Kindly Note the Impending Bankruptcy
A majority of the electorate has voted itself a size of government it’s not willing to pay for.
Friday, November 30, 2012
UK nanny state: show ID to buy microwavable pudding because you might burn yourself when it gets hot
Robert Nemeti was stunned when he was quizzed about his age as he tried to purchase a Cadbury Hot Chocolate Pudding at a self-service checkout.
The machine, in Southampton, Hampshire, told him his purchase had to be 'approved' - and a member of staff was only too eager to demand his identification proving he was over 18.
Mr Nemeti managed to cook and eat the dessert that evening for his dinner without injuring himself.
The machine, in Southampton, Hampshire, told him his purchase had to be 'approved' - and a member of staff was only too eager to demand his identification proving he was over 18.
Mr Nemeti managed to cook and eat the dessert that evening for his dinner without injuring himself.
AAA: New ethanol blend will damage vehicles and void warranties
Not news, of course, since it's been discussed for years.
AAA, which issued its warning today, says just 12 million of more than 240 million cars, trucks and SUVs now in use have manufacturers' approval for E15. Flex-fuel vehicles, 2012 and newer General Motors vehicles, 2013 Fords and 2001 and later model Porsches are the exceptions, according to AAA, the nation's largest motorist group, with 53.5 million members.
AAA, which issued its warning today, says just 12 million of more than 240 million cars, trucks and SUVs now in use have manufacturers' approval for E15. Flex-fuel vehicles, 2012 and newer General Motors vehicles, 2013 Fords and 2001 and later model Porsches are the exceptions, according to AAA, the nation's largest motorist group, with 53.5 million members.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
The EPA’s War on Home Appliances
Are you disappointed in every shower head that you purchase? Does your toilet have trouble flushing? Have you noticed that your dishes are still dirty after the dishwasher cycle is completed?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re not alone. Some of us may be quick to blame the manufacturer of these home appliances. But the manufacturers are just abiding by the costly regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy.
If you answered yes to any of those questions, you’re not alone. Some of us may be quick to blame the manufacturer of these home appliances. But the manufacturers are just abiding by the costly regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy.
U.N. General Assembly votes to recognize the state of Palestine
A long-sought victory for the Palestinians but an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States.
Claire Berlinski: Is the Enemy Us?
In his new book, Bruce Bawer has proposed an answer to vexing questions: Why has our culture become degraded? Why have our politics become polarized? And why has our public debate coarsened? Bawer locates the source of these misfortunes in the changes that have taken place in American higher education over the last generation—above all, the emergence of multicultural “identity studies.” The academy, he observes, is “the font of the perfidious multicultural idea and the setting in which it is implanted into the minds of American youth.”
For Winning The Nobel Prize, Niels Bohr Got A House With Free Beer
Forbes:
So how did Bohr keep his mind supple and flexible, ready to accept new ideas when his peers like Einstein couldn’t? Well, here’s the thing – there are several studies that indicate that being drunk can actually improve your creativity. That’s because it prevents your mind from being able to focus, so it more readily drifts from one connection to another, which can yield creative solutions to problems.
So was free beer the reason why Bohr was able to make great strides in developing quantum mechanics?
So how did Bohr keep his mind supple and flexible, ready to accept new ideas when his peers like Einstein couldn’t? Well, here’s the thing – there are several studies that indicate that being drunk can actually improve your creativity. That’s because it prevents your mind from being able to focus, so it more readily drifts from one connection to another, which can yield creative solutions to problems.
So was free beer the reason why Bohr was able to make great strides in developing quantum mechanics?
Patterico: L.A. Times Covers SWATting on Front Page
Read the whole post at his site.
Using Simon Cowell’s recent SWATting as a news peg, Chris Lee and Richard Winton have a front-page story at the L.A. Times about the phenomenon of SWATting. The story focuses on the recent rash of celebrity SWATtings in Los Angeles, rather than the politically motivated SWATtings of four people (including myself) between June 2011 and June 2012. Hey, the news biz is all about eyeballs! However, the article does mentions the SWATtings of myself and Aaron Walker.
Using Simon Cowell’s recent SWATting as a news peg, Chris Lee and Richard Winton have a front-page story at the L.A. Times about the phenomenon of SWATting. The story focuses on the recent rash of celebrity SWATtings in Los Angeles, rather than the politically motivated SWATtings of four people (including myself) between June 2011 and June 2012. Hey, the news biz is all about eyeballs! However, the article does mentions the SWATtings of myself and Aaron Walker.
Publishers brace for authors to reclaim book rights in 2013
Read the whole thing. Here’s a plain English overview of how the law works:
The law in question is Section 203 of the 1978 Copyright Act which allows authors to cut away any contract after 35 years. Congress put it in place to protect young artists who signed away future best sellers for a pittance.
“People have had 2013 circled on their calendar for a while,” said Andrew Bart, a copyright lawyer at Jenner & Block, in a phone interview.
Termination rights are not a new idea and have been the subject of famous court cases involving John Steinbeck, Lassie and Superman. The difference is that these older cases are based on a pre-1978 law that often required an author to exercise renewal rights which, in many cases, the author had signed away.
The new law has fewer such loopholes and will also mean that what has been a drip-drip of old copyright cases could turn into a flood as nearly every book published after 1978 becomes eligible for termination.
The 1978 law also means a threat to the back list of titles that are a cash cow for many publishers. The threat is amplified as a result of new digital distribution options for authors that were never conceived when the law was passed — these new options mean authors have more leverage to walk away from their publishers altogether.
The law in question is Section 203 of the 1978 Copyright Act which allows authors to cut away any contract after 35 years. Congress put it in place to protect young artists who signed away future best sellers for a pittance.
“People have had 2013 circled on their calendar for a while,” said Andrew Bart, a copyright lawyer at Jenner & Block, in a phone interview.
Termination rights are not a new idea and have been the subject of famous court cases involving John Steinbeck, Lassie and Superman. The difference is that these older cases are based on a pre-1978 law that often required an author to exercise renewal rights which, in many cases, the author had signed away.
The new law has fewer such loopholes and will also mean that what has been a drip-drip of old copyright cases could turn into a flood as nearly every book published after 1978 becomes eligible for termination.
The 1978 law also means a threat to the back list of titles that are a cash cow for many publishers. The threat is amplified as a result of new digital distribution options for authors that were never conceived when the law was passed — these new options mean authors have more leverage to walk away from their publishers altogether.
Jonah Goldberg on Egyptian pres Morsi: Egypt’s ‘Moderate’ Despot
What do you call a leader of a theocratic and cultish movement with a deep and clear disdain for democracy who suddenly assumes dictatorial powers?
A “moderate,” of course.
A “moderate,” of course.
Thursday links
Bowel-based biomarkers: Clues To the history of human activity.
This is Ann - she drinks blood! Dr. Seuss Does Malaria.
The greatest scientific typo in history.
2012 National Beard and Moustache Championships.
2012 National Beard and Moustache Championships.
Bikinis and zombies: the making of the 2013 Walking Dead swimsuit calendar
A South African advertising agency has combined two popular genres to create a zombie swimsuit calendar.
Featuring models made up to look like "cadaverous cuties", it is part of a promotion for The Walking Dead TV show.
Featuring models made up to look like "cadaverous cuties", it is part of a promotion for The Walking Dead TV show.
Bad nativity sets
Zombie nativity:
The meat nativity:
the butter nativity:
Tampons:
And shotgun shells:
Ugly Christmas sweaters
In the phrase "ugly Christmas sweater," the word "ugly" is a term of art, a description rather than a put-down. One wears an ugly Christmas sweater precisely because it is so over the top, crammed with images of weighted-down Christmas trees, cartoony reindeer, red-cheeked Santas, and leering snowmen. Sequins are encouraged, as are lights. And if the sweater is three-dimensional, all the better.
And check out the All-Time Ugliest Christmas Sweaters.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Automated cars and Asimov's laws of robotics
When Skynet becomes active: interesting points in this article at New Yorker:
Eventually (though not yet) automated vehicles will be able to drive better, and more safely than you can; no drinking, no distraction, better reflexes, and better awareness (via networking) of other vehicles. Within two or three decades the difference between automated driving and human driving will be so great you may not be legally allowed to drive your own car, and even if you are allowed, it would be immoral of you to drive, because the risk of you hurting yourself or another person will be far greater than if you allowed a machine to do the work.
That moment will be significant not just because it will signal the end of one more human niche, but because it will signal the beginning of another: the era in which it will no longer be optional for machines to have ethical systems.
Eventually (though not yet) automated vehicles will be able to drive better, and more safely than you can; no drinking, no distraction, better reflexes, and better awareness (via networking) of other vehicles. Within two or three decades the difference between automated driving and human driving will be so great you may not be legally allowed to drive your own car, and even if you are allowed, it would be immoral of you to drive, because the risk of you hurting yourself or another person will be far greater than if you allowed a machine to do the work.
That moment will be significant not just because it will signal the end of one more human niche, but because it will signal the beginning of another: the era in which it will no longer be optional for machines to have ethical systems.
Glenn Reynolds: Are we living in the Hunger Games?
You know the story: While the provinces starve, the Capital City lives it up, its wheeler-dealer bigshots growing fat on the tribute extracted from the rest of the country.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Europe's “Erotic zoos” for animal prostitution: the bottom of the slippery slope
The law’s “enlightened” legalization of bestiality:
Bestiality was legalised in Germany in 1969, the same year that gay sex was also removed from the criminal code. After that, sex with animals was only punishable if the animal was severely injured.
via Instapundit.
Bestiality was legalised in Germany in 1969, the same year that gay sex was also removed from the criminal code. After that, sex with animals was only punishable if the animal was severely injured.
via Instapundit.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Homemade, Stink Bomb-Throwing, Crossbow Slingshot
Links, videos and more information at The Blaze: The infamous Slingshot Channel’s Joerg Sprave has upgraded his homemade crossbow slingshot yet again. This time, he’s gone down the road of warfare against the sensory system.
The Semen Quality of Men With Deep Voices
Science takes on the important questions: Low Pitched Voices Are Perceived as Masculine and Attractive but Do They Predict Semen Quality in Men?
How muscular boys are as teenagers may predict how long they live
BBC: Swedish experts who tracked more than a million teenage boys for 24 years found those with low muscle strength - weaker leg and arm muscles and a limp grip - were at increased risk of early death.
Teachers Hired Stand-Ins to Take Their Certification Tests
The hired-test takers went to testing centers, showed the proctor the fake license, and passed the certification exam, prosecutors say. Then, the aspiring teacher used the test score to secure a job with a public school district.
At least three teachers implicated in the scandal remain employed with their school district.
At least three teachers implicated in the scandal remain employed with their school district.
This morning, SCOTUS revived challenge to ObamaCare
On the grounds of religious liberty — and not just the HHS contraception mandate. Links and discussion at HotAir.
The Real Cyberforensics Used To Snoop On Petraeus (And You)
When it comes to the vast majority of activity by Internet users, it's amazingly easy to trace fake email addresses and anonymous blogs back to their owners. Or, put another way, if the director of the CIA's undercover ops can be cracked, so can yours. Here's how.
Monday links
How Do Porcupines Mate? Very Carefully.
New Zealand tax dollars at work: people like sex more than housework. Vaguely related: Sex Toy Sales Up In Canada Due To NHL Lockout.
Casablanca premiered 70 years ago today.
The Origin of the Word "Soccer".
Color photos from 1910.
New Zealand tax dollars at work: people like sex more than housework. Vaguely related: Sex Toy Sales Up In Canada Due To NHL Lockout.
Casablanca premiered 70 years ago today.
The Origin of the Word "Soccer".
Color photos from 1910.
Casablanca premiered 70 years ago today
You must remember this,
A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.
And when two lovers woo,
They still say, "I love you," on that you can rely,
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by.
- Herman Hupfeld (1894-1951) ("As Time Goes By")*
Play it Sam. Play "As Time Goes By."**
- Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch (film script for Casablanca, Ilsa to Sam)
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.
- Ibid., Rick
I'm shocked... shocked! to find that gambling is going on in here!
- Ibid., Captain Renault to Rick
Here's looking at you, kid.
- Ibid., Rick to Ilsa
We'll always have Paris.
- Ibid., Rick to Ilsa
...I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that.
- Ibid., Rick to Ilsa
Major Strasser has been shot! Round up the usual suspects.
- Ibid., Captain Renault to his police
Today is the 70th anniversary of the premiere showing of that 1942 film icon, Casablanca, at the Hollywood Theater in New York City on 26 November of that year. Based on a play, Everybody Comes to Rick's, by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, Casablanca was produced by Hal Wallis and directed by Michael Curtiz. The cast included Humphrey Bogart (Rick), Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa), Paul Henreid (Victor Laszlo), Claude Rains (Captain Renault), and Dooley Wilson (Sam), with smaller parts by Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Conrad Veidt. The film was scored by Max Steiner, who also wrote the music for Gone With the Wind, and his scoring incorporates fragments of both the Marseillaise and "As Time Goes By" as recurring leitmotifs. Set early in World War II in Casablanca, Morocco - then controlled by the Vichy French government after the fall of France - the plot revolves around an expatriate American saloon keeper (Bogart) whose lost lover (Bergman) shows up in Casablanca with her husband, a celebrated Resistance fighter attempting to escape from Nazi-occupied Europe (Henreid). A German officer (Veidt) arrives to thwart this attempt, counting on the aid of the corrupt local Vichy police prefect (Rains). Ultimately, the outcome turns on Bogart and Bergman sacrificing their love for the Allied cause - which Rains ultimately joins also. With excellent characterizations, often stunning cinematography - the softening of focus on Bergman's lovely face during close-ups, for example - high melodrama, and many elements of film noir, Casablanca makes everybody's list of the two or three greatest films ever made. In the final scene, Bogart delivers the last of its great "signature" lines (to Captain Renault):
"Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
* N.B. "As Time Goes By" was originally written for the 1931 Broadway musical Everybody's Welcome. It remains famous today largely because of its part in the film, Casablanca.
** The more familiar "Play it again, Sam." is a well-known misquotation.
Note also that an excellent article on the film is available on Wikipedia.
The "Play it Sam" scene, highlighting Bergman's luminosity:
And the very end of the film. (Note the recurring motif of the "Marseillaise"
in the background - following a whiff of "Deutschland Über Alles."):
Taken from Ed's Quotation of the Day, only available via email. If you'd like to be added to his list, leave your email address in the comments.
A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh.
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by.
And when two lovers woo,
They still say, "I love you," on that you can rely,
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by.
- Herman Hupfeld (1894-1951) ("As Time Goes By")*
Play it Sam. Play "As Time Goes By."**
- Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch (film script for Casablanca, Ilsa to Sam)
Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.
- Ibid., Rick
I'm shocked... shocked! to find that gambling is going on in here!
- Ibid., Captain Renault to Rick
Here's looking at you, kid.
- Ibid., Rick to Ilsa
We'll always have Paris.
- Ibid., Rick to Ilsa
...I've got a job to do, too. Where I'm going, you can't follow. What I've got to do, you can't be any part of. Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that.
- Ibid., Rick to Ilsa
Major Strasser has been shot! Round up the usual suspects.
- Ibid., Captain Renault to his police
Today is the 70th anniversary of the premiere showing of that 1942 film icon, Casablanca, at the Hollywood Theater in New York City on 26 November of that year. Based on a play, Everybody Comes to Rick's, by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison, Casablanca was produced by Hal Wallis and directed by Michael Curtiz. The cast included Humphrey Bogart (Rick), Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa), Paul Henreid (Victor Laszlo), Claude Rains (Captain Renault), and Dooley Wilson (Sam), with smaller parts by Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Conrad Veidt. The film was scored by Max Steiner, who also wrote the music for Gone With the Wind, and his scoring incorporates fragments of both the Marseillaise and "As Time Goes By" as recurring leitmotifs. Set early in World War II in Casablanca, Morocco - then controlled by the Vichy French government after the fall of France - the plot revolves around an expatriate American saloon keeper (Bogart) whose lost lover (Bergman) shows up in Casablanca with her husband, a celebrated Resistance fighter attempting to escape from Nazi-occupied Europe (Henreid). A German officer (Veidt) arrives to thwart this attempt, counting on the aid of the corrupt local Vichy police prefect (Rains). Ultimately, the outcome turns on Bogart and Bergman sacrificing their love for the Allied cause - which Rains ultimately joins also. With excellent characterizations, often stunning cinematography - the softening of focus on Bergman's lovely face during close-ups, for example - high melodrama, and many elements of film noir, Casablanca makes everybody's list of the two or three greatest films ever made. In the final scene, Bogart delivers the last of its great "signature" lines (to Captain Renault):
"Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
* N.B. "As Time Goes By" was originally written for the 1931 Broadway musical Everybody's Welcome. It remains famous today largely because of its part in the film, Casablanca.
** The more familiar "Play it again, Sam." is a well-known misquotation.
Note also that an excellent article on the film is available on Wikipedia.
The "Play it Sam" scene, highlighting Bergman's luminosity:
And the very end of the film. (Note the recurring motif of the "Marseillaise"
in the background - following a whiff of "Deutschland Über Alles."):
Taken from Ed's Quotation of the Day, only available via email. If you'd like to be added to his list, leave your email address in the comments.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Must read: The E-Mail of Doom
A British father, retired from the Royal Navy, sent this to his three adult children after what must have been a very dismal evening together.
Read the whole thing. It starts: It is obvious that none of you has the faintest notion of the bitter disappointment each of you has in your own way dished out to us.
Read the whole thing. It starts: It is obvious that none of you has the faintest notion of the bitter disappointment each of you has in your own way dished out to us.
Comments and links at American Interest.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
A look back at Thailand's history of penile amputations.
A look back at Thailand's history of penile amputations. (Key quote: A traditional Thai home is elevated on pilings and the windows are open to allow for ventilation. The area under the house is the home of the family pigs, chickens, and ducks. Thus, it is quite usual that an amputated penis is tossed out of an open window, where it may be captured by a duck.
The report explains, for readers in other countries: "The Thai saying, 'I better get home or the ducks will have something to eat,' is therefore a common joke and immediately understood at all levels of society".
The report explains, for readers in other countries: "The Thai saying, 'I better get home or the ducks will have something to eat,' is therefore a common joke and immediately understood at all levels of society".
Police Raid Home of 9-Year-Old Pirate Bay User, Seize Her “Winnie the Pooh” Laptop….
The girl tried to download a number of songs by Finnish pop star Chisu using The Pirate Bay, where she was led after searching for the songs on Google(GOOG). The downloads failed, according to the girl’s father, and the two went to a local store the following day to purchase a Chisu album. ISPs working with CIAPC flagged the activity, however, and the group’s anti-piracy procedures went into effect.
via Instapundit.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Friday links
It's Black Friday, Charlie Brown.
Gallery: Murmurations of Starlings.
Atomic Bomb v. Cod Fillets (1955 study).
Chocolate Consumption, Traffic Accidents and Serial Killers.
Creepy abandoned churches.
Houses Shaped Like Animals.
Have the cigarette taxes in Florida increased recently? Woman, 31, told deputy she was looking for cigarettes in 78-year-old man's crotch. Also, deer attacks two men, then takes man's cigarettes.
Gallery: Murmurations of Starlings.
Atomic Bomb v. Cod Fillets (1955 study).
Chocolate Consumption, Traffic Accidents and Serial Killers.
Creepy abandoned churches.
Houses Shaped Like Animals.
Have the cigarette taxes in Florida increased recently? Woman, 31, told deputy she was looking for cigarettes in 78-year-old man's crotch. Also, deer attacks two men, then takes man's cigarettes.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Benjamin Franklin’s account of the First Thanksgiving
Benjamin Franklin’s account of the First Thanksgiving
Instead of a Fast They Proclaimed a Thanksgiving Benjamin Franklin (1785)
There is a tradition that in the planting of New England, the first settlers met with many difficulties and hardships, as is generally the case when a civiliz’d people attempt to establish themselves in a wilderness country. Being so piously dispos’d, they sought relief from heaven by laying their wants and distresses before the Lord in frequent set days of fasting and prayer. Constant meditation and discourse on these subjects kept their minds gloomy and discontented, and like the children of Israel there were many dispos’d to return to the Egypt which persecution had induc’d them to abandon.
At length, when it was proposed in the Assembly to proclaim another fast, a farmer of plain sense rose and remark’d that the inconveniences they suffer’d, and concerning which they had so often weary’d heaven with their complaints, were not so great as they might have expected, and were diminishing every day as the colony strengthen’d; that the earth began to reward their labour and furnish liberally for their subsistence; that their seas and rivers were full of fish, the air sweet, the climate healthy, and above all, they were in the full enjoyment of liberty, civil and religious.
He therefore thought that reflecting and conversing on these subjects would be more comfortable and lead more to make them contented with their situation; and that it would be more becoming the gratitude they ow’d to the divine being, if instead of a fast they should proclaim a thanksgiving. His advice was taken, and from that day to this, they have in every year observ’d circumstances of public felicity sufficient to furnish employment for a Thanksgiving Day, which is therefore constantly ordered and religiously observed.
Instead of a Fast They Proclaimed a Thanksgiving Benjamin Franklin (1785)
There is a tradition that in the planting of New England, the first settlers met with many difficulties and hardships, as is generally the case when a civiliz’d people attempt to establish themselves in a wilderness country. Being so piously dispos’d, they sought relief from heaven by laying their wants and distresses before the Lord in frequent set days of fasting and prayer. Constant meditation and discourse on these subjects kept their minds gloomy and discontented, and like the children of Israel there were many dispos’d to return to the Egypt which persecution had induc’d them to abandon.
At length, when it was proposed in the Assembly to proclaim another fast, a farmer of plain sense rose and remark’d that the inconveniences they suffer’d, and concerning which they had so often weary’d heaven with their complaints, were not so great as they might have expected, and were diminishing every day as the colony strengthen’d; that the earth began to reward their labour and furnish liberally for their subsistence; that their seas and rivers were full of fish, the air sweet, the climate healthy, and above all, they were in the full enjoyment of liberty, civil and religious.
He therefore thought that reflecting and conversing on these subjects would be more comfortable and lead more to make them contented with their situation; and that it would be more becoming the gratitude they ow’d to the divine being, if instead of a fast they should proclaim a thanksgiving. His advice was taken, and from that day to this, they have in every year observ’d circumstances of public felicity sufficient to furnish employment for a Thanksgiving Day, which is therefore constantly ordered and religiously observed.
Surprise: PA College Slashes Instructors’ Hours to Avoid Obamacare.
...slashing the hours of 400 adjunct instructors, support staff, and part-time instructors to dodge paying for Obamacare.
On Tuesday, CCAC employees were notified that Obamacare defines full-time employees as those working 30 hours or more per week and that on Dec. 31 temporary part-time employees will be cut back to 25 hours. The move will save an estimated $6 million.
"While it is of course the college’s preference to provide coverage to these positions, there simply are not funds available to do so."
On Tuesday, CCAC employees were notified that Obamacare defines full-time employees as those working 30 hours or more per week and that on Dec. 31 temporary part-time employees will be cut back to 25 hours. The move will save an estimated $6 million.
"While it is of course the college’s preference to provide coverage to these positions, there simply are not funds available to do so."
via Instapundit.
So, today's my birthday. How often does it fall on Thanksgiving?
For thos of us born between the 22nd and 28th and have always wondered, here's how it works:
Emerson's Thanksgiving Prayer
For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
A wonderful holiday to all of you and all of yours.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Invite the neighbors to dinner, kill them and take their land
Thanksgiving as a kid vs. Thanksgiving as an adult. (NSFW - language)
Buffy Thanksgiving episode: "Ritual sacrifice, with pie"
Science answers the important questions: Why You’ll Still Have Room for Pie After Turkey and Stuffing.
8 Thanksgiving Flowcharts.
A Thanksgiving miscellany: Mark Twain, Cicero and the best turkey fryer PSA ever.
How Turkey Got Its Name.
Buffy Thanksgiving episode: "Ritual sacrifice, with pie"
Science answers the important questions: Why You’ll Still Have Room for Pie After Turkey and Stuffing.
8 Thanksgiving Flowcharts.
A Thanksgiving miscellany: Mark Twain, Cicero and the best turkey fryer PSA ever.
How Turkey Got Its Name.
A Thanksgiving miscellany: Mark Twain, Cicero and the best turkey fryer PSA ever
Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for - annually, not oftener - if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months, instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man's side, consequently on the Lord's side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and to extend the usual annual compliments.
- Mark Twain (1835-1910) (Autobiography)
Gratius animus est una virtus non solum maxima, sed etiam mater virtutum omnium reliquaram.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) (Oratio pro Cnaeo Plancio, 23)
(A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the mother of all other virtues.)
The excellent William Shatner fried turkey PSA:
Turkey fryer alert: man deep fries own leg.
Tutorial: How to draw a turkey.
Pi vs Pie.
Most commercial turkeys are conceived via artificial insemination.
- Mark Twain (1835-1910) (Autobiography)
Gratius animus est una virtus non solum maxima, sed etiam mater virtutum omnium reliquaram.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) (Oratio pro Cnaeo Plancio, 23)
(A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the mother of all other virtues.)
The excellent William Shatner fried turkey PSA:
Turkey fryer alert: man deep fries own leg.
Tutorial: How to draw a turkey.
Pi vs Pie.
Most commercial turkeys are conceived via artificial insemination.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
13 camels on way to beauty contest killed by truck
A large truck carrying cement knocked over 13 female camels as they were crossing the road on their way to a beauty contest in Saudi Arabia.
Newspapers said all the 13 camels, with a value of SRmillions, perished on the road in the eastern oasis town of Nofood.
The accident also resulted in serious damage to their owner’s four-wheel Lexus car, with a value of around SR30,0,000, they said.
“The camels were crossing the road ahead of their owner’s car on their way to a camel beauty contest when the truck hit them…they were all killed,” Sharq daily said.
Newspapers said all the 13 camels, with a value of SRmillions, perished on the road in the eastern oasis town of Nofood.
The accident also resulted in serious damage to their owner’s four-wheel Lexus car, with a value of around SR30,0,000, they said.
“The camels were crossing the road ahead of their owner’s car on their way to a camel beauty contest when the truck hit them…they were all killed,” Sharq daily said.
A Musical Video Recipe That Features a Raw Dancing Turkey
Cooking site CHOW has created a new ‘Musical Video Recipe’ for Thanksgiving which features a raw turkey dancing to their recipe for “Buffalo Roasted Turkey with Blue Cheese Sauce.”
Senate bill rewrite lets feds read your e-mail without warrants
Read the whole thing at CNET: A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans' e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law.
CNET has learned that Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week.
Revised bill highlights
✭ Grants warrantless access to Americans' electronic correspondence to over 22 federal agencies. Only a subpoena is required, not a search warrant signed by a judge based on probable cause.
✭ Permits state and local law enforcement to warrantlessly access Americans' correspondence stored on systems not offered "to the public," including university networks.
✭ Authorizes any law enforcement agency to access accounts without a warrant -- or subsequent court review -- if they claim "emergency" situations exist.
✭ Says providers "shall notify" law enforcement in advance of any plans to tell their customers that they've been the target of a warrant, order, or subpoena.
✭ Delays notification of customers whose accounts have been accessed from 3 days to "10 business days." This notification can be postponed by up to 360 days.
CNET has learned that Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans' e-mail, is scheduled for next week.
Revised bill highlights
✭ Grants warrantless access to Americans' electronic correspondence to over 22 federal agencies. Only a subpoena is required, not a search warrant signed by a judge based on probable cause.
✭ Permits state and local law enforcement to warrantlessly access Americans' correspondence stored on systems not offered "to the public," including university networks.
✭ Authorizes any law enforcement agency to access accounts without a warrant -- or subsequent court review -- if they claim "emergency" situations exist.
✭ Says providers "shall notify" law enforcement in advance of any plans to tell their customers that they've been the target of a warrant, order, or subpoena.
✭ Delays notification of customers whose accounts have been accessed from 3 days to "10 business days." This notification can be postponed by up to 360 days.
Tuesday links
Monday, November 19, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Tycho Brahe wasn’t murdered after all
More at BBC, via io9.
The 16th-Century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe is unlikely to have been poisoned, according to a researcher studying his remains.
The body was exhumed in 2010 in a bid to confirm the cause of his death.
Previously at io9: The crazy life and crazier death of Tycho Brahe, history’s strangest astronomer
The 16th-Century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe is unlikely to have been poisoned, according to a researcher studying his remains.
The body was exhumed in 2010 in a bid to confirm the cause of his death.
Previously at io9: The crazy life and crazier death of Tycho Brahe, history’s strangest astronomer
Who's shooting and mutilating dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico?
Weirdness - read the whole thing:
On Friday, a team from the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport found a dolphin on Ship Island with its lower jaw missing.
Last weekend, IMMS responded to a dead dolphin found along the Ocean Springs/Gautier coastline with a 9mm bullet wound. "It went through the abdomen, into the kidneys and killed it," said Moby Solangi, IMMS executive director.
In Louisiana, a dolphin was found with its tail cut off.
On Friday, a team from the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport found a dolphin on Ship Island with its lower jaw missing.
Last weekend, IMMS responded to a dead dolphin found along the Ocean Springs/Gautier coastline with a 9mm bullet wound. "It went through the abdomen, into the kidneys and killed it," said Moby Solangi, IMMS executive director.
In Louisiana, a dolphin was found with its tail cut off.
Twinkies will return... from Mexico.
CSMonitor: The brands “most likely will be purchased by a competitor that will bolt the additional sales to a more efficient delivery system,” David Pauker, a food industry restructuring specialist, tells Reuters. “The company itself won't survive.”
(A) possible bidder hints at the future of Twinkies and maybe the US bakery business as a whole: Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest bread baking firm, which already owns parts of Sara Lee, Entenmann’s and Thomas English Muffins.
But the big question is whether the same problems that haunted Hostess – high sugar prices tied to US trade tariffs, changing consumer tastes, and union pushback against labor concessions – will squeeze whatever profit is left in the brands.
Especially if a Mexican buyer is involved, production may go the way of the Brach’s and Fannie May candy concerns: south of the border. With US sugar tariffs set artificially high to protect Florida sugar-growing concerns, a non-unionized shop with access to lower-priced sugar in Mexico could be the Twinkie lifeline, economists suggest.
(A) possible bidder hints at the future of Twinkies and maybe the US bakery business as a whole: Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo, the world’s largest bread baking firm, which already owns parts of Sara Lee, Entenmann’s and Thomas English Muffins.
But the big question is whether the same problems that haunted Hostess – high sugar prices tied to US trade tariffs, changing consumer tastes, and union pushback against labor concessions – will squeeze whatever profit is left in the brands.
Especially if a Mexican buyer is involved, production may go the way of the Brach’s and Fannie May candy concerns: south of the border. With US sugar tariffs set artificially high to protect Florida sugar-growing concerns, a non-unionized shop with access to lower-priced sugar in Mexico could be the Twinkie lifeline, economists suggest.
Not The Onion: Taliban CCs instead of BCCs, reveals email list
Taliban Oops Reveals Mailing List IDs
Somewhere out there, Mullah Omar must be shaking his head.
In a Dilbert-esque faux pax, a Taliban spokesperson sent out a routine email last week with one notable difference.He publicly CC'd the names of everyone on his mailing list.
The names were disclosed in an email by Qari Yousuf Ahmedi, an official Taliban spokesperson, on Saturday. The email was a press release he received from the account of Zabihullah Mujahid, another Taliban spokesperson. Ahmedi then forwarded Mujahid's email to the full Taliban mailing list, but rather than using the BCC function, or blind carbon copy which keeps email addresses private, Ahmedi made the addresses public.
"Taliban have included all 4 of my email addresses on the leaked distribution list," tweeted journalist Mustafa Kazemi, a prolific Kabul-based tweeter with more than 9,500 followers. "Quite reassuring to my safety."
The list, made up of more than 400 recipients, consists mostly of journalists, but also includes an address appearing to belong to a provincial governor, an Afghan legislator, several academics and activists, an l Afghan consultative committee, and a representative of Gulbuddein Hekmatar, an Afghan warlord whose outlawed group Hezb-i-Islami is believed to be behind several attacks against coalition troops.
The Taliban routinely send out press releases to their mailing list, often claiming responsibility for attacks against Afghan and coalition targets. They are known for exaggerating casualty figures.
In recent weeks, the Taliban have increased the number of emails they send out, growing from just a handful every week, to several per day. Most of the emails are sent from Ahmedi's account. The increase coincides with the end of the annual Taliban fighting season, prompting one local journalist to joke, "I guess when fighting season ends, emailing season begins."
Qari Yousuf Ahmedi did not return emails requesting a comment.
Somewhere out there, Mullah Omar must be shaking his head.
In a Dilbert-esque faux pax, a Taliban spokesperson sent out a routine email last week with one notable difference.He publicly CC'd the names of everyone on his mailing list.
The names were disclosed in an email by Qari Yousuf Ahmedi, an official Taliban spokesperson, on Saturday. The email was a press release he received from the account of Zabihullah Mujahid, another Taliban spokesperson. Ahmedi then forwarded Mujahid's email to the full Taliban mailing list, but rather than using the BCC function, or blind carbon copy which keeps email addresses private, Ahmedi made the addresses public.
"Taliban have included all 4 of my email addresses on the leaked distribution list," tweeted journalist Mustafa Kazemi, a prolific Kabul-based tweeter with more than 9,500 followers. "Quite reassuring to my safety."
The list, made up of more than 400 recipients, consists mostly of journalists, but also includes an address appearing to belong to a provincial governor, an Afghan legislator, several academics and activists, an l Afghan consultative committee, and a representative of Gulbuddein Hekmatar, an Afghan warlord whose outlawed group Hezb-i-Islami is believed to be behind several attacks against coalition troops.
The Taliban routinely send out press releases to their mailing list, often claiming responsibility for attacks against Afghan and coalition targets. They are known for exaggerating casualty figures.
In recent weeks, the Taliban have increased the number of emails they send out, growing from just a handful every week, to several per day. Most of the emails are sent from Ahmedi's account. The increase coincides with the end of the annual Taliban fighting season, prompting one local journalist to joke, "I guess when fighting season ends, emailing season begins."
Qari Yousuf Ahmedi did not return emails requesting a comment.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Excellent: The Hater’s Guide To The Williams-Sonoma Catalog
Deadspin: When a place like Williams-Sonoma gets your credit card and thus your address, you are on the mailing list for life. Every holiday season, my mail slot gets bukkake'd with monstrous catalogs packed with shit I would never, ever buy, and the W-S catalog stands out among them.
The people at W-S aren't the least bit self-conscious about getting you to pay $35 for mailed gravy. So I thought I would go through this holiday season's catalog, which has spent a solid week atop my shitter, and point out some of the more ridiculous items. Because there are people out there who buy this shit. The question is ... who? And why? Let's try to figure that out now.
The people at W-S aren't the least bit self-conscious about getting you to pay $35 for mailed gravy. So I thought I would go through this holiday season's catalog, which has spent a solid week atop my shitter, and point out some of the more ridiculous items. Because there are people out there who buy this shit. The question is ... who? And why? Let's try to figure that out now.
Improvised footballs from Africa
Photographer Jessica Hilltout traveled Africa documenting homemade footballs/soccer balls improvised across the continent. via BoingBoing.
Peter Pan and Superman fined after scuffle while trying to grope nun
HEARD the one about Peter Pan, Superman and the nun?
It was no joke for friends Christopher Pantony and Jamie Reynolds who landed up in court after a fancy dress argument.
It was no joke for friends Christopher Pantony and Jamie Reynolds who landed up in court after a fancy dress argument.
Gun Store Owner to Obama Voters: You Are Not Welcome
via GatewayPundit, FoxNews has this:
“I’m a small business owner,” he said. “If you are dumb enough to vote for Obama again – after four years of this — I don’t think you are responsible enough to own a firearm. I don’t care who it makes mad.”
Reynolds acknowledged that folks coming into his store probably didn’t vote for Obama anyway, but he’s still making a statement. He said he’s concerned about how President Obama’s policies could impact his small business.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Homemade Twinkie recipe
Golden “Twinkie” Cake: (Or use a box mix)
2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray molds/pan with non-stick spray.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Next, beat in the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute in between each addition. Reduce the mixer speed and add flour mixture alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the vanilla and mix until the batter just comes together. Over mixing with make your cake chewy. Makes 12 cakes.
Spray your Twinkie canoes and bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until the cakes are just a light golden color and a tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Cream Filling
¼ cup shortening (I prefer Crisco brand)
¼ cup margarine
1 cup sifted powdered or 10x sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Beat together the shortening and margarine until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar in a little at a time and beat on high until peaks form. Add vanilla and beat for one minute. Place in prepared icing tubes for piping into cakes.
To fill the cakes, insert the icing tip – preferably a large star tip – into three points along the flat-side of the cake, about 1/8 of an inch deep. Squeeze lightly until you see the filling begin to ooze out.
2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spray molds/pan with non-stick spray.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Next, beat in the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute in between each addition. Reduce the mixer speed and add flour mixture alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Add the vanilla and mix until the batter just comes together. Over mixing with make your cake chewy. Makes 12 cakes.
Spray your Twinkie canoes and bake at 350 for 15 minutes, or until the cakes are just a light golden color and a tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Cream Filling
¼ cup shortening (I prefer Crisco brand)
¼ cup margarine
1 cup sifted powdered or 10x sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Beat together the shortening and margarine until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar in a little at a time and beat on high until peaks form. Add vanilla and beat for one minute. Place in prepared icing tubes for piping into cakes.
To fill the cakes, insert the icing tip – preferably a large star tip – into three points along the flat-side of the cake, about 1/8 of an inch deep. Squeeze lightly until you see the filling begin to ooze out.
The Hostess Liquidation: A Curious Cast Of Characters As The Twinkie Tumbles
Well worth a read, ZeroHedge has an enormous amount of information on the liquidation and the groups/individuals/companies/unions involved.
And this: Sadly, in many ways Hostess is now indicative of that just as insolvent larger corporation, the USA.
And this: Sadly, in many ways Hostess is now indicative of that just as insolvent larger corporation, the USA.
Bertrand Russell and (Jesuit priest) F.C. Copleston Debate the Existence of God on BBC radio, 1948
OpenCulture.com has lengthy quotes and discussion and further links.
The audio version of the debate above is abridged. To read a transcript of the entire debate, click here to open the text in a new window.
Mark Steyn: Tribal America
To an immigrant such as myself (not the undocumented kind, but documented up to the hilt, alas), one of the most striking features of election-night analysis was the lightly worn racial obsession. On Fox News, Democrat Kirsten Powers argued that Republicans needed to deal with the reality that America is becoming what she called a “brown country.” Her fellow Democrat Bob Beckel observed on several occasions that if the share of the “white vote” was held down below 73 percent Romney would lose. In the end, it was 72 percent and he did. Beckel’s assertion — that if you knew the ethnic composition of the electorate you also knew the result — turned out to be correct.
This is what less enlightened societies call tribalism.
This is what less enlightened societies call tribalism.
First formal study of Albert Einstein's brain
The first formal study to take a look at the entire cerebral cortex of Albert Einstein's brain has revealed some interesting clues about the scientist's extraordinary cognitive abilities. Florida State University researchers examined 14 recently rediscovered photographs and compared them to 85 "normal" human brains — and not surprisingly, they noticed some marked differences.
Soon after Einstein's death in 1955, his brain was removed and photographed from multiple and unconventional angles. It was also sectioned into 240 blocks from which many slides were created.
Unfortunately, however, many of these blocks and slides were lost from public sight for over half a century. But their recent rediscovery has allowed neuroscientists to take a closer look, and to analyze them in consideration of the latest functional imaging technologies.
What the researchers found was that Einstein's brain had some definite morphological differences. While the overall size and asymmetrical shape of his brain was normal, the prefrontal, somatosensory, primary motor, parietal, temporal and occipital cortices were "extraordinary," in the words of the researchers.
The neuroscientists, a team led by Dean Falk, suspect that these anomalies may have endowed Einstein with his visuospatial and mathematical abilities. It may also explain his uncanny predilection for thought experiments.
Along with Falk, the study was conducted by Frederick E. Lepore of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and Adrianne Noe, director of the National Museum of Health and Medicine. The entire study can be found at the journal, Brain. via io9.
Unfortunately, I think Jonah Goldberg's right about this: Compassionate Conservatism Redux
Read the whole thing:
Compassionate conservatism always struck me as a philosophical surrender to liberal assumptions about the role of the government in our lives. A hallmark of Great Society liberalism is the idea that an individual’s worth as a human being is correlated to his support for massive expansions of the entitlement state. Conservatives are not uncompassionate. (Indeed, the data show that conservatives are more charitable with their own money and more generous with their time than liberals are.) But, barring something like a natural disaster, they believe that government is not the best and certainly not the first resort for acting on one’s compassion.
I still believe all of that, probably even more than I did when Bush was in office.
But, as a political matter, it has become clear that he was on to something important.
Compassionate conservatism always struck me as a philosophical surrender to liberal assumptions about the role of the government in our lives. A hallmark of Great Society liberalism is the idea that an individual’s worth as a human being is correlated to his support for massive expansions of the entitlement state. Conservatives are not uncompassionate. (Indeed, the data show that conservatives are more charitable with their own money and more generous with their time than liberals are.) But, barring something like a natural disaster, they believe that government is not the best and certainly not the first resort for acting on one’s compassion.
I still believe all of that, probably even more than I did when Bush was in office.
But, as a political matter, it has become clear that he was on to something important.
Petitioning the Obama administration to... Nationalize the Twinkie industry
Support the union bakers - Sign here!
Previous post: Time to stock up on Twinkies. Union workers may permanently kill off the iconic Twinkie. Hostess Brands, Inc., the company that makes Twinkies, announced on Wednesday that it will ask a bankruptcy judge to allow it to shut down and sell off its assets as soon as November 20, if union workers do not end their strike by Thursday.
Previous post: Time to stock up on Twinkies. Union workers may permanently kill off the iconic Twinkie. Hostess Brands, Inc., the company that makes Twinkies, announced on Wednesday that it will ask a bankruptcy judge to allow it to shut down and sell off its assets as soon as November 20, if union workers do not end their strike by Thursday.
How to revive your stagnant brand: Caffeinated Cracker Jacks for adults
Friday links
How Long Would It Take to Fall Through the Earth?
Incredible Animal Portraits: More Than Human.
Video: 9 year old girl football star.
Read My Rings: The Oldest Living Tree Tells All.
11 Weirdly Spelled Words—And How They Got That Way.
Word of the year from the Oxford English Dictionary: 'Omnishambles'.
Incredible Animal Portraits: More Than Human.
Video: 9 year old girl football star.
Read My Rings: The Oldest Living Tree Tells All.
11 Weirdly Spelled Words—And How They Got That Way.
Word of the year from the Oxford English Dictionary: 'Omnishambles'.
5 Historical Manias That Gripped Societies, Then Disappeared
Read the whole thing at Mental Floss.
“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” Charles Mackay may have written those words in 1841 in his social science classic, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, but what he has to say about mass manias and the behavior of crowds remains absolutely relevant today—as anyone who’s ever gone to a midnight sale of one of the Twilight books could tell you.
Mob mentality also goes some of the way—but not all the way—in explaining these real manias and outbreaks of strange behavior that came on disturbingly fast and disappeared just as rapidly. (Please note, Bieber Fever is not on the list.)
“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” Charles Mackay may have written those words in 1841 in his social science classic, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, but what he has to say about mass manias and the behavior of crowds remains absolutely relevant today—as anyone who’s ever gone to a midnight sale of one of the Twilight books could tell you.
Mob mentality also goes some of the way—but not all the way—in explaining these real manias and outbreaks of strange behavior that came on disturbingly fast and disappeared just as rapidly. (Please note, Bieber Fever is not on the list.)
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Here's How You Can Lick Doberman's Leg Sores (and other journalism bloopers)
From a friend, via email:
I received a book I bought online, Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge, a collection of newspaper bloopers collected by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Here are some good ones:
Former President Enters Dinah Shore
Babies Are What The Mother Eats
More of us will live to be centurions
Despite our best efforts, black employment is still rising
Retired priest may marry Springsteen
British left waffles on Falklands
Marine up local nurse
U.S. banks wrestle with Argentine deb
Here's How You Can Lick Doberman's Leg Sores
Sisters reunited after 18 years in checkout line at supermarket
Sharon To Press His Suit In Israel
Man minus ear waives hearing
Blind Woman Gets New Kidney From Dad She Hasn't Seen In Years
Jerk Injures Neck, Wins Award
I received a book I bought online, Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge, a collection of newspaper bloopers collected by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Here are some good ones:
Former President Enters Dinah Shore
Babies Are What The Mother Eats
More of us will live to be centurions
Despite our best efforts, black employment is still rising
Retired priest may marry Springsteen
British left waffles on Falklands
Marine up local nurse
U.S. banks wrestle with Argentine deb
Here's How You Can Lick Doberman's Leg Sores
Sisters reunited after 18 years in checkout line at supermarket
Sharon To Press His Suit In Israel
Man minus ear waives hearing
Blind Woman Gets New Kidney From Dad She Hasn't Seen In Years
Jerk Injures Neck, Wins Award
Thanks, Charlie.
Susan Rice's miserable record at the UN
Rice’s diplomatic failures and silence in the face of outrageous UN antics have given the United States pathetic representation among the 193 members of the world body. UN members, not surprisingly, prefer a weak opponent. Rice is therefore popular with her colleagues. It may explain why she ignored Syria’s growing problems for months.
Speaking out and challenging the status quo is seldom cheered at the UN. Her slow and timid response left the United States at the mercy of Russia and China, who ultimately vetoed a watered down resolution an unprecedented three times.
WSJ: Petraeus pushed out after defending CIA over Benghazi?
Ed Morrissey has comments and links at Hot Air:
A few days ago, one report on l’affaire Petraeus had CIA Director David Petraeus thinking that he would survive the exposure of an extramarital sexual relationship with his biographer Paula Broadwell. That idea received a round of mirthful derision, but a new report about Petraeus’ last days at the CIA suggests that his resignation had a lot less to do with sexual and e-mail indiscretions than first thought, too. The Wall Street Journal’s look at the fall of Petraeus focuses on the singular and noteworthy CIA timeline issued to defend itself in the debate over the terrorist attack in Benghazi, and suggests that the Obama administration wanted Petraeus out because of it.
A few days ago, one report on l’affaire Petraeus had CIA Director David Petraeus thinking that he would survive the exposure of an extramarital sexual relationship with his biographer Paula Broadwell. That idea received a round of mirthful derision, but a new report about Petraeus’ last days at the CIA suggests that his resignation had a lot less to do with sexual and e-mail indiscretions than first thought, too. The Wall Street Journal’s look at the fall of Petraeus focuses on the singular and noteworthy CIA timeline issued to defend itself in the debate over the terrorist attack in Benghazi, and suggests that the Obama administration wanted Petraeus out because of it.
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was born 121 years ago today
In a man to man fight, the winner is he who has one more round in his magazine.
- Field Marshall Erwin Rommel (Infanterie greift an ("Infantry Attacks," 1937))
Courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility.
- Rommel (letter, 9 November 1942)
Self-restraint, even chivalry... distinguished the combatants on both sides throughout the North Africa campaign... The leading exemplar of this code was Rommel himself. When orders from Hitler mandated the execution of captured British commandos, Rommel tossed the document in the trash. He insisted that the Allied prisoners receive the same rations he was given. He even wrote a book about the conflict called Krieg ohne Hass ("War Without Hate"). Memoirs of the North Africa campaign attest that, fierce and brutal as much of the fighting was, relations between individual enemies retained a quality of forbearance that seems, today, almost impossible to imagine.
- Steven Pressfield (b. 1943) (Killing Rommel, 2009)
He was a splendid military gambler, dominating the problems of supply and scornful of opposition ... His ardor and daring inflicted grievous disasters upon us, but he deserves the salute which I made him - and not without some reproaches from the public - in the House of Commons in January 1942, when I said of him, "We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general." He also deserves our respect because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this, he paid the forfeit of his life. In the somber wars of modern democracy, chivalry finds no place ... Still, I do not regret or retract the tribute I paid to Rommel, unfashionable though it was judged.
- Winston Churchill (1874-1965) (The Second World War, Vol. 3, The Grand Alliance)
Today is the 121st anniversary of the birth of legendary German general Field Marshall Erwin (Johannes Eugen) Rommel (1891-1944), who became known as Der Wüstenfuchs ("the Desert Fox") as commander of the Afrika Korps in World War II. Born in Württemberg the son of a schoolmaster, Rommel joined the Imperial German Army in 1910 and served in France, Italy, and Romania during World War I, receiving the highest decorations for bravery. Between the wars, he rose steadily in the army hierarchy, becoming well known as a military educator and writer of textbooks during the early Nazi years. At the time World War II began, he was serving as the commander of Hitler's headquarters troops but was assigned command of a panzer division during the invasion of France and established a reputation for aggressive and innovative leadership. In early 1941, after Italy's failed attempt to invade Egypt from Libya, Hitler sent him to retrieve the deteriorating situation as head of the Afrika Korps, and in a series of see-saw battles which only ended in March 1943, he alternately threatened Egypt and fought a series of defensive actions while retreating toward Tunisia. In November 1943, Rommel was placed in charge of defending the French coast against the anticipated Allied invasion, and he held that command until after D-day (4 June 1944). Increasingly disillusioned with Nazism, Rommel became peripherally involved with the 20 July 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler, and when his connection was discovered, he was forced to commit suicide in October 1944, although for political reasons his death was attributed to war wounds and he was given a hero's funeral. The real cause of his death did not emerge until after Germany's defeat. He once remarked,
"Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.")
Erwin Rommel:
Taken from Ed's Quotation of the Day, only available via email. If you'd like to be added to his list, leave your email address in the comments.
- Field Marshall Erwin Rommel (Infanterie greift an ("Infantry Attacks," 1937))
Courage which goes against military expediency is stupidity, or, if it is insisted upon by a commander, irresponsibility.
- Rommel (letter, 9 November 1942)
Self-restraint, even chivalry... distinguished the combatants on both sides throughout the North Africa campaign... The leading exemplar of this code was Rommel himself. When orders from Hitler mandated the execution of captured British commandos, Rommel tossed the document in the trash. He insisted that the Allied prisoners receive the same rations he was given. He even wrote a book about the conflict called Krieg ohne Hass ("War Without Hate"). Memoirs of the North Africa campaign attest that, fierce and brutal as much of the fighting was, relations between individual enemies retained a quality of forbearance that seems, today, almost impossible to imagine.
- Steven Pressfield (b. 1943) (Killing Rommel, 2009)
He was a splendid military gambler, dominating the problems of supply and scornful of opposition ... His ardor and daring inflicted grievous disasters upon us, but he deserves the salute which I made him - and not without some reproaches from the public - in the House of Commons in January 1942, when I said of him, "We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general." He also deserves our respect because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this, he paid the forfeit of his life. In the somber wars of modern democracy, chivalry finds no place ... Still, I do not regret or retract the tribute I paid to Rommel, unfashionable though it was judged.
- Winston Churchill (1874-1965) (The Second World War, Vol. 3, The Grand Alliance)
Today is the 121st anniversary of the birth of legendary German general Field Marshall Erwin (Johannes Eugen) Rommel (1891-1944), who became known as Der Wüstenfuchs ("the Desert Fox") as commander of the Afrika Korps in World War II. Born in Württemberg the son of a schoolmaster, Rommel joined the Imperial German Army in 1910 and served in France, Italy, and Romania during World War I, receiving the highest decorations for bravery. Between the wars, he rose steadily in the army hierarchy, becoming well known as a military educator and writer of textbooks during the early Nazi years. At the time World War II began, he was serving as the commander of Hitler's headquarters troops but was assigned command of a panzer division during the invasion of France and established a reputation for aggressive and innovative leadership. In early 1941, after Italy's failed attempt to invade Egypt from Libya, Hitler sent him to retrieve the deteriorating situation as head of the Afrika Korps, and in a series of see-saw battles which only ended in March 1943, he alternately threatened Egypt and fought a series of defensive actions while retreating toward Tunisia. In November 1943, Rommel was placed in charge of defending the French coast against the anticipated Allied invasion, and he held that command until after D-day (4 June 1944). Increasingly disillusioned with Nazism, Rommel became peripherally involved with the 20 July 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler, and when his connection was discovered, he was forced to commit suicide in October 1944, although for political reasons his death was attributed to war wounds and he was given a hero's funeral. The real cause of his death did not emerge until after Germany's defeat. He once remarked,
"Mortal danger is an effective antidote for fixed ideas.")
Erwin Rommel:
Taken from Ed's Quotation of the Day, only available via email. If you'd like to be added to his list, leave your email address in the comments.
Jonah Goldberg: The Right Isn’t Waving a White Flag
The conservative Götterdämmerung is finally here. “Like dazed survivors in a ravaged city, America’s conservatives are wailing and beating their collective breasts,” opines The Economist’s “Lexington” columnist. “A leading conservative thinker,” asked by The Economist to “list today’s conservative ideas, laughs bitterly and replies, ‘Are there any?’”
Reaganite former congressman Vin Weber (R., Minn.) laments in the conservative journal Policy Review, “I have never been so concerned about the future of conservative ideas.”
A Washington Post columnist announced that “the long descent of the Republican Party into irrelevance, defeat, and perhaps eventual disappearance” has finally begun. William Kristol of The Weekly Standard concludes that the “conservative movement, which accomplished great things over the past quarter-century, is finished.” His magazine has dedicated an entire issue to the “conservative crack-up.”
These epitaphs are all from yesteryear. The bits from The Economist and Weber were published in 1992. Kristol delivered his death sentence after various conservatives lost the New Hampshire primary in 2000 (the “crack-up” issue was in 1997). And the funereal Washington Post columnist? That was the late Robert Novak in 1976, four years before Ronald Reagan’s 1980 triumph.
And that’s just from the right. Since the conservative movement was born, liberals have been insisting it was dead.
Reaganite former congressman Vin Weber (R., Minn.) laments in the conservative journal Policy Review, “I have never been so concerned about the future of conservative ideas.”
A Washington Post columnist announced that “the long descent of the Republican Party into irrelevance, defeat, and perhaps eventual disappearance” has finally begun. William Kristol of The Weekly Standard concludes that the “conservative movement, which accomplished great things over the past quarter-century, is finished.” His magazine has dedicated an entire issue to the “conservative crack-up.”
These epitaphs are all from yesteryear. The bits from The Economist and Weber were published in 1992. Kristol delivered his death sentence after various conservatives lost the New Hampshire primary in 2000 (the “crack-up” issue was in 1997). And the funereal Washington Post columnist? That was the late Robert Novak in 1976, four years before Ronald Reagan’s 1980 triumph.
And that’s just from the right. Since the conservative movement was born, liberals have been insisting it was dead.
Time to stock up on Twinkies
Union workers may permanently kill off the iconic Twinkie. Hostess Brands, Inc., the company that makes Twinkies, announced on Wednesday that it will ask a bankruptcy judge to allow it to shut down and sell off its assets as soon as November 20, if union workers do not end their strike by Thursday.
The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, whose members make up nearly a third of the company's workforce, has been on strike at plants across the country protesting "pay cuts that Hostess" won the right to impose in bankruptcy court.
Hostess Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn said the company would have to fire most of its workers on November 20 if union workers do not come back to work by 5 p.m. EST on Thursday and the judge allows the Hostess to liquidate its assets.
"We simply do not have the financial resources to survive an ongoing national strike," Rayburn said.
The strike already forced Hostess to close three of its 36 bakeries earlier this week, which led to the 627 workers being laid off. Hostess did, however, reach an agreement with the Teamsters, which is its largest union.
Hostess filed for bankruptcy protection on January 11, and the company had nearly $860 million in debt at the time.
Greg Hesse, a bankruptcy attorney, said union workers were striking because they think an unnamed buyer would purchase the company, but a judge said there were no imminent buyers.
"It would be hard to imagine a world without Twinkies," Hesse said.
The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, whose members make up nearly a third of the company's workforce, has been on strike at plants across the country protesting "pay cuts that Hostess" won the right to impose in bankruptcy court.
Hostess Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn said the company would have to fire most of its workers on November 20 if union workers do not come back to work by 5 p.m. EST on Thursday and the judge allows the Hostess to liquidate its assets.
"We simply do not have the financial resources to survive an ongoing national strike," Rayburn said.
The strike already forced Hostess to close three of its 36 bakeries earlier this week, which led to the 627 workers being laid off. Hostess did, however, reach an agreement with the Teamsters, which is its largest union.
Hostess filed for bankruptcy protection on January 11, and the company had nearly $860 million in debt at the time.
Greg Hesse, a bankruptcy attorney, said union workers were striking because they think an unnamed buyer would purchase the company, but a judge said there were no imminent buyers.
"It would be hard to imagine a world without Twinkies," Hesse said.
via Breitbart.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Beware: ObamaCare’s now reality (and will cost employers $1.79/hr per FT employee)
Read the whole thing:
President Obama’s re-election and Democratic gains in the US Senate end any possibility of repealing the Obama health law. It will roll out as written, imposing major changes soon on you and your family. If you are uninsured because you can’t afford it, help may be on the way. But if you are one of the 250 million Americans with coverage, there are big problems ahead.
If you get your health insurance through a job, you might lose it as of Jan. 1, 2014. That’s when the new “employer mandate” kicks in, requiring employers with 50 or more full-time workers to provide the government-designed health plan or pay a fine. The government plan is so expensive, it adds $1.79 per hour to the cost of a full-time employee. That’s incidental if you're hiring neurosurgeons but a hefty increase for hiring busboys and sales clerks.
Currently, employers in retail and fast-food industries pay less than half that to cover their workers.To avoid thecostly mandate,some employers will push workers into part-time status. Other employers will opt for the fine. Either way, workers lose their on-the-job coverage.
Worse, they risk losing their jobs.Even the fine adds 98 cents an hour to the cost of labor, enough to make some employers cut back on their workforce.
If you get your health insurance through a job, you might lose it as of Jan. 1, 2014. That’s when the new “employer mandate” kicks in, requiring employers with 50 or more full-time workers to provide the government-designed health plan or pay a fine. The government plan is so expensive, it adds $1.79 per hour to the cost of a full-time employee. That’s incidental if you're hiring neurosurgeons but a hefty increase for hiring busboys and sales clerks.
Currently, employers in retail and fast-food industries pay less than half that to cover their workers.To avoid thecostly mandate,some employers will push workers into part-time status. Other employers will opt for the fine. Either way, workers lose their on-the-job coverage.
Worse, they risk losing their jobs.Even the fine adds 98 cents an hour to the cost of labor, enough to make some employers cut back on their workforce.
5 Ways To Protect Yourself Against Obamacare
Dr. Paul Hsieh - read the whole thing at Forbes:
Now that President Obama has won re-election, repeal of the ObamaCare health law is no longer realistic. Although some state governors continue to resist and there are some still-pending legal challenges, prudent Americans should prepare for the law being eventually implemented in full.
ObamaCare will worsen the current physician shortage. The law will also drive physicians to become hospital employees or to join large Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), where their treatment decisions will be monitored with mandatory electronic medical records. Government and private insurers will increasingly link payments to adherence to “comparative effectiveness” practice guidelines. Physicians will face significant conflicts-of-interest when their patients might benefit from treatments outside the guidelines, but the physician risks nonpayment (or losing his ACO contract) as a result.
So how can ordinary Americans best protect themselves under ObamaCare? Here are 5 practical recommendations.
ObamaCare will worsen the current physician shortage. The law will also drive physicians to become hospital employees or to join large Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), where their treatment decisions will be monitored with mandatory electronic medical records. Government and private insurers will increasingly link payments to adherence to “comparative effectiveness” practice guidelines. Physicians will face significant conflicts-of-interest when their patients might benefit from treatments outside the guidelines, but the physician risks nonpayment (or losing his ACO contract) as a result.
So how can ordinary Americans best protect themselves under ObamaCare? Here are 5 practical recommendations.
Wednesday links
The Fascinating History Of The Garbage Truck.
Why Do Trees Topple in a Storm?
Aaron Copland was born 112 years ago today.
Study from the Department of the Blindingly Obvious: People Who Live Close To Bars Drink More Heavily.
How (and why) animals change color with the seasons.
Athlete-Powered Rube Goldberg Machine.
Why Do Trees Topple in a Storm?
Aaron Copland was born 112 years ago today.
Study from the Department of the Blindingly Obvious: People Who Live Close To Bars Drink More Heavily.
How (and why) animals change color with the seasons.
Athlete-Powered Rube Goldberg Machine.
Aaron Copland was born 112 years ago today
If a young man at the age of twenty-three can write a symphony like that, in five years he will be ready to commit murder.
- Walter Damrosch (1862-1950) (after conducting Aaron Copland's Symphony for Organ and Orchestra in 1923)
The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, "Is there meaning in music?" My answer to that would be, "Yes." And "Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?" My answer to that would be, No."
- Aaron Copland (What to Listen For in Music)
Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.
- Copland (quoted in Jacobson, Reverberations)
I object to background music no matter how good it is. Composers want people to listen to their music, they don't want them doing something else while their music is on. I'd like to get the guy who sold all those big businessmen the idea of putting music in the elevators, for he was really clever. What on earth good does it do anybody to hear those four or eight bars while going up a few flights?
- Copland (quoted in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music)
Today is the 112th anniversary of the birth of the most popular American composer of the 20th century, Aaron Copland (1900-1990). Born in Brooklyn, Copland was the first American composition student accepted by the legendary Nadia Boulanger in Paris (1921-1924)and then found a strong supporter in Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony during that era. At first, Copland incorporated a strong jazz element in his music, but abandoned that in the early 1930s for a consciously American "folk" idiom. His most popular works, the ballets Billy the Kid (1938), Rodeo (1942), the sublime Appalachian Spring (1942), and his 3rd symphony (1946) - for my money, the best symphony written by an American composer - all reflect that orientation. Subsequently, Copland's turn to modernism was less successful, but some of his smaller-scale works, such as his Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson (1950) and Old American Songs (1955) will probably survive.
Opining what many of us have long believed, Copland once remarked, "The melody is generally what the piece is about."
The "Simple Gifts" section of Copland's Appalachian Spring:
And here's Thomas Hampson singing the version in Old American Songs:
Aaron Copland:
Taken from Ed's Quotation of the Day, only available via email. If you'd like to be added to his list, leave your email address in the comments.
- Walter Damrosch (1862-1950) (after conducting Aaron Copland's Symphony for Organ and Orchestra in 1923)
The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, "Is there meaning in music?" My answer to that would be, "Yes." And "Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?" My answer to that would be, No."
- Aaron Copland (What to Listen For in Music)
Music that is born complex is not inherently better or worse than music that is born simple.
- Copland (quoted in Jacobson, Reverberations)
I object to background music no matter how good it is. Composers want people to listen to their music, they don't want them doing something else while their music is on. I'd like to get the guy who sold all those big businessmen the idea of putting music in the elevators, for he was really clever. What on earth good does it do anybody to hear those four or eight bars while going up a few flights?
- Copland (quoted in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music)
Today is the 112th anniversary of the birth of the most popular American composer of the 20th century, Aaron Copland (1900-1990). Born in Brooklyn, Copland was the first American composition student accepted by the legendary Nadia Boulanger in Paris (1921-1924)and then found a strong supporter in Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony during that era. At first, Copland incorporated a strong jazz element in his music, but abandoned that in the early 1930s for a consciously American "folk" idiom. His most popular works, the ballets Billy the Kid (1938), Rodeo (1942), the sublime Appalachian Spring (1942), and his 3rd symphony (1946) - for my money, the best symphony written by an American composer - all reflect that orientation. Subsequently, Copland's turn to modernism was less successful, but some of his smaller-scale works, such as his Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson (1950) and Old American Songs (1955) will probably survive.
Opining what many of us have long believed, Copland once remarked, "The melody is generally what the piece is about."
The "Simple Gifts" section of Copland's Appalachian Spring:
And here's Thomas Hampson singing the version in Old American Songs:
Aaron Copland:
Taken from Ed's Quotation of the Day, only available via email. If you'd like to be added to his list, leave your email address in the comments.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
When You're Visited By A Copy Of Yourself, Stay Calm
You know Carl Linnaeus, right? The great Swedish naturalist who categorized plants and animals in the 1750s? He was a singular figure in botany. But when he got a headache, he stopped being singular. He doubled, from one Carl to two.
...the phantom might sit in Linnaeus' seat at his library desk, and Real Linnaeus, would, presumably, ignore him. One time, Professor Linnaeus was lecturing at his university and decided to run down to his office to fetch a specimen to show the class, and Critchley says, he got to his office, "He opened the door rapidly, intending to enter, but pulled up at once saying, 'Oh! I'm there already.' "
What a strange condition — to be visited by your perfect double, your doppelganger. Dr. Oliver Sacks, in his new book on hallucinations, calls these episodes "autoscopic doubles," and he cites a number of cases from medical history.
...the phantom might sit in Linnaeus' seat at his library desk, and Real Linnaeus, would, presumably, ignore him. One time, Professor Linnaeus was lecturing at his university and decided to run down to his office to fetch a specimen to show the class, and Critchley says, he got to his office, "He opened the door rapidly, intending to enter, but pulled up at once saying, 'Oh! I'm there already.' "
What a strange condition — to be visited by your perfect double, your doppelganger. Dr. Oliver Sacks, in his new book on hallucinations, calls these episodes "autoscopic doubles," and he cites a number of cases from medical history.
The Petraeus avalanche picks up an FBI agent, a general and a twin sister
Can we make this story even stranger? To borrow a slogan from our recently re-elected President: Yes, we can. It turns out that Jill Kelley has a twin sister named Natalie Khawam, who has been denied custody of her 4-year-old son because of “serious reservations about her honesty and mental stability,” according to court records discovered by the New York Post. Longtime soap opera fans know the story is never really complete without a twin sister.
About two months ago, Petraeus, who was CIA director at the time, wrote a letter to DC Superior Court in support of Kelley’s sister. The Post describes the nasty tenor of the custody battle Petraeus chose to involve himself in:
Petraeus wrote his letter amid a bitter divorce and custody battle between Khawam and Grayson Wolfe, a partner in a DC-based private venture firm.
A judge in November 2011 gave Wolfe sole custody of the couple’s son after finding that Khawam, a lawyer, repeatedly lied under oath and filed bogus domestic-violence and child-abuse claims against her husband after their one-year marriage began crumbling in 2009.
That judge also found that Khawam routinely defied court orders to let the child see his dad and sent harassing e-mails to Wolfe’s friends and business partners that “excoriated Mr. Wolfe for being a horrible father and husband.”
The judge blasted Khawam for giving false evidence, and noted that a court-ordered shrink had found her domestic-violence allegations to be “part of an ever-expanding set of sensational accusations . . . that are so numerous, so extraordinary and [so] distorted that they defy any common-sense view of reality.”
The judge also noted that she “is a psychologically unstable person.”
About two months ago, Petraeus, who was CIA director at the time, wrote a letter to DC Superior Court in support of Kelley’s sister. The Post describes the nasty tenor of the custody battle Petraeus chose to involve himself in:
Petraeus wrote his letter amid a bitter divorce and custody battle between Khawam and Grayson Wolfe, a partner in a DC-based private venture firm.
A judge in November 2011 gave Wolfe sole custody of the couple’s son after finding that Khawam, a lawyer, repeatedly lied under oath and filed bogus domestic-violence and child-abuse claims against her husband after their one-year marriage began crumbling in 2009.
That judge also found that Khawam routinely defied court orders to let the child see his dad and sent harassing e-mails to Wolfe’s friends and business partners that “excoriated Mr. Wolfe for being a horrible father and husband.”
The judge blasted Khawam for giving false evidence, and noted that a court-ordered shrink had found her domestic-violence allegations to be “part of an ever-expanding set of sensational accusations . . . that are so numerous, so extraordinary and [so] distorted that they defy any common-sense view of reality.”
The judge also noted that she “is a psychologically unstable person.”
Doc Zero: Love and Terror In the Draft Email Folder
The CIA Director and his mistress Paula Broadwell weren’t sending racy emails to each other. Oh, no, they were much too clever for that.
The extraordinary incompetence at all levels of the federal security state.
The general, the hostess, the director and his lover: Petraeus adds farce to the Benghazi tragedy.
Fire fighting mess: a helicopter drew up liquid from the wrong pond at the nearby sewage treatment plant and dropped it on 50 firefighters
Australia: A RURAL Fire Service investigation is under way after untreated water from a sewage plant was dumped on volunteer firefighters battling a blaze on the mid-north coast.
Up to 50 firefighters and four aircraft were working on the 30ha bushfire at Kew, near Port Macquarie, on Tuesday when a helicopter mistakenly drew up the wastewater from the wrong pond at the nearby sewage treatment plant and dropped it on them.
Up to 50 firefighters and four aircraft were working on the 30ha bushfire at Kew, near Port Macquarie, on Tuesday when a helicopter mistakenly drew up the wastewater from the wrong pond at the nearby sewage treatment plant and dropped it on them.
Here’s Where to Watch Today's Total Solar Eclipse
The total solar eclipse on Tuesday (Nov. 13) may only be visible from slivers of northern Australia and a swathe of open ocean, but you don't have to make an epic journey to see the dramatic celestial event.
Several different organizations will provide live webcasts of the total solar eclipse, which begins at 3:35 p.m. EST (2035 GMT) on Tuesday (Nov. 13; however, it will actually be Nov. 14 local time in Australia).
Several different organizations will provide live webcasts of the total solar eclipse, which begins at 3:35 p.m. EST (2035 GMT) on Tuesday (Nov. 13; however, it will actually be Nov. 14 local time in Australia).
More at Space.com.
Bets That You Will Never Lose
Monday, November 12, 2012
Woman Blames Husband for Obama’s Re-Election, Runs Him Over With Her SUV
GILBERT, AZ - A Mesa woman was arrested Saturday after she allegedly chased her husband around a Gilbert parking lot in an SUV during an argument over the presidential election.
The woman finally struck her husband, leaving him with critical injuries.
The woman finally struck her husband, leaving him with critical injuries.
Fondle me, Elmo: Voice of Elmo accused of having 'sexual relationship with underage boy'
The man who voices the puppet of Elmo on Sesame Street has taken leave amid allegations he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy.
Kevin Clash, 52, has taken a leave of absence from the popular children's show after the programme's lawyers were contacted by a 23-year-old man who claims he had a sexual relationship with the puppeteer seven years ago, when he was aged 16.
TMZ, who reported the allegations, said that Mr Clash had admitted he had a relationship with the man, but only after the accuser was an adult.
Kevin Clash, 52, has taken a leave of absence from the popular children's show after the programme's lawyers were contacted by a 23-year-old man who claims he had a sexual relationship with the puppeteer seven years ago, when he was aged 16.
TMZ, who reported the allegations, said that Mr Clash had admitted he had a relationship with the man, but only after the accuser was an adult.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Monday links
WWII Nazi Tank Manuals are unexpectedly hilarious.
NukeMap. Choose a target, choose an explosive, and see how far the destruction spreads.
Defenestration supercut: movie characters driving, falling, jumping and being thrown through glass windows.
Korea celebrates toilet theme park.
Retired priest, 80, bit 81-year-old fellow clergyman's ear off in fight over parking space.
NukeMap. Choose a target, choose an explosive, and see how far the destruction spreads.
Defenestration supercut: movie characters driving, falling, jumping and being thrown through glass windows.
Retired priest, 80, bit 81-year-old fellow clergyman's ear off in fight over parking space.
Banana skin slip stops steak knife stabbing
A banana skin saved a woman from serious injury when her estranged husband slipped on it while trying to stab her with a steak knife.
New details in Petraeus scandal: Woman who received threatening emails revealed
FoxNews: The identity emerged Sunday of the woman who purportedly received harassing emails from CIA Director David Petraeus’ biographer that eventually led to an FBI investigation, then Petraeus’ resignation.
A senior military official said the woman is a State Department's liaison to the military's Joint Special Operations Command.
The official identified her as 37-year-old Jill Kelley, in Tampa, Fla., according to the Associated Press.
The emails from Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell triggered the FBI investigation.
The official was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Another person who knows Kelley and Petraeus confirmed their friendship and said she saw him often.
Petraeus quit as CIA director last week after acknowledging an extramarital relationship with a woman -- later identified as Broadwell.
The FBI probe began several months ago with a complaint against Broadwell. That investigation led to Broadwell's email account, which uncovered the relationship with Petraeus.
Petraeus’ resignation was announced Friday, but new details continue to emerge about the affair between the former four-star Army general and Broadwell, a West Point graduate.
The first knowledge of the affair outside the FBI came from an FBI whistle-blower who contacted a Capitol Hill Republican who told House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., got a tip from a friend who knew the whistle-blower, as reported by The New York Times.
Sources tell Fox News that Reichert talked to the whistle-blower, then referred him to Cantor. The whistle-blower talked to the majority leader’s office, then to Cantor directly. The whistle-blower -- who purportedly was concerned about a possible national security breach --was then put in touch with FBI Director Robert Mueller.
"Our office stands by the accuracy of the New York Times article as it pertains to Rep. Reichert,” the congressman’s office said Sunday.” We have no further comment about our involvement."
It appears the whistle-blower has yet to claim legal whistle-blower status.
Cantor staffers said they didn't immediately tell the House Intelligence Committee or chamber leaders because they didn't know whether the tip was credible. So they turned it over to the FBI.
The investigation led first to Broadwell’s email account then to Petraeus’ personal account.
No security breaches appear to have occurred in the email exchange, but Capitol Hill lawmakers expressed shock and disappointment about the stunning revelations and said Petraeus made the correct choice in resigning.
“It was like a lightning bolt,” Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told “Fox News Sunday.” “I’m heartbroken. This is very, very hard. But I do think he did the right thing.”
Reports suggest the investigation started months ago and that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was informed of the findings at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
President Obama first learned Thursday when told by Petraeus, according to reporting so far.
Closed-door House and Senate intelligence committee hearings are scheduled Thursday on the incidents surrounding the fatal Libya attacks. Petraeus -- who reportedly conducted his own, on-the-ground investigation – is no longer scheduled to testify.
However, Feinstein and Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the ranking Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, said Sunday that Petraeus could later be called to testify.
“I wouldn’t rule out Gen. Petraeus being called to testify,” Chambliss said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Broadwell told Fox News earlier this year when talking about the biography “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus” that she met Petraeus when she was a post-graduate student at Harvard and he came to the university to speak.
They kept in touch via email and went running together when she came to Washington, Broadwell said on Don Imus’ Fox Business show.
“He gave me his card,” said Broadwell, who co-wrote the book. “We kept in touch.”
Broadwell also called Petraeus’ wife of 38 years, Holly Petraeus, “a wonderful military spouse.”
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson has declined to comment on the information that the affair had been discovered in the course of an investigation by the agency.
A senior staffer with the House Intelligence Committee tells Fox News that Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., has been briefed on the resignation and has “serious questions and serious concerns about the resignation and circumstances surrounding it."
Sources tell Fox News that there is serious concern whether the chairman and ranking members of the committee were given appropriate notification by the FBI that Petraeus’ name had surfaced within the scope of an investigation.
Petraeus, who turned 60 on Wednesday, met his wife when he was a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. She was the daughter of the academy superintendent. They have two children, and their son led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan.
Holly Petraeus also works in the Obama administration, for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In a message to staff, Petraeus said he asked "to be allowed" to step down.
"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours," the retired four-star general said. "This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation."
The move comes amid the unfolding controversy surrounding the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya. Scrutiny has fallen on a range of agencies, including the CIA.
Obama, in a written statement, said Petraeus provided "extraordinary service to the United States for decades."
"By any measure, he was one of the outstanding general officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end," Obama said.
The White House has named Michael Morell, the agency's deputy director, to serve as acting director.
The decision abruptly ends the public-service career of one of the military's most vaunted leaders. He led the surge in Iraq, and was later tapped to lead U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan -- following two years at the helm of U.S. Central Command. In April 2011, Obama again tapped Petraeus to lead the CIA.
He left just three days after Obama was elected to a second term, and amid a challenging environment for the country's intelligence community -- which is dealing with not just rogue nations like Iran, but a changing landscape elsewhere as a result of the Arab Spring. It has been confirmed that the U.S. compound that was attacked in Libya housed CIA operatives as well as State Department staff.
The intelligence community subsequently came under scrutiny when some officials suggested the administration initially claimed the attack was "spontaneous" only because of the intelligence assessments at the time.
Clapper said Friday that Petraeus' resignation "represents the loss of one of our nation's most-respected public servants."
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill expressed similar sentiments.
"Gen. David Petraeus will stand in the ranks of America's greatest military heroes. His inspirational leadership and his genius were directly responsible -- after years of failure -- for the success of the surge in Iraq," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said. "General Petraeus has devoted his life to serving the country he loves, and America is so much the better for it."
A senior military official said the woman is a State Department's liaison to the military's Joint Special Operations Command.
The official identified her as 37-year-old Jill Kelley, in Tampa, Fla., according to the Associated Press.
The emails from Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell triggered the FBI investigation.
The official was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Another person who knows Kelley and Petraeus confirmed their friendship and said she saw him often.
Petraeus quit as CIA director last week after acknowledging an extramarital relationship with a woman -- later identified as Broadwell.
The FBI probe began several months ago with a complaint against Broadwell. That investigation led to Broadwell's email account, which uncovered the relationship with Petraeus.
Petraeus’ resignation was announced Friday, but new details continue to emerge about the affair between the former four-star Army general and Broadwell, a West Point graduate.
The first knowledge of the affair outside the FBI came from an FBI whistle-blower who contacted a Capitol Hill Republican who told House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., got a tip from a friend who knew the whistle-blower, as reported by The New York Times.
Sources tell Fox News that Reichert talked to the whistle-blower, then referred him to Cantor. The whistle-blower talked to the majority leader’s office, then to Cantor directly. The whistle-blower -- who purportedly was concerned about a possible national security breach --was then put in touch with FBI Director Robert Mueller.
"Our office stands by the accuracy of the New York Times article as it pertains to Rep. Reichert,” the congressman’s office said Sunday.” We have no further comment about our involvement."
It appears the whistle-blower has yet to claim legal whistle-blower status.
Cantor staffers said they didn't immediately tell the House Intelligence Committee or chamber leaders because they didn't know whether the tip was credible. So they turned it over to the FBI.
The investigation led first to Broadwell’s email account then to Petraeus’ personal account.
No security breaches appear to have occurred in the email exchange, but Capitol Hill lawmakers expressed shock and disappointment about the stunning revelations and said Petraeus made the correct choice in resigning.
“It was like a lightning bolt,” Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told “Fox News Sunday.” “I’m heartbroken. This is very, very hard. But I do think he did the right thing.”
Reports suggest the investigation started months ago and that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was informed of the findings at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
President Obama first learned Thursday when told by Petraeus, according to reporting so far.
Closed-door House and Senate intelligence committee hearings are scheduled Thursday on the incidents surrounding the fatal Libya attacks. Petraeus -- who reportedly conducted his own, on-the-ground investigation – is no longer scheduled to testify.
However, Feinstein and Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the ranking Republican on the Senate intelligence committee, said Sunday that Petraeus could later be called to testify.
“I wouldn’t rule out Gen. Petraeus being called to testify,” Chambliss said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Broadwell told Fox News earlier this year when talking about the biography “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus” that she met Petraeus when she was a post-graduate student at Harvard and he came to the university to speak.
They kept in touch via email and went running together when she came to Washington, Broadwell said on Don Imus’ Fox Business show.
“He gave me his card,” said Broadwell, who co-wrote the book. “We kept in touch.”
Broadwell also called Petraeus’ wife of 38 years, Holly Petraeus, “a wonderful military spouse.”
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson has declined to comment on the information that the affair had been discovered in the course of an investigation by the agency.
A senior staffer with the House Intelligence Committee tells Fox News that Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., has been briefed on the resignation and has “serious questions and serious concerns about the resignation and circumstances surrounding it."
Sources tell Fox News that there is serious concern whether the chairman and ranking members of the committee were given appropriate notification by the FBI that Petraeus’ name had surfaced within the scope of an investigation.
Petraeus, who turned 60 on Wednesday, met his wife when he was a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. She was the daughter of the academy superintendent. They have two children, and their son led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan.
Holly Petraeus also works in the Obama administration, for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In a message to staff, Petraeus said he asked "to be allowed" to step down.
"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours," the retired four-star general said. "This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation."
The move comes amid the unfolding controversy surrounding the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya. Scrutiny has fallen on a range of agencies, including the CIA.
Obama, in a written statement, said Petraeus provided "extraordinary service to the United States for decades."
"By any measure, he was one of the outstanding general officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end," Obama said.
The White House has named Michael Morell, the agency's deputy director, to serve as acting director.
The decision abruptly ends the public-service career of one of the military's most vaunted leaders. He led the surge in Iraq, and was later tapped to lead U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan -- following two years at the helm of U.S. Central Command. In April 2011, Obama again tapped Petraeus to lead the CIA.
He left just three days after Obama was elected to a second term, and amid a challenging environment for the country's intelligence community -- which is dealing with not just rogue nations like Iran, but a changing landscape elsewhere as a result of the Arab Spring. It has been confirmed that the U.S. compound that was attacked in Libya housed CIA operatives as well as State Department staff.
The intelligence community subsequently came under scrutiny when some officials suggested the administration initially claimed the attack was "spontaneous" only because of the intelligence assessments at the time.
Clapper said Friday that Petraeus' resignation "represents the loss of one of our nation's most-respected public servants."
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill expressed similar sentiments.
"Gen. David Petraeus will stand in the ranks of America's greatest military heroes. His inspirational leadership and his genius were directly responsible -- after years of failure -- for the success of the surge in Iraq," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said. "General Petraeus has devoted his life to serving the country he loves, and America is so much the better for it."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)