Events moving too fast to sit on these until Monday. Beginning to see why the Russian troll operations weren't wrapped up after the election. And here's the thing about conspiracies at higher levels of government, it doesn't remain a secret for very long when it involves the American people.
"Vice President-elect Mike Pence is seeking to keep secret the contents of an email relating to Indiana’s participation, at his behest, in a lawsuit to block President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration, an Indianapolis Star article revealed Monday." The GOP keeps flogging the corpse of irony. (Grokked from Jim Wright)
"The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter." That's the Washington Post, by the way. There's no word in this article about Trump being a Manchurian Candidate, or a Putin Pawn. That can be implied by statements the President-Elect made during the campaign, including an open call to release any of the "deleted" emails from Clinton's server (which he later claimed was a "joke"). This could be solely a mater of Putin not wanting Clinton in the White House (personal animosity or fear of dealing with someone who understand how Putin worked and was suspicious of his goals). Or it could be that authoritarians tend to support each other. In any case, if this proves out, and if a connection from that "one step removed" from the Russian government to the inner circle is found, this is disastrous for our democracy. Oh, and it's not like we don't see Putin's hand in other elections in Europe (also using Wikileaks as a vector of attack). (Grokked from BoingBoing)
"Trump won the Presidency by gas light. His rise to power has awakened a force of bigotry by condoning and encouraging hatred, but also by normalizing deception. Civil rights are now on trial, though before we can fight to reassert the march toward equality, we must regain control of the truth. If that seems melodramatic, I would encourage you to dump a bucket of ice over your head while listening to 'Duel of the Fates.' Donald Trump is our President now; it’s time to wake up." I don't know if Teen Vogue has always been political, but damn. And then there is this: "There are things you can and should be doing to turn your unrest into action, but first let's empower ourselves with information. Insist on fact-checking every Trump statement you read, every headline you share or even relay to a friend over coffee. If you find factual inaccuracies in an article, send an email to the editor, and explain how things should have been clearer. Inform yourself what outlets are trustworthy and which aren’t. If you need extra help, seek out a browser extension that flags misleading sites or print out a list of fake outlets, such as the one by communications professor Melissa Zimdars, and tape it to your laptop. Do a thorough search before believing the agenda Trump distributes on Twitter. Refuse to accept information simply because it is fed to you, and don’t be afraid to ask questions. That is now the base level of what is required of all Americans. If facts become a point of debate, the very definition of freedom will be called into question."(Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Friday, December 9, 2016
Linkee-poo, a time for man and beast to stand and feel the seasons turn
Godspeed, John Glenn. They don't make them like that often. Friendship 7 you're go for launch.
Kayla Whaley tweet storm characters in wheel-chairs. Good things to know and keep in mind for you're own writing. (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)
"99-Million-year-old baby dinosaur's tail, encased in amber, surfaces in Myanmar." Says what it does, does what it says. And yes, Virginia, there are feathers. When I was young dinosaurs were sluggish, cold-blooded, had splayed legs and tails that dragged on the ground, sauropods lived half submerged, and they were all green with leatherish scaled skin and their evolutionary branches all died out long ago. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
In a study of mosquito fish, a longer penis drives evolution of bigger brains in females. Now, before you "go there", this fish doesn't court, their sexual reproduction is very much like rape. "In this sort of mating system, the relationship between males and females can resemble that between predators and prey, which commonly involve an evolutionary arms race where adaptations on one side are closely matched by changes on the other." However, this and other studies show a link between sexuality and bigger brains. So now you know what they're for.
"The surprise find of smallpox DNA in a child mummy from the 17th century could help scientists start to trace the mysterious history of this notorious virus… Smallpox currently only exists in secure freezers…" And, obviously, mummies.
Oh look, that Internet-of-things thing is acting up again. This time, Epson printers connected to Google print cloud decide to just shut down. Who thought these things were good ideas? (Grokked from John)
Combat vets who are now police hold their fire better than their non-vet co-officers. Embedded in a story about one vet refusing to shoot someone hellbent on suicide by cop. Backup arrives and they shoot the guy. Vet officer is then fired for (among supposed other things) endangering the lives of his fellow officers.
"The widening gap between rich and poor Americans has pushed the chances of children earning more money than their parents down to around 50 percent, economic researchers say. That's a sharp fall from 1940, when 90 percent of kids were destined to move up the income ladder." I can't tell you how many times I've heard the workplace discussions about "you should have been here back then…" with parties, pay, opportunity, and ease of employment. It's happened way, way too many times. The article also identifies what is needed to help people get ahead. Hint, it's not tax cuts for the wealthy.
"At many doctors offices and hospitals, a routine part of doing business these days is estimating patients' out-of-pocket payments and trying to collect the money up front." Yeah, I'm sure that won't cause any problems. Given that some doctors' offices basically say it's up to the patient to determine if the doctor accepts the insurance they carry, I'm not sure this is really going to work too well. Also pointed out here is the rise of high-deductible plans (and the rise of health savings plans, which may or may not be fully funded). And let me just state that if you need your appendix surgically removed, that is a life-threatening issue. If not from the trauma of a burst appendix, from the ensuing sepsis that would result.
"President-elect Donald Trump is weighing naming as Food and Drug Administration commissioner a staunch libertarian who has called for eliminating the agency’s mandate to determine whether new medicines are effective before approving them for sale… 'Let people start using them, at their own risk,' the candidate, Jim O’Neill, said in a 2014 speech to a biotech group." Fuckstockings. It's way past time for me to say publicly, the President Elect is insane or an imbecile and unfit to be dog catcher let alone POTUS. And to add in as a bonus, this fucktard, brain-addled, poor excuse for an executive salary is big into seasteading. Can't all these asshole go Gault already and leave the rest of us alone?
"Turns out making a composite material using graphene and Silly Putty gives you a new material that is still runny and bouncy, but now conducts electricity and is extremely sensitive to pressure. Press on it just the tiniest amount, and you change its electrical resistance."
"On Thursday, Rep. Sam Johnson, a Republican from Texas and chair of the Ways and Means Committee, introduced legislation to significantly cut Social Security." So how's that "what's the worst that could happen" vote working out? Expect the "we have to do something to save SS or it'll go broke" argument to be rolled out. Yeah, another way to save it is remove the top end cap on income that is taxed (oh, and tap all capital gains as income). (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
Just wait until you see what they plan to do with Medicare and Medicaid (voucher that won't keep up with cost increases and make it a block grant to states, which means lots of wellness programs, but nobody can see a real doctor).
There's just one more thing needed to make me really feel like it's the 80s and we're still in the Cold War with the Soviets. "In what could mark an escalation of tensions with the West, commercial satellite images suggest that Russia is moving a new generation of nuclear-capable missiles into Eastern Europe." That's it. Satellite images (no longer blurry and black and white) and rumors of the Russians moving nuclear capable missiles into Eastern Europe.
"Politico obtained a copy of the memo to the Energy Department and reported that Trump's team asked for a list of staffers who attended interagency working groups that discussed the social cost of carbon, a metric used to determine the economic impact of increasing or decreasing carbon emissions." I'm sure it's perfectly innocent.
"Authorities say in recent weeks there has been an unprecedented wave of hate crimes targeting library buildings, books, and the people who read them. The officials told the New York Times they'd rarely seen such before. These crimes are intended to terrorize, and they follow a recent report by the F.B.I. which says hate crimes against Muslim people in America shot up over the past year."
Things in politics are moving so fast, it's hard to keep up with all the heinous fuckery.
Kayla Whaley tweet storm characters in wheel-chairs. Good things to know and keep in mind for you're own writing. (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)
"99-Million-year-old baby dinosaur's tail, encased in amber, surfaces in Myanmar." Says what it does, does what it says. And yes, Virginia, there are feathers. When I was young dinosaurs were sluggish, cold-blooded, had splayed legs and tails that dragged on the ground, sauropods lived half submerged, and they were all green with leatherish scaled skin and their evolutionary branches all died out long ago. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
In a study of mosquito fish, a longer penis drives evolution of bigger brains in females. Now, before you "go there", this fish doesn't court, their sexual reproduction is very much like rape. "In this sort of mating system, the relationship between males and females can resemble that between predators and prey, which commonly involve an evolutionary arms race where adaptations on one side are closely matched by changes on the other." However, this and other studies show a link between sexuality and bigger brains. So now you know what they're for.
"The surprise find of smallpox DNA in a child mummy from the 17th century could help scientists start to trace the mysterious history of this notorious virus… Smallpox currently only exists in secure freezers…" And, obviously, mummies.
Oh look, that Internet-of-things thing is acting up again. This time, Epson printers connected to Google print cloud decide to just shut down. Who thought these things were good ideas? (Grokked from John)
Combat vets who are now police hold their fire better than their non-vet co-officers. Embedded in a story about one vet refusing to shoot someone hellbent on suicide by cop. Backup arrives and they shoot the guy. Vet officer is then fired for (among supposed other things) endangering the lives of his fellow officers.
"The widening gap between rich and poor Americans has pushed the chances of children earning more money than their parents down to around 50 percent, economic researchers say. That's a sharp fall from 1940, when 90 percent of kids were destined to move up the income ladder." I can't tell you how many times I've heard the workplace discussions about "you should have been here back then…" with parties, pay, opportunity, and ease of employment. It's happened way, way too many times. The article also identifies what is needed to help people get ahead. Hint, it's not tax cuts for the wealthy.
"At many doctors offices and hospitals, a routine part of doing business these days is estimating patients' out-of-pocket payments and trying to collect the money up front." Yeah, I'm sure that won't cause any problems. Given that some doctors' offices basically say it's up to the patient to determine if the doctor accepts the insurance they carry, I'm not sure this is really going to work too well. Also pointed out here is the rise of high-deductible plans (and the rise of health savings plans, which may or may not be fully funded). And let me just state that if you need your appendix surgically removed, that is a life-threatening issue. If not from the trauma of a burst appendix, from the ensuing sepsis that would result.
"President-elect Donald Trump is weighing naming as Food and Drug Administration commissioner a staunch libertarian who has called for eliminating the agency’s mandate to determine whether new medicines are effective before approving them for sale… 'Let people start using them, at their own risk,' the candidate, Jim O’Neill, said in a 2014 speech to a biotech group." Fuckstockings. It's way past time for me to say publicly, the President Elect is insane or an imbecile and unfit to be dog catcher let alone POTUS. And to add in as a bonus, this fucktard, brain-addled, poor excuse for an executive salary is big into seasteading. Can't all these asshole go Gault already and leave the rest of us alone?
"Turns out making a composite material using graphene and Silly Putty gives you a new material that is still runny and bouncy, but now conducts electricity and is extremely sensitive to pressure. Press on it just the tiniest amount, and you change its electrical resistance."
"On Thursday, Rep. Sam Johnson, a Republican from Texas and chair of the Ways and Means Committee, introduced legislation to significantly cut Social Security." So how's that "what's the worst that could happen" vote working out? Expect the "we have to do something to save SS or it'll go broke" argument to be rolled out. Yeah, another way to save it is remove the top end cap on income that is taxed (oh, and tap all capital gains as income). (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
Just wait until you see what they plan to do with Medicare and Medicaid (voucher that won't keep up with cost increases and make it a block grant to states, which means lots of wellness programs, but nobody can see a real doctor).
There's just one more thing needed to make me really feel like it's the 80s and we're still in the Cold War with the Soviets. "In what could mark an escalation of tensions with the West, commercial satellite images suggest that Russia is moving a new generation of nuclear-capable missiles into Eastern Europe." That's it. Satellite images (no longer blurry and black and white) and rumors of the Russians moving nuclear capable missiles into Eastern Europe.
"Politico obtained a copy of the memo to the Energy Department and reported that Trump's team asked for a list of staffers who attended interagency working groups that discussed the social cost of carbon, a metric used to determine the economic impact of increasing or decreasing carbon emissions." I'm sure it's perfectly innocent.
"Authorities say in recent weeks there has been an unprecedented wave of hate crimes targeting library buildings, books, and the people who read them. The officials told the New York Times they'd rarely seen such before. These crimes are intended to terrorize, and they follow a recent report by the F.B.I. which says hate crimes against Muslim people in America shot up over the past year."
Things in politics are moving so fast, it's hard to keep up with all the heinous fuckery.
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Why Hire a Professional Designer
This photo was used in a printed piece for a company we purchased.
Looks sort of okay doesn't it (note: we make the shelter, not the UAV).
Here is my 2 minute color correction.
Looks sort of okay doesn't it (note: we make the shelter, not the UAV).
Here is my 2 minute color correction.
Linkee-poo, when winter calls with chilling breath for fireside and good cheer
The "mystery" of the Deadly Double ads. Sometimes coincidence is just that. (Grokked from John)
In a mixed back of news, anti-ISIS forces in Libya have captured the last stronghold held by ISIS in Sirte (their main base of operations. Not that they captured everyone, and there is a chance of them popping up elsewhere in the country. And in Tripoli the various factions vying for control continue to fight amongst themselves. So as the country continues to lack a stable central government, groups like ISIS can continue to take advantage of that.
A Chuck Wendig tweet storm about the times we live in. "The news cycle is like being covered in fire ants." So have all the feels for this.
A The Atlantic article from 2014, but it dissects a conservative method of attack very well. "In other words, Rove didn’t say Hillary Clinton has brain damage. He hinted it, thus giving himself deniability while ensuring that the slur lingers in the public mind. Which is what he’s been doing his entire career." (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)
Fiona Apple sings a Trumpmas Carol. Probably NSFW, use headphones. Rolling Stone's story on the song with lyrics. (Grokked from John)
"Secretary of state candidate Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said in an interview Wednesday that the United States cooperating with Russia is a good thing and that China is not America’s friend." I really have no words (that are sharable). Not only is this fucktard sycophant Putin puppet a potential Secretary of State, but is a sitting congressman who thinks Reagan would support his views of Putin. It must be awfully hard to suck ass from a continent away, so kudos for that ability Congressman Rohrabacher. And it's not like we can't oppose both China and Russia at the same time. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"But here is the troubling reality for civically minded liberals looking to justify their preferred strategies: Hillary Clinton talked about the working class, middle class jobs, and the dignity of work constantly. And she still lost… She detailed plans to help coal miners and steel workers. She had decades of ideas to help parents… She had plans to help young men who were getting out of prison and old men who were getting into new careers. She talked about the dignity of manufacturing jobs, the promise of clean-energy jobs, and the Obama administration’s record of creating private-sector jobs for a record-breaking number of consecutive months. She said the word 'job' more in the Democratic National Convention speech than Trump did in the RNC acceptance speech; she mentioned the word 'jobs' more during the first presidential debate than Trump did. She offered the most comprehensively progressive economic platform of any presidential candidate in history—one specifically tailored to an economy powered by an educated workforce." (Grokked from Laura J. Mixon)
And an NPR story on anti-globalization in both the Brexit vote and the Trump victory. Hopefully they'll have a transcript up soon, but worth the listen. Basically, white people (read: Anglo-Saxon, because fuck those Polish plumbers) feel they're no longer privileged and all these "other people" are getting a better deal.
So, yeah, while people continue to search for some narrative that can explain the election (both Brexit and Trump) that doesn't involve racism, everything is pointing towards racism (whether overt or support for the institutionalization of racists policies). It's because we don't want to be "those people", the bad people, the racists. Because we all (well, the general population) now accept that racism is bad. But we don't like to confront our racist views, preconceptions, and the loss our privileged stations. While most people wouldn't be overly racists, they're willing to support racist policies like redlining, ending affirmative action, "enforce immigration laws" (which is mostly against brown people, even though we have more immigration issues with Asians and Europeans than we like to admit), and making people sit in the back of the bus (figuratively and literally). Or, as John Scalzi put it, the Cinemax Theory of Racism (I don't believe I linked to that before). And in this scenario, let's be honest, most people would watch Cinemax if something they wanted to see was playing, even though they only wanted HBO.
Tweet of my heart: @lgbookworm @ChuckWendig It (sort of) helps me to remember that they're *creating* that FEELING to demoralize us and make us feel helpless.
In a mixed back of news, anti-ISIS forces in Libya have captured the last stronghold held by ISIS in Sirte (their main base of operations. Not that they captured everyone, and there is a chance of them popping up elsewhere in the country. And in Tripoli the various factions vying for control continue to fight amongst themselves. So as the country continues to lack a stable central government, groups like ISIS can continue to take advantage of that.
A Chuck Wendig tweet storm about the times we live in. "The news cycle is like being covered in fire ants." So have all the feels for this.
A The Atlantic article from 2014, but it dissects a conservative method of attack very well. "In other words, Rove didn’t say Hillary Clinton has brain damage. He hinted it, thus giving himself deniability while ensuring that the slur lingers in the public mind. Which is what he’s been doing his entire career." (Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)
Fiona Apple sings a Trumpmas Carol. Probably NSFW, use headphones. Rolling Stone's story on the song with lyrics. (Grokked from John)
"Secretary of state candidate Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said in an interview Wednesday that the United States cooperating with Russia is a good thing and that China is not America’s friend." I really have no words (that are sharable). Not only is this fucktard sycophant Putin puppet a potential Secretary of State, but is a sitting congressman who thinks Reagan would support his views of Putin. It must be awfully hard to suck ass from a continent away, so kudos for that ability Congressman Rohrabacher. And it's not like we can't oppose both China and Russia at the same time. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"But here is the troubling reality for civically minded liberals looking to justify their preferred strategies: Hillary Clinton talked about the working class, middle class jobs, and the dignity of work constantly. And she still lost… She detailed plans to help coal miners and steel workers. She had decades of ideas to help parents… She had plans to help young men who were getting out of prison and old men who were getting into new careers. She talked about the dignity of manufacturing jobs, the promise of clean-energy jobs, and the Obama administration’s record of creating private-sector jobs for a record-breaking number of consecutive months. She said the word 'job' more in the Democratic National Convention speech than Trump did in the RNC acceptance speech; she mentioned the word 'jobs' more during the first presidential debate than Trump did. She offered the most comprehensively progressive economic platform of any presidential candidate in history—one specifically tailored to an economy powered by an educated workforce." (Grokked from Laura J. Mixon)
And an NPR story on anti-globalization in both the Brexit vote and the Trump victory. Hopefully they'll have a transcript up soon, but worth the listen. Basically, white people (read: Anglo-Saxon, because fuck those Polish plumbers) feel they're no longer privileged and all these "other people" are getting a better deal.
So, yeah, while people continue to search for some narrative that can explain the election (both Brexit and Trump) that doesn't involve racism, everything is pointing towards racism (whether overt or support for the institutionalization of racists policies). It's because we don't want to be "those people", the bad people, the racists. Because we all (well, the general population) now accept that racism is bad. But we don't like to confront our racist views, preconceptions, and the loss our privileged stations. While most people wouldn't be overly racists, they're willing to support racist policies like redlining, ending affirmative action, "enforce immigration laws" (which is mostly against brown people, even though we have more immigration issues with Asians and Europeans than we like to admit), and making people sit in the back of the bus (figuratively and literally). Or, as John Scalzi put it, the Cinemax Theory of Racism (I don't believe I linked to that before). And in this scenario, let's be honest, most people would watch Cinemax if something they wanted to see was playing, even though they only wanted HBO.
Tweet of my heart: @lgbookworm @ChuckWendig It (sort of) helps me to remember that they're *creating* that FEELING to demoralize us and make us feel helpless.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Linkee-poo, this is the time, so well we love, the time of all the year
Writing Excuses (an excellent podcast that focuses on the nuts and bolts of writing, as well as other topics) is running a survey for Season 12. (Grokked from Mary Robinette Kowal)
A tweet storm of writing advice to the new people. Unfortunately we see the authors we look up to telling us all about their stories and we believe we also need to share like that. Guilty. This doesn't mean you can't share it with some people. Sometimes being able to talk about the story helps work out early problems, and you can get feedback that brings new dimensions to the story. But I'm also someone who gets bored with a story quickly, especially once I know everything about it. So working in private can be a great boon. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Today, Entertainment Weekly revealed an extensive set of details about the film. Notably… Coco will have an all-Latino voice cast." As well as being the only non-sequel Pixar is working on at the moment. So, double benefit. (Grokked from John)
NPR's story with tips to see if a site if publishing fake news or is a real news site. There is also a battle going on over lists of fake news sites, with the fake news sites saying there are fake lists out there. It's pretty meta.
The Planet Money podcast on tracking down that fake news promoter that (I think) I linked to a shorter NPR story earlier. Much longer story with more on the interview.
"Facebook has a big problem with fake news stories that are spread on the social network, and now it’s hoping users can help. People are reporting that Facebook is asking them survey questions to help determine whether news headlines are accurate." Note, Facebook is still getting ad revenue from these fake news sites, and are prompting users for even more clickthroughs. (Grokked from John)
There's a long history of relocating American Indians from one plot of desirable land to plots of "stinking wastelands." Until those wastelands prove to have something white people wanted; gold, coal, uranium. And then there would be another "war" and they would be relocated again (or their reservations trimmed in size). "Native American reservations cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves." Welcome to the new Indian Wars. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
The evil that men do. "The Ohio Legislature has passed one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the United States. The House and Senate yesterday both approved a ban on abortion at the point at which a fetal heartbeat can be detected – which can be in as little as six weeks into pregnancy." It was added last minute to a bipartisan bill concerning child abuse while in the Senate, and past the House in a bill reconciliation motion. Most certainly our idiot governor will sign it. Most certainly it'll be challenged and stayed… and will go to SCOTUS probably sometime in 2018-2019, when Trump has stacked the court with the judges which he said he would chose judge ideologically opposed to abortion (or, as the right would call them, judicial activists). "The heartbeat bill won’t likely be the only abortion restriction passed during this lame duck Session." People are going to die because of this.
"Ohio has the nation's second highest concentration of truck drivers – over 70,000 (ed. note: seriously this is where a lot of people who had manufacturing jobs found work - "Driver Wanted" sections of classified in Ohio were pages long) – and long-haul jobs are widely seen to be on the chopping block as autonomous vehicles emerge… Last week, Ohio Governor John Kasich announced a $15 million investment to turn a 35-mile stretch of a state highway into a testing ground for autonomous vehicles. Taxpayer dollars will fund research that threatens one of the five most common jobs in the state." Oh fuck. As for the "people aren't ready so it won't happen" argument. Total bullshit. Automated trucks can keep on the roads 24/7 (except for maintenance and fuel stops). That fact, right there, could reduce most trucking fleets by at least a fifth. The cost savings are too much for industry to ignore. And, please, can we stop with the "all or nothing" mentality (they'll never replace all of us!).
"Though this is the time the Arctic is supposed to be refreezing, scientists say sea ice there hit record low levels for November. In the crucial Barents Sea, floating ice decreased when it would be expected to grow." I'm sure it's fine. We're all fine here.
"The hospital groups said they would suffer another $289.5 billion in losses if Obamacare was repealed but the cuts that the Affordable Care Act imposed on Medicare and Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital payments remained. Those payments were reduced under the Affordable Care Act on the assumption that the increases in coverage the law would bring would reduce cost of uncompensated care that hospitals offered to uninsured people in the pre-ACA world." Oh, and you're premiums are going to skyrocket for those who still will have health insurance. As someone who works in a hospital, we aren't exactly overbooked with staff as it is.
"The world is gray and nuanced, and so often my friends got the benefit of being composite people: Floridian, Catholic, scientist… But often when voters saw me, all they saw was Muslim. They didn't see Hoosier, tennis fiend, fashion-obsessed journey." On covering the Trump election while being Muslim. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
"'We found out today that more jobs are leaving (Carrier's plants in Indiana) than what we originally thought,' (union communications representative T.J.) Bray said. 'It seemed like since Thursday, it was 1,100 then it was maybe 900 and then now we're at 700. So I'm hoping it doesn't go any lower than that.'… All 700 workers at Carrier's Huntington plant will also lose their jobs… So how did the president-elect get to that 1,100 number last week?… 'It's the R&D jobs that were already slated to stay,' Bray explained." Trump lied? Shocked, shocked I am… And now you know why he did the plant tour before details were announced. It was good TV, wasn't it? (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
"Again, this is pure inference. We have no proof that the (Boeing) speech or the write up triggered the tweet. We don't know that Trump or anyone close to him was aware of the speech at all. But I think it is reasonable to say that this is an odd thing to tweet about out of the blue, especially with numbers that appear to be fictitious. Something must have prompted this. This seems like a good candidate for what that 'something' was." Step out of line, the man comes to take you away. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"McGehee notes that the United States has often held itself up as a paradigm of clean government, lecturing other countries about the need for strong bribery laws and an independent legal system. Even the appearance of conflict of interest by the Trump administration threatens to undermine that, she says." Whelp, so much for that.
A tweet storm of writing advice to the new people. Unfortunately we see the authors we look up to telling us all about their stories and we believe we also need to share like that. Guilty. This doesn't mean you can't share it with some people. Sometimes being able to talk about the story helps work out early problems, and you can get feedback that brings new dimensions to the story. But I'm also someone who gets bored with a story quickly, especially once I know everything about it. So working in private can be a great boon. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Today, Entertainment Weekly revealed an extensive set of details about the film. Notably… Coco will have an all-Latino voice cast." As well as being the only non-sequel Pixar is working on at the moment. So, double benefit. (Grokked from John)
NPR's story with tips to see if a site if publishing fake news or is a real news site. There is also a battle going on over lists of fake news sites, with the fake news sites saying there are fake lists out there. It's pretty meta.
The Planet Money podcast on tracking down that fake news promoter that (I think) I linked to a shorter NPR story earlier. Much longer story with more on the interview.
"Facebook has a big problem with fake news stories that are spread on the social network, and now it’s hoping users can help. People are reporting that Facebook is asking them survey questions to help determine whether news headlines are accurate." Note, Facebook is still getting ad revenue from these fake news sites, and are prompting users for even more clickthroughs. (Grokked from John)
There's a long history of relocating American Indians from one plot of desirable land to plots of "stinking wastelands." Until those wastelands prove to have something white people wanted; gold, coal, uranium. And then there would be another "war" and they would be relocated again (or their reservations trimmed in size). "Native American reservations cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves." Welcome to the new Indian Wars. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
The evil that men do. "The Ohio Legislature has passed one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the United States. The House and Senate yesterday both approved a ban on abortion at the point at which a fetal heartbeat can be detected – which can be in as little as six weeks into pregnancy." It was added last minute to a bipartisan bill concerning child abuse while in the Senate, and past the House in a bill reconciliation motion. Most certainly our idiot governor will sign it. Most certainly it'll be challenged and stayed… and will go to SCOTUS probably sometime in 2018-2019, when Trump has stacked the court with the judges which he said he would chose judge ideologically opposed to abortion (or, as the right would call them, judicial activists). "The heartbeat bill won’t likely be the only abortion restriction passed during this lame duck Session." People are going to die because of this.
"Ohio has the nation's second highest concentration of truck drivers – over 70,000 (ed. note: seriously this is where a lot of people who had manufacturing jobs found work - "Driver Wanted" sections of classified in Ohio were pages long) – and long-haul jobs are widely seen to be on the chopping block as autonomous vehicles emerge… Last week, Ohio Governor John Kasich announced a $15 million investment to turn a 35-mile stretch of a state highway into a testing ground for autonomous vehicles. Taxpayer dollars will fund research that threatens one of the five most common jobs in the state." Oh fuck. As for the "people aren't ready so it won't happen" argument. Total bullshit. Automated trucks can keep on the roads 24/7 (except for maintenance and fuel stops). That fact, right there, could reduce most trucking fleets by at least a fifth. The cost savings are too much for industry to ignore. And, please, can we stop with the "all or nothing" mentality (they'll never replace all of us!).
"Though this is the time the Arctic is supposed to be refreezing, scientists say sea ice there hit record low levels for November. In the crucial Barents Sea, floating ice decreased when it would be expected to grow." I'm sure it's fine. We're all fine here.
"The hospital groups said they would suffer another $289.5 billion in losses if Obamacare was repealed but the cuts that the Affordable Care Act imposed on Medicare and Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital payments remained. Those payments were reduced under the Affordable Care Act on the assumption that the increases in coverage the law would bring would reduce cost of uncompensated care that hospitals offered to uninsured people in the pre-ACA world." Oh, and you're premiums are going to skyrocket for those who still will have health insurance. As someone who works in a hospital, we aren't exactly overbooked with staff as it is.
"The world is gray and nuanced, and so often my friends got the benefit of being composite people: Floridian, Catholic, scientist… But often when voters saw me, all they saw was Muslim. They didn't see Hoosier, tennis fiend, fashion-obsessed journey." On covering the Trump election while being Muslim. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
"'We found out today that more jobs are leaving (Carrier's plants in Indiana) than what we originally thought,' (union communications representative T.J.) Bray said. 'It seemed like since Thursday, it was 1,100 then it was maybe 900 and then now we're at 700. So I'm hoping it doesn't go any lower than that.'… All 700 workers at Carrier's Huntington plant will also lose their jobs… So how did the president-elect get to that 1,100 number last week?… 'It's the R&D jobs that were already slated to stay,' Bray explained." Trump lied? Shocked, shocked I am… And now you know why he did the plant tour before details were announced. It was good TV, wasn't it? (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
"Again, this is pure inference. We have no proof that the (Boeing) speech or the write up triggered the tweet. We don't know that Trump or anyone close to him was aware of the speech at all. But I think it is reasonable to say that this is an odd thing to tweet about out of the blue, especially with numbers that appear to be fictitious. Something must have prompted this. This seems like a good candidate for what that 'something' was." Step out of line, the man comes to take you away. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"McGehee notes that the United States has often held itself up as a paradigm of clean government, lecturing other countries about the need for strong bribery laws and an independent legal system. Even the appearance of conflict of interest by the Trump administration threatens to undermine that, she says." Whelp, so much for that.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Linkee-poo, some folks are born made to wave the flag, ooh, they're red, white and blue
The NPR Book Concierge Best Books of 2016. There's a number of them on my xmas list.
Some more thought on the disappointment and suspicion when an author receives a quick rejection on submitted stories. Oh these young kids. Back when I started this you were happy to get a response back within 3 months. That was considered "fast." But I understand, rejection is hard. If only they had read to the 8th page the editors would have fallen in love with the story. Well, me bucko, slush readers and editors only read as far as they need to make a decision. If that's the first paragraph, that's as far as they read. If they make it to the end of the story without putting it down, you've made it into the select club of having some chance of having your story accepted. It's still not a done deal. There are typically 4 or 5 more hurdles your story has to vault, but you've made it into the 1-5% club. That's the industry. This is what you signed up for. (Grokked from Jason Sanford)
Well Duck Dynasty is coming to a close after 11 seasons and as a "Christian Values" production it's a relief to see it end without any large money or sex controversy unlike most of the other shows of it's ilk. "Scott and Deirdre Gurney — the founders of the reality TV production company which in 2012 was purchased by ITVfor $40 million — have been temporarily suspended amid an internal fraud investigation, The Hollywood Reporter has learned." Oh well. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
The Grinch who stole Christmas (wreaths). "Gile's Family Farm owner Frank Boucher said Monday that someone stole a trailer containing more than 200 wreaths from behind the Alfred business sometime between 6 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday."
The knees of Queen Nefertari. "What most likely happened, Fletcher says, is that Nefertari's mummy was torn apart by frantic grave robbers trying to steal gold and jewelry in its wrappings before guards could stop them: 'You do get that feeling that there's a real degree of ripping apart human remains to get to the wealth.'"
Tweet storm by Mikki Kendall on racism and the reverse of the story of "low expectations." Yep, matches to much of my experience (having been a white kid who tried to slide by in college… but that was more of not being challenged since 8th grade because I was with mostly other white kids and it wasn't expected of us to have to work so I developed bad habits). I got better. (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
"Wes Clark Jr and the assembled veterans took a knee and collectively asked for forgiveness for the genocide and war crimes committed by the United States Military against tribal nations in this country. Leksi Leonard Crow Dog on behalf of the tribes in attendance accepted and asked for forgiveness for any hurt that might have been caused June 25, 1876 when the Great Sioux Nation defeated the 7th Cavalry." Well that goes in the "stunned to silence" category. Blah blah blah, individual veterans can't speak for the rest of the military unless authorized blah blah. I'm sure the conservatives are going to pitch a collective cow-shit-fit, but this from a party at supposedly supports "respect for elders", this is what it looks like. (Grokked from Kat Hankinson)
"One of the most vocal insurers about the problems with the Affordable Care Act marketplace made nearly $400 million in one state already this year, documents show." But it's all not wine and roses. While BCBS lost about the same for the first 2 years (note, no mention of direct payments to insurers who lose money in the first 5 years, part of the ACA to cover the transition as companies figure the market out), there's been a lot of bellyaching and blaming going on when the real issue is that $400M isn't enough profit for most companies. But now that it looks like the goose that laid the golden egg is on the menu, some companies are starting the attempt to say, "It's not so bad. Please don't take the t-bird away." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
The information warfare committed against the NoDAPL protestors. Note, never connected to an unknown, unsecured wi-fi device. (Grokked from someone, sorry, lost the link)
Before there was eminent domain this is how governments took properties. "Residents of Jackson Village, one of three black communities in Plantersville, South Carolina, are at risk of losing their homes over a sewer service charge that they neither want nor need, with twenty homes being put on the market last week." Also, a sewer that isn't connected to their homes. Let's talk due process. And I wonder if all those smart-ass people who talk about the evils of zoning and how government shouldn't affect what we do on our own property will come out to help protect this community (I'm joking, those are the assholes who are buying the property to redevelop it). (Grokked from Annalee Flower Horne)
So, there may be some problems with the Michigan recount. (Grokked from Saladin Ahmed)
Tweet of my heart: @JenaFriedman The nazis weren't evil masterminds, but rather failed artists, middle managers, yes men and idiots. Never underestimate the power of idiots. (Grokked from Annalee Flower Horne)
Well Duck Dynasty is coming to a close after 11 seasons and as a "Christian Values" production it's a relief to see it end without any large money or sex controversy unlike most of the other shows of it's ilk. "Scott and Deirdre Gurney — the founders of the reality TV production company which in 2012 was purchased by ITVfor $40 million — have been temporarily suspended amid an internal fraud investigation, The Hollywood Reporter has learned." Oh well. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
The Grinch who stole Christmas (wreaths). "Gile's Family Farm owner Frank Boucher said Monday that someone stole a trailer containing more than 200 wreaths from behind the Alfred business sometime between 6 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday."
The knees of Queen Nefertari. "What most likely happened, Fletcher says, is that Nefertari's mummy was torn apart by frantic grave robbers trying to steal gold and jewelry in its wrappings before guards could stop them: 'You do get that feeling that there's a real degree of ripping apart human remains to get to the wealth.'"
Tweet storm by Mikki Kendall on racism and the reverse of the story of "low expectations." Yep, matches to much of my experience (having been a white kid who tried to slide by in college… but that was more of not being challenged since 8th grade because I was with mostly other white kids and it wasn't expected of us to have to work so I developed bad habits). I got better. (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
"Wes Clark Jr and the assembled veterans took a knee and collectively asked for forgiveness for the genocide and war crimes committed by the United States Military against tribal nations in this country. Leksi Leonard Crow Dog on behalf of the tribes in attendance accepted and asked for forgiveness for any hurt that might have been caused June 25, 1876 when the Great Sioux Nation defeated the 7th Cavalry." Well that goes in the "stunned to silence" category. Blah blah blah, individual veterans can't speak for the rest of the military unless authorized blah blah. I'm sure the conservatives are going to pitch a collective cow-shit-fit, but this from a party at supposedly supports "respect for elders", this is what it looks like. (Grokked from Kat Hankinson)
"One of the most vocal insurers about the problems with the Affordable Care Act marketplace made nearly $400 million in one state already this year, documents show." But it's all not wine and roses. While BCBS lost about the same for the first 2 years (note, no mention of direct payments to insurers who lose money in the first 5 years, part of the ACA to cover the transition as companies figure the market out), there's been a lot of bellyaching and blaming going on when the real issue is that $400M isn't enough profit for most companies. But now that it looks like the goose that laid the golden egg is on the menu, some companies are starting the attempt to say, "It's not so bad. Please don't take the t-bird away." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
The information warfare committed against the NoDAPL protestors. Note, never connected to an unknown, unsecured wi-fi device. (Grokked from someone, sorry, lost the link)
Before there was eminent domain this is how governments took properties. "Residents of Jackson Village, one of three black communities in Plantersville, South Carolina, are at risk of losing their homes over a sewer service charge that they neither want nor need, with twenty homes being put on the market last week." Also, a sewer that isn't connected to their homes. Let's talk due process. And I wonder if all those smart-ass people who talk about the evils of zoning and how government shouldn't affect what we do on our own property will come out to help protect this community (I'm joking, those are the assholes who are buying the property to redevelop it). (Grokked from Annalee Flower Horne)
So, there may be some problems with the Michigan recount. (Grokked from Saladin Ahmed)
Tweet of my heart: @JenaFriedman The nazis weren't evil masterminds, but rather failed artists, middle managers, yes men and idiots. Never underestimate the power of idiots. (Grokked from Annalee Flower Horne)
Monday, December 5, 2016
Linkee-poo, karma is a bitch, so I hope you have a daughter
A life lesson from XKCD that I'm still trying to internalize and live by. (Grokked from Dan)
Okay, for all my Hamilton loving friends, Rudolph reimagined in the same vein as Hamilton. Includes a shoutout to Hermie, the Elf Dentist. (Grokked from Dan)
Stupid Google Home vs Echo tricks. (Grokked from Dan)
NASA paging Howard Wolowitz, Howard Wolowitz you're needed at NASA. "NASA is looking for a few good men and women to solve an upcoming problem. Astronauts will soon be venturing outward beyond Earth orbit. If the spacecraft cabin should depressurize then they’ll have to put on their spacesuits and may have to keep them on for up to six days. During that time something will have to handle the resulting urine, fecal, and menstrual waste, all without the astronauts use of their hands. And that’s where you come in." (Grokked from Dan)
And as the rubber meets the road of the Trump administration, there's some buyer's remorse. "When Donald Trump named his Treasury secretary, Teena Colebrook felt her heart sink." Yeah, I bet she's going to have a lot of company in the next 4 years. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
"A group of concerned Texans last year filed a lawsuit seeking to block the $350 million cut to Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for the poor and disabled, from taking effect. That group included speech, physical and occupational therapy providers and the families of children who receive their service. They argued that the cuts were so steep that providers would have to close their businesses and forgo seeing as many as 60,000 children." Ah, that vaunted "compassionate conservatism" we've heard so much about. Of course the Texas legislators have a report that says these in-home therapists are overpaid. To bad reality disagrees. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
SCOTUS will hear two case challenging gerrymandering. And their decision could decide if the Democratic Party could ever have a chance of controlling government, even though it's been winning a majority vote for the last several election cycles. The concept of "sorting" is happening in more cases than just geographic preference (which I have my own feeling about, and yes I have said out loud that I would like to live somewhere that I'm not continually barraged with conservative crap, including place of employment). So I might be part of this problem. (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
In relation to my link about Seattle actually prospering after their minimum wage hike, the Fuck Fifteen website. If you can call it a website. Here it is, people attempting to get everyone to pull the fucking crab back into the bucket. Note, fuckfifteen.com is registered through godaddy.com's private registry program (which means all attempts to find who is behind it point to godaddy, not who actually setup the site). First video was "you're going to lose your job!" Second video is, "that's not fair to me!" Funny how reality is different from these people's fantasies. Even minimum wage increase has seen the same fear mongering. What these people don't get is capitalism fails when it becomes exploitive. When everybody shares the ride, capitalism flourishes. (Grokked from Dan)
"D.C. Police responding Sunday to a report of a gunman at a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington detained a man armed with an assault rifle, according to a police spokeswoman." I'm sure this has nothing to do with the fake news that a child-abuse ring was being run by the Clintons out of the same pizza joint. Yes, I'm sure the many, many threats against the place (and their neighbors) because of that fake news had absolutely nothing to do with it. (Grokked indirectly from Jim Wright)
And then, "A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday after he walked into a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington carrying an assault rifle and fired one or more shots, D.C. police said. The man told police he had come to the restaurant to 'self-investigate' an election-related conspiracy theory involving Hillary Clinton that spread online during her presidential campaign." Hey, genius, it's called Snoopes.com. Easy peasy. Note, this may be an update to the previous link. (Grokked from Patrick Nielsen Hayden)
And now that are reports that he actually fired the rifle in the restaurant. That's fantastic.
A map of the Dakota Access Pipeline's route with notes of the protests and reroutings made at the behest of white residents.
"The Army Corps of Engineers has decided to deny a permit for the construction of a key section of the Dakota Access Pipeline." While it's a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux, it's not a permanent solution and can easily be reversed.
More details on that Carrier deal are becoming clear. "In sum, about 800 American jobs are being saved, but another 1,300 are disappearing." Good job, Trump. And those 800 jobs only cost the American Taxpayer $7M+ (that we know of). And I say "American Taxpayer" because guess who is going to foot that bill.
Tweet of my heart: @mareasie Remember that women used to wear miniskirts in Iran and Afghanistan. Remember that rights can be revoked.
Okay, for all my Hamilton loving friends, Rudolph reimagined in the same vein as Hamilton. Includes a shoutout to Hermie, the Elf Dentist. (Grokked from Dan)
Stupid Google Home vs Echo tricks. (Grokked from Dan)
NASA paging Howard Wolowitz, Howard Wolowitz you're needed at NASA. "NASA is looking for a few good men and women to solve an upcoming problem. Astronauts will soon be venturing outward beyond Earth orbit. If the spacecraft cabin should depressurize then they’ll have to put on their spacesuits and may have to keep them on for up to six days. During that time something will have to handle the resulting urine, fecal, and menstrual waste, all without the astronauts use of their hands. And that’s where you come in." (Grokked from Dan)
And as the rubber meets the road of the Trump administration, there's some buyer's remorse. "When Donald Trump named his Treasury secretary, Teena Colebrook felt her heart sink." Yeah, I bet she's going to have a lot of company in the next 4 years. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
"A group of concerned Texans last year filed a lawsuit seeking to block the $350 million cut to Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for the poor and disabled, from taking effect. That group included speech, physical and occupational therapy providers and the families of children who receive their service. They argued that the cuts were so steep that providers would have to close their businesses and forgo seeing as many as 60,000 children." Ah, that vaunted "compassionate conservatism" we've heard so much about. Of course the Texas legislators have a report that says these in-home therapists are overpaid. To bad reality disagrees. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
SCOTUS will hear two case challenging gerrymandering. And their decision could decide if the Democratic Party could ever have a chance of controlling government, even though it's been winning a majority vote for the last several election cycles. The concept of "sorting" is happening in more cases than just geographic preference (which I have my own feeling about, and yes I have said out loud that I would like to live somewhere that I'm not continually barraged with conservative crap, including place of employment). So I might be part of this problem. (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
In relation to my link about Seattle actually prospering after their minimum wage hike, the Fuck Fifteen website. If you can call it a website. Here it is, people attempting to get everyone to pull the fucking crab back into the bucket. Note, fuckfifteen.com is registered through godaddy.com's private registry program (which means all attempts to find who is behind it point to godaddy, not who actually setup the site). First video was "you're going to lose your job!" Second video is, "that's not fair to me!" Funny how reality is different from these people's fantasies. Even minimum wage increase has seen the same fear mongering. What these people don't get is capitalism fails when it becomes exploitive. When everybody shares the ride, capitalism flourishes. (Grokked from Dan)
"D.C. Police responding Sunday to a report of a gunman at a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington detained a man armed with an assault rifle, according to a police spokeswoman." I'm sure this has nothing to do with the fake news that a child-abuse ring was being run by the Clintons out of the same pizza joint. Yes, I'm sure the many, many threats against the place (and their neighbors) because of that fake news had absolutely nothing to do with it. (Grokked indirectly from Jim Wright)
And then, "A North Carolina man was arrested Sunday after he walked into a popular pizza restaurant in Northwest Washington carrying an assault rifle and fired one or more shots, D.C. police said. The man told police he had come to the restaurant to 'self-investigate' an election-related conspiracy theory involving Hillary Clinton that spread online during her presidential campaign." Hey, genius, it's called Snoopes.com. Easy peasy. Note, this may be an update to the previous link. (Grokked from Patrick Nielsen Hayden)
And now that are reports that he actually fired the rifle in the restaurant. That's fantastic.
A map of the Dakota Access Pipeline's route with notes of the protests and reroutings made at the behest of white residents.
"The Army Corps of Engineers has decided to deny a permit for the construction of a key section of the Dakota Access Pipeline." While it's a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux, it's not a permanent solution and can easily be reversed.
More details on that Carrier deal are becoming clear. "In sum, about 800 American jobs are being saved, but another 1,300 are disappearing." Good job, Trump. And those 800 jobs only cost the American Taxpayer $7M+ (that we know of). And I say "American Taxpayer" because guess who is going to foot that bill.
Tweet of my heart: @mareasie Remember that women used to wear miniskirts in Iran and Afghanistan. Remember that rights can be revoked.
Friday, December 2, 2016
Linkee-poo has got a brand new attitude and I'm gonna wear it tonight
"When you walk into the Smithsonian's Art of the Qur'an exhibition, you're met with a book that weighs 150 pounds. The tome, which dates back to the late-1500s, has giant pages that are covered in gold and black Arabic script." I just love illuminations and calligraphy and this would be something to see. Also, Arabic calligraphy has a long history of producing amazing artwork (much more so than Phoenician, Cyrillic and Kanji based scripts). Now thinking I may need to make a visit to our capital. Also, here is the website for the exhibit.
Nestle develops "hallow" sugar. Ah, yeah. Let's see the lab results on that one (also the real world taste tests).
"The unemployment rate in the city of Seattle – the tip of the spear when it comes to minimum wage experiments – has now hit a new cycle low of 3.4%, as the city continues to thrive… The restaurant business, by all accounts, is booming (in fact, probably reaching a saturation point when one looks at eateries per capita). I think it’s safe to say we’ve got enough data – over almost two years now – to declare that Seattle has not suffered adverse consequences from its increases in the minimum wage, and has certainly not experienced the dire effects foretold by the anti-min wage crowd." Funny how when you pay people and actually decent paycheck, it tends to increase the economy. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Mathematician Michael Tippett at Columbia University, who tracks these (tornado) outbreaks, says that while the number of tornadoes nationwide varies a lot year to year, the overall average is pretty steady… 'But the number of tornadoes in outbreaks is increasing,' he says. And the number of tornadoes in the most extreme outbreaks — those where at least a dozen tornadoes hit a region within one to three days — is increasing the fastest." Everything is fine. We're all fine here.
"Most recently, BP gave the state of Alabama a $1 billion settlement to help with the state’s recovery. But people in the region are none too happy with the way the state decided to spend it."
Using magnetic pulses to recover memories.
"Vacuum birefringence is a weird quantum phenomenon that has only ever been observed on an atomic scale. It occurs when a neutron star is surrounded by a magnetic field so intense, it’s given rise to a region in empty space where matter randomly appears and vanishes." The universe is stranger than you can imagine. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
"Any policies favorable to insurers could be politically treacherous for Republicans, given that they have railed for years against ObamaCare 'bailouts' of insurance companies. It is also unclear if any policy changes would be enough to convince insurers to stay." Turns out unravelling Obamacare is going to be a very tough proposition. And it looks like conservatives are going to give away the store to the insurers to keep the market from collapsing. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"'One thing that’s been interesting this entire campaign season to watch is that people that say facts are facts. They’re not really facts,' Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes said on The Diane Rehm Show on NPR. 'It’s kind of like looking at ratings or looking at a glass of half-full water. Everybody has a way of interpreting them to be the truth or not true. There’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore as facts.'" We have always been at war with Eastasia.(Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is back in the fold and involved with the President-elect's transition effort, according to multiple reports." Seems Putin wanted a more hands-on approach. Given that the FBI is looking into Manafort's involvement with "foreign governments", this might be the time the movie announcer says, "Before he was fighting for a paycheck, now he's fighting for his life…"
"Since Carrier still plans to outsource a good number of jobs to Mexico — Fortune reports 600 from an Indianapolis plant and another 700 from a Huntington, Indiana plant are still slated to move south of the border, despite this week’s deal — it remains to be seen whether Trump will follow through with his campaign promise to hit the company with a stiff tariff." And potentially have to admit this victory lap was a 3 card Monte game? Never. (Grokked from Jer)
"It indicates an environment where business decisions are now about how much you please the president." Crony capitalism, the other form of political corruption. Also, while they talk about socialists/communists and their "controlled economy", they forget that while we remember fascism for its social programs, fascism was also about a controlled economy with heavy government interference and nationalization of important industries.
"And for two days, at a Harvard University conference debriefing the 2016 election — an event that brings together political operatives and the press that followed them around — it was clear that everyone was mad at the media. Explosively furious." The GOP is upset that after beating the media into being uncritical of political views and providing an outlet for their rantings, they were uncritical of Trump and gave the vulgar clown all the time he desired to masturbate on camera.
Trump's ignorance is dangerous. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Chuck Wendig storifies and expands his comments from yesterday regarding the white working class.
Tweet of my heart: @JimPethokoukis BREAKING: US economy creates 223 Carrier Units of jobs in November. (178,000 net new payrolls to be exact) (Grokked from Lisa N. Morton)
Double dip: @joshtpm Wikileaks has an amazing knack of finding documents from govts with upcoming elections who are opposed by Vladimir Putin. LOL. #beenthere (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
Nestle develops "hallow" sugar. Ah, yeah. Let's see the lab results on that one (also the real world taste tests).
"The unemployment rate in the city of Seattle – the tip of the spear when it comes to minimum wage experiments – has now hit a new cycle low of 3.4%, as the city continues to thrive… The restaurant business, by all accounts, is booming (in fact, probably reaching a saturation point when one looks at eateries per capita). I think it’s safe to say we’ve got enough data – over almost two years now – to declare that Seattle has not suffered adverse consequences from its increases in the minimum wage, and has certainly not experienced the dire effects foretold by the anti-min wage crowd." Funny how when you pay people and actually decent paycheck, it tends to increase the economy. (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"Mathematician Michael Tippett at Columbia University, who tracks these (tornado) outbreaks, says that while the number of tornadoes nationwide varies a lot year to year, the overall average is pretty steady… 'But the number of tornadoes in outbreaks is increasing,' he says. And the number of tornadoes in the most extreme outbreaks — those where at least a dozen tornadoes hit a region within one to three days — is increasing the fastest." Everything is fine. We're all fine here.
"Most recently, BP gave the state of Alabama a $1 billion settlement to help with the state’s recovery. But people in the region are none too happy with the way the state decided to spend it."
Using magnetic pulses to recover memories.
"Vacuum birefringence is a weird quantum phenomenon that has only ever been observed on an atomic scale. It occurs when a neutron star is surrounded by a magnetic field so intense, it’s given rise to a region in empty space where matter randomly appears and vanishes." The universe is stranger than you can imagine. (Grokked from Kameron Hurley)
"Any policies favorable to insurers could be politically treacherous for Republicans, given that they have railed for years against ObamaCare 'bailouts' of insurance companies. It is also unclear if any policy changes would be enough to convince insurers to stay." Turns out unravelling Obamacare is going to be a very tough proposition. And it looks like conservatives are going to give away the store to the insurers to keep the market from collapsing. (Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"'One thing that’s been interesting this entire campaign season to watch is that people that say facts are facts. They’re not really facts,' Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes said on The Diane Rehm Show on NPR. 'It’s kind of like looking at ratings or looking at a glass of half-full water. Everybody has a way of interpreting them to be the truth or not true. There’s no such thing, unfortunately, anymore as facts.'" We have always been at war with Eastasia.(Grokked from Kathryn Cramer)
"Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is back in the fold and involved with the President-elect's transition effort, according to multiple reports." Seems Putin wanted a more hands-on approach. Given that the FBI is looking into Manafort's involvement with "foreign governments", this might be the time the movie announcer says, "Before he was fighting for a paycheck, now he's fighting for his life…"
"Since Carrier still plans to outsource a good number of jobs to Mexico — Fortune reports 600 from an Indianapolis plant and another 700 from a Huntington, Indiana plant are still slated to move south of the border, despite this week’s deal — it remains to be seen whether Trump will follow through with his campaign promise to hit the company with a stiff tariff." And potentially have to admit this victory lap was a 3 card Monte game? Never. (Grokked from Jer)
"It indicates an environment where business decisions are now about how much you please the president." Crony capitalism, the other form of political corruption. Also, while they talk about socialists/communists and their "controlled economy", they forget that while we remember fascism for its social programs, fascism was also about a controlled economy with heavy government interference and nationalization of important industries.
"And for two days, at a Harvard University conference debriefing the 2016 election — an event that brings together political operatives and the press that followed them around — it was clear that everyone was mad at the media. Explosively furious." The GOP is upset that after beating the media into being uncritical of political views and providing an outlet for their rantings, they were uncritical of Trump and gave the vulgar clown all the time he desired to masturbate on camera.
Trump's ignorance is dangerous. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
Chuck Wendig storifies and expands his comments from yesterday regarding the white working class.
Tweet of my heart: @JimPethokoukis BREAKING: US economy creates 223 Carrier Units of jobs in November. (178,000 net new payrolls to be exact) (Grokked from Lisa N. Morton)
Double dip: @joshtpm Wikileaks has an amazing knack of finding documents from govts with upcoming elections who are opposed by Vladimir Putin. LOL. #beenthere (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Linkee-poo is going to hold you forever
John Scalzi on how writing for audio performance helped improve his writing. This also goes to the old trick of reading your writing out loud, but takes it a few steps farther.
"National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is about to draw to a close. But this particular November, after a fractious and often devastating campaign season concluded, many folks had a difficult time writing anything at all. The stress, the sadness, the fear for the rights of many Americans in marginalized or oppressed groups to openly express themselves without being harassed and abused—these are very real concerns that have gotten in the way for many talented writers." I would raise my hand, but truthfully it's been a few years since I've written regularly and/or well. So, which Nov 8 did knock me for a loop, my schedule of 2 jobs pretty much soaked up any time and willpower. YMMV, though.
Y Fari Lwyd, the Grey Mare. Here we come a' wassailing… (Grokked from Ellen Kushner)
Nat Geo asked their photographers to capture climate change. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
There's been a lot of news of using Schedule 1 drugs as therapeutic medicine (note, Schedule 1 drugs are deemed, as a part of the definition, to not have any legitimate medical uses). Theres a study about using Ecstasy for PTSD. And now, "magic mushrooms" for anxiety in cancer patients. "In both studies, psilocybin treatment had more effect on anxiety and depression than a placebo did. For example, by the day after treatment, about 80 percent of the treated NYU patients no longer qualified as clinically anxious or depressed by standard measures. That compares to about 30 percent for the placebo group. That's a remarkably fast response, experts said, and it endured for the seven weeks of the comparison."
"A report from the National Center for Health Statistics released Wednesday shows that the number of people whose families are struggling to pay medical bills fell by 22 percent, or 13 million people, in the last five years… And that's good news, according to consumer and health policy advocates." Good thing we're going to repeal that Obamacare, 'cause we wouldn't want it to be easy of low to moderate income people to have financial security. Yep, there's the real story, instead of the news being all about the increases in premiums. (Grokked from Lisa N. Morton)
Regulations? We don't need no stinkin' regulations. "For quake-prone parts of Oklahoma, the state ordered what is essentially a 40 percent reduction in injection of the saltwater that scientists generally blame for the massive increase in earthquakes. This year, before the new rules went into effect on May 28, Oklahoma averaged 2.3 quakes a day. Since then the average dropped to 1.3 a day, based on AP's analysis of U.S. Geological Survey data of earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or larger." And that sounds like good news, right? "But some of those fewer post-regulatory quakes have been large and damaging." Because some things, once set in motion, tend to magnify. Or, all that previous activity is still continuing to cause problems. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
Remember that EPA study on fracking that said that we all didn't need to worry so much? "Top officials of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year made critical changes at the eleventh hour to a highly anticipated, five-year scientific study of hydraulic fracturing’s effect on the nation’s drinking water. The changes, later criticized by scientists for lacking evidence, played down the risk of pollution that can result from the well-drilling technique known as fracking." Yeah, maybe it wasn't so rosy after all.
It got lost in all the other news, but lawmakers actually did pass legislation to help the California National Guard members who were being forced to pay back bonuses they "earned" for re-enlighting. I use quotations there because many of them didn't actually qualify for the bonuses, but were involved (without their knowledge) in a criminal skimming scheme by from recruiters who have been sent to jail.
"By enabling the plant to stay open, the deal spares about 800 union workers whose jobs were going to be outsourced to Mexico, according to federal officials who were briefed by the company. This suggests that hundreds will still lose their jobs at the factory, where roughly 1,400 workers were slated to be laid off." So, yes, while everybody is "Oh, he saved jobs!" Nope, he lost almost half. And there is no word on Carrier's second factory, right next door, that was also slated to close and move the jobs to Mexico. Also, no word if there was anything more than what VP-elect Mike Pence could have done on his own.
Meanwhile, as everybody goes crazy over the national shitting the bed, in the backwaters of Ohio… "Ohio has revoked the operating license of one of the state's few remaining abortion clinics on grounds it failed to obtain a required transfer agreement with a nearby hospital for emergencies." Rust may never sleep, but neither do social conservatives miss a chance to push their hardline extremist agenda.
Chuck Wending tweet storm on the myths of the white working class. Very much this. Don't think so. I'm somewhere in the middle of that tweet storm. I've made it so far, but I can tell you the fear I might lose it all is very fucking real. But, I have seen that hand picking my pocket. That one of the legion of reasons I'm no longer a Republican. Think Chuck is a little over selling it? Really? Do you know how the Southern Strategy actually works? Hint: it was formulated just at the time that African-Americans started joining the unions. Why did more union households vote for Trump? Note that it was White union households who voted for Trump. The very same "Reagan Democrats." They're fucking scared that they're about to lose again, and Trump (and the alt-right) were telling them they had to be afraid of the brown people. So they voted for the guy who told them he was going to make them great again by getting all those brown people out of the country. Yeah, it's not going to happen. Coal jobs are never coming back (even if somehow they figure out Clean Coal - unlikely - automation is what was killing coal jobs before cheap natural gas plunged the knife in coal's back - and they just discovered new huge reserves that with fracking they can exploit just outside Midland, Texas - Coal. Is. Never. Coming. Back). We make a lot of stuff in this country, but all those jobs require training that the company isn't going to give you. Low-skill work is only going to be in service industries, which don't pay for shit. Note all of the people yelling, "(other 'important' job) only pays $12/hr, why do fast food workers think they deserve $15!". Maybe because those $12/hr jobs should be $18+/hr jobs. Crabs pulling each other back into the bucket. And it's easy for the oligarchs (yes, that class has been developed, look who Trump is nominating for Cabinet Positions) to fuel it. "The WWC don't need coddling. They don't need saving. They need an awakening. They need to see the hand that's hitting them."
"Trump voter explains how she knows millions of illegal immigrants voted." Dear "Silent Majority", you're just like "Christian Conservatives", you don't really belong to either of the two words that make up your supposed group name.
Tweet of my heart: @paulkrugman Another metric: Trump would have to do one Carrier-sized deal a week for 30 years to save as many jobs as Obama's auto bailout (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
"National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is about to draw to a close. But this particular November, after a fractious and often devastating campaign season concluded, many folks had a difficult time writing anything at all. The stress, the sadness, the fear for the rights of many Americans in marginalized or oppressed groups to openly express themselves without being harassed and abused—these are very real concerns that have gotten in the way for many talented writers." I would raise my hand, but truthfully it's been a few years since I've written regularly and/or well. So, which Nov 8 did knock me for a loop, my schedule of 2 jobs pretty much soaked up any time and willpower. YMMV, though.
Y Fari Lwyd, the Grey Mare. Here we come a' wassailing… (Grokked from Ellen Kushner)
Nat Geo asked their photographers to capture climate change. (Grokked from Robert J Bennett)
There's been a lot of news of using Schedule 1 drugs as therapeutic medicine (note, Schedule 1 drugs are deemed, as a part of the definition, to not have any legitimate medical uses). Theres a study about using Ecstasy for PTSD. And now, "magic mushrooms" for anxiety in cancer patients. "In both studies, psilocybin treatment had more effect on anxiety and depression than a placebo did. For example, by the day after treatment, about 80 percent of the treated NYU patients no longer qualified as clinically anxious or depressed by standard measures. That compares to about 30 percent for the placebo group. That's a remarkably fast response, experts said, and it endured for the seven weeks of the comparison."
"A report from the National Center for Health Statistics released Wednesday shows that the number of people whose families are struggling to pay medical bills fell by 22 percent, or 13 million people, in the last five years… And that's good news, according to consumer and health policy advocates." Good thing we're going to repeal that Obamacare, 'cause we wouldn't want it to be easy of low to moderate income people to have financial security. Yep, there's the real story, instead of the news being all about the increases in premiums. (Grokked from Lisa N. Morton)
Regulations? We don't need no stinkin' regulations. "For quake-prone parts of Oklahoma, the state ordered what is essentially a 40 percent reduction in injection of the saltwater that scientists generally blame for the massive increase in earthquakes. This year, before the new rules went into effect on May 28, Oklahoma averaged 2.3 quakes a day. Since then the average dropped to 1.3 a day, based on AP's analysis of U.S. Geological Survey data of earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or larger." And that sounds like good news, right? "But some of those fewer post-regulatory quakes have been large and damaging." Because some things, once set in motion, tend to magnify. Or, all that previous activity is still continuing to cause problems. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
Remember that EPA study on fracking that said that we all didn't need to worry so much? "Top officials of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year made critical changes at the eleventh hour to a highly anticipated, five-year scientific study of hydraulic fracturing’s effect on the nation’s drinking water. The changes, later criticized by scientists for lacking evidence, played down the risk of pollution that can result from the well-drilling technique known as fracking." Yeah, maybe it wasn't so rosy after all.
It got lost in all the other news, but lawmakers actually did pass legislation to help the California National Guard members who were being forced to pay back bonuses they "earned" for re-enlighting. I use quotations there because many of them didn't actually qualify for the bonuses, but were involved (without their knowledge) in a criminal skimming scheme by from recruiters who have been sent to jail.
"By enabling the plant to stay open, the deal spares about 800 union workers whose jobs were going to be outsourced to Mexico, according to federal officials who were briefed by the company. This suggests that hundreds will still lose their jobs at the factory, where roughly 1,400 workers were slated to be laid off." So, yes, while everybody is "Oh, he saved jobs!" Nope, he lost almost half. And there is no word on Carrier's second factory, right next door, that was also slated to close and move the jobs to Mexico. Also, no word if there was anything more than what VP-elect Mike Pence could have done on his own.
Meanwhile, as everybody goes crazy over the national shitting the bed, in the backwaters of Ohio… "Ohio has revoked the operating license of one of the state's few remaining abortion clinics on grounds it failed to obtain a required transfer agreement with a nearby hospital for emergencies." Rust may never sleep, but neither do social conservatives miss a chance to push their hardline extremist agenda.
Chuck Wending tweet storm on the myths of the white working class. Very much this. Don't think so. I'm somewhere in the middle of that tweet storm. I've made it so far, but I can tell you the fear I might lose it all is very fucking real. But, I have seen that hand picking my pocket. That one of the legion of reasons I'm no longer a Republican. Think Chuck is a little over selling it? Really? Do you know how the Southern Strategy actually works? Hint: it was formulated just at the time that African-Americans started joining the unions. Why did more union households vote for Trump? Note that it was White union households who voted for Trump. The very same "Reagan Democrats." They're fucking scared that they're about to lose again, and Trump (and the alt-right) were telling them they had to be afraid of the brown people. So they voted for the guy who told them he was going to make them great again by getting all those brown people out of the country. Yeah, it's not going to happen. Coal jobs are never coming back (even if somehow they figure out Clean Coal - unlikely - automation is what was killing coal jobs before cheap natural gas plunged the knife in coal's back - and they just discovered new huge reserves that with fracking they can exploit just outside Midland, Texas - Coal. Is. Never. Coming. Back). We make a lot of stuff in this country, but all those jobs require training that the company isn't going to give you. Low-skill work is only going to be in service industries, which don't pay for shit. Note all of the people yelling, "(other 'important' job) only pays $12/hr, why do fast food workers think they deserve $15!". Maybe because those $12/hr jobs should be $18+/hr jobs. Crabs pulling each other back into the bucket. And it's easy for the oligarchs (yes, that class has been developed, look who Trump is nominating for Cabinet Positions) to fuel it. "The WWC don't need coddling. They don't need saving. They need an awakening. They need to see the hand that's hitting them."
"Trump voter explains how she knows millions of illegal immigrants voted." Dear "Silent Majority", you're just like "Christian Conservatives", you don't really belong to either of the two words that make up your supposed group name.
Tweet of my heart: @paulkrugman Another metric: Trump would have to do one Carrier-sized deal a week for 30 years to save as many jobs as Obama's auto bailout (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Linkee-poo, don't you need, don't you need to feel at home?
Cat Rambo is offering a class on how to use old tales to tell new stories, taught with Rachel Swirsky.
A guest post on Chuck Wendig's blog, Gareth Powell on things he learning writing a trilogy. (Grokked from Ken McConnell)
"Not all galaxies sparkle with stars. Galaxies as wide as the Milky Way but bereft of starlight are scattered throughout our cosmic neighborhood. Unlike Andromeda and other well-known galaxies, these dark beasts have no grand spirals of stars and gas wrapped around a glowing core, nor are they radiant balls of densely packed stars. Instead, researchers find just a wisp of starlight from a tenuous blob."
The problem with "news as entertainment," an article about "mysterious jelly-like creature washing up on a beach." There's lots of speculation by people who have no fucking clue. About two-thirds down we get this, "Christopher G. Lowe, a marine biology professor at Cal State Long Beach who is the director of the university's shark lab, told KTLA that the the school's resident invertebrate expert says they are sea cucumbers…" and then a little by a semi-expert who says, "''There’s all kinds of weird things happening.' So, one expert who can say what they are, buried in the article after the "space alien" comment, and it's not even the guy who knows, but someone who knows someone else who knows what they are, and then another who basically says, "weird shit, man." Dear news, this is why you're fucked. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"The Somali-born student who carried out a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University complained on his Facebook account about U.S. interference in countries with Muslim communities, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press."
I'ma just gonna drop this hear for the record. "The Internet Archive, a digital library non-profit group that stores online copies of webpages, e-books, political advertisements and other media for public record, is fundraising to store a copy of all of its contents in Canada after Donald Trump's election to the presidency."
"New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says work will begin immediately on a complete renovation of the 'shameful' statehouse… He says the portion of the building used by the Legislature won't be affected." Because fuck those guys.
"Before Obamacare, women were also generally charged higher rates for health insurance than men on the individual market. According to the law center's analysis, 60 percent of best-selling individual plans in 2009 charged a 40-year-old nonsmoking woman more than a 40-year-old man who smoked, even in plans that didn't include any type of maternity coverage." Won't it be great when we go back to that! It hasn't been that long ago, but obviously a lot of people forget what a shit-show health insurance was before Obamacare. It needs some fixing, but let's not toss everything. Also Obamacare is, as some people have said, a Jenga puzzle. It only works in the whole, start removing parts and the whole thing falls down eventually.
"The Environmental Protection Agency has released a list of toxic chemicals that will be the first reviewed under a recently enacted law that gives regulators increased authority to ban substances shown to endanger human health." Any guesses on what the first policy initiative it is that Trump tries to stop?
"There is always a strong argument." On cooperation and co-opting autocratic and authoritarian rule. "What separates Americans in 2016 from Europeans in the 1940s and 1950s is a little bit of historical time but a whole lot of historical knowledge. We know what my great-grandfather did not know: that the people who wanted to keep the people fed ended up compiling lists of their neighbors to be killed. That they had a rationale for doing so. And also, that one of the greatest thinkers of their age judged their actions as harshly as they could be judged." (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"Liberal White people, however? You’d think someone told them their favorite gluten-free bakery has been using wheat. And some of their reactions to this have been quite telling, particularly in regards to how they feel about race and America’s relationship to it. Liberal White men, in particular." (Grokked from Joshua Parker)
"Civil rights groups say President-elect Donald Trump should forcefully and publicly denounce racism and bigotry. They are pointing to more than 860 bias-related incidents recorded in the 10 days following his Nov. 8 victory."
"When people start throwing Nazi salutes in public, it has a way of clarifying where everybody stands." Basically, a lot of people who joyously embraced the Alt-Right label and vociferously denounced "PC culture" and liked to "not censor themselves" (i.e. finally could say all the racist shit in their heads out loud) are now a little uncomfortable with their compatriots tossing the fascist salute. Dear fucking idiots, did you not pay attention before? Also, Nazis took over Germany not so much because they were the majority (although a significant population were if not party members, party supporters), but because the vast majority of people aligned with at least some of their philosophy and didn't feel the rest of it was worth bothering about as long as they got what they wanted (although some of the politicians who tried to play that game found themselves hanging from piano wire once they were no longer needed, this is a lesson many GOP members should learn as they all bend over to kiss Trump's - and his inner team's - ass). As for "alt-lite"… seriously, "Nazi-lite" is still a fucking Nazi. They don't understand there isn't a middle-ground here. Once you've accepted the social programing, the path is determined and it's a slope downward into mankind darkest histories (Nazis weren't the first, nor are they the last, the Khmer Rouge for example). America (and much of the world) toyed with philosophies of eugenics, of "racial superiority", and in some ways we are still dealing with the aftermath and echoes of that. Fortunately we stepped back (slightly) from that brink. What I (and it appears a lot of other people) worry about is that we haven't taken enough steps away from that brink that we can't topple over into the abyss with a few nudges in the wrong direction. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
"In the first days after the 2016 presidential election, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project administered an online survey to K–12 educators from across the country… Ninety percent of educators report that school climate has been negatively affected, and most of them believe it will have a long-lasting impact. A full 80 percent describe heightened anxiety and concern on the part of students worried about the impact of the election on themselves and their families." (Grokked from Cherie Priest)
On the business conflict that Trump will have when he's sworn in as President, specifically the GSA lease to his Washington DC hotel. You know the one. It's were he held two "press conferences" during his campaign which were really "here's our soft-open tour" and "here's the ribbon cutting" events.
Penn & Teller burn a flag in the White House (on The West Wing). Just as an aside, of course they vanished the flag and used flash powder in the roll of the Bill of Rights, that's how that trick works. (Grokked from Dan)
Tweet of my heart: @scalzi Creative people: Assume any Twitter account telling you not to opine about politics is a Russian tweetbot and proceed accordingly.
Double dip: @lizzwinstead So Trump will have someone else sign checks? Got it.
A guest post on Chuck Wendig's blog, Gareth Powell on things he learning writing a trilogy. (Grokked from Ken McConnell)
"Not all galaxies sparkle with stars. Galaxies as wide as the Milky Way but bereft of starlight are scattered throughout our cosmic neighborhood. Unlike Andromeda and other well-known galaxies, these dark beasts have no grand spirals of stars and gas wrapped around a glowing core, nor are they radiant balls of densely packed stars. Instead, researchers find just a wisp of starlight from a tenuous blob."
The problem with "news as entertainment," an article about "mysterious jelly-like creature washing up on a beach." There's lots of speculation by people who have no fucking clue. About two-thirds down we get this, "Christopher G. Lowe, a marine biology professor at Cal State Long Beach who is the director of the university's shark lab, told KTLA that the the school's resident invertebrate expert says they are sea cucumbers…" and then a little by a semi-expert who says, "''There’s all kinds of weird things happening.' So, one expert who can say what they are, buried in the article after the "space alien" comment, and it's not even the guy who knows, but someone who knows someone else who knows what they are, and then another who basically says, "weird shit, man." Dear news, this is why you're fucked. (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"The Somali-born student who carried out a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University complained on his Facebook account about U.S. interference in countries with Muslim communities, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press."
I'ma just gonna drop this hear for the record. "The Internet Archive, a digital library non-profit group that stores online copies of webpages, e-books, political advertisements and other media for public record, is fundraising to store a copy of all of its contents in Canada after Donald Trump's election to the presidency."
"New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says work will begin immediately on a complete renovation of the 'shameful' statehouse… He says the portion of the building used by the Legislature won't be affected." Because fuck those guys.
"Before Obamacare, women were also generally charged higher rates for health insurance than men on the individual market. According to the law center's analysis, 60 percent of best-selling individual plans in 2009 charged a 40-year-old nonsmoking woman more than a 40-year-old man who smoked, even in plans that didn't include any type of maternity coverage." Won't it be great when we go back to that! It hasn't been that long ago, but obviously a lot of people forget what a shit-show health insurance was before Obamacare. It needs some fixing, but let's not toss everything. Also Obamacare is, as some people have said, a Jenga puzzle. It only works in the whole, start removing parts and the whole thing falls down eventually.
"The Environmental Protection Agency has released a list of toxic chemicals that will be the first reviewed under a recently enacted law that gives regulators increased authority to ban substances shown to endanger human health." Any guesses on what the first policy initiative it is that Trump tries to stop?
"There is always a strong argument." On cooperation and co-opting autocratic and authoritarian rule. "What separates Americans in 2016 from Europeans in the 1940s and 1950s is a little bit of historical time but a whole lot of historical knowledge. We know what my great-grandfather did not know: that the people who wanted to keep the people fed ended up compiling lists of their neighbors to be killed. That they had a rationale for doing so. And also, that one of the greatest thinkers of their age judged their actions as harshly as they could be judged." (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)
"Liberal White people, however? You’d think someone told them their favorite gluten-free bakery has been using wheat. And some of their reactions to this have been quite telling, particularly in regards to how they feel about race and America’s relationship to it. Liberal White men, in particular." (Grokked from Joshua Parker)
"Civil rights groups say President-elect Donald Trump should forcefully and publicly denounce racism and bigotry. They are pointing to more than 860 bias-related incidents recorded in the 10 days following his Nov. 8 victory."
"When people start throwing Nazi salutes in public, it has a way of clarifying where everybody stands." Basically, a lot of people who joyously embraced the Alt-Right label and vociferously denounced "PC culture" and liked to "not censor themselves" (i.e. finally could say all the racist shit in their heads out loud) are now a little uncomfortable with their compatriots tossing the fascist salute. Dear fucking idiots, did you not pay attention before? Also, Nazis took over Germany not so much because they were the majority (although a significant population were if not party members, party supporters), but because the vast majority of people aligned with at least some of their philosophy and didn't feel the rest of it was worth bothering about as long as they got what they wanted (although some of the politicians who tried to play that game found themselves hanging from piano wire once they were no longer needed, this is a lesson many GOP members should learn as they all bend over to kiss Trump's - and his inner team's - ass). As for "alt-lite"… seriously, "Nazi-lite" is still a fucking Nazi. They don't understand there isn't a middle-ground here. Once you've accepted the social programing, the path is determined and it's a slope downward into mankind darkest histories (Nazis weren't the first, nor are they the last, the Khmer Rouge for example). America (and much of the world) toyed with philosophies of eugenics, of "racial superiority", and in some ways we are still dealing with the aftermath and echoes of that. Fortunately we stepped back (slightly) from that brink. What I (and it appears a lot of other people) worry about is that we haven't taken enough steps away from that brink that we can't topple over into the abyss with a few nudges in the wrong direction. (Grokked from Elizabeth Bear)
"In the first days after the 2016 presidential election, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project administered an online survey to K–12 educators from across the country… Ninety percent of educators report that school climate has been negatively affected, and most of them believe it will have a long-lasting impact. A full 80 percent describe heightened anxiety and concern on the part of students worried about the impact of the election on themselves and their families." (Grokked from Cherie Priest)
On the business conflict that Trump will have when he's sworn in as President, specifically the GSA lease to his Washington DC hotel. You know the one. It's were he held two "press conferences" during his campaign which were really "here's our soft-open tour" and "here's the ribbon cutting" events.
Penn & Teller burn a flag in the White House (on The West Wing). Just as an aside, of course they vanished the flag and used flash powder in the roll of the Bill of Rights, that's how that trick works. (Grokked from Dan)
Tweet of my heart: @scalzi Creative people: Assume any Twitter account telling you not to opine about politics is a Russian tweetbot and proceed accordingly.
Double dip: @lizzwinstead So Trump will have someone else sign checks? Got it.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Linkee-poo has got wild staring eyes and I've got a strong urge to fly, but I got nowhere to fly to
"Remember all the news reports suggesting, without evidence, that the Clinton Foundation’s fund-raising created conflicts of interest? Well, now the man who benefited from all that innuendo is on his way to the White House. And he’s already giving us an object lesson in what real conflicts of interest look like, as authoritarian governments around the world shower favors on his business empire." Much of the Trump campaign bombast against Clinton was projection.
"Two weeks after Election Day, voting rights advocates are taking stock of the issues that plagued the 2016 election cycle—barriers to registering to vote, access to the ballot box, confusing new laws and court cases—and looking ahead to the battles to come. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Trump's pick for attorney general, has a troubling record when it comes to voting rights, only adding to the post-election worries among voting rights supporters." (Grokked from Cat Rambo)
"The plan, called the Miners Protection Act, was sent for floor action by a bipartisan 18-to-8 vote of the Senate Finance Committee in September. But it has run into trouble with the Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. He questions why the bill would protect only members of the United Mine Workers of America… The senator’s concern for nonunion miners seems a classic example of a hackneyed legislative tactic — arguing for the perfect to block the good." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Whereas President Bush offered America the illusion of morality clarity, President-elect Trump offers an ever-shifting phantasmagoria of sense impressions and unreliable information, barely held together by a fog of anxiety and bewilderment. Think Kafka more than Lord of the Rings." Well that's kind of horrifying, because I've read both. But here is the real goal, "When fake news becomes omnipresent, all news becomes suspect. Everything starts to look like a lie…" and "Non-linear warfare is intrinsically authoritarian. The president-elect is speaking the language of dictators." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
I see four fingers.
Tweet of my heart: @SarahThyre All the people who still believe he's tweeting crazy shit to distract us from real scandal: congrats, you never had an alcoholic parent. (Grokked from Christopher Moore)
"Two weeks after Election Day, voting rights advocates are taking stock of the issues that plagued the 2016 election cycle—barriers to registering to vote, access to the ballot box, confusing new laws and court cases—and looking ahead to the battles to come. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Trump's pick for attorney general, has a troubling record when it comes to voting rights, only adding to the post-election worries among voting rights supporters." (Grokked from Cat Rambo)
"The plan, called the Miners Protection Act, was sent for floor action by a bipartisan 18-to-8 vote of the Senate Finance Committee in September. But it has run into trouble with the Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. He questions why the bill would protect only members of the United Mine Workers of America… The senator’s concern for nonunion miners seems a classic example of a hackneyed legislative tactic — arguing for the perfect to block the good." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"Whereas President Bush offered America the illusion of morality clarity, President-elect Trump offers an ever-shifting phantasmagoria of sense impressions and unreliable information, barely held together by a fog of anxiety and bewilderment. Think Kafka more than Lord of the Rings." Well that's kind of horrifying, because I've read both. But here is the real goal, "When fake news becomes omnipresent, all news becomes suspect. Everything starts to look like a lie…" and "Non-linear warfare is intrinsically authoritarian. The president-elect is speaking the language of dictators." (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
I see four fingers.
Tweet of my heart: @SarahThyre All the people who still believe he's tweeting crazy shit to distract us from real scandal: congrats, you never had an alcoholic parent. (Grokked from Christopher Moore)
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