Rhea and Titan together, taken by Cassini on December 10, 2011, processed by Gordan Ugarkovic
That’s stunning.
How to Write a Strong Beginning
How to Write a Strong Beginning
1. Don’t open before the beginning.
Mystery author William G. Tapley points out, “Starting before the beginning… means loading up your readers with background information they have no reason to care about.” Don’t dump your backstory—however vital to the plot—into your…
For fellow writers. And for me.
Apparently, increasing the minimum wage was not important for American workers during the first five years of Obama’s presidency — least of all his first two years, when Democrats controlled Congress and could have passed anything. (And did!)
No. The minimum wage did not become a pressing concern until an election year in which the public’s hatred of Obamacare is expected to be the central issue.
[…]
The minimum wage is the perfect Democratic issue. It will screw the very people it claims to help, while making Democrats look like saviors of the working class, either by getting them a higher wage or providing them with generous government benefits when they lose their jobs because of the mandatory wage hike.
American workers are suffering as a direct result of the Democrats’ policies on immigration. Republicans might want to point that out.
Since the late 1960s, the Democrats have been dumping about a million low-skilled immigrants on the country every year, driving down wages, especially at the lower end of the spectrum.
According to Harvard economist Jorge Borjas, our immigration policies have reduced American wages by $402 billion a year — while increasing profits for employers by $437 billion a year. (That’s minus what they have to pay to the government in taxes to support their out-of-work former employees. Of course, we’re all forced to share that tax burden.)
–Ann Coulter, Raise the minimum wage to $14 an hour using this one weird trick!
Ann can be visceral and caustic and turn people off, but she hits it out of the park with this one.
[youtube www.youtube.com/watch
What happens when Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, and Conan O'Brien share a Lyft car?
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Spinning tonight: Beck, Morning Phase. The post man must really love me because both this and Nils Frahm’s Spaces arrived today. Brilliant music all around.
Love the perspective on this.
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Awesome X-wing concept art by the equally awesome VFX master-turned-director, Joe Johnston.
I’m a sucker for Star Wars concept art.
Take a sneak peek at TIE fighters, the Ghost starship, and new heroes in this special teaser!
Woohoo!!
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Usagi Yojimbo Tributes by Nat Jones, Antonio Crew, Shane White, Scott West, Craig Thompson, Cameron Stewart & Tim Shinn
Part of the Help the Sakais Benefit Auction, organised in conjunction with CAPS. and included in “The Sakai Project Book”. More info and donation options HERE
Anything Goes
No time for love, Doctor Jones.
Because it’s Indiana Jones, that’s why.
“I love that she’s unapologetically badass. There’s no back-story trying to explain something horrible that happened to her that explains who she is. No, that’s just who she is. She just is this person; no explanation needed. Just like men—when a male character comes on screen and is a badass, you just accept it. And I’m hoping that’s what fans do with Rosa. She is who she is and she just doesn’t give a shit.”- Stephanie Beatriz on her character, Rosa Diaz, in Brooklyn Nine-Nine
I may need to watch this.
One of the few shows I’m actually actively watching, and it’s actually a family show.
Yes, you should watch this. Diverse cast, non-traditional roles, humor from character, not from cliché.
My opinion, of course; YMMV.
I wasn’t sure I was going to make it with this show. The first couple of episodes were very rough. But it seems to have found its groove, and I find myself laughing more as the season has progressed.
And Stephanie’s character is my absolute favorite, followed closely by Andre Braugher’s.
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McQuarrie Monday - Oh man, my dad is going to be so mad I was leading an attack against his base…
Opt out of Dropbox's arbitration clause
Opt out of Dropbox's arbitration clause
If you’re a Dropbox user, you probably got an email in the last few days about an update to their TOS that basically puts all disputes into arbitration rather than litigation.
If you’re like me, you probably glossed over this update because gah, legalese.
Allow me to summarize what it means when a company wants to handle all disputes in arbitration:
No matter what they do (delete your data, privacy breach, overcharging, whatever), you don’t get to sue. Instead, THEY get to choose the arbitrator according to whatever criteria they want, and thus any dispute is decided by someone they’re paying.
Also, you can’t join a class-action suit against them. Which sounds like no big deal, but when a company takes advantage of a bunch of people all in the same small way (incorrectly assessing a service charge, for example), class action is how companies are made to clean up their act en masse, instead of waiting for thousands of people to call them up and demand their $20 back or whatever.
I love Dropbox and use/recommend it enthusiastically. But this is a company that we entrust with some of our most important data- the kind of data we need to have access to wherever we are. Family photos, portfolios, projects representing years of work, etc. And as we’ve seen with Google buying Nest, even if we trust the management team in charge of our data right now, that’s not guaranteed in the future. Founders move on to other things. Companies with great products get acquired. Business decisions get made that change the direction of the company.
The agreement we make with Dropbox is too important to be enforced only by an arbitrator of their choosing. You have 30 days from the date of notification to opt out of the arbitration clause. Do it now.
Fellow Dropbox users, Tiffany does a wonderful job summing things up on this. Follow that link and opt out.
Harold Ramis, Comedic Master
Harold Ramis, 69, died today in Chicago.
Ghostbusters. Animal House. Groundhog Day. Analyze This. Caddyshack. Stripes. National Lampoon’s Vacation.
I can’t. Read his obituary.
So many great comedy moments. Thanks for the laughs, Harold.
What Tom said.