Linkee-poo can't sleep 'cause my bed is on fire

ED Sorry, didn't see that I didn't link the one article on gold buying, fixed now.

Well, today was a banner day for political news. Sorry about all the links to TPM, but they all hit at the same time.

So, does grabbing a flag pole as you're falling from a building actually have a chance of saving you? No. But the full answer, backed by SCIENCE! (or at least actual calculation) is more amusing. (Grokked from Dan)

"The plant is expected to produce batteries at a lower cost to power Tesla’s Model 3, the mass-market vehicle the company hopes to start selling in two to three years. Along the way, however, the 'gigafactory' will also reduce the costs of energy storage through sheer economy of scale." The real reason Tesla is building their "gigafactory" to build batteries. It's all about renewable power. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)

Orbital dust cloud and auroras spotted on Mars. Just when you think you've seen it all. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

The latest global temperature reports from NOAA. Parked here, because I'm going to need to refer to it sometime soon. (Grokked in a roundabout way from Robert J Bennett)

"When he got out of the jewelry business and became one of the most powerful oil men in the country it was because he realized the scams he could pull in the oil business paid a lot better than those in the jewelry business." An article on the scam that is "jewelry buying." While much of it is from the 80s and before, don't kid yourself that this didn't/doesn't go in on the current "We Buy Gold" craze (or on the "buy gold, it's the best investment side of the business). (Grokked from BoingBoing)

It's a good life rule, never piss off clowns. They are mean drunks (I just kid, the majority of clowns I've known are nice people). (Grokked from Saladin Ahmed)

"But suicide on the job is also increasing and, according to federal researchers, suicide risk changes depending on the type of work people do." I bet you won't see that list in Forbes. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

"'We play nice in Iowa,' Polk County Republican Party co-chairwoman Sherill Whisenand told the New York Times." Unless, you know, you criticize us and then we'll make sure you get your comeuppance. Like if you've tweeted mean things about Iowa and then a GOP front runner names you to their staff. In that case, my advice is "don't unpack your bags." Also, though shall not criticize Fox News.

"His analysis shows how family structure, parenting practices, schooling and health habits correlate with diminishing opportunities for poorer children." The land of opportunity, but only if you've already had success. (Grokked from Morgan J Locke)

And related, "Many parents of low-income high achievers didn't go to college, and, when they think of selective schools, they think of the pricey, East Coast elites: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. The obvious conclusion: Out of our league." This is a little pie-in-the-sky-ish. Colleges have endowments that help low-income students go for almost free, but that doesn't cover their costs for moving and living where those selective schools are (which are also more expensive that cities and towns where state schools are). Also, form person experience (in 1984), I was selected to go to one of those schools, and would have had some great financial aid, but it wasn't enough for me to go, and I got even more financial aid from the state school I went to.

Whatever happened to that GOP Post mortem following the 2012 defeat? Oh yea, they clapped harder and forgot all about it. No worries, I doubt it will bit them in 2016.

Glenn Beck to the GOP, "I just can't quit you." Okay, he's saying that he is quitting, but he's said that before. Don't worry, he'll be back around July 2016. Until then he can revel in his "outsider" and "spoiler" fakery.

And in other Glenn Beck news, what happens when you allow the paranoids to run the show? They start eating their own. At Glenn's insistence on conspiracy theories, the NRA is now investigating Grover Norquist to ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Hahahahahaha. (Grokked from John)

"The story of Vote2ReduceDebt is an egregious example of what can happen in the absence of such controls, but similar scenarios have played out on a smaller scale at dozens of PACs in the last three election cycles." You know, if they had watched The Colbert Report, they'd know these things. Welcome to the SuperPAC, the wild west of campaign financing. The irony in this case, is the major mark donor wanted to help end what he saw as monetary corruption and the booming debt. If only there were regulations to help make sure all this money was spent the way the donors believe it should be spent… oh, wait, most of these are from ultra conservatives who don't believe in regulation (I bet they will now, but only for these, not for their businesses).

Speaker Boehner promises a conservative healthcare plan to replace Obamacare real soon now. In case you don't get that joke, here's the definition of RSN. Note, they've been promising this for 6 years now (if we only count their promises during the Obamacare legislative effort, we won't discuss their answer to Hillarycare, which Obamacare was cribbed from - the conservative response, not Hillarycare). It's getting to the point we need to see if a groundhog sees its shadow to know if it'll be six month or sixty years from now.

There's no conservative War on Women. Uh, yea, Bob.

Were is the conservative outrage over the silencing of a public employee and the violation of the Free Speech rights? Oh, wait, yea, it's a Florida employee who mentioned "Climate Change" and expressed the thought that the KeystoneXL pipeline might not be the best idea. Never mind.

Wackaloon quotient reaches all new levels of crazy. Listen to one question another. Sen. Santorum, how can you have hearings when you said just a moment before you shouldn't convene Congress? I know, I'm looking for logic in the mouth of the crazy. Then, in response to Pres. Obama saying mandatory voting might be interesting, Fox News hosts admit they don't think everyone should vote (and we're not talking about their conspiracy theory of illegal immigrants voting). The English Only crowd is back at it. This time, an Arabic reading of the the Pledge of Allegiance during a high school program on foreign languages fires up the xenophobes. Just to repeat, the first language if the Americas, after Native American languages, was Spanish. The next was Portuguese. New York's first non-native language was Dutch. The new GOP presidential candidates are off to the same start as last time. In this case, Dr. Carson talking about how NATO should go to war if Putin invades the Baltic States. Well, yes, because they are already a part of NATO, we'd have to, wouldn't we. Bill O'Reilly thinks Pres. Obama had nothing to do with killing bin Laden. Well, truth be told, O'Reilly isn't so much a whackaloon as a self-serving opportunist shilling the gullible. But his argument that because Obama didn't pull the trigger himself he deserves no credit is just laughable on the face of it.

Gov. Bobby Jindal says, "You don’t have the right to come here and say, for example, that you think women should be treated as second class citizens." That's right, we don't need those "radical muslims" comin' over hear saying that. The social conservatives are frightened they might steal their fire. :: drops mic, walks off stage ::