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And then there was me - 9 February 2007
Feb. 10th, 2007 03:25 amWent and watched Independence Day in one of the lecture halls on the engineering campus with some other trombones. Rather fun, and the movie is just as bad as it was when I first saw it... actually, now that I’ve had some time to look at it again, it’s even worse than it was before. There were quite a few laughs in the movie, especially when there was some handwaving wondertech going on. And we found out that Macs can interface with alien OS.
The second part of The Rise of The Technosattva is up on Buddhist Geeks. In this segment, they explore whether using technology and new science like neurofeedback with the meditational practice is something that those who have taken the bodhisattva’s vow should pursue. And the laity as well, I would think. After all, a good practice is generally what’s pointed to when the benefits start accruing.
Now that search has been done, the next best thing is making search much more natural. Xerox's PARC recently licensed natural-language technology to a search company that hopes to rival, and possibly topple, Google. If they can get a natural-language search engine working, and able to understand users the world over, that would definitely be a breakthrough. My own profession might take another hit, of course, in appearing less necessary in the digital age, but we’ll manage. And probably come out of it smelling like roses, if we get things together.
The Washington Times reports that some Senate Republicans are still worried about the PR aspects of a nonbinding resolution critical of the troop surge plan from the White House. Apparently, they’re still on the track of “if we show that there’s dissent, then the terrorists win.” In some circles, though, politicians and think tanks are gearing up for an eventual, possibly inevitable, defeat in Iraq. The commander in Afghanistan (remember there?) is also gearing up for what he considers to be a pivotal point in his department. He's asking for more troops to crush a Taliban surge that generally happens at the beginning of spring. His request is about 1,500 to 2,000 troops, rather than the 20,000+ that are being shipped off to Iraq. If the Afghan general can do what the Iraq troops can’t, call it a blessing.
And then there’s Iran, which has publicly stated that if the United States decides to attack, they will retaliate against U.S. interests all across the world. Please tell me that the Administration is not thinking of going through with attacking Iran and stretching things further.
If Islam, radical or otherwise, is the driving force behind the difficulties, then taking the advice of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, excepted at hyperstition, may be a good solution - admit the problem is widespread, and then help to make the reformers and peaceable people the voice that the majority of Muslims hear and believe. Certainly, helping countries get beyond the mode of life where 20 people will be lashed and imprisoned for drinking and dancing together is a good thing. There are others, however, who say that Christians have not gotten over that particular hump themselves, falling prey to teh speck/placnk argument, and thus America needs to fight off the Christian fascists as well as helping Muslims get rid of their own. This particular argument gets lots of weight when we see stories of a child being whipped, confined, and killed, all on the advice of a particular church.
There may be some progress with North Korea, though, as talks over their nuclear programme have resumed.
A novel way of seeing the Grand Canyon - by stepping out on a glass skyway right over it. If I were near it, I’m afraid I’d probably get very nervous. Being several stories up doesn’t bother me. Knowing that I’m several stories up, because I can see all the way down... that makes me nervous. As I’ve said, I’m not afraid of heights. I’m afraid of what might go wrong at heights.
As an effort to at least be able to recover from a more flooded world, should climate change turn out to be disastrous, a seed back is planned to be carved into Arctic rock hopes to be able to revitalize the planet, even if all the ice should melt. Not quite Superman’s sanctum for Truth and Justice, but having a backup plan is never a bad thing. Purdue University scientists say they've created a portable electric generator that runs on waste. It’s not quite the Mr. Fusion, but it could be his great-grandfather. If this turns out to be useful, maybe we can hook a larger-scale one into the grid and run it off the landfills? If not that, then maybe they can attach them to a Yuki-taro snow-clearing robot, and we can get the driveways and sidewalks plowed off the garbage that we generate. And if that robot wasn’t enough for your futuretech needs, go retro with some toys that had concepts of the future.
Apparently, because it has the Pictochat feature built into it, the Nintendo DS could be attractive to child molesters, according to WITI-TV in Milwaukee. What bothers me is that this very short article gives little for details, and it makes an implicit assumption that I’m not comfortable with - that parents are so detached and ineffective at their parenting that any lessons taught to kids (if there were any taught) about not responding to or reporting predatory behavior from strangers in life and on the Internet somehow doesn’t get followed with handheld gaming units or other portables. It also says, in my opinion, that parents don’t read manuals and see what their kids can do with the portable devices, either. That’s a more believable claim, but really, paranoia over Pictochat? At some point, you still have to trust your kid that they’ll tell you about anything suspicious. Those that try to monitor everything will not succeed. Of course, that could be me talking form a fairly privileged background and child-raising. Salt to taste, as with everything I say.
An author and scholar on the Holocaust was accosted by a Holocaust denier while in his hotel. The denier apparently told him he wanted to interview him, then apparently was ready to drag him into a hotel room, where he would apparently “truthfully answer” questions about why his Holocaust memoir “is almost entirely fictitious”. This sounded like it could have turned into a headline where the author was beaten or killed, but the author called for help sufficiently that his “interviewer” fled. I guess I don’t quite understand why people deny that it happened. Even with less casualties, all the things leading up to it stand well as warnings.
I’ve been trying to make heads or tails of the following situation, and I think I’ve managed to pin some of it down enough to get a leading point on it. Apparently, the Edwards 2008 campaign hired in a couple bloggers to assist with the netroots (what an odd neologism that is) popularity. The candidates selected, unlike the person who will probably win the Democratic nomination, appear to have had a spine, slat their words with the occasional profanity, and, horror of horrors, actually have an opinion and speak it. Said opinion happens to be not too nice to the religious. So, there is now talk, possibly already action done, of firing said bloggers. Grabbing a perspective from each side on the issue, let’s explore Kung Fu Monkey’s take on why firing her because a right-wing nutjob complained is a stupid, stupid thing first. Those opinions will get you every time, I swear. Anyway, this particular post likens the matter to a tiny swift-boating, and that Edwards capitulating here means he’s lost the race before it began. He also notes that the people complaining are not unbiased persons themselves. This writer would prefer his candidates and his liberals more willing to be combative. Riding the boomerang around to the other side, the Jawa Report says it's not about the salty language, but about the bloggers being bigots. So we’ve got accusations of bigotry on both ends of the spectrum, against various peoples. This definitely looks to be an explosive sort of situation. Perhaps we really will need the Chair Leg of Truth (It Does Not Lie!) to lay about with before the matter can actually be resolved. Have to say, myself, that liberal candidates actually being liberals, and having enough of a spine to take a volley without folding would be a very nice change of pace. (If I’ve missed something important in this analysis, point it out to me, by all means.) Trying to avoid controversy by firing the controversial generally generates... more controversy. (As does keeping them on, of course.)
An article billing itself The Truth About Beauty gives us all a bit of the short end of the stick by saying that no, really, beauty in women is genetic, and that everyone is programmed with a general idea of what beautiful looks like. Then some women get closer to this ideal, and others sit far away. (I’m inclined to say there’s a similar archetype for men, if the archetype exists.) Using that idea, the article analyzes Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign as a way of widening what beauty means in the particulars without abandoning the base concept, and deliberately leaving ambiguous what they mean by “Real Beauty” - as nature intended, or really beautiful according to the pattern? The linking source, whom I do not recall, noted that there are some social practices putting pressure on beauty as well, leading into things like foot binding (or breast augmentation, I’d say). But if the main thrust of the article is right, and that there is some standard to which all will be measured, then that leaves some of us out on the ugly end. Which is not a pretty thought by itself, and can lead to the various problems that people have with their self-image. Mostly because if there is an archetype, it needs to be nailed down so that we can make comparisons, like we want to. But if we nail down the archetype, then people will be making comparisons, and then basing decisions on those comparisons, and the whole problem of people thinking they aren’t pretty will explode into the problem of people knowing they’re not pretty. It becomes significantly more difficult for people to accept the way they are, when perfection is staring them in the face, easily accessible. After all, what’s the use in trying to land someone pretty, or anyone at all, when you know you’re on the low-scoring end of pretty? The media points out to us time and time again that your personality doesn’t really matter, your abilities don’t really matter, but if you’re pretty, then you’re going to go a long way in this place. Well, okay - pretty people get the pretty people, is all that it’s really saying. The undercurrent on that is a warning not to set our aim too high if we don’t have the face to back it up.
Which gets me thinking about a society that has stratified itself into castes based solely on how pretty the person is, as rated by... well, someone. I suppose a formula that would compare them to the ideal, but that would mean someone nailed down the idea of the ideal according to their preferences, no matter how many times the building simulation was run. Hrm. I wonder whether we’re actually living in that society already, and the only reason we haven’t done the social-club stratification is because we don’t have the agreed-upon archetype yet. Those of you with larger sci-fi or fantasy reading than me will probably pick a book or short story out of the air and say, “Been there, written about that. Read this.”
So, I guess the parting thought is - how many of us actually think we’re pretty? And going from that, how many of us actually are, but we don’t think so? (And how much does the fad diet and other industries make off this particular dichotomy?)
Anyway, going bedward.
The second part of The Rise of The Technosattva is up on Buddhist Geeks. In this segment, they explore whether using technology and new science like neurofeedback with the meditational practice is something that those who have taken the bodhisattva’s vow should pursue. And the laity as well, I would think. After all, a good practice is generally what’s pointed to when the benefits start accruing.
Now that search has been done, the next best thing is making search much more natural. Xerox's PARC recently licensed natural-language technology to a search company that hopes to rival, and possibly topple, Google. If they can get a natural-language search engine working, and able to understand users the world over, that would definitely be a breakthrough. My own profession might take another hit, of course, in appearing less necessary in the digital age, but we’ll manage. And probably come out of it smelling like roses, if we get things together.
The Washington Times reports that some Senate Republicans are still worried about the PR aspects of a nonbinding resolution critical of the troop surge plan from the White House. Apparently, they’re still on the track of “if we show that there’s dissent, then the terrorists win.” In some circles, though, politicians and think tanks are gearing up for an eventual, possibly inevitable, defeat in Iraq. The commander in Afghanistan (remember there?) is also gearing up for what he considers to be a pivotal point in his department. He's asking for more troops to crush a Taliban surge that generally happens at the beginning of spring. His request is about 1,500 to 2,000 troops, rather than the 20,000+ that are being shipped off to Iraq. If the Afghan general can do what the Iraq troops can’t, call it a blessing.
And then there’s Iran, which has publicly stated that if the United States decides to attack, they will retaliate against U.S. interests all across the world. Please tell me that the Administration is not thinking of going through with attacking Iran and stretching things further.
If Islam, radical or otherwise, is the driving force behind the difficulties, then taking the advice of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, excepted at hyperstition, may be a good solution - admit the problem is widespread, and then help to make the reformers and peaceable people the voice that the majority of Muslims hear and believe. Certainly, helping countries get beyond the mode of life where 20 people will be lashed and imprisoned for drinking and dancing together is a good thing. There are others, however, who say that Christians have not gotten over that particular hump themselves, falling prey to teh speck/placnk argument, and thus America needs to fight off the Christian fascists as well as helping Muslims get rid of their own. This particular argument gets lots of weight when we see stories of a child being whipped, confined, and killed, all on the advice of a particular church.
There may be some progress with North Korea, though, as talks over their nuclear programme have resumed.
A novel way of seeing the Grand Canyon - by stepping out on a glass skyway right over it. If I were near it, I’m afraid I’d probably get very nervous. Being several stories up doesn’t bother me. Knowing that I’m several stories up, because I can see all the way down... that makes me nervous. As I’ve said, I’m not afraid of heights. I’m afraid of what might go wrong at heights.
As an effort to at least be able to recover from a more flooded world, should climate change turn out to be disastrous, a seed back is planned to be carved into Arctic rock hopes to be able to revitalize the planet, even if all the ice should melt. Not quite Superman’s sanctum for Truth and Justice, but having a backup plan is never a bad thing. Purdue University scientists say they've created a portable electric generator that runs on waste. It’s not quite the Mr. Fusion, but it could be his great-grandfather. If this turns out to be useful, maybe we can hook a larger-scale one into the grid and run it off the landfills? If not that, then maybe they can attach them to a Yuki-taro snow-clearing robot, and we can get the driveways and sidewalks plowed off the garbage that we generate. And if that robot wasn’t enough for your futuretech needs, go retro with some toys that had concepts of the future.
Apparently, because it has the Pictochat feature built into it, the Nintendo DS could be attractive to child molesters, according to WITI-TV in Milwaukee. What bothers me is that this very short article gives little for details, and it makes an implicit assumption that I’m not comfortable with - that parents are so detached and ineffective at their parenting that any lessons taught to kids (if there were any taught) about not responding to or reporting predatory behavior from strangers in life and on the Internet somehow doesn’t get followed with handheld gaming units or other portables. It also says, in my opinion, that parents don’t read manuals and see what their kids can do with the portable devices, either. That’s a more believable claim, but really, paranoia over Pictochat? At some point, you still have to trust your kid that they’ll tell you about anything suspicious. Those that try to monitor everything will not succeed. Of course, that could be me talking form a fairly privileged background and child-raising. Salt to taste, as with everything I say.
An author and scholar on the Holocaust was accosted by a Holocaust denier while in his hotel. The denier apparently told him he wanted to interview him, then apparently was ready to drag him into a hotel room, where he would apparently “truthfully answer” questions about why his Holocaust memoir “is almost entirely fictitious”. This sounded like it could have turned into a headline where the author was beaten or killed, but the author called for help sufficiently that his “interviewer” fled. I guess I don’t quite understand why people deny that it happened. Even with less casualties, all the things leading up to it stand well as warnings.
I’ve been trying to make heads or tails of the following situation, and I think I’ve managed to pin some of it down enough to get a leading point on it. Apparently, the Edwards 2008 campaign hired in a couple bloggers to assist with the netroots (what an odd neologism that is) popularity. The candidates selected, unlike the person who will probably win the Democratic nomination, appear to have had a spine, slat their words with the occasional profanity, and, horror of horrors, actually have an opinion and speak it. Said opinion happens to be not too nice to the religious. So, there is now talk, possibly already action done, of firing said bloggers. Grabbing a perspective from each side on the issue, let’s explore Kung Fu Monkey’s take on why firing her because a right-wing nutjob complained is a stupid, stupid thing first. Those opinions will get you every time, I swear. Anyway, this particular post likens the matter to a tiny swift-boating, and that Edwards capitulating here means he’s lost the race before it began. He also notes that the people complaining are not unbiased persons themselves. This writer would prefer his candidates and his liberals more willing to be combative. Riding the boomerang around to the other side, the Jawa Report says it's not about the salty language, but about the bloggers being bigots. So we’ve got accusations of bigotry on both ends of the spectrum, against various peoples. This definitely looks to be an explosive sort of situation. Perhaps we really will need the Chair Leg of Truth (It Does Not Lie!) to lay about with before the matter can actually be resolved. Have to say, myself, that liberal candidates actually being liberals, and having enough of a spine to take a volley without folding would be a very nice change of pace. (If I’ve missed something important in this analysis, point it out to me, by all means.) Trying to avoid controversy by firing the controversial generally generates... more controversy. (As does keeping them on, of course.)
An article billing itself The Truth About Beauty gives us all a bit of the short end of the stick by saying that no, really, beauty in women is genetic, and that everyone is programmed with a general idea of what beautiful looks like. Then some women get closer to this ideal, and others sit far away. (I’m inclined to say there’s a similar archetype for men, if the archetype exists.) Using that idea, the article analyzes Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign as a way of widening what beauty means in the particulars without abandoning the base concept, and deliberately leaving ambiguous what they mean by “Real Beauty” - as nature intended, or really beautiful according to the pattern? The linking source, whom I do not recall, noted that there are some social practices putting pressure on beauty as well, leading into things like foot binding (or breast augmentation, I’d say). But if the main thrust of the article is right, and that there is some standard to which all will be measured, then that leaves some of us out on the ugly end. Which is not a pretty thought by itself, and can lead to the various problems that people have with their self-image. Mostly because if there is an archetype, it needs to be nailed down so that we can make comparisons, like we want to. But if we nail down the archetype, then people will be making comparisons, and then basing decisions on those comparisons, and the whole problem of people thinking they aren’t pretty will explode into the problem of people knowing they’re not pretty. It becomes significantly more difficult for people to accept the way they are, when perfection is staring them in the face, easily accessible. After all, what’s the use in trying to land someone pretty, or anyone at all, when you know you’re on the low-scoring end of pretty? The media points out to us time and time again that your personality doesn’t really matter, your abilities don’t really matter, but if you’re pretty, then you’re going to go a long way in this place. Well, okay - pretty people get the pretty people, is all that it’s really saying. The undercurrent on that is a warning not to set our aim too high if we don’t have the face to back it up.
Which gets me thinking about a society that has stratified itself into castes based solely on how pretty the person is, as rated by... well, someone. I suppose a formula that would compare them to the ideal, but that would mean someone nailed down the idea of the ideal according to their preferences, no matter how many times the building simulation was run. Hrm. I wonder whether we’re actually living in that society already, and the only reason we haven’t done the social-club stratification is because we don’t have the agreed-upon archetype yet. Those of you with larger sci-fi or fantasy reading than me will probably pick a book or short story out of the air and say, “Been there, written about that. Read this.”
So, I guess the parting thought is - how many of us actually think we’re pretty? And going from that, how many of us actually are, but we don’t think so? (And how much does the fad diet and other industries make off this particular dichotomy?)
Anyway, going bedward.
