May, 2012 archive
Where Is Sarah Palin When You Need Her? 0
Inquiring minds want to know.
Rebirther 0
Stuart Fischoff meditates on the staying power of the “birther” myth. A very small nugget (emphasis added):
Really, that’s it, in one word: In Wingnut World, pigment is a constant theme coloring (ahem!) everything else.
Facebook Frolics, Courting Disaster Dept. 0
The local rag has a long article about how persons’ Facebook fulminations are coming back to haunt them in court. If you decided to misbehave and if you regularly have a few beers, then update your status on the innerwebs–or if you just delight in foolishness–you should read it. A nugget:
“It shocks me sometimes, the things that people write,” he said. “We all say these words, but to see them in print, it’s just another level.”
The internet is a public place.
Have a Blast 0
I used to keep one of these things on by boat, back when I had a boat. They are aerosol cans of compressed air with a horn attached (when I first saw the headline, I was thinking “air horn,” as in Peterbilt):
Police think the heat in the cab because of the greenhouse effect set it off.
The Vigorish Banking Sector 0
Mike Papantonio considers Abraham Lincoln’s and Thomas Jefferson’s warnings about banks and bankers.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
In your face polite.
(snip)
The man was camping with friends and acquaintances at the Olive Ridge campground northwest of Boulder when he shot himself in the face at 1:15 a.m., Oehlkers said.
Government Give-Aways, The Republican Way 0
In Wingnut World, give-aways are quite okay if they make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Indeed, not giving away is a firing offense. Despoiling the environment is just a sweetener in the pot.
The project: turning a North Florida pine plantation into a business that attempts to make up for wetlands that are wiped out by new roads and development. At stake: millions of dollars in wetland “credits” that can be sold to government and developers.
The problem, according to a May 9 memo from Department of Environmental Protection wetlands expert Connie Bersok, is that the owners want the DEP to give them lots of wetland credits for land that isn’t wet.
The “credits” are sort of credit default swaps for real estate developers. The kicker is this: the alleged wetlands to be “credits” aren’t.
Aren’t wet, that is.
Follow the link for details.
Light Bloggery 0
Taking it easy.
Ordo Apologian 0
In the Denver Post, Curtis Hubbard classifies six variants of political (non-)apologies. See how many you recognize.
Truth in Labeling 0
This is a policy I can get behind.
The she-crab soup, by the way, was excellent.
The Republican Southern Crass 5
At the Guardian, Gary Younge examines the continuing success of the odious Southern strategy. A nugget:
None of this means all Republican supporters are racist. But it does suggest they make their appeal on racial grounds . . . .
iJunk, Siriously 2
MarketWatch’s Jon Friedman recently upgraded his iJunk. He is not impressed with Siri:
In other words, I bought the Apple-generated hype. I was a sucker.
You see, I have been disillusioned by Siri. It strikes me as some kind of gimmick for self-indulgent people with a tremendous amount of time on their hands.
For a thrilling demonstration of Siri’s skill, listen to the first five minutes of this.
Full disclosure:
I don’t have any iJunk; I refuse the pay twice as much for just as good, while living in a censored, walled orchard. My phone, though, does have a voice feature which I have played with, but hardly use. Mostly it just gets in the way when I have an attack of wrong damn button.
