Monkinetic Weblog

Those who demand individual liberties for themselves, usually only demand individual responsibility for others #uspol

What one president can say and not mean, the next will say and mean, and the next will say and do. Sometimes they are the same president #uspol #authoritarianism

"...acting in the name of society should mean you have an audit log for us to inspect."

https://twitter.com/lmorchard/status/1267581934290386944?s=20

How Western media would cover Minneapolis if it happened in another country

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/29/how-western-media-would-cover-minneapolis-if-it-happened-another-country/

The white girl in the first car waves and smiles - the two black people in the car following are accosted, their vehicle disabled and broken into, and they're dragged into the street - by police. https://twitter.com/elonjames/status/1267462019227279360?s=20

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Our nation is deeply, systematically racist, and no amount of "I'm not like that" changes that. Anti-racism activist Jane Elliott says it perfectly:

"If you, as a white person, would be happy to recieve the same treatment that our black citizens do in this society, please stand."

"Nobody's standing here. That says very plainly that you know what's happening, you know you don't want it for you, I want to know why you're so willing to accept it or allow it to happen to others."

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I'm not standing either, and that makes me deeply ashamed.

It's a Pandemic Monday morning, and beyond all comprehension the US has become even worse over the last week. Trying to stay quiet myself, boost black and POC voices on social media, and otherwise listen.

So far in 2020 I’ve read 30 books #quarantine #covid19

Grandpa: Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...

The Grandson: Doesn't sound too bad. I'll try to stay awake.

(from The Princess Bride of course, but applicable)

I stayed awake! 😂

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Taking time to update my list of books read in 2020 (I’m up to May 22)

http://monkinetic.blog/tag/reading2020

I really enjoyed this whole series. Book 2 finds Kellen - magical outcast from his Jan'tep family - beginning to accept his new status as outlaw and trickster, while learning that there is a whole world outside the insular society he grew up in.

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Calling all blog/CMS nerds: many of our systems have an idea of a "day" worth of content: archives, dialy digests, etc. My question is: what defines the current "day"? Is it from my perspective as the author? The reader's? What about email digests?

I recently learned about MacOS' emoji picker, which you can bring up with Control-Cmd-Space ⌨️. Since modern OSes support Unicode pretty effectively, it has transformed my blog posting! 😂

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Good morning world ☀️

Kellen and his makeshift crew have defeated (most would say survived) a large number of assassins, bounty hunters, unnatural disasters, and his own persistently scheming Jan'tep family.

Now it seems there's a... God out there he's expected to deal with?

The last book in the 6-book Spellslinger series, which has been really fun.

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Good morning world ☀️ ☕️

Working on timezone code for #goldfrog, still the worst

If you had been in my welding shop a while back, you'd have seen a paper sign hanging on the wall that said "Do Not Set Yourself On Fire". A sensible individual might see this as self-evident. I've had reason for reminder.

Today I decided over lunch to pursue a project I've had in mind for a long time, making a hanging bell from an old propane tank. Yes, you -- being a sensible individual -- can see where this heading.

Now, I'm not actually stupid, and this tank has been sitting with the valve open for probably 1.5 years in my side yard, which seemed a long enough time for the tank to be well empty (the foreshadowing is painful, isn't it?)

So I cut off the collar that prevents the valve from being damaged, and -- seeing as the valve is rusted in place -- begin to use an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to remove said valve. Thankfully this task id not come to an early and explosive conclusion, but about halfway through the tank began spewing foul-smelling propane into the shop. I put (read "threw") the grinder down, ran and slammed the mains off at the electrical box, and opened the garage door. Unstrapping the venting tank, I scrambled to get it out front to finish emptying while I tried to convince my heart that I was not, actually, currently, ON FIRE.

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A quick tour of YouTube reveals a few ways to go about emptying the tank properly, most would be easier if I'd left the collar on... back to the drawing board?

God money's not looking for the cure God money's not concerned about the sick among the pure

-- Head like a Hole #covid19

Good morning sports fans ☀️