Linkee-poo by the pricking of its thumbs, something wicked this way comes

Happy birthday, Ray Bradbury, wherever you are.

Steven Brust wins the internet with this poem about John Scalzi's blog.

Ever wanted to use a wand or sonic screwdriver to change the channel? Well, now you can. (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)

The FF Chartwell font functionality. Okay, that's pretty cool. Although I still prefer to do my own charts, but I could see using this to get shapes that I could play with to make them something stellar. (Grokked from Dan)

My wife has to deal with this stuff every semester, but in case you all aren't aware higher education is no longer a non-contact sport. Student often shout things out like Joe Walsh off his ritalin. And this isn't contained to religious or political issues. Sometimes it's even contentious about the subject if Australia is Old or New world. And I also hate to say that the "don't anybody participate" quote isn't unique either. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Some reasons why you should tip your waiters with cash. Since the Plain Dealer did their expose about this a few years ago I've tried to do this whenever I can. Here in Ohio, besides taking the swipe fee and discount of the tip some owners were charging the whole transaction swipe fee and discount to the tip, which in some cases could take most of the tip. (Grokked from Stewart Sternberg)

"But the Republican Party that produced such thinkers is… gone now… what we have is a party that too often acquiesces–with rolled eyes and grimaces… the know-nothing idiocy of a plurality of its base. There was a period when the Democrats suffered from a similar malady… (t)he Democrats still have some outliers who believe such things. But Bill Clinton showed that Democrats could reform themselves; Barack Obama’s reliance on ideas that were originally Republican or bipartisan in much of his domestic agenda is a reflection of the permanence of that change." (Grokked from Joe Hill)

Because Aiken isn't the only craziness, an official guide to "legitimate" rape. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

If anything, this election season gives us a glimpse into the bubble conservatives have built for themselves. It's something that when exposed, savvy politicians try to run from. And they think they can because the vast majority of people will never read the actual political platforms, or the writings of people they admire. But in this world where even news fact-checking is outsourced most people won't follow a story long enough to see the apologies and reversals. Note that the "You Didn't Build That" meme, so thoroughly debunked, is still with us. People just don't care about what they consider "counterfactuals." See earlier link about higher education for examples. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

And I wonder with all these "personhood" movements giving fetuses all "the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood" if a pregnant woman could file for disability payments for the "person inside her" who obviously can't work because of a medical condition?

Alligator Quotient: They're circling, but keeping out of range. They won't be able to keep this up for long.