When Star Trek NG came out, I was kind of a dick. There was this kid on the show I had waited for and I wondered just what the heck is this kid doing on my show? He wasn't even alive when the original Star Trek was on TV. He doesn't understand what it's all about. I'm glad to say I was so fucking wrong about that. This isn't the first time I thought that, but it's just another instance where, if I ever meet Wil Wheaton in the flesh, I need to apologize for my dickishness. I've gone from critic to fan. Yea, he got it. Still does. (Grokked from Tor.com)
Mary Robinette Kowal with some good advice regarding author photos. As I've told some of my clients, "Sure, you could get that nephew to design your brochure or business card. But know that piece of communications will stand in for you when you can't be there. Do you want that nephew to be your sales rep to your potential customers?" That doesn't mean there aren't some very talented amateurs out there. But you do get what you pay for.
Dr. Doyle on rejectomancy.
Jim Hines talks a little more about big-D depression. Big-D is the big liar. It will even lie to you about being present.
A really great article on the history of color systems and teaching kids about color. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"Actually, we would really much rather have our eccentric criminals stay safely within the pages of novels by Carl Hiassen or Elmore Leonard, because those characters don’t quite so clearly call attention to how fucked up our system is when it comes to caring for people who are poor, unstable, and maybe not so bright." A man shoots a Wal-Mart manager because the manager refused to let the man's dog in the store. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
You know that kid in school who had that really dangerous hobby? Well, now they just post photos of them doing crazy things. (Pointed to by Dan)
"'We still have a long way to go to develop aircraft capable of safely interacting with people or the environment,' says Korpela." Sometimes the jokes write themselves. Drone engineers develop a claw that works just like an eagle's claw to let drones grab things. What could go wrong? (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"But perhaps the weirdest moment in Bachmann’s speech… was the moment… she asked, 'Where are poor women supposed to go?' for health care… (until the ACA is fully implemented) Poor women will go to the one place poor women have always gone for affordable, reliable access to the health care that is otherwise denied them because they are poor and because they are women: They will go to Planned Parenthood." You know, the one place Rep. Bachmann and other idiots of her ilk have declared holy war on to defund them and have Planned Parenthood close up shop.
Hey, here's a new one, I'm going to say John Boehner is correct. When it comes to the DOMA oral arguments, John Boehner understands how the Constitution works better than Chief Justice John Roberts and Antonin Scalia. The Executive Branch can determine to ignore enforcement of a law (which they aren't in this case, although they did stop defending the law), but they can't declare a law Unconstitutional (except in the press) and then just wipe it from the books (at a local level this is known as police prerogative, or why sometimes you get a warning instead of a ticket). That's not the job of the Executive. To get the law off the books, either the Supreme Court must rule (or either uphold the ruling of a lower court or refuse to revisit the decision of a lower court) or Congress must pass a new law that repeals the old law. That the Chief Justice doesn't comprehend this simple fact is very worrying. But then I'm guessing they're just whinging for having to be put on the spot. Oh, and a last line to Justice Scalia, if the DoJ decides not to enforce a law, they are then culpable and can be sued for not enforcing the law. In this case, if the President instructed the DoJ to ignore the law, Congress (or any of the people defending DOMA) could have brought him up on charges for failure to follow the law. I may disagree with your reasoning, but do the fargin' job.
The Satanic baby-killers who never were, but some of them are still in jail. When people talk about having "good, God-fearing people" in positions of power, I often think they're talking about people like James Randall Noblitt.
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