Now I can Blog from Mt Everest

Mount Everest mountaineers get 3G services - Now they can log onto Facebook to boast of their conquest | TechEye: "'This is a great milestone for mobile communications, and strong evidence of TeliaSonera’s pioneering role in this industry that is truly changing the lives of billions of people”, said Lars Nyberg, President and CEO of TeliaSonera.

“We are very proud to announce the world’s highest mobile data service as we launch 3G services in the Mount Everest area in the Khumbu valley. From its perch on the world’s tallest mountain, 3G high speed internet will bring faster, more affordable telecommunication services to the people living in the Khumbu Valley, trekkers, and climbers alike”, he continued."

Cenk Uygur mind melds with me

My FDL | Home: "Unfortunately, based on President Obama’s answers to Jon Stewart he still doesn’t get it and has no intentions of pushing that agenda in the next two years. And he will probably be just as flummoxed then as to why people aren’t satisfied with his efforts. Your timidity isn’t based on your specific policy proposals; it’s based on your lack of vision.
If he fought tooth and nail for complete public financing of elections in the next two years, even if he didn’t win, we would all back him 100%. We don’t need 100% success, but we do need you to at least head in the right direction. And we need you to understand what we meant by change"

QOTD from an Andrew Breitbart run site

Dem. Candidate for Ohio Treasurer Has Ties to Extremists

Mooslums need to go.....even from the 7-11s they run.

before it is too late.

Push Back Hard, America!

Lest anyone think that I am being too hard on this scummy site or its scummy owner, the comment in question was tied for the 2nd most popular comment in the thread at the time I saw it.

I am not even going to go into the level of journalism in the story, I haven't had enough coffee yet and it is too early to break out the scotch

Lucky Man

I have a wonderful lady in my life that loves me.

I am the proud father of the World's Best 15 Year Old.

I get along famously with the First Ex-Mrs Wolfe.

I am starting an exciting new job on Monday.

I have family and friends that help sustain me through bad times and celebrate the good times.

Does life get a lot better than this?

Scorpions - No One Like You

Because I haven't posted any scorps in a while

High Performance OBIEE

OOW Presos � Achieving Great BI With Oracle BI: "The first one is one I’ve given a few times now – its about the basics for planning to get good performance from day 1.� It is not a detailed dive into performance tuning activities but rather things to look out for when you are doing your designs."

Sustainable Seafood

Grocer Not Guilty in Citizen's Arrest case

Peter Kuitenbrouwer: Judge finds David Chen not guilty; or, The Grocer Wore Grey | Posted | National Post: "In a cliffhanger ruling that mixed references to film noir and pulp fiction, Mr. Justice Ramez Khawly of the Ontario Court of Justice took two hours this morning, in a court packed with 100 people waiting on baited breath, to get to his ruling: David Chen, the vigilante grocer, is not guilty on all charges.

Justice Khawly, with references to James Cagney, Frank Capra, Richard Nixon, Emil Zola and George Orwell, spared nobody in his ruling — except perhaps the prosecutors. The judge unleashed barbed attacks on the press, the defendents and the defendent’s laywers. He accused many of attempting to manipulate public sympathy for the grocery to waylay the course of justice. At times he attacked and at times he defended the police but overall he called on the assembled to curb their criticism of Toronto’s justice system."

Randy Quaid - Hit List?

CBC News - British Columbia - Randy Quaid repeats 'star whacker' claim: "U.S. actor Randy Quaid alleges there's a conspiracy to kill him and several other Hollywood stars in order to gain control of their millions of dollars.

In a bizarre speech Thursday to reporters outside the Vancouver immigration office where he's attempting to gain permission to live in Canada, Quaid said he and his wife, Evi, aren't criminals, fugitives from justice or crazy."

What Would Lincoln Have Done About Julian Assange? - Jeffrey Goldberg - National - The Atlantic

What Would Lincoln Have Done About Julian Assange? - Jeffrey Goldberg - National - The Atlantic
Who gives a shit?

Lost - One Rocket Launcher

CBC News - British Columbia - Military rocket launcher found near Victoria: "A loaded rocket-propelled grenade launcher has been found in woods just metres from a major highway north of Victoria, police say."

N.S. man arraigned on prostitute murder charge

CBC News - Nova Scotia - N.S. man arraigned on prostitute murder charge

A Nova Scotia man charged with second-degree murder in the case of a sex worker who disappeared three months ago made a brief appearance in Dartmouth provincial court Thursday.

Steven Laffin, 36, was arraigned in the killing of Nadine Taylor, 29, who was reported missing on July 31.

He will return to court Jan. 18 to enter a plea on the charge.

Taylor's family and friends were in court, as was another prostitute who Laffin is accused of kidnapping and brutalizing.

RIP James MacArthur

CBC News - Television - Hawaii Five-0's Danno dies: "James MacArthur, the actor who played Danno in the original version of television's Hawaii Five-0, has died. He was 72."

RIP Alex Anderson

CBC News - Television - Rocky and Bullwinkle creator Anderson dies: "Alex Anderson, the cartoonist who created animated characters Rocky the Squirrel and his friend Bullwinkle, has died. He was 90.

Anderson died Friday in Carmel, Calif., of complications from Alzheimer's."

CBC News - Television - Bush agrees to NBC interview

CBC News - Television - Bush agrees to NBC interview: "Former U.S. president George W. Bush is stepping into the media spotlight again for a one-on-one interview with Matt Lauer of NBC News.

Bush will grant Lauer a one-hour interview on Nov. 8, the day before the release of his book, Decision Points."

In defense of Gawker

Zandar Versus The Stupid: Epic Not Even My Worst Enemy Fail

Look folks, politically the woman is toxic. She's ill-equipped to be a United States Senator, absolutely. I would not vote for her if I lived in Delaware. She's against everything I stand for, or nearly everything, and the rest she's just making up to the point of willful ignorance.

But she is a human being, worthy of basic human courtesy and decency, and nobody should be treated like this. Nobody. Period. This pile of smoking misogynistic fecal matter is beneath even Gawker. You want to go after her politics? Go after her politics. You want to go after her for picking up someone 14 years younger? That just makes you a complete bunch of assholes. Beat her on the issues. Leave the personal stuff out of it.

Zandar is right. There is no defending this kind of bullshit.

On Mandatory Voting

I am a firm believer that if you choose not to vote then you lose the right to bitch about the results. I know that sounds funny coming from me considering that I bitch and whine about US politics all the time and I am not even a permanent resident but I did vote in the last Canadian Federal Election so I think that counts. That all being said, I am also a believer that voting should be mandatory for all citizens over the age of 18. I think that there should be a "none of the above" option so that someone cannot use the excuse that there are no good choices. Maybe in conjunction with instant runoff voting. Things that I ponder.

Another Clever Processing Sketch

Hunter S Thompson - Processing

This is very clever. Click on it here and there and watch the fireworks finally form the good Dr's image in the sky

Stephen Fry on Language

Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography - Language from Matthew Rogers on Vimeo.

Obama to Visit Mosque

Idiot's heads to explode

Bye Bye Blue Dogs?

Daily Kos: Dem Blue Dogs obstructionists set to bear brunt of losses: "If they're right, that means that 23 of the 54 Blue Dog members would bite the dust, decimating their caucus. That means that the Blue Dogs would make up 44 percent of Democratic losses, even though they only make up 21 percent of the caucus.

If the worst-case scenario comes to happen, we can enjoy this silver lining -- the brunt of the losses will be felt by the very same people who helped obstruct the Democratic agenda, who fought middle class tax cuts and the Public Option, and who fueled the 'Dems are divided' narrative. We'll get rid of the hypcorites who, like their Republican BFF's, scream about 'fiscal responsibility' while fighting desperately to cut taxes on the wealthiest."

Where is the savings here

Eric Cantor || Republican Whip || YouCut: "Require Collection of Unpaid Taxes From Federal Employees
Savings of potentially $1 billion
In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported that over 97,000 federal employees were delinquent on their federal income taxes, owing almost $1 billion in unpaid taxes. While all Americans have an obligation to pay the taxes they owe, because federal employees draw their compensation from the American taxpayers, they are especially obliged to pay their share of taxes. If not, the government should be allowed to terminate the employment of current federal employees and prohibit the hiring of future federal employees who are, after due process consideration, determined to have a 'seriously delinquent tax debt.' Currently, only IRS employees can be terminated for non-payment of federal income taxes. This should be expanded to include all political appointees and civil service employees."

I am all for paying taxes, I surely pay my share, but I do not see how this is a saving of any kind.

Politic Commenter of the day

Dem ad: 'The Rand Paul Stomp' - Jessica Taylor - POLITICO.com: "This whole story cracks me up.

Some radical woman from MoveOn tried to assault Rand Paul TWICE. And we're supposed to feel sorry for her after being reprimanded for trying to assault him a second time?

*LOL* Serves you right, nutjob."

Obama is a Bigot and the GOP is Rosa Parks

Balloon Juice � Blog Archive � Driving Mr. Morgan Freeman: "These dumb ass race-baiting twatwaffles with their faux concern-trolling and faux outrage… I swear it makes my brain ache. �”My, my, my, President Colored Man just told all us here Republicans that we can’t drive the car. We gotsta sit in the back. You know what that means, y’all? It means that we’re all Rosa Parks, and Obama, our evil KenyoMuslim massa’ is going straight Jim Crow on our asses. I think I feel a little light-headed. Somebody get me mah smellin’ salts. I feel a case of the vapors comin’ on.”"

Accidental Time Machine - Loved it

Highly recommended

Pork and Perspective

Typical of the "all earmarks are bad crowd is(are?) Citizens against Government Waste.

In conjunction with the bipartisan Congressional Porkbusters Coalition, CAGW has developed seven criteria for identifying pork-barrel spending. All of the items in the Congressional Pig Book Summary meet at least one of CAGW's seven criteria, but most satisfy at least two:

• Requested by only one chamber of Congress;
• Not specifically authorized;
• Not competitively awarded;
• Not requested by the President;
• Greatly exceeds the President's budget request or the previous year's funding;
• Not the subject of congressional hearings;
• Serves only a local or special interest.

Sounds good huh? Hard to argue with. Now let's look at the rhetoric in their report about one of the earmarks

$700,000 by Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green to complete a monitoring system that will collect real-time weather observations through a statewide grid of stations in Kentucky. Apparently the Weather Channel is not sufficient.

The total of earmarks in the Pork Book are about 19 Billion Dollars. That is on the order of $1 per American per week or one half of one percent of federal government spending. Is it a lot of money? Sure. Does it make any difference whatsoever in the grand scheme of things? Nope.

This is a feel good organization that plays into the meme about government waste, nothing more.

The punch line?
Contributions to CAGW are tax-deductible under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The New Elite Have No Country - By Mark Krikorian

The New Elite Have No Country - By Mark Krikorian - The Corner - National Review Online: "I’m reluctant to type the words “Charles Murray is wrong,”"

Oddly, I have no trouble with it

The GOP problem in a nutshell

Tea Party Ideals - Tom Junod on the Tea Party as Sore Winners - Esquire: "Worrying about what someone who doesn't think about you thinks about you: this is the essence of Sore Winnerdom, and it is no accident that it also the essence of the Republican animus. The Republican party was small and hidebound — the party of country-club corporatists, and the range-war West — until, with the Reagan Revolution, it began grafting unto itself the legions of the disaffected: the Christianists, the Southerners, the blue-collar workers displaced by the collapse of America's industrial base and estranged from the unions that failed them. The Tea Party, in this sense, is not a new development so much as it is part of an ongoing migration of the perpetually petulant, a political phenomenon grounded in a demographic one: the creation of a class of baby-boom retirees who have been deprived of meaningful work but given personal computers as Christmas presents. The skin on the Republican Party's 'Big Tent' is by definition thin, and under it gathers a volatile throng of people with nothing in common but the fear that outside its environs someone is laughing at them — or simply having a better tim"

A reminder to Speaker-to-be Boehner

John Boehner looks back to Nick Longworth - Richard E. Cohen - POLITICO.com

“I want to effectively assist you in bringing about universal recognition of the fact that this House, closer as it is to the people than any similar body and more directly responsive to their will, is in very truth, as it ought to be, the most dominant legislative assembly in the world.”

Tea Party - Fact Free

The Washington Monthly: "One young man insisted that Holder is 'the most anti-gun attorney general this nation has ever had.' When Rachel asked how he arrived at this, he had absolutely no idea why he believes what he believes. He referenced Holder's 'voting record beforehand,' which made no sense, since Holder has never held elected office. Asked what it was, exactly, that Holder did on gun policy he didn't like, the Miller supporter -- who, remember, feels so strongly about this issue that he brought it up -- replied, 'I, uh, I honestly, uh, I don't know enough about him to answer that truthfully.'"

Man Up

Stop Saying this!

Conservative Sample Sizes

Balloon Juice � Blog Archive � I Knew A Guy Once

I’m sure some think tank will make a careful study of House races and show the impact of the Citizens United decision. Luckily, thanks to Reason, conservatives have already completed their study. Like all their other studies, it has a sample size of one, but it still manages to be authoritative.

Race maps of America

Race maps of America | Mail Online

The resulting maps may not represent what many might expect Barack Obama’s integrated rainbow nation to look like, as many cities have clear racial dividing lines.

The preceding statement might not represent what many might expect an intelligent person to write, as many demographic trends take more than two years to change. Fuckwit

Michael Bloomberg for President

Michael Bloomberg could spend 15 billion dollars in a run for President and  still be in the top 100 richest Americans.

Would he win?

Would he let a loon win?

Will he run?

A Web Of GOP Influence : NPR

A Web Of GOP Influence : NPR: "These groups style themselves as independent, grass-roots organizations, though they are tightly interconnected.
The network is behind a slew of campaign ads this fall."

Obama on The Daily Show - part 1

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Barack Obama Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

Apologies to Canadian Readers ... The embed does not work here. Yes I said "here", I am in Nova Scotia.

Banks to grow more slowly

Shrinking Bank Revenue Signals Dawn of `Worst' Growth Decade - Bloomberg

Shrinking revenue at U.S. banks, led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc., may continue to fall as the industry heads into what could be its slowest period of growth since the Great Depression.

After the six largest U.S. banks posted record revenue in 2009, combined net revenue fell by an average of 8 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier and 16.3 percent over the last two quarters, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue so far this year is down by 4.1 percent, driven by declines in everything from trading at Goldman Sachs to home lending at Bank of America Corp. New laws restricting account and credit-card fees, as well as derivatives and capital rules, are also squeezing lenders.

I have a bit of a hard time thinking this is necessarily bad.

Mr McGuire was right

Dow Chemical Profit Tops Estimates on Plastic Sales - Bloomberg

Dow Chemical Co., the world’s second-biggest chemical maker, posted a smaller drop in third- quarter profit than analysts estimated as the company’s plastics businesss had lower ingredient costs than its competitors.

Are We Alone? Science radio for thinking species

Are We Alone? Science radio for thinking species

If a tree fell on another planet, would we be able to detect it? Not quite yet – but we might be able to tell if the planet was habitable. A living-planet is the promise of newly-discovered Gliese 581g. But does the planet exist at all?

Xeon + Tesla == world's fastest computer

The World’s Fastest Supercomputer Now Belongs to China

Tianhe-1A was designed by the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) in China, and it is already fully operational. To achieve the new performance record, Tianhe-1A uses 7,168 Nvidia Tesla M2050 GPUs and 14,336 Intel Xeon CPUs. It cost $88 million; its 103 cabinets weigh 155 tons, and the entire system consumes 4.04 megawatts of electricity.

Voter irrationality

Republicans Win House, Get No Mandate in Poll Favoring Clinton - Bloomberg: "The minority party, whose supporters are more motivated and enthusiastic, leads 47 percent to 44 percent when likely voters are asked how they plan to vote in their congressional election, according to the poll conducted Oct. 24-26. The margin is wide enough that if it holds over the next five days it likely would give Republicans the net 39-seat gain needed to capture the House.

At the same time, voters either are divided about or opposed to the policies and approach that Republicans have said they would offer once in control, particularly on cutting spending; voters also want the parties to work together."

Running for Congress While Muslim

Tea Party Nation Doubles Down On Rhetoric Against Muslim Rep. | TPMDC: "Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips is defending an email he wrote calling on supporters to help 'retire' Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) because, among other reasons, 'He is the only Muslim member of congress.' In an email to supporters sent last night and in an interview with The Daily Caller, Phillips said he wouldn't apologize for having a 'problem' with Islam.

'A majority of Tea Party members, I suspect, are not fans of Islam,' Phillips told The Daily Caller. 'I, personally have a real problem with Islam. With Islam, you have a religion that says kill the Jews, kill the infidels. It bothers me when a religion says kill the infidels. It bothers me a lot more when I am the infidel.'"

Crazy vs Boring - Crazy wins?

CNN Poll: Angle Grows Lead Over Reid | TPMDC: "The new CNN poll of the Nevada Senate races suggests that Republican Sharron Angle is expanding her narrow lead against Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid."

John Boehner Doesn't want to be speaker

John Boehner to Campaign With Nazi-Reenactor Rich Iott - Joshua Green - Politics - The Atlantic: "Okay, this is provocative: According to Rich Iott's website--you remember him, don't you?--presumptive Speaker of the House John Boehner will campaign with Iott on Saturday. This seems strange on many levels. There's the Nazi reenacting level. The Iott-isn't-going-to-win level. And the Eric Cantor-has-repudiated-Iott level, which is doubly interesting because Cantor could possibly challenge Boehner for speaker. I'd have assumed that Boehner would be spending the last weekend before the election stumping for candidates in closer races. Not sure what's going on here. But I trust there's no dressing up involved."

Clint McCance - Homophobic Douchebag

Meet the Face of Hate: Midland School Board Member Gives Voice to Bigotry � Human Rights Campaign | HRC Back Story: "Anyone who questions whether we need to do more to create schools that welcome every student need not look any further than Clint McCance – a Midland School Board Member from Arkansas who unleashed an anti-gay tirade on Facebook recently.� Reacting to Spirit Day that encouraged people to wear purple in honor of young LGBT lives lost to suicide and to raise awareness of the bullying behaviors that contributed to those deaths, McCance wrote: “Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers committed suicide. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed therselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE.”"

Ignorance is a feature, not a bug

$1,000 REWARD for anyone who can find the phrase "Separation of Church & State" in the US Constitution,

Give me a fucking break

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty

A cautionary tale - First Draft: "And if you can seriously look at the Internet and NOT think cats are taking over, then you, my friend, are in deep denial. They rebelled. They are evolving. And they totally have a plan, people!"

Sully on Obama

The Best Analysis Of Obama's Dilemma - The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

And where he is politically is really not that bad anyway - doing better than Clinton or Carter at this point, and better than Reagan, whose polling trajectory he still follows the most closely of recent presidents. The man's favorables are still 47 percent in a recession - way ahead of his competitors on the right; his approval rate is not far behind with unemployment at record highs; if and when the GOP take back the Congress, their talk radio schtick will have to face the reality of governing's hard choices. And in that battle for the center, I'd bet on Obama's reason and calm over Gingrich's flame wars, Palin's delusions and Boehner's corporate tan.

On Apologies

Kentucky Stomper Wants An Apology From Woman He Assaulted (VIDEO) | TPMDC

Tim Profitt -- the former Rand Paul volunteer who stomped on the head of a MoveOn activist -- told told local CBS station WKYT that he wants an apology from the woman he stomped and that she started the whole thing.

'I don't think it's that big of a deal,' Profitt said. 'I would like for her to apologize to me to be honest with you.'

'She's a professional at what she does,' Profitt added, 'and I think when all the facts come out, I think people will see that she was the one that initiated the whole thing.'

First Dick Cheney
Then Ginni Thomas
Now this twerp
 wtf is it with wingnuts that they have this idea that the victim of their abuse should apologize all the time?

Visions of a GOP future

Daily Kos: More GOP Thuggery

It's becoming increasingly clear that there's no room for opposition, or for difficult questions. Cantor refuses to debate. Miller and Angle won't answer any questions from the media. Paul has to be 'protected' from 23-year-old women carrying satirical signs. There's no room for opposing points of view, or even for questions, in the Republican world.

It will be interesting to see how this carries on after next Tuesday

Flying While Dressed "Muslim"

Family in Muslim clothing ejected from flight at MEM - WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS:

Comments about seeing people on a plane who appear to be Muslim got National Public Radio analyst Juan Williams fired last week.

Some cannot help but think their appearance had something to do with a family's removal from a plane Tuesday morning at Memphis International Airport.

'My understanding is they were dressed in attire that would indicate some Muslim-type religion,' said airport vice-president Scott Brockman.

And so it goes

Note to Jesse Jackson

Rev. Jesse Jackson condemns Williams firing - James Hohmann - POLITICO.com: "The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Wednesday compared NPR’s firing of Juan Williams to the Agriculture Department’s firing of Shirley Sherrod."

Jesse, STFU.
kthxbai

Best Political Ad EVER

This alone is enough reason for Meg Whitman to lose. I saw it and was in awe.

Rand Paul Thug Video

Rand Paul Supporter Assaults moveon.org member at rally

Rand Paul Supporter Stomps Head Of Female MoveOn Member Outside KY Debate (VIDEO) | TPMDC

As the candidates arrived, a group of Paul supporters pulled a female MoveOn member to the ground and held her there as another Paul supporter stomped on the back of her head and neck.

I often say that I am speechless but this time I really am.

On Voting

Zandar Versus The Stupid: Last Call

If you don't vote, if you refuse to participate in order to punish one party, then you have no right to complain when the other party takes control and works to eliminate your rights even more.

As faithful readers will know, I am not an American. I am a Canadian citizen that currently is working in the US (yes I pay taxes). This means that I should just keep my mouth shut and let Americans run their country as they see fit.

Or does it?