Danger: Patriarchal Space!

Uncategorized 8 Comments

The Guardian’s Laurie Penny is unhappy about… something:

As so often in Laurie’s mental landscape, dark forces are at work although the evidence has been lost in a mysterious warehouse fire. We are, however, pointed to the “front pages of celebrity magazines,” on which, obviously, all sane people model their own, actual lives. We’re told that “Successful women on the verge of mental and physical collapse… is a myth that pleases the powerful,” though who the powerful might be is also far from clear. Can she mean the overwhelmingly female readership of Heat magazine?

The Tolerant Left

entitlement generation Great Moments In Socialism nannystate 21 Comments

Redstate;

It’s increasingly ridiculous to use the word “liberal” to describe the modern American collectivist. There’s nothing liberal about them at all. They’re shooting for the ultimate subversion of liberty, by re-defining “liberty” as a form of compulsion. In other words, they’re saying you are being oppressed unless a wise and virtuous dictatorial authority can force other people to give you what the authoritarians have decided you “deserve.” You aren’t “free” as long as you must provide for yourself. Liberty becomes a term used to describe its exact opposite: a set of active obligations placed upon other people. It’s right up there with any perversion of language and thought described by George Orwell in “1984.” Actually, it is one of the perversions he laid at Big Brother’s feet: “Freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.”

h/t EBD

Hobby Lobby – 1, Sandra Fluke – 0

Political Animal 20 Comments

Washington Times;

President Obama suffered two final defeats in the Supreme Court on Monday, capping a 2013-2014 term in which the justices delivered several judicial hits to the White House while taking a firm stand against the unchecked power of the state.
The administration’s losses on Obamacare rules and compulsory union dues served as a rebuke on the Supreme Court’s final day after months of judicial decisions to rein in big government on issues such as snooping without a warrant, campaign finance restrictions and Mr. Obama’s recess appointment powers.

More: The left loses its mind.

The Sound Of Settled Science

Unsettled Science 7 Comments

New York Times;

“We’ve had a rebound that we haven’t seen in many, many years,” said Gene Clark, a coastal engineer with the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute in Superior, Wis. “We’ve been historically below average, and now we are finally back to above-average water levels.
[…]
The International Joint Commission, a group with members from the United States and Canada that advises on water resources, completed a five-year study in April 2013 concluding that water levels in the lakes were likely to drop even farther, in part because of the lack of precipitation in recent years brought on by climate change.

A good news story at odds with climate alarmist predictions? That’s what page A16 is for!
h/t Don

Climategate: Tortured Temperatures

Climate Cult climategate2 10 Comments

Paul Homewood;

From this dataset, I picked the one at the top of the list, (which appears to be totally random), Station number 415429, which is Luling, Texas. […]
…. according to the USHCN dataset, all ten months from March to December are “Estimated”. Why, when there is full data available?
But it gets worse. The table below compares the actual station data with what USHCN describe as “the bias-adjusted temperature”. The results are shocking.
In other words, the adjustments have added an astonishing 1.35C to the annual temperature for 2013. Note also that I have included the same figures for 1934, which show that the adjustment has reduced temperatures that year by 0.91C. So, the net effect of the adjustments between 1934 and 2013 has been to add 2.26C of warming.
Note as well, that the largest adjustments are for the estimated months of March – December. This is something that Steve Goddard has been emphasising.
It is plain that these adjustments made are not justifiable in any way. It is also clear that the number of “Estimated” measurements made are not justified either, as the real data is there, present and correct.

Via Judith Curry – “is Steve Goddard right?”. (read the whole thing)

Reader Tips

Reader Tips 25 Comments

Tonight’s music selection was published here about three years ago, but since it’s my favourite song of all time I’m going to let it lift off once again: Here are the Rev. F.W. McGee and the blind-but-that-won’t-stop-me sanctified singer and piano player Arizona Dranes belting out their wholehearted, transcendent rendition of Fifty Miles of Elbow Room.
Might play it again in a couple of years.
The comments are open, as always, for your Reader Tips.

Bread & Circuses in Obamamerica

Baiting The Left More Money Than Brains 10 Comments

The U.S. Congress has many pressing issues before them. IRSgate and the Benghazi fiasco are but two that top a long list. So one might think they’d be preoccupied with a lot of important things to investigate. Why bother with those though if you can keep the Media Party lapdogs primarily focused on . . . a daytime TV show host named Dr. Oz!
On their latest podcast, Adam Carolla and Drew Pinsky discuss this issue at length, beginning at 6:15. Language warning but well worth a listen.

This Is Not Your Grandma’s Humane Society

Animal Rights Extremism 10 Comments

NAIA;

[W]hen Local Grocer owner Heather Chase put together a class on how to ethically raise and process chickens (naturally, including information on how to slaughter them), and became the target of an animal rights campaign, it probably seemed odd to some onlookers. After all, aren’t the animal rights folks always campaigning against people who don’t ethically raise animals? Why on Earth target a “sustainable,” “beyond organic” operation? Well, for the answer to that, simply refer back to paragraph one: because it’s not about the level of care; in there eyes there is no such thing as “ethical meat.”

We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans

Alternative Subsidy 10 Comments

Ugly, inefficient – and noisy;

Michigan’s 51st Circuit Court has ruled that Mason County was justified in determining that wind turbines at the Lake Winds Industrial Wind Plant near Ludington are too noisy.
In his June 16 decision, Judge Richard Cooper denied Consumer Energy’s appeal to have the court overturn the county’s finding that the wind plant was exceeding the county’s established decibel level limits.
In a highly technical explanation, Judge Cooper said it was reasonable for the county to take into account the impact of maximum wind speeds that are not outside the norm. He also rejected the argument that excessive noise levels occurring only during certain periods of time should be allowed.

h/t

Reader Tips

Reader Tips 35 Comments

A few years ago a British Dolly Parton fan played a 45 rpm vinyl single of Dolly Parton’s Jolene at 33 rpm and posted the results on the interweb. The video (since removed) became a viral hit, not because it was funny but because the slowed-down version sounded good, and was a bit of a revelation; at the very least, it exposed the incredible rhythmic precision and soulfulness of Parton’s phrasing, which can’t always be limned when she’s trilling and warbling at breakneck speed. Without further ado, here’s a recently posted version, with improved audio, of Jolene at 73.3%.
If there are any offended Dolly fans out there, I’ll half-unoffend you with a slowed-down version that’s been electronically corrected to normal pitch, and make further reparations with the original version here.
The comments are open, as always, for your Reader Tips.

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