February 2012
267 posts
Musical map
h/t Boing Boing
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All that glitters...
…isn’t gold.
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Quote of the day (2)
Control over change would seem to consist in moving not with it but ahead of it.
- Marshall McLuhan
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Add 'ink-stained wretches' to the list of obsolete...
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I'd forgotten all about today being called Sadie...
Today’s the day women can propose to men as demonstrated in these Li’l Abner cartoons.
Where in the world...
Picture taken by a crew member of the ISS on Feb 6, 2012
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Branson, MO hit by tornadoes, at least 9 dead
The midwest mecca for country music fans was lashed by several tornadoes in the early morning Wednesday, causing massive damage and killing at least nine people, with more in critical condition. Branson is home to several theatres where country stars are in semi-permanent residence, including Crystal Gayle, Merle Haggard, and Wayne Newton.
Because of the fatalities I can’t bring myself to...
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Last Train to Clarksville
Davy Jones of the Monkees died today of an apparent heart attack. RIP.
In 1967 the Monkees sold more records than the Beatles, as hard as that is to believe.
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Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Jonathan Cohn at The New Republic outlines the similarity between Santorum and Romney on policy:
“And yet … are the two candidates really so different? On the issues, particularly domestic policy, they no longer seem to be. Both have called for radical downsizing of government, with Santorum seeking to cap federal spending at 18 percent of gross domestic product and Romney seeking to cap it...
Happy Leap Year
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On this date...
1288 - Scotland established this day as one when a woman could propose marriage to a man. In the event that he refused the proposal he was required to pay a fine.
1944 - The Office of Defense Transportation, for the second year in a row, restricted attendance at the Kentucky Derby to residents of the Louisville area. This was an effort to prevent a railroad traffic burden during wartime.
1980...
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Quote of the day
It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees. - Emiliano Zapata (1877 - 1919)
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The Devil's Dictionary - Ambrose Bierce
IDIOT, n. A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. The Idiot’s activity is not confined to any special field of thought or action, but “pervades and regulates the whole.” He has the last word in everything; his decision is unappealable. He sets the fashions and opinion of taste, dictates the limitations of...
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First it was the 7 words you couldn't say on...
Now it’s the 300 things you shouldn’t say on Facebook or Twitter. (Big Brother is watching!).
“The Department of Homeland Security monitors your updates on social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, to uncover “Items Of Interest” (IOI), according to an internal DHS document …”
See the list here.
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Vote Republican -- increase the deficit !!
Paul Krugman crunches the numbers (drum-roll, please):
“Yep: as Republicans yell about Obama’s deficits and cry that we’re turning into Greece, Greece I tell you, all of them, all of them, propose making the deficit bigger.”
“And for what? For reverse Robin-Hoodism, taking from the poor and the middle class to lavish huge tax cuts on the rich.”
“And I believe...
Quote of the day (2)
Creativity is the defeat of habit by originality.
- Arthur Koestler
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Ah, yes. The rich *are* different
“The wealthy really are different from everyone else: They’re more likely to cheat, lie, and break the law.”
“At least that’s the unflattering conclusion of a team of professors from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and the University of California, Berkeley, who ran a battery of tests involving more than 1,000 people, seeking to answer the question of...
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WatchRed, White and Blues
The PBS telecast of the White House command performance of many blues luminaries honouring the genre. BB King, Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck, Susan Tedeschi, Keb Mo were among the stars.
(Edit: replaced with better, complete video link)
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No relief in housing prices
December saw the eighth consecutive monthly decline in US housing prices.
Chart - Zero Hedge
Can you imagine the grief ?
“On average, two children die and about 50 are injured every week when someone accidentally backs over them in a vehicle, according to KidsAndCars.org, a nonprofit group that pushed the government to begin tracking such tragedies. And more than two-thirds of the time, a parent or other close relative is behind the wheel.”
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Things that make me feel old #6057
Original Rolling Stone Brian Jones would have been 70 today.
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#OWS
I heard of a great sign spotted at Occupy Wall Street:
“We’ll know corporations are people when Texas executes one.”
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Michigan votes today
Boy is this an ugly choice. Mitt in trouble in his ‘home’ state? He just can’t close the deal. A man with no principles against a man with warped principles.
It sure ain’t my father’s Republican party.
Chart courtesy Five Thirty Eight
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Against all odds
Here’s Keith Richards performing at a tribute to Hubert Sumlin at the Apollo. Still lookin’ good. I can’t remember him playing much slide guitar before…
(Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
True dat
Image nicked from Facebook
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On this date...
1993 - U.S. Federal agents raided the compound of an armed religious cult in Waco, TX. The ATF had planned to arrest the leader of the Branch Davidians, David Koresh, on federal firearms charges. Four agents and six Davidians were killed and a 51-day standoff followed.
[Edit: 50 days later a second raid resulted in a fire which killed 76 people, including David Koresh.]
1996 - The original...
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Quote of the day
Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. - John Kenneth Galbraith
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The Devil's Dictionary - Ambrose Bierce
JUSTICE, n. A commodity which is a more or less adulterated condition the State sells to the citizen as a reward for his allegiance, taxes and personal service.
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Because the world needs ditch-diggers, too
OK, I admit I’ve taken a few days off for some r’n’r in the country, so I may be missing some nuanced build-up to this, but I see today Santorum is breaking Obama’s chops for wanting to send every young American to college. Really? So we should just surrender the future to the Chinese, Koreans, Finns, Bajans, etc.?
How can anyone take Santorum seriously? Wait, I take that...
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The Devil's Dictionary - Ambrose Bierce
TALK, v.t. To commit an indiscretion without temptation, from an impulse without purpose.
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Quote of the day
The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
Albert Einstein
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Quote of the day
If God had wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates. - Jay Leno
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Spin this !
A man’s got to know his limitations. Here’s an overview of Mitt Romney’s rally today at Ford Field in Detroit.
Should’ve booked a smaller room.
Photo - Think Progress
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There's no such thing as climate change. Oh,...
The skating season on Ottawa’s Rideau Canal officially ended today after just 28 days.
This makes it easy
Did you sneak a quick peek at your keyboard?
Image - Gawker
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If you have too much time on your hands
OK, there are a million ways to waste time on the internet, but if your FB feed has slowed to a trickle and no one has sent you an email in like three minutes, try this for a little diversion: Jpg.to It returns a .jpg picture plucked from the ether.
If you prefer, you can type a field before the URL, as in http://cat.jpg.to/r
(The /r toggle lets you click ‘reload’ to get a constant...
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In a nutshell
Keith Olbermann @KeithOlbermann (via Twitter)
If I’m wrong we reduce pollution.If you’re wrong we all die RT@darrenmcgeary convenient to blame ANY weather aberration on “climate change”
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This week's sign the apocalypse is upon us
“Sadly, giving plastic surgery as gifts is nothing new. But here’s one we never heard before: a dad performing his own daughter’s breast enhancement procedure for her 18th birthday.”
“Dr. Niccole praises his daughter for looking sexy and invites all her friends in for treatments. Family bonding or kind of weird? You decide.”
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Footballers get the prettiest girlfriends (aka...
The editor of a Tunisian paper was arrested for publishing this picture of Real Madrid’s Sami Khedira and his girlfriend Lena Gercke. I’m not sure if any editor in North America (other than Playboy, FHM and the like) would run this on their cover.
But then, I don’t get out much…
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On this date...
1956 - The city of Cleveland invoked a 1931 law that barred people under the age of 18 from dancing in public without an adult guardian.
1976 - The Eagles’ “Greatest Hits” album became the first album in the US to be certified platinum by the RIAA.
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The Devil's Dictionary - Ambrose Bierce
FAITH, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.
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Quote of the day
Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him.
- Aldous Huxley
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Um, what he said...
Paul Krugman:
“So should those who don’t share the right’s faith be comforted by the evidence that Mr. Romney doesn’t believe anything he’s saying? Should we, in particular, assume that, once elected, he would actually follow sensible economic policies? Alas, no.
“For the cynicism and lack of moral courage that have been so evident in the campaign wouldn’t suddenly vanish once Mr....