We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay

Whenever I hear someone shout "'MERICA- fuck yeah!" this is the song that plays in my head. I should probably owe Randy Newman royalties by now.

In America, you get food to eat
Won't have to run through the jungle and scuff up your feet
You just sing about Jesus, drink wine all day
It's great to be an American.

In fact, if I had to choose a soundtrack for my political discussions, it would probably have been written by Mr. Newman.

Linkee-poo take bath, take nap, this job fulfilling in create way such a load of crap

One final down, all the t-shirts from the sale distributed to the other students (or will be, anyway, out of my hands at the moment), all the checks deposited for the sale. Think I'm almost to the end of this semester.

I'm moving this political post to the top because of its importance. The FCC is now open to public comments regarding the new rules sweeping away Net Neutrality. If you've ever signed a petition, or circulated an email about this subject, now is the time to actually be heard. For a primer on why this is important, here is an article discussing it. And another interview about why this is important.

Oh look, the novel is dead. Again. What a giant burrito of self-agrandisment bullshit. Look, mate, you're off your fucking rocker, you are. Seriously, your perception of reality is based in teenaged dreams of avarice and glory. You might want to listen to Pink Floyd's "Welcome to the Machine" one more time and seriously grok what they're telling you. Art, in all it's forms, has always been low. Because, and here's the thing, it's entertainment. It's what people did after knocking down the mammoth and frying up some elephantine t-bones while making spear points for the next hunt. The people prefer Punch and Judy over McBeth. Bread and Circuses, mate, Bread and Circuses. And for the love of all that is holy, can we stop whipping the desiccated corpse of Marshall McLuhan? We are already past his paradigm, have been since the late 60s. Get over yourself. While you type pretty words, you ain't all that and a bucket of posies. Welcome to what art has always been, a working class aspiration. For every master of the form, there are legions of journeymen and armies of talented apprentices. Keep laboring on. (Grokked from Dr. Doyle)

Paul Roth makes a video regarding VidCon and harassment policies and codes of conduct. Yes, this. Look, we would all love to live in a world where such things aren't necessary, but we don't live in such a world. You need these policies, and the enforcement mechanism (and willingness to use it) if you're hosting an event. I know people who go to VidCon, I know people in that video. Even if I'm not going it's important to me. So, VidCon, your stakeholders in this matter include way more people than your attending members. Also, please note, all other convention organizers, if you don't have these policies in place, please get with the 1990's and write one. Also, make a pledge to enforce it, especially if it's uncomfortable (because of situation or people involved). It's important. (Grokked from Annalee)

And speaking of conventions, if you're an SF/F themed event and you're looking for a guest of honor, Jim Hines has some "not the usual suspects" recommendations.

Symantec throws in the towel when it comes to detecting computer malware. Yea, it's a target rich environment and they kinda fell behind in how one needs to do these things. (Grokked from John)

Look, whatever party you belong to, don't be a dick, okay?

Jim Wright with his ninth installation of Bang Bang Crazy. I love the people who say "moar guns." They're so cute. Jim gives a pretty good scenario about an active shooter on base and MPs responding to a scene where everybody is holding. I've got a better one. You are that highly-trained soldier waiting in line to process. You're kinda bored, wondering what's for lunch when you finally get through the line. You look down to make sure all your forms are filled out and in order when you hear the first shot. Being highly trained you realize the sound you heard couldn't have been anything else but a firearm discharging (because, you know, there aren't lots of things that make loud banging noises). So you drop your kit and draw while going heads up. In your vision you identify 3 people with drawn side arms (this is out of the approximately 50 people around you who have drawn their weapons as well). One of them aims and discharges dropping another soldier whom you hadn't visually processed yet. Is that soldier the shooter or is the soldier they shot the actual shooter (even worse, what if that soldier made a mistake and shot the wrong person). Everyone is now zoning in on the person you saw fire their weapon (because this is a perfect scenario and everybody can determine the direction and distance of the shot). Someone fires and the person you saw shooting falls. Did this new person shot the shooter, did they make a mistake, or is this other person the original shooter taking out another target? Also, since you're in an enclosed space your head hurts and your ears are ringing. See the problem. It's a chain reaction. By the time the MPs arrive there's going to be a lot of bodies on the ground and the rest of the people standing will be in a Mexican Standoff.

More people are expected to die constructing Qatar's 2022 World Cup stadium than those who died on 9/11. Just in case you don't think the world need a human rights movement. (Grokked from John)

Robert (Freakin') Reich on the four biggest right-wing lies about inequality. Yes, this. No, seriously, if tax cuts created jobs we would be swimming in them after the Bush Tax Cuts. If a rising tide raises all boats we'd all be floating instead of half of us drowning. If hard work was the criteria for better pay, CEOs would be making less than their line workers and the person flipping your burgers would be driving a new Benz (your nurse would be living in the gated communities of the world). When people talk about the coming revolution, here is where it will come from (not some idiot Patriot group). (Grokked from Steven Gould via Wil Wheaton)

The things I haven't been telling you

Because of all the time spent working and studying it seems that my blog has just become a linking station. That isn't going to change soon as we head into summer session. Normally I've been going from 7am to 10-11pm. This summer I'll typically be going from 7am to midnight. With some overnight shifts thrown in for shits and giggles.

The big thing is that I'm no longer a Teamster. Given that my day job doesn't involve much print and the job I'm transferring into involves zero print, I figured it was time to cut my losses. It doesn't help (or did help depending on how you think about it) that they're changing the rules on our inter-local pension fund. Again. Not only are they reducing the benefit, but they want to remove the lump sum option. So before it goes away, I'm taking advantage of it. Which is really sad. If the benefit remained about the same it really would be a fantastic benefit for retirement (probably doubling my income from Social Security). However the rule change before I joined was to allow the Teamsters to buy into this extra benefit (if I had been able to retire from the print shop I would have had 2 pensions along with Social Security - also, my union is affiliated with the Teamsters, but that's only been for the past decade), that was supposed to shore up the fund. The fund is currently stable with a very large amount of money invested. But it's top heavy (more retirees than those people contributing) and it's not insured by the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation so if it goes away, all that money goes away with it. This move may also involve much of my freelance work going bye-bye as well.

For the reboot I'm going to receive the Outstanding Radiologic Technology Student of 2014 award. Which I guess is a medal. So for graduation I'll be able to wear my Phi Theta Kappa stole, a gold cord for graduating with honors (unless I screw up it should be Summa Cum Laude, if I screw up it'll be Magna Cum Laude), and the medal. Go me. I really wish I had this focus graduating form high school and starting college. However, my life would have been radically different.

Also with the reboot I'm down to the nitty-gritty when it comes to competencies. I'm not entirely certain but I think I only have 2 more to go (depends on if I passed the mandible before I left on Friday, I don't have clinicals for two weeks, so that's when I'll find out if I have to redo that). There's also two more checklists to go over (fairly easy, "which button takes the exposure" kind of thing). Oh and 1 or 2 film critiques (pretty easy). Considering where I was this time last year, that's a big improvement. This past semester I had no failed comps (depending on that mandible) which is a big change. I'm a lot more confident, competent, and a heck of a lot faster. At this time last year it would take me about 15-18 minutes for a 2 view chest. It now takes me less than 8 minutes.

My RSS feed continues to be above 500 (currently at 536). I haven't been able to get it below 450 since February.

Spring is here, which means the grass needs to be mowed. Haven't done it yet, but it still needs to be mowed. Maybe this week we'll start up the mower. I'll also need to finish some of the outdoor projects.

And then there's the writing. Must, must, must get back to putting words down. You should see the note papers next to my bed. Lots of them.

Linkee-poo think maybe manager wanna write god-damn login page himself

Mer Haskell is giving away a lot of cool stuff, including things other than her books. I say that because her books are cool stuff all by themselves. Although I guess I've gotta get a tumblr account now.

Short history here. I joined Facebook because of Mer. In the first week of being on Facebook I received a friend request from my former fiancée (from a long time ago). So, I don't know where this is going to lead me, Mer, but I just may have to join another social network now. Again. Whatever.

So you say you have a book or story out and you're developing a little bit of a following. Here are seven things your fiction fans want to hear you say. (Grokked from Stewart Sternberg)

Police are called to the scene in Meridian, Idaho because people were distributing (for free) a "banned book" to high school students. Only to find, there's nothing against the law about people reading books they disagree with. (Grokked from Alex C. Renwick) Using a liquid metal alloy to help transfer neural impulses while waiting for neurons to regrow. Cool, but, um, that wasn't Robocop, that was the T2. Also, "and since it’s metal, it can be easily removed with the help of an x-ray", what? X-rays don't work that way. (Grokked from Morgan J Locke)

NASA's new space suit design. Ummm… (Grokked from Saladin Ahmed)

"Fox News was the least accurate; 72 percent of its 2013 climate science-related segments contained misleading statements. CNN was in the middle, with about a third of segments featuring misleading statements. MSNBC was the most accurate, with only eight percent of segments containing misleading statements." But in the good news, Fox is actually getting more accurate. (Grokked from Dan)

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Or, Fox News leaves the presidential press conference because they were only talking about "Russia and Ukraine, U.S.-Germany relations, National Security Agency spying and the recent botched execution in Oklahoma" and not Benghazi. And frankly, I'm really glad that Speaker Boehner is setting up a select committee to look into Benghazi. Because it typically takes 3 reports that contradict conservative talking points before they'll shut up about it. We've already had two reports (by conservative lead committees which found nothing). But here's the thing, I want all these conservatives to put up the cash this extra investigation will require. Because I really don't want to have my taxes pay for it.

But then I'm sure they aren't renewing the beating of the dead horse that is trumped up Benghazi conspiracy theories because 1) they realize they've lost the Obamacare argument or 2) the economy continues to heal despite their recalcitrance to do anything about it.

Tell them a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call

I am not normally a fan of covers, but I love this version of White Rabbit. In some ways, I think it's superior to the original with Jefferson Airplane and Grace Slick.

Linkee-poo, it's just a spring clean for the May Queen

Justine Larbalestier wants to remind you, if you're doing research for your story, keep careful notes.

Saladin Ahmed has been tweeting about his research into pre-code comics. If you haven't been following his twitter feed, you're missing something wonderful. But here I will point out, the actual Comics Code.

"It's not just corporate America that is trying to get workers on the cheap. Turns out, despite tuition costs that are insane for you and me, half of all professors at universities are working for peanuts. Sometimes they're even on food stamps." They're called "adjuncts". And they could probably make more working at the McDonalds down the road, if they weren't "over qualified." And, yea, even people in education don't understand or know about this. To the point, I was asked if I would consider such a position for Graphic Design. Yea. That isn't going to happen. (Pointed to by Sheila)

"One of the most infamous urban legends in video games has turned out to be true." The last resting place of the Atari game, E.T. Although they've only recovered "a few hundred" cartridges. Actually what's most exciting isn't so much the "thousands" of cartridges supposedly buried there, but Atari also cleaned out their R&D labs of everything that didn't get produced and buried those as well. For those people who don't know there was a lot of very cool stuff Atari was working on that never saw the light of day. (Grokked from Dan)

An Apple II emulator written in javascript. Because reasons. (pointed to by Dan)

Don't put pins in your mouth. Yes, this. And, yea, I've done that x-ray (although mostly for random change, but one was a suspected pin). (Grokked from Mary Robinette Kowal)

The testosterone surge. Building the next Viagra industry. This isn't to say there aren't a lot of men who should be able to get testosterone replacement therapy. But just as Viagra isn't used only by people who have ED, many people who are going to get tested for Low-T, and will receive prescriptions, really don't need it. If you're going to get tested, here some tips on how to be tested.

Hey, lets take a pricing model consumers hate, hides all taxes and fees, is widely misleading, and compare that with a pricing model that isn't fully "truthful" (baggage fees, anyone) and make the former one the law. Sure industry loves it. Now, I can see an alternative argument that this makes very explicit the taxes being charged, but this is why you itemize a bill. What this really is there is to hide the various fees that companies charge (telephone bills, anyone) to mislead you about pricing. What should happen is all those companies who aren't subjected to full fare pricing should be brought under its umbrella. Every price should include all fees and taxes (this includes things like groceries that are taxable, note here in Ohio most groceries are not taxable). As I remember, this is standard practice in Europe. (Grokked from Annalee)

Everybody's code sucks. Or, as the saying goes, if architects built cities the way programmers codes, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization as we know it. (Grokked from Dan)

"It's not cheap, she says, but the coverage allowed her to quit her job and launch an online business to help other young women take care of sick loved ones." Obamacare is allowing people to leave their jobs and start the mythic small business and others can now afford to retire. Look, it's what conservatives feared all along. Why, it's unpossible. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

"Florida Gov. Rick Scott… went to a senior center on Tuesday to warn of the dangers of Obamacare and hear horror stories about the law. But instead Scott found almost all the seniors he talked to were satisfied with the new law." And now you see the real horror story that conservatives were fearing. Obamacare might be popular once people know the truth instead of the spin.

"The utilities hate this requirement (for mandated levels of renewable energy sources), for obvious reasons. A report by the Edison Electric Institute, the lobbying arm of the power industry, says this kind of law will put 'a squeeze on profitability,' and warns that if state incentives are not rolled back, 'it may be too late to repair the utility business model.'" Point source generation, it becomes awfully much easier with renewables. Which means traditional utilities go bye-bye. And another arm of the Koch brothers is stretching its tentacle out to squash all the hard won requirements. Especially right here in Ohio. (Grokked from Morgan J. Locke)

Okay, this is fun. Which are lines from 50 Shades of Grey and which are from contemporary Christian music lyrics. Full disclosure, I worked at a studio where our major clients worked in the CCM. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

When will conservatives learn, there are always records of conversations now. Especially when you tell the editor of Scientific American to pick some other future trend topic than climate change when he appears on Fox & Friends.

Life in the Bundy Camp. Well, that seems sane enough. (Grokked from Jim Wright)

And I guess I was wrong about the roads being open. Apparently the whackaloon contingent is growing at the Bundy Ranch and is now setting up road blocks and check points. You know, just like our founding fathers did. The crazy, it's catching. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

Say, think people at the Bundy Ranch (or any of the various militias) going to remember the government has satellites, drones, and tanks? Yea. Probably doesn't figure to well into their dreams of their own Red Dawn scenarios.

And how's the other crazy (2014 election cycle) going about its business? Yep, just what I thought.

"Sterling's partisan affiliation appears to have no relevance to the national political debate. But descriptions of Sterling as a Democrat could be found early this week in conservative media outlets including the Drudge Report and National Review, which made the assertion based on Sterling's past campaign contributions to several Democratic politicians." Um, yea, Bob.

Weekend Linkee-poo says it's your birthday, it's my birthday too, yea

Henry Miller's 11 rules of writing. (Grokked from Mrs. Tad)

Jason Sanford on the Hugo ballot-stuffing brouhaha.

From Confessions of a Funeral Director, how grief actually works. (Grokked from Janiece)

Teaching creativity. (Grokked from Stewart Sternberg)

For your cultural edification, a pig-rider. Add in to this that one of the more successful tactics against war elephants was to grease pigs, set them on fire, and shoo them in the directions of the elephants. Warg riders my arse, welcome the dwarf Swine Riders of Hern. Yea, that's a story bone, go crazy with it. (Grokked from Camille Alexa)

How to leave work at work. As a recovering workaholic, yea, good luck with that. Well, maybe these techniques will work for you.

The three pitfalls to avoid when talking about race. (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)

It's gonna take a lot to get this egg off their face. Gee, Cliven Bundy turns out to be a racists. Who would have thought. But, hey, he likes the Spanish People. So, unable to speak about racism in code and willing to grant illegals amnesty. Hey BLM, I think the roads the Bundy homestead will be clear by the end of the weekend. (Grokked from Vince)

Say, remember that challenger to Sen. McConnell who said that after he spoke at a rally to legalize cockfighting that he didn't know where he was at? Someday people will learn that in this modern age, someone is always recording. Yea, turns out, he was lying. And this was the guy who was a serious contender to Sen. McConnell? (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

As a former Chairman of Safety, yea, don't park in front of hydrants. My firemen know I'd have their backs if they had to do something like this. (Grokked from Janiece)

Weekend Linkee-poo dreamed he met a Gallilean

Ferrett sells a novel. If you're a writer who hasn't broken through yet, go read his post. Heck, even if you have, go read his post.

"'It's a staff issue, so we're taking care of the staffing error,' (District spokeswoman Mary Kay Roth) said. 'It wasn't supposed to be sent home.'" Um, how about it should never have been written let alone copied. Seriously, don't tattle on bullies? Exact opposite of what kids should be doing.

So, there was this whole thing after the 2012 election when conservatives both failed to take back the White House and the Senate, and also lost seats in the House, about making sure that next time conservatives would hew to the message and not stick their collective feet in their mouths again. How's that working out? Well, I'm sure that's just one candidate speaking out of their ass. Okay, well, at least they're not engaging in the war on women any… Yea. At least in the manner of sticking ones foot in ones mouth, they don't seem to have much control there this year. So, how's the whackaloon count going? Oookaay. How about the other hate thing? Sigh.

Well, there's one life Obamacare helped save. (Grokked from Steven Gould, I think)

"What you’re doing is attempting to limit my choices, and I don’t appreciate that… There are young women my age who are extremely smart but they hide it because they get messages from women like you that if they are too smart or successful, boys won’t like them. They get messages from women like you that pleasing a man should be their number one goal." A 12-year old sees through Phyllis Schlafly's comments (linked to above). The unfortunate thing is, not many people do (although I'm heartened that more are). (Grokked from Morgan J Locke)

The lawyer who argued for California's Prop 8 in front of the Supreme Court has an adopted daughter who is gay and wants to marry her partner. And Charles Cooper is adjusting his views on the matter. So, good on him. Although I'll note here that 1) not every lawyer believes every argument they make and 2) it took a close family member for his to re-evaluate his stance. It's strange that once people actually realize they actually know actual gay people, they're no longer afraid of "the gay agenda." (Grokked from John Scalzi)

"Republicans have absolutely no intention of letting go of Obamacare, their No. 1 campaign issue in 2014. The positive new sign-up figures unveiled by the White House -- including 5 million on non-exchange private plans, 3 million on Medicaid, 3 million young adults on a parent's policy -- won't change that because the issue animates the conservative base like none other." Again, if they lose, they know they'll lose the Congress for another decade or two. Conservatives, beating dead horses to dust since 1980.

Linkee-poo without a title

Wanna win a cool book, of course you do. (Grokked from Mer Haskell)

No time to read On Writing by Stephen King? Here's his top 20 rules for writers. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

Essential tremors. When I'm under great stress and very tired, my hands shake like I have palsy. I wonder if I have this? Also note, this is different than the normal movement of your body from your pulse.

Jim Hines talks about some new technology to help diabetics.

Some social history on the beard. Last year you may have chuckled at the story of a splinter Amish sect cutting off the beards of other Amish. It wasn't all that long ago that anyone wearing a beard was considered strange and a challenge to social order. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

Get offa my lawn, you hippie. Why older men are grumpy. It happens at around 70. I'm just practicing.

Best economy in the world, my ass. (Grokked from Morgan J Locke)

Fred Clark with history in the making. We have always been t war with Eastasia.

"'We understand that change can be confusing and that Boonstra was annoyed at having to sign up for a new plan… But it appears (Boonstra) jumped on television without trying to understand the basics about her new coverage... In any case, one cannot claim that a plan is "unaffordable" when over the course of the year it will provide you with substantial savings.'" Another Obamacare horror story ad goes down the drain. Also note that even with proof that 1) she's paying less in premiums, 2) her drugs are covered under her plan (instead of a prescription card) and 3) her out of pocket will be less, she still thinks she's getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop. Why? Because people are telling here she is and she believes the people exploiting here more than the people trying to help her.(Grokked from the Slactivist)

I want to be very clear about this, Cliven Bundy is a thief. His family are thieves. The people supporting him don't understand that while he is using the words of patriotism, he's a crook. And he is stealing from all of us. His arguments are cockamamie. Pure bull. He signed the contracts after bidding to use Federal Lands. He knew exactly what he was getting into. His argument about the Federal Government not being able to own land is complete and utter bullshit. His argument that the lands can't belong to anyone outside the State of Nevada is complete bullshit. His argument of being grandfathered in is complete bullshit. The land doesn't belong to him. The rules change. It happens. His argument is the same as if someone went speeding past the new school while kids are crossing the street and getting on and off of buses because, hey, they've been speeding down that road since they were 16, some 40 years before. It's the same level of argument. Ryan Bundy says, "We will do whatever it takes to protect our life, liberty and our property. And that's what every single American should also say also." Hey, that's great. Only, it's not your property. If it were, there wouldn't be court orders against you. If it were, you wouldn't have had to sign contracts with the BLM. Keep your cattle on your land, pay the back rents you owe, and this will all go away. But that isn't what you want. The Bundys are criminals, the people they're robbing is everyone else in this country, and all the people supporting them are enabling and abetting criminals and criminal behavior. They aren't patriots. They're a mob. We're a country of laws.

Oliver North, you're a jerk. A complete knee-biter. Seriously, dude, going off your meds isn't helping anyone. And if you aren't on meds and still want to think that nobody died because of your actions, and that the Reagan Administration didn't try to cover up Iran-Contra, you've obviously are suffering from some sort of stroke damage. Get help soon. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

Mind over food.

Weekend Linkee-poo is just too tired for words

I'm wondering if anyone in the media is doing a study on when "the people" in Washington started to be referred to as "these people" in Washington?

Jennifer Cruise on characters wanting and bodies in motion. It makes more sense when you read it than I make with my description. She also gives some software tips on getting organized.

Five tips for telecommuting.

The list of most popular books by state according to Scibd. Not sure about the source of his data, but interesting none the less. (Grokked from Neil Gaiman)

Jim Hines on the "choosing to be offended" gambit. What I think is hilarious is usually those making the statement "you're just looking for something to be offended by" are often the ones I also end up correcting when they are offended. Take this past weekend. Long ago friend was upset by something handed to him by his media outlets. He changed his tune as I proved to him that what he was upset about wasn't really what was happening. It's easy to do in some circumstances (mostly debunking the lies of certain media outlets, often able to do with a quick google search). But then there are things to be offended by. For as much as I know Jim, the things he chooses have proven out to be true, and basically horrible things that should be dealt with.

Chemo-mouth explained.

As you may have noticed, I get pretty snarky about my first career (design, communication, advertising and marketing). I'm not the only one. Here's a McSweeney article called This Is a Generic Brand Video. Yes, this. And then, in case you think this is hyperbole, Dissolve (a video clip service) produced the video from their stock. While it's a somewhat cynical ad for their services, still pretty good. Even AdWeek commented on it. "Watch below, and have a great self-hating rest of your afternoon." (Grokked from Dr. Phil)

On repetition in music and advertising. Why? It works, that's why.

In case you weren't paying attention, the drone war is still going on in Pakistan. Although, recently, I think it has been going a little better (like since the CIA was removed and command was returned to the Pentagon). But even though our missiles are "smart" is doesn't mean our targeting is, nor is it able to remove one person from a crowd, it just removes the crowd and we hope we get that one person. I have complicated feelings about the drone war, mostly boils down to I agree it's necessary (and a good way to fight an asymmetrical battle against a widely dispersed enemy), but damn, it could've been managed so much better. There's also the question of using drone strikes in targeted assassination. Most people point to Anwar al-Awlaki, but frankly, he wasn't the first American to die in a Predator drone strike. But here is something interesting. See, from a drone's camera (and from most aircraft), you don't see faces too often. Here's an art installation that shows drone pilots the faces of people whom their actions have affected their lives. It's in the form of large portraits on the ground in northern Pakistan. I also agree with this kind of activism. (Grokked from Joe Hill)

On the rise of environmentally sound aquaculture.

Quote of the day: "It is harrowing for me to try to teach 20-year-old students, who earnestly want to improve their writing. The best I can think to tell them is: Quit smoking, and observe posted speed limits. This will improve your odds of getting old enough to be wise." - Barbara Kingsolver

Weekend Linkee-poo shakes its puny fists at an uncaring sky

Yea, this won't keep you up late at night. Now for an even worse thought, image this posted in the various ethnic communities.

Jim Hines with depression, anxiety and creativity. Yea, that also pretty well tracks to my own experience.

What would happen if you dropped a tungsten countertop into the sun? Because SCIENCE! Anyway, at the end of that XKCD what if piece he mentions that for health safety you should get normal granite countertops. I would recommend a different material than granite. (Pointed to by Dan)

Skydiver nearly hit by meteor gets what is possibly the first ever images of a meteor in its dark flight phase. (Grokked from Dan)

Steven Seagal thinks Putin is a great leader and may consider moving to Russia. The friends you keep. This really isn't news, except many conservatives have been spinning the same line. There is a population that reacts strongly to a strong handed "leader". There are many people who would rather have kings than democracy. And then there are people who want to be submissive in the face of domination. And those people seem to be inordinately clustered on the conservative spectrum. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

The Good Judgement Project. Taking citizens and seeing if they can be better predictors than our "experts" staffing the country's intelligence agencies. If you want to know what "spooks" really do, it's just as humdrum as this is. "First, if you want people to get better at making predictions, you need to keep score of how accurate their predictions turn out to be, so they have concrete feedback." There's so much in there I could discuss (coughFoxNewscough). Also a little on "the wisdom of crowds" which is always an interesting subject. "What's so challenging about all of this is the idea that you can get very accurate predictions about geopolitical events without access to secret information. In addition, access to classified information doesn't automatically and necessarily give you an edge over a smart group of average citizens doing Google searches from their kitchen tables."

How the 1 percent has it's own 10 percent. While the article likes to say that we shouldn't vilify all of the 1%, because it's only 10% of that 1% that is really seeing their wealth grow, I'd point out that the 10% keeps cycling through the 1% and even the laggardly 1% still have gathered more wealth to themselves (and fought to keep it there) than most of the rest of the country. So, no. I don't buy it. What this shows, as I've stated before, is that there is always someone with more money. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

And with more attention to the nuances of the top, we're also getting a more nuanced picture of the bottom. As many of us have know, being poor doesn't always mean living below the poverty line (that line is set artificially low, BTW).

Why we hate corporations (a pie chart). (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The career reboot. Apparently being older and working as unpaid interns isn't all that unusual anymore. Pretty much what I've been doing. It beats being long term unemployed.

The basic human impulses that lead us astray when it comes to our nest eggs. A little on retirement strategy.

Hobby Lobby, after arguing before the Supreme Court about how as a corporation they should be allowed the religious exemption to not cover birth control in their corporate healthcare policies now finds out their retirement plans including investing in those same companies that make birth control. While a lot of people are pointing fingers and saying "hypocrisy", I don't think so. What I think is this shows how incredibly hard it will be for these companies to claim and enforces their religious decrees. After all, who reads the full prospectus? Of course there are investment companies that screen those out. This is just egg on their faces which I'm sure they will now quickly change the company that handles their 401(k) plans. This isn't like the Catholic companies that screamed bloody murder only to discover the diocese office workers health plans that they've had for year already covered birth control. (Grokked from John Scalzi)

Remember that whole, "don't let the government get between your doctor and you" thing? Well, not only do insurance companies get between your doctor and you already, so do the large health care conglomerates. Yep, business directives will drive your doctor's decisions interfering with their judgement and practice. And this has been going on for a long time. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

I have often felt this way in corporate meetings

Sometimes called, "The Expert", sometimes labeled as "What Meetings Feel Like to Engineers." But change some words and basically it becomes "What business meeting are like to those people who don't hold MBAs as their only qualification."



Yea. I've so been there. (Grokked from Dan)