http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/opinion/lets-give-up-on-the-constitution.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
---SPSmith
Monday, December 31, 2012
Quote of the week: Peter Atkins on woo and faith « Why Evolution Is True
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/quote-of-the-week-peter-atkins-on-woo-and-faith/
One aspect of the paranormal versus real science should not go
unremarked. As in other forms of obscurantist pursuit, such as
religion, it is so easy to make time-wasting speculations. The
paranormal is effectively unconstrained whimsicality. Original
suggestions in real science emerge only after detailed study and the
lengthy and often subtle process of testing whether current concepts
are adequate. Only if all this hard work fails is a scientist
justified in edging forward human understanding with a novel and
possibly revolutionary idea. Real science is desperately hard work;
the paranormal is almost entirely the fruit of armchair fantasizing.
Real science is a regal application of the full power of human
intellect; the paranormal is a prostitution of the brain. Worst of
all, it wastes time and distorts the public's vision of the scientific
endeavour.
---SPSmith
One aspect of the paranormal versus real science should not go
unremarked. As in other forms of obscurantist pursuit, such as
religion, it is so easy to make time-wasting speculations. The
paranormal is effectively unconstrained whimsicality. Original
suggestions in real science emerge only after detailed study and the
lengthy and often subtle process of testing whether current concepts
are adequate. Only if all this hard work fails is a scientist
justified in edging forward human understanding with a novel and
possibly revolutionary idea. Real science is desperately hard work;
the paranormal is almost entirely the fruit of armchair fantasizing.
Real science is a regal application of the full power of human
intellect; the paranormal is a prostitution of the brain. Worst of
all, it wastes time and distorts the public's vision of the scientific
endeavour.
---SPSmith
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
What science says about gun control and violent crime - Boing Boing
http://boingboing.net/2012/12/14/what-science-says-about-gun-co.html
For one segment of American society, guns symbolize honor, human
mastery over nature, and individual self-sufficiency. By opposing gun
control, individuals affirm the value of these meanings and the vision
of the good society that they construct. For another segment of
American society, however, guns connote something else: the
perpetuation of illicit social hierarchies, the elevation of force
over reason, and the expression of collective indifference to the
well-being of strangers. These individuals instinctively support gun
control as a means of repudiating these significations and of
promoting an alternative vision of the good society that features
equality, social solidarity, and civilized nonagression.
---SPSmith
For one segment of American society, guns symbolize honor, human
mastery over nature, and individual self-sufficiency. By opposing gun
control, individuals affirm the value of these meanings and the vision
of the good society that they construct. For another segment of
American society, however, guns connote something else: the
perpetuation of illicit social hierarchies, the elevation of force
over reason, and the expression of collective indifference to the
well-being of strangers. These individuals instinctively support gun
control as a means of repudiating these significations and of
promoting an alternative vision of the good society that features
equality, social solidarity, and civilized nonagression.
---SPSmith
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Check out: 'Dengue, aka “Breakbone Fever,” Is Back' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Dengue, aka "Breakbone Fever," Is Back
By Maryn McKenna
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/dengue_fever_in_united_states_breakbone_fever_outbreaks_florida_texas_and.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Dengue, aka "Breakbone Fever," Is Back
By Maryn McKenna
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/dengue_fever_in_united_states_breakbone_fever_outbreaks_florida_texas_and.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Article: Critics on The Hobbit’s High Frame Rate -- Vulture
Critics on The Hobbit's High Frame Rate -- Vulture
http://www.vulture.com/2012/12/critics-on-the-hobbits-high-frame-rate.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Masterclass In Why 48 FPS Fails
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Masterclass In Why 48 FPS Fails
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/12/the-hobbit-an-unexpected-masterclass-in-why-48-fps-fails/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Overcoming Bias : Hail Survivalists
On snickering: On average, survivalists tend to display undesirable characteristics. They tend to have extreme and unrealistic opinions, that disaster soon has an unrealistically high probability. They also show disloyalty and a low opinion of their wider society, by suggesting it is due for a big disaster soon. They show disloyalty to larger social units, by focusing directly on saving their own friends and family, rather than focusing on saving those larger social units. And they tend to be cynics, with all that implies.
---SPSmith
Friday, December 21, 2012
Statement of Mayor Bloomberg in Response to NRA Press Conference 12/21/12
http://www.mikebloomberg.com/index.cfm?objectid=BEA2E63E-C29C-7CA2-F74E6DA8F1151161
Their press conference was a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our
country. Instead of offering solutions to a problem they have helped
create, they offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous
and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe.
---SPSmith
Their press conference was a shameful evasion of the crisis facing our
country. Instead of offering solutions to a problem they have helped
create, they offered a paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous
and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe.
---SPSmith
NRA press conference: The lesson of Newtown—when gun nuts write gun laws, nuts have guns. - Slate Magazine
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/scocca/2012/12/nra_press_conference_the_lesson_of_newtown_when_gun_nuts_write_gun_laws.html
He lives in a sick, paranoid universe where guns substitute for law,
custom, and morality.
---SPSmith
He lives in a sick, paranoid universe where guns substitute for law,
custom, and morality.
---SPSmith
Why Video Games Don't Correlate to Gun Violence - National - The Atlantic Wire
Video games have repeatedly been a scapegoat following tragedies like the one that occurred in Newtown. ABC News has already run a piece asking "Do Video Games Make Kids Violent?" CNN reported that they were cited among Adam Lanza's likes. But with a series of graphs in the Washington Post Max Fisher makes a compelling case that countries with more video games don't have more gun violence. With gun-related murders and video game consumption plotted on a graph, you can see that the United States has a high rate of murders but, compared to somewhere like the Netherlands, a relatively low rate of video game spending per capita. Fisher shows that the trend line for the graph actually has a downward slope, meaning more video games do not mean more gun violence. The graph also goes on to show how much of an outlier the United States is when it comes to gun-related murders. Click through to read more of his analysis.
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Little Green Footballs
Coming soon: John Boehner introduces Plan 9 From Outer Space.
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) December 21, 2012
---SPSmith
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Article: A conservative case for an assault weapons ban
A conservative case for an assault weapons ban
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-burns-assault-weapons-ban-20121220,0,6774314.story
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Article: On Guns, America Stands Out - NYTimes.com
On Guns, America Stands Out - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/opinion/blow-on-guns-america-stands-out.html?_r=0
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Little Green Footballs - 19 Right Wing "Anything but the Gun" Excuses (Updated - Now With More Satan)
Here's a list of the scapegoats and excuses we've heard so far in the ongoing pro-gun noise machine's efforts to blame gun violence and the Newtown school massacre on absolutely everything but the ready availability of millions of weapons like the Bushmaster AR-15 style assault rifle used by Adam Lanza.
(All excuses taken from actual right wing blog posts, web articles, and radio interviews.)
- Not enough God in schools.
- Not enough guns in schools.
- Not enough manly men in schools.
- Too many womenfolk in schools.
- Not enough children with guns.
- Not enough children trained to carry out human wave attacks.
- Satan.
- Autism.
- Asperger's Syndrome.
- Mental illness.
- Video games.
- Quentin Tarantino.
- Jon Stewart.
- Abortion pills.
- Gay marriage.
Article: Historical Badass: Climber and Author Maurice Herzog
Historical Badass: Climber and Author Maurice Herzog
http://www.adventure-journal.com/2012/12/historical-badass-climber-and-author-maurice-herzog/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Robert Bork Was a Terrible Human Being and No One Should Grieve His Passing
Robert Bork should be remembered as coward and sycophant. The fact that he persisted in public life, and continued to garner praise from conservative circles for his ideas, is an indictment of a corrupt and blind political culture.
The rest—the hatred of gay people, the rancid paranoia, the tribal resentments masquerading as principled stands—is garden-variety, Ann Coulter bullshit.
---SPSmith
Postscript: Robert Bork, 1927-2012 : The New Yorker
Robert Bork, who died Wednesday, was an unrepentant reactionary who was on the wrong side of every major legal controversy of the twentieth century. The fifty-eight senators who voted against Bork for confirmation to the Supreme Court in 1987 honored themselves, and the Constitution. In the subsequent quarter-century, Bork devoted himself to proving that his critics were right about him all along.
---SPSmith
Tweet from Jeff Moriarty (@jmoriarty)
 | Jeff Moriarty (@jmoriarty) |
Get your own apocalypse! The one this Friday is all Mayan! | |
Download the official Twitter app here
---SPSmith
Check out: 'We Have the Technology To Make Safer Guns' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
We Have the Technology To Make Safer Guns
By Farhad Manjoo
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/12/smart_guns_we_have_the_technology_to_make_safer_guns_too_bad_gunmakers_don.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
We Have the Technology To Make Safer Guns
By Farhad Manjoo
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2012/12/smart_guns_we_have_the_technology_to_make_safer_guns_too_bad_gunmakers_don.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Check out: 'Do Armed Citizens Stop Mass Shootings?' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Do Armed Citizens Stop Mass Shootings?
By Forrest Wickman
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/12/can_armed_citizens_stop_mass_shootings_examples_of_armed_interventions.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Do Armed Citizens Stop Mass Shootings?
By Forrest Wickman
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/12/can_armed_citizens_stop_mass_shootings_examples_of_armed_interventions.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
OpEdNews - Article: The Unspeakable Original Intent of the Second Amendment
It's also time for Americans to recognize that the worship of guns is a form of idolatry. Specifically, it is a form of fetishism, which is the belief that an inanimate object (the fetish) has religious or mystical properties. But a gun is just a machine. Hunting rifles and shotguns are machines designed for turning animals into carcasses. Handguns and military weapons are machines designed for turning human beings into corpses. Guns do not generate a magic force field that deflects bullets, which is why it's foolish to imagine that a gun is useful for self-defense. In fact, gun owners have an alarming tendency to end up being shot by one of their own guns, which is evidently what happened to the mother of the shooter in the Newtown, Connecticut massacre.
The problem of gun violence in the United States is complex, and as H.L. Mencken observed, "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." Advocating that we arm elementary school principals and kindergarten teachers is not only wrong but insane. We must stop allowing this kind of insanity to prevent us from having reasonable gun control legislation.
Pew Study Finds One in 6 Follows No Religion - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/world/pew-study-finds-one-in-6-follows-no-religion.html?src=twr&_r=0
Thank "insert your mythical dirty here", people are getting smarter
about religion.
---SPSmith
Thank "insert your mythical dirty here", people are getting smarter
about religion.
---SPSmith
Article: What makes America’s gun culture totally unique in the world, in four charts
What makes America's gun culture totally unique in the world, in four charts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/15/what-makes-americas-gun-culture-totally-unique-in-the-world-as-demonstrated-in-four-charts/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Chart: The U.S. has far more gun-related killings than any other developed country
Chart: The U.S. has far more gun-related killings than any other developed country
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/14/chart-the-u-s-has-far-more-gun-related-killings-than-any-other-developed-country/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Will the US ever change its gun laws?
Will the US ever change its gun laws?
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestoryamericas/2012/12/2012121895811272151.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Monday, December 17, 2012
The Freedom of an Armed Society - NYTimes.com
Arendt offers two points that are salient to our thinking about guns: for one, they insert a hierarchy of some kind, but fundamental nonetheless, and thereby undermine equality. But furthermore, guns pose a monumental challenge to freedom, and particular, the liberty that is the hallmark of any democracy worthy of the name — that is, freedom of speech. Guns do communicate, after all, but in a way that is contrary to free speech aspirations: for, guns chasten speech.
This becomes clear if only you pry a little more deeply into the N.R.A.'s logic behind an armed society. An armed society is polite, by their thinking, precisely because guns would compel everyone to tamp down eccentric behavior, and refrain from actions that might seem threatening. The suggestion is that guns liberally interspersed throughout society would cause us all to walk gingerly — not make any sudden, unexpected moves — and watch what we say, how we act, whom we might offend.
---SPSmith
Check out: 'Things Can Change' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Things Can Change
By Beverly Gage
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2012/12/newtown_shooting_gun_violence_may_seem_ineradicable_but_history_suggests.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Things Can Change
By Beverly Gage
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2012/12/newtown_shooting_gun_violence_may_seem_ineradicable_but_history_suggests.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Do We Have the Courage to Stop This? - NYTimes.com
The fundamental reason kids are dying in massacres like this one is not that we have lunatics or criminals — all countries have them — but that we suffer from a political failure to regulate guns.
---SPSmith
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Article: And Now a Thought From Justice Scalia
And Now a Thought From Justice Scalia
http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/12/15/and-now-a-thought-from-justice-scalia/
---SPSmith
Article: Harvard School of Public Health: More Guns = More Homicide
Harvard School of Public Health: More Guns = More Homicide
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/41341_Harvard_School_of_Public_Health-_More_Guns_=_More_Homicide#rss
---SPSmith
Friday, December 14, 2012
‘Martin Amis - The Biography,’ by Richard Bradford - NYTimes.com
you begin confronting sentences like this one, in which words come together as if to commit ritual mass suicide:
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Article: In Defense of Sandler’s “Hallelujah”: The Comic Wasn’t Butchering Leonard Cohen’s Classic. He Was Rescuing It. – Tablet Magazine
In Defense of Sandler's "Hallelujah": The Comic Wasn't Butchering Leonard Cohen's Classic. He Was Rescuing It. – Tablet Magazine
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/119166/in-defense-of-sandler%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9challelujah%e2%80%9d
More than the mummified Stones, the bloated Billy Joel, or the slithering Roger Waters, Sandler was one of very few real, live rock stars on display last night, doing that thing that rock stars do: he kicked and mocked and questioned and took great, sophomoric, hormonal joy at picking up our cherished object and tossing it on the floor to see it shatter.
---SPSmith
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Check out: 'Napoleon Wasn’t Defeated by the Russians' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Napoleon Wasn't Defeated by the Russians
By Joe Knight
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/napoleon_march_to_russia_in_1812_typhus_spread_by_lice_was_more_powerful.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Napoleon Wasn't Defeated by the Russians
By Joe Knight
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/napoleon_march_to_russia_in_1812_typhus_spread_by_lice_was_more_powerful.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Judea Pearl asks, ‘Is anti-Zionism hate?’ | Mondoweiss
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/03/answer-to-judea-pearls-question-is-antizionism-hate.html
the irony is that Israel is providing the world all the evidence it
needs to question Israel's place in the "family of nations."
Anti-Zionists are simply connecting the dots.
---SPSmith
the irony is that Israel is providing the world all the evidence it
needs to question Israel's place in the "family of nations."
Anti-Zionists are simply connecting the dots.
---SPSmith
The Magnificent Seven - Wikiquote
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Magnificent_Seven
If God did not want them sheared, He would not have made them sheep.
---SPSmith
If God did not want them sheared, He would not have made them sheep.
---SPSmith
Bill O'Reilly Does Not Understand The U.S. Tax Code | Blog | Media Matters for America
Oh no! A conservative's worst enemy...MATH!!! Of course, math has a dark, Islamic past...there are many algorithms used in the US tax code. The word "algorithm" is English for Al-Khwarizmi, an Arabic scientist who developed algebra in the 9th century.
That is around the time Europe was in the Early Middle Ages, devoid of scientific thought, and whose peasants were illiterate and believed anything that came from the mouths of the Ruling class (which despised the poor and denied them any entitlements) or the Church (which despised the poor and extorted tithes from them with fears of damnation)...hmm...that sounds familiar...
Saturday, December 08, 2012
Before I Go to Sleep by SJ Watson – review | Books | The Guardian
Before I Go to Sleep drinks purer water from a deeper well. A first novel by an NHS audiologist who wrote it in between shifts at London's St Thomas's Hospital, it's exceptionally accomplished – like David Nicholls'sOne Day, a brilliant example of how an unpromisingly high-concept idea can be transformed by skilful execution. In some ways it's an inversion of Borges's story "Funes, the Memorious", about a Uruguayan man who, after an accident, is unable either to forget anything or classify his memories in a way that might stop them overwhelming him.
---SPSmith
Friday, December 07, 2012
Bad Reviews Of Great Authors: 9 Scathing Insults
dull in a pretentious, florid and archly fatuous fashion
---SPSmith
Thursday, December 06, 2012
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Article: ‘Sons of Anarchy’: To Sir With Love
'Sons of Anarchy': To Sir With Love
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/12/05/1275111/sons-of-anarchy-to-sir-with-love/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
The Huge (And Rarely Discussed) Health Insurance Tax Break
I found the following story on the NPR iPad App:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/12/04/166434247/the-huge-and-rarely-discussed-health-insurance-tax-break?sc=ipad&f=1001
by Julie Rovner
NPR - December 4, 2012
What's the largest tax break in the federal tax code?
If you said the mortgage interest deduction, you'd be wrong. The break for charitable giving? Nope. How about capital gains, or state and local taxes? No, and no.
Believe it or not, dollar for dollar, the most tax revenue the federal government forgoes every year is from not taxing the value of health insurance that employers provide their workers.
Yet most people don't even realize that they don't pay taxes on the value of those health benefits. That's too bad, says MIT health economist Jonathan Gruber, because it represents a whole lot of money.
"If we treated health insurance the same way we treat wages," says Gruber, "we would raise about $250 billion per year more." That not only makes the health insurance exclusion the federal government's largest tax break, but it's also "the third largest health care program in the U.S., after Medicare and Medicaid."
And just how much does $250 billion represent in health care terms? "If we ended the tax exclusion, we could cover every uninsured American with health insurance twice over," Gruber estimates.
But there's another thing about the health care deduction that's kind of surprising: It came about largely by accident.
"It was just a way to allow employers to evade the wage and price controls of World War II," says Gruber. "And it's sort of grown exponentially since, and there really isn't a single health care expert who would design a system from scratch which would include this feature."
One big reason economists from across the ideological spectrum don't much like the insurance tax exclusion is that it's regressive. That means those it helps the most are the richest people with the most generous health plans.
"So if you're uninsured, you get nothing," says Ron Pollack of the consumer group Families USA. "If you're a low-wage worker, you get a very little tax break. If you get a lousy health care plan you get a very little break out of this."
And giving people a tax break encourages them to consume their compensation in the form of health benefits rather than wages, says Gruber. In other words, it's a discount on health insurance. Which leads to other bad things, like health care inflation.
"People are buying health insurance with 60-cent dollars," he says. "And as a result, they're buying too much of it. They're buying too much health insurance, and that leads to too much health care consumption."
So why hasn't the exclusion been taken away? One large and obvious reason is that it would be seen by those who benefit from it as a tax increase. And not all of those people are rich.
"A large amount of this tax money would come right out of the pockets of working families," says Tom Leibfried of the AFL-CIO. "The [U.S. House] Ways and Means Committee staff looked at where the tax benefit goes for this tax break. Eighty-one percent of it goes to families making less than $200,000 a year."
But the biggest concern, particularly in light of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, is that taking away the tax break would prompt employers to stop offering coverage. And that would push more people to new health care exchanges that will just be starting to find their footing.
"This is a very delicate moment in the history of our health care system," says Jim Klein, president of the American Benefits Council, which represents large employers. "And to now, in addition to all the other change, make changes to the tax treatment of employer-provided health care, would seem to be very risky."
The federal health law actually does begin to make some changes to the tax treatment of health insurance. It imposes a so-called Cadillac tax on very generous health plans, starting in 2018. Many people think that given the money involved, however, that tax could be expanded and sped up as part of the current negotiations. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]
To learn more about the NPR iPad app, go to http://ipad.npr.org/recommendnprforipad
---SPSmith
Saturday, December 01, 2012
No More Mister Nice Blog
http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2012/11/mitt-romney-would-have-been-terrible.html
Romney was supposed to be the data-driven business genius -- but maybe
the business in which he made his fortune is so rigged in favor of the
dealmakers that you don't have to be particularly good at it to get
stinking rich. Maybe he's just not that bright, even in the area
that's supposedly his strength.
---SPSmith
Romney was supposed to be the data-driven business genius -- but maybe
the business in which he made his fortune is so rigged in favor of the
dealmakers that you don't have to be particularly good at it to get
stinking rich. Maybe he's just not that bright, even in the area
that's supposedly his strength.
---SPSmith
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Skepticblog » Thoughts on Chris Stedman’s Faitheist
http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/11/27/thoughts-on-chris-stedmans-faitheist/#more-19877
I work to promote critical thinking, education, religious liberty,
compassion, and pluralism, and to fight tribalism, xenophobia, and
fanaticism. Many religious people are allies to me and other atheists
in these efforts—and a good number of them cite their religious
convictions as the motivating factor behind their work. I am far more
concerned about whether people are pluralistic in their worldview—if
they oppose totalitarianism and believe those of different religious
and nonreligious identities should be free to live as they choose and
cooperate around shared values—than I am about whether someone
believes in God or not
---SPSmith
I work to promote critical thinking, education, religious liberty,
compassion, and pluralism, and to fight tribalism, xenophobia, and
fanaticism. Many religious people are allies to me and other atheists
in these efforts—and a good number of them cite their religious
convictions as the motivating factor behind their work. I am far more
concerned about whether people are pluralistic in their worldview—if
they oppose totalitarianism and believe those of different religious
and nonreligious identities should be free to live as they choose and
cooperate around shared values—than I am about whether someone
believes in God or not
---SPSmith
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
Article: New Scientist Special Report: 7 Reasons Climate Change Is 'Even Worse Than We Thought' | ThinkProgress
New Scientist Special Report: 7 Reasons Climate Change Is 'Even Worse Than We Thought' | ThinkProgress
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/11/26/1219981/new-scientist-7-reasons-climate-change-is-even-worse-than-we-thought/?mobile=wt
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Beards of Silicon Valley: A Field Guide to Tech Facial Hair | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/11/20-12-st_beardtaxonomy/
Damn, I should have been a brand evangelist
---SPSmith
Damn, I should have been a brand evangelist
---SPSmith
Sunday, November 25, 2012
USA TODAY: Column: Booker T. offers lessons for Washington
Check out this article that I saw in USA TODAY's iPad application.
Column: Booker T. offers lessons for Washington
http://usat.ly/Tk911C
To view the story, click the link or paste it into your browser.
To learn more about USA TODAY for iPad and download, visit:
http://usatoday.com/ipad/
---SPSmith
Column: Booker T. offers lessons for Washington
http://usat.ly/Tk911C
To view the story, click the link or paste it into your browser.
To learn more about USA TODAY for iPad and download, visit:
http://usatoday.com/ipad/
---SPSmith
Friday, November 23, 2012
PolitiFact | Bernie Sanders says Walmart heirs own more wealth than bottom 40 percent of Americans
"Today the Walton family of Walmart own more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of America."
Bernie Sanders on Sunday, July 22nd, 2012 in a message on Twitter
"Pastures of Plenty" by Woody Guthrie
http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Pastures_Of_Plenty.htm
my pastures of plenty must always be free
---SPSmith
my pastures of plenty must always be free
---SPSmith
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Mitt's next career moves
3. Furniture magnate
Mitt Romney knows a great PR opportunity when he sees one – sometimes – so why not form a business partnership with Clint Eastwood to design and market a line of furniture aimed at the elderly and ironic hipsters. Motto: "Chairs you can talk to."
---SPSmithThanksgiving
Today I give thanks that I am not an imbecile like Pat Robertson and I would rather use science to predict the future rather than having and listening to the schizophrenia-driven voices in my head.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Article: Every Sperm is Sacred
Every Sperm is Sacred
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cocktail-party-physics/2012/11/21/every-sperm-is-sacred/
And once again, chimp and monkey sperm emerged as the clear winners, swimming with a force of about 50 piconewtons, compared to 5 piconewtons in human sperm, and 2 piconewtons in gorilla sperm. One might be tempted to feel bad for the gorillas, with their lazy, under-performing sperm, but considering the implication — faster, stronger sperm evolve because a species is promiscuous. The gorillas in the UCSD study can take comfort in the fact that their mates are far less likely to cheat.
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Florida Senator Marco Rubio: The age of the Earth is "a great mystery".
Actually, it's not a great mystery. It used to be ... a century ago. I am a scientist, and I can tell you that nowadays—thanks to science—we know the age to amazing accuracy. The age of the Earth is 4.54 billion years … plus or minus 50 million years. That's a number known to an accuracy of 99 percent, which is pretty dang good.
---SPSmith
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Article: While the Intel board was firing Paul Otellini they should have fired themselves, too
While the Intel board was firing Paul Otellini they should have fired themselves, too
http://www.cringely.com/2012/11/20/while-the-intel-board-was-firing-paul-otellini-they-should-have-fired-themselves-too/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: What the Research on Habit Formation Reveals About Willpower (And How You Can Apply it to Your Life)
What the Research on Habit Formation Reveals About Willpower (And How You Can Apply it to Your Life)
http://lifehacker.com/5961601/what-the-research-on-habit-formation-reveals-about-willpower-and-how-you-can-apply-it-to-your-life
One surprising result is this: to improve your overall well-being, start a new regular habit. Pretty much any positive habit will do.
---SPSmith
Check out: 'Abraham Lincoln, Vote Hunter' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Abraham Lincoln, Vote Hunter
By John Dickerson
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/11/steven_spielberg_s_lincoln_can_it_teach_obama_about_how_to_handle_congress.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Abraham Lincoln, Vote Hunter
By John Dickerson
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/11/steven_spielberg_s_lincoln_can_it_teach_obama_about_how_to_handle_congress.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Monday, November 19, 2012
Article: Intel Announces CEO Paul Otellini Will Retire In May, Mobile Weakness Could Be A Factor
Intel Announces CEO Paul Otellini Will Retire In May, Mobile Weakness Could Be A Factor
http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/19/intel-announces-ceo-paul-otellini-will-retire-in-may-mobile-weakness-could-be-a-factor/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Best Science Books 2012: Amazon
Best Science Books 2012: Amazon
http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/11/19/best-science-books-2012-amazon/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Intel CEO Paul Otellini to retire in May
Intel CEO Paul Otellini to retire in May
http://phys.org/news/2012-11-intel-ceo-paul-otellini.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
The Avalanche That Killed Three Skiers at Stevens Pass | Snow Sports | OutsideOnline.com
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/snow-sports/Tunnel-Vision-November-2012.html?page=all
When people are faced with situations of great uncertainty—when
there's conflicting information about whether it's safe or
dangerous—they tend to refer to simple rules of thumb to make
decisions,"
---SPSmith
When people are faced with situations of great uncertainty—when
there's conflicting information about whether it's safe or
dangerous—they tend to refer to simple rules of thumb to make
decisions,"
---SPSmith
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Article: If There Needs To Be An Investigation, It Should Be About Why The FBI Was Reading Certain Emails | Techdirt
If There Needs To Be An Investigation, It Should Be About Why The FBI Was Reading Certain Emails | Techdirt
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121114/02501621041/if-there-needs-to-be-investigation-it-should-be-about-why-fbi-was-reading-certain-emails.shtml#c45
We all know Obama ordered the FBI to get some dirt on Petreaus so his plan to have the Ambassador to Libya murdered wouldn't be revealed by Petreaus. The ambassador had the evidence that proved Obama was born in Kenya and was about to reveal it. So Obama had Mark Basseley Youssef create the anti-islam film knowing it would cause a protest, then sent his muslim friends attack the compound. The problem was that Petreaus found out. So he sent Patricia Broadwell back in time to have an affair with Petreaus, and then used Kelley to reveal the affair and Eric Cantor to notify the press. It's just that simple.
---SPSmith
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Penn Jillette’s secrets of “Celebrity Apprentice”: Donald Trump is a whackjob! - Salon.com
The death throes of religion give us jihads. The death throes of television give us reality shows.
Hostess is bankrupt … again - Fortune Management
It's a miserable state of affairs, even as both sides as recently as mid-July professed optimism that a settlement might be near. But despite the mercy that bankruptcy law permits, perhaps the staggering Hostess zombie in the financial graveyard ought not to be fed anymore. While Hostess may yet come out of bankruptcy again -- and Twinkies surely will still be made by somebody regardless -- a different conclusion seems right: At long last, Hostess may have reached its ultimate expiration date.
Article: Under pressure, even scientists say things exist for a purpose
Under pressure, even scientists say things exist for a purpose
http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2012/11/under-pressure-even-scientists-say.html
Tenacious Teleological Tendencies
---SPSmith
Friday, November 16, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Romney proves yet again he can't see the data over his ideologies
Romney still a clueless loser. http://usat.ly/QIG5nN
No Mittens, it is your sad sense of upper class victimhood and its misplaced entitlement that is a "big issue for the whole country,"
Each American need to thank whatever imaginary god they believe in that we dodged having this verminous weasel, with his supercilious attitude, his antiquated view of social order, and his demonstrably ruinous fiscal policies, in the Presidency.
---SPSmith
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Article: Restaurant Review - Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square - NYTimes.com
Restaurant Review - Guy's American Kitchen & Bar in Times Square - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/14/dining/reviews/restaurant-review-guys-american-kitchen-bar-in-times-square.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&
And when we hear the words Donkey Sauce, which part of the donkey are we supposed to think about?
---SPSmith
Skepticblog » Bride of Frankenstorm
http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/11/14/bride-of-frankenstorm/#more-19689
"Our analysis shows that it is no longer enough to say that global
warming will increase the likelihood of extreme weather and to repeat
the caveat that no individual weather event can be directly linked to
climate change. To the contrary, our analysis shows that, for the
extreme hot weather of the recent past, there is virtually no
explanation other than climate change… The odds that natural
variability created these extremes are minuscule, vanishingly small.
To count on those odds would be like quitting your job and playing the
lottery every morning to pay the bills."
---SPSmith
"Our analysis shows that it is no longer enough to say that global
warming will increase the likelihood of extreme weather and to repeat
the caveat that no individual weather event can be directly linked to
climate change. To the contrary, our analysis shows that, for the
extreme hot weather of the recent past, there is virtually no
explanation other than climate change… The odds that natural
variability created these extremes are minuscule, vanishingly small.
To count on those odds would be like quitting your job and playing the
lottery every morning to pay the bills."
---SPSmith
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
Rushdie and LeCarre
http://m.guardiannews.com/books/2012/nov/12/salman-rushdie-john-le-carre?cat=books&type=article
gloriously vituperative literary feuds
---SPSmith
gloriously vituperative literary feuds
---SPSmith
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Veterans Day about Peace
Making Armistice Day a "national peace holiday" was a proposal which had the "enthusiastic approval" of all of the societies representing World War I veterans.20 In 1938, Armistice Day was already a state holiday in 44 states, and the other four stateshadmadeitaholidaybygubernatorialaction. Althoughitwasrecognizedthat Congress did not have the authority "to fix a national holiday within the different States,"21 enactment of this bill, it was felt, would bring Congress "into harmony with sentiment in the United States."22
By 1954, however, the United States had been involved in two other military engagements, World War II and the Korean conflict. Instead of creating additional federal holidays to commemorate the ending of these hostilities, Congress felt it would be better to commemorate the sacrifices of American veterans all on one day. On June 1, 1954, the name of Armistice Day was officially changed to Veterans Day.23 This legislation did not establish a new holiday. Rather, it broadened the "significance of an existing holiday in order that a grateful nation, on a day dedicated to the cause of world peace, may pay homage to all of its veterans."24
---SPSmith
The Ones We Don’t Forget by George Wallace
this one would not paddle a boat
this one would not bait a hook
this one slept on the side of a mountain
this one swam in a minnesota lake
this one grew as tall as a cornfield
this one traveled to new orleans
this one had the arms of a blacksmith
this one's hair was thick as smoke
these trainloads of young men
these trainloads of young women
these trainloads of young women
these trainloads of young men
this one sat on a porch for hours
this one ate like an alligator
this one cried over algebra
this one laughed in pouring rain
i cannot spell this out more clearly
i cannot be more precise than this
this one died for no reason
this one died for a friend
this one died in an alleyway
this one's childhood had to end
these are the ones we don't forget
these are the ones we will remember
we sing their names like trumpets
we sing their names like saints or nails
we sing their names like fountains
we sing their names like graves
in new york and texas and california
in mississippi and oregon and ames and maine
the ocean will support them on its watery shoulders
the sky will carry them on its windy hips
like the first woman to cross the face of this earth
as they cross over the line of battle
from your war to our peace
http://poetry.about.com/library/weekly/blgwallace.htm
Back and Comrades by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
They ask me where I've been,
And what I've done and seen.
But what can I reply
Who know it wasn't I,
But someone just like me,
Who went across the sea
And with my head and hands
Killed men in foreign lands...
Though I must bear the blame
Because he bore my name.
---SPSmith
What Romney Lost by Garry Wills | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/nov/09/what-romney-lost/
What public service do we expect from Mitt Romney? He will no doubt
return to augmenting his vast and hidden wealth, with no more pesky
questions about where around the world it is stashed, or what taxes
(if any) he paid, carefully sheltered from the rules his fellow
citizens follow
---SPSmith
What public service do we expect from Mitt Romney? He will no doubt
return to augmenting his vast and hidden wealth, with no more pesky
questions about where around the world it is stashed, or what taxes
(if any) he paid, carefully sheltered from the rules his fellow
citizens follow
---SPSmith
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Article: The welcome come-uppance of Karl Rove
The welcome come-uppance of Karl Rove
http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2012/11/10/the-welcome-come-uppance-of-karl-rove/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Ted shits his pants again
Today's good news: Ted Nugget will be dead or in jail in 155 days!
On April 14th 2012 the 3rd rate rocker said: "If Barack Obama becomes the President in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year."
Perhaps you need some suggestions on how to off yourself Teddy??
---SPSmith
Dangerous Minds | Ted Nugent said he’d be dead or in jail if Obama won: So, what’s it gonna be?
As far as we've been able to tell, the rock neanderthal hasn't demonstrated the strength of his convictions yet. He's only mustered up the courage to tweet. He's got until April 16, 2013 (one year after he appeared at the NRA convention where the video was shot) to make good on his promise. I've got a special bottle of bourbon for the occasion.
---SPSmith
Friday, November 09, 2012
Election 2012, and the Victory of Secular Values | Greta Christina's Blog
Atheists are not in opposition to American values. Atheists are on the cutting edge of them.
---SPSmith
Article: Jon Stewart Gleefully Rips Into Fox News Election Coverage: ‘Avalanche On Bullsh*t Mountain’ | Mediaite
Jon Stewart Gleefully Rips Into Fox News Election Coverage: 'Avalanche On Bullsh*t Mountain' | Mediaite
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-gleefully-rips-into-fox-news-election-coverage-there-was-an-avalanche-on-bullsht-mountain/
Too funny and insightful to miss.
"Is this just math that you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better or is this real?"
-- Megyn Kelly to Karl Rove during Fox News coverage of the 2012 Presidential election
---SPSmith
Presidents in movies: Which American president appears in the most films? (CHART)
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/11/08/presidents_in_movies_which_american_president_appears_in_the_most_films.html
It's now clear to me that we need a movie about Warren G. Harding!
---SPSmith
It's now clear to me that we need a movie about Warren G. Harding!
---SPSmith
Thursday, November 08, 2012
Romney's 47 Percent Gaffe Shows He Believes in the (Untrue) Self-Interested Voter Hypothesis - Hit & Run : Reason.com
Many people believe that voters' positions are determined by their objective self-interest. I call this the SIVH - the Self-Interested Voter Hypothesis. A massive body of evidence shows that the SIVH is just plain wrong. Self-interest has no more than sporadic marginal effects on political views.
---SPSmith
Election Headlines You Forgot About - Business Insider
http://www.businessinsider.com/election-headlines-you-forgot-about-2012-11
Winner or loser, it's fun to go down memory lane
---SPSmith
Winner or loser, it's fun to go down memory lane
---SPSmith
Climate change
"@davidfrum: Horrible possibility: if the geeks are right about Ohio, might they also be right about climate?"
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Ted Nugent Tweets Post-Election Anti-Obama Rampage - Hollywood Reporter
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ted-nugent-tweets-post-election-387361
Your typical Romney supporter??
---SPSmith
Your typical Romney supporter??
---SPSmith
Hawaii sends nation's first Asian American woman to Senate - San Jose Mercury News
"I bring quadruple diversity to the Senate," Hirono said at a rally earlier in the campaign. "I'm a woman. I'll be the first Asian woman ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate. I am an immigrant. I am a Buddhist. When I said this at one of my gatherings, they said, 'Yes, but are you gay?' and I said, 'Nobody's perfect.'"
---SPSmith
Adviser: Romney "shellshocked" by loss - CBS News
Adviser: Romney "shellshocked" by loss - CBS News:
Just another reason why Romney would have been a terrible president -- Shellshocked when his god lets him down...
Just another reason why Romney would have been a terrible president -- Shellshocked when his god lets him down...
Outside spenders' return on investment - Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group
http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2012/return_on_investment/
For high ROI, "invest" in the Planned Parenthood PAC
---SPSmith
For high ROI, "invest" in the Planned Parenthood PAC
---SPSmith
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Fox News’ dark night of the soul - Salon.com
Obama won a big, bruising battle, and now has a brief and limited opportunity to assert leadership. But we just spent an entire year and $2 billion to end up with the same president, the same House and the same Senate. That sounds a lot like everybody losing, but at least Mitt Romney and those who financed him and pumped him full of hot air lost most of all.
---SPSmith
Article: Six most paranoid fears for Obama’s second term - Salon.com
Six most paranoid fears for Obama's second term - Salon.com
http://www.salon.com/2012/11/04/six_most_paranoid_fears_for_obamas_second_term/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Barack Obama victory tweet becomes most retweeted ever
Barack Obama victory tweet becomes most retweeted ever
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/07/how-barack-obama-celebrated-twitter
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Tuesday, November 06, 2012
Obama wins
Yeah Baby, now I "Believe in America". Thank you CA, OR and WA and especially my birthplace of Hamilton County Ohio! Now lets move the Republicans out of the roadblock of the political process that they have been.
The loser: Mendacious Mitt the twit, the Mexican polygamist's grandson, the Klepto-class breed vulture capitalist, who took a founding role at Bain Capital from a mentor who guaranteed he would never fail financially or professionally, hiding behind his veil of opulence, shipping his money and our jobs overseas, the tax dodger refusing to pay his fair share of society's upkeep, the draft-avoiding war monger utilizing the dual refuges of mission work in Paris and business school at Harvard, the slimy politician with policy flip-flops on: gun control, abortion, climate change, taxes, gays, and RomneyCare. The man whose serial lying shows the only principle he values is to put more political power into hands controlled by a superstitious cult religion so he and his magical underwear can fulfill its "white horse prophecy".
To Paul Ryan, the zombie-eyed granny starver that voted for the policies that crashed the economy: Sorry, your statement that Mendacious Mitt the Twit's experience as a leverage buyout vulture capitalist makes him suitable to handle the USA's economic policies makes no sense. Who is he going to sell off our assets to? Loser.
And Ryan couldn't even deliver Wisconsin.
Too bad I live in a State that follows the voting pattern of the racist sicko South.
---SPSmith
Check out: 'The Man We Never Saw' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
The Man We Never Saw
By William Saletan
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2012/11/romney_s_mormon_abortion_video_he_shows_his_real_self_only_when_no_one_is.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
The Man We Never Saw
By William Saletan
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2012/11/romney_s_mormon_abortion_video_he_shows_his_real_self_only_when_no_one_is.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Monday, November 05, 2012
Is Mormonism a cult? Who cares? It’s their weird and sinister beliefs we should be worried about. - Slate Magazine
The Mormons apparently believe that Jesus will return in Missouri rather than Armageddon: I wouldn't care to bet on the likelihood of either. In the meanwhile, though, we are fully entitled to ask Mitt Romney about the forces that influenced his political formation and—since he comes from a dynasty of his church, and spent much of his boyhood and manhood first as a missionary and then as a senior lay official—it is safe to assume that the influence is not small. Unless he is to succeed in his dreary plan to borrow from the playbook of his pain-in-the-ass predecessor Michael Dukakis, and make this an election about "competence not ideology," he should be asked to defend and explain himself, and his voluntary membership in one of the most egregious groups operating on American soil.
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Article: How to get rid of religion
How to get rid of religion
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/how-to-get-rid-of-religion/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Sunday, November 04, 2012
Saturday, November 03, 2012
Article: 5 Presidential Elections Nastier and Stranger Than This One
5 Presidential Elections Nastier and Stranger Than This One
http://news.yahoo.com/5-presidential-elections-nastier-stranger-one-133527579.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Check out: 'Why Do White People Think Mitt Romney Should Be President?' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Why Do White People Think Mitt Romney Should Be President?
By Tom Scocca
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/scocca/2012/11/mitt_romney_white_vote_parsing_the_narrow_tribal_appeal_of_the_republican.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Why Do White People Think Mitt Romney Should Be President?
By Tom Scocca
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/scocca/2012/11/mitt_romney_white_vote_parsing_the_narrow_tribal_appeal_of_the_republican.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Friday, November 02, 2012
Article: A Failure on the Liberal Side
A Failure on the Liberal Side
http://atheistethicist.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-failure-on-liberal-side.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Article: Voters Also Have a Right to Know the Science Behind GMOs
Voters Also Have a Right to Know the Science Behind GMOs
http://blogs.plos.org/blog/2012/11/01/voters-also-have-a-right-to-know-the-science-behind-gmos/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Autism Brain Scans Flawed? You Read It Here First
Autism Brain Scans Flawed? You Read It Here First
http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/11/autism-brain-scans-flawed-you-read-it.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Article: Clearing the path for future tyranny
Clearing the path for future tyranny
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/20121029155126349265.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Obama: Under surveillance
Obama: Under surveillance
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestoryamericas/2012/10/201210305164175485.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Defense spending cuts
Sapolsky: Romney's other 47% problem
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/30/opinion/sapolsky-military-spending/index.html
---SPSmith
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/30/opinion/sapolsky-military-spending/index.html
---SPSmith
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Article: Billy Graham and Mike Huckabee Invoke God to Back Romney
Billy Graham and Mike Huckabee Invoke God to Back Romney
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/30/apocalypse-now/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Price Gouging Roundup
Price Gouging Roundup
http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2012/10/price-gouging-roundup/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Supreme Court Rejects Personhood Appeal In Oklahoma
Supreme Court Rejects Personhood Appeal In Oklahoma
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/10/30/1109811/supreme-court-rejects-oklahoma-personhood/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Joss Whedon’s Viral Video Calls Romney Perfect Leader for Zombie Apocalypse
Joss Whedon's Viral Video Calls Romney Perfect Leader for Zombie Apocalypse
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/10/joss-whedon-romney-zombie-endorsement/
But it's his commitment to ungoverned corporate privilege that will nose-dive this economy into true insolvency and chaos — the kind of chaos you can't buy back. Money is only so much paper to the undead."
---SPSmith
Monday, October 29, 2012
Skepticblog » Integrative Medicine Propaganda
http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/10/29/integrative-medicine-propaganda/#more-19599
To some practitioners all health issues are about nutrition and
toxins, because that is what they treat. The standard medical
paradigm, however, recognizes nutritional and toxic diseases, but also
infectious, auto-immune, degenerative, anatomical, genetic,
developmental, metabolic, psychological, and physiological causes of
illness. We recognize and study the influence of diet and lifestyle on
health and disease. It is yet another strawman (a demonstrably wrong
and unfair one) to claims that mainstream medicine is all about drugs
and surgery and for some reason ignores certain disease etiologies.
Just read any standard medical textbook, or browse the medical
literature, and you will see that this is true.
---SPSmith
To some practitioners all health issues are about nutrition and
toxins, because that is what they treat. The standard medical
paradigm, however, recognizes nutritional and toxic diseases, but also
infectious, auto-immune, degenerative, anatomical, genetic,
developmental, metabolic, psychological, and physiological causes of
illness. We recognize and study the influence of diet and lifestyle on
health and disease. It is yet another strawman (a demonstrably wrong
and unfair one) to claims that mainstream medicine is all about drugs
and surgery and for some reason ignores certain disease etiologies.
Just read any standard medical textbook, or browse the medical
literature, and you will see that this is true.
---SPSmith
Check out: 'Why Amnesty Should Lose at the Supreme Court' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Why Amnesty Should Lose at the Supreme Court
By Eric Posner
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2012/10/amnesty_s_challenge_of_surveillance_at_the_supreme_court.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Why Amnesty Should Lose at the Supreme Court
By Eric Posner
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2012/10/amnesty_s_challenge_of_surveillance_at_the_supreme_court.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Sunday, October 28, 2012
The Plot to Destroy America's Beer - Businessweek
There has never been a beer company like AB InBev. It was created in 2008 when InBev, the Leuven (Belgium)-based owner of Beck's and Stella Artois, swallowed Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser, in a $52 billion hostile takeover. Today, AB InBev is the dominant beer company in the U.S., with 48 percent of the market. It controls 69 percent in Brazil; it's the second-largest brewer in Russia and the third-largest in China. The company owns more than 200 different beers around the world. It would like to buy more.
---SPSmith
Article: How did I wind up with a pit bull?
How did I wind up with a pit bull?
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/10/27/how-did-i-wind-up-with-a-pit-bull/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
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