September, 2017 archive
“Just the Equifax, Ma’am” 0
Thom and his guest discuss the Equihacks.
Naked Lunch 0
The Miss Grundys of the world are never satisfied.
Afterthought:
By the by, if you have not read William S. Borroughs’s Naked Lunch, do so. Among other things, you will learn the etymology of the phrase “Steely Dan.”
But Where Are the Trolls?
Send in the Trolls.
Don’t Bother, They’re Here.
0
In a long and thoughtful piece, Josh Marshall explains why he sees the Trump-Russia investigation and the issue of Russian bots on the Zuckerborg heading for a collision. He delivers this trenchant observation almost as an aside:
He goes on to expand on this theme later in the article:
Facebook is so accustomed to treating its ‘internal policies’ as though they were something like laws that they appear to have a sort of blind spot that prevents them from seeing how ridiculous their resistance sounds. To use the cliche, it feels like a real shark jumping moment. As someone recently observed, Facebook’s ‘internal policies’ are crafted to create the appearance of civic concerns for privacy, free speech, and other similar concerns. But they’re actually just a business model.
Marshall also senses a rising public resentment against the intrusiveness of “Big Data.”
Follow the link. It’s worth your while.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Don’t hog the politeness.
Coroner Charlie Boseman identified the victim as 40-year-old Kenneth Jason Young of Starr. Boseman said a couple was out hunting when they spotted something, which Boseman said was later determined to be the victim, on all fours crawling around through the thermal scope, and then shot.
Plus ca Change (Updated) 0
Addendum, Later That Same Day:
The Charlotte Observer reports on how coastal real estate developers are trying to weasel out of being honest about the dangers of flooding.
QOTD 0
John Astin (as Gomez Addams): Mr. Hilliard may be right. We may have saved the world.
Carolyn Jones (as Morticia Addams): Do you think we did the right thing?
Empty Space 0
JoCat passed away today. She had been fighting irritable bowel disease and it appeared to be under control with proper diet, but, this morning, she started to cough and wheeze (beyond that, I will spare you the details). Before we could get her to a vet emergency room, she passed.
We took her to our regular vet, and the best guess of the vet tech was that she threw a blood clot unrelated to the irritable bowel syndrome. Apparently, cats may do that.
She was a good cat, affectionate as long as she got her way (after all, she was a cat), and she had a life full of love.
She had been a member of the family for 13 years, since my father passed away and she became an inheritance (my brother cares for her sister).
She was a good, if demanding and persnickety, friend, and she is missed.
Light Bloggery 0
The weather here is very nice, but I’m under it.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Does your politeness pass inspection?
Officials say it appears a 35-year-old man was inspecting a rifle when it went off. Witnesses told investigating officers it was an accidental shooting and there was no reported altercation before the gunfire.
Meta: Maintenance 0
My hosting provider has notified me that it will be doing maintenance on my VPS (and, I suspect, numerous other VPSs) starting this evening. The site may be unavailable for short periods over the next 24 hours.