Saturday, January 17, 2015
Teh Adults Today
Because I am a masochist, I read too much stupid shit on the internet. I continue to be amazed at how many people think sending 11-year-olds outside without adult supervision just can't be done because "times have changed" and there are "perverts" lurking behind every blade of grass.
I thought this was what all of those gated and limited access road suburban communities were all about. Safe! Cul-de-sacs! Children outside playing!
I live in the urban hellhole, a place that looms large in the imagination of many of these people, where death is around every corner and the subway is a one way ride to hell. I'm not going to tell people how to parent. Every kid is different, every parent-child relationship is different. If you don't think your kids can handle being unsupervised, safely and in a way that you're comfortable with, fine. That's your judgment call.
But, really, kids don't actually get abducted from the subway, or at all by strangers, very often. By the time they're in 5th grade or so, most should be able manage to walk down a sidewalk without running out in front of traffic. This task should be at least as safe as being driven down the highway at 65 miles per hour.
I thought this was what all of those gated and limited access road suburban communities were all about. Safe! Cul-de-sacs! Children outside playing!
I live in the urban hellhole, a place that looms large in the imagination of many of these people, where death is around every corner and the subway is a one way ride to hell. I'm not going to tell people how to parent. Every kid is different, every parent-child relationship is different. If you don't think your kids can handle being unsupervised, safely and in a way that you're comfortable with, fine. That's your judgment call.
But, really, kids don't actually get abducted from the subway, or at all by strangers, very often. By the time they're in 5th grade or so, most should be able manage to walk down a sidewalk without running out in front of traffic. This task should be at least as safe as being driven down the highway at 65 miles per hour.
Affluenza
Money doesn't solve all problems, but there's something gross about the idea that there's something peculiarly different about the difficulties of growing up rich.
The poors never feel the special feels that the rich do, that acute loneliness is never felt by the kids whose parent is working 70 hours per week. The rich have special feels.
Michael M. Thomas, a former investment banker and a novelist of Wall Street manners, said that if he were ever to write a book about his own privileged upbringing, he would title it “Orphans With Parents.” Meaning that despite the private clubs, the best schools and all the many things that money can buy, there has always been for those born into this world a sense of acute loneliness that can strain ties with parents and mark a child forever.
The poors never feel the special feels that the rich do, that acute loneliness is never felt by the kids whose parent is working 70 hours per week. The rich have special feels.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Fantasyland
I read enough newspaper comments to know that a lot of people actually believe this stuff. It's on teevee, after all.
I guess the thing I don't get is that for a country of people who mostly don't give a shit about what goes on in the rest of the world, we sure do love to obsess about some bullshit version of it.
Go back to just ignoring it.
I guess the thing I don't get is that for a country of people who mostly don't give a shit about what goes on in the rest of the world, we sure do love to obsess about some bullshit version of it.
Go back to just ignoring it.
Supremos
They're gonna take on the same sex marriage issue. I guess I won't make any predictions, because they're hard, but hopefully they do the right thing.
No one law or court ruling is going to suddenly make equality for queer people a reality, any more than any of them have managed to do so for racial or gender equality, but the right marriage equality ruling would essentially enshrine, conceptually if not in all particulars of law or of course behavior, that queer people are actual human beings in our country. That'd be progress.
No one law or court ruling is going to suddenly make equality for queer people a reality, any more than any of them have managed to do so for racial or gender equality, but the right marriage equality ruling would essentially enshrine, conceptually if not in all particulars of law or of course behavior, that queer people are actual human beings in our country. That'd be progress.
Progress
Time to roll this stuff back.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Friday barred local and state police from using federal law to seize cash, cars and other property without evidence that a crime occurred.
Do Any Of These People Ever Leave The Country
I suppose it's just another edition of the endless stupid or lying question.
Except, you know, not.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a potential candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, will give a speech Monday in London and reiterate the disputed claim that Muslim immigrants have created "no-go zones" in Europe where non-Muslims are not welcome.
An advance text of Jindal's speech, circulated by his office, warns that Islamic radicals are fomenting anti-Western sentiment in "no-go zones" where they rule themselves by Islamic religious law, not the laws of their host nations.
Except, you know, not.
Good Luck, Kansas!
I'm not someone who thinks that Democrats are always perfect and wonderful, but there is a cycle in state politics that allows Republicans to slash and loot and then leave the likely Democratic successor trying to figure out how to pay the bills.
It really is the perpetual story of New Jersey. Christine Todd Whitman was the awesomest, and that awesomeness was paid for by underfunding the pensions. Rinse, repeat, everywhere.
It really is the perpetual story of New Jersey. Christine Todd Whitman was the awesomest, and that awesomeness was paid for by underfunding the pensions. Rinse, repeat, everywhere.
Nothing To See Here
Move along, folks.
Last year was the hottest in earth’s recorded history, scientists reported on Friday, underscoring scientific warnings about the risks of runaway emissions and undermining claims by climate-change contrarians that global warming had somehow stopped.
Conservatives Are The Only Ones Who Matter
There are never perfect cross-country comparisons in politics, but roughly speaking UKIP is the UK's Tea Party, though unlike our Tea Party it is a real party and not just the conservative wing of the conservative party. They get massive amounts of media attention, sort of like Sarah Palin's facebook page, while the Green Party gets ignored.
Because that's the way things work.
Because that's the way things work.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
We Promise
Putting a cap on Swiss Franc appreciation meant shorting it was a fairly safe, if not necessarily lucrative, bet. Take the lid away, and WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Fee fees have been hurt.
Fee fees have been hurt.
‘‘I would be astonished if we did not see more casualties,’’ Nick Parsons, the London-based head of research for the U.K. and Europe at National Australia Bank Ltd., said by phone from Sydney. ‘‘This was a 180-degree about turn by the SNB. People feel hurt and betrayed.’’
Who Would Report
If I saw a 10 and 6 year old walking down the street it would never occur to me to call the police. It wouldn't occur to me to call the police for a six year old, unless the kid appeared to be lost/distressed.
I can't remember if I walked to school when I was 6, but I know I did when I was 7. I also remember running around the neighborhood with my brother when we were 5 and 7 (actually I think it was 4 and 6 but I'm not quite sure). Probably "around the neighborhood" was a smaller zone than I remember, and probably my mother had more of an eye on me than I knew, but still.
I can't remember if I walked to school when I was 6, but I know I did when I was 7. I also remember running around the neighborhood with my brother when we were 5 and 7 (actually I think it was 4 and 6 but I'm not quite sure). Probably "around the neighborhood" was a smaller zone than I remember, and probably my mother had more of an eye on me than I knew, but still.
If Only There Were Some Shovel Ready Infrastructure Projects
I obsess about water main breaks because everybody agrees 90+ year old water systems need to be replaced, that flooding can do an immense amount of damage in a very short period of time, and unlike other "big" infrastructure projects they don't need elaborate EIRs or engineering studies. Dig up the road, replace pipe, repair road. Easy.
2015 Oscar Nominated Movies That I Have Seen
And I mean nominated for anything.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Lego Movie.
No I don't have children.
...oops, missed one:
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Lego Movie.
No I don't have children.
...oops, missed one:
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Our Freedom
Cuban travel restrictions are stupid for a lot of reasons, but a big one is that they are a restriction on our freedom by our government. And America is all about the freedom, people.
Sounds like it'll be easier than I thought when they first announced it.
Sounds like it'll be easier than I thought when they first announced it.
Morning Thread
Measles outbreak in San Diego. A health clinic needed to be evacuated. There is simply no excuse for the kind of idiocy that allows this to happen.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Probably Not
I love the urban hellhole and it doesn't lack a variety of decent shopping options, across a range of stuff, but I wouldn't exactly put it at the top of any lists...
Ladies Against Ladies
I'd guess there's a bit of a "Clinton effect" in this poll, that Republican respondents interpret the question as being about whether Clinton should be president, and that if the most prominent likely woman presidential candidate was a Republican the results would be a bit different, but still...
Unleaded
I'm pretty convinced of the lead/crime relationship. It might be false, but it's also such an obvious potential explanation that it really falls on critics to make an effort to disprove it.
But there's also my corollary which deserves some attention. Lead didn't turn everyone into violent criminals, but it probably turned a lot of people into tremendous rage-filled assholes.
But there's also my corollary which deserves some attention. Lead didn't turn everyone into violent criminals, but it probably turned a lot of people into tremendous rage-filled assholes.
Supervillains
It's quite impressive that the prisoners in Gitmo are the masterminds behind everything bad that happens in the world. Maybe it isn't a prison camp at all, but an Evil Lair Of Evil, a base of operations for all terrorism everywhere. If so, we probably should close it, no?
Wednesday, Wednesday
Some days I wake up, stare at the computer for a couple of hours, and still have nothing.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
MittensBot 4.0
Pretty sure he meant "tackling the poors" not "tackling poverty." A good thumping will do them good.
We Meant Pony. Catastrophic Herds Of Ponies.
Um whut?
WSDOT’s Todd Trepanier hardly disguised his irritation with the letter and the city council's subsequent line of questioning. "There never has been, and there is currently not, any risk of failure," he said. "That is a gross mischaracterization of that word ‘catastrophic’ in the report."
Didn't She Scratch A Backwards 'B' On Her Face Once?
Really, FBI, just stop this shit. There are some real criminals in the world.
Aging
It isn't very old and that isn't an excuse. Fix it?
Smoke and fire are not unusual on the aging subway system, which opened in 1976 and still uses some original rail cars. Metro's most recent quarterly safety report showed 86 incidents of smoke or fire in 2013 and 85 such incidents through the first eight months of 2014.
Who's Up Who's Up Who's Who's Down
The difficulty, especially during our glorious neverending presidential campaign season, is understanding that media coverage and narratives matter, while also trying point out that to a great degree they shouldn't matter.
Hopefully
I don't think we're at the point when wages are going to start surging, but we might be close. My local anecdata is my impression that local restaurants and similar are having to try a bit harder to hire people
Monday, January 12, 2015
Things Are Closer Than They Seem
One thing I've noticed over the past few years is that people have a really poor sense of distance. Regularly people write about ONE MILE as if it's some sort of extreme distance. A mile is a 22 minute leisurely walk, and you can certainly do it faster than that (obviously I'm talking about people who don't have mobility constraints).
So, yah, all things being equal, the closer the better, but a mile from a major transit station just isn't that far.
So, yah, all things being equal, the closer the better, but a mile from a major transit station just isn't that far.
What Could Go Wrong
Oil lending has been a surprising (to me) share of investment banking revenue.
Banks have been lending hand over fist to companies in the nation’s energy industry, underwriting bonds, advising on mergers, even financing the building of homes for oil workers. All of this has provided a boon to banks that have been struggling to find more companies and consumers wanting to borrow.
Yet with the price of crude oil falling below levels sufficient for some energy companies to service their huge debts, strains are being felt and defaults are likely. While it may take some time for the crunch in the oil industry to translate into losses, one thing already seems clear: The energy banking boom is over.
Perhaps Some Of These Ideas Could Have Been Mentioned In August
The allergy Dems have of to actually campaigning on anything is so weird.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Evening Thread
The zombie apocalypse has begun at my local Whole Foods. Don't say I didn't warn you.
For The Millionth Time, I Do Think Murder Is Bad
I do hate the game that gets played every time there's some horrific Islamic-linked terrorist attack, in which brave and noble pundits bravely and nobly declare that murder is bad and free speech is good, and then wonder why no one, especially those Muslims, agrees with them.
LEEAAAVE SAINT PETRAAEEUUS ALOOOOOOONE
Our criminal justice system is only meant for the little people.
Rich Kids
Yes rich kids can experience mental illness and drug problems. No they aren't responsible for the actions of their parents. Yes they deserve sympathy and treatment for these problems.
The issue is that...most kids aren't rich, and rich kids are much more likely to have the resources to get all of these things. They're also more likely to have people write sympathetic op-eds about them and avoid getting shoved into the criminal justice system at an early age.
The point isn't that rich kids don't deserve sympathy for their real problems, the point is our society gives them much more of it than it does anybody else.
The issue is that...most kids aren't rich, and rich kids are much more likely to have the resources to get all of these things. They're also more likely to have people write sympathetic op-eds about them and avoid getting shoved into the criminal justice system at an early age.
The point isn't that rich kids don't deserve sympathy for their real problems, the point is our society gives them much more of it than it does anybody else.
Trade
Affluenza is probably the country's most debilitating disease. Fortunately there's an easy solution...
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