2023 archive
Too Close for Comfort 0
I have been watching the Netflix “docuseries” Dirty Money. I recommended it once and I would recommend it again.
But I couldn’t bring myself to watch this episode.
Facebook Frolics, Misty Water-Colored Memories Dept. 0
A frolicker describes what it was like to grow up side by side with other frolickers, but in a whole nother world.
Responsible Fiscals 0
A quote from Sam:
Stupid or evil? I’m not convinced it’s mutually exclusive.
The Rule of Lawless 0
Susan Young, opinion editor of the Bangor Daily News, calls out the vacuous–nay, hypocritical and logic-free–rationale* of those Republicans who refuse to take action against the wave of gun violence. A snippet:
“We’re not going to fix it,” Tennessee Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, said when asked about the shooting on Monday. “Criminals are going to be criminals.”
By that rationale, we shouldn’t have any laws at all.
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*To refer to it with a common slang term of a scatological nature would be to insult bovines.
I grew up on a farm.
Bulls are smarter than this.
Decoding de Code 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Veronika Tait argues that “endorsing the ‘poor but happy’ trope excuses inequality.” A nugget (emphasis added):
Yet research shows that those from low-income households are less happy on average than those from higher-income households.
Establishmentarianism 0
Michael in Norfolk argues that the Republican Party is in the grip of the Establishmentarians.
Follow the link for his reasons.
Afterthought:
I think he has a point. It would help to explain in part the devolution of a political party into a personality cult.
Geeking Out 0
Updating a VirtualBox virtual machine (VM) of Manjaro Linux. In the background is another VM of Slackware Linux (the oldest still-maintained Linus distro). The VMs are running on Mageia Linux with the Fluxbox window manager.
Twits Own Twitter 0
Katharine Trendacosta, writing at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, takes a look at Elon Musk’s stewardship sewership of Twitter. A snippet:
Follow the link for her reasoning.
Aside:
As I may have mentioned, about the time of Twitter’s creation, I heard an interview with one of its founders on my local NPR station (WHYY in Philly at the time–I forget who was the interviewer and who was being interviewed); the person who was being interviewed droned on and on about how this new thing was going to contribute to the discourse.
The interview convinced me to have nothing whatsoever to do with Twitter, and I’ve never regretted that. But I have also watched as Twitter became a go-to outlet for many of moment. I have watched as (far too) many persons came to rely on it for news, information, and commentary. And I will concede that, before Musk at least, Twitter as an organization did not seem to have an agenda other than to grow itself; it bumbled and it fumbled, but it usually tried–with mixed results–to get it right.
(In a larger context, I have become convinced that “social” media isn’t. It amplifies asinine and drowns out dutiful, magnifies mendacity and disrespects data, as its secret algorithms suck users down labyrinthine rabbit holes of hate and hostility so as to “attract eyeballs” amd “foster engagement.”)
Still, it’s a shame to watch Musk mangle something that had risen at least to the level of mediocre.
Decoding de Code 0
Thom parses the new Republican motto.
Martial Aids 0
The Rude One sums up the latest from the party of the portable phallus. (Warning: Language.)