Today's Internets - "Breakdance has been a very important part of my life." - Nick Offerman

Ron Swanson gets cooler & cooler.

Ex-Atlanta Schools Chief Charged in Cheating Scandal - NYTimes.com: "In the fall of 2010, Ms. Parks, a third-grade teacher at Venetian Hills Elementary School in southwest Atlanta, agreed to become Witness No. 1 for Mr. Hyde, in what would develop into the most widespread public school cheating scandal in memory. Ms. Parks admitted to Mr. Hyde that she was one of seven teachers — nicknamed “the chosen” — who sat in a locked windowless room every afternoon during the week of state testing, raising students’ scores by erasing wrong answers and making them right. She then agreed to wear a hidden electronic wire to school, and for weeks she secretly recorded the conversations of her fellow teachers for Mr. Hyde."

"Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair, or fucking beatings...

 ...The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man. And give some back."

"It's been a long and lonely trip, but I'm glad I took it...

The most important thing that I did was recite my own words at a service, 

Realizing the person I was addressing, 

Probably wasn't looking down from heaven...

It was beautiful, it was brutal, 

It was cruel, it was business as usual.

Heaven.  It was hell.

Used to wonder if I'd live to see twelve.

Don't listen when they tell you that these are your best years, 

Don't let anyone protect your ears, 

It's best that you hear what they don't want you to hear..."

H/T Dedroidify, for that...

1. Technological determinism & defeatism Or, the... • Richard Kadrey's Damn Tumblr: 

"1. Technological determinism & defeatism Or, the cultural belief that technological development and progress is inevitable, and we have to adapt. 

2. Technological solutionism Or, the cultural belief that technology is the best solution to life’s problems. 

3. Quantification imperatives Or, the cultural belief that everything can and should be measured, and that everyday life would be better if all our decisions were based on these data. 

4. Connection & sharing imperatives Or, the cultural belief that everyday life would be better if more information was transmissible and accessible to people. 

5. Convenience & efficiency imperatives Or, the cultural belief that people would be better off if there were more technologies to make daily life more convenient, and common tasks more efficient.

“Five things that make me nervous about Ubiquitous Computing” by Anne Galloway. (via betaknowledge)"

"Marc Maron is sad and draining with his soul sucking jokes." - But in an awesomely funny way.

TSA routinely violates own rules and the law to discriminate against people w/disabilities - Boing Boing: "Sai has "a neurological disorder that causes episodic muteness and muscle spasms" -- basically, he sometimes becomes mute and gets bad shakes. His doctor has advised him to have juice continuously available, and this helps control his condition. TSA rules allow him to bring any amount of juice through a checkpoint. Unfortunately, the TSA doesn't read its own rules. Instead, Sai is detained at checkpoints for endless, illegal questioning and searches of his personal papers, confidential business documents, etc. When he loses the ability to speak, he uses pen and paper to communicate, but the TSA takes the pen and paper away as soon as he cites language from a landmark legal case limiting their power to search him...

...the video of his run-in at SFO is fantastically infuriating. The TSA and its private contractors are vindictive, lawless, brutal. But Sai is an inspiring example of calm under fire, a guy who knows his rights back and forwards, and doesn't let the fact that his physical condition is deteriorating -- you can see his tremors -- make him lose his cool (here's the unedited version, which runs to about an hour)."

Fixing Flat Tires and Relationships: "It’s 2013 and women no longer need to be frankly insulted by offers of being rescued from anything by men. Like a fish needs a bicycle and all that.  I-don’t-really-need-a-man-for-anything-when-I-have-my-vibrator-my-chocolate-and-all-these-adorable-cats. 

So I exaggerate a little..."

Your Fat Has a Brain. Seriously. And It's Trying to Kill You. | Fitness - Health and Fitness Advice | OutsideOnline.com: "Body fat is just an inert layer of blubber, right? If only. New research shows that it's more like a toxic parasite that doesn't want to let go. The good news: if you exercise and eat right, you can force it to."