February, 2016 archive
No Place To Hide 0
Just lie back on the couch. Let your thoughts roam free. Let your digital Candy Crusher tell the good doctor all about yourself . . . .
That information and more is then fed into a vast database containing details about nearly every adult in the United States to build psychological profiles that target individual voters with uncanny accuracy.
Cruz’s sophisticated analytics operation was heralded as key to his victory in Iowa earlier this month — the first proof, his campaign said, that the system has the potential to power him to the nomination.
You have been assimilated.
Afterthought:
Your smartphone is not your friend. It is your enemy, a tool of its corporate masters. Use it with caution.
Before you install an app, look at the permissions it requests. If they appear hinky in any way, don’t install that app.
And what the hell is the deal with Candy Crush anyway? Chess Checkers it’s not.
Race to the Super Bowl 0
I gather that some old white men are clutching their pearls while having the vapors over the Super Bowl half-time show, sort of like the lady in the Masterpiece Mystery theme.
They should grow up already.
(Video below the fold in case it autoplays.)
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Peter St. Onge describes the travails of one victim of the Republican gut-out-the-vote movement. It defies summary or excerpt.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
No Place To Hide 0
Can you really trust your thermostat?
“The Art of the Deal: The Movie” 0
Warning: Long (You can bookmark the source); also, language.
Chris-Crossed 0
It is certainly not true that bullies never prosper–they prosper every day in many ways–but it is true that occasionally a bully gets his comeuppance.
Chris Christie is going home to further mismanage New Jersey. And he did do the country a favor along the way.
And, in other news of Munchkins, Fiorina is finished. She almost ran Hewlett-Packard into the ground, but fortunately she won’t get a chance to do the same to the country. (Never mind what I wrote originally. She deserved it, but it, like she, was beneath the mediocre tone I attempt to set in these electrons.)
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
A bit better:
(snip)
The four-week average of claims, a less-volatile measure than the weekly figure, fell to 281,250 from 284,750 in the prior week.
The number of people continuing to receive jobless benefits dropped by 21,000 to 2.24 million in the week ended Jan. 30. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits fell to 1.6 percent from 1.7 percent.
Still unanswered is the question, in what flea market does Bloomberg find its “experts”?
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Cleanliness is next to politeness.
(snip)
Last weekend, a Greenfield man was cleaning a handgun when its slide jammed and fired, police said. About a week earlier, a Spring Lake resident was talking with a younger relative about firearms when his gun went off. He thought the gun’s chamber had been emptied when he picked it up to clean it and the device accidentally fired, police said.
And more guns that fire themselves . . . .
The stupid. It burns.
Now, about those intelligence tests for buying guns . . . .
Cowboy Cosplay 0
And so slowly descends the curtain on the latest iteration of white privilege performance theatre, performed by those who proclaim themselves patriots of the country which they betray.
No self-awareness. No self-awareness whatsoever.
Plus Ca Change 2
Shorter Dick Polman: It’s deja vu all over again.
Drinking Liberally Virginia Beach Tomorrow 0
Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and talk about anything in a relaxed atmosphere.
When: Thursday, February 11, 6 p.
Where:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)
More here.
Robot Wars 0
Even as he chuckles at the antics of Rubio supporters vs. Rubio robots, Cenk marvels at the right-wing “Get Out of Jail Free Card.”
Image via Job’s Anger.
Twits on Twitter 0
I think the judge is quite correct. If school administrators do one thing consistently, it’s overreact. They did it when I was in school and they will likely still be doing when my great-grandchildren are in school.