The Speed of Cultural Transmission

Karl Rove Melts Down on National Television November 5th, 2012

Maddow then played a clip of Karl Rove contesting Fox News’ call that Obama won the state of Ohio, and therefore the presidency on Tuesday night. She then launched into a rant which can only be described as epic for comprehensively denouncing every conspiracy theory that cropped up during the 2012 election cycle. She said:

“Ohio really did go to President Obama last night, he really did win. He really was born in Hawaii, and he really is, legitimately, president of the United States again. And The Bureau of Labor Statistics did not make up a fake unemployment rate last month. And the Congressional Research Service really can find no evidence that cutting taxes on rich people grows the economy. And the polls were not skewed to oversample Democrats. And Nate Silver was not making up fake projections about the election to make conservatives feel bad. Nate Silver was doing math.

And climate change is real. And rape really does cause pregnancy sometimes. And evolution is a thing! And Benghazi was an attack on us, it was not a scandal by us. And nobody is taking away anyone’s guns. And taxes have not gone up. And the deficit is dropping, actually. And Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. And the moon landing was real. And FEMA is not building concentration camps. And UN election observers are not taking over Texas. And moderate reforms of the regulations on the insurance industry and the financial services industry in this country are not the same thing as communism.”

Maddow said that the Republicans “got shellacked” Tuesday night in a way that conservatives did not see coming because of what Maddow called their “vacuum-sealed, door-locked spin cycle of telling each other what makes them feel good.”

“Unless they are going to secede,” Maddow added, “they are going to need to pop the factual bubble they have been so happy living inside if they do not want to get shellacked again…Come on guys, we’re counting on you.”

Link to MSNBC Rachel Maddow Video

“I am doing everything I can to help Mitt Romney be the NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE USA!!!!!! I made this commercial for him and am hoping that he will approve it. But so far his campaign has not gotten back to me. If enough people see this video, maybe he will return my calls!”

Marie Antoinette baptised Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna (or Maria Antonia Josephina Johanna); 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793), born an archduchess of Austria, was Dauphine of France from 1770 to 1774 and Queen of France and Navarre from 1774 to 1792. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and Empress Maria Theresa.

In April 1770, on the day of her marriage to Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France, she became Dauphine of France. Marie Antoinette assumed the title of Queen of France and of Navarre when her husband, Louis XVI of France, ascended the throne upon the death of Louis XV in May 1774. After seven years of marriage, she gave birth to a daughter, Marie-Thérèse Charlotte, the first of four children.

Initially charmed by her personality and beauty, the French people generally came to dislike her, accusing “L’Autrichienne” (meaning the Austrian (woman) in French) of being profligate, promiscuous,and of harboring sympathies for France’s enemies, particularly Austria, her country of origin. The Diamond Necklace incident further ruined her reputation. Although she was completely innocent in this affair, she became known as Madame Déficit.

The royal family’s flight to Varennes had disastrous effects on French popular opinion, Louis XVI was deposed and the monarchy abolished on 21 September 1792; the royal family was subsequently imprisoned at the Temple Prison. Eight months after her husband’s execution, Marie Antoinette was herself tried, convicted by the Convention for treason to the principles of the revolution, and executed by guillotine on 16 October 1793.

Even after her death, Marie Antoinette is often considered to be a part of popular culture and a major historical figure, being the subject of several books, films and other forms of media. Some academics and scholars have deemed her frivolous and superficial, and have attributed the start of the French Revolution to her; however, others have claimed that she was treated unjustly and that views of her ought be more sympathetic.

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Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

You just gotta love The Onion – They really nailed this one !

Living in a beautiful New England location has many drawbacks, one of them being that the local telcos are so ridiculously backwards, a vestigial tail of days gone by.

For instance, for me to make a phone call 5 miles down the road in the same state, one town over, is a long distance call. Crazy and absurd.

The other thing is boggles the mind are the phone books. Since 5 miles away is a long distance call, I also require an additional phone book to locate businesses in that town. Add this to the fact that I live in a tri-state area, and it shows what is antiquated business model for the Yellow Pages has become. Not for the various companies that publish the Yellow Pages, but for the businesses that pay to advertise in the Yellow Pages. usi

These days, I don’t even bother to call 411 and get charged an absurd $1.50, I use Google. If the business cannot be found on Google, then I find someone else who has what I need. In a tri-state area such as mine, the Yellow Pages are irrelevant, and I begin to understand the power of using Google for my search in a cell phone. That is a service I would even pay for, although, it would have to be far less than $1.50 per search.

Makes me start seeing the potential in having a Google cell phone, or a Google wifi phone. AT&T and Verizon, take a hike !

Well, I have been doing a new blog for outsider art for a client of mine, trying to help their old art gallery space to get found. In doing this research I have now officially graduated to the ‘hard core’ blogging word, embarking on the open source quest using WordPress. In my search for PHP tools to integrate WordPress with Flickr, I stumbled upon Tijs Teulings blog researching the WordPress Theme of Hemingway and Slickr where I clicked onto his link to MyBlogLog. So now I am on that site and see people viewing, I thought I would write this quich post to say “Hello all out there in the MyBlogLog community !