I’m going to the nearest fast food joint and buying something huge and horrifying.
I deserve it.
9.27.2014
Take your poi and shove it
1,800 flights affected by fire at FAA facility - Times Union
"A contract employee who recently was told he was being transferred to Hawaii set a fire at a suburban Chicago air traffic control center where he worked, bringing two of the nation's busiest airports to a halt Friday, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday."
9.26.2014
Sounds like checkmate to me
31,000 people an hour are joining the social network Ello. The anti-Facebook, explained. - Vox
"Some people hate Facebook because they hate themselves."
Somebody called it "Bendghazi"
I like that better than Bendgate. This whole “gate” thing is getting pretty boring, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, at no extra charge, here’s my advice. If your pants are so tight they bend your phone, carry it in your purse.
9.25.2014
This is how old and out of it I am: I didn't even know I had a "personal cultural space"
"Beyoncé is probably the biggest musical star on the planet right now, and yet if Apple were to do with her the same thing they did with U2 two weeks ago, I’m betting the reaction would be largely the same. Sure, there would be a lot of very happy people out there — but there would be just as many losing their minds because, even as undeniably relevant as she is, she had intruded on their personal cultural space without an invitation."
Why am I thinking this will not end well
Latest U.S. Airstrikes Target Syrian Oil Fields | Fortuna's Corner
"The U.S. military began dropping missiles on Islamic State-owned oil fields in eastern Syria Wednesday, part of an overarching strategic plan to dismantle the terrorist network’s ability to finance its violent Jihadi war."
Taking no chances in Wisconsin
Wisconsin's new voter ID law could keep me from voting at age 87 | Comment is free | The Guardian
"‘How do I know you’re not an illegal alien?!’"
Ouch
Meet President Barack W. Obama - The Washington Post
"The Economist cover this week will get people talking. It puts President Obama's head on the body of then President George W. Bush -- dressed in flight gear."
Just like corporations
Romney Ad Man Vinny Minchillo Launches 'Republicans Are People Too' | New Republic
“Wednesday's Politico Playbook contained a massive scoop that Mike Allen, uncharacteristically, had buried in the email newsletter: ‘New effort reminds everyone that Republicans are people, too.’"
Mysterious, huh?
A Terror Cell That Avoided the Spotlight - NYTimes.com
"‘There’s a contradiction here,’ said Bruce O. Riedel, a former C.I.A. analyst now at the Brookings Institution. ‘If they [Al Qaeda] are that decimated, why are we so alarmed when we detect new evidence of their activities?’"
The Bend is not some new dance craze
Is the iPhone 6 Plus bendable? - Sep. 24, 2014
"'Grab it in the middle with the glass facing out and give it everything you have,' he told CNNMoney in an email. 'It'll bend.'
"On Twitter, some iPhone fans suggested that the jumbo smartphone is just not compatible with skinny jeans. There's also a camp that argues that if you own a $750 smartphone, you shouldn't sit on it."
Meanwhile, from Some Guy in Seattle:
"What am I missing here? I just watched the bend test and noticed that right after applying the initial bend the phone is turned over and one can clearly read the time as 2:26. After a few more bends, the clock is shown again and it reads 1:58.
"Did bending the phone make the clock run backwards?
"I just have to wonder."
Me too, me too.
9.24.2014
Imagine our relief
Glenn Greenwald's Simplistic, Conspiratorial Response to U.S. Airstrikes in Syria | The Daily Banter
"Ask anyone on the far-right, and they’ll tell you President Obama is an incompetent, effete terrorist capitulator. Ask anyone on the far-left and they’ll tell you he’s a cold-hearted baby killer who loves sinking his blood-soaked, warmongering talons into the necks of brown people. The fact that perceptions are so radically diverse indicates that Obama is neither. He’s likely somewhere between both options…"
Let's all do it then!
 | BoingBoing It's pretty easy to bend an #Apple #iPhone6 with your hands. Video demonstration: http://t.co/Or2ad13vtV http://t.co/BQ8qDacAy8 9/24/14, 1:11 PM |
Also, how hard do you have to kick your car before you put a dent in it. Let's try!
Two more years! (Or more!)
Countries bombed by the U.S. under Obama administration - CNN.com
"Officials say the mission to defeat [ISIS and the al Qaeda offshoot Khorasan] won't be won in day. Instead they're predicting a sustained effort that will surely be left for the next commander in chief to carry forward."
If you can make sense of it, be my guest
This story, Tires likely to stay parked for another year, has been front-page above-the-fold news around here for five days in the last week. It's the biggest thing that's happened in the last 20 years. At least. And the tires in question, discovered a year ago, have apparently been there for 40 years– and nobody can decide what to do with them.
One of the nice things about living here in over-governed, town-meeting oriented rural New England is that nothing ever gets done because nobody ever gets finished discussing it. Life just flows on, unchanging, here in our pleasant valley, and the tires will stay where they are for another year or so, easy.
Spring sprung
"For well over a year now, the Arab Spring has struggled on life support, doomed to die with barely a whimper. Instead, it ended definitively with the bang of U.S. airstrikes in Syria, coordinated with five of the Arab world's most authoritarian states. The long winter of a protracted war with the Islamic State and affiliated jihadists now seems here to stay."
Yeah but Peace Prize, Dude: Get with the program
6 Moderate Syrians Who Don't Want U.S. Airstrikes On ISIS
"‘I’m mad at the U.S., because I’m someone who has always said that the U.S. fights for freedom and fights for people’s rights,’ said one 35-year-old Syrian activist, who didn’t want to be named discussing the issue with the U.S. press. ‘You can be called a traitor for supporting the U.S. right now.’
"He added: ‘The U.S. has screwed up everything so bad. You can’t tell anyone now that the strikes will be a good thing and that the U.S. will strike for our benefit. Bullshit. They know it’s not for our benefit.’"
And we're still waiting for the high-speed train from Vermont…
"GREENFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) — A train carrying paper and lumber came off the tracks this morning in Greenfield causing police and fire personnel to respond to the scene."
…to say nothing of the decommissioning nuke plant just up the road.
Speaking of greenhouse-gas emissions…
Obama Presses Chinese on Global Warming - NYTimes.com
"UNITED NATIONS — President Obama, emboldened by his use of executive powers to fight climate change at home, challenged China on Tuesday to make the same effort to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions…"
…how much jet fuel are we burning these days? In round numbers.
9.23.2014
So then, if the hand feeds you, give it a nice lick
Stanford Promises Not to Use Google Money for Privacy Research - ProPublica
"Stanford's Center for Internet and Society has long been generously funded by Google, but the center's privacy research has proved damaging to the search giant in the past two years. Two years ago a researcher at the center helped uncover Google privacy violations that led to the company paying a record $22.5 million fine."
Imagine our relief
"Since winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, President Obama has, by my count, ordered new or expanded military operations—including airstrikes, special operations raids, and troop ‘surges’—in seven countries…(And that’s not counting a number of smaller U.S. military engagements in Africa aimed at targets including Boko Haram and the Lord’s Resistance Army.)
…but it’s time to acknowledge that one thing he’s not…is some sort of pacifist who’s…deferential to the views of the international community.
That would be the worst, right?
And anyway, remember they gave the Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger too, so what exactly were you expecting, my dears?
Oh oh—this ISIL thing is supposed to look like Yemen, isn't it?
Yemen president warns of civil war - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
"Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi has vowed to restore state authority and warned of a 'civil war' in the Sunni-majority country as Shia rebels were seen in near-total control of the capital, Sanaa."
Or ISIS. Or just IS. Is it too much to at least figure out who they are?
Science
IG Nobel Prizes Awarded for Theories on Jesus Toast and Banana Peels | Odd News - Yahoo News
"And then there was the category for arctic science. The winners are from Norway and Germany. They won for testing how reindeer react to seeing humans who are disguised as polar bears."
File under Questions Ending in No
Micro Apartments Pop Up in Historic Providence Mall | Odd News - Yahoo News
"Have you ever dreamed of living inside of a shopping mall?"
Shock and awe is so yesterday
Syria says Washington informed it before strikes - Yahoo News
"The opening salvo in the aerial operation against the Islamic State group marks the start of what President Barack Obama has warned will be a lengthy campaign…"
9.22.2014
No dummies, these guys
3 Missing Afghan Soldiers Found At Canadian Border - Yahoo
"Law enforcement officials said the men did not try to hide, but instead walked up to border patrol agents and presented themselves for asylum."
What's with Idaho and Utah here?
"A breakdown by state shows that single people make up more than half the population all across the country; basically, everywhere outside Idaho and Utah at least is more than 45 percent single, and in many states, that figure is above 53 percent."
You lose
The Great "Out-0f-Network" Scam Is Eating Patients Alive. And It's Supposed To. | Mother Jones
"It's a great racket that allows doctors to extort loads of money from those in the most pain and with the least ability to fight back.…It's shameless and venal and there's no excuse for it. And that's America's health care system."
Dem Bums
Those Lazy Jobless - Krugman
Last week John Boehner, the speaker of the House, explained to an audience at the American Enterprise Institute what’s holding back employment in America: laziness. People, he said, have “this idea” that “I really don’t have to work. I don’t really want to do this. I think I’d rather just sit around.” Holy 47 percent, Batman!
…So now we have rants against the bums on welfare when they aren’t bums — they never were — and there’s no welfare. Why?
Noted by our Midwest and Elsewhere bureau
9.21.2014
If you're a kid you'd better be making a movie, or else
You Can Now Go to Jail for Having a Toy Gun in Atlantic City | National Review Online
"Anyone caught with an illegal toy gun can face a $50 fine and 30 days in jail.…"The fake-gun ban also makes an exception for ‘non-firing antiques’ and ‘film props.’"
We knew YouTube would come in handy somehow.
Prince, spurned
Blackwater Founder: We Could Stop ISIS - Yahoo News
"Feeling betrayed by the Obama administration, he has since said that his days working for the U.S. government are over."
Relax, dude, we're tricked into almost everything we do
Scotland's leader: Voters 'tricked' in referendum - Yahoo News
"Alex Salmond, Scotland's outgoing independence leader, accused politicians in London of reneging on their promises to hand more power to Scots in a rare cross-party pact that he said played a crucial role in swinging the votes in favor of union in Thursday's vote."
I was going to get all upset about this and then I wondered, what would be the point?
Home Depot ignored security warnings for years, employees say | Ars Technica
"In 2012, Home Depot hired Ricky Joe Mitchell as its senior IT security architect. Mitchell got the job after being fired from EnerVest Operating in Charelston, South Carolina—and he sabotaged that company’s network in an act of revenge, taking the company offline for 30 days. Mitchell retained his position at Home Depot even after his indictment a year later and remained in charge of Home Deopt’s security until he pled guilty to federal charges in January of 2014."
Our latest culinary achievement…
…is just eating stuff right out of the refrigerator. Most recently, cold lentil soup. I know. Ewww, huh?
But really, it's not so bad. And if you want to get all PC about it, it's more energy efficient. If not, it's just freakin' easier. Around here, easy is what we're all about.
Also, speaking of food, are there any tomatoes made out of tomato any more, or are they all plastic now?
But really, it's not so bad. And if you want to get all PC about it, it's more energy efficient. If not, it's just freakin' easier. Around here, easy is what we're all about.
Also, speaking of food, are there any tomatoes made out of tomato any more, or are they all plastic now?
Bedfellows
Insight - Iran's elite Guards fighting in Iraq to push back Islamic State | Reuters
"Shirkhani’s death deep inside Iraq shows that Iran has committed boots on the ground to defend Iraqi territory."
Savor the image
Duke porn star Belle Knox shows up in a documentary on Condé Nast's digital platform - NY Daily News
"Venerable New York publishing house Condé Nast has seemed strangely keen to dip its stilettoed toe into the world of pornography lately…"
But, can they walk in shoes like that?
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