The Minnesota Supreme Court spokesperson Lissa “No-that-is-not-a-typo” Finne has told Greg Sargent’s Blog that the other blogs suggesting that the court would issue a decision today are incorrect. Finne indicates that sometimes the court tells the involved parties on Monday about a decision on Thursday, other times they come out with notification only minutes before the decision is announced.
So, this means … who knows. Don’t be holdin’ yer breath is all.
PETA has become the laughing stock of the Planet Earth when it called for a change in US government policy regarding the swatting of flies by the POTUS.
From the PETA web site:
Well, I guess it can’t be said that President Obama wouldn’t hurt a fly. The commander in chief was recently pestered by a fly during an interview. He swatted at the insect and killed the little guy instantly.
Believe it or not, we’ve actually been contacted by multiple media outlets wanting to know PETA’s official response to the executive insect execution.
In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn’t the Buddha, he’s a human being, and human beings have a long way to go before they think before they act.
If all this has you wondering how you can be a bigger person (figuratively, as well as literally) in your dealings with exoskeletal beings, check out our handy-dandy bug catcher–one of which we are sending to President Obama for future insect incidents.
The incident was captured on film:
I feel very strongly that I want a president who can kick Musca ass. I applaud the president’s hands on approach in this matter.
The Four Stone Hearth Anthropology Blog Carnival is up at Wanna Be an Anthropologist. Please visit the carnival, click on all the links, digg up and stumble all the entries, etc.
According to various sources which can not be named but that are being reported by the Capitol Report, the Minnesota Supreme Court is likely to make a decision today, Thursday, June 18th. If the decision is anything other than to support (uphold) the decision of the three judge panel which previously ruled in Franken’s favor, several legal experts in the state and across the country are going to drop dead on the spot of shock and chagrin.
It is not know if Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty is going to be ordered by the court to produce an election certificate, but it is generally thought that he will not issue one unless so ordered. If the court does not order the Governor to carry out his legal duty, it may be required that Franken makes an argument to the court to do so.
One thing people have not commented on yet to my knowledge is this: In the event that Franken has to argue for the court to order Pawlenty to act on the court’s ruling, what sort of argument will Coleman make to the contrary? That could be interesting.
In the mean time, I understand the Coleman legal and recount team has offered its services to parties in Iran. I wish I was joking about that.
So, Amanda had some 400 photographs that needed to be viewed, selected from (maybe a several dozen selected), then each chosen photo converted to jpeg format, resized to 100o pixels wide and saved.
She began the process on her Windoze laptop. The first photograph took about a minute or two. Realizing that the conversion of the photo had to happen before she could decide whether to use that image or not, I quickly calculated that she had about an hour of work in front of her.
The photos happen to be on a flash card. So, I intervened.
“Let me have those photos for a minute.”
“What are you going to do with them?”
“Watch ….”
Flash card plugged into Linux server.
Photos copied into folder inside a Samba share linked to Amanda’s laptop
Bash shell window open.
Tappity tap tap tappity tap… a simple one liner … Enter.
“This is going to take about 20 minutes. Let’s go get ice cream.”
“Ice cream!!!”
So we went and got ice cream and came back and the images were all converted and resized. Now it would only be a matter of deleting the photos she did not want.
So, I’m eating my ice cream and Amanda says, “Well, that was easy. Can we do this to this other group of 600 photos?”
No problem. We have lots of ice cream.
Any guesses as to what the one liner looked like?
Linux in Exile has refined the empirical test of which operating system boots more often. Details and discussion here.
Of course, it also matters that Windows requires constant rebooting for the purpose of routine maintanance, while Linux does not, so the total ‘boot wait’ time (TBWT) for the two systems is so different that they really can’t be compared at all.
Meanwhile, …the new Linux Kernel (2.6.10) has faster boot time and will run faster than the previous Kernel.
Thanks to the already implemented fastboot patches, the new Kernel 2.6.30 has the ability to recognize hard disks simultaneously and therefore significantly quicker. Ext 4 operates more securely, and Ext 3 increases performance.
Kernel 2.6.30 has arrived, and along with Tux as the old new mascot, is accompanied by an assortment of modifications to the new data system Ext 4.
Those of you who have been following the ext4 maneno will want to read the whole story here at Linux Magazine.
I had no idea that there were Public Broadcasting Stations that aired church services and such things. I suppose this is because I don’t live in Alabama or someplace.
Anyway, PBS has done (mostly) the right thing by baning this practice.
Continue reading PBS Bans Church Services
Michele Bachmann has publically vowed to refuse to answer any of the questions aside from the number of people in her household for the upcoming census. This could land her a 5K fine.
Bachmann is avoiding the census because Acorn may be involved in recruiting people for the process. It is well known that anything Acorn touches becomes socialistic and Democratic.
The details are at Think Progress.
Minnesota Post reports from the Minnesota Independent a Twitter Report from Matt HIll indicating that Al Franken and Norm Coleman were on the same flight to Washington DC yesterday.
The outgoing Senator, Coleman was in First Class. Franken was in Coach.
Just thought you’d like to know….
The following press release has just come across my virtual desk:
Letter from Conservative Leaders Implores Senators to Filibuster Hate Crimes Bill
MEDIA ADVISORY, June 16 /Christian Newswire/ — This week, a letter is being hand-delivered to every member of the United States Senate imploring conservatives to join Senator Jim DeMint’s filibuster of the pending Hate Crimes bill, which would criminalize preaching the Gospel and put preachers in the crosshairs.
The letter explains that, in its current form, the Hate Crimes legislation would: “Silence the moral voice of the Church” — “Punish principled dissent from the homosexual agenda” — “Be a savage and perhaps fatal blow to First Amendment freedom of expression” – – and “Empower the left and encourage it to move forward with even more radical measures.”
The letter is signed by more than 60 conservative leaders, including some of the leading lights of the Values Voter movement, among them: James Dobson (Focus On The Family), Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Don Wildmon (American Family Association), Gary Bauer (American Values), Hon. Tom DeLay (former Majority Whip, U.S. House of Representatives), Phyllis Schlafly (Eagle Forum), Mat Staver (Liberty Counsel), Wendy Wright (Concerned Women for America) and Rick Scarborough (Vision America).
Vision America President Dr. Rick Scarborough commented: “We are urging Senators to join DeMint (R, SC) in filibustering this pernicious — one might almost say ‘toxic’ — legislation. As Values Voter leaders, we are saying this vicious assault on the Church and the First Amendment must not and will not be allowed to succeed.”
From TFN
Last week, federal agents swooped in on 23 of the 24 people indicted on charges of stealing archaeological artifacts from public land and Indian reservations in the Southwest. But after a 60-year-old physician committed suicide over the weekend, Utah senators are saying the raid was overkill.
The arrests were made following a two-year operation codenamed “Cerberus Action,” after the multi-headed dog in Greek mythology that guards the underworld. The case involves 256 Native American artifacts including woven baskets, pots, sandals, and an ax, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation values at $335,685. Defendants were charged with violations of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), which prohibit the excavation and sale of artifacts from
June 16th is Captain Picard Day!
Hat Tip Miss Cellania
Help out Chad with his latest data collection effort:
Of course, I can’t very well ask people to leave comments about how messed-up the comments are, so I’ve been forced to resort to something higher-tech…
And other wonderful concepts.
Hat tip, TwoPuttTommy
Cloud Appreciation Society agrees. Scientists skeptical, but considering the possibilities ….
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As Bill Nye says, it could all be a matter of perspective …