Another example of history rhyming. Until new polls come out, we can’t know (and actually we can’t know until the v*tes are counted, assuming — yeah, big assumption — that they’re counted honestly), but the very smart Nate Silver examines whether Trump is really torpedoed this time. Unlike all the other times the media predicted his electoral demise. OTOH, Clinton, Comey and company would be in far worse trouble in a just world. Five times evolution “ran backward.” This is only one small example of how self-driving cars will spy on their occupants. But in the good news department, a…
Month: October 2016
The dreaded election is one month away, and one way or another, whether we v*te or don’t, we’re all going to be affected by it. I’ve edged toward the conclusion that the best possible outcome (short of an overwhelming write-in v*te for either Sweet Meteor O’ Death or None of the Above), is — God forgive me — a Hillary Clinton victory along with a Republican sweep of the House and Senate. If this happens, the Evil Queen will be able to preen before her magic mirror all she likes, but her wishes won’t become anybody’s commands, except to the…
Good luck to all you facing Hurricane Matthew — though I realize some have already evacuated and might not be reading this until later. If you’re within the storm zone but in a place you can stay put, be glad you’ve got your stored food and water. Rumors that you may also require holy water for Matthew are probably exaggerated.
In today’s links post, I blogged about Yahoo’s compliance with a federal “security directive.” If true, their act would not only be despicable, but would be technologically unprecedented. They reportedly not only rolled over without a fight, but actually built new software at the behest of the fedgov to spy in realtime on their users’ incoming and outgoing mail. There are obviously still a lot of questions here including some extremely basic ones. Did Yahoo really do this? Was the request made by the NSA or the FBI? What were the specific terms the company was “directed” to scan for?…
We’re cruising down life’s highway and we find ourselves backed up in traffic by a colossal wreck. Glass and metal and blood and guts are strewn everywhere. Some survivors scream for help, while others lie bleeding out, pierced by steering wheels and shards of glass. But never fear! First responders are already on the scene. The experts will soon handle the ghastly situation. Except that the “experts” on this particular highway of life are standing there screeching at each other about their Twitter messages, tax returns, fat-shaming, mutual degrees of personal and financial corruption, and whether or not they enabled…
Three days without Ava. As a special treat for myself, I dropped Her Royal Highness Princess Ava Prettypaws off at Furrydoc’s this morning. Ava is the most willing and loyal dog I’ve ever had. That girl lives to please. But along with that package of goodness comes extreme clinginess, hyper-vigilance, constant attention-seeking, and a seeming belief that every time I so much as twitch a muscle I’m either going to a) take her on a glorious adventure; b) feed her; c) throw a toy for her; or d) heartlessly abandon her in cruel Dickensian style. I literally can’t shift my…
If you’re a member of our sister site Claire’s Cabal, you probably just got an automated email about your membership. You can ignore that. It was the result of me trying to change all the free memberships from “unpaid” to “paid.” Didn’t realize that would result in an email blast to everybody! I also appear to have screwed up somehow, so that membership statuses may have changed. Don’t panic. And don’t think you’re suddenly a life member. 🙁 I did something wrong and have to figure out how to fix everything. Also, I just put up five new articles —…