Billie’s Quickies … If a particular one of these quickies catches on, we’re all gonna catch the stupid

I have this odd obsession with pinhole cameras, tho I’ve yet to build one.

• Someone who will do the work of finding the best breadmaker …. priceless.
• The freedom to criticizeis another great part of being an American.  The will not to sometimes is an art.
• Well, if this catches on, we’re all gonna catch the stupid: “ A software program developed by SirsiDynix, an Alabama-based library-technology company, informs librarians of which books are circulating and which ones aren’t. If titles remain untouched for two years, they may be discarded–permanently.”
• An awesome list of foods chefs hate. I can agree with this sentiment: “Another thing that I just can not warm up to is sweet pickles. To me it seems like a contradiction. When I bite into a crunchy pickle, I expect it to be sour.”
• The truth about baby carrots … you’re gonna be shocked!  Shocked I say!
• Truth spoken by Tommy: “Journalism isn’t about what we know, it is about what we can verify. Attribution isn’t just some rubber stamp that we seek, mindlessly, in order to get something published. It allows readers to judge the credibility of the information offered.”
• Classic: “I am a former Republican. And I wasn’t merely the libertarian, live-and-let-live, fun-at-parties kind of conservative whose primary concern is balancing the budget; I was a spiteful, narrow-minded, fire-breathing paranoid lunatic who questioned the patriotism and morality of my liberal fellow citizens. Recognizing the error of my ways has done wonders for my mental health but left me with constant, unremitting remorse; I really want to go back in time and kick my own ass.”
• Agreed: “President Obama’s promise to close Guantánamo was an important commitment that must be honored, and quickly. But it will be nothing more than a symbolic gesture if we continue its shameful policies elsewhere. We can’t go back in time and stop the tragedy of Guantánamo from happening. We can, however, stop it from happening again.”
• Lovely and sad story: “The clock with no hands: Because normal time seems suspended in a health emergency.  The nurse at a computer with the dark screen: Because records aren’t shared with patients.  The doctor with her hands tied: Because one part of the health care system doesn’t communicate with others.  Regina Holliday is looking for new walls to paint, but not now. The cold makes the paint too brittle. In the springtime, she’ll take out her colors again.  Maybe by then, there will be health care change signed into law. But there will still be stories to tell. “
• Well, here’s a thought I can certainly agree with: “After the heavily publicized spinach recall in 2006 because of E. Coli, food safety experts have a special place in their hearts for leafy greens.  Slashfood thinks: Just wash your salad!  And, there’s more.

Billie’s Quickies … What must it be like to feast on the tears of sleeping birds?

• I’m not sure one should hang around something that’s supposed to sting … much less something with the words ‘giant’ and ‘sting’ in the same name.
• Boston Globe piece about fundamentalism WELL worth the read: “… fundamentalist movements share another quality. They are inherently fractious, and this is one reason for their broad decline. When your view of reality is the only acceptable one, you cannot compromise.”
• The Social Security Situation … visually.
• Now that folks are beating the drums about a nuclear Iran again, as they do every few months, here’s Glenn Greenwald to maybe snap us back to reality for a second: “ … exploiting foreign threats for domestic political gain is a virtually universal tool of governments.  That, of course, is exactly why the belligerence and threats towards Iran long advocated by America’s Right has as its prime beneficiary the very Iranian mullahs they claim to oppose.”
• This remains CLASSIC: Judges who quote Adam Sandler are keepers thank you very much.
• What your draft beer choice says about you – funny
• Soup. Soup. Soup. Soup.
• This is a pretty neato website. I like numbers in visual form.
• All I want for Christmas is an end to apartheid – Top ten brands to boycott

• Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens debate blasphemy:

• Wow .. Sort of darkly beautiful.  An animal that feasts on the tears of another animal: “…A species of moth drinks tears from the eyes of sleeping birds using a fearsome proboscis shaped like a harpoon, scientists have revealed. The new discovery – spied in Madagascar – is the first time moths have been seen feeding on the tears of birds.”
• Well, this was prescient: “I am wondering how long we can pretend this problem does not exist. How long can we continue to buy stocks and flip houses, forget to save, pile up debt, import Chinese made goods, and export debt? Are these useful activities to perform while there’s an economic avalanche bearing down upon us?  Unfortunately, I am not smart enough to know the answer. I only know that hoping a significant and mounting problem will go away is not a winning strategy.”

• I adore artful guitar agility H/T Neatorama:

• The joys of ginger.
• AWESOME ad placement.

Billie’s Quickies … Physics, Feminism, and Imprisonment

Sometimes my quickies link to oldish news, but just such as the first quickie, the sentiment stands the test of time, or the thing is just too neat not to repeat.

• I totally agree with this sentiment, and am sad I have posted it so late – “If I were Robert Gibbs, I would open EVERY SINGLE press briefing, from here on out, with a five minute daily athletic/gender report, detailing what activities Obama took part in and what the male-female make-up was. And then I would deliver, daily, right there in the press briefing, a stack of signed affidavits from Hillary, Janet Napolitano, Kathleen Sebelius, and every other major female in the White House, stating that they were asked if they wanted to work out with Obama and Reggie Love this morning but they declined.”
• “Greatest Physics Class Ever? “
• Sound familiar? “A startling petition arrived at the New York City Bar Association in October 2008, signed by 100 men, all locked up without criminal charges in the middle of Manhattan. “ Deplorable.  Mr. President, please release those held by the Federal Government without charge.  New York, get it together.
• I can really never understand why people heckle comedians.
• OH.MY.GOD. The internets could run out of addresses because users can’t figure out how to write http://www.somedumbasswebsite.us or http://www.youvegot2bkidding.ca.  Pfft.
• Yes please!  “What do you think is missing in hip-hop today?  KRS ONE: “I am not just saying this because you [a woman] are asking the question, this is my real answer: More women. More women. Not just emcees or b-girls, but women taking control of hip-hop. Let me be culturally-specific- hip-hop’s women should teach hip-hop’s men how to speak to them. Because when we learn how to speak to you, we can learn how to speak to the whole business world. It’s not just about respecting you…it is…but it’s deeper than just respecting another human being. Everytime you degrade a person, you degrade yourself, because you are standing next to that person. You can’t diss a person, and not diss yourself…I should say ’she’s a queen.’ And what does that make me? A king. So now at the end of the day, what’s missing in hip-hop? Knowledge of self, that should only come from women.”
• A round up of books that all look worth reading.
• Word! “… it is not empowering for a group of college-age men to tell women what is or is not attractive. It is not helpful for men to point at women and say ‘This one is healthy, that one is not’ … the worst thing I could do is to point to this study and say to all thin women, naturally underweight women, dangerously underweight women, or women with eating disorders, ‘Now, I am the ideal and you are not.’ This is not progress.”
• Well said, well asked, thank you VERY much.“ … why do reporters keep reaching to assign significance to these races, even as they acknowledge it may not be there? Any answer to that question is itself speculative, but here’s one idea: it just makes politics more fun. Much as sports fans create extra meaning for games by seeing every choke or victory in moral terms, political journalists make elections more meaningful by threading them into a broader narrative.”
• I could NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER! “In other words, Coburn is—at least on this point—full of it.”

Billie’s Quickies … Iraq has a navy, SURPRISE ‘the church’ is sexist, and ole crazy eyes hisself

Preach, Maureen talking about some nun! “‘It is the rare bishop,’ Sister X writes, ‘who has any real understanding of the lives women actually lead.’  The church can be flexible, except with women.”

• Little known fact … Iraq has a Navy. H/T Neatorama.
• This just about sums up a great post: “Glad I could rock your world with the stunning revelation that makeup makes women prettier, asshole.”
• Peachy: “The federal anti-rioting statute is serious business, and is seemingly easy to violate. For instance, it is a felony to “organize, promote, encourage, participate in, or carry on a riot; or […] to aid or abet any person in inciting or participating in […] a riot.” By that token, simply telling a person fleeing cops with batons which way to run makes you a felon.”
• Who doesn’t need a best of the best list o’ downloads all in one place?
• YouTube channels for history buffs? Yes please!
• I can haz dr. suess art?
• Yeah, dance teachers are often harsh.  Also … yeesh! “Cole was a known terror in the dance studio. An inveterate curser, he hurled invectives at even his most faithful followers. During one of his brutal technique classes, he dragged one girl by the hair across a sweat-stained floor while threatening to toss another out a second-story window. When a dancer fainted in rehearsal, others, afraid to stop, hopped awkwardly over her body.”
• Ole Crazy Eyes hisself!

Billie’s Quickies … “How degraded, barbaric and depraved a society becomes when it lifts the taboo on torturing captives.”

• What a GREAT idea! “Recognizegood.com was created by the Samaritan Center and high-tech services and products supplier TyRex Group Ltd. earlier this year to raise money for local charities. The site is free to use, but for each recognition of a good deed, TyRex gives the Samaritan Center $1.”

Billie’s question for today…How many women on Obama’s staff play basketball?

Well, maybe it’s several questions.

First, how many of the President’s staff who are women play basketball?

Second, of those, how many want to play basketball with the President?

Third, how many have been asked?

Here’s the deal … questions two and three can be answered by answering question one.  Now, if we now wish to suggest that the President should take up a new hobby – rather than his much loved basketball – in order to appease NOW … well, that’s more insulting to women than Obama ever could think of, thus far.

Billie’s Quickies … In other news “Ms. Steinem, why aren’t you brainwashing well enough?”

Hey guys, it’s been a while since we heard about the man from Kentucky found hanging with “Fed” written on his chest. Updates are important to me – and probably to everyone else – and since I hadn’t seen one in a while … here ya go:  “Mr. Trosper agrees that the case is “perplexing” in that police haven’t been able to rule out any of the three possibilities: suicide, accidental death or homicide … But it’s clear that law enforcement hasn’t yet endorsed the notion of Appalachian bogeymen threatening government workers. In fact, the appearance of antigovernment bias in the death could be a smokescreen to cover up what really happened, says Northeastern University criminologist James Alan Fox.”

• Tragic: “Every year, at least a dozen children die in overheated cars in the U.S. because parents forgot they were there.  Don’t assume, says the Washington Post’s Gene Weingarten, that it couldn’t happen to you.”
• Jabberwocky spellchecked … HAHA!  “All missy were the brogues, And the mime rats outrage.”
• Quit calling me ya “dingledangler!”  And, other flapper phrases you can’t live without.
• TRUE DAT! “Reporting the facts is important. But so too is not reporting—or at least not focusing, day after day—on the lies.”
• This truly IS a “WTF moment on oldtime TV” and it couldn’t be summed up better than this:  “Ms. Steinem, why aren’t you brainwashing well enough? First you put a red sock in with my white button-up shirts, then you fail to hand-dry the dishes well enough so there are streaks, and now you aren’t keeping our brains squeaky clean! Unacceptable!”

Finally …

• With an opening like this:  “Japan is full of little Butt Pirates: Watch your butt, because little kids love sticking their finger up it. It’s called Kancho, and it’s not pleasant, especially if you don’t know what’s going on. Yarrr,”  how can you not look at the 10 ‘crazy’ things about Japan?

Update: Scarlet Letter anyone?

Disgusting: “Feminists for Choice alerts us to a new Oklahoma law (yes, law, not “proposed legislation” or “some kind of sick joke”) set to go into effect Nov. 1 that would collect detailed data about each abortion performed — and post it all on a public Web site called ShameOnYouWhore.com.”

Update:  The problem is … the search mechanism the Oklahoma State Department of Health currently has, already is invasive (Internet Explorer only).

Billie’s Quickies … “A censor is a man who knows more than he thinks you ought to.”

• It’s Banned Book Week.

• Sound Advice: “I would encourage everybody, think in terms of what your reader wants. These are ultimately consumer businesses and if you piss off enough of them, you will not have any more.”
• On the decline of the English Department: ” … at the root is the failure of departments of English across the country to champion, with passion, the books they teach and to make a strong case to undergraduates that the knowledge of those books and the tradition in which they exist is a human good in and of itself.”
• Toilet Paper Origami? Fabulous!
• Touching story about what happens when appearance changes after becoming ill.
• Military daughters inspiring other military daughters.
• Somebody oughta jump on this! We could save millions, I say, millllions: “‘The federal government risks losing millions of dollars in royalties from natural gas production because it does not promptly determine and collect when it gets shortchanged, according to congressional auditors.”

• 20 countries weigh in on stimulus measures and government oversight of economies.
• What if keeping women safe meant educating men?
• Need to find an ‘ism’? Well this list probably has more than you need.
• History of female matadors in Spain … totally cool (not for the bull, but definitely for women in the sport).
• “Failure to understand the adversary” among the top ten strategic blunders according to Richard Rumelt.
• “…we win the minds of Iraqis by building things like schools, bridges, and roads, but we win their hearts by building relationships and giving them respect.”  A Foreign Service Officer reflects on his time in Iraq.
• I can’t IMAGINE why the general public could be so ill informed with regard to the health insurance reform debate:  “We urge TV health news decision-makers to realize how often they’re doing more harm than good with so many of their non-evidence-based, cheerleading promotions of treatments for wrinkles, weight loss, baldness, toenail fungus, etc.- and breathless enthusiasm for new devices and other “new stuff” in health care.”
• Health Insurance Reform Health Insurance Reform Health Insurance Reform.

Finally…

If you haven’t seen the following, you MUST!

Billie’s Quickies … “How very”

I agree with and respect Glenn Greenwald (@glenngreenwald) an awful lot.  He’s an uber smarty pants who – even when I do find something with which to disagree (and I do, even in the article where the quote below came from) – I can still see where he’s coming from and respect him for educating me on something I most surely either simply did not know about or hadn’t thought about in a particular way.  Whether others like him or not, I have to hunker down to read his commentary because it sure ain’t a quick or thoughtless sound bite, and he always gives me something to chew on.  Glenn Greenwald is great for nuggets like this:

“If the Democratic Party is to become a meaningful alternative, free from corporate control, that will happen not because party leaders such as Obama cause it to happen.  Instead, it will only occur from efforts on the part of Democrats to cease support for, and begin working to eject, those elements which keep the Party beholden to the same interests as the ones who own and control the so-called ‘other party.’  Systematic, credible primary challenges — to impose a price for the Party on this behavior (by forcing them to divert resources to fending off primary challenges) and to make incumbents more accountable to their constituents — is the best, perhaps the only, means for accomplishing that, if it can be accomplished at all.”

• Earlier this year, a small-town business owner decided he would try to stimulate the local economy by handing out $16,000 in cash to his 24 employees.  But,  they had to donate part of it to charity and spend the rest at local businesses.  HuffPo followed up by finding similar stories in April.  Really is a neat idea.  Bootstraps people! And, here’s an interesting “progression of the recession” thingie.
• Speaking of the economy.  There’s also health insurance reform.  On that topic, here’s some advice on translating your medical bills, spotting errors, and fighting mistakes.
• Although I don’t necessarily agree with the title or a few remarks in this excellent commentary of the state of feminism today, I totally understand the sentiment … and the noteworthy and ongoing conversation in the comments between it’s author and his complimenters and critics.  A testament to how to begin a conversation – and not abandon it.
• Because you can’t have Melrose Place come back without it … HEATHERS trivia! Yay.

• Speaking of G20 … dictators descendants – where are they now?

Finally …

• “Shoulder SOS For Computer Lovers”

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-avant-stover/unplug-and-recharge-shoul_b_184625.html