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June 02, 2011 03:48 PM UTC

Thursday Open Thread

  • 66 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“The wise skeptic does not teach doubt, but how to look for the permanent in the mutable and fleeting.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

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66 thoughts on “Thursday Open Thread”

    1. Emerson is addressing the unchanging values like those found in the area of moral philosophy, i.e., ethics for instance. Adorno is simply stating how thuggery views issues.

    2. “You’re either with us or your against us?” as an answer to anyone who questioned the wisdom of invading Iraq as a response to 9/11 that made absolutely no sense,  leading to the idiocy of things like “freedom fries”?  

      You mean like “America.  Love it or leave it” as a response to anyone who opposes any American government’s foreign policy decisions? The entire black and white, good an evil, the US can never be even partly in the wrong because we’re number one world of the Bush II era?  

      I’ll give Rs credit for tolerating a very sophisticated level of ambiguousness in some areas. Like the way they’ve never had any trouble claiming to be the patriotic supporters the troops while shooting down all Dem legislation to provide more funding for our troops and vets while fighting tooth and nail for tax breaks for the rich and subsidies for corporations that never seem to prouduce those promised jobs.  Claiming to be all about small government while they always support huge government tax payer financed welfare for the rich. Stuff like that.  

  2. I think one thing that’s clear from his poor handling of this unfortunate situation:

    Weiner needs a handler.

    Someone who can really straighten the situation out.

    Someone who can answer the media’s pointed questions.

    Someone….

    Ok, ok.  I couldn’t help myself.

    3. The I’d say he’s been packaging it rather well himself…

      “You know this is part of the problem with the way in which this has progressed and one of the reasons that I was, perhaps — you’ll forgive me — a little bit stiff yesterday….”

      “Maybe if my name was hamburger the picture would have been of something else.”

      On what happened to his Twitter/yfrog account: “Maybe this is the tip of al-Qaeda’s sword.”  

      1. COme on, PR.  A handler.  A Weiner handler.  Get it?

        And if you think he’s handling this well by any stretch of the imagination, then maybe you’re the blind partisan, not me. This thing would have already gone away if he hadn’t been evasive, snippy, and overly defensive about it, and not forthcoming at all.

        1. Those were his quotes, from yesterday.

          If it’s quips and puns you think he needs, he’s got the stuff and is showing it off.

          As to the more serious question, no, I don’t think he’s handling this well.  A blunt admission “yep, it’s my junk – my wife took that shot last week and someone hacked into my account and posted it” would be better than the “it doesn’t look familiar, but I can’t say with certitude that it’s not me” – that’s too lawyerly for the general public.

  3. Proof that the 2012 GOP field is truely the Cream of the Crap…


    Many Republicans “not impressed” with 2012 field

    Nearly four in ten Republicans and those who lean toward Republicans said they were unhappy with their current choices in the presidential field, according to a new Washington Post/Pew Research Center poll, data that will fuel speculation about possible late entrants into the race.

    Asked to choose a single word to describe the Republican slate of candidates, fully 37 percent of self identified Republicans and Republican leaners chose a word with a negative connotation – with “not impressed/unimpressed” the most commonly mentioned phrase.

    Among all respondents, 44 percent offered a negative one-word assessment of the Republican field including, not suprisingly, 52 percent of Democrats. More potentially problematic for Republicans hoping to unseat President Obama next November was the fact that 48 percent of Independents described the GOP candidates negatively while just 10 percent offered a positive one-word description.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

    3. in a Minnesota poll

      Only 28% think Pawlenty should seek the White House to 17% who think he should run for the Senate and 45% who think he shouldn’t run for anything. There’s even less interest in a Bachmann Presidential run- 14% think she should seek that office to 23% who think she should run for the Senate, 10% who think she should run for reelection to her House seat, and 47% who just want her to go away.

      http://publicpolicypolling.blo…

      Do we have Dyer’s permission not to be terrified of the Bachmann now?  Without being accused of being a bunch of liberal chuckleheads?

        1. Takes a couple of clicks, even…

          And thanks for that particular interest.  Photos on my site are behind the times – I’ll be updating them tonight or tomorrow in preparation for a gallery display I’ll be part of that opens over the weekend.

          1. Meaning there are personages who might be unable to figure it out on their own 😉

            Also, for the social media junkies like me, you might want to add the link to the flickr pages for the photos–it took me a minute to remember that just because the website isn’t attached to the flickr doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I’m so millennial sometimes.

            But yeah, baby marmot photo from Flickr on the website plz?  

    1. It’s not like real people live in coastal areas and are going to be innundated by rising sea levels.

      ANd even if they are- they should just move.  

      1. The melting of sea ice doesn’t raise sea level. Try this experiment: Make yourself a gin-and-tonic with lots of ice. Fill it to the top. Let the ice melt. Watch to see if the cup runneth over. Still skeptical? Repeat as required until you’re convinced.

        Sea level will rise when ice on land (Greenland and/or Antarctica) melts and runs into the sea. That’ll happen, too, but probably not as quickly.

          1. If ice were denser than water, it would sink.

            The ice cube weighs as much as the volume of seawater displaced by the ice cube. When the ice melts it occupies essentially the same volume as the ice cube displaced.

            There is however, a very small effect due to the fact that sea ice is less salty than sea water (as sea ice freezes, much of the salt is expelled).  

            1. Sorrt, got it backwards – it’s less dense. But even fresh water when freezing expands a bit – put a glass of water in the freezer and you’ll see. (Put it in a baggie so you don’t get broken glass in your freezer.)

              1. Sea ice is frozen sea water.

                When sea water freezes, the ice is less dense than sea water (due to its crystal structure), and hence floats. When it thaws, it merely returns to its liquid state. So we can see that on a year-to-year basis, seasonal sea ice doesn’t contribute to sea level rise.

                What about old, multi-year ice?

                If I have a glass of water and add ice cubes (fresh water, fresh water ice), then mark the level on the side of the glass, when the ice melts, the water level will be unchanged.

                If I do the same thing with freshwater ice cubes in a glass of sea ice, when the ice melts the level will go up a very, very small amount, because the freshwater from the melted ice is less dense than the sea water.

            2. The common misconception that floating ice won’t increase sea level when it melts occurs because the difference in density between fresh water and salt water is not taken into consideration. Archimedes’ Principle states that an object immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces. However, Noerdlinger notes that because freshwater is not as dense as saltwater, freshwater actually has greater volume than an equivalent weight of saltwater. Thus, when freshwater ice melts in the ocean, it contributes a greater volume of melt water than it originally displaced.

              http://www.physorg.com/news561…

              Also: floating ice has higher libido (I know there’s an Anthony Weiner joke here somewhere) than open water. So there’s a positive feedback that less light is reflected into space.

              Also: Ice melts in part because the water below it is warming. Warmer water takes up more space than cooler water, an effect sometimes spoken of with the term ‘expanding water column’ and the effect is nontrivial. (I wrote that myself. Do I win a prize for most sciency?)

              3. And in a bigger picture it goes away entirely.

                As in:

                Sea ice is frozen sea water. Thus, if we take a glass of sea water and partially freeze it, and then let it thaw, in the end we have exactly the same volume.

                Because sea ice is in constant motion, even old sea ice isn’t really ancient. Most multi-year ice is on the order of a decade old.

      2. Beyond the fact that explorers and researchers describe current ice quality as “rotten”, as we lose the “refrigerator at the top of the world”, climate changes are expected to start accelerating exponentially. It is postulated that the energy that had gone into converting water from solid to liquid state, will instead just heat up the water and air. There will be much more evaporation and weather patterns will shift accordingly.

        The heated water will accelerate the dissolving of sea bed methane hydrates in the geographically large and shallow East Siberian Arctic Shelf, and since these now form a cap over vast reservoirs of free methane, we will probably see significant increases of methane in the atmosphere.

        These intricately connected natural systems will start to behave in strange ways. Have your camera ready.

    1. .

      4 a city w/ a population of around 100,000, for Denver voters to cast 56,000 ballots shows a pretty good percentage actively engaged in the process.

      .

      1. 560,578 have been returned. We take our democracy very seriously here. Vote early, vote often. I’ve got 200 more of my bad boys ready to go. Don’t know why I wrote in something different every time… Oh well, off to the voting center!

  8. Soldier cited for holding off up to 30 Taliban by himself

    Britain’s newest hero is a Nepali.

    Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday awarded Britain’s second-highest award for bravery, the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, to Acting Sgt. Dipprasad Pun of the Royal Gurkha Rifles.

    While stationed as a lone sentry at a checkpoint in Afghanistan’s Helmand province on September 17, Pun fended off an attack by up to 30 Taliban fighters.

    “There were many Taliban around me,” Pun said in an interview with British Forces News. “I thought they are definitely going to kill me. … I thought before they kill me I have to kill some of them.”

    During the 15-minute battle, Pun fired more than 400 rounds of ammunition, detonated 17 grenades and a mine and even threw his gun tripod at a Taliban fighter climbing toward his position, according to British Forces News.

    “He was just about to climb up there and I hit (him) with my tripod and he fell down again,” Pun told British Forces News.

    Pun’s actions saved the lives of three fellow soldiers at the checkpoint and were the “bravest seen in his battalion over two hard tours in Afghanistan,” according to his medal citation.

    Pun was not wounded in the firefight.

    http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011…

    However, Ranger’s lead the way!



    Army Ranger to be awarded Medal of Honor

    WASHINGTON — An Army Ranger who lost his right hand after throwing a live grenade away from fellow soldiers will be the second living Medal of Honor recipient from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Army.

    On July 12, President Barack Obama will award Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry with the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry, for his courageous actions during combat operations against an armed enemy in Paktia, Afghanistan, on May 26, 2008.

    http://www.stripes.com/news/ar…

    1. I’m sorry, but all that proves is that Evan is a total douche (like we need any more proof). The biggest question would obviously be why the FBI didn’t pursue an investigation? It’s such a clever pseudonym!

      Anyway, the last set of four numbers in the blacked out section doesn’t start with a 6. It’s a 4. So much for documentation of the clever phone number. Although it does seem completely plausible that no one bothered to read all the way to the end of the long list since 2008. President of the City Council is so fucking obscure. How would any law enforcement or reporters know? Good job, Lassie! Now go find a kid in a well, or run off to lick yourself. Something’s gotta be more worthwhile than this.

        1. because I like to be clear, Sheperd called the number himself and then blacked out the last four digits, in spite of linking to a document where it’s clearly listed. That right?

          Common sense is so fun! The first number of the last four digits is a 4, not a 6. See, numbers look all different and shit. What we type to represent them all looks the same. Otherwise we wouldn’t have numbers, or words. Uniformity is why you can read this. 6 doesn’t have an elbow on the left, only 4 does.

          Tell Sheperd I said more cowbell and Sharpie. FWIW, I hope you’re right about the race, but it won’t be because you guys are making shit up. Is there even a reason to make up bad things about either candidate? Believe me, there’s plenty to go around, no Sharpies needed.

  10. I haven’t seen anyone mention this piece of urban mythology, so who better to post it?

    The Onion’s “Abortionplex” gets reviewed on Yelp

    There’s absolutely nothing at all funny about abortion except, of course, when we’re talking about the The Onion’s fake $8 billion Kansas Abortionplex. And then it’s hilarious.

    If you need a little background, The Onion is a satirical publication that reported last month about a fake — I repeat, FAKE — sprawling mall-like Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Kansas. It was meant to be a joke (as most Onion articles are); however, many gullible people who read the article thought it was real and reacted (accordingly) in horror.

    Inevitably leading to:

    10 Funniest Yelp Reviews of Kansas’ Abortionplex.

    My fave:

    8. From Antonia: “My Walgreen’s abortion was better.”

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