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DWTS Season 11 – The Myth of Bristol
Okay, I threatened to do this a while ago and now I'm doing it. I'm putting my fingers to the key board to answer the question – how did Bristol last as long as she did? Was it really a Tea Party, or just dumb luck and silly judges?
This post isn't really even about Bristol herself – it's about the judges scores versus the voting. People always claim that the judges scores mean nothing. Well, bull, they're worth 50% – it's the judges who decide whether they mean very little or if they mean A LOT. The way the judges scored most of this season, they were irrelevant. When push came to shove, in the finale, they got their act together. I argue that it should happen sooner – like Week 7 or so.
Okay, with that out of the way, let's get back to business with a recap:
Week 1 – The Departure of The Hoff
I consider this the first, and one of the bigger, shocks of the season. But maybe German's didn't realize they can indeed vote on DWTS, if they are properly educated on how to do so. 🙂 Anyway, the bottom scorers this week were:
– The Hoff, 15
– The Sitch, 15
– Margaret, 15
– Michael, 16
– Florence, 18
– Bristol, 18
So, that one really shouldn't have been a shock, as he was one of the low scorers. No surprise that Bristol stayed, much surprise that Margaret stayed. 🙂 Bristol had a whole lot of people with lower scores (and less infamy) than her.
Week 2 – Dog Houses are very, very bad.
Michael Bolton and Chelsie Hightower exit the competition after a thorough humiliation. One that was hard to watch indeed. The bottom scorers were:
– Michael, 12
– Margaret, 18
– The Situation, 18
– Florence, 19
See, the judges were already giving Bristol 22 at this point for dancing that wasn't that good. You expect me to believe that Bristol was only 2 points behind Jennifer Grey, who did a seriously kick ass jive?? Sorry, but nope. In any case, Bristol was never in any danger thanks to overscoring AND people who were worse than her. Anyway, Michael was no great shock really, now that I think about it. A 12 is very hard to overcome when the next lowest was an 18. He had to get 27,000 more votes per million votes cast in order to stick around.
Week 3 – Rainbows are bad too??
Nah, not really. Louis was saying on Twitter that Margaret going the gay pride route was what did her in, but what I really think happened was that after that first dance no one took her seriously. She lasted as long as she did because The Hoff and The Bolton were so much worse. I don't think gay pride had anything to do with it – but maybe I'm naïve. The bottom scorers were:
– Margaret, 18
– Bristol, 19
– Florence, 20
– The Sitch, 20
Now we see Bristol hit the bottom 2 in scores – but Margaret is the low scorer, here. No great stretch. Marge needed 4,500 votes to catch Bristol (chump change) and there is no way that was happening. No shocks here.
Week 4 – Here's the Situation as I see it
Poor Situation, and by extension, poor Courtney. 🙂 He did well making it to the fourth week though, I have to say. The bottom scorers this week were:
– Situation, 28
– Bristol, 32
– Florence, 34
– Kurt, 35
Again, we see Bristol insulated by a 4 point cushion – not a huge number, but she's not the low scorer and Sitch was a worse dancer. For the Situation to stay, he had to get 11,200 more votes than Bristol per 1 million votes cast. Say thank you to your judges, because they are charting the course of Season 11 history here. That 4 points isn't huge – but it still counts. No great shock that Bristol stuck around when put up against a relative unknown (to DWTS audience) guy who is 4 points behind her. And him being the worse dancer helped. 🙂
Week 5 – Serious Monkey Business
This is the week where the wheels fell off, IMO. I dare say that Michael Bolton was more than a little irate to see Bristol wear a Monkey suit and still get an 18. I dare say that any pro who's gotten scolded pretty harshly from Len for use of a prop (Maks, Derek, Dmitry…) was more than a little irate at the end of this night as well. Remember when Nicole and Derek did a FANTASTIC quickstep that broke a ton of rules? Len gave them a 6. Then Len turns around this season and gives Bristol a 6 after forgetting most of her steps and wearing a Monkey suit. And you still wanna know why Bristol is still around at this point? 🙂 Hint: it ain't the Tea Party – unless of course Len whipped out his silver tea set on the commercial break. 🙂 Check out this weeks scores:
– Bristol, 18
– Kyle, 20
– Florence, 21
– Audrina, 23
Kyle the Popular is only TWO points ahead of a girl who danced in a monkey suit. TWO. And Audrina, who dances better on her worst day than Bristol does on her best, is only 5 points ahead of girl in monkey suit. Florence is only three points ahead of Bristol – and three points ain't nothing particularly when 8 or 7 people are getting votes. The voting is spread out over more people than it is in later weeks. Florence ultimately goes home, which means that:
Kyle got 5,500 more votes per million votes cast than she did, AND;
Bristol got 16,500 more votes per million votes cast than she did.
That may seem like a lot for Bristol to achieve, but in reality it is only 1.65 percent – a tiny number. Here's another way to look at it: this was the week where you got 8 votes per phone and 8 votes per email address. So say the average person uses one phone and one email – that means only about 1,000 more people needed to vote for Bristol than they did for Florence. Of course not everyone who watches votes…but everyone who votes doesn't use ONLY two accounts. We're dealing in what could be very small numbers, here.
Week 6 – The Real Shocker
Okay, THIS was a shocking elimination – but after you really think about it for a bit, you realize maybe not. Audrina is in the top two for judge's scores and goes home. Because of Bristol? Hardly. There was a lot more at play here. These were the scores for the week:
– Kurt, 22
– Bristol, 28
– Jennifer, 29
– Rick and Kyle, 30
– Audrina, 32
– Brandy, 36
There are FIVE people with lower scores than Audrina going into the audience vote. Five. The spread between the low scorer and Audrina is TEN points. Now that is a nice big number. But is it shocking that Bristol stayed and Audrina when home? No – there is only 4 points between them, while Kurt is 10 points behind her. When the second highest scorer goes home when there are 7 dancers?? It means that person wasn't getting votes, period, not that Kurt and Bristol had huge fanbases. It wasn't just Bristol that beat her, after all. Kurt had to get nearly 5% more of the vote than her, or 48,500 more votes per million votes cast. Bristol only needed 1.93% – her highest margin of the season up until the finale. And of course, Jennifer, Rick and Kyle all had to make up a difference as well.
Audrina suffered from the model curse, IMO. Very beautiful but relatively unknown to the DWTS voters. Combine that with being paired with Tony and having a high score that week and you can kiss her goodbye. People continue to assume that if a dancer has a high score they are safe. Several of us on this blog had expressed concern about her longevity for these reasons. Put Audrina up against the movie icon, the fun Disney kid, the daughter of an infamous political figure, and two well liked (and well known) athletes? Then pair her with Tony instead of Derek and her odds get worse. Nothing against Tony, but, like it or not, Derek can make a model stick around longer – Joanna Krupa was far more unpopular than Audrina was popular. With all these conditions, Audrina was never destined to go higher.
Week 7 – The Athletes Split the Votes
That's one of my theories anyway. People who are inclined to go the athlete route had two to choose from. Still think it's Bristol's fault? Nah. This is only the second time that Bristol has been the low scorer and it isn't by that much:
– Bristol, 57
– Kyle, 59
– Rick/Kurt, 61
– Jennifer/Brandy, 64
There is a significant problem here. First, when you hand out that many points in a week (366) and still keep the margin at 7 points between the top and bottom you actually decrease the percentage the low scorer needs to stick around. If they did the typical 30 point possible and had a spread between the top scorer and the bottom scorer of 7 points, the bottom scorer would need more than 5% to beat the top scorer. In this week, with a total points awarded of 366, there was ONLY a spread of 1.91% between Bristol and Brandy/Jennifer. When you are talking less than a percent between the bottom FOUR scorers, of course it's going to be anyone's game. Did Rick's fans assume he was safe because of that four point cushion? Who knows? Were Kyle and Bristol fans really, really worried?? Probably. If those two sets of fans are worried, how hard do they really have to work? Kyle's fans had to get 0.55% more and Bristol's fans had to get 1.01% more. Piece. Of. Cake. Odds are always good that the low scorers fans are going to vote like maniacs and it doesn't take many maniacs to make up 1.01%.
Week 8 – Well, I think it was Close.
Seriously, Kurt versus Bristol with Bristol being the low scorer – but only by a point. We know what a point really means at this point, don't we? Nothing. In this case, it was obviously going to be one of the two of them and I wager it was very close. Of course, I base that on what happened in the finale, so of course hind sight is 20-20. Here were the scores for Week 8:
– Bristol, 47
– Kurt, 48
– Kyle, 57
– Brandy/Jennifer, 58
Much better point spread this week between the top and the bottom – but still that 10 points only means that Bristol is 3.77 percent behind Brandy/Jennifer. That's a small number and it's again the result of a higher number of points awarded. So, if there is only 3.77 % between the top and bottom, it's not hard to believe that there is only 0.38% between Bristol and Kurt – that's no spread at all. I will say it again – Bristol didn't need a miracle to stay over Kurt. Not at all. She only needed a couple dozen more fans than Kurt who were passionate about her staying. Maybe not even that many if they were power voting.
Week 9 – Tragedy
Well, I think it was a tragedy, anyway. Even though my favorite won, I would have liked to see a real competition. Brandy/Kyle/Jennifer would have been great. But the question is – did Bristol play spoiler? Hmmm…Maybe for the first time. But how much of it was Bristol and how much of it was Brandy herself? How much of it was the judges?? Again, the judges had a great deal of influence – look at the scores:
– Bristol, 53
– Brandy, 57
– Kyle, 58
– Jennifer, 60
Bristol only 4 points behind Brandy? Seriously?? People keep saying the judges scores mean nothing, but I think they've got it backwards – the judges scores mean everything, just not in a good way. By scoring Bristol relative only to herself, THEY give her more potential to stick around longer. Now, I understand doing that early on – but this was the 9th week and it was time to turn into a hard ass and they all FAILED. Sometimes I think the judges think they are being tough, like above, giving Bristol a 53. Problem is, they don't really get how the scoring and the audience vote works out either – or it doesn't appear so, anyway. Because that 4 points equals 1.75%. How many time have I said how little 4 points amounts to? It's a pittance. When you have Kyle being a likeable teddy bear, Jennifer Grey being JENNIFER GREY and Bristol getting all the buzz (plus the Vote for the Worst crew), Brandy is going to need more than that 4 points – she wasn't getting any attention that week. No attention = kiss of death.
Week 10 – The Finale Tells the Tale.
And Bristol takes 3rd. And in doing so we learn the limits of her voting fanbase. The final scores were:
– Bristol, 104
– Kyle, 110
– Jennifer, 118
Again, because so many points were awarded, the spread between them goes down even though the points difference seems greater. That six points between Kyle and Bristol only equates to 2.75%, which is not that much greater than the spread between her and Brandy. But it is clearly enough to knock Bristol out of the game. I think there were a few things at work here – the judges finally started scoring them relative to each other, or seriously ranking them. When they do that, it makes an impact. But that wasn't all – people finally figured out that if they didn't want Bristol to win, they had to vote like hell for someone else. The highest number of votes in the history of the show isn't going to benefit Bristol, as much as the Tea Party would like to think otherwise – hey, DWTS mirrors real life!! 😉
At the end of the day, Bristol was eliminated because she couldn't get past the 2.75% between her and Kyle. That was the largest spread she ever had to overcome over the entire 10 weeks of the competition. Here's a summation of where Bristol was each week – if she was the low scorer, I put the margin she had to overcome.
– Week 1 – Not in the bottom 4
– Week 2 – Not in the bottom 5
– Week 3 – Margaret was low scorer, Margaret went home
– Week 4 – Sitch was low scorer, Sitch went home
– Week 5 – 1.65%
– Week 6 – Kurt was low score by 6 points, Audrina went home
– Week 7 – 1.01%
– Week 8 – 0.38%
– Week 9 – 1.75%
– Week 10 – 2.75% – Bristol is eliminated first.
Now, do you still think that it's surprising that Bristol lasted as long as she did?? I would hope not. I would also hope that people realize they have to vote for their favorite because the judges don't put in enough of a spread between the dancers to amount to anything.
The moral of the story is – the judges scores mean everything, when they actually rank the contestants. 😉 But if they don't?? You best vote.


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text: Glioma Tumor Cell Panel (ATCC® TCP-1018™) General Information Documentation Print Email Share Share this product Facebook Twitter Google+ Permits and Restrictions View Permits Components A172, ATCC CRL-1620 SW1088, ATCC HTB-12 H4, ATCC HTB-148 U118-MG, ATCC HTB-15 U87-MG, ATCC HTB-14 Type Strain no Biosafety Level 1 Biosafety classification is based on U.S. Public Health Service Guidelines, it is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that their facilities comply with biosafety regulations for their own country. Comments A panel of 5 glioma tumor cell lines with varying degrees of genetic complexity. Each culture contains genomic mutations in one or more of the following genes according to the Sanger COSMIC database: CDKN2A, PTEN, and TP53. Product Format frozen Storage Conditions LN vapor (less than -130°C) only Permits These permits may be required for shipping this product: Customers located in the state of Hawaii will need to contact the Hawaii Department of Agriculture to determine if an Import Permit is required. A copy of the permit or documentation that a permit is not required must be sent to ATCC in advance of shipment. Basic Documentation Product Sheet Certificate of Analysis SDS Other Documentation Cancer cell line mutation data


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St. Gregory the Great Ancient Order of the Hibernians recently donated six Nook books to the library at St. Gregory the Great Catholic School.
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Tribune Files for Chapter 11; Who's on the Hook?
As predicted, Sam Zell's Tribune Co. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In the company's initial filing, it lists assets of $7.6 billion and $12.9 billion in liabilities.
Much of that debt belongs to big banks, of course–J.P. Morgan (JPM) has more than $1 billion by itself. But Tribune (TXA) owes lots (though much smaller amounts) of money to lots of media companies, too–mostly dollars that the company's TV stations owe various studios.
Here's who's on the hook:
- Time Warner's (TWX) Warner Bros. Television: $23.7 million
- News Corp.'s (NWS) Twentieth Television: $8.1 million
- Disney's (DIS) Buena Vista Entertainment: $6.2 million
- GE's (GE) NBCU Domestic TV: $4.9 million
- Sony's (SNE) Sony Pictures Television: $2.2 million
- Nielsen Media Research: $1.9 million
- Viacom's (VIA) Paramount Pictures: $1.69 million
Here's the complete filing (click button on top right to enlarge):
Tribune's Bankruptcy Filing


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Waka Flocka & Wiz Khalifa Smoke Session! "I Got A Ziplock Bag Of Some Pre-Rolled Doobs. I Got More Weed To Roll Too. Keep A Extra Clip" + Wiz Tries To Get Flocka Off Blunts & Introduces Him To Paper Planes
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Saturday, August 15, 2009
Following are quotables from "Real Time with Bill Maher" for Friday, August 14th, 2009. "Real Time with Bill Maher" airs Fridays at 10:00PM ET (10:00PM PT, tape delayed) on HBO, with additional replays throughout the week on HBO and HBO 2.
Even after Obama took time out to painstakingly explain that there were no death panels, Sarah Palin fired back with a resounding 'nut uh.'
- Bill Maher in his opening monologue
It does seem to me a tad ironic that she's [Sarah Palin] so against killing old people considering she's the one who smothered the life out of the McCain campaign.
- Bill Maher in his opening monologue
One way to tell your party is a bunch of pussies is when you are bullied by a chick on Facebook.
- Bill Maher in his opening monologue regarding the Democrats and Sarah Palin
We ought to change our motto from E Pluribus Unum to I Am Sam.
- Bill Maher in his opening monologue regarding the intelligence of the American people
Michael Vick is back in the NFL. He said today he never killed any dogs. He was merely counseling them on end of life issues.
- Bill Maher in his opening monologue regarding the Democrats and Sarah Palin
You have to be either brave or stupid.
- Brad Pitt on why guests appear on "Real Time with Bill Maher"
Don't you think that having the experience the Clintons went through and understanding that this was going to be controversial, they should have initiated an information campaign upfront so they could have pre-empted many of these arguments, these stories and these falsehoods?
- Anthony Zinni on Obama's ill-prepared roll out of the new Health Care Bill
Nobody was calling the UK and Canada, who both have free health care or public health care; we weren't calling them socialists when we were asking them to come help fight a war in Iraq and Afghanistan for freedom and democracy.
- Ashton Kutcher
We have reached a point where the Republican Party is down to such a core that the special interest groups aren't actually that interested in the Republican Party anymore.
- Ross Douthat
Declaring war on terrorism would have been like Woodrow Wilson declaring war on U-boat attacks. It is a tactic and is ridiculous and so we were chasing the symptom of a greater problem.
- Anthony Zinni
New Rule: Stop acting shocked that a guy who made his living selling chemicals died of a drug overdose. He sold a white powder that solves all your problems really, really fast. The only difference between cocaine and Oxyclean is cocaine worked.
- Bill Maher in his "New Rules" segment
New Rule: If you're stuck on a plane that's not moving for more than five hours, you get to punch a baby.
- Bill Maher in his "New Rules" segment
This week's guests were General Anthony Zinni, Ashton Kutcher, Ross Douthat, Dana Gould and Brad Pitt.
76 comments:
- Anonymous said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- August 15, 2009 at 4:55 AM
- Anonymous said...
This message is for Bill Maher this is Gothic Dyslogy also known as Rachelle Kalman would you please read my post and tell me where I can actually get loud and get heard I don't know who else to turn to besides you or Michael Moore so I have contacted you both.I know I Blogged allot on twitter but I didn't know what I was doing completely so I look like a psychopath that had gone insanely obsessed at Blogging to you and you only lol because it wouldn't allow me to actually write the paragraph I had naturally intended on writing you. The kind of morbid funny side of the story is that I am loosing my mind over the mental health care programs and have joined NAMI as an advocate but I want to have a voice some how and I dont know that I would know how to go about pulling that off, seeing as I am just another SSD lowlife according to the republicans just having the time of my life being ill with diseases that are so intense I have to have ECT shock therapy but yea you shouldn't have to help us Americans that struggle like me because we just want a free handout so we can enjoy that precious horrifying life we have and go off our meds that keep us sane because they cost as much as the SSD check I receive. Yea I have the government wrapped around my finger Bill and what a fucking party. lol Fucking Bastard assholes. lol. So I want to stand up for the mentally ill that are to sick to stand up and make their voices heard about this extremely sensitive issue where we are going missed diagnosed and treated with the wrong meds because the doctors dont want to take the actual time to listen to you and really break down the complicated structures of each illness that would then give them chance to properly diagnose and treat us the first time instead of wasting 30 years of our lives rediagnosing us when something doesnt work or just refuse to treat you completely because if what these arogant doctors treated us wasnt the write mixture and instead of taking again the time needed to figure this out they tell you you have treatment resistent depression or whatever diagnosis fits in there and send you on your way left with nobody to help you wishing you would just die because you feel so mentally screwed that the doctors cant even help you so whats the point. Sometimes they will even say you must not be being honest about your symptoms. That is another mind fuck from hell to put on someone with a mental problem. do people know whats going on with this system because I rarely hear this subject mentioned and feel as if we have gone back to the days where they could just lock you up in a dungeon and bid you farewell because thats practically the care were getting anyways. Well this is just scraping the surface of the problems wrapped up in this field if you would like to hear more of the facts and experiences please email or text me and I will get back to you if you have any ideas on how I can actually do something positive with my life and help others that cant help themselves please email me any ideas you may have because although I am doing well at this time I never know day to day how long I have until the remission from my ECT decides to retreat back to its sickness. I should have a good 4 to 6 more months to move on this topic and I will try and figure someway out to make this an issue that is needed to be helped immediately if not sooner. Thanks for hearing me out and Thank you for Real Time I look forward every week and even get a little crazy on some of the guests that come on your show. My husband and I both our very much educated and interested in politics and our Earth unlike the ignorant beasts who have ravaged our world and destroyed selfishly the nature that was so serenely protecting not only its wildlife but our oxygen as well. Sorry I just keep going. My email is email@example.com
- August 15, 2009 at 6:22 AM
- Anonymous said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- August 15, 2009 at 6:39 AM
- Anonymous said...
- This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
- August 15, 2009 at 7:55 AM
- Anonymous said...
I'm like you. Noone bitches enough about when the bill of rights is constrained, but to expand it? Well that pisses off the masters, for sure.
Human rights are always good!
- August 15, 2009 at 9:19 AM
- Anonymous said...
The best cards to have are master's card & american excess.
- August 15, 2009 at 9:30 AM
- Anonymous said...
Best movie ever: Blade Runner
Idea by my hero Philip K. Dick, movie by the masters Stealgurge & Lucas; I think mostly Stealgurge, but the vision was all Phil's. To get your skull around it read the short story 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'. Phil wrote over 200 short stories. Ths alone makes him the most prolific scifi author of the 20th century; he also wrote over 60 published novels... there are a few unpublished in box 10 at CSUF special collections ;)
PKD rocks and you haven't even taken him inside you yet!
- August 15, 2009 at 9:58 AM
- SarahLee said...
We really need the segment with Dana Gould in a video we can share. HB) took the clips posted to YouTube down. HELP us share this please.
~An Uninsured in America
- August 15, 2009 at 10:59 AM
- Unknown said...
About the Health Care Reform~
If people are informed by their doctor during prenatal care that their fetus's brain has not and never will develope into anything close to normal human function, and the people elect to become the lifetime caretakers of the vegetable, will the new health care system help pay for this lifetime of special care, even though the people made an elective choice?
The answer, I hope, would be "YES."
I keep hearing people complain about what they don't want their tax dollars paying for other people.
"I don't want my tax money paying for a woman who needs an abortion!"
"I don't want my tax money paying for an overweight person's triple bypass, after he's spent his life stuffing his face with burgers and fries!"
If it were YOUR retarded little sister, or YOUR fat little brother, would you want it to be covered then? If it were you might not be so quick to judge.
Then if your doctor tells you that carrying a pregnancy to term could be devastating to your health, make your own decision about abortion, but don't scream about paying for another woman's choice.
After all, she'll be paying for your retarded child.
- August 16, 2009 at 12:59 PM
- Dan said...
Kutcher and Pitt are mostly just pretty faces.
Kutcher's brilliant moment of saying that, he's all for socialized medicine, but that he doesn't want to pay for medicine for certain people, unwittingly, as seems to be his way, made the case against socialized medicine, which would be communal standards and rationing; the very things that Democrats say won't happen with this plan.
As for Brad... nice guy, I've always thought so... but his statement of, "I've been to a socialist country. Don't worry, America's fine." is a bit naive. Really Brad? And what would be your Litmus test? Wouldn't a proper Litmus for Communism/Socialism be Marx's own guidelines? Then according to those guidelines, America is a socialist country.
Those fellas were both kind of silly to me; well intentioned, but silly.
As for Gould's piece, I thought it was misleading. He even admitted to it when he was called out on the show that the posters of Obama as Hitler weren't right wing but in fact, a bizarro left wing extremist. After a re-edit, it would have some value.
- August 16, 2009 at 2:31 PM
- Unknown said...
Mr. Maher, you are so great. I just recently started following your website, I commented the other day that I don't have cable or watch much TV, so I didn't know what you were about, but I sure do now. I read up on you a little, got one of your books, and got Religulous (I did watch it until the end and I'm very sorry for your loss). You said things (in Religulous)that I myself had said before, but learned the hard way to keep my mouth shut. I feel like you're the male version of me, I too was raised Catholic and found out recently that I have some Jew in me on my mothers side, though I am older than you where when I found out (32). I'm sorry that anyone would send you hate mail, it just proves there are a lot of morons out there, I get lots of weird/hate emails too because of my job. You are a ultra-intelligent, brave person with a big heart, and I am going to try to be brave enough to get a seat in the very back when you come to AC in the fall (I'll be the girl in the back hyperventilating into a paper bag, I HATE crowds, but I really want to see you!). Your newest adoring fan,
- August 16, 2009 at 2:33 PM
- Just Another Normal Guy with Regular Thoughts said...
It looks like the broken health care system is going to have a good time ahead.
Both Democratic and Republican parties are sort of in need of doctor's advice and prescription. The Democrats are in the need of Cialis and Republicans to get over the Cialis overhang. The Democrats has this genetic disorder of not having "erectile pressure" or what we can call "electoral pressure". The Republicans are over the line for the warning of erection lasting over 24 hours or 8 years of "one sided pleasure".
When both major parties are struggling with their too less and too much stand up power and are in need of medical advice, the health care system need not worry about any change in general and any change in the prescription of Cialis in particular.
- August 16, 2009 at 6:38 PM
- Matthew said...
It seems as though your war on religion has become a war on Christianity. The definition of a Christian is simply one who chooses to live his life based on the life and teachings of Jesus and there are many Christians in the world that believe religion organizations do not operate in a manner consistent with what we know about the life and teachings of Jesus.
From what I can ascertain from biblical mythology and other contemporary historical sources, Jesus only taught love and forgiveness…he taught no "theology". That theology is used by organizations to seduce, manipulate and control their followers, because if the purpose of a Christian life was simply the individual quest to figure out what it means to love, organized religions would have no purpose to exist. There are Christians that believe a life spend passionately pursing a better understanding of what it means to love ourselves, our fellow humans, and God, is a life rich with all this existence has to offer and is a life well spent.
How can you and Brad Pitt have an objection to that?
- August 16, 2009 at 6:52 PM
- brenda Ferrimani said...
I think all the issues around costs for health care reform could be solved by taxing the churches. There's a huge reserve of money there that can be used to help all the people.
- August 16, 2009 at 8:16 PM
- aREALperson said...
One thing really bugs me about most all media...including Real Time. There is always talk about the "middle class"...you know, REAL people with REAL debt and health care issues and what would be best for US, etc., etc. Everyday we, the REAL middle and lower class, the other 98%, are never actually represented. Frankly, I am tired of hearing "exceptional" people talk about the rest of us as if they have any REAL insight into what it is like to lose your job and your home, face serious health care problems...while at the same time the whack jobs get all the attention simply because they are sensational. Why not have Real Time actually provide REAL people an opportunity to actually be heard by a mass audience along side the exceptional? It just might help put some of the rhetoric into perspective. Not being one of those 2% in no way diminishes an individual's value, or should suggest a limited intelligence, mediocre talent or capability...being part of the 2% is not everyone's obsession. One more thing, if I hear someone say "the fact of the matter is..." one more time, I am going to pull an Elvis on my TV...if I had a gun...I will throw my remote control instead.
- August 17, 2009 at 7:21 AM
- Noblerebel said...
Bill, thank-you for being out and out "rude" by discussing religion, and politics. You had me with "Politically Incorrect", but I had no idea until "Religilous" that you were my voice. My parents are the kind of evangelicals that put the FUN in fundamentalism. In the twenty+ years since I made a conscious, researched, logical break from the church, I have yet to meet another person who was raised in it from birth and left. As the former Mormons you interviewed made clear, there is a high cost to leaving. I've been told that I should write a book, but I have no interest in being a "Rushdie". I have so many points, arguments, facts, and references swirling around in my brain, but no outlet (at least not since I could vent at Jerry Falwell on the TV screen!). You certainly don't need my help to rattle the caged minds, but I have always been able to give additional support, or another angle to your commentary, so if you want to bounce some ideas around...find me! I don't want to see you as a "Rushdie" either, but I did love the flyer the WBC put out with you in your "snuggie." You gotta love it when they prove your point for ya! Keep on doing what you do so well Bill!!
- August 17, 2009 at 7:33 AM
- Steven Greer said...
I heard on one of the news outlets today that you made a comment about how "stupid" people are in America. I agree with you 100%. Take it from me, a native North Carolinian, former republican, now turned democrat living in the liberal hotbed of Cleveland, Ohio. Why the transformation? I got educated, plain and simple. I went to medical school and residency training took me and my wife to Cleveland. My God, if only all dumb ass white southerners took a furlough from the trailer park infested southeast corner of this country, maybe there would be a new age of enlightenment. However, that is wishful thinking. I admit, I was a dumb ass redneck from NC that thought Jesse Helms was the best thing since sliced bread! But God showed me favor and released me from my ignorant, ideological, and simple minded past. You hit the nail on the head in making the comment about how stupid Americans are....they really are. I can't stand this shit! You got a winking ex-governor of Alaska whose foreign policy credentials are that she can "see Russia from her backyard" that has over 700,000 followers on Facebook. These idiots love her! How else can you explain the stupidity when seniors are all up in arms over the impending government takeover of health care, but who will vote your ass out of office if you take any Medicare entitlements from them or talk about Medicare reform (uh, hey seniors, you stupid ass morons, Medicare is a GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH PROGRAM). We live in an ass backward country that has somehow deluded ourselves into thinking we are more sophisticated and intelligent than other countries in this world. Yet, the dire truth is that we are surrounded by idiots. Europe is looking better and better by the day and in all seriousness, if the extreme factions and ideologues are successful in gaining traction in this country, their will be an exodus and America will become the refuse of the world and a hotbed of stupidity, ignorance, intolerance, and hatred! The most comical thing is these right wing radicals believe that God and Jesus is on their side! Wouldn't Jesus want everyone to have basic health care? But I shouldn't be surprised by these idiots, because if they had any intelligence and read any part of the new testament, they would know and understand that Jesus was the most radical and socialist person of his time.
Steven Greer
- August 17, 2009 at 7:48 PM
- Anonymous said...
Hi Bill,
In the news: the state of Texas has passed a law requiring bible study in public schools
"by state law, Texas is requiring all K-12 schools in the state to amend their curriculums to include "the history and literature of the Old and New Testaments eras"
This might actually be meaningful. If a law in the state of Texas supercedes the constitution regarding education (1st ammendment), does this not also mean that the California medical marijuana laws supercedes the jurisdiction of federal law? At least Califormia is in compliance with the constitution.
If federal justice is dispensed equally, soon the storm troopers will be raiding grades schools in Texas, burning bibles breaking teacher's arms and smacking the kids around. Go get those christians, Ram!
- August 18, 2009 at 10:12 AM
- Anonymous said...
If one takes the Texas version, Jesus Christ was a Republican arms manufacturing warmongering white guy who beats his wife, cheats on his taxes through elaborate shell corporations and pays PACs to wipe his ass.
Speak of the devil! Whats W been up to lately anyway?
- August 18, 2009 at 10:17 AM
- Scarlett Ohara said...
"by state law, Texas is requiring all K-12 schools in the state to amend their curriculums to include "the history and literature of the Old and New Testaments eras"
I must have missed the part where the schools will be required to teach religion, I realize that I may not be as edukatd as most on this here blog, but the way I read it, it only included the HISTORY and LITERATURE of the O&N testament eras.Nothing about prosthelitizing.
- August 18, 2009 at 3:43 PM
- Scarlett Ohara said...
My dear Steven, "I GOT EDUCATED???" It is so obviously clear that you did. And I am soooooooooo glad that you managed to "escape" from us ignorant, white, trailor trash southerners. Praise Jesus!
- August 18, 2009 at 3:46 PM
- ZenGrouch said...
"And I am soooooooooo glad that you managed to "escape" from us ignorant, white, trailor trash southerners. Praise Jesus!"...
Give the guy a break.
He's bragging about moving to Cleveland.
- August 18, 2009 at 6:38 PM
- Anonymous said...
In light of the democrats caving without any competion I have to conclude that the democrats and the republicans must all be the same people and share the same interests, which are not mine.
If anyone else is as fed up as I am, the Federalists, Democratic-Republicans, Libertarians, Anarchists, Socialists, Communists and Fascists all now have a good shot.
- August 18, 2009 at 7:29 PM
- Anonymous said...
HB 1287: Mandating a bible course in high schools
"SECTION 3: A school district shall offer a course in the history and literature of the Old Testament era and a course in the history and literature of the New Testament era that comply with Section 28.011, Education Code, as added by this Act, beginning with the 2007-2008 school year."
The Texas state congress passed this law requiring teaching of a Judeo-Christian religious text in public schools.
The C A1: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"
So there you go.
I would much prefer democrats who try to run a rational government than crazies who use the government to kill nations of people a vloice in their head told them are out to get them.
- August 18, 2009 at 7:39 PM
- Scarlett Ohara said...
ZenGrouch, you gave me my best guffaw of the day!!!Thanks!!!
- August 18, 2009 at 8:31 PM
- Scarlett Ohara said...
The C A1: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"
I still don't get your point. Teaching a LITERATURE/HISTORY course does not "constitute" establishing a religion! Why do you not object to passages of the Koran or Buddhism or other religious preachings being taught in classes everyday? I could teach a class on Psalms and never mention religion. The prose itself is some of the most beautiful poetry ever written. Give it a break.
- August 18, 2009 at 8:36 PM
- ZenGrouch said...
I was in Cleveland last week, and kept telling myself to calm down, "you're in Cleveland" where everyone thinks they're some kind of hot shit because they live in Cleveland?!
OK, then I moved to Lorain, which is about 20 miles west of Cleveburg.
My neighbor, who knew the wife and I lived in New Orleans for about 15 years, confided in me one day, "Danny, you know, I don't like people from the South..."
I asked the freak who tried to molest me when I was about 12, what his problem was with people from the South, since he never set his freakish feet down there.
He said he didn't like people from the South, despite the fact that he never went there, and doesn't really know anyone from there, except for the wife and I, "Because they're prejudice."
If that doesn't shoot milk out your nose, you ain't with it, eh Darlin'?
- August 18, 2009 at 10:27 PM
- ZenGrouch said...
I read my post and it wasn't clear that I now live in LA, and last lived in Lorain about 14 years back...
- August 18, 2009 at 10:29 PM
- Anonymous said...
The point you fool is that literature is a word that means 'books' and the one book being referred to is that greatest epic of savage pornography, ignorance and denial, the bible.
That the subject is not being taught in a historical sense, and no scientce and other fiction of the religulious genre are being covered.
That you are willfully dishonest in your allegeation to not get it means I have the right to kick your ass out of the boat, you unevolved, toxic waste of resources.
1. This actions seeks declaratory and injunctive relief persuant to 42 USC 1983 agaiast the Defendants, who have officially authorized and are now teaching in ECISD public high schools a course of instruction on the Bible ("The Bibke Course") that is not presented objectively, but instead actively promotes a particular religulious viewpoint to public school students in a manner prohibited by the Establishment Clause of the First Ammendment. The Defendants adopted The Bible Class with the primary purpose of advancing religion generally and a specific religulious interpretation of the bible particularly, and the Course has the primary effect of promoting, advancing and endorsing religion generally and a particular set of religulious beliefs specifically. The Bible Course does not adhere to the constitutional standard of objectivity, but ibstead presents the bible from from a singular religulious point of view that might be appropriate for Sunday schools but has no place in public schools.
- August 19, 2009 at 6:47 AM
- Anonymous said...
What I find absurd is that the repo men (and I mean men, and their boy-girl submissives) are postulating to the country that no health care benefits that they can afford is better than some health care benefits that they can.
These guys should be publically humiliated & pillaried in the stocks.
- August 19, 2009 at 6:51 AM
- Jim said...
On Rachel Maddow last night, you said something derogatory about "Senators from tiny states that represent 1 or 2% of the population." In a nation with 50 states, those with 2% of the population should be called "average."
- August 19, 2009 at 9:36 AM
- Noblerebel said...
@Lies,lies,damned lies
If Texas is going to require that
the Bible be taught as literature and history,so be it! I agree with Bill that there are alot of stupid people out there, but I think many of them are actually just ignorant. They've never been given facts and information, or had the opportunity to ask questions. The Bible has very little (and I'm being generous) corroborated history in it, to start. In studying the history of the Bible itself,and how it came together, alot of questions come up. Questions are not good for faith, so that is why the Bible is not studied this way in Sunday school. Sixty-six books, by various authors, written over many centuries, in different languages were chosen for the equivalent of a coffee table book. Not all books that were considered sacred were chosen (the apocrypha +). It was a nice mix of "history", poetry, advice etc. Who decided that this was THE word of god, holy, complete, inspired by god (verbally-inspired according to the church I was raised in), to be taken literally, and without error? King James who commissioned the work? The men who chose what was in or out? One begins to realize that their faith is in god to have guided these men, and their faith in god is through the bible so...it is faith in faith. Let's study the Bible and the Koran as literature, without the dogma and theology attached, and see what questions arise. Isn't that what "Religilous" was about? Asking questions, facts vs faith. I don't think we're going to see any rise in the faithful, maybe the opposite,and if you do, then you must be crediting it with some power. You didn't sound like the faithful or fearful type to me.
- August 19, 2009 at 11:49 AM
- ZenGrouch said...
"and the one book being referred to is that greatest epic of savage pornography"...
I keep hearing idiots parroting this like the Republicunts yack "Tax 'n Spend"
Give us your most pornographic chapter and verse from the bible, so we can see what your standard is when it comes to "greatest epic."
The bible is fucked up enough on it's own without exaggerating the extent of it's fucked upidness.
- August 19, 2009 at 1:09 PM
- Anonymous said...
Without cracking the binder I recall a scene when the 2 daughters get their dad drunk and fuck him; thats pretty hard core.
That was in the city where everyone wants to fuck the visitors to the city... remember that one? What was that city called? Tijuana?
But the point is that this one book is being studied exclusively and as the district court discovered, in a sunday school manner: as dogma.
And as Scarlette pointed out, the other 'judeo-christian books' - the Jewish and Islamic texts - are not being studied. not to mention the other primitive religulous systems of behavior control the world over.
About La Raza
cmon over here and cry on my biracial nuts baby
nobama - bring back the lame white guy!
- August 19, 2009 at 1:30 PM
- Anonymous said...
A 2% majority? Republican statistics at their finest!
- August 19, 2009 at 1:32 PM
- Anonymous said...
btw the newt estimate is morally decent except for all the brutal beatings. The only problem is the only people making an effort to following it are the Amish. They really do make a solid effort too.
So there is noone reading this web page who I could possibly offend unintentionally.
- August 19, 2009 at 1:39 PM
- Scott123 said...
Feel free to use this:
How much money do you think IBM paid for health care last year? or Ford? Boeing? Sony? I can go on..
So don't you think these companies have any political influence? I can assure they do!
The grandaddy of corporations GM is in bankruptcy! When they went under this whole thing went from rhetoric to reality. GM folded for two reasons: a dip in sales (a big one), and the cost of doing business. The biggest part of that was health care for the unions.
Apparently, these crazies at the town hall meetings think health care is the only industry in this country. Well, if you're a CEO, you're looking at GM and wondering if you're next. Yes, private health care is THAT expensive!
I can assure you, before another corporation goes under, there will be a Federal health care program with a public option.
- August 19, 2009 at 2:31 PM
- Scarlett Ohara said...
Dear Mr. Noblerebel, You said and I quote:
"The Bible has very little (and I'm being generous) corroborated history in it, to start."
Now, I realize that am just a little dumbdy- headed southern girl but I am going to have to take issue with that statement. I also realize that you are probably not accustomed to being challenged. But it must make your life so much easier to live if you BELIEVE the hogwash that you esspout. Please check out these links and you will see that many much brainer folks than I have substantiated (that means proven) that the vast majority of the Bible is HISTORICALLY accurate.
- August 19, 2009 at 4:01 PM
- Scarlett Ohara said...
Mr. Damned Lies, you are mistaken. What I said was that you did not object when these "books" WERE being taught in class. I did not say they were not being taught.
- August 19, 2009 at 4:04 PM
- Scarlett Ohara said...
Said Mr. Damned Lies, "So there is noone reading this web page who I could possibly offend unintentionally."
So you are offensive INTENTIONALLY?
- August 19, 2009 at 4:15 PM
- Peter Jackson said...
The shenanigans that is going in Health Care is all a scheme carefully constructed by Health Insurance.
Cyprus Health Care system, this article about a system that offers a public option and is ranked #24 worldwide, compared to the US that it is #37. Every citizen in Cyprus is covered, most people prefer the public option and there is a healthy private sector as well. Lets take some lessons from Cyprus
Petros Michaelides
- August 19, 2009 at 5:44 PM
- Anonymous said...
So this is the first time I have taken the time to watch this show. I am a right wing conservative and was enjoying the show thoroughly until that news reporter for the show got on and everything seemed to go down hill, interest in the show went down, and I have changed the channel. Does anyone else feel that the Mayer News Reporter brings down the quality and interest of the show?
- August 19, 2009 at 8:51 PM
- Anonymous said...
Come to Jesus and we'll give you a samich.
That is the best summary of 2000+ years of bullshit I ever heard.
- August 20, 2009 at 1:13 PM
- Anonymous said...
The reason Obama looks like W is because he sold us out too.
As far as I'm concerned we can flip coins over whether we prosecute the peckerwoods or the bloods first; just fucking do it!
Fools are doomed to repeat their mistakes. The period to study is the French Revolution.
- August 20, 2009 at 8:00 PM
- Noblerebel said...
@ Scarlett O'Hara
First, it is Ms. not Mr. darlun' :)
Obviously we have never met, so you made an assumption, and it was not the only one. I have in fact, been "challenged" many times. As far as believing the "hogwash that I espouse" making my "life so much easier to live," absolutely not. The cost for me has been high. I make sure and certain exactly what the "hogwash" is before believing anything anymore.
The statement you quoted from my previous blog, was the only one I made about the historical content of the Bible. It wasn't the main issue, but if that's the one you want to address...Thank-you for providing the links. I found them interesting. Have YOU read them? The NT is mostly biographical, philisophical, letters of advice, and prophecy. The historical content is well corroborated, there just isn't much of it. It wouldn't provide sufficient information about the time period, for study in a history course. The OT does have a great deal of history, but little of it is corroborated, and certainly not the "vast majority" as you stated. The sites you referred me to said that the archeological evidence "does not contradict" the Biblical accounts. Evidence that a king, city, or race existed, does corroborate the Bible, and the possibility that, the events recorded in relation to that evidence actually took place,is left open. It in no way proves that the events took place. Millenia from now, an archeologist, Sherlock Holmes book in hand may excavate London. He may find a Baker St. sign, and evidence that there was a Queen Victoria. This would corroborate the book as historically accurate to that time. It would not prove the existance of Holmes, Watson, or Moriarty, or any of the events recorded in the book. It would leave open the possibility.
My main issue with the Bible is not the history, but the faith, religions, and dogmas based on it. The point I was making in my previous blog, was that I see no problem in studying the Bible as history or literature in school. In fact studying it as one would any other book without the dogma, can be eye opening to those who have been previously taught to look at it as "holy".
- August 21, 2009 at 3:33 PM
- Scarlett Ohara said...
My deepest apologies MS. Noblerebel. It seems we agree. I did misunderstand your post obviously because we do agree that the bible should only be studied in school as a text (historical or literary) and not as a religious vehicle. On that we agree. And I do follow your logic in regard to the Baker Street/Sherlock Holmes example, but I disagree that most historical findings have proven that the information (if not actual people) has not been proven accurate. I do believe you said that only about 5% of the bible was historically accurate and that MY DEAR just ain't so. I am Christian, and I know that the Bible was written by MEN and that men are fallible. I do not believe that religion of any kind should be PREACHED in public schools. But it seems we have gone way too far when you can not mention Christmas (although it is the holiday we are celebrating) but Kwanza and Ramadan are both acceptable to discuss and honor in schools.
And finally whether you belive the bible to be 100% accurate or not, if you believe that Jesus Christ lived and died, then the book is "holy".
- August 21, 2009 at 6:37 PM
- Anonymous said...
Scarlett Ohara said...
Dear Mr. Noblerebel, You said and I quote:
"The Bible has very little (and I'm being generous) corroborated history in it, to start."
Does "any" book have any Corroborating evidence to it? Only our grandfathers/grandmothers/great and foretold by them know the truth. We rely on History written by others for the past so why is the Bible so different? Because Grandpa said it wasn't so!
If we can't rely on written history then what is left of us?
- August 21, 2009 at 7:03 PM
- Unknown said...
Thank you for some rational thoughts. I am so often underwhelmed with the lack of intelligent commentary on TV. The people that show up at these town hall meetings, know that if they show up with a visible firearm or a picture depicting President Obama as Hitler, know that they will be on TV. I really think that he needs to unleash the energy of his supporters. I attended the Health Care Now! Rally in Washington DC. There are those of us that can gather peacefully and express ourselves reasonably. Then there is the segment of the population, who has lost their capacity to have rational thoughts, and the the media covers it, as if their was some merit to the delusional thought process. I have to hold out hope that this process will not be completely hijacked death panel believing birthers. Unlike President Bush, President Obama is not trying to make the country better just for the wealthy, but for all of us.
- August 22, 2009 at 4:17 AM
- Dean Jackson said...
In 1997 NORAD said they insure, "Aircraft flying over our air space are monitored seven days a week, 24 hours a day."
In 2004 the Air Force contradictorily said, "Before 2001, 1st Air Force was charged with keeping an eye on the nation's borders, usually looking for threats in the form of Russian aircraft skirting too close for comfort to the mainland. In those few hours, the command's mission went from looking outward to looking inward."
See the 5 articles on NORAD at www.DNotice.org
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The 'behind–the–scenes' discussion and edit pages of Wikipedia reveal a complex layering of debates and discussion between editors. Focusing on how Wikipedia 'service awards' can identify and distinguish editors, this paper explores the disclosure of knowledge as it is intimately bound up with identity work. Examining contributions/edits to Wikipedia as disclosures highlights processes of identity management and work.
Wikipedia and online profiles
Wikipedia and identity work
Wikipedia service awards and knowledge disclosure
Wikipedia as the context and practical means
Some (ignorable) qualifications
The cultural politics of knowledge disclosure
Moving into the discussion and edit pages 'behind–the–scenes' of Wikipedia reveals a complex layering of debates and discussion between editors. These editors can be identified through various 'Wikipedia awards'. Focusing on the Wikipedia 'service awards', this paper explores the disclosure of knowledge as it is intimately bound up with identity work.
Disclosure as a concept helps to signal how knowledge is contributed to Wikipedia in ways that are bound up with identity work. Given that service awards are 'intended to be given to oneself' rather than be awarded by others, they point to the investment and work individuals put into their Wikipedia profile and identity. The Wikipedia awards and practices of knowledge disclosure provide instructive means for exploring the management of identity and context specific identity work.
Wikipedia and online profiles
Founded in 2001, Wikipedia, as the 'About' entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About) states, "is written collaboratively by an international (and mostly anonymous) group of volunteers." The entry goes on to state that, "Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites," and that "there are more than 75,000 active contributors working on more than 13,000,000 articles in more than 260 languages." The following considers how these active contributors and volunteers are positioned and identified within Wikipedia.
The opportunity to edit a Wikipedia entry is presented with each page and can be taken up anonymously without logging in. This kind of technologically mediated form of anonymity resonates with debates that emerged in the 1990s around online identities (see Turkle, 1995). In their discussion of virtual identities in wikis and social networking sites, Kerry Mallan and Natasha Giardina (2009) suggest that, "while the 'identity' of an individual contributor may be disguised, unknown, or revealed, there is nevertheless a 'wikidentity' that comes with participation," and that this 'wikidentity' is "located at the interface of diverse bodies of information and communication." In terms of Wikipedia, the contribution or disclosure of material may be be seen as a part of the wikidentity construction process.
The term 'disclosure' appears to fit easily in discussing online identity and different degrees of anonymity and disguise. This reading could see that certain identifying characteristics are not disclosed and a form of anonymity is employed. In turn though, making a contribution or editing an existing article is a different form of disclosure — a knowledge disclosure. As the 'wikidentity' concept highlights, questions of identity in online contexts can be traced beyond questions of anonymity and we can examine specific 'interfaces'. Closely focusing attention on the process of contributing offers a means to connect the contributor with the article. In this respect, Wikipedia provides a context and interface for 'identity work'.
Wikipedia and identity work
Tony Watson [1] usefully notes that the phrase 'identity work', has been used as an alternative to terms including 'identity construction', 'identity management', 'identity achievement', 'identity manufacture' and 'identity project', "as a way of dealing with 'agency' aspects of identity shaping." In developing his own formulation that works between the personal and the social, Watson [2] suggests that a significant way to strengthen research on identity shaping would be by, "attending to what might be seen as a link between the 'self' aspects of identity and the discourses to which they relate." With Wikipedia we can see this with the community discussion and talk pages, and with the personal, and sometimes esoteric, nature of contributions.
Practices of contributing are bound up with all manner of personal traits, experiences and motivations. Jaron Lanier (2006) is cautious of conformist collectivism and offers the following perspective: "reading a Wikipedia entry is like reading the Bible closely. There are faint traces of the voices of various anonymous authors and editors, though it is impossible to be sure." Any given Wikipedia entry could be the continual work and investment of a range of contributors. Wikipedia is marked by ongoing input; from the contributor who starts prolifically and then whose contributions peter out, to the most recent newcomer who seeks to revise years of contributions. For example, the first entry for 'Web 2.0' is recorded on 28 February 2005 at 20.17. Since then, as the 'revision statistics history' indicates, there have been thousands of edits both from registered users and those unnamed users distinguished only by IP (Internet Protocol) addresses.
Contributing and editing articles to Wikipedia takes place in dialogue and negotiation with other users. On one hand, contributions may be anonymous and/or ephemeral. On the other hand, these contributions can be targeted and part of a wider process of contribution and participation. Along these lines, Mallan and Giardina (2009) suggest that, "claiming individual ownership of parts of a wiki runs counter to the way wikis operate."
The award system that has emerged within Wikipedia highlights that forms of recognition are entwined with editorial activities and that these can be both part of and distinct from the wider social environment. This interpretation connects with Tony Watson's focus on the 'inward' and 'outward' aspects of identity work. Working between wider discourses, such as other Wikipedia contributors, and the 'self' is an important step in exploring the disclosure of knowledge and claiming of awards as a form of identity work.
Wikipedia service awards and knowledge disclosure
In the following, different award systems will be introduced in relation to social and private forms of identity work and management. Before doing so, some important methodological points are needed. Whilst materiality has been stressed in connecting the contributor with actual postings and edits, this article does not draw on empirical research with any of these contributors/editors. Equally, more detailed accounts of practices and frequencies of awarding oneself service awards have not been gathered. Rather, my aim here is to draw out what the concept of disclosure helps unpack for examining online identity work.
In exploring the contributions made to Wikipedia and the claiming, giving and display of the awards for a Wikipedia online profile, the notion of disclosure helps signal that these editorial activities are a strategy of identity work alongside the production of knowledge.
Knowledge is disclosed as part of a wider system of activity and meaning bound up with identity work. The language of contributing and adding indicates that knowledge is brought to Wikipedia. The language of disclosure helps to signal that the contributions are processed. Wikipedia is the context and site within which information may be added and revealed.
The processing work of disclosure can be identified in terms setting up an account, selecting and monitoring topics and entries, developing materials using the 'sandbox', and then posting. Noting these stages, the language and process of disclosure becomes more apt. Further to this, identity work takes place in the management of the online profile and the claiming and display of services awards. The claiming of certain awards represents knowledge management bound up with the shaping of aspects of identity.
There are a number of award categories within Wikipedia that can be awarded by others and claimed by individuals for themselves. Some awards are for topics areas, such as 'The Music Award' or 'The Star Trek Award'. Other awards are given for general contributions, such as 'The Mouldy Sandwich' that is awarded for those continually working on and bettering Wikipedia. Further to these, there are the 'Personal User awards', "given to honor specific actions or events — or to spread good cheer!" Out of the range of awards, some are more clearly focused on awarding activities and roles performed.
The 'barnstar' award was introduced to Wikipedia in December 2003 and "since then, the concept has become ingrained in the Wikipedia culture […] It is the custom to reward Wikipedia contributors for hard work and due diligence by awarding them a barnstar" (Awards, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Awards). Significant to these given awards is that the orginator of the award and those that give the awards are also recorded. The barnstar award then is explicitly enmeshed with the Wikipedia community (notwithstanding the possibility of an editor establishing a profile to give awards to another of their profiles).
In contrast to the 'barnstar', the service awards on Wikipedia, as made clear in the guidance, are "unlike other awards given through a process or from one editor to another in a show of appreciation, [… and are] intended to be given to yourself" (awards). Service awards are organised in terms of a hierarchy from 'novice editor' to 'master editor'. However, as the entry for the awards makes clear, they are a "way of acknowledging an editor's level of contribution based on specific benchmarks, including the number of contributions the editor made to Wikipedia, and the length of time they have been registered" and the award is "achieved strictly by a mechanical count of time registered and number of edits." In this respect, the service awards are a means in which a contributor to Wikipedia can distinguish their profile through their own quantifiable activities removed from other users. It is a part of their online profile that can be managed and developed.
As Lee Salter (2006) emphasizes in his discussion of participatory media, the "Internet and its users are materially embodied entities that exist in politically and economically regulated space." Highlighting the materiality of Wikipedia contributions and edits alongside the claiming of service awards emphasizes the range of investments and forms of identity work.
In their research with young people on social networking sites Mallan and Giardina (2009) suggest that, "young people are not simply adapting their identity work to fit these technological applications. Rather, they are engaging creatively with the principles of Web 2.0 and manipulating identity presentation applications to suit their needs." I would echo this approach to technologically mediated identity work with regard to Wikipedia contributors/editors who develop their profile. Sensitivity may be identified to the mechanics and context of Wikipedia, and that their knowledge disclosures connect with their identity work. In their discussion of wikidentities, Mallan and Giardina (2009) suggest, "when an individual or group constructs an online profile, the resultant 'identity' gives a particular interpretation or representation."
In the claiming and displaying of service awards, we could say that individuals are constructing and managing their online Wikipedia profile. As Paul du Gay's (2007) perspectives on the cultural–material making up of persons helps raise, this is not to say that knowledge disclosure be reduced to identity building. What does emerge though is Wikipedia as the context and practical means through which knowledge disclosure can be connect with identity work.
Wikipedia as the context and practical means
Du Gay's approach to the cultural–material making up of persons, draws attention to "both the contexts within which and the practical means through which individuals are equipped with the capacities to conduct themselves as particular sorts of persons" [3]. Adopting this, Wikipedia provides the context and practical means for identity work that is explicitly, but not exclusively, bound up with knowledge disclosure. This perspective helps situate the claiming of service awards in relation to the knowledge disclosures needed to achieve the awards.
Importantly, du Gay (2007) goes on to stress that a particular form of personhood, for example the Wikipedia contributor, is just one way in which individuals may come to understand and relate to themselves. The claiming and displaying of the service award may be seen as a means through which the 'Wikipedia contributor identity' is constructed. Each contribution or article edit is a disclosure that can be measured and claimed as a service award and wedded to the formation and development of a Wikipedia profile.
This focus on knowledge work and identity work that the notion of disclosure helps bring to the fore, poses some relevant questions for thinking through questions of identity and online profiles. For instance, Mallan and Giardina's (2009) statement that, "the narratives of identity and agency that have traditionally been available to young people are being replaced by new ones that are the direct outcome of the larger technologically mediated world we all now inhabit", can be rearticulated in relation to the mediation of knowledge. The reference to 'young people' is particular to their study, but the 'narratives of identity and agency' they refer to can be considered through the lens of knowledge and identity work on Wikipedia. Narratives of identity may be technologically mediated, but practices of knowledge production are also technologically mediated.
When we explore the connection between narratives of identity and knowledge production, a much fuller understanding of identity work is possible. This sees identity work as it is closely connected with the other things we do and the contexts for these, for example editing Wikipedia. The concept of disclosure gets at these multiple processes and how they work together — the revealing of knowledge and building and revealing of identity.
Wikipedia co–founder Lawrence Sanger (2009) suggests that, "despite the sort of anti–expert bias on Wikipedia, it remains the case that a person who appears to write authoritatively, who has the facts at his command as an expert typically does, and who can marshall them effectively in a dispute, has a decided advantage on Wikipedia." Beyond discussing expertise, Sanger's (2009) comments help highlight the process of knowledge disclosure (writing style, research) and that this has material impacts on the interpretations and representations of that contributor that can form. Service awards act as indicators both for others and those that display them. These service awards illustrate a form of identity work that comes with contributing, or disclosing, to Wikipedia.
Some (ignorable) qualifications
In March 2007, it was revealed that the contributor with the username 'Essjay' was not a professor of religion at a private university as claimed, but a college student (BBC News, 2007). This 'Wikipedia Storm' highlights a number of things in terms of the disclosure of knowledge and identity.
Firstly, related to Lawrence Sanger's earlier comments on expertise, adopting the status of a professor for this college student clearly indicates the purchase of certain identifiers such as title.
Secondly, in terms of fakery, we cannot assume the merit or standing of particular knowledge disclosures. Whilst this student college adopted a fabricated identity, they still endeavored, with the help of the For Dummies series, to provide accurate statements. In turn, there have been numerous postings to Wikipedia in which content fakery has been the goal — (un)knowledge disclosures.
The article 'Can you spot the real Wikipedia fake' offers a number of purported 'false and made up statements' posted by 'mischievous Internet users'. These include the entry for 'Pole Dancing' as, "Pole dancing is a form of dancing/gymnastics that takes muscular endurance and coordination as well as a person from Poland" (Supanet, n.d.). This highlights that contributors to Wikipedia may not seek to claim 'service awards' and/or participate in the rewards process, and also that contributors/editors may post statements in ways that do not "augment the knowledge held by the Wikipedia encyclopedia" in anticipated and encouraged ways.
Uncyclopedia, "an encyclopedia full of misinformation and utter lies", goes further in highlighting and celebrating misinformation on the Internet and the posting of humorous and satirical takes on topics, such as the 'Jennifer Anniston nude pictures' that are natal scans. As the 'Beginner's Guide' states, "we are not Wikipedia, but that should already have been plainly obvious. Fact is discouraged, comedy is paramount" (Uncyclopedia, 2006). Uncyclopedia tellingly plays on the conventions of Wikipedia in the way it is organised and presented, and the through the distinctive Uncyclopedia approach to article policy: "a standard that everyone should follow, unless they don't want to, in which case they are free to ignore it".
This policy 'guidance' neatly captures the community ethos played off against the free reign that editors are encouraged to take with the veracity of their postings. There are significant aspects of dialogue and collaboration such as the 'Pee review' system, but unlike Wikipedia there are no services awards. This distinction between Uncyclopedia and Wikipedia provides an instructive final point for considering the cultural politics of knowledge disclosure and identity work.
The cultural politics of knowledge disclosure
With Uncyclopedia we can identify an interest and enthusiasm for parody. In common with Wikipedia, the collaborative and community elements are key and Uncyclopedia stresses the importance of constructive entries rather than the degenerative editing of others. Uncyclopedia facilitates the recognition of articles and has a nominating and voting process to highlight articles. Also, similar to Wikipedia, credit is given in the form of awards for those that clean up and make Uncyclopedia tidy with regard to its editorial policy (and comically for those that give 'generic contributions', take doses of humiliation and come back, and who disregard editing conventions). The key distinction between these sites though are the service awards.
This distinction emphasizes the specificity of the context and that the forms of identity work possible within Wikipedia are bound up with disclosures that can garner measurable kudos for an online profile in the 'serious' business of editing online encyclopedias.
Online communities present diverse ways for users to undertake identity work. The Wikipedia service awards with the self–claim element highlight that identity work is rooted in the structures and processes of the context. In the case of Wikipedia, we can identify structures and processes of knowledge disclosure. Identity work connects with technological specificity, and personal and social impulses.
By examining Wikipedia contributions/edits as disclosures rather than additions, attention may be drawn to processes of management and identity work. Here, disclosure is understood as a process of revealing in dialogue with context. This article has suggested with Wikipedia the disclosure of knowledge is entwined with the building and revealing of identity.
About the author
Dr. Daniel Ashton is senior lecturer in media and cultural studies in the School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath Spa University
E–mail: d [dot] ashton [at] bathspa [dot] ac [dot] uk
1. Watson, 2008, p.126.
2. Watson, 2008, p.127.
3. Du Gay, 2007, p. 22.
BBC News, 2007. "Fake professor in Wikipedia storm" (6 March), at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6423659.stm, accessed 10 October 2009.
Paul du Gay, 2007. Organizing identity: Persons and organizations 'after theory'. London: Sage.
Jaron Lanier, 2006. "Digital Maoism: The hazards of new online collectivism," Edge (30 May), accessed at http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/lanier06/lanier06_index.html, accessed 10 October 2009.
Kerry Mallan and Natasha Giardina, 2009. "Wikidentities: Young people collaborating on virtual identities in social network sites," First Monday, volume 14, number 6, at http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2445/2213, accessed 10 October 2009.
Lee Salter, 2006. "Democracy & online news: Indymedia and the limits of participatory media," Scan, volume 3, number 1, at http://scan.net.au/scan/journal/display.php?journal_id=70, accessed 10 October 2009.
Lawrence M. Sanger, 2009. "The fate of expertise after Wikipedia," Episteme, volume 6, number 1, at http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/E1742360008000543, accessed 10 October 2009.
Supanet, n.d. "Can you spot the real Wikipedia fake?" at http://www.supanet.com/computing/can-you-spot-the-real-wikipedia-fake-23734p1.html, accessed 10 October 2009.
Sherry Turkle, 1995. Life on the screen: Identity in the age of the Internet. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Uncyclopedia, 2006. "A beginner's guide — Purpose," at http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Beginner's_Guide/Purpose, accessed 10 October 2009.
Tony, J. Watson, 2008. "Managing identity: Identity work, personal predicaments and structural circumstances," Organization, volume 15, number 1, pp. 121–143.http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1350508407084488
Editorial history
Received 26 January 2010; revised 20 November 2010; accepted 2 December 2010.
"Awarding the self in Wikipedia: Identity work and the disclosure of knowledge by Dr. Daniel Ashton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Awarding the self in Wikipedia: Identity work and the disclosure of knowledge
by Daniel Ashton.
First Monday, Volume 16, Number 1 - 3 January 2011


text:
This was published 3 years ago
Trump concedes Russia likely hacked DNC, attacks US intelligence agencies over leaks
US President-elect Donald Trump acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that he believes Russian operatives hacked the Democratic Party during the election, but he continued to dispute intelligence reports that Moscow acted to help him win.
During an at times rancorous press conference, he angrily denounced the publishing of claims he had been caught in a compromising position in Russia and attacked news organisations for publishing the claims, while also lashing US intelligence agencies over the leak of an explosive but unverified dossier.
"I think it was Russia," Mr Trump conceded at the press conference in New York when asked who was responsible for the leaks of Democratic emails during the campaign.
But Mr Trump said he believes Russia would have released damaging information about him had they obtained such information.
Mr Trump also addressed questions about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying "If Putin likes Donald Trump, guess what folks, that's an asset not a liability. I don't know if I'll get along with Vladimir Putin. . .but even if I don't does anyone in this room think Hillary Clinton will be tougher on Putin than me? Give me a break."
Mr Trump made his remarks in his first news conference as President-elect, ending a period of 167 days since he has fielded questions from the full media contingent. Past winners of the presidency have traditionally faced the press far earlier.
On Wednesday morning the president-elect angrily denounced news reports about a dossier of potentially compromising information Russia has allegedly gathered about him, citing denials from the Kremlin that it has any such intelligence.
The president-elect also charged via Twitter that his "crooked opponents" are trying to undermine his electoral victory. He accused the intelligence community of leaking the information to get in "one last shot at me," saying, "Are we living in Nazi Germany?"
At the news conference on Wednesday he attacked US intelligence agencies over the leak of the dossier, which was published in full by the news and entertainment website Buzzfeed on Tuesday.
"I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out there," Mr Trump told the news conference. He called the dossier that makes salacious claims about him "fake news" and "phony stuff."
"I think it's a disgrace ... That's something that Nazi Germany would have done," the Republican said days ahead of his inauguration.
Mr Trump's comments follow the revelation Tuesday night that a classified report delivered to Mr Trump and President Obama last week, according to US officials, included a section summarising allegations that Russian intelligence services have compromising information about Mr Trump's personal life and finances.
The officials said that US intelligence agencies have not corroborated those allegations but believed the sources involved in the reporting were credible enough to warrant inclusion of their claims in the highly classified report on Russian interference in the presidential campaign.
Earlier Wednesday, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin called the allegations that Russia has collected compromising information about Trump an "absolute fantasy."
Soon after, Mr Trump tweeted: "Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is 'A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE.' Very unfair!"
Most media organisations reported only on the existence of the report and that intelligence officials had included a summary of it in their briefings with Mr Trump and Mr Obama on Russia's attempts to sway the election. But BuzzFeed News published a document supposedly created by a former British intelligence official. The information it contains has not been verified.
Mr Trump and other officials appeared to focus on BuzzFeed's publication of the report, denying that the document possesses any truth.
Mr Trump said Wednesday morning that he had no relationship with Russia that could compromise him.
"Russia has never tried to use leverage over me," he said. "I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA — NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!"
The Washington Post with Reuters


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text:
A reader writes:
Hi Anita! I am new to the area and in search of a new job. I have heard and learned from reading your blog that networking is one of the most important aspects of job hunting. Can you offer any advice to help break the ice and get the most out of professional networking?
Dear, Need-to-Network,
Thank you so much for the great question. I have said time and time again that networking is extremely important when it comes to finding your next position. The more people you know, the more likely you are to bridge the gap between being a stranger or being the candidate that comes highly recommended. Getting your foot in the door and your résumé to the top of the pile is an incredible advantage in today's world.
First off, get yourself a professional set of business cards with your contact information on them. Even if you are not currently employed, you should still be prepared. Being able to exchange business cards is networking gold! Think about it. How embarrassing is it to be empty-handed when you finally meet the CEO of the company you are dying to work for and he/she asks for your info. You just blew that first impression. Companies like Vista Print offer deals where you get 250 business cards FREE! All you pay is shipping and processing. Now you have no excuse not to have them! Include your name, address, telephone number, email, and other vital contact information.
One of the big No-Nos in networking is focusing your attention elsewhere, as in playing with your phone or carrying on a text messaging conversation. It makes you look disinterested, unapproachable, and worst of all, unprofessional. Do yourself a huge favor and leave your phone in the car or keep it in your pocket on silent. You are networking to meet new people, not to catch up with old ones.
Many of us, including me (I know, HARD TO BELIEVE), can find ourselves at a loss for words when placed under pressure or in a new social setting. Before you go to an event, prepare and arm yourself with what we call an "elevator speech." When a hiring manager or person of interest asks you "what do you do?" or "what are you future career goals?" you will be ready to give them a response with a punch. You will leave them with an impression that you are smart, confident, and maybe even their next star employee!Keep your spiel short, sweet, and strong for the most impact. Also be ready with follow-up questions to keep the conversation moving. (Check out my "Sell Yourself… Quickly" post for more tips.)
Finally, don't be afraid to speak up and talk to others. This is probably the most difficult part of networking. It would probably be easier to be a wallflower and blend in with the crowd, but that is exactly the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. If you see a group of people talking, pick up your head, perk up your posture, and stroll over and introduce yourself. The more you do it, the less awkward it gets. Before interrupting their conversation, however, do be sure you read their body language; if they're having a serious and intense discussion, wait a bit before going over.
Check out this video on Networking's Golden Rule for one final tip:
Readers, what tips and tricks have you found helpful during networking opportunities?
Have a question you would like to ask? Visit http://anitaclew.com/ask-anita/.


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MIAMI, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Mexico canceled all coastal warnings and watches as Tropical Storm Ivo began to weaken Saturday, U.S. forecasters said.
Ivo was expected to weaken to a tropical depression Saturday night.
At 5 p.m. EDT, Ivo was about 265 miles west of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and was sporting sustained winds of 40 mph. The storm center was headed north-northwest at 12 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
The center said people in the Baja California Peninsula should still monitor Ivo's progress.
Ivo was expected to produce a total of one to three inches of rain in the southern and central portions of the penisula.
Life-threatening surf and rip conditions also are expected along the coast.