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Friday, August 3, 2012

News The Friday Morning News

Posted by Unpaid Intern on Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 8:20 AM

Posted by news intern Joseph Staten

Economy Moves Sideways: The economy added 163,000 jobs in July, yet unemployment ticked up ever so slightly to 8.3 percent.

France Moves Forward: Rookie French President Hollande is already fulfilling his campaign promise to make the richest pay up to 75 percent in taxes.

Romney's Logic Moves Backward: A spokesman told a Des Moines newspaper that Romney will let wind power subsidies expire if he's elected, saying that he wants to "create a level playing field" for power sources.

This Makes My Scales Crawl: The first instances of fish skin cancer have been discovered in three trout species in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Facebook Wants to Destroy Your Cat's Facebook Account: Or at least reclassify it. The company found that 83 million accounts on the site are duplicates, misclassified, or fake and designed to spam people.

Illinois Wants to Protect Your Facebook Account: Illinois this week became the second state to pass a law making it illegal for employers to demand the Facebook log-in credentials of their employees.

Olympics History, Some Boring and Some Exciting: Some guy became the first male swimmer to win the same event at three consecutive Olympics; meanwhile, Gabby Douglas became the first African-American to win gold in all-around Gymnastics.

"Everyone poops. Get over it.": One reader's response to a Toronto tourist's complaint about the height of the stall doors in Pike Place Market bathrooms.

I Said, Get Over It: The Gates Foundation will require about 50 gallons of fake poop to test new toilet prototypes at the Reinvent the Toilet Fair this month.

Another Federal Way Shooting: A 27-year-old man was taken to Harborview with multiple gunshot wounds he sustained in his home last night.

"I got a stick because he had a gun": A South Seattle store-owner explains why he decided to chase off a gun-toting robber with a 2x4 this week.

"Mariners are better off without Ichiro": Steve Kelly's take on the situation.

Swimmer Ryan Lochte may have come in second yesterday, but he'll always be first in my heart:

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The unemployment rate actually went up 0.037% to 8.254%. It's like making a mole hill from a bit of dust.

Posted by Renton Mike on August 3, 2012 at 8:31 AM

Does that mean we're ending oil subsidies and coal subsidies as well as wind power subsidies?

Posted by TheMisanthrope on August 3, 2012 at 8:39 AM

ok class ( admittedly from a guy who forlornly sits in the row in the back staring out the window wearing a big pointed cap ) what the ratio of pounds to gallons or how many pounds in 50 gallons of poo ?

Posted by reverend dr dj riz on August 3, 2012 at 8:39 AM

I've used restrooms at Pike Place, but I've never seen inappropriately low stall doors. Is this just a men's room thing or am I using the wrong toilets?

Posted by suddenlyorcas on August 3, 2012 at 8:40 AM

Now I'm convinced that Bill should leave the foundation and return to being the CEO of Microsoft and save the company from the drip-drip-drip of Ballmer's mediocre management.

Posted by Phoebe in Wallingford on August 3, 2012 at 8:41 AM

The growing unemployment rate is likely the result of optimism. As more jobs are becoming available, more people are getting back into the job-search mode. So people who weren't counted before are being counted now; ultimately good news.

Posted by Allyn on August 3, 2012 at 8:42 AM

This is a lovely Morning News, Joseph.

Posted by Dominic Holden on August 3, 2012 at 8:45 AM

Firstly, Ryan Lochte is so adorable. I love how down to earth he is. Secondly, Rmoney would make a worse president than that dickhead Bush. We need to encourage renewable resources. There is no "level playing field".

Posted by Pope Peabrain on August 3, 2012 at 8:47 AM

I have been sending the Lochte video around since yesterday. It just breaks lots of people's hearts. They want him sooo bad and then decide "maybe not."

Posted by gttim on August 3, 2012 at 9:00 AM

A college teammate of Lochte's told me 2 years ago that Lochte was dumber than a box of rocks. And that if he weren't such an amazing swimmer Lochte never would have made it through college. Every time I see an interview with Lochte I'm more sure that that's true.

Posted by moosefan on August 3, 2012 at 9:15 AM

@3:

The answer to your question needs a bit more input; a gallon is a volumetric measurement, pounds is a proxy for mass. So, to do your conversion, we would need to know the density of fake poop. For this purpose, let's assume 80 pounds per cubic foot (wet dirt is about 78 pounds per cubic foot, and wet clay is 110; if your poop has the density of wet clay, see a dietician). And, we would need to know that there are 0.134 cubic feet in every gallon (meaning our fifty gallons is 6.68 cubic feet).

Your unit weight is found by: 80 lb/ft^3 * 0.134 ft^3/gal = 10.72 lb/gal.

So then 50 gallons would be about 536 lb. of fake poop.

Posted by Looking For a Better Read on August 3, 2012 at 9:21 AM

@3: If "a pint's a pound the world around," then 400 pounds?

Posted by Fred Casely on August 3, 2012 at 9:22 AM

@6 Yep. That's reflected in a statistic called "participation rate," amongst others.

Earlier this year, when the jobless rate dropped to 8.2% from whatever it was, the Repugnicants were all, "Oh, but the participation rate! It's falling! Blah, blah! This is horrible!"

So, now the participation rate is starting to creep back up, showing renewed confidence, more people encouraged to look for work again. Always a good sign at the end of a recession. (Or in this case, a respite before the Teabaggers Party throws us over the fiscal cliff at the end of the year.)

And the response from the Repugnicants? What else? Crickets. No, wait, I phrased that wrong.... Bloody screaming about the statistic they were telling us was meaningless just a couple months ago.

Posted by Brooklyn Reader on August 3, 2012 at 9:23 AM

@2:

No, Rmoney still plans on maintaining the $40B in oil and gas subsidies and tax breaks that Obama has pledged to phase out.

Posted by Looking For a Better Read on August 3, 2012 at 9:26 AM

Lochte being dumb is forgivable. Not everyone's born with smarts, not his fault. Lochte wearing a grill is what ruins the guy for me. No one needs dental jewelery.

http://www.theswimaids.com/wp-content/up…

Posted by ItsAllOverNow

on August 3, 2012 at 9:37 AM

@11: Kindly tell @3 I need my hat back.

Posted by Fred Casely on August 3, 2012 at 9:39 AM

Two reasons for econ/jobs/UI:

1. Seasonal employment - not hiring temps for summer for parks jobs. See 2.

2. Drop in government employment - if it weren't for #austerity this would be a very positive number, very high private employment growth.

Oh, and today is the first KEXP Free Concert at the Mural at Seattle Center, starts 5:30, Fly Moon Royalty and more! Followed by the light show in the water fountain at 9:30.

The Dream of the 80's is alive at the Center .... temp that is.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 3, 2012 at 9:42 AM

@14 is correct. We call that "spending like a fish".

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 3, 2012 at 9:43 AM

How does one get a ticket to the Reinvent the Toilet Fair? That there is a good time.

Posted by Poo on August 3, 2012 at 9:46 AM

Companies demanding facebook log in information?

Why not just tell them you don't use facebook?

Also, that is a seriously dick move by companies that do it.

Also also, facebook sucks.

Posted by Urgutha Forka on August 3, 2012 at 9:49 AM

Re: Olympic Gold

Yesterday, Kayla Harrison was the first American to win gold in Olympic Judo.

Posted by POH on August 3, 2012 at 9:53 AM

Anyone else think that Ryan Lochte sounds a little like Walt Jr from Breaking Bad?

Posted by Grill me maybe on August 3, 2012 at 9:58 AM

@20
"Why not just tell them you don't use facebook?"

Excellent suggestion, professor. I'm sure there is no way that anyone armed with your name and city and other identifying attributes commonly found on a resume could ever discover you on their own.

Posted by Looking For a Better Read on August 3, 2012 at 9:58 AM

@ 20, that's a great idea. But FB rules even when it sucks, so now we can't be friends anymore. I wish I could unfriend you for that. Damn you and your antisocial sociable self!

Posted by Matt from Denver on August 3, 2012 at 10:05 AM

@23,
Wow. You're so smart. How did I not think of that. Thanks for setting me straight.

If only there were some way to hide your fb information from people you don't know... If only there were a setting that restricts your profile to certain people - like, oh, I don't know... your friends or something... and anyone who does a random search just gets a blank screen... what a wonderful technology that would be, right?

Posted by Urgutha Forka on August 3, 2012 at 10:12 AM

41 Straight months of unemployment above 8%. Another “unprecedented” milestone for Mr. Obama.

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on August 3, 2012 at 10:25 AM

Wow... So smoking lots (and lots) of pot makes you swim fast. Who would a thunk it?

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on August 3, 2012 at 10:29 AM

@26: The crash happened when Bush was still president, and unemployment spiked too early in Obama's presidency for any of his policies to be blamed.

The other side to your bullshit coin is that Obama has presided over 34 straight months of job growth, and record profits for private finance and industry.

But you don't care about any facts, because you are a racist wingnut troll, as has been shown over and over.

Posted by Theodore Gorath on August 3, 2012 at 11:24 AM

@25, so the problem with that is facebook's appalling track record of changing their privacy setting and resetting your once private profile to a completely open and public one. Which happened to me a half dozen times before I decided enough was enough and left facebook.

Posted by moosefan on August 3, 2012 at 11:32 AM

@26: AND government employment across the nation has steadily fallen under the Obama administration (which is what has kept the rate so stubbornly high). i thought that was yours and Grover Norquist's wet dream.

wasn't it?

Posted by Max Solomon on August 3, 2012 at 11:46 AM

But let's remember Michael Phelps didn't win all those medals, someone else did. After all, he and I swam in public pools, built by state employees using tax dollars. He got training from the USOC, and ate food grown by the Department of Agriculture. He should play fair and share his medals with people like me, who can barely keep my head above water, let alone swim.

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on August 3, 2012 at 1:07 PM

And let's also remember Gabby Douglas didn't win those medals, someone else did. After all, she and I used public gymnasiums, built by state employees using tax dollars. She got training from the USOC, and ate food grown by the Department of Agriculture. She should play fair and share her medals with people like me, who can barely do a summersault, let alone vault or do the uneven bars.

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on August 3, 2012 at 1:08 PM

Beauty and talent don't make up for stupidity, but they come close.

Posted by Joe Glibmoron on August 3, 2012 at 1:45 PM

Has anyone seen the top 10 reasons Lochte is Amrica's sexiest douchebag? Not written by Lindy West, but it's funny enough to make me miss her...
http://jezebel.com/5931055/10-reasons-ry…

Posted by Mittens Schrodinger on August 3, 2012 at 1:57 PM

@31, You ever notice those little flags next to people's names in the Olympics? Wonder why those are there?

Posted by Spike1382 on August 3, 2012 at 3:39 PM

@31 - Wait - are you parodying Romney? Because he said pretty much the same thing at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Olympics.

"You Olympians, however, know you didn't get here solely on your own power. For most of you, loving parents, sisters or brothers, encouraged your hopes, coaches guided, communities built venues in order to organize competitions. All Olympians stand on the shoulders of those who lifted them. We’ve already cheered the Olympians, let’s also cheer the parents, coaches, and communities. All right! [pumps fist].”

Posted by Free Lunch on August 3, 2012 at 8:34 PM