Here’s what “fair and balanced” looks like in graphic form

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There’s a lot of lessons that can be learned from this. The most obvious being that if only sexual assaults in the military were blamed on Obama, Fox would be all over them. I’m actually surprised House members haven’t trotted that angle out yet. After all, he’s the Commander-in-Chief, you’d think it would be a natural direction to go, right on the corner of Benghazi Blvd between the IRS building and the AP news center. But that might involve admitting the issue exists, which could then lead to support for women in the military and following the blame up the manly chain of command, and that just doesn’t jive with the views of the typical Fox News viewer.

Would the real God fear’n free market please stand up?

I introduce the one, the only, Anatobloc! What it does, who knows and who cares? Because the important thing — indeed the only thing — is it makes its makers money. It has other uses too, not the least of which is it serves as an excellent example of the real free market or RFM below. See, in the idealized hypothetical free market, or HFM, products rise and fall based on price and efficacy with magical elasticity, joined at the hip to supply and demand. But in the RFM it all has to do with promotion and connections. And boy, is this shit ever connected: [Read more…]

Exoplanetary astronomers eager for rare opportunity to study nearest star

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If you read science fiction or science fact, you know the nearest star to the sun is called Proxima Centauri, a tiny red dwarf that happens to lay on this side of its triple star system containing Alpha Centauri A and B. Since its so close, astronomers have been able to mostly eliminate the chances of a really large unseen companion in close orbit around the little star, like a brown dwarf or a hot Jupiter. But the possibility of smaller planets exists and there’s reason to think there could be a few. Now, astronomers may get a chance to find out: [Read more…]

Need dating advice: life in single’s ville

There’s a nice woman I casually dated a few times last year, we’ll call her Jill. The relationship didn’t go anywhere, not much spark, but she’s a very sweet intelligent and fun person and we’ve stayed friends. But another reason it didn’t go anywhere is she’s been hung up bad on another man for a couple of years, let’s call him Jack. This particular Jack is married, and he kept stringing Jill along telling her he couldn’t stand his wife and was going to get a divorce. Then he moved from Austin to Houston for work reasons, wife in tow. Jack finally did get a divorce, but he didn’t follow through on any plans with Jill, much to her heartbreak.

Jack’s is now dating another woman, but he still comes to Austin every few months and, when he does, sometimes he calls Jill. Often from a sixth street bar late at night. They crash together, Jill rekindles her hope this time, this night, all will be different and Jack will fall madly in love with her. Of course that never happens.

Some of Jill’s coworkers had a Memorial Day Weekend pool party and cookout this evening, she asked me if I would go with her as a friend so that she wouldn’t have to go alone. I was happy to do it. She texted me when to pick her up, where the party would be, etc., around noon this morning. I want to help her feel good so I dressed up nice and metro, new haircut, new pants because I’m now down to a svelte 30 inch waist! I text Jill I’m on my way right before 6 PM, arrive at her house, ring the doorbell and …. nothing. I called her cell but it rang twice and then went to voice mail.

I was worried I might have gotten my signals crossed, so after waiting fifteen minutes loitering at the doorstep like a thief casing a house, I went to the private home where the party was and told them I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to meet her there or not. They were totally cool, invited me in, I waited for a bit. But no Jill. I texted her several times and tried to call letting her know where I was, no responses. Eventually it felt awkward enough that I politely thanked them and left.

Finally, just before 9 PM, two and half hours after I was supposed to pick her up. I get a brief text saying Jack flew in unexpectedly and “he doesn’t feel like going to the party so we’re just gonna stay in.” That’s it. Now you guys and galls tell me, I understand Jill and I are friends, I understand matters of the heart take precedence, and she honestly and earnestly told me about the weird hold this guy has over her from the moment we first we went out.

But does that justify leaving me hanging like that? It was her idea to call me and ask me to go with her, not mine. Had she told me right up until this evening that her plans had changed, or even standing at the door when I went to pick her up, I would have been completely sympathetic. But she didn’t. I didn’t even rate a ten second text or phone call telling me not to show up. That’s dating life folks, doesn’t matter if you’re middle aged or in Middle School. People will use you, disregard you, keep you as a back up without telling you, and even often profess how special you are and what  a unique connection they have with you while they’re doing all that.

And lest anyone thing I’m singling out flaky women. When I go out with a new girl there are a lot of things I have to worry about, they might be scammers, suffering from borderline personality or extreme depression, almost all of them have psycho ex boyfriends stalking them, there may be a serious substance abuse issue, they might even be professional hustlers. But one of the things I don’t give a second though to is ending up tied in the basement being sodomized and strangled by a psycho serial killer. So don’t get the idea I think women are the sole problem here…

Nevertheless, this left me feeling pretty unimportant, worthless, like I wasn’t even a good enough friend to rate simple basic decency

TDS dismembers Peggy Noonan

 

I’ve written here and here about the embarrassment that is Peggy Noonan. Having Noonan and her ilk on any news show where information is purportedly on equal footing with entertainment, presented as an equal with highly informed qualified analysts is an out and out sop to the most ridiculous of specimen of wingnut grifter. In terms the non political can get their teeth into, it would be like having a prime time network round table dedicated to planetary science with New Horizon’s chief investigator Alan Stern, Kuiper Belt expert Mike Brown, Bad Astronomy blogger Phil Plait … and a known utterly discredited quack pitching books on Nibiru. That’s not even entirety an accurate analogy to the indignity of it. Add in that Stern, Brown, and Plait were forced by convention and network policy to take the quack’s points seriously and respond to the geyser of misinformation in a few seconds of soundbite, instead of pointing and laughing or questioning producers why this quack was allowed on at all. If you’re think I’m being too harsh, watch that video at the top, and keep in mind, that’s just a few highlights of Noonan’s serial duplicity