Just a week after he made parole, Cornelius Dupree Jr. got a bittersweet piece of news.
Also: 
Thursday, January 6, 2011
And I Quote
"2010 was the year of arsonists posing as firemen, of people railing against deficits while doing
everything they could to make those deficits bigger. And I don’t just mean politicians. Did you
notice the U-turn many political commentators and others made when the tax-cut was announced?
One day deficits were the great evil and the next day $800 billion in debt-financed tax cuts, with the
prospect of more to come, was the great(est) thing since sliced bread, a triumph of bipartisanship. “
everything they could to make those deficits bigger. And I don’t just mean politicians. Did you
notice the U-turn many political commentators and others made when the tax-cut was announced?
One day deficits were the great evil and the next day $800 billion in debt-financed tax cuts, with the
prospect of more to come, was the great(est) thing since sliced bread, a triumph of bipartisanship. “
-- Paul Krugman, Link
Lunatic Fringe
The Big Lie and the Big Lying Liars that tell it
... and Robert Reich who reminds us not to forget that it is, in fact, a lie.Repugicans are telling Americans a big lie.
The big lie is our economic problems are due to a government that’s too large, and therefore the solution is to shrink it.
The truth is our economic problems stem from the biggest concentration of income and wealth at the top since 1928, combined with stagnant incomes for most of the rest of us. the result: Americans no longer have the purchasing power to keep the economy going at full capacity. since the debt bubble burst, most Americans have had to reduce their spending; they need to repay their debts, can’t borrow as before, and must save for retirement. - Full Story
Glenn Beck's radio show dropped in NYC
Why, who would have every guessed that!
"Surely not 100%. Surely it is a rich blend of
manure from a wide variety of farm animals."
-- Twitter user William Dickson, Tweeting back at Keith Link
manure from a wide variety of farm animals."
-- Twitter user William Dickson, Tweeting back at Keith Link
Whichever - they're pure shit anyway you look at it.
The Portrait of a speaker
Speaker Boehner
House repugicans to cut education, law enforcement by 20%
Good luck with that. Not only are they sabotaging our limping economic recovery, but they're seriously going to cut the education budget and cops by 20%, and they think they'll survive the next election?
The incoming repugican junta in the House is moving to make good on its promise to cut $100 billion from domestic spending this year, a goal eagerly backed by wingnuts but one carrying substantial political and economic risks.
House repugicans are so far not specifying which programs would bear the brunt of budget cutting, only what would escape it: spending for the military, domestic security and veterans.
The reductions that would be required in the remaining federal programs, including education and transportation, would be so deep — roughly 20 percent on average — that Senate Repugicans have not joined the $100 billion pledge that House repugicans, led by the incoming speaker, John A. Boehner, made to voters before November’s midterm elections.
On The Job
Top 25 Oddball Job Interview Questions of 2010
Looking for a new job can be stressful enough without the interviewer throwing a curveball that has nothing to do with the position you are seeking. Many job interviews feature questions that are designed to see how fast you think, or how well you cope under pressure, but some of these questions are mind blowing!2. “How many ridges [are there] around a quarter?”The list at Glassdoor has links to possible answers from readers. I think the correct answer to many of these might be, “I don’t know, but I know how to find the answer.”
6. “How many basketball[s] can you fit in this room”
12. “An apple costs 20 cents, an orange costs 40 cents, and a grapefruit costs 60 cents, how much is a pear?”
20. “You are in charge of 20 people, organize them to figure out how many bicycles were sold in your area last year.”
Annual raises are well above the 1.7% increase most hourly workers saw last year.
Also: 
Employers are eager to find workers in health care and five other fields.
Also: 'Actually, the retirement age is too high'
It's about time someone made the common sense argument, that if you want more jobs for the young, you want increased retirement of older workers. James K. Galbraith makes just that point in an interesting article, collectively written, called "Unconventional Wisdom" in the magazine Foreign Policy (h/t digby): The most dangerous conventional wisdom in the world today is the idea that with an older population, people must work longer and retire with less.Galbraith also addresses the false argument of the the aging populaton:
This idea is being used to rationalize cuts in old-age benefits in numerous advanced countries -- most recently in France, and soon in the United States. The cuts are disguised as increases in the minimum retirement age or as increases in the age at which full pensions will be paid.
Such cuts have a perversely powerful logic: "We" are living longer. There are fewer workers to support each elderly person. Therefore "we" should work longer. ...
In the United States, the financial crisis has left the country with 11 million fewer jobs than Americans need now. No matter how aggressive the policy, we are not going to find 11 million new jobs soon. So common sense suggests we should make some decisions about who should have the first crack: older people, who have already worked three or four decades at hard jobs? Or younger people ... The answer is obvious.
"[W]e" are not living longer. Wealthier elderly are; the non-wealthy not so much. Raising the retirement age cuts benefits for those who can't wait to retire and who often won't live long. Meanwhile, richer people with soft jobs work on: For them, it's an easy call.It's all very sensible — unless your goal is to punish the under-privileged elderly. But that would only be true in a society that rewards the over-privileged elderly; oops.
A revised formula suggests tough times have taken a worse toll in the U.S. than previously thought.
Also: It's The Economy Stupid
Many people who have failed at starting up a dream business don't even know why.
Also: 
Higher pump prices pinch, but there are a few reasons why they won't wreck the economy.
Also: 
Try using your computer or phone to avoid late fees and penalties in 2011.
Also: 
Exercising more and cutting some bad habits can put hundreds in your pocket.
Also: 
A little-known holiday will give you some extra days to send in your 2010 return.
Also: 
Things they will never know
Watches and paper maps are among the items that will seem obsolete.
Also: Calling Home
Five small homes with plenty of charm
A 900-square-foot cottage features mostly white decor with pops of color. » A remodeled 1959 Airstream trailer
Living in an Abandoned Men's Club
When David Hurlbut saw the 20,000-square-foot Harmony Club, it had been empty for nearly 40 years. But he didn’t see what it was, a dirty pigeon and rat motel – he saw what it could be: a one of a kind home, carved out of an abandoned men’s club.“The building’s sole inhabitants were a flock of pigeons that left behind what he estimates to be about 140 cubic yards of guano. There was no plumbing, and the electrical wiring was in shambles,” he said. Still, he knew he’d found his home. “I thought it would be a perfect clubhouse for me,” he said. “It’s probably a guy thing.” After a small number of visits he purchased the property for a little less than $100,000 and moved in the turn of the new millennium – January 1, 2000!Yatzer has a fantastic gallery of the home, which Hurlbut renovated into a liveable space a mere two years later ...
Home destroyed by mistake
A Pittsburgh man returns from the holidays to a vacant lot where his house used to be.
Also: 
In Theorem
Is the future leaking?
Later today you are going to do something, something you don't know about yet.Yet somehow, it's already happened. Somehow, it's already affected you. Huh?
One of the most respected, senior and widely published professors of psychology, Daryl Bem of Cornell, has just published an article that suggests that people — ordinary people — can be altered by experiences they haven't had yet. Time, he suggests, is leaking. The Future has slipped, unannounced, into the Present. And he thinks he can prove it.
Seriously.
Full Story / paper (pdf)
Just the News
A plan to replace two racially charged terms sends shock waves through the Web.
Also: 
The 70-foot-tall Nevada cottonwood was a popular stop for tourists on "the loneliest road in America."
Also: Raw milk sold as 'body lotion'
A Canadian raw-milk dairy ordered to stop selling unpasteurized milk for human consumption is rebranding the product as a "body lotion."
Criminal Intent
Man Captured Killer in His Last Photo
This one is gruesome – a man in the Philippines taking a picture of his family ended up taking one of his killer as well. Here’s what the man’s last photo showed:The picture, taken outside the man’s house in Manila, shows a man aiming his gun from behind the victim’s smiling three-member family, seconds before he was shot.
The relatives – Reynaldo Dagsa’s wife, daughter and mother-in-law – are seen standing beside the family car, which has its lights on, and the gunman, wearing a baseball cap, is bracing himself against the vehicle, pointing his gun at Dagsa. His face is slightly obscured by the gun. In the right-hand corner of the photograph is a man police identified as the assassin’s lookout.
A local councilman shot to death on New Year's Eve in the Philippines accidentally photographed his killer pointing a gun at him just before pulling the trigger. In the photo above, victim Reynaldo Dagsa's smiling family members are posed against a car; the alleged killer is at left, and an alleged lookout is at right. The photo led to the arrest of two suspects, one of whom was a car thief out on bail, presumed to be looking for revenge against Dagsa.
Man jailed for 99th time in 30 years
William Bradley Bankston has an unwanted record. The 47-year-old has been to the Mobile County Metro Jail in Alabama at least 99 times in the last 30 years - more than anyone else in the modern era of record-keeping.
At least three-quarters of those bookings followed drinking bouts and public displays of drunkenness, records show.
Bankston’s most recent charges, according to online court records, included third-degree domestic violence and resisting arrest.
The Press-Register interviewed Bankston in early February last year, following his 97th visit to the jail. When the reporter inquired whether he had, in fact, been jailed that many times, Bankston replied, “Oh, probably more than that, ma’am.” Just two weeks after the Press-Register article on Bankston, he was arrested and booked into the jail yet again.
Aviation Hijinks
A large man on a Turkish Airlines flight foils the suspect, who claimed to have a bomb.
Also: Helpful Hints
Phony job placement companies will steal not only your money, but also your identity.
Also: 
Although they appear to be random, those nine digits reveal more than you might think.
Also: 
One expert uses shades of daylight to determine which hues enhance natural beauty.
Also: Computer and Electronics News
Firefox overtakes Internet Explorer in Europe
Why would anyone want to use IE if they didn't have to?
Bloomberg:
Mozilla Corp.’s Firefox topped Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer in Europe for the first time last month to become the region’s most-used web browser, according to StatCounter, a market-research firm.The internet is quickly becoming Americans' main source of national and international news, according to a new Pew Research Center study published Tuesday.
In December, Firefox’s share of the European market was 38.1 percent, with Internet Explorer at 37.5 percent and Google Inc.’s Chrome at 14.6 percent, according to StatCounter, which is based in Dublin and Boston.
It’s the first time Internet Explorer has been “dethroned from the number-one spot in a major territory,” Aodhan Cullen, StatCounter’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “This appears to be happening because Google’s Chrome is stealing share from Internet Explorer.” Firefox is maintaining its existing share, he said.
How to toss electronics
If you got a new TV for Christmas, check your state's books before trashing your old set.
Also: Interesting Stuff
6-Chamber Revolver Can Fire 12 Rounds
This unique revolver invented by John Walch in 1859. It has two triggers and two hammers to fire two rounds that were loaded into each chamber. James R. Rummel explains how it works:
The secret to the extra firepower is what is known as “superimposed loads”. Basically, the chambers are loaded with a powder charge with a bullet sitting on top, as is normal. Then another powder charge and bullet is loaded on top of the first.
The reason this doesn’t lead to an exploded gun and missing fingers is due to the unique ignition system. There are two percussion caps for every cylinder.
The gun is equipped with two hammers, and two triggers. Both hammers are cocked at the same time, but only the right-handed trigger is squeezed to set off the first shot. Then the left-hand trigger is squeezed, the left-hand hammer drops, and the second bullet goes flying. Cocking the hammers again will cause the cylinder to revolve as per normal.
Percussion caps are supposed to create a spark to set off the powder. Notice the ring of nipples to the outside of the cylinder? Those are the caps that are set off by the right-hand hammer, the hammer you are supposed to squeeze first. They don’t have a hole which goes directly into the back of the chamber, but instead channels the spark down a little tunnel. After about an inch, the tunnel makes a left hand turn and finally emerges into the chamber.
The hope is that the extra inch traveled will mean that the spark from the right-hand trigger will set off the powder charge in front, which will send the first bullet flying down the barrel while leaving the second bullet and powder charge untouched. The left-hand trigger will cause the left-hand hammer to drop, which will impact on the inner percussion cap, and hopefully cause the second charge to ignite.
The Battery That's Been Operating Continuously for the Past 60 Years
It keeps going…and going…and going. Karpen’s Pile, a battery built in Romania, has been providing power since the 1950s:The prototype has been assembled in 1950 and consists of two series-connected electric piles moving a small galvanometric motor. The motor moves a blade that is connected to a switch. With every half rotation, the blade opens the circuit and closes it at the the start of the second half. The blade’s rotation time had been calculated so that the piles have time to recharge and that they can rebuild their polarity during the time that the circuit is open.The science behind it (assuming that it’s not an elaborate hoax) challenges conventional physics:
The purpose of the motor and the blades was to show that the piles actually generate electricity, but they’re not needed anymore, since current technology allows us to measure all the parameters and outline all of them in a more proper way.
According to some who studied Karpen’s theoretical work, the pile he invented defies the second principle of thermodynamics (referring to the transformation of thermal energy into mechanical work), and this makes it a second-degree perpetual motion machine. Others say it doesn’t, being merely a generalization to the law, and an application of zero point energy.*****
If Karpen was right, and the principle is 100% correct, it would revolutionize all of the physics theories from the bottom up, with hard to imagine consequences. Though I guess this isn’t going to happen very soon, the museum still needs proper private funding to acquire the necessary security equipment required by the police to exhibit the device.
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