You know, I keep thinking I've hit the limit on just how busy I can be and keep sane. And then we blow through another wall.
Chuck Wendig on how to push past the BS and write that gorram novel. The less said about the time needed to write the blog, the better.
The seven deadly sins of freelance writing. Also applicable to fiction writing.
Kameron Hurley on learning how to write again. Some people tell you it's like falling off a bike, but it really isn't.
Dr. Doyle with how to use the "y'all."
John Scalzi talks about the libraries he has known. I thought it was mostly a "tales from the heartland" kind of thing until I discovered that some idiot author made the mistake (again) of equating library loans to lost sales. I guess this is a conversation we need to have every three or four years. Sigh. There is now ample evidence that if consumers can sample your work for free in some fashion, this increases overall sales (mostly from the negative, when you close down those "free" avenues overall sales decrease). This isn't to say that you want to allow pirate sites full reign, but when you have institutions like libraries, or concerts in the park, radio, TV, and the various rental places, you really should support them. You know, if you're actually worried about sales. Whenever I get to "published author" status, I would love it if my book would be in as many libraries as possible. Because when somebody plunks down their hard earned money to buy my book, I want them to enjoy it. If you can try me out in the library (or "first few chapters for free") and know you will enjoy my stuff before you buy it, that's a more positive experience. The world still operates on the old sales axioms: Positive experiences = increased word of mouth = increased sales; Negative experiences = increased negative word of mouth (positive word of mouth times 3)= decreased sales.
Elizabeth Bear on some recent infringements of unrecognized privilege on her psyche. Most often these kind of comments are just tossed off the cuff, but by those who don't see their own privilege and how that puts down others.
Um, wow. A street photographer is approached to use images in display. He asks for more money than they initially offered and is turned down. However, DKNY still uses his photos. The guy seems pretty nice about it. Me? There would be lawyers. Seriously, If DKNY thinks his asking $100,000 for the Y is too much, just wait until a lawyer tallies up all the copyright infringement going on there. It wouldn't just be one usage, every single photo is another instance of infringement. I wouldn't normally think this of window dressers from someplace like DKNY, but… amateurs. Rank amateurs. (Grokked from Patrick Nielsen Hayden)
Lost micro-continent found in Indian Ocean. Anybody check to see if the stars are aligned? "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." (Grokked from Dan)
Of relation to the sub-conversation on death and dying, the RadioLab short episode on the Bitter End. Do you want to have intervention medicines (CPR, ventilator, and the various "heroic" efforts to save your life), or do you have a DNR? And do you really know what happens when doctors try these things?
In case you didn't see my single post with the video embeded, coronal rain. Wow. Just fargin' wow. (Pointed to by John)
Quad copters throwing and catching an inverted pendulum. Okay, that's impressive. (Grokked from Dan)
"For that purpose they sometimes keep a large amount of fat in their livers, so maybe No. 1 still has a source of energy in its body, and that’s why it still has no appetite." A giant isopod (basically a deep sea louse) hasn't eaten in 4 years. More proof the world we live in is weirder than we can think. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Physicists create a multiverse in the lab. Okay, my brain hurts. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
A response to the NYT article on the cost of medical care. "You want a market-driven healthcare economy? You’ll get it when the payer has as much clout as the biller does. And as Yglesias notes, the name of that payer is (in this case the) government. Anything else, and walking into a hospital is like jumping into a shark tank covered in blood. Good luck negotiating." Yes, that. (Grokked from Kelly Swails)
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Coronal Rain
Was going to wait for the linkee-poo, but ZOMG! (Pointed to by John)
You can read the explanation at the youtube page here. It's raining plasma along lines in the magnetic field of the sun.
They should have sent a poet.
You can read the explanation at the youtube page here. It's raining plasma along lines in the magnetic field of the sun.
They should have sent a poet.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Weekend Linkee-poo travelled the world and the seven seas, everybody is looking for something
Free-fall writing, a short restating of Brabdbury's "You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down," philosophy. What I do suggest now, and especially to writing pansters, is to have a decent grasp of plot and the kind of plot that moves a story forward is always helpful 9and this may just be a intuitive grasp that comes from extensive reading). It's sort of jumping off the cliff with feathers, bailing-wire, and glue.
Becca Puglisi with some writing advice I really need, how to put emotion into your writing. Call it a guy thing, call it a subtextual thing, but I often don't do emotion well in my stories. It's there. My normal routine is to show the affect and effect of the emotion instead of going directly at it. I think it works somewhat well with fear in horror, and it might be a part of the big-D thing, but I have a recurring problem of not addressing it directly in story. Try to look past the blatant hook for their online writing con.
David B Coe's list of best writing tips. You can't hear these too often, IMHO.
Also, don't quit the day job.
Some early typewriter advertisements from before the reign of QWERTY.
Hey look, I'm not the only one who thinks the Singularity is BS. The brain is compared to a computer because a computer is the most complex machine we have at the moment, not because of any real similarity to function. At one time, the brain was a teletype machines. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Are you a reader of independently published SF? Then Damien Walter of the Guardian is looking for your help.
It's a story bone I've already used, and also a continuation on the link to Karl Schroeder's article on habitability vs colonizability, but using ice dwarfs for colonization purposes. In my story they were used as extra-solar ships (basically embedding the Earth built structure of the ship into an icy body and then using that harnessed super comet as both shielding for near light-speed travel and as fuel and raw materials for the trip). (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Some of earliest color moving pictures. Also probably one of the first uses of Kodachrome red, and samples of how poorly black-and-white movie make-up translated to color film. (Grokked from Neil Gaiman)
Is a formal education in design necessary for practice. A recent debate on an aold chestnut. Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you want to look at it), the argument ran along the well worn lines of "well, there are always exceptions so no it's not, but it's a lot of work and you have to be a frickin' genius to make it without one." Note that the same arguments could be made for "do I need a traditional publisher or should I self publish?"
"'Well, that’s what the consumer wants, and we’re not putting a gun to their head to eat it. That’s what they want. If we give them less, they’ll buy less, and the competitor will get our market. So you’re sort of trapped.'" A long but good article on the internal politics of processed foods and how they're engineered for addiction and how that relates to the obesity epidemic. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that's now being studied for its affects on humans. The reason why scientists didn't believe it affected us until now is because we don't see some of the same behaviors that other animals exhibit (specious argument, because it affects different animals in different ways) and, hey, we're humans, right? That sort of stuff doesn't work on us (note: heavy resistance to current research on how our intestinal flora affects our emotions and mental states). Except that it does. My main nit with this (light treatment Tor.com) article is that the author keeps saying the cat infected them. No, the T. gondii infected them, the cat is merely the carrier (and so far the only animal we know of that can host the breeding life stage of the protozoa). The cat gains limited benefit.
Apparently conservatives aren't just afraid of unrestricted vaginas, nipples are also a concern and require the a new that makes it a felony for exposing them. Note that there's a work around for covering the nipples with pasties or duct tape. So it's not free range breasts that are the concern, but just the nipples and associated areolae. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
Huhn, the Universe may have a refresh rate. Although this isn't the first time the theory of vacuum instability has come around, although now that we're approaching knowing how much a Higg's Boson weighs, we can do the math more precisely. Of course, we could all go up in "fire-balls of doom." (Grokked from Jay Lake)
A quick history of the personal computer. Wow. The sad part is I lived through all of that and played with most of those machines. :: waves cane in victory :: (Pointed to by John)
Jim Wright on the craziness that has infected John McCain.
Since President Obama made it a part of his SotU address, except all the usual bandits, I mean "business interests" to yell and scream about how raising the minimum wage will lead to more unemployment. You might remember that some people are advocating to repeal the minimum wage, and their argument is that doing so "will increase employment." Turns out that higher minimum wages don't correlate to unemployment. Fancy that. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Yes, it's not just abortion, they really want to restrict all birth control. Seriously, the anti-abortion movement is also out there to stop access to birth control. Why? Because it's not about abortion, it's about feminism and the sexual revolution. They're still after your right to privacy and abortion because they don't understand how the human body works (if you listened to the RadioLab report on Sperm you'll see the obvious moral failure of "That union between the sperm and the egg is where life begins, and maybe where God places his spirit inside that child" as over half of fertilized eggs simply pass through the uterus without implantation, which means that God is killing all those souls and his own spirit). (Grokked from the Slactivist)
The Times article on health care billing practices and costs. The article exposes the myth of "letting the market" work. This is what happens when the market is just allowed to work. "Recchi’s bill and six others examined line by line for this article offer a closeup window into what happens when powerless buyers… meet sellers in what is the ultimate seller’s market." You might have seen the interview on the Daily Show about this article. Tell me again why this industry doesn't need either a single-payor or intense regulation (which the only current system is Medicare, which has it's own problems with how they set prices). It's a very long article, but worth it to understand what has not been discussed in this debate (also note that committee which Sarah Palin dubbed "the Death Panel" was actually the part of Obamacare that was meant to address this problem). (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Becca Puglisi with some writing advice I really need, how to put emotion into your writing. Call it a guy thing, call it a subtextual thing, but I often don't do emotion well in my stories. It's there. My normal routine is to show the affect and effect of the emotion instead of going directly at it. I think it works somewhat well with fear in horror, and it might be a part of the big-D thing, but I have a recurring problem of not addressing it directly in story. Try to look past the blatant hook for their online writing con.
David B Coe's list of best writing tips. You can't hear these too often, IMHO.
Also, don't quit the day job.
Some early typewriter advertisements from before the reign of QWERTY.
Hey look, I'm not the only one who thinks the Singularity is BS. The brain is compared to a computer because a computer is the most complex machine we have at the moment, not because of any real similarity to function. At one time, the brain was a teletype machines. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Are you a reader of independently published SF? Then Damien Walter of the Guardian is looking for your help.
It's a story bone I've already used, and also a continuation on the link to Karl Schroeder's article on habitability vs colonizability, but using ice dwarfs for colonization purposes. In my story they were used as extra-solar ships (basically embedding the Earth built structure of the ship into an icy body and then using that harnessed super comet as both shielding for near light-speed travel and as fuel and raw materials for the trip). (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Some of earliest color moving pictures. Also probably one of the first uses of Kodachrome red, and samples of how poorly black-and-white movie make-up translated to color film. (Grokked from Neil Gaiman)
Is a formal education in design necessary for practice. A recent debate on an aold chestnut. Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you want to look at it), the argument ran along the well worn lines of "well, there are always exceptions so no it's not, but it's a lot of work and you have to be a frickin' genius to make it without one." Note that the same arguments could be made for "do I need a traditional publisher or should I self publish?"
"'Well, that’s what the consumer wants, and we’re not putting a gun to their head to eat it. That’s what they want. If we give them less, they’ll buy less, and the competitor will get our market. So you’re sort of trapped.'" A long but good article on the internal politics of processed foods and how they're engineered for addiction and how that relates to the obesity epidemic. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that's now being studied for its affects on humans. The reason why scientists didn't believe it affected us until now is because we don't see some of the same behaviors that other animals exhibit (specious argument, because it affects different animals in different ways) and, hey, we're humans, right? That sort of stuff doesn't work on us (note: heavy resistance to current research on how our intestinal flora affects our emotions and mental states). Except that it does. My main nit with this (light treatment Tor.com) article is that the author keeps saying the cat infected them. No, the T. gondii infected them, the cat is merely the carrier (and so far the only animal we know of that can host the breeding life stage of the protozoa). The cat gains limited benefit.
Apparently conservatives aren't just afraid of unrestricted vaginas, nipples are also a concern and require the a new that makes it a felony for exposing them. Note that there's a work around for covering the nipples with pasties or duct tape. So it's not free range breasts that are the concern, but just the nipples and associated areolae. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
Huhn, the Universe may have a refresh rate. Although this isn't the first time the theory of vacuum instability has come around, although now that we're approaching knowing how much a Higg's Boson weighs, we can do the math more precisely. Of course, we could all go up in "fire-balls of doom." (Grokked from Jay Lake)
A quick history of the personal computer. Wow. The sad part is I lived through all of that and played with most of those machines. :: waves cane in victory :: (Pointed to by John)
Jim Wright on the craziness that has infected John McCain.
Since President Obama made it a part of his SotU address, except all the usual bandits, I mean "business interests" to yell and scream about how raising the minimum wage will lead to more unemployment. You might remember that some people are advocating to repeal the minimum wage, and their argument is that doing so "will increase employment." Turns out that higher minimum wages don't correlate to unemployment. Fancy that. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Yes, it's not just abortion, they really want to restrict all birth control. Seriously, the anti-abortion movement is also out there to stop access to birth control. Why? Because it's not about abortion, it's about feminism and the sexual revolution. They're still after your right to privacy and abortion because they don't understand how the human body works (if you listened to the RadioLab report on Sperm you'll see the obvious moral failure of "That union between the sperm and the egg is where life begins, and maybe where God places his spirit inside that child" as over half of fertilized eggs simply pass through the uterus without implantation, which means that God is killing all those souls and his own spirit). (Grokked from the Slactivist)
The Times article on health care billing practices and costs. The article exposes the myth of "letting the market" work. This is what happens when the market is just allowed to work. "Recchi’s bill and six others examined line by line for this article offer a closeup window into what happens when powerless buyers… meet sellers in what is the ultimate seller’s market." You might have seen the interview on the Daily Show about this article. Tell me again why this industry doesn't need either a single-payor or intense regulation (which the only current system is Medicare, which has it's own problems with how they set prices). It's a very long article, but worth it to understand what has not been discussed in this debate (also note that committee which Sarah Palin dubbed "the Death Panel" was actually the part of Obamacare that was meant to address this problem). (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Linkee-poo went on, took the money, and ran
Genreville with the Nebula list. Note the refrain, "Zero self-published stories." Also, because I guess the trolls have come out in force, "@EllenDatlow: For those who feel there are female and 'non-white male' cooties all over the Nebulas: Shut the fuck up." Yea, I think that about sums it up.
Chuck Wendig gives pointers on how to read like a writer.
Beth Wodzinski on the magic that is writing retreats. What she said.
Students correctly identify the Achilles-heel of the grading curve. By boycotting the test, they spiked the A's. (Grokked from Dan)
Steam-powered robots and other hacks. (Grokked from Tor.com)
The problems of living in the future, two people born from artificial insemination who married each other find out they're siblings. There's another letter farther down that questions the legitimacy of the situation, and I have to say it hit all the points that also had me questioning it, but as the help columnist points out, it is very possible. (Grokked from Dan)
How inhouse designers can work with the outside agency, when the rest of the company doesn't realize you should. Not like I've ever know about that, especially the "getting the agency to work with you" part.
Eric with some more of the insanity that prevailed during the Cold War. I hope the Russians love their children too, as the song goes. Also, I have been thinking about one of the points Eric brings up, "I don't have much idea what kids these days are afraid of." Or as I said to someone who was young back in the early 2000's, "Sure, Saddam is a bad actor on the world stage, but is it worth screwing over your generation to remove him?" It's also but gnawing at the edges of my conscious of what we did to the next generation forcing them to deal with the fallout of our misbegotten adventures (what had become of Afghanistan). This is also why we need to finish the job there. I don't want to mess up another generation.
"No matter how wrong Dorner may or may not have been done, nothing justifies his actions." I've thought about making a post regarding Christopher Dorner, but Jim Wright beat me to it. As usual, Jim pretty much explains my position as well. The only thing I will add is that I do blame Dorner for the LAPD shooting the civilians in the two trucks. See, Dorner went down the path of the terrorist. The goal of a terrorist is not so much the killing they do, but provoking a disproportionate response from the target (and the target is always political), which then breaks the social contract. Dorner engaged his target, the LAPD, in such a way it put them all on notice that they, as individual officers, may be next. And they would have no warning. Dorner knew what that would do to their psychology. Cop killers get special attention from the police. That the LAPD would draw their weapons and shoot first given any perceived threat is exactly what he wanted. And the public reaction Jim points out is exactly the reaction Dorner was hoping for. It's the reaction all terrorists hope for, that the public will be injured by those sworn to protect them, which generates anger, which then turns the public against the terrorist's target.
Also here I'll point out that Dorner had weapons, weapons training, motivation, and "survival skills" that a lot of people would admire. Not to mention police procedure training. So, for those gun supporters who like to talk about how owning lots of guns will keep the government "afraid" to… well whatever they're afraid the government is going to do, how did all of that work out for Dorner? Sure kept the government in its place, didn't it? Also note that this was all handled by local police. The Federal Government didn't need to bring any of its forces, technology, or skills to bear. The cabin more than likely caught fire from a tear gas container. Not like they needed a Predator or Global Hawk to toss a Hellfire Missile into it. Just something to think about as you try to keep your fantasies alive.
Chuck Wendig gives pointers on how to read like a writer.
Beth Wodzinski on the magic that is writing retreats. What she said.
Students correctly identify the Achilles-heel of the grading curve. By boycotting the test, they spiked the A's. (Grokked from Dan)
Steam-powered robots and other hacks. (Grokked from Tor.com)
The problems of living in the future, two people born from artificial insemination who married each other find out they're siblings. There's another letter farther down that questions the legitimacy of the situation, and I have to say it hit all the points that also had me questioning it, but as the help columnist points out, it is very possible. (Grokked from Dan)
How inhouse designers can work with the outside agency, when the rest of the company doesn't realize you should. Not like I've ever know about that, especially the "getting the agency to work with you" part.
Eric with some more of the insanity that prevailed during the Cold War. I hope the Russians love their children too, as the song goes. Also, I have been thinking about one of the points Eric brings up, "I don't have much idea what kids these days are afraid of." Or as I said to someone who was young back in the early 2000's, "Sure, Saddam is a bad actor on the world stage, but is it worth screwing over your generation to remove him?" It's also but gnawing at the edges of my conscious of what we did to the next generation forcing them to deal with the fallout of our misbegotten adventures (what had become of Afghanistan). This is also why we need to finish the job there. I don't want to mess up another generation.
"No matter how wrong Dorner may or may not have been done, nothing justifies his actions." I've thought about making a post regarding Christopher Dorner, but Jim Wright beat me to it. As usual, Jim pretty much explains my position as well. The only thing I will add is that I do blame Dorner for the LAPD shooting the civilians in the two trucks. See, Dorner went down the path of the terrorist. The goal of a terrorist is not so much the killing they do, but provoking a disproportionate response from the target (and the target is always political), which then breaks the social contract. Dorner engaged his target, the LAPD, in such a way it put them all on notice that they, as individual officers, may be next. And they would have no warning. Dorner knew what that would do to their psychology. Cop killers get special attention from the police. That the LAPD would draw their weapons and shoot first given any perceived threat is exactly what he wanted. And the public reaction Jim points out is exactly the reaction Dorner was hoping for. It's the reaction all terrorists hope for, that the public will be injured by those sworn to protect them, which generates anger, which then turns the public against the terrorist's target.
Also here I'll point out that Dorner had weapons, weapons training, motivation, and "survival skills" that a lot of people would admire. Not to mention police procedure training. So, for those gun supporters who like to talk about how owning lots of guns will keep the government "afraid" to… well whatever they're afraid the government is going to do, how did all of that work out for Dorner? Sure kept the government in its place, didn't it? Also note that this was all handled by local police. The Federal Government didn't need to bring any of its forces, technology, or skills to bear. The cabin more than likely caught fire from a tear gas container. Not like they needed a Predator or Global Hawk to toss a Hellfire Missile into it. Just something to think about as you try to keep your fantasies alive.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Linkee-poo, they say he's got to go… go, go Godzilla
This one is for John. "Okay, seriously, these guys have no idea that litter laws apply to them, too, do they?" An article exploring chat rooms on where to leave religious tracts. (Grokked from the Slactivists)
"'I thought I could prove I wasn't really ill if I could get off the medication…'" Elyn Saks on living with schizophrenia. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
My friend, Dan, does his yearly crazy by jumping in a cold lake for charity.
Fred Clark reminds me that it's not too late to write my book with a list of End of Times thought in current events. Including how there are those who are actively waiting for the Rapture.
Optical calibration targets. Only these are big ones. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"Guess what else? Depression is not a sin… I'll say it again, Jesus is not all you need… Sometimes you need a Doctor. Sometimes you need medication. There's really no crime in that." (Grokked from the Slactivist)
The Radio Lab "Sperm" episode. Quite fascinating on several levels, and it includes some human reproductive knowledge I had never heard about before (which changes a part of my post about how sperm only get the energy they bring with them, turns out there's a "sweet spot" in the fallopian tubes which will hold sperm for a few days, bathe them in glucose, all while waiting for ovulation). It also touches on the history, theology, animal biology, artificial insemination… really just fascinating stuff. Note: adult themes throughout the podcast, as you might expect.
Jay Lake on the journey down the final path. There's a secret language of babies, twins, and the dying. A language only they know and share. It's not a language you can study in school, it's one you need to live.
More examples on the inherent sexism in our culture where being male is normative, and being female is the exception. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Oh look potential voter fraud, and this time it's a Democrat. After scouring the nation, the conservatives have finally found one. And while some reports have her being subpoenaed, and Melowese Richardson does have several subpoenas in her name I couldn't find one for this case (sorry, the web link doesn't keep the search parameters). It also appears that the Hamilton County Board of Elections is investigating 80-90 cases of voter fraud. For reference, Hamilton County is a heavily Republican County. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out, if it does at all.
A funny thing happened on the way to the revolution. In this case the gender equality revolution. It's strange to see the time you've been alive become history that people research. There's a lot in there about feminism, the stall of equality, who did what, and how it all leads to unmet expectations and intra-couple struggles, and (again) how America was once a leader, but has now fallen behind the curve. I'll let you guess why and who is to blame. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"'I thought I could prove I wasn't really ill if I could get off the medication…'" Elyn Saks on living with schizophrenia. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
My friend, Dan, does his yearly crazy by jumping in a cold lake for charity.
Fred Clark reminds me that it's not too late to write my book with a list of End of Times thought in current events. Including how there are those who are actively waiting for the Rapture.
Optical calibration targets. Only these are big ones. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"Guess what else? Depression is not a sin… I'll say it again, Jesus is not all you need… Sometimes you need a Doctor. Sometimes you need medication. There's really no crime in that." (Grokked from the Slactivist)
The Radio Lab "Sperm" episode. Quite fascinating on several levels, and it includes some human reproductive knowledge I had never heard about before (which changes a part of my post about how sperm only get the energy they bring with them, turns out there's a "sweet spot" in the fallopian tubes which will hold sperm for a few days, bathe them in glucose, all while waiting for ovulation). It also touches on the history, theology, animal biology, artificial insemination… really just fascinating stuff. Note: adult themes throughout the podcast, as you might expect.
Jay Lake on the journey down the final path. There's a secret language of babies, twins, and the dying. A language only they know and share. It's not a language you can study in school, it's one you need to live.
More examples on the inherent sexism in our culture where being male is normative, and being female is the exception. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Oh look potential voter fraud, and this time it's a Democrat. After scouring the nation, the conservatives have finally found one. And while some reports have her being subpoenaed, and Melowese Richardson does have several subpoenas in her name I couldn't find one for this case (sorry, the web link doesn't keep the search parameters). It also appears that the Hamilton County Board of Elections is investigating 80-90 cases of voter fraud. For reference, Hamilton County is a heavily Republican County. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out, if it does at all.
A funny thing happened on the way to the revolution. In this case the gender equality revolution. It's strange to see the time you've been alive become history that people research. There's a lot in there about feminism, the stall of equality, who did what, and how it all leads to unmet expectations and intra-couple struggles, and (again) how America was once a leader, but has now fallen behind the curve. I'll let you guess why and who is to blame. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Why Regulating Legal Weapons Purchases Affects the Weapons Criminals Have
What gets lost in the gun control debate is how criminals get their guns. There is some international gun running into the US, but it's relatively small compared to the normal way criminals get their firearms.
Unfortunately, because of strictures put in place by NRA Congressional Champions, it's difficult to actually know how guns flow in the economy. But here I'm going to give a scientific wild-ass guess based on both the fears of gun owners having their addresses published and police reports.
Most guns that end up in the hands of criminals start as legal purchases. These can be straw man purchases were someone with a clean record makes the initial buy from a dealer. They make these purchases with other people's (the criminal's) money, or they sell the weapon right away. The next way is secondary sales, where the criminal (or conduit) makes a private firearm buy (gun shows, classified ads, whatever). The third way is to steal them from legal gun owners.
This is why the claim that regulating what "legal" gun buyers can purchase will have no effect on the weapons criminals get their hands on is complete bullshit. The vast majority of weapons used in crimes or seized in raids started their life in the economy through a legal sale. If you can choke off the supply there, at the first sale, you can affect the weapons criminals have access to.
The NRA and gun proponents don't want you to know about that. Which is why the ATF and FBI can't keep gun purchase records (or they'd notice the straw men and bulk purchasers). It's why no records are allowed to be kept at all. Not so much from the fear of confiscation (although that's what the NRA and it's gun manufacturing drivers use to keep the pressure on).
It's also why you hear in the news that the weapons used by most mass murderers were owned legally by someone (either the murder themselves or a close relative the murder can steal them from). Limit the access for these "legal" purchases and you'll keep weapons out of the hands of criminals.
Unfortunately, because of strictures put in place by NRA Congressional Champions, it's difficult to actually know how guns flow in the economy. But here I'm going to give a scientific wild-ass guess based on both the fears of gun owners having their addresses published and police reports.
Most guns that end up in the hands of criminals start as legal purchases. These can be straw man purchases were someone with a clean record makes the initial buy from a dealer. They make these purchases with other people's (the criminal's) money, or they sell the weapon right away. The next way is secondary sales, where the criminal (or conduit) makes a private firearm buy (gun shows, classified ads, whatever). The third way is to steal them from legal gun owners.
This is why the claim that regulating what "legal" gun buyers can purchase will have no effect on the weapons criminals get their hands on is complete bullshit. The vast majority of weapons used in crimes or seized in raids started their life in the economy through a legal sale. If you can choke off the supply there, at the first sale, you can affect the weapons criminals have access to.
The NRA and gun proponents don't want you to know about that. Which is why the ATF and FBI can't keep gun purchase records (or they'd notice the straw men and bulk purchasers). It's why no records are allowed to be kept at all. Not so much from the fear of confiscation (although that's what the NRA and it's gun manufacturing drivers use to keep the pressure on).
It's also why you hear in the news that the weapons used by most mass murderers were owned legally by someone (either the murder themselves or a close relative the murder can steal them from). Limit the access for these "legal" purchases and you'll keep weapons out of the hands of criminals.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Weekend Linkee-poo was scared and fearing for its life
In Germany Amazon supposedly hired neo-Nazi guards to intimidate and control their mostly immigrant workforce. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
I'm not sure it's so much a publisher issue as it is a bad corporate policy issue to limit the amount of items that could be shipped to a store. Especially when the store tells you, "we've already sold them, I'm willing to pay you upfront and wave the return clause."
Chuck Wendig with 25 things on narrative POV. He explains the various schemes quickly and well.
If you can get away to a writers workshop quickly, Paradise Lost has a few seats still open. As an added bonus, Jay Lake will be there this year.
In case you thought I was a little overboard about my comment the other day regarding keeping human parts as trophies, here's some more. While those are mostly examples from the 1600s, it's not like this practice has disappeared. For example I give you Einstein's brain. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Cracked tries to figure out just what is going through those Russian minds as they watch the meteor streaking down and exploding. Just keep in mind, Russian winters are hard. It's not like Russians haven't seen their world end before. And Russians are of solid stock. So, yea, I'm sure it's all, "Oh look, the end of the world is streaking towards us. Again. I wonder if we'll have sugar for the coffee today?" (Grokked from David Kletcha)
And you may be wondering why there is so much dash cam footage of the meteor in Russia. It turns out that because of rampant corruption and terribly bad driving most Russian motorists have dash cams. I guess there is also a subculture that regularly posts crash videos and watches them. If you're faint of heart, I don't recommend watching that video.
That meteor in Russia you've probably heard about. With video.
Remember when I talked about the insanity of the Cold War mindset? How about this example, using abstract art as a propaganda weapon. Unfortunately the rifts it caused domestically are still with us, mostly because the CIA was more concerned with opposition to Stalin's realism than in actually promoting the concerts of abstract art. Although note that many of these artists are now considered American Masters. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"You simply cannot reason with unreasonable people, it’s really just that simple… Both rebuttals, or prebuttals whatever, were messages of despair, of depression, and hopelessness." Jim Wright is insightful on the current state of politics, the State of the Union, and the responses to some other speech, because they certainly weren't responses to the President's speech.
Why we can't have nice things. "Addressing scientists… UW-Madison science communication researcher Dominique Brossard reported the results of a study showing the tone of blog comments alone can influence the perception of risk posed by nanotechnology, the science of manipulating materials at the smallest scales." Also known as the Troll Factor. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Arctic hysteria, a variant of cabin fever. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
I'm not sure it's so much a publisher issue as it is a bad corporate policy issue to limit the amount of items that could be shipped to a store. Especially when the store tells you, "we've already sold them, I'm willing to pay you upfront and wave the return clause."
Chuck Wendig with 25 things on narrative POV. He explains the various schemes quickly and well.
If you can get away to a writers workshop quickly, Paradise Lost has a few seats still open. As an added bonus, Jay Lake will be there this year.
In case you thought I was a little overboard about my comment the other day regarding keeping human parts as trophies, here's some more. While those are mostly examples from the 1600s, it's not like this practice has disappeared. For example I give you Einstein's brain. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Cracked tries to figure out just what is going through those Russian minds as they watch the meteor streaking down and exploding. Just keep in mind, Russian winters are hard. It's not like Russians haven't seen their world end before. And Russians are of solid stock. So, yea, I'm sure it's all, "Oh look, the end of the world is streaking towards us. Again. I wonder if we'll have sugar for the coffee today?" (Grokked from David Kletcha)
And you may be wondering why there is so much dash cam footage of the meteor in Russia. It turns out that because of rampant corruption and terribly bad driving most Russian motorists have dash cams. I guess there is also a subculture that regularly posts crash videos and watches them. If you're faint of heart, I don't recommend watching that video.
That meteor in Russia you've probably heard about. With video.
Remember when I talked about the insanity of the Cold War mindset? How about this example, using abstract art as a propaganda weapon. Unfortunately the rifts it caused domestically are still with us, mostly because the CIA was more concerned with opposition to Stalin's realism than in actually promoting the concerts of abstract art. Although note that many of these artists are now considered American Masters. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"You simply cannot reason with unreasonable people, it’s really just that simple… Both rebuttals, or prebuttals whatever, were messages of despair, of depression, and hopelessness." Jim Wright is insightful on the current state of politics, the State of the Union, and the responses to some other speech, because they certainly weren't responses to the President's speech.
Why we can't have nice things. "Addressing scientists… UW-Madison science communication researcher Dominique Brossard reported the results of a study showing the tone of blog comments alone can influence the perception of risk posed by nanotechnology, the science of manipulating materials at the smallest scales." Also known as the Troll Factor. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Arctic hysteria, a variant of cabin fever. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Friday, February 15, 2013
Linkee-poo lies down on Broadway
"This is why people hate editors." Hahahaha. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Signal to noise, or why even radiologists miss the gorilla. Working wiht radiologists, yeah, they are pretty amazing. But here's the thing, they know what to look for and how it looks because they've seen it all before. I've been looking at abdominal x-rays for several months now and I'm just getting some things. I still don't see what some of the other techs see, but I'm getting better. But it does involve separating the signal from the noise, or the layers of signal which can appear as noise. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
You may have heard about the latest way to treat many diseases of the colon and intestine by using what's actually a fairly old therapy of fecal transplant. And if you think that is just way to gross, science is on your side with the new fake feces. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
The 20 coolest things made out of Lego. Do they even sell buckets of legos anymore? (Grokked from Tor.com)
Armed, pro-gun protestors occupy Oregon State Capitol. What could possibly go wrong (although notice the chamber is empty)? (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"Pushing it forward, ever forward like a shark. That’s the only way to sustain the perpetual outrage the Christian radio audience wants." Fred Clark on how James Dobson is just phoning it in these days.
Vince with some excellent sarcasm regarding the whole sex and abortion debate.
Paul Krugman lays out the case for why conservatives are being willfully ignorant (and they want you to be also) fairly well. It's the preponderance of evidence that helps make the case. Or you can think that the GOP actively hates America. Again, it's not what they say but their actions that betray their true mindset. And they've realized that education will show them for what they are, so they hate education. Reality disproves their ideas, so they create the bubble of Fox News to shelter them. Hell, they are the ones trying to destroy the USPS because it flies in the face of what they think Unions and unionized workers are. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Kansas, with it's own GOP Governor and Hard Conservative GOP super majorities in the state legislature is going to become and experiment in GOP tax philosophies. There already are a few (Arkansas for instance has a "flat" tax). And Ohio is toying with its own change to tax law (essentially giving income tax breaks, but then taxing everything you consume, which is called "retrogressive"). But notice in Kansas how taxes will actually go up in the short term (anybody really think those new consumer taxes will go away?). It's called reality. Kansas had to raise taxes once they figured out just how much money they were going to lose by giving everybody (but mostly the wealthy) income tax breaks.
And, as evidence for the above noted "bubble" of Fox News, the "minimum wage increase" debate as seen by Fox. What I want to know is, for the majority of jobs that pay minimum wage (which aren't all part-time jobs, BTW), how many actually have structural pay increases in their minimum wage employee pool? For all the jobs I had in that category, there were no raises. The only pay increases would come if you changed job category (typically going into "management"). Say, and remember when minimum wage went up in the 90s, we seemed to have a lot of jobs back then, IIRC. Also, if the raise in the minimum also causes raises up the tier of workers… isn't that a good thing given how wages for those workers have been stagnant for decades? (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Signal to noise, or why even radiologists miss the gorilla. Working wiht radiologists, yeah, they are pretty amazing. But here's the thing, they know what to look for and how it looks because they've seen it all before. I've been looking at abdominal x-rays for several months now and I'm just getting some things. I still don't see what some of the other techs see, but I'm getting better. But it does involve separating the signal from the noise, or the layers of signal which can appear as noise. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
You may have heard about the latest way to treat many diseases of the colon and intestine by using what's actually a fairly old therapy of fecal transplant. And if you think that is just way to gross, science is on your side with the new fake feces. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
The 20 coolest things made out of Lego. Do they even sell buckets of legos anymore? (Grokked from Tor.com)
Armed, pro-gun protestors occupy Oregon State Capitol. What could possibly go wrong (although notice the chamber is empty)? (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"Pushing it forward, ever forward like a shark. That’s the only way to sustain the perpetual outrage the Christian radio audience wants." Fred Clark on how James Dobson is just phoning it in these days.
Vince with some excellent sarcasm regarding the whole sex and abortion debate.
Paul Krugman lays out the case for why conservatives are being willfully ignorant (and they want you to be also) fairly well. It's the preponderance of evidence that helps make the case. Or you can think that the GOP actively hates America. Again, it's not what they say but their actions that betray their true mindset. And they've realized that education will show them for what they are, so they hate education. Reality disproves their ideas, so they create the bubble of Fox News to shelter them. Hell, they are the ones trying to destroy the USPS because it flies in the face of what they think Unions and unionized workers are. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Kansas, with it's own GOP Governor and Hard Conservative GOP super majorities in the state legislature is going to become and experiment in GOP tax philosophies. There already are a few (Arkansas for instance has a "flat" tax). And Ohio is toying with its own change to tax law (essentially giving income tax breaks, but then taxing everything you consume, which is called "retrogressive"). But notice in Kansas how taxes will actually go up in the short term (anybody really think those new consumer taxes will go away?). It's called reality. Kansas had to raise taxes once they figured out just how much money they were going to lose by giving everybody (but mostly the wealthy) income tax breaks.
And, as evidence for the above noted "bubble" of Fox News, the "minimum wage increase" debate as seen by Fox. What I want to know is, for the majority of jobs that pay minimum wage (which aren't all part-time jobs, BTW), how many actually have structural pay increases in their minimum wage employee pool? For all the jobs I had in that category, there were no raises. The only pay increases would come if you changed job category (typically going into "management"). Say, and remember when minimum wage went up in the 90s, we seemed to have a lot of jobs back then, IIRC. Also, if the raise in the minimum also causes raises up the tier of workers… isn't that a good thing given how wages for those workers have been stagnant for decades? (Grokked from Jay Lake)
Thursday, February 14, 2013
The Infinite Monkey Postulate
"Friends, Romans, and countrymen, lend me your gripixlemate quenterian."
Just one more monkey at one more keyboard.
Did you ever wonder why writers tell wannabe authors that to write you must put butt in chair and hands on keyboard? I mean, it sounds good, right? You gotta write to be a writer and you really can't "write" if you're not in the chair and pounding away at the keyboard. But did you ever think there could be another reason? A nefarious reason?
Like maybe gambling that you, sitting at your own desk pounding on the keyboard are not that "one more monkey". That the millions upon millions of wannabe writers sitting at their own desks pounding away at their own keyboards every day aren't the ones who even get the "Friends" part out. See, nothing really says that the infinite monkeys need to be in the same place for the effect to happen.
There ain't a coffee shop big enough. You know what I'm saying?
But if they, the cabal of infinite monkeys, can convince enough other monkeys to hammer away on the keys in their own place, they, the secret cabal members, might cannel the universe and become that infinite monkey able to hammer out the modern version of Julius Caesar.
Another sinister brain worm is the saying that "you have to write a million words of crap" first before you can get anything good. What better way to keep those "infinity minus one" monkeys continuing to type? The wannabe writers at their keyboards continue to soak up the almost infinite waves of authorial suckitude like some sort of literary wetlands so those of the cabal can lurk on the fringes and drink the freshened waters of art.
It's a mug's game I tell ya. All designed and perpetrated by that secret cabal of infinite monkeys to channel their own muses and soak up the precious few infinite monkey slots and become successful authors… all due to the other "infinity minus one" monkeys' hard work. Not to mention all the keyboards that are pounded into dust to perpetrate the social fraud that is the basis of their success.
Just a thought. Sleep well.
If I ever become a successful author I'm going to have to get a t-shirt that proclaims me that infinite monkey and wear it to all the cons, signings, and author appearances.
Just one more monkey at one more keyboard.
Did you ever wonder why writers tell wannabe authors that to write you must put butt in chair and hands on keyboard? I mean, it sounds good, right? You gotta write to be a writer and you really can't "write" if you're not in the chair and pounding away at the keyboard. But did you ever think there could be another reason? A nefarious reason?
Like maybe gambling that you, sitting at your own desk pounding on the keyboard are not that "one more monkey". That the millions upon millions of wannabe writers sitting at their own desks pounding away at their own keyboards every day aren't the ones who even get the "Friends" part out. See, nothing really says that the infinite monkeys need to be in the same place for the effect to happen.
There ain't a coffee shop big enough. You know what I'm saying?
But if they, the cabal of infinite monkeys, can convince enough other monkeys to hammer away on the keys in their own place, they, the secret cabal members, might cannel the universe and become that infinite monkey able to hammer out the modern version of Julius Caesar.
Another sinister brain worm is the saying that "you have to write a million words of crap" first before you can get anything good. What better way to keep those "infinity minus one" monkeys continuing to type? The wannabe writers at their keyboards continue to soak up the almost infinite waves of authorial suckitude like some sort of literary wetlands so those of the cabal can lurk on the fringes and drink the freshened waters of art.
It's a mug's game I tell ya. All designed and perpetrated by that secret cabal of infinite monkeys to channel their own muses and soak up the precious few infinite monkey slots and become successful authors… all due to the other "infinity minus one" monkeys' hard work. Not to mention all the keyboards that are pounded into dust to perpetrate the social fraud that is the basis of their success.
Just a thought. Sleep well.
If I ever become a successful author I'm going to have to get a t-shirt that proclaims me that infinite monkey and wear it to all the cons, signings, and author appearances.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Linkee-poo is afraid that she might think of me as plain old Jane
Karl Schroeder on the difference between habitable and colonizable worlds when it comes to exoplanets. Lots of good thoughts for SFinal world building.
Carrie Ryan on structure and the promise of the premise.
To put it all into perspective for you: (from the Writers Almanac) "It's the birthday of novelist Georges Simenon… He's one of the most prolific writers of all time, best known for his detective novels featuring Inspector Maigret. He wrote some 400 books, which sold more than 1.4 billion copies from 1935 to 1997. Each book took him on average eight days to write." So at that pace even Stephen King (at whom many jokes have been made about the speed at which he turned out novels) is a slacker. Just saying.
"'There is no way that we are going to win the cybersecurity effort on defense,' says Steven Chabinsky, formerly the FBI's top cyber-attorney. 'We have to go on the offensive.'" Oh look, it's one of the plot bunnies from my novel, Bladesman. Yea, what could go wrong with private companies enacting their own offense (which, IIRC, is a plot line of many 60-80's SF novels).
You know those frogs with all the extra legs? Turns out at least some of them are caused by a parasite which uses the frogs as a way station. Pretty interesting parasitology in there. But also read all the way through to see that, yes, one of the reasons we're seeing more frogs with these deformities is because biodiversity is dropping. Also note it doesn't explain why frog species are crashing.
On the repatriation of human remains that were collected as anatomical specimens. Although there's no word on the various trophy taking (a practice which didn't end all that long ago). There is an issue here, however, that there are many valid scientific reasons for keeping unique specimens in medical colleges and museums. In some cases they do provide needed education for surgeons, doctors, and other medical students. Although lately many of those museums have made their money from offering "freak shows" without calling them such. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"'The prime responsibility for doing this (meat inspection) lies with retailers and food producers, who need to demonstrate that they've taken all necessary actions to ensure the integrity of the food chain in this country,' ( Environment Secretary Owen) Patterson said." So, how did that self-regulation work out? People in England (and the rest of Europe) are shocked to find horse meat having been mixed in to their "beef" products. Look, it's a real life experiment on self regulation. Do I really need to point to The Jungle to remind us here in the US that these things happen. What's not in the transcript (but was on the broadcast story) is the real culprit is consumers wanting cheap food. So companies find ways to keep their costs down to make a profit. So what of there's a little (60% in some cases) horse meat in there? I mean, the other option is to have regulation that is enforced by a strong government. And in case your squeamish, don't go looking for how our own food inspectors have been gutted for the past 30 years.
Oh look, TDR (total drug resistant) tuberculosis is spreading in South Africa (and the world). Fantastic. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Rand Paul takes the train off the rails discussing low-flow toilets. (Note, this isn't a new video). Let us first ignore the abortion-baiting going on. Look, this is how it works. Let us say Rand Paul gets his wish of anybody can buy any flow of toilets (or light bulbs that use more electricity, cars that guzzle gas, etc). For water, this is how the market works. There's a limited supply of potable water. The more people use the water, the scarcer it becomes, the higher price it becomes (also, we'll ignore the effects of scarcity for this). If people like Rand gets his choice and gets a toilet that uses more water, and there's several people like him who do so as well, that will raise the price of water for everybody. You may be using less, because you like saving the environment. But his "choice" affects what you pay. The same is true for gasoline. That Hummer sucking down the gas next to you contributes to the high cost of gasoline that you pay. However, here's the real thing. You can buy whatever manufacturer of toilet, and style of toilet you want (but they all use less water). Some toilets work better than others (even with the high flow toilets the same was true). Shouldn't Paul's miraculous market forces come to the fore here and weed out the poor toilets? After all, he's upset with his toilet. Why doesn't he buy one that works? The manufacturers of the poor functioning toilets go out of business, and all that's left are the good manufacturers. The problem is, this doesn't work in real life, never has. So the problem isn't his choice of toilets (seriously, go to a Home Depot, they have an aisle of nothing but toilets), the problem is his personal choice of that individual toilet which didn't work for him. That's not the government's fault. How would he feel if the government came up with the design and forced all toilets to be built exactly the same so that they all worked? You can also apply this logic to the light bulb argument (more energy use raises the cost of energy) and all the rest. Rand Paul, you're a tool. And for a doctor, you're an idiot (or you think we are). (Grokked from the Slactivist)
Oh, and who did this terrible libertarian treachery and made them buy low flow toilets and shower heads? "The low-flow (1.6 gallon) limit on toilets was instituted with the 1992 Energy Policy Act, signed into law by George H.W. Bush."
The professional hair stylists and amateur archeologist who has shown how ancient hairdos were accomplished causing the books to be rewritten. There's so much in that article to unpackage. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"Recent and near-retirees, the first major cohort of the 401(k) era, do not have nearly enough in retirement savings to even come close to maintaining their current lifestyles… And that's for people who actually have a retirement account of some kind. A third of households do not." Yep. And even those of us who have had 401(k)s for most of our careers don't have enough in retirement savings. Why? Please see how middle income salaries have been stagnant for three decades now (the entire run of the 401(k) history), and there's more lower-income jobs in the mix. Welcome to the real entitlement bomb about to go off. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
Don't believe that? Okay, how about… "Increasingly, people are continuing to work past 65. Almost a third of Americans between the ages of 65 and 70 are working, and among those older than 75, about 7 percent are still on the job." And in case you don't see it, this is a problem. One that was somewhat fixed with the creation of Social Security.
Carrie Ryan on structure and the promise of the premise.
To put it all into perspective for you: (from the Writers Almanac) "It's the birthday of novelist Georges Simenon… He's one of the most prolific writers of all time, best known for his detective novels featuring Inspector Maigret. He wrote some 400 books, which sold more than 1.4 billion copies from 1935 to 1997. Each book took him on average eight days to write." So at that pace even Stephen King (at whom many jokes have been made about the speed at which he turned out novels) is a slacker. Just saying.
"'There is no way that we are going to win the cybersecurity effort on defense,' says Steven Chabinsky, formerly the FBI's top cyber-attorney. 'We have to go on the offensive.'" Oh look, it's one of the plot bunnies from my novel, Bladesman. Yea, what could go wrong with private companies enacting their own offense (which, IIRC, is a plot line of many 60-80's SF novels).
You know those frogs with all the extra legs? Turns out at least some of them are caused by a parasite which uses the frogs as a way station. Pretty interesting parasitology in there. But also read all the way through to see that, yes, one of the reasons we're seeing more frogs with these deformities is because biodiversity is dropping. Also note it doesn't explain why frog species are crashing.
On the repatriation of human remains that were collected as anatomical specimens. Although there's no word on the various trophy taking (a practice which didn't end all that long ago). There is an issue here, however, that there are many valid scientific reasons for keeping unique specimens in medical colleges and museums. In some cases they do provide needed education for surgeons, doctors, and other medical students. Although lately many of those museums have made their money from offering "freak shows" without calling them such. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"'The prime responsibility for doing this (meat inspection) lies with retailers and food producers, who need to demonstrate that they've taken all necessary actions to ensure the integrity of the food chain in this country,' ( Environment Secretary Owen) Patterson said." So, how did that self-regulation work out? People in England (and the rest of Europe) are shocked to find horse meat having been mixed in to their "beef" products. Look, it's a real life experiment on self regulation. Do I really need to point to The Jungle to remind us here in the US that these things happen. What's not in the transcript (but was on the broadcast story) is the real culprit is consumers wanting cheap food. So companies find ways to keep their costs down to make a profit. So what of there's a little (60% in some cases) horse meat in there? I mean, the other option is to have regulation that is enforced by a strong government. And in case your squeamish, don't go looking for how our own food inspectors have been gutted for the past 30 years.
Oh look, TDR (total drug resistant) tuberculosis is spreading in South Africa (and the world). Fantastic. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Rand Paul takes the train off the rails discussing low-flow toilets. (Note, this isn't a new video). Let us first ignore the abortion-baiting going on. Look, this is how it works. Let us say Rand Paul gets his wish of anybody can buy any flow of toilets (or light bulbs that use more electricity, cars that guzzle gas, etc). For water, this is how the market works. There's a limited supply of potable water. The more people use the water, the scarcer it becomes, the higher price it becomes (also, we'll ignore the effects of scarcity for this). If people like Rand gets his choice and gets a toilet that uses more water, and there's several people like him who do so as well, that will raise the price of water for everybody. You may be using less, because you like saving the environment. But his "choice" affects what you pay. The same is true for gasoline. That Hummer sucking down the gas next to you contributes to the high cost of gasoline that you pay. However, here's the real thing. You can buy whatever manufacturer of toilet, and style of toilet you want (but they all use less water). Some toilets work better than others (even with the high flow toilets the same was true). Shouldn't Paul's miraculous market forces come to the fore here and weed out the poor toilets? After all, he's upset with his toilet. Why doesn't he buy one that works? The manufacturers of the poor functioning toilets go out of business, and all that's left are the good manufacturers. The problem is, this doesn't work in real life, never has. So the problem isn't his choice of toilets (seriously, go to a Home Depot, they have an aisle of nothing but toilets), the problem is his personal choice of that individual toilet which didn't work for him. That's not the government's fault. How would he feel if the government came up with the design and forced all toilets to be built exactly the same so that they all worked? You can also apply this logic to the light bulb argument (more energy use raises the cost of energy) and all the rest. Rand Paul, you're a tool. And for a doctor, you're an idiot (or you think we are). (Grokked from the Slactivist)
Oh, and who did this terrible libertarian treachery and made them buy low flow toilets and shower heads? "The low-flow (1.6 gallon) limit on toilets was instituted with the 1992 Energy Policy Act, signed into law by George H.W. Bush."
The professional hair stylists and amateur archeologist who has shown how ancient hairdos were accomplished causing the books to be rewritten. There's so much in that article to unpackage. (Grokked from Jay Lake)
"Recent and near-retirees, the first major cohort of the 401(k) era, do not have nearly enough in retirement savings to even come close to maintaining their current lifestyles… And that's for people who actually have a retirement account of some kind. A third of households do not." Yep. And even those of us who have had 401(k)s for most of our careers don't have enough in retirement savings. Why? Please see how middle income salaries have been stagnant for three decades now (the entire run of the 401(k) history), and there's more lower-income jobs in the mix. Welcome to the real entitlement bomb about to go off. (Grokked from the Slactivist)
Don't believe that? Okay, how about… "Increasingly, people are continuing to work past 65. Almost a third of Americans between the ages of 65 and 70 are working, and among those older than 75, about 7 percent are still on the job." And in case you don't see it, this is a problem. One that was somewhat fixed with the creation of Social Security.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Linkee-poo could be, dare I say it, Pope?
(Been searching like a mad man for that Bloom County strip to share, but, alas, my googlefoo fails me)
Amazon has filed a patent to re-sell digital media, including e-books. Some of the responses have followed down the expected lines of "Seriously, WTF?" And seriously, WTF? First people argue that e-books should cost pennies because there is no physical object being sold. Then there is the kerfuffle over Amazon pulling the copies of 1984 off of people's Kindles with the reminder of, "Well, you don't actually own what's on your device, you're just leasing it." So I guess Amazon could set up a scheme where you cancel your lease to receive a refund and then they resell the lease to someone else. But doesn't that negate much of what Amazon (and others) have been telling us about what e-books are? See, for reselling your dead-tree book involves quite a number of laws, including the rights of the first purchaser. However, IANAL and could be completely wrong about this, but I don't think that applies to sale of object (or leases) which don't have a physical presence. It would be interesting to see if the agency model (or whatever model the companies are running under) allows subletting the lease or if this would be even remotely legal.
Kristen Lamb with the Land of Good Enough being the enemy of the Art. I'm not sure I agree with everything she is saying here, but I agree with enough of it. Maybe it'll help you. That said, living in a garret above the Seine is only romantic when you're in Europe. Know what I mean? Within various "artistic" endeavors you'll find similar philosophies. It's a modern incarnation of the "you must die to the world before you can live". As someone with a Design background, part of me wishes to shout, "BS!" at it. I was once told/instructed/encouraged that whatever relationship I was in at the time would need to be destroyed before I could find someone who would be "supportive" to my art. The person telling me this had no idea what my relationship with my SO (at the time) was like. However, in their life all the designers they knew had divorced their first spouse, so that must be what everyone must do. There does come a moment where you must commit. It's that point you approach where talent will no longer work and to get any better requires hard work, time, and focus. At that moment, you have to ask yourself what you want. The people who succeed commit that work, time and focus. That said, a one dimensional life isn't a fertile ground for art (even when that one dimension is Art). At least IMHO.
And in case you want to ask, those critical commitment points keep coming. For writing this was when I decided to spend the money on Cons. When I committed to weekend retreats to write. When I committed the time and money to Viable Paradise. And just this past year when I weighed the time and physical energy it would take to go to Confusion and said "Yes, I will." I've had to say no to another writing event, but I tried to see a way to make it work. But the exhaustion I would feel the time out of studies coupled with the knowledge that I would have spent most of that spinning my wheels getting back into the mindset of writing, only then to lose it the next day. And this choice is because I've hit that "commit" point with the Rad Tech program. While I love writing, it's not bringing money in the door. And it's hard to be an Artist when you can't eat or sleep indoors. The Rad Tech program needs to be my focus now.
Using Twitter lists to organize your feed.
What interactive books or books with multimedia content should be like. A living map on Ankh-Morpork, from Discworld.
Jim McDonald with some of the various common scams and how they work. He includes this link to a list of grifts.
Overly-honest product stickers. Hahahaha. Although I do take issue with their claim about "All Natural", they should read Fast Food Nation. (Grokked from Random Michelle K)
Fred Clark with a glimpse into the future if Evangelicals get their way with remaking the US into a "Christian Nation." And here you can read "Evangelical" as "those supposedly Godly people who have traded in what is due God for what is due Caesar."
"…they are afraid that a girl with a guitar might just be more powerful than a man with a gun….and they are right…" An all girl band in India disbands in the face of death and rape threats after a Islamic cleric issues a fatwah against them. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
The "why isn't there a White History Month" brigade strikes again. To paraphrase the old quote, "Because every month is White History Month." (Grokked from the Slactivist)
Amazon has filed a patent to re-sell digital media, including e-books. Some of the responses have followed down the expected lines of "Seriously, WTF?" And seriously, WTF? First people argue that e-books should cost pennies because there is no physical object being sold. Then there is the kerfuffle over Amazon pulling the copies of 1984 off of people's Kindles with the reminder of, "Well, you don't actually own what's on your device, you're just leasing it." So I guess Amazon could set up a scheme where you cancel your lease to receive a refund and then they resell the lease to someone else. But doesn't that negate much of what Amazon (and others) have been telling us about what e-books are? See, for reselling your dead-tree book involves quite a number of laws, including the rights of the first purchaser. However, IANAL and could be completely wrong about this, but I don't think that applies to sale of object (or leases) which don't have a physical presence. It would be interesting to see if the agency model (or whatever model the companies are running under) allows subletting the lease or if this would be even remotely legal.
Kristen Lamb with the Land of Good Enough being the enemy of the Art. I'm not sure I agree with everything she is saying here, but I agree with enough of it. Maybe it'll help you. That said, living in a garret above the Seine is only romantic when you're in Europe. Know what I mean? Within various "artistic" endeavors you'll find similar philosophies. It's a modern incarnation of the "you must die to the world before you can live". As someone with a Design background, part of me wishes to shout, "BS!" at it. I was once told/instructed/encouraged that whatever relationship I was in at the time would need to be destroyed before I could find someone who would be "supportive" to my art. The person telling me this had no idea what my relationship with my SO (at the time) was like. However, in their life all the designers they knew had divorced their first spouse, so that must be what everyone must do. There does come a moment where you must commit. It's that point you approach where talent will no longer work and to get any better requires hard work, time, and focus. At that moment, you have to ask yourself what you want. The people who succeed commit that work, time and focus. That said, a one dimensional life isn't a fertile ground for art (even when that one dimension is Art). At least IMHO.
And in case you want to ask, those critical commitment points keep coming. For writing this was when I decided to spend the money on Cons. When I committed to weekend retreats to write. When I committed the time and money to Viable Paradise. And just this past year when I weighed the time and physical energy it would take to go to Confusion and said "Yes, I will." I've had to say no to another writing event, but I tried to see a way to make it work. But the exhaustion I would feel the time out of studies coupled with the knowledge that I would have spent most of that spinning my wheels getting back into the mindset of writing, only then to lose it the next day. And this choice is because I've hit that "commit" point with the Rad Tech program. While I love writing, it's not bringing money in the door. And it's hard to be an Artist when you can't eat or sleep indoors. The Rad Tech program needs to be my focus now.
Using Twitter lists to organize your feed.
What interactive books or books with multimedia content should be like. A living map on Ankh-Morpork, from Discworld.
Jim McDonald with some of the various common scams and how they work. He includes this link to a list of grifts.
Overly-honest product stickers. Hahahaha. Although I do take issue with their claim about "All Natural", they should read Fast Food Nation. (Grokked from Random Michelle K)
Fred Clark with a glimpse into the future if Evangelicals get their way with remaking the US into a "Christian Nation." And here you can read "Evangelical" as "those supposedly Godly people who have traded in what is due God for what is due Caesar."
"…they are afraid that a girl with a guitar might just be more powerful than a man with a gun….and they are right…" An all girl band in India disbands in the face of death and rape threats after a Islamic cleric issues a fatwah against them. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
The "why isn't there a White History Month" brigade strikes again. To paraphrase the old quote, "Because every month is White History Month." (Grokked from the Slactivist)
Well, time to dust this one off
Pope Benedict XVI resigns and re-becomes Cardinal Ratzinger, it's time to dust off the pipes.
Sorry it has a splice in the middle where the one mouse gets eaten, I couldn't find the full clip.
Unfair? Unfeeling? Harsh? Yes. Yes it is. And while Pope Benedict XVI did many great things, this is also the Pope who chided American Nuns for not focusing on abortion and birth control, they had instead decided to do that horrible thing of bringing comfort, peace, and joy, not to mention the Word of God, to those who were dispossessed and disenfranchised. You know, the people the Christ ministered to.
So for everything he may have done to bring the church to its teachings, there were plenty of things he did to ride the same church off the rails, IMHO.
Sorry it has a splice in the middle where the one mouse gets eaten, I couldn't find the full clip.
Unfair? Unfeeling? Harsh? Yes. Yes it is. And while Pope Benedict XVI did many great things, this is also the Pope who chided American Nuns for not focusing on abortion and birth control, they had instead decided to do that horrible thing of bringing comfort, peace, and joy, not to mention the Word of God, to those who were dispossessed and disenfranchised. You know, the people the Christ ministered to.
So for everything he may have done to bring the church to its teachings, there were plenty of things he did to ride the same church off the rails, IMHO.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)