March, 2014 archive
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.
It’s not hard; it’s just different.
What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, March 6.
Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)
Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (Janaf Shopping Center). (Map)
If You Don’t See It, It’s Not There 0
And we white folks don’t see it, because we don’t look for it.
I get white privilege. I’ve gotten it all my life. It’s an unspoken undercurrent to day-to-day life in the United States.
It hasn’t caused me suffering; it’s given me benefits–unspoken and unnoticed benefits because they were, well, just there. One of the aspects of white privilege is being surprised that someone else would notice that being white has privilege.
The United States is a racist society. (If you doubt me, watch Fox News–racism is its currency). Racism is America’s original sin.
We expunge it, else it will take us down.
And I am increasingly doubtful that we shall expunge it.
Light Bloggery 0
Configuring up my new laptop what arrived yesterday.
Droning On 0
These puppies are expensive.
Wonder how they work for watching the neighbors sunbathe?
Afterthought:
I’m certain that droner-onerer doesn’t have any idea how intrusive flying around his neighborhood with a you-will-pardon-the-expression spycam really is.
Counter-Intuitive 0
A letter to the editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer skillfully skewers the fallacious and immoral right-wing subterfuge that any old bozo behind a counter should be allowed to run your life because he or she doesn’t like how you live it that you use birth control and might have a sex life.*
YOU’RE at the pharmacy to pick up your diabetes medication.
The pharmacist takes a look at you and at your prescription, and refuses to fill it.
Why?
Is it expired, or maybe you’re out of refills?
No, the prescription is valid and current. But the pharmacist has decided that your Type II diabetes is something you brought on yourself, and because of his deeply held moral and religious objection to the sin of gluttony, he doesn’t have to serve you.
Do read the rest.
_____________
*Have you noticed that, when the right-wing brings floats this argument, it is always about products that work only with female physiology?
You don’t hear them arguing that morality demands that pharmacists and store clerks refuse to sell condoms to men.
Because condoms are only “for the prevention of disease,” if I remember the wording on the notices I used to see on vending machines in men’s rooms when I was a young ‘un and didn’t know what they meant. Or wild oats. Or something.
Or maybe it’s just the skeevy Republican preoccupation with lady bits.
Welfare Queens, Reprise 0
The true welfare queens stay out of the light.
(snip)
The sharp declines coincide with increased attention from regulators, academic institutions and the public to pharmaceutical company marketing practices. A number of companies have settled federal whistleblower lawsuits in recent years that accused them of improperly marketing their drugs.
“Promotional speeches.”
Yeah.
Right.
Noah Gantry 0
Raw Story reports that a number of Texas lawmakers got fleeced in a Ponzi scheme involving Noah’s Ark and other equally ephemeral stuff (emphasis added–more at the link).
The Texas lawmakers said they think Bonemma targeted them because they were religious men.
I suspect that they were not targeted because they were religious. Con men are notoriously cold and rational, if dishonest, thinkers.
I suspect that they were targeted because they were gullible and stupid.
Welfare Queens 0
They’re not who you think they are, reports the Bangor Daily News.
For example, meet Welfare Queen for a Day Johnson & Johnson (emphasis added):
Maine, according to a report in the Washington Post, would recover $2.8 million from the case, which involved alleged kickbacks to doctors and pharmacies for promoting a trio of drugs — two anti-psychotics and one heart medication.
The settlement funds, according to the Office of the Maine Attorney General, would serve as restitution for state Medicaid funds used to pay for the unapproved medications.
The story goes on to point out that, in Maine during the past three years, individuals have been required to repay a total of under $500,000 in fraudulently or mistakenly obtained benefits, a pittance compared to the amount that health care “providers” have been assessed.
Snow Job 0
In certain big northeastern cities, there’s an informal tradition that, if you clear your street parking place after a big snow, it’s yours. In the residential neighborhoods of Boston and Philadelphia, you will see trash cans, folding chairs, and other markers holding down the claim.
The tradition is illegal, as streets are public, but it’s strong.
Michael Smerconish takes a look at how various politicians might view this practice. This is my favorite; follow the link for the rest:
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite to your classmates.
The gun was removed from the classroom at Oasis Elementary School near Sweetwater Avenue and 78th Drive shortly after the student pulled it out of his backpack, according to Danielle Airey, a Peoria Unified School District spokesperson.
When I was in the first grade, I knew better than to go touching the damned gun.
If I had, my father might have acidentally gone off.