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

Friday, April 22, 2016

Linkee-poo, so when u call up that shrink in Beverly Hills, u know the one, Dr Everything'll-Be-Alright

I've tried to tell my wife this, mosquitoes really are more attracted to some people. It's my sweet, New Jersey blood they're homing in on. (Grokked from George Takei)

The NIH is refocusing on patient safety. In the past year several research programs were halted (including, I believe, the research program Jay Lake was involved in), not because they weren't producing promising results, but because safety and sanitary protocols were being skipped or overlooked in the rush to bring in the results and data. This is what happens when sterilization is considered someone else's problem (often relegated to a career officer who isn't involved in the "sexy" research). In health care, keeping the patient safe if everyone's job. As a Rad Tech, I am constantly cleaning equipment and washing my hands and we all know it's not enough. One of our fears is to have an infection traced back to us (which when patients get sick in the hospital, yes they do investigate to find out where the protocols broke down).

How the Em Drive may actually work. "At very small accelerations, the wavelengths become so large they can no longer fit in the observable universe. When this happens, inertia can take only certain whole-wavelength values and so jumps from one value to the next. In other words, inertia must quantized at small accelerations… McCulloch’s theory could help to change (scientist being wary against trusting things they don't have a plausible explanation for), although it is hardly a mainstream idea. It makes two challenging assumptions. The first is that photons have inertial mass. The second is that the speed of light must change within the cavity." I, uh, fuck my brain hurts. (Grokked from Dan)

The woman leading the lawsuit over lead in Flint's water is found shot to death in her home. I really want this to not be about what that connection makes it appear to be about. Well, really I want the women to be alive. But that kind of coincidence raises the hackles, if you know what I mean.

Suicide rates are on the rise in the US. Especially among girls between 10 and 14. In most of my shifts at the hospital we have at least 1 bed taken by someone who either tried or checked in before attempting suicide. One night we had 4. It is still my belief that a great many of the overdose cases we see are not accidental, although we don't list them as suicides.

As it will come up sometime this year (because it always does in an election year), when your conservative friends talk about how the ACLU is a tool of the left, ask them why, then, are they defending a man who is being fined for flying Trump-Make America Great Again flags? Some might have a convoluted conspiracy theory set up, but most won't even believe you.

Western NY wants to be like Southern California. "The study's authors say the mild temperatures might be one reason some people aren't so worried about climate change." Here in the US, out Summer temps haven't gotten too hot (for the most part, note, offer may not be valid for the south which has been hit by heat wave after heat wave), and it's mostly the Winters which have become "milder." People think this is a good thing because they aren't seeing the hit in food prices that are coming, nor are they seeing a connection to their water quality from lower snowpack levels. It'll catch up to us, don't worry. Unfortunately then it will be too late. There is no Command-Z for climate.

"During a talk at a Greenville Spartanburg Republican Women meeting April 7, Wright called the NAACP and Ku Klux Klan racist groups. He was responding to a question about the Ferguson, Mo., officer-involved shooting." I blame it mostly on white ignorance of what racism really is. That is, on it's basic level both groups have a racial focus, it's just ignorance to believe a group dedicated to expanding freedoms and opportunities from a privileged class to others is equal to an organization that is dedicated to keeping other races repressed to continue their own unearned privilege. It's not the sheriff's only example of ignorance in that article. (Grokked from TPM)

National Security Letters, now less harmful to your Constitutional rights. Because after three years, the FBI is supposed to review the case and see if you can be told that the government was interested in your data. Maybe. If it no longer matters. (Grokked from John)

On the Trumpster campaign, "In a recording of the meeting with Republican National Committee members obtained by AP, senior Trump aide Paul Manafort said Trump would start to reveal 'the real person' behind his outlandish stage presence… While some committee officials welcomed the revelation, others said it raised concerns about Trump’s authenticity as a candidate, AP reported." You know, these new politicians are really bad at their jobs. This is Trump's "etch-a-sketch" line. Yes, we all expected a "shift to the center" and this "leak" is intended to signal to everybody who thinks the Trump Campaign is a dumpster fire that it's all been an act, and the Real Trump will be coming out now. So, let me put this bluntly, either he lied then, or he will lie now, but in any case he will be lying to get votes. To the Trumpster's base who wanted someone who will "shake everything up," you're about to be taken for a ride, again. Just like you've been taken for a ride since Reagan. And to the other people who may be swayed by this new face, I want you to compare this to everything you know about Trump since he entered the public stage in the late 70s, including his stint as a reality TV show host. And then think, this is just another mask he's putting on. No, the Trumpster really is like what he's been portraying himself as these past nine months. He's a mook, he just had a lot of money from Daddy. He is the self-centered supremacist that he's come off as.

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