2023 archive
Broken Bad 0
Cliff Schecter looks at the chaos surrounding Republicans’ inability to select a Squeaker of the House (Warning: Some language).
Via C&L, which has commentary.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another child . . . .
The story goes on to say
. . . according to the coroner’s office, a preliminary investigation found the incident wasn’t under suspicious circumstances.
How the blankety-blank could the “circumstances” not be “suspicious”? Either someone shot the child, purposefully or not, or the child found a firearm left negligently about and shot himself.
One thing is certain. The gun did not fire itself.
Either way, a life ended needlessly, sacrificed on the altar of the portable phallus.
I find that suspicious.
Mittens Off 0
David discusses Mitt Romney’s recent remarks about the state of today’s Republican Party.
My two or three regular readers know that I did not support Mitt Romney in his run for president. Indeed, I supported and contributed to his opponent.
Though I disagree with many most of his positions and wanted not to see him in the presidency, I did not then and do not now question his sincerity or his honesty.
What’s in a Word? 0
At the Inky, the Angry Grammarian reports that that the Supreme Court will have to decide.
Who Is Picking Up the Tab for Hate? 0
Once again, the Southern Poverty Law Center follows the money. A snippet:
Follow the link for the evidence.
Pseudonyms 0
I watched an episode of Monarch of the Glen tonight on Tubi.
Susan Hampshire, as Molly, did web search using a search engine named “Ogle” (I’m sure for legitimate naming issues).
Methinks that the pseudonym may be more accurate than the actual nym.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Thom shares the backstory of why the United States is the only major industrialized country that does offer universal health care.
America’s original sin of chattel slavery continues to exact its toll.
The Seeds of Dysfunction 0
Michael in Norfolk considers the state of today’s Republican Party and considers how it became what it is today. Here’s a bit of his article:
My two or three regular readers know that I agree completely with him about Nixon’s Southern Strategy.
I’m not so sure that the Moral Majority and its ilk deserve to be considered a separate cause. White Southern Protestant fundamentalism and racism have always been intertwined. Just to pick one example, the Southern Baptist Convention seceded (you will pardon the expression) from the national group in 1845 in support of slavery.
If the two causes Michael identifies are not bother and sister, they are at least first cousins–and incestuous ones at that.
Wiggling Out Just Wiggling
0
Alex Jones’s attempt to avoid paying damages to the Sandy Hook families has rin into a bump. A snippet (emphasis added):
Bankruptcy can be used to wipe out debts and legal judgments, but not if they result from “willful or malicious injury” caused by the debtor, according to a decision by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston, Texas.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, William Poundstone looks at the current hoopla over AI and puts it in context by recalling the Turing test and, later, a computer program called ELIZA, which was capable of carrying on limited conversations via text.
One passage in particular caught my eye. Poundstone cites a comment by MIT computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum, the creator of ELIZA, reacting to how willing persons were to think of ELIZA as sentient:
One wonders what Weizenbaum might say today.
Follow the link for context.
Geeking Out 0
Debian Sid with the Fluxbox window manager. Thunderbird and Firefox are shaded in a tabbed window* and Konsole is shaded below them. Xclock is in the upper right; GKrellM in the lower right. The Fluxbox right-click menu is to the left (I do loves me the right-click menu). The wallpaper is from my collection.
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*A “tabbed window” is one in which two or more applications share the same title bar. You shift between them by clicking on the appropriate area on the title bar. I like tabbed windows because they reduce screen clutter.
Kracken Up 0
Seth takes a closer look at Sidney Powell’s guilty plea.
This is Seth at his best. Watch it.