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JDDavis
JDDavis's Journal
JDDavis's Journal
January 20, 2015
Super-high resolution image of Andromeda from Hubble (NASA/ESA): http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/...
Gigapixels of Andromeda
Super-high resolution image of Andromeda from Hubble (NASA/ESA): http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/...
January 19, 2015
http://www.alternet.org/economy/paul-krugman-real-reason-reality-doesnt-make-slightest-dent-right-wing-brain
Krugman's column is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/opinion/paul-krugman-hating-good-government.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0
The Opinion Pages | OP-ED COLUMNIST
Hating Good Government
JAN. 18, 2015
Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman on the Real Reason Reality Doesn't Make the Slightest Dent in the Right-wing Brain
What's behind this rabid denial of facts and evidence?
Evidence doesn’t matter for the “debate” over climate policy, where I put scare quotes around “debate” because, given the obvious irrelevance of logic and evidence, it’s not really a debate in any normal sense. And this situation is by no means unique. Indeed, at this point it’s hard to think of a major policy dispute where facts actually do matter; it’s unshakable dogma, across the board. And the real question is why.
http://www.alternet.org/economy/paul-krugman-real-reason-reality-doesnt-make-slightest-dent-right-wing-brain
Well, it strikes me that the immovable position in each of these cases is bound up with rejecting any role for government that serves the public interest. If you don’t want the government to impose controls or fees on polluters, you want to deny that there is any reason to limit emissions. If you don’t want the combination of regulation, mandates and subsidies that is needed to extend coverage to the uninsured, you want to deny that expanding coverage is even possible. And claims about the magical powers of tax cuts are often little more than a mask for the real agenda of crippling government by starving it of revenue.
And why this hatred of government in the public interest? Well, the political scientist Corey Robin argues that most self-proclaimed conservatives are actually reactionaries. That is, they’re defenders of traditional hierarchy — the kind of hierarchy that is threatened by any expansion of government, even (or perhaps especially) when that expansion makes the lives of ordinary citizens better and more secure. I’m partial to that story, partly because it helps explain why climate science and health economics inspire so much rage.
And why this hatred of government in the public interest? Well, the political scientist Corey Robin argues that most self-proclaimed conservatives are actually reactionaries. That is, they’re defenders of traditional hierarchy — the kind of hierarchy that is threatened by any expansion of government, even (or perhaps especially) when that expansion makes the lives of ordinary citizens better and more secure. I’m partial to that story, partly because it helps explain why climate science and health economics inspire so much rage.
Krugman's column is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/opinion/paul-krugman-hating-good-government.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0
The Opinion Pages | OP-ED COLUMNIST
Hating Good Government
JAN. 18, 2015
Paul Krugman
It’s now official: 2014 was the warmest year on record. You might expect this to be a politically important milestone. After all, climate change deniers have long used the blip of 1998 — an unusually hot year, mainly due to an upwelling of warm water in the Pacific — to claim that the planet has stopped warming. This claim involves a complete misunderstanding of how one goes about identifying underlying trends. (Hint: Don’t cherry-pick your observations.) But now even that bogus argument has collapsed. So will the deniers now concede that climate change is real?
Of course not. Evidence doesn’t matter for the “debate” over climate policy, where I put scare quotes around “debate” because, given the obvious irrelevance of logic and evidence, it’s not really a debate in any normal sense. And this situation is by no means unique. Indeed, at this point it’s hard to think of a major policy dispute where facts actually do matter; it’s unshakable dogma, across the board. And the real question is why.
Of course not. Evidence doesn’t matter for the “debate” over climate policy, where I put scare quotes around “debate” because, given the obvious irrelevance of logic and evidence, it’s not really a debate in any normal sense. And this situation is by no means unique. Indeed, at this point it’s hard to think of a major policy dispute where facts actually do matter; it’s unshakable dogma, across the board. And the real question is why.
January 19, 2015
How to photograph the Earth from space, with Chris Hadfield | At-Bristol Science Centre
Published on Dec 22, 2014
Chris Hadfield is the world's most famous moutachioed astronaut. Join Ross of the Live Science Team as he asks Chris about his experiences on-board the International Space Station, the future of human space exploration, and invites him to re-create some of the famous photos he took in orbit using a variety of textures and macro-photography.
Find out more about Chris Hadfield and his latest book, You Are Here, at his official website: http://chrishadfield.ca
Chris Hadfield is the world's most famous moutachioed astronaut. Join Ross of the Live Science Team as he asks Chris about his experiences on-board the International Space Station, the future of human space exploration, and invites him to re-create some of the famous photos he took in orbit using a variety of textures and macro-photography.
Find out more about Chris Hadfield and his latest book, You Are Here, at his official website: http://chrishadfield.ca
January 17, 2015
Mormon Church Threatens Critic With Excommunication
Mormon Church Threatens Critic With Excommunication
By LAURIE GOODSTEINJAN. 15, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/16/us/john-dehlin-mormon-critic-facing-excommunication.html
Sorry, for some reason I cannot copy and paste any text of the article from the NY Times.
Here is John Dehlin, 45, Ph.D. psychology candidate at Utah State University, and founder of an on-line podcast series "Mormon Stories", which argues for acceptance and love for LGBT folks, as well as for the equality of women in the LDS church.
He delivered this Ted Talk in 2013.
Published on Nov 20, 2013
Growing up as a conservative Mormon in Texas, there was little in John's upbringing that would have predicted he would become an ally for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Mormons. He discusses his transformation from homophobe to LGBT ally and his research on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Mormon experience from a sample of over 1,600 LGBT Mormons.
John Dehlin, a Psychology Ph.D. candidate at Utah State University, is interested in the nexus of religion and mental health. John's master's thesis focused on the treatment of religion-based obsessive-compulsive disorder (also known as "scrupulosity"
, and his dissertation explores the experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Mormons (and former Mormons).
Growing up as a conservative Mormon in Texas, there was little in John's upbringing that would have predicted he would become an ally for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Mormons. He discusses his transformation from homophobe to LGBT ally and his research on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Mormon experience from a sample of over 1,600 LGBT Mormons.
John Dehlin, a Psychology Ph.D. candidate at Utah State University, is interested in the nexus of religion and mental health. John's master's thesis focused on the treatment of religion-based obsessive-compulsive disorder (also known as "scrupulosity"
, and his dissertation explores the experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Mormons (and former Mormons).
January 17, 2015
Dover Police DashCam Confessional (Shake it Off)
"A Dover Delaware Public Affairs Production"
January 17, 2015
The ally within: John Dehlin at TEDxUSU
Apologies if this was posted back in 2013, the time of the Youtube video posting.
Growing up as a conservative Mormon in Texas, there was little in John's upbringing that would have predicted he would become an ally for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Mormons. He discusses his transformation from homophobe to LGBT ally and his research on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Mormon experience from a sample of over 1,600 LGBT Mormons.
John Dehlin, a Psychology Ph.D. candidate at Utah State University, is interested in the nexus of religion and mental health. John's master's thesis focused on the treatment of religion-based obsessive-compulsive disorder (also known as "scrupulosity" , and his dissertation explores the experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Mormons (and former Mormons).
Prior to graduate school, John worked for 16 years in the high-tech industry, including positions with Bain & Company, Microsoft, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. John is the founder and host of Mormon Stories Podcast, and his work with the podcast has been highlighted in the New York Times, Good Morning America, and on the CBS Evening News. John is married to Margi Weber Dehlin and has four children.
John Dehlin, a Psychology Ph.D. candidate at Utah State University, is interested in the nexus of religion and mental health. John's master's thesis focused on the treatment of religion-based obsessive-compulsive disorder (also known as "scrupulosity"
, and his dissertation explores the experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Mormons (and former Mormons).
Prior to graduate school, John worked for 16 years in the high-tech industry, including positions with Bain & Company, Microsoft, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. John is the founder and host of Mormon Stories Podcast, and his work with the podcast has been highlighted in the New York Times, Good Morning America, and on the CBS Evening News. John is married to Margi Weber Dehlin and has four children.
January 15, 2015
Apologies if this has been posted previously, but I was shocked to read this.
For Windows users, I think Windows 7 is among the simplest and the best, much easier to learn and use than Windows 8, which is distracting and keeps wanting to sell me all sorts of other stuff, movies, music, etc.
Microsoft just dropped support for the most popular version of Windows
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/13/7537427/microsoft-windows-7-support-droppedMore than five years after its release, Windows 7 is still the most popular PC operating system on the planet; according to Net Applications, it's running on 56 percent of all PCs on the web. And today is the day Microsoft is officially dropping support for the software.
If you're running Windows 7, this doesn't mean that your PC is about to stop working. But it means that you'll no longer be able to call Microsoft to get free tech support. And Microsoft is going to stop adding new features to the operating system.
Microsoft will continue issuing security updates for the software for another five years. And during this time period, which Microsoft calls "extended support," you'll be able to purchase paid support if you want to.
If you're running Windows 7, this doesn't mean that your PC is about to stop working. But it means that you'll no longer be able to call Microsoft to get free tech support. And Microsoft is going to stop adding new features to the operating system.
Microsoft will continue issuing security updates for the software for another five years. And during this time period, which Microsoft calls "extended support," you'll be able to purchase paid support if you want to.
Apologies if this has been posted previously, but I was shocked to read this.
For Windows users, I think Windows 7 is among the simplest and the best, much easier to learn and use than Windows 8, which is distracting and keeps wanting to sell me all sorts of other stuff, movies, music, etc.
January 13, 2015
... skipping to the end of the list...(over 40 in the USA documented here)
Full list here:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/terror-from-the-right
There seem to have been others not listed in this article, but over 40 well-documented right wing attempts, in just under 20 years.
This so often has something to do with the religious right wing, (all white folks, by the way).
In Paris, in one week, 17 innocent people slaughtered, and millions of Parisians and world leaders all turn up to morn them and profess unity and demand interfaith tolerance. In Oklahoma City, almost 20 years ago, 168 people, including infants and toddlers were slaughtered and there was no nation-wide repudiation of white anti-government extremism and intolerance. No international nor nation-wide marches and demonstrations of solidarity happened in the USA after OKC. In short, America certainly mourned, but we never repudiated that kind of right wing intolerant extremism. We simply went on, day by day, and our government, and most of those on the religious right chose to ignore what had happened in OKC.
Just putting this out there for discussion. Compare and contrast. ISIS/Al Qaeda violent acts worldwide, or right wing religious anti-government factions in the USA. Something to think about.
Terror From the Right: Plots, Conspiracies and Racist Rampages Since Oklahoma City
Terror From the Right: Plots, Conspiracies and Racist Rampages Since Oklahoma CityThe slaughter engineered by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, men steeped in the conspiracy theories and white-hot fury of the American radical right, marked the opening shot in a new kind of domestic political extremism — a revolutionary ideology whose practitioners do not hesitate to carry out attacks directed at entirely innocent victims, people selected essentially at random to make a political point. After Oklahoma, it was no longer sufficient for many American right-wing terrorists to strike at a target of political significance — instead, they reached for higher and higher body counts, reasoning that they had to eclipse McVeigh's attack to win attention.
... skipping to the end of the list...(over 40 in the USA documented here)
November 28, 2014
Armed with a .22-caliber rifle and an assault rifle, Larry Steve McQuilliams, 49, fires more than 100 rounds at a police station, a Mexican consulate, a federal courthouse and a bank in downtown Austin, Texas, during the pre-dawn hours. He also tries to set the consulate on fire before he is shot dead by police. No one is hurt in the attack, which causes extensive damage to the buildings. In a rental van, police find multiple propane cans fashioned into homemade bombs and a map of 34 targets, including two churches. They also find Vigilantes of Christendom. The 1990 book inspired a white supremacist doctrine known as Phineas Priesthood, which finds divine justification for violence against those seen by such “priests” as enemies of God. The Austin police chief describes McQuilliams, a felon, as a “homegrown American terrorist trying to terrorize our people” and says a note found in the book “discusses his rank as a priest in his fight against anti-God people.” Statements made in police interviews also tie him to ultra-conservative groups with anti-Semitic, anti-LGBT and racist views.
Armed with a .22-caliber rifle and an assault rifle, Larry Steve McQuilliams, 49, fires more than 100 rounds at a police station, a Mexican consulate, a federal courthouse and a bank in downtown Austin, Texas, during the pre-dawn hours. He also tries to set the consulate on fire before he is shot dead by police. No one is hurt in the attack, which causes extensive damage to the buildings. In a rental van, police find multiple propane cans fashioned into homemade bombs and a map of 34 targets, including two churches. They also find Vigilantes of Christendom. The 1990 book inspired a white supremacist doctrine known as Phineas Priesthood, which finds divine justification for violence against those seen by such “priests” as enemies of God. The Austin police chief describes McQuilliams, a felon, as a “homegrown American terrorist trying to terrorize our people” and says a note found in the book “discusses his rank as a priest in his fight against anti-God people.” Statements made in police interviews also tie him to ultra-conservative groups with anti-Semitic, anti-LGBT and racist views.
Full list here:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/terror-from-the-right
There seem to have been others not listed in this article, but over 40 well-documented right wing attempts, in just under 20 years.
This so often has something to do with the religious right wing, (all white folks, by the way).
In Paris, in one week, 17 innocent people slaughtered, and millions of Parisians and world leaders all turn up to morn them and profess unity and demand interfaith tolerance. In Oklahoma City, almost 20 years ago, 168 people, including infants and toddlers were slaughtered and there was no nation-wide repudiation of white anti-government extremism and intolerance. No international nor nation-wide marches and demonstrations of solidarity happened in the USA after OKC. In short, America certainly mourned, but we never repudiated that kind of right wing intolerant extremism. We simply went on, day by day, and our government, and most of those on the religious right chose to ignore what had happened in OKC.
Just putting this out there for discussion. Compare and contrast. ISIS/Al Qaeda violent acts worldwide, or right wing religious anti-government factions in the USA. Something to think about.
January 12, 2015
These articles in Vox are always worth a read.
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/12/7531139/mitt-romney-president-economy
What would Republicans say if Mitt Romney were president and the economy was this strong?
What would Republicans say if Mitt Romney were president and the economy was this strong?Imagine if, 722 days after winning the election, President Romney were presiding over an economy growing at five percent a year, an unemployment rate dipping beneath six percent, and gasoline that was less than $2-a-gallon.
This is, after all, what Romney promised. Hell, it's more than Romney promised.
If Mitt Romney were president right now, he would be seen as the second coming of Ronald Reagan. There would be parades in the streets. The kids would have "severely conservative" tattoos. Men would be saying "gosh."
This is, after all, what Romney promised. Hell, it's more than Romney promised.
If Mitt Romney were president right now, he would be seen as the second coming of Ronald Reagan. There would be parades in the streets. The kids would have "severely conservative" tattoos. Men would be saying "gosh."
These articles in Vox are always worth a read.
http://www.vox.com/2015/1/12/7531139/mitt-romney-president-economy
January 12, 2015
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mississippi-lawmaker-bible-state-book?utm_content=bufferb7cf6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
This is not at all related to religion !!
Mississippi Lawmaker Proposes Making Bible The State Book
Mississippi Lawmaker Proposes Making Bible The State BookJACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi has a state bird, a state flower and even a state toy. So state Rep. Tom Miles figures it ought to have a state book: the Bible.
Miles of Forest says he and fellow Democratic Rep. Michael Evans of Preston are filing a bill, and they've already received bipartisan promises of support from more than 20 of their colleagues.
Miles told The Associated Press on Monday that he's not trying to force religion — or even reading — on anyone. But he sees the Bible as a good guide for promoting kindness and compassion.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
Miles of Forest says he and fellow Democratic Rep. Michael Evans of Preston are filing a bill, and they've already received bipartisan promises of support from more than 20 of their colleagues.
Miles told The Associated Press on Monday that he's not trying to force religion — or even reading — on anyone. But he sees the Bible as a good guide for promoting kindness and compassion.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/mississippi-lawmaker-bible-state-book?utm_content=bufferb7cf6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
This is not at all related to religion !!
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