Sexy Miley

Miley had a special photo shot for her beau, Liam Hemsworth, before they were engaged. They make a big deal of the fact that she was eighteen, but I don't see why it's a critical issue, since all the carnal essentials remain hidden. In any case: great photo! It also shows, I think, that there is no real point for her in going blonde. She's hot enough.

(Source: ONTD)

Sexy Miley

Miley had a special photo shot for her beau, Liam Hemsworth, before they were engaged. They make a big deal of the fact that she was eighteen, but I don't see why it's a critical issue, since all the carnal essentials remain hidden. In any case: great photo! It also shows, I think, that there is no real point for her in going blonde. She's hot enough.

(Source: ONTD)

Of the Media

Is our media today too easily contrived? A new book argues as much, "Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator" by Brian Holiday. To wit:

Holiday created fake personas and sent fake scoops to blogs, then wrote fake comments and provided fake traffic time and time again. This resulted in the scoops becoming real, the article being republished across the world, and history changed to the way that suited him and his clients (he'd use these articles as citations to prove the fake news in Wikipedia).

[...]

The way the media is organized today is bad, he argues, because it no longer cares for quality journalism. Sources aren't checked. Facts are dubious guesses at best. Mistakes are never corrected. No, the media cares more for gossip and things that make readers emotionally charged -- as that's what makes us share stuff.

I'm a little skeptical that we are this bad off. Let it be known: Mr. Holiday is all of twenty-five years of age. I can see how Amazon ratings might be distorted, and maybe a matter of some triviality might be buzzed up, such as celebrity news, and no doubt the blogosphere can be caught up in its own dreamscape, but we have some giants in the media game with some heavy-hitters. I am sure that our media is not infallible, but I don't think we are a house of cards. And why believe Holiday? He's a liar.

(Source: Thomas Church at Huffington Post)

Of the Media

Is our media today too easily contrived? A new book argues as much, "Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator" by Brian Holiday. To wit:

Holiday created fake personas and sent fake scoops to blogs, then wrote fake comments and provided fake traffic time and time again. This resulted in the scoops becoming real, the article being republished across the world, and history changed to the way that suited him and his clients (he'd use these articles as citations to prove the fake news in Wikipedia).

[...]

The way the media is organized today is bad, he argues, because it no longer cares for quality journalism. Sources aren't checked. Facts are dubious guesses at best. Mistakes are never corrected. No, the media cares more for gossip and things that make readers emotionally charged -- as that's what makes us share stuff.

I'm a little skeptical that we are this bad off. Let it be known: Mr. Holiday is all of twenty-five years of age. I can see how Amazon ratings might be distorted, and maybe a matter of some triviality might be buzzed up, such as celebrity news, and no doubt the blogosphere can be caught up in its own dreamscape, but we have some giants in the media game with some heavy-hitters. I am sure that our media is not infallible, but I don't think we are a house of cards. And why believe Holiday? He's a liar.

(Source: Thomas Church at Huffington Post)

Republican Extremism

Even "The Economist" magazine, a libertarian rag, hits on our Republicans.

Our prejudice is firmly in favour of a leaner state, but the Republicans need to recognise, as their intellectual forebears did from Adam Smith to Abraham Lincoln, that government has an important role to play in a capitalist economy, providing public goods and a safety net. Teddy Roosevelt broke up over-mighty companies, rather than doling out tax breaks to them. Why on earth are people who champion a small state supporting an expensive war on drugs that has filled the prisons to bursting point without reducing the supply of narcotics?

Perhaps the problem, other than unmitigated greed, is that their new inellectual light is Ayn Rand, which is a bit of a falling off from Smith and Lincoln. Of course, she probably would agree that this War on Drugs is misguided, but the Republicans still need to secure votes and must hit on popular hot-button issues, and, well, putting as many blacks and latinos away in prison can never be an entirely bad policy, as far as they are concerned, and is worth every penny.

(Source: Sully's Dish)

Republican Extremism

Even "The Economist" magazine, a libertarian rag, hits on our Republicans.

Our prejudice is firmly in favour of a leaner state, but the Republicans need to recognise, as their intellectual forebears did from Adam Smith to Abraham Lincoln, that government has an important role to play in a capitalist economy, providing public goods and a safety net. Teddy Roosevelt broke up over-mighty companies, rather than doling out tax breaks to them. Why on earth are people who champion a small state supporting an expensive war on drugs that has filled the prisons to bursting point without reducing the supply of narcotics?

Perhaps the problem, other than unmitigated greed, is that their new inellectual light is Ayn Rand, which is a bit of a falling off from Smith and Lincoln. Of course, she probably would agree that this War on Drugs is misguided, but the Republicans still need to secure votes and must hit on popular hot-button issues, and, well, putting as many blacks and latinos away in prison can never be an entirely bad policy, as far as they are concerned, and is worth every penny.

(Source: Sully's Dish)

Of Republicans and the Moral Past

The professional right has made a big business out of pretending that TV and the rise of gay culture and rap music and dozens of other things have contributed to the fall of a once greatly moral nation, all the while seeming to forget that Thomas Jefferson is known to have taken sexual advantage of his slaves and Benjamin Franklin is believed by some to have been part of a drunken orgy club. It may make you feel nice to pretend that the societies that gave rise to the modern world were ones of pure honor and decency, but that’s not reality. The world isn’t on a moral decline, because there was never a time when the world was particularly morally superior.

-- Cord Jefferson

It is hard to fight against Mayberry and other such fabled notions of the past. Then, again, when speaking of the Republicans, these people now tend to be the people who generally prefer fantasies, such as that of man living with the dinosaurs, not to mentions angels and a white-bearded God among the stars and virgin births and their secured place in heaven.

Of Republicans and the Moral Past

The professional right has made a big business out of pretending that TV and the rise of gay culture and rap music and dozens of other things have contributed to the fall of a once greatly moral nation, all the while seeming to forget that Thomas Jefferson is known to have taken sexual advantage of his slaves and Benjamin Franklin is believed by some to have been part of a drunken orgy club. It may make you feel nice to pretend that the societies that gave rise to the modern world were ones of pure honor and decency, but that’s not reality. The world isn’t on a moral decline, because there was never a time when the world was particularly morally superior.

-- Cord Jefferson

It is hard to fight against Mayberry and other such fabled notions of the past. Then, again, when speaking of the Republicans, these people now tend to be the people who generally prefer fantasies, such as that of man living with the dinosaurs, not to mentions angels and a white-bearded God among the stars and virgin births and their secured place in heaven.

I know the feeling

I know the feeling

Those Republicans

Another note on the febrile extremism of today's Republican Party. Though, I suppose it could be said that they are just very, very pro-'having more babies', which can sound kind of nice, if you don't think about it too hard.

_ _ _

A House Republican lawmaker likened the implementation of a new mandate that insurers offer coverage for contraceptive services to Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against the United States.

Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly (R), an ardent opponent of abortion rights, said that today's date would live in infamy alongside those two other historic occasions. Wednesday marked the day on which a controversial new requirement by the Department of Health and Human Services, which requires health insurance companies to cover contraceptive services for women, goes into effect.

"I know in your mind you can think of times when America was attacked. One is December 7th, that's Pearl Harbor day. The other is September 11th, and that's the day of the terrorist attack," Kelly said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "I want you to remember August the 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates."

-- News-LJ

Those Republicans

Another note on the febrile extremism of today's Republican Party. Though, I suppose it could be said that they are just very, very pro-'having more babies', which can sound kind of nice, if you don't think about it too hard.

_ _ _

A House Republican lawmaker likened the implementation of a new mandate that insurers offer coverage for contraceptive services to Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against the United States.

Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly (R), an ardent opponent of abortion rights, said that today's date would live in infamy alongside those two other historic occasions. Wednesday marked the day on which a controversial new requirement by the Department of Health and Human Services, which requires health insurance companies to cover contraceptive services for women, goes into effect.

"I know in your mind you can think of times when America was attacked. One is December 7th, that's Pearl Harbor day. The other is September 11th, and that's the day of the terrorist attack," Kelly said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "I want you to remember August the 1st, 2012, the attack on our religious freedom. That is a day that will live in infamy, along with those other dates."

-- News-LJ

The Power of 'the'

An interesting note on the differences in writing style between the years 1520 and 2008:

"The" was top in both 1520 and 2008. Common groups of words have changed, though. The most common three-word phrase in 2008 was "one of the"; in 1520, it was "of the Pope". References to religion featured heavily in early literature, Perc notes. For example, "the Pope and his followers", "the laws of the Church" and "the body and blood of Christ" all feature in the 10 most popular five-word phrases of 1520. By 2008, the most frequently written five-word phrases were along the lines of "at the end of the", "in the middle of the" and "on the other side of".

I guess our culture has opened up since the 16th century. We now focus on the relationship of things to each other, rather than on how everything relates to Christ. Though, I suppose the cost of this is that our culture is more fractured. We no longer believe the same things and think in the same way. Again, this sounds like a healthy, intelligent development, but we now have a lot more divisiveness. In America, today, liberals and Republicans barely speak the same language, and that is a serious problem.


(Source: Sully's Dish)

The Power of 'the'

An interesting note on the differences in writing style between the years 1520 and 2008:

"The" was top in both 1520 and 2008. Common groups of words have changed, though. The most common three-word phrase in 2008 was "one of the"; in 1520, it was "of the Pope". References to religion featured heavily in early literature, Perc notes. For example, "the Pope and his followers", "the laws of the Church" and "the body and blood of Christ" all feature in the 10 most popular five-word phrases of 1520. By 2008, the most frequently written five-word phrases were along the lines of "at the end of the", "in the middle of the" and "on the other side of".

I guess our culture has opened up since the 16th century. We now focus on the relationship of things to each other, rather than on how everything relates to Christ. Though, I suppose the cost of this is that our culture is more fractured. We no longer believe the same things and think in the same way. Again, this sounds like a healthy, intelligent development, but we now have a lot more divisiveness. In America, today, liberals and Republicans barely speak the same language, and that is a serious problem.


(Source: Sully's Dish)