Saturday, March 15, 2008

Yes, I'm being immature here...

Of course I take this election seriously. But it's beginning to wear on me, and I'll take my chuckles where I can get them. I just found this "Hillary in da house" video via Excellent News for Hillary. I think it's funny. But it's rainy and yucky out, and I'm bored.



Basically, this is an open thread.

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The Spectrum Game

A post by Subway Serenade/Astral Technician

I've been away from the internets for a few weeks and while I was gone I had the chance to log some quality time with Gizmo. In my further experiments I discovered how to operate what is called the "Spectrum" screen. You see, the butterfly game is really meant for two people, so that they can learn to link their hearts in a phase lock, which is what I refer to as the "Full Snuggle Position." As great as this is, it isn't as exciting when played alone, even though you can learn a lot when your butterfly is flying solo.



So Dan Winter added a wonderful game of Solitaire called "Spectrum."



Whereas the Butterfly game shows the harmonic frequency and amplitude that your heart is "singing" at in real time, the Spectrum shows how that charge is distributed across the heart's harmonic range. The graph at the bottom indicates the bandwidth. Between 1 and 3 is the Delta band, between 3 and 7 is Theta. From 7 to 13 is the Alpha and above 13 is Beta. As you can see, the peaks tend to be lower in the Alpha and Beta ranges. The object of Spectrum is to increase the Alpha and Beta peaks. This process is identical to the goal of meditation. Only here you get to chart your progress in real time.

As 13 is the start of the Beta band, I decided to concentrate there, as the graph didn't seem to rise much above .15 on the horizontal scale. After taking a little time to get intuitive with the game, the graph was looking like this:



The key to Heart Coherence, therefore is to learn to increase the peaks in the Spectrum across the harmonic range (left/right motion) of the Butterfly. Increasing the Spectrum peaks is, as a Jedi would say "stretching out with your feelings."


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Friday, March 14, 2008

Happy Pi Day

Rationality is overrated

Click here to visit the official Pi Day web site.

Update: Here is the video of Daniel Tammet's appearance on the David Letterman show. At a little after the 3-minute mark, he discusses his recitation of over 22,000 digist of pi in a Pi Day competition.



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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Don't burn food: biofuels standards now!

Increased demand for biofuels is driving up food prices and accelerating climate change, as rainforests are destroyed to grow fuel. But with strong global sustainability standards, we can ensure that biofuels help, rather than hurt.


Sign the petition at AVAAZ.org for biofuels standards.

Haloscan Comment Thread

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Olbermann's special comment on Clinton/Ferraro

You can watch it here, and read the transcript here.

And this picture has nothing to do with anything, but I found it when looking for images for my psych class, and felt like posting something whimsical.


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Leadership

SusanD's response to a My Left Wing diary about what it takes to be Commander in Chief

...nobody knows what they'll have to face as CIC because Bush/Cheney have been so secretive. Who knows what tangled mass of snakes awaits them?

What qualities must you have to deal with what is unknown? I would think a steadiness would be necessary. Not decisions make in a temper, or for personal reasons (like Bush). Good judgment, of course. Willingness to listen to experienced people (unlike Bush) The ability to weigh consequences and long-term effects (unlike Bush). The self-confidence to change course if you see your plans are not working, or are having unforeseen consequences (unlike Bush). A larger view of the United States as one country among many, not a view of "U.S. uber alles". A willingness to cooperate with other countries rather than ruling them. The guts to recognize REAL dangers, to guard against them, and to respond appropriately to REAL, not imagined, threats.


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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Odds and ends

I didn't end up working a full day today, so I wanted to do a quick post before getting ready for tonight's class.

First, before I forget to mention it, here's a link to a Clinton Attacks Obama Incident Tracker. I don't think everything is there, but it might jog our memories about the long history of such attacks.

Geraldine Ferraro, who supports Hillary Clinton, has said some downright offensive things about how lucky Barack Obama is that he's black.

If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.
Tim Russo at Buckeye State Blog wonders who this is meant to appeal to, musing that it might be designed to push certain buttons with the white blue-collar demographic in Pennsylvania.

Will Hillary "reject and denounce" Ferraro's remarks?

Pennsylvania, as we were reminded by many in the media right after last Tuesday's elections, is "next up" in the schedule of nominating contests. Well, yeah, there was that thing in the Wyoming over the weekend, but that's just a caucus. The views of the "latte-sipping crowd" are irrelelvant. And there's something going on in Mississippi today, but...big whoop. That state doesn't count, because there are a lot of African Americans living there. In fact, according to Ed Rendell, it's the Big Four states that really are important to determining the nominee. And Hillary has even reminded us that even pledged delegates are free to change their minds. Exactly how little regard does this woman have for the will of the voters?

As I've already mused here:
Regarding superdelegates, the common refrain from people speaking on Clinton's behalf is that they are supposed to use their independent judgment, based on what's best for the party. So, rather than voting to reflect the wishes of their constituents, they are supposed to vote for the person who is most "electable".

Is it possible that Clinton's goal is to get Obama "bloodied" enough by (or before) the convention that she and her surrogates could make the case that he's simply not electable?
Presumably, if Hillary Clinton keeps up the attacks on Obama (which have been a lot more negative and unrelenting than Obama's NAFTA/healthcare mailer that she found so egregious that she had to hold a big press conference/photo op. You know, the one where she made strategic use of my governor as a nodding backdrop, while she waved the offending mailer in the air and scolded "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" Hillary Clinton's attacks, however have been constant and disturbing, saying that she and John McCain have passed the "commander in chief threshold, but Obama's entire campaign is built on a speech he made in 2002.

Condescend much? She has actually compared the man who *could* become her party's nominee unfavorably, not just to herself, but to the presumpive nominee of the Republican party. Obama has faired favorably in head-to-head polling matchups against John McCain. That could certainly be seen as a positive indicator of Obama's "electability" in the general election. But if Clinton and her surrogates continue to trash talk Obama while talking up John McCain in the same breath, maybe those numbers will change. If Team Clinton somehow manages to throw enough buckets of mud at Barack Obama, will she then make the case to the superdelegates *and* the pledged delegates that they need to cast their votes for her? Even if any appearance that Obama might have a hard time winning against McCain came as a direct result of her efforts? I have no doubt that she would be willing to do that. My concerns are about whether the delegates will go for that, thus rewarding Hillary Clinton's "say or do anything to win" tactics.

And I'm hoping that, even if Hillary Clinton is willing to stoop that low, the delegates will look at the big picture, and won't let the scenario play out that way.

Light a candle for hope



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Monday, March 10, 2008

Open Thread

Wow, you all sure are chatty tonight! Since I have a long day tomorrow and won't have much opportunity to get online, I figured I should just post another thread before turning in tonight.



Update: Just found out about this

Space shuttle Endeavour was poised for a rare nighttime launch Tuesday to the International Space Station and the longest visit ever to the orbiting outpost.

Good weather was forecast for the 2:28 A.M. liftoff. The odds were 90 percent in NASA's favor.
Hope it goes well. "Traveling mercies", and all that.

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BEDTIME STORY THREAD


What's your story tonight?

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Sunday, March 09, 2008

"No 2 to No 1: be my No 2"..from Sunday Morning Herald Australia.

This article captures the pure absurdity of Bill Clinton's suggestion of the ticket with his wife at the top of it.

The picture accompanying the article says it all.



Be my VP

Hillary and Bill Clinton are again teaming up on Barack Obama - this time saying the first-term US lawmaker, whom they have derided as inexperienced, would be a strong running mate on a Democratic presidential ticket headed by the former first lady.

In hailing Obama as a possible vice president, the Clintons are reaching out to him and, perhaps more importantly, to his backers, whose support she would need to defeat Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the November election.

Obama leads Clinton, a fellow Democratic senator, in a bruising race for their party's presidential nomination, but neither is likely to reach the 2,025 delegates needed to become the nominee in the remaining state by state contests.
The candidate said last week she and Obama may end up on the same ticket, with her on top.
Daschle and Rendell had differing views.

Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota, an Obama backer, mocked the idea.

"It may be the first time in history that the person who is running number two would offer the person running number one the number two position," Daschle told Meet the Press.

..."Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell, a Democratic who has sought to rally support for Clinton in his state's April 22 primary, backed the idea of Clinton and Obama teaming up. "It would be a great ticket," Rendell told NBC's Meet the Press.
Speaking of Rendell, did you hear that he and Corzine are going to be raising millions for the do-overs in FL and MI? They are both Hillary supporters. I think people should be getting some uncomfortable vibes about these do-overs about now.

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Girl in "red phone" ad supports Obama

From yesterday, but hope interest in the story can carry into the week, when more people will be paying attention.

This is too good not to pass along. Remember that "who do you want answering the phone at 3 a.m. ad"? Remember this sleeping girl?



According to a report on KING5, an NBC affiliate station in Seattle, Washington:

The first girl in the ad is young Casey Knowles. It's stock footage from 8 years ago when she worked as a TV extra - footage owned now by Getty Images and used by the Clinton campaign.
Here's Casey today. She's 17 years old and an Obama supporter (and will turn 18 well before the general election in November).




"It's perfect timing because I have a candidate that I really identify with,"; she said. "I've been campaigning for Barack Obama for a few months now," she said. "I was actually a precinct captain at the caucuses a few months ago. I attended his rally a few months ago and I'm, a very, very avid supporter."

The Knowles family admit they have no control over how the footage is used. And while they see the humor of it all, they are mildly annoyed.

"I think it would be really wonderful if me and Barack Obama could get together and make a nice counter ad," she laughed.


Update: Thank you, Denise, for pointing to video of Howard Dean on ABC this morning (on right side of page.)

Haloscan comment thread