Treasure Hunting for Aug 11, 2017

[amyvanhym]

Today I'm coming to terms with what a consumer I am. Every morning (read: early afternoon, fuck) I'm chugging my coffee with my nose to the memeosphere. So I'll be honest with myself and collect the best of it. Today's topics: Game of Thrones, science & tech & business, freedom of expression

Game of Thrones

Jon Snow gets to work
Wait for it. (S7E2)

Sam's punishment.
Probably. (S7E3)

When you think you have a chance...
(S7E4)

Jamie Lannister: Oathbreaker
Character study fanvid (up to S7E4)

The cave scene in summary
(S7E4) I will not be linking to any jokes about chalk.

Jon-Danaerys parallels
(Up to S7E4) It rhymes. Though you might be rhyming a little too much if you're repeating several lines ver batim, and doing it in ways that may not suit the context.
Not sure how to take the 'pride' bit. It could be that Dany is ignorant/projecting the way Jon was ignorant/projecting onto Mance. (bonus rhyme)

Jon-Ned parallels
(Up to S6ish) Not that parallels are bad. They work very well when not overly explicit and/or when they can be explained by heredity and tradition.

Eran Mendel's gif for S7E4
He's done lots. I find his shitadel one to be versatile and relatable.

What do we say to the god of death?
A definitive answer.

Science & Tech & Business

Biohackers encode malware in a strand of DNA
'A group of researchers from the University of Washington has shown for the first time that it’s possible to encode malicious software into physical strands of DNA, so that when a gene sequencer analyzes it the resulting data becomes a program that corrupts gene-sequencing software and takes control of the underlying computer.'
My scifi sense is tingling.

Glucosamine supplements don’t help knee or hip arthritis pain
'The analysis [...] found that [...] the supplement had no effect on either hip or knee pain from arthritis.'
I started taking glucosamine recently to treat knee pain that was caused by poor squatting posture due to flat feet and inattention, and after months of babying the knee and still having pain, I seem to be getting better. Could be post hoc, could be legit. Would like to see a study of glucosamine's effect on pain from injury.

LeanIn: Women accomplish amazing things when we support each other.
'When a woman helps another woman, they both benefit. [...] Find ways to advance your female coworkers and push back against gender bias.'
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Sex-based collusion pushes back against gender bias.
Seriously, what is this but an effort to build ideological infiltration cells? Sure, women can accomplish amazing things when we support each other. We can also commit human/civil rights abuses when we support each other. With great empowerment comes great responsibility. But I don't really see much about that second part.

Freedom of expression

Notch (Minecraft guy) got locked out of twitter for 12 hours for saying 'cunt'
Cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt cunt. If you're offended by that just pretend we're Australian.

JBP's interview with James Damore
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. Individualism is stereotyping.
This guy was fired from google for 'perpetuating gender stereotypes.' What he actually did was back up a request for fairer working conditions with valid scientific data.
He's since been offered jobs at Gab (meh) and Wikileaks (woohoo!).

PJW on the insane sweeping hard and soft censorship by Google/Youtube
I didn't expect to ever like PJW, but aside from the Trump fellatio and obnoxious cheerleading he's been hitting them out of the park the last few months.

Goolag #GoogleManifesto sticker
Getting one for my laptop. I'd paint the town in these things if I could afford it.

It would be really nice to see the rug finally get pulled out from under the authoritarians dominating the left. I'm tired of being a refugee. I don't belong on the right. I miss my home. But then, maybe I never really belonged on the left either. Maybe I'm destined to chase the hot potato of liberty from left to right and back again in perpetuity, a nuisance child juggled between quarrelling parents.

Comments

[pockycrusader]

I have been watching the growing divisiveness in various industries with a lot of trepidation, too. The people who have all the money and power want us to be fighting amongst ourselves over small surface differences because it distracts from the heinous things they're doing. I really don't like how it's taking hold in places like libraries (where I would desperately love to find a job), because that's the one place where freedom of thought and expression - even objectionable thoughts and ways of expressing them - should be protected. But, I don't belong to the "fashionable" group, so I just keep my head down and keep my mouth shut lest I lose what little I have.

[amyvanhym]

Without going too far down the rabbit hole, yeah, there's a lot of evidence floating around that all sorts of fighting on all sides of the political divide is astroturfed. It distracts from heinous things and even tricks the people into supporting those heinous things in the name of "fighting the despicable _____."

A couple of my high school friends pursued degrees in library sciences. They didn't exactly come out of school with ideologically neutral mindsets. It's getting popular to believe that there's no such thing as reason, only power. And so, power is used instead of reason by these people, creating a chiling effect that silences all potential opposition whether it's reasonable or not.

[pockycrusader]

Yeah, it used to be that librarians tended not to let their politics influence their job so much (I mean, it's impossible to prevent any influence, but still). Now, if you're "neutral", it's the same as siding with "the enemy".