Twice we have been wrapped up in some kind of national drama and a catastrophe has come in from out of our collective blind spot, swept away the import of the previous discourse, and laid bare a "true" problem.  In the case of the 2012 election, Superstorm Sandy displaced the petty bickering between the two candidates, illustrating that the ongoing cataclysmic global warming is more important than any domestic squabbles.  Secondly, all the b.s. around the "fiscal cliff" (December 2012) was pushed into the background by the Newtown elementary school shooting, demonstrating the need for adequate gun control laws in the U.S.

12-12-12

#1 Meme of the Aughts?

https://www.google.com/search?q=can+you+hear+me+now+meme&oq=can+you+hear+me+now+meme&aqs=chrome.0.57l2j61j5j60l2.5614&sugexp=chrome,mod=14&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Approximately 48% of all babies in North Carolina are born under Medicaid insurance coverage.

The Poverty Surge

What does it say about Obama that he is a Jay-Z guy instead of a Nas guy?

Following up on this post, I wonder if Biggie's use of "It ain't hard to tell..." in his rhymes on "Party and Bullshit" (1993) was influenced by Nas who released a demo of that tune (then called "Nas Will Prevail") in 1991.

Meme

I think the two most blogged women have to be Brigitte Bardot and Liv Tyler.

Shirkers, Disorganized, Unfocused, Undertrained

Alcohol and Drug Addiction Stats

From a recent report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University:

· 15.9% (40.3 million) have the disease of addiction - more than  have heart conditions (27.0 million), diabetes (25.8 million) or cancer (19.4 million).

· 31.7% (80.4 million), while not addicted, engage in use of addictive  substances in ways that threaten health and safety (risky users).

· More than 20% of deaths are attributable to tobacco, alcohol and other drug use.

· Addiction and risky use are causal and contributing factors in more than 70 other conditions requiring medical care and drive a wide range of costly social consequences.

-via MS

http://www.wildfermentation.com/making-sauerkraut-2/

"A people is only as good as the water they drink."

I was in New York recently and had the profound sensation that what we had previously referred to as the Real has been replaced by the Internet (now a formalized State), and what we are left with in our material reality is an "insectosphere": walking down the street I saw many stylishly adorned appendages connected to exoskeletons muppetlike: the soul sack has been emptied in favor of immanence with the digital plane.

Turntablelab Website Redesign

It may have taken 3 years, but I suppose Pete Hahn & Co. figured out that sagging online sales might not be due to the economy but to their website redesign undertaken in 2009.  The new site is much cleaner, though it does have 3 rows of headers (1 separate, 2 adjoined without space) and a fugly rollover animation for those menu columns.  I think it would be better if "Lab of the Moment" on rollover had a longer, more informative product quote that could actually sell the product.  And the "Lab Headlines" section is just a waste of pixils.  If this sounds at all negative, maybe I'm just bitter because in 2011 he said that no one would buy this awesome Just-Ice t-shirt Comie helped make.

Is there a vocalist harder than Capleton?

Digging the increased simplicity of the new Google+ interface (though I noticed some long load times).  Not sure if it will be enough to compete with Facebook, but why not?, Facebook's interface has become ugly and hard to read quickly.

32.9% of individuals less than 65 years in Durham County NC are uninsured. (2010 ACS)

I predict that in the last two years of Obama's second term he will open the (budget) floodgates and create legislation that will propel the U.S. towards a social welfare state a la Western Europe.

Daytona 500

"Mercury raps is roughed then God just shown like taps
Red and white Wally's that match, bend my baseball hat
Doin forever shit, like pissin out the window on turnpikes
Robbin niggaz for leathers, high swipin on dirt bikes
Voice be metal like Von Harper radio barber
Murder sleep away camp, the fly lady champ
The arsonist, who burn with his pen regardless
Slaying all these earthlings and fake foreigners
In the Phillipines, pick herbal beans, bubbling strings
Body chemical CREAM, we burn kerosene
The conviction of my tape is rape, wicked like Nixon
Long-heads inscriptions with three sixes in
Kiss the pyramid experiment with high explosive
I slapbox with Jesus, lick shots at Joseph
Zoomin like binoculars, the rap blacksmith
Money's Rolex, with sparkles, Chef ragtop is spotless
I'm Iron Man no cheap cash metal I'm steel alloy
True identity hidden inside secret tabloids
Breathe oxygen both sides of my jaw carry oxes
The track hit like the bangers, in hundred watt boxes
Yo jostling these cats while Little J be deli-ing
Sip Irish Moss out of Widelians”

Diddling rightly considered, is a compound, of which the ingredients are minuteness, interest, perseverence, ingenuity, audacity, nonchalance, originality, impertinence, and grin

Poe, "Diddling".

What does it mean?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/redskins/super-sequel-patriots-giants-meet-again-in-super-bowl-_-4-years-later/2012/01/22/gIQAglSrJQ_story.html?tid=pm_sports_pop