Linkee-poo, are you safe, Miss Gradenko?

The Venezuelen Poodle Moth. Wow. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Tobias Buckell shares a map of a potential US high-speed rail system. Oh, what our future could have been.

Caustic engineering, or designing products (in this case glass or reflective surfaces) into architecture which have built-in secondary properties. The problem I see for this is that, 1) not all reflections are welcomed (especially if you're suddenly blinded by one), and 2) it adds to the cost of construction. But still, interesting stuff. I've also seen caustic engineering used to affect the visual and transmissive properties of glass. In one case the glass itself became its own shade in direct sunlight, but became more transparent in indirect sunlight without the use of an electrical current (just by how the glass was etched). (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Anonymous strikes at the Federal Reserve. This could get interesting. (Pointed to by Dan)

Somewhat related to by post on what to expect when someone is expecting death, more people are choosing Hospice over "heroic efforts" at extending life. "That fact helped spur a proposal encouraging physicians to discuss with their Medicare patients what kind of care they would want if they were terminally ill. But that provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was scuttled by those who feared that such discussions would lead to 'death panels' that limit care for the dying." If you've been down this road before, you will see what a god send Hospice is. But there is still this cultural belief in the US that we will live forever, if only we can find the right pill. Ventilators are painful, patients often try to pull them out when they "wake up" (some of that is because the brain says, "ZOMG, there's something in your throat that's blocking us from breathing!"). But a lot of the problem is summed up in the final paragraph, "Doctors often fail to be clear about a patient's poor prognosis and to plainly state the likely consequences of continuing painful, aggressive care. Patients and their family members are often unwilling to give up…" Make your wishes known to anyone who may be involved with medical decisions. Tell them several times. Get a living will. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

As if you needed more proof that Fox News just flat-out lies about stuff. And even when they're interviewing someone, their hosts are so deluded on the subject matter they can't even counter when someone states such a boner like Germany has just "got a lot more sun than we do." See, this would be a slightly innocent mistake if the proponents of solar energy haven't used Germany as an example exactly because they have less sun than we do. Not to mention, IIRC, Germany is at a higher latitude that most of the US. (Pointed to by Dan)

Good thing we're not going to do anything about the gun culture in the US so in case your upstairs neighbors won't stop letting their pitt-bull piss on their balcony, you can just take matter into your own hands. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The Roger Shaywer EmDrives could "produc(e) perhaps a ton of thrust per kilowatt of power" without propellant. And after having been laughed out of all the polite science clubs in the West, the Chinese have taken an interest. Wow. (Pointed to by Dan)

"We were at a policy meeting. They were planning new ways of cheating." That's not a quote from that article on how the GOP isn't changing their actual policies, politics, or belief systems, but how they think, but instead are changing the words they use. In other terms, they're going to try and lie better this time. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Also, don't miss the Daily Show's segment on the GOP Whisperer (which, didn't he promise he was getting out of that business?), and the second half, winning through process innovation." I wish I could say this was The Onion material, but it's the reality we live in.