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

with 137 comments

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.

Magic!

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

• ≪ Video: What's New in LR3 beta 2
• Home

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.

If you don't mind, we're now going to get busy trying to improve upon this bill so that all Americans are covered and so the grubby health insurance companies will be put out of business -- because when it comes to helping the sick, no one should ever be allowed to ask the question, "How much money can we save by making this poor bastard suffer?"

Please, my Republican friends, if you can, take a quiet moment away from your AM radio and cable news network this morning and be happy for your country. We're doing better. And we're doing it for you, too.

For all my Republican friends, please take note of this ...

There are countless areas in which America does it one way and everyone else does it another, and I say: I prefer the American way. Our practice on medical coverage is not one of these. Despite everything that is wrong with this bill and the thousand adjustments that will be necessary in the years to come, this is a very important step.

From James Fallows ... I say "ditto".

By a vote of 219 to 212, the House passed the bill after a day of tumultuous debate that echoed the epic struggle of the last year. The action sent the bill to President Obama, whose crusade for such legislation has been a hallmark of his presidency.

“This isn’t radical reform, but it is major reform,” Mr. Obama said after the vote. “This legislation will not fix everything that ails our health care system, but it moves us decisively in the right direction. This is what change looks like.”

Minutes after thebill was approved, the House passed a package of changes to it and sent it to the Senate. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, has promised House Democrats that the Senate would quickly take up the reconciliation bill with the changes in it, and that he had secured the votes to pass it.

But while the Senate is bracing for a fierce floor fight over the reconciliation measure, the landscape was permanently altered by passage of the original Senate bill. Should the reconciliation bill, which cannot be filibustered, collapse for any reason, the core components of the Democrats’ health care overhaul would move forward. Indeed, Senate Republicans were quickly faced with a need to recalibrate their message from one aimed at stopping the legislation to one focused on winning back a sufficient number of seats in Congress to repeal it.

Mr. Obama urged the Senate to quickly complete the final pieces of the legislation. “Some have predicted another siege of parliamentary maneuvering in order to delay it,” he said in a short speech from the White House. “I hope that’s not the case.”

“It’s time to bring this debate to a close and begin the hard work of implementing this reform properly on behalf of the American people.”

Mr. Obama watched the roll call with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the Roosevelt Room inside the White House. Since Monday, the president had spoken with 92 lawmakers, either in person or by telephone, the White House said.

“We rose above the weight of our politics,” Mr. Obama said from the East Room, where he made his statement shortly before midnight. “We proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things and tackling our biggest challenges.”

“Tonight’s vote is not a victory for any one party,” he continued. “It’s a victory for the American people and it’s a victory for common sense.”

Democrats hailed the votes as historic, comparable to the establishment of Medicare and Social Security and a long overdue step forward in social justice. “This is the civil rights act of the 21st century,” said Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House.

After a year of partisan combat and weeks of legislative brinksmanship, House Democrats and the White House clinched their victory only hours before the voting started on Sunday. They agreed to a deal with opponents of abortion rights within their party to reiterate in an executive order that federal money provided by the bill could not be used for abortions, giving the Democrats the final votes. Democrats said that in expanding access to health coverage for uninsured Americans, they were creating a new program every bit as important as Social Security and Medicare, while also putting downward pressure on rising health care costs and reining in federal budget deficits.

Republicans said the plan would saddle the nation with unaffordable levels of debt, leave states with expensive new obligations, weaken Medicare and give the government a huge new role in the health care system.

The debate on the legislation has highlighted the deep partisan and ideological divides in the nation and set up a bitter midterm Congressional election campaign, with Republicans promising an effort to repeal it or block its provisions in the states.

Representative Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio, said the bill heralded “a new day in America.” Representative Doris Matsui, Democrat of California, said it would “improve the quality of life for millions of American families.”

But Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, denounced the bill as “a fiscal Frankenstein.” Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Republican of Florida, called it “a decisive step in the weakening of the United States.” Representative Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina, said it was “one of the most offensive pieces of social engineering legislation in the history of the United States.”

The passions swirling round the bill were evident Sunday on the sun-splashed lawn south of the Capitol. Hundreds of protesters chanted, “Kill the bill” and waved yellow flags declaring, “Don’t Tread on Me.” They carried signs saying, “Doctors, Not Dictators.”

The health care bill would require most Americans to have health insurance, would add 16 million people to the Medicaid rolls and would subsidize private coverage for low- and middle-income people, at a cost to the government of $938 billion over 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office said.

The bill would require many employers to offer coverage to employees or pay a penalty. Each state would set up a marketplace, or exchange, where consumers without such coverage could shop for insurance meeting federal standards.

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Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny contributed reporting.

Finally! It's not perfect, but it's a good start. So now Rush has to move to Costa Rica (if they'll let him).

Fellow motorcycle lovers and mechanical aficionados! Check these out! Radial engines! Campercycles! Tankcycles! Troncycles! BIG bikes, cute bikes, way-out-there-bikes!

As most of my rationalist spiritual colleagues have long believed, God loves life. The universe creates the seeds of it everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. The Orion Nebula is a typical stellar nursery (where stars are born), and it's filled with water and all sorts of organic molecules: methane and hydrocarbons of all times, formaldehyde, methanol, hydrogen cyanide ... what a rich stew for a new planet to start with!

Read this article from Esquire, then subscribe to Roger Ebert's blog. It's wonderful in spirit, intellect, and emotion. I can't recommend either the article or the blog highly enough.

IEEE Publishes First Audio Video Bridging (AVB) Standard

January 19, 2010 01:30 PM Eastern Time 

BEAVERTON, Ore.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--The AVnu Alliance™ is pleased to announce that the IEEE has ratified and published IEEE 802.1Qav, the first of the core Audio/Video Bridging (AVB) standards. IEEE 802.1Qav defines forwarding and queuing for time sensitive streams and is part of a suite of standards developed by the IEEE 802.1 AVB task group. AVnu Alliance, a group of industry leading companies dedicated to promoting the emerging AVB networking standards across a broad range of markets including automotive, consumer electronics, and professional A/V, commend the IEEE 802.1 AVB Task Group for their hard work.

“We are pleased by the progress of the IEEE in completing the first of the foundational AVB standards”

“We are pleased by the progress of the IEEE in completing the first of the foundational AVB standards,” states Rick Kreifeldt, AVnu Alliance chairman and president. “With IEEE 802.1Qav published and two additional standards nearing completion, AVnu has the confidence to move quickly in developing our AVB compliance and interoperability programs which are vital for widespread commercial adoption.”

"The approval of IEEE 802.1Qav as a full standard is a major milestone in the development of interoperable time-sensitive networks, as it is the first time the core technology of Ethernet switches and network bridges has specific methods defined for traffic shaping. This allows an IEEE 802 network to provide assured (and low) delays for streaming data with minimal dropped packets,” states Michael Johas Teener, Chair of the IEEE AVB Task Group. “When combined with the almost-finished 802.1Qat Stream Reservation Protocol,” continues Teener, “IEEE 802.1Qav will be the fundamental toolkit to provide the kind of virtual plumbing needed for professional-quality audio/video networking."

Tony Jeffree, IEEE 802.1 Chair, further comments, "The approval of IEEE Std 802.1Qav marks a significant milestone as it is the first of four 802.1 standards under development in IEEE 802 that support audio and video applications over local area networking technologies."

About AVnu Alliance

AVnu Alliance is an industry forum dedicated to the advancement of professional-quality audio video by promoting the adoption of the IEEE 802.1 Audio/Video Bridging (AVB) standards over various networking link-layers. The organization creates compliance test procedures and processes that ensure AVB interoperability of networked A/V devices, helping to provide the highest quality streaming A/V experience. The Alliance promotes awareness of the benefits of AVB technologies and intends to collaborate with other organizations and entities to make use of this work in their respective efforts to provide a better end-user A/V experience.

The Alliance is focused on applications of these technologies in the automotive, consumer electronics and professional A/V markets. More information can be found on the AVnu Alliance Web site at www.AVnu.org.

AVnu™ and AVnu Alliance™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of AVnu Alliance.

One down, three to go ... seriously, this is good. I've been involved with a number of other standards developments (FDDI, FutureBus, NuBus, Firewire, Ethernet), but this has been by far the most cooperative and cohesive group that I've ever worked with.