An article on the decline of public support and government sponsorship of art, the William Morris movement, and what it means to (British) culture. Note, the decline in the US is much more advanced than that in Britain. I have many professional and personal feeling about this and have seen the decline first-hand. We are not better for it. Art, even the art we disagree with, is the food of the soul. Without art we are soulless beasts. Culture without art is totalitarianism and dystopia. It is a culture that enslaves the minds of its people instead of freeing them. It is less than the sum of the whole. (Grokked from Terri Windling)
The Ernest Hemingway: Between Two Wars exhibition at New York's Morgan Library.
"I learned a vital lesson in that, which is to always write the book I want to write." Chuck Wendig, telling me what I know to be true, but want to deny (because it's hard, dammit, it's very much easier to write about a guy who has to use a sword against people using guns, because he kinda got roped into it, plus honor and shit). Do what you love, and the money will follow.
Terri Windling with the care and feeding of your Muse. That.
How filmmakers (and others) manipulate your emotions using color.
How to design a fantasy village. (Grokked from Mary Robinette Kowal)
Relating to the previous link to the Star Trek fans who are continuing the five-year mission, Star Trek Continues. Oh noes, it's a fan war. And the wiki page listing all of the fan-based productions in the Star Trek universe. (Grokked from Dan)
Boom goes bust for the Alberta oil sands development. You might remember me saying a little something about this, that OPEC refused to decrease production to take a temporary hit to their profits as economic warfare to North American oil production. Well, the oil sands are still producing oil, but they're doing a lot less of it. In a few years, if OPEC is able to keep oil prices down, the oil sands, and shale oil, will no longer be profitable. We'll lose the technology (moving of equipment) and the expertise to exploit those resources quickly. As someone who lives in the US this should be very worrying, as for many years Canada has supplied most of our imported oil. With lower prices that will shift back to Mexico and Venezuela. While we're enjoying lower energy prices now, this forecasts much higher energy prices in the future (think $150 a barrel oil in 4 to 5 years).
Just how crazy is America's Gun Culture? "A 2-year-old boy… was riding in the backseat of his great-aunt's car, when he took her loaded .357 revolver from the pocket on the back of the seat, according to WSOC. He pulled the trigger, shooting through the passenger seat of the car where his grandmother was sitting." That's how crazy. One, shouldn't a 2-year old still be in a car seat? Two, who the fuck keeps a loaded revolver in the pocket of the back seat of a car?
The Trumpster goes in front of the centrist "No-Labels" convention and things get predictably wacky when the floor is opened to questions. Or, to say it differently, the Donald has drunk the Kool-Aid. Also, this shows just how far to the right the GOP has gone.
So, still think the Thin Blue Line needs protecting because they're just protecting us? Okay, how about this video taken automatically by a Taser gun that shows Matthew Ajibade, beaten and bloody, restrained in a chair, being Tasered in the testicles. While the video was time stamped at 4:45am, police reports say they found him unresponsive (ie. dead) in his cell at 1:38am. Most cops are good, but they're protecting these murders. Trigger Warnings for watching the video. (Grokked from Hannah Bowman)
Dear Good Cops, the more you protect these people, the worse it's going to be for everybody. You know this isn't good police work. These people are working against you. It's time to hang them out to dry and call them the criminals that they are. Yes, I know what they face if they go to jail. Do you think it's not worth it here?
We have always been at war with EastAsia. On National Emergencies and how we've had at least one in operation for, I don't know, since WWI. (Grokked from Saladin Ahmed)
Exposing the Koch "grassroots" organizations. Dear progressives, all politics are local. You used to know this. Frankly, your local organizations are (for the most part) disasters. Someone is about to eat your lunch, and it's not because the patrons share the same positions as the targets. But they believe they can win converts to their cause. Bread and circuses.
"'These guys thought they could channel this populist anger into election victories and then co-opt the people they recruited and are finding that they're the ones that have been co-opted,' Ornstein said." On the current GOP meltdown. Revolutions are dangerous things. They often run out of control of the people who started the fire.
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