gotta luv it.....

Rush Limbaugh's Show Filled With Free Ads; Sponsor Exodus Continues

Media watchdogs have been paying close attention to the commercials aired during Rush Limbaugh's radio show, as nearly 50 advertisers have pulled their content from the program in wake of the controversy surrounding Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke.

Think Progress has kept daily tabs on Limbaugh's fleeing advertisers and those sticking with him. AOL—the parent company of The Huffington Post—announced last week that the company pulled its ads from Limbaugh's show.

Reports about Limbaugh's Thursday program showed that 77 of the 86 spots that aired were "free public service announcements donated by the Ad Council." Additionally, seven ads were from companies "in the process of pulling their spots." This apparently left only two paid advertisements.

Advertisers began distancing themselves from Limbaugh after the conservative radio host made a series of incendiary comments about Fluke, who advocated for insurance covered contraception. Limbaugh called her a "slut," and "prostitute" who should upload videos of her having sex online so people may watch. His comments caused a public outcry, with even President Obama personally calling Fluke to offer his sympathies. Limbaugh issued a rare, public apology, which later Fluke dismissed during an appearance on "The View."

Despite Limbaugh's apology, advertisers continued to pull their commercials from his program. Two radio stations also dropped his show.

Limbaugh has spent considerable time this week defending himself, his apology, and his program. Limbaugh said that his show is doing well despite advertisers pulling their content, and will announce new sponsors in the coming days. Although his comments about Sandra Fluke outraged many, Limbaugh has continued to attack women on his program.

He called journalist Tracie McMillan another white, single, overeducated woman for a book she authored about food and the way Americans eat. "Overeducated does not mean intelligent," Limbaugh said of McMillan

Tommy Craggs, Guerrilla Tree Sculptor

Hardware Chess Set

If you’ve ever been hesitant to pick up the game of chess because it’s stereotypically nerdy, first off, go play a few rounds with the guys in Washington Square Park and get back to us, and second, pick up this Nuts and Bolts set. The thinking man’s game gets a working man’s makeover with these offerings from Rambutan Red on Etsy. The 8×8 inch board features a black and white distressed finish that adds to the beat up garage feel of the game and all the nuts and bolts have been fastened so you won’t have to run out to Home Depot after you smash the board down

 

Solipsist, An Astonishingly Beautiful Experimental Film by Andrew Huang

 

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can't beat free range crazy.....

Sarah Palin weighed in on President Obama's college years in an interview Thursday.

Sarah Palin weighed in Thursday on a video of Barack Obama embracing the late Professor Derrick Bell, stating during an interview that the clip revealed that the president is "bringing us back...to days before the Civil War" when racial discrimination was prevalent.

In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Palin discussed Obama's affiliation with Bell, a former Harvard professor who passed away last year. A video released earlier this week showed Obama, then a student at Harvard Law School, praising Bell at a rally in support of the university hiring more minority faculty.

"He is bringing us back...to days before the Civil War, when unfortunately too many Americans mistakenly belived that not all men were created equal," she said. "What Barack Obama seems to want to do is go back to before those days when we were in different classes based on income, based on color of skin."

Earlier in the show, Palin accused Obama of "trying to divide" the country, "based along lines of gender, of religion, of income, even of race," citing the president's association with Bell.

"Look at his embracing of Derrick Bell, the radical college racist professor whom he...embraced literally and figuratively asking others to open their hearts and minds to the radical agenda of a racist like Derrick Bell who believed that white men oppress blacks and minorities," she said. "And Barack Obama, evidently at least at the time, believed what Derrick Bell believed."

The 1991 footage in question was touted as game-changing by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart at CPAC, weeks before he unexpectedly passed away. However, the clip was also included in a 2008 PBS special, and has made few waves outside of conservative circles.

At the time of the video, Bell had announced he would take an unpaid leave from Harvard until the school brought a woman of color onto the law school's tenured faculty. Bell was also a strong advocate of critical race theory, which posits that racist beliefs underly many of the country's legal foundations.

Westerfeld's Uglies continues in manga form:

I've written several times here about Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, a collection of outstanding dystopian YA science fiction novels about a world where everyone is forced to undergo cosmetic surgery at the age of 16. Westerfeld concluded the series in 2007, but now he is revisiting the world in manga form, co-creating a series of graphic novels with Devin Grayson and Steven Cummings.
The first of these volumes, Uglies: Shay's Story came out this week, and it's a fantastic, fast-paced addition to the Uglies canon. As the title implies, Shay's Story retells some of the key events in the series from the point-of-view of one of the minor characters from the novel, Shay, giving her her due (she was always one of my favorites). In so doing, Westerfeld and co illuminate more of the Uglies world -- and bring to it a set of visuals that flesh out and enhance the original novels.
You can certainly enjoy Shay's Story without reading the Uglies novels first, though each series (Shay's Story is the first of several volumes) contains a few spoilers for the other

Navy’s Newest Robot Is a Mechanized Firefighter

Meet SAFFiR: Embedded sensors allow the 'bot to see through smoke, and sophisticated upper-body agility let the 'bot throw fire-squelching grenades. Illo: Naval Research Laboratory

Add another eerily lifelike robot to the military’s rapidly expanding android army. This one is, of all things, a mechanical firefighter. And not only can it climb ladders like its flesh-and-blood counterparts, it’s designed to interact with human handlers in a kind of human/robot bucket brigade.
Developed by the Naval Research Laboratory, the Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot — or “SAFFiR”; get it? — will help extinguish fires onboard ships and subs. Those watercraft are particularly at risk from fires, because their cramped quarters can make flames tough to extinguish without posing significant human risk.
SAFFiR, expected to be field tested in 18 months, might mitigate that danger. And it shows off some of the the latest and most impressive breakthroughs in Pentagon-funded robotics technology.
For one thing, SAFFiR is designed to use its mechanized legs and arms like a human would, thanks to sophisticated sensors that provide ongoing environmental feedback and titanium springs that act as “joints” to enable fluid movements. Until recently, most military robots designed for cramped spaces like the quarters of warships or submarines needed to be small. Wheels and treads enabled movement, not pseudo-limbs. (Well, mostly.)

Now, much like a person, SAFFiR will scurry through cramped hallways and climb up and down the endless maze of ladders aboard a ship. The robot will have enough hand coordination to tote fire hoses and throw extinguisher grenades. That kind of precise coordination is also a relatively new accomplishment for military ‘bots. Just last week, Darpa-funded researchers unveiled the first ‘bot capable of performing complex tasks, like unlocking a door, with its own “two hands.”
All that’s crazy enough. But SAFFiR’s interaction with human handlers is where things get really interesting. The robot has an interface that’ll allow it to understand and respond to human gestures. The goal, according to a statement from the lab, is for robot and human “to work cohesively as a team.” A similar concept is informing the development of other military robots, namely AlphaDog, which’ll also boast visual sensors and an interface that can comprehend human commands.
Even without gestures, the ‘bot will be able to adeptly follow its master, because SAFFiR is programmed to track a person’s line of sight. So if SAFFiR’s captain notices flames over on the left, the ‘bot’ll see ‘em at the same time, even in smoky air: SAFFiR’s visual sensors incorporate infrared cameras so that the robot can see through poor conditions.
Once fully realized, SAFFiR might be as capable as a human firefighter, without the risk of lost life. But here’s hoping SAFFiR is also able to put out fires quickly: The ‘bot’s batteries run out after a mere 30 minutes, regardless of whether the flames have been contained.

Kansas Abortion Bill Could Raise Taxes On Women Seeking Procedure (UPDATE

 

 

The sweeping anti-abortion bill working its way through the Kansas Legislature would levy a sales tax on women seeking abortions, including rape victims.

Buried in the 69-page bill being considered by the House Federal and State Affairs Committee are several provisions, in fact, that opponents say would increase taxes on those who seek abortions. The tax sections do not include exemptions for women who want an abortion after a sexual assault or to end a life-threatening pregnancy.

The committee is likely to continue discussing the bill Thursday afternoon.
Under the proposal, women who end up receiving abortions would not be able to deduct the cost of the abortion as a health care expense if they had not purchased special abortion insurance, said Sarah Gillooly of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.
Last year, Kansas enacted a law removing abortion coverage from health insurance plans in general. Women can purchase a special rider to cover the procedure in advance of a pregnancy.

The bill would also levy a sales tax on abortion procedures, including those performed for rape victims, according to both Gillooly and Rep. Sean Gatewood (D-Topeka), the bill's leading opponent. The Kansas Department of Revenue's website says the state has a 6.3-percent sales tax.

Rep. Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe), the sponsor of the bill, did not return a call for comment. A Kinzer staffer said he rarely speaks to the press.

Among other provisions in the proposed legislation are measures allowing doctors to withhold from patients medical information that might encourage them to seek an abortion and prohibiting malpractice suits if the woman or the child suffers a health complication as a result of information being withheld. A wrongful death lawsuit could be filed if the mother dies. The bill also would require doctors to tell women that abortion causes breast cancer and would prohibit state employees from performing abortions on the job.

Language in the bill that could jeopardize the accreditation of the OB-GYN residency program at the University of Kansas Medical Center is unlikely to be amended during the committee's hearing Thursday.

Gillooly predicted the bill would create multiple enforcement issues for the Revenue Department. She said that the abortion deduction ban would allow state auditors to demand individuals' medical records in order to check that deductions were not being claimed for abortion procedures, which she said would violate medical privacy laws.
In addition, Gillooly suggested that the state could end up levying a sales tax on birth control as well under the provision. "How does Walgreens tax abortion medication and not birth control?" she asked rhetorically.

Opponents have asked that the bill be considered by the House Taxation Committee as well, because the federal affairs panel does not have tax expertise. But Rep. Gatewood, who serves on both committees, said it's unlikely that will happen. The Federal and State Affairs Committee deals with a host of issues including abortion, bingo licenses, immigration, land surveying, strip clubs and alcohol.

Rep. Steve Brunk (R-Wichita), chairman of the federal affairs panel, did not return a call for comment.

Gatewood said that if he and others in the House can't stop the bill, they hope the state Senate, which is controlled by a more moderate Republican faction, can stop it. Gov. Sam Brownback (R) has told HuffPost that he will sign the bill.

"Basic life-saving stuff, they can't use their insurance on. It is not birth control. It is a matter of life and death," Gatewood said. "I don't know what these people are thinking or if they're thinking."
Update: 3:19 p.m. -- The Federal and State Affairs Committee of the Kansas House has postponed discussion of the abortion bill until Monday.

Rep. Gatewood said that Chairman Brunk announced at the start of Thursday afternoon's committee meeting that the delay will allow legislators more time to review the University of Kansas Medical Center accreditation issue and to draft possible amendments on the issue. Gatewood said that the committee meeting instead will focus primarily on alcohol-related bills, including one to legalize wine tastings in the state

Suspended tent-hammock sleeps 5-8

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Hammock-tent-makers Tentstile have a new 5-8 person model -- string it up between a couple-three massive trees and it becomes a treetop aerie, far above the madding crowd of critters and hikers.

Tentsile combines the comfort and versatility of a hammock with the usable space and security of a tent. The ultra portable structure uniquely employs tension forces to provide separation from wildlife, including insects, snakes and other predators but also from sand storms, earth tremors, cold or wet ground, debris or contamination.