Drug War Hysteria, Part MMXV!

This here poster is on at least some of the trains that I commute to work on, so it's been annoying me for a while. I took this lousy picture of it a while ago, and just rediscovered it.

I'm sure there's some actual argument to be made about over-prescribing opiates for pain management, and how physicians need to be careful and keep an eye out for signs someone might be addicted.

But what I see here is a group trying to shame parents into refusing pain medication for their children who are in pain. (There's a worse one, which basically says that if you let the dentist give your child Novocain for an extraction, you're dooming her to a life of addiction.)

Do not waltz in and ask a random doctor how prescription drugs inevitably lead to heroin abuse, since that only actually happens in the fever dreams of the current generation of Nancy Reagan wanna-bees. But do give your child medication for pain when she is in pain.

Today's Political Thought

Say, aren't bombs just as much military weapons as guns are? Even more so, in fact.

So if the Second Amendment is really meant to allow ordinary Americans to have military-grade armament, why on earth wouldn't it cover bombs as well?

It's a shame that ordinary patriotic Americans have to make their own bombs crudely by hand, simply because a fascist repressive government won't let them buy grenades and fuses. I'm sure the Republican leadership in Congress will get right on correcting that horrible imposition on the rightful liberty of patriots.

Not Quite Schadenfreude, But Close

What's the term for a gleeful interest in other people's stupidity?

Because it has a new homepage at Old People Writing on a Restaurant's Facebook Page. You've got people who think Facebook is a search engine, random complaints, the usual all-caps rants, and a few people who fell off their medication regimen sometime in the mid-80s. Just a quick browse will make even a person of middling intelligence feel like Einstein.

Secret Codes

One of the more amusing parts of my current working life is the variety of interesting people who think the US Tax Code is some kind of hidden game. They tend to think that if they can just use the secret password, or otherwise show they have the Inner Knowledge, that they'll at least never have to pay taxes ever again. (Some more extreme cases think that the government will give them millions of dollars.)

I was reminded of this by a news report from Friday; a district court has, once again, declared that another one of these dodges is invalid.

I know everybody has their own rules for life, and that some people are just stupider than others. (Though you do have to at least have a certain kind of low cunning to attempt tax-dodge schemes; I may call these people dumb, but they're reasonably smart.) But, for me, the most important rule in life has always been this: anything that looks too good to be true is.

The corollary, of course, is that anything that looks too bad to be true is happening sooner than you expect.

In Which I Post Just to Say, "What He Said"

I'd been saving this SF Signal post about "International Science Fiction Reshelving Day" -- coming up quickly on the calendar; it's next Wednesday -- because I wanted to rain scorn and bile on the idea.

But I don't need to, since the estimable Charles Tan has already done so.

So, to repeat: what Charles said. And in spades. It's a remarkably stupid idea on several levels, and not nearly as clever as it thinks it is.

Yet Another Datapoint That Copyright Terms Are Too Long

Far too many literary heirs are complete assholes with massively inflated opinions of the worth of their dead minor-poet fathers.

Hands up -- who had even heard of Louis Zukofsky before this moment?
[via Bookslut]

Since Twitter Won't Let Me Post This...

It goes here, in the mothership:

Insanity of the day: Topless Robot discovers Japan's breast-shaped puddings: http://tinyurl.com/pk9nwx.

Did You Know?

A quick lesson in copyright, from "Lady Sybilla" --

Copyright laws protect writers from unauthorized reproductions of their work, but such reproductions only include verbatim copying. Characters are only copyrightable if their creator draws them or hires an artist to draw them.

If your reaction was to snort a beverage through your nostrils, congratulations! You know something about copyright.

If your reaction was to nod sagely and tap your lips with your finger, then I'm afraid you have a little studying to do. (Preferably before the Hachette/Summit lawyers come calling.)

[via Nick Mamatas, and already at least a day late]

Random Thoughts on an Unnamed Topic

1) I find it very funny -- in a dark, cynical way -- that persons insisting on their own secrecy and anonymity are loudly calling for other persons -- named, actual, persons -- to be "shunned." It's enough to make me laugh out loud when those anonymous persons refer to themselves as "real human beings" without an iota of irony.

2) Remember that associating with evil people means that you are also evil. In any way, at any time, for any purpose. Always and forever. Also remember that it's the person attacking you who gets to define "evil."

3) You can never be clean, no matter how much you scrub or wring your hands. You were born soiled, and always will be -- unlike the people on my side of the fence, who are perfect and loving and unjustly oppressed.

4) The Internet, like many other places in this world, is full of absolute screaming lunatics.

5) People accusing others of vicious, evil behavior nevertheless become completely shocked when they themselves are accused of doing nasty things. We're all the protagonists of our own stories, and nothing we do can be, by definition, wrong.

6) For some people -- such as those in my line of work -- Search Engine Optimization means becoming more prominent. For others, it's the opposite. Either way, it's a dark art and rarely works the way one wants it too.

7) Everyone wants to be a secret agent; everyone thinks that they're going to be Deidre Dare. (Or closer to home, Jason Pinter. I could name a name much, much closer still.)

8) I still have no clue what's going on, though I'm boggled that it still is going on.

9) My oppression beats your oppression. Nyah!

10) Politeness is a lost art.

Edit, March 9 @ 7PM: Please also see Wheeler's Postulate on Controversy, which may or may not be related.

Ten Pounds of Crazy in a Five Pound Bag

I don't think I've linked to my latest obsession, Passive-Aggressive Notes, yet.

So, since I'm unlikely to be blogging much in the next couple of days (what with being on a conference exhibit-hall floor for thirteen hours straight tomorrow and all), let me leave you with one of the towering monuments of fun insanity:

Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)

Be sure to read all the comments; it's worth it.

Oh, and Thank You Terry!!!