A.M. Links: Monday Deadline for Cyprus, Religious Riots in Burma, No Charges for Dad Who Legally Posed His Son With a Rifle

• 

  NASA

  President Obama's visit to Israel was celebrated by a rocket barrage — from Gaza into Israel. No injuries reported.

• After Cyprus's lawmakers rejected a scheme for swiping chunks of bank depositors' accounts, the European Central Bank gave the island nation until Monday to come up with billions of euros, or else a bailout will be off the table and its banks cut off.
• The San Francisco Police Department is being sued for searching an arrestee's cell phone without a warrant. Use a password, folks.
• Kentucky Democrats desperately try to find a candidate less baggage-laden than Ashley Judd to run for Senate.
• Muslims and Buddhists are beating the crap out of each other in Burma. At least five dead so far.
• NASA says it's skeptical of an American Geophysical Union claim that Voyager 1 has left the solar system. When asked for comment, V'Ger said it wasn't going anywhere until it found its creator.
• No charges will be brought against a man who was "visited" by police and child welfare authorities after posting a picture on Facebook of his son posing with a rifle. He's very fortunate, because what he did is in no way illegal, but he lives in New Jersey.

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Comments

[Virginian]

first

[Counterfly]

*Smack*

[Virginian]

hehhehehehe it worked.

[robc]

People who frist post are worse than people who post videos they took of their tv screen who are worse than Hitler.

Plus its so slashdot 1998.

[Clich? Bandit]

The old ways still thrive in the darker corners rob.

You DO remember the great Day Of HTML Freedom here don't you?

/blinking

[robc]

I managed to miss that day.

[Enough About Palin]

I'm still shaking!

[Fist of Etiquette]

No charges will be brought against a man who was "visited" by police and child welfare authorities after posting a picture on Facebook of his son posing with a rifle.

THE SYSTEM WORKS.

[Tim]

But if we catch him so much as jaywalking after this...

[Counterfly]

I still don't get it. How can a supposed man allegedly use Facebook?

Something doesn't add up here.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Mafia Wars.

[Rasilio]

How else are we gonna "reconnect" with all the girls we had crushes on in High School

[Counterfly]

Get naked and drunk at your reunion like a normal person.

[Fist of Etiquette]

In that order?

[Counterfly]

I like to keep them balanced myself, but I'm not sure why it would make a difference.

[T]

I'm not one to criticize what works, FoE. If Counterfly's game gets results, more power to him.

[jester]

Facebook?

[Rich]

officers went to the family's home at about 8:15 p.m. Friday after getting anonymous tips that a boy there might have access to weapons and ammunition.

This whole incident is just infuriating.

I presume that under NJ "law" children must not "have access" to scary things.
Would the officers respond if they got anonymous tips that a boy there might be practicing black magic?

This "anonymous tips" bullshit is going to get way out of hand unless it's nipped in the bud. If you're that concerned about the kid (or whatever), be a "hero" and leave your contact information.

Let the lawsuits begin.

[Brandybuck]

No officer, he doesn't have access to my weapons. He does have access to his own weapons, however...

[mad libertarian guy]

Especially now that it's accepted dogma in liberal circles that guns are evil and that exposing a child to them to guns is worse than anything they could possibly do.

[gaijin]

well, according to one of the 24/7 links, NY is offering $500 for tips on illegal weapons...what could go wrong, comrade?

[Drake]

I live in NJ and would never publish such a picture.

If I was him, I would be putting my house up for sale and looking for a new one in PA - Today. Right.fucking.now.

[Spoonman.]

Why the fuck does anybody live in NJ? Pennsylvania is right here.

[WTF]

PA is too far to commute if you work in the New York metropolitan area.

[Drake]

Yep - the money my wife and I make cannot be easily replicated in a red state. But, at some point, I will get the fuck out of here.

[mad libertarian guy]

Of course the low cost of living in most red states cannot easily be replicated in Jersey.

It's not how much your boss tells you you make that is important.

It's how much you have left after all of your expenses and extortion fees to the government have been paid that counts.

[Brett L]

I imagine you could take a 25+% pay cut and live the same life in the south or southwest. Shit, you have a 7% sales tax and an income tax. Go to FL or TX and your income tax is gone. So that's what? 6% right there.

[WTF]

And that's why my wife and I are seriously considering Texas as well as Florida for retirement purposes, because we could live far better on our retirement income than we can here, and once retired we don't need to be in the NY metro area to earn the money.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

On top of replicating your lifestyle with much less money, you've also reduced your federal income tax liability.

[Drake]

Do a real estate search for a 4-bedroom house in the suburbs of San Antonio - then repeat in NW NJ - try Mt. Olive or Andover.

I won't same much (if anything other than property tax) on housing by moving to Texas.

I may move their someday, but it won't be for cheap real estate.

[KDN]

A lot of it is an unwillingness to leave friends and family and the fact that in NJ you're near a crap-ton of things to do. I tried to get my wife to leave NJ to go to Vegas where I could make 75% of my previous salary and live in a house 1/3 the price of what one in NJ costs (and she'd have no problem getting a job, being a math teacher and all). Couldn't get her to budge. And then fatboy passed a law restricting state employees (including teachers) from living out of state, thus shutting off my desired move to PA.

There's really nothing here though, the state is dying slowly. I'm 29 years old and the most financially successful of my (or her) townie friends, pulling in $65k per year. Everyone else that stuck around is either working at Costco or teaching. The only people I know with a decent bankroll through legitimate means left long ago.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

I moved to the DC area for a job that was twice the amount I was making in Ohio. The cost of living in big city areas is so ridiculous that my wife had to get a full time job (she had been unemployed in Ohio) just to make ends meet.

So there we were in NoVa, making 3x what we had been bringing in while in Ohio, and being so poor that we considered a dinner out a luxury.

In Ohio, we have a 3 bedroom house on half an acre in a decent suburb. In VA, we had a 700 sq ft apt in a giant complex and paid almost triple what we paid for the house.

IOW, fuck living near big cities.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I moved to the DC area for a job that was twice the amount I was making in Ohio. The cost of living in big city areas is so ridiculous that my wife had to get a full time job (she had been unemployed in Ohio) just to make ends meet.

Yup--I got offered a job a couple months ago to move from New Mexico to the Hampton Roads area in Virginia. The move didn't entail a salary increase, so once I took a look just at the cost of housing, I said no thanks. Living there was as good as taking a pay cut.

[JW]

So there we were in NoVa, making 3x what we had been bringing in while in Ohio, and being so poor that we considered a dinner out a luxury.

Yep. I pointed out previously that the wife-unit and I are in the top 14% of earners, but after bills, saving for college and retirement and the cost of living in DC, we don't have all that much left over.

I can't wait to leave this fuckhole and move somewhere sane.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Yeah, everything is expensive in DC. The cost of housing is just beyond ridiculous. If I could transplant my property in Ohio to inside the DC beltway, it would go from being a 150k house to a 1.5m house. Once when we first moved down there I went to my boss's house, one of the few people I knew there that actually owned property. Since we didn't know what a fuckhole DC is, we were thinking about buying and staying for a while. Once the topic of cost came up, he said I could probably find a "cheap" house in one of the shittier neighborhoods for around a million...

My wife worked with a guy who lived in South East. The area he lived in was so shitty he refused to work after dark because he feared for his safety walking the 2 blocks from the metro station. He was paying almost a grand for his studio apartment in the ghetto. Unreal.

[The Dan]

head West young man. Look to Fauquier Conty or Louden.

[Spoonman.]

May I recommend Texas?

[Bobarian]

Why the fuck does anybody work in NY (or in any way desire to go into that hell on the hudson)?

[KDN]

The money's good and there's stuff to do after work.

I think I've been to happy hour 5 times in the 5 years since I stopped working in the city. And I was unemployed for 9 of them.

[KDN]

*10 times

[WTF]

Exactly - the money is good in the NY metro area and there is a helluva lot to do.

[Restoras]

It is rapidly deteriorating for a lot of people.

There is now no logical reason for me to live here. Taxes are too high, services are poor, and individual freedom is gradually being restricted if not completely removed.

In the last few months I have begun to more actively consider options. If I had one prerequisite it would have to be proximity to a decent place to ski. CO has apparently been overrun by morons from CA so that's out. Maybe UT? I love the idea of Kentucky as I would still be reasonably close to family but I guess I'd have to completely give up on the occasional weekend ski day?

[Spoonman.]

Midland, TX will employ anybody with a pulse and is very close to ski areas in New Mexico.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

If I had one prerequisite it would have to be proximity to a decent place to ski. CO has apparently been overrun by morons from CA so that's out. Maybe UT?

You could try Idaho if living around too many Mormons creeps you out. I love Utah and can handle the culture just fine, but for a lot of people it's a deal-breaker. New Mexico has some decent ski areas but it's basically one big government welfare state.

[Bobarian]

There is often times a full two to three weeks of skiing in KY, just across the border in Paoli, IN. And there has to be at least 3-400 ft of vertical drop. So it's just like going to Vail.

OK, so maybe skiing is not all it's cracked up to be in KY, but I'd rather travel to CA, or CO, or VT, or NY, then have to live in any of those places.

[Azathoth!!]

Perfect North in Indy for a quick ski getaway

[Stormy Dragon]

Stop it! There's already too many people from NJ coming in to PA.

Now we're gonna have to raise the bridge tolls again.

[Mike Laursen]

Wait,I posted a picture on Facebook of my the four-year-old son shooting a rifle. Of course, he was in western Nebraska at the time, where they practically issue everyone a firearm at birth.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

You monster!

[Brett L]

No shit. Nebraska?

[Pope Jimbo]

Yeah, I have pics of my boys (10 and 13 at the time) posing with their shotguns in the badlands near Medora, ND. All I got were lots of compliments.

Maybe because it was with VP-approved shotguns?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Kentucky Democrats desperately try to find a candidate less baggage-laden than Ashley Judd to run for Senate.

The shine went off her apple real quick.

[Tim]

Lindsey Lohan's not available?

[SIV]

I'd vote for Linds

[Tim]

She's no Teddy Kennedy... then again...

[John]

If Lindsey were drunk and ran off the road into a bay, I think she would at least try to swim back and save you.

[Way Of The Crane]

Oh come on. Lindsey would be far too drunk to swim, but I think she'd at least have the decency to stay and drown right next to you.

[Lord Humungus]

now that's class.

[Tim]

Unassailable logic there.

[Counterfly]

You do a film with Morgan Freeman and see how clean and dignified you are afterwards.

[mad libertarian guy]

Because she's a low info leftoid who would alienate a full 1/3 of the state with her "coal mining is rape" schtick, and the other 2/3 by not living in fucking Kentucky.

[Drake]

I'm going to guess she's anti-gun as well.

[robc]

Funny Senate election story from 12 years ago (11 I guess, but two McConnell election cycles).

The Louisville office for the D opponent was down the hall from my office. We got to know some of the people working there. There was a consultant in from the national party, young guy, in his late 20s, pretty cool for a progtard.

One day he and the candidate's son get in a huge shouting match over guns. In KY, even the liberaler Dems (except in Louisville) are pro-gun. We went into the hall to listen to the details of the argument, it was pretty funny.

[mad libertarian guy]

In KY, if you are anti-gun, you are dead in the water.

I recently read (forget where) that KY has the highest gun ownership per capita in the country. Virtually everyone I know has at least 1 gun, even the crazy feminist writing her dissertation on rape culture.

[Warty]

Are you sure? I thought it was PA.

[robc]

Yarmuth! gets an F from GOA and he isnt dead in the water. But that is the Louisville exception to an otherwise valid rule.

[invisible furry hand]

what a pity, I was looking forward to Sugarfree denying her his essence

[Rasilio]

What kind of baggage has she got?

[RBS]

Probably the whole coal mining is rape thing.

[Atanarjuat]

Well, I doubt she can give a speech of more than 30 seconds without all normal people thinking "what an ivory-tower Hollywood douche".

[robc]

The only positive she has is being a UK fan. And even that only goes so far. Having his jersey retired only got Richie Farmer to Ag Commissioner.

[Scarcity]

Please save yourself and don't go look, but if the comments on UK blogs are any indication, being a fan gets her nowhere.

[Heedless]

Nah, ivory tower types don't do small scale stupid. We like our stupidity big, complex, and publishable. Like communism or the new math.

[mad libertarian guy]

She doesn't live in KY?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

She probably "maintains a residence" somewhere (like some limousine lib haven where the swells are catered to by a massive prole service industry), but the woman was married to an Italian race car driver for several years and is a Hollywood actress. I highly doubt she considered the state "home" by the standards most people hold.

[EJ]

Scottish race car driver with an Italian name.

[DesigNate]

http://realitytvmagazine.shekn.....-premiere/

She may be a brain dead proggie retard. But holy shit does she look good in that dress.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Reviews of the "Mr Men" books

[$park?]

Spectacular.

[Ted S.]

I'd never heard of the Mr. Men books before this.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Oh shit, I loved Mr. Men books as a kid. Must of been my years of limey education.

[gaijin]

Those reviews are excellent and should be included in the Critical Editions of each of the Mr Men books.

[Fatty Bolger]

Those are great.

Check out the reviewer's website:

http://www.hamiltonrichardson.net/oppenheimer.html

[Lord Humungus]

Richard Florida Concedes the Limits of the Creative (Hipster) Class
http://www.thedailybeast.com/a.....class.html

Among the most pervasive, and arguably pernicious, notions of the past decade has been that the "creative class" of the skilled, educated and hip would remake and revive American cities. The idea, packaged and peddled by consultant Richard Florida, had been that unlike spending public money to court Wall Street fat cats, corporate executives or other traditional elites, paying to appeal to the creative would truly trickle down, generating a widespread urban revival.

[Counterfly]

Who was the idea packaged and peddled to?

Etsy customers? What non-moron would spend even corporate slush money on that?

[Lord Humungus]

my city did a whole bunch of things to "bring in the creative class" - for example, more bike lanes - that no one uses. It's Michigan, people.

[Virginian]

Our big one was the Richmond Performance Arts Center. Obviously was a huge failure.

[deified]

The West End is lovely. All those fools be lovin' out in Short Pump don't even know.

[sloopyinca]

Is Andy still doing OK at Rare Olde Times?

If either of you go in there, please say hello to everybody and order a pint for Martin from me (just leave it on the bar). I really miss that guy. He was a good friend and I choke up when I think of his passing.

[Brett L]

Yeah, Tallahassee went all-in. I tried to tell them that you don't need hipsters, you need rich hipsters, to support the lifestyle everyone wants. Its like showing a dog a cardtrick. They just cock their heads and look at me like I'm speaking a foreign language.

[Brandybuck]

I think the next bust will start in San Francisco, when people realize that all those tens of thousands of hipster web developers don't actually know how to code.

[Virginian]

Yeah, there are some people I know who formed a business. Except they call it a startup, because they're idiot leftists and businesses are icky. Startups are ok though. Eight employees, two of whom can code, and the rest are "idea" people.

I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear about how they haven't actually produced any product.

[gaijin]

Or they will have a brilliant idea like Seth Rogen's group in the movie Knocked Up...one that somebody else has already taken to market.

[Atanarjuat]

Yeah. The City of Tallahassee was planning on demolishing a warehouse area near downtown and replacing it with a fancy "art incubator", which I guess is subsidized art workshops. On the bright side, the project has no chance of ever happening, and the $375,000 grant was (as far as I can tell) from a private source.

[Atanarjuat]

Even stupider was that this "art incubator" was going to be built next to Railroad Square, a place where old warehouses are already used by actual artists because they're cheap.

[Citizen Nothing]

I knew a guy in C'bus who had turned an architecturally interesting, century-old school into sort of an artists' commune. It was kinda cool, and the city did everything it could to hound him and shut him down for 10 years until they finally succeeded.
And, yes, of course, the city pours tax dollars into our official arts district until it is so gentrified that actual artists can no longer live or work there.
(For those of you who know C'bus, I fear the city will end up doing the same thing to Franklinton, now that a few interesting (and private) things are starting to happen there.)

[Atanarjuat]

Sounds like a perfect example of the government control-freak mentality of "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

[JW]

Because nothing says economic development like an industry that largely can't exist without the gubmint teat.

[Brett L]

They'll never run that mechanic's shop off of Gaines. Maybe the plumbing supply, but no way are they razing the body shop.

[Lord Humungus]

related: http://www.theatlantic.com/tec.....ds/262561/

[mad libertarian guy]

A local college professor hipster and leader of our local Occutards made a pitch to the mayor to "bring in the creative class." During the local group's lengthy argument:

Mayer and his creative class friends decided to act on their principals [sic]. So they went straight ahead and set up a Facebook page calling on Mayor Jim Gray to hang a banner proclaiming Lexington a Top 10 City for Wall Street Occupations.

It's fucking laughable.

We have Principles. Let's start a petition on Facebook!

[Spoonman.]

Meanwhile, Houston just keeps on letting people do their thing...

[Fatty Bolger]

letting people do their thing

The key to success.

I've seen it time and time again. A city or town wants to revitalize an area, so they keep trying to get one comprehensive solution done after another. Finally they give up, repair or modernize the infrastructure they've been neglecting for years, stop blocking everything, and generally stop being such a nuisance. Like magic, a turnaround happens! (After which they usually step in and do their best to screw everything up again.)

[Joe M]

Houston is seriously the best city in America. Glad to live here.

[Joe M]

Except for the traffic of course.

[General Butt Naked]

Richard Florida is a goddamn conman.

Every stoopid wannabe city gives him a bunch of cash so he can "consult" them on getting hipsters to live there.

Pittsburgh gave him a few $100k for nothing. Guy's got a real sweet scam going on.

[some guy]

Second order benefits are completely overwhelmed by first order benefits. Imagine that...

[sarcasmic]

Mystery of the dead shrimp.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....t-red.html
Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it.

[Counterfly]

I didn't read the article, but is it whale farts?

[generic Brand]

What about shrimp poboy?

[generic Brand]

Or shrimp scampi? I feel like Bubba was thinking small potatoes with the shrimping business.

[sarcasmic]

He did say "lemon shrimp."

[gaijin]

what about srimp? Of course, I prefer oyshters.

[sarcasmic]

Smiling whale.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-wild.html

[Counterfly]

Well I guess that answers my previous question.

[sarcasmic]

PETA killed more than 1,600 cats and dogs at its Virginia headquarters last year - almost 90% of the animals handed over to the charity's American shelter

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....elter.html

[mad libertarian guy]

But killing them was more humane than allowing them to be pets slaves to a parasite human being.

/petatard

[Counterfly]

They could possibly be used for medical experiments or sent to an abusive home. Only a painless and quick death could prevent that possibility.

[Way Of The Crane]

At least those cats are no longer out there contributing to the billions of bird deaths every year. Take a life to safe several thousand.

/ bigger petatard

[a better weapon]

Oh yeah? Well they would have been 100% dead if not for them! What else are you going to do? Turn them over to a local shelter without a big, fancy marketing department? HA!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

My sister lives down the street from them in Norfolk. It's always amusing to watch the PETArds scream vegan obscenities at the patrons of the local steakhouse.

[Restoras]

This is what the greenies would like to do with people.

[RBS]

Yeah, I get the feeling this is just "practice."

[Lord Humungus]

It's a cookbook.

[mnarayan]

Nah. This is the reason to be thankful greenies are greenies. Imagine if they were humanists.

[Tonio]

WTF. You people always publish these numbers as if they're some sort of epic takedown of PeTA; they're not. Yes, animal rescue and welfare organizations euthanize animals, even the no-kill shelters do this with very old and sick animals.

[Restoras]

Epic takedown? No. Completely hypocritical? Fuck yes.

[Pro Libertate]

If the 90% figure is correct, it's clear that they aren't all that interested in saving animals. It's a political, not a moral or ethical, organization.

[T]

Tonio, talk to somebody in the business. 90% is way too fucking high a kill rate, and PETA's numbers have hit 96% in some years. More problematic are the reports that PETA kills the animals as soon as they get them. Like in the van, not at a shelter.

And as I noted below, PETA has admitted they could run a no-kill shelter, but that would cost money, and they're just not into spending the money on animals.

I could also point out that PETA launders money and acts as a front for ALF, who are fucking terrorists by any defintion you care to use.

In short: fuck PETA.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

In short: fuck PETA.

I was at a restaurant with some co-workers in DC. I was the only one that ordered meat. I just thought they were all vegetarians at first (it was in DC, so not a stretch). Then the real reason spoke up. This cunt that I worked with started going off on my about all the horrible terrible things they do to cows. I just sat there, enjoying my burger and making sure to savor every bite.

She said that if I could see with my eyes what happened to them, I would be a vegan overnight. I just smiled at her, and reminded her that I'm from rural Ohio and that I have actually gone to a cattle farm, picked out MY cow, patted it on the head and told it "well aren't you just the cutest steak I've ever seen" and then ordered it butchered and delivered to my house.

She didn't talk to me much after that. No loss there.

In conclusion: PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals

[JW]

Then the real reason spoke up. This cunt that I worked with started going off on my about all the horrible terrible things they do to cows.

Ah, the self-righteous proglodyte bully.

Fuck them. Resistance is not futile.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Resistance is fun. Especially when all it takes is a small display of pleasure while eating meat to make them lose their shit.

I absolutely love taunting them and getting them all butthurt. I keep hoping one of their heads will explode while I'm stuffing my face with dead animal and listening to their "meat is murder" rant. I'm the kind of asshole that would bring McDonalds to a PETA meeting and sit there scarfing it down and politely listening to them bitch.

Nothing gets them worked up more than remaining calm and not giving a fuck.

[T]

This has been going on for years. At one point, PETA workers got busted for throwing carcasses into random dumpsters. PETArd Ingrid Newkirk admitted at one point they could run a no-kill shelter, but that would take money away from their ad campaigns and awareness raising and such, so...

PETA is all about animals in the abstract but could give a shit about any particular animal, much like communism was all about humanity in the abstract but fuck the individual.

[R C Dean]

I'm just honestly mystified by PETA. Their counterproductive PR antics can be explained as the delusional frolicking of fanatics pandering to their rather specialized fundraising base, but I can't square that at all with running a doggie Auschwitz.

The only thing that explains both, as far as I can tell, is that the whole thing a massive(ly lucrative) prank, and the doggie Auschwitz is just them seeing if there is anything at all they can do to alienate their followers.

[Gbob]

Follow the money. It's obvious that PETA is a front for the beef industry to show that not eating steaks turn you into a raging, psychotic, pu$$y.

[CampingInYourPark]

"CVS Ordering Workers To Reveal Weight, Health Info"

"Among the measures, employees must report their weight, body fat, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. Workers must also be tobacco free or enroll in an addiction program by next year."

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.c.....alth-info/

[Ted S.]

When the government does it, it's virtuous.

When a private sector company does it, how awful.

[Counterfly]

I'm not clicking on that sanfrancisco article, but is it a national thing? Or just California?

And I wish Hooters would subscribe tot hat model, because the last couple times I've been there I've been disappointed.

[RBS]

Didn't Hooters get sued several years ago for not hiring fat chicks? As an aside, did anyone of yall ever have the pleasure of flying Hooters Air?

[Lord Humungus]

opening a new market front for the chubbie lovers?

[Ted S.]

They're not fat; they're voluptuous. 😐

[generic Brand]

Here here. But also, they have Hooters in Liberia?

[Counterfly]

No, but I go back to the states a couple times a year.

Also, of the two things Hooters is known for, one is on virtually every street corner here. Hint: It ain't the wings.

Good god, you CANNOT get good chicken wings here. Or any good food, really.

[mnarayan]

Market opportunity!

[mad libertarian guy]

To be fair, it seems awful when either do it.

It's just that I have a CHOICE when a private company does it because I can tell it to fuck off whilst I find employment elsewhere.

[Ted S.]

I of course agree with you; I figured peoplw would realize that my previous comment is just what the press seems to think.

[Rich]

In a video released by CVS, a top executive said the plan is progressive and cutting edge.

I imagine that the top executive is a vegan.

NTTAWWT

[generic Brand]

I imagine that the top executive is a vegan.

NTTAWWT

Yeah. It leaves more cooked animal for the rest of us!

[Rich]

"If we're not supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat?"

[John]

No worries. I guess I will just shop at Wall Greens. Their right to be fascist jackasses. My right to no longer shop there.

[NoVAHockey]

CVS is incapable of filling a script in a reasonable amount of time or without making a mistake.

[John]

But their employees are going to be skinny vegan non smokers. So there is that.

[RBS]

CVS is bad about that, even when they seem to have 15 people working the pharmacy. I like to get ours filled at the local place that still has a lunch counter. They are a fast and I can eat double cheeseburger while I wait.

[Zeb]

Seriously how long does it take to count some pills and put them in a container? I very rarely need any prescription drugs, but it seems like it always takes at least 20 minutes, even if no one else is waiting.

[Zeb]

CVS, you mean that store with all the cigarettes for sale up front?

[Restoras]

If you want cheap health insurance, be healthy. If you want to trash yourself then don't expect others to pay the freight. What could be simpler?

[JW]

Just think of how awful the world would be if you could buy your own health insurance as easily as car insurance, instead of through your employer or the gubmint, and everyone had to keep their meddling noses out of my own fucking business.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

It would be nice if it was as cheap as car insurance, but that would require not using it to pay for every damn thing you went to the doctor for.

[R C Dean]

That's getting increasingly common, and is encouraged as "wellness programs" are incentivized by OCare.

[Lord Humungus]

We have several health bonuses here - each worth an extra $3 in pay a week.

Signing a no smoking clause, getting a health check or a physical, being in a company sponsored workout plan, etc.

[sloopyinca]

Tis sucks, because CVS is the closest liquor store to me (10 minutes) where I can understand the clerk and they have prices listed for their items.*

*The last three times I bought the same bottle of booze at the Mexarabian-owned mercado that's 5 miles away, I paid a different price every time. I'm not too sure if they do it because I'm a gringo or because they just don't give a fuck and charge whatever they feel like on any given day.

[sloopyinca]

I say Mexarabian because the guy is an Arab that learned to speak Spanish but does not speak English. Is there a correct term for this? Arab-mexican? Arab-latino? Is Heroic Mulatto here to help me with this?

[MJGreen]

A Moor?

[sloopyinca]

I gotta disagree. Unless latino=spanish. And we all know that Latino is an American (continental) thing much more than a Spanish thing.

[generic Brand]

A Moop?

[sloopyinca]

+1 Cheever Letter

[sarcasmic]

Kate Moss beats Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson and Yasmin Le Bon to be crowned most glamorous celebrity at industry awards

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....wards.html

[Counterfly]

When I think glamour, I think...Kate Moss? Really?

I mean, Gwyneth is the only one that even comes close to being glamorous and she's not even that close.

[John]

What is glamorous about being a junky?

[invisible furry hand]

your clothes do hang off you properly, so there's that

[sarcasmic]

However, the 38-year-old has strenuously denied ever using the drug and claims that she never really cared about what people thought of her.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....model.html

I believe her. I mean, what does she have to gain by lying?

[John]

Wasn't she seen all over London snorting coke? Not that I care or that there is anything wrong with that. But, I am not buying her denial.

[sarcasmic]

So what? Cocaine can be a recreational drug.

Heroin is a lifestyle. It's not something you can just do on the weekends.

[John]

I have heard otherwise. I am not sure everyone who does heroin turns into a junkie.

[sarcasmic]

I've seen it firsthand. I'll trust my lying eyes over what you have heard.

[Zeb]

I've seen it firsthand

You've seen everyone who does heroin?

I've seen a number of friends go down that road in a bad way. But there are also people who can do it occasionally. It's hard to say if they are a minority, or if you just don't know how many of them there are.

[sarcasmic]

Heroin is a lot like tobacco. Sure, there are some who can smoke a cigarette or two when they're out drinking with friends, but they are the odd balls. The vast majority who use it use it on a regular basis.

[Lord Humungus]

When it comes to tobacco, I'm - after 25 years - still an occasional user. I only have the urge when I'm drinking at the bar - and now that we have to smoke outside, the nicotine craving is even lower.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Sap Stealers

[sarcasmic]

I read about that in the local paper yesterday. Seems that the trees that they are stealing the sap from are being grown for lumber, and the drilled holes for sap damage the wood making the first log practically unusable. Considering the cost of hardwood lumber, that's a lot of money.

[Counterfly]

Someone call A&E, we got us a new reality show!

[Rich]

"Lucky Sap" 10 9C

[Restoras]

Melkor and Ungoliant?

[sarcasmic]

Wrong kind of tree.

[Restoras]

It was allegorical you Tolkien pedant!

[T]

We have way to many pedants around here to need a token.

[LTC(ret) John]

+1...er, +3 Silmarils.

[Lord Humungus]

why bother trying?

Principal cancels Honors Night in exchange for all-inclusive assembly
http://www.myfoxboston.com/sto.....in-ipswich

"The Honors Night, which can be a great sense of pride for the recipients' families, can also be devastating to a child who has worked extremely hard in a difficult class but who, despite growth, has not been able to maintain a high grade point average," Fabrizio penned in his first letter to parents.

Fabrizio also said he decided to make the change because academic success can be influenced by the amount of support a student receives at home and not all students receive the same level of emotional and academic support at home.

[Counterfly]

I would have cancelled it because doing well in public school is not an accomplishment at all.

It's worse than an ACC football championship.

[Flatulent Monkey]

+10 internets for you

[mad libertarian guy]

Something similar happened to my son earlier in the year, albeit with an art project.

There were 3 categories which qualified for prizes, one of which he won. But the teacher made us go to the place that did the judging in order to pick up his prize rather than give it to him in class for fear it might upset the other children who didn't win and make them feel bad.

In modern academics, nothing is more important than feeling good apparently.

[WTF]

Everyone gets a trophy, and we don't keep score!

Jesus Christ, way to raise a nation of pathetic pussies with no concept of the real fucking world.

[T]

One of the younger cousing was in a 'no score' baseball thing for a while because of his mother. The only people who aren't keeping score are the adults. The kids know good and goddamned well who won the game. All it does it teach the kids adults are nuts, and that you have to lie to them.

[WTF]

The kids know good and goddamned well who won the game. All it does it teach the kids adults are nuts, and that you have to lie to them.

Perhaps there's hope for the youth of today, after all.

[Ted S.]

My nephew was in a "no score" soccer leage back when he was 5 or 6, so that would be around 1996 or 1997.

I can't believe how long this shit has been going on. 🙁

[Ted S.]

I should have added that all the kids knew the score, at least according to my sister.

[some guy]

I can almost understand this for ages up to and including 4. None of those kids know what the hell is going on in soccer anyway. After that, there's no excuse.

[Zeb]

I think that most kids, and particularly kids who want to play sports, can figure out that some people are better at sports than others and be OK with that.
I played soccer in elementary school. I wasn't particularly good at it, and several years I was on the crappiest team. But it didn't bother me. The other teams were better, so they deserved to win when they did. That's what kids need to learn: people are better at some stuff than you are. Without that, how are you supposed to figure out what you are good at?

[MJGreen]

It's also important to teach kids to be good losers, because it's not like they won't play any competitive games outside these 'official' sports. Even as a stupid kid, I realized that it built character to lose a game and then do that whole "Good game" routine afterwards.

[Scooby]

My 5 year old niece had a field day at her private school, where they were doing the "everyone is a winner" thing. Her story to grandma was "Everyone was a winner, but I was the first winner!"

If a 5 year old can see through your BS...

[edcoast]

Yes, and in the meantime, competitive companies are upping the ante on their employees. Winners and losers are constantly being chosen and only a very few get to really advance anymore. Kids are increasingly unprepared for this reality.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Wasn't this already rebutted somewhere? The principal clarified that it was turned into an Honors Day where more kids could participate and be recognized for various achievements.

Expanding the program to make more kids feel good about themselves is still goony, but it's not as bad as canceling it altogether in some freak imitation of "Harrison Bergeron."

[Azathoth!!]

Expanding the program to include kids who weren't in the honors program, did none of the work for the honors program and therefore don't deserve to be honored does nothing but tell the kids who made the effort that their effort was for naught. rewards aren't related to work, they come at the whim of Authority.

[PS]

Software developer, father of three, loses his job after othering a feminist by joking about dongles.

[Jerry on the boat]

In their defense, they probably didn't expect any women to be present at a Python conference.

[Counterfly]

Other than booth babes, who wouldn't have gotten the reference.

[Rich]

Surely *many* women would jump at the chance to participate in a "Python" conference.

[Counterfly]

Pro Lib too!

[Pro Libertate]

Of course, my interest in pythons is (1) literally about the snake, not some euphemistic usage of the term, and (2) about getting rid of the pestilence before they swallow Florida whole. . .and alive.

[Counterfly]

You do realize that the pythons are just the shock troops of the Army of...I've said too much already.

[Citizen Nothing]

I, for one, welcome our new reptilian overlords.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, I believe there's a master plan behind the python infestation as well as the kudzu infestation.

[JW]

What you need are giant, gene-engineered mongoose that also eat kudzu.

[Pro Libertate]

Brilliant!

[LTC(ret) John]

They are they snack fodder for Mounty Python's.

Python on-a-stick...MMMMM!

[WTF]

Because women are just as emotionally strong, nay stronger, than men, but they can't handle overhearing a conversation that may contain some sort of possibly sexual innuendo, because they are also such delicate flowers.

America has gone full retard.

[Restoras]

Never invoke Full Retard. It just raises the bar.

[Brett L]

Fucking twat couldn't just, I don't know, get up and move out of earshot of the offending conversation?

[PS]

Or just ask them to stop.

[Rich]

Or teased them about their dongles?

[PS]

She probably has some repressed dongle issues, perhaps relating to AutoCad.

[StinkEye]

"She probably has some repressed dongle issues"

Her mouse and keyboard never did connect, or work correctly, unlike the cabal of her male counterparts...leading her to the inevitable "Dongle Envy". She's obviously just another victim of the man-o-centric male-ocracy. That...Or, she's just another opportunistic gold digger, capitalizing upon being in the right place at the right time.

[Ptah-Hotep]

Fucking twat couldn't just, I don't know, get up and move out of earshot of the offending conversation?

Or you know, just mind her own business.

[Brett L]

Sure, sure. But let's give her the benefit of the doubt that her little feelings were genuinely hurt. She could have just moved. Or said, "Could you guys shut up? I can't hear the speaker." Or minded her own fucking business. Oh, no. She has to be passive-aggressive about it.

[Virginian]

A woman being passive aggressive instead of dealing with the problem in a direct and straightforward manner? No fucking way!

[gaijin]

Well the best part from the story is that she is a hypocrite...she posted twitter comments about stuffing a big sock in a dude's pants who was going thru a TSA checkpoint. haha when she says it.

[wareagle]

this is what happens with people who grown up in the world envisioned by the principal who did away with Awards Night. You have a person or two self-righteously offended to the point that they take people's pictures and call them out publicly. How nice that Richard's intent was not getting someone fired. I guess turning around and asking a couple of loudmouths at an event to keep it down is just too much.

[Zeb]

You can't make dick jokes at a conference for a language named for Monty Python?

Dick jokes are the whole basis of Western civilization.

[Raston Bot]

apparently her twit is all aflame right now.

[wingnutx]

Her company has been taken down with a DDOS attack.

[StinkEye]

"DDOS attack"

Demeaning Dicks of Sexism attacks are no laughing matter, misogynist! How can you support rape? Report to sensitivity training...

[sarcasmic]

Cops caught on camera beating the shit out of a drunk guy.
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com.....on-camera/

Along with dealing with extensive medical bills, a lot of pain and a long period of recovery, Lojak will face a number of charges including public intoxication, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and drug possession.

Will anything else happen?

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Well, he WAS resisting arrest. You can't expect that multiple cops could possibly overpower one guy without beating the shit out of him, could you? Officer safety and all.

[sarcasmic]

Especially someone who is three times the legal limit. I mean, someone that drunk is most definitely a threat to a sober person.

[jester]

Your sarcasm fails to account for the unforseen possibility that someone in the area lighting up for a cigarette could set of an incendiary bomb explosion which certainly would unleash immediate death of passers-by and possibly unleash forest fires in moisture-deprived western National Parks and probably causing the extinction of at least five CITES listed species.

[Brett L]

Jesus. If that guy is competently resisting at .24, he's obviously not intoxicated.

[T]

Drunken Master was a documentary. Who knew?

[invisible furry hand]

how else is he going to learn that alcohol is bad, mmmkay?

[sloopyinca]

It looks like they're OK if they beat a drunk senseless but the mayor gets pissed when one of his off-duty officers puts a tazer to a guy' neck for contempt of (off-duty) cop.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Obama's visit to Israel was celebrated by a rocket barrage ? from Gaza into Israel.

That's not going to fit well into certain narratives.

[jester]

The consistently ineffectual rockets from Gaza only underscore the need for Israel to suck off the US Defense Budget teat. If it weren't for the US, those rockets would magically hit crowded public places in downtown Tel Aviv.

[Counterfly]

Rockets aren't magic, they're science!

[jester]

You're very confused. The Rockets are in Houston and the Magic are in Orlando. Neither are science, they are both NBA teams with little hope of playoff success.

[Pro Libertate]

They need a team called "Science."

[T]

If only so the announcer can say 'Here comes the Science' as they enter teh arena.

[Pro Libertate]

Thomas Dolby would be quoted heavily--"Whoa, rejection! They blinded him with SCIENCE!"

[sloopyinca]

Rockets are miracles.

[Restoras]

That's not going to fit well into certain narratives.

If a rockets falls in Israel, and no one reports it, does the rocket make a sound - or kill anyone?

[invisible furry hand]

In Swiss politics, death is not the end

more

[PS]

This seems to be related to the fact that Italian Swiss have a big chip on their shoulder, being the red-headed stepchildren of the country.

[jester]

I think it's their freckled faces that assigns them to the Swiss underclass.

[Counterfly]

Doesn't stop Chicagoans from voting, why should it stop a Swissy from running.

[sloopyinca]

I didn't know Mel Carnahan was Suisse.

[Lord Humungus]

Michael Solon: The Revenue Deficit From Progressive Tax Rates
The government now relies far more on fewer and wealthier taxpayers. No wonder revenues are lower.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop

Why? A more progressive tax code now leverages the negative impact of slow economic growth. The share of all individual income taxes paid by the top 1% has risen to 41.8% in 2008 from 17.4% in 1980?but almost two-thirds of the income from the top 1% comes from nonwage income, including capital gains, dividends and proprietor's profits.

Individual income taxes as well as corporate taxes are now far more rooted in the shifting sands of volatile business income and capital profits rather than in the terra firma of wage income that stabilizes payroll taxes. From 1960 to 2000, payroll taxes were never lower than in the previous year, individual income taxes dipped only twice, and corporate taxes dropped 11 times. Since 2000, individual income and corporate tax revenues dropped five times, while payroll taxes fell twice. Not only do revenues from individual tax returns drop more often now. They fall more severely, with recent collapses of 14%-20% versus the 3%-5% range before 2000.

[Counterfly]

If there's one thing rich people are terrible at, it's sheltering their money from things that they don't want to spend it on.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

You mean over time an increasingly complex system of taxation yields fewer and fewer returns to meet the demand for spending? Who could have seen that coming?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The San Francisco Police Department is being sued for searching an arrestee's cell phone without a warrant.

It was for officer safety. It may have contained some sharp apps.

[Tim]

Why don't they just take the phone's out of the cells?

[Counterfly]

Union rules. You know how hard it is to get an AT&T guy to come to a prison?

[Ted S.]

This bit of phone hacking probably won't result in the same sort of outcry as if it had been done by somebody working at the tabloid press.

[CampingInYourPark]

"In a joint press conference held in Ramallah with his American counterpart Barack Obama, Abbas said that Pslestinian officials "had good talks with his excellency President [Barack] Obama.""

His excellency? Really?

http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-.....ace-307279

[Rich]

It's a mistranslation.

Supposed to be "His Transparency".

[invisible furry hand]

so he's the Holy Ghost?

[Ptah-Hotep]

so he's the Holy Ghost?

I thought ghosts were white. He's the Holy Shadow.

[WTF]

Wait a minute, I thought Obama was Satan?

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Only if you think that all people of color look alike.

[sloopyinca]

"In a joint press conference held in Ramallah with his American counterpart Barack Obama, Abbas said that Pslestinian officials "had good talks with his excellency President [Barack] Obama.""

By "counterpart", did he mean leader of a group of people that indiscriminately bombed people in other, autonomous nations? Because that's the only way they're counterparts, as Palestine is not a nation.

[LTC(ret) John]

Abbas is jealous of O!'s drone fleet.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

[quote]The San Francisco Police Department is being sued for searching an arrestee's cell phone without a warrant. Use a password, folks.[/quote]How friggin' hard could it be to make passwords location-aware so that the phone is password-protected everywhere but designated locations? I don't want to have to screw with a password every time I use my phone at home, at the in-laws, etc.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

There are a few automation apps that are decent for Android that you can do things like that. I have mine set to turn my wifi on and off based on my location, change sound settings based on day/time (work)

[Counterfly]

I want one of those palm identification things on mine, like that guy's gun in Skyfall.

Mainly because I don't want anyone messing up my record on fruit ninja 🙁

[gaijin]

why don;t they have a fingerprint scanner to unlock your phone? Unless you get your finger cut off, it would seem to be easy and effective and no stupid alpha-numeric-capital passwords to forget.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

There were a few phones that had fingerprint readers on them. A few of my friends had one and never used them. They either didn't read properly and it took longer to unlock the phone using the reader than the code, or it would accept pretty much any fingerprint.

I had a phone that used the front facing camera to unlock the phone with facial recognition. It worked alright, but it would unlock for a couple of my cousins and a friend who kinda looked like me.

Biometric tech still has a ways to come before it's actually useful for real security. At least cheaply, anyway.

[AlexInCT]

DNA!

And the government will need a databse of all of our DNA so they can tell we are who we say we are to our phones....

[Brett L]

I think its here. Doesn't the new Samsung have biometric passcodes?

[Lord Humungus]

Why Voters Trust the GOP with Their Tax Dollars...
...but Not with Social Policy Issues
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/.....aspx#page1

There are today 38 states in which the governor's mansion and the legislature are controlled by one party ? the most since World War II. The GOP holds veto-proof majorities in sixteen states; 14 of those states also have a Republican governor.

This could allow real fiscal progress in those states. It could also prove a disaster. Unfettered control opens the door to opposing abortion, immigration reform and same-sex marriage -- positions that could weaken the party at the state level, as they have nationally. In Arkansas, the state legislature recently passed one of the most restrictive bills in the country, which would ban most abortions after twelve weeks. Similar measures are under consideration in Ohio, Kansas and North Dakota ? all states controlled by the GOP. At the least, such measures will allow Democrats to continue to paint Republicans as anti-women.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Or they could portray the supporters of a deadly procedure most of whose victims are female, as anti-women.

[invisible furry hand]

Australian Government withdraws contentious bills that would have led to a form of press licensing because they couldn't get them through the lower house

[Counterfly]

You know what other Austrian had contentious bills...

[Lord Humungus]

Australian != Austrian, though the beer consumption may be equal. Okay, who am I fooling, the Aussies would win in fizzy suds drinking.

[Ted S.]

I presume Austrians, like Germans, drink real bear. Those Antipodeans drink Foster's -- Australian for piss.

[Zeb]

From what I've heard, Fosters is generally considered piss in Australia too.

[T]

If Austrians are drinking bears, they're more badass than I previously suspected. Or kinkier. Either one.

[Brett L]

Drop bear blood will make you see things. Regular koala just gets you mellow.

[Ted S.]

Oh dear, I didn't notice my typo. 🙂

But why can't they be both more badass and kinker?

[T]

There was another Austrian once who was badass and kinky... first name started with A...

Nope, drawing a blank.

[Rich]

Donald Duck?

[NoVAHockey]

Re: that kid posing with the rifle. As an undergrad about 10-15 years ago, I had a photo on my desk of me with my brother (we were say 14 and 12 or so in the photo). We were shooting clays and it's the standard 2 guys smiling with over-under shotguns. Nobody thought twice about it, other than as a curiosity. Same photo today, I believe it would have warranted some sort of intervention

[Mike Laursen]

You're actually in the clear because of that photo the White House put out with Obama shooting clay pigeons to prove he's just a regular guy.

[sloopyinca]

You mean the clay pigeons that were 5 feet off the ground directly in front of him, right?

That photo still cracks me up. What a scam, and the press bought it without question.

[PS]

The San Francisco Police Department is being sued for searching an arrestee's cell phone without a warrant. Use a password, folks.

Passwords don't work if the phone isn't switched off. At least not on any phone I've ever had.

[The Dan]

passwords, that is cute. http://axiomamuse.wordpress.co.....e-heeeere/

[Jerry on the boat]

The EU cannot ever let Cyprus go bankrupt, because that will be the end of the EU project in its current form. I expect a short-term solution and a massive package of aid after the German elections are over.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The EU/ECB wants Cyprus to suffer (and they will) if they don't accept their deal as an example of what would happen to Greece, Spain, and Italy.

Cyprus is expendable.

[Jam]

like Greece, it's not Cyprus getting a bailout, it's the German banks, ie northern EU money holders who lent money.

money crosses borders, you would think people could see this on a msg board like this, but it's just full of statist

[Jerry on the boat]

I don't think so, the EU project is too important for all those power-seeking bureaucrats and politicians. And that "dream" can only continue when there is no apparent conflict in the EU's raison d'?tre.

[Capt Ace Rimmer]

Can't they just sell Cyprus to the Nights Templar?

[John]

Knights of St. John. They used to own Malta until that asshole Napoleon stole it from them. And unlike the Templers, they are still around.

[Capt Ace Rimmer]

As long as they're sold into feudalism.

[John]

By Catholic occupiers no less.

[T]

Oh, the Templars are still around, John. A name change doesn't make the organization go away...

[Citizen Nothing]

It's the Kochtop.....aaaaaarrrrrggggh....

[Matrix]

The Templars are still around! they just became a company called Abstergo.

[Bobarian]

How about the Knights of Columbus? Cyprus would make a nice place for beer hall and place to play bingo.

[R C Dean]

What's really puzzling about Cyprus is that it has massive natural gas reserves that can be monetized to fund a bailout.

I'm genuinely puzzled as to why the EU tried to destroy the Cyprus banks rather than monetize the gas. I don't buy the whole "Russian mafia" angle, because they had to know that they were going to destroy the Cyprus banking industry regardless.

Maybe this is Germany, which wants out of the Euro and bank on the DM anyway, trying to wreck the Euro so they can exist without leaving too many fingerprints?

[Brett L]

No safe haven for European capital is what they want. That way it has to stay in Germany.

[Lord Humungus]

Europe Is A Complete Disaster, And Its Luck May Have Just Run Out
http://www.businessinsider.com.....z2O7Q7QqQM

It looks like Europe's luck is running out.

In Italy last month, the election ended inconclusively. The center-left coalition failed to get enough votes (it seems) to form a government, and there might need to be new elections. And then it finally happened in Cyprus yesterday. A bailout vote just failed. It didn't just fail. It didn't even garner one yea vote.

And the whole reason Cyprus is faced with this awful bailout proposal (which taxes depositors) is because if Cyprus were to just get a grant or a blank check without brutal conditions, then that couldn't pass the German parliament. So there are really two parliaments here that are ready to vote 'no' on something.

This has always been the risk to the system, that a vote would go wrong. And now it's happened.

[Ted S.]

Votes have gone wrong before: several Irish referenda and at least one in the Netherlands. The EU just made Ireland vote over and over until the Irish voted the proper way.

[Lord Humungus]

Democrat Gubernatorial Candidate Promises Free College
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/12947

"As governor, Bill will fight to make sure that any Arkansas high school student who works hard to make good grades will be able to attend college, in state, with a full tuition scholarship," states Halter's website. "It'd be paid for by a combination of the Lottery Scholarship, philanthropic support, federal grant assistance and the Arkansas Promise. The plan does this without raising taxes or increasing state spending."

Even more incredulous is the plan's litmus test for those "hard-working" students. The high school GPA they need to earn to get the free ride? A whopping 2.50 grade-point average.

[$park?]

1. It's Arkansas
2. If they made it too high it would hurt the self-esteem of the underachievers.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

A whopping 2.50 grade-point average.

This goes along with the "everybody gets an award" mentality so prevalent in our education system.

It boggles my mind how they can actively reward mediocre behavior and not realize that they are creating future mediocre workers. Maybe they just figure they'll all join a union where mediocrity is applauded and revered.

[$park?]

Or work for the government, which is becoming more likely every day.

[Zeb]

"incredulous "

I don't think that is the right word to use there.

[CampingInYourPark]

"She questioned what she said was German insistence that the Cypriot government skim money from people's bank accounts to secure a ?10 billion, or $13 billion, bailout. 'It's like you're telling us to just leave our money in our mattress," she said. 'What is happening to European solidarity?'
After the Cypriot Parliament on Tuesday rejected a plan to impose a one-time tax on bank deposits of 6.75 percent for accounts under ?100,000 and 9.9 percent for amounts above that, the government on Thursday was planning to propose nationalizing pension funds from state-run companies and conducting an emergency bond sale to help raise the ?5.8 billion the indebted country needs to secure the bailout."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....8.html?l=1

So, they need ?5.8 billion to get a ?10 billion loan. Why not just skim the ?10 billion and be done with it?

[Jam]

b/c there is no bondholder involved, and he needs his cut.

this, like Greece, is probably a German bailout of the German banks. money crosses borders. people don't.

[Jerry on the boat]

The bondholders get off because their contracts are written under English law.

[Restoras]

'What is happening to European solidarity?'

Ummm....there never was any?

[John]

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/12838

Nine percent of Yale students admit to being whores. No, not metaphorical whores, but actual dictionary definition whores. One half admit to being kinky.

[Rich]

"So, when were you in Yale?"

"Oh, I yust got out."

[Zeb]

Well, good for them, I guess.

[Pro Libertate]

Yale is incredibly expensive, John. Don't deny these women the opportunity to finance their education by turning tricks for professors. Or deny them their right to free birth control, abortions, and STD treatments.

[John]

I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. Just not what I expected. And I bet some of that 9% are males who gave it up to other men for money. It wouldn't surprise me if that was the majority of them.

[Atanarjuat]

And 3% have engaged in bestiality. WTF.

[Zeb]

Depends on what counts as bestiality. Does playing "red rocket" with a dog, or trying to pleasure a cat in heat that won't shut up count? (I haven't done either of those things, but I know more than one person who admits to each).

[Atanarjuat]

Yeah, pleasuring an animal is fucking disgusting and 100% counts as bestiality, including IMO, the guy or gal at the vet's office who jacks off dogs for semen samples.

[Zeb]

Then I'm not too surprised at the 3%.

[Pro Libertate]

That refers to sex with Republicans and libertarians, not to actual animals.

[Heedless]

You put a bunch of young conformist strivers in a room together and offer status, implicitly or explicitly to those who confess to something transgressive, and they are going to start saying some ridiculous shit. It's the same process where someone writes that Kim Jong Il made 18 holes in one on his first golf outing, and nobody around him points out that it's ridiculous.

[Lord Humungus]

The Ramones: News from the Library of Congress
http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2013/13-044.html

From the cultural significance of Chubby Checker's song-and-dance phenomenon and the historic moment of Van Cliburn's triumphant Cold War performance in Moscow to the artistry of Cuban bassist Israel "Cachao" Lopez's all-star jam sessions, the 2012 inductees to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress reflect the diversity and creativity of the American experience. The Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, today announced the selection of 25 sound recordings to the registry, marked for preservation because of their cultural, artistic and historic importance to the nation's aural legacy.

[Lord Humungus]

"Ramones," The Ramones (1976)
Clash band co-founder Joe Strummer said that the first time he saw The Ramones, the band generated a "white heat" attributable as much to the speed of the songs and volume of the amplifiers as to the fact that "you couldn't put a cigarette paper between the end of one song and the beginning of the next." The band's first album captured the incandescence of guitarist Johnny Ramone's speedy no-nonsense playing, Dee Dee Ramone's propulsive bass and the surfy sonorities of Tommy's drums. The youthful tone of Joey Ramone's singing voice was equally influenced by Iggy Pop and bubblegum rock. When combined with the backing vocals and lyrics portraying teen love and anxiety, it gave the album a strong pop flavor despite its heavy sound and the disturbing aspects of other songs dealing with drug use, Nazism and male prostitution. Recorded on a minuscule budget with little separation between instruments, few overdubs and no guitar solos, the album is an early example of a do-it-yourself aesthetic that inspired thousands of teens to form bands. First-generation British punkers (Strummer, The Sex Pistols, Captain Sensible of the Damned), hardcore bands (Husker Du, Black Flag, The Minutemen), alternative rockers (Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Soundgarden) and post-rockers (Sleater-Kinney) have all been influenced by this recording for more than three decades of punk rock's history.

[John]

I love the Romones. And I am a person who thinks most punk bands are shit produced by people who couldn't play their instruments.

[Restoras]

The Ramones could actual write, which is kind of important for making good music.

[John]

Exactly. They knew how to write clever, funny lyrics and they knew how to write really good guitar riffs. They are great.

[Lord Humungus]

+1 Rock 'n' Roll Highschool

[John]

I had a thought this morning as they were talking about the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel during the anointed one's trip there. What would happen if Hamas somehow got a rocket far enough in to whack Obama? Can you imagine the Muslim killing frenzy liberals would go into? Forty years of "Israel is apartheid, Free Palestine, would go out the window. I think President Biden would start putting Muslims into camps right after he nuked Gaza.

[mad libertarian guy]

Their racism would come out of the closet, that's for sure.

Unfortunately, that would only make many Republicans have a war boner of record proportions as they support whatever destruction we rain upon Palestine.

[John]

It would be a blood bath.

[R C Dean]

On the plus side, it would solve the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.

Which, frankly I think can't be solved without one. The only question is whether the winners will be wading through Pali blood or Jew blood.

[Rich]

How about this scenario: Whacked anonymously with no one claiming responsibility.

Would people just stand around staring at each other?

[John]

Oh my God. My guess is Biden would have Rand Paul and Sarah Palin in Guitmo within an hour. That would give the lefties the final excuse to live out all of their murderous fantasies.

[Rich]

Even if it took place during the Holy Land visit?

[WTF]

The progtards would likely blame the Israelis if Hamas somehow managed to kill Obama with a rocket.

[VG Zaytsev]

Can you imagine the Muslim killing frenzy liberals would go into?

Nah,

They'd blame it on tea baggers and start rounding up right wing extremists like the people here.

[R C Dean]

Setting off another bloodbath, to kick of the Second American Civil War.

[PS]

ACLU valiantly manages to eliminate the scourge of father-daughter dances and mother-son baseball games.

"The whole idea feels very 1950s," said Peggy Drexel, author of "Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers and the Changing American Family." "I mean, do you invite your sperm-donor dad? Today's America has the daughters of donors, lesbians, two gay dads.?.?. ."

In October, school officials in Cranston, R.I., banned the dances ? along with mother-son baseball games ? after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint citing discrimination against single mothers, as well as gender stereotyping. "It's 'Ozzie and Harriet' stuff ? it shouldn't be happening in this century," said Steven Brown of the Rhode Island ACLU. "Not every girl wants to grow up to be Cinderella; some might actually more enjoy playing baseball. But these types of stereotyped events promote an opposite impression."

[John]

Explain to me again why the ACLU is not more useless than tits on a boar? I get so tired of the defenders on here sighing and explain how they are not perfect but they make good allies. No, they are fucking fascist douche bags.

[PS]

Well, I'm no expert on the ACLU but they do take on principled civil liberty cases along with plenty of this sort of bullshit.

[John]

They don't take a principled stand on anything. What they do is carry water for the left and take whatever stand does that. For every case they take a positive stand on, there are a hundred cases like this where they just want to fight the culture war. They really are loathsome.

[Palin's Buttplug]

John Translation - The ACLU wants to kick Gawd out of the public sphere.

Oh, how you conservatives hate us secularists.

[John]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjL5aAMk1xE

Bushpig!! Christfag!!!

[$park?]

Oh, how you conservatives hate us secularists

You don't speak for me, dumbfuck. Don't ever claim that you do just based on the fact that we're both atheists.

[John]

The difference Sparky is that you are an atheist but don't care what other people think. Shreek is a fascist who can't stand the idea that anyone anywhere doing anything but worshiping the state. People like Shreek are murderous animals.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Don't ever claim that you do just based on the fact that we're both atheists.

This.

I have gotten into screaming matches with my fellow atheists over claims like that. I almost punched a guy at a convention because he made some claim like "No atheist could ever support gun rights or be against welfare. Atheists are all rational thinkers and those positions go against all logic and reason"

Apparently not all atheists are rational thinkers...

[Jordan]

Evangelical atheists are every bit as annoying as evangelical Christians.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Absolutely are, Jordan. When either side acts pretentious or preachy I just roll my eyes and walk away. I also don't buy the "well christians started it by evangelizing, so I'm just countering them"

If you're in an actual conversation or debate about religion, go ahead and hold your position passionately. But if someone happens to mention that they're a christian, there's not reason to berate them and tell them that their god is fake and they are delusional. That's just being an ass.

[Jordan]

You realize the ACLU actually does hold some pretty execrable positions that have nothing to do with religion, right? They caved on the VAWA and disagree with the courts on Heller. They also support affirmative action.

[Citizen Nothing]

If the Plug supports 'em, I might have to rethink my membership.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Their mission is supposedly to take on civil liberty cases. That's not the criticism. The criticism is that they spend the bulk of their time and money fundraising. So that they can put more money into fundraising. So then they can raise more funds. And after that, they'll be able to do some more fundraising.

There is an egregious anti-gay law in Virginia that has been on the books for a good 10 years. The ACLU has done nothing to litigate it into oblivion. They did send out a letter about it once, though. Bully for them.

[John]

Kristen,

If they got rid of the law, how would they use it to fund raise? And when they are not fund raising, they doing shit like suing to stop father daughter dinners. We live a world where people go to prison for decades for selling an ounce of marijuana while carrying a gun, where innocent people are on death row, and all the ACLU has to worry about is a father daughter dance? Useful allies my ass.

[JW]

Huh. IJ wins my respect (and soon, my money) when it goes out and wins cases for the little guy against Goliath, which helps us all. Maybe the ACLU ought to give that a whack.

[Tonio]

I will reiterate my position that they are not perfectly libertarian, but on balance they do more good than harm. I will grant that in recent years the good/harm ratio as been shrinking a bit.

Let me also take this opportunity to agree with John that he is indeed tired.

[John]

What good? Supporting affirmative action? By ensure that people can't have a father daughter dance?

You always say that but then you never give a single example. We are just supposed to take in on faith that they really do good, even though they are on the wrong side of affirmative action, guns, and political speech.

And I may be tired, but I would take that over being boring and stupid Tonio. Don't you ever get bored with pretending not to be a liberal?

[Palin's Buttplug]

You fascists don't want to deal with legal challenges when the US Constitution is decidedly anti-Authoritarian.

In high school I fought forced prayer and won. We are the true freedom fighters.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

In high school I fought forced prayer and won. We are the true freedom fighters

shitthatneverhappened.txt

[Palin's Buttplug]

79 landmark cases fought by the ACLU:

http://aclu.procon.org/view.re.....eID=000306

Knowles vs Iowa, Griswold, Lawrence - they do great work against you fascists.

Knowles v. Iowa, 525 U.S. 113
Police searches of vehicles on routine traffic stops constitute "unreasonable search and seizure."

Fuck you, John.

[John]

Fuck you. Those are all thirty year old cases. If it were still 1968, you might have a point.

Go rot in hell you fascist little fuck.

[Heedless]

They just helped overturn Illinois' egregious two-party wiretapping law, so there's that. I have observed that most of the emails they send me are related to gay rights or abortion, though, so that's clearly the priority of their donor base.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Not every girl wants to grow up to be Cinderella...

Then those girls could, you know, not go to the fucking dance. Maybe the parents of those daughters could put together a baseball game for them instead of taking something away from others. As it is, the whiners get nothing, they just stop other people from having something.

[WTF]

As it is, the whiners get nothing, they just stop other people from having something.

Ain't envy grand?

[Pro Libertate]

You know, it's kind of bullshit to pretend that most kids don't have heterosexual parents, aren't the result of sperm donations, or otherwise aren't, more or less, the product of traditional matings and families.

[PS]

Your whole comment, ProL, feels very 1950s.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I want to ask the ACLU to show on the doll where the 1950s touched them. How come this particular decade keeps getting cited as the ultimate horror? What about the 1910s or the 1940s? Didn't some pretty horrible things happen in those decades?

[Auric Demonocles]

Listen, we can't go assume that someone you just met is straight just because 95% of people are. You bigot!

[mad libertarian guy]

This.

[mad libertarian guy]

Man, I got yelled at yesterday by the wife.

In her defense, I posted something on her friend's Facebook wall, using her account (I don't have my own). But that's about all that can be defended.

As I went through her News Feed to check on friends (as I do about once a week because I refuse to get my own FB account), I noticed a woman who was proud to have her daughter "Learning her heritage." Then my jaw dropped because her daughter, a very young girl about 8 or 10, wearing a fucking Che Guevara t-shirt and some form of battle cap.

In the post she wrote "Sorry to all my Cuban friends" to which I replied "For having a young girl flaunt the image of a mass murderer?" Her reply? "I don't see him that way." (To which I wanted to reply, "Yet there he is in the annals of history, proud to have ordered the execution of over 15k people simply because they disagreed with his politics." Alas I held my tongue

I thought that, like most people my wife is friends with on FB that she didn't actually know this chick. It turns out that they have been friends for about 30 years. Whoops.

(cont)

[mad libertarian guy]

When my wife started to chew me out, I rightly admitted that writing anything at all using her name was wrong. But when she claimed that my asserting Che was a murderer was "politics" I went off. Since when is calling a mass murderer a mass murderer a political opinion? Is calling Hitler a genocidal maniac "political?" Is saying that Mao killed 50 million people "political?" I expressed my opinion that teaching a young girl to wear Che as if he were some sort of hero, when both of us, being from Miami, have MANY Cuban friends whose parents had been forced to flee from Cuba in the late 50s and early 60s for fear that they were going to prison only to be murdered was sick.

He killed over 10k people. And he was proud of it.

She quickly tried to argue that the original poster was Argentinian to which I replied "Would that make it out of bounds to call a German proudly wearing a Hitler shirt tool? I mean it is his heritage; is calling him out for proudly displaying a murderer and destroyer of an entire continent somehow wrong because he's German?"

Then she shut up.

People who wear Che should be forced to move to his biggest success, Cuba, so they can see just how fucking great he was.

[PS]

*Likes*

[Lord Humungus]

+1 good guy award.

[Fist of Etiquette]

First of all, your wife needs to understand that, as a consequence of marriage, the two of you are considered one. Her social networking is your social networking.

Secondly, fuck Guevara-lovers. The Hitler and Mao comparisons are apt.

[NoVAHockey]

"two of you are considered one"

this is something my wife's single friend seem to have a trouble understanding. that we make decisions on what's best for the unit, couple + son.

[Jam]

W killed 100,000. Clinton killed 500,000. add them to your list and i won't call your rant 'political'

[John]

yeah, W and Clinton were just like Che. Both of them had Americans shot and built a gulag system.

[RBS]

Everytime. Some jackass who thinks he's being smart throws this shit out there.

[Jam]

USA USA USA

[John]

I don't like Clinton either. But you might as well spit on the graves of actual victims of totalitarianism if you want to pretend anything the US has ever done approaches places like Cuba or Communist China.

[RBS]

Oh good, said jackass continues to miss your point.

[Jam]

we are totalitarianism, outside of our borders, we just do it with economic jihad by threat of force and coercion to any bank or nation state that doesn't comply to our needs/wants/policies/windbaggery

[RBS]

"Economic Jihad"? I'm as a big a critic of the US foreign policy as anyone but that phrase is fucking stupid.

[Pro Libertate]

Really, this is silly. I don't like our foreign policy, either, or all the warfare, but we're not totalitarian. To say so demonstrates profound ignorance about what true oppression and evil really are.

Of course, we may actually become a totalitarian state if our economy continues the way it is, so you'll have that to compare to the current state of affairs.

[Tim]

"Now who's being naive Kay?"

[Tonio]

While I applaud you for pushing back against Che worship, hijacking someone else's FB account to do so wasn't the best way to go about it.

[RBS]

It's not really hijacking when it's understood that he uses the account periodically.

[Ptah-Hotep]

hijacking someone else's FB account to do so wasn't the best way to go about it.

You did read where it was his wife's account, right? I don't consider that hijacking the account anymore than I would consider it stealing if he wrote a check from a joint account.

[R C Dean]

I would say if you're borrowing someone else's FB account to post, you need to identify yourself in the post.

[Almanian.!]

I'd suggest getting a life, but if you're posting to someone else's account for some reason, it's probably already too late.

[sloopyinca]

What the fuck is a "facebook"?

[VG Zaytsev]

"Would that make it out of bounds to call a German proudly wearing a Hitler shirt tool? I mean it is his heritage; is calling him out for proudly displaying a murderer and destroyer of an entire continent somehow wrong because he's German?"

Maybe, but an Austrian wearing a shirt with his image would be embracing his heritage.

[Counterfly]

They're all too drunk off of Fosters or poisoned by drop bears to wear shirts.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Way to go, the more people are educated about what a horrible monster he was the better.

[Ted S.]

Man, I got yelled at yesterday by the wife.

Don't husbands get yelled at by their wives every day?

[Ptah-Hotep]

Don't husbands get yelled at by their wives every day?

I don't.

[T]

I might. It's not like I'm listening.

[Brett L]

I want to be like my grandfather in his dotage and only turn my hearing aid on when someone besides my wife comes to the house.

[Raston Bot]

mine is 6 months pregnant so it's more like trying to figure out the interest when the rate is compounded continuously. sure, the yelling approaches infinity but the words get smaller each time.

[JW]

NASA says it's skeptical of an American Geophysical Union claim that Voyager 1 has left the solar system. When asked for comment, V'Ger said it wasn't going anywhere until it found its creator.

YOU ARE THE TUCCILLI UNIT.

[Pro Libertate]

What Star Trek has taught us is that our probes will all come back to hurt us.

[mad libertarian guy]

When my wife started to chew me out, I rightly admitted that writing anything at all using her name was wrong. But when she claimed that my asserting Che was a murderer was "politics" I went off. Since when is calling a mass murderer a mass murderer a political opinion? Is calling Hitler a genocidal maniac "political?" Is saying that Mao killed 50 million people "political?" I expressed my opinion that teaching a young girl to wear Che as if he were some sort of hero, when both of us, being from Miami, have MANY Cuban friends whose parents had been forced to flee from Cuba in the late 50s and early 60s for fear that they were going to prison only to be murdered was sick.

He killed over 10k people. And he was proud of it.

She quickly tried to argue that the original poster was Argentinian to which I replied "Would that make it out of bounds to call a German proudly wearing a Hitler shirt tool? I mean it is his heritage; is calling him out for proudly displaying a murderer and destroyer of an entire continent somehow wrong because he's German?"

Then she shut up.

People who wear Che should be forced to move to his biggest success, Cuba, so they can see just how fucking great he was.

[RBS]

You should have posted your second comment. People who celebrate Che, but don't know anything about him, deserve everything they get.

[PS]

*Likes*

[Tim]

Che didn't argue with his critics, he didn't debate them and he sure as Hell would not have allowed anything like Facebook to exist.

[JW]

CheSpace

[robc]

Today and tomorrow should be national half-day holidays. Get rid of presidents day or something.

[RBS]

Finally, being a stay at home dad pays off!

[robc]

Working from home does too.

[Virginian]

Damn right.

[robc]

And we finally have the 4 games on 4 different channels, the way God intended.

Fuck CBS.

[robc]

No competent KY democrat wants to get crushed by McConnell.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Quinnipiac Poll - Hillary crushes Rubio among Florida Hispanics.

http://livewire.talkingpointsm.....cs?ref=fpb

Message to GOP - don't pander to Hispanics, it won't work.

[John]

Yes Hispanics love free shit. We already knew that.

[John]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....elter.html

Peta, bigger dog killers than cops.

[sarcasmic]

I posted that at 9:02.

[Almanian.!]

Here's some Be Gay - rub it on your butthurt.

[sarcasmic]

Your what hurts?

[Almanian.!]

Also, what a great, great time for my "n" key to stick. lulz!

[The Late P Brooks]

In October, school officials in Cranston, R.I., banned the dances ? along with mother-son baseball games ? after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint citing discrimination against single mothers, as well as gender stereotyping. "It's 'Ozzie and Harriet' stuff ? it shouldn't be happening in this century," said Steven Brown of the Rhode Island ACLU.

Fuck the ACLU.

[Virginian]

Yeah, this is why they don't get any of my money. I know they have a decentralized structure, but by far the biggest threat to civil liberties in America is the Drug War and the monstrous laws it has spawned. I'd argue any diversion from that front is a criminal waste of resources.

I can understand the RI ACLU isn't as down with the guns as the TX ACLU, but if you seriously think gender norms are a big a problem as, well, any fucking thing, then you're an idiot.

[John]

Exactly. The fact that they even had time to worry about this issue says they are at best worthless.

[John]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....1-07-38-43

I guess the CPS people were too busy trolling facebook for pictures of kids with guns to be bothered to notice.

[robc]

As of the end of 2012, Bell's Brewery bought out its minority owners and is now 100% family owned!

There had been some tension between Larry and his minority investors over the years, as he preferred to use profits to cash flow expansion vs, you know, issuing dividends or something.

A while back, he had hinted that while he wanted to leave the brewery to his kids, one of the exit strategies was to sell out to the big boys like Goose Island did. This pretty much ends that, at least for one more generation.

[robc]

"The option we're doing is keeping it in the family, which, quite honestly, is the hardest option because of tax structure," he said. "But we can have fun in the business and we don't have to answer to a corporate entity or Wall Street or people looking at the bottom line. We can make kooky beer if we want to."

Buffett weeps.

[John]

He will get them. Eventually they will want to give that business to their kids and the government will step in and ensure they sell cheap to good old Jimmy.

[robc]

Actually, that is what he has mostly already done. His kids bought out the minority owners, I think, and he has been transferring as he can to them.

He is only 54 and his kids are in their 20s, so he has some time to plan it out and transfer.

As of Dec. 31, 2012, the company is owned entirely by its founder Larry and his two children, Laura, 27, and David, 24.

[John]

Good for them.

[R C Dean]

I am no estate tax expert, but I would bet that amongst a family group all owning common shares there is a way to transfer ownership upon death tax-free.

You could have the company buy out shares held by a deceased owner at nominal value, maybe. You might be able to just cancel shares on death. Either way, the surviving owners would own 100% of the company without receiving it from the estate.

[robc]

I assume he would be doing gift transfers or something every year.

I think his quote above makes it clear that estate planning the transfer to his kids is not the tax optimal option.

[Brett L]

Warren, right? Jimmy isn't particularly rapacious unless you want to use the word 'Margaritaville'.

[Ted S.]

Why would anybody want to use that word anyhow?

Horrible horrible song.

[robc]

Back in the late 80s, I was working over the summer for an inventory company.

I spent 14 hours working one day in a drug store that had a recorded tape with some songs and daily discounts and ads and stuff on a 30 minute (I think) loop. So I heard Margaritaville something like 28 times that day.

That is one of the definitions of hell.

[sarcasmic]

I used to work at a dinner and a movie theater/restaurant as a waiter. They would take a disk of cheesy songs from movie soundtracks, put it on repeat, and play the same one for a month at a time.
It was good money. Got me through college. But you can only hear Kelly Clarkson singing a track from a Disney movie so many times before contemplating suicide.

[JW]

So I heard Margaritaville something like 28 times that day.

That was me in the liquor store I worked at when I was 19.

Wake up Little Suzy, every fucking hour, on heavy rotation. I nearly called in a bomb threat to the station to make it stop.

[VG Zaytsev]

Don't you mean Warren?

[John]

Yes I mean Warren. I am not aware of the singer being a crony capitalist thief.

[NoVAHockey]

I really like their brown ale

[Elspeth Flashman]

They're huge around here, if a restaurant is going to start carrying non-macro brewed beer, they start with a Bell's, and I do like their brown ale. But one that keeps getting brewed (no idea why) is "Two Hearted Ale" -- it's terrible.

[robc]

Two Hearted is quite possibly the best beer in the history of the universe.

You are wrong.

Really, really wrong.

[Lord Humungus]

Two-Hearted tasts like vomit in a plastic cup.

[Raston Bot]

You had a skunky one. It's a good beer.

[Brett L]

I've got your back on this one. I mean, its not the worst beer or even Ale in America, but it is overrated.

[The DerpRider]

I really like Two Hearted as well. I'm trying to get hold of some Black Note to try, but no luck on the east side of the state.

[sarcasmic]

A local four-barrel system that started in 2011 just went out of business.
I'd never even heard of them. Then again, only four-barrels? No wonder.

[robc]

General rule of thumb is you cant cash flow expansion until 15-BBL in size, although that is starting to change.

[Raston Bot]

Maine Brewing is pretty small. There beers are $7 for 17oz retail. I tried one (Zoe) - very good. But don't see them hanging around too long.

[Raston Bot]

What was the name? Distribution's a killer.

[sarcasmic]

robc,
Just curious, have you heard of Beersmith software? One of my coworkers swears by it.

[robc]

Yeah, Ive never used it but its one of the standard quality ones.

[Auric Demonocles]

NASA says it's skeptical of an American Geophysical Union claim that Voyager 1 has left the solar system.

Called it.

[Pro Libertate]

There's too much matter beyond that point that's orbiting the sun. Hard to call that "not the solar system." On the other hand, it is significant that the probe has exited the heliosphere. Why? Because soon, it will merge with Tan Ru.

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm not sold that it has exited the heliosphere. I've been hearing that claim for a couple of years now too.

[Pro Libertate]

No, me either, but it's possible, at least.

[Auric Demonocles]

It's certainly close, but it's awfully hard to define what the point it ends is. Sort of like the atmosphere...

[CampingInYourPark]

"'Nice tie, Mr. President,' Kerry said as he, Abbas and President Obama waited for the press to be rolled in to witness a pre-meeting photo op at the Muqata Presidential Compound in Ramallah."

http://www.whitehousedossier.c.....abbas-tie/

[John]

Can I get your coffee Mr. President? Can I wash your dick tonight or is that still Reggie Love's job?

[CampingInYourPark]

This is diplomacy in action. He was addressing Abbas, not the Anointed One.

[John]

It takes a Harvard education to come up with aline like that.

[Fatty Bolger]

I thought Kerry was a Yale man. Not that there's much of a difference.

[sloopyinca]

Last chance to enter the Reason Hit & Run College Basketball Bracket Pick-Em.

As I said last night, I will be sending actual prizes to the winner(s) this year, including the first tastes of Monocle Foods artisinal mayonnaises, some lovely pickled eggs and maybe even some pickled hot sausages (That may or may not end up being called "Mr. Weebles Pickled Hot Links".

So hurry the fuck up if you're not in yet. And if you've signed up but not completed your bracket, you've got around 90 minutes or so to get it filled out before the first round games start and you're left out in the cold.

[sloopyinca]

Shit. Wrong link above. Here you go.

[NoVAHockey]

i know nothing of college basketball, but i'm in. thx.

[T]

All right, I'm in. My bracket displays my abysmal ignorance of all things basketball.

[The DerpRider]

Feel free to start packing my prize. I just went with the Nate Silver picks. I know nothing about basketball. I mean, sport without vulcanized rubber? Really?

[robc]

I dont think that is the correct link.

[sloopyinca]

I posted that last night, figuring jesse.in.mb might enjoy it. I guess it was still my last copied item and I didn't get the b-ball link when I went to retrieve it. Meh, I've posted worse things.

[RBS]

Send me some pickled eggs and sausage. If you send me mayo I will drone you. Not because it's artisinal, I really, really hate mayo.

[Zeb]

Send me the mayo.

[Ruckus]

I'm in. I watch college ball all year and that prepares me to do awful in these things every year. FUCK, I really could use some more mayo

[John]

I just put down how I want the tournament to go. That whole thinking about it and trying to pick the real winner rather than who I want to win always ends with a lousy bracket anyway.

[Ruckus]

Maybe that's why every year I have Duke dropping in the 2nd round.

About 5-10 years ago, I used takes these a lot more serious (money investment), and at that time very few people new about kenpom.com, or were talking about adjustments for tempo, possessions, and competition in college basketball. Of course you'd still have your random 13 seed that uncharacteristically went 12-16 from 3 and forced 16 TO that would fuck up the entire thing.

Now, I spent a total of 5 min and filled out 2 different entries.

[Brett L]

FGCU so that we can get shots of the coach's hot, hot wife for as many rounds as possible, plus bonus celebration, plus U Miamah and UF getting shown up.

[Raston Bot]

JMU will shock Indiana. Now let's score some basketballs!!

[sloopyinca]

In case anyone cares, we made two new formulas last night: Jalapeno-Garlic and a Chipotle-Dijon. Both were particularly delicious (after a few bad batches.

Looks like the former will make the rotation and we'll do a Habanero-Garlic as well, but we'll likely add cilantro to that one to change the aromatics a bit.

The latter is fucking fantastic and may be one of the best things I've ever created from scratch in a kitchen. It will absolutely become part of our offerings. Two very opposing flavors that play perfectly off of each other.

[T]

Chipotle Dijon mayo?

Hmm.

[sloopyinca]

You no likey? It's fan-fucking-tastic. It's like spreading something better than pepper-jack on a sammich.

[Virginian]

Better then pepper jack?

Sacrilege!

I'm more of a mustard guy then a mayo guy. How easy is mustard to make?

[sloopyinca]

How easy is mustard to make?

That question has about a hundred different answers depending on what kind of mustard you are making and how you age it for some types. Dijon? Yellow? Grain? Pommery? Sweet? Spicy?

FWIW, I had a bad experience with mayonnaise that I've brought up here before. Based on that alone, I'm more of a mustard guy myself too. That said, this ain't your daddy's Hellman's/Best Foods. This is a totally different animal.

BTW, I'll make a trade with you. I'll send you some stuff if you could send me some Sauers BBQ Sauce. That goes for anybody else here. I miss that stuff so damn bad and Carolina BBQ is a foreign concept to Californians.

[T]

No, it's not a no-likey hmm. It's an interesting hmm. I may have to do my bastardized cheap ass version of that.

Which means throw some dijon and chipotle tabasco in some mayo and mix throughly.

[sloopyinca]

You're right. It will be bastardized and cheap-ass. You know, you could always ask me for some.

[The DerpRider]

My wife told me we have to use Paleo friendly mayo, whatever the fuck that is; do you have any clue?

[sloopyinca]

Mayo, by definition, is paleo friendly. If you're buying it at the store, just look to see if it has any sugars in it. A lot of that crap does to sweeten it up slightly. Also, it depends on what kind of oil is used in making it. Singe most large-production mayo uses a combo of cheap oils, you can bet they're gonna have corn and soybean oil in it. Those are typically no-no's for paleos. But don't despair! We use only olive oil in ours, which does have a stronger taste, but not if you avoid extra-virgin.

I would suggest buying all of your mayonnaise from me in the future.

[Sevo]

"The San Francisco Police Department is being sued for searching an arrestee's cell phone without a warrant"
And Moonbeam has twice vetoed legislation prohibiting such searches; 'too much limitation on cops' activities.'

[sloopyinca]

I thought he vetoed those bills because his Team had enough votes to override his veto. And for some reason, the pols that originally voted on them decided not to vote to override once the cop unions came down on their political campaigns like a ton of bricks.

At least that's the way it was sold down here in the central valley.

[sloopyinca]

If you're still here, Citizen Nothing, I'm curious if you'll be coming out to LA next week if the Buckeyes get to the Sweet 16. You could do a travel piece on Buckeye fans from the west coast and how they choose to travel to games. EDG and I will be there.

And if you could come up with a few tix in the process...

[Citizen Nothing]

I wish, sloop. I do get a trip to Berkeley in early fall, however, in advance of the Buckeye football game at Cal.

[sloopyinca]

You going to the game? We got a group of 8 so far that are going.

EDG from Long Beach, me and Banjos will all be there (plus my brother and a few others). Probably a good time for a Reason Weekend.

[sloopyinca]

All brackets must be completed in the next 10 minutes! If you're not done, you better hurry the fuck up.