Well, quite the adventure today - 25 October 2007

Yet another day at the office. Got to meet the teen materials selector and discuss what sort of things we want to do with teenage space and selection and weeding and all sorts of things like that. I like what’s coming down the pipe, so this should make my job somewhat easier in maintaining the balance between shelf space and collection size. We’re definitely up for the challenge.

A hypothetical question to start tonight, before getting into the links. If you were told that “there was no dress code” for your work, what would you default to wearing? If there was no dress code, but the aim was to “look professional”? And is there an inherent contradiction in the statement of there being no dress code, but that employees have to look professional? Got blindsided again on the matter of how one should be dressing at work, hearing secondhand, yet again, as to what no dress code actually means at work. I still think that a person can be a professional and look professional in jeans and tee-shirt, especially if working with teenagers or a younger crowd, but there’s still the image that professional persons wear at least one step up from their casual jeans for most of the week. I still don’t understand what mystical power kahki pants or a suit imparts to a person about their professional-ness, but since I’m still on probation, I hear and obey. Never let anyone fool you by believing that there’s no dress code. And while I’m glad people are asking about this for me, to clarify here and there, and passing along the messages to me, I get really annoyed at the passive-aggressiveness where I keep hearing these things secondhand, without anyone saying anything directly to me. If you want me to dress in a certain manner (a dress code), then say so, for Mod’s sake. Don’t complain to someone else about me so that I end up hearing it from them. I admit that I’m pretty clueless that I’m violating some norm unless someone brings it to my attention. Especially if I think I’ve got a valid interpretation of what was said to me.

Anyway, enough of the angry face. Instead, we go on to other things that might make you angry. Like a helicopter gunship that fired on those making bombs, then continued to fire into the building the bombmakers fled into, killing innocents and the bombmakers. Is that a lack of fire discipline, or just another unfortunate accident where innocents get killed? Unless those bombmakers had weapons stashed in that house and were planning on using them, I’m pretty sure they weren’t going anywhere. Once they resurfaced, they could have easily been killed, I’m sure.

More positively, the military might finally be able to control and oversee the private security forces in Iraq. Almost sounds like accountability. Opposition is expected from Ms. Rice and the State Department. Most positively, a dispatch from Iraq where the techniques of getting to know and helping the locals out is working. If Iraq ends up being the “victory” that many conservatives claim to see around the corner, it will probably be because of efforts like these, sustained over a very long time.

An attempt to give children of illegal immigrants a way to become legal, through university or military service, has been blocked. The spectre of it being an “amnesty” or a concession for illegal immigrants pretty well killed the bill in question. But if those illegal immigrant children want to move up in the world and become even more productive members of society, they’re going to need some way of legitimizing themselves, even if their parents don’t get it.

Of course, if biometric methods of paying for school lunches (or getting the free ones) turn out to be popular, then there may not be a way of evading things long enough to get to that point. Yes, supposedly the print image is discarded and the data is turned into a number, but it wouldn’t be too hard for a governmental snoop to start targeting areas with particular lunch distribution patterns to see what kinds of children are going there, and how legal they might be.

Meanwhile, some southern states are slow adapting themselves to the drought conditions in the area. Great Lakes people have been complaining for a while that they don’t want their water shipped to other places, but with supplies running lower in the South, maybe they’ll give up some - the bottled water manufacturer’s shares, perhaps?

India will be hosting a summit concerning how to ensure that all the world's people have access to proper sanitation. Yes, a lot of crap jokes are probably possible, but bad sanitation does sicken and kill people, so this is serious business in a lot of ways.

Here’s something genuinely disturbing - the consumer model of tasers, available in several colors, are selling like hotcakes. Are enough people that afraid of what’s out there to buy something like that as a personal protection device? There are some neighborhoods where they might be required equipment, I’ll grant, but putting that kind of power in a non-law enforcement person makes me very nervous.

As a prelude to our quiche competition tonight, the GOP wants to know who the scariest Democrat is. I don’t see the intelligence in posting that. It’s a pretty cheap stunt. Then again, when presidential candidates are selling all sorts of knicknacks as campaign fundraising, selling an image (literally) might be about as far as we’ve gotten in the political maturity realm.

The bronze (statue of Atlas) goes to Bill’O. We knew it was only a matter of time before he yapped about J.K. Rowling’s revelation, and he doesn't disappoint, calling J.K. a "provacateur" for "The Gay Agenda" and that it was "indoctrination" of children to the lifestyle. Oh, grow up, Bill. All the adults here understand the difference between existing as a homosexual and actively trying to make other children homosexual. I’m not even sure if the second option there is possible, but either way, Bill, maturity would be appreciated.

The runner-up: The mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, for, well, lots of stuff done in his reign, very little of which seems to have had any sort of serious consequence. Including the demolition of a building, supposedly for reasons of fighting the War on Some Drugs, with no drugs being found in the building at all.

Our winner, tonight, however, is Mitt Romney, who has a brilliant idea on what to do with college aid: Link the amount of aid offered to the worth of the career being pursued. He did not disclose specifics about who would be worthier than the others, and so receive more aid, or how he would go about assessing the merit of each candidate, but I’m sure that nobody in charge of such a program would attempt to influence career decisions by offering more or less money for the studies available. And that colleges and universities will willingly change their tuition requirements so that the 10K assistance/year art student can still go to their university along with the 30K assistance/year MBA. The idea that some careers and degrees matter more than others is already being played out in the business world as it is, requiring many people to shelve their real desires and degrees in favor of something that will get them regular employment. Tying college aid to this idea would only make it worse, and probably glut the market with plenty of whatever degree is the affordable one for that year.

By using some mathematical modeling, an Australian claims to be able to speed regular telephone copper up by nearly 200 times, which would make broadband cook along, even on old wiring.

Fifty years after publication, a scientist requests retraction of some of his statements, not only because they were being used by creationist forces, but because they were not scientifically sound statements to make in the first place. That, ladies and gentlemen, is Science. As is finding out that Daylight Savings Time may have strong negative effects. Since it’s down to what, about 3% of the populace that engages in agriculture, I think it would be feasible to scrap DST entirely and just run one clock all the time.

In the next-to-last spot, and thus hopefully likely to get noticed, the Slacktivist offers theory #4 on why Christians are preceived to be so anti-homosexual: The Exegetical Panic Defense. In this theory, evangelicals and the like have staked their entire faith on one item - a “pure”, “inerrant”, and always unambiguous interpretation of the scripture. If something should arrive that challenges that interpretation, such as a homosexual that doesn’t behave like a sodomite and Agent of Satan should, and that in fact might be a Really Nice Person, then that pillar of faith they have shakes, and they worry that if homosexuals really are just nice people, then the other parts of their faith might not be literally and inerrantly true, and that would bring down the entire enterprise. Rather than let the house burn down and rebuild it with a better foundation, instead they try even harder to ensure that their rock of faith is unchipped. Which means even more strident denunciations of the things that the Bible says are bad, regardless of their experience. Put together enough of these people all relying on a single support, and you get at least some explanation, but this isn’t really a complete theory, either - too many individuals and denominations that build their houses on stronger stuff. Another partial explanation. There may not be a One True Reason, but putting together all the plausible ones should produce some sort of picture. For now, though, more theories on the way.

Last for tonight is a little bit we all need to remember, “Don’ worry, be happy”. We may be closer to achieving that as two regions of the brain linked to optimistic thought have been discovered.

And then there’s this other stuff that’s boring question-and-answer thingies. Ignore it if you like.

( Twenty-plus questions, again? )

Survived! - 26 October 2007

Made it through yet another week of work. Remarkably, no limbs lost, no persons killed, and nothing went horribly, horribly wrong. Not that I ever expect something like that, but it’s always nice to know you made it to Friday after work without major incidents. It’s different working a full-time job - all those errands that I could do whenever have specific times and availabilities, and the weekend fills up pretty fast. It’s different.

If you are a Verizon customer, note your billing statement carefully, or read how Verizon is going to sell your private data to third parties. If you don’t opt-out after thirty days of receiving your notice, they assume you give your consent and will sell your data. If you don’t want that, call the number (1-800-333-9956) and follow the prompts - you’ll need to key in your telephone number, the billing ZIP code, and then the last four digits of your SSN/Tax ID #.

University of Washington researchers find that predicting climate change accurately may be too complex a task for computers. (Current computers, anyway.) Which is why in addition to climate change benefits, it would be a good idea to find an additional reason to continue research and production of environmentally conscious methods and products. Even if global warming turns out to be semi-cyclical, even with as much as humans might interfere with it, it’s still worthwhile to have nonpolluting and renewable energy resources and goods.

The House of Representatives passed a revised SCHIP expansion bill, not in veto-proof majorities, but they’re trying again, this time for a $35 billion increase and supposedly taking into accounts concerns about illegal immigrants. Will we see another veto? (Can we still count the amount of vetoes in the Bush Presidency on our fingers?)

A reporter was arrested covering a story about high school violence, and charged with trespass and carrying a concealed weapon onto school grounds. The reporter has a concealed carry permit and insists that he was on a public sidewalk, where his concealed carry permit would allow him to have the weapon within 1000 feet of a school, although not on the grounds itself. He has also been charged with resisting an officer without violence for insisting that he was on a public sidewalk when the officers told him to move.

The Terror Watch list tops 755,000. For a moment there, I wondered whether stock prices had just shot up through the roof. Alas, this is one of those secret lists that you can get on without knowing, and that it’s difficult to get off of if you’re on it. It’s not the no-fly list, which is even harder to get off of, but I doubt that the number of terrorists is that high. If it were, they’d be a lot more successful. There may be friction in the al-Qaeda ranks, as supporters innundated al-Jazeera with anger at the netowrk's discussion as to whether Osama bin Laden was showing weakness in criticizing insurgents in Iraq. Most of the commentary says that the excerpts misrepresent the Saudi leader of the organization, and that the full video should be shown and distributed.

Contributing to the idea that cockroaches will survive just about anything, Russian scientists discovered that a cockroach gave birth in space. Other animals may be able to do so as well, according to the experiment, but chalk one more thing that won’t stop the Roach Revolution. With the first potential primate extinctions possibly occurring soon, there may be space for the bugs to take over.

Let the speculation begin. No, not about Dumbledore, we know that. A French philosopher claims that the Harry Potter series is a diatribe against the successes of Thatcherite Britain and the American consumerist way of life.

Smell that warm quiche baking? To whet your appetite, view a plan to provide private disaster relief services, because the National Guard and other home-response teams are off in Iraq, fighting a war. Possibly even under contract with a government entity. Earth to administration - you tried the privatization experiment once already. See how well that’s going before you start another one.

The United States continues to escalate tensions with Iran, passing even more sanctions in a bid to get Iran to stop developing a nuclear programme. The U.S. continues to insist that the programme is a cover for building weapons, but denies that the additional sanctions are a prelude to military action.

House passes bill establishing thoughtcrime? In the name of preventing “homegrown terror” (from the 755,000 on the list?), the House of Representatives passed a bill that aims to find root causes and work out strategies for defeating homegrown terrorists, working singly or jointly. The problem is that there isn’t exactly a clear definition of what “homegrown terrorism” or “violent radicalization” actually is. Latitude in that kind of arena is dangerous, when what an extremist belief system isn’t well-defined and that someone can be accused of homegrown terrorism merely by thinking to do harm to the country. I don’t expect there to be arrests for a stray thought here and there, but if there are federal agents believing that the Quakers are a potential extremist group, the rest of us certainly aren’t safe.

Continuing in that vein, Jason Rantz at Family Security Matters posts his list of the top ten most dangerous institutions in America. Making the list are ThinkProgress, the Muslim Student Association, the ACLU, Media Matters, MoveOn.org, and basically all colleges and universities, among others. 80% liberal, 10% religious whackjobs, 10% secessionists.

University of Florida police who subdued and tasered a student repeatedly were justified in their use of the stun gun, according to the results of an internal investigation.

Ann Coulter, never one to miss a chance to feed, spoke at the USC campus as her part of Islamofascism Awareness Week. Her speech was appreciated with cheers and jeers from the audience, but I’d like to draw your attention to a choice quote.

“The fact of Islamo-Fascism is indisputable . . . I find it tedious to detail the savagery of the enemy . . . I want to kill them. Why don’t Democrats?”

If you are so very inclined to kill your enemy, Ms. Coulter, there is probably a military recruiting office near you. Go for it. Perhaps the reason that the Democrats are not nearly as gung-ho about killing your “enemies” is because they can appreciate the multi-dimensional thinking that this week is supposed to be promoting. By calling attention to a radicalized small portion of an otherwise benign religion and denouncing them, but continuing to put out rhetoric that all members of that religion are as bad as the radicals, you’re tonight’s winner. Maybe if you clean up quickly, you can go play some Ultimate Frisbee with your new pie tin. Might learn a thing or two about what your targets and opponents actually thing, too, if we’re lucky.

The Democrats are having their asses handed to them in defining the terms of political engagements, an internal study shows. Getting the message out seems to be a bit of a problem, as is folding up when the Republicans show a little tooth. This problem persists despite the populace actually favoring the Democratic ideas on things like health care. If you want a good example of how much the Dems are sucking it up, consider how "pro-life" still means "anti-choice" in most people's heads. Similarly, a list of anti-choice lingo, where things that should mean one thing are bent to meaning another, or what an anti-choice person really wants is bowdlerized into something more palatable. Say it with me. I'm pro-life, and you, who are anti-choice, are not. The war of words is being won by those without your best interests at heart. That’s almost a guarantee, no matter who’s claiming control of it.

Next-to-last for tonight is Teaseproofing your children (in PDF), an approach that teaches those picked on to take the tease, utter a pithy one-liner, improvised or rehearsed, and then to leave the area so as not to present an attacker with a second opportunity. From the stories related in the pamphlet, a zippy one-liner is enough to disarm a teaser while they gape in shock at being dissed so casually and easily. That very well could be true. And effective. For small children. Once the tease progresses to the bully and the physical element is introduced, I don’t think a one-liner and turning away is going to be the end to the matter. Unless, of course, as others have related to me, it takes the teaser sufficient time and processing cycles to realize they’ve been slighted and a lead has been built that wouldn’t be overcome regularly. And, of course, one can always hope that maturity sets in before too long to the teasers.

Last for tonight, consider the following - a surgical procedure exists to point one's ears, in the Elvish, Vulcan, faun, or other traditions. These are not prosthetics, but an actual surgical procedure. Transhumanists, take note? Others think that the Eloi-Morlock split is likely to happen over time. Mind you, it’ll be long after all of us are passed on (unless life extension gets really good while we’re still alive).

I, however, am bedward bound.