It amazes and pleases me that Salena Zito has to point this out:
Just five years ago, 110 pro-life Democrats were in the House, around a dozen in the U.S. Senate. Today, fewer than five are in the House, and two in the Senate.
Just five years ago, coincidentally, Democrats held majorities in both chambers.
They lost those majorities because they lost touch with their districts.
Won’t recognize the monitor, is now shutting itself off when I try to turn it on. Thank God for Chromebooks, that’s all I can say. Guess I got that computer pledge drive in just in time, eh?
This is an annoyance, not a disaster: after all, I have a new computer coming (hopefully by the end of the week). And most of my save games are on Steam and/or Origins. Still… lighter posting, folks.
[UPDATE] Yeah, it’s the monitor: we have a spare old one floating around that I know works – only it didn’t work in my current machine. Guess I better hope that the trained pigeons put together my new machine quickly, huh?
I listened to the Phil Collins earlier tonight. …Look, I like Phil Collins (both solo and Genesis), but he probably shouldn’t have tried on this one.
Get used to the puns on this: people seem to enjoy coffee-related jokes. Anyway, Keurig’s recent decision to impose DRM on K-Cups (only approved brands of coffee for you!) in its latest line of coffee brewers is having what should have been the expected effect:
In this week’s Keurig Green Mountain Coffee earnings call, the company reported some pretty startling sales numbers.
Year-over-year, Keurig saw an 18% decline in brewer and accessory sales (12% of which was for brewers alone). Brewer shipments did, overall, grow by 6%, but even that was below expectations. The news sent Keurig Green Mountain’s stock tumbling, though it has since recovered some ground.
It’s on Senate retirements. Sorry, but it’s been a long day. Not a bad one – my mom’s visiting – but a long one. I may call it early; it’s been a slow day Outside anyway.
Oh, my. Question: “Virginians have been buying more firearms than ever,even though crime has been steadily falling. Why?” This winner’s answer? Paraphrased, crime is down because ‘poor’ people are getting abortions*, and people are just buying more guns because they fear and hate Barack Obama because he’s black.
:pause:
I gather that this article is part of an experiment by the Washington Post. Some might say** that this experiment has visibly failed…
Moe Lane
*The author did his best to not make it obvious that this is his opinion, but ‘some say’ is a pretty reliable tell.
**See previous footnote.
So… Radley Balko (who makes it forthrightly clear throughout that he opposes the death penalty) favors the firing squad over lethal injection, on the grounds that it’s actually more humane to shoot somebody than to feed them a paralytic drug and then slowly let them die, in intense pain, for almost ten minutes. I actually agree with Radley on that; but one thing that he noted was…
If you support the death penalty, the most obvious benefit of the firing squad is that unlike lethal injection drugs, correctional institutions are never going to run out of bullets. And if they do, more bullets won’t be very difficult to find. Ammunition companies aren’t susceptible to pressure from anti-death penalty activists, at least not to the degree a pharmaceutical company might be. This would actually remove a barrier to more efficient executions. As someone who would like to see executions eliminated entirely, I don’t personally see this as a benefit. But death penalty supporters might.
Continue reading If we’re going to execute, why not just hang them?
The bald facts: “Twenty-eight inmates escaped from a Brazilian jail after three women in fantasy police costumes “seduced” prison wardens, it was reported today.” My response to the email that I got this from?
…Wow. This is exactly how I would have done it in my Dungeons & Dragons campaign if I was trying to bust the rest of the party out of jail. Get a squad to seduce the guards, spike their drinks, knock them out steal their pants, break out the player characters, let out everybody else at the same time (as a distraction), leave the costumes, and make sure that the other escapees don’t hurt the guards (because then the cops won’t take this personally). And, oh yeah: get one of the prisoners drunk and holding a stolen gun, then send him in the opposite direction. Preferably one of the Bad Inmates.
Seriously, this shouldn’t have worked in real life. I am legitimately impressed that it did. …I mean, obviously, one should not applaud lawbreaking of this nature. But speaking from a technical viewpoint this caper will become part of the real-life lore of the gaming community, just you wait…
Done, closed out, and the computer ordered. Final tally:
Just beneath $900. And some of the freelance writing cash is coming in, so I have gone ahead and ordered the machine. Specs after the fold; if I screwed up somehow, try not to laugh too hard, OK? – Oh, and everybody’s advice on this was helpful, not least because it encouraged me to think in these terms again.
And, as always: thanks to everyone who donates, reads, or even just lurks. I have excellent readers. …Scratch that: I have readers who are made of Awesome. Continue reading Annnnnd the I Wish To Replace This Computer pledge Drive is done.
