The "Grievance Industry"

[paft.livejournal.com]

Many years ago, just after the end of Reagan’s first term, I was listening to a local Talk Radio host, Ronn Owens, doing a sort of “summing up” of the Reagan administration so far. He brought up Reagan’s question, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” and he said, “I gotta tell ya. Yes, I am. And everyone I know is better off too.”

Ronn invited his mostly white, middle-class listeners to weigh in. One after another they lined up to chirp about how well they were doing in Reagan’s America.

Then, he got a black caller, who informed the host, “I’m not better off. I’m not better off at all. In fact, things have gotten worse. And I don’t know one single black American who’s not doing worse.”

“Oh now sir,” Ronn said, with the air of someone calming down a hysteric. “don’t you feel you’re being a little myopic?”

I guess the farsighted, non-myopic approach would have been for the caller and all those other black Americans to think happy thoughts about how well Ronn Owens and the other white folks were doing, rather than focusing on their own petty concerns.

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Brought to you by my ancestors

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of flea markets. Also, why is there no tag for Pillaging?

Friday WTFLOLZ. Those kids dunno shit, duh!

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Give'm an iPod and watch how well they're handling it from day one. But give'm a walkman and watch their bewildered faces as they struggle to figure out what the hell that is, and how it works!

"Oh, a phone... Wait... What is this!?"

Some try to touch-screen the damned thing (or whatever verb you use for sliding your finger across a glassed surface). Others suppose it's a walkie-talkie, a dictophone, a radio or whatever. They have no idea what an audio-cassette is, or how a walkman is supposed to be opened (opened!?) and switched on. The kids' conclusion? "It's too complicated!", as a young girl says. Yes, dear. We oldies feel the same way about your fave smartphones, you can be sure of that!

I'm saying 'oldies' because apparently anyone who can figure out how to use a walkman, indeed, is an oldie, period. Like me and you and everyone else over here!

Watch the cute vid:

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As an extension, see oldies reacting to selfies!

So.......

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

At present in Ukraine, there are two main new developments.

First among them is yet another deal reached where the various outside factions promise hands-off. In this case, Russia stands to make still more significant concessions at the expense of Ukraine, this in spite of the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine by pro-Russian militias, who've been spreading a great amount of chaos in eastern Ukraine. Incidents like these indicate that the people who argued that Russia would not be satisfied to halt at Crimea but would escalate its demands were a bit more accurate than might have been hoped.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/17/pro-russian-militia-killed-storm-ukrainian-military-base

However, the Great Powers, in their collective wisdom, have negotiated a deal where Russia makes still further gains at Ukrainian expense, after incidents like these have led to bloodshed in cities like Donetsk and other parts of the more Russophone areas of Ukraine.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27072351

http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/18/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/

Unfortunately, the new separatists have shown no inclination to accept this proposed deal, and this indicates that rather than calming down, the crisis may well be escalating to a more dangerous phase. And it's pretty clear at this point that Russia is pushing its goals further, which indicates that either Putin is really, really confident, really, really, arrogant or simply that he's unleashed forces that he thought he could control but proved incapable of mastering them.

Friday fun. 10 GIFs that prove NdGT rules the Cosmos

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

In Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Neil DeGrasse Tyson proves that not all TV CGI is inherently cheesy. Throughout the series' first five episodes, he acts as a modern-day Ms. Frizzle - zooming around the galaxy in his "Ship of Imagination," a WALL-E-inspired vehicle that has the magical properties of an upgraded Magic School Bus and serves as an update on Carl Sagan's original "Ship of Imagination." Cosmos will likely soon find its way into the middle school canon, and hopefully the young people of America will find DeGrasse Tyson as charming as I do. Here's the evidence:

In episode one, he actually causes the Big Bang. He creates all the Universe while wearing some really cool sunglasses.



( See more CGI awesomeness )