From Pine View Farm

Author's archive

And Now for a Musical Interlude 0

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Food for Thought, It’s All about the Algorithm Dept. 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Riccardo Dalle Grave discusses the association between “social” media and eating disorders in teens. He makes three main points; follow the link for his exploration.

  • The use of social networks is associated with body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.
  • Viewing and uploading photos and asking for negative feedback seem particularly problematic.
  • The parental role in ensuring their children’s safe and helpful use of social networks cannot be understated.

There’s nothing healthy about a culture which values self-promotion above all else.

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Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

At Above the Law, Joe Patrice reminds us that, just because the machine said it, it ain’t necessarily so.

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The Numbers 0

Couple watching television news.  Newscaster says,

Click to view the original image.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Attention, Walmart shoppers.

Oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” at the ATM.

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Fiefdom of Religion, Reprise 0

Sam and his crew talk with Will Sommer, politics reporter for The Daily Beast, about who buys into QAnon and why.

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Fiefdom of Religion 0

Michael in Norfolk has an interesting theory as to why Republicans have started to attack public schools and public school teachers.

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QOTD 0

Spike Lee:

Everybody’s a teacher. People can teach you two things, what to do and what not to do.

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And Now for a Change of Pace 0

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The No-Accountable 0

Scene:  A news cast on an alien world.  Green Alien:  Salutations, sentients.  Our top story this picosecond:  due to a pending legislative formality, our land mass once gain faces an imminent accounting crisis.  Red Alien:  The economic consequences could be dire if an agreement is not reach between our two major politic factions:  the Reactionary Zealots and the Cautious Incrementalists.

Click for the original image.

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Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Given the hype nay, absolute swooning over “artificial intelligence,” I believe you will find the thoughtful discussion of it and of its implications on the latest Bad Voltage podcast to be well worth a listen.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Yet another oxymoronic “responsible gun owner” treats his child with politeness.

We are a broken society.

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The Coarse in the Discourse 0

Three buildings labeled

Click to view the original image.

One more time, “social” media isn’t.

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Precedented 0

Bill Adkins, writing for the Lexington Herald-Leader, sees an echo of the past (I saw the article at the Las Vegas Sun). A snippet:

In 1939, there were just under 10 million Jews in all of Europe. There were fewer than 400,000 Jews in Germany. But in 1935, Germany passed the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped Jews of various rights including who they might marry and employment opportunities, targeting them in ways that made them lawful victims of persecution. Sound familiar?

Today in the United States, 7.2% of the population is LGBTQ. That’s about 24 million people. This year, nationwide, legislatures have passed 21st-century versions of the Nuremberg Laws. They have passed at least 45 laws so far that attack LGBTQ marriage, endanger their employment and their First Amendment rights, limit what can be taught or discussed in schools and make them victims of persecution. The politicians also target those who defend the victims of these laws, as the Republicans did when they attacked the education commissioner in Kentucky.

I have cited this quote from Mark Twain before, and we see proof of it daily: “History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

I commend Adkins’s entire piece to your attention.

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A Picture Is Worth 0

Peace Symbol caught on barbed wire.

Via All Things Amazing, an image site (some images NSFW).

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QOTD 0

Charles de Gaulle:

Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Yet more random acts of politeness.

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A Picture Is Worth 0

Picture of veterans' cemetary.  Voice rises from one of the graves saying,

Via Job’s Anger.

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How Far Will Wells-Fargo? 0

Pretty damned far.

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From Pine View Farm
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