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, February 1, 2012

Linkee-poo rolls over in crimson and clover

An Elizabeth Bear podcast on plot structures. That's a link to part 2. Elizabeth gave the plot structures lecture at VP, and it was fascinating. Now you too can benefit from her knowledge (although she does a lot of pointing, which makes it a little hard to follow on just the audio).

The 15 most expensive SF/F/H books out there. For those of you bibliophiles.

Austerity doesn't lead to growth? Well, you could have knocked me over… with the damn full history book. I know, conservatives, we're not clapping hard enough. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

And speaking of ideology killing people, oh look, it's ideology killing people. Well, so much for me giving any more to the Susan G. Komen Foundation since they're pulling funding to screen for breast cancer from Planned Parenthood (just a reminder, PP is sometimes the only health care provider for poor to middle-class women in certain markets). Hell, breast cancer research is something I support with my money. I've given to the SGK through direct donations and through supporting their "Run for the Cure" events. Well, there's plenty of other organizations, unfortunately. (Grokked from Chia Lynn)

Monsanto, Nitro, WV, and the responsibility of business. This is a microcosm of what is happening across our country. Also, think this is only in the past? Nope, still happening. Oh sure, "It's the other guy doing the bad things." Heard it before. So when you hear conservatives talking about how regulation is "holding back business" (which has pretty well been debunked, what's holding business back is consumer spending), understand that they are playing with lives here. And in their mind, the almighty dollar is more important than the thousands who die needlessly (and painfully, silicosis is not a pleasant disease where you die in your sleep). You may also note that conservatives are trying to do an end run around the President (that has ZERO chance of doing anything more that scoring political points) to approve the Keystone Pipeline, the current plan of which would run through the aquifer that supplies water from the west of the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. Sure, they couldn't pollute it all, but they could make a mess of the Dakotas and Minnesota.

Just in case anyone is still belaboring on the "but the liberals did all the hate first," canard, I call bullshit. Look, conservative dudes, you've got a rage problem. There's therapy for that. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

And about the election in Florida and Newt's "46 more states", I'm beginning to believe Newt is actually a false flag operation to paint Mitt Romney as a "moderate" who might be more palatable to the general electorate. Hell, Newt has gone to replacing "Romney" with "Massachusetts Moderate" in his speeches. So I am thinking it's mostly about positioning Romney back in the middle (a position he has abandoned this round to secure the ever more radical right position of conservatives).

4 comments:

Random Michelle K said...

We drive past/through Nitro to get to my mother-in-law's house, and the town where my husband grew up.

When he drives through he automatically rolls up the windows and puts the car air on recirculate.

It's a sad, depressing area to drive through.

Steve Buchheit said...

We used to do the same thing as we drove past the steel mills in Cleveland. Although that air is a little better now (except for around the garbage dump).

fabutronic sheila said...

I remember experiencing the same thing as a youngster with the rubber shops in Akron. Why is it illegal to shoot someone outright, but it's not illegal for a corporation to kill you slowly?

As for Komen, I gave some money to Planned Parenthood to force Michael Bloomberg to match my donation. Then I emailed Bloomberg to thank him.

I also emailed Komen to tell them that their policy would only encourage politicians to "investigate" organizations they don't like in an attempt to defund them. I told them that I eliminated every last pink item from my wardrobe, so that no one would mistakenly think that I support Komen. And I told them that they would not receive another penny from me while their current policy was still in place.

Steve Buchheit said...

Sheila, not sure why your comment got caught in the spam filter.

It's because of what we discussed with the cancer from radiation exposure thing. Because people aren't dropping over dead outside the factory's gates, it's hard to prove a direct link. Things like silicosis are a little easier to prove because you can trace the silica back to the source. See also how long it too for the general populace, and political establishment, to come to grips that smoking cigarettes kills. And even now every smoker needs to prove their own case in court.

At a former job they used to make jokes about me wearing ear plugs because of who they rearranged the floor plan. The sound of a very large machine would echo out of the corner I sat in a focused right where I sat. Two feet to either side and the sound wasn't as bad. It was only after I was moved out of that corner to allow a manager to sit closer to the machine and he had the same problem that they realized they needed to do something.