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Obama's $1.5 Million One-Night Hotel Bill, State Department Misplaced $6 Billion, Yellowstone Is NOT Going To Erupt: P.M. Links

Zenon Evans | 4.4.2014 4:30 PM

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  • Zenon Evans

    President Obama racked up an estimated $1.5 million hotel bill for the single night he spent in Brussels. Zack Galifinakis and the rest of the Hangover crew were, surprisingly, not involved.

  • The State Department issued an alert that it can't account for $6 billion in contracting money from the last six years. Maybe their prized camel ate it?
  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the U.S. economy grew by 192,000 jobs in March, though the official unemployment rate remains at 6.7 percent. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blamed Bush while Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) blamed Obama.
  • A senior officer at Fort Hood stated today that gunman Spc. Ivan Lopez "had a medical history that indicates unstable psychiatric or psychological condition."
  • A drone operated by the Pennsylvania Army National Guard crashed near a grade school yesterday. 
  • Despite some wild speculation that Yellowstone National Park's super-volcano is going to erupt, scientists from the park assure that "the chance of that happening in our lifetimes is exceedingly insignificant." That's what they want us to think.

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NEXT: David Harsanyi on Why the General Motors Scandal May Be Worse Than You Think

Zenon Evans is a former Reason staff writer and editor.

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  1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    A drone operated by the Pennsylvania Army National Guard crashed near a grade school yesterday.

    The Amish are back engineering it as we speak.

    1. Brett L   12 years ago

      A PANG spokesman was quoted as saying, "whoops."

      1. Swiss Servator, Fr?hling!!!   12 years ago

        Pfft...get back to me when they put two 105mm rounds into a front yard of a house near a training area and...um, nevermind.

    2. PD Scott   12 years ago

      "'Tis a fine barn, English, but sure 'tis no drone."

      1. paranoid android   12 years ago

        +1 D'oheth!

      2. Michael S. Langston   12 years ago

        Who knows more about electricity than the Amish?

    3. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

      your mask is slipping FoE... Back instead of reverse? 3 more letters gunna make you lose? Is that it?

      You are more fragile than you seem.

      1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        Yeah, that does sound more correct. Where were you seven minutes ago?

        1. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

          waiting... watching...

    4. Rufus J. Firefly   12 years ago

      Hidey-Ho.

      Unfortunately the Yankee brass won't have Ole Rufus from Canad'eh to kick around tonight.

      Out for dinner with the men tonight. Former banking colleagues.

      1. Sudden   12 years ago

        Former banking colleagues.

        The monocle is strong with you, good sir.

        1. Rufus J. Firefly   12 years ago

          We're gonna eat some babies and have children serve them to us. And we're gonna laugh.

          Hard.

  2. rts   12 years ago

    Victims bill of rights would compel spouses to testify

    Crime victims would have more say as their cases wind their way through the justice system under a newly proposed victims bill of rights.

    The long-awaited legislation, part of the government's law-and-order agenda, aims to fix what Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday was a broken part of the justice system.

    "Our government believes that victims of crime deserve and should have a right to information, a right to protection, a right to participation, and where possible a right to restitution," said Harper.

    Still no right to self-defence to avoid, you know, becoming a victim in the first place.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      The children deserve to grow up with the rule of law intact, not the rule of whichever case stirs up people's emotions the most.

    2. paranoid android   12 years ago

      "The rights of criminals have received far more attention than the rights of their victims," Harper said at a seniors' centre in Mississauga, Ont., adding that 'justice is not only for the accused; it is also for the victims."

      He means accused criminals, right? Or is Harper an adherent of the Cardassian philosophy on criminal justice?

      1. Tonio   12 years ago

        The latter, it would appear.

        1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

          "There are four rights!"

          1. Swiss Servator, Fr?hling!!!   12 years ago

            +5

            1. JW   12 years ago

              +5 Jellicos

      2. flye   12 years ago

        Scalia is a Cardassian? That explains a lot.

        1. Notorious G.K.C.   12 years ago

          I like Khloe the best.

  3. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    Despite some wild speculation that Yellowstone National Park's super-volcano is going to erupt, scientists from the park assure that "the chance of that happening in our lifetimes is exceedingly insignificant."

    If the CO2 spewing into the atmo ain't manmade, they're not interested.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Siphon off all the geothermal heat. Energy independence, and you've solved the caldera problem!

      OK, I'm not entirely serious; I don't think that's a feasible engineering feat. But boy would it piss off the enviros!

      1. Tonio   12 years ago

        Well, California does a lot with geothermal energy. I think this involves injecting water into the holes so it comes up as steam, which turns turbines, which turn alternators.

        Would be bad news if they fucked up Old Faithful, though.

        Yes, pitting the green energy people against the natural beauty people is going to provide many years of entertainment.

        1. Sevo   12 years ago

          "Would be bad news if they fucked up Old Faithful, though."

          There's a spout named that outside of Calistoga. Problem is you can see the guy at the faucet.

          1. Grand Moff Serious Man   12 years ago

            I visited the Old Faithful geyser at Callistoga Springs year ago.

            It was not faithful, it was actually 40 minutes late.

  4. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

    A senior officer at Fort Hood stated today that gunman Spc. Ivan Lopez "had a medical history that indicates unstable psychiatric or psychological condition."

    So why wasn't he let go once they realized he was unstable?

    1. Jerry on the boat   12 years ago

      Because that would be an admission to dispel 99% of the military.

      1. Swiss Servator, Fr?hling!!!   12 years ago

        Dispel? What level spell is "Dispel Army"?

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          I wonder where they go when you dispel them? Another dimension or to just some other geographical location on Earth? Pretty powerful spell.

          1. Sudden   12 years ago

            If its another location on Earth its just a telekinesis spell over an entire area. Any mid-level mage with a Staff of Telekinesis can do that shit.

            Alternate dimensions though? That is impressive.

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              With that much mass? That's a lot of telekinecting.

        2. Soros' Wank-noose   12 years ago

          Level?!? pssh...Thoth laughs at your "level"!

    2. Notorious G.K.C.   12 years ago

      Captain Hindsight?

    3. Jayburd   12 years ago

      "So why wasn't he let go once they realized he was unstable?"
      Yeah, the San Diego County Sherriffs' would have hired him.

    4. Michael S. Langston   12 years ago

      There was a guy who shot up an AirForce base in Colorado Springs back in the mid 90's.

      He was recently discharged for being emotionally and mentally unstable.

      At that time the question was - how stupid is it to fire someone from the military whom you know is emotional unstable?

      Now the question is why wasn't he gone faster?

      Though in this case - we might also have the extra piece that war stress caused some of the instability - and if so, discharging him without treatment is immoral.

  5. The DerpRider   12 years ago

    Fess up. Which one of you is the slide pooper? I know we have several Michiganders commenting here.

    1. Restoras   12 years ago

      Tyler Durden?

    2. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

      I'm confused by this article. How do you tell the mystery pooper's leavings from the rest of Michigan?

      1. The DerpRider   12 years ago

        They're fresh?

      2. Zeb   12 years ago

        The rest of Michigan is under the slide.

        1. fish_remote   12 years ago

          Did you guys know that you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?

          True.....I swear.

          1. The DerpRider   12 years ago

            Can I somehow get tomacco if I put it in the garden?

            1. RannedPall   12 years ago

              Well, depends on if you want it to taste like grandma or not.

          2. Rufus J. Firefly   12 years ago

            What?

    3. Ted S.   12 years ago

      It's Sloopy, taking Fuck Michigan a bit too seriously.

      1. Restoras   12 years ago

        Wouldn't that involve leaving a different bodily material behind?

        1. Ted S.   12 years ago

          Depends on what your kink is.

  6. Brett L   12 years ago

    The best thing to ever come out of Texas Tech.

    Billing it as "the future of tailgating" piqued our interest, so we reached out to Texas Tech for some more information about what we were seeing. We were pointed in the direction of a product called "boxGATE," which was founded by two Texas Tech grads, Jane't Howey and Sheryl Estes.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Janet spells her name with an extraneous apostrophe?

      That makes her even more of a monster than Nicole!

      1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

        "It's pronounced Zhan-ay."

        1. Ted S.   12 years ago

          Zhan? did that 20 years ago.

          Why people have a problem with ISO-8859-1(5) is beyond me.

    2. BigT   12 years ago

      That's actually kind of modest compared to some of the things I've seen parked outside of Ohio Stadium.

    3. B.P.   12 years ago

      More shipping containers...

      http://www.viraldoza.com/cant-.....last-one/#

      1. Root Boy   12 years ago

        And a house near where I used to live:

        http://pv14house.com/

        Me - I'd be feeling too deployed living in something like that. Also, why is a shipping container on wheels better than an airstream?

    4. DesigNate   12 years ago

      God damnit, how the hell did I not think of this!

      And Architecture FTW!

  7. tarran   12 years ago

    As I started reading the article on the hotel bill, Slayer's Skeletons of Society showed up in my Pandora feed. I find this strangely appropriate.

  8. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    A senior officer at Fort Hood stated today that gunman Spc. Ivan Lopez "had a medical history that indicates unstable psychiatric or psychological condition."

    This is gonna be a helluva diclaimer to bury at the end of the next Ambien commercial.

    1. paranoid android   12 years ago

      "Do not take this drug if you are pregnant, nursing, or really hate your fucking job..."

      1. Swiss Servator, Fr?hling!!!   12 years ago

        "Contact a physician immediately if you are contemplating mass murder"

        1. Notorious G.K.C.   12 years ago

          "or if there is more than one voice in your head"

  9. rts   12 years ago

    Bad cops busted for cocaine, hiring prostitute, drunk driving

    Four police officers were fired and dozens more reprimanded after 51 complaints were substantiated by the Office of the Police Complaints Commission in 2013.

    Among the substantiated complaints:

    A New Westminster police officer was caught buying cocaine from a known drug dealer to whom he was already in debt, using the drug and failing to pay his bar tab. He was fired.

    In Vancouver, a police officer used the police database to conduct unauthorized searches while maintaining a personal relationship with someone who he knew associated with criminals. The same officer was also found to have "used the services of a prostitute." He was also fired.

    1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

      At least they apparently paid her, instead of threatening to lock her up for some BS.

      1. Mellow Kitty   12 years ago

        Presumably because she complied. Cops present, by far, the biggest danger to sex workers. But maybe Tony would like to come out of the woodwork again and tell me how he knows better.

    2. paranoid android   12 years ago

      So wait, in Canada, when cops engage in all sorts of lewdness and corruption and criminal activity while on the job, they get fired? What a screwy concept!

      1. Rufus J. Firefly   12 years ago

        It's the legacy left by Dudley Do-Right.

        1. Root Boy   12 years ago

          I think if the cops are doing something tooootally illegal (drugs, etc) they will see some time/get fired. Just heard about a B-more cop getting 10 years for something like that.

          It's when they steal/assault/kill average citizens which are justified and excused as part of the job. Shit happens don't you know.

        2. SusanM   12 years ago

          It's Benton Fraser's fine example.

          1. kibby   12 years ago

            Thank you for this.

      2. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

        Uh don't get too excited. Cops can still get away with lots of abuse, but the situation is better than in most of America. Don't look to the RCMP for anything. DO NOT make contact with the Toronto police they are Nazis.

    3. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Those sound like normal cops. Why does the headline use the word "bad"?

      1. Restoras   12 years ago

        And why were they 'fired'?

    4. flye   12 years ago

      Who cares of some cop buys cocai... wait, he failed to pay his bar tab?!? Monster.

    5. alan_s   12 years ago

      Fired? I believe the word that the police office should be searching for is "promoted."

  10. DEG   12 years ago

    President Obama racked up an estimated $1.5 million hotel bill for the single night he spent in Brussels

    It's good to be the king.

    1. DEG   12 years ago

      Reading the article, the cost includes the advance team's stay of two weeks.

      1. kinnath   12 years ago

        Doesn't matter. The hotel always charges incidentals to the credit card that reserved the room.

        1. DEG   12 years ago

          I know the hotel always charges incidentals to the credit card used to reserve the room.

          After I posted "It's good to be the king", I thought, "1.5 million is a shit ton for one night, even for all the folks that travel with the president, and even at European prices." Then I read the article and saw the 1.5 million includes the two week stay for the advance team. The 1.5 million figure then makes a lot more sense.

          1. alan_s   12 years ago

            Unless this advance team consisted of 500 people or more, it still sounds pretty unreasonable to me.

            1. DEG   12 years ago

              It was 200-something rooms for two weeks, plus offices and meeting areas. For that amount of space at European prices, I'm not surprised.

              Needing that amount of space on the other hand...

          2. Suthenboy   12 years ago

            Yep. Rooms, food, booze and hookers for the SS detail for two weeks aint cheap.

      2. Zeb   12 years ago

        I don't give a shit. Was it absolutely necessary to fulfill his duties as president to stay in Brussels that night? If not, he should have to pay for the whole thing himself.

        Honestly, today with Internets and telephones and everything, I don't think the president should ever leave the Whitehouse unless it is absolutely necessary and required of him as part of the job or he pays for all associated costs including security himself. Not only is it a huge waste of money, it is a huge pain in the ass for the people in the places he visits. If you are so goddamn fragile and precious that you can't go out in public without millions of dollars of security, maybe you shouldn't go out in public.

        1. DEG   12 years ago

          I also don't think the president should travel, and that if he does, he should pay for it.

        2. Tonio   12 years ago

          Don't see why he couldn't stay on Air Force One for an overnight.

          1. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

            Michelle pulls people's arms out of their sockets when she doesn't get to stay in a nice hotel.

            1. shortviking   12 years ago

              Wookiees are known to do that.

              1. politicsbyothermeans   12 years ago

                Did you guys coordinate this ahead of time?

        3. Root Boy   12 years ago

          To me it's more the creeping excess of state security (SS) that demands 40 agents, a couple of swat teams, 4 decoy vehicles, etc that is mostly causing this (plus it pisses off the host country).

          That 1.5mil doesn't include the cost to bring over 2 AF1s plus a couple C17s to carry all the vehicles.

          1. Virginian   12 years ago

            I think it was National Review had a nice little comparison. Obama arrived to the meeting in a motorcade with tons of guards and SS agents. The Dutch PM rode a bike. Just pedaled over by himself.

            We've lost the republican political culture, where we considered the President to be a man charged with thankless but necessary tasks, someone to be monitored as an employee, and changed it to an imperial political culture, where the President is savior and redeemer and the voice of the people.

            Nothing good ever came of that.

  11. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    President Obama racked up an estimated $1.5 million hotel bill for the single night he spent in Brussels.

    But do you have any idea the cost of Skype?

    1. Zeb   12 years ago

      Yes, exactly. I feel like I repeat this a lot, but fuck it. Why does the president need to leave the Whitehouse or other already secure locations ever? If he wants to go out, he can pay for it himself.

    2. Juice   12 years ago

      But that's monitored by the...oh.

  12. Brett L   12 years ago

    Mazda issues recall because of gas-hufffing spiders.

    1. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

      I can't think of any reason why spiders are attracted to this specific model. There's got to be more to it than just the vent.

    2. Corning   12 years ago

      Gas huffing spiders....

      Screw Zombies and Dragons this is an apocalypse causing monster I can believe in.

      1. Root Boy   12 years ago

        http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271367/?ref_=nv_sr_1

        1. Corning   12 years ago

          Why am I not the least bit surprised that it stars Arquette.

          1. Root Boy   12 years ago

            Well, he was in the Scream movies, but I guess that is what you meant.

            1. Corning   12 years ago

              Also in Ravenous..

              Which makes the top 5 movies with a compound fractures and the top 5 movies with cannibalism lists and the top 2 movie with a compound fracture and cannibalism.

              1. Coeus   12 years ago

                I now know 3 other people who liked that movie.

                The super-powered cannibal fight set to discordant fiddle music at the end was a masterpiece.

                1. The Laconic   12 years ago

                  You "know" 4 people who liked Ravenous. I don't think it's underrated so much as unknown. Everyone who mentions it seems to like it.

                  1. Bobarian   12 years ago

                    ^^This. Great fucking movie. Guy Pearce and Robert Carlyle rocked.

    3. Rufus J. Firefly   12 years ago

      Well, it's time to shakedown Mazda, right?

    4. kibby   12 years ago

      This is almost my worst nightmare.

  13. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    The State Department issued an alert that it can't account for $6 billion in contracting money from the last six years.

    Well, we know it wasn't spent on securing embassies and consulates.

    1. Notorious G.K.C.   12 years ago

      Burn! I mean, literally.

    2. fish_remote   12 years ago

      Well, we know it wasn't spent on securing embassies and consulates.

      What difference ? at this point, does it make?

    3. DJF   12 years ago

      So Hillary bet the money on more Arkansas real estate? She should have stuck with cattle futures.

  14. PD Scott   12 years ago

    If you want something visual: saw part of this on TCM Underground the other day. Very Terry Gilliamesque. From 1959 New York, Stan Vanderbeek's Science Friction.

    Trigger warnings: brief female nudity, some beefcake, flashing may cause seizures, possible confusion due to not recognizing late 50s cultural figures.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Mechanical Principles

    2. Big Chief   12 years ago

      But no mention that the whole thing is just a set up for a "your brain on drugs" commercial?

  15. Rufus J. Firefly   12 years ago

    "President Obama racked up an estimated $1.5 million hotel bill for the single night he spent in Brussels. Zack Galifinakis and the rest of the Hangover crew were, surprisingly, not involved."

    Les mots justes. Hm.

    Ah. Let them eat cake. No. Let them eat crumbs!

  16. Brett L   12 years ago

    Hey, look, a male teacher actually caught having sex with a student.

    Lighthouse Point Police said Eric Beasley, 24, admitted that he had performed a sex act on the girl and that he was the girl's 9th grade biology teacher at the school.

    One hopes she'll never fall for the "special tutoring" line again.

    1. PD Scott   12 years ago

      "You try to make biology REAL for the students and this is what you get!"

      1. fish_remote   12 years ago

        Uttered in a vaguely British, David Attenboroughish, accent:

        Now note the male primate attempts to mount the female after a brief courtship ritual......

    2. jamesrk   12 years ago

      " I was just teaching her how to multiply"

    3. Juice   12 years ago

      he performed in on her not with her

  17. tarran   12 years ago

    Remember that psychology paper that was retracted because of legal threats by the evil denier legions that it bravely outed as being dangerously insane?

    Turns out that it had more to do with the ethical problems of assigning psychopathology to people he disliked.

    As a result of its investigation, which was carried out in respect of academic, ethical and legal factors, Frontiers came to the conclusion that it could not continue to carry the paper, which does not sufficiently protect the rights of the studied subjects. Specifically, the article categorizes the behaviour of identifiable individuals within the context of psychopathological characteristics. Frontiers informed the authors of the conclusions of our investigation and worked with the authors in good faith, providing them with the opportunity of submitting a new paper for peer review that would address the issues identified and that could be published simultaneously with the retraction notice.

    The authors agreed and subsequently proposed a new paper that was substantially similar to the original paper and, crucially, did not deal adequately with the issues raised by Frontiers.

    To get the background on the hapless Lewandowsky and his unconscious documentation of his mental health issues via the papers he publishes, see Climate Audit.

    1. Root Boy   12 years ago

      A rare example of a scientific journal NOT being in the tank for AGW (or at least not so much that they will publish obvious bile).

      wattsupwiththat.com also has some great posts about that jerk.

    2. Juice   12 years ago

      So it's time for all the alarmist bloggers to retract their posts too? What the fuck am I saying?

  18. GILMORE   12 years ago

    "A senior officer at Fort Hood stated today that gunman Spc. Ivan Lopez "had a medical history that indicates unstable psychiatric or psychological condition.""

    There is no sugarcoating it: Flight 370 is Late

    1. GILMORE   12 years ago

      because going on a shooting spree, then capping yourself? Is otherwise healthy behavior... unless your doctor prescribed Prozac: in which case, DUDE YER FUCKED IN TEH NUTZBASKETS?

  19. PD Scott   12 years ago

    Subatomic scofflaws: Nanoparticles found to violate second law of thermodynamics

    The second law of thermodynamics is the one that makes perpetual motion machines impossible. It states that the entropy ? the measure for the disorder of a system ? of any isolated system cannot decrease spontaneously, with the system evolving towards the state of maximum entropy (favoring disorder). The team has shown that a nanoparticle trapped with laser light temporarily violates this law. This seeming violation of universal law is transient, something that the researchers first derived as a mathematical model of fluctuations expected at the nanoscale... by measuring the oscillations in the particle, the researchers were able to determine that the nanoparticle would, at times, effectively release heat to its warming surroundings rather than absorb heat.

    1. Brett L   12 years ago

      Hmm. I'm not sure at all about this. That doesn't sound like a violation to me. They say they have a random distribution, but I'm skeptical. Even in a random distribution at equilibrium, you can have pockets that violate the distribution proposed by the system having maximum entropy.

    2. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

      Uh.... not sure of this is just the usual shitty reporting you get in science news, but the system described isn't isolated; the laser trap is an external power source.

      1. alan_s   12 years ago

        That's what I was thinking, this doesn't seem on the surface to be a violation at all.

    3. Zeb   12 years ago

      Maybe I am missing something, but that doesn't surprise me too much.

    4. Corning   12 years ago

      Carbon is the building block of life.

      How life does not break the laws governing Entropy is still a mystery to me.

      A brain or an an eye seem pretty complex...and they did not exist in the distant past.

      Shouldn't we have started with Brains and Eyeballs then have them degrade over time...not become more complex as time passes?

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        Life is powered by an external system--the sun. We don't defy entropy.

        1. Corning   12 years ago

          Seems to me the universe gives a crap if the earth processes the suns energy via dead physical mechanics like it does on Venus or with living mechanics like brains and eyeballs on earth.

          The more complex they get seems to be irrelevant to an open system.

          "More complex less complex i could give a shit" said the universe "just so long as you break down"

          I propose to rewrite it.

          Shit breaks down. do it fancy or do it simple makes no difference.

          1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

            Seems to me

            Dr. Corning, armchair PhD.

          2. Michael S. Langston   12 years ago

            The complexity of human is life is strange - given the caloric intake required for large brains and the fact that they are not required for the vast majority of other life makes humans an outlier.

            However, since this is all based upon random mutations, it doesn't violate entropy.

            But given what's need for intelligent life, IE - you need stable orbits, goldilocks zone, water, etc, etc, etc, - then not just the random mutation, but specific ones over time to intelligent life and have that intelligent life survive, thrive, and become their own technological power - is there's a cosmic lottery, human life has to be a winner.

            Even here - had the dinos not died out - its unlikely we'd be here today.

            Which is why I think finding other intelligent life is unlikely, though I don't think that means intelligent life doesn't exist elsewhere.

            Only that given the distances to find them and the rarity of intelligent life - I'm not sure two civilizations will ever meet.

            Of course figure out some way to travel faster than the speed of light or other technologies which may (even though highly unlikely) exist in the future which help travel over distances and who knows.

            I do think intelligent life exists elsewhere and think if we find it it will likely be much different than we assumed, but I don't think the rarity of our situation here shouldn't be taken lightly.

            & given that rarity - finding other intelligent life seems unlikely.

            1. Michael S. Langston   12 years ago

              I will add one thought, which is even the rarest or rare events will happen an infinite number of times over an infinite time line.

              Which is what makes the search so interesting - as the answer to the question "Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe" will be global, human changing thought.

              Just ask the Vatican - IIRC a few-to-five or so years back they came out with a proclamation that "finding life on other planets is compatible with Christianity".

              Not saying I agree with their logic here - but I think the fact they would hedge their bets on such an unlikely future event speaks volumes to the power of the question itself.

              & the power of the answer is going to be exponentially larger.

      2. Agammamon   12 years ago

        The same way your refrigerator does it - by decreasing entropy *locally* while increasing the total entropy inside the closed system by as much or more than it decreased it locally, giving a net gain of entropy inside the closed system.

        The closed system in this case being the whole universe.

        1. NotAnotherSkippy   12 years ago

          Winner! Bonus points if used to counter the "disproof" of evolution.

  20. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

    Stephen Colbert Is CBS' Top Choice to Succeed Letterman, and He's Into It

    http://mashable.com/2014/04/04.....ate-night/

    Good choice.

    1. Corning   12 years ago

      No.

      Louis CK is the only choice worth talking about.

      1. DesigNate   12 years ago

        I actually liked his monologue on SNL last week. I could see him taking over from Letterman.

        1. Root Boy   12 years ago

          I thought we were hoping for closet conservitarian Craig Ferguson?

          1. PD Scott   12 years ago

            The later hour gives him more latitude.

          2. DesigNate   12 years ago

            I think I heard that he really likes his 12:30 spot cause it allows him to be more himself.

        2. Root Boy   12 years ago

          Also, was Lewis CK the FBI boss on American Hustle? If so, he did well in a straight role.

          1. paranoid android   12 years ago

            He was also good in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, albeit quite underutilized.

          2. Corning   12 years ago

            was Lewis CK the FBI boss on American Hustle?

            He was...

            Though I would say he played a straight man in that movie...not necessarily a straight role.

            He was very funny in that movie in my opinion.

      2. flye   12 years ago

        Louis CK would be great, but why would he want the gig?

        I nominate Paul F Tompkins, but only if he can drink during.

        1. gimmeasammich   12 years ago

          He already has the giant gap in his teeth and nice suits. He is also much funnier than Letterman. I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down...

          1. flye   12 years ago

            And he's a natural interviewer on his Speakeasy web series, and he does a ton of characters -- although the world may not be ready for Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber on a regular basis.

            That's it, I'm contacting the network. CBS right? So probably needs to be telegram, or messenger boy.

            1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

              Doug Stanhope.

              Until he gets fired, which would be soon.

              1. flye   12 years ago

                Oooh, that is good. Maybe that could be the new late show -- a rotation of comedians until each wears out his or her welcome.

              2. The Laconic   12 years ago

                I didn't realize how filthy Doug Stanhope is until I started listening to the Sirius comedy channels regularly. I like it.

            2. gimmeasammich   12 years ago

              Fuck. Yes. He could then work his being fired into his routine, like he does with the Man Show. "You're that asshole who ruined the Man Show! Fuck you, man!"

              1. Sudden   12 years ago

                What the fuck is wrong with all you guys?

                Zombie Morton Downey Jr.

                /drops mic

                1. Juice   12 years ago

                  Aw, man, I used to watch his show every night.

        2. PD Scott   12 years ago

          I don't know what it is about him, but I can't stand Paul F Tompkins.

    2. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

      Colbert is a great choice if you want to follow up laughter-free Letterman with more no-laugh-zone.

      Louis CK is an interesting possibility but I'm not sure if he could sustain it.

      Craig Ferguson is better off on his own zany show and not shackled to Letterman's leftover rules and routines.

      Best solution: just let Late Night die. One less of these things.

      1. gimmeasammich   12 years ago

        As long as Paul Shaffer goes along with it, I'm OK with this.

    3. 110 Lean   12 years ago

      I noticed that you used the word "top" which I find interesting, given that "top" refers to a gay man who takes the top position during anal sex and the fact that in another thread that you hint that you are questioning (again as in the "Q" in GLBTQ, where the "Q" stand for questioning). So if you are questioning and also thinking about being a top, I gotta ask what is your top reason for wanting to be a top? I trust you are okay with me questioning you about this as you are one of HyR's top commenters as your comments and insights are always top notch. I bet other top commenters here, be they GLBTQ (or not) are questioning your desire to be a top as well. In fact I suspect that for your fellow top commenters, it's their top concern. And as you know, they are always questioning everything.

      1. 110 Lean   12 years ago

        @ Buttplug, BTW.

        1. The Laconic   12 years ago

          @ Buttplug, BTW.

          May I ask why?

      2. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

        I didn't use the word unless cutting and pasting counts.

        But I have no issue with the LBGT community - as long as I can freely use the word "fag" as a literary device.

  21. Protagoronus   12 years ago

    Sarcasmic ? I thought you would like this one:

    Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.? In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law, and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal.

    ? Karl Popper

    1. Notorious G.K.C.   12 years ago

      Orville Reddenbacher's rival!

    2. BigT   12 years ago

      We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.

      Is this a-hole asking to be put away? It seems so, since he is clearly intolerant.

      1. Protagoronus   12 years ago

        1945 quote so no worries

        1. LynchPin1477   12 years ago

          The only that gave it away was the style. The content seems all to modern.

    3. LynchPin1477   12 years ago

      I just strained my neocortex trying to follow all the twists and turns of that "logic".

      1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

        Popper is pretty good, usually. Just read some of the titles to his books.

    4. Jayburd   12 years ago

      MEAN PEOPLE SUCK!

  22. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    Despite some wild speculation that Yellowstone National Park's super-volcano is going to erupt, scientists from the park assure that "the chance of that happening in our lifetimes is exceedingly insignificant." That's what they want us to think.

    I'd just like to go on record as saying this is not high on my list of "Things keeping Me Up at Night". I didn't even feel the "earthquake" last weekend.

    The other evening, I got into an interesting discussion with a couple of people about Peak Energy. Interesting, because it was practical-solutions-driven, not OMFG ICKY CARBON WILL KILL US!

    I finally said I was pretty sure I wouldn't even be around to see how the heat death of the universe plays out, and that I worry more about the government's ongoing efforts to destroy the economy in the here and now. Gloomy agreement ensued.

    1. NotAnotherSkippy   12 years ago

      Good news! If the current observation that the expansion of the universe i hyperbolic, and if there is never a change to that state, then it remains an open system and entropy can decrease!

      Just wanted to leave you with that cheer up for the weekend.

      Or we could burn Thorium. Just sayin'.

  23. Tim   12 years ago

    You'd think all that magma at a shallow depth would be a great source for geothermal energy.

    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      Magma, G.E.

      1. Swiss Servator, Fr?hling!!!   12 years ago

        *narrows gaze*

        Don't think I didn't see what you did there...

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          I couldn't come up with anything like "P.I.", sadly.

  24. PD Scott   12 years ago

    Has DeBeers filed a cease and desist suit yet?: New way to make diamonds discovered at Stanford.

    While originally setting out to find a way to make graphene usable in transistors, the team led by researcher Sarp Kaya added a few layers of graphene to a platinum substrate, and then exposed the top graphene layers to hydrogen. Instead of producing a high-performance replacement for silicon like the scientists had hoped, the process started a chain reaction that altered the structure of all the graphene layers into much harder diamond-like structures.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      When do we get our 3D-printed diamonds?

      (At least they don't take as long to synthesize as star sapphires.)

      1. SusanM   12 years ago

        I'd settle for genuine Kansas City Rocket Bourbon (smooth!)

    2. Restoras   12 years ago

      I wonder how that would work - it isn't like DeBeers 'makes' the diamonds, right?

    3. Tim   12 years ago

      MCCOY: These look real.
      KOROB: They are, I assure you. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires. All the crystalline forms that you cherish above all things. A fortune of them for each of you if you leave here without further inquiry.
      KIRK: We could manufacture a ton of these on our ship. They mean nothing to us.

      1. LynchPin1477   12 years ago

        Wow, Roddenberry (or his writers) had a much stronger grasp of economics than most people in Hollywood today.

    4. Root Boy   12 years ago

      I read years ago about creating diamond coatings on electrical/electronic components - put it in a mw with some methane and they could create a diamond layer on the chip or board.

      Diamond is an awesome heat conductor, but does not conduct electricity.

      1. NotAnotherSkippy   12 years ago

        Isotopically pure C12, single crystal diamond has 8 times the thermal conductivity of copper and a high dielectric breakdown. There are many well known processes for creating thin-film diamond, PECVD and ALD amongst them. They are used in wear coatings for their durability, but never found a home in semiconductors because of their large bandgap, inability to grow a nice, cheap boule, and difficulty in doping the resulting crystal.

    5. Corning   12 years ago

      Instead of producing a high-performance replacement for silicon

      How is diamond not a high-performance replacement for silicon?

      Pretty sure the melting point of diamond is much higher then the melting point of glass.

    6. PD Scott   12 years ago

      If you could find a catalytic process to split CO2 (I accept this is very unlikely), then take the carbon and diamondize it, you would have a terrific and useful carbon sequestration technology. Not only would you have tons of industrial diamonds but you would make envirowhiners cry more than if you'd poured a barrel of crude oil on a glacier and lit it on fire.

      It's possible reading this board for years has made me somewhat worse as a human being.

      1. NotAnotherSkippy   12 years ago

        Catalytic processes do not allow you to run reactions in reverse. That takes energy. It's not unlikely; it's impossible.

    7. Juice   12 years ago

      The way they describe it, it sounds like they made nanodiamond, which is a grey powder and not a pretty, clear rock.

  25. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    You'd think all that magma at a shallow depth would be a great source for geothermal energy.

    Haha, just imagine the spaz attack the Watermelons would have if the Dept of the Interior announced a multi-billion dollar geothermal generating station fifty yards from Old Faithful, with transmission lines running west to Boise and east to Salt Lake City.

    1. Tim   12 years ago

      Bleeding off some heat would also postpone judgement day.

  26. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

    Poll: Arya and The Hound should become

    a) a sitcom

    b) the next Disney-Pixar movie in the vein of Frozen.

    c) fodder for SugarFic

    d) the next Assassin's Creed installment

    e) all of the above

    1. Restoras   12 years ago

      You left out

      f) porn

      1. Ted S.   12 years ago

        I think that's covered by C).

        1. Bobarian   12 years ago

          SugarFic is not Porn. Infinitely worse.

      2. gimmeasammich   12 years ago

        I thought that was already covered by Rule 34?

    2. SugarFree   12 years ago

      b, I think. Just need to crank out some songs they explain exactly want the character are thinking and feeling for the Disney fans on the spectrum and they can start working on it right away.

      And they need some sort of Master/Blaster move where she sits on his shoulders and fires arrows as he melees.

      1. Ted S.   12 years ago

        Duff Beer for me,
        Duff Beer for you;
        I'll have a Duff,
        You have one too.

        1. SugarFree   12 years ago

          "I AM THE LIZARD QUEEN!"

      2. Tim   12 years ago

        SIDE BY SIDE

        Oh we ain't got a barrel of money
        Maybe we're ragged and funny
        But we'll travel along singin' our song side by side

        Don't know what's comin' tomorrow
        Maybe it's trouble and sorrow
        But we'll travel the road sharin' our load side by side

        Through all kinds of weather
        What if the sky should fall?
        Just so long as we're together
        It doesn't matter at all...

        1. SugarFree   12 years ago

          Duh. We just adapt all the songs from the books. A jaunty "Rains of Castamere" will be perfect for the Inn Slaughter. And a slow version of "The Beer and The Maiden Fair" will work out for when The Hound is ___________ and asks Arya ____________ and she ____________.

    3. Tim   12 years ago

      e

    4. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

      Not even 20 minutes and I'm already so happy I thought to post this.

    5. Corning   12 years ago

      I am already forgetting the TV show.

      Have the hound and Arya confronted the Tickler in the inn yet?

      1. Terr   12 years ago

        The WoW chapter GRRM just released where she assassinates Raff the Sweetling is pretty cool.

        1. Corning   12 years ago

          What?!?!

          Also

          Why does he keep doing this.

          Swear to god i am going to read the whole book on the Internet before it even comes out.

    6. Corning   12 years ago

      The hound had such a hard time trying to convince Sansa that all men are killers and he made a huge point about how important it was to him to convince her of that.

      Why does he not make any connection or insight into how easy it is to convince Arya about that fact?

      This is a problem in the book and the TV show.

      The hounds little bird needs convincing for who knows what reason but the Stark bitch should just be ignored.

      Weirdness.

      1. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

        Why does he not make any connection or insight into how easy it is to convince Arya about that fact?

        Uh I don't think Arya needs any convincing. Her body count and psychopathy are only just getting started.

        1. Corning   12 years ago

          Not what I am talking about.

          The hound really really wanted Sansa to understand about men being killers.

          It is obvious Arya, and it is obvious the hound knows this, understands men are killers.

          But there is no acknowledgement of this by the Hound. He pretty much ignores Arya in terms of teaching her anything.

    7. lap83   12 years ago

      e.

      I think they're the cutest couple on the show. Is that weird?

      1. Sudden   12 years ago

        The cutest couple on that show are the couple of lesbians getting it on while Peter Baelish gives instructions.

        1. lap83   12 years ago

          You mean the "sexposition"? Not cute. Hilariously lame maybe. Arya and the Hound are adorable and integral to the plot. The sexposition just makes me think the writers were hungover for that part.

  27. LynchPin1477   12 years ago

    A drone operated by the Pennsylvania Army National Guard crashed near a grade school yesterday

    Ha, my old Boy Scout camp is right next door to that. We used to hear planes and shit from the base all the time. One of our troop leaders was attached that base.

  28. Coeus   12 years ago

    Update from the atheist movement (as if anyone really cares, but this is funny):

    First, a bit of backstory:

    SJWs decided to hijack the atheist community a few years ago. This wasn't difficult, because it was mostly proggies. A article posted to Scientific American became one of the rallying cries of the new movement. She spoke of sexual harassment and rape at skeptic conferences. This lead to the SJWs demanding "harassment policies" instituted at all venues. The pushback was based upon the fact that these policies gave immense power to any crazy person who wanted to fuck shit up.

    The original author of the piece (Karen Stollznow) became a SJW darling and the alleged rapist and harasser was named and shamed everywhere the SJWs had a toehold. The accused threatened to sue, and was universally decried as "being a rapist bully who used lawyers to shut down the truth".

    Stillznow started a legal fund and made so much money from the SJWs that she started talking about a countersuit.

    Then the accused set up his own legal fund and dropped this on the internet.

    While none of it has been verified as of yet, if he's going to court, he's gotta be pretty sure.

    1. SusanM   12 years ago

      http://web.archive.org/web/201.....arassment/

      Here's the original article

      1. Coeus   12 years ago

        My favorite part is the reaction from the SJWs to the website. He was forced to post this stuff to defend himself from a crazy woman, and now he's evil because he posting "revenge porn". Just like the hofstra case. Those people are shameless.

        By the way, this is one of the reasons I feel the revenge porn laws are not good.

        1. DEG   12 years ago

          So far I've only read the front page of the benrlegal.info site you posted, so I don't know the details of everything posted. From what I can see of the front page, I don't see how anyone can claim what he is posting is revenge porn.

          More proof the SJW crowd has lost it.

          1. Coeus   12 years ago

            There were a few pics of the night in question posted earlier. He wisely removed them. Nothing too naughty, but she definitely wasn't passed out.

            1. DEG   12 years ago

              Ahh, I see.

              1. Coeus   12 years ago

                here they are.

                SFW but not for lunch. mugshots and images from an arrest to compare features.

                1. DEG   12 years ago

                  Thanks!

                  Yeah, definitely not passed out.

                  1. Coeus   12 years ago

                    Doesn't he look just like peter griffen?

                    1. DEG   12 years ago

                      Yes

        2. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

          On the other hand, if his lawyer approved of this that is pretty dumb, it reeks of not being confident in your case. It looks like trying to win the court of public opinion because you will fail in actual court.

          On the other other hand, maybe they did this now because a settlement agreement might prevent it or the judge may issue a gag order.

          Donno, looks like a bunch of people behaving badly, the accused included.

          1. Coeus   12 years ago

            He was getting raped in the court of public opinion. And she outraised him by so much, she could have employed the chewbacca defense. He needed the bump for more lawyering. He didn't drop this until she said she was gonna countersue.

          2. Coeus   12 years ago

            Donno, looks like a bunch of people behaving badly, the accused included.

            We obviously won't know until more stuff from the other side comes out, but so far, it just looks like someone getting punched and punching back. As to whether he's a good person or not, well, crazy chicks aren't usually into nice guys, so I'd say there's a good chance you're right.

            1. Corning   12 years ago

              crazy chicks aren't usually into nice guys

              What the hell are you even talking about?

              Crazy chicks fall on any man, nice, bad, female, even corpses.

          3. R C Dean   12 years ago

            I disagree, Apatheist. This looks like somebody who is so confident they will post their case online.

            And, he's pre-empted a gag order, which you know the poor little wimmenz would try to get the big manly judge to issue.

      2. neoteny   12 years ago

        However, conference organizers don't always know how to act when they find sexual harassment. They may panic and overreact, especially when they think they discover an incident. A friend confided a story to me that happened at a conference last year. She was talking to a fellow attendee at a bar when she noticed his eyes drop briefly to her cleavage. "Hey, my eyes are up here!" she joked to him. Little did anyone know that a plain-clothes security officer had been enlisted to keep an eye on the attendees and he had overheard this t?te-?-t?te. My friend was taken to a room where the officer grilled her. What happened? Was she okay? They could remove the brute from the conference if it would make her feel safer.

        This melodramatic response affected her far more than the alleged "harassment" and for the rest of the conference she felt like she was being watched.

        So if conference organizers react then it is an overreaction, if they don't react then they're part of the rape culture.

        Nice double bind she sets up there.

        1. Coeus   12 years ago

          It's not a coincidence that most of the accused have been of a more libertarian bent. this is supposed to be a weapon, plain and simple.

      3. Coeus   12 years ago

        A conversation with the cuckholded husband.

        Don't feel too bad. He's on record saying it's a favored fantasy of his. Guess he married well.

        1. Coeus   12 years ago

          In that convo, he confirmed that he wrote this to the guy who was shucking his corn, asking for advice.

        2. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

          Stuff like this makes me wish the country was invaded and put out of its misery.

    2. The Laconic   12 years ago

      The atheist community was hijacked by St. John's Wort? That shit's worse than Giant Hogweed.

  29. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

    Interesting note on Yellowstone: one of the reasons for DOOM mongering several years ago was the long-term inflation recorded at YS. Bad for the economy AND reflective of a magma chamber filling up, it was so pronounced over the long term that it pushed the YS lake around and submerged some piers/warfs/whatever. This inflation has reversed into deflation starting several years ago.

    Other volcano doomsday sites include the Long Valley caldera or better yet the hotspot in central BC. This hotspot has not caused an eruption in some time but several years ago there was a swarm of earthquakes about 40 Km underground. This was definitely magma being injected underground. Nothing since, but someday there will be a happening.

    1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

      Volcanos and fault lines are textbook examples of poisson processes. Most volcano and earthquake doomsdayism comes from an inability that poisson processes are statistically stationary: the chance of their being an event next year is statistically independent of whether the last event was this year or 100,000 years ago. As such, there's no such thing as being "overdue" for a quake or an eruption.

      1. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

        That is not true at all. If YS erupted last year, then its insides have been emptied out and reset. It might continue to have 'events' but these would not be the same as The Big One. They are not remotely independent!

        1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

          Time independence is a basic consequence of the Gutenberg?Richter law.

      2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   12 years ago

        Not all. See: Parkfield, CA.

      3. Corning   12 years ago

        As such, there's no such thing as being "overdue" for a quake or an eruption.

        yeah sure...

        Then why is old faithful so faithful?

        1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

          Because it isn't:

          Old Faithful,
          An Example of Geyser Development in Yellowstone Park
          :
          "R. Woodward and associates included the recording by use of an ordinary eight day clock the time elapsed between the high point of one eruption to the high point of the next for 927 eruptions. This data gives the average interval as 66.54 minutes or 66 min. 32 sec. The variations in length of interval observed have run from 34 rninutes to a maximum interval of 115 minutes though by far the larger number of periods are very near the average length of 66 1/2 minutes"

          1. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

            That's only because an earthquake screwed up the underground plumbing. Before that you could set your watch to that geyser.

            1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

              Do you have a reference for that beyond folk mythology?

  30. sloopyinca   12 years ago

    Bluffton, SC cop goes fucking apeshit. Is on vacation.

    FTA (emphasis mine): Bluffton Police Chief Joey Reynolds sent WJCL this statement: Bluffton Police Department holds our officers to high standards on and off duty. This incident which saddens and disappoints me is a severe violation of the department's standards, Reynolds said. Officers Henry Criss and Lindsey Marion are both highly-trained officers. Even though officers are human, society holds them to a higher standard and we have to hold ourselves accountable to that standard.

    So I guess "society" would have not even charged a "civilian" with the crime and that civilian would still be walking free if he had done it to the off-duty cop?

    Also FTA: Again, both Criss and Marion are suspended without pay, pending an internal investigation with Bluffton Police Department.

    Um, why wouldn't the Tybee Island, GA police department be doing a criminal investigation instead of a department in another state doing an internal investigation? Oh that's right, because fuck you, that's why.

    1. Notorious G.K.C.   12 years ago

      It says one ofvthe cops was arrested.

      1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

        I was more speaking to the fact that he was walking free. Sorry if I accidentally implied that he wasn't charged. Also note the relatively minor charges.

        FTA: "He was charged with aggravated assault, carrying a concealed weapon and battery. He caused a laceration on the side of the victim's cheek," says Sgt. Bertram Whitley with Tybee Island Police Department.

        No ADW? No firearm enhancer? Seems like he's getting off a bit lighter than a "civilian" would if the roles were reversed.

        1. Notorious G.K.C.   12 years ago

          Ah, got it.

    2. R C Dean   12 years ago

      Again, both Criss and Marion are suspended without pay, pending an internal investigation with Bluffton Police Department.

      And, when they are cleared, they will get a nice, fat back pay check.

      Generally speaking, out in the real world, getting (credibly) accused of a violent crime gets you fired. Few employers will keep an accused violent felon on the payroll pending the outcome of trial.

      They generally get fired because, unlike cops, people who get accused of violent crimes generally spend at least a few nights in jail, which means they miss work.

  31. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

    Greenpeace wants you to click green.

    It's no secret that we're all consuming dirty stuff online. Many of our clicks, streams, and shares are still being powered by dirty energy. So how can you keep clicking with a clean conscience? Well, it's as easy as that ? just keep clicking. Some of the Internet's biggest and most innovative companies are powering their data centers with clean, sustainable energy. Together we can encourage the rest of our favorite platforms to do the same and let us all #clickclean.

    1. gimmeasammich   12 years ago

      I thought the whole point of the internet was for people to consume dirty stuff. Am I wrong here?

      1. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

        But now you can be dirty and green.

        1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

          Pretty Green is better.

    2. The Laconic   12 years ago

      It's no secret that we're all consuming dirty stuff online. Many of our clicks, streams, and shares are still being powered by dirty energy.

      While I'm clicking, streaming and sharing, I'm not watching TV (which uses energy) or buying magazines (which use our beloved trees, and water, and energy). As far as I can tell, I'm internetting instead of doing something that would use similar or more energy.

      Presumably that doesn't matter, though, and I should just go compost myself.

    3. Pl?ya Manhattan.   12 years ago

      iCloud runs on "clean coal", right?

  32. sloopyinca   12 years ago

    Sounds like the Butler Township, WI police department is a real crack squad of officers. One on paid leave awaiting criminal prosecution for official misconduct and another on unpaid suspension for...well, they refuse to tell us what for because fuck you, that's why.

    1. sloopyinca   12 years ago

      FTA: Schimel said the charges against Pergande, which relate to him taking inappropriate pictures of a women he had in custody in 2009, were the result of an investigation that was separate from the internal investigation conducted by the Sheriff's office during the first four months of 2013.

      That's the guy getting paid while awaiting trial.

    2. sloopyinca   12 years ago

      also FTA: Rahn exposed his penis to other officers in the sheriff's department on several occasions at a firing range. Rahn said the exposure was unintentional.

      Rahn also was accused by the sheriff's investigation of improperly using for personal reasons the state and federal law enforcement computer network, which Rahn admitted to, according to the report.

      He admitted to a felony and he's only suspended. And how do you unintentionally show your dick to others on several occasions...at a firing range no less?

      Reminds me of this.

      1. Swiss Servator, Fr?hling!!!   12 years ago

        "Rahn said the exposure was unintentional."

        Uh, I cahn't helps it - my dong just sort of uh, shows itself...sorry.

        WTF?

        1. Coeus   12 years ago

          "Dude, did you just see that guys balls?"

          "Yeah, they were weird lookin."

  33. The Laconic   12 years ago

    I think I have to thank OK Cupid. As a consequence of that whole fiasco, I rediscovered Chrome and the awesomeness of Reasonable, and now my life is marginally better.

  34. BigT   12 years ago

    Cash-strapped state and local prisons increasingly are using the Affordable Care Act to pay for their inmates' medical costs, taking advantage of a little-known provision that lets them shift some of those expenses to the federal government.

    The shift means the federal government would pay some emergency costs that used to be entirely covered by the states and counties -- plus, inmates are starting to get coverage for when they leave

    1. Don't get health ins.
    2. Don't pay fine
    3. Go to jail
    4. Get FREE health ins.

    What a country!!! ...of idiots!!

  35. Pl?ya Manhattan.   12 years ago

    I just received a message from Jesse in Ireland. He is currently at an Irish bar called "Top Man".

    That is all.

    1. The Laconic   12 years ago

      Weren't you supposed to drop the mic just now?

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   12 years ago

        He really is at that bar. I would post the picture he took, but I am at a hotel without my computer.

        I really dropped the ball on snarky commentary, though.

        "Wow, they must read HnR a lot over there!"

        1. The Laconic   12 years ago

          I can't tell if this is an Irish pub, a libertarian Irish pub, a gay Irish pub, or a gay libertarian Irish pub.

          1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   12 years ago

            Yes

  36. Swiss Servator, Fr?hling!!!   12 years ago

    "Jesse in Ireland"

    Is that an upcoming After Dark feature?

    the erotic adventures of a libertarian in Hibernia

    1. kibby   12 years ago

      We could have a whole series of these. It would be horrifying.

    2. Sudden   12 years ago

      Its going to be a Sudden and SF collaboration piece, and probably the seminal work of literature of our time.

      If Joyce thought he could paint Dublin in words, wait until we get ahold of it. Oh, and you'll be surprised at the anatomical stature of gay leprochauns.

      1. Coeus   12 years ago

        If Joyce thought he could paint Dublin in words, wait until we get ahold of it. Oh, and you'll be surprised at the anatomical stature of gay leprochauns.

        Channeling your inner George R.R.?

  37. Coeus   12 years ago

    Step 1: make stupid accusations and ridiculous claims. Step two: characterize any response as insane and inappropriate.

    It is a sad fact of life that, in this world that the NRA has made, nothing brings out the hot gun lovin' like a tragic shooting that happens to someone else at a good safe distance.

    In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, while most American parents were pulling their kids a little bit closer and holding them a little bit tighter, NRA gun nuts reached for the closest AR-15 at hand, and stroked the barrel in an almost erotic fashion while softly murmuring, "Don't worry baby, I'll take care of you. Nobody will ever come between us. I love you."

    And, with so many shootings these days, these folks are already jacked up on defensiveness, with a healthy heapin'of sociopathy drizzled all over it like the blood of innocent children who formerly lived and breathed in a country that refused to protect them by manning up and passing a few sensible gun laws.

    It's like when they got so mad at those tea partiers for answering a question directed at them. Several times.

    1. The Laconic   12 years ago

      This is sheer fucking fantasy.

      Oh, it's rawstory. Ignore and get on with our lives.

  38. Coeus   12 years ago

    Proggies are pissed.

    In an epic move by the NRA, a bill has been constructed allowing warning shots based upon the false narrative of the Melisa Alexander case promoted by the proggies. It passed Thursday.

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