Let’s Give Up on the Constitution - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/opinion/lets-give-up-on-the-constitution.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


---SPSmith

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

NYC Hits Record Low Murder Rate In 2012, Bloomberg And Kelly Start Bragging: Gothamist

http://gothamist.com/2012/12/28/nyc_hits_record_low_murder_rate_in.php


---SPSmith

Stockport, Bed and Breakfast, The Hardware Inn of Stockport, Morgan County, Hotel, Southeast Ohio Scrapbookers

http://www.hardwareinnofstockport.com/


---SPSmith

Hitch slap 2

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KR1uorQWNDg#/watch?v=KR1uorQWNDg


---SPSmith

Ethics

http://i.imgur.com/LEOLR.png

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

Joyce Lee Malcolm: Two Cautionary Tales of Gun Control - WSJ.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323777204578195470446855466.html


---SPSmith

Trayvon Martin and America’s Gun Laws : The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/23/120423fa_fact_lepore?currentPage=all


---SPSmith

Article: On Living Armed

On Living Armed
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/12/on-living-armed/266658/

---SPSmith

Prayer in Schools Key to Stopping Violence » Dispatches from the Culture Wars

http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/12/27/prayer-in-schools-key-to-stopping-violence/


---SPSmith

AnandTech - The x86 Power Myth Busted: In-Depth Clover Trail Power Analysis

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6529/busting-the-x86-power-myth-indepth-clover-trail-power-analysis


---SPSmith

U.S. Mental Healthcare System Failing Patients, Advocates Say

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/us-mental-healthcare-system_n_2353319.html


---SPSmith

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

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

A League of Our Own - By Janet Rosenbaum | Foreign Policy

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/18/a_league_of_our_own?page=full


---SPSmith

Overcoming Bias : Hail Survivalists

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/07/hail-survivalists.html

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

15 Tasty Ways to Eat Your Veggies The Kitchn's Best of 2012 | The Kitchn

http://www.thekitchn.com/15-tasty-ways-to-eat-your-veggies-the-kitchns-best-of-2012-181697


---SPSmith

The 12 Most Memorable Images Of 2012 | ThinkProgress

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/12/22/1354961/the-12-most-memorable-images-of-2012/?mobile=wt


---SPSmith