http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/michael-marin-ex-wall-street-banker-swallowed-poison-pill-courtroom-conviction-arson-article-1.1104528?localLinksEnabled=false
---SPSmith
Friday, June 29, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Article: Nora Ephron, the Queen of Quips
Nora Ephron, the Queen of Quips
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/nora-ephron-the-queen-of-quips/
"it has become horribly clear to me that I am probably the only young woman who ever worked in the Kennedy White House whom the president did not make a pass at."
---SPSmith
Monday, June 25, 2012
Justice Antonin Scalia Rages Against Obama On Immigration | TPMDC
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/06/justice-scalia-rages-against-obama-on-immigration.php?ref=fpa
Not only is Scalia's mind boogied, but his morals are bankrupt ...
"Scalia has finally jumped the shark," Winkler told TPM. "He claims to
respect the founding fathers, but his dissent channels the opponents
of the Constitution. Back then, opponents argued that the Constitution
denied states their sovereignty by giving too much power to the
federal government, as with immigration. Now Scalia echoes their
complaints that states are being denied their sovereignty. States are
not sovereign when it comes to powers vested in Congress, such as the
authority over immigration and naturalization."
---SPSmith
Not only is Scalia's mind boogied, but his morals are bankrupt ...
"Scalia has finally jumped the shark," Winkler told TPM. "He claims to
respect the founding fathers, but his dissent channels the opponents
of the Constitution. Back then, opponents argued that the Constitution
denied states their sovereignty by giving too much power to the
federal government, as with immigration. Now Scalia echoes their
complaints that states are being denied their sovereignty. States are
not sovereign when it comes to powers vested in Congress, such as the
authority over immigration and naturalization."
---SPSmith
Az sb1070
Today the supreme court rightly repudiated the ugly anti-American fascist tactics of the crackpot governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, and its senile sheriff, Joe Apario.
---SPSmith
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Friday, June 22, 2012
Abe Lincoln
For all you birther climate-change denying creationists, a film which finally gets its facts straight: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The schools boards of Kansas and Texas should to add to their history curriculum soon!
http://gawker.com/5920368/abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-is-as-tasteless-as-it-sounds
http://gawker.com/5920368/abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-is-as-tasteless-as-it-sounds
The Battle Over Climate Science — www.popsci.com — Readability
The Battle Over Climate Science — www.popsci.com — Readability:
Muller’s conclusion was most likely not what the Koch brothers had in mind. Last October, his team announced that the global mean temperature on land had increased by 1.6 degrees since 1950, a result that matched the numbers accepted by the mainstream climate-science community. “The skeptics raised valid points, and everybody should have been a skeptic two years ago,” Muller told me. “Now we have confidence that the temperature rises previously reported had been done without bias. Global warming is real.”
Muller’s conclusion was most likely not what the Koch brothers had in mind. Last October, his team announced that the global mean temperature on land had increased by 1.6 degrees since 1950, a result that matched the numbers accepted by the mainstream climate-science community. “The skeptics raised valid points, and everybody should have been a skeptic two years ago,” Muller told me. “Now we have confidence that the temperature rises previously reported had been done without bias. Global warming is real.”
The puzzle of monogamous ... [Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI
The puzzle of monogamous ... [Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2012] - PubMed - NCBI: "The anthropological record indicates that approximately 85 per cent of human societies have permitted men to have more than one wife (polygynous marriage"
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Film Comment | Film Society of Lincoln Center
"It's not that I have seen the light," he wrote in 1975, "but that I have come to appreciate Kubrick's particular form of darkness
---SPSmith
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Check out: 'Despite What You’ve Heard, Tech is Not a Man’s World: Talking to Intel’s Genevieve Bell' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
Despite What You've Heard, Tech is Not a Man's World: Talking to
Intel's Genevieve Bell
By Katy Waldman
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/06/19/genevieve_bell_on_women_and_tech_this_is_not_a_man_s_world.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Despite What You've Heard, Tech is Not a Man's World: Talking to
Intel's Genevieve Bell
By Katy Waldman
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2012/06/19/genevieve_bell_on_women_and_tech_this_is_not_a_man_s_world.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
The False Allure Of Group Selection | Conversation | Edge
The idea of Group Selection has a superficial appeal because humans are indisputably adapted to group living and because some groups are indisputably larger, longer-lived, and more influential than others. This makes it easy to conclude that properties of human groups, or properties of the human mind, have been shaped by a process that is akin to natural selection acting on genes. Despite this allure, I have argued that the concept of Group Selection has no useful role to play in psychology or social science. It refers to too many things, most of which are not alternatives to the theory of gene-level selection but loose allusions to the importance of groups in human evolution. And when the concept is made more precise, it is torn by a dilemma. If it is meant to explain the cultural traits of successful groups, it adds nothing to conventional history and makes no precise use of the actual mechanism of natural selection. But if it is meant to explain the psychology of individuals, particularly an inclination for unconditional self-sacrifice to benefit a group of nonrelatives, it is dubious both in theory (since it is hard to see how it could evolve given the built-in advantage of protecting the self and one's kin) and in practice (since there is no evidence that humans have such a trait).
None of this prevents us from seeking to understand the evolution of social and moral intuitions, nor the dynamics of populations and networks which turn individual psychology into large-scale societal and historical phenomena. It's just that the notion of "group selection" is far more likely to confuse than to enlighten—especially as we try to understand the ideas and institutions that human cognition has devised to make up for the shortcomings of our evolved adaptations to group living.
---SPSmithArticle: why our healthcare is perpetually broken
why our healthcare is perpetually broken
http://worldofweirdthings.com/2012/06/18/why-our-healthcare-is-perpetually-broken/
Sent via Flipboard, your social magazine for iPad and iPhone.
---SPSmith
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Deepak Chopra wisdom generator | Blag Hag
Some of my favorite random quotes include:
- Knowledge requires your own life
- Quantum physics is the wisdom of boundless knowledge
- The unexplainable relies on visible creativity
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Article: Utah's Hwy 12 named to Top 10 biker roads
SALT LAKE CITY — There's nothing like the feeling of getting on your motorcycle, and conquering the open road. But which road will you choose? According to Carla King of Lonely Planet, there is the perfect route in Utah that will fulfill all of your biker fantasies.
King has listed the 124-mile stretch of pavement of Highway 12 from Bryce Canyon National Park to Capitol Reef National Park, Utah as No. 6 on her list.
---SPSmith
USA TODAY: Beer Man: Crisp Apple cider hits the sweet-sour spot
Check out this article that I saw in USA TODAY's iPad application.
Beer Man: Crisp Apple cider hits the sweet-sour spot
http://usat.ly/KUtXgB
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
Beer Man: Crisp Apple cider hits the sweet-sour spot
http://usat.ly/KUtXgB
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, June 15, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Article: Essay: An Heirloom Watch, a Hidden Photo, and the Discovery of My Father’s Holocaust Secret – Tablet Magazine
Essay: An Heirloom Watch, a Hidden Photo, and the Discovery of My Father's Holocaust Secret – Tablet Magazine
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/102356/my-fathers-holocaust-secret
Sent via Flipboard, your social magazine for iPad and iPhone.
---SPSmith
Systematic review of randomized controlled trials of low-carbohydrate vs. low-fat/low-calorie diets in the management of obesity and its comorbidities - Hession - 2008 - Obesity Reviews - Wiley Online Library
Systematic review of randomized controlled trials of low-carbohydrate vs. low-fat/low-calorie diets in the management of obesity and its comorbidities - Hession - 2008 - Obesity Reviews - Wiley Online Library: "Evidence from this systematic review demonstrates that low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets are more effective at 6 months and are as effective, if not more, as low-fat diets in reducing weight and cardiovascular disease risk up to 1 year. "
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
'Fermentation': When Food Goes Bad But Stays Good
I found the following story on the NPR iPad App:
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/13/154914381/fermentation-when-food-goes-bad-but-stays-good?sc=ipad&f=1008
NPR - June 13, 2012
The list of fermented food in our lives is staggering: bread, coffee, pickles, beer, cheese, yogurt and soy sauce are all transformed at some point during their production process by microscopic organisms that extend their usefulness and enhance their flavors.
The process of fermenting our food isn't a new one: Evidence indicates that early civilizations were making wine and beer between 7,000 and 8,000 years ago — and bread even before that.
But was exactly is fermentation? And how does it work? Those were the questions that fascinated Sandor Katz for years. Katz calls himself a "fermentation revivalist" and has spent the past decade teaching workshops around the country on the ancient practice of fermenting food.
Katz collects many of his recipes and techniques in a new book, The Art of Fermentation, in which he describes fermentation as "the flavorful space between fresh and rotten."
"If you walk into a gourmet food store and start thinking about the nature of the foods that we elevate on the gourmet pedestal, almost all of them are the products of fermentation," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "Fermentation creates strong flavors. But they're not always flavors that everybody can agree on."
Take cheese, for instance. Cheese exists in a variety of flavors, including the extra-stinky varieties Katz says he fancies. "But once in a while I'll buy cheese and I've learned that some friends will smell the cheese and walk out of the room," he says. "They'll never think about putting that in their mouths. ... So around the world, you find these iconic foods created by fermentation that create strong, strong flavors that become strong markers of cultural identity and in many cases, people who have not been raised within the culture find these foods very challenging."
In addition to enhancing flavors, fermentation also allows food items to be preserved well past their shelf-life date, says Katz.
"It's not forever like canned foods that you can put into a pantry or storm cellar and forget about for 10 years and still eat it," he says. "These foods are alive, they're dynamic, but they're extremely effective strategies for preserving food through a few seasons, which is really the point."
Starting With Sauerkraut
For fermentation newbies, Katz recommends starting with sauerkraut because it's particularly easy to make. To begin, take a cabbage and any additional vegetables you want and chop it up. Put your chopped veggies in a large bowl and lightly salt them. (Katz notes that he never measures the salt because there's really no "magic number for how much salt to use.")
After salting the veggies, which helps get rid of excess water, Katz squeezes them for a few minutes to release their juices, so that they can be submerged under their own liquid. (Katz says he hardly ever adds water to his kraut, because the flavor is more concentrated if you use only the vegetable juice.) He then stuffs the veggies and the juices they've released into a jar.
"You want to press really hard to force out any air bubbles," he notes. "And you want to make sure that the vegetables are pressed down under their juices. And then just seal the jar — but be aware that pressure will be produced, so you don't want to leave it for days and days."
Katz recommends checking the jar on a daily basis to release the pressure — and then after maybe 3-5 days, enjoying your new creation.
"The flavors transform very quickly," he says. "The bacteria proliferate, the texture changes, and what I recommend to people experimenting for the first time, is just to taste it at periodic intervals. And then you're getting a sense of whether you're liking it more and more as the flavor gets more acidic or whether it's acidic enough and you want to move it into your fermentation-slowing device, which is your refrigerator."
Once you've mastered the simple kraut, Katz says you can add spices and/or other items like apples or cranberries to your jar. "You can basically use any season you like," he says.
Interview Highlights
On making yogurt
"The principle behind yogurt is almost the same as the principle behind sauerkraut. We're using lactic acid bacteria to preserve food. The method for it is somewhat different. There are many different types of lactic acid bacteria. And the ones that are used in most yogurt traditions are the ones we would describe as thermophilic — meaning they are most active in an elevated temperature range. So usually when you make yogurt, you want to incubate the yogurt by creating an environment that stays in between 110 degrees and 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
"Yogurt is often the classic example of what is called a cultured food. And the cultures are the community of bacteria that you're introducing and the act of introducing it is called culturing the food. So yes, to make yogurt, you always need a batch of mature yogurt and that's what you introduce — a spoonful of mature yogurt that you want to turn into fresh yogurt."
On probiotics
"Yogurt is a fermented food, and many different types of fermented food — particularly those fermented by lactic acid bacteria — can be thought of as probiotics. ... [That can include] fermented vegetables and not only yogurt but kefir and many fermented dairy products and a large group of beverages that I really enjoy that I would group together as sour-tonic beverages. Right now the most famous example of that in the United States might be kombucha. ... What's probiotic about these foods is that the lactic acid in them can help to replenish and diversify the populations in our gut, which due to a number of factors in our contemporary lives — including antibiotic drugs, antibacterial cleansing products, chlorine in water — are subjected to more or less constant attack."
On why good bacteria are beneficial
"Bacteria in our gut enable us to live. We could not survive without bacteria. ... They allow us to digest food, to assimilate the nutrients in our food; and they play a huge role, just beginning to be understood, in our immune functioning and in many other processes in our bodies. All life has evolved from bacteria and no other form of life has lived without bacteria. ... Our bacteria perform all sorts of essential functions for us, and because we are continually attacking them effectively with all of these chemicals in our lives, simply replenishing and diversifying these populations has a benefit for us."
On making sour pickles
"To ferment sour pickles, you take small cucumbers and you mix up a brine, which is simply salty water. The strength of the brine has implications. Usually I'll add grape leaves as a means to help keep the cucumbers crunchier longer. And then lots of dill and lots of garlic and then it's just a matter of waiting a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on the temperature. The metabolism of all of these organisms speeds up in warmer weather, so in summer heat, the process goes faster. ... A cellar is really best if you're looking to preserve sour pickles for any length of time. Because the cucumbers will have a tendency to float to the surface, I'll usually place a plate on them to keep them weighted down below the surface of the water."
On the space between rotten and fresh food
"We reject certain food because it is rotten. Certain food we can see is fresh. But there is this creative space between fresh food and rotten food where most of human culture's most prized delicacies and culinary achievements exist." [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]
To learn more about the NPR iPad app, go to http://ipad.npr.org/recommendnprforipad
---SPSmith
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide' - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education
Most attempts to understand privacy do so by attempting to locate its essence—its core characteristics or the common denominator that links together the various things we classify under the rubric of "privacy." Privacy, however, is too complex a concept to be reduced to a singular essence. It is a plurality of different things that do not share any one element but nevertheless bear a resemblance to one another. For example, privacy can be invaded by the disclosure of your deepest secrets. It might also be invaded if you're watched by a peeping Tom, even if no secrets are ever revealed. With the disclosure of secrets, the harm is that your concealed information is spread to others. With the peeping Tom, the harm is that you're being watched. You'd probably find that creepy regardless of whether the peeper finds out anything sensitive or discloses any information to others. There are many other forms of invasion of privacy, such as blackmail and the improper use of your personal data. Your privacy can also be invaded if the government compiles an extensive dossier about you.
Privacy, in other words, involves so many things that it is impossible to reduce them all to one simple idea. And we need not do so.
---SPSmithRight-wing media: Almond's ostrich | The Economist
I'm not trying to soft-pedal the very real pathologies of the modern conservative movement. The rich and powerful have clearly found in the Republican Party a willing collaborator. They've spent billions peddling Americans a failed theology of deregulation and lower taxes that is designed to foster and protect obscene wealth, not to serve the vast majority of our citizens. Thanks to the Supreme Court, the coming election will mark an unprecedented infusion of corporate propaganda into the political bloodstream.
---SPSmith
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Article: Et Tu, Virginia? Again with the Sea Level Rise
Et Tu, Virginia? Again with the Sea Level Rise
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2012/06/12/et-tu-virginia-again-with-the-sea-level-rise/
Sent via Flipboard, your social magazine for iPad and iPhone.
---SPSmith
Monday, June 11, 2012
Human-induced global ocean warming on multidecadal timescales : Nature Climate Change : Nature Publishing Group
Large-scale increases in upper-ocean temperatures are evident in observational records1. Several studies have used well-established detection and attribution methods to demonstrate that the observed basin-scale temperature changes are consistent with model responses to anthropogenic forcing and inconsistent with model-based estimates of natural variability2, 3, 4, 5. These studies relied on a single observational data set and employed results from only one or two models. Recent identification of systematic instrumental biases6 in expendable bathythermograph data has led to improved estimates of ocean temperature variability and trends7, 8, 9 and provide motivation to revisit earlier detection and attribution studies. We examine the causes of ocean warming using these improved observational estimates, together with results from a large multimodel archive of externally forced and unforced simulations. The time evolution of upper ocean temperature changes in the newer observational estimates is similar to that of the multimodel average of simulations that include the effects of volcanic eruptions. Our detection and attribution analysis systematically examines the sensitivity of results to a variety of model and data-processing choices. When global mean changes are included, we consistently obtain a positive identification (at the 1% significance level) of an anthropogenic fingerprint in observed upper-ocean temperature changes, thereby substantially strengthening existing detection and attribution evidence.
---SPSmith
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Confessions of a recovering Objectivist | Victoria Bekiempis | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
West Valley College's Sandra LaFave does a great job following this line of thought and pointing out why it doesn't work. The basic claim of egoists, LaFave notes, is that people "always and invariably act in their self-interest". However, most moral codes call for altruism, which, in egoists' account, is "demanding the impossible". Moral codes, so egoists' thinking goes, should not demand "the impossible", so we should take up a "more realistic" system such as – ta-da! – ethical egoism.
To accept this conclusion, you have to accept the premise that psychological egoism is a given fact in the first place. To date, neither Rand nor anyone else has been able to prove definitively that the proverbial soldier who dives on a grenade acts selfishly, not altruistically.
---SPSmithSaturday, June 09, 2012
Friday, June 08, 2012
Paid Obituaries - Page 5 - Sun Sentinel
Morris Morris, Shirley L. (Power), age 55, of Boynton Beach and a long time resident of Hollywood died November 27, 2005. Survived by husband John; daughters Becky Mastache, Theresa (Allen) Elfman and Kathryn Power; mother Helen Lombardi; sisters Jeanie Cali and Diane Dawson; grandsons Jarod and Alex Elfman; and 5 wonderful nephews. Visitation Tuesday 6-8 PM at Panciera Memorial Home, Funeral Mass Wednesday, November 30, 2005, 11:00 AM at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Boynton Beach. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to Mae Volen Day Care Center, 850 N. Congress Avenue, Delray Beach, FL 33445. Arrangements by: PANCIERA MEMORIAL HOME 4200 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, FL 33021 954-989-9900 www.panciera.com
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Article: HP still NOT porting HP-UX to x86?
HP still NOT porting HP-UX to x86?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/06/08/hp_ux_on_x86_project_kinetic/
Sent via Flipboard, your social magazine for iPad and iPhone.
---SPSmith
811162.PDF
Per vehicle mile traveled in 2007, motorcyclists were 37 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a motor vehicle traf
likely to be injured (motorcycle VMT data is not available for 2008).
Uncensored John Simon
http://uncensoredsimon.blogspot.com/
It is a natural enough malaise, this idealized remembering, but should
not be encouraged too much. There is no future in the past."
---SPSmith
It is a natural enough malaise, this idealized remembering, but should
not be encouraged too much. There is no future in the past."
---SPSmith
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Billionaires buy Wisconsin recall election for Scott Walker - latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-billionaires-buy-wisconsin-20120606,0,7775507.story?track=rss
Two-thirds of the $31 million Walker raised to fight the recall came
from out-of-state donors, mostly rich guys who hate unions
---SPSmith
Two-thirds of the $31 million Walker raised to fight the recall came
from out-of-state donors, mostly rich guys who hate unions
---SPSmith
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Monday, June 04, 2012
Quoted: Google ends up the winner | Good Morning Silicon Valley
"This is now effectively a total loss for Oracle, across the board. . . . It's absolutely the best possible case for Google."
---SPSmith
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Article: Study finds wealthy donors lean toward centrist candidates - Los Angeles Times
Study finds wealthy donors lean toward centrist candidates - Los Angeles Times
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/30/news/la-pn-study-finds-wealthy-donors-mostly-lean-toward-centrist-candidates-20120530
an analysis Bonica did of members of the boards of directors of major companies found that a few — mostly in the oil, gas and coal industries — contributed almost exclusively to Republicans while board members at companies in Silicon Valley, including Google, Apple and Intel, leaned heavily to Democrats. Overall, however, most boards were fairly evenly balanced in their giving, he found.
---SPSmith
Saturday, June 02, 2012
Court Docket 5-6-12 - The Verde Independent - Cottonwood, Arizona
|
Article: 'Hack The Real World And Share The Results'
'Hack The Real World And Share The Results'
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20120528/06540819090/hack-real-world-share-results.shtml
Sent via Flipboard, your social magazine for iPad and iPhone.
---SPSmith
Article: Phoenix temperatures hit 111, a new record for June 1
Phoenix temperatures hit 111, a new record for June 1
http://www.topix.net/phoenix/2012/06/phoenix-temperatures-hit-111-a-new-record-for-june-1
Sent via Flipboard, your social magazine for iPad and iPhone.
---SPSmith
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