Obsidian Wings

Too Late, Alas

by wj

Overturning Roe v Wade has gotten lots of play here this week. But it wasn't the only decision with an impact on our lives.

Today, the US Senate managed, for the first time in 30 years, to pass a gun control bill. A bipartisan gun control bill. The bill itself is a far cry from what is needed. But still, it’s far better than the nothing that has been the rule for decades. Having cleared the hurdle that is the Senate, it seems certain that it will pass the House and get signed. So, progress.

However, I see the Supreme Court’s decision in NEW YORK STATE RIFLE & PISTOL ASSOCIATION, INC., ET AL. v. BRUEN, SUPERINTENDENT OF NEW YORK STATE POLICE, ET AL.. A decision which, pretty clearly, means that this Court will never allow any restrictions on guns. So why would anyone think that this bill will stand up to the first challenge to it? Being a Federal law, rather a state law, doesn't seem likely to persuade the Court.

It will be wonderful if this bill convinces even a few Republicans that gun control isn’t a total loser for them. More gun control might get thru Congress in the future. But will it actually matter at this date? Not the way the smart money bets.

Weekend Open Thread

All ur Uteri Are Belong To Us

by Ugh

Well here it is.  Roberts concurs in judgement.

Thomas is explicitly coming for Obergefell, Lawrence, and Griswold.

I blame the butterfly ballot.

What a sh1t country.

The Devil, You Know

by JanieM

Michael Cain posed a question about a Geico ad in the previous thread, and that set me to thinking about that simplest of topics: money.

One of the notes I jotted down was “Sponsored,” referring to Amazon’s Sponsored product ads, which are:

1. annoying as hell; and

2. a brilliant, diabolical way to pit sellers against each other in the competition to give Jeff Bezos money.

My relationship with Amazon is best described as vexed. I might say more about that in the comments, but suffice to say for present purposes that I never click on a search result item marked Sponsored. I may end up buying an item that has a Sponsored ad, but I only get to it by clicking on a listing that is not marked Sponsored (which can be found somewhere below the obstructing jungle of Sponsored listings).

Clicks on items marked Sponsored take money from sellers and give it to you know who. He doesn’t actually need it, right?

But an entire cottage industry has grown up around advising people how to make the most of the ad system. (Ask Google.)

Because as a seller, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Open thread.

ETA a couple of days later: corrected the post title. So much for late-night blogging. Where's my copy editor?

The Hearings

by JanieM

Seems like people might want to discuss the Congressional hearings and related topics. As a starting point and with GftNC's permission, I'm copying her comment from downstairs as a starting point.

So, the hearings. I watched the whole thing (unlike the first one, which was in the middle of the night UK time). I don't get Fox (who as you probably know were showing the hearing live), but a friend who was also watching (and we spoke during the recess) is able to, so I asked her to check what they were saying over there. Apparently, there was a lot of how one-sided it was, and how it lacked the necessary people or the ability to challenge or cross examine the witnesses. Wow, it's almost like they don't understand the process.... (I thought it was incredibly damaging for Trump. But as for how it would affect Republicans, at least reachable ones unlike MAGAts, I could not say. After all, if they don't know about this stuff already, how reachable are they?) It will be very interesting to see the polls, which presumably will be plentiful and frequent. At least I hope so.

Posted by: Girl from the North Country | June 13, 2022 at 04:32 PM

*****

Also, open thread.

Hobbies, practice, mastery

by JanieM

The original trigger for this post was the fact that I’ve taken up photography in a serious way in old age. (I’m 72. That my mother lived to be 96 skews how I calibrate “old” – but that’s a topic for another time. Let’s just say life is uncertain, and ever more clearly so, as I get older.)

I had jotted down some notes for a post and taken a break to work on pictures when Lightroom crashed, requiring some careful reconstruction that’s going to take a good chunk out of my evening. Which may be just as well, because a post on “Hobbies, Practice, Mastery” was promising to become as long as Ulysses.

So I’ll scale back and just try to give us a starting point for conversation.

I’ve spent most of my life as a dilettante, doing what has come easily: algebra, computer programming, writing, playing music. But I always stopped trying when I got to a plateau where I would have had to work through difficulty or, heaven forfend, face possible failure to keep getting better.

And for the most part I’ve enjoyed activities where there are clear answers. You can solve an equation, and a computer program has to work (the inevitability of bugs notwithstanding). With music and writing I’ve remained a reasonably competent amateur, never working hard enough to test myself in contexts where I might be shown up as the dabbler that I am.

Now I’m deeply immersed in loving and trying to get better at “art” -- a kind of activity with no clear answers. The path forward can be very murky to someone who likes solving equations and passing quizzes. To get better at taking pictures, I have to let go of a lot of my old habits (both photographic and psychological) and learn a bunch of new stuff that doesn’t necessarily come easily, even the parts that involve numbers!