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When is a corporation not a person?

Government bureaucrats will tell you it’s when it’s in your car not helping you meeting the minimum two riders to be in the carpool lane. I’ll give you the straight dope, though. Just like Santa Claus and Jesus, corporations are never people.

Corporation not person in carpool lanes – SFGate

Jonathan Frieman, a 56-year-old San Rafael resident and self-described social entrepreneur, failed to convince a Marin County Superior Court jurist Monday after he argued that he was not alone when a California Highway Patrol officer pulled him over in October while driving in the carpool lane. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., and he offered evidence that a corporation was traveling inside his vehicle – riding shotgun, of course – then two people were in his car. Citizens United caseThe issue of corporate personhood rocketed to public consciousness in 2010, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Citizens United case that the First Amendment barred the government from limiting companies’ independent political expenditures. […] Frieman says he’s been driving stretches of carpool lanes along Highway 101 for the past decade with his papers in the front seat, waiting to get pulled over and set his legal battle in motion. Pointing to state lawFord Greene, Frieman’s attorney, pointed to California vehicle code section 470, which says the definition of a person includes “natural persons and corporations.” Before the hearing began, a television reporter called out to Dorn as he sat at the plaintiff’s table: “Don’t forget to smile!” The officer, dressed in a black leather motorcycle jacket and boots, smirked and appeared to chew at his bottom lip.

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Sitting-rising test predicts how long you’ll live

Flop down on the floor and then get up. Did you need to put your hand or your elbow on the floor as you went down? How about when you got up? It’s a test and an exercise.

sit down and stand up to predict mortality

The idea is that some researchers have found that those who can sit down and get up using no hands are likely to live for longer.  The more that you have to use other parts of your body – elbows, knees etc to help you up then the more mortality is affected….

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Norm Macdonald resolution to gamble more

Norm Macdonald is funny and under-appreciated.

Norm Macdonald’s Keeping Resolutions, Vol. 1: A Plan in the Desert – The Triangle Blog – Grantland

I like to gamble. Gamble money on sports. I don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, or frequent, or even occasion, prostitutes. But I do like to gamble. Gamble money on sports.

I’m not alone, of course. People who like to use big numbers say that sports betting is a multibillion-dollar business in these United States. And most of that money is wagered on professional football.

I’ve been told I have a problem. A psychiatrist once said that I gambled in order to escape the reality of life. I told him that’s why everybody does everything. But he had a point. There’s a certain arc to my gambling sprees. An arc that begins with me making modest bets after much study, then ends months later with me having no money.

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LEGO Mindstorm to use linux

One more win for Linux. Mindstorm is where it’s at for LEGO. Peter Molyneux said something brilliant in the recent Minecraft documentary. Minecraft approximates how LEGO started out–a bunch of generic blocks that you pour on the floor and get creative with. The Mindstorm pieces are still like that. The kits where you get exactly the blocks you need to build that exact model are not nearly as interesting.

LEGO Goes Linux – InternetNews.

From the ‘What else would they use?’ files:

Move over RaspberryPi and Arduino, there is a new maker on the ‘block’.

I’ve been lusting after Arduino and RaspberryPi based maker initiatives since I first heard about them. Plug and play build your own electronics with Linux and open source goodness – it’s just like LEGO people kept telling me.

Funny how times change. Now LEGO is set to embrace Linux in a limited way. The new MINDSTORMS EV3 robot playset will include Linux based firmware. Meaning, that Linux skills can now be used in a limited way to control/build/teach with LEGO.

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Huell Howser Died

You could tell the Huell Howser really was a nice person. His show, California’s Gold, was both useful and amusingly weird. Personally, his episode about the Golden Gate Bridge is forever part of me. Vicky and I laughed together while we watched it, not long after we’d met. And to this day we repeat our jokes about “now we are under the bridge” and “that’s why it’s the Golden Gate Bridge–because it’s orange”.

Huell Howser Dead: Beloved California TV Broadcaster Dies At 67 (UPDATES)

Huell Howser, host of public TV show “California’s Gold,” died in his home Sunday evening. Howser, who was 67, was a beloved TV personality who explored and showcased California’s history, traditions and communities.

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