2014 archive
WSIWYG 0
The Rude One explains that, as a nation, we are what we are, and it’s not pretty (emphasis added):
It is the foolish net that we trap ourselves in time and again when the truth of the matter is that, as a nation, not on an individual basis, but as a conglomerate of the whole, no, we are not better than that. At best, we are exactly what we are.
Follow the link for the evidence.
Con Con 0
See DashCon’s official statement, claiming that, no indeedy-do, nothing like that happened.
Aside:
All I know about Tumblr is that it is a very strange internet place where stuff that is worth your while (like, for example, PoliticalProf) is rare indeed.
All about Us 0
PoliticalProf. Read it.
No Place To Hide 0
From the ACLU (much more at the link):
We are not to worry about our privacy, a Waze spokesperson tells us, because the company replaces the names that accompany driving data with an alias.
The problem is, your location history IS your identity.
One of the reasons I use the bike app that I do is that it doesn’t report anything to anybody. It doesn’t require me to join a website to see the results. It doesn’t prompt me to “share” my rides with a bunch of persons who neither care nor need to know about when, where, and how fast I peddle about.
It requires only the permissions it needs to do what it promises to do, and it does that very well.
Many apps make Facebook look like a community of hermits. Be very careful to check the permission when you install an app to your phone. If they look hinky, just say “No.”
What Was Old Is New Again, Suffer the Children Dept. 2
Werner Herzog’s Bear, writing at Notes from the Ironbound, sees echoes of the past in the current wingnut hysteria about an influx of brown children at the border. A nugget–follow the link for the rest:
The Republican Party has become a vile and loathsome thing. (Ask me nicely, I’ll tell you what I really think.)
Image via Balloon Juice.
Republican Outreach HOWTO 0
They’ve figured it out. To attract women voters, they need to be more lowfalutin.
er, yeah.
Stolen Basics (Updated, Kicked to the Top) 0
A while ago, I expressed my skepticism about the wisdom of turning to gambling as a way to raise funds. Today’s local rag has a long story that feeds my skepticism. A nugget (emphasis added):
But the windfall hasn’t trickled down to the players, a Virginian-Pilot investigation shows.
In 2012, Aragona-Pembroke spent $150,000 on baseball operations, including uniforms, field maintenance and umpire salaries. That is about the same amount shown in the league’s 2009 tax filing, one year before it bought Witchduck Hall (a bingo hall–ed.).
What has changed are the league’s expenses.
More than $500,000 of the bingo hall revenue winds up in private hands, according to tax returns, property records, sales contracts and a deed of trust filed with the city.
The league paid $251,000 in salaries in 2012, including a combined $136,000 to Lou and Cheryl Mazza. Lou Mazza is apparently the only Little League president in the country receiving a salary, according to a review of Internal Revenue Service returns and the national Little League office. The national organization’s rules prohibit league officers from receiving money for their baseball service. Such an arrangement would inspire a “thorough, lengthy internal review,” national Little League spokesman Brian McClintock said in an email.
I have driven past that little bingo parlor many times and wondered what was going on in there.
I rest my case.
Addendum, a Few Days Later:
Shake up.
They were involved in the organization for two decades. I suspect that, after a while, they begin to think of it as their own, rather than of thinking of themselves as its stewards.
We’re Talking about Good Vibrators Ammosexuals Need Their Toys
0
Honest to Pete, you can’t make this stuff up.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
For all practical purposes, no change: Still above 300k.
(snip)
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 79,000 to 2.51 million in the week ended July 5, the fewest since June 2007. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits fell to 1.9 percent from 2 percent, today’s report showed.
Bloomberg is all a-twitter with optimism because it was lower than their experts predicted, forgetting that that is ultimately a meaningless observation.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Brotherly politeness.
The older brother said he heard a single shot and then saw his younger brother on the sidewalk.
But after interviewing family members and examining the scene, investigators determined that the 21-year-old actually fired the shot the hit the 16-year-old victim.
“This incident, at this time, appears to have been an accident. No determination has been made, as to what, if any, charges will be filed,” Sgt. Phillips said.
Droning On 0
David Beesmer, 49, was charged with a felony unlawful surveillance count for piloting the drone about 10 to 15 feet from the facility in Ulster, a town 90 miles north of New York City. Beesmer’s drone was recording video, which was seized as evidence by New York State Police troopers.
The “pilot” claims it was an accident, he didn’t see anything, and that he was just droning around to pass the time while his mother saw the doctor.
And this surprises you how?
Suffer the Children 0
Video below the fold in case it autoplays.
Excerpt:
I was taught by my parents to follow the golden rule: Whenever you see kids in trouble, yell at them in a language they can’t understand.
ACA 0
In the Roanoke Times, Randolph Walker expresses his gratitude for the Affordable Care Act. A snippet:
I’m celebrating because I have an appointment with Dr. Ken Tuck.
Dr. Tuck is an ophthalmologist, and a good one. As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with my eyes. However, I’m 53 and have not had a routine eye exam in probably 10 years. I put it off because I had no insurance.
Decoding de Code 0
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Patricia Sabatini explains what credit card numbers mean (other than a quick descent into perpetual debt). It’s fascinating in a mundane sort of way:
American Express cards start with “34” or “37,” while the number “7” is reserved for gasoline cards issued by petroleum companies such as Exxon and Mobil.
The next four or five numbers in the series identify which of the some 13,000 financial institutions in the U.S. issued the card, such as Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase or Citibank.
I knew that the first digit indicated the type of card. I picked up that tidbit early in my career, when I was empowered to issue refunds in response to certain types of customer complaints. Purchases made by card had to be refunded by card, so we were trained in filling out refund slips (this was long before electronic transactions).