As Above, So Below

Because the internet doesn't have enough of my ramblings yet. Find me elsewhere at: www.diatribemedia.com www.chicagoist.com twitter.com/aaroncynic

[buildsafe]

Toronto, ON—The War on Cars was expanded today with a cocksure overpass attacking a defenseless tractor-trailer, pinning it to the roadway.

[pohnnyworld]

The last thing you want to see in the sky is an error message, especially now that science is 85 percent sure that The Matrix is real. If we’re all living in a computer simulation, we at least want to know that shit isn’t running on freaking Windows 8.

That is, however, an untouched photo of a real sky and a real tree — if you had been standing in that spot, this is what you’d have seen. The photo was taken in Odessa, Ukraine when a digital billboard malfunctioned, projecting a Windows error into the fog and temporarily convincing who knows how many passing motorists that somebody was going to have to go out into space and reboot God.

[tastefullyoffensive]

Realistic New Year’s Resolutions by Joanna Borns Previously: 10 Little Known Facts

[peredurthefool-deactivated20200]

Ok but ‘gain 5 pounds’ is my actual new years resolution for the…4th year running T_T

[aaroncynic]

Yep, I can do this.

[sodomymcscurvylegs]

Video games don’t have to have good graphics to be good:

Video games don’t have to be about combat to be good:

Video games don’t have to be linear to envelop players in their worlds:

Video game bosses don’t have to be difficult to be fun:

Video games don’t have to lack color simply because they are “post-apocalyptic”:

Video games can have lighthearted art design and still carry deeply dark themes:

Rethink video games.

[revengeance-deactivated20150809]

If you gonna be unfunny on someone else’s post then please don’t reblog it from me. You ruin my brand and I have a family to feed.

[gretchenjaneway]

My friend asked me how many people on tumblr really watch Star Trek on a regular basis.

Reblog for Star Trek.

Ignore for a soul-crushing sense of being alone in the universe.

[its-almost-as-if]

I just sat down and watched Star Trek with my pal TODAY

[aaroncynic]

I'm sure I'll see at least one or two episodes in the next 48 hours.

[tldrwikipedia]

[azspot]

Tim Toles

[aaroncynic]

Not sorry I won't or can't give to the cause.

Writing and covering politics, I pretty much end up on everyone's campaign fundraising list during election season. No one ever asks, one day I simply just get a new email that sounds similar to every other email screaming about how if no one donates money now the Koch brothers will own us forever or just a little more dough will make a huge difference to the campaign and "don't you want to see real change in (insert city/state/country)?"

Sorry guys, just because I covered the time you showed up to a march somewhere or said something mildly interesting that had more substance than a 20 second talking point once doesn't mean I want to open my barren wallet and give you the dust, lint and crumpled business cards inside. Forget about money, I'd much rather eat tonight and your fundraising dinner with the bag boiled vegetables and bland chicken is worth less than the frozen pizza in the back of the ice cabinet at the liquor store.

With that in mind, here's a piece that hits the nail on the head.

"If Democrats acted like Democrats, they might enjoy the same level of support from their own base...but instead, the people are presented with this eternally timid "Please Don't Hurt Me" coalition, afraid of the word "Liberal," and certainly addicted to the Wall Street/Defense/Petroleum money swelling their coffers. You ain't broke, despite that barrage of emails to the contrary.

You support fracking while giving lip-service to climate change? You want Keystone XL approved, despite the fact that it will run the world's dirtiest fuel through our breadbasket and over our main aquifer in a pipeline that is dead-bang guaranteed to leak? You endorse the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement? You're satisfied with the barren lack of accounting meted to the Wall Street brigands who stole our future? You're down with a third war in Iraq?

Wait, you don't support all that? But you won't stand against it, because you're afraid of losing votes or campaign money?

My heroes."

Read the full thing over at Truthout.

[aaroncynic]

The College National Republican Committee released an ad this week aimed at six state gubernatorial elections (including mine - Illinois) aimed at women in the way that only republicans apparently know how - through stereotypes. While the CNRC's President Alex Smith (the first woman elected to that position) says the campaign is a way to target voters "in a culturally relevant way," the campaign reinforces a bevvy of gendered and sexist ideas, which I suppose is par for the course for entirely too many political campaigns in America.

As Chuck at Chicagoist points out: "Apparently, their version of "culturally relevant" means having a token sassy black friend at the fitting, and a mother pooh-poohing "Brittany's" choice in wedding gown. If anything, the CRNC's ad buy has renewed a discussion about traditional gender roles in society—women relate to weddings and are always on the hunt for a husband, so let's make a commercial framing their election choices that way."

The New Republic points out the median age of "yes to the dress" viewers is 44. Sadly, this means we've got at least another generation or so to go where these types of roles are considered "culturally relevant," and probably a hell of a lot longer thanks to their perpetuation across the media and consumer landscape.

Meanwhile, a good pal of mine on another social network did point something worth noting as far as the similarities between voting and weddings:

"Compare voting to picking out a wedding dress?

You mean choosing among several essentially identical options and spending far too much money to attempt to express your personality through how much you can spend on an outward symbol of an anachronistic ritual?

You mean standing around a packed room with a crowd of virtual strangers to perform this curious ritual, all the while knowing that despite all the time and money spent, no one will remember a damned thing about it all in a week?

If that is so, then I can see it for sure."

Funny, but another sad reality of American politics.

[buildsafe]

Berlin, New Jersey—In a shocking ring of events, a donut shop attacked one of its regular customers without provocation today. The victim happened to be an on-duty police officer who promptly arrested the sweets dealer. 

[emildeville]

[aaroncynic]

Hundreds Rally, 50 Arrested During Thursday 'Fight For 15' Strikes

Protesters lined both sides of 87th Street in Chatham, while demonstrators in Cicero staged a sit-in in a busy intersection in front of a cluster of fast food restaurants.

“I believe that whether you’re flipping burgers, working a cash register, or preparing a healthy meal for a senior or person with a disability, people who work hard should earn enough to cover basic necessities and provide for their families.”

[kanyewesticle]

My little brother gets it

[aaroncynic]

Me IRL.

[maisonderriere]

[aaroncynic]

My Generation Sucked Before It Was Cool

Just FYI, the kids have never been alright. Every new generation ruins it for the previous one.

[raniakhalek]

US senator filibusters live coverage of powerful Palestinian testimonies

CSPAN cut from Tariq Abukhdeir’s live, moving testimony of Israeli abuse in Jerusalem to cover Barbara Boxer’s incoherent pro-Israel rant to a mostly empty Senate chamber. (screenshot)

On Friday, fifteen-year-old Tariq Abukhdeir spoke at a hearing on Capitol Hill about the brutal beating he endured at the hands of Israeli police in early July.

The purpose of the hearing was to address Israeli…

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