Oregon's Health Exchange a Complete Failure, Facebook Embraces All Sorts of Gender Identities, Venezula Charges Opposition Leader for Deadly Protests: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: Scott Beale / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

  Oregon's health exchange received $160 million in taxpayer dollars and has yet to sign up a single person. There could be a federal probe over its problems.

• Facebook has implemented customized gender options for users' profiles, giving them the opportunity to describe their gender in any number of different ways.
• Russia has enacted its ban on allowing foreign same-sex couples to adopt children, as well a ban on single people from countries where gay same-sex marriage is legal from adopting children. I'm sure those lonely, homeless children will be grateful when they get older, right?
• Venezuela's courts are blaming unrest that has resulted in three deaths on an opposition leader and has ordered his arrest. That should calm things down.
• The possible merger of Comcast and Time Warner is already stirring up opposition.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Facebook has implemented customized gender options for users' profiles...

I'm going to officially change my gender to sexy.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hel-LO!

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Name: Fist
Gender: 50% man, 100% sexy

[Pro Libertate]

Really, I'm trying to be tolerant and understanding, but there are two fucking sexes in Homo sapiens sapiens.

Stan: I want to have babies.

Reg: You want to have babies?!?!

Stan: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.

Reg: But. . .you can't havebabies!

Stan: Don't you oppress me!

Reg: I'm not oppressing you, Stan. You haven't got a womb! Where's the foetus gonna gestate? You gonna keep it in a box?

Couldn't people just have a subcategory that says what they want to copulate with and/or dress like? Under MALE or FEMALE?

[Francisco d Anconia]

You otherer.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm really trying here, but I cannot think this way. Male, female. Female, male. Yin, yang. Yang, yin. They're clearly not doing this for actual hermaphrodites, so it's pretty fucking binary. In fact, it doesn't get much more binary.

[Brett L]

I forget who it was who was trying to be sensitive to all of this and ended up asking "were you born with a Y chromosome" because they felt the needed to know physical genotype for some part of their survey.

[Pro Libertate]

It's pretty fundamental. Once we can rewrite your DNA as an adult, then you can change the answer.

[Killaz]

Perhaps if the sex change technology were as easy as switching in and out a coat we could all live out our Lilith the Siren psycho witch fantasies for a afternoon romp, but until then, surgery is still brutal. You go under the knife, clearly it is not just an attention getting phase you are going through. I'm going to say you get to call the shots.

[Heroic Mulatto]

our Lilith the Siren psycho witch fantasies

What do you mean, "our"?

[Killaz]

Mine and epis!

[Killaz]

Mine and Epis!

[Michael S. Langston]

clearly it is not just an attention getting phase you are going through

Based upon what criteria - only the pain they have to suffer?

if so - you are wrong, as human history shows humans willing to willingly suffer much more horrific things than surgery for much less gain (presumably getting the body you always believed you should have been born with).

Please note - I don't mean this to disparage people with real issues - I'm not saying everyone, or even most who opt for surgery aren't doing it for strong reasons - but the idea that all/most must be serious because of "surgery" ignores the reality of human behavior.

As a test - do you know of any studies which show before and after surgery results, long term?

Are most/all still incredibly happy with their decision 15 years down the road?

Or they more or less likely to be depressed, have suicidal thoughts, be successful, etc, etc?

You could possibly infer some things in there - though not strength of conviction at decision time, likely an approximate percentage of people who should've done it in the first place.

& then what is that percentage? Most, all/ 1/2, slim majority, hardly none?

Of sure, just keep on assuming agreeing to temporary pain must mean that in every case they're very "serious" but without proof - it seems to be an overly broad assumption that is simply wrong.

[SIV]

Looks like we got a socon troll here in cosmotopia.

[Pro Libertate]

But-but-but I don't want to repress anyone. You can pretend to be asexual and reproduce with binary fission. That's fine. But you're one or the other.

[SForza]

But it's Facebook's job to satisfy its customers, not to persuade those customers to accept basic biological reality. If Facebook's users are so fucking retarded as to want cafeteria-style choices about sex/gender, it's FB's job to provide those choices.

Or find less retarded users. But you know FB wants every person on earth to use Facebook.

[Pro Libertate]

I'll buy that argument, but is it really a significant number of users that are demanding that? In fact, I'd bet quite a bit that more people are rolling their eyes or even offended by the change than are screaming for it.

[SusanM]

Unbunch, ProL. Maybe this is a sign that Rahowa is near but it's more likely that few will even notice and fewer will even care. And it might even prevent some otherwise embarrassing IRL meetings 😉

[Pro Libertate]

But they haven't got a womb for the fetus to gestate in!

[SusanM]

So, a woman who had a hysterectomy is now a man?

I don't want to let this discussion get too contentious. Between the limited space here and my poor writing skills I don't think I can really explain it the way I'd need to, although listening to "Grand Designs" by Rush a few times may help.

If you're interested in new information to consider there are plenty of resources out there.

[Pro Libertate]

No, I was making a Monty Python joke. My contention is that it's all about those pesky chromosomes.

[SusanM]

Ni!

Read up on Klinefelter syndrome. If you don't want to, it's okay but consider that as free as you are to object to what you don't understand but unless you can point to a tangible harm that's being done to you by playing along with what you see as another's delusion there's little you can really do.

[Alton Knutson]

It all comes back to Rush.

[SForza]

I doubt many people were demanding this feature, but obviously some were. Also, there are undoubtedly millions of people ready to applaud Facebook for the "inclusiveness" of this feature. So much good PR to be had by indulging libtard fantasies.

[mad.casual]

You misstated something above. Now that FB is public, it's their job to appease customers and shareholders.

This does both for a price tag approaching zero. Personally, I give FB 3 more years tops.

[Invisible Finger]

This does both for a price tag approaching zero.

Bullshit. Shareholder money was wasted by researching the possibilities and then paying programmers to change code and possibly changing a database schema.

After all, I don't see why Facebook should be oppressing people by only allowing them one gender. One should be able to have as many genders as one can think of.

[SusanM]

Invisible, whatever they may have paid for the work they more than recouped by ad revenue from LGBT and LGBT - friendly sponsors and subscribers.

[mad.casual]

Bullshit. Shareholder money was wasted by researching the possibilities and then paying programmers to change code and possibly changing a database schema.

As someone who's changed a schema, migrated a database or two, and even coded in fbml, I mean this is a poor feature (like fbml) and minimally innovative.

Less engineering or industry leading and more pandering. Less creating a
"new" product and driving users to it than finding minimal features to give users a transient warm fuzzy.

Once the "gender is a really a flexible spectrum" idiocy has died down and advertisers (Facebook's real customers) realize that striating marketing/advertising budgets by whimsical gender identities is counterproductive the 'feature' will seem... quaint.

[mad.casual]

As if to highlight my point, I just remembered Facebook (and Google and Amazon) uses "schema-less database" technology (NoSQL or key-value stores) meaning the change was even more trivial than changing a database schema.

Also, since I can set my gender identity but not my ethnicity. I've gotta ask, "Why is Facebook so racist?"

[Jarl ? the booty]

To the extent that I have a "problem" with this, it's that the field is "Gender" and the answers are "Male", "Female", and "Custom" -- when the prevailing notion seems to be that gender (man/woman) is defined by society whereas sex (male/female [with a few exceptions in the case of genetic abnormalities]) is biologically determined.

I wish we could stay consistent on these matters.

[Agammamon]

Don't confuse *sex* with *gender*.

[Steve G]

this. For some people it's not so simple

[Dr. Paul Krugman]

Where does MSNBC's Chris Hayes fit in?

[Anonymous Coward]

Still Rachel Maddow's dorky little sister.

[fish]

I'm going to officially change my gender to sexy.

You're not going to be any more successful convincing anyone on Facebook than you have been here.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Sexy Crabtree?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Add that you're in a complicated relationship with your left hand

[Corning]

Is elf princess an option?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Do We Really Need Nuclear Fusion for Power?

But the biggest irony of all is that this is workable only for a deuterium/tritium target. That means you need a source of tritium. Where are you going to get that? Unless you're on the Moon, it will be a fission reactor. Why build a fission reactor to make tritium via neutron capture on deuterium to make the fuel for a fusion reactor, when you could just use the fission reactor to make the energy in the first place?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Sorry. I don't speak Latin.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

L7 weeny alert!!!

[Heroic Mulatto]

But there are only 5 Lagrangian points!

[Francisco d Anconia]

Can't you just take some hydrogen and simulate a bunch of gravity? Must I think of everything?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

The Koch brothers hold the patent on it so they can force us to buy dirty fossil fuelz!!

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Heat exchange between the media used to absorb the energy from the decelerating protons, neutrons and gamma rays is going to be difficult, too. You want the chamber to be transparent so as to not absorb the laser ignition energy as the pulses go through the medium. But you also need lots of matter to absorb the energy when the hohlraum targets ignite. It doesn't do any good to let the gamma rays hit the walls of the chamber because that energy is just lost.

You can't have it both ways ? empty to transmit the laser, but full to absorb photons from the explosion.

[waffles]

Can't we have energy and Tritium? You either/or people are such downers.

[Some call me Tim?]

My fellow Americans, we must not succumb to this false choice.

[Pro Libertate]

Incidentally, if we couldn't extract H3 or whatever on Earth, if the only difference between us having fusion reactors and not having them was going to the Moon. . .we'd fucking go to the Moon. It's not like it's that far away.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

If us having fusion reactors depends on mining tritium on the moon, 50 years until fusion may be a substantially low estimate.

[Pro Libertate]

It sure would increase the commercial incentives to develop low-cost Earth-to-orbit systems, wouldn't it? If we had to do it on the Moon and had no other options here, that is.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

That is in a world where fusion is essential for something that will make someone money. Currently, fusion isn't essential for anything and likely never will be so necessary as to necessitate the cost of mining fuel for fusion on the moon.

We have thousands of years of fission fuel on Earth. Fission is simple. Fission is safe. I cannot see a situation where mining tritium on the moon for use on Earth will ever make sense. But the future could be a crazy place.

[Pro Libertate]

[Points finger at Joe and screeches ? la Donald Sutherland] NUKE-LOVER!

While I agree that we should be fissioning away, wouldn't, in theory, a fusion reactor be a huge improvement in efficiency and cost per kWh? And wouldn't it likely have even less downside than a fission reactor?

Just to put fusion into perspective, when I was a freshman in college back in the mid-80s, I dated a girl who was focusing on fusion reactor research. She was smart but apparently not smart enough.

[Cytotoxic]

Fission is uneconomic and I suspect fusion is too. We have fossil fuels forever. Fossil fuel is safe. Fossil fuel is simple.

[Pro Libertate]

Fission need not be expensive, and whether we can drag fossil fuels out of the ground for centuries or not, it isn't going to get easier to do so. And, not to sound all crazy green or anything, which I'm not, there is some environmental cost.

Besides all of that, something in my technophile self just doesn't approve of us still being dependent on burning shit for power.

[Corning]

We have fossil fuels forever. Fossil fuel is safe. Fossil fuel is simple.

Fossil fuel is fusion power.

[Brett L]

Look, when my industrial fusion machine comes online and I'm turning three irons and a hydrogen into gold, you'll all say: Brett, why don't you just fuse the three irons into Platinum instead?

[Pro Libertate]

Just think, 3-D printers and transmutation.

[Mock-star]

Which is way better than lathes and evocation.

[Corning]

you'll all say: Brett, why don't you just fuse the three irons into Platinum instead?

I will only laugh at you while my genetically altered mammoth stem cells churn out cords of ivory.

[Rasilio]

If we had widescale lunar mining operations it would be cheaper and more effective to mine iron and silicone from it then make Solar Power Satelites

[Some call me Tim?]

Unless you're on the Moon

Didn't they make a movie about this?

[LynchPin1477]

Moon. I think they were mining Helium. Good movie though.

[Francisco d Anconia]

M-O-O-N. That spells Helium.

[Pro Libertate]

Q: Do we need fusion?

A: Yes. What the fuck is wrong with you?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

R: Why?

[Pro Libertate]

Extracting from seawater is an option, too, right? I mean, we don't have to go get H3 from the Moon, it's just a good option, right?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

There is a very incredibly small amount of H3 in water. Not a practical amount for use.

[Pro Libertate]

If you had a fusion reactor, what would you fuse?

[110 Lean]

Me and Kate Upton.

[SIV]

"plus-size model Kate Upton"

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Ideally hydrogen. It provides the most energy release. But I have no idea what it would take for that technology to exist. We are nowhere close to it currently.

[Pro Libertate]

Why aren't you working on it? Look, flying cars, longevity, fusion, robot slaves, cheap space travel, and post-scarcity wealth. These are reasonable requests.

[JEP]

How dare you forget sexbots...

[Pro Libertate]

I said robot slaves.

[Brett L]

Boron-deuterium doesn't work?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Tritium and deuterium are the best fuels, by far.

[Brett L]

Well, okay. but in terms of not having to build a tritium generating fission reactor?

[Almanian!]

DOOTerium

huh huh....huh huh....huh huh...DOOTerium....

uhhhhhh...huhuhhuhuhuh...huh huh....

DOOT

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

It probably works. But I really don't know. Currently nothing works. We are fusing tiny amounts of fuel and using much more energy in the process than what is released.

[LynchPin1477]

You have to overcome more repulsion to fuse boron and hydrogen directly than you do just hydrogen. That means higher temperatures/pressures. 4 extra protons. And you would get less energy out. There might be other issues but I would guess that is the biggest.

[Christophe]

IIRC, the benefit is that no energy is released as neutrons. This makes it easier to harness the generated power, and you don't need nearly as much shielding against radiation (both for people and material).

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

[Sevo]

Only in the future.

[fish]

Isn't this as much a waste minimization issue as much as energy generation issue?

[x4rqcks3f]

SJF, was it you that was asking a while back for advice on pursuing a PhD? I suggested (under a different handle perhaps) to avoid people doing ICF like the plague. Ironically, I interviewed at a startup doing exactly that only a couple weeks later.

[Corning]

Why build a fission reactor to make tritium via neutron capture on deuterium to make the fuel for a fusion reactor

Pretty sure the power generated from one molecule of tritium is thousands of times greater then the energy needed to bind three hydrogen into a tritium molecule.

Also I think the author is confusing tritium with Helium-3 with his moon reference. Tritium is probably pretty rare on the moon.

[Redmanfms]

Uh, tritium isn't a molecule dude.

[Corning]

oh...i just read "hydrogen-3" and assumed it was 3 hydrogen atoms.

[Agammamon]

That's a question only the market can answer - and that answer will change as technology changes.

Right now its clear - fission is the clear winner but that may not always be the case.

[mad libertarian guy]

That means you need a source of tritium.

One word: Trijicon.

[alittlesense]

Can't we just use unicorn farts?

[Brandon]

Oregon's health exchange received $160 million in taxpayer dollars and has yet to sign up a single person.

Obviously the solution is more money.

[Mad Scientist]

If Oregonians are too dumb to pump their own gas they're surely too dumb to navigate a website.

[mr simple]

So you're saying the government just needs to sign them up, for their own good.

[Mad Scientist]

Clearly. And they're going to need a LOT more money to do it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Venezuela's courts are blaming unrest that has resulted in three deaths on an opposition leader and has ordered his arrest.

Ban opposition.

[kibby]

The Oppose Opposition party?

[hotsy totsy]

Their logic is that Leopold Lopez, an opposition leader, urged students to demonstrate, and since they were unarmed and demonstrating, the National Guard just HAD to shoot and beat them, so it's Lopez' fault. "Lopez sent them to be cannon fodder." I kid you not.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oregon's health exchange received $160 million in taxpayer dollars and has yet to sign up a single person.

In Oregon's defense, all that money went toward corruption.

[GILMORE]

+1 rim shot!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The possible merger of Comcast and Time Warner is already stirring up opposition.

Is there much left that Time Warner hasn't merged or tried to merge with?

[Bee Tagger]

Their fist and your face won't be on that list for much longer if you keep this up!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Please. Fist is my middle name. No, wait, first name.

[Pro Libertate]

Just so long as Comcast stays away from my FiOS, we'll have no problems.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Oregon's health exchange received $160 million in taxpayer dollars and has yet to sign up a single person. There could be a federal probe over its problems.

This continuing story never fails to astound me. Even for government that is a shocking failure. Not a single person? Fuck.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Oregon makes HHS look almost competent.

[Dweebston]

It really doesn't.

[Bee Tagger]

giving them the opportunity to describe their gender in any number of different ways

Does that mean I can describe my gender as infinite?

[C. Anacreon]

Infinite Gender would be a great band name.

[Coeus]

Why hackathons are a boys club and how to change that.

So much ridiculousness that I couldn't even pick a quote.

[Brett L]

Its funny because I've been involved with the local makerspace since the start. Had a woman put up a G+ rant about feeling disempowered when we had begged her to be on the board and take a leadership role. Now they just want to be ignored. Only if we ignore them, we're disempowering them. Look, I DGAF if you do or don't have a Y-chromosome or you do or don't attend the hackathon. We, as the leadership and members, just cannot treat you both ways at the same time. So please, have some signaling mechanism for which role you'd like us to play on a given day.

[Dweebston]

You obviously Just Don't Get It, Brett, and they aren't responsible for educating you.

[Coeus]

Those contradictions are in the article as well.

Also, this:

So please, have some signaling mechanism for which role you'd like us to play on a given day.

Is sexist. All men know body language and exactly what the woman wants. Those who claim not to are just making excuses for being misogynistic harassing rapists.

[Brett L]

Well, its funny because we have a robotics team from one of the local HS's that uses the space that seems to have a 60:40 male to female ratio, and they have no problem with spending six hours on a Saturday building shit together without even the usual distractions of mixed gender HS events. So I think this may be learned behavior.

[Coeus]

I have a feeling that a high school robotics team already knows each other pretty well. It's not like there would be a huge group of people.

[Corning]

I think this may be learned behavior.

I think it is natural for 20 something women to feel isolated and alone once they leave their parents nest and then to seek solidarity with a group (Jezebal feminist) consisting of people just like them to fill that void.

Being petty and claiming victimhood to espouse entitlement also naturally flows from that.

[MJGreen]

All men know body language and exactly what the woman wants

Especially nerds.

[Corning]

Especially nerds

Even more so for men nerds knowing the desires of women nerds.

They have a success rate well about 100%.

[Agammamon]

Didn't you ever see 'Revenge of the Nerds'?

[Corning]

Didn't you ever see 'Revenge of the Nerds'?

You mean where the boy nerd tricked the vapid sorority girl into having sex with him by hiding his identity and once it was over the vapid sorority girl discovered his true identity but forgave him because of how great the nerd was at sex. And his greatness at sex was attributed to his constant obsession over it?

[Marshall Gill]

I realized after this movie that I was simply AWESOME at sex. I mean, I obsess about sex so that means I am great at it, right? Right?!

[Virginian]

So please, have some signaling mechanism for which role you'd like us to play on a given day.

Given day? Try different minute.

[Bobarian]

You have to be able to accept and kowtow to both at the same time...

[mr simple]

While I couldn't find any real statistics on the average male/female breakdown at hackathons, anecdotally at least, hackathons appear to be an almost purely male pursuit.

He then provides reason why women don't want to attend, like not wanting to code for two days or having kids. When will we eliminate these sexist, rape culture ideas like personal preferences? Obvious white knight still won't get laid.

[Rhywun]

It's like the last knitting bee I attended - I felt so unwelcome 🙁

[lap83]

"Facebook has implemented customized gender options for users' profiles, giving them the opportunity to describe their gender in any number of different ways."

and the opportunity to other your friends in an equal number of different ways. Yay!

[Mad Scientist]

It would be hilarious if one of the gender options was "normal."

[110 Lean]

When asked, "What's the definition of normal" (with regard to people), my answer is anyone not offended by being labeled normal.

[C. Anacreon]

I'm stealing this, thanks.

[SusanM]

So am I.

[Some call me Tim?]

The real forward thinking move would clearly be to just remove the gender denotation altogether.

[Almanian!]

GENDER DENIER!

*points*

[jesse.in.mb]

Either option would make Facebook Graph Search much less useful.

[110 Lean]

The $2.2 Billion Bird-Scorching Solar Project

A giant solar-power project officially opening this week in the California desert is the first of its kind, and may be among the last, in part because of growing evidence that the technology it uses is killing birds.

The $2.2 billion solar farm, which spans over five square miles of federal land southwest of Las Vegas, includes three towers as tall as 40-story buildings. Nearly 350,000 mirrors, each the size of a garage door, reflect sunlight onto boilers atop the towers, creating steam that drives power generators.

BrightSource wants to build a second tower-based solar farm in California's Riverside County, east of Palm Springs. But the state Energy Commission in December proposed that the company instead use more conventional technologies, such as solar panels or mirrored troughs.

One reason: the BrightSource system appears to be scorching birds that fly through the intense heat surrounding the towers, which can reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The company, which is based in Oakland, Calif., reported finding dozens of dead birds at the Ivanpah plant over the past several months, while workers were testing the plant before it started operating in December. Some of the dead birds appeared to have singed or burned feathers, according to federal biologists and documents filed with the state Energy Commission.

[Francisco d Anconia]

"DOZENS OF BIRDS IN SEVERAL MONTHS!"

The.
Horror.

[MJGreen]

DOZENS!!

/Tobias

[CatoTheElder]

Yeah. But if that happened at a Chevron refinery in CA, there would be hell to pay.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I smell a ratfucker. James O'Keefe with a propane torch singeing dead birds and planting them perhaps. Anything to squash alternate energy plans.

[waffles]

I have no doubt these birds found a way to get killed by solar power. It's just inconsequential. How many birds fly into windows every day. BAN WINDOWS.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm more interested in this death ray.

[Corning]

In my state they are trying to ban dams for killing fish....

And to lower energy consumption generated from those dams state building code specifies windows must be smaller.

So yeah they are already on the "ban windows" band wagon.

[Invisible Finger]

Maybe we can revert to the English practice of TAXING windows.

[Sevo]

Palin's Buttplug|2.13.14 @ 4:43PM|#
"I smell a ratfucker."

That's your upper slip, sleazebag.

[fish]

I smell a ratfucker. James O'Keefe with a propane torch singeing dead birds and planting them perhaps. Anything to squash alternate energy plans.

Kinda conspiratorial doncha think shreeky.....you been tuning in to Glenn Beck on the radio again?

Ya know what this calls for.....

MOAR CHRISTFAG!

[C. Anacreon]

Really? I'll bet in that area it smells more like fried chicken.

[Christophe]

You're a genius.

Put a fricking local and free-range fried chicken place at the base of the tower.

Hippies are going to lap that up.

[Mike M.]

Someone should play the knockout game on your nose as well as your teeth.

[waffles]

I demand Youtube videos of these birds igniting midflight.

[Pro Libertate]

You know, if it's really a common occurrence, such video should be easy to obtain. Though at a 1000?, you'd think there wouldn't be much ignition.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

The reliability factor is more concerning to me. We are consciously deciding to rely on mother nature to be there for us. Solar may be better in a desert, but it still isn't reliable or cheap.

[Brett L]

Thank God we have a deathray to turn upon our enemies after nuclear holocaust.

[Bobarian]

Fallout New Vegas?

[cryptArchy]

Just think after the holocaust Vegas will still be there unlike D.C.

[a better weapon]

Meanwhile, pipelines, oil exploration, fracking, and even just everyday construction projects get hamstrung for a decade over shit like this.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I did a back of the napkin calculation on wind and solar a few years ago, based upon the best information I could find on the efficiency of solar panels and wind turbines, their spacing, how often the wind blows and sun shines...

To replace fossil fuels would require a wind farm the size of South Carolina or a solar array the size of North Dakota.

Think there will be any ecological impacts stemming from such structures?

Greenies are incapable of appreciating scale and considering second order consequences.

[Brett L]

Yeah. IIRC, my calculations were about 60% of the state of Arizona had to be contiguous solar panels 5 years ago to replace all electrical generation capacity. So that doesn't account for all of the transportation fossil fuels.

[PapayaSF]

And that doesn't account for storing energy to be used during, you know, night.

[Mad Scientist]

That's pretty impressive considering that all the man-made structures in the country, roads, sidewalks, skyscrapers, gazebos, etc., combined take up an area about the size of Ohio. The greenies basically want to double our footprint.

[LynchPin1477]

This is a good read for anyone interested in energy.

Yeah, your calculations weren't that far off.

[Rasilio]

I calculated it out globally and came up with a wind farm the size of Russia or a solar array the size of China + Canada

[Mad Scientist]

The answer to this is obvious. The FAA should declare the airspace around the facility to be restricted. Any bird who disobeys these regulations, created for their own good, would then be fined.

[fish]

Any bird who disobeys these regulations, created for their own good, would then be fined.

Pussy! Any bird who disobeys these regulations will be summarily incinerated.

[Sevo]

Wimp!
DRONE those suckers!

[Dweebston]

Imagine the death toll when we perfect microwaving energy down to the planet's surface from geosynchronous orbiting solar collectors.

And then describe it for me, because I honestly have no idea whether that's better or worse for birds than this.

[PapayaSF]

IIRC beam density would not be terribly high.

[Bobarian]

Not until they fix it, because, come on, death ray?

[Agammamon]

Whelp - that's the end of space-based power generation before it even began, right there.

[Coeus]

Feminist Rage

How angry are we? A medium to high level of angry. Everyone knows there's a double standard with regard to female athletes and how they're expected to look pretty while performing amazing athletic feats. The downhill skiing competition, in which the competitors' faces are obscured by masks, is typically a respite from this kind of chauvinism. Now, there's a new pressure on women athletes: You have to look pretty when we can't even see you.

How angry should we be? Pretty angry. That's some gnarly sexism, NBC!

And what did he say?

As the Washington Post's Erik Wemple documented, Porino talked about the steep drops and the G-forces. He then added: "All of that while in a Lycra suit, maybe a little bit of makeup?now that is grace under pressure."

[Duke Trshmnstr of Stench]

OMGOMGOMG you noticed that it was a woman on those skis BIGOTED CIS-GENDERED BIGOT-SEXIST!!!!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Speaking of sexy, can't wait for beach volleyball.

[Anonymous Coward]

Everyone knows there's a double standard with regard to female athletes and how they're expected to look pretty while performing amazing athletic feats.

Or you could be a pretty piker, like Anna Kournikova, or a pretty piker who's also sexually frustrated, like Lolo Jones.

You see, women can be successful in athletics with actually being winners. Why? Because they're attractive. If anything, that's discriminatory against men. Why should we actually have to succeed and get to the head of our respective sports to get endorsement deals and riches?

[Steve G]

Fuck that overexposed, under performing Lolo Jones

http://espn.go.com/olympics/bo.....n-paycheck

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'd do her.

[robc]

Anna K was hugely successful.

Lets ignore the fact that being a top 15 singles tennis player is fucking successful all by itself, she won a fucking gigantic pile of major doubles titles.

[SIV]

No love for Danica Patrick?

[Bobarian]

Richard Petty liked this

[mad libertarian guy]

To be fair, Maria Sharapova is both beautiful and accomplished.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

By Josh Levin

You're still not getting laid Josh.

[MJGreen]

That was written by a dude? "How angry are we?" Fuck off.

[Coeus]

Further proving gender essentialism. He's willing to do that just to obtain resources to procure a mate.

[Corning]

He's willing to do that just to obtain resources to procure a mate.

Asking 10 random women for sex on facebook/match.com/Zoosk/craigslist seems like less effort to me.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I noticed that many of the women on our hockey team were wearing makeup. Tough hot chicks! I got a woody, god forbid. You can't be respected as an athlete if men are also attracted to you?

When did it become a crime to be attracted or want to be attractive to the opposite sex?

Fucking feminists.

[Virginian]

Yeah women like to ogle athletes. Hell, I remember watching two girls get into a serious argument over which US mens swimmer was the hotter one.

[110 Lean]

Venezula Charges Opposition Leader for Deadly Protests

Just a few steps further towards totalitarianism from using federal agencies to go after the opposition. It's coming people.

[Coeus]

I cannot even believe people think these are arguments.

Slate argues against airbnb. A sample:

Airbnb causes costs to rise across the board, but benefits are spread in unequal ways. Median household income in Marfa rose 84 percent between 2000 and 2009, but more than a third of the population still lives in a household earning less than $20,000 a year. Home values rose at even more dramatic rates during the same period (more than 131 percent between 2000 and 2012). Starting next year nearly everyone will owe more in property taxes?but not everyone is augmenting her income with vacation rental profits. And a Marfan who does list her house on Airbnb or VRBO may stand to make more money than others if she's a young, white host: A recent Harvard Business School study found that black hosts on Airbnb consistently charge less than nonblack hosts listing similar properties.

[Mad Scientist]

Statists are so predictable. If the county increases your property taxes, the problem is just obviously your neighbors home improvements, not the county.

[Drake]

Some people made lots of money! Make it stop!

[Brett L]

Are we talking about Marfa, TX? Gentrification?! Of a town that only exists because they filmed Giant out there and a bunch of Hollywood creative types decided to stay? Also, 131% home price increase between 2000 and 2012 is not special in many markets.

[Coeus]

Of a town that only exists because they filmed Giant out there

Spent two nights in that hotel for a wedding 6 months ago. Interesting place. Like Austin with tumbleweeds and empty streets.

[Brett L]

Its cool in its own way. I'm not running the place down, but getting out the smelling salts because this quaint little artsy town in the middle of nowhere that markets itself to rich folks is getting too expensive to live is just silly. Its like bitching about Vail or Jackson Hole getting overpriced compared to other towns in their respective states.

[a better weapon]

A recent Harvard Business School study found that black hosts on Airbnb consistently charge less than nonblack hosts listing similar properties.

*furiously pinches the bridge of my nose and wincing*

That is just achingly stupid! I've used VRBO and I don't know a single thing about the host until he or she is standing at the front door waiting to collect.

Could it be that black hosts are more likely to live in older homes, higher-crime neighborhoods? Nope, can't be. It's our omnipotence that allows us to know the skin color of the host, and our latent racism that says "let's go with the other one."

[Brett L]

Apparently, HBS believes that black people aren't able to price their homes to market value without help? That seems like a racist conclusion to me.

[110 Lean]

"I don't know nothing about rentin' no houses, Miss Scarlet!"

[Rhywun]

I racist-laughed.

[Dweebston]

But I'm sure fostering an atmosphere of hypersensitivity and resentment totally helps break the ice between unintentional racists and their potential black hosts.

[Anonymous Coward]

I see nothing causative in that quote. I suspect that no significant causation between AirBnB and increases median income exists.

[LynchPin1477]

Are they arguing airbnb (which is awesome, by the way) was responsible for the rise in home prices? And what does that have to do with property tax *rates*?

[MJGreen]

Starting next year nearly everyone will owe more in property taxes?but not everyone is augmenting her income with vacation rental profits a second job / selling items on ebay / bargain shopping.

[Christophe]

You know, the problem with arguing by analogy is that the analogous items have to be seen differently by the other party.

I have no doubt they'd ban second jobs, ebay, and outlet malls if they could get away with it.

[CatoTheElder]

This is what happens when Yankees are allowed to move to Texas.

Latin American immigration doesn't bother me; they're mostly hard-working and unpretentious folks. But the damn Yankee liberals and Californian hipsters are really screwing up Texas. (The author is actually from Maryland, but might as well be a Yankee.)

[SweatingGin]

Silk Road 2.0 hacked, all funds stolen

I'm going with the BS explanation. *Maybe* a bug in their code. The "bug" in the bitcoin protocol that it talks about isn't really much of a bug, and has been well know. It doesn't let you send things out mutiple times.

[Cytotoxic]

It might have even been a scam. Why would you store your BTC on a site? Why would that site use a host server to store those BTC? Stupidity on stupidity.

[Christophe]

It's dumb and even the guy running the site says they won't reopen until they use multiparty transactions (so they can stop ever holding funds themselves).

Which at a first level seems to indicate he's not a crook. On the other hand, promising to rebuild (in a way that doesn't let you steal again) is an amazing way to keep the heat off of yourself.

[Sevo]

"Oregon's Health Exchange a Complete Failure"

Well, it's entirely in keeping.

[Hawk Spitui]

Scientists at Kings College, London, have found the first gene which appears to be directly linked to intelligence

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sci.....genes.html

[SIV]

The study was published in Molecular Psychiatry.

lol

[RBS]

Wow. WTF is molecular psychiatry?

[Palin's Buttplug]

IDN, but it sounds right to a determinist like me (I don't believe in free will - it is a mirage).

[Marc F Cheney]

Yeah, but you only say that because you have to.

[SIV]

Take note, my fellow commenters

Palin's Buttplug|2.13.14 @ 4:57PM|#

it sounds right to a determinist like me

[Brett L]

Better living through chemistry?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Brought to you by DuPont, makers of Napalm and Spandex, both designed to stick to human skin.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The study of the neurochemical mechanisms behind psychiatric disorders.

Unless you believe people with bipolar diseases don't have chemical imbalances but are rather cursed by the Gods.

[Jarl ? the booty]

Molecular Psychiatry publishes definitive, high-impact work that elucidates key issues in psychiatry and related fields. The emphasis is on bringing together in one journal the best pre-clinical and clinical research, including research at the cellular, molecular, integrative, epidemiological, translational, clinical, imaging, psychopharmacology, and treatment outcome levels. Cutting-edge articles are highly cited in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience, biochemistry & molecular biology.

http://www.nature.com/mp/index.html

IOW, the radical notion that the function of the brain can be influenced by chemicals, just like every other organ.

[SIV]

"Molecular Phrenology" would sound somewhat more legit.

[Jarl ? the booty]

I would respond, but I'm headed to Atheist* Church.

*well, agnostic

[SIV]

Agnostics don't have a church. It is the One True Non-Religion.

[Tejicano]

Well, to be exact they are not sure the have one. Maybe some of them might be convinced if you built it and made a good argument for it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Of course they bury the lede

Dr. Sylvane Desrivi?res, from King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry and lead author of the study, said: "We wanted to find out how structural differences in the brain relate to differences in intellectual ability.

"It's important to point out that intelligence is influenced by many genetic and environmental factors.

"The gene we identified only explains a tiny proportion of the differences in intellectual ability." ...

Although the genetic variation identified in this study only accounts for an estimated 0.5 per cent of the total variation in intelligence.

Nevertheless, the localization of the gene's effects the cortex in the LH (Why not the RH, for example?), I believe is tantalizing evidence of the reality of multiple g-factors, which should be investigated by further research.

[Christophe]

1. Identify intelligence gene(s).
2. Develop genetic therapy that works on adults (and possibly also changes their offspring).
3. Sell smarts in a pill/shot/whatever.

The future will be amazing.

[SweatingGin]

This is not me.

I usually crash into Van Halen, on my way to GnR.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

A Mathematical Analysis of Randy Johnson's bird killing fastball

[Alton Knutson]

FYI, another translation of Randy Johnson is "Horny Penis".

[rts]

Germany Plans to Raze Towns for Brown Coal and Cheap Energy

How's that nuclear ban working out for ya?

[Drake]

But think of all the people who died of radiation poisoning in Fukushima.

[Redmanfms]

But think of all the people who died of radiation poisoning in Fukushima.

I'm thinking, but all I see is nobody.

[Drake]

That's what I see too. I wonder what the Germans are seeing that would make them think strip mining villages for dirty coal is better than running their reactors?

[Cytotoxic]

How's that nuclear ban working out for ya?

Given what an expensive blunder nuclear is and how affordable coal is, pretty well I have to imagine.

[Drake]

Building new coal plants and relocating entire villages so their land can be strip mined is cheaper than keeping existing nuclear plants operating? I would love to see the numbers on that proposal.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The conservative Media Research Center often urges liberal news outlets to TELL THE TRUTH, but the Reston, VA-based press watchdog isn't telling the truth about its own leader: Brent Bozell doesn't write the syndicated column that appears under his byline.

It is longtime MRC media analysis director Tim Graham who writes "almost everything published under [Bozell's] name," a former MRC employee tells me in an email. "That includes his weekly column. Same goes for his books, which at least carry Graham's name in a secondary billing, but also aren't written by Bozell (but Bozell keeps 80-90% of the advance and all profits!)"

http://jimromenesko.com/2014/0.....-a-column/

Ralph Reed got nothing on this bitch!

[fish]

Shreeky....go back to the medicine cabinet and take two pinks....the small ones....not the large ones or you'll grow breasts again and one of the little brown ones. After they take effect come back and realize that this isn't a pro republican website.

Tard.

[Vulgar Madman]

He is predestined to be tarded. It's science

[Almanian!]

I smell shriek here. Watch out.

[Cytotoxic]

San Diego's electorate is about 18% Hispanic and just elected a socially-libertarian GOP mayor.

1) Can nativists pleasee STFU about how amnesty will somehow turn America into a dictatorship?

2) Can SoCons please STFU about everything?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

[a better weapon]

Considering everyone who isn't actually in the military is either a) a civilian employee of the DoD b) a contractor or c) works somewhere that relies on the paychecks of those in groups a and b, I'd be careful about drawing up too definitive of a conclusion.

As has been discussed before multiple times at HnR, the free flow of labor shouldn't hinge on projected voting patterns. But if that was important to me, this example wouldn't change my mind.

[Cytotoxic]

I do not understand the relevance of the DoD paragraph at all.

[Virginian]

He's saying SD is a Navy town through and through, and that explains why a Republican won. It has nothing to do with immigration or how socially libertarian the guy was.

[Cytotoxic]

But his predecessor was a Dem.

[Virginian]

Yeah it's still a city. It's just a city that a Republican can win. Especially considering what happened to his predecessor.

[Azathoth!!]

Yeah, 18% wasn't enough to swing the election to Alvarez. But they tried.

What? that wasn't what you meant?

[GILMORE]

"Facebook has implemented customized gender options for users' profiles, giving them the opportunity to describe their gender in any number of different ways"

IF "SEXUAL WARBEAST" isn't there, I don't see the point

by the way, I *googled* that and got a virtual self portrait. The internet endlessly Amazes.

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs7.....5r4j5v.jpg

[Corning]

Are SEXUAL WARBEASTs anything like Dick Wolves or Hand Banana?

[GILMORE]

I don't know, but that's a fucking AWESOME picture there.

He's bitchslapping Dragons... with a TREE.

[Agammamon]

Tonight, YOU

[jesse.in.mb]

LA Metro is hosting a speed dating on the Red Line event during lunch time on Valentine's Day.

I actually think the idea is kinda endearing.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

About min. wage (accidentally posted this in wrong thread):

This may come as a surprise to the assorted freak-derps perusing these parts, but I pay myself a salary that equals the average of my payroll. I do this to ensure I remain solvent since I've only been in business three years and still have debt to pay back (to myself and the bank).

I 'could' be a hot shot and raid the coffers but I don't. So when the government increases my costs I get angry because it defers getting my money back and reaching a salary I want.

Plus, my mother won't allow me to take more. She's like the mother on Wahlburger's - she imposes her will.

[110 Lean]

Director of CO Health Exchange Indicted for Fraud, Theft

[x4rqcks3f]

Indicted for doing his job?

[PapayaSF]

Her.

[Rich]

A strange ribbon of energy and particles at the edge of the solar system first spotted by a NASA spacecraft

appears to serve as a sort of "roadmap in the sky" for the interstellar magnetic field, scientists "science" writers say.

"Roadmap in the sky", indeed.

[Coeus]

A strange ribbon of energy and particles at the edge of the solar system first spotted by a NASA spacecraft

I bet there's a horse and whoopi goldberg in there.

[OldMexican]

A strange ribbon of energy and particles at the edge of the solar system first spotted by a NASA spacecraft

Ah, yes - the barrier. Where no man has gone before.

[Tman]

Mike Rowe narrates commercial for Walmart advertising a $250 billion investment in American manufacturing over 10 years, people react rationally and logically.

Just kidding, they lost their fucking minds.

[Anonymous Coward]

Romeapple: It's hypocrisy. Walmart's products are all made in China.

Not only is this demonstrably false, it easily crosses the threshhold of willful stupidity. There are plenty of charges to lay at Wally World's doorstep, but at least have the courtesy to make them true.

Pat: I am uneasy about trusting Walmart to do the right things to better serve this country and its people.

Ah, the budding fascist/corporatist. A political neophyte who believes, but does not have the courage to say, "everything for the state, nothing outside of the state, nothing against the state."

Rose: I want "made in America" too but make you're sure on the side of the WORKER not the corporate greed side ok Mike? Love ya.

Will no one think of the horse and buggy driver and his poor children? They must be fed, and if you the consumer must suffer to make it happen, then Rose will sleep soundly at night knowing that she has beggar'd thy neighbor.

[Tman]

What I always find hilarious about the complaints regarding China and their manufacturing base is that if we didn't buy all that stuff from China through Walmart and other retailers, China wouldn't be able to help float our massive federal debt.

Careful what you wish for morons.

[Jarl ? the booty]

I like how, in these discussions, so many "compassionate" people imply that American workers are inherently more deserving than icky Chinese ones.

[LynchPin1477]

It is not so thinly veiled nationalism.

[Pro Libertate]

Frankly, I'd like Walmart to sell me a good 50" TV for $50.

[GILMORE]

Idiot in the comment refers to Wal-Mart's evil, unsavory business practice of *taking out insurance on its executives, and making itself the beneficiary!* OMG! CORPOARSHUNS EVILS!!

derp

er, yeah, except that's just a basic practice of any (#*$(@* operation, called 'Key Person Insurance'

http://www.entrepreneur.com/en.....-insurance

Lord, they know not what they do. please smite them anyway?

[Jarl ? the booty]

Wait, this is a revelation to people?

What will they say when they hear that movie studios insure their emotionally unstable, drug-addled actors, and dare to name themselves as beneficiaries?

[GILMORE]

Its the same sort of pearl-clutching as when progs refer to any kind of financial hedging practice.

They don't understand what it is, so they go, AHA! EVIL!

[Mickey Rat]

They have a squick reaction to the company benefitting from an employee's death, and they seem to think the employee's families deserve the money.

[robc]

Was discussing with my lawyer today how much insurance the company needed to take out on myself.

[MJGreen]

...Isn't that... the point of the insurance ...?

[Christophe]

You don't understand. They might make money if someone dies. PROFITERING FROM DEATH! That's like doubleplusungood!

[a better weapon]

After Sean calls him a "corporate suck"

Rowe: Well hi there, Sean. From "good person" to corporate suck in 60 seconds! That's gotta be a record! Let me explain something. Better sit down, as the truth may shock you. Ready? I make my living on commercial television. Not television. COMMERCIAL television...

No matter what your job is Sean, if you work in commercial television, the money all flows from the same place. And no ? it's not the advertisers or the corporations that pay the bills. It's you, Sean. The viewer. Just like the customer in a Walmart, the viewer on the sofa programs the airwaves by deciding what to watch and what to buy. In other words, you're the boss.

And now my favorite part:

Don't get me wrong ? I would never imply that your decision to watch a Corporate Spectacle like the International Olympic Games on a Global Network owned by one of the largest Conglomerates on Planet Earth makes you a "corporate suck.

But I might wonder ? given the purity of your own position ? why you ever liked me in the first place?

[a better weapon]

That list bit of snark makes me wonder if he ever comments here.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Any way to get Mike Rowe part of Reason?

He's awesome.

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

Seconded

[Anonymous Coward]

Belgian Parliament Passes Bill Legalizing Child Euthanasia

When, as expected, the bill is signed by the king, Belgium will become the first country in the world to remove any age limit on the practice.

It may be requested by terminally ill children who are in great pain and also have parental consent.

Opponents argue children cannot make such a difficult decision.

It is 12 years since Belgium legalised euthanasia for adults.

In the Netherlands, Belgium's northern neighbour, euthanasia is legal for children over the age of 12, if there is parental consent.

At the risk of summoning up "Age of Consent-Man," can children given informed consent to be killed? Is this just a 51st trimester abortion?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Go back to Breitbart, you fascist SoCon, this is a Victory for Freedom and Dignity! If you can't see something so obvious, I pity you.

/sarc

[Warty]

Ah, the Stand Your Ground Against Children law. It's a good law, and overdue.

[Rich]

"Hey, Kid. Wanna see smoke come out my *eyes*?"

[Christophe]

I just look at the numbers, see that it's basically ~1000 people/year (for adults), and basically stop caring.

I mean if you really wanted to kill your kid, there's easier ways than this one.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Socially liberal MSNBC journalist turns on Wendy Davis.

Jeff Davis' wife said he would be willing to vote for a ban on abortions after 20 weeks if it had properly-drafted exceptions for fetal abnormalities or threats to the mother's health. By the time the MSNBC journalist is through, she's attacked Paul Ryan and John McCain, and concludes:

"It's far too late for [Wendy] Davis to shy away from abortion rights, including the more politically uncomfortable parts, after confronting them head-on in her filibuster. Regardless of what she was trying to say, a political campaign isn't a great place for complex or nuanced moral conversations. On the campaign trail, Davis would likely be better off if she stuck to the broader point she made in her filibuster: "The alleged reason for the bill is to enhance patient safety. But what [the provisions] really do is create provisions that treat women as though they are not capable of making their own medical decisions.""

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/wen.....rtion-trap

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Jeff Davis' wife said *she* would be willing...

[Pro Libertate]

Jeff Davis? As in Jefferson Davis? That sounds familiar to me somehow.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Wendy Davis - her husband was named Jeff. I've been trying to beat that joke to death in these threads.

[Pro Libertate]

MY GOD, SHE'S A RACIST, CONFEDERACY-OBSESSING, SLAVE-OWNING, GUN-LOVING, ABORTION-HATING FREAK!!!

[Invisible Finger]

MSNBC makes me support 90th-trimester abortions.

[110 Lean]

Facebook has implemented customized gender options for users' profiles, giving them the opportunity to describe their gender in any number of different ways.

I wonder if STEVE SMITH is on the list.

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

STEVE SMITH GENDER IS "RAPE"!

[robc]

squirrel test.

This is only a test.

Had this been an actual squirrel, you would have rabies.

[Rich]

I believe there was a slight glitch in The Matrix, as well.

[GILMORE]

I blame rand paul for mucking with the NSA's important work managing the internets

[Rich]

It's probably just NSA's little way of "sticking it to The Man".

[110 Lean]

Squirrels do not carry rabies.

[Clich? Bandit]

I gotta dorp this here:
How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

tl;dr
Proggie techie in SF calls 911 at scene of recent cycle crash. Is subsequently bullied, beaten, thrown in jail, thrown in solitary, released, and finds no recourse through the legal system. Then give the same tips we give for future reference.

Very interesting to see the dissonance dissipate.

[GILMORE]

The derp is still strong with the Prog

" told them that it was an early stage startup; I'm doing this because I feel it's a way to make the world around me better, to bring people joy through better food. I live here, right on this block, in a loving home with 16 roommates. I love this community. I asked them where they lived. And they responded in unison: "Far away! We can't afford to live here."

They exposed a growing tear in our city's social fabric. A class conflict brought on by rising housing prices and economic disparity, resulting in a... policing class that resents the residents they're meant to protect and serve."

See, the problem with the cops? Not undue exercise of authority. Nope. Its that they don't appreciate the *specialness* of the do-gooders and their bond to their community...why can't the police appreciate the community more?

its a fucking *class struggle*, not a whiny bitch getting slapped around by cops.

"I had good intentions, I said. I had called 911 and was following the operator's instructions to remain on the scene until the ambulance arrived. That was all....

...As someone who addressed the staff as "Sir", spoke slowly and deliberately, and constructed logical arguments, I was a more complicated problem than the typical swearing and insults they were used to hearing. The responses of the jailers, though terse and unpleasant, were true, "you are in jail, deal with it.""

You noticing a pattern here?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I don't know, probably if some cops arrested me and started insulting me for something totally unrelated to any crime, I wouldn't try and justify myself. Maybe I wouldn't talk at all. If I did it wouldn't be all defensive.

[GILMORE]

no duh.

This person is shocked that agents of the state are somehow unappreciative of their uniqueness and logic and contributions to the community and...

They are experiencing shock that Statist State Gonna Slap A Bitch who whines. This is somehow News to progtards, who normally believe unflinchingly in the power of our Collective Action Via the Power of Good Government...

...maybe not as much now, but its apparent from the commentary that the disillusioning process has not exactly been comprehensive

[Invisible Finger]

The police just need more TOP MEN like himself.

[Christophe]

Give the kid a break. He probably grew up in a rich neighborhood, never had to deal with senseless violence at all. Probably was taught all his life to trust the police.

Yes, that's utterly naive, but making excuses for bad police behaviour (instead of not even being aware of it) is a small step toward recognizing that this shit is the norm, and it's not justifiable in any way.

policing class that resents the residents they're meant to protect and serve

Not bang on, but he's noticing the "Us vs. Them" mentality of the police. Now all he's got to do is recognize that that's SOP all over the country.

[Lord at War]

Give the kid a break.

Fuck him.

He got "regulated"--He got his gov't regulations good and hard.

Welcome to the club, asshole.

[JeremyR]

Is it really that hard to understand?

There is a nice place.

Rich people move there, buying up everything and causing more and more rich people to move there, causing prices of everything to skyrocket (since there are so many rich people).

Existing people get pushed out their former homes.

This one thing libertarians can't seem to grasp - many people like their homes the way they are. They don't want other people coming in and changing them or driving them out.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Amy Goodman in the Guardian alerts us to an insidious racist threat to voting rights:

"Law professor Michelle Alexander opens her groundbreaking book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, with the story of Jarvious Cotton:

""Cotton's great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Ku Klux Klan for attempting to vote. ... His father was barred from voting by poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, Jarvious Cotton cannot vote because he, like many black men in the United States, has been labeled a felon and is currently on parole.""

http://linkis.com/trib.al/mrzEW

[110 Lean]

Holder is promoting the idea that felons should be able to vote. He and his boss must have seen polling data for the 2014 midterms.

[MJGreen]

Bah! Another person labeled a felon! We really need to reform this felon-labeling system! Because you never know: you may be walking around one day, thinking about who you will vote for, and BAM! You're labeled a felon.

[GILMORE]

See, the way things are now is TOTALLY fucked up.

Blacks are being Felonized at record rates....

...and yet gun owners? they think they deserve to be Equal Citizens?

This clearly needs to be reversed = give all the felons the right to vote, and strip it from gun owners. That should produce an IDEAL SOCIETY posthaste.

[C. Anacreon]

"Has been labeled a felon"? What, he hadn't committed any crimes, never spent a minute in prison, but someone has decided to "label" him in a certain way?

Sweetie, regardless of one's feeling on this issue, people just don't get born as felons, they actually do have a bit of choice in the matter.

[califernian]

to be fair many of the 'felons' are just victims of our insane drug policies and now they can't vote against those policies.

[Anonymous Coward]

Jarvious Cotton is a convicted murderer who shot a 17-year-old in the back. Jarvious threw away his right to vote. Robert Irby never had the chance to vote.

[Christophe]

Jesus fuck. Really?

If I was going to make the case to let convicted felons vote, I'd pick someone with a minor (ideally victimless) crime as my opening example. They'd be a lot easier to humanize and relate to.

The fact that she picked a murderer, probably on the basis of his ancestors being oppressed, says a lot about her thought process.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

The Hemingway Burger!

[Pro Libertate]

That's got to be a fake. The sentences are too long, for one. And it says nothing about getting the beef from a bull properly dispatched by Jose Luis Dominguin.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The John Steinbeck burger - produced by oppressed farmhands who aren't allowed to taste it, and anyway they're too busy lynching the simpleminded guy who put too much ketchup on it.

The Sylvia Plath burger - lovingly heated in the oven until it's well done.

[Pro Libertate]

The George R.R. Martin burger: Made from the beef of fifty brutally murdered cows and served frozen.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

An all new new mini

[SIV]

Only 189hp out of a 2.0 liter 4-cyl turbocharged motor?

At least it hasn't bloated up over 3k lbs yet.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Victorian Valentine's Day cards

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I truly love you
I do not hate you
Let me remove your corset
Before it suffocates you

Our marriage should go off
Without a hitch
You may be a religious minority
But at least you're rich

My love is strong
It's going great guns
So let's get married
And have at least five sons

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Are there problems with the link
Or is it just me
It could be the case
That it's been Sugarfreed

[Notorious G.K.C.]

My sexual readiness
Is suddenly gone
I was thinking of Victoria and Albert
Getting it on

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Alternate version:

I'll give you what you need
I'll be your man
Don't ask Prince Albert
He's still in the can

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Do these disease symptoms
Look like syphilis to you?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

UGH

I hate technology

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Sir Mixalot seems to have been a Victorian. From your link:

"My dear, the truth alone I utter
In saying you're as fat as butter
Fat ladies I love so don't decline
To be my charming Valentine."

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Here are some tasty chocolates
I hope that you will eat 'em
There was something else I wanted to give you
But they got shot off at Antietam

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I do not love
Anybody else
And when I think about you
I commit the solitary vice with myself

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I will keep writing doggerel
Until I get knock-kneed
Unless some kind person
Comes in and stops me

[C. Anacreon]

I keep wanting to say "Burma Shave" at the end of each of these.

[OldMexican]

Oregon's health exchange received $160 million in taxpayer dollars and has yet to sign up a single person. There could be a federal probe over its problems.

Ah, yes - the anal probe.

[Killaz]

Don't know if this has been covered, and checking up didn't see it, but the socialist on the Seattle council sounds like she is going to be a real toomah! for the rest of the members.

http://crosscut.com/2014/02/10.....-it-brief/

"I'm just getting to the next points," she said.

"Please," Burgess said.

Sawant went on to discuss the Senate's failure to extend unemployment benefits and the Farm Bill signed last week by President Barack Obama, which included food stamp cuts.

"Ultimately the lobby of the super-wealthy is going to outweigh us, and so we need to build mass movements," she said. "I wanted to announce that Feb. 15, Saturday, will be a big day for $15now.org, the grassroots campaign that is underway and that I'm supporting."

Sawant described some of the day's planned events, which will include music, workshops, education and discussion about how to counter arguments designed to "demonize" minimum wage increases.

Burgess tried to interrupt. "Ok, thank you," he said.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"No, YOU'RE out of order! Capitalism is out of order! The whole system is out of order!"

[Pro Libertate]

I used capitalism once. Highly addictive.

Fortunately, I'm on Obamacare. Totally cured!

[Coeus]

Remember what Marcotte said? "No feminist ever has argued for the removal of reasonable doubt in regards to rape"

While we all know that is bullshit, it's intesting to find an example so soon after that statement.

[Pro Libertate]

In the law, there's something called strict liability, where you're liable just because a bad thing happens--your intent, negligence, etc. doesn't matter.

In theory, that's not supposed to exist in criminal law, but it does in some areas (e.g., some traffic offenses, giving booze to minors). Why not rape?

[Virginian]

Why not rape?

Because in many rapes, there is no physical evidence to tell the difference between consensual sex and rape.

[Pro Libertate]

It's entirely possible that mine was a rhetorical question.

I'm not sure I buy strict liability for any crime, though I suppose some really don't require so much intent.

[New West Republic]

Facebook has implemented customized gender options for users' profiles...

Here's a radical thought: don't fucking ask. It's not like Facebook has to provide its users with bathrooms. JFHCOAPS.

[RishJoMo]

Sounds like some serious business to me dude.

http://www.GoAnon.tk

[cheap soccer jerseys]

the BrightSource system appears to be scorching birds that fly through the intense heat surrounding the towers, which can reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.