Linkee-poo runs out of time

Spent most of yesterday at Al's funeral and catching up with relatives. Last night and today spent a lot of time trying to solve a neighbor's problem with their new iPad (can't seem to get out of the registration cycle - when they get back I'll try connecting it to iTunes and hold down the power and menu buttons - which seems to be the only solution I can find). So not much but some reiteration and commentary on links from Jay Lake.

This coming week will see the start of Spring Classes, which means my "free" time is over. and on the other side I haven't had time, yet, to do research on my panels for Confusion. And there's a big meeting on Wednesday for the day thing, with a "20 minute talk beforehand" by the boss. So another stressful week up front. And in case you haven't noticed with the story bones and other things, I'm also trying to get the next book moving.

And in the "let's find something even more crazy than Solyndra", I can't wait until this hits Fox News. Using dormant volcanoes as a source of geothermal heat by drilling injection wells and pumping them full of water. As Jay Lake says, "What could possibly go wrong." Just like deep frying a wet turkey. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Just in case you're thinking that Mitt Romney would be a progressive's nightmare, you're right, but not for the reasons you think. Paul Krugman asks the legitimate question, "… (I)s there anything at all in Romney’s stump speech that’s true?" Pretty much not. G. W. Bush redux. More examples on how divorced from reality the conservative mindset has become. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

More Paul Krugman on Romney. Here he channels my thoughts about the Romney "I like to fire people" brouhaha. I understand what he was trying to say. I know that the quote will be used out of context. But, you know, most "normal" people don't think this way (see article). Also, when they do, they typically use the words "options" or the big conservative word, "choice." They don't reach for "fire" as their metaphor. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Say, remember part of the conservative mantra of lower taxes = higher revenues that people will be less inclined to not report taxable income or attempt to get out of them all together. Well, if you remember the GE Tax Story, you'll know the later statement is false. Turns out the former statement is false too. People still don't report all their taxable income (and if I remember an NPR story correctly, the problem has grown since the Bush Tax Cuts).