2015 archive
Indoctri-Nation 0
Republicans give props to propaganda.
The Future: Live It, or Live with It* 0
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*With apologies to Firesign Theatre.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Works of politeness were performed in the passive voice (emphasis was added).
Police said they tried to resuscitate him until paramedics arrived. McGhee later died from his injuries at Northcrest Medical Center.
According to the sheriff’s office, they believe the rifle was accidentally discharged while it was being unloaded.
Afterthought:
I’m mildly surprised the story didn’t say that “dying took place.”
Narcissistic Narcissists 0
No selfie-awareness, no selfie-awareness whatsoever.
Driven to Drink 0
Update: I learned this morning (Friday) that this was satire. Two points:
- That will teach me to surf the web when I’m supposed to be listening to the presenter. (No, it won’t).
- It should be true. Someone of position, and not just second-tier bloggers, needs to call out the stupid.
A word to the wise.
“You simply can’t drink every time one of these guys says something silly,” said Surgeon General Vivek Murthy during a Wednesday morning press conference. “We’ve got three candidates who are prone to gaffes — Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Scott Walker — and then a half-dozen obscure goofballs vying with Donald Trump for a little media attention. It’s just a formula for disaster.”
Afterthought:
Silly is right.
Much of what these clowns say is silly–not harmless-silly, but, rather, schoolyard-bully-silly. They need to be called out on it, and you can be certain that the “both sides do it” crowd has no interest in doing any calling out.
The Candidates Debate 0
I’ll read about it tomorrow. Tonight, I intend to do something useful and productive.
Watching a banty cock fight is neither.
Via Job’s Anger.
The Snaring Economy 0
Ride with discriminating drivers.
From May to July, nearly 3 percent of UberX drivers, the lowest-cost option available, avoided the northern edge of north Minneapolis, while just more than 2 percent avoided the North Dowling Avenue area. Lyft drivers, who serve a smaller coverage area than Uber, dismissed even more trips, about 14.54 percent in the near north areas.
While the numbers do not appear staggering, comments on an online Uber forum show that some drivers are staying away from north Minneapolis.
The Perverse Logic of MAD 0
Der Spiegel interviews Mikhail Gorbachev, the man who did more than anyone else to end the Cold War, regardless of the claims of Ronald Reagan’s PR machine. Read it.
Here’s a bit.
Gorbachev: There’s a dangerous logic in that. Here’s another question: If five or 10 countries are allowed to have nuclear weapons, then why can’t 20 or 30? Today, a few dozen countries have the technical prerequisites to build nuclear weapons. The alternative is clear: Either we move toward a nuclear-free world or we have to accept that nuclear weapons will continue to spread, step by step, across the globe. And can we really imagine a world without nuclear weapons if a single country amasses so many conventional weapons that its military budget nearly tops that of all other countries combined? This country would enjoy total military supremacy if nuclear weapons were abolished.
SPIEGEL: You’re talking about the US?
Gorbachev: You said it. It is an insurmountable obstacle on the road to a nuclear-free world.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Still trending positively.
(snip)
The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure than the weekly numbers, decreased to 268,250 last week from 274,750.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits fell by 14,000 to 2.26 million in the week ended July 25.
The big news is that Bloomberg’s experts were close enough as to never mind, but that was likely one of the whaddycallem statistical anomalies.
