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News Chum – In No Particular Order
Before I work on the writeup from last night’s show, I want to clear out the accumulated news chum links. I don’t have the time to put them in any particular theme or order, but I’ll try to give some idea why I thought they were of interest.
- LA Metro Stations and Parking. Here are the first three Metro stations that will charge for parking. North Hollywood will be in the second batch of statements converted (I’ll edit in a link on that). What’s interesting is how the process will work, with exception tickets when you exit. I predict confusion; they could have gone with a much much simpler system (including using your TAP card to pay for the parking)
- Why Two Spaces after a Period Isn’t Wrong. Yes, it is the second eternal argument: to place one space or two after a period. It is as strong as the .9999999 repeating == 1 argument.
- Bad Reviews are So Fun. Why Gods of Egypt is Like Beast Wars crossed with Bad Internet Porn. You can thank me later.
- Feeding the Pig. Michael Johnathan over at Woodsongs had an excellent blog post called Feeding the Pig, about how arts institutions are destroying the art they claim to want to protect.
- Anthem vs. Express Scripts. Seems there is a nasty fight going on between my health insurer (Athem) and their Prescription Benefit Manager (ExpressScripts). Why do I predict there will be no winners.
- Morning vs Evening People. It seems that if you are not a morning person, you never will be. I’m a morning person. My wife isn’t.
- Why the iPod Matters? Here’s an interesting blog post on why the iPod Classic is important: it was the last of our portable devices that wasn’t tracking our every move and interest, and sending it back to the mother ship. Yet another reason I like my iPod Classic.
- Deciphering LA Parking. There may soon be an app to decipher LA Parking Signs. Could be useful.
- Jews in the News. Two interesting Jewish items. (a) 17 Yemini Jews have escaped civil war for a new life in Israel. Whatever your take on the politics of the Israeli government, Israel still serves a significant purpose as a haven for Jews wherever they are persecuted … and as long as the risk of that persecution exists, Israel is needed. (b) Rabbi Gershom Sizomu has been elected as the first Jewish member of the Ugandan parliament. Rabbi Sizomu is an interesting fellow; he spoke at our congregation a few years ago.
- Taking Things Apart. Meet Liam, the robot who will take apart your iPhone for recycling. Of course, if they made the iPhone easier to repair in the first place, this might not be needed.
- Understanding Donald Trump. An interesting article in HuffPo on the phenomenon that is Donald Trump. The first two paragraphs say it best:We should just call it what it is: Donald Trump is the leader of the White Lives Matter movement. Someone had to start it — they were gettin’ out of control. First, one of them became president and now they’re in the streets protesting every time a Black thug gets shot. They’re gettin’ a little too free.
Then Trump arrived like white supremacy’s version of Santa Claus with a bag full of gifts. He gave them swagger. He gave them unadulterated machismo — Trump is the most macho presidential contender ever. And Trumpy KKKlaus reminded them that a white man who employs good ol’ fashioned white toughness is unstoppable. And everywhere he looks there’s someone to fight. In Trump’s mind, everything in society is aligned against white men — Washington, Mexico, China, Democrats, Black Lives Matter, everything; it’s a total disaster. So little time, so many asses to kick. Entitlement is a powerful drug and Trump’s a big-time dealer.
- Shaking to the Core. Dr. Lucy Jones, our well-known earthquake spokesperson, is retiring from USGS. Who do we turn to now?
- Geography and LA Theatre. Another good article on the uniqueness of the LA Theater Ecosystem, which shows why we are very different from New York.
- Trees and Termites. A tree fell down in UCLA due to termites. Why do I care? The tree in our street median has termites, and there’s little we can do about it. I can’t remove it (city tree), can’t kill it (city tree, get fined), but they won’t come out and take care of it.
- LA’s Record Stores. An article on the nostalgia of LA’s record stores. Alas, they left a number of favorites off the list.
- Thinking About Ketchup. A nice article on a recent Reply All that addressed diversity and Twitter, and why where you store your ketchup is an important question. Well worth listening to.
- No Windows 10. If you are tired of getting nagged to upgrade to Windows 10, you need to read this and follow what it says.
- I Can’t Read You. Old, but always interesting: Why the Wingdings font exists.
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