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Sunday, July 23, 2017

Deja Vu

From the New York Times -

BMW Denies Colluding With Carmakers on Emissions Equipment
By JACK EWING

FRANKFURT — BMW, responding on Sunday to claims it formed a cartel with Daimler and Volkswagen to hold down the prices of crucial technology, denied that the German carmakers had agreed among themselves to install emissions equipment that was inadequate to do the job.

The statement by BMW was the first attempt at damage control by the carmakers since the European Commission said on Saturday that it was investigating accusations of illegal collusion among them.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/23/business/bmw-denies-colluding-with-carmakers-on-emissions-equipment.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

In Good Company

I'm a lefty, too.

From Buzzfeed -

47 Left-Handed Celebrities That Will Make You Wish You Were A Lefty
Just some extra talented lefties.
By Allison Wild

https://www.buzzfeed.com/allisonwild/youre-not-alone-were-not-alone?utm_term=.oqnvvoN7L#.dxmnnKw9k

The Food Lab: How to Roast the Best Potatoes of Your Life

Bread Like You've Never Seen It

Google Goes to Space

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

Google Street View’s latest destination: The International Space Station
By Peter Holley

You’ve used Google Street View to check out a new apartment, map traffic before you hit the road and search for haunting slices of the everyday world.

Now, the comprehensive terrestrial mapping system has gone extraterrestrial, allowing users to peer inside the International Space Station from their computer 248 miles below with 360-degree, panoramic views.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/07/21/google-street-views-latest-destination-the-international-space-station/?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-technology%3Ahomepage%2Fcard&utm_term=.09a7e9e2f055

The Kid From Nacogdoches

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

Clint Dempsey, the ‘kid from Nacogdoches,’ lifts U.S. soccer team into Gold Cup final
By Steven Goff
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2017/07/23/clint-dempsey-the-kid-from-nacogdoches-lifts-u-s-soccer-team-into-gold-cup-final/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_soccer-dempsey-930am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.43c5d32c1704

Side note - Nacogdoches, TX is about two hours from my hometown of China, TX

2017 Total Solar Eclipse's Path Across the U.S.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Save Your Sympathy

An excerpt from the Washington Post -

Don’t waste your sympathy on Sessions
By Jennifer Rubin

Sessions is the last person who deserves our sympathy. He was willing to sell his political soul to enable Trump, and he has enabled him every step of the way. Unlike Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who plays a vital role in insulating the military from Trump and literally preventing nuclear war, Sessions is not maintaining the integrity of the Justice Department. He has normalized and rationalized conduct that flies in face of the rule of law.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/07/21/save-the-sympathy-for-sessions/?utm_term=.c4fb82cdd06f

HEY YA! - AVRIEL & THE SEQUOIAS

The Buck Stops Anywhere But Here

From the Washington Post -

‘The Buck Stops Here’ must be a phrase foreign to Trump
By Colbert I. King, Opinion Writer

“I’m not going to own it,” President Trump said about the Affordable Care Act that he and Republicans, following years of bombastic promises, have thus far failed to either repeal or replace. “Let Obamacare fail.”

That declaration provoked an angry editorial response from The Post, which asked: “Has there ever been a more cynical abdication of presidential responsibility?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Bottom line: Not a strand of President Harry S. Truman’s famous dictum, “The Buck Stops Here,” can be found in Trump.

Personal responsibility is strange fruit to him. And it is a character failing that should haunt members of Congress, regardless of party, and the country. A leader without honor and credibility is a leader not worth having.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-buck-stops-here-must-be-a-phrase-foreign-to-trump/2017/07/21/255e2cd4-6d9d-11e7-96ab-5f38140b38cc_story.html?utm_term=.c0a7f2a6173b

Tweets From Parents

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/xx-photo-tweets-that-will-make-parents-pee-from-laughing?utm_term=.wjRVVXnYo#.jrDrrYpEP

Goats

Moving Mountain Goats Breaking Into An Office Growing on Trees http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/goats-animal-behavior-climbing-videos-spd/

Friday, July 21, 2017

Between the Scenes - Donald Trump, the First Black President? : The Dail...

Watch President Barack Obama Own Anthony Scaramucci | All In | MSNBC

Robot Cracks Safe

https://www.wired.com/story/watch-robot-crack-safe/?mbid=nl_72117_p1&CNDID=

What Did They Know & When Did They Know It?

From the LA Times -

USC bosses flunk the leadership test amid shocking allegations about former medical school dean
By Steve Lopez

By now you probably know the details.

Dr. Carmen Puliafito, a $1.1-million-a-year professor, doctor, dean and big-bucks rainmaker for the University of Southern California, left plenty of time in his busy schedule for extracurricular activities.

They included drug-fueled parties with a prostitute, convicted criminals and drug addicts. Los Angeles Times sleuths dug up photos of Puliafito’s exploits in hotel rooms, apartments and even the dean’s office at USC, including a shot of him using a butane torch to light a glass pipe while a female companion smoked heroin.

In Monday’s bombshell expose in The Times, reporters Paul Pringle, Harriet Ryan, Adam Elmahrek, Matt Hamilton and Sarah Parvini also reported the details of a 911 call from a Pasadena hotel where a woman had overdosed before being hospitalized. She later told reporters that she and Puliafito had been partying together for two days.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-lopez-puliafito-nikias-07202017-story.html#nws=mcnewsletter

Palomar argues the earth is polygonal.

California Says No Dice

From the NY Times -

Travel to Texas? Not on California’s Dime, You Don’t
By ALAN BLINDER

Phillip Jones, whose job it is to court visitors to this city, spent months warning anyone who would listen: Economic pain will follow if Texas lawmakers pass laws seen as hostile to gay and transgender people.

But after Texas approved a law that critics said might keep people, on the basis of sexual orientation, from adopting children or serving as foster parents, even Mr. Jones was surprised at part of the fallout: a ban by California on taxpayer-funded travel to Texas.

“Never in a million years,” Mr. Jones, the chief executive of VisitDallas, said, weeks after California broadened its travel restrictions to include eight states. “It was not even a factor in any of our discussions that California would ban travel to Texas.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/public-employee-travel.html?emc=edit_ca_20170720&nl=california-today&nlid=38867499&te=1&_r=0


Why a total solar eclipse is such a big deal

Why white supremacists love Tucker Carlson