Grades are finally in for the last semester. I had a lot of troubles these past 5 months. I'm not sure how much I've shared here, but I struggled a lot to juggle the classes and 16 hours of clinical time with a 40 hour (at least) work week.
Clinicals are set up to test our knowledge and get us prepared for our new jobs. they can also be seen as a two-year job interview where you work on actual, living people, many of whom either don't want to be there or are in pain. There's a lot more variance there, but those are the main categories. Part of our clinical time is spent studying, a very little part of the time. Most of the time we are watching the other techs, assisting, and as we gain skills and "competencies", do the actual work.
Competencies, as a quick explanation, are a way to test our skills. There are a number of "procedures", and we need to show our ability to do them at a specific rate during the semester. We do things like "chest, pa and lateral", "wrist pa, lateral, oblique, navicular", things like that (every bone has at least 2 views, every joint at least 3). First we have to be exposed to the procedure in class, then we can watch/assist a tech doing it, then we "pre-comp" (where the tech can help us), and then finally we "comp" which means from beginning the patient, taking their history, positioning, setting technique (just how much radiation we're going to use), process, escort, hang the "films", and close the patient we do it all ourselves. The only time a tech is allowed to interfere is if we're about to make a major mistake, or if we need to repeat an image (both are automatic failures). Once we comp (for the most part) we can do the procedures ourselves without a tech (although a tech needs to approve all radiographs).
So, starting out I was doing good. This past Spring we needed 12 comps, 3 re-tests (redo a comp from the group of comps, like one out of the lower extremities), and 3 film critiques (where we discuss our radiographs, prove our knowledge, and critique ourselves for quality). Not to mention employment like reviews. In the first 4 weeks I knocked out 6 comps and I forget how many pre-comps. And then I couldn't find the crest of anyone's pelvis (the top of your hip) to save my life. So I was shooting high, and shooting low. And I started failing comps. So I took a few weeks off the pace I had set (class, first time I see procedure I attempted a pre-comp, and then right after I'd attempt the comp) and just worked on my basic skills. But I never got back to the pace I had set earlier (while the other 1st year with me continued to rack up comps, next to him I look like a slacker). And I Was failing with "little things" (relative term), not for my rapport with patients, or basic positioning, or setting technique, but small stuff (many of my fails were scored >90%).
I know why (because our actual classroom experience leaves out those "little things" and every tech has their own pace, patter, and positioning tricks). But it's not that much of an excuse. There was also a personality issue, but I think that one got tamped down by the end.
Then there were the two classes. For the one, it dealt most with computer and math stuff this semester, so it wasn't that hard. I was pretty confident I would get an A and I did. The other was positioning class, which was what I had scrapped by with an A last semester (94%). This semester I was sure I would get a B (was hitting right along the 94% with my tests, made the mistake of not double-checking a lab exercise the whole lab did together - 87%, and my lab practical which was an 87%). But somehow I managed to pull an A out of the air (probably 93.6% or something). For clinicals I got a B. Fortunately, clinicals was only a 2 credit hour course, and the other two added up to 7 hours. I think that gives me a 3.7 for the semester. Which brings me to 3.95 over all. So I won't get that "graduate with a 4.0" feeling (some part of me is disappointed, but not a lot).
In another week we start Summer. That's 8 weeks of 1 class and 32 hours of clinical time for the first 5 weeks, then 40 hours the last 3 weeks (class only runs 5 weeks). Plus, you know, my 40 hour a week day thing. I have my schedule worked out on paper, and it's a killer. Basically 16 and 18 hour days Monday through Saturday (hopefully I'll have my Sundays to collapse in a gelatinous mass and get the lawn mowing done). But in that 8 weeks I need 14 comps. The good news on that front is that I start with 4 in the box already. But with juggling schedules, I have a lot of evenings at the hospital, not our major productive time, also not a lot of chances for surgery, fluoro, and bone study cases. My Clinical Instructor, regular instructor, and myself believe that this will be a big disadvantage come this fall (which, BTW, has 9 hours of classwork and 24 hours of clinicals, plus the aforementioned 40 hours of work).
So, one, giving you advanced notice that I won't be posting much during those 8 weeks (watch me post every single day now). And two, I may not be alive at the end of it.If this blog goes dark by July 12th, you'll know what happened.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Linkee-poo puts the blame on VTR
There's so many things you can say to someone facing a terminal illness, attempting to convert them to your religion isn't one of them. I also understand where religious people come from, post-middle ages there's a good percentage who come from the "you don't wanna go to Hell, do you?" side of the argument. So when people ask, "have you gotten right with God", sometimes it's from a loving perspective of "we want to see you again in the after life, and you need to (whatever) to get there." And that's a pretty selfish attitude, but it does come from the, "I want you in my experience" stance. However, there is the other darker side of "we have to win you to the team, because if we don't it sort of invalidates our experience/beliefs" part of the argument. In that case, if you believe in a God who will send people to Hell (or, as Revelations teaches us, throws them into the Lake of Fire to have their souls consumed), maybe your issue isn't with the person who doesn't believe that, but with the concept of a loving God that would toss people willy-nilly into a Lake of Fire, but would also give them the Monopoly "Get Out of Jail Free" card for signing up at the last minute.
Cory Doctorow talks about improving book publicity. Yea, what he said.
Rochita Loenen-Ruiz on writing the other. Other people's cultures aren't window dressing, especially not to them.
Why, as writers, we don't learn as much from good books as we do form bad ones. Which is pretty true until you get to the point of saying, "Why am I studying bad story telling?" There's a point where, once you learn to step back from the story, you can say, "that was brilliant! How the hell did they pull that off." And then you figure out how they did it.
What is the draw of Faerie and the Fey? A number of authors supply their views in this SF Signal MindMeld. While I think they get close, most skirt what I believe is the real issue. The Fey allow us to figure our way forward as we face intense social, political, and economic pressures. (Grokked from Tor.com)
Ever heard the phrase, "stimulate your mind, read a book"? Well, we now have the fMRI studies to prove it. Words have real impacts on your brain. Especially the written word. Also the act of learning a written language changes our brains, it forms new connections and activates lots of areas not normally associated with language (typically meaning "spoken word"). (Grokked from Mer Haskell)
The history of typography in video form. Not bad. I have a few quibbles with their history (Guttenberg didn't "invent" type, nor did he invent "blackletter", he didn't even "invent" movable type - that was the Chinese-, he just put a bunch of things together in a commercial package and standardized "slug" type) and what they're focusing on (don't get me started about what they left off on their discussion of Old Style/Transitional/Modern type, but all of that could - and has - taken up multiple heavy volumes of books), but overall, a good primer. Having cut mask to airbrush type onto a page, I love their work with cut-paper type and appreciate what it takes.
Eschersketch. For those time wasting needs. (Pointed to by John)
Kristen Lamb talks about the Good People™ problem. And it is a problem. Plus, just so you know, whenever I say "good people" you can pretty much view me saying that with a sneer.
Imaging cells using squeezed light. Or… getting your quantum goggles on. Of a related note, you may have heard about how micro-processor chips are made through the use of photo imaging technology. That is, they use a film negative of the image of the circuitry and project that onto the prepared silicon substrate (a "sandwich" of many materials). But did you know that the circuitry is so minute, we can't use visible light for this because the width of the wave in visible light is too wide. In the visible light spectrum, the lens used to project the image is opaque. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
What can happen if you don't read the full prospectus? Well, you could invite someone to your organization to talk about piracy. And then, because you have an internal contest of whom can dress more appropriately, you all show up wearing dime-store pirate gear only to find out the speaker was going to talk about how he was captured and held captive by Somali pirates.
Hey look, some 30 years after Ronald Reagan proposed it, we have a mobile laser platform that can destroy missiles. Well, almost there. And it's not like the missile was 1) incoming and 2) directed at the installation. (Pointed to by Dan)
It sucks when someone actually reads their Bible and knew you in High School when you're trying to ride your high horse. Especially when you're trying to judge others. There's something about a reciprocity clause in there, isn't there? (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Of relation to the abduction story in Cleveland, and related to the discussion going on in fandom, an NPR story on what sexual coercion says about a society.
Fred Clark also has some thoughts in this direction concerning men believing they have a right to control women's bodies. "It is not surprising that sexual traffickers and other predatory men are able to harness this toxic purity culture for their evil ends. That’s what it was designed to do. That’s what it’s for."
Dear Heritage Foundation, it's called vetting your researchers. You might want to look into it. But I'm sure they did, they just didn't think anyone would link one of the authors of their new study saying "ZOMG! Illegal Aliens!" with their previous, highly racist study report. Of course, nobody is breaking out in laughter over the "it'll cost us $6.3 trillion over 50 years!" claim. Fifty years? Really and truly when Congress went to 10 year studies for the impact of policy decisions it was roundly criticized for the complete fiction of such a long-term study. After 5 years, the variables pretty much create too wide a divergence to have any legitimate credibility. And now the Heritage Foundation takes it to 50 years (so they could get a big scary number). (Grokked from Jay Lake)
People are constantly underestimating renewable energy. Yea, I've had conversations that get to the whole, "the solar hot water heater Jimmy Carter put on top of the White House didn't work" argument. Um, yeah. I also have a natural gas hot water heater that doesn't have a pilot light, and I'm pretty sure those weren't to available in 1977 either.
"An FBI report released in October said the reason (Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne) didn't stop after the accident was because he was having an affair with Assistant Attorney General Carmen Chenal, who was in the car at the time." Uh, yeah. Horne later says that if he had known he had left "just a paint scratch" that he would have left his name and handled it. I think you could read that as, "If I had known someone could trace this back to me and expose the fact that I was having an affair, I would have just thrown money at you." (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Stephen Colbert and his Catholicism. You may also remember when he did the bit on the the Daily Show called "This Week in God." (Grokked from the Slactivist)
"So, how did these young men become terrorists?" Yep, that's one of the processes. And note that religious extremism (actually, any extremism) isn't solely the provenance of Islam. Not by any measure (*cough*Tea Party*cough*). Once the ideals of the group (not what the group actually does) becomes more important than everything else, we're down the rabbit hole. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Cory Doctorow talks about improving book publicity. Yea, what he said.
Rochita Loenen-Ruiz on writing the other. Other people's cultures aren't window dressing, especially not to them.
Why, as writers, we don't learn as much from good books as we do form bad ones. Which is pretty true until you get to the point of saying, "Why am I studying bad story telling?" There's a point where, once you learn to step back from the story, you can say, "that was brilliant! How the hell did they pull that off." And then you figure out how they did it.
What is the draw of Faerie and the Fey? A number of authors supply their views in this SF Signal MindMeld. While I think they get close, most skirt what I believe is the real issue. The Fey allow us to figure our way forward as we face intense social, political, and economic pressures. (Grokked from Tor.com)
Ever heard the phrase, "stimulate your mind, read a book"? Well, we now have the fMRI studies to prove it. Words have real impacts on your brain. Especially the written word. Also the act of learning a written language changes our brains, it forms new connections and activates lots of areas not normally associated with language (typically meaning "spoken word"). (Grokked from Mer Haskell)
The history of typography in video form. Not bad. I have a few quibbles with their history (Guttenberg didn't "invent" type, nor did he invent "blackletter", he didn't even "invent" movable type - that was the Chinese-, he just put a bunch of things together in a commercial package and standardized "slug" type) and what they're focusing on (don't get me started about what they left off on their discussion of Old Style/Transitional/Modern type, but all of that could - and has - taken up multiple heavy volumes of books), but overall, a good primer. Having cut mask to airbrush type onto a page, I love their work with cut-paper type and appreciate what it takes.
Eschersketch. For those time wasting needs. (Pointed to by John)
Kristen Lamb talks about the Good People™ problem. And it is a problem. Plus, just so you know, whenever I say "good people" you can pretty much view me saying that with a sneer.
Imaging cells using squeezed light. Or… getting your quantum goggles on. Of a related note, you may have heard about how micro-processor chips are made through the use of photo imaging technology. That is, they use a film negative of the image of the circuitry and project that onto the prepared silicon substrate (a "sandwich" of many materials). But did you know that the circuitry is so minute, we can't use visible light for this because the width of the wave in visible light is too wide. In the visible light spectrum, the lens used to project the image is opaque. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
What can happen if you don't read the full prospectus? Well, you could invite someone to your organization to talk about piracy. And then, because you have an internal contest of whom can dress more appropriately, you all show up wearing dime-store pirate gear only to find out the speaker was going to talk about how he was captured and held captive by Somali pirates.
Hey look, some 30 years after Ronald Reagan proposed it, we have a mobile laser platform that can destroy missiles. Well, almost there. And it's not like the missile was 1) incoming and 2) directed at the installation. (Pointed to by Dan)
It sucks when someone actually reads their Bible and knew you in High School when you're trying to ride your high horse. Especially when you're trying to judge others. There's something about a reciprocity clause in there, isn't there? (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Of relation to the abduction story in Cleveland, and related to the discussion going on in fandom, an NPR story on what sexual coercion says about a society.
Fred Clark also has some thoughts in this direction concerning men believing they have a right to control women's bodies. "It is not surprising that sexual traffickers and other predatory men are able to harness this toxic purity culture for their evil ends. That’s what it was designed to do. That’s what it’s for."
Dear Heritage Foundation, it's called vetting your researchers. You might want to look into it. But I'm sure they did, they just didn't think anyone would link one of the authors of their new study saying "ZOMG! Illegal Aliens!" with their previous, highly racist study report. Of course, nobody is breaking out in laughter over the "it'll cost us $6.3 trillion over 50 years!" claim. Fifty years? Really and truly when Congress went to 10 year studies for the impact of policy decisions it was roundly criticized for the complete fiction of such a long-term study. After 5 years, the variables pretty much create too wide a divergence to have any legitimate credibility. And now the Heritage Foundation takes it to 50 years (so they could get a big scary number). (Grokked from Jay Lake)
People are constantly underestimating renewable energy. Yea, I've had conversations that get to the whole, "the solar hot water heater Jimmy Carter put on top of the White House didn't work" argument. Um, yeah. I also have a natural gas hot water heater that doesn't have a pilot light, and I'm pretty sure those weren't to available in 1977 either.
"An FBI report released in October said the reason (Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne) didn't stop after the accident was because he was having an affair with Assistant Attorney General Carmen Chenal, who was in the car at the time." Uh, yeah. Horne later says that if he had known he had left "just a paint scratch" that he would have left his name and handled it. I think you could read that as, "If I had known someone could trace this back to me and expose the fact that I was having an affair, I would have just thrown money at you." (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Stephen Colbert and his Catholicism. You may also remember when he did the bit on the the Daily Show called "This Week in God." (Grokked from the Slactivist)
"So, how did these young men become terrorists?" Yep, that's one of the processes. And note that religious extremism (actually, any extremism) isn't solely the provenance of Islam. Not by any measure (*cough*Tea Party*cough*). Once the ideals of the group (not what the group actually does) becomes more important than everything else, we're down the rabbit hole. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Had we but world enough, and time
Prince Richard: (King Henry is) here. He'll get no satisfaction out of me. He isn't going to see me beg.Jay Lake got the terminal diagnosis. Several metastasis sites, multiple tumors. So right now, as he says, the course of treatment is to take Regorafenib until that stops working (if it starts working), and then palliative care. There's the chance for stage one clinical trials. There's a reason why those are the last course of action.
Prince Geoffrey: My you chivalric fool… as if the way one fell down mattered.
Prince Richard: When the fall is all there is, it matters.
Excuse me while I go outside and yell at the Universe for its unfairness.
Back. I think I just used up my yearly quota of "fucks" in all its varients. The Universe didn't much care.
Jay, thanks for your courage sharing your journey and your stories. I just wanted to say that early on because there are better things to talk about and better people you'll talk about them with later.
These days it may not seem all that strange, but when my grandfather had his first cancer diagnosis we talked about it in whispers. The more people say, "this is my life and death with cancer and you don't get to co-opt it" the less our culture thinks that cancer is embarrassing. The less we think people with cancer should vanish from society and stop reminding us of our mortality. The more we are able to connect to each other and share our real lives, the less these things seem strange and terrifying. It really wasn't all that long ago doctors wouldn't even tell their patients if they had a diagnosis of cancer.
For me, I will mourn for Jay Lake when he is dead. And not a moment earlier. As the Irish saying goes, "There's time enough for resting when we're in the ground, there's to much work to do before then." Or was it "too much drinking to do". Or maybe it was Warren Zevon.
Also, our culture loves to talk about the survivors. The brave souls who never gave up and "beat" cancer, as if all was required was a firm conviction. Like the link shared earlier, the dirty secret is people still die from cancer. In fact, most of them do.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Linkee-poo ends the semester
Jay Lake's cancer update. Fuck cancer.
The Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto Audi commercial. Hahahahaha. Only could have been better if it was Walter Koenig getting out of the car at the end. (Pointed to by Karl)
Chuck Wendig with some tips to maximize your word count. Use if they work for you.
And on the opposite end, Jason Sanford worries that writerly obsession with word count can be killing writing. I've seen this argument before. In some cases, I can totally see their point. On the other hand word count is the major metric writers can point to. You can see my tallies, which haven't changed in nearly a year, just to the right. But I also talk about the counts during rewrites and edits. It's little difficult to track those. I'm good with counts though (part of the designer thing). Also, some writers do qualify their metrics (however many good words today, lots of words but they'll all need to be rewritten). Also I think the rise of NaNoWriMo can be tied into this. Also, one of the major pieces of advice for writers is to turn off the internal editor and get the words out. Word count is a way to say, "I'm doing that."
The plot structure chart. Well, at least one of them.
Why the boob armor is a Bad Idea™. See, there is a whole science to the thing. But then people still believe fullers are "blood grooves" instead of a way to 1) use less steel (a very precious commodity) and 2) lighten the sword (important if you want to fight for more than a few minutes). There are also people who still believe in a fair fight a ninja would defeat a samurai (that's why they cheat), knights in plate would defeat archers in boiled leather (see Henry V), crossbows would defeat longbows (ibid), and cavalry were always better (not until the introduction of the stirrup by the Mongols, and then even before Mel Gibson as William Wallace there were ways to defeat cavalry with foot).
US Air Force measures potato cannon muzzle velocities. Because… well, why not? (Grokked form Jay Lake)
Adding monsters to thrift-store paintings. (Grokked from Dan)
Janiece's rules for life.
Shortening telomeres can affect gene expression. So, instead just the fuse to cell self-destruction, as they shorten (each time the cell divides) they can cause new genes to turn on. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Um, yeah, I'm sure the resemblance is entirely coincidental. (Pointed to by Dan)
And four more low lights from the NRA convention. But I'm sure all those speakers would have an answer for some guy cleaning his gun and firing off a test round killing a 10 year old. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Fred Clark has a good run down on why the Post Office is in such financial "trouble". Completely manufactured crisis perpetrated by those who have had much experience doing so (ie. conservatives in Congress).
Tobias Buckell shares a story about tracking hospital charges. It's crazy. Like I said, if you want to use the free market to control these things, health care offices will need to publish their prices like fast food places do.
"Yet even after so much disaster, it seems the woman who’s benefited most from Komen’s charity is still Nancy Brinker herself." Yea, they're not going to be getting any more money from me. Having breast cancer in the family, that's a hard decision, but it's looking like they're suffering from the "people thinking too highly of themselves for their own good." (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Yes, they are coming for your birth control. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
The Texas fertilizer plant that when KFB (ker-fucking-boom!) only carried $1 million in insurance. Say goodnite, Gracie. Yea, we don't need no stinking regulations or corporate oversight.
The Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto Audi commercial. Hahahahaha. Only could have been better if it was Walter Koenig getting out of the car at the end. (Pointed to by Karl)
Chuck Wendig with some tips to maximize your word count. Use if they work for you.
And on the opposite end, Jason Sanford worries that writerly obsession with word count can be killing writing. I've seen this argument before. In some cases, I can totally see their point. On the other hand word count is the major metric writers can point to. You can see my tallies, which haven't changed in nearly a year, just to the right. But I also talk about the counts during rewrites and edits. It's little difficult to track those. I'm good with counts though (part of the designer thing). Also, some writers do qualify their metrics (however many good words today, lots of words but they'll all need to be rewritten). Also I think the rise of NaNoWriMo can be tied into this. Also, one of the major pieces of advice for writers is to turn off the internal editor and get the words out. Word count is a way to say, "I'm doing that."
The plot structure chart. Well, at least one of them.
Why the boob armor is a Bad Idea™. See, there is a whole science to the thing. But then people still believe fullers are "blood grooves" instead of a way to 1) use less steel (a very precious commodity) and 2) lighten the sword (important if you want to fight for more than a few minutes). There are also people who still believe in a fair fight a ninja would defeat a samurai (that's why they cheat), knights in plate would defeat archers in boiled leather (see Henry V), crossbows would defeat longbows (ibid), and cavalry were always better (not until the introduction of the stirrup by the Mongols, and then even before Mel Gibson as William Wallace there were ways to defeat cavalry with foot).
US Air Force measures potato cannon muzzle velocities. Because… well, why not? (Grokked form Jay Lake)
Adding monsters to thrift-store paintings. (Grokked from Dan)
Janiece's rules for life.
Shortening telomeres can affect gene expression. So, instead just the fuse to cell self-destruction, as they shorten (each time the cell divides) they can cause new genes to turn on. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Um, yeah, I'm sure the resemblance is entirely coincidental. (Pointed to by Dan)
And four more low lights from the NRA convention. But I'm sure all those speakers would have an answer for some guy cleaning his gun and firing off a test round killing a 10 year old. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Fred Clark has a good run down on why the Post Office is in such financial "trouble". Completely manufactured crisis perpetrated by those who have had much experience doing so (ie. conservatives in Congress).
Tobias Buckell shares a story about tracking hospital charges. It's crazy. Like I said, if you want to use the free market to control these things, health care offices will need to publish their prices like fast food places do.
"Yet even after so much disaster, it seems the woman who’s benefited most from Komen’s charity is still Nancy Brinker herself." Yea, they're not going to be getting any more money from me. Having breast cancer in the family, that's a hard decision, but it's looking like they're suffering from the "people thinking too highly of themselves for their own good." (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Yes, they are coming for your birth control. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
The Texas fertilizer plant that when KFB (ker-fucking-boom!) only carried $1 million in insurance. Say goodnite, Gracie. Yea, we don't need no stinking regulations or corporate oversight.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Ray Harryhausen
Some of you aren't old enough to remember the time before CGI (or motion-tracking cameras and blue screen). Way back in the caveman days of color cinema, special effects had to be done the old fashioned way, with clay models and stop-motion effects and paint on glass and masks (not the thing you wear on your head). In that day of wearing bearskins and hunting the buffalo with flint knives, no one person was better at this than Ray Harryhausen.
I have a complex relationship with Harryhausen films. My brother tormented me with watching them when I was young. But as I grew older I was able to appreciate the art that was the b-movie special effects extravaganzas he helped produce and animated. Things like Jason and the Argonauts. Who doesn't have some memory of the classic fight with skeletons (expect to see clips of that on the news about his death). The immortal Sinbad movies. He and his comrades of garage animators did tons and tons of special effects for other flixs (giant radioactive ants anyone?). Our current love affair with special effects comes directly from the work Ray and his compatriots pioneered.
Mr. Harryhausen was such an icon, the restaurant in Dreamwork's Monsters, Inc was named after him. And when they make nods in your direction from animated films, that's when you know you've made it big.
Thanks, Ray, for all those movies of my youth and for being the inspiration that allows us to enjoy the movies of our tomorrows.
I have a complex relationship with Harryhausen films. My brother tormented me with watching them when I was young. But as I grew older I was able to appreciate the art that was the b-movie special effects extravaganzas he helped produce and animated. Things like Jason and the Argonauts. Who doesn't have some memory of the classic fight with skeletons (expect to see clips of that on the news about his death). The immortal Sinbad movies. He and his comrades of garage animators did tons and tons of special effects for other flixs (giant radioactive ants anyone?). Our current love affair with special effects comes directly from the work Ray and his compatriots pioneered.
Mr. Harryhausen was such an icon, the restaurant in Dreamwork's Monsters, Inc was named after him. And when they make nods in your direction from animated films, that's when you know you've made it big.
Thanks, Ray, for all those movies of my youth and for being the inspiration that allows us to enjoy the movies of our tomorrows.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Linkee-poo's future looks quite bright to me
Not exactly balanced, but this is getting too long. So time to push the publish button. This is finals week. Plus the day thing has decided to go crazy. It'll be a fun slide into the weekend. You know, for certain values of "fun".
Why parents should leave their kids alone. You know, when they're ready for it. Fortunately I haven't encountered major helicopter parents at the hospital, yet. Although some have been close.
To counter the argument of "you can find everything online, instantly", the ten classic TV shows you still can't watch online. And, before you ask, they were all in heavy syndication at one time or other. (Grokked from Dan)
For some markets, ordering groceries and having them delivered is a greener solution than everyone driving to the store. I think that might work well for canned and boxed staples, but I would still want to select my own fruits and veggies. Plus, sometimes I buy muffins. Some of them the sprinkle extra sugar on the top (partially melted chunks), others they leave bare. Same flavors, no different on the label. So things like that would also be tricky. But then, I guess I could use fewer muffins.
The story of Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson's intellectual dishonesty and complete bigotry just shows how low the bar has been set for people to be "respected" and given a microphone. But Juan Cole pretty well calls it. "Ferguson’s outrageous polemic is an example of the ad hominem fallacy. Instead of demonstrating that Keynes’s theory is faulty (which no one has yet done), Ferguson attempted to smear Keynes and deprive him of standing in intellectual debate by calling him a deviant." When you can argue with facts, go for the cheap shot. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
I guess F*&ckface Von Clownstick hasn't heard advice about how to respond to these things. Well I guess when one is a narcissistic blowhard with a glass ego it's hard not to respond to "defend your good name." Oh, hey, so when are we ever going to hear that "amazing things" his crack team of investigators found in Hawaii?
What to do when you're a conservative and you see your signature legislation to reduce renewable energy go down to defeat? Why, you just don't count the votes when you reintroduce the bill. 'Cause conservatives are the party of "count the votes" and "every vote should count." (Grokked from the Jay Lake)
The Slactivist would like to remind you, "In 1952, Congress passed a law establishing the National Day of Prayer as an annual religious observance. Quick: give me another sentence that uses the words 'Congress,' 'law,' 'establish' and 'religion.'" Yea, that. Saw the Newtster on the talking head shows being incredulous that anyone could believe that there should be laws against imposing anyone's religion on anyone else (couched in the "religious freedom means we don't have to sell or provide service to 'teh gayz', or give our secular employees contraceptive coverage" argument). The same Newtster that's pushing anti-Sharia laws. Try and get your head around that one. The only way I can is to add the expander, "the Newtster and his ilk are asshats". Then it works.
Nobody likes drum circles. Helen Mirren, dressed as the Queen, tells a drum circle that stopped behind a bunch of theaters to "shut the f#$% up." Ah, Helen, if only you could have been at a few conventions I've been to. Look, the concept of drum circles, and the cause for which this drum circle was playing were all okay. But understand, when you parade around, it becomes a nuisance. Some of us want to relax and have conversations, or watch a play. (Grokked from Dave Klecha)
"Three in 10 registered American voters believe an armed rebellion might be necessary in the next few years, according to the results of a staggering poll released Wednesday by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind." That survey also includes 18% of Democrats who believe it might also be necessary. When absolutism becomes a guiding philosophy, sometime people will take those people at their word.
Not to mention things like this. Time for the aerial spraying of Prosac to begin. (Pointed to by Dan)
The flips side of the stories we tell ourselves, it's the stories we consciously ignore. Sometimes cancer kills. Actually, it happens more often than we like to talk about. "So if you’ve ever considered whipping out the talk about miracles or just keeping a positive attitude or some other unhelpful tack in a transparent attempt to keep your own terror of death at bay, that’s actually a pretty crappy thing to lay on a person with a serious disease. Please don’t do that." 'Cause here's the real deal, if you're over 25, I don't care how well you work out, or how well you eat, you're in the process of dying. Some people just have a better idea of how, that's all. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
And in this vein, I point to two posts from Jay Lake on his dreaming self. He also links to this account of someone else who died of terminal cancer. As well as a post about "Death Cafes." "'They’re a place to talk about the issues surrounding death while drinking tea and eating delicious cake.'" There's something about people who have seen death before, their own or someone close to them. They can talk with each other about things that cause other people to be nervous.
Yea, banks don't need no stinking regulation. Yep, they foreclosed on 4 million homes by "mistake", and then when they settled the complaints by paying each of those home owners (who are out their homes) $300 to $5000, they bounce the checks. I'm sure their executives' bonus checks were drawn off a different account.
I scored 15 of 15 on the Pew Forum's Religious Knowledge Quiz. How well can you do? (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Why parents should leave their kids alone. You know, when they're ready for it. Fortunately I haven't encountered major helicopter parents at the hospital, yet. Although some have been close.
To counter the argument of "you can find everything online, instantly", the ten classic TV shows you still can't watch online. And, before you ask, they were all in heavy syndication at one time or other. (Grokked from Dan)
For some markets, ordering groceries and having them delivered is a greener solution than everyone driving to the store. I think that might work well for canned and boxed staples, but I would still want to select my own fruits and veggies. Plus, sometimes I buy muffins. Some of them the sprinkle extra sugar on the top (partially melted chunks), others they leave bare. Same flavors, no different on the label. So things like that would also be tricky. But then, I guess I could use fewer muffins.
The story of Harvard Professor Niall Ferguson's intellectual dishonesty and complete bigotry just shows how low the bar has been set for people to be "respected" and given a microphone. But Juan Cole pretty well calls it. "Ferguson’s outrageous polemic is an example of the ad hominem fallacy. Instead of demonstrating that Keynes’s theory is faulty (which no one has yet done), Ferguson attempted to smear Keynes and deprive him of standing in intellectual debate by calling him a deviant." When you can argue with facts, go for the cheap shot. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
I guess F*&ckface Von Clownstick hasn't heard advice about how to respond to these things. Well I guess when one is a narcissistic blowhard with a glass ego it's hard not to respond to "defend your good name." Oh, hey, so when are we ever going to hear that "amazing things" his crack team of investigators found in Hawaii?
What to do when you're a conservative and you see your signature legislation to reduce renewable energy go down to defeat? Why, you just don't count the votes when you reintroduce the bill. 'Cause conservatives are the party of "count the votes" and "every vote should count." (Grokked from the Jay Lake)
The Slactivist would like to remind you, "In 1952, Congress passed a law establishing the National Day of Prayer as an annual religious observance. Quick: give me another sentence that uses the words 'Congress,' 'law,' 'establish' and 'religion.'" Yea, that. Saw the Newtster on the talking head shows being incredulous that anyone could believe that there should be laws against imposing anyone's religion on anyone else (couched in the "religious freedom means we don't have to sell or provide service to 'teh gayz', or give our secular employees contraceptive coverage" argument). The same Newtster that's pushing anti-Sharia laws. Try and get your head around that one. The only way I can is to add the expander, "the Newtster and his ilk are asshats". Then it works.
Nobody likes drum circles. Helen Mirren, dressed as the Queen, tells a drum circle that stopped behind a bunch of theaters to "shut the f#$% up." Ah, Helen, if only you could have been at a few conventions I've been to. Look, the concept of drum circles, and the cause for which this drum circle was playing were all okay. But understand, when you parade around, it becomes a nuisance. Some of us want to relax and have conversations, or watch a play. (Grokked from Dave Klecha)
"Three in 10 registered American voters believe an armed rebellion might be necessary in the next few years, according to the results of a staggering poll released Wednesday by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind." That survey also includes 18% of Democrats who believe it might also be necessary. When absolutism becomes a guiding philosophy, sometime people will take those people at their word.
Not to mention things like this. Time for the aerial spraying of Prosac to begin. (Pointed to by Dan)
The flips side of the stories we tell ourselves, it's the stories we consciously ignore. Sometimes cancer kills. Actually, it happens more often than we like to talk about. "So if you’ve ever considered whipping out the talk about miracles or just keeping a positive attitude or some other unhelpful tack in a transparent attempt to keep your own terror of death at bay, that’s actually a pretty crappy thing to lay on a person with a serious disease. Please don’t do that." 'Cause here's the real deal, if you're over 25, I don't care how well you work out, or how well you eat, you're in the process of dying. Some people just have a better idea of how, that's all. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
And in this vein, I point to two posts from Jay Lake on his dreaming self. He also links to this account of someone else who died of terminal cancer. As well as a post about "Death Cafes." "'They’re a place to talk about the issues surrounding death while drinking tea and eating delicious cake.'" There's something about people who have seen death before, their own or someone close to them. They can talk with each other about things that cause other people to be nervous.
Yea, banks don't need no stinking regulation. Yep, they foreclosed on 4 million homes by "mistake", and then when they settled the complaints by paying each of those home owners (who are out their homes) $300 to $5000, they bounce the checks. I'm sure their executives' bonus checks were drawn off a different account.
I scored 15 of 15 on the Pew Forum's Religious Knowledge Quiz. How well can you do? (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Friday, May 3, 2013
Linkee-poo, years ago I was an angry young man
Cat Rambo on the difference between the narrator's internal voice and "telling instead of showing." With examples.
Oh noes, a NY Times article about women writing SF/F. Written in 1982, but sounds strangely familiar to current arguments. Including "Richard Geis, editor of the small-press magazine SFR, protests that 'there must be a recognition of the emotional needs in fiction of the insecure young male who has made up the bedrock readership of SF for 50 years.'" Although a little too close to the truth, sounds like things that have been said about the "Oh noes, gurls in our fandom!" blatherings of the past few years. (Grokked from Steve Gould)
Just because the the snake bite doesn't kill you, doesn't mean it won't do major damage. WARNING! Do not look at that link if you are easily sickened. There was a lot of tissue necrosis, you can see the layers of muscle and the metatarsals of the foot after they had abraded away the dead tissue. It is not bandaged. (Pointed to by John)
A Boy and his Atom. The world's "smallest" movie made by positioning atoms. It's basically a demonstration ad form IBM, but still pretty neat.
Twenty of the most beautiful World Heritage Sites. Since it's getting to be vacation time for normal people. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Short Packed about history. Yea, I've had conversations like that. "When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" "Forget it, he's on a roll."
Why your iOS device may be vulnerable to spoofing. Yea, I hate that "feature". (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Yep, the conservatives are still coming for your birth control. This time in our own Ohio. So now that the conservatives got some ground with the "Obamacare birth control mandate violates our religious freedom" our own AG is trying to get that exemption extended to private employers. If I had to make a guess, most of those people's insurance currently offers birth control and they were perfectly fine with it (like most of the Catholic Diocese plans had). (Grokked from the Slactivist)
And not only are they coming for your birth control, they're coming for your science. Yea, because, you know, all those people in Congress are such good judges of scientific value. Plus everything has to be "groundbreaking"? Um, I don't think they even understand what science is about. Was penicillin groundbreaking? You'd think so, but it wasn't. Lots of people were looking for something like it. Many people almost had it. In that case, we were trodding old paths. If Pasteur would have applied for a grant to find out just what they heck had grown in his petri dish he would have been denied even just under a cursory examination of these new rules. This legislation isn't just bad, it's down right dangerous and injurious to your health. (Pointed to by Bette)
Hey look, something that actually works and saves money in health care. Welp, better shut that down soon because of that. Also because it transfers power from doctors to nurses. Can't allow that.
Vince shares a video of which is the worse pain, childbirth or being kicked in the gonads. Um, "What is 'having kidney-stones.'?"
They're still burning witches in Papua New Guinea. You know, in case you're still under the delusion we live in a rational world. Or that only certain religions have atrocious records when it comes to women's rights. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Well, the Pentagon continues to worry about global warming. What could they be worried about? Well, one of the things our defensive strategy is based around are threats coming from the N. Atlantic and W. Pacific. Now we need to add parking an aircraft carrier North of Canada and being able to strike our most populous cities (although they'd have to "pacify" the Canadian Air Force first). Then there is the immense destabilizing effect of crop failures, scarce water, animal migrations, wholesale collapse of ecosystems (and agriculture) just to name a few things.
When progressives talk about how the right has become unhinged and their leaders are bilking the followers of both their money and their votes by promoting Big Fear, this is what we're talking about. That's the past 16 months of the NRA's flagship magazine. What I think is hilarious is the NRA's position of supporting law enforcement, when most law enforcement officials are all for more restrictive gun laws (including overturning concealed carry). But I'm sure thy have to make that nod to stamp their "Patriots" card. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
And just in case you don't think our weapons laws are severely out of step, here's 10 weapons it's legal to own. (Pointed to by John)
Some real estate employees get corporate logo tattoos for a 15% raise. Okay, well, I expect the lawsuit to start anytime now (some religions prohibit tattooing). And I wonder how those employees will feel when the layoffs happen. Also, didn't any of these people ever hear the phrase "hostile work-environment"? I expect they will in the future. Seriously, given the amount of turn over and how many jobs one can expect to hold in the course of their career, who things this is a good idea? (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Fred Clark has a great roundup of links showing the economic divide. Including: "The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) just released a ranking of developed countries by the percent of children who live in poverty, and the U.S. clocks in at number 34 out of 35, only beating out Romania." Yea, we don't need to do anything to correct that. You know, like the emergency legislation passed to allow the air traffic controllers to get back to work, some of it hand written, so that people who fly wouldn't be inconvenienced by the cuts that some of them believe are vital to our nation. Notice no such heaving lifting is being done to get money back into Head Start, CHIP, or any of the other food or education programs.
Oh noes, a NY Times article about women writing SF/F. Written in 1982, but sounds strangely familiar to current arguments. Including "Richard Geis, editor of the small-press magazine SFR, protests that 'there must be a recognition of the emotional needs in fiction of the insecure young male who has made up the bedrock readership of SF for 50 years.'" Although a little too close to the truth, sounds like things that have been said about the "Oh noes, gurls in our fandom!" blatherings of the past few years. (Grokked from Steve Gould)
Just because the the snake bite doesn't kill you, doesn't mean it won't do major damage. WARNING! Do not look at that link if you are easily sickened. There was a lot of tissue necrosis, you can see the layers of muscle and the metatarsals of the foot after they had abraded away the dead tissue. It is not bandaged. (Pointed to by John)
A Boy and his Atom. The world's "smallest" movie made by positioning atoms. It's basically a demonstration ad form IBM, but still pretty neat.
Twenty of the most beautiful World Heritage Sites. Since it's getting to be vacation time for normal people. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Short Packed about history. Yea, I've had conversations like that. "When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" "Forget it, he's on a roll."
Why your iOS device may be vulnerable to spoofing. Yea, I hate that "feature". (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Yep, the conservatives are still coming for your birth control. This time in our own Ohio. So now that the conservatives got some ground with the "Obamacare birth control mandate violates our religious freedom" our own AG is trying to get that exemption extended to private employers. If I had to make a guess, most of those people's insurance currently offers birth control and they were perfectly fine with it (like most of the Catholic Diocese plans had). (Grokked from the Slactivist)
And not only are they coming for your birth control, they're coming for your science. Yea, because, you know, all those people in Congress are such good judges of scientific value. Plus everything has to be "groundbreaking"? Um, I don't think they even understand what science is about. Was penicillin groundbreaking? You'd think so, but it wasn't. Lots of people were looking for something like it. Many people almost had it. In that case, we were trodding old paths. If Pasteur would have applied for a grant to find out just what they heck had grown in his petri dish he would have been denied even just under a cursory examination of these new rules. This legislation isn't just bad, it's down right dangerous and injurious to your health. (Pointed to by Bette)
Hey look, something that actually works and saves money in health care. Welp, better shut that down soon because of that. Also because it transfers power from doctors to nurses. Can't allow that.
Vince shares a video of which is the worse pain, childbirth or being kicked in the gonads. Um, "What is 'having kidney-stones.'?"
They're still burning witches in Papua New Guinea. You know, in case you're still under the delusion we live in a rational world. Or that only certain religions have atrocious records when it comes to women's rights. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Well, the Pentagon continues to worry about global warming. What could they be worried about? Well, one of the things our defensive strategy is based around are threats coming from the N. Atlantic and W. Pacific. Now we need to add parking an aircraft carrier North of Canada and being able to strike our most populous cities (although they'd have to "pacify" the Canadian Air Force first). Then there is the immense destabilizing effect of crop failures, scarce water, animal migrations, wholesale collapse of ecosystems (and agriculture) just to name a few things.
When progressives talk about how the right has become unhinged and their leaders are bilking the followers of both their money and their votes by promoting Big Fear, this is what we're talking about. That's the past 16 months of the NRA's flagship magazine. What I think is hilarious is the NRA's position of supporting law enforcement, when most law enforcement officials are all for more restrictive gun laws (including overturning concealed carry). But I'm sure thy have to make that nod to stamp their "Patriots" card. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
And just in case you don't think our weapons laws are severely out of step, here's 10 weapons it's legal to own. (Pointed to by John)
Some real estate employees get corporate logo tattoos for a 15% raise. Okay, well, I expect the lawsuit to start anytime now (some religions prohibit tattooing). And I wonder how those employees will feel when the layoffs happen. Also, didn't any of these people ever hear the phrase "hostile work-environment"? I expect they will in the future. Seriously, given the amount of turn over and how many jobs one can expect to hold in the course of their career, who things this is a good idea? (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Fred Clark has a great roundup of links showing the economic divide. Including: "The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) just released a ranking of developed countries by the percent of children who live in poverty, and the U.S. clocks in at number 34 out of 35, only beating out Romania." Yea, we don't need to do anything to correct that. You know, like the emergency legislation passed to allow the air traffic controllers to get back to work, some of it hand written, so that people who fly wouldn't be inconvenienced by the cuts that some of them believe are vital to our nation. Notice no such heaving lifting is being done to get money back into Head Start, CHIP, or any of the other food or education programs.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
When we programmed computers wearing bear skins and using flint knives
The Scene is Dead.
It's a little lame (except for the water reflection part) until 50 seconds in. Then heavy techno music and graphics.
Okay, it gets my little geek engine running.
This is the third place entry in the PC | Revision 2012 64K Intro. The entry specs (for next year) are here. That video was created with only a 64K runtime app. Not 64M or 64G, 64K (65536 bytes). No libraries. No calls.
64K. One, that was almost an amazing amount of memory when I started programming (and we started seeing demos like this). And two, these days that's an amazingly limited amount of memory. It does this little hacker's heart good to know the kids can still program this way ('cause, frankly, most kid programmers these days don't know shit about condensing and streamlining their code - shut up, I've read your HTML).
You might need to be a total computer nerd to understand that what they're doing there is some pretty amazing stuff with only 64K.
(Pointed to by John)
It's a little lame (except for the water reflection part) until 50 seconds in. Then heavy techno music and graphics.
Okay, it gets my little geek engine running.
This is the third place entry in the PC | Revision 2012 64K Intro. The entry specs (for next year) are here. That video was created with only a 64K runtime app. Not 64M or 64G, 64K (65536 bytes). No libraries. No calls.
64K. One, that was almost an amazing amount of memory when I started programming (and we started seeing demos like this). And two, these days that's an amazingly limited amount of memory. It does this little hacker's heart good to know the kids can still program this way ('cause, frankly, most kid programmers these days don't know shit about condensing and streamlining their code - shut up, I've read your HTML).
You might need to be a total computer nerd to understand that what they're doing there is some pretty amazing stuff with only 64K.
(Pointed to by John)
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Story Bones
Ken Burns' The Dust Bowl. So many in there it was hard to count. Including the thoughts about what happens when a space colony's attempt at terraforming fails. Going to California with an achin' in my heart.
Linkee-poo cashes in his bad luck
Not only should money flow toward the writer, there should be money to start with.
The opposite of the philosophy that "if you're a novelist you should write novels." There's plenty to learn writing other forms; shorts, flash, radio, comics, novella, comedy, whatever.
Tobias Buckell talks about Blue Heaven and how it's changed over the years. Even the smaller retreats are good, which is why I'm carving out a weekend soon to go to one. Even though it'll leave me exhausted for the start of Summer Session (which will be exhausting to begin with). It also still kills me that I had to say no to one earlier this Spring. If you have the opportunity to join one, do it.
On prejudice and writing the other. You know, if writers aren't able to explore the other, we end up with Friends, know what I'm saying. Now, there are lines out there, but if I include "otherness" in my story, even write from their prospective including cultural references, I don't think we've cross the line of cultural appropriation. However, if you pull something like Asa Earl Carter did with The Education of Little Tree, well, you've probably crossed a line there. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
But this only works when you know the lessons of John Scalzi's blog post "Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is".
It's getting to be time for local carnivals, and Jim McDonald has a post about an old scam. Forewarned is forearmed. Also, he has a link to a carny lingo site.
And the saga of Apple wannabe's who design an impressive campaign with celebrity endorsements, only to be sabotaged when those celebrities use Apple products to tweet about the products, continues. (Grokked from Dan)
You know that whole meme about "running government like a business"? Well, sometimes the government sells infrastructure assets to private companies. And then they go to crap. That's what happens when you run public assets and projects like private businesses. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
Algae blooms on the rise. A NatGeo article with several pictures of the big lake in our own back yard, Lake Erie. Yea, nothing us human do affects the natural world; like runaway use of fertilizers or increasing CO2 levels, yea, I'm sure there's some other explanation. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Fred Clark winds up the irony engine. "Once again, those progressive, mainline Protestant and liberal Jewish types are teaming up with the Obama White House to defy clear biblical teaching… In explicit denial of the authority of scripture, these postmodern, anything-goes folks are calling for a 'Global Fund to Eradicate Modern-Day Slavery.'” And then I hit the line, "This is how things started in Germany" and fell out of my chair.
The rise of cancer in China. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Vince runs the numbers on the cost of our war on terror.
"Pathological Democratic weakness is the only way to explain Senate Democrats voting to exclude FAA furloughs from sequestration." Yep. Not to mention the meat inspectors. Screw the poor. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
The amazing return of the Lahontan Cuttroat Trout. Environmentalism works. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Tweet of my heart: @mightymur: Do you or someone you love have Book Finishing Syndrome? Symptoms include OMFG THIS SUCKS, tears, and copious drinking. #themoreyouknow
The opposite of the philosophy that "if you're a novelist you should write novels." There's plenty to learn writing other forms; shorts, flash, radio, comics, novella, comedy, whatever.
Tobias Buckell talks about Blue Heaven and how it's changed over the years. Even the smaller retreats are good, which is why I'm carving out a weekend soon to go to one. Even though it'll leave me exhausted for the start of Summer Session (which will be exhausting to begin with). It also still kills me that I had to say no to one earlier this Spring. If you have the opportunity to join one, do it.
On prejudice and writing the other. You know, if writers aren't able to explore the other, we end up with Friends, know what I'm saying. Now, there are lines out there, but if I include "otherness" in my story, even write from their prospective including cultural references, I don't think we've cross the line of cultural appropriation. However, if you pull something like Asa Earl Carter did with The Education of Little Tree, well, you've probably crossed a line there. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
But this only works when you know the lessons of John Scalzi's blog post "Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is".
It's getting to be time for local carnivals, and Jim McDonald has a post about an old scam. Forewarned is forearmed. Also, he has a link to a carny lingo site.
And the saga of Apple wannabe's who design an impressive campaign with celebrity endorsements, only to be sabotaged when those celebrities use Apple products to tweet about the products, continues. (Grokked from Dan)
You know that whole meme about "running government like a business"? Well, sometimes the government sells infrastructure assets to private companies. And then they go to crap. That's what happens when you run public assets and projects like private businesses. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
Algae blooms on the rise. A NatGeo article with several pictures of the big lake in our own back yard, Lake Erie. Yea, nothing us human do affects the natural world; like runaway use of fertilizers or increasing CO2 levels, yea, I'm sure there's some other explanation. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Fred Clark winds up the irony engine. "Once again, those progressive, mainline Protestant and liberal Jewish types are teaming up with the Obama White House to defy clear biblical teaching… In explicit denial of the authority of scripture, these postmodern, anything-goes folks are calling for a 'Global Fund to Eradicate Modern-Day Slavery.'” And then I hit the line, "This is how things started in Germany" and fell out of my chair.
The rise of cancer in China. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Vince runs the numbers on the cost of our war on terror.
"Pathological Democratic weakness is the only way to explain Senate Democrats voting to exclude FAA furloughs from sequestration." Yep. Not to mention the meat inspectors. Screw the poor. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
The amazing return of the Lahontan Cuttroat Trout. Environmentalism works. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Tweet of my heart: @mightymur: Do you or someone you love have Book Finishing Syndrome? Symptoms include OMFG THIS SUCKS, tears, and copious drinking. #themoreyouknow
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)