August 2008
17 posts
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Contempt For Karl Rove →
A House panel voted Wednesday to cite former top White House aide Karl Rove for contempt of Congress for failing to appear at a July 10th hearing on allegations of White House influence over the Justice Department – of which the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman is one example. When Rove failed to appear Chris Cannon (R-Utah) informed his fellow members of the committee of a...
July 2008
41 posts
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Re: Fwd: FW: FW: From our friend who is serving in...
Hello everyone, As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to “The War Zone”. I wanted to share with you what happened. He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram. As the...
“It would be perfectly possible, therefore, to corrupt the majority of a nation,...”
– Dr. Gilbert Highet (Man’s Unconquerable Mind)
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My question for McCain
squashed:
Dear John McCain:
You’ve repeatedly emphasized the need for victory in Iraq. You’ve criticized Obama’s withdrawal plan because it places withdrawal before victory. What if things start disintigrating again? At what point would victory be too costly? Is there a point where you would say enough, let’s go home? Or is it a case of stay-the-course no matter what?
The definition of...
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GM partners with utilities to advance plug-in... →
They aim to fine-tune the technology, safety, and customer experience for car-charging stations by 2010, when the Chevy Volt is due to be produced.
(via CNET) (via Slashdot)
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“This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the...”
– John McCain essentially saying Barack Obama will sell out this country in order to win an election. Guess the Straight Talk Express missed the exit for Respectville and turned off at Demagogue City. (via election08)
Ultimately it seems like John McCain is willing to sacrifice America to win a war....
Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human →
The idea was to put an infant chimp into a human family, allow that chimp to learn language in the same way that human children might learn language, that they would absorb it naturally from their siblings. And the reason that they were using American sign language is there had been earlier studies which had shown that chimps are extremely gestural, they were able to learn American sign language...
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Gore Calls for Carbon-Free Electric Power →
Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon electricity generated by fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts.
Every so often when I’m watching the news or talking with people about current events I stop and think about how differently...
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“The Internet gives young people a tool to be informed continuously. It gives...”
– Rolling Stones interview w/ Barack Obama on using the Internet as part of how to govern.
(via eightyoneandon)
(via obama08)
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“The most common method used by academics to map or track what bloggers are...”
– RConversation (via azspot)
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“Are we facing a future in which conservative troglodytes do battle with liberal...”
– Chris Crawford (via azspot)
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Dude, Where’s My Electric Car? I’m sick of all of this hybrid hullabaloo!
So what is the long-term solution to mid-range transportation? In the last hundred years we moved from horses to fossil fuels - but as the electric motor eclipses the internal combustion engine we need to remember that current batteries are filled with all sorts of nasty toxins - and who knows how long it will...
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Energize Alabama
At the Alabama state level, The Alabama Public Service has approved a new Rate PAE (Purchase of Alternate Energy) for Alabama Power. The new rate no longer requires the purchase of the $1 million insurance policy in the name of Alabama Power for owners of renewable energy systems of less than 25 kw that generate electricity in parallel with the grid and want to sell excess power they generate. ...
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You may have seen his recent interview on...
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“America is in a hole and it’s getting deeper every day. We import 70...”
– Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr.
He’s the 117th richest person in America - and has donated millions to groups like Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ($3 Million) and Progress for America ($2.5 Million). He has however also donated $400 Million to Oklahoma State University - and most importantly is...
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Thanks Koppel!
Before going to China last May I did a little research on the country’s history - the major stuff like the Opium War, the rise of Mao, the Cultural Revolution and the recent economic growth. I still wasn’t sure what to expect when I got there - and I had a lot of questions by the time I left. Most of my questions came from the fact that I couldn’t really talk to the people, talk...
“It certainly seems no wonder that people take so much Prozac and Xanax — the...”
– Author and Sustainability advocate James Howard Kunstler (via ecotumble) (via riotrepublic)
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Mind Games?
You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession… — Former Sen. Phil Gramm, Adviser for John McCain [Offshore drilling] would have a psychological impact that I think is beneficial. — John McCain
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500 electric Minis to go on sale in California →
(via Engadget)
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STS9 has a new album!
Armed with a batch of song ideas and fueled by the tension of the times, the band (which in addition to Brown and Murphy, features percussionist Jeffree Lerner, keyboardist David Phipps, and Zach Velmer on drums) took a break from their masochistic touring schedule and holed up in their recording studio, determined to make the strongest album of their career. “The last few records, it felt like we...
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“Eric Schmidt: What is the most efficient way to sort a million 32-bit integers?...”
– Candidates@Google: Barack Obama
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“If you try to start a startup right out of college and it tanks, you’ll end up...”
– Hiring is Obsolete (via strelau)
— Half of all new college graduates now believe that self-employment is more secure than a full-time job.
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Teen Decomposes Plastic Bag in Three Months →
Plastic + Bacteria = Heat + CO2 + Water
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Bill Moyers Journal: Bill Moyers & Michael... →
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It's Not You, Iraq—It's Me. →
“I don’t need a bigger house. I don’t need two dollar a gallon gas. I jus need to...”
– The End Of The Innocence
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LED "Bulbs" →
CFL bulbs are definitely superior to incandescents when it comes to energy use - but the ~4mg of mercury in them creates a problem on disposal. Semiconductors to the rescue!
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RepRap →
I worked with carbon composites a little last semester, and seeing a car’s body go from a wood/cloth/plaster/bondo mold to the real thing opened my eyes to the world of rapid prototyping. One of my goals before I graduate is to build one of these!