open mic

Women face special security challenges online that men do not typically deal with. We get sexually harassed and threatened. We get stalked. We also often engage in habits that can be part of the problem without us recognizing how we put ourselves at risk.My father and exhusband were both career military, so I spent much of my life exposed to ideas like "loose lips sink ships." I also worked in insurance for over five years and got annual information security training as part of my job. Yet, it still took me a lot of years to figure out how to both feel reasonably safe online and largely put a stop to things like harassment.Here are my opinions on some best practices:Stop Being "Gossipy"Men tend to invest their identity in their work. Women tend to invest their identity in their relationships. So, women are more prone than men to telling anecdotes about people. First, you should just do less of this generally. But when you do tell stories, tell them with an eye towa…

I have a long history of promoting inclusive discussion in online forums. I don't actively and intentionally do that very much anymore. There are at least a couple of reasons: It made me a target and ended up benefitting other people at my expense.On at least three occasions, after I got fed up and left, the forum kind of died. So, I felt like a forum killer. One of the primary ways that I promoted civil, inclusive discussion was by defending people that I did not agree with and often did not even like. To be clear, I did not defend their points. I defended them in the face of name calling, personal attacks, being ganged up on, etc.

If you genuinely value civil discourse, then the rules need to apply to everyone, even those people you do not agree with or do not even particularly like. This is not remotely the norm, which is a big part of why the internet is such a shit show.

Most people who talk about wanting the world to be a better place are hypocritical asshats who very mu…

I didn't actually vote in the 2016 elections. I am chronically ill and homeless. I wanted to vote, but I am registered to vote in San Diego and I am far from there. I failed to get my act together enough to vote.

Had I voted, I would have voted for Hillary Clinton. It makes no real difference since I am in California and she won here anyway. So, meh.

Post election, I decided to take a wait-and-see attitude. Actions speak louder than words. I have been watching to see what Trump actually does, instead of listening to people argue their opinions of him.

As I wrote previously, I think so much drama has swirled around Trump in part because he is a political virgin. Whether this ultimately turns out to be for the best is yet to be seen.

We all know career politicians tend to be bad representatives because they fail to take a real stand. They mostly try to be inoffensive.

So far: Trump's cabinet picks have included a fair number of women and at least one African American an…

The UBI is a terrible solution to the problem of automation "taking our jobs." We have been through this once before. We call it The Industrial Revolution. This is just the robotics and computers variation of that. It isn't anything humans haven't dealt with before.

The problem with the idea that robots and automation will take all our jobs, so we should just issue everyone a check every month for existing is that humans create those machines. If humans do not remain capable of actively participating in the economy as producers, not just consumers, at some point, those machines will break down. With large numbers of people turned into useless sheeple who know how to do nothing but consume, we won't have the ability to fix it.

There is historic precedent for this. Certain historical cultures that were in largely desert climates and dependent on distributing river water for crop irrigation went through boom and bust cycles repeatedly. These boom and bust cycles …

I have recently been reading some incredibly dumb and histrionic things on the internet regarding what people think will happen with President Trump clearing the boards of so many presidential appointees. And it aggravates me. Surely, you morons have seen Aliens?

The transcript of the scene is surprisingly long, but this is a truncated version of one of the more famous and quoted scenes from the movie: Ripley: I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...

Burke: Hold on, hold on just a second. This installation has a substantial dollar value attached to it...

Burke: Look. I'm not blind to what's going on, but I cannot authorize that kind of action. I'm sorry.

Ripley: Well, I believe that Corporal Hicks... has authority here.

Burke: Corporal Hicks has...

Ripley: This operation is under military jurisdiction and Hicks is next in chain of command. Am I right, Corporal?

Corporal Hicks: Yeah... yeah, that's right.

Burke…