres to girls as young as seven seems downright tame.
The Christian Science Monitor has picked up on a Times set of photographs which they claim indicates the presence of a ballistic missile facility in Iran. Iran claims the facility is being used for space technology, and there’s a lot of tension because there’s already been a rocket launched from the facility. Those dual-use technologies and sciences keep cropping up in the world. I guess it depends on whether the world views you as a friend and trusted ally or as a suspicious bunch of radicals whether that dual-use tech is seen favorably or not.
Rebel Yell gets a little girly relating an experience of a clueless mother holding her infant while she gets an acrylic and acetone bath, with filing, on her nails. And caps it off with a bit of a “Madam, my intentions were never that high” at the end.
In the domestic news, Alberto Gonzalez is having trouble finding a job. Actually, that’s not really news. Considering how completely he screwed up as the Attorney General of the United States, it’s no wonder that there’s no law firm that’s willing to hire him. He’s doing fairly well as a speaker, though, so there’s probably no danger he’ll end up penniless.
Will someone tell me when the idea of police officers changed from being persons who were employed to catch criminals to persons who intimidate and manhandle citizens for small violations? Because there’s something really just not right about things. Maybe the officer was having a bad day. At least these sorts of things aren’t happening regularly, right?
From our “Did you pay attention to history?” department, a bill was introduced into the Delaware legislature to restrict voting rights on property tax levies only to those who pay the property tax. The United States Constitution kind of quashed that idea, but some part of me wonders what kind of country we’re coming to when someone doesn’t realize that what they’re doing is unequivocally against the Constitution, with no SCOTUS interpretation required.
An interesting curiosity. Meet a woman who sews robes for the KKK. This probably proves something like that even the people next door to you could have very different views than you do. The comments range from “Wow. So that’s a person responsible for all that. There’s a special circle reserved for you” to “Shoddy workmanship. And she’s not charging nearly enough.” The original source, from Mother Jones magazine.
Going from hand-crafted to tech-assisted, meet the person who has authored more than 200,000 works under his own name. He has had some help from computers that automate finding information and writing large chunks of the finished works.
The following story ends well, although it could have easily turned out poorly. If a man robs you of your wallet, give him your coat, too. At least, that’s what this victim did, and then treated his assailant to dinner, showing the teenager that there really are nice people in the world. At the end, the victim got his wallet back, and got the teen’s knife. Both of them got lucky, it sounds like - the assailant wasn’t hardened and the victim was willing to be kind.
This story does not. Poor black areas of several cities were used for fertilizer tests, to see if they would protect people from lead in the soil. The EPA assured everyone there that the tests were safe. But apparently hasn’t done much for follow-up that
With regard to the candidates for the Presidential election in November, the Wall Street Journal's opinion board likes seeing a less-than-pristine Barack Obama, especially now that he’s been the victim of a soundbite attack. 12 reasons why "bitter" is bad for Obama, opine members of Politico.
In the opinion columns, Austin Cline at the General's suggests that the message we send by letting Beijing host the Games is the wrong one, that we agree, endorse, and give legitimacy to their actions toward Tibet and will help suppress a dissenting voice. Or, perhaps summing up the words in one picture, Stuart Carlson tells us what the score is.
Regarding Iraq, James Lyons calls everyone still against the war in Iraq surrender cheese monkeys, because we refuse to appreciate the severity and danger of Islamic extremism worldwide. Melik Kaylan says things are going really well in Baghdad. And we’re supposed to extend that out to the rest of the country ourselves, no doubt. Or we could read Michael Yon telling us that Iraq is doing better now than it was a year ago. And to keep that going, we need more troops there, not less. Perhaps because he says there are lots of Iranian agents active in Iraq? And Oliver North scolds us and the politicians in Washington for not being properly appreciative of the efforts done in Iraq thus far.
Rondi Adamson cheers the Canadian media and government for holding the right to free speech superior, even when complaints come in about a particular piece’s offensiveness to Islam. And we’re glad for it, because it lets Randy Taylor say that America has been bought by Islam so that we pay them (as if they were a unified entity) and coddle them and do everything they want. Well, the government might be doing exactly what sowers of fear and doubt want, but it’s always seemed to me that people on both sides of our political aisle would like to say “Fuck that noise. Show me some real progress,” even if they disagree on what real progress is.
Further in the opinion columns, Ken Connor has joined the fray on cybrid embryos, coming down on the side that this is uncontrolled, unethical science, because man was made in the image of God and we should adhere to that as the guiding ethical principle.
And getting all the issues at the forefront in one whack, Dan Gainor says that Al Gore's continued inability to convince all of the populace of the dangers of climate change is a good thing.
Our science columns open up with something that could be the discovery of the century. It has not yet entered the random control trial phase, meaning that it’s nowhere near proven. That doesn’t stop a report of a possible Alzheimer's cure. The scientists in the experiments are understandably cautious. It would be awesome, however, if this makes it through the randomized control trial phase and still turns out to be a treatment for Alzheimer’s.
There’s also some discussion on the future of cultured meat. All that beef flavor, none of the slaughter. Sounds interesting. But will it be the same?
Wandering into technology, immersive virtual reality may be a step closer thanks to a giant omnidirectional treadmill. At least, to simulate walking through those kinds of environments. I can see millitary uses to simulate some types of environments for this, as well. But it is a big treadmill. Contrasting new technology with old, Keystone Stereo Views. I have to marvel at just how old the technology to take pictures is.
What looks like junk science to me is a study that claims beautiful women are happier in their relationship when they marry men less attractive than them. Possibly because uglier men will work harder to maintain good relationships with beautiful women because they feel they got lucky marrying such a hot babe, according to the research. And this makes them good supportive husbands, which is what the women want. So it’s not really about the man being less attractive than the woman, but about him being supportive. I smell junk science!
Last for tonight, and it’s not really a sympathy plea or any sort of thing like that. For me, when Rebel Yell describes her increasing anti-social behavior and its causes, it reads to me as a view into the mind of what happens when someone gets bullied and teased from the beginning, without anyone letting up, stopping, or trying to help. A lot of those end in suicides or homicides. That the Rebel Yell feels the eyes of people even when they’re not staring is horrible.
But I’m going to tack on a postscript. Out of the mouths of preschoolers... and good solid advice for fifteen year-olds.
Onward to the news. Updating a previous story, the lawmaker that went off on an atheist testifying in the chamber has apologized, blaming her outburst on being upset from receiving news of a student dying.
The physicist best known for coining the term "black hole", John A. Wheeler, has died at 96 years of age. As he passes beyond the event horizon, let everyone go dark for a bit and suck all the light into a hole.
In international matters, there’s a lot of talk about underage girls. The eight year-old who was married and wants a divorce, for example. And her “husband” says that he has the right to have sex with her because she is his wife. Even though the law forbids marriage contracts before 15 years of age. And, supposedly, the girl can’t actually prosecute, because she’s underage. Isn’t that pretty messed up? Compared to that, a company being accused of marketing padded brassieres to girls as young as seven seems downright tame.
The Christian Science Monitor has picked up on a Times set of photographs which they claim indicates the presence of a ballistic missile facility in Iran. Iran claims the facility is being used for space technology, and there’s a lot of tension because there’s already been a rocket launched from the facility. Those dual-use technologies and sciences keep cropping up in the world. I guess it depends on whether the world views you as a friend and trusted ally or as a suspicious bunch of radicals whether that dual-use tech is seen favorably or not.
Rebel Yell gets a little girly relating an experience of a clueless mother holding her infant while she gets an acrylic and acetone bath, with filing, on her nails. And caps it off with a bit of a “Madam, my intentions were never that high” at the end.
In the domestic news, Alberto Gonzalez is having trouble finding a job. Actually, that’s not really news. Considering how completely he screwed up as the Attorney General of the United States, it’s no wonder that there’s no law firm that’s willing to hire him. He’s doing fairly well as a speaker, though, so there’s probably no danger he’ll end up penniless.
Will someone tell me when the idea of police officers changed from being persons who were employed to catch criminals to persons who intimidate and manhandle citizens for small violations? Because there’s something really just not right about things. Maybe the officer was having a bad day. At least these sorts of things aren’t happening regularly, right?
From our “Did you pay attention to history?” department, a bill was introduced into the Delaware legislature to restrict voting rights on property tax levies only to those who pay the property tax. The United States Constitution kind of quashed that idea, but some part of me wonders what kind of country we’re coming to when someone doesn’t realize that what they’re doing is unequivocally against the Constitution, with no SCOTUS interpretation required.
An interesting curiosity. Meet a woman who sews robes for the KKK. This probably proves something like that even the people next door to you could have very different views than you do. The comments range from “Wow. So that’s a person responsible for all that. There’s a special circle reserved for you” to “Shoddy workmanship. And she’s not charging nearly enough.” The original source, from Mother Jones magazine.
Going from hand-crafted to tech-assisted, meet the person who has authored more than 200,000 works under his own name. He has had some help from computers that automate finding information and writing large chunks of the finished works.
The following story ends well, although it could have easily turned out poorly. If a man robs you of your wallet, give him your coat, too. At least, that’s what this victim did, and then treated his assailant to dinner, showing the teenager that there really are nice people in the world. At the end, the victim got his wallet back, and got the teen’s knife. Both of them got lucky, it sounds like - the assailant wasn’t hardened and the victim was willing to be kind.
This story does not. Poor black areas of several cities were used for fertilizer tests, to see if they would protect people from lead in the soil. The EPA assured everyone there that the tests were safe. But apparently hasn’t done much for follow-up that
With regard to the candidates for the Presidential election in November, the Wall Street Journal's opinion board likes seeing a less-than-pristine Barack Obama, especially now that he’s been the victim of a soundbite attack. 12 reasons why "bitter" is bad for Obama, opine members of Politico.
In the opinion columns, Austin Cline at the General's suggests that the message we send by letting Beijing host the Games is the wrong one, that we agree, endorse, and give legitimacy to their actions toward Tibet and will help suppress a dissenting voice. Or, perhaps summing up the words in one picture, Stuart Carlson tells us what the score is.
Regarding Iraq, James Lyons calls everyone still against the war in Iraq surrender cheese monkeys, because we refuse to appreciate the severity and danger of Islamic extremism worldwide. Melik Kaylan says things are going really well in Baghdad. And we’re supposed to extend that out to the rest of the country ourselves, no doubt. Or we could read Michael Yon telling us that Iraq is doing better now than it was a year ago. And to keep that going, we need more troops there, not less. Perhaps because he says there are lots of Iranian agents active in Iraq? And Oliver North scolds us and the politicians in Washington for not being properly appreciative of the efforts done in Iraq thus far.
Rondi Adamson cheers the Canadian media and government for holding the right to free speech superior, even when complaints come in about a particular piece’s offensiveness to Islam. And we’re glad for it, because it lets Randy Taylor say that America has been bought by Islam so that we pay them (as if they were a unified entity) and coddle them and do everything they want. Well, the government might be doing exactly what sowers of fear and doubt want, but it’s always seemed to me that people on both sides of our political aisle would like to say “Fuck that noise. Show me some real progress,” even if they disagree on what real progress is.
Further in the opinion columns, Ken Connor has joined the fray on cybrid embryos, coming down on the side that this is uncontrolled, unethical science, because man was made in the image of God and we should adhere to that as the guiding ethical principle.
And getting all the issues at the forefront in one whack, Dan Gainor says that Al Gore's continued inability to convince all of the populace of the dangers of climate change is a good thing.
Our science columns open up with something that could be the discovery of the century. It has not yet entered the random control trial phase, meaning that it’s nowhere near proven. That doesn’t stop a report of a possible Alzheimer's cure. The scientists in the experiments are understandably cautious. It would be awesome, however, if this makes it through the randomized control trial phase and still turns out to be a treatment for Alzheimer’s.
There’s also some discussion on the future of cultured meat. All that beef flavor, none of the slaughter. Sounds interesting. But will it be the same?
Wandering into technology, immersive virtual reality may be a step closer thanks to a giant omnidirectional treadmill. At least, to simulate walking through those kinds of environments. I can see millitary uses to simulate some types of environments for this, as well. But it is a big treadmill. Contrasting new technology with old, Keystone Stereo Views. I have to marvel at just how old the technology to take pictures is.
What looks like junk science to me is a study that claims beautiful women are happier in their relationship when they marry men less attractive than them. Possibly because uglier men will work harder to maintain good relationships with beautiful women because they feel they got lucky marrying such a hot babe, according to the research. And this makes them good supportive husbands, which is what the women want. So it’s not really about the man being less attractive than the woman, but about him being supportive. I smell junk science!
Last for tonight, and it’s not really a sympathy plea or any sort of thing like that. For me, when Rebel Yell describes her increasing anti-social behavior and its causes, it reads to me as a view into the mind of what happens when someone gets bullied and teased from the beginning, without anyone letting up, stopping, or trying to help. A lot of those end in suicides or homicides. That the Rebel Yell feels the eyes of people even when they’re not staring is horrible.
But I’m going to tack on a postscript. Out of the mouths of preschoolers... and good solid advice for fifteen year-olds.
