Friends

http://unlikelyworlds.blogspot.com/2009/11/science-fiction-that-isnt-science_15.html

http://feeds.reference.com/click.phdo?i=a12f60e0ab3e6c00dc71b59e818c41d1

http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/archive/2009/11/15.html

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap091114.html

What's 93 million miles away and still hurts your eyes when you look at it?

http://nielsenhayden.com/lighter/archives/2009_11.html#011879

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011878.html

I asked her whether there was anything we could do. She said "Prayer." I asked her whether there was anyone she wanted me to tell, and she said "Everybody."

I could use some help with the telling. Mention Velma in your prayers, too.

If there's more news, I'll add it here.

7:52: They're at New York Methodist Hospital.

Velma reports that Scraps is compos mentis and furious (no details on that), and that his blood pressure is somewhat low. For all of which we are grateful.

9:36: Velma texts to say CAT scan soon; also, Howard is there, and he says "Due diligence to figure out what's the matter." I add, Howard knows this stuff.

I further add, IMO, things are sounding better than they might, but Scraps clearly needs to be in the hospital.

11:11: Velma says not to sit up all night. She'll call if there's news, and I'll keep updating.

1:19: Helen, who's also been at the hospital, says:

Howard and I just got back from the hospital. Soren did not have a stroke. At 7pm Soren had a seizure which lasted about 2 minutes, Velma called 911 and he was taken to the hospital. At 9:50 pm Soren had a second seizure while in the hospital which lasted for 2 and a half minutes.

He was given medication to relax him and to stop the seizures. His blood pressure was on the high side while we were there. A CAT scan showed some abnormalities but those could be contributed to residual artifact from the stroke. He is probably going to be held 24-48 hours for observation, given anti-seizure medications, and then referred to his primary doctor for followup.

2:08: Velma posts:

It's a bit after 2am, and I'm home. Soren's in a room at Methodist, and the plan is to saturate his system with anti-seizure meds, have a neurosurgeon take a look at the CAT scans, and see what happens. He'll be in the hospital at least until Monday or Tuesday.

He has speech, though he's somewhat disoriented by the hospital setting, and he's unhappy and drugged-drowsy.

Thank you all for prayers, good thoughts, and spreading the word. I'm going to follow his mother's directions and go to bed. I'll try to be more coherent in the morning.

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011876.html

November 14, 2009
McCain Campaign Adviser pushes back on Palin book
Posted: November 14th, 2009 02:22 PM ET

	As you know, Bob, Sarah Palin's book is called Going Rogue. The title is on the cover and everything.
But observe on CNN just now:

The full page is here as a graphic, or read the original; maybe they haven't corrected it yet.

The annotated version of this chapter will be completed after I get off book tour—in November and December, 2009.

—SB

James Shields and Douglas Spencer. Online ballot available from Monday

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Despite fearful rhetoric to the contrary, terrorism is not a transcendent threat. A terrorist attack cannot possibly destroy a country's way of life; it's only our reaction to that attack that can do that kind of damage. The more we undermine our own laws, the more we convert our buildings into fortresses, the more we reduce the freedoms and liberties at the foundation of our societies, the more we're doing the terrorists' job for them.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2009) — Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating the age of many specimens by 200 to 600 percent.

http://unlikelyworlds.blogspot.com/2009/11/random-linkage-141109.html

http://sideshow.me.uk/snov09.htm#11141433

"So, are you satisfied now? Seriously. Are you? Are you satisfied with the health care bill that passed the House? After all the compromises, after all the "asses of Blue Dogs are to be kissed, those of progressives are to be stomped" concessions, after stripping out authorities for state-level single-payer plans and adding in abortion bans, after changing "Medicare plus 5%" to "negotiate one provider at a time," after creating a flimsy, weak, unattractive "public option" consciously designed to be no better than private insurance and which will cost more than private insurance, after creating an individual mandate but omitting any rate caps and removing the prospect of serious competition, after creating a system of what amounts to multibillion dollar taxpayer handouts to the insurance industry, after getting zeroconcessions from the right or the insurance companies that they weren't prepared to give even before the debate began, are you really satisfied?

"Send A Coat Hanger To An Anti Choice Democrat. Blue America is teaming up with Working Assets, the folks behind CREDO Mobile and CREDO Action in a project we think you'll like. We're urging you to sign a petition to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid regarding the 20 formerly pro-choice men who voted for the virulently anti-choice Stupak Amendment last Saturday. Working Assets will send one of them a coat hanger for each signature." Actually, that's weak tea for me - every single Democrat who voted for the whole piece-of-crap bill needs to be hear from their constituents that allowing this bill, which gives us nothing but actually takes things away from us, to get anywhere near a floor vote was an act of pure evil and that you will be backing a primary challenge against anyone who doesn't act to kill and get back to square one: single-payer.

Digby, not having forgotten the lessons of a laughably unelectable clown called Ronald Reagan, isn't happy to watch "progressives" treat pointing-and-laughing as sufficient protection: "Whenever the Republicans move right, the villagers expect the Democrats to do the same. Indeed, with the Republicans taking themselves completely out of legislation, the Democrats have pretty much assigned members of their own ranks to take their place in the negotiations. They have the ability to move the right without the country even realizing it's happening."

You have no rights.

Did you know that, aside from Darrell Issa (R-CA), who is the richest elective official on Capitol Hill, the rest of the top five richest legislators in Congress are Democrats?

I guess "majority rule" is off the table: "The Roll Call reporter this morning on CSPAN with Rep. Jan Schakowsky D-IL, Steven Dennis, called the silent filibuster that we have seen this session the new normal. This completely dismissed the idea that the majority should rule. Does that reporter hate freedom? This places the tactic of one Senator rising to object to the motion to proceed to anything in the Senate as the way it is always going to be. Not a delaying tactic. The new normal."

Oh, cute, UK mortgage lenders are whining because protections against mortgage fraud amount to nanny-state laws and the banksters don't like being treated like drug dealers.