On As Goes Wisconsin, So Goes Hell
@Juneau Solomon So, Walker and the Republicans passed Act 10 in spite of "the public being against it"? Fine, then the voters need to be reminded of that fact EVERY DAY between now and whenever those reps are up for re-election. And, assuming those voters care enough about this to be ticked off at their reps for doing so, they'll lose their seats.
However, it's not an "illegitimate attempt to extend their mandate for political gain" if the legally elected representatives of a legislature passed laws that they wrote (or had written for them). Misguided? Yes. Misleading to their constituents? Perhaps. But "illegitimate"? "Power grab"?
I'm very happy that the protests in Madison catalyzed resistance to anti-labor laws in other states. That's wonderful. And I'm glad that the recall movement is proceeding apace. I'll check back in with Wisconsin in a few years and see what's happening.
But right now, I have to pay attention closer to home - we have enough problems here in New Jersey.
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On As Goes Wisconsin, So Goes Hell
@Juneau Solomon Do I have a strategy? Ok, here's one:
1) You need to show people in "red" districts why they are working against their own self-interest in many cases, right? So show them. Go door-to-door. Go and talk to people (not just some echo-chamber-type group in Madison or wherever). Spread out throughout the state, and find out why people don't support you. Find out points of commonality between what you want and what they want, and emphasize them. Work for them, WITH those people.
2) If you're going to have mass protests, fine, but understand that many people will simply view it as "one more damn hippy protest" and immediately shut off. See Abe's comments above - if you stand there and draw an equivalence between Walker and Hitler, for pete's sake, you're going to look stupid. And in this 100% on, media-saturated world we live in, EVERYTHING said, written, yelled, or held up on a sign during a protest that is stupid or outlandish or incendiary is going to be spun to work against you. You need to be better people than your opponents, which is really hard.
3) "Just let Walker do what he wants with impunity?" If I remember right, Wisconsin has a legislature, doesn't it? And they make and pass laws? See my point #1 above. You are going to have to do hard work, district by district, person by person, to change minds and beliefs.
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On As Goes Wisconsin, So Goes Hell
@Ashetalia Staatz@facebook You know, I grew up in Janesville, and have always been proud to have been from Wisconsin. But as I see the state turning into a three-ring circus of stupidity, bad politics, and ridiculousness from all sides, I die a little inside.
And so, my question to you is: what are you doing? How is it changing things? Are you changing minds with your actions? People starting to move in your direction? Because, see, here's the funny thing about politics - it's in the end all about opinions. And from my perspective, the protests and screaming have done f**k all to change anyone's mind about anything. I read Abe's piece as a long cry of despair of someone who desperately wants things in Wisconsin to change - for it to be the progressive state it once was (100 years ago, and let's not forget Sen. McCarthy in between) - and who is frustrated beyond belief at the ineffectiveness, the lack of strategy and tactics, the sheer dumbness of some of the responses by some of the players involved.
You go, Abe. I feel you.
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On The 1% Fires Back! "I Am a Fat Cat, I’m Not Ashamed"!
I know I'm coming late to this, but...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8wQAGDuSRA
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On Are You Good Or Bad?
@My Number Is My Address I don't even know if I exist, so I'm one up on you. Descartes was a )(@#%*&.
Actually, I've now got my answer to the whole "what if we're living in the Matrix" question! What computer would bother programming all of the jerks and morons and fools that exist in the world? Why the stress? Why wouldn't it be puppies and snowflakes and rainbows?
Unless Balk was the original programmer, I suppose.
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On Higgs and the Certainty of Physicists
As a former astrophysicist (never got to be in the CERN tunnels, alas, just the occasional clean room where instruments about to be blasted into space hung out), I second (and third, and...) the applause for this piece. The conversations described are just as I remember experiencing things back in the day. If you couldn't talk about the sigma on your experimental result, you had nothing to say. What was even better was talking about (or, rather, hearing people talking about) the different probability distributions - Gaussian, Poisson, Voigt - actually, never mind. It wasn't better.
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On Bacon, Cream And Other Secrets Of Enjoying Late Fall Vegetables
@Ron Mwangaguhunga Much love to mustard greens. And collards, and kale, and....dunno about turnip greens ("dunno" out of ignorance, not out of having tried them), but by the transitive property of veggie love, should go there too. (Transitive property: If a = b, and b = c, then a = c. Apply as you wish to veggie love.)
Now just wish I could get the wife to love kale too. I have a recipe for a pineapple and peanut and kale "stew" that is unbelievable. But I can't make it because I'm the only one who will eat it
:(
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On Bacon, Cream And Other Secrets Of Enjoying Late Fall Vegetables
@Megapol Tchotchke Brussels Sprouts a la Jason:
Take 1 or more lb Brussels sprouts, rinse, trim, cut in half. (or quarters if big 'uns)
Toss them with olive oil, kosher salt, a little brown sugar (1-2 Tablespoons at most), pepper, maybe a bit of garlic or onion powder if you swing that way, and about 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika (adds a bit more of the "bacony"/"smoky" punch).
Put in a baking dish - cover with foil - roast at 400 for 30 min - take foil off - roast a little bit more to get a little browning action going. Heaven, absolute heaven. My 6-year old loves these...
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On Why Can't Dudes Have Sex in the Popular Movies?
@pen4attenm We amusement account advance agreeably. Bananas by bullpucky we bear. Can cheetahs commingle cunningly?
(ducks)
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On Another String On Robert Fripp's Guitar Of Life
@RLS Wait, what? Is Valentine's day in August in the Southern Hemisphere or something?