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How Many People Actually Oppose Obamacare?

Mother Jones

Here’s some interesting polling news. However, the interesting part isn’t immediately obvious. First up is the Kaiser tracking poll, which asks if people have a favorable or unfavorable view of Obamacare:

Got it? Now here is today’s PPP poll, which asks if people support or oppose Obamacare:

Kaiser and PPP agree precisely on support for Obamacare: it’s at 47 percent. But they produce way different results on opposition: Kaiser has it at 46 percent and PPP has it at 31 percent. The difference is that PPP shows a large number of people who aren’t sure.

Why? Is this the difference between “view unfavorably” and “oppose”? Or a difference between Kaiser and PPP? It’s too big to be a mere statistical blip.

The most obvious interpretation is that there are lots of people who have unfavorable views of Obamacare but don’t outright oppose it. If that’s true, it seems like a pretty obvious opportunity for Democrats.

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How Many People Actually Oppose Obamacare?

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Your Dog Really Does Understand You

Mother Jones

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You know when you say something and your pooch cocks his head in that skeptical way, and you swear he’s mocking you? Turns out he very well could be, according to new research about how well canines comprehend human communication.

People understand language in two main ways: through words and intonation. When a team of scientists in Hungary ran a series of tests on dogs, they discovered that the animals also used those same two mechanisms to understand language. The dogs even use the same regions of the brain for language processing as we do, according to the researchers’ new study, published in Science.

The researchers had the mutts listen to their trainers saying a combination of words using different intonations, such as praising (“Well done!”) or neutral (“well done”). The trainers also used what they called “neutral words,” words that were commonly not used with dogs and were supposedly meaningless to them, such as “even” and “if.” As the dogs were listening, scientists tracked their brain activity using a neuroimaging processor. They found that the canines could process some distinct words, regardless of intonation; that they processed intonation separately from vocabulary; and that a dog’s “reward center” was activated only when the praising words and intonations matched.

“It shows that for dogs, a nice praise can work very well work as a reward, but it works best if both words and intonation match,” Attila Andics, the lead researcher, said in a news release accompanying the study. “So dogs not only tell apart what we say and how we say it, but they can also combine the two, for a correct interpretation of what those words really meant. This is very similar to what human brains do.”

That means dogs understand, to some extent, what we say AND what we mean. Bask in that while also reveling in another discovery: that dogs remain adorable while being tested for language processing. See a video summarizing some of the research (featuring: dogs!) here:

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Your Dog Really Does Understand You

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The National Weather Service decides to stop yelling at us

The National Weather Service decides to stop yelling at us

By on 12 Apr 2016commentsShare

The National Weather Service will stop issuing forecasts in all-caps beginning on May 11. They’ve given us 30 days’ notice to prepare, AND AS YOU CAN SEE, WE ARE FREAKING OUT.

All this time, we thought that the nation’s top meteorologists were just a bunch of neurotics. We assumed when they told everyone in Boston at 7 a.m. this past Sunday that “ASIDE FROM A FEW MINOR TWEAKS … THE OVERALL TREND IN THE FORECAST REMAINS ON TRACK FOR TODAY,” they were legitimately panicking over this mild update to the “DRY BUT COOL CONDITIONS” that they’d reported just 10 minutes earlier.

But no — turns out, the NWS has just been slow to ditch the last remnants of a decades-old technology called a teleprinter. The technology, which only operates in all-caps, basically amounts to “typewriters hooked up to telephone lines,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

So now we’re in a bit of a predicament. We’ve got just 29 days until our forecasts go mixed capitalization, and since we’re so used to all of our forecasts sounding like they came straight from the screaming weatherman in The Day After Tomorrow, we now have no idea which weather conditions we should be yelling about!

Here to help, we’ve compiled some recent forecasts to experiment with. Here’s one for Kansas City:

“A STRENGTHENING STORM OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST WILL MOVE FURTHER ONSHORE TODAY, WHICH WILL CONTINUE TO PUSH A MID-LEVEL RIDGE OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THE MAIN CONCERN FOR TODAY AND FRIDAY IS FIRE WEATHER DANGER AS A VERY STRONG LOW-LEVEL JET DEVELOPS UNDERNEATH THE RIDGE FROM CENTRAL TEXAS SPREADING NORTHEAST INTO THE FORECAST AREA THIS MORNING.”

Sounds mildly terrifying, doesn’t it?

How about: “A strengthening storm over the Pacific Northwest will move further onshore today, which will continue to push a mid-level ridge over the Central Plains. The main concern for today and Friday is fire weather danger as a very strong low-level jet develops underneath the ridge from central Texas spreading northeast into the forecast area this morning.”

That’s much better. Although, might I suggest that we keep “FIRE WEATHER DANGER” in all caps. That sounds like something we definitely should be yelling about.

OK, here’s another example from Boston: “PRECIPITATION TYPE WILL BE A CONCERN TODAY. LOTS OF LOW LEVEL DRY AIR TO OVERCOME FIRST.”

Now this just sounds melodramatic. “Precipitation type will be a concern today. Lots of low level dry air to overcome first” should do just fine.

Likewise, there’s no need to capitalize “THIS EVENING … LINGERING CLOUDS AND A FEW LIGHT SHOWERS FROM RESIDUAL INSTABILITY … BUT THIS SHOULD DIMINISH.” Unless, of course, the weather service is trying to comfort us, in which case, “BUT THIS SHOULD DIMINISH” should remain in all caps, and we should thank them for being there when we need them.

A few more general guidelines: Tornadoes are worth yelling about. Light rain is not. Hurricanes — yes. Fog — no. Severe flooding — yes. Sunny skies — no. You get the idea.

So are there any circumstances under which the entire forecast should be in all caps? Of course. Here’s one:

CLIMATE CHANGE IS CAUSING THE WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET TO CRUMBLE, WILDFIRES TO RAVAGE THE WEST COAST, AND INSECT-BORN DISEASES TO SPREAD OUT FROM THE TROPICS. EXPECT A COLD FRONT FROM CLIMATE DENIERS TO SLOW ADAPTATION MEASURES THROUGH MID-CENTURY, CAUSING A HEAVY RAINFALL OF WIDESPREAD ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL DEVASTATION.

But then again, that sounds pretty terrifying no matter how you write it.

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The National Weather Service decides to stop yelling at us

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Blast From the Past: Billy Ward and His Dominoes

Mother Jones

Billy Ward and His Dominoes
The Complete King/Federal Singles
Real Gone Music

Superstars on the 1950s R&B scene, Billy Ward’s Dominoes launched the careers of two amazing singers: Clyde McPhatter, who later fronted the earliest incarnation of the Drifters on such hits as “Money Honey” and “Such a Night,” and Jackie Wilson, whose high-energy solo smashes included “Lonely Teardrops” and “Baby Workout.” While this two-disc, 58-track collection is a mixed bag thanks to the corny likes of “Three Coins in the Fountain” and “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano,” the high points are undeniably thrilling. Among them: the outrageously sleazy “Sixty Minute Man,” showcasing single-entendre bass vocalist Bill Brown; the funereal lament ‘The Bells,” wherein McPhatter mixes hysterical sobbing and piercing shrieks in truly bizarre fashion; and Wilson’s rip-snorting “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down.” Crank up the time machine, pop a top, and let the fun begin.

View the original here: 

Blast From the Past: Billy Ward and His Dominoes

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BioKleen Bac-Out Stain and Odor Eliminator 1 US Gal

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Acure Organics Shampoo Moroccan Argan Oil and Argan Stem Cell — 8 fl oz

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Controlled Labs Orange Triad: Multivitamin, Joint, Digestion, And Immune, 270-Count Bottle

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