The “news”
Here is a modern FOX interview--the "interviewer" is Megyn Kelly. It's seven minutes long. Can you make it all the way to the end without having your mind wander from the topic of the alleged interview to the state of the media?
The People speak on how to reduce the budget deficit
The People would like to cut our warmongering expenses and to preserve most social programs. Rachel Maddow comments on other "liberal" trends recently measured:
Happy Ponzi Day!
Charles Ponzi was born 129 years ago today, so I guess that makes it Ponzi Day today. The man for whom the pyramid scheme was named though, was a chump. Today's schemers have been many times more successful. By the time Ponzi's scheme peaked in 1920, Wikipedia notes that "he had made $420,000 ($4.59 million in 2008 terms)." See what I mean? $4 and half million isn't even enough for today's ponzi artists to get out of bed. For example, let's look at the currently best-known ponzi artist, Bernie Madoff. The amount missing from Madoff clients' accounts was nearly $65 billion, although that includes fabricated money-- actual losses total about $18 billion. Even at $18 billion though, that's still almost 4,000 times the ponzi scheme than Ponzi himself. Madoff made headlines again this week, saying that “It’s unbelievable, Goldman … no one has any criminal convictions. The whole new regulatory reform is a joke. The whole government is a Ponzi scheme.” And who better to know Ponzi schemes than the man who bested Ponzi?
Featured Wikipedia photos
Have you ever viewed Wikipedia's featured photos? These are the "images that the community has chosen to be highlighted as some of the finest on Commons." This is a terrific collection of many hundreds images, all of them under the Creative Commons license. If they do not appear on this page, click the title of the post if you don't see the full attribution for the photos below.
Yes, more quotes
I constantly copy and paste quotes, and you'll find many of them under the category "quotes." Here are some more for my growing collection: "The Gish Gallop is an informal name for a rhetorical technique in debates that involves drowning the opponent in half-truths, lies, straw men, and bullshit to such a degree that the opponent cannot possibly answer every falsehood that has been raised, usually resulting in many involuntary twitches in frustration as the opponent struggles to decide where to start. It is named after creationism activist and professional debater Duane Gish" "Citing the Bible as evidence for anything is like saying that the sun is in fact a chariot of fire that races across the sky because we read about it in Greek mythology." - Stephen Ban “Regrettably, I have anecdotal evidence that lawyers stop laughing at a judge’s jokes after the judge’s retirement.” -Judge Robert Clayton II, commenting on his approaching retirement. "Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'" — Isaac Asimov "Capitalism, in its purer forms doesn’t reward people for their hard work with success. It rewards people less for what they contribute to the economy and more for what they own and control." - "Niklaus" at DI Either this man is dead or my watch has stopped. - Groucho Marx (1890 - 1977) A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life – Charles Darwin I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it. - Harry S Truman "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep." - Saul Bellow "You have not converted a man because you have silenced him." - John, Lord Morley "A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." - Winston Churchill [More . . . ]