One more week in the books - 18 April 2008

It’s a pairing today, as I was up late last night playing games on my new Wii (Wiiiiiii!) But that doesn’t mean that it will be consuming my life. I still have to go to work most days. And it still won’t stop me from being linked to interesting gems, like how this season’s Doctor Who is apparently turning out to be a pretty sexy one, with David Tennant being voted the Nerd of the Month by The Park Bencher, and box_in_the_box running the numbers on why Catherine Tate is going to have the most fanboy worship. I thought all of that was going over toward Torchwood, where Captain Jack could play around with it.

Derision and mockery of the Uk Police's latest "report on your neighbor" campaign. And one more of those responses.

The big headlines today are that the pope is in the United States, and that he and Mr. Bush have a relatively similar worldview about many issues. One would hope, though, that the pontiff has not done any detailed descriptions of what sorts of torture were permissible and which weren't, and would be more interested in the boy living in a trash dump and the victims of an uncharasteristic 5.2 magnitude earthquake centering in Illinois. than deciding to force diplomats to go to Iraq. The pope prayed with victims of the paedophile priests, which was an important step toward fixing it - acknowledging the problem.

Doing my daily requirement of fear-mongering through juxtaposition, nuke bomb near White House would be explosive disaster. Which is a bit of a no-brainer. And now, the fear part - Risk of Nuke Attack on the U.S. is on the rise, as more countries and elements get access to or create nuclear technology that could be weponized. To rile people up more, a bill has been introduced which would decriminalize the use of marijuana, but still keep sale and transport illegal. Which really isn’t useful excepting for people who would grow their own, and even then, a raid could happen, and then the sale and transport charges would appear.

Edward Lorenz, originator of the "butterfly effect" and much of today's chaos theory, died at 90 years of age.

Charges have been filed against a man who attempted to create ricin as part of an "exotic" revenge idea. All he ended up doing was poisoning himself, though. Which is how a lot of revenge ends up working out.

Klintron leads the opinion columns today by mentioning that humans are wishful thinkers, which is why we wanted to believe that the subprime mortgaging and biofuels are great things with no evil consequences. Michael Klare envisions the world as it is about to become, with dwindling energy reserves and new growing powers. And a whole lot of trash.

Mac Tonnies does a little thinking of his own in trying to envision what posthuman sexuality will be like. Geeks reprogramming computer games and inserting wedding proposals in them, perhaps? Of course, with that kind of lead in, the paper museum of Cassiano Dal Pazzo, where the featured picture is one of a person with a reproductive organ on his head, And then five religions that worship the male sexual organ. Did we mention that regular masturbation may cut a man's cancer risk? Well, regular ejaculation, but there’s always the risk of STDs and pregnancies and such when doing that with women.

With regard to the candidates for the general election, John McCain's popularity is on the rise as he recruits voters who are disillusioned with Bush or the Democrats. That advantage may disappear as election time draws nearer. Additionally, bradhicks goes after the moderators of the Democratic debate and their trap questions. I heard a segment of the debate on the For the Record part of As It Happens on the way home from work yesterday, where Seantor Obama was forced to defend the fact that he doesn’t sport the fetish of the American flag on his clothing, and the “follow-up” about his association with someone who committed acts of terror some time ago (as if by sympathetic magic, the actions and values of the one rub off onto the other), and at the end, I wanted my listening time back. That was several minutes of our time wasted because Stephanopolus wanted to try and score some cheap points against Obama. That was probably a representative sample of the whole debate, and so I’m glad I missed it completely. Senator Obama is right. Those sorts of manufactured “issues” are distractions from the real business of debates, and of politics. So when Barack Obama is linked to Robert Mugabe through Jeremiah Wright, because apparently Wright and Mugabe share the same worldview, and Obama must believe what Wright does, considering he went to Wright’s church all the time, we’re supposed to believe that Barack Obama will redistribute wealth in some Marxist manner. I don’t think that’ll happen. Of course, in defending himself, Senator Obama mentioned another conservative who one recommended the death penalty for all abortions among his acquaintances. This prompts Cybercast News to run the headline "Obama Compares Pro-Life Republican with Domestic Terrorist". The spin on that is fast and furious. And then the McCain campaign sent out an e-mail claiming that Hamas endorses Obama's foreign policy views. Again, why is it so damn important what other people and groups think about the candidate, unless they’re extrapolating and interpreting in such a way that reveals potential pitfalls or hidden agendas? So, all in all, I think I agree that was probably the Worst. Debate. Ever.

Our Unabashed Feminism department will have a field day with the following two things. First, a children's book attempting to explain why Mommy wanted to go get cosmetic surgery. I’m not sure which is worse, that we feel the need for a book because there are so many mothers getting the surgery, or that the idea of getting surgery has seeped all the way down into 12 year-olds who request to get their breasts enlarged. Also probably of interest is the senior art project consisting of recordings of self-induced miscarriages, and birthday parties that can run into the thousands of dollars. There’s even a political bone to throw around, too, with some discussion on how much Obama support is predicated on sexism. (Not much, if any, I would hope.)

I like the idea of an inclusive day of prayer as a good step along the way to recognizing that the Abrahamic faiths are not the only one in town.

Keeping the weird to the end of today’s entry, the top 5 recreational drug experiments, according to Wired. And then, the worlds tallest horse is still growing, and a man cut in two has begun to walk again, with the help of prostheses. Plus, a water balloon being popped in front of a high-speed camera. There’s also taking a good political crime and applying it to the economic world, To ramp up the weird and close out the entry, toilet signs from around the world, making a working stove out of of soda can, and shadow pictures.

Tagging on the postscript, some listmania. 101 Great Computer Programming Quotes, and then when you’re done with those, 101 More Great Computer Quotes. After all that stuff, go look at Open Source Living and see if there aren’t some projects floating about that you’d be interested in getting involved with, or downloading the fruits of.

Days of Work - 19 April 2008

Work-work. On a Saturday, no less. But a lot of things that were indeterminate have become determined, so progress is being made and we'll start moving forward soon. Whoo-hoo! Plus, our Youth Services director e-mailed us today with a nice article in the Los Angeles Times about the increased acceptance and prevalence of video gaming inside libraries, including Eli's arguments about media literacy, noticing that more people come in and check out books with gaming programs available, and contrasting it with the idea that good literature and media should be enough to get people into the library and using it. Frankly, I'm glad to be part of a system that allows us to play games, watch popular programs, and utilize the new media as much as the old. It makes for a more interesting, exciting, and fulfilling sort of job, and I think that it helps to avoid fostering the idea that teenagers are only here to cause trouble. (Although, it does reinforce the stereotype that gaming people are loud, as much as I try to get my clientèle to keep it down to a dull roar. Problem is, the walls are kind of thin in places.)

And thus, the news. Following up on a previous story, the senior project of a Yale Student who artificially inseminated herself and then induced miscarriages has been claimed "creative fiction" by Yale. The student herself insists on the reality of the project. Caught on camera, though, was the founder of a Christian school soliciting sex from a parent in exchange for free tuition for her daughter.

Mediums, psychics, spiritual healers, and fortunetellers in the United Kingdom may face arrest if they cannot prove the claims they are making. That's probably why the "for entertainment only" notice is plastered on just about every big-name psychic advertisement here in the States.

An article in Newsweek talks about the potential of comic books to prevent younger generations from joining Muslim extremist groups by refashioning the messages that extremists like to use and trying to demonstrate how people can work toward god goals with good methods, rather than violent or explosive ones. I don't know how much of a hit it will be, and whether it can get to the places it will be most needed, but it's a good thought, and hopefully the comics that take it on are beautifully drawn and well-written. For a different perspective, up at the nation-state level, Charles Krauthammer says that deterrence, including missile defense, is the West's best option to stop nuclear attacks, at least until regime change overthrows who we consider dangerous.

An new and emerging rule of politics - If you're a Democrat, and you want to boost your popularity and your fund raising? Show up on the Colbert Report. This effect does not apply to Republicans, who don't get any benefit or suffer slightly for being mocked by the arch-conservative himself.

Staying in the theme of Presidential candidates, The Wall Street Journal's opinion board praises the Democratic debate last night, trumpeting that it shows how little Senators Obama and Clinton know about changing tax rates to bring in more revenue, and it accuses Senator Obama of evading the question and breaking a "promise" not to raise taxes on the middle class. I still want to know where Senator McCain's revenue stream for continuing in Iraq is, if it isn't raising taxes on Americans somewhere along the line. The spending proposals I've seen for health care coverage are usually more modest than what we're spending now on fighting in Iraq as it is.

Kimberly A. Strassel continues to propagate the idea that Senator Obama is losing steam and that the voters are finally asking questions that matter about their candidates. The choice quote from this opinion column:

And so nearly the whole first hour of Wednesday's debate was devoted to Mr. Obama's gun-God comments, his wisdom in sticking with a rabid pastor, his links to 1960s radicals, even his patriotism. The candidate's frustration was visible, and he spent yesterday complaining the debate was the latest in "gotcha games" that take away from the "issues." Then again, among the important "issues" for many voters are a candidate's beliefs, character and judgment. Mr. Obama will just have to get used to it.

This kind of proves the point that the Senator was making - by talking about real issues, there's both information about the issue and about the candidate behind it. Plans don't happen in vacuums, and I'm sure the explanations behind those plans would show much about any candidate's beliefs, character, and judgment.

In a project that has potential for great hilarity or for great scary - Young Me, Now Me. Naturally, people start mimicking the poses in the young pictures with their current selves.

The Happiness Project gives us a nice reminder - Evaluate your heuristics, those often-unconscious rules and habits that sway your decisions. If you know what sort of assumptions you have, you can either change them for better or figure out which option appeals the most.

Time for a look at some concept cars. Well, okay, the lightweight convertible flying car (More of a Mark II design on this one) has already been built, but a vehicle with a single wheel might do well for navigating the crowded streets. For a little more fun on a standard car, why not convert it into a UFO response team squad car?

Working in other gadgetry, it hasn't quite been miniaturized to the requisite degree we would need, but Smart Goggles are being developed that can remember faces for you and then flash a name up on the lenses so that memory holes, like who someone is, or even where you put your keys last, can be avoided. For an absentminded person like me, those would be fantastic, but I'd like the camera built in such a way that it will fit on my sunglasses and won't look like, well, I have a camera attached to me. So I'm looking for Spider Jerusalem's glasses, basically.

And in the games we love so much, there could have been a sequel to Infocom's H2G2 game, but development never really got off the ground and the project died.

It's probably supposed to be an educational aid or something, but these gifts and toys related to the plagues preceding passover are a bit more on the disturbing side rather than the educational side. For some actual education, Joe the Peacock describes what to keep in mind if one is a believer and wants to witness to an atheist. After covering the bases, Joe points out that conventional tactics have a very small success record for conversion, and that living by example is by far a better way of convincing people to follow your faith than anything you can say about your particular flavor of Invisible Pink Unicorn(s).

Last for tonight, some poll data. More specifically, Americans have a generally positive view of Protestants and Catholics, and find only Scientologists more distateful than atheists. Reflects the populace pretty well. Would be nice if they were kinder to the nonbelievers, though.

As that is, we're done for today, and we'll see you tomorrow.