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, December 3, 2014

Linkee-poo paints her eyes as black as night, now, pulls those shades down tight

Things I've learned and need to internalize, more calories will not give you more spoons. In fact, eating a whole footlong sub for lunch may actually subtract from your spoon reserve.

The NPR Book Concierge best books of 2014.

Catherine Schaffer with some advice on handling trolls.

On writing evil. People in their own minds hardly ever consider themselves evil, and Shakespeare's only villain without a cause stands out in his cannon (Don John).

Ready for a world building tip? Strap in. There are stars in the universe that travel at a third the speed of light. And there's a lot of them. Your welcome. Hope you didn't get any brain cells on your shoes. (Grokked from Dan)

Orion. It's the next thing in space.

Life in the time of Ebola. A portrait of a village struck with the disease and how they, and the treatment unit that supports the village, responded and have learned to live with (and deal with the dead by) Ebola.

Killing the goose that laid the Golden Egg. A report on the death of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

And because sometimes it's claimed otherwise, no, rape is never "okayed" no matter who does it. "A former Democratic congressional aide has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two women who were under the influence of drugs or alcohol." This is exactly why we have sexual predator laws (which these, and the laws on rape, are too often ignored or routed around).

Fred Clark on the lies of State Lotteries. Some of you may be too young to remember this, but the argument he is making is exactly the same arguments made when the various states envisioned setting up those lotteries (yes, Virginia, there was a time when it was illegal for states to run lotteries). I know I joke about the lotteries often, but he's not wrong here. And, for truth in advertising, I do occasionally buy lottery tickets. And for exactly the same reason Mr. Clark outlines, sometimes no hope is better than absolutely no hope.

"… Republicans may be on the brink of avoiding a government shutdown fight, at least until March, and effectively permitting the executive actions by Emperor Obama,' as Speaker John Boehner's (R-OH) office has dubbed him, with no pushback other than a symbolic vote of disapproval… How did things change so much?" That's the question. Where did all the piss and vinegar, the garment rending and teeth gnashing, and the "woe be us, we gotta impeach the SOB" grandstanding the GOP did before the election go after the election? It's a question that answers itself. We won't have another election for 2 years. It's called, "being played" and the American electorate (at least the very few who actually went out and voted) soaked it up. Oh, don't worry. I'm sure when the re-election and fundraising season restarts (sometime in January) it'll be back.

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