2011 archive
Nuked 0
The meltdown at Fukushima has faded from the front page, but it’s not fading at all. Here’s a bit from Asia Times:
Previous reports have indicated the presence of radioactive particles in rainwater as far east as Massachusetts, and in milk and other products throughout the country. The American authorities, as indeed most authorities in the world, appear to be in denial. Many important reports continue to be classified, and there is a sense that governments are lying to their people for lack of a better response.
In all likelihood, the scope of the disaster continues to evade us. There is little doubt that “the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind” will force us to learn painful lessons, and that we are only just beginning to grapple with its meaning.
This, of course, is clearly not an important story.
Cloaking Devices 0
Scientists have shown off a “cloaking device” that makes objects invisible – to sound waves.
Such acoustic cloaking was proposed theoretically in 2008 but has only this year been put into practice.
The link gives a brief description of the mechanism, but not enough to DIY.
(Link fixed.)
Barred from the Federal Trough 0
Funny to watch Republicans get all hissy like when they can’t get some of that guvmint money that they decry so much.
I Want One of These 0
Ever since I worked on the railroad, I have thought this would be the ultimate in luxurious self-indulgence.
I also want x-ray vision. I’m unlikely to get either.
Via MarkeiWatch.
I Get Mail 0
From Paula Poundstone (sure, it’s PR, but it’s funny PR):
Nintendo server hit by hackers. Teenage pregnancy rate soars.
Facebook Frolics 0
Well’ actually, Myspace. I didn’t know anyone still copped to using Myspace.
Catnipped 0
What happens when my friend rubs the scratching post with fresh catnip leaves?
The cat goes nuts.
Thanks to Todd at GNC for Podpress.
Now all I have to do is figure out how to center it horizontally. And catch the redwing blackbirds down by the pond.
Video taken with my T-Mobile 3G Slide, which does, indeed, rock.
Chartering the Wrong Course 2
I am more and more leaning to believe that the charter school movement is one more Trojan Horse for raiding public funds to stuff private pocketbooks.
Elmer Smith of Philly dot com cites a study that is pushing the lean even farther:
Do you know where your children are?
They may not be where you think. If they are among the 40,000 students enrolled in one of the city’s 71 charter schools, chances are they are in no better place today than they were when you transferred them.
If they are one of the 3,460 Philadelphia kids who are enrolled in cybercharters, they are at best in limbo and probably lost in cyberspace.
That may be the most sobering finding in the data released last week in a Stanford University study of charter schools across the country. The report by Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes asserts that students in cybercharters are performing far below students in traditional district schools.
In reading and math, cybercharters performed below average in comparison with district schools at every grade level tested. That was without exception.
(snip)
That may be the best business model in all of education. But at a time when the state is claiming that it can’t afford to provide for basic education subsidies, paying the same rate for cyberschools as for brick-and-mortar schools is an unconscionable waste.
Afterthought:
No, charter school grasshopper, “Trojan Horse” did not originate as a computer term.
Facebook Frolics, PC Dept. 0
. . . where PC stands for “police constable,” not for “politically correct.”
Unrelated Afterthought:
I notice that, in many cases, those who complain about pressure to be “politically correct” actually seek permission to be rude, obnoxious, and nasty.
Stray Thought 0
The story of Bushonomics as told by telly vision listings:
-
Flip this House fades.
Hardcore Pawn rises.
All That Was Old Is New Again 1
Slightly over a year ago, Dennis G. at Balloon Juice wrote a long post on theft of labor as a tactic of the rich and powerful to get more rich and powerful. Here’s a bit (I would recommend the whole thing–it explains the purpose of Reagonics):
Before the Emancipation Proclamation and the passage of the 13th Amendment (which Mississippi has still NOT officially ratified) slavery was a State sponsored institution in America and it was the easiest way to steal the labor of others. Protecting the simplicity of that labor stealing system is why the Confederates started the Civil War.
Now Georgia tries to bring back press gangs, dressing them up as “probation officers.”
Meta: Blogroll 0
While I was watching the Phillies clip the Cardinals’ wings last night, I went through my blogroll and deleted a number of sites that no longer interest me, are no longer active, or are no longer relevant (such as a number of the early blog listing sites).
I will be adding some new sites over the next few days, but, since no one looks at sidebars, I will likely be the only person who notices.
The one site that caused me a pang when I deleted it was Jon Swift, for the author, one of the best satirists to grace the internet or, for that matter, the English language, passed away two years ago.
Gone from my blogroll, but not from the memories of those who appreciated the skill with which he exercised his scalpel and his kindness and generosity to new bloggers.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
The Republican campaign strategy continues:
Stocks slumped and Treasury securities rose as the figures, combined with a drop in new-home sales, showed the recovery was struggling to gain momentum. Bernanke said yesterday that joblessness above 9 percent and weakness in housing show the economy’s “headwinds” may be stronger than Fed policy makers initially estimated.
(snip)
Purchases of new homes dropped 2.1 percent in May to a 319,000 annual rate, figures from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington. The median price of new properties sold declined from a year earlier.
Congressional Democrats seem to have become vertebrates; they’ve called out the Republican strategy:
We’ll see how long that lasts.
Also, what Atrios said.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Teaching your children responsibility through example, the polite way:
Spill Here, Spill Now 0
The circular firing squad locks and loads:
(snip)
Transocean’s report comes two months after a study by the US Coast Guard said Transocean contributed to the disaster because of the company’s lax safety culture, and poorly maintained equipment on the Deepwater Horizon.
BP also says Transocean was partly to blame and is suing the Swiss company – the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor – for $40bn (£25bn).
Transocean also counters in its report that BP used a poor well design, which it says led to the failure of the cement around the well casing.
This is like squabbling over who’s more culpable: the perp who loaded the gun, the one who bought the ammo, or the one who pulled the trigger.
The Ravishing of the Middle Class 0
An interview with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
QOTD 0
Lillian Hellman, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Nobody outside of a baby carriage or a judge’s chamber believes in an unprejudiced point of view.