I own a clothing consignment store in Moscow, ID.
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The Nuclear War Of Fanciness… *video*

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I love troubled men. And fancy things. I accidentally married an untroubled one, so now I have to make up the difference with fancy things. It’s going pretty well.   However. There was a problem. I would be in New Mexico, when this was auctioned off in Philadelphia. And if you know anything about auctions, […]

The post The Nuclear War Of Fanciness… *video* appeared first on Victoria Elizabeth Barnes.

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austinstorm
2350 days ago
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Moscow, Idaho
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History

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HISTORIANS: We've decided to trim the past down to make things more manageable. Using BCE/CE, would you rather we lose the odd-numbered or even-numbered years?
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austinstorm
2379 days ago
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Someone send this to Jason Kottke and tell him everything's going to be alright.
Moscow, Idaho
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alt_text_bot
2377 days ago
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HISTORIANS: We've decided to trim the past down to make things more manageable. Using BCE/CE, would you rather we lose the odd-numbered or even-numbered years?
alt_text_at_your_service
2379 days ago
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HISTORIANS: We've decided to trim the past down to make things more manageable. Using BCE/CE, would you rather we lose the odd-numbered or even-numbered years?

The official org chart of the US government

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The United States Government Manual is the official handbook of the US federal government. Here is the org chart for our government…take notice of what’s right at the top:

US Govt Org Chart

I’m no constitutional scholar, but that particular document starts off:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I realize the current executive administration doesn’t care and the current majority in the legislative branch barely cares, but remembering exactly who our government works for will be helpful over the next few years. (via @monstro)

Tags: politics   USA
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austinstorm
2821 days ago
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Again, hate Trump. But kottke might've posted this during Obama's "I've got a pen and a phone" moment.
Moscow, Idaho
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Honor and Respect: how to address President Obama and Donald Trump

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Robert Hickey is the deputy director of The Protocol School of Washington, which provides etiquette and protocol training. In his book Honor & Respect, he covers the “correct written and oral forms of address for everyone from local officials to foreign heads of state”. For The President of the United States, the proper forms of address are:

Letter salutation: Dear Mr. President:
Complimentary close: Most respectfully,
Announced: The President of the United States
Introduction: Mr. President, may I present …
Conversation: Mr. President

And contrary to how many media outlets refer to former US Presidents, they should not be referred to as “President” (e.g. “President Bush”):

“While it is common practice in the media and elsewhere to address and identify former presidents as ‘President (Name),’ this is a mistake,” said Hickey. “Serving as President of the United States does not grant one the personal rank of ‘President’ for life. The office of President is a one-person-at-a-time role that a specific individual holds and then hands off to the next person.”

“Courtesies, honors, and special forms of address are symbols of the power of the office. They belong to the office and to the citizens, not former office holders.”

Hickey recommends “The Honorable” as an official title (e.g. “The Honorable Jimmy Carter”) and “Mr./Ms.” for conversation or salutation (e.g. “Mr. Clinton”).

While Donald Trump was officially sworn in as the President on Friday, this site will continue to refer to Trump as “Trump” or “Donald Trump”1 and not as “President Trump”. Again and again, almost to a pathological degree, Trump has demonstrated, in word and deed, that he has not earned and does not deserve our respect and the title of his office. It’s a small protest by a small “media outlet”, perhaps petty, but as long as the First Amendment still applies, I will publish what I like on my own damn website.

And since I am all for the “one-person-at-a-time” rule, this site will also continue to refer to Barack Obama as “President Obama”. He’s earned it many times over.

  1. Or even “Fuckface Von Clownstick”. We don’t stand on ceremony here. But I won’t call him just “Donald”…that would be disrespectful to greater Donalds like Sutherland, Glover, and Duck.

Tags: Barack Obama   Donald Trump   language   politics   Robert Hickey
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austinstorm
2822 days ago
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I have no love for Trump, but Kottke's obsession with him is tedious to say the least.
Moscow, Idaho
2821 days ago
Fascism is often tedious to fight.
austinstorm
2821 days ago
Oh, I didn't realize he was fighting fascism! Carry on, then.
2821 days ago
Fascism: an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.
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satadru
2821 days ago
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Doesn't this apply to other former elected politicians too? You stop being Governor whomever once you leave the office. It isn't a title for life.
New York, NY

A reading list for resistance

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Over at Literary Hub, Emily Temple offers a “reading list for resistance”, a list of 25 Works of Fiction and Poetry for Anger and Action.

Included are The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood:

This is the book women will be whispering about to one another in Trump’s America-an all-too-real vision of our country under a totalitarian theocracy where women are stripped of their rights and kept around only as breeders or servants.

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin:

There was a wall. It did not look important. It was built of uncut rocks roughly mortared. An adult could look right over it, and even a child could climb it. Where it crossed the roadway, instead of having a gate it degenerated into mere geometry, a line, an idea of boundary. But the idea was real.

And of course, George Orwell’s 1984:

To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic…

1984 was my favorite book for a long time — I first read it when I was about 10 years old and reread it every year or two well into my 20s. I haven’t read it in more than 10 years…perhaps it’s time for another go.

Tags: 1984   books   Emily Temple   George Orwell   lists
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austinstorm
2884 days ago
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😂 Poor Jason is still losing his mind over the election. Of course Trump is terrible, but we're not suddenly living in a distopic alternate-universe America.
Moscow, Idaho
qengho
2881 days ago
We* are not suddenly living in a dystopia largely because the election has no enforcement until January.
qengho
2881 days ago
* We=some. Of course, you might live near bigots who suddenly feel emboldened to paint "go back to Foo" on your car or something. Or, We are in the privileged group who doesn't get treated badly.
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sirshannon
2888 days ago
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Required reading, 2017 edition.

Beer

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Mmmm, this is such a positive experience! I feel no social pressure to enjoy it at all!
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austinstorm
3417 days ago
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It took me a loong time to like beer. I'm not fond of the trend of really hoppy beers, and prefer Belgians. I still like craft cocktails better on the whole, but beer is worth acquiring a taste for.
Moscow, Idaho
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13 public comments
llucax
3408 days ago
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Finally somebody else say it!
Berlin
ktgeek
3416 days ago
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Don't like it, don't drink it. It's okay. I don't like most hard liquor. And there are types of beer I don't like, but in general...MMMMMMM beer.
Bartlett, IL
mrobold
3419 days ago
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I once felt as you do. Drink some more...it will go away.
Orange County, California
mdurakovich
3419 days ago
That's not acquired taste, that's Stockholm Syndrome
trparky
3420 days ago
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If you have only drank the mass produced, mass marketed beers and say that you don't like beer, well then... that's your problem. Most mass produced swill is just that, swill. Please pour that back into the sick horse it came out of. If you want good beer, discover micro-brew.
effingunicorns
3420 days ago
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And this is why I prefer fruity drinks. Bite me, social pressure!
markcaudill
3420 days ago
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I really like beer. The learning-to-like-beer phase for me was short. I do think it's kind of silly to keep drinking it if you don't like it though. Why would a grown person spend their money on something they don't like?
Washington, DC
eraycollins
3420 days ago
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This is my recollection from about age fifteen or sixteen years.
tante
3420 days ago
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xkcd on beer (and probably other aquired tastes).
Berlin/Germany
JayM
3420 days ago
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Ha!
Atlanta, GA
pseudomatic
3420 days ago
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Beer tasting bad is a feature. You have to earn the right to be drunk.
jlvanderzwan
3420 days ago
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.
meertn
3420 days ago
Zag laatst in het blog van newsblur dat je geen .-replies meer hoeft achter te laten om anderen te laten commenten :)
jlvanderzwan
3420 days ago
Ah. Nou moet ik dat weer afleren.
ddmf
3420 days ago
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It's not that you don't like beer - it's that you haven't found the beer for you yet...
Dundee
skittone
3419 days ago
Nope. Some of us just don't like beer.
korg250
3419 days ago
@skittone : then don't drink it!
alt_text_bot
3420 days ago
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Mmmm, this is such a positive experience! I feel no social pressure to enjoy it at all!
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