September, 2019 archive
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do. Learn how to use GNU/Linux and its plethora of free and open source software to get stuff done with computers.
It’s not hard; it’s just different.
When: Monthly TWUUG meeting at 7:30 p. m. on the first Thursday of the month (September 5, 2019). Pre-meeting dinner at Chicago Uno, JANAF shopping center, 6:00 p. m. (map)
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room (map). (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
Wagging the Dog 0
NPR investigates the potential for fabricating “news.” A snippet (emphasis added):
“One thing that kept me up at night was the concern that someday our adversaries would be able to create entire events with minimal effort,” Doermann said. “These events might include images of scenes from different angles, video content that appears from different devices and text that is delivered through various mediums providing an overwhelming amount of evidence that an event has occurred — and this could lead to social unrest or retaliation before it gets countered.”
In our society of gullible “social” media guzzlers, the report causes me considerable disquiet.
The Old Normal 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., is skeptical of the notion that the country needs a “return to normalcy.” Here’s a bit from his article:
Follow the link for the rest.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness just too big for one room . . . .
Guns and stupid, guns and stupid,
They go together like love and Cupid.
Let me tell you, brother,
You can’t have one without the other.
“Otherization” 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Pamela Paresky, explores the language of dehumanization and how it fosters an “us vs. them” mentality. A snippet:
(snip)
President Trump uses similar dehumanizing language. New York Times Correspondent Maggie Haberman noted that Trump’s terminology of “infestation” makes immigrants into insects. Using metaphors such as insects, vermin, parasites, garbage, and such elicits the feelings of disgust one has for those things and connects that emotion of disgust with the person or group of people described.
Suffer the Children 0
The cruelty just keeps getting more overt . . . .
