Archive for January 29, 2012
Kim Kardashian’s Millions — She Makes Tweeting What it Would Take Me 1,063 Years to Make
New York Magazine is out with an article about how Kim Kardashian makes $10,000 per tweet:
The weirdest thing about the rumor that Kim Kardashian gets paid $10,000 for a Twitter endorsement is that it’s true. (Recent plugs have been for ShoeDazzle.com and CVS.)
As of 1-29-12 at 9:27 p.m. ET, Kardashian has sent 10,208 tweets:
Assuming she’s been paid $10,000 per tweet since Day One, and assuming — generously — that only half of her tweets are endorsements (5,104), that means Kardashian has made $51,040,000 simply by sending tweets.
Given my family’s income, it would take us 1,063 years — working full-time — to make that much money.
Mitt Romney: “Of Course” the Economy Is Getting Better
I thought I’d put up this little tidbit about the economy taken from an appearance by Mitt Romney on Laura Ingraham’s show (January 20, 2012). I have a feeling it will come in handy in July, August, September, October and November, if you know what I mean (wink, wink).
Mitt:
Well of course it’s getting better. The economy always gets better after a recession. There’s always a recovery…
[...]
Have you got a better one [argument] Laura? It just happens to be the truth.
Sarah Palin: Vote for Newt, Annoy a Liberal
This is hilarious — Sarah Palin last night on Fox:
“And I say, you know, you’ve got to rage against the machine at this point in order to defend our republic and save what is good and secure and prosperous about our nation,” Palin continued. “We need somebody who is engaged in sudden and relentless reform and is not afraid to shake up the establishment. So, if for no other reason, rage against the machine, vote for Newt, annoy a liberal, vote Newt, keep this vetting process going, keep the debate going.”
Oh, Sarah, you watch so much Fox you’re living in their alternate universe. Liberals would love it if Newt keep winning. If he won the nomination we’d be dancing in the street. He’s so crazy, he’d be a joy to run against and watching him stick his foot in his mouth would be So. Much. Fun. Are you kidding?
Imagine choosing a leader during this time of crisis because that person will annoy your opponents.
Poor Sarah.
A Solar Flare — Up Close and Personal
Wow. This is the most amazing video I’ve ever seen of a solar flair. I recommend watching it in full-screen.
What you’re seeing is Active Region 1402, a sunspot cluster. This is a tangled collection of magnetic field lines piercing the surface of the Sun. Like a bar magnet, there are two poles to each loop, a north and a south pole. The gas on the surface of the Sun is so hot it has electrons stripped off, so it’s strongly affected by the intense magnetic field, and flows along these towering loops, which can reach heights of 300,000 km (180,000 miles) in this region.
The loops are tied to the plasma, too, and this material is twisting and roiling as it rises and sinks. The lines get tangled, and like a short circuit they can snap and reconnect. When they do, they release vast amounts of energy as a solar flare. In the video you can see the messy, disorganized loops getting more and more tangled up.
Love this editorial comment:
The Sun is fiendishly complex, and astonishingly beautiful. Clearly, to our brains, these things are connected. Remember, too: this beauty, this magnificence, is brought to you by science. Without our curiosity and our need to understand the Universe better, you would never have been able to watch in awe as superheated plasma arcs dwarfing the Earth itself grew and collapsed on the surface of a star one hundred fifty million kilometers away.
Think of that the next time someone says science takes away the beauty and mystery of life.
(Via.)
Ann Romney Disrespects Her Dead Father
When you’re a Romney, apparently, it doesn’t matter what other people feel, believe or want. What matters is what you want and that you get it:
Gawker’s substantial Mormon readership has come through for us: Two readers have sent us confirmation that Edward Davies, Mitt Romney’s militantly atheist father-in-law, was indeed posthumously converted to Mormonism by his family, despite the fact that when he was alive he regarded all religions as “hogwash.”
[...]
As we mentioned yesterday, Ann Romney’s Welsh-born father (who Mitt mentioned in last night’s debate to shore up his pro-immigrant bona fides) was an engineer, inventor, and resolute atheist who disdained all organized religion and raised his children accordingly. Davies, his son Roderick told the Boston Globe in 2007, regarded the faithful as “weak in the knees.”
[...]
Until he died. According to this entry in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ genealogical database, Davies was baptized as a Mormon at a “special family meeting” 14 months after his death; “All ordinances except sealing to spouse performed in Salt Lake Temple on 19 Nov 1993 in special family meeting,” the entry says
[...]
A little under a year after the posthumous baptism, according to this entry at Ancestry.com, a Utah-based genealogical registry linked to the Mormon church, Edward Davies was “sealed” to his spouse for eternity in a ceremony that appears to have been performed in Atlanta, Ga.
[I]t’s an exceedingly odd way for the Romney family to honor the memory of a man who was committed, for his entire life, to the notion that organized religion is a fraud.
“Exceedingly odd?” That’s way too kind. Exceedingly, unimaginably disrespectful is how I’d define it.
