V'Ger

Voyager 1 has been one of the unmitigated success stories in man's exploration.  Has Voyager finally left the solar system, taking it's "copper plated record" message of good will for all universe kind?

The jury is out, but one thing is certain, whether or not Voyager makes it to far flung stars countless years from now, NO ONE HAS RECORD PLAYERS!!!

Sail on V'ger.  Sail on.

Farm Bill

The US is again reviewing the farm bill.  Here's an interesting comment on the united opposition to it.  I'll let the Guardian author express the absurdity but, this is all you need to know...

"Another congressman, Douglas LaMalfa of California, has received $5.1m in farm subsidies since 1995. Yet, both congressmen voted against food stamps for people struggling to live on $4.50 a day for food." (guardian).

Well, I'm sure there's much more to know, but it raises interesting conflict of interest questions.

Read on news hounds.

Trust Us. We care.

The NSA announced today that it's historical invasion of our privacy has not been for naught.   These efforts have led to the defeat of 50 terrorist events world wide.

Here are some of the highlights
1) Interrupted a terrorist cell's pizza order.
2) Prank called Al Jazeera and asked if their coke machine was running.  Good fun.
(yes, we know Al Jazeera is a news organization.  NSA does what they want).
3) Listened in on your call to your girlfriend.  (Can we edit that one out?)
4) Added your blog posts to a "file" in the "cloud" about you.
5) This gets potentially less funny.

Technically this shouldn't be news to anyone.  Revelations about this date back years.
Somehow that's not more comforting.

'Merica, Waffle Style

Interesting article in the Guardian.

So let me get this straight:

(c) MorrisonLukeSmith

FEMA grades our disaster recovery by the number of Waffle Houses open after a natural disaster?  Not water quality, not restored Electrical Power, but whether or not my hashbrowns are available scattered, smothered and covered. 

House saves money on Ag bill... cuts food for poor?

At least we're not at the bread and circuses point!
House votes to cut SNAP (food stamps) by 3%, discussed HERE.

Several Republicans talked about their Christianity and said the Bible encourages people to help each other but doesn't dictate what the federal government should do. "We should be doing this as individuals, helping the poor," said Representative Doug LaMalfa, a Republican from California.

Yes we should do this as individuals.  I'm trying to find out if we do, to any real level of effectiveness.  Cutting SNAP by 3%.  What does this mean? Are we starving people? Are we just making them hungry?  I don't know.  Discuss.

The house also voted to extend/increase farm subsidies.

"Let's give certainty to an industry that has been a bright spot in an otherwise dismal economy," he (Frank Lucas (R), OK) said as he opened the committee meeting.

I don't know if affected people are going to fall asleep in my class tomorrow because they didn't have breakfast.  I do know they have a lousy lobbyist.

(c) Morrison Luke Smith

Awwwwww Newt...

It is connected to the world of communication... with out tubes.

Like the horseless carriage, it needs a better name.

It has a WORLD of opportunity.

The first use of this was in 1973.  He got his first one of these in 2012.  (I made the 2012 part up.  That was my dad that did that.  OK, I'm even exaggerating that). (Note that I tell no actual lies here.  But I'm constantly having to back track to be accurate).

Newt Gingrinch (sic) on the miracle of "wicky-pedia" and the misleading misnomer of his handheld computer, or "smart phone" .

In honor of that, here I am with my camera phone.

Morrison Luke Smith

This week in Crime!!!

$45 million stolen from ATM's?  That's the news from the BBC today, where we see that arrests have been made in an ongoing rash of cyber-crime, seen HERE.  Earlier this year, A credit ring stole $210 million, as reported HERE!  In more dramatic crime news, they caught the jewel thieves who stole $51 million in diamonds in a daring heist, reports the Atlantic Wire today.

Just as amazing as the scope and daring of these crimes is how quickly they were solved.  

 Crime truly doesn't pay.  I suspect that there's a reason for this.  For example, there is a student in my class who told me that his life goal is to form a team, perhaps in montage, and then perform heists.  I suspect that the urge to form teams, in a montage, and then perform heists, and then brag about it, is the down fall of the criminals.

MorrisonLukeSmith

Cyber War.

Normally I would say that it doesn't make much sense for the US' Largest single creditor 2nd Largest Creditor (It's actually our own federal reserve!) to plot nefarious schemes against us, but it appears that China is ramping up the Cyber Terrorism Threat, as seen HERE, in the Guardian.

It's either Crazy, in the same vein as weaponizing bird flu (oh, wait they are doing that?) or Crazy, in the metaphorical menacing bill collector manner: pay up or get beat up.

(c)MorrisonLukeSmith

North Korean Krazy

In a post on BBC linked HERE, a US citizen was sentenced to 15 years for some kind of spying "crap."  I use such random terms, because, well, it's North Korea.  This is step 18 in their ongoing plan to get some food on the table.  If your not up on their methods, hit me up in the comments and I'll build a blogpost showing their history of...

1) Spend all the State's resources on a massive, 50's level of military technology. Note this picture.

"Give me a quarter"

a) Assembled from a filing cabinet
b) A mouse from a stolen computer
c) Connected to "interwebs" with a phone cable
d) Obvious "ooh-ah" response from the peeps.







2) Get really hungry when the weather isn't perfect (ex: massive famines of 90s)
3) Threaten to blow up Seoul / Make nuclear weapon (singular intentional) / Threaten to launch missile (sic)
4) Get fed.

I link HERE to an earlier post... This latest personal abuse just ups the ante. They've done it before, They'll do it again.  Now we have to send in an unofficial ambassador, like Bill Clinton, or this legend.

I'll feed you

Yours, Morrison Luke Smith

Korean Tensions Relax.

Tensions seem to have cooled with North Korea.  Has Un retreated to the misty mountains from which his father sprung?  China told them to cool it?  The article notes that it's "planting season." I assume it's because of his upcoming plans to build a miniature world, that he can then smash But The Un-Zilla is a conundrum, wrapped in an enigma, with a chewy riddle coating.  (Mini sized, of course).

My suspicion is that DC/Beijing have reached out and stuck a pacifier in them quietly and said, yes, we will send you food in a few months, if you just SHUT UP now so it doesn't look like quid pro quo.

And if you DON'T, China will not let you work in our factories, and all those bags of food you that say "USA"?   The ones you tell your people are tribute?

Yeah those.  I hope they are edible.

Song of the South

A Confederate Wooden Helicopter.
Where do I begin.

Look Away, Look Away, Look Away. Dixieland.

Food Stamps and the Hungry.

How rich is the land of opportunity?  It varies.  Slate has an interesting interactive tool to find out just how poor your county is in terms of food stamp usage. Link is here. It's pretty interesting.

And it's increasing.  Pick your party to blame, but the fact is that people are still hungry. 

It raises the usual can of worms for American values of personal responsibility, but also our desire as people to care for the less fortunate.  It's issues like this that are the crux of the national debate about taxing and spending.  No one wants to care for the lazy poor.  But what about when the poor are our families, our neighbors.  Experience sometimes changes views. 




Morrison Luke Smith