Mar 2016
- Mar 1
- Sleep Deprivation is Why You're Fat
It's been know that people who don't get enough sleep tend to gain weight. One possible mechanism is due to high ghrelin and low leptin levels.
· Read more… - Mar 1
- Garbage In, Garbage Out
An algorithm that assumes that a car (or bus, in this case) approaching on the left will slow down for you to allow you to cut in front of it seems like a MAJOR design flaw o_O
· Read more… - Mar 1
- Osama Bin Laden and Climate Change
For some, this is evidence that some causes cross all ideological lines and even a theocratic sociopathic mass murderer (no, I'm not talking about Ted Cruz) can care about the planet. For others, this is proof positive that acting against climate change is doing the bidding of terrorists.
· Read more… - Mar 1
- Campaigning in Massachusetts
In the event of a Clinton vs. Trump general election, there are probably going to be two large groups of voters who will be inclined to stay home: Sanders voters who think Clinton is too much like a Republican and Republicans who think Trump is too much of a fascist. Clinton has the capacity to get those groups to vote for her, but she's not going to do it by feeding the "I'm above the law" narrative.
· Read more… - Mar 2
- In Case of Recession, Break Glass
Maybe I'm being totally paranoid, but I'm worried about an October surprise, specifically, the stock market crashing and the economy collapsing again.
· Read more… - Mar 2
- Escaping Donald Trump
Dark thought after last night's results: How ironic would it be that when President Trump gets inaugurated and starts rounding people up, the rest of the world would refuse to accept refugees from the U.S.?
· Read more… - Mar 2
- Chris Christie as Reek
Chris Christie as Theon Greyjoy. Donald Trump as Ramsay Bolton. Perfect.
· Read more… - Mar 2
- Blaming the Victims
It's kind of victim-blaming bullshit that people are more angry with people who want to vote their conscience and choose the most progressive candidate than with the assholes who are hell-bent on installing a fascist dictator in the White House.
· Read more… - Mar 2
- I Think John McAfee Needs Help
#NotMedicalAdvice but it looks like John McAfee is in the throes of mania and needs in-patient psychiatric care.
· Read more… - Mar 3
- This Brave New Social Media World
I guess I can't really call this social media world "new" considering that I signed up for Facebook, Twitter, and Friendfeed in 2007, but—despite my reputation as an oversharer—I am still astounded what people post online for all the world to see.
· Read more… - Mar 3
- Sleep Deprivation and Obesity
More on that study that demonstrated that sleep deprivation makes you hungry by causing levels of 2-arachidonylglycerol—an endocannabinoid—to rise, mimicking the munchies caused by THC.
· Read more… - Mar 4
- Open Tabs
Trying to close down some of the open tabs in Chrome.
· Read more… - Mar 4
- Ben Carson Withdraws Care from His Campaign
Dr. Carson finally decides to withdraw care from his campaign.
· Read more… - Mar 4
- Mac OS 9 vs. iOS 9
Technology has advanced significantly and OS versions seem to be released at a faster and faster pace and it just occurred to me that iOS is on the same version number as the last classic (non-NEXTSTEP-based) Mac OS release.
· Read more… - Mar 7
- Back to China Again
Remember back in the day before the Twin Towers fell when George W Bush was sending spy planes into China's airspace and then one crashed into a Chinese fighter jet? I was certain this was going to be the beginning of the next global conflagaration.
· Read more… - Mar 7
- Trumpism
To be certain, the problem isn't Donald Trump. The problem is that a significant proportion of the population of the U.S. believes fascism and/or theocracy are perfectly cromulent solutions for the woes of our country.
· Read more… - Mar 8
- Malaysia and 1MDB
Today, NASDAQ has iShares MSCI Malaysia Index Fund (EWM) listed as the stock with the highest dividend yield at 65.95% and selling for $8.33/share.
· Read more… - Mar 9
- Tongvan Language
I was looking for the Tongvan (also known as Gabrielino) word for coyote (it's
‘iitar
) and ran across this article: · Read more… - Mar 9
- Nancy Reagan
It is surreal to contemplate the possibility that Nancy Reagan effectively ran the White House while Ronald Reagan was starting to become incapacitated by Alzheimer disease.
· Read more… - Mar 9
- Superdelegates
It is heartening that The New York Times has decided to separate pledged delegate counts from superdelegate counts.
· Read more… - Mar 9
- Beware the Ides of March
I feel like the March 15th primaries deserve a "Super" name. No one appears to be calling it Super Tuesday II or Mini Tuesday.
· Read more… - Mar 9
- Trumpism
The L.A. Times asks "Is Donald Trump a fascist?".
· Read more… - Mar 11
- Hitler vs. Stalin
It's interesting how Donald Trump calls for the registering and/or deportation of Muslims and Mexicans, the torture and killing of civilians whose family members are suspected of terrorism, more violence against protestors at his rallies and refuses to disavow white supremacist groups supporting him and people are quick to be apologists and say "He's not Hitler!" while Bernie Sanders calls for universal health care, free higher education, and increased regulation of the financial sector and people seem to immediately jump to "He's just like Stalin!"
· Read more… - Mar 11
- Nuclear Energy
I'm not against nuclear power per se, but I'm thinking thorium reactors are the way to go. While, yeah, uranium and plutonium reactors are generally very safe, when there's an accident (and there will always be accidents) it can be potentially unfathomably catastrophic and effectively permanent, at least as far as human timescales are concerned.1
· Read more… - Mar 11
- The Importance of Orthography
If you're going to be a bank robber when you grow up, you still need to learn how to spell correctly.
· Read more… - Mar 14
- Dreaming of the Rocky Mountain Free States
Even though Philip K Dick totally imagined Nazism in the United States, I think even he would be hard-pressed to believe that in 2016 a fascist and a democratic socialist were viable candidates for POTUS.
· Read more… - Mar 15
- Post-hegemonic Foreign Policy
Somewhat tangential to her post, but R makes a good point: what constitutes "progressive" foreign policy?
· Read more… - Mar 16
- Legitimacy of Democratic Institutions
Even when the margins are insurmountable, you still have to play out the whole game. That's what gives democratic institutions their legitimacy. Demands to short circuit the process are demands for invalidating the entire system.1
· Read more… - Mar 16
- Ford v. Reagan
In 1976, neither Ford nor Reagan had enough delegates to clinch the nomination, although Ford was leading.
· Read more… - Mar 17
- Merrick Garland
Given the present focus on police brutality, defendant rights, and mass incarceration, the Garland pick is definitely controversial among progressives, but (1) he's still going to swing the court to the left especially since he's replacing Scalia and (2) it's unlikely that Senate will confirm him anyway.
· Read more… - Mar 17
- Order and Stability
People talk about "order" and "stability" as if they're one and the same, but order isn't stable. Order always requires energy to maintain. It's the state of maximum entropy that's stable.
· Read more… - Mar 17
- Self-Hosting AI
When an AI beats a human, it's really a team of developers who beat that human.
· Read more… - Mar 18
- We're All Dying, Really
I know the rustling sound that Death makes as she wends her way to the bedside
· Read more…
the way the breath catches, the heart rate slows
measured by beeps, punctuated by alarms
it was all inevitable in the end
too weary for tears
that dull gnawing ache thrumming through your nerves
though close you lay with Death, so close you could touch
you know you're still alive, so very much alive - Mar 19
- Why Bernie Sanders Has a Right to Stay in the Race
Down by more than 300 pledged delegates, the calls to unite around Hillary Clinton and for Bernie Sanders to drop out have been growing louder.
· Read more… - Mar 19
- Generational Warfare
I forgot to post this when it happened but I thought it was important to bookmark it. It's kind of a microcosm of the intergenerational divide that animates a lot of the political debate between the Hillary Clinton camp and the Bernie Sanders camp swirling around in the context of post-modernism/post-colonialism and the increasing recognition of privilege.
· Read more… - Mar 21
- American Despotism
I think the fact that Trump will be a despot if elected and already has an obviously despotic personality is readily apparent to (1) anyone who grew up in a developing country (2) anyone whose parents are from a developing country and quite possibly fled to the U.S. because of despotism (3) anyone who actually paid attention in high school history class.
· Read more… - Mar 21
- Being Realistic about Hitler
Godwin's Law becomes extremely unhelpful when discussing actual fascism and despotism. The Nazis may have committed some of the greatest atrocities known to humanity (although the Communists under Stalin and under Mao killed more people) but Hitler is not some incredibly inhuman evil monster that we'll never see again. He may have been evil and monstrous, but his motivations were akin to the motivations of other politicians.
· Read more… - Mar 21
- The War on Drugs
Another example of how politics sometimes dictates policy:
· Read more… - Mar 21
- Hitler Political Timeline
The typical instinct on the Internet is to recoil at any comparison of a contemporary politician to Hitler (thanks, Godwin!) but sometimes you really can't avoid it when someone decides to run on an ultranationalist authoritarian platform.
· Read more… - Mar 21
- Democrats Abroad
Sanders gets 9 delegates while Clinton gets 4 delegates in the Democrats Abroad primary.
· Read more… - Mar 22
- Brussels and Istanbul
Fascinating how we're all Brussels now but we were never all Istanbul.
· Read more… - Mar 22
- Religion and Terrorism
The simplistic answer is that certain religions are inherently violent, but this is not that useful of a response, because in truth, every religion can be fashioned into a weapon which people can wield to justify murder and conquest.
· Read more… - Mar 22
- Ihre Papiere, Bitte
An anti-Trump protester with the last name of "Gonzalez" gets transferred to ICE custody. You can probably draw your own conclusions.
· Read more… - Mar 22
- Dengue Fever Vaccine
A trial with an experimental vaccine targeting the Dengue fever virus has gone very well.
· Read more… - Mar 22
- Lead Poisoning in Rome and in Flint, Michigan
While the reasons for the Fall of the Western Roman Empire are quite complex, a popular theory that has since been disproven suggested that high lead levels in the water supply due to the use of lead pipes was a contributing factor.
· Read more… - Mar 24
- RIP Phife
I first learned about the passing of Phife from friends' posts on Facebook.
· Read more… - Mar 25
- Robot Uprising
When Skynet finally decides that the only reasonable choice is to extinguish the human race, we will only have ourselves to blame.
· Read more… - Mar 25
- Bad Joke Meme: Fishy Edition
Q: Why can mackerel be holy but salmon can't?
· Read more… - Mar 25
- Friends and the Man in the High Castle
The lack of ethnic diversity in "Friends" despite being set in NYC makes more sense if you imagine that it's set in the same universe as "The Man in the High Castle"
· Read more… - Mar 25
- History of the Mac
The 15th anniversary of the release of Mac OS X 10.0 was yesterday.
· Read more… - Mar 29
- The Collapse of Capitalism
While the label of "Millenial" is ill-defined and overgeneralizes a demographic with a wide age range, the defining moments of this generation are definitely 9/11, the Global Financial Crisis, and the Great Recession.
· Read more… - Mar 29
- The Price of Gas
FOX 40 in Sacramento posted about the changes in the price of gas over the decades.
· Read more… - Mar 29
- Tone Policing at its Most Pathetic
We really have short memories. The idea that somehow the tone and vitriol in the arguments between Clinton and and their respective supporters is horrifically divisive and likely to cost the Democrats defeat in the general election requires totally forgetting the very-thinly-veiled racism of the 2008 Democratic primaries where leading Democratic establishment figures were blowing barely-concealed dog-whistles about Obama.1
· Read more… - Mar 29
- Bringing Balance to the Force
On one hand, yeah, privileged people with lots of resources can probably survive a Trump presidency (assuming he doesn't declare martial law and line up all his critics against walls, constitutional or not.) It's not going to hurt them as much if Trump and collaborators in Congress and the SCOTUS start dismantling the social welfare safety net, continue weakening civil rights, send soldiers off on futile wars, start destroying the environment at an even faster rate, etc., etc.
· Read more… - Mar 30
- Knowledge is Not Wisdom
It's not enough to know things. It's just as important to recognize what doesn't make sense and to know what you don't know.
· Read more… - Mar 30
- Errant Pedantry
Pointing out typos and grammatical errors is basically a derailment tactic. If you didn't understand the text, then ask for clarification, but disqualifying an argument that you clearly understood because it has a typo or grammatical error in it really is kind of assholish.
· Read more…