Michael Johas Teener // Handy input to my infrequent notes ... more info on who I am at http://www.johasteener.com
Roger Ebert's wonderful note on racism. Dang, that guy has a great way of expressing himself ... I love it, and you will to!
An open letter to conservatives
Dear Conservative Americans,
The years have not been kind to you. I grew up in a profoundly Republican home so I can remember when you wore a very different face than the one we see now. You’ve lost me and you’ve lost most of America. Because I believe having responsible choices is important to democracy, I’d like to give you some advice and an invitation.
First, the invitation: Come back to us.
Now the advice. You’re going to have to come up with a platform that isn’t built on a foundation of cowardice: fear of people with colors, religions, cultures and sex lives that differ from yours; fear of reform in banking, health care, energy; fantasy fears of America being transformed into an Islamic nation, into social/commun/fasc-ism, into a disarmed populace put in internment camps; and more. But you have work to do even before you take on that task.
Your party — the GOP — and the conservative end of the American political spectrum has become irresponsible and irrational. Worse, it’s tolerating, promoting and celebrating prejudice and hatred. Let me provide some examples – by no means an exhaustive list — of where the Right as gotten itself stuck in a swamp of hypocrisy, hyperbole, historical inaccuracy and hatred.
If you’re going to regain your stature as a party of rational, responsible people, you’ll have to start by draining this swamp:
Russ then goes on to list (with references) page after page of hypocrisy, hyperbole, historical inaccuracy, and hatred. When I was a kid, adult Republicans I knew were repudiating the John Birch Society, not celebrating it.
Sigh.
"Captain Judith Gallagher of 11 EOD (Explosive Ordnance Division) Regiment displays an anti-IED robot known as the 'Dragon Runner' during a photocall on military technologies in London, on March 17, 2010. The robot weighs between 10-20 kg and is easily carried by a soldier in a backpack and is robust enough to operate in rough terrain." (Geoff Caddick/AFP/Getty Images)
From a great set of robot pics from the Boston Globe's "Big Picture".
Good. Another step in the right direction. Third great thing coming out of the Obama administration in a week: START restart, student loan reform, and a start on health care reform.
Wonderful toy for everyone who took Fred Thompson's "Foundation of Mathematics"* course at Caltech in 1970-71. I worked out so many examples of Turing Machine operation, on paper, by hand, filling notebooks with 1's and 0's. Then proving that Turing Machines == Church's Grammars == general recursive function theory as part of the final test (my only "A" in math in four years at Caltech). The amazing thing is that this machine is slower than I was! (Although it's orders of magnitude neater.)
*Yeah, I know ... it had a different name, but this is the name that Professor Thompson wanted to name it by the time he finished the year.
Wonderful toy for everyone who took Fred Thompson's "Foundation of Mathematics"* course at Caltech in 1970-71. I worked out so many examples of Turing Machine operation, on paper, by hand, filling notebooks with 1's and 0's. Then proving that Turing Machines == Church's Grammars == general recursive function theory as part of the final test (my only "A" in math in four years at Caltech). The amazing thing is that this machine is slower than I was! (Although it's orders of magnitude neater.)
*Yeah, I know ... it had a different name, but this is the name that Professor Thompson wanted to name it by the time he finished the year.
Absolutely amazing (and useful) addition to Photoshop coming up in CS5
March 23, 2010
Video: Sneak peek of Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop
Bryan O'Neil Hughes shows off some rather eye-popping (if we may say so) technology for synthesizing texture inside a future version of Photoshop:
The demo starts with some small pieces, so if you're short on time, jump to about the 2:50 mark (halfway point) for the more impressive stuff. I've been getting great results filling in missing areas around a panorama, as Bryan shows at the 4-minute mark. Full-screen viewing makes it easier to see the details.
Posted by John Nack at 2:13 PM on March 23, 2010
At the end of his introduction of the president, Mr. Biden, who is known for ad-libbing to the point of getting him in a little trouble, turned to Mr. Obama, embraced him and elaborated on the historic nature of the day.
“Mr. President, this is a big … deal,” he said, adding an adjective between big and the deal that begins with “f.”
... and ...
As the news fluttered out on Twitter, pardon the puns, through a trail of tweets from White House correspondents and reporters, Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, sent out a Twitter post using his own handle — @PressSec. It seemed to affirm Mr. Biden’s sentiment; And yes Mr. Vice President, you’re right.
Ah, yes, I'm afraid I'm guilty of that on occasion ... and I'm glad the WH Press Secretary had the right response ...
A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.
In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.
This explains a LOT. Back when we were kids, soda and candy was loaded with cane or beet sugar, and obese classmates were really rare.
“We will not allow this to stand,” Representative Michele Bachman, Republican of Minnesota, promised Monday afternoon as the House reconvened.
Democrats said they would focus on explaining the measure to their constituents and on highlighting some immediate benefits, and called on Republicans to ease off the attacks now that the legislation had passed.
“It is time to chill out, Republicans,” Representative Bob Filner, Democrat of California, said. “Let this bill work. Let our constituents finally get health care.”
But there were no signs of a ceasefire. Senate Democrats said they would take up a budget reconciliation measure containing the final revisions to the health care overhaul shortly after Mr. Obama signs the main bill at the White House ceremony on Tuesday.
Far from sounding a conciliatory note, Senate Republicans said they would employ every procedural maneuver available to try to derail the reconciliation bill, or at least punch holes in it by knocking out key provisions.
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, quickly adopted a new rhetorical strategy on Monday, asserting that the revisions Democrats want to push through would make the health care law worse, not better.
“Democrat leaders now want us to take the bill that passed the Senate in December and that the House voted on last night and make the tax hikes even higher, the Medicare cuts even deeper,” Mr. McConnell said in a floor speech. “They want us to endorse a raft of new sweetheart deals that were struck behind closed doors last week so this thing could limp over the finish line last night.”
It was unclear whether that argument would gain traction, given that many of the changes in the reconciliation measure are aimed at adjusting provisions that the Republicans themselves had previously criticized, such as the so-called Cornhusker kickback that would provide extra Medicaid money for Nebraska.
Still, Mr. McConnell’s remarks answered a question Democrats had already begun asking about how Republicans would pivot in their opposition, now that the bulk of the health care overhaul legislation was about to become law.
Around the country, the reaction to the House passage of the bill was emotional, and in some cases violent.
Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, said that her Tucson office was vandalized following her vote in support of the measure. A glass door was shattered, she said.
Following a weekend when protesters outside the Capitol subjected some Democratic lawmakers to racial slurs and epithets, Representative Randy Neugebauer, a conservative Republican from Texas, said on Monday that he was the lawmaker who shouted “baby killer” on the House floor Sunday night. The shout was heard while Representative Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat, was discussing abortion-related provisions in the health care bill, and it was widely taken to have been directed at him.
In a statement, Mr. Neugebauer, a third-term member of the House from Lubbock, said he got caught up in the passions of the moment and was not referring to Mr. Stupak personally but to the health care measure itself.
“In the heat and emotion of the debate, I exclaimed the phrase ‘it’s a baby killer’ in reference to the agreement reached by the Democratic leadership,” Mr. Neugebauer said. “While I remain heartbroken over the passage of this bill and the tragic consequences it will have for the unborn, I deeply regret that my actions were mistakenly interpreted as a direct reference to Congressman Stupak himself.”
Across the nation, Republican candidates seized on the passage of the health care legislation to bolster their effort to capture seats in Congress now held by Democrats.
“Last night, Washington thumbed its nose at the American people, taking over one-sixth of our nation’s economy and adding to the mountain of debt already looming over our children’s future,” said former Representative Rob Simmons of Connecticut, a Republican who hopes to replace Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Democrat who is retiring.
“This is not the time to give up and go home,” Mr. Simmons said. “Now is the time to fight.”
Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting.
Idiots.
