Linkee-poo don't know much about history

I expect that the term "White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer" will soon invade lots of SF. More on that warp drive story from yesterday. (Grokked from Tor.com)

Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette with their Cthulhu space story Boojum. One, very nice. And the world Elizabeth Bear is populating, this world of living with the monster, is interesting.

Well, I guess four years is "by the end of the decade." That's one researcher making the claim that Arctic summer sea-ice will collapse within four years. That is, at some point, in the summer there will be no ice for a time. Boy, I hope someone hasn't been dragging their feet on plans to combat this global warming thing. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

Regarding "(t)he record loss of Arctic sea ice this summer… "We can’t make predictions yet … [but] I wouldn't be surprised to see wild extremes this winter,' (Jennifer Francis, a researcher at Rutgers University)" said. And, oh look, the jet stream is slowing down. Not like that would cause any problems. And those "blocking" events… that's what's called "amplification factors" or multiplying effects. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"Funny how it just 'clicked' in 2008." Yeah, that. Now, I do know some people in the TP, and I don't think all of them are racists. I made this argument at the beginning back in 2008, that the TP reaction was basically racists base and some of those friends made good arguments why it wasn't. And I think, in the main, their motives weren't. However, in the clearing light of hindsight and actions speaking louder than words, it's becoming clear that the movement certainly has a race problem. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Oh lookie, tax cuts don't spur economic growth according to a new study by COngressional Research Service. Time to pull out the press releases claiming this non-partisan research group is actually in the liberal's pockets. Up next, the sun rises in the East a new study will claim once all the data is in.

Well, Romney is promising actual specifics about the programs he says he has specifics for but hasn't let the rest of us in on the plan. "'I will send a number of programs that have been growing uncontrollably fast back to the states where I will limit their funding to the rate of inflation, or in the case of Medicaid, to inflation plus one percent,' he says in the remarks. 'I will look to sharply increase the productivity of Washington by reducing federal government employment by 10 percent through attrition, by combining agencies and departments to reduce overhead, and by linking government compensation with that of the private sector. These things combined will reduce spending by $500 billion a year by the end of my first term.'" What that translates to is this. The first part, sending back to the states, is saying, "I've got no fucking idea how to fix it. Here, it's now your problem. Hot potato!" The second part show a willful ignorance about government work and pay scales. Many government jobs require advanced degrees, but they're often compared to jobs where no degree is necessary. Also, there often isn't a corresponding private sector job to compare to. Also, "combining agencies and departments" requires legislation and legislators willing to give up oversight committee control. Good luck with that. Also, after demolishing pay for private sector jobs, of which public sector jobs have been one of the last remaining positive factors for working people (here I would point to all the studies showing "real wages" for those making under $80,000 a year stagnating for the past three decades, but that would be several pages long), instead Romney's plans are to basically say, "screw the working class." Also quoting the article, "Romney has mentioned all of that before." Not to mention I believe this is the third time the Romney Campaign has promised "more specifics" only to not say anything new. There's a story about a boy and a wolf that applies here. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"The true test of character is how a person acts when they think nobody is watching." Jim Wright on the Romney Video.

Juan Cole does more dissection on the leaked Romney videos. There's too much in there to pull out a salient quote although this one was particularly nice, "I thought Romney was all upset when Ann Romney was accused of never having worked a day in her life because mother and homemaker is *work*. But now stay at home mothers are leeches and suckers for Obama because they don’t file an independent income tax form?" Intellectual consistency my Aunty Fanny. Also, with the fallout being labeled as a disaster for Romney and the Republicans (if I were a progressive strategist I would try to paint every single Republican with this brush), the talk has now shifted to what will happen in the GOP is Romney doesn't win. For me, that's not a foregone conclusion yet, there's plenty of time between now and Nov. 6 and, again, a majority of people aren't paying attention yet. While I agree that a civil war will happen, I disagree with some of their predictions. Rick Santorum will be the 2016 nominee (if I had to lay money right now), Jeb Bush may make second (and wind up VP or the 2020 nominee). (Grokked from Jay Lake)