State of Emergency Extended in Ferguson, U.S. Flag Going Up in Havana, Earth-Like Planet 100 Light Years Away: A.M. Links

• 

  SETI

  The state of emergency in Ferguson has been extended for at least another day.

• Jeb Bush says taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be "a pretty good deal."
• John Kerry will be raising the U.S. flag at the embassy in Havana.
• The government in Greece won another parliamentary vote in favor of a new bailout.
• Federal meteorologists say this year's El Niño could be historically strong.
• DNA testing reportedly confirms Warren Harding had a love child.
• Astronomers have imaged an Earthish-like planet orbiting 51 Eridani, a solar system 100 light years way from Earth's.

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• Federal Court Puts Limits on Cellphone Tracking Privacy advocates gain key victories in high-profile battle. by Steven Greenhut
• Movie Review: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer in a boneheaded sub-Bond caper. By Kurt Loder

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The state of emergency in Ferguson has been extended for at least another day.

More cop OT.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Federal meteorologists say this year's El Ni?o could be historically strong.

Thanks to Climate Change.

[Jerryskids]

Are these the same meteorologists who keep predicting an historically active hurricane season due to climate and then blame climate when the hurricane season turns out to be historically inactive? (BTW - it's not 'global warming' or even 'climate change' - if you admit to any skepticism you are a 'climate denier', someone who believes there is no such thing as climate apparently.)

[Free Society]

Extra hurricanes= Climate change. Less Hurricanes= Climate Change. Average Number of Hurricanes= all the extra hurricanes are hiding in the deep ocean or something

[Juvenile Bluster]

Federal meteorologists say this year's El Ni?o could be historically strong.

"Yay!" - Florida

[Florida Man]

Doesn't El Ni?o make hurricanes worse?

[Rich]

I took JB's comment as sarcastic.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Nope. El Nino cuts down on hurricanes significantly. It's why this season's so light so far. La Nina is the one that makes hurricanes worse.

[Florida Man]

Thanks. I can never keep my voodoo predictions straight. I mean chicken entrails, they all look the same. Amirite?

[WTF]

That's why you just have to trust the "experts".

[Florida Man]

If it was easy, everyone would be a witch doctor.

[Rich]

That's good.

[Rich]

@ Florida Man.

[Florida Man]

*Tips Hat @ Rich*

[Je suis Woodchipper]

Sorry, WTF, the only experts I trust are the ones that start with "s."

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

Sociologists?
Satanists?
Svengalis?
Sitcom Actors?
SugarFree?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Just remember, El Nino, the good one, is male, named after the Christchild.

La Nina's a bitch.

[Lorenzo Valla]

bitches

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The New York Times Admits Scientists Can Be Bought
...And this headline: "Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets." This is also the New York Times....

...If Coca-Cola can find scientists and get an opinion that they want from by paying them, do you think the same thing could happen to climate change scientists and a "consensus" of them? Do you think somebody could come along and offer those scientists enough money? I mean, the left, if anybody's paying attention, is writing their own obituary in this stuff. ...

...Do you know that climate change has become an industry? It is a $1.5 trillion industry. This is from an insurance website. They know this because all of these various industries have to buy insurance policies and the value of these policies is $1.5 trillion. "Interest in climate change is becoming an increasingly powerful economic driver, so much so that some see it as an industry in itself whose growth is driven in large part by policymaking. The $1.5 trillion global 'climate change industry' grew at between 17 and 24% annually from 2005-2008," and there are more details on this coming later. ...

[Longtorso, Johnny]

6 Reasons You Can't Trust Science Anymore

Is Climate Change Now Its Own Industry?
...Included in this sub-segment, which the report shows is one of the fastest growing areas of the climate change industry, are environmental consultants and engineers, risk managers, assurance, as well as legal and other professional services....

[sarcasmic]

1 reason you can't trust modern science: it's politics, not science.

[Michael]

What the fuck, Johnny? Why don't you FUCKING LOVE SCIENCE?

I'm reporting you to the proper authorities for reeducation.

[commodious spittoon]

But not actual sciency reeducation, because that's boring and hard and filled with math and old white men.

[Free Society]

The history of science is a story of patriarchy. We need to scrub the accomplishments of white males and really focus on the browner accomplishments. Like peanut butter.

[Citizen X]

Peanut butter is awesome. George Washington Carver is alright by me.

[Free Society]

"I'll say it, I'm a George Washington Carver fan. I celebrate his whole agricultural catalog."

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

Peanut butter is awesome. George Washington Carver Marcellus Edson is alright by me.

Peanut butter- another Canadian invention.

[KDN]

Carver was often credited with the invention of peanut butter. While he may have made peanut butter, the preparation arose in other cultures independently. The Aztecs were known to have made it from ground peanuts in the 15th century, and Marcellus Gilmore Edson was awarded U.S. Patent 306,727 (for its manufacture) in 1884, when Carver was 20.[53][54]

And the Canadian rape of native culture continues.

[Free Society]

I do trust science. What I distrust is political interference from government, with it's laws, cartels, distortions, taxes, subsidies and grants. The greater the effect of those things, all the lesser is the integrity of the research. "Climate science" has a festering ideological cancer growing within it.

[Jerryskids]

government, with it's laws, cartels, distortions, taxes, subsidies and grants
.
That' POLITICAL SCIENCE! It's got "science" right in the fucking name!

[Free Society]

So I'm like, a scientist or something? Maybe Ron Bailey will invite me over for cocktails.

[Pro Libertate]

Science can be corrupted, just like anything else involving human beings. But it's not like good science isn't still being done. In the end, good science can be replicated, has predictive value, etc. and can be known by its fruits.

[gaoxiaen]

Not all good scientists are gay.

[Tonio]

Meh. The boilerplate leftist response is that the corporate scientists are inherently suspect, because kochporashunz, and that government scientists are inherently (and inerrantly) virtuous because they eschew corporate money so they can do "honest" research.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Unless a Republican is involved, then govt is allowed to be considered corrupt.

[Jerryskids]

Keep in mind that new study that shows 'skipping breakfast is better than eating breakfast'. (No it doesn't, the study compared skipping breakfast to eating oatmeal or frosted flakes - it suggested skipping breakfast is better than eating carbs for breakfast.) You do know that Quaker Oats paid for that research, right? I'm sure Quaker Oats was hoping to find that eating oatmeal or cereal for breakfast was better than skipping breakfast, and why wouldn't they assume that's what the research would show given that the USDA has been saying for years that you need to eat breakfast and you need to lay off the unhealthy meat and eggs and get you lots of them healthy, healthy carbs, but nobody seems to be saying the study is bullshit because Quaker Oats funded it.

[Jerryskids]

I don't know much about the science of obesity but I have heard plenty of people who seem to know something about diet and exercise and virtually every one of them says fad diets are a load of crap simply because "health through diet and exercise" depends mostly on exercise rather than diet. You can only lose so much weight by changing your diet and losing weight all by itself is not going to make you healthy. It doesn't matter if you sit around on your ass all day long eating Cheetos or sit around on your ass all day long eating carrot sticks - it's the sitting around on your ass all day long that's the problem.

[CatoTheChipper]

I've no doubt that science says the typical person must exercise to lose weight.

However, I've lost about 25 pounds since March by just going on a low-carb diet, with absolutely no change in exercise. Three slices of bacon or two eggs for breakfast. Sausage, hamburger, roasted chicken, or grilled steak with vegetable for lunch and dinner. An occasional piece of fruit for dessert. Three or four shots of whiskey at night.

I really don't care what science says about the average effects of diet and exercise. I only care about what works for me. And this has worked for me without the hunger pangs or extraordinary willpower required for high-carb, low-fat diets.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The government in Greece won another parliamentary vote in favor of a new bailout.

Who's voting to give them another bailout?

[That's A Bingo!]

Hitler?

[Libertarian]

You know who else thought Hitler was the answer to everything?

[Lord Humungus]

Hitler?

[Citizen X]

Almanian?

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

I'd narrow my gaze, but you're spot on.

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

Reason commenters? Especially me?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Godwin?

[R C Dean]

Way to Godwin the thread. Geez.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Being the ex-President's daughter pays off: Hugo Chavez's ambassador daughter is Venezuela's richest woman
The daughter of Hugo Chavez, the former president who once declared 'being rich is bad,' may be the wealthiest woman in Venezuela, according to evidence reportedly in the hands of Venezuelan media outlets.

Maria Gabriela Chavez, 35, the late president's second-oldest daughter, holds assets in American and Andorran banks totaling almost $4.2billion, Diario las Americas reports.

The figure would make Gabriela Chavez wealthier than media mogul Gustavo Cisneros, whom Forbes named the wealthiest Venezuelan earlier this year with $3.6billion in assets....

[Lee G]

Where's Sean Penn?

[Je suis Woodchipper]

For $4.2B.. I would.

[Atanarjuat]

She's no great beauty, especially by Venezuelan standards, but she doesn't look that bad considering her father was one of the ugliest human beings who ever lived.

[Irish ?s ESB]

Hugo Chavez was not that ugly.

Now, if you want to talk indescribably ugly men having strangely attractive daughters, the conversation starts and ends with Liv Tyler.

[Crusty Juggler]

Steven Tyler looks like an old woman probably sfw, but really, why would you look?

[Free Society]

No. She's what a swamp troll would look like.

[R C Dean]

She is plain, at best.

But she comes across in those photos as one ice-cold sociopath.

[Jerryskids]

You know who else found being the ex-President's daughter to be extremely lucrative?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Hitler?

[Jerryskids]

Close enough - the correct answer is 'Hitlery's daughter, Chelsea'.

[That's A Bingo!]

Jeb Bush says taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be "a pretty good deal."

For Iran.

[Rich]

For Donald Trump.

[Florida Man]

For America! FUCK YEAH!

[straffinrun]

Foreigner! Cold as ISIS.

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

It's just IS - you've got "Double Vision"

[straffinrun]

I do have a fever of 39.5

[Florida Man]

Hold on, let me check it and see... Yup.

[Carl, Fighter of the Nightman]

He's got stars in his eyes.

[Pro Libertate]

Ahmed games.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Soon all this will be just dust in the wind ....

Wha?

Oh, damn, wrong band.

[Jerryskids]

Don't feel bad. If I'm not mistaken, this feels like the first time you made a mistake.

[Jerryskids]

I'm sure Paul Krugman would agree - a few trillion dollars in government spending is quite a stimulus package. Isn't that right, Paul? Oh, wait, no - Paul Krugman thought all that government spending by BOOOOSH! was a terrible waste of money. As if a government dollar spent by a defense contractor doesn't spend just the same as a dollar spent by any other government worker. Which Paul Krugman advocated for lots more of.

[CatoTheChipper]

Krugman probably wishes that the Tianjin explosion had happened in New Jersey or Los Angeles.

It's really not fair that China will enjoy all the GDP and wealth that the Tianjin disaster will create.

[gaoxiaen]

+100,000 broken windows

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Polish-born single mum hits out over what she calls lack of government help
...Permanent residents who become citizens must wait 104 weeks before receiving some welfare payments. Ms Swiatlowska became a citizen in March but will not be eligible to receive single parent payments until September. She wants the government to backpay her from March, claiming the $530 a fortnight she receives now is not enough....

[Crusty Juggler]

$530 every two weeks? GTFO

[WTF]

Fuck these people who think they have a right to other people's money.

[Rich]

Well, if you must -- *please* use a condom!

[WTF]

I was assuming the "with Warty's Doomcock of Doom" was implied.

[Rich]

Of course. With the built-in "French ticklers".

[commodious spittoon]

"Writhing eldritch horrors" didn't market as well.

[Citizen X]

Of course, the Doomcock's "French ticklers" are made from the rune-inscribed ribs and femurs of actual Frenchmen.

[Juice]

Go back to fucking Poland then. I'm sure they'll give you more.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Jeb Bush says taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be "a pretty good deal."

That's an interesting cost/benefit analysis.

[Lee G]

It was a pretty good deal for the Iranians.

[Florida Man]

Everybody has a different sense of value. Tell me you wouldn't shank half the commentariat to kill your most hated troll?

[Fist of Etiquette]

That's the wrong analogy to use on me. I consider a troll as just a person whom I haven't convinced yet with enough counter arguments.

[Florida Man]

Ok, how many of us would you kill to stay first?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I think I've proven that I don't really need to.

[commodious spittoon]

Kill them.

[Blume]

I like how he simultaneously says that the question of whether the invasion was the ultimate cause of the rise of ISIS is "a complicated hypothetical" that he need not answer.... but he is 100% certain that Obama's withdrawal caused it.

[Free Society]

It's impossible to say for sure that the power vacuum ISIS rushed in to fill, the same power vacuum that the US govt created, can be blamed on the US. Derp.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

IRS Used Donor Lists to Target Conservatives for Audits
A request made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the investigative group Judicial Watch reveals that the Internal Revenue Service used donor lists of tax-exempt organizations to target them for audits....

[WTF]

FAKE. SKANDUL.

[Ted S.]

They only audited 8% of the donors, anyway.

[CatoTheChipper]

The shocking thing about this document is not so much the fact that the IRS was abusing its power to support a Democratic Administration. The IRS has been in that business since around 1933. (Somehow they rediscover their ethical principles when a Republican like Nixon is in office.)

No, the surprising thing about the document is that the IRS was auditing for the purpose of assessing a 35% gift tax on donors to 504(c)4 organizations.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

DNA testing reportedly confirms Warren Harding had a love child.

If only all our presidents spent more time fathering bastard children and less time fucking things up.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Charles II could multitask - fathering bastards *and* fucking up the country.

[Libertarian]

Bill Clinton disagrees.

[Free Society]

Bill Clinton's wife fathered a bastard, supposedly.

[Libertarian]

Hubble trouble.

[Fist of Etiquette]

John Kerry will be raising the U.S. flag at the embassy in Havana.

...in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

"John Kerry will be raising the U.S. flag at the embassy in Havana."

I actually heard him do this live on the radio this morning as I made a Wawa run ...

Hard to control my laughter at Herman Munster speaking Spanish with that snotty Boston Brahmin accent.

[John]

http://www.wltx.com/story/news...../31569193/

If you really hate Mexicans, you have to love this school. Sure, teach the Mexican kids in Spanish and ensure they graduate not being able to speak English and have no hope of getting any job other than mowing lawns and cleaning houses. Nothing says "tolerance and acceptance' like ensuring the children of immigrants have as limited of a future in this country as possible.

[That's A Bingo!]

Limited future? A Mexican immigrate who refuses to learn English might be the next First Lady.

[Ted S.]

Ricky Ricardo for First Gentleman!

[John]

Are you referring to Jeb Bush's wife? Sorry for not getting the joke.

[straffinrun]

Lindsay Graham's pool boy.

[Florida Man]

Nicccce.

[John]

Isn't Graham the catcher in any relationship?

[Citizen X]

Yeah, that dude has "power bottom" written all over him.

[Free Society]

It makes sense. A guy who swings his dick around that much, behind closed doors he tucks it in.

[Rich]

Wade Hasty has been a Spanish teacher for 10 years.

I know it's not, um, nice to make fun of names, but "Wade Hasty" is right up there with "josh Earnest".

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They're just taking their country back, John.

[John]

Good luck with that.

[Blume]

They can have SoCal.

[TwB]

If I moved to another country, and wanted to stay there permanently, I would learn the language of that country so I could better assimilate into that society. Apparently, I'm a monster for thinking the USA should ask the same of people who come here and want to become citizens of this country. By learning English, immigrants become a part of our society and can do so much more with their lives, both professionally and personally.

[Blume]

The Catholic church I went to as a kid had then-recently switched over from being a German-language only church. I wonder why they had those? For tourists, maybe?

[TwB]

My grandfather was born and raised in Waterloo, IL, a small town about 45 minutes SE of St. Louis, MO. When he was in grade school in the late 20s and early 30s, they read and wrote in German because there was a huge German enclave around that area. BUT, he also spoke English in the same classroom, too. And that only lasted for a little while. By the 1940s, that practice had disappeared, and everyone read, wrote and spoke in English.

[gaoxiaen]

They probably eliminated Mein Kampf from the curriculum around that time.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

"The Catholic church I went to as a kid had then-recently switched over from being a German-language only church."

Where was this?
Warsaw?
Alsace-Lorraine?

[John]

When our grand parents came here they made their kids learn English and assimilate and do better than they did. Look how horrible that turned out?

[Atanarjuat]

Personally, I don't care if immigrants who come here learn English or not. They're only harming themselves and their employability. I work with some Russian guys who speak very poor English and only associate with other Russians outside of work.

But I reserve the right to consider any person who lives in a foreign country and makes no, or pathetically minimal, efforts to learn the local language a small-minded, uninteresting person who is devoid of any intellectual curiosity.

[Florida Man]

Agree. I had a cousin stationed in Germany and I asked what German she had learned. She said they had everything she needed on the base so she didn't learn any German. What a wasted opportunity.

[John]

I got okay at German when I was there. The problem is all of the Germans speak English and prefer to speak English to you since their English is usually better than your German. In restaurants and on the street dealing with strangers I spoke my bad German. With friends it was English and that really hurt my ability to learn it.

Though, when I went back armed with a smart phone and access to google translator, my German improved more in a week than in a year of living there. If you have a basic grasp of the language such that you can sound out the words if they are given to you, you just type in what you want to say and it gives it to you. Do that repeatedly and your vocabulary goes way up.

[SFC B]

Oh my God I hated those people with a passion. It's not that hard to learn enough German to fake your way through being polite. Even if all you do is go out to eat on the economy you can at least learn how to order a currywurst.

[John]

I hated those people too. I remember standing in line at the shopette and being behind some doofus private buying his case of Coors Light. You are in fucking Germany, home of the best beer in the world and you are buying chick light. Where do these people come from?

[CatoTheChipper]

I'd agree in most, but not all, cases. I lived in Saudi Arabia for six years, and never went beyond learning the alphabet, pleasantries, and counting. In other words, not much beyond what one should do before visiting a foreign country as a tourist.

It really made no sense to learn fluent Arabic. Most Arabs in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia want nothing to do with Americans outside of work. Those who will engage socially with Americans are pretty much "westernized" and speak perfectly fluent in English. So opportunity to practice Arabic in the Eastern Province was pretty limited. And English is the language in which my business was conducted.

My experience around the Jeddah area is more limited, but the Arabs there seem more gregarious. I probably would have bothered if I had been working there.

[Juice]

To be fair. Arabic is a bitch and a half to learn.

[gaoxiaen]

Try Chinese. 80,000 characters.

[Rhywun]

One class in Spanish. That is not the end of the world.

[Libertarian]

Jeb Bush says taking out Saddam Hussein turned out to be "a pretty good deal."

With the keen insights, imagination, experience, and fortitude of Bush and Clinton, no matter which one wins the election, America wins!

[WTF]

It really doesn't matter at this point. America is already circling the drain, the best anyone could do is just slow it down a little.

[CatoTheChipper]

This is why libertarians should favor Bernie Sanders. He'll speed up the process. Let the blame be unambiguously assigned to socialism.

[Ted S.]

DNA testing reportedly confirms Warren Harding had a love child.

Was it born in an old, cold, run-down tenement slum?

[DJF]

It also showed that Harding was not black

Which means that Bill Clinton was the first black president of the USA.

[Jerryskids]

DNA testing reportedly confirms Warren Harding had a love child.
.
Or that Warren Harding's brother had a love child. I thought we all scienced on here. DNA testing can prove a particular child is not the offspring of a given man, it can say there's a near-certain probability that a particular child is the offspring of a given man or a man with similar DNA, it can't actually prove that a particular child is the offspring of a particular man, especially if that particular man has male relatives with similar DNA. (That's part of the whole problem with the "Thomas Jefferson fathered a bunch of black bastards" story. Thomas Jefferson had male relatives.)

[Derpetologist]

tales from the derp

Was listening to a story on the radio about a soldier(?) who got his legs blown off by a bomb. He got prosthetics and cane so he can walk. Eventually, he had to get a new cane. So he goes to the VA and they tell him he has to get a note from a VA doctor. He goes to the doctor and the doc says you have to go take class on how to use a cane. When he gets to the place to register for the cane class, they tell him it will take a month to get him in the class. He says screw it, and goes and buys a cane with his own money.

Reminds me of the RangerUp video called The Wizard of the VA

[Rich]

He'd better be careful. The VA might take back his prosthetics because he's using an illegal cane.

[Derpetologist]

The guy said the VA is fairly good at things like helping people with loan programs and the GI bill, but is bad at medical care, which is its main mission.

I saw another VA story about an older guy who got hepC from a dirty needle in a VA hospital. So far, no compensation, not even an apology.

Why on earth does anybody go there? The allure of "free care" I guess. I say give the vets an option to get a cash voucher instead of a promise of care.

[Lee G]

If someone gave me or a family member HepC with a dirty needle, there would be a reckoning.

[Ted S.]

Single-payer medical care for the win!

[Marshall Gill]

I say give the vets an option to get a cash voucher instead of a promise of care.

Give it some time. SCOTUScare will make all health care in the US equal to that given by the VA.

[Libertarian]

With Obamacare, we're all wounded vets now. (well, except for Congress and its staff).

[Rasilio]

It's not the allure of free care but the fact that in most of these guys cases it is a va hospital or no care at all

[Free Society]

The military is another government program.

[Clich? Bandit]

Ya know, if you want to stop foreign interventionism, and ensure that only truly just and publicly supported wars are the only ones we enter, then don't offer soldiers any benefits other than pay (But you damn will better come through on that). Military would reduce itself in record time.

[sarcasmic]

Hope he stay's out of Boulder, CO. Cops there will confiscate canes, even from old men, if the person doesn't have a doctor's note. Seriously. They're dangerous weapons apparently.

[Rich]

Oh, FFS! Do the cops there confiscate glass bottles?

[sarcasmic]

They confiscate whatever they want. Who's going to stop them? The cops?

[Clich? Bandit]

Sarc, you do realize your entire life of bitterness and hatred stems from a poor life choice o living in Boulder don't you? The rest of the world is nothing like that place.

I tell my wife i get hives just driving through Boulder.

[Ayn Random Variation]

OMG he lives in the Peoples' Republic of Boulder? That explains everything. Boulder makes Jersey look like Galt's Gulch.
Boulder is beautiful and has tons of hot women, butterface, ugh.

[Clich? Bandit]

he used to.

[Ted S.]

"stay's"?

You people do this to drive me nuts, don't you?

[sarcasmic]

Their, their, they're. Don't get you're panties in a bunch.

[Libertarian]

Eh, he's get up set irregardless.

[KerryW]

Sarc, do you have a link to this?

I tried to google it and only found a story about an 80-some year old man whose cane was confiscated, but he was hitting somebody with it. They got flack for not treating him well, but he did use it as a weapon first.

[sarcasmic]

Maybe the practice stopped, but that's what they did when I lived there back in the early 90s. I watched it happen a dozen times. It could have been sparked by a real incident, and then the city council directed the cops to prevent further cane-violence by confiscating every cane they saw. No links though. I'm not sure if it was documented or not. I'm just going with what I saw.

[KerryW]

If I were them, I sure wouldn't document it!

[John]

That story says so much about how bureaucracies work. It shows why there is always a shortage of services in a bureaucracy. They are so obsessed with stamping out fraud that they tie the system in knots. That guy had to take a doctor's appointment that could have gone to someone who needed it all because some bureaucrat was worried that someone might get a cane who didn't "need" one. Imagine a thousand such useless block checking appointments filling the books and you start to understand why the wait lists to see a doctor often exceed the life expectancy of the patients.

[Derpetologist]

I saw a similar thing when I worked for a large plastic manufacturer. We would just have endless meetings and document edits over a proposal to spend a few thousand dollars. Hours of meetings with 10 or so guys making around $40 an hour to talk about the phrasing of a memo.

Stupid!

[Libertarian]

Funny, I just read a short piece by Ring Lardner from 1925. It was about the same exact thing. A day full of meetings, busy people, etc. They were discussing if they should invest the price of a stamp in order to read a letter someone sent the firm (because it lacked postage). Everyone went by their initials instead of names.

[The Last American Hero]

Fortunately, the market serves as a limit to how inefficient the plastic manufacturer can be.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

We would just have endless meetings and document edits over a proposal to spend a few thousand dollars. Hours of meetings with 10 or so guys making around $40 an hour to talk about the phrasing of a memo.

We had similar issues when I was working in software. We'd spend hours in meetings to decide what the architecture of the software would look like, what the pros and cons are, etc. By the time the meetings were over, we could have had prototypes for both options coded up and running. Then, the manager tweaked the meetings slightly. He implemented a rule that you could get up and leave any time you thought the meeting was unproductive for you. Well, I'll be damned if the meetings didn't shrink in size and frequency. After a few "get up and leave" moments, people learned to overlook the stupid issues and just pick an option.

[sarcasmic]

I don't think it's so much that they're obsessed with stamping out fraud. I think that they are obsessed with their own bit of power. They have the power to say "No" and they're going to do so whenever they can, because it's the only power they have. So any possible excuse to have the power to deprive someone of something will be used, simply because it makes them feel powerful. I don't think fraud has anything to do with it. It's simple power drunkenness.

[Lee G]

Being in the procedural checklist lineup is job security.

"You can't fire me! I'm needed! (to check this box)"

[Ivan Pike]

I don't think it's so much that they're obsessed with stamping out fraud. I think that they are obsessed with their own bit of power.

A lot of it is "this is the procedure!" The book says to do it this way and the boxes must be checked, in order, to ensure you did it by the procedures. Doesn't matter if the procedures were written 100 years ago and things have changed, that is what it says, and the is the way it is going to be done.

Same with bureaucracies everywhere.

[sarcasmic]

True. I was thinking the other day about how simpleminded someone must be to blindly enforce rules and procedures for no reason other than because they exist. No thought, no judgement, no nothing. Just blind obedience.

[Rich]

"There's no reason for it. It's just our policy."

[John]

No. It is not that simple. They only suffer when something goes wrong. Doing things right is never rewarded. So if I am the guy who gives out the canes, it doesn't matter that 99% of the people get their canes quickly. All that matters is the 1% that didn't deserve them. So, I will screw the 99% to prevent that 1%.

[sarcasmic]

I suppose. But I still think that the power to say "No" has a lot to do with it. I don't see why someone would seek out a job with the power to tell people to fuck off if they didn't enjoy telling people to fuck off.

[Libertarian]

"It's simple power drunkenness."

As a veteran of a huge bureaucracy, I don't think so. I think it all comes down to incentives. If the guy never gets a cane, no one will get in trouble. If, however, someone screws up and gives away a cane for an insufficient reason, he will get into trouble. It's a binary thing, i.e. each person looks at what will cause him trouble, and then chooses what is in his own best interest.

[sarcasmic]

Sounds like hell. Why would anyone choose to work in such an environment?

[Lee G]

Job security (and good benefits)

[gaoxiaen]

That's why people liked me doing supply for deck department in the Navy. If someone asked for something, my answer was "Okay". I had to spend all the money on something.

[Citizen X]

They are so obsessed with stamping out fraud that they tie the system in knots.

And then... they fail at stamping out fraud, too.

[John]

Yes. They create a system so complex that real crooks easily manipulate it. Their efforts to end fraud do nothing but screw honest people.

[straffinrun]

I took my daughter to the clinic the other day. We got there early, about 15 minutes before they started taking patients. The lobby was already filled with elderly people. Seniors don't have to pay anything, nor do small children (not sure until what age). The result is parents take their kids to the doctor for every damn nick, scrape, bump etc. and lonely seniors use it as some bizarre social club. Incentives! How do they work. Welcome to state run health care.

[John]

I used to see that in the Army. If you were active duty, seeing a doctor was free. So the troop medical clinics were always crowded with various gold brickers looking for some time off work. If they had just put even a small co-pay of say $25, it would have radically improved the quality of service.

[straffinrun]

To many triggers in public choice theory for it to be taught, I guess.

[Citizen X]

(not sure until what age)

26.

[straffinrun]

Not that country, X. What's crazy is the veternarians here provide infinitely better service and, coincidently, are not nationalized.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

Speaking of vets. One of our dogs has a heart murmur and was having hypoxic seizures. We took him to the vet because we didn't know what was going on. One $125 visit and $15/month later, the dog has been diagnosed and has a daily heart pill.

How many tens of thousands of dollars would it cost to diagnose and treat me with the same thing?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Now that football is upon us again, justice demands we revisit how teams are named. I don't just mean the team from Washington, I mean all teams. What do the Raiders, Vikings, Buccaneers, etc have in common? They were chosen to signal 'toughness' in men. Men who fought. Men who killed. Men who RAPED. No wonder professional athletes are constantly being arrested for violent crimes when they are told to be proud to call themselves after men who RAPED. Rape culture is perpetuated every Sunday. Every kickoff is an act of violence against women. Join me in being a Warrior (dammit, they probably raped too) for Social Justice and send the NFL a signal - no more rape culture will be tolerated.

[Rich]

Whoa. Now that you mention it, there's a *lot* wrong with football: touchbacks, downing the ball, backfield in motion, ?.

[Ted S.]

Ray Rice got a bigger punishment from Roger Goodell than he did from the legal system.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Rice's original punishment was the same as Brady's for allegedly deflating footballs.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Some balls are hard and slippery and bounce off hands and chest
But when they're soft as Charmin, they're the balls that Tom likes best.

Read More: AC/DC's 'Big Balls' Rewritten About Tom Brady and DeflateGate | http://ultimateclassicrock.com.....ck=tsmclip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoqg15tCyiA

[Ted S.]

Rice's actions weren't football-related.

It's amazing seeing people tie themselves in knots trying to twist everything into being Goodell's fault.

[fleshy wavefunction]

You know what? I'm going to be "controversial" here and say:

The NFL *should* just handle what happens in games and let the justice system take care of anything off-field. I know everyone thinks it's good for their public image, but now look. Everyone is *still* bitching, even though they did punish someone for off-the-field activity.

Like universities letting the justice system take care of rape.

[Libertarian]

I agree. I've always wondered why sports teams test for pot and coke. Why not test only for performance enhancing drugs, like steroids?

[Idle Hands]

The NFL is currently market in this country is completely saturated, to the point of where they are chasing anybody who could be a potential fan for growth in any demographic. As a result they are deathly afraid of turning off even the unlikeliest customers so in their mind they need to turn down the violence any violence associated with their sport.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

The NFL is currently market in this country is completely saturated

So, you're saying we've reached peak football?

[Idle Hands]

Brady The Patriots got punished for repeated transparent rule bending/breaking offenses, in order to assuage the worries of gamblers everywhere.

[John]

And no one will sign Rice. Meanwhile, Greg Hardy didn't just lose his temper and hit his girlfriend like Rice did. Hardy, beat the living hell out of her, throwing her against a wall and threatening to kill her. He then paid her off not to show up at trial and managed to get off. Hardy got a $13 million contract from the Cowboys and I think a six game suspension. It pays for there to be no video evidence of your crimes.

It also pays to be a linebacker and not a running back. The same teams that won't sign Rice "out of their commitment not to tolerate domestic violence" lined up to sign Hardy. They care right up until it involves signing a valuable position player.

[fleshy wavefunction]

Check your running back privilege. My colts can't find a running back to save their lives. We just re-treaded Frank Gore. Hope he's still got some gas in the tank...

[John]

The Colts were robbed in a trade with the Browns giving up a first round pick for that stiff running back out of Alabama. Can you have a lower point as a franchise than getting robbed by the Browns?

[fleshy wavefunction]

Being the Browns is probably a lower point than being robbed by them, I guess.

[BigT]

'Browns' is racist. How about 'the tanned'?

[gaoxiaen]

The albino community would be outraged.

[TwB]

See also: Junior Gallette and IK human spellcheck guy who busted Geno Smiths' jaw.

[Juvenile Bluster]

It also pays to be a linebacker and not a running back.

See: Harrison, James.

[Rasilio]

Actually it isn't about the position with Rice, it is about the rapid decline in his stats the over the 2 years leading to his suspension followed by a no name who was nearly out of the league taking over for Rice and looking like a first round pick in the Ravens system.

If teams still thought that Rice was a relatively safe bet for 1600 yards from scrimmage (both rushing and receiving combined) and 12 TD's he'd have been given a multi year contract with close to $20 million in guarantees by someone the day his suspension ended. If they thought he was a safe bet for a combined 1200 yards and 6 TD's he'd have been signed by someone the day his suspension ended.

Rice's problem is that right now 700 yards rushing with a 4 yards per carry average and 300 yards receiving with a 6 yards per catch average and 4 TD's is right about his upside and guys like that who are not public relations nightmares are a dime a dozen.

Basically Rice could still be a valuable 3rd down and change of pace back on almost any team but his value over a replacement is in no way worth the headache he'd bring.

[John]

That is my point. They are not signing Rice out of some concern over domestic violence. His career is over because he is an aging running back. If he were five years younger or played a different position, he would be in the league right now. That fact shows that all of the talk about "domestic violence" is just bullshit.

Some ESPN guy nailed it. He said if Hanibal Lector were a 240 pound outside linebacker who was great at rushing the passer, the NFL would just say he had an eating disorder.

[dbw1977]

Seattle should have ran it.

[John]

http://www.theatlantic.com/int.....gy/401003/

The problem with isolationism is that it views every conflict as another Vietnam. The problem with internationalism is that it views every crisis as another Munich and turns regional crises into international ones. The truth of course is much more complex than either side admits. Here we have an example of the internationalists going wrong. The Ukraine was not Czechoslovakia in 1938 and Putin is not Hitler, if for no other reason than he is not that competent. Sure enough invading the Ukraine has cost him a fortune and bogged him down and that combined with the price of oil dropping has put him in a hell of a bind.

This country's leaders are almost entirely simple minded ideologues of one form or another. They seem incapable of creating a national strategy that isn't either go to war over every line crossed or roll over and do nothing. Here, the proper strategy is to pump as much oil as possible and deprive Putin of the money to fund his aggressions. We have done that but only by accident not by plan.

[Irish ?s ESB]

The Ukraine was not Czechoslovakia in 1938 and Putin is not Hitler, if for no other reason than he is not that competent.

I'd actually argue Putin might be more competent given that this might have cost him a lot of money, but there's no indication it will end with him eating a cyanide capsule in a bunker.

What's really fucked Russia is that, like Venezuela, their economy has very weak fundamentals that were hidden for the last 10 years because of rising oil prices. As you rightfully point out, decreasing energy prices from fracking has completely destroyed Russia's economy, just like Venezuela's.

Thankfully for Russia, in addition to not being Hitler he's also not Chavez because they could have had an even bigger catastrophe than they currently do.

I'd also like to point out that if Putin is losing the Ukraine, he's also won several victories in the Middle East, given that he's allied with both Iran and Assad and has actually helped Iran build up its nuclear energy program.

[John]

Things are not over yet. He very well may end up eating cyanide. Hitler understood that you had to have a competent military for when you run out of other people's money. Putin has an incompetent military. If he is unable to loot other countries and runs out of other people's money, he will wind up just as dead as Hitler.

[Irish ?s ESB]

Hitler also had one of the best collections of military officers on the planet and they were there for reasons entirely unrelated to Hitler.

I don't think Hitler was competent at all, I think he lucked into a military machine that he squandered through his own overreach and stupidity.

[Horatio]

This. Hitler was extremely lucky and came into power just as Europe was weary and weak. He made enemies with every major industrial nation except for Japan, and turned his ally in Russia into the enemy that destroyed him.

Dictators have learned from him: if you try to be Napoleon your shelf life is less than a decade. If you more or less play ball with your neighbors you can keep your boot on your people's throat for quite a while.

[John]

Hitler was competent in that he was a genius at sizing up his enemies. Had he listened to his military, he would have never so much as gone into the Rhineland much less conquered almost all of Europe. His military was very timid. Also, the only reason his military got so far ahead was that Hitler saw the coming of mobile warfare and promoted its advocates. Had it been up to the German Army, Guderian, the father of the blitzkrieg would have never made general. He was a real apostate. Actually, the person who developed the Blitzkrieg was an English officer named Liddell. Liddell was largely ignored by the British Army. Guderian hired a translator and read everything Liddell published and adopted his theories almost whole clothe.

Even when the war started, the original German plan to invade France was a bad version of the old Schliffen plan only this time going through the Netherlands. It was Hitler who said the key to France was going through the Ardennes. Manstien developed the idea independently but the Army never would have adopted it had it not been for Hitler.

Hitler's flaws created his downfall but he also was a genius in many ways.

[Free Society]

Also, the only reason his military got so far ahead was that Hitler saw the coming of mobile warfare and promoted its advocates.

He promoted the advocates. Then he ridiculed and attempted to thwart their efforts, and then took credit for their success after they disobeyed him. That's the story of blitzkrieg on the early western front.

[John]

That is not true Free Society. I am actually reading Alistair Horne's history of the invasion of France in 1940 "To Lose a Battle" right now. It was the Army leadership that was timid and just couldn't believe that it was possible to move that quickly and accomplish what they did. Had it not been for Hitler, the Army would have likely reigned in Rommel after he crossed the Meuse and the French might have been able to recover.

[Free Society]

I don't know about Alistair Horne's book, but he's certainly not the only voice on the matter. Captured German officers in Britain were secretly recorded during their wartime captivity and they were nearly unanimous that they could have taken France more quickly, with less bloodshed and a more decisive defeat of the British had Hitler not been playing political games with his generals. The best example was Hitler telling Guderian and his other field officers to stand down and stop pushing the Brits into the sea, allowing over 400,000 British personnel as well as some more French and Belgians ones to evacuate the continent, all because he wanted his generals to know that his dick was bigger. The rank-and-file, astounded at the order to stand down, were told that this was because the English are a Germanic people and Hitler wanted to one day make a great ally of them. Which was just ideological cover for Hitler's power play.

[John]

Free Society,

We are talking about two different parts of the campaign. You are absolutely right that he held them back and they could have crushed the British. Why he did that is to this day a complete mystery.

I am talking about earlier in the campaign when they came through the Ardennes. I would very much recommend the Horne book. He is a great writer.

[Free Society]

Why he did that is to this day a complete mystery.

Well it's not a complete mystery. There may be disagreement about the motives but of generals involved, it was agreed that it was a move meant to solidify his control over the military after having been left in the dust and cut out of the loop by officers such as Manstein and Guderian.

[Citizen X]

You know who else thought Hitler was competent?

[R C Dean]

His military was very timid.

Which is a funny of saying they were right.

[John]

Strategically perhaps. Tactically and doctrinally, they could not have been more wrong. They were not that much different than the British and French command staffs and were preparing to fight the last war.

[Free Society]

Hitler also had one of the best collections of military officers on the planet and they were there for reasons entirely unrelated to Hitler.

I don't think Hitler was competent at all, I think he lucked into a military machine that he squandered through his own overreach and stupidity.

I agree with this completely. Hitler did as well as he did despite his own actions and policies. The Wehrmacht's military organization and successful strategy was a result of the remnants of the old Prussian officer's corp. Germany's relative economic recovery owed to the preexisting German cultural work ethic.

The utter and total defeat of Germany on the Eastern front was driven primarily by Hitler's ideological blindness and illusions of divine providence. Imagine if Hitler hadn't lost the 6th Army by not allowing a withdrawal? If Hitler had not repeatedly squandered his men and resources on the east, in battles like Stalingrad, Kursk and Leningrad, he would have had a very formidable force left to defend against a Soviet counterattack. Even if Operation Barbarossa was doomed to failure, and I don't think it was, there's no reason it had to fail that badly.

And geopolitically, if Hitler had been more amenable to the western powers, within a few years of trust building he might have had their help in fighting the soviets. The man was not a great leader, he led Germany to ruin.

[John]

Hitler's downfall was his utter refusal to retreat. He had one trick, audacity. If the German Army had not marched on Moscow in 1941 and instead contented itself with destroying the Russian Army and digging in for the winter while refitting for an offensive in the spring, the Russians likely would have not stood a chance in 1942. If Hitler had been able to enforce a one sided peace on Russia the way the Germans did in World War I, no way in hell would the US have been able to liberate Europe. We barely were able to do it with the best parts of the German Army engaged in the East.

[Free Society]

The US and Britain could have won in liberating France and achieving some objectives, but not certainly to the extent they won in World War 1 allowing them to force an unconditional surrender. Between the Battle of Britain and Operation Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe was nearly annihilated and they would have been at a definite though not insurmountable disadvantage in fighting Britain and the US.

[John]

It would have been insurmountable. The problem the US had was that sure we had all of these people and could produce all of this equipment, but you could only ship so much of it and only supply so many people. There was a hard limit on the number of divisions the US could put into Europe because there was only so much shipping available to supply them.

The other problem the US had was that despite our large population, Roosevelt's depression had limited the number of people young enough and fit enough to be in the infantry. The US population really did suffer from mass malnutrition in the 1930s and it showed up in our ability to produce infantry. We had that giant army but by the end of 1944 were running into a serious shortage of people physically competent enough for the infantry. Thank that miserable incompetent bastard Roosevelt and his insane economic policies that literally starved the nation for that.

Ironically, had Hitler won in Russia, the US would have still developed the A-bomb and would have nuked Germany and won the war that way. So when you think about it, Germany was lucky Hitler fucked up so badly. It could have ended worse.

[Free Society]

Ironically, had Hitler won in Russia, the US would have still developed the A-bomb and would have nuked Germany and won the war that way. So when you think about it, Germany was lucky Hitler fucked up so badly. It could have ended worse.

Maybe. But I think it's fair to say that Japan had a more favorable post-war experience than the Germans got. The mass rape, pillage, genocide of the Germans by the Russians was a fairly catastrophic thing. As far as startegic bombing goes, the Germans got it every bit as badly as the Japs despite that nukes weren't used. Dresden would have been equally as annihilated if a nuke had hit it rather than the firebombing it actually did receive.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I don't think Hitler was competent at all, I think he lucked into a military machine that he squandered through his own overreach and stupidity

Ain't that the truth. The German military was the best organized and best-led force in the world at that time, made even more impressive by the fact that they were under sanctions on their size and their country had just gone through a horrible depression. They lost a lot of their materiel after WW1, but lost none of their fighting elan that was steeped in traditions which carried back to Frederick the Great.

The German generals mistook their early smashing victories as evidence of Hitler's military genius, as opposed to the history of aggressive maneuver and encouragement of initiative that went back hundreds of years. He could have annihilated the British army at Dunkirk. He tried to invade Britain instead of isolating them and harassing their navy to death with his U-boats. He invaded Russia (bad move #1) and then compounded his error by trying to take Stalingrad and Moscow instead of settling the Black Sea area (bad move #2). He declared war on the US first.

It's a credit to the strength of the German military that they managed to fight as hard as they did after D-Day and after they had to abandon Russia with their tails between their legs.

[R C Dean]

I read an interesting analysis that Hitler's fundamental error in the East was delaying the march on Moscow/Stalingrad to clean up the Balkans.

That's why they were short of their objectives when winter came.

But, in the end, he would have lost no matter how well his armies did. Because we were gonna show up with nukes, and if we have nukes and are willing to use them, and you don't, you're gonna lose.

[Blume]

This country's leaders are almost entirely simple minded ideologues of one form or another. They seem incapable of creating a national strategy that isn't either go to war over every line crossed or roll over and do nothing.

Because most of the electorate doesn't understand anything more complicated than those options. If you try to split the middle you're going to get shit thrown at you from both directions, because few people in politics (or in media) give a damn about the good of the country, they're just opportunists.

[fleshy wavefunction]

We also have a results-now culture. The extreme positions on the war-notwar axis get certain types of results quickly. Everything in the middle is slower and harder to see working, although probably more effective in many cases.

[John]

That too. Part of the reason for that is that our country is almost entirely ignorant of history. Without an understanding of history, it is very hard to have any perspective. So our population and our leaders panic over every set back and overreact to nearly every big event.

[fleshy wavefunction]

What about containment and parts of the Reagan doctrine? Those actually seemed fairly valid to me and rely on things other than warfare to deter the spread of communism. Yes, warfare was (of course) on the table, and used in a couple of notable examples, but it wasn't the only foreign strategy tool used in that era.

[John]

I agree. But part of making containment work is to figure out what lines you are going to draw. Containment doesn't work if you pledge to defend countries like Ukraine and Georgia that you really won't go to war to defend.

The other part of containment is arming other countries to defend themselves. And we seem to not be too interested in that these days.

[Derpetologist]

Spent most of yesterday at MEPS (military entry processing something something). I went there in a van with a few other people. I wore my lucky werewolf shirt. There were several periods of waiting throughout the day. I hear that's the way it is in the Army. We passed the time by shooting the breeze. Took the ASVAB and a personality test. I got a perfect score on the ASVAB. The proctor whispered it in my ear right after I finished. I felt like the chosen one. The van driver gave us snacks on the way back. Next Tuesday, I have a weigh-in. The week after, some more tests and then I get
to enlist. Then 3 weeks til I ship. Can't wait to get my laser gun and rocket chair, unless GI Joe was lying to me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HrtKoHsIf8

[Crusty Juggler]

Congratulations and good luck.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

May the Force be with you!

[Tejicano]

Hooah!

So you took the plunge. Welcome aboard. Any idea what MOS you want to get into?

[Derpetologist]

My main choice is 35P- linguist. I was also thinking of 18X, special forces candidate. I'd have to work on my running some, but I think I can do it. I want to see if I can get a contract where if I wash out of SF, I can still be a linguist instead of getting dumped into infantry.

I got a GT of 144 and a CO of 149, which is way over the min for SF.

[Lee G]

Wait till they find out about your internet commenting habits.

[Tejicano]

Will you need schooling for the language or do you have it already?

[Lee G]

He's already fluent in Derpish

[Derpetologist]

I speak Derpskrit, Bullshitish, and Crapanese as well.

[Derpetologist]

I want Arabic, and I will have to go to school for it. However, I speak Swahili which has many Arabic words, so I have a head start. I can read Arabic letters.

[Tejicano]

So you'll need to go to DLI. Good luck! Not sure what the ratio is between number of native speakers enlisting vs number the DoD has to train.

[Derpetologist]

The recruiter showed me a list of needed languages and the bonii for selecting them. It was almost all Middle Eastern languages.

[Tejicano]

OK, good. If they are saying they will train you then there should be no problem as long as you pass the language ability test,

[Free Society]

So you'll need to go to DLI. Good luck! Not sure what the ratio is between number of native speakers enlisting vs number the DoD has to train.

At least the non-native speakers are less likely to go on a shooting rampage yelling something about a dude named allah.

[Tejicano]

Also - have you looked into Civil Affairs? It dovetails well with languages but doesn't need as much training as the 18 series do.

[Derpetologist]

Hm. Hadn't thought about them.

[Tejicano]

Less chance of not making the cut and getting stuck in some MOS the Army needs but you're not interested in.

[SFC B]

18X is a sucker's bet. Yes, it is a guarantee of a chance to go to SFQC, but it's going to take a couple years before you actually attend, and in the mean time you'll be like every other grunt. Except you won't be meeting the requirements for whatever incentives you enlisted for because you haven't gone to the school you require (SFQC) to receive the incentives. So you'll be killing time in some infantry platoon. And when you finally do attend SFQC you'll be there with the same grunts you were hanging out with because SF recruits in-service heavier than it recruits new enlistees.

If you're set on going SF then follow Tejicano's advice and go 38B (CA) or do what you wanted to and go 35P. Then show up at one of the SF recruiting events on-post and apply. Maybe you get accepted, maybe you dont. Maybe you attend and graduate, maybe you don't. If you make it, great, you're SF. If you don't you're still doing something you want to do and are receiving the enlistment bonus, GI BIll incentives, Loan Repayment, Language pay, etc that you wanted. If you go 18X and bolo out (a legitimate risk for SF) then you're being assigned at the needs of the Army and you're getting nothing for it.

[Derpetologist]

OK, that makes sense. The thing is I'm 30 and that's the upper age limit for SF, although I suppose there's always a chance for a waiver.

I was also thinking of going to OCS after language school. The upper age limit for that is 32. Just think- I could become the oldest 2nd lieutenant in the army!

[Just Jason]

Dude, whatever you do, don't sign up to be a 35N. I say that because I was talked into it because they made it sound awesome--it's not, at least not in my humble experience. 35Ns work with the 35Ps, and they used to have options to cross train--this was back when these were 98G (before they were 35P) and 98C (35N). Ok, so going to DLI is good and all the linguists loved it and ended up with jobs they liked, while a lot of the 35Ns hated it. Also, unless you love the idea of being stuck at a desk and surrounded by people who care a whole lot about shit that doesn't matter, stay away from Ft. Meade. Just keep in mind that they can't really tell you what any of this stuff is until after you're cleared. Of course, to each his own, but if languages are your thing, don't let them talk you out of 35P for 35N--it's just not as good of an experience from what I observed.

Good luck!

[Rich]

Took the ASVAB and a personality test. I got a perfect score on the ASVAB.

But not so much on the personality test, eh?

Seriously, best wishes!

[Derpetologist]

It's a reactive test. I kept getting questions on how I behaved in high school. I also kept getting questions about whether I would confront an armed mugger and how much of risk taker I am.

disclosure: Eagle Scout, no law trouble, went to college on scholarship, 2 yrs in Peace Corps

Yep, I'm a goody two-shoes.

[Crusty Juggler]

Yep, I'm a goody two-shoes.

I feel obligated.

[Tejicano]

It's the Army. If they detect a personality you have to file for a waiver.

[Derpetologist]

It's a glorified horoscope in my opinion. One presumes the Fort Hood shooter took and passed a similar test.

[Tejicano]

I'm currently in the Army Reserves - that was a bit on an inside joke

[Derpetologist]

I thought you started out in the Marines?

[Tejicano]

Yup. That was in the 70's. I've been Army Reserve since 2001.

[Ted S.]

I'm reminded of the old Soviet-era joke:

Leonid Brezhnev wanted a cult of personality like Joseph Stain had. Unfortunately, Brezhnev didn't have a personality.

[Jordan]

I hear there's a never ending source of derp in the military (as with any other bureaucracy). You must go where the derp leads.

[Derpetologist]

It's like the Lost World of Derp.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Good luck to you! What languages are you fluent in? Can you learn others relatively easily? If so I'd go with Farsi and Mandarin, if you don't have those already.

Also, Canadian. I don't trust them - I think they are borderline white walkers.

[Derpetologist]

Derp gathers, and now my watch begins...

I speak Swahili fluently and I've studied several others. DOD classifies it as a category 3 language. Haven't taken the DLAB yet, but I got a study guide and did well on the practice tests.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Cool. I wish I had other language ability.

[Tejicano]

Mandarin is over hyped. If you are going for a language because it is difficult pick one that's also rare.

[Tejicano]

- rare as in relatively fewer native speakers.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

So...Engrish?

[Pro Libertate]

Finnish.

[Tejicano]

That would be a good one. Additional bonus in that the women are hot and approachable.

[Crusty Juggler]

I would recommend having my alcohol tolerance at a high level before I approached Finnish women.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

Maybe you'll get a motorcy....cle

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Patrick Stewart to world leaders: Ask Yourselves, "What Would Jean-Luc Picard Do?

Patrick Stewart is urging politicians to watch more Star Trek and follow the example set by his character, commander Jean-Luc Picard, instead of succumbing to infighting and squabbles.

When asked which of his past characters would provide good role models for today, Stewart told the Huffington Post he chose his turn in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

"Unlike my predecessor, Captain James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard believed first and foremost in negotiation. He was a diplomat before he was a warrior. Talk, talk, talk and keep on talking. That would be a great message for the world to absorb."

His remarks come as the Labour party continues to panic over the unprecedented surge in support for Jeremy Corbyn, with leadership hopeful Liz Kendell telling voters to choose "anyone" but him on Wednesday. Stewart, a passionate Labour supporter, said the the party has been plunged into "complete disarray" after the veteran left-wing MP took over his rivals in opinion polls.

Corbyn has set himself apart from Kendell, Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper with his socialist policies, which include renationalising the railways, a top tax bracket of 50 per cent and a ban on nuclear weapons.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Shields up...engage!

Make it so, Number Two!

Pew pew pew pew pew pew!

Oh, and negotiation is fun, too, I guess.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I mean, the reason the audience waits through the negotiation scenes is they know the negotiations will break down and soon we get to watch the space-laser battle.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

^This

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Unlike my predecessor, Captain James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard believed first and foremost in negotiation.

I want my President fucking green skinned alien women. Therefore, I'm voting for Hillary.

[Tejicano]

Where do you get the idea that green skinned alien women have zero standards in choosing sexual partners?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

They need the green cards.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, I want my president hating children.

[Rasilio]

So you want the Picard from the early seasons

[Marshall Gill]

So you are voting for the Hildebeast?

[Crusty Juggler]

I am not married and I do not have a girlfriend and I have never watched Star Trek.

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

Wow - what a shitty life 🙁

Oh, wait - NOT married. What a great life!

[Rich]

Oh, wait. He might be *blind*.

[lap83]

+1 Extras

[WTF]

Stewart seems blissfully ignorant that the talk is worthless unless there is an "or else" behind it if it fails.

[Derpetologist]

There was a king who had the phrase ultima ratio regnum engraved on his cannons. The phrase means "the last reckoning of kings".

[Citizen X]

Louis XIV, i believe.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Yep. The Enterprise was the most powerful and advanced ship in Starfleet.

His criticism of Kirk's command is also really simplistic. I can't recall if Picard ever faced a 'Balance of Terror' type decision, where Kirk had to decide whether to attack a Romulan ship destroying Federation outposts or fall back and show weakness that could encourage invasion.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"The Defector"
"Data's Day"
"The Enemy"

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Okay, I stand corrected. Although I'll add that Kirk lived in a time when the Federation had two superpowers as enemies, thus requiring Starfleet to be more military than scientific exploration committee.

Not coincidentally, Ron Moore wrote two of those episodes.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

Cardassians
Romulans
Klingons (on and off)
Borg

[Fist of Etiquette]

He's already been pwned. Don't pile on.

[Rasilio]

The prepare to be double corrected.

The Enterprise of the TNG era was *NOT* the most powerful ship in the fleet, it was the most technologically advanced but it was not primarily a warship, it was a research and exploration vessel and therefore a lot of space that could have been devoted to weapons or defensive systems was instead allocated to additional crew and research systems

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

Talk, talk, talk!

It's allllll talk!

Too much talk! Talk that trash! Conversation, contradiction...it's alllll talk

Debate, discourse, diatribe! These are words with a "d" this time.

Elephant talk.

[Ted S.]

Ask Yourselves, "What Would Jean-Luc Picard Do?"

Ask yourselves, "What Would Riker Google?"

[Lee G]

preventing holographic pregnancies

I larfed

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oh, shit, I forgot about that account. Hilarious.

[Michael]

what is a group of tribbles called

In tears laughing over here.

[Derpetologist]

My guess is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3rFNbSKpEE

[Heroic Mulatto]

You know who was a diplomat and a warrior?

Capt. Benjamin Sisko.

[Florida Man]

And a Demi-God of some sort. I didn't really understand the religious part.

[Rhywun]

Because the Bajorans had a connection to the aliens that lived in the wormhole which connected to the Gamma Quadrant, and those aliens chose to have a chit-chit with Sisko during his first run-through. Something like that.

[John Titor]

And that work out well. Sisko absolutely flipping his shit over trying to get people to agree to his demands so he doesn't have to kick their asses is the best part of the series.

[Blume]

If Gene Roddenberry were writing the script for the real world, that would totally work. Unfortunately, what works in fiction may not work in the real world.

[Suthenboy]

I always had the impression that Patrick Stewart is more like his character in Blunt Talk than Captain Picard.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

DNA testing reportedly confirms Warren Harding had a love child.

I started my life in an old, cold, rundown tenement slum
My father left, he never even married Mom
I shared the guilt my mama knew
So afraid that others knew I had no name

This love we're contemplating, is worth the pain of waiting
We'll only end up hating the child we may be creating
Love child, never meant to be
Love child, by society
Love child, always second best
Love child, diff'rent from the rest
Hold on, whoa

[Aloysious]

Everyone is telling me that he was born as a love child
By looking in his eyes something turned me lose in his hot
nights
Feeling the power of lost when the guy's passing by
Wrecking one's brain and I'm going insane don't know why
I can feel your sex winding up the girl in the red dress
And my brain is gone, what is going on, I'm burning inside
Feeling the power of lost when the guy's passing by
Wrecking one's brain and I'm going insane don't know why
A love child, running wild a love child
A love child, running wild a love child - love child

[Ted S.]

I beat you by eight minutes. :-p

[straffinrun]

My wife hates it when I say that.

[Carl, Fighter of the Nightman]

Astronomers have imaged an Earthish-like planet orbiting 51 Eridani, a solar system 100 light years way from Earth's.

So, we need to cryogenically freeze Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey until 2136?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Yes. The answer is always yes. Or Hitler.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Or Woodchippers.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

If a planet is Earth-like and could support human life - but has twice the mass of Jupiter - would we be able to live on it? Could we pick anything up, or even move at all, with that much more garvity to contend with?

[Lee G]

Dolly Parton has a sad

[Florida Man]

If DBZ is to be believed, we should be able to throw balls of lightning there.

[Suthenboy]

Simple answer: No.

[Rasilio]

A planet with twice the mass of Jupiter would not in any way shape or form be earthlike.

First off based on our current theories of planetary formation it is impossible to get a rocky planet that is much larger than about 25x the mass of the earth wheras Jupiter has a mass somewhere around 317 times the earths.

Second with that much mass any atmosphere they had would be far too thick to work like air for us unless the thing had the density of foam

[Pro Libertate]

There's 40 Eridani A, which is much closer and much more. . .logical.

[Rhywun]

"Indeed."

[Blume]

If you read the article it's clear that the planet is not at all Earth-like. It's just not as hot as previously discovered exoplanets which "looked like cool stars".

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe regrets WWII, but won't exactly apologize

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged Friday that Japan inflicted "immeasurable damage and suffering" on innocent people in World War II, but stopped short of offering his own apology and said future generations of Japanese should not have to make them either.

In a widely anticipated statement marking the 70th anniversary of his country's surrender, he said instead that Japan's repeated past "heartfelt apologies" would remain unshakeable in the future.

"On the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, I bow my head deeply before the souls of all those who perished both at home and abroad," Abe said in a 25-minute address delivered live on national television. "I express my feelings of profound grief and my eternal, sincere condolences."

The statement was closely watched by Japan's neighbors, especially South Korea and China, and it was unclear whether it would satisfy them.

Resentment over invasion, occupation and atrocities by the Japanese Imperial Army before and during the war still bedevils relations between Japan and the East Asian countries seven decades after Tokyo's surrender on Aug. 15, 1945.

You can stop apologizing when people in your country stop arguing that the Bataan Death March was because the army didn't have enough trucks for the POWs.

[Rich]

You know who else regretted World War II?

[Crusty Juggler]

Charles Lindbergh?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Pat Buchanan?

[Citizen X]

Prescott Bush?

[WTF]

Neville Chamberlain?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Not Paul Krugman?

[Rich]

Not Tom Brokaw?

[straffinrun]

WWI?

[Libertarian]

It sure as hell wasn't the director of Downfall.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Estonians?

[gaoxiaen]

Blondie.

[Jordan]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe acknowledged Friday that Japan inflicted "immeasurable damage and suffering" on innocent people in World War II

Now they just use Keynesian economics (or Abenomics) to accomplish that.

[John]

We won the war, leveled their entire country, and forcibly occupied it for over ten years. Who gives a shit if they won't apologize? I am pretty sure they regret going to war with us and don't plan to do it again any time soon.

[Derpetologist]

?

Tojo, Hirohito
Way before Nintendo
There was Fat Man and Lil Boy
And ruins still on Honshu
Those two bombs in August
They stay think it's uncool
Cause they're still preoccupied
With 19, 19, 1945

[Derpetologist]

*they still think

[Lord at War]

Derp -

Kokomo? Really? At least do it right!

Tojo, Hirohito
Way before Nintendo
Hiroshima, Nagasaki
I've got a tamagachi
We're gonna get there fast
then we'll take it slow
firebomb
Tokyo

[Mazakon]

Report: Al Gore insiders chatting potential 2016 bid

Al Gore's supporters have started chatting with the former vice president about a potential 2016 presidential bid, BuzzFeed News reported Thursday, citing an unnamed senior Democrat.

"They're figuring out if there's a path financially and politically," the Democrat told BuzzFeed, which noted Gore hasn't made any moves toward running. "It feels more real than it has in the past months."

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Hillary must be in legitimately deep shit if Gore's entourage is leaking this stuff. What she did was blatantly illegal, but if she didn't have to worry about any serious repercussions from it, they wouldn't be talking about it at all.

She's not Miss Inevitability any more so the sharks are smelling blood in the water. I think the DNC is dead set against an old white communist like Bernie becoming President so they're trying to recruit Gore to run in order to keep the Clinton-era nostalgia train going without Hillary's baggage.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Well he gots enuff ISIS money for a campaign from sellin' off PROG-TV to the jihadis ...

[bacon-magic]

"President wants happy ending?" - masseuse

[Longtorso, Johnny]

WHAT NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT BUT WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO WORRY ABOUT
...4. Hillary Clinton, as both a future Presidential candidate and a sitting Sec. of State would have been one of the Top 100 intelligence targets in the world and probably one of the top 10.

5. It's thus certain that the Chinese and Russians would each have had a team focused on accessing her communications.

6. Every security expert I know of has said it's a virtual certainty the Chinese and Russians both gained access to her server and all her emails. From what I know about their capabilities, I'd agree.

There are probably a bunch of folks in China and Russia who are praying (even if they're atheists) for Hillary to be elected. If she wins, they own the President of the United States. I can just imagine in a meeting with Putin, Hillary being told to back off supporting Ukraine or he'll release her emails (as he hands her a folder containing the most damaging ones for her to peruse). Put in that position, would Hillary fall on her sword or sacrifice a country like Ukraine? I don't know, but I wouldn't want to be living in Ukraine?...

[WTF]

That would never happen, because RESET BUTTON!

[John]

That is absolutely true. If Hillary were a Republican or the media still had even a shred of integrity, she would be disqualified from holding office over this. That she isn't shows that the media will do fall in line behind any Democrat no matter how bad they are.

[ant1sthenes]

Technically, I think depending on which laws she violated, she should be officially, legally disqualified.

[Suthenboy]

"Put in that position, would Hillary fall on her sword or sacrifice a country like Ukraine?"

This made me laugh.

[KerryW]

This applies even if she hadn't used a personal server for official business. Her non-official communications could very well be hacked, with the same opportunity for blackmail.

[Atanarjuat]

Today's installment of classic 90s country.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The following ought to be lines in country music songs (and maybe they are)

It's noon already - why am I still sober?

I'm not vindictive, my forgiving nature is much lauded,
But you broke my heart - now it's time for your IRS audit
(by Loretta Lynch)

My wife took her mother on our honeymoon
So I entertained them both in the bedroom

The Original Series was nice, but The Next Generation was better
(wait, how did *that* get in there?)

[TwB]

I miss 90s country. Today's "country" is, for the most part, pop music. Now, some 90s country was approaching pop music, especially towards the end of the 90s, but you could still hear old school country influence in artists like Travis Tritt, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Brooks and Dunn, etc. Today? Not so much. Gotta get on the radio so you do what the producers tell you to do.

[John]

And what is sad is that in the 1990s, 90s country sounded like pop music compared to the stuff from the 60s and 70s. You are totally correct that the 90s country sounds like the real stuff compared to the crap they are making today. Garth Brooks sounds like Waylon Jennings compared to someone like the Zack Brown band or the guy from Hootie and the Blowfish.

[Crusty Juggler]

57-year-old Sharon Stone nude, for Harpers.

[WTF]

I'm sure there's no Photoshop at all in those photos.

[Crusty Juggler]

She looks like that based solely upon hard work in the gym and eating well.

[Libertarian]

Here's what her back looks like.
http://atechnophobesblog.blogs.....uicky.html

[Libertarian]

I've seen pictures of Mexican UFOs that are more believable.

[John]

One word; photoshop. No way is that actually her body beyond her no doubt being that thin. But I don't buy for a minute they didn't photo shop her skin and tighten everything up.

[R C Dean]

This, at a minimum.

Plus, I never thought of her as having such a big head. But, I don't pay any attention to her either.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

New Planned Parenthood video: Organs harvested without informed consent
...That pressure ends up pushing technicians to get blood and organs even when the women expressly forbid it. In one case O'Donnell recalls, a late-term mother refused consent, which O'Donnell explained to the other technician. "You have to make sure you get her," O'Donnell's colleague told her, but O'Donnell said she had refused consent. That didn't stop the technician, however. "If there was a higher gestation, and the technicians needed it, there were times when they would just take what they wanted. And these mothers don't know. And there's no way they would know."...

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I'm beginning to think there's something disreputable about Planned Parenthood.

[fleshy wavefunction]

THERE HAS TO BE A SAFE SPACE

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Hillary Clinton's Server Was In New Jersey This Whole Time. It's Blank Now.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's mysterious email server has been in a private data center in New Jersey since 2013, that is, until the IT company the former secretary of state hired to maintain the hardware handed the "blank" device over to the FBI Wednesday....

[CampingInYourPark]

Hillary Just Wanted To Send Emails From Her Phone Like A Normal Person. Then The Trouble Started

http://thinkprogress.org/elect.....-her-life/

[That's A Bingo!]

But she wasn't a normal person. She was Secretary of State.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Aside from the responsibilities that entails, it also means you have access to some pretty good tech support and don't have to roll your own.

[Rich]

Clinton's mysterious email server has been in a private data center in New Jersey since 2013

No doubt guarded by two Secret Service men.

[Illocust]

Oh hell, do they have video of them telling a tech to do it anyways, or is it just an interview where a tech says they were told to do so?

[Illocust]

Oh damn, looks like it's just an interview. That won't do much good. It's too easy to have one disgruntled employee make shit up. I wish they'd shown some physical evidence or at least had someone corroborating this guy.
Still, along with everything else being shown this does just add to the pile of bad news for PP. It's supporters won't change their minds, but there are a lot of people who prefer not to think about this organization. They aren't going to think highly of it getting public funding with all this coming to light.

[WTF]

They aren't going to think highly of it getting public funding with all this coming to light.

Why are people against women's health?!

[Crusty Juggler]

Planned Parenthood's ignorance and arrogance continue to surprise me.

[WTF]

Why? They know damn well the Democrats will shield them from any repercussions.

[BigT]

do they have video of them telling a tech to do it anyways

Of course...it's on the internet.

Klintonerd?mmerung

[Je suis Woodchipper]

I imagine the tech at that server farm having to swear out an affidavit will shed a little light on the guidance provided.

[straffinrun]

Granted, it is hard for a fetus to hold a pen.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Astronomers have imaged an Earthish-like planet orbiting 51 Eridani...

I bet they used Acronis software.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Hope not. My Windows 8 backup is now considered 'corrupt' by the Windows 10 compliant version of Acronis, and they took out extended partition support so half my hard drive is now unreachable. Acronis sucks.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Paralyzed bride poses in lingerie to show the handicapable are sexy too

Disabled and sexy. The two words are rarely seen together, according to Rachelle Chapman, who decided to change that with a racy photo shoot.

Five years after being paralyzed from the chest down following an accident at her bachelorette party, the 29-year-old North Carolina wife and new mom known worldwide as the "paralyzed bride" now wants to be known as something else: a sexy, young woman.

In a series of professional boudoir photographs she released on her Facebook page to encourage people to see beyond her wheelchair, Chapman poses in nothing but lacy lingerie. She hopes the photos will help people see the romantic potential of people with disabilities.

"With these images, I'm saying, this is who I am, this is what I look like, this is what I feel like. I'm still sexy, I'm still a woman, I can still be intimate, but I'm still the exact same person when I get in my chair every morning," she told TODAY.com. "It was a good, positive image to show who I am and what I look like and give a different face to disability."

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Rule 34, no exceptions.

[WTF]

Even cripples can be attention whores.

[Florida Man]

Did you see that documentary about the guy with no arms or legs fighting in MMA? Total attention whore dick head.

[WTF]

I haven't seen it, but I'm picturing the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[Florida Man]

Pretty close. I watched it just to see how the hell he was going to fight. Turns out you're not allowed to kick grounded opponents so it forces the other guy into a ground game. You know that's what everyone wants to see in a fight, exploitation of rules.

[Ted S.]

Hell, there are probably people who find Stephen Hawking sexy.

[Mazakon]

Fiorina: Parents should have the right to not vaccinate their child

Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina said that parents should have the right to not vaccinate their children for all diseases, but that schools should be able to exclude children who are unvaccinated for communicable diseases from attending class.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I say we declare CA a vaccine-free zone, surround it with barbed wire, and just wait.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Can we just do that anyways? Not just the diseases from idiot parents who don't vaccinate, there's lots of other shit from California that ends up infesting the rest of the country.

[Libertarian]

Can we PLEASE go a whole day without a reference to the Kardashians?

[Crusty Juggler]

Another reasonable answer from Fiorina?

[John]

That is all she seems to give. I am starting to think that next to Paul she is the best Republican candidate. So what if she was a horrible CEO at HP? You have to remember just how stupid our political class actually his. The dumbest person who is able to rise to the top of a major corporation is likely leaps and bounds smarter than even the smartest politician. In terms of intelligence and competence, taking a failed CEO and putting them in politics is like taking the 12th man off an NBA team and putting them on a JV girls high school basketball team.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Prior failures are not necessarily an indication of future failure - if you learn from your mistakes. How many times has a previously 'failed' baseball manager gone on to win the WS?

[John]

Exactly. And maybe she is cut out better for the job of President than she is to be president of HP. Also, any head of a large organization is in many ways both the victim and the benefactor of circumstances. It is not good enough to be the right person for the job. You have to be the right person for the job at that time.

[WTF]

In terms of intelligence and competence, taking a failed CEO and putting them in politics is like taking the 12th man off an NBA team and putting them on a JV girls high school basketball team.

Chris Matthews found this out when she administered a verbal beat-down to him that was more one-sided than a Rhonda Rousey fight.

[Suthenboy]

"...taking a failed CEO and putting them in politics is like taking the 12th man off an NBA team and putting them on a JV girls high school basketball team."

John nails it.

[CatoTheChipper]

I've never been a fan of Fiorina because she was responsible for me losing money. However, I agree with John. She is probably the most articulate candidate on the GOP scrum, and her positions on most issues are not too bad.

[Blume]

No, it isn't reasonable. Preventing the spread of severe, easily-communicated disease is one of the basic reasons for government.

[Lee G]

Fair enough. Fiorina is growing on me.

[Pro Libertate]

So if Clinton ends up dropping out of the race, for whatever reason, does that mean all of the people demanding XX chromosomes in the presidency will vote for Fiorina? I mean, that's all that matters, right?

[WTF]

No, because those XX chromosomes aren't legitimate unless they are followed by a "D".

[Pro Libertate]

So social justice only counts for some women then?

[Marshall Gill]

Well, duh.

[Pro Libertate]

That seems wrong to me, somehow. Norman, coordinate.

[Tejicano]

Of course not. Remember how they crawled out of the woodwork to support Palin?

[Blume]

School isn't the only place children can catch diseases from unvaccinated children. Will these idiot parents be required to inform everyone their kid interacts with that they have chosen to turn them into a human petri dish?

[lap83]

Even if you think vaccinations should be required, should that be decided at the federal level?

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Of course, because government always acts in the best interest of the citizens it serves.

[lap83]

and states are racist so they'd probably just infect all the black people with polio if left to their own devices

[Suthenboy]

This vaccine debate is pretty ridiculous.

Once the generations that had first hand knowledge of serious disease figured out how effective vaccines are they lined up by the millions to get them.

You can go lots of places today and walk down nearly any street and see multiple cases of diseases unheard of here in two generations.

Let these fucking retards stop vaccinating their children and this anti-vax shit will evaporate in less than one generation.

[lap83]

That's a good point. The vaccinations will still be available for the next generation that realizes the previous one was off their rocker

[Blume]

Fortunately (or un-, depending on your perspective), unvaccinated people are somewhat protected by herd immunity, so long as they're surrounded by vaccinated people.

[ant1sthenes]

That stupid, ignorant... wait, no, that sounds about right.

[chipper me timbers]

She's right of course.

[John]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....-near-done

You guys remember peak oil? I mean only idiots thought that oil prices would ever go below $100 a barrel again.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Wasn't the now closed site 'The Oil Drum' dedicated to the peak oil theory?

[Lee G]

We're headed for the 30's at least. I think the teens is too low but we'll see. There's a lot of jobs in the fracking industry that are going to evaporate.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

It sucks that those jobs will disappear but at least we'll have a lot of oil to drill for after we use up all the Saudi oil.

[Lee G]

It's creating a glut of construction equipment hitting the auction market. I'm off to one week after next to try and scoop some up at a reasonable price.

Short Caterpillar.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Interesting. How much of the construction equipment business is rentals? Can you buy those vehicles and store/rent/lease them until the market turns around?

I'm asking b/c there is a crane rental business in my town and I find it fascinating - and wonder how he got into it.

[Lee G]

Quite a bit of it. The national chains rarely buy used equipment and rent it out. Independents tend to shop the auction market.

Crane rental is a hard business. It's technical, requires operators, high liability, and when it goes bad, it goes bad big time.

The biggest obstacle to getting into the rental business is capital. It's financially intensive and when you are carrying debt, you're very subject to market swings that can be severe.

[John]

Yes. But they will come back. It is how the oil industry works, boom and bust. Meanwhile, the technology behind fracking gets cheaper every year. Lower prices will just make people work that much harder to make it cheaper. The long term floor of oil prices is whatever the cost of fracking. Every year that will get lower.

[Derpetologist]

Language Learning with Derpy

A trick for learning foreign languages is to notice that words with similar meanings have similar sounds and symbols. For example, judge, judgement, judicial, judicious, judiciary,...

In Swahili, there is a similar pattern: hakimu (a judge) hukumu (judgement) mahakama (courtroom)
hekima (wisdom)

[Jordan]

Chinese throws a wrench in this with its ridiculous number of homonyms and homophones.

[Derpetologist]

+1 "did your mother scold the horse?"

English is even worse with to, too, and two. At least the Chinese pronounce it differently.

[Jordan]

There's also that one poem about a lion in a cave that is nothing but "shi" over and over.

[gaoxiaen]

Oh, grass dirt horse.

[commodious spittoon]

Can you do Language Learning with Dunphy next? Because I'm still confused by a lot of jargon he used.

For example, "totality of the circs" seems to mean "things about the situation I interpolated after the fact that somehow totally explains how beating a man's face in was totally warranted."

"Bright line" seems to mean "a standard which is totally unjust but really convenient for law enforcement."

I can't even begin to interpret "smooches."

[Derpetologist]

Imagine how a stupid person who is trying to sound smart would speak. That should clear up 90% of the confusion.

[R C Dean]

I think "smooches" means "Give me all your cash, or else."

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Tom Steyer, liberal billionaire and prospective CA guvnor, wants to tax oil extraction

If you're going to be the governor you're going to have to investigate all sorts of things and solve the problems facing the state. One of these issues is the high cost of gasoline, some of the priciest in the nation. That's got consumers seeing red and Steyer plans to get to the bottom of it. (LA Times)

He recently called on the state Senate to subpoena industry executives to explain why prices surged in California this spring.

In Anaheim on Friday, Steyer and Jamie Court, president of the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, released a memo on public opinion about two potential ballot measures.

One measure would impose a 10% oil extraction tax and dedicate the revenue "to making higher education affordable for California residents." The other would strengthen "disclosure requirements for oil companies' management of gasoline supplies and prices."

Go ahead, California can't commit suicide fast enough.

[Irish ?s ESB]

He recently called on the state Senate to subpoena industry executives to explain why prices surged in California this spring.

What an idiot. Only your state sees this kind of surge, so instead of determining that your state has fucked up the energy market, you blame the oil executives.

[Lee G]

Jesus. How did Steyer make his money? Because he certainly doesn't have any understanding of why California gasoline is expensive.

[Crusty Juggler]

Via wiki, "Since 1986, he has been a partner and member of the Executive Committee at Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco-based $8 billion private equity firm. Farallon Capital Management, LLC, manages $20 billion in capital for institutions and high-net-worth individuals. The firm's institutional investors are primarily college endowments and foundations."

[tarran]

Okay, this now makes sense;

The guy is engaged in social signaling to keep the leftie educrats in love with him, so that they keep sending him money.

This specific proposal would increase the amount of money flowing into the schools, thereby bumping up his income.

So he engages in social signaling and rips off the taxpayers, lining his pockets like a good little crony capitalist.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

He was an investment banker for Goldman, I think, then spun off his own hedge fund marketed to university endowments. He bought/sold an Asian bank in the '00s and made his fund a couple hundred million. How he's a multi-billionaire, however, eludes me. Maybe he scooped up a ton of property over the last decade. And is that net worth or only his assets, I wonder.

[John]

We are in the midst of a giant world wide asset bubble. Bubbles make a lot of stupid people rich that would never be so under normal circumstances. Also, notice that his fund was marketed to university endowments. There are few things more rife with cronyism than the university system. Crony capitalism also makes stupid and craven people rich.

[fleshy wavefunction]

One measure would impose a 10% oil extraction tax and dedicate the revenue "to making higher education affordable for California residents."

What the fuck does this have to do with gas prices other than pass a tax burden onto the consumers???

[tarran]

Allow me to explain.

Oil companies have money. Steyer wants to use that money. But instead of givin him that money, people pay that money to the oil companies for energy that the people want to use.

This makes Steyer very, very sad.

[fleshy wavefunction]

Oil companies have money.
Ok, I'm with you so far.
Steyer wants to use that money.
Uh huh...
But instead of givin him that money, people pay that money to the oil companies for energy that the people want to use.
I see. I guess I now understand that the argument goes like this:
Socialist: Gas (or rent) prices are too damn high!
Devil's Advocate: What do we do?
S: TAX THE OIL MORE!
DA: Wouldn't that raise prices?
S: Yes, but what about the price of higher education, which is also too damn high?

[Ivan Pike]

Most states already have severance taxes on extraction, California included. Is he talking about raising or adding to the tax?

http://www.ncsl.org/research/e.....es.aspx#ca

[Princess Trigger]

I'm sure a little more regulation and taxes will bring down the price.

[Tonio]

Astronomers have imaged an Earthish-like planet...

The actual image of the planet is basically a few bright pixels, nowhere near the detail shown in that artist's illustration. However the remarkable thing about the actual image is that they can see the planet all on its own. Previously all the images of exoplanets were of the planets passing in front of their stars (relative to us).

[Tonio]

Looks like Hillary is pre-positioning herself to be a prohibition candidate. NPR report this morning on her visiting some type of drug abuse treatment center in NH today. The next step writes itself - "while mj is less harmful, we need strong laws so people can get the help they need." Barf.

[Rich]

Maybe she's just checking out their email technology.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Who isn't a prohibition candidate? Rand? Bernie? Is that it?

[commodious spittoon]

Someone at the GOP campaign HQ must have circulated a memo re: staying relevant. You know what's really going to grab millennials this time around? More drug war rhetoric.

[Libertarian]

"while mj is less harmful, we need strong laws so people can get the help they need."

Christ, that is gold! I assume you've already sent the Clinton team your resume?

[Frankjasper1]

Could be wrong...but wouldnt this tax be passed on thus meaning higher prices than now? And if the revenue goes to higher education then wouldnt this make tuition higher since more money would be made available?

[Frankjasper1]

This was meant for steyer proposal

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Hitler. I mean, yes.

[straffinrun]

For you snowflakes out there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeOWZLpVK58

[Crusty Juggler]

LOL is right.

[SugarFree]

Now why didn't I think of this?

Adult Toy For Depositing Alien Eggs In Yourself

This is the Splorch ovipositor sex toy from Primal Hardwere. It was designed to resemble an alien or insect's egg-laying organ and used to squeeze homemade gelatin eggs into your own holes (eggs are inserted into the rear of the toy and massaged forward).

The name is gold. Pure solid gold.

[commodious spittoon]

Maybe there's an actual market for Warty prosthetics.

[straffinrun]

Is it safe to use with hamsters? The do have tiny holes, so I'm guess no.

[SugarFree]

I don't know how you would get the end of that in a hamster, but I guess there's no reason not to at least try.

[straffinrun]

I deserved that for trying to squeeze two jokes through one tiny opening

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Dunno.
Ask Richard Gere.

[BigT]

You're doing it wrong. The hamster goes in your hole.

[Derpetologist]

Irish, please pick up the white courtesy phone: ESB on Christian Libertarians

http://elizabethstokerbruenig......ertarians/

Warning: contains phrases such as "Freedom isn't a Biblical virtue."

[lap83]

Irish discovered that her seizure meds give her bad teeth and now feels guilty for making fun of her, but I'll bite.

Being a judgmental, self-righteous idiot isn't a Biblical virtue either.

[John]

Yeah, because Christianity never advocated the importance of free will or anything. Nope. Being forced to do something is exactly the same as choosing to do it in the Christian moral universe.

ESB does prove that God hates man. Why else would he make such an evil and stupid creature so fucking adorable?

[Derpetologist]

The story of Exodus about how god helped Moses win freedom for the enslaved Jews.

[lap83]

Well freedom is not a virtue in the strict sense of the word, so I agree with her there. But her assumptions are retarded: 1. libertarians don't claim that freedom is a virtue in the way she means (a trait showing high moral standards, like honesty or purity) 2. her f'ed up logic leads her from "freedom isn't a virtue" to "freedom is immoral" to "controlling and judging people is moral", which isn't Christian either

[John]

What she doesn't get is that one should be committed to freedom not because freedom is a virtue in itself. Commitment to freedom is an act of humility. It is not the freedom you are embracing. It is you embracing the fact that you don't know what is best for other people such that you have a right to force them to do what you think is correct.

From a Christian perspective, heaven is a dictatorship of Jesus. The day Jesus returns to earth, he will necessarily become the unquestioned dictator of the world. This is because as the human manifestation of God on earth. He would be the one entity that actually would know what is best for everyone. What people like ESB don't understand is that we are not Jesus. We are fallen, sinful mistaken creatures who manage to do harm even when we mean to do good. We are so far beneath God and so primitive in our thinking and knowledge we can never claim to know what is best for other people. We don't even know what is best for ourselves.

ESB and other Christian socialist read the Bible and think we have a duty to run everyone's life in the name of Jesus forgetting that they are not Jesus and have no better access to him than anyone else.

[lap83]

"What she doesn't get is that one should be committed to freedom not because freedom is a virtue in itself. Commitment to freedom is an act of humility. It is not the freedom you are embracing. It is you embracing the fact that you don't know what is best for other people such that you have a right to force them to do what you think is correct."

Also it makes you a happier, less bitter person to not feel burdened by their mistakes. Which allows you to feel love and respect for them instead of looking down on them as if they're incompetent children. How is that not Christian?

[John]

It totally is. Also, how can you forgive people for their mistakes unless you admit that you make mistakes too? I can't see how you square forgiveness with the conviction that you know what is better for everyone and have a right to force them to do what you feel is good for them.

[R C Dean]

Well freedom is not a virtue in the strict sense of the word,

Freedom is the prerequsite for virtue. Virtuous acts are those which you choose to do, after all.

If a homeless guy sticks a gun in my face and takes my money, I haven't acted virtuously. If I choose to give him my money, I've acted charitably, which is to say, virtuously.

[John]

Exactly that. That is what ESB doesn't get. She thinks Libertarians embrace freedom out of some kind of fetish rather than because it is necessary for virtue not a virtue in itself.

[John]

Yes. Why on earth would God have wanted those good virtuous Jews out running around free to worship Golden Calves and such?

[Derpetologist]

I get the sarcasm above, I'm just pointing out an obvious counterexample to what ESB wrote.

[Citizen X]

Oh, come on. Don't you guys remember when Jesus said "Render unto Caesar everything"?

[lap83]

""Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in his other eye?"

[lap83]

"Judge not lest ye run for political office. Save them for the campaign ads"

[ant1sthenes]

Freedom is an application of egalitarianism to political power. Does ESB hate equality?

[CatoTheChipper]

ESB: "Freedom isn't a Biblical virtue."

The Apostle Paul: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."

[Blume]

He wasn't talking about political or economic freedom, to put it mildly.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for she is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, tan avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.