What happens when a couple of engineers decide to make a Christmas edition of SNL's Lasercats sketch? Some legitimately fearsome lasercats with autoturrets, that's what. [Laughing Squid via The Daily What]
Robert Ringer is the best-selling author of "Looking out for No. 1," and "Restoring the American Dream," both libertarian classics that espoused individualist values. He was also a regular on the Libertarian Party convention circuit throughout the late 1970s and '80s.
Today he is a syndicated columnist and writes for World Net Daily. His regular column: "A Voice of Sanity."
In his Christmas Day column Ringer asks, "Can America be Saved?" Excerpt from WND:
America will go through a fundamental change in 2010 – guaranteed. Either it will be fundamentally transformed into a full-fledged socialist police state, then, ultimately, a communist police state, or those who still believe in freedom will do whatever it takes to overthrow the oligarchy that now rules over us
But, as I have so often pointed out, the caveat is that the fascist president and Congress may very well find a Chavezian reason to declare a state of emergency and "postpone" the 2012 presidential election. Regardless of whether that emergency is a total collapse of the U.S. economy or a terrorist attack, don't be fooled. If it happens, it will be a planned event by those who are now in power.
Via health care, cap and trade and other wildly unconstitutional measures, BHO and the criminal Congress will assure that the economy is many times worse off by next November's elections than it is now. The objective, of course, is to bring people to their knees so they will have "no other choice" but to look to benevolent government for help.
Ringer goes on to warn that the only way that America can be saved from Obama's "fundamental transformation," is if "Conservative Republicans sweep into power [in 2010]."
Several recent industry articles intimate the bottom has been reached for the power transmission equipment market and an upward trend is slowly, very slowly beginning. While this may be true overall, what is the current market trend you are experiencing specifically in your organization? It's a new
Health Care legislation 1 day old, and already Governor of Nation's largest State Rebels
From Eric Dondero:
Texas Governor Rick Perry is again moving to assert State Sovereignty over the Feds. According to The Gov. Monitor, Gov. Perry sent a letter to other Governors reiterrating "constitutional rights of states as guaranteed under the 10th Amendment with regard to the federal health care bill being forced through by Congress."
At his urging Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is leading an effort to determine the Constitutionality of the special exemption for Nebraska allowing the State to skip Medicaid payments according to the Harry Reid compromise final package.
Quoted by The Gov. Monitor:
“As the chief executive officers of our individual sovereign states, we must stand up to this unprecedented intrusion in to our lives and the rights of our citizens. We must demonstrate resolve in the face of this infringement,” Gov. Perry wrote in the letter.
“Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (photo) is joining with several other state attorneys general to place this deal under proper scrutiny, to determine if such an exclusion is unconstitutional.
His office, along with mine, will continue to explore all options available to us as we attempt to minimize the damages that can be caused to Texans by this ill-advised piece of legislation.”
From the text of the letter itself (pdf):
This health care bill and its unfunded mandates are unhealthy to taxpayers, our economy and our democracy itself. I urge you to support the efforts of these attorney generals, and ask your own to join it, and to work with me in ongoing efforts to assert the constitutional rights of states guaranteed under the 10th Amendement... Together we can forge a powerful coalition... without the states left holding the budgetary bag for Congress yet again.
Late word that the Attorney General of the State of South Carolina has already responded positively to Governor Perry's request to excert State Sovereignty. The move came at the urgings of the State's two US Senators Lindsey Graham, and Jim DeMint.
UPDATE!
There are indications that newly-elected libertarian Republican Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia Ken Cuccinelli, is prepared to sign on to the agreement with TX AG Abbott. Also mentioned by various sources as likely to sign on, AGs and other "high-ranking Republican officials," in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Colorado, Utah and North Dakota.
LINKS
Bungalow Bill's Conservative Wisdom blog:
Article: TX Gov. Rick Perry Hopes to Take Back Ben Nelson's Christmas Present to Nebraska
Excerpt: This makes me wish Governor Jay Nixon would grow a set of balls and start standing up for Missourians who are getting screwed by the federal government... Of course, Jay Nixon doesn't want to upset the federal government because he is going to need a bailout too since he expanded Medicaid in the state as quickly as he was sworn in.
Not everyone's a PIcasso when it comes to long exposure art—though some of you guys aren't too far off—but even Pablo himself couldn't replicate the precise, geometric light illustrations created by Nils Voelker's Lightdrawing robot.
Voelker, a German designer, says the robot is still in the prototype phase, but from the look of things it already has the Christmas tree and house routines down pat.
The prevailing "lightdrawing" technique for humans—waving a LED key chain around in the air like a madman—is not the easiest to master; at best you get a nice halo over your head, at worst you get a big ugly mess of light. But Voelker's Lightdrawer putters along, cool as a cucumber:
Robot Drawing with Light from Nils Völker on Vimeo.
Using a robot might not be the most fun way to paint a long exposure Christmas tree, but at least this way people will be able to tell it's a Christmas tree when you show them the picture. [Nils Voelker via Designboom]
The typically mild-mannered and sedate distinguished Senator from Utah, Orrin Hatch, raised the issue of Socialism in describing the legislation the Democrats just pushed through the Senate.
From Politico.com, "Parties risk it all on Health Care reform," Dec. 24:
“If the majority refuses to listen to what Americans are telling them now – I’m sure they will have a rude wake-up call waiting for them later,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Wednesday. “To date, we have been rebuffed by an unfailing determination by a few to pursue a nearly socialist agenda.”
I can think of two possible justifications.
The first is that society wants to promote particular ideas, values, individuals, or the like; think of the 4th of July or President's Day. I find this defense problematic: the choice of holidays is a vehicle for thought control.
The second justification asserts that legal holidays solve a co-ordination problem by helping people take vacations at the same time as their friends and relatives. This view has some merit, but a countervailing effect is that promoting specific vacation days generates crowding at airports, beaches, and so on.
So I do not see a convincing justification for government holidays, especially not those associated with religion.
Yes, I know I am a Scrooge. My family has been telling me this for years.
WebOS's App Catalog may be way behind iPhone and Android in total number of apps, but that doesn't mean there aren't some great ones. Here are our picks for 20 of the best.
All you gallery-haters, click here.
WHERE: WHERE integrates several widgets designed to answer any question that starts with its name. Where's the nearest coffee shop? Where's the nearest gas station? But it's more flexible than that, able to answer some questions that start with "what," as in "what's the traffic on I-95 like?" Hell, it can even do some "whens," like "when is Fantastic Mr. Fox playing?" It's got Yelp, YellowPages, Starbucks and more. Free
Evernote: Evernote is arguably the best note-taking app on every platform on which it appears (iPhone, Android) and on Pre it's nearly as good. For some reason the Pre version lacks voice notes, but it's still what I use for grocery lists. Free
Pandora: It's Pandora. It's great. Especially essential on the Pre, which has a mere 8GB of non-expandable memory. Free
Fandango: Another one that you probably already know, Fandango's the best movie-finding app on WebOS. It saves nearby or favorite theaters, uses GPS to find those closest, lets you watch trailers—it's everything you'd want in a movie app. Free
Twee: I had a hard time deciding between Twee and Tweed for the title of Palm Pre Twitter Champ, but decided on Twee for two reasons. First, I like its story—it was a jailbreak app first, and muscled its way into the App Catalog on sheer moxie and pluck. Second, it offers a free version, which is the one I actually use. Tweed has a more conventional (read: prettier) interface, but I'm not sure that's worth three bucks when TweeFree is totally competent. Free
NYTimes: An essential for any smartphone platform, the Pre's NYTimes app falls in between the iPhone's and Android's in quality. It's less buggy and better-looking than Android's, but its smaller screen and slightly slower performance gives iPhone the edge. Regardless, it's a great app for the greatest news outlet in the country, and lets you feel informed even though you're just skimming headlines while sitting on the toilet. Free
TasteSpotting Today: TasteSpotting is my favorite food website, but the things that make it great (huge and constantly updated selection, links to external websites, great photography) also make it a headache to read on a mobile device. But TasteSpotting Today puts the massive amounts of info in an easy-to-read format. Great for anyone who likes food. $1
Tea Timer: Honestly, I don't really like tea. I can never get it to taste like much besides tea-flavored hot water, and, you know, I always feel like could be drinking coffee instead. But I have to say, Tea Timer, which provides exact steeping times for a huge variety of tea types (as well as a countdown timer), did result in the best cup of loose-leaf Rooibos I've ever had. Still tasted like tea-flavored water, but it was the best tea-flavored water I've ever made. Way to go, Tea Timer. $1
Topple Ball: The Pre's definitely lacking in games compared to the iPhone, but Topple Ball is the perfect waiting-for-a-bus game. It's kind of like that tilting maze game Labyrinth, but with obstacles like bumpers, launchers and teleporters to provide extra challenge. Surprisingly tough, but my go-to timewaster. $2, free version available
Stitcher: As with Pandora, it's important to have a source of streaming media to make up for the Pre's anemic storage, and Stitcher is my favorite podcast app on the platform. It's sleek, fairly full-featured, streams quickly, and has an easy-to-use interface. Free
Scoop: Scoop is my pick for best RSS reader on the Pre, due to its solid integration with Google Reader. Feeds is the other frontrunner, but it's five times more expensive and you definitely aren't getting more for your money. $1
Open Table: Open Table is a great (albeit sometimes limited) way to reserve tables at restaurants without having to, like, talk to a human being. It's really effective in major urban areas like NYC and SF, although in my suburban Pennsylvania hometown I was better off using Yelp and calling the restaurants. Free
Accuweather: Tells you the weather. Free
Dealert: Tracks deals from a variety of online deal purveyors, like SlickDeals, DealNews and FatWallet. That's provided you need some other source of deals beyond our own Gadget Deals of the Day, shocking though that may be. $2
Yelp: The premiere source for sometimes-corrupt listings of restaurants and local businesses. Need pan-Asian-Ethiopian fusion food right now, in the middle of Little Italy? Yelp's got your back. Free
JogStats: If you're one of those weirdos who likes jogging even when there's a perfectly nice couch you could be sitting on, JogStats is the best running assistant on WebOS. It tracks your distance, speed, calories, altitude, all that stuff that makes me exhausted just typing it. $5
Classic: For the guy who just can't let go to the past, this oddly third-party app recreates the classic Palm OS on your Pre or Pixi, complete with virtual buttons, and will run any Palm OS app. Free
GDial: The Palm Pre's Google Voice app is damn good—in John Herrman's words, "The Pre handles Google Voice nearly as well as Android, and obviously way better than the iPhone." Free
Crosswords: It ain't from Will Shortz, but the Pre's Crosswords app is surprisingly excellent. Clever puzzles, huge selection, with a range of challenge from Monday to Saturday (there's a little crossword humor for you). Seems expensive, but if you're into crossword puzzles, this could mean dozens of hours of entertainment. Or, if you're like me, hundreds of hours. $10
Media Remote: A version of Apple's very first iPhone app, Remote, Media Remote takes the idea to the next level by letting you control several different programs on a Windows PC—WMP, iTunes, MediaMonkey, VLC and XBMC. Pre only (since the Pixi has no Wi-Fi) and yeah, Windows only is lame, but I use this app all the time to control my XBMC-running media center and it works great. Free
A decade ago, this marriage proposal was presented like a business proposal—for humorous effect. Now, that just doesn't seem so nuts to me. But any business proposal presented today without PowerPoint? I mean... that's just trippy.
Anna Jane Grossman will be with us for the next few weeks, documenting life in the early aughts, and how it differs from today. The author of Obsolete: An Encyclopedia of Once-Common Things Passing Us By (Abrams Image) and the creator of ObsoleteTheBook.com, she has also written for dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Salon.com, the Associated Press, Elle and the Huffington Post, as well as Gizmodo. She has a complicated relationship with technology, but she does have an eponymous website: AnnaJane.net. Follow her on Twitter at @AnnaJane.
Posted by David McRee at BlogTheBeach.com
Nothing says “summer” to me like a towering thunderstorm spreading itself slowly over the barrier islands on a hot afternoon. This photo was taken a few blocks south of Magnolia Avenue, looking south toward Holmes Beach.
After calling home and me blubbering like a big wuss for about half an hour we decided to have a picnic in the park. So we bought some supplies sarnies crisps and choc and sat in Hyde Park near a big church which had a nativity scene and xmas tree outside. It doesn't really seem like xmas to us just like a bank holiday or something. It's also odd because we're 10hrs ahead of UK. As there is
Today dawned bright and sunny and warm We assembled all the equipment for cricket soccer etc and prepared the lunch. Santa came but Jen and Paul were not here so Secret Santa is happening tomorrow We had a great day as you can see from the photos some were more photogenic than others
Mom Dad and Brett all came to visit for four days this is the first time they've all come to visit at once and we got to see some great sights. The first day we drove down past Colorado Springs to Royal Gorge Bridge in Canon City. I made the mistake of saying it wasn't too far from Colorado Springs which for some reason I really thought was true but it was actually an hour past Colorado S
OLD COUPLES KASHI YATRA VIA KHAJURAHO 810th October 2007 Wednesday. After visiting the temple complex we proceeded to the Balaji Temple which was a recent construction. This temple was constructed by Shri Parasaram Pattabhi Ramacharyulu belonging to Vaikhanasa branch of Vaishnavism with the contributions raised from Vaikhanasa Samajam of Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh. Shri Grandhi S
Today I went to Australia Zoo Steve Irwin's Zoo to be correct. I didn't sleep much because one of my roommates came in at around 230AM and needed to do her beauty rituals obviously with all the lights on. Anyhow I got up at 7AM and got picked up by the tour bus at my hostel. The chauffeur was telling us that he loved to travel as well and he used to be tour guide in Europe and Asia while he
After days of stressing over the incoming winter storm I made the decision to get out of WI early and head to LAX. Of course that means I needed to spend an unplanned night in LA thank you Marriott points. Mike managed to leave Reno a day early too and join me for a day of hanging out and enjoying the Los Angeles sunshine. The day coming to an end just puts us that much closer to our flight.
As soon as I walked out the open door of the plane I knew I was home. The feeling of the burning sun on your face and the smell of heavily salted air in your nostrils is somehow unlike anywhere else in the world. My parents moved here when I was one and over 32 years later they are still living in the same house. But for not much longer and so for me they are not far from retirement this was a
Merry XMas EveryoneWe spent XMas Eve at the Hard Rock Cafe Phuket. It was a nice evening and the entertainment was the Blues' BorthersLater on we made our way to the main strip in Pattong to shake our bums for a bit.Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season
I kind of enjoyed my hospital life. Because you know my camping rock climbing life style I loveI did not go restaurant once in a while. I have not seen TV show. Sleep in my tent or climber friends house039s living floor or free space.But In there I had very soft bed some one take care of me 24hours. I could not use the calling switch. I eat food was room service if hospital039s restauran
