I'm a nice guy, I guess.

[silveradept]

So much so that I'll save damsels in distress by taking their umpiring shift, sacrificing a wander about the art fair to do so. Oh, well, there's always Friday... or tomorrow, if I wanted to get up. So I took a four-game shift tonight after begging for some money from one of the places that was handing it out. I'll know how well my begging went tomorrow.

Microsoft agrees to self-police and play more fair in the competitive environment. Coming hot on the heels of getting a beatdown from the European commission about anti-trust stuff, it's no wonder that Microsoft is trying to appease everyone, so that their bottom line doesn't suffer too greatly.

Weapons to protect oneself in office politics. Xacto-style shuriken - for decorative purpose only, don't use them as they're sharp and will hurt someone.

The President finally exercises his first veto - voting down the opening of new stem-cell research lines. You may direct all correspondence to: Mr. George W. Bush, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500. Remember, sending explosives or abrasive chemicals is a violation of federal post law. Sending a blistering invective about the stupidity of the decision is not. On a realistic scale, my SCIENCE!-following friends, how far back does Mr. Bush set progress with his decision?

Speaking of setting progress back, this image-sidebar-recommendation thing on corporal punishment suggests that in the Christian household, "smacking" can be applied as long as 15 mintues, if necessary. I'm sorry, I call that "child abuse" if it carries on for this long, regardless of the grievousness of the offense. Not to mention that physical punishment only works for so long. The other bullet points in this list are just as scary and authoritarian - they're designed to make a child cower in fear of their parents rather than to cuddle and confide in them. I wonder how many regularly "smacked" children end up in the care of social services. On a different tack, scary, scary, people who think atheists have no moral/ethical imperative to do good things. Among other things. Since when did belief in God become a critical component of knowing what's good and what's not? After all, science is not a faith, but it still produces things that are considered positive and negative, no god(s) necessary. (Although, if you want some gods, try Godchecker.com

Work schedules need to be more flexible - most of the workforce has 'social jet lag'. This is true - some days you just need to sleep in longer, regardless of what you did the night before.

Bloggers blocked in India to stop "extremism". Slippery slope here, people. Start sliding and you'll find it's very well greased.

Alien Ant Farm. No, not the band.

Last marks for tonight - A potential reason why people are so opposed to gay marriage, even when supportive of gay rights. A quest for a gender identity in a word where gender identity is becoming even more and more fluid, flexible, and flux. I wonder if it's really true - that the people who don't think of gays as abominations condemned by God or second-class citizens of some sort really are worried about losing what they probably consider their last bastion of "proper" gender identity. How do you respond to that in such a way that these people will embrace the fluidity and permit homosexuals to join the ranks of the married?

Comments

[shenalia.livejournal.com]

Believe it or not, the veto doesn't "set back science" at all. The bill was to fund embryonic stem cell research with government money - tax dollars. Not to "allow it" or "make it legal", which it already is.

I don't agree with Bush's reasons for vetoing it, but I'm glad he did it all the same for reasons of my own.

[silveradept]

Ah, as a funding bill, then it doesn't set anything back. But without new lines open, I suppose the question I'm asking is how much has scientific progress been retarded simply by not having enough material to run experiments on?

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

The veto does a little more harm than that. It means federally funded universities (and almost all of them are) need to jump through a bunch of hoops now to use stem cells because a lab working with stem cells can't share equipment with a lab using federal money and so on. It means a bunch of schools (Stanford and UCSF included) are setting up their own privately funded stem-cell research centers which is good for focused stem-cell work but bad for collaborative/unified science projects.

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

Since when did belief in God become a critical component of knowing what's good and what's not?

Humorously, you just described the answer to this question before you asked it. It became a critical component when people did not mature past the moral stage of obediance to authority, the "Mommy and Daddy define what is right and wrong and I must do right or I shall be punished" mentality. They truly can't understand a world where people would want to do "right" simply because they feel it's what's right.

[silveradept]

Yeah, I can see that, if I couple those points with "the Corps is Mother, the Corps is father" in such a way that anyone who actually tries to do things on their own has to be an evil, evil person, because they don't ask or listen to Mommy and Daddy.

As for providing answers before asking questions, I guess I do that a lot.

[brynnmyrddin.livejournal.com]

The shuriken is so amusing, more so because I know a handful of guys who would actually make one if given the chance.

The smacking bit is just horrifying.
"A smack leaves the offense forever in the past" and "if the child is still angry after the smack, you have not smacked hard enough" are so wrong! Not only does "smacking" in that sense constitute child abuse, but it almost guarantees that the child will become either extremely withdrawn or violent toward their peers. It also destroys any respect the child has for the adult and for authority in general. Fear does not equate to respect. This is a recipe for pushing a child into becoming either suicidal or highly abusive as an adult, and frankly, it's disturbing. People who advocate "smacking" should be beat on a regular basis and see how they like it; they should also be sterilized. No child deserves to be abused.

[brynnmyrddin.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the mini-rant, I'm really touchy on that subject. I guess I've just known too many people who've ended up badly because of that...

[greyweirdo.livejournal.com]

Why should you be sorry? You're only stating facts. Everything you said there was true, and it only takes about three minutes research to find all the studies you need to prove it.

Of course I've got a similar reaction to the concept as you do, so that might skew my vision.

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

"Smack" should be replaced with "spanked", which can be seen if you read the bullets carefully. I was spanked as a child for various offenses, and I believe that a good spanking is what many children these days need. Too many of our children are lacking basic moral disciplines and believe they are entitled to behave the way they do because do-gooders have decided that a firm spanking is child abuse. As far as I am concerned those do-gooders harm the child far more through a sickening form of neglect than a proper, open-handed spanking ever can. This is reflected in my classrooms in the behavior of many teens.

Or, to put it in the words of the wisest man who ever lived: "spare the rod*, spoil the child."

Have teh best

-=TK

* Note: I do not advocate the use of a rod-- an open hand will suffice.

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Rather than make a mess in Silver's journal, I've opened a forum on my own for this discussion. I welcome your reply (http://torakiyoshi.livejournal.com/648670.html) there.

Have teh best

-=TK

[greyweirdo.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how well the shuriken would work. I'd have to see some tests with it. Being held together by tape makes me envision peices flying off from impact. This of course assumes you're going to be throwing with any real strength of course. Throwing knives & stars tend to be made of single peices of metal to avoid the chances of shock related breakage. There are some with attached handels, but usually they're a bare bones affair. This is also why throwing axes usually have simple, easy to replace handels.

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

There's another one on that site that uses solder.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

"smacking does so much good for the child and you" - WHAT?! How is smacking a good thing? Perhaps a light swat on the tush or a smack of the hand with a firm "no", but beating your child for 15 minutes? You kidding me? I'd prolby cry the whole way through it. The power the word "no" has over a 2 yr old is amazing. There's no need to smack them for a lengthy period of time...most children, if you START OUT YOUNG just using the word "No" and a light hand smack get the idea about what they can and cannot do/touch.

"If the child is angry, you have not smacked hard enough" - What the hell? Do they advocate drawing blood too? I agree with you, smacking your kid for 15 minutes on their bottom *is* a form of child abuse.

Social Jet Lag - While I think that's probably very true, I don't think many employers will say "Come in when you want". School starting at 10 gets a bit easier to do when you're in collge and can schedle your classes as you choose, but I don't think we'll ever see Elemetary, Middle or High School starting as late as 10. For one thing, think about the teachers who have to commute an hour or two to the school. I mean, sure it's rough to have to leave your house at 6am to get to school to start ar 8, but if you aren't starting until 10, you won't get home until well after 5pm - and that also would make after school activities start much later too, which puts even more of a strain on the teachers and school.

Gay Marriage - I dn't think I'm losing out on any part of my gender identity just because two men or two women get married. Heck, in some cases I think gay couples are better at the marriage thing than straight couples, if only because it's statistically shown that gay couples stay together longer than straight ones. and what about Transgendered people? Where do they fall in all of this?

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

I agree that fifteen minutes goes into abuse. But as I said above, a good spanking, when done properly, is healthy for the child.

Have teh best

-=TK

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

What do you define as "a good spanking"?

[torakiyoshi.livejournal.com]

Open-hand. Hard enough to sting but not bruise. Ten to fifteen seconds should suffice.

I've opened a forum on my journal for further discussion, rather than make a mess on Silver's.

Have teh best

-=TK

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I still don't know if i can condone it, only because I know there are other ways of disciplining young children.

...will head over to your post later.

[przxqgl.livejournal.com]

no hindu gods! how can this "godchecker dot com" be so arrogant as to say that they are anything like comprehensive when they don't include hindu gods? hindus have more gods than anyone else combined! 8/

[przxqgl.livejournal.com]

also, i'm reminded of a couple of quotes about microsoft:

A little detective work revealed that, as is usually the case when you encounter something shoddy in the vicinity of a computer, Microsoft incompetence and gratuitous incompatibility were to blame.
     -- John Walker

Rule of thumb -- Every time Microsoft uses the word "smart," be on the lookout for something dumb.
     -- John Walker

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

Arg... Now I can't get Smooth Criminal out of my head.