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Is the Catholic church even trying to make sense on marriage equality?

Posted on May 9th, 2013 at 19:23 by John Sinteur in category: Pastafarian News

[Quote]:

But the bishops aren’t entirely off the mark. They are the right on the money when they declare that this issue is fast becoming “the ‘Roe v. Wade’ of marriage.” Oh, you mean that thing where the United States Supreme Court asserted that the Constitution wasn’t written to uphold the worldview of one religion? That Americans should have the freedom to make their own choices about major life issues that affect them directly, without the interference of the church? That how and when we create our families is a deeply personal decision, one that should be respected and upheld? That, despite your best attempts, this isn’t a theocracy? Thanks for the message, gentlemen. I sincerely hope you’re proven entirely correct.


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Watch These Straight People Answer A Question Gay People Have Been Asked For Years

Posted on May 9th, 2013 at 18:32 by John Sinteur in category: News


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Pegatron CEO says Bloomberg reporter made up report of ‘falling iPad mini demand’

Posted on May 9th, 2013 at 17:58 by John Sinteur in category: Apple

[Quote]:

Yesterday we decided not to run with a story published by Bloomberg that Pegatron’s forecasted 25 percent to 30 percent drop for second-quarter revenue was due to “falling iPad mini demand.” It seemed a little far fetched that an Apple supplier would be giving up specific information on product demand, something we know suppliers in Apple’s circle typically remain tight-lipped on. Today CEO of Pegatron Jason Cheng has confirmed our suspicions in an email to Fortune claiming that Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan made the iPad mini angle up.

[..]

“We held our Institutional Investors Conference yesterday, and gave out a guidance of our 2Q13 business outlook… The category of Consumer Electronic Product includes game consoles, LCD-TV, e-paper readers, tablet products, and some others. We put all tablet products in this category, but have never broken down to detail numbers for specific products nor customers.

“After the meeting, one reporter from Bloomberg approached me, trying to dig out detail numbers about some specific product. I clearly refused to comment on specific products, nor customers, even though he continued with other questions. I did say those words that he quotes me in the article “more on demand, while price has been stable”…, “almost every item is moving in a negative direction”…; “Not just tablets, also e-books and games consoles”. But I did not say anything associated with any specific products.

“‘No indication, nor hint for specific products or customers‘ has been our principle and guideline for any public events such as investors conference. There are always speculations after these meetings.


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fartscroll.js by theonion

Posted on May 9th, 2013 at 15:50 by John Sinteur in category: Software

[Quote]:

$(document).fartscroll();

// Fart every 800 pixels scrolled in the document
$(document).fartscroll(800);

// Fart every 100 pixels scrolled in the body (probably a bit much)
$("body").fartscroll(100);

// Now I'm just adding more examples to make the page longer
$("body").fartscroll(50);

// SO MANY FARTS
$("body").fartscroll(5);

// I should register fart.io for this
$("div").fartscroll(500);

// I should register fart.io for this
$("body").fartscroll(400);

// Dammit, fart.io is taken
$(window).fartscroll(600);

// Alright, that's probably enough examples
$("body").fartscroll(400);blockquote>


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Comments:

  1. — and you did not include it immediately?

Why Cops Bust Down Doors of Medical Pot Growers, But Ignore Men Who Keep Naked Girls on Leashes

Posted on May 9th, 2013 at 15:48 by John Sinteur in category: News

[Quote]:

Strange, isn’t it, that hunches and vague tips about potential marijuana growing (in a state that recently legalized the drug!) is motivation enough to send a SWAT team busting down a door? Compare that to recent reports that police in Cleveland, Ohio ignored years of tips and calls about strange things going on in the home of the three Cleveland men suspected of holding captive, brutally raping and beating three women for nearly a decade.

[..]

“The statistical demands of the drug war and the grants that come from the federal government — all they do is incentivize our local police to chase drugs and chase seizures so they can supplement their budgets,” Downing said. “We call that ‘policing for profit.’”

[..]

Perhaps the strongest example of how drug war policing can distract resources from more pressing problems is the use of department laboratories. In Ohio, police agencies across the state have sent more than 2,300 untested rape kits to a state crime lab for testing. Some of them are decades old, and could contain vital clues regarding suspects in rapes. But they’ve been backed up in police departments across the country.

“What they don’t talk about is why do they have that backlog in the first place?” said Downing. “The answer is that drugs take a priority because they often involve people in custody, and they’re going to be in court, so when they show up in court, they’re going to have those tests. Thousands and thousands of tests run through our police labs for drugs when most of the time it’s a personal use decision. Most of the time it’s a recreational use of drugs rather than an abuse of drugs. But our criminal justice system is completely involved in dealing with drug crime rather than dealing with crime that truly affects public safety, like property and crimes against persons.”


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Florida Death Penalty Bill – Rick Scott Wants To Kill More People Quicker

Posted on May 9th, 2013 at 13:12 by John Sinteur in category: batshitinsane

[Quote]:

“Only God can judge,” Matt Gaetz, a Republican who sponsored the bill in the House of Representatives, said last week during House debate. “But we sure can set up the meeting.”


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Riker sits down

Posted on May 9th, 2013 at 2:32 by John Sinteur in category: awesome


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Comments:

  1. lol.. never noticed that…

Interview: John McAfee

Posted on May 9th, 2013 at 2:27 by John Sinteur in category: News

[Quote]:


Doesn’t it bother you that your name is being used to peddle one of the worst anti-virus products on the market? Often it comes pre-installed on computers as a 30 day trial (crapware), with dire warnings flashed up in the event that the user fails to pay (scareware). The performance hit it brings is huge. Would you advise anyone else to name their product/company after themselves in this way?

McAfee: I haven’t been involved with McAfee Ant-virus for 21 years. When I ran the company the software was the best and least intrusive on the market, and in 1991 we had 87% of the world market. What happened after I left was none of my doing. As to name association, I am a master at sullying my own name and, all things considered, being associated with the worst software on the planet ranks way down the pole. It’s barely a blip in the ocean of associations – madman, paranoid, child molester, murderer, drug addict, unstable, liar, to name but a few.Thank god I’m 67 and will probably be too hard of hearing soon enough to have to listen to them rattling around wherever I go. Amy, thankfully, did half the job already by bursting my left eardrum when she tried to shoot me in the head while I slept back in 2011.


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Rio de Janeiro: Police Spray Automatic Weapons Fire at Fleeing Suspect Vehicle in Crowded Neighborhood

Posted on May 8th, 2013 at 22:43 by Paul Jay in category: News

[Quote]:

Footage of a shootout between police and an alleged drug trafficker in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has emerged.

In the short video, police can be seen firing from a helicopter at a car, as it speeds through the city.

The car eventually stops and is surrounded by people from the local area but the suspect flees the scene. The accused drug trafficker was found dead a day later in a parked car.

The chase happened last year and authorities have now launched an investigation into whether the officers involved used excessive force.


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Dr. Roy Spencer on Global Warming, ‘No one knows’

Posted on May 8th, 2013 at 20:45 by Sueyourdeveloper in category: News, Pastafarian News

Quote  (not recommended as the site is full of  ads for sh*t ‘n’ paradise)

Many of our readers have urged Catholic Online to interview Dr. Roy Spencer as a leading, qualified skeptic on the issue of anthropogenic global warming.

blah…blah…blah (although the interviewer asks fairly sane questions)

COL: Let’s say tomorrow, evidence is found that proves to everyone that global warming as a result of human released emissions of CO2 and methane, is real. What would you suggest we do?

SPENCER: I would say we need to grow the economy as fast as possible, in order to afford the extra R&D necessary to develop new energy technologies. Current solar and wind technologies are too expensive, unreliable, and can only replace a small fraction of our energy needs. Since the economy runs on inexpensive energy, in order to grow the economy we will need to use fossil fuels to create that extra wealth. In other words, we will need to burn even more fossil fuels in order to find replacements for fossil fuels.

There, right there, is the problem. Telling everyone we can do whatever we like and everything will be A-OK. “Party on! Guilt-free futures for everyone! Everything will work out for the best!”

Questions:

1. What has this got to do with Catholics?  Why is anyone pressing to have this person interviewed?

2. I’m a qualified skeptic. He’s not. This person is, in my opinion, either mad, bad or sad.


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NRA Vendor Sells Ex-Girlfriend Target That Bleeds When You Shoot It

Posted on May 8th, 2013 at 16:34 by Paul Jay in category: News

[Quote]:

*Trigger warning*

Sometimes I feel like the NRA is actively just trying to lose all the credibility it has left in this world.

Just when you thought the NRA’s annual convention in Houston this weekend couldn’t draw any more negative attention, it goes out and casually promotes a company selling a product that can help you practice shooting your ex-girlfriend. You know, in case you need that to defend yourself one day from your ex-girlfriend. We all know them ex-honeys can be crazzzzy.

The target, which is delightfully called “the ex,” is sold by a vendor who was present at the annual convention. Although it’s unclear if they displayed the mannequin or not, it was included in the pamphlet they displayed at their booth.  The company goes by the name of Zombie Industries and markets itself as the maker of “life-sized tactical mannequin targets.” After you shoot directly at it, the target will bleed and eventually look like this.


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Comments:

  1. The epidemic of ex-wife murder then suicide continues unabated. I’m fairly sure this product won’t help.

    For anyone who has an urge to punish an ex in this manner, try the suicide first – you’ll feel so much better. After all, it’s the gentlemanly thing to do.

CNN Fakes Interview in the Same Parking Lot

Posted on May 8th, 2013 at 13:19 by John Sinteur in category: Foyer of Ennui (just short of the Hall of Shame)


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Comments:

  1. Hmm, has anyone got footage of the original interview instead of videos of someone pointing at animated GIFs?

  2. So Fox is Faux news..hmm, what does CNN mean? Perhaps: Corporate Con-men Now?

Cartoons

Posted on May 8th, 2013 at 0:09 by John Sinteur in category: Cartoon


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CIA requested Zero Dark Thirty rewrites, memo reveals

Posted on May 7th, 2013 at 20:50 by Paul Jay in category: News

[Quote]:

A newly declassified CIA document suggests members of the US agency did help to shape the narrative of Zero Dark ThirtyKathryn Bigelow‘s recent film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

 In January the US Senate intelligence committee launched an investigation into whether Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal were granted “inappropriate access” to classified CIA material following concern from high-profile members over the film’s depiction of torture in the search for the al-Qaida chief. The probe was dropped in February after Zero Dark Thirty, which had initially been tipped as an Oscars frontrunner, left the world’s most famous film ceremony with just a single award for sound editing.However according to Gawker it has now emerged that the CIA did successfully pressure Boal to remove certain scenes from the Zero Dark Thirty script, some of which might have cast the agency in a negative light. Details emerged in a memo released under a US Freedom of Information Act request. It summarises five conference calls held in late 2011 for staff in the agency’s Office of Public Affairs “to help promote an appropriate portrayal of the agency and the Bin Laden operation”.

Several elements of the draft screenplay for Zero Dark Thirty were changed for the final film upon agency request, according to the memo. Jessica Chastain’s Maya, the film’s main protagonist, was originally seen participating in an early water-boarding torture scene, but in the final film she is only an observer. A scene in which a dog is used to interrogate a suspect was also excised from the shooting script. Finally a segue in which agents party on a rooftop in Islamabad, drinking and shooting off an AK47 in celebration, was also removed upon CIA insistence. This was agreed to despite the documented use of aggressive dogs in US interrogations of terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay in the early days of George W Bush’s war on terror, and despite some of the photographs from the later Abu Ghraib scandal featuring dogs menacing naked prisoners.

The memo appears to confirm suspicions of a cosy relationship between the CIA and Boal, with the agency confident it would be portrayed positively due to the level of help it had provided to the film-makers. “As an agency, we’ve been pretty forward-leaning with Boal,” a CIA staff member wrote to colleagues in documents released last year. “He’s agreed to share scripts and details about the movie with us so we’re absolutely comfortable with what he will be showing.”

In an emailed response to Gawker’s piece, Boal denied allowing the CIA to influence creative film-making decisions on Zero Dark Thirty. “We honoured certain requests to keep operational details and the identity of the participants confidential,” he wrote. “But as with any publication or work of art, the final decisions as to the content were made by the film-makers.”


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Federal Europe will be ‘a reality in a few years’, says Jose Manuel Barroso

Posted on May 7th, 2013 at 20:46 by Paul Jay in category: News

[Quote]:

A fully fledged federal Europe may seem like “political science fiction” today but will soon become reality for all European Union countries whether inside or outside the euro, Jose Manuel Barroso has said.

The president of the European Commission has fanned the flames of British debate over EU membership by insisting that fiscal union in the eurozone will lead to “intensified political union” for all 27 member states.

“This is about the economic and monetary union but for the EU as a whole,” he said.

“The commission will, therefore, set out its views and explicit ideas for treaty change in order for them to be debated before the European elections.”

“We want to put all the elements on the table, in a clear and consistent way, even if some of them may sound like political science fiction today. They will be reality in a few years’ time.”

Mr Barroso’s announcement that he will set out plans for a European federation next spring, before elections to the European Parliament in May 2014, will further deepen Conservative divisions over the EU.


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Megaupload Launches Frontal Attack on White House Corruption

Posted on May 7th, 2013 at 18:59 by John Sinteur in category: Intellectual Property

[Quote]:

Megaupload’s legal team are not restricting their fight with the U.S. Government only to the courts. Today they published a detailed white paper accusing the White House of selling out to corporate interests, particularly Hollywood. “The message is clear. The White House is for sale. More and more of our rights are eroding away to protect the interests of large corporations and their billionaire shareholders,” Dotcom summarizes.


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Breakthrough In Solar Panel Technology Wasn’t Expected for Another Decade

Posted on May 7th, 2013 at 15:39 by Paul Jay in category: News

[Quote]:

Australian scientists have found a way of hugely increasing the efficiency of solar panels while substantially reducing their cost.

The University of NSW researchers have come up with improvements in photovoltaic panel design that had not been expected for another decade.

The breakthrough involves using hydrogen atoms to counter defects in silicon cells used in solar panels. As a consequence, poor quality silicon can be made to perform like high quality wafers.

The process makes cheap silicon “actually better than the best-quality material people are using at the moment”, the head of the university’s photovoltaics centre of excellence, Professor Stuart Wenham, said.
Advertisement

Silicon wafers account for more than half the cost of making a solar cell. “By using lower-quality silicon, you can drastically reduce that cost,” he said.

“We’ve been able to figure out what the secret is that enables hydrogen to sometimes work the way people want it to, and sometimes doesn’t.”

At present, the best commercial solar cells convert between 17 per cent and 19 per cent of the sun’s energy into electricity. UNSW’s technique, patented this year, should produce efficiencies of between 21 per cent and 23 per cent.

 


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Comments:

  1. I will cheer loudly if this turns into products, but what I’ve read is that the gap between new research and productization is VERY big.

Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government?

Posted on May 6th, 2013 at 12:31 by Desiato in category: Do you feel safer yet?, Privacy

[Quote]:

On Wednesday night, Burnett interviewed Tim Clemente, a former FBI counterterrorism agent, about whether the FBI would be able to discover the contents of past telephone conversations between the two. He quite clearly insisted that they could:

BURNETT: Tim, is there any way, obviously, there is a voice mail they can try to get the phone companies to give that up at this point. It’s not a voice mail. It’s just a conversation. There’s no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them?

CLEMENTE: "No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It’s not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out.

BURNETT: "So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible.

CLEMENTE: "No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not."

"All of that stuff" – meaning every telephone conversation Americans have with one another on US soil, with or without a search warrant – "is being captured as we speak".


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Comments:

  1. A simple way to implement CALEA was to record everything, and then give lawn enforcement access when they asked for it. Even simpler and cheaper to let them record it all themselves.

    Sorry officer, I admit I am guilty of extreme cynicism.

  2. Last I heard it wasn’t necessary for the US government to record communications as they farmed the job out to the people working in this doughnut shaped monstrosity:
    http://www.gchq.gov.uk/Pages/homepage.aspx
    As I understand it a treaty between the US/UK to monitor each others communications bypasses any rights a citizen of either country has to prevent it.
    It’s for our own good, we have nothing to worry about, we are all safe.

  3. I’m a cynic but, unlike Sue, I’m a boring cynic. Recording my private conversations would induce sleep.

  4. This is one reason we won’t eliminate terrorism. The net we use to catch terrorists is too large and inefficient. It’s like guns and bombs passing through airport security because the scanners are almost hypnotized by the sheer volume that they’re scanning.

  5. @Rob- Freedom is not a right nor should be taken for granted. It needs to be defended. I respectfully submit that those who accept these warrant-less searches only serve to whittle way at what little freedom Americans have left. (Not sure if this fits what you were saying or not…)

  6. @Mykolas – Not really. I simply refuse to concern myself about this. Americans have oodles of freedom. The average American hardly does anything in the course of his or her daily life in deference to government. Not a big fan of absolutes or slippery slope arguments.

    Information gathering is the inevitable by-product of this digital age. The information is out there. The government has it, Cisco has it, Apple Computer has it, Private Manning has it, AT&T has it, spammers have it, Amazon.com has it, etc … As Aaron Swartz might say, “Information yearns to be free”. I have already adapted to it. I’m sure most of the tech-savvy readers here have, too.

  7. @Rob – Manning is in jail, when are the others going to jail?

  8. Manning and Swartz both committed crimes, chas.

  9. Manning and Schwartz are both alleged to have committed crimes. Neither has been convicted. The distinction may seem academic, but neither one was treated with an assumption of innocence.

  10. @Rob – Crimes defined by the 1% are not crimes in my humble opinion. The laws are supposed to protect the 99% and that has been their function for almost a 1000 years. This country took a turn when the 1% became excessively greedy.

  11. I accept that distinction, Desiato. They were both accused of crimes. They were and are being treated with a presumption of innocence, though. Swartz killed himself in his apartment, not a jail cell. Manning is in a cell on suicide watch. I think that’s prudent. I’ll let you decide if Swartz presumed himself innocent. We stray from the subject, though, which I thought was privacy and the gathering of information.

  12. Crimes are not defined by the 1%. That’s silly conspiracy enthusiast nonsense. Laws are written by the people we elect.

  13. Not for nothing but Aaron Swartz, himself, was in the 1%.

  14. @Rob – Correction – laws are written by the lobbyists who funded the people “we” elect.

  15. @Mykolas – Lobbyists have been around since democracy has been around. They don’t always get what they want. They wield some influence but so does the average citizen. You’d be surprised what a phone call or letter from a citizen can do. I’ve never communicated with the President but I have communicated with our local reps. They hear us, too.

  16. @Rob…dream on.

Helmin Wiels doodgeschoten

Posted on May 6th, 2013 at 0:59 by John Sinteur in category: News

[Quote]:

Pueblo Soberano-leider Helmin Wiels is zojuist geliquideerd bij de Pier in Marie Pompoen. Dr. Mozes heeft de dood van de politicus bevestigd en lijkschouwers zijn begonnen met een onderzoek. Volgens geruchten zijn de schoten gelost vanuit een goudkleurige auto.

Buurtbewoners hoorden wel een aantal vreemde geluiden, maar dachten niet gelijk aan schoten. Een van de buurtbewoners vertelt dat hij mensen zag rennen en is toen zelf gaan kijken. “Toen zag ik ineens politie en ambulances en wat er was gebeurd.”

De omgeving bij Marei Pompoen is afgezet door de politie. Omstanders kijken geschrokken naar wat er is gebeurd. Volgens geruchten is er een dader gepakt en zou deze van Colombiaanse afkomst zijn. De politie heeft deze geruchten echter nog niet bevestigt. De technische dienst is ook ter plaatse voor onderzoek. Wiels is de eerste politicus op Curaçao die is geliquideerd.

Short version: Helmin Wiels, big politician here on Curacao, was liquidated 2 hours ago. The first English news report doesn’t say much more than that.

Wiels


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Comments:

  1. Interesting to note the guy also wanted " to expel the U.S. military planes stationed for more than a decade at the Willemstad airport for multinational counter-drug missions in the Caribbean." He also "regularly railed against corruption and low government performance in education and other sectors."

    Looks very much like a politcal assignation. He must of threatened someone’s corrupt income stream.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130506/cb-curacao-politician-killed/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage

Go to Homeschool

Posted on May 5th, 2013 at 19:12 by John Sinteur in category: News

[Quote]:

In my experience, kids were homeschooled for one of two reasons: for my brother and me, it was a means of avoiding an awful public school system without going to private school, which our family couldn’t really afford anyway. For some other kids, though, it was a means of escaping the evil, secularist curriculum of public school. The Earth is 6,000 years old, global warming is a myth, Satan buried dinosaur bones in the ground to trick us, and these children must not be taught otherwise, lest the fiery lakes of hell burn the flesh from their little limbs.

These two sets of kids were rounded up once or twice a week for a day of “cooperative learning,” and it was always easy to tell which group each child was coming from. There were kids like me—kids whose parents played the Beatles in the house, who watched Nickelodeon, who had friends who weren’t homeschooled, who had seen Jurassic Park.


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“Bohemian Rhapsody in Blue” (Queen / Gershwin Mashup)

Posted on May 5th, 2013 at 1:24 by John Sinteur in category: News


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The Rich Have Gained $5.6 Trillion in the ‘Recovery,’ While the Rest of Us Have Lost $669 Billion

Posted on May 5th, 2013 at 1:02 by John Sinteur in category: Robber Barons

[Quote]:

Oh, are we getting ripped off. And now we’ve got the data to prove it. From 2009 to 2011, the richest 8 million families (the top 7%) on average saw their wealth rise from $1.7 million to $2.5 million each. Meanwhile the rest of us –  the bottom 93% (that’s 111 million families) — suffered on average a decline of $6,000 each.

Do the math and you’ll discover that the top 7% gained a whopping $5.6 trillion in net worth (assets minus liabilities) while the rest of lost $669 billion. Their wealth went up by 28% while ours went down by 4 percent.

It’s as if the entire economic recovery is going into the pockets of the rich. And that’s no accident.


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Comments:

  1. The middle are getting squeezed, the poor are being crushed…and the rich have a private jet.

  2. Off with their heads!

Angry Bird

Posted on May 4th, 2013 at 18:54 by John Sinteur in category: Great Picture

ff_041913

[Quote]:

What a great catch, to photograph a cardinal mid-flight, from this angle.


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Comments:

  1. Landing gear mate, deploy landing gear!

Government forces benefits claimants to use Windows XP and IE6

Posted on May 4th, 2013 at 18:09 by John Sinteur in category: Software

[Quote]:

THE UK GOVERNMENT has shown it’s at the forefront of modern technology and online services with its latest form for claiming benefits online.

Those who want to claim either Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance or Overseas State Pension can simply visit the Gov.UK website, where they are then pointed to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) website to fill out a form online.

So far, so impressive, in that the government is allowing citizens to apply for benefits over the web, rather than having to fill out forms and send them in via the post or visit offices in person.

However, it seems that many of those claimants could fall at the first hurdle due to some rather outdated stipluations about the computer systems supported by the DWP.

“This service doesn’t work with some modern browsers and operating systems,” the DWP notes. “We are considering how best to provide this service in future. You may want to claim in another way.”

[..]

“The service was designed to work with the following operating systems and browsers. Many of these are no longer available:

  • Microsoft Windows 98: Internet Explorer versions 5.0.1, 5.5 and 6.0, Netscape 7.2
  • Microsoft Windows ME: Internet Explorer version 5.5 and 6.0, Netscape 7.2
  • Microsoft Windows 2000: Internet Explorer version 5.0.1, 5.5 and 6.0, Netscape 7.2, Firefox 1.0.3, Mozilla 1.7.7
  • Microsoft Windows XP: Internet Explorer 6.0, Netscape 7.2, Firefox 1.0.3, Mozilla 1.7.7.”

For the few of you out there wanting to claim benefits online who manage to dig out some old Windows machine from a basement or loft running an old enough version of IE or Firefox, there are further obstacles to getting any money out of the government.

“This service is not available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 1.00am to 1.30am because of essential maintenance work. We apologise for any inconvenience,” warns the DWP.

Perhaps that’s when their hamsters change shifts – you know, the ones that run inside wheels keeping government IT systems up and running.


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Comments:

  1. Gerbils, not hamsters.

Thieves take lead off Hawick town hall roof

Posted on May 4th, 2013 at 4:05 by John Sinteur in category: News

[Quote]:

Police are appealing for witnesses after thieves were spotted taking lead off the roof of Hawick town hall in the early hours of Friday morning.

So lead theft leads police to ask for leads?


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Comments:

  1. That’s what you call a leading question.

  2. But someone has to show leadership.

  3. Plumbing the depths, Desiato.

  4. I think the Who played a live show at Hawick in the 70′s. Sorry for their loss.

Notre Dame professor tackles ‘myth’ of Christian martyrdom

Posted on May 4th, 2013 at 2:28 by John Sinteur in category: Pastafarian News

[Quote]:

Sunday school tales of early Christians being rounded up at their secret catacomb meetings and thrown to the lions by evil Romans are mere fairy tales, Moss writes in a new book. In fact, in the first 250 years of Christianity, Romans mostly regarded the religion’s practitioners as meddlesome members of a superstitious cult.

The government actively persecuted Christians for only about 10 years, Moss suggests, and even then intermittently. And, she says, many of the best known early stories of brave Christian martyrs were entirely fabricated.

The controversial thesis, laid out in “The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom,” has earned her a lot of hate mail and a few sidelong looks from fellow faculty members. But Moss maintains that the Roman Catholic Church and historians have known for centuries that most early Christian martyr stories were exaggerated or invented.


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Pole transport

Posted on May 4th, 2013 at 1:42 by John Sinteur in category: Great Picture

44dbb75b_wie


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Comments:

  1. It looks slippery. Just _how_ does she hold on?

Hater Pastor Loses His Wife of 42 Years, Uses the Occasion to Trash Gays

Posted on May 3rd, 2013 at 23:18 by John Sinteur in category: batshitinsane, Pastafarian News

[Quote]:

Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego lost his wife of 42 years, Carol, to cancer earlier this month. I grieve for anyone who has lost a loved one, especially a beloved spouse.

But it’s too bad Garlow would not be able to extend the same compassion to me if I should lose my beloved spouse of 12 years. You see, Garlow has used the death of his wife as an opportunity to do what he does best: bash gays and lesbians.

In an email he sent to supporters this past Sunday, Garlow wrote:

On occasion I would read phrases in newspapers or blogs to describe me as being “anti-gay” or “anti gay-marriage.” First, I am not against homosexual “marriage” because there is no such thing. I cannot be against something that does not exist according to God’s definition.
 
But I am adamantly pro authentic, historic marriage. And God’s Word on the subject, along with an indescribably spectacular 42 years with Carol, caused me to be so intensely pro (natural) marriage.
 
I was once asked by a secular news reporter, “Has your love for Carol and her cancer battle impacted your fight for marriage.” “Yes,” I responded. Why? Because I saw the wonder of covenantal one man-one woman marriage. I saw the sheer delight of authentic, biblical, natural, historic, God-defined marriage. The complimentary halves of humanity coming together is simply breathtaking.

Two things struck me as I read this odious message. First, what kind of blind hatred of other people would compel you to use the occasion of your wife’s death to make political hay? Rev. Garlow’s wife dies and the first thing he wants to do is write a letter to his supporters about how awful and sinful other people’s relationships are compared to his “real” relationship?


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Comments:

  1. An authentic, bibical, natural, historic marriage would be with many women and quite a few sheep.

  2. Well, I saw a lot of political statements and no compassion whatsoever for the relatives on this site when Margaret Thatcher died. So this looks somewhat hypocritical.

  3. I return to this website because I like the varied selection of articles, a lot of them I agree with, it’s nice occasionally to add my own comments.
    I don’t see how the website owner/administrator could be held responsible for any apparent lack of charity in the comments area in response to the death of a public personality, particularly one whose policies were less than benign, as in the case of Thatcher.
    Allowing a comment to appear in no way endorses the view of the commentator, no doubt some readers did feel for Mrs. T’s relatives, (particularly those who had to endure the hospitality of the Savoy Hotel), it’s unfortunate that this didn’t find expression other than in the widespread press and television coverage.
    I personally find it difficult to sympathise with death of the woman who decided to sink the retreating battleship, the General Belgrano, it was an extraordinarily callous act.
    See http://belgranoinquiry.com/
    Her funeral could have been private, instead it was presented as a public spectacle, this was the decision, ultimately, of her family, in the knowledge of the expected protests from the people whose lives were adversely affected by the implementation of her wacky monetarist theories and anti-union ideology.

    I am sorry that there wasn’t space to add anything about the Poll Tax or Clause 28, but I didn’t want to sound bitter.

  4. One could easily have taken the option to look at his own wonderful, caring, loving relationship and come to the conclusion that everyone should have the opportunity to engage in an equally nurturing and fulfilling partnership.

    Also, the “no such thing” defense seems very… Ostrich. There are homosexuals out there who have gotten married, at least in the legal sense. It just feels so much like the “La la la, I’m not listening” tactic.

  5. I have some compassion for Mrs. Thatcher’s relatives. She can’t have been an easy person to deal with.

    After reflection (I posted about Mrs. Thatcher) and I am vindictive about the Lady’s passing. I recognize that the task of any leader is not at all easy, but I believe she deliberately gave a guilt-free cause and self-righteous permission to a lot of greedy people. And I consider that the consequential damage to communities and cultures is her lasting “legacy”.

    If we are talking about compassion, there is a bit about “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.” And the anti-gay cleric has only got his hate left, apparently.

Sun News to CRTC: No guaranteed spot on the dial, no more network

Posted on May 3rd, 2013 at 20:38 by Sueyourdeveloper in category: News

Quote

Sun News Network made its final pitch to the federal telecommunications regulator on Thursday, saying anything short of a guaranteed spot on the dial would spell the end of the channel.

The Quebecor-owned network is seeking what is known as mandatory carriage from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

The CRTC is holding eight days of hearings in Gatineau, Que., to examine 22 applications for mandatory carriage from new and existing channels, as well as channels that want to renew their mandatory distribution status.

If the CRTC grants Sun News’ application for mandatory carriage, cable and satellite providers would have to include the channel on their basic TV packages.

aka Fox News North. They can’t make it on their own, (only “14,000 viewers a night in prime time”), so they are asking the regulator to give them customers. Sounds like they want a handout.


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Throw!

Posted on May 3rd, 2013 at 16:53 by John Sinteur in category: Great Picture

sunset-central-java-indonesia_29427_990x742

[Quote]:

A fisherman in Rawa Pening, central Java, Indonesia


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