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Dec 1, 2011
Pope John Paul,Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry Truman relived secret is out...
Newt Gingrich: I helped defeat communism
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Via ABC News, which was given a partial transcript, Gingrich listed his accomplishments this way:
“I helped Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp develop supply side economics. I helped lead the effort to defeat communism in the Congress.”
Nov 30, 2011
funny....
“Brush With Death” by Corridor Digital is a short action video about a battle between a painter and mysterious graffiti men. The video features some very clever use of visual effects trickery
real steampunk...
Behold, the fearsome Japanese War Tubas, used as "acoustic locators" by the Imperial Army
the ape speaks.....
O.K., I own it, I am a progressive, old school, pro union, butter not guns, support the downtrodden ect,ect.
This September I thought Obama had maybe a thirty percent chance of winning reelection. Maybe....
Numbers stacked against him, nine percent unemployment a hard hurdle to get over.
I feel personally how the economy does during a presidential term is mostly about timing. This year the economy is going to run about 14 trillion, the budget of the US government is going to run around 3.7 trillion any tweaking the congress or the president does will have little effect. We are in a transitional period, manufacturing as first world employment is done. Hey we had a good run, from 1945 when any competition lay in ruins (and we got to rebuild at a hefty profit) till the late seventies when Japan figured out they could turn a wrench cheaper and just as well as us. Now it's China and their work force are starting to unionize and demand better wages and conditions so companies there are now shifting to Malaysia (who can turn a wrench cheaper and just as well as the Chinese) a pattern that will repeat itself anon until we run out of third world hell holes.
Objectively Obama has done well. January 1st, 2008 the economy was shrinking at six percent, we were losing 400,000 thousand jobs a month, the financial, housing and car manufacturing industries were on the verge of collapse and Osama was thumbing his nose from his summer place in Pakistan. Things are better the banks and auto industry has stabilized (housing going to take a generation, sorry) we are adding jobs and Osama sleeps with the fishes(literally) but to be honest things still suck. So if meat gravy is watery and your name is on the sign it doesn't make a difference if you made it or not you not goin to move pasta.
Which brings me to what is happening now. I suspect that when the President is alone in the oval and reads the polls that have Gingrich ahead in South Carolina and within closing distance in New Hampshire, that for a moment he feels warm and fuzzy inside. Considering the fetid field Gingrich rose out of there could not be a more flawed and handicapped foil to beat Rommney over the head. All the Republicans had to do to win was pick someone who could put a coherent sentence together and not zip his dick up in his fly onstage and it was a easy walk into the endzone.
Go Newt Go.....
Nov 26, 2011
Nov 23, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving....
What's the differnce between a Mexican and A Texan?
Which way you crawl under the wire for a better way of life...
WWII vet gets his medals with help from boy, 8 (fantastic)
http://www.usatoday.com/
ROCKPORT, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Another veteran finally has his medals from World War II, thanks to the work of some good friends.
94-year-old Roland Richards was awarded his medals in a ceremony Thursday in Camden. Richards says he's really too old to be getting medals, but no one else thought so --especially his eight-year old neighbor, Thor Gabrielsen. Thor and his parents live across the road from Richards and have become friends. When Thor's mother learned Richards had never received his medals, the boy decided to write a letter to U.S. Senator Susan Collins to make things right.
Richards was drafted into the Army in 1942, and became part of the "port battalion" unloading ship convoys-first in North Africa, then Sicily, Italy and finally in Marseilles, France, where he also drove truckloads of ammunition toward the lines. He returned home to Maine three years later and went back to civilian life, like many of the millions who served in that war, Richards' medals simply were never sent to him. Congressional staff members say it can be a challenge tracking down the needed records to prove the service, but in this case it apparently happened quite rapidly. The Senator responded, and worked with the Army to obtain the proper medals and citations. Roland Richards was awarded the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal and the World War Two Victory Medal-a victory he helped win sixty-six years ago.
Asked why he started the whole chain of events, Thor Gabrielsen said, "I thought he deserved to get his medals."
Asked why he started the whole chain of events, Thor Gabrielsen said, "I thought he deserved to get his medals."
Nov 22, 2011
sleek....GroundBot, A Spherical All-Terrain Surveillance Robot
GroundBot by Swedish robotics firm Rotundus is an all-terrain, amphibious surveillance robot in the shape of a bug-eyed sphere (video). Roughly the size of a car tire, the robot moves silently at up to six mph. GroundBot houses two cameras which provide a stereoscopic view to its remote operator. Rotundus notes that the current version “cannot house robot arms or weapons.” Maybe in the next release.
The spherical design is simplicity itself. With its large circumference, GroundBot takes all kinds of terrain in its stride. And yet its appearance is friendly and unthreatening.
Inside, all cameras and sensors are sealed off from the outside world. This means that they are protected from bangs and knocks. In addition, the outside world is protected from potential electrical sparks when GroundBot is investigating gas leaks
janitors actually provide a service and are useful to society unlike this mouth breathing goober....
Newt Gingrich's Cavalier View Of Janitorial Work Challenged By Facts
WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich argued at an address at Harvard University last week that American school systems should fire their unionized janitors and let underprivileged children do the work instead, according to a report in Politico.
The upshot of the plan? The kids would learn life skills, and taxpayers would save money.The logic for such an argument would seem to rely on two premises: that janitors are currently being overpaid for their work, and that their job is so easy a child could do it.
The nation's janitors, unionized and non-unionized alike, would probably disagree.
The mean wage for a janitor working in an elementary or secondary school is $13.74 an hour, or $28,570 per year, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average pay is significantly less for janitors working at private buildings, which comprise the vast majority of janitorial jobs: $10.56 per hour, or $21,960 a year.
The latter annual salary is below the poverty line for a family of four, according to the federal government's most recent poverty guidelines. It also happens to be less than the self-renewing monthly retainer that Gingrich enjoyed as a consultant to Freddie Mac between 1999 and 2002, according to Bloomberg.
Despite its relatively modest pay, a janitor's job isn't as easy as Gingrich seems to think it is. According to the Labor Department, a janitor needs to be able to carry out a long list of duties and repairs during a typical day: Mop and polish floors, handle dangerous chemicals, even perform basic electrical and plumbing repairs. At schools, they also need to interact well with children and, at times, clean up their vomit.
A janitor's job is also more dangerous than most American occupations -- and hardly fit for children, according to the Labor Department's description of the work. Janitors, it notes, "may suffer cuts, bruises, and burns from machines, handtools, and chemicals. They spend most of their time on their feet, sometimes lifting or pushing heavy furniture or equipment. Many tasks, such as dusting or sweeping, require constant bending, stooping, and stretching."
A spokesman for Gingrich's campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.Gingrich made his remarks on unionized janitors to an audience that should know quite a bit about the subject. After long negotiations, Harvard's janitors, who are represented by the Service Employees International Union, just ratified a five-year contract with the school this past weekend, having received public support from much of the student body.
The contract includes what the SEIU has described as a "groundbreaking" childcare allowance worth up to $5,000 each year for workers, as well as a modest but important 3 percent annual raise, helping janitors' salaries keep pace with the ever-rising cost of living. The agreement also caps the percentage of janitors that Harvard can use through contractors, thereby stemming a trend that has helped erode workers' pay and benefits in the services industry and other blue-collar fields.
At Harvard, Gingrich said his plan to put kids to work as janitors would help them "begin the process of rising" in society. And the contract won by the unionized janitors appears to do just that for workers and their children. One of the perks in the agreement allows janitors to take advantage of a tuition assistance program, letting them pursue Harvard degrees or continuing education classes at a discounted rate. That benefit, presumably, could lead to better jobs and brighter futures for the janitors and their families
finally my nephew Pol Pot will have someone to play with...
Adolf Hitler Campbell Custody Dispute: Heath And Deborah Campbell Want Their Baby Back 
NEWARK, N.J. -- A New Jersey couple who gave their three children Nazi-inspired names is due in court Monday to try to regain custody of their newborn.
Heath Campbell, left, with his wife, Deborah, and son Adolf Hitler Campbell, 3, pose in Easton, Pa.
NEWARK, N.J. -- A New Jersey couple who gave their three children Nazi-inspired names is due in court Monday to try to regain custody of their newborn.
Heath and Deborah Campbell's lawyer says state child welfare officials took custody of the child named Hons after he was born Thursday at Hunterdon Medical Center.
The state took custody of the couple's other children nearly two years ago, saying there were in danger because of previous violence in the Campbell home.
Their parents made headlines in 2009 when a supermarket refused to decorate a birthday cake for their son, Adolf Hitler. His siblings are named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler
The state took custody of the couple's other children nearly two years ago, saying there were in danger because of previous violence in the Campbell home.
Their parents made headlines in 2009 when a supermarket refused to decorate a birthday cake for their son, Adolf Hitler. His siblings are named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler
I think my sister could have her shower here....
HR Giger Bar at The Museum HR Giger
By EDW Lynch on November 21, 2011
The Museum HR Giger Bar is a stunning bar designed by artist HR Giger (the designer of the Alien film character). The bar is located at Museum HR Giger in Gruyères, Switzerland (see a brief video of the bar by z0wye and a flickr photoset by Alejandro Pérez). Another Giger Bar is located in Chur, Switzerland
duh.....
Fox News Viewers Know Less Than People Who Don't Watch Any News: Study
Fox News viewers are less informed than people who don't watch any news, according to a new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
The poll surveyed New Jersey residents about the uprisings in Egypt and the Middle East, and where they get their news sources. The study, which controlled for demographic factors like education and partisanship, found that "people who watch Fox News are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government" and "6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government" compared to those who watch no news.
Overall, 53% of all respondents knew that Egyptians successfully overthrew Hosni Mubarak and 48% knew that Syrians have yet to overthrow their government.
Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson, explained in a statement, "Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News. Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all."
This isn't the first study that has found that Fox News viewers more misinformed in comparison to others. Last year, a study from the University of Maryland found that Fox News viewers were more likely to believe false information about politics
The poll surveyed New Jersey residents about the uprisings in Egypt and the Middle East, and where they get their news sources. The study, which controlled for demographic factors like education and partisanship, found that "people who watch Fox News are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government" and "6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government" compared to those who watch no news.
Overall, 53% of all respondents knew that Egyptians successfully overthrew Hosni Mubarak and 48% knew that Syrians have yet to overthrow their government.
Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson, explained in a statement, "Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News. Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all."
This isn't the first study that has found that Fox News viewers more misinformed in comparison to others. Last year, a study from the University of Maryland found that Fox News viewers were more likely to believe false information about politics
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