SLACKJOT

Student loans are forever.

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:52:25 -0400

You can’t refinance, or get rid of the debt through bankruptcy. Here’s how it’s even more of a sham than you know.

Dumb of me to believe that education is the great leveler.

"BY ALL accounts, the four-lane bridge over the River Skagit in Washington state, along Interstate 5..."

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:45:43 -0400

“BY ALL accounts, the four-lane bridge over the River Skagit in Washington state, along Interstate 5 between Seattle and the Canadian border, was in pretty good shape for a 58-year-old structure.”

- But it was designed to meet minimum standards so it could be built as quickly and cheaply as possible.

motherjones: shortformblog: Sorry Daft Punk helmets. We have a...

Thu, 30 May 2013 12:13:36 -0400

motherjones:

shortformblog:

Sorry Daft Punk helmets. We have a new winner for best WSJ stipple-print of the week.

It just never ends.

Grumpy cat not impressed by stipple portrait.

motherjones: How Polarized Is Your State? California really is...

Wed, 29 May 2013 15:15:29 -0400

motherjones:

How Polarized Is Your State?

California really is two states. Not northern and southern, though. Unless water is involved, LA and San Francisco can get along OK. Basically, what this chart shows is coastal vs. inland. Most of coastal California is as liberal as its stereotype, while inland California is somewhere to the right of rural Georgia. Lately, the coastals have taken firm command of Sacramento, and the inlanders haven’t yet figured out how to respond.

Top 3!

Eastern Washington is a whole different place.

"Stolen Valor Act of 2013 - Amends the federal criminal code to rewrite provisions relating to..."

Tue, 28 May 2013 17:05:00 -0400

“

Stolen Valor Act of 2013 - Amends the federal criminal code to rewrite provisions relating to fraudulent claims about military service to subject to a fine, imprisonment for not more than one year, or both an individual who, with intent to obtain money, property, or other tangible benefit, fraudulently holds himself or herself out to be a recipient of:

- a Congressional Medal of Honor,
- a distinguished-service cross,
- a Navy cross,
- an Air Force cross,
- a silver star,
- a Purple Heart,
- a Combat Infantryman’s Badge,
- a Combat Action Badge,
- a Combat Medical Badge,
- a Combat Action Ribbon,
- a Combat Action Medal, or
- any replacement or duplicate medal for such medal as authorized by law.

”

- Those who serve shouldn’t have their valor stolen so it’s good that Congress passed this.

But shouldn’t they pass something to help the VA provide effective health care to veterans. Seems like it would be a higher priority.

babylonfalling: Ron Cobb / San Francisco Express Times /...

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:59:00 -0400

babylonfalling:

Ron Cobb / San Francisco Express Times / 1968

“Since I am a preacher by trade, I suppose it is not surprising that I have seven major reasons for bringing Vietnam into the field of my moral vision. There is at the outset a very obvious and almost facile connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I, and others, have been waging in America. A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor—both black and white—through the Poverty Program. Then came the build-up in Vietnam, and I watched the program broken and eviscerated, as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.

“Perhaps the more tragic recognition of reality took place when it became clear to me that the war was doing far more than devastating the hopes of the poor at home. It was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die in extraordinarily high proportions relative to the rest of the population. We were taking the young black men who had been crippled by our society and sending them 8000 miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in Southwest Georgia and East Harlem. So we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat them together in the same schools. So we watch them in brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village, but we realize that they would never live on the same block in Detroit. I could not be silent in the face of such cruel manipulation of the poor.”

Quote from Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam, Martin Luther King’s landmark anti-war speech at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967

apoplecticskeptic: As a person’s IQ increases, so too does his...

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:45:00 -0400

apoplecticskeptic:

As a person’s IQ increases, so too does his or her ability to filter out distracting background motion and concentrate on the foreground.

(via BBC News - Intelligence linked to ability to ignore distractions)

Sure, they’re better able to focus on the foreground object but maybe the background is just as important. Context isn’t necessarily a distraction.

A heckler makes a good point but jumps the gun at President Obama's NDU speech on national security

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:38:00 -0400

Given my administration’s relentless pursuit of al Qaeda’s leadership, there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should have never have been opened. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Excuse me, President Obama —

THE PRESIDENT: So — let me finish, ma’am. So today, once again —

AUDIENCE MEMBER: There are 102 people on a hunger strike. These are desperate people.

THE PRESIDENT: I’m about to address it, ma’am, but you’ve got to let me speak. I’m about to address it.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: You’re our Commander-In-Chief —

THE PRESIDENT: Let me address it.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: — you an close Guantanamo Bay.

THE PRESIDENT: Why don’t you let me address it, ma’am.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: There’s still prisoners —

THE PRESIDENT: Why don’t you sit down and I will tell you exactly what I’m going to do.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: That includes 57 Yemenis.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, ma’am. Thank you. (Applause.) Ma’am, thank you. You should let me finish my sentence.

Today, I once again call on Congress to lift the restrictions on detainee transfers from GTMO. (Applause.)

I have asked the Department of Defense to designate a site in the United States where we can hold military commissions. I’m appointing a new senior envoy at the State Department and Defense Department whose sole responsibility will be to achieve the transfer of detainees to third countries.

I am lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen so we can review them on a case-by-case basis. To the greatest extent possible, we will transfer detainees who have been cleared to go to other countries.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: — prisoners already. Release them today.

THE PRESIDENT: Where appropriate, we will bring terrorists to justice in our courts and our military justice system. And we will insist that judicial review be available for every detainee.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: It needs to be —

THE PRESIDENT: Now, ma’am, let me finish. Let me finish, ma’am. Part of free speech is you being able to speak, but also, you listening and me being able to speak. (Applause.)

Now, even after we take these steps one issue will remain — just how to deal with those GTMO detainees who we know have participated in dangerous plots or attacks but who cannot be prosecuted, for example, because the evidence against them has been compromised or is inadmissible in a court of law. But once we commit to a process of closing GTMO, I am confident that this legacy problem can be resolved, consistent with our commitment to the rule of law.

I know the politics are hard. But history will cast a harsh judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism and those of us who fail to end it. Imagine a future — 10 years from now or 20 years from now — when the United States of America is still holding people who have been charged with no crime on a piece of land that is not part of our country. Look at the current situation, where we are force-feeding detainees who are being held on a hunger strike. I’m willing to cut the young lady who interrupted me some slack because it’s worth being passionate about. Is this who we are? Is that something our Founders foresaw? Is that the America we want to leave our children? Our sense of justice is stronger than that.

"NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim..."

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:24:00 -0400

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Memorial Day, May 27, 2013, as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I designate the hour beginning in each locality at 11:00 a.m. of that day as a time to unite in prayer.”

- Why the persecution complex, Christians?

And why can’t we all work toward peace instead of wishing for it?

Natural Disasters

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:14:00 -0400

Leaving aside the injustices and cruelties that humans inflict on each—those are easily blamed by Christians on debased human nature—I wonder how natural disasters are the result of original sin.

And then I realize that when the founts of the deep broke up before the flood of Noah, it set in motion natural processes that God would allow to continually punish humanity for Adam’s sin. Disregard how their occurrence cannot be correlated with any contemporary sins (although Christian commentators attempt to do so) and dwell on the deep injustice of these perpetually-recurring punishments. Is there penance enough to end them?

Even if it harms innocents (like those in Oklahoma, which is among the most religious states in the US), humanity is getting what it still deserves. Make a donation to help those in Moore, OK who were undeserving of this natural disaster.

theparisreview: In Japanese, tsundoku means, “the act of buying...

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:40:57 -0400

theparisreview:

In Japanese, tsundoku means, “the act of buying books and not reading them, leaving them to pile up.”

For more of this morning’s roundup, click here.

Besides being a mundane time period to visit, the span of time...

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:00:00 -0400

Besides being a mundane time period to visit, the span of time that intelligent human life has existed on earth is infinitesimal so think about hitting that moving target in time (and space).

Improbabilities upon possibly impossibilities.

via (soupsoup)

"…the current period is probably the temporal equivalent of flyover country. You might say, “What do..."

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:52:00 -0400

“…the current period is probably the temporal equivalent of flyover country. You might say, “What do you mean, it’s a time of unprecedented technological and cultural change!” Maybe so, you time-hick, but a small town in South Dakota that’s finally getting hooked up to teh internet or getting their first Olive Garden isn’t interesting to someone who already has ultra-fast broadband or lots of family-owned local Italian restaurants. You have to remember that these are people from the future. There’s nothing interesting to see here that they don’t already have. They have technology and civil rights and cuisine that you and I can’t even begin to imagine. You don’t visit small towns unless you have family still living there, and when it comes to time travel, family doesn’t really work that way.”

- Yishan Wong, Why aren’t people from the future time travelling to our period in history? (via soupsoup)

Is it because time travel is physically impossible or is it that our time period is just too boring?

Ours is not a destination time period but it’s the one in which we are living so it feels exceptional and worthwhile.

An exponential trend in the % of population in areas where laws...

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:46:00 -0400

An exponential trend in the % of population in areas where laws have been passed recognizing the rights of same sex couples to marry. But I’m not sure about the term ‘homogamy’, is that a commonly accepted term?

Regardless, I hope the trend continues upward.

From Family Inequality.

Lois Beckett: Nullification

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:58:55 -0400

Lois Beckett: Nullification:

The concept of nullification has had a resurgence since the beginning of President Obama’s administration. More than a dozen states have introduced bills to nullify Obamacare.

The Tenth Amendment Center, a group that advocates nullification as the solution to a range of policy issues, from marijuana legalization to Obamacare, publishes model gun nullification language.

"The ironic life is certainly a provisional answer to the problems of too much comfort, too much..."

Thu, 02 May 2013 18:53:12 -0400

“The ironic life is certainly a provisional answer to the problems of too much comfort, too much history and too many choices, but it is my firm conviction that this mode of living is not viable and conceals within it many social and political risks. For such a large segment of the population to forfeit its civic voice through the pattern of negation I’ve described is to siphon energy from the cultural reserves of the community at large.”

- Posted without irony. But now it feels like that was an ironic statement. I sincerely like this article. Sincerely. Eh, you can’t win.

theparisreview: Henri the Existential Cat waxes philosophical...

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:28:00 -0400

theparisreview:

Henri the Existential Cat waxes philosophical on the price of literary fame.

This is how I imagine all cats’ internal dialogues sound, although not necessarily in French.

bostonreview: Happy May Day! (via Beth Schwartzapfel) Such...

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:28:26 -0400

bostonreview:

Happy May Day! (via Beth Schwartzapfel)

Such radicalism.

oldbookillustrations: Falling in of a mine. From The...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 21:10:00 -0400

oldbookillustrations:

Falling in of a mine.

From The underground world, by Thomas Wallace Knox, Hartford, 1877.

(Source: archive.org)

Why do people still do this? Is your computer plugged in?

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the..."

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:55:51 -0400

“The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.”

- Thomas Jefferson (via azspot)