Science to the Rescue Rare earth elements, which are used to make all kinds of things, including wind turbines and hybrid/electric cars, have been in the news quite a bit lately. First China announced that it would reduce exports (after cutting Japan’s supply after a diplomatic spat), which probably helped speed up the re-opening of a rare earths mine in California and Toyota’s
Continue reading …This interested me , because I was just thinking to myself that Glenn Beck was probably a dry drunk. If you know someone who’s successfully been through a 12-step program, you probably know what I mean. Because the AA veterans I know are some of the most truly compassionate, non-judgmental people I’ve ever met, and they have a real sense of humor about their shortcomings. They live their principles. Beck seems to think that speaking calmly and reasonably some of the time simply cancels out all the other hateful, divisive nonsense, and his new line is that it’s all just “political discourse.” That strikes me as nuts, because what Beck does is deliver his information is a very consistent frame: Certain people are doing unthinkable, illegal, immoral things that are undermining the Constitution and destroying our country. He insinuates this in such a way that any listener who thinks of themselves as a patriotic American simply has no choice but to hate and hopefully destroy the people Beck tells them to hate — because what moral person wouldn’t? Glenn Beck appeared on the “Today” show Wednesday to promote his new self-help book, “The 7,” and he wound up clashing with Meredith Vieira about his political views and saying that he used to be “a very bad man.” Beck appeared with his co-author, Keith Ablow. Vieira told Beck that, from his own account in the book, it seemed like he had been a “nasty guy” in the past. “I was a guy that I would’ve hated,” Beck said. “I was a very bad man.” That’s when Vieira turned to Beck’s professional life. She noted that one of the things he advocates in the book is letting go of anger, and that, especially in the wake of the Arizona shooting, critics have accused him of “adding to this dialogue with hatred.” She tried to run through a list of some of his more controversial statements, and they talked over each other as each tried to make their points. At one point, Ablow jumped in, defending Beck. “If you’re the therapist for the country, you have to tell the truth,” he said. “He says to the country…’you’re drunk.’ ” “Do you really think that people don’t know the things that I say?” Beck said, as Vieira started to highlight some of his statements. She asked him if he regretted any of them. He said that he didn’t regret any “jokes” he had made about people. “You don’t think that that contributes at all to a climate of anger or hate?” Vieira said. “Ask Jon Stewart that,” Beck said. “Ask The Simpsons that question.” “I’m asking you that question,” she replied.
Continue reading …Don’t panic, but anyone planning on using GPS in the southeastern US for the next month or so will likely want to make sure they have a fallback option. That’s according to a flight advisory just issued by the FAA, which warns pilots that their GPS signal “may be unreliable or unavailable” due to “GPS tests” that the Department of Defense will be conducting between January 20th and February 22nd. Details are fairly light beyond that, but the FAA does note that when the “tests” occur they will be active for 45 minutes, and be followed by 15 minutes of off time — additional notices to pilots will apparently be issued at least 24 hours prior to any test. Of course, while this particular advisory is directed at pilots, it will presumably will also affect all other GPS devices, as the FAA doesn’t mention any GPS issues specific to aviation. The real question, however, is just what those mysterious “GPS tests” are — if they’re, in fact, GPS tests at all… [Thanks, Brady] FAA warns of ongoing GPS issues in southeastern US due to Defense Department ‘tests’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …He didn’t exactly go on at length about them, but Google CEO Eric Schmidt has laid out three clear priorities for the company in a brief guest article for the Harvard Business Review — and, not surprisingly, they’re “all about mobile.” Those include focusing on “developing the under
Continue reading …Two efforts to reverse some of the stunning police layoffs in Camden, New Jersey failed. The cuts reduced the size of the police force by nearly half in one of the nation’s most impoverished and crime-ridden cities. (Jan. 20)
Continue reading …Ed Balls to replace Alan Johnson in reshuffle following shadow chancellor’s resignation for personal reasons Alan Johnson, who has resigned as shadow chancellor for personal reasons. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Alan Johnson resigned as shadow chancellor this evening for “personal reasons” after a difficult debut in which he struggled to master basic details of economic policy. In a statement issued at 5pm, the former home secretary said that he needed to resign to concentrate on his family. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader who said he accepted Johnson’s resignation “with great regret”, conducted a swift reshuffle in which:…
Continue reading …Click here to view this media Here’s Elisabeth Hasselbeck last night on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, making excuses for Sarah Palin and her inexcusable “crosshairs” ads after the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, one of the ad’s targets: HANNITY: You know, I fear we are getting to the point, you can’t say anything — you can’t say war room, you can’t say targeting. You can’t, you know, say, we are going to put a bull’s-eye on a map. HASSELBECK: Yes we can say that. And I will use yes we can. And this is why I believe and I think the more that we link and say, we cannot say anything — I mean, look, I grew up in a family that was based on speak kind words as much as possible and if you don’t, apologize. Work hard and operate with integrity. That goes without saying. I think most civil people in the United States of America agree that you shouldn’t go outside of those boundaries. Right now to even say that we have to curb what we’re saying only links any rhetoric to what happened in Tucson. There’s no link. We haven’t found a link. There’s no evidence that man even watched cable news. That he heard Sarah Palin say anything or saw the map with crosshairs. None. So the more that this conversation continues, in my opinion, it is a weak link that is trying to be strengthened by the left to Sarah and this man again. And here’s Hasselbeck last March, when she agreed with her colleagues at The View that the ads were outrageous and dangerous: Click here to view this media “This hasn’t been a great week in terms of, I think, the Constitution and where it says that you’re supposed to, you know, everybody is, has a mandate to have insurance. But I think the way some Republicans are handling this is nothing more than purely despicable,” Hasselbeck said. “The names that are next to and being highlighted by those crosshairs — I think it’s an abuse of the Second Amendment. I also feel as though every single person on here is a mother, a father, a friend, a brother, a sister, and to take it to this level is — it’s disappointing to see this come from the Party, and I would hope that leaders like Sarah Palin would end this.” Joy Behar thanked her for it, shaking her hand. “Republicans are not speaking out against this and you may be the first one to do it, and I salute you, my girl.” Whoopi Goldberg would say “Republicans, whatever comes from this it’s on your heads.” Something else Hasselbeck said was just flat-out bats–t crazy: HANNITY: It is very sinister to me because I think there’s an effort here to silence opposition voices. And, you know, to exploit a tragedy within two hours the way Paul Krugman did. Now, you really point out, this guy worshipped skulls, he is an atheist, he read Mein Kampf, The Communist Manifesto and smoked dope, and never listen to talk radio according to friends and never watch political debate and hated George Bush. But the narrative has been blame conservatives. HASSELBECK: But we never heard any of that for the first four days. You know, the left wing media, unfortunately Sean, and I’ve been trying not to have to blame anybody in this situation for, you know, wrecking the American people heard by unfortunately, they were so drunk on this cocktail of trying to convict Sarah Palin, that they neglected — when I say neglect, that is with a huge bet that I will say that, neglected to give the American people information because they weren’t searching for it. They had already found their killer. They had already given a man total justification for taking a gun and taking the lives of several human beings and then trying to take the lives of more. Awful, I mean, today we are blessed with the news, right? We have great news about Giffords. And I think that that should have been their first priority, giving us the news, making sure that we understood that the rest were safe. They had the killer. But if you are a crazy person out there, and you know that you have an automatic out to blame it on a politician, what do you think you are going to do? They are lucky that not one more person went out on a spree that day. What? Excuse me? Did I hear this right? Is Hasselbeck actually claiming that the people who warned against the potential for violence being inspired by Palin’s ads were actually giving an excuse to the killer? Not only is that more outrageously speculative than anything written yet about Loughner, it points the finger right back at herself — since at the time, she was one of the people criticizing Palin for the ads. I guess Hasselbeck is blaming herself for Jared Loughner. Who’da thunk?
Continue reading …“My comprehension of the English language can't adequately describe the barbaric nature of Dr. [Kermit] Gosnell.” That's how a horrified District Attorney Seth Williams (D) described the abortionist arrested yesterday for murdering newborn babies in his squalid Philadelphia clinic. It appears Gosnell's clinic had been ignored by medical regulators for years as the abortionist performed illegal late-term abortions as well as kill newborn babies by snipping their spinal cords with scissors. As my colleague Brad Wilmouth noted , CBS “Evening News” ran a story by correspondent Elaine Quijano on the arrest and grand jury investigation into Gosnell's clinic last night. Yet this morning, neither CBS's “Early Show” nor its higher-rated competitors ABC's “Good Morning America” or NBC's “Today” aired so much as an anchor briefing on their January 20 editions. Producers for network early morning show newscasts apparently weren't as squeamish. ABC's “World News Now” ran a story shortly after 3 a.m. EST and CBS “Morning News” aired the Quijano report shortly after 4 a.m.
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