August, 2021 archive
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
The Climates They Are a-Changing 0
Rebecca Watson reads the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change so we don’t have to.
She fears that our (initially inadequate and, in some quarters of our polity, inimical) response to the COVID pandemic provides a preview of our response (or lack thereof) to global warming.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
PolitialProf sees parallels between the conclusions of two of America’s Great and Glorious Patriotic Wars for a Lie, one coming to a close today and another that ended half a century ago. A nugget:
This argument has a very real appeal. It is undoubtedly the case that what the Taliban are going to do to Afghanistan’s women is beyond brutal. Whatever else US intervention did, it changed the status of lots of Afghani women for the better. What’s coming is almost certainly beyond imagination.
The thing is, you know what twenty years of US intervention did towards building a stable, non-Taliban Afghan government? Virtually nothing.
Geeking Out 0
Listening to a Sherlock Holmes OTR radio show from the Old Time Radio Theater with the QMMP media player on Ubuntu MATE with the Fluxbox window manager. Shaded in a tabbed window are Thunderbird, Firefox, and Konqueror. To the right are Xclock and GKrellM. The wallpaper is from my collection.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness once again is child’s play.
The toddler discovered the gun on the table and began to play with it. According to the boy’s grandma, the father was sitting on the couch when his kid pulled the trigger. When the incident occurred, the toddler and his parents were apparently visiting the boy’s grandmother.
Who the heck leaves a loaded gun on a coffee table?
One of those oxymoronic “responsible gun owners,” that’s who.
“How Come There’s Always a Smoking Gun with These People?” 0
Seth returns from hiatus and looks back at events while he was away.
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
Writing at Psychology Today Blogs, Patricia Prijatel explores why those who rely on “social” media for news and information are among the most misinformed and offers some suggestions for remedying this. Here’s a bit:
- Most Americans (80 percent) get their news on digital devices. About half get it from social media. We’re inhaling only snatches of information, not nearly what we need to become the kind of well-informed citizenry our Constitution assumes.
Most of those—70 percent—read only the headline of an article. You’ve seen this—people arguing with an article that is clearly satire, or concluding that the piece said what they wanted it to say, rather than what it actually said. They clearly read no farther than the headline.
- Those who rely on social media are the most ill-informed Americans. (See 1 and 2 above.) But, boy, they may feel strongly about their misinformation.
One more time, “social” media isn’t.
Immunity Impunity
0
At NJ.com, Brooke Barnett and Lauren Bonds argue that “qualified immunity” should be abolished. An excerpt:
(snip)
Qualified immunity communicates to police officers that they are above the law and tells them they can act with impunity. As recent experience tells us, it’s difficult to prevent officers from engaging in misconduct without accountability. Recent experience also tells us that there is a growing and broad consensus that police officers should face real consequences when they abuse their authority. With every new report of an abuse of civil rights or, in some cases, death, calls for change have grown.
QOTD 0
Emily Post:
Aside:
Given that we are surrounded by dis coarse discourse, methinks more persons should be reminded of this. “Rudeness” and “honesty” are not synonyms.