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

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Linkee-poo has been told if you never slow down, you never grow old

Surprised I haven't seen this anywhere yet, but Donald=6, Drumpf=6, and Johann is German for John, so = 6. Make of this what you will.

"The Noordbrabants Museum in Den Bosch will organize… the block-buster exhibition ‘Hieronymus Bosch – Visions of a genius.’ With an expected 20 paintings (panels and triptychs) and 19 drawings it is envisioned to be the biggest exhibition of Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1450 to 1516) ever." We're gonna need more drugs. Actually, I'm a big fan of Bosch, this would be fantastic to go see. I wonder if they're going to tour the exhibition, though. (Grokked from Emma Audsley)

The history and meaning of Beauty and the Beast. And here I though the meaning was, "Be nice to old beggar ladies, because they may be goddesses in crone form." (Grokked from Terri Windling)

My new Facebook posting strategy. (Grokked from Dan)

"That voice, inevitably, calls us to look at Nina Simone’s face, and for a brief moment, understand that the hate we felt, that the mockery we dispensed, was unnatural, was the fruit of conjurations and the shadow of plunder." The face, how ingrained our prejudices are, and the legacy of white-supremacy having poisoned the well. (Grokked from Saladin Ahmed)

Remember when you could get codeine cough syrup and Nytol with pseudo-ephedrine? Well the CDC is about to do the same thing with opioids. Thing is, opioids already have very strict controls on them. We've already had this battle. When the rules were based on more restrictions, that's when the "death with dignity" movement gained a lot of traction. Chronic pain treatments were "suck it up." You want to stem the epidemic of opioid and heroin use, tackle the actual problem of income and opportunity inequality and difficulty of obtaining adequate medication for chronic conditions. Opioids are Schedule II drugs, which means you have to have a special license to prescribe them, pharmacies must do regular counts of their stock and match up to what is delivered versus what is dispensed, these are already highly controlled drugs. Putting them out of reach of the people who need them will cause needless pain. If you want to control them more, than get real about enforcing the rules on doctors who over prescribe (and not just focus on "pain management clinics" like you do). Seriously, we know when people are coming in to do doctor shopping. If you adjusted HIPAA just a little we could do a much better job. And while we're at it, how about increasing the money spent on rehab programs and needle exchanges. When you talk with these addicts, most want to quit. They know they're killing themselves, but they can't find help or have to wait a few months before they can get into a program. That doesn't help.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Or how many hamburgers would you have to eat to equal the sun's output? The answer? Billions and Billions. (Grokked from John)

Another one bites the dust. Another PA Supreme Court justice is forced to resign in the growing "indecent" email scandal. Yeah, there's enough shit to cover everybody involved in that case.

"Mainstream websites, including those published by The New York Times, the BBC, MSN, and AOL, are falling victim to a new rash of malicious ads that attempt to surreptitiously install crypto ransomware and other malware on the computers of unsuspecting visitors, security firms warned." The problem of making things "automatic" and distributed by third-parties, you're only as secure as the weakest link in the chain. Unfortunately I have linked to all of those sites (but only recently to the NYT, IIRC). Please check your antivirus. (Grokked from John)

The Freedom Caucus, when faced with a rock and a hard place, chooses the rock. Whelp, kiddies, looks like we're going to have another budgetary show down right before the elections. I'm sure this one will work out in the conservatives favor, unlike the past two. What's the definition of insanity again? Oh, and that hard place, entirely self-inflicted. See, they all ran on platforms that they knew they couldn't really keep, but now their constituents aren't going to let them off. Because those constituents were raised on the platforms and the are true believers. And if these idiots don't deliver they'll get thrown out of office. Just note why the Trumpster is winning. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)

Come on, give us a smile. Well, a Hillary presidency could be interesting in a societal manner. Like Barak Obama's presidency was marked by bringing the racists out of the closet, her's would bring the misogynists out into the open.

So, apparently if you work for the Trumpster's campaign, even as a volunteer, you have to sign a pretty restrictive NDA. Yeah, I don't think that's going to pass muster in any court or with the FEC. Say, remember when conservatives said that it was liberals who wanted to take your freedom of speech? Good times. Good times. (Grokked from John)

Again, tell me which party is the one taking away free speech? I keep forgetting.

In light of my new policy, It Begins. "A member of the Republican National Committee's Rules Committee said Wednesday that the party will decide who the GOP nominee will be, not the voters." He later clarified that it's the delegates who will choose, sort of like how the Electoral College chooses the President. (Grokked from Justin)

And about those delegates, this happened. Because two delegates in Illinois because they had "funny sounding names." You just couldn't make this shit up in a story and expect people to believe you. (Grokked from Vince O'Conner)

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