A.M. Links: Sebelius Visited White House Many Times Ahead of Exchange Launch, Comcast To Buy Time Warner Cable, Rand Paul's Team Denies He Stole Suit

Credit: Pete Souza/wikimedia

• Documents show that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited the White House many times ahead of the Obamacare exchange launch. Sebelius has claimed that President Obama did not know about problems with Healthcare.gov before its launch.
• Afghanistan has released 65 prisoners despite warnings from the U.S. that some of them are linked to attacks on Americans.
• Comcast Corp. has confirmed that it will buy Time Warner Cable Inc. for around $45.2 billion.
• Sen. Rand Paul's team has denied that the suit he filed against Obama over NSA surveillance was stolen.
• 60 percent of Americans have a negative view of Russia, the highest since 1994.
• The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says that only 11 percent of the Assad regime's chemical weapons have left Syria.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sebelius has claimed that President Obama did not know about problems with Healthcare.gov before its launch.

When called to the Oval you're expected to praise not apprise.

[gaijin]

When called to the Oval you're expected to praise not apprise.

Does that make Sebellius nothing more than one of O's call girls?

[Rich]

"Madame Secretary, what did you and the President discuss during these visits?"

"I am sorry, Senator, but I simply have no recollection. Perhaps you could ask the Presi, I mean, the girl, *woman*, who served us bloody, uh, tea."

[wareagle]

because everyone knows that bad news gets better with time.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. Rand Paul's team has denied that the suit he filed against Obama over NSA surveillance was stolen.

Should have footnoted it.

[Bee Tagger]

I wonder if Rachel Maddow has found her angle.

[gaijin]

Rachel Maddow has found her angle.

well it surely won;t be standing at 45 degrees.

[Atanarjuat]

Lean Forward!

[Zeb]

I still have no idea what that is supposed to mean.

[Ted S.]

We must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling toward freedom!

[NebulousFocus]

+1 Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos.

[Rich]

It means Starving Future.

[Ted S.]

How the fuck can you even steal a lawsuit?

[Rich]

Well, it's intellectual property, isn't it?

[Ted S.]

If it's produced by lawyers, I don't know if it's intellectual.

[Rich]

ZINGG!!

[Pavlov's Cat]

How the fuck can you even steal a lawsuit?

If it was important to him, he should have filed it.

[Drake]

Did he keep the receipt from Brooks Brothers?

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

Men's Wearhouse?

[Pavlov's Cat]

Jos. A. Bank.

[Gene]

+2 for 1

[Drake]

Buy 1 get 3 free!

[Clich? Bandit]

you are going to like the way you sue.

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

*applause*

[Pope Jimbo]

If you like your suit, you can keep it. I guarantee it!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Comcast Corp. has confirmed that it will buy Time Warner Cable Inc. for around $45.2 billion.

Peak suck?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Speaking of puck seeking, Team USA killing it right now. Literally.

[db]

I hope.not literally.

[Rasilio]

Is that the Hooky team you are talking about?

I heard the weren't even showing up

[Fist of Etiquette]

7-1 over the Slovaks.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I haven't encountered a shittier company than Comcast. So, yes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That seems to be the consensus view.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Last month out of nowhere, my bill had a modem rental fee on it. I own my own, and Comcast hadn't been to my house in awhile.

So how does that just magically appear in a competent company?

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

"Comcast" is the gold standard for any industry that involves customer service ...the gold standard of suck.

[Pavlov's Cat]

They drove me off. Took real work, that.

[thom]

Every month...roll the dice and see what your bill is this month. I swear their billing system has a random component.

[Rich]

I used to have Comcast, but every time I had to deal with one of their humans I ended up screaming "Argh! You fucking morons!" so I dropped them.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I do not even have DSL as a second option. It is either Comcast, or dial up.

[Pavlov's Cat]

No fios?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

No fios 🙁

[R C Dean]

I do not even have DSL as a second option.

The satellite providers have gotten a lot better. Still a latency issue, though, which pretty well rules out VOIP and hardcore online gaming, but other than that, might be worth a look.

[Francisco d Anconia]

They all still cap you at like 20 gig per month.

[mad libertarian guy]

That's the issue. There is a bandwidth cap, and I'm not going to be capped for the kind of prices they charge.

I have shitty ass DSL with no other alternatives but satellite. It's very frustrating having substandard internet with no other options.

[R C Dean]

I feel ya, bro. I was stuck with satellite only for awhile, before the most recent upgrade. It was sucktastic, but marginally better than a ooweeeooo modem.

[SusanM]

So how does that just magically appear in a competent company?

You just answered your question.

[tarran]

When their cable modem went tits up, my tech support call had the following snippet.

"NO! LINUX *IS* CAPABLE OF CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET! THE INTERNET ISN'T SPECIFICALLY ENGINEERED TO TALK ONLY TO MAC OSX AND MICROSOFT WINDOWS...

Yes, I'll hold!"

Three months later, Verizon got permission to offer FIOS in my town and I was gone.

[Rasilio]

I actually was rather happy with Comcast and liked them much better than my current crappy Fios service

[Duke Trshmnstr of Stench]

I hated comcast when I had them. I friggin helped code the software in one of the boxes that they deployed to me, and they still made me walk through all the stupid steps for 2 hours. I just needed the default admin password, which they conveniently left off the documentation.

Verizon is much better, but paying $69 for internet is a tough pill to swallow.

[KDN]

So, no Cablevision in your area? Because they're soooooooo much worse.

I seriously cried when I found out that my house is a half mile away from Fios territory and that the cable monopoly was Optimum. I honestly considered walking away from the whole deal.

[Ted S.]

Gotta love the Dolans.

[Bones]

I've had both Comcast and TWC and hate them both. The shittier one is buying the slightly less shitty one. And I can't get high speed internet from another provider because it is against the law for a satellite service to offer me high speed service since I am able to get Road Runner. And Verizon apparently made a business decision to stop rolling out DSL to new locations. I respect the business decision. But fuck the palm greasers at Big Cable for buying that law that says I can't get a sat provider. Meanwhile it is perfectly acceptable and legal for me to have DirecTV. Go figure.

[MJGreen]

That law is keeping us from anarchy! You would be exploited if companies were allowed to offer you more connection options!

[mr simple]

Are they worse than TWC? They bought our local company about a year or two ago and it's been the worst service I've ever had. On demand stops working at times, internet just goes out, they started charging me for my modem which was given to me by the last company, can't get anyone on the phone half the time, etc. Anyone ever dealt with both?

[Bones]

They both suck. TWC internet goes out for me all the time which is ironic since my satellite reception goes out very rarely. And yet the selling point of cable is that satellite reception might go out. Fuck TWC. Fuck Comcast. And fuck politicians who enable their monopolies. Fuck.

[kevrob]

And fuck politicians who enable their monopolies. Fuck.

I have no user for anti-trust laws leveled against businesses, but I could see their worth if state and local government were subject to them.

Is their anyway Justice could make voiding the local franchise monopolies a condition of the merger?

My current landlord provided me with a semicrummy array of channels via Comcast. We also have their wifi. Because he's a good egg, I get to run an Ethernet cable into his router, so I get a secure signal to my laptop.

My old landlord gave us Cablevision and WiFi. That array of channels was better, in the sense that I got MSG+, so I could watch MY hockey team, not the one that Dolan owns. Also, the cable box was programmable, so I could attach a recording device. OTOH, I get BBC America, so Dr Who and Fleming, also Fox Business, so The Independents.

When I can afford a better place, I wonder how much consideration I'll put into "what TV service can I get there?

Kevin R

[gaijin]

Grassroot satire! A template for challenging proposed Public Safety legislation at every level?

Citizen satirizes proposed local firearms ordinances

The Ascot is a nice touch.

[Ted S.]

Got any more information on the topic?

[Drake]

Really, he had me at ascot.

[Rich]

It's *meta*-satire, Ted!

[gaijin]

crap! Here's the link:

Citizen satirizes proposed local firearms ordinances

[WTF]

Try again.

[Ted S.]

That link is much more interesting than the first. Thank you.

[gaijin]

oh you have got to be shitting me.

again and I quit.

The GD video

[General Butt Naked]

That dude is awesome. Way better than the mouth breathers around here that support the 2nd amendment.

*looks at fist of etiquette*

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'll have you know I type in that accent.

[General Butt Naked]

I'll have you know I type in that accent.

I always hear your comments in yinzer with a side of raspy white trash menthol smoker.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That's bloody ridiculous. I consider a nicotine habit or any addiction a weakness so I most certainly do not smoke.

[Rich]

Very nice. We need a lot more of that sort of thing. The only problem is: These days many/most will misunderstand the point.

[Steve G]

Fuck. Of course it had to be Oregon.

[Jordan]

Preview is your friend...

[a better weapon]

Does that work for everybody? Everytime I click the preview button, it goes to a blank page with my handle hyperlinked in the top corner.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Same here, so I never use preview. Then if I click "back" from preview, it crashes the page.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Associate your handle with a website rather than an email address and preview magically works again

Squirrels are strange little creatures.

[UnCivilServant]

Preview works for those of us with no links in our handles.

[WTF]

You SF'd the link.

[BigT]

OJ Simpson starving himself to death! With Juicy photos!

Can any of our legal eagles tell us why OJ can pass his $ to his kids after he dies, but not before?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Probably because of the terms of the pension.

[BigT]

Does Uncle Sam get his cut? I'm surprised if he wouldn't. Does avoiding probate with a revocable trust allow this?

[Ted S.]

When doesn't Uncle Sam get his cut?

[Atanarjuat]

Apologies to the (alleged) libertarian ladies that hang out here, but his daughter hasn't aged well.

[R C Dean]

Can any of our legal eagles tell us why OJ can pass his $ to his kids after he dies, but not before?

FYTW?

[Isaac Bartram]

According to TFA:

'He can't give the kids his money while he's alive without the Goldman family laying claim to it,' the source told the Enquirer. 'The only way OJ figures he can leave his kids the millions is to kill himself.'

[Isaac Bartram]

I would not be surprised if the Goldman family can collect their judgment on the estate anyway.

But then I also suspect that high priced lawyers have told him otherwise.

I do recall that at the time of the wrongful death suit, it came out that almost all of OJ's wealth was in pension accounts which are considered off limits until the funds in them are distributed.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Do We Care If The Poor Don't Work?
...Incentive is the mother of achievement, for almost all people. Remove the incentive, you destroy the potential greatness of the individual, and the future society that depends on such individuals, right in the cradle.

Finally there is the implicit insult in Douthat's assertion. The best way for me to elucidate this insult is to ask a question.

Faced with choosing between work, or being perpetual state-financed layabouts, what do you think Mr. Douthat would encourage his own children to do?...

[Longtorso, Johnny]

This is the flip side of "do what you love" - do what you love, and if nobody will pay you to do it, do it on the taxpayers' dime.

[R C Dean]

I don't care if the poor don't work. As long as they keep their sticky mitts out of my pocket.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says that only 11 percent of the Assad regime's chemical weapons have left Syria.

Sounds like Syria has a trade deficit problem.

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

+ MOPP4

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Torch-Carrying Environmentalists Protest at Oil Exec's Home
Masked protesters carrying torches and threatening organized violence protested outside the home of an executive at a major oil pipeline company last week.

Eight environmental activists gathered on the lawn of Mark Maki, a member of the Enbridge Energy Company's board of directors and president of Enbridge Energy Management, to protest the arrests of three anti-pipeline activists last year.

The protesters, who brandished torches for a photo posted online, held a sign warning, "solidarity means attack" and "we will shut you down."...

[Ted S.]

One doesn't wonder what the media reaction would be if it were an oil company carrying torches to an environmental group's headquarters.

[Drake]

"Hello, 911 - I need somebody to haul sway 8 dead bodies in my front yard..."

[Fist of Etiquette]

That's a bit extreme. I don't think the torches put that much CO2 into the atmosphere.

[Drake]

They were sucking in O2 and exhaling CO2! I put a stop to their environmental destruction.

[wareagle]

so if you go outside carrying a gun, what happens, keeping in mind that this is your lawn that uninvited folks are trampling.

[Atanarjuat]

They should protest at the house of the park ranger who arrested them.

[invisible furry hand]

The protesters ... held a sign warning, "solidarity means attack"

So some sort of dictionary would be in order

[Pro Libertate]

Wouldn't the converse of that equivalency be true, then? So if the guy had attacked them, from their perspective, he'd have been showing solidarity with them. Right? Am I understanding this correctly?

[Atanarjuat]

The businessman should hold a press conference announcing that the oil will now cross the continent in diesel tanker trucks. "OK guys, you win. No more pipelines."

[wareagle]

Warren Buffet and his railroad would not like that.

[Zeb]

So, the activists committed an act of civil disobedience and now are bitching that they got arrested? Did no one explain that chaining oneself to another's property is usually done with the intention of getting arrested? American protest activists are fucking pathetic these days.

[db]

How is trespassing on private property for the purpose of.intimidating the propery owner "civil disobedience?"

[R C Dean]

Civil disobedience, in my book, is challenging the authority of government, not violating private property.

[Zeb]

OK, not the right term in this case. But they probably thought it was, so my point about the silliness of the protest and the wimpiness of activists stands. Of course what they did is best described as trespassing and vandalism.

[Zeb]

Well, whatever you want to call it. My sort of vague definition is doing something against the law on purpose to make a point.

[R C Dean]

I would encourage you not to have "sort of vague" definitions for terms that matter.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Environmental activists here in Houston are mostly curiosities to laugh about on the way to lunch. I see that Enbridge is a Canadian company which isn't surprising, they seem to get most of the protests here in downtown. Because of Keystone I guess.

[Drake]

I would challenge them to prove their convictions by living in Houston without air conditioning.

[Atanarjuat]

Or to not drive to the guy's house to protest oil.

[R C Dean]

Does he not have a sprinkler system?

Large, territorial dogs?

[mr simple]

What would environmentalists do if attacked by dogs? Or are they a different group than the animal rights groups?

[Fist of Etiquette]

60 percent of Americans have a negative view of Russia, the highest since 1994.

Russia is stealing our best traitors and giving our precious sports broadcasters pink eye! (And killing puppies.)

[Bee Tagger]

Surely, you mean pinko eye.

[db]

He's had that for years.

[Jon Lester]

And they have laws against trespassing and vandalism!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Thugs: Union publishes names of members who opted-out in 'Freeloaders List'
...Terry Bowman, founder of Union Conservatives Inc. and a member of the United Auto Workers, told the Mackinac Center for Public Policy that Local 324?s tactics were putting former union members and their families in danger of harassment and retaliation.

"Union officials must be held accountable for putting workers and their families in real, substantial danger of retaliation," said Bowman in a statement to the Mackinac Center. "Any worker who was exposed by union officials and put in danger for simply exercising their rights should consider contacting Michigan's attorney general's office for criminal complaints, as well as civil legal action."...

[BigT]

Card check laws need to be resisted. Secret ballots!!

[db]

Come at me, bro. If they want to release the names, fine. If attacks result, it will tear th3.mask off the.unions.

This.shit.is part of what the Second Amendment is for.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

At my new job I must join a union. I visited their website and I found out that the union I will be working for is basically a wing of the socialist party. I guess a lot of unions probably fall into that category, but fuck.

[UnCivilServant]

The union I was required to join lobbies against me, so I feel your pain.

[robc]

Engineers is a union? Fuck that shit.

[Isaac Bartram]

Is your union CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees - pronounced kewpee)?

I had a friend who worked for Ontario Hydro back in the old days and that was his union, I think. Perhaps the old contracts carried over into privatization.

[R C Dean]

If attacks result, it will tear th3.mask off the.unions.

That mask is long gone. Unions pretty routinely engage in intimidation, threats, and violence.

But its cool. Their brethren in the police and press feel the solidarity, so NOTHING ELSE HAPPENS.

[db]

I'm aware of that. My Dad, many years ago, had to work several hundred days straight, locked in a power plant, because the striking union workers and their supporters were shooting at any and all vehicles tryi.g to get.in. the only way they could get in and out was by helicopter, which, thankfully, was not shot at.

Unions really are thugs.

[tarran]

My boss at LTV steel took me on a tour of the parking lot, pointing out which lots were shielded from sniper fire.

One of the contractors I worked with also provided services to AK Steel during the lockout. One day he was chased and run off the road by two SUV's after he left the Mansfield plant. He told us the next time he went there there would be a gun in his glove box and if the union tried that again, there would be one or more guys leaving in a body bag.

He said this in front of a union foremen, and he never had a problem again.

So not only thugs, murderous and cowardly thugs.

[Isaac Bartram]

I had to laugh at guys like our old pal joe claiming that union violence and intimidation was a myth.

Maybe that's the experience of the union that town planners belong to but it certainly is not the experience of anyone who has ever worked in any of the building trades with unionized workers.

[Brandon]

and a member of the United Auto Workers...

Why isn't the word "former" in there anywhere?

[Lord Humungus]

I'm proud that my old man helped to break a few strikes.

Of course my grandfather was UAW - it must have been some interesting family dinners.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Report: 95 percent of global warming models are wrong
...Former NASA scientist Dr. Roy Spencer says that climate models used by government agencies to create policies "have failed miserably." Spencer analyzed 90 climate models against surface temperature and satellite temperature data, and found that more than 95 percent of the models "have over-forecast the warming trend since 1979, whether we use their own surface temperature dataset (HadCRUT4), or our satellite dataset of lower tropospheric temperatures (UAH)."...

[gaijin]

NASA scientist Dr. Roy Spencer

But he's a former government scientist...so should I believe him?

[Raven Nation]

Spencer has been pretty consistent for the last few years. I don't know that he's a full on "denialist"; more that he has argued that you can't accurately model a complex climate.

[gaijin]

yeah, sorry I was lamely attempting sarcasm...my fail.

[Raven Nation]

I figured, but I thought it would be helpful to note Spencer's record anyway.

[Zeb]

Not a denialist, just honest.

[R C Dean]

And the difference is . . . .?

[Zeb]

I see people with agendas being a bit loose with the facts on both sides of the debate. Spencer seems to just want to do good science.

[tarran]

Modeled vs Observed temperature trends

[gaijin]

For those who do not wish to wade through the full article (Did I get the gist right tarran?)

IPCC statement:
"the ranges of TCR estimated from the observed warming and from AOGCMs agree well, increasing our confidence in the assessment of uncertainties in projections over the 21st century."

Data-supported response in article:
How can this [IPCC statement] be right, when the median model TCR is 40% higher than an observationally-based best estimate of 1.3?C, and almost half the models have TCRs 50% or more above that?

[tarran]

Basically.

This picture says it all

Note how the current observed trends are outside the boxes for all the models. In effect, all the models claim that what we are observing is cooler than what is reasonably possible (according to them).

The data is screaming "WRONG THEORY" so loudly my ears hurt, but they soldier on blithely.

[Zeb]

That is what is so maddening about the whole issue. There may well be bigger changes happening in climate right now than there has been in the past 100 years or so. And there may be good reason to believe that humans are contributing. I don't know enough about the actual data to make any judgement on that myself. But the current models are obviously not accurately modeling what is happening, whatever the cause.

[BigT]

More important is the shape of the curves. All the AGW models show almost monotonically rising temperatures, whereas the actual temperatures rose from 1979 to 1998 and then have held steady.

There is one model in an early development stage that accurately predicts (fits) the actual temperature measurements. This model considers sunspot numbers as a stand-in for the solar effect and a sinusoidal effect from the ocean effect as a modifier. Of course the AGW high priests ignore this.

[R C Dean]

Oh, c'mon. How can anyone think that the source of energy for our planet and climate could possibly effect the temperature? You might as well says its all done with phlogiston or something.

[juris imprudent]

Pfshaw! Climate change is caused by evil greedy capitalists. You really don't need anything else.

[WTF]

Which would demonstrate that the AGW hypothesis that the models were based on has been falsified.

[wareagle]

sure, but that's science. Who needs that when there is consensus.

[sarcasmic]

But, but, but... Consensus!

[Pro Libertate]

Respect my author-i-tay.

[Raven Nation]

Don't know if anyone saw this yesterday...wind farms are increasing local temps:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.....121801.htm

[Ted S.]

Friction produces heat.

[gaijin]

haha! Perfectly progressive. To cool the climate we have to warm it.

[db]

This has been presented as a component of a plan to terraform Mars. Large numbers.of.little windmill/generators parachuted to the surface, with the electric power routed straight through an electric resistance heater.

[The Late P Brooks]

Mister Fusion, here we come!

"For the first time anywhere, we've gotten more energy out of this fuel than was put into the fuel. That's a major turning point," said Omar Hurricane, lead author of the new paper and a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. To be clear, the NIF has not achieved its namesake goal of igniting a sustained fusion reaction. But these indications of a process called bootstrapping?in which particles created by the reaction feed energy back into the reaction?are a major step along the way.

This stuff is way over my head, but it sounds as if something useful has been learned.

[sarcasmic]

The whole thing happened in a billionth of a second. I'm not very hopeful. Looks more like an anomaly than a breakthrough.

[Steve G]

If we only had a recently-promoted nuclear engineer around to comment....

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I would love to hear that guys input!

[R C Dean]

Yeah, so you can take credit for it in the breakroom, no doubt.

[Ted S.]

And Voyager left the solar system yesterday, too.

[sarcasmic]

Again?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

The location of voyager will always and forever mark the edge of the solar system, sarcasmic.

[Rich]

Exactly. How could it be otherwise?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ugh. Not another time travel, infinite loop episodes.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Might as well consider voyager the border for the solar system. It's not like it is going to run into any other solar systems any time soon. We might as well claim that space before some homesteader alien shows up.

[gaijin]

We better arm the next probe to defend our extended territorial space.

[Pro Libertate]

Actually, Auric and I have already filed a claim stating that the Sol system owns everything within about a 4.6 billion mile radius, since everything within it is under the sun's gravitational influence. A law professor from Cygnus wrote an article praising our claim, wondering why no one else in this volume of space thought of that before.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

everything within it is under the sun's gravitational influence.

Everything in the universe is under the sun's gravitational influence to some extent.

[UnCivilServant]

Shhh... That's what we'll use for the manifest destiny claims.

[Pro Libertate]

As you can see, the goal of the U.S. if it wants Virgo Supercluster supremacy is to lay legal claim to the sun. Promptly.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, since gravity propagates at the speed of light, and we didn't want to quibble about the sun's previous state, we kept our claims modest.

[Zeb]

But you could determine the surface where the sun's gravity stops being the most significant gravitational influence and that wouldn't be a bad definition of the limit of the solar system.

[Pro Libertate]

Something like that or maybe just as simple as drawing the line where the Oort cloud ends. Anything but the heliopause, I'd say, which is a shitty line of demarcation.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I'm sticking with Voyager. All praise Voyager! Infidels will be sent to eye of Jupiter for their final judgement!

[Pro Libertate]

Voyager is too fucking slow, dude.

[Gene]

the Sol system owns everything within about a 4.6 billion mile radius

Why not 50 light years or the approximate distance the sun ceases to be visible to the naked eye?

/goBIGorgohome

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, sorry, I misstated the scope of our property--it's 4.6 billion light years. Clumsy of me.

[kevrob]

What's the equivalent of " + 3 miles as the cannon-ball flies?"

Fire something from V'ger's bow and see how far it can go and still do damage?

Kevin R

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

We've know how to do fusion for a while: hydrogen bombs. Actually there was a design for a fusion reactor way back that would be built underground and basically explode uranium/plutonium bombs to create sustained fission. I cannot find the paper on it and can't remember what it was called, right now though.

It sounds cool, but it is a small small step towards anything useful for power production. Fusion is just so god damn hard. The material science problems are far from figured out so even if sustainable fusion was discovered, we don't have materials that can contain this reaction for extended amounts of time. So we are not even close to a practical technology here.

Fission is so god damn easy though. We went from discovering it to having a full power reactor in 20 years.

[Ted S.]

Actually there was a design for a fusion reactor way back that would be built underground and basically explode uranium/plutonium bombs to create sustained fission.

Why do I get this image of a bunch of drunken engineers sitting around a bar table coming up with this idea?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Haha I wish I could find the patent/paper on the design. Apparently it would still be the easiest way to produce sustained fission.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

produce sustained fission fusion.

[Zeb]

Sort of like a staged h-bomb with unlimited stages, then?

[General Butt Naked]

It reminds me of the space shuttle that was to be powered by small atomic bombs. Supposedly it was to be very efficient, but research was stopped with the test ban.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

This has always seem interesting to me:

The fission-fragment rocket is a rocket engine design that directly harnesses hot nuclear fission products for thrust, as opposed to using a separate fluid as working mass. The design can, in theory, produce very high specific impulses while still being well within the abilities of current technologies.

[General Butt Naked]

That's awesome.

On day we're gonna have to get over our fear of nuclear. Because we ain't exploring the cosmos with O2 rockets.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

For space travel, it is nuclear or nothing. Combustion works for getting us off the planet. Outside of that, it takes far too much mass to get us anywhere.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

And time.

[R C Dean]

Hot Nuclear Fission Products

Band name? I'm thinking some kind of Japanese punk thing.

[Agammamon]

Project Orion? That wasn't for a space shuttle - that sort of thing can launch battleships.

titanfall concept art

[Agammamon]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCszu4zaqr0

[Raven Nation]

Almost as much fun as this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion

Sorry, you will have to go through the disambiguation page.

[Ted S.]

You mean Reason's completely fucked-up commenting platform doesn't handle links with parentheses in them?

[Raven Nation]

Umm, yes. What's the secret?

[Ted S.]

I figured it must not have been able to handle parentheses, or otherwise you wouldn't have had to link to the disambiguation page.

[Raven Nation]

Yeah that was the problem. But your link has parentheses. Is there a trick to getting it to work?

[anomdebus]

I imagine the trick is to do the link manually instead of letting the squirrels handle it..
<a href="your link"*Your label</a*

fwiw, right angle bracket is not showing up in these two places

[Dead or In Jail]

Aren't the Russians and the Chinese kicking our asses in opening new fission reactors?

What about Mister Bill Gates and his Terra Power project?

Fusion will always be 25 years away; I want an SMR in my back yard.

Smilin' Joe Fission, please advise!

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

China and Russia are building many more reactors, quicker, and cheaper (in the case of China, the exact same AP1000's as being built here).

Russia is getting big into exporting their reactor designs too. Putin has announced that 25% of their electricity will be from nuclear by 2030:

"This speaks of the fact that by 2030 we must build 28 more large power units. This is nearly the same as the number of units made and commissioned over the entire Soviet period," Putin added.

He also said that ROSATOM, the Russian state-run nuclear power corporation and builders of the Kundamkulam nuclear power plant (KNPP) in Tamil Nadu, had in addition got orders for building 22 nuclear power units abroad.

Putin further said the development of nuclear power in the world is inevitable, despite concerns of safety after the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

I do see it this way. Maybe not within the next couple decades or in the way we do it now, but it will someday be our main source of electricity.

[SusanM]

All well and good but with Russians being unable to make decent toilet stalls are you really that confident in their ability to make nuclear reactors?

I'm not saying Russians are particularly backwards but with the high levels of cronyist corruption there could be some safety issues.

[Pro Libertate]

[Looks out the window.] I dunno, I can see a working fusion reactor right now.

[UnCivilServant]

Funny, I see snow.

[Ted S.]

I swear this comment wasn't here when I started typing mine!

[Ted S.]

Try finding it in the middle of this snowstorm.

[Pro Libertate]

It's there. In the sky. Taunting you with its hidden light, hidden warmth, and hidden ability to fuse hydrogen.

[Ted S.]

What warmth?

[Pro Libertate]

The warmth it's hiding from you and giving to me. Have you placated it recently?

[Lord Humungus]

your mom?

[waffles]

But does it work at night?

[Pro Libertate]

It works all the time, defying our petty attempts to imitate it.

[waffles]

Sol really makes me look like a lazy slob in comparison.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, it does have a fusion reactor.

[CatoTheElder]

In the poetic words of a genuine representative of the party of science:

Give me the comforting glow of a wood fire.
But please take all of your atomic poison power away.

And your Frankenfoods, and your CO2 pollution.

[db]

They only got more energy out of the reqction than they put into the fuel, not into the.entire experiment. One article.I reas said out of several megajoules of energy directed.at the fuel, only about 17 kJ were estimated to.be absorbed.by thefuel.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

One great analogy I have heard regarding fission vs fusion:

Fission is like putting on a flat green into a garbage bin diameter hole. Fusion is like putting into a hole at a mini put where the hole is at the top of a hill.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Exactly. If you don't count the lasers energy, I guess you could say you got something more than you put in. From the article:

The scientists have not generated more energy than the experiment uses in total. The lasers unleash nearly two megajoules of energy on their target, the equivalent, roughly, of two standard sticks of dynamite. But only a tiny fraction of this reaches the fuel. Writing in Nature, the scientists say fusion reactions in the fuel released at best 17 kilojoules of energy.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Actually, that quote was from a guardian article.

[db]

Yes, that's where I originally read it.

[Mokers]

I think this is more about Lawrence Livermore having to cut jobs last year. I wonder if there is some grant running out that needs to be renewed.

[General Butt Naked]

No comments on the seriously awesome name of "Omar Hurricane"?

Gawd, y'all are slippin'.

[invisible furry hand]

I thought i hallucinated it

[General Butt Naked]

I read it like three times to make sure I was seeing what I actually thought I was seeing.

Amazing things that we can do with names nowadays.

[UnCivilServant]

Your comment wasn't there when I started typing, I must have been distracted for a while by the awesome.

[General Butt Naked]

Completely understandable.

[Pro Libertate]

Wait, what? That's superb.

It's early morning, the sun comes out.
Fusion reactions, there's no doubt.
Tokamak's running and plasma's thin,
So what is wrong with another spin?

* * *

Here I am, rock you like Omar Hurricane,
Here I am, rock you like Omar Hurricane.

[UnCivilServant]

Sorry I got distracted by the guy's name

Omar Hurricane

How is he not in weather control instead of nuclear fusion?

[waffles]

Omar Hurricane!? That has to be one of the greatest physics-superhero names possible.

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

I thought he was the second guy you fought in "Punchout"?

[Agammamon]

Jeeeeezus.

They don't necessarily need to achieve a *sustained* reaction. The 'goal' is to get more money from the output of the reactor than you have to pour in to run it.

A sustained reaction is just one (possible) way of doing that. If you can do that with just one microsecond burst every day, then that's the way to go.

Its all about exceeding the economic break-even point - if you don't then it doesn't matter how sustained your reaction is, no-one's gonna build any of the damn things.

Well, unless government comes along and add in a sweet, tasty subsidy ala wind and solar.

[waffles]

Economic break even point? Hah! They are barely reaching the engineering break even point. The economic of such a system for energy production must be mind-bogglingly expensive.

[Agammamon]

I know - but they're tightly focused on a 'sustained fusion reaction' when that may not be the way to the *real* goal.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

But how does it become economical ever if they have to use more resources than what they get out?

If I have to purchase 1 MWh of energy to get 1 kWh of energy out, how do you ever break even?

[Lord Humungus]

obviously more government money!

[pan fried wylie]

Y'all are talking about two different things, threading issue maybe, or confusion between sustained/sustainable?

But how does it become economical ever if they have to use more resources than what they get out?

As waffles pointed out, getting less power output than the input isn't even the engineering break-even: by definition, you're not making power, you're converting it to neutrons, light, and heat.

Aga is trying to point out that a sustained reaction, like that in the sun or in a typical fission chain-reactor, may not be the optimal approach to achieving either break-even point (first eng, then econ). Tokamaks try to ignite the fuel and then keep it "burning" with the released energy, analogous to fire. Inertial confinement systems by contrast are more akin to an internal combustion engine, loading and combusting the fuel in discrete packets.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The Feminist Mystique
Feminism is not an idea or a collection of ideas but a collection of appetites wriggling queasily together like a bag of snakes. Feminism has nothing to do with the proposition that women should be considered whole and complete members of the body politic, though it has enjoyed great success marketing itself that way. (Virginia I. Postrel recently denounced me as a "creep" for suggesting that the substance of feminism, if indeed there is any, differs rather radically from its advertising campaigns.) A useful definition is this: "Feminism is the words 'I Want!' in the mouths of three or more women, provided they're the right kind of women." Feminism must therefore accommodate wildly incompatible propositions ? e.g., (1) Women unquestionably belong alongside men in Marine units fighting pitched battles in Tora Bora but (2) really should not be expected to be able to perform three chin-ups. Or: (1) Women at Columbia are empowered by pornography but (2) women at Wellesley are victimized by a statue of a man sleepwalking in his Shenanigans. And then there is Fluke's Law: (1) Women are responsible moral agents with full sexual and economic autonomy who (2) must be given an allowance, like children, when it comes to contraceptives....

[waffles]

The contraceptive allowance remind me of Brave New World.

[Homple]

Imagine Sandra Fluke in your bedroom wearing nothing but a Malthusian Belt.

[waffles]

Is she pneumatic?

[pan fried wylie]

Hydraulic. The air compressor ruins the mood.

[Outlaw]

Ol' Kevin nailed it.

They're a bunch of hypocritical narcissistic bitter nutjob cat ladies who will never know true happiness, only isolated moments of schadenfreude when they see the sorry excuses for "men" in their lives suffer.

[R C Dean]

Bag of Snakes

What is this, Band Name Thursday or something? I'm thinking some kind of techno-rockabilly, here.

[pan fried wylie]

Bag of Snakes On A Plain; Nirvana tribute band.

[Bee Tagger]

60 percent of Americans have a negative view of Russia, the highest since 1994.

This could mean a return to awesome movie villains.

[invisible furry hand]

None more villainous than these two

[Warty]

Do we get Vanessa Angel clones?

[Root Boy]

Did we ever drop Russian villains? Hollywood was so afraid of using Islamic villains they've been using Russians, Brits and even dig up Nazis these days.

And Warty, you should have posted this villain:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rx6w.....natopp.jpg

[The Late P Brooks]

Sebelius has claimed that President Obama did not know about problems with Healthcare.gov before its launch.

She couldn't tell him, with her mouth full.

[sarcasmic]

Airport Security Confiscates Toy Story Doll's Gun

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....ew-johnson

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I was watching Toy Story with my two year old the other day. In the beginning, Woody "draws" with the Etch a Sketch and a very detailed gun is drawn.

How long before that scene is edited out?

[Rich]

Perhaps for the modern kiddies they'll change it to a scene in which Woody makes a very detailed gun with a 3D printer.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I figured etch a sketch would draw a lasso instead.

But that might also be too dangerous.

[Rich]

Or too RACIST!

[sarcasmic]

Cartoon Network has a channel called Boomerang, and it plays all the cartoons I watched as a kid. Even the violent Roadrunner and Coyote ones that I hadn't seen in so long I thought they'd been banned. Now my four year old can be corrupted by the same cartoons that turned me into a psychopath!

[db]

Awesome. I, too, thought the.best old cartoons had.been lost to PC. The four or five Coyote/Roadrunner cartoons deemed acceptable for.general circulation do not.capture the true joy of the full series.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

That's true, Bugs Bunny is harder to find but he is still out there.

[0x90]

You can find him, but you need to be vewy vewy quiet.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Canada has teletoon. They have a second station called teletoon retro that only plays old cartoons. You can really see how much better cartoons used to be when you turn on this station.

[Steve G]

Even the racist Speedy Gonzales ones?

[sarcasmic]

Haven't seen any of those in like twenty years =-(

[Certified Public Asskicker]

He's still out there. I am about to turn 28 and I remember Speedy cartoons from chilho...shit. It has been 20 years.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

By racist do you mean anti-gringo? Because they're the ones on the receiving end of Gonzalez's wrath. They never catch a break.

[Steve G]

Something about all of Speedy's amigos always laying about lazily

[Pro Libertate]

My six-year old loves Bugs Bunny.

[db]

They'll just change the.image to a walkie-talkie.

[UnCivilServant]

+1 Phone home

[Palin's Buttplug]

Reports: Eric Holder is Stepping Down

http://www.tpnn.com/2014/02/12.....ping-down/

(Wingnut fake news site)

[gaijin]

So is he stepping down or is this fake news?

[tarran]

Please don't interact with it like it's a human.

[wareagle]

doesn't matter. PB gets a check every time "wingnut" or "fake news" is posted.

[db]

$13,485.27 a month, baybee.

[Agammamon]

While only working 80 hours! He just recently purchased a Dolomite Sprint.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

...Brought to you by Carl's Jr.

[sarcasmic]

Video Surfaces Of BART Officer Repeatedly Using Stun Gun On Passenger

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.c.....passenger/

BART policy states that a stun gun can only be used if the suspect poses an immediate threat of bodily harm to the officer or another person.

Refusing to immediately obey an officer is obviously a threat! Come on!

[Steve G]

"Get on your stomach or I'll tase you again."

So stun guns are punitive tools now. Got it. And here I thought they were nonlethal means to subdue.

[Outlaw]

It's a "compliance device", don't you know?

[Ted S.]

STOP RESSITING!!111!!1!

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

RIDE THE LIGHTNING!!!

[sarcasmic]

Homeland Security to Purchase 141,000 Rounds of Sniper Ammo

http://www.infowars.com/homela.....iper-ammo/

[Ted S.]

Infowars? Seriously?

[Steve G]

yeah, funny how it's only ever infowars and their entire journalistic skillset is scrubbing fedbiz for contract solicitations and then doing no further research, just a shit-ton of speculation.

[Rasilio]

how does "sniper ammo" differ from regular old fashioned 30-06, .308, or .223 rounds?

[UnCivilServant]

How does an 'Assault Weapon' differ from a 'Sporter Rifle'?

[Root Boy]

Specially designed to kill Gadsden flag flyers.

Until a Repub gets into office then DHS will modify the rounds to seek out peaceful anti-war protestors.

[mad libertarian guy]

It doesn't.

[Isaac Bartram]

Actually some loads are more accurate than others, partly due to the greater precision of the powder weight and the bullet dimension. Even the precision of the brass dimensions can affect accuracy.

All of that precision comes at a higher price which is not generally considered worthwhile for general use ammo.

None of which answers the question, "Why does DHS need 141,000 Rounds of Sniper Ammo?"

[Rich]

[Holder] called on the American people "to join us in bringing about the end of misguided policies that unjustly restrict what's been called the 'most basic right' of American citizenship."

What?! He wants felons to have guns?!

[gaijin]

Wait, voting is the most basic right? So, some rights are more basic than others?

[Almanian!]

Basically, yes.

[UnCivilServant]

Only if the voters vote the 'right' way.

[db]

If the State deems you worthy of the privilege of living, it grants you the most basic right: that of participating in its justifying electoral farce.

[General Butt Naked]

The politicians and their lapdog media have really done a good job convincing people that voting is the fundamental right and all others are tertiary.

Forget about free speech or self-ownership, you get to pick the crooks petty tyrants who'll steal half your paycheck! FREEDOM.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

A most venerable idea.

[Jordan]

Shit's going down in Venezuela:

At least four people have been killed, including a police officer, after thousands of Venezuelans opposing President Nicolas Maduro took to the streets of Caracas following two weeks of anti-government protests across the country.

Gunfire erupted in the centre of the capital when armed members of a pro-government vigilante group arrived on motorcycles and began firing at more than 100 anti-Maduro student protesters clashing with security forces, the AP news agency reported.

[gaijin]

Shit's going down in Venezuela:

And no toilet paper to clean it up.

[The Late P Brooks]

Masked protesters carrying torches and threatening organized violence protested outside the home of an executive at a major oil pipeline company last week.

Unfortunately, the sprinkler system had been winterized.

[Steve G]

You can tell they weren't serious since they left the pitchforks at home.

[Rich]

Naked Woman Goes On Bloody Rampage After Boyfriend Refuses To Have Sex

Why, yes, this has happened before, before, before, before, and before.

Sheesh, man, just make gentle love to her.

[gaijin]

Swap Naked with Bloody in that headline and the headline might make more sense.

/ducks

[Rich]

"If it's not one thing it's the other!"

[WTF]

I doubt she wants her love to be gentle.

[invisible furry hand]

From the comments:

She's hot. I'd hit it. The sex is probably clinically insane.

[Almanian!]

That reminds me of me...

[Brandon]

That's a hard 24.

[Rasilio]

The guy got off lucky, if the woman was smart all she had to do was scream "he hit me" as soon as the cops showed up and he'd be the one sitting in jail facing domestic assault charges

[mr simple]

If the woman were smart she probably wouldn't be on a drunken rampage over unrequited love in the first place.

[anomdebus]

Was anyone planning on seeing Shpongle at the 9:30 club tomorrow?

[The Late P Brooks]

What?! He wants felons to have guns?!

Worse. He wants felons to have the vote, so they can vote for the government to disarm US.

Bootlegger, meet Baptist.

[The Late P Brooks]

It sounds cool, but it is a small small step towards anything useful for power production. Fusion is just so god damn hard.

The good thing about that Popular Mechanics (I really should read that more) article was that they very carefully refrained from overselling the practical utility of this particular experiment, but they said it "bootstrapped" energy output, apparently for the first time.

Definitely not there yet.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

The material science problems are going to be a real issue if they do figure out sustained fusion. Nothing we have can contain material at those temperature/pressures under a high neutron flux. A practical energy producing fusion design won't come around in our lifetimes unless we have a few breakthroughs in different sciences.

Basically we need some Unobtainium.

[FreeToFear]

No hope for magnetic containment?

[Root Boy]

Either that or it's Cold (Mr.) Fusion all the way.

[The DerpRider]

What about doing it in orbit? Serious question.

[Steve G]

Popular Mechanics.. aren't they the ones who say we're on the verge of a blimp revolution every fifth edition?

[UnCivilServant]

Well, it does take a while to turn a derigable around.

[Pro Libertate]

You just wait--the sky will be full of zeppelins, acting as carriers for drones.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

What about drone zeppelins??

[Pro Libertate]

Love it. You know those old horror movies where the creatures would come at you very slowly, yet inexorably? That's what I envision. Targets standing around, then seeing the giant drone zeppelin coming at them at 35 mph.

Kind of like when Lancelot storms the castle in Holy Grail.

[db]

Already in the skies, bro.

[Steve G]

And dippin dots is the ice cream of the future!!

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

+1 weathered sign at the Kane County Cougars ballpark

[Brett L]

125% of the energy that hit the fusile material was returned. 1% of the total energy expended was returned. I think the current record for total energy return in fusion is 65%.

[Almanian!]

I like turtles

[UnCivilServant]

For soup or companionship?

[invisible furry hand]

Or both

[Rich]

The administration continues to say it cannot estimate how many people who have selected plans have actually paid a first month's premium since the payment system has not been built.

Emphasis added. So, ZERO?

[Mokers]

I think they can still get a bill directly from the insurance company, but the government can't know from their own website if that number is greater than zero.

[CatoTheElder]

At this point, what difference does it make?

[Almanian!]

Gee, I thought my most "basic" right was the right to life. Thanks for enlightening me, OverHolder! I can "vote" from my jail cell in the future - it's all good!

What an asshole.

[Agammamon]

Technically, I think it would be property rights, from which other rights arise.

[Ken Shultz]

"Sebelius has claimed that President Obama did not know about problems with Healthcare.gov before its launch."

In Sebelius' defense, even after all the problems we've had after the launch of Healthcare.gov, it isn't entirely clear to me whether President Obama realizes that there was a problem.

President Obama seems to think everything went according to plan.

He's an ignoramus.

[Jordan]

Yeah, he doesn't seem to be aware of anything until he hears about it on the news.

[Ken Shultz]

How's he supposed to know?

He just works there.

[tarran]

It is going according to plan;

1) They have email addresses of almost every low income person in the U.S.

2) Medicaid rolls have been dramatically expanded.

3) The private health insurance market has been fatally wounded. The health insurance market catering to pools of professional organizations, like IEEE have been outlawed and destroyed utterly.

It's not supposed to create, it's purpose is to destroy.

[Ken Shultz]

Yup. Everything is going according to plan.

[db]

Anyone else think the email database.is.going to somehow end up in the hands of political fundraisers?

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

"going to"?

Don't you mean "has"

[Homple]

I keep saying that it IS going according to plan. The 110 or so agencies created by Obamacare are beavering away churning out pallet loads of regulations that will keep healthcare subject to federal bureaucratic whim forever.

The bureaucracy works so well that nobody notices what goes on.

[CatoTheElder]

One of the key features of ObamaCare is largely unrecognized even among the usually savvy libertarians. ObamaCare creates new, astronomically high marginal income tax rates on earnings in the bottom two income quartiles. The structure of Medicaid eligibility and subsidies under ObamaCare is carefully crafted to make incremental progress in upward mobility economically unattractive. It's really a brilliant way to assure that poor and middlin' folks stay that way. As long as they can't see an economically attractive path to upward mobility, there will never ever be another defection of loyal Democrats like there was in 1980.

[Cunctator]

Very, very OT, but I could not log in yesterday when there was a discussion and I am curious..

Chutulu---WTF is that about. I have recently read a Lovecraft compilation of the Chutulu Mythos. In all of the stories, the is one actual appearance of Chutulu and some off-hand references. The are many other Older Races that are featured to a much greater extent. How did Chutulu become the focus of the myths to the general public? Are there more non-Lovecraft stories that flesh out Chutulu? Or What?

[waffles]

Well, he's by far the cutest of the old ones.

[Ken Shultz]

My guess says the RPG gave it a boost just in time for early internet memes like "Why choose the lesser evil?" to catch on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_of_Cthulhu_ (role-playing_game)

Oh, and Metallica?

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

The Call of Cthulhu is the "gateway story" into the mythos.

[Cunctator]

Yes, but there are, as far as I could tell, no other Lovecraft stories where Chutulu makes an actual appearance. Even in "The Call of Chutulu", there is only the reference to the story of the sailor.

I was just a little disappointed that Chutulu didn't rise a wreak havoc across the land. Of course, in all of the stories, the contacts with the Older Races was confined to some small location/short period of time with all of the evidence lost, but somehow I was expecting more.

Not a complaint, just an observation. My favorite story in the compilation was actually "The Hound". Not much to do with the Old Ones or anything, but that story genuinely creeped me out.

[pan fried wylie]

I was just a little disappointed that Chutulu didn't rise a wreak havoc across the land.

I blame hollywood for your expectations. They just don't make em like they made Alien anymore, it's all Aliens.

[The Late P Brooks]

David Stockman was on Bloomberg this morning, saying the things he usually says (tl,dr: DOOOOOOOOOOM!). Greeted by yawns of uncomprehending ennui, also per usual.

At the end, Tom Keene asks him who is the most interesting man in the Republican Party.

Rand Paul. For a variety of excellent reasons.

[Rich]

It's ALIVE!!

[invisible furry hand]

The six-wheeled exploration vehicle is equipped with cutting-edge radars that allow it to study the moon's crust.

Is it deep or thin?

[Rich]

Dammit, ifh!

[Brandon]

377,000 followers...

In a country of 1.2 billion, that's pretty sad.

[pan fried wylie]

1billion of them are rural pig farmers, so, yeah.

"You mean I can't get FIOS on my no-electric/no-running-water farm, for free?!"

[Agammamon]

Jade Rabbit - lunar rover or expensive sex toy.

[waffles]

60 percent of Americans have a negative view of Russia, the highest since 1994

I think it has to be because of the Pussy Rioting and gay-bashing. Mostly unrelated to the Cold War. Bungling corruption Russia probably has more than a handful yearning for the days of the USSR.

[Ken Shultz]

Yeah, I think a lot of people on the left have been trained to react a certain way to anyone perceived as being anti-gay.

I bet people on the left's perception of Russia, right now, closely tracks their opinion of the religious right.

They don't have a problem with Putin, otherwise, per se. They wish Obama had the same authority Putin enjoys, so he could really get things done.

[Jon Lester]

Yes, and both of those (somewhat manufactured)issues advance an astonishing ignorance of the culture, which any wise person would know can't be changed from outside.

[The Late P Brooks]

Nothing we have can contain material at those temperature/pressures under a high neutron flux.

I can't think of a better place to have a catastrophic failure of such an experiment than Livermore. So long, Sevo!

One way or another, you're just an egg in the great experimental omelette which is California.

[a better weapon]

The left is no longer trying to reverse Citizen's United, they're now trying to maintain it, but ignore text within the law and redefine it in other places. For example, the law isn't about "social justice," which is a conveniently exclusive definition for the left in the matter. It's about promoting civics and civic duties as well as "social welfare" which, according to the definition of the law, includes involvement in elections and legislation.

It'd be bad enough at that, but they're also working the refs (the IRS) to continue what they did during the presidential cycle, except they're being totally open about it.

http://thehill.com/homenews/se.....to-step-up

[sarcasmic]

So... How much of the white stuff have you folks gotten?

The storm is scheduled to start shitting white stuff my way round noon and not stop until sometime tomorrow.

[a better weapon]

The 10 day forecast in Dallas seems to indicate that its all finally over for us.

Thank god too. A little snow and everyone here with there front wheel drive and 4wd don't realize that those features allow you to better gain traction and accelerate, not necessarily stop.

[Lord Humungus]

snow tires ftw

not that you would need them in Dallas

[KDN]

I'd prefer that. Here in NJ, where we should be used to snow, so much as a flurry and the sight of a plow causes a plurality of drivers to stop where they are and shelter in place, sucking their thumbs and praying for someone to save them.

[Ted S.]

Isn't that New Jersey people in general?

"Weaker than the storm...."

[db]

Seems all the folks up here in PA from Texas couldn't stand the cold anymore, so they lit a little bonfire to keep warm.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

About 15 where I am in MD.

Time to move south.

[invisible furry hand]

I try not to during the week but on the weekend when I can party i usually do ... oh, you mean snow

[Steve G]

nice

[Ted S.]

Two inches, but it's supposed to snow until 8AM or so tomorrow.

Either I'm going to have to go on the roof twice to clear off the internet satellite dish (the DirecTV dish never gets affected by the snow), or I don't go online tonight....

[bigac]

Spray it with cooking spray. The snow will slide right off without you ever having to touch it. You may have to touch it up every few weeks, but that will save you much effort.

[BuSab Agent]

30 inches so far this winter, but nothing falling currently.

[Lord Humungus]

We have tons of the stuff - but nothing new. Actually going to get a high of 28 today and even the 30s next week. We need some melting since I'm running out of room for snowblowing.

[BuSab Agent]

I actually think all the not melting is kind of fun...my whole town is a giant snow fort. Humungous you just need a bigger snow blower. 🙂

[sarcasmic]

Towards the end of last year I was trying to blow snow over five foot walls. This year we've only had two big storms. Granted they were a foot each, but that's been about it.

[Agammamon]

Somewhere around 0.0 inches. Over the last decade.

[Jon Lester]

Here, to the east of Athens, GA, we got a couple inches of snow on top of yesterday's ice pellets, and today will be clear and in the mid-40's by afternoon. I've enjoyed steady electricity and internet service throughout.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I dunno if this was covered here when it was new news but fuck it:

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is being called homophobic after he took exception to the flying of the rainbow flag at city hall during the Olympics, saying the games are about "being patriotic to your country" and not about "sexual preference."

[a better weapon]

Unless it is an old wives tale, I always understood the Olympics as being a time when nations agreed to not wage war or be contentiously involved politically.

If that's the case, he's absolutely right.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I would probably break my non-voting tradition here in Canada if this guy ran for Prime Minister.

He is still pretty popular in Toronto and will probably get re-elected there.

[The Late P Brooks]

Anyone else think the email database.is.going to somehow end up in the hands of political fundraisers?

Is there no end to the damage wrought by Citizens' United?

[Lord Humungus]

zomg! Fake scandal!

Surprised?: All 501(C)(4)'s Audited By IRS Were Conservative

Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, revealed yesterday that the committee's investigation had found that it wasn't only conservative groups applying for 501(c)(4) status that came in for IRS targeting and harassment. Existing 501(c)(4)'s were targeted, as well. In fact, Camp stated,

At Washington, DC's direction, dozens of groups operating as 501(c)(4)s were flagged for IRS surveillance, including monitoring of the groups' activities, websites and any other publicly available information. Of these groups, 83% were right-leaning. And of the groups the IRS selected for audit, 100% were right-leaning.

That's right -- "somehow," every single 501(c)(4) that the IRS selected to endure the time, expense, distraction and stress of an audit just happened to be conservative.

[Pro Libertate]

You'd think they'd at least throw in a few fake audits of left-leaning organizations.

Koros to hubris to at? to nemesis.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

At this point, they don't even care about hiding it. They know nothing is going to happen even if they are caught.

Only time will tell if these scandals finally blow up in this administrations face. I don't know if I'd bet on it though.

[General Butt Naked]

Oh they're gonna pay alright!

I bet Obama only gets 10 glowing, sycophantic pages in your kid's history textbook instead of his deserved 20.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

The horror!!!

[Pro Libertate]

It's a hell of a gamble to take. If the GOP gets control of both houses, they could start impeaching people left and right. They could even leave Obama out of it, just to avoid all of the bullshit that goes with him.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I would hope that would happen but I have this feeling that as the GOP gets closer to a Presidency, they may not want to dismantle this great power grab system Obama has built up. Maybe they will want to use some of it.

The only difference here being that they are the *wrong* party so the media and the left would go nuts if they did any of this. So maybe some impeachments are in order if the GOP realizes this?

Who am I kidding, the party of stupid won't realize any of this.

[Pro Libertate]

One thing that irks me is this idea of not turning around and prosecuting the outgoing administration. Rumor has it that Bush had some major dirt on some Clinton administration shenanigans (not on Clinton himself but on other officials), that he swept under the rug. Probably because there's some bullshit wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more understanding between the parties.

That shit needs to end.

[tarran]

It's a hell of a gamble to take. If the GOP gets control of both houses, they could start impeaching people left and right.

I doubt it. The Nomenklatura make a big show of being opposed to each other, but for the most part they actually stick together.

[Pro Libertate]

A fair point, but the one time that isn't assured is when there's a reform movement afoot. Which there is in the GOP. Might be like 1994, where all of those little tacit agreements go away for a while.

[Homple]

The rogue agencies are probably doubling down on their behavior to stay in power. There must be a lot of people nervous about what might happen to them if a congress and president interested in the rule of law ever get simultaneously elected.

[mad libertarian guy]

At this point, they don't even care about hiding it. They know nothing is going to happen even if they are caught.

This.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

For The Party, comrade.

[Lord Humungus]

just a minor comment: by using the power of the government to enforce his vision of a strong, muscular fed, Obama (and Bush before him) have destroyed the trust that many people had put in such institutions.

[NebulousFocus]

Cathy Young takes on everyone's favorite communist.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

People would end up in the gulag because a spiteful neighbor reported them for a disrespectful remark about Stalin, or simply because the local authorities needed to meet their quota of arrests. (emphasis added)

Calling New York City, is anyone listening?

[Lord Humungus]

hey - we really are turning into Venezuela:

Omert?Care. The first rule: You do not talk about perverse incentives.

Legal or regulatory changes that affect the cost of labor would fall into the category of "changes in the economic marketplace in which the employer operates." So it would be more precise to say that employers may cut back employment for any bona fide business reason except to take advantage of the ObamaCare mandate delay.

The administration thus acknowledges that its policy creates a perverse incentive and orders employers not to act upon it. But that can't be enforced. A business will take into account all relevant factors, including the additional costs imposed by ObamaCare, in making decisions about hiring and firing, including whether to terminate employees for poor performance, sell a division, etc. In practice, the new rule is a ban--under threat of criminal liability--on acknowledging the perverse incentive. Call it Omert?Care, a government-imposed conspiracy of silence.

[Floridian]

Quick question for you alcoholic chemists. Is it safe to store my whiskey in a lead crystal decanter for say 6 months to a year? Thanks in advance for any help.

[R C Dean]

I dunno about safe, but I can't quite comphrehend "storing" whiskey for that long.

[Floridian]

I was thinking about putting an expensive whiskey in a nice decanter for special occasions and drinking moderately priced stuff daily.

[sarcasmic]

A quick google came back with this.

[db]

Look at wiki0edia under "lead glass." Not vouching for the.informwtion, but studies are cit3d.showung leqching.of lead from crystal decanters into alcoholic solutions. Some info indicates reduced leaching.over increqsing age of the glass.

[Floridian]

I saw the wiki but know their info can be specious at times.

[sarcasmic]

I looked at a few more articles and it looks like long term storage in leaded glass is not a good idea. Though it's just fine for serving, assuming you transfer the leftovers into something that's not made with lead.

[Floridian]

I order a decanter but did not realize the "crystal" was really lead glass. I guess I'll return it and spend a little more for real crystal.

[db]

I think you'll find it very expensive, if it is even made from carved quartz anymore.

[sarcasmic]

Real crystal is lead glass.

[sarcasmic]

Unless you mean something literally carved out of rock.

[Floridian]

I found a supply that claim it is a single piece of crystal carved into a decanter as opposed to lead glass.

[R C Dean]

a single piece of crystal carved into a decanter

I need that link. I need it bad. And now.

Thanks.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I dunno, ask the Romans

[Lord Humungus]

oh please, do go on...

Answers To Every Question You Have About My Queer Polyamorous Relationship

For the past eight months, I've been in a polyamorous triad relationship with two girlfriends. For me, it looks like this: I'm in love with two people. I have individual romantic relationships with both of them, they have a romantic relationship with each other, and we all have one big, loving, triangular relationship all together.

We each bring all of the love that we'd bring to any relationship, but it's directed toward two people instead of one, which actually seems to make it stronger. Each of us gets twice the support, twice the kisses, and twice the partnership. And each of our personalities compliment different parts of the others'. For instance, Victoria loves mythology as much as I do, and Finn shares my passion for words. We seem to be the most stable all together. It's sort of like a love tripod.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Even French prime ministers don't share so much about their love lives.

But at least these three ladies have been together for eight months. They're well on the way to their golden anniversary in 42 years!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Oops 49 years.

[a better weapon]

No pictures? I'll just assume they're all 5's and below.

[tarran]

It's Cambridge MA.....

The permanent residents are nowhere near as attractive as the hot HArvard and MIT girls walking around.

[Cdr Lytton]

Dear Reason Forum,

I never thought this would happen to me...

[UnCivilServant]

The Commentariat is not a forum.

[Mock-star]

I lol'ed

[oncogenesis]

Q: Don't dates get expensive with three people?

A: Naw. It's cheaper because we split everything three ways instead of two.

Math is hard!

[Sevo]

"Is Uncle Sam chasing people out of the U.S.?"

All signs point to YES!

"A record number of people - 2,999 - terminated their U.S. citizenship or long-term permanent residency last year."
http://www.sfgate.com/business.....229641.php

[CatoTheElder]

New York governor has lately been quite explicit that certain folks just aren't welcome, so YES.