The Perfect Metaphor for 2016

Nothing that I could possibly write about Brexit or US politics or Venezuela or anything else (and all related mass hysteria on social media)  could be better than this image as a metaphor for the entire kit and kaboodle:

#Flood water pushes a burning #home down a creek in #WestVirginia. #wvwx
🎬 Amanda Carper pic.twitter.com/zJSMe95nLk

— AMHQ (@AMHQ) June 24, 2016

Movie Review: "Jurassic World" (2015)

LET THEM FIGHT. 

RAWR!  Jurassic World just had the biggest domestic box office opening weekend EVER, and right now it's the hottest thing to smash into the planet since the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.  This movie is the roaring, stomping, jungle-crushing behemoth of the season, and even if it can't recapture the sheer thrilling novelty of the iconic 1993 flick, it will do just fine for a mega-blockbuster popcorn flick for Summer 2015.  Really, how can you lose with Steven Spielberg as producer, the latest in eye-popping special effects, and a Goliath Franken-saur that treats other dinosaurs as chew toys, never mind 20,000 tourists?  

The movie does have its flaws.  Lots of them.  I didn't care.  I pretty much ignored them except for indulging a few eye rolls, because I had sprinted to the theatre for two things and two things only.  I raced there to see (A) Chris Pratt wrangle velociraptors (my all-time favorite dinosaur!), and (B) all kinds of other prehistoric critters wreak ridiculous amounts of bloody havoc by land, sea, and air.  In terms of those two basic requirements, Jurassic World delivered.  Everything else is distraction and detail.  

Laughing All The Way To The Potato Salad

Here's the tale of hilarious Kickstarter hijinks.  Even funnier might be the waves of disapproval from humorless observers and commentators.  Also: why do they keep wanting to tell the guy what to do with the money that he's been given by people willing to give it to him?  It's his money now.  It's none of their freaking business.  Sounding all pietistic and moralistic about it doesn't change that basic fact.

LOL: "Rainbow-Cake Recipe Inspires Comment Apocalypse"

Good grief, people, it's just a cake recipe.

A Win For Internet Privacy in Canada

Want to get my personal info from my Internet provider? Get a warrant, eh!

John Oliver on Net Neutrality

Halloween Humor: Pop Culture Pumpkins!

Praise the gourd!

LOL: Government Shutdown Pick-Up Lines on Twitter

Hey girl.  

Cartoon Commentary: Internet Privacy

September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day

Avast, me hearties!

Great Moments in Research: Academics Launch Fake Social Media Site to Study Chinese Online Censorship

Hey, for once the "Great Moments in Research" tag isn't being used sarcastically.  This is fascinating.

Only Ben Affleck Can Bring This Riven Nation Together

GOOD LORD, PEOPLE.  Warner Brothers announces that it cast Ben Affleck as Batman for the Superman sequel, and the Internet explodes with the rage of a thousand suns.  Apparently Ben Affleck is the only thing that can bring this deeply divided nation together ... by uniting almost everyone in their conviction that This Is The Worst Casting Decision EVAR.

OK, this is kind of funny in a way, but it's also kind of ridiculous.  (Let's look at two explosions of rage about casting, shall we?  Example of the first and the current howling.)  AFFLECK HASN'T EVEN FILMED A SINGLE FRAME AS BATMAN.  EVERYBODY CALM DOWN ALREADY, GEEZ.

I thought Man of Steel with Henry Cavill was pretty good, and as far as I'm concerned, Affleck's well and truly resurrected himself with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and - lest we all forget - Argo. OK, so he's a better director than he is an actor, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  And if I'm wrong, I'll just root for Superman to kick his butt all over Gotham.

But if you want to have fun hating Affleck today, go ahead.  I've linked to an old but still hilarious skit from Jimmy Kimmel.

LOL: Jake Tapper Plays Cupid for Putin

Awww, apparently Putin and his wife are splitting up.  Jake Tapper of CNN has a bit of fun with this on Twitter by soliciting suggestions for a #PutinSinglesAd.  I think my favorite is:

.@jaketapper #PutinSinglesAd As posted on TsarMingle.com: SWM, 60, Autocrat, seeks hot Russian beauties for discreet Soviet Unions.
— FastLaugh (@FastLaugh) June 6, 2013

Nerd News: When College Admissions Essays Go Viral

Do you really want people reading stuff you wrote when you were 17 and clueless?

Headline of the Day: "It's a Crime for 12-Year-Olds to Read The New York Times Online"

Seriously.  Oh, there's a crime here all right. It's called felony stupidity.

Monday Therapy: "Look at That Piercing Scowl!"

Everybody's grumpy on Monday morning, but this Internet celebrity could teach a master class.

Geek News: What Happens When Authorities Don't Understand Technology?

Nothing good, my digital darlings.  Get ready for increasing clashes of the geek culture war.  SOPA/PIPA was just one battle, since Luddite authorities have never let their own ignorance stand in the way of concocting idiotic, heavy-handed "responses" to things they don't understand.  Here's a bit from the linked post:

We've obviously been covering a lot about Aaron Swartz lately, but his case is really just one of many similar cases involving people in positions of authority who simply don't understand basic technology, but feel that something must be illegal because they try to overlay an analog view on a digital world.

Life Imitates the Onion: Kim Jong Un

The Onion. The results of a recent Time magazine reader poll.  (How many of those votes do you think were cast by trolls and other snarky Internet agents provocateurs?)

Internet Cat Culture + International Relations = ?

This.

Geek News: Congress, the UN, and Internet Regulations

For once Congress did something right.