h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Right, how do you measure generosity, and how is that column supposed to be interpreted? In respect of IQ, I wasn't so surprised to see how secular intelligent people have clustered in the far northeast part of the state, but I was taken aback at how stupid some other states allegedly are, like California or New Mexico (we have Los Alamos for heaven's sake). Maybe it's the preponderance of movie stars living here. Also, I think Florida's collective IQ is overrated.

Links to all sources are listed at the bottom of the page, this is where the generosity figures comes from:
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/researchandpublications/publications/7071.aspx

Some people are suffering less from the Hard Times than others, I see; the teabaggers just paid Sarah Palin $100 grand for her oh-so-cutting "lamestream media".

Christ. I know 5th graders who can come up with wittier insults.

Another gem from the same speech:

“Around the world, people who are seeking freedom from oppressive regimes wonder if Alaska is still that beacon of hope for democracy.”

Alaska?

Her husband was a member of the Alaska Independent Party, which is basically a secession movement. That quote might be a freudian slip...

Clearly, Frued should stop cross-dressing, then.

Headline: The Snitch in Your Pocket
Law enforcement is tracking Americans' cell phones in real time—without the benefit of a warrant.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/233916

"The issue came to a head this month in a federal courtroom in Philadelphia. A Justice Department lawyer, Mark Eckenwiler, asked a panel of appeals-court judges to overturn Lenihan's ruling, arguing that the Feds were only asking for what amounted to "routine business records." But he faced stiff questioning from one of the judges, Dolores Sloviter, who noted that there are some governments, like Iran's, that would like to use such records to identify political protesters. "Now, can the government assure us," she pressed Eckenwiler, that Justice would never use the provisions in the communications law to collect cell-phone data for such a purpose in the United States? Eckenwiler tried to deflect the question, saying he couldn't speak to "future hypotheticals," but finally acknowledged, "Yes, your honor. It can be used constitutionally for that purpose." For those concerned about what the government might do with the data in your pocket, that was not a comforting answer."

Now there's a question I think about now and then -- how has the culture benefited from the ubiquity of cell phones? I speak as someone who doesn't own one because the valley I live in is too deep and narrow for reception. Twice I've had pay-as-you-go phones and twice I've finally canceled them with heaps of minutes unused because I don't live the kind of life that requires being in touch with people when I'm on the road, because i'm never on the road.

Is your cellphone vital to you? Enough to live with having a federal transponder in your pocket or your bag?

Yes, my cellphone is fairly vital to me since I'm subscribed to information about cancelled commuter trains by SMS. It's also very useful not having to get off whatever functioning public transport I've finally managed to find just in order to find a payphone to call my boss to tell him 'I'll be late but I'm on my way'.

Mine is vital as I do not have a land line.

I use mine rarely. I could certainly live without it.

I don't own a cellphone.

My cell phone goes approximately where I do. People do rather expect you to be available by phone, at least during business hours.

Changing the subject slightly, here is a 5-year-old bit of political humor:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/04/08/DDG27BCFLG1.DTL

Oh my. Thanks for that. I'm going to borrow it for a journal of Dmitri's. It will fit there perfectly.

Just saw this hilarious tweet on Huffpost, where I'm watching a stream of the debate:

EXCLUSIVE: Stupak sealed in box, vote is in a state of quantum indeterminacy

>> Holy carp. Health care passed! As a friend of mine posted on FB: Hello USA! Germany says, Welcome to 1883. UK says, Welcome to 1911. France says, Welcome to 1930. Aust? 1975.

(MR - F38024?thread=7375925&latest=1#p93918426 )

That is fan-f***ing-tastic! What good news for a Monday morning. While I am pleased for the USians it will help, I am more pleased that Obama's mandate continues. I confess, that was what worried me about the whole situation.

Ben

Great news indeed, but I'm a little bit concerned that Obama had to accommodate the anti-abortionists.

'Bart Stupak backs bill after pledge that no public funds would be used for abortions, other than in cases of rape or incest'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/22/us-healthcare-reform-abortion-obama

He agreed to not spend funds that would only be available to spend if the health bill passed to begin with. It's 10 steps forward and 1 step back. On its own it's a terrible decision, but in context it's an expedient compromise, a choice between 100% progress and 90% progress.

Now we just have to wait 4 years for the law to take effect, and hope that in the meantime the Republicans don't come back into the majority and torch the whole thing.

>>and hope that in the meantime the Republicans don't come back into the majority and torch the whole thing.

That's the problem, they will eventually have the majority again, that's how it works here.

Just a bit too late to capture an Olympic medal for 100 Meter Dash To File A Lawsuit:

CNN: 14 states sue to block health care law


Officials from 14 states have gone to court to block the historic overhaul of the U.S. health care system that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, arguing the law's requirement that individuals buy health insurance violates the Constitution.

Thirteen of those officials filed suit in a federal court in Pensacola, Florida, minutes after Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The complaint calls the act an "unprecedented encroachment on the sovereignty of the states" and asks a judge to block its enforcement.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/23/health.care.lawsuit/?hpt=T1



HN