Hard To Do

I'm not even sure how you manage, as a senator, to get that low of a job approval rating, even if a live boy/dead girl is involved. Who even knows who their senator is?

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has a job approval rating of only 18 percent in Arizona, according to a new poll.

A survey from the left-leaning Public Policy Pollin finds 62 percent disapprove of the job the senator is doing. Another 19 percent are not sure.

Your Moment of Zen

People will waste their lives finding meaning in the Trump administration, and transcripts like these, but for an easy hit:

“We have a massive drug problem where kids are becoming addicted to drugs because the drugs are being sold for less money than candy,” Trump said. “I won New Hampshire because New Hampshire is a drug-infested den.”

(ron howard: he didn't win New Hampshire).

Mouse

I've had used an old wonderful microsoft mouse for years. I don't know why it is wonderful. All I know is that any other mouse I try to use gives me carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms in about 5 minutes, and this one does not. Clicking the mouse button is the culprit, but I don't know why this particular mouse button doesn't cause me any problems when literally every other mouse I have tried does.

The problem is that either the cord or connector on the mouse has been going bad for years and on top of that I just dropped it so now the button presses itself randomly. I want a new mouse. I don't want a fancy new mouse. I don't want a weird ergonomic mouse. I don't want a wireless mouse. I want a simple, stupid mouse that doesn't give me carpal tunnel syndrome. Anyone?

I Know It's Swatting Flies

But I have a vague memory of a time when the US/Russia relationship was a bit more troubled.

Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low. You can thank Congress, the same people that can't even give us HCare!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2017

Late Night

Tomorrow is...

It Matters

I'm all for comedy. We gotta laugh at the shitshow. I am not against it in any way!

I am against the weird "OMIGOD WHO WILL SNL GET TO PLAY THE LATEST TRUMP HIRE?!?!?!??!" conversation that happens regularly. In the first place, SNL, at its best, is rarely that good (sometimes!). Second, while we all need to laugh, that the first response is "how can this be funny???" is a weird one.

Also, politics as reality show is how we got Trump. The liberal version actually isn't any different. The West Wing is also how we got Trump.

The funny is good. The funny can be funny! But it isn't a sitcom.

Spend Your Money More Wisely, Zuck

Hillary Clinton didn't hire me. She lost. For TEN MILLION DOLLARS I will tell you how win. Or at least tell you how to pay me TEN MILLION DOLLARS.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have hired Democratic pollster Joel Benenson, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama and the chief strategist to Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential campaign, as a consultant, according to a person familiar with the hire.

Happy Hour Thread

Get your happy on.

Hope I Die Before I Get Old

It occurs to me that, coming full circle, this is the point I have been struggling to make.

Under the white clouds, snow is falling.
You can't see the white clouds, or the snow.
Or the cold, or the white glow of the earth.
A solitary man glides downhill on his skis.
The snow is falling.
It falls until the man disappears back into the
landscape.
My friend Serge, who's one of my oldest friends,
has bought a painting.
It's a canvas about five feet by four.
It represents a man who moves across a space
then disappears.

The All Powerful Left

I have a Ph.D in econonmics. I went through a brief slatebro contrarian phase. Not sure how bad I was but I can't deny the possibility that "Will Saletan has a good point!" was something I said once. I don't always agree with The Left (I forget who their leader is this week), but I long ago realized that punching Left is almost always punching down. Also, if you want people to vote for you, you probably shouldn't punch them, even if they are idiots.

Single Issue Voters

One of the weird myths of politics is that there are "single issuer voters" who only bother to vote if one particular issue excites them. Actually, this isn't a myth. These people exist! The myth is that they are only NRA gun nuts or anti-abortion voters. For some reason democrats like to think their voters - who they acknowledge don't show up in midterms because Bernie tells them not to - are more sophisticated than this.

People vote if they think they have reason to. Pro-choice pro-planned parenthood young women are also single issue voters. Being squishes on the issue doesn't help.

The Problem With Liberals

Is that so many of us think our vaguely compassionate views mean we are practically commies, when in fact we are just humans with a bit of (but not too much) empathy.

And It Isn't Even Fryeday

I don't remember how much this story made an appearance on this sucky blog, but it's hilarious.

McFarland was first arrested on June 30 on charges that he defrauded investors who bought a $1.2 million stake in Fyre Media. Authorities said McFarland provided false documents which inflated Fyre’s revenue. “William McFarland promised a ‘life changing’ music festival but in actuality delivered a disaster,” Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon Kim alleged in a statement at the time. McFarland is currently free on a $300,000 bond.

The plea talks were revealed in a government request for a 30-day delay in the case. McFarland’s counsel, Randall W. Jackson of Boies, Schiller and Flexner LLP, consented to the continuance, according to the filing. Jackson and a spokesman for Kim, Nicholas Biase, declined to comment. McFarland has yet to formally respond to the charges. He could face years in prison if convicted.

Math, How Does It Work?

I'm not against new technology, I'm just skeptical that it's always cheaper and better than what we have. I'm also a bit skeptical about things like this:

After over a year of incremental progress and underwhelming, low-speed tests, the hyperloop is finally starting to show us what it can do. On July 29th, Hyperloop One’s prototype pod accelerated down the length of its 500-meter-long test tube in the Nevada desert, reaching a top speed of 192 mph before gliding to a stop. The company claims it was the fastest hyperloop test yet — which isn’t a tough sell considering Hyperloop One is the only company in the world that we know of with a full-scale hyperloop.

500 meters is .5 kilometers, which is .31 miles. If you traveled 192 mph for the entire length of that (this is not being claimed, of course) you would travel this distance in about 10 seconds. How you accelerate to 192 mph and then brake over this distance...

That aside, capacity is an issue on these things. Cost savings from magic tunneling technology is largely about tiny tunnels and no land assembly costs. Perfectly "normal" high speed trains (not even maglev!) travel at 180MPH and carry many more passengers...

I Sorta Thought Everybody Did This

I guess I didn't really, but I don't think it's cranky old man to say that turning off almost every phone notification is Good. At the very least don't let it vibrate or beep or whatever. The ways that somebody might need to urgently get in touch with me (phone calls, some texts) have their notifications on. Otherwise... I check when I feel like it.

And uninstall facebook messenger. That shit is the devil.

Not Dead Yet

This is the cached version, but it was live for a bit...

...oops, dead now. It was the full Telegraph package about Prince Philip's death.

Morning, Morning, Morning

Republicans Know They're Full Of Shit

I don't know why liberals don't understand this. You can't shame them for inconsistency or hypocrisy because they don't care.

RIP Holly

I never met the guy, but started reading his proto-blogging site when I moved to Philly, back on those days when it was still weird that random people could just do things like review restaurants on the internets.

Actually That's Good

I don't really think anything the Trumpkins is Actually Good, but the idea that we promote democracy, or ever had, is something a 7th grader with a bit of education should laugh at. It is not what we do. It just isn't.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has ordered his department to redefine its mission and issue a new statement of purpose to the world. The draft statements under review right now are similar to the old mission statement, except for one thing — any mention of promoting democracy is being eliminated.

The most you can say is that pretending to do something is good because we at least have to pretend sometimes. Maybe not pretending is better...