From Pine View Farm

June, 2011 archive

Cantor’s Cant 0

Double standards. Nay, triple even.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

IOKIYAR.

Via Bob Cesca.

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Facebook Frolics, When Do I Start Shaving Dept. 0

There appears to be evidence that the people who run Facebook are mentally a bunch of teenaged boys who can’t deal with puberty.

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QOTD 0

John Maynard Keynes, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):

I do not know which makes a man more conservative–to
know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.

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Punditry Breaking Point 0

At Comically Vintage.

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One More Time: It’s a Republican Deficit 0

Via Bob Cesca.

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Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0

No doubt throwing more persons out of work austerity will fix this:

Jobless claims increased by 1,000 to 427,000 in the week ended June 4, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected a drop in claims to 419,000, according to the median forecast. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls and those receiving extended payments decreased.

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Lower Merion School District, Back in Court 0

Lower Merion School District, outside of Philly, has been sued again.

That’s the school district that was surreptitously taking pictures of schoolkids via webcams, because they could.

A school district near Philadelphia that paid out $610,000 to settle a complaint over spying allegations related to school-owned laptops has been hit with a similar lawsuit.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports a former Harriton High School student filed suit against Lower Merion School District on Monday over the monitoring software installed on laptops given to students.

The school district claims he’s suing just for the money.

I have little sympathy with them.

Let them pay. Consider it the price of arrogance.

Full Disclosure:

I used to live in Lower Merion, many years ago.

Great place to live.

Excellent schools. Great teachers. Dumb administrators. (Sort of like many other school districts.)

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Listen My Children and You Shall Hear–Not 0

Via DelawareLiberal.

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Lord Love a Duck! 0

From the country that gave us Hello Kitty:

Japanese inventors have devised a gadget to make you prick up your ears – electronic cat’s ears.

Strap on the furry headgear, and its ears are programmed to move in ways that reflect the user’s inner mood.

Video at the link.

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Twits on Twitter 0

Open laptop, insert foot.

An economic development agency has let one of its employees go over a Twitter post that suggested her colleagues knock off work early to play golf.

Social media specialist Vanessa Williams lost her job with the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. after she used the agency’s official Twitter account on Friday to tweet: “We start summer hours today. That means most of the staff leave at noon, many to hit the links. Do you observe summer hours? What do you do?”

(According to the agency, no one left early that day.)

“Social media specialist.”

Yeah.

Right.

I think that public agencies would be well-advised to avoid twits.

They don’t need to twit, the public doesn’t need them to twit (except possibly for “utility work 8th and Oak use alt. rte.”), twitting doesn’t advance their mission, and there’s an excess of twits in the world already.

And who wants their sewage utility on Facebook, for Pete’s sake? There’s enough sewage on Facebook alrea–oh, never mind.

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Mitt the Flip and His Flipped Out Fliver 0

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Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0

Strong indicators for continued foreclosures:

The number of local (southeastern Virginia–ed.) home-owners who were “underwater” on their loans rose slightly to 80,150 at the end of March, according to CoreLogic, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based company that tracks mortgages nationwide. The number is up less than 1 percent from the roughly 79,500 who were underwater at the end of December.

The firm’s quarterly report said 22,967 more mortgages in the region will be underwater if home prices decline 5 percent from current levels.

Economists and real estate experts say that owing more on a home than it is worth is one of the most common precursors to foreclosure.

As Duncan frequently points out, our Galtian overlords have broken the economy and are not bothering to put it back together.

Rather, they’re off looking for the next bubblelicious con.

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QOTD 0

Lawrence Lessig, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):

It might be crazy to expect a high government official to speak the truth. It might be crazy to believe that government policy will be something more than the handmaiden of the most powerful interests. It might be crazy to argue that we should preserve a tradition that has been part of our tradition for most of our history–free culture. If this is crazy, then let there be more crazies. Soon.

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A Picture Is Worth, We Need Single Payer Dept. 0

Canadians don't want US health care

Via Bob Cesca.

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Sexual Fantasy 0

The Regent’s policy on women:

Keep ’em ignorant and preggers.

More here.

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Facebook Frolics (Updated) 0

Twisted coverage:

What the author leaves out is that Facebook doesn’t let anyone “friend” anyone else without permission.

What privacy rights and protections do teenagers have on the Internet? In a twist of authority, Facebook won’t let parents “friend” their teens or access their accounts unless kids give parents permission.

Follow the link to read the entire tirade, unless you’ve got something better to do, like get a root canal.

If parents can’t control the “off” switch on the device, their kids are already out of control, and phony phacebook phriendships won’t make a difference. Keyloggers, anyone?

Afterthought:

This occurred to me as I drove to downtown Norfolk this evening:

If permission were not required, what kind of creeps could “friend” kids by claiming to be their parents?

There aren’t many creeps like that out there (despite the sensational press), but one is one too many.

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Paul Revere, with Bells On 0

Via TPM.

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Spill Here, Spill Now, The Fracture 0

Via DelawareLiberal.

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Goldman’s Sacks 0

Deals designed to fail–Responsible fiduciaries doing the duty dirty (it’s a little wonky, but worth the 10 minutes):

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The Internet Is a Public Place 0

Some persons don’t know how to act in public.

This one gets some time alone to contemplate his actions.

In what could be the first decision of its kind in the state, the (Virginia–ed.) appeals court Tuesday held that a threat posted on Myspace falls into the category of an “electronically transmitted communication” even though it wasn’t sent directly to the target.

Holcomb was convicted last year in Virginia Beach of knowingly communicating a written threat. He was sentenced to a year in jail, with most of it suspended. In his appeal, Holcomb claimed the writings were song lyrics and not intended as threats. However, he admitted at trial that the postings, if taken literally, “would be very horrifying,” the appeals court said, quoting Holcomb’s testimony.

Afterthought:

Back in the olden days, when I was a young ‘un, folks misbehaved behind closed doors.

Now they do it in public, then wonder why they end up in trouble.

It may not be fair that Kongress kritters are held to different standards from Kardashians and Hiltons and Lohans, who profit from prurience, but it is the way things are.

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