"Scientists" love to argue about God

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/04/06/the-problem-of-instructions/#more-8134

Don Draper's Drink Orders

Mad Men on AMC is a very entertaining television show, if a bit too needlessly pornographic.  The writing on the show is often excellent, and I think some particularly great examples come when Don Draper is asked what he likes to drink.

"Make it simple, and significant."

"Big and brown"

While there is much deplorable about Don's character, I really appreciate his unique ability to  order a cocktail. 

Avett Brothers in Durham

They were awesome.

Is this True?

Check out this article: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/1...

The software, created by a company called Narus that’s now part of Boeing, is controlled remotely from NSA headquarters at Fort Meade in Maryland and searches US sources for target addresses, locations, countries, and phone numbers, as well as watch-listed names, keywords, and phrases in email. Any communication that arouses suspicion, especially those to or from the million or so people on agency watch lists, are automatically copied or recorded and then transmitted to the NSA.

The scope of surveillance expands from there, Binney says. Once a name is entered into the Narus database, all phone calls and other communications to and from that person are automatically routed to the NSA’s recorders. “Anybody you want, route to a recorder,” Binney says. “If your number’s in there? Routed and gets recorded.” He adds, “The Narus device allows you to take it all.” And when Bluffdale is completed, whatever is collected will be routed there for storage and analysis.

According to Binney, one of the deepest secrets of the Stellar Wind program—again, never confirmed until now—was that the NSA gained warrantless access to AT&T’s vast trove of domestic and international billing records, detailed information about who called whom in the US and around the world. As of 2007, AT&T had more than 2.8 trillion records housed in a database at its Florham Park, New Jersey, complex.
Verizon was also part of the program, Binney says, and that greatly expanded the volume of calls subject to the agency’s domestic eavesdropping. “That multiplies the call rate by at least a factor of five,” he says. “So you’re over a billion and a half calls a day.” (Spokespeople for Verizon and AT&T said their companies would not comment on matters of national security.)
...

 So the television show "Person of Interest" is a true story?

Obama's Doublespeak

UPDATE 6 p.m. ET: The White House is declining to comment on the 5th Circuit's order, but the president today did clarify his comments that it would be "unprecedented" for the Court to overturn laws passed by a democratically elected Congress. During a question-and-answer session after a luncheon speech in Washington, a journalist pointed out "that is exactly what the Court has done during its entire existence."

Mr. Obama suggested he meant that it would be "unprecedented" in the modern era for the Court to rule the law exceeded Congress' power to regulate an economic issue like health care.

"The point I was making is that the Supreme Court is the final say on our Constitution and our laws, and all of us have to respect it, but it's precisely because of that extraordinary power that the Court has traditionally exercised significant restraint and deference to our duly elected legislature, our Congress. And so the burden is on those who would overturn a law like this," Mr. Obama said. 

 What's amazing is how President Obama's statement is split - divided - about the Court's power.  Yes the court has a power and we have to respect it, but the court really should not exercise this power without "significant restraint and deference to our duly elected legislature". And it's obvious that in this case,  "significant restraint and deference" means not overturning the law. His statement means he gets it both ways. He is lying, because it's an either/or.  Either the law is constitutional, or it's not.  Either the court has a right to overturn a law passed by Congress, or it does not.  He cedes the latter but obfuscates the former.

Get this man out of office.