I’ve spent the last hour or so watching news coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.  Things are bad there.  It’s pretty impossible to describe, actually.

As of now, there is no electricity at the airport, so no flights can take off or land after dark.  If no flights can get in, no aid (food water, etc.) can get in either.

They just got the runway lights up on generator power, so flights may be able to resume soon.

Some of the first flights to land will be US Air Force teams.  The Air Force will set up a mobile Air Traffic Control station and manage all incoming flights for the foreseeable future using equipment that all fits into C-130 cargo planes.

Next come the National Guard teams from Puerto Rico carrying over a million bottles of water, among other supplies.

After that will be a US Navy hospital ship, basically a fully functioning floating hospital, complete with a burn unit and surgeons that can perform brain surgery.  (The USNS Comfort)

President Obama says that he believes in American exceptionalism, just as he “suspect[s] that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”

That is bullshit.  There is absolutely no parallel.

There are no British hospital ships on the way, and no one expected the Greek Air Force (does it even exist?) to deploy a mobile ATC facility.

Americans are indeed exceptional, and the most exceptional are the men and women of our all-volunteer military, who are the only people even remotely qualified to lead during a crisis like this.

Karen wrote: “I just want to restate, for the record, that Adam truly is not himself in Dreamland. For example, I’m pretty sure that my husband has never uttered the word ‘asswipe’, a distinctly American insult, in waking life.”

A Michigan company announced the release of software Tuesday that introduces new punctuation to the typed word: The sarcasm mark.

Sarcasm Inc. of Washington Township said the SarcMark, which resembles an open circle with a dot in the center, can be installed on computers via a program that can be downloaded from sarcmark.com for $1.99.

The company said it has versions of the program for several computer systems
as well as BlackBerry devices.

“Statements have the period. Questions have the question mark. Exclamations have the exclamation mark. When you see the newest punctuation mark for sarcasm, you’ll know the writer of that sentence doesn’t literally mean what they’re writing; they’re being sarcastic,” the company said in a release.

Alternate Title: A bunch of guys with far too much time on their hands.

An update from my favorite corrupt third world shit hole:

Mexico opened the new year with what could be its most dubious distinction yet in the 3-year-old battle against drug trafficking — 69 murders in one day.

But, of course, we’re to blame.

“You wonder how this will end, and it seems impossible,” said Daniel Vega, an architect in the northern city of Monterrey. “I doubt Mexico can override drug use, especially since demand for the drugs, as well as all the money and weapons, come from the United States.”

“But my guess is that most restaurant owners wouldn’t have the vaguest idea about how to flush those machines, or that they would even need too,” said Godard.

Microbiologists not involved in the study weren’t surprised of coliform colonies in the soda fountain machines.

“Wherever man is there will be representation of feces,” said Philip Tierno, director of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at New York University Langone Medical Center.

“We’re basically bathed in feces as a society,” he said.

“It doesn’t make your life better,” an introductory video on the site coaxes. “You always think you’re missing something. And above all, it makes you more stupid.”

The idea of the “Web 2.0 Suicide Machine” is to abandon your virtual life — so you can get your actual life back, Gordan Savicic tells NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly. Savicic is the CEO — which he says stands for “chief euthanasia officer” — of SuicideMachine.org.

Once you’ve decided to go through with it, all you need to do is give the Suicide Machine some information and hit a little button that reads “commit.” Then you can sit back and watch as your virtual life flashes before your eyes.

Historically significant cat haters include Genghis Khan, Cardinal Richelieu, Napoleon, Hitler, and Mussolini. Now let’s move on to the cat lovers. Ailurophiles include Sir Winston Churchill, whose orange tabby, Jock, attended cabinet meetings. Cat-loving American leaders include Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and George W. Bush. Sir Isaac Newton is credited with inventing the kitty door-flap, so his cat could be at liberty to let himself out while the inventor was stuck indoors, engrossed in research. Another talented inventor, Leonardo da Vinci, opined that “the smallest feline is a masterpiece.”

[T]here are approximately 77.5 million owned dogs in the United States and 93.6 million owned cats. Thirty-three percent of U.S. households own at least one cat.

Main Entry: pse·phol·o·gy
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek psēphos pebble, ballot, vote; from the use of pebbles by the ancient Greeks in voting

The scientific study of elections

“I’ve used one for years. I find it convenient. I find the tax code complex so I use a preparer,” Shulman said.

Pressed on how he would make the tax code simpler, Shulman responded, “I don’t write the tax laws. Congress writes the tax laws so that’s a whole different discussion.”