The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

Month: July 2010

  • Political snark of the day

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    mongreldogs
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    I stole the tagline from a commenter at Political Animal and the picture from a public domain image at Flickr, and put it together using the motivational poster generator at Big Huge Labs.

  • Quote of the Day

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    mongreldogs
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    Why did the stimulus go wrong? In the end, we took a soapbox racer to a go-kart track and then realized we were competing against actual cars. Great analogy — and better analysis — by Ezra Klein.

  • Review: Metatropolis

    Review: Metatropolis

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    mongreldogs
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    Metatropolis Edited by Jack Scalzi Rating on an arbitrary 5-point scale: 4 out of 5 Metatropolis is a science fiction anthology exploring, as it claims, the “future of cities”.  That’s not strictly accurate. It’s really a collection of stories that explore the question: If we as a species are going to survive the mistakes of…

  • Quote of the Day

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    mongreldogs
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    From a post by Steve Benen over at Political Animal: In human history, it’s never been easier to get — and stay — well informed. Folks just have to take some responsibility. If they don’t, the result can be a dysfunctional democracy. It’s impolitic to say this but not all pastimes and passions are equal.…

  • Review: Inception

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    mongreldogs
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    Inception a Christopher Nolan Film Arbitrary 5-Point rating: 5 out of 5 Inception is a weird, ambitious, action-packed sci fi thriller-cum-heist flick.  It is, in its own way, as ambitious as The Matrix and suffers from the comparison only in that it didn’t come first.  Leonardo DiCaprio plays Tom Dom Cobb, a thief of a…

  • Wow. Just… wow.

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    mongreldogs
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    http://www.marktalk.com/blog/?p=10387 (Also hosted at Political Correction, in case the original gets “disappeared”, and reproduced below the fold here — although apparently it’s already been edited.) I don’t really know really even to begin to comment on this “letter” from Tea Party Express chairman Mark Williams.  It takes something really, um, special to answer charges of…

  • The Political Asymmetry of Weather

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    mongreldogs
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    So, the East Coast is in the middle of a record heat wave.  How come we haven’t heard any hyperventilating media types announce that this “proves” global warming is true?  After all, when we had a little snow in February, it was declared “snowmageddon” and offered as the final nail in the coffin of the…

  • The Perils of Positive Thinking

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    mongreldogs
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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo I think the major point — that a unquestioning devotion to “positive thinking” is both dangerous and immoral — is a good one. We definitely allow suffering because we think everyone has a shot, so if they’re suffering, it must be their fault. It’s pretty easy to see how comforting this is, to people…

  • Classic no-win situation for the President

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    mongreldogs
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    Apparently, the Pentagon has recommended that a Medal of Honor be given to a living soldier, for the first time since Viet Nam.  The Washington Post article speculates that The presentation of a Medal of Honor to a living soldier would be an important moment for President Obama, whose relationship with the military has been…

  • A little political humor, a little late

    A little political humor, a little late

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    mongreldogs
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    As soon as I read John Boehner’s characterization of financial regulation reform, I was inspired to make the following.  Unfortunately, this-and-that kept me occupied until today. Here’s a link (https://adfinemfidelis.net/mongrel/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/poster.jpg) since Facebook inexplicably strips images(!) from imported RSS feeds… I made the poster using a tool located at Big Huge Labs.  I had wanted to…