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Alcoholic soda was a $116 million business in 2015

Who needs plain ol’ soda when you can have one with a boozy kick? That’s become the mantra of many beverage marketers (and, in turn, many thirsty adults). Yes, hard soda is a thing — a $116 million thing, in fact: That’s the rough sales total for this emerging category in 2015, according to market researcher IRI.

The trend started primarily with alcoholic root beers — specifically, a craft-brewery brand called Not Your Father’s Root Beer, which dominated the category last year (it accounted for $92 million of the $116 million in sales). But it’s now spreading to the major players in the beverage world. Anheuser-Busch InBev has its Best Damn Root Beer brand. And earlier this year, MillerCoors launched Henry’s Hard Soda, a brand that takes as its inspiration one Henry Weinhard, a 19th-century brewer who made a name for himself in Portland, Ore., and who once suggested running beer through the city’s drinking fountains. In other words, Henry liked to have a good time.

Trigger Warning: This content is too spicy for SoylentNews.

Georgetown Law Professors Say Students Are “Traumatized” by Criticisms of Scalia, Demand “Remedies”

On the day the death of Justice Antonin Scalia was announced, Georgetown Law School issued an official statement and press release headlined “Georgetown Law Mourns the Loss of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.” It quoted the school’s dean, William M. Treanor, heaping unqualified praise on the highly controversial justice.

“Scalia was a giant in the history of the law, a brilliant jurist whose opinions and scholarship profoundly transformed the law,” Dean Treanor pronounced. “Like countless academics, I learned a great deal from his opinions and his scholarship. In the history of the Court, few justices have had such influence on the way in which the law is understood.” Moreover, “he cared passionately about the profession, about the law and about the future. … We will all miss him.” It went on and on in that vein.

[...] Two Georgetown law professors, Mike Seidman and Gary Peller, disagreed with Dean Treanor’s glowing assessment of Scalia and said so. That night, Seidman posted a brief email to the dean and faculty noting: “Our norms of civility preclude criticizing public figures immediately after their death.” As a result, said Seidman, “all I’ll say is that I disagree with these sentiments and that expressions attributed to the ‘Georgetown Community’ in the press release issued this evening do not reflect the views of the entire community.”

A full two days after Scalia’s death, Professor Peller wrote an email — first to the dean and the faculty, and thereafter to the entire law school — explaining his dissent from the dean’s praise. Like a huge number of Americans generally, and legal professionals particularly, Professor Peller viewed Scalia’s role on the Supreme Court as toxic in the extreme, and he explained why.

Professor Peller wrote that he was “put off” by the official statement praising Scalia, and that he “imagine[s] many other faculty, students, and staff, particularly people of color, women, and sexual minorities, cringed at [the] headline and at the unmitigated praise with which the press release described a jurist that many of us believe was a defender of privilege, oppression, and bigotry, one whose intellectual positions were not brilliant but simplistic and formalistic.” He added that Scalia “was not a legal figure to be lionized or emulated by our students. He bullied lawyers, trafficked in personal humiliation of advocates, and openly sided with the party of intolerance in the ‘culture wars’ he often invoked. In my mind, he was not a ‘giant’ in any good sense.”

So far, so good: right? The Georgetown dean lionized Scalia as a “brilliant jurist” from whom we all learned so very much and whom we will “all miss,” while a law professor objected to that view and argued that Scalia was actually a destructive presence on the Court. That sounds to me like exactly the sort of debate that one should find at a major U.S. law school, the sort of debate thinking adults have on a daily basis. Vehement criticisms of Scalia have long been, and still are, commonplace; The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin this week wrote that Scalia “devoted his professional life to making the United States a less fair, less tolerant, and less admirable democracy.”

But two conservative law professors on the Georgetown faculty are indignant that this debate took place at all. The right-wing duo, Randy Barnett and Nick Rosenkranz (a senior Rubio adviser), sent their own email denouncing Peller’s anti-Scalia statement: not on substantive grounds that he was wrong on the merits about Scalia, but insisting that he had no right to criticize Scalia at all.

They began with an incredibly petty accusation that Professor Peller broke the law school’s rules in posting his statement; it was, they said, “in violation of the stated policies governing such emails.” By contrast, the two professors boasted, they “sought and received permission to post this response in an attempt to remedy the harm caused by the initial breach of our norms.”

After they each recounted fond personal memories they shared with Justice Scalia (“We had lunch together at his favorite pizza place, AV Ristorante. … We once sang a song together, believe it or not: Oh, Danny Boy”), they jointly moved to the crux of their grievance: It was “simply cruel beyond words” to subject these two professors to criticisms of their beloved hero. They literally said that:

To hear from one’s colleagues, within hours of the death of a hero, mentor, and friend, that they resent any implication that they might mourn his death — that, in effect, they are glad he is dead — is simply cruel beyond words.

They added, “But, though the insult and cruelty of our colleagues was grievous, at least only two of us had to bear it.” We had to bear it.

[...] For some reason, national pundits who love to denounce “PC” campus censorship and parade around as free speech crusaders obsessively focus on left-wing censorship while ignoring other kinds of campus viewpoint-suppression that are far more common. As I’ve documented repeatedly, the most common form of campus censorship — punishment and other official limitations imposed on activists working against Israeli occupation of Palestine — is almost always completely ignored in this pundit debate.

Indeed, it’s common for those seeking to suppress left-wing views on college campuses to invoke exactly the same “safe space” rhetoric. As we noted last week in reporting on the growing criminalization of the BDS movement, the University of Illinois student who led the campaign to have Steven Salaita fired for his pro-Gaza tweets, himself a former AIPAC intern, told the New York Times when justifying this campaign: “Hate speech is never acceptable for those applying for a tenured position; incitement to violence is never acceptable. … There must be a relationship between free speech and civility.” Another “pro-Israel” student demanding Salaita’s firing said, “It’s about feeling safe on campus.” This is seen over and over: “PC” censorship is almost always depicted as a left-wing phenomenon even though it is directed at least as commonly at the Left as it is wielded by them.

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Medical Marijuana Users in Canada Can Legally Grow Their Own Weed Now

Medical marijuana patients in Canada are free to grow their own plants after a Federal Court judge ruled the current laws forbidding that are unconstitutional.

Under former prime minister Stephen Harper, the Conservative government banned cannabis patients from growing their own supply, forcing them to purchase weed from licensed producers. Previously, patients were permitted to grow under the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) program.

The restrictions were challenged by four British Columbia residents, who claimed they were a violation of Charter rights. On Wednesday, Judge Michael Phelan sided with the plaintiffs in a Vancouver courtroom. He has suspended his decision for six months to give the Liberal government time to create new legislation. In the meantime, Canadians with licenses to produce marijuana under the MMAR can continue to do so.

Ontario patient Kyle Morrison, 36, who suffers from arthritis and herniated discs stemming from a workplace injury, told VICE he's relieved to hear the news. Morrison has had an MMAR license for the last five years allowing him to be in possession of 15 plants. He wants to continue to grow his own pot. "I [raise] my own poultry... I hunt. I basically don't buy meat from a grocery store, and I don't want to smoke grocery store cannabis," he said. Morrison, who also suffers from mental health issues, said he wanted his children to be free to grow medical marijuana should they require it in the future.

Longtime pot activist and patient Tracy Curley told VICE the news was "really, really good," but she suspects the Crown prosecutor will appeal the decision.

Others have commented on this, I don't think it is my imagination. I sometimes have the problem when I am delusional, that I think I'm just fine.

It is an odd experience. Actually rather dull. There have been times that I've yearned for sanity. Now I have sanity but it has come at the cost of not being able to write. Maybe they were paranoid manifestos but at least I had something to do.

The madness is likely to return; that is the nature of my condition. There are many things I can do to prevent that happening, but the madness will find some other way, a way that I do not anticipate.

There are two things that led to this. I was sleeping excessively, and getting depressed, so I requested the antidepressant imipramine from my psychiatrist. It is very old, and not commonly used anymore - my pharmacy had to special-order it - but my experience is that it works well for me.

I've been regulating my sleep better. Too much sleep makes me depressed, too little sleep makes me either manic or psychotic.

A while back I happened across a man and a woman at a crosswalk. I told them both that I was a Secret Service Agent, and that it was my job to protect the President. I am absolutely serious. About an hour after that, I admitted myself voluntarily to a psychiatric hospital but when they saw how loopy I was, they changed my status to involuntary.

Even so I am unable to sleep completely regularly, not like most people. I don't get tired when I need to sleep. My friend Rod said "It's like dying of dehydration because you don't feel thirsty". It really is very much like that.

I got some good sleep last night, even so I felt sleepy at breakfast this morning, so I slept all day at the Right 2 Dream Too tent camp - it is a homeless shelter operated by the homeless themselves, with the unique service that one can sleep there during the day.

I could have gone to dinner at the rescue mission, then entered the bed lottery, but then I'd be sleeping too much, that would make me depressed, so instead I'm going to sit up and drink coffee at an all-night restaurant. Despite that I have the money to pay for my coffee, there are two friendly and affectionate waitresses that give me free coffee, and often free meals. They like me, they enjoy my company.

The best way to be homeless is not to appear homeless. We can take showers and wash our clothes, there are facilities for that. I'm pretty good about shaving and brushing my teeth.

There are some people who have no choice. They are too far gone mentally. Rudy complained to me that he could not get a job despite having a hospitality degree; he could be a top restaurant chef. But the reason he is unemployed is that he smells bad, and pushes around a shopping cart loaded with trash.

The reason I'm unemployed is because of what I write. It would make sense were I to take offline what I could, like the stuff on my own website, or the stuff at Kuro5hin - Rusty would remove it were I to ask. But I don't. I want others to understand the nature of mental illness. I feel it is important to maintain the historical record.

It is my birthday tomorrow, the 24th. I'll be 52. That doesn't seem right, I still think like a teenager, but my hair is gray, I can't see close-up any more and I have all manner of unexplainable aches and pains.

What is most upsetting to me is that it appears unlikely I will ever have children. Bonita didn't want to have kids. She had reasons not to, but I am not at liberty to share them with you. That was a tough decision - what did I want more? Children, or Bonita? I chose Bonita. Now I think I should not have married her, for many reasons, not just my childlessness.

There are some men who father children when they are older than I, but it is uncommon, as I would have to court and marry a much-younger woman.

There is a woman I like, who obviously likes me, but she is hesitant. She enjoys my visits but so far that's all there has been. I kissed her on the hand once though, and she smiled.

Maybe one of those waitresses tonight. Maybe I can contrive to kiss _her_ on the hand. Women like that, they grow up dreaming of being fairy tale princesses but hand-kissing is long out of style. I am completely convinced that I am the only man who ever kisses women's hands anymore.

http://deadline.com/2016/02/deadpool-risen-the-witch-race-weekend-box-office-1201705730/

“It’s a Deadpool world and we’re just living in it,” beamed 20th Century Fox distribution chief Chris Aronson this morning. The Marvel anti-hero movie hasn’t calmed down with weekend 2 of $55M and a 10-day total of $235.4M, with a big assist from star Ryan Reynolds, who continues promoting. Yesterday, his satirical Deadpool Kanye-esque rant against Saturday Night Live exec producer Lorne Michaels went viral, clocking 2.4M YouTube views.

[...] Could Deadpool topple The Passion Of The Christ ($370.8M) to become the top-grossing R-rated film of all-time? The Tim Miller-directed superhero movie thru Sunday will be running 11% ahead of Mel Gibson’s New Testament title through its second weekend. Yeah, it’s an apples to oranges comparison given the discrepancy between the two titles’ crowds. Passion reaped seven weekends of double-digit million dollar grosses from the Lenten faithful back in 2004. A Friday Imax matinee at Edwards Valencia Cinema, 30 minutes north of Hollywood, drew mostly couples to the raunchy Marvel film. But there’s a lot of back-to-back franchise competition this spring. Just look at what’s standing in Deadpool‘s way: London Has Fallen, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Divergent Series: Allegiant and Batman v. Superman. With all these brand titles, you’d think it was summer. Many in the business feel $350M is within reach for Deadpool, which would put it nose-to-nose with American Sniper, the second highest grossing R-rated film at the domestic B.O.

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    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","B");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Bold");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-weight:bold;");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addBold(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    // Italic button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","I");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Italic");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-style:italic;");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addItalic(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    // Strike button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","S");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Strikethrough");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("style","text-decoration:line-through;");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addStrike(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" ")); // Divider

    // Code button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Code");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Wrap \u003Cecode\u003E tags around the selected text.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addEcode(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    // Teletype button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","TT");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Wrap \u003Ctt\u003E (teletype, i.e. monospace) tags around the selected text.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addTT(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    // Small button, if editing a story
    if (boxes[x].name == "introtext" || boxes[x].name == "bodytext" || boxes[x].name == "story")
    {
        var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
        tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
        tempbutton.setAttribute("value","\u0073\u1D0D\u1D00\u029F\u029F");
        tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Wrap \u003Csmall\u003E tags around the selected text.");
        // tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-size:75%;");
        tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addSmall(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
        toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
    }

    toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" ")); // Divider

    // Superscript button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","x\u00B2");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Superscript");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addSuper(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    // Subscript button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","x\u2082");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Subscript");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("style","font-family:monospace;");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addSubsc(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    toolbar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" ")); // Divider

    // Ordered list button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","1. List");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert an ordered list or convert newline-separated text into an ordered list.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addOrdlist(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    // Unordered list button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","\u2022 List");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert an unordered list or convert newline-separated text into an unordered list.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addUnordlist(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    toolbar.appendChild(document.createElement("br")); // Divider

    // Create 7 macro buttons
    for (var i=1; i<=7; i++)
    {
        // Create macros if they don't exist
        if(!localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))
        {
            localStorage.setItem("soymacro"+i,JSON.stringify(["M"+i,"string","Sample Text"]));
            //localStorage.setItem("soymacro"+i,JSON.stringify(["M"+i,"regexp","/a/gi","b"]));
        }
        var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
        tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
        tempbutton.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"button"+i);
        tempbutton.setAttribute("value",JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[0]);
        if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[1]=="string")
        {
            if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[2].length < 40)
            {
                tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert or replace selected text with: " + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[2]);
            }
            else
            {
                tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert or replace selected text with: " + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[2].substring(0,40)+"...");
            }
            tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","macroChoose(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"],"+i+");");
        }
        else
        {
            tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Replace text matched by the regular expression: " + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[2] + " with: " + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[3]);
            tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","macroChoose(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"],"+i+");");
        }
        toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
    }
    // Create macros edit button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Edit");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Configure user macros or discard changes.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","if (document.getElementById('macrobar"+x+"').style.display == 'none') {document.getElementById('macrobar"+x+"').style.display = 'block'; macrobarInit("+x+");} else {document.getElementById('macrobar"+x+"').style.display = 'none'; if (p = document.getElementById('postercomment')) { var x = p.offsetTop; while (p = p.offsetParent) {x += p.offsetLeft;} window.scrollTo(0,x-75);}}");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    toolbar.appendChild(document.createElement("br")); // Divider

    // Despace button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Despace");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Delete newlines within the selection.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","despace(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    // Symbol button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value",":-)");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert a symbol.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","if (document.getElementById('smilebar"+x+"').style.display == 'none') {document.getElementById('smilebar"+x+"').style.display = 'block'} else {document.getElementById('smilebar"+x+"').style.display = 'none'; if (p = document.getElementById('postercomment')) { var x = p.offsetTop; while (p = p.offsetParent) {x += p.offsetLeft;} window.scrollTo(0,x-75); } }");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
    boxes[x].parentNode.insertBefore(toolbar, boxes[x].nextSibling);

    // Symbol list
    var smilebar = document.createElement("div");
    smilebar.setAttribute("style","-moz-user-select:none; -webkit-user-select:none; display:none; font-size:16pt; max-height:240px; overflow:auto; padding:0.5em;");
    smilebar.setAttribute("id","smilebar"+x);
    var smiles = ["\u0026amp;","\u0026lt;","\u0026gt;"];

    var codes = [[161,169],[171,172],[174],[176,177],[180,183],[187,191],[215],[224,255],[402],[629],[632],[916],[920],[931],[934],[937],[945,946],[956],[960],[963],[8216,8221],[8226],[8230],[8251],[8364],[8478],[8482],[8528,8542],[8585],[8592,8652],[8712,8716],[8721],[8730],[8733,8734],[8736],[8743,8749],[8756,8757],[8773],[8776],[8800,8805],[8834,8837],[8984],[9760],[9762,9765],[9770],[9773,9775],[9784,9794],[9812,9831],[9833,9842],[9850],[9855,9861],[9874,9877],[9882,9885],[9888,9893],[9913],[9940],[9962],[9971],[9981],[9992,10087],[65533],[127744,127756],[127759],[127775,127776],[127797],[127801],[127804,127812],[127817],[127820,127822],[127828,127831],[127838,127839],[127843],[127849],[127855],[127860,127867],[127891],[127904,127911],[127918],[127939],[127942],[127977],[128025],[128074,128078],[128123,128131],[128137,128142],[128148,128150],[128152],[128158],[128161,128164],[128168,128170],[128172],[128176,128177],[128187],[128189,128190],[128193,128194],[128197],[128203,128204],[128206],[128214],[128225,128227],[128231,128233],[128241],[128244],[128246],[128250,128252],[128259],[128266,128270],[128273,128276],[128278,128280],[128286],[128293,128299],[128302,128303],[128509,128565],[128659],[128684,128685]];

    for (var i=0; i<codes.length; i++) { if (codes[i].length > 1) { for (var j=codes[i][0]; j<=codes[i][1]; j++) { smiles[smiles.length] = String.fromCodePoint(j); } } else { smiles[smiles.length] = String.fromCodePoint(codes[i][0]); } } // Populate smiles array with code ranges converted to individual characters

    smiles = smiles.concat(["xD",":-)",":^)","(^_^;)","(\u00A0\u0361\u00B0\u00A0\u035C\u0296\u00A0\u0361\u00B0)","(\u00A0\u0361\u007E\u00A0\u035C\u0296\u00A0\u0361\u00B0)\uFEFF","\u00AF\u005C\u005F(\u30C4)\u005F\u002F\u00AF","(\u256F\u00B0\u25A1\u00B0\uFF09\u256F\uFE35\u00A0\u253B\u2501\u253B","(\u30CE\u0CA0\u76CA\u0CA0)\u30CE\u5F61\u253B\u2501\u253B","(\u0060\uFF65\u03C9\uFF65\u00B4)","\u0CA0_\u0CA0","\u0295\u2022\u1D25\u2022\u0294","(\u3065\uFFE3\u00A0\u00B3\uFFE3)\u3065","\u0669(\u204E\u275B\u1D17\u275B\u204E)\u06F6","\u30FD\u0F3C\u0E88\u0644\u035C\u0E88\u0F3D\uFF89","(\uB208\u2038\uB208)","\u006F(\u3003\uFF3E\u25BD\uFF3E\u3003)\u006F","\u0028\u0028\u30FE\u0028\u2267\u76BF\u2266\uFF1B\u0029\u30CE\uFF3F\u0029\u0029","\u30FD\u0028\u002A\u2312\u2207\u2312\u002A\u0029\uFF89","\u0028\u2267\u2207\u2266\u0029\u002F"]); // Add in arbitrary emoticons

    for (var i=0; i<smiles.length; i++)
    {
        var smile = document.createElement("span");
        smile.setAttribute("style","cursor:pointer; padding:2px; white-space:nowrap;");
        smile.setAttribute("onclick","addSmile(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"],'"+smiles[i].replace("\u005C","\u005C\u005C")+"');");
        smile.appendChild(document.createTextNode(smiles[i]));
        smilebar.appendChild(smile);
        if (i+1<smiles.length)
        {
            smilebar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
        }
    }
    toolbar.parentNode.insertBefore(smilebar, toolbar.nextSibling);

    // Create macro configuration interface
    var macrobar = document.createElement("div");
    macrobar.setAttribute("style","display:none; padding:0.5em;");
    macrobar.setAttribute("id","macrobar"+x);
    var table = document.createElement("table");
    var tr = document.createElement("tr");
    var th = document.createElement("th");
    th.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Name"));
    tr.appendChild(th);
    var th = document.createElement("th");
    th.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Type"));
    tr.appendChild(th);
    var th = document.createElement("th");
    th.appendChild(document.createTextNode("String | Expression"));
    tr.appendChild(th);
    var th = document.createElement("th");
    th.setAttribute("title","Only used with expressions. Parenthesized substring matches (e.g. '$1') can be used.");
    th.setAttribute("style","cursor:help;");
    th.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Expression Replace"));
    tr.appendChild(th);
    table.appendChild(tr);
    for (var i=1; i<=7; i++)
    {
        var tr = document.createElement("tr");

        // Macro name
        var td = document.createElement("td");
        var name = document.createElement("input");
        name.setAttribute("type","text");
        name.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"name"+i);
        td.appendChild(name);
        tr.appendChild(td);

        // Macro type
        var td = document.createElement("td");
        var rad = document.createElement("input");
        rad.setAttribute("type","radio");
        rad.setAttribute("name","soymacros"+x+"type"+i);
        rad.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"type"+i+"S");
        td.appendChild(rad);
        td.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" String "));
        var rad = document.createElement("input");
        rad.setAttribute("type","radio");
        rad.setAttribute("name","soymacros"+x+"type"+i);
        rad.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"type"+i+"E");
        td.appendChild(rad);
        td.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" Expression "));
        tr.appendChild(td);

        // Field A
        var td = document.createElement("td");
        var f1 = document.createElement("input");
        f1.setAttribute("type","text");
        f1.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"fieldA"+i);
        td.appendChild(f1);
        tr.appendChild(td);

        // Field B
        var td = document.createElement("td");
        var f1 = document.createElement("input");
        f1.setAttribute("type","text");
        f1.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"fieldB"+i);
        td.appendChild(f1);
        tr.appendChild(td);

        table.appendChild(tr);
    }
    macrobar.appendChild(table);

    var p = document.createElement("p");
    var save = document.createElement("input");
    save.setAttribute("type","button");
    save.setAttribute("value","Save");
    save.setAttribute("title","Save any edits to the macro configuration.");
    save.setAttribute("onclick","macrobarSave("+x+");");
    p.appendChild(save);
    p.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
    var guide = document.createElement("a");
    guide.setAttribute("href","https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Regular_Expressions");
    guide.setAttribute("target","_blank");
    guide.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Regexp Guide"));
    p.appendChild(guide);
    macrobar.appendChild(p);

    toolbar.parentNode.insertBefore(macrobar, toolbar.nextSibling);
}

var temp = document.createElement("script");

// Add selection handling function
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function getSelection(textarea) { if ('selectionStart' in textarea) { if (textarea.selectionStart != textarea.selectionEnd) { return [textarea.selectionStart,textarea.selectionEnd]; } } } "));

// Add comment formatting buttons
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addBlockquote(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<blockquote>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/blockquote>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addPara(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<p>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/p>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addBreak(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { var pos = area.selectionStart; area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<br>' + area.value.substring(pos); area.focus(); area.setSelectionRange(pos+4,pos+4) } } function addHRule(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { var pos = area.selectionStart; area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<hr>' + area.value.substring(pos); area.focus(); area.setSelectionRange(pos+4,pos+4) } } function addHyperlink(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { url = prompt('URL:', 'https://'); area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<a href=\"'+url+'\">'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/a>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addBold(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<b>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/b>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addItalic(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<em>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/em>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addStrike(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<strike>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/strike>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addEcode(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<ecode>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/ecode>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addTT(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<tt>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/tt>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addSmall(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<small>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/small>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addSuper(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<sup>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/sup>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addSubsc(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<sub>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/sub>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } "));

// Add list creation functions
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addOrdlist(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { if (area.selectionStart != area.selectionEnd) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<ol><li>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart,area.selectionEnd).replace(/\\n/g,'<\/li>\\n<li>').replace(/\\n<li><\\/li>/g,'') + '<\/li><\/ol>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionEnd); } else { temp = '<ol>'; while(listitem = prompt('Enter a list item. Leave the box empty or press Cancel to complete the list:', '')) { temp += '<li>' + listitem + '<\/li>\\n'; } area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + temp.substring(0,temp.length-1) + '<\/ol>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } } function addUnordlist(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { if (area.selectionStart != area.selectionEnd) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<ul><li>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart,area.selectionEnd).replace(/\\n/g,'<\/li>\\n<li>').replace(/\\n<li><\\/li>/g,'') + '<\/li><\/ul>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionEnd); } else { temp = '<ul>'; while(listitem = prompt('Enter a list item. Leave the box empty or press Cancel to complete the list:', '')) { temp += '<li>' + listitem + '<\/li>\\n'; } area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + temp.substring(0,temp.length-1) + '<\/ul>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } }"));

// Add macro functions
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function macroChoose(area,x) { if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[1]=='string') { macroString(area,x); } else { macroRegexp(area,x); } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function macroString(area,x) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (sel && sel[0] != sel[1]) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[2] + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } else if ('selectionStart' in area) { var pos = area.selectionStart; area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[2] + area.value.substring(pos); area.focus(); area.setSelectionRange(pos+JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[2].length,pos+JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[2].length); } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function macroRegexp(area,x) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (sel && sel[0] != sel[1]) { var reg = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[2]; area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1]).replace(new RegExp(reg.substring(reg.indexOf('/')+1,reg.lastIndexOf('/')), reg.substring(reg.lastIndexOf('/')+1)),JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[3]) + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function macrobarInit(x) { for (var y=1; y<=7; y++) { document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'name'+y).value = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[0]; if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[1]=='string') { document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'type'+y+'S').checked = true; } else { document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'type'+y+'E').checked = true; } document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'fieldA'+y).value = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[2]; if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[1]!='string') { document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'fieldB'+y).value = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[3]; } else { document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'fieldB'+y).value = ''; } } }"));
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No, not the minimalist poetry, but the Haiku operating system. I was looking around for something productive to do, so I looked in Haiku's Trac. I'm going to work on silencing compiler warnings so as to enable the use of -Werror.

After I do some of that I'll have enough experience with the build that I could fix some real bugs.

My potential consulting client got back to me to say they would have some paying work for me soon. I'd feared they had wandered into the ether; their CEO explained that he'd been really busy. It's a small company.

Tomorrow I'm playing piano at a reception to celebrate the opening of a new housing facility for the homeless of Vancouver. It's not a performance exactly, in that I'll be playing background music for a party.

I don't know a whole hour's worth of material so I'll mostly be improvising.

I can play piano a lot better than I can read written music. It's very painful for me to learn new songs that someone else wrote but by contrast I can wail away at the keyboard, apparently randomly, yet it comes out sounding like real music. That's how I taught myself to play, making random noise at first but then doing more and more of what sounded good with less and less of what sounded bad.

I'm going to get paid for playing! I don't know how much yet but it will be the very first I've been paid for piano. I sing on the street for tips but really I'm not that good, I never make very much. I'm doing pretty good if I can buy a Starbucks every day.

I read up on jQuery yesterday and today. I'd like to write a real program, but purely as an exercise. Reading tutorials makes my eyes glaze over.

I contemplated a dead-simple message board, but even that is a little more complex than I want to deal with at first. I'd like to do something about as complex as the pure-JavaScript Conway's Life that I did at http://www.warplife.com/life/mumble/

jQuery looks quite cool, but I trip up on many of the tutorials' practice exercises. I need to write a real program.

Kanye West wants $1 billion from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

He’s “this generation’s Disney” and technology leaders like Mark Zuckerberg would be doing the world a favor by investing a cool $1 billion in his musical ambitions.

That was the gist of an early Monday tweetstorm by rapper Kanye West, hours after he raised questions about his personal finances with this tweet that hinted he has $53 million worth of debt:

I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt... Please pray we overcome... This is my true heart...
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 14, 2016

In a fresh crop of posts, West made direct pleas to Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook Inc., and Larry Page, Alphabet Inc.’s CEO and the co-founder of Google, asking that they funnel some cash into his ideas:

Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 14, 2016

Mark Zuckerberg I know it’s your bday but can you please call me by 2mrw…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

World, please tweet, FaceTime, Facebook, instagram, whatever you gotta do to get Mark to support me…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

Mark, I am publicly asking you for help…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

hey Larry Page I’m down for your help too …
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

West insinuated that Silicon Valley was full of hypocrites — executives who want to look cool listening to rap, yet never did anything to further growth in the music industry:

All you dudes in San Fran play rap music in your homes but never help the real artists…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

The rapper made a thinly veiled reference to Zuckerberg’s education philanthropy — he is part of an investment group that aims to bring cheap, private education to millions of children across Africa and Asia. Frankly, said West, the money could be better spent helping him with his creative efforts, as he claimed to be the “Jordan and Steph Curry of music, meaning I’m the best of 2 generations”

Today I started learning Javascript. This isn't the first time I've tried but I think I'll do it for real this time. Previously I only learned as much as I needed to plug in someone else's script. I also tried to read O'Reilly's "Learning Javascript" but got bored with it. It's an informative book but the writing isn't compelling.

I met a fellow consultant today who said he'd give my contact info to a friend of his who is getting more work than he can handle. He also said that with my existing experience, I should get into DevOps. I'd had the impression that that was more for junior developers but he asserted it was for senior people like me.

My existing website Portland Software Development and Consulting is quite spartan. I had the idea that the simple "design" would associate me with the experts, but an older, wiser colleague says that I should make it more attractive. I plan to use my Javascript to implement responsive design, that is, to make the same pages work well on mobile devices, desktops and laptops.

Just now I added "DevOps" to my list of services, and "JavaScript" to my list of languages. I also moved Python closer to the head of the list. I don't really know JS or DevOps yet but expect I will by the time they show up in the search engines.

I learn best by doing; today someone recommended I learn just a little bit of JS from the tutorials, then Google for everything else I need to do. To that end I am writing Conway's Game of Life in Javascript. It's not online yet, not until I get it actually doing something, but what little I've done so far has taught me a few things.

The consultant I spoke to today took me very seriously. That felt good, real good - though I didn't tell him I was homeless. I don't really look homeless, I try to keep my appearance professional. I don't always succeed but that's what I aim for.