“The major stressors of the twenty-first century—a fragmented media environment, profound demographic shifts, artificial intelligence and other technological advances, economic inequality, centralized power, and climate change—require a fundamental reassessment of U.S. political institutions, civil society ecosystems, and civic norms. If this was not already clear before COVID-19 revealed the strains on the body politic, it [...]
Tag: amused
Blogging cannot exist without the feeling that somewhere, in some way, you are justified
“Instead, the president’s worst impulses were neutralized by three pillars of the unwritten constitution. The first is the customary separation between the president and federal criminal prosecution (even though the Department of Justice is part of the executive branch). The second is the traditional political neutrality of the military (even though the president is the [...]
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go in cyberspace
Zits, 24 November 2020 Zits, 25 November 2020 Zits, 26 November 2020 Pibgorn, 13 December 2003 The accordion in 21st century syndicated comics. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “The first phase of the project, located at the intersection of State Street and Zonal Avenue, will be comprised of: “a 96-bed recuperative care center intended to provide interim shelter [...]
Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
Mary Wollstonecraft finally honoured with statue after 200 years, by Mark Brown, Guardian, 09 November 2020 ‘Insulting to her’: Mary Wollstonecraft sculpture sparks backlash, by Alexandrea Topping, Guardian, 10 Novemeber 2020 Huh. I thought I didn’t like it due to a personal failing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Virginia Woolf statue fundraiser flooded with donations after Wollstonecraft controversy, by [...]
The Blogining Returns
LA Diary: This Dance Major Watched Graduation On The Couch, But She’s Staying On Her Toes, by Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, LAist, 29 May 2020 Atta Girl! Not that this young woman needs an Atta Girl from me, but by God she’s getting an ATTA GIRL! from me. “Association rips up template for prestigious annual awards after [...]
You better slow that blogging down
“The big adult fiction title of this past fall was Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. The sequel to the author’s 1985 bestseller The Handmaid’s Tale was unveiled with a 500,000-copy first printing. At the time, The Handmaid’s Tale was benefiting from a surge of interest in its wildly popular TV adaptation on Hulu, and from a [...]
Tour de Cybor
“Behind the scenes a local group is hoping to buy the 183-year-old newspaper in an attempt to free the Sun from further downsizing and cement its future. The Baltimore Sun is owned by Tribune Publishing. Alden Global Capital, a New York-based hedge fund infamous for purchasing, then gutting, newspapers across the US, owns a 32% [...]
Cyberspace is a profound pleasure
“The popular conception of Jerry Brown’s spirituality was formed in the 1970s, and was realized in the nickname, Moonbeam. It’s an unfair nickname, I think. It was also the wrong time to take the full measure of him. He was 38 years old, and he’s lived a whole political lifetime since then. His search for [...]
On reading the internets
“The pandemic has prompted some affluent Americans to wonder whether cities are broken for them, too. It has suspended the charms of urban life while accentuating the risks, reviving an hoary American tradition of regarding cities with fear and loathing — as cesspools of disease, an image that all too easily aligns with prejudices about [...]
Cybertopia
“As the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic forced schools to close beginning in March, sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt began to cool, leading to a 2.4% drop in revenue, to $189.9 million, for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, compared to last year’s first period, the company reported. The publisher had an operating loss of [...]