From The Washington Post -
Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) will make all ex-felons in Virginia eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, part of a years-long effort to restore full voting rights to former convicts.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/04/22/about-200000-convicted-felons-in-virginia-will-now-have-the-right-to-vote-in-november/?hpid=hp_no-name_no-name%3Apage%2Fbreaking-news-bar
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Friday, April 22, 2016
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Formatting Issues
Sincere apologies for some formatting issues I'm experiencing.
There is USA graphic map that was included in a post a while ago, that is obnoxious and oversized and continues to appear in spite of sincere efforts to delete it.
So, until I figure this out, please excuse the mess.
There is USA graphic map that was included in a post a while ago, that is obnoxious and oversized and continues to appear in spite of sincere efforts to delete it.
So, until I figure this out, please excuse the mess.
Quote
“When Eric Clapton was asked how it felt to be the world’s best guitarist he replied: ‘I don’t know. Ask Prince.’ #RIP”
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
"Keanu" Red Band Trailer - From the Minds of Key & Peele - Uncensored
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/movies/with-keanu-key-peele-break-into-feature-films-with-kittens-in-tow.html?hpw&rref=movies&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
Clever T-Shirt
From CNN -
The T-shirt that can speak in any language
(CNN) Call it the ultimate fashion statement -- a shirt that can do the talking when no one understands a word you're saying.
This genius item of clothing is printed with nearly 40 icons that travelers can use to try to get their message across if they don't know the language.
Inspired by a communications breakdown on the road, the shirt is part of a range of items created by a team of Swiss guys who've formed a company, Iconspeak.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/19/travel/iconspeak-t-shirt-speaks-any-language/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~
It's available at Amazon. Search "icon t-shirt."
Quote
"In an historic first, U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts used sign language from the Supreme Court bench on Tuesday as he welcomed a dozen deaf and hard-of-hearing lawyers who took part in a ceremony authorizing them to argue cases before the court." [Reuters / Lawrence Hurley]
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Amazon Echo
On sale today only.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/04/19/amazon-offers-one-day-sale-echo/83224644/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016/04/19/amazon-offers-one-day-sale-echo/83224644/
Newton's Laws
From The New Yorker -
I wish we could derive the rest of the phænomena of nature by the same kind of reasoning from mechanical principles.
—Sir Isaac Newton, “The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”
LAW I: A body in motion will be kept in motion. A body at rest will be asked what its plans for the day are.
The First Law deals primarily with inertia—which is often mistakenly identified as “relaxing”—and the different ways one body can affect another inert (and perfectly content) body. Conversely, it states that a body in motion will be kept in motion with a list of errands, written on the back of an envelope, before that body “becomes one with the couch for the rest of the day,” which seems like an unnecessary characterization. Also known as “The Saturday Principle.”
An object at rest will not start moving unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. But definitely don’t use the word “unbalanced.” That will not work out well for the object. Also, any force that causes another body to transition from a state of inertia to “trying to maybe accomplish something today” technically can be measured by describing its magnitude and its direction, but never describe the force’s magnitude.
When an object in motion finally comes to rest (so many hours later than it wanted) and it becomes clear that the object has forgotten one item (I) that was written on the other side of the envelope (E), it will get zero (0) credit for the things it did remember, and for which it waited in traffic (T), thanks to a screw-up with Waze (W), we can say that (E – I)(T + W) = 0.
LAW II: The heavier the object, the greater the force needed to move it, especially if it refuses to move, in a misguided effort to make some kind of point.
The Second Law states that the heavier an object is physically, mentally, and emotionally, the more it is affected by inertia, and the more the object can expect to have that thrown in its face if, God forbid, the object refuses to get out of bed for three days after losing the only job the object ever loved.
The oppositional force provided by the inert object is affected not only by its literal mass—which increases due to forces of gravity, time, too much takeout, and low-grade depression—but also by its tendency to actively resist change. This tendency is either due to the constant and unreasonable nature of the forces acting on it, or a psychological aversion to being told what to do because of some weird thing with its dad, depending on who you ask.
The more opposition that is provided, the stronger the force required to overcome it, which often leads to mutual structural damage, also known as “saying things you can’t take back” and “slamming the silverware drawer so hard you break the soft-close feature.”
The inevitability of this law and its consequences may be expressed as the mathematical equation F = ML, where F = Fuck and ML = My Life.
LAW III: For every action there is an opposite and bewildering reaction.
The Third Law states that one object will always appear to have a completely disproportionate negative reaction to the action of the other. This is called the Out of Nowhere Fallacy, and is based on the illusion that reactions are responses only to the action at hand, rather than to every similar action that has occurred in all previous interactions between the two objects. This is often referred to as the Cumulative Fatigue with Your Bullshit Index.
Take, for example, an object in motion that tries to rest, just for a moment, to keep from crying in front of the kids, like that one time, and happens to audibly lock the bathroom door. While it seems mathematically impossible that this would cause a two-and-a-half-hour blowout fight, the reaction is appropriate when corrected for the fact that this brings up trust issues from the time the secret checking account was discovered, even though that was a million years ago, or 106 (y).
While far less common, an action can also cause an unexpected positive reaction. Consider an automobile travelling from a restaurant to a house: while the acceleration is affected by mass and external friction, it is also affected by forces inside the vehicle.
If two bodies are at rest inside—alone by a scheduling anomaly; held together by time, a mutual expansion of mass, and the indefinable constant of love—one body may notice something about the other body, like the way it pretends to know the words to the song on the radio, and it may take the other by the hand and smile and suggest a change of direction, because the sitter isn’t expecting them for an hour, and tonight, for once, neither body is pushing or pulling at all.
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/newtons-laws-of-marriage?mbid=nl_160419_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8810442&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=902058505&spReportId=OTAyMDU4NTA1S0
Newton’s Laws of Marriage
BY JOHN QUAINTANCE
I wish we could derive the rest of the phænomena of nature by the same kind of reasoning from mechanical principles.
—Sir Isaac Newton, “The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”
LAW I: A body in motion will be kept in motion. A body at rest will be asked what its plans for the day are.
The First Law deals primarily with inertia—which is often mistakenly identified as “relaxing”—and the different ways one body can affect another inert (and perfectly content) body. Conversely, it states that a body in motion will be kept in motion with a list of errands, written on the back of an envelope, before that body “becomes one with the couch for the rest of the day,” which seems like an unnecessary characterization. Also known as “The Saturday Principle.”
An object at rest will not start moving unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. But definitely don’t use the word “unbalanced.” That will not work out well for the object. Also, any force that causes another body to transition from a state of inertia to “trying to maybe accomplish something today” technically can be measured by describing its magnitude and its direction, but never describe the force’s magnitude.
When an object in motion finally comes to rest (so many hours later than it wanted) and it becomes clear that the object has forgotten one item (I) that was written on the other side of the envelope (E), it will get zero (0) credit for the things it did remember, and for which it waited in traffic (T), thanks to a screw-up with Waze (W), we can say that (E – I)(T + W) = 0.
LAW II: The heavier the object, the greater the force needed to move it, especially if it refuses to move, in a misguided effort to make some kind of point.
The Second Law states that the heavier an object is physically, mentally, and emotionally, the more it is affected by inertia, and the more the object can expect to have that thrown in its face if, God forbid, the object refuses to get out of bed for three days after losing the only job the object ever loved.
The oppositional force provided by the inert object is affected not only by its literal mass—which increases due to forces of gravity, time, too much takeout, and low-grade depression—but also by its tendency to actively resist change. This tendency is either due to the constant and unreasonable nature of the forces acting on it, or a psychological aversion to being told what to do because of some weird thing with its dad, depending on who you ask.
The more opposition that is provided, the stronger the force required to overcome it, which often leads to mutual structural damage, also known as “saying things you can’t take back” and “slamming the silverware drawer so hard you break the soft-close feature.”
The inevitability of this law and its consequences may be expressed as the mathematical equation F = ML, where F = Fuck and ML = My Life.
LAW III: For every action there is an opposite and bewildering reaction.
The Third Law states that one object will always appear to have a completely disproportionate negative reaction to the action of the other. This is called the Out of Nowhere Fallacy, and is based on the illusion that reactions are responses only to the action at hand, rather than to every similar action that has occurred in all previous interactions between the two objects. This is often referred to as the Cumulative Fatigue with Your Bullshit Index.
Take, for example, an object in motion that tries to rest, just for a moment, to keep from crying in front of the kids, like that one time, and happens to audibly lock the bathroom door. While it seems mathematically impossible that this would cause a two-and-a-half-hour blowout fight, the reaction is appropriate when corrected for the fact that this brings up trust issues from the time the secret checking account was discovered, even though that was a million years ago, or 106 (y).
While far less common, an action can also cause an unexpected positive reaction. Consider an automobile travelling from a restaurant to a house: while the acceleration is affected by mass and external friction, it is also affected by forces inside the vehicle.
If two bodies are at rest inside—alone by a scheduling anomaly; held together by time, a mutual expansion of mass, and the indefinable constant of love—one body may notice something about the other body, like the way it pretends to know the words to the song on the radio, and it may take the other by the hand and smile and suggest a change of direction, because the sitter isn’t expecting them for an hour, and tonight, for once, neither body is pushing or pulling at all.
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/newtons-laws-of-marriage?mbid=nl_160419_Daily&CNDID=27124505&spMailingID=8810442&spUserID=MTE0MzE0NDEyNDUyS0&spJobID=902058505&spReportId=OTAyMDU4NTA1S0
OUCH!
An excerpt from The Wrap -
‘Nina’ Review: Zoe Saldana, What Happened to Your Miss Simone Biopic?
Miscast and misbegotten, this catastrophic biopic plays like a sketch-comedy version of a bad movie about a legendary performer
“Nina,” an infuriatingly amateurish picture about the great singer and pianist Nina Simone, is a new low for the musical biopic genre. First time writer-director Cynthia Mort, whose main experience is as a writer on the sitcoms “Roseanne” and “Will & Grace,” unforgivably exploits Simone’s memory and name with a movie that plays like a sketch comedy parody of the worst possible Nina Simone biopic. No one involved seems to have a clue who Simone was or what she stood for.
http://www.thewrap.com/nina-review-zoe-saldana-nina-simone/
Will This Work at Keeping Kitty Off the Counter?
http://ovens.reviewed.com/news/this-kitty-friendly-kitchen-is-purr-fect-for-cat-owners?utm_source=Reviewed+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ea30dd300d-Newsletter_10_1_1410_1_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6f226ffe23-ea30dd300d-96781213
Monday, April 18, 2016
Tainted Success
From 2Paragraphs -
‘Ebony and Ivy’ — The Book That Exposed University Ties To Slavery
by 2Paragraphs in Culture | April 18, 2016
After Brown University went public with its deep historical roots to slavery in 2007, a wellspring of revelations began to emerge that rained on far more than Brown's ugly past. In a country that holds as national icons men who, like George Washington, were slaveholders, a complex and brutal legacy means that any longstanding institution is liable to harbor connections to America's slavery history. That includes many of its most respected institutions. Further investigation predictably revealed that many of the US's proudest and most accomplished universities -- from Harvard to Princeton to Georgetown -- aren't one or two degrees removed from slavery connections, but directly implicated. These prestigious universities have been roiled by controversy since -- not merely by their slavery connections but also by post-slavery racism like that practiced by Woodrow Wilson, a former president at Princeton.
The wellspring of outrage and historical revision that has stained the history of these schools is delineated in Craig Steven Wilder's 2013 book Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities. Wilder, a professor of history at MIT, exposes the recondite underbelly of this nefarious slavery-university history in America. His book has had a major impact and seems destined to continue to have far-reaching consequences.
http://2paragraphs.com/2016/04/ebony-and-ivy-the-book-that-exposed-university-ties-to-slavery/
Schools + Money
From NPR -
http://www.npr.org/2016/04/18/474256366/why-americas-schools-have-a-money-problem?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vox%20Sentences%204/18/16&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All
Why America's Schools Have A Money Problem
http://www.npr.org/2016/04/18/474256366/why-americas-schools-have-a-money-problem?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vox%20Sentences%204/18/16&utm_term=Vox%20Newsletter%20All
How To You Know You're in Love?
From The Atlantic -
http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/478098/how-do-you-know-when-youre-in-love/
http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/478098/how-do-you-know-when-youre-in-love/
Tokyo Subway
An excerpt from The Washington Post -
Nine things about the Tokyo subway that will drive Washington commuters crazy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/18/nine-things-about-the-tokyo-subway-that-will-drive-washington-commuters-crazy/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_tokyo-557am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Nine things about the Tokyo subway that will drive Washington commuters crazy
TOKYO — Hey Washington commuters, we know you’ve got it tough there. We heard about the delays and the outages and the safety problems and all that, and we don’t mean to rub it in. We just thought you might be interested in seeing how a subway system can work well.
So take a look at how it’s done in Tokyo, where the population in the greater metropolis is 38 million and accommodates more than 8 million passengers a day. One station alone — Shinjuku — sees an average of 3.64 million passengers going through it each day, making it the world’s busiest station, as certified by the Guinness Book of Records. Shinjuku has more than 200 exits and even has its own app just to help people get around the station.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/18/nine-things-about-the-tokyo-subway-that-will-drive-washington-commuters-crazy/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_tokyo-557am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Get Your Eyes Examined Online
Excerpts from USA Today -
You can get eyeglass and contact prescriptions online now
But just as surely as Uber upended the taxi industry and Amazon changed book-buying habits, there’s now a company hoping to turn vision testing into an online routine requiring nothing but a computer and a smartphone. Opternative, based in Chicago, has been offering free exams through its website since July 2015. About 40,000 people in 32 states have taken the tests, says CEO and co-founder Aaron Dallek.
~~~~~~~~~~
Opternative promises the prescriptions within 24 hours and says they can be used to buy eyeglasses or contacts anywhere, online or in stores.The site does not sell glasses and contacts directly. Right now, it offers prescriptions only to consumers ages 18 to 40. Charges are not covered by insurers but are close to the average $52 that the Vision Council says consumers pay out of pocket for traditional exams.
~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2016/04/17/online-eye-exams-prescriptions/82892026/
https://www.opternative.com/online-eye-exams
You can get eyeglass and contact prescriptions online now
But just as surely as Uber upended the taxi industry and Amazon changed book-buying habits, there’s now a company hoping to turn vision testing into an online routine requiring nothing but a computer and a smartphone. Opternative, based in Chicago, has been offering free exams through its website since July 2015. About 40,000 people in 32 states have taken the tests, says CEO and co-founder Aaron Dallek.
~~~~~~~~~~
Opternative promises the prescriptions within 24 hours and says they can be used to buy eyeglasses or contacts anywhere, online or in stores.The site does not sell glasses and contacts directly. Right now, it offers prescriptions only to consumers ages 18 to 40. Charges are not covered by insurers but are close to the average $52 that the Vision Council says consumers pay out of pocket for traditional exams.
~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2016/04/17/online-eye-exams-prescriptions/82892026/
https://www.opternative.com/online-eye-exams
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