Okay, I think this is enough to make a post. Yeah, this should be enough.
The lax regulation of funeral homes and cemeteries often leads to corruption and fraud. Tennessee isn't the only place this is happening. In Ohio, at least, we have a minimum standard and some pretty tough auditing of cemeteries (I used to ride a bus with one of the regulators, you don't want to know the stories he told). But the punishments everywhere are pretty pathetic (other than losing the cemetery and the trust fund that is supposed to operate it).
Strangely enough, when transgender kids have supportive parents they don't have the issues that many people like to think are a part of being transgender. Okay, well so far the research doesn't show it's "supportive parents", but that transgender kids these days don't have any greater chance of being "emotionally distressed." It's probably from a greater percentage of the populace accepting people as they are instead of who we think they should be. Strange that.
It's all fun and games until the lawsuits start. Climate-change subpoenas aren't so much fun when the tables are turned. This time, people are investigating the potential of laws being broken by those in the climate change denial camp. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
The USS Zumwalt, so stealthy they're going to attach reflectors to the hull so commercial vehicles don't run into it. Sounds silly, but actually a damn good idea. I'm sure the Russians and others are going to try and image her during peace-time to work out how to defeat her stealthiness. So putting reflectors on her now will not only make her safe for navigation, but will screw with the oppositions' research. Don't think it's important? You do know Russia has adjusted their targeting radars so they're able to accurately see the F-117A (our stealth fighter) and B2, right? (Grokked form Jeff Beeler)
More than 80% of wells in China produce water that is unfit to drink or bath in. Thank god they don't have a bunch of regulations and government oversight keeping them back from fixing the problem.
The day thing has a little to do with robotics, so this is very cool (no, not related to my job). Self-healing, conductive and self-powering (solar) plastics that could be used for prosthetics in the place of haptic devices to give the sense of touch. Plus it works on similar principles to your existing neurons (variable signal intensity and speed). Living in the future.
Kepler is out of emergency mode. Waiting for full telemetry to find out what happened. (Grokked from Dan)
A second Chinese team announces they've been able to edit human DNA in an embryo. So far, all the embryos the teams have done their research on have been non-viable (or at least would never be implanted in a womb, as extra chromosomes aren't necessarily a death sentence for an egg) and have been destroyed after seeing if the CRISPR patches would work (so far, it's been scatter shot success, but it always is early on). The future is coming faster than we're able to cope with it. the problem is, because of US laws against human cloning or working with human embryos, China is now leading the way. Because someone will. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
GE develops a desktop turbine that could supply 33 megawatts of power. The system uses super-critical CO2 instead of water-steam, which is typically used to generate electricity (nuclear power just supplies the heat to turn water to steam to drive turbines, for instance). So, while interesting and probably a good way to quickly generate a lot of power, anybody else see the fault in the plan? (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
The Schaft robot. Who says bipedal robot assistants must look like humans or other animal types? (Grokked from Dan)
When your house is the programing default for an unknown address.
Hayden's 11? This is how rumors start. (Grokked from Hannah Bowman)
Medicine, the best lies we know. Sure, we may laugh at people believing in "tooth worms" and exsanguination to balance the humors, but in the future many people will laugh at some of the medical "knowledge" we have now (hopefully one of those things will be, "can you believe people used to poison themselves to try and be cured of cancer?").
Federal securities regulators are charging Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton with civil fraud. What a great "tireless conservative warrior", as Cruz called him when he won over a more moderate conservative. (Grokked from Dan)
Dear Fox News, for someone who champions "free markets" and the North Carolina law that allows people to not do business with people they have a strong religious or moral conviction against, you don't seem to get what that means. Think of it this way, all these celebrities and businesses that are boycotting doing business in NC (and the other states) are just utilizing the laws those states have enacted. They have a strong moral conviction of not doing business with bigoted assholes. So they're refusing your custom. You should be celebrating that these celebrities and businesses now have the right to refuse. (Grokked from Mur Lafferty)
Because it'll be needed in the coming months, the twenty cognitive biases that can affect our reasoning. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
Porn site cuts off North Carolina because of discrimination law. Look, when even porn doesn't want your money because they think you've gone too far, that's saying something. I mean, sure, the Bruce cancelling a concert is one thing, but when you deny Southern Conservatives their porn you better watch out. (Grokked from someone, sorry, lost the link)
And what should come as a surprise to no one, "As part of a series into the rising global phenomenon of online harassment, the Guardian commissioned research into the 70m comments left on its site since 2006 and discovered that of the 10 most abused writers eight are women, and the two men are black." Never. Read. the Comments (unless you're in law enforcement and need evidence). Next up, water is wet. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe wants a law to keep the information on pharmacies who supply "death sentence" drugs to remain secret. Um, no. Hey, remember when he wanted to be president?
"Trump's campaign is not based on racism!" shouts people in Trump's campaign. "A group of white high school soccer fans in Wisconsin chanted racist slurs and “Donald Trump, build that wall” at black and Latina players on an opposing school’s team, WISC-TV reported Saturday." Unfortunately your supporters seem to disagree. But Trumps swears he doesn't hear about it. Every. Single. Time. (Grokked from Dan)
Facemask, 15 yard penalty, first down. I wonder if anyone explained to this shining example of humanity that what he committed was battery, and just because he wasn't arrested then, doesn't mean he will get out of this free and clear. Also, Mikee, there could be the civil suit.
Sure Bill O'Reilly isn't a racist, privileged asshole. "Fox News host Bill O’Reilly challenged… Donald Trump Monday night on how he would create jobs for the black community, many of whom he said are 'ill-educated and have tattoos on their foreheads.'" Nope, no racism here. I'm sure Bill will apologize today saying he was speaking figuratively, even though he said on air that it was "the truth". And he can play his "get out of trouble" card while his supporters can all think, "Well, the network made him say that to be PC, but he really believes what I believe."
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Monday, April 11, 2016
Linke-poo hears the horses' thunder down in the valley below
So, don't know a first reader from a culture you've included in your story, but are not of or have deep experience with? A sensitivity reader may just be the help you're looking for. Or, you know, you could wait for the reviews to start piling up. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
Three restaurants in China "hire" robotic servers. Two are now closed and the third brought back human servers and only kept one of the robots. So, Skynet 0, humans 3. (Grokked from Alex C. Renwick)
"This is what abortion politics is for. This is what it was designed to do. This is its function and its purpose." The Slactivist with some history and perspective. Also a lot on people who find themselves on the wrong side of history attempting to change the subject.
You know how emoji's are supposed to be universal communications? Apparently not. :\ (Grokked from Dan)
Kepler is down. Four years into its extended mission of finding exoplanets, Kepler has gone into emergency mode (you may picture the klaxons sounding, red lights swishing, and people stumbling from one side of the set to the other as someone shakes the camera).
Why are these bathroom policing laws a horrible idea besides the blatant bigotry. "A Detroit woman has filed a lawsuit against restaurant chain Fishbone's after a frightening incident in which she was mistaken for a man and tossed out of a women's bathroom, reports TV station WXYZ." Yeah, that's one reason. When I had a pony-tail I often got comments in restaurant bathrooms. Including once where I had to ask the guy if he had dated many women with beards, because he may be doing it wrong. (Grokked from Scott Kennedy)
So, this is a thing. "Guests from two separate Chinese wedding processions fought with knives and batons and hurled flaming fireworks at each other during a violent four-hour dispute, mainland media reports." But I'll bet they didn't have a bitchin' soundtrack to dance to during the fight scenes like they did in West Side Story. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
Oh look, if you're rich you tend to live longer. Or, why won't the old bastard die and give us his money. Actually, right there you can see the problems in America. If you're rich, and live on the coasts (or in a densely populated area) you have a longer life. However, if you're poor and live in the rural mid-west, you're screwed. Some of it is access to better medical support, some of it is cultural, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say much of it is because of economic opportunity and the related stresses and life-styles.
"Climate change and a strong El Niño have caused hundreds of kilometres of (Australia's Great Barrier) reef to bleach, as the higher water temperatures stress the coral, and they expel their symbiotic algae. If the bleaching is bad enough, or the temperatures remain high for long enough, the corals die, putting the future of reefs at risk." Good thing that climate change thing is a hoax or this would be very troublesome. I'm sure Rush Limbaugh can explain it all away. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
What happens when the Patriot-Amurika-Fuck-Yeah goggles slip? The disillusion can hit pretty hard. Or, if you like, what happens you you realize the propaganda was just that. (Grokked from Alex C. Renwick)
I'm sure it was just an innocent error that Spanish language voter guides were sent out with the wrong dates and incomplete information. You know, just like in 2012. I'm sure that the attempts to disenfranchise supposed "non-GOP voters" (i.e. white) had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all. And in other voter registration news, the Trumpster's kids forget to register. Oopsie.
The Slactivist expounding on the fact that people from the future are not coming to save us.
But they may give us glimpses into the future.
"Clare Lopez, the vice president of the Center for Security Policy and a national security adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, told a Minnesota radio program yesterday that parts of Minneapolis have become 'no-go zones' where the police 'don’t go' and are letting Sharia law take hold." Proving that no matter how much a conservative/religious lie gets disproven, there's always more life in that zombie. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
The sense of entitlement is amazing. I've long held that the conservative mindset is one that believes it is entitled, even as they point the finger to welfare, social security, medicaid beneficiaries and say they they feel entitled to "free stuff."
And this just in, immaculate Republican candidate appears to the faithful outside the RNC. Oh Onion, don't ever change. Note Paul Ryan is in the crowd picture looking up, so it ain't him. Also wondering how he could be wearing a shining American Flag pin, and have his sleeves rolled-up (although the description is a fabulous send up of some of the conventions of public address). (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
Three restaurants in China "hire" robotic servers. Two are now closed and the third brought back human servers and only kept one of the robots. So, Skynet 0, humans 3. (Grokked from Alex C. Renwick)
"This is what abortion politics is for. This is what it was designed to do. This is its function and its purpose." The Slactivist with some history and perspective. Also a lot on people who find themselves on the wrong side of history attempting to change the subject.
You know how emoji's are supposed to be universal communications? Apparently not. :\ (Grokked from Dan)
Kepler is down. Four years into its extended mission of finding exoplanets, Kepler has gone into emergency mode (you may picture the klaxons sounding, red lights swishing, and people stumbling from one side of the set to the other as someone shakes the camera).
Why are these bathroom policing laws a horrible idea besides the blatant bigotry. "A Detroit woman has filed a lawsuit against restaurant chain Fishbone's after a frightening incident in which she was mistaken for a man and tossed out of a women's bathroom, reports TV station WXYZ." Yeah, that's one reason. When I had a pony-tail I often got comments in restaurant bathrooms. Including once where I had to ask the guy if he had dated many women with beards, because he may be doing it wrong. (Grokked from Scott Kennedy)
So, this is a thing. "Guests from two separate Chinese wedding processions fought with knives and batons and hurled flaming fireworks at each other during a violent four-hour dispute, mainland media reports." But I'll bet they didn't have a bitchin' soundtrack to dance to during the fight scenes like they did in West Side Story. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
Oh look, if you're rich you tend to live longer. Or, why won't the old bastard die and give us his money. Actually, right there you can see the problems in America. If you're rich, and live on the coasts (or in a densely populated area) you have a longer life. However, if you're poor and live in the rural mid-west, you're screwed. Some of it is access to better medical support, some of it is cultural, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say much of it is because of economic opportunity and the related stresses and life-styles.
"Climate change and a strong El Niño have caused hundreds of kilometres of (Australia's Great Barrier) reef to bleach, as the higher water temperatures stress the coral, and they expel their symbiotic algae. If the bleaching is bad enough, or the temperatures remain high for long enough, the corals die, putting the future of reefs at risk." Good thing that climate change thing is a hoax or this would be very troublesome. I'm sure Rush Limbaugh can explain it all away. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
What happens when the Patriot-Amurika-Fuck-Yeah goggles slip? The disillusion can hit pretty hard. Or, if you like, what happens you you realize the propaganda was just that. (Grokked from Alex C. Renwick)
I'm sure it was just an innocent error that Spanish language voter guides were sent out with the wrong dates and incomplete information. You know, just like in 2012. I'm sure that the attempts to disenfranchise supposed "non-GOP voters" (i.e. white) had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all. And in other voter registration news, the Trumpster's kids forget to register. Oopsie.
The Slactivist expounding on the fact that people from the future are not coming to save us.
But they may give us glimpses into the future.
"Clare Lopez, the vice president of the Center for Security Policy and a national security adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, told a Minnesota radio program yesterday that parts of Minneapolis have become 'no-go zones' where the police 'don’t go' and are letting Sharia law take hold." Proving that no matter how much a conservative/religious lie gets disproven, there's always more life in that zombie. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
The sense of entitlement is amazing. I've long held that the conservative mindset is one that believes it is entitled, even as they point the finger to welfare, social security, medicaid beneficiaries and say they they feel entitled to "free stuff."
And this just in, immaculate Republican candidate appears to the faithful outside the RNC. Oh Onion, don't ever change. Note Paul Ryan is in the crowd picture looking up, so it ain't him. Also wondering how he could be wearing a shining American Flag pin, and have his sleeves rolled-up (although the description is a fabulous send up of some of the conventions of public address). (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Linkee-poo for the weekend
Fuck cancer. More and more people are sharing their journey through cancer on social media. Which, IMHO, is a lot better than when I first encountered the word is a whisper.
So the conservative causes that have found themselves on the fuzzy end of the lollipop stick when it comes to the SCOTUS vacancy are now saying, "DO OVER." "The challengers in a Supreme Court case that sought -- and failed -- to cripple public unions are asking the high court to rehear the case once it has a ninth justice, after the court's 4-4 tie in March meant a lower court ruling against them would stand." Kinda sucks when your own ideology torpedoes your own ideology.
Angry people in local (UK) papers. In other news, Florida man… (Grokked from Xeni)
More on the GOP's fight to disenfranchise as many voters who vote "wrong" in their eyes. Anyone still doubting which side is against democracy? Hey ho way to go Ohio. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
So the conservative causes that have found themselves on the fuzzy end of the lollipop stick when it comes to the SCOTUS vacancy are now saying, "DO OVER." "The challengers in a Supreme Court case that sought -- and failed -- to cripple public unions are asking the high court to rehear the case once it has a ninth justice, after the court's 4-4 tie in March meant a lower court ruling against them would stand." Kinda sucks when your own ideology torpedoes your own ideology.
Angry people in local (UK) papers. In other news, Florida man… (Grokked from Xeni)
More on the GOP's fight to disenfranchise as many voters who vote "wrong" in their eyes. Anyone still doubting which side is against democracy? Hey ho way to go Ohio. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
Friday, April 8, 2016
Linkee-poo, and may all your favorite bands stay together
Writing outlines. Working on this skill right now. As with any writing advice, YMMV and it may be complete bullshit… for you. (Grokked from Ken McConnell)
The Pew research into reading platforms broken up by age group. You know that line about how "the kids" will be the ones to adopt reading books on e-readers in mass? Turns out, not so much (it's us middle-age farts who are more likely to have an e-reader and a tablet and read an e-book). Kinda interesting breakdowns. Also, kids read more than adults, although adults read mostly for pleasure. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
Brian McClellan on updating the royalty structure for publishing. One thing I see in an argument against this is that in the past few decades, businesses have been extending their payment time while trying to decrease the time in which they get paid (kinda hard to do when you have a chain of effects that the payments have to go through). Oh, and now many are demanding discounts as a matter of course (and they believe are non-negotiable). (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Pooling data from 751 studies involving 4.4 million adults, researchers estimated that the number of adults with diabetes in 200 countries has nearly quadrupled, from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. And the disease is growing faster in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries." And while we don't know exactly what the cause is (other than obesity = more calories), the researchers would like to stress that it isn't fast-food's (ie. highly processed food's) fault. Because, I don't know (mostly because it's also going up where there are no fast-food outlets, but that doesn't mean more of their foods aren't being processed).
Hiding in plain site, cyclodextrin may help with arterial plaque, cholesterol and atherosclerosis. And the best part, cyclodextrin is cheap and available. But that's also why it hid for so long. Nobody could patent it, so no pharmaceutical company would have thought of (or paid for) testing it, even if they already use it to help deliver other drugs. Basically it's a ring (cyclo-) of sugars (-dextrin). The major things not looked at yet, after clearing plaques from arteries where does that material go? And while helping cholesterol work the way it's supposed to (in our narrow and anthropomorphic view of medicine) does it cause other problems? Not to mention the ever present (and often un-researched) question, does this actually work the way we think it is, or is it affecting something else which the effect we want is just side-effect? (Grokked from John)
"Renewables are so cheap in some parts of the country that they're undercutting the price of older sources of electricity such as nuclear power." Oopsie.
Well, someone finally got the memo on incitement to riot and violence. Trumpster now says, "Don't hurt them" as his supporters remove protestors from his rallies.
And there's the first shoe beginning to fall, Senate GOPers in contested races are losing support, and what support they keep is softening. Mostly because of the potential for a Trumpster or Cruz on the top of the R's ticket, and their refusal to give hearings to SCOTUS nominee. Dun dun duuuuun.
Alaska votes to not only keep Planned Parenthood out of school (what, I didn't know they were in schools), but also to allow parents to withdraw their children from any content they don't approve of. I'm sure all parents want their children to grow up smarter and more capable than they were. Right? I guess this is what the GOP means when they talk about "fixing" education. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
That moment you realize the person you're talking with is a whackaloon. "Bolduan and Berman looked at each other with disbelief for a few seconds after (Dr. Ben) Carson suggested Berman had a criminal record." I believe that's called a soft-spit-take. Damn is Carson really bad at this.
The Pew research into reading platforms broken up by age group. You know that line about how "the kids" will be the ones to adopt reading books on e-readers in mass? Turns out, not so much (it's us middle-age farts who are more likely to have an e-reader and a tablet and read an e-book). Kinda interesting breakdowns. Also, kids read more than adults, although adults read mostly for pleasure. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
Brian McClellan on updating the royalty structure for publishing. One thing I see in an argument against this is that in the past few decades, businesses have been extending their payment time while trying to decrease the time in which they get paid (kinda hard to do when you have a chain of effects that the payments have to go through). Oh, and now many are demanding discounts as a matter of course (and they believe are non-negotiable). (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Pooling data from 751 studies involving 4.4 million adults, researchers estimated that the number of adults with diabetes in 200 countries has nearly quadrupled, from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. And the disease is growing faster in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries." And while we don't know exactly what the cause is (other than obesity = more calories), the researchers would like to stress that it isn't fast-food's (ie. highly processed food's) fault. Because, I don't know (mostly because it's also going up where there are no fast-food outlets, but that doesn't mean more of their foods aren't being processed).
Hiding in plain site, cyclodextrin may help with arterial plaque, cholesterol and atherosclerosis. And the best part, cyclodextrin is cheap and available. But that's also why it hid for so long. Nobody could patent it, so no pharmaceutical company would have thought of (or paid for) testing it, even if they already use it to help deliver other drugs. Basically it's a ring (cyclo-) of sugars (-dextrin). The major things not looked at yet, after clearing plaques from arteries where does that material go? And while helping cholesterol work the way it's supposed to (in our narrow and anthropomorphic view of medicine) does it cause other problems? Not to mention the ever present (and often un-researched) question, does this actually work the way we think it is, or is it affecting something else which the effect we want is just side-effect? (Grokked from John)
"Renewables are so cheap in some parts of the country that they're undercutting the price of older sources of electricity such as nuclear power." Oopsie.
Well, someone finally got the memo on incitement to riot and violence. Trumpster now says, "Don't hurt them" as his supporters remove protestors from his rallies.
And there's the first shoe beginning to fall, Senate GOPers in contested races are losing support, and what support they keep is softening. Mostly because of the potential for a Trumpster or Cruz on the top of the R's ticket, and their refusal to give hearings to SCOTUS nominee. Dun dun duuuuun.
Alaska votes to not only keep Planned Parenthood out of school (what, I didn't know they were in schools), but also to allow parents to withdraw their children from any content they don't approve of. I'm sure all parents want their children to grow up smarter and more capable than they were. Right? I guess this is what the GOP means when they talk about "fixing" education. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
That moment you realize the person you're talking with is a whackaloon. "Bolduan and Berman looked at each other with disbelief for a few seconds after (Dr. Ben) Carson suggested Berman had a criminal record." I believe that's called a soft-spit-take. Damn is Carson really bad at this.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Linkee-poo feels summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again
Because all the cool kids are talking about it, the Rogue One trailer drops. (Grokked from John Scalzi)
Eschersketch. Okay, there goes a few lunches. Say, can I get that in vector? (Grokked from John)
"We are asked to admire what our people once viewed as unforgiveable. The consumption-driven mind-set masquerades as 'quality of life' but eats us from within." Terri Windling shares her research on the Windigo which hunts us from the starving times.
"… WebMD spokesperson said, 'The strict editorial practices we have in place ensure that the content we produce is unbiased, and the production of such content done so independent of third party control or influence.' …In 2010, Sen. Chuck Grassley sent a letter to the site after finding that a WebMD quiz for depression, sponsored by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, was rigged to suggest everybody who took the test was at risk for major depression. Naturally, that would make them a potential candidate for antidepressants, conveniently manufactured by Eli Lilly." Plus all the other problems I've had on that site and that pretty much encapsulates why I no longer look at WebMD for information. I'm sure the free market will sort this all out. (Grokked from John)
There is no greater promise than this, we will bring you home. NPR has been running stories of repatriating US soldiers killed in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir and identifying their remains so families have closure. No, you're crying.
"Searching for 'unprofessional hairstyles' and 'professional hairstyles' on Google Images exposes a stark racial divide in what's assumed to be appropriate for business settings." Yeah, you can probably see where that train wreck is coming, can't you. But even the deeper data is pretty revealing.
You know wasps make their nests out of paper pulp. So what happens when you supply them with colored paper for their nest building material. Pretty. And in other wasp nest news, they'll use anything to form their nests, including a mask left in a shed. Well that won't give me nightmares. (Both grokked from John)
Big seed. Where you're food comes from, now only fewer options and bigger money behind them.
"California's dental health system for the poor is dysfunctional, according to a report by a bipartisan oversight commission… The department that runs Denti-Cal draws only part of the blame, according to the report. The legislature, the governor's office, and the political culture of California share culpability for decades of neglect and strategic misdirection." What could possibly go wrong? Actually it reminds me of this Simpsons Episode, the Big Book of British Smiles.
"The state House on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow counselors to deny services to individuals based on sincerely held beliefs, letting them refuse to help gay individuals." It's almost like there's some sinister plot going on. Or some progrom.
Well, someone thinks the Trumpster's immigration plans don't go far enough. "'I suspect that a good chunk of (remittance payments to Mexico/Central America) is laundered drug money,' the Iowa representative (Steve King) said in a Newsmax interview." Can we just label him a blatant racist now and ignore the little fucker?
"'As a result of these violations, numerous Ohioans have been disenfranchised in recent elections (through voter record purging), and many more face the threat of disenfranchisement in the 2016 Presidential Election and future elections,' the (Federal lawsuit) said." Do I need to explain which party controls Ohio's government? "According to the complaint, Ohio operates two separate systems for removing voters from its registration rolls. The first, the 'National Change of Address' Process, removes voters based on change of addresses filed with the U.S. Postal Service… the lawsuit mainly focuses on what it is known as the Supplemental Process, which kicks in when a voter doesn't vote in a series of elections… In Cuyahoga County alone, the complaint said, some 40,000 voters were removed from the rolls in 2015 through the Supplemental Process, even though there was no evidence they had not moved to a new jurisdiction… Many of these voters showed up for the November 2015 election only to find out they were no longer registered to vote, the complaint said, and thus were unable to participate in that election." Again, Republicans are reliable voters who always show up. The "they didn't vote recently" laws are specifically targeted against those who vote Democratic.
More on the Wisconsin Voter ID disclosure.
Eschersketch. Okay, there goes a few lunches. Say, can I get that in vector? (Grokked from John)
"We are asked to admire what our people once viewed as unforgiveable. The consumption-driven mind-set masquerades as 'quality of life' but eats us from within." Terri Windling shares her research on the Windigo which hunts us from the starving times.
"… WebMD spokesperson said, 'The strict editorial practices we have in place ensure that the content we produce is unbiased, and the production of such content done so independent of third party control or influence.' …In 2010, Sen. Chuck Grassley sent a letter to the site after finding that a WebMD quiz for depression, sponsored by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, was rigged to suggest everybody who took the test was at risk for major depression. Naturally, that would make them a potential candidate for antidepressants, conveniently manufactured by Eli Lilly." Plus all the other problems I've had on that site and that pretty much encapsulates why I no longer look at WebMD for information. I'm sure the free market will sort this all out. (Grokked from John)
There is no greater promise than this, we will bring you home. NPR has been running stories of repatriating US soldiers killed in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir and identifying their remains so families have closure. No, you're crying.
"Searching for 'unprofessional hairstyles' and 'professional hairstyles' on Google Images exposes a stark racial divide in what's assumed to be appropriate for business settings." Yeah, you can probably see where that train wreck is coming, can't you. But even the deeper data is pretty revealing.
You know wasps make their nests out of paper pulp. So what happens when you supply them with colored paper for their nest building material. Pretty. And in other wasp nest news, they'll use anything to form their nests, including a mask left in a shed. Well that won't give me nightmares. (Both grokked from John)
Big seed. Where you're food comes from, now only fewer options and bigger money behind them.
"California's dental health system for the poor is dysfunctional, according to a report by a bipartisan oversight commission… The department that runs Denti-Cal draws only part of the blame, according to the report. The legislature, the governor's office, and the political culture of California share culpability for decades of neglect and strategic misdirection." What could possibly go wrong? Actually it reminds me of this Simpsons Episode, the Big Book of British Smiles.
"The state House on Wednesday passed a bill that would allow counselors to deny services to individuals based on sincerely held beliefs, letting them refuse to help gay individuals." It's almost like there's some sinister plot going on. Or some progrom.
Well, someone thinks the Trumpster's immigration plans don't go far enough. "'I suspect that a good chunk of (remittance payments to Mexico/Central America) is laundered drug money,' the Iowa representative (Steve King) said in a Newsmax interview." Can we just label him a blatant racist now and ignore the little fucker?
"'As a result of these violations, numerous Ohioans have been disenfranchised in recent elections (through voter record purging), and many more face the threat of disenfranchisement in the 2016 Presidential Election and future elections,' the (Federal lawsuit) said." Do I need to explain which party controls Ohio's government? "According to the complaint, Ohio operates two separate systems for removing voters from its registration rolls. The first, the 'National Change of Address' Process, removes voters based on change of addresses filed with the U.S. Postal Service… the lawsuit mainly focuses on what it is known as the Supplemental Process, which kicks in when a voter doesn't vote in a series of elections… In Cuyahoga County alone, the complaint said, some 40,000 voters were removed from the rolls in 2015 through the Supplemental Process, even though there was no evidence they had not moved to a new jurisdiction… Many of these voters showed up for the November 2015 election only to find out they were no longer registered to vote, the complaint said, and thus were unable to participate in that election." Again, Republicans are reliable voters who always show up. The "they didn't vote recently" laws are specifically targeted against those who vote Democratic.
More on the Wisconsin Voter ID disclosure.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Linkee-poo doesn't wanna be your hero, doesn't wanna be a big man, just wanna fight with everyone else
The Hidden Brain podcast on grit and the myth of talent. This is something I've long believed. The best guitarists in high school couldn't beat me in my audition for the Stage Band, because I worked harder. They were better, I played with them. Some of them had picked up the guitar when they could barely hold it. How many of them still play? I don't know, but I do know how many of them went on to form bands after high school. And that is exactly zero. But of the three or four of us who struggled and came to the guitar later, 2 guys formed bands after high school and had local success. With every endeavor you try, there are several levels. The first level is fairly easy to attain (there are exceptions here). The next level requires good education and training. And the upper levels requires devotion and what they're calling "deliberate practice" and is never achieved easily (despite the stories we tell ourselves and the examples of the "savant").
Pros meeting pros at cons. So very much this. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
Someone low-balls a call for work, realizes it was a bad move and so ups the rate. I appreciate that they'll be bumping their hourly rate they asked someone to work for, and that's pretty good. Also, this person works in the visual/creative design field, so they understand the value of the work produced (and the quality of the work done). There are so many crappy clients out there, and so many people low-balling their own quotes, that it pretty much turned me off to the online-freelance sites before I even got started on them. What's more telling is someone with those skills accepted that low rate. That's what really bothers me. (Grokked for John Scalzi)
Chuck Wendig on the show Tiny House Hunters (or something like that). For me, I originally saw articles on the Tiny House fad over a decade ago, so this isn't new to me. But there are people who are very happy in their tiny homes. I also drive by people who have parked camper-trailers on an open lot and call that home (I know it's their home because one build a nice deck off of theirs). But, yeah, what Chuck said. I have a small house, and it's just me and my wife, and it's not enough room for us (it would be seriously nice to have another place with a TV where I could exercise while my wife watches Castle, I'm just saying). But all the room is dedicated for something. It doesn't help that we're both packrats who love to read and learn new things. But really. Part of owning a house is building equity, a mobile home (and that's what a Tiny House is, or at least 90%+ of them are) doesn't develop equity.
"There’s also the highly important question of how transforming school administrators into interrogators informs their view of students. A 2009 study cited by the New Yorker suggests that among police, training in the Reid Technique skewed perceptions of juveniles, making them appear more adult and less trustworthy." Wait, why are teachers being instructed in interrogation techniques? Yeah, I'm sure the "school-to-prison" pipeline has nothing to do with it (note rise of for-profit jails coupled with backlash against growing minority populations).
Okay, I didn't point to this story before because it seemed a pretty open/shut case of "hostile work environment" which would cost Sony a hellalotta money if the rape victim weren't a "star". And then this. "On Sunday, pop singer Kesha Sebert alleged that she was offered her 'freedom' if she agreed 'to APOLOGIZE publicly and say that I never got raped.' Sebert is contractually bound to Lukasz 'Dr. Luke' Gottwald, who is both the producer behind some of her biggest hits and, Sebert alleges, her abuser and rapist." The main complication here is this, "Sebert has a separate deal with Gottwald's production company, Kasz Money Inc, through which she is signed to Kemosabe." And that's the rub. Sony shouldn't have allowed that in, or bought her out of that contract when they signed her (if the side contract was in place first). So not only is this a horrible situation, it's also another example of just how fuckedup the recording industry (and the "celebrity" industry in general) is. (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
The new Hewlett-Packard logo. I see two minor adjustments that (for me anyway) would have made it fabulous, but right now I'm "meh". But given the backlash against recent rebranding efforts, it's good to see a positive reception. (Grokked from Dan)
"European media outlets are reporting that Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson has resigned days after a massive data breach known as the "Panama Papers" linked him to secret off-shore bank accounts." Yeah, he was about the only one who didn't see that one coming. Be happy, Sigmundur, they let you leave with your head on your shoulders. A hundred years ago that wouldn't have gone so well for you. And then he tried the "everybody does it" schtick. "Earlier Tuesday, Gunnlaugsson had asked Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson to call early elections and dissolve the current parliament, the BBC reports, but Grimsson refused." And the President replied, "Nope, just you, asshole."
New Treasury rules designed to make inversion less profitable claims its first victim, the Pfizer Allergan merger. I still say that for tax purposes, a company's hq and the determination of where the company is based should be made by where the majority of the C-level officers (or better yet, where the top 10 wage/benefits/option earners) show up for work most often.
It's A Trap! Man builds giant alien face mosaic in backyard to invite them all down for a chat.
Retirement investment advisors now have a legal obligation to do what they said they've been doing all along. And boy are they pissed about that. I wonder why? Note again the threat to "burn it all down" unless a certain class gets all the profits they think they're owed. I wonder how this will affect the annual company 401k "relook" to make sure they're offering "the right balance" of portfolio assets? Also an opportune time to remind you to check your own 401k and IRA plans to see what fees you're being charged and I recommend (I am not a retirement advisor, just some schmuck who has been trying to maximize my own retirement savings) index funds with ultra low fees (in the >0.1% range, most of mine are at the 0.05% range which seems to be a minimum). This typically excludes most of the funds based on your retirement date (which tend to charge huge fees in the 5% range) which seem to be popular these days.
Since the TV drama about the OJ Simpson trial is reopening all those wounds you may have wondered just where that asshat Mark Furman, confirmed white supremacist, ended up at. Did you really have any doubts? (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
"A Republican congressman on Tuesday night acknowledged that the new law requiring a photo ID to vote in Wisconsin could help Republican candidates at the polls in the general election." Another one caught telling the truth.
The George Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law. Aaaannnnddd it took them about 4 days to figure out that wasn't a Good Idea™, so they renamed it the Antonin Scalia Law School. This is why you need diversity, folks. Because if they had someone schooled in satire on their board they would have immediately recognized just how bad that original name was. Besides making the name change because of money (it came with a $30M endowment, $20M from an anonymous donor and $10 from the Koch brothers), since the change is pretty much immediate, some students are quite upset that his name will be on their diplomas. But howdy, do I want to design that sweatshirt (and sell it myself). I wonder what the legal requirements/entanglements that would set up?
You know, it's like a contest to see which Southern State can be the shittiest to all of it's citizens. Tennessee approves making the Bible the official State Book (they previously made the Beretta .50cal sniper rifle the official State Gun, I see a solution). And then Mississippi's governor goes on to sign their anti-gay law. Say, which party controls all these state's legislatures? Oh, yeah. Didn't even need to look it up, did you?
I would say the Trumpster just had his Rick Perry moment. But seriously, his supporters would still vote for him even if he shot someone on the street (as he also famously said).
"We will disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal (if Trump doesn't get the nomination in Cleveland). If you're from Pennsylvania, we'll tell you who the culprits are. We urge you to visit their hotel and find them." I'm sure Roger Stone didn't mean that as the threat of violence that it certainly comes off as. 'Cause that would mean the Trumpster candidacy is operating like an organized crime syndicate. Or at least borrowing their tactics. "That's a nice little convention you have there, would be a shame if something happened to it." I wonder if he realizes we have a number of trigger-happy cops here?
There's this movement to increase the number of judges who win seats by direct election. I'm not in favor of these. Why? Because of the collateral damage of the election system. Basically because the dumpster fire that is the Republican 2016 Presidential Nomination this openly homophobic, bigoted asshat won election to Wisconsin's Supreme Court. (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
A (presumedly Florida) woman confronts Rick Scott on his record. May we all get the opportunity to have such encounters with our own elected officials. Be prepared.
Tweet of my heart: @ChuckWendig Be the best writer you can be. Online, be the best version of yourself. Have fun, be kind, work hard, have empathy, and hope for luck.
Pros meeting pros at cons. So very much this. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
Someone low-balls a call for work, realizes it was a bad move and so ups the rate. I appreciate that they'll be bumping their hourly rate they asked someone to work for, and that's pretty good. Also, this person works in the visual/creative design field, so they understand the value of the work produced (and the quality of the work done). There are so many crappy clients out there, and so many people low-balling their own quotes, that it pretty much turned me off to the online-freelance sites before I even got started on them. What's more telling is someone with those skills accepted that low rate. That's what really bothers me. (Grokked for John Scalzi)
Chuck Wendig on the show Tiny House Hunters (or something like that). For me, I originally saw articles on the Tiny House fad over a decade ago, so this isn't new to me. But there are people who are very happy in their tiny homes. I also drive by people who have parked camper-trailers on an open lot and call that home (I know it's their home because one build a nice deck off of theirs). But, yeah, what Chuck said. I have a small house, and it's just me and my wife, and it's not enough room for us (it would be seriously nice to have another place with a TV where I could exercise while my wife watches Castle, I'm just saying). But all the room is dedicated for something. It doesn't help that we're both packrats who love to read and learn new things. But really. Part of owning a house is building equity, a mobile home (and that's what a Tiny House is, or at least 90%+ of them are) doesn't develop equity.
"There’s also the highly important question of how transforming school administrators into interrogators informs their view of students. A 2009 study cited by the New Yorker suggests that among police, training in the Reid Technique skewed perceptions of juveniles, making them appear more adult and less trustworthy." Wait, why are teachers being instructed in interrogation techniques? Yeah, I'm sure the "school-to-prison" pipeline has nothing to do with it (note rise of for-profit jails coupled with backlash against growing minority populations).
Okay, I didn't point to this story before because it seemed a pretty open/shut case of "hostile work environment" which would cost Sony a hellalotta money if the rape victim weren't a "star". And then this. "On Sunday, pop singer Kesha Sebert alleged that she was offered her 'freedom' if she agreed 'to APOLOGIZE publicly and say that I never got raped.' Sebert is contractually bound to Lukasz 'Dr. Luke' Gottwald, who is both the producer behind some of her biggest hits and, Sebert alleges, her abuser and rapist." The main complication here is this, "Sebert has a separate deal with Gottwald's production company, Kasz Money Inc, through which she is signed to Kemosabe." And that's the rub. Sony shouldn't have allowed that in, or bought her out of that contract when they signed her (if the side contract was in place first). So not only is this a horrible situation, it's also another example of just how fuckedup the recording industry (and the "celebrity" industry in general) is. (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
The new Hewlett-Packard logo. I see two minor adjustments that (for me anyway) would have made it fabulous, but right now I'm "meh". But given the backlash against recent rebranding efforts, it's good to see a positive reception. (Grokked from Dan)
"European media outlets are reporting that Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson has resigned days after a massive data breach known as the "Panama Papers" linked him to secret off-shore bank accounts." Yeah, he was about the only one who didn't see that one coming. Be happy, Sigmundur, they let you leave with your head on your shoulders. A hundred years ago that wouldn't have gone so well for you. And then he tried the "everybody does it" schtick. "Earlier Tuesday, Gunnlaugsson had asked Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson to call early elections and dissolve the current parliament, the BBC reports, but Grimsson refused." And the President replied, "Nope, just you, asshole."
New Treasury rules designed to make inversion less profitable claims its first victim, the Pfizer Allergan merger. I still say that for tax purposes, a company's hq and the determination of where the company is based should be made by where the majority of the C-level officers (or better yet, where the top 10 wage/benefits/option earners) show up for work most often.
It's A Trap! Man builds giant alien face mosaic in backyard to invite them all down for a chat.
Retirement investment advisors now have a legal obligation to do what they said they've been doing all along. And boy are they pissed about that. I wonder why? Note again the threat to "burn it all down" unless a certain class gets all the profits they think they're owed. I wonder how this will affect the annual company 401k "relook" to make sure they're offering "the right balance" of portfolio assets? Also an opportune time to remind you to check your own 401k and IRA plans to see what fees you're being charged and I recommend (I am not a retirement advisor, just some schmuck who has been trying to maximize my own retirement savings) index funds with ultra low fees (in the >0.1% range, most of mine are at the 0.05% range which seems to be a minimum). This typically excludes most of the funds based on your retirement date (which tend to charge huge fees in the 5% range) which seem to be popular these days.
Since the TV drama about the OJ Simpson trial is reopening all those wounds you may have wondered just where that asshat Mark Furman, confirmed white supremacist, ended up at. Did you really have any doubts? (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
"A Republican congressman on Tuesday night acknowledged that the new law requiring a photo ID to vote in Wisconsin could help Republican candidates at the polls in the general election." Another one caught telling the truth.
The George Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law. Aaaannnnddd it took them about 4 days to figure out that wasn't a Good Idea™, so they renamed it the Antonin Scalia Law School. This is why you need diversity, folks. Because if they had someone schooled in satire on their board they would have immediately recognized just how bad that original name was. Besides making the name change because of money (it came with a $30M endowment, $20M from an anonymous donor and $10 from the Koch brothers), since the change is pretty much immediate, some students are quite upset that his name will be on their diplomas. But howdy, do I want to design that sweatshirt (and sell it myself). I wonder what the legal requirements/entanglements that would set up?
You know, it's like a contest to see which Southern State can be the shittiest to all of it's citizens. Tennessee approves making the Bible the official State Book (they previously made the Beretta .50cal sniper rifle the official State Gun, I see a solution). And then Mississippi's governor goes on to sign their anti-gay law. Say, which party controls all these state's legislatures? Oh, yeah. Didn't even need to look it up, did you?
I would say the Trumpster just had his Rick Perry moment. But seriously, his supporters would still vote for him even if he shot someone on the street (as he also famously said).
"We will disclose the hotels and the room numbers of those delegates who are directly involved in the steal (if Trump doesn't get the nomination in Cleveland). If you're from Pennsylvania, we'll tell you who the culprits are. We urge you to visit their hotel and find them." I'm sure Roger Stone didn't mean that as the threat of violence that it certainly comes off as. 'Cause that would mean the Trumpster candidacy is operating like an organized crime syndicate. Or at least borrowing their tactics. "That's a nice little convention you have there, would be a shame if something happened to it." I wonder if he realizes we have a number of trigger-happy cops here?
There's this movement to increase the number of judges who win seats by direct election. I'm not in favor of these. Why? Because of the collateral damage of the election system. Basically because the dumpster fire that is the Republican 2016 Presidential Nomination this openly homophobic, bigoted asshat won election to Wisconsin's Supreme Court. (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
A (presumedly Florida) woman confronts Rick Scott on his record. May we all get the opportunity to have such encounters with our own elected officials. Be prepared.
Tweet of my heart: @ChuckWendig Be the best writer you can be. Online, be the best version of yourself. Have fun, be kind, work hard, have empathy, and hope for luck.
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Linkee-poo, it's a trap!
Yanni Kuznia is promoted to Subterranean Press' Managing Editor and Chief Operating Officer. Well done, Yanni, well done.
XCKD is up to something weird. (Grokked from Dan)
As stated in Little Big Man, sometimes the sun don't shine, the wind don't blow, and the grass doesn't grow. How do you store renewable energy sources for when that happens? Well, here are a few ideas other than industrial batteries and capacitors (store the heat, store the pressure, displacing peak demand).
"'I found it to be heartbreaking,' Jacobson says. 'I do think it's critical that we draw attention to what's going on with our children and our families here in New Mexico, but I think there's a way to do it that's actionable and that's positive and unfortunately I think they did it in a way that was destructive and divisive.'" Um, I think the time for being nice has passed. Sometimes you have to break some eggs before you can make the omelet. What she (and the NM government) are really upset about is the activist who created the parody of NM Tourism ads to highlight child poverty in NM brought the discussion into the light in an attempt to get real reform. It is, IMHO, someone who is more vested in not doing anything in a position where they should be doing something who would find someone helping their cause to be a distraction.
"The scientists found, perhaps not surprisingly, that human sacrifice contributed to creating and preserving social hierarchies, and that it increased the chances that societies would have more fixed strata, which were inherited positions, and less mobility." (Grokked from Jason Sanford)
And NPR's take on the same story. And here's a fun intellectual experiment. Take what you've learned from these two articles, and the presence of human sacrifice in highly stratified societies that are intent on perpetuating those strata and cementing families within those hierarchies, and now compare and then contrast with (the reasons behind the) Black Lives Matter movement.
"When "affordable" homes in San Francisco are advertised as 'From the low $1,000,000s', it's not just the working poor who are pushed out of the city: it's everyone, except VCs, people living on VC money, and people who've cashed out on VC-backed companies." Do you know what you can get for $1M in Ohio (and NE Ohio isn't all that cheap, but still)? Of course our jobs aren't as glamorous (or as well compensated). And we do have "weather" here. But we also have a lack of affordable low to middle income properties available and practically none in development. This isn't just a coastal problem. This is a nationwide issue. (Grokked from Jason Sanford)
"'Because I had been born into the British governing class, because I knew a lot of people of influential standing, I knew that they would never get too tough with me. They'd never try to beat me up or knock me around, because if they had been proved wrong afterwards, I could have made a tremendous scandal.'" Privilege. Kim Philby speaks to the Stasi in 1981 in a film just uncovered. Kim Philby is the prototypical mole that security agencies the world over fear and which drive lots of Cold War fiction.
"TransCanada said Monday it has shut down its Keystone pipeline because of an oil spill in South Dakota, drawing fresh criticism about the risks pipelines pose… Mark Cooper, a spokesman for TransCanada, said a local landowner noticed signs of an oil spill around noon local time Saturday and informed the company." Ah, state-of-the-art leak detection at its best. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
Now that more and more people are "getting older", there's an attempt to redefine how we live as older people. Well, at least it's not the Boomers' "60 is the new 40" shtick.
The Trumpster knows nothing. He's apparently trying to get Kasich too quit or be thrown out of the race because he "can't possibly win." And then he says, if that happens, he "automatically wins." Not how it works. Also, the article is pointed to because of the odd insertion of Hillary Clinton and Sanders in the middle. Complete non-sequiturs in a story about Trump. Just bizarre.
Sarah Palin posts picture of her with a dead boar (that she supposedly shot) in an attempt to help seal the deal for Trump in Wisconsin. I'm sure she didn't do this in an attempt to write off her hunting trip or have it classified by the Trump Campaign as a legitimate election expense. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.
There's the emerging narrative of the Democrats sabotaging themselves and leading to a party schism because the campaign for the nomination has become a real campaign. There are some seeds of truth in there, but I find myself wondering just how much the "pundits" know about actual campaigning and the law versus what they thought was happening all along. Do I think the Democrats could throw the election by shooting themselves in the foot? By golly, yes. It wouldn't be the first time. Does Hillary Clinton have her problems as a candidate? OMG, most certainly. But halfway through the article I found myself quoting Pres. Barlet, "You have to watch the whole board." (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)
Because while the Democrats are engaging in their typical circular firing-squad (actually, this is just normal politics on a very tough race), the Republicans are talking revolt within the party.
The Trumpster finally explains how he'll make Mexico pay for the wall. Basically he'll hold private remittances hostage until Mexico ponies up the cash. Yeah, that'll work (side-eye). Because Western Union would be so up for that and smaller banks wouldn't set up low-cost alternatives. Not at all. And the drug cartels already smuggle money south, I'm sure they'd be willing to add to that amount, for a small fee. So basically he wants to punish private citizens (not all remittances are made by aliens here illegally) unless a foreign government concedes to his extortion. That'll go over well in international markets (besides having to break so many treaties that guarantee the free flow of cash between countries that we might find ourselves forced out of our own trade protections).
"In this tumultuous US election there seems, for once, to be a genuine choice on offer about which kind of ideas will spend four years being thwarted in a congressional logjam." Nobody get's out of this one cleanly, although much of the fire is reserved for Trump who "looks like a pumpkin having a nervous breakdown, talks like the words are being fired out of his mouth by a tennis ball launcher and has the general manner of an arrogant televangelist suspected of murder by Columbo." There are so many great lines in this hit-piece (and make no mistake, the writer here is shouting "a plague upon both your houses", but gets to do it from England), but this maybe my favorite, "It’s certainly been entertaining to watch Sanders try to convey a message of hope through the dark prism of the US’s Stage 4 corporate media." (Grokked from John)
Tweet of my heart: @SwiftOnSecurity Next time a vendor screws around on pricing, remind them SpaceX's website has how much they charge to SEND A SATELLITE INTO SPACE.
XCKD is up to something weird. (Grokked from Dan)
As stated in Little Big Man, sometimes the sun don't shine, the wind don't blow, and the grass doesn't grow. How do you store renewable energy sources for when that happens? Well, here are a few ideas other than industrial batteries and capacitors (store the heat, store the pressure, displacing peak demand).
"'I found it to be heartbreaking,' Jacobson says. 'I do think it's critical that we draw attention to what's going on with our children and our families here in New Mexico, but I think there's a way to do it that's actionable and that's positive and unfortunately I think they did it in a way that was destructive and divisive.'" Um, I think the time for being nice has passed. Sometimes you have to break some eggs before you can make the omelet. What she (and the NM government) are really upset about is the activist who created the parody of NM Tourism ads to highlight child poverty in NM brought the discussion into the light in an attempt to get real reform. It is, IMHO, someone who is more vested in not doing anything in a position where they should be doing something who would find someone helping their cause to be a distraction.
"The scientists found, perhaps not surprisingly, that human sacrifice contributed to creating and preserving social hierarchies, and that it increased the chances that societies would have more fixed strata, which were inherited positions, and less mobility." (Grokked from Jason Sanford)
And NPR's take on the same story. And here's a fun intellectual experiment. Take what you've learned from these two articles, and the presence of human sacrifice in highly stratified societies that are intent on perpetuating those strata and cementing families within those hierarchies, and now compare and then contrast with (the reasons behind the) Black Lives Matter movement.
"When "affordable" homes in San Francisco are advertised as 'From the low $1,000,000s', it's not just the working poor who are pushed out of the city: it's everyone, except VCs, people living on VC money, and people who've cashed out on VC-backed companies." Do you know what you can get for $1M in Ohio (and NE Ohio isn't all that cheap, but still)? Of course our jobs aren't as glamorous (or as well compensated). And we do have "weather" here. But we also have a lack of affordable low to middle income properties available and practically none in development. This isn't just a coastal problem. This is a nationwide issue. (Grokked from Jason Sanford)
"'Because I had been born into the British governing class, because I knew a lot of people of influential standing, I knew that they would never get too tough with me. They'd never try to beat me up or knock me around, because if they had been proved wrong afterwards, I could have made a tremendous scandal.'" Privilege. Kim Philby speaks to the Stasi in 1981 in a film just uncovered. Kim Philby is the prototypical mole that security agencies the world over fear and which drive lots of Cold War fiction.
"TransCanada said Monday it has shut down its Keystone pipeline because of an oil spill in South Dakota, drawing fresh criticism about the risks pipelines pose… Mark Cooper, a spokesman for TransCanada, said a local landowner noticed signs of an oil spill around noon local time Saturday and informed the company." Ah, state-of-the-art leak detection at its best. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
Now that more and more people are "getting older", there's an attempt to redefine how we live as older people. Well, at least it's not the Boomers' "60 is the new 40" shtick.
The Trumpster knows nothing. He's apparently trying to get Kasich too quit or be thrown out of the race because he "can't possibly win." And then he says, if that happens, he "automatically wins." Not how it works. Also, the article is pointed to because of the odd insertion of Hillary Clinton and Sanders in the middle. Complete non-sequiturs in a story about Trump. Just bizarre.
Sarah Palin posts picture of her with a dead boar (that she supposedly shot) in an attempt to help seal the deal for Trump in Wisconsin. I'm sure she didn't do this in an attempt to write off her hunting trip or have it classified by the Trump Campaign as a legitimate election expense. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. Nothing at all.
There's the emerging narrative of the Democrats sabotaging themselves and leading to a party schism because the campaign for the nomination has become a real campaign. There are some seeds of truth in there, but I find myself wondering just how much the "pundits" know about actual campaigning and the law versus what they thought was happening all along. Do I think the Democrats could throw the election by shooting themselves in the foot? By golly, yes. It wouldn't be the first time. Does Hillary Clinton have her problems as a candidate? OMG, most certainly. But halfway through the article I found myself quoting Pres. Barlet, "You have to watch the whole board." (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)
Because while the Democrats are engaging in their typical circular firing-squad (actually, this is just normal politics on a very tough race), the Republicans are talking revolt within the party.
The Trumpster finally explains how he'll make Mexico pay for the wall. Basically he'll hold private remittances hostage until Mexico ponies up the cash. Yeah, that'll work (side-eye). Because Western Union would be so up for that and smaller banks wouldn't set up low-cost alternatives. Not at all. And the drug cartels already smuggle money south, I'm sure they'd be willing to add to that amount, for a small fee. So basically he wants to punish private citizens (not all remittances are made by aliens here illegally) unless a foreign government concedes to his extortion. That'll go over well in international markets (besides having to break so many treaties that guarantee the free flow of cash between countries that we might find ourselves forced out of our own trade protections).
"In this tumultuous US election there seems, for once, to be a genuine choice on offer about which kind of ideas will spend four years being thwarted in a congressional logjam." Nobody get's out of this one cleanly, although much of the fire is reserved for Trump who "looks like a pumpkin having a nervous breakdown, talks like the words are being fired out of his mouth by a tennis ball launcher and has the general manner of an arrogant televangelist suspected of murder by Columbo." There are so many great lines in this hit-piece (and make no mistake, the writer here is shouting "a plague upon both your houses", but gets to do it from England), but this maybe my favorite, "It’s certainly been entertaining to watch Sanders try to convey a message of hope through the dark prism of the US’s Stage 4 corporate media." (Grokked from John)
Tweet of my heart: @SwiftOnSecurity Next time a vendor screws around on pricing, remind them SpaceX's website has how much they charge to SEND A SATELLITE INTO SPACE.
Monday, April 4, 2016
Linkee-poo is trading in his Chevy for a Cadillac, and if he can't drive with a broken back at least he can polish the fenders
So you're quitting writing. Okay. Yep, been there a few times. (Grokked from Ellen Kushner)
Video of Blue Origin landing their launch vehicle (from suborbital space) for the third time. I was reminded heavily of the old Lunar Lander game and the strategy of letting the lander fall almost to the ground and then use up all the fuel slowing it to a soft landing. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"Irish American gangs played a central role in attempting to extend the bloodshed (in Chicago's 1919 race riots). Members of Ragen's Colts… disguised themselves in blackface in order to set fire to Polish and Lithuanian neighborhoods… Their hope was to draw the immigrant population into bloody reprisals against African Americans. Two years later, Ragen's Colts again mounted the barricades, hanging in effigy a Ku Klux Klansman… to isolate and drive from Chicago an organization known for violence against southern African Americans, but now focused on Roman Catholics and Jews as threats to American culture and society… Thus Ragen's Colts symbolized the bizarre extremes of racial intolerance and terror in early-twentieth-century Chicago." (Grokked from Chia Evers)
"Mossack Fonseca is not a household name, but the Panamanian law firm has long been well known to the global financial and political elite, and thanks to a massive 2.6 terabyte leak of its confidential papers to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists it's about to become much better known." An overview of The PanamaPapers everyone is talking about. "Even as the world's wealthiest and most powerful nations have engaged in increasingly complex and intensive efforts at international cooperation to smooth the wheels of global commerce, they have willfully chosen to allow the wealthiest members of Western society to shield their financial assets from taxation (and in many cases divorce or bankruptcy settlement) by taking advantage of shell companies and tax havens." Gee, why would the wealthy and powerful get a break? (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
A Planet Money podcast on just how easy it is to set up an offshore company. There are even consultants that will help.
Think it's a harmless game for the rich or wondering why you should care? Every dollar they (the people in your country who use these offshoring firms to) hide is another dollar you need to pay in taxes, or a dollar being added to your national debt, or some service that is being cut to make your government more dysfunctional. If this wasn't allowed (and some of it isn't) there could be actual tax reform that would mean something other than sticking it to the middle class, again.
"Australia's national science organisation planned to stop 'doing science for science sake' and would no longer do 'public good' work unless it was linked to jobs and economic growth, according to internal emails between CSIRO senior managers." Sounds like a sensible plan, until you realize it's just an excuse to cut global climate change research. Also, "basic science" (what they're calling "science for science sake") is the bedrock of progress. Except for actual moon-shot programs, these are the advances that keep up progressing. Like your cellphone, microwave, modern medicine? Without the basic science being done, you'd never have these things (note, the microwave oven is actually from our space program). This is one way to hobble society and put blinders on. In other words, this is the exact rejection that brought about the Dark Ages in Europe. And if you think, "Oh, those silly Aussies" that phrase, "science for science sake" has already cropped up in our American political discourse (and will probably be a small part of the election cycle, as it was last time). (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
The Tea Party congressional class of 2010 is getting out. "As it turns out, some people who never harbored ambitions to be career politicians don't love being politicians… Ribble and his retiring colleagues say they are, for the most part, proud of what a Republican-controlled House managed to get done these past six years." That's hilarious. This is like your friend, when hearing your iPod isn't synching properly says they can fix it, then smashes it with a hammer and hands it back to you saying they did all they could do. Say, isn't there something about serving more than 5 years? Why yes, yes there is. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
"The 'Mississippi Church Protection Act' would allow churches to empower designated members of their congregation as part of a security team with a 'shoot to kill' authority equivalent to a police officer but with less government oversight. The bill contains few restrictions regarding where one may act within this capacity, allowing a church’s volunteer security personnel to exercise this authority in public and private venues outside of the church." What could possibly go wrong? (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
The Trumpster Campaign wheels out Ivana Trump to help. "'As long as you come here legally and get a proper job… we need immigrants. Who’s going to vacuum our living rooms and clean up after us? Americans don’t like to do that,' Ivana Trump told the New York Post." And then the wheel her back behind the curtain.
Video of Blue Origin landing their launch vehicle (from suborbital space) for the third time. I was reminded heavily of the old Lunar Lander game and the strategy of letting the lander fall almost to the ground and then use up all the fuel slowing it to a soft landing. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"Irish American gangs played a central role in attempting to extend the bloodshed (in Chicago's 1919 race riots). Members of Ragen's Colts… disguised themselves in blackface in order to set fire to Polish and Lithuanian neighborhoods… Their hope was to draw the immigrant population into bloody reprisals against African Americans. Two years later, Ragen's Colts again mounted the barricades, hanging in effigy a Ku Klux Klansman… to isolate and drive from Chicago an organization known for violence against southern African Americans, but now focused on Roman Catholics and Jews as threats to American culture and society… Thus Ragen's Colts symbolized the bizarre extremes of racial intolerance and terror in early-twentieth-century Chicago." (Grokked from Chia Evers)
"Mossack Fonseca is not a household name, but the Panamanian law firm has long been well known to the global financial and political elite, and thanks to a massive 2.6 terabyte leak of its confidential papers to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists it's about to become much better known." An overview of The PanamaPapers everyone is talking about. "Even as the world's wealthiest and most powerful nations have engaged in increasingly complex and intensive efforts at international cooperation to smooth the wheels of global commerce, they have willfully chosen to allow the wealthiest members of Western society to shield their financial assets from taxation (and in many cases divorce or bankruptcy settlement) by taking advantage of shell companies and tax havens." Gee, why would the wealthy and powerful get a break? (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
A Planet Money podcast on just how easy it is to set up an offshore company. There are even consultants that will help.
Think it's a harmless game for the rich or wondering why you should care? Every dollar they (the people in your country who use these offshoring firms to) hide is another dollar you need to pay in taxes, or a dollar being added to your national debt, or some service that is being cut to make your government more dysfunctional. If this wasn't allowed (and some of it isn't) there could be actual tax reform that would mean something other than sticking it to the middle class, again.
"Australia's national science organisation planned to stop 'doing science for science sake' and would no longer do 'public good' work unless it was linked to jobs and economic growth, according to internal emails between CSIRO senior managers." Sounds like a sensible plan, until you realize it's just an excuse to cut global climate change research. Also, "basic science" (what they're calling "science for science sake") is the bedrock of progress. Except for actual moon-shot programs, these are the advances that keep up progressing. Like your cellphone, microwave, modern medicine? Without the basic science being done, you'd never have these things (note, the microwave oven is actually from our space program). This is one way to hobble society and put blinders on. In other words, this is the exact rejection that brought about the Dark Ages in Europe. And if you think, "Oh, those silly Aussies" that phrase, "science for science sake" has already cropped up in our American political discourse (and will probably be a small part of the election cycle, as it was last time). (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)
The Tea Party congressional class of 2010 is getting out. "As it turns out, some people who never harbored ambitions to be career politicians don't love being politicians… Ribble and his retiring colleagues say they are, for the most part, proud of what a Republican-controlled House managed to get done these past six years." That's hilarious. This is like your friend, when hearing your iPod isn't synching properly says they can fix it, then smashes it with a hammer and hands it back to you saying they did all they could do. Say, isn't there something about serving more than 5 years? Why yes, yes there is. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
"The 'Mississippi Church Protection Act' would allow churches to empower designated members of their congregation as part of a security team with a 'shoot to kill' authority equivalent to a police officer but with less government oversight. The bill contains few restrictions regarding where one may act within this capacity, allowing a church’s volunteer security personnel to exercise this authority in public and private venues outside of the church." What could possibly go wrong? (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
The Trumpster Campaign wheels out Ivana Trump to help. "'As long as you come here legally and get a proper job… we need immigrants. Who’s going to vacuum our living rooms and clean up after us? Americans don’t like to do that,' Ivana Trump told the New York Post." And then the wheel her back behind the curtain.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Linke-poo has felt the coldness of my winter
Just wanted to let you know early that this Summer is going to be filled with an unpredictable schedule where I know there will be weeks where I will be unable to post and other times of extended irregular posting. At this point I don't have plans to stop blogging (although I have discussed it with people as a way to claw back time to devote to writing novels). I need to let out all these thoughts and if I stifle them it'll be worse for me. But, I'm not Jay Lake, who was prodigious in person and output (and a damn fast reader). So if it looks like this blog is going dark, just know that I will be back. May and July are looking particularly shaky with time availability. Sorry.
So, how about that snow, eh?
Scrivener for iOS goes to limited beta. Let's see, my iPad is 4 years old, purchased in anticipation of Scrivener on iOS. So it's been a long wait. (Grokked from Chia Evers)
Mary Robinette Kowal owns up to her April Fools prank. As someone who watched it unfold on twitter, I can say, well done, Mary, well done. Stands and salutes. And yes, I saw her misdirection and for about two or three minutes I believed it, but then remembered the past years' April Fools pranks and figured it would be within her wheelhouse to do this and play it this way. But still, highly entertaining and mind/experience expanding. You brought a smile to my face on an otherwise dreary work day. You're an inspiration.
There are so many things wrong with this story. First of all is the angle of the story, that a father would kill his son for being gay. Not that it's a wrong assumption, but is about one of eight things going on here. Okay, so if the father killed the son (with a shotgun) for being gay, then who killed the mother (stabbing)? I would assume they'll charge the father with both (because given the dynamic in the house, it would be within the realm of possibility). That the father is 69 and the son is 29, and the son was still living at home (okay, that can happen), but the parents were in the process of evicting the son (also possible), and the house was trashed (also possible), but all together is a train wreck of a family dynamic. But there's no exploration of those, just that the father is charged with a hate crime.
One of the links that got ate in yesterday's brain malfunction. Elon Musk unveils the Tesla 3. Many pundits have said that the only way he could produce his car for less than $50,000 is if he sold tens of thousands. The Tesla 3 is listed at $35,000, and they had preorders over 100k before the launch (Saturday morning there are rumors preorders are now over 230k). That'll do, pig, that'll do.
Egypt is bringing in the experts to examine of King Tut's Tomb may have another tomb behind it. Which is good, because to access those areas would mean removing some of the walls (with their hieroglyphs and bas-reliefs) to find out. That's a serious endeavor that would forever alter the original tomb (and potential tourist and academic dollars). (Grokked from Mrs. Tadd)
Google's Project Loon. Ah, the old ballon-as-wireless-internet-tower gag. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
"Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's (R) campaign committee spent a whopping $1,732.68 on 'cell phones and prepaid wireless' at a Best Buy in 2015, according to campaign finance reports acquired by AL.com." I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all those burner phones.
The just never learn. Mississippi is next up on the "religious liberty bill" chopping block. And the same day their ban on same-sex adoptions was struck down. It's just particularly tone-deaf.
This is how the conservatives build their infrastructure to support their detrimental policies and give them the imprimatur of legitimacy. They fund colleges and think tanks that can do the heavy lifting. This is the structure that launches people like John Yoo (who wrote the legal opinion that water-boarding isn't actually torture) into public life.
"Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has been whipping Trump in the quiet, early race to elect his own loyalists to become delegates to the convention, meaning that the Texas senator could triumph through delegates who are freed to vote their own preferences on a second ballot, regardless of who won their state." Been hearing a lot of whispers about this. Cruz has been putting his own people forward as delegates so while they nominally need to vote Trump on the first ballot, they'll switch to Cruz quicker than you can say "switcheroo". See, it still is controlled by backroom deals. (Grokked from John Scalzi)
"Should Mr. Trump lurch into the convention so fatally compromised with general election voters and a sizable faction of Republicans, it could make it easier for the party to wrest the nomination away from him. But it would also make the consequences of failing to defeat him all the more ruinous if the specter of choosing a seemingly unelectable nominee does not deter Mr. Trump’s supporters." While I think the Trumpster would be a yuuge liability to the Republicans this Fall, it all hinges on if the Democrats can leverage the emotions against him into votes at the polls. Something they're not always good at. It involves tying the GOP to the views of their candidate, which the "elite" of the GOP are frantically building space between them and Trumpster. And there are plenty of Republicans who will hold their nose and vote for him to keep Hillary out of the White House. (Grokked from Jason Sanford)
Tweet of my heart: @LaurenDeStefano a writer's brain is like a chrysalis filled with thousands of shining idea butterflies and their wings are made of razors and they punch you
So, how about that snow, eh?
Scrivener for iOS goes to limited beta. Let's see, my iPad is 4 years old, purchased in anticipation of Scrivener on iOS. So it's been a long wait. (Grokked from Chia Evers)
Mary Robinette Kowal owns up to her April Fools prank. As someone who watched it unfold on twitter, I can say, well done, Mary, well done. Stands and salutes. And yes, I saw her misdirection and for about two or three minutes I believed it, but then remembered the past years' April Fools pranks and figured it would be within her wheelhouse to do this and play it this way. But still, highly entertaining and mind/experience expanding. You brought a smile to my face on an otherwise dreary work day. You're an inspiration.
There are so many things wrong with this story. First of all is the angle of the story, that a father would kill his son for being gay. Not that it's a wrong assumption, but is about one of eight things going on here. Okay, so if the father killed the son (with a shotgun) for being gay, then who killed the mother (stabbing)? I would assume they'll charge the father with both (because given the dynamic in the house, it would be within the realm of possibility). That the father is 69 and the son is 29, and the son was still living at home (okay, that can happen), but the parents were in the process of evicting the son (also possible), and the house was trashed (also possible), but all together is a train wreck of a family dynamic. But there's no exploration of those, just that the father is charged with a hate crime.
One of the links that got ate in yesterday's brain malfunction. Elon Musk unveils the Tesla 3. Many pundits have said that the only way he could produce his car for less than $50,000 is if he sold tens of thousands. The Tesla 3 is listed at $35,000, and they had preorders over 100k before the launch (Saturday morning there are rumors preorders are now over 230k). That'll do, pig, that'll do.
Egypt is bringing in the experts to examine of King Tut's Tomb may have another tomb behind it. Which is good, because to access those areas would mean removing some of the walls (with their hieroglyphs and bas-reliefs) to find out. That's a serious endeavor that would forever alter the original tomb (and potential tourist and academic dollars). (Grokked from Mrs. Tadd)
Google's Project Loon. Ah, the old ballon-as-wireless-internet-tower gag. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
"Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's (R) campaign committee spent a whopping $1,732.68 on 'cell phones and prepaid wireless' at a Best Buy in 2015, according to campaign finance reports acquired by AL.com." I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all those burner phones.
The just never learn. Mississippi is next up on the "religious liberty bill" chopping block. And the same day their ban on same-sex adoptions was struck down. It's just particularly tone-deaf.
This is how the conservatives build their infrastructure to support their detrimental policies and give them the imprimatur of legitimacy. They fund colleges and think tanks that can do the heavy lifting. This is the structure that launches people like John Yoo (who wrote the legal opinion that water-boarding isn't actually torture) into public life.
"Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has been whipping Trump in the quiet, early race to elect his own loyalists to become delegates to the convention, meaning that the Texas senator could triumph through delegates who are freed to vote their own preferences on a second ballot, regardless of who won their state." Been hearing a lot of whispers about this. Cruz has been putting his own people forward as delegates so while they nominally need to vote Trump on the first ballot, they'll switch to Cruz quicker than you can say "switcheroo". See, it still is controlled by backroom deals. (Grokked from John Scalzi)
"Should Mr. Trump lurch into the convention so fatally compromised with general election voters and a sizable faction of Republicans, it could make it easier for the party to wrest the nomination away from him. But it would also make the consequences of failing to defeat him all the more ruinous if the specter of choosing a seemingly unelectable nominee does not deter Mr. Trump’s supporters." While I think the Trumpster would be a yuuge liability to the Republicans this Fall, it all hinges on if the Democrats can leverage the emotions against him into votes at the polls. Something they're not always good at. It involves tying the GOP to the views of their candidate, which the "elite" of the GOP are frantically building space between them and Trumpster. And there are plenty of Republicans who will hold their nose and vote for him to keep Hillary out of the White House. (Grokked from Jason Sanford)
Tweet of my heart: @LaurenDeStefano a writer's brain is like a chrysalis filled with thousands of shining idea butterflies and their wings are made of razors and they punch you
Friday, April 1, 2016
Linkee-poo reposted
Sorry, lost several links because of my stupidity. Sorry about that.
"General Electric wants to be removed from the federal government's list of too-big-to-fail financial institutions, arguing that it's no longer a major player in the financial services industry." Good luck with that (actually they probably have a good chance). I'm sure the oversight on salary and bonuses paid had nothing to do with it.
Well, at least one Senator gets how important digital security is. (Grokked from Vince O'Conner)
"It’s about entrenched behaviors and facing the reality of the system we’ve created which allows one part of the system to attempt to carry the limitations of the rest." On our American medical fascination with using the Emergency Room/Department for standard care. The problem here, and what I see out there, is the gatekeepers don't have the knowledge to change sending people to the ER. EMTALA should not be repealed (that's the law the an ER can't deny you care for lack of ability to pay). And it's not fully enforced anyway. Also, as suggested elsewhere that EMS should have the right to refuse transport, EMT's don't have the skills to fully diagnose a patient and should not be in the position to determine if they should take a patient to the ER. I've seen patients who have come in with "flu like symptoms" crash (CODE Blue, get the crash cart, baby, it's almost Hammer Time). But I have also seen people come in for really no good reason except they couldn't see their PCP right away. Also, just a bone to pick, the government did fund EMTALA with direct payments to hospitals (which have been reduced under Obamacare). Again I'll float the idea of an integrated ER/Urgent Care unit. The doctor in the ER or UC could refer patients to the other which wouldn't be farther than a walk across the lobby. But that takes money and administration that has it's eyes open (right now, they are providing both through the ER, but they can charge more for ER services). So this is partly self-inflicted pain. (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
Affordable housing is an issue, again. With house prices rising at pre-collapse rates (>10%/yr), yeah, it's getting tougher out there. Also, as someone who's first house (which we're still in) is small because everybody is building mini-mansions and charging >$260,000 for a home, it was all I could afford. But moving up is also looking harder. I keep wondering just who the hell is buying all those places.
"The CIA left 'explosive training material' under the hood of a Loudoun County school bus after a training exercise last week, a bus that was used to ferry elementary and high school students to and from school on Monday and Tuesday with the material still sitting in the engine compartment, according to the CIA and Loudoun County officials." The fuck? They did a full inventory on Thursday and found all the material is accounted for. Um, shouldn't that have been done right after the training exercise? (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"The Republican National Committee has launched a website to inform the public about what happens in the event of contested GOP convention, the Washington Examiner reported. The website, ConventionFacts.gop, lists party rules regarding the delegates required for a candidate to be nominated to lead the GOP's 2016 convention, as well as the process if no candidate initially meets the requirement." LET'S GET READY TO RUUUMMMBBBLLLEE! Remember when Preibus and the RNC stated categorically that they were not scheming to get a contested convention sometime back in December/January when they had a meeting to discuss it? Good times, good times.
"(Chuck) Todd asked (Gov. Kasich) specifically about his efforts to reach out to the black community, and why his state ranks as the sixth worst place to raise a black child in. Kasich responded by saying he didn't believe the statistics, then decided to brag about his efforts to reduce infant mortality, and insisted that the 'minority (black) community' needed to become better partners at helping their babies not die, which he knows because white people have gotten with the program." As the article starts out that he keeps trying to tell people that Kasich "is every bit the toxic slime pile that Trump and Cruz are". Seconded. The only difference is John is a better politician and usually knows how to dog-whistle better than that. (Grokked from Patrick Nielsen Hayden)
Tweet of my heart: @tomtomorrow If you think your wacky April Fool's joke can outdo whatever's in the news cycle tomorrow, well, good luck with that.
"General Electric wants to be removed from the federal government's list of too-big-to-fail financial institutions, arguing that it's no longer a major player in the financial services industry." Good luck with that (actually they probably have a good chance). I'm sure the oversight on salary and bonuses paid had nothing to do with it.
Well, at least one Senator gets how important digital security is. (Grokked from Vince O'Conner)
"It’s about entrenched behaviors and facing the reality of the system we’ve created which allows one part of the system to attempt to carry the limitations of the rest." On our American medical fascination with using the Emergency Room/Department for standard care. The problem here, and what I see out there, is the gatekeepers don't have the knowledge to change sending people to the ER. EMTALA should not be repealed (that's the law the an ER can't deny you care for lack of ability to pay). And it's not fully enforced anyway. Also, as suggested elsewhere that EMS should have the right to refuse transport, EMT's don't have the skills to fully diagnose a patient and should not be in the position to determine if they should take a patient to the ER. I've seen patients who have come in with "flu like symptoms" crash (CODE Blue, get the crash cart, baby, it's almost Hammer Time). But I have also seen people come in for really no good reason except they couldn't see their PCP right away. Also, just a bone to pick, the government did fund EMTALA with direct payments to hospitals (which have been reduced under Obamacare). Again I'll float the idea of an integrated ER/Urgent Care unit. The doctor in the ER or UC could refer patients to the other which wouldn't be farther than a walk across the lobby. But that takes money and administration that has it's eyes open (right now, they are providing both through the ER, but they can charge more for ER services). So this is partly self-inflicted pain. (Grokked from Chip Dawes)
Affordable housing is an issue, again. With house prices rising at pre-collapse rates (>10%/yr), yeah, it's getting tougher out there. Also, as someone who's first house (which we're still in) is small because everybody is building mini-mansions and charging >$260,000 for a home, it was all I could afford. But moving up is also looking harder. I keep wondering just who the hell is buying all those places.
"The CIA left 'explosive training material' under the hood of a Loudoun County school bus after a training exercise last week, a bus that was used to ferry elementary and high school students to and from school on Monday and Tuesday with the material still sitting in the engine compartment, according to the CIA and Loudoun County officials." The fuck? They did a full inventory on Thursday and found all the material is accounted for. Um, shouldn't that have been done right after the training exercise? (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"The Republican National Committee has launched a website to inform the public about what happens in the event of contested GOP convention, the Washington Examiner reported. The website, ConventionFacts.gop, lists party rules regarding the delegates required for a candidate to be nominated to lead the GOP's 2016 convention, as well as the process if no candidate initially meets the requirement." LET'S GET READY TO RUUUMMMBBBLLLEE! Remember when Preibus and the RNC stated categorically that they were not scheming to get a contested convention sometime back in December/January when they had a meeting to discuss it? Good times, good times.
"(Chuck) Todd asked (Gov. Kasich) specifically about his efforts to reach out to the black community, and why his state ranks as the sixth worst place to raise a black child in. Kasich responded by saying he didn't believe the statistics, then decided to brag about his efforts to reduce infant mortality, and insisted that the 'minority (black) community' needed to become better partners at helping their babies not die, which he knows because white people have gotten with the program." As the article starts out that he keeps trying to tell people that Kasich "is every bit the toxic slime pile that Trump and Cruz are". Seconded. The only difference is John is a better politician and usually knows how to dog-whistle better than that. (Grokked from Patrick Nielsen Hayden)
Tweet of my heart: @tomtomorrow If you think your wacky April Fool's joke can outdo whatever's in the news cycle tomorrow, well, good luck with that.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Linkee-poo, girl, don't you lie to me, tell me where did you sleep last night
Mary Robinette Kowal on the WFC award contest rules and specifications. Ahhhh yep.
"According to a bunch of fancy linguists, people who are more sensitive to written typos and grammatical errors are indeed the kinds of Type A assholes everyone already suspects them to be." Hahahaha, wait a second… (Grokked from John Scalzi, to whom I once wrote an email pointing out some typesetting "errors" in a book of his)
"Researchers found that cost — and even high-tech promises of seeing around curves — had little to do with performance" of your car's headlight system. "(T)he Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested 82 different headlight configurations available on 2016 model-year cars. More than half of these setups (44) earned no better than a rating of 'poor.'" Well, that can't be good. As someone who drives many times on rural, unlit roads, so very much this.
Sometimes an aircraft carrier is just a cigar. Or something. That's Jim Wright on how we pay it forward with our taxes and how some people only want the aircraft carrier and not educate or keep healthy the people who operate it, do the planning, fly the planes, lube the planes, lube the engines, cook for those who do…
Marie Vibbert on horny boys, sexual harassment, and chat-bots passing the Turing Test (with a solid dose of the objectification of women).
Because all the cool kids are talking about it, a ten-year old girl gets the opportunity to design her own prosthetic arm, develops it as a glitter cannon. Because why the fuck not? Okay, I'm starting to warm to this whole "makers community" (3D printing for the masses) idea. (Grokked from Saladin Ahmed)
The high costs of caring for someone with Alzheimers. And that's on top of the mental and physical strain it makes on the caregivers.
A hospice in Texas is under investigation that management ordered hospice nurses to increase dosages of drugs to hasten patient's deaths. Two thoughts here, this is the result of badly based insurance incentives and two, fucking business majors. We used to have a joke when I was first in college, if you can succeed at engineering go into the arts, if you can succeed there go into education or communications, and if all else fails, get a business degree.
"Security researchers have discovered 1,418 vulnerabilities in CareFusion’s Pyxis SupplyStation system (used to automagically dispense pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies) that are still being used in the healthcare and public health sectors in the US and around the world." Pyxis systems have the greatest market penetration and if you use a mail-order pharmacy, or a large hospital pharmacy, chances are a Pyxis machine counted out those pills and packaged them. (Grokked from Dan)
"Until 2008 not a single earthquake had ever been recorded… from the Dallas–Fort Worth area… Since then, close to 200 have shaken the cities and their immediate suburbs. Statewide, Texas is experiencing a sixfold increase in earthquakes over historic levels. Oklahoma has seen a 160-fold spike in quakes, some of which have sent people to hospitals and damaged buildings and highways." I'm sure it can't be man-made. LOOK A SQUIRREL! Another example of the result of conservative politics ("Drill, Baby, Drill!" and weakening regulatory agencies). "The (1969) experiment showed that human-triggered earthquakes could be controlled by adjusting wastewater-injection pressure. Unfortunately, the lessons of Rangely and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal were apparently forgotten by the early 2000s, when fossil-fuel companies embarked on the shale-gas boom." (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
The oil business is corrupt? "After a six-month investigation across two continents, Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post can reveal that billions of dollars of government contracts were awarded as the direct result of bribes paid on behalf of firms including British icon Rolls-Royce, US giant Halliburton, Australia’s Leighton Holdings and Korean heavyweights Samsung and Hyundai." Shocked, shocked I am… Actually this could be quite interesting, especially for Halliburton who is subject to US anti-corruption laws (which includes clauses for contracts not awarded in the US to foreign subsidiaries). Although the did open a world HQ in Dubia (at the time wonks speculated it was so they could do work in Iran, which is still verboten for US companies). (Grokked from Dan)
"The question of who shot Brittney Mills is wide open. And the answer could be locked up in an iPhone — her iPhone." Or not. But the police don't have much else to go on. The update since I wrote this is the FBI is now helping more cases with their unlocking scheme, although they haven't promised to help in this case yet.
"'A 21-year-old kid just sort of dies out in the middle of nowhere and nothing happens?'" Life and death in the Bakken oil fields. But we don't need any regulation. Why? Because (at least on "public land") "requiring such an upgrade (automatic oil level checkers) would cause some companies to shut down." Only their required to have them in Canada and on our off-shore rigs and they seem to still be in business. I don't know, why don't we require the use of a respirator with a gas filter when checking oil tanks manually? Or design some mechanism to vent the gases before someone sticks their head over the thief hole? Again, that would be too much money. Just like properly venting coal mines.
"After The Washington Post published a lengthy investigation into the origins of Hillary Clinton's email scandal, including the bombshell revelation that 147 FBI agents were looking into her private server, the newspaper corrected its report late Tuesday to note the number of agents looking into Clinton’s emails was actually fewer than 50." What's a few hundred people here and there? Liberally biased media my ass.
"Abortion rights advocates, meanwhile, scoffed at the space anti-abortion groups tried to put between their approach and Trump’s." Yep. The Trumpster spilled the beans because he did "study" the issue and he understood exactly what the anti-abortion groups want, but not enough to use the language those groups want their chosen candidates to use. Again, he shows his ignorance on how to dog-whistle correctly. And then Dr. Carson goes on to say that the Trumpster didn't know the question was coming so hadn't prepared. Really? A GOP candidate didn't know the abortion questions would be coming? Do these people believe we all have brain damage?
Why do I rail so much against the anti-aboritonists? "The doctors and nurses at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin cried with them, but said because of Texas law HB2, they could not help speed Taylor’s labor. Technically, the baby was healthy and the mother was healthy, so to induce labor (at 20 weeks) would be an abortion, and to do it at this stage in the pregnancy would be illegal." That's one of a few hundred reasons. Not only is this a cruel and painful intrusion into personal lives by placing government between patient and doctor, this can be psychologically damaging (a claim some anti-abortionists make against those who have abortions, for which there is no evidence). These laws damage people's lives for no other reason than pregnancy isn't the wonderfully easy thing it is made out to be in the media. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
Damn autocorrect. "Untied" is a legitimate word.
"A 15-year-old girl was pepper-sprayed in the face Tuesday during a tense shouting match that erupted after she was groped outside a Donald Trump campaign rally in Wisconsin, local police said." So, just who is doing all the violence at the Trump Rallies?
"According to a bunch of fancy linguists, people who are more sensitive to written typos and grammatical errors are indeed the kinds of Type A assholes everyone already suspects them to be." Hahahaha, wait a second… (Grokked from John Scalzi, to whom I once wrote an email pointing out some typesetting "errors" in a book of his)
"Researchers found that cost — and even high-tech promises of seeing around curves — had little to do with performance" of your car's headlight system. "(T)he Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tested 82 different headlight configurations available on 2016 model-year cars. More than half of these setups (44) earned no better than a rating of 'poor.'" Well, that can't be good. As someone who drives many times on rural, unlit roads, so very much this.
Sometimes an aircraft carrier is just a cigar. Or something. That's Jim Wright on how we pay it forward with our taxes and how some people only want the aircraft carrier and not educate or keep healthy the people who operate it, do the planning, fly the planes, lube the planes, lube the engines, cook for those who do…
Marie Vibbert on horny boys, sexual harassment, and chat-bots passing the Turing Test (with a solid dose of the objectification of women).
Because all the cool kids are talking about it, a ten-year old girl gets the opportunity to design her own prosthetic arm, develops it as a glitter cannon. Because why the fuck not? Okay, I'm starting to warm to this whole "makers community" (3D printing for the masses) idea. (Grokked from Saladin Ahmed)
The high costs of caring for someone with Alzheimers. And that's on top of the mental and physical strain it makes on the caregivers.
A hospice in Texas is under investigation that management ordered hospice nurses to increase dosages of drugs to hasten patient's deaths. Two thoughts here, this is the result of badly based insurance incentives and two, fucking business majors. We used to have a joke when I was first in college, if you can succeed at engineering go into the arts, if you can succeed there go into education or communications, and if all else fails, get a business degree.
"Security researchers have discovered 1,418 vulnerabilities in CareFusion’s Pyxis SupplyStation system (used to automagically dispense pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies) that are still being used in the healthcare and public health sectors in the US and around the world." Pyxis systems have the greatest market penetration and if you use a mail-order pharmacy, or a large hospital pharmacy, chances are a Pyxis machine counted out those pills and packaged them. (Grokked from Dan)
"Until 2008 not a single earthquake had ever been recorded… from the Dallas–Fort Worth area… Since then, close to 200 have shaken the cities and their immediate suburbs. Statewide, Texas is experiencing a sixfold increase in earthquakes over historic levels. Oklahoma has seen a 160-fold spike in quakes, some of which have sent people to hospitals and damaged buildings and highways." I'm sure it can't be man-made. LOOK A SQUIRREL! Another example of the result of conservative politics ("Drill, Baby, Drill!" and weakening regulatory agencies). "The (1969) experiment showed that human-triggered earthquakes could be controlled by adjusting wastewater-injection pressure. Unfortunately, the lessons of Rangely and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal were apparently forgotten by the early 2000s, when fossil-fuel companies embarked on the shale-gas boom." (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
The oil business is corrupt? "After a six-month investigation across two continents, Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post can reveal that billions of dollars of government contracts were awarded as the direct result of bribes paid on behalf of firms including British icon Rolls-Royce, US giant Halliburton, Australia’s Leighton Holdings and Korean heavyweights Samsung and Hyundai." Shocked, shocked I am… Actually this could be quite interesting, especially for Halliburton who is subject to US anti-corruption laws (which includes clauses for contracts not awarded in the US to foreign subsidiaries). Although the did open a world HQ in Dubia (at the time wonks speculated it was so they could do work in Iran, which is still verboten for US companies). (Grokked from Dan)
"The question of who shot Brittney Mills is wide open. And the answer could be locked up in an iPhone — her iPhone." Or not. But the police don't have much else to go on. The update since I wrote this is the FBI is now helping more cases with their unlocking scheme, although they haven't promised to help in this case yet.
"'A 21-year-old kid just sort of dies out in the middle of nowhere and nothing happens?'" Life and death in the Bakken oil fields. But we don't need any regulation. Why? Because (at least on "public land") "requiring such an upgrade (automatic oil level checkers) would cause some companies to shut down." Only their required to have them in Canada and on our off-shore rigs and they seem to still be in business. I don't know, why don't we require the use of a respirator with a gas filter when checking oil tanks manually? Or design some mechanism to vent the gases before someone sticks their head over the thief hole? Again, that would be too much money. Just like properly venting coal mines.
"After The Washington Post published a lengthy investigation into the origins of Hillary Clinton's email scandal, including the bombshell revelation that 147 FBI agents were looking into her private server, the newspaper corrected its report late Tuesday to note the number of agents looking into Clinton’s emails was actually fewer than 50." What's a few hundred people here and there? Liberally biased media my ass.
"Abortion rights advocates, meanwhile, scoffed at the space anti-abortion groups tried to put between their approach and Trump’s." Yep. The Trumpster spilled the beans because he did "study" the issue and he understood exactly what the anti-abortion groups want, but not enough to use the language those groups want their chosen candidates to use. Again, he shows his ignorance on how to dog-whistle correctly. And then Dr. Carson goes on to say that the Trumpster didn't know the question was coming so hadn't prepared. Really? A GOP candidate didn't know the abortion questions would be coming? Do these people believe we all have brain damage?
Why do I rail so much against the anti-aboritonists? "The doctors and nurses at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin cried with them, but said because of Texas law HB2, they could not help speed Taylor’s labor. Technically, the baby was healthy and the mother was healthy, so to induce labor (at 20 weeks) would be an abortion, and to do it at this stage in the pregnancy would be illegal." That's one of a few hundred reasons. Not only is this a cruel and painful intrusion into personal lives by placing government between patient and doctor, this can be psychologically damaging (a claim some anti-abortionists make against those who have abortions, for which there is no evidence). These laws damage people's lives for no other reason than pregnancy isn't the wonderfully easy thing it is made out to be in the media. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
Damn autocorrect. "Untied" is a legitimate word.
"A 15-year-old girl was pepper-sprayed in the face Tuesday during a tense shouting match that erupted after she was groped outside a Donald Trump campaign rally in Wisconsin, local police said." So, just who is doing all the violence at the Trump Rallies?
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Linkee-poo special
So, today the Trumpster made a gaff and said that if abortion is made illegal, women who have abortions should be punished. He later walked back that statement (while at the same time saying his position hasn't changed, see earlier statements on how the Trumpster talks and tries to get things both ways). He did this because there was tremendous outcry against that position, including from the anti-abortion crowd who said they would never go that far.
Oh, reeeeeeally?
Rennie Gibbs in Mississippi, Purvi Patel in Indiana, Amanda Kimbrough in Alabama, Nina Buckhalter in Mississippi (again), Melissa Ann Rowland in Utah, Bei Bei Shuai in Indiana, and others. All of these mothers are being prosecuted because their children were either stillborn or died shortly after birth. All charged under laws protecting the health of the fetus (most charged with ingesting drugs or poison to intentionally cause the death of the fetus). It took me longer to type this paragraph than it did to google the articles.
So let me call bullshit on the anti-abortion movement. They really do want to make abortion illegal and inaccessible to women, and then prosecute those who may try to do it themselves. They also are coming for your birth control (as previously linked to).
Dear media outlets, this is part of what we mean when we say that you need to report on what is happening, not just say, "this person said this." But that requires smart people doing the reporting, and the courage of the news outlets to upset the people they report on. This isn't hidden knowledge, but it does require actual effort. As you can see it doesn't require much effort.
Oh, reeeeeeally?
Rennie Gibbs in Mississippi, Purvi Patel in Indiana, Amanda Kimbrough in Alabama, Nina Buckhalter in Mississippi (again), Melissa Ann Rowland in Utah, Bei Bei Shuai in Indiana, and others. All of these mothers are being prosecuted because their children were either stillborn or died shortly after birth. All charged under laws protecting the health of the fetus (most charged with ingesting drugs or poison to intentionally cause the death of the fetus). It took me longer to type this paragraph than it did to google the articles.
So let me call bullshit on the anti-abortion movement. They really do want to make abortion illegal and inaccessible to women, and then prosecute those who may try to do it themselves. They also are coming for your birth control (as previously linked to).
Dear media outlets, this is part of what we mean when we say that you need to report on what is happening, not just say, "this person said this." But that requires smart people doing the reporting, and the courage of the news outlets to upset the people they report on. This isn't hidden knowledge, but it does require actual effort. As you can see it doesn't require much effort.
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