[Ryan]

I post to another forum called FlyerTalk that just made the news...

An Incident of Rage Between Two FlyerTalk Members?

tl;dr version: The reporter needs sarcasm lessons.

One user made a thread about a (presumably real) story where he was almost kicked off the flight for calling another passenger an asshole. In the days to follow, three threads popped up from users purporting to have also been on that flight. To everyone on the board, the subsequent threads were *clearly* sardonic and tongue-in-cheek, but not to the Reuters guy... If you take all the posts seriously, half of Flyertalk was on that 737!

For anyone interested, you can find all the threads in this sub-forum.

[Moogs]

Wisconsin uses some kind of loophole to pass labor law without democrats present. Not really sure what to make of this as there's very little detailed information out there about what rights were actually cut and preserved, but seems pretty draconian.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,3070407.story

I'm not sure what to make of this. Unions are a difficult subject for me. On the one hand, long ago when unions came into being they did a lot of good for America in terms of limiting abuse of workers and setting up standards like the 40 hour work week but in modern times unions are almost as abusive of their power as the corporations and governments.

I'm all for protecting workers' rights against corporate scumbags (not as sure the governments are anywhere near as abusive as it's harder to hide), but not for unions colluding to shut things down every other year to constantly renegotiate their benefits for the same amount of work / production. Not uncommon to have a plumber's union or whatever go on strike, and the bring in electricians or other unions into the fold until they get what they want, causing a lot of disruption.

And crossing lines for those desperate for work (those who would kill to have some of the benefits many union workers enjoy), risk a very real beat-down if they try to cross lines. In some cases the police union is sympathetic and will look the other way when those trying to cross lines get abused in any way.

In short, unions are not the apple pie organizations they're made out to be (they have plenty of greed-driven behavior as well), but if a balance could be struck somehow they do serve a useful purpose when not abusive themselves.

[Helpful: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...es.html?ref=us ]

[SpecMode]

Remember that 7-pointer earthquake that hit off Japan's east coast a couple days or so ago? Apparently, that was just a warmup - they just got smacked by a magnitude 8.8 quake that was a lot closer than the last one - lots of injuries reported so far, and they're expecting tsunamis of up to ten meters in height.

Sure glad I'm not still over there at this particular moment.

[drewprops]

I think this is worth a thread of its own, I've been watching the news for about 5 minutes and tuned in to see if anyone here was seeing this.

[PKIDelirium]

Yeah, this needs its own thread. Holy crap. Watching the news on CNN, they've got video from NHK and Reuters of the tsunami waves hitting the Sendai region. Totally wiping out everything in its path, fortunately the worst of it seems to have stopped at least in that area.

Not sure now long before it gets to the Tokyo area.

[murbot]

Yo dawg, I heard you like seeing eye dogs so we got you a seeing eye dog for your seeing eye dog so you can see while you walk.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by murbot Yo dawg, I heard you like seeing eye dogs so we got you a seeing eye dog for your seeing eye dog so you can see while you walk.

That's cute.

[curiousuburb]

The French have begun attacking pro-Gaddafi tanks outside Benghazi.

Special Forces and UAVs are no doubt searching for a robed dude with an umbrella in a Golf Cart.

[addison]

Unfortunately the real muscle is coming from the US who has already dropped over a hundred tomahawks on their heads with much more to come I'm sure. Of course the big news is our Nobel Peace Prize winner now has a war of his own. No more hand me downs for him! And I couldn't help but notice he didn't even bother getting Congressional approval. Nice.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by AWM Unfortunately the real muscle is coming from the US who has already dropped over a hundred tomahawks on their heads with much more to come I'm sure. Of course the big news is our Nobel Peace Prize winner now has a war of his own. No more hand me downs for him! And I couldn't help but notice he didn't even bother getting Congressional approval. Nice.

Sigh.

I liked this tweet from @stacyherbert (retweeted by @gruber): "U.S. fires 110 tomahawk missiles, each costs $569,000. That's more than 5 years of NPR federal funding in less than an hour."

But guess which people choose to get all up in arms about.

The US has this weird culture where hundreds of billions of dollars in military spending is considered sacrosanct and unquestionable, but the NEA gives a $5,000 grant to a poet and everybody freaks out. I mean, that's almost two thousandths of one cent per US citizen! :O

[curiousuburb]

Religion to become extinct according to census data extrapolation

Originally Posted by BBC A study using census data from nine countries shows that religion there is set for extinction, say researchers. The data reflect a steady rise in those claiming no religious affiliation. The team's mathematical model attempts to account for the interplay between the number of religious respondents and the social motives behind being one. The result, reported at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, US, indicates that religion will all but die out altogether in those countries. Nonlinear dynamics is invoked to explain a wide range of physical phenomena in which a number of factors play a part. ... continues ...

--

The same conference also saw the most advanced quantum computer yet publicized*.

Quantum computing device hints at powerful future The 6cm-by-6cm chip holds nine quantum devices, among them four "quantum bits" that do the calculations. One of the most complex efforts toward a quantum computer has been shown off at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas in the US. It uses the strange "quantum states" of matter to perform calculations in a way that, if scaled up, could vastly outperform conventional computers. The 6cm-by-6cm chip holds nine quantum devices, among them four "quantum bits" that do the calculations. The team said further scaling up to 10 qubits should be possible this year. Rather than the ones and zeroes of digital computing, quantum computers deal in what are known as superpositions - states of matter that can be thought of as both one and zero at once. In a sense, quantum computing's one trick is to perform calculations on all superposition states at once. With one quantum bit, or qubit, the difference is not great, but the effect scales rapidly as the number of qubits rises. The figure often touted as the number of qubits that would bring quantum computing into a competitive regime is about 100, so each jump in the race is a significant one. We're right at the bleeding edge of actually having a quantum processor” Erik Lucero University of California, Santa Barbara "It's pretty exciting we're now at a point that we can start talking about what the architecture is we're going to use if we make a quantum processor," Erik Lucero of the University of California, Santa Barbara told the conference. The team's key innovation was to find a way to completely disconnect - or "decouple" - interactions between the elements of their quantum circuit. The delicate quantum states that they create must be manipulated, moved, and stored without destroying them. "It's a problem I've been thinking about for three or four years now, how to turn off the interactions," UCSB's John Martinis, who led the research," told BBC News. "Now we've solved it, and that's great - but there's many other things we have to do." Qubits and pieces The solution came in the form of what the team has termed the RezQu architecture. It is basically a blueprint for a quantum computer, and several presentations at the conference focused on how to make use of it. "For me this is kind of nice, I know how I'm going to put them together," said Professor Martinis. "I now know how to design it globally and I can go back and try to optimise all the parts." RezQu seems to have an edge in one crucial arena - scalability - that makes it a good candidate for the far more complex circuits that would constitute a quantum computer proper. "There are competing architectures, like ion traps - trapping ions with lasers, but the complexity there is that you have to have a huge room full of PhDs just to run your lasers," Mr Lucero told BBC News. The team has been steadily increasing the complexity of their quantum devices "There's already promise to show how this architecture could scale, and we've created custom electronics based on cellphone technology which has driven the cost down a lot. "We're right at the bleeding edge of actually having a quantum processor," he said. "It's been years that a whole community has blossomed just looking at the idea of, once we have a quantum computer, what are we going to do with it?" Britton Plourde, a quantum computing researcher from the University of Syracuse, said that the field has progressed markedly in recent years. The metric of interest to quantum computing is how long the delicate quantum states can be preserved, and Dr Plourde noted that time had increased a thousand fold since the field's inception. "The world of superconducting quantum bits didn't even exist 10 years ago, and now they can control [these states] to almost arbitrary precision," he told BBC News. "We're still a long way from a large-scale quantum computer but it's really in my eyes rapid progress."

* No doubt there are other similar efforts that aren't public.

Sounds like a cool conference.

[arteggio]

Originally Posted by curiousuburb Religion to become extinct according to census data extrapolation …

Interesting. I wonder if any of it has to do with people finding religion 'within themselves', instead of actually being nonreligious. I know if I were religious I wouldn't flock to any of the popular denominations or texts... Maybe people are becoming wary of deities for the masses?

What irony to host a conference like this in of all places Texas when just up in Canada head explosion is a much less likely occurrence. I still can't understand the US and its fascination with religion when equally developed countries like Canada and Australia are losing it.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by arteggio What irony to host a conference like this in of all places Texas

I have to wonder if the organizers of that particular announcement chose the location as a way of throwing up a big middle finger to the locals.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by arteggio I still can't understand the US and its fascination with religion when equally developed countries like Canada and Australia are losing it.

Believe me, some of us in the US don't get it either. I have my theories. I'm not going to share them.

In fact, I just want everybody to know that I almost posted not one, but two separate super funny jokes on this matter, but I didn't, because I am trying to be nice and/or am crazy afraid of offending someone. Even though they were really funny.

See? I can be nice. I am one of the Good Atheists, who Respects People's Beliefs.

[curiousuburb]

We won't smite you... go on... make with the funny.

That person can put you on their Ignore list, and the rest can enjoy.

[arteggio]

Originally Posted by Robo Believe me, some of us in the US don't get it either.

I'm in the US too. (West Virginia. ) Canada is becoming extremely appealing though.

Okay, on with the funnies, if you wish.

[Robo]

Originally Posted by arteggio West Virginia.

I'm sorry.

[arteggio]

Originally Posted by Robo I'm sorry.

I debated the inclusion of the speechless smiley expecting just that type of response. Locally, I'm actually in rather liberal hands among friends and family. Politically, the state has its Democrats; for example former Democrat Governor Manchin was just elected to become a US senator in place of Democrat Sen. Byrd, the longest serving senetor.

But a neighbor of mine owns two or three stereotypically obnoxious pickup trucks, and works on one of those hand-worked, tube-framed, aluminum-covered racecars. Don't forget the ATV.

So, I sort of have a niche here in WV, but fortunately I'm going to Pittsburgh in the fall. Happy face.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by arteggio But a neighbor of mine owns two or three stereotypically obnoxious pickup trucks, and works on one of those hand-worked, tube-framed, aluminum-covered racecars. Don't forget the ATV.

You an iPhone owner, by any chance? I know someone you should talk to...he'd love you.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by murbot Yo dawg, I heard you like seeing eye dogs so we got you a seeing eye dog for your seeing eye dog so you can see while you walk.

After spending years with an animal like that, completely relying on him/her to get you around, losing that animal would be worse than losing a family member, me thinks. I can certainly understand why he would keep the old devil around a bit longer.

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by AWM Unfortunately the real muscle is coming from the US who has already dropped over a hundred tomahawks on their heads with much more to come I'm sure. Of course the big news is our Nobel Peace Prize winner now has a war of his own. No more hand me downs for him! And I couldn't help but notice he didn't even bother getting Congressional approval. Nice.

Gotta love it. We invented the War Powers Act to skirt around the Constitutional mandate that all declarations of war* come directly from the people of the United States of America through their representatives in Congress! Congress did not want this responsibility any longer, preferring instead to lay the blame for our endless wars at the feet of one power-hungry president after another.

So, here we go again. Spending our hard-borrowed dollars dumping ordinance on yet another nation whose business is none of ours while the congress (our representatives) scream and yell at each other, trying to lay the blame on one party or another, forgetting that it is their @#$! responsibility in the first place! Pisses me off to no end!

*Believe you me, dropping bombs on another country is a declaration of war!

[Banana]

Kscherer,

I don't understand why you are being unreasonable. Are you even hearing yourself speaking?

How on the earth can dropping peacekeepers and peacemakers in other country can be a bad thing for us?!? Why do we need to declare war if all we want to do is make peace?

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by Banana Kscherer, I don't understand why you are being unreasonable. Are you even hearing yourself speaking? How on the earth can dropping peacekeepers and peacemakers in other country can be a bad thing for us?!? Why do we need to declare war if all we want to do is make peace?

Except we are not dropping "peacemakers", we are dropping bombs on a sovereign nation, which is a declaration of war by its very action; this is not "peace". And using military troops as an occupying force to create "peace" creates only the illusion of "peace". Hell, Nazi Germany occupied France for 5 years. Would you call that "peace"?

I believe in "peace" through fair trade (the real "fair trade", not the phony crap we have, today) with all nations, choosing neither side nor treaty. "Peace" comes when no nation interferes in the matters of another. And we need to police our own problems before we can ever be prepared to police the problems of an entire world. This country is screwed up and in tremendous debt, with corruption at every level of politics. What makes our corruption more righteous than Gadhafi's?

[Robo]

kscherer, perhaps we should post this in your other thread...

sarcasm: A form of humor that is marked by bitter mockery, often using irony, and sometimes conveyed in speech with vocal over-emphasis.

See also:

(Also, Godwinning is winning only in the "Charlie Sheen" sense.)

[Robo]

Apple removes Exodus International's "gay cure" app from App Store

The predictable parties will call "persecution," but I would hope Apple would be pro-active in banning (or, better, refusing to approve?) any app that promotes mentally unhealthy behavior as a valid (or in this case, the only valid) lifestyle choice. (Pro-anorexia apps come to mind.)

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by Robo kscherer, perhaps we should post this in your other thread... sarcasm: A form of humor that is marked by bitter mockery, often using irony, and sometimes conveyed in speech with vocal over-emphasis. See also:

can also mean "do you see my point, mister?" But, yes, the more I read through Banana's post the more I thought about this.

[torifile]

Steven Seagal, an Arizona sheriff, cock fighting and a TANK. Arizona is one fucked up state.

[turtle]

While that story is really messed up as it's presented; am I the only one that read sensationalism into that article? It's one of the reasons I can't stand the publication/organization.

[Robo]

I think it's exactly as messed up as it's made to be. Why was Steven Seagal there? And more importantly, why does it sound like he was calling the shots? I mean, why was the bomb squad there? For better TV? The whole thing feels straight out of a parody of America, only an uncomfortably true one, apparently.

That actually...pretty much sums up Arizona, doesn't it?

[kscherer]

Originally Posted by torifile Steven Seagal, an Arizona sheriff, cock fighting and a TANK. Arizona is one fucked up state.

I just cannot comment, other than to say .

And I just haven't got a clue what it is I am laughing at.