Conan: blues songs with kids

A rather simple idea yields some of the best work I've seen from late night in a while.

Teh Feelz

This one gets me every. single. time.

Some analysis of global warming trends

... from Bloomberg.  If nothing else it's a great data analysis tool and it's views like this that scientists will be watching closely in the years ahead.

It's fake, we all know it's fake, and why that's bad

An article written in the same over-the-top style it's criticizing, but a lot of the comments here are spot on.  Maybe that's the point.

"Political coverage that ignores actual policy in favor of gauging public perception and election prospects often is called "horse race journalism" for treating politics as a pure competition, the only goal of which is electoral victory. That's a pretty apt descriptor of how this stuff gets covered, except in one respect. The reporters who cover actual horse-racing have the dignity and professional pride not to grant phony import and stature to an early show that sprints out of the gate but has no chance of hanging around to decide the outcome. The reason is pretty simple: They value not making themselves look like craven f--king idiots. Maybe that's why they cover farm animals running in a circle, rather than presidential campaigns."

Short version: giving time and energy to a fake candidate is cynical, empty, and ultimately bad for an honest media that's necessary to facilitate productive elections and thereby a stable government.

Free speech isn't easy

Some interesting thoughts on free speech from Bill Maher.  I'll admit recently falling into the gap on this topic myself.

Movies that could do it better

Two great videos that solidify and underline a lot of disconnected thoughts I've had on digitial effects and the way fighting is portrayed.  I wish they would have mentioned every Borne Identity sequel, which were all a step down from the original.

Some excellent statements on politics from Penn Jillette

What looked like a topical goof turned into something really remarkable and interesting from someone I usually don't associate with insight around a democracy.

Message from before the grave

Robert Smith (of the band The Cure) was responsible for a big piece of my childhood.  I'd always read that he lied his ass off during interviews, constantly claiming that the band was about to break up so no one ever believed what he said.  Although it seemed like a terrific response to the inanity of celebrity, I didn't bother ever encountering him in anything beyond music.  Then by chance I see a remarkably sweet, gentle, and honest interview with someone that's had a huge impact on who I am.

It was a really amazing thing to see something of the root of someone else that built some of me.

Unreal bad political move

State Rep. Bill Chumley loves changing the subject in the middle of a really important conversation.

This just happened so I'm a little light on perspective but I really, really hope this guy resigns fucking immediately.  This notion that John McClane from Die Hard is going to bust through the window and kick some ass is a disturbing and goofy fantasy.  This is a bunch of people facing a gunman in a church.  Different people react different ways to death starring them in the face.  I have no idea how I'd react and I'm have little doubt Bill has no idea either.  Not to mention this is the wrong time to ask that question.  What an ass.

No Vicodin

All my life I've known exactly one person who was addicted to "real" drugs of the class of coke, heroin, etc.  Meanwhile I've known 4 different people with serious (two of them life-threatening) issues around doctor-prescribed opiates.  In the absence of being able to share my own stories, I found this.

A very different kind of "How I Met Your Mother"

Little background: so basically a video series came together 4 years ago where the idea was to do a video series on stories and ideas that parents come up with.  They'd be acted out by some student actors based on the ideas and they'd just see where it went.  Some were funny, some were odd, some were just plain odd

This one (definitely the best) gets you in the feelers.

Organized crime and the police

You might not agree with the conclusions of this article on the Federal investigation of Fergusuon, but it's difficult to hear some of the evidence presented without drawing similar conclusions: a group based on money, a victim group targeted for revenue, and a gang of thugs that maintain the flow.

It's not terribly different from organized crime, which -- interesting note -- is also very racist.  Whether the mafia and Italians or yakuza and Japanese, you can't be a member if you're not genetically "superior" and it's harder to be a victim when you're one of the in-group.

Or a more amusing take.

Entertainment for rent

This article starts with the dumbest of headlines "milenilas don't buy things" and, as almost every article on Milenials takes a little data and makes some tedious "they're totally different" conclusions.  Thankfully here we get to dig further into maybe the deepest of concepts I've seen in a while: the notion around a death of ownership.

I've struggled with ownership as I try to buy MP3s or movies: I'm constantly frustrated I don't have the room, a way to track it, a way to catalog it, etc.  Worse, my tastes change over time and I have a ton of stuff I no longer care about. For example, neither NIN nor the Deftones resonate with me and my efforts to get and catalog all that (formerly) great material is for naught. I have a TON of digital media and it's getting harder to put ANYWHERE. You of course can't sell it, just delete it if you don't care anymore and then only if you've run out of space on your drive.

Companies and consumers are increasingly renting out access to a catalog (Netflix, Spotify) that's much more intelligent and easier to manage. Plus, everyone gets paid where, with my system, sometimes the content makers don't have an easy way to get money for their work.

[Note: an earlier version of this article was obviously rushed and haphazard.  It has since been cleaned up.]

Samantha Bee leaves the Daily Show

Easily my favorite correspondent and the best part of that show.