While Waiting to Go to Sleep: June 2011

Senate Republicans Abandon Norquist | The New Republic

This could be the signal of a future change in the Republican nightmare -- you've got to get rid of Norquist before the Republicans start to be able to approach reality again.

The New Hampshire Debate: Who Can Catch Mitt Romney? | The New Republic

Rare Photos Inside a Ukrainian Interrogation Room - Newsweek

The Sound of Tim Pawlenty Sinking

Pawlenty’s Poor Debate Showing Risks Donor Flight

Who Are We Fighting?

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/can-we-afford-the-military-budget/

The Conan O'Brien Graduation Speech (at Dartmouth)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmDYXaaT9sA&feature=player_embedded

This Is a Pretty Depressing Conclusion

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/arts/people-argue-just-to-win-scholars-assert.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

I Hadn't Realized America's Superheroes Were Trapped in a Nihilistic, Meaningless Hell!

http://resnikoff.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/superhell/

I Think This Does the Best Possible Job of Sizing Up the Republican Debate

http://radiofreebabylon.blogspot.com/2011/06/let-shallow-analyzation-begin.html

Tort Reform

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/meme-busting-tort-reform-cost-control-2/

Make sure you look at the pie chart.

Is Rep. Wiener Sick or Stupid? (And we know stupidity can't be cured)

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303714704576383510579931944.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

What Really Matters for Growth (It’s Not Tax Rates)

Monday, June 13, 2011

A (Global) Weather Report

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/13/extreme-weather-flooding-droughts-fires

A Good Story about a Young Dirk Nowitzki (& other young basketball players)

http://www.slate.com/?id=2296869

Dirk Nowitzki And The Virtues Of Immigration

Dirk Nowitzki And The Virtues Of Immigration:

After Libraries: Netflix Queue, ITunes Library, And The Digital Future Of Record Keeping By Elizabeth D. Samet | The New Republic

Strange Bedfellows

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2011/06/the-fountainhead-of-satanism

Tim Pawlenty Attempts To Rebut Allegations Of Dullness With Lame Joke, Bad Timing

Tim Pawlenty Attempts To Rebut Allegations Of Dullness With Lame Joke, Bad Timing:

Michele Bachmann's dangerous beach reading

Keeping Sex Private

http://www.tabletmag.com/news-and-politics/69709/private-parts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=private-parts

Neocon flack: Weiner may have converted to Islam

They Don't Mean Anything, But the Man Puts Out some Tough Ads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP2GsRzROF8&feature=player_embedded#at=87

Sunday, June 12, 2011

NBA vs. NFL: Two Lockouts

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6649101/dizzying-highs-terrifying-lows

Those Crazy Icelanders Are at It Again!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1gVVSY/www.good.is/post/iceland-is-crowdsourcing-its-new-constitution/?utm_source=supr

Sports & the DVR: Where the Time/Space Paradox Meet

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6626431/space-time-dvr-mechanics

The Future of Health Care -- Some Predictions

http://adjacentpossiblemed.blogspot.com/2011/04/healthcare-in-20-years-in-500-words.html

Religion and Torture

http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2011/06/religion-and-support-for-torture.html

I Have a Feeling this Will Bypass Charlotte (but look for it on Netflix)

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/andrew_ohehir/2011/03/18/nostalgia/index.html

Turning Philosophy into Fiction

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2011/0610/Rebecca-Newberger-Goldstein-secular-humanist-with-a-soul

Goldstein's first novel -- The Mind-Body Problem -- is one of my old favorites.

Gangsta Alert!

Open, and Revolting, Anti-Obama Racism at Fox - The Atlantic

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201106110002

Spirituality in Film

http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?entry_id=4282

Another Conversion Experience

http://thehiberniatimes.com/2011/06/03/atheism-is-the-true-embrace-of-reality/

A Conversion Experience

http://www.livestream.com/pdf2011/video?clipId=pla_8a026681-a944-4459-a735-6ff526f72b5a

http://theamericanscene.com/2011/06/09/the-internet-is-my-religion

Recruiting Other Species to Take Part in Class Warfare (you have to protect what you have)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/us/12dogs.html?hp

Saturday, June 11, 2011

You Probably Don't Spend Enough Time Worrying about What Kind of Memory Card to Use.

http://framework.latimes.com/2010/08/23/which-memory-card-should-i-buy/

To survive, state GOP must reinvent itself

To survive, state GOP must reinvent itself

If this takes hold, this could be the forerunner of important political changes.

More Fashion News: The Anthropology of Women's Shoes

http://www.anthropologyinpractice.com/2011/04/power-confidence-and-high-heels.html

The Importance of Grandmothers

http://carinbondar.com/2010/08/sacrifice-on-the-serengeti-a-guest-post-by-eric-m-johnson/

What a Thing of Glory is Man

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=one-reason-why-humans-are-special-a-2010-06-22

Arbitron: Conservative Talk Radio loses a third of audience

Arbitron: Conservative Talk Radio loses a third of audience

Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of guys.

Taking Michelle Bachmann Seriously | The New Republic

Shopping for a Dress

http://www.etsy.com/storque/read/the-history-of-a-cheap-dress-12751/

E-Books: A Few Kinks that Remain to Be Worked Out

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/ebooks-not-there-yet/

Delaying Medicare eligibility is bad for health

Using Darwin to Improve the World

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110608/full/474146a.html

Who Are You?

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/06/ideology-and-self

Finding Your Place on Earth

http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/2011/06/tt_fortunate_sons.html

We Have Our Arts So We Won’t Die of Truth: In Support of Political Fiction

We Have Our Arts So We Won’t Die of Truth: In Support of Political Fiction:

The Beast in Me

http://lareviewofbooks.org/post/6243684487/man-is-not-cat-food

Science News You Can Use (but use carefully)

http://scienceblogs.com/observations/2011/01/why_do_women_cry_obviously_its.php

Barack Obama: Scientist

http://www.communicatescience.eu/2011/05/is-feidir-linn-obama-was-right.html

Public Overestimates Cost Of Wars, Underestimates The Impact Of Bush Tax Cuts

Public Overestimates Cost Of Wars, Underestimates The Impact Of Bush Tax Cuts: "pAnother point from the Pew survey of the public opinion and the deficit shows that people are a bit confused about where the deficit comes from: Of course these things do all contribute to the deficit. But the wars aren’t as big a deal as people think, and the tax cuts are a much bigger [...]/p"

Friday, June 10, 2011

An Offer Eric Holder Thought He Couldn't Refuse

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2011/06/wire-creator-david-simon-has-counter-offer-eric-holder/38706/

The Doomed Elizabeth Warren-Scott Brown Deal | The New Republic

This Is A Very Odd Definition of Freedom

Mercatus Institute Study Refutes Libertarian Conception of Freedom: "

Top 10 Things Texas Gov. Rick Perry Doesn’t Want You To Know About Him

Top 10 Things Texas Gov. Rick Perry Doesn’t Want You To Know About Him: "pWith widespread discontent on the right over their current presidential field, all eyes are trained on a likely new entrant: Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R). Perry, who has been elected governor three times and served for more than 10 years, enjoys bona fides from social conservatives and Tea Party-types alike. Glenn Beck even described Perry [...]/p"

The Future of the Telephone

http://thisismynext.com/2011/06/09/google-voice-skype-imessage-and-the-death-of-the-phone-number/

The Wages of Weinermania

God Caught Backing Multiple GOP Candidates for President

After Exxon Finds A Month’s Worth Of Oil In Gulf, GOP Rep. Claims It Proves We Have ‘Abundant’ Oil Reserves

After Exxon Finds A Month’s Worth Of Oil In Gulf, GOP Rep. Claims It Proves We Have ‘Abundant’ Oil Reserves: "

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/06/yes-were-still-running-out-oil

Looking At Government Spending Critically

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/06/rightsizing-government

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Is Monogamy Obsolete? New Books Challenge Our Ideas of Fidelity

The Renaissance man: how to become a scientist over and over again

Why Can't More Poor People Escape Poverty? Psychologists Have A Radical New Explanation. | The New Republic

Please Tell Newt Isn't Getting Ready to Give Up Just When the American People Are Beginning to Respond to his Message!

http://plainblogaboutpolitics.blogspot.com/2011/06/newt-implosion.html

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/weigel/archive/2011/06/09/newt-gingrich-s-campaign-staffers-embrace-radical-change.aspx

Tim Pawlenty Moves to the Top of the Crazy Class

http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/2266/pawlentys-wishful-thinking?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CapitalGainsAndGames+%28Capital+Gains+and+Games+-+Wall+Street%2C+Washington%2C+and+Everything+in+Between%29

Herman Cain Would Require Muslim Appointees To Take A Special Loyalty Oath

Herman Cain Would Require Muslim Appointees To Take A Special Loyalty Oath: "pIn March, formers Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain burst onto the presidential scene when he told ThinkProgress that he “will not” appoint Muslims in his administration. Under intense pressure, Cain’s campaign walked back the candidate’s words, saying that he would appoint “any person for a position based on merit.” However, the next week, Cain hedged [...]/p"

This Isn't the First Time I've Heard Them Called the Root of Many of our Most Serious Problems

http://www.slate.com/id/2296578/pagenum/all/

Another Compelling Argument for Universal Health Care

http://www.miller-mccune.com/health/death-by-pink-slip-4308/

Play With the Career Analysis Tool at the End of the Article

http://www.slate.com/id/2296070/pagenum/all/

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

A Few Kind Words about Very Loud Music

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2011/05/23/136579205/our-band-could-be-your-life-still

Man vs. Nature

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/garden/battling-moths-and-mice-in-your-home-the-pragmatist.html?hp=&pagewanted=all

Witness releases new video of fatal police-involved shooting during Urban Beach Week - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com

Witness releases new video of fatal police-involved shooting during Urban Beach Week - Miami Beach - MiamiHerald.com

I suppose cell phones are now seen as a deadly weapon.

Is Time Us, Space Them?

A History of Sarah Palin Complaining About ‘Gotcha Questions’

The Customer Is Always Right -- an Ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JVz-fO7kxcQ

Is Extramarital Flirting a Crime (or even a matter of public interest)?

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/06/07/weiner?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+salon%2Fgreenwald+%28Glenn+Greenwald%29

Against Gay Pride

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=why-im-not-proud-of-being-gay-2011-06-06

By the Way, If You Hadn't Noticed, the Sun Exploded Yesterday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_3u_0NN7OM&feature=player_embedded#at=23

A cry to ring through Scottsdale

Can Tim Pawlenty Get the Economy Moving Again? - The Atlantic

Can Tim Pawlenty Get the Economy Moving Again? - The Atlantic

Part of the fun of being a Republican (and certainly a Republican presidential candidate) is you get to say crazy things and people think it's normal.

Comparing Military Spending (hint, we're #1)

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/06/military-spending?fsrc=rss

Tim Pawlenty -- George W. Bush on Steroids?

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/89628/pawlenty-and-the-return-bushism

Steve Jobs -- Alien Invader?

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/06/08/apple_planning_massive_12000_capacity_spaceship_campus_in_cupertino.html

The Prospects of Digital Textbooks

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/business/media/06iht-EDUCSIDE06.html?_r=1&src=rechp

Finally, a happy story...

http://campusnews.uncc.edu/campus-employees-‘adopt’-goose

Fourth time's a charm? Why Apple has trouble with cloud computing

The cost of smoking

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

More Cheerful News: The Dead and the Dying

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/03/28/top-10-dying-industries/

Which Male Scumbag Would You Least Like to Be Married to? I Don't Think You Need to Be Female to Vote.

http://www.slate.com/id/2296450/

Poverty and the Lump of Willpower

Poverty and the Lump of Willpower: "pJamie Holmes has a very interesting piece in TNR about psychological and economic research into the interplay of poverty and self-control. Basically there’s a fair amount of research indicating that that mental self-control is a kind of finite resource. Resisting temptation is mentally exhausting. And it even appears that making any kind of tough decisions [...]/p"

Ode to a Four-Letter Word

The Latest Jobs Numbers And The Very Real Chance Of Another Great Depression | The New Republic

GOP 2012: Why The Economy Won't Help Romney | The New Republic

Michelle Bachmann: Be Afraid

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/bachmann-palin-2012-candidate

The Economics of U.S. Health Care: The Worst of All Possible Worlds

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-hard-truth-about-health-care/2011/06/06/AG34XbKH_story.html

Save American Banks: Appoint Elizabeth Warren

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2011/06/13/110613ta_talk_surowiecki

Where Is the Slipperly Slope Conservatives Are Convinced Is Out There?

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/06/07/slippery-dopes

Does One Person Write Every Script in Hollywood?

http://vimeo.com/24669583

Sex, Jewish Women, and Twitter (Isn't that an odd combination.)

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/69443/understanding-weinergate/

What Is Twitter?

http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/06/is-twitter-writing-or-is-it-speech-why-we-need-a-new-paradigm-for-our-social-media-platforms/

The War on Americans

http://reason.com/archives/2011/06/06/the-ends-didnt-justify-the-mea

Monday, June 6, 2011

Watch This! Or Else! I Mean It It!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbIlLmCID5g&feature=player_embedded#at=38

It's Hard to Believe These Are All Americans: A Photo-Essay

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/02/23/mark-laita-created-equal/

In Defense of Boring Movies

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/movies/films-in-defense-of-slow-and-boring.html?hpw

Grover Norquist Is The Most Powerful Force Blocking Spending Cuts And Tax Reform

Grover Norquist Is The Most Powerful Force Blocking Spending Cuts And Tax Reform: "pLori Montgomery’s reporting in the Washington Post makes clear, though it doesn’t explicitly come out and say, that if you oppose reductions in federal spending in the United States then today you have no more influential friend than Grover Norquist. Right now you have a debate on Capitol Hill in which the pivotal players, moderate [...]/p"

The French View of Freedom

http://www.fastcompany.com/1757567/fances-odd-internet-laws-explained-rights-vs-innovation

Climate Change & Daily Weather: A Forum

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/forum_is_extreme_weather_linked_to_global_warming/2411/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+YaleEnvironment360+%28Yale+Environment+360%29

More Apologies to Longfellow

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/06/heightening-the-republican-contradictions-ctd.html

Paul Revere's Ride, With Apologies to Longfellow - The Atlantic

Mormons Rock!

Looks Like a Fair Political Ad to Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0TxCWbTqz9s

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Palin Fans Trying to Edit Wikipedia Paul Revere Page

Thomas Jefferson On The Limits Of Property Rights

Thomas Jefferson On The Limits Of Property Rights: "pThomas Jefferson is not my favorite among the founding fathers, but this 1785 letter to James Madison quoted by Daniel Kuehn is another good example of the non-libertarianism of classical liberalism: Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher [...]/p"

Love in Japan (It's a legal category.)

http://www.economist.com/node/18771436?story_id=18771436&fsrc=rss

Not Only Are They Liars, But They Are Good at It

http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/ideas/ian-leslie/are-artists-liars

Pete Townshend Gets Old

http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/arts/simon-garfield/wont-get-fooled-again?page=full

Murder Most Academic by Theodore Dalrymple - City Journal

Murder Most Academic by Theodore Dalrymple - City Journal

A pretty gruesome way to go through graduate school.

Flacking for Big Pharma

No More Clock-Punching

How Do You Expect Them to React?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/somegameguy/priceless-reactions-to-boobs-on-chatroulette-33sc

Why Do I Have to Read That Book?

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/06/06/110606crat_atlarge_menand

Boost Your Brain!

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-brain_1.html#share

The Coke Side of Life

Jack Kevorkian: A Memorial

http://www.slate.com/id/2296197/pagenum/all/

History Foretold

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4BK_2VULCU

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Cats Have So Much to Worry About

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdmd5fenroU

A Tale Of Two Medicares

A Tale Of Two Medicares: "pIt would be difficult and undesirable, though not impossible, to simply take a “do nothing” attitude toward Medicare and pay for it with much higher taxes. But what’s more, as Paul Krugman says even if you do accept the desirability of reducing the projected rate of growth in Medicare expenditures there’s no reason to think [...]/p"

Making Better Maps

http://flowingdata.com/2011/06/01/find-everywhere-you-can-go-in-15-minutes-or-less/

The New Dependence After We Reduce our Dependence on Oil

http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/05/11/the-rare-earth-conundrum/

Technology and Change

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/futuretense/

These are also available on iTunes at free podcasts. I haven't even listened to them yet, but they look pretty interesting.

Friday, June 3, 2011

What The Conservative Recovery Looks Like

What The Conservative Recovery Looks Like: "pHere from Matt Cameron are a couple of charts to illustrate the nature of the conservative recovery. First off, is socialism holding back the private sector? Nope: Ask yourself if you genuinely believe that additional public sector layoffs would be replaced at a greater than 1:1 ratio by private sector hiring. If yes, you’re well-positioned [...]/p"

I'd Buy a Ticket to See This

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BMgegut3UM&feature=player_embedded

The First African-American President (since we can't count that guy from Kenya)

GOP Candidates: Herman Cain's Improbable Rise | The New Republic

Finally, Newt Gingrich Does Something to Help his Campaign!

We Won't Have Newt Gingrich To Kick Around Any More Until Mid-June | The New Republic

A Little Boy Channels Gilbert Gottfried

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaIvk1cSyG8

Congress to America: Drop Dead

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/06/03/jobs-fail/

Professor Palin's History Lesson

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/watch-cnn-anchors-deadpan-reaction-to-sarah-palins-version-of-paul-reveres-midnight-ride/

It's Literary Quiz Time! From Dr. Naipaul's Class!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/quiz/2011/jun/02/naipaul-test-author-s-sex-quiz

An Advance in Computer Technology?

http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2011/06/01/keyboard-graph-irl-of-the-day/

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Negotiating Sexual Orientation

http://youtu.be/GdqdIvgCKzA

Japanese Pensioners Offer To Brave Radiation Risks

Japanese Pensioners Offer To Brave Radiation Risks: "pA crew of approximately 200 retired Japanese engineers is trying to put a team of old people together to do dangerous work at the Fukushima plant: Volunteering to take the place of younger workers at the power station is not brave, Mr Yamada says, but logical. Mr Yamada has been getting back in touch with [...]/p"

This Is Good for You

http://www.npr.org/artists/95031938/raphael-saadiq

Can We Sign the Peace Treaty and Move on?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/global_commission_of_former_officials_says_war_on.php

Little Women, Big Men

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

My guess on events in Iraq: We are about to see the Great Gamble of 2012 - By Tom Ricks | The Best Defense

My guess on events in Iraq: We are about to see the Great Gamble of 2012 - By Tom Ricks | The Best Defense

I always listen to what Tom Ricks has to say.

The Fab Five Colleges For Low-Income Students

The Fab Five Colleges For Low-Income Students: "pEducation Trust set out to offer low-income students some guidance about which colleges might be the best bet. They were looking for schools that met the following criteria: — They enroll a proportion of low-income students that is at least as high as the national average. — They ask these students to pay a portion [...]/p"

Robert Lucas Argues That Barack Obama Is The Most Important Leader In American History

Robert Lucas Argues That Barack Obama Is The Most Important Leader In American History: "pI’d been dimly aware of Robert Lucas’ argument (PDF) that the Great Recession can be explained without reference to such petty concepts as aggregate demand, but until I read Gavyn Davies’ summary and critique I didn’t understand that thinking of it as an essay about the economy is a mistake. This is an essay about [...]/p"

Jobs Crisis Appears To Deepen

Jobs Crisis Appears To Deepen: "pAs of two weeks ago, the DC political debate seemed to be out to lunch on the jobs front. Today, as the conversation continues to drift elsewhere the jobs crisis seems to be deepening. ADP’s estimate of private sector employment shows an anemic increase of just 38,000, way below estimates. The ISM index of manufacturing [...]/p"

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