Clipmarks | strider72's clips

Free gasoline!...?

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:01:51 GMT

clipped by: strider72
clipper's remarks: The best way to fix the health care industry is to get government the heck out of the way!

Clip Source: www.townhall.com

If we ran car insurance the way we run health insurance, we'd expect the insurance company to pay for gas. But in order to do so, when we were running low we'd have to make an appointment with a qualified automobile generalist who would verify that we needed fuel, refer us to a fueling specialist who would order a dozen tests to make sure our guages were working correctly and that we did, indeed, need fuel, we would be given an appointment for the type and amount of fuel we needed

There would, of course, be whole bureacracies devoted to making sure our fueling records were secure and not available to public scrutiny. In the meantime, weeks after we had run out of fuel we would be given a prescription for fuel, with a limited number of refills. We would be told at which station we could refill (it would have to be in our plan), the type of fuel and the amount we could get at any one time.

it would be free.

the true cost would be in the neighborhood of $20/gallon.

Drew Carey on the plight of the middle class

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:48:35 GMT

clipped by: strider72

Clip Source: sayanythingblog.com

It's taxes, stupid!

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:40:21 GMT

clipped by: strider72
clipper's remarks: You can go with class envy, or you can go with what, historically, has worked every time.

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

For 52 consecutive months--since August 2003, the year of the Bush tax cuts--America's economy and employment has been growing: 8.3 million new jobs have been created, the country's Gross Domestic Product is up 27%, and the tax cuts have increased federal revenue by $785 billion, the largest four year increase in U.S. history. All of which teaches us--once again--that lower tax rates mean higher economic growth.

the Republican candidates support keeping the lower tax rates, although Mr. McCain had opposed both the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts at the time.

All three Democratic candidates promise to raise taxes.

It's always the most subtle of clues....

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 02:17:51 GMT

clipped by: strider72

Clip Source: www.thisistrue.com

Sometimes newspaper editors do their work mechanically, not paying any attention whatever to what they're printing -- even on the front page.

The Lewiston Tribune newspaper in Lewiston, Idaho, ran two large photos on its front page several days before Christmas. One showed a sign painter putting the finishing touches on a store window. The other was a still image from a convenience store's security camera showing an "unknown man" reaching for a wallet which was sitting on the store's counter. The wallet, bulging with $600 in cash, belonged to a 19-year-old woman who had just cashed her paycheck to go Christmas shopping.

As the paper rolled off the press, a Tribune employee noticed the men in the two photos looked a lot alike, and were wearing the same clothes. The employee called the police. The sign painter, Michael Millhouse, 43, admitted taking the wallet and was charged with theft. "I always liked the Grinch," Millhouse said. "I guess I am one."

The blindness of the music industry

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:08:29 GMT

clipped by: strider72
clipper's remarks: He thinks that his customers have too much sympathy for his customers???? Does he think we should be more sympathetic to _him_ instead? He would love nothing more than to charge you every time you listen toa song -- and is surprised that "the little people" are, literally, not buying it.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

Universal's CEO Once Called iPod Users Thieves. Now He's Giving Songs Away.

Doug Morris, chair and CEO of Universal Music Group

digital strategies are important these days, and Morris has become entangled in them whether he wants to be or not. Over the past several years, he has been one of the most staunch and vocal proponents of aggressive copyright enforcement

After years of tightening controls on his company's content, he agreed to let Amazon.com and other online retailers sell unprotected MP3s of Universal songs. These contain none of the digital rights management software

it hoped to end Apple's near monopoly on legal digital downloads.

This year, 22 percent of all music sold in the US will move through iTunes.

if he decides to base his plans around DRM, Morris will be missing the larger truth that has propelled his business for the past 30 years. Ultimately, it's convenience and ease of use that drive new media formats.

The problem, he says, is that "there's sympathy for the consumer

Tags: riaa, drm, music, ipods, apple, technology

Arctic Ice Cubes

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 05:37:00 GMT

clipped by: strider72
clipper's remarks: Will somebody please notify Al Gore?

Clip Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com

Melting of the Arctic ice cap does not contribute to sea level rise. Floating ice, like that around the North Pole, already displaces water, like ice cubes in a glass of tea. When the ice melts, sea level remains unchanged, though salinity can be altered. The major sea level rise associated with global warming would come if the massive ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica melt and flow into the oceans.

Tags: global warming, nature, science, politics

That's Devotion!

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:53:10 GMT

clipped by: strider72
clipper's remarks: Show me a CAT who would do this.

Clip Source: greyfriarsbobby.co.uk

In 1858, a man named John Gray was buried in old Greyfriars Churchyard. His grave levelled by the hand of time, and unmarked by any stone, became scarcely discernible; but, although no human interest seemed to attach to it.

The sacred spot was not wholly disregarded or forgotten. For fourteen years the dead man's faithful dog kept constant watch and guard over the grave until his own death in 1872.

The famous Skye Terrier, Greyfriars Bobby was so devoted to his master John Gray, even in death, for fourteen years Bobby lay on the grave only leaving for food.

It is reported that a daily occurance of people from all walks of life would stand at the entrance of the Kirkyard waiting for the one o'clock gun and the appearance of Bobby leaving the grave for his midday meal.

Tags: dogs, loyalty, devotion, love

Why I get along with engineers

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 04:12:49 GMT

clipped by: strider72
clipper's remarks: I'm more on the "computer logic" end of things, but I totally understand this mindset. I think the greatest form of wisdom is being aware of what you _don't_ know.

Clip Source: www.haloscan.com

My best friend is a lawyer, bright, gifted, ... PhD in law; bored with his job, he decided to study engineering. After his first quarter, he came to me and said that the two "C"s he'd achieved in Engineering Calculus 101 and Engineering Physics 101 were the first two non-A grades he'd ever gotten in college, and that he had had to study harder for them than for any other dozen classes he'd had. "I now understand", he said, "why engineers and their like are so hard to examine, whether on the stand or in a deposition. When they say a thing is possible, they KNOW it is possible, and when they say a thing is not possible, they KNOW it is not. Most people don't understand know in that way; what they know is what we can persuade them to believe. You engineers live in the same world as the rest of us, but you understand that world in a way we never will."

Tags: logic, engineering

Fun with Money

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 15:36:31 GMT

clipped by: strider72
clipper's remarks: Geeks with a sense of humor are the greatest.

Clip Source: www.futilitycloset.com

As a prank, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak sometimes buys uncut sheets of $2 bills from the U.S. Treasury and has them bound into booklets. Then, when buying small items, he'll pull out a booklet and cut off a few bills with scissors.

This is perfectly legal, but it's caused at least one alarmed inquiry by the Secret Service.

Tags: funny, money, pranks

The Pink Pa... err... Dolphin???

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 22:04:10 GMT

clipped by: strider72
clipper's remarks: Very cool.

Clip Source: news.softpedia.com

A Rare Pink Albino Dolphin

Tags: nature, mutation, albino, freaks

One Big Pig!

Wed, 30 May 2007 05:19:47 GMT

clipped by: strider72

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

Alabama Boy Kills 1,051-Pound Monster Pig, Bigger Than 'Hogzilla'

An 11-year-old Alabama boy used a pistol to kill a wild hog that just may be the biggest pig ever found.

Jamison Stone's father says the hog his son killed weighed a 1,051 pounds and measured 9-feet-4 from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail. Think hams as big as car tires.

After seeing the pig in person, taxidermist Jerry Cunningham told The Anniston Star it was "the biggest thing I'd ever seen ... it's huge."

Tags: weird

New Improved-ier Immigration Bill

Tue, 22 May 2007 16:02:38 GMT

clipped by: strider72

Clip Source: www.lileks.com

Undocumented Xenonationals

will have to report to a government office to announce they are departing. This is the HIMBG Provision, or the “Hello, I Must Be Going” provision. Immigrants will have to return to the Mexican border, put their left foot in, put their left foot out, put their left foot in and shake it all about. (Language requiring that the applicant then “do the hokey pokey was removed over an inability to define the exact nature of said action.) The immigrant is then required to return to the place where he announced he was leaving, present a notarized photograph of himself sticking a portion of his body into Mexican airspace; at that point, he will be eligible to receive a “Q” visa, which enables him to start the process towards a "Z" visa, which estabishes a legal framework towards a “path towards citizenship,” although applicants who have paid 67% of their adjusted tax burden over the last 14 years, minus inflation, will be put on a “jogging path” towards citizenship.

Tags: politics, humor

Ted Kennedy on Illegal Immegration

Tue, 22 May 2007 04:31:39 GMT

clipped by: strider72
clipper's remarks: "This time I really mean it now this time!"

Clip Source: corner.nationalreview.com

Ted Kennedy on Immigration

1965: "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs."

1986: "This amnesty will give citizenship to only 1.1 to 1.3 million illegal aliens. We will secure the borders henceforth. We will never again bring forward another amnesty bill like this."

2007: "Now it is time for action. 2007 is the year we must fix our broken system."

Tags: politics, illegal immigration

Does the World Really Hate America?

Thu, 10 May 2007 04:05:12 GMT

clipped by: strider72

Clip Source: www.humanevents.com

It looks like the Democrats are going to have to drop their talking point about Bush irritating the rest of the world. Evidently not as much as Muslim terrorists irritate the rest of the world. The politicians who hate Bush keep being dumped by their own voters.

With Nicolas Sarkozy's decisive victory as the new president of France, the French have produced their first pro-American ruler since Louis XVI.

In Germany, pro-American Angela Merkel crushed the mincing anti-American chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in 2005.

Last year, conservatives swept Canada, making Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper the prime minister.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard is both the longest-serving Australian prime minister and -- by his own account -- the most conservative.

Along with Howard, Bush's staunchest ally in the war on terrorism has been Britain's Labor Party leader Tony Blair. He's about to leave office -- only to be replaced by a leader from the even more pro-American Conservative Party.

Tags: politics, war on terror

"Tastes like flies..."

Tue, 08 May 2007 22:16:29 GMT

clipped by: strider72
clipper's remarks: That thing looks as though it could bench press the bird!

Clip Source: althouse.blogspot.com

Tags: photos, animals, weird