It's time again for Cascadia's favourite game...

[solarbird]

...WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? And now your host, Solarbird!

2,000 calorie drinks. That's >33% more food than I eat in a day. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Texas Representative Ralph Hall (R) hates science, and uses porn to kill research funding! Democrats cower in fear and let bill die. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?

California has approved methyl iodide for use on strawberries. Methyl iodide is a carcinogen, fucks up your thyroid, and, in general, is really bad for you. I can see what they're thinking a little here because they need a replacement for methyl bromide, but a thyroid-monkeying carcinogenic mutagen? Is that really the right answer? Honestly, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Transocean Ltd., owner of the former Deepwater Horizon rig currently spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, is throwing all its cash out the door in a massive dividend distribution to shareholders so it won't have the cash to pay fines or lawsuits. They'd previously moved corporate headquarters to Switzerland so they wouldn't have to pay any taxes. I guess this isn't WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU so much as it's IF YOU'RE GOING TO LOSE THE MONEY ANYWAY WHY ARE YOU WORKING SO HARD TO AVOID PAYING FOR YOUR MISTAKES?! but I imagine a bunch of executives are shareholders, which means ka-CHING! Fun looting tiems on the way down! Enjoy!

ps: €1 below US$1.22 omg! But that's for economics. I might post that later.

Comments

[maellenkleth]

a wild-assed guess (don't need to be anonymous for this one) is that the execs are indeed hefty shareholders, and this is a way to get chunk money into their hands in case they have to indvidually and personally lawyer-up.

note that $1x10^9 is still only something on the order of 5% of their market cap, so this is unlikely to be the big scorched-earth blow-off

and BP getting raked over the coals? well, I'll bring the marshmallows, seeing as how I've got subzero love for those rapist-sheltering so-and-sos.

[solarbird]

Cash != market cap. It's different. I don't know how much more cash they may have on hand but it's not directly related to market capitalisation.

[maellenkleth]

Oh, yes, quite understood. A guess based on reasonable industry knowledge would be that cash+cash_equivalents+mobile_assets is probably in the range of 20 to 25% of market cap. Cannot openly defend those numbers of course, but I aver that they are reasonable.

Expect their execs to not willingly set foot Stateside again.

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

Expect their execs to not willingly set foot Stateside again.

This is where I get a strange feeling when I say shrub made a precedent with his "extraordinary renditions".

Oh, wait. Those are only for brown people : (

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be possible to run a virtually identical to the unadulterated original bill about science ed through again, if they have the bipartisan support for it? I hope they at least try.

[avram]

I love how the "drink this instead" improvement on the McDonalds shake is a hot fudge sundae.

But Nilla Wafers are good for you

[firni.livejournal.com]

Re: But Nilla Wafers are good for you

[solarbird]

I quite like Nilla Wafters. I'd much rather eat them than drink the Frappuccino.

Re: But Nilla Wafers are good for you

[firni.livejournal.com]

Chewing is too much effort.

[oh6.livejournal.com]

Suddenly organic farming doesn't seem like such a rinky-dink cottage industry.

[403.livejournal.com]

I've used methyl iodide in the lab. The idea of exposing food to it... Does not compute. o..o

[janne.livejournal.com]

I've sort of wondered... if one can attach a random porn-thing to kill a science bill, does that also mean one can attach the science parts of the bill as an amendment to some Republican bill and force them to either loose their bill or pass the science-bits? Sort of a political hot potato game?

[dogemperor.livejournal.com]

Actually, per Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy, there may be some good news in regards to the science funding bill (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/?p=15889)--apparently it CAN be resubmitted with the language intact.

Unfortunately, it also needs a two-thirds majority to pass (http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2840).

[tacky-tramp.livejournal.com]

Seeing as I have one Cold Stone shake a year, I don't think there's anything the fuck wrong with me. :)