Well, now that we're in full on 2016 electoral politics, can I mention that with the whackaloon totals this high already, it's going to be a bumpy road.
NPR on marketing to Millenials. They're so cute when they're that young. Note to Millenials; X-ers and the Inbetweeners have said exactly the same thing (minus the social media thing). Get real, dude. "Play it to us straight." Good luck with that.
An octopus leaps out of the water to drag a crab back to its lair. Good night, kiddies. Sleep tight. Try not to dream about LEAPING C'THULHU HEADS. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Email as performance art. From the tag at NPR, "Virginia Heffernan and Paul Ford have never met but they have crossed paths, and they've been sending fake work emails to see who most horrifies the other." Yea. I've done work like that.
The re-rise of the witch/wicca and the effect it has on feminism. A bit dated, and slightly rambling, but if you aren't aware of the resurgence of wicca, it's a nice opener. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Drill, Baby, Drill worked real well when oil was over $90 a barrel. Doesn't work so well when it's below $50. So which party wants you to pay higher gas prices? (Hint, it's not the Democrats)
Dear Bill O'Reilly, thanks for taking the heat off of Brian Williams. That might be your lasting legacy to the new business. This time, it's Bill's memories of his "sports career" that are up for scrutiny. Okay, I feel a little bad because he's caught in that famous downward spiral of the media pile on. Which is terrible for anybody having been put in that crosshair. But not that bad, mostly because Bill has his own share of culpability for setting wolves to the heels of others. (Grokked from Dan)
Fuckstockings, as Pocket might say. ISIS burns the rare book collection at the Mosul Library. 'Rhut 'rho, watch out now. After beheading a handful of Christians and thousands of Muslims, now they're going to have the twitter literati after them. Can an invasion be far behind? Although, seriously, notice what tyrants, terrorists, and those who have the glory of authoritarian rule wreathed about them all fear most… books, universities, education (especially for women), and music. Just something to keep in mind as the political debates get into full swing.
"The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police units." Time for the pitchforks and torches, folks. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"Is that the best they have?" On Willie Soon and the big business of climate change denialism. Science loves a debate, and the fastest way to stardom in science is to show how everyone else is wrong about something. But then, you have to have the science to back it up.
Won't get fooled again. A Congressional Report on how all this government regulation is leading to the higher cost of higher education. Only now, instead of just having industry write legislation, we now have industry writing the official reports that will lead to the legislation. In this case, the official report was authored mostly by the higher education industry. Fabulous. I wonder if they also think the government should increase the grant money flowing to universities? Maybe we should ask them.
Tweet of my heart: @BadAstronomer If you read Twitter backwards it's about a lot of really angry people who shut up when someone says something they disagree with.
2 comments:
Let me just say that a crab is a horrid little beast with sharp pincers and a wee little brain that has room for little more than meanness, whose sole redeeming feature is that he's pretty damn tasty; whereas an octopus is a highly intelligent creature capable of great cleverness capable of providing us with great entertainment by way of aesthetic pleasures in her remarkable mimicry of her surroundings and the many interesting things she can get up to (though, to be fair, she's also extremely tasty, something I've given up with some regret for the same reasons I'd have qualms about eating a monkey or whale).
And so, rather than a scene of some kind of horror, I see the crab vs. octopus encounter as being a scene in which a dull and nasty little brute is successfully brought down by a savvy and quick huntress who is clearly thinking in three dimensions about terrain, using her highly-evolved sensory organs (her well-developed eyes, certainly, and perhaps the tactile sensorium of her marvelous arms) to leave one environment, seize her prey, and return to her native sphere; the kind of feat, in other words, that few species--humans and perhaps some diving birds, maybe--accomplish, and the species that do so demonstrate great intelligence and perception.
And when we humans do it, we're prone to congratulate ourselves for our skill as spear fishermen or however we brought home the feast. So not only do I see a brilliant piece of natural action occurring, I propose we give Madame (or Monsieur) Octopus a hand of applause--or four--on a job well-done.
I'm sure that crab would have pinched the videographer as soon as look at her with his beady little (and obnoxiously simple) eyes.
Keep telling yourself that, Eric, as the dreams come and turn to nightmares.
Although, yes, crabs are delicious.
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