So, I’ll just leave this here.
Category: Geekitude
Monday Links
Y’know, there are weeks I think I should just rename this feature the Monday Reason Links and Other Stuff. Yeah, it’s going to be that kind of week. As long as you count the Volkh Conspiracy (since they’re publishing under the Reason banner).
First, California is killing fast food jobs. This is my surprised face.
Second, on the Free Range Kids front, an article about a mom confused how her kid made friends with another kid she didn’t know. Or, as us Gen X folks used to call it – summer vacation day.
While the Florida legislature was busy playing right-wing social justice this past session, they also decided to play the crony capitalism game with their dealership friends.
I first heard this story over at Borepatch’s place, but now it seems the esteemed Eugene Volkh is asking Amazon some pointed questions about booting a guy off his account and making him unable to use all of his Echoes. This is of some concern due to the fact that Ward Manor’s smart home environment is Echo-based. However, I also have a backup – read “manual” – system if Amazon decides to play silly buggers.
Last Reason article explains that over half of Protestant churches have at least some reliance on armed citizens for their security. While I am not a church-going person, I do want parishioners to be safe in their chosen house of worship. I will always recommend churches, synagogues, mosques, little storefront pagan meeting spaces to discuss and have a security plan. It needs to be more than “call 911 and wait for police.”
Semi-switching gears as we leave Reason territory:
Massad Ayoob has some thoughts on Daniel Perry’s indictment in New York.
Also, Rand has a meta-analysis on studies regarding effectiveness of firearms safety training requirements. TLDR; not enough rigorous studies to make a determination.
And for our light item this week? A new Babylon 5 animated movie is coming out. I should really introduce The Wife to B5.
Monday Links – Lots of Links
Sit back, this is going to be a long one this week.
First, let’s start out with a bunch of Reason links.
Here’s an article on the recent Trump federal indictment.
No, Adam Smith was not a progressive.
Critics of lockdowns were muzzled.
Firing professors for the political views is unconstitutional – left-wing views edition.
SPLC is still overcounting hate groups.
Finally, the Biden administration is still refusing Second Amendment rights to cannabis users.
In other gun news, the deadline for pistol brace owners to submit the proper paperwork or be considered felons as passed. According to The Reload, only a quarter-million did so. In the best case, that’s 250,000 out of 3,000,000 – or about 8%. However, using industry numbers, it’s more like 250,000 out of 40,000,000 – or about 0.6%.
Now that the serious stuff is out of the way, let’s go on to our light items.
First, here’s some teasing that there’s a new Macross animation in the works.
Speaking of Macross, here’s an article that AnimEgo is going to crowdfund a release of the old Macross II anime from the nineties.
From The Brother, we have the top 10 finalists for Illusions of the Year.
Also from The Brother, we have an Ars Technica article about Redditors using Stable Diffusion to create working anime QR codes.
Looking Better
Although, it seems like they advanced his daughter’s age by about a decade. But that’s me nitpicking.
Monday Links
Happy Memorial Day! We’re going to start off with several Reason articles.
First, the face of teachers’ unions during the COVID pandemic only taught for three years, but is expected to get a full pension. I’m of the opinion that if you’re working for the union, the union should be dealing with your benefits.
Next are a couple items on the reshuffling of the political parties. I’ll let the headlines speak for themselves. The left-right spectrum is mostly meaningless and the rise of right-wing progressivism. Just as the labor market is in flux, the political market is similarly in flux. Fun times.
Finally, an article from The Volokh Conspiracy discussing a recent Florida Supreme Court decision that loading and openly carrying a gun on your property is not criminal use of deadly force. Although, if you’re having to face multiple attackers on your property, it may be more prudent to have your weapon already loaded. Or get behind cover to load and wait for the police.
In the vein of self-defense, we have an article from The Hill about a “prank robbery” going horribly wrong when the pranksters came across an armed civilian. And this kind of outcome won’t slow down these kinds of pranks. Because the dumb fucks think it won’t happen to them.
Now for our light items.
I think this is probably vapor-ware, but this Extreme Tech article depicts a “laptop” with six monitors, dual AMD Epyc “Genoa” 96-core CPUs, and 24 DIMM slots for up to 6TB of DDR5 memory. And it weighs 55 lbs. Um, yeah. There’s part of me that wants one in a kind of morbid fascination way.
Finally, we have a Variety article on Weird Al. Because Weird Al.
Monday Links
It’s going to be a little sparse on the ground this week.
First, we have a Reason article about Disney suing DeSantis. Based on statements made and the timing of actions, I think Disney has a decent case. I’m also not liking this populist trend of DeSantis using government power to achieve political ends regardless of civil liberties.
Next, Professor David Yamane has an article in The Hill explaining that Stand Your Ground laws do not give people a license to kill. I agree with a lot of commentators that the consistent repeating of this mantra is misinforming a large segment of the populace – who then rely on that misinformation to inform their actions. When it comes to self-defense, that has life-changing and life-ending consequences.
From The Verge, we have an article that Microsoft is shuttering a large segment of its peripheral business. They’re shifting to “premium” Surface-branded peripherals. Which means I probably need to stock up on some Sculpt keyboards.
The Drive has a profile of an Oregon company that does custom lifts for Subarus. Okay, the idea of lifting the Ward Wagon intrigues me, but the likelihood of me using any off-road capability is minimal.
Finally, Blabbermouth reports that a new Savatage album is coming next year. According to Jon Olivia, this will be the last album for Savatage. Thank you Jon for giving me decades of music.
I Know This Was Supposed to Be Humorous…
But it really does a good job of explaining Macross Valkyrie design up to after Flashback. Which I still really need to sit down and watch. Assuming I can find a decent subbed version.
Monday Links
Of course, we’re going to start with some Reason links.
First an article on the administration’s plan to charge borrowers with high credit scores additional fees to subsidize borrowers with lower credit scores. “Oh, it’s only $40 a month more.” That’s a tank of gas. Also, law of unintended consequences in 3,2,1…
Here’s an article on Fox settling with Dominion for almost $800 million.
DeSantis signed a law no longer requiring unanimous juries for death penalty recommendations. After having read about all the abuses from prosecutors’ offices, I’m no longer in favor of the death penalty, much less lowering the bar.
Also, the FDA head wants the authority to regulate “misinformation.” Oh, yeah, that would never be abused.
This one’s more for the journal-side of this blog. Last week, Floridians were awoken by an accidental emergency alert. Before 5am. The Wife and I were at the gym, but needless to say, there was much uproar. And the contractor responsible was fired.
From ABC, the manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin have been dropped. Rumors are that the weapon was found to be modified and found to be faulty. I’m sure we’ll learn more. It still doesn’t excuse the complete lack of safety protocols on that set.
From Larry Correia is a rant that readers need to get over the hurt inflicted by authors who promised and never delivered. Because there’s a lot of new authors that deserve a chance. As someone who may be one of those new authors, I wholeheartedly agree.
Finally, from Gizmodo is an article on Netflix ending its DVD rental program after a quarter-century. First off, I didn’t know they were still doing that part of their business. On the other hand, it does bring fond memories of the early aughts when I was a master on the quick churn of the red envelopes.
Tab Clearing
Monday Links was pre-empted by history. I still need to clear out some links that I’ve built up.
Let’s start with a few Reason articles.
First, one on the EPA banning the production of gas-powered cars. I’m not a fan of mandates. I know surprise.
Second, a discussion on the benefits of teen employment. I am a fan of young people learning work ethics from their first job. My years managing fast-food showed me the best and worst of employing teens.
Third, a discussion on proportional representation. I’m kind of leaning more and more to something like this.
From ABCNews comes a story about every gun owners worst nightmare. Police get wrong address, homeowner comes to the door with a gun, and as the article states “chaos ensues.” Homeowner ends up dead.
An article from Android Authority reports that the FBI warns not to use public charging ports. Also, don’t plug your phone into the USB ports in a rideshare or taxi. Just don’t.
An article from Bounding Into Comics about WoTC’s decision to remove half-races from Dungeons and Dragons. On the one hand, it invalidates decades of lore and characters (both in the novels and players’ favorite characters). On the other hand, it would be more in line with actual biology – unless orcs and elves are some form of human. On the gripping hand, the stated reason for the change is fucking bullshit.
Finally, an article about finding the original recording of the Wilhelm scream. H/t to FB friend Rob Reed.
August Release, Huh?
The thing that helps any Star Wars project is a cohesive vision. That’s what plagued the sequel movies. There was no cohesive vision for the story. Those were just money grabs with directors who didn’t understand or didn’t care about the universe.
The television shows haven’t suffered from this. Including the animated shows. So, I’m glad to see this.