I’m writing for tomorrow, day 113. I feel able to concentrate again, so I’m back in the saddle. Tomorrow is a a prison volunteer day, but the person with whom I ride down has a conflict, so I can’t go. That may be a disguised blessing, because we’re in the midst of a National Weather Service heat advisory, and the prison activities section, which is directly above the kitchen and poorly ventilated, is sure to be unbearable. But I still would have gone, if I could have. The new series I promised is coming soon. I’m sad inform you that Robin Williams was found dead in his home, an apparent suicide. Please join me in condolences, thought and prayer to all who loved him. Nanu Nanu mode tearfully disengaged.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 2:52 (average 4:45). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takers:
From Irish Times: …US president Barack Obama has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in Iraq.
The US previously insisted on selling arms only to the Iraqi government. US officials say the administration is close to approving plans for the Pentagon to arm the Kurds.
I see this as the best Move Obama could make to avoid the potential need for US boots on the ground. The Maliki (R-IQ) regime has exhibited such a Republican level of both incompetence and corruption that arming the Iraqi government has effectively been arming ISIS.
From AlterNet: Disinformation: Proponents of a securities transactions tax look upon it as a way to punish sinners [Murdoch delinked] (securities traders)
Provocative statements like this allow the editors to get their point across while implicitly suggesting that their opponents are the wacky ones. While the rest of us pay a steep sales tax for shoes and school supplies, investors pay ZERO sales tax on their million-dollar purchases. A speculation tax, given factual analysis, is a logical and obvious and long-overdue tax.
More deception with the capital gains tax. WSJ says [Murdoch delinked]: By reducing the penalty for transferring capital from one investment to another, these lower tax rates increased the mobility of capital. High-income taxpayers sold more assets, declared more income, and paid more taxes.
In other words, according to WSJ logic, a lower tax rate means more tax revenue. A curious conclusion, even for WSJ. Based on oft-discredited theory. But by using fine-sounding, meaningless phrases like "mobility of capital," and by posing a behavioral outcome that fits their philosophy, WSJ is able to sound like they know what they’re talking about.
This is just one of five ways in which the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda Lite, aka Faux Print, is ridiculous. Click through for the other four.
From Huffington Post: Chuck Todd is set to replace David Gregory as the host of "Meet The Press," Politico’s Mike Allen reported on Monday.
Todd, NBC’s political director and chief White House correspondent, has been viewed as the favorite to succeed Gregory, whose tenure has seen the venerable Sunday show sink to third place in the ratings.
Allen said Gregory, who has hosted "MTP" since 2008, is likely to leave NBC.
I welcome this change, although, to be honest, I’m not a fan of Chuck Todd. I’d rather see someone known for integrity, such as Lawrence O’Donnell, in that post. However, if given the choice between David "Raps with Rove" Gregory and a mentally substandard, flatulent Chimpanzee, with acute halitosis, and that masturbates and throws feces on camera, the ape is the clear winner.
Cartoon:
Although, in those days I used a more advanced computer than an IBM PC, I remember those day when, connecting at 110 baud, we watched documents download, one text character every two or three seconds.
23 Responses to “Open Thread–8/12/2014”
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2:48 My gears were meshing today.
3:09 My gears were grinding.
2:54 Who's got the WD-40? I think I am a bit rusty!
5:15 – Puzzle 🙄
Monster Mashed!
It seems like it's for the best that you can't go on your prison visit. Take it easy for a change.
Robin Williams The Genii has escaped from his bottle. RIP
Irish Times ~ Maliki is so like the RepublicanTs. He doesn't realize it is in his and the country's best interests to resign. I'm also glad thee Kurds will be armed instead of the country.
Alternet ~ I couldn't even make it past the first sentence. "Middle class Americans have more buying power than ever before". There is hardly any middle class left anymore. I used to be a member but have been demoted and have little buying power. Did Rupert buy the WSJ and I missed it? What a laugh this is. I realize they cater to and write for the monied people but the whole article is outrageous. I did go back and finish it.
HuffPo ~ I'm gad Gregory is being replaced (probably going to FAUX NOISE). I don't know if Todd wil be much better judging by his performance as a guest on other news shows. He is not very non-partisan but better than Gregory. It will be interesting to watch what develops.
Cartoon ~ I went to work for the IRS in 1973 and we had a few PCs in our office. They were always going down because of jammed phone lines but were faster than what you describe. It was the US Treasury Dept. though.
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_street_journal
" In 2007 News Corp. acquired Dow Jones. WSJ., a luxury lifestyle magazine, was launched in 2008."
Gregory at Faux Noise would not surprise me at all!
Those were not PCs They were mainframe terminals. They were faster, because they used dedicated lines.
Remember the modem that you put the phone receiver in to connect to the internet?
Remember it?!? What do you think I'm using?
(J/K – cable Internet is actually the only cable I have. In fact I watch so little TV, I stuck w/ using the REAL antennae rabbit ears and a converter box.)
That's how the old 110s worked. I had one.
9:29 Average is up but only to 4:49. I don't know why I even bothered to try left handed. Ambidextrous I am not.
Irish Times – Is that reference to Maliki to his nation, his brains, or both and just a happy accident?
AlterNet – Having no securities taxes makes capital mobile, all right. It moves from rich person to rich person to rich person to the Cayman Islands fast enough to make a poor person's head spin. I'd think it would be better to have it stable than mobile. As for sinners, if the shoe fits ….
HuffPo – Well, let's hope you don't end up with what you described.
Cartoon – I never had a Commodore, but those who did swore by them. As opposed to at them, which is what we do now.
I had a Commodore 64. It was much better thn an IBM PC.
if the WSJ really thinks "a lower tax rate means more tax revenue" – then why don't we eliminate ALL taxes … then we'll have an INFINITE amount of revenue.
LMAO!
So Sorry to hear the news re. Robin Williams.A talented man beset by depression. ( Know a little about this condition).
Not easily overcome. Loved" Good morning Vietnam". (and many others).He knew how to cut through the CRAP.
May he Rest in Peace.
My favorite was Dead Poets Society.
Puzzle — 2:54 Who's got the WD-40? I think I am a bit rusty!
Robin Williams — A gentle, funny soul gone before his time. He sure made me laugh especially in Patch Adams, Mrs Doubtfire, and Good Morning Vietnam.
"I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone, it's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel all alone." — Robin Williams
As a person who suffers from depression and takes medication to try and keep things in check, I can attest to some of the devastation of depression. It ain't nice! And it is, like many diseases, different from one person to the next.
Irish Times — Al-Maliki has a choice to make. Either try to hold onto power and its inherent financial benefits à la Republicanus/Teabagger example, or step aside and let someone else draw the parliament together in a cohesive working arrangement for the good of the country and people. He is a Shi'a and will not last long with the fundamentalist, extremist ISIL which is Sunni. Either way, he can kiss his butt goodbye.
Alternet — It has the "terrorist" tactics of News Corp/Rupert Murdoch all over it. Anything for power and greed!
Huff Post — I hope Gregory slides into the sunset permanently. Anybody would be better . . . even me! (which isn't saying much for Gregory).
Cartoon — I got my first PC in 1998 but did not get the internet until 2005 so I was well past the "everyone uses dial-up" stage. I did however use a dedicated dial-up at work for obtaining credit bureau reports. I'd sit there listening to all the little musical sounds, almost like Maxwell percolators on steroids. My condolences Nameless that you use a dial-up.
If anything in this post doesn't make sense, sorry. I did a face plant on the keyboard. Good night.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 🙂
You are probably better off staying home if there is a heat advisory although I know you will miss your guys. I think all of us are sad about Robin Williams, he was one of the greats.
Irish Times: I agree with your assessment and will go further, Ithink the Kurds should have been armed a long time ago and allowed to separate from Iraq. They were doing well on their own. I am glad we are helping them. Maliki was a Republican who only sought to take care of those who were in his own circle of friends.
Alternet: The Wall Street Journal used to be a respected paper, not any more. It is a tool for Murdoch to express his right wing views.
Huffington Post: I will be happy to wave bye bye to Gregory, but I am not sure Todd will be a lot better.
Cartoon: We had been using computers at work since 1975, but only "in house". When the first PC's were introduced, we were in a panic. This meant we would be talking to people instead of using pre programmed applications. I dragged my heels for a brief time, but soon learned to love the. Compared to what we have now, those were dinosaurs.
Amen to all!
My first computer was vintage 1974. It cost $7,000 and had 4K RAM.