Weekend Linkee-poo is preparing for class

Dr. Phil talks about Ralans dropping the "for the love" markets.

Here's ten fantasy writing tips from G.R.R. Martin. (Grokked from Tor.com)

Kids these days. Back in my day were were glad to just have the leaves… and we were happy. Seriously, distilling marijuana into oil, and they use butane? Um, isn't this what vodka is made for?

"At the end of the segment O'Reilly says, in passing, that Hart's number is correct, but doesn't says anything about how this destroys his argument that today's teens are smoking more pot than teens in earlier years." Unsurprising (both the whole getting it wrong, defending that your wrongness is in fact correct, and then acknowledging that your wrong later on without apology or re-examining their facts, just another day at Fox News). (Grokked from Vince)

They know when you're sleeping, they know when your awake, and if you drive a Ford, they know when you're speeding. BTW, you do know that buying and driving the car is implied consent, right? Mr. Farley left that part out as he tried to extract his foot from his mouth. (Pointed to by John)

Twenty-one upsetting vintage recipes. Actually, I think I've been served a few of these. (Pointed to by Dan)

Why penmanship matters.

"The same kind of people who would embark on such an action would not be able to do anything but run right down the hall to tell the governor how they had delivered pain to his political enemy. They would then wait on their attaboy. People of that ilk live for the attaboy." Yes, this. Also, these are people Gov. Christie personally brought along (both in his campaign, hiring into state government, mentoring, etc). This is a corporate culture story. Could these people have orchestrated it without his help. Yea, I'll agree with that. But that they thought of it in the first place, that's the culture of the Christie administration (again, these are his people, not some political legacy). Let the lawsuits begin. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

Gender contamination. Hey, guys, get over yourselves. Although there is a good discussion of brand in there as well. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"'At least in New Jersey there can be living people with dead brains,' Veatch tells Shots. A coroner can choose to hold off on declaring that a brain-dead person is dead if the family objects to that definition of death for religious reasons." Um. Okay, look, I've worked with people on vents. No disrespect intended, but it isn't a pleasant or non-violent thing. If the patient has no chance of recovery, even if it mean living with a vent (as some people do), all your doing is keeping the body alive, at great cost (financially, medically, emotionally, and damage to the person's body). And before we pull out the moral arguments, keep in mind your tax dollars, your medical payments, the high cost of medicine is all tied into your answer. If there is a chance of revival, and you don't have a DNR (or your instructions are to try everything), sure. But if they aren't recoverable, your just stealing resources needed by other people.

Okay, I linked to an article a while back about how to talk to people who are sick/dying. It was about the concept that energy and support goes inward, gripping goes outward in the concentric circle model of friendships/relationships. Here's a blog post about someone doing the opposite. Yea, don't do that. Dear Emma G. Keller, sometimes the movie ain't about you. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Because I'm approaching that age. Sometimes people explode during colonoscopies. Well, not really, but if conditions are right, there can be a bang. Fortunately they're rare. (Grokked from Vince)

The more I hear about this chemical spill in West Virginia the more I think someone needs to go to jail over this.

Tobias Buckell also has some thoughts on the spill. Yea, we don't need any regulations, or EPA, or alternative energy.