"With that said, these op-eds bemoaning partisanship, clutching pearls at the radicalism of Rick Santorum, and praying for candidacy in the mold of Mike Bloomberg always seem a little too close to home. Is it a mistake that they tend to reflect the political biases of a news media that is as freaked out by radical pro-lifers as it is by radical anti-war protesters? I allow that that is a subjective observation, it's mostly based on my 15 years in media. But the person Keller describes sounds suspiciously familiar to me. I've usually referred to him (or her) as "my editor." "

"Pseudoephedrine, active ingredient of Sudafed®, has long been the most popular nasal decongestant in the United States due to its effectiveness and relatively mild side effects [1]. In recent years it has become increasingly difficult to obtain psuedoephedine in many states because of its use as a precursor for the illegal drug N-methylamphetamine (also known under various names including crystal meth, meth, ice, etc.)[1,2]. While in the past many stores were able to sell pseudoephedrine, new laws in the United States have restricted sales to pharmacies, with the medicine kept behind the counter. The pharmacies require signatures and examination of government issued ID in order to purchase pseudoephedrine. Because the hours of availability of such pharmacies are often limited, it would be of great interest to have a simple synthesis of pseudoephedrine from reagents which can be more readily procured.
"A quick search of several neighborhoods of the United States revealed that while pseudoephedrine is difficult to obtain, N -methylamphetamine can be procured at almost anytime on short notice and in quantities sufficient for synthesisof useful amounts of the desired material. Moreover, according to government maintained statistics, N-methylmphetamine is becoming an increasingly attractive starting material for pseudoephedrine, as the availability of N-methylmphetamine has remained high while prices have dropped and purity has increased [2]. We present here a convenient series of transformations using reagents which can be found in most well stocked organic chemistry laboratories to produce psuedoephedrine from N -methylamphetamine."

Other people may not take the same malicious glee in this that I do.

"Aaaaaaand that’s then I want to start pressing the “It’s time for the goddamned revolution” button. By the time we get to the breakdowns of the monthly expenses of the seven 1% households profiled for the article, which features line items like $800 a month on wine and $1200 for the vacation house on the lake, I’m vaguely surprised Toronto isn’t on fire. The only people I feel any sort of commonality with are the immigrant family, who pack their own lunches for work and aside from the hair salon line item seem to have some perspective on their cash. The retired couple who invested well and are living off the proceeds also gets a pass, because, hey, that’s the goal, right? Otherwise: Purification by flame."

"The Motion Picture Association of America, chief sponsor and financier of SOPA and PIPA, addresses Wikipedia, Reddit, and other major sites going dark tomorrow, accusing them of “abuse of power.” “It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.” In related news, the mutilated body of Irony was found washed up against a pier in the East River. She was pronounced dead at the scene."

"mmcrivin: I think our world is closer to being a cyberpunk dystopia than to most old SF visions of the future. Japan isn't a global hegemon and states haven't withered away. But the combination of massive inequality, cheap electronic tech, and a ubiquitous Internet perpetually clotted with the activities of penny-ante scammers and crooks feels very cyberpunky to me.
scifantasy : That sort of depends what you think of as cyberpunk. Which underlies the whole debate, really.
mmcirvin : I suppose. Still, the fact that we're having this conversation on a post-Soviet forum periodically brought down by politically motivated distributed-denial-of-service attacks by botnets of hacker-controlled PCs with possible shadowy connections to elements in the Russian government, and the paroxysms are visually represented by a picture of a goggle-eyed goat chewing on a bundle of shredded wires? Totally cyberpunk."

"Smithfield, England (London Gazette, 1381) - Leaders of the so-called "Occupy London" movement have announced a meeting tomorrow with the King to discuss and air greviances relating to feudal abuses amongst the top 1% of the gentry. ... "

(checks table) Yep, this applies.

"The 'H' obviously stands for 'Hussein'."

Y'all can stop sending this to me now.

""If you had to do it all over again what would you do different?" says me.
"Nothing!" says Giblets. "Giblets has no regrets!"
"I think I'd travel more or go back to art school or maybe not drive the car off that cliff back when you said 'Hey Fafnir let's drive this car off that cliff'," says me.
"Oh, so we're back to this again!" says Giblets. "That was like, eight whole seconds ago. Let it go already! You're livin in the past!""

This. This EXACTLY. ("Internet FOREVER!")

"But knowing their hypocrisy, he said unto them, "Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a dime and let me see it."

And they brought one. Then he said to them, "Whose head is this -- FDR's or Herbert Hoover's?"

They answered, "Roosevelt's."

And he said unto them, "Right. So shut up. Have you morons already forgotten the 20th Century? When the choice is between imitating what worked and what really, really didn't work, why are you pretending it's terribly complicated?"

And after that, no one dared to ask him any question."

The story of my life.

Exit, voice, loyalty, and social-network lock-in: "Facebook is like a beloved national homeland poisoned by a corrupt and unyielding government. As in real life, a few people like Dan will respond to such a situation by ritual suicide. Others will choose to exercise voice and or soldier on with resigned loyalty to life under the boot. But in real life, a significant number of people choose to defect, to flee. That’s different from just “deleting” yourself. And to do that, you have to have somewhere to go. Plenty of us would choose such an exile from the dictatorship of Facebook were there a welcoming neighbor nearby to which we could escape with our friends and families..."

"Seeing red leads men to view women as more attractive and more desirable despite them not being aware of any change in their perceptions. A delightful study from last year that, as the authors note, has 'clear practical implications'!"

"You're a better listener now."

"I hereby deny, abjure, and repent my previous allegiance to the gospel of "Greenspanism." I reject Greenspan, and all his works, and all his empty promises.

I will strive now to walk in the light."

"That might be your belief system someday"

While the humor is somewhat dated (see, e.g., the end), the idea is in fact entirely sound.

Surely the most likely explanation is that most of the people being surveyed have _no idea at all_ of what the word "socialism" means. Nonetheless I do love this comment from Scott Martens: "You have to see the irony in the Reagan-Goldwaterite school of conservativism being responsible for the ultimate victory of the Second International. All we need now is to put a statue of Oskar Lange in the lobby of the Federal Reserve."

I need some of these for my office.

This is how English and string theory got so weird.

Those who have ears, let them hear.

I simply can't _imagine_ why anyone would send me this cartoon.