2012 archive
I Get Mail, Area 51 Dept. 0
H/T Susan for the picture.
Love Me, Love My Dog 0
Chauncey Devega ruminates on a study that suggest racism runs even into the canine realm. A nugget:
Even presidential pets were viewed through the same lens. Tesler showed 1,000 YouGov respondents a picture of a Portuguese water dog and asked how favorably they felt toward it. Half saw the dog introduced as Bo Obama, and half as Ted Kennedy’s dog, Splash. (Both political dogs are the same breed, but the picture was of Obama’s.) Those with negative feelings toward blacks thought less of Obama’s dog.
I love dogs. Tesler’s finding that white racial resentment extends to Bo, a canine, is a sign of how damaging white racism is to those who afflicted with it. The social science suggests that the activation of white racial animus and hostility is a halo effect which extends to anyone associated with President Obama.
I understand the methodology and argument: But yet, I am still left asking how can you dislike a dog based only on his owner?
Racism runs deep in American history and consciousness (and unconsciousness), far deeper that most white folks are willing to acknowledge, let alone confront. Read the rest.
Aside:
That, in addition to the clear writing and sound scholarship, is one reason I’m so happy to have discovered Mr. Devega’s blog; it gives me a chance to look at me with a different mirror.
The Blob! It’s Alive! 0
This mass, which appeared overnight, has the romantic name of “dog vomit slime mold.” You can judge the size by the dead rhododendrum leaf in the upper right corner.
Despite its appearance, it’s actually dry and slightly fuzzy to touch, at least on the outside (I have no interest in doing an internal). According the Wikipedia, it can move, er, ooze in its quest for sustenance.
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.”