No, these things are not related.
Continue reading Thunderstorm Antimatter and the Big Green blob
Monthly Archives: January 2011
Should Gabby Gifford have been packing heat?
Gun nuts in the Arizona State Legislature have introduced what they insensitively and stupidly call the Gifford-Zimmerman act, named after the wounded Congresswoman Gifford and her slain aid, requiring the state to train politicians and their staff as part of the process of arming them.
Read about that stupid idea as well as a very close call by one Joe Zamudio, who was the armed citizen at the scene of the Tucson Massacre who almost shot the guy who was holding the gun just taken away from the Teabagger who had killed and wounded all those people.
Zamudio’s brave intervention as proof of the value of being armed, let’s hear the whole story. “I came out of that store, I clicked the safety off, and I was ready,” he explained on Fox and Friends. “I had my hand on my gun. I had it in my jacket pocket here. And I came around the corner like this.” Zamudio demonstrated how his shooting hand was wrapped around the weapon, poised to draw and fire. As he rounded the corner, he saw a man holding a gun. “And that’s who I at first thought was the shooter,” Zamudio recalled. “I told him to ‘Drop it, drop it!’ ”
But the man with the gun wasn’t the shooter. He had wrested the gun away from the shooter. “Had you shot that guy, it would have been a big, fat mess,” the interviewer pointed out.
I wonder what would have happened in Tucson if five or ten people were packing heat, which is the ideal NRA solution to everything.
NASA’s Kepler Mission Discovers Its First Rocky Planet
It is very hard to see cold, small, rocky planets like Earth when they are running around stars that are light years away, but Kepler found one. S, it turns out, we are not alone, at least in relation to geology.
Continue reading NASA’s Kepler Mission Discovers Its First Rocky Planet
Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now
Creationist Teacher Fired
On January 10, 2011, the Mount Vernon City Schools Board of Education voted 4-1 to terminate the employment of John Freshwater. A middle school science teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Freshwater was accused of inappropriate religious activity in the classroom — including displaying posters with the Ten Commandments and Bible verses, branding crosses on the arms of his students with a high-voltage electrical device, and teaching creationism. After a local family sued Freshwater and the district in 2008, the board voted to begin proceedings to terminate his employment in the district. Finally, after administrative hearings that proceeded sporadically over two years, the referee presiding over the hearings issued his recommendation that the board terminate his employment with the district.
Bachmann on her mind
” I don’t think I give as much credence to my own mind, because I see myself as being very limited and very flawed, and lacking in knowledge, and wisdom and understanding. So, I just take the Bible for what it is, I guess, and recognize that I am not a scientist, not trained to be a scientist. I’m not a deep thinker on all of this. “
Annoying Computer Ads
There really aren’t that many computer ads. Lately, they suck.
Kindle Reader on Linux: We shall install no wine before it’s time (UPDATED)
UPDATE: The wine-based linux Kindle Cloud Reader file that I used to have is now no longer current, and I don’t have the newer file. However, if you want to read Kindle material on your Linux computer, the browser-based Kindle Cloud Reader is better. Use that!
And it is time. The Kindle Reader now works in Linux, under wine (which stands for “wine is not emulator”). Details follow.
Continue reading Kindle Reader on Linux: We shall install no wine before it’s time (UPDATED)
Tucson Massacre Updates
A few new bits of information mainly from CNN:
- Giffords is able to respond to “simple commands” which causes “cautious optimism” among the Neurosurgeons.
- Giffords is the only person remaining of the wounded to remain in critical condition. Three are in serious condition, six fair, one released.
- The “Suspected Suspect of Suspicion” … the second person of interest … has been identified and ruled out. He was just some guy. Conspiracy theories in three … two … one ….
- Official charges have been made against Loughner. PDF
- Papers or an envelopewith the words “I planned ahead,” “My assassination,” and “Giffords” have been found in Loughner’s home.
Shall We Call It The Tucson Massacre Law?
Given the clear connection between Michele Bachmann’s call to arms, Sarah Palin’s hit list, Sharon Angle’s suggestion that it is a good idea to shoot your opponent to death if you lose an election, and so on, with the Tucson Massacre, it might be a good idea to make that kind of hate-mongering activity illegal. Robert Brady is moving on that:
Rep. Robert Brady, D-Pennsylvania, said he will introduce legislation making it a federal crime for a person to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a Member of Congress or federal official.
source
The legal justification for this is pretty simple: It is already illegal to do these things to the President. This legal protection is probably rarely enforced but it gives the Secret Service leverage in running threats to the president to ground. In any event, he suggests that this protection be extended mor broadly.
Brady is particularly incensed over a web posting by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during the 2010 election in which she targeted 20 House Democrats, including Giffords for political defeat. The posting showed a map of the United States with the 20 Democratic congressional districts identified by gun sights.
“You can’t put bulls eyes or crosshairs on a United States congressman or a federal official,” Brady said. “I understand this web site that had it on there is no longer in existence. Someone is feeling a little guilty.”
What the Christian Right thinks about the Arizona Shooting
I wish this was a joke, but Fred Phelps is only one notch to the right of the next guy, and that guy is only one notch to the right of the next guy, and so on. And, by “to the right” I do mean more insane. As Miss Jean Brodie would say, “That does signify, bitches.”
Continue reading What the Christian Right thinks about the Arizona Shooting
Racist Teabagger Interrupts Patriotic Event in Congress
She can be heard screaming “Not Obama, Not Obama, Help us Jesus.” … or at least it is so reported.
Violent words can lead to violent actions: Joyce Kaufman
The racist tirade, which shockingly invokes the words of Margaret Meade, starts around six minutes into this violence inciting speech by a talk show host I’d never heard of before.
Continue reading Violent words can lead to violent actions: Joyce Kaufman
And, just because I so enjoy saying I told you so …
… and live next to Michele “armed and dangerious” Bachmann’s district …
Ostracize Josh
A man from Rogers, Minnesota…a small town in the Sixth Congressional District represented by Michele Bachmann…went through the trouble of strapping on his Glock .40 caliber handgun and dropping his Kel Tec 380 in his pocket before visiting the site of President Obama’s talk last Saturday in Minneapolis. His name is Josh Hendrickson and both handguns were loaded.
He went to the speech to stand outside and show off his cammo and his guns. The press took note and had a chat with him. Hendrickson told them, “I’m a pretty laid-back guy that loves his kids and his country.”
Hendrickson was released from jail about a month ago after serving for an assault charge. He had pepper-sprayed a customer at the Cub Foods (a grocery store) in Brooklyn Center. Hendrickson was a security guard at the Cub Foods.
