There's battle lines being drawn.
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong.
Young people speaking their minds
getting so much resistance from behind

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Linkee-poo Kaplowie II Electric Boogaloo

Edit Gorramit. Okay, yesterday I took the hit. I could have done something wrong. But not today. See, I edit this over several devices including my home computer, my iPad, and the work computer. When I'm done editing I save and close the edit window to keep from overwriting the blog post when I log in from a different machine (I keep a number of browser tabs open all the time). Normally, if I forget to close one, and make edits on a different machine, when I go back to the original machine it will throw an error if it tries to save over the edited post. Apparently that safeguard is gone. So yesterday when I came home and opened my home computer I saw that the blogger edit window for the post was open and it had overwritten all the edits I had made on the work computer. And I thought I had fucked up. But not tonight. Last night I saved and closed the editor. I double checked. I triple checked. But today when I got home and opened my home computer, the blogger editor was open. I closed it immediately, but it had saved over all the edits from work. So I lost a lot of what I had added today (which was a lot). After closing the editor, I saw that it had saved over the blog post in the "view all posts" view. So hoping beyond hope I refreshed that page to see if it was current and the browser opened this editing window on refresh. Fuckstockings. Obviously blogger has changed something. So, know I know. I'll have to completely close the tab with blogger in it every night and every day.

The Oblique Strategies website. Oblique Strategies were cards developed by Brian Eno to help break studio musicians out of their ruts by trying to initiate lateral thinking. These cards go for $70 or so, but the website is free. Note, many cards are specific to music, but most of them aren't. Might help you with your plotting. (Grokked in a roundabout way from Planet Money podcast)

Fred Clark with an alternative "Trolley Problem" which tests a lot of presumptions. It also exposes some of the problems with the right-to-life mentality.

After the turn of the century, "nice" women began moving out from the watchful gaze and control of male family members and were harassed by "mashers." Some took to using their hat pins in defense. So, what did responsible government do in response? "By 1909, the hatpin was considered an international threat, with the police chiefs in Hamburg and Paris (and many cities in the US) considering measures to regulate their length. Tell me again how we don't have a rape culture. (Grokked from Lara Kristin Herndon)

"That's especially true in the National Football League, where pain is a constant companion. Advocates say marijuana could offer a safer and better way to manage the pain."

Apple's Frankie's Holiday ad. Not to bad, good story, but the timing of the cuts feels a little off to me (yeah, I'm an asshole about these things). But about halfway through my brain started a mashup between this and Young Frankenstein. Somedays it's weird up in my head. (Grokked from Dan)

"The study looked at more than 2,000 patients with Stage 1 non-small cell lung cancer who had surgery to remove their tumor. About 70 percent of the patients were 65 years old or older and about 30 percent were at least 75… (it) found that a surprising number of these older patients did quite well. One year after surgery, more people had died from other causes than died from lung cancer. And, after five years, almost 9 out of 10 patients were alive and cancer free." Fuck cancer.

"Hiring freezes, an end to automatic raises, a green light to fire poor performers, a ban on union business on the government’s dime and less generous pensions — these are the contours of the blueprint emerging under Republican control of Washington in January." Hang on, I think we just found our rebel forces. "Others raise the specter that Republican proposals could allow political favoritism to creep into a system Congress created in 1883 to remove federal jobs from patronage ranks." That's the real goal, to reinstitute patronage and remove "troublesome" (read: doesn't hold our views) employees. Just wait until those Social Security checks start coming late (or someone has to wait 8 months to get a passport), again. (Grokked from Mary Robinette Kowal)

"How to call your reps when you have social anxiety." True story, I hate talking on the phone. (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)

Trump is talking having a policy stating that for every new regulation, 2 old regulations must be rescinded. Because regulations are terrible, horrible, holding business back, blah blah blah. Yeah, no, regulations are was save you from corporate greed, level the playing field, and make it possible to live in a civilized world. In this case, the effect of care safety regulations between the US and Mexico. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)

"The absence of specifics on health care from the president-elect makes the 37-page plan that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has released the fullest outline of what Republicans would like to replace Obamacare. Some health policy analysts say it looks a bit like Obamacare light." Note, it's still, after 6 years, only the barest outline of a plan. There are no specifics. Also note that tax credits and the other tax advantages don't apply when you're too poor to pay taxes in the first place. And high-deductible plans don't address the issue of preventative care. Also, and I love this part, "'Do you know that $20,000 of your wages are going every year to insurance?' (Paul Howard, director of health policy at the conservative Manhattan Institute) asks. 'Would you rather have $10,000 in your pocket, put $5,000 into a high-deductible plan or something like that, and then put some aside for a rainy day that will accumulate over time?'" Raise your hands if you really think that your employer, freed of the obligation to pay for your health insurance benefit, would actually increase your pay by the amount they pay for insurance. Is anybody's hand up? Didn't think so. Hell, I barely have time to shop around for the best doctor and set up appointments, now I'm also supposed to shop around the market for individual healthcare plans to find the best deal? Tell me, how much support is the government going to offer to help people then (like we provide for Obamacare and Medicare Part D)? Yeah, I don't think they'll be there either. Also, Speaker Ryan is intent on converting Medicare to a voucher system. Private insurance costs more, covers less, and is more of a hassle than Medicare.

"In an interview… Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway dismissed concerns about the President-elect's penchant for using Twitter to take potshots at critics… 'But why do you care?' Conway said. 'Who is to say that he can't do that?'" They really don't understand what it means to be a public official, let alone being POTUS. Why do we care, Kellyanne, because it shows the mentality of the person. It demonstrates his littleness, his pettiness, and his peevishness. We expect more from our city council members, we expect far more from POTUS.

The good thing for our side is their side is exceedingly dumb. "Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, one of Donald Trump's potential picks for Department of Homeland Security secretary, might have revealed his plans for the department to the public while meeting with the president-elect." The problems will start when they show signs of learning. Oh, as Kris Kobach is a dick. Just thought I'd mention that. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"'Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!'… That’s how Richard B. Spencer saluted more than 200 attendees on Saturday, gathered at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., for the annual conference of the National Policy Institute, which describes itself as 'an independent organization dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.'" Otherwise known as racist shits and Nazi fetishists, or neo-Nazi for short. They aren't even hiding anymore. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)

"According to a report out of Argentina, when Argentine President Mauricio Macri called President-Elect Trump to congratulate him on his election, Trump asked Macri to deal with the permitting issues that are currently holding up the project." And because you're going to be hearing about it (if people are actually doing their job), the Title of Nobility/Emoluments Clause in the Constitution (one of two). And when people start saying, "Oh no, since he isn't getting money from foreign governments…" just remember that the 2nd Amendment also talks about a "well-regulated militia." Also see Kletpocracy" you know, the thing Trump said Clinton did when everyone who has looking into those claims has found them false. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

"Donald Trump scolded media big shots during an off-the-record Trump Tower sitdown on Monday, sources told The Post." Dear news media, your job isn't to make nice with Trump, but to tell us what we need to know about what he's doing. You can get most of what you need from the pools, so except for "we got to the phone first" types of scoops, no need to curry favor. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)

Tweet of my heart: ‏@InternetEh DT called a bunch of the press to his tower just to yell at them. These are the people telling us to give him a chance to be presidential (Grokked from Jim Wright)

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