May, 2012 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
It would appear from this story that this gun somehow accidentally fired itself. No one seems to know where it came from; it seems to have been on a lone rampage (much more at the link).
An Arkansas man assumed the boy wrapped in a blanket on his futon was his sleeping cousin. But hours later he realized it was a 14-year-old boy he didn’t know who, police determined Thursday, had been shot while playing with a gun with a friend.
Little Rock police said the boy, TyJuan Woodard, died after he and a 13-year-old friend were playing with a gun that accidentally fired and shot him in the chest Wednesday.
Text-to-Screech 0
The judge ruled that there was no “present” present.
(snip)
Stephen Weinstein, the Kuberts’ attorney, has argued that Colonna should have known Best was driving and texting her at the time. He argued that while Colonna was not physically present at the wreck, she was “electronically present,” and he asked for a jury to decide Colonna’s liability in the case.
I have no sympathy for the driver, but this attempt to attach guilt by electrons was a bit much.
Facebook Frolics, Take the Money and Run Dept. 0
At MarketWatch, Mark Hulbert crunches the numbers and predicts
Ouch.
Actually, however, the news is even worse: No one is going to invest in Facebook shares today if its price will be 30% lower in five years. So, in order to entice someone to invest in it today, Facebook needs to offer a handsome return. Assuming that its five-year return is equal to the stock market’s long-term average return of 11% annualized, Facebook shares currently would need to be trading at just $13.80.
Follow the link for the how-to of his reasoning.
QOTD 0
Hodding Carter, II, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Television news is like a lightning flash. It makes a loud noise, lights up everything around it, leaves everything else in darkness and then is suddenly gone.
Endless Warhawks 0
Playing their old, sweet song, because life is meaningless without fresh enemies.
Facebook Frolics, It’s All in Your Head Dept. 0
Eva Ritvo tries to puzzle out the hypnotic effects of Facebook and of synthetic Facebook “friends.” A snippet:
When we view an attractive face, dopamine is released in the same reward pathway that is stimulated when we eat delicious food, make money, have sex, or use cocaine. We all post our best photos on Facebook and carefully select our profile picture to welcome friends to our page. Users can click on and feel the rush anytime they want.
Of course, sad stories or trying moments are shared too, but the goal there is to get viewers to secrete oxytocin, the “love hormone,” and elicit their help. Feeling supported during times of crisis helps mitigate the pain caused by the release of cortisol, the stress hormone. Facebook fools our brain into believing that loved ones surround us, which historically was essential to our survival. The human brain, because it evolved thousands of years before photography, fails on many levels to recognize the difference between pictures and people.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Annette John-Hall tackles the gut out the vote efforts, speaking with Faye Anderson of the Election Protection group and the Pennsylvania Voter ID Coalition. A nugget:
Though she’s lived in Philly for three years, Anderson’s a non-driving, native New Yorker who takes the $1 Bolt bus to her old stomping grounds in Brooklyn as much as she can.
“I never got a Pennsylvania ID because I still have three years left until my New York one expires,” Anderson explains. “So here I am, a Stanford lawyer and a founding member of the voter’s coalition and if I didn’t have a passport, I wouldn’t have an acceptable form of ID to vote in Pennsylvania. I know you can be a responsible person and not have an acceptable form of ID.”
The Selling of the Commonweal 0
Part of the Republican canon is a belief that there is no such thing as the “public good.” If it does not pay a bonus to a bonus baby, it ought not to exist (Afterthought: Unless, of course, it can be used to blow someone up).
Think, for example, of Enron. Or Lehman Brothers. Or Countrywide–All of them exemplars of the inherent virtue of private industry.
The value of the deal to the state, in current dollars, is estimated to be between $3 billion and $4 billion over the 48 years it would be in effect, according to APM’s proposal.
Anyone who thinks this is a good idea should read about Chicago’s private parking enforcers and their golden guarantee.
QOTD 0
Mark Twain, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Thunder is good, thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does the work.
Facebook Frolics, Give Me Everybody’s Money Back Dept. 0
Curiouser and curioser:
The person said the firm is reviewing orders its retail clients placed for Facebook stock, and will make price adjustments if the clients paid too much. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The person did not say what amount constituted overpaying for Facebook’s stock.
Daring financial wizards willing to take risks in the market, indeed.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
Giving rise to new specialties in real estate:
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Stand your ground at Mickey D’s:
Aside:
Absolutely nothing from McDonald’s is worth a parking ticket, let alone a jail term.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
There is nothing new about gut out the vote. Facing South reports:
Facebook Frolics 2
Jeff Gelles thinks that persons who bought into the Facebook IPO were blinded by the hype. A nugget:
For example, the prospectus warned repeatedly that Facebook was seeing a shift among users to mobile apps – 488 million of its monthly active users connected through mobile devices sometime in March, it said.
(snip)
So how was that IPO share price determined? In theory, it was based on factors such as the company’s so-called enterprise value, and complex models estimating the worth today of tomorrow’s profits.
But experts say that a sizable part of the calculation – say, the difference between setting the IPO price at $25 vs. $38 – isn’t about the supply and demand for company’s services, but about the supply and demand for shares of a big-buzz IPO.
At Balloon Juice, mistermix has a slightly different take:
If you are going to follow either of the links, follow the latter. The sentence after the one I quoted pretty much sums it up.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still treading water:
(snip)
The four-week moving average, a less-volatile measure, fell to 370,000, the lowest in a month, from 375,500.
The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits dropped by 29,000 in the week ended May 12 to 3.26 million. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of workers receiving extended benefits under federal programs.
