Happy #YearOfTheHorse from Lichess! May your new year be full of brilliant knight forks.

4-panel comic. (1) [Person 1 approaches Person 2 (with ponytail), sitting at desk with a laptop.] PERSON 1: Do you have an extension cord with prongs at both ends? Can I borrow it? PERSON 2: *NO!!!* (2) [Person 2 throwing up her hands.] PERSON 2: No one should *EVER* buy or make those! They start fires, destroy equipment, and risk electrocuting you or grid workers! PERSON 1: OK, OK, I get it. (3) PERSON 1: Can I just borrow a regular cord, then? PERSON 2: Sure. Here. [Person 2 hands cord to Person 1.] PERSON 1: The prongs aren’t important. I just thought they’d help anchor it to the wall. PERSON 2: Wait, what are you– (4) PERSON 1: I need it to help hold up the top half of the reflector for this plutonium core that I’m– PERSON 2: *AAAAAAAA!!!!* [Person 2 screams with hands on head as Person 1 walks away.]

Double-Pronged Extension Cord

xkcd.com/3198/

This is highly irregular.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting votes itself out of existence The Corporation for Public Broadcasting's directors voted the organization out of business Monday. The private agency, which has distributed federal funding to PBS, NPR and hundreds of local televisio...

Of the very many things the orange man has ruined and destroyed, this one hurts in particular.

SNAP bans on soda, candy and other foods take effect in five states Jan. 1 Americans in five states who get government help paying for groceries will see new limits starting Thursday on soda, candy and other foods they can buy with those benefits.

This does nothing but waste billions of dollars, makes it harder on recipients who already have it hard enough, raises grocery costs for everyone, and burdens SNAP with unnecessary logistics. These are half-assed incompetent measures with no forethought.

Show us your #horseycreations!

AI-powered police body cameras, once taboo, get tested on Canadian city's 'watch list' of faces Police in Edmonton, Canada, have started a pilot project using AI-equipped body cameras to detect faces on a "high risk" watch list.

What's next? Precogs and crime predicting algorithms? Oxygen bills? Thought police?

The only thing worse than AI slop is people claiming legitimate art to be AI generated. It's bad enough it steals from real artists and threatens their jobs, but it undermines the bond between artists and their audience. When the majority of work could be the AI among us, we lose our connection.

Secretive Border Patrol program is detaining US citizens for ‘suspicious’ travel The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.

Targeting motorists without probable cause is wrong and those engaging in it know it's wrong given the lengths they go to in order to disguise their illicit motives.

Ending this shutdown without a healthcare resolution is an absolute disaster. Now instead of starving, we can die from a lack of healthcare. In the words of Eminem:

"If you had one shot or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment would you capture it or just let it slip?"

A continuing resolution should not pass until healthcare is maintained at a minimum. The shutdown brings a lot of suffering, but it will be so much worse if we do not properly address the healthcare cuts. We cannot afford a collapse of our already tenuous healthcare system. The stakes are too high.

I will happily forgo food assistance if it means preventing a healthcare collapse. What's another metaphorical gun to my head?

Food stamps will not be available until the shutdown is over. If you can, donate to your local food bank. They'll need all the help they can get.

Seeds of contempt only bear sour fruit.

The Long Walk is the best film I've seen in a long time. It was a great adaptation of the novel. I highly recommend it. I forgot how well Stephen King is at crafting relationships between characters. What an experience.

YouTube video by TotoVEVO Toto - Hold The Line (Official Video)

Seems apropos.

YouTube video by Rush Geddy and Alex Send a Message to Rush Fans

Yoooooooo

Are we going to live in a society that alienates us, demonizes others, and keeps us in a perpetual cycle of rage and fear? Or are we going to make the choice to be more neighborly, to uplift others, and to promote peace and well-being, especially towards those that are the least like us?

I am loving that the 70s color palette is coming back into fashion. :3

Just when you think that Electronic Arts couldn't get any more fucked up, they get bought by political entities. Fuck that noise.

We are facing some pretty big problems and they may feel insurmountable by any one person, but they are not. Small acts of kindness not only have big impacts on others, but on ourselves. Live by example.

You see it when people can't afford to get healthcare or when they are left out on the streets or when desperation drives someone to violence. The solution is not more walls and police and military. The solution is kindness and inclusivity.

Society is a construct like any other. If you don't maintain it, repair it, pay your bills, etc., it starts to decay little by little.

Instead of looking in the wrong place for causes of autism, why don't we expand SSDI, expand safety net programs, and offer subsidized employment options for people with disabilities so we can get the accommodation that we need to work? The current system is busted and ADA isn't enough.

We shouldn't just be satisfied with Kimmel coming back. Congress should impeach and convict the Chairman of the FCC for malfeasance. We cannot give an inch when it comes to our freedoms. This is about civil liberties that affect everyone, not party politics.

Algorithms control what you see and by extension how you perceive the world. No Matrix necessary. It is a system of control through curated influence.

As social media changes, be very careful in what platforms you allow to have influence over you.

Chess tactic #wk9x2 - Black to play Lichess tactic trainer: Find the best move for black.. Played by 5783 players.

Pretty good calculating puzzle.

Defunding these hurts our economy and can't be undone. The OCO2 will be deorbited (destroyed in the atmosphere) and the continuity of the data will be interrupted (meaning we can't chart changes in data when there is no more data) if they're closed out.

There's no upside to ending this program.

They cost $750m to build and have been in operation for 11 years. They only cost around $16.4m annually to maintain. The value gained from their use far exceeds what they cost to maintain. They give us an advantage in the global economy and can even have national defense applications.