Twitter And Breaking News

Matthew Ingram's article on GOGAOM reviews a study done by IBM on Twitter 'coverage' during the evolving reporting in the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon tragedy. It is no surprise that much of the early Twitter feeds were wrong. Some were rumors, but some were reporting information derived from police scanners, which were also wrong. I tend to follow CNN and they got it initially wrong.

During the reporting of the Benghazi attacks, I followed coverage via BBC radio. Their reporter was on the ground in Benghazi and got in touch with the landlord of the U.S. Consulate. He lived next door to the consulate and watch the whole thing from his window. His accounting was that a peaceful crowd of demonstrators gathered in front of the consulate and shortly after an armed group in pick-up trucks ran them off and began attacking the building. Never heard anymore about his guy and his account. I don't know if his witness was accurate or not as things began spinning off on who was at fault.

Anyway, in this day of instant reporting I, like Mr. Ingram, suggest that whatever source you follow, take it with skepticism and maybe even follow multiple sources. In any case it may take one or two days before an accurate report begins to form from the myriad sources we must deal with today.

Let's Go To Hell And See If It Is Really That Bad

I believe that in any relationship a catharsis is sometimes needed. The relationship with our government has reached that point.

Let's just let the government stay shut down and let's just default on our debt and let's just see if Hell  really exists. We will all have 'skin' in the game. As citizens let's 'call the bet' on the politicians and if they lose make them pay.

It's no longer about the machinations of the politicians it's about us being fed up with the  lack of governance.

Abortion and RU486

From The Christian Science Monitor, we learn that the Supreme Court of the United States wants the Oklahoma Supreme Court to review their ruling on Terry Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice.

What confuses me here is that the U. S. Supreme Court wants the Oklahoma Supreme Court to determine if RU486 is banned by the Oklahoma legislature. The Oklahoma Attorney General seems to have a different take. He says that the legislature just wants to insure users of RU486 follow the FDA label directions from 2000. These directions restrict use to 49 days after the last menstrual cycle.

The Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice counters that their are new procedures that extend the  period from the last menstrual cycle from 49 to 63 days and the State of Oklahoma is in effect violating Roe v. Wade.

Now, I cannot find any new label revisions on the FDA web site changing 49 days to 63 days. The last revision (Revision #4) was on June 8, 2011 and label instructions still limit use to 49 days.

So where does this 63 day thing come from? It comes from the National Abortion Federation: "Depending on the prescribing physician's protocols, mifepristone and misoprostol can be used for early abortion up to 63 days after the start of the last menstrual period."

Where Are The Better Angels?

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."

Mark Twain

Sleep eluded me for awhile last night. I was overjoyed by Tampa's victory over the Texas Rangers. I like it when Dallas teams lose at baseball, football, basketball, croquet … well just anything. Can't explain it, it's a Houston thing. I had to quit watching college basketball. It became an obsession. I think that started back in 1958-59 when my high school won the state championship.

Some of you may not have had a restful night because the government shut down. I don't care about the shut down … none of my teams are playing. These are people you elected, who care only about being re-elected. To be re-elected they need enormous amounts of money and must obligate themselves to enormous amounts of favors. Sure they must listen to their constituents, but their constituents only listen to pundits and talking heads with whom they agree. These pundits and talking heads make enormous amounts of money from people who want you to vote for those candidates who will subsequently owe them enormous amounts of favors. You are thus responsible for the silly state we find ourselves in today.

 I am very pessimistic. From whence comes my pessimism? Not from the politicians, the money men, or the 'lame' stream media. It comes from you, my fellow citizens. You are being manipulated and played by selfish people who have no interests in your day to day struggles. There is a TV show called 'Newsroom" in which the character, Will McAvoy, calls the Tea Party the American Taliban. A bit over the top for my taste. It isn't the Tea Party that is an existential threat to our nation it's an uniformed electorate manipulated by those forces I have previously mentioned. You, my friends, are lazy citizens, being played and don't realize it.

If you cannot rest tonight it's your fault. If I can't rest tonight, it's because Pittsburgh lost to Cincinnati.

UGLINESS

Many, many years ago I had sort of an epiphany after reading "Animal Katabu" by Jean Pierre Hallet, et al. Within the pages was a passage on ugliness. Hallet believed there was no such thing as an ugly animal. They had no say in there appearance and were what they were. Humans simply constructed the concept of 'ugliness' within themselves. I started applying this to works of art in all its forms. Some art doesn't suit me and I try to reflect on the 'why of it'. Sometimes I can and sometimes not so much. But, I never call the appearence of something 'ugly' instead it just doesn't suit me.

This all came back to me whilst reading Muccia Prada's comments regarding her Feminist collection. I can appreciate her creativeness, but it just doesn't suit me.

SKETCH42

(GO TO THE ABOVE LINK TO VIEW THE COLLECTION)

Blogger's Note: This blog, Sketch42, is by Nicole Cohen and worth a look see. Her newsletter is varied and entertaining.

Live Maine Lobster

Economics is a social science rather than a science-science. That's because it really studies human behavior and thus hypotheses and theories are unpredictable. I don't care how many formulae are in academic papers, economists are not scientists. For example, one of the basic tenets of economics is the law of supply and demand. Kinda touted around like the law of gravity. Yet, there is that old bugaboo of human behavior that screws up the law.

Take the lowly lobster for example. We learn from James Surowiecki in the August, 2013 New Yorker, that the wholesale price of lobster has dropped from $6.00/lb. to $2.20/lb since 2005. Still the price at restaurants has not decreased. Many experts attribute [I like that phrase] the abundance of lobsters to global warming, others probably blame President Obama. Nonetheless this oversupply is reeking havoc among the Maine lobstermen. This is not the first time lobsters have been aplenty. Back in the day (Colonial New England), Mr. Surowiecki tells us that, "servants, as a condition of their employment, insisted on not being fed lobster more than three times a week."

So what is breaking the law of supply and demand in restaurants? Surowiecki believes that lobster is not a commodity but a luxury item and thus price is associated with enjoyment. Past studies have shown that low prices of previously expensive luxury items creates suspicion among retail consumers. Restaurants are not a commodity business per se. Sure it is a tough competitive venture but quality perceived or real is the factor for success, and price is associated with quality.

"Commodity producer, by contrast, can make lots of money if the conditions are right, but their fate ultimately depends on the broader economy. Restaurants are trying to insulate themselves from the market; lobstermen are at the mercy of it."

I thought that if I ever had a band I would call it LIVE! MAINE LOBSTER!

Howdy God

God Must Be A Cowboy

"Cowboy churches are local Christian churches within the cowboy culture that are distinctively Western heritage in character. A typical cowboy church may meet in a rural setting in a barn, metal building, arena, sale barn, or old western building, have its own rodeo arena, and a country gospel band. Baptisms are generally done in a stock tank. The sermons are usually short and simple, in order to better to be understood by the parishioners. Some cowboy churches have covered arenas where rodeo events such as bull riding, team roping, ranch sorting, team penning and equestrian events are held on weeknights. Many cowboy churches have existed throughout the western states for the past forty or fifty years, however just in the past fifteen or so years has there been an explosion of growth within the “movement”. Prior to 1980 there were no less than 5 cowboy churches in Texas, now the number exceeds 200, and there are an estimated 750 nationwide. There has been no definitive group that established the movement; rather it seems to have had a spontaneous beginning in diverse areas of the country at nearly the same time. Some of these cowboy churches are an outgrowth of ministries to professional rodeo or team roping events, while the roots of many can be traced back to ministry events associated with ranch rodeos, ranch horse competitions, chuck wagon cooking competitions, cowboy poetry gatherings and other “cowboy culture” events." From Wikipedia

If you want to know more about Cowboy Churches go to their network here.