So what will happen if, as expected, Republicans win control of the House? We already know part of the answer: Politico reports that they’re gearing up for a repeat performance of the 1990s, with a “wave of committee investigations” — several of them over supposed scandals that we already know are completely phony. We can expect the G.O.P. to play chicken over the federal budget, too; I’d put even odds on a 1995-type government shutdown sometime over the next couple of years.

It will be an ugly scene, and it will be dangerous, too. The 1990s were a time of peace and prosperity; this is a time of neither. In particular, we’re still suffering the after-effects of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, and we can’t afford to have a federal government paralyzed by an opposition with no interest in helping the president govern. But that’s what we’re likely to get.

 Paul Krugman (via azspot) “It’s Witch-Hunt Season,” New York Times, August 29, 2010 (via drwh0) (via somerset)
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23 notes | | Sep 1, 2010
If politicians can attain their objectives by portraying themselves as having attained them, then they should be studying portraiture, not cost-benefit analysis. Deborah Stone, Policy Paradox
| Aug 28, 2010
alexbalk: Huh. It’s been fifteen years.

alexbalk:

Huh. It’s been fifteen years.

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10 notes | | Aug 28, 2010
proofmathisbeautiful: fuckyeahmath: bobrox: Math Nerds do it better.

proofmathisbeautiful:

fuckyeahmath:

bobrox:

Math Nerds do it better.

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3,708 notes | | Aug 14, 2010
Women aren’t from Venus after all: Popular culture tells us that women and men’s brains are just different. It’s true that male and female hormones affect brain development differently, and imaging studies have found brain differences in the ways women and men feel pain, make social decisions and cope with stress. The extent to which these differences are genetic versus shaped by experience — the old nature-versus-nurture debate — is unknown. But for the most part, male and female brains (and brainpower) are similar. A 2005 American Psychologist analysis of research on gender differences found that in 78 percent of gender differences reported in other studies, the effect of gender on the behavior was in the small or close-to-zero range. And recent studies have debunked myths about the genders’ divergent abilities. A study published in the January 2010 Psychological Bulletin looked at almost half a million boys and girls from 69 countries and found no overall gap in math ability. Focusing on our differences may make for catchy book titles, but in neuroscience, nothing is ever that simple. 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Brain | LiveScience (via first-taste) (via femonster)(via humorlessfeminist)(via stfusexists)(via kalemason)(via annabunches)(via tranzient)(via inascaldingjoy) (via robot-heart-politics)
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150 notes | | Aug 12, 2010
BREAKING: Activist Judge Does Awesome Activisty Thing!

matthewgallaway:

langer:

A source for NYMag just made my fucking day: 

According to a source who has seen the 136-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge Walker has ruled Proposition 8, the California voter-approved ban on gay marriage, unconstitutional under both the due-process and equal-protection clauses. We’re staying tuned and will report more details when we get them.

Hey, progress!

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47 notes | | Aug 4, 2010
Girls Get Math! It's culture that's skewed!

proofmathisbeautiful:

proofmathisbeautiful:

“Just as boys tend to gravitate to toy trucks and girls usually prefer dolls, the gender differences in math performance have more to do with culture than aptitude. That’s according to a new review of relevant studies.”

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34 notes | | Jul 27, 2010
sexartandpolitics: “I used to call people, then I got into e-mailing, then texting, and now I just ignore everyone.” nerdshares: As much as this pings my Old-Person-Humor radar*…it, it is actually true. *like a 1990s Woody Allen movie or any “Shouts and Murmurs” column ever via daveholmes:mikehudack:arig

sexartandpolitics:

“I used to call people, then I got into e-mailing, then texting, and now I just ignore everyone.”

nerdshares:

As much as this pings my Old-Person-Humor radar*…it, it is actually true.

*like a 1990s Woody Allen movie or any “Shouts and Murmurs” column ever

via daveholmes:mikehudack:arig

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755 notes | | Jul 26, 2010
darlenecomics: bowfolk: charredcoal: guerrillamamamedicine: Human ovulation captured on camera | Doobybrain.com whoaaa *that*—-is some type of holy shit. the egg is gonna go into the fallopian tube, right? where is the tube? and is this a forced ovulation? or is this what all of our ovulations look like?  *wicked* ps what’s the time process of these pictures? and aren’t those golden eggs so shiny and soft and golden looking?

darlenecomics:

bowfolk:

charredcoal:

guerrillamamamedicine:

Human ovulation captured on camera | Doobybrain.com

whoaaa

*that*—-is some type of holy shit. the egg is gonna go into the fallopian tube, right? where is the tube? and is this a forced ovulation? or is this what all of our ovulations look like? 

*wicked*

ps what’s the time process of these pictures? and aren’t those golden eggs so shiny and soft and golden looking?

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68 notes | | Jul 23, 2010
Two persons – one white and the other black – are playing a game of poker. The game has been in progress for some 300 years. One player – the white one – has been cheating during much of this time, but now announces: ‘from this day forward, there will be a new game with new players and no more cheating.’ Hopeful but suspicious, the black player responds, ‘that’s great. I’ve been waiting to hear you say that for 300 years. Let me ask you, what are you going to do with all those poker chips that you have stacked up on your side of the table all these years?’ ‘Well,’ said the white player, somewhat bewildered by the question, ‘they are going to stay right here, of course.’ ‘That’s unfair,’ snaps the black player. ‘The new white player will benefit from your past cheating. Where’s the equality in that?’ ‘But you can’t realistically expect me to redistribute the poker chips along racial lines when we are trying to move away from considerations of race and when the future offers no guarantees to anyone,’ insists the white player. ‘And surely,’ he continues, ‘redistributing the poker chips would punish individuals for something they did not do. Punish me, not the innocents!’ Emotionally exhausted, the black player answers, ‘but the innocents will reap a racial windfall.’ Roy L. Brooks (via azspot)
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141 notes | | Jul 23, 2010