Thursday, May 30, 2013
The best way to win an argument? Shout louder than everyone else and people will simply assume you're right
The best way to win an argument? Shout louder than everyone else and people will simply assume you're right | Mail Online:
"Researchers analysed more than a billion tweets from pundits during American sporting events
Found that being confident makes you more popular than being right
The pundits and amateurs studied made a similar number of correct predictions, yet those who were 'louder' and more confident were seen to be more trustworthy and popular"
"Researchers analysed more than a billion tweets from pundits during American sporting events
Found that being confident makes you more popular than being right
The pundits and amateurs studied made a similar number of correct predictions, yet those who were 'louder' and more confident were seen to be more trustworthy and popular"
10+ Useful System Tools Hidden in Windows
10+ Useful System Tools Hidden in Windows:
"Whether you’re using Windows 7, Windows 8, or an older version of Windows, Windows contains a variety of system utilities that are well-hidden.
Some are buried deep in the Start menu, while others can only be accessed via a command."
"Whether you’re using Windows 7, Windows 8, or an older version of Windows, Windows contains a variety of system utilities that are well-hidden.
Some are buried deep in the Start menu, while others can only be accessed via a command."
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Government Goes Too Far When It Requires Paid Vacations For Workers
Government Goes Too Far When It Requires Paid Vacations For Workers - Investors.com:
"The Center for Economic and Policy Research has just followed up its 2007 report with "No-Vacation Nation Revisited," a study that suggests the U.S. is a backward country that doesn't measure up to European and Japanese standards because government here doesn't mandate paid vacations."
"The Center for Economic and Policy Research has just followed up its 2007 report with "No-Vacation Nation Revisited," a study that suggests the U.S. is a backward country that doesn't measure up to European and Japanese standards because government here doesn't mandate paid vacations."
Michigan Now Considering Anti-Sharia Bill - CAIR Files Suit in Oklahoma
Michigan Now Considering Anti-Sharia Bill - CAIR Files Suit in Oklahoma | DCXposed:
"Lawmakers in Michigan are considering a bill that would ban Sharia law in that states courts, but the measure is being opposed fervently by The Council on American-Islamic Relations(CAIR), a Muslim activist group, and in some states that have already approved anti-Sharia legislation, such as Oklahoma, CAIR has actually filed suit in an attempt to reverse the anti-Sharia law. "
"Lawmakers in Michigan are considering a bill that would ban Sharia law in that states courts, but the measure is being opposed fervently by The Council on American-Islamic Relations(CAIR), a Muslim activist group, and in some states that have already approved anti-Sharia legislation, such as Oklahoma, CAIR has actually filed suit in an attempt to reverse the anti-Sharia law. "
Kindergartener gets detention for Lego gun size of quarter
Kindergartener gets detention for Lego gun size of quarter | The Daily Caller:
"This time, the perpetrator was a six-year-old boy.
The menacing weapon in question was a plastic Lego G.I. Joe gun roughly the size of a quarter, reports WGGB-TV.
The incident unfolded Friday morning on a school bus headed to Old Mill Pond Elementary School in Palmer, Mass.
Another student on the bus spotted the Lego piece and promptly shouted to the driver."
"This time, the perpetrator was a six-year-old boy.
The menacing weapon in question was a plastic Lego G.I. Joe gun roughly the size of a quarter, reports WGGB-TV.
The incident unfolded Friday morning on a school bus headed to Old Mill Pond Elementary School in Palmer, Mass.
Another student on the bus spotted the Lego piece and promptly shouted to the driver."
Eyelid lifts for Medicare patients cost taxpayers millions
Eyelid lifts for Medicare patients cost taxpayers millions - Florida - MiamiHerald.com:
"Aging Americans worried about their droopy upper eyelids often rely on the plastic surgeon’s scalpel to turn back the hands of time. Increasingly, Medicare is footing the bill.
Yes, Medicare. The public health insurance program for people over 65 typically does not cover cosmetic surgery, but for cases in which a patient’s sagging eyelids significantly hinder their vision, it does pay to have them lifted. In recent years, though, a rapid rise in the number of so-called functional eyelid lifts, or blepharoplasty, has led some to question whether Medicare is letting procedures that are really cosmetic slip through the cracks — at a cost of millions of dollars."
"Aging Americans worried about their droopy upper eyelids often rely on the plastic surgeon’s scalpel to turn back the hands of time. Increasingly, Medicare is footing the bill.
Yes, Medicare. The public health insurance program for people over 65 typically does not cover cosmetic surgery, but for cases in which a patient’s sagging eyelids significantly hinder their vision, it does pay to have them lifted. In recent years, though, a rapid rise in the number of so-called functional eyelid lifts, or blepharoplasty, has led some to question whether Medicare is letting procedures that are really cosmetic slip through the cracks — at a cost of millions of dollars."
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Union president chows down and snoozes on the job
Union president chows down and snoozes on the job - NYPOST.com:
"Union fat cat Mark Rosenthal spends more time sleeping at his desk than organizing labor, a series of damning photos reveals.
The 400-pound president of Local 983 of District Council 37 — the city’s largest blue-collar municipal-workers union — often downs a huge meal, then drops into dreamland in the early afternoon, members of the union’s executive board told The Post."
"Union fat cat Mark Rosenthal spends more time sleeping at his desk than organizing labor, a series of damning photos reveals.
The 400-pound president of Local 983 of District Council 37 — the city’s largest blue-collar municipal-workers union — often downs a huge meal, then drops into dreamland in the early afternoon, members of the union’s executive board told The Post."
Is Gang Of Eight's $3,000 Bonus To Hire New Immigrants Constitutional?
Is Gang Of Eight's $3,000 Bonus To Hire New Immigrants Constitutional? by Andrew Malcolm - Investors.com:
"As IBD has explained, employers who offer insurance that is deemed either too pricey or too skimpy will have to pay an annual $3,000 fine for each full-time worker who takes advantage of ObamaCare's subsidies to buy coverage.
Since legalized immigrants wouldn't be eligible for ObamaCare subsidies for a decade or more, their employers could avoid an ObamaCare fine for years to come for each legalized immigrant on the payroll. What is more, because the fine is nondeductible, it would be the equivalent of $5,000 in annual wages for a profit-making firm facing a combined 40% federal and state tax rate.
It's easy to imagine a scenario in which an employer, faced with a choice between shifting a legalized immigrant or U.S. citizen to part-time status, would be persuaded by government incentives to tilt against the citizen."
"As IBD has explained, employers who offer insurance that is deemed either too pricey or too skimpy will have to pay an annual $3,000 fine for each full-time worker who takes advantage of ObamaCare's subsidies to buy coverage.
Since legalized immigrants wouldn't be eligible for ObamaCare subsidies for a decade or more, their employers could avoid an ObamaCare fine for years to come for each legalized immigrant on the payroll. What is more, because the fine is nondeductible, it would be the equivalent of $5,000 in annual wages for a profit-making firm facing a combined 40% federal and state tax rate.
It's easy to imagine a scenario in which an employer, faced with a choice between shifting a legalized immigrant or U.S. citizen to part-time status, would be persuaded by government incentives to tilt against the citizen."
Report: One Out of Every Five Registered Ohio Voters Is Bogus
Report: One Out of Every Five Registered Ohio Voters Is Bogus | The Gateway Pundit
A new report found that one out of every five Ohio voters was probably ineligible to vote.
Human Events reported:
Human Events reported:
Vote fraud is no big deal, right? It hardly ever happens. It’s so rare that it’s not even worth discussing. Anyone who claims to take the integrity of our ballots seriously is cynically exploiting phantom fears for the purpose of suppressing the Democrat-loving minority vote.To keep that silly narrative alive, it’s important not to read the Sunday edition of theColumbus Dispatch, in which readers were informed that “more than one out of every five registered Ohio voters is probably ineligible to vote.”Furthermore, “in two counties, the number of registered voters actually exceeds the voting age population: Northwestern Ohio’s Wood County shows 109 registered voters for every 100 eligible, while in Lawrence County along the Ohio River it’s a mere 104 registered per 100 eligible.”31 more counties report over 90 percent voter registration, which is a good 20 percent higher than the national average. The Buckeye State sure is civic-minded! Well, except that 1.6 million of the 7.8 million registered voters in the state haven’t voted in at least four years. So I guess they were civic minded, once upon a time. Never fear – I’m sure plenty of those “inactive” voters will reactivate themselves just in time for Barack Obama’s re-election.
Student Loan Bubble? Just Discharge It
Student Loan Bubble? Just Discharge It | Zero Hedge:
"Meet Mike Hedlund.
This Klamath Falls native may have just made legal history by winning a 10 year battle to have the bulk of his $85,000 in federal student loans, which he accumulated as a law student at Willamette University in Salem, discharged.
The result of this legal decision will likely have epic implications for an entire generation drowning in debt, as it has now "opened the flood gates" for all those in Mike's position to challenge their massive debt encumbrance."
"Meet Mike Hedlund.
This Klamath Falls native may have just made legal history by winning a 10 year battle to have the bulk of his $85,000 in federal student loans, which he accumulated as a law student at Willamette University in Salem, discharged.
The result of this legal decision will likely have epic implications for an entire generation drowning in debt, as it has now "opened the flood gates" for all those in Mike's position to challenge their massive debt encumbrance."
Venezuelans bishops warn government that there is a shortage of mass wine and hosts
Venezuelans bishops warn government that there is a shortage of mass wine and hosts — MercoPress:
"Officials in Venezuela are warning that the situation will not improve in the short term, she added."
"Officials in Venezuela are warning that the situation will not improve in the short term, she added."
Audit finds 1,164 dead among Mass. welfare recipients
Audit finds 1,164 dead among Mass. welfare recipients | Boston Herald:
"A stunning $2 million in benefits were paid out to more than 1,160 people who were listed as dead, according to a scathing new audit of the Department of Transitional Assistance"
"A stunning $2 million in benefits were paid out to more than 1,160 people who were listed as dead, according to a scathing new audit of the Department of Transitional Assistance"
Stupid
P.J. O’Rourke
May 27, 2013 9:01 AM
“You’re stupid,” is not something even his most severe critics usually say to President Barack Obama. But on Friday morning I picked up the Wall Street Journal and learned that the president had given a speech about the war on terror saying, “This war, like all wars, must end.”
That story was at the top of the front page. Immediately below was a photograph of flowers being laid at a makeshift memorial near the Woolwich Royal Arsenal where machine gunner Lee Rigby was hacked to death by terrorists.
This war, like all wars, must end when someone wins it. The president—speaking at the National Defense University, of all places—said, “the core of al Qaeda . . . is on the path to defeat.” And so it may be. But meanwhile, the core of al Qaeda, its aims and its beliefs, is also on the path to Boston and London and any number of other places.
On page 7 of Friday’s Journal was the headline, “Suicide Bombings in Niger Linked to Mali Islamist Group.” On page 9 was a report of terrorist Hezbollah militias aiding the terrorist Assad regime in attacking the rebel-held Syrian city of Qusayr where the rebels themselves are allied with yet more Islamic terrorists. And on pages 4 and 8 were more bad tidings from that perpetrator, abettor, and friend of terrorism, Iran. Iranian fundamentalists, in the chokehold they have on the country’s political system, are improving their grip. And, “according to current and former U.S. officials,” Iran has “escalated a campaign of cyberassaults against U.S. corporations. . . . The hackers were able to gain access to control-system software that could allow them to manipulate oil or gas pipelines.”
All that on a slow news day.
In 2001 Congress passed the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, a declaration of war on terrorists and nations that harbor them. In his speech the president said, “I look forward to engaging . . . in efforts to refine and ultimately repeal the AUMF’s mandate.”
I like the president’s use of the word “efforts” here, as though he’s merely trying to be stupid. He doesn’t need to try. Earlier in the week he signed new policy guidance for drone strikes. In the future we will use lethal drones only on terrorists who are a “continuing and imminent threat to the American people” and not on terrorists who are a “significant threat to U.S. interests.” Although, assuming tremendously stupid efforts will be made to tell the two kinds of terrorists apart, maybe I’m wrong about the president not needing to try. The policy guidance also stipulates that there “must be a near certainty” that civilians won’t be killed or injured in a drone strike. Imagine how stupid a WWII Army Air Corps briefing officer would have had to be to say that to his B-17 pilots.
Maybe we pundits don’t tell President Obama, “You’re stupid,” because we are proudly showing off our sensitivity to the negative stereotypes that hurtful language engenders in a way that we didn’t feel was necessary when we were telling Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush, “You’re stupid,” even though actors, WASPs, and Texans are burdened with their fair share of negative lamebrain stereotypes.
More likely it’s because we pundits prize signs of intelligence. We take every opportunity to display our own signs, and President Obama exhibits the same wordy, wonky, academic intelligence indicators that we do, so we don’t call him stupid.
As if the two things were mutually exclusive. I know quite a few fellow members of the news analysis and commentary business, and I have it from the highest-placed sources, on the record, that each and every one of our children is a genius. And yet, if we pundits were to gather together our sons and daughters, during their teenage years, and close them for a night in a dimly lit room full of beer and drugs and comfy futons, I can assure you that evidence of stupidity would be found the next morning.
But the most likely reason that we don’t call President Obama stupid is that it’s such a cul-de-sac of a word. Stupid gives the pundit nothing to perform punditry upon. Call a man ignorant and you have license to show the world your vast fund of knowledge and wise him up. Call a man misguided and you transform your column or blog post or TV appearance into a valuable and beneficent German shepherd with a handle on its back and you lead the poor soul in his blindness. Call a man, best of all, wicked and you get to don the sacramental vestments, climb into the pulpit and thunder forth with such a sermon as to bring him weeping to the font of righteousness or cause the Lord God Almighty to strike him with a thunderbolt in his pew or something fun like that. But call a man stupid and . . . there it is.
And there it is: Dopey stimulus, obtuse bailout, noodle-headed Obamacare, half-wit Dodd-Frank, damfool IRS Tea Party crashers, AP and Fox News beset by oafish peeping Toms and the Benghazi tale told by an idiot. One could go on. Stupid is a great force in human affairs. And the great force has a commander in chief.
P.J. O'Rourke is a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard.
Mystery Contribution Kept ‘Dues Skim’ Alive
Mystery Contribution Kept ‘Dues Skim’ Alive [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"That's significant because the MQC3, the dummy employer used by the union to keep its forced unionization of home-based caregivers alive, had been previously defunded by the state government and thus would have been unable to keep facilitating the union's scheme."
"That's significant because the MQC3, the dummy employer used by the union to keep its forced unionization of home-based caregivers alive, had been previously defunded by the state government and thus would have been unable to keep facilitating the union's scheme."
Bankruptcy plan could open door to sale of DIA collection
Bankruptcy plan could open door to sale of DIA collection | Crain's Detroit Business:
"A federal bankruptcy court can't force the city of Detroit to sell part or all of the Detroit Institute of Arts art collection, but EM rules raise another set of legal possibilities."
"A federal bankruptcy court can't force the city of Detroit to sell part or all of the Detroit Institute of Arts art collection, but EM rules raise another set of legal possibilities."
Penalties for politicians
Penalties for politicians: Column:
"We entrust an inordinate amount of power to people who don't feel any pain when we fall down."
"We entrust an inordinate amount of power to people who don't feel any pain when we fall down."
Monday, May 27, 2013
To the Horror of Global Warming Alarmists, Global Cooling Is Here - Forbes
To the Horror of Global Warming Alarmists, Global Cooling Is Here - Forbes:
"Britain’s Met Office, an international cheerleading headquarters for global warming hysteria, did concede last December that there would be no further warming at least through 2017, which would make 20 years with no global warming.
That reflects grudging recognition of the newly developing trends.
But that reflects as well growing divergence between the reality of real world temperatures and the projections of the climate models at the foundation of the global warming alarmism of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Since those models have never been validated, they are not science at this point, but just made up fantasies.
That is why, “In the 12 years to 2011, 11 out of 12 [global temperature]forecasts [of the Met Office] were too high — and… none were colder than [resulted],” as BBC climate correspondent Paul Hudson wrote in January."
"Britain’s Met Office, an international cheerleading headquarters for global warming hysteria, did concede last December that there would be no further warming at least through 2017, which would make 20 years with no global warming.
That reflects grudging recognition of the newly developing trends.
But that reflects as well growing divergence between the reality of real world temperatures and the projections of the climate models at the foundation of the global warming alarmism of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Since those models have never been validated, they are not science at this point, but just made up fantasies.
That is why, “In the 12 years to 2011, 11 out of 12 [global temperature]forecasts [of the Met Office] were too high — and… none were colder than [resulted],” as BBC climate correspondent Paul Hudson wrote in January."
Slowing the aging process using only antibiotics
Slowing the aging process using only antibiotics | KurzweilAI:
"Why is it that within a homogeneous population of the same species, some individuals live three times as long as others?"
"Why is it that within a homogeneous population of the same species, some individuals live three times as long as others?"
Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are a fail
Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are a fail | ZDNet:
" GM's Volt and Nissan's Leaf sales are pathetic. Fisker is going to be issued its last rites, A123 and CODA are going bankrupt, and Israel is now sitting shiva for a Better Place. Why are electric cars and plug-in hybrids failing so miserably?"
" GM's Volt and Nissan's Leaf sales are pathetic. Fisker is going to be issued its last rites, A123 and CODA are going bankrupt, and Israel is now sitting shiva for a Better Place. Why are electric cars and plug-in hybrids failing so miserably?"
Fired for word: 'Negro' in Spanish class
Fired for word: 'Negro' in Spanish class - Yahoo! News
The Akron Public Schools Board of Education voted in January to pursue the firing of Melissa Cairns. She was a math teacher at Buchtel Community Learning Center.
The school district said that Ms. Cairns posted a photo on her personal Facebook page which showed 8 or 9 out of her 16 students with duct tape across their mouths. The caption read: "Finally found a way to get them to be quiet!!!" The district says a colleague of Cairns' notified a supervisor of the photo.
On the face of it, this sounds outrageous. But what's the context?
Cairn, a teacher for 10 years, says she gave a girl a roll of duct tape to fix her binder, but the student cut a piece of tape, placed it over her mouth and laughed.
"The other kids in the class thought it was funny also, and they proceeded to pass the tape and scissors around the class. The students, the majority of the class, ended up putting a piece of duct tape across their mouth," Cairns explained.
Friday, May 24, 2013
IRS Tea Party Intimidation An Echo Of Raids On Gibson Guitar
IRS Tea Party Intimidation An Echo Of Raids On Gibson Guitar - Investors.com:
"Interestingly, one of Gibson's leading competitors is C.F. Martin & Co. According to C.F. Martin's catalog, several of their guitars contain "East Indian Rosewood," which is the exact same wood in at least 10 of Gibson's guitars. So why were they not also raided and their inventory of foreign wood seized?
Grossly underreported at the time was the fact that Gibson's chief executive, Henry Juszkiewicz, contributed to Republican politicians. Recent donations have included $2,000 to Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and $1,500 to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
By contrast, Chris Martin IV, the Martin & Co. CEO, is a long-time Democratic supporter, with $35,400 in contributions to Democratic candidates and the Democratic National Committee over the past couple of election cycles."
"Interestingly, one of Gibson's leading competitors is C.F. Martin & Co. According to C.F. Martin's catalog, several of their guitars contain "East Indian Rosewood," which is the exact same wood in at least 10 of Gibson's guitars. So why were they not also raided and their inventory of foreign wood seized?
Grossly underreported at the time was the fact that Gibson's chief executive, Henry Juszkiewicz, contributed to Republican politicians. Recent donations have included $2,000 to Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and $1,500 to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.
By contrast, Chris Martin IV, the Martin & Co. CEO, is a long-time Democratic supporter, with $35,400 in contributions to Democratic candidates and the Democratic National Committee over the past couple of election cycles."
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