2017 archive
Many Happy Returns 0
As I have mentioned here from time to time, I do not follow incoming returns the night of the election. Why, I ask myself, should I waste hours looking at the television when I can read the results in 15 minutes tomorrow morning?
Tonight, though, my friend dropped in on the returns and shared some happy news.
I must confess, I am looking forward to tomorrow morning. But, for now, it’s time for another session with Nero Wolfe.
Sleep Fright 0
Click for the original image.
404 0
Tom Lawrence explains what happened to your Comcast internet connection yesterday.
You can hear more from Tom on the Sunday Morning Linux Review.
Common Denominator 0
The New York Times wonders what could possibly account for the United States’s highest-in-the-world rate of mass shootings. Oh golly gosh gee, I wonder what it could be.
Let the Massacres Continue 0
Daniel Ruth excoriates the response of Donald Trump and many others to the most recent American gun massacre. If his column sounds kind of tired, the words “most recent” in the preceding sentence may give you a hint as to why. Here’s a snippet (emphasis added):
Even more bizarrely, Trump expressed astonishment that a gunman could enter a church in rural Texas and kill 26 people. “Who would think a thing like this could ever happen?” he wondered.
To answer Trump’s question there in second paragraph, anyone who pays freaking attention to the headlines, for Pete’s sake.
This is the very picture of weaponized imbecility.
It’s Deja Vu All Over Again 0
The Des Moines Register’s, Dick Goodson reports that he feels young again:
As the country moves through the next year or so, it will be very interesting if the majority of Republicans come around on the side of supporting good government as they did in the 70s.
Follow the link for the rest.
QOTD 0
Rex Stout:
It is always wiser, when there is a choice, to trust to inertia. It is the greatest force in the world.
Stout, Rex, Fer-de-Lance (New York: Bantam, 1992), p. 174.
Fer-de-Lance was the first Nero Wolfe mystery, published in 1934.
Geeking Out 0
Running Spybot S&D while listening to Old Time Radio in a VM of Windows 7 in VirtualBox on Slackware –Current.
If you use Windows. you should use Spybot S&D.
Trouble in Paradise 0
The Guardian provides in-depth reporting on the Paradise Papers.
There are multiple articles about them, the reaction to them, and their implications at the link.
Science, Schmience 0
Mike comments on Scott Pruitt’s war on science at the EPA and points out the the doublespeak is strong in Pruitt (warning: Mike gets somewhat heated).
William D. Ruckelshaus, ex-EPA administrator, has more.
The Toll of Trumpled Truth 0
At Der Spiegel, Roger Cohen mediates on the dangers of Trumpery. A snippet:
I actually remember shrugging. And it was the shrug that was terrifying. This is how autocrats – or would-be autocrats – cement their power. They wear you down. They take you down the rabbit hole. They want you to hear the great leader declare that 2+2=5 – and shrug.
Hollow Hearts and Empty Prayers 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Arthur Dobrin explores the hollow hypocrisy of “thoughts and prayers.” A snippet”
If all we say is “sorry for your loss” when that loss isn’t addressed by action that prevents further deaths, then the expressions of sympathy can actually be harmful. Saying isn’t the same as doing. Saying the right words may make the speaker feel good but it only helps if there is some action attached to it.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
The hunt for politeness continues.
The wounded hunter was hit in the leg and was taken to a Tracy hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
No charges have been filed as everyone was wearing “blaze orange” and (I admit the following is my own addition, because I know how to shoot) stupid is not a crime. Bullets carry (a .22 will carry for a mile), and it is stupid not to make sure your shot is clear both before and after the target.
