October, 2014 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Play your beer pong avec politesse.
I don’t know the rules of beer pong (I assume there are “rules”). And I don’t want to. It appears to be too stupid for words.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
Barry Ritholtz examines why ideas that have clearly failed live on. A nugget:
Blame the billionaires.
They are ones who fund the think tanks. These think tanks in turn consider it their jobs to promote the ideology of their benefactors, regardless of its intrinsic value or demonstrable worth.
Follow the link. The whole thing is worth a read.
“Addicted to Fear” 2
Jim Wright considers the freak-out about ebola. A snippet:
We’re addicted to it. Fear. We just can’t get enough of being afraid.
It’s the emotion that defines modern America, fear. Knee knocking, spine tingled, sphincter loosening, pants wetting fear.
That’s us.
When we don’t have something to be afraid of, we make something up.
Follow the link. You will be glad you did.
What Is It about Fast Food Joints with “John” in Their Names? 0
Giving new meaning to the term “wage slavery” . . . .
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite to the competition.
Forget background checks. We need IQ tests for gun buyers.
Paper Chase 0
John McCarron is fed up with “paperless.”
Even though I spend my days deep inside geekdom, I still write paper checks for routine household bills. Business’s inability to keep confidential information confidential has nothing to do with it.
I fear that, if I automated too many payments, I’d lose track of my bank balance, and I don’t like bouncing checks, paper or electronic.
The Hunt for Orange October 0
Colorado is being overrun by hunters for elk season.
I wonder how many of these folks will fill their freezers with elk meat and how many want to bag an elk just to prove that they are Real Big Men.
“Mr. Keene,* Tracer of Lost Pumpkins” (Updated) 0
White on white violence plagues public events.
Addendum, a Little Bit Later:
John Cole posts more news of white on white violence.
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*Learn more about the kindly old investigator.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
. . . and a polite society does its laundry.
“He carries a firearm in his pants pocket and it fell out and went off,” Alicia said. “ … There are no signs of foul play or any signs of violence and we are classifying this as an accidental injury.”
Afterthought:
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Gunnuttery, n, from “gun”+”nut” (meaning someone with diminished mental capacity or ammosexual fetish) + the suffix “(t)ery” indicating “syndrome”: what happens when firearms meet stupid.
This man’s gunnuttery almost killed his wife. “Almost” is a better outcome than gunnuttery usually produces.
Flagging Enthusiasm 0
CSA and CEOs.
The Privatization Scam 0
Randy Salzman wants to know “what gives?”
Few of the rest, including Virginia’s 22 P3s, are meeting their toll and income projections. Maryland’s “Intercounty Connector” quadrupled in cost to $4 billion and is now carrying less than half of projected vehicles.
But media continue to write as if private money is rescuing crumbling American highways.
Even Congress is questioning if taxpayers are throwing good money after bad – and much more of it than if we build the highways ourselves. Too many have forgotten what our grandmothers once told us: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
It becomes increasingly clear that outfits out for their own enrichment cannot be trusted with the public’s business.
Share and Share Unlike 0
George Smith discusses the scam of the “sharing economy.” A nugget:
Read it.
