I’m writing for tomorrow, day 139. What a rude awakening! I took a cat nap after breakfast and did not wake up until after supper. :-( Fortunately, I did my research before breakfast, so all I have to do is compose. Tomorrow is a Holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb, and the mighty Broncos will be honored with the first Sunday night meditation. They hope to dine on small horse, but last time they tried, the small horses’ Luck was amazing. This time, it’s our pasture.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:55 (average 5:20). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy: A special Upworthy partnership with the UN Climate Summit 2014. Made possible by Unilever Project Sunlight. Read more.
When you see photographs of the Earth from far away, the implications may not immediately be clear. This puts it all into perspective.
Amen!
From Daily Kos: Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach—the same birther guy who thought it was a good idea to get President Obama’s birth certificate before considering a challenge to putting him on the ballot in 2012—is trying to help incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Roberts win reelection by refusing to allow the former Democratic candidate to remove his name from the ballot…
…Taylor, however, says he spoke with the head of the state’s elections division who told him that he’d done everything he needed to do in order to withdraw. Taylor’s withdrawal boosts the independent campaign of Greg Orman, who has a very good chance of unseating Roberts in November’s election.
Assuming Taylor is telling the truth—and given Kobach’s history as a bigoted right-wing lunatic I’d trust him over Kobach any day of the week—then Kobach is going to have a hard time explaining what appears to be a nakedly partisan move.
There is no crime Republicans will not commit to steal an election they cannot win legally. Get out the vote!!
From Think Progress: Canada leads the world in forest degradation, according to a new mapping project.
The project, put together by World Resources Institute, Greenpeace and multiple other groups, uses interactive maps to display forest degradation and destruction around the world between 2000 and 2013. According to WRI, more than 104 million hectares (about 401,546 square miles) — a chunk of land the group notes is three times the size of Germany — of the world’s remaining large, undisturbed forests, or Intact Forest Landscapes, were degraded in the last 13 years. The Northern boreal region of Canada, Russia and Alaska had some of the largest area of degraded forests, with the Amazon having the second-largest and the Congo basin the third.
In Canada’s tar sands region, forest fires and industrial development have destroyed or degraded almost two million acres of boreal forest since 2000, according to Peter Lee, Director of Global Forest Watch Canada. Lee told ThinkProgress in an email that Canada’s main driver of forest destruction is an “increased frequency and extent of forest fires” driven by climate change. These fires are likely converting areas that were once heavily forested into shrublands. Logging and road-building are the second-biggest causes of forest destruction and degradation, Lee said, and “massive increases in the pace and scale of energy developments, especially non-conventional oil and gas developments in northern Alberta’s tar sands region and also in north-eastern British Columbia with the shale plays,” is the third.
I almost always have reason to compare Canada favorably to the US the, but in this case Harper and his Harlots are outdoing us. They must have taken a course in Koch … never mind.
Cartoon:
I have mixed feelings about the pageant. Because I grew up in Atlantic City, it was the source of several pleasant childhood memories adolescent fantasies. I understand that it tends to objectify women, but at the same time, it provided more scholarship money to women than any other organization in the country. For me, it engendered respect for the beauty within women, not just without.
24 Responses to “Open Thread–9/7/2014”
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Brilliant video, TC, thank you!
Daily Kos – "Assuming Taylor is telling the truth—and given Kobach’s history as a bigoted right-wing lunatic I’d trust him over Kobach any day of the week—then Kobach is going to have a hard time explaining what appears to be a nakedly partisan move." it does look as though Kobach is trying (not very subtly) to split the vote – as TC says there is nothing they will not stoop to.
From ThinkProgress "In Canada’s tar sands region, forest fires and industrial development have destroyed or degraded almost two million acres of boreal forest since 2000, according to Peter Lee, Director of Global Forest Watch Canada. Lee told ThinkProgress in an email that Canada’s main driver of forest destruction is an “increased frequency and extent of forest fires” driven by climate change. These fires are likely converting areas that were once heavily forested into shrublands. Logging and road-building are the second-biggest causes of forest destruction and degradation, Lee said, and “massive increases in the pace and scale of energy developments, especially non-conventional oil and gas developments in northern Alberta’s tar sands region and also in north-eastern British Columbia with the shale plays,” is the third." I hadn't seen this but it has been worrying me for years – but to know now they have destroyed two million acres of boreal forest makes me (quite literally) sick to my stomach – and all the vile pollution and cancers and birth defects they have caused too – argh!
It surprised me too.
4:28 Very confusing lines.
3:51 Ha! I beat that puddy tat by a whisker 2 days in a row!
I couldn't eat a building!
Upworthy ~ "our imagined self-importance"…
Daily Kos ~ They will try anything to win an election.
Think Progress ~ This is so sad. I used to think Canada was far ahead of us in conservation. I was wrong. They have their Science-deniers too.
Cartoon ~ Maybe they should go back to wearing this type of bathing suit again. She looks cute dressed like that. With the suits they wear now they may as well be naked.
Patty, it seems the girls today love to run around half naked. I wonder often, don't they have mothers?
Why Patty!! Suggesting nekkid frolics?11? 😉
5:11 The timbers are nicely weathered – I guess that's what that is – but the other colors are eye-numbingly bright. That has to be modern glass (unless it's a reflection, but it's awfully even for one.
Upworthy – Somehow I was expecting to be educated on how the look of the dot has changed since climate change started. But I guess from those distances the cloud cover covers a multitude of sins. Which is also scary when you think about it, because that's what the cloud cover does on Venus, and from what we can gather, Venus is pretty poisonous.
Daily Kos – Let us hope that it blows up in his face. His Dem opponent is already makimg noises of using it against him. It would be lovely if, instead of hanging on to one election, he managed to lose two with one misstep. (Why would not a Republican mother naming her son Kris realize he would spend his life blowing macho?)
Think Progress – Oh, God, Lynn, I'm so sorry. Of course you started with more forests than we did, but that doesn't mean you can afford to blow them off any more than we can. I sign every Canadian conservation petition that allows me to (besides every US petition) on deforestation. And will continue to do so. Good luck getting rid of Harper and his minions.
Cartoon – As Patty says, the suits today are so revealing as to be actually unfeminine. It's a real trick to get past that to inner beauty, especially when they always manage to find at least one really dumb one to attempt to answer a really serious question and end up looking really stupid. I no longer think that's unintentional comedy, I think it's planned to belittle women.
I find the women of our generation more feminine than those of today. Most of that gals, who were sex symbols then would be considered fat now.
Thanks for that one, TC
🙂
How does one wake up after supper? I've heard of sleep-walking … are you sleep-eating?
I meant supper time, but actually, I had crammed half a sandwich down, before I remembered my name.
Puzzle — 3:51 Ha! I beat that puddy tat by a whisker 2 days in a row!
Upworthy — Excellent video. It is one thing to know that Earth is small in comparison to the universe, quite another to see it represented this way. It is the only home we have, and yet we are destroying it and its flora and fauna at an unprecedented rate.
Daily Kos — It wouldn't surprise me to find that the election person at the SoS officer provided erroneous information on purpose. No matter the outcome, I hope that Kobach's Democratic oppornent uses it to crush him. Further, if Kobach prevails and leaves Taylor's name on the ballot, I hope Greg Orman cleans Pat Roberts clock!
Will return later to finish. Time to go see momma.
I hope momma is well.
Momma is OK but there is very little quality of life and a lot of pain. She has osteo arthritis in her hips so has been in a wheelchair since December 2012, her muscles on her right side have contracted leaving her unable to use her hand/arm and having her leg out infront of her, unsupported. She has lost so much weight it isn't funny . . . when I recently gave her a back rub, I could feel her pelvic bone and vertebrae. About a month ago, I was taken aback by how boney she was — she has struggled all her life to lose weight — so much so that I was in tears on my way home. I have talked to my doctor about it and am trying to get the care centre to at least give her some boost, additional protein and nutrients that will at least allow her to be comfortable. But being the only one here with her, it wears heavily. When she does pass away, I am sure that it will be a sweet release for her. Thanks for asking TC.
I grieve at your answer. Palliative care, I suppoise.
Think Progress — Oh, where do I start?
Of course "Mr Climate Change Denier" Harper bears some responsibility for this with his push on bitumen and other fossil fuel production in his home province of Alberta. Then there is BC which wants to moved forward with LNG plants in the north-east. In addition, the BC government was warned a number of years ago about the build up of fire fuel . . . dried up pine needles, brush etc . . . lying on the forest floor that needed to be cleared The government has done nothing thereby making forests easy targets for fire, especially from lightning strikes. Similar situations contributed substantially to the fires this year in the North West Territories and Nunavut. And of course, then there are the oil companies and logging companies who think it is their God given right to rape and pillage the land for profit! I wonder what they will do when there are no more forests and no more oil?
I guess these guys have not heard that you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink! . . . but maybe they can get a government grant to study it!
Cartoon — OK, I'll fess up . . . I don't like the pageant. Maybe it is because I could never look like that; or maybe it's because I hate primping in the mirror. Too often I have seen the women shoot themselves when they display their stupidity for all to see when answering a question. I will admit that the scholarship money is impressive and can further a young woman's education. Of course Republicanus/Teabaggers don't like that because they like their women barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. Just ask Phyllis Schlafly.
I hope you can get Harper out and someone in that will study it and pay attention.
I treust that, when you send the pic of you and your prize, you will not be wearing a bikini. 😉
I assure you, the picture is of my best side, which automatically excludes a bikini! 😉
When deo we get it?
Sleeping from breakfast to supper is NOT a nap, but a good night's sleep! Congratulations.
Upworthy: If we don't start taking care of the pale blue dot, we will have no where to live.
Daily Kos: If Kobach can find a way to block this he will, yes, they will stoop to anything to steal an election, and claim that God told them to do it.
ThinkProgress: I always thought the Canadians were ahead of us in good ways, now I see they are not. So sorry to learn this
Cartoon: The Miss American pageant does provide many scholarships for women, and yes it does objectify us, but so do most tv commercials and movies, and no one gets to go to college from watching them. I personally have no problem with this pageant.
Thanks. It's not supposed to kappen during those hours!!