But violent crime fell during the rainy years, at the same time property crimes were on the rise. Why should that be? Because, the economists contend, rye was also used to make beer. “Ten percent of Bavarian household income went to beer purchases alone,” they write. So as a price spike in rye led to a price spike in beer, there was less beer consumed — which in turn led to fewer assaults and murders.
Ah, worldbuilding.
Experiments in the Revival of Organisms — Old Soviet medical propaganda film. Not for the squeamish or animal lovers.
New Report Shows How Conservative Minority Rules by Filibuster, Preventing Up or Down Vote on a Record Number of Bills — Does anyone even remember how anguished the Senate Republican majority was over the unConstitutionality of the filibuster, and how they were going to eliminate it to keep the minority Democrats in line back during the heady days of the Permanent Majority? Apparently the "liberal" media does not. Conservatives: your standard bearers of principled consistency!
A former fundamentalist talks about conservatim — And does a much better job of explaining my objections to the intersection of religion and politics in conservative America than I have, as well as the moral bankruptcy of conservatism today. Money shot:
Being raised fundie, you spend a lot of your life being told to believe someone else's preposterous interpretation of events over your own lying eyes. Growing up this way really twists your reality lenses; and those of us who come out of it as adults spend a lot of time and energy learning to see and interpret the world clearly again.
Non Sequitur nails it in one — Those pesky facts, and the liberal hatemongers who think they're important.