Paul Krugman: The Spite Club (NY Times)
When you look closer at why some Republican-led states are choosing to opt out of a piece of ObamaCare, it seems the only explanation for it is sheer spite.
Paul Krugman: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Right (NY Times)
Overall, it's hard to think of any previous episode in in the history of economic thought in which we had as thorough a showdown between opposing views, and as thorough a collapse, practical and intellectual, of one side of the argument.
Paul Krugman: Bad Faith and Civility, Health Care Edition (NY Times)
If someone says the sky is green, you prove that it's actually blue, and the next day he comes back once again insisting that the sky is green, and this happens repeatedly, you eventually have to acknowledge that mannerly debate about the color of the sky just isn't enough; you have to go meta, and talk about the fact that this guy and his friends just aren't in the business of honest discussion.
Lucy Mangan: "My Naughty Little Sister by Dorothy Edwards" (Guardian)
Sibling rivalry is a many splendoured thing. I had one friend who crept into her baby brother's bedroom every night after her parents had gone to bed and quietly opened his window as far as she could, in the hope that burglars would come and steal him in the night. Another tells me that she once covered her sister's favourite toy in an inch-thick layer of Vaseline. "I told her I'd waterproofed it for her but really it was just to stop her being able to hug him," she says 20 years later, still with disconcerting glee in her voice.
The Hampster Dance or Hampsterdance is one of the earliest examples of an Internet meme. Created by Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte for a Geocities page, the dance features rows of animated hamsters and other rodents dancing in various ways to a sped-up sample from the song "Whistle Stop" by Roger Miller.
Source
Alan J was first, and correct, with:
Hampster Dance
Jim from CA, retired to ID, wrote:
Hampster Dance
Adam answered:
The Hamsterdance Song
Sally said:
One of the earliest examples of an Internet meme sampled "Whistle Stop" by Roger Miller. In 2005, CNET named it the #1 web fad. It was called, the Hamster Dance.
WTF?
Me, dance?
No way Jose!!
PS: I read with sadness the passing of old time movie star (in every sense of the word) Esther Williams. As a kid growing up on the beaches of Long Island AWA the huge pool at Jones Beach, I devoured every movie and 'Star/Fan Magazine' article about her. "Aqua Shows," featuring girls swimming in form at the pool, were all the rage; every girl wanted to be Esther Williams back then. She was SO glamorous in and out of the water, a real role model. Those were indeed, the good old days for me! RIP Ms Williams, your star will still shine into eternity...
Charlie responded:
"The Hampster Dance"
I can't resist pointing to some sources critical of Dawkins' notion of a "meme."
See, for example, here:
As defined by Dawkins and expanded upon by others, a "meme" is an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture. It is proposed as being able to be transmitted through writing, speech, gestures or rituals. Dawkins specifically called melodies, catch-phrases, fashion and the technology of building arches as examples of memes. A meme is postulated as a cultural analogue to genes in that they are assumed to be able to self-replicate, mutate or respond to selective pressures. Thus, as proposed, memes may evolve by natural selection in a manner analogous to that of biological evolution.
However, unlike a gene, a structure corresponding to a "meme" has never been discovered or observed. There is no evidence for it as a unit of replication, or indeed as any kind of coherent unit at all. In its sloppy use, it is hard to see how "meme" differs in its scope from concepts, ideas or any form of cultural information or transmission, yet it is imbued with properties analogous to animate evolution for which there is not a shred of empirical evidence.
One might say, so what, the idea of a "meme" is merely a metaphor, what is the harm? Well, the harm comes about when it is taken seriously as a means of explaining human behavior and cultural changes, a field of study called memetics. It becomes a pseudo-scientific term that sets a boundary condition for understanding the nature of information and what makes it adaptive or not [3]. Mechanisms and structures appropriate to animate life are not universal information structures, they are simply the structures that have evolved in the organic realm. In the human realm of signs and symbols and digital information and media, information is the universal, not the genetic structure of organic evolution.
The noted evolutionary geneticist, R.C. Lewontin, one of my key influences as a student, has also been harshly critical of the idea of memetics [4]:
"The selectionist paradigm requires the reduction of society and culture to inheritance systems that consist of randomly varying, individual units, some of which are selected, and some not; and with society and culture thus reduced to inheritance systems, history can be reduced to 'evolution.' . . . we conclude that while historical phenomena can always be modeled selectionistically, selectionist explanations do not work, nor do they contribute anything new except a misleading vocabulary that anesthetizes history."
Consistent with my recent writings about Charles S. Peirce [5], many logicians and semiotic theorists are also critical of the idea of "memes", but on different grounds. The criticism here is that "memes" distort Peirce's ideas about signs and the reification of signs and symbols via a triadic nature. Notable in this camp is Terrence Deacon [6].
(Note that Peirce is pronounced "purse")
For further criticism, Google "meme Lewontin."
Marian replied:
Hampster Dance
BttbBob said:
I get to type with one hand for this? A hamster dance thing? Seriously? Hamsters dancing? Well, I'm gonna say just blast 'em... Blast 'em all... Now... Every last one of those cutsie little furry bastards. I'm talkin' photon torpedoes and phasers from space! (and I ain't sayin' I'm sorry, so there... deal with it
... pain + opiates = craloopiness i.e. cranky and loopy...)
~~~~~
Notice I'm gettin' the caps right though, huh? Pretty good, eh? One-handed!
I should be gettin' a gold star fer that, I'm tellin' ya! Whadda ya say, Boss, eh? How's 'bout it?
~~~~~
That's all I'm good for now... I think I should go lay down for awhile.
[ Elvis Presely Make The World Go Away Live Performance - YouTube ]
~~~~~
June 8 Birthdays - Celebrities Born June 8 | Famous Birthdays
Dale of Hot Springs of Diamonds, Norcali, responded:
The Fucking Hamsterdance. I'm surprised that I remembered that. It's 97F outside. It was 92 in Pollock Pines today!
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'CSI: The Original One', followed by '48 Hours'.
NBC fills the night with LIVE'Stanley Cup Hockey', then pads the left coast with local crap and maybe an old 'Dateline'.
Of course, 'SNL' is a RERUN, hosted by Vince Vaughn, music by Miguel (original air date: 04/13/13).
ABC fills the night with LIVE'IndyCar Series', then pads the left coast with local crap and maybe an old 'What Would You Do?'.
The CW offers an old '2½ Men', followed by another old '2½ Men', then an old 'Family Guy', followed by another old 'Family Guy'.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'MLB Baseball', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY has an old 'Burn Notice', followed by another old 'Burn Notice'.
AMC offers the movie 'Kingdom Of Heaven', followed by the movie 'King Kong'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] TOP GEAR - Season 5 - Episode 1
[7:00AM] TOP GEAR - Season 5 - Episode 2
[8:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 4 - Ep 8 - La Frite
[9:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES REVISITED UK - Season 1 - Ep 2 - Walnut Tree
[10:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES UK - Season 3 - Ep 2 - The Fenwick Arms
[11:00AM] TOP GEAR - Season 5 - Episode 1
[12:00PM] JAMES MAY'S MAN LAB - Season 1 - Episode 3
[1:00PM] TOP GEAR UNCOVERED
[2:30PM] BANG GOES THE THEORY - Season 6 - Episode 1
[3:10PM] BANG GOES THE THEORY - Season 6 - Episode 2
[3:50PM] BANG GOES THE THEORY - Season 6 - Episode 3
[4:30PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 5 - Ep 18 - Cause and Effect
[5:30PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 5 - Ep 19 - The First Duty
[6:30PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 5 - Ep 20 - Cost of Living
[7:30PM] THE EXORCIST
[10:00PM] IN THE FLESH - Season 1 - Episode 3 NEW
[11:15PM] THE EXORCIST
[1:45AM] IN THE FLESH - Season 1 - Episode 3
[3:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 5 - Ep 18 - Cause and Effect
[4:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 5 - Ep 19 - The First Duty
[5:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 5 - Ep 20 - Cost of Living (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has the movie 'Gangs Of New York', followed by the movie 'Gangs Of New York', again.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Waiting...', followed by the movie 'Dumb & Dumber', then the movie 'The Ringer'.
FX has the movie 'Superbad', followed by the movie 'Pineapple Express', then the movie 'The Green Hornet'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-Elizabeth Banks Wears a Red Dress
[6:30AM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-Adam Scott Wears a Red Oxford Shirt & Jeans
[7:00AM] Pan's Labyrinth
[9:30AM] The Three Stooges-Corny Casanovas
[9:55AM] The Three Stooges-Of Cash and Hash
[10:20AM] The Three Stooges-Cuckoo on a Choo-Choo
[10:45AM] The Three Stooges-Don't Throw That Knife
[11:10AM] The Three Stooges-Dopey Dicks
[11:35AM] The Three Stooges-Dunked in the Deep
[12:00PM] Malcolm in the Middle-Malcolm Babysits
[12:30PM] Malcolm in the Middle-Sleepover
[1:00PM] Malcolm in the Middle-Francis Escapes
[1:30PM] Malcolm in the Middle-Krelboyne Picnic
[2:00PM] Malcolm in the Middle-Lois vs. Evil
[2:30PM] Monster's Ball
[5:00PM] The Shawshank Redemption
[8:00PM] The Fugitive
[10:45PM] The Shining
[1:45AM] The Shining
[4:45AM] Whitest Kids U'Know
[5:00AM] Freaks and Geeks-Tricks and Treats (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] Freaks and Geeks-Smooching and Mooching
[7:00AM] Freaks and Geeks-The Little Things
[8:00AM] Freaks and Geeks-Discos and Dragons
[9:00AM] Man Shops Globe-UK
[9:30AM] A River Runs Through It
[11:30AM] Invincible
[1:45PM] The Spine
[2:00PM] Night and the City
[3:45PM] Marathon Man
[6:00PM] Three Days of the Condor
[8:00PM] Dog Day Afternoon
[10:15PM] Wall Street
[12:30AM] Public Sex
[2:30AM] Indie Sex II: Censored
[4:00AM] Three Days of the Condor (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Land Of The Lost', followed by the SERIES PREMIERE'Sinbad', then the FRESH'Primeval: New World'.
Producer Mel Brooks blows his nose as he accepts the American Film Institute's 41st Life Achievement Award at the Dolby theatre in Hollywood, California June 6, 2013.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
The music icon whose solid-body electric guitar paved the way for rock 'n' roll is now getting a permanent exhibit in his Wisconsin hometown, after more than a decade in the making.
Les Paul, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician who performed regularly into his 90s with his band, developed technology and recording techniques that set the standard in the music industry, including tape echo, multitrack recordings and overdubs . There are permanent exhibits devoted to him at other museums, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, but he wanted something closer to home.
So he loaned the Waukesha County Museum personal items and helped raise funds to make the effort a reality, including writing a personal $25,000 check for expenses and playing a concert to raise $100,000.
The exhibit, "The Les Paul Experience," is opening Sunday, which would have been Paul's 98th birthday. Paul died in 2009.
Les Paul is buried in Waukesha, next to his mother, with a 500-square-foot granite monument. In the years before he died, Waukesha officials renamed a street Les Paul Parkway and a band shell as the Les Paul Performance Center. The Les Paul Foundation also has a self-guided tour on its website that features 12 locations in Waukesha, including Paul's childhood home and birthplace.
Actress and comedian Sarah Silverman poses at the American Film Institute's 41st Life Achievement Award Gala at the Dolby theatre in Hollywood, California June 6, 2013.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
Art is often seen as lofty - but perhaps none more than a new roof installation in Paris that's only visible from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
The work, a huge 700-square-meter (7,500-square-foot) painting of black and white horseshoe shapes, was unveiled Thursday to bird's-eye spectators some 116 meters (380 fe-et) up the iconic iron monument.
The painting was made by Aboriginal artist Lena Nyadbi on the roof of the adjacent Quai Branly museum and commissioned by architect Jean Nouvel.
For art lovers who do not wish to pay €8.50 ($11) to climb the tower, organizers say it's also visible on Google Earth.
A string quartet from The Philadelphia Orchestra made a lengthy flight delay quite enjoyable for a plane full of lucky passengers in China.
Two violinists, a cellist and a viola player were aboard a flight that was delayed for three hours on the tarmac in Beijing on Friday. They took out their instruments and played an impromptu concert for the appreciative - if captive - audience. Several passengers whipped out smartphones and began recording as the orchestra played a selection from Dvorak's "American" string quartet.
The instrumentalists were greeted with cheers and applause as they wrapped up their five-and-a-half-minute performance.
Carl Reiner shows off his notes as he delivers a testimonial to honoree Mel Brooks during the American Film Institute's 41st Lifetime Achievement Award Gala at the Dolby Theatre on Thursday, June 6, 2013 in Los Angeles.
Photo by Chris Pizello
It's a safe bet that George Stroumboulopoulos will be the first male CNN personality to wear two earrings and a skull ring from a designer who made one for Keith Richards.
Stroumboulopoulos, whose new nighttime talk show premieres Sunday, is more curious than dangerous, though.
The show gets a solid time slot for its debut, airing after the season finale of Anthony Bourdain's successful "Parts Unknown." Then it will settle into a regular spot on Fridays at 11 p.m. Eastern for the summer and, if things go well, maybe beyond.
It's part of CNN's attempt to branch out beyond news programming at certain times, represented most prominently by Bourdain's show. The effort started before the arrival of new network boss Jeff Zucker - Stroumboulopoulos had his first contact with the network last summer before Zucker arrived - but the enthusiasm continued with the change in management.
An actress who tried to blame her husband for sending ricin-laced letters to U.S. President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been arrested in Texas after confessing to sending the letters herself, prosecutors said.
The actress, 35-year-old Shannon Rogers Guess Richardson of New Boston, Texas, was charged on Friday in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas with mailing a threatening communication. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, according to federal prosecutors.
Richardson, who has played minor roles on TV programs including The Walking Dead, could not immediately be reached for comment. A lawyer for Richardson's husband, who the FBI had initially investigated, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment. The couple lives in New Boston, a small town about 150 miles northeast of Dallas, near the borders of Oklahoma and Arkansas.
The letters, sent last month, made threatening references related to the U.S. debate on gun control. A third letter, also containing ricin, was sent to the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group founded by Bloomberg that lobbies for stricter gun laws.
Actress Cloris Leachman gestures to honoree Mel Brooks in the audience during the American Film Institute's 41st Lifetime Achievement Award Gala at the Dolby Theatre on Thursday, June 6, 2013 in Los Angeles.
Photo by Chris Pizello
Three topless protesters from feminist protest group Femen were dragged by police from outside the German chancellery Friday where they were pleading for Angela Merkel to push for the release of their fellow activists jailed in Tunisia.
The demonstration came ahead of Merkel's meeting in the building with Tunisian Premiere Ali Larayedh. The women chanted "Merkel free Femen" repeatedly before being removed.
After the two leaders met, Merkel told reporters that they had discussed the issue and that she had "made clear the hope for a fair and reasonable handling" of the situation.
Two of the protesters in Berlin had painted the names of the activists jailed in Tunisia across their bare chests, while the third had "Free Femen" on her stomach.
Police said the three were not arrested, but they are investigating possible charges of violating German public assembly laws. Police did not immediately have information on the protesters' nationality but said they were not German.
It's a busy weekend at the luxury Grove Hotel, favored haunt of British soccer players and their glitz-loving spouses.
More than 100 of the world's most powerful people are at the former manor house near London for a secretive annual gathering that has attained legendary status in the eyes of anti-capitalist protesters and conspiracy theorists.
The guest list for the Bilderberg meeting includes Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. British Prime Minister David Cameron is due to drop by Friday.
Named for the site of its first meeting - the Bilderberg Hotel in Oosterbeek, Holland - the forum for prominent politicians, thinkers and business leaders has been held annually at a series of secluded venues in Europe and North America.
What happens at Bilderberg, stays at Bilderberg. There is no media access and the public is kept away by a large security operation. The group says that "there is no detailed agenda, no resolutions are proposed, no votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued."
Actor Martin Short performs during the American Film Institute's 41st Life Achievement Award Gala at the Dolby theatre in Hollywood, California June 6, 2013.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
A young man who drank a quart of soy sauce went into a coma and nearly died from an excess of salt in his body, according to a recent case report.
The 19-year-old, who drank the soy sauce after being dared by friends, is the first person known to have deliberately overdosed on such a high amount of salt and survived with no lasting neurological problems, according to the doctors in Virginia who reported his case. The case report was published online June 4 in the Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Too much salt in the blood, a condition called hypernatremia, is usually seen in people with psychiatric conditions who develop a strong appetite for the condiment, said Dr. David J. Carlberg, who treated the young man and works as an emergency medicine physician at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Hypernatremia is dangerous because it causes the brain to lose water. When there is too much salt in the bloodstream, water moves out of the body tissues and into the blood by the process of osmosis, to try to equalize the salt concentration between the two. As water the leaves the brain, the organ can shrink and bleed, Carlberg said.
A typical quart of soy sauce has more than 0.35 pounds (0.16 kilograms) of salt, the researchers said.
A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy was suspicious. When he heard two women were spotted near a Lancaster, Calif., intersection, and one of them was holding an alligator, he didn't buy it.
Deputy Michael Rust investigated the report Tuesday morning and found not just a 4-foot alligator, but a kangaroo and monkey too, all inside the same van.
The women explained that the menagerie is part of the "Zoo to You" program in Paso Robles that introduces kids to animals.
The animals had just visited with students at Quartz Hill Elementary and had begun the nearly 200-mile journey home when they pulled over for some emergency cleanup.
"The alligator urinated inside his cage, and it's a long ways back to Paso Robles with the smell of alligator urine," Rust said. "So they decided to pull over."
A man with an umbrella walks past an art installation called "Climbing Up" on the streets of Manhattan, New York June 7, 2013. The art installation, which was unveiled on June 6, is inspired by the aluminium body of the 2013 Range Rover vehicle.
Photo by Zoran Milich
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
said:
wrote:
took the day off.
