Reason Morning Links: Violence in Mideast Protests, House Budget Cuts, Machine Beats Man

• Violent crackdowns on the protests in Bahrain, Libya.
• House GOP proposes "hundreds" of budget cuts.
• "Watson" computer beats human Jeopardy! champs.
• Bipartisan Senate group to tackle budget deficit.
• Class action suit alleges the Pentagon ignores reports of sexual assault.

Comments

[Clich? Bandit]

Yeah I made it into morning links first.

And seriously, soon anon bot and his cousin will rule us all.

[Mr Whipple]

Embrace the Technological Singularity or it will embrace you.

[Mike Laursen]

When the Singularity comes, everybody will get first post! Our pre-Singularity minds can't understand how that is possible right now, but it will be.

[Mr. FIFY]

I look forward to the day when computers will be obsolete, and we'll have little cell-phone antennas sticking out of the bases of our skulls... a world where e-mails are sent before they're even written, and The Mainframe can scan our very thoughts just in case we plan on voicing dissent against Future King Obama.

Not looking forward to the lobotomy scars, though. I do plan on putting up a struggle, but I can always hope they'll just shoot me instead.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Our estimates show a bullet is the lower cost solution. Would you consider simply getting in a hole and waiting for dehydration to get you? That'd be even cheaper...

[Ghost of Skynet Future]

Won't be long now...

[Mr Whipple]

Our expectations shape the future therefore we must expect utopia by 2045.

[Azathoth]

Actually, the Singularity occured over the years 2027 through 3966(of course, that date went out the window when multiversal experience replaced 'time', but for the sake of this referrent>Thursday February 17, 2011< it has to be used, the referrent being durational, after all) but post singularity pre-singularity referrents were found to be. This, of course, meant that it is accurate to place any 'date' onto the occurance of the Singularity that one wishes.

I always like 'yesterday'.

[robc]

I watched day 2 of the Jeopardy IBM challenge (have the final day on dvr, I think).

I said this before and still go with it, would be more impressed if Watson had camera to "read" board instead of having the questions input. I think it gave Watson too much time to hit the databases while the humans were processing the question.

Also, I loled at its answer of Toronto for final Jeopardy. The category was "U.S. Cities".

The question was the type that humans are good at understanding but computers handle poorly.

[Brett L]

So... Cliff Claven and Watson:

Name two things overconfident going into Final Jeopardy.

[Cliff Claven]

But they HADN'T been in my kitchen!!! It was a correct answer!!!

[Cliff Claven]

But they HADN'T been in my kitchen!!! It was a correct answer!!!

[CavMedic]

"Tony Curtis is still alive! Call him and ask him if he's ever been in my kitchen!"

[Cliff Clavin]

It's a little known fact, there, that, err, yer ancient Mesopotamians invented chiropractic science!

[Prof. John Nerdelbaum FrinK]

*glavin*

[Mo]

What was interesting in Day 2 was the advantage the humans had in the very short questions because Watson didn't have time to process an answer.

I read an interview with the head of the Watson project and he said Watson messed up the Toronto question because it was programed to lower the weight of the category name, because they typically don't have as much weight in the as the clue, and that there are many towns named Toronto in the US. Interestingly, Chicago was the #2 answer.

[Nick]

How many of those towns named Toronto in the U.S. have a single airport, much less two?

[Tulpa]

I suspect the chain went something like

1. There is a city in the US named Toronto
2. There is a city named Toronto that has two airports, one of which is named after a World War hero.

Associative neural nets are a weird thing.

[robc]

Somehow I got the question right despite no knowing that O'hare was a WW2 hero.

Human brains are a weird thing.

[Mo]

Me too. My process went: Cities with two airports, (NYC - JFK, Laguardia ... nope, DC - Dulles, Reagan ... nope, Chicago - O'Hare, Midway ... I suppose O'Hare could be a WWII hero).

[robc]

For some reason I started with San Diego...the Chicago because I have flown into Midway a bnuch. My thought was pretty much "Huh, I suppose O'Hare could be a WW2 hero and had no idea Midway was named for the battle, I figured it was halfway between two things".

[Gray Ghost]

I'd have been trying to remember if there were any WWII battles named "Hobby" that I forgot.

Shooting down five bombers at once by yourself, saving your carrier, and getting the CMH in the process certainly qualifies as "war hero." Interesting story.

[Fatty Bolger]

Yes, but... it's important to also remember that humans wrote the question in the first place.

[Trespassers W]

Associative neural nets are a weird thing.

And yet that sounds pretty much like how actual people think.

[robc]

Is YYZ some WW2 hero Im unfamiliar with?

And what is the name of Toronto's 2nd airport?

[robc]

Answering my own question, Lester B Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957. He was in WW1, but was a diplomat during WW2.

I figured I should look up who, if anyone, Toronto International was named after, since I taunted Watson for his answer.

[Mo]

Billy Bishop, WWI flying ace. His role in WWII was recruiting and creating the training plan for WWII pilots. To be sure, the answer was really messed up, but overall the performance was impressive.

[robc]

Is that the #2 Toronto airport?

[grrizzly]

Yes, the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.

[Isaac Bartram]

These comments could be confusing.

Toronto Pearson International Airport, at Malton, northwest of the city, is the major airport for Toronto and is named after Lester pearson fomer Prime Minister of Canada and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for brokering the cease fire in the 1956 Suez crisis.

The Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is a small mostly general aviation airport located on the wterfront downtown. Apparently there is some talk of expanding the number of commercial flight into it.

[grrizzly]

The Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is the hub of Porter Airlines that serves Eastern Canada and has non-stop flights to 4 US cities (New York, Boston, Chicago, Myrtle Beach). Next time I consider flying to Toronto from Boston I'm likely to fly right to that airport. It would be much more convenient if I want to visit Toronto downtown.

[NoVAHockey]

Pearson also has been replaced by Ted Lindsay

[Tulpa]

I read an interview with the head of the Watson project and he said Watson messed up the Toronto question because it was programed to lower the weight of the category name, because they typically don't have as much weight in the as the clue

Really? There are a lot of questions for which knowing the category is crucial to getting the right answer, like the infamous "'S' words" or last week's "Initial Authors" (authors known by their first two initials) or "'Stan' in the place where you live" (countries ending in 'stan').

[kinnath]

A great read from Ken Jennings over at Slate.

http://www.slate.com/id/2284721/

Indeed, playing against Watson turned out to be a lot like any other Jeopardy! game, though out of the corner of my eye I could see that the middle player had a plasma screen for a face. Watson has lots in common with a top-ranked human Jeopardy! player: It's very smart, very fast, speaks in an uneven monotone, and has never known the touch of a woman.

[robc]

a glowing blue ball crisscrossed by "threads" of thought?42 threads, to be precise, an in-joke for Douglas Adams fans

At this point, I assume even people who have never picked up an Adams book understand that joke.

[Arthur Dent]

It's no so much an afterlife, more a sort of apres-vie...

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Dont you wish you hadnt said that?

[Mike Laursen]

Would be a lot more entertaining if Watson used the Internet as its data source. I'd like to see the answers it comes up with when the input includes wikipedia, Lonewacko's site, whitehouse.gov, Huffington Post, Hit & Run, Fox News, the New York Times, The Onion, etc.

[yonemoto]

I bet if you retooled the questions you would find out that watson is dumber than a fifth grader.

[Name Nomad]

US government accidentally shuts down 84000 websites instead of just the 10 they were after

[Tony]

I'm cool with those odds.

[Rich]

Without warning, hundreds of heavily armed riot police officers rushed into Pearl Square here early Thursday, firing shotguns, tear gas and concussion grenades at the thousands of demonstrators who were sleeping there as part of a widening protest against the nation's absolute monarchy.

Stay classy, Bahrain.

[John Tagliaferro]

They forgot to mention the tear gas grenades were "Made in USA". Some editor's head will roll over that.

[Warty]

Mubarak has given up and wants to die

[John]

The waiting list to hell is long. It may be a while before they can get to him.

[Mr Whipple]

I'm sure that can be arranged.

[Pro Libertate]

I have the oddest sense of d?j? vu.

[OhioOrrin]

how do u know mubarak wont get his 77 virgins?

[Irub]

And what is he going to do with them? Mubarak was born in 1928 - he is almost 90 by now.

[Old Mexican]

Re: OhioOrrin,

how do u know mubarak wont get his 77 virgins?

Because he was only promised 72 virgins by the one true prophet, not 77.

Jeez, are people greedy.

[Mr. FIFY]

I hope he gets 72 Virgils.

"Yew got a purty mouth there, Mubarak..."

[Rich]

Bipartisan Senate group to tackle budget deficit.

I suggest tackling low, fast, and hard.

[John]

Reality hits feminist liberal in the face via videogames.

http://www.prospect.org/cs/art.....ral_combat

[Fluffy]

My cities become a checkerboard of tony lofts and corporate office buildings, peppered with the occasional opera house or art gallery no working family could afford to visit.

BS.

Most of the museums in New York and Mass let you pay what you want, or have free days, or free months or seasons.

There is free classical music somewhere every night within a half hour to forty-five minute drive of just about everyone on the east coast if you just look for it.

Working families don't miss out on "culture" because they can't afford it. They miss out on it because they don't give a shit and would rather watch The Biggest Loser. Not that there's anything wrong with TBL or anything.

[John]

Pretty much. It always amazes me the quality of performance that can be given by a group of former college music or drama majors. I used to live in Edmond, Oklahoma, a suburb of OKC. They had a Shakespeare in the Park. The quality was quite high. Yeah, it wasn't Central Park quality. But it was good enough to be worth going to if you like that thing. Community orchestras or college ones tend to be the same. We live in a world where high culture is everywhere if you want it.

[Pro Libertate]

When I was in law school in Chicago, I used to go to free days at the various cultural institutions. I agree, you can go if you are interested in going.

[Spoonman.]

Winning a cultural victory in Civilization is way easier than conquering the world, at least in Civ 5 and Civ 3. It was fairly, but not overly, difficult in Civ 4.

[John]

But you have to have an army in Civ. The other civilizations are all assholes. It doesn't matter how many times you kick their ass, they keep coming back. I think she is probably shocked that you can't just live peacefully.

[Spoonman.]

Or you have to be sufficiently more advanced and rich than them that you can demolish any invasion force with a few units. I've had every civilization in the game declare war on me at once and not had a problem even though I had a very small army.

[Mo]

In Civ 5, all you have to do to conquer the world is to capture all of the original capitals. That's way easier than the cultural victory.

[Jersey Patriot]

The funny thing about that article is that I play Civilization (or Alpha Centauri) to avoid war. I hate it. It takes forever, it burns resources, it's tedious as hell. Discovering new techs and landscaping my territory are a lot more fun. I almost always end up winning by some other means than worldwide conquest.

[Nick]

Ah, the libertarian method. We should try that here.

[zoltan]

So, the way I choose to play a video game like The Sims is different from enjoying a torture-glorifying episode of 24 or a racially problematic movie like The Blind Side.

Reality is racially problematic.

[CoyoteBlue]

Bipartisan Senate group to tackle budget deficit.

But is it a 'Blue Ribbon' Bipartisan group. Cuz those are the ones that are really good at kicking the can down the road.

The Left is complaining that the Red teamers are only cutting programs they don't like. Since we've pretty much already decided that a rational discussion about core government responsiblities and missions will not be happen this year - I think spite is as good a methodology as any other.

[pancakes]

Would you cut off your nose to spite your face? This is theatrics to appease the tea partiers. Any reasonable person knows meaningful cuts would be ruinous to our common goals of health and prosperity.

Enjoy the show (while it lasts)

[CoyoteBlue]

Any reasonable person knows meaningful cuts would be ruinous to our common goals of health and prosperity.

So you're saying not making meaningful cuts - leading to a total fiscal and monetary meltdown (see Greece & Argentina) - would NOT be ruinous to our common goals of health and prosperity (debatable "common" goals - why the fuck do I care if YOU are poor and unhealth?).

[pancakes]

you don't care because you are part of the priveleged classes. your privelege only exists because the government protects it through the breadth and depth of institutions for those with less privelege.

If you get the deep cuts you want, fine. Just don't cry when your house, auto, and family end up upside-down, inside-out, and on fire.

[Rich]

Just don't cry when your house, auto, and family end up upside-down, inside-out, and on fire.

Forgive me, I'm still waking up, pancakes.

Exactly why would these events occur?

[Sovereign Immunity]

Union goons.

[Citizen Nothing]

I'm glad SF finally explained pancakes/waffles to me. Someone should update that Reason wiki thingy.

[CoyoteBlue]

The teachers unions will seize control of our cities and roam the countryside raping and killing the selfish taxpayers.

[Marshall Gill]

The teachers unions will seize control of our cities and roam the countryside raping and killing the selfish taxpayers.

STEVE SMITH WANT TO JOIN TEACHERS UNION!

[Monty]

how is that dirrerent from whats going on now?

[creech]

Ah, right. So it isn't a question of loving the underprivileged, it's a question of fearing them.

[zoltan]

Go back to Jezebel so they can teach you how to spell "privilege".

[Brett L]

"House GOP proposes "hundreds" of budget cuts."

I'm sure I'm not the only one who read hundreds in budget cuts.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

hundreds in budget cuts.

They're cutting to the bone! We'll be without cops and firemen!

[Rich]

The proposed cuts touched on every conceivable subject: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) proposed to stop funding research on the impact of yoga on menopausal women.

With all due respect, can you believe that line was written by *Kathleen* Hennessey and *Lisa* Mascaro?

[Ragin Cajun]

the impact of yoga on menopausal women.

One hot pretzel?

[Brett L]

You mean Womens Studies can't raise the funding from alumnae and doctors don't care enough to pay for a study? Who knew?

[Sovereign Immunity]

I hate few things in life, but I really, really hate identity politics.

[John]

http://dailycaller.com/2011/02.....l-assault/

Liberal douche thinks sexual assault of "war monger" woman is funny. Odd, MNG broke out the term war monger yesterday. I guess it is a talking point now.

[John Tagliaferro]

Nir Rosen, who resigned afterward claiming his words were not "him"?

[Rich]

Rosen is a fellow at the New York University Center on Law and Security

I suspect not much longer.

[John]

He resigned. You really have to be some kind of a scum bag to laugh a woman or anyone being sexually assaulted.

[Sovereign Immunity]

Progressives really, really get the hate on when they feel comfortable molting their "tolerant and open-minded" skins. Yet another example.

[STEVE SMITH]

STEVE SMITH SAY JOHN HAS FUNNY VIEW ON LIFE.

[Team Red]

Rosen's a liberal! He's THEIR problem!

[Team Blue]

No! Rosen's a right-wing hatemonger!

[Gray Ghost]

Seems to happen a lot when you talk about the plight of criminals in prison. People just love making 'don't bend over for the soap' jokes and the like.

Not that I'm disagreeing with you, John.

[The Gobbler]

[citation needed], Shit Facktory.

[Pro Libertate]

I don't get that at all. These people approve of rape now? Logan is a war correspondent--that doesn't make her a war monger. Even if it did, I wasn't aware that rape was the appropriate punishment.

[Sovereign Immunity]

Well, CNN seems to think so; they aired some footage taken right before the attack and blurred out the faces of the surrounding animals. I would consider that a tacit endorsement.

[Pro Libertate]

Huh. Wonder what they were thinking? It's not about litigation, I'm sure, which it might be here.

[Fluffy]

They might be concerned that individuals would be identified and accused of being the rapists, when they may just be the people who were there as the rape mob was running over.

[Pro Libertate]

I suppose that makes sense. They could always share the unedited tape with the military/government.

[Rock Action]

One of the main Lawrence O'Donnell stories on MSNBC last night was about a right-wing talk show host saying something similarly awful. No mention of Rosen. They even called in an "expert" to discuss the conservative pathology behind her statements. Everything is now a political fight over the dissemination of information.

[John Tagliaferro]

If you deny facts enough, anybody can be tolerant enough to celebrate the 711 invasion of Spain.

[Ragin Cajun]

Charles Martel: West meets East?

[John Tagliaferro]

That is what they plan to call their Pearl Harbor celebration.

[Fluffy]

There is absolutely no reason to view the Muslim conquest of Spain as being any different from any of the other 100 conquests of Spain that occurred between Carthaginian times and today.

"Those darn Muslims! They took Spain away from the Franks and Visigoths and Byzantines who were the rightful conquerors of Spain!"

Whatever.

[John]

True,

But that also means that the Muslims need to stop bitching and moaning about being kicked out. It is just the way of the world.

[John Tagliaferro]

Don't hold your breath on that celebration of the Crusades.

[Fluffy]

Oh, definitely.

I would just say that in the Europe / North Africa / SW Asia area during the entire time frame of 2000 BC to, say, 1492, all parties attempted to conquer all other parties at all times; that some of them made their conquests in militarily and historically interesting ways; and that some parties attained higher levels of culture than others.

This makes me unsurprised - and unconcerned - that a military college would want to hold an event studying one of those conquerors and the post-conquest culture they produced.

[John Tagliaferro]

Not exactly what they are doing, but hey who am I to package the whole thing for you right here so you don't have to expend any effort at all? You have a link, refuse to use it if you wish.

[Fluffy]

Sure it is.

Yes, they are definitely depicting the Al-Andalus culture in a positive light.

So what?

Every last country in Europe that has any Roman ruins in it plays up Roman culture in a positive light, and Rome was a totalitarian slave state that ritually slaughtered people as public entertainment.

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, but aqueducts!

[Nick]

And...roads!

[Pro Libertate]

And the sanitation.

[Pro Libertate]

I agree--it's all old, irrelevant news, but some of the more radical elements in the Muslim community like to harp on the Crusades as casus belli for attacks on the West. Kinda stupid when Europe was the victim of many repeated attacks long before the Crusades (and during and after, of course).

I say we just worry about the last hundred years when holding grudges. At least some of the "guilty" are still kicking, that way.

[Brett L]

Right. IIRC, the First Crusade was to defend Constantinople -- Rome's sister city -- from the invading Turks who happened to be... which religion? Also, I'm pretty sure Vienna was not a historically Muslim area when the Turkish army (which religion?) was finally driven back from Europe.

[zoltan]

Also, I'm pretty sure Vienna was not a historically Muslim area when the Turkish army (which religion?) was finally driven back from Europe.

The Drawing of the Dark is a neat book with the coming invasion of Vienna as the backdrop--and lots of beer.

[John Tagliaferro]

More radical elements of the Muslim community? Yes, them plus the moderate elements and the entire academic left.

[Marshall Gill]

There is absolutely no reason to view the Muslim conquest of Spain as being any different from any of the other 100 conquests of Spain that occurred between Carthaginian times and today.

Thank Science you have seen the light. Here all this time I thought you were arguing that Islam was somehow different, immune to violent conquest without the trigger of American foreign policy.

[Tulpa]

You got a carbon permit for that strawman?

[Fluffy]

Who said that?

I think it's pretty much a truism that all states seek their own advantage to the detriment of their neighbors, to the extent that they have the power to do so, unless said neighbor is an ally.

But in case you didn't notice, the US has zero Islamic neighbors, and a thermonuclear arsenal that completely obviates any serious moves against us as a polity. Those two incontrovertible facts make me doubt very much that we would have an Islamic problem if we didn't go looking for one.

[Monty]

I think we (america) started building up this enemy before the wall came down. Perpetual war for perpetual peace or something.

[Ice Nine]

Most of Europe has a huge Islamic problem - one that will engulf it and detrimentally change it forever in three or four generations - and they didn't go looking for one.

[Fatty Bolger]

Rome wasn't surrounded by Christian neighbors, and also had overwhelming military force.

Not saying you are necessarily wrong - just that when it comes to the spread of religion, it's much more complicated than that.

[Ice Nine]

It's not a matter of spreading religion, it's a matter of "spreading" Muslims. And that is not at all complicated. The Muslims are simply doing that, as you know, at a rate that dwarfs the rate at which the Europeans are "spreading" Europeans.

[Fatty Bolger]

Yes, but Fluffy was talking about the US, not Europe. My point was that it does not always require massive immigration for a religion to spread into and take over new areas.

I'm not saying that's what is happening or will happen. Just that it is wrong to discount it as a possibility.

[waffles]

whatever.

[pancakes]

whatever.

hey waffles!

[butter and syrup]

lap dance?

[John]

http://www.jsonline.com/news/o.....55379.html

Union tantrums in Wisconsin. How dare voters think they are in charge.

[Old Mexican]

Michael Moore already called Wisconsin the new "Cairo."

Maybe we can expect union thugs and lazy teachers to sexually assault a CBS reporter also...

[John Tagliaferro]

That should bring joy and a feeling of arrival to the people of Wisconsin, being called a down-state Illinois city.

[waffles]

We can only hope. But Tony was going off yesterday about the USA not having enough democracy. Well to that I say WTF! STUPIDITY!!!

The lefty camp only whines about undemocratic processes when they are on the losing side. What is more undemocratic than the union flatly denying the will of the people. Democracy? Hah!

[John]

The people of Wisconsin used the democratic process to elect a governor and a legislature committed to ending public sector union bargaining power. I don't think that was the kind of democracy Tony was talking about.

[pancakes]

Yup, democracy is the people calling in sick from their jobs to demand more benefits from said jobs. The legislature controlling their lives locked away in their little palace in the capitol is NOT democracy.

The WILL of the people WILL be heard!
Viva Wisconson!

[Sovereign Immunity]

Tony's idea of democracy is:

Government takes from you, with the majority's consent, yay! Democracy! Sweetness and light!

Government lessens the amount taken, with the majority's consent, boo! Fascism! Elitism! Slavery!

[Fatty Bolger]

Well said.

[OhioOrrin]

is that who assulted the women in cario?

[Old Mexican]

Re: OhioOrrin,

is that who assulted the women in cario?

I don't know who assaulted the women in cario. In Cairo, the woman was assaulted by a mob... not unlike the other mob that's currently 'protesting' in Wisconsin.

[Rich]

Union activists in Madison Tuesday spoke apocalyptically of "class war," hinting wildly at general strikes and takeovers of the Capitol.

Let the good times roll.

[John]

And some of the comments to that article are amazing examples of stupidity.

[Virginia]

40% of Madison teachers called in sick. Schools closed. 100% of Madison parents scrambled to find daycare, ready to kill teachers union.

[Tulpa]

Remember, public school teachers' first priority is helping their students learn.

[Brett L]

The other 60% probably had school-aged kids.

[Mr. FIFY]

I'd give a months' pay to watch union goons throw the first punches in Wisconsin.

Of course, they'd claim they were provoked... AND be the victims.

[Steve]

I'd give a months' pay to watch union goons throw the first punches in Wisconsin.

Of course, they'd claim they were provoked... AND be the victims.

Kent State proves you right.

[Virginia]

Wisconsin mayor calls emergency session to pass all sorts of unaffordable promises before the governor's bill passes later this week.

The mayor said he will also propose an ordinance that would memorialize the 3 percent pay increase in the last pay period of 2011 and the 2 percent increase in the last pay period of 2012 that non-represented employees would have received under the current system.

[zoltan]

That is amazing to see. Thanks for posting that John and I hope to see Reason do an article about it.

[Fluffy]

No love for the House GOP freshmen taking down a superfluous jet engine program?

BTW - did anyone see the full list of GOP reps who voted to kill Boehner's Boondoggle anywhere? I kept looking but couldn't find it.

[John Tagliaferro]

All of the roll call votes are right here. Have been for a while too.

[Fluffy]

That requires me to know what bill or amendment I'm looking for.

I want the information provided to me with no effort on my part.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

They stick a Cam Newton jersey on Bear Bryant's statue, you poison their 130 year old oak tree. THAT'S the Alabama way.

[John]

barbarians.

[Warty]

Fucking scum. Those trees were more valuable than the entire extended family of the redneck dipshit who poisoned it.

[SugarFree]

The caller said he poisoned the trees following the Iron Bowl in reaction to Auburn fans allegedly rolling the Toomer's trees after the death of Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant in 1983

Is that supposed to be "rolling in the Toomer's trees" or is "rolling trees" some sports tradition that escapes me?

[Warty]

Could it be idiotese for TPing?

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Rolling is slang for covering trees in toilet paper. It's apparently a tradition at Auburn to roll the Toomer's Oaks after a big sports victory.

[SugarFree]

Ah, thanks. As Warty notes, my cohort just calls it "TPing."

[Warty]

If we're the same cohort, then I must be fucking old.

[SugarFree]

What's that, sonny?

[John Tagliaferro]

Tossing toilet paper by the roll into the tree. Once draped over the branches only weathering or extensive human labor can get rid of the toilet paper streamers.

[Old Mexican]

"Watson" computer beats human Jeopardy! champs.

Ha! That's nothing! I was beaten by my Sargon Chess game in my TRS-80 Mod 1 back in the day!

[Beemer Beavis]

Ha, HA!! I was beaten in tic-tac-toe by a random number generator!

[John Tagliaferro]

Want to play thermonuclear war?

[Old Mexican]

Re: John Tagliaferro,

Want to play thermonuclear war?

That's Global Thermonuclear War. If you're going to be a geek, be a complete geek, not just a partial one!

[waffles]

and don't forget the expansion pack Mutually Assured Destruction

[zoltan]

Punk.

[Rock Action]

And you'd better ask for a game of chess first.

[Old Mexican]

Anti-Ron Paul hoax perpetrated by Fox news:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blo.....78819.html

[Mike in PA]

Wow, I hadn't seen that.

Are you suggesting that there's a concerted effort to minimize the impact of Ron Paul's popularity? You must be some kind of conspiracist, or soemthing.

[Old Mexican]

We report, YOU decide...

[Max]

I don't have a problem with this... I've been lying about Ron Paul's racism for years, now.

[zoltan]

Pathetic.

[Old Mexican]

Mundane driver arrested after Tax-fed, jack-booted leech rear-ends him under a traffic light.

http://www.laweekly.com/2011-0.....n-redondo/

[Fluffy]

I hope he secretly DID deliberately jam on his breaks, and gets away with it.

[SugarFree]

After that, Redondo Beach Detective Mike Strosnider invited Hitchcock to a let's-be-friends lunch at Subway on the pretext that the investigation was over. It wasn't. Strosnider secretly recorded the lunch in hopes of capturing incriminating comments, but came up empty, according to his own report.

Once again, I wonder how the police can express confusion over the fact that most people hate and fear them.

Oh, and the dipshit cop has been on paid medical leave since June because he can't get it up.

[waffles]

he can't get it up

Oh! So that's what medical reports mean by "soft tissue damage".

[Sovereign Immunity]

What a generous benefits package!

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Strosnider secretly recorded the lunch in hopes of capturing incriminating comments, but came up empty, according to his own report.

Wiretapping! Felony!

[Sal Paradise]

"After that, Redondo Beach Detective Mike Strosnider invited Hitchcock to a let's-be-friends lunch at Subway on the pretext that the investigation was over. It wasn't. Strosnider secretly recorded the lunch in hopes of capturing incriminating comments, but came up empty, according to his own report."

Wow, what a cocksucker.

[SugarFree]

Pic of the dumbshit cop in the back of the BMW.

[zoltan]

This picture makes me want to laugh like this: "BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!"

[JoshINHB]

"Parente, 6'1" and armed with his duty pistol, claimed to be so afraid of Hitchcock ? a gray-haired, fairly out-of-shape man in a Hawaiian shirt ? that Parente feared Hitchcock would snatch the shotgun from his fallen motorcycle.

Why are cops such pussies?

Do police department exclusively recruit pussies? Is that what the pysch tests are all about?

[Brett L]

What police departments recruit? Everywhere I've been, people knock down the doors of the academy and hope someone will take them on.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

1)Yeah, he's a pussy.

2)What does it matter how scared he got? Now it's a crime if a cop decides he feels some way regardless of what actions you actually perform?

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Wells says only, "I'm confident I have sufficient evidence to win a conviction."

Fucking bitch prosecutor. All that matters is "winning a conviction." It doesn't matter whether it's RIGHT; whether this guy truly did what this piece of shit cop is accusing him of - all that matters is that she's got "enough evidence" (can you say fabrication?) to "win" a conviction.

When I read shit like that, it makes my blood boil. Fucking prosecutors are supposed to serve the public and protect the public from true criminals - not single-mindedly focus on shit like this, with a sole purpose of "winning a conviction" against some old guy for allowing a tailgating cop to rear-end him.

My rage - it is so very barely suppressed...

[Vermont Gun Owner]

The 'evidence' appears to be the word of one cop against the word of the defendant and two witnesses.

[Nick]

It's always been my understanding that the vehicle that rear-ends the other vehicle is always at fault for driving too close. Guess we can expect new precedent to be made here. Fuck.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

That's what I have experience too. The police officer has admitted to being 2-3 feet behind the car, but is still claiming it was the fault of the "civilian."

[zoltan]

The prosecutor in this case, Brenda Wells, is also refusing to prosecute a cop, Michael Mastick, in an off-duty hit-and-run involving alcohol. Link here

Mastick also lied at first, saying his wife was driving.

In case you didn't read the article Old Mexican posted, the L.A. County D.A. refused to prosecute, citing lack of evidence. Brenda Wells thought there was enough evidence even though there are two witnesses on the side of the driver.

[Ray Kurzweil]

I set the date for the Singularity?representing a profound and disruptive transformation in human capability?as 2045. The nonbiological intelligence created in that year will be one billion times more powerful than all human intelligence today.

[Mike Laursen]

Around 2055, the Hit & Run webmaster will finally change the setting that makes all the comments completely download, then disappear a split second after the page finishes drawing.

[CaptainSmartass]

Given the accuracy on your past predictions, I think I'll take the over on this one.

[Old Mexican]

Congressman Lacy Clay's musings on monetary policy: "You're doing a damned good job of keeping inflation low and growing jobs!"

[No, really! Look!]

http://lacyclay.house.gov/inde.....itemid=495

[Warty]

I'm getting a kick out of LRC's recent hatred of this idiot. Lew and his buddies are really good at scorn, so it's nice when they have a worthy target.

[Spoonman.]

Wow. That's some nice gossip on that fuckstain.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Warty,

I'm getting a kick out of LRC's recent hatred of this idiot.

Well, he start it.

[Old Mexican]

started. sorry. Too little coffee.

[Pip]

A great funny:

http://blogs.ajc.com/mike-luckovich/

[yonemoto]

hey some of those are actually decent.

[Nick]

Every single one of them is better than any Friday Funny ever.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he favored holding spending to 2010 levels, in line with President Obama's proposed five-year spending freeze.

Yeah! Fixing the budget at the highest level ever is the way to solve our deficit!

[Keynes-Fappers]

Gotta spend money to, uh... spend money!

[Atanarjuat]

Florida Senate Rolls Out Pension Revamp, Draws Heat From Cops

Florida could become first state to drop Medicaid coverage

[Sovereign Immunity]

Hmmm, I need to move to FL. There are some Floridians here, where is the best place? I have heard horror stories about living in Whorelando.

[Pro Libertate]

Tampa Bay area if you want to live in or near a city.

[Fatty Bolger]

I've only lived on the east coast, but I have to agree and also give Tampa the nod among the major cities.

[generic Brand]

I live in Orlando and I like it because there is a lot to do; unfortunately the job market is pretty shitty right now. Depending on your line of work I've actually heard Jacksonville is pretty good (more medical related jobs than anything). Stay away from south Florida. It's way too expensive for whatever luxury you might find by moving there.

Stories like this make me really appreciate living in Florida. But then at the same time we always seem to unofficially have the most child-molestation/abduction cases reported on Nancy Grace and such. I guess the price of a somewhat decent tax structure is that a few children get "molested" by teachers or killed by unfit mothers.

[Pro Libertate]

A disproportionate number of crazies move to our state. I'm not sure why, but it's true.

As far as the government goes, it's not bad--definitely more fiscally responsible than most, though with odd aberrations.

[Pro Libertate]

I've heard good things about Jacksonville, though I've only been there a few times. It's more "Southern" than the other large Florida cities, which is fine by me, but it isn't for everyone.

[robc]

I've heard good things about Jacksonville

Ive been to Jax twice. Miserable city. Of course, its been Dec/Jan when Ive been there, so lots of places are miserable then.

[Citizen Nothing]

Yeah. But they got a Monorail. (Had to get it before Shelbyville did.)

[Citizen Nothing]

What you need to know about the Jacksonville Skyway (monorail).

[Brett L]

Does it kill the drunk & stupid? Because that was the only good part of the Light Rail when I lived in Houston.

[db]

I was very nearly killed by a light rail train in Amsterdam a couple of years ago, and I was neither intoxicated, nor stupid. Those things are scary quiet!

[Butts Wagner]

Ive been to Jax twice. Miserable city.

Probably miserable experiences at the football stadium too.

[generic Brand]

I think it's the extremely close proximity to Georgia that accounts for Jacksonville's redneckishness.

I moved just outside District 8 right after the election. I am so glad Grayson didn't get re-elected though. That guy was an incredible douche.

[Citizen Nothing]

Key West is one of my favorite towns. No homo.

[Pro Libertate]

I've heard that Cedar Key is kind of like Key West before it went all touristy. I've never been there (Cedar Key, that is--I've been to the Keys several times), however. Need to get up there some time.

[Citizen Nothing]

I spent a day on Cedar Key. Plenty touristy without the charming bustle (and great bars)of Key West, IMHO.
Last time I was in Key West I stopped in the American Legion post, of all places -- got to talking to a guy at the bar who was active in my state's LP 25 years ago back when I was, too.
(We didn't know each other, which, considering the size of my state's LP then, is strange.) Anyhoo -- small world.

[lrn2oppression]

you guys are REALLY OLD

[Citizen Nothing]

Get off my fucking lawn, lrn2

[generic Brand]

Up there? So does that mean you live in the capitalist bonanza that is Cuba?

[Pro Libertate]

Cedar Key is on the west coast of Florida, north of Tampa.

[generic Brand]

That just supports my theory that anything north of "the Florida Keys" should just be called islands. Way too confusing otherwise.

[Pro Libertate]

Or people could start referring to the Keys as "some Keys."

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

You need to go just a little south of Jacksonville, to the area known as "The Beaches." My father lived down there, in Ponte Vedra Beach (PVB) for 10 years. Not too shabby. PVB is the high-dollar area (Sawgrass golf course, part of the PGA tour, is there). Slightly farther north is Atlantic Beach, a bit more affordable, but still soft sand, blue water and palm trees.

I don't know what the current status is, but he moved down there because at the time there was no state income tax.

[Pro Libertate]

Still no state income tax.

[Fatty Bolger]

Ponte Vedra is great, if you can afford it. Which you likely can if you are moving from a northern city.

[Brett L]

Not Tallahassee.

[John Tagliaferro]

Monkey is the new Black.

[waffles]

Whoever writes this crap is orders of magnitude more racist than the "wellsprings of bigotry" where any opposition to Obama comes from. Do people take this seriously? Don't they know that to agree with that article is to buy into inflammatory rhetoric and hatemongering?

Ugh. Bunch of savages in this nation.

[Sovereign Immunity]

Even more revealing are the comments from self-identified black people on the comments board.

[DanD]

People, people, please. This is an Alternet article. What exactly did you expect to find there?

[Black Liberals]

It's okay when WE do it!

[Fuck Teacher's Unions]

MADISON, Wis. - School districts around Wisconsin canceled classes Thursday as state lawmakers were prepared to pass a momentous bill that would strip government workers of nearly all collective bargaining rights.

The proposal from Republican Gov. Scott Walker has drawn thousands of teachers, students and other demonstrators to the Capitol in protest. The nation's most aggressive anti-union proposal has been speeding through the Legislature since Walker introduced it a week ago.

Madison schools canceled classes for a second day as teachers prepared spend another day at the Capitol. Dozens of other school districts followed suit Thursday and closed, including La Crosse, Racine, Beaver Dam, Mosinee, Watertown and Stoughton

http://www.startribune.com/local/116397074.html

[Virginia]

Fire their asses.

has drawn thousands of teachers, students and other demonstrators to the Capitol in protest

Later that day... "But Daaaaaad, why can't I have my allowance?" Dad: "Because I spent that shit on increased taxes to pay for your teachers' pensions, or did you forget why you were protesting. You stupid little shit."

[Sovereign Immunity]

Fire their asses.

He can't due to the union contract. However, the governor could de-fund the unions. Or, eliminate a certain percentage of positions due to lack of funding, which he would be on firm ground, thus eliminating teachers through fiscal attrition. Lots of torches and pitchforks would be waving and probably lead to a an out-and-out strike.

[Mike M.]

He can't due to the union contract.

Ronald Reagan did it to the air traffic controllers, and it can be done to these bums as well.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

Couldn't you just fire the whole union?

[Old Mexican]

Re: Fuck Teacher's Unions,

Madison schools canceled classes for a second day as teachers prepared spend another day at the Capitol.

This is no different than in Mexico, where in some districts, part of the time the kids don't get schooling because the teachers are attending some mickey-mouse rally in favor for this or that candidate or union boss, or to protest some change in policy.

Congratulations, America - you've just decended to the level of a 3rd world country.

[Chupacabra]

What do you mean "JUST descended to the level of the a 3rd world country"?

I think we hit that milestone years ago.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Chupacabra,

I think we hit that milestone years ago.

Maybe I set the bar lower than you did... I did not want to give the impression I am a tough customer.

[Barack Obama]

Re-elect me in 2012, and I'll finish the job!

[Corduroy]

sweet

[Virginia]

In this example, BitTorrent is a boltcutter and the Authors Guild's collective works are a bike.

Today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was all about COICA, the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act. The bill would give the government legal tools to blacklist a "rogue" website from the Internet's Domain Name System, ban credit card companies from processing US payments to the site, and forbid US-based online ad networks from working with the site. It even directs the government to keep a list of suspect sites, even though no evidence has been presented against them in court.

In fact, they have a few suggestions of their own. Turow wants to cripple the "safe harbors" that protect ISPs and websites from liability in the actions of their users. One of his improvements to COICA would "remove the DMCA safe harbors for online and Internet service providers that provide routine access to online file-sharing service providers that have not registered an agent for service of process for copyright infringement actions and for which the Copyright Office has received at least 50 DMCA take-down notices."

Obviously ISPs are shitting themselves. And everyone in Congress loves this idea. I blame the fucking generation gap.

[Joshua corning]

No news on Wisconsin?

Drudge today seems to think this is the biggest news since the discovery of plutonium.

[Joshua corning]

"Watson" computer beats human Jeopardy! champs.

This is lame.

Anyone with access to Google could beat the computer and the champions without breaking a sweat.

[Fatty Bolger]

Interesting. That does seem like more of a fair fight.

[Ice Nine]

>>"While, historically, there are plenty of Alexander the Greats who amassed power through conquest, there are also countries like Switzerland that became economically powerful by remaining neutral and pacifist."

Maybe my average knowledge of world history is just not clicking for me today, but I sure wish she had named three or four of them.

[Vermont Gun Owner]

You could argue that the US was relatively pacifist during our initial rise to economic power.

Besides that, well, Costa Rica is pacifist. They're super rich, right?

[DanD]

Just the coast...

[Isaac Bartram]

Calling Switzerland pacifist is a stretch. They have too big an army for that.

Their policy is armed neutrality.

It essentially says, "We won't invade you and won't help you if you're invaded by anyone else but you'll be sorry if you ever try to invade us."

[Fatty Bolger]

It also would have been moot if the Nazis had won WWII. Switzerland would have become, for all intentsive porpoises, a de facto member of the new German empire.

[zoltan]

there are also countries like Switzerland that became economically powerful by remaining neutral and pacifist.

Woman, let me help you with your stupid.

[Sovereign Immunity]

You sugar freed the link.

[zoltan]

Son of a bitch! It's a link to the Wikipedia article on Swiss mercenaries if anyone's interested.

[Ice Nine]

Right. I think we are all acknowledging that her claim is bullshit. I further submit that true "pacifism" is for the most part unknown in the animal kingdom, especially among its human members. Where it is seen - I'm guessing exclusively in humans - it is a deranged contrivance along the lines of "healing pyramids" and things of that general ilk. If anyone doubts this, I'll be glad to suggest a surefire way to test the genuineness of anyone's purported pacifism.

[CPR Certification]

Someone post a comment here that he will going to watch the show here..

[????? ??????]

Thanks