XKCD on the backup roundabout. Yes, backup your data. But don't get crazy (and stop bad processes). (Grokked from Dan)
What bad choice did we make in 1980? I think I remember. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
We're number 1! Except we really haven't been for years, probably decades. A bipartisan group of legislators looks at why our educational system is failing students and society. The odd thing, most of us who have looked at these proposals have been pushing this for years (early quality education and social justice, higher standards for educators, stop the Career Training is for losers mindset and redirect its focus by modernizing. Unfortunately this report says all these start at the State level. Excuse me folks, but local and state control is what got us here. And the money it would take to do this (add classes, social equality programs so kids aren't - at the very least - going to school hungry and distracted, retrain some educators and reform the system to be more professional - can you say "increase pay"? - and the retooling and revamping shop). A heck of a lotta money, which the states don't have (well, they would if we cut the conservative experiments) and won't offer to the schools. So I predict there were be a lot of chest and table thumping, and in another decade we'll do another study that finds if we did all these things we could turn our school systems around. There's enough "high end" (read "rich neighborhood") schools that keep us just on the other side of the razor's edge that most people don't want to think about it. Also, I live in the rural lands, yeah, try and sell this to the local school boards. I'll wait over here while you bang your head against that rock (like we've done).
"More women are dying in childbirth in the US than in any other developed country. And experts say the problem is likely to keep getting worse." (Grokked from Steven Brust)
Lead isn't the only problematic component of our potable water supply. (Grokked from Dan)
A car drives into a protestor/marcher in Ferguson on the second anniversary of Michael Brown's death. Shots were fired at the car, and the police release a statement saying the driver didn't see the people marching in the street and didn't intentionally drive into the protest. You know, nothing connected to all those public statements made at other BLM protests about "just driving over them" if they blocked the street.
"If colleges are a hunting ground, as they've been called, for sexual predators, advocates say that high schools are the breeding ground — and that any solution must start there. They say efforts at college are too little, too late." IMHO, high school is also a little late.
"A woman was shot and killed by a police officer in front more than 30 people Tuesday evening during a live gun demonstration at police headquarters here, the department said." It was a practice "Shoot/Don't Shoot" situation, with "simulated lethal force." Only someone forgot the "simulated" part. This was a controlled scenario, in a controlled setting, the firearm was supposed to be loaded with blanks. This isn't just a screwup by the officer, this is the range officer's fault as well. That is a failure on so many levels it's hard to count.
So, not only are the Baltimore PD officers racially biased, the report also shows they're gender biased as well, shown by how they handle sexual assault cases. Funny how those two things go together. Also, hey, here are the shining examples of our "boys in blue" (not really, but you get the point). (Grokked from Kelly Link)
As Professor Farnsworth said, "I don't want to live on this planet anymore." Well Good News™, people NASA just published thousands of photos of Mars. I guess they just finished getting done with scrubbing all those faces off the planet. (Grokked from Dan)
"(Sean Hannity) 'can’t even swear competently,' Stephens wrote." As the kids saw, "Aw, sick." I usually don't like to point out such pissing-wars, but I have a special place for Hannity and his hucksterism.
"'Frankly, over the years, and the many years I've been doing this... they frankly enjoy floods. They'd like to see a flood about every 7 years, because they want new cars, they want their homes redone,' (Harris County Commissioner Steve) Radack said at the meeting." And then the crowd of flood victims he was speaking to tore him to shreds and feed him to their dogs. Only kidding, we don't do that anymore. But, yeah, what an asshole. This is the ol' "47%" argument all over again. Added into that mix were people complaining that their houses were located in the area's water retention (meaning, this is where we gather flood water and allow evaporation to remove it). (Grokked from BoingBoing)
Some polling on the belief set of Trumpster supporters. Oh my. And that, friends, is an example of the echo chamber at work. (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)
"Longtime Donald Trump ally Roger Stone claimed on Monday that he was in touch with the founder of Wikileaks about documents the organization plans to release to derail Hillary Clinton's campaign." Just to remind everybody, Julian Assange is a wanted man in the US with an (supposed) outstanding, sealed warrant for his arrest. Say, isn't aiding and abetting a criminal still a crime in the US? Also, "'If there’s voter fraud, this election will be illegitimate, the election of the winner will be illegitimate, we will have a constitutional crisis, widespread civil disobedience, and the government will no longer be the government,' Stone said in a podcast with Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos, despite the overwhelming evidence that voter fraud is virtually nonexistent in the United States." He seems nice. So, basically, Roger Stone is admitting that a foreign power is attempting to interfere with an internal election.
"'If (Clinton) gets to pick her judges,' (the Trumpster) said, 'nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is.'" Whelp, that for me was the point where we went from "possibly a Night of Long Knives" to "yeah, it's coming." This King Whackaloon shouldn't be allowed to command a dingy, let alone a country. He just "won't someone rid me of this troublesome priest"ed Clinton. "Trump also argued that he is being held to a different standard than Clinton, saying that 'it would be a whole different ball game' if he used the same excuses she did." I agree, time to put Trump in front of a Congressional Committee Hearing.
And with all of his, "Hey, it was a joke, I was really talking about NRA members going out to vote…", or a "joke gone bad" as Speaker Paul Ryan tried to say, don't worry, the intended recipients of the dog-whistle heard it loud and clear. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
"I will absolutely do three debates,' Trump said in a phone interview with Time. 'I want to debate very badly. But I have to see the conditions.'" See, he has to have the right set of conditions to do well in the debates. You know, like the President gets whenever a crisis comes up, he/she will have to have the conditions changed and negotiated before they'll act. And up until this point people have wanted him (or his money) so he gets what he demands. Until now, when he has nothing they want. "A commission official told Time that while certain 'fine points' could be negotiated, the format as announced was non-negotiable." The commission has no fucks to give.
And exchange on "Morning Joe" exemplifies what is wrong with the GOP. See, you can't trust anything a Democrat might say because they are a Democrat. And if you're a woman and a Democrat, well, good luck then.
Ex-Chris Christie aid texted another staffer that Christie "flat out lied" to investigators over the Bridgegate scandal. Text sent at the time such lying happened. Now that this has come out of court documents, Gov. Christie wants you to know that it's "old news, nothing new" and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Whew, good thing that guy didn't win the nomination (note, Trumpster has already said Christie would be a part of his cabinet, probably Secretary of Transportation if I had to hazard a guess).
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