From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Probably Worth A Brief Mention
[Thweet!]
Happy 25th Birthday, World Wide Web!!!
Thank you, Tim.
Sincerely, The World
[Tim Berners Lee] wrote a paper on March 12, 1989 proposing an “information management” system that became the conceptual and architectural structure for the Web. He eventually released the code for his system---for free---to the world on Christmas Day in 1990. It became a milestone in easing the way for ordinary people to access documents and interact over a network of computers called the internet---a system that linked computers and that had been around for years. The Web became especially appealing after Web browsers were perfected in the early 1990s to facilitate graphical displays of pages on those linked computers.
The Pew Internet Research Project is releasing reports throughout the year looking at the past, present and future of our virtual workspace and playground (not necessarily in that order). Says Berners-Lee, who is still very much alive at
age 26:
We have built an amazing resource over a short 25 years. I believe it is vital enough that we must all take greater action to enhance and defend it. Need more insight into just how valuable the Web can be in the USA and why? These reports will set you on your way.
Oh, and this from The Guardian's
25 Things You Might Not Know About the Web:
Berners-Lee's manager at Cern scribbled "vague but interesting" on the first proposal Berners-Lee submitted to him.
Most people confronted with something that is totally new probably react the same way.
See also: "Obamacare comma Right-wing Freakout."
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Note: Today's C&J takes place between two ferns.
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10 days!!!
By the Numbers:
Days 'til St. Letsgetdrunk's Day:
5
Days 'til the
Missouri Beer Festival in Columbia:
10
Trips taken on public transportation in 2013:
10.7 billion
The last year that public ridership was that high:
1956
(Source: American Public Transportation System)
Percent chance that more solar power technology has been installed in the last 18 months than in the last 30 years:
100%
Percent of all new electrical generation capacity last year that was solar-powered:
29%
(Source:
National Geographic)
Journalists killed in Syria since the uprising began:
63
(Source: Committee to Protect Journalists)
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Mid-week Rapture Index: 188 (including 3 peace processes and 1 Texas senator who is woefully uneducated about St. Ronnie). Soul Protection Factor 12 lotion is recommended if you’ll be walking amongst the heathen today.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: No grapes!
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JEERS to the least amusing graphic of the day. Might as well get this out of the way early. Courtesy of Portland TV channel 13, today's weather:
We'll be primal screaming at Dunkin' Donuts from 10-11. Please join us!
CHEERS to giving it the old college try. Yesterday's special election to fill the late Republican Bill Young's seat in Florida's 13th District was a close one. But in the end the candidates last names tell the story: Sink's sunk and David's Jolly. It was 48-47 (a third candidate got the rest), and anyone who tries to read any November-blend tea leaves in it is a stark-raving idiot. And in other news, the beltway pundits are a stark-raving idiot.
CHEERS to the fearsome fivesome. Twelve years ago today, after a grueling selection process involving thousands of hues, shades, pigments and a $100 billion consultation fee for the Pantone Corporation, five colors were chosen to stand watch over America's shores as official representatives of the federal government's new Homeland Security Advisory System. During their first two years, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge changed the alert level ten times, mostly due to the
dire threat of Democrats winning elections. They disbanded in April of 2011. True fact: Orange went on to become a traffic cone on the George Washington Bridge. I hear it's working on a book deal.
JEERS to running on vapors. It's the energy MIRACLE of the 21st century! Natural gas! Clean, abundant, flawless! The perfect fuel for all of Americ…. Oops:
Yeah. We've heard.
America’s plan to use more natural gas to run power plants, make chemicals, drive vehicles and heat homes may not go as smoothly as expected. … The bitter temperatures boosted demand for natural gas to heat homes and businesses. But wells in some places literally froze, making it difficult for some drillers to keep gas flowing. And the high demand clogged pipelines, so even when there was enough production, the gas couldn’t get where it needed to go.
Shortages cropped up, and prices in some places soared to record levels. Californians and Texans were asked to reduce their power consumption because utilities were running low on gas to run power plants.
Solar and wind roll merrily on.
CHEERS and JEERS to Daylight Saving time, day 3. Lovin' it because it's still broad daylight at 6pm. Hatin' it because it's dark at wake-up time again, so I get paranoid about oversleeping and this becomes my sleep cycle:
Zzzzzz… [Jolt awake! Check the time] …Zzzzzz… [Jolt awake! Check the time] …Zzzzzz… [Jolt awake! Check the time] …Zzzzzz… [Jolt awake! Check the time]
It's like being an audience member at a Bobby Jindal speech.
CHEERS to today's Great Moment in Daily Show Baiting. Oh, Bill-O, you're such a pro:
This has been Great Moments in Daily Show Baiting. Your move, Jon.
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Five years ago in C&J: March 12, 2009
JEERS to them wedding bell blues. Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol, and her beau, Levi Hockeyhunk, have apparently called off their engagement, making the product of their special night of conservative "value-swapping" in the back of a Chevy---son Tripp---one helluva elephant in the GOP's Cathedral of Morality. I sincerely wish the kids well, and I expect that this episode will hit conservative pontificators in the face with all the force of a cast-iron skillet, forcing them to see yet again that living up to some impossible, non-existent "Biblical" standard of purity and perfection is just that---impossible. Oh, and I also expect that one day I'll poop gold bars.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the ex-candidate who's just the right height. Happy 67th Birthday to 6-foot 2-inch Mitt Romney! He'll no doubt find himself on the receiving end of a bunch of moocher-worthy big gifts and chocolate baked goodies. If he's been really good, he'll get a new deluxe Etch-A-Sketch with which to re-create his dream of abolishing Obamacare (on Day One!), bombing Iran, trucking "illegals" back to Mexico (the Canadian illegals can stay), crushing unions, reinstating "Don’t Ask, Don't Tell," getting rid of Planned Parenthood, privatizing Social Security (because that worked out well for Bush) and opening the National Mall for oil drilling. President Obama may ring him up if he can take a moment away from his job of running the country. Paul Ryan will stop by after all the dishes have been washed to wash the dishes. And then he might say a few words:
)
We got him his usual gift: 47 percent of a new tie.
Have a nice Wednesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"You treat Cheers and Jeers as a special treasure; you treat other things as common.”
---Mike Huckabee
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