weblog

Class war over uranium mining in Colorado pits rich ski town residents against the little people who want a better standard of living - NYT
" 'People from Telluride don’t have any business around here,' said Ms. Mathews, 31, who works as a school janitor and ardently supports the idea of bringing back uranium jobs. 'Not everyone wants to drive to Telluride to clean hotel rooms.' ”
Hamtramck pleads for permission from Lansing to go bankrupt - NYT
"The state is concerned that if they say yes to one, if that door is opened, they’ll have 30 more cities right behind us..." said the city manager.
Squeezing blood from a rocks - MLive
"Recently, [Jackson County, MI District Court Enforcement Officer] Pittman took a man with unpaid court debts before District Judge Michael Klaeren. The man told the judge he had long been without a job. He purchased what he needed with food stamps, he told the judge. Pittman told Klaeren the man had been cooperative, and Klaeren seemed to be understanding. Payment plans can be arranged, Mazur said. “We do what we can to get paid.” “We are trying to get compliance,” Bradley said." A few extra beans from some guy who's so broke he lives off food stamps. But it's not about the money?
California company to resume mining for rare earth minerals to help break the Chinese monopoly - PopSci
Some object though for environmental reasons. One response to that reaction I found amusing: "I love seeing people comment that mining is bad for the environment, and then get into their Prius (to go to the farmers market) that uses many kilos of rare earths, a ton of steel and aluminum, and plastics, that all have to be extracted from the earth. I am not claiming to be super smart or anything but IGNORANCE like that is what will end up being fatal to our economy."

weblog

Some speculation about Lenin's sex life. - Wall Street Journal
The father of the Soviet state gets the full tabloid treatment. This book's author lists Lenin's flings, possible affairs, rumors of affairs, reported brothel visits, possible mistresses and other titillating speculations. And based upon the flimsiest of evidence too, claims the reviewer.
An informational mass extinction is likely. Or at least possible. - American Scientist
"The Dead Sea scrolls, made out of still-readable parchment and papyrus, are believed to have been created more than 2,000 years ago. Yet my barely 10-year-old digital floppy disks were essentially lost."
America is edging closer and closer to a full-on race war. - VDare
Check out this very popular YouTube video.
Two SF Politicos help with the budget problems; Four $48 parking tickets in two weeks. - SF Weekly
The SF parking enforcement isn't being overzealous just to get extra revenue from fines though. (Heh. Yeah, right!) Given who and what they are, I suppose they have to say that though.
How do porn actors relax off-screen? D&D tournaments it seems. - Playing D&D With Porn Stars
Joseph Stack: America's first suicide bomber - Paul Craig Roberts
"Indications are that Joseph Stack was sane. Like Palestinians faced with Israeli jet fighters, helicopter gunships, tanks, missiles and poison gas, Stack realized that he was powerless. A suicide attack was the only weapon left to him." And so he used it.
The irreversible ecological destruction involved in so-called clean coal mining. - New Scientist
Why Obama doesn't pick a D.C. church - iSteve
"Look, wouldn't the simplest explanation be that Obama was just yanking our chains about the Jesus stuff? That, as he admitted he was told in 1985, he'd need to join a church in Chicago if he expected to have a political career on the South Side."

Cell phones show human movement predictable 93% of the time. - Ars Technica