Monthly Archives: December 2010

Dear diary

By Frank Paynter | Published: December 28, 2010

When I saw it working that day in 1954, I felt like some latter-day Newton who’d just had an Idaho potato caromed off his skull. That night in my motel room I did a lot of heavy thinking about what I’d seen during the day. Visions of McDonald’s restaurants dotting crossroads all over the country [...]

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Census 2010

By Frank Paynter | Published: December 21, 2010

Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. — Thomas Malthus, 1798 How many of us are there? How many of THEM? The results of the 2010 census will be released today but the census doesn’t do a very good job of counting hedge fund managers, housing bubble [...]

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7 things to suck you in

By Frank Paynter | Published: December 20, 2010

Shy people start to sing along at concerts. Tea Party meetups start with group prayers that encourage participation from people who might otherwise be uncomfortable talking politics with strangers. Ostensibly unbiased journalists applaud at Apple keynote presentations. We are transformed when we’re part of a shared experience. — Anil Dash Darren Rowse says, “One of [...]

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Food Safety

By Frank Paynter | Published: December 19, 2010

That damn FDA, founded a hundred years ago, just to make sure the milk bottles you got were full of milk and not white paint and rat shit. – Jon Stewart Corporate shills and Senatorial obstructionists have taken a last whack at the Food Safety bill. Filthy conditions in food plants will continue unabated if [...]

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Transcript of Al Franken Speech re Network Neutrality and NBC Comcast merger

By Frank Paynter | Published: December 18, 2010

Al Franken spoke today with clarity and vision regarding the role of the FCC and his hopes that the cable industry will not be able to exercise vertical control of the net, from the bandwidth to the content. Long story short… the Comcast/NBC merger must not be allowed to happen!! The following transcript is choppy, [...]

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New START

By Frank Paynter | Published: December 18, 2010

The U.S. is far better off with this treaty than without it. It strengthens the security of the U.S. and our allies and promotes strategic stability between the world’s two major nuclear powers. – Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense The US Senate is considering ratification of the new START treaty with Russia. The deliberations, [...]

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