Lord Vader

Ok, this has to say something about capitalism and corporate greed, right?



And not just because I'm reading The Shock Doctrine.

(via kottke)

Physics; Not Just A Good Idea

Nope, they're laws for a reason.

If you've ever played Escape Velocity, watched Firefly, Star Trek, Star Wars, or any number of other space based shows or countless movies and books you should check out the rather long piece up on Gizmodo going over what actual space combat might look like.

Hint; entertainment doesn't really get it right...

First, pending a major development in propulsion technology, combat spacecraft would likely get around the same way the Apollo spacecraft went to the Moon and back: with orbit changes effected by discrete main-engine burns.

(via kottke)

Mr. Walken's Neighborhood

This afternoon I fell down the rabbit hole that is Christopher Walken videos on YouTube. Don't ask how it happened, as usual it's a long story.

Never fear though, I brought this back for you...



Nice sweater too!

First Steps

Well Harry Reid managed to get 60 votes to clear the first truly important procedural vote in the final push to pass health care reform legislation through the Senate very early this morning.

The Plum Line has a good run down of the coverage.

It's worth noting that Republican Senator Tom Coburn on the Senate Floor last night called on the American people to pray that a Senator would not be able to make it to the Capitol to vote for cloture, Robert Byrd was wheeled in shortly thereafter to put the nail in the coffin.

Ezra Klein has been taking a hard look at Republican obstructionism and the next steps as to the future of the filibuster and legislating in the Senate; with an assist from Paul Krugman in his column today as well.

Not The Best List Ever

The Onion has it's contribution to the yearly top ten list extravaganza up, The Top Ten Stories of the Last 4.5 Billion Years.

The list itself is pretty disappointing by Onion standards, item number five however is genius...

Sumerians Look On In Confusion As God Creates World:

...According to the cuneiform tablets, Sumerians found God's most puzzling act to be the creation from dust of the first two human beings. "These two people made in his image do not know how to communicate, lack skills in both mathematics and farming, and have the intellectual capacity of an infant," one Sumerian philosopher wrote. "They must be the creation of a complete idiot."

(via kottke)

A Line In The Sand

Well Bernie Sanders is pissed and he says someone should have checked with him before they dropped all the good parts from the bill (ok, I'm paraphrasing a bit here)...



The Plum Line has confirmed that Sanders is still not saying what his vote will be on cloture either...

Read This Now - Why We Need An Individual Mandate

Per the phrasing of and arguments over the individual mandate's (the requirement that everyone buy insurance) place and significance in the current Senate health care reform bill, Ezra Klein explains why we need the individual mandate...

Pick your favorite system. Socialized medicine in Britain. Single-payer in Canada. Multi-payer with a government floor in France. Private plans with heavy public regulation in Sweden, Germany and elsewhere. None of these plans are "voluntary." In some, there's an individual mandate forcing you to pay premiums to insurance companies. In some, there's a system of taxation forcing you to pay premiums to the government. In all of them, at least so far as I know, participation is required except in very limited and uncommon circumstances. And there's a reason for that: No universal system can work without it.

You should read the whole post.