This thread is for ladies only. Men, scroll down to the next thread, thanks.

Okay girls, now that we're alone, there is something, like, Super Important we all should know about our laptop computers.

First; modern laptops have little cameras in them.

Second; if your laptop computer tells you to bring it someplace warm and steamy, or if it tells you to arch your back and lather more vigorously in the shower, OMG TOTALLY DON'T.

The software sent fake error messages telling users to “fix their internal sensor soon,” and “try putting your laptop near hot steam for several minutes to clean the sensor,” Goodrich said.

The error message prompted some victims to take their laptops into the bathroom with them when they showered, he said.

“Once he had access, he would take photographs of the users, usually women,” Goodrich said. “Often, the female victims were undressed or changing clothes. Harwell then stored the photos on a remote server, and eventually downloaded them on his own computer.”

Honestly. Honestly, ladies! It's hard to believe some of you were gulled into this one.

A computer does not have sensors that require a change of ambience. Occasionally there will be emergency or error messages, but generally the only ones you should respond to have to do with security.

For example, in order to login every day, my laptop requires I prove my identity by performing the standard nipple scan. The guys at the computer store said it was the best and safest secure login technique, and I believe them. That stupid scan lasts MINUTES.

The jumping-jacks and pinching seem excessive, but security is very important to me. If I lost my cache of cute cat pictures I WOULD DIE.

Stay safe, girls.

Much thanks for this great computer safety tip from Skinbad, AOSHQ's longtime Utah Stringer.

Posted by: LauraW at 04:11 PM | Comments (234)
Post contains 312 words, total size 2 kb.

The strategic petroleum reserve, or SPR, currently holds about 727 million barrels of crude oil and was established to provide a short term buffer for supply disruptions caused by wars, natural disasters and the like.

The newest natural disaster: falling poll numbers!

President ObamaÂ’s recent hints at tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be just the third major sale since the creation of the emergency oil reserve and the only time a drawdown didnÂ’t involve a major domestic production disruption or a war.

But, hey, 727 million barrels is a lot of oil, right? Ummm, no. We use around 18.5 million barrels a day. In keeping with Ace's no math for teh morons rule, that's about 40 days' worth.

So what's the plan here, Barry? Oil prices are built around long-term supply and demand projections. 40 days of U.S. consumption won't move the needle. Oh, and that SPR ... it has to be refilled:

“Releasing oil from the SPR when there is not a disruption in supply would be nothing short of catastrophic,” said Brian Kelly of Brian Kelly Capital. “It would indicate panic within the administration over the state of the economy, but more importantly it would take the markets less than a second to realize the US will need to fill up the tanks again.”

“Oil would soar,” added Kelly.

Duh!

Here's a suggestion: Don't tap the SPR. Tap ANWR.

Posted by: andy at 02:53 PM | Comments (213)
Post contains 250 words, total size 2 kb.

In what sense?

Surely not...?

Oh boy how they do love their own.

“He was a good congressman, and maybe he can weather this all and be effective.”

Walters (who blabbed in her memoirs that she had an affair with a married politician) hoped Weiner could become another heroic Clinton: "we had a president named Bill Clinton who went through a great deal of trouble, weathered the storm and is now not only respected, but he's beloved by many people with a very good marriage."

Walters proposed that the congressman merely be rehabilitated rather than face actual consequences. “I think the pictures are disgusting. But I think he has hit rock bottom, and this may be what he needed so that he changes his life. He has been a good and effective congressman.”

Hit rock bottom?

I wouldn't bet your dentures on that, Babs.

Heroes.

Oh, and stop being so "puritanical," wingnuts.

By the way, why do people pretend Clinton and Hillary have a super-awesome marriage? Aren't they in the same city almost only by accident?

more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:38 PM | Comments (130)
Post contains 206 words, total size 2 kb.

Update: This really isn't too much beyond what we know, but a Texas source just told Rich Lowry "He's in."

Word From The Inner Orbit: "Nothing has changed."

Well, okay, Bryan, if you're going to be King Pill of Buzzkill Mountain.

But of course they'd say that. You announce on the day you announce. You don't tip this stuff off, on the record, before that.

...

Allah's speculation was sound.

Ben Domenech, who's frequently had Perry on as a guest on his Coffee and Markets show, and ergo has people he routinely reaches by phone, now says:

Call to Texas. "If you're calling about what I think you're calling about... I can't talk about it yet." Ha!

All Right... Domenech tells me this was a call to a Texas consultant.

I sort of think maybe he's, erm, underselling this.

I stand by my posting of La Grange.

And No... I didn't post it because it's about a whorehouse. I didn't even know that. It just sounds like music you hear right before there's a Texas-sized barfight.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:17 PM | Comments (546)
Post contains 180 words, total size 2 kb.

Maybe we need some of the more primitive, lower-functioning ones back again.

I noted that Alec Baldwin had called HuffPo commenters a bunch of "sanctimonious d-bags." But I didn't know why.

Well, it's because Baldwin penned an apologia for Weiner's genitalia.

Weiner is the modern, high functioning man. The fact that he is married is just one, albeit a huge, factor. I know many people who divorce over such issues of online betrayal. Appointment sex with your spouse doesn't always arrive when you need it most. A modern cell phone, loaded with contacts of willing fellow players, has a table with a red checkered table cloth ready for you at virtually any time. . .

Oh, but there's more. From Business Insider, which cheekily runs a picture of Baldwin at the blackboard explaining Always Be Closing.

My thought on Weiner is that he is a very busy man. Like most, although not all, politicians, he probably spends a great deal of time going to meetings, raising campaign funds and seizing upon every opportunity to remind people of how great he is as a public servant and a human being. It's exhausting. He exists under a constant pressure cooker of self-analysis and public appraisal. Like other politicians, he needs something to take the edge off. For some people, regardless of occupation, that could mean booze, drugs, gambling, food or shopping. For high functioning men like Weiner and other officials who have lived through such scandals, who are constantly on the go, that leaves one tried and true source of a reliable high. The affirmation that comes when someone lets you know they want to sleep with you. Or even cyber-sleep with you.

Oh My Dear Sweet Generous Heaven of Never-Ending Beclowning... It's just Christmas every day anymore.

Eh, some of these guys need something to take the edge off.

You know what really takes the edge off?

Teenagers!

"In Fairness:" I'm supposed to say, "in fairness," tha Baldwin says he wasn't justifying Weiner's behavior, just explaining it.

But I don't think much is needed on the explanation front, really. He's a horny guy, and that special and dangerous combination of narcissistic/arrogant but deeply insecure/haunted by feelings of inadequacy. Those go together all the time, and it results in a literally jerky personality type, veering from indulgent crybaby to swaggering bully in an instant, and usually marks someone who's headed for a big fall.

Anyway, he says this isn't a justification. Praising Weiner as "the modern, high-functioning man" as part of the "explanation" sure sounds like "justifying" to me.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:46 AM | Comments (182)
Post contains 445 words, total size 3 kb.

You know, I don't want to push T-Paw too much. It gets annoying. I get that. So I was perfectly willing to just take a pass on his not one but two higher-profile endorsements.

I wasn't going to publish that. They are what they are. Endorsements don't really change minds anyway.

But, when he gets a third endorsement, one that matters, one that could actually help him, then it's reached my "okay, gotta post it" level.

Bob Franken, who doesn't even rate a VH-1 Behind the News profile, finds Tim Pawlenty too damn extreme and scary for his liking.

BOB FRANKEN: Well, he's serious in that he's pandering to the segment of the Republican party, the very wealthy, by basically letting them off the hook for any responsibility. They're interested in buying back a government. And so he is out there trying to see to it that he is the one where they shower all their wealth on, so he can turn around then and lead the government and be the person who heads their oligarchy.

The simple fact of the matter is that this is nothing new. There's an old discredited theory you called voo-doo economics. It was called the Laffer Curve, Laffer Curve, it was a laugher from the beginning. A rising tide lifts all boats. You know: there's a trickle down theory. Of course they don't say what trickles down on people. [Belly laughs from Cenk.] The point is that this is something that Republicans love to talk about and they drive us deeper and deeper into debt when they do.

The "Cenk" who erupted in deep belly laughs is of course Cenk Uygayuar or whatever his name is, the guy who, in spinning for Weiner, proclaimed he himself is such a massive playa he's compelled to lie all the time to his myriad girlfriends, many of whom hail from Niagra Falls and neighboring locales, and whose presence on MSNBC, along with Ed Shultz', strongly suggests to me that MSNBC is filling its lineup based on applicants' capacity to sweat while sedentary.

By the way, Cenk -- was that a real laugh? You honestly never heard that joke before? That one really just snuck up on you and caught you off guard?

I've got a good one for you: The last time I laughed that hard, I fell off my dinosaur.

Zing!, baby, Zing!

Don't get pissed at me. I really, truly was going to blow off the endorsements.

Presidential Rundown QuickFire News:

Gingrich's people have resigned en masse, including his top NH aide.

"Generic Republican" continues to fare well against Obama.

Bill Kristol has two sources saying Giuliani's in.

Romney, look, I want to like Romney. Obviously he's a type of Generic Republican and he seems like good cat. But he won't let me.

The early GOP presidential front-runner has broken with his partyÂ’s conservative ranks to declare global warming a real threat to the planet that merits some sort of action to curb heat-trapping emissions.

But the former Massachusetts governor is also quick to trash cap and trade, carbon taxes and other controversial policies that have been kicked around over the last decade in Washington.

Ed notes that this stance -- "I'll claim it exists, and then do nothing about it" -- was essentially Bush's position, and it's a not-awful position. Because, in the end, it's not what you believe (or claim to believe), but what you do.

And if he's laying down the promise he'll talk this nonsense to death, fine, whatever, I can give him a pass. I get that. It's not awful.

It's just... at some point we have to stop having to give him passes. Fine on this one. I guess we could kind of overlook RomneyCare. But... no more passes, huh, Big Guy?

And Rick Perry is still thinking about running.

Oh: Since I posted, Allah posted on the Gingrich matter.

Breaking so hard that I don’t even have a link for you yet, but Carl Cameron is reporting on Fox News as I write this that the entire senior circle — everyone, basically — is jumping ship based on “a difference of opinion” with Gingrich on the direction of the campaign.

Allah has something more interesting than that, though: The speculation that Gingrich's people are quitting because they now know, through a Perry ally formerly working for Gingrich, that Perry will soon be in, and has a lot better chance of doing something besides bellyflop.

Posted by: Ace at 11:11 AM | Comments (208)
Post contains 790 words, total size 6 kb.

Well isn't that special.

Howard Kurtz is delegating his thinking to a Daily Kos Diarist, and the Washington Post is subcontracting to the Huffington Post's Reality-Based Community.

More than 24,000 e-mail messages sent to and from Sarah Palin during her tenure as Alaska's governor will be released Friday. Join The Post in digging through them. We are looking for 100 organized and diligent readers who will work alongside Post reporters to analyze, contextualize, and research the e-mails. Think of it as spending some time in our newsroom.

Oh yeah, nothing at all remarkable here! Nothing at all.

Thanks to Jack Straw.

And Speaking of the HuffPo's Readers: Alec Baldwin? Not a fan.

A lot, a real lot, of sanctimonious d-bags on HuffPo.

Not exactly new news.

curious points out this Washington Post liberal-blogger crowdsource effort dovetails with my earlier points about the fact there is apparently no longer any wall at all between the left-wing fever swamps and the inaccurately-termed "mainstream media."

They're now just operating openly together. Hand-in-glove, cheek-by-jowl.

Posted by: Ace at 10:22 AM | Comments (282)
Post contains 218 words, total size 2 kb.

This is claimed by the National Enquirer, as an initial matter, though Say Anything quotes from the Daily Mail, citing the Enquirer.

Now I say the obligatory "the Enquirer is the Enquirer," and then you also know the next obligatory statement, "but the Enquirer has been over this like Anthony Weiner on a 16 year old girl who just Tweeted she wanted to have sex with him."

In a final act of revenge, Elizabeth Edwards secretly recorded a testimony in her dying days that helped prosecutors indict husband John last week, it was claimed today.

At the Daily Mail, some discussion of the most famous and Hollywood hearsay exception: The Dying Declaration.

Bruce Baron, an expert on federal law, said: ‘The value of a potential dying declaration, or tape, containing the testimony of Elizabeth Edwards, is devastating to any case or defence that Edwards would have.

‘Remember, this is a wife of many years, who would basically be stating what had happened. The veracity of it would be devastating,’ he told the Enquirer.

So this is not a recording of John Edwards talking to Elizabeth. This is Elizabeth offering her own testimony about what she knows, and the tape itself is just hearsay (no living witness to verify its contents), but if it's a Dying Declaration, it's an exception to the general rule.

Dying Declarations are usually thought to have a decent level of credibility, the idea being no one uses his last breaths to tell a lie.

But Elizabeth has been dying for years -- literally, more so than most people -- and it's not clear when this recording was made. If it was made months before her actual death, that would really, seriously strain the idea of the Dying Declaration. Which is usually thought to be a With My Last Breath I Spit At Thee thing.

Also: Is it true in this case she would have no reason to lie?

‘She hated them with a vengeance. This was a woman who took her final breath in the same bed where John once had sex with his mistress.’

Too interesting to not post!

By the way, I already know I've conflated the hearsay idea with the verification of documentary evidence idea. I know I've mixed two things together.

That's what you're here for -- to correct all of my horrendous errors.

Via Melissa Tweets.

Posted by: Ace at 10:04 AM | Comments (104)
Post contains 423 words, total size 3 kb.

Re-elect number is at 43%, with 50% saying "for the love of God someone else".
Shaky numbers, but hey, it is just Texas. Maybe we need to really worry.

Oh wait. Those numbers aren't for the Lone Star State.

They are for Pennsylvania: more...

Posted by: CAC at 09:43 AM | Comments (157)
Post contains 324 words, total size 2 kb.

Ace beat me to the tip of the DOOM! iceberg, but no worries. There's plenty more where that come from.

First up, the ghost of John Maynard Keynes tweets: @Democrats UR doin it wrong #asshats

I am tired of politicians like President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner quoting Keynes to justify their spending plans when politicians consistently refuse to listen to Keynes' complete message

...

What Keynes said on not cutting spending in a recession has been widely quoted, correctly

...

What those quoting him forget though is that Keynes said governments should run a budget surplus in the good times

That link goes to CNBC, so I'm wondering if maybe the @ tweet was really supposed to be DM. There's a lot of that going around lately.

Now Keynes was, in scientific terms, not even wrong, but it really is unfair to call what we're doing "Keynesian Economics." It's even more half-assed than that.

Keynesian "pump priming" presumes you have something with which to prime the pump. That "something" is fiscal prudence during the good times. We walked away from that boring old concept with the New Deal and broke into a full sprint with the Great Society. Result: boned!

Related: Amity Shlaes kicks teh Krugman in the poon.

On to the Loyal Order of the Terminally Boned. Charter member Illinois tried an innovative solution to their fiscal problems. They raised taxes. Unexpectedly™, businesses made noise about fleeing the state, so they gave them ... wait for it ... tax incentives to stay put.

The good news is that corporate tax receipts in Springfield are up by about $300 million amid the economic recovery—though the state comptroller's office announced in April that the state still faces $8 billion in unpaid bills. The bad news is that, according to the state's Department of Commerce, Illinois has already shelled out some $230 million in corporate subsidies to keep more than two dozen companies from fleeing the state. And more are on the way.

...

The irony is that the recipients of these sweetheart deals are the very enterprises that [Governor] Quinn was counting on to pay more taxes. Six months ago the Governor and union economists said the Illinois tax hike wouldn't chase businesses out of the state. Now Mr. Quinn is seducing businesses to stay by chopping their tax liabilities.

Brilliant! The article might be behind the WSJ's paywall, but read the whole thing for a good laugh or two if you can. Unless you live in Illinois. more...

Posted by: andy at 09:42 AM | Comments (21)
Post contains 434 words, total size 3 kb.