2012 archive
Unseasonable 0
It was 70 Fahrenheits on the first day of December, a temperature which, when I was growing up in these parts, would have been inconceivable (50 maybe, on an unseasonably warm day), but it clearly can have nothing to do with global heating.
Move along now, nothing to see here.
“Come into My Parlor . . .” 5
Another picture from my brother on Virginia’s Northern Neck.
A closer view:
Republican Rice Caterwaul, Reprise 0
Chauncey Devega skillfully dissects the bigotry of Republican attempts to gin up a controversy over Susan Rice and Benghazi. A nugget:
“Conspiranoid.” I like that.
The (Job) Creationism Myth 0
Chuck for skewers it:
Read the rest, in which he gets serious and talks some actual economics.
There’s an App for That 0
California is threatening to sue smartphone application designers who do not comply with the state law to post written privacy policies. Makers of “free” apps are the worst offenders.
It seems that some developers don’t want to discuss their privacy practices.
Even if an app maker clearly lays out its privacy policy, Higgins (Parker Higgins of the Electronic Freedom Foundation–ed.) said the most common privacy breaches come from agreements between apps and advertising networks.
Concerns over mobile apps’ access to personal data landed in court this year when a Texas man filed a lawsuit alleging the social networking app Path Inc. violated his privacy by storing his address book information on its servers without his permission.
“Slow development.” Indeed.
iPhail 0
Noz’s iJunk won’t leave him alone and must needs chastised.
Enumeration 0
Christmas is coming, so Dick Destiny is making a list and checking it twice.
Football uber Alles 0
Many years ago, one of my coworkers went out for dinner with a member of my company in the Left Coast office.
He ended up getting stuck with the bill for a bottle of Dom Perignon.
His comment afterwards was quite a propos: “I don’t care how good it is. No champagne is worth $35.00 a glass.” (As I said, it was a long time ago.)
I would say that that comment applies to this football ticket:
The couple paid $100 each for seats in the upper deck, far less than the current lowest price of $337 for one ticket, according to TiqIQ, an aggregator of the ticket resale market. Prices range as high as $5,747 for a seat in the front row of the stadium’s mezzanine section as of Nov. 28, according to TiqIQ data.
Figuring a playing time of 60 minutes, not counting commercials, that’s $350.00 a minute.
I can think of a few things I’d be willing to pay $350.00 a minute for, and large people running into each other at high speed is not one of them.
It’s only game, folks.
And a corrupt and crooked one at that.
A Bridge Too Far 0
When I worked in Thorofare, New Jersey, I would sometimes want a change from the interstate. My alternate route would take me right by this bridge.
Pictures at the link.
Twits on Twitter, No There There Dept. 0
William Shatner is in town and his twitter feed twitted that he was planning to visit the U. S. S. Enterprise, which is being decommissioned due to old age.
Then he wasn’t. When questioned about the twit, his publicist responded as follows:
Wonder how you get to be a “star’s twit”?
Afterthought:
You didn’t really believe that these important folks who consider themselves important lowered themselves to actually twit for themselves, did you? Tell me you didn’t.
They hire twits to twit.
Cats and Dogs 0
So true.
General Funding 1
How high-ranking officers move from the war machine to the war lobby.
Sauce for the Goose 4
In the Roanoke Times, William Fizer laments the ignorance of the wastrel youth:
He proceeds to provide evidence of the ignorance of the credulous oldth in the next paragraph, with this farcical statement,
Many Americans don’t know why we celebrate the Fourth of July or that U.S. founding documents are religious in nature, based on Judeo-Christian principles . . . .
which ignores the stated beliefs and actual writings of the founders, who were deeply suspicious of the influence of religion on government, the Wars of the Reformation, the Inquisition, and witch trials being fresh in their memories.
One could stretch a case and claim that, to the extent principles of justice and fairness are in some theoretical fashion “Judeo-Christian,” they may in some way be embodied in the founding documents, but it is ludicrous to arrogate justice and fairness somehow exclusively to the “Judeo-Christian” tradition. (Justice and fairness don’t seem particularly prominent in the thinking of those, such as Pat Robertson, who so loudly proclaim themselves as Christ’s appointed spokespersons in our public debate; vengeance and earthly dominion seem to preoccupy them.)
As I said, it would be a stretch. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America were much more the products of classical and Enlightenment philosophers than of any religious sect or creed.
Mr. Fizer’s distress at the ignorance of American history is, I think, well-taken.
He should start by learning some.
The Federal Trough 0
Heh.
The additional money would be used to reengineer beaches, including additional sand dunes, to protect the shoreline against future storms. Last week, state officials asked for $29.4 billion in federal funds to offset emergency response and repair costs.