OK, to start with, this is meant partly tongue-in-cheek. But… only partly.
As you may recall, in 2008 there was some name calling within the Democratic party as to whether you were a racist (if you were a Clinton supporter) or you were a sexist (if you were an Obama supporter). Obviously, I'm hand-waving quite egregiously, but I trust that everyone remembers what I'm referring to, even if I am being a bit glib about it.
Sometimes, good, novel recipes are borne out of desperation. I had that happen to me recently when I found myself with only one egg and needed to make a two egg omelet. In lieu of the other egg, I substituted Greek yogurt (which I had on hand).
In what will surely be sad news for everyone here at dagblog, Barney Frank has announced he will not seek re-election in 2012. It's a shame, but he does deserve an enjoyable retirement. The comments in the linked-to article were mostly surprisingly consistently anti-Frank (and often harshly so), at least when I visited it.
I don't really have much to add to my previous post on the 2011 elections TOMORROW, but since it is TOMORROW, I wanted to throw this back up on the front burner to help remind people that they need to vote TOMORROW.
My question for today is, will you vote tomorrow, and if not, why not?
Next Tuesday is the second Tuesday in November, and so for many of us (most of us?) this means that there are local and/or state elections to think about. These are the types of elections that those supporting the various Occupy movements should approve of: typically little money is invested in campaigning and politicians who are frequently known by their supporters or at least only one or two degrees separated.
Everyone’s a little bit racist, posits the song from the musical Avenue Q. But it may not be your fault, according to research in the latest edition of theBritish Journal of Social Psychology. In looking for the culprit as to why people tend to display tinges of racism, sexism or ageism, even towards members of their own group, a research team, led by the Georgia Institute of Technology, found that our culture may be partially to blame.
The research methodology is interesting even if the conclusion isn't very surprising.
There's a fine line between contentment and complacency.
Now, my friend's point was meant as an argument against being complacent, but I happen to think it cuts both ways. It's been decades since I was a teenager, and over that time I've worked more and more on establishing inner peace, and as a result I am a more peaceful man.
As some of you know, I love science, and I care about the environment. Sometimes, these two interests are in conflict, as in the case of space hotels. Alas, my romantic side wants the space hotels to win, and any time my environmental, logical side speaks up about how much fuel will be required for such ventures, my romantic side punches him in the face and steals his lunch money.
This is insane. Initially, the scientists were charged with failure to predict a recent Italian earthquake. After realizing how insane that was, the prosecutors changed the charge to failure to warn that an earthquake was possible.
Egads! There are times when I wished American politicians had more faith in our scientists, but this is taking it to a whole new level!
To balance out the pessimism* of Donal's German Army Report, IEEE recently posted an article declaring that we can get 100% of our energy from wind, water, and solar power. (Not even nuclear power is required.) I'm skeptical, but I hope they're right. It's worth noting that the IEEE is a technical organization (of which I'm a member), and does not have a particularly strong left or right bias (you'll find members with both strong left and right biases, however). I'm sure the comments will be as interesting as the article.
*Not to suggest that the pessimism is unwarranted.
For those of you who didn't catch The Daily Show Monday night, or for those of you who did and want more, I present to you the true story of the homeowner who successfully foreclosed on Bank of America…
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced new guidelines in Washington Monday requiring health insurance plans beginning on or after August 1, 2012 to cover several women's preventive services, including birth control and voluntary sterilization.
According to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the decision is a part of the Affordable Care Act's move to stop problems before they start.
It seems that here at dagblog there are a variety of opinions as to whether one should vote for Obama, and what reasons people hold for that decision. Some of these opinions I understand, and some I don't. I recognize that not everyone believes in using logic to make decisions, but I think that it's a good exercise to at least see where logic takes you before making a conscious decision to ignore it.
Although some might disagree that this is the most incredible thing Fox News has ever done (it is after all a big list), this is still amazingly consistently tone-deaf.
