AdamSmith

...from Broke Straight Boys TV.

They are right about Maine. Having owned a weekend house there, I paid the budget of a small country for heating oil (and furnace service). Just to keep the pipes from freezing. And it is a very poor state, so taxes are perforce set so as to soak those who have any means at all.

Well, even Louisiana? NO, Baton Rouge, Lafayette all seem to have reasonable quality of life, and reasonable enough gay scenes. Plus within striking distance of Houston for the weekend. Just avoid (needless to say) the state's English-settled northern tier. As for me, I can see I may need to go live out my dotage in RA1's basement. (Attic? Madwoman in the...)

Dunno ... Between Perez and buzzfeed, we can near about live without the mainstream media these days. C.f. recent observations here about CNN, pathetic state of, f'rinstance.

ROFLMAO The only way!

Well, but there's many a slip twixt cup and lip. Justices can and often enough do change their position after the initial vote in conference, as they draft, circulate, and redraft majority and dissenting opinions. As Roberts reportedly did on Obamacare, for instance. (In The Brethren Woodward reported that Chief Justice Burger would often vote with the majority solely so he would be able to assign who would write the majority opinion, regardless of which side of the issue he actually agreed with. The book in general painted a very unflattering portrait of him. A vastly entertaining read, if distressing at many times.)

I agree with this commentary that a gun made with any of today's consumer 3D printers will almost surely blow up in the shooter's hand after a few shots, possibly on the first one. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/09/3d-printed-guns-user

Rather cool... 3D Print the Impossible! Turning Escher Drawings into Real 3D Models August 28, 2012 by Sam Green This video has now gone viral with over 200,000 hits on YouTube since it’s release this August. And I can see why! The researchers at the Technion – Israel’s famous Institute of Technology, have used their own Objet 3D printer to re-create the impossible Escher Drawings as real, tangible 3D models. Particularly intriguing is the 3D printed Belvedere (below), first produced as a 2D drawing in May 1958. In his original work, Escher drew a rectangular three-story building supported by a number of pillars that, at first glance, appears to be plausible. But on close inspection you see that those supporting pillars at the front appear to be supporting the back side of the top floor while those at the back appear to be supporting the front – an obvious paradox. You can see how this is solved in the “real” 3D world – by the clever manipulation of the viewer’s perspective… For more on this project see Professor Gershon Elber’s ‘Escher for Real‘ project at the Computer Science Department, Technion. Objet 3D Printed Escher Model in Rigid White Material http://blog.stratasys.com/2012/08/28/3d-print-the-impossible-turning-escher-drawings-in-real-3d-models/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=Stratasys_file&obref=ssys_list

Yum. Never eaten at any of these, except Commander's Palace. Anyone else...? AMERICA'S CLASSICS AWARDS Locally owned restaurants "beloved in their regions for quality food that reflects the character of their community," according to the Foundation. Kramarczuk's, Owner: Orest Kramarczuk (215 East Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota) Frank Fat's, Owners: The Fat family (806 L Street, Sacramento, California) Prince's Hot Chicken Shack, Owner: Andre Prince Jeffries (123 Ewing Drive, Nashville, Tennessee) C.F. Folks, Owner: Art Carlson (1225 19th St. NW, Washington, D.C.) Keens Steakhouse, Owner: George Schwarz (72 W. 36th St., New York City, New York) HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR Emeril Lagasse LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT Cecilia Chiang RISING STAR CHEF OF THE YEAR Jimmy Bannos Jr., The Purple Pig (Chicago, Illinois) *WINNER Danny Bowien, Mission Chinese Food (San Francisco and New York City) Thomas McNaughton, Flour + Water (San Francisco, California) David Posey, Blackbird (Chicago, Illinois) Blaine Wetzel, The Willows Inn on Lummi Island (Lummi Island, Washington) OUTSTANDING WINE & SPIRITS OR BEER PROFESSIONAL Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Milton, Delaware) *WINNER Merry Edwards, Merry Edwards Winery (Sebastopol, California) Garrett Oliver, The Brooklyn Brewery (Brooklyn, New York) Neal Rosenthal, Rosenthal Wine Merchant, (New York City, New York) David Wondrich, spirits educator (Brooklyn, New York) OUTSTANDING WINE PROGRAM A16 (San Francisco, California) The Barn at Blackberry Farm (Walland, Tennessee) CityZen at Mandarin Oriental (Washington, D.C.) *WINNER Frasca Food and Wine (Boulder, Colorado) Picasso at Bellagio (Las Vegas, Nevada) OUTSTANDING BAR PROGRAM *WINNER The Aviary (Chicago, Illinois) Bar Agricole (San Francisco, California) The Bar at the NoMad Hotel (New York City, New York) Holeman & Finch Public House (Atlanta, Georgia) Pegu Club (New York City, New York) The Violet Hour (Chicago, Illinois) BEST CHEF: MID-ATLANTIC Cathal Armstrong, Restaurant Eve (Alexandria, Virginia) Spike Gjerde, Woodberry Kitchen (Baltimore, Maryland) *WINNER Johnny Monis, Komi (Washington, D.C.) Brad Spence, Amis (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Vikram Sunderam, Rasika (Washington, D.C.) BEST CHEF: GREAT LAKES Dave Beran, Next (Chicago, Illinois) *WINNER Stephanie Izard, Girl & the Goat (Chicago, Illinois) Jonathon Sawyer, Greenhouse Tavern (Cleveland, Ohio) Paul Virant, Perennial Virant (Chicago, Illinois) Andrew Zimmerman, Sepia (Chicago, Illinois) BEST CHEF: NYC April Bloomfield, The Spotted Pig *WINNER Wylie Dufresne, wd~50 Mark Ladner, Del Posto Jonathan Waxman, Barbuto Michael White, Marea BEST CHEF: NORTHEAST Jamie Bissonnette, Coppa (Boston, Massachusetts) Joanne Chang, Flour Bakery + Cafe (Boston, Massachusetts) Gerry Hayden, The North Fork Table & Inn (Southold, New York) *WINNER Melissa Kelly, Primo (Rockland, Maine) Barry Maiden, Hungry Mother (Cambridge, Massachusetts) BEST CHEF: NORTHWEST Jason Franey, Canlis (Seattle, Washington) Naomi Pomeroy, Beast (Portland, Oregon) *WINNER Gabriel Rucker, Le Pigeon (Portland, Oregon) Ethan Stowell, Staple & Fancy Mercantile (Seattle, Washington) Cathy Whims, Nostrana (Portland, Oregon) BEST CHEF: SOUTH Justin Devillier, La Petite Grocery (New Orleans, Louisiana) Jeff McInnis, Yardbird Southern Table & Bar (Miami Beach, Florida) *WINNER Tory McPhail, Commander's Palace (New Orleans, Louisiana) Alon Shaya, Domenica (New Orleans, Louisiana) Sue Zemanick, Gautreau's (New Orleans, Louisiana) BEST CHEF: WEST Chris Cosentino, Incanto (San Francisco, California) *WINNER Christopher Kostow, The Restaurant at Meadowood (St. Helena, California) Corey Lee, Benu (San Francisco, California) Daniel Patterson, Coi (San Francisco, California) Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, Animal (Los Angeles, California) BEST CHEF: MIDWEST Justin Aprahamian, Sanford (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Gerard Craft, Niche (Clayton, Missouri) *WINNER Colby Garrelts, Bluestem (Kansas City, Missouri) Michelle Gayer, Salty Tart (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Jack Riebel, Butcher & the Boar (Minneapolis, Minnesota) BEST CHEF: SOUTHEAST Ashley Christensen, Poole's Diner (Raleigh, North Carolina) Edward Lee, 610 Magnolia (Louisville, Kentucky) *WINNER Joseph Lenn, The Barn at Blackberry Farm (Walland, Tennessee) Steven Satterfield, Miller Union (Atlanta, Georgia) Tandy Wilson, City House (Nashville, Tennessee) BEST CHEF: SOUTHWEST Kevin Binkley, Binkley's Restaurant (Cave Creek, Arizona) Bryce Gilmore, Barley Swine (Austin, Texas) *WINNER Jennifer Jasinski, Rioja (Denver, Colorado) Hugo Ortega, Hugo's (Houston, Texas) Chris Shepherd, Underbelly (Houston, Texas) OUTSTANDING PASTRY CHEF Dominique Ansel, Dominique Ansel Bakery (New York City, New York) Melissa Chou, Aziza (San Francisco, California) Ken Forkish, Ken's Artisan Bakery (Portland, Oregon) Hedy Goldsmith, Michael's Genuine Food & Drink (Miami, Florida) *WINNER Brooks Headley, Del Posto (New York City, New York) BEST NEW RESTAURANT Empellón Cocina (New York City, New York) Grace (Chicago, Illinois) The Ordinary (Charleston, South Carolina) Rich Table (San Francisco, California) *WINNER State Bird Provisions (San Francisco, California) OUTSTANDING CHEF Sean Brock, McCrady's (Charleston, South Carolina) *WINNER (TIE) David Chang, Momofuku Noodle Bar (New York City, New York) Suzanne Goin, Lucques (West Hollywood, California) *WINNER (TIE) Paul Kahan, Blackbird (Chicago, Illinois) Nancy Silverton, Pizzeria Mozza (Los Angeles, California) OUTSTANDING RESTAURANT August (New Orleans, Louisiana) *WINNER Blue Hill (New York City, New York) Highlands Bar and Grill (Birmingham, Alabama) The Slanted Door (San Francisco, California) Spiaggia (Chicago, Illinois) OUTSTANDING RESTAURATEUR *WINNER Maguy Le Coze: Le Bernardin (New York City, New York) Donnie Madia: One Off Hospitality Group- (Blackbird, Avec, The Publican, etc. (Chicago, Illinois) Piero Selvaggio: Valentino Restaurant Group – Valentino, Valentino Vin Bar (Santa Monica, California) Caroline Styne: Lucques, Tavern, A.O.C., etc. (West Hollywood, California) Phil Suarez: Suarez Restaurant Group – ABC Kitchen, Jean Georges, wd~50, etc. (New York City, New York) OUTSTANDING SERVICE *WINNER Del Posto (New York City, New York) Quince (San Francisco, California) The Restaurant at Meadowood (St. Helena, California) Topolobampo (Chicago, Illinois) Vetri (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) WHO'S WHO OF FOOD & BEVERAGE IN AMERICA INDUCTEES Dorothy Kalins, Editor (New York City, New York) Barbara Lynch, Chef and Restaurateur (Boston, Massachusetts) Zarela Martinez, Chef and Restaurateur (New York City, New York) Michael Mina, Chef and Restaurateur (San Francisco, California) Bill Yosses, Pastry Chef and Author (Washington, D.C.) http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2013/05/06/2013-james-beard-awards-chefs-and-restaurants-winners-are/?hpt=ea_c1

"Oh, that thing." (What General Groves said when they asked him to head up the Manhattan Project.)

I think it would worry me a lot more if there were only one commercial cloud storage service available. And of course fragmentation in the market hardly means you have to spread your data all over the place. In fact, with many of them offering pretty decent data volumes for free, it is economical to get some redundancy by backing everything up on more than one service.

Didn't Al Gore invent the TVA?

Right on. Another piece of that cost is the value of time. Granted, there was nothing to beat browsing in person at the late lamented Borders stores (whose corporate buyers had exceptionally broad, informed, and catholic lower-c tastes). Or at one's local bookshop where the proprietor's sensibilities can guide you to new treasures (our gem here in Raleigh has long been Quail Ridge Books). But if I know what I want, or if as RA1 observes it is banking business or some other rote errand, anything that lets me claw back some precious minutes and hours is a mercy.

Well then...? He who hesitates is lost!

Not all gay-themed; only here and there. Thanks to Michael Musto for pointing to this on his blog: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2013/05/10_movies_that.php#more Some highlights below. Whole thing at http://www.cracked.com/article_19287_10-movies-that-famous-people-dont-want-you-to-see.html #9.Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire -- Don's Plum (1995) Don's Plum is a movie starring two of the highest-grossing American actors of all time -- and because of a lawsuit by the stars themselves, it can never be released in the U.S. DiCaprio and Maguire claim they made the film as a favor to friend, but never actually intended it to be seen: they agreed to let it be shown in film festivals and stuff, presumably under the understanding that nobody goes to that crap anyway. However, after Titanic came out and made obscene amounts of money, the director began meeting with distributors. DiCaprio, Maguire and other actors appearing in the film responded by trying to (illegally, according to the director) block the movie's domestic release. Getty Tobey still hasn't stopped his maniacal laughter. At this point Don's Plum became a bit of a Hollywood legend: what exactly was in it that the actors didn't want America to see? Some news outlets covering the court case described Don's Plum as "the story of a young man exploring all kinds of sexuality and human emotion," which featured "Leonardo DiCaprio as a bisexual who appears nude in one scene." Adjectives like "sexy" and "steamy" were liberally thrown around, making it seem like this was the next Pamela Anderson/Tommy Lee tape. Only, you know, with these guys instead. But, despite being banned in the U.S., the film did come out in Europe, and it's not as controversial as everyone thought (or hoped it would be). Turns out DiCaprio's role consists of him sitting in a diner booth for 90 minutes, being a huge asshole: The movie is a fairly typical black-and-white independent film with all the '90s trademarks like nonlinear editing, a retro soundtrack and characters who seriously won't shut up. It's about a group of friends getting together in a place called Don's Plum and talking about sex and drugs while not actually doing a lot of either. At no point does DiCaprio remove his clothes or declare his bisexuality (that's someone else), so maybe he didn't want the movie released simply because he thought it sucked. Or because he does come off like an annoying little turd in it. #8.The Censored Eleven Warner Bros. Cartoons The "Censored Eleven" are a bunch of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons (one of them starring Bugs Bunny) that were withdrawn from syndication in 1968 and never aired again. The 11 animated shorts have never been officially released in home video, and Cartoon Network's owner Ted Turner personally vowed to never let them be shown. Why would they ban some harmless WB cartoons? Well ... probably on account of all the racism. OK, definitely because of all the racism. This isn't just Bugs Bunny doing blackface for a few seconds, by the way -- the racist jokes are so central to the plot of these cartoons that no amount of editing could salvage them. Ethnic stereotypes are cut from old cartoons all the time, but if they did that here, all they'd be left with is the WB logo and "That's all folks!" For example, one 1937 cartoon, "Clean Pastures," is set in what appears to be an all-black section of heaven called Pair-O-Dice (that's the least offensive thing here). A black version of Saint Peter is worried because not enough black people are going to heaven, so he sends his slow-witted angel on a mission to Earth. But wait, at least they're casting black people as saints and angels -- that couldn't be bad, right? OK, never mind. The mouth-breathing angel then stands in the middle of Harlem trying to convince people to come to Pair-O-Dice by offering things like food, travel and, of course, watermelon. Which hadn't been classified as "food" in the '30s, apparently. Eventually, only a group of hip, jazz-playing angels are capable of convincing the people of Harlem to come along to heaven, which happens instantly, so we're guessing there was some sort of mass suicide or rapture involved. Another short called "The Isle of Pingo Pongo" is a parody of a travel documentary showing a tropical island where the black natives are seen playing a "primitive, savage rhythm." You know where this is going. The joke being that those black people sure like jazz! And of course there's the Bugs Bunny one, "All This and Rabbit Stew," which is actually available in some cheap unofficial DVD releases, since it's in the public domain. It's the typical cartoon where Bugs Bunny outwits his opponent, except in this case the person trying to hunt him happens to be every black stereotype combined. The character's voice is even more offensive than the way he's drawn. Somehow. Last year Warner Bros. admitted they are considering releasing the Censored Eleven through the Warner Archives program, which is when they charge you a lot of money to burn you a copy of an otherwise unavailable DVD, basically. The videos are incredibly popular on YouTube. Yes, that would technically be profiting off of blatant racism, but Warner Bros. has spent 50 years proving that they will not tolerate racism so long as it's not profitable. #7. The Rolling Stones -- Cocksucker Blues (1972) Cocksucker Blues was supposed to be a backstage documentary showing what happens behind the scenes of a Rolling Stones tour in the '70s. When the Stones saw the film, they were so outraged by it that they sued the director to stop it from being released ... despite being the ones doing most of the crazy shit in it. Via SimplyArtOnline.net "That's disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself," they said to the director. Highlights include: baffling close-ups of Jagger groping himself in a bed, graphic sex scenes in unlikely places and so much drug consumption that Colombia now specifically mentions the band in their national anthem. There's even some rare footage of Keith Richards having a difficult time handling his drugs: Jagger is also seen snorting coke backstage. We all know they did that stuff, but it's still kind of shocking to see it. It's one thing to hear your grandad saying, "Why, I used to be crazy like you kids, too!" and quite another to actually watch him get drunk and punch a hooker. At one point, members of the entourage start having sex with groupies while the Stones watch and play percussion instruments. It's like a scene straight out of Caligula. Oh, and all of this happens inside a plane, by the way. The production of Cocksucker Blues was rather unusual: anyone in the entourage could basically pick up a camera and just film whatever, which is why you get long sequences where it's just unknown people doing coke in a hotel room and raving nonsensically interspersed with the Stones doing press interviews, meeting Andy Warhol and Truman Capote at a party and occasionally playing rock music. She must be diabetic. The documentary has never been officially released, and due to a court order, it can't be shown unless the director is standing in the same room. That doesn't mean he can host Rolling Stones marathons at his house every day, because the court order also specifies he can only screen the film once a year. Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_19287_10-movies-that-famous-people-dont-want-you-to-see.html#ixzz2SnsDt6Aw

Yeah, an acquaintance lost some things in iCloud. But never heard of Salesforce losing anything. In 10 years I've never had a single glitch from them. Quite unlike when I used to use Act running on my own server for list management. Differentiator seems to be: Is the cloud the vendor's sole model? Does their entire existence depend on getting that right? If yes, they are likely to put heaven & earth into doing so. Another such example: Arena Solutions (www.arenasolutions.com). They provide cloud hosting of engineering bills-of-material for manufacturers and their suppliers. In >10 years in business I've never heard of them losing or corrupting the quite sophisto & complex data structures and interactions they support for customers. And in my biz of reporting on the software industry they are part of, I would have heard any least squeak of customer dissatisfaction. So it can work.

MMMM! Much much much better than the usual CL flotsam. What city?

Great! Parallel poll: Which would you prefer as your nanny?

Our beloved Mississippian, some prior notice next time, please! We were imagining you a statistic in the Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report. Very, very warmest welcome back.