The Watering Hole, Monday, August 13th, 2012: Monday Medley

First up: From Foreign Policy magazine:

An article written by George Lakoff, titled “Dumb and Dumber” discusses the term “Low-Information Voter” and the insult implied in the phrase. Here’s a few snippets:

“The liberal use of the term “low-information voters” reveals where liberals need to get real. First, liberals need to recognize that conservatives have a moral system that is different from theirs and that they vote on the basis of it. They need to understand the conservative moral system and how it works, if they are to defeat it. And they need to understand the power of their own moral system and make use of it.”

“…they [liberals] need to understand how brains work: If the facts don’t fit morally based frame-circuits, it’s the frame-circuits that stay and the facts that go out the window.”

“…Never use the other side’s language. And always say out loud the moral framing needed for comprehending the facts. For example, health care is a matter of both freedom and life. If you have cancer and no health care, you are not free and you could die! With the right narrative, it is a powerful message, and one that tells a deep truth.”

Next: At The Weather Channel, an interesting piece about the possible effects of a predicted increase in solar flare activity on our electrical infrastructure.

Third and final: also from The Weather Channel, a look at how the higher temperatures in New York and the Northeast are affecting the breeding rates of certain butterflies. One species is the endangered Karner Blue butterfly – which, oddly enough, “…was first identified and named by novelist and lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov,” according to Wikipedia.

Karner Blue Butterfly (photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

This is our daily open thread — go ahead, get your coffee (or tea, or whatever) and get your Monday started!