11.17.2012

But Facebook, not so much


The No. 1 activity that makes people happy is -- gird yourself -- sex.
This is closely followed by drinking alcohol and volunteering. Which proves that guilt can drive you to pleasure too.
Other Top 10 appearances are made by activities such as listening to music, hobbies, and gaming.

Redline

Redline by Ted Compton
Redline, a photo by Ted Compton on Flickr.

I suppose you could call this a messy divorce

The unfortunate ex-husband’s Coca-Cola bottling factory in Uzbekistan was promptly shut down, three of his relatives were imprisoned, and 24 were deported at gunpoint to Afghanistan. 
Oops

And no book deal.

Unclear on the concept


Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called the latest revelations in the [Petraeus] case "a Greek tragedy." 
"It's just tragic," King said Tuesday on NBC's "Today" show. "This has the elements in some ways of a Hollywood movie or a trashy novel." 

Chicago Tribune

Maybe if we had more English majors… 
Spark plug


iPhone photo: Phil Compton

11.16.2012

Still a long way from running Cleveland on batteries

Imagine a future in which old electric-car batteries are deployed in neighborhoods as energy-storage systems that guard against power outages, while paving the way for wind and solar power—and more electric cars. The idea has moved one step closer with the demonstration of a boxy unit of used Chevy Volt batteries capable of providing enough electricity to power three to five average American homes for up to two hours.

National Geographic

Imagine our relief


Mars radiation fine for humans, Curiosity finds

But no, this tweet will never make much sense

Reuters Top News (@Reuters)
Broadwell, Benghazi both to surface in Petraeus testimony reut.rs/XKvAlM


So did we

The funny thing is, Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus thought they knew what they were doing.… 
Salon

The Republicans have binders…


PBS has benches.

113th Congress Welcomes Benches Full of Women

Civilization ends

Hostess Brands Inc., the bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said it had sought court permission to go out of business…

Chicago Tribune

11.15.2012

Petraeus: Ambassador of Happiness

Petraeus Scandal Amuses Taliban

A stony-faced Taliban official burst into laughter at the mention of the Petraeus affair during an interview with AFP in northwest Pakistan this week.

The unkindest cut

Petraeus Affair: Shirtless FBI Pic Was a Joke, Not Sexting, Lawyer Says - ABC News

The FBI agent who started a probe that would eventually depose CIA chief David Petraeus sent a shirtless photo of himself to a Florida socialite at the center of the scandal, but he was joking, not sexting, a lawyer for the agent told ABC News.

Sorry, Fredrick.

Dude, this could be more fun than the whole high-school partytime sexy email thing ever was!

Leon Panetta orders military ethics review in wake of David Petraeus sex scandal - CBS News

Citing a string of ethical lapses by senior military officers, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has asked the Joint Chiefs of Staff to review ethics training and to brainstorm on ways to steer officers away from trouble.

 

11.14.2012

Noted

Undernews: Signs of progress

Price of 1 gigabyte of storage over time:

1981 $300,000

1987 $50,000

1990 $10,000

1994 $1,000

1997 $100

2000 $10

2004 $1

2012 $0.10

I was online in 1981. The word "gigabyte" was rarely used. For anything. In fact, "megabyte" was something of an abstract concept. A personal computer's RAM was measured in K, and not so very much of that.

11.13.2012

Learning something new every day

From Atlantic Wire:


Now that the Democratic Party has fully abused and discredited Mitt Romney's economic vision for America, they've suddenly decided that maybe that one idea he had about tax deductions wasn't so crazy after all. The knock on Romney throughout his campaign (according to those same Democrats) was that he refused to offer any specific details about what his economic plans would actually look like. One of the few concrete ideas that he did offer up was a cap on itemized decorations

Itemize decorations? Nobody ever told me I could itemize my decorations. And now it's way too late.

Hello I must be going

Undernews: Obama bails out on gay marriage reform

Examiner - One day after endorsing gay marriage proposals in Washington and Maine, President Obama told MTV viewers that he would not be pushing gay marriage in his second term, ABC News reported.

Where is Peter Sellers when we need him?

New details about how the Federal Bureau of Investigation handled the case suggest that even as the bureau delved into Mr. Petraeus's personal life, the agency had to address conduct by its own agent—who allegedly sent shirtless photos of himself to a woman involved in the case prior to the investigation.

Wall Street Journal

Just one more reason to never mess around with women, ever

(CBS) - Holly Solomon, a pregnant Arizona woman, was arrested Saturday after she allegedly ran over her husband with the family SUV when she learned that he did not vote in the presidential election, CBS affiliate KPHO reports.

CBS

Yikes.

Oh those Virginians

Some of the e-mails may have prompted suspicions among FBI investigators because Allen sometimes used words such as “sweetheart” to refer to her, the senior official said. But the official added that Allen, who was raised in Virginia, employed that language as a term of platonic friendship, not romantic interest.

Washington Post

Right. 

Giving new meaning to the word, "embedded"

 While embedded with Petraeus in Afghanistan, Broadwell said, she often accompanied him on long, six-minute-mile runs


Is he delusional or just plain dumb?

Ryan, who lost the vice presidency, but won reelection by a slim margin last week, reemerged Monday and told a Wisconsin television station that he doesn’t believe that the presidential campaign was a referendum on his plan to cut the federal budget and overhaul entitlement programs such as Medicare.

Washington Post

Get your day started right


How Long Would It Take to Fall Through the Earth?

11.11.2012

Bring back the snail?

 

If the FBI is really snooping in the freakin' CIA director's email, maybe it's time to go buy stamps. 

Well. I decided  a long, long, long time ago never to believe anything I read about the CIA (and certain other government agencies). So I don't know if the FBI was snooping in Petraeus's email or if Petraeus himself is really stupid enough to give his girlfriend the password to his email account, plus…wait…gmail? Are you kidding me? Yeah, I know it was just personal (heh heh) email, but still. The CIA director?

Long live the surveillance state and all that but gee, guys, can't you at least do it with a straight face?