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

Friday, April 8, 2016

Linkee-poo, and may all your favorite bands stay together

Writing outlines. Working on this skill right now. As with any writing advice, YMMV and it may be complete bullshit… for you. (Grokked from Ken McConnell)

The Pew research into reading platforms broken up by age group. You know that line about how "the kids" will be the ones to adopt reading books on e-readers in mass? Turns out, not so much (it's us middle-age farts who are more likely to have an e-reader and a tablet and read an e-book). Kinda interesting breakdowns. Also, kids read more than adults, although adults read mostly for pleasure. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

Brian McClellan on updating the royalty structure for publishing. One thing I see in an argument against this is that in the past few decades, businesses have been extending their payment time while trying to decrease the time in which they get paid (kinda hard to do when you have a chain of effects that the payments have to go through). Oh, and now many are demanding discounts as a matter of course (and they believe are non-negotiable). (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"Pooling data from 751 studies involving 4.4 million adults, researchers estimated that the number of adults with diabetes in 200 countries has nearly quadrupled, from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. And the disease is growing faster in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries." And while we don't know exactly what the cause is (other than obesity = more calories), the researchers would like to stress that it isn't fast-food's (ie. highly processed food's) fault. Because, I don't know (mostly because it's also going up where there are no fast-food outlets, but that doesn't mean more of their foods aren't being processed).

Hiding in plain site, cyclodextrin may help with arterial plaque, cholesterol and atherosclerosis. And the best part, cyclodextrin is cheap and available. But that's also why it hid for so long. Nobody could patent it, so no pharmaceutical company would have thought of (or paid for) testing it, even if they already use it to help deliver other drugs. Basically it's a ring (cyclo-) of sugars (-dextrin). The major things not looked at yet, after clearing plaques from arteries where does that material go? And while helping cholesterol work the way it's supposed to (in our narrow and anthropomorphic view of medicine) does it cause other problems? Not to mention the ever present (and often un-researched) question, does this actually work the way we think it is, or is it affecting something else which the effect we want is just side-effect? (Grokked from John)

"Renewables are so cheap in some parts of the country that they're undercutting the price of older sources of electricity such as nuclear power." Oopsie.

Well, someone finally got the memo on incitement to riot and violence. Trumpster now says, "Don't hurt them" as his supporters remove protestors from his rallies.

And there's the first shoe beginning to fall, Senate GOPers in contested races are losing support, and what support they keep is softening. Mostly because of the potential for a Trumpster or Cruz on the top of the R's ticket, and their refusal to give hearings to SCOTUS nominee. Dun dun duuuuun.

Alaska votes to not only keep Planned Parenthood out of school (what, I didn't know they were in schools), but also to allow parents to withdraw their children from any content they don't approve of. I'm sure all parents want their children to grow up smarter and more capable than they were. Right? I guess this is what the GOP means when they talk about "fixing" education. (Grokked from Jim Wright)

That moment you realize the person you're talking with is a whackaloon. "Bolduan and Berman looked at each other with disbelief for a few seconds after (Dr. Ben) Carson suggested Berman had a criminal record." I believe that's called a soft-spit-take. Damn is Carson really bad at this.

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