Big Cable Merger Effort Dies, Protests Shut Down College, That Stupid, Jokey Presidential Press Dinner is Back: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: Free Press Pics / photo on flickr

  The Comcast, Time Warner Cable merger has been killed, which is probably being seen as some sort of victory for "competition" from people who have no idea what the word means or how Internet innovation is changing the whole dynamic of television service anyway.

• Valdosta State University in Georgia has shut down entirely over fears of violence over protests about racism that led to other protests about how a flag was treated, and then somebody apparently brought a backpack with a gun in it to the campus.
• Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is the first of the crop of announced candidates for president to sign the Americans for Tax Reform's pledge to "oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes." (UPDATE: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted out a picture this afternoon of himself also signing the pledge.)
• Italian police rounded up 18 people they claim are Islamic extremists behind a failed effort to attack the Vatican in 2010 but who were successful in a very deadly bombing of a market in Pakistan.
• Four Swedish police officers on vacation in New York stopped a fight on the subway, firmly but politely and without smashing skulls.
• It's time for the White House Correspondents' Association dinner again this weekend, and all the blather and fretting that entails, all of which, either pro or con, is of interest only to journalists.
• Eric Holder is outta here.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Four Swedish police officers on vacation in New York stopped a fight on the subway, firmly but politely and without smashing skulls.

They were probably all white, though.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

It didn't say they were "youths."

[PapayaSF]

The officers were. The two people fighting were black.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And apparently their colleagues back home weren't too impressed with their heroics. It seems not severing spines is SOP in Scandinavia.

[Pro Libertate]

Which is why they always lose. Charles XII would've severed spines. And more.

[gaoxiaen]

"Somebody needed help" and they didn't beat or shoot him? Go back to Europe, peacenazis.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"Four Swedish police officers on vacation in New York stopped a fight on the subway, firmly but politely and without smashing skulls."

NYPD responds: 'You think you're better than us?'

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Just watched the video. That was cool.

Nice and calm. None of that gang up thuggery we usually see.

[Pro Libertate]

Maybe we should send all of our cops to Sweden and they send all of theirs here. An exchange program, if you will. Of a permanent and legally binding nature.

[CatoTheElder]

What's wrong with these Swedish cops? They didn't even smash the cameras used to film them.

[MJGreen]

Better than us? Us? US? USA? No way!

[Ted S.]

And then the NYC cops arrested them.

[Xeones]

The two surviving Swedes face charges of resisting arrest...

[Injun, as in from India]

jurisdictional envy

[Sudden]

I'm surprised NYPD didn't beat the shit outta the Swedes upon showing up.

Also: SCABS!!!!!

[Scarecrow Repair]

Immigration oughta bust 'em for working on a tourist visa.

[buybuydandavis]

Maybe we could have a web site with videos of civilized cops doing their jobs properly.

[BigT]

a web site with videos of civilized cops doing their jobs properly

Isn't that just a feed from the security camera at Dunkin Donuts?

[aleck.bolafka]

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http://www.work-cash.com

[Fist of Etiquette]

Italian police rounded up 18 people they claim are Islamic extremists behind a failed effort to attack the Vatican in 2010...

Still not as egregious as The Godfather: Part III.

[Injun, as in from India]

The Comcast, Time Warner Cable merger has been killed, which is probably being seen as some sort of victory for "competition" from people who have no idea what the word means or how Internet innovation is changing the whole dynamic of television service anyway.

We want SINGLE PAYER INTERNET!

[Ted S.]

Minitel for all!

[Pro Libertate]

Ma Bell is back. . .and she's hungry.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

The Comcast, Time Warner Cable merger has been killed, which is probably being seen as some sort of victory for "competition" from people who have no idea what the word means or how Internet innovation is changing the whole dynamic of television service anyway.

I am going to carry my cable box around in protest.

[Tonio]

Ha!

[creech]

Local conservative talk show host mentioned this last night. He's "all in favor of free makets, but...." He was scared Comcast would drive out all the competition and then be free to charge $100 per day or something for his cable.

[robc]

His house is in a cave and so he has no access to Dish or DirectTV?

[BiMonSciFiCon]

People don't know how to think, and generally have little understanding of how businesses evolve over time. That's why we're seeing an antitrust push against Google. It's dumb and completely unnecessary, just like the antitrust suit against Microsoft. People hear "monopoly" and get freaked out, despite the fact that "monopolies" that exist without the backing of government rarely remain monopolies for very long.

[robc]

The Feds basically dropped their suit against IBM to then go after Microsoft. Without realizing why the first was no longer necessary.

[Pro Libertate]

What they should do is launch an antitrust investigation of the state and federal governments.

[Invisible Finger]

They went after IBM after dropping their suit against Xerox.

[Scarecrow Repair]

A friend had an excellent conspiracy theory: Microsoft was deliberately losing the trial with all their faked evidence and lies, partly in hope of antagonizing the judge, but primarily so the verdict would put them under government control, and when Y2K hit, they'd be able to point the finger to the government having hamstrung them.

RIP, Giles of the magnificent conspiracy theories. They were never so crazy that they could be dismissed out of hand, but just crazy enough.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

There's also the fact that for many "monopoly" is defined as "company I don't like, regardless of actual marketshare".

[Heedless]

It's especially absurd, given that there are wire literally no barriers to entry in the market for search engines. Hell, you can search "search engines" on Google and the top two entries (both ads) are for Duckduckgo and Bing.

[C. Anacreon]

I just heard last night that Bing is where to go if you want to get good image searches, like the ones Google used to get you before they became all 'safe-searchy' even when you have "safe search off."

[Ted S.]

If he's in favor of free markets, he'd be complaining bitterly about how local governments created the cable monopolies.

[Doctor Whom]

That's always the elephant in the room, isn't it?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is the first of the crop of announced candidates for president to sign the Americans for Tax Reform's pledge to "oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes."

Read his lips?

[Pro Libertate]

Stop that. Just stop. Bush was never even a little libertarian. Of course he needed more taxes.

[The Last American Hero]

Bush Sr fell on his sword in an effort to do some of the bi-partisan compromise most people claim to love so much. It was a terrible move and Team Blue roasted him on a spit for it. He was a big boy and politics is a contact sport - he should have known better.

[Pro Libertate]

Don't compromise on your principles, no matter what your job is.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

I don't think you understand the job description of "politician"

[rts]

Vancouver pot shops should be shut down, says [Federal Health Minister] Rona Ambrose

Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose has reiterated her concern over the City of Vancouver's proposal to regulate retail marijuana stores, calling on the mayor to instead close the operators down.

"Storefront dispensaries are not part of the Health Canada regime in any way," Ambrose said Friday. "What they are is commercial entities selling pot on street corners.

Yes... and?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

She's another one.

I loathe the Conservatives when it comes to their bull shit 'tough on crime' crap and social policy.

But they're still the more digestible option.

[Medical Physics Guy]

I don't get it - I just read this article saying weed isn't legal up there after all. I'm in Toronto for a week soon and want to know what I can do. Will I be able to shop at a retail pot store?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Er. No. And OPP can be totally bad ass if they want to be.

[Rhywun]

I'm down with OPP.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJgFU3U4X_Y

[Rhywun]

That song came out during a time of many college roadtrips from Buffalo to Toronto and I was like wut.

[Gene]

Yep they busted me for pot in my home when my late wife died a few years back...I wouldn't call them badass so much as assholes. I view the whole episode now as theft. Fuck them.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Sorry to hear that.

[Gene]

Thanks, it ultimately led me here and for that I'm grateful.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

We all have a story...

And it all ends up here at Reason.

They should write a book.

[Heedless]

Off of the truncheon and onto the Doomcock.

[C. Anacreon]

There are 8 million stories in the Naked City. Here is one of them. (music swells)

[Medical Physics Guy]

So this is unique to BC? Or Vancouver?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

BC has generally been more 'progressive' when it comes to marijuana and drugs in general.

I remember being in a park there and the guys we were with sparked up right with the cops within 100 yards of us. We asked them about the cops like nerdy kids from out east and they assured us they wouldn't bother us as long as we stayed and smoked in the park and didn't try to leave.

They called our cops 'harsh'.

[DRM]

In Canada, pot isn't legal, and it is not even decriminalized.

Remember the whole kerfuffle over Marc Emery, the "Prince of Pot", who was selling cannabis seeds by mail order, and how the big evil US forced his extradition even though his conduct happened in Canada?

The extradition treaty between the US and Canada only allows extradition from Canada to the US in cases where Canadian law allows a criminal sentence in excess of a year in prison. The only reason the US could invoke the treaty is because Canadian law says selling pot, including just seeds, can get you over a year in prison.

Now, it happens that nobody in British Columbia is currently enforcing that law. But it was and is still on the books, and Emery could have been arrested, charged, tried, and imprisoned for more than a year under Canadian law, any time the Canadians decided to. Not even for anything that could even get anyone high, just seeds.

Canada's Parliament could have blocked the extradition by legalizing pot -- but even though the Parliament at the time of the extradition attempt had a non-Conservative majority, nobody even tried to pass a bill to do that.

Canadian law is that pot is felony-level illegal, plain and simple. All else is mere prosecutorial discretion.

[Pan Zagloba]

Yeah, not gonna happen. The city is charging $30,000 for a business permit. There are estimated 80 dispensaries in the city. Too much money for assholes to turn down, particularly if their referendum to get 0.5% sales tax for 'transit improvements' (i.e. choo-choos) goes down in defeat.

[Ted S.]

Vancouver pot shops should be shut down,

Fixed it for you. 😉

[Hamster of Doom]

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!11

[Injun, as in from India]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is the first of the crop of announced candidates for president to sign the Americans for Tax Reform's pledge to "oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes."

WOOT! /fiscal conservatives
NOO!!! GROVER NORQUIST!! ANARCHIST! /proggie

[C. Anacreon]

I got to very briefly meet and shake hands with Grover Norquist at FreedomFest in Las Vegas last summer. His hand seemed oily, but perhaps it was just the desert heat and not his apparently oily personhood.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Valdosta State University in Georgia has shut down entirely over fears of violence over protests about racism that led to other protests about how a flag was treated, and then somebody apparently brought a backpack with a gun in it to the campus.

Now that's an education!

[Ted S.]

May it never reopen.

[Brett L]

I have a FB friend who teaches there. Lots of posts but I just don't give a shit, wxcept of the soft porn Playboy shots in some of the news articles. Yes, this shitshow geatures a former Playboy model.

[C. Anacreon]

how do you "geature" a Playboy model?

Is that like "geature self some!" ?

[Pro Libertate]

A "Geat" is a member of an ancient Germanic people of southern Sweden conquered by the Swedes in the sixth century AD. "Ure" means to use or exercise. So the shitshow apparently exercises some Geats who are also Playmates.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

It's time for the White House Correspondents' Association dinner again this weekend, and all the blather and fretting that entails, all of which, either pro or con, is of interest only to journalists.

They are so nerdy you guys, only, like, a total nerd would want to go to a self-indulgent affair like the WHCD.

[Injun, as in from India]

Self-indulgent?
More like incestuous.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Eric Holder is outta here.

The Clintons might need his help with some more pardons soon.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is the first of the crop of announced candidates for president to sign the Americans for Tax Reform's pledge to "oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes."

Does this include taxes on pot after he legalizes it? Asking for a friend.

[robc]

Pot legalization is a state by state issue.

So there wouldnt be any FEDERAL tax.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

That was mostly a lame attempt at a FoE style joke. I should (but won't) leave these to the professionals.

[Pan Zagloba]

Look, leave fisting to those qualified.

[Injun, as in from India]

Qualified by who? The State Board of Fisting Practitioners?

[Tonio]

+1 tub of Crisco

[Mad Scientist]

I knew you'd be surprised!

[Invisible Finger]

+200 Motels

[Ted S.]

It's not as if FoE's jokes are funny.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You're not the president of funny.

[Injun, as in from India]

If you follow the reaganite description of the Democrat mantra "if it moves, tax it" you can't tax pot because the plants don't move.

[db]

Don't tell them about time lapse video!

[Injun, as in from India]

Time lapse videos are especially funny after smoking pot, from what I've heard.

[Ted S.]

from what I've heard.

sure....

[Injun, as in from India]

I've never smoked. Truth.

[Jumbie]

Edibles only, eh?

[Jumbie]

Edibles only, eh?

[Jumbie]

Edibles only, eh?

[Jumbie]

I swear I only pressed the button once, ossifer.

[Injun, as in from India]

Nope. I've not done that either. The only mind-altering substance I've ever done is alcohol.

[GILMORE]

"Four Swedish police officers on vacation in New York stopped a fight on the subway, firmly but politely and without smashing skulls."

Well, they were lucky they weren't shot on sight and the perpetrator given the opportunity to sue everyone. AMERICA!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

They come from the land of the ice and snow

[db]

Valhalla, they are coming.

[db]

I actually knew a guy who claimed to hate Led Zeppelin until I explained the lyrics storyboarding to him, and the fact that like, half the LZ catalog is songs about Middle Earth.

[db]

"Storyboarding" s/b "to this song." F Autocorrect.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Can you enlighten me on the "lyrics storyboarding?" I know all about Gollum and the evil one, but not the storyboarding thing.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Uh, nevermind.

[BakedPenguin]

"in the depths of Mordor, I met a girl so fair."

[BiMonSciFiCon]

"Where's that confounded bridge?" -Gandalf

[Crusty Juggler]

"Confound your lousy toll, troll."

[Invisible Finger]

Then he should have hated them even more

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: Charles E Coughlin

1. When we get through with the Jews in America, they'll think the treatment they received in Germany was nothing.

2. On this earth you must belong to the church militant or get the hell out of it. That's the right word. You're either with me or against me.

3. I have dedicated my life to fight against the heinous rottenness of modern capitalism because it robs the laborer of this world's goods.

4. We must not tolerate oppressive government or industrial oligarchy in the form of monopolies and cartels.

5. God is directing President Roosevelt.

6. The New Deal is Christ's Deal.

[robc]

4.

Im gonna go with four.

[Derpetologist]

Here's a video of him speaking. I like the way his hair flops around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LJkNRHMnPc

Pretty sure he also coined the phrase "social justice".

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Pius XI said it first -

(from vatican.va)

http://ow.ly/M5tky

Fr. Coughlin's version of "social justice" got him ultimately banned from speaking by his own bishop.

[gaoxiaen]

So, what's the answer. I watched that Hitler-without-a-moustache video for nothing.

[gaoxiaen]

1. Who would say that after WWII, and who would know about if before WWII?

[Derpetologist]

He said it before WW2.

[Derpetologist]

4 is the Not. Henry A Wallace said that. He was one of FDR's vice presidents.

[mad libertarian guy]

The first president to pledge to deal away with the correspondents dinner will get my vote no matter the rest of his/her platform. All it is is the big wink that government and media give each other in order to let the other know that what they do is okay.

[Derpetologist]

For those who missed it, some college feminists decided to set a special recovery room in case anyone was offended by the remarks of a feminist critic:

The safe space Ms. Byron explained, was intended to give people who might find comments "troubling" or "triggering" a place to recuperate. The room was equipped with cookies, coloring books, bubbles, Play-Doh, calming music, pillows, blankets and a video of frolicking puppies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03......html?_r=1

It's the Kindergarten of Eden.

[Aloysious]

I'm going to regret clicking that link, am I not?

[Bam!]

a video of frolicking puppies.

Splice in a single frame of hardcore gang bang porn.

[Pan Zagloba]

That was irony, right? She set the room up to point out that people who can't handle other points of view belong in kindergarten.

Please, PLEASE let that be irony!

[Derpetologist]

Oh, it's all too real, my unfortunate friend.

[raucous, wheezing laughter]

[lap83]

"and a video of frolicking puppies."

fro-licking? Problematic!

[Homple]

How do I cite Derpetologist when I use his phrase "Kindergarten of Eden"?

[Derpetologist]

I actually took the phrase from Evan Sayet. His videos are worth watching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGBkJT2L55k

[Tonio]

And we wonder why punks like ISIS fuck with us. It's things like this. They see us, perhaps rightly, as a decadent civilization teetering on the edge.

[Derpetologist]

Islamic historians teach that history follows a cycle: fierce nomadic warriors conquer a decaying empire. Their immediate descendants restore the empire to prosperity by adopting the ways of civilizations they conquer. The later descendants become corrupt and the empire falls apart again.

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

[Heroic Mulatto]

The most annoying game mechanic of playing a Muslim country in Crusader Kings II, by the way.

[Invisible Finger]

No mater how hard we tried, we never imagined this would be the reductio ad absurdum of the self-esteem movement in education. But there it is.

[Rhywun]

which is probably being seen as some sort of victory for "competition" from people who have no idea what the word means

Enh, I'm reasonably happy with TWC lately & I have heard so much shit about Comcast that I feared they would come in and fuck it all up.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Play-Doh?

If I were running that room I'd leave a used condom in there somewhere...because I'm an asshole that way.

[Ted S.]

Not only in that way.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hey!

[GILMORE]

Photo Caption Contest

"Yeah, hi, I was looking for the people in charge of Carbon Emission Reductions...? Yeah, just let them know that everything saved by the Prius & Chevy Volt was a waste of fucking time."

[db]

"Yes. Yeah. U-huh. Well, Fuck you very much for thinking 'Mount St. Helens' when Gozer told you to choose. See you in Hell."

[Aloysious]

"I want my 100 watt incandescent light bulb back!"

[CatoTheElder]

Sequester this, bitchez!

[Almanian!]

"Looks like the old neighborhood's gonna be a VERY quiet place for the next.....10,000 years or so...."

[C. Anacreon]

Chile Today, Hot Tamale.

[Beautiful Bean Footage]

*narrows gaze*

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Yes, do you deliver? Better make it quick.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

I have some relatives that work for a reservation school district. It came up in conversation that apparently all their perfectly functional Ivy Bridge and Haswell laptops (2-3 years old) are getting mothballed or outright dumpstered (they're not IT so they're not exactly clear on the specifics other than that they're not being sold off) because if they get rid of them, the federal government pays for replacements. The extremely intense word processing, spreadsheeting and presentations that comprise most of the use case situations of these laptops require nothing but the latest in technology, it seems, and this replacement cycle is a regular occurrence due to Uncle Sugar footing the bill.

I attempted to get an address of the dumpster if that's truly where they're headed but they wouldn't cough up any more information for fear of it getting back to them in some fashion.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Every 2-3 years? Those poor kids. They should have new ones every year! And 16 new administrators to do whatever it is they do. We need to increase funding now and if you disagree you hate children.

[GILMORE]

This is routine at schools. 'reservation' or not.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

I mentioned it because I wasn't sure if there was some special federal incentive involved.

If the old ones were being sold off as surplus I'd just shake my head and regard it as garden-variety wastefulness, but the active destruction of useful and still-working tools offends me at a deeply fundamental level.

[Mad Scientist]

They see it as free money, and if some perfectly good computers have to be binned to get that free money, then eggs/omlets, etc. The really don't see a damn thing wrong with doing this.

[Invisible Finger]

but the active destruction of useful and still-working tools offends me at a deeply fundamental level.

Government has been doing this since at least the 1950's. One of the jobs my old man had to do in the Air Force was drive Jeeps onto an aircraft carrier. To be dumped in the Atlantic Ocean. Didn't want to hurt Willys by putting them into the world market.

[Pan Zagloba]

Reminds me of what allied powers did after WW2. Theoretically, Lend-Lease was that, with proviso that all the equipment is to be returned to the US. But what in the world would US do with all those Shermans, half-tracks, tank destroyers etc, when they are downsizing themselves? So rather than ship them home, US allowed allies to toss them into the sea, provided there was US representation to witness that yes, equipment was destroyed and thus no need to insist on its return.

[GILMORE]

"the active destruction of useful and still-working tools offends me at a deeply fundamental level."

OMG don't even ever consider looking into how the Pentagon works

[PapayaSF]

"Nothing left to cut!!"

[Injun, as in from India]

This is the consensus as far as government spending and infant penises (post-circumcision) are concerned.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Teaching on an Indian reservation single-handedly turned my wife from a True Blue Progressive to a libertarian-leaning liberal. She was absolutely stunned at how socially bankrupt and stunted the people there were, and how corrupt the tribal leaders were. I pointed out to her early in our relationship that this is what happens when a population becomes entirely dependent on the government to meet all of their needs.

I'm hoping the shit going on with Hillary ends up being the straw that finally gets her off the Team Blue bandwagon for good.

[OldMexican]

Re: Somalian Road Corporation,

I attempted to get an address of the dumpster if that's truly where they're headed

You can bet your sweet ass there's someone at the ready with arms open to receive these "old and worn out" laptops to recycle them. You know, for the earth and shit.

[John]

http://www.dcclothesline.com/2.....ble-verse/

Check out Mikey Weimstein. This is a guy who is angry about Air Force Acadamy cadets writing bible versus on the outside of their own doors. This is an old story. I post it not for the issue involved but in amazement over the picture of this guy. Holy shot could you look like more of a stick up your ass villain if you tried?

[PapayaSF]

If I just saw the picture, I'd say "corrupt cop dressed for his day in court." He says a Bible verse on a door creates a "toxic environment"? Give me a break.

[John]

Corrupt cop nails it.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

He looks like a young Robert Duvall that got stung by a bunch of bees.

[Ted S.]

Bible versus what? Bhagavad Gita?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Check out this quote:

Had it been in his room ? not a problem. It's not about the belief. It's about the time, the place and the manner.

Basically he's saying that Christians need to stay in the closet.

And yeah, I'll just bet that the person who emailed Weinstein was "agnostic." Bullshit. Agnostics tend to not give a crap what religious stuff people put out on display, as long as it's not being mandated for them to go along with personally. That's the whole point of their belief.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

IA covers up for cop in bullshit shooting. Taxpayers (likely) hardest hit.*

http://www.wptv.com/news/local.....bso-deputy

*The DA and IA found the shooting *gasp* justified and the case was closed.

[John]

Well of course they did

[kinnath]

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla.

So Internal Affairs (IA) and not Iowa (IA). Good to know.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

You want an Ioowa cop story? Here you go: http://www.desmoinesregister.c...../26069235/

What a classy guy.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Meanwhile, in Balmer....cops convicted after an Alford plea of physically attacking minors keep collecting money from taxpayers because their union contract says their discipline process is more valuable than justice.

As an additional "Fuck you," the cop's defense for the beating is that he wanted to prevent the kid from spitting at him. Meh, at least he's proactive.

[OldMexican]

Cops get no respect. So they make people respect them or else.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Misleading headline of the day: Former Connellsville officer accused of accepting 'sexual favors' from teenage girl

Sexual favors? Um, when you tell somebody they either suck your dick or they're going to jail, that goes beyond sexual favors and heads down the path of rape.

[Hamster of Doom]

That doesn't head down the path. It's at the end of the path, and has been there long enough to colonize the place.

[Whahappan?]

Hey, she offered sexual favors, he accepted them. Can you really blame him? If anything they should charge that little hussy for trying to subvert the justice system.

[GILMORE]

The Stupidest New Expression Now in Popular Use by the Media

'Break the Planet'

Even worse = the conclusion about these 'horrible fixes'? = we still *need one ASAP*

Its "do somethingism" to the extreme.

Which i suspect has something to do with the upcoming election = the standard accusation will be "What do you want to *do* about global climate change!! must DO something?!? WHAT DO!?" and lacking anything crazy-enough, people will be labeled 'do-nothings'

[Pro Libertate]

For the record, we couldn't seriously damage the planet even if we nuked the fuck out of it. It would get better. Though we would likely be gone.

[Invisible Finger]

we couldn't seriously damage the planet even if we nuked the fuck out of it. It would get better. Though we would likely be gone.

Since the loony enviros ultimately want humans to be gone, perhaps we can at least convince them that nuclear bombing should always be our first option.

[Pro Libertate]

They'll probably refocus their efforts into electing someone who will simply nuke the world.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

/covers mouth in shock.

[Pro Libertate]

The Earth survived an impact with a body the size of Mars.

[BigT]

No, an even stupider expression, although not in use by the media is Climate Ruin.

We need WWII-scale actions to transform our energy systems because energy "business as usual" will destroy our society.

The terms "Climate Change" or "Global Warming," or even "Climate Crisis" or "Climate Disruption" do not conjure the urgency to get up and go do something about it.

The term "Climate Ruin" is much closer to the truth, and much more effective.

[]

A guarantee of a change, warming, or crisis has very little impact on people, but guaranteeing a ruined world will not be accepted.

The media repeating "Climate Ruin," as much as they now repeat "Climate Change" and "Global Warming," will lead to action.

It is sad but true that continuing on our current path with business conducted as usual will ruin the lives of your kids because their climate will be ruined. That message has the kind of impact we need to win this fight.

The term "Climate Ruin" delivers that message. Let's rebrand now.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

I eagerly await "Climate Retardation" to come into fashion as more and more reports of climateers are proven bogus.

[Pro Libertate]

Climax Change.

[CatoTheElder]

The stupidest, and unfortunately most effective, expression will forever be "carbon pollution".

[BigT]

When 'carbon pollution' refers to particulate emissions from a diesel engine it is OK. Just not for good ol' see oh too.

[Invisible Finger]

"Break the..." is overused to the point that only idiots use it now.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I have been trying to find a good (cheap/free) tutorial for learning Excel. I know some of the basics but would like to know more. Does anyone have any recommendations?

The eventual goal is to start a business and work for myself. That's still a long ways off, but I would think learning how to make use of the business/financial features of Excel would be useful.

[BakedPenguin]

I haven't read this one, but Walkenbach is usually good.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Awesome, thanks.

[GILMORE]

hm.

I suppose one of those "For Dummies" books is probably a good start. You can find older PDF guides floating around the tubes (usually from university classes that require Excel, and provide these things free. Example of basic and advanced type things. Boring, but free... a start at least.

but make sure whatever manuals you get refer to the version of Excel you plan to use. There is something of a religious-level schizm between the post-ribbon and pre-ribbon excel power-users. I split the difference and use the Ubik 2003 Excel menu plug-in to make all newer versions of Excel stick to the old menu/command formats.

Next would be to get familiar with standard practical applications. You can google-search for filetype by adding "filetype=.xls" (or just .xls) to the end of any search term, search for things like "Income statement" or "balance sheet" or "cash flow" templates... and scouring through examples you can find a lot of things to cut-paste into new sheets and build your own document templates. Sometimes you can get little things like "depreciation calculators" or other tools, and then deconstruct how they work to see how simple formulas like that are typically executed.

[GILMORE]

Sorry - Ubit, not "Ubik" (damn PKD)

Its a plug-in to make 'newer' excel versions have an optional "old" menu style.

Many people prefer the 'old' style for speed of use, consistency with how many other MS office apps function.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Great, thanks!

[BakedPenguin]

Good point about the different versions.

It might also be a good idea, once you're reasonably familiar with it, to audit some CC Accounting classes.

[GILMORE]

Also = This

I don't know if that's the whole thing for free right there (it looks like it)... but i've heard good things about "The Missing Manual" series for being very easy to get into, and clearer at addressing common complaints about how Excel has gotten "stupider" at doing simple tasks over the years.

[bodenlosen Schweinerei]

I'm a big fan of just diving in and using google (or appropriate non-invasive search engine of your choice) to find solutions for specific issues ("How do you create a moving average from constantly updated data?").
Of course, that suits my impatient nature ,but maybe that apply is to you as well.

[lap83]

I second this method. Have a specific goal you want to accomplish with the program, search for relevant tutorials, then learn by doing. I have personally never been able to learn a program any other way.

[GILMORE]

GOD PUNISHES RURAL FAG-HATING INDIANA WITH A.I.D.S. EPIDEMIC

CIA involvement not ruled out

[GILMORE]

MTA to 1st Amendment Ruling = "Well, now no one gets to use 'speech' if you won't play nice. Jews, Arabs = Go to your rooms!"

""The notion that the MTA can moot a constitutional violation by changing its policy after the fact and wishing away the violation is absurd," said David Yerushalmi, a lawyer for the American Freedom Defense Initiative. He said the group's damages claim alone meant the case was not moot."

[bodenlosen Schweinerei]

Why is anyone even discussing Rand Paul? We all know it's Sulla versus Marius (or is it Maria?) in the throwdown showdown for who finally sticks a fork in the Republic.

The oligarchy that Sulla restores had shown itself to be irresponsible, corrupt, self-seeking and indifferent, and no longer commanded the respect or loyalty of any significant group in society. The propertied classes of Italy had no confidence in a regime that excluded their leading men from senior positions and was unable to guarantee order and stability; the poor happily surrendered their spurious freedoms and ineffectual political rights in favor of individual leaders who depended on them for support and who consequently took care to supply their material needs.

[GILMORE]

Wow dude that blows my mind

[Raven Nation]

The 100th Anniversary of ANZAC Day has dawned in Australia and New Zealand.

[Pro Libertate]

They should invade Turkey again. You know, a commemorative invasion.

[GILMORE]

the day will end with drunk kiwis and australians beating the shit out of each other in bars.

I've never actually seen if there was an 'Anzac' party in NYC. I know there's one for Bastille day and even for "Brazil day" (whatever the fuck that is).

[Warrren]

It's a pubic holiday.

[Injun, as in from India]

+1 Schick Quattro

[Gordilocks]

I left Dampier at 5am to head down to Onslow, and there was a pretty epic line of traffic coming from Karratha of people heading to the sunrise service.

[Raven Nation]

Wow, seriously, that's where you are?

[Gordilocks]

Yep. Living in Karratha at the moment.

Full disclosure : I'm Canadian, but working here in Oz on a 457 Visa.

You in the hood?

[Raven Nation]

No, I was born in NZ, moved to Oz when I was 6 then when I was 28 went on a medium-term trip to the US. 25 years, I'm still here. Living in the midwest. When I was in Oz, we moved around a bunch but most of the time I was in Brisbane.

[Gordilocks]

Sounds much like my friend J-Boogie who lives in Indianapolis.

Drop me an email.

[bodenlosen Schweinerei]

And by the way sumthin'

#FreeNavSarao

[BigT]

OZ doubles down on AGW religion:

University offering free online course to demolish climate denial
The University of Queensland's course examines the science of climate science denial

The course includes climate science and myth debunking lectures by the international team of volunteer scientific contributors to Skeptical Science, including myself, and interviews with many of the world's leading climate science and psychology experts. Making Sense of Climate Science Denial is a seven-week program featuring interviews with 75 scientific experts, including Sir David Attenborough, Katharine Hayhoe, Richard Alley, Michael Mann, and Naomi Oreskes.

The course incorporates lessons in both climate science and psychology to explain the most common climate myths and to detail how to respond to them. Research has shown that myth debunking is most effective when people understand why the myth originated in the first place. For example, cherry picking (focusing on a small bit of convenient data and ignoring the rest) is one of the most common fallacies behind climate science myths.

[adolphowisner]

My best friend's mother-in-law makes $85 /hour on the internet . She has been out of work for 5 months but last month her pay was $16453 just working on the internet for a few hours.
Visit this website ?????????? http://www.jobsfish.com

[Somalian Road Corporation]

That chapped my ass in particular because I was looking for a replacement car while that particular spell of idiocy was going on.

Some friends-of-friends didn't take kindly to my bitching about the matter because the policy was not intended to have negative effects, therefore via the power of magical thinking it could not possibly have negative effects in reality. Sheesh.