August, 2013 archive
Theft of Services 0
A. P. Ticker on the attempts to destroy public schools in Philadelphia:
It’s not just in Philly, pholks.
Reince Cycle, Reprise 2
Reg Henry thinks that Reine Pribus may be overlooking the benefits to the Republican Party of reducing the number of 2016 Republican debates.
This strikes me as a good idea. The world would be a better place — nay, the party itself would be a better place — if Republican debates were kept to a minimum.
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*Is anyone else besides me suffering Clinton fatigue?
“The Medical-Industrial Complex” 0
At the Bangor Daily News, Philip Caper notices that the phasing in of the Affordable Care Act is drawing new attention to the price of health care in the United States. A nugget:
The MBAs have taken over. We are all paying the price.
Read the rest.
Droning On 7
Dan Simpson, writing at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, suggests that uniformed gamers’ raining robotic death from the skies may not be working out quite as intended.
He clutches at his pearls a bit about the recent temporary embassy closings in parts of the Middle East, but, on the whole, his column is worth a look.
Horsefeathers 0
Somebody has been watching too many oaters.
The Galt and Lamers 2
Just what is the fascination of Ayn Rand?
Thom tries to figure it out.
Reince Cycle 0
In a moment of accidental candor, he admits that he doesn’t know the truth.
Dulcet Tones 0
In which I talk about the magic of Mageia.
Failing the Test 0
Anyone who uses Gmail and didn’t realize that Google was peeking at the contents so as to target advertisements should not be allowed to use a computing device.
There’s a reason I use Startpage for a search engine. And you should too.
Twits on Twitter 0
Speaking of Florida, has God averted His face therefrom?
Some would say, “Yea, verily.”
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Marginally better:
(snip)
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 54,000 to 2.97 million in the week ended August 3. The continuing claims figure does not include the number of Americans receiving extended benefits under federal programs.
As near as I can reckon, sequestrian “furloughs” are not taken into account, as the “furloughed” do not qualify as “unemployed”; statistics on “screwed” are harder to collect.
TSA Security Theatre 0
Moved below the fold because it autoplays.
Aside: Oddly enough, it did not autoplay on my workhorse laptop, which runs Slackware. the distro of iron. It is a well-behaved laptop.
QOTD 0
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg:
A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents.
Freak Squad 0
Extremely skeevy, highly predictable.
According to the lawsuit, March took the computer to a Tuscaloosa Best Buy in August of 2011 and paid $131 for the Geek Squad to salvage data from her hard drive.
They salvaged the data, all right, then decided it deserved a wider audience.
According to the story, she’s suing because she found the store manager’s response less than adequate. According to the story, the manager is a “him.”
Men are pigs.
The Next Big Thing, Authentically 4
A business person interviewed in the Charlotte Observer counsels that
Expect a spate of consultants offering workshops in how to be authentic and genuine, followed by self-help books on authenticization and integritification prcesses, followed by a feature in Time Magazine about the most authentic authenticization integrification consultants.