28 Sep 2011
Stupid voters enable broken government

Reminds me of one of my favorite H.L. Mencken quotes: "Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance."

Whenever I visit Washington, I can't help but think this is the town that elected a crackhead as its mayor.

(link) [CNN]

07:01 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

18 Sep 2011
Daniels: Americans ought to be scared

I'm not as scared as I would be if this lying buffoon were running for President ...

"The state was broke when we got here, and we fixed that in a great, big way," Daniels said. "We have re-shaped our economy here to be, by all accounts, one of the most attractive to investment and growth and opportunity in the country. We've built roads at record rates, and then lowered property taxes to the lowest in the country. We made government work well."

Property taxes used to fund schools - and they were never onerous anyway - having lived in Minnesota for a few years I know onerous taxation! But with our property taxes constitutionally mandated at no more than 2%, here's one of the results: Franklin Twp. charges $475 to ride bus.

His "Major Moves" road building project was funded by selling the toll road. We'll see how good a deal that turns out to be, but rates have already risen dramatically. But it doesn't count as a tax increase - it's now a private road!

Of course, raising sin taxes aren't real tax increases either!

Apparently commerce is now a sin like smoking...

That must be because sales taxes are paid by consumers - because we must be business friendly at all costs! Even if sometimes we get a little bit too friendly...

And don't even get me started on the time madness.

So yes, Mitch, Americans should be scared. Scared witless that folks like you are likely to be running the country.

A lot of Republicans wanted Indiana's popular Governor Mitch Daniels to run for President. But he decided NOT to. Daniels sat down with CBS News chief White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell for some Questions and Answers

(link) [CBS]

10:26 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

17 Sep 2011
In China, what you eat tells who you are

Good grief - the money quote has to be from a farm manager with the 2nd Commercial Bureau, which has a subsidiary that slaughters 50,000 pigs a year at a farm in Sanhe, Hebei province - "Sometimes raising pigs is about politics too."

In a nation reeling from tainted-food scandals, organic products are mostly reserved for the rich and political elite. Chinese government officials have exclusive suppliers, who do not advertise.

(link) [Los Angles Times]

14:22 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

06 Sep 2011
Shirtless 'Samurai' Arrested On Indiana Highway

Wow. What could I possibly add to this?

A Cicero man is being held in an Indiana jail after authorities found him marching shirtless down Interstate 65 wielding a 35-inch samurai sword Sunday afternoon. After his arrest, Womack was unable to identify himself to police, but told them he was "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs," the Northwest Indiana Times reports.

(link) [Huffington Post]

22:47 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

05 Sep 2011
When Two Chatbots Talk Hilarity Ensues

I could see this coming - having moved Racter online for a major BBS in the late 80's, chatterbots have always been a fascination of mine. And of course there's RFC 439, when Parry went to the Doctor ...

There's just got to be a joke that begins, "Two chatbots walk into a bar ..." because when chatbots talk, it's funny. Cornell University researchers wanted to see what would happen when two chatbots talked to one another. So they rigged up two systems that would allow instances of the chatbot Cleverbot to interact. It doesn't take long for the two to begin arguing, to hold a conversation about God and to express their wishes that they could have body.

(link) [HotHardware]

08:26 /Humor | 0 comments | permanent link

04 Sep 2011
Can the World Still Feed Itself?

While I certainly disagree with some of his prescriptions, I find myself agreeing with his diagnosis. If we're not already unable to feed ourselves, we soon will be. And I agree that the main culprit is the drive toward biofuels. It's a double edged sword - and there'll be a price to be paid, sooner or later, beyond the subsidies and hype.

Yes, says Nestle's chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, but not if we burn food for fuel, fear genetic advances and fail to charge for water.

(link) [The Wall Street Journal]

21:45 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

02 Sep 2011
German Farmer Captures a Famous Runaway

Bringing the cows home ...

Yvonne, the bovine runaway that confounded German authorities and tickled the funny bone of the international press, was back on the farm on Friday after three months of evading capture in a Bavarian forest.

(link) [New York Times]

22:28 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link