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Success? - 2 February 2007
Feb. 3rd, 2007 01:39 amWell, I woke up this morning, and reattacked the Rails problem, garnering a success in that I was able to do what I’m supposed to be able to do at this point. Next week, the rest appears and the assignment should be completable. Hopefully, by then, I’ve also got all the data I need on the big project’s description all laid out for observation and approval.
After such a thing as the Boston gaffe, there are the inevitable parodies and poking fun. I think this particular image will win out. But if you’re up for text, here's Wired’s Table of Malcontents taking a swing at the debacle.
Gore nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. Once again, Democrats around the world are screaming, “Where was this guy when we needed him elected?!”
A pair of perspectives, both talking about the efforts underway to prevent the opinions of a group from being aired. The first, an older piece, postulates the trapping nature of the idea of "supporting the troops" and the implied support of the wars those troops are fighting, and the other says that if the support-troops but not war mentality continued to grow, then the Muslim world will take over, and everyone should brush up on their Koran. Both cases suggesting that the majority opinion, or the important one, is against them, and that it is necessary to act and be heard, lest the problem continue past the point of no return. Both sides will shot doom and gloom at you. I guess then it’s really a matter of deciding if you’re going to listen to either side, and how much.
On a small island in Guinea-Bissau, women choose their husbands - and the men don't usually get to refuse. It turns the traditional idea of marriage on its head. Oh, by the way, did you know that the United States is one of five countries in a survey that doesn't offer guaranteed paid maternity leave. That survey covered 173 countries. And we’re one of five that doesn’t guarantee that working women can take care of their children. I suspect there’s a reflection on our attitudes toward women working in there somewhere.
The groundhogs were out today, predicting the severity of the remaining wintertime. And possibly, depending on how you interpret the data, predicting global warming, as well. And with the rejection of mandatory Carbon Dioxide caps, the groundhogs may have more work ahead of them yet. The UN weighed in on the warming issue with a report that said global warming is most likely being caused by people, among other predictions about the state of the nation.
New Jersey bans the secret recording of teachers in the classroom. So if your history teacher starts spouting about the necessity of accepting Jesus and making claims that would be better served in science class, you have to inform the teach that you’re taping them. Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? And in a case of “he said, teacher said”, teacher’s probably going to win.
Iran's nuclear plans are still going forward according to the diplomats. The question is rapidly becoming whether the United States takes that as an act of aggression and starts another war.
Binge Eating is the top eating disorder in America. Which is a surprise to many, because they’re probably not aware that it’s classed as a disorder, even if they have it. With portion sizes and the ready availability of junk food in this country, binge eating probably contributes to many more problems than just the urge to eat.
More talk and less effective action about on-line behavior and those who would seek to use the tubes to troll for underage sex - a bill requiring sex offenders to register their names and e-mail addresses with a national database. It’s lambasted, and rightly so, as being fairly ineffective, but some of the solutions being offered up, with the exception of “educating parents and kids about on-line content and behavior” are just as useless. If parents want to make sure their children are safe, they have to be active in their involvement. I don’t necessarily condone keyloggers and spying on your own kids, but you do have to be involved in their lives and have them trust you enough that they will tell you about some weird things if they happen. At that age, though, they may tune out the parents. So then it’s up to their peers and the people that teens actually respect. Whomever they may be.
Moving away from underage, illegal behavior to legitimate, if kinky, behavior between adults, a studio specializing in S&M-themed adult videos has bought an old State Armory to shoot films in. The atmosphere is right for them, they think they could decorate the place, and it would revitalize a thirty-year old building. Of course, the armies of N.I.M.B.Y. leapt to the fore as soon as they could and began fighting it. A different force, composed of what would probably be some unlikely allies, has been contemplating what to do about research trying to figure out whether homosexuality really is hard-wired in animals. If they turn out to be right, and there’s some stuff that can be done to “fix” homosexuals to heterosexuality, well, I wonder what the holy wars would be like, and whether homosexuality would vanish in a few generations, under a policy designed to “correct” them before they even have a chance to know they’re homosexual. (Something else tells me that girl children would probably be hardwired to be bisexual, for some, asexual for others. That’s probably me being weird, though, so pay it little mind.)
Something to appease the eyes - Bending Lights - a flickr photoset that makes patterns of light and then photographs the results.
Thus, linked out, we turn off the brain-machine and go to bed.
After such a thing as the Boston gaffe, there are the inevitable parodies and poking fun. I think this particular image will win out. But if you’re up for text, here's Wired’s Table of Malcontents taking a swing at the debacle.
Gore nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. Once again, Democrats around the world are screaming, “Where was this guy when we needed him elected?!”
A pair of perspectives, both talking about the efforts underway to prevent the opinions of a group from being aired. The first, an older piece, postulates the trapping nature of the idea of "supporting the troops" and the implied support of the wars those troops are fighting, and the other says that if the support-troops but not war mentality continued to grow, then the Muslim world will take over, and everyone should brush up on their Koran. Both cases suggesting that the majority opinion, or the important one, is against them, and that it is necessary to act and be heard, lest the problem continue past the point of no return. Both sides will shot doom and gloom at you. I guess then it’s really a matter of deciding if you’re going to listen to either side, and how much.
On a small island in Guinea-Bissau, women choose their husbands - and the men don't usually get to refuse. It turns the traditional idea of marriage on its head. Oh, by the way, did you know that the United States is one of five countries in a survey that doesn't offer guaranteed paid maternity leave. That survey covered 173 countries. And we’re one of five that doesn’t guarantee that working women can take care of their children. I suspect there’s a reflection on our attitudes toward women working in there somewhere.
The groundhogs were out today, predicting the severity of the remaining wintertime. And possibly, depending on how you interpret the data, predicting global warming, as well. And with the rejection of mandatory Carbon Dioxide caps, the groundhogs may have more work ahead of them yet. The UN weighed in on the warming issue with a report that said global warming is most likely being caused by people, among other predictions about the state of the nation.
New Jersey bans the secret recording of teachers in the classroom. So if your history teacher starts spouting about the necessity of accepting Jesus and making claims that would be better served in science class, you have to inform the teach that you’re taping them. Kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? And in a case of “he said, teacher said”, teacher’s probably going to win.
Iran's nuclear plans are still going forward according to the diplomats. The question is rapidly becoming whether the United States takes that as an act of aggression and starts another war.
Binge Eating is the top eating disorder in America. Which is a surprise to many, because they’re probably not aware that it’s classed as a disorder, even if they have it. With portion sizes and the ready availability of junk food in this country, binge eating probably contributes to many more problems than just the urge to eat.
More talk and less effective action about on-line behavior and those who would seek to use the tubes to troll for underage sex - a bill requiring sex offenders to register their names and e-mail addresses with a national database. It’s lambasted, and rightly so, as being fairly ineffective, but some of the solutions being offered up, with the exception of “educating parents and kids about on-line content and behavior” are just as useless. If parents want to make sure their children are safe, they have to be active in their involvement. I don’t necessarily condone keyloggers and spying on your own kids, but you do have to be involved in their lives and have them trust you enough that they will tell you about some weird things if they happen. At that age, though, they may tune out the parents. So then it’s up to their peers and the people that teens actually respect. Whomever they may be.
Moving away from underage, illegal behavior to legitimate, if kinky, behavior between adults, a studio specializing in S&M-themed adult videos has bought an old State Armory to shoot films in. The atmosphere is right for them, they think they could decorate the place, and it would revitalize a thirty-year old building. Of course, the armies of N.I.M.B.Y. leapt to the fore as soon as they could and began fighting it. A different force, composed of what would probably be some unlikely allies, has been contemplating what to do about research trying to figure out whether homosexuality really is hard-wired in animals. If they turn out to be right, and there’s some stuff that can be done to “fix” homosexuals to heterosexuality, well, I wonder what the holy wars would be like, and whether homosexuality would vanish in a few generations, under a policy designed to “correct” them before they even have a chance to know they’re homosexual. (Something else tells me that girl children would probably be hardwired to be bisexual, for some, asexual for others. That’s probably me being weird, though, so pay it little mind.)
Something to appease the eyes - Bending Lights - a flickr photoset that makes patterns of light and then photographs the results.
Thus, linked out, we turn off the brain-machine and go to bed.
