Somebody plays fluffer for Amazon Cuomo in The Atlantic today (no link, find it yourself). The journalist does love Amazon Cuomo, and you hippies are stupid for not loving him.
Journalists justify beat sweetners on the grounds that source cultivation leads to genuine scoops later. But really they don't. They lead to "scoops" in the sense of "give it to Maggie before giving it to Peter" but not scoops in the sense of investigative journalism that would not have seen the light of day otherwise. They're good for careers and book deals. They're very good for PR purposes for the subjects. They are not good for informing readers of true things that they would not have otherwise learned.
Sunday, March 03, 2019
Saturday, March 02, 2019
.75 Miles Uphill Both Ways
I'm not interested in picking on this individual for this reason (plenty of other ones!) but I saw a tweet recently from a prominent conservative talking about an emergency need to walk POINT 75 MILES as if this was an accomplishment equivalent to climbing Everest. Also he got a blister.
.75 miles at a lazy pace is <20 minutes (usual caveat that of course I'm talking about people without mobility issues). Why do people hate walking so much? It is bizarre.
My related thought is... how do these people ever travel anywhere? I mean, if you go to major European cities (not just, but this is obvious), being a tourist is basically just walking around.
.75 miles at a lazy pace is <20 minutes (usual caveat that of course I'm talking about people without mobility issues). Why do people hate walking so much? It is bizarre.
My related thought is... how do these people ever travel anywhere? I mean, if you go to major European cities (not just, but this is obvious), being a tourist is basically just walking around.
I Do Love The Changing Seasons
I do. Not gonna claim I love the worst of July or the worst of winter, but I do enjoy the change. Until it's March and it's... still the worst of winter.
Friday, March 01, 2019
Run With The Press Release
Reporting on Musk's activities are often so credulous that it's hard to track down what's actually going on. Big fanfare was made of his Boring Company which was going to revolutionize tunneling. Lots of press reports about the company's first boring machine. These reports almost never made clear that this boring machine wasn't something cooked up by his engineers, but instead an off the shelf machine bought from China. Giving it a fun name (Godot) and a new paint job doesn't change that. The good news is that the second tunneling machine is almost ready.
This report reprints Musk's repeated claim that they "only" spent $10 million to build their first dumb tunnel, but that's just some made up number. It does, however, also remind us that Musk also said "Line-Storm" was almost ready... in October, 2017.
I suppose he'll keep proving his naysayers wrong!
Anyway, for the hundredth time, I don't care about Musk. Mostly this is between him and his customers and shareholders. But every time he dangles some shiny new bullshit in front of an idiot flunky of a mayor like Rahm Emanuel, the cause of building any news sensible transportation is harmed.
Elon Musk said his Boring Co. venture is about a month or so away from unveiling its new tunnel boring machine (TBM), the Line-Storm, according to a post to Musk’s Twitter account.
This report reprints Musk's repeated claim that they "only" spent $10 million to build their first dumb tunnel, but that's just some made up number. It does, however, also remind us that Musk also said "Line-Storm" was almost ready... in October, 2017.
Elon Musk said Wednesday the second machine that will be used to dig tunnels underground for his Boring Company is "almost ready."
I suppose he'll keep proving his naysayers wrong!
Anyway, for the hundredth time, I don't care about Musk. Mostly this is between him and his customers and shareholders. But every time he dangles some shiny new bullshit in front of an idiot flunky of a mayor like Rahm Emanuel, the cause of building any news sensible transportation is harmed.
March
Wow it's Brexit month. I'm so old I remember when all of the details were going to be easily settled by October latest.
It's All So Confusing
I don't believe Pelosi is actually confused.
Rich people get better treatment because they have money, obviously, but I'm also pretty sure insurance companies have large lists of starred "important people" to make sure that nobody with influence ever deals with the bullshit that normal humans do. The bluechecks of hospitalization. No one who has had a standard interaction with our medical system - even with "good' insurance, even one which went relatively well by the standards of these things - could not want to burn it all down.
Rich people get better treatment because they have money, obviously, but I'm also pretty sure insurance companies have large lists of starred "important people" to make sure that nobody with influence ever deals with the bullshit that normal humans do. The bluechecks of hospitalization. No one who has had a standard interaction with our medical system - even with "good' insurance, even one which went relatively well by the standards of these things - could not want to burn it all down.
Sure, Elon
Whatever.
The linked website hilariously believes this shit.
Tesla’s AP options for the Model 3 now state the following, bold emphasis mine:
Full Self-Driving Capability
Navigate on Autopilot: automatic driving from highway on-ramp to off-ramp including interchanges and overtaking slower cars.
Autopark: both parallel and perpendicular spaces.
Summon: your parked car will come find you anywhere in a parking lot. Really.
Coming later this year:
Recognize and respond to traffic lights and stop signs.
Automatic driving on city streets.
The linked website hilariously believes this shit.
Assholes
Yesterday I was walking to the hipster coffee shop a couple of blocks away. While crossing the intersection of a one lane one way street between a small park and the cafe, when I was about 2/3 of the way through, a driver edged through the stop and start blaring his horn at me. He had a stop sign. I was in a crosswalk. I was completely entitled to be there. Not that it should matter in this case (or most cases), but I wasn't listening to headphones or walking while staring at my phone or anything like that. I was walking across the street, in a crosswalk, even stepping off into the intersection before driver had reached his stop sign. There was no ambiguity. But I was in the way, and he was mad, so he started leaning on his horn.
And I live in a residential neighborhood. This is not a major boulevard or through street. While I don't think drivers should feel entitled in anything other than a highway, this wasn't even close to being a car-centric street. It's a residential street with short Philly blocks and 4 way stops or the very occasional light at every intersection. People walk here.
Normally this stuff doesn't annoy me so much, but it was just so extreme, and, frankly, puzzling. Everyone parks and and walks eventually in the city.
And I live in a residential neighborhood. This is not a major boulevard or through street. While I don't think drivers should feel entitled in anything other than a highway, this wasn't even close to being a car-centric street. It's a residential street with short Philly blocks and 4 way stops or the very occasional light at every intersection. People walk here.
Normally this stuff doesn't annoy me so much, but it was just so extreme, and, frankly, puzzling. Everyone parks and and walks eventually in the city.
Sources
Over 2 years in and occasionally (but not always) reporters react to lying by Trumpkins with a bit of outrage, or at least a bit of "THE LYING IS THE STORY." That's when you know those reporters were lied to personally (even if they don't say so explicitly). Yes, Maggie, this is about you, of course.
It isn't unique to this administration. The press corps doesn't mind the lies as long as they are in on them. Sarah Sanders can go lie at the podium as long as afterwards she does a big theatrical "oh woe is me my job is so hard" sigh, and lets reporters in on the game. You know, off the record, I have to lie, it's my job, have you seen my boss, but I'll do my best to let you in on the truth. Spicer didn't know how to do this, but it isn't as if he was more full of shit than Sanders.
The difference with this administration is that the individual lies aren't the issue. The incessant lying is. Most reporters don't know how to cope with that, or don't care to try.
It isn't unique to this administration. The press corps doesn't mind the lies as long as they are in on them. Sarah Sanders can go lie at the podium as long as afterwards she does a big theatrical "oh woe is me my job is so hard" sigh, and lets reporters in on the game. You know, off the record, I have to lie, it's my job, have you seen my boss, but I'll do my best to let you in on the truth. Spicer didn't know how to do this, but it isn't as if he was more full of shit than Sanders.
The difference with this administration is that the individual lies aren't the issue. The incessant lying is. Most reporters don't know how to cope with that, or don't care to try.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Keys To The Universe
Trump's probably too dumb and too busy watching his Foxy Friends talk to him from inside the teevee box to understand that he has access to the Panopticon, but Jared is slightly smarter than he is.
Oh wow Kelly wrote a contemporaneous internal memo. We are led by such heroes.
WASHINGTON — President Trump ordered his chief of staff to grant his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, a top-secret security clearance last year, overruling concerns flagged by intelligence officials and the White House’s top lawyer, four people briefed on the matter said.
Mr. Trump’s decision in May so troubled senior administration officials that at least one, the White House chief of staff at the time, John F. Kelly, wrote a contemporaneous internal memo about how he had been “ordered” to give Mr. Kushner the top-secret clearance.
Oh wow Kelly wrote a contemporaneous internal memo. We are led by such heroes.
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