Thank you, New York Times, for validating the fact that my gay friends and I do, in fact, have real friendships. Though I’m pretty sure I have never gone through the “awkward crush” phase described in the article. Like, ever.
No, I mean ever.
In fact, come to think of it, I’m pretty sure this article was written by someone who has never actually met a gay person.
One thing that never fails to amaze me about the proponents of the “Geek Rapture” (aka the Singularity) is that they don’t seem to grasp that technology doesn’t always work. In a world of viruses, blue screens of death, smartphones that freeze every five minutes, and spyware, I’m not sure that I would want to integrate my mind with a computer, thankyouverymuch.
Also, AIs that are programmed to sell viagra and online poker? Terrifying…
“You ever wonder if people back on Earth ever read over Starfleet logs and just freak the fuck out? ‘Um, hey, I don’t mean to be a bother, but.. what the hell is a ‘doomsday machine’? And it says here that some doctor went back in time and destroyed all life as we know it, but it’s okay because a couple other guys followed him and fixed everything, but they had to kill some girl. Wait, I’m sorry–they had to let her die. Okay, is there any way we could stop these guys from leaving their ships?’”
– Zack Handlen
I feel like it’s worth noting that all throughout the 2008 campaign, the line that conservatives had against Obama is that he was just “pretty words.” A good speaker who can “inspire with words” (according to Sarah Palin) but can’t back them up with deeds or experience.
Now, during the Iranian protests, it appears that the most common complaint about Obama is that he hasn’t “spoken forcefully enough” to the point where many conservatives are echoing this claim of Melanie Phillips:
What a disgrace that this man is leader of the free world; and at such a point in history. If he had put America stoutly behind the protesters and championed them against the regime, by now they might have toppled it.
Yes, you’ve got that right. During the campaign, Obama’s rhetorical skills were meaningless and couldn’t accomplish anything. But when it comes to Iran, Obama is such a compelling speaker that if he just said the right things, the protesters would magically become bullet and club proof and topple Khameni once and for all!
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is back to work after an impromptu trip to Argentina.
S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford arrived in the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport this morning, having wrapped up a seven-day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, he said. Sanford said he had not been hiking along the Appalachian Trail, as his staff said in a Tuesday statement to the media.Sanford’s whereabouts had been unknown since Thursday, and the mystery surrounding his absence fueled speculation about where he had been and who’s in charge in his absence. His emergence Wednesday ended the mystery.
So, that wraps that up, then.
Matthew Yglesias puts forth the suggestion that perhaps we ought to move in the direction of a cashless society. And not in the sense of a post-scarcity, moneyless economy, but rather electronic money.
A cashless economy would also presumably reduce the possibilities of tax evasion and criminal activity. More for those kind of reasons, I suspect that more countries will start looking at this option in the decades to come.
For a number of reasons, this is a terrible idea. For one, it would force people to be dependent on banks. Now I personally have no truck with banks–I use several myself. But I don’t think that people should be forced to deal with them, if they don’t want to. Not to mention the fact that the events of the past year indicate that perhaps relying too much on financial institutions isn’t the wisest of economic moves.
There are other practical reasons to keep cash, as well. Allowances for kids. Minor jobs for young teenagers such as lawnmowing services or babysitting. Small transactions like vending machines (credit cards charge fees for such transactions, which would result in price inflation if implemented widely).
I would presume that the end result of a cashless society would be a very large barter economy and loads of private currency, putting a substantial portion of economic activity off the books and much harder for governments to keep track of.
Which, now that you mention it, doesn’t sound like a half-bad idea.
Via Steven Taylor, it appears that Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina may be missing:
Put it all together and this is starting to sound a lot like the governor is genuinely missing.He goes hiking, either alone or in a small group. He says he’ll be away and perhaps not in regular contact. But reading between the lines it seems his people did not expect he’d be totally out of contact for several days. There’s some evidence suggesting some efforts may already have been made to track him down. Now it’s the beginning of the next week. And there’s still no word from him.
I don’t think there’s much to be gained through more speculation. And there’s a lot that’s still murky about this. But based on what we’re being told, if Sanford weren’t the governor of a state but the CEO of a local company, this sounds like the point at which people would be starting to worry about if something had happened to him.
Bizarre.
“I’m no fan of Obama’s tax plan, but what on earth justifies the assumption that the richest members of society are the most productive, or that their uses of capital are the most efficient?
No doubt that would tend to be true in a freed market, but in a system like the one we live under – a system of government-granted privilege to the corporate elite – it seems extraordinarily unlikely to be true; and indeed the evidence is pretty overwhelmingly to the contrary.”
– Roderick Long
BBC Farsi has some amazing footage of riot police vs. a crowd of protesters. Long story short: police attack. Protesters advance. Police attack. Protesters advance. Police attack. Protesters advance. Police run away.
Amazing.
(via Andrew Sullivan)
My Outside the Beltway colleague Dodd Harris posted this video on his Facebook page, which made me laugh a great deal:
