Fiscal-Cliff Talks Drag On, FEMA Unprepared for Sandy First-Responders, Hazmat Response to a Thermometer: P.M. Links
- There's been no progress in talks on averting January's scheduled automatic tax hikes and spending sort-of-cuts, says House Speaker John Boehner. He wants the White House to make a counter-offer to the GOP plan President Obama already rejected.
- Emergency workers responding to Superstorm Sandy were told to go sightseeing by unprepared FEMA officials. They cooled their heels for nearly four days.
- A hazmat crew showed up at Seminole High School in in Pinellas County, Florida, because … a kid brought a mercury thermometer to school as his contribution to an assignment to bring something from the Periodic Table of Elements. Yeah, that's our world.
- In Cairo, protesters stormed the presidential palace and demanded the resignation of self-appointed absolute chief, President Morsi. If the first revolution doesn't work, try another.
- Mark Wahlberg sparked a pissing match with the Canadian federal government over whether our neighbors to the north are doing enough to subsidize the production of Hollywood movies that are, come to think of it, the property of movie studios that should probably pay for the damned things, themselves.
- It may be possible to create a universe with only a hundred-thousandth of a gram of matter. So set your drink down very carefully.
- The Supreme Court will take on gay marriage after all! Cases involving both California's Prop. 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act have been accepted by the justices.
- Support Reason's 2012 webathon today.
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Emergency workers responding to Superstorm Sandy were told to go sightseeing by unprepared FEMA officials.
I'm sure they did a heckuva job at it.
Heckuva job, Brownie...
Uh wait, uh...
does that make me racist?
If you have to ask...
...a kid brought a mercury thermometer to school as his contribution to an assignment to bring something from the Periodic Table of Elements.
The periodic table, in the wrong hands...
Shove it up yer ass kid.
Jesus fucking Christ. What is it about "the dose makes the poison" that Ed majors can't understand. Huffing mercury fumes while making hats for several decades is bad. The amount of mercury in a thermometer is less likely to poison you than the high school drinking fountain. Fuck, fuckity fuck. And presumably some "science" teacher did this. I'm off to smash a bunch of CFLs on a school playground, now.
Don't discount that the teacher actually knew better but cynically seized the opportunity to be a "hero teacher" saving the kids from dangerous chemicals.
The system breeds cowardice, mendacity and bullying.
Their reaction may well have been required by law. At the very least, the district probably just adopted whatever industrial-grade hazmat policy their lawyers told them would minimize their exposure to lawsuits. The incident says more about our society than the individuals involved.
I'd just "forget" that we had that policy if I were a teacher. Maybe, maybe, I'd tell the kid to leave it with me and come get it after school.
Metallic mercury is really not that acutely poisonous. It is compounds with mercury ions that are very dangerous.
And any decent science classroom ought to have at least a few mercury thermometers around for calibration, at least.
So, I'm guessing that those little maze games with blobs of mercury in them are pretty hard to get now. I hope I still have mine somewhere.
GET OUT OF MY HEAD.
Sorry, that's the mercury talking.
First you let the kids play with mercury, next they are bringing WMDs to school.
Hell, I wanted to build a nuclear reactor in 4th grade. Knew how, too, but never got past the blueprints on notebook paper stage.
I had a science teacher who let kids play with mercury. It was great. He was a little batty, though. He also let us play with using Bunsen burners to bend glass tubes, which led to some pretty cool bong building projects.
My Dad described playing with mercury in the palm of his hand in high school. By the time I went we had to leave it in the (open) beaker.
I was just reading about some guy who built a nuclear reactor right in the middle of Chicago, and all he got were accolades and awards.
Bill Clinton's price for supporting Obama? Chasing the firesnatch in its natural habitat.
But now come the Washington rumors that what Clinton may really covet is the US ambassadorship to Ireland.
This made me laugh.
[Zweibel]
See if it changes your paltry lives in the slightest to send Clinton packing back to his richly opiated Irish mistress!
[/Zweibel]
Tell Jim Anchower to write more columns, dammit!
Hola Amigos! It has been too long since he rapped at us.
In Cairo, protesters stormed the presidential palace and demanded the resignation of self-appointed absolute chief, President Morsi. If the first revolution doesn't work, try another.
Rinse and Repeat...
Notorious B.I.G. Autopsy Report Released
The death sparked numerous theories about who was responsible and the motivations behind the shooting.
The book "LAbyrinth" theorized that Marion "Suge" Knight, co-founder of Death Row Records and an alleged Bloods affiliate, conspired with LAPD officer David Mack and an alleged Death Row security employee to kill Wallace and Tupac Shakur as part of a fictitious bi-coastal rap rivalry.
SugarFree, aka Tupac Shakur, has got to be feeling pretty nervous right about now.
MTV ranked him #3 on its list of the greatest rappers of all time.
Maybe he was just before my time, but I never understood the popularity for Biggie. Some of his stuff was okay, but from everything I've heard it wasn't exactly groundbreaking. Cult of personality?
It must be. I like rap, a lot, and listen to a very wide range of music. But I don't get the appeal of Biggie. Or Tupac. My wife, on the other hand loves both artists. It just clicks for some people. Fucking shame what happened to them, though.
Growing up I didn't really "get" rap, either. It just sounded like a bunch of clicks and whistles with someone speaking fast over it. But now I have a better appreciation for the culture and even the effort it takes to produce some of the better tracks. Then you have absolute wordsmiths like Eminem who I would say actually do take rap to that next level.
If I can help it I still try to avoid the songs that are about nothing more than guns, drugs, pussy... unless they have a good beat 😉
If you like wordsmiths, definitelt check out Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. A good place to start would be with this bit of brain candy.
I'll try to check that out later tonight. It tends to be more mixtape stuff that gets some nice verses strung together, but then the beats aren't always the best on a mixtape. I'm a big fan of Talib Kweli, and I like Common's stuff, except sometimes his afrocentricity is a little too much to handle.
Word.
his afrocentricity is a little too much to handle
which is why 99% of his fanbase are white teenagers
But who can beat the epic rap battles of history Hitler vs Darth Vader parts I and II. With the possible exception of Hayek vs Keynes in the fight of the Century.
Mr. Dobolina, Mr. Bob Dobolina.
He was a big fat guy who slept with a lot of women.
What's not to like?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL5sdu3pNrU
He uses the same cadence in all of his songs. He uses the same "melody" in all of his songs.
I prefer Del, Kool Keith, Hieroglyphics, The Pharcyde, Outkast, Madlib, RZA/Bobby Digital, and stuff like that.
Excellent taste, EDG...but I didn't see Chali 2na up there.
Oh hell yeah. I just didn't want to include Chali/Ozomatli on a message board that deplores socialists. 😉
Chali/Ozomatli is interesting at times, but not in the same league as the other names you listed IMO.
Biggie's great. Smooth flow, good rhythm, self-aware lyrics. "Things Done Changed" and "Warning" are easily in the top 20 of great rap songs of the past 20 years.
EDG reppin' LBC| 12.7.12 @ 4:41PM |#
Cult of personality?
It must be. I like rap, a lot, and listen to a very wide range of music. But I don't get the appeal of Biggie
Name a rap album where every single tune from start to end is a hit...*Besides* Ready to Die
There are other great rap albums, sure. I'll admit I'm not even necessarily that crazy about his stuff. But that record is pretty much a landmark.
Right. Every tune was a hit. I don't understand why every song was a hit. It really clicked with a lot of people, but it just doesn't do it for me.
Conversely, I don't understand why Kool Keith isn't a top selling artist, performing in front of 45,000 people nightly, and touring the world in his own G6.
Conversely, I don't understand why Kool Keith isn't a top selling artist,
um. modern white people just download stuff?
im just saying, as a person who was surrounded by hiphop in nyc from the early 80s through the late 90s, and am a fan, and spent some time as a producer... the really huge artists who really left a mark with america writ large were crossovers who started off successful in black communities, THEN went mainstream. there are few. Dre, Snoop, Biggie, Tupac...the dirty south pioneers... maybe fiddy (retch)... other classic recordings/performers remained great 'fan' music (a la Wu, MOP, Mobb Deep, etc) are lesser regarded because they never crossed over quite the same way to mass culture... kids today will know lyrics to 'scenario', but dont even know who Kool G Rap was. its the way it is. Biggie will be idolized as better than he was because he became popularized as an icon.
fuck, i never liked tupac. i 'dont get that' the same way you might not get Biggie...whom i least consider high quality, despite being overblown
name a rap album where every single tune from start to end is a hit...*Besides* Ready to Die
BTW - i think the answer to this trivia Q is The Blueprint by Jay Z probably...
This. I have tickets to see Kool Keith in KC next Friday (fuck yeah!). It's in a bar that fits about 100 people. It will be awesome for being such an intimate show, but yeah, he should be playing much bigger places.
SugarFree, aka Tupac Shakur, has got to be feeling pretty nervous right about now.
Lies! Saccharin Man is really... Wait, you almost got me! Heh!
TUPAC RIP
/pours 40
I like Biggie OK. He has a good sense of flow and rhythm beyond just following the beat of the backing tracks. But I bet he would be mostly forgotten by now by the general public if he were still alive.
Humpty Hump likes this.
2pac and Biggie are both far better than any mainstream popular rapper today
A hazmat crew showed up at Seminole High School in in Pinellas County, Florida, because ... a kid brought a mercury thermometer to school as his contribution to an assignment to bring something from the Periodic Table of Elements. Yeah, that's our world.
In 10 years the same thing will happen when a kid brings lead to school.
when a kid brings lead to school
ZERO TOLERANCE MEANS ZERO TOLERANCE!!!
Oh, you meant pencil lead.
That's graphite. Totally different thing, Citizen!
Pencil lead is carbon. OMG carbonfootprint ban it!!!
gB gets a polite explanation and I get a "FAIL". Nice.
I'm gonna be riding this high all the way through the weekend!
Oh, you meant pencil lead.
No I meant lead.
As in a old fishing line weight.
That you put on your line using your teeth.
thats zinc
Maybe it is in southern GAY-ifornia. Here in Real America we still sink our baits with lead.
Feds looking into shootings of unarmed citizens in Houston. Including the one that occurred across the street from my apartment in July.
So are we to take this as your confession to the crime?
A cop did it. I would rather take up a life of crime than put on a badge. I could steal exclusively from U.S. senators and sleep very well.
You should put together a gang for the sole purpose of committing strong arm robberies upon our valiant legislators. I will join this gang.
It's been done.
Damn....those union leaders sure have funny uniforms........
Today I went to the Minneapolis City Hall because they are selling police garb to the public today and Monday. Picked up a navy blue turtleneck with MPD embroidered on the neck. Also got a MPD baseball cap. I plan to wear this shit in public and harass the citizenry.
any attire available for door break robberies???.....ya know, who would question a group of thugs kicking in doors in daylite if they look military-like.....just "neiborhood policing" is all.
A cop did it. I would rather take up a life of crime than put on a badge.
Aren't those the same thing?
We would all better off I bet.
DJ's take themselves off air after prank leads to suicide.
Not normally given to conspiracy, but suicide is just too convenient, here.
That's total BS. It's awful that she killed herself but regardless of what her motive was it was entirely reasonable to expect that a prank like that would be harmless.
Couldn't have been too stable to begin with if that pushed her over the edge.
It may be possible to create a universe with only a hundred-thousandth of a gram of matter. So set your drink down very carefully.
FORGET SEASTEADING. THIS IS WHAT WE SHOULD BE WORKING ON.
Maybe a hard reset is the way to find out what natural rights humans are endowed with. If this tiny universe is created and the people in it have the inalienable right to healthcare, I'll admit my faux pas.
ok, let's say you already have a great void and decide to fill it. Where do you get that first 100-thousandth of a gram of matter?
Some other deity made that happen.
My testicles.
Just read your missive, HM. Thank you so very much and it's excellent so far.
All will be kept in the strictest of confidence, but you knew that already.
You know what's annoying? People mentioning things that are kept in strictest confidence in a public forum. Just saying.
It was just my sex tape....sorry.
Not much to get all upset about, then.
Thanks.
IIRC, the theory is that it takes a very small amount of matter in our space to create an entirely new universe in a different dimensionality that cannot be accessed from this universe. Its not like we can initiate a new Big Bang in our space-time. Or at least, the fact that 13B years worth of matter and energy are all radiating from the same direction indicate against this.
So we could create a new universe but have no way of proving it? If so, I'd like to submit that we need a multibillion dollar agency to ensure we aren't filling up a limited number of dimensionalities with new universes...precautionary principal rules!
It wouldn't even make sense to create a new big bang in our spacetime since the big bang is what our space-time came from.
And the new universe's matter is borrowed from gravitational energy, or something.
Libertopia awaits!
Obama to accept unlimited corporate funds to pay for his inaugural.
Well, that new gold throne he's ascending to isn't going to pay for itself!
Golden throne? Pfft, Obama demands an Iron Throne made from the shrapnel of his drone missiles.
Oh please, the Iron Throne was supposed to inculcate some humility and sense of danger to its occupant (sit on it wrong and it will cut you). Obama would not purposely accept that notion of limitations to his powers.
"Obama demands an Iron Throne made from the shrapnel of his drone missiles."
More like the sun bleached skulls of his enemies, which he personally vanquished; JB welded together in a tasteful gothic reproduction of Vlad Tepes's shitter.
Emperor Obama I to graciously accept tribute for his coronation.
Mark Wahlberg sparked a pissing match with the Canadian federal government over whether our neighbors to the north are doing enough to subsidize the production of Hollywood movies...
Do we really want in influx of Canadian movies? Rowsdower?
Eh?
Bippity boppity Bowsdower!
YOU GET OUT OF MY HEAD TOO.
Rowsdower? Is that a....stupid name?
Strange Brew was a good movie.
Though I think that may have been a Hollywood movie portraying Canadians.
Rowsdower. Zapp Rowsdower.
Funding David Cronenberg movies is the crown jewel of Canuck socialism.
Taylor Swift and Katy Perry are ruining things.
How dare they make money by looking pretty! I'm not a fan of either of their bodies of work, although Katy has great tits. But I don't begrudge them their money, either.
I'm willing to be selfless here, and volunteer to be ruined by them.
Fucking feminists...
Technically, I don't think they're fucking.
Wow! What a cunt. Feminists really drive me to dislike women.
Don't know Perry (had to Google her), but I think Swift is an absolute Sweetheart. God forbid a woman makes it big without having to act like a bitch.
I'm a decades-long, huge fan of Camille Paglia and this column was shit.
Wow! What a cunt.
Shit! Down thread they've just lit the "DUNPHY SIGNAL" and here you've gone and triggered the "KEN SCHULZ" signal! It's gonna be a long night!
Don't dislike women. Just certain flavors of feminists.
Manic, cyborg cheerleader. Interesting.
Ms. Paglia, describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about your mother.
Cop sends nude photos while on duty. (SFW)
Fortunately after the thermometer debacle some good news on the education front.....
Books such as JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird will be replaced by "informational texts" approved by the Common Core State Standards.
Suggested non-fiction texts include Recommended Levels of Insulation by the the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Invasive Plant Inventory, by California's Invasive Plant Council.
So the next time your little whelp asks if he or she can turn up the thermostat you tell them to get their lazy ass in the attic and install another layer of fine fiberglass batt insulation.
Completely and utterly beyond parody, satire, or sanity.
Hey I wish I'd picked up a bit more regarding the behavior of invasive plants while in high school.
Not sure if serious. Linky?
I'm so embarrassed the Brits know!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cul.....culum.html
The comments to the article are encouraging.
To Kill a Mockingbird was good, but frankly I'd rather read about the insulation than Catcher in the Rye. I've never understood why that book is considered such a classic.
Because it's one of the best bildungsroman written in English?
It's a story about a spoiled rich kid who spend his time flipping back and forth between being a jerk to everyone around him and moping about how much life sucks (despite having no real problems, and what minor problem he does have being almost entirely his own fault).
I wasn't entertained by it and I wasn't informed by it. So I consider the time I spent reading it to have been completely wasted.
Shorter Stormy:
"It insists upon itself!"
This exactly. Catcher in the Rye is quite possibly my least favorite book written for a young audience.
Worse than A Separate Peace?
So it's a story about teenagers.
You don't have to be entertained by it. It's ok not to like things. However, since you've read it, and are familiar enough with it to express what about it you don't like...I wouldn't say the time you spent reading it was wasted. It's called "acquiring cultural literacy."
That having been said, a curriculum of cultural literacy isn't for everyone, just as a purely voc-tech curriculum doesn't meed everyone's needs. This is the exact problem of one-size-fits-all public education.
*meet
Edumacation worked for you, I see.
John was my spelling teacher, unfortunately.
Meh.
"Because it's one of the best bildungsroman written in English?"
"You don't have to be entertained by it."
Jesus you're fucking stupid.
Saying that something is the best work of a genre doesn't mean that someone will enjoy that particular genre, you fucking inbred mongoloid.
But I do enjoy that particular genre. The problem is that to the extent that Catcher in the Rye is a bildungsroman, it's a terrible example of it. Bildungsroman are supposed to be about the transition from childhood to adulthood. Caulfield never actual makes that transition, and in fact is regressing; he becomes more and more childish as it goes on. Again, it doesn't provide any real insight about life, human nature, etc.
I can enjoy books that aren't insightful, but are entertaining. I can enjoy books that aren't entertaining, but are insightful. I can't enjoy books that aren't either; they're just a waste of my time.
The point of the book is to implant thoughts of political murder in your mind. If you have killed anyone important, you didn't really get it.
Because it's one of the best bildungsroman written in English?
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
In that book the character actually changes and actually does make a moral decision.
The kid in Cather in the Rye does not do jack shit but whine.
Fair enough. I had 20th century in my mind when I originally wrote that...I don't know why I didn't type it. But, yes, Huck Finn is much better than CitR. I just like Mark Twain better than Salinger.
Because Twain is a god. Bow down in humble acknowledgement.
I can't imagine anyone seriously suggesting otherwise who wasn't trolling.
Well, there's Salinger.
Probably because you're such a phony.
Except Holden Caulfield was the biggest phony in the whole book. GRRRR.
Yeah and you know that because you read it! Twenty years from now when they change the requirements again we'll be back here discussing why R-19 sucks so bad and R-30 is just dreamy.
I've never understood why that book is considered such a classic.
Same thoughts. All The Catcher in the Rye does is break every literary/grammar rule that teachers told me I had to follow. Fuck that book!
The one good takeaway from that book was when it came down to the explanation of the title. Not so much that his explanation was good (he wants to catch kids in a field of rye before they run off a cliff???), but because now I actively listen to every movie I ever watch to see if the dialogue will reference the title; the cheesier the better.
Hahaha thank you! I wanted to come up with some examples but it's just one of those things that I listen for when watching but can't recall later.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw...../TitleDrop
"I sure am getting tired of these 'Star Wars'."
It's too bad UCB never caught on.
Oh this is such a rich resource!
"Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown"
Careful!
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw.....inYourLife
True story: The original title of Die Hard was Yippie Ki Yay Motherfucker.
"Yippie Ki Yay Mother Russia"
Yippie Ki Yay Mister Falcon
Put me on the Catcher hater list too. What a turd.
Mockingbird was shit.
I assume the "STEM-ROOLZ' HUMANITIES DROLLZ" school of education must fapping furiously at this announcement.
Well, not very much of the typical Humanities curriculum is droll. Only a skosh.
Oh? I found Tristram Shandy to be quite dr?le.
Well, there's one book out of how many?
There is only one book.
That book is Tristram Shandy.
Read it, know it, love it.
It's racist.
Catcher, was dropped because the kid is white.
Mockingbird was dropped because there is no way a white southern lawyer would EVER selflessly, with risk to himself and his family, defend a black man.
I showed the film To Kill a Mockingbird at the homeless youth center and some black kid, who wasn't even watching the film, heard the word n*gger in the dialogue and got all pissed off.
Actually stereo instructions would be an improvement over Catcher in the Rye.
"replaced by "informational texts" approved by the Common Core State Standards."
So,...while the politburo CCSS is out back burning classic books, updating its Curriculum, the future generation is engaged in mind-numbing skullduggery of sifting through shitty informational pamphlets graciously donated by mundane bureaucracies, representing the worst the public sector has to offer Improving the students reading comprehension. That ought to keep them glued to their seats, and riveted. I'm sure they will find the new material "challenging" on all levels.
This leads be to believe three things
1) Moochelle's low protein gruel is not breaking their spirits fast enough.
2) The schools have given up. The little retards are not reading anything worth a shit anyway. It's not like they have a future, so what is the point?
3) This will ease their transition into a dull pointless career (pulling levers/pushing buttons), and crushing the last vestiges of creative thought or Individuality is ultimately, for their own benefit...no square pegs here.
This plan is fool-proof!
90 Minutes to the Pacquiao-Marquez 4 Weigh in.
Do people still follow boxing?
I had been pretty interested in it up until the last Pacquiao fight, even paying for some of the Pay-Per-Views. There are a lot of good undercard fights from time to time, even if many of the main events are overhyped nowadays.
But when Manny handedly beat Bradley in 12 rounds but was declared to lose in a split decision, I vowed to never pay for a boxing match again. If I want to see people fighting it out I will pay for UFC from now on, or spend 2 dollars on a large Slim Jim to toss between to hungry hobos.
UFC makes boxing seem kind of tame...but still fixed.
"Man, I thought Ultimate Robot Fighting was real, like pro wrestling, but it turns out it's fixed, like boxing."
huh?.....who are these pacuiao-marquezes, and why do they have to weigh all 4 of them.....as for following boxing,....family christmas get togethers are approaching....plenty of boxing and wrestlinging and backstabbing to last all of 2013............
It may be possible to create a universe with only a hundred-thousandth of a gram of matter.
The problem is you can't access that universe from here. You're stuck on the outside.
Pornos have the same problem.
Pornos don't have the problem; I have the problem!
Amirite!
That just makes it easier to destroy it later.
And again the Big Bang is proven to be complete bullshit yet people keep gobbling it up.
Seriously how fucking hard is it to say:
"We have no idea."
But no instead we get claims that the universe is a small fraction of a gram in mass.
Brilliant!!!
And once again, Corning shows his ignorance of what the theory actually says or what proof means.
Zeb translation:
"I don't know what I am talking about but I got stoned once and watched Cosmos so he must be wrong."
We've done this before and I responded to all of your pet theories. Being skeptical is great, but you have to have something to go on. Which you don't.
but you have to have something to go on
look up "null hypothesis".
Also I do not recall you saying anything more then a cut and paste of what you said above.
Which you don't.
Here you go:
if the entire mass of the universe was contained in the smallest of small pin pricks of space why the fuck didn't it simply become a black hole?
The existence of black holes negates the possibility of a big bang...other wise wouldn't all the mass and energy within black hole explode outward like it did during the big bang?
Either black holes exist or the big bang happened...you can't have both.
This is impressively stupid.
Brandon| 12.7.12 @ 6:39PM |#
This is impressively stupid.
Explain.
Why would the big bang singularity behave differently then the singularity of a black hole?
Why would black holes have event horizons yet the big bang not have one?
Your assumption is that that matter collapsed to begin with. According to the theory there was no matter at the time of the BB. Protons formed a few minutes after the bang. Atoms, not for several thousand years.
The conversation is meaningless. It was most probably a phase change, and we have no form of reference for the previous phase. So even if there were a way to know, you would never be able to explain it in language.
Imagine a race or beings who live in the flame on the head of a match. Their only frame of reference is the flame. The state of their universe before it's current state(the unstruck match) is therefore unknowable to them.
formless universe analogous to liquid water cooled and suddenly crystallized to form four-dimensional space-time, analogous to ice.
So stop right there.
Not only did everything become everything but the very laws of space and time manifested themselves...and only after the start of the big bang....
/facepalm
Your assumption is that that matter collapsed to begin with.,/i
So lets see we have a tiny pin prick of mass (energy has mass) that is literally the same mass as the whole fucking universe...
And you are telling me that thing does not have a event horizon?
Why would it not have an event horizon again?
What weird comic book science are you using to think matter that collapsed would have an event horizon yet an equally massive point in space would not?
Its not that we have no idea, its that even the simplified explanation requires a good bit of depth. We're pretty sure, from several different observations, as well as the Standard Model, which continues to prove out in testing, that it must be the way it is.
Don't bother. I've tried.
Only thing we got is back ground radiation and everything is moving away from everything else.
And from this we derive the following thesis:
"BIG BANG BITCHES!!! EVERYTHING CAME FROM NOTHING!!!"
*sigh*
Tell us more about the luminiferous aether, Corning.
luminiferous aether
Bullshit.
I am making a claim that we do not know.
It is you that must have an explanation to fill that void in your soul.
I am making no claim that god did it or fairies or what other nonsense you use to "explain" why we are here.
I am saying we do not know and the thesis that "everything came from nothing big bang theory" is equally as idiotic as "Old man Zeus with a beard cut off the nuts of his dad and threw it into void."
You're absolutely right; we don't know. That's why it's referred to as the Big Bang theory. As a cosmological model, it fits in with a lot of what's observed about the universe. So far, no one has constructed a more convincing model; if you have, I'm sure there are several peer-reviewed journals that would be interested in hearing from you.
I don't think he's graduated from phlogiston yet.
Clearly his humours are imbalanced.
I don't think he's graduated from phlogiston yet.
The point you are missing is that the Big Bang is simply today's version of luminiferous aether, phologiston and Adam and Eve.
Except none of those other things is consistent with current observation. Which the Big Bang is.
In addition to the CMB and the apparent expansion of the universe, the big bang theory also correctly predicts the observed relative abundances of hydrogen and helium to very high precision.
The Big Bang doesn't explain why it appears distant galaxies are accelerating away from us. Well, not without some unsightly additions to the theory that have no justification except that they make the BB fit current observation better.
The point you are missing is that the Big Bang is simply today's version of luminiferous aether, phologiston and Adam and Eve.
But scientists voted for it.
It's not quite that cut and dry. There is a lot of evidence that the BB happened, for sure, but reconciling it with some observations requires some pretty exotic, counterintuitive, and (most importanly) unobserved stuff like dark energy and cosmic inflation and the like.
And that's not getting to the fundamental problem with the BB as an explanation for how the universe began, which is that it doesn't explain how the universe began. It just reduces it to the question of why the BB happened.
Perhaps how the universe began falls under "ignoramus et ignorabimus"?
He wants the White House to make a counter-offer to the GOP plan President Obama already rejected.
The counter proposal is fuck you, enjoy the Gingrich-That-Stole-Christmas-ing you get from the press.
Obama-fans for marijuana legalization chime in:
From Balko's column's comments. Of course HuffPo comments are where I learned that a whole bunch of people can discuss drug legalization who all think maryjane was perfectly legal back in the 1960s until Nixon and the RethugliKKKans decided to crack down on the peace and love and ant-war movement.
People just need to have a little faith that the legal system and the Executive can handle this in an adult manner.
Yeah, Obama's awesome.
Something, something, 13th amendment, something.
that's like old and shit
Uhhhh, Dunphy?
Day 1 of Legal Pot Marred by Deaths at Alleged Wash. Growing Center
**Lights Dunphy Signal**
At least it's not Sloopy on a provocation crusade. Apparently, babies don't leave much time for that.
Actually, P Brooks was the first to light such signals. It's my homage to Brooksie.
Ted S. has been known to flicker the beacon as well.
Whatever happened to him? Did some tragedy befall while I was on one of my hiatuses?
He goes by the Nom du Blog, "The Late P Brooks."
Same fellow, same Anti-Threading Style.
I'm still here.
Those aren't provocation cusades and I very, very rarely ever ask for him to come on and defend something. I post all of those stories for the general readership here. I post them so people can be made aware that there are scads of corrupt police officers and entire departments that cover up their crimes, not to mention that there are also absurd double-standards whereby police officers have a different justice system than "citizens" have.
It's like when I point out that a Milwaukee cop can punch a fully restrained and handcuffed woman in the face, have it captured on his dashcam and will not only not face assault charges, but will also get his job back when a commission of former officers is charged with looking into his criminal act . Or how the taxpayers will be forced to pay for his criminal behavior.
I don't say those things to draw dunphy out of the woodwork to protect the union system that got this animal his job back or to support a system that judges all police actions based on their "feelings" at the time they maliciously beat her. I bring them up for the rest of the readers on here.
Was he playing a wicked guitar solo? Check.
Was he dead lifting a Toyota? Check.
Was he shredding on the face of a 22 ft. epic point break? Check.
Was a partially-clothed Morgan Fairchild gripping his thigh? Check.
Yep. It's Dunphy.
"Yep. It's Dunphy."
And that's not his thigh!
Holy shit, you know he used to post as "whit" over on Volokh...
Smokers who have purchased marijuana from a street dealer are in the clear.
SCHWAG is safe! But the medical grade and boutique stores, no no no, you silly Proles!
Don't say there isn't a God: a dead whale is decomposing on the beach front property of Barbara Streisand and other celebrities.
LA County officials say they can't move the whale until the low tide occurs next week.
You're late to the party, ASM.
::bows head in shame::
Why do you have to wait for low tide to move Streisand again?
Feministing explains economics.
Nicole, Kristen please don't hate me but it's so cute when the gurls talk money.
I'm in total agreement with 1 and 2. Not sure how they propose to make it happen (and 3 won't work).
You're in agreement with #2? You don't think prices rise?
Only if producers don't improve productivity.
Wages went up in the 90s but prices didn't.
The proper response--
Hey dummy!
3. If the minimum wage goes up, so do prices?
2. Higher prices means people buy less things and have lower purchase power-
1. Lower purchasing power means even more expensive government assistance-
The trick is to get dummies like you to work hard enough or get a usable education so that you are a productive member of society.
That's because it was in the 90s that they started to improve productivity by moving overseas.
All three of these support the "raise the minimum wage to $50/hour, then" hypothesis.
We could ALL be the 1% !
Expand your sample and we are.
Playing devil's avocado here, but just because a lot of something is bad doesn't mean a little of it is also bad. There's no studies indicating that small increases in minimum wage cause immediate increases in unemployment.
Devil's Avocado would be a pretty cool band name actually.
Frog...meet boiling water. Over time.
I'm pretty sure they have to. At the margin, at least somebody's getting fired.
Or a new position is not added, or added later or as a part time job.
Oh god, Tulpa believes in homeopathy.
I would imagine that's mainly because the official minimum wage is often lower than the natural minimum wage. For example, here in NJ the minimum wage is $7.25, but I can't imagine anyone working for less than $8.00 here.
Re: Broads explaining economics to us knuckle-draggers:
Unless there's no correlation because government keeps being profligate either way.
Yeah - BAD economics 101. Why not simply give people a pool full of money so they can buy more stuff?
"Ignoring the Law of Opportunity Cost, solve the following problem..."
'GOLDEN SPIKE' plans to fly people to the moon.
So you missed both articles on H&R the other day?
stop othering me
I thought there were three.
Two right on top of each other.
I thought we drove that into the ground yesterday?
The Archduke wasn't victim to the cruel memory-insertion hypnosis we were.
Nigeria: Students Solve Power Shortages With Urine
Lagos ? It's ironic that Nigeria, Africa's leading oil producer, suffers from frequent fuel and power shortages. But four school girls have found a solution from an unlikely source: urine.
Most Nigerians have to rely on generators because of the epileptic power supply. Many businesses have also closed down because they cannot afford to buy expensive fuel from the black market to power their generators.
Faced with this problem, four teenagers from the Doregos Private Academy School in Lagos developed a generator powered by urine.
"We noticed that many Nigerians, [those whose] businesses depend on a power supply have virtually been put out of business because of the high cost of power, so we decided to make a device that will reduce this problem. We noticed that waste products can be used to generate energy that is why we decided to experiment on urine," said Eniola Bello, one of the students.
The generator is powered by hydrogen and oxygen formed from urine stored in a compartment attached to the generator.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201211260295.html
There is a really big piece of that story missing, thermodynamically speaking.
Nice how the ChemEs come in with a dual WTF? If piss could run generators by itself, bars would have been off-grid by the '30s.
I hear Exxon bought the patent and suppressed it. I'd hate to be those kids right now.
It sounds like classic water electrolysis, only the ammonia and urea might make it hydrogen rich.
Yeah, I was kidding about Exxon. I wonder what happens when you electrolyze a solution of urea. It seems like it might get a little, um, testy.
Nice how the ChemEs come in with a dual WTF? If piss could run generators by itself, bars would have been off-grid by the '30s.
Piss can run generators! You just need be high above the inlet to the Pelton wheel...oh and you really really really need to go!
What's driving the electrolysis? A solar panel? I don't think urea decay can account for the energy they're getting.
Complete wild guess: heat driven reaction using a solar cooker. Probably has nothing to do with what actually happens, especially if they are using electrolysis. Did it actually say they got the chemicals through electrolysis, of are we just assuming that?
How else do you generate hydrogen and oxygen without micro-organisms?
Electrolysis
Electrolysis uses electricity, not critters.
Right. "How else" meant other than electrolysis.
I don't know. Maybe the urea etc. breaks down under heat? As I said, complete wild guesses.
urea breaks down enzymatically.
Into hydrogen? And I know precisely one thing about urea: it comes in urine.
Urea does not break down like that. It's used at quite high temperatures in SNCRs for NOx control. The article specifically says the generator is run on hydrogen and oxygen electrolyzed from water. It says nothing about the energy required to electrolyze the water or where it comes from.
this story has been circulating online in different formats since at least 2005
A better article on the subject, which makes the very good point that, "hey it's just a science fair project!"
The real story is that these girls are learning about science and technology, and using their brains to try to solve problems. Cool, if you ask me.
Cool. Thanks. I didn't mean to run them down, its a good project. The writing sucked, though.
Yeah, I don't mean to runthem down either, but the articles contain very little information.. I'm going to have to look up this guy's paper on urea electrolysis. Presumably he's using an electrolytic cell to strip the hydrogen out of the urea. I seem to remember that if you make a brine of sodium chloride and eelectrolyze it, you get chlorine gas off as well as the standard O2 and H2 from water electrolysis. If there's a lot of salt, all the O goes to OH and you get NaOH, Cl2 gas, and one mole of hydrogen less than if you were electrolyzing water alone so this proecess might be similar.
The ambition myth.
They've got a point there. Question for the married guys:
How many times has your living room furniture been replaced and/or rearranged? How many of those times were your idea?
My personal living room furniture satisfaction score is fairly low. Despite my wife's ceaseless rearranging, she has consistently failed to install a stripper pole or a kegerator.
Re: Mad Scientist,
Yes, well, evidence for the existence of the perfect woman has proven to be more elusive than evidence of the existence of Sasquatch and Nessie.
My wife is one of those people who believes that if you have 50 choices, just one of them is the best possible choice. She's never satisfied with, for example, the throw pillows, for fear that some other shape or color or texture or size or stuffing would have been better. Based on my comprehensive survey of about a dozen women, this attitude is predominate. That being the case, it's not at all surprising that 30% of women think some other career choice would have been better.
How many deaf, dumb, blind, nymphomaniacs who's father owns a liquor store can there be?
I put a kegerator on our wedding registry. My college buddies bought it and it is now sitting in the living room. So for now my furniture satisfaction is high.
Every woman I meat, they all leave satisfied. dun dun dun dun dun
Was "meat" intended, or a lucky accident?
One could argue that women are less satisfied with their jobs precisely because they're less ambitious, not more; and that men are more satisfied because they find their jobs fulfilling their ambition, not because they arrived at a certain plane.
About the same amount of times that my home theater setup has been replaced and/or rearranged. And you can guess whose idea it was...
Men are genetically blas?; women are genetically angsty bitches. It's not just that time of the month.
How many times has your living room furniture been replaced and/or rearranged?
Zero...and I'm female. I don't have time for that kind of shit, I get it right the first time.
Generalize much?
How else does one discuss statistics?
If women are less ambitious, we'd expect them to be about equally satisfied with their careers as their male colleagues.
Maybe they are not only less ambitious but also suck at their work at even higher rates.
I kid I kid...
Anyway I do not see why ambition and satisfaction have to be in any way related.
What does being perpetually unsatisfied have to do with ambition? If you want mutually contradicting things, you're going to be a little unsatisfied no matter what.
Quite a lot, from the Buddhist point of view.
Michigan is looking to go right-to-work.
Union response is predictable.
Caltrops and sugar in the gas?
From the first link:
From the second:
Looks like they've got the talking points down.
I wonder what would have been the reaction if he had brought a mercury-vapor-filled Compact Fluorescent Light for Earth Day....
... can you spell "Phony"?
I can only imagine what they did to the kid who brought plutonium.
I've always been fond of molybdenum, not because of any physical property, but because it has a funny name. Molybdenum molybdenum molybdenum.
Moly-be-damned
"I made this device that collects radon gas from my basement in high concentration.
With this switch, after it gets full, I can release it."
That'll teach the little shit to be ambitious and creative. Next time he should just pull out a coin from his pocket.
... can you spell "Phony"?
Yes! You need to remember to put an extra space between all the letters!
I think there's supposed to be a T in there, somewhere
Greenville, SC public libraries remove Alan Moore's Neonomicon (via CBLDF)
The children have to learn about TekWar sometime!
Supermarket worker finds loaded handgun in a frozen box of meat.
See, that would be a good way to increase business. Guns and meat being sold at the butcher block.
Wasn't there a MythBusters episode with frozen meat bullets?
Now there's your fucking band name!
Or a great dessert for Christmas dinner!
Lucky. How come I never find guns hidden in anything?
Can't wait for Spaces or Duhrider to explain how this happened, what with USDA inspection and all.....
Obviously it was packed during the BOOOOSH deregulation extravaganza.
The Woman Least Fit To Reproduce Opines On The Subject:
Here's the real assumption that it contains: that "parent" means something more than "gamete provider."
Exactly.
Swedish Artist Talks About Life in Wake of Mohammed Cartoon
But mass immigration of 3rd world savages is a good thing.
Show us on the doll where the Mexican touched you, Chris.
I don't think he's capable of saying any sentence without '3rd world savages' appearing somewhere.
I didn't realize Swedes are considered third world savages. Maybe we should deport Americans with Swedish ancestry as well, right?
Did you also miss the part in the quote above that it was an Iranian film? Specifically, the film where the Prophet Mohammed went to a gay bar was made Iranian artist Sooreh Hera.
Moreover, it was at that point where someone attacked him but it seems planned for the entire event, as that alone did not anger the mob since he was already infamous in Scandinavian circles:
http://www.stockholmnews.com/more.aspx?NID=5306
Eliot Spitzer is horrified that Senate Republicans voted down a totally meaningless and purely symbolic UN treaty that's modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Because intentions are all that matters. If Obama wants to become dictator, he need only ask Congressional Democrats to label the bill the Sunshine and Unicorns for Everyone in America Act.
Re: A serious man,
My sister had posted the same thing on her Facebook page, accusing the Republicans of being stupid. I explained to her that such treaty was at best redundant as we have the ADA. Then she responded with the contention that through the ratification of the treaty, other countries would treat "our" disabled like we treat ours.
Since I didn't want to tell my sister that she was being woefully naive, I simply explained to her that most disabled people that travel to other countries do so knowing fully well what they can expect when it comes to accomodations for the disabled, and still spend the money to travel, so why bother with the treaty? She still considered Republicans callous and stupid for not voting for the treaty.
Yes, my dear sis is a lefty.
They way I explained it in the comments section of that article was that unless Spitzer and the liberals want the US to invade countries that don't have wheelchair ramps, the treaty was absolutely pointless.
..."unless Spitzer and the liberals want the US to invade countries that don't have wheelchair ramps,"...
HEY! Don't give 'em ideas!
Yeah, what the developing world really needs is some onerous regulations making it difficult and expensive to open any business which is open to the public. That'll help get their economies moving.
And we're supposed to give a shit what Client Nine has to say about anything because...?
Hey, if he gave me advice on which prostitute to buy, what he has to say could be very valuable.
Based on how much he paid for a hard 6 with fake tits, I'd conspicuously avoid his advice.
A gun control article on the Atlantic.
While the discussion is good, his point is "I don't trust myself with a gun". Which is what I suspect the majority of anti-CCW's problem actually is.
Funny!
Gangster rapper cancels concerts after death threats from actual gang members...
DECEMBER 6--So Rick Ross is being forced to cancel concerts in the face of threats by Gangster Disciples members who are upset that the rapper has invoked the name of a gang founder in one of his songs.
In YouTube videos, gang members warn Ross, 36, that he will end up in a hearse unless he pays tribute for using Larry Hoover's name in "B.M.F. (Blowing Money Fast)." Hoover, serving life in federal prison, co-founded the Gangster Disciples in Chicago in the late-1960s.
The gang, which has grown to include chapters nationwide, has also accused Ross of coopting its Star of David logo on the cover of his new mixtape "The Black Bar Mitzvah."
Another gang leader, Demetrius "Big Meech" Flenory of the Black Mafia Family, is also mentioned in the song, which shares an acronym--"BMF"--with the Ross song itself. Like Hoover, Flenory is a federal inmate (though he has a release date in 2032).
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/d.....oss-678314
FSU - we waste your money less.
FSU is the "most efficient" spending only (1) $17k/student/year. I went through there in 2008-2010, paid cash and averaged 2 labs per semester and I was paying about $6000 per year. This leads me to believe that nobody, not even out-of-state students pay the full cost of their college. I can't see how this doesn't spell the eventual doom of the current university education.
I Just Watched a Girl Quit Her Job and It Was Awesome
1) Isn't being thrilled about watching strangers quit their jobs for no reason at all -- especially in this economy -- exactly the sort of out-of-touch thing feminists *swear* is only done by privileged white males?
2) Isn't quitting your job for no reason at all -- especially in this economy -- exactly the sort of out-of-touch thing feminists *swear* is only done by privileged white males?
3) Anyone else wanna back me up on splitting tips being both commonplace, perfectly fair, and something that is definitely not worth bitching over to management to the point of quitting a job?
Its a dick move if the chef is actually the owner and taking a cut. But tipping out the non-cooking help is fairly standard. Cooks are supposed to make enough that they don't need tips. So, yeah, the chick has a legitimate beef if that's what was going on.
If that's what's going on she has a legitimate beef.
I honestly don't know if it's better or worse if the barista quit over something legitimate for the purposes of the article. Kind of a dick move to take vicarious pleasure at someone losing their job in any case.
Hell, if that's what's going on the barista might have legal recourse to deal with the situation. Not saying I'd blame her for just quitting instead, but it was an option.
Servers shouldn't tip the chef/owner. But they should tip the bartender, and bus boys. These are tips, and the amount and frequency are at the sole discretion of the server. Splitting tips, as used in the original article sounds like the tips are being "confiscated" and re-distributed according to the owners' whim. If that is the case, definitely NOT COOL.
"These are tips, and the amount and frequency are at the sole discretion of the server."
I've worked places where tips are split as part of restaurant policy. Never saw any of the waiters go hungry. As owner, confiscating tips for the purpose of filling your own pocket is a dick move but doing it because the servers are stiffing the rest of the help (it happens) is fine IMO.
Anyone else wanna back me up on splitting tips being both commonplace, perfectly fair
Depends. Was the Chef/owner doing any of the cooking or just telling the other cooks what to do?
Anyway I was only ever a busboy. From what I saw the head chef never got tips...line cooks did.
I find this amusing: Landlord threatens rent increase on obama voters...lol
Since a dental filling contains as much metallic mercury as a fever thermometer, why isn't an ordinary cremation a four alarm FEMA event?
Yeah. You would think it'd be a recognized problem.
On a related note, go to the NRC's events reports web site and look up pacemaker cremation. That gets a lot of feathers ruffled.
I'm sure the answer to your question is somewhere within this clusterfuck.
"If the first revolution doesn't work, try another."
Didn't work out so well in Russia.
Baby update (part 2): Well, the surgeon told us they're gonna have to "paint" the omphalocele and do the surgery in 6 months to a year. That was a bit of a downer, but it is what it is.
So, now they stretch a synthetic skin-like membrane over her abdomen and her skin will eventually grow over it...probably over like 3-4 weeks. She'll be in the hospital for 4-8 weeks depending on how well it grows and will then come home. The final surgery won't take place until 6 months to a year, as I said above.
A bit of a bummer, but they know best. They have no other concerns at the moment, which is really nice. And I also found out the head doc is a Buckeye. I feel safer already.
The belly button issue will wait for a while now.
Well, at least now you have a plan, and otherwise things are good. That should relieve some anxiety, I hope. I had no idea that much skin could grow so fast!
Best wishes with the whole business.
And I also found out the head doc is a Buckeye.
So does that mean you'll be able to trade some trophies to him for the surgery? Or does that mean that he'll give you back Little Baby Reason in exchange for some tattoos? I forget how these things work.
So, now they stretch a synthetic skin-like membrane over her abdomen and her skin will eventually grow over it...probably over like 3-4 weeks
So baby Reason is a cyborg? Awesome.
Drag. Well, at least you can keep the no-belly-button option open for a while longer.
That sucks, but I'm glad she's doing OK for now sloop. And you can bring her home soon which is the awesome thing. Just reading your updates makes me think back to each of my 3 being born, so I appreciate that - a memory of a really great time, each time.
Like Kyle XY?
with the bellybutton?
This article has all the marks of going viral in half the inboxes in the country.
- Involves a phonebooth (seriously when was the last time you saw one of those?)
- FDNY's Mr. March
- Punches and bites his girlfriend in public
- Girlfriend's an escort and also fairly famous (was on Top Model in 2006)
- And one more thing (I will leave this to the reader to discover)
Guessed it before I even hovered over the link.
OK wow, that dude is talking a LOT of smack!
http://www.AnonTyme.tk
thank you