Filed under: Aviation, Beyond Dumb, Idiocy | Leave a comment »
No Comment…
Posted on April 4, 2014 by hanshowe
Take Away Barney Fife’s Bullets, Please
Posted on February 28, 2014 by hanshowe
[from eb.misfit] Because they’re now shooting senior citizens for the heinous crime of being disabled:
I suppose this could be good for a rant of how this shooting is Yet Another Example of How the Police Regard Themselves as an Occupying Army.
But let’s take another tack and call ol’ Barney into a classroom.
OK, Barney, let’s do a bit of visual recognition training, shall we? Ready? There will be a test at the end.
This is a rifle:
This is a cane:
This is a rifle:
This is a cane:
This is a rifle:
This is a cane:
This is a rifle:
This is a cane:
Any questions, Barn’? If you pass the test, Sheriff Andy will consider giving you back your bullet. If you fail, the last cane pictured is yours to keep.
Filed under: Beyond Dumb, Cops Gone Nuts, Idiocy | Leave a comment »
The Woody Allen Allegations: Not So Fast – The Daily Beast
Posted on February 2, 2014 by hanshowe
South Dakota – The Suzerainty of Teananderthalia
Posted on February 2, 2014 by hanshowe
where drooling morans rule…
So. Dakota Bill Protects Teaching Intelligent Design in Schools
by John Timmer / Senior Science Editor / Ars Technica
Once again, state legislatures have been turned into battlegrounds by lawmakers who seem intent on slipping religion into the science classroom. As in years past, most of these bills simply seek to protect teachers who introduce spurious criticisms of evolution into their lesson plans. But South Dakota has the distinction of attempting to specifically protect the teaching of intelligent design, something that has already been determined to be unconstitutional following a bruising court defeat.
As tracked by the National Center for Science Education, four states are considering a total of five bills; Missouri has the honor of having two bills going at once, while Virginia and Oklahoma have one. The Virginia bill is fairly typical of these. It would prevent local school boards and administrations from punishing teachers who help students “analyze, critique, and review” scientific theories in their classrooms. In the past, these bills have singled out evolution as a topic that’s meant to be critiquedone Missouri bill still doesbut lately that’s often been dropped in favor of generic language like “scientific controversies” (see, for example, the Oklahoma bill).
Based on the evolutionary history of these bills, it’s clear that they were originally intended to encourage teachers who wished to introduce spurious criticisms of evolution, many of which have been published by the creationist and intelligent design movements. However, in an attempt to avoid legal scrutiny, the bills’ authors have been turning to increasingly generic language.
That said, this year’s bills include two distinct variations on the theme. One is the second Missouri bill, which would require schools to develop “a mechanism where a parent can choose to remove the student from any part of the district’s or school’s instruction on evolution.” And the second is the South Dakota bill, which would see any teacher that introduced intelligent design into their science classroom protected from disciplinary action, even though that instruction has been declared an unconstitutional imposition of religion. “[This bill] is a recipe for disaster,” said NCSE Executive Director Ann Reid. “If enacted, school districts are going to find themselves caught between a rock and a hard placeand they’ll wind up in court.”
If the long-running battle over evolution interests you, stay tuned to Ars. Next Tuesday, we’ll have two reporters at the Creation Museum to watch its founder debate Bill Nye, the Science Guy.
Filed under: Apocalypse, Beyond Dumb, Education, Idiocy, IOIYAR, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment »
Oh, tell us what you REALLY think… MoA Comment Classic…
Posted on February 2, 2014 by hanshowe
“If it is still not apparent to the rest of the world, the US is run by a collection of out-of-control psychopathic Zionist war criminals that have to be treated as such if there is going to be any semblance of peace. Sure, we here can discuss how their actions conform to this or that plan – e.g., the Yinon Plan – etc but taken as a whole and with an large unforgiving eye to the needless murder/maiming/displacement/destruction of millions that the US has been directly responsible for for decades there is in my mind just no sense in even pretending that any rational and humanistic leader/people should countenance much less negotiate/partner with the US and its depraved and sickening representatives as it continues apace on its campaign of terror.
“Everyone should reflexively know that The Global War on Terror is very real but in an – oh so amusing I’m sure to TPTB – twist it’s not AQ or any of the other chimerical villains that are perpetrating it but the US itself and it’s grotesque assortment of hideous war criminals.
“With a massive propaganda battery at their disposal to take the “edge” off of the murder and mayhem until the next round begins, there is no hell hole deep enough for these monsters. I know that bevin and others may disagree but when does the world move beyond the realpolitik and start talking about such quaint terms as justice for those millions of people who have had their lives needlessly destroyed by these subhumans?
“In an amazing Dorian Gray moment at the SOTU address Peace Laureate Obama looked into the shattered monstrous visage of his own soul in regards to the GWOT and everyone in attendance clapped like the bloodthirsty murderers they are without a thought to the millions of people we’ve wrecked beyond the point of being stitched back together. Such spectacles should be enough to signal to the world what type of people are leading the United States of America and they should begin to act/plan accordingly.”
Posted by: JSorrentine | Feb 1, 2014 10:57:18 AM
Moon of Alabama re West sponsoring fascists in Ukraine. Wait for the Sochi games to end cuz Putin’s gonna have a Valentine to deliver…
http://www.moonofalabama.org/
Filed under: Apocalypse, Beyond Dumb, Essays, Idiocy, Mental Health, Politics, Public Health, Religion, Science | Leave a comment »
un-fkn believable…Schneier on Security: Another Credit-Card-as-Authentication Hack
Posted on January 31, 2014 by hanshowe
my head hurts…
you’d expect shit like that from GoDaddy, but paypal too furchristsakes…
“This is a pretty impressive social engineering story: an attacker compromised someone’s GoDaddy domain registration in order to change his e-mail address and steal his Twitter handle. It’s a complicated attack.
My claim was refused because I am not the “current registrant.” GoDaddy asked the attacker if it was ok to change account information, while they didn’t bother asking me if it was ok when the attacker did it. […]
It’s hard to decide what’s more shocking, the fact that PayPal gave the attacker the last four digits of my credit card number over the phone, or that GoDaddy accepted it as verification.
The misuse of credit card numbers as authentication is also how Matt Honan got hacked.”
Bruce Schneier 
Filed under: Beyond Dumb, Geek, Security | Leave a comment »
things that make you go incandescent… from The Pump Handle
Posted on January 31, 2014 by hanshowe
[[WHAT COULD GO WRONG… those pushing this
are evil fools…]
Reality check on USDAs claims about its plan to privatize poultry inspection
Posted by Celeste Monforton, DrPH, MPH of George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services on January 28, 2014
In Feds proposed shift in poultry rules troubling, the Charlotte Observers editorial board wrote this on January 20:
Warning horns should blast full force around the Obama administration approving a change in federal law to replace most federal inspectors on poultry processing lines with company workers who would watch for problems. Worker advocates concerns that such a change would be a risk to both food and worker safety have considerable merit. A 2008 Observer series about working conditions in the poultry industry highlighted the problems of allowing companies to self-report on injuries at their plants. Our series found employers failing to report injuries that they should, and workers afraid theyd be fired if they reported such injuries. This change could have both following the same pattern with troubling consequences for all of us.
On Janaury 24 in Dont let poultry-processing industry police itself, Bellinghams editors wrote:
Somewhere in that proposal is a joke about letting foxes guard henhouses. Well leave that to the Jon Stewarts of the world, but theres nothing funny about what the proposed changes could mean for American consumers. Many workers in the industry suffer from repetitive-motion conditions and other work-related injuries but often are reluctant to report them because they need the job so badly. Speeding up processing lines is likely to exacerbate that problem.
The acting Under Secretary for Food Safety, Brian Ronholm, quickly responded with a letter to the editor. Each of his statements appear below, broken up by my offering of a reality check.
Ronholm: The Observer falsely asserts that USDAs proposal to modernize poultry inspection would reduce federal oversight of food safety at the expense of consumers and workers.
Reality check: For the last several years, the Obama Administrations proposed budget for USDA would eliminate 800 poultry inspectors. How does that not reduce federal oversight of food safety?
Ronholm: A 15-year pilot program demonstrates that the proposal would enhance oversight, prevent at least 5,000 food-borne illnesses per year, and not adversely impact worker safety.
Reality check: In August 2013, the Government Accountability Office chastised USDA for asserting that its pilot project demonstrates its proposed changes will be more effective than the current system. GAO found that USDA didnt even collect and analyze its data to draw such a conclusion. GAO launched the same criticism at USDA in a 2001 report.
And,
Reality check: USDA ignores the evidence about the harsh and dangerous conditions experienced by poultry plant workers. Musculoskeletal disorders, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, plague poultry workers, and line speeds in the plants are a key contributor for these injuries. USDAs proposal will allow production line speeds to increase from 140 to 175 birds per minute.
Ronholm: It would require industry to prevent contamination and conduct testing at two points to ensure pathogens such as Salmonella are being controlled; currently there are no such requirements.
Reality check: USDAs plan is for the poultry industry to come up with its own standards for testing pathogens. The industry will even make the decision on how much salmonella is acceptable. On top of that because the standards will be voluntaryUSDA would have no authority to enforce them.
Ronholm: This enhanced inspection process would allow USDA inspectors to focus on critical food safety tasks that would result in lower prevalence of contamination and greater compliance with sanitation requirements.
Reality check: USDA still has not explained how this enhanced inspection process is going to occur. How many more sanitation checks will occur per eight hour shift? How many more samples will be taken for food borne pathogens? How many USDA inspectors will be assigned in each plant per shift to perform these additional tasks? Will USDA have the authority to take action against the plant for violating voluntary food safety and wholesomeness standards?
I know the views of newspaper editors may not sway the White House into telling the USDA to ditch its plan. But perhaps the Obama Administration will be convinced by such calls from the Congressional Black Caucus. The groups chair, Marcia Fudge (D-OH), made clear their position on USDAs plan. Quoted in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Fudge said:
Most of the people who work in these plants are women, and they are primarily women of color. We care most about the health of the employees. Right now, it is bad. It will just get worse if they increase the line speed.
Filed under: Agriculture, Animals, Beyond Dumb, Crime, Econ, Epidemics, Epidemiology, Flu, Food, Health, Public Health | Leave a comment »
Seen On A Newsgroup-Why the Metadata the NSA Has on You Matters
Posted on June 11, 2013 by hanshowe
Seen On A Newsgroup…
Why the Metadata the NSA Has on You Matters
http://gizmodo.com/why-the-metadata-the-nsa-has-on-you-matters-512103968
From the article:
They know you rang a phone sex service at 2:24 am and spoke for 18 minutes.
But they don’t know what you talked about.
They know you called the suicide prevention hotline from the Golden Gate Bridge. But the topic of the call remains a secret.
They know you spoke with an HIV testing service, then your doctor, then your health insurance company in the same hour.
But they don’t know what was discussed.
They know you called a gynecologist, spoke for a half hour, and then called the local Planned Parenthood’s number later that day.
But nobody knows what you spoke about.
Maybe if they hired some engineers they could figure it out.
Spending a couple more billion in the process.<g>
Speaking of which, I hear a lot of yelling about the costs of
state medicine, but not a peep from the “opposition” about the costs of snooping.
Maybe the money spent saving a life from a “terrorist attack” would be better spent, saving thousands on thousands of lives, on an effective health policy.
I’m probably biased …
Filed under: Beyond Dumb, Idiocy, Politics | Leave a comment »
You’re pissed cuz a marine held an umbrella for Obama ?
Posted on May 19, 2013 by hanshowe
Mark Zuckerberg supports Keystone XL Pipeline, Arctic Drilling
Posted on May 1, 2013 by hanshowe
Filed under: Beyond Dumb, Crime, Environment, Green, Idiocy, Politics | Leave a comment »
Hans Howe 