TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalThis Thread Title Might Get Me Banned: Log Cabin in the Skinner Box
The GOP keeps shocking LGBTs, but LCR still keeps getting in the boxThere is a nasty little experimental device invented by B.F. Skinner that bears his name — the Skinner Box — and is used to study the behavior of rats when subjected to “negative reinforcement.”
It works like this:
The floor of the box is a wire mesh that is designed to deliver a mild but uncomfortable electric shock. There is a lever on the wall of the box that turns off the current. Rats are placed in the box and after jumping around on the electric floor, soon discover that when they bump against the lever, the shock stops. After just a few visits to the box, they immediately run to the lever and hold it down.
Skinner later added a light that signaled that the shock would start in a few seconds. The rats learned to run to the lever every time the light was lit and thus avoided the shock.
Not what I call humane, but very instructive — especially for human behavior.
Read more: http://www.dallasvoice.com/log-cabin-skinner-box-10193928.html
[font color=green]The rest of the article is about the Log Cabin Republicans and the negative conditioning they received at the Western Conservative Summit.[/font]
Texas State Aquarium accidentally kills hundreds of fish
CORPUS CHRISTI -- We have an update on the investigation into what killed hundreds of fish at the Texas State Aquarium this past week.
Officials say at least 390 creatures were found dead including some big sharks in one of the main tank systems. Officials say that's roughly 10-percent of the total number of animals housed at the aquarium.
Staffers were said to be treating the tanks for a parasite with a chemical, and that the adverse reaction came on quickly.
Still, the cause remains a mystery.
Tom Schmid, the President and CEO of the Texas State Aquarium said, "we know that our dosage was correct on the low end. A similar thing happened at the Albuquerque BioPark, so we're in communication with them to get more details from them. Still, it is a big mystery. I would say the staff is coping well, and we continue to get an outpouring of support from the community."
Schmid is hoping to get preliminary test results back from the lab by early this week.
http://www.kiiitv.com/story/28842415/investigation-continues-into-fish-tank-tragedy-at-the-texas-state-aquarium
Airstrikes barrage Yemen's capital
Source: Scripps Media
SANAA, Yemen — Saudi-led airstrikes hit weapons caches held by Iran-backed Shiite rebels, touching off massive explosions Monday in Yemen’s capital that killed at least 19 people and buried scores of others under the rubble of flattened homes.
The Navy, meanwhile, has dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt toward the waters off Yemen to join other American ships prepared to intercept any Iranian vessels carrying weapons to the rebels, U.S. officials said.
After the coalition airstrikes, mushroom clouds rose over the mountainous outskirts of Sanaa, where the arms depots are located. The Fag Atan area has been targeted several times since March 26, the start of the air campaign against the rebels known as Houthis.
“It was like the doors of hell opened all of a sudden,” said Mohammed Sarhan, whose home is less than 1 mile from the site. “I felt the house lift up and fall.”
Read more: http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/world/yemen_19667704
Subtitle: Bombs hit near Iranian Embassy
Mexican mafia member sues Feds over 2011 arrest
McALLEN — A Mexican Mafia gang member has filed a federal lawsuit claiming his civil rights were violated and he was subject to vicious prosecution after he was arrested in a 2011 FBI drug sting.
Daniel Cantu, 42, of Donna, is suing the Department of Justice and two FBI agents after he was arrested and his brother’s car and other belongings were seized.
The suit, filed on Jan. 30, had originally included Hidalgo County, the Texas Department of Public Safety and a DPS trooper, but those claims were dismissed in court due to the two-year statute of limitations, according to court records.
Cantu claims his constitutional rights were violated when his property was confiscated. He is seeking monetary damages to cover legal expenses as well as physical and mental anguish.
Read more: http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/mexican-mafia-member-sues-feds-over-arrest/article_d991b79a-e7d3-11e4-b54b-df4308edafbd.html
US judge puts off Durst weapons charge trial until September
Source: AP
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Jailed real estate heir Robert Durst's trial on a federal weapons charge has been postponed from June to September.
U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan set the date for Sept. 21 on Monday. Durst is charged with possessing a firearm after a felony conviction.
Durst's attorneys asked for a delay Friday, saying the government is still working on its requests for pretrial information.
Durst is an estranged heir of the family that owns 1 World Trade Center. He has waived extradition to California, where he's charged with murder.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/US-judge-postpones-hearing-in-Durst-subpoena-FBI-6211800.php
To forum hosts: Of national interest since Durst faced criminal charges in many venues in the country.
Texas stores pulling all Blue Bell ice cream products
Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries has issued a voluntary recall of all its products out of concern that the products could be contaminated with listeria bacteria, the company announced Monday.
The recall affects all products currently on the market, including ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet and frozen snacks, made at all facilities, the company said.
"We’re committed to doing the 100 percent right thing, and the best way to do that is to take all of our products off the market until we can be confident that they are all safe," said Paul Kruse, Blue Bell CEO and president, in a statement.
Blue Bell said Tuesday's decision was made after half gallon samples of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream produced on March 17 and 27 tested positive for the listeria bacteria.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/20150420-texas-stores-pulling-all-blue-bell-ice-cream-products.ece
[font color=green]This is a new recall issued this evening, not a repeat of the recall in March.[/font]
Cross-posted in LBN. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141072747
Editorial: Poorly educated, don’t-give-a-damn workers are dragging down the economy
[font color=green]This editorial by Will Deener appeared in the Dallas Morning News yesterday. It has received over 250 comments thus far.[/font]
OK, using the term erosion is much too polite, so I’m just going to come right out and say it: There are just a lot of unmotivated, poorly educated, don’t-give-a-damn workers out there who couldn’t care less about increasing productivity or being nice to customers.
This is only anecdotal but just the other day I was trying to buy some personal products from a major retailer, and the clerk couldn’t figure out how to open the secured container to give me my razor blades. Nor could she figure out how to scan the price of another item, so I just told her keep it. And she wasn’t polite, either.
My point is that we might have slack demand, but I submit the United States also has a slack supply of capable workers. Allow me to marinate that statement in some facts. A record number of people, some 90 million, have left the workforce in recent years and stopped looking for jobs — and no, that is not a typo.
The complete editorial is at http://www.dallasnews.com/business/columnists/will-deener/20150419-deener-poorly-educated-dont-give-a-damn-workers-are-dragging-down-the-economy.ece .
Texas House panel launches inquiry into state contracts
A Texas House committee has launched an inquiry into contracting practices at 11 state agencies, the latest indication of widening concern among lawmakers following a contract scandal at the Health and Human Services Commission.
State Rep. John Kuemple, R- Seguin, announced on Monday that the Committee on General Investigating and Ethics will ask agencies to provide details about how they follow — or don’t follow — competitive bidding requirements by April 27.
“The House is going find out how pervasive these irregularities are,” Kuemple said in a statement. “We cannot sit here and just hope that the (Health and Human Services Commission) is the only agency with contracting problems. We need to identify the other problems, understand why they occurred and prevent them from happening again.”
Kuempel’s call for answers comes in the wake of several bills, including an omnibus contracting reform bill filed by Flower Mound Republican Sen. Jane Nelson, designed to address weaknesses and conflicts in the state’s vast and fragmented purchasing system.
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional/texas-house-panel-launches-inquiry-into-state-cont/nkyfP/
Medicaid Hardball
The state is headed for fiscal catastrophe if it persists in refusing to expand Medicaid and stands to lose some $4 billion in federal funds if a lucrative Medicaid waiver expires. This is the legacy of Governor Perry and all of the Obama haters in state government. It is also a test for Governor Greg Abbott: whether he will allow ideology to stand in the way of recouping billions of dollars in federal funds that the state should have coming to it. It is one thing to be ideological. It’s quite another to be out of touch with reality.
The feds are absolutely right about this. Why should they fund a state that could have, and should have, fixed this problem long ago simply by expanding Medicaid? Especially when all the state would have to do to be able to acess billions of dollars is make a small payment for administrative expenses. Why are the state’s leaders allowing the ghost of Rick Perry to undermine the state’s future?
http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/medicaid-hardball
Fenves officially named next UT-Austin president
AUSTIN - University of Texas at Austin Provost Greg Fenves will become the flagship's next president on June 3, bringing to an end the tenure of Bill Powers after nine groundbreaking, yet often tumultuous, years.
Fenves, 58, said years of infighting between some regents, system officials and flagship staff did not scare him away from the position because of the university's good reputation, its dedicated faculty and an alumni network he called "unique" in United States' higher education.
An engineer and long-time academic, Fenves said he was committed to working with every regent, including those who did not support his naming as president. The board approved him by a vote of 8-0 on Monday, with Regent Wallace Hall abstaining. While technically not unanimous, the vote was an improvement over his preliminary approval last month, when three regents, including Hall, voted against his appointment.
Hall's persistent records requests of the flagship led to dissent among the board's members and also hastened the exit of Powers, who repeatedly clashed with the regent, his allies and former chancellor Francisco Cigarroa.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/local/education/campus-chronicles/article/Fenves-officially-named-next-UT-Austin-president-6211238.php
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
Home country: United States
Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
Number of posts: 112,128
