the science is never settled

February 22, 2012 –

Unlike Gorescienciness advocates, real scientists checks for errors.
Especially if your lab partner is careless.

Since September, scientists have been scratching their head over results that appear to show neutrinos traveling between Switzerland and Italy faster than light would. As far as anyone could tell, the team behind the results had done everything they could to eliminate errors, and had even released some preliminary data that had strengthened their results. But the results remained difficult to square with everything else we know about how the Universe operates.

But now, ScienceInsider is reporting that there was a good reason the measurements and reality weren’t lining up: a loose fiber optic cable was causing one of the atomic clocks used to time the neutrinos’ flight to produce spurious results. [more]

[insert joke about Mussolini making the neutrinos run on time]

I know y’all’re rollin’ yer eyes. Well, I think this story’s cool.

By DougM (jackassophobe)
                Say it don't spray it (4)
               

there’s a word for this

February 22, 2012 –

Anyone who claims the “Occupy” movement has no clear message is either trying to discredit it or simply isn’t paying attention. This protest always has been about economic injustice and the fact that a small handful of people have corrupted our system in their favor (“Editorial: ‘Occupy’ movement fading out in a whimper”).

The fact that so many elites were alarmed and frightened by the initial outcry (including members of Congress, who are supposed to represent all the people — shame on them!) goes to show that they are in fact living in a house of cards.

USA TODAY’s editorial is right to say that Occupy might lack clear goals on how to move forward, but the movement has accomplished its main original goal: to protest these injustices, not by simply holding a rally and going home, but by keeping the rally going to underscore the seriousness of this problem. Your piece accuses the protesters of sitting around and doing nothing. So maybe they should take up their Second Amendment-sanctioned guns and storm Wall Street and our nation’s capitals. If our country doesn’t change, it could very well come to that one day.

Rich Latta; Austin

Finish your assignment! »
By SondraK, Queen of my domain
                Say it don't spray it (4)
               

a terrrifying … terrorist

February 22, 2012 –

Kill me an infidel !

An Ohio woman who compared animal-welfare work to the liberation of World War II concentration camps has been charged with soliciting a hit man to fatally shoot or slit the throat of a random fur-wearer ….

[F]or the killing of a victim of at least 12 years but “preferably 14 years old or older” outside a library near a playground in her hometown.
…
“You need to bring a gun that has a silencer on it and that can be easily concealed in your pants pocket or coat. … If you do not want to risk the possibility of getting caught with a gun before the job, bring a sharp knife that is (at least) 4 inches long, it should be sharp enough to stab someone and/or slit their throat to kill them. I want the person to be dead in less than 2 minutes,” …. [more]

Yeah, I know, she’s clearly certifiable; but the point remains.

A wise man once said,
“If you treat animals as people, you will treat people as animals.”
(What? Me? Well so it was, so it was.)

By DougM (jackassophobe)
                Say it don't spray it (8)
               

WTH was that??!?

February 22, 2012 –

The intro to the (R) debate: why did it sound exactly like the intro to Amazing Race?

WTF?!

[debate thread]

By Claire: barbarian, etc
                Say it don't spray it (8)
               

Tkx B.O.!

February 22, 2012 –

got gas?

Yeah; Iran, blablabla, OPEC, yaddayadda, poo.

Fact: Just 9.8% of oil consumed in the U.S. comes from the Middle East.

According the U.S. Energy Information Administration*, the U.S. consumes 19.2 million barrels of petroleum products per day. Of that amount, a net 49% is produced domestically. The rest is imported.

Where is it imported from? Only a small fraction comes from the Middle East, and that fraction has been declining in recent years. Last year, imports from the Persian Gulf region — which includes Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — made up 9.8%* of total petroleum supplied to the U.S. In 2001, that number was 14.1%.

While we’re at it:

Fact: China owns 7.6% of U.S. government debt outstanding.

As of November, China owned $1.13 trillion of Treasuries. Government debt stood at $14.9 trillion that month. That’s 7.6%.

and,

Fact: Just 2.7% of personal consumption expenditures go to Chinese-made goods and services. 88.5% of U.S. consumer spending is on American-made goods and services.

… looking at physical goods alone, Chinese imports still account for just a small fraction of U.S. spending. Just 6.4% of nondurable goods — things like food, clothing and toys — purchased in the U.S. are made in China; 76.2% are made in America. For durable goods — things like cars and furniture — 12% are made in China; 66.6% are made in America.

Another way to grasp the value of Chinese-made goods is to look at imports. The U.S. imported $399 billion worth of goods from China last year, which is 2.7% of our $14.5 trillion economy.

and,

The truth, surprising to many, is that real manufacturing output today is near an all-time high. What’s dropped precipitously in recent decades is manufacturing employment. Technology and automation has allowed American manufacturers to build more stuff with far fewer workers than in the past. One good example: In 1950, a U.S. Steel (X) plant in Gary, Ind., produced 6 million tons of steel with 30,000 workers. Today, it produces 7.5 million tons with 5,000 workers. Output has gone up; employment has dropped like a rock.

Just for knowin’….

TT

By Claire: barbarian, etc
                Say it don't spray it (18)
               

Oh! Is that your own petard?

February 22, 2012 –

looks uncomfortable there

[LAT] …the roster of all 5,765 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a closely guarded secret.

…The organization does not publish a membership list.

…A Los Angeles Times study found that academy voters are markedly less diverrrrse than the moviegoing public, and even more monolithic than many in the film industry may suspect. Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male, The Times found. Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%.

Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership.

OMG!!! Old white guys!!! noooooOOOOOOOO0000000000!!!!!!!

But wait!!

[William Goldstein responds] The Times’ story implies that diversity among voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is more important than excellence. The Times implies that experience in craft and in life that comes with age is not as valuable as that which comes from a presumably younger and more diverse demographic. The implication that Academy members have an agenda to deprive minorities of membership is insulting and speaks of a press interested only in stirring up controversy.

What’s that you say?

I don’t, however, support the recent push toward egalitarianism in the arts, which holds that we all have talent and that no art is “better” than another’s. This view has serious implications for our culture and values. Such political correctness has no place in the arts, save for bringing the public’s attention to social injustices. The demographics of the Academy are not a social injustice.

bwaaaahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa

By Claire: barbarian, etc
                Say it don't spray it (17)
               

2+2=

February 21, 2012 –

White House press secretary Jay Carney first says Republicans “forced” President Obama to deny the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Later in his press briefing, Carney says Obama didn’t turn down the pipeline…

By SondraK, Queen of my domain
                Say it don't spray it (27)
               

mAD MEN

February 21, 2012 –

By SondraK, Queen of my domain
                Say it don't spray it (14)
               

facepalms from heaven

February 21, 2012 –

…Santorum may win the anti-Beelzebub vote, but he isn’t likely to influence Americans who are more concerned about the economy and foreign policy…

By SondraK, Queen of my domain
                Say it don't spray it (33)
               

green thumb

February 21, 2012 –

By SondraK, Queen of my domain
                Say it don't spray it (14)
               

told ya

February 21, 2012 –

Washington state lawmakers moved forward Monday with bills on insurance coverage for abortions…

In the House, lawmakers passed a bill requiring health insurers covering maternity care to also pay for abortions.

Supporters said the bill would ensure that existing abortion coverage will be preserved once federal health insurance rules come into effect under the Affordable Care Act in 2014.

The measure “moves our state one step closer to protecting all Washington women’s access to truly comprehensive reproductive health care coverage,” NARAL Pro-Choice Washington’s Interim Executive Director Christi Stapleton said in a statement…

By SondraK, Queen of my domain
                Say it don't spray it (31)
               

so there’s that

February 21, 2012 –

Muslim holy books that were burned in a pile of garbage at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan had been removed from a library at a nearby detention center because they contained extremist messages or inscriptions, a western military official said Tuesday.

The military official with knowledge of the incident said it appeared that the Qurans and other Islamic readings were being used to fuel extremism, and that detainees at Parwan Detention Facility were writing on the documents to exchange extremist messages….

…U.S. Gen. John Allen, the top commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, apologized to the Afghan people and said the books were inadvertantly given to troops for burning….

wee-bidoo-wee-bidoo-wee-bidoo…

…Another 4,000 Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers are deploying to Afghanistan late this spring, the Pentagon announced today.

The 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is due to arrive in Afghanistan late this spring. Many of its soldiers fought in Afghanistan in 2009-10, when the unit was called the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

The soldiers are expected to serve a nine-month deployment. They will join about 4,700 Lewis-McChord soldiers who are currently serving in the country…

By SondraK, Queen of my domain
                Say it don't spray it (12)
               

*running cupcakes hamburgers*

February 21, 2012 –

satisfying both PeTA and Agenda 21

But I think I will not participate… [hence the need for the Death Panels]

By generating strips of meat from stem cells researchers believe they can create a product that is identical to a real burger.

…Mass-producing beef, pork, chicken and lamb in the lab could satisfy the growing global demand for meat – forecast to double within the next 40 years – and dramatically reduce the harm that farming does to the environment.

BTW, that “harm” is mythical where rational farming practices are used. It derives from the methane/land use/Global Worms mythos.

Although it is possible to extract a limited number of stem cells from cows without killing them, Prof Post said the most efficient way of taking the process forward would still involve slaughter.

Ok – forget PeTA

He said: “Eventually my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals in the world that you keep in stock and that you get your cells form there.”

Each animal would be able to produce about a million times more meat through the lab-based technique than through the traditional method of butchery,

And who’s gonna “own” that herd?

By Claire: barbarian, etc
                Say it don't spray it (14)
               

58th state

February 21, 2012 –

smart as a Road’s Collar!

By SondraK, Queen of my domain
                Say it don't spray it (16)
               

there’s a word for this

February 21, 2012 –

Few people watch Current TV so perhaps Christof Putzel, correspondent of that channel’s Vanguard show, thought he could broadcast a whopper on The 99 Percent episode about the Occupy Wall Street protests without being called on it. And Putzel’s grand fib (as one would politely label it) was his claim that “much of the mainstream media mocked and dismissed the Occupy Wall Street movement.” Later in the show, Putzel doubled down on his whopper and flat out declared with no qualifiers that “The mainstream media paints an unflattering portrait of the Occupy Wall Street movement.”

And what samples does Putzel cite for this supposed disrespect for OWS? Since he can’t find any from the alphabet networks of NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS which have broadcast overwhelmingly glowing reviews of OWS, he was forced to show only clips from FOX News…

By SondraK, Queen of my domain
                Say it don't spray it (10)
               

Signs of Teh Times

February 21, 2012 –

*facepalm*

“Tkx 4 the support!”

As many as 700 peaceful Occupy demonstrators gathered outside San Quentin State Prison this afternoon as part of a nationwide effort to call for prison reform.

“It’s been an amazing day,” said Crystal Bybee, a spokeswoman for the local Occupy 4 Prisoners group. “We’ve had hundreds of people out here reading messages from prisoners and speaking out about issues that are important to us.”

…San Quentin was placed on lockdown in anticipation of the protest, with prisoners being kept in their cells.

Ready for a torrent of pet-groomer horror stories?

Senate Bill 969, by state Sen. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, would make California the first state in the nation to require vocational licenses for pet groomers.

In addition to requiring that groomers pass a state-issued exam and pay a license fee of up to $350, the legislation calls for statewide standards governing everything from lighting to record-keeping. Violating the law would be a crime punishable by fines of up to $2,000 and a year in jail.

…”If you’re trying to regulate the problems, you potentially mislead the consumers into believing the regulations or licensing is an equivalent of skills or experience.”

Oh don’t be silly — Gubbmint Regulation is The Answer to Every Problem; even to things that aren’t a problem to anyone but the Gubbmint Regulators.

An Amish man who was targeted by federal officials for selling raw milk across state lines… has shut down his dairy farm.

…Allgyer operated Rainbow Acres Farm, a small dairy farm in Kinzers, in Lancaster County, Pa., that packaged raw milk and sold it to a group of suburban Washington, D.C., consumers called Grassfed On The Hill. FDA agents infiltrated the buyers’ group by posing as customers and placing orders for delivery across state lines. Federal agents then raided Allgyer’s farm in April 2010. …

By Claire: barbarian, etc
                Say it don't spray it (11)
               

cribs

February 20, 2012 –

…what was once Wise Ahadzi’s kitchen, after ‘Occupy’ was through with it…

By SondraK, Queen of my domain
                Say it don't spray it (25)
               

Here’s an interesting thing

February 20, 2012 –

bringing several interesting questions along with it

Thousands are expected to gather in Washington DC on Presidents’ Day on Monday in an effort to demonstrate to the American public that Ron Paul is the clear choice of the troops.

…On Thursday, the military issued a warning to the organizers of the march (who are not affiliated with or funded by the Paul campaign) and reminded them of DoD Directive 1344.10 paragraph 4.1.2.10 that restricts active duty personnel from participating in political marches that could be viewed as an official endorsement of a candidate, whether dressed in uniform or civilian clothes. Kokesh and Cox have encouraged attendees to act according to their own conscience. In a message on the Facebook event page, they wrote,

It is an absurd proposition to say that members of the military supporting candidates in uniform would be construed to represent official positions of the government and rules regarding free speech for members of the military have only been used to silence dissent and keep the true will of the troops from being relevant in the American political discourse. Well, NOT ANY MORE!

*
From: Weger, Joel A CIV OGC, Ethics [mailto:joel.weger@NAVY.MIL]
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2012 8:17
To: ETHICS@LISTSERV.LAW.NAVY.MIL
Subject: [ETHICS] Partisan Political March
Importance: High
It has come to our attention that a partisan political march targeting military personnel is being organized for February 20, 2012. See link
below: http://www.facebook.com/events/192677970828185/?ref=notif&notif_t=event_invite

As a reminder, active duty personnel are prohibited by DoD Directive 1344.10 paragraph 4.1.2.10 from marching in a partisan political parade regardless of whether they are in uniform or civilian clothes. Reservists not on active duty and retirees may not march in uniform pursuant to paragraph 4.1.4. Reservists not on active duty and retirees may march in civilian clothes provided that they do not otherwise act in a manner that could reasonably give rise to the inference or appearance of official sponsorship, approval, or endorsement.

The directive is a lawful general regulation. Violations of paragraphs 4.1. through 4.5. of the Directive by persons subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice are punishable under Article 92, “Failure to Obey Order or Regulation.”

In addition, DODI 1334.01, paragraph 3.1.2 prohibits the wearing of the uniform by members of the armed forces (including retired members and members of reserve components) during or in connection with political activities.

You may wish to advise your command regarding this particular event because of the apparent solicitation of active duty personnel.

Joel A. Weger
Senior Attorney
Department of the Navy
Office of the Assistant General Counsel (Ethics)

That policy was put in place for a reason. This country established that the Civilians would be in charge of the Military for a reason.

Yet Weger specifically said “parade:” I assume for a reason. Does that mean a “gathering” would be viewed differently?

I’m interested in the impressions and views of those who have waaaay more experience and historic background than I on this…

I will also be interested to see the coverage — if any — by the LSM. This seems to be a significant symptom of Teh Times.

Finish your assignment! »

This fella seems to be the organizer:

Dear President Obama,
I am writing to you as just one veteran, just one man, but today, you may see that I am joined by many more. We gather today before you in support of Ron Paul and not because we think he would merely be a better administrator of government than you, but because we believe your policies to be fundamentally immoral. We are demanding peaceful, orderly change through the ballot box.

We are gathered here today as active duty service members and veterans exercising the right to self-expression that we all have risked our lives to protect. Something you’ve never done in uniform. The military you command has made attempts to silence us, not just in the existing codes and regulations intended to suppress the dissent in the ranks, but also in direct warnings that your officers have issued to the troops who would be with us today – who would speak out against the status quo – who would challenge the man – who would speak a desperately needed truth, to a desperately delusional power!

Do not think for one second that you can silence this voice! Do not dare whisper the command to silence this voice! Do not deny that Ron Paul is the choice of the troops! You are not wanted as, you are not respected as, and you are not fit to be, the commander-in-chief of this great force of America’s finest who would lay down their lives to defend you.

As you have warned us about petty regulations, I too have a warning for you, Mr. President. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. If elections in this country are halfway fair or transparent, and the GOP supports the troops enough to listen to them, Ron Paul will be the nominee of the Republican Party and you will be a one term President!

But if they’re not. If the voice of the people is not heard and the voice of the troops is not respected, we’ll be back. These veterans aren’t going away. And if you should decide against what I have no doubt is your better judgement, that you can allow just one of these people here today to suffer for exercising the rights that you swore to defend when you took office, if we are denied the peaceful change we demand, I promise you this: we’re going to be doing this the hard way.

Yours in liberty,
Adam Kokesh

By Claire: barbarian, etc
                Say it don't spray it (20)
               

happier Presidents’ Day next year

February 20, 2012 –

since my choice is then don’t say anything at all
let’s see what Stilton has to say

By DougM (jackassophobe)
                Say it don't spray it (9)
               

your morning *clank*

February 20, 2012 –

Dayum!

When a residential burglar fired a gun at Jay Leone last month, he was initially too angry to realize he had been shot in the head [the bullet entered his jaw area and exited the back of his neck, avoiding a fatal wound]. “To tell you the truth, I never felt a thing,” said Leone, 90 [ninety] …. “I said, ‘F*** you, you son of a bitch, now it’s my turn.’” Whereupon he shot five bullets at the suspect from his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson snubnose revolver, hitting the burglar three times in the abdomen.

[waits for cheering to abate, continues narrative]

A scuffle ensued …. “Then he took the gun and put it to my head — click!” said Leone, who knew there were no bullets [sic] left in the gun.

Yep, if a bad guy’s gonna use your own gun against you, he’ll have to be to beat you to death with it, ’cause it’ll be friggin’ empty !

[The aptly named Leone], a fitness buff and former member of the sheriff’s air patrol, said he would like to go another round with [the bad guy], perhaps in a classic duel at three paces.

“The doctor says I’m healing well,” Leone said. “He said, ‘For some reason, it didn’t kill you.’”

Sounds like Jay’s an older version of our own ColJ (Jerry, not Jay).

If you’re curious about how Leone got to his own revolver to shoot back, you’ll have to read the entire story. It’ll give you something to consider when planning your own home defense.

As I said, “Dayum!”

By DougM (jackassophobe)
                Say it don't spray it (32)