December 13, 2007 archive

Terry Pratchett news — and WGA news summary Dec 12

No, it’s not strike news, but  Terry Pratchett has Alzheimers. Here’s from  his statement, titled AN EMBUGGERANCE:

I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but … it seems to me unfair to withhold the news.  I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s, which lay behind this year’s phantom “stroke”.

We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism.  For now work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals. … Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there’s time for at least a few more books yet :o)

PS  I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should

be interpreted as ‘I am not dead’.  I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as

will everybody else.  For me, this maybe further off than you think – it’s too soon to tell.

I know it’s a very human thing to say “Is there anything I can do”, but in this case I

would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry.

Sigh.

Today’s strike summary (& action links) below the fold.  

Bush Comes in 2nd Again… Foot in Mouth Award

 LONDON – Former England soccer manager Steve McClaren fought off tough competition from US President George W. Bush to win a dreaded “Foot in Mouth” award on Tuesday from the Plain English campaign.

 George W.Bush came in second for “All I can tell you is that when the governor calls, I answer his phone.”

 This quote came from W’s response to this question during the press conference following the California wildfires.

Q: Mr. President, a lot has been made about the contrast between this response and the Katrina response. Do you have any thoughts on that, and how you’re doing?

The winner of this year’s award was….

Global Warming and Climate news

Salon:

Desperate times, desperate scientists

How dire is the climate situation? Consider what Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the United Nations’ prestigious Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said last month: “If there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.” Pachauri has the distinction, or misfortune, of being both an engineer and an economist, two professions not known for overheated rhetoric.

In fact, far from being an alarmist, Pachauri was specifically chosen as IPCC chair in 2002 after the Bush administration waged a successful campaign to have him replace the outspoken Dr. Robert Watson, who was opposed by fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil. So why is a normally low-key scientist getting more desperate in his efforts to spur the planet to action?

Part of the answer is the most recent IPCC assessment report. For the first time in six years, more than 2,000 of the world’s top scientists reviewed and synthesized all of the scientific knowledge about global warming. The Fourth Assessment Report makes clear that the accelerating emissions of human-generated heat-trapping gases has brought the planet close to crossing a threshold that will lead to irreversible catastrophe. Yet like Cassandra’s warning about the Trojan horse, the IPCC report has fallen on deaf ears, especially those of conservative politicians, even as its findings are the most grave to date.

BBC:

Arctic summers ice-free ‘by 2013’

Scientists in the US have presented one of the most dramatic forecasts yet for the disappearance of Arctic sea ice.

Their latest modelling studies indicate northern polar waters could be ice-free in summers within just 5-6 years.

Professor Wieslaw Maslowski told an American Geophysical Union meeting that previous projections had underestimated the processes now driving ice loss.

Summer melting this year reduced the ice cover to 4.13 million sq km, the smallest ever extent in modern times.

Did I Steal Myself?

Well now that technology “allows” me to whip out a cell phone to pay my cell phone bill while waiting in the dentist’s office this “convienience comes at a price.  It is apparently so convienient most of the internet connected world has their hand in your pocketbook.  For a price these two companies will ask the question for you, “Did I Steal Myself”.

http://www.lifelock.com/

https://www.identitytruth.com/…

Now the added bonus in all this is secondary.  They are getting you to pay to advance the science of data mining.

http://www.commondreams.org/he…

http://www.noahshachtman.com/a…

http://csdl2.computer.org/pers…

And you thought FISA was bad?

Anyway I think it just illustrates the principle of how some retarded ideas come to be institutionalized.  People are trusting their most intimate details by loading them into a toy, a toy which has to “update” itself every five minutes because there is a “security alert”.  And no, I don’t know anyone in Nigeria so I do not believe their government owes me 10 million dollars, Oh, and I don’t have an account with Bank of America.

OK, so you might say big deal, I’m not doing anything illegal so I don’t have a care right?  Required homework assignment.  Study fully this site.  Click on it associated links, peruse the content and absorb the true evil.

http://www.scl.cc/home.php

The Apocalyptic horses are in great spirits today!

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on FISA and Bush

If you haven’t seen this speech you owe it to yourself to watch it.

mcjoan says the FISA vote is tomorrow; Leading on FISA

Her closing plea…

Call your Senators and urge them to 1) lobby Reid to bring the Judiciary Committee’s bill to the floor, and 2) tell them to oppose any bill that includes telecom anmnesty.



See below the fold for part 2 of the video

Pony Party: the dark side of christmas

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