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Father's Day - 17 June 2007
Jun. 18th, 2007 01:22 amHappy Father’s Day to those who are fathers. Happy Father’s Day to those whose fathers are still here. Happy Father’s Day to those whose father’s have passed on from this life. In such salutations, however, there is both joy and grief. For while some of us are fortunate enough to have their fathers still here, and some whose fathers lived to a long age, there are others for whom fathers or siblings are taken prematurely. (Trying to track this back to an original source is maddening, as the Internet is not fond of producing sources when prodded unless you ask the right people. If someone can do so, let me know.)
We grilled today, which was filling, and there was ice cream, and pops played some We Heart Katamari. Which was a fun way to spend the day, really. And I had to teach someone who knew zip about card games how to play Euchre. That was fun, trust me.
Stanford got a winner for a commencement speaker who implored the country to restore arts education and to put emphasis back with the arts and sciences, rather than just on sport and entertainment figures. Please, please, do so. Make music and art and science and put them into your discourse, at a higher priority, perhaps, than Paris Hilton’s newest debacle or the lackluster marriage of a Hollywood celebrity. Good discussion of politics, with the policy rather than the showmanship would also be appreciated, please.
Wired has excerpts of the "Soldier's Guide to Iraq" distributed by the 101st Airborne about the inhabitants of the country that was to be invaded. Some bits are good, some bits are dated, some bits don’t really make that much for sense. Something else that may not make much more for sense is the possibility that Tony Blair may be up to become the President of the European Union after stepping down as the prime minister of the United Kingdom. What makes least sense of this bunch, however, is the sheriff who raided the wrong house, looking for the neighbors next door, and forced a 77-year old to the ground while searching for meth. One should always double-check the numbers before engaging the raid.
A reminder, one of many, that free speech does cut both ways, as it permits a billboard that links atheists to terrorists, by being "Anti-American" because of being "Anti-God" as well as those atheists to tell anyone who holds that view to go play elsewhere.
The oil industry got jaked pretty well with the Yes Men unveiling the concept of "Vivoleum", oil made from dead humans, at the Gas and Oil Exposition for this year. It was a good job, until security came and removed the gentlemen. Ah well, just goes to show that you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Gives us some cheer, as well, that a well-planned maneuver like this can still work in today’s day and age.
MMO players will probably have steam coming out of their ears over this article from the NYTimes, and with good reason, it details the life and times of workers in gold farming and power-leveling operations in China.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
2dlife notes it an interesting take on how economics invades all places, even those supposed to be democratic, and thinks of it as a commentary on how much people value their time, based on the difference between wages paid and prices for services rendered. Which is a valid way of looking at it. I don’t think it will induce much for pity for those working at that operation, and I could liken it to the virtual equivalent to a sweatshop for real goods.
Those who have the astronomy (and those who don’t), what do you make of the possibility of a dark-matter galaxy? I’m not wholly cognizant of the ins and outs of the dark matter hypothesis myself, so some rudimentary work on that would probably also be in order.
Reminded of a good piece of literature through the folks at MonkeyFilter - the Tale of Genji, what may be the world’s first novel, and a staple of Japanese literature. I went through a translation of it, and it holds a lot of the elements of the romance novel - beautiful hero, court intrigue, lots and lots of sex and politics... it holds up pretty well over time, although one may need some footnotes, as with Shakespeare, to get maximal benefit out of the tale.
The prosecutor for the Duke lacrosse rape case has been disbarred. The review found that Mr. Nifong, the prosecutor, acted with “dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation”. If memory serves, not that long ago, before the case fell apart, there was quite a bit of talk about who or what may have been deceiving. Now we know, I suppose. Although it’s more of an appendix than an endpiece to this matter.
The last part for tonight is a half-rant - the target is the Reformed Church of God's policy on teenage blogging - where mixed in with useful bits of information and prevention are justified with some part of religious material. What I’m miffed about is - why not just offer the sound advice apart from the spiderweb of religious justification? I don’t think many people need to hear “God says posting your picture on the Internet is dangerous” when “Posting your picture on the Internet is dangerous” will do. There’s also the entire section about “Private things should be kept private - the world doesn’t need to hear about what you think, and you’re being vain by posting” - which, while we might believe it appropriate for our ideological opponents, is not particularly good practice for the real world. And there’s also the part where they’re supposed to rise above the normal things that teenagers talk about and be shining examples for God in all their waking moments. I just find it aggravating that what could be a useful document gets caught and dragged under by the Kraken of whatever religious faith is being expressed. Whatever happened to giving information and then letting the recipients draw their own conclusions out of it? (And then, if you must, work with those conclusions - but progress is notoriously tough in that arena without there being experience behind it.)
Offering a sort of counterpoint (work with me here, on the scale I’m currently envisioning, this falls on the other side. This scale is subject to change without notice, etc, etc.) to the rather tightly-wound religiously-based enterprise, here’s an article billing itself "Portrait of an Open Marriage", chroncling the adventures of a bisexual and married woman trying to come to grips with her need for more than just her husband, who's fine with just her. It looks like things work out between them, and they’re communicating with each other (very important). Also shows that he’s a great guy in trying to get his head around her needs, and not being overly protective about her. (Funny, that attraction bit is getting to me again - see one article about poly or open marriages, and then they start trickling in again...)
The ending Cool Thing for tonight is Planet Perplex, a web site devoted to optical tricks, illusions, Impossible images, and the like. So amuse yourself and figure out the puzzles contained therein. I’m going to go to bed. It’s very hot and humid out tonight, and a single box fan, while we appreciate the effort, it’s not doing a whole lot to reduce the temperature in the room. G’night.
We grilled today, which was filling, and there was ice cream, and pops played some We Heart Katamari. Which was a fun way to spend the day, really. And I had to teach someone who knew zip about card games how to play Euchre. That was fun, trust me.
Stanford got a winner for a commencement speaker who implored the country to restore arts education and to put emphasis back with the arts and sciences, rather than just on sport and entertainment figures. Please, please, do so. Make music and art and science and put them into your discourse, at a higher priority, perhaps, than Paris Hilton’s newest debacle or the lackluster marriage of a Hollywood celebrity. Good discussion of politics, with the policy rather than the showmanship would also be appreciated, please.
Wired has excerpts of the "Soldier's Guide to Iraq" distributed by the 101st Airborne about the inhabitants of the country that was to be invaded. Some bits are good, some bits are dated, some bits don’t really make that much for sense. Something else that may not make much more for sense is the possibility that Tony Blair may be up to become the President of the European Union after stepping down as the prime minister of the United Kingdom. What makes least sense of this bunch, however, is the sheriff who raided the wrong house, looking for the neighbors next door, and forced a 77-year old to the ground while searching for meth. One should always double-check the numbers before engaging the raid.
A reminder, one of many, that free speech does cut both ways, as it permits a billboard that links atheists to terrorists, by being "Anti-American" because of being "Anti-God" as well as those atheists to tell anyone who holds that view to go play elsewhere.
The oil industry got jaked pretty well with the Yes Men unveiling the concept of "Vivoleum", oil made from dead humans, at the Gas and Oil Exposition for this year. It was a good job, until security came and removed the gentlemen. Ah well, just goes to show that you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Gives us some cheer, as well, that a well-planned maneuver like this can still work in today’s day and age.
MMO players will probably have steam coming out of their ears over this article from the NYTimes, and with good reason, it details the life and times of workers in gold farming and power-leveling operations in China.
2dlife notes it an interesting take on how economics invades all places, even those supposed to be democratic, and thinks of it as a commentary on how much people value their time, based on the difference between wages paid and prices for services rendered. Which is a valid way of looking at it. I don’t think it will induce much for pity for those working at that operation, and I could liken it to the virtual equivalent to a sweatshop for real goods. Those who have the astronomy (and those who don’t), what do you make of the possibility of a dark-matter galaxy? I’m not wholly cognizant of the ins and outs of the dark matter hypothesis myself, so some rudimentary work on that would probably also be in order.
Reminded of a good piece of literature through the folks at MonkeyFilter - the Tale of Genji, what may be the world’s first novel, and a staple of Japanese literature. I went through a translation of it, and it holds a lot of the elements of the romance novel - beautiful hero, court intrigue, lots and lots of sex and politics... it holds up pretty well over time, although one may need some footnotes, as with Shakespeare, to get maximal benefit out of the tale.
The prosecutor for the Duke lacrosse rape case has been disbarred. The review found that Mr. Nifong, the prosecutor, acted with “dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation”. If memory serves, not that long ago, before the case fell apart, there was quite a bit of talk about who or what may have been deceiving. Now we know, I suppose. Although it’s more of an appendix than an endpiece to this matter.
The last part for tonight is a half-rant - the target is the Reformed Church of God's policy on teenage blogging - where mixed in with useful bits of information and prevention are justified with some part of religious material. What I’m miffed about is - why not just offer the sound advice apart from the spiderweb of religious justification? I don’t think many people need to hear “God says posting your picture on the Internet is dangerous” when “Posting your picture on the Internet is dangerous” will do. There’s also the entire section about “Private things should be kept private - the world doesn’t need to hear about what you think, and you’re being vain by posting” - which, while we might believe it appropriate for our ideological opponents, is not particularly good practice for the real world. And there’s also the part where they’re supposed to rise above the normal things that teenagers talk about and be shining examples for God in all their waking moments. I just find it aggravating that what could be a useful document gets caught and dragged under by the Kraken of whatever religious faith is being expressed. Whatever happened to giving information and then letting the recipients draw their own conclusions out of it? (And then, if you must, work with those conclusions - but progress is notoriously tough in that arena without there being experience behind it.)
Offering a sort of counterpoint (work with me here, on the scale I’m currently envisioning, this falls on the other side. This scale is subject to change without notice, etc, etc.) to the rather tightly-wound religiously-based enterprise, here’s an article billing itself "Portrait of an Open Marriage", chroncling the adventures of a bisexual and married woman trying to come to grips with her need for more than just her husband, who's fine with just her. It looks like things work out between them, and they’re communicating with each other (very important). Also shows that he’s a great guy in trying to get his head around her needs, and not being overly protective about her. (Funny, that attraction bit is getting to me again - see one article about poly or open marriages, and then they start trickling in again...)
The ending Cool Thing for tonight is Planet Perplex, a web site devoted to optical tricks, illusions, Impossible images, and the like. So amuse yourself and figure out the puzzles contained therein. I’m going to go to bed. It’s very hot and humid out tonight, and a single box fan, while we appreciate the effort, it’s not doing a whole lot to reduce the temperature in the room. G’night.
