Material of limited interest - 24 July 2007

This entry has been delayed substantively from the original posting time by a power outage where SixApart’s LiveJournal servers are located. There should be no degradation of quality, considering we don’t aspire to any in the first place. Of course, the fact that you are reading this means that the power crisis has been resolved and we are once again functioning.

Before we begin - recall under way for certain types of meat products, generally chilis. I believe the reason for the recall is a potential botulism outbreak, so this one’s pretty important. Have a look.

Today? Not a whole lot done, of course, I think I got told subtly to turn my music down by one of my housemates, as she told me that I had been moved to second-loudest music player in the house. I don’t think it’s particularly loud, but then again, I have no idea how well it carries to the people above me. Anyway, moving onward and such. Have a look at rice-paddy art as a distraction before you ask me for more details. If that’s not enough, maybe the news of the Weekly World News shutting down will give you enough pause for me to escape into the aether.

I think I’ll go hide in the places that are purported to be Fox News's image and other directories. I don’t think an organization such as Fox News would leave such stuff unguarded. Then again, I might be wrong. The crudeness of it seems, well, odd. And perhaps a bit lolcat-like.

To try and thoroughly weird yourself out, perhaps you can try and experiment to see if you can find a “highly strange” point, where physical sensations may occur from holding objects or limbs at certain points outside the body. I wonder what might be causing those kinds of sensataions, and whether they can be explained by known science, or at least have some sort of hypothesis derived. If there’s nothing there, though, then maybe you can try to puzzle out some sort of meaning with regards to the images and writing in the Codex Serpahinianus. If nothing else, it’ll be a distraction from consensus reality.

Something good out of the journalism world, though - it appears that Mika Brzezinsi’s insistence that celebrity news be placed behind actual news is a precdent - CNN anchor Jack Cafferty asked that material regarding Lindsey Lohan's recent arrest be removed from his teleprompter. I like this trend, myself. For those people who want obsessive celebrity details like that, let them turn to programs devoted to the purpose. Keep the news, well, newsworthy, please.

At least one gym is offering Wii workout as a warm-up, cool-down, or circuit for training. While it’s not going to be replacing any weights or bikes or other such things any time soon, a little Wii Tennis could be useful as a break between heavier sets of working out.

In Florida, one man’s money has made something that could very well be the beginning of some sort of Jesusland. The town of Ave Maria, Florida, built on strict Catholic principles, will open Saturday. There’s the church and the Catholic university, a lack of adult stores or entertainment, and there’s strong encouragement for businesses there not to sell contraceptives or birth control. The town is, however, open to the public. We’ll see if the vision of its founder continues on into posterity, and whether the town comes under fire from other group in attempting to enforce the vision of its founder. What probably stopped him from making it his baby were the laws and potential lawsuits. If successful, I wonder if we’ll start seeing those kinds of towns start springing up all over the country. I’d guess Suzanne Fields thinks there are going to be plenty of people to fill those houses, maybe not as Catholics, but as "New Victorians", people who eschew the sexual freedom of their forebears and support a more 1950s-style life. Although there’s something weird about the way the “New Vics” are being described in such a throwback sort of way. Maybe it’s just my currently running theory that older religious/“moral” conservatives believe the 1950s was where America should have stopped, and is where it should return to as soon as possible, and thus when Suzanne describes this new generation, I wonder whether she’s projecting her ideal onto an entire generation that may be changing for completely different reasons. Regardless of their opinions about how they want to live their own lives, Americans are not in favor of a president using their interpretation of the Bible, or even of using their personal faith, to guide the country. This seems to be more a matter of Americans being smart enough to realize that they’ll run into a President/politician whose interpretation differs from theirs, which could result in a disaster, but favoring that the President/politician use some sort of religious values in their decision-making. It’s not quite the sound victory for secular government, but it could be a glimmer of hope that the populace understands once again what happens when religion interferes with good government.

Something encouraging for a change regarding situations in the Middle East: ambassador-level talks occurring between the United States and Iran regarding Iraq. May not be anything positive that comes out of it, and it might be a pretext to accuse Iran of being uncooperative and aiding in the instability in the region, but there might actually be something good that comes out of this, too. Perhaps they will discuss Iran's claim to have captured spy squirrels. Unfortunately, that good comes weighted down with a lot of other possible ills, including the United States intimating that it might use force in Pakistan in trying to root out Al-Qaeda, which could provide yet another place for Untied States soldiers to be killed and another government less than happy with us. There’s also more difficulties regarding just where Syria and Lebanon have their borders.

Domestically, there’s always plenty to be said about what’s going on here. Senator Feingold would like to censure the President for his conduct, since it’s unlikely that there will be any sort of impeachment coming forth. Harry Reid rejected the idea, so there’s probably not going to be anything on record expressing the disapproval of the people, as put through their representatives. This and other things prompts David Limbaugh to crow that Democrats and liberals can't possibly handle all the good news coming from Iraq, because it would wreck their already-made decisions about how things are going to turn out. Incidentally, I’m getting really ticked off at the continuous use of language that says those opposed to the war are defeatists or are opposed to victory or support America’s defeat. It started with the hubris that they were the only people who could determine who was “patriotic”, and now it assumes that Iraq will turn into whatever paradise they believe it will on their timetable, assuming that we put in enough time, manpower, deaths, and no-bid contracts to bring it forward. Recall that it was first thought that Iraq would welcome the United States with open arms and magically get rid of its conflicts and unite under a representative democracy, with American friends and oil dollars for all. So you’ll forgive war opponents if they’re a bit skeptical about claims of victory, of even that war can accomplish such a thing as peace or victory.

Non-war related, John Yoo defends Mr. Bush's claim of executive privilege on the firing of United States attorneys witht he claim that because it was business of the Executive, and there’s no criminal investigation going on that would require those records, the Congress’s authority in the matter is precisely dick. They could, of course, do other things, like refuse to confirm anyone until Mr. Bush gives them what they want, he says, but they have no Constitutional authority to inquire into things, unless they can prove that somehow the firings have violated laws somewhere. Which would be tough to do, considering judge appointments and prosecutions have, in many ways, the ability to interpret or test interpretations of the law. If I recall correctly, though, much of that investigation has to do with why official channels that would have mandatory archives weren’t used in the dealings of official business. I have no idea if that part actually falls into some sort of Congressional accountability purvey or not, but the people who will be affected by such hirings and appointments generally would like to know why someone was put in the office that they currently hold, so they know what to expect from them.

And thus, after the various war and domestic politicking, the Washington Post has an article about a possibly growing trend in United States communities to not ask about legal documentation status in their immigrant communities, allowing them to use city services, report crimes, and engage with the community without fear of being discovered as an illegal immigrant and deported. This doesn’t mean, however, that anyone who has an outstanding federal warrant gets a free pass, and if someone does commit a crime, then their documentation status comes to light. So there’s an incentive to keep from running afoul of the law, and in some of those communities, once the immigrants aren’t afraid of being checked, they’re good citizens. There’s something uniquely American in this, somewhere. I just can’t put my finger on it.

Families of those who have leapt off a 700-foot high bridge are calling for high barriers to be erected to prevent further attempts. There are already crisis line phones in place there, but it’s apparently not sufficient. A barrier would get in the way of picture-taking of the scenic view below. Those looking to end their lives will probably just try to find somewhere else, assuming that the barriers aren’t, say, climbable or anything like that. It’s still rather sad that people contemplate suicide. Wish that we had a society where something like that didn’t enter into people’s minds, because everyone could find happiness and didn’t have to worry about a lack of necessities, including friends and love.

After clearing up a dispute where someone took out a yellow pages advertisement claiming that his gym was a “homosexual gym”, Mr. Ray Parker was less than happy to see it appear in the "white pages" section of the phone directory, where it was a free advertisement. To their credit, the phone book makers have apologized and are trying to figure out some way of retracting the error. What I want to know is why someone would take out such an ad in the first place, and whether someone would assume that it was a gym only for homosexuals, which would probably run afoul of some discrimination statute, or whether it was a gym that didn’t mind having homosexuals in it, which might result in increased business if word of such friendliness were to get around. Or maybe it was intended to be some sort of personal attack against Mr. Parker, saying that he was a homosexual? Bizarre.

One of those parts about education in the Western world is that we’re supposed to be giving the pupils the skills they will need in their lives and their work, and to provide some idea for them what they can expect in the real world. However, if one is a little too obvious about the career training part, and possibly providing a little too accurate of what the future holds for their students, there tend to be complaints. Note the complaints that a school with a simulated support call center is "lowering expectations", when there is quite the possibility that those students will work in such an environment, or one similar, like retail, in their lives. In Kentucky, a new facet of reality intrudes on the students - to participate in extracurriculars, sports, or even to drive to school, students will have to pass mandatory drug testing. It’s becoming more like the real world every day, don’t you see?

One last travesty before turning to hopefully brighter matters - a professor of psychology was banned from entering the United States because one of the border guards found a paper of his, published in a respectable journal, where he recounted his experiences using LSD and other substances thirty years ago. No conviction, no criminal record, no statute of limitations, either, apparently. Denied entry with the only possible means of entry coming from a Homeland Security waiver at the end of a long and laborious process. If this is the criteria, does that mean we can expel politicians that have confessed to being alcohol addicts, even though they now claim they are reformed? After all, if we don’t wan’t drug users and addicts in the country, even if they used them some time ago, we should be uniform in our policy, don’t you think?

Our Cool Things department produces a Greenbox, a device intending to take auto exhaust and create a biofuel with a water vapour byproduct. Boy, if something like that’s cheap to manufacture, we could turn just about anything into a zero emissions vehicle, couldn’t we? Keeping in the theme of combustion, Wired has several photos of The Fire Arts Festival held in Oakland, California, 11-14 July of this year.

More news from the fringe of reality - 25 July 2007

One telephone interview in the books. One tomorrow. If the telephone interview today goes well, I’m going to have to borrow videoconferencing equipment so that I can do a skills demonstration for them in a secondary interview. I’ll know before the beginning of next week, apparently. It’s a flurry of activity, which is a nice change of pace from what normally happens as I try to find myself employment. Hopefully something out of this tour of interviews ends up getting me work. I probably need good luck more than good skills now, but having more of both would never be a bad thing.

I really haven’t played any of the Metal Gear franchise, just keeping an eye on it because of the people who mention some of its oddities, quirks, and metafictional techniques involved in the gameplay and unfolding storyline. Well, after having seen the trailers, I was linked to Hideo Kojima's demo of Metal Gear Solid 4 gameplay and the graphics and gameplay look very interesting. It looks to be from the chapter of the game that the trailers have come from, and Kojima demonstrates quite a few options for Snake to use in his missions. Again, not having played it, I have no idea if this is normal for a Metal Gear Solid game, but it might be enough to get me to try my hand at it, if I ever get the appropriate hardware involved.

A story thought finished and dead has revived with a vengeance. Recall earlier, the story of Reverend Magdalen, the SubGenius who had her child taken away from her because of some X-Day celebrations. The matter was thought closed, with the custody of her child awarded to her husband the father of the child, when the father racked up a drunk driving incident of sufficient proportions that the Rev. now has her child back, temporarily. New custody hearing to follow, but even more weird, the judge who determined the first case has inserted himself back into the case, bumping out the judge who was assigned to it. Even with claims that he sees things in a different light, a lot of things could get hairy quickly. More news as the saga unfolds, I guess.

Cindy Sheehan is going forward with the challenge to Pelosi's Congressional seat. Question is whether or not she decides to go for it now, or to wait for some time closer to the actual vote to make her campaign loud and visible.

There are probably a lot of people looking at an alimony case in California where a divorced man is paying alimony to his ex-wife, even though she registered as a domestic partner with another woman. According to what the law says, had she remarried, his alimony obligations would have stopped. But because it’s not marriage, then the agreement for alimony continues on. This is probably not what anyone envisioned as an example of what happens when you have separate institutions with separate definitions trying to coexist, but it is a case in the system from which an opinion has been written. While this situation is probably an outlier, statistically speaking, it could be cited as a test case for a lot of people looking for reasons why it would be simpler, cheaper, and altogether less confusing to offer same-sex couples marriage.

Cracked takes a swipe at six movie formulas that must be stopped, in their opinion. What’s a bit disappointing in this bit is how it ends. The rest of it is pretty funny, though. At least, I laughed more, or nodded thoughtfully there than I did in Michelle Malkin taking exception to Senator Joe Biden's response to a question about guns in the country. While the Senator’s jibe at the questioner’s mental state in referring to his weapon as his “baby” is not necessarily tasteful, his point about trying to ensure that those persons who could do great damage with gun because of mental instability is taken. I doubt that he was inferring, as Malkin wants to claim, that all gun-owners are mentally imbalanced or are looking for excuses to shoot people. Furthermore, I’d be very surprised if either Democrats or Republicans said they wanted to ban firearms completely or wanted to take them away from ordinary citizens. We’ll have to see how something like this gets spun out in upcoming political contests. We haven’t had a whole lot of “they’re coming to take our guns!” debate recently.

That could be, of course, because of the rather dominant that the conflict in Iraq is taking in the national discourse. It appears that the neoconservative wing of the country has all come to the same conclusion of an Iraqi genocide should the United States remove their military presence there. Having so concluded, they are unafraid to say that liberals condone the genocide of Iraq while opposing other genocides occurring in the world. I still don’t find the argument of “we have to stay there now or it’ll all collapse” compelling or appealing, because that would indicate how large of a screw-up really took place, as well as reveal just how long it will take to fix said screw-up. Considering the size and cost of the new embassy in Iraq, and seeing that timetables for Iraq security and possible troop drawdowns have already been pushed to 2009, I’m beginning to wonder whether there was any supporting structure at all in place before this insanity began. Even then, the troops may not get rest from Iraq, as an Air Force General wants the military to more than triple its terrorist-response teams, believing that there are already terror cells or those who want to start them inside the country..

In other matters, Cheney was given the same power to talk to the Justice Department that Bush had, and only now, Gonzalez seems to have noticed and “be troubled” by it. More evidence that there’s a puppet in the White House, and that someone else is running things? You never know. Maybe that recent rectal exam was to make sure that someone could still shove their hand up there and control the dummy appropriately. In any case, two White House aides may be facing contempt of Congress charges if the full House of Representatives vote for it, after the Judiciary Committee voted to start the process. The spokesman for Mr. Bush called it “pathetic”. In any case, as Mr. Gonzalez took fire from the Senate committee, Fox News reported on the sudden defection of Arlen Specter to the Democrats. This is the second sudden defection reported by Fox, following Representative Mark Foley’s abrupt departure from the Republican party. To cap things off with a quick trip to Bizarro-world, John Bambenek filed a Federal Election Comission complaint against the Daily Kos, claiming that it is a political action committee that spends enough money trying to influence political outcomes to subject it to disclosure rules. The Kos coughs politely and crowns John the "Wanker of the Year", pointing out several rulings from the FEC on this sort of subject that exempt Kos from those requirements, because they fall under the category of “press entity”. Even fully biased “press entities” are exempt from such reporting requirements, no matter how much they spend. The costs of Kos aren’t counted as expenditures or contributions to a particular political campaign or organization, and thus never reach the reporting requirement plateau. To drive the knife in and twist, Kos notes several conservative blogs that say an action like this is not in the interests of free speech and that conservatives should fight this action as well.

Ah, while I was fuming, it appears that Liberty called and left us a message. We want things to get done, we want to do them, yet they seem to find ways to not get done. And thus, we turn to other ways of getting the message out.

Something about the following seems suspicious - The United Nations Economic and Social Council granted consultative status to the European arm of an organization started by Pat Robertson. Which could be innocuous, but from the way I’m reading this bit, it sounds a lot more like “Goody! Now we can get the U.N. to recognize the special status of Christians all over the world! Yippee!” I could, however, be reading this entirely wrong. Anyone with details on this?

Something I would think is more in line with the teachings, although not something I can give a full endorsement to is an Ethics Daily piece about a book that blames churches for routinely directing abused wives back to their abusers, believing that if the wife becomes a model wife, the abuse will stop. Because, in these situations, of course, divorce is not an option that a church will recommend with any haste, if at all. Combined with a tendency to point toward the “submissive wife” verses, a situation happens where women are blamed for the abuse and then told they can’t do anything but go back to the abuser and hope to placate them in some miraculous way

Last out of the matters of law is an oddity - a website is suing the federal government to repeal a law criminalizing the sale of depictions of animal cruelty, so they can broadcast Puerto Rican rooster fights over the Internet into the United States. So, Mr. Vick is indicted on charges of raising and betting on dog fighting, and a website would like to broadcast rooster fights into the states. Once you start paying attention, all sorts of twenty-threes start appearing.

Engage Cool Things! Although the following may be a bit gross or graphic for some, the details of the galvanic frog webserver project are interesting to behold - in much the same vein as Wave 2 the Cats was (is?), this allows control of a frog’s legs over the web, with the results viewable through a web camera set up to monitor the exhibit. A thinking Cool Thing is In Defense of Dangerous Ideas, which would like to see much more of open debate about ideas that we consider to be taboo and so utterly wrong that they dare not be uttered at all. If they’re wrong, he argues, all the better to smash them before they infect others. If hey’re right, then we can figure out why they are and whether that has any bearing at all. I’ll pair this with Five Ways to Develop Independent Thought, since it sounds like the two of them would go well together.

The Happiness Project tries to work with an old adage in the Wednesday list - “money can’t buy happiness”. The Project offers eight tips on how money can help you achieve being happy, not by necessarily buying every good that you can set your eyes and wallet on, but by targeting your purchases in ways that will contribute to things that do make you happy. Positive thinking is a nice thing that can help try to make you happy, but the inverse-square law beats the law of attraction, so use it as a way of setting your mind to notice the things that are making you happy. Like imaginatively playing with trucks, for example. Or rewriting famous poems into limericks.

Leading into the last parts for tonight is the appeal to have San Francisco cab medallion number 666 retired based on bad luck and misfortune befalling those who have it and the results of the appeal - 666 stays in use. I like the comment, though, that says the cab with that medallion should embrace the kitsch of 666 and pimp out the cab in the best devil-gear. Might have the effect of being able to laugh off any misfortunes, and such an obviously devilishly handsome cab might pick up more fares by flaunting its status.

Next-to-Last for tonight is a simple reminder. Jesus loves you. C'thulhu loves you with ketchup. Which means there should be a Crud Puppy/Old One 2008 campaign sticker coming out at an appropriate time. Only in America do we think we can make the fervor over elections last for eighteen months before they actually happen.

Very Last for tonight is... 99 bottles of lolcat beer on the wall - which is an implementation of the 99 bottles of beer song in lolcode, which appears to be a programming language that uses kitty pidgin to do work. On the site, are many other ways of doing 99 Bottles of beer in several programming languages. At least a couple of the Ruby implementations made sense to me. Lots of setting up definitions and detailing what they actually do. The actual execution code is generally no more than one of two lines. With the limited experience I have, I’d probably not do it efficiently or nicely. Perhaps with practice and guidance.

Anyway, that’s it for this edition, which is always the late edition simply because I want to squeeze as much stuff into these as possible. Got to get up tomorrow and give another telephone interview.