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

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Linkee-poo, look around you all you see are sympathetic eyes, stroll around the grounds until you feel at home

Authors take heart that you could never be as idiotic as this author is responding to a review request. He sounds smart. :: writes worm to destroy all mention of this author on all of the world's interconnected servers :: Lighting a fire that will be seen far and wide. (Just kidding, worms are hellahard to get going these days, viruses are much easier if less precise). (Grokked from Teresa Nielsen Hayden)

BTW, people still illuminate manuscripts. People still print with moveable type. So if anyone tells you how in many years all these printed books will be so much fodder for kindling, they're fucking ignorant asses who have no real life experiences.

When Depression hits, teens look to each other for help.

There's nothing like a crossword fight over plagiarism. (Grokked from Joe Hill)

On academic freedom and Title IX. While the article is quoting a report from the American Association of University Professors on how looser rules on reporting harassment is leading to a stifling of "academic freedom", that's not what I really see going on in the examples outlined in the article. What I see is Title IX being used as an excuse by the administration to get rid of troublesome professors. And it's that abuse that I believe the AAUP is reacting against, not the level of evidence necessary to bring a harassment charge. Also, I see colleges behaving exactly as they did before and ignoring accusations of actual abuse, rape, and hostility toward women. (Grokked from Annalee Flower Horne)

And today is "Duh" News, a task force appointed by Gov. Snyder finds that Michigan government officials fundamentally accountable for the failures that lead to the Flint Water Crisis. My guess is Gov. Snyder will go the GW Bush route and demand 3 more investigations before ignoring the issue. However, and this part I expect to see played up, the report doesn't point the finger at the Governor's Office, and includes the US EPA in their list of organizations that failed to protect the citizens. Say, who decided to switch the water supply and not pre-treat the water? Oh yea, the emergency manager appointed by the governor. I keep forgetting.

We're boned. Yep, actual climate scientists are warning that it may already be too late. I'm sorry, you've reached the US when we're busy losing our minds over electing a new president, we'll get back to you sometime in late 2017, if at all. (Grokked from Sarah Goslee)

Time poverty. Okay, that's a good way to explain the cultural affects of the burden on women.

"(A)s it happens, the DNA in our own cells isn’t solely ours, either. More than eight percent of the human genome is not human at all—it’s from viruses." Well, yeah, they're called retroviruses because they encode in the DNA of the host. We know several of these. HIV is one, varicella (chicken-pox) is another (this is why you get shingles if you've had chicken-pox before, although it's not the only way). Although they think they've found a second entire virus encoded in our DNA. And they might resurrect it. What could possibly go wrong? (Grokked from John)

There's a problem with the modern industrial process. This time it's laminate flooring off-gassing formaldehyde. Guess where the flooring was made. And now my oft repeated line, "But we don't need no stinkin' government regulations."

The Butcher of Srebrenica gets 40 years in jail. Radovan Karadzic is found guilty of war crimes (although not guilty on all counts of genocide). He's 70, a 40 year term is life. Justice is slow, but sometimes does the right thing. (Grokked from Xeni)

"The extent and depth of support for Israel among evangelical Christian is evident in a recent survey carried out by the Brookings Institution and the University of Maryland. The poll suggested that the strong identification with Israel among Republicans stems mainly from the evangelical sector within the party." And while the article goes on to be wishy-washy about the reasoning, and how some believe that Christians and Jews are spiritual brothers (while some do not), it's mostly because millennialists need Israel to rebuild the Temple before Christ can return (for some eschatology). And then the jewish people will either convert, or be ground under at Armageddon. With friends like that…

Old men demonstrate they have no clue as to what women go through. Yet another reason for diversity in the work place. Seriously, this is all about institutions who don't want to offer women birth control through their health plans must write a letter claiming their religious exemption. That isn't a burden, that's a statement of faith (if their faith actually requires it, which it really doesn't but is an extrapolation made to support the patriarchal society those churches have tried to enforce). A letter. And then, the women get the coverage, it just isn't paid for by the institution. So what they're really objecting to is women having access to birth control. Oh, and look, now that Scalia is out of the picture, Alito is still the asshole he has always been (there's just not many worse than him on the court).

Speaker Paul Ryan is upset about the lack of civility in politics. They're so cute when they're young. Gee, Paul, you and your party have been such saints until now (roll clips…) Yes, I know the real problem here is the breaking of Reagan's 11th Commandment, but it was bound to happen sooner or later.

"Erik Prince, founder of the now-defunct mercenary firm Blackwater and current chairman of Frontier Services Group, is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal agencies for attempting to broker military services to foreign governments and possible money laundering, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the case." Gee, the former CEO of the former Blackwater is a mercenary with no morals? Who would have thought that. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)

"More than supporters of any other Republican presidential candidate, those backing Donald Trump think white people in America are 'losing out' because of preferences for blacks and Hispanics, according to a Wednesday analysis from The Washington Post." Ah yep. Note that his numbers are just larger than the other candidates and of the GOP as a whole (which is near 42%).

When you said "Takers", we thought you meant those POC, not us. The GOP starts to eat it own. Dear angry white folk who are supporting Trump and Cruz because they have contempt for the establishment, that's okay, the establishment always held you in contempt as well. So, starting to find out that you all aren't Real American's anyway is a blow to your psyche? It's okay, you've been calling us dirty liberals the same thing. And I think here I will repoint you to We Are The True Americans by Christine Lavin.

"'As far as the notion of having surveillance of neighborhoods where Muslims are present, I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance,' Obama said. 'Which, by the way, the father of Sen. Cruz escaped for America. The land of the free. The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense. It's contrary to who we are. And it's not going to help us defeat ISIL.'" Just in case you ever wondered why I love our President. And these comments (by both Cruzie and Trumpsters)aren't meant to help us defeat ISIL, they're meant as more over dog-whistling to the base. IMHO, the conservatives don't really want to defeat terrorism, because then who would they try to make us afraid of? It's the biggest stick they have, the "Fear Them" stick.

"'When they see trouble, they have to report it. They are not reporting it; they are absolutely not reporting it, and that’s a big problem,' Trump told host Piers Morgan." Dear Trumpster, they have been. They have been all along. You're just a fucking, ignorant, fuckface clown that's a dumpster fire of a presidential candidate that only has a chance because of the decades the GOP has spent making an uninformed, xenophobic, reactionary base.

Seriously, conservatives, stop embarrassing yourself with making up shit. There's enough differences between liberals and conservatives to not do stupid shit like this.

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