Ok, I'm stretching a bit as a programmer in my current contract, because they're thrilled with the timeframe I've given. This contract is finally allowing me to learn MVC, which means *next* contract I'll be able to command a much higher rate.
 
However, using MVC on Microsoft tools means abandoning Ajax. I really need a good "Date/Time" control and a good cascading combobox. Anybody have any suggestions for an open source JQuery suite I should examine?

Definitively use art and materialism to deny the existence of life on Earth.

I havenÂt been here for years!

Whassup?

It is amazing the number of "gay cradle Catholic atheists" I meet who were trained by Jesuits during the worst of the clergy abuse years.

At the request of a fellow Catholic blogger, I'm reading Papal Economics by Fr. Maciej Zieba, OP. It occurred to me that since my journal circle has put up with my evolution from Karl to Groucho to Reinhard Marx, my thoughts on this book may be of some interest. I in fact already have five posts discussing the topics in the book.
  http://outsidetheautisticasylum.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-utopia-of-jesus-christ.html
  http://outsidetheautisticasylum.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-economics-of-sex.html
  http://outsidetheautisticasylum.blogspot.com/2014/02/private-property-is-under-mortgage-to.html
  http://outsidetheautisticasylum.blogspot.com/2014/03/decentralization-and-individual.html
  http://outsidetheautisticasylum.blogspot.com/2014/03/terry-pratchet-and-pope-john-paul-ii.html
Edit: ---
And the circle is complete as I blog about a comment in this journal

The problem is that our society has been systematically eliminating most of the occupations where an honest, hard-working, but not-especially-bright-nor-politically-savvy person can make a decent living.

Then I wrote:

Then perhaps we need to encourage people with those biological advantages to breed more.

Another Slashdot regular told me that comments like these are "dude, not funny". This is something that I occasionally need help to discern because of my mental condition. I think part of my problem comes from trying to fit in with other users on Slashdot who write comments suggesting similarly impractical workarounds out of hardcore laissez-faire ideology: "No jobs in your area? Just move." "No good ISP in your area? Just move." (1 | 2 | 3 | 4) Some such comments even get moderated up.

Sometimes I can get through to them: "Cost of living in some areas has become so high that an entry-level job doesn't pay a living wage." Or "Public high schools aren't doing a good job of teaching basic life skills such as how to relocate for a job. For example, about how much money should I have saved up before I move to, say, Austin?" Yet some posters can't even come up with a ballpark figure. Or a more tongue-in-cheek approach takes them up on their "offer": "How should I go about qualifying for even a temporary work visa in your country?"

But other times I've concluded that it's easier just to try to fit in. If it has in fact gone too far, perhaps I should take the advice of Jesus of Nazareth. To paraphrase Mark 9:45: "If your Slashperger buddies cause you to stumble, cut them off."

An interesting thought occurred to me this morning: What if all the descriptions of time that scientists have come up with, are in fact descriptions of the supernatural?
 
From theistic Newton's absolute time ticking away whether anybody notices it or not, to relativity, to personal biological time, what if miracles are just the slight differences between absolute time, relative time, and personal time?
 
My own mental defect, Asperger's Syndrome, certainly has a role in this. I can shift into panic mode really easily, making time slow down for me. I can also shift into a state where I slow down and time speeds up. It costs me- both states can cause migraines, and my muscles and sensory input don't always keep up with my brain- but I can do it. Time is not linear for me, it's more like the multidimensional time of string theory. But it occurs to me that being "personally unstuck in time" could explain a large number of miraculous events that I've heard about.
 
This would make "God", the God of Absolute Time- the cause of all those events that doesn't have any other cause. The original Time Lord. God is from Gallifrey?

Is that they might use it without thinking first.

An admittedly Catholic blogger asks a very interesting question about modern sex education. Why don't modern sex education classes teach anything about what science knows about human fertility?

Can a contract signed in an ambulance or an emergency room authorizing treatment be considered free consent?

This question comes from the recent decision in Belgium to extend the right of euthanasia to children. I of course am arguing that euthanasia is never done with free consent even for adults- the pain of the disease is equivalent to a contract signed under torture, and thus cannot be considered free consent.

All hail the mighty pen of the executive, able to correct immigration abuse, low wages for federal contractors, retroactively change the course of technology in the oil industry (did Dr. Who imbibe the pen with the powers of the Tardis?) and even able to declare global warming a fact by fiat.

The executive order has become the law of the land. I guess THIS is how democracy dies.
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Go here for more laughs from the State of the Onion

From a CNN news alert in my e-mail:
 

Obama said he was ordering changes that will end the bulk collection of metadata "as it currently exists, and establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk metadata."

In other words, we're still listening, but we want to outsource our data retention costs back to the phone companies.

A small bluetooth peripheral that combines both wallet theft protection and lessens the number of cards you need to keep in your wallet. Pre-order for 50% off only on 12/12/2013 (ok, I waited for the last day to pre-order mine and get a referral link).

Then apparently they will fire the manager who tried to live up to the guarantee

Respond to this, especially the "controversial for Americans" paragraphs 50-64 and 178-216