If Mitt the Twit had visited India on his his gaffe-ridden foreign trip, he would have said "Electricity isn't part of the Hindu culture."
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Skepticblog » The Colorado Massacre, Gun Control, and the Law of Large Numbers
http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/07/31/gun-control-and-the-law-of-large-numbers/
My fellow libertarians are likely to see this as another loss of
freedom, but I disagree. The principle of freedom states that all
people are free to think, believe, and act as they choose, so long as
they do not infringe on the equal freedom of others. But the freedom
for me to swing my arm ends at your nose. The freedom for you to own
any gun you like is in conflict with my freedom to interact freely
with my fellow citizens in public spaces when so many madmen mingle
among us. We should ban assault weapons of all kinds. We already
disallow private citizens to own nuclear weapons, missiles, grenade
launchers, and the like. WMMs that can be secreted into a movie
theater should be categorized among those we can no longer tolerate.
This is no loss of freedom. It is, in fact, an increase in freedom—the
freedom to move about our living spaces without fear of being gunned
down in cold blood.
---SPSmith
My fellow libertarians are likely to see this as another loss of
freedom, but I disagree. The principle of freedom states that all
people are free to think, believe, and act as they choose, so long as
they do not infringe on the equal freedom of others. But the freedom
for me to swing my arm ends at your nose. The freedom for you to own
any gun you like is in conflict with my freedom to interact freely
with my fellow citizens in public spaces when so many madmen mingle
among us. We should ban assault weapons of all kinds. We already
disallow private citizens to own nuclear weapons, missiles, grenade
launchers, and the like. WMMs that can be secreted into a movie
theater should be categorized among those we can no longer tolerate.
This is no loss of freedom. It is, in fact, an increase in freedom—the
freedom to move about our living spaces without fear of being gunned
down in cold blood.
---SPSmith
Article: Scientists skeptical as athletes get all taped up
Scientists skeptical as athletes get all taped up
http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-skeptical-athletes-taped-154650656--spt.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Monday, July 30, 2012
Former Koch funded climate skeptic finally faces reality | The Zingularity
http://freethoughtblogs.com/zingularity/2012/07/29/former-koch-funded-climate-skeptic-finally-faces-reality/
there was much rejoicing in the science-o-sphere, as ditto heads and
the scam artists who prey on them were denied one more speck of cover.
Not that that will stop the conservative godbot cheerleaders, these
are professional liars, paid actors who aren't about to cop to the
facts anymore than a talking M&M will praise Hershey bars at Superbowl
halftime.
---SPSmith
there was much rejoicing in the science-o-sphere, as ditto heads and
the scam artists who prey on them were denied one more speck of cover.
Not that that will stop the conservative godbot cheerleaders, these
are professional liars, paid actors who aren't about to cop to the
facts anymore than a talking M&M will praise Hershey bars at Superbowl
halftime.
---SPSmith
Romney Praises Israel’s Universal Health Care System, Which Includes Individual Mandate | ThinkProgress
Israel spends less on health care because of a universal health system that requires everyone to have insurance. Every Israeli citizen has the obligation to purchase health care servicesthrough one of the country's four HMOs since government officials approved the National Health Insurance Law in 1995. People pay for 40 percent of their HMO's costs through income-related contributions collected through the tax system, and the state pays the remaining 60 percent. And by many standards, Israelis are getting better health care than U.S. citizens. The infant mortality rate is much lower, and its mortality rate due to heart disease is half the U.S. rate
---SPSmith
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Friday, July 27, 2012
Bill Clinton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 in August of that year, which passed Congress without a Republican vote. It cut taxes for fifteen million low-income families, made tax cuts available to 90% of small businesses,[59] and raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2% of taxpayers. Additionally, through the implementation of spending restraints, it mandated the budget be balanced over a number of years.[60]
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Mitt: only capable to hold an Olympics in the middle of no where
Mitt the Twit: as dumb as Dubya in international affairs.
link
link
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Sides trade barbs on eve of Senate tax-cut vote - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sides-trade-barbs-on-eve-of-senate-tax-cut-vote/2012/07/24/gJQA8D8b7W_story.html
"The other side claims this is the best way to grow the economy: If
you take care of the very wealthy, everything will, as that old phrase
goes, trickle down," Biden said. "The problem is we've seen that movie
before and we know how it ends. . . . What happened was the rich got
richer . . . but most Americans got nailed."
---SPSmith
"The other side claims this is the best way to grow the economy: If
you take care of the very wealthy, everything will, as that old phrase
goes, trickle down," Biden said. "The problem is we've seen that movie
before and we know how it ends. . . . What happened was the rich got
richer . . . but most Americans got nailed."
---SPSmith
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Article: So, who really did invent the Internet?
So, who really did invent the Internet?
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-mo-who-invented-internet-20120723,0,5052169.story
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Article: Quoted: on who invented the Internet, again
Quoted: on who invented the Internet, again
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/merc-gmsv/~3/MQYYH9-HaQ8/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Monday, July 23, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
This five-ring circus is only for those in love with white elephants | Andrew Rawnsley | Comment is free | The Observer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/22/andrew-rawnsley-olympics-money-wasting-shambles?INTCMP=SRCH
I will now resume my silence on the subject before I am detained by
the Olympic thought-police. I acknowledge that the Games will bring
some transient thrills to those who watch them and more lasting
satisfaction to successful competitors. I wish the best to our medal
hopefuls to whom we now look to salvage some national pride. People
who claim to be expert say that the United Kingdom has a very good
chance of coming fourth in the medal league table. That would be
impressive for a nation of 60-odd million people inhabiting some wet
rocks in the north-east Atlantic. For all the blunders during the
build-up, I have a hunch that the actual event will be largely
successful. I hope so.
---SPSmith
I will now resume my silence on the subject before I am detained by
the Olympic thought-police. I acknowledge that the Games will bring
some transient thrills to those who watch them and more lasting
satisfaction to successful competitors. I wish the best to our medal
hopefuls to whom we now look to salvage some national pride. People
who claim to be expert say that the United Kingdom has a very good
chance of coming fourth in the medal league table. That would be
impressive for a nation of 60-odd million people inhabiting some wet
rocks in the north-east Atlantic. For all the blunders during the
build-up, I have a hunch that the actual event will be largely
successful. I hope so.
---SPSmith
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Article: Jack Daniels Pecan Pie at Rock Springs Café - Phoenix Restaurants and Dining - Chow Bella
Jack Daniels Pecan Pie at Rock Springs Café - Phoenix Restaurants and Dining - Chow Bella
http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bella/2012/07/jack_daniels_pecan_pie_at_rock.php
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Friday, July 20, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The Terrifying Background of the Man Who Ran a CIA Assassination Unit - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic
Private contractors are whacking people like crazy over in Afghanistan for the CIA."
---SPSmith
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Skepticblog » It’s official: Texas GOP bans critical thinking
Skepticblog » It’s official: Texas GOP bans critical thinking: "That’s it in a nutshell—the classic dogma of fundamentalist churches and authoritarian states. Don’t think for yourself, don’t ask questions, don’t rock the boat, because the Church, the GOP and your parents are the ultimate repository of truth, and we don’t want to have the lies we told you as children undermined by anything like education"
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
Bonus Quote of the Day
"The only person who has seen Romney's taxes is John McCain and he took one look and picked Sarah Palin."
-- James Carville, interviewed by CBS News.
---SPSmith
The mega-epic pissing contest - Roger Ebert's Journal
The mega-epic pissing contest - Roger Ebert's Journal: "It is perfectly possible to make a great film in 2D and at an average length. I submit that "Fargo" is nearly a perfect film at 98 minutes, and that "No Country for Old Men" feels just right at 122 minutes. I fear that Jackson and Cameron have been carried by ambition to make films that leave the realm of artistic economy and are trying to gain stature via the realm of bloated manufacturing. It reminds me of the period when Detroit started adding fins to its cars. Is it too much to expect Jackson and Cameron to just, you know, like make a movie?"
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
My Way News - Microsoft, NBC dissolve MSNBC.com joint venture
My Way News - Microsoft, NBC dissolve MSNBC.com joint venture: "That exasperation was exacerbated by the MSNBC cable channel's strategy to counter Fox News Channel's appeal to conservative viewers by tailoring its programming for an audience with a liberal viewpoint.
The strategy fed a perception that material from MSNBC's website was politically slanted, too.
"Being limited to MSNBC.com content was problematic to us because we couldn't have the multiple news sources and the multiple perspectives that our users were telling us that they wanted," said Bob Visse, general manager of MSN.com."
'via Blog this'
The strategy fed a perception that material from MSNBC's website was politically slanted, too.
"Being limited to MSNBC.com content was problematic to us because we couldn't have the multiple news sources and the multiple perspectives that our users were telling us that they wanted," said Bob Visse, general manager of MSN.com."
'via Blog this'
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Friday, July 13, 2012
Maybe Romney took too much LDS in the 60s | The Zingularity
http://freethoughtblogs.com/zingularity/2012/07/13/maybe-romney-took-too-much-lds-in-the-60s/
I'm Mitt Romney, vote for me, I have no idea what I'm signing nor am I
responsible for anything that happens while I'm getting paid to be in
charge" — at least not for team Romney.
---SPSmith
I'm Mitt Romney, vote for me, I have no idea what I'm signing nor am I
responsible for anything that happens while I'm getting paid to be in
charge" — at least not for team Romney.
---SPSmith
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Verizon Wireless LG Cosmos 2 Manual
Mike, when you finish a call, hit "End" and then hold down the "0″ for about two seconds. That will lock the key board.
---SPSmith
Article: Buying health insurance is a 'moral duty,' bioethicists say
Buying health insurance is a 'moral duty,' bioethicists say
http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-moral-duty-to-buy-health-insurance-20120710,0,4297529.story
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Article: You Mean We Can’t Fund Only Christian Schools?
You Mean We Can't Fund Only Christian Schools?
http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/07/10/you-mean-we-cant-fund-only-christian-schools/
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
June 2012 National Overview | Supplemental Material | Warmest 12-month consecutive periods for the CONUS
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/2012/6/supplemental/page-6/
These are the warmest 12-month periods on record for the contiguous
United States. During the June 2011-June 2012 period, each of the 13
months ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution
for the first time in the 1895-present record. The odds of this
occurring randomly is 1 in 1,594,323
---SPSmith
These are the warmest 12-month periods on record for the contiguous
United States. During the June 2011-June 2012 period, each of the 13
months ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution
for the first time in the 1895-present record. The odds of this
occurring randomly is 1 in 1,594,323
---SPSmith
Monday, July 09, 2012
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Skepticblog » Canutes of the Carolinas
http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/07/08/canutes-of-the-carolinas/#more-17998
No matter whether it is the classic Greek science, or Arabic science,
or Soviet science, the conclusion is clear: science cannot be
subservient to ideology, and scientists cannot be forced to distort
their message or results in order to please the political or religious
powers that be. Lysenko and Stalin did not believe in Mendelian
genetics or Darwinian biology, and they murdered hundreds of
legitimate scientists who had the temerity to disagree with them.
Other regimes (such as the Nazis or the devout Muslims after 1100)
have distorted science to support their ideas, but ultimately
scientific reality must win.
---SPSmith
No matter whether it is the classic Greek science, or Arabic science,
or Soviet science, the conclusion is clear: science cannot be
subservient to ideology, and scientists cannot be forced to distort
their message or results in order to please the political or religious
powers that be. Lysenko and Stalin did not believe in Mendelian
genetics or Darwinian biology, and they murdered hundreds of
legitimate scientists who had the temerity to disagree with them.
Other regimes (such as the Nazis or the devout Muslims after 1100)
have distorted science to support their ideas, but ultimately
scientific reality must win.
---SPSmith
Rearview mirror | SF Bay Guardian
http://www.sfbg.com/2011/12/13/rearview-mirror
There, in a history-rich bed with a familiar texture, is the spot
where aging rock fans crave to be. According to Simon Reynold's
exhaustive and polarizing 2011 tome Retromania, it's also the space in
which we all now inhabit, new listeners and old. His introductory
words are harsh, if provoking. "The 2000s [was] the decade of rampant
recycling: bygone genres revived and renovated, vintage sonic
material, reprocessed and recombined. Too often with new young bands,
beneath their taut skin and rosy cheeks, you could detect the sagging
grey flesh of old ideas." Brutal.
---SPSmith
There, in a history-rich bed with a familiar texture, is the spot
where aging rock fans crave to be. According to Simon Reynold's
exhaustive and polarizing 2011 tome Retromania, it's also the space in
which we all now inhabit, new listeners and old. His introductory
words are harsh, if provoking. "The 2000s [was] the decade of rampant
recycling: bygone genres revived and renovated, vintage sonic
material, reprocessed and recombined. Too often with new young bands,
beneath their taut skin and rosy cheeks, you could detect the sagging
grey flesh of old ideas." Brutal.
---SPSmith
Saturday, July 07, 2012
Friday, July 06, 2012
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
NewsHounds - Latest News:
Excuse me? President Obama has just won two key victories in the Supreme Court, one about his signature piece of legislation. And Sarah Palin? Last I checked, she had become the poster child for ignorant politicians and what not to choose in a vice presidential candidate.
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Julian Barnes: my life as a bibliophile | Books | The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/29/my-life-as-bibliophile-julian-barnes
When you read a great book, you don't escape from life, you plunge
deeper into it. There may be a superficial escape – into different
countries, mores, speech patterns – but what you are essentially doing
is furthering your understanding of life's subtleties, paradoxes,
joys, pains and truths. Reading and life are not separate but
symbiotic.
---SPSmith
When you read a great book, you don't escape from life, you plunge
deeper into it. There may be a superficial escape – into different
countries, mores, speech patterns – but what you are essentially doing
is furthering your understanding of life's subtleties, paradoxes,
joys, pains and truths. Reading and life are not separate but
symbiotic.
---SPSmith
Monday, July 02, 2012
Julian Barnes: my life as a bibliophile | Books | The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jun/29/my-life-as-bibliophile-julian-barnes
I have lived in books, for books, by and with books; in recent years,
I have been fortunate enough to be able to live from books. And it was
through books that I first realised there were other worlds beyond my
own; first imagined what it might be like to be another person; first
encountered that deeply intimate bond made when a writer's voice gets
inside a reader's head.
---SPSmith
I have lived in books, for books, by and with books; in recent years,
I have been fortunate enough to be able to live from books. And it was
through books that I first realised there were other worlds beyond my
own; first imagined what it might be like to be another person; first
encountered that deeply intimate bond made when a writer's voice gets
inside a reader's head.
---SPSmith
‘Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder’: People who think they are drunk also think they are attractive - Bègue - 2012 - British Journal of Psychology - Wiley Online Library
This research examines the role of alcohol consumption on self-perceived attractiveness. Study 1, carried out in a barroom (N= 19), showed that the more alcoholic drinks customers consumed, the more attractive they thought they were. In Study 2, 94 non-student participants in a bogus taste-test study were given either an alcoholic beverage (target BAL [blood alcohol level]= 0.10 g/100 ml) or a non-alcoholic beverage, with half of each group believing they had consumed alcohol and half believing they had not (balanced placebo design). After consuming beverages, they delivered a speech and rated how attractive, bright, original, and funny they thought they were. The speeches were videotaped and rated by 22 independent judges. Results showed that participants who thought they had consumed alcohol gave themselves more positive self-evaluations. However, ratings from independent judges showed that this boost in self-evaluation was unrelated to actual performance.
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Article: Vsevolod Dyomkin: Lisp Hackers: Peter Seibel
Vsevolod Dyomkin: Lisp Hackers: Peter Seibel
http://lisp-univ-etc.blogspot.com/2012/07/lisp-hackers-peter-seibel.html
Sent via Flipboard
---SPSmith
Count Robert de La Rochefoucauld - Telegraph
Count Robert de La Rochefoucauld, who has died aged 88, escaped from Occupied France to join the Special Operations Executive (SOE); parachuted back on sabotage missions, he twice faced execution, only to escape on both occasions, once dressed as a Nazi guard.
---SPSmith
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January 31, 2012