June, 2012 archive
QOTD 0
Richard Dawkins, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
The human mind is a wanton storyteller and even more, a profligate seeker after pattern. We see faces in clouds and tortillas, fortunes in tea leaves and planetary movements. It is quite difficult to prove a real pattern as distinct from a superficial illusion.
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Join us tonight.
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source.
What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.)
When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, June 7.
Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)
Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)
Jersey Shore 0
No, not the one with the drunken New Yawkers.
The real one, which proves that the drunken New Yawkers have no monopoly on stupid.
Using her own materials and volunteering her time (as part of a project initiated by the town–ed.), she gave the giant face waves for hair and fish for eyes, added a broad nose and piano-key teeth, then festooned its body with bands of green, red, yellow, and black.
Tuesday morning, it took city workers just five minutes to paint over her work.
Too Rastafarian, complained one neighbor. Promotes pot-smoking, another said.
“Too Rastafarian.”
Holy reggae, Batman, no undercurrents there, not at all, no indeedy.
The Mitt Diet Plan 0
AKA, them what has, keeps.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Facing South reports. A nugget:
But the GOP’s bogus war on voter fraud is not about insuring clean and fair elections, nabbing lawbreakers, or upholding constitutional precepts. It’s about winning elections on the cheap. It can only do that by tipping the vote number balance toward having more likely GOP voters and fewer likely Democratic voters. It’s hardly coincidence that the majority of those targeted for voter purges are black and Hispanic. And it’s even less of coincidence that the bogus vote purge campaigns are zeroed in on the key battleground states of Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Colorado and New Mexico where election officials are also mounting similar purge campaigns
.
Droning On 0
Advent of the megadrone:
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Not great, but not nearly so bad as all the agonizing this week would seem to have anticipated.
Indeed, a bit of a drop, for all practical purposes, no chance.
(snip)
The four-week moving average of claims, a less-volatile measure, climbed to 377,750, the highest in a month, from 376,000.
The number of people continuing to collect jobless benefits increased 34,000 in the week ended May 26 to 3.29 million. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of workers receiving extended benefits under federal programs.
QOTD 0
Hubert Humphrey, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
Update from the Foreclosure Based Economy 0
Responsible fiscals at work.
Washington was in the middle of a loan modification with Bank of America when her son who is in the military was wounded and sent to a hospital in Germany. She informed the bank that she needed to go be with her son, and BoA assured her in a letter that they were aware of her trip and: “will await your return so that we can finish the loan modification process.” She thought everything would be fine until her return.
But just days after leaving, the bank foreclosed, and Fannie Mae took ownership of her home.
Via C&L.
Lord Love a Duck! 0
I had been under the comfortable delusion that Chia Pets had gone the way of Pet Rocks until my friend brought home her birthday present.
It comes in two flavors: “Determined” and “Happy.”
Misdirection Plays, Mountaintop Removal Department 2
This is really too stupid for words.
But not at all surprising, given Republicans’ pervy preoccupation with sex.
The Trumper Theory 0
Rex Huppke sounds the alarm.
I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but I have uncovered something terrifying.
The Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago may be more than just an innocent monument to opulence. I have reason to believe that under the leadership of a former British spy, the mirrored skyscraper is being used to breed a race of warrior rhinoceroses that Donald Trump will use to take over the world.
I know this is hard to believe, but you must listen to me. I have done the research and found conclusive evidence that Trump Tower is a Trojan horse, and I’m prepared to tell the story that the Trump-stream media do not want you to hear.
Follow the link. I can’t think of a wisecrack that does his logic justice.
Running Government Like a Business 0
Margeret Carlson wonders why Mitt the Flip, professional pol, flips off his time as governor of Massachusetts.
Read the rest, in which she discusses what the Flipper doesn’t: his record as a governor.
Facebook Frolics 0
It’s too late to protest. You have already been assimilated.