November, 2014 archive
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
If you have a beef with your local rag, express it politely, as this fellow expressed his dissatisfaction with the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Responding officers found Smith screaming from his third-floor window.
“‘I’m not leaving without shooting,’ he kept saying from the window of his apartment,” Chitwood said. “When we tried to negotiate with him, he would scream all types of things.”
Chitwood said Smith fired three shots toward officers in the apartment building’s courtyard.
Over the next three hours, Smith fired off six more rounds at police from his window. When he threatened to shoot down a news helicopter flying over the scene, police moved in and launched tear gas into his window, Chitwood said.
You can’t make this stuff up.
It’s Just Ones and Zeros 0
Most persons seem to be a-skeered of installing a computer operating system. Even First Son, who is master gamer, once said to me, “I won’t mess with the OS.” Really, though, it’s quite easy. Remember, it’s just ones and zeros.
Over the years, I’ve installed several flavors of DOS and Windows and more versions of Linux than you can shake a mouse at.
In this video, Linux Voice demonstrates how to get started with Linux by installing Linux Mint. Mint is not my favorite distro (that would be Slackware), but it is a fine distro and one configured to have an interface friendly to persons used to Windows–I have it running on two boxes right now, including my primary laptop.
If installing a new OS frightens you, just watch this. Installing an OS is much easier than you think:
Full Disclosure:
I contributed to Linux Voice’s Indiegogo campaign to start their magazine and have a print subscription. It’s worth every penny.
Their podcast absolutely rocks. It’s not only full of news and information, it’s full of laughter.
Trouble in River City (Updated) (Updated Again) 0
There’s trouble in River City and it starts with “B” and sounds like bank which is a shot in pool.
Wednesday’s events occurred days after a Pilot investigation showed that Sessoms voted dozens of times on issues directly benefiting customers of TowneBank, where he serves as a president. Sessoms has not spoken publicly. The bank and local law enforcement announced their decisions before noon.
A special proscutor is needed because the Stolle family, which includes the Commonwealth’s Attorney and the Sheriff, are associated through various relatives with Towne Bank.
I have mixed feelings about this. As tempting as it is to delight in the troubles of any Republican, Mayor Sessoms is not Richard Daley and Virginia Beach has no Tammany Hall. Other than a unfortunate tendency to fall for tall tales spun by developers,* Sessoms is a fairly decent fellow who has served the city–er–adequately.
AFAIC, at worst, he’s a Babbitt with a blind spot.
Addendum, Later That Day:
Heh.
A press release today said the decision was made to avoid a perception of a conflict of interest.
Fraim was a member of TowneBank’s board of directors and also served as chairman of the bank’s Norfolk board. Johnson was on the bank’s Suffolk board.
Addendum-Dee-Dum-Dum, the Next Day:
Mayor Sessoms has resigned his positions on three Towne Bank boards of directors.
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Facebook Frolics 0
Facebook is mucking about with its privacy policy and settings interface again. If you are a Facebook Frolicker, you need to read this.
Stray Thought 0
If “Reality Television” represents reality, I needs me some LS and D.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still under 300k:
(snip)
The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure than the weekly figures, rose to 285,000 last week from 279,000.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits climbed by 36,000 to 2.39 million in the week ended Nov. 1. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits held at 1.8 percent. The data are reported with a one-week lag.
Chartering a Course for Disaster 0
The privatization scam at work:
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
As much as I respect Constitutional rights, I mean, really, over billing practices?
No Agenda 0
Katrina Vanden Heuvel explains that no agenda is exactly what the Republican Party has. A nugget:
Boot the “Boots” 1
Drs. Joel Howell and Sanjay Saint think that the phrase “boots on the ground” to mean persons in the military needs to be retired as demeaning and dehumanizing. I certainly do not think of Captain First Son, USA, as a “boot” (though there were times I was inclined to give him one).
Methinks they have a point. Here’s a bit of their column from the Detroit News:
Some will die there. Some will return home injured; many will receive care at VA facilities.
These people have lives, friends, loved ones, and all too often dreams lost and hopes abandoned on account of what happened to them.
“Boots on the ground” implicitly invites the reader to think not about the many individuals who serve, but instead to reduce those people to a single article of clothing, one that in its uniformity belies the many different types of people who wear those boots.
I will give a dollar to a doughnut that most of those who so casually use the phrase “boots on the ground” have not served. They would send the children of others into harm’s way.
No Self-Awareness, None Whatsoever 0
I wish I could say that Cenk’s rant is over the top, but it’s not even close to the top.
The Privatization Scam 0
I’m sure this will work out well, except, natch, for teachers and students and who the hell cares about them anyhow.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Play politely with your progeny.
PM 2014 0
Reg Henry takes up his scalpal and autopsies the election results; he finds that voters acted quite logically. Of course they did.
A snippet:
To make people believe otherwise was a work of Republican genius. It required a complete suspension of facts, context and logic. Up is down, good is bad, blue is red and unreality is reality — and the voters who bothered to show up bought it. That old hack magic had them in their spell.
Then there’s a matter of gridlock. Everybody hates gridlock. We hate paralyzed government, we really do! So why not vote for the Gridlock Oldsters Party so that the gridlock ends? Well, it seemed sensible at the time.
