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

Friday, March 3, 2017

Linkee-poo, moved on to another town, tried hard to settle down

Well, time to let some of the cats out of the bag. I'm leaving the day thing for another day thing. Still in design, and while it'll be as stressful (with deadlines), I don't think it'll be the same kind of stress. But it also means that I might not be able to do linkee-poos regularly. Well see. I know I've been mostly good with posting M-F at around noon. My guess is that'll be shaken up. Next week I'm off work, so expect sporadic postings (now watch me post two linkee-poos a day). Just wanted to give you all a heads up.

Win a stack of John Scalzi books. (Grokked from John Scalzi)

"The deal, for a 4G LTE data plan, applies to cars sold in the US from 3 March and will cost $20 a month. It is being offered with the help of US carrier OnStar and will see vehicles fitted with a wi-fi hotspot that connects to the web via LTE." (Grokked from Dan)

What effect can hateful rhetoric have? "New Orleans' transgender community is on edge after two transgender women were murdered within 48 hours of each other." Yeah, people can die from it.

"The U.S. Department of Labor on Wednesday moved to delay, for at least two months, an Obama-era regulation called the 'fiduciary rule.' The regulation—finalized last year and scheduled to go into effect on April 10—required all financial advisors, including brokers with major firms like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo, to act in their clients’ best interest when advising people on their retirement savings." Because who would ever want that? (Grokked from John Scalzi)

"During a press conference addressing the Russia scandal and Jeff Sessions' involvement in it, Rep. Devin Nunes issued a veiled threat to press… 'Look, I'm sure some of you are in contact with the Russian embassy… We start getting transcripts of any of you or any other Americans talking to the press, then we can -- do you want us to conduct an investigation on you or other Americans because you were talking to the Russian embassy?'" Rep Nunes seems confused on how this goes. (Grokked indirectly from Laura J. Mixon)

"Everything imagined above—and everything described below—is possible only if many people other than Donald Trump agree to permit it. It can all be stopped, if individual citizens and public officials make the right choices. The story told here, like that told by Charles Dickens’s Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, is a story not of things that will be, but of things that may be. Other paths remain open. It is up to Americans to decide which one the country will follow." Gee, why do SF writers mostly imagine dystopias? The Atlantic on "How to Build an Autocracy." "What happens next is up to you and me. Don’t be afraid. This moment of danger can also be your finest hour as a citizen and an American."(emphasis mine) (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

"But Sessions isn’t the only one. At least four other cabinet members made statements during their nomination hearings that are contradicted by actual facts: EPA Chief Scott Pruitt, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price." (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)

"Attorney General Jeff Sessions used funds from his Senate reelection campaign account to cover travel expenses at last year’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland… where he met with the Russian ambassador… Sessions, who was then a GOP senator from Alabama and frequent surrogate for President Trump, has defended his meeting with Sergey Kislyak as perfectly normal for a member of the Armed Services Committee. But The Wall Street Journal said Thursday he used campaign funds for the travel, rather than than official Senate Armed Services Committee funds." Oh, and he was the only member of the committee to meet with the Russian Ambassador. (Grokked from Jim Wright)

Seriously, this is becoming a self-stirring shit-pot.

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