The Rich, and Concentrations of Power.

The Rich, and Concentrations of Power.

One of my not-SJW but thoroughly liberal family members asked what I thought of the latest net neutrality bit, and I made two points. Both were made by the Rageaholic  in his #NotNeutrality rant: Namely, the internet got along for decades without this current version of net neutrality, and that what we had wasn’t really net neutrality but government control. I added that we used to laugh at the “great firewall of China” and the very concept of the government controlling what was allowable, but…

Read More

Anyone Can Be a Great _________

Anyone Can Be a Great _________

One comment that has come up repeatedly is how the reveal of Rey’s lineage is obviously intended to state “anyone can be a jedi” – reinforced by a scene at the end. Most of them would have even been fine with that as an answer if it had been handled better – there are aspects of Jedi lore that actually support that. It’s lesswhat the answer was, thanhow it was presented, told, and brought to its conclusion, in a way that made even many youtube reviewers who had liked The Force Awakensbothered.…

Read More

Witch Hunts and Sick Cats

Witch Hunts and Sick Cats

Take a close look at both images above – the second courtesy of this open letter at Superversive [http://www.superversivesf.com/2017/12/16/superversive-press-statement-regarding-current-sfwa-leadership/] . Author Jon Del Arroz also has some comments of interest [http://delarroz.com/?p=1873], as Cat Rambo is the president of the SFWA. One missing ingredient to put it all together is the issue of Arthur C. Clarke’s own rumored predilections [http://www.castaliahouse.com/safe-space-as-rape-room-…

Read More

Girl Friday

Girl Friday

Yup Since I can’t compete with Columbians [http://didactsreach.blogspot.com/2017/12/friday-t-customer-satisfaction-edition.html] , we’ll try redheads. Ms Scarlett Madison.…

Read More

Not Neutrality

Not Neutrality

I’d already mentioned the topic once [https://thelastredoubt.com/2017/11/net-neutrality.html] , and here’s another take from the inimitable Rageaholic. I’d forgotten the bit where Netflix started throttling its own throughput. As it is, it’s a damn complicated topic, one where we’re not paying for our data, precisely, where some services disproportionately use bandwidth, where we’ve got a ton of infrastructure that has become obsolete, and where a lot of people are selling, as politicians and…

Read More