Linkee-poo, there is unrest in the forest, there is trouble with the trees

Stewart Sternberg on if you can say you've "read" a book when you've listened to the audiobook. I admit that I do, but I do know that I get a deeper relationship with a book that I've read the text of instead of a book I've just listened to. I also tend to listen to an audiobook more than once. If I really like it, I'll typically listen to it at least three times before I feel I've gotten everything in the book. Still, because of how the brain functions (there are separate cortices than handle the written word, and the spoken word).

Ever wonder what goes on at an author reading? Well, John Scalzi shares some videos of his last tour. IF you ever get the chance to see John do his thing in person, I highly recommend it.

Neil Gaiman on Terry Pratchett. (Grokked from Tor.com)

"So my point here is pretty simple. I think the Captain America characterization is a lot more interesting and complex. It just gets boring to have a character like Batman who is always going to have the same shit because he’s never gonna deal with his shit because he’s not allowed to deal with his shit. By contrast, Steve Rogers is warm and human and adult and fucken’ heroic. He’s got shit too but he mans up and carries it the best he can." A tumblr post on man pain. This. (Grokked from Morgan J Locke)

"We still enjoy a kind of wealth, prestige, institutional heft, political clout, and legal protection that would stupefy Jesus of Nazareth." American Christian Conservatives are hitting the end game of their "persecution complex", in this case, wondering if they should withdraw (again) from political society having "lost" America to the secularists. Yea, I'm not buying it either (as exampled by my pull quote), but that doesn't mean these people don't truly believe in their "downtroddenness", sometimes more than they believe in their God. Whenever people talk about "the culture of victimization" they're the first group I think of. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

The Wall Street Journal on how "peak oil" is wrong. "To the peak-oil adherents, this is just a respite, and decline is inevitable. But a growing tide of oil-industry experts argue that peak oil looks at the situation in the wrong way. The real constraints we face are technological and economic, they say. We're limited not by the amount of oil in the ground, but by how inventive we are about reaching new sources of fuel and how much we're willing to pay to get at it." Lets see if you can spot all the contradictions and handwavium as they try to say "it's not a thing" while concurring that "peak-oil adherents" are correct. It's like the people who like to say that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a bunch of bunk because it didn't lead to the wars he predicted over the very basic levels of need while ignoring how opening the western hemisphere (and killing off most of its native inhabitants) have only prolonged the predictions, not wiped them out. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

Stands and salutes. Veterans write an open letter to The Five co-hosts Eric Bolling and Greg Gutfeld about their remarks and apologize regarding their comments about Maj. Mariam Al Mansouri. (Grokked from CC Findlay)

Some more graphics to help explain the income equality that is pervasive. Tell me again about how the executives deserve to make 354 times as much as the labor that produces the value. 'Cause that joke never gets old. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)

Oh, and here's a reason why the 99% of the 1% should also be pissed. Or, as I've said, too much money is never enough because some other bastard will always have more than you. See, there has always been a 1%. Is it fair, no, but there you are. Some people claw their way into that category, good for them (most of it is inherited these days). But while the 1% isn't doing badly, only the 1% of the 1% are actually gaining in income. So that makes everybody else like Dove soap, the 99.99%, who aren't seeing their lot improve. We're all taking a bath (you were wondering where I was going with that Dove soap thing, weren't you). (Grokked from Morgan J Locke)

So, how about letting the USPS offer banking services? Heck, they could just offer low-interest low-principle loans at rates and fees that amount to 150% APR, undercut the predatory loan stores, and make a tidy sum of money. They could even offer pre-paid cards and check cashing with significantly lower fees (not that hard to do) and accomplish the same thing. When I started reading that article I was, "I don't know about this" and now I'm "what's taking us so long to get this done." Of course WalMart and all those PayDayLoan centers would have thing or two to say about it. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

So, let me get this straight, the black man the cops shot to death wasn't considered a homicide, but the white woman who died from a heart attack hearing the gun fire, she's the one considered a homicide? Well, that makes perfect sense, I guess. (Grokked from CC Findley)

"Senators regularly miss committee hearings often because of conflicting committee hearings or scheduling conflicts. But Brown's focus on border security on the campaign trail might cause someone to think that border security topics were his primary issue in the Senate." I'm sure it has nothing to do with rallying the base around the fear of the brown person. Nothing at all. "Brown spokeswoman Elizabeth Guyton, in response to questions from the Post about him missing the committee meetings, instead pointed to an interview Brown did with the Boston Herald where he discussed the threat of the Islamic State." Look, SQUIRREL! Okay, well, he did answer a question about it in the same interview.

"Rick Scott is a trusted brand…" A Florida GOP ad meant to reach "the kids" (well, young women) by doing a take on "Say Yes to the Dress." Um, College Republican National Committee, fire your "social media" consultants. They aren't helping you.