From Pine View Farm

Recommended Viewing 0

The Heiress.

Olivia de Havilland’s performance was outstanding. Her character was real.

We saw it on TCM.

Share

A Tune for the Times 0

Share

“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

She had politeness in the bag.

Once on scene, first responders found a female employee who said she was going through her bag in the bathroom when her firearm accidentally discharged.

The employee was shot in the leg. She is in stable condition.

Aside:

No, the firearm did not “accidentally discharge.” Guns don’t fire themselves.

She negligently discharged the firearm.

Furrfu.

Share

The Sound of Silence 0

Frame One, captioned

Click to view the original image.

Share

Establishmentarians Establishing Establishmentarianism 0

Thom talks with Tim Alberta about his new book, The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory: American Evangelicals In An Age of Extremism.

Share

A Notion of Immigrants 0

Frame One:  Donald Trump says,

Via Job’s Anger.

Share

Republican Thought Police 0

At the Tampa Bay Times, the past president, current president, and incoming president of the American Sociological Association take strong exception to Florida’s decision to remove sociology from the list of “core” courses at Florida universities.

I commend their article to your attention.

Afterthought:

I am a strong believer in the value of sociology as a field of study. I majored in history, as I’ve mentioned before in these electrons, but, had my college given minors, I had more than enough credits for a minor in sociology.

History teaches how we got where we are. Sociology teaches us to understand how where we are functions, plus it sheds light on the workings of the where-we-came-froms.

But, of course, racists and bigots (and fascists and wannabe dictators) don’t want you to understand, or you’ll see through their game.

Share

Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0

Just because you see–er–hear it on a computer–er–device, it ain’t necessarily so.

The Second Circuit has referred attorney Jae S. Lee to a grievance panel for citing a fake case made up by ChatGPT in a complaint and never checking to see if the case spit out by the AI was real.

Details at the link.

Share

QOTD 0

Vladimir Nabokov:

Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.

Share

Taylor Mad, Reprise 0

Share

The Campaign Promise 0

Once again, Maya Angelou’s admonition comes to mind:

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

Share

Facebook Frolics 0

A Consumer Reports study details the extent to which you have been assimilated by the Zuckerborg and its enablers. Indeed, perhaps the most astounding bit in the report is the number of Zuckerborg enablers who “share” your data with Facebook.

Follow the link for the article.

Using a panel of 709 volunteers who shared archives of their Facebook data, Consumer Reports found that a total of 186,892 companies sent data about them to the social network. On average, each participant in the study had their data sent to Facebook by 2,230 companies. That number varied significantly, with some panelists’ data listing over 7,000 companies providing their data.

One more time, “social” media isn’t.

You don’t use “social” media. It uses you.

H/T Bruce Schneier for the head up.

Share

Misdirection Play 0

Republican Elephant, shielding Donald Trump, points at the Scretary of Homeland Security, saying,

Click to view the original image.

Share

Taylor Mad 0

Along the same lines, Sam and his crew take a look at the right-wing’s Taylor Swift freak out.

Share

A Critique of Poor Reason 0

At the Kansas City Star, Melinda Henneberger takes on what may be the looniest right-wing conspiracy theory since pizzagate: That the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift tools of Joe Biden. She wonders

. . . But how will Chiefs Kingdom push back against the slander that their wins aren’t real?

I think you will find her article a worthy and entertaining read.

Share

Establishmentarians 0

Oklahoma establishmentarians want to erect a graven image.

Share

QOTD 0

Oscar Wilde:

A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.

Share

A Tune for the Times 0

Share

Chaos Agents, a Notion of Immigrants Dept. 0

E. J. Montini points out the obvious. Donald Trump and his dupes, symps, and fellow travelers exacerbate problems, not solve them (emphasis added).

A bipartisan deal to address the border problem is the best thing for the country.

But it is the worst thing for Donald Trump . . . .

They want the chaos. They need the chaos. And Speaker Johnson goes along. These are Republicans putting Trump over party, and then putting party over country.

Follow the link for the evidence.

Share

Flooding the Disinformation Superhighway 0

At the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Gene Collier suggests that the liars are winning, benefiting from the “liar’s dividend.” What is the “liar’s dividend”? In his article, he defines it (emphasis added):

First described by law professors Bobby Chesney and Danielle Citron in 2018, it says that when a culture becomes awash in lies and disinformation, the liar benefits from the public’s diminished ability to identify actual truth. The liar’s dividend, of course, is metastasizing as the unscrupulous seize advantage of the described uncertainty.

Methinks he has a point. Read the full piece and decide.

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.