Linkee-poo starts the New Year with fresh underwear and a sparkling spirit. Let's see how long that lasts.
Tweet and response as Jason Sanford starts his agent search. Crossing my fingers for you, Jason. Best parts of my first round of agent search: 1) was asked for a partial off the bat and 2) getting rejections from agents I didn't actually submit to (note still not agented, but I haven't kept at it for the past 4 years).
A video demonstrating paper marbling. (Grokked form Matt Staggs)
Oh look, our neighbors to the North also have some religiously ignorant people. "A Jewish farming couple from Canada says it has shepherded the sheep of the bible back to the Holy Land after centuries in exile… With donations from Jewish and Christian supporters, and some help from the Israeli government, Jenna and Gil Lewinsky have airlifted 119 furry members of the Jacob Sheep breed from their farm in Abbotsford, British Columbia, to Israel… Jacob Sheep are found in the U.K. and North America, but the Lewinskys say the breed originally roamed the Middle East and ancient Israel, and their spotted and speckled coats match the description in the Book of Genesis of Jacob's flock." Yeah, not so much. I've got a great idea, let's repatriate all the French Dressing back to France.
"One Japanese insurance company, Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance, is reportedly replacing 34 human insurance claim workers with “IBM Watson Explorer,” starting by January 2017." Yes, no matter what you do, what sacrifices you make, the robots are coming for your jobs. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Whelp, someone actually gets it. "'People who come as refugees have great skills,' says Marc Schulman, the president of Eli's Cheesecake, which has sold cheesecakes and other baked desserts since 1980. One-third of adult refugees arriving in the U.S. have college degrees, according to the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, a think tank that tracks the movement of people worldwide. And refugee employment is a successful model for finding skilled workers for a food business that has become high tech, says Schulman." If only Greece had been able to figure this out (but there are many cultural issues they would have had to surmount - issues which some Americans have adopted) they may have turned their economy into a workhorse of the EU.
"So in any normal sense, the Fox story was a lie. SNAP fraud isn't at an all-time high. It's been declining for years. But here's the thing: The fraud rate in 2011 may have been low, but this was in the aftermath of the Great Recession, when total SNAP payments were very high. So although the percentage is low, the dollar value of fraud clocked in at $988 million. Fox could have used this far higher number, which is, in fact, an all-time high. It's only an all-time high because SNAP was helping far more people, but still. In the Fox newsroom, that would hardly matter." This is my shocked face. This isn't the first time Fox News took a run at SNAP (you might remember the infamous "they can buy lobster" story, which they paid the guy to do the stunt because the lobster was his entire monthly SNAP benefit). Truly conservatives don't like helping people. Considering many of their leaders grew up using some of these programs, you'd think they'd have a better recollection of them. But then many don't recognize they did use programs and, at least for their leadership, they have no compassion or empathy. I say that not from a condemnation, but from an examination of their actions (note the number of stories in the past decade of when a GOP member is suddenly confronted with "hardship" in their family they have a conversion moment where they reverse their position). (Grokked from Laura J Mixon)
"Shortly after the story was published, he wrote in the Washington Post Magazine this week, another Post reporter got a death threat for Fahrenthold, prompting the newspaper to hire a former counterterrorism official to consult with him on security." Because apparently that's how we do things in the 21st Century America. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
Sometimes, in a game of chess, you don't make plays to checkmate, you disable the opponent's ability to checkmate you. "House Republicans are moving to adopt a proposal weakening the chamber's outside ethics watchdog, removing its independence and establishing new limitations on its powers." Drain the swamp my ass. They just built the dikes to keep the water in. Also, when you're robbing a bank one of the first things you should do is blind the cameras.(Grokked from Vince O'Conner)
"Let us resolve, in the coming year, to be the people we believe ourselves to be." Jim Wright on the coming presidency. Yes, this is hard. All too easy is the road of easy snark (which is one step above petty), but yes. That's why after the election you'll note I haven't used "the Trumpster". I find it galling to say President Trump, and so might adopt a conservative talking stance of just referring to him by name. And while I believe that Trump is a walking disaster that spreads grift and corruption in his wake, I will try my best to focus on the facts and remain if not respectful to his person, deferential to the office which he will hold. YMMV.
Tweet of my heart: @MoElleithee 17 US intelligence agencies have determined that Putin waged a cyber attack on the US. The next President just tweeted an attaboy at him. (Grokked from Laura J. Mixon)
Double dip: @Gwenda One last thing: Paying attention is a political act. (Grokked from John Scalzi)
The underpants and spirit never had a chance.
No comments:
Post a Comment