1. Notes: 1 / 2 weeks ago  from universe-corp
    The Universe. In a Blog!: EXTRA! EXTRA!

    The Universe Corp. 1/14/12. Undesired Effects of Red Cabbage

    Pretty interesting stuff.

    universe-corp:

    This just in from the reporting beat.

    Turns out that purple cabbage is NOT the healthy vegetable we all know and love. Reporter Joe Stevens recently found a man that claims to know the truth behind the nefarious veggie.

    —————————————————————————————————————————-

    Stevens: So, Mr. Dobbins, you…

  2. Notes: 1553 / 1 month ago  from thedailywhat

    Its for reasons like this that we should send every politician to the sun and start the fuck over.

    thedailywhat:

    This Is Informative, You Should Watch It of the Day: Mike Mozart of JeepersMedia puts the epic toy fails on hold for a moment to shed some necessary light on one of the most mind-blowing open secrets about the Stop Online Piracy Act: The entertainment industry giants spending millions to get it passed previously spent years actively encouraging the same “piracy” they now claim to oppose.

    The video is a little long, but well worth watching all the way through, if only to appreciate the sheer WTF*ckery that is SOPA.

    After you’ve watched the whole thing, use this site to find your elected officials and make sure they watch the whole thing too.

    As Mozart says: We only get once chance to stop this bill before it stops us.

    Also, while we’re at it, GoDaddy — the controversial domain registrar — has come out in support of SOPA.

    For many online, that’s a deal breaker — including for Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh, who has announced his intention to move all Cheezburger Network domains away from GoDaddy unless they come to their senses.

    If you feel the same way, this boycott thread on Reddit should provide you with all you need to know about moving to another domain hosting service.  

    [thanks brittany!]

  3. Notes: 20 / 1 month ago  from brido
    Mike Bridenstine's Tumblr Thing: Observations From 20 Years of Iowa Life

    brido:

    You know what’s fun? Coming back to Iowa just in time for a University of Iowa journalism professor to write an article in The Atlantic about how shitty and backwards the state is. The article was written by Stephen G. Bloom, whom I knew as the author of Postville: A Clash of…

  4. Notes: 785 / 2 months ago  from starline (originally from robertreich)

    robertreich:

    The First Amendment Upside Down. Why We Must Occupy Democracy

    You’ve been seeing this across the country … Americans assaulted, clubbed, dragged, pepper-sprayed … Why? For exercising their right to free speech and assembly — protesting the increasing concentration of income, wealth, and political power at the top.

    And what’s Washington’s response? Nothing. In fact, Congress’s so-called “supercommittee” just disbanded because Republicans refuse to raise a penny of taxes on the rich.

    Meanwhile, the Supreme Court says money is speech and corporations are people. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision last year ended all limits on political spending. Millions of dollars are being funneled to politicians without a trace. 

    And a revolving door has developed between official Washington and Wall Street – with bank executives becoming public officials who make rules that benefit the banks before heading back to the Street to make money off the rules they created.  

    Other top officials, including an increasing proportion of former members of congress, are cashing in by joining lobbying power houses and pressuring their former colleagues to do whatever their clients want.  

    Millionaires and billionaires on Wall Street and in executive suites aren’t contributing all this money out of sheer love of country. Their political spending is analogous to their other investments. Mostly they want low tax rates and friendly regulations.

    Why else do you suppose tax rates on the super rich are now lower than they’ve been in three decades, and why – even though the long-term budget deficit is horrendous – those rates aren’t rising? Why else do the 400 richest Americans (whose wealth is larger than the combined wealth of the bottom 150 million Americans) now pay an average tax rate of only 17 percent?  

    Why do you think Wall Street got bailed without a single string attached – not even being required to help homeowners to whom they sold mortgages, who are now so far under water they’re drowning? And why does the financial reform legislation have loopholes big enough for bankers to drive their Ferrari’s through?

    And why else are oil companies, big agribusinesses, military contractors, and the pharmaceutical industry reaping billions of dollars of government subsidies and special tax breaks?

    Experts say the 2012 presidential race is likely to be the priciest ever, costing an estimated $6 billion. “It is far worse than it has ever been,” says Republican Senator John McCain.

    If there’s a single core message to the Occupier movement it’s that the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top endangers our democracy. With money comes political power.

    Yet when real people without money assemble to express their dissatisfaction with all this, they’re told the First Amendment doesn’t apply. Instead, they’re treated as public nuisances – clubbed, pepper-sprayed, thrown out of public parks and evicted from public spaces.

    Across America, public officials are saying Occupiers have to go. Even in universities – where free speech is supposed to be sacrosanct – peaceful assembly is being met with clubs and pepper spray.  

    The First Amendment is being stood on its head. Money speaks, and an unlimited amount of it can now be spent bribing and cajoling politicians. Yet peaceful assembly is viewed as a public nuisance and removed by force.

    This is especially worrisome now that so many Americans are in economic trouble. The jobs recession grinds on, seemingly without end. Homes are being foreclosed upon. Qualified students cannot afford college. Or they’re forced to take on huge debt loads they can’t repay in a jobless economy. Schools are firing teachers. Vital social services are being axed.

    How are Americans to be heard about what should be done about any of this if they are not allowed to mobilize and organize?  When the freedom of speech goes to the highest bidder, moneyed interests have a disproportionate say.

    Now more than ever, the First Amendment needs to be put right side up. Nothing less than the future of our democracy is at stake.

     

    Thanks for posting this, Star. Now more than ever, I want to go to school…I wish I didnt have to destroy my credit to do so.

  5. Notes: 1158 / 2 months ago  from thedailywhat
    Can you stop being a thing already, Muslims? thedailywhat: This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: Saudi Arabia’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) has the authority to order women with “tempting eyes” to cover them up, according to a committee spokesman. Sheikh Motlab al-Nabet was quoted by the Egyptian news website Bikya Masr as saying that a member of the notorious Sharia-enforcing body was acting justly when he ordered a women to cover her “sexy eyes.” The Saudi newspaper al-Watan reported that the woman’s husband was stabbed in the hand twice during an altercation over the decree, and had to be hospitalized. The CPVPV is controversial even within Saudi itself, as its power to enforce Islamic laws comes from the king rather than the state.  [bikyamasr / usatoday.]

    Can you stop being a thing already, Muslims?

    thedailywhat:

    This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: Saudi Arabia’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) has the authority to order women with “tempting eyes” to cover them up, according to a committee spokesman.

    Sheikh Motlab al-Nabet was quoted by the Egyptian news website Bikya Masr as saying that a member of the notorious Sharia-enforcing body was acting justly when he ordered a women to cover her “sexy eyes.”

    The Saudi newspaper al-Watan reported that the woman’s husband was stabbed in the hand twice during an altercation over the decree, and had to be hospitalized.

    The CPVPV is controversial even within Saudi itself, as its power to enforce Islamic laws comes from the king rather than the state. 

    [bikyamasr / usatoday.]

     
  6. Notes: 6 / 2 months ago  from patrickmelton

    patrickmelton:

    I’m really into poetry.

  7. Notes: 321 / 3 months ago  from thedailywhat

    Wonderfluff. I wish I had a crotchface.

    thedailywhat:

    Music Video of the Day: Duck Sauce - “Big Bad Wolf” 

    The Armand Van Helden/A-Trak collaboration that brought you “Barbra Streisand” channel Aphex Twin, the 1989 French-Belgian fim Marquis, and a 6th grade sense of humor in the visuals for their latest joint, “Big Bad World.”

    “When Keith [Schoffield] came up with this idea of ‘crotchfaces,’ we just thought it was hilarious,” A-Trak tells Rolling Stone. “He wasn’t sure if we’d be down to play the leads, but our take on this was, if we’re going to do this, we need to go all the way. So we played the d*ckheads, essentially.”

    (VNSFW, crotchfaces.)

    [rollingstone.]

  8. Notes: 182 / 3 months ago  from starline (originally from gogovegan)
    Warren Buffet is asking each of us to forward a copy of the *Congressional Reform Act of 2011* to a minimum of twenty people and in turn to ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.*Congressional Reform Act of 2011* 1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to theSocial Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time. THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971…before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land…all because of public pressure.If you agree with the above, pass it on.

    Warren Buffet is asking each of us to forward a copy of the *Congressional Reform Act of 2011* to a minimum of twenty people and in turn to ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

    *Congressional Reform Act of 2011*


    1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

    2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social
    Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to theSocial Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

    3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

    4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.
    Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

    5. Congress loses their current health care system and
    participates in the same health care system as the American people.

    6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

    7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void
    effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S.) to receive the message. Maybe it is time. THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS

    The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971…before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land…all because of public pressure.

    If you agree with the above, pass it on.

     
  9. Notes: 1800 / 3 months ago  from thedailywhat

    thedailywhat:

    Bad Lip Reading of the Day: Bad Lip Reading pays bad lip service to GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (she’s still a GOP presidential candidate, right?) with a brand new soundbite (previously, and) that makes more sense than anything she’s ever actually said.

    [blp.]

  10. Notes: 222 / 4 months ago  from lifeofbk
    Like Spotify? Hope you like going over your upload cap. Read this: lifeofbk: Goodbye, Spotify. I knew you were too good to be true. This week, I was really disappointed to find out that Spotify uses an unlimited amount of your network’s upload speed for random time periods, several times per day. They use this bandwidth “reduce load on [Spotify’s] servers”, and there is no way to control this or limit it for free or paid users. Spotify’s bandwidth-hogging has been a issue for people in Europe for over three years, and they’ve made no attempt to fix it. Spotify also makes zero attempts to notify users of these practices during the signup process - it’s buried in the EULA, and given a passing mention in one section of the FAQ. Rather than handling their own bandwidth like any other legitimate subscription service, they put us over our caps, and interrupt our work with random periods of unavailable upload bandwidth. Now that there’s free access in America, lots and lots of people are going to install the software, and have no idea why their internet connections have suddenly gone to shit. Every instance of Spotify running in a multiple-computer household or on a business network will eat as much upload bandwidth as it possibly can. This is going to cause a lot of problems and inconveniences, but everybody will just blame their ISP.  Shame on you, Spotify. You’re violating the trust of a lot of people, and I really hope this comes back to bite you in the ass.

    Like Spotify? Hope you like going over your upload cap. Read this:

    lifeofbk:

    Goodbye, Spotify. I knew you were too good to be true.

    This week, I was really disappointed to find out that Spotify uses an unlimited amount of your network’s upload speed for random time periods, several times per day. They use this bandwidth “reduce load on [Spotify’s] servers”, and there is no way to control this or limit it for free or paid users.

    Spotify’s bandwidth-hogging has been a issue for people in Europe for over three years, and they’ve made no attempt to fix it. Spotify also makes zero attempts to notify users of these practices during the signup process - it’s buried in the EULA, and given a passing mention in one section of the FAQ. Rather than handling their own bandwidth like any other legitimate subscription service, they put us over our caps, and interrupt our work with random periods of unavailable upload bandwidth.

    Now that there’s free access in America, lots and lots of people are going to install the software, and have no idea why their internet connections have suddenly gone to shit. Every instance of Spotify running in a multiple-computer household or on a business network will eat as much upload bandwidth as it possibly can. This is going to cause a lot of problems and inconveniences, but everybody will just blame their ISP. 

    Shame on you, Spotify. You’re violating the trust of a lot of people, and I really hope this comes back to bite you in the ass.

     
avatar_128
 
 
Finger touch chicken remover, or how I started blogging about the people around me and why they do what they do. I won't label this a psychology/sociology/headcase blog, as I'm not a real student (yet), but just some observations. And some random idiocy too...for sanity's sake.
 
 

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