From Pine View Farm

April, 2022 archive

Still Rising Again after All These Years, Catch-22 Dept. 0

Lemont:  So . . . white folks in our state passed a law that essentially forbids teaching the history of racism if it makes white kids feel ashamed and it gives parents the right to sue teachers who

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The Triple Threat 0

It turns out that Mark Meadows, one of the most vocal proponents of Trump’s big lie, was registered to vote in not just two, but three states.

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It’s All about the Benjamins 0

Solomon Jones follows the money in Florida’s Disney frenzy. A snippet (emphasis added):

Had Disney simply condemned the “Don’t Say Gay” law in the same way corporate interests make mealymouthed statements about Black issues like voter suppression and police abuse, the fight would’ve stopped there. However, when the LGBTQ community and its own employees expressed outrage, Disney went a step further than most companies do on Black issues. The company promised to cut the flow of political donations.

Follow the link for the rest.

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QOTD 0

Democritus:

Many much-learned men have no intelligence.

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Recommended Viewing 0

Empires of Stone, on Tubitv.com, particularly episode three about the Great Wall of China.

It reveals the secret ingredient.

Afterthought:

I’ve been having lots of fun (and learning) lately watching documentaries on Tubi and Netflix. Frankly, they beat the heck out of the more of the same “entertainment” shows.

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The Depths of Despicable 0

Image:  Republican Elephant holding sign reading,

My mother was a public school teacher.

Image via Juanita Jean.

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It’s All about the Algorithm 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Amanda L. Giordano explores ten techniques that “social” media companies (remember, they are companies who desiring profits from our “engagement”) use to keep us “engaged.” Here’s what she says about the algorithm:

Personalization of content via algorithms: Social media platforms have been transparent about their collection of users’ data (just visit the terms of the site). They collect information about what we click on, how long we view a post, who we message, what groups we join, and even information from other websites that have connections to the social media platform. Once the data is collected, algorithms are employed to customize users’ experiences to match their preferences (Montag, et al., 2019). We are much more drawn to apps in which everything interests us—and the personalization of content, newsfeeds, videos, pictures, stories, reels, and recommendations keeps users engaged for longer durations of time.

Follow the link for the other nine items she identifies.

Aside:

I would argue that, in most cases, there’s nothing “transparent” about the “terms of service.” They are often, purposefully in my opinion, dense piles of impenetrable legalese designed to discourage persons from reading them all the way through.

The one exception in my experience is Google, whose terms are written in generally plain language. Yet persons, including on occasion myself, use them anyway.

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“Cluster of Weirdos” 0

An excerpt:

What we’re seeing here is that, to all these guys, . . . it’s just entertainment. They don’t care about what’s actually at stake, which is our democracy . . . .

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Trump NDA DOA 0

Omarosa trumps Trump.

Full Disclosure:

I once had a job that required me to sign an NDA.

In my case, though, I was working for a tech company with intellectual property and patents to protect, not for a con artist and charlatan with slimy things to hide.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Show your politeness to others.

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Russian Impulses 0

The Portland Press-Herald’s Victoria Hugo-Vidal discusses Putin’s precedent for Florida’s (and other states”) codifying hate over sexual identity in law.

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The Wanna-be Emperor Has No Suit 0

At Above the Law, Liz Dye reports on Hillary Clinton’s lawyers response to Donald Trump’s ludicrous RICO suit. A snippet:

“Plaintiff’s core grievance against Hillary Clinton is the practice of politics, and cannot support this legal claim,” the motion continues, noting that it is bloody rich for Donald freakin’ Trump to complain about mean tweets.

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QOTD 0

Vera Brittain:

Politics are usually the executive expression of human immaturity.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Devolution 0

Title:  The Evolution of Republican Name-Calling.  Image:  Spiro Agnew says,

Click for the original image.

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When Stirring the Pot Means Slipping the Mickey 0

Florida Women.

I have been to Florida many times for both business and pleasure. True, it’s been a couple of decades since my last visit, but, I swear, it seemed to be, as my old doctor used to say, “within normal limits” back then.

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Toxic Noxious Masculinity 0

Rebecca Watson skewers (you will pardon the expression) Tucker Carlson’s great balls of fire.

We are a society of stupid.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

No, it was not a prop.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

Musical NotesGuns 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.

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Florida Man Does the Math 0

Ron DeSantis tossing text books on a pile while saying,

Click for the original image.

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

The plantation mentality–it’s still a thing.

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