Today's topic for discussion is:
| ...and Obama takes his first lumps, courtesy PolitiFact. |
| posted at: 12:09 | permanent link to this entry |
So, I stared at a tag cloud while listening to WRAS' Melodically Challenged, and beat poetry appeared. In coming weeks, I will chisel poetry out of raw cloud, and post the results here. True to form, the language will be high on NSFW and low on coherence (lower than my normal, I might add). These particular clouds are drawn from an established aggregator site, and they reflect the thoughts of recurring characters and memes. I will only remove words and add punctuation; I will neither add nor rearrange words, although tags will be broken up as needed. You've been warned. |
| posted at: 18:43 | permanent link to this entry |
Weekend Viewing: General Assembly
| Georgia Public Broadcasting is covering the General Assembly sessions again, and this year's gathering is all about the economy. Well, it's mostly about the economy, anyway. Daily wrapups at GPB Lawmakers, with summaries by GriftDrift's "Gonzo Lawmakers" blogposts. |
| posted at: 18:04 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| The Athens Music Scene is Wikipedia's featured article for today. |
| posted at: 18:04 | permanent link to this entry |
| With Watchmen on the horizon, this is looking like a two-movie year, because Plaza Theatre (Ponce & Highland) is screening a 2001 Godzilla movie tomorrow. |
| posted at: 17:56 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| How 'bout them apples: For 2007, more wind and solar power generation capacity was installed than fossil fuels. Summary statistics page (from DOE) is here. |
| posted at: 19:22 | permanent link to this entry |
My Favorite Restaurant of 2008 is...
| Malaya. I haven't added its listing to the dining page yet, but this place makes me want to take extra trips to NW Atlanta. Menu is primarily Malasian and Thai, with some other items. I'm in for curry-potato egg rolls, shrimp-fried rice, and whatever thai-style curry I can get. |
| posted at: 19:22 | permanent link to this entry |
| And suddenly, the entire Internet ground to a halt. |
| posted at: 18:16 | permanent link to this entry |
| A co-ed soccer game in Iran has drawn fines and suspensions from their taliban. [Expect a Sundance release in 2014.] |
| posted at: 14:51 | permanent link to this entry |
| The Obama Administration is taking aim at auto emissions and milage standards, and climate change now has diplomatic backing. Also, there's a cleanup from the election-year constraint on "high-profile" immigration arrests. |
| posted at: 14:21 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| From the 'better looking than functional' department: Scrabble Furniture. |
| posted at: 11:32 | permanent link to this entry |
I saw the "Carbon Neutral" signs appear at Virginia-Highland recently, bragging about being a "carbon-neutral zone". This turned my stomach, quite frankly. Now I'm kicking myself for not posting about this earlier, as I missed a chance to scoop the AJC by a couple of weeks. :) Today's story on Virginia-Highland's trip into "Eco-friendliness" provides some extra background: supposedly, this is the first such designated carbon-neutral zone in the U.S. The fees are comparable to copyright fees paid by bars, and the landlord paid for the audit/survey work. In what may be a surprise: there are 18 businesses on that block. I never really counted.
I am bitterly cynical about this whole deal, however. Why? This has taken place in the wake of last year's streetscape project, which took down that huge tree (some kind of oak) on the corner of Virginia and Highland. That tree has been replaced with a utility pole and a sign proclaiming "carbon neutrality". While this corner of the world is by no means dead, it is diminished, and this carbon-market business is just insult to injury. As a side note: the yearly fee shared by the shops is apparently not important enough to be included in the article. |
| posted at: 21:33 | permanent link to this entry |
Children are Endangered because They Are.
In a case of honesty meets politics, it seems our state Attorneys General, in their ongoing War on the First Amendment led by Andrew "Don" Cuomo, tasked some folks to study online threats to children. That group has returned their report, and the 50 AGs are nonplussed about the dissonance the report brings: Minors are not equally at risk online. Those who are most at risk often engage in risky behaviors and have difficulties in other parts of their lives. The psychosocial makeup of and family dynamics surrounding particular minors are better predictors of risk than the use of specific media or technologies. [from the executive summary] It's rather intuitive, actually. The Internet makes public that which used to be private, so this concept of Internet as some threatening place in need of mitigation is completely invalid. This, of course, means Law "enforcement" officials have to get off their butts and do real law enforcement, instead of assaulting the First Amendment for good press. One of the linked commenters summed it up correctly: It's not that your data conflicts with their own actual perceptions of risks on the internet. It's that your data conflicts with the conclusions and fails to support the policies that your detractors have adopted a priori, and whose adoption was prompted neither by personal perception nor by data, but by the necessity of taking a "strong", condemnatory "moral" stance. Aside from political expediency, the AGs' reaction is rooted in a deeper truth, that western civilization is built upon exclusion. People not chosen are cast out with the trash, and are expected to languish out of view. The home is a castle, and what goes on inside them is expected to stay hidden. Town and county economies are controlled by loosely hereditary heirarchies. The Internet, of course, puts a tunnel in all of these separations, and that aspect presents a greater threat which law enforcement of all levels are attempting to address. Their attitude is a very similar mentality to the "My ball is my ball" dog I posted yesterday, but with very serious implications for our government. |
| posted at: 19:21 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| The sun is shining, folks: FDA has approved tests of stem-cell treatment for spinal injuries. |
| posted at: 19:18 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| My ball's my ball. My ball's my ball. My ball's my ball because you suck and I don't so it is my ball and it's not yours. [I'm still a cat person, but this was just funny.] |
| posted at: 20:17 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| Mission Control, this is Tranquility Base...the Eagle has landed. |
| posted at: 13:13 | permanent link to this entry |
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| posted at: 13:12 | permanent link to this entry |
Reflections at the End of a Dark Age
It's been fourteen years of darkness for the U.S. -- 6 years of dusk, followed by 6 years of ink-black night, followed by 2 years of moonlight. Now, the sky carries the glow of dawn. The damage will take years to undo, if it's recoverable at all. It's kind of sad to think that the best years of my life have been spent under the control of our taliban, in a nation who's founders properly recognized the import of separating church and state. However, it's clear that some recalcitrant segment of our population has never accepted that notion, and that faction has had their turn at the helm. I'm also compelled to remember the victims of this Fourteen-Year Night. I'm not referring to the dead and wounded, but the insane -- those people who, out of foolishness or optimism, tried to reason with the unreasonable; those who granted these taliban the benefit of honest dialogue; those who were hounded and persecuted for mentioning the obvious. Many such people have lost their sanity to some degree, and at fourteen years, it could be argued that we've lost a generation. As for "America's Standing", that portion of the legacy is ironically, the least-controllable. Simply put: if the rest of the world had useful leadership, whose position was something other than "leech off the United States", we would be no more than a bit-player by now. To this degree, the Bush administration's great 'crime' is the rebellion against European-led socialism, starting with rejection of the ill-conceived Kyoto Protocol. We conquered Iraq instead of Sudan (whose forces still haven't seen opposition outside the African Union), we assisted Israel against Islamic forces, and we've waged proxy war with Iran for the past several years. All of these steps are directly opposed to pan-socialism and its components, and to that end, we have been cast as their enemy. We were supposed to do the dirty work on Europe's behalf, allowing their leaders to implement schemes without reproach. We didn't go with the plan, and the state-controlled media have directed their citizenry against us. . This brings me to the next point: media. As an illegitimate regime, our taliban depend on one-way communications, and cannot tolerate actual discussion or reason of any kind. So, their M.O. has been to spam the airwaves with propaganda, deprive legitimate news and information sources, then crow about "market forces". From CNN in the mid 90's, to Creative Loafing's upheavals last year, to a hundred thousand anonymous forum spammers, the information war has been a one of our taliban's most egregious offenses, an mocking dilution of the First Amendment and its benefits. Another legacy of this period is the rise of domestic surveillance. After 9/11, the Bush Administration had to choose between attempting to track and interpret communications and economic activity on an international scale, and re-establishing the interrment camps of World War II, on a national scale. They chose the former. It might have worked, maybe we'll find out in a few decades. In either event, every commercial transaction recorded on a "preferred shopper" card or a B2B network, every person leaving or entering the country, every phone call and email, is run through a set of systems to gather and prioritize such information, in the search for ill will. And then, we have the legacies that were thrown under the bus. Colin Powell scotching his reputation at the U.N., in a mockery of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bob Woodward, referring to our counterinsurgency efforts as based on some kind of "Manhattan Project". The canonization of Ronald Reagan. The co-opting of John McCain and condemnation of the once-great Republican Party. Howver, the most heinous crime from our taliban has been the wholesale deprecation of reason and science. Every single department in the executive has been coerced, fund-starved, or restaffed outright, to the benefit of the Church and its doctrines. Justice Deparment and EPA were only the most widely-reported examples; FDA are only now getting spotlight, and it took a false bidder to even get BLM in the press. And here we are, at the end of this night, seventeen hours and change. The sun will rise at noon tomorrow; The Star-Spangled Banner has never been more appropriate. |
| posted at: 19:07 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| What happens when you combine California Prop. 8 donor lists to Google Maps? eightmaps.com. It's like a huge plate of win and fail spaghetti. |
| posted at: 14:40 | permanent link to this entry |
| If you're reading this, chances are you survived the eight years that were the George W. Bush administration. Get your t-shirt (or other cafepress item) here. |
| posted at: 12:29 | permanent link to this entry |
Celebrating the Rats' Departure
Another transition uprising story: Department of Labor staff threw a "good-riddance" party for Elaine Chao, who I'd completely forgotten was still around from her original appointment. |
| posted at: 12:22 | permanent link to this entry |
It isn't every day when you find a job opening that requires 'willful retardation' as a required skill. AJC is looking for a replacement for the role of "conservative columnist", currently played by Jim Wooten. The bullet-point list of selection criteria are ripe for satire. I might post a 'corrected' version tomorrow. |
| posted at: 17:45 | permanent link to this entry |
The news is a bit old, but it seems there's an uprising at FDA. It will be fun to see which products should never have been released in the first place. My guess is 8/10 pharmaceutical products and medical devices released since 2000. |
| posted at: 16:26 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| Two more days. |
| posted at: 16:25 | permanent link to this entry |
Breaking the Banks (in a good way), or Just Another Swindle?
The same governor who wrote himself a (retroactive) $100k state income tax break, has floated a $21 million, 6-month farm credit loan, on $4 million in assets. Now, given the state of banking lately, this may well be less of a swindle than reported. Nobody is getting this kind of deal on credit anymore, and that's because the banks (what's left of them) are too busy gorging themselves on federal dollars to worry about silly things like "lending". It may well be that Gov. Perdue took out that deal, to replace lost/delayed operating income on the leading edge of this recession. If so, then March should bring some interesting reading. |
| posted at: 16:23 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| And now, for something completely different: a Plush Uterus toy recall. |
| posted at: 14:17 | permanent link to this entry |
While the AJC story casts this shooting in light of the recent waiter shooting/robbery, this would be the third panhandler-related shooting in recent months around here, and the first one which involved the panhandler getting the business (the other two were a tourist and a delivery driver). As for this case, I don't particularly buy the story. Not that I would charge the shooter with anything, because having been in that situation, panhandler has enough tactical advantage to present a direct threat. |
| posted at: 14:14 | permanent link to this entry |
| When the temperature has fewer degrees than you have digits, stay in bed. Good grief. |
| posted at: 08:49 | permanent link to this entry |
[NSFW-language] Suburban Relations
Mr. Chi City exposes the fraudulence that is suburbia's code enforcement racket. The villages of suburban chicago are much smaller than the gerrymanders down here, so the dollar amounts are inflated. However, the principle is the same. By the way: this video is funny as hell. You have been warned. :) |
| posted at: 08:13 | permanent link to this entry |
Atlanta Journal-Constitution has evolved their website; the new look includes a shiny, new 2.0 logo, which the focus groups report to be more calming to the low-contrast needs of today's readership. AJC will now be known as the Izzy Times. ...and since that bit of design trauma has crept back into my head, I now realize and/or remember) this applies to the similarly izz-like uniforms of the Atlanta Thrashers. Logo silliness aside, there's good news to be found here -- the site no longer uses a fixed font, and does not cast font sizes into the microprint range. |
| posted at: 07:54 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| This is very cool: Internet Archive has applied zoom scripts (think "maps") to NASA's Space image archives. |
| posted at: 07:42 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| To date, several hundred thousand people have signed up for several thousand jobs in the Obama administration. |
| posted at: 21:18 | permanent link to this entry |
| The General Assembly is back in session; Georgia Legislative Watch has been dusted off for another go. I think that without the overwhelming pressure of the Presidential Election, this site will have the endurance to carry through the session. |
| posted at: 19:53 | permanent link to this entry |
On the Menu: Sweet Pulled Pork
So, I ran into the following recipe last weekend, and I liked it enough that I currently have a pot going right now:
This is a very sweet pork recipe; the pork almost wet-cures while cooking. Having already tasted the correct results of this recipe, I'd select any peppery, vinegar-based, or mustard-based sauce. A run to Fincher's may be in order this weekend. |
| posted at: 19:52 | permanent link to this entry |
Gyro Hashbrowns @ The Majestic
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| posted at: 17:15 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| Found in the headline queue: Who says the Interwebs aren't self-correcting? Woman with issues rants about a douchebag (with different issues), and they both end up as fodder for Reddit and /b/. Warning: slow-as-molasses, 20-comment-per-page zone ahead. |
| posted at: 07:03 | permanent link to this entry |
| You know the government is starving for tax revenue, when Swiss banks start closing Americans' accounts. |
| posted at: 06:52 | permanent link to this entry |
In a not unexpected case of biting the feeding hand, P-E Obama has filled out the top Justice Department posts, with Associate and Deputy AG spots going to Tom Perrelli and David Ogden, respectively. CNET has a brief review of their racketeering cred: Perrelli worked offense, where Ogden worked on the defense of challenges to indefinite copyright extensions and COPA. I suppose Hillary Rosen's TV appearances as a Democratic Party analyst would presage such maneuvers. Also, with the Earth-weight volumes of debt the U.S. is incurring, the low-overhead revenue stream represented by IP fees will gain even more importance among policymakers. My vote stays the same: I limit my music to radio and free podcasts, and generally avoid movies, whether they're downloaded, CD, big screen, or otherwise. It occurs to me that I've been doing this for over 10 years, now. I should add up the benefits at some point. |
| posted at: 10:37 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| Rain, Rain stay a while... |
| posted at: 06:24 | permanent link to this entry |
| It looks like John Smoltz will finish his career with the Red Sox. At least he didn't sign in our division. :( |
| posted at: 06:15 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General? W00t! |
| posted at: 12:39 | permanent link to this entry |
Early closing times for bars is neccessary to reduce crime and maintain our property values. The correct answer is: early closing times give the gangs a clear window in which to rob bars and nearby shops, and said gangs have taken advantage of this opportunity to regularly hit targets in town. It just so happens this one was still occupied, and of course they killed the witness they could find. Finally, and unfortunately, we have a body to add to the mounting losses of Atlanta's businesses, on behalf of the "real estate values" racket. |
| posted at: 12:34 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| [insert topic here] |
| posted at: 17:17 | permanent link to this entry |
The top search hit from 2008 is:
| "Two player pool", and variants, in the 200-search range. I'm counting up the dining page results today, but there are still tons of people out there, who have apparently sick of playing 8-ball and nine-ball. |
| posted at: 17:17 | permanent link to this entry |
| Braised pork loin, in Dogfish Head's Palo Santo Merron (and veggies). It's rather experimental, but the black-eye peas are turning out fine. Those absorbed most of the flavor from all those smoked pork trimmings. :) |
| posted at: 21:52 | permanent link to this entry |
No party pictures this year; suffice to say the party at Diesel was definitely worth the time and tips. And lo, Georgia Tech was summarily embarrassed at home. Again. Hopefully, UGA will show up ready to play. In any event, Happy New Year to all of you; 2009 (yes, it's 2009 now) is the first year of promise in a long time. |
| posted at: 04:35 | permanent link to this entry |
Today's topic for discussion is:
| Falcons! |
| posted at: 04:33 | permanent link to this entry |
