Overnight Open Thread
Open • Views: 18,744
You kill me and I’ll see that you never work in this town again.
— Steve Martin, The Man with Two Brains
274 comments
2 |
elizajane Mon, Dec 20, 2010 10:39:19pm |
Hellooooo….
Oh no, it really is an echo chamber.
| 6 |
engineer cat Mon, Dec 20, 2010 10:53:53pm |
the wolf is eating the moon
think luminescent thoughts
| 7 |
Stanley Sea Mon, Dec 20, 2010 10:55:26pm |
re: #6 engineer dog
the wolf is eating the moon
think luminescent thoughts
Rain here in So Cal. We are missing it all.
| 8 |
engineer cat Mon, Dec 20, 2010 10:57:30pm |
re: #7 Stanley Sea
Rain here in So Cal. We are missing it all.
:-(
i can see it through light clouds from my deck here in oaktown
it is about half eated now…
| 9 |
Gus Mon, Dec 20, 2010 10:58:29pm |
I should get combat pay for having to read the “Citizen’s Council” newspaper today. Whew. Anyone see Allahpundit? I need to teach him a thing or two. Nah, that would actually require him to read for more than 3 minutes.
| 10 |
freetoken Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:00:27pm |
re: #9 Gus 802
Anyone see Allahpundit?
I don’t pay much attention to HotWingNuts anymore, so I missed whatever that subject was about.
Nevertheless, I’ll second the thought of you getting combat pay!
| 12 |
Eclectic Infidel Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:02:59pm |
Can’t see the lunar eclipse in Oakland, thanks to the clouds. But then I was reminded of this song, and I’m happy again.
| 14 |
Usually refered to as anyways Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:07:30pm |
Prospect of WikiLeaks Dump Poses Problems for Regulators
…
You’d think that bank executives would be quaking in their Gucci loafers.
But guess who may be even more nervous about the possible data dump?
Regulators in Washington.
…
Of course, no one knows what information Mr. Assange actually has or how damaging it could be to any financial firm. In truth, it is hard to believe any e-mails could be that shocking. The scuttlebutt is that WikiLeaks will reveal documents in which bankers discussed how they duped a client, how they dressed up their numbers or even how they tried to pull one over on regulators. Sadly, perhaps cynically, that’s almost to be expected.
…
Another difficult issue for regulators will be what to do if damning information is released. Can the S.E.C. or the Justice Department use WikiLeaks as a source to build a case?
…
Legally, the government is allowed to use any publicly available information — as long as the government wasn’t involved in illegally obtaining the information itself. So prosecutors could potentially use any WikiLeaks information to subpoena bank documents and build a case around them.
…
“It puts them in a terrible bind,” said Mr. Mintz. No matter how the government reacts, “there would be an appearance of a profound inconsistency. It’s less of a legal matter than it is an appearance issue.”
| 15 |
Killgore Trout Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:07:41pm |
re: #7 Stanley Sea
Rain here in So Cal. We are missing it all.
We’re socked in here in Oregon as usual, nothing but clouds over head.
| 16 |
Stanley Sea Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:08:23pm |
re: #11 Gus 802
1968 - Martin Luther King’s Prophetic Last speech - Remember
[Video]
Holy shit. Imagine.
| 17 |
Gus Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:09:34pm |
re: #16 Stanley Sea
Holy shit. Imagine.
You can feel the energy. I am willing to die. Thank you Mr. King. Thank you.
| 18 |
Stanley Sea Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:10:58pm |
re: #17 Gus 802
You can feel the energy. I am willing to die. Thank you Mr. King. Thank you.
Hopefully we will see another like him someday.
| 19 |
Killgore Trout Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:11:26pm |
re: #14 ozbloke
“It puts them in a terrible bind,” said Mr. Mintz. No matter how the government reacts, “there would be an appearance of a profound inconsistency. It’s less of a legal matter than it is an appearance issue.”
Assange’s bank crap is probably as dull as his State dept. crap. he has no idea what he’s releasing. There might be a nugget in there somewhere that collapses the American economy but probably not. He’s bound to get lucky eventually which is why it’s very important to stop him now. No mas.
| 20 |
Gus Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:12:35pm |
re: #18 Stanley Sea
Hopefully we will see another like him someday.
Nelson Mandela. Many are silent.
| 22 |
Gus Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:17:30pm |
…The civilization now in jeopardy is all humanity. As the ancient myth makers knew, we are children equally of the earth and sky. In our tenure of this planet, we have accumulated dangerous, evolutionary baggage — propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to leaders, hostility to outsiders, all of which puts our survival in some doubt. We have also acquired compassion for others, love for our children, a desire to learn from history and experience, and a great, soaring passionate intelligence — the clear tools for our continued survival and prosperity.Which aspects of our nature will prevail is uncertain, particularly when our visions and prospects are bound to one small part of the small planet earth. But, up and in the cosmos an inescapable perspective awaits. National boundaries are not evidenced when we view the earth from space. Fanatic ethnic or religious or national identifications are a little difficult to support when we see our planet as a fragile, blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars.
There are not yet obvious signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, and this makes us wonder whether civilizations like ours rush inevitably into self-destruction. I dream about it … and sometimes they are bad dreams.
In the vision of the dream I once imagined myself searching for other civilizations in the cosmos. Among a hundred billion galaxies and a billion trillion stars, life and intelligence should have arisen in many worlds; some worlds are barren and desolate. On them life never began or may have been extinguished in some cosmic catastrophe. There may be worlds rich in life not yet evolved to intelligence and high technology; there may be civilizations that achieved technology and then promptly used it to destroy themselves; and, perhaps, there are also beings who learn to live with their technology and themselves, beings who endure and become citizens of the cosmos.
Immersed in these thoughts, I found myself approaching a world that was clearly inhabited, a world I had visited before. I saw a planet encompassed by light and recognized the signature of intelligence. But, suddenly, darkness — total and absolute.
In my dream, I could read the “Book of Worlds”, a vast encyclopedia of a billion planets within the Milky Way. What could the galactic computer tell me about this now darkened world? They must have survived some earlier catastrophe. Their biology was different from ours. High technology. I wondered what those lights had been for; there must have been signs they were in trouble. The possibility of survival in a century — less than one percent, not very good odds. Communications interrupted. Their world society had failed; they had made the ultimate mistake. I felt a longing to return to earth.
The television transmissions from earth rushed past me, expanding away from our planet at the speed of light. Then suddenly — silence, total and absolute. But the dream was not yet done.
Had we destroyed our home? What had we done to the earth? There had been many ways for life to perish at our hands; we had poisoned the air and water; we had ravaged the land. Perhaps we had changed the climate. Could it have been a plague or nuclear war? I remembered the galactic computer. What would it say about the earth?
There was our region of the galaxy; there was our world. I had found the entry for earth: HUMANITY: THIRD FROM THE SUN. They had heard our television broadcasts and thought them an application for cosmic citizenship. Our technology had been growing enormously (they got that right). Two hundred nation states, about six global powers, the potential to become one planet. Probability of survival over a century — here, also, less than one percent. So, it was nuclear war, a full nuclear exchange.
There would be no more big questions, no more answers. Never again a love or a child; no descendents to remember us and be proud; no more voyages to the stars, no more songs from the earth.
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Gus Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:18:04pm |
I saw east Africa and thought, “a few million years ago we humans took our first steps there. Our brains grew and changed. The old parts began to be guided by the new parts, and this made us human — with compassion and foresight and reason. But, instead, we listened to that reptilian voice within us, counseling fear, territoriality and aggression. We accepted the products of science; we rejected its methods”.Maybe the reptiles will evolve intelligence once more. Perhaps, one day, there will be civilizations again on earth. There will be life, there will be intelligence; but there will be no more humans — not here, not in a billion worlds.
******
Every thinking person fears nuclear war, and every technological nation plans for it. Everyone knows its madness, and every country has an excuse. There is a dreary chain of causality. The Germans were working on the bomb at the beginning of World War II, so the Americans had to make one first. If the Americans had one, the Russians had to have one. Then the British, the French, the Chinese, the Indians, the Pakistanis. Many nations now collect nuclear weapons; they are easy to make. You can steal fissionable material from nuclear reactors. Nuclear weapons have almost become a home industry.
The conventional bombs of World War II were called “blockbusters”, filled with 20 tons of TNT they could destroy a city block. All the bombs dropped on all the cities during World War II amounted to some 2 million tons of TNT — two megatons. Coventry, Rotterdam, Dresden and Tokyo — all the death that rained from the skies between 1939 and 1945 — a hundred thousand blockbusters, two megatons. Today, two megatons is the equivalent of a single thermonuclear bomb — one bomb with the destructive force of the second world war. But there are tens of thousands of nuclear weapons. The missile and bomber forces in the Soviet Union and United States have warheads aimed at over 15,000 designated targets. No place on the planet is safe.
The energy contained in these weapons — genies of death, patiently awaiting the rubbing of the lamps — totals far more than 10,000 megatons; but, with the destruction concentrated efficiently, not over six years but over a few hours. A blockbuster for every family on the planet; a World War II every second for the length of a lazy afternoon.
The bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed 70,000 people. In a full nuclear exchange, in the paroxysm of global death, the equivalent of a million Hiroshimas would be dropped all over the world. And, in such an exchange not everyone would be killed by the blast and the fire storm and the immediate radiation. There would be other agonies. The loss of loved ones; the legions of the burned and blinded and mutilated; disease; plague; long-lived radiation poisoning the soil and the water; the threat of stillbirths and malformed children; and, the hopeless sense of a civilization destroyed for nothing. The knowledge that we could have prevented it and did nothing.
The global balance of terror pioneered by the United States and the Soviet Union holds hostage all the citizens of the earth. Each side consistently probes the limits of the other’s tolerance — like the Cuban missile crisis, the testing of anti-satellite weapons, the Vietnam and Afghanistan wars. The hostile military establishments are locked in some ghastly mutual embrace, each needs the other but the balance of terror is a delicate balance with very little margin for miscalculation. And the world impoverishes itself by spending half a trillion dollars a year in preparations for war and by employing perhaps half the scientists and high technologists on the planet in military endeavors.
| 24 |
Mark Winter Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:18:57pm |
| 25 |
Gus Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:19:07pm |
How would we explain all this to a dispassionate, extraterrestrial observer? What account would we give of our stewardship of the planet earth?We have heard the rationales offered by the superpowers. We know who speaks for the nations; but who speaks for the human species? Who speaks for earth?
From an extraterrestrial perspective, our global civilization is clearly on the edge of failure and the most important task it faces is preserving the lives and well-being of its citizens and the future habitability of the planet. If we are willing to live with the growing likelihood of nuclear war, shouldn’t we also be willing to explore vigorously every possible means to prevent nuclear war? Shouldn’t we consider in every nation major changes in the traditional ways of doing things, a fundamental restructuring of economic, political, social and religious institutions? We have reached a point where there can be no more special interests or special cases. Nuclear arms threaten every person on the earth.
Fundamental changes in society are sometimes labeled impractical or contrary to human nature: as if nuclear war were practical or as if there were only one human nature. But fundamental changes can clearly be made. We are surrounded by them. In the last two centuries abject slavery, which was with us for thousands of years, has almost entirely been eliminated in a stirring world wide revolution. Women, systematically mistreated for millennia, are gradually gaining the political and economic power traditionally denied to them. And some wars of aggression have recently been stopped or curtailed because of a revulsion felt by the people in the aggressor nations. The old appeals to racial, sexual and religious chauvinism and to rabid nationalism are beginning not to work. A new consciousness is developing which sees the earth as a single organism and recognizes that an organism at war with itself is doomed. We are one planet.
One of the great revelations of the age of space exploration is the image of the earth, finite and lonely, somehow vulnerable, bearing the entire human species through the oceans of space and time. But this is an ancient perception … history is full of people who, out of fear or ignorance or the lust for power, have destroyed treasures of immeasurable value which truly belong to all of us. We must not let it happen again.
We have considered the destruction of worlds and the end of civilizations, but there is another perspective by which to measure human endeavors. Let me tell you a story — about the beginning.
| 26 |
Gus Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:19:50pm |
Some fifteen billion years ago our universe began with the mightiest explosion of all time. The universe expanded, cooled and darkened. Energy condensed into matter, mostly hydrogen atoms, and these atoms accumulated into vast clouds; rushing away from each other they would one day become the galaxies. Within these galaxies the first generation of stars was borne, kindling the energy hidden in matter, flooding the cosmos with light. Hydrogen atoms that made suns and starlight. There were in those times no planets to receive the light, no living creatures to admire the radiance of the heavens. But deep in the stellar furnaces nuclear fusion was creating the heavier atoms — carbon and oxygen, silicon and iron. These elements, the ash left by hydrogen, were the raw materials from which planets and life later arrived.At first, the heavier elements were trapped in the hearts of the stars, but massive stars soon exhausted their fuel and in their death throes returned most of their substance back into space. Interstellar gas became enriched with heavy elements.
In the Milky Way galaxy the matter of the cosmos was recycled into new generations of stars now rich in heavy atoms, a legacy from their stellar ancestors. And in the cold of. interstellar space great turbulent clouds were gathered. by gravity and stirred by starlight. In the depths the heavy atoms condensed into grains of rocky dust and ice, complex carbon-based molecules. In accordance with the laws of physics and chemistry, hydrogen atoms had brought forth the stuff of life. In other clouds more massive aggregates of gas and dust formed later generations of stars. As new stars were formed, tiny condensations of matter accreted near them, inconspicuous moats of rock and material ice and gas that would become the planets And on these worlds, as in interstellar clouds, organic molecules formed made of atoms that had been cooked inside the stars. In the tide pools and oceans of many worlds molecules were destroyed by sunlight and assembled by chemistry. One day, in these natural experiments, a molecule arose that quite by accident was able to make crude copies of itself.
As time passed self-replication became more accurate as molecules that copied better produced more copies. Natural selection was under way. Elaborate molecular machines had evolved slowly, imperceptibly — life had begun. Collectives of organic molecules evolved into one-celled organisms. These produced multi-celled colonies. Various parts became specialized organs. Some colonies attached themselves to the sea floor; others swam freely. Eyes evolved and now the cosmos could see. Living things moved on to colonize the land. Reptiles held sway for a time and gave way to small, warm blooded creatures with bigger brains who developed dexterity and curiosity about their environment. They learned to use tools and fire and language — star stuff, the ash of stellar alchemy had emerged into consciousness.
We are a way for the cosmos to know itself. We are creatures of the cosmos and always hunger to know our origins, to understand our connection with the universe. How did everything come to be? Every culture on the planet has devised its own response to the riddle posed by the universe. Every culture celebrates the cycles of life and nature. There are many different ways of being human.
| 27 |
Dancing along the light of day Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:19:51pm |
| 28 |
mdey Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:20:17pm |
re: #3 Gus 802
Though I think Jimi’s version was great, I think Stevie Ray Vaughn’s cover was even better.
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Gus Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:21:04pm |
But, an extraterrestrial visitor examining the differences among human societies would find those differences trivial compared to the similarities. We are one species. We are star stuff harvesting star light. Our lives, our past and our future are tied to the sun, the moon and the stars. Our ancestors knew that their survival depended on understanding the heavens. They built observatories and computers to predict the changing of the seasons by the motions in the skies. We are all of us descended from astronomers.The discovery that there is order in the universe, that there are laws of nature, is the foundation on which science is built on today. Our conception of the cosmos — all of modern science and technology —is traced back to questions raised by the stars. Yet, even 400 years ago we had still no idea of our place in the universe. The long journey to that understanding required both an unflinching respect for the facts and a delight in the natural world.
Johannes Kepler wrote: “We do not ask for what useful purpose the birds do sing, for song is their pleasure since they were created for singing. Similarly, we ought not to ask why the human mind troubles to fathom the secrets of the heavens. The diversity of the phenomena of nature is so great and the treasures hidden in the heavens so rich precisely in order that the human mind shall never be lacking in fresh enrichment.”
It is the birthright of every child to encounter the cosmos anew in every culture in every age. When this happens to us, we experience a deep sense of wonder. The most fortunate among us are guided by teachers who channel this exhilaration. We are born to delight in the world; we are taught to distinguish our preconceptions from the truth. Then, new worlds are discovered as we decipher the mysteries of the cosmos.
Science is a collective enterprise which embraces many cultures and spans the generations in every age and sometimes in the most unlikely places there are those who wish with a great deal of passion to understand the world. There is no way of knowing where the next discovery will come from. What dream of the mind’s eye will remake the world. These dreams begin as impossibilities. Once, even to see a planet through a telescope was an astonishment; but we studied these worlds, figured out how they moved in their orbits, and soon we were planning voyages of discovery beyond the earth and sending robot explorers to the planets and the stars.
We humans long to be connected with our origins so we create rituals. Science is another way to experience this longing. It also connects us with our origins, and it too has its rituals and its commandments. Its only sacred truth is that there are no sacred truths. All assumptions must be critically examined. Arguments from authority are worthless. Whatever is inconsistent with the facts — no matter how fond of it we are — must be discarded or revised. Science is not perfect. It is often misused. It is only a tool, but it is the best tool we have — self-correcting, ever changing, applicable to everything. With this tool we vanquish the impossible; with the methods of science we have begun to explore the cosmos. For the first time scientific discoveries are widely accessible. Our machines — the products of our science — are now beyond the orbit of Saturn. A preliminary spacecraft reconnaissance has been made of 20 new worlds. We have learned to value careful observation, to respect the facts even when they are disquieting, when they seem to contradict “conventional wisdom”.
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Gus Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:21:40pm |
We depend upon free inquiry and free access to knowledge. We humans have seen the atoms which constitute all of nature and the forces that sculpted this work and others. We have found that the molecules of life are easily formed under conditions throughout the cosmos. We have mapped the molecular machines of the heart of life. We have discovered a microcosm in a drop of water; we have peered into the bloodstream and down on the stormy planet to see the earth as a single organism. We have found volcanoes on other worlds and explosions on the sun, studied comets from the depths of space and traced their origins and destinies; listened to pulsars and searched for other civilizations.We humans have set foot on another world in a place called the Sea of Tranquility, an astonishing achievement for creatures such as we, whose earliest footsteps three and one-half million years old are preserved in the volcanic ash of east Africa. We have walked far.
These are some of the things that hydrogen atoms do given fifteen billion years of cosmic evolution. It has the sound of epic myth, but it is simply a description of the evolution of the cosmos as revealed by science in our time. And we, we who embody the local eyes and ears and thoughts and feelings of the cosmos, we have begun at least to wonder about our origins — star stuff contemplating the stars, organized collections of ten billion billion billion atoms, contemplating the evolution of nature, tracing that long path by which it arrived at consciousness here on the planet earth, and perhaps throughout the cosmos.
Our loyalties are to the species and to the planet. We speak for earth. Our obligation to survive and flourish is owed not just to ourselves but also to that cosmos ancient and vast from which we spring!
Who Speaks for Earth
Carl Sagan
| 32 |
Killgore Trout Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:26:02pm |
The Pogues & Kirsty McColl Fairytale Of New York
| 34 |
reine.de.tout Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:28:57pm |
re: #7 Stanley Sea
Rain here in So Cal. We are missing it all.
Shame. I just went out and looked. Be-yoo-ti-ful.
| 35 |
Stanley Sea Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:31:02pm |
re: #24 Mark Winter
Whatever happened to Albert Hammond?
lol, it never rains, but damn when it does. chaos. The freeway this morning and afternoon=a joke.
| 36 |
Mark Winter Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:32:13pm |
re: #35 Stanley Sea
lol, it never rains, but damn when it does. chaos. The freeway this morning and afternoon=a joke.
I think you need the rain though
| 37 |
Stanley Sea Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:33:07pm |
| 38 |
Mark Winter Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:39:08pm |
| 39 |
sizzleRI Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:39:27pm |
re: #34 reine.de.tout
Aw, I wanted to see it. But we got a really pretty snow fall, about an 1+1/2 inches so everything looks like a winter wonderland, so I am ok with no visibility.
| 40 |
freetoken Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:41:16pm |
re: #38 Mark Winter
Heh. Winter. As if you knew what this means :-)
Winter is when it rains so that the desert plants will be blooming in March/April.
Winter is when it rains so that the loquat fruit will develop to be picked come spring.
| 41 |
reine.de.tout Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:42:50pm |
re: #39 sizzleRI
Aw, I wanted to see it. But we got a really pretty snow fall, about an 1+1/2 inches so everything looks like a winter wonderland, so I am ok with no visibility.
Heh.
And I’ve got my A/C on.
I’m sure there will be photos, and you’ll be able to see it. We have some cloud cover but the moon isn’t covered. I’m glad I got up.
| 42 |
freetoken Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:43:10pm |
Winter is when I get to post Christmas music!
| 43 |
Stanley Sea Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:44:47pm |
Ahh can I bitch? I’m babysitting some cute bad dogs right now.
trauma, trouble and fear. Yes.
Ugh
| 44 |
reine.de.tout Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:45:01pm |
re: #42 freetoken
Winter is when I get to post Christmas music!
And here’s a Cajun Night Before Christmas!
| 45 |
Mark Winter Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:45:53pm |
re: #40 freetoken
Winter is when it rains so that the desert plants will be blooming in March/April.
Mmmmhh sounds like you will have lots of flowers in spring. I once experienced rain the Sahara. Days later everything was covered with flowers. Truly amazing.
| 46 |
Stanley Sea Mon, Dec 20, 2010 11:51:18pm |
“leave them outside in the back yard when you go to work - we do it every day”
I come home and they are outside the gate, muddy as hell. Had a 5 hour romp. Thank dog they were here, but WTF? I’m in for a trauma week.
| 47 |
freetoken Tue, Dec 21, 2010 12:01:01am |
re: #45 Mark Winter
The heaviest rains are in the mountains, and then in the hills west of the mountains. The desert in San Diego and Imperial counties have had some rain, but it’s pretty spotty.
| 49 |
Usually refered to as anyways Tue, Dec 21, 2010 12:03:16am |
re: #19 Killgore Trout
Assange’s bank crap is probably as dull as his State dept. crap. he has no idea what he’s releasing. There might be a nugget in there somewhere that collapses the American economy but probably not. He’s bound to get lucky eventually which is why it’s very important to stop him now. No mas.
Hi Killgore,
Do you think the US public will have more stomach for this than they have over the Iraq and Afghanistan cables?
| 51 |
Mark Winter Tue, Dec 21, 2010 12:11:58am |
re: #47 freetoken
The heaviest rains are in the mountains, and then in the hills west of the mountains. The desert in San Diego and Imperial counties have had some rain, but it’s pretty spotty.
Here the snow is melting fast just to make sure that it will ruin the White Christmas idea, once again.
| 52 |
Bob Dillon Tue, Dec 21, 2010 12:24:17am |
re: #12 eclectic infidel
We have a nice hole in the clouds over Walnut Creek. Very clear sight.
| 53 |
Eclectic Infidel Tue, Dec 21, 2010 12:24:27am |
Saw the eclipse just now. Beautiful and other worldly too. Wonder and awe. Now it’s a sip of red wine and water and a mere six 6 hours of sleep.
| 54 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 12:24:51am |
Morning.
Took some pics of the eclipse with my craptacular camera.
We’ll see in a few hours whether they turned out ok.
| 55 |
Eclectic Infidel Tue, Dec 21, 2010 12:26:33am |
re: #54 Varek Raith
Morning.
Took some pics of the eclipse with my craptacular camera.
We’ll see in a few hours whether they turned out ok.
One day when I get a real job with real income I’m going to seriously invest in a quality camera so I can take quality night shots. Arrgh!
| 56 |
Bob Dillon Tue, Dec 21, 2010 12:32:04am |
| 57 |
Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Dec 21, 2010 12:50:36am |
re: #54 Varek Raith
Morning.
Took some pics of the eclipse with my craptacular camera.
We’ll see in a few hours whether they turned out ok.
Ya know, you could get quicker returns if you used more advanced technology.
| 58 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 1:02:58am |
re: #55 eclectic infidel
One day when I get a real job with real income I’m going to seriously invest in a quality camera so I can take quality night shots. Arrgh!
Get a hubble telescope and put it on your camera. :)
Image: lens.jpg
| 60 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 1:24:07am |
| 61 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 1:27:41am |
| 62 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 1:42:27am |
So I noticed Father of the Bride on HBO a couple nights ago. Has Steve Martin never had anything but white hair?
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Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Dec 21, 2010 1:43:10am |
re: #60 Varek Raith
Next time, suck me in with an appeal to my sensibilities, perhaps in response to a comment I have made. Make it seem serious, and then “Rick Roll” me with another link to a similarly ridiculous music video.
/’Tis a time honored tradition that my greatest foe has since rescued himself from, and one that I miss.
| 64 |
Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Dec 21, 2010 1:49:49am |
| 66 |
Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Dec 21, 2010 2:02:32am |
re: #65 laZardo
Not bad, but you gotta step it up a bit. Can we consider it “on”?
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laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 2:04:04am |
re: #66 Slumbering Behemoth
Not bad, but you gotta step it up a bit. Can we consider it “on”?
Like Donkey Kong. Lemme just get the equipment.
| 68 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 2:04:10am |
| 69 |
Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Dec 21, 2010 2:12:55am |
re: #67 laZardo
I see you are aware of my love/fascination for the human beat box. This is doubly interesting as I have just recently become aware Mr. Scratch and his beat boxing skills.
| 70 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 2:15:33am |
re: #69 Slumbering Behemoth
I see you are aware of my love/fascination for the human beat box. This is doubly interesting as I have just recently become aware Mr. Scratch and his beat boxing skills.
Damn, that’s some delicious beats right there.
| 71 |
Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Dec 21, 2010 2:31:41am |
re: #70 laZardo
Heh, good show. Now spring it on me when I least suspect it.
Rules?
1. It must be musical.
2. It must be absurd or strange.
3. There must be some trickery involved, vis a vis “Rick Roll”ing…
… “I find your comment on the history of weaponized tangerines particularly significant, considering the words of Abraham Lincoln.”
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laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 2:38:35am |
re: #71 Slumbering Behemoth
Heh, good show. Now spring it on me when I least suspect it.
Rules?
1. It must be musical.
2. It must be absurd or strange.
3. There must be some trickery involved, vis a vis “Rick Roll”ing…… “I find your comment on the history of weaponized tangerines particularly significant, considering the words of Abraham Lincoln.”
Seeing as how you now suspect it, show’s over for now.
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Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Dec 21, 2010 2:49:01am |
re: #72 laZardo
Seeing as how you now suspect it, show’s over for now.
‘Tis the point. When next we least suspect it…
G’nite all.
/check mark next to laZardo
//potential check mark next to Varek
| 75 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:03:57am |
re: #74 EdDantes
I can’t find my coffee, even though I know it’s within arm’s reach somewhere.
| 76 |
EdDantes Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:08:21am |
re: #75 Obdicut
I’m not even trying to find coffee. I just got my vacation check in the mail and I’m celebrating. Come over to my house, I’m having a luau!
| 77 |
Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:24:23am |
re: #75 Obdicut
I can’t find my coffee, even though I know it’s within arm’s reach somewhere.
Hmm… might have something to do with a certain blind spot effect, as demonstrated here.
Observing that “illusion” might be rather disconcerting, without knowing the specific, scientific principles behind it.
/That’s it. Done enough damage. I am truly out for the night.
| 78 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:30:56am |
re: #77 Slumbering Behemoth
It was because I hadn’t made it yet and was having a false memory.
Now I have it, and damn is it good.
| 79 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:37:10am |
re: #78 Obdicut
It was because I hadn’t made it yet and was having a false memory.
Now I have it, and damn is it good.
Don’t forget that substantial check you’re supposed to mail to me.
| 80 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:44:44am |
Microsoft Fixit Center
Not a bad resource to automatically fix some Windows problems. So easy even my dad can do it.
| 81 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:45:49am |
re: #80 Varek Raith
I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised by the automatic fix tools built into Windows 7. So far, they’ve managed to solve just about every problem I’m running into.
| 82 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:47:03am |
re: #81 Obdicut
I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised by the automatic fix tools built into Windows 7. So far, they’ve managed to solve just about every problem I’m running into.
Same here.
My dad’s computer still has Vista. And…well, he’s not the best with computers.
;)
| 83 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:49:45am |
re: #82 Varek Raith
I am, however, experiencing the classic pain of “Most of the tools I need for my job don’t work perfectly with Windows 7, so I need to keep an XP laptop around for final build work, which is a PITA.”
| 84 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:51:18am |
re: #83 Obdicut
I am, however, experiencing the classic pain of “Most of the tools I need for my job don’t work perfectly with Windows 7, so I need to keep an XP laptop around for final build work, which is a PITA.”
I hear ya.
Going from XP to Vista (I KNOW, I KNOW, SILENCE!) was a nightmare compatibility wise.
| 85 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 3:54:46am |
| 86 |
reloadingisnotahobby Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:07:29am |
Well…..News from Utah………
Got home at 8 last night, 9.5 inches….
4 am this am…13.5 inches!
It started at 12:30 yesterday pm and has not stopped!
Still coming down HARD!
Ya’ll have a great day!
If someone wants to shoot me an E-mail I’ve got pics….
Can’t seem to load them from my work machine!
Yeeee Haaaw!
The blower can barely handle this much snow!
I love my job..I love my job…Repeat as needed
| 87 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:15:58am |
re: #85 rwdflynavy
HUMBUG.
/because there is so much stupidity and religious hypocrisy out there that I just want to deliberately push them over the edge when they finally get to the brink.
| 90 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:30:15am |
re: #87 laZardo
I’m guessing you didn’t watch the video I posted…
| 91 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:30:50am |
re: #89 Shropshire_Slasher
Cuteness times ten:
[Link: www.bbc.co.uk…]
Rhodesian Ridgebacks are great dogs!
| 92 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:34:07am |
Hello. Wanna talk silly?Read this at Army Times
A Virginia legislator says he is drafting a bill to ban gays from serving in the Virginia National Guard following the vote to allow open homosexuals to serve in the military.Republican Del. Bob Marshall says the repeal of the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would weaken military recruitment and retention and increase pressure for a military draft. His remarks were first reported by The Washington Times.
Ah well, we still have the Maverick 8.
| 93 |
Summer Seale Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:37:49am |
This is really out there:
Jewish Chronicle: Julian Assange: I’m in the same position as the Jews
| 94 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:40:58am |
re: #93 Summer
This is really out there:
Jewish Chronicle: Julian Assange: I’m in the same position as the
JewsDOUCHE
Fixed it for him.
| 95 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:41:31am |
re: #92 Escaped Hillbilly
Hello. Wanna talk silly?Read this at Army Times
Ah well, we still have the Maverick 8.
Fucking Bob Marshall.
He represents the neighboring district…But lives in my city.
:/
| 96 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:41:34am |
re: #93 Summer
He compared himself to Solzenitchen too, the ass.
| 97 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:43:40am |
re: #96 Obdicut
He compared himself to Solzenitchen too, the ass.
He really takes the whole narcissism thing to new levels doesn’t he?
| 98 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:44:34am |
re: #93 Summer
He’s a megalomaniac. I’ve said it from the beginning, he is not interested in truth or freedom. He is into self aggrandizement and self promotion. Now he is a martyr? He surrounds himself with people like Bianca Jagger and Michael Moore. Blech. I don’t care whether the charges are true. A lot of people get falsely accused. It doesn’t put them in league with the suffering of the Jews or other trully persecuted people. I despise this guy. I only wish everyone could see what a joke he is.
| 99 |
Summer Seale Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:45:12am |
re: #96 Obdicut
He compared himself to Solzenitchen too, the ass.
Foghorn Leghorn: That boah…I say, that boah ain’t raght in tha head….
| 100 |
Vicious Babushka Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:46:12am |
re: #93 Summer
This is really out there:
Jewish Chronicle: Julian Assange: I’m in the same position as the Jews
Not really, there is that Israel Shamir thing.
| 101 |
theheat Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:47:16am |
re: #99 Summer
I love Foghorn Leghorn. I find Assange altogether revolting.
| 102 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:47:37am |
re: #97 rwdflynavy
He really takes the whole narcissism thing to new levels doesn’t he?
I have a paper cut. Now I know what it’s like to be shot.
I can haz MoH?
/
| 103 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:48:28am |
re: #102 Varek Raith
He’s going to get a trial, at the very least.
Does he think the Jews got trials?
What an asshole.
| 104 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:48:53am |
re: #95 Varek Raith
He probably actually thinks he can pull that off. How does it make sense anyway? It isn’t even legal. No more than the NG or Reserve could have remained segregated when the govt acted to let blacks serve. PS dummy, ALL Army basic training is conducted by the Active Duty Army. And when you deploy, you fall under the Active Duty command. Sorry, won’t work.
| 105 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:51:57am |
By Dummy of course, I meant the Republican from VA, not you, Varek. Just realized I didn’t qualify that.
| 106 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:52:29am |
re: #90 rwdflynavy
Well that brightens my night.re: #92 Escaped Hillbilly
Hello. Wanna talk silly?Read this at Army Times
Ah well, we still have the Maverick 8.
/obscure video game reference…
| 108 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 4:53:12am |
re: #105 Escaped Hillbilly
By Dummy of course, I meant the Republican from VA, not you, Varek. Just realized I didn’t qualify that.
:)
Marshall drives me bonkers.
| 110 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:04:38am |
Meanwhile, the kid he used:
Jeff Paterson, director of the California-based Courage to Resist project, said visitors report that Pfc. Bradley Manning generally spends at least 23 hours a day alone in a cell no larger than about 64 square feet.
Defense Department spokesman Col. Dave Lapan told reporters that Manning has the same privileges as all other prisoners held in what the military calls “maximum custody.”
He said Manning is in a standard single-person cell and gets exercise, recreation, access to newspapers and visitors.
Frankly, more than he deserves. But the martyr brigade drums on.
| 112 |
researchok Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:06:48am |
re: #111 Escaped Hillbilly
Evening.
Either way..
I was OOT yesterday, and now I’m really under the weather. Bigtime.
| 113 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:09:24am |
re: #102 Varek Raith
I have a paper cut. Now I know what it’s like to be shot.
I can haz MoH?
/
I just spent 15 minutes in the cold waiting for my son’s bus. I know exactly how the Soviet troops felt in Stalingrad during WWII!!
//
| 114 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:11:27am |
re: #99 Summer
Foghorn Leghorn: That boah…I say, that boah ain’t raght in tha head…
My favorite Foghorn Leghorn cartoon was the one with the little chicken who was a genius. Foghorn was playing Hide and Go Seek with him and the kid found Foghorn in a different spot than he hid. “I better not, I say, I better not check, I just MIGHT be in there!”
| 115 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:13:28am |
re: #113 rwdflynavy
Yes but were you wearing the snazzy new uniform?
| 116 |
researchok Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:13:29am |
I was in VA Beach yesterday..watching the jets over Oceana doesn’t get old.
Maybe it’s different if you live there, but I still get a rush watching them.
| 117 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:14:50am |
re: #114 rwdflynavy
My favorite Foghorn Leghorn cartoon was the one with the little chicken who was a genius. Foghorn was playing Hide and Go Seek with him and the kid found Foghorn in a different spot than he hid. “I better not, I say, I better not check, I just MIGHT be in there!”
| 118 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:17:25am |
re: #116 researchok
I was in VA Beach yesterday..watching the jets over Oceana doesn’t get old.
Maybe it’s different if you live there, but I still get a rush watching them.
| 119 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:19:02am |
re: #113 rwdflynavy
I had to take a route that was two blocks longer from the station to my house because of roadworks. Now I know what it was like on the Bataan Death March!
/
| 120 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:19:28am |
re: #115 Escaped Hillbilly
Yes but were you wearing the snazzy new uniform?
Jeans and a sweatshirt. I’m on LEAVE!!
| 121 |
rwdflynavy Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:21:34am |
re: #120 rwdflynavy
Jeans and a sweatshirt. I’m on LEAVE!!
On leave and my MIL is coming to visit today. Off to clean toilets! Later Lizards!
| 122 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:21:48am |
I just learned Robin Willians visited our FOB and I missed him! Totally sucks. I have the worst timing. Couple of my boys volunteer at the USO and got to take pics with him. I’m so jealous.
| 124 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:23:49am |
re: #122 Escaped Hillbilly
Have you ever read the SomethingAwful messageboard for military guys? If you haven’t, you should check it out.
[Link: forums.somethingawful.com…]
| 125 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:32:38am |
re: #124 Obdicut
Well, I hadn’t. But now I might. I don’t really like reading a bunch of Army stuff generally. I mean, I go online to avoid work. Heh.
| 126 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:33:15am |
re: #124 Obdicut
I read the weapons forum on 4chan, does that count?
/
//holy fuck that xm25 is badass
| 127 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:33:58am |
re: #125 Escaped Hillbilly
It’s basically a bunch of guys bitching creatively, and all my friends in the military say it’s an actual good resource of information, too.
But yeah, it might be more fun to read as a civilian than as an actual military dude.
| 128 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:38:18am |
| 129 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:43:10am |
Missoula District Court: Jury pool in marijuana case stages ‘mutiny’
[Link: missoulian.com…]
A funny thing happened on the way to a trial in Missoula County District Court last week.Jurors – well, potential jurors – staged a revolt.
They took the law into their own hands, as it were, and made it clear they weren’t about to convict anybody for having a couple of buds of marijuana. Never mind that the defendant in question also faced a felony charge of criminal distribution of dangerous drugs.
The tiny amount of marijuana police found while searching Touray Cornell’s home on April 23 became a huge issue for some members of the jury panel.
No, they said, one after the other. No way would they convict somebody for having a 16th of an ounce.
In fact, one juror wondered why the county was wasting time and money prosecuting the case at all, said a flummoxed Deputy Missoula County Attorney Andrew Paul.
District Judge Dusty Deschamps took a quick poll as to who might agree. Of the 27 potential jurors before him, maybe five raised their hands. A couple of others had already been excused because of their philosophical objections.
“I thought, ‘Geez, I don’t know if we can seat a jury,’ ” said Deschamps, who called a recess.
And he didn’t.
| 130 |
Wozza Matter? Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:46:50am |
re: #129 RogueOne
Missoula District Court: Jury pool in marijuana case stages ‘mutiny’
[Link: missoulian.com…]
Sanity. Sanity. Sanity.
A waste of police time, a waste of court time, a colossal waste of public money, an abuse of the already over crowded jail system.
Sanity prevails, for once.
| 131 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:47:42am |
re: #129 RogueOne
Well that’s the kind of thing that makes you laugh. And if you are into smoking pot, probably makes you laugh a lot. And if you are high, probably giggle for hours. But then, you should consider what other laws they might not agree with and just decide to not show up. Of course, if they are all pot heads, they probably wouldn’t anyway.
| 132 |
Escaped Hillbilly Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:49:15am |
I am going to miss chow if I don’t leave now. So…thanks for the laughs. Night all.
| 134 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 5:55:32am |
re: #131 Escaped Hillbilly
Well that’s the kind of thing that makes you laugh. And if you are into smoking pot, probably makes you laugh a lot. And if you are high, probably giggle for hours. But then, you should consider what other laws they might not agree with and just decide to not show up. Of course, if they are all pot heads, they probably wouldn’t anyway.
It’s a question of where you believe the power behind the law lies, with the people or the state?
“You, [the jury, have] a right to take upon yourselves to judge of both, and to determine the law as well as the fact in controversy… [B]oth objects are lawfully, within your power of decision.”
—John Jay - 1794
| 135 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:04:56am |
More stuff we don’t really have the right to know I guess:
Top Secret America
[Link: projects.washingtonpost.com…]
Nine years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators.The system, by far the largest and most technologically sophisticated in the nation’s history, collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing.
The government’s goal is to have every state and local law enforcement agency in the country feed information to Washington to buttress the work of the FBI, which is in charge of terrorism investigations in the United States.
…..
The months-long investigation, based on nearly 100 interviews and 1,000 documents, found that:* Technologies and techniques honed for use on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have migrated into the hands of law enforcement agencies in America.
* The FBI is building a database with the names and certain personal information, such as employment history, of thousands of U.S. citizens and residents whom a local police officer or a fellow citizen believed to be acting suspiciously. It is accessible to an increasing number of local law enforcement and military criminal investigators, increasing concerns that it could somehow end up in the public domain.
* Seeking to learn more about Islam and terrorism, some law enforcement agencies have hired as trainers self-described experts whose extremist views on Islam and terrorism are considered inaccurate and counterproductive by the FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies.
* The Department of Homeland Security sends its state and local partners intelligence reports with little meaningful guidance, and state reports have sometimes inappropriately reported on lawful meetings.
I assume Dana Priest will be looking at how to avoid espionage charges since classified materials were involved.
| 136 |
Wozza Matter? Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:14:21am |
re: #134 RogueOne
It’s a question of where you believe the power behind the law lies, with the people or the state?
I honestly don’t believe cases involving *that* level of marijuana would make it as far as a court room in most other western democracies.
That no official anywhere down the line doesn’t question whether a prosecution is in the public interest in terms of toil/money it’s a sad indictment of the drug war and how petty and vindictive the outcomes are.
| 137 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:14:27am |
1001 ways to die:
Young wife, mother of 2 killed by a simple pothole
[Link: www.charlotteobserver.com…]
The pothole in front of her 1995 Toyota Camry had been fixed at least once already, and now the repair was breaking down, too. A pocket of jagged, brittle bits of concrete covered nearly half of the right lane, the slow lane.Her Camry hit the hole, kicking a chunk into the air as the Fishers’ green Ford pickup hurtled forward at 70 mph.
The glass directly in front of Fisher’s wife exploded.
No one knows exactly how big the fragment was, but it blew a hole the size of a football through the windshield. It struck Jo Maureen Fisher in the head, sailed between her preschoolers, hit the rear window and shattered it too, flying out of the truck’s cab never to be found.
Moral of the story: You could be dead in an instant, don’t sweat the small shit.
| 138 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:15:16am |
re: #136 wozzablog
I honestly don’t believe cases involving *that* level of marijuana would make it as far as a court room in most other western democracies.
That no official anywhere down the line doesn’t question whether a prosecution is in the public interest in terms of toil/money it’s a sad indictment of the drug war and how petty and vindictive the outcomes are.
Prosecutors are more interested in their conviction rates than trying to do the right thing for the community.
| 139 |
Romantic Heretic Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:16:58am |
re: #30 Gus 802
I’m now thinking of David Brin’s Uplift Saga. Where Galactic culture goes back 3 billion years.
In those books humans were fortunate enough to have made it to space before they encounter the Galactics. Had they discovered us now they would have decided to destroy us. Not because they’re evil conquerors but because we’ve been such poor stewards of our planet we’re not fit for civilized company. We’re utter barbarians by their standards.
I’m often not sure I disagree.
| 140 |
Wozza Matter? Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:18:46am |
re: #138 RogueOne
Prosecutors are more interested in their conviction rates than trying to do the right thing for the community or state treasury.
;-)
Always going to have problems like that in a politicized judicial system. Take the power away on deciding whether to prosecute from the election cycle - only way of doing it.
| 141 |
Romantic Heretic Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:20:02am |
re: #137 RogueOne
Don’t sweat the small shit. And it’s all small shit. - David Lee Roth
And as long as we’re on the subject.
Money may not buy you happpiness but it can get a parking spot for your yacht so you can walk across. - Ibid.
| 142 |
sagehen Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:20:47am |
Good morning, all, and a Happy Solstice.
Tomorrow will have more light than today.
| 143 |
Vicious Babushka Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:22:03am |
re: #137 RogueOne
1001 ways to die:
Young wife, mother of 2 killed by a simple pothole
[Link: www.charlotteobserver.com…]Moral of the story: You could be dead in an instant, don’t sweat the small shit.
And if it’s not your time:
Last week I hit a patch of ice, skidded across three lanes, spun 180 degrees and came to rest in a snowbank facing oncoming traffic. Some good Samaritans stopped and turned my car around and pushed me out of the snow.
Total damage: a broken fingernail.
(I put $20 in the pushka (charity box) when I got home)
| 144 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:22:58am |
re: #140 wozzablog
I agree. Either that or ban prosecutors from ever holding another elected office since it seems it’s a big starting off point for other positions.
| 145 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:23:52am |
re: #142 sagehen
Good morning, all, and a Happy Solstice.
Tomorrow will have more light than today.
UNLESS THE SUN GOES OUT.
/yeah, it’s hard to not be a downer.
| 146 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:23:59am |
re: #143 Alouette
(I put $20 in the pushka (charity box) when I got home)
Ha! Good Karma comes in handy sometimes!
| 147 |
jamesfirecat Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:25:02am |
re: #139 Romantic Heretic
I’m now thinking of David Brin’s Uplift Saga. Where Galactic culture goes back 3 billion years.
In those books humans were fortunate enough to have made it to space before they encounter the Galactics. Had they discovered us now they would have decided to destroy us. Not because they’re evil conquerors but because we’ve been such poor stewards of our planet we’re not fit for civilized company. We’re utter barbarians by their standards.
I’m often not sure I disagree.
Hey by the time the Galatics discover us in the book we’ve managed to sort things out to make sure that Earth is look after, and already become the patron species to Neo-Chimps, Neo-Dolphins.
We were doing pretty well for ourselves, for utter wolflings without any hint of a patron race or a branch of the Galatic Library we were doing pretty gosh darn well for ourselves!
| 148 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:28:44am |
re: #146 RogueOne
Ha! Good Karma comes in handy sometimes!
I like to think the bad things that happen to me is Bad Karma paid in advance. No good deed going unpunished and all.
| 149 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:31:37am |
I bought a new tv on sunday and my bank just sent me a notice saying they’ve blocked my account due to “unusual activity”. Isn’t 2 days later a bit late to block something like that?
| 150 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:32:46am |
re: #149 RogueOne
I bought a new tv on sunday and my bank just sent me a notice saying they’ve blocked my account due to “unusual activity”. Isn’t 2 days later a bit late to block something like that?
Lol. A little late indeed.
My bank does that in about an hour after an “unusual purchase” on my part.
Than I get a phone call from them.
| 151 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:34:36am |
re: #150 Varek Raith
Lol. A little late indeed.
My bank does that in about an hour after an “unusual purchase” on my part.
Than I get a phone call from them.
I could have gone on a 2 day shopping spree and blamed somebody else. This could have been the best xmas ever!
| 152 |
sattv4u2 Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:35:27am |
re: #151 RogueOne
I could have gone on a 2 day shopping spree and blamed somebody else. This could have been the best xmas ever!
Gimme your debit card number/ password and we’ll put it to the test!!
| 153 |
sattv4u2 Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:37:19am |
re: #150 Varek Raith
Lol. A little late indeed.
My bank does that in about an hour after an “unusual purchase” on my part.
Than I get a phone call from them.
I never get those notices.
After all these years, my bank KNOWS I do dumb stuff likke that all the time!!
| 154 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:39:48am |
re: #150 Varek Raith
Lol. A little late indeed.
My bank does that in about an hour after an “unusual purchase” on my part.
Than I get a phone call from them.
How often do they block your card? I can sort of understand my bank putting a hold on my account in this instance but if they block it every time I spend a decent chunk of money this could get annoying. It came out of my business account and I buy everything up front when I’m working on a project.
| 155 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:41:14am |
re: #154 RogueOne
How often do they block your card? I can sort of understand my bank putting a hold on my account in this instance but if they block it every time I spend a decent chunk of money this could get annoying. It came out of my business account and I buy everything up front when I’m working on a project.
Only when it’s a big purchase, > 1000 bucks. Otherwise, I get a phone call since purchases of >50 bucks are rare for me.
| 156 |
sagehen Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:41:48am |
re: #148 laZardo
I like to think the bad things that happen to me is Bad Karma paid in advance. No good deed going unpunished and all.
“You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn’t it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.” - Marcus Cole (Babylon 5)
| 157 |
Political Atheist Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:43:39am |
Speaking of Karma, we also see instant Karma from time to time. Like this… Assange is falling apart.
| 158 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:44:03am |
re: #156 sagehen
“You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn’t it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.” - Marcus Cole (Babylon 5)
We are all Kosh and we approve this message.
| 159 |
reine.de.tout Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:44:51am |
re: #157 Rightwingconspirator
Speaking of Karma, we also see instant Karma from time to time. Like this… Assange is falling apart.
Couldn’t be happening to a more deserving person.
Does that behavior remind you of anyone else?
| 160 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:45:29am |
re: #157 Rightwingconspirator
Speaking of Karma, we also see instant Karma from time to time. Like this… Assange is falling apart.
Freudenschade!
| 161 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:46:37am |
re: #157 Rightwingconspirator
Speaking of Karma, we also see instant Karma from time to time. Like this… Assange is falling apart.
Makes sense for the Rolling Stone Rock Star of the Year.
| 162 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:46:48am |
Reloadingnotahobby emailed me a pic this morning of the snow in Utah… for some reason he couldn’t FTP it to his server space, so he asked me to do it.
If you are west of the continental divide, here’s what you should expect over the next 24 hours.
Image: utah_snow_reloading.JPG
And if you live in Colorado west of the divide, this storm is going to dump up to 3 feet or MORE of snow in the mountains.
If you are east of the divide, flurries possible for the next 24 hours. The jet stream just won’t let these weather patterns tumble down east onto the plains.
| 163 |
reine.de.tout Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:47:39am |
re: #157 Rightwingconspirator
Speaking of Karma, we also see instant Karma from time to time. Like this… Assange is falling apart.
from the story at your link:
“We don’t want the bank to suffer unless it’s called for,” Mr Assange said. “But if its management is operating in a responsive way there will be resignations.
“
He apparently believes he is the sole arbiter of what is “responsive” and what is not, and what is a proper way for a bank to be run and what isn’t. I’m always stunned at his arrogance.
| 164 |
reine.de.tout Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:48:41am |
re: #162 Walter L. Newton
Reloadingnotahobby emailed me a pic this morning of the snow in Utah… for some reason he couldn’t FTP it to his server space, so he asked me to do it.
If you are west of the continental divide, here’s what you should expect over the next 24 hours.
Image: utah_snow_reloading.JPG
And if you live in Colorado west of the divide, this storm is going to dump up to 3 feet or MORE of snow in the mountains.
If you are east of the divide, flurries possible for the next 24 hours. The jet stream just won’t let these weather patterns tumble down east onto the plains.
Oh, wow.
And just like last night, I’ve got my A/C on.
| 165 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:48:50am |
re: #163 reine.de.tout
from the story at your link:
“
He apparently believes he is the sole arbiter of what is “responsive” and what is not, and what is a proper way for a bank to be run and what isn’t. I’m always stunned at his arrogance.
From this day forth, Julian Assange shall be know as Captain YouPlanet.
| 166 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:49:47am |
re: #164 reine.de.tout
Oh, wow.
And just like last night, I’ve got my A/C on.
O_o
Now I know who took all the warm air!
GIVE IT BACK, WE’RE FREEZING UP HERE!
:)
| 167 |
sattv4u2 Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:49:51am |
re: #162 Walter L. Newton
Snowing (a little,, 3-4 inches) here in Boston also
My brother-in-law has been sitting at the airport since 8 last night waiting for his flight to Ireland
NOT because of the storm here,, becuause of the delays THERE
I’m supposed to fly out of here (Boston) to home early this evening
| 168 |
Political Atheist Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:49:52am |
re: #163 reine.de.tout
Yes. Jaw dropping arrogance.
| 169 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:53:14am |
re: #167 sattv4u2
Snowing (a little,, 3-4 inches) here in Boston also
My brother-in-law has been sitting at the airport since 8 last night waiting for his flight to IrelandNOT because of the storm here,, becuause of the delays THERE
I’m supposed to fly out of here (Boston) to home early this evening
Europe has been getting hit with more snow than usual over the last two weeks. Not unheard of at all, it happens, but when it does happen, they are not as prepared to deal with it, basically things just shut down for a few days.
I’m hoping if the European weather is a factor in my trip next month, that it “happens” after I get there. I have no problem getting stuck in France for a few extra days.
| 170 |
kirkspencer Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:54:03am |
re: #14 ozbloke
Prospect of WikiLeaks Dump Poses Problems for Regulators
(snip)
“It puts them in a terrible bind,” said Mr. Mintz. No matter how the government reacts, “there would be an appearance of a profound inconsistency. It’s less of a legal matter than it is an appearance issue.”
What the article forgets is that most of the big banks are multinationals, subject to laws in many jurisdictions. Washington might have a problem pursuing them. The land of the Euro, however, needs a bit of money right now and isn’t in the same bind. And if London and Berlin and the rest start grabbing chunks of money, I think the need for green will quell any appearance issues here.
Assuming, of course, there’s anything there.
| 171 |
sattv4u2 Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:54:33am |
re: #169 Walter L. Newton
I have no problem getting stuck in France for a few extra days.
Yeah,,, but how does France feel about it!!?!
| 172 |
Political Atheist Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:54:39am |
re: #162 Walter L. Newton
looking at the satellite, this thing just keeps going and going.
| 173 |
Political Atheist Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:55:18am |
| 174 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:56:30am |
re: #172 Rightwingconspirator
looking at the satellite, this thing just keeps going and going.
Pineapple Express
Choo, choo!
| 175 |
lawhawk Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:56:38am |
re: #163 reine.de.tout
Well, it is entertaining and interesting to see and hear Assange call for investigations into leaks of information relating to his investigation, even as he and the website he helped found releases hundreds of thousands of classified documents about US foreign policy and which affects national security, foreign policy, diplomatic actions, etc.
It’s okay when you attempt to throw a monkey wrench into US and geopolitics, but the moment a leak affects him, he’s out front calling for criminal investigations. What a hypocrite.
| 176 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:58:42am |
re: #175 lawhawk
Well, it is entertaining and interesting to see and hear Assange call for investigations into leaks of information relating to his investigation, even as he and the website he helped found releases hundreds of thousands of classified documents about US foreign policy and which affects national security, foreign policy, diplomatic actions, etc.
It’s okay when you attempt to throw a monkey wrench into US and geopolitics, but the moment a leak affects him, he’s out front calling for criminal investigations. What a hypocrite.
You should be required by law to say the title of your post five times fast on national tv.
Loquacious Leaker Wants Leaks Licked
/
| 177 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 6:58:48am |
re: #172 Rightwingconspirator
looking at the satellite, this thing just keeps going and going.
Right… but see that “up turn” that the pattern takes right over the center of Colorado, towards the north… that’s the jet stream taking weather up and over across the top of the country. That’s why these storms are causing major snow falls north and west of where I live. I can actually go out to the main highway here, loot west and see the continental divide, and you will see all the dark clouds… not 60 miles west of here.
But 60 miles east of those storms, we’ve had about maybe 3-4 inches total (or less) at my house, an occasional dusting off and on.
| 178 |
reine.de.tout Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:01:18am |
re: #175 lawhawk
Well, it is entertaining and interesting to see and hear Assange call for investigations into leaks of information relating to his investigation, even as he and the website he helped found releases hundreds of thousands of classified documents about US foreign policy and which affects national security, foreign policy, diplomatic actions, etc.
It’s okay when you attempt to throw a monkey wrench into US and geopolitics, but the moment a leak affects him, he’s out front calling for criminal investigations. What a hypocrite.
I saw that a couple of days ago.
Apparently his attorneys want to know how such a leak happened.
I think they could just ask their client.
| 179 |
reloadingisnotahobby Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:02:13am |
re: #162 Walter L. Newton
Thanks Walter!!
IT”S STILL SNOWING!!!
They just announced kids are expected at SCHOOL!!
I wouldn’t go out in this!!
Went by the house…city plow dumped a 3 ft berm in front of our gate.
She has a daycare with 10 or 12 kids coming this am…..
SHIT!!
| 180 |
lawhawk Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:02:28am |
re: #176 Varek Raith
The things I do to amuse myself and my occasional reader or two on my blog… :)
| 181 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:03:05am |
re: #180 lawhawk
The things I do to amuse myself and my occasional reader or two on my blog… :)
I read your blog. Entertain me!!!
:P
| 182 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:03:38am |
re: #180 lawhawk
The things I do to amuse myself and my occasional reader or two on my blog… :)
EWWW.
/
| 183 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:03:50am |
re: #179 reloadingisnotahobby
Thanks Walter!!
IT”S STILL SNOWING!!!
They just announced kids are expected at SCHOOL!!
I wouldn’t go out in this!!
Went by the house…city plow dumped a 3 ft berm in front of our gate.
She has a daycare with 10 or 12 kids coming this am…
SHIT!!
Really???
Huh.
We get two inches here and everything grinds to a halt and is closed.
| 184 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:04:46am |
re: #179 reloadingisnotahobby
Thanks Walter!!
IT”S STILL SNOWING!!!
They just announced kids are expected at SCHOOL!!
I wouldn’t go out in this!!
Went by the house…city plow dumped a 3 ft berm in front of our gate.
She has a daycare with 10 or 12 kids coming this am…
SHIT!!
No problem… but I’m not getting any of this snow… as I mentioned above, these storms are tracking west and north of the continental divide… Places east of the divide has been generally dry.
Here’s Vail Pass on Interstate 70 right now…
[Link: www.dickgilbert.com…]
| 185 |
darthstar Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:04:48am |
| 186 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:05:38am |
| 187 |
sattv4u2 Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:07:26am |
re: #185 darthstar
I already did
Back in the early 70’s I sang KumBayA in a park with lots of people in tie-dyed T-Shirts
didn’t work!
| 188 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:07:26am |
re: #185 darthstar
Too bad this isn’t a joke… because these folk actually believe this bull shit.
To effect positive change in the energy field of the earth through conscious dedication of orgasmic energy to the vibration of Peace. Our minds and our biology influence Matter and Quantum Energy fields, so by concentrating our thoughts before, during, and after orgasm on peace and loving-kindness, the synergy of high orgasmic physical energy combined with the power of positive visualization could help reduce global levels of violence, hatred and fear. Orgasm is the largest possible instantaneous surge of human biological and spiritual energies. It is a biological gift! What better way to achieve your resolution for Peace?
Put the pipe down.
| 190 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:08:10am |
re: #188 Walter L. Newton
Too bad this isn’t a joke… because these folk actually believe this bull shit.
Put the pipe down.
*Gag*
…
..
.
Dammit, again!
| 191 |
sattv4u2 Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:08:45am |
re: #188 Walter L. Newton
Put the pipe down.
heh,, hence # 187
| 192 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:10:30am |
re: #191 sattv4u2
Put the pipe down.
heh,, hence # 187
How is everyone in your family up there? Just curious. You don’t have to answer.
| 193 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:11:29am |
re: #188 Walter L. Newton
Too bad this isn’t a joke… because these folk actually believe this bull shit.
Put the pipe down.
Unless, of course, the release of such a massive amount of energy obliterates the space-time continuum killing existence itself…
/
| 194 |
darthstar Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:12:43am |
re: #188 Walter L. Newton
Go fuck yourself, Walter…for peace!
| 195 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:13:24am |
Ok… I just heard the weather for Colorado west of the divide… places like Vail and such… up to eight feet of snow by the end of the week.
| 196 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:13:33am |
| 197 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:13:48am |
re: #195 Walter L. Newton
Ok… I just heard the weather for Colorado west of the divide… places like Vail and such… up to eight feet of snow by the end of the week.
Whoa…
| 198 |
darthstar Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:14:35am |
re: #193 Varek Raith
Unless, of course, the release of such a massive amount of energy obliterates the space-time continuum killing existence itself…
/
Yes, but think how peaceful it will be then.
| 200 |
sattv4u2 Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:15:34am |
re: #192 Walter L. Newton
How is everyone in your family up there? Just curious. You don’t have to answer.
Mom seems to have turned a (positive) corner. She still has a LONG way to go but they beleive they have a handle on her most pressing medical isuues. She will be on dialysis for the rest of her life, but from where she was just a month ago thats a small price
Dads holding up better than expected (both of them are 86). He does have to depend on others to bring him to and from the hospital (it’s in Boston and he gets nervous driving/ parking there) so it’s been a burden on my two sisters, one of which moved to Ireland the end of November (her husband stayed here to finish the house closing, but he’s leaving now too)
They’ll both be back occasionally to help out, so now the burden is 100% on my younger sister and her hubby
| 201 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:15:37am |
re: #197 Varek Raith
Whoa…
Yep… most winters, 2 or 3 feet dumps are not uncommon, those areas actually have the ability to deal with that much snow, but up to 8 feet may even slow them down a bit.
| 202 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:16:06am |
re: #199 laZardo
…
WHERE’S MY VASELINE?
/
Nihilist don’t get to experience non-existence.
Karma’s a bitch.
:P
| 203 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:16:54am |
re: #200 sattv4u2
Mom seems to have turned a (positive) corner. She still has a LONG way to go but they beleive they have a handle on her most pressing medical isuues. She will be on dialysis for the rest of her life, but from where she was just a month ago thats a small price
Dads holding up better than expected (both of them are 86). He does have to depend on others to bring him to and from the hospital (it’s in Boston and he gets nervous driving/ parking there) so it’s been a burden on my two sisters, one of which moved to Ireland the end of November (her husband stayed here to finish the house closing, but he’s leaving now too)
They’ll both be back occasionally to help out, so now the burden is 100% on my younger sister and her hubby
Overall… that sounds like a good, positive Christmas gift… for all of you.
| 204 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:16:59am |
re: #202 Varek Raith
Nihilist don’t get to experience non-existence.
Karma’s a bitch.
:P
But if we start from nothing and end up as nothing… oh.
q:
| 205 |
sattv4u2 Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:22:17am |
re: #203 Walter L. Newton
Overall… that sounds like a good, positive Christmas gift… for all of you.
Yeah,, I had a long convo with my boss last week. I wanted to make sure all this wasn’t affecting my work performance. If it was, I was ready to take a leave of absence and come and stay in Boston to help out for awhile. But now that mom (seems to) be on the road to recovery my mind is a tad clearer and I’ll come up here every other week or so on my days off
((the benefit of working 12 hour shifts ,,, you get 3 days off!!!))
So I can leave work at 10 a.m on a Saturday morning,, take a mid-afternoon flight out of Atlanta,,, be in Boston by dinner time,, spend Saturday night, all Sunday and all Monday with her,, go to the hospital Tuesday,, head to the airport ,, fly out at dinner time Tuesday night and be in Atlanta in time for my shift tonight
| 206 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:22:52am |
| 208 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:24:19am |
re: #195 Walter L. Newton
Ok… I just heard the weather for Colorado west of the divide… places like Vail and such… up to eight feet of snow by the end of the week.
We got 2” here last night so I know exactly what they’re going through.
| 209 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:25:12am |
re: #208 RogueOne
We got 2” here last night so I know exactly what they’re going through.
Lol.
Around here, 2 inches may just as well be 8 feet…998i
| 210 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:25:49am |
re: #209 Varek Raith
Lol.
Around here, 2 inches may just as well be 8 feet…998i
Huh…
The number pad keys are stuck.
Sigh.
| 214 |
sattv4u2 Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:28:16am |
| 216 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:30:24am |
re: #209 Varek Raith
Lol.
Around here, 2 inches may just as well be 8 feet…998i
We’ve already had 2x as much snow as normal around here, roughly 15”. It’s been coming down in 3-5” spurts once a week or so. Doesn’t seem like it’s that much more than normal.
| 217 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:31:20am |
Colorado weather forecast: ‘Epic proportions’ of snow could fall in Colo. mountains
Winter is already in full swing in the Colorado high country as a WINTER STORM WARNING remains in effect through Tuesday night for nearly all mountain areas in Colorado, which could see 12 to 36 inches of snow.
The mountains surrounding Vail, Aspen, Snowmass, Crested Butte, Telluride and Silverton should see 1 to 3 feet of snow by Tuesday evening with the heaviest snow on west-facing slopes.
The mountains of Summit County, the Winter Park area and the Rocky Mountain National Park region could see up to 2 feet on west-facing slopes, while valley locations such as Silverthorne, Frisco and Fraser will generally see less than 12 inches.
In addition, southwest winds will gust over 40 mph at times causing blowing and drifting snow and leading to limited visibility.
[Link: www.9news.com…]
| 218 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:32:13am |
re: #217 Walter L. Newton
Addendum:
It is possible that by Thursday afternoon, mountain locations above 9000 feet could see 3 to 8 feet of snowfall accumulate. Locations near Crested Butte, Silverton and the Grand Mesa may be hardest hit from these systems. In general, mountain locations facing west and southwest will see the most snow.
| 220 |
Romantic Heretic Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:35:43am |
re: #147 jamesfirecat
On that I agree. :)
So scorn me as an orphan,
laugh at my wolfling’s scars.
But tell me boys,
what’s your excuse?
You E.T.s and your stars.
| 221 |
reine.de.tout Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:36:07am |
re: #180 lawhawk
The things I do to amuse myself and my occasional reader or two on my blog… :)
I check out your blog.
So, that’s Varek and me - and probably a couple of others. At least 5, eh?
| 222 |
Romantic Heretic Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:38:42am |
re: #158 Varek Raith
Best SF show to date. Great world building and wonderful characters.
| 223 |
Romantic Heretic Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:41:50am |
| 225 |
laZardo Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:45:11am |
Fuck me, I’m goin’ ta bed.
/not literally
…
//unless it’s for world peace :D
| 227 |
lawhawk Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:50:33am |
re: #185 darthstar
Practice…. X-Box becomes Sex-Box as MSFT Kinect gets new uses….
| 228 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 7:55:23am |
re: #227 lawhawk
Practice… X-Box becomes Sex-Box as MSFT Kinect gets new uses…
Gotta love modern technology
| 229 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:00:49am |
re: #227 lawhawk
Practice… X-Box becomes Sex-Box as MSFT Kinect gets new uses…
From the Sidebar:
Wikileaks the game:
[Link: www.jeuxjeuxjeux.fr…]
| 230 |
Killgore Trout Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:04:52am |
| 231 |
Slap Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:05:38am |
Good morning, all.
And a happy Frank Zappa’s Birthday to all!
Some napkins, from the Mike Douglas Show (!) in 1976….
| 232 |
reloadingisnotahobby Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:11:01am |
Mmmmm!
Nutty Fudge with hot coffee…
Life is good!
| 233 |
reloadingisnotahobby Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:14:08am |
re: #218 Walter L. Newton
That much snow will shut down Silverton!
That road SUCKS under the best conditions!
Very senic but dangerous!
| 234 |
lawhawk Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:16:36am |
Duke rape case epilogue: Crystal Mangum guilty of child abuse and other charges, but mistrial on most serious count (arson). Sentenced to time served and will be reunited with her kids.
Crystal Mangum, the accuser in the Duke lacrosse rape case, is free and will be reunited with her children after a jury deadlocked on the most serious charge she faced from a domestic incident this year.Superior Court Judge Abe Jones sentenced Mangum to 88 days in jail - time she already served awaiting trial.
A 12-member jury found Mangum guilty of child abuse, injury to personal property and resisting a public officer, all misdemeanors. Under state sentencing guidelines, 90 days was the maximum sentence Jones could have ordered, but he decided she’d paid enough for her crimes.
Nine of 12 jurors thought Mangum was not guilty of first-degree arson, resulting in a hung jury and a mistrial. Durham County prosecutor Mark McCullough said he’ll decide next month whether to retry her on that charge. In the meantime, Jones awarded Mangum custody of her three children, which another judge had taken in August.
Questions the jury asked Jones during deliberations suggest the three dissenting jurors thought she was reckless in setting fire to a pile of her boyfriend’s clothing in their bathtub. That fire was set while Mangum’s three children and two police officers were in the apartment.
Prosecutors might retry the arson count.
| 235 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:17:42am |
re: #233 reloadingisnotahobby
That much snow will shut down Silverton!
That road SUCKS under the best conditions!
Very senic but dangerous!
Yep.. but they’ll survive… places like Silverton see the worst of winter, any winter, every winter… for them, it’s just a matter of degrees.
| 236 |
elizajane Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:19:35am |
re: #230 Killgore Trout
Coburn Will Block 9/11 First Responders Bill, Potentially Killing Its Chance Of Passage
Yup. Trust the senator from Oklahoma to do what’s right for the heroes of New York.
//
| 237 |
Killgore Trout Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:21:21am |
The anti-spam organisation may have been hit with a DDoS by wikileaks.info organisers.
Last week, the anti-spam organisation put out a warning wikileaks.org was redirecting web traffic to third-party mirror site wikileaks.info – a space Spamhaus said was a known hive of activity for Russian cyber criminals.Spamhaus’s main concern was the security of the website’s Webalta’s 92.241.160.0/19 IP address space – it did not have any anti-WikiLeaks agenda.
“We do have an interest in preventing spam and related types of internet abuse however and hope that the WikiLeaks staff will quickly address the hosting issue to remove the possibility of cyber criminals using WikiLeaks traffic for illicit purposes,” the organisation said.
| 238 |
Killgore Trout Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:22:43am |
re: #236 elizajane
Yup. Trust the senator from Oklahoma to do what’s right for the heroes of New York.
//
It still amazes me how far the Republican party has fallen.
| 239 |
elizajane Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:26:43am |
What gets me is that Coburn, an unscrupulous politician, must calculate that this bit of nastiness will not hurt him at all at home, may even do him good.
In other words, he must calculate that the fine people of Oklahoma are convinced that the First Responders of NYC are a bunch of Democrat cry-babies whining for yet another entitlement and should take care of themselves like the good Lord told them to do, and he will get credit for calling them out on this.
///////////
| 240 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:26:57am |
re: #238 Killgore Trout
The Barbour thing is just insane, as is the amount of defense he’s getting. It’s sickeningly shameful.
| 241 |
reloadingisnotahobby Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:30:15am |
This puzzling…
Two Deputys and a Court staffer called in sick??
Saw them 20 min ago gassing up with a trailer full of Snow Mobiles??
/Bastids…..
| 242 |
elizajane Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:30:49am |
re: #240 Obdicut
The Barbour thing is just insane, as is the amount of defense he’s getting. It’s sickeningly shameful.
The distinction between the parties today:
Moderate Democrats laugh at the rantings of their lunatic fringe.
Moderate Republicans leap to the defense of their lunatic fringe.
| 243 |
Interesting Times Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:34:01am |
re: #240 Obdicut
The Barbour thing is just insane, as is the amount of defense he’s getting. It’s sickeningly shameful.
Like I said earlier, it’s as if the GOP is trolling the entire nation.
| 244 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:35:59am |
re: #243 publicityStunted
Like I said earlier, it’s as if the GOP is trolling the entire nation.
| 245 |
Four More Tears Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:43:22am |
re: #243 publicityStunted
Like I said earlier, it’s as if the GOP is trolling the entire nation.
What’s amazing is that they seem to get whatever they really want, so why not this?
| 246 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:43:24am |
re: #240 Obdicut
The Barbour thing is just insane, as is the amount of defense he’s getting. It’s sickeningly shameful.
Oops:
[Link: www.politico.com…]
The context is a 1982 New York Times article on Barbour’s challenge that year to the octogenarian incumbent Democratic Senator, John Stennis. The piece’s tone is almost sneering about Barbour — ” Mr. Barbour, now 34 years old, won renown as a high school linebacker and as a dedicated attender of parties at the state university” — but this is the passage that he’ll get asked about on the campaign trail:This being Mississippi, race is a factor in the campaign, but mainly because neither candidate has offered much to black voters. The Republicans have tried to remind them that in 1964 Mr. Stennis sponsored legislation to export Mississippi blacks to states that wanted to practice integration.
But the racial sensitivity at Barbour headquarters was suggested by an exchange between the candidate and an aide who complained that there would be ”coons” at a campaign stop at the state fair. Embarrassed that a reporter heard this, Mr. Barbour warned that if the aide persisted in racist remarks, he would be reincarnated as a watermelon and placed at the mercy of blacks.
| 248 |
Glenn Beck's Grand Unifying Theory of Obdicut Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:45:29am |
re: #246 RogueOne
What.
The.
Fuck.
| 249 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:45:35am |
re: #246 RogueOne
Oops:
[Link: www.politico.com…]
And what is this excerpt suppose to prove… in your opinion?
| 250 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:45:54am |
| 251 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:51:17am |
re: #249 Walter L. Newton
And what is this excerpt suppose to prove… in your opinion?
At a minimum if he had future plans on running for Prez he can set them aside.
In his defense I saw 2 liberal writers (Eugene Robinson was one) who say they’ve been friends with him for years say he is in no way racist. They hammered him on his statement that segregation “wasn’t that bad” in his town but suggested he was a good guy nonetheless.
| 252 |
lostlakehiker Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:53:03am |
re: #29 Gus 802
Well, nowadays, we do ask for what useful purpose birds sing. And we figure out the answer, too. Kepler didn’t see as far into this matter as Darwin did.
Of course, Kepler didn’t get to visit the Galapagos and see the finches. How would he have guessed? Besides, he was busy with his own elliptical thoughts.
(Ba-dum)
And now, an xkcd break: tools
| 253 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:54:20am |
re: #251 RogueOne
At a minimum if he had future plans on running for Prez he can set them aside.
In his defense I saw 2 liberal writers (Eugene Robinson was one) who say they’ve been friends with him for years say he is in no way racist. They hammered him on his statement that segregation “wasn’t that bad” in his town but suggested he was a good guy nonetheless.
In the least, he’s a jerk that has lived with his head inside that southern mentality about “it wasn’t that bad.” I’ve seen this before, even with people in my own family, who were from the south. It seems like the racism was always worst, more evident… in the next town over.
They never could see the forest for the trees.
| 254 |
Killgore Trout Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:54:31am |
| 255 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 8:54:49am |
More @ Politico:
[Link: www.politico.com…]
Here’s the quick list of which states will gain and lose seats come 2012.GAINS
ARIZONA +1
FLORIDA +2
GEORGIA +1
NEVADA +1
SOUTH CAROLINA +1
TEXAS +4
UTAH +1
WASHINGTON +1LOSSES
ILLINOIS -1
IOWA -1
LOUISIANA -1
MASSACHUSETTS -1
MICHIGAN -1
MISSOURI -1
NEW JERSEY -1
NEW YORK -2
OHIO -2
PENNSYLVANIA -1
| 256 |
lostlakehiker Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:01:47am |
re: #240 Obdicut
The Barbour thing is just insane, as is the amount of defense he’s getting. It’s sickeningly shameful.
Well, I came across a trenchant(*) rebuttal in the comments for the article.
Racism is such a tired warn off issue. But some of you liberals do is try stereotype Mississippi with it. Sorry I don’t fall for the cliches. How come most of the South which was Democrat change Republican? I was real young when the Civil Rights happen. But once again this is just tired liberal stereotyping. How you yankess explain your loss of population from the North? Mississippi has change. Why not come and visit this state yourself or are you afraid of what you’re going to fine? I’m tired of liberal stereotyping from people who never left thier glass houses to see the real world. You know why not look at racism up north for once.
| 257 |
lostlakehiker Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:06:01am |
re: #255 RogueOne
More @ Politico:
[Link: www.politico.com…]
Well, they might caint spell dayouwn saouth, but the man did have a paiunt. With all its faults, an they grievous, people are votin with their feet, an votin for the south. How you yankess splain thet?
| 258 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:06:20am |
Time to start a fight. I was thinking earlier today when someone on tv mentioned the president getting credit for the overturn of DADT that in reality he doesn’t deserve ANY of the credit. He passed the buck. It was easy to say he was for the overturn but he didn’t do any of the work to get it done. This story reminded me of that thought:
TRENDING Is America ready for a gay prez? White House isn’t weighing in
[Link: politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com…]
The president has a habit of either keeping his mouth shut about gay issues or coming down somewhere in the middle (no on gay marriage/yes on civil unions). It hurts to say this but if anyone deserves credit, Nancy Pelosi deserves the most.
| 259 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:09:32am |
re: #254 Killgore Trout
Maddow Rips Haley Barbour Over Praising Segregationists (VIDEO)
!Wowzers…
“I just don’t remember it being that bad.”
-Barbour.
| 260 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:10:48am |
re: #257 lostlakehiker
If my math is right it looks like an easy 20 seat swing for the repubs. Roughly a gain of 10 while the dems are going to lose 10.
| 261 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:15:14am |
Someone brought me a fruitcake yesterday. I think I’m the only person I know who loves the stuff. I don’t know how anyone could dislike something made with rum, brandy, and bourbon.
| 262 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:16:26am |
re: #261 RogueOne
Someone brought me a fruitcake yesterday. I think I’m the only person I know who loves the stuff. I don’t know how anyone could dislike something made with rum, brandy, and bourbon.
So what you’re saying is that you’d eat anything as long as it was made with rum, brandy, and bourbon?
;)
| 263 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:18:07am |
re: #262 Varek Raith
So what you’re saying is that you’d eat anything as long as it was made with rum, brandy, and bourbon?
;)
I’ll eat anything. That’s why I’m popular.
| 264 |
BishopX Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:18:12am |
| 266 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:20:40am |
re: #264 BishopX
Looks great. My grandfather used to bring me fruitcake too, maybe that’s why I enjoy it so much. This years came from here:
[Link: www.figis.com…]
| 267 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:21:33am |
re: #265 Shropshire_Slasher
Even brussel sprouts?! Yecch.
Brussels sprouts are great with mayonnaise or Miracle Whip slathered on them.
| 268 |
RogueOne Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:22:18am |
re: #265 Shropshire_Slasher
Even brussel sprouts?! Yecch.
I didn’t actually mean food products but it’s good to see you have a clean mind.
| 269 |
Varek Raith Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:24:53am |
re: #268 RogueOne
I didn’t actually mean food products but it’s good to see you have a clean mind.
O’Donnell disapproves.
| 271 |
Walter L. Newton Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:26:09am |
| 272 |
Flounder Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:27:39am |
re: #268 RogueOne
And here I thought you were popular with your friends mom. Well maybe in another way but I’m not goin there.
| 273 |
sagehen Tue, Dec 21, 2010 9:49:00am |
re: #251 RogueOne
At a minimum if he had future plans on running for Prez he can set them aside.
In his defense I saw 2 liberal writers (Eugene Robinson was one) who say they’ve been friends with him for years say he is in no way racist. They hammered him on his statement that segregation “wasn’t that bad” in his town but suggested he was a good guy nonetheless.
Eugene was also on Hardball last night, “debating” with one of the SCV who thinks the Secessionist Ball is a fine and dandy way for people to honor their brave ancestors. He could not stop laughing; he got to use words like absurd, ridiculous, utter nonsense, stunning ignorance… Tweety just kept shaking his head, I think he was biting the inside of his cheek to keep from cracking up.
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