Outrage of the Week: Today Show’s Crazy Halloween Advice – I don't recall when John & I got to solo trick-or-treating. I actually don't mind going along with Kay and whomever she hooks up with in the neighborhood — it's fun, and relaxing, and someone up the street offers all the adults beers, and it's easier than hanging out, waiting for the doorbell to ring.
WizardRSS Coverts Any Partial RSS Feed to a Full Feed – Outstanding. I’ve tried this on a couple of sites, and it seems to usually work. The fact is, I have so (too) much that I follow that a partial RSS is much more likely to mean I never read a site than that I click through to the actual page.
Republicans: “We Miss Bill Clinton” – So, will Obama be similarly “rehabilitated” by revisionist memory in a decade or two? Or will he forever be That Crypto-Muslim Atheist Kenyan Elitist Socialist Death-Panelist?
In a mobile-banking world, whither the paper check? – We write a handful of paper checks a month — usually for transactions at the house, or with the school, that don’t lend themselves to credit cards. But 99% of the bills I pay are electronic transfers (or PayTrust prints the check for me).
United Airlines: Hurry, Only 4 Seats Left? – “As you can see, no matter what flight combination was chosen, whether it be six in the morning or nine at night, ‘only’ four seats were left on EVERY flight in either direction. Coincidence? I think not. It looks like United is using a bit of a scare tactic, not unlike that used by timeshare hucksters — ‘this deal is available today only, if you delay, you will miss out’.” United keeps getting more and more classy.
Picture Books Languish as Parents Push ‘Big-Kid Books’ – NYTimes.com – While I’m sure there’s an element of academic paranoia on the part of parents (ignoring the difference between reading a “chapter book” to a kid and buying one for them to read), I’d say that at least as large a factor is that picture books are freaking expensive, almost prohibitively so.
Gropec*** Lane – “Warning: This post contains repeated uses of words that many people will find offensive.” Though it’s interesting from the perspective of how acceptable language changes over time.
They Hate Us For Our Freedom? : Dispatches from the Culture Wars – “I know that many Americans believe in ‘American exceptionalism’ but we are not granted exceptions from the most basic laws of behavior, and one of those iron laws is that when you oppress a people and commit massive violence against them, you radicalize them. And this counts for both sides. Just look at how much more radicalized we are in response to 9/11 than we were before, how we reacted with such a massive and violent retaliation — even against a country that had nothing to do with that event. But we somehow cannot bring ourselves to acknowledge that the same thing is true of other people.”
Recipes from Valabar’s in Colorado – De notes the recipes from our Big Fancy Dragaeran Dinner the other weekend. It was great food, and good company. Even the trout (not something I’d normally leap at) was fabulous. Thanks, De!
Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
It’s Obama’s fault people want to believe he’s Muslim – Lovely. He’s asked why he’s a Christian (in the same way that Mother Teresa was asked that question), and it’s spun as more “widespread confusion about his religious affiliation.”
Child Hunger, As Seen At Wal-Mart – How is it all those “lazy” unemployed people who are being “encouraged to not work” by all that unemployment and welfare largesse are still managing to make it to Wal-Mart at midnight …?
GIF: U Bettr Run, Bear!!! – Why do I have the feeling this is a Han Solo Running Down The Corridor Screaming moment …?
Prepaid Electricity Meter Fraud – The Law of “Unintended Consequences from a New, Convenient, High-Tech System That Nobody Could Ever Hack, Right?”
How and Why Chrome Is Overtaking Firefox Among Power Users [Video] – I’m currently running FF by default at work, Chrome at home. FF still has a much richer and more powerful extension community, and (through extension) a more robust tab handling capability. And because I run in those two browsers plus IE for some things at the office, Xmarks and LastPass remain my syncing tools of choice. That said, Chrome is a solid alternative, and does feel tighter and faster.
Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
About That Filibuster Proof Majority | Mother Jones – More importantly, that 60 votes included any number of Blue Dogs who were dubious assets in any attempt to push forward progressive legislation (as we’ve seen since then). One can criticize the Dems as a whole for lack of party discipline, such that the leadership was not able to coerce all 60 Dems to vote as a block, the way the GOP minority has been able to. But that general criticism must eventually fall down to specific cases — Nelson, Lincoln, Webb, Warner, and others who have been willing to throw their lot in with the GOP on more than one occasion.
Hold the damn votes – I sometimes despair as to how gutless so many Democratic legislators are. As whacky as so many on the GOP side are, at least they have (a) party discipline and (b) a willingness to stand up for their zany ideals. The Dems appear to have neither.
Stanton Focused On Ensuring “Family” Doesn’t Include Gays – Yes, simply hand-wave away what all those “young” and “open-minded” and “idealistic” folks are saying about gay families — that’s guaranteed to make sure your beliefs are carried on by the next generation.
100 year data preservation | ZDNet – Assuming civilization doesn’t collapse, this will almost certainly be one of the biggest, underestimated problems of the next century.
Genocide Wiped Out Native American Population : Discovery News – Just a reminder, in case one was needed, that the Native American population was not some sort of preternaturally placid and peaceful living-as-one-with-each-other group of commune dwellers. They were (all too sadly) human, too.
The 10 Hottest Nerd Costumes for Girls (That Aren’t Slave Leia) – “There’s a nerd legend that says every male geek who gives his life in the defense of nerd-dom (like wearing a dynamite vest to the set of Transformers 3) has a pair of twin Cheetaras waiting for him in Nerd Heaven.” I think I saw all of these except a Cheetara at the Comic-Con.
NPR Welcomes Bryan Fischer To Discuss Tea Party Politics – I listened to the interview. While Fischer dramatically toned down his anti-gay, anti-Muslim sentiments, his basic badgering of Walker (essentially “We’re glad all the Tea Party leadership agrees with us on social conservative issues, but if they don’t, then they aren’t True Conservatives and we’ll do away with ’em”) made his basic personality and position quite clear.
U.S. Debates Response to Targeted Killing Lawsuit – NYTimes.com – Really? You can (a) declare an open hunting season on a (b) unindicted American citizen (c) anywhere in the world and (d) claim it’s all Sooper Sekrit and so not subject to review by anyone? Really? Yeah, what could possibly go wrong there?
Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
Journey of the Late Adopter – I’m probably around the Day 1200-1300 range. And the overall timeline sounds probably about right, despite all the other problems that ereaders have.
Moderates v. Radicals – All you have to do is look back on how Catholics and Jews were treated in the 20th and 19th Centuries, or how a raft of minority Christian sects were treated during the era of the Founding Fathers, to know that folks who feel comfortable with violence by “Us” vs “Them” keep drawing that “Us” circle more and more tightly.
UK to ban all multiplayer games – Yikes! It’s not good to play Bad Guys? Better drop my City of Villains characters, then … Actually, I’ll admit, the game in question makes me uneasy. But that’s dealt with much more effectively in a social fashion (talking about it) and commercial fashion (declining to buy it), rather than through some sort of BAN on it.
White Fright – Slate – Christopher Hitchens – Is the upcoming passage of whites from a majority to a “mere” plurality going to be as ugly as some folks fear? I sure hope not. I’d like to think we’re bigger and better than that.
35 Life Hacks You Should Know [PIC] – Some of these seem impossible (and others I suspect are highly circumstantial), but there are also some great ideas here. Caveat lector.
Park 51: Lessons for the War on Science : Mike the Mad Biologist – The problem here is that there are folks who hear just the surface arguments by the wingnuts and who see a shallow reasonability to them. Simply ignoring them merely allows them to fester. The light of truth should defeat the darkness, but only if you shine it upon that darkness and reveal it for what it is.
Of all the things to whine about – The GOP has simply decided to ignore the past (ironically) and focus on whatever message they think they can smear Obama with. It doesn’t have to make sense, it doesn’t have to be rational, it doesn’t have to be constructive, it has only to be something that Fox can run in a chyron and Limbaugh can rant about for half an hour.
Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
ANDRE NORTON ORG: Coverart Gallery! – An article at Tor.com reminded me of (a) how much I loved this book, and (b) how awesome both the Robin Jacques hardcover picture and the Jeff Jones paperback illustrations were.
To Know Him Is to Love Him – I’m not more sure he’s eligible for sainthood any more than you or me — but it seems increasingly unrealistic to portray Imam Faisal Adul Rauf as a ravening jihadist out to cut our throats and pollute our precious bodily fluids.
Less Than A Third Of Americans Support Keeping Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthy – I’m sure all the Republicans, who rely on polling data to point out how unpopular Obama and the Affordable Care Act are, will immediately drop their demands and political campaigning that these intentionally-temporary tax cuts be made permanent.
Hallowed ground: Why other nations think we’re nuts – It’s probably worth noting that, with our relatively young nation, the examples of Places Where Awful Things Happened (i.e., “Hallowed Ground”) are much more limited. As opposed to Europe, where you can’t throw a dead cat without having it land someplace there was a massacre, a prison, a temple, a cathedral, a rally, an assassination, a battle, etc.
Would You Eat Lab-Grown Meat? – I think it will take a while to match the Real Thing, but I would certainly be willing to make the Real Thing the exception in my diet rather than the rule, if it were an adequate substitute.
Architects Of SB-1070 Looking At Challenging Historic Plyler Vs. Doe Decision – “It is difficult to understand precisely what the State hopes to achieve by promoting the creation and perpetuation of a subclass of illiterates within our boundaries, surely adding to the problems and costs of unemployment, welfare, and crime.” Not sure about the state, but it sounds like some folks are in a position to profit from it.
Museum of Tolerance backer: No to WTC mosque – Crain’s New York Business – “Religious freedom does not mean being insensitive … or an idiot.” Actually, yes, it does. Or, rather, protection of religious freedom includes protecting those who are insensitive, or idiots, as well as those who are beautiful and beneficent.
Gay Marriage and Interracial Marriage : Dispatches from the Culture Wars – Arguing over who’s been discriminated against more egregiously than whom is rarely useful (and, all too often plays indirectly into the hands of the discriminators). But this is an interesting perspective on some similarities and differences in comparing the two unjustly forbidden categories in the title.
Conservatives Against Religious Tolerance – Whether it’s religious prejudice, or fearmongering demagoguery, the reaction from the Right (and tepid counter-reaction from the Left) is disgusting.
Would You Eat Lab-Grown Meat? – I think it will take a while to match the Real Thing, but I would certainly be willing to make the Real Thing the exception in my diet rather than the rule, if it were an adequate substitute.
Architects Of SB-1070 Looking At Challenging Historic Plyler Vs. Doe Decision – “It is difficult to understand precisely what the State hopes to achieve by promoting the creation and perpetuation of a subclass of illiterates within our boundaries, surely adding to the problems and costs of unemployment, welfare, and crime.” Not sure about the state, but it sounds like some folks are in a position to profit from it.
Museum of Tolerance backer: No to WTC mosque – Crain’s New York Business – “Religious freedom does not mean being insensitive … or an idiot.” Actually, yes, it does. Or, rather, protection of religious freedom includes protecting those who are insensitive, or idiots, as well as those who are beautiful and beneficent.
Gay Marriage and Interracial Marriage : Dispatches from the Culture Wars – Arguing over who’s been discriminated against more egregiously than whom is rarely useful (and, all too often plays indirectly into the hands of the discriminators). But this is an interesting perspective on some similarities and differences in comparing the two unjustly forbidden categories in the title.
Conservatives Against Religious Tolerance – Whether it’s religious prejudice, or fearmongering demagoguery, the reaction from the Right (and tepid counter-reaction from the Left) is disgusting.
Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….
Tough folks to please – “I feel ridiculous defending Graham from other Republicans, but the larger significance of this is important: the GOP base wants to create an environment in which Republican lawmakers should be afraid to even TALK to Democrats.”
Apple Launches Cloud Music Service in Uncharacteristic Fashion – Interesting. I suspect the labels will have a point here, but the idea of hosting my own music store on the cloud rather than on a single (well-backed-up) hard drive at my home is … attractive.
Bike agenda spins cities toward U.N. control, Maes warns – The Denver Post – Wow. Lunatic Fringe ‘R’ Us! I mean, really … the only objection raised here is that it’s a suggestion made by a group within (GASP!) the UN. Which obviously means it’s part of a world-wide socialist anti-American cabal out to pollute our precious bodily fluids! Yeesh.
New Start: the worst GOP obstruction yet | Michael Tomasky – “A semi-serious legislator, the kind trying to do the job he’s paid by taxpayers to do, would get in there and negotiate and get more money for upkeep or Star Wars or whatever, bearing in mind that US-Russia relations on a matter as grave as this should not be held hostage to electoral politics. Believe it or not, that’s how things actually used to work in this country. Not any more. And one party is far, far more to blame than the other. Disgraceful.”
“Freedom:” The Right of Religious Fundamentalists to Discriminate Against Everyone Else | RHRealityCheck.org – “People are allowed to believe whatever bigoted things they want about their fellow human beings. What they aren’t allowed to do is act in bigoted ways contrary to their profession and expect to keep their jobs, a much different thing.” Someone whose conscience does not allow them to serve all members of the public equally should find another line of work, not demand that society allow them to discriminate against their clientele.
The problem with short memories – Short memories? Or manipulated memories? If you just keep repeating a lie, pretty soon people start to think it’s the truth.
Post poll: McInnis losing support, Republicans like Tancredo – The Denver Post – Tom “The Only Good Immigrant Is A Deported Immigrant” Tancredo? Crikey. (And color me SHOCKEd that Tom “Yeah I campaigned on a promise to quit after three terms, but let’s go for number four!” Tancfredo is evidently toying with the idea of trying to step into the race.)
Saving Kittehs in the Midst of War – Waiting for the wingnuts to start warning about the country being quietly invaded by Islamicist Kittehs!
Boehner eyes a return to failed regulatory policies – “I suspect much of the country gives very little thought to regulatory issues, and wouldn’t necessarily recognize why this is radical and dangerous. I’ll just put it this way: if you love lead paint from China, you’ll love the Republican deregulation agenda.” Regulations are perceived only as a cost, with no recognition that, when they do what they are supposed to, we “only” are kept safe and healthy.
It doesn’t have to be this way – “It doesn’t have to be this way, but the political will to act doesn’t exist, and the only segments of the public screaming for political attention are deeply confused anti-government zealots who want the unemployment crisis to be slightly worse.”
Flipped Pieces of Coin, Broken Bottles, Exchanged for Birthright – Discussion of the actual effects of the blockade on Gaza. “Israel is justified in preventing arms shipments to Gaza. Israel is in no way morally or ethically justified to debilitate over a million Gazans, most of which are children, in these ways. It is shameful.”
D-Day Double Standard – Let’s face it — Fox “News” is going to be “outraged” over pretty much anything Obama does or does not do, regardless of whether they are consistent with what Dubya did. They are the media outlet for the opposition; that’s their job.
Sometimes you’ve got to wonder…are we the baddies? – Honestly, sometimes I think we are. Or, at best, we do a poor job of conveying why we are not, given some of the things that we, as individuals or as a government, sometimes do. This is, unfortunately, political poison to even discuss (note that firestorm of conservative protest about Obama being perceived as overly-apologetic), where anything that doesn’t portray us as Shining Angels with Fiery Swords of Righteousness is seen as portraying us as Loathesome Devils. Whether or not we are an “exceptional” country, we have our flaws, and an unwillingness to see them means we can never correct them.
GPS getting an upgrade – for $8 billion – Good to hear. So much is already dependent on GPS (too much, perhaps), that the system failing or degrading would cause serious issues.
Nothing ever changes [Thoughts from Kansas] – Arguing that Rand Paul should get a pass from Dems on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because there were Dems who opposed it is darned goofy. Especially since most of the Dixiecrat Dems who opposed it shifted over into being Republicans thereafter.
Greenwood Indiana High School Circumvents The Law – Again – A fine object lesson they’re teaching the kids: “If you believe in something, it’s fine to sneak around the law for it.” Jesus would respect breaking the law and facing up to it. Encouraging a deceit in a holy cause? Not something I find in the New Testament.
The Apple Store – Apple has certainly done a pretty good job of making truly lovely and comfortable gilded cages. And sometimes that’s not a bad thing.
What if The Empire Strikes Back were made in the 50s as a 3D sci-fi B-feature? Actually a melange of flicks from the silents through the 60s (mostly movies, but I spotted a bit of TV in there), but it all makes for a wonderful pre-make.
Given Lucas’ inspiration by the serials of his youth, this is actually much of what he was driving for. Fun, too.
Unusual Words – A fun list of same. And let me say that I enjoy occasionally removing an agraffe in my alphamegamia (not to mention, in the same context, engaging in a bit of apodyopsis).
Court: Sexually dangerous can be kept in prison – I’m no particular supporter of dangerous sexual felons, but (a) rather than let the government “civilly commit” someone after their sentence is over, why not simply sentence someone to “X years to Life”? (b) if this can be done with “sexually dangerous” felons, why not other dangerous felons? Does that make anyone else uncomfortable?
Online Privacy: Check Yourself (Before You Wreck Yourself) | Smarterware – Basically, yeah. Sure, some environments (coughFacebookcough) make it harder to restrict who can see stuff (coughAnyoneWhoPaysFacebookcough), and there are things that you might be willing to share with friends and family that you don’t want to share with, oh, prospective employers, fellow parishioners, or prospective romances … but, bottom line, nobody is forcing you to post that photo of the last drunken orgy or your intemperate screed about [insert ethnic / religious / racial / national group here].
Baptist Press – FIRST-PERSON: Should we celebrate the Pill? – News with a Christian Perspective – From a Focus on the Family guy, writing from Colorado Spring, for Baptist Press? What do you think the answer is going to be? “The arrival of the Pill was supposed to have Andromeda unleashed from her chains, as its proponents told she would be. But maybe the proper analogy is not woman becoming unfettered from the chains of her biology, but rather her trading the God-given power of her femininity for the lie of thinking she will find happiness if she approaches sexuality more like a man.”
What’s Really Going On This Year On Doctor Who? [TV Review] – I found Amy marginally better in “Flesh and Stone,” but I felt there were perhaps 1-1/2 too many layers of plot and counterplot going on this ep — the Angels story, the Crack in Time, oddities around Amy (which may be related), River Song … and this article points to several more. The thing I most agree with is that I’d like this to be the swan song of the Angels.
Nun Demoted from Job After Saving Patient’s Life – The idea of religious orders/organizations running hospitals was that it was an extension of their mission to help others. Here’s clearly a case where the religious rules stood in the way of that care (and, when someone made the compassionate, hard decision, she was slapped down for it, hard).
How Much Is a CEO Worth? – BusinessWeek – Not a huge surprise here, but there’s little correlation between CEO pay and company performance. Their pay seems to be largely pre-negotiated and fixed, and if the board doesn’t like the job being done, they cut their losses, pay the golden parachute, and move to another CEO. Not much accountability there.
