Bits

   LIES, DAMN LIES, AND STATISTICS -- N.J. Gov. Chris Christie proclaimed that during some months of the Obama Administration, more people have filed for unemployment benefits than have landed a new job. Like many political attack statements, it has truthiness in its favor. It implies that the Democratic President has failed somehow, and lets people infer that it wasn't just some months, but the entire six years of Obama's tenure.
   However, as Factcheck.org pointed out, that same statement can be made about every Administration for the past 40 years.

   TRUTHINESS -- Sen. Ted Cruz wrote in a New York Times Op-Ed piece that marriage is between one man and one woman, as ordained by God. This may well be a true statement of Sen. Cruz's beliefs. But what about Mormons, who have practiced polygamy? Or what about atheists, for whom there is no god? Or agnostics, who have doubts about it?
   For others -- traditional man-woman couples who choose a non-church wedding -- marriage is a contract. In countries such as France, there may be two ceremonies -- a civil wedding to cement a legal contract, and a religious ceremony to sanctify that contract.
   With or without sanctification, the wedding is a legal contract between two people. And for some, there may be no ceremony at all, which was true for many hundreds of years, for many millions of couples.
   Or, as stated in a Prince Valiant color strip about a Viking seaman one Sunday 47 years ago, "About this time the marriage of Captain Helge Haakon and Katwin took place. They simply stated publicly that they took each other to spouse. No impossible oaths, no absurd promises, no deities were invoked. It is believed they lived together not unhappily."
   That works for me.

   EXTREME TECHIE TOUCHINESS --   Just got stuck behind a woman at Starbucks who used three transactions to buy one coffee. Step One: Borrowed $20 on her credit card. Step Two: Loaded said $20 onto her mobile device. Step Three: Paid for her coffee by mobile gadget, price $2.74. No wonder the Starbucks system crashed yesterday.