Cartoons: A golf cart run amuck

It looks to me like Trump has little respect for America, considering his merchandising and mixing of profit with presidential functions. Consider his hotels and golf courses.

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Milt Priggee, The Week

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The new rule for White House briefings is NO CAMERAS; the Washington Post reports, No cameras, no live audio and no Sean Spicer: The latest White House press briefing, annotated (June 22, 2017).

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Nate Beeler, The Week

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I dearly love shopping at Amazon, but you have to admit that with all their acquisitions, they're beginning to look a little like Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors.

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Tom Stiglich, The Week

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-- Marge

Cartoons: Amazon, Ashley Madison, and the fifth party

Big news this week from the New York Times is the exposé of Amazon's work culture.

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Bob Gorell, The Week

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In a followup article the Times reports:

Until the publication of the article, Amazon’s management practices had been a matter of quiet debate in Seattle. But after the article was published and Mr. Bezos’s letter was released, current and former Amazonians wrote on social media, technology websites and The Times website to compare experiences and debate the strengths and weaknesses of the culture. Some defended the culture as highly demanding but humane, while others described feeling pummeled by unrelenting demands, over-the-top competition, and a feeling they could never meet the standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.”

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David Horsey, The Week

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Ashley Madison data has been dumped. If you want to know if you’re in the Ashley Madison leak, there are sites where you can check. Read the article.

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Paul Zenetti, The Week

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And, of course, Donald Trump cartoons are now obligatory.

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Bill Schorr, The Week

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Those disenchanted with the current political scene are talking about starting third, fourth and fifth parties.

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Tom Toles, The Week

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-- Marge

DIY: backyard chickens

Thomas Kriese, Zsu Zsu in the Grass (Barred Rock hen), Wikipedia

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My relatively new next-door neighbor has started raising chickens!  It has been fun to watch them grow, interact socially (some days there's a fair amount of bickering), and make numerous breaks for freedom. Must admit, it's a little startling to catch a 7-pound Plymouth Rock hen clearing the fence out of the corner of your eye. At first there was a rooster as well, but I'm guessing the neighbors found out that zoning laws exclude roosters.  (The primary care provider is not exactly communicative.)

With the current state of supermarket meat and rising prices, raising chickens makes a lot of sense.  Recently in the news was this:  "Roosters' fertility problem hits U.S. chicken supply, lifts prices." (The fertility problem is due to genetic 'tweaking'.) Although, don't ask me to butcher and dress one.  The eggs would be nice.

On rainy days these little guys huddle together in the driest spots they can find.  They need a coop--also an enclosure they can't breach.  Next door I see uncut panels of low-grade plywood proliferating, but no structures being formed.

A list of free chicken coop plans can be found at freebies.about.com.  This portable poultry pen (PDF format) from pvcplans looks like a good solution.

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Portable Poultry Pen, pvcplans

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For ready-made, there's quite a selection at Amazon; search for "chicken coop."  The Eglu in the background of ZsuZsu's picture above is offered by Omlet (UK).

For a wealth of good information about raising and caring for chickens there's Lisa's blog, Fresh Eggs Daily. Check out her Ultimate Chicken Care Guide.

I'm hoping the chickens will be able to survive an Alaskan winter.

-- Marge

DIY book storage

With school back in session the eternal struggle with keeping your books in order and yet accessible resumes.  The stack of board-brick-board design is always an option, but there are other options too.  Keep in mind that you'll be attending classes, doing homework (hopefully), and want to have a bit of a social life as well -- so best to keep the amount of work spent on setting up the book storage to a minimum.

Starting with the stack option, here's an example posted by The Crazy Craft Lady (the shelves are in the back, Pippa's in front).  Best not to make the shelves more that 4 tiers high for safety's sake.
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Stacked shelves, TheCrazyCraftLady.com

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Bookends are an alternative to shelves and there are lots of do-it-yourself projects for bookends online, but many of them look like they would be more annoying than functional. Steve Ramsey at Woodworking for Mere Mortals offers instructions for bookends that really work.  They also look like a lot of work to make.
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Bookends that really work, WoodworkingForMereMortals.com

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With all this in mind, I'm opting for modular storage that can be stacked on the floor or on a desk or table top.

By far the simplest, most elegant design is Miso's X-shelf, found at Inhabitat.  As far as I can tell this shelf is not offered for retail sale, so you'll have to build it.  Looks pretty simple though -- a number of boards with slots in the middle and the short edges mitered.  You might want to connect each X in some way; possibly with brass flat braces and brass screws.  Take a look:
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Miso X-shelf, Inhabitat.com

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A spice rack from Ikea might work for a few oft-used books, but it will have to be hung on the wall and there is likely a weight limit.  Still, it's only $3.99 (shipping to San Francisco is $11.00);  at Amazon the item costs $13.31.
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Ikea Spice Rack, Ikea.com

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My final suggestion is modular storage cubes/systems.  To me iCube is the most interesting. Amazon carries a fair selection of the brand, but I'm not seeing plain cubes without a center divider except in the four-cube kit for $76.57 (black).  Individual cubes (with center shelves) average $15-16).
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Remember to put the heavier stuff toward the bottom of the stack.

-- Marge

Udacity U: HTML5 Game Development

HTML5 Game Development is a course offered by Udacity, which is an e-learning platform.  Courses offered by Udacity, edX, and Coursera (to name a few) are called massive open online courses (MOOCs).  So far they're not accredited, but Udacity's and edX's offerings are free. And good information is a valuable thing.

Why HTML5?  It holds the promise of being able to code once and publish (probably with a few adjustments) to a number of  different mobile platforms, as well as the web.  Apple products support HTML5; and, according to this article found at Mashable, Amazon Embraces HTML5 for New Ebooks.  Amazon's developer portal is at developer.amazon.com.  If you're interesting in marketing a mobile app you've developed, take a look at mobyaffiliates.  W3C states "HTML5 Definition Complete, W3C Moves to Interoperability Testing and Performance" in a December 2012 release.  This Wufoo page offers the current state of HTML5 forms for different platforms (I hoping it's truly current).

Returning to Udacity, I'm currently looking at the optional javascript crash course (because I tend to have a mental block against any C-based language).  This is what I see:

An "Ask a question" button is below the video and the discussions on the topic can be very helpful. Note: looks like you don't have to be signed in to view the discussion.

In closing here's a demotivational poster on programming by Tom Distler. 

Time for class.

-- Marge