I went downtown tonight for First Friday. It was a gas. I ran into some Democrats I know. I had two questions.
Q: “Do you have a brain?”
A: Well, they equivocated.
Second Q: “Is it working?”
A: There was no answer.
***
For all of you holding out hope that Barack Obama will save us, I got a message… “There is no answer from that area code. Please dial again.”
***
OK, I’m not really picking on right-wing corporate whore Democrats. Now I’ll pick on right-wing corporate whore Republicans. From the CPAC convention:
Perhaps unfortunately, this one isn’t hosted by either Jerry Seinfeld or a Jerry Seinfeld impersonator. Instead, the panel will be hosted by a number of climate change deniers including Joseph Bast, president of the Heartland Institute. Bast is the author of Heartland’s “The Myth of the 98 Percent,” which argues that a majority of scientists do not actually believe that global warming is a man-made phenomenon. Fellow panelist Stephen Milloy has argued against the reality of climate change on Fox News and is currently director of external policy at Murray Energy Corp., America’s largest privately owned coal company. Spoiler alert: The deal with global warming is that these guys don’t believe in it.
***
Ray again. Apparently, being involved in politics is a clear indication of profound mental retardation these days.
Clarke and Dawe are right on top of everything that is going on environment-wise down under. One of my all time favorites is “The Front Fell Off”. (This is the expanded version with some up front video showing Australian journalists at their finest).
For once, I’m with you. Nothing winds me up faster than talking about CLEAN coal, and all the associated “job saving” BS is just icing on the cake.
Employment in the coal industry in the eastern U.S. has dropped from something like 130,000 to 20,000 (PFTA but not far off—so much for saving jobs), the environment has been destroyed, and the only “coalition” is that of fat cats wanting to get fatter as they exploit the people and the land.
That’s all that’s going on in Australia too.
By the way, I’m well into ATOMIC ACCIDENTS: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters, and you have GOT to get your hands on this book. It is full of fascinating tales, very well-written by a scientist who knows what he is talking about, and is PRO nuclear power. And this guy is GOOD—-you’ll be stealing and using his ideas for years if you read it. (James Mahaffey, Pegasus, 2104)
I was gonna ask you if one of your friends had a British accent, wore a funny multi-hued scarf and was often seen around a bit of 1950’s London street architecture.
I DID have a friend like that—-he was a bit strange, though—-always muttering about being eaten by goldilocks or something like that. Maybe he was talking about that good-looking blonde he was enamored of, although we’ll never know. he seems to have run off with her and we haven’t seen him in years.
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Wow… quite a shock.. not sure whether to laugh or cry!
Well done in the best traditions of British humor, and it did make me smile a bit. However, the message is one that makes me sad.
To me, the message that came through loud and clear is that the welfare of “the shareholders” and the corporation trumps everything else, even the welfare of future shareholders.
Absolutely, the sad thing is that this spoof shouldn’t need to exist.
Why can’t people just do the right thing?
1. Take what you need, and no more.
2. Replace what you take.
3. Leave it as you found it.
We do the same with the washroom for the next user, so why not the f’ing planet?
You ask, “……so why not the fracking planet?” Because the human species as a whole is constitutionally unable to “do the right thing”, and until capitalism and the free market are controlled and redirected away from the sole goal of profit, we are doomed.
Google “Guy Ottewell the thousand yard model” and access the NOAO piece if you want to have way more fun than just “scrolling right”. This is basically a brief lesson plan and source book for teaching and learning about the solar system and astronomy. I never took groups outside for the full size model—-it was enough to go out to Mars and Jupiter using the hallway, and they all could imagine where the outer planets were.
What I really enjoyed was saying “OK, got the picture? A lot of empty space out there, isn’t there?” They would nod, and I would say, “Now realize that in the model all the planets inhabit a thin disk that is TWO thousand feet across, and if we put that disk back into a two thousand yard diameter sphere, ALL the matter in that sphere would fill half a gym bag”. That produced the kind of open-mouthed “Eureka” looks that educators live for.
Of course, once they later discovered that space wasn’t as “empty” as they had thought, they came back at me with “you lied to us” (another thing educators love to hear).
Laughter may be the best weapon in this fight.
I went downtown tonight for First Friday. It was a gas. I ran into some Democrats I know. I had two questions.
Q: “Do you have a brain?”
A: Well, they equivocated.
Second Q: “Is it working?”
A: There was no answer.
***
For all of you holding out hope that Barack Obama will save us, I got a message… “There is no answer from that area code. Please dial again.”
***
OK, I’m not really picking on right-wing corporate whore Democrats. Now I’ll pick on right-wing corporate whore Republicans. From the CPAC convention:
http://www.ibtimes.com/your-guide-6-most-bizarre-panels-cpac-2014-1559987
QUOTE:
What’s the Deal with Global Warming?
Perhaps unfortunately, this one isn’t hosted by either Jerry Seinfeld or a Jerry Seinfeld impersonator. Instead, the panel will be hosted by a number of climate change deniers including Joseph Bast, president of the Heartland Institute. Bast is the author of Heartland’s “The Myth of the 98 Percent,” which argues that a majority of scientists do not actually believe that global warming is a man-made phenomenon. Fellow panelist Stephen Milloy has argued against the reality of climate change on Fox News and is currently director of external policy at Murray Energy Corp., America’s largest privately owned coal company. Spoiler alert: The deal with global warming is that these guys don’t believe in it.
***
Ray again. Apparently, being involved in politics is a clear indication of profound mental retardation these days.
Wow, didn’t see that coming. LOL
“The Carbon Tax” is comedy team Clarke & Dawe’s answer to all of Oz’s woes.
Clarke and Dawe are right on top of everything that is going on environment-wise down under. One of my all time favorites is “The Front Fell Off”. (This is the expanded version with some up front video showing Australian journalists at their finest).
http://youtu.be/8E8LW7qaDG4
I will help Ray lead us “astray” here, because Edward K R is right
Here’s a SERIOUS message from Australia’s coal industry (if it will let me use the img tag):
(and before people get all upset… it’s a massive problem, shouldn’t ALL solutions be on the table?)
Foo, it deletes the img tag but posts instead of rejecting and allowing an edit. Here’s the image URL:
http://depletedcranium.com/anti-nuclear_coal_ad_md.jpg
For once, I’m with you. Nothing winds me up faster than talking about CLEAN coal, and all the associated “job saving” BS is just icing on the cake.
Employment in the coal industry in the eastern U.S. has dropped from something like 130,000 to 20,000 (PFTA but not far off—so much for saving jobs), the environment has been destroyed, and the only “coalition” is that of fat cats wanting to get fatter as they exploit the people and the land.
That’s all that’s going on in Australia too.
By the way, I’m well into ATOMIC ACCIDENTS: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters, and you have GOT to get your hands on this book. It is full of fascinating tales, very well-written by a scientist who knows what he is talking about, and is PRO nuclear power. And this guy is GOOD—-you’ll be stealing and using his ideas for years if you read it. (James Mahaffey, Pegasus, 2104)
Excuse me, I haven’t traveled 90 years into the future and brought this book back—-it was printed in 2014.
I was gonna ask you if one of your friends had a British accent, wore a funny multi-hued scarf and was often seen around a bit of 1950’s London street architecture.
I DID have a friend like that—-he was a bit strange, though—-always muttering about being eaten by goldilocks or something like that. Maybe he was talking about that good-looking blonde he was enamored of, although we’ll never know. he seems to have run off with her and we haven’t seen him in years.
Wow… quite a shock.. not sure whether to laugh or cry!
Well done in the best traditions of British humor, and it did make me smile a bit. However, the message is one that makes me sad.
To me, the message that came through loud and clear is that the welfare of “the shareholders” and the corporation trumps everything else, even the welfare of future shareholders.
Absolutely, the sad thing is that this spoof shouldn’t need to exist.
Why can’t people just do the right thing?
1. Take what you need, and no more.
2. Replace what you take.
3. Leave it as you found it.
We do the same with the washroom for the next user, so why not the f’ing planet?
Saw this gobsmacking site today – the widest website ever made – get ready to spend half an hour scrolling right!
http://joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html
It’s a brilliant attempt to show the solar system to scale, with the Moon at 1 pixel in size.
It really conveys the mindnumbing nothingness that surrounds us, and that if we mess up this biosphere, we are all alone.
You ask, “……so why not the fracking planet?” Because the human species as a whole is constitutionally unable to “do the right thing”, and until capitalism and the free market are controlled and redirected away from the sole goal of profit, we are doomed.
Google “Guy Ottewell the thousand yard model” and access the NOAO piece if you want to have way more fun than just “scrolling right”. This is basically a brief lesson plan and source book for teaching and learning about the solar system and astronomy. I never took groups outside for the full size model—-it was enough to go out to Mars and Jupiter using the hallway, and they all could imagine where the outer planets were.
What I really enjoyed was saying “OK, got the picture? A lot of empty space out there, isn’t there?” They would nod, and I would say, “Now realize that in the model all the planets inhabit a thin disk that is TWO thousand feet across, and if we put that disk back into a two thousand yard diameter sphere, ALL the matter in that sphere would fill half a gym bag”. That produced the kind of open-mouthed “Eureka” looks that educators live for.
Of course, once they later discovered that space wasn’t as “empty” as they had thought, they came back at me with “you lied to us” (another thing educators love to hear).
It always has and as long as “Wall Street” has a say it always will
Omygohd!
I have the adult forum at the UU church and played this for them. It lightens up the mood and allows some interesting discussion.