From Pine View Farm

2017 archive

On a Wingman and a Prayer 0

Airliner full of Republian elephants watching steve Bannon as the gremlin sitting on wing dismantling an engine.  Trump says,


Click for the original image.

Share

Tell a Tale of Privilege 0

Richard G. Carlson tells one such tale in The Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Excerpt or summary won’t do it justice. Just read it.

Share

The Climates They Are a-Changing 0

At The Daily Banter, Bob Cesca looks at America’s response to climate change and despairs. A snippet:

Along those lines, it’s difficult to resist the instinct to feel utterly hopeless and cynical. We’re in it now, and a frustrating lack of political will mixed with public apathy or outright denial has completely stymied what should’ve otherwise happened years ago: an effort of the magnitude of the Apollo program to find affordable, clean, renewable energy sources while rapidly killing off entrenched yet archaic polluters. But we’re not a prevention nation. We’re a self-indulgent one. We’d rather continue our bad habits while finding ways to ease the side effects.

For example, rather than eating right and exercising, while supporting efforts to improve our food supply, we’d rather pop a few Lipitor to reduce our cholesterol, or a Nexium to reduce the acid reflux.

Share

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Just another day in NRA Paradise.

Share

Facebook Frolics 0

It’s all about the algorithm.

Share

“Just the Equifax, Ma’am” 0

Thom and his guest discuss the Equihacks.

Share

“A Failure Refusal To Communicate” 0

Greg Kesich explains.

Share

QOTD 0

Paul Scofield:

If you look around the table and you can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you.

Share

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.”

Share

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:

Facebook has said that it can’t release its findings because that would violate its own ‘internal policies’ which protect user privacy. That’s rich.

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.

Share

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Don’t hog the politeness.

The coroner said he believes the shooter was using a thermal detection scope and mistook the victim for a hog, however this information has not yet been confirmed by investigators.

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.

Share

Facebook Frolics 0

DudeBro frolics.

Share

Plus ca Change (Updated) 0

Crane Operator in crane labeled


Click for the original image.

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.

Share

Protected Data 0

Reporter to Equifax rep:

Click for the original image.

Share

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?

Share

Empty Space 0

JoCat

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.

Share

“Threat Factory” 0

Share

Impermissible Dreamers 0

Title:  Ten reasons we want to kick out the Dreamers.  1) (Neighbors over back fence) Because someone who spends the first year of their life abroad and the next 20 years here has no real connection to the U. S.  2) (Preacher) Because the Bible tells us it's okay to treat our neighbors like shit!  Especially the least well off!  (It's in here somewhere.)  3) (Shopkeeper) Because I have no use for the money Dreamers spend in my store.  4) (Man on sidewalk) Because pissing off Libtards is reason enough.  5) (Man screaming) Because people born in other countries are evil.  6)  (Trump)  It's all about the Rule of Law.  Now pardon me while I go pardon Joe Arpaio.  7)  (Alien Being)  Because like most evil aliens, I thrive on the needless suffering of others.  8) (Woman)  Because by adding $400 billion to the economy they are leaching off of Real Americans.  9)  (Congressman)  Because my voters frighten me.  10) (Two men) It's definitely not because most Dreamers are brown!  Gosh, no!

Via Job’s Anger.

Share

How Stuff Works, Fabricating Fakery Dept. 0

Group of executives looking at earnings chart where the line is falling off the graph, with the decline starting at a point labeled


Click for the original image.

Share

Light Bloggery 0

The weather here is very nice, but I’m under it.

Share
From Pine View Farm
Privacy Policy

This website does not track you.

It contains no private information. It does not drop persistent cookies, does not collect data other than incoming ip addresses and page views (the internet is a public place), and certainly does not collect and sell your information to others.

Some sites that I link to may try to track you, but that's between you and them, not you and me.

I do collect statistics, but I use a simple stand-alone Wordpress plugin, not third-party services such as Google Analitics over which I have no control.

Finally, this is website is a hobby. It's a hobby in which I am deeply invested, about which I care deeply, and which has enabled me to learn a lot about computers and computing, but it is still ultimately an avocation, not a vocation; it is certainly not a money-making enterprise (unless you click the "Donate" button--go ahead, you can be the first!).

I appreciate your visiting this site, and I desire not to violate your trust.