Listening to some old music on Spotify and some Oasis came on.  Re-read this old article from The Big Issue:

(What’s The Story) Morning Glory: The true story behind the cover

From Slate:  What Happens If Hundreds of Thousands of Puerto Ricans Flee for the Mainland United States?

The upshot:  Puerto Ricans are US citizens and tend to vote Democrat.  They  probably aren’t fans of President Trump at the moment.  This could upset the political balance in places like Florida.  Will Republicans (cynically) offer a big aid package to keep them on the island? Will Democrats (cynically) block a large aid package to try and stack the deck in their favor in future elections?

One of the places I tend to get content is from The Next Platform.  A bit of a silicon / High Performance Computing focus, but very well written.  Lots of good info on emerging architectures, particularly accelerators.  Also exists as a mailing list that arrives weekly.

Two Dark American Truths From Las Vegas

On the certainty of more shootings

An article from the Atlantic.  I am sure much will be written in the coming days.  The same pundits will be on TV repeating the same lines.  I keep thinking of the line from the old song “he can see no reason, because there are no reasons, what reason do you need to be shown?”  Who cares who this person is, or why he did this?  It does not have to be this way, but I am afraid I don’t see the will to change in America today.

Another good thing about this blob is (maybe) otherwise controversial subjects can be discussed without the ‘professional’ commenters getting involved.  I just watched a video on Social Media with two gun rights advocates exercising their rights by walking into a police station, heavily armed and with faces partially covered.

Certainly poor judgement, IMO.  And barring the racial issues (yes, they were white, and no, they didn’t get shot up) it made me consider something that has always bothered me:  Are guns a defensive weapon?

I think part of the problem here is that guns are inherently used on offense, not defense.  If you fear being shot, wear body armor.  It harms no one else and protects you.  Carrying a gun makes you indistinguishable from the people you are trying to defend against, at least from other people’s point of view.

At some point your right to guns bump up against my rights to safety.  Say I had a neighbor afraid of a gasoline shortage.  Is it ok for him to store a few hundred gallons in his garage?  At what points do his fears cross the line and start to encroach on my right to safety?  Or even just my fear of being blown up?  Are his fears more important than anyone else’s? No matter how unrealistic they might seem?  Even if he tells me he has training and knows what he is doing, isn’t this just an accident waiting to happen?

(Update: I happened to write this the day before the mass shooting in Las Vegas (Las Vegas shooting: Stephen Paddock kills over 50 people). It was not meant as a commentary on that event.)

Another place I tend to get content that I may post here is The Exponential View by Azeem Azhar, a techie blog mostly aimed at Artificial Intelligence, but tends to cover lots of ground.  It is a weekly mailing arriving usually on Sunday morning.  This week there is a special issue on China that has lots of articles that look to be worth reading.

An article from this summer, before Hurricane Maria.  Puerto Rico is now essentially run by a small committee appointed by the US president:

Puerto Rico’s Problems Go Way Beyond Its Debt

The new law, PROMESA, staves off a financial emergency, but does little to fix the underlying troubles of the island and its people.

My Alt-Facebook is only a few days old, and I have only told two people about it.  I want to get a week or so of use, just to be sure it does all the things I want it to.  So far it works for me, and I will probably keep this going.  The ‘interaction’ part will probably decide how much time I spend on Facebook.  Some comments (in case anyone else is thinking of going this route):

• I seem to be doing most posting from my desktop.  Definitely not a mobile-friendly, but I might just need to try a bit more.  I remember finding Facebook a bit confusing at first.
• I thought I could load photos directly from Google, but can’t seem to remember how that worked.  (Update:  found it.  There is a menu next to the (+) insert photo button).
• I know a few folks not on Facebook.  This gives them a way to stay in touch without having to sign up for Facebook.
• I like the idea of controlling and owning my content more and more.  I wish I had done this sooner.
• I still go out to Facebook daily to see what other folks are up to.  I am liking the political arguing less and less.  Some things about you I don’t want to know (even from some of my old friends).   I suspect they feel the same way about me.

I keep thinking of what another old friend said when I asked why he wasn’t on Facebook.  He said (I paraphrase) that he didn’t think he had much to contribute to the conversation.  I disagree, since he is probably more thoughtful people I know, but it does make you wonder about you own ‘contribution’.

Anyway, here is a photo of the cats taking an afternoon nap in my bed.

An article in Quartz via Ritholtz’s Reads (I am meta-curating): Brace yourself: the most disruptive phase of globalization is just beginning.  I don’t especially agree with much of this, but it is a good read.  One thing it gets right is that part of the equation for a ‘Free Market’ is free movement of labor.  This is what Globalization (and treaties such as NAFTA) miss.  Capital, jobs and even entire factories can move, but the labor can’t.  The thoughts on telepresence are interesting and bold and something I have never heard even from people who work in telepresence companies.

I check out Ritholtz’s Reads daily.  Some of the best curated articles on-line.  I’ll probably post lots of stuff pulled from here, but mark it and check it out yourself.  There might be things you like that I don’t.  Mostly finance oriented, but really a mix of content.