dougmasson

Teri_Kanefield, 10 days ago to random

@mattblaze @WhiteCatTamer @godzero

What is the argument for not handing them a copy of the jury instructions?

mathowie, 3 months ago to random

I did not sit through two hours of Red Dawn (1984) in a mall cineplex to have republicans today try and say “Russian aggression is good, actually”
#wolverines

dougmasson, 4 months ago to random

What was mostly interesting about this post is that I wrote it five years before the pandemic:

“Vaccination Debate is a Proxy War about Science and Communal Obligations”

https://www.masson.us/blog/vaccination-debate-is-a-proxy-war-about-science-and-communal-obligations/

dougmasson, 4 months ago to random

Someone asked me for guidance. I sent an email requesting additional details. They responded with four separate emails within five minutes.

It's o.k. to take some time to consider your response. The facilitation of asynchronous communication is one of the strengths of email.

Add sentences one on top of the other. Maybe use some paragraphs. Hell, even edit the thing, so that it forms one coherent response.

dougmasson, 5 months ago to random

Not that anyone asked me, but -- Biden is doing a way better job than we had any right to expect. ARPA, Bipartisan Infrastructure, Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS, avoided the recession everyone said we would have, lower inflation than other Western nations, a reinvigorated NLRB with pro-Labor policies, international diplomacy that helped Ukraine resist Russia despite predictions that Ukraine would be defeated in weeks.

Remarkable. When all I really needed in 2020 was Not Trump.

hbuchel, 5 months ago to random

You know what makes me happy? Looking up something weird like "why does my carrot have a green ring inside" and finding a forum post from like 2010 with a bunch of gardening enthusiasts discussing it. Forums are great. Searchable, readable, text. Still works 13 years later. Wonderful.

dougmasson, 5 months ago to ukteachers

Report: One-Third of Indy Charter Schools Have Closed Since 2001
Amelia Pak-Harvey, writing for Chalkbeat Indiana, has a report indicating that roughly 1/3 of charter schools in Indianapolis have closed since 2001. Indiana accountability standards for charter schools are fairly weak and not coherent or comprehensive.
Pedigo’s school is one of 31 in-person or blended-model charter scho
https://www.masson.us/blog/report-one-third-of-indy-charter-schools-have-closed-since-2001/
#education

dougmasson, 5 months ago to random

The U.S. healthcare system continues to be wildly inefficient and expensive. It sucks up 16% of our GDP compared to 12% in Germany & France (where the public has much better access to affordable care.)

The U.S. is paying for universal healthcare, we’re just not getting it. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/dec/11/medical-debt-healthcare-affordability-inflation

dougmasson, 6 months ago to random

Another good one from Cory Doctorow. "If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing." (Note: not legal advice).

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/08/playstationed/

dougmasson, 6 months ago to general

Thirty Years Ago is a Safe Space
I recently read some discussion about how nostalgia tends to focus on a period about thirty years prior. In the 80s, there was a focus on the 50s; in the 90s, a focus on the 60s; a lot of love for the 90s at the moment. This is not a particularly new idea. I think the most prevalent theory I've seen is that the people who create cultural content become dominant about 30 years after the
https://www.masson.us/blog/thirty-years-ago-is-a-safe-space/
#General

GottaLaff, 7 months ago to random

Yes, another day of posting some decent news only to have people immediately go negative on it.

How about appreciating good news for like 2 seconds, when we get it?

And no, it wasn't just my last post. It's a couple of them already today.

I'm going to start muting people. I'm really sick of the 👎🏼 knee-jerk replies I get.

Teri_Kanefield, 7 months ago to random

Reporter Stephen Neukam confirmed that a "joint" speakership between Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan is currently being floated.

The Constitution provides that "The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers."

In four other places, "the speaker" is singular.

I don't know if "Speaker" can be two people.

I'm not sure how this would work in practice, whether it is even Constitutional, or how it would be challenged.

dougmasson, 7 months ago to random

I just read a history article speculating that Indiana’s demonym “Hoosier” may have come from “Black Henry” Hosier whose name was also sometimes spelled “Hoosier.”

He was an exceptionally gifted orator and Methodist evangelist. But basically calling someone “Hoosier” would have been a racial slur, directed at frontier Methodists who weren’t scrupulous about racial separation and who listened to the preaching of an illiterate black man.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Hosier

dougmasson, 8 months ago to random

"It's like every Big Tech schemer has a folder on their desktop called "Mens Rea" filled with files like "Copy_of_Premeditated_Murder.docx""

Part of a great Cory Doctorow piece on Google's enshittification, revealed through anti-trust proceedings:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/03/not-feeling-lucky/

dougmasson, 8 months ago to Indiana

Steve Buyer Sentenced for Insider Trading
Following up on this July 2022 post concerning former Congressman Steve Buyer being charged with insider trading, former Congressman Buyer has now been sentenced to 22 months in prison for those charges. Buyer left office, ostensibly because of family health issues, but hot on the heels of reports of sketchy financial practices having to do with his "Frontier Foundation.
https://www.masson.us/blog/steve-buyer-sentenced-for-insider-trading/
#HoosierMast #Indiana

dougmasson, 8 months ago to random

On Biden's age. His administration has been successful: Inflation Reduction Act, American Recovery Plan, Bipartisan Infrastructure, CHIPS, the recession that never materialized, less inflation than the rest of the world, a coalition in support of Ukraine, etc. If he's done all that -- hell, even if his staff has done all of that -- in spite of his age, then hats off to everyone involved.

1/2

dougmasson, 8 months ago to Indiana

Nice piece from a Terre Haute reporter on the efforts in Tippecanoe County to improve & develop the Wabash River corridor through Lafayette & West Lafayette. The collaboration between County, Cities, and University has been instrumental.

In addition to the work that has already been done, there have been recent awards of a $6? million state READI grant and a $25 million federal RAISE grant that will add to our trails and bridges.

#HoosierMast #Indiana

https://www.mywabashvalley.com/news/local-news/how-can-developing-the-wabash-riverfront-transform-a-community/

dougmasson, 8 months ago to random

I have mixed feelings about 9/11. I remember being shaken that day. I remember being scared for a friend who worked in Manhattan. I remember being so moved by the gift of cows to the U.S. by the Maasai.

But, I also remember that sense of unity and patriotism being manipulated into the Iraq invasion and other unsavory policies. And I wonder why we should value the deaths of those 3,000 more than other deaths.

Teri_Kanefield, 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago) to random

deleted_by_author

e_urq, 10 months ago to random

A trans girl who was suspended multiple times for using the girls restroom at school finally broke down and used the boys restroom, and was threatened with rape by the boys.

Trans people don't use the bathrooms we use to feel affirmed, it's a decision based on pragmatism and, often, physical safety as well.

https://www.kctv5.com/2023/08/03/lawsuit-trans-student-was-denied-use-girls-restroom-platte-county-high-subject-verbal-harassment/

jamesthomson, 11 months ago to random

Adult life mostly consists of exclaiming “christ, that happened ten years ago!” about a variety of different events until you die.

dougmasson, 1 year ago to random

State Budget: $1.1 Billion in Private School Subsidies; Public School Funding Won’t Keep Up with Inflation

$1.1 billion for vouchers to private schools.

5.1% increase in public education funding over two years -- inflation will likely be more than 2.6% per year.

#education #Indiana #HoosierMast

dougmasson, 1 year ago to random

Just saw a random Facebook comment where the person called “Joe Versus the Volcano” one of the worst movies they’ve ever seen. I haven’t been this bothered by a rando Internet comment in a long time! That movie is fantastic.