Catastrophic Error

New Mind Mapper software

2009-04-03T14:26:00.002-04:00

A comprehensive Java tool for mind mapping. Looks too serious just to play with in a day. Maybe the next time I get an interesting project, I'll try it.

MindRaider

50 year-old murder

2009-04-02T15:00:00.002-04:00

Question: If David shoots Victor with intent to kill, and the attempt fails, and David is convicted of the failed attempt, and the malice evaporates, how do the following circumstances of the attempted murder still constitute proper murder without the mens rea at the time of incident?

You'd have to prove that the alleged murderer retained the mens rea over 50 years, wouldn't you? Is there case law that says mens rea is perpetual, and to erase it you must act opposite to the prior crime?

Seems pretty overkill to me.

What, she's made of crepe paper?

2009-04-02T14:46:00.002-04:00

Michelle Obama embarrasses everyone in Britain, save Her Majesty.

Something makes me think that perhaps the Queen is a bit stronger of personality than most people think, while they busily protect her with "decorum." It would almost seem like she the Head of State for a powerful European nation, no?

... and they gave her an iPod (never you mind that she asked for it)!

Cotton Balls

2009-03-31T14:42:00.002-04:00

Sully says there's something deep in this story, but isn't seeing it.

I see it: This woman is now the most legally-immune domestic soldier for-hire in the world. Or maybe Germany.

Either way she's getting a call from Dick Cheney right now.

Desktop

2009-03-31T12:06:00.001-04:00

Drug War Casualties: +1

2009-03-31T11:01:00.002-04:00

A guy has pot, his home is searched under a warrant. Not news.

Somewhere between start and finish, he's shot. Unfortunate (he's fine, recovering), but not really news anymore.

Commenters on the article say the Sherriff's dept. is in the right, because the boy is a druggie. Depressing, but not news.

What's news to me? That apparently cops are to be treated as dangerous animals when executing a warrant. If this is to be so, then lets write a law that all searched persons are to be given a kevlar vest before the search.

Or we could expect our cops to calmly and gently restrain all civilians during police operations. Just throwing a wild idea out there.

This too.

2009-03-30T19:16:00.001-04:00

YYYN experiment 14 from Adam Pelling-Deeves on Vimeo.

Wait for the part with the numbers.

This is too brillant.

2009-03-30T19:10:00.002-04:00

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

And for those that like the music, the title of the video is the title of the music piece.

Question: didn't torture save American lives?

2009-03-30T19:05:00.003-04:00

NO.

Seriously, people, we knew this since early English jurisprudence. Back when they considered transmutation a worthy attempt at economic vitality.

Cause --> effect

2009-03-30T19:03:00.002-04:00

Aid torture --> prosecuted for war crimes.

Any questions?

:s/GWOT/OCO/g

2009-03-30T19:01:00.000-04:00

or "Overseas Contingency Operation"

Please, God, no.

2009-03-30T18:52:00.002-04:00

A massive helicoper-and-floating-hotel. When the hell will people realize that it takes massive energy (for the proles: FUEL) to counteract gravity (prole: FLY) ??

I've seen worse colo closets.

2009-03-30T18:50:00.001-04:00

But not by much.

Put Down the Phone

2009-03-30T18:46:00.002-04:00

Yes, they (usually) make pretty cars. I'm a big fan myself. But, seriously, please stop consulting them for design decisions. They're not gifted or anything.

No really: stoppit.

Another Brilliant Whine

2009-03-30T18:45:00.001-04:00

UGH

We're Not Crazy About All the Slapping

2009-03-30T18:43:00.002-04:00

Script Notes From the VP of Programming Following the Inevitable Purchase of the Spice Network by GE/NBC Universal

We can all agree on Blagojevich's corruption

2008-12-09T16:33:00.002-05:00

But you can't keep bigots from being bigoted while talking about it.

K-Lo: you better tell your kid about "Gay-Americans". They're going to find out about it anyways. And the difference between telling them at 12 and them learning about it at 16 is 8 years of collegiate experimenting that you'll have to find out about the hard way.

And after you get done with that, start working on "Gay-Canadians".

Semantics alert!

2008-12-03T10:37:00.002-05:00

Publius, regarding the Bombay attacks:

Even more maddening though, India’s outrage and desire for revenge are absolutely reasonable.

No. Bad language. Revenge does not come from reason. It comes from something less than reason. It will never be "reasonable" to seek revenge. Understandable, yes. Reasonable, never.

However, when you get attacked and you respond to the attacks with a reasoned "Well, that was blowback for something I did earlier", you're name is Ron Paul and you're angrily shoved off the soapbox.

THIS.

2008-12-01T10:22:00.002-05:00

This. Read. NOW.

My comment wouldn't do this man sufficient honor. Just read.

(Requisite Hat Tip to Sully, ever the foreigner who gets it)

FYI

2008-11-26T14:59:00.001-05:00

Icons are for libruls.

Reminder

2008-11-26T14:16:00.004-05:00

From the desk of one Lisa Shiffren, c/o Teh Core:

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, who is smarter than your average feminist, (and has a Harvard law degree to prove it) has a column today which amounts to whining about the fact that Michelle Obama, who has a Harvard Law degree, has announced that she will be the nation's "mom in chief" above all other roles. Marcus frets that she is choosing to be "Jackie Kennedy" when her education and ambitions fit her to be Hillary Clinton.
Jen Rubin at Contentions finds this exaperating. Marcus's complaint, she notes, reminds us that feminism was never about choices. It was only ever about choosing power. ...

Reminder to all players: Every organization that continues to exist beyond a natural expiration changes its focus to seek power. Movements don't have a natural expiration.

Feminists wanted choices, won a bunch of them even. Now there's more free time for them to focus on what everyone wants before they die: abstract, amorphous, undefined and unlimited power.

Now someone tell me: if the average feminist has an implied lower intelligence than the rest of society, where does the average writer for The Corner fall?

Youthful Petulance

2008-11-24T16:59:00.004-05:00

While I solidly attribute the downfall of the GOP to inevitable hubris following from lack of opposition, I'm also starting to get under the impression that the depths that they have sunk follow from a lack of willpower to take life seriously. Andrew Breitbart, everybody (*applause*):

The future of the Grand Old Party needs to be dangerously youthful, devastatingly attractive and outrageously fun.

Throw the liberal baby boomer bums out. And let's elect to higher office some good-looking, freedom-loving Net Generation babes. Face it: Democracy needs a face-lift and a youth movement. (I'm from Los Angeles, what can I tell you?)

These people just handed us off from a hobbled one-party nation without serious issues to a hobbled one-party nation (but different party) with deadly-serious issues. And the GOP needs to get fun again?

I have to say, I find this weird. I'm surrounded by twenty-somethings who have this traction with reality that I don't see in the media, those twenty-somethings just took over a large piece of the constituency, and the Republicans have failed to absorb any of it. They really did kick all the buzzkills out of their frat-house kegger just before the house came down, didn't they? Amazing.

LAWL

2008-11-24T11:50:00.001-05:00

ROFFLE

But next time, really, make the message believable. Someone spouting off racism with frequency isn't going to say "my racism is a sham!" Go for: "so seriously, I was looking on Craiglist's casual encounters m4m section, and you wouldn't believe the number of dumb [redacted]ers posting pictures of their dicks. I mean, really, wow." You have to plant the seeds of doubt, let the victim walk into the trap.

>:3

That's my boy

2008-11-24T09:21:00.002-05:00

Jerrold Nadler is trying to earn the vote I reluctantly gave him earlier this month. If he passes the resolution, and gets the independent counsel in play, he'll have earned it.

...different day

2008-11-23T15:27:00.002-05:00

Sully thinks the first Internet-advertised suicide just happened recently. How blissfully unaware he is.