Every December 7, the US’ ultranationalists make a point of beating the war-drums and waving the bloody shirts. “We must never be surprised again!” they argue. [Read more…]
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All the unbuffered error messages
Every December 7, the US’ ultranationalists make a point of beating the war-drums and waving the bloody shirts. “We must never be surprised again!” they argue. [Read more…]
Adam Curtis’ video “Bitter Lake” has an interesting little aside about some unexpected effects of geo-engineering in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. It raised the water table, which raised salinity closer to the surface of farmlands, which had the result of killing certain crops, but not others.
Since I spend a lot of time on airplanes and sitting in airports, I listen to a variety of podcasts (they work at 10,000 feet!) including the “Stuff You Missed in History Class” podcast.
They did an episode on the Dakota War of 1862, and it’s really really depressing – especially given what’s going on right now at the noDAPL protests/Standing Rock.
White America is at it again, clearing the indigenous peoples from their lands. As I write this, the governor of North Dakota has ordered an “emergency evacuation” because you know, it’s getting cold, and all the protesters had better go where it’s warm so the bulldozers can get back to work in spite of, you know, the cold.
… but “Fuck his highness Vajiralongkorn of Thailand.”
Working in tech as long as I have, I tend to take pre-announcements of “great new thing coming soon” as suspicious. But prerelease teasers are a way of telling what research is being done, and/or is ready to come to market eventually. And a lot of research is being targeted at the police state, because that’s where the money is…
This is something KA9Q posted back in the early 00s, I’m not sure where he got it.
Jose was awesome; he brought in the table with the room-service and explained “I added a few pieces of bread to your order.”
“Thanks! I love carbs with my carbs!*” and he laughed with me as I signed the bill and handed him some cash with it.
tl;dr: make sure you have a good supply of popcorn.
I grew up with revolutions; my father is a historian and his specialty was the evolution of absolutism under Louis XIV and the lead-up French Revolutions that culminated in the big one and the terror.
A recent article in The Guardian describes brutal put-down of protests in Kashmir; the Indian government is “using pellet guns” on civilians and has blinded several. (Trigger warning: guns, violence, political repression)
It’s going to be an interesting 4 years.