I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Weekend Linkee-poo double dose - mostly Jay Lake edition

I'm late to it, but there's a new Jay Lake fundraiser to help offset the costs of his participation in the NIH trial.

You'll often hear me talk about how design is a unique profession. Here's one way. Four resume tips. Unfortunately these don't work in the modern job search (although they do note that these should be your "second" resume).

Massive hole found under Antarctica. Wait, wasn't that a plot point in both At the Mountains of Madness and A Colder War? Okay, well, actually it's a canyon that's been discovered under the ice. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Turns out those forced rectal exams and enema drug searches aren't isolated cases. I can't express how much this enrages me. Here's the thing, in this country, you have the right to refuse any medical treatment. We often talk about consent, most medical procedures can be performed with implied consent (such as an x-ray). That means I tell you what I'm going to do and you don't object. Procedures with higher risk involve informed consent (and usually a signature). And here's the thing most people don't know, it also requires the consent of the medical team. If a doctor orders a chest x-ray because you're having leg pain, I have the right to say no, I won't x-ray this patient (and it would actually be a form of malpractice for me to x-ray the patient). So all the people involved in these "searches" are culpable. Is it possible for a court order to override the patient's consent? Yes. But I don't think it overrides the medical staff's consent. This gross over reach won't end until these victims sue the police, the hospital, and the hospital staff. I'm normally not one to say, "sue!", but in this case I think it's justified. Until there is sufficient economic pain for those willing to participate in this, this kind of crap will continue. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

The revolution of growing replacement organs (in this case, the trachea) continues to advance. Kewl. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Strange how so many people who are against Obamacare, suddenly find out they're actually for it when then learn what it really does for them. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The other night I realized I had reached that stage in life where not only am I requesting PSA and CEA tests but friends are being diagnosed with cancers. I've been down this road before. In case you haven't, here's a photographer that photographed his wife as she died of breast cancer. Warning, triggery if you've been through it before. Fuck, that's hard to watch. Fuck cancer. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The Komen Foundation's political involvement to defund Planned Parenthood defunded Komen by 22%. Do I think they've learned a lesson? Probably the lesson they learned was to be more circumspect. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"At the time Saint Reagan took office, the total amount of debt the United States held was $900 billion. That’s for the entire 193 years since the Constitution was ratified. Again, that was 31% of the constantly increasing GDP at the time. By the time Saint Reagan and the elder Bush were done, in just 12 years, the total debt topped $6 trillion, and it represented 63% of GDP." Why we can't have nice things. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its 'one percent,' namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the 'rich.'" Bullshit. Okay, maybe I need a longer response. This is just an outbreak of the "oh, us poor rich people are getting picked on" meme. Now, that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be afraid. I'm one of those who believe a revolution is coming, but it's not the conservative revolution a lot of people expect. We're getting very close to the conditions that brought about the French Revolution and we're damn close to getting the "Let them eat cake" moment (note, the French didn't rebel because Marie A. quoted a famous play of the time, but it was the last straw). Also note that not all royals fought on the loyalist side. At the very least we're approaching a Second New Deal moment. I'm sure many of the 1% will feel like it's a Kristallnacht when it happens, but unless we're dragging the rich out of their mansions (or McMansions) and hanging them from the nearest light posts, it isn't the same. (Grokked from Saladin Ahmed)

And another criticism of the "Rich People now are just like Jews in Nazi Germany" editorial letter. (Grokked from Vince)

The rise in the presence of SOCCOM forces around the world. In the War on Terror, SOCCOM has expanded drastically, which, frankly, I agree with. SOCCOM is especially attended to fight a war against terrorism cells. But not all specfor are the same. Most of what they're doing is outreach, training, and support of other militaries (in fact, this is a large part of what the Green Berets were designed to do). I'm more worried about the expansion of the drone war and electronic intel. And I do agree with the comments that with switching operations to SOCCOM, we lose a large amount of transparency (even in an "eventually" concept), control, and oversight, and those things are worrisome. Also not stated in this article is that SOCCOM has different acquisition procedures. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Whose economic recovery is it anyway? (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"Researchers found that women were about 14 times more likely to die during or after giving birth to a live baby than to die from complications of an abortion." Not that it will change anyone on the right-to-life side. Instead in the past decade they've gone from "reasonable conversation" (remember, that was at the time that pro-choice groups reached out to pro-life groups to end the madness) to "balls to the walls, go for broke" strategy. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

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