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Kings of the Hill
Ever wonder who the top trolls are around these parts? Yeah, me too. So I wrote up a quick script to find out. Now keep in mind our moderatorlog table only goes back so far; it gets the tail end trimmed off every so often by one of our slashd jobs. Without further ado, here are our top ten finalists, excluding Anonymous Coward and counting only Troll moderations:
- Ethanol-fueled: 430
- Runaway1956: 187
- The Mighty Buzzard: 157
- Hairyfeet: 129
- jmorris: 114
- frojack: 105
- aristarchus: 98
- zugedneb: 60
- MichaelDavidCrawford: 59
- VLM: 55
If you didn't make it this time, keep trying! If you want to have a gander at the whole list to see how close you got, here it is.
Lobbyists Using Refugee Policy Battle to Defeat Regulations
Lobbyists, in Strategy Session, Conclude That Refugee Crisis “Helps Us” Defeat Regulations
In an audio recording of a strategy session obtained by The Intercept, major trade association lobbyists discussed how the refugee crisis has changed the political dynamics in Washington to their advantage.
In the conference call held last week, lobbyists representing a number of high-polluting industries agreed that the battle between Congress and President Obama on refugee policy will give them the cover they need to attach a legislative rider to the omnibus budget bill that rolls back newly expanded clean water regulation.
“I think that probably helps us,” one participant said, referring to the coming confrontation over refugee policy.
[...] “We’re suddenly not the big issue,” said one call participant. “I mean, this is all going to turn on refugees.”
“I think that helps us,” said another call participant. “I think it helps us with the White House being on defense,” another legislative strategist on the call said.
The remarks were made during a political strategy call hosted last week by energy utility industry lobbyists. A recording was sent to The Intercept by someone on the call.
Coal CEO Thanks Lamar Smith, Asks Him to Expand Probe of Climate Scientists
Koch "Alliance" on Criminal Justice Reform Exposed as Trojan Horse
How the Gates Foundation Reflects the Good and the Bad of "Hacker Philanthropy"
This Week in Twitter
So, here's the recent happenings on twitter in as few words as possible:
Kotaku: Fuck gamers
Bethesda: Fuck Kotaku
Kotaku: Help us, gamers!
Gamers: LOL
SJW: BUT ETHICS!!!
Black Friday tech deals (to be updated)
Laptops
- $99: 11.6 inch Chromebook, Best Buy
- $300: Core i3, 15.6 inch, Best Buy
- $140: Celeron, 15.6 inch, Best Buy
Storage
- $100: 4 TB Western Digital My Book external hard drive, Best Buy
- $100: 4 TB Toshiba Canvio external hard drive, Office Max and Office Depot
- $120: 5 TB Seagate external hard drive, Costco
- $120: 5 TB Toshiba Canvio external hard drive, Office Max and Office Depot
- $40: 1 TB Seagate portable hard drive, Staples
- $200: SanDisk Ultra II 2.5" SSD 960GB, Newegg
Consoles
- $300: Dell Home & Office Black Friday: Xbox One Gears of War: Ultimate Edition Bundle Plus Fallout 4 & Extra Controller
- $300: Target Black Friday: 500GB Xbox One Console w/ Gears of War Digital Download Code + $60 Target Gift Card
Categories
Articles
Expounding on what I feel ban-worthy
Expounding on what I feel ban-worthy as linked in a recent story I subbed...
These are my opinions not site policy. That said, they are also my minimum requirements to remain on staff.
Over-the-top spam: This means dozens of spam comments to a single story, automated or not. Anything less can and should be dealt with by simply modding the comments as Spam.
Gross/repeated illegal activity: Linking to copyrighted works and other illegality of the minor variety that we notice should be resolved by editing the comment in the database and letting the user know why their comment was edited in a reply. Bans should be reserved for things such as illegal and credible threats or multiple instances of minor illegal activity that was not ceased when notified that it should be.
Opinions, truly held or of a trollish nature: Absolutely never should this be criteria for a ban.
The meaning of "site bans": Banning an account or IP address from posting to the website. I don't have as much issue with IRC bans, it's a secondary means of communication for us not our primary one.
Any further clarification or other questions, feel free to ask.
Follow Up: TN County Reopens Schools
This is a follow up to a story published a couple of weeks ago regarding the closure of all 3 schools in Clay County, TN.
On 29 Oct a special meeting was called to discuss a revised budget containing cuts that closed the $800k hole, allowing schools to reopen. The cuts came from layoffs, recalculated interest payments on loans, and moving money reserved for a potential future payout on a lawsuit. The largest portion came from some kind of accounting mumbo-jumbo manipulation of their debt reserve.
One of the board members was quite upset with the county commission, remarking they seem to be "kicking the can down the road" until next June, adding, "...[the comptroller] could care less about the education of the students in Clay County."
The budget was approved by unanimious vote.
October 28, 2015: Republican Debate #3
Didn't watch this time. Ben Carson sure is popular isn't he?
Wikipedia
Fireworks Fly In Unruly Third GOP Presidential Debate
Four Republicans Battle For Attention At Undercard Debate
PolitiFact
Bizarre, campy song "explains" China's 13th 5-year plan
Bizarre, campy song explains China's 13th 5-year plan
Song (low information content)
U.S. Military Actions Abroad, 1798-2015
Uses of Force Abroad 1798-2015, and More from CRS
A newly updated tabulation of U.S. military actions has been prepared by the Congressional Research Service, up to and including the October 14, 2015 deployment of 90 U.S. troops to Cameroon. The CRS listing does not include covert actions, disaster relief operations or training exercises. See Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1798-2015, October 15, 2015.
[other CRS reports listed at source]
The PDF is 38 pages.
October 13, 2015: U.S. Democratic Primary Debate #1
Previously:
- August 6, 2015: U.S. Republican Primary Debate #1
- September 16, 2015: U.S. Republican Primary Debate #2
The candidates participating in the debate are Lincoln Chafee, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, Bernie Sanders, and Jim Webb. Larry Lessig did not make the cut. CNN coverage begins at 8:30 PM EDT, the debate begins at 9 PM EDT and ends at 11 PM EDT.
Links:
The first debate is scheduled for October 13, 2015, at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas, beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern time. It will air on CNN, and will also be broadcast on radio by Westwood One [AUDIO-only should be available online via CBS Radio]. Anderson Cooper will be the moderator of the debate, with Dana Bash and Juan Carlos Lopez asking additional questions and Don Lemon presenting questions submitted by voters via Facebook.
To be invited to the debate, a candidate must have achieved an average of at least 1% in three recognized national polls released between August 1 and October 10. In addition, a candidate must either have filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission or declare that one will be filed by October 14, the day after the debate. The latter criterion would accommodate Vice President Joe Biden if he decided to enter the presidential race as late as the day of the debate.
- 2016 Democratic Presidential Nomination Polls
- The Endorsement Primary
- CNN Will Live Stream Democratic Debate in Virtual Reality and SoylentNews
- Single page candidate comparison
- OnTheIssues: Sanders, Clinton, O'Malley, Chafee, Webb
- Template at Wikipedia linking to candidate position pages
- CNN releases Democratic debate podium order
Should Vice President Biden decide to enter the race and take part in the debate, there would be a podium placed on the stage for him as well.
