atrios

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/bRuz/~3/xCEAI1iybjg/no-it-wont.html

NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Leakey predicts skepticism over evolution will soon be history.

Not that the avowed atheist has any doubts himself.

atrios

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/bRuz/~3/dN7BpGykNVY/pre-lunch-thread.html

atrios

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/bRuz/~3/toBoPlWAtKE/regulators.html

Senior JPMorgan executives assured the bank’s watchdogs after the financial crisis that the chief investment office, with hundreds of billions in investments, was not taking risks that would be a cause for concern, people briefed on the matter said. Just weeks before the trading losses became public, bank officials also dismissed the worry of a senior New York Fed examiner about the mounting size of the bets, according to current Fed officials.

The lapses have raised questions about who, if anyone, was policing the chief investment office and whether regulators were sufficiently independent. Instead of putting the JPMorgan unit under regular watch, the comptroller’s office and the Fed chose to examine it periodically.

dailykos

http://rss.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/sbL7lo5Fb2Y/-Saturday-hate-mail-a-palooza-North-Hitlerstan-was-run-by-black-Hitler-True-wingnut-fact-

They really believe this shit.

dailykos

http://rss.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/RQo9YvMsx3c/-10-years-10-freakin-years

Exactly 10 years ago, I wrote my first tentative words on a site I called "Daily Kos" until I could think of a better name (which obviously never happened). People love to quote those words, even though they make me cringe for some reason. Heck, everything I wrote in those days makes me cringe.

I was but a wee thing—30 years old. Having survived the dot.com crash, barely, I had a good job working with great people, and living in the best place on earth with my young wife. I still didn't have kids, which was crucial, because this site wouldn't exist if I had kids back then.

I tested the concept of Daily Kos two weeks before the site officially launched. I created a blogspot site and seeded it with some content to see if blogging was up my alley. It wasn't the first time I had blogged—I started my blogging career writing the "Hispanic Latino News Service" while in law school (1996-99), before blogging tools automated the whole process. I would spend four hours every day formatting the HTML for each update and manually transferring the previous day's content into the archives. (Michael D dug that stuff up last year.) It was blogging before blogging officially existed.

Anyway, after a couple of days of testing the waters on that blogspot site, I decided that yes, this was something I wanted to seriously do, so I secured the domain name and set up my Movable Type site. It was exciting! Sure, I had no readers, but I never thought I'd have any readers, so that was okay. Each new visitor to the site was a surprise and a delight! It's much easier to do this blogging thing if you set your expectations way low, and back then there was no such thing as a popular blogger, so only an idiot would expect much of anything.

I worked surreptitiously back then. "Kos" was as much an Army nickname as a way to keep my boss from knowing I was working on this site on company time. I was good at my job and worked efficiently, so it was never a problem for my employer. And even later, when I told him what I was doing, his only request was that I be discreet about it so my coworkers wouldn't get the wrong idea. Did I mention I worked with great people?

So I spent time working on Daily Kos at work, and then I spent time working at it from home after work, which proved that in addition to a great employer, I also had a great (and very patient) wife. Those were simpler web times, so I could handle much of the backend of the site, and I loved to tweak and tweak some more.

Ten years later, things are quite a bit different. This whole blogging medium has become more institutionalized—the most successful bloggers either getting sucked up by bigger media outlets, or growing into significant media operations of their own. The lone individual blogger is rare these days, and even rarer is the new voice emerging from the blogosphere. That makes me sad.

On the other hand, Daily Kos now has 21 full-time employees and several more contractors, and I have the resources to strengthen a platform that has amazingly given voice to hundreds of thousands of people. I wouldn't have even dreamed that 10 years ago.

I started Daily Kos for me. As an American, I felt betrayed by the Bush Administration. I was angry at a complicit and cowed media. I felt isolated and angry that my country was going to hell, and that the so-called liberals in the traditional media (*cough*Joe Klein*cough*) were cheering it along. This site was, for me, therapy. It was an outlet for my frustrations. It was never supposed to be anything more.

What I quickly discovered was that I wasn't alone. That there were others like you who felt the same. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. While I was a lone voice in the wilderness, you guys turned the site into a chorus. And trust me, you sing better than me ... so phew!

So thanks for being here, and staying here, and helping build this place. These have been the fastest 10 years of my life. But no matter how much we've accomplished, we're still just getting started.

Check below the fold for the site's evolution over the last 10 years.

dailykos

http://rss.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/MLF_2t0AOww/-Honoring-fallen-heroes-on-Memorial-Day

With plans to "pay tribute to patriots of every generation who gave the last full measure of devotion, from Lexington and Concord to Iraq and Afghanistan," on this Memorial Day, President Obama calls on all Americans to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country:

This weekend, folks across the country are opening up the pool, firing up the grill, and taking a well-earned moment to relax. But Memorial Day is more than a three-day weekend. In town squares and national cemeteries, in public services and moments of quiet reflection, we will honor those who loved their country enough to sacrifice their own lives for it.

But remembering their sacrifice isn't enough:

We have to serve them and their families as well as they have served us: By making sure that they get the healthcare and benefits they need; by caring for our wounded warriors and supporting our military families; and by giving veterans the chance to go to college, find a good job, and enjoy the freedom that they risked everything to protect.

Complete transcript below the fold.

dailykos

http://rss.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/tEFvf2w9KXQ/-This-week-in-science-Catch-a-Dragon-by-the-tail

Opportunity sees its own shadow on the rim of Endeavour crater, Meridiani Planum, Mars. Click image for more Red Planet pics.

Much closer to home, NASA has a new partner in space exploration and the solar system is the limit:

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft successfully berthed with the International Space Station this morning after a long overnight approach including several unplanned maneuvers. The crew at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, concluded a long night of flight demonstrations and troubleshooting by watching astronaut Don Pettit control the station’s robotic arm and grapple the Dragon at 6:56 a.m. PDT.

• Speaking of newspace: I'm lucky. Readers here and a few plucky entrepreneurs saw it coming years ago and forced me to understand.
• Cloaking device, engaged!
• Whales take big, accurate gulps, a must for creatures weighed in tons. Now marine bio researchers have found a heretofore unknown organ which seems to facillitate that activity.
• Here's brief introduction to the bizarre virtual economies and hacker 'gold farming' industries courtesy of the big release of a long anticipated video game, Diablo III.
• This would be very cool, if it works as depicted:

kristine_smith

• Fri, 18:56: Romney pretty much blows up the entire rationale for over 30 years of Republican economics: http://t.co/boMBFbFI http://t.co/riUbLBUy
• Fri, 20:44: Things made. Hummus. Brownies currently baking. Broke old faithful coffee grinder, tho. Haz a sad. :-(
• Fri, 21:32: A PG Wodehouse random quote generator: http://t.co/URLqsaqZ
• Fri, 22:56: Signal Boost: Project Save Annabelle http://t.co/bIhym257
• Sat, 06:45: Thunderstorm morning. #imawakenowthankyou
• Sat, 08:48: More storms rolling in. Thunder in the distance. Time for a 2nd cup of coffee.

suvudufeed

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SuvuduRssFeed/~3/Dy7a8pO3rwI/ernest-cline-interview-on-sword-and-laser.html

http://suvudu.com/?p=30439