This clip of Sarah Palin in a boat near bears hit the web weeks ago but some group finally got around to finding something to freak out about over it. When I heard about this at first it sounded like Sarahcuda jumped on a grizzly and rode it like a pony with baby Trigg spinning on one finger like a Globetrotters basketball. Instead it turns out to be a big over reaction just to complain about something.
The Guardian reports that the director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance thinks Palin broke the rules of Wolverine Creek which is a place in Alaska where bears and humans alike go fishing.
Large brown bears gather in Wolverine Creek because the fishing is so easy and the animals have, in the process, become a tourist spectacle. But Toppenberg warned that by behaving in an apparently irreverent manner, Palin was doing nothing to foster responsibility among visitors. “She is encouraging the violation of important guidelines that allows tourism to flourish in Alaska. She is inviting future problems with the tourism industry and, in particular, the bear-viewing industry,” he said.
This guy is being a total douche. He calls Palins actions a “travesty”. The fuck? She wasn’t throwing rocks at the god damn cubs – She drifts in their direction slowly and with caution, leaves them alone, shows fear and respect for the possible danger and then leaves.
Making this even more bizarre though is that the criticism is not that she was being dangerous…
But this enraged Toppenberg. “She implies that she is somehow in danger or being brave. That’s complete nonsense,” he said. “Wolverine Creek is the one place in Alaska where the bears are tolerant and completely habituated to the presence of people and boats. But the guidelines are there for a reason.”
If this is worthy of outrage for you, you need to get a friggin life. If this is the best fuel you’re using to make an anti-Palin case you fail even harder because she’s such a font of legit criticism. Do you not read her Twitter or Facebook or watch her on Fox News? She’s an endless stream of bullseye’s to make news over and gain points for your side (or just lower hers) on and you’re wasting your time on criticism like “she’s too damn enthusiastic about nature”? *facepalm* – You’re doing it wrong…
Be scared that she might run for president, not that she might have broken a “spirit of the law” rule concerning domesticated wildlife that caused no harm.
Another reason I think jumping on this may be ill-advised is that Palin is constantly trolling… she dont just bait fish hooks.. on Facebook, on Twitter, on Fox News – she is ALWAYS throwing something out there that looks like its crazystupidwrong and then owns everyone who jumped on it before all the facts were in. this allows her more controversial comments to slip under the radar. so i wouldnt be surprised if this episode has a buttload of “bears are dangerous” type of PSA warnings and crap in it and she’s gonna lean back smugly over the hype. I dont wanna play that game.
When it was first leaked that Sarah Palin was in negotiations to do a show on The Learning Channel, reports calling it a “reality show” were rebutted with corrections stating it was a documentary style expose of Alaska, not a reality show, you Lamestream Media dumbdumbs.
Well, the show has premiered now…and.. it’s a reality show.
The quirky drama accenting music, the edits, the cameras in their house, the contrived “made for tv” activities, the sit-downs with the camera to react to events it had previously captured – this is the definitional formula of what a Reality Show is. I want apologies. I demand retractions, updates and edits from all those who originally reported the dubious denial that this show was something other than a Palin family version of Keeping Up with the Kardashians.
Seriously, how the hell is this possible?? I’m rocking 12GB of RAM and a 3.2GHz processor with 8 Cores. How is Hulu still playing just as choppy and stoppy – fully buffered – as it does on my 4GB dualcore 2GHz laptop? WTF. #whitepeopleproblems
UPDATE: My bad.. this makes sense now. I was just asked “are you using the right browser? As in, are you using 32 bit when it should be 64 bit?”. The answer is no.. I’m on Macs 64 bit OS Snow Leopard and using FIrefox which is a 32 bit only browser i’m just finding out… oy…
UPDATE: oooOOoo. i switched to a Safari (Apples 64 browser) and everything is smooth as silk! i cant make it chop if i try.
take THAT Wheeler… (he “liked” this when it was a status on Facebook cuz he’s jelly uh my Batman technology and wishes me ill over it)
The cheapest smartphone data plans are all $60 a month and that is just for a stupid phone. For that reason, I have opted out of data on my iPhone for the past 2 years of owning it and instead use an AT&T GoPhone month to month plan that I can fill or not fill at my discretion. If I shelled out double what I pay now for internet on my phone though, I would gain what? GPS? I have a GPS. Non-wifi use of Twitter? Not that important. If I could tether the internet from my phone to make a Mifi (mini wireless internet) spot, then that would be worth it, but for some reason that is frowned upon by most carriers and when allowed is at least $80.
A separate cellular modem is the only option for now but when I had my Sprint satellite internet in 07, I ended up not receiving the coverage as advertised, had trouble hibernating the service and getting charged for use I didn’t make. That’s when I decided the 2 year contract for cellular modem internet would not be happening for me again and unfortunately the $60 minimum data rate offered by AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all come with that 2 year lock as well as a scoff-worthy 5 gigabyte monthly cap. Being limited to 5 gigs a month for 3G speed service (about as fast as DSL) that is spotty and not always available for an average minimum of $60 (T-mobile has a $40 monthly plan but the data limit and contract still apply) = I will not be using this service.
I just want what I have for my phone except for internet instead of phone service: an under $50 a month plan that I can cancel any time and shut on or off month to month. I’m also not playing this data limit game either. I want it unlimited. It appeared that such a service doesn’t exist.
Then I stumbled across this little gem: The Virgin Mobile MiFi 2200…
It’s so awesome that it is out of stock on VirginMobiles online store. Best Buy has them for $50 over the average price ($200 vs $150) but I found them in stock with an Amazon seller.
I was ready to buy but naturally, I went searching for the big catch – the fine print that makes this alleged mega deal not so mega. I found no such deal breaker and New York Times Tech columnist David Pogue didn’t either:
I’ve pounded my head against the fine print, grilled the product managers and researched the heck out of this, and I simply cannot find the catch.
Is it the speed? No. You’re getting exactly the same 3G speed you’d get on rival cellular modems and MiFi’s. That is, about as fast as a DSL modem. A cell modem doesn’t give you cable-modem speed, but you’ll have no problem watching online videos and, where you have a decent Sprint signal, even doing video chats.
Is it the coverage? Not really; Virgin uses Sprint’s 3G cellular Internet network, which is excellent. You’re getting exactly the same battery life and convenience of Verizon’s MiFi — for two-thirds the monthly price.
Pogue asks and answers “(Why would Sprint allow Virgin to use its data network but undercut its own pricing in such a brazen way? Because Sprint is focused on promoting its 4G phones and portable hot spots — even faster Internet, available so far only in a few cities. For example, its Overdrive portable hot spot is $100 after rebate, with a two-year commitment. The service is $60 a month for 5 gigabytes of 3G data and unlimited 4G data.)” – but later learned and explained in a follow up column that Sprint owns Virgin Mobile, which makes the price and feature difference even more bizarre. But whatever.
I just bought mine and am excited to use it over the Christmas break.
Rapper 50 Cent has a pretty amusing Twitter and recently he posted a series of pictures of himself with a pile of money consisting of $100 bills amounting to half a million bucks. I love every one of them and wish more rich people publicly enjoyed their wealth, Scrooge McDuck style, but this is my favorite one:
This could be what your pack of cancer sticks looks like if the FDA gets its way and is allowed to require “graphic images” on cigarette packages to deter smoking…
The NY Daily News report gives me mixed feelings since the Liberal in me thinks it’s awesome and well over due, but the Conservative in me knows it’s a ridiculous stipulation. I still side on the left on this one though, stupid rule or not. It’s just too awesome to speak out against.
It’s going to be harder to feel “alive with pleasure” with a photo of an emaciated man, dying of cancer, staring back at you from your cigarette package.
The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it will require such graphic images to be placed on the front and back of cigarette packages as part of a radical new campaign to keep teens from lighting up and to push longtime smokers to quit.
The FDA set a June 22, 2011 deadline for tobacco companies to redesign their packaging to include the images. They will also be required to place the jarring images on cigarette cartons.
I have been creeped out and disgusted at the reaction I’m seeing and hearing from female friends crying over the news that Nick Lachey has gotten engaged (picture of the rock on said fiance’s hand, below).
Fans were still, after all this time for the obvious reality to sink into their skulls and ring the DUH bell, hoping that Nick and Jessica would patch things up and get un-divorced… oy.. Really ladies? after all these years you STILL havent got that Nick and Jessica were a horrible horrible match? The fact that the incompatibility in the interviews while they were dating, the contempt for each other in their reality show and – oh ya – their DIVORCE wasn’t enough to drill the message into you is why your gender scares me. Never under estimate a females ability to see things how they WANT them to be…
Appropriate for the day after the election? This didn’t happen today – it’s from a few days ago from a station in San Diego – but perhaps it works as a metaphor?
Too many people vote in America. People who say that too few people vote just support dumb things that would easily attract dumb people and thus want more dummies mindlessly casting ballots.
If you’re not informed or are voting for something/someone stupid then DONT VOTE.
Even dumb people have a right to vote but not without requirements. there is no right to vote without restriction. its just a matter of policy and rules. you used to have to own land or have a penis to vote, which were good things at the time. they both changed at appropriate moments in history when neither was necessary to make an informed decision but unfortunately it removed standards all together.
Do your civic duty and don’t vote if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Here is my prediction for tomorrows election results (Red means Republican win, Blue is a Democrat win, Gray marks the states where there is no election):
Image created using ABC News’ iPad “what if” app, so it’s their fault that they don’t let you view the whole map at once (you have to scroll down even while zoomed out), so it’s their fault that Alaska is half cropped :p
Straight 50/50 split. In such cases, the Vice President takes on his role as President of the Senate and serves as tie breaker, and since he is a Democrat, that means the Republicans will fall 1 person short of winning the majority and taking back control of the Senate. Way to go Tea Partiers: you had that 51st vote in the bag in Delaware with a candidate (Mike Castle) who would have won by 11 points. Instead, you decided that he wasn’t fiscally pure enough for your standards and nominated Chistine “I’m not a witch” JesusCamp O’Donnell and now she will lose by 11 points. Had the GOP nominated Castle instead of O’Donnell, Republicans would have won both President Obama’s AND Vice President Bidens senate seats.
You missed a huge headline there, douchebagels.
The 2 states that could change are West Virginia and Washington. If Republican Dino Rossi wins in Washington, it will only be by a point or two so that means it’s also entirely possible for him to lose by a point or two – or worse – win by a narrow margin and get raped by a recount (something he has already experienced as the previous winner of the Governors race that was then yanked away from him during a recount). In West Virginia, popular Democratic Governor Joe Manchin is running for senate and is a few points ahead of Republican businessman John Raese. The most amusing part about this race is that Raese’s name is pronounced “Race-E” and it’s…a race, and Joe Manchin doesn’t have a very strong jawline. lolz. I guess it’s also kinda funny that the two dudes are trying to out-conservative each other. Watch this ad below and remember that this is the DEMOCRAT appearing here:
If the Republican wins in WV and loses in WA then nothing changes, obviously, but if they both win then the Republicans gain Senate control.
Whats certain is that the country is about to look like a Hawaiian Punch commercial as it’s washed in a Red wave of right-of-center candidates. This is good for everyone, so no one should really freak out over it. Republicans will like it – cuz duh. Moderates and Independents like me will think it’s alright because we’re okay with a little balance (the Democrats have held control of the House and Senate for 4 years and had the Presidency for 2 years so balancing Obama with a Republican congress isn’t exactly the end of the hope and changey world for the left). Also – these Tea Party candidates poised to win are not as looney tunes as initially thought. Rand Paul (R-KT) for example made me facepalm at first but now I’m alright with him and Marco Rubio (R-FL) has earned a lot of respect and street cred, including an endorsement by the left-of-center Miami Herald when he too was initially considered a dangerously right-wing nutjob. Also there are a lot of moderates getting elected tomorrow too, don’t forget. Mark Kirk (R-IL) is just barely a Republican and in the event that other longshot Republican wins were to happen (like Linda McMahon in CT or Carly Fiorina in CA – both self made business women) they would just be additions to the “oppose my party when it’s wrong” side and not the Tea Party kooks.
I voted for the least amount of Democrats I ever have this year in my mail-in ballot, so I’m somewhat reflecting the nationwide shift. I am hoping that a Republican congress with a Democrat president will work as good as it did under Clinton (quick history recap: Clintons first two years were as ambitious and as unpopular as Obama’s, but in 1994 during his midterm there was a Republican wave and Clinton became more centrist and more awesome).
Even Sharon Angle, the Republican running against Democrat Harry Reid for Senate in Nevada has proved to be not as bat-shit crazy as she initially came off as. I was dead set against this creepy freakshow right up until I watched the debate between the two and I felt shnookered. Reid, whom I previously thought was a loveable grandfatherly old bloke came off as slow, awkward and batty. Angle presented herself well and didn’t say anything that made me cringe. Actually, she impressed me by answering the questions asked of her – especially the yes or no ones, which she answered with yes and no. Reid on the other hand said 2- 4 sentences within his responses for each and dodged them. Example: “Should English be the Official National Language?”. Angle said Yes. Reid said “it already is the national language”. Well, that’s not a yes or no and it’s not even true. There was actually a vote to state it as such and Reid voted against it. Weaselly. I agree with Dennis Miller in that such a dim bulb shouldn’t be representing the state where Las Vegas is located. His son Rory is also on the ballot, running for Governor and is going to lose along with his dad. His commercials all just say “Rory” as he tries to hide his Reid-ness from voters (or maybe its just because “Rory Reid” is impossibly awkward to say).
And wtf is with the reruns? The former senator from Indiana, (R) the former Governor of Iowa (R) and the former Governor of California (D) are running for their old jobs again this year and all 3 of them are going to win. All of them held those jobs over 12 years ago – and in Jerry Browns case over 25 years ago! (god dayum). Couldn’t either party get some fresh blood in these races?
The rest of the map is all goofy too. Check out this weird pattern I noticed with Governors vs Senators in the following states:
Arkansas is going to elect a Democrat Governor by a decisive margin, but going to kick out their Democrat Senator (Blanche Lincoln) on the same ballot. Why? Lincoln isn’t a radical. She’s a Bill Clinton squish who will do what the polls say to do. Are you really THAT mad at her for her vote on Obamacare (rhetorical since the answer appears to be yes, but I still don’t get it). Course, I may get it with time. I’m late to the anti-Obamacare game since I initially supported it before finding out it’s gory power grab deficit steroiding details.
Ohio is going to elect their next Republican senator with a victory of 15 or more points ahead of the Democrat opponent, however they are only going to trade their Democrat Governor for Republican John Kasich by 2-4 points. That one is less interesting since it lacks the party divide, so that’s all I’ll say about it. The next one is the most wtf-er:
Connecticut is more interesting because it is going to elect a Republican Governor by a point or two yet it is going to reject the Republican candidate for senate by double digit margin (Update: The senate race went as I predicted but the Republican Tom Foley lost by 1% to Democrat Dan Malloy: 48%.9% to the Democrats 49.5% – or about 7,000 votes). It’s insane because Connecticut is a dark blue Democrat state and the Republican Governor they’re about to elect seems more conservative than the Republican Senate candidate they’re going to reject. The Gov seems totally blah, while Linda McMahon for senate is an outstanding candidate running against the totally lackluster Democrat Sidney Blumethal. McMahon is a millionaire self funding her campaign and has vowed to work for god-damn free in the US senate, not take any special benefits in addition to not taking a salary and will only serve 2 terms if elected so she never becomes a corrupt career politician. The dude running against her lied about serving in Vietnam and will not only take his full salary and benefits but thinks the answers to solving our broken economy is more government spending, more government regulation and more taxes. Wtf Connecticut.
and WTF California? We have the former CEO of eBay running for Governor of our bankrupt state and we’re supposed to be scared of her for some reason. People are bashing her because she’s a billionaire, but not me. Cuz you know who else is a billionaire? Um, Tony Stark… also known as IRON MAN. And a young gentleman named Bruce Wayne aka BATMAN. So a billionaire using their millions to self fund a campaign they are trying to win with a platform of reducing the size of government (ie: give themselves LESS power for the benefit of the citizens)… and that’s…bad. According to…dumb people, I guess. Makes no sense.
My dumb state is also set to re-elect Barbara Boxer for a third term as Senator despite her being a useless waste and kindov a total bitch.
UPDATE: Colorado and Washington both went Democrat by slim margins and Harry Reid pulled out a 5 point win in Nevada, making my prediction map close, but still off by 3. Washington and CO I knew were gonna be tough bets but I am shocked by Nevada.
The cheapest smartphone data plans are all $60 a month and that is just for a stupid phone. For that reason, I have opted out of data on my iPhone for the past 2 years of owning it and instead use an AT&T GoPhone month to month plan that I can fill or not fill at my discretion. If I shelled out double what I pay now for internet on my phone though, I would gain what? GPS? I have a GPS. Non-wifi use of Twitter? Not that important. If I could tether the internet from my phone to make a Mifi (mini wireless internet) spot, then that would be worth it, but for some reason that is frowned upon by most carriers and when allowed is at least $80.
