http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=410666
Some interesting threads here. Learning that all we have is illusion. So why NOT watch TV and phone it in?
Dunno...
http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=410666
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Serena is part of a larger trend
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/sep/12/serena-williams-abuse-us-open
Serena was flat coming out of the gate. Period. She did whatever she did out of an effort to gain an advantage. Can we fault her? Should we?
Serena Williams is part of a larger trend that needs to be addressed: Poor memory. She -- or more likely her whole team for the last twenty six years -- has not come to appreciate the reality that without a game, she has no life. And that game is tennis and tennis is determined by the rules of the game. Officials are a critical part of that. Serena has acted as if she is much more important than any other part of the game.Serena has forgotten how important this game is to her. Well, she has spoken, and it is time for the game to respond.
It happens to Alzheimer patients. It is a part of every argument between me and my wife. Once in a while a petulant prima donna whips it out in public, like here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/sep/12/serena-williams-abuse-us-open
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Fairness Doctrine Struck Down
Fairness Doctrine
Time was when the Federal Radio Commission said it wasn't cool for media sources to use the public airwaves to stump for their own causes and ignore the issue's debate environment and context. The Fairness Doctrine was put in place requiring dissenting views be voiced as well as supporters of what cause you were hammering for.
Unused since 1987, the doctrine of fairness has now been removed from our books as well as our hearts.
Time was when the Federal Radio Commission said it wasn't cool for media sources to use the public airwaves to stump for their own causes and ignore the issue's debate environment and context. The Fairness Doctrine was put in place requiring dissenting views be voiced as well as supporters of what cause you were hammering for.
Unused since 1987, the doctrine of fairness has now been removed from our books as well as our hearts.
More travel down the road of small government? We may now need to police ourselves and actually think about the messages that are barraging us.
BTW, Equal Time Rule still applies, with that pesky phrase "legally qualified."
http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=equaltimeru
BTW, Equal Time Rule still applies, with that pesky phrase "legally qualified."
http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=equaltimeru
Friday, August 19, 2011
Chinese Brawl
The goodwill games between U.S. and China in China ended in fighting, clawing, scratching and chair-throwing on Thursday. What can we learn from this? Well, I don't know, mostly I think it is sad and despair-making.
I mean, these are our AMBASSADORS. You know, those people tasked with patching up rough spots in one countries dialog with another? The bridge-builders who connect two disparate sides of basic, bitter and long-lasting disagreements.
When these guys are throwing chairs at each other and being pelted with debris from the crowd watching, it is tough to see how anything will change. As a species, we are pretty prone to violence.
***********************
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/georgetown-chinas-bayi-attempt-to-make-up-after-nasty-brawl-on-basketball-court/2011/08/19/gIQAmAFkPJ_story.html
I mean, these are our AMBASSADORS. You know, those people tasked with patching up rough spots in one countries dialog with another? The bridge-builders who connect two disparate sides of basic, bitter and long-lasting disagreements.
When these guys are throwing chairs at each other and being pelted with debris from the crowd watching, it is tough to see how anything will change. As a species, we are pretty prone to violence.
***********************
Chinese Vice Foreign Minsiter Cui Tiankai said Bayi members went to Beijing airport to see off the Georgetown team and the sides exchanged souvenirs.
“My understanding is that it’s all cleared up,” Cui told reporters at a briefing on Vice President Joe Biden’s ongoing visit to China.
Good to know Mr. Cui has put it behind him...
Friday, July 15, 2011
Why don't the damn kids care about these lessons? Don't they know it is for their own good?
Why don't the damn kids care about these lessons? Don't they know it is for their own good?
*************************************
Does the golf ball care if you have pink plaid on? Of course not. Will your students?
Maybe.
This is one way that a human is different from a piece of sports equipment. But similar too, you say?
Yes indeed!
For like the golf ball, a human student does really not care a whit ( “give a fuck” in old english ) about much of what a teacher does. What the student and the ball have in common? Bam! Impact. Moment of contact. The meeting of the minds. Shared spaces and thoughts. In short: THE HIT.
The ball waits on a tee, perhaps bored. Personification demands that we assume indifference as the player strides to the tee, chooses a club and goes through pre-shot routine. Even the swing (we DO have empathy with the piece of plastic technology, we know how it feels) is entirely irrelevant to the waiting, passive orb. Especially the experienced ball; one that has been hit more than a few times, will ignore all prelude to impact. Much as a seasoned and bored student will ignore much of a teacher’s presentation, even when it SEEMS so important to the instructor...
But then the club meets the ball.
The waggle has triggered swing and this torso pivot, weight shift, stretch to the sky perhaps, pause and reverse motions (the last the most menacing for those following the sequence), have all been completely ignored by the ball. How could it do other? It waits, unmoved. But not forever. The body moves the arms and the hands at the ends grip club arcing, dropping, accelerating with gravities help (christ! what is this ball THINKING about? Why doesn’t it do something?) until a very slight pause results from all of the focused energy being applied to the ball in the form of impact.
THEN we have a reaction from the inanimate object (“Oh,” you say, “there it is! The great distinction and insult. Comparing a human child student to a lifeless piece of equipment. Isn’t that just like a jaded, dead-to-the-core, pension-guarding, change-hating, responsibility-shirking, public-education-ungrateful-servant? Well, maybe. But again, the golf ball doesn’t care what we do, and that is a shared trait of the student, too. Even if you do wear pink.
Next time we will talk about “Why?”
Does the golf ball care if you have pink plaid on? Of course not. Will your students?
Maybe.
This is one way that a human is different from a piece of sports equipment. But similar too, you say?
Yes indeed!
For like the golf ball, a human student does really not care a whit ( “give a fuck” in old english ) about much of what a teacher does. What the student and the ball have in common? Bam! Impact. Moment of contact. The meeting of the minds. Shared spaces and thoughts. In short: THE HIT.
The ball waits on a tee, perhaps bored. Personification demands that we assume indifference as the player strides to the tee, chooses a club and goes through pre-shot routine. Even the swing (we DO have empathy with the piece of plastic technology, we know how it feels) is entirely irrelevant to the waiting, passive orb. Especially the experienced ball; one that has been hit more than a few times, will ignore all prelude to impact. Much as a seasoned and bored student will ignore much of a teacher’s presentation, even when it SEEMS so important to the instructor...
But then the club meets the ball.
The waggle has triggered swing and this torso pivot, weight shift, stretch to the sky perhaps, pause and reverse motions (the last the most menacing for those following the sequence), have all been completely ignored by the ball. How could it do other? It waits, unmoved. But not forever. The body moves the arms and the hands at the ends grip club arcing, dropping, accelerating with gravities help (christ! what is this ball THINKING about? Why doesn’t it do something?) until a very slight pause results from all of the focused energy being applied to the ball in the form of impact.
THEN we have a reaction from the inanimate object (“Oh,” you say, “there it is! The great distinction and insult. Comparing a human child student to a lifeless piece of equipment. Isn’t that just like a jaded, dead-to-the-core, pension-guarding, change-hating, responsibility-shirking, public-education-ungrateful-servant? Well, maybe. But again, the golf ball doesn’t care what we do, and that is a shared trait of the student, too. Even if you do wear pink.
Next time we will talk about “Why?”
Why don't the damn kids care about these lessons? Don't they know it is for their own good?
Saturday, April 30, 2011
message from the president
| Good morning, This week, as gas prices hit four dollars a gallon, oil companies like ExxonMobil announced skyrocketing profits -- while still receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies video A few weeks ago, I emailed you about rising gas prices, and I want to give you a quick update on three important steps:
Sincerely, David Plouffe Senior Advisor to the President | ||
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Yes Men And GE
Yes!
Yes Men Strike Again!
Nightly Business Report just covered the Yes Men and their hyjinks with GE refund return. Woo Hoo! This is participating in your government! Way To Go Andy!!
Yes Men Strike Again!
Nightly Business Report just covered the Yes Men and their hyjinks with GE refund return. Woo Hoo! This is participating in your government! Way To Go Andy!!
US Uncut + the Yes Lab: GE Returns Billions to Public... NOT
The following project was accomplished by US Uncut with some help from the Yes Lab. Press reaction has been good. Tonight: on CNN's situation room. Can someone record in high-def and send us the DVD?
April 13, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
USA Today, AP fall for US Uncut ploy; GE stock loses billions
Washington, DC - US Uncut, a burgeoning grassroots movement pressuring corporate tax cheats to pay their fair share, posted today a fake GE press release announcing that they would return their illegitimate (but legal) $3.2 billion tax refund, and that they would lobby to close the sort of corporate tax loopholes that had allowed them to skip taxes in the first place. Several major media outlets, including USA Today, ran the story as true. (Here is a link to the original USA Today story; here is the first article debunking the release.)
US Uncut quickly reacted with another release pretending to praise GE for this entirely unpredictable, unlikely, and in fact impossible act.
"At a time when working families are being asked to accept massive cuts nationwide, this action showed another way the world could work," said US Uncut spokesperson Carl Gibson. "For a brief moment people believed that the biggest corporate tax dodger had a change of heart and actually did the right thing. But the only way anything like this is really going to happen is if we change the laws that allow corporate tax avoidance in the first place."
In the period the hoax was believed, GE's stock plunged by .6% (far more than the value of the supposed return), then quickly recovered as soon as it became apparent the press had been duped. "Obviously, GE can't possibly be expected to do the right thing voluntarily; their stock would keep plunging," noted Gibson. "That's why we must change the law."
"GE's tax avoidance is unpatriotic, it's undemocratic, it's unfair," said Andrew Boyd, a US Uncut spokesperson. "It might be legal, but that's only because GE has used its money and lobbying influence to buy the loopholes they're now taking advantage of."
US Uncut developed the project with help from the Yes Lab (http://www.yeslab.org/).
US Uncut, a grassroots movement organized through social media, connects corporate tax cheating to cuts in valuable public services. The group has lead over 100 actions nationwide against corporations who do not pay their fair share in taxes, bringing protests directly to the front door of corporate retail stores. US Uncut will hold more than 80 such events over the course of the upcoming Tax Day weekend.
"Billionaire corporations profit from the system of public services set-up by the government. It only makes sense for them to pay their fair share, just like everyone else," said Gibson. "No corporation is an island, even if they hide all their profits in tropical tax havens."
"While we all pay our taxes this weekend, Congress just passed the largest spending cuts in US history, much of it to social programs and investments for our country's future," said US Uncut DC organizer George Taghi, "Instead of slashing public services like Head Start and Pell Grants, why not go after corporations who don't bother to pay any taxes at all?"
Composed of self-organized citizens through social media, including Facebook and Twitter, the magnetic message of US Uncut has spread like populist wildfire. Anger is rising as Americans are being forced to endure brutal cuts at both the federal and state-level, for a budget crisis they did not cause. Over $100 billion estimated annually could be gained, if corporations ended practices of tax avoidance.
"Billionaire corporations have already abandoned America for foreign tax havens," said US Uncut spokesperson Ryan Clayton, "They pay zero income taxes here, hold their profits in international banks, and ship millions of American jobs overseas. That is un-American."
For more information, please visit http://USuncut.org
For time & locations of all the upcoming actions: http://USuncut.org/actions
April 13, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:GE Returns Billions to Public... NOT
Blair Fitzgibbon 202-503-6141 blair@fitzgibbonmedia.com
Duncan Meisel 512-657-9124 duncan.meisel@gmail.com
Carl Gibson 601-454-6443 usuncut@gmail.com
The Yes Lab info@yeslab.org
USA Today, AP fall for US Uncut ploy; GE stock loses billions
Washington, DC - US Uncut, a burgeoning grassroots movement pressuring corporate tax cheats to pay their fair share, posted today a fake GE press release announcing that they would return their illegitimate (but legal) $3.2 billion tax refund, and that they would lobby to close the sort of corporate tax loopholes that had allowed them to skip taxes in the first place. Several major media outlets, including USA Today, ran the story as true. (Here is a link to the original USA Today story; here is the first article debunking the release.)
US Uncut quickly reacted with another release pretending to praise GE for this entirely unpredictable, unlikely, and in fact impossible act.
"At a time when working families are being asked to accept massive cuts nationwide, this action showed another way the world could work," said US Uncut spokesperson Carl Gibson. "For a brief moment people believed that the biggest corporate tax dodger had a change of heart and actually did the right thing. But the only way anything like this is really going to happen is if we change the laws that allow corporate tax avoidance in the first place."
In the period the hoax was believed, GE's stock plunged by .6% (far more than the value of the supposed return), then quickly recovered as soon as it became apparent the press had been duped. "Obviously, GE can't possibly be expected to do the right thing voluntarily; their stock would keep plunging," noted Gibson. "That's why we must change the law."
"GE's tax avoidance is unpatriotic, it's undemocratic, it's unfair," said Andrew Boyd, a US Uncut spokesperson. "It might be legal, but that's only because GE has used its money and lobbying influence to buy the loopholes they're now taking advantage of."
US Uncut developed the project with help from the Yes Lab (http://www.yeslab.org/).
US Uncut, a grassroots movement organized through social media, connects corporate tax cheating to cuts in valuable public services. The group has lead over 100 actions nationwide against corporations who do not pay their fair share in taxes, bringing protests directly to the front door of corporate retail stores. US Uncut will hold more than 80 such events over the course of the upcoming Tax Day weekend.
"Billionaire corporations profit from the system of public services set-up by the government. It only makes sense for them to pay their fair share, just like everyone else," said Gibson. "No corporation is an island, even if they hide all their profits in tropical tax havens."
"While we all pay our taxes this weekend, Congress just passed the largest spending cuts in US history, much of it to social programs and investments for our country's future," said US Uncut DC organizer George Taghi, "Instead of slashing public services like Head Start and Pell Grants, why not go after corporations who don't bother to pay any taxes at all?"
Composed of self-organized citizens through social media, including Facebook and Twitter, the magnetic message of US Uncut has spread like populist wildfire. Anger is rising as Americans are being forced to endure brutal cuts at both the federal and state-level, for a budget crisis they did not cause. Over $100 billion estimated annually could be gained, if corporations ended practices of tax avoidance.
"Billionaire corporations have already abandoned America for foreign tax havens," said US Uncut spokesperson Ryan Clayton, "They pay zero income taxes here, hold their profits in international banks, and ship millions of American jobs overseas. That is un-American."
For more information, please visit http://USuncut.org
For time & locations of all the upcoming actions: http://USuncut.org/actions
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