Category: General
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Read this insightful piece by Laurie Penny on the link between how we gender so many AIs as female and how our culture views actual human women.
Yeah this is real. The image of a docile female automaton goes back to ETA Hoffmann’s short story Der Sandmann (1816) if not before.
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Look at me. Look me in the eye. On November the 8th, 2016, one of two things will happen: Hillary Clinton will become president, or Donald Trump will become president. These are the only two possibilities. The superdelegates aren’t going to switch. An indictment isn’t coming. There is no third possibility. There is no space between the spaces where you can hide. Every vote for Donald Trump requires two Hilary Clinton votes to overcome. A Hillary Clinton vote can only be overcome by two Donald Trump votes. If you stay home, a Donald Trump vote doubles its power. This is the real, actual reality of the situation. There is not one other option.
And there’s no ctrl-alt-del for the election. Read up on 2000 if you doubt this.
And to those of us who supported Bernie, he WANTS you to vote for Hillary. If you believe in him and his mission you will follow his advice. He knows that writing his name in, or voting for anyone else besides Clinton, is effectively voting for Trump.
Refusing to vote for Hillary is a vote for Trump, no matter how much you scream and say how it’s not. And if you’re standing by to do nothing in regards to taking down Trump, then you ARE grouped along with the rest of the people in this country that ruin things for everybody else.
No, seriously, go read about the presidential election in 2000.
If you weren’t old enough to remember and/or understand the ramifications of the 2000 election, I WILL TELL YOU.
Do not let Trump win. Please. I beg you. I went to grad school with people who voted for Nader in 2000 and my FB feed is full of them begging others not to make the same mistake they did. Bernie has his priorities straight, and the priority is stopping Trump.
And if that doesn’t do it for you, this is the Republican platform 2016. It calls for:
- Conversion therapy for queer kids. Let me repeat that. CONVERSION THERAPY FOR QUEER KIDS. Some members of the RNC even wanted to endorse it more explicitly than they did.
- Zealous opposition to same-sex marriage. Here’s the quote:
- Reversing the Obama administration’s order to grant trans students access to restrooms, locker rooms, etc. The Republicans feel that such things should be based on biological gender, not gender identity.
- Treating internet porn as “a public health crisis.” Quote: “Pornography, with his harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the life of millions. We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and wellbeing[.]”
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Gender discrimination. To quote Time magazine: “[T]he platform committee voted against including the word “gender” in a list of types of discrimination that should be opposed.
On Tuesday, one member described the attempt to add that word to a list including qualities like race, sex and creed as a “sneak attack.”
- Repeal of the Johnson Amendment. The Johnson Amendment currently prevents churches and other tax-exempt organizations from organizing politically, endorsing political candidates, etc. Repealing it would throw separation of church and state out the window…not to mention that it would give evangelical churches and televangelist organizations much more power, driving the country further to the right.
If you vote for Trump, these are some of the planks of the platform you’re voting for.
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(via iamkylersmith)
STEVE CARLSBERRRRRRRRRRRG!
I default to Steve Rogers, so I was really confused, but it makes way more sense with Steve Carlsberg.
Well, we all hate Steve. I mean.
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I want to see a story about spy gadget failures. When the ejector seat goes off at the wrong time in a car chase, and the secret message self-destructs before it’s listened to, and the tear gas talcum powder goes off when the wrong person opens the suitcase.
The garrote wire in the watch comes loose and catches on things. The rocket belt gets bumped in the suitcase and ruins the luggage (and sets off a smoke detector, and ruins some more things, possibly in a fancy hotel). The voice changer sounds like it’s going through puberty.
And honestly, who puts a laser in a wristwatch? That’s a recipe for several different kinds of disasters. The list is endless.
Maybe all this is because of a lack of funding, and a need to use cheap/old devices. Maybe they’re prototypes that haven’t been tested properly. Or maybe they’re just normal technology like in the real world, which doesn’t always behave the way we expect it to!
What if a gadget malfunction somehow results in some kid going through a spy phase getting involved.
Maybe the kid finds the defective gadget and starts trying to use it, only to be found by the bad guys who assume they’re already involved somehow.
Maybe the kid is an inventive genius who can make the gadget work properly again.
Maybe the kid comes across the spy who is injured or stranded because of the faulty gadget.
This could make for a good kids’ story, because of the potential for silliness. On the other hand, it could make an interesting twist in a more serious story, because a grown-up spy wouldn’t want to risk involving children in a dangerous mission, but children can be stubborn (especially around things they’re interested in).
so basically a live-action Inspector Gadget movie.
Not really gadget failures, but the Jonny English films might fit the bill – entertaining because of the ineptness of the user, rather than failure of the tool, but still.
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Aww, our EV’s made some friends… on Flickr.
Aww, our EV’s made some friends…
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We have an apartment!
Of sorts. It’s kind of a studio-garage-partial conversion. It’s 500sq ft of tiny, but it’s our space that we shall unpack some of our stuff into.
Of course, that means that we have fun activities planned for the weekend like “Oh, we’ll need furniture” and “a mattress would be handy!” and “ah, yes, we got rid of the printer before we left” which Kathryn finds very useful for her job.
To be fair, our old printer wouldn’t have worked for her job anyway.
But I have just commenced the massive spending spree that will be us – 6 months from moving – sort of moving in*.
* We move in Thursday! After the EV capable socket gets installed. Wheee.










