POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

Happy Birthday to Jimmie B!

Surrey down to a stone soul sundries shack and wish him all the best. And don't make him beg.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Murdering Her Was “An Act of Love”

Some 18-year-old dude in Colorado who represented himself to a 13-year-old girl's parents as 14 murdered the girl when her parents, discovering his actual age, urged her to break off the relationship. And if you can believe it, it only gets sicker from there.

Turns out he had a MySpace page, natch.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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HHS Report on Likely HCR Costs Suppressed Prior to Vote

Transparency!

The economic report released last week by Health and Human Services, which indicated that President Barack Obama's health care "reform" law would actually increase the cost of health care and impose higher costs on consumers, had been submitted to the office of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius more than a week before the Congressional votes on the bill, according to career HHS sources, who added that Sebelius's staff refused to review the document before the vote was taken.

"The reason we were given was that they did not want to influence the vote," says an HHS source. "Which is actually the point of having a review like this, you would think."

The analysis, performed by Medicare's Office of the Actuary, which in the past has been identified as a "nonpolitical" office, set off alarm bells when submitted. "We know a copy was sent to the White House via their legislative affairs staff," says the HHS staffer, "and there were a number of meetings here almost right after the analysis was submitted to the secretary's office. Everyone went into lockdown, and people here were too scared to go public with the report."

In the end, the report was released several weeks after the vote -- the review by the secretary's office reportedly took less than three days -- and bore a note that the analysis was not the official position of the Obama administration.

They're not death panels. They're politically motivated triage.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Non-Violent Anti-Tea Party People

leave articulate, thoughtful messages for Freedom Works. Tsk, tsk . . . such language:

Maybe we need a pacifiers for pacifists movement. via Ace

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Sad Days for the Gorebacle & How Should Insurers Respond? [Dan Collins]

He was so hoping to parlay that measly $500 million of fraud rewards into a billion or two, but that may just have gotten more difficult with the release of Brian Sussman's book, Climategate. We had Brian on The B-Cast today, and that segment will be posted later on tonight. It was great. [UPDATE: Here's the link]

I love this kind of thing, too, via Edward John Craig at NRO:

High in the Mackenzie Mountains, scientists are finding a treasure trove of ancient hunting tools being revealed as warming temperatures melt patches of ice that have been in place for thousands of years.

Tom Andrews, an archaeologist with the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife and lead researcher on the International Polar Year Ice Patch Study, is amazed at the implements being discovered by researchers.

Ice patches are accumulations of annual snow that, until recently, remained frozen all year. For millennia, caribou seeking relief from summer heat and insects have made their way to ice patches where they bed down until cooler temperatures prevail. Hunters noticed caribou were, in effect, marooned on these ice islands and took advantage.

"I'm never surprised at the brilliance of ancient hunters anymore. I feel stupid that we didn't find this sooner," says Andrews.

Ice patch archeology is a recent phenomenon that began in Yukon. In 1997, sheep hunters discovered a 4,300-year-old dart shaft in caribou dung that had become exposed as the ice receded. Scientists who investigated the site found layers of caribou dung buried between annual deposits of ice. They also discovered a repository of well-preserved artifacts.

Andrews first became aware of the importance of ice patches when word about the Yukon find started leaking out. "We began wondering if we had the same phenomenon here."

In 2000, he cobbled together funds to buy satellite imagery of specific areas in the Mackenzie Mountains and began to examine ice patches in the region. Five years later, he had raised enough to support a four-hour helicopter ride to investigate two ice patches. The trip proved fruitful.

"Low [sic] and behold, we found a willow bow." That discovery led to a successful application for federal International Polar Year funds which have allowed an interdisciplinary team of researchers to explore eight ice patches for four years.

The results have been extraordinary. Andrews and his team have found 2400-year-old spear throwing tools, a 1000-year-old ground squirrel snare, and bows and arrows dating back 850 years. Biologists involved in the project are examining dung for plant remains, insect parts, pollen and caribou parasites. Others are studying DNA evidence to track the lineage and migration patterns of caribou. Andrews also works closely with the Shutaot'ine or Mountain Dene, drawing on their guiding experience and traditional knowledge.

I tell you, folks, it's all part of a secret conspiracy of AGW deniers to manufacture and plant prehistoric remains where they will do most to discredit reasonable people, such as Charles Johnson.

We know that people of truly scientific mind require better evidence than these flimsy "likelihoods."

Newsweek asks the important question, "Do Women Hate Their Bodies More Than Men?" I would say that it's likely that women who read Newsweek hate men more than their . . . oh, wait. They mean to ask whether women hate their bodies more than men hate theirs.

Speaking of empiricism (and in relation to some of the actuarial issues that Meep writes about), Jerry Wilson wonders how insurers can counteract the villification the industry receives at the hands of progressives. I know, I know: once it's all monopolized by the government, there will be the usual improvements in quality and service. Got any ideas for Jerry? Drop a comment.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Guyism Lets a Gal Do the Choosing

Meh. I mean, they're all good-looking women, but sexiest bods in creation? They're a woman's idea of what men look for in a woman's body, and I'm sure it's a lot better informed than what most guys would turn up for presumably sexiest guys' bodies. Still, I think that this is one of those things, like ABBA's use of the English language, that's just not quite right. The woman's probably cuter herself than some of her picks, IMO.

No, no, no, stick to the tried and true, as compiled by Smitty over at TOM. Classical Liberal always brings the prime specimens, not partial to blonds, but Nation of Cowards has a sweet-looking one, and Pirate's Cove brings great links and a not-overidealized depiction of fine American womanhood, just to mention a few. But Ms. Samara did produce a picture of someone named "Ciara" who apparently sings (not that it matters), of whom I was previously unaware, and who appears beneath the fold.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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David Thompson: She’s Got Legs

she knows how to use them.

There's a difference between cool and sick, people.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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In the Service of Science [UPDATEx3]

Today is Boobquake Day (I'm hoping it will become an annual event), so I may not be able to post much more, as I'm going to be busy inspecting cleavage to see how much there needs to be before we reach the titting point. I must say, if there is an earthquake, Iran and Venezuela better watch out, because, as the Evil Clown is aware, the US has the technology to turn tits into hits . . . on our enemies.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that our secret government programs are responsible for the Iceland volcano eruption, seeing how much Obama wanted to golf rather than attend the boring funeral of that Polish guy and his wife.

I'm just a skeptical inquirer, you know. My wife and I had a contretemps this morning, over the issue of raw milk. She thinks that it is a good idea to drink it, and there's a farm just a couple blocks away that sells it, whereas I'm inclined to believe that perhaps people were a little less insane back in Louis Pasteur's day and that the claims are rather overblown. Now it's possible, of course, that Big Dairy hijacked Pasteur's method in order to enslave the farmer, I guess, but I very much doubt Pasteur was in on the deception. My youngest is 14, now, so I'm going along with this until one of us or our neighbors is paralyzed, because I am just a man and don't understand these things. At any rate, it could be that one of us is gullible, and the prevailing theory is that it's probably me.

Please put links to your favored Boobquake cleavage in the comments.

Melissa Clouthier: "Embrace cleavage." Snarky Basterd has kittehs and boobehs.

UPDATE: Okay, let's . . . I was going to say prime the pump. Anyway, Carol Zara shows how it's done. We're not a nation of cleavage cowards, are we?

More UPDATE: Must see PJTV on conflicts of interest and Cap & Trade.

More more update: Taiwan earthquake, behold the power of cleavage.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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