Brooklyn Reader
On a hill, overlooking New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty.
TMI
- Meridian or Film Forum
- SF or LA
- Dina Martina or Jean Godden
- What helps you sleep?: Sex
- Tushy or Tuchus
3:34 AM yesterday
Brooklyn Reader commented on An I-5 Bridge Over the Skagit River Has Collapsed.
@95 As Seattle voters seem to be the only voters in the entire state willing to spend money on anything at all, perhaps you should be questioning the rest of the state's voters. Also, maybe you should learn the difference between state-funded and city-funded projects.
May 23
Brooklyn Reader commented on Glenn Beckwatch: CNN's Atheist Plot, Revealed!.
You know what really worries me? The fact that Glenn Beck isn't broke yet. He's actually making money with his penny-whistle, cockamamie "network"?
Fleecing the rubes is, apparently, still a good business. And, also apparently, providing a never-ending crop of rubes, is an American staple.
Some day, we need to institute some sort of national educational standards, and to try to educate our citizens so they learn how to think, and to analyze and evaluate things people say, and enough knowledge to be able to have some sort of perspective.
"Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic" isn't much use without cRitical thinking.
Fleecing the rubes is, apparently, still a good business. And, also apparently, providing a never-ending crop of rubes, is an American staple.
Some day, we need to institute some sort of national educational standards, and to try to educate our citizens so they learn how to think, and to analyze and evaluate things people say, and enough knowledge to be able to have some sort of perspective.
"Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic" isn't much use without cRitical thinking.
May 22
Brooklyn Reader commented on Tornado Truthers.
@25 As soon as you say "they," you're jumping in bed with the nutters.
Lots of things are possible. Tesla built an earthquake-making machine, for example. (He destroyed it after scaring himself to bits.)
We have nuclear weapons. So, we can visit some very loud, windy and hot "weather" to a locality at the push of a button.
We can seed clouds, but we can't predict where the rain will fall.
Personally, I'd like to see a project to turn the Sahara Desert back into grasslands. A little sod, water...
Lots of things are possible. Tesla built an earthquake-making machine, for example. (He destroyed it after scaring himself to bits.)
We have nuclear weapons. So, we can visit some very loud, windy and hot "weather" to a locality at the push of a button.
We can seed clouds, but we can't predict where the rain will fall.
Personally, I'd like to see a project to turn the Sahara Desert back into grasslands. A little sod, water...
May 22
Brooklyn Reader commented on Morning News: No Fluoride in Portland, a Beatboxing Goat, and the Waffle House Disaster Index.
Regarding the agent killing the suspect, doesn't it seem like we're reading about a lot more law-enforcement shoot-to-kills than we used to? Whatever happened to intentionally trying to only wound a suspect enough to disarm and capture him?
I worry that there's been a change of culture in law enforcement to where, if it's potentially justified, to just go ahead and finish the job so you avoid having a witness against you in a civil tort case afterwards. Do we need to shield officers & agents from personal civil liability in injury cases so they don't feel the impetus to shoot a suspect to death rather than disarm/capture him?
The financial impact of a life-long crippling injury can be much larger than a wrongful death suit. I fear that's what's playing into this.
I worry that there's been a change of culture in law enforcement to where, if it's potentially justified, to just go ahead and finish the job so you avoid having a witness against you in a civil tort case afterwards. Do we need to shield officers & agents from personal civil liability in injury cases so they don't feel the impetus to shoot a suspect to death rather than disarm/capture him?
The financial impact of a life-long crippling injury can be much larger than a wrongful death suit. I fear that's what's playing into this.
May 22
Brooklyn Reader commented on Tornado Truthers.
@22 Until you offer some evidence, yes.
Plus, you're giving succor and support to some really frothy conspiracy theorists.
Plus, you're giving succor and support to some really frothy conspiracy theorists.
May 22
Brooklyn Reader commented on Tornado Truthers.
@9 I'm not saying you're a total idiot -- after all, you've figured out how to work a keyboard.
But, how come we can barely predict the stuff if we're so good at controlling it? How come we can't make droughts stop, or prevent blizzards from paralyzing our major (liberal! UN-loving! antichrist!) Eastern cities? Why did we let Superstorm Sandy wreck the homes of millionaires and billionaires (not to mention the many thousands of people who work for them) and put major Wall Street companies out of their offices for weeks?
If you believe in God, then surely you must believe that He is more powerful than Man? And, if you don't believe in God, how can you believe in a bunch of half-assed, illogical, unscientific conspiracy theories?
Faith or science, pick one (or an intelligent mix of both), but please leave the outright idiocy alone.
But, how come we can barely predict the stuff if we're so good at controlling it? How come we can't make droughts stop, or prevent blizzards from paralyzing our major (liberal! UN-loving! antichrist!) Eastern cities? Why did we let Superstorm Sandy wreck the homes of millionaires and billionaires (not to mention the many thousands of people who work for them) and put major Wall Street companies out of their offices for weeks?
If you believe in God, then surely you must believe that He is more powerful than Man? And, if you don't believe in God, how can you believe in a bunch of half-assed, illogical, unscientific conspiracy theories?
Faith or science, pick one (or an intelligent mix of both), but please leave the outright idiocy alone.
May 21
Brooklyn Reader commented on Well-Regulated Beaverton Militia Accidentally Fires Shot into Neighbor's Bedroom.
@38 Stop? A moving car? Approaching you? Yeah, sure. If you could apply enough energy to stop its forward momentum. With an Exocet missile, maybe. But, you'd have to fire it from so far away you couldn't tell if the car was a danger to you. So, no.
May 21
Brooklyn Reader commented on Rightwing Anti-Gay French Activist Commits Suicide at Notre Dame Cathedral.
@72 Yes, but what's the explanation for why he desecrated one of the largest symbolic edifices of his own Church in his whole country? As our friend "very bad homo" points out @53, if he was a proper penitent he should have done this shit at home, like a normal person.
May 21
Brooklyn Reader commented on Well-Regulated Beaverton Militia Accidentally Fires Shot into Neighbor's Bedroom.
@27 That's a very interesting comment you posted right there.
So, you need massive amounts of training to be 99.999% safe with your guns. Anyone with less shouldn't be allowed near a gun, right?
Sounds to me like most people shouldn't be allowed to own guns, then. Also, from anecdotal evidence culled from the news, it seems an awful lot of peace officers either aren't properly trained, or achieving 99.999% safety is an impossible goal. NYPD officers are considered very well trained. There's only 40,000 of them. A 1 in 100,000 adverse incident level would result in one accident every 2.5 years. Yet, there are at least a handful every year.
Here's a simple truth. Guns are a tool. They're a tool for firing bullets. That's all they do. They don't stop bullets fired from other guns. If you want a tool to do that, there is a different tool, or set of tools. That's called ballistic armor. You can get vests, helmets, shields and even leggings. It's heavy, hot, and expensive, and not at all practical to wear 24-7.
So, if guns can shoot people, but can't stop people from getting shot, there is only one logical conclusion. But, for one reason or another unrelated to logic, you would refuse to draw it.
More...
So, you need massive amounts of training to be 99.999% safe with your guns. Anyone with less shouldn't be allowed near a gun, right?
Sounds to me like most people shouldn't be allowed to own guns, then. Also, from anecdotal evidence culled from the news, it seems an awful lot of peace officers either aren't properly trained, or achieving 99.999% safety is an impossible goal. NYPD officers are considered very well trained. There's only 40,000 of them. A 1 in 100,000 adverse incident level would result in one accident every 2.5 years. Yet, there are at least a handful every year.
Here's a simple truth. Guns are a tool. They're a tool for firing bullets. That's all they do. They don't stop bullets fired from other guns. If you want a tool to do that, there is a different tool, or set of tools. That's called ballistic armor. You can get vests, helmets, shields and even leggings. It's heavy, hot, and expensive, and not at all practical to wear 24-7.
So, if guns can shoot people, but can't stop people from getting shot, there is only one logical conclusion. But, for one reason or another unrelated to logic, you would refuse to draw it.
May 21
Brooklyn Reader commented on Senate Democrats Fuck Over Bi-National Gay Couples....
This is so fucking depressing. It's depressing on at least two fronts.
Firstly, the issue of marriage rights, but let's reluctantly set that aside for a second...
The real issue here is the Democrats letting themselves get outmaneuvered time and again with one bluff or feint or another by the Republicans. Regardless of the issue, whether it's budget or debt limit, or immigration, or whatever, the Dems keep bending over backwards and yet still keep getting fucked. Can't they learn? Don't they have a strategist?
There was a joke when W. was President, that he was trying to play checkers while the world leaders he was dealing with were actually playing chess. The Dems have become the W. in that joke. Despite being outnumbered, the Republicans have secured at least a stalemate and are still playing to win
Firstly, the issue of marriage rights, but let's reluctantly set that aside for a second...
The real issue here is the Democrats letting themselves get outmaneuvered time and again with one bluff or feint or another by the Republicans. Regardless of the issue, whether it's budget or debt limit, or immigration, or whatever, the Dems keep bending over backwards and yet still keep getting fucked. Can't they learn? Don't they have a strategist?
There was a joke when W. was President, that he was trying to play checkers while the world leaders he was dealing with were actually playing chess. The Dems have become the W. in that joke. Despite being outnumbered, the Republicans have secured at least a stalemate and are still playing to win
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