I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Linkee-poo, too many notes, Mozart

The price of energy storage is plummeting. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)

"LiveScience reports that researchers studying the remains of a seventh-century B.C. nomad unearthed from a Scythian burial mound in central Kazkahstan have discovered an arrowhead embedded in the man's spine." Ah, the good old days. When men were men, women hunted, and arrow points were bronze or nothing. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

After the elation of last week, now it's the progressives' turn to hate on the Supreme Court. This time because they told the EPA they didn't fully justify the costs of their air pollution mandate regarding mercury from coal-fired power plants. The good news in this is the top court didn't give guidance on how to calculate the costs, or what costs could be included. So hopefully the EPA will be allowed by the lower-court to fully calculate the benefits to scrubbing mercury from emissions (and if they're able to, the cost to benefit ratio is way, way, WAY in favor of scrubbing emissions). Just the savings in Medicare payments alone (if I know my numbers correctly) will out weigh industry's cost. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)

"There are no accidents with guns." Yes, I was screaming when he gave me the pause. But here's the thing about reasonable dialog, sometimes is can be persuasive. I do agree with the results of what Jim proposes, and have said so before. And Jim's recommendation is a very nice way to get there.

More in the "this ain't over yet" theme. "Republican Mississippi state Rep. Andy Gipson, the chairman of the state house judiciary committee, (said) that the state is looking into eliminating state marriage licenses." Which I support. Not that I support the state getting out of issuing marriage licenses, quite the contrary. But because attempting to do this and trying to unravel the term "marriage" in all the laws (and policies) it appears in, will force the realization that marriage, historically, was about rights and transfer of property. This is a lesson conservative, libertarian, (and some liberal) law makers need to learn. Apparently they need the hard way.

Some of the issues surrounding the Marriage Equality and Religious Freedom. While this plays out as a trouble with integrating gay marriage into the fabric of religious based businesses (while mostly thinking in the terms of businesses with direct connections to churches think of what happens if a gay couple registers at Hobby Lobby). But I think this is the problem of having churches provide so many community services because the state can't be bothered, or doesn't have the funding. But I've also been thinking of another problem. What if the gay couple are members in good standing with a church. While you can't force a priest or minister to preside over a marriage, many church rules give the couple the right to use the church building for such events. And frankly, that's a lawsuit waiting to happen (I believe the Catholic Churches have clauses that the event must coincide with the doctrines of the Church so they may be good, but I'm not sure all other churches have such stipulations). (Grokked from Dan)

John Oliver's Last Week Tonight five years of the end of Obamacare. (Grokked from TPM)

So, Ted Cruz says the 2016 election will be about gay marriage. And Obamacare. Apparently the GOP printed to many flyers and voter "info" guides, and produced too many attack commercial and couldn't unload them since the 2012 campaign. It'll be like going to Thanksgiving with the extended family and grandmother is going to rehash all the times she was dissed by her six siblings (all of whom are now dead). (Yea, I thought I'd use the uncomfortable Thanksgiving meme early, before the rush).

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