There's battle lines being drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speaking their minds
getting so much resistance from behind

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Linkee-poo was inspired, now I'm sad and tired, after all I've tried for three years, seems like ninety

It's nice when nice things happen to genuinely nice people. Mary Robinette Kowal gets to assist on Sesame Street for two days. Booyeah!

Okay, so you may have heard me drone on and on about how your visual system works with your vision not being exactly… zzz zzzz zzzz zzz. Yea, I know. Okay, how's this? That's a neat little gif that as you change your blinking rate it will reveal different structures which relate to how your brain processes images, its refresh rate, and the physical structure of your eyes. Now is it neat?

John Gruber - In praise of Pac-Man. On good game design. "The more you got into it, the more the game repaid obsessiveness." (Grokked from Dan)

Designing for lefties. 'Bout damn time! And here is the obligatory side-glance and the whispered fact of, "You know, 'sinister' means 'left-handed,' right?". BWAHAHAHA!

"'For the first time we've really made it crystal clear how to self-diagnose your own bacterial sinus infections without going to the doctor, with a high degree of accuracy,' says Dr. Richard Rosenfeld, lead author of the practice guidelines published Wednesday by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery." This is an attempt to keep you all from bugging your doctors for antibiotics (which the over use of is leading to even stronger, more resistant bacteria). Just try and tell that to someone with chronic sinusitis.

"Seeing a complete reliance on the utilities' grids as increasingly troublesome, rooftop solar distributor SolarCity has decided to begin selling its own power distribution systems." Lead, or get out of the way. In this case, because the central power generation corporations are trying hard to protect their monopolies (how many of the states who cut regulations in an attempt to open up the market to competition are still served by monopolies?) the point source companies are going to do an end run and completely cut them out. (Grokked from Dan)

"Snowpack levels across the entire Sierra Nevada are now the lowest in recorded history — just 6 percent of the long-term average." And why, besides noting it's going to be hard for California, should you care? "And it has huge implications for… the nation's most productive farming region, the California Central Valley." Yea, it's going to be an expensive year for fruits and vegetables. Oh, and "Groundwater reserves are getting lower and lower as farmers and towns drill deeper and deeper, sucking out more water than there is coming in." You know how some conversations about climate change are "in the future it'll be harder…"? Welcome to the future.

"Now, new data from the Australian Department of the Environment reveal that whether or not you liked the carbon tax, it absolutely worked to slash carbon emissions. And in the first quarter without the tax, emissions jumped for the first time since prior to the global financial crisis." Strange how that works. I wonder if we taxed higher incomes more if that would solve the income inequality problem? Yea, probably not. (Grokked from Morgan J Locke)

See, women and gays shouldn't be upset about this real thing they may actually encounter in real life, but should be upset about this totally bogus scare tactic we made up. It's hard to make fun of Sean Hannity when he does it to himself. Say, Sean, move out of NY State yet? Nope, not yet. Remember, you promised.

"We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." On whom business can refuse to serve and why.

"'The past five days have been emotionally draining for the members of the JTTF dealing with their fellow detective's health. Despite what some people think, cops have feelings too,' (president of the Detectives Endowment Association, Michael) Palladino said." And that's why God gave us middle fingers, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, Michael Palladino. And I appreciate that Officer Patrick Cherry was stressed and a little overwhelmed at his friend's ill health. However, it doesn't excuse this behavior. If Officer Patrick Cherry can't control his emotions while threatening to illegally cite and arrest a citizen after he, himself, violated the law, he doesn't deserve the badge. There is no excuse for his xenophobic, derogatory, and abuse of power conduct. I know you feel the police are under attack, it's because of officers like Patrick Cherry that people have lost respect.

"The rise of these two groups — the working poor and non-working rich – is relatively new. Both are challenging the core American assumptions that people are paid what they’re worth, and work is justly rewarded." Robert Reich spells it out for you. (Grokked from someone, sorry)

Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Why? Because it's good for business and the economy. Just ask Dayton, Ohio.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. "Last night, historian Gerry Cooley told the Herald that an old cellar discovered in the (sink hole that opened up in the middle of a Dublin street) could be part of a "long-rumoured tunnel" used by 19th century politicians to go to brothels." (Grokked from CC Findley)

So, if we called the fear of Ruskies and China operative infiltrating our society and warping the kiddos the Red Scare, what doe we call the irrational fear and subsequent fear mongering surrounding muslims (corrected to "radical muslims" which they say are 10% of muslims) infiltrating our country, government, society? Black Scare (nope, that's the irrational fear the Black Panthers are keeping white voters from voting in all minority precincts)? Brown Scare (Latinos coming across the border to kill us with low cost lawn maintenance)? Koran Scare? I mean, xenophobia scare is a little to generic (although probably more definitive).

Tweet of my heart: @DaveHolmes If you were wondering why a pizzeria would make a public stand on catering a gay wedding: their GoFundMe page has raised $250K & counting. (Followed up with "@DaveHolmes To review: they publicly withheld a service nobody asked for, closed down due to threats they won't specify, and are raking in donations.")

Which side of the political spectrum has a "victimization" culture?

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