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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Now For Something Completely Different- Today’s Worthy Long Reads

Now For Something Completely Different- Today’s Worthy Long Reads

by John Cole|  February 6, 20195:16 pm| 32 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links

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I like to read a good bit of non political stuff every day, so I think I might start sharing links of what I have read that I found interesting. Here they are (although some are political):

“Down The Rabbit Hole I Go”: How A Young Woman Followed Two Hackers’ Lies To Her Death

How Hackers and Scammers Break into iCloud-Locked iPhones

Inside Wisconsin’s Disastrous $4.5 Billion Deal With Foxconn

I’m an Abortion Provider and It’s Time To Tell the Truth About Abortion in Later Pregnancy

Behind the Legal Efforts to Keep LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers Safe

How the Grand Canyon Transformed From a ‘Valueless’ Place to a National Park

Oh, for some reason or another I went down one of my google rabbit holes trying to learn the difference between St. Elmo’s Fire and lightning and that got me going into other weird weather phenomenons like moonbows and frost flowers.

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Previous Post: « Russiagate Open Thread: Rubber Meets Road…
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Reader Interactions

32Comments

  1. 1.

    laura

    February 6, 2019 at 5:27 pm

    Needs MOAR animal photos.

  2. 2.

    ruemara

    February 6, 2019 at 5:32 pm

    The Rabbit Hole one was so damned sad. I don’t even understand how she became so enamoured of that pasty dumpling child. She was older, lovely and had plans for her life. Incredibly sad.

  3. 3.

    jl

    February 6, 2019 at 5:37 pm

    @laura: No I don’t think so. This is BJ blog’s big break into being an almost top 10,000 news and analysis links blog.

    I got one. Important twitter thread from Paul Krugman on very bad situation with tax cheating by US corporations. I don’t know enough about twitter to know whether I am posting one tweet or the thread, but look at Krugman’s twitter for the graph that shows extent of US corporate cash hidden in sketchy ‘overseas’ accounts, and comparisons to some other large economies.

    Remember it next time Howard Schultz tells us that we don’t need no corporate governance reform, and big shot people and corporations are taxed enough already, or we are economically genociding the successful people that keep us from living in holes and living off of roots and berries.

    @paulkrugman
    This is very good from the essential Brad Setser, our leading expert on international trade and money flows. Bottom line: the Trump tax cut is a giveaway to corporations that doesn’t promote investment here 1/
    https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/1093271623212457985

    Edit: link goes to the twitter thread.

  4. 4.

    jl

    February 6, 2019 at 5:46 pm

    And being a lib in favor of free speech, going in this direction makes me squeamish, but dayam, Harris is right to make this point. She don’t fool around. She lays it out there very straight and direct, which is why I think she’ll do well in the primaries.

    @KamalaHarris
    Russia was able to influence our election because they figured out that racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and transphobia are America’s Achilles heel. These issues aren’t only civil rights — they’re also a matter of national security. We have to deal with that.
    https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1092938170956693504

    Edit: I do think Harris take is better than complaining about RT or facebook. Things like facebook have big issues that need to be addressed, but straight on as what is sound regulation for internet media platforms (facebook can burp out all it wants that is just a software product, but that is BS).

  5. 5.

    Yutsano

    February 6, 2019 at 5:48 pm

    I read the Foxconn article earlier this morning. Man did Scottie set himself up for a doozy! Any previous look into how Foxconn had treated plant openings in the US prior to the Wisconsin deal would have shown how dumb this was. But Scottie wanted his jerbs! The thing is, now that Foxconn missed their first year of tax breaks, the incentive to build the actual factory is pretty much gone. And Wisconsin loses even more.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    February 6, 2019 at 5:48 pm

    Good a place as any to drop this in (animal story!).

    Pink elephants, move over. There’s a new critter in town, and this time it’s real.

  7. 7.

    debbie

    February 6, 2019 at 5:49 pm

    @Yutsano:

    I await his testimony at a hearing. //

  8. 8.

    different-church-lady

    February 6, 2019 at 5:53 pm

    Oh, for some reason or another I went down one of my google rabbit holes trying to learn the difference between St. Elmo’s Fire and lightning and that got me going into other weird weather phenomenons like moonbows and frost flowers.

    Congratulations! This means you spent some time away from Twitter!

  9. 9.

    laura

    February 6, 2019 at 5:54 pm

    @jl:
    I was just hoping for a Thurston, but thanks for the comeuppance……

  10. 10.

    Yutsano

    February 6, 2019 at 6:00 pm

    @NotMax: Wait…WE’VE BEEN DRAWING ROCKY WRONG THIS WHOLE TIME???

    @debbie: I can’t wait until the massive kickbacks ol’ Scottie got somehow fail to take shape. Now that he’s out of office, Foxcon really doesn’t need him anymore. Spilling the beans as they skip out of Dodge with the money would be gravy.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    February 6, 2019 at 6:02 pm

    @Yutsano

    LOL.

  12. 12.

    Avalune

    February 6, 2019 at 6:09 pm

    @laura: I like my serious news with a little dose of Thurston, or Steve, or Lucy, or Bixby, or any animal really I’m not picky. :D

  13. 13.

    jl

    February 6, 2019 at 6:11 pm

    @laura: Maybe a glowering memorial Tunchpic would be appropriate for the new full service BJ news and analysis links feature. We want extreme gravitas.

  14. 14.

    laura

    February 6, 2019 at 6:15 pm

    @Avalune: Thanks Avalune. Please give your Leto a hug and a love from me. Healing and caregiving is a long hard slog, and so very worth it!

  15. 15.

    danielx

    February 6, 2019 at 6:16 pm

    Something wrong with that Foxconn link…..the others are okay.

  16. 16.

    trollhattan

    February 6, 2019 at 6:19 pm

    @Yutsano: @NotMax:
    Why have they not taken the necessary extra step to demonstrate the girls glow pink and the boys, blue? Seems so basic.

    True story: Friends camped near Zion last spring and the ranger lent them a UV flashlight. Why? To spot scorpions while wandering to the bathrooms after dark. Evidently there were plenty to see, glowing while skittiner about! {scratches Zion off bucket list]

  17. 17.

    Pogonip

    February 6, 2019 at 6:23 pm

    @Yutsano: The pink squirrel is the Rockette. ?

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    February 6, 2019 at 6:24 pm

    @ruemara:

    It was an absolutely classic story about someone getting sucked into an abusive relationship by a sociopath. The only twist was the tech stuff. The only real question is if the two men killed her together or if her boyfriend killed her and his friend only helped with the body disposal.

    These two techbros who create their own reality may be surprised to find out that forensic evidence creates its own reality, too. I’ll be interested to see how the trial goes.

  19. 19.

    Brachiator

    February 6, 2019 at 6:41 pm

    @ruemara:

    The Rabbit Hole one was so damned sad.

    I saw this one earlier. Started to read it and had to stop. Yes, very sad.

  20. 20.

    PhoenixRising

    February 6, 2019 at 6:58 pm

    LGBT migrants: oh my dears, I have some stories. My friend, who attends church*, sucked me into a web of volunteering to help these young ladies continue their journey from the “protective custody” your tax dollars are paying private prison co. to administer near Albuquerque to their sponsors. We’ve created a pleasant group space & provide meals, housing, interpreters, phones, clothing & advocacy through the process of flying to a faraway place (most speak learner to fluent Spanish and a Mayan language; some have never seen an escalator, let alone flown on Southwest).

    They need interpreting, but more than that an empathic person who will hold their hands while politely insisting that 3 different bureaucracies treat each passenger with respect (airline, TSA, immigration all have to touch everyone’s paperwork in a prescribed sequence).

    It’s been a slice. Over the holidays my teenage niece taught me to do eye makeup so I appear to be the kind of middle class white lady who wants to talk to the manager. This has helped TONS with United & American desk staff, no impact on CBP dude cause he’s actually really cool (and also understands that these refugees cannot continue living in a church basement so therefore they need to get on the plane), and not so great with TSA. My wife says this is because I’m all out of charm by the time we get to the taxpayer funded intimate massage.

    Those have been better since I found the educational video, ‘Extra Screening’, that shows a 2 minute version with highlights of what will be groped & why. Anyhow, when I have the energy I’ll post comments or perhaps submit a guest post.

    You can donate to http://www.santafedreamersproject.org/donate-now/ if you want to help us buy undies (no one can donate cause that’s just nasty) and groceries!

    *don’t go to church, unless its the asshole kind where they think being a Christian is about fixing others & helping themselves, it’s the other way around at her church which means anyone is allowed to pitch in with the work, even us heathens

  21. 21.

    Steve in the ATL

    February 6, 2019 at 7:11 pm

    @PhoenixRising: that’s a great cause, but I gave all my money to Jurassic pork!

  22. 22.

    PsiFighter37

    February 6, 2019 at 7:11 pm

    I read the ‘rabbit hole’ article on the way to work, thanks to Cole’s FB page. That was so strange, so sad and inexplicable…and those two bastards are so shifty that they’ll probably find a way to skate. They both sound like they should be locked up in solitary and have the key thrown away.

  23. 23.

    Major Major Major Major

    February 6, 2019 at 7:15 pm

    trying to learn the difference between St. Elmo’s Fire and lightning

    I feel like Netflix would’ve been the right rabbit hole provider for that one… ?

  24. 24.

    trollhattan

    February 6, 2019 at 7:20 pm

    @PsiFighter37:
    Justice in Dutarte’s Philippines seems pretty peculiar but with his overall tuff-on-crime stance I’d be surprised to see these two slide. That poor girl.

  25. 25.

    Mnemosyne

    February 6, 2019 at 7:22 pm

    @PhoenixRising:

    Did I ever mention the time that I got so exasperated with the two (female) TSA agents freaking out about the metal in my knee brace that I just yanked my pants off right in front of them? And then sat there in the cubicle in my underpants until they brought my brace back after x-raying it? Good thing I listened to my mother and wore clean underwear for traveling.

    They were a little taken aback. And, as I had assured them all along, it was just a fucking over the counter knee brace that really didn’t require a freakout. I didn’t yell or get rude, I just took off my pants while they were still debating what to do and handed them the knee brace.

    Of course, I can get away with this stuff because I’m white, middle-aged, and cis.

  26. 26.

    Uncle Cosmo

    February 6, 2019 at 8:43 pm

    O/T, but this weirded me out: I heard some time back about how the cellphone robocallers have learned to supply Caller ID with a fake originating number – customarily one with your own area code & prefix to sucker you into answering thinking it’s one of your neighbors with some urgent news (your car door’s open, your lights are on, your shed is on fire, etc.).

    Over the last 2 days I’ve gotten over a half dozen calls on my landline that Caller ID says are from MY OWN PHONE NUMBER (i.e., the one that’s being called) under MY OWN NAME. I thought to use the Call Block button on my cordless phone but demurred, fearing some sort of infinite loop would keep me from ever getting a call again. Anyhow they seem to have stopped. Wierd! :^D

  27. 27.

    Dev Null

    February 6, 2019 at 8:53 pm

    If you’re going down rabbit holes with lightning – some trick, that! – you might be interested in Greenler’s Rainbows, Halos and Glories (the Oxford comma sadly gone missing) or Minnaert’s classic: The Nature of Light and Color in the Open Air.

    If you’ve already read them, hey … props!

  28. 28.

    Dev Null

    February 6, 2019 at 8:56 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    … they seem to have stopped.

    With a sense of humor like that, you’re bound to go far. /snark

    (er, I’m speaking from experience. Our wireline phone is basically useless.)

  29. 29.

    Another Scott

    February 6, 2019 at 8:57 pm

    Wow, the bomb throwing in the thread upstairs is painful to see. :-(

    I see that John closed the comments. That’s probably for the best.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  30. 30.

    TomatoQueen

    February 6, 2019 at 10:38 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo: Nomorobo, the call blocking service, is especially good at blocking the false local calls.

  31. 31.

    Uncle Cosmo

    February 6, 2019 at 10:58 pm

    @Dev Null: Aha, antecedent issue: The calls that “seem to have stopped” are those allegedly from my own number. I guess whoever it was figgered if I hadn’t taken the bait by now I wouldn’t take it at all. Robocalls from every other corner of the risible multiverse, including “out of area” and “7th polyp of Uranus,” roll merrily along..

    @TomatoQueen: Worth knowing, thanky kindly.

  32. 32.

    Dev Null

    February 7, 2019 at 12:12 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    The calls that “seem to have stopped” are those allegedly from my own number.

    Ah, yes, that should have been clear to me. Instead I thought you meant “purportedly local origination numbers.”

    We have spawn outside the country, whose incoming origination numbers appear as “private” or “caller id unknown” … which means we answer one or two telemarketing calls daily on the chance that spawn might be the caller.

    And a dozen or so incoming calls with origination numbers we neither recognize nor answer. Let them eat cakeleave voicemail!

    We’ve been talking about signing up with nomorobo for at least two years … never seem to get around to it.

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