“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Be polite at your favorite purveyor of accelerated edibles.
Upon learning that the restaurant was out of the sandwiches, the group exited their vehicle and tried to storm the Popeyes. When stymied by a manager who locked the front door, one man became upset and pulled out a pistol in an attempt to secure a sandwich.
Obsession 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Noam Sphancer tries to figure out why Donald Trump is obsessed with President Obama. A snippet:
Follow the link for his reasons for reaching that conclusion.
Collateral Damage 0
Catherine Rampell tries to make sense of Donald Trump’s claims of success in his trade wars.
Follow the link to see how well that works out.
The Unbalanced Balance 0
David Atkins considers the difficulty media faces in presenting a “balanced” range of opinion in editorial commentary and analysis, or, to put it another way, how persons like David Brooks and Bret Stephens, who are always wrong, manage to hold down jobs.
He suggests that those who employ them a face a dilemma: whether to portray the American right-wing as it is or as they would prefer it to be. Here’s a bit:
He goes on to point out that a similar situation exists as regards liberal commentators, but that it is no nearly so severe.
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.
