Linkee-poo is doing the last-minute rush-vacation dance

Categorized under things writers shouldn't do. Seriously, reviewing your own book? Wow. (Grokked from Mur Lafferty)

Chinese covers to the Lord of the Rings. Wow. It just reminds me how boring any Phoenician based alphabet really is. No, seriously, we do some great typographic tricks, but it all pales against Arabic, Sanskrit and pictographic based alphabets. Just google any of those with "calligraphy" to see what I mean.

"One of the richest inhabitants of fourth century Roman York, buried in a stone sarcophagus with luxury imports including jewellery made of elephant ivory, a mirror and a blue glass perfume jar, was a woman of black African ancestry, a re-examination of her skeleton has shown." Strange how not only trinkets traveled those trade routes, but people did as well. Just in case you're about to world build for your novel or someone says, "they didn't have any diversity long ago", people have been "mixing" since we started looking different. It's what people do. (Grokked from Mary Robinette Kowal)

And in what should come as a surprise to no one, "The typical American household was significantly poorer in 2013 than it was ten years earlier… an effect that is compounded by growing wealth inequality in the United States." Except for the 1%, while they were also affected, it wasn't to as great an extent and they were well positioned to profit from the market rebound. Just in case you think I've been harping on this point for too long, here's the reason. A rising tide floods most boats stuck to the bottom. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

The worm turns. Satanists are now claiming religious freedom to not have to view materials mandated by the state before having an abortion, based on the Hobby Lobby case. Well, I think they have a hard road ahead of them, but good on them if they see it through (as well as get someone who has been "harmed" to sign on to their suit). This is what happens when you open that can of worms. Of course, they may have a case even without the Hobby Lobby verdict, but it certainly helps their cause. (Grokked from Dan)

"In 2013, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization released a report advocating insect consumption worldwide. The report found that pound-for-pound, palm weevils… have similar levels of protein as beef, but beats out the bovine in levels of iron, potassium, zinc, phosphorous and several amino acids." Yea, but the t-bones are real tiny and they cook really fast. It definitely wouldn't make in here in the US (where much of the population considers any meat other than cow, chicken, fish, or pig to be strange), but there are many countries where insects are a staple of the diet. (Grokked from Sarah Goslee)

"Police told the Phoenix New Times that it is legal to carry a semi-automatic rifle into the airport terminal and that in Steinmetz's case the problem was 'the way he was carrying it.'" I think I see the problem here, and it's not that "way he was carrying it." Maybe it's the fact that you allow people to carry firearms into 1) a public space and 2) an airport, which is a really charged atmosphere to bring a weapon to. Seriously, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure this out. What happens the next time someone "unslings" their AR-15 and the person whom they point it at "feels threatened" and that person is also carrying? There's a lot of stupid going round, and unfortunately a lot of people have caught it.

What's going on in Syria. "Warning: This report contains descriptions and an image that could disturb some readers." It's one of those moments in history that will decide if we're on the side of the angels or on the devil's side. The problem is the people fighting against Assad aren't that much better and the moderates are getting snowed under renewed intense nationalism (I'm beginning to regard "sectarianism" as a form of "nationalism", it's a tribal allegiance of the extreme).

"House Speaker John Boehner torched Democrats on Tuesday over talk of impeaching President Barack Obama, insisting that Republicans have no such plans and that Democrats are using the issue to gin up their base." And while it's true the Democrats are raising a shit-ton of money on this issue, it is not true, however, that is only made up by the Democratic Party to raise money. Seriously, Speaker Boehner, you once had a brain. Either you no longer have one, can't see outside the bubble of conservative thinking, or you think we're all stupid. It's gotta be one of those.

Then again, the stupid is growing in the conservative ranks. "Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) argued that Congress should not be passing laws 'that the states would consider nullifying.'… Of course, as the Daily Beast pointed out, states can't nullify federal laws." I had a similar discussion with some nice ladies in 2010 who were supporting various Tea Party platforms that made it onto the Ohio Statewide Ballot. This is high-school civics stuff, people.

NPR asks are corporations people? Yes, they are given a fictional personhood. Unfortunately we now have an activist Supreme Court which seems intent on wiping away that fiction part and give corporations full personhood. And I say, if we do that, okay, but then we can arrest them and put them in jail. Once we're able to do that, I'll believe the other bullshit.

Just another example that conservative politicians are in the pockets of businesses and couldn't care less for you as an individual citizen. The House votes to end the "full-fare" rule for airline travel. This is also known as, "tell the truth" regulation. Seriously, I remember the times before these regulations went into effect. Think your cell phone bill is blindly obtuse, they're amateurs at this game.

Fuck cancer. (Grokked from Dan)