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Thursday Open Thread

Hope I got the day right. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

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    J is getting to me. Nightmare I (5.00 / 2) (#30)
    by oculus on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 12:41:37 PM EST
    was the subject of a botched lethal injection.

    Only a dream... (5.00 / 1) (#34)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 12:59:25 PM EST
    the reality is the real nightmare, we the people doing the sticking.

    Parent
    Holy hell (none / 0) (#32)
    by ruffian on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 12:43:32 PM EST
    that must have been terrifying!

    Parent
    Angry Baby Boomers Finally?! (5.00 / 1) (#35)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 01:00:10 PM EST
    Lyster Army Clinic dispenses prescriptions to veterans here because there is no VA nearby.  Now that veterans benefits have been placed on the chopping block these normally conservative complacent about the industrial military complex folks have awakened and they are pissed.

    It was always a long wait at the pharmacy, and then they decided to remodel.  They promised everyone that wait times would be cut in half with the modernizations too.  Well it hasn't.  In fact, right now wait times are worse.  I had to make two trips for one script.  I waited my turn to get a window yesterday, that was an hour and a half wait, and the woman at the window said the medication was in the back so she would get it and then call my name...go back and sit down.  I did.  She was gone from the window for about 5 minutes, but returned with nothing and proceeded to fill new scripts coming to the window.

    Finally I could wait no longer, I walked up to the window and told her I had to pick up a disabled child and couldn't wait any longer....could I please pick up the script tomorrow at the refill window.  She said I could.  Boy retirees were mad yesterday though and they were expressing it.  The hospital commander was out there talking with some of the really angry ones who were demanding to know why all this money was spent for no improvement.  The worst thing though, he was being somewhat condescending and denying their reality.  That's just being a dumbass, when these people start getting angry you are really in trouble at the Pentagon and DOD, these people ARE your voting block.

    This morning I go hit the refill window, and I'm not kidding, it was 20 patients long.  Elderly vets standing in line for an hour.  I could suggest that the hospital leadership get some chairs, but they are too busy acting all butthurt because some folks are getting in their faces with reality and they aren't used to it, not from this bunch.

    One woman loudly proclaimed while in line that in 15 years this same pharmacy has been remodeled four times, they tear out walls, add walls, waste money on things that really never improve anything for the patients.  Some of the hospital leadership was walking back and forth by the pharmacy with their GS tags on, they were obviously monitoring comments being made but this is the first time I have ever seen any of them concerned or maybe even a little scared.  Usually they treat everyone like they are doing them a favor even acknowledging they exist.

    Could the boomers we have all needed to wake up finally be waking up?  I'm seeing and hearing some shocking attitudes around here these past two days!

    This Guy! (none / 0) (#36)
    by Militarytracy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 01:12:44 PM EST
    Talking down to retired veterans yesterday

    Not the brightest move he could have made

    Parent

    "Broken Windows" Strikes again... (5.00 / 1) (#42)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:13:13 PM EST
    in addition to the tragic murder of Eric Garner, two other recent cases of when "broken windows" policing goes so very wrong.

    1. Another chokehold caught on video.  Possible simple turnstyle jumping leads to brutality.

    2. It's not just civilians thet get hurt when the NYPD makes their mountains out of molehills...cop gets her clocked cleaned for harassing some pot smokers.

    This "broken windows" sh*t is not worth the harm to police-community relations and all the associated violence.  Stop sweating the small stuff Bratton, for the love of god!!!  Better for civilians and cops alike.

    But I'm talking to a wall...top priority is the investigation of the white flags on the Brooklyn Bridge.  Sadly I sh*t you not...e.s.u, counter-terrorism bureau, intelligence division, police chopper, 12 detectives, and many more on the case.  Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs kids...

    I probably shouldn't have to tell you this, (5.00 / 1) (#48)
    by Anne on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:40:51 PM EST
    but it isn't so much about the flags, kdog, as it is about how the people who futzed with them managed to breach security to do it.  

    I'm pretty sure the thinking is, "if they could get up there to mess with the flags, they could just as easily have gotten up there to set the bridge to blow up during rush hour," and that's why every agency you can think of is spending time on it.

    Parent

    I get it... (5.00 / 3) (#51)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:51:26 PM EST
    just a flag, coulda been a bomb!

    Same sh*t as the accidental dime bag in the Sonic bag from the other week...just some weed, coulda been crack!

    I'm unimpressed by the "coulda been" argument.  In this case I think they got several divisions working in shifts for no other reason than the flag planters are making them look like bumbling idiots.  

    All our sacrifices in the name of "security", and still a couple skaterpunks can dodge the cameras, cover some lights, and replace the American flags atop one of our most beloved and surveilled landmarks.  Just goes to show all our sacrifices are for theater...nothing but theater.  Whoever did it deserves our gratitude, not handcuffs.

    Parent

    Correction (5.00 / 1) (#54)
    by squeaky on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:05:42 PM EST
    In this case I think they got several divisions working in shifts for no other reason than the flag planters are making them look like bumbling idiots.  

    Making them look like the bumbling idiots that they are.

    Parent

    Ha (none / 0) (#61)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:40:39 PM EST
    "It appears to have no particular connections to terrorism or even to politics," Miller said. "This may be somebody's art project or even a statement."

    Ya think?

    Parent

    Do you think maybe (none / 0) (#78)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:18:00 PM EST
    some actual terrorists could be encouraged by the ease at which it was done??

    Parent
    Someone like Eric Rudolph, maybe? (5.00 / 1) (#82)
    by Angel on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:25:28 PM EST
    And do what? (none / 0) (#86)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:29:08 PM EST
    Replace them with rainbow flags .

    The horror.  The horror.

    Parent

    I don't think so.... (5.00 / 1) (#83)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:27:58 PM EST
    Drone attacks, yes. Guantanamo, yes. Arming Israel, yes. Foreign policy in general, yes....these things might encourage terrorist attacks.  

    Besides, if anybody was plotting any destruction at the Brooklyn Bridge, they are now discouraged...it's  Fort Knox now for the foreseeable future.

    Parent

    Do we know who did it? (none / 0) (#88)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:31:54 PM EST
    If it was to illustrate how we have surrendered to terrorism so that we need our didies changed because of a little performance art a - in freakin NYC! -   it worked.

    Parent
    Not yet... (5.00 / 1) (#94)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:38:47 PM EST
    I've seen reports skater kids are the prime suspects...if they can keep from bragging on the internet maybe they'll get away with it. Hopefully.

    I had the same theory...political statement that we have surrendered a way of life we once held dear.

    Parent

    If they are caught (none / 0) (#96)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:41:59 PM EST
    I wonder what the charge will be.  Flag painting.
    Wait, do we still need "charges" or are we in Judge Dredd land.

    Parent
    Update... (5.00 / 1) (#186)
    by kdog on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:31:07 PM EST
    we can now add the crime lab to the growing list of departmental agencies investigating the white flags (homicide (wtf), counterterrorism (wtf), intel (wtf), and transit).  Authorities claim to have found DNA on the zip ties used to dim the lights.
     Please god let the pranksters not be in the DNA database.

    What a close to the Gothamist article, a succinct home run...

    The NYPD doesn't think the white flags were related to terrorism, but the incident did expose glaring flaws in the city's security theater apparatus. The solution, obviously, is more security theater.

    Broadway ain't got nothin' on these clowns.

     

    Parent

    The prankster waving the white flag (none / 0) (#187)
    by CoralGables on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:35:56 PM EST
    is a Mets, Jets, and Knicks fan.

    Parent
    Ouch... (none / 0) (#193)
    by kdog on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:48:51 PM EST
    I already told PPJ it wasn't me man!

    But that's as good a theory as any;)

    Parent

    So... (none / 0) (#188)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:36:17 PM EST
    but the incident did expose glaring flaws in the city's security theater apparatus.

    We want to express our appreciation to those who brought this failure to light!
    Right?

    Parent

    Budget (none / 0) (#189)
    by squeaky on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:39:23 PM EST
    Obviously this "investigation" is racking up a lot of $$$$$$..

    Next step is that the NYPD and those associated with the terror money train, are going to be requesting an increase in their Budget.

    It would be interesting to know how much this folly winds up costing taxpayers, but I am sure that is classified info, classified to keep us safe.

    Parent

    Always follow the money... (5.00 / 2) (#191)
    by kdog on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:45:03 PM EST
    one thought I was left with after watching "The Newburgh Sting", it was all about good publicity for law enforcement, making headlines and justifying bloated budgets.  The white flag investigation is more of the same...lame attempt to try and remind us how much we need them, and justifying the budget by spending a sh*tload of money investigating a teenage prank.  

     

    Parent

    I was going to respond (none / 0) (#195)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 01:00:17 PM EST
    About the Newburgh Sting.  Yes.  Amazing. And depressing.

    A couple of other things circulating on premium cable right now deal with the same subject West Of Memphis Is a documentary and The Devils Knot Is a movie.  Both on the subject of one of the most amazing miscarriages of justice ever.
    I see bad reviews for the Devils Knot which I have not seen.  But it's an amazing book.  I have seen west of Memphis.  And it's great.

    If they don't give you enough heartburn there is two excellent HBO docs Paradise Lost parts 1- 2

    Parent

    Not the same subject as the (none / 0) (#196)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 01:01:24 PM EST
    Newburgh Sting.  The same as each other.

    Sorry.  Not very clear

    Parent

    Good question... (none / 0) (#99)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:48:49 PM EST
    not too hip to their strange code, but it will be at least a dozen.

    PD gets the collar, the DA will find the charges...have no fear! (pun intended)

    Parent

    no, I don't (5.00 / 1) (#84)
    by sj on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:28:11 PM EST
    Actual terrorists don't need encouragement. They're like pols and will do what they do.

    Parent
    About the doggie wheels (5.00 / 1) (#115)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:46:03 PM EST
    Didn't what to be OT in the other thread -

    This is part of the decision I will have.  If I did that would it be for him or for me.  One thing I know is that he love, no lives, to run.  Sometimes he will just run in circles until he exhausts himself.  I alway thought it was because he was not able to run for so long when he was healing.  

    I have a relationship with this dog that is unlike any I have ever had with an animal.  Sounds silly but it's true.  We are linked somehow.  I don't think he would want that.  We will see how strong I am.

    Parent

    "the thinking..." (none / 0) (#130)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 09:10:38 PM EST
    I'm pretty sure the thinking is, "if they could get up there to mess with the flags, they could just as easily have gotten up there to set the bridge to blow up during rush hour,"

    Sneaking around with a truckload of <whatever> is in no way equivalent to sneaking around with a couple of lightweight flags.

    Parent

    This is what (5.00 / 2) (#81)
    by sj on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:25:04 PM EST
    the constant fear mongering does to people:
    "Where's security? What happened?" said Manhattan resident Kat Melissa. "Are we really safe? Are we safe? What? What's going on?"
    We've become a society of paranoids prouder of and more dependent on the security/surveillance machine than the freedoms all those brown people want to take from "us".

    Parent
    Commissioner Bratton's long been ... (none / 0) (#57)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:25:15 PM EST
    ... an advocate of the "broken windows" philosophy of law enforcement, which centers on the premise that if minor and petty crime is ignored, then crime overall will increase. So therefore, you need to crack down on the small stuff, in the hope that it will deter violators from graduating into more serious criminal activity.

    I can agree with that philosophy only in the abstract, and given the recent stories of abusive behavior, I have to take issue with how NYPD is apparently defining "minor and petty crime" as the selling of individual cigarettes, jumping a subway turnstile, smoking a joint in the park or urinating in an alleyway. That stuff should be categorized as a public nuisance, and not criminal activity.

    Okay, fine, so all that stuff is against the law, and yes, I can agree that there's probably a very good ( or at least a logical) reason why it's so. If you're the beat cop, then you pull the offending party aside, you give them a warning and / or write them up if need be, and then you move on.

    But what you DON'T do is hold your thumb down on the "Respect Mah Authori-TAY!" button, to the point where what was otherwise a minor issue and / or annoyance can now quickly escalate into a full-blown police harassment and even a physical confrontation, in which someone could get seriously hurt -- or much, much worse.

    Repeated displays of that sort of dubious personal judgment by police officers, which you've so noted above, should rightly call into question both the quality of officer candidate which NYPD is recruiting and attracting, and the overall caliber of training those candidates are receiving once they are accepted and hired by the department.

    As NYPD commissioner, William Bratton ought to seize upon these instances to undertake a long-overdue overhaul of the department. He can start by discarding once and for all the obsolete, corrosive and corruptive system of favoritism, patronage and nepotism which has long been the hallmark of far too many law enforcement agencies across the country.

    Urban police forces in particular need to be wholly diversified and merit-based organizations, so that they are actually representative of the communities in which they serve. Further, their members need to foster a more interactive and cooperative relationship between themselves and their communities, so that residents come to see and welcome them as an integral neighborhood presence, rather than as an occupying force to be distrusted and even resisted.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Yes... (none / 0) (#91)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:35:10 PM EST
    One of those good ideas on paper, but once put in practice the human costs that can't be seen on paper are too great.  Time for police to focus on real crime before anybody else gets hurt...and dare I suggest they start on Wall St? ;)

    As for quality applicants, I think we're in the same  boat as presidents and congresspersons...quality applicants possess qualities that would prevent them from even applying. Wanting the job is the red flag...maybe we should institute a draft to staff the police force...as long as I can get a section 8;)

    Parent

    I have to disagree with you there. (none / 0) (#110)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:13:48 PM EST
    You actually want good people to consider public service as a worthy and noble profession. And we do have some very good and dedicated people who serve in both politics and law enforcement. And as a civilian, there are things you can do in your own community to mitigate the opportunities for crime to occur, whether it's being a positive role model and mentor to young people in afterschool or evening activities, or joining a neighborhood watch.

    I'd offer that as citizens, we need to support good people in politics and law enforcement more robustly than we actually do, because otherwise they tend to not stick around for very long. With regards to the police, that means more vigorous public oversight over departmental operations and activities, supporting the implementation of merit-based policies in law enforcement agencies, and not turning a blind eye to obvious (and often repeated) instances of abuse and malfeasance.

    We need to always remember that public corruption flourishes whenever otherwise good people in the community decide for whatever reason (or excuse) to check out and not get involved, and to instead leave the problem for others to combat and find the solution.

    If we really and truly want to seek meaningful change, then we must take it upon ourselves to become one of the active agents or instruments of that change, in whatever capacity we can undertake or afford, and not simply assume that someone else will always be there to do it on our behalf. Like the kids out here say: "No act now, no complain later."

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Valid point... (5.00 / 2) (#116)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 07:02:41 PM EST
    I am certainly a checked out citizen as far as our political/societal systems are concerned. The police state and 20 years of paying some attention to politics have beat any hope of meaningful change within the system outta me. All I do is vote for fun and pay taxes with a half-heavy heart. I don't know how you do it Don, getting and staying involved...I think I'd go insane.

    I try to do my part outside the system...charity and goodwill, being a positive role model (I hope;), random and deliberate acts of kindness.  But I'm the first to admit I'm too selfish with my existence to go beyond that...I'm part of the problem, no doubt. Feels like a lost cause...ain't trying to be no martyr.  Too much beauty around to focus on.

    Parent

    F*ck You PETA... (5.00 / 1) (#168)
    by kdog on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:05:53 AM EST
    A new publicity stunt low from the whackjobs at PETA.

    Can you believe this missionary-esque bullsh*t?  We'll get your water turned on if you pledge to go vegan.  What's next, Westboro Baptist offering to pay water bills for gay people who pledge to go straight and accept jesus?  MADD offering to pay water bills for those who pledge to go on the wagon?  This is insufferably elitist and cruel imo....strings attached charity is no charity at all, it's a bribe.

    More on my (5.00 / 1) (#183)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:11:05 PM EST
    visit. First of all the doomsday preppers don't think that Obama is going to take away their guns anymore. Now it's moved to Obama is going to take away all the ammunition so it won't matter if you have 10,000 guns because you won't be able to use them. I certainly hope no one lights a match in this particular person's house because there might be a very spectacular explosion.

    Secondly, whoever wins the GOP primary if it's not Ted Cruz is going to have to sound like Ted Cruz. Cruz is very good at manipulating these people because he tells them what they want to hear. Secondly, you have to think that George W. Bush was the second coming of Jesus. It is really weird inside the cult mind of these people. If you really want to know the crux of it---they hate 21st Century America and would just as soon blow it up and start over. This is behind what people like Cruz were doing during the debt ceiling.

    I also see people like Cruz doing a work around the GOP establishment and getting his message out through people like Glenn Beck and the other conspiracy laced talk radio outlets. These people do not fact check anything and lap up what they are told by the likes of Ted Cruz. Moderate Republicans pretty much have been run out of the GOP by the tea party.

    Those who do not interact (none / 0) (#185)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:29:24 PM EST
    With these people don't get it.  

    They don't.  And the never will.

    I fear there are two few of us.  What's happening to the part of the right you talk about, the part you and I see daily, is scary.   It's new.   It's not like anything before for many reasons but the media environment is one.

    I just hope and pray that the other tread in the country, the one toward tolerance and inclusion - I never ever would have believed almost half the US would have same sex marriage in 2014, and let's face it is also fueling a right wing backlash - is enough to counter it.

    Parent

    You know (5.00 / 3) (#194)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:58:25 PM EST
    what's even worse? People who used to be normal and rational have bought into this garbage. I guess you might have this kind of experience with your brother.

    They yammer about the spending but when I point out that George W. Bush wasted trillions in Iraq it's crickets. I don't know. It's like having a black president has completely given them a mental breakdown or something.

    And gay marriage is another thing that freaks them out.

    And it's also why I have no tolerance for those purity freaks at places like GOS that talk about how they won't vote for Hillary because she's not "poplulist" enough for them. They type out their rage from the safety of their keyboards while relegating the rest of us to some sort of eternal hell on earth.

    Parent

    I'm lucky (5.00 / 1) (#201)
    by christinep on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 02:43:22 PM EST
    Because I don't have frequent or recurrent interaction with the particular types of right-wing loons that you describe.  That is not to say that Colorado doesn't have its share of nobody-counts-but-me & mine (mostly, "me")-so-leave-me-alone-Libertarians ... but, not too many of that type seem to be living in Denver.  If not the longtime rightward populous center of Colorado Springs, the I-want-no-part-of-Government (except $$$ that it gives me) types seem to be aplenty in some less populated counties recently exploring secession via the ballot.  Still others fancy barbed wire fences with their "enforcer" (aka guns) in the mountainous terrain.

    Out here, the general types I just mentioned are nothing new.  In point of fact, the outlook for this state has grown more progressive with the past few decades of influx & demographic change ... e.g., what used to be population increase from Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, & Wyoming has expanded in significant percentage to California, east coast and upper Midwest.  

    What I sense, tho, is that the rightwing segment has grown increasingly angry and--as you suggest--are turning more to the past than the future.  The digging in and the resentment that accompanies it have been on view for awhile (even apart from the manipulative likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, and Fox-bent) ... remember that outrageous catcall "You lie" from the Repub congressman against the President during a State of the Union address, remember that shout as a barrier-breaker setting the example that there are no rules of discourse and that anyone/everyone is encouraged to say whatever uninhibited insult or gutter-slur to anyone at anytime.  Other right-wingers followed suit, perhaps trying to top (or bottom) each other in the name-calling pattern we see now.  

    Personally, I think that the reward-for-insult approach has led those who consider themselves marginalized or victims to jettison almost all forms of civility ... the TeaPots have marched with rage and costume, shouting  about getting rid of the 17th Amendment and other forms of representation, etc.  Senseless it is; but, now, the rightwing messagers in TV & radio, big business, and other forms of hate have organized the pitchfork bunch.  Once that anger is stoked & fed and stoked and fed again, where does it go!

    I think also that the human effect of rightwing organization is lost on the DC would-be cognoscenti.  That is why they hold so to the "he says-she says" model ... that bunch still thinks LBJ/Dirksen or Reagan/O'Neil breakthroughs on significant legislation can occur.  While breakthroughs are always possible in any stalemate, the current atmosphere of hate to which GA6th and CaptHowdy refer probably will not allow it without personality change or a realization the new norm of overwhelming fear & hatred has to be confronted itself.

    Parent

    Miami-Dade Judge Sarah Zabel (5.00 / 1) (#204)
    by KeysDan on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 06:17:26 PM EST
    overturned Florida's ban on marriage inequality finding that the law violates the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution: "without a rational relation to a legitimate governmental purpose, state-imposed inequality can find no refuge in our US Constitution." The judge stayed her opinion pending appeal.

     Last week, Monroe County (Florida Keys)  Judge Luis Garcia also overturned the law, but it was stayed for appeal when Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a motion of appeal.   Marco Rubio did not comment as of this writing, however, during a speech recently at  Catholic University, he defended "traditional marriage" expecting, he said, to be attacked as a bigot and anti-gay.  From those who are intolerant of intolerance--it just hypocrisy, he continued.

    Stef gets another spread (none / 0) (#1)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 09:07:35 AM EST
    Sorry delete that (none / 0) (#2)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 09:08:27 AM EST
    Messed up the link

    Parent
    Stef gets another spread (none / 0) (#3)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 09:09:34 AM EST
    Those pictures are wonderful (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by sj on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 10:58:35 AM EST
    I checked and I'm glad to see that the Senator Theater in Baltimore is still holding on.

    I got a kick out of this link from that site.

    Parent

    It really seems that (none / 0) (#14)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:04:12 AM EST
    After all these years of laboring in obscurity she might be on the verge f being an overnight sensation.

    That's awsum.

    Parent

    Stef is from Baltimore (none / 0) (#117)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 07:12:16 PM EST
    Family still lives there

    Parent
    What fun (none / 0) (#4)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 09:12:59 AM EST
    One of the first clients was Chechen militant Abu Abdel Rahman al-Shishani, aged 26, who took his new Syrian wife on honeymoon, according to activist Hadi Salameh.

    "Just after they got married, he took her to Anbar. These militants are very romantic," Salameh joked.

    But the two weren't able to sit together, because "women sit in the back, and men at the front. The bus driver plays militant songs all through the ride, and the ISIS black flag flies over the bus."

    I don't remember Al Qaeda having tour buses.

    I may be missing a lot (none / 0) (#33)
    by ZtoA on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 12:51:14 PM EST
    but it seems to me that the conflict in Gaza is getting much attention in US news, but ISIS is not. Most news I can find of ISIS from a google search is from other sources.

    Parent
    Right now (none / 0) (#59)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:27:27 PM EST
    It's where the most people are dying.   Give ISIS time.

    Parent
    Not so for death toll (none / 0) (#112)
    by ZtoA on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:25:31 PM EST
    I cannot understand why (none / 0) (#134)
    by ZtoA on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 09:59:27 PM EST
    ISIS is not getting more media coverage in the US. Death tolls have been astounding link link.  They are committing ethnic cleansing link.

    Jeralyn covers it, but google news about Gaza and the difference is amazing.

    Parent

    An ISS Astronaut photographed Gaza & (none / 0) (#74)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:12:36 PM EST
    wrote that the photograph, which showed explosions and rockets flying over Israel and Gaza, was his saddest photo yet.

    The photo is the second on the page, below a video.  Because I have Flash suspended until I approve its use on each site, if the video is autoplay I don't know.

    Parent

    wonderful, sad, photo (none / 0) (#145)
    by ruffian on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 08:48:00 AM EST
    video is not autoplay, no concerns there.

    Parent
    Orwell was an amature (none / 0) (#5)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 10:08:26 AM EST
    "There is a growing intolerance on this issue, intolerance of those who continue to support traditional marriage,"

    Rubio on gay marriage

    The traditional marriage people will always (5.00 / 3) (#146)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 08:48:13 AM EST
    Crack me up.  I suppose because I don't count traditional marriage to be sacred in any sense.

    My father had five traditional marriages followed by five traditional divorces.  He was a very traditional husband :)

    Parent

    Threat to civilization (none / 0) (#6)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 10:26:06 AM EST
    I think it was Bill Maher or another comedian who said that you can go to Las Vegas, get drunk, find someone of the opposite sex, drunk or stoned, persuade them to get married to you and have it done by an Elvis-impersonator-minister, and that's not a threat to marriage.

    But, two guys or two women get married anywhere in the country and that's going to flush traditional marriage right down the sh*tter.

    Yep, Mr. Blair would be gob-smacked at the odor of mendacity coming from the RW these days.

    Parent

    There has been a (none / 0) (#8)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 10:33:20 AM EST
    Not so subtle shift in the strategy of the republican senate candidate I'm my stare (AR).
    A real move to hang the recent gay marriage decision around his neck.  Which is of course ridiculous but it will be interesting to see how well it works.   Every anti Pryor ad now has two men kissing.

    Parent
    I suspect this is a desperation (none / 0) (#9)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 10:41:42 AM EST
    Move because Obamacare is not working as an issue quite so well any more.  

    Parent
    And maybe not (1.00 / 1) (#39)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:03:28 PM EST
    My wife went to the vet to pick up a med for our Yorkie who gets fungal infections from allergic reactions.

    The past price had been $27.00 for a month supply.

    New price was $126.

    Person at the vet said that all drugs that were used by humans and animals had huge increases.

    According to her the drug companies have done so to be sure that people don't beat the system by getting their drugs from vets which was a concern generated by Obamacare guidelines.

    I have heard of old people eating cat food because of grocery prices... But trying to take pet meds is a new one.

    Thank goodness Obamacare has stopped this.

    Parent

    You're blaming the price ... (5.00 / 2) (#43)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:13:14 PM EST
    ... of your pet's medicine on Obamacare? LOL!

    What exactly are you guys smoking down there in the Land o' Cotton -- the cotton itself?

    Parent

    Hey, (5.00 / 1) (#45)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:23:54 PM EST
    If someone in a vets' office said it, it must be true.

    Don't you miss the time when urban legends were about killers with hooks and Mexican sand rats?

    Parent

    Well that's the vet's worker's story (none / 0) (#62)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:56:06 PM EST
    and I'm sticking to it.

    But either way, the price is up around 500% what's your thoughts on why???

    Parent

    Maybe that's their story but it's BS. (none / 0) (#66)
    by Angel on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:58:50 PM EST
    I'll ask at my pups' veterinary clinic tomorrow.  

    Parent
    Breaking my rule about replying to you (none / 0) (#70)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:03:54 PM EST
    To ask you a question.

    Let's say, for the sake of argument, you are right and your dogs medication is more expensive because more people are able to afford medications because of Obamacare.

    First, is that a bad thing in your opinion?
    What is your solution.  That less people have medication so your dogs is cheaper?

    Parent

    Why would you assume (5.00 / 2) (#79)
    by sj on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:18:09 PM EST
    that he is right? More likely Big Pharma has realized that they can overcharge for animal prescriptions just as they have been overcharging for human prescriptions for years. Many of the medications are the exact same formulation but have always been cheaper when prescribed for a pet via veterinarian. Know this for a fact by direct experience, and had conversations with vet about this.

    It's about pharma greed, IMO.

    Parent

    I would and do not (5.00 / 1) (#80)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:20:53 PM EST
    I was making a point that even if he was it's still stupid.

    Parent
    I always reply to you Capt (none / 0) (#100)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:54:27 PM EST
    Makes my whole day....

    The question is this. Are the price increases based on shortages of material, which I find hard to believe, or are they based on Obamacare saying that the same drugs must be priced for animals as they are for humans??

    Why not the reverse?? Why not human scripts priced the same as the dog's?

    Parent

    What an exciting day you must have (5.00 / 1) (#105)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:02:30 PM EST
    Never mind.

    Parent
    I'm still not sure how Obamacare drove up (none / 0) (#90)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:35:04 PM EST
    the price of vet medications, based on the word of one vet worker.

    Parent
    If you'd like to figure that out, ... (5.00 / 1) (#93)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:37:55 PM EST
    ... I'll have to lend you my bong first.

    Parent
    I get a feeling sometimes (none / 0) (#113)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:29:19 PM EST
    there are people who believe anything bad they are told about Obama unless it originates from a homeless person or someone who appears to be non compos mentis.

    Parent
    Did y'all shop around on price (none / 0) (#109)
    by nycstray on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:13:42 PM EST
    if you can get it at a human pharmacy, you can price shop (my vet taught me this). I know that you can also get plans at places like Walgreens, and at least one of the major drug stores will cover your human pet meds at low discount prices in the plan. A blogger with a Wolfhound learned this while treating the dog for cancer. I found a much better price online for the cancer meds I needed for my cat (d@mn patents!) because I could order a higher dose and give less (my vet helped me through this process).

    BTW, back to solar, I double checked with my mom before I responded(why the delay), she paid nothing to have her solar installed. And she is ahead of the game with the electric company on usage (the year is balanced out) and saving nicely. So you may want to check around and see if there is anything like that where you live.

    Parent

    Glad to know your Mom is enjoying (1.00 / 2) (#135)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 10:28:01 PM EST
    electricity paid for by the other utility customers, or more likely, tax payers via government grant.

    Nothing like that around here.

    BTW - Who provides her power at night??

    Yeah, semi-snarky. I apologize, but solar is not a solution for the reasons I pointed out.

    And we found a source for the drugs. Sorry, but I can't reveal it.

    Parent

    ? on solar power. (5.00 / 2) (#143)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 08:17:20 AM EST
    How does Captain Howdys mother, by using the sunlight falling on her house and using solar panels so that it generates electricity, cheating the ratepayers and taxpayers of SC?  

    Last time I checked, sunlight doesn't belong to either of the above-named entities in SC.

    Also, I'd be careful about insulting peoples' mothers unnecessarily, if I were you.  Or didn't your mother bring you up right?

    Parent

    The solar unit was installed at no cost (1.00 / 2) (#149)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 08:59:49 AM EST
    to NYStray's mother. Someone paid for it. And I wager it was the rate payers of the utility and the tax payers who paid for the solar unit.

    TANSTAAFL

    There aint no such things as a free lunch. - Robert Heinlein circa 1952

    BTW - Capt Howdy's mother is not part of the conversation between me and NYStray. Perhaps you need to pay closer attention,

    And my semi-snarky comment was somewhat tongue in cheek with an apology. But I don't see how pointing out someone is getting something for free is really bad

    BTW - You obviously know nothing about solar power and what's required to turn it into electric power that is usable. Here's the original comment.

    Link

    Note that a 5K residential unit costs $16,000.

    As for Capt, he evidently doesn't know what the evileeeee Koch brothers have done.

    It was mostly about changing the tax code from being helpful to solar to the opposite.   I think.

    I doubt it was the tax code. More than likely it was a fuss about whether the utility would subsidize the unit itself and whether or not the utility would purchase the power back a retail or wholesale rates.

    BTW - I do hope you read the link. I am all for alternative fuels but we need to know all the consequences for everyone, not just the folks who can afford it.

    Parent

    You'll wager (5.00 / 2) (#154)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 09:35:57 AM EST
    but you don't know that Captain Howdy's mother is getting her solar panels subsidized, based on NYstray.

    Okay.

    And yeah, you can't get something for nothing.

    Are you against subsidies to power companies as well?  Or does that not count somehow?

    Allocation of subsidies in the United States

    A 2011 study by the consulting firm Management Information Services, Inc. (MISI)[19] estimated the total historical federal subsidies for various energy sources over the years 1950-2010. The study found that oil, natural gas, and coal received $369 billion, $121 billion, and $104 billion (2010 dollars), respectively, or 70% of total energy subsidies over that period. Oil, natural gas, and coal benefited most from percentage depletion allowances and other tax-based subsidies, but oil also benefited heavily from regulatory subsidies such as exemptions from price controls and higher-than-average rates of return allowed on oil pipelines. The MISI report found that non-hydro renewable energy (primarily wind and solar) benefited from $74 billion in federal subsidies, or 9% of the total, largely in the form of tax policy and direct federal expenditures on research and development (R&D). Nuclear power benefited from $73 billion in federal subsidies, 9% of the total, largely in the form of R&D, while hydro power received $90 billion in federal subsidies, 12% of the total.

    And my semi-snarky comment was somewhat tongue in cheek with an apology. But I don't see how pointing out someone is getting something for free is really bad

    If you know, in fact that it is the case, but you've stated that you'd bet on it, not that it actually is the case.

    - You obviously know nothing about solar power and what's required to turn it into electric power that is usable. Here's the original comment.

    Good mind-reading.  Do you do card tricks as well?  You only have figures without any source for them.

    As you can see in this article here, solar power installation is getting cheaper, and there are no indications that this trend will stop any time soon.  

    I doubt it was the tax code. More than likely it was a fuss about whether the utility would subsidize the unit itself and whether or not the utility would purchase the power back a retail or wholesale rates.

    Or, he made have been thinking of this:

    ALEC, which has referred to homeowners with their own solar panels as "freeriders on the system," is deeply involved in both combating renewable energy mandates and modeling legislation that targets net metering. Last year alone, ALEC pushed more than 70 bills in 37 states that would have impeded clean energy growth. While ALEC was highly unsuccessful at actually passing anti-clean energy bills it advanced at the state level last year, a new document obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy reveals the intensity that ALEC is bringing to 2014 in its anti-environmental efforts -- which include not just stifling clean energy, but opposing EPA coal regulations related to public health, promoting the Keystone XL pipeline, and working toward industry-friendly fracking rules.
    .......................
    The bill lets electric utilities apply to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to establish a higher base customer charge for users of rooftop solar or small wind turbines. While the executive order isn't binding, it guides the Corporate Commission, made up of statewide elected officials, with what to do.

    You appear to be uninformed about this issue.  Fortunately, with access to the Internet, this condition can be remedied.

    Parent

    I think you are kind of new? (5.00 / 6) (#156)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 09:40:14 AM EST
    If so you will learn that facts don't matter.  Saying some outrageous thing to provoke someone into arguing with him so he can post a string of GOP talking points is his stock and trade.  Gives him something to do.  I try to never respond to him anymore.


    Parent
    Capt, speaking of facts (none / 0) (#163)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 10:23:49 AM EST
    tell us what the kerfunkle you refer to is about.

    Parent
    Jim's a troll. Try not to feed it. (5.00 / 4) (#161)
    by Angel on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 10:23:00 AM EST
    If you want to know who he really is go to high cotton website, it is Jim in all his glory.

    Parent
    Angel, be nice (1.00 / 1) (#169)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:10:27 AM EST
    If you aren't informed on the subject read and learn.

    Parent
    Koch vs solar (none / 0) (#164)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 10:30:32 AM EST
    Koch brothers and big utilities campaign to unplug solar power

    Of all the pro-business, anti-government causes they have funded with their billions, this may be the most cynical and self-serving. On Sunday, a Los Angeles Times story by Evan Halper outlined the Koch's latest scheme. Along with anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, several major power companies and a national association representing conservative state legislators, the brothers are aiming to kill preferences for the burgeoning solar power industry that have been put into law in dozens of states. Kansas, North Carolina and Arizona are their first targets, with more to come.

    They already have their first victory. On Monday, Oklahoma's Republican Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature that authorizes electric utilities to tack a surcharge on the bills of private citizens who have installed solar panels or wind turbines on their homes. That's right, Oklahomans who have spent money to generate their own clean and green power now must pay compensation to the power companies.

    From one LA Times piece.  As usual google is your friend

    Parent

    Btw (none / 0) (#175)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:20:37 AM EST
    I will know a lot more about it soon.  Well in 2016 when I get full retirement money.   Going heavily solar.  Had some guys out and as I suspected my house and property are ideal for a solar setup.   They said I column very likely produce all the power I need or very close to it.   That would mean I would save hundreds every month.

    Parent
    The Cap writes (none / 0) (#180)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:34:10 AM EST
    "That's right, Oklahomans who have spent money to generate their own clean and green power now must pay compensation to the power companies."

    Not exactly.

    If you completely disconnect from the grid and get nothing from the utilities you owe nothing. Unless the power company has rightfully convinced the government that you should pay for line that passes your house.  

    And if you want the utility company to be ready to provide you power anything you can't provide your own, then yes.  Why?

    Because it costs money to keep the network to be 100% ready at all times. Go out and look at that power pole and line in front and that truck down the street fixing a problem.


    Parent

    Well, since neither of us know (none / 0) (#173)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:17:16 AM EST
     what Capt was writing about I guess your guess is as good as mine.  But a thought:

    ALEC, which has referred to homeowners with their own solar panels as "freeriders on the system," is deeply involved in both combating renewable energy mandates and modeling legislation that targets net metering.

    I'm not an expert on ALEC but any organization condemned by as many "do gooder and damn the harm it causes" organizations can't be all bad.

    And again we come to the question, who and why should someone get a free ride? Consider. Net metering works like this. You obtain a solar system. The local utility installs a meter, measures the power you send back into the gird and pay you for that power. In some places it is the same as you pay for what you buy. In others it is more, subsidized by grants from the distribution firm. In both cases the utility must provide 100% of the power required at all times. Nights, cloudy days, private system failures, etc. The cost for building and maintaining the individual's part of the grid is the same at all times. So when the individual gets a check in the mail they are, essentially, free loading on the system. At some point that won't work. TANSTAAFL

    The so called subsidizes received by the energy companies is more easily understood as depreciation of assets, which all businesses enjoy. The Greenies all hate the energy companies so they're always waving numbers around. I'll make you a deal. Let's get rid of ALL tax credits, depreciation schedules, tax rate lowering, etc and etc for EVERYONE including the so called non profits and see how we like what shakes out.

    Hint. Energy will skyrocket along with transportation, food, utilities just to name the big three.

    And my figures come from a conversation with an engineer in the Solar group at Austin Energy. He had no reason to lie and was very helpful. And yes, I do card tricks.

    As for costs going down... yes it has to the current $16,000 for a 5K system that AE spoke about. But beyond that:

    The soft costs, or non-hardware prices, can be influenced by local, state, and national policies. Countries like Italy, Australia, and Germany have generally incentivized solar adoption through long-term policies, which have in turn helped to reduce soft costs

    That's called a subsidy, meaning that someone else is paying for the person who can spend $10,000 (AE) to save $50/month and feel good. That would be the poor and lower middle class.  TANSTAAFL.

    And no, as you can see, I understand the issue very well. It is you who don't seem to grasp it.

    In the final analysis, if solar worked it wouldn't need subsidizes.

    Parent

    All you need to know (5.00 / 1) (#176)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:24:06 AM EST
     But a thought:
    ALEC, which has referred to homeowners with their own solar panels as "freeriders on the system," is deeply involved in both combating renewable energy mandates and modeling legislation that targets net metering
    .
    I'm not an expert on ALEC but any organization condemned by as many "do gooder and damn the harm it causes" organizations can't be all bad.


    Parent
    California going down the wrong path? (none / 0) (#178)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:30:00 AM EST
    The so called subsidizes received by the energy companies is more easily understood as depreciation of assets, which all businesses enjoy.

    Not according to the article:

    but oil also benefited heavily from regulatory subsidies such as exemptions from price controls and higher-than-average rates of return allowed on oil pipelines.

    In the final analysis, if solar worked it wouldn't need subsidizes

    Well, around this part of California they're now selling, not leasing solar systems to homeowners, and according to this article from Science Daily, we could can meed all our energy needs without using fossil fuels in a significant part.

    A new Stanford study finds that it is technically and economically feasible to convert California's all-purpose energy infrastructure to one powered by clean, renewable energy. Published in Energy, the plan shows the way to a sustainable, inexpensive and reliable energy supply in California that could create tens of thousands of jobs and save billions of dollars in pollution-related health costs.

    "If implemented, this plan will eliminate air pollution mortality and global warming emissions from California, stabilize prices and create jobs -- there is little downside," said Mark Z. Jacobson, the study's lead author and a Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering. He is also the director of Stanford's Atmosphere/Energy Program and a senior fellow with the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy.

    Jacobson's study outlines a plan to fulfill all of the Golden State's transportation, electric power, industry, and heating and cooling energy needs with renewable energy by 2050. It calculates the number of new devices and jobs created, land and ocean areas required, and policies needed for infrastructure changes. It also provides new estimates of air pollution mortality and morbidity impacts and costs based on multiple years of air quality data. The plan is analogous to one that Jacobson and other researchers developed for New York state.



    Parent
    We're running out of space (none / 0) (#203)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 03:08:52 PM EST
    but you can reply on the next open thread... if you want. Frankly I'm enjoying the discussion.. Love to learn things, even if they are wrong..

    Before I start, quick note. You forgot a link to what you quote so it's hard to comment it on but:

    ...it is technically and economically feasible to convert California's all-purpose energy infrastructure to one powered by clean, renewable energy.

    I would love to see the article and the study. And I would love it if it was right. Frankly I doubt it makes economical or technical sense and it doesn't mention price to the end user. The best price I have seen for solar is 20-25 cents/kwh which is around 2 - 2 and 1/2 current prices.

    Somebody's law I learned in some class years ago:

    It is possible to design and build anything if cost is no object.

    Actually it isn't but the point is plain.

    As I noted, the greens always want to spout numbers usually so confuted and so qualified they can prove anything. The only thing more useful to arguing points is the Bible.

    Consider this question. If you decided to walk 10 miles and could walk 1/2 the distance in 2 hours, how long would it take you??

    The answer, of course, is never.

    Which is the model for the EPA and other agencies who started out with noble purposes and doing good things  but have now devolved into power hungry bureaucratic organizations intent on survival and growth.

    So I repeat. Get rid of all the props, lash-ups, gold dust sprinkles and let's see how we like the results.

    Of course what the radicals want is for electricity to rise 100% or so thus improving the environment by killing off the main polluters - man - by starvation when the economy collapses.

    That is somewhat of an overstatement but not as far as you might think. The cost of energy is the cornerstone of the economy.

    Return to the study, was it this??

    For the past 24 years, Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, has been developing a complex computer model

    Link

    Every time I see "complex computer model" I remember GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out. You need only to look at the models developed re climate change.... none have produced a correct prediction.

    I would say that the Professor's job is selling FUTURE solutions that aren't available today and won't be tomorrow. I use to sell high tech systems. The joke was always that it was easy to sell future systems because they would do what ever the customer wanted........

    BTW - I read somewhere that a wind farm that would provide all of the US's current electric needs, when the wind was blowing, would require 108,000 acres..... Of course what would happen when the wind died down is another subject.

    Parent

    The fossil fuel industry (none / 0) (#114)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:33:11 PM EST
    Really is trying to make it harder to get and use solar.  They just tried that here.  Pretty sure it failed but not certain.
    Don't know much as far as details except that I read inFB that it's a nationwide Koch brothers kind of thing being done in a very local way.  For example I get my energy from a regional electric co-op.  

    It was mostly about changing the tax code from being helpful to solar to the opposite.   I think.

    Parent

    $15/bottle was what we paid for interferon (5.00 / 1) (#49)
    by Mr Natural on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:41:42 PM EST
    from our cat vet, sixteen years ago for a FeLuk positive cat.  It would have cost a fortune labeled for a human.  Same stuff.  Same source.  Different price.

    Dunno how you'd rig a pet to require precisely the meds you needed yourself.  A Munchausen medical plan.

    Parent

    The tablets are 200 mg (none / 0) (#63)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:56:58 PM EST
    so if you need 200 mg.....

    Parent
    Now I'm worried about you, Jim. (5.00 / 1) (#72)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:09:42 PM EST
    How often have you suffered from a fungal infection caused by an allergic reaction, and how many times have you decided to take your dog's medication to treat it?

    Parent
    The drug is commonly used to treat (none / 0) (#101)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:57:53 PM EST
    human vagina yeast infections.

    Evidently the allergies cause the dog to scratch which in turns become infected..

    And not being of the drug doing generation I avoid all of them whenever possible......;-)

    Parent

    Actually, your generation is ... (none / 0) (#133)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 09:44:00 PM EST
    ... consuming much more pharmaceuticals than mine. That's not surprisingly, really, given the deluge of TV and magazine ads from drug companies encouraging us to self-diagnose and doctor-shop, until we get our hands on that miracle panacea we just saw advertised during the commercial break for Wheel of Fortune.

    It's good that you avoid taking all unnecessary medications. I've long ago concluded that we've become an overmedicated society that's hopelessly hooked on the offerings of Big Pharma, and unfortunately it's people your age who appear to be increasingly susceptible to those appeals, because they're the ones who watch the most TV and read the most magazines, while the rest of us are mostly online. Why suffer, when you can ask your doctor about [insert name of drug here]?

    I have a neighbor couple who are both in their mid-70s, and each consumes at least 30 pills a day for various ailments -- blood pressure, weight, digestion, equilibrium, mood and anxiety, you name it, they're taking it. They've become virtual slaves to their prescriptions, and are no longer enjoying life as they once did because everything seems to revolve around their medications. I think that's sad.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Heh, the only RX drugs I've filled in the past (5.00 / 1) (#137)
    by nycstray on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 10:54:31 PM EST
    25yrs or so have been for my pets :P  And luckily, that has only been once or twice.

    I honestly don't understand how people can want the drugs that are advertised. The list of possible side effects each commercial consists of is enough to make me run the other way :)

    Parent

    I love the fine print (none / 0) (#152)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 09:15:03 AM EST
    Fast talker warnings.

    "May cause you to bleed from your ears and die"

    "May cause convulsions and the growth of a second head"

    "May cause your eyeballs to pop out and monkeys to fly out of the sockets"

    Parent

    monkeys flying out... (5.00 / 1) (#158)
    by Mr Natural on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 09:50:01 AM EST
    When I was young, the evening of the first time I dropped ** for the first time, I was fairly amazed by a circling of chimney swifts around the top of an immense cylindrical chimney in the Odd Fellows Home next to my dorm.  It was dusk and they flew in a circle around the chimney mouth, 100 or 150 feet above our heads.  They circled for a few moments then dove in, one following another.

    I didn't know then they were Chimney Swifts.  That realization came later.

    Parent

    Uh, Donald (none / 0) (#136)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 10:53:33 PM EST
    I am not responsible for my "generation." Personal habits, like salvation, is an individual thing.

    And I love your generalization that my generation watches more TV while your's is on line.

    Where do you get such BS?? Heck, every old person I know is on line and connected. It's the young low information voter who's sucking up the network sitcoms.

    Remember. We invented most of this stuff.

    But yes, we are a RX country. And that crosses all age lines and the little names we all like to use to put people in nice little groups that we feel more comfortable with. I don't have a solution beyond pushing your doctor for explanations of why you should be taking a drug and all interactions it can have with other drugs.. And double check'em on the Internet.

    And I see more and more youngsters tweeting and texting instead of .......gasp.... actually talking to someone or reading a book. I fear they are becoming full of useless information, ready to condemn anyone who doesn't fit their social norms, and lacking all actual knowledge of the world around them.

    Parent

    But your generation does watch more TV. (none / 0) (#138)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 02:04:48 AM EST
    JimakaPPJ: "And I love your generalization that my generation watches more TV while your's is on line. Where do you get such BS??"

    Sorry, Jim, but that's not BS. Rather, it is a fact borne out repeatedly in Nielsen surveys over the last 10-15 years.

    Americans spend an average of 34 hours per week in front of the tube. But when viewership is broken down by age, one finds that children between the ages of 2 and 11 years will generally watch an average of 24 hours of TV per week. That number dips to 22 hours weekly for teens 12 to 17 years old, then rises to 25 hours for those who are 18 to 24 years old. After that, TV viewing rises steadily as one gets older. People who are age 65 and older average 48 hours of TV viewing per week, or nearly seven hours a day.

    (Those same Nielsen statistics also show that increasing numbers of us over the last five years are using DVRs to record favorite programs for later viewing at our leisure, and more than a few of us are starting to access TV programming through game consoles, computers and handheld devices such as iPads.)

    I would think that the reason for the greater amount of TV viewing among older adults should be fairly obvious. Your generation is mostly retired now, and you generally have more leisure time than we do (because we're still working full time and the kids are in school), and thus a greater portion of older adults' time is spent watching TV.

    Your generation also reads more books, magazines and newspapers than does either my generation or my children's generation, and they travel more than we do (and for longer periods). And your generation may well also be the last generation in America to still write letters on a regular basis.

    My generation and my kids' generation tend to get more of our news and information online, because we are generally more computer literate and are online for longer periods during the day. There are older adults (like yourself) who have computers and internet service, but by and large, they tend to eschew social media interaction such as texting, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., in favor of good old-fashioned (?) e-mail.

    There's nothing BS about any of that, either. That said, while the younger generations' technical prowess is generally superior, it doesn't mean that I think it's necessarily very beneficial. Your own observation about kids not reading books or talking in person to one another is a case in point, and actually validates what I just said.

    And frankly, the erosion of personal interactive social skills amongst the younger generation should give us all cause for concern. I'm seeing that more and more in young adults with whom I happen to have business dealings, and it's especially pronounced with their short attention spans.

    Personally, I find it very annoying when I'm in a meeting with them, and they're checking their e-mail on their iPhones, or their phone buzzes with a text message and they simply have to respond immediately. They like to think they're multi-tasking, but what they're actually doing is a mediocre job on all fronts, and being quite rude in the process.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    Hmmmm (none / 0) (#139)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 03:31:26 AM EST
    People who are age 65 and older average 48 hours of TV viewing per week, or nearly seven hours a day.

    That matches nothing in my real world experience.

    Of course the distinction may be between the TV being On and being Watched.

    I would suggest that cable news has turned the TV into "radio" in that it is on in the background but is not being "watched"  unless some event happens that commands interest.

    On this we agree.

    They like to think they're multi-tasking, but what they're actually doing is a mediocre job on all fronts, and being quite rude in the process.


    Parent
    I think you are probably right about (5.00 / 1) (#147)
    by ruffian on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 08:54:10 AM EST
    TV being on like radio and people not actually sitting there watching it. I hope so anyway. Unless they are binge watching 'Breaking Bad' and 'The Wire', in which case I approve.

    Totally agree about the so-called multi-tasking too. I am on a lot of telecons at work in which you can tell the people on the other end are not paying attention at all. Most annoying thing in the world, having to repeat 5 minutes of data for someone who missed it the first time because he was "Multi-tasking".

    Ooops, better get back to my telecon....

    Parent

    You may be right about TV ... (none / 0) (#184)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:14:12 PM EST
    ... being the new radio. But my uncle (age 88) tends to actually watch it, and not merely listen to it. That tendency to watch versus listen probably also depends upon how sedentary a person becomes as they age.

    Parent
    Correct about the stereotyping, Jim (none / 0) (#155)
    by Mr Natural on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 09:40:12 AM EST
    My 78 year old mother communicates with all her friends and extended family using email, facebook.  Whatever they use, she uses.  Her New York Times subscription she reads on an iPad.  What does inhibit is low contrast typography and microscopic fonts. Flash dazzle doesn't help either.  Older eyes, etc..

    People use the stereotype without thinking.  I've seen it used by people who are fairly gray themselves.  

    Parent

    I'm 76 and all my family and friends (none / 0) (#174)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:20:25 AM EST
    young and old use all the new stuff.

    But.... I am also as guilty, many more times than I can justify, of stereotyping.

    Parent

    Statistical analysis is not stereotyping. (none / 0) (#182)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:10:09 PM EST
    Statistics can be and have been used to stereotype, but noting a general trend is not stereotyping because it's not a definitive statement.

    Parent
    That is (5.00 / 1) (#58)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:25:31 PM EST
    Hands down, the stupidest thing I have ever read on this site.

    Ever.

    And it didn't even have that stupid smiley winky face thing.

    Parent

    Not new Jim.. (5.00 / 2) (#104)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:01:48 PM EST
    my uninsured little brother has taken pet fish antibiotics for an abscess tooth..according to his research it's the same sh!t smaller doses.  He's still alive and no more abscess.

    He can't be the only one...

    Parent

    I know something about this because (5.00 / 1) (#107)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:07:45 PM EST
    I was poor for a year an could not always afford the dogs meds.  The vet told me what human meds to give him.
    There is no difference.  We are both mammals.  The thing about human pain meds and dogs is that you have to be careful because it will more easily effect their stomachs.

    I only give him dog joint medication because it's chewable and one less thing I have to stick down his throat.

    Parent

    Fish ain't mammals... (none / 0) (#111)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:16:34 PM EST
    but I suppose the bacteria or whatever are...I woulda never thought of the pet store. Luckily when I got an abscess my older brother had a script for antibiotics he wasn't gonna use so I took 'em.  Abscess tooth is the worst.

    The sh!t people do to get well in this f¢cked up health care system!

    Parent

    He isn't (none / 0) (#106)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:03:53 PM EST
    Why would they be different?  

    Parent
    My cats thyroid pills (5.00 / 2) (#198)
    by fishcamp on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 01:20:24 PM EST
    almost went in to Medicare along with my meds at Walgreens once.  At the last minute the pharmacist  asked me who whiskers was.  

    Parent
    lol!~ :D (5.00 / 2) (#199)
    by nycstray on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 02:00:47 PM EST
    Note to self, name all pets after self . . .  :)

    I wish I could remember which DS had the Rx plan where it didn't matter as long as it was a human drug . . .

    Parent

    Caring for a pet is actually beneficial ... (none / 0) (#200)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 02:06:18 PM EST
    ... to older adults, health-wise, because it keeps them engaged. Medicare is already paying for motorized scooters, portable oxygen tanks, specialized bathtubs, etc. -- why not your cat, too?

    ;-D

    Parent

    That's absurd. (none / 0) (#52)
    by Angel on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:54:17 PM EST
    As if a veterinarian would even write a script for a human.  

    Parent
    Hey, just take your dog and find a (none / 0) (#68)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:00:54 PM EST
    Doctor Fix and you've got it made.

    Parent
    Maybe, just maybe, (none / 0) (#60)
    by ruffian on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:33:39 PM EST
    if there is an increase the price of  pet meds it is due to decreased supplies of raw ingredients because with Obamacare more humans can afford to buy their medication?

    Sorry the drug companies would rather raise prices than produce more product to meet the increased demand, but the market rules, as you always say.

    Parent

    Hmmm, I don't know if the Vet worker is a Demo (1.00 / 4) (#65)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:58:49 PM EST
    or Repub... Since she has a job and is working, must be a Repub.

    ;-)

    Parent

    Your shtick is getting old. (5.00 / 3) (#69)
    by Angel on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:01:29 PM EST
    Beyond. (5.00 / 2) (#71)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:07:05 PM EST
    Way beyond.

    Here is a fact.  I was just posting in another thread about my dog and his medication.  He has been taking the same stuff for years.  It is for pain and joint mobility, so people take it too.

    I filled the script two days ago and it was the same price it always was

    Parent

    I dunno, Cap'n. Maybe Jim's onto something. (5.00 / 1) (#75)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:13:16 PM EST
    Perhaps I should inquire of my cat's vet, and see if she could get me a price break on the chemo drugs I've got to take.

    ;-D

    Parent

    Nah.. cx India and Canada (none / 0) (#97)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:47:52 PM EST
    and Brazil too (none / 0) (#197)
    by fishcamp on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 01:02:48 PM EST
    Or perhaps she was doing (5.00 / 1) (#148)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 08:57:27 AM EST
    CYA for her employer who was responsible for the raise in the retail price of the drug in that office in the first place.

    Which of course, would confirm that she's a Republican.  :-)

    Parent

    Arrested Japanese Artist Released (none / 0) (#7)
    by squeaky on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 10:30:12 AM EST
    The Japanese "vagina artist," Megumi Igarashi, has been freed from police custody after a week in jail following her arrest on obscenity charges.

    on a mission to "demystify" female genitalia [she] has been arrested under local obscenity laws for distributing a digitized model of her vagina for 3D printing.

    Megumi Igarashi - who works under the alias Rokudenashiko or `good-for-nothing kid' - produced the 3D scan as part of a crowdfunded project to create a kayak modelled on her genitalia.

    independent

    I am making (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:01:37 AM EST
    Fettuccini al Fungi and listening to A Perilous Night

    And having cocktails.  

    I am retired

    Parent

    Psilocybin Pasta? (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:15:43 AM EST
    I like how you roll in retirement!

    Parent
    There has been a farmers market (none / 0) (#18)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:21:58 AM EST
    Here that has had the most amazing wild mushrooms all year.   I think because it's been so wet.  Vey very unusual weather.

    No special shrooms so far but....

    Parent

    If it's wet... (none / 0) (#19)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:27:51 AM EST
    hit the closest cow pasture at the crack of dawn with a flashlight...they're there ripe for the picking.  That's what we did in my Tally days...nobody paid for 'shrooms.

    Parent
    My stoner nephew (none / 0) (#20)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:32:11 AM EST
    Was always trying to get me to do this.  I told him that if it sounded like an episode of " 1000 Ways To Die" it probably was not a good idea.

    A sort of in joke about making mushroom pasta while listening to John Cage is that he was obsessed with mushrooms.   He was considered quite the mushroom authority.

    Parent

    We did get shot at... (none / 0) (#21)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:37:59 AM EST
    once, we think, it sure sounded like a shotgun from the farmhouse in the distance...no guts no glory!

    Parent
    My dog will drag me across 3 yards (none / 0) (#22)
    by ruffian on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:40:53 AM EST
    to get to a mushroom only he can smell. He loves the things. I know the bad ones for him, so that's good. No bad outcomes yet. But I often wonder if the ones he likes get him a little stoned, or if it is just the smell he likes. He is so laid back anyway it is hard to tell!

    Parent
    I can't speak to Howdy's area... (none / 0) (#23)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:46:44 AM EST
    but your neck of the woods is loaded with wild psychedelics.  Our fearless 'shroom scavenger leader was from Lakeland, or as he liked to call it, Deadland.  He told us about picking 'shrooms during lunch across the street from his high school.  What a character!

    I left it up to him to tell us what was the good stuff and what was poisonous...I wouldn't trust myself with that task.

    Parent

    The best psychedelic (none / 0) (#25)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:50:59 AM EST
    Experience I ever had was with mushrooms.

    After I threw up.

    I need to know I am just throwing and not dying.

    Parent

    Synthetic Mescaline.. (none / 0) (#26)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 12:01:47 PM EST
    was my best ever...but I've had great ones on 'shrooms and LSD.  Still have yet to experience real peyote.  One of these days I'll take that route to commune with god.

    Worst bad trip was on 'shrooms...Coney Island Summer of 2010, a day that will live in personal infamy.  Way too hot, way too crowded, took way too much...dehydration and projectile vomiting and extreme paranoia ensued.  Didn't think I was coming back, but I did and the last 1/3rd of the journey was actually pretty nice.  

    Parent

    Ugh - for me nothing is worth throwing up (none / 0) (#31)
    by ruffian on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 12:42:36 PM EST
    nothing so far anyway....

    Parent
    Ha (none / 0) (#56)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:23:04 PM EST
    I was warned.  "You will probably barf, then it will be great".

    It was.  I don't generally do that.  Up chuck  I mean.   Can count on my fingers every time it's happened to me in my life.
    All from excessive drink.

    I think it's not uncommon for that substance.  

    Parent

    I know just enough (none / 0) (#24)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:48:16 AM EST
    To know I don't know the deadly ones from the other ones.  I keep threatening to learn.  I love wild mushrooms.    If this weather pattern holds next summer I may make a greater effort.

    Parent
    This is soooo much more interesting than (5.00 / 1) (#28)
    by oculus on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 12:39:44 PM EST
    reading TV reviews. Plus John Cage!

    Parent
    John Cage (none / 0) (#98)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:47:57 PM EST
    Mushroom Hunter

    John Cage, legendary composer of experimental sounds and silence, was absolutely fascinated with mushrooms. This little-known legacy consists of his revival of the New York Mycological Society in the 1960s and his extensive fungi collection, now at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A new exhibition opened this week at the Horticultural Society of New York celebrates this overlooked side of his life.


    Parent
    The stuff one learns from TL! (none / 0) (#131)
    by oculus on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 09:13:44 PM EST
    Dogs and fungus (none / 0) (#27)
    by Mordiggian 88 on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 12:11:35 PM EST
    Dogs are used to locate truffles, which grown underground in association with oak trees, so there could be something in the mushrooms that would pique a dogs' interest.

    Parent
    Ceratinly is in his case! (none / 0) (#29)
    by ruffian on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 12:41:14 PM EST
    It is really the only reason he wants to go for walks anymore at almost 13.

    Parent
    Screw the 'shrooms, kdog! (none / 0) (#44)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:15:13 PM EST
    EVERYBODY PANIC!!! (5.00 / 1) (#47)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:35:21 PM EST
    When tequila, limes, and bacon are under threat...it's time to get serious about climate change Donnie.

    Parent
    The most dangerous place in Honolulu ... (none / 0) (#92)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:35:36 PM EST
    ... is the spot you occupy when you're standing between me and my pitcher of margaritas.

    Parent
    Druggie! (none / 0) (#95)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:40:43 PM EST
    I knew I liked you;)

    Parent
    Yum (none / 0) (#15)
    by squeaky on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:12:36 AM EST
    Food and drink sounds perfect retirement fare, and I hope all is well with the romantic portion of your retirement:

    In Cage's words: "The Perilous Night concerned the loneliness and terror that comes to one when love becomes unhappy." The music sounds melancholic, lost and desperate; it "tells a story of the dangers of the erotic life and describes the misery of `something that was together that is split apart.'''

    link

    Parent

    That is very interesting (none / 0) (#17)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:20:14 AM EST
    I never associated it with those feelings.   It's really a cd of Margaret Leng Tan of that and Four Walls.

    I have lots of Cages prepared piano music on CD.  

    Parent

    I'd love to get photos of the (none / 0) (#10)
    by Anne on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 10:53:48 AM EST
    looks on people's faces as they realize they're seeing at an anatomically-correct vagina kayak move through the water...maybe her next project could feature a wetsuit for the kayaker to wear, modeled to resemble a baby's head emerging from it.

    Parent
    It never ceases to amaze me ... (5.00 / 1) (#64)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:57:56 PM EST
    ... how some people can get themselves so worked up into a lather over fleeting displays of human anatomy and sexuality.

    I'm reminded of the time Congresswoman Heather Wilson nearly burst into tears during a public hearing, when recounting how her then-teenaged son caught a glimpse of Janet Jackson's nipple during the pseudo-infamous 2004 Super Bowl halftime show "wardrobe malfunction" -- even going so far as to compare it to the Enron scandal.

    What absurd and silly little twits these people are!

    Parent

    Hahaha (none / 0) (#12)
    by squeaky on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 11:00:06 AM EST
    A baby head wetsuit would be hilarious... Although, I do not think that is quite where she is going with the project..

    The big irony, of course is that Japan has an annual penis festival.
    No one gets arrested for prosthetic penises..

    Parent

    Shopping while black. (none / 0) (#37)
    by Angel on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 01:17:31 PM EST
    Squeaky (none / 0) (#38)
    by ZtoA on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 02:33:51 PM EST
    I am re-reading Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction at your suggestion of good ways to procrastinate. It's such a good read. Since I did not go to grad school I had to introduce myself to many artists and I had not heard of Atget by the 90s. A friend of mine turned me on to him and he was working on a series called Atget's Shoes. I thought you might like a look.

    Nice (none / 0) (#40)
    by squeaky on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:03:56 PM EST
    Always something more when re-reading Benjamin.. I did go to grad school and studied with Rosalind Krauss for a few semesters.. so I was exposed to a lot of the post-structuralist approach..

    I love Atget too! I owned a beautiful print which I had to sell years ago.. loved looking at it.

    In a way your friends pictures remind me more of Kertesz than Atget, even thought the scenes are similar to Atget..

    Looks like it was a super fun project to do, and Publish! wow..

    Parent

    I sort of envy your grad school studies (none / 0) (#50)
    by ZtoA on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:43:11 PM EST
    and to study with Rosalind Krauss must have been great! Have to say that finding and learning theory and great modernist artists was, and still, a real challenge and joy. You might like more of my friend's work. I think he is an amazing photographer! Check out his "museums" link.

    Parent
    Yes (none / 0) (#55)
    by squeaky on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:15:27 PM EST
    Krauss was amazing.. really stimulating and exciting to get my head around her ideas...  

    Laurence Miller is a good gallery, I am sure that he sells your friends work.. not really a fan of the photographs, a little predictable for me...  he looks like he has great skills though.

    Beautiful presentation and colors...

    I think it is hard to make art about art....  Louise Lawler is one of the few who has pursued that tack and made consistently interesting art.

     

    Parent

    Yeah he shows there among others (none / 0) (#108)
    by ZtoA on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:12:10 PM EST
    I also have had trouble with photography, tho probably not for the same reasons. It's interesting to read Benjamin and see some of my limitations. My pre-teen daughter and I were looking at one of my friend's books pre-Atget project. She said "there are no people, where are the people?" and it opened up looking at them as they were - being about place and time.

    We had a nice conversation at his opening of museum photos. He had a photo taken at the Huntington which had a bit of Pinky in it which I liked. He said that that was the painting his dad saw as a young man where he had the revelation that artists were "maker of things" and inspired him to become an artist.

    My friend also founded Blue Sky which shows photography in Portland which I find really interesting to visit.

    Parent

    Trouble w/Photography? (none / 0) (#160)
    by squeaky on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 10:17:39 AM EST
    I do not have any trouble with photography per se. For me it is either interesting art, or not, despite the medium.

    What problems do you have with photography?

    Parent

    I don't usually find it interesting (none / 0) (#190)
    by ZtoA on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:41:46 PM EST
    enough to want to explore it. Some contemporary photos relying on mechanical techniques and simply highlighting them I find rather boring. Techniques like tiny pinprick exposures and printing from old collected metal plates. However, I do like various kinds of portraiture, and some digital manipulations. Sometimes I like photos of places there is no way I could see, like mining sites and from storm chasers, but don't care about them ascetically very much. It's just an art form that I can't relate to very much.

    Parent
    OK (none / 0) (#192)
    by squeaky on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 12:46:00 PM EST
    For me, in general there is an abundance of art that I cannot relate to, in every medium. I do not notice particular distinctions based on medium.

    Parent
    kdog!!!! Please tell me (none / 0) (#41)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:06:40 PM EST
    You ain't one of the bridge climbers..

    ;-)

    I only climb trees... (5.00 / 1) (#46)
    by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 03:31:59 PM EST
    my good man, but I'm a fan of their work!  Gives me hope for the future.

    Parent
    checking in (none / 0) (#53)
    by Ga6thDem on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:02:32 PM EST
    With everybody. Just got back from visiting relatives in SC. Apparently some family members have gone from tea party to doomsday preppers or maybe the tea party has turned them into doomsday preppers. More later

    Don't laugh (5.00 / 1) (#67)
    by NYShooter on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 04:59:36 PM EST
    As the global warming phenomenon works its inevitable course, and coastal tide levels increase, forcing millions to abandon their homes for higher ground, we may all have to become Preppers.

    Ironic, isn't it, that so many of the preppers are Tea Party advocates, the very people fighting tooth and nail against the reality-based community trying to do something about the inexorable disaster facing mankind.

    Parent

    Not irony (5.00 / 2) (#73)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:12:08 PM EST
    Gods plan

    "After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back"

    James Gaius Watt (born January 31, 1938) served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1981 to 1983.

    Parent

    Well, Cap'n, I'll see your quote and ... (5.00 / 2) (#85)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:28:18 PM EST
    ... raise you a bodily threat:

    "If the troubles from environmentalists cannot be solved in the jury box or at the ballot box, perhaps the cartridge box should be used."
    -- James G. Watt, "Earth's Storm Troopers," Phoenix New Times (August 7, 1991)

    Call.
    ;-D

    Parent

    Jeez Donald, (none / 0) (#132)
    by desertswine on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 09:22:18 PM EST
    first Heather Wilson, and then James Watt - I'm breaking out in sweats.  No more, I plead.

    Parent
    Donald, it aint gonna happen (none / 0) (#76)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:14:19 PM EST
    But if it does, don't hide under your bed without your water wings..

    ;-)

    According to the USCRN temperature readings, U.S. temperatures are not rising at all - at least not since the network became operational 10 years ago. Instead, the United States has cooled by approximately 0.4 degrees Celsius, which is more than half of the claimed global warming of the twentieth century.

    Of course, 10 years is hardly enough to establish a long-term trend. Nevertheless, the 10-year cooling period does present some interesting facts.

    First, global warming is not so dramatic and uniform as alarmists claim. For example, prominent alarmist James Hansen claimed in 2010, "Global warming on decadal time scales is continuing without letup....

    Second, for those who may point out U.S. temperatures do not equate to global temperatures, the USCRN data are entirely consistent with - and indeed lend additional evidentiary support for - the global warming stagnation of the past 17-plus years. While objective temperature data show there has been no global warming since sometime last century, the USCRN data confirm this ongoing stagnation in the United States, also.

    Third, the USCRN data debunk claims that rising U.S. temperatures caused wildfires, droughts, or other extreme weather events during the past year.

    Sad news for Hoaxers

    Parent

    Old news (5.00 / 1) (#103)
    by ragebot on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 06:01:47 PM EST
    Temps have been stable or decreasing for almost twenty years.  

    Still I am happy I live on a sailboat with big solar panels.  Enough to power my water maker.  Also have paper charts incase the chicoms take out the GPS system.

    I am ready what ever happens.

    Parent

    Extra bedroom ? (none / 0) (#118)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 07:23:55 PM EST
    Take dogs?

    Parent
    Heh (none / 0) (#77)
    by jimakaPPJ on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:15:44 PM EST
    Sorry NYstray.. I really do know that you aren't Donald.

    Parent
    NYShooter is also not NYstray, either. (5.00 / 3) (#87)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:30:57 PM EST
    You better stop taking your dog's medication.

    Parent
    Or share it (5.00 / 2) (#89)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:34:31 PM EST
    Well, what I, "really do know," is (5.00 / 1) (#102)
    by NYShooter on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 05:58:32 PM EST
    we wouldn't want any of your grandson's tears (and, spit) reaching you as he ponders over your grave, "why, Gramps, why didn't you do something when you had the chance? What were you thinking when you read:
                    The Last Great Global Warming
    "Surprising new evidence suggests the pace of Earth's most abrupt prehistoric warm-up paled in comparison with what we face today. The episode has strong lessons for our future".......SCIENTIFIC AMERICA

    Parent
    If it bleeds it leads (none / 0) (#140)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 03:56:12 AM EST
    What about this? (none / 0) (#171)
    by jbindc on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:13:12 AM EST
    Earth in the midst of sixth mass extinction, study says

    The loss and decline of animals around the world -- caused by habitat loss and global climate disruption -- mean we're in the midst of a sixth "mass extinction" of life on Earth, according to several studies out Thursday in the journal Science.

    One study found that although human population has doubled in the past 35 years, the number of invertebrate animals - such as beetles, butterflies, spiders and worms - has decreased by 45% during that same period.

    SNIP

    Scientists have coined the phrase "anthropocene defaunation" -- meaning human-caused animal decline -- to describe this apparent mass extinction.

    Five times in the history of the Earth, a huge percentage of the planet's life has been wiped out in what are called mass extinctions, typically from collisions with giant meteors.

    About 66 million years ago, one well-known extinction killed off the dinosaurs, along with three out of four species on Earth. About 252 million years ago, the "Great Dying" snuffed out about 90% of the world's species.

    What's new about this extinction is "that the underlying driving force for this is not a meteorite or a mega-volcanic eruption; it is one species - homo sapiens," said Dirzo.



    Parent
    Ga- (none / 0) (#119)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 07:27:25 PM EST
    I am reconsidering my opinion that Ted Cruz could never be the republican nominee.
    He is very smart.  Enough maybe to be scary.  At least I'm beginning to think so.

    I don't think for a minute he could be the president but the idea that he could, and I think he could, even be the nominee of one of the two major parties is a frightening idea.

    Parent

    Ah, Capt., I fear that (5.00 / 1) (#122)
    by christinep on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 08:04:31 PM EST
    you may be right on the Cruz situation.  While knowing that Cruz has always had a certain kind of "smart," I did not foresee the rather clumsy opening months for Senator Rubio (having assumed that state and background and first look at physical, family appearance would put him right at the top of the Repubs primary bunch)... but, I now think that Rubio has a lot of ground to make up with his not-ready-for-prime-time debut.  As for the other rightist contender in the person of Rand Paul, it seems more & more obvious that his somewhat isolationist position internationally doesn't work with the classic $$$ Repubs nor with the fire-breathing neo-cons.

    As a number of people have said, there is a remarkable (and scary) resemblance between Ted Cruz and Joe McCarthy.  Cruz has a scary, demagogic quality, indeed.

    Then, there is Paul Ryan.  He surfaced again today with a proposal for consolidating federal programs relating to financial assistance for the poor under one department ....

    Parent

    You nailed it with the Joe McCarthy comparison. (none / 0) (#124)
    by Angel on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 08:05:44 PM EST
    That's where the evil and dangerous come in.

    Parent
    Rubies gay marriage "tolerance" thing (none / 0) (#126)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 08:25:01 PM EST
    Was all about the silent primary.   So is Cruz fake outrage about an FAA decision.   Cruz's is more effective and smarter.

    Parent
    Smart but really stupid, if you know what I mean. (none / 0) (#120)
    by Angel on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 07:39:31 PM EST
    I think I do (none / 0) (#121)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 07:46:58 PM EST
    But I really don't think he is stupid.  I think he is evil.  And I am not trying to be funny.  Princeton, Harvard Law.  No sole.  If you looked inside him there would old newspapers blowing around.
    I think he is very dangerous.

    Parent
    He is evil. (5.00 / 2) (#123)
    by Angel on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 08:04:35 PM EST
    I think the stupid comes in by thinking he's smarter than everyone else when he isn't.  Like today when he said he was going to put a hold on all ambassadorial and diplomatic  nominees until he gets "answers" about the US banning flights to Israel a couple of days ago.  !!  

    The guy is batsh!t crazy, he'll never get the nomination.

    I despise people like him.

    Parent

    He is a lot smarter than those who will vote (none / 0) (#125)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 08:21:05 PM EST
    For him.  The hold thing is brilliant.  It's insane but it's brilliant.   He can in fact do that.  Any senator can.  The reason is Rand Paul.   Paul's one big weakness is foreign policy.  Particularly related to Israel.  Paul sounds like a progressive on the Middle East and Israel.  This is Cruz very smartly separating himself from Paul.

    It's very smart.  

    Parent

    I don't think it's going to make a damn bit of (none / 0) (#128)
    by Angel on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 08:43:06 PM EST
    difference.  People are tired of the gridlock and even the Republicans want to focus on other things right now.  It's pandering to his base.

    Parent
    As for the nomination (none / 0) (#127)
    by CaptHowdy on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 08:40:56 PM EST
    I have been saying the same thing.  I'm no so sure.  I don't think the teabaggers are going to accept the establishment candidate.   Period.   If the establishment succeeds getting someone through the primary process like Romney or McCain there will be a wave of support for a third party candidate.
    Ted Cruz was born to ride that wave.  He has no loyalty to party or country.  

    Parent
    you (none / 0) (#141)
    by Ga6thDem on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 07:22:18 AM EST
    Have to think like the gop base to realize what he is doing. The stuff that sounds ctackpot to 80% of the country wins him votes in the gop primary.

    And like howdy says hes smarter than the people in the gop primary. He is a master of fleecing the rubes

    Parent

    Like I said, he's pandering to his base. (none / 0) (#142)
    by Angel on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 07:54:19 AM EST
    The establishment GOP hate him.  He will not get the nomination.

    Parent
    It is hard to fathom (none / 0) (#151)
    by MKS on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 09:13:13 AM EST
    who the GOP nominee will be.....I guess that is why you had the Jeb Bush speculation, and now there is a Mitt boomlet....The GOP has no good candidates at all.

    Right now it looks like Rand Paul v. Ted Cruz.
     The GOP will never go for Rand Paul's foreign policy....at least this time around.   Maybe in 2020.  So by default, it will be Cruz?  Someone has to get the nomination....

    Parent

    Being hated by the GOP (none / 0) (#153)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 09:17:13 AM EST
    Establishment may end up being a plus.

    Parent
    The current RCP averages are (none / 0) (#159)
    by CoralGables on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 10:13:04 AM EST
    1. Rand Paul
    2. Jeb Bush
    3. Mike Huckabee
    4. Chris Christie
    5. Paul Ryan

    Ted Cruz remains an also-ran tied with Marco Rubio. Of course, to be fair, no one polls at 15% unless you include Romney, in which case he is the leader.

    Parent
    If you prefer a composite of bookmaker odds (none / 0) (#162)
    by CoralGables on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 10:23:27 AM EST
    Your current favorites for the GOP nomination are:

    1. Rubio
    2. Christie
    3. Bush
    4. Paul
    5. Cruz


    Parent
    You know what (none / 0) (#165)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 10:37:04 AM EST
    Surprised me?  Obama himself was on TV responding in depth and serious tones to the Cruz charge that the FAA decision to suspend flights was a political slap at Israel.

    To me that means they were afraid it was getting some media traction.  It was all Cruz.  Every bit.

    Parent

    Is Putin doubling down on stupid? (none / 0) (#129)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Jul 24, 2014 at 09:03:09 PM EST
    It sure looks that way, with the Pentagon reporting that Ukrainian military positions in the eastern part of that country were being shelled today -- not by artillery sent to separatist rebels by Russia, but by the Russian Army itself from positions inside Russia.

    Further, according to the same report:

    "In the days after [Malaysia Airlines flight no. 17] crashed, U.S. intelligence agencies determined that the Russian military sent a column of more than 100 vehicles into eastern Ukraine, including tanks, artillery, and multiple-launch rocket systems, Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters Wednesday."

    Oy.

    Nothing will happen to Putin (5.00 / 1) (#144)
    by Dadler on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 08:45:12 AM EST
    Nothing. Minor sanctions. What should the world impose on us for Iraq?  Probably a thousand times worse sanctioning.  We live in a world run by wildly well-armed  madmen and psychopaths, our own certainly included as some of the "best," and sanctions will do ZERO.  Not a single country in the world with any persuasive power, free or not obviously, is capable of "electing" a leader with a scintilla of political imagination in their hollow skulls, and that means no peaceful future is even possible right now. We are collectively dead on all political fronts today. In the coffin.  (Hell, just as an off the top of my head example, when it comes to bare bones creativity, as in no-brainier type of stuff, try explaining to me how, say, the POTUS, or any leader, doesn't have their own fireside chat kind of internet show ON A DAILY BASIS IN TIMES LIKE THESE, free of the need of networks, that allows for a myriad of types of electorate participation and brainstorming. Makes less than no sense and is depressing PROOF of the death of even minor league imagination in politics. I mean, is this really, as one tossed off example, so far fetched and impossible to conjure. Oh wait, we Americans don't own the formerly public airwaves anymore, so there's just nothing our poor little "democratic" government can do. Sigh.) Gotta catch a plane home from Atlanta. Peace.

    Parent
    Actually, Dadler, the ... (5.00 / 1) (#202)
    by Donald from Hawaii on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 03:01:17 PM EST
    ... present round of sanctions has already plunged Russia into a sustained economic recession, and Russia's GDP is expected to fall about 6% this year.

    Further, I think many people fail to realize just how pervasive and all-encompassing the U.S. financial system really is in world markets. Every financial institution around the world that operates internationally needs a correspondent relationship with a U.S. entity in order to transact business. And because the Obama administration directed the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury to specifically target Bank Rossiya -- Russia's largest financial institution -- with sanctions, Russian citizens who have credit cards issued through that institution are finding that they're no longer being accepted, even within their own country in many instances.

    The penalties for defying such U.S. Treasury designations are quite severe. (For example, HSBC Holdings, Inc. was fined $1.92 billion in Dec. 2012 for facilitating a money laundering operation for Mexican drug cartels.) If an offending bank wants to continue to do business either in the United States itself or with U.S. companies and institutions overseas, it will comply with those designations. So, once Bank Rossiya was so designated, it was effectively cut off from the international financial system, because no bank that either deals in U.S. currency or has business interests in our country will want anything to do with them.

    Further, the U.S. sanctions are designed to be incremental, so the entire Russian economy is gradually being isolated much more effectively than it would be under a traditional sanctions regime. There is no specific economic activity in Russia that's being prohibited; rather, the country's internal and external financial relationships are themselves being targeted. The Russian bond market has been brought to a standstill, which has crippled the Russian government's ability to raise funds for operations, as bond sales are repeatedly postponed.

    And that spells long-term trouble for Vladimir Putin, because running an authoritarian regime with an expansionist policy costs money, and lots of it. Even a thoroughly corrupt ruler needs internal support to remain in power, and as social and municipal services get cut, the populace is not going to remain docile for very long. Therefore, Putin needs a large military budget and internal security service, and lots of cash on hand to buy the loyalty of officials and well-connected oligarchs. And right now, because of the present sanctions' deepening impact, he's burning through his country's cash reserves.

    The effects of U.S. sanctions are not immediate, which no doubt confounds most political pundits who both seek instant gratification and don't understand economics. But given time to take their toll, they'll be both inexorable and highly corrosive. And if the downing of MH17 becomes the defining moment that pushes Europe to turn the thermostats down and look for its fuel and heating oil elsewhere, the Russian economy will probably be rendered a basket case within a year, and President Putin will start facing significant internal dissent and turmoil which he'll have to somehow address.

    Aloha.

    Parent

    I sadly agree (none / 0) (#150)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 09:00:41 AM EST
    About Putin

    Parent
    Uh-oh (none / 0) (#157)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 09:45:39 AM EST
    I worked for Digital Domain a couple of times over the years.  Not for about ten years.  

    VFX Firm Digital Domain Accused of Cheating Florida Taxpayers Out of $82 Million

    The state claims that John Textor (above photo), a Florida native "turned wannabe Hollywood movie mogul," was the point man on what it called a "de facto ponzi scheme" that has been operating since 2007. The allegations came in a civil suit filed earlier this week in St. Lucie County, which granted the supposed start-up $60 million in a bid to promote job growth.
    The suit charges that the Florida company used the name of Digital Domain California, the company founded in 1993 by James Cameron and behind the effects on blockbusters like "Titanic" and "Transformers," to convince then-Gov. Charles Christ to make an end run and approve a $20 million grant over the objections of state officials.

    Cameron's involvement in Digital Domain ended years before the California company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012 and sold many of its prime assets to Galloping Horse America. The suit claims that contrary to what its executives told Florida officials, Digital Domain Florida still had ties - and shared million of dollars in debt - with the California company.



    We don't live in those times anymore (none / 0) (#166)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 10:50:09 AM EST
    I think this is a sad story.  If you google it you will find different approaches to the story but this was sort of typical.  Poor old woman was trying to do something nice IMO.

    (NEWSER) - Glassy-eyed porcelain dolls have long played important roles in the creepiest of American horror stories. Which is why at least eight families in San Clemente, Calif., got exceedingly freaked out when someone started leaving such dolls on their front steps--dolls that resemble actual girls about the age of 10 who live inside the homes, reports LAist. But it turns out that the nothing malicious was intended, say police: They've determined that a well-meaning neighborhood woman left the dolls as gifts, reports KTLA.


    Another Doll Story (none / 0) (#167)
    by squeaky on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:03:23 AM EST
    In this Japanese village there are more dolls now than people.

    Valley of Dolls," a documentary short by Berlin-based filmmaker Fritz Schumann, profiles Ayano Tsukimi, a 64-year-old resident of the largely-abandoned village of Nagoro. Tsukimi has sewed around 350 life-size dolls to represent the many townsfolk who have died or moved away since more bustling days when a factory sustained hundreds of residents.

    Tsukimi leaves the dolls around the village where the people used to be. And the dolls look just like the people..  life sized..

    Parent

    That is so cool... (none / 0) (#177)
    by Mr Natural on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:28:52 AM EST
    It is (none / 0) (#181)
    by CaptHowdy on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:57:50 AM EST
    Very sad... (none / 0) (#170)
    by kdog on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:13:00 AM EST
    so many always assuming the worst, never assuming the best.  So much distrust, so much fear...and so unwarranted.

    Parent
    Anybody had the chance... (none / 0) (#172)
    by kdog on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:16:27 AM EST
    to check out the new HBO doc "The Newburgh Sting".

    The stink off that classic case of entrapment was worse than I thought...very sinister element in the FBI and the assorted acronyms for tyranny involved.  The war on the poor is bad enough without targeting the poor for entrapment. Shame on us.

    "A Fateful Fall for Dinesh D'Souza..." (none / 0) (#179)
    by Mr Natural on Fri Jul 25, 2014 at 11:33:33 AM EST
    "...in September, he will stand before a judge in a Manhattan courtroom and face a possible prison term after pleading guilty earlier this year to a violation of campaign-finance laws."