This one had been bouncing around a while, but the following article [http://archive.is/0QPmP] caused me to finally say something about it: > The term “at-risk youth” was commonly used in both penal and education codes in California – until now. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that went into effect on Jan. 1 that officially wiped the phrase from the state’s language. The phrase will now be replaced by “at-promise youth.” Assemblymember Byron Jones-Sawyer (D-South Los Angeles), who penned t…
All posts in philosophy
Adam Piggot wrote an excellent writeup on why Duterte is so popular [https://pushingrubberdownhill.com/2020/02/08/all-hail-duterte/] in the Phillipenes. Peter Grant added some excellent commentary [https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2020/02/when-civilized-methods-fail-law-of.html] . From Adam: > I was speaking to one of the Filipinos in a private conversation when he brought up the subject of his president. He was most fulsome in his praise. Under Duterte the streets are now safe. His k…
One expression I have come to loathe is "building your brand", and variants thereof, such as "personal brand." Fuck you. The term you are looking for is reputation. Even in its original context, a brand is [https://infogalactic.com/info/Brand]: > A brand (or marque for car model) is a name, term, design, symbol or other feature that distinguishes one seller's product from those of others.[4] [https://infogalactic.com/info/Brand#cite_note-4] Brands are used in business [https://infogalactic.c…
Sounds like a simple question at first. The good news? I'm not going to go into music theory. Nevertheless, the question is serious. What exactly is a song? Pick up a score, a set of tabs, but it's not a song. Sure, I could learn to read it, and to some extent then, "hear" the music in my head, but it's not the song. Compare the following: Are they the same song? Why not? Sure, the arrangement is different, the singers are different, and in this case, the styles are radically different,…
In his post on Supervillany [https://www.brianniemeier.com/2019/12/supervillainy.html], Brian discusses our ruling elites, Kevin Spacey, and the utter lack of accountability. The whole thing is worth a read but the following jumped out. > Ask most people their opinion of pre-democratic societies, and aside from a few D&D nerds, most will decry the monarchies and aristocracies of yore as tyrannical nightmares. The king and his barons--possibly with some oversight from the Church--made all the im…