March, 2014 archive
Lost at Sea 0
Back when we had a boat, we were out one day on the upper Chesapeake. The sea was calm and the sky was clear and sunny.
As we ran down to Still Pond Creek, my bright orange baseball cap blew off, so, natch, I circled back to get it. I saw it disappear into the wake and knew almost exactly where it went.
It still took me 15 minutes to find it in waves of much less than a foot.
People constructing conspiracy theories about how difficult it is to find the wreckage of a plane in rough seas in a far corner of the world (and planes generally don’t have great float characteristics) have obviously never tried to find something floating in the sea.
Work-Study 0
This is a good ruling.
(snip)
“[P]layers receiving scholarships to perform football-related services for the Employer under a contract for hire in return for compensation are subject to the Employer’s control and are therefore employees within the meaning of the (National Labor Relations) Act,” wrote Peter Sung Ohr, director of the NLRB’s regional office in Chicago, in his decision.
I am skeptical that this will hold up. Too many persons, including regulators and judges, like to tail-gate at their alma maters, but anything that further exposes the corruption and hypocrisy of the National Cartel College Athletic Association is a good thing.
Drinking Liberally Virginia Beach Tonight 0
Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and talk about anything in a relaxed atmosphere.
When: Thursday, March 27th, 6 p.
Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)
More here.
Spill Here, Spill Now 0
Buccaneer Petroleum has learned nothing.
Facebook Frolics 0
Republicans gin up another phony Affordable Care Act horror story.
“Not only do I not agree with what the image is portraying,” Helene wrote me, “I actually have Affordable Healthcare!”
So, if anything, Helene is an Obamacare success story.
But that didn’t stop over 17,000 people on Facebook from sharing an image of her face, posted just days ago, with a caption complaining about Obamacare. To add insult to injury, the people who stole her image couldn’t even spell “conspiracy” right.
Multitasking Is Bunk 0
Elizabeth Wagele debunks de bunk (emphasis added):
Hell, sometimes I can’t do even one thing at a time.
Shining a Light on Crime 0
Highly trained law enforcement officers throw the switch on possible perps.
While the light is crucial for many officers while on duty the easily mistaken switch on their firearm could mean the difference between light and death.
The Kern County Sheriff’s Department hasn’t had any problems with this in the past, but the Bakersfield Pol
Words fail me.
Responsible Fiscals 0
If there is truly a pension crisis,* it’s not caused by pensioners.
It’s caused by bosses who deliberately fail to live up to their words to fund pensions adequately, thereby creating a further “pension crisis” so they further underfund pensions.
However it works, the rich get richer and the workers and the poor get screwed.
____________________
*I’m not sure whether “crisis” or “plot” is the better word.
The Rich Are Different from You and Me 0
According to Mike Byster at Psychology Today Blogs, they make 510 times more than you and I do. He wonders how that translates to other aspects of life. A nugget:
More fun with figures at the link.
The Flops of Mitt the Flip 0
Dick Polman flips off Mitt the Flip:
(snip)
It’s barely worth speculating whether the former one-term governor is jonesing for a third (failed) presidential bid, or whether he’s trying to outflank the McCain-Graham neocon tag team, or whether he’s stricken by Loser’s Syndrome (as in, “I’m better than the guy who beat me”), or whether he’s simply bored with his car elevator and his life of one-percent leisure. Forget all that. It’s sufficient just to slap down Mitt for being Mitt.
Do please read the rest. It has something Mitt doesn’t: Facts.
ICE 0
Your Customs Service at work. From the write-up:
A Vietnam vet and former prison guard, Larry Kirschenman thought he had the right to ask what probable cause U.S. border agents had to search his vehicle. Larry wound up in the hospital with serious injuries.
High Crimeas and Misdeamenors 0
The Lebanon Daily Star takes a relatively balanced look at events in the Crimea, which is a lot closer to Lebanon than it is to the U. S. A. A nugget:
The West has no choice but to impose sanctions on Putin’s Russia, and they will now come fast and furious. But they are unlikely to be anything more than punitive, with no coercive power to reverse facts on the ground in Crimea.A sanctioned Russia – and a one that maintains its own set of sanctions – will be the new reality. But the great historic task remains to coax Russia back in the direction of membership in the international community.
Read the rest. You’ll learn stuff that has not been sufficiently addressed in our own domestic media.
