WWWendy should be here in about 75 minutes (9:15), and Store to Door should be here in two to two and one half hours. The plan is to get me showered before Store to Door gets here. Let’s hope the day isn’t too hectic. Whether this is today’s only article, or I can publish another is up in the air.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:06 (average 4:59). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From YouTube (Late Show Channel): Samantha Bee Has Committed Grand Theft Auto
It’s fascinating to see Sam on the other side of the mic. On the cars, who would have thunk it! 
RESIST!!
From YouTube (CNN Channel): States blast immigration question for 2020 census
The Republican plan is to undercount Latinos. If a household of six has one undocumented family member the other five will be lost, if they fail to report for fear their relative will be deported. This will suppress the Latino vote. RESIST!!
From NY Times: The whistle-blower Christopher Wylie held a roomful of British lawmakers rapt for three and a half hours on Tuesday, like a pink-haired, nose-ringed oracle sent from the future to explain data.
In testimony to the House of Commons’ select committee on culture, Mr. Wylie, a 28-year-old Canadian, described the inner workings of SCL, a political consultancy that gave its clients access to a vast collection of personal information harvested from Facebook.
In one of the longest sessions in recent memory, Mr. Wylie made a number of jaw-dropping assertions, most significantly that the company’s exploitation of personal data had swung the results of Britain’s 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union. He also suggested that his predecessor at Cambridge Analytica was murdered.
But mostly, Mr. Wylie tried to explain data-mining. He looked like a cerebral skate-rat, which might in other circumstances have undermined his credibility, but in this case it seemed to help. He was polite. He resembled, as one journalist put it, “a patient grandson trying to set up a Skype call with his gran.”
The only way to win with Facebook is not to play. UNPLUG!! RESIST!!
Cartoon:
13 Responses to “Open Thread – 3/28/2018”
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:31 OK, rhetorical question: when did the pine become a tropical tree?
This is not as in depth as I am sure the study was, but it still might be of interest.
Sam – When I was a teenager, I was following every word of the civil rights news and cheering, even when I couldn’t do much for one reason or another. But those who came after me either didn’t care, or thought everything had already been done, and gains were lost. These kids are all right. I love them. It’s the next wave after them that needs to be convinced that everything isn’t already done, there is (always) more work to do. I hope this is do-able.
CNN – Census – I’ve been very worried about this (and still am) … but yes, of course, EVERY state would be opposed to it. There is NO state which doesn’t have some non-citizen residents, and there is also no state that will be willing to lose these people from their count. And yes, of course Latinos are targeted, but it would not just affect Latinos. California may be the obvious one, and may be suing, but others, as the clip says, are already following.
NYT – I’m sure that playing makes the loss bigger … but I’m not convinced one wins just by not playing. I don’t want to go all CT paranoid, but protecting one’s own information seems to me to require a little more effort than just not using “social media.”
Cartoon – Gee, and here I thought that required a gene transplant.
Addendum: After our discussion yesterday about Agent Orange and lawyering, maybe this parody will get a smile or two.
Hilarious!
LMAO!!! If I were a barrister (lawyer), I would not be taking on this client! Let him be his own counsel.
You are so right. The only alternative to moving ahead is falling behind?
LSC: Good video, Love Sam!!! A fellow Catholic high school gal, stealing cars would have been a major detention by the Mother Superior. Poor PR, still makes me ill about the treatment there.
CNN: I hope that more states sue dt’s administration over this. I don’t see my state stepping up to help the cause either. That’s why we need to turn BLUE here!!!
NYT: Will pass on to family and friends too.
Cartoon: I remember when this happened. It also caused the NRC to tighten and heighten its regulatory oversight. All of these changes significantly enhanced U.S. reactor safety. *nrc.gov
It’s pouring here, since 2 a.m. Hope that you have a great rest of your day, take care, and Thanks, Tom.
Stephen Colbert: I think Stephen was just as surprised as we were when Sam ? admitted to grand theft auto; actually admitted to more than one. Luckily she wasn’t caught (I think) and grew out of that phase, as she calls it. What a waste it would have been if her talent had been restricted to entertaining her cell mates only.
CNN: Drumpf was defeated when he had to dissolve his special voter fraud commission, headed and run into the ground by Kris Kobach. Now he and the GOP is trying to do exactly the same with the census: cheat Democrats out of votes and fair representation by the number of people in their state, regardless of legality, just as the Constitution prescribes it. Losing battles over gerrymandering and non-existent voter-fraud has made fearful Republicans turn to the 2020 census to hold on to their seats in state and federal Congress by any means possible. Being able to know exactly where to find those brave illegal immigrants who dared to fill in the census is just an added bonus.
NYT: Wylie also said he still has some damning stuff (proof) in his FB account which he can’t reach any longer because FB blocked his access to it after banning him. We’ll never know if that is true because by the time FB (is forced to) reinstate him, this will all be long gone. His immediate banning from FB when he told them he would go public, makes it very clear that FB has played a very dubious role in this data mining, and probably still is. The fact that it takes them so long to respond to allegations, or even apologise for what happened – while knowing about for nearly two years – can easily construed as needing the time to get their stories straight and come up with good excuses why they allowed this to happen and to ‘prove’ they weren’t involved. So far Zuckerberg’s performance has been far from convincing.
Cartoon: Let’s hope that soon our remnants won’t glow in the dark.
Perhaps. When I was 13, a bunch of us hot-wired a car to go joy-riding. After half a block, we saw a set of headlights that we imagined to be a cop car, so we bailed out of the car and ran for our lives.
Samantha Bee a car thief? Who’d thunk? I’ve been reading the autobiography of Malcolm X, and it’s shocking the things he did as a young man.
CNN: Yet another Trumpian wolf in sheep’s clothing is stalking the populace. Never mind that personal census details are supposed to be sealed for 80 years (so I have read) – a lot of people don’t know that, or believe that, and it will frighten people away from filling out the form. When people don’t respond to census forms, it hurts their communities.
NYT: I have never had a Facebook account, and never will. However, I am concerned about my Care2 account. How do you maintain privacy and anonymity on the Internet? Post as little about yourself as you can. But try explaining THAT to Millennials.
Cartoon: I used to be an supporter of nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. Not any more! Besides, nuclear power relies on a limited source.
Late show: Sam rocks!
CNN: The GOPIGS use reasonable sounding words to support ant and all of their sneak attacks on democracy. That sly little bit of smoke that flit across the face of that fell from Ohio, gives away his satisfaction in “Putting one over.”
NYT: High technology: Be careful about what you wish for…be very careful!
‘Toon: Three Mile Island, not an “Island in the sun,” but one glowing with its very own light.
Puzzle — Too bleary eyed to do it.
Late Show — At least she is not having to do a monologue etc! And good that she did not get caught with the cars since that would have barred her from moving to the US from Canada. Likely there would not be a Full Frontal either.
CNN — And if a person has a working visa (pays US taxes) or green card yet is not a US citizen? What then? This must not be allowed to be put back onto the census. Just because it was on prior to 2010 does not make it right!
NY Times — I do not like FB but I do have an account which does not get used much
Cartoon — Mitch: “Three Mile Island, not an “Island in the sun,” but one glowing with its very own light.” — LOL!!! Well said Mitch!
Thanks all! Hugs!