Here's my Paint masterpiece,



Gotta add,

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:02 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It's Draw Mohammad Day! Here's my position on this - I will respect the views of the portions of Islam that believe it is forbidden to show illustrations of Mohammad once they respect my right to continue to be alive and queer. Until then? Yeah, not interested in hearing about how their poor little feelings are hurt.

Now, I can't draw. My drawing abilities are worse than my mathematical abilities. Thus, I'm posting a 16th century woodcut (mainly because I love woodcuts):



(taken from zombietime's image archive but not a hot link)

In the interests of, well, okay eyerolling, here's CAIR's response.  Uh.  Huh.  This is me believeyfacing the protests about supporting free speech. 

Posted by: alexthechick at 09:26 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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I'm gonna go ahead and guess that the NHS insisted that the criminally insane could not be barred from the competition to design Britain's 2012 Olympic mascots.

Yeesh.

Posted by: Sean M. at 12:14 AM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
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When I saw this over at the Moron HQ's ONT,

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 11:19 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Look, I am not pleased that a Democrat won the PA12 race, but what really is pissing me off is the defeatism coming from our side after last night. Well, fuck defeatism. Fuck it so hard, it looks like a Kotex factory test lab.

Any fucking defeatists want to say the House is unwinnable? Then fuck you and go cry into your fucking fuckloserish fuckbags, you fucking fistfucked by failure fuckhymens of menarche! I have no fucking patience for those who fucking want to give up because a Democrat won in a fucking district that has been voting for Democrats since my Grandfather was blowing loads into frauleins all across the old country. Yeah, it sucks. But you know what you fucking do? You get the fuck back up, and you get the fuck back out there and fight another day, or go the fuck home and tell your cats how you tried.

No, I don't want defeatists. I fucking want people with me who will fucking tell the other side to get the fuck out of the fucking way, or get skullfucked so hard by conservatism and the freemarket that the load it blows into their brains upon le petit mort will introduce more sense into their heads than the shit socialism has told them was awesome. I fucking want people willing to fucking fight, eat bacon, and fuck fear so hard up its rectum (NTTAWWT) with the fucksaw of triumph that it will grow a new head, call it success, and cut off the one that is the loser.

So fuck you, defeatists. Fuck your loser ways. Fuck it so hard, that even afterward, bacon won't make me feel better.

Posted by: eddiebear at 11:04 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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These two articles make me want to unplug my computer.

I'm *certain* this was accidental...

Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic on Monday moved towards investigating Google  following the internet group’s disclosure that it had recorded communications sent over unsecured wireless networks  in people’s homes.

Microsoft today announced plans to share pre-patch details on software vulnerabilities with governments around the world under a new program aimed at securing critical infrastructure and government assets from hacker attacks.

Posted by: Alice H at 05:27 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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So, the Pakistani government has decided to block Facebook until May 31st in protest of a Draw Mohammad Day page (which can be found here).  Aside from the fact that only evil heathens full of hate who deserve to die would draw Mohammad, it's all that evil freedom that allows us to make stupid Facebook groups that is really the problem.

We shouldn't be free to do that, 'cause it hurts their feelings and is against their religion and stuff.  Also, there needs to be a more permanent solution (emphasis mine):

But the Islamic Lawyers' Forum asked the Lahore High Court on Wednesday to order the government to fully block Facebook because it allowed the page to be posted in the first place, said the deputy attorney general of Punjab province, Naveed Inayat Malik.

 The court complied with the request and ordered the government to block the site until the end of May, Malik said.

 Lawyers outside the courtroom hailed the ruling, chanting "Down with Facebook."

 Later in the day, the telecommunications authority ordered all Internet service providers to block Facebook, it said in a statement.

[...]

Pakistan's minister of religious affairs, Hamid Saeed Kazmi, said the ban was only a temporary solution and suggested the government organize a conference of Muslim countries to figure out ways to prevent the publication of images of the prophet.

So, let me get this straight.

Posted by: Ember at 11:18 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Because no one is more anti-establishment than a sitting Congressman's son!

Srsly, Kentucky? Srsly? Enjoy your choice between a MoveOn.org-endorsed liberal Democrat and a 9/11 Truther Republican. 

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 08:42 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Back in in 2007 I pointed out that the education industry had not kept up with technological developments; that it wasn’t taking advantage of technology to deliver the best possible product.

Two areas that I specifically mentioned were customizing education to the needs of the end user and utilizing constant feedback techniques to insure that material is being delivered and learned to the fullest extent possible.

Second the ultimate customer for the project, will have to be heavily involved in the process. For example Boeing needs Aeronautical Engineers. To really get the type of engineer that they want they would need to lay out a set of skills that they feel are important. From there it would be necessary to backtrack to the courses which develop those skills, and a curriculum would need to be developed. From there textbooks would need to be written and labs developed. On and on continuing up the chain until a comprehensive program had been developed.

Once that process has been completed it is necessary to deliver the required knowledge to the student. Most of the pieces are already in place. Lectures can be developed and delivered via pod cast or youtube (The open courseware project and iTunes university are already doing some of this). Reading assignments can be emailed out. Textbooks and other course materials can be placed on Wikibooks. The two major sticking points as I see it are labs and a feedback mechanism.

Feedback is the easiest - IM, Email, Phones, Blog Comments, all those offer a feedback loop. Testing is another method. Here we have to be careful though. We want the test to be both fair and applicable as well relatively secure. In other words we don't want a bunch of multiple choice questions floating around on the internet that a student can memorize to get a passing grade, but we want the test to really measure knowledge. Part of this problem can be solved by the use of adaptive testing.
Adaptive testing is a method of testing that adapts to an examinees knowledge level of a subject.

CAT successively selects questions so as to maximize the precision of the exam based on what is known about the examinee from previous questions.[1] From the examinee's perspective, the difficulty of the exam seems to tailor itself to their level of ability. For example, if an examinee performs well on an item of intermediate difficulty, he will then be presented with a more difficult question. Or, if he performed poorly, he would be presented with a simpler question. Compared to static multiple choice tests that nearly everyone has experienced, with a fixed set of items administered to all examinees, computer-adaptive tests require fewer test items to arrive at equally accurate scores.[1] (Of course, there is nothing about the CAT methodology that requires the items to be multiple-choice; but just as most exams are multiple-choice, most CAT exams also use this format.)

Apparently someone was listening because the NYC Public School System is experimenting with exactly this type of system, as described in this Freakonomics article from the NY Times.

The School of One tries to take advantage of technology to essentially customize education for every kid in every classroom and help teachers do their job more effectively. That is of course a daunting task — and perhaps, some might argue, unnecessary — but the amount of thought and analysis that have so far gone into the program is impressive. Furthermore, the enthusiasm it has generated from people like Duncan and Klein make it a program to watch. And the early results are promising.

You’ll hear about School of One’s conception, its potential pitfalls, and most of all how it works day-to-day. You’ll spend some time in a classroom in I.S. 339 in the Bronx, hearing from kids like Lionel (at right), whose daily “playlist” — in this case, his math lessons — are chosen in part by an algorithm that is designed to learn how Lionel learns best.

And you’ll hear how Chris Rush and others track and analyze the schoolwork that Lionel is doing to make sure he’s not just doodling away his time (like Levitt did in the third grade).

I'll be interested to see how this all plays out. I don’t think it will be the panacea for America’s education woes but I do think it has potential, especially the idea of addressing individual learning styles.

(There is a podcast associated with this article that is worth listening to. On a similar subject I have mentioned the Intelligence Squared debates before. They had one a few months ago regarding the damage the teachers unions were doing to education. It is worth a listen also.)

Posted by: chad98036 at 07:19 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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It turns out that someone kneed Kos in the face this past weekend. Couldn't have happened to a nicer asshole.

Oh, wait...

(And, yes, of course, this post is evidence of the right wing's propensity for violence.)

Posted by: Sean M. at 02:18 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Los Angeles decided to fuck with the bull, and now, it might just get the horns:

Writes [Arizona Corporation Commissioner Gary] Pierce to Mayor Villaraigosa, "If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utiltiites to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-base generation. I am confident that Arizona's utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands."

Posted by: Sean M. at 01:21 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Specter is finally out of office.  This was long, loooooooooong overdue, and the truth is, it should have happened before, but the Bush administration intervened and saved Specter's ass.  How'd that work out, dumbass?  Ideally it would have been a Toomey/Specter matchup, with Toomey exacting sweet, sweet revenge for the primary loss he had against Specter. 

I think Toomey's got this either way, but I think it'd been much easier with Specter, which means it'll take more resources to win over Sleestak, but it can be done.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:07 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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The last 15 minutes before the World of Warcraft server come back online seem to stretch forever.

On a related note; Blizzard restored my old account today, my faith in humanity is partially restored.  I don't know if Alex's intervention had anything to do with it or not but thanks for the effort at least.  M

Motivated by this episode I have to decided to right the wrongs in the world (of warcraft) and sent in my resume for the account services rep position that they have open.

Update:  I finally got logged in and now I have a dilemma.  When the account was stolen my highest level character was a level 77 hunter (Colgallon on Bael'gun if anyone is on that server).  Whoever stole the account got him up to level 80 and upgraded about half the gear purple.  He also acquired a lot of honor marks (1200 or so) but he stripped my bank and left me with 66 silver and destroyed my pet, Doggie a level 76 boar that I had had since 10th level and replaced him with a wasp.  Arguably I am better off now than I was but do I keep the levels and unearned gear or do I ask a GM to roll me back and restore the gold, as I recall I had about 4700 GP.  I couldn't afford cold weather flying yet.

Posted by: chad98036 at 12:51 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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It's fantastic to see this. Religious cop in Saudi Arabia stops a couple in an amusement park to ask if they are married. Remember, it's a crime in Saudi Arabia for an unmarried woman to socialize with a man. The guy collapses. The chick? Beats the shit out of the cop.

Good.  It's about damn time. 

Posted by: alexthechick at 11:17 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Good for Israel, now, can we refuse him entry when he tries to come back to the US?

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 09:51 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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There is, of course, no favoritism going on here whatsoever. Nope.

Furthermore, to suggest otherwise would probably be racist.

Posted by: Sean M. at 12:23 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Is anyone else waiting for the fatwa on the Miss USA Pageant?

more...

Posted by: Alice H at 07:08 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Nobody's around so I'm doing some random movie crap.

Saw Iron Man II, meh. I understand it's a comic book movie, but really, there was too much you had to just accept that made no freaking sense and that even made you pretend you didn't just see that guy ram his car into the other guy, hard, two or three times.
Of course, my favorite comic book movie is either Sin City or the original, Adam West/Burt Ward Batman, so take that for what it's worth.

Finally saw Land of the Lost. That movie made me laugh hard probably 5 or 6 times. Who knew seeing a walnut could be so funny?
"Holly, you should sit on this" and the name of his second book about slayed me. Chaka was a true Ace O' Spades moron. I especially liked how he established his and Holly's names.
I think Will Ferrel movies are hit and miss, Ricky Bobby was pretty good, the sidekick in LOL was much better.
Great movie.

Saw the second Transformers movie.
Am I the only one who wished the damn kid would die so that painful scene would just end? I actually changed the channel then the first time I tried to watch it.
As for the real reason for the movie...
Megan Fox went one boob job too far.
In the first movie Megan had perky bosoms that defied gravity (she should have been named Hillary)


Okay, now her closer to today


Still hot, but looking way too plastic and her boobs, while still very nice, are nowhere near as nice as the ones in the first movie. They jiggled a lot more, so the boob job was probably high dollar, but they just weren't as smoking hot.
In the first one, I spent most of it wishing the kid would pull her top off, in the second I was not nearly so interested.
One more pic below the fold that's not really safe.
more...

Posted by: Veeshir at 06:51 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Is it just me, or has anyone else watched enough bad movies that when you see a red dot of light on someone you immediately think sniper...either that or the episode of House where he's playing with Cuddy's cleavage in front of prospective donors...

Posted by: Alice H at 02:46 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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No, I haven't read the opinions yet so this is subject to change but these are my gut reactions:

1.  Life sentences without parole for minors convicted of non-murder crimes:  Yes, it's a state issue but cruel and unusual is an individual civil right that would give the Court subject matter jurisdiction.  What I'm more concerned about is what will happen if states revise their laws to say that the age of majority will be considered the age of 10 for cases of forcible rape with a weapon.  In that case a "minor" isn't being sentenced.  This may be considered in the opinion, but I haven't seen that question being raised in the comments I've seen about the opinion. 

On a broader scale, I am torn about this.  There are some crimes that are so heinous that death or life imprisonment are the only appropriate punishments.  For example, raping a 2 year old should get you drawn and quartered.  There is no logical or moral reason to say an 18 yo can go away forever for that but a 17 yo can't.  This brings up the issue of finding the death penalty for other than murder to be cruel and unusual.  I do think that violent sexual assault of a small child should result in death.  There are few things sicker than that.  I am also aware of the history behind how rape charges leading to the death penalty were used in the past.  So I don't know where I stand on that issue.  But this ruling strikes me as very worrisome.

2.  Post-sentence detention of sexual predators.  I'm against it.  I know the recidivism rate.  My stance on the heinousness of those crimes is well known.  But this?  Not only is it an unenumerated power, it's also very troubling on a practical level.  There's an old saying that bad facts make bad law.  This is a prime example.  Child sex predators are extraordinarily likely to abuse again.  I believe the rate is something approaching 100%.  When they are released, they are going to do it again.  I understand the impulse to keep them locked up, I really really do.  But this precedent will not be limited to its facts.  The potential for expansion is obvious and frightening.

The better response is to freaking execute those guilty of such crimes.  There you go, problem solved.  I'm sorry, but such crimes remove the criminal from the realm of civilization.  Those who do such things are rabid animals and should be put down as such.  Note that I'm talking about true predators, not a 19 year old who was sleeping with his 17 year old girlfriend. 

This also points out the bizarre nature of these rulings.  You can't sentence a kid to life without parole but you can keep him in jail after his sentence is complete if it involved a sex crime.  These decisions are impossible to square outside the specific facts of child sexual predation.  These decisions are also impossible to square with the prisoner rights decisions.

I reserve the right to revise and extend if/when I read the decisions, but that's my quick take.

Posted by: alexthechick at 12:30 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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