The Learn to code meme has become mainstream

https://twitter.com/fightc1ub/status/1090513000539275264

Spot the differences

https://imgur.com/nUryfuk

Ah, yes, believe all women. And as a freebie, why the MFM can't help themselves. They're Democrats with by-lines.

https://twitter.com/tedfrank/status/1092442318639108096

I write a column for a local group newsletter and was searching for a quote with which to open my January retrospective when it occurred to me that we have not had a really quotable president since Ronald Reagan. No president since "The Gipper" seems to understand the impact of the spoken word; to appreciate complex thoughts delivered in brief.

The Bushes, both father and son, struggled with English as if it were for them a second language. Although we did get "a thousand points of light" from Bush the elder and "family values don't stop at the Rio Grande" and "the soft bigotry of lower expectations" from Bush the younger, they really didn't leave us with legacy of great quotes.

Clinton tended to ramble off-script in his speeches and seemed to love the sound of his own voice, so his quotability is limited. He did leave a few quotable nuggets, but not as many as you'd expect from a two-term president.

Same with Obama. "The One" had the delivery of a speechifying preacher, but too often failed to find the words that would resonate with an audience of all political stripes. Instead, he left us with too many controversial and partisan quotes. "You didn't build that"comes to mind. He also had a tendency to take partisan shots in impromptu speaking opportunities, often speaking before having the whole story - e.g., "the police acted stupidly."

Trump's normal speaking tone is that of a Brooklyn street thug and, unless you're in Guys and Dolls or West Side Story, that tone fails to electrify an audience. Like Clinton and Obama, he has a tendency to go off-script and try to be "jus' folks" with the voters, giving a rambling stemwinder that ruins any quotability he might have stumbled upon had he chosen brevity in delivering his message.

Perhaps it comes down to speechwriters. Peggy Noonan may have been the last great presidential speechwriter. She wrote Reagan's "Boys of Pointe du Hoc" speech, his Challenger elegy with its "High Flight" references, and his Kennedy tribute. She also wrote Bush's "thousand points of light" speech and coined his "kinder, gentler nation."

Politicians seem to have foregone rhetoric for partisan sniping. Speechwriters are hired less for their ability to craft a message and more for their ability to craft jabs at the opposition. Snark is now the daily tone of politics. And while that can work for holders of lower offices, presidents should aim for something higher, to be above the fray.

Parody. Or is it?

Administrators pointed to instances like the time Jesus said He was the only way to God, the time He claimed He and the Father are "One," and the time He said that He came not to bring peace on earth, but "a sword."

"These statements simply aren't in line with our values of unity and not ever offending anyone," the statement concluded.

https://babylonbee.com/news/gcu-disinvites-jesus-from-campus-for-causing-division

Personally, I don't think it's a bad thing if your mind tends to wander.

For instance, I'll be thinking about Sunday dinner, maybe having lasagna

Squirrel!

Brave, the web browser.

https://brave.com/features/

If you use chrome, you'll probably really like Brave. It's based on the open source chromium code base which ends up in Chrome, but they have added some things like auto ad blockers (tho I added ublock origin). So it feels like Chrome, without all the "Google is looking over your shoulder" creepybits.

So far, I'm a fan. And it tells you pretty starkly how many ads/tracker sites a given site is prepared to unleash upon you. When I unblocked this site, there only about 5 such trackers. Looking at mail.yahoo.com, there was about 80 trackers.

And then web site operators wonder why people resort to ad blockers.

Curious.

https://bigleaguepolitics.com/report-fairfax-accuser-hires-blasey-ford-legal-team-considering-next-steps/

More on the Virginia circus. Instapundit does the job that the MFM won't do.

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/320819/

How deeply has the rot set in to academia, anyway?

How To Identify Yourself as a Diversity Hire

For those who want to be a professor in the USA.

When I think of the great food/drink pairings, I think of wine and cheese. Beer and barbecue. Jagermeister and liver.

Plankton-distilled caviar gin is another question, though.

That ratio, 7800 replies and still going. Oof!

https://twitter.com/bpopken/status/1091374430561939456

Typhus, you say? Wow, California is the place to be, huh?

Did you know that people reject outright the requirements of this law, which requires the screening of immigrants lest they bring disease?

This Race She’s Run for Years Ended Up Saving Her Life

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a26122992/this-race-shes-run-for-years-ended-up-saving-her-life/