GOP's Poster Wackos in Georgia and Florida Threaten College Football Season

The NCAA has announced there won’t be college football in the fall unless Coronavirus cases in the US are declining.

It’s the GOP That Wants to Kill Grandma

Some eleven years ago, Republicans launched a ferocious attack on Obamacare. One element of the battle was the claim that the new insurance plan would encourage people to “kill Grandma.”  

The 16:8 Diet Works for Me

In fact, 16:8 appears to have been extremely effective for me, though I need more experience to know for sure.

The 16:18 diet, really a regimen rather than a diet, stipulates that one fasts for 16 hours straight and then can eat only within the remaining 8-hour window.

Trade, Electronics, and the Imminent Demise of Apple, et al

America’s trade wars are creating a major disruption in the electronics market. Even if Trump backs down while declaring victory – a habit of his – most of the damage is done.

American electronics manufacturers generally expressed support when Trump started attacking China. There was strong agreement that China cheated on various aspects of trade, especially theft of intellectual property (IP) and the kind of market manipulation that uses artificially low prices to create a dominant share. And there was pretty much a consensus that Huawei was the most flagrant violator of all.

Bad Fiscal Habits- Coin Version

Bad habits have bad outcomes, especially where money is involved. In my case, the punishment was a result of a long-time habit of hoarding coins – well, actually just dumping them when I get home and then leaving them in a jar. Or two or three or…

The day came when enough was enough. The jars seemed to be breeding in dark corners. Some looked like they were going to be impossible to lift. What to do?

Killing Justice

Supreme Court judge Antonin Scalia's sudden and unexpected death raises the inevitable concerns about conspiracy.

The role of the Court is more important than ever in America, and its close ideological division means that the death of one member can have a profound, long-term impact on the nation.

Garrison Walters' political thriller, Killing Justice, explores a situation eerily similar to the one the US now faces. The sudden and surprising death of a Republican justice while a Democrat is President raises an array of challenging issues -- especially when many believe the judge was murdered.

Installing Amazon Echo Auto

This went reasonably well in my 2014 BMW X3.

Connecting was fairly straightforward. In the spirit of “Keep It Stupidly Simple,” the documentation doesn’t describe how the connections work.

By Gove! We’ve Had Enough of You!

Britain’s Michael Gove has thrown his dunce hat into the ring for Prime Minister.

Gove, despite many years in government, is famous for only one thing: a public statement that 

“We’ve had enough of experts!”

Facebook, Privacy, and AI

The current crisis with Facebook isn’t rooted in its management or even in its original design. Rather, the sources of its problems go back to its IPO, which occurred in 2012 when the company was valued at $104 billion. Specifically, Facebook’s stock was priced by Wall Street on the assumption that it was 1) the antithesis of privacy; and 2) able to grow revenues more or less forever at a rate substantially faster than expenses. A corollary of this second point was that the company would remain largely free of the inherently unpredictable costs of human employment (Wall Street hates people costs and rewards companies that keep them as low as possible).

The First Europeans

White Nationalists, together with related varieties of Modern Wacko usually self-styled as Aryans, put much faith in the racial integrity of the great white homeland, Europe.

Today’s Europeans are, in fact, the product of a series of invasions over many thousands of years. First there were the Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG) who came from somewhere in Asia, likely way out on the borderlands with China. Next were the Early European Farmers (EEF), who arrived from what is now the Middle East. The names of these groups describe their respective lifestyles.

The last invaders were the Indo Europeans, from the steppe lands on the border of Europe and Asia. These people were herders, who had domesticated the horse, probably invented the wheel, and whose language became the basis for nearly all of the tongues of modern Europe.

Ode to Brexit

The UK’s Poet Laureate is appointed with "an expectation that the holder will write verse for significant national occasions."

If Brexit isn’t a “significant national occasion,” I don’t know what is, so let’s order up an ode. Hey, Carol Ann Duffy – you can’t hide any longer -- step up and versify.

Jobs for Paul Ryan in 2019

• Writing a monthly column on the Austrian School of Economics for Guns and Ammo magazine.
• Chief ethics officer for Wells Fargo bank.
• Head of emissions testing for Volkswagen.
• Senior advisor on the theology of Ayn Rand to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

More Stories I Never Started Reading*

Hard of hearing? Pornhub Now Provides Audio Description for its Adult Films

The porn streaming site's latest initiative aims to give the visually impaired a helping hand by offering professional narration to accompany its most popular videos. https://www.cnet.com/news/pornhub-now-provides-audio-description-for-its-adult-films/

 Can Google Automate Your Break-Up?

Popular Science - http://www.popsci.com/can-google-smart-reply-handle-your-break-up

*Inspired by The New Yorker’s “Stories We Never Finished Reading”

More Google Translate Fun

Sometimes I read Bulgarian easily and sometimes I struggle. When the worst happens, Google Translate is always good for a laugh.

• The original:  Едно от най-разпространените оплаквания на руските туристи с деца на почивка в Черна гора е невъзможността да се хапне без пушачи на съседните маси.
• Google Translate's Version:  One of the most widespread complaints of Russian tourists with children on holiday in Montenegro is the inability to eat non-smokers at the neighboring masses.*

Seems kind of harsh, don't you think? I mean, shouldn't the Russian tourists warn the non-smokers before letting their children eat them? Also, non-smokers have a notoriously bland taste...shouldn't the kids get some hot sauce? And what kind of masses are these? Is this some kind of heretical ritual? Is  Roald Dahl the premier of Montenegro? 

* As you've already guessed, the correct translation is "the inability to eat without smokers at neighboring tables."

Technology's Breakthrough Thursday?

Three apparently amazing developments appeared in the science news on April 6, 2017. In reading these remember the key words “15” and “%.” That’s how much I understand on average of the science I read. Still, these articles seem very clear.

Double The Capacity from Solar Cells

The use of solar energy has been held back because of the low efficiency of solar cells. The best panels return only about a third of the sun’s energy as electricity and most are far below that. The low efficiency means that you need a lot of surface area to get a usable amount of electricity, and that’s not feasible in a lot of cases.

Four Months Without News (and counting)

Not exactly bliss, but…

At the beginning of March, 2017 I’d gone a full four months without reading any news.

I’ve discovered ignorance is easy; a little more of it and I might become a Republican. By default, not by choice of course.

My biggest problem has been the technology sites. For some reason, they can’t seem to let the political stuff alone. For example, the fact that Dumb Donald uses twitter seems to be reason enough to report on his electronic drool.

It’s On You, Bishop

As tens of millions of Americans prepare to face a bleak future with no health insurance, the nation's Catholic Bishops will speak out in opposition, bemoaning the pain and suffering to come.

Crocodile tears.

No group is more responsible for the unfolding moral disaster than these bishops.

America’s Catholic bishops have consistently valued the unborn over the living. And they’ve consistently ignored the deeply immoral character of the political party that supports their crusade against abortion.

The inevitability of moral priorities doesn’t mean that there can’t be multiple things out in front. The Church could say, strongly and firmly, that opposing abortion doesn’t provide a free pass to ignore basic morality. It could, but it doesn’t.

The bishops are wishy washy on basic human rights, vague on murder (capital punishment), and more. They only speak with ferocity when the issue is abortion.

They sanction Catholic politicians who support choice, but say nothing at all about Republican Catholics who speak out strongly in favor of the death penalty and actively seek to deprive the poor of health and dignity.

Every once in a while, a Bishop will get the courage to argue against one of those Republican budgets that savages the poor in order to provide tax cuts for the richest. When that happens, the Speaker of the House or some such leader will respond that this isn’t the Church’s business, this is politics not morality.

And every time the Republicans push back, the Bishop’s voice immediately disappears. The Republicans can do this, Bishop, because they own you.