Saturday, June 4, 2011

Welcome to the Big Leagues Taggerwear

Ottawa company swims into trouble with Speedo - Ottawa - CBC News
: "A small Ottawa swimsuit manufacturer hoping to make a big splash at a national synchronized swimming competition in Gatineau, Que., has run afoul of a bigger fish.

Susan Trott runs her company TaggerWear, a maker of swimwear and dance clothes, from two rooms in her Ottawa home.

She says she had a deal with Gatineau Synchro — the club hosting the Canadian Espoir Championships, a national competition for swimmers 13 to 15 years old — for the right to sell her merchandise there."


I feel kind of bad for her and think that the Gatineau club should be spanked for this but it is not in any way Speedo's fault.

Booman Nails it

Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community: "What you think about abortion and capital gains taxes and the size of the military and the United Nations and so on are the types of issues that should divide liberals from conservatives. But racial tolerance shouldn't be a dividing line. Yet, it is."

Herman Cain Doesn't Pander

Herman Cain: Bachmann's FFC Prayer 'The Ultimate Pander' | TPMDC: "Don't expect Herman Cain to include a prayer in his keynote speech before the Faith And Family Conference in Washington tonight. After an interview with TPM Saturday, the ascendant Republican presidential candidate said the public prayer Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) included in her speech was 'the ultimate pander.'"

Things Politicians should not do - Stephen Harper Edition

Harper takes to Facebook for help naming new kitty - CTV News:
"Only a month after the federal election Prime Minister Stephen Harper is headed back to the polls -- to help name his new cat.

Harper posted a note on his official Facebook page asking people to pick a name for his family's new grey tabby."

Why must our leaders continually try to pretend they are "just ordinary folks". You are a fucking leader, act like one. If you are incapable of naming a cat what are you doing running the country. Actually, it is worse than that. This is their FAMILY PET. This is a FAMILY decision.

Someone put this man on litterbox patrol for a year please.

Feynman on Fixing things

More on Raspberry Pi, with a long quote from Feynman « Mathematics under the Microscope: "Radio circuits were much easier to understand in those days because everything was out in the open. After you took the set apart (it was a big problem to find the right screws), you could see this was a resistor, that’s a condenser, here’s a this, there’s a that; they were all labeled. And if wax had been dripping from the condenser, it was too hot and you could tell that the condenser was burned out. If there was charcoal on one of the resistors you knew where the trouble was. Or, if you couldn’t tell what was the matter by looking at it, you’d test it with your voltmeter and see whether voltage was coming through. The sets were simple, the circuits were not complicated. The voltage on the grids was always about one and a half or two volts and the voltages on the plates were one hundred or two hundred, DC. So it wasn’t hard for me to fix a radio by understanding what was going on inside, noticing that something wasn’t working right, and fixing it."

Good Thing Conservatives Don't believe in Demagoguery

Fox guest Neal Boortz: Re-electing Obama like strapping on a 'suicide vest' | Video Cafe: "'If people vote for Barack Obama next year, it's like strapping on an economic suicide vest and giving the detonator to your ex-wife,' he declared."

Being Rude is not a crime

Yes, You Can Be Rude to Cops : Dispatches from the Culture Wars: "If you flip off another person, you can't be arrested for it. Yet this officer actually believed that flipping him off was an arrestable offense. We need some serious retraining for police officers in this country. And we need to start penalizing those who overstep their legal authority in a big way."

Tautologies - Rick Santorum on American Exceptionalism

Rick Santorum: Obama's Support For Entitlements Shows He Doesn't Believe America Is Exceptional | TPMDC: "'Social conservatives understand that America was a great country because it was founded great,' Santorum said. 'Our founders, calling upon in the Declaration of Independence, the supreme judge, calling upon divine providence, said what was at the heart of American exceptionalism...'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.''"

Friday, June 3, 2011

On "list price"

Why Daily Deals Are Becoming A Raw Deal: "Travel is another category that makes extensive use of fake pricing. My favorite example of this is Starwood’s 50% off certificate. You can redeem 1,000 loyalty points for a certificate that will get you 50% off your hotel stay. But that’s based on the hotel’s full rack rate, which almost no one ever pays. As a test, I called to check on the rate for the Palace Hotel for tomorrow. The SPG50 rate is $299. The best phone rate is $199. My corporate rate is $169. The best online rate is $161. Some deal! (I love Starwood Hotels, but this rate is just an embarrassment to the brand.)"

Stupidity from Fort Worth Transportation Authority

Saggy trousers banned on Texas buses - Telegraph: "'Pull 'em up or find another ride,' reads signs on city buses in Ft. Worth.
The signs went up after the Ft. Worth Transportation Authority, known as 'The T,' implemented a new policy that prohibits any passenger from boarding a bus with saggy trousers that expose the person's underwear.
'Riders don't want to see a person dressed like that on a public bus,' Joan Hunter, communications manager for The T, told Reuters. 'Our customers think it's disrespectful.'"

Yes, We need F1 in Texas!

Formula One faces rights backlash over Bahrain GP - Middle East, World - The Independent: "The organisers of Formula One motor racing decided yesterday to reinstate the Grand Prix in Bahrain later this year, despite police battling pro-democracy protesters in the island as the decision was being taken.

The motor racing governing body, the FIA, claimed that the unanimous decision to reschedule the event, postponed earlier this year because of demonstrations, 'reflects the spirit of reconciliation in Bahrain'.

The FIA does not mention that a quarter of the staff of the Bahrain International Circuit, which hosts the event, have been detained and given graphic details of being beaten and tortured. Some 28 of them have been sacked or suspended and at least five are still in prison. Others have fled Bahrain."

Georgia shelter dogs suffocate on cross-country trip  | ajc.com

Georgia shelter dogs suffocate on cross-country trip | ajc.com: "GAINESVILLE — Three homeless dogs being hauled from a Georgia shelter to an adoption event in New York suffocated on the trip there, authorities said."

Inexcusable.

Herman Cain ahead of Newt Gingrich in Georgia

Ga. voters: Herman Cain peachier than Newt Gingrich - Juana Summers - POLITICO.com: "Georgia has two favorite sons in the race for the Republican nomination in 2012, but according to a new poll of Georgia voters, Herman Cain is more of favorite than Newt Gingrich — by a 2-1 margin."

Filed under 20% Of Americans Are stupid

21% Say States Have Right To Secede - Rasmussen Reports™
: "The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 21% of American Adults think individual states have the right to leave the United States and form an independent country. Most (64%) believe states do not have this right, while 14% are not sure."

There is a compelling case to be made that the only way to secede from the USA is via an armed insurrection.
I shake my head at how stupid some people are.

Your Tax Dollars at Work - Sexting Edition

Two teens arrested for sexting | News | Spring Hill-Brooksville News:
"The girl herself was also charged, after admitting she took a picture of herself in the mirror wearing underwear and exposing a breast, and sending it to the boy, according to the arrest affidavit."

Seriously? Is this the best way to handle this situation?

Entertainment that teaches a lesson

How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In 15 Easy Steps: "I have counted fifteen key steps to writing an anti-gay tract. While the steps are very wide-ranging as tactics, there is one common element that ties them together: fear. Each step builds on the previous one, reinforcing the things the writer wants his readers to be afraid of. It starts with a fearful premise reinforced with fearful “facts,” and leads to the fearful consequences of those “facts.” It ends with a fearful depiction of the future for our society if these fearful problems aren’t dealt with."

James Arness Rides off Into the sunset

'Gunsmoke' star James Arness dies at 88 - USATODAY.com: "At six-foot-seven, James Arness— who died today at 88 — would have been a commanding presence in any medium or most any job. Luckily for him, us, and CBS, the job he found was ideal: Matt Dillon, the stalwart marshal who kept the Dodge City peace on TV's longest-running drama, Gunsmoke."

I agree with this sentiment entirely

Zandar Versus The Stupid: Practical Stupidity: Flyin' High Edition:
"By the way, a big boo and hiss to ABC News for their site forcing you to sit through a commercial without the ability to mute it. Not only is it rude, but it's going to put a major dent in their from work web traffic. "

It has nothing to do with the article (which is good as well .. go read it) but one of my pet peeves is when I land on a site and have to search, sometimes in vain, for a way to shut off the annoying autoplay audio/video. How can I listen to Rammstein turned up to 11 when I have to be on the alert for the newest Katy Perry confection about to come blaring through my speakers?

Video - Keep It In Your Pants (featuring Taryn Southern)

Dedicated to too many politicians, businessmen and athletes to mention.

Another Wrong Conclusion Drawn on Healthcare

Rationing care — or rational care? - Ezra Klein - The Washington Post: "To put it another way: If individuals have less available money available to them from the start — whether due to economic hardship, higher deductibles, or increased cost-sharing in government health programs — there's likely to be a drop in their use of both unnecessary and necessary care. The question is how to curb the former without sacrificing the latter."

Repeat after me ...

There is not a shred of evidence that there is substantial overuse of medical services in the country on the part of patients.

Not a bit

None

This is such a strawman that it is almost embarrassing that it keeps getting trotted out.



On Indefinite Detention in H.R. 1932

New Immigration Legislation Would Allow for Indefinite Detention: "Scientific, constitutional and human rights principles speak in perfect harmony on the subject of the extended and expanded confinement envisioned by H.R. 1932’s creators. Indefinite detention is known to cause psychological trauma with physical repercussions, even in previously healtyh individuals. Its effect on survivors of torture and persecution is medically devastating, and re-traumatized detainees are significantly impaired in their ability to defend against deportation. In its attempt to stop a few bad actors, H.R. 1932 broadly overreaches and would result in diminished well-being and capacity for the thousands who would become ensnared in its reach."

Eric Cantor - Continue To beat the Palestinians until Morale Improves.

Eric Cantor: Palestinian Culture 'Filled With Resentment And Hatred' Is Behind Israeli Conflict | TPMDC:
"Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) blamed the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict on a violent and resentful culture among Palestinians and the broader Arab world, condemning President Obama's call for new peace negotiations in a speech to the Faith & Freedom Conference on Friday."

Sarah Palin Teaches Us History

Yeah, Painful

A possible defense of John Edwards?

John Edwards Indicted On Six Counts | TPMMuckraker:
"'Mr. Edwards is alleged to have accepted more than $900,000 in an effort to conceal from the public facts that he believed would harm his candidacy,' Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breur said in a statement. 'As this indictment shows, we will not permit candidates for high office to abuse their special ability to access the coffers of their political supporters to circumvent our election laws.'"

It had never occurred to me before but this is actually a defensible case. If a lawyer can argue with a straight face that these were not campaign contributions and were instead simply efforts by his friends to defend his good name separate from the political ramifications then this could conceivably go away.

Now, do I believe that the only reason anyone gives a shit about John Edwards' reputation is that he was running for president? Of course. But reasonable doubt is a funny thing.

Note that I do not think that this is an HONEST defense, just that it is one that could be successful.

We're #3 - And no, that isn't a good thing

OMG! Canadian Doctors Are Escaping Socialist Medicine To Come To America!!! Right? | Oliver Willis:
"Except for Austria and Germany, fewer doctors were satisfied practicing medicine in the United States in 2009 than in any other surveyed country. That includes Canada. And it was before health care reform, so you can’t blame any dissatisfaction on the PPACA."

Why are people treating Ralph Reed Like he isn't a crook?

Presidential Contenders, Top GOPers Roll Into DC To Kiss Ralph Reed's Ring | TPMDC:
 "This weekend it gets its due. Nearly all the men and women running for the Republican presidential nomination and a good portion of the party's top leadership will be on hand for the Faith And Freedom Conference, a social conservative confab organized by former Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed."


Or is it that in the Republican Party of Rick Scott there is no longer any shame in being an un-indicted co-conspirator.

Food Preferences of Liberals and Conservatives

How Food Preferences Vary by Political Ideology:
"Abstract
This report examines the differences in selected food-related preferences and choices made by self-described conservatives and liberals.
The report draws on aggregated data collected between April 2009 and November 2009 from Hunch, a website which aids in decision making.

Key Findings
While there is significant common ground in the food choices made between the two groups, there are also important differences. Liberals show a consistent tendency to enjoy more international and exotic cuisines, with conservatives often leaning more towards mainstream, comfort food staples.
Significant differences also surface between the two groups in consumption preferences for meat, vegetables, fruit, and 'healthy alternatives', with conservatives generally choosing the less healthy options."

Not sure about this methodology and I am sure that folks will see a lot of confirmation bias when they analyse it but hey, it is Friday and we can have some fun .

Kneejerk Stupidity on the food plate

Swerve Left: Latest food-lobby recommendations:
"As with the food pyramid, the recommendations are patently ridiculous and probably owe more to corporate lobbying than sound nutritional science. The veggies and protein are all fine, but do people need a significant amount of fruit in their diet. Maybe (assuming that we aren't talking about just bananas and oranges). And grains? For most Americans, this is Wonder bread or perhaps a cupcake at Starbucks. How many people eat healthy grains (for example, whole-grain wild rice) as their main staple? And even if they did, how much grain do overweight Americans really need? The inclusion of 'dairy' is also stupefying. Nobody except baby cows really needs dairy. Of course, excluding it would piss off a farming lobby in some key states, so it's in there."


Of course if the poster had taken 10 seconds to go to the site that hosts the pretty pictures he would have found a wealth of information that would have answered his questions and more. But I am sure that wouldn't have made for as fun a rant.

The problem with trying to get anything across in a graphic is that you are distilling a lot of information and that means that you have to THINK a little when interpreting it in a deep way. Karlo seems to be pissed that there aren't footnotes on the damn graphic that describes in detail why it was created as it was. That is just being cranky for the sake of being cranky.
And don't get me started on the "nobody except baby cows needs dairy" bullshit. Milk is an effective method of getting a lot of nutrients in a convenient form and if you are not lactose intolerant then you will do just fine drinking it.

Coburn has an interesting definition of Stable

On Congress: Congressional news and analysis - POLITICO.com: "'We put two families back together with multiple children — both marriages are stable right now,' Coburn said. 'I'm proud of what I did and the way I did it. There's nothing unethical about what I did.'

Cindy Hampton, however, has recently filed for divorce, the ethics report said, while the Justice Department indicted Doug Hampton for breaking federal lobbying restrictions in the wake of the Ensign scandal."

Didn't Rudy Learn Last time?

Rudy Giuliani sets 'late summer' timetable - Maggie Haberman - POLITICO.com: "After spending the day in New Hampshire, Rudy Giuliani says he has settled on a timeframe for making up his mind about entering the 2012 race."

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Another Sony Fail

Sony hacked yet again, plaintext passwords, e-mails, DOB posted: "I've lost count of how many times Sony's online properties have been hacked now—I just don't have that many fingers—but it's happened again. Databases used to operate sonypictures.com, sonybmg.nl, and sonybmg.be have been compromised by a group calling itself Lulz Security, or LulzSec for short. This is the same group that earlier in the week hacked PBS's servers in retaliation for a documentary felt to be critical of Wikileaks; they also hacked sonymusic.co.jp last week."

Lying or Stupid - Part 5000

A Tiny Revolution: We're All Going to Die: "Living in the United States is like being over Iowa on a cross country plane trip heading west when the captain gets on the intercom and explains that there's a tunnel through the Rocky Mountains and they're going to use it to fly through to the other side. You just have to PRAY TO JESUS CHRIST that they know they're lying to you."

Comment of the day - Politico Edition

N.Y. Times’s new leader is fearless - Keach Hagey - POLITICO.com: "NYT is the house organ of the democrat party. Every page of that newspaper, down to the sports and business section, toes the liberal left line on every issue. The NYT is literally the enemy of the white race and freedom. If the editors of that despicable publication had their way, they would turn this country into Venezuela."

WooHoo Bachmann is running!

Bachmann To Join GOP Debate In New Hampshire On June 13 | TPMDC: "Bachmann aide Andy Parrish, who is leaving as her Capitol Hill chief of staff to take an unspecified new position with her (it is believed that he will be her campaign manager) told the Associated Press that Bachmann will be on stage at the June 13 debate in Manchester, New Hampshire."

Only in New Jersey?

Woman is injured in Hamilton graveyard by falling tombstone during 'extracurricular activities,' police say | NJ.com: "HAMILTON – A woman who may have been engaged in sexual activity in a township cemetery Tuesday evening was injured when a tombstone fell on her leg, police said."

Chris Christie to slash Medicaid Eligibilty

Gov. Christie's proposed income limits would cut Medicaid for working poor | NJ.com: "The Christie administration is expected to propose cutting the maximum income level of Medicaid from $24,645 to $5,317 a year for a family of three, said Ray Castro, senior analyst for New Jersey Policy Perspective, a left-leaning think tank, who was briefed by administration officials. State officials confirmed the figure."

Your Taxes At Work - Orlando Edition

Homeless feeding: 3 members of Orlando Food Not Bombs arrested for feeding homeless at Lake Eola - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com: "Members of Orlando Food Not Bombs were arrested Wednesday when police said they violated a city ordinance by feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park."

High Geekery - Iron Superconductivity

Physics - Iron superconductivity weathers another storm: "So far, the story unraveling about the new iron-based superconductors has been quite rewarding for practitioners. In order to appreciate the relevant timescales, remember that for the cuprates, nearly ten years passed before a general consensus was reached on the pairing symmetry, and consider that there still is no agreement on the underlying mechanism. More in line with the story of superconductivity in MgB2, where full consensus was achieved within a year, a plausible model was proposed within weeks after the discovery of iron-based superconductors [2] and gained support from the majority of researchers in the field. In this model, the calculated and experimentally confirmed [1] electronic band structure of iron-based superconductors is semimetallic, consisting of hole and electron Fermi surface pockets, separated by a (Ï€,Ï€) wave vector in momentum space (see Fig. 1). This suggests the existence of a spin excitation with the same wave vector, which was indeed found experimentally [3]. If one considers this spin excitation to be the pairing agent for superconductivity [1], the resulting order parameters for the holes and for the electrons will have opposite signs, with the overall angular momentum being L=0 (s-type); hence the name s±."

A Paper that would have been useful in 2005?

[1105.5416] Analytic results and weighted Monte Carlo simulations for CDO pricing: "We explore the possibilities of importance sampling in the Monte Carlo pricing of a structured credit derivative referred to as Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO). Modeling a CDO contract is challenging, since it depends on a pool of (typically about 100) assets, Monte Carlo simulations are often the only feasible approach to pricing. Variance reduction techniques are therefore of great importance. This paper presents an exact analytic solution using Laplace-transform and MC importance sampling results for an easily tractable intensity-based model of the CDO, namely the compound Poissonian. Furthermore analytic formulae are derived for the reweighting efficiency. The computational gain is appealing, nevertheless, even in this basic scheme, a phase transition can be found, rendering some parameter regimes out of reach. A model-independent transform approach is also presented for CDO pricing."

Camels for Carbon?

Australian carbon rule for camel culling -- Shanghai Daily | 上海日报 -- English Window to China New: "KILLING camels to earn carbon credits might seem an extreme way to fight climate change, but the Australian government yesterday issued detailed rules that will help investors do just that."

China has an internal Migrant Problem - Poll

Shanghai Daily | 上海日报 -- English Window to China News: "With more and more migrant workers and their families swarming into Shanghai, local public schools are seeing a rising number of pupils from migrant homes. Yet many local parents are reluctant to see their children sharing classes with migrant kids. What do you think of the phenomenon?"

Geekery - New Book - Open Softwear

Open SoftWear - SparkFun Electronics: "Description: Open Softwear is a book about fashion and technology. More precisely it is a book about Arduino boards, conductive fabric, resistive thread, soft buttons, LEDs, and some other things. This is a great book for beginners looking into wearable computing or into fashion and technology."

Entertainment for day traders

Thrilling Thursday - Can We Make Another Billion Today? | zero hedge: "$1,129,860,000! That's how much money was made shorting 376,620 NYMEX contracts at $103 yesterday, as we planned! Congratulations to those of you who got your share playing along with us and, to the manipulators who got stuck with the bill - screw you bastards, we have your number and we're going to ring it now! I called a cash-out at the $100 line in Member Chat as 2.9% was more of a drop than we expected in one day and we will re-load on the bounce as we cross back below the $100.50 line - as discussed in this morning's Member Chat - assuming the Dollar has bottomed out at 74.35."

Newser - Because News isn't dumbed down enough

Newser: "Newser is a news curator with a kick. Our editors hand-pick the best stories from hundreds of US and international sources and summarize them into sharply written, easy-to-digest news briefs. Our signature grid offers a vivid snapshot of the day's most important, thought-provoking, and entertaining news in a lively presentation of photos and headlines."

Hmmm Date Night Restaurant?

First look at Bad Dog Taqueria | Atlanta Food & Drink Blog | Omnivore | Creative Loafing Atlanta: "We also sampled 'The Evita,' an Argentine taco with marinated flank steak, cripsy yucca and chimichurri sauce. The vegetarian 'Bollywood' features curried potatoes and peas, samosa-style. The menu says it's 'served with tamarind coriander chutney.' I didn't detect it on the taco and it wasn't served on the side."

Good News From Porsche

Pricey cars posting sales gains | ajc.com: "Porsche attributed some of its sales bump to a new model of the Cayenne SUV, which logged 5,868 sales from January through May this year, up from 2,109 in the same period of 2010.

That accounted for much of the overall gain by Porsche Cars North America. Sales rose to 12,996 for the first five months from 8,842 for the same period last year"

Good news From KIA

Kia raises production plans at West Point factory to 360,000 vehicles | ajc.com: "Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia will build 360,000 vehicles at its West Point plant starting in 2012, up from the previous plan of 300,000."

That is a lot of foam cups

Firm president guilty of defrauding U.S. out of $322,000 - Topix: "Federal prosecutors in Atlanta on Wednesday obtained a guilty plea from the president of a company that received $322,000 from the U.S. government for foam cups but never delivered them."

A new kind of danger to drivers

It's officially in your best interest to never leave the house again | Atlanta News & Opinion Blog | Fresh Loaf | Creative Loafing Atlanta: "A LaGrange woman was killed Wednesday afternoon after a state DOT mower struck a large rock and sent it flying through the windshield of a car into the back seat where she was a passenger, according to the Ledger-Enquirer."

Steve King is such a sweet person

V.S. Naipaul might not be a misogynist fool

Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul Says No Woman Is His Literary 'Equal' : The Two-Way : NPR:
In an interview at the Royal Geographic Society on Tuesday about his career, Naipaul, who has been described as the "greatest living writer of English prose", was asked if he considered any woman writer his literary match. He replied: "I don't think so." Of [Jane] Austen he said he "couldn't possibly share her sentimental ambitions, her sentimental sense of the world".

He felt that women writers were "quite different". He said: "I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not. I think [it is] unequal to me."

The author, who was born in Trinidad, said this was because of women's "sentimentality, the narrow view of the world". "And inevitably for a woman, she is not a complete master of a house, so that comes over in her writing too," he said

But he certainly says things that one would say.

Goldman Sachs and Subpoenas

Manhattan DA Subpoenas Goldman Sachs Over Financial Crisis | TPMMuckraker: "Goldman Sachs has received a subpoena from the Manhattan District Attorney's office, which is looking for information on the bank's activities leading up to the financial crisis, two sources 'familiar with the matter' told Bloomberg."

Why Are Sovereign Citizens Often Nuts?

'Sovereign Citizen' Opens Fire On Store Because It Ran Out Of Crawfish | TPMMuckraker: "A 'sovereign citizen' in Pensacola, Florida allegedly opened fire at a seafood market after learning that they had run out of crawfish.

42 year-old Larry Wayne Kelly allegedly fired upon the L&T Seafood Market with an AK-47 from the window of his pickup truck, after he was told they had sold out of crawfish on Sunday."

Mitt Romney Waves his Scary Socialism Flag

Romney: America 'Inches Away From Ceasing To Be A Free Market Economy' | TPMDC:
"Mitt Romney is kicking off his second presidential campaign later on Thursday, and -- according to published excerpts from the afternoon's big speech -- he'll do it with a healthy dose of fear-the-coming-socialist-tide rhetoric.

'We are only inches away from ceasing to be a free market economy,' Romney will say in his New Hampshire speech, according to prepared remarks."


I shouldn't be too surprised that Mitt is tacking sharply to the right but does he really think that he looks crazy ENOUGH?

Saudi's want West Hooked on Oil - Why Be Surprised?

Saudi Prince Wants US Dependent on Oil : Dispatches from the Culture Wars:
"In an interview broadcast Sunday on 'CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS,' the grandson of the founding king of modern Saudi Arabia said the oil price should be somewhere between $70 and $80 a barrel, rather than the current level of over $100 a barrel.
'We don't want the West to go and find alternatives, because, clearly, the higher the price of oil goes, the more they have incentives to go and find alternatives,' said Talal, who is listed by Forbes as the 26th richest man in the world."

Well of course he does. The man isn't an idiot. I want people to keep hiring BI specialists and the butcher wants people to keep eating meat.

This is not exactly a news flash.


A discourse on sausages

Answers in Genes: Show me the Sausages!:
"A philosopher designs a marvellous sausage machine. A scientist comes
to marvel at this wonderful creation, and raises an eyebrow.
The philosopher says, 'Ah, behold the wonderful cogs and sprockets and
temperature-controlled mixing chambers in my wonderful machine -
surely you can see how it must produce the most fantastic sausages!'
The scientist says 'Yes, that is all very interesting. Show me the sausages.'
The philosopher says 'How dare you, a mere scientist, question my
wonderful philosophical reasoning?'
Scientist: 'I'm not questioning your reasoning - I want to know if
your machine really produces sausages.'"

Recipe - Red Bean BingSu

Red Bean BingSu | Aeri's Kitchen | Cooking Korean Recipies & Food:

"Main Ingredients
1½ Cup Crushed Ice
⅛ Cup Milk
3 Tbsp Red Beans for PotBingSu
2 Tbsp Condensed Milk
1 to 2 Tbsp Crushed or Chopped Pineapple
3 Tbsp Chopped Watermelon
2 Tbsp Sticky Rice Cakes for PotBingSu
1 to 2 Tbsp Corn Flakes"

As usual, go to the originating site for the directions on how to put it all together

Exterminate!

BBC News - Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat to 'rest' Daleks: "The Daleks are to be given 'a rest' from Doctor Who, writer Steven Moffat has told the Radio Times."

Atlanta Food Bucket List

100 Dishes to eat in Atlanta before you die | Food & Drink | Creative Loafing Atlanta: "Our critics create a bucket list for Atlanta eateries "

Retroactive Furlough Days?

Judge allows Clayton Schools to collect pay from teachers, contract workers | ajc.com: "“It’s fairly unusual for a retroactive furlough,” said Alan Hamilton, an attorney with Shiver Hamilton, LLC, a Midtown Atlanta law firm also representing the teachers. “The contracts the teachers signed may allow the district to declare a furlough prospectively, but not to go back and take money back. You go back and take it and teachers have trouble paying their bills and mortgages. They can face all sorts of negative financial consequences.”"

Hockey Mad in Cole Harbour

The B-all and end-all prank - Front - TheChronicleHerald.ca: "'When we all realized it was Ray, I said, ‘You know, I’ve got this,’ ' Bush said. 'Ray’s a big-time Canucks fan and talks about them all the time. He was supposed to be out of the house (Tuesday) night, so I . . . bought some spray paint and painted a huge Boston Bruins logo on his lawn.'"

Read This Carefully And tell me what I WTF'd about loudest

Bizarre crimes from Atlanta police reports | The Blotter | Creative Loafing Atlanta: "GONE DADDY GONE: A woman called police when she realized her debit card and AK-47 were missing from her Greenhaven Drive home. The prime suspect? According to the woman, her father. She said she first noticed something was up when her daughter's wallet went missing, and then discovered that her trusty assault rifle had vanished from its hiding spot behind the bed. She says it took several days before she realized her debit card was missing from its hiding spot in her car. The woman said her father had been staying with her, but left yesterday with her car and never returned. He returned the keys via a neighbor."

On Space Tourism

How can I make my own spaceship? | Straight Dope | Creative Loafing Atlanta:
"Not to get all heavy on you, but that's why I'm down on the prospects for space travel in general: It's too hard. Sure, NASA wants to turn its space transport chores over to private companies, and there's a decent chance that'll happen. We'll have plenty of commercial satellites, the occasional space probe, maybe someday a Mars mission. And there'll always be bored billionaires willing to bankroll the latest venture into the unknown. But space tourism, popularly priced lunar flybys, that kind of thing ... sorry, I don't see the business case. Then again, that's Mr. Practical talking. Mr. Starry-eyed Dreamer says: Prove me wrong."

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Star Wars too much for kids - WTF?

Gallery | Classic adventure movies too scary for kids? | accessatlanta.com: "If you were a kid in the late 70s or into the 80s, chances are you went everywhere with your lightsaber. 'Star Wars' inspired a generation of kids and tweens to go to a galaxy far, far away, but some say the fight scenes -- not to mention Princess Leia's racy gold bikini -- make it too much for kids. Do you agree? BPI"

Dumbest commentary on Thrashers leaving Atlanta

City businesses react to Thrashers departure | ajc.com: "Bob Hope, an Atlanta sports marketing executive, believes that the loss is critical because sports is as important in claiming status of an international city as having a great airport, a strong educational system and leading industry. Hope, who is part of a group trying to enhance local business opportunities with the addition of a major league soccer team, said foreign companies often look for the sport that is popular in their country."

Barq's Root Beer unsettling for Coke?

Grandchildren of Barq's founder are challenging sale of root beer rights to Coca-Cola | NOLA.com: "The great-grandchildren of the founder of Barq's root beer are suing the Coca-Company for an unspecified sum, claiming that the beverage giant does not legally own their father's share of the Barq's company."

Most Important News of the Day!!

"Housewives" star, Atl. Falcon have boy | Atlanta Business Chronicle: "“Real Housewives of Atlanta' star Kim Zolciak and her boyfriend, Atlanta Falcons defensive end Kroy Biermann, announced late Tuesday they are parents of a baby boy."

Still waiting to buy ... Atlanta might be your city

Atlanta home prices fall 9% in April | Atlanta Business Chronicle: "Metro Atlanta home prices continued to sag in April, according to CoreLogic’s monthly Home Price Index."

Porsche NA building new headquarters

Porsche unveils $100M Atlanta HQ plans | Atlanta Business Chronicle: "Porsche Cars North America Inc. will build a new $100 million headquarters at Aerotropolis, a 130-acre mixed-use development near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport."

Atlanta Journal Constitution Headline of the day

Donkey, truck injured in Georgia collision | ajc.com:

Second Amendment Remedies For Health Care?

Balloon Juice » I Should Just Buy a Cilice And Not Make You All Suffer From My Self-Inflicted Pain:
"Take the top 10 profit-making health insurance executives, the top 10 profit-making pharma executives, the top 10 profit making hospital operators, the top 10 medicare billers, the top 10 medicaid billers, the top 10 medicare/medicaid fraudsters, the top 10 individual shareholders in medical/insurance/pharma stock and their wives and children, and machine gun them en masse on national TV."

Headline is shamelessly stolen from a commenter.

On Software Patents

A VC: Enough Is Enough: "I believe that software patents should not exist. They are a tax on innovation. And software is closer to media than it is to hardware. Patenting software is like patenting music."

On The Miami Heat

The Progressive Case For The Miami Heat | ThinkProgress: "What we’re looking at, essentially, is the case of King James Versus The Cartel. The NBA’s maximum salary rules prevent stellar players like James from earning a market wage. Consequently, LeBron was underpaid in Cleveland, is underpaid in Miami, and would have been underpaid in New York or Chicago. What’s more, the NBA’s draft rules prevent stellar prospects like the 2003 version of LeBron James from choosing which firm they want to work for. If the Lakers wanted to pay him to play basketball and he wanted to play basketball in Los Angeles in exchange for money, he wasn’t allowed. Essentially the only market power a first-rate NBA player has is that (assuming he’s off his rookie deal) he’s allowed to choose which firm will underpay him. The construction of James (and to a lesser extent Chris Bosh) as a traitor to the people of Cleveland (and to a lesser extent Toronto) seeks to normatively stigmatize the exercise of even that freedom. A player should work, indefinitely, at a sub-market wage for whatever team happens to draft him? Why?"

Jeff Landry might not be a whiny child

GOP Rep. Snubs White House Invite: I Don't Want To Be 'Lectured' By Obama | TPMDC:
"A freshman Republican congressman turned down an invitation to attend a White House conference with the rest of the GOP House caucus, saying he did not want to be 'lectured' by the President."

but he sure does sound like one.

Biggest bit of DHS stupidity yet?

DHS Testing Airport Clairvoyance Machines : Dispatches from the Culture Wars: "Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST), a US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) programme designed to spot people who are intending to commit a terrorist act, has in the past few months completed its first round of field tests at an undisclosed location in the northeast, Nature has learned.
Like a lie detector, FAST measures a variety of physiological indicators, ranging from heart rate to the steadiness of a person's gaze, to judge a subject's state of mind. But there are major differences from the polygraph. FAST relies on non-contact sensors, so it can measure indicators as someone walks through a corridor at an airport, and it does not depend on active questioning of the subject."

Tasty Snark from Yglesias

Robert Lucas Argues That Barack Obama Is The Most Important Leader In American History | ThinkProgress: "I’d been dimly aware of Robert Lucas’ argument (PDF) that the Great Recession can be explained without reference to such petty concepts as aggregate demand, but until I read Gavyn Davies’ summary and critique I didn’t understand that thinking of it as an essay about the economy is a mistake. This is an essay about Barack Obama and how contrary to conventional wisdom he’s far and away the most significant policymaker in the history of the republic."

On Cell Phones and Cancer

Oh no! My cell phone's going to kill me! (The revenge) : Respectful Insolence: "The study was the INTERPHONE study, which involves 13 countries looking for any sort of link between cell phones and two types of brain cancer, glioblastoma and meningioma. Partial results from the study have already been published, but the current study1 represents the first time that results from all 13 countries have been reported. The study itself is a case control study including 2,708 glioma patients and 2,409 meningioma patients, along with matched controls. I'll basically cut to the chase here (unusual for me) and reveal the outcome: There was no compelling evidence of an association between cell phone use and either of these cancers. Surprise, surprise."

Krugman on Rand Paul's "Libertarianism"

Libertarian Politicians Aren't - NYTimes.com: "He’s not unusual. There are genuine libertarians out there. But political figures who talk a lot about liberty and freedom invariably turn out to mean the freedom to not pay taxes and discriminate based on race; freedom to hold different ideas and express them, not so much."

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Digby on Rand Paul

Hullabaloo: "How shall I put this delicately? The man isn't playing with a full deck. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed. He's a few tacos short of a fiesta platter. His jogging trail doesn't go all the way round the lake...He's an idiot. The fact that we have to count on him to be the guardian of the constitution in the US Senate says everything you need to know about the state of civil liberties in this country."

Geeky Things - Semantic Web Edition

RDFa in XHTML: Syntax and Processing: "The current Web is primarily made up of an enormous number of documents that have been created using HTML. These documents contain significant amounts of structured data, which is largely unavailable to tools and applications. When publishers can express this data more completely, and when tools can read it, a new world of user functionality becomes available, letting users transfer structured data between applications and web sites, and allowing browsing applications to improve the user experience: an event on a web page can be directly imported into a user's desktop calendar; a license on a document can be detected so that users can be informed of their rights automatically; a photo's creator, camera setting information, resolution, location and topic can be published as easily as the original photo itself, enabling structured search and sharing."

Sprint on AT&T/T-Mobile Merger

Sprint doc to FCC blasts AT&T/T-Mobile deal - Eliza Krigman - POLITICO.com: "The public interest benefits of the transaction that AT&T has claimed, such as relieving network congestion, are illusory, Sprint argues.

“If AT&T has capacity constraints, they are the result of its failure to upgrade and invest in its network,” Sprint wrote.

Further, Sprint claims that AT&T could deliver broadband to 97 percent of the country — the most widely touted benefit of the deal — by spending a fraction of the $39 billion AT&T plans to pay for T-Mobile.

“In the absence of the proposed transaction, competition likely will drive AT&T to reach” the 97 percent target anyway, Sprint posits"

On those pre-abortion "counselling" laws

The Rag Blog: Martha Kempner : The Patronizing Lectures of 'Private Practice' and Texas Law: "These laws suggest -- not so subtly -- that women are not capable of making such decisions on their own. I can’t help wondering whether those who support these laws think women are capable of making any rational decisions. (And, on a slightly different note, whether anyone would ever impose a remotely similar restriction on men.)"

A murderer's row of faux patriotism

New Book Encourages Pride and Patriotism in Our Kids - Christian Newswire: "SUPERIOR, Colo., May 31, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- 13 Interviews with patriots -- some you've heard of; some you need to hear from, including Former Attorney General Ed Meese, Red State's Erick Erickson, author/columnist Jackie Gingrich Cushman, actress Janine Turner, Hillsdale College president Dr. Larry Arnn, and others, telling stories about their childhoods, how they have raised or are raising their children and advice for parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, about how to instill patriotism in kids."

Entire Town Council Resigns - RCMP Called in

Bridgetown mayor, council resigns - Nova Scotia - CBC News: "The entire Bridgetown council has resigned over the town's ongoing financial problems.

Former mayor Art Marshall said the town called in the RCMP on May 23. He refused to give details, saying he didn't want to jeopardize the investigation."

GOP Not serious about governing - Secy of Commerce Edition

44 GOP Senators Already Have Pledged To Filibuster John Bryson’s Commerce Department Nomination | ThinkProgress: "Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank may not be getting the nod to run the department on a permanent basis, but it looks like it’ll be a while before new boss John Bryson takes the helm. That’s because even though Bryson’s record is completely uncontroversial, there are 44 Republican Senators who have pledged to block the confirmation of any Commerce Secretary “until Obama submits for ratification trade agreements with Panama, Colombia, and South Korea.”"

About that Social Contract

BBC News - Japan pensioners volunteer to tackle nuclear crisis:
"A group of more than 200 Japanese pensioners are volunteering to tackle the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power station.

The Skilled Veterans Corps, as they call themselves, is made up of retired engineers and other professionals, all over the age of 60.

They say they should be facing the dangers of radiation,"

As opposed to that "I have mine now screw off" attitude that we so often see.

Romney's Literature Calculus

Political Animal - Romney: ‘I don’t like vampires personally’: "Let’s put aside the notion of a 64-year-old presidential hopeful enjoying the Twilight series. What stood out for me in this little quote was Romney feeling the need to mention he doesn’t “like vampires personally,” followed in the next breath by a reminder that he doesn’t “know any” vampires.

One can almost see the gears shifting in Romney’s mind, as if he’s thinking, “Wait, will social conservatitves throw a fit if I like tween vampire fiction? Maybe I should mention that I don’t like vampires. But will that make it sound as if I know vampires? Maybe I should mention I don’t know any.”"

Bachmann Wants to save us from socialism

Daily Kos: Bachmann: I want to become a 2012er to save America from socialism: "Asked Monday night why she’d run for president rather than challenging Democrat Al Franken for his Senate seat, the Minnesota Republican’s answer focused where she’s put much of her energy in recent months: “Because we need a person who is going to stand up to Obamacare,” she said, according to The Washington Post. ... “Obama has to go and has to be replaced, but not just by anyone,” Bachmann said. “We need someone who is committed to taking that thing out,” she continued, referring to Obama’s health care law, “because it is the crown jewel of socialism, and if it’s allowed to stand we will never get our country back.”"

Ezra's Intern Misses something

What more could Obama have done? - Ezra Klein - The Washington Post:
"I don’t know how much the administration’s PR strategy actually affects its chances of legislative or electoral success, but Krugman’s critique sounds at least plausible. But I also think, admittedly with the benefit of hindsight, a better stimulus bill could have gotten passed in early 2009. Imagine if Obama, instead of proposing an $800 billion stimulus bill that got shaved down a bit to $787 billion, proposed that bill and a full, one-year payroll tax holiday, which, using the actual revenue for fiscal year 2010 as a guide, would have come to about $632 billion (pdf). Payroll tax cuts are unusually good stimulus, with about $1.24 in GDP growth for every dollar spent on them, so this would make the whole package about twice as big and, arguably, more than twice as effective."

Temporary tax cuts have a habit of becoming permanent. Or did he miss the little dustup last winter over the Bush tax cuts?
Better media please.

On Weiner's Weiner

I got nothing because it appears to be a non-story. I just wanted to write that headline.

Things that Suck - Gary Carter Has Glioblastoma

Former Expos catcher Gary Carter's brain tumour inoperable: "MONTREAL — Former Expos catcher Gary Carter is likely suffering from inoperable Grade 4 glioblastoma, his daughter confirmed in an online journal entry on Saturday."

Strong Wind Indeed

Wunder Blog : Weather Underground
The May 22 EF-5 tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri has apparently set a new record for longest transport of debris by a tornado. According to MSNBC, a couple living in Royal Center, Indiana, in North Central Indiana, 525 miles from Joplin, found a receipt from the Joplin Tire store three days after the tornado hit Joplin. According to Ernest Agee, a Purdue University professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and tornado expert, "This paper traveled more than twice as far as the longest distance recorded for debris from a storm. The previous record was a cancelled check that traveled 210 miles after the 1915 tornado in Great Bend, Kansas. The distance paper travels is directly proportional to the intensity of the tornado. This paper's journey is a testament to the strength of the EF5 tornado that struck Joplin and what that city went through." Agee estimated that the receipt got sucked into the tornado and spat into the jet stream, where it traveled for 12.5 hours before settling to the ground.

Monday, May 30, 2011

A bit late but ...

A degree delivered | Harvard Gazette: "s the Class of 2011 was taking a step toward the future, the University was pausing to remember its past with a special degree for a member of the Class of 1665, one of the first Native Americans to attend Harvard College."

Why Men Should Join Slutwalk Too

I want my daughter to grow up in a world in which all men are safe, responsible, reliable — The Good Men Project Magazine: "I want my daughter to grow up in a world in which all men are safe, responsible, reliable. We don’t have that world yet, of course. But the reason has nothing to do with biology: it has to do with our crushingly low expectations of men’s capacity to reconcile lust and humanity. In order for our daughters and little sisters and nieces to be safer, we must demand better of ourselves as men. And one way to start is to challenge the very roots of our thinking about sex, desire, and respect. That challenge is part of what SlutWalk is all about."

Sweet Dreams Spirit

Final Goodbye to a Mars Explorer - NYTimes.com: "After a final attempt last week, NASA has stopped trying to make contact with the Mars rover called Spirit, which was last heard from in March 2010 as the Martian winter was setting in. Hopes of hearing more from Spirit were slim even then, but there is a difference between not hearing and no longer listening"

Geekery - Just Because They Could

Return Infinity - BareMetal OS: "BareMetal is a 64-bit OS for x86-64 based computers. The OS is written entirely in Assembly, while applications can be written in Assembly or C/C++. Development of the Operating System is guided by its 3 target segments:"

Video - Robot Juggler

Cool Toy - Recumbent Trike

Mobo Shift Cruiser: "Mobo Shift Cruiser is the responsive and exhilarating three-wheeler unlike any other vehicle of its kind. This single speed cruiser has a reverse gear for easy backward movement – just engage the easy-to-use gear shift and pedal in reverse with smooth maneuverability. Mobo Shift Cruiser is a recumbent tricycle with an extendable steel frame, making it suitable for riders from 4’ to 6’3” tall. The low center of gravity keeps this three-wheeled bike stable and safe for riders of all ages. No chain means no snags, grease or repairs! Handbrakes give you great control for stopping and slowing. All this, plus a killer design!"

Deep Geekery - Reverse Engineering A Router

/dev/ttyS0 » Blog Archive » Reverse Engineering Firmware: Linksys WAG120N: "The ability to analyze a firmware image and extract data from it is extremely useful. It can allow you to analyze an embedded device for bugs, vulnerabilities, or GPL violations without ever having access to the device."

Edible RFID?

Edible RFID tags track your food from beginning to end | DVICE: "A RFID-reading plate is definitely one way to go, but it may also be possible to embed a reader into, say, a necklace, where it could scan everything that you swallow even when you're not at home. All those data could then be sent to your smartphone, which might subtly remind you that this is in fact the fifth Krispy Kreme that you've eaten today and maybe you should take it easy before sugary glaze starts flowing out of your eyeballs."

Recipe - Grilled Pork & Peppers Tacos

Coconut & Lime: Grilled Pork & Peppers Tacos:
"Ingredients:
3 lb pork roast, cubed
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup lime juice
1 onion, thinly sliced into quarter moons
2 cubanelle peppers, sliced
3 serreno peppers, minced
1 tablespoon Hot Mexican chile powder
1 tablespoon hot paprika
2 teaspoons dried minced onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon celery seed"


Go Read the directions at the source

On Licensing Psychics

Witchy Town’s Worry - Do Too Many Psychics Spoil the Brew? - NYTimes.com: "Her prophecy came in 2007, as the City Council was easing its restrictions on the number of psychics allowed to practice in this seaside city, where self-proclaimed witches, angels, clairvoyants and healers still flock 319 years after the notorious Salem witch trials. Some hoped for added revenues from extra licenses and tourists. Others just wanted to bring underground psychics into the ligh"

GOP = Party of "I Got Mine"

Bootstraps, Upward Mobility, and Politics - Grasping Reality with a Flexible Trunk:
"This may, I think, mark a transformation: from a party of those who want to gain something, to a party of those who have something to lose--and who greatly fear that unless they keep the system rigged to their benefit to support them, they will lose it."
I am not shocked at this. What I am shocked at is the number of supposedly bright people that are shocked by it.

Forced WoW in China - Cruel and Inhuman Punishment

Balloon Juice » Early Morning Open Thread: Gresham Wept: "“Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour,” Liu told the Guardian. “There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn’t see any of the money. The computers were never turned off.”..."

On the TSA

Inspiration from PZ Meyers

Comment of the day - Balloon Juice Edition

Balloon Juice » Open Thread: "If I was held accountable for everything I’ve ever written online in 18 years I’d be straitjacketed in a padded room typing this with my nose."

D is for Darkness?

The dying of the light - Roger Ebert's Journal:
"What can you personally do to be sure you see an ideal picture? Matthew Humpries at Geek.com writes:

• The title of the movie listed by the theater will have a 'D' after it if it is being shown on a digital projector

• If you are in a D movie, look at the projector window when seated. If you see two stacked beams of light it is a Sony projector with the 3D lens still on.

• A single beam of light means no 3D lens, or a different make of projector that doesn't have the issue

• If you see the two beams, then get up and go complain. You paid good money to see the movie, so make a fuss until they either give you back that money or remove the lens. Seeing as that's an involved and time-consuming process, expect a refund."

Geeky Post - Linux 3.0

[Phoronix] Say Hello To Linux 3.0; Linus Just Tagged 3.0-rc1: "For anyone that was doubting Linus Torvalds would finally part ways with the Linux 2.6 kernel series, you lost your bets. On the eve of Memorial Day in the United States and his departure to Japan for LinuxCon, Linus Torvalds just tagged Linux 3.0-rc1 in Git."

Going Full Godwin on Palin

Memorial Day: Enter Hitler, Release 2.0 - Clusterfuck Nation:
"Make no mistake - to borrow a favored presidential locution, if I may - Sarah Palin's campaign is all about shame, about being a nation of losers and feeling bad about it. Adolf Hitler's career was all about him feeling like a loser at a peculiar moment in history when his whole country felt like a loser nation. His feelings resonated with the crowd's."

One of my last posts about Harold Camping

Con Man Calls Kettle Black : Dispatches from the Culture Wars: "Now this is funny. Pat Robertson's CBN News calls Harold Camping is a 'fringe preacher.' On related news, the pot and the kettle were found dead of an apparent murder-suicide pact."

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Mentioning the Unmentionable - Pay Doctors Less

Daily Kos: Doctors should share in the sacrifice: "I'm going on the record: Doctors make too much money and they need to start taking it in the chin if we are going to get control of health care costs."

Bullshit I can do without

Why Is Obama Dragging His Heels on Appointing Elizabeth Warren to Head CFPB? | The Nation:
"Elizabeth Warren’s problem is not with the Republicans—though they have worked hard to demonize her. Her real problem is with the “boys” at the Treasury Department and Timothy Geithner, the head “boy” in charge of the president’s banking policies. Maybe she also has a problem with the “boys” at the White House. We are soon to find out. In the next month or so, Barack Obama must decide whether or not he will appoint Warren to chair the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."

The linked article is fact free and offers absolutely nothing in the way of proof that this is actually the case.

I am so fucking tired of the paranoia and purity trolling going on lately amongst the members of the supposedly reality based community.

Keep it up folks, maybe you will convince some idiot to actually primary the president and hand the reins over to a member of the GOP freakshow.