Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

He really is that stupid.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Everybody saw this coming.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Republicans in disarray!

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Monday Evening Open Thread: It’s All Robots

Monday Evening Open Thread: It’s All Robots

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Prescient! From Kevin Reese at NYMag:

As you gather round the hearth with your loved ones this Christmas, try not to dwell on the following: Berkeley researchers have just discovered that a super-material called vanadium dioxide can be used to make artificial muscles that are 1,000 times more powerful than human muscles. According to the press release accompanying the discovery, a robot muscle made out of vanadium dioxide would be “able to catapult objects 50 times heavier than itself over a distance five times its length within 60 milliseconds — faster than the blink of an eye.”…

***********

I kid, I kid. What’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

95Comments

  3. 3.

    jl

    Look on the bright side. When Cole can order his custom made Tunch robot, and it falls over and just lies there. Cole will know its working. And his long suffering minions won’t have to read a rant or bleg post about it.

  5. 5.

    Trollhattan

    @jl:

    Cole’s robot will get run off into a farmer’s field, from which it can never escape, even though it has all the damn mustard.

  6. 6.

    srv

    Gibson had slam hounds and Stephenson had a transonic dog.

    If you want something more current, Daniel Suarez does hard cyberpunk with cyrpto-libertarian/Occupy activists and autonomous robots which hunt down non-cooperative plutocrats and dismember them with various toolsets.

  7. 7.

    realbtl

    OT but thanks to whomever mentioned Robert Crouch’s book on Charlie Parker. I ran through it in 3 days, absolutely fascinating.

  9. 9.

    jl

    @Trollhattan: That will be the Cole robot that Cole orders. The Tunch robot will gather all of it’s vanadium dioxide strength, amble over and watch the Cole robot for awhile, and then go back home and drink all the heating fuel, or whatever it runs on. Everything will be just like old times, except ROBOTS.

  11. 11.

    pseudonymous in nc

    As someone on the twitters said, Google and Amazon are in a race to become Black Mesa and Aperture Science, and the only thing we don’t know is which will be which.

    (Or perhaps Massive Dynamic, depending on which fictional sciencecorp universe you prefer.)

  12. 12.

    MikeJ

    Scientists have made “automobiles” that can travel ten times faster than a man can run! They’ve created “aeroplanes” that can go thousands of times higher than a man can jump!

  14. 14.

    schrodinger's cat

    @jeffreyw: My mother cooks crabs (or lobsters) in a wonderful broth of ground cumin, cilantro, green chillies and ginger which she then thickens with a paste of fried onions and dried coconut flakes. It is to die for.

  15. 15.

    catclub

    Alex Pareene follows up his hack list by noting that Barack Obama is a fan of far too many of them.

    As Atrios put it: We are doomed.

  26. 26.

    schrodinger's cat

    @jeffreyw: First you toast the cumin, grind it in a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder, then add the cumin, grated fresh ginger, cilantro leaves and green chillies to the food processor or blender. Roast this paste with a little oil, add your crabs or lobster, add water, close the lid and boil.

    In a skillet, fry thinly chopped onions till they become brown and crisp, in the same pan toast some dried coconut flakes (unsweetened, not the ones in the baking aisle). Make a paste. Add it to the crabs or lobster broth, add salt and simmer gently. Serve with hot chapatis (Indian flat bread) or rice.

    ETA: I think flat leaf parsley may work as a good substitute but believe me the completely cooked cilantro in the broth will taste nothing like the fresh cilantro leaves that are usually used as a garnish.

  27. 27.

    Mike E

    Who has two thumbs AND Obamacare? This guy! Just enrolled in my 1st health/dental plan since the W admin, a silver blue advantage at $139 and a gold dental plan at $52…$191.35 per month. This calls for a cocktail. Or several!

  30. 30.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Mike E: That’s some mess of pottage for which to have sold your American birthright of Freedom™.

    (Freedom™ is a registered trademark of the Republican National Committee. Used with permission. All rights reserved)

  35. 35.

    MomSense

    Since this is an open thread what is up with the gagglefuck of 15 Democratic Senators trying to undermine the talks with Iran?!

  43. 43.

    Ultraviolet Thunder

    I’m having surprise company due to the power outages all over Michigan. We’re basically all hosed up over here right before a major holiday.
    Since I need to get my ass moving and make ready for visitors, naturally I’m frozen in social media stasis/denial and doing nothing.

  45. 45.

    Pogonip

    You can have the lobster, I want to go to Ranchandsyrup’s house before the Scotch runs out.

    I have just been to the grocery and therefore do not have to go in another big box till after the madness ends. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

  46. 46.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @schrodinger’s cat: Wishful thinking.

    He’s clearly not a right-wing conservative, despite those who say that he is, but well, let me put it this way: does it surprise me that he reads and respects David Brooks and Fred Hiatt? No, no it does not.

  47. 47.

    MomSense

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I happen to have a friend whose husband lobsters so I am going to try it. I’m taking some vacation after the new year and my plans are to do lots of cooking, and not the usual rushed after work kind of cooking.

    I’m also craving paella so I think I will get all the fixings for a seafood paella and make that over my break too.

  48. 48.

    Elizabelle

    @Sad_Dem:

    Interesting article. Rohrabacher would have done better to pay for cleaning and repairs out of pocket. This story could be shades of Paula Deen going through with that deposition instead of settling with her employee.

    A reader comment on the OC Weekly story on Dana R leaving his rental home filthy (and now suing the landlord for not returning the security deposit):

    Has anyone investigated the idea that Congressman Rohrabacher never lived in this house to begin with, but instead rented it as a “legal address” for some other purpose?

    He may have been paying rent, but not actually occupying the house, which opened the door to transients or other vagrants to come in and trash the place. That and the elements seem to have done the damage here.

    Why would he do that, one might ask? If i were a reporter from the area, I’d look into where he and his family actually spent time on a daily basis during the period he rented this house. Is it possible he is NOT actually a resident of the district that he represented in Congress? Did he need a fake address in that location for some other possibly fraudulent purpose such as voting or tax fraud?

    THAT’s the question here, and is most likely the reason he has his Saul Goodman attorney blowing smoke all over the place with his threats and dodges.

    I would think the Department of Justice might be interested in any evidence indicating he was committing a crime by renting but not truly occupying this house.

  56. 56.

    MomSense

    @Litlebritdiftrnt:

    I thought you were exaggerating with your “coolest thing ever in the history of the universe” but nope–absolutely the coolest thing ever in the history of the universe.

  57. 57.

    Bill Arnold

    @Elizabelle:

    the people (all white males, save one) PBO reads.

    Perhaps he reads them because they have agenda-setting power, and he believes that not reading and interacting with them would be political malpractice. Close call (if this is so) though; should he schmooze more with Joe Manchin and other Democratic party malcontents instead?

  60. 60.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m way too excited that my present to myself (a Fitbit Force) came in the mail today. I said I wasn’t going to set it up until after Christmas, but somehow I found myself charging the battery today.

  61. 61.

    Helen

    What’s on the agenda? Had a colonoscopy this afternoon and am still basking in the propofol. Propofol? yes you remember that drug. It’s what killed Michael Jackson. Well, not really. Michael Jackson killed Michael Jackson. And do you know how? He did not die of an overdose. Apparently the “sleep” on propofol is fake. And he was on it for 3 months. Finally his brain thought that he had not slept for that full 3 months and his brain finally turned off. Your brain needs to really sleep. His did not. For 3 months. Read that here. Raven?? gave us a link?

  62. 62.

    piratedan

    @Bill Arnold: I wonder if it’s also a case of knowing what the “enemy is thinking” thereby seeing how they’re spinning his words and actions and how to counter and solve those potential deficiencies that his actions and policies create. I don’t think Obama thinks he’s well served living in his own echo chamber like the previous administration.

  63. 63.

    Davis X. Machina

    @MomSense: Got a pot of chowdah on the stove right now. Scratch-made some Boston brown bread to go with it. I don’t bother with the whole coffee-can thing anymore, just a waterbath around regular loaf pans and a tight greased foil cover for each.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    @Davis X. Machina:

    When I made it for a holiday potluck, I discovered that “figgy pudding” is a fancy name for a steamed spice cake (with dried figs in it, of course). And “hard sauce” is buttercream frosting with a tablespoon of brandy.

  65. 65.

    Cacti

    Roseanne Barr appears to have gone from PUMA to full metal racist loon.

    From the Twitters:

    “Susan Rice is a man with big swinging ape balls.”

  66. 66.

    Litlebritdiftrnt

    @Davis X. Machina:

    I am going to be prepping dough all day tomorrow for Christmas morning breakfast for my neighbors, fresh warm cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, muffins, cinnamon raisin bread, might throw a couple of other things in there while I am at it. I have a bread machine and I like to bake.

  71. 71.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @ Multiple: About POTUS and columnists. Here’s what one of the articles that Alex Pareene linked says:

    “It’s not an accident who he invites: He reads the people that he thinks matter, and he really likes engaging those people,” said one reporter with knowledge of the meetings.

    The off-the-record meetings are held over coffee around the long wooden conference table in the Roosevelt Room, just off the West Wing lobby. Participants vary depending on the issue of the day, but there are regulars. Brooks, the New York Times columnist, is a frequent guest, as is Joe Klein of Time Magazine. From The Washington Post: E.J. Dionne, Eugene Robinson, Ezra Klein and Fred Hiatt, the editorial page editor. On foreign policy: the Post’s David Ignatius, Bloomberg View’s Jeffrey Goldberg, and the Times’ Thomas Friedman. He also holds the occasional meeting with conservatives. This month, he met with Washington Post columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer, Wall Street Journal editorial page editor Paul Gigot, and other influential representatives from the right.

    Note that David Brooks and Jeffrey Goldberg aren’t conservatives, according to Politico. Nor of course do they think that Fred Hiatt, Joe Klein or Friedman are conservatives, but that’s the standard Village viewpoint, seeing them as “centrists” or moderate liberals, despite their fairly clear conservative stances.

    The statement “he reads who thinks matters” can certainly be read to mean that he doesn’t necessarily agree with those he reads. However respecting people David Brooks or Fred Hiatt enough to want to meet with them on a regular basis is certainly a different view on them than many of us have. It’s also not great that there are some hard right-wing conservatives mentioned but no one you could call a counterpart on the left.

    I don’t think there’s any need to go to extremes with making him more conservative than Bush, but I also think there’s no use being in denial. If you’re going to sneer at centrists like Friedman and Brooks and then pretend that’s not essentially where Obama stands also — just silly, if you ask me.

  72. 72.

    Cacti

    @Cacti:

    ETA: Alan Turing was convicted of “gross indecency” for sex with another man 61 years ago. His suicide by poisoning was 59 years ago.

    That’s the world that Phil Robertson wants to see a return to.

  74. 74.

    gwangung

    @piratedan: Really. “Know your enemy/” Why is this so hard to believe from a president that actually passed health care, actually got DADT rescinded legislatively, did not support DOMA and at least tried to get Gitmo closed?

    Respecting your enemies does NOT mean you won’t grind them to dust and turn them to red paste when you get done with them.

    I don’t think there’s any need to go to extremes with making him more conservative than Bush, but I also think there’s no use being in denial. If you’re going to sneer at centrists like Friedman and Brooks and then pretend that’s not essentially where Obama stands also — just silly, if you ask me.

    Personally, I think it’s silly to confuse the tactical with the strategic. Knowing where the Village (which DOES represent a modicum of political power) sits has its uses, knowing how far a president might be constrained. You or I may take them lightly, but a president should not.

  75. 75.

    Sad_Dem

    @Elizabelle: The article says that the locks were changed after the rental agreement was signed. It’s illegal for a tenant to do that, and it would have been illegal for the Rohrabachers to let someone not on the agreement to live there…but anyway, so far I haven’t heard Dana Rohrabacher claim that someone else lived there.

  77. 77.

    ruemara

    Voila! I did a tonnage of baking and made my first frosting plus used a decorator thingy. I don’t think it came out badly and the crepe cake doesn’t look too bad either. All set for the charity feast. Except I think I’m coated in butter and I still haven’t made dinner. jeez. and this kitchen… FYI, cranberry swirled frosting? Do not try it.

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    @Sad_Dem:

    He can’t claim someone else lived there, because then the question comes up of where Rohrabacher was living at the time. IIRC, California has fairly strict residency laws for politicians, so if he was living outside of his district, he could be in major trouble.

  79. 79.

    Mnemosyne

    @Bill E Pilgrim:

    If you’re going to sneer at centrists like Friedman and Brooks and then pretend that’s not essentially where Obama stands also — just silly, if you ask me.

    If you think Obama’s beliefs are the same as Brooks’ and Friedman’s, you haven’t read either Brooks or Friedman.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @Elizabelle:

    I can forgive him all of them except this one:

    Thomas Friedman, The Davos Herald-Register. Possibly the dumbest human being ever to write a column for a major newspaper. It’s terrifying that a president would take him seriously.

    Arne Duncan quotes Friedman in speeches. You would think someone on the political end would tell him “stop quoting Thomas Friedman. He has nothing to do with anything.”

  82. 82.

    Cassidy

    @Cacti: You know, before the millionaire redneck doubled down, I was willing to give him the benefit if a doubt if an old person trying to describe something he didn’t understand in a clumsy fashion.

  85. 85.

    mclaren

    @Bill Arnold:

    Perhaps[Obama] reads [books written by nothing but white guys] because they have agenda-setting power, and he believes that not reading and interacting with them would be political malpractice.

    Yes, because Tom Friedman has been such an oracle.

    (Rolls eyes.)

    There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, you obot lickspittles won’t stoop to in your frantic fellation of your clay-footed idol, is there?

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    I think Friedman is the living embodiment of the old adage A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. He knows just enough to draw really, really bad conclusions.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    @Mnemosyne:

    “The jobs of the 21st century haven’t been invented yet” That’s the Friedman quote they all love.

    Honestly. Would you put that in a speech? Not just one, either. Several. Why is that even profound or pundit-y?

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    @Kay:

    That’s what I mean about Friedman. That specific pronouncement is right (if shallow), but his prescriptions on what to do about it are completely useless when they’re not actively counterproductive.

  91. 91.

    Roger Moore

    @gwangung:

    Personally, I think it’s silly to confuse the tactical with the strategic. Knowing where the Village (which DOES represent a modicum of political power) sits has its uses, knowing how far a president might be constrained.

    And it might be a good idea to butter the opinion makers up so they don’t trash you too hard. The courtiers must be flattered or they will make life miserable.

  92. 92.

    Bill Arnold

    @mclaren:

    Yes, because Tom Friedman has been such an oracle

    Who said anything about these guys being oracles? They have agenda setting powers. People read them, take them seriously, people with influence.
    Anyway, I was just offering an alternative theory, which can’t be tested. Here’s a politico piece about this.

    “The president cares a lot more about the opinions of Fred Hiatt or Tom Friedman than he does about the average U.S. Senator,” said one journalist.

    “cares about” is not the same as “agrees with”. (or “respects” though that later is pretty much untestable.)

  93. 93.

    PT&S

    A grievance: the societal effects of inequality are suddenly all over the public discourse, but noone seems to be talking about the research and conclusions collected by Wilkinson and Pickett, and the Equality Trust more generally. See, e.g., http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html and The Spirit Level.

    The results are slippery … hard to embrace, in no small part because they’re so darn convenient about how inequality is inherently harmful. But there’s so much information, and the scatterplots are so gripping. I’d love it if a front-pager here took it up. Many of you will find it worth your time to investigate.

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