Reason Morning Links: Meltdown Threat in Japan, Mideast Clash Over Bahrain, Gadaffi Forces Gaining Ground

• Japan may be on the verge of a nuclear catastrophe.
• Saudis send troops to Bahrain, Iran calls on the country to treat democracy demonstrators peacefully.
• NRA spurns Obama invitation to talk.
• Census finds unexpectedly high numbers of Hispanics.
• Gaddafi continues to gain ground on Libyan rebels.
• Hugo Chavez takes a bold stand against breast implants.

Comments

[capitol l]

Census finds unexpectedly high numbers of Hispanics.

Lonewacko is probably stroking out over this one...HA!

ANCORBABIEZHATE'EM!!!one

[Almanian]

Si

[Juvenile Lurker]

Q (Waiter): How did you find the steak, Sir?
A: I just moved the potato, and there it was!

[SugarFree]

Hugo Chavez takes a bold stand against breast implants.

It's a weird day when 'Ugo and I are in agreement.

[MNG]

If I were Chavez I would grab hold of the breast implant issue with both hands.

[OO]

i like ur ideas & wish to subscribe to ur newsletter.

[SugarFree]

And not let go.

[Hugo Seinfeld]

You know, that Salma Hayek had large breasts...

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Today, we all are Hispanic.

Ich bin ein Hispanicer.

[Gus]

I once new of a band made up of 4 white guys fronted by a Latino man. They seriously considered calling themselves "Spic and the Bigots".

[Restoras]

So, they went with Bic and Spigots, instead?

[wylie]

7/10 (Great Bandname Score)

[Almanian]

We had a band in college for a while - 5 suburban crackers doing James Brown, black blues guys, chambers brothers, etc.

Yep, we were The Whites.

[sloopyinca]

How the hell did your bagpiping solo in the middle of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" go over at the frat parties?

[Mr. FIFY]

Throw in an accordion player, and get REAL gone!

[Ska]

John Linnell was busy in Brooklyn doing the Dial-A-Song thing.

[Almanian]

I played bass in that particular band 🙂

[MNG]

Paleoanthropologists often assume that chimp societies are a reasonably good stand-in for the ancestral ape society that gave rise to the chimp and human lineages...How did a chimplike society ever give rise to the egalitarian, largely monogamous structure of hunter-gatherer groups? Dr. Chapais sees the transition as a series of accidents, each of which let natural selection exploit new opportunities. Early humans began to walk on two legs because it was a more efficient way of getting around than knuckle-walking, the chimps' method. But that happened to leave the hands free. Now they could gesture, or make tools.

It was a tool, in the form of a weapon, that made human society possible, in Dr. Chapais's view.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03.....ndex.jsonp

[Warty]

So Dr. Chapais watched got baked, watched 2001, and wrote a paper about it.

[waffles]

I'd recommend the first two, but have doubts about the utility of the paper.

[OO]

society, as in ever larger groupings not hunter-gatherers, was made possible by the plow ranked as a top 10 invention.

[JoshINHB]

Just ask the Mayans.

[The Gobbler]

"Now they could gesture, or make tools."

What a load of shit. Even if they were "knuckle-walking" they could gesture and make tools while they were sitting on their asses.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Never underestimate the power of being able to gesture while walking (or running). It has evolved into the ability to gesture while driving, as seen on highways all over the U.S. daily.

[SugarFree]

Man was not man until he could flip the double bird while strolling.

[Dr. Chapais]

I'm sucking the goverment's tits!

[wylie]

As long as they ain't fake.

[Zeb]

Makes sense to me. To a large extent our hands make us human. Our bipedal running is also far more efficient than chimps' or most quadrupeds' way of moving around. I can't see how both of those factors wouldn't be crucial in becoming human.

[#]

imagine what dolphins would be up to right now if they had opposable thumbs

[Tulpa]

Being able to carry something while moving comes in pretty handy, though.

[paloma]

Chimps carry stuff while moving all the time. They can run way faster on their three legs, carrying a banana or something, way faster than a human being on two. Geez.

[chaussures air max]

year

[MNG]

Bugs! Its What's for Dinner?

Besides steaks, poultry and others kinds of meat, he offers mealworms, buffalo worms, locusts and other insects, as well as prepared products containing insects like Bugs Sticks and Bugs Nuggets ? not for pets, but as a source of protein for people.

On a recent afternoon he arranged two sample stands, one with chunks of chocolate laced with ground mealworms (larvae for a type of beetle), another with various kinds of whole insects for munching, including worms and crickets, in small plastic containers...The government is backing them, and last year it appropriated $1.4 million for research into insects as food, to prepare legislation governing insect farms, health and safety standards, and marketing through retail outlets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03.....5bugs.html

[wylie]

to prepare legislation governing insect farms, health and safety standards, and marketing through retail outlets.

Congratulations, you just made insects uneconomical. I really didn't think it was possible, but there you go.

[Ska]

I don't normally post stuff like this , but LMFAO.

[Virginia]

Insects-as-food is the latest hipster fad to save the planet from overpopulation. There's even a TED spiel about it.

I'll eat the shit if they're stuffed in chocolate but don't tell me grilled locust meat tastes just like beef.

[wylie]

but don't tell me grilled locust meat tastes just like beef

Zimmern swears they taste like seafood.

Land Shrimp, It's What's For Dinner

[prolefeed]

My daughter quit eating shrimp after I started calling them "sea cockroaches."

[wylie]

so, Reverse Marketing doesn't work as well with kids as Reverse Psychology does?

[Gray Ghost]

God, after cleaning enough shrimp, I can see the resemblance.

OTOH, chili-fried grasshoppers, Oaxacan-style, are delicious.

[de coonass]

Long live mudbugs!

[Ska]

Get your Survival skill up to 65 and you can make Desert Salads and Gecko Kabobs all day long.

[wylie]

Is this a Fallout reference? If so, I really need to get on that franchise. Just for the gecko kabobs.

[Ska]

It is, FO:NV. If you play on hardcore mode you have to eat, drink and sleep or suffer penalties similar to radiation poisoning. This makes putting points in Survival actually worth something (as well as making any food item become as good at restoring health as Stimpacks).

It might sound like a pain in the ass, but if you're a dedicated scavenger it's not anything to worry about. HC mode is really a great way to boost your immersion in the game world.

[wylie]

Ok, ok, I'm going to go buy it ASAP.

See y'all in a few months.

[JW]

Ah, the days of being a single, childless male. Good times.

(I do have FO:NV, but can only play it an hour or 2 at a time and definitely not in HC mode.)

[Zeb]

From waht I have heard, most arthropods taste like edible crustaceans (lobsters, shrimp, etc.).

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

But wait until PETA hears about this!

[de coonass]

What do dat PETA tastes like?

[Michael]

"The risky part is: How can we move this product upscale?" said Marian Peters, a public relations expert who is the organization's general secretary, munching on Mr. Van Dongen's insect-laced chocolate.

It's nothing to worry about once you realize that third-world-ism practically sells itself these days. Open an eatery featuring a dirt floor and patrons eating from a single wooden bowl in the middle of it , then stand back and marvel as your retirement fortune comes pouring in. Bonus points if you market it as "sustainable".

[wylie]

Open an eatery featuring a dirt floor

Good luck with your local health department on that one.

[Fist of Etiquette]

NRA spurns Obama invitation to talk.

Bitter to the last.

[Gregory Smith]

No, it's called having INTEGRITY! As LaPierre said, why waste time talking to people who have spent their entire lifetimes trying to destroy the second amendment? Obama has an F rating from the NRA based on his voting record on guns, do you really think anything he has to say matters?

Smells like fascism: Nevada Senators want to ban Air Fresheners.
http://libertarians4freedom.bl.....ators.html

[OO]

notice the gun confiscation program the gun manufacturers, err...make that the screeching wingnuts warned about?...fm a FEMA camp before the death panels?

[UrineOhio]

Hello piss facktery! Thanks for spreading your stupid again!

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Hey UhOh - I suppose you've never heard the term "incrementalism"?

[OhioOrrin]

^quick a scurring wingnut in the light^

[George Santayana]

Your ignorance is impressive. Most impressive.

[Third Grade English teacher]

As is your utter inability to spell, capitalize or use punctuation.

[Mr. FIFY]

Orrin is such a trusting, loyal tool.

[Gregory Smith]

Tell me, why are you a libertarian if you don't like guns or the second amendment? If common-sense gun control is ok, why not common-sense slavery, common-sense censorship, common-sense torture, common-sense rape?

[Almanian]

Who's "you guys", Kemosabe? If you're talking about Orin, he's a retarded troll who pesters the adults periodically. Pay him no mind.

[OhioOrrin]

my comment was sarcastically ridiculing the absurd wingnut position of pending govt actions WHICH NEVER HAPPENED. but the RW foaming n fundraising sure did

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Hey, OO, why don't we analyze why those government regulations never happened?

Is it because the required legislation never was proposed or introduced into Congress? No, because in fact, several pieces of awful legsislation have been introduced over the past several years - which would greatly curtail individual freedoms with regard to purchasing or owning firearms.

So why did those not come to fruition?

Could it be because enough freedom-loving Americans made it clear to their elected representatives that the majority of Americans didn't want it? Hmm.... maybe so, eh?

It's not the case that those onerous gun control/gun ban regulations didn't happen simply because "they would never do that". It never happened because enough staunch advocates of individual liberties remain vigilant enough to make sure it doesn't happen - despite the Dem's efforts to push through all kinds of anti-gun rights crap.

Again, you simply are ignorant of the reality of the situation and as such are utterly unqualified to comment on it. Simply put, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about, since you clearly have not bothered to take the time to educate yourself even the tiniest bit regarding the facts of the situation. Even shorter: STFU until you've actually done the reading.

[OO]

no barely - gun confiscation was never considered. pure agiprop

[STEVE SMITH]

STEVE SMITH ALWAYS COMMIT COMMON-SENSE RAPE.

BUT STEVE SMITH NOT EVER THINK RAPE ORRIN EVEN WITH STOLEN DICK.

[Anonymous Coward]

Tell me, why are you a libertarian if you don't like guns or the second amendment?

Same reason as pseudo-tarian Bill Maher. Blow and bitches.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Not bitter, just realistic. Yeah, Obama will probably mouth the word "compromise". Aside from the fact that you can't compromise on a matter of principle as if you're bartering for a cheap suit, the reality is that all of the compromising will have to be done by gun owners. Obama and the gun-grabbers offer nothing except "okay we won't take your guns today".

[LarryA]

Rule of thumb: If the invitation is for a conference between "the gun lobby and gun safety groups" the deck is seriously stacked.

[wylie]

Iran calls on the country to treat democracy demonstrators peacefully.

4.5/10 (Trollin' Score)

[cynical]

Not really, IIRC the protestors are Shia, the rulers are Sunni.

[prolefeed]

Iran is run by Shiites. The protesters are Shiites, the rulers Sunni. Iran would be fine with running Sunni protesters over with tanks. It's all about getting rid of infidels.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Saudis send troops to Bahrain, Iran calls on the country to treat democracy demonstrators peacefully.

...until they can lockdown their twitter and youtube access.

[Warty]

Happy puppies defeat wrath of Poseidon

Fat kid fuckslams skinny kid, internet jizzes all over itself

[SugarFree]

That skinny asshole hopping around on a dislocated knee is priceless.

[Warty]

His look of agony as he stumbles toward the camera is the best thing I've seen in weeks.

[West Texas]

I agree with this.

And that he tries so hard to act like nothing happened when he's so clearly in pain makes it even sweeter.

[Liberal Response]

Both kids should be punished equally.

[generic Brand]

When did the body slam take place? It's very possible that that was the true epicenter of the quakes that rocked Japan.

[Doktor Zombie]

Haven't you learned anything from the Gilbert Gottfried fuckslam? He was Sheened for making quake-centric punchlines on the intarwebz.

The duck hath roared.

[SugarFree]

Once again surprising the world with the fact that Gilbert Gottfried is still alive.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

What's surprising is how unfunny those AFLAC commercials have become, when Gottfried is fucking hilarious when he's unleashed. Many years ago I saw him do standup and nearly laughed myself to death. Also used to hear him on Howard Stern when I used to listen to his show many years ago.

[generic Brand]

I think AFLAC commercials jumped the duck when Guy Fieri was on one of them. That commercial was so sporadic I didn't know who was guest appearing in whose ad.

[Warty]

Gilbert Gottfried's real voice

[Anonymous Coward]

Dumbass kid picking on someone twice his size, then getting slammed into the pavement:

The highlight of my day.

[MNG]

Radical Leftist Anne Applebaum Questions Nuclear Power

Which leads to an unavoidable question: If the competent and technologically brilliant Japanese can't build a completely safe reactor, who can? Chances of a major disaster are tiny, one in a hundred million. But in the event of a statistically improbable major disaster, the damage could include, say, the destruction of a city or the poisoning of a country. But as we are about to learn in Japan, the true costs of nuclear power are never reflected even in the very high price of plant construction. Inevitably, the enormous costs of nuclear waste disposal fall to taxpayers, not the nuclear industry. The costs of cleanup, even in the wake of a relatively small accident, are eventually borne by government, too. Health-care costs will also be paid by society at large, one way or another. If there is true nuclear catastrophe in Japan, the entire world will pay the price.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ml?hpid=z7

[Warty]

If the competent and technologically brilliant Japanese can't build a completely safe reactor, who can?

All the failing reactors were built by GE, I think.

[Almanian]

...which means GE needs MORE government money. To improve the safety of their products, of course.

[Restoras]

No no no, what GE needs is more barriers to entry for its competition so it can focus more resources on developing safer reactors.

[Almanian]

Howe about both - everyone wins!

[sailshonan]

Japan's nuclear safety record has been scary, and that's being kind. Google "Tokaimura" and "bucket" and you'll see that Japan's previously worst nuclear accident stemmed from employees without training wanting to mix some fuel for the reactor. They mixed the fuel in a BUCKET, and dumped seven times the safe amount into the wrong tank and it immediately went critical. Really, no joke--think Homer Simpson. Mention Tokaimura to any Japanese and he'll shake his head and say "Baketsu..." (bucket) In the current nuclear mess, they had three backup cooling systems, three, and they all failed. As far as "safe", Japan's workers' per capita accidents usually are about forty times the amount of accidents that occur in the US. It's very difficult to sue in Japan, and in case of lawsuits, the awards are very very low, so companies are not at all safety concious. and don't even get me started about medical malpractice. I've actually had friends with wrongful deaths and amputations...

[DNS]

Japan's nuclear safety record has been scary, and that's being kind.

Is the solution less government oversight, or more?

[waffles]

Clearly I am not the intended audience for that article. The headline doesn't even make sense as the reactors are mostly an American design licensed to Hitachi and Toshiba by GE. She's not out-and-out ignorant it's just that all opinion journalism on this disaster is seriously rubbing me the wrong way

[Warty]

Note the subtle racism in the " competent and technologically brilliant Japanese" bit, too.

[?]

Japan is a race?

[The Claw]

That's "LACE"!

[Warty]

Of course it is, you fucking idiot.

[?]

Huh. And all this time I thought it was a nation. Yeah, it's racist to compliment a nation on its success. Nice touch with the ad hominem, too.

[Warty]

Are you also too fucking stupid to understand the difference between an ad hominiem and an insult, you disgraceful cuntstain? Jesus fucking Christ, you are a moron.

[?]

I don't care.

[capitol l]

AD HOM!!! AD HOM!!

Did everybody see that? He ADHOMMED at me...SCREECHWHINEBITCH!!

[?]

You should have that looked at.

[MJ]

"If the competent and technologically brilliant Japanese can't build a completely safe reactor, who can?"

No one. There is no such animal as a "completely safe" anything. That applies to any form of energy generation.

Everything is a series of tradeoffs, there is no perfect solution in engineering and technology.

[prolefeed]

Liberals like MNG don't acknowledge tradeoffs, they think there can be "solutions" where no one ever gets hurt, ever.

But, as these events have made clear, building a nuclear reactor in a tsunami zone or on top of a major fault line ought to raise eyebrows when scrutinizing the business plan.

[Devil Inchoate]

And any problem can be solved with legislation.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

This is one of the things that is just killing Western civilization IMHO: this obsession with unattainable levels of safety. People actually expect a risk-free life (courtesy of the government--actually the taxpayers). I wonder how long it will be before society is completely paralyzed with fear.

[Fluffy]

The thing that pisses me off here is that the very first image I saw on video after the quake and tsunami was a burning refinery complex.

How many people got killed when that refinery blew up?

Why is it not even really newsworthy if a refinery blows up and kills people, but it merits round the clock coverage for a week if a nuke plant exposes 15 people to radiation that might give them cancer in 20 years?

[wylie]

If windmill falls on someone, does it make a sound?

(yes, something like "Bzzzrrrtttttkrkrkrkrkrkkrklklkllkllllll")

[Pip]

"Inevitably, the enormous costs of nuclear waste disposal fall to taxpayers, not the nuclear industry."

That is a god damn lie. Currently, the government charges the utilities with nuke plants for spent fuel storage.

[hugeevilrobot]

Yes, but huge stranded nuclear assets being unloaded on taxpayers is not without precedent (Long Island Power Authority)

[Tulpa]

Even better, they charge them for spent fuel storage that doesn't exist, and which there are now no plans to build. The spent fuel is stored at the reactor.

[R C Dean]

I think what Anne meant task was:

If the competent and technologically brilliant Japanese can'tcouldn't build a completely safe reactor 40 years ago, who can possibly build one today?

Idiot.

[wylie]

Fucking Time, how does it work?

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Exactly.

[Steve Chaos]

Except for the parts where she's wrong on nearly all the counts. But hey, details.

For example:

If the competent and technologically brilliant Japanese can't build a completely safe reactor, who can?

Show me a "completely safe" natural gas facility or coal plant and we'll talk. Otherwise, this is an impossible standard, namely given the fact that we don't live in a world free of risk. Rationally calculated risk exists for a reason.

But in the event of a statistically improbable major disaster, the damage could include, say, the destruction of a city or the poisoning of a country.

Except that this is completely untrue. The fifth largest earthquake in human history hits and all of the reactors are still standing. The containment, designed specifically to contain radiological materials, is still there. They were slammed by a record quake and a massive wall of water, put under the worst conditions (a total station blackout), and the worst case scenario we're looking at right now is a partial clad and/or fuel melt, with minimal radioactive release. In other words, this is just hyperbole from someone with no technical background.

Inevitably, the enormous costs of nuclear waste disposal fall to taxpayers, not the nuclear industry.

Except for the fact that the nuclear utilities pay into the Nuclear Waste Dipsosal Fund to the tune of 1 mil/kWhe. One could make the argument that it's really bourne out by ratepayers, but to say it's taxpayers is incorrect.

----

Here's the thing - if we want to have a debate on energy, then fine. But trying to assail nuclear in light of this (despite the fact that a 40-year old reactor is performing better than it was ever built to withstand) while ignoring the massive damage (not to mention casual consequences we accept) from other energy sources by putting nuclear to the impossible standard of being "risk-free" is insane.

[West Texas]

Show me a "completely safe" natural gas facility or coal plant and we'll talk.

Well of course they're not safe. You might drown, eventually.

[Lowrider]

Feb 7, 2010 ... MIDDLETOWN, Connecticut (Reuters) - At least five people were killed on Sunday
when a massive explosion rocked a gas power plant being built ...

http://www.google.com/url?q=ht.....RpdftdXEsA

[R C Dean]

I see the Germans have decided to do something stupid, by shutting down some of their reactors for a "safety review". I suspect that if Germany got hit by a 9.1 earthquake, daily 6.0 aftershocks, and a massive tsunami that flooded the Rhone River valley, malfunctioning reactors wouldn't be at the top of their list.

While the French (the French!) are reacting rationally, by doing nothing.

[kinnath]

The Rhone is in southern France (dry red wine)

The Rhine is in Germany (sweet wine wine)

[Clich? Bandit]

I was going to comment on that but he was on a roll. And if the Rhine got hit by a tsumnami it would have to be a damn big one to effect most of the the surrounding land as it sits in a rather deep canyon a good portion of it's length (coastal reagion excepted). Although it would be a great loss to the Resiling world.

[Ted S.]

And of course, when you comment on somebody else's spelling, there's a chance you're going to misspell a word like Riesling yourself. Muphry's Law again.... :-p

[R C Dean]

Fucking geography, etc.

[kinnath]

If I wasn't a fan of Riesling, I wouldn't know where the fuck the Rhine/Rhone rivers were.

[wylie]

So, wine is a gateway to geography? BAN GEOGRAPHY!

[kinnath]

It's all about the terroir man . . . .

[Lowrider]

Mosel-Blumchen!

[Pro Libertate]

Sweet wine wine? Is it extra winey?

[wylie]

Yeah, but "doing nothing" is just like surrendering...etc

[Tonio]

Anne "no air* on Mars" Applebaum has no credibility whatsoever on matters technological.

*Although she was technically correct in that statement, the context made it clear that she didn't understand the difference between "air" and "atmosphere".

[TKO]

If a 9.0 earthquake hits any of the dams Americans use for hydroelectric power, how big do you think that catastrophe will be?

[Anonymous Coward]

If the competent and technologically brilliant Japanese can't build a completely safe reactorcar, who can?

BAN TOYOTA! DO IT NOW!!!!

Oh wait, are we on a new unjustified, opportunistic panic?

[mike]

the msm is doing all it can to play up the godzilla/gamera story. Its bad but not yet the point of catastrophe. There is a lot of good blogging on it, start with armscontrolwonk (who was in Japan during the quake) and move from there.

[Warty]

Japan may be on the verge of a nuclear catastrophe.

On the Verge

[SugarFree]

The Nightmare of Burlesque Continues

It's also worth noting that the Hubba Hubba Revue isn't just any burlesque show ? it's accepting of all body types and ages (its producer says it includes a 74-year-old performer).

[Warty]

We shall see that at which dogs howl in the dark, and that at which cats prick up their ears after midnight.
- H. P. Lovecraft

[Satan]

me heart lovecraft

[Fluffy]

Dude that is so sweet.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

I dunno, I've seen some hot 74 year-old babes. I mean, you've got experience going for you at that age...

[prolefeed]

I saw Jane Fonda faux-seducing Stephen Colbert on his show a while back. It was hot. There's nothing wrong with Fonda that a truckload of duct tape for her mouth couldn't fix.

Teenaged beauty queens will generally live to be 74, at which age they will likely be pretty damn hot.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

I haven't seen any pics of Barbara Eden in a while, but last time I saw her, she still looked pretty good, and she probably was around 70 then.

Also: Ann Margaret.

[zoltan]

Dude, Raquel Welch.

[BladeDoc]

Ehh, she was a triumph of plastic surgery. Chavez does not approve!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Sophia Loren, FTW.

[Pip]

"it includes a 74-year-old performer"

He is a very lucky old man.

[doomboy]

Maricopa County Nicotine tests

[Zeb]

That seems stupid. There are other, much safer, ways to consume nicotine than smoking, including Swedish snus nicotine replacement products that I would think that insurers would want to encourage.

[Almanian]

the administration is calling together both the gun lobby and gun safety groups

Just going to note that the NRA IS a "gun safety" group, among other things.

/Nugent

[Gregory Smith]

That's true! Nobody knows more about gun safety than people who use guns everyday.

Smells like fascism: Nevada Senators want to ban Air Fresheners.
http://libertarians4freedom.bl.....ators.html

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Gotta love the wording. People who support the second amendment are a lobby. Everyone knows that lobbyists are evil and must be killed with fire. Also, it's not gun control anymore. It's "gun safety". Who could be against making guns safe? Only teabagging ratfuckers, amirite? And the people who want "gun safety" aren't a lobby, either. They are just a group. A group of people who share a similar viewpoint and lobby the government to pass legislation they support. Fucking media bias, how does it work?

[Almanian]

Exactly. "Gun Safety people? OHHHHHHHH - you mean the anti-gun rights whackjobs. Got it!"

[Gregory Smith]

Those "teabagging ratfuckers" know more about freedom than your progressive Marxist friends, comrade.

[Zeb]

Do you actually have no sense of humor or irony?

[Almanian]

*whispering*

no...he's a right winger

[SugarFree]

Hugo Schwyzer, the feminist blogosphere's go-to guy for anti-male apologia, talks about his life-long struggle with erectile dysfunction.

[Warty]

ED made me much better in bed. Though from my earliest sexual experiences with other people, I'd known that there was more to sex than intercourse, I hit my early 20s still somehow convinced that penis-in-vagina sex was what really "counted."

Sure, dude. Only guys who can't get boners learn how to eat a pussy. You're that fucking special.

[SugarFree]

Yes, he's so good in bed he has three ex-wives.

[Charlotte Sometimes]

But he's so SENSITIVE, SF! Uggggh, what a pussy. He should cease the exploration of his delicate soul and start searching fervently for his balls.

[SugarFree]

I will offer this in his defense... I imagine it has never even occurred to him to wear Axe Body Spray.

[wylie]

His mistake. Now people can actually stand to be in the room while they berate him.

[Warty]

Also, this is priceless. Every woman wants a man who cries.

ED left me feeling vulnerable and inadequate?and that's exactly what I needed to feel in order to learn how to be a real partner to my lovers.

[Almanian]

What a fag (NTTWWT)

[West Texas]

Where is the Barfman when we need him?

[SugarFree]

He's too busy barfing.

[wylie]

My design for a "key"board activated by projectile vomit was deemed unwieldy.

[R C Dean]

But apparently, being vulnerable and inadequate wore pretty fucking thin for anyone who actually had to live with him. Just ask his three exes.

Seriously, anyone can have their first marriage go bad. I mean, what do you know going into the first one? But if you've made three very serious mistakes, I might suggest that its not them, its you.

[kinnath]

Despair.com -- when the only common link in all your failures is you

[prolefeed]

Every woman wants a man who cries.

Well, not all the time. But I've gotten laid on several different occasions from crying during a chick flick. Made her totally hot for me.

The trick is to be very selective about it.

[prolefeed]

Not crying like a scared little girl crying, BTW. More like a few silent tears during the scene where the protagonist dies, and you try to hide it and not make a big deal out of it or draw any attention to it.

Done right, and she'll be totally wet for you.

[generic Brand]

The ultimate conundrum. Is it worth selling out and NOT finding The Notebook utterly ridiculous if it gets you laid?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Consider how many conservative guys pretended to be "wymyn-positive" and "angry at the system" in college to score some poon, and you'll have your answer.

[Almanian]

LIFELONG ED? Jesus, did he give puberty a miss? What teen boy DOESN'T have the joy of the nonstop erection during school hours? And then the sport-fucking in college, 3, 4 times a day? EVERY fucking day?

So sad for him 🙁

For the rest of us - good times, good times....

[capitol l]

This has to be some kind of ass-getting scam. Nobody is like this dude. You couldn't even create this guy as a character because it would seem too outlandish.

[prolefeed]

In a population of 300 million, every possible personality type will have multiple copies.

So, yeah, I can believe this guy is real.

[Anonymous Coward]

Take a Cialis, get some whores, have a good time. Problem solved.

Either that, or Hugo needs to mail in his man-card since he's clearly not using it.

[Solanum]

Boing Boing: Stephen King sticks up for unions

The comments. Jesus Fucking Christ, the comments...

[SugarFree]

Is that "our" PapayaSF making comment #23?

[capitol l]

Seems so.

[SugarFree]

He even had one of the moderators yelling at him. Impressive.

[Epi]

It's a narcissist's wet dream!

[SugarFree]

Fuck off, rather.

[Epi]

Please don't feed the trolls.

[capitol l]

If you can't bring something serious to the debate without adhomming all over the place, then maybe you should leave.

[Marshall Gill]

Ouch, the stupid in those comments hurt my brain.

[JW]

Life's too short to subject yourself to that level of imbecility.

[Boing Boing vs. H und R]

Pot, meet kettle.

[PapayaSF]

Yeah, that was me. Now and then I try to be a voice of political/economic reason at Boing Boing. And Antinous is a jerk of a "moderator," often attacking and banning people for simple disagreements. I.e. nobody could possibly have a sincere opinion that contradicts the official progressive view, thus they must be trolling.

[The Comments]

If you ignore us, we cannot hurt you.

[Doktor Zombie]

Yeah, but I only watch for the wrecks, like NASCAR.

[The Comments]

Come for the wrecks, stay for the narcissists.

[SugarFreud]

My ears are burning.

[NeonCat]

I've pretty much given up on Boing-Boing. Some of the items are interesting, but the politics (which I wish they could leave behind, as there is nothing less cool than politics) is all "Kochtopus!!!OMG! Liberteriens is the suxxx."

I (mostly) blame that damn Canadian socialist Cory Doctorow, even if I have loved every book he's recommended.

[Nipplemancer]

i blame that annoying pasty chick (not xeni, though she is annoying and pasty).

[Nipplemancer]

my favorite comment:
Anon
I read the headline as "Stephen King sticks up for unicorns" this is good too I guess.

[cynical]

It's because he favors zombies (unions) over vampires (high-ranking corporate asshats).

[West Texas]

I'm very happy this morning that Texas doesn't have teachers unions and does have a balanced budget requirement.

That said, the shrill "Think of teh Children!!!!" nonsense that's been going on for a month now is really starting to get to me.

[zoltan]

I have yet to see many teachers at protests against building toll roads owned by foreign corporations with taxpayer money.

[Spoonman.]

Texas definitely has a teachers' union, or at least HISD does.

[Gus]

There's a petition regarding the2 cops placed on leave in Rogers, MN for telling the truth.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com.....ant-pitts/

[TangoJang]

Wow, downright scary stuff dude.

http://www.anon-tools.es.tc

[Stephen King]

Thanks!

[Warty]

Among the many odd things of Cleveland is that people get excited about the turkey buzzards coming back to town.

[Detroit]

The people have to eat.

[wylie]

Yeah, but can the city council at least get the ads right when turkey buzzard season rolls around?

"Turkey Buzzard: Tastes Just Like Chicken", cmon, wtf.

[Detroit]

We think it tastes like Warty, i.e. ass.

[Timon19]

Turkey vultures.

Also known (incorrectly) as buzzards.

Turkey buzzards makes no sense. And yes, I do feel a bit like an ass for knowing that and correcting a fellow Ohioan on it, but dammit, I couldn't let it pass. When you've had as long a winter as we've had, you'd be cranky too.

[prolefeed]

The buzzards help you find the FRESH road kill.

[P Brooks]

aides had suggested he might give a public address expanding on his views about gun safety

Haha, "gun safety" indeed; I hadn't even noticed that little linguistic ploy until somebody pointed it out yesterday.

If Paul Helmke is a "gun safety advocate" I'm Timmay Geithner's biggest fan.

[Peter Gun]

Safety ... OFF!

[wylie]

See, that gun there just disengaged it's own safety. Try and tell me guns don't become animate and kill people of their own volition, just try it.

[mange]

Thanks for jumping on the fearmongering 'OMG NUKES' bandwagon, Radley. You're no better than CNN. Please get educated on what's going on before using words like "nuclear catastrophe".

[W]

"Nucular."

[mange]

No, it's "nuclear" bro.

[WTF]

No, it's "Newcular Titties".

[waffles]

This is a nuclear catastrophe. Unlike most other industries, in nuclear any accident is a catastrophe. This isn't fearmongering, it's the hard reality of nuclear power.

[mange]

I suppose if you consider Three Mile Island a catastrophe then this is too I suppose.

[MSM Nukuler Expert]

No level of radiation is safe!

[capitol l]

Newcular...Titties!

Coming summer oh-twelve!

[Pro Libertate]

At last we have the catalyst for the name change.

[R C Dean]

Unlike most other industries, in nuclear any accident is a catastrophe.

If a catastrophe requires a minimum of one (1) death, then I think you are mistaken.

Death toll from 3 Mile Island? Zip. Zero. Nada.

[wylie]

Give him a few points for getting to the right idea from the wrong direction.

[waffles]

I disagree. This catastrophe is zero loss of life, but the loss of new nuclear. If we wait another 10 years to build the proposed plants, who is going to build them? The experienced engineers are old and retiring. I'm not sure the industry can survive another generation gap.

It's too soon to worry about the nuclear industry. Utilities and producers are trying to remain calm and open in the face of this. But the PR battle will be fierce and too easy to lose.

...

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Oops, I guess you missed the memo about the plant worker killed in the explosion.

[P Brooks]

Fat kid beats up obnoxious skinny bully

What a gyp; where was youtube when I was doing that?

[wylie]

REPARATIONS!

[capitol l]

Here's my link:

How to Make a Black Light Erupting Volcano Cake

You know, for the kids.

[Pip]

Union: 240 undocumented Twin Cities janitors fired

The union representing workers at a janitorial company operating in the Twin Cities say half its workers are being fired because they failed to provide documents that show they're in the United States legally.

Service Employees International Union Local 26 says 240 employees at Harvard Maintenance are being dismissed through the end of the month.

One worker tells Minnesota Public Radio News that Harvard Maintenance sent a letter in December saying she had 90 days to produce proper documentation after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security notified the company it suspected some of its workers were illegal immigrants.

Two years ago, more than 1,200 janitors at ABM, another large commercial cleaning company, lost their jobs after a similar immigration audit. Harvard Maintenance did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_1.....ck_check=1

[Pip]

$10 preemie preventive now $1,500
Pioneer Press

Updated: 03/14/2011 04:01:07 PM CDT

ATLANTA -- The price of preventing preterm labor is about to go through the roof.
A drug for high-risk pregnant women has cost about $10 to $20 per injection. Next week, the price shoots up to $1,500 a dose, meaning the total cost during a pregnancy could be as much as $30,000.

That's because the drug, a form of progesterone given as a weekly shot, has been made cheaply for years, mixed in special pharmacies that custom-compound treatments that are not federally approved.

But recently, KV Pharmaceutical of suburban St.Louis won government approval to exclusively sell the drug, known as Makena (Mah-KEE'-Nah). The March of Dimes and many obstetricians supported that because it means quality will be more consistent and it will be easier to get.

None of them anticipated the dramatic price hike, though - especially since most of the cost for development and research was shouldered by others in the past.

"That's a huge increase for something that can't be costing them that much to make. For crying out loud, this is about making money," said Dr. Roger Snow, deputy medical director for Massachusetts' Medicaid program.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_1.....ost_viewed

[SugarFree]

Clueless Jezebel article on same.

Rent-seeking: How does it fucking work?

[Zeb]

THey start off OK, but quickly lose touch, entirely failing to realize that a free(er) market had been cheaply providing this drug for years and that a government granted monopoly (not the evil capitalists) changed all of that.

[zoltan]

You can't expect Jezebel readers to engage reasoning faculties.

[Renter]

I don't fucking know. Why don't you fucking tell me?

[MJ]

You create a government enforced monopoly combined with compliance to a particular federal standard and are surprised that the cost shoots up significantly?

I don't know what the costs to KV were to comply with the new standard for the drug, so I cannot say how much the increased cost is justified by changes in the manufacturing process, but none of this should shock anyone.

[R C Dean]

But recently, KV Pharmaceutical of suburban St.Louis won government approval to exclusively sell the drug, known as Makena (Mah-KEE'-Nah).

How on earth did they get a patent when it looks like there was "prior art" all over the place?

[doomboy]

Alex Tabarrok has a post explaining the OGA:

Marginal Revolution

[MJ]

If there's a patent involved, I am guessing that it is for the process that complies with whatever the federal approved standard is.

[Gray Ghost]

Not a patent, but, as doomboy notes, classification as an "Orphan Drug", which can carry the exclusive right to sell it without competition for seven years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_drug

Granted, the ODA was intended to spur development of stuff like Lorenzo's Oil. (not an official Orphan Drug, but you get the idea) The purpose wasn't to gain exclusivity for a drug already in commercial off-label use, but hey you have an Iron Law covering that sort of thing.

[P Brooks]

None of them anticipated the dramatic price hike, though

How could anyone have foreseen this?

[wylie]

Look, expecting people to be psychic is just counterproductive. Expecting them to remember any historical examples that counter their Good Intentions is even worse.

[P Brooks]

He even had one of the moderators yelling at him. Impressive.

What is this "moderator" of which you speak?

[waffles]

Heavy water or regular ol light water?

[wylie]

Inanimate Carbon Rod would like a word with you.

[SugarFree]

"Aww... they were getting ready to show close-ups of the rod!"

[wylie]

Thing is, back then, using carbon to moderate was still in its infancy.

Honestly, I'm not clear what their intent was in labeling the rod "carbon". "Inanimate Steel Rod" would work just as well in that episode.

[SugarFree]

"Inanimate Steel Rod" would work just as well in that episode.

You know nothing about show business. Nothing.

[wylie]

You know nothing about show business.

That's a feature, not a bug.

[kilroy]

That's what Hugo Schwyzer said.

[SugarFree]

"Antinous / Moderator" Defends Europe's economy with a "look over there!" deflection.

[JW]

WTF is a mod doing commenting? Unless it's a mod on a different forum, you're the fucking *mod*, not a participant.

[SugarFree]

When a libertarian shows up, it's all hands on deck. The hegemony must be maintained at all costs.

[JW]

Well yeah, we're history's greatest monsters.

[Epi]

And narcissists!

[Gus]

Surveys show that small-government advocates are substantially less likely to be racist than big-government advocates.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/#ixzz1GgDKTHJz

[Angel]

California's CalPERS is FUBAR ? "In a scathing report, a former chief executive of the California public employee pension fund was accused of pressuring subordinates to invest billions of dollars of pension money with politically connected firms," reports the LA Times. "A 17-month investigation also found that Federico Buenrostro Jr. ? along with former pension fund board members Charles Valdes and Kurato Shimada ? strong-armed a benefits firm to pay more than $4 million in fees to consultant Alfred J.R. Villalobos, who later hired Buenrostro." The report also said that "Buenrostro earned more than $50 million in placement agent fees." Luckily for CalPERS' 1.6 million local and state beneficiaries, the pension fund has $228 billion in assets. Many tens of millions of misspent dollars are just a dimple in a golf ball!

http://go.madmimi.com/redirect.....3140864212

[sage]

Even Stevie Wonder saw that one coming.

[P Brooks]

The experienced engineers are old and retiring.

I saw something a while back which as I recall said the average age (AVERAGE!) of engineers (you know- the guys who actually understand how all this shit works) in the American power generation and distribution industry was somewhere in the mid- to late- fifties.

That little tidbit of information fills me with foreboding.

[R C Dean]

Pish. I'm sure there are plenty of young Chinese and Indian engineers who would be happy to be overpaid by Americans.

[waffles]

true, but then we would have to drop all that NOFORN security nonsense. Pentagon types are loathe to do it.

[Fluffy]

I think this is partially a union problem, and partially a baby-boom problem.

The baby boomers ensconced themselves in various job categories and then, due to a) lack of turnover in positions where the career track ran out wherever those baby boomers happened to be and b) last-hired, first-fired rules demanded by unions, younger people didn't enter the field.

There was no point to entering a field where baby boomers held all the jobs and were never going anywhere else in their careers, especially if the union would see to it that if you did manage to get a job you'd be the first fired in any slow down.

No naturally as the baby boomers are getting old, there is panic that when they retire there will be no one behind them. Well, that's what happens when you protect your job security by waging perpetual war on the young.

[SugarFree]

My father-in-law got hired into his union job a month after the plant opened. He's still considered a junior electrician over 20 years later. Except for one heart attack, all the electricians hired when the plant opened are still on the job.

[prolefeed]

So some engineers were in their thirties and forties, counterbalanced by some in their sixties and seventies?

I'll take "how bell curves work" for a hundred, Alex.

Seriously, you think there are no kids in college studying this stuff because none of them anticipate a market for such skills and are good at it?

[Tulpa]

I think he meant active engineers, not retirees. I'd imagine there are very few power system engineers working in their 70s.

[zoltan]

Remove humanities programs from public universities.

[P Brooks]

Mr. Kikuchi and his daughter said they will come back every day to look after the dogs, but they are not going to bring the dogs to the shelter.

"There are lots of people dead and it's too much to ask to bring the dogs," said Mr. Kikuchi. "It would be inconsiderate to other people's sadness."

This is why the Japanese will never rule the world.

[wylie]

Isn't hoarding food illegal during a disaster?

[wylie]

(5pts for responses asking "illegal where?", 10pts for anyone who just laughs at the idea of such a law. 15pts if you're eating some DoqBQ right now.)

[hmm]

So the rhetoric has shifted from gun control to gun safety? Gun safety is a protocol used to safely handle firearms. Gun control is legal action, generally violating the 2nd amendment.

No one wants to be controlled, everyone wants to be safe...

[Mainer]

The left has got that re-branding thing down to a science.

[prolefeed]

I give it a couple years before everyone catches on to that euphemism.

The same way "retarded" and "special" used to be euphemisms.

[Doktor Zombie]

That's just retarded. No one is going to believe that "gun safety" is a euphemism for "Repeal the 2nd Amendment".

[Tulpa]

It makes it sound like a public safety issue, which sounds more justifiable an area for govt intervention.

Next up on the euphemism treadmill is "gun health". They're already starting the push to consider gun control a "public health issue" which allows even more dictatorial control.

[DNS]

They're already starting the push to consider gun control a "public health issue" which allows even more dictatorial control.

That ship has already sailed. Asking about firearms in the home is part of establishing pediatric H&P.

[Anonymous Coward]

Socialist-Progressive-Liberal-Progressive redux.

Rebranding is a science to the statists.

[Fluffy]

It's too late for the left to try to own "gun safety".

The NRA must have seen that coming because they were all over that phrase starting at least a decade ago.

I hear the words "gun safety" I think "NRA program for kids", and I don't even own a gun.

[P Brooks]

hen we would have to drop all that NOFORN security nonsense.

What if we just never let them leave?
Or talk to anybody?

What could possibly go wrong?

[P Brooks]

I'll take "how bell curves work" for a hundred, Alex.

It's an asymmetrical bell curve.

[Max]

"Wal-Mart and McDonald's should be given the contracts to cleam up after Japan's earthquake and tsunami. They would do a better job than any government could ever do."--Michelle Bachmann

[Doktor Zombie]

Shovel-ready!

[mytyj]

ONLINE wholesale STORE:

http://www.wholesalekk.com

-----If you think our website is good , you can put this website to your

bookmarks or other places ,easy to find ...

contact us :[e-mail]

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

Thanks