Author's archive
Use-By Date Expired 0
At Notes from the Ironbound, Werner Herzog’s Bear makes a compelling case that the United States Senate is an anachronism, and a dangerous counterproductive one at that. He compares it to France’s Estates-General on the eve of the French Revolution. An excerpt:
Going back to when I learned about this in high school I had always laughed at the crown trying to gain legitimacy in a changing, modernizing society through such an institution. I have stopped laughing, because I have come to realize that the US Senate as an institution is hardly less farcical.
Follow the link for his reasoning.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
This first-grader was back-packin’ heat.
He told the newspaper that the backpack belongs to a first grader.
Wall-Eyed Pikers 0
El Jefe offers an object lesson.
Stray Thought 0
One of the things I like about my new(er) car is that it has no touch screen! The instrument panel is all computerized, natch, but the controls are all knobs and buttons and levers, as should be.
Automobile touch screens are perhaps the best example that “just because you can” is not in and of itself a sufficient reason to use a technology.
How Far Will Wells Fargo? 0
I was banking at Wells Fargo because Wells gobbled up the bank that gobbled up the bank that I was banking at.
Moving a bank account is a hassle, especially if you have set up automatic payments, but I left Wells when the “creating fake accounts” scandal broke five years ago and am glad I did.
If the Truth Hurts, Make It Go Away 0
In the midst of the current who-shot-john over whether students should be taught the truth about American’s history, Leonard Pitts, Jr., offers some thoughts on National Banned Books Week. A nugget:
That’s something worth remembering here in Banned Books Week, a yearly observation sponsored by the American Library Association to call attention to that crude human impulse that, with apologies to the Tennessee moms, stands against liberty of knowledge and ideas. There is, after all, a reason one of the first acts of the Nazi regime was a massive book burning — 25,000 texts consigned to the fire — and it wasn’t to celebrate freedom. The spirit of that atrocity lives on in Tennessee. And in Pennsylvania. And in America.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness is a family affair.
Proctoring Gamble 0
I have seen numerous references to schools and colleges monitoring of student behavior during these times of remote teaching via Zoom and similar applications.
Like Google and Facebook, they watch what students are doing on their computers to make sure they are behaving the way the educational institution thinks they should behave or, indeed, have the unmitigated gall to take a bathroom break or get a Coke (Above the Law has some particularly egregious examples from bar exams).
At Psychology Today Blogs, Phil Reed takes a look at the larger issue machine learning and includes some strong thoughts on micromanaged digital monitoring. Here’s a bit:
Decoding De Code 0
Driftglass looks behind the facade. A snippet:
1. America should be ruled by a cadre of morally superior white men.
2. Wealth is proxy for moral superiority.
3. Any means of insuring that America is permanently ruled by a cadre of wealthy men is permitted.