2011 archive
Well, Golly Gosh Gee, Batman. They Take Money. 0
The local rag is all over surprised upon discovering that pro football players make money from personal appearances:
The gesture cost taxpayers $40,000.
The management team for Anthony Hargrove, formerly of the New Orleans Saints, charged $30,000 for three two-hour sessions over his nearly weeklong stay, which included other appearances with local children. Other costs associated with the visit – meals, a banquet with community leaders and hotel rooms for Hargrove and five others – totaled about $10,000.
My two or three regular readers know that my level of cynicism as regards pro and semi-pro college football is about to burst out of the top of my thermometer like the mercury measuring a fever in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but, as my mother would have said, honestly!
As the actress said to the bishop, “Professional means you get paid for it.”
In other news in today’s local rag, sky blue and apple red.
Afterthought:
Whether or not it was a wise expenditure is a different issue, but was not really addressed in the gee-whiz-look-over-there story. If it keeps one kid out of jail, the visit likely paid for itself.
Death Watch 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., looks at death penalty supporters through the lens of the Republican debate.
Full disclosure: I oppose the death penalty, not because I think it is morally wrong (I am convinced that some persons do deeds so heinous that they forfeit their right to be allowed in society), but because we get it wrong just too damned often.
It was a chilling moment, but also a clarifying one in that it validated the grimmest suspicions about at least some of those who support capital punishment. That support, after all, is often framed in terms of high morality, the argument being that only in taking an offender’s life can a society truly express its revulsion over certain heinous crimes.
But when the audience at a recent GOP presidential debate cheered the observation that Texas Gov. Rick Perry has overseen a record 234 executions, that fig leaf was swept away. You knew this was not about some profound question for philosophers and august men. No, this was downturned thumbs in a Roman arena, vengeance putting on airs of justice, the need to see someone die.
People dress that need up in rags of righteousness and ethicality, but occasionally, the disguise slips and it shows itself for what it is: the atavistic impulse of those for whom justice is synonymous with blood. If people really meant the arguments of high morality, you’d expect them to regard the death penalty with reverent sobriety. You would not expect them to cheer.
Mr. Pitts goes on to discuss one of the cases in which the chances are good that we got it wrong once more.
Update from the Foreclosure-Based Economy 0
There’s irony somewhere in this little story: a person who makes her living managing foreclosed properties can’t get enough work.
“The flow of foreclosures is not big enough” Hughes said, unwilling to speculate on why. “If I wanted to move to Dallas, or to San Diego, I could get a job easily in this business. There are a lot of REO (real estate-owned-ed.) shops there.”
Mitt the Flip 0
At least Mitt is consistently inconsistent. This cartoon is four years old.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Always be polite when attending church:
Wubi: Ubuntu for the Linux-Curious (Updated) 1
Wubi is the Windows Ubuntu Installer; it installs a stripped-down Ubuntu Linux in a container on a Windows system. Instead of installing a full office suite, for example, it installs a word processor and a spreadsheet application.
You need not repartition the hard drive or touch your Windows installation. Instead, Wubi creates a “virtual” hard drive in a container on the actual hard drive.
I started playing with it a couple of days ago and am typing this under Wubi. I wanted to verify that all the hardware in this here XP box would work fine with Linux, because I’m considering Linux-fying it, since I have a newer Windows machine at my disposal.* (Linux hardware issues are rare these days, but they can still happen, primarily with a couple of brands of wireless chipsets, some USB network adapters, and certain brands of printers: Lexmarks and Canons are notoriously cranky with Linux; HPs and Epsons usually work smoothly.).
If you are curious about Linux, but don’t have a spare computer to throw it on, aren’t ready to make a complete switch, or are hesitant about setting up dual-boot, Wubi will satisfy your curiosity.
Facebook Frolics 0
“Here’s looking at you,” writes Ed Chen at Science 2.0:
He goes on to describe several techniques for following your followers.
QOTD 0
Leo Tolstoy, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
History would be a wonderful thing–if it were only true.
Go Phillies 0
Clinch.
Phillies clinch fifth straight NL East title with win over Cardinals
And in this part of the world, what we get on the telly vision is the Washington Senators Nationals, who are first in war, first in peace, and last in the American National League, and the Baltimore Starlings, who used to play in the Bigs and are now struggling to get to Williamsport.
Afterthought, Corrupt and Contented Dept.:
There were five college football games on the telly vision today.
But no discussion of which college violated the most NCAA rules.
The Candidates Debate 0
Daniel Ruth of the St. Petersburg Times reports on his experiences observing the teabaggery at the recent CNN Republican candidates sideshow. A nugget:
But wait, it only gets more loopy.
At one point, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman suggested Texas Gov. Rick Perry was flirting with treason simply because Perry believes trying to build a 1,200-mile fence along the border is a crazy idea. Now Perry may very well possess the intellectual firepower of a Lhasa apso, but opposing a border fence for pragmatic reasons hardly rises to the level of becoming the Lord Haw Haw of the Rio Grande.
Later in the spin room, even Huntsman’s spinners were flummoxed over the treason allegation. When the best explanation your surrogates can come up with is “Beats me,” it might suggest the campaign is getting close to toe-tag status.
“Loopy” would seem to be an understatement.
Finding Felines 0
At the Guardian, Paul Mcinness considers the adventures of Willow, the Wandering Cat, and what they might indicate about cat-kind:
It is a delightful little piece of fluff to brighten your day.
He wouldn’t be writing it with such a light heart if he know what cats really do when they disappear for a time.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Michelle Bachmann 0
Michelle Bachmann’s lies about the HPV vaccine have been amptly reported. The best analysis I’ve seen is Dick Polman’s. Here’s a snippet:
To which Bachmann replied: “I have no idea…I’m not a doctor, I’m not a scientist, I’m not a physician,. All I was doing is reporting what this woman told me.”
I have no idea…There it is. On a family public health issue, Bachmann admits she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, and thinks it’s fine to recycle stuff that she hasn’t checked out.
One more time, wingnuts will say whatever they need to say to make a sale. Truth and facts are irrelevant in their world.
Care Package 0
Shaun Mullen could care less.
QOTD 0
Walter Winchell, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
An optimist is someone who gets treed by a lion but enjoys the scenery.