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

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Linkee-poo, there's something wrong with the world today, I don't know what it is

Invisible 3 call for submissions. "We’re looking for personal, first-hand stories between 400 and 1000 words talking about the impact of SF/F stories and what it’s like to see yourself misrepresented or erased, or relegated to the backgrounds. We’re also interested in the ways underrepresented and marginalized writers have worked to reclaim space in the genre."

"'Another year. Another record. The high temperatures we saw in 2015 are set to be beaten in 2016,' said Petteri Taalas, the head of the World Meteorological Organization." We're boned.

"Even the owner of 10 fake news websites in the US contacted BuzzFeed News to express his frustration with the onslaught of Macedonian spam in pro-Trump Facebook groups." It's a cyberwar, but it's not what you think it would be. It's a psy-ops campaign. And if you think these fake-news sites and Facebook profile are going away, you believe that electing Trump was the sole goal. Trump is a just one milestone. Also, yes, my Facebook account was hit by a couple of these accounts sending friend requests. I denied them. (Grokked from Teresa Nielsen Hayden)

"One source said high-ranking (Facebook) officials were briefed on a planned News Feed update that would have identified fake or hoax news stories, but disproportionately impacted right-wing news sites by downgrading or removing that content from people’s feeds. According to the source, the update was shelved and never released to the public. It’s unclear if the update had other deficiencies that caused it to be scrubbed." Odd behavior, that. It's almost like right wing news sites are feeding a steady stream of bullshit to their viewers/readers. But because the algorithm culled conservative news more than liberal news, in an attempt to be "balanced", the trashed it. Again, hearing 1 from one side and 1 from the other side isn't necessarily balanced. Instead Facebook, and other news sites, should balance their feed to the truth and verifiable facts. And if that means culling more conservative (or liberal) sites, you know, that's the way the shit hits the fan. (Grokked from Jim Wright)

The attempts to alter reality to fit the whinny ass philosophy of the alt-right has begun in earnest. There are four fingers. (Grokked from Teresa Nielsen Hayden)

Speaking of Kool-Aid™, Kurt Eichenwald on the myths that Democrats seal;lowed that cost them the election. Yep. Kinda sucks, doesn't it, but Russia also played the liberal side, and Bernie never really would have stood a chance in the general election. Yes, yes, tell your Obi-Won fantasies to the hand. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

"Vice President-elect Mike Pence is seeking to keep secret the contents of an email relating to Indiana’s participation, at his behest, in a lawsuit to block President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration." That would be hilarious if it wasn't so damn ironic. (Grokked from Jer)

"House Speaker Paul Ryan is telling GOP lawmakers that it's time to 'join forces with the new Trump administration.'" I guess Speaker Ryan forgets he is also on the enemies list and will be discarded at the appropriate time (or maybe he's just trying to save his own skin, but I really think he thinks this is the only way to enact his agenda, which it is, he just won't be here to see it to the end). Brown shirts always buy it before the final purge.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden with some links for where we go from here.

So what do we do now? Now we get to work. Some ideas on how to counter a Trump presidency from the Guardian. Time travelers won't come to save us, the Doctor didn't arrive in time. We're in this on our own and, just like the Companion, we have to make the decisions and the actions to pull our asses out of the fire. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

Masha Gessen, who grew up in Putin's Russia, has six rules to help us survive the Trump presidency. So when you see people on social media say, "This is not normal", now you know why. This is the cry of the frogs saying, "This water is getting a little warm." Also, let us progressives take a page from the conservative playbook, the fight is never over, nothing is ever settled, we can wear them down with persistence. (Grokked from BoingBoing)

Tweet of my heart: @solomongeorgio So disgusting how intolerant we've become towards intolerance. Can't we let these bigots get a chance to murder us before we judge them? (Grokked from Patrick Nielsen Hayden)

2 comments:

Jim C. Hines said...

Thanks for the signal boost, Steve!

Steve Buchheit said...

No worries, Jim. Thanks for being a great guy. As I said on twitter, I don't just support you in the emails. :)