Mea culpa

Yesterday I allowed anger to tempt me into insufficient cynicism. I said that the governors who announced that they will not allow Syrian refugees into their states, although federal law clearly states they are forbidden from doing that, didn’t know any better. Perhaps some don’t, but probably most are pandering to the sizable demographic that wants to be protected from Da’esh, Syrians, Muslims, Sikhs, Orthodox Jews davening, and anything else that looks terrifyingly Levantine. Does it matter which they are?

Many Syrians are fleeing from Da'esh, and we should be welcoming them. Of course, a few real terrorists will try to sneak in with them, but our billion-dollar intelligence system should be able to distinguish the two on a somewhat better than chance basis, and we will be letting in a lot of people who will be motivated to snitch on the Da’esh element. I think it’s worth a try.

And let’s hear it for Oliver Willis, who said, “If only we had a seasonally appropriate story about Middle Eastern people seeking refuge being turned away by the heartless.”

Words

The Oxford “word” of the year is an emoji.

From an imagined future:
"Did you know that keyboards weren't always musical? They used to have letters on them."
My vision of a worse one continues:
"Letters? What are they?"
"Part of the silent system the monks use to encode words"

Thanx to andrewducker

Not pandering to mere users

How Apple Is Giving Design a Bad Name

Thanx to Metafilter

ETA: nancylebov has some thoughts on the question

Wigging Out

Star Trek faces a crisis.

Thanx to File 770