Just as a heads up, I think that after this election I'm going to take a social media vacation. This past year has been pretty strenuous and I feel like I've gotten a little too myopic, a lot burned out and not a little bitter. This election is too important for me to take a vacation right now, but I think after we either save Democracy or doom the Republic to the shitter, I'm going to need some time to get my head back on straight. Also, these linkee-poo post take up a lot of time and focus. There are a lot of books piling up on my TBR pile and I'm not doing much typing or word mining outside of this. I'd like to reverse both of those trends. Of course this probably means I'll be posting even more than ever (that seems to be how my plans about these things tends to go). And I won't go away completely. But my postings will become even more irregular. Hopefully the benefit to you will be those posts will be of higher quality. Also I really want to refocus on writing and hope to post more links in that direction.
Chuck Wendig with some words on how to finish that book.
Also from Chuck, the storification of his tweet storm about self-doubt. I think I linked to the tweet storm earlier, here it is in case you don't want to go to twitter.
"A trove of beautifully engraved gold rings and gemstones, found in the untouched grave of an ancient Greek warrior last year, were possessions from his culture, not loot from the nearby island of Crete… The gold rings, they say, were rings of power." I wonder what "One ring to rule them all" looks like in ancient Greek? (Grokked from Jason Sanford)
Personal rapid transit. And idea that was great, but never took off.
A steamroller versus a golf ball, who wins? (Grokked from Dan)
"When sex chromosomes among common pill bugs go bad from disuse, borrowed bacterial DNA comes to the rescue. Certain pill bugs grow up female because of sex chromosomes cobbled together with genes that jumped from the bacteria." The world is weirder than you thought.
There's a couple new (or at least new to me) NASA travel posters. (Grokked from John)
Former Wells Fargo employees describe the toxic, high-pressure sales culture inside the bank. Yeah, that's either failure of management, or a direct result of management directives.
When is the best time to exercise? First thing in the morning, before breakfast. Actually, probably before eating any big meal. However, first thing in the morning, as you're waking up, your body is hit with a hormone that calls for production of carbs. Your body will first scavenge any remaining carbs in the blood stream. Once that's gone, this hormone will then pull carbs from proteins (before fats), depleting your muscles. How's that for a kick in the pants. Also, the same hormone is released before you go to sleep. So it's a double whammy.
FEAR FEAR FEAR BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA! A Fox News story with the title "US Immigration Policies Allow Gangs to Thrive in Violence Plagued NY Community, Say Critics. Topped with a video entitled, "DHS is being accused go an election-year immigration push." But the headline from the Fox News homepage was "The New Gangs of NY, Lax Immigration Rules Spawned Deadly Packs, Critics Charge." If only we could make sense of what their position was.
Wait, did we really just "suspended diplomatic contacts" with Russia? Dear reporters, these words you're all using have meanings. If it's "we walked out of talks with Russia" that's one thing. "Suspending diplomatic contacts" means we've withdrawn our ambassador and asked the Russian ambassador to leave and said "we'll see you in the UN." That's a fucking serious development, one that is worthy of bumping election coverage. And this isn't the first time. Seriously, editors, please get a handle on your reporters and hire reporters who have some concept of the world. Words have meanings, both didactic and connotative.
Drugs and the Third Reich. (Grokked from Dan)
"In an interview published Monday, (Sen. Jeff) Flake conceded that nobody in the Republican Party 'really believes' that late Justice Antonin Scalia's Supreme Court seat should be left for the next president to fill." I'd like to say I believe him, and that this has nothing to do with seeing the chances of Hillary Clinton winning the White House scaring the crap out of Senate conservatives. I mean, I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with buyer's remorse. Which is why I believe President Obama should withdraw Judge Garland's nomination at the end of this month. The Senate had 8 months to do their job and they chose to abandon it. Now they're all worried that they'll get an actual progressive nominated to the bench. Well, they should have bene grown ups when Merrill Garland (a moderate) was nominated. (Grokked from Dan)
An article in Military Times summing up the choice in the Presidential Election as seen by the military.
"The float, which debuted at the Aurora Farmer’s Fair in Aurora, Indiana, had a lot going on. It featured not only a mock execution of Clinton by Trump, but also an Easter Island head painted black and identified as President Barack Obama, a sign listing some of Clinton's scandals and insults against her, and a Trump/Pence campaign sign (Trump's running mate Mike Pence is the governor of Indiana)." Gee, why do progressives think of conservatives as potentially violent whackaloons? And yeah, I'm just sure it was a toss up on whom was electrocuting whom on that float.
"Donald Trump called for robust mental health services for veterans in a Monday speech, even as he suggested that victims of post-traumatic stress disorder and combat-related suicide aren't as 'strong' as their comrades." Yeah, that'll win the vets over.
Tweet of my heart: @KenMcConnell If Musk names his starship Heart of Gold, he will earn the respect of All The Geeks Everywhere.
3 comments:
WOO WOO WOO!!!
A WV story that isn't all negative and shit!
And the PRT *does* do a pretty good job for what it is, even though the upgrade is taking forEVAR.
That top picture? Looking a the Beechurst PRT station? Not only do I know where that was taken, and have taken that picture, it's where I recently took our out-of-state visitor to get an idea of what the PRT is.
A falsehood in the story, however: in the evenings, when there are fewer passengers, the cars stop at every station. Theory when I was in college: to keep people from trying to have sex in the PRT on the longest run from downtown to the Med Center.
I still think that's probably a part of it.
On another note, every fall during Mountaineer Week, there is a PRT car cram. Record is 97 people. (http://transportation.wvu.edu/prt/prt-facts
I thought you might appreciate that link. :) But it is a pretty good idea. I've also seen the concept applied to fleets of self driving buses.
I actually really like the PRT, although I liked it less on cold winter days waiting on an open platform. (Since the track is raised, all the platforms are raised or on hills, so the wind tears across the platform making it an unpleasant wait.)
There are many many stories of issues that needed ironed out--like the fact that the cars initially measured distance by wheel rotation--this was a huge problem the first time it snowed. :)
If ya ever come visit, I'll take you on a PRT ride. Just not in summer, cuz that's when the major upgrades are done; it hasn't been open over the summer in several years, because: major upgrades.
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