Enjoy the Silence cover

An excellent breaks cover of the classic Depeche Mode track from Hybrid.  Love it.

Maybe the worst thing this year

For God's sake, if you're in Miami, never let anyone go into the mental health system there.  This story actually made me almost proud of the barely average mental health services where I am.

Warning: this is on par with some German concentration camp shit.  I am disgusted by every stage of this story: the sadistic guards, the system that ignored the whole thing.  Just unreal.

Unregulated supplements

I'm not one to post about something for the same source over and over again, but another John Oliver bit about dietary gimmicks came up.  I am unfortunately compelled by my conscience to spread this.

On the upside, it's both entertaining and provides all that wonderful righteous indignation that I so enjoy.  Hurray!

Income inequality vs. class warfare

Another excellent John Oliver bit saying what everyone knows is true but nobody wants to admit.

Thinking with Portals

I remember getting chills when I first saw the trailer for the game Portal, considered by many to be a masterpiece of gaming.  Even 7 years later, it still gets me.

Facebook experimenting on users

Facebook wasn't creepy enough, now they've experimented on users.  Obviously the Register has a thorny view of the idea, but that there's zero ethical concern for Facebook makes it that much worse.

I'm so glad I've all but abandoned that service.  Apart from some interesting moves in open computing, I haven't seen anything in years that made me want to start using it for anything but those few stragglers that haven't moved on to something else.

Once again, vaccines are fine

It blew me away when someone I knew actually bought into the vaccine fear thing happening with their kid.  Fortunately, that seemed to get worked out, but it's evidently going to be an issue well into the future, despite loads of evidence otherwise.  Seems like a waste of research money.

Veteran journalist on the news

Very well-written overview of the state of our free press.  I've heard pieces of this but to see it all together really hits home and in a good way.  (Charles Lewis leaves 60 Minutes)

Fantastic please-label-it appeal

I'd read about the Supreme Court case, but this was a wonderful exploration of the background and terrible reasoning behind it.

Ride the snake

One of my all time favorite SNL bits meant to poke fun at the weight loss industry, and one of the few things me and my friends have quoted now for years.

Oddly, there are two versions out there: one with a brief unfunny gag that got cut and this one, which works a whole lot better.

Top pay subsidies

Having seen this effect elsewhere, I was pleased to finally understand why pay for those at the top only ever goes up.

Non-partisan effort to help push money out of politics

I've been looking some way any way even address the idea of getting a Democracy that is not for sale.  I've always been a fan of Lawrence Lessig and really like his idea described in the MayDay kickstarter.

Is the poison the cure?

An admittedly left-leaning look at the death penalty, but probably the best overview I've seen that isn't also terribly depressing.

Excellent statement about basic privacy

From Bill Maher's ongoing "New Rules" bit.  A great summary of why it's still important.