Category Archives: Brain Bubble
I was thunderstruck — brought to a speechless halt — by a thought I had last night while hanging out with friends and (as required by urgent social custom these days) the talk turned to the candy corn-colored bag of GOP chickens come home to roost.
The thought suddenly that occurred to me: We might actually end up being very grateful for Donald Trump for the very simple reason that Hillary Clinton might well be losing against any reasonable, and sane, GOP candidate!
We might otherwise have been looking at strong odds on a Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio presidency (and, no, poor Jeb! never had a chance; he just doesn’t have the right stuff).
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7 Comments | tags: Anyone But Trump, candy corn, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, election 2016, GOP, Hillary Clinton, HRC, Melania Trump, nationalism, Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette, politicians, psychopath, Republican Party, sociopath, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Brain Bubble, Politics
Last April I finally bought my way into the touchscreen generation when I bought an iPad Air 2. After roughly four months of daily use, I have developed a very definite love-hate relationship with the pad itself as well as with the apps on it.
When I say “love-hate relationship” I don’t mean that in a casual ‘some stuff is good, some stuff not so much’ way. I mean, I really love certain aspects of it and think it’s wonderful, but I’ve come to deeply and very seriously loath a whole lot of others.
And I can’t quite make up my mind which one wins. The final analysis seems to be that I’ll go on using it — for better or worse, it’s a part of my life now. In that sense love won, and I really do love the parts that work for me.
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6 Comments | tags: Apple Corporation, apps, ebooks, fingerprints, gmail, Google Earth, Google+, iPad, keyboards, microfiber cloth, Microsoft Windows, Numbers app, Redshift app, touchscreen, toys, YouTube | posted in Brain Bubble, Computers
In its early days, circa 1990, social media provided a ready platform for fan communities of TV shows and movies. I spent a lot of time in a group devoted to Star Trek. We fans believed the creators were aware of our groups, that they even silently monitored them, but it was very rare that they ever engaged us.
Today the power and allure of social media has broken down the wall. Artists of all stripes use these public platforms to reach, and be reached by, fans. The visible connection between artist and fan has never been stronger.
And as always, there’s a Yang to the Yin…
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Leave a comment | tags: fanatics, fans, Ghostbusters, Harry Potter, infantilization, internet, interweb, Leslie Jones, remakes, sequels, sharing, social media, tyranny of the majority | posted in Brain Bubble, Movies, Society, TV
How is it that I live in a world in which the graph above is real?
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18 Comments | tags: Ani Kokobobo, Anyone But Trump, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, Donald Trump, election 2016, GOP, Hillary Clinton, HRC, Jennifer Rubin, Julian Zelizer, Khizr Khan, Michael Grunwald, politicians, Republican Party, Rosalie Chan, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Brain Bubble, Politics
It has become self-evident that the interweb is a game-changer in human society. It is generally welcomed — rightfully so — as a big step forward in terms of access to information. More crucially, it’s a giant step forward in sharing information, which is what Tim Berners-Lee originally intended.
But, as with any powerful tool, there’s a Yang to the Yin, and something as extraordinarily powerful as the web is bound to have a strong Yang balancing that Yin.
If we consider the web as we know it as beginning in 2001, we’ve had 15 years to study the effects.
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16 Comments | tags: internet, internet communication, internet of shit, internet of things, internet tubes, interweb, messaging, mobile devices, notifications, sharing, smartphones, social media, Tim Berners-Lee, toast | posted in Brain Bubble, Society, The Interweb
There is no question ‘the urge to write is strong in this one’ but these days I’m weary (on many levels) of writing structured blog posts. At the same time, after so many years of writing for presentation, it’s hard to relax one’s own rules enough for a major style change. But it’s what I keep reaching for.
Seeking that, as well as catharsis from a world that has either gone mad, or — at the very least — is driving me mad, I realized, a-ha: Brain Bubbles! While intended for off-the-cuff passing thought posts, many turned out as collections of related (or unrelated!) thought bubbles.
So pop the cork and let the bubbly flow…
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Leave a comment | tags: Anyone But Trump, comment section, democracy, democratic society, Donald Trump, election 2016, GOP, NPR, politicians, Republican Party, social change, social issues, social media, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Brain Bubble, Politics, Society
I can’t believe, with so much Trump-water over the damn dam, that people still support this guy. Not since Creationism has there been such a clear and present example of how disconnected from reality is the thinking of many people. Never in my lifetime have I seen such a frightening example of all I disdain in the human race.
This is thoughtlessness and irrationality, bigotry and brutality, nationalism and populism. It’s childish, selfish, ignorant, and stupid! It boggles my mind.
It’s gotten to the point of basically stunning me into insensibility.
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13 Comments | tags: Antonin Scalia, Anyone But Trump, Bill Clinton, Comedy Central, democracy, Democratic Party, democratic society, Donald Trump, election 2016, FLOTUS, GOP, groupthink, Hillary Clinton, HRC, John Oliver, Josh Earnest, Nancy Reagan, POTUS, President Obama, Republican Party, Samantha Bee, SCOTUS, South Park, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, The Nightly Show, Trevor Noah, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Brain Bubble, Politics
Governments and corporations will choose Friday as the day to release news that makes them uncomfortable. The logic is that people don’t pay attention to the news on Friday because they’re getting ready for the weekend.
Even if people do notice an uncomfortable news item, the hope is the weekend erases it from the 24-hour news cycle. Given our increasingly short memories these days, the logic works.
So I’ve decided to join in with my own info dump!
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2 Comments | tags: commercials, exiting an airplane, exiting an event, Feminism, miscellany, Racisim, re-runs, rectangular, SF Movies, walk it off, wearing a watch | posted in Brain Bubble, TV
After watching more cable news than is actually mentally healthy, I’ve come to a number of conclusions, the most important of which is this.
If I ran for president (and why not, everyone else is), I would run on a single platform that ignores all other issues (such as ISIS, economic disparity, failing infrastructure, racial conflict, immigration, global warming, or even Zika).
My platform: No More TV Prescription Drug Ads!
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7 Comments | tags: commercials, funny, humor, prescription drugs, tv commercials | posted in Brain Bubble, Rant, TV
You may know about the Drake Equation, which is an attempt to quantify the number of intelligent species that evolve in a galaxy. Depending on how you set the parameters, the answer varies from “lots!” to “almost none.” The first answer leads to Fermi’s Paradox: Okay, if there are lots of aliens… where are they? So far we’ve seen no signs (pardon the reference).
If you read science fiction you may also be familiar with the idea of Ancient Alien Ancestors (AAA) who are now long gone leaving only a legend. Sometimes there are The Ancients (now long absent), the current Elder Races (powerful, not always wise, not always kind), and the Younger Races (which Earthlings invariably belong to).
But what if we are those Ancient Ancestors?
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30 Comments | tags: alien contact, alien races, alien vistors, aliens, ancient alien races, ancient aliens, Drake Equation, Fermi Paradox, Rare Earth Hypothesis, science fiction | posted in Brain Bubble, Sci-Fi Saturday
Logos con carne 
BB #50: Blog Bubbles
Seeking that, as well as catharsis from a world that has either gone mad, or — at the very least — is driving me mad, I realized, a-ha: Brain Bubbles! While intended for off-the-cuff passing thought posts, many turned out as collections of related (or unrelated!) thought bubbles.
So pop the cork and let the bubbly flow…
Continue reading
Leave a comment | tags: Anyone But Trump, comment section, democracy, democratic society, Donald Trump, election 2016, GOP, NPR, politicians, Republican Party, social change, social issues, social media, Trump is a loser, Trump is a monster | posted in Brain Bubble, Politics, Society