Having a good time - 3 December 2008
Dec. 4th, 2008 12:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptAnother day, another series of dollars spent without much for return. After yesterday, where I dropped objects left and right, broke a plate (and cut myself on a tiny sliver-shard cleaning it up), I can empathize with the idea that people are apparently too stupid to flee an out-of-control fire when there are extinguishers around, because we think we can take it. although, removing the extinguishers seems like an equally stupid move. Maybe more people need more fire suppresion training at their workplaces so they can identify a fire that they can handle and one they can’t?
The Internets come to my rescue, however. At least I didn’t lose 130,000 C-cup inflatable breasts at sea. And I’m not trying to sue the city and police department for damages because I was part of a mob that killed a Wal-Mart worker.
Internationally, Opposition in Thailand declared victory and said they would vacate the main airport as the courts declared the ouster of the Prime Minister. So will the PM vacate peacefully and we’ll have a peaceful transition? Don’t know.
Pirates set sights on ship too big and well-defended for them - a United States cruise ship. Pirates repulsed, although some questions like “What was the cruise ship doing there?” and “Were they really trying?” appear.
Iraq and Kuwait will cooperate in patrolling the watters near both countries, which is good. An Kuwaiti subcontractor to KBR has been holding workers in a windowless warehouse for quite some time now, not paying their wages or sending them home until investigated. That’s very bad. Even if they were trying to find them work in Iraq, it looks like the people coming in were sold on big promises and then find out there’s nothing there, so they’re stuck in conditions that potentially violate the law while they wait. It could be a prelude to human trafficking, it could be misbehavior, it could be bad circumstances. Once brought to light, the company is moving swiftly to correct things, thankfully.
More explosives found in Mumbai train station, defused, tensions still high between India and Pakistan, with India declaring there’s no doubt the attackers came from Pakistan, through Pakistan, and had Pakistani backers.
Finally, A lot of nations sign a cluster-bomb ban. Noticeably absent - the United States, Russia, and China. Cluster bombs are the new mines, and the intent of the signing is to convince, pressure, and shame the non-signers into joining on.
In the domestic sphere, Fear, fear, fear, terror, terror, nuclear Iran, and thus, the President-elect must treat the whole Middle East and not isolate Iran, as the previous administrator tried to do.
Perhaps as an indication of pragmatism as opposed to ideology (or, the Obama Divide), several conservatives have significant praise for the Obama Cabinet displayed thus far. The lone Republican in the Cabinet so far has indicated he's okay with getting troops out and closing Gunatanamo, so that pragmatism might make for ideologically sound things getting done. The Obama Divide now appears to be that nobody is certain that the President-elect will be the person they want him to be when in office - too pragmatic and centrist for the progressive wing, and too liberal and far-out for the center and the right. Even if he doesn't get to the perfect progressive haven, take joy in the Obama victory, if you're lefty, and then continue your work organizing people into political powerhouses, to the service of or in spite of the President. Or if on the right or more centrist, batten down the hatches for fear that the President-elect will be exactly as he says he will be (if you can figure that out), although he won’t show it immediately. If the President-elect wants to get broad consensus for change, he’ll have to find a way of resolving the tension in one way or another. Probably through sacrificing some of the most progressive things until support appears for them, in exchange for crushing several of the dream states of the center and right.
The Georgia Senate race recount resolves...Republican, stopping serious speculation of sixty. So be it.
Fox News person Chris Wallace takes offense to Ron Howard's comparison of the outgoing administrator to Richard Nixon, saying that Nixon did all his abuses for personal gain, while the outgoing administrator was at least trying to protect the country when he did his abuses (if you believe they are abuses, he says - nice foot-in-mouth there), and the absence of attacks is proof that our protections are working.
Is Sarah Palin still wearing clothes she said she would donate after the campaign was done?
Chrsitian University official arrested for soliciting sex in public, which makes for great headlines, but also some thinking about why the government wants to regulate and arrest adults for trying to arrange a consensual sex act...and now I’m wondering why we have laws against public nudity and sex acts. This was obviously not explained to me enough past the point of the factor that most people probably don’t want to see another person naked in public for it to stick. Far more worthy of a little laugh is the pastor who wanted his married congregation to have sex once or more each day for seven days...and couldn't practice what he preached. The single people, of course, couldn’t do any of this, and were thus left unhappy. Still, encouraging as always to see Christians promoting the value of a healthy sex drive, even if they want people married first. Now, if they were only secure enough in their own religion not to make a giant fuss about a Bible that reinterprets all the relationships to be homosexual instead of heterosexual.
In opinions, The WSJ's negative view of the selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State revolves around one thing - William Jefferson Clinton. And maybe one other thing, but that’s feeling that the President-elect won’t be able to contain all the people he’s selected and get them to work for him.
Brett Stephens returns to "The mainsream media aids and abets terrorists by uncritically printing claims of abuse by things that the terrorists don't like", as a point about how printing these things then generate riots and attacks and other terror incidents and recruitments. While careful only talk about things that were thinly sourced or later turned out to be lies, I wonder if Mr. Stephens would also support squelching those things that are properly sourced, like Danish cartoons, for the fear that they, too, will generate riots.
The WSJ points out that Republicans cannot run on the anti-immigration platform, if the statistics of the legislative races from the last cycle are any indication - those who wanted to wedge it lost. Plus, the Hispanic vote went heavily against the Republicans. So while they might be able to count on most people still beign socially conservative, the Republican Party platform in general is doing a very good imitation of “rocks fall, everything dies”.
Walter E. Williams asks the "Is our children learning" question, and has the studies that say, "Uh, no". The point, though, is that the uneducated populace then leaves itself open to political hucksterism and believing that government can do things that it cannot, including bailouts and taking over people’s lives to suit the political whims of the elites. It’s a sheep accusation, but I’m not sure whether it’s “Fix the school system so that people know when they’re being hoodwinked and can demand accountability en masse, so they stop bleating” or “Fix the methods that let us elect and appoint shysters and slick personality packages to power over us, so that we can stay contended sheep knowing that we’ve put honest and moral people in office.” I’m guessing it’s not the second, since Mr. Williams hates government control, but I didn’t really see a strong push for the first, to get the school systems back in shape so that the children do learn the useful bits they need for life on the outside. I suspect, though, a lot of what might help fix the context of school, so that students can focus on their studies, rather than whether or not the heat will be on, whether there will be something to eat, whether they’ll get mugged, shanked, drug-dealt, or raped on the way home, or even wehther there will be a home to go to, might take some of that government control and meddling.
In technology, 3D HoloTV by 2018, experts suggest, which tells me that entertainment drives technology (we passed the point where a computer could handle all the daily office tasks a long time ago), rehabilitation after stroke has a longer window of opportunity than previously thought (the article mentions a robotic device, but then gives no details, so I wonder if it's actually important what is used, just that an object gets used), making lithium batteries better, blocking microRNA to reverse heart disease in mice, while ensuring that we get sufficient vitamin D, claims made that one can use a direct tail wind to power a vehicle to fly faster than the wind powering it, lowering the albedo of the ice caps through dust, soot, and pollution makes them melt faster, and the bioluminescent fungi of Japan. Pretty!
Last for tonight, Might Is Right, based on a 1927 edition. A place where religion endlaves people and siphons their gold, to be taken away by the most enterprising person and held by those who can defend it, until enterprisiginly sacked themselves. Where ideals are not participatory, but indoctrinated and the cause and justification of the world’s evil today. If that’s to ranty and incoherent or offensive to you, there's 2 lbs of marijuana just discovered in a shaman's grave that will make things much more interesting - it’s still good after 2700 years, too, or intended to be that way.
The Internets come to my rescue, however. At least I didn’t lose 130,000 C-cup inflatable breasts at sea. And I’m not trying to sue the city and police department for damages because I was part of a mob that killed a Wal-Mart worker.
Internationally, Opposition in Thailand declared victory and said they would vacate the main airport as the courts declared the ouster of the Prime Minister. So will the PM vacate peacefully and we’ll have a peaceful transition? Don’t know.
Pirates set sights on ship too big and well-defended for them - a United States cruise ship. Pirates repulsed, although some questions like “What was the cruise ship doing there?” and “Were they really trying?” appear.
Iraq and Kuwait will cooperate in patrolling the watters near both countries, which is good. An Kuwaiti subcontractor to KBR has been holding workers in a windowless warehouse for quite some time now, not paying their wages or sending them home until investigated. That’s very bad. Even if they were trying to find them work in Iraq, it looks like the people coming in were sold on big promises and then find out there’s nothing there, so they’re stuck in conditions that potentially violate the law while they wait. It could be a prelude to human trafficking, it could be misbehavior, it could be bad circumstances. Once brought to light, the company is moving swiftly to correct things, thankfully.
More explosives found in Mumbai train station, defused, tensions still high between India and Pakistan, with India declaring there’s no doubt the attackers came from Pakistan, through Pakistan, and had Pakistani backers.
Finally, A lot of nations sign a cluster-bomb ban. Noticeably absent - the United States, Russia, and China. Cluster bombs are the new mines, and the intent of the signing is to convince, pressure, and shame the non-signers into joining on.
In the domestic sphere, Fear, fear, fear, terror, terror, nuclear Iran, and thus, the President-elect must treat the whole Middle East and not isolate Iran, as the previous administrator tried to do.
Perhaps as an indication of pragmatism as opposed to ideology (or, the Obama Divide), several conservatives have significant praise for the Obama Cabinet displayed thus far. The lone Republican in the Cabinet so far has indicated he's okay with getting troops out and closing Gunatanamo, so that pragmatism might make for ideologically sound things getting done. The Obama Divide now appears to be that nobody is certain that the President-elect will be the person they want him to be when in office - too pragmatic and centrist for the progressive wing, and too liberal and far-out for the center and the right. Even if he doesn't get to the perfect progressive haven, take joy in the Obama victory, if you're lefty, and then continue your work organizing people into political powerhouses, to the service of or in spite of the President. Or if on the right or more centrist, batten down the hatches for fear that the President-elect will be exactly as he says he will be (if you can figure that out), although he won’t show it immediately. If the President-elect wants to get broad consensus for change, he’ll have to find a way of resolving the tension in one way or another. Probably through sacrificing some of the most progressive things until support appears for them, in exchange for crushing several of the dream states of the center and right.
The Georgia Senate race recount resolves...Republican, stopping serious speculation of sixty. So be it.
Fox News person Chris Wallace takes offense to Ron Howard's comparison of the outgoing administrator to Richard Nixon, saying that Nixon did all his abuses for personal gain, while the outgoing administrator was at least trying to protect the country when he did his abuses (if you believe they are abuses, he says - nice foot-in-mouth there), and the absence of attacks is proof that our protections are working.
Is Sarah Palin still wearing clothes she said she would donate after the campaign was done?
Chrsitian University official arrested for soliciting sex in public, which makes for great headlines, but also some thinking about why the government wants to regulate and arrest adults for trying to arrange a consensual sex act...and now I’m wondering why we have laws against public nudity and sex acts. This was obviously not explained to me enough past the point of the factor that most people probably don’t want to see another person naked in public for it to stick. Far more worthy of a little laugh is the pastor who wanted his married congregation to have sex once or more each day for seven days...and couldn't practice what he preached. The single people, of course, couldn’t do any of this, and were thus left unhappy. Still, encouraging as always to see Christians promoting the value of a healthy sex drive, even if they want people married first. Now, if they were only secure enough in their own religion not to make a giant fuss about a Bible that reinterprets all the relationships to be homosexual instead of heterosexual.
In opinions, The WSJ's negative view of the selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State revolves around one thing - William Jefferson Clinton. And maybe one other thing, but that’s feeling that the President-elect won’t be able to contain all the people he’s selected and get them to work for him.
Brett Stephens returns to "The mainsream media aids and abets terrorists by uncritically printing claims of abuse by things that the terrorists don't like", as a point about how printing these things then generate riots and attacks and other terror incidents and recruitments. While careful only talk about things that were thinly sourced or later turned out to be lies, I wonder if Mr. Stephens would also support squelching those things that are properly sourced, like Danish cartoons, for the fear that they, too, will generate riots.
The WSJ points out that Republicans cannot run on the anti-immigration platform, if the statistics of the legislative races from the last cycle are any indication - those who wanted to wedge it lost. Plus, the Hispanic vote went heavily against the Republicans. So while they might be able to count on most people still beign socially conservative, the Republican Party platform in general is doing a very good imitation of “rocks fall, everything dies”.
Walter E. Williams asks the "Is our children learning" question, and has the studies that say, "Uh, no". The point, though, is that the uneducated populace then leaves itself open to political hucksterism and believing that government can do things that it cannot, including bailouts and taking over people’s lives to suit the political whims of the elites. It’s a sheep accusation, but I’m not sure whether it’s “Fix the school system so that people know when they’re being hoodwinked and can demand accountability en masse, so they stop bleating” or “Fix the methods that let us elect and appoint shysters and slick personality packages to power over us, so that we can stay contended sheep knowing that we’ve put honest and moral people in office.” I’m guessing it’s not the second, since Mr. Williams hates government control, but I didn’t really see a strong push for the first, to get the school systems back in shape so that the children do learn the useful bits they need for life on the outside. I suspect, though, a lot of what might help fix the context of school, so that students can focus on their studies, rather than whether or not the heat will be on, whether there will be something to eat, whether they’ll get mugged, shanked, drug-dealt, or raped on the way home, or even wehther there will be a home to go to, might take some of that government control and meddling.
In technology, 3D HoloTV by 2018, experts suggest, which tells me that entertainment drives technology (we passed the point where a computer could handle all the daily office tasks a long time ago), rehabilitation after stroke has a longer window of opportunity than previously thought (the article mentions a robotic device, but then gives no details, so I wonder if it's actually important what is used, just that an object gets used), making lithium batteries better, blocking microRNA to reverse heart disease in mice, while ensuring that we get sufficient vitamin D, claims made that one can use a direct tail wind to power a vehicle to fly faster than the wind powering it, lowering the albedo of the ice caps through dust, soot, and pollution makes them melt faster, and the bioluminescent fungi of Japan. Pretty!
Last for tonight, Might Is Right, based on a 1927 edition. A place where religion endlaves people and siphons their gold, to be taken away by the most enterprising person and held by those who can defend it, until enterprisiginly sacked themselves. Where ideals are not participatory, but indoctrinated and the cause and justification of the world’s evil today. If that’s to ranty and incoherent or offensive to you, there's 2 lbs of marijuana just discovered in a shaman's grave that will make things much more interesting - it’s still good after 2700 years, too, or intended to be that way.
