I have no idea what I'm doing

It's a comedy show take on really embarrassing politics but part of me is horrified by the clownishness implied by this analysis.  There's not being diplomatic, there's being uninformed, there's being kind of a dick and then there's this.  Just astonishing.

Something else I watched did make me feel a bit better, if only a little.

Fixing MS Office 2013

I've been really surprised with some of the frustrating updates to Microsoft Office 2013.  I've already had issues with Microsoft Word going way back but this was several additional stages of unpleasant.

PCWorld put out a breakdown on the problems and available cures but one one not mentioned in this list was setting up to auto-save to .doc rather than deal with checking "compatibility mode" on every single save.

Microsoft's insistence on adding pointless additional format updates that don't work with earlier programs helps sell software but doesn't help users.  While Excel and PowerPoint keep getting better, Word hasn't seen any dramatic feature updates (that I've seen) since 2003.  On average I use Word at least an hour a day so I feel like I would have seen something in the past 8 years.  Here's a breakdown on all the compatibility oddities.

Give me your tired, your poor ... or nevermind

Bad news from President Trump.  I can't remember how many times I read an article or heard some argument about how he was actually going to end up being a centrist.  Instead, we have replaced a reasonable immigration policy with xenophobia.

More election views

Various looks at the recent election from a satire track:

• Colbert's Pizzagate
• Electoral Confidence

Other views

• Trump as magician

More academic approaches

• Chomsky
• Cornell West

Political-bizarro land

Never mind the cabinet picks, the business conflicts of interest, and the complete disinterest on uniting an obviously divided country.  Now, aggressive moves to interfere with an election are being ignored.  I'd call it exciting if it wasn't so totally insane.

Pain now, pain later?

Two interesting articles that try to address concerns around the (at the time of this writing) president-elect both now and in the future.  Here's hoping this turns some kind of corner.

Rave tragedy

I was heartbroken when I learned about the deaths out in Oakland at a Rave.  Although most people I've spoken to think of raves as embracing drugs and debauchery, I cannot say enough in the other direction.  Raves were instrumental in getting me out into the world, in getting active (this is "dance" music), and finding an identity and a real love of a form of music that's huge outside of the US.

I've both lived through a house fire and spent a fair amount of time in old warehouses that were undoubtedly not up to code.  This pain feels especially close.  My thoughts go out to the victims and their families.

Rise of the demagogue in American elections

Vox presents a look at the current Republican political landscape, the media that feeds on itself, and why it may be out of scope with what the founding fathers established.  Note that this was produced before the election and supposes (wrongly) that Trump would lose, making it that much more pointed.

Most crucial is that this is not the last we'll see if this phenomenon where a small minority of the electorate determines course for everyone else.

Windows 10 problems

Windows remains the dominant laptop operating system so it's important to pay attention when the Kapersky folks give a breakdown on a host of serious issues.  Windows will now uninstall apps, nag you about using Microsoft programs, and quietly replace apps with it's own preferred tools.

I greatly dislike the idea of having to wake up to a different computer every day and as a result will probably be avoiding Microsoft products for the foreseeable future.

The world and the US

In what is a very grim and ugly time here in the states, I was please to see this from Denmark and this from Canada.

Thanks to both of them.

Interesting climate change items

• Great explanation of why we're reacting so poorly: we're not built for this 
• The Pope's views
• The burden of proof problem in the global warming argument

Great desktop background sources

Some desktop backgrounds and sources I enjoyed

• Fantasy
• Dragons
• Nature

Some more amusing items:

• Nick Cage in that machine 
• Fun with David Tennant 

Other Source: hdwallpapersos.com

Bury the Gays and the Fallen Woman

An interesting analysis of the recent trend in popular media surrounding the over-frequent death of gay characters.  The video touches on notions around it's history and why it's a concern, but I found some parallels going back much further with the idea of the Fallen Woman in art and literature.

Translation splits

A fascinating look at all the different biblical translations around what is a fairly simple benign quote from Jesus.  I'd like to see what they were originally translated from to see if that affected the difference.