Gigantic update with many, many links.

[silveradept]

This is the first time I’ve actually had time to set down and do my usual parade of links. So you get the weekend, plus a few days, all in one sitting. If you have to, take it in two bites.

U*CON ran smoothly, ran wonderfully, and it sounds like everyone had a blast. I’m glad, considering that might have been the last one I ever see or participate on staff in. We’ll see whether I wander back to Ann Arbor at some point in my life.

Went to the memorial service for Bo today. That’s right, I forze in Michigan Stadium for three hours, and there wasn’t even a football game.

Also, as an aside, I can apparently key out a nine-page paper less than half a day. Who knew? Thankfully, my memory was helpful in telling me which papers to get, and I got a little help from the government’s web presence (har, who knew?) to put the finishing touches on. Now we’ll see whether my instructor falls down laughing at it for being of poor quality. (Or whether Integral Man makes an appearance.)

It would appear that at least in California, for the moment, blogs and forums do fall under freedom-of-speech protections, if they’re reposting a potentially libelous comment, rather than creating it themselves.

For those of us intending on enjoying the turkey festivities, pay your compliments to the chef for good meals. Why? Taste affects our health. So if it can taste good and be healthy, then we’ve found the right idea.

Daddy Warbucks is now the richest fictional character. (Because Santa’s real, remember.) Interesting.

January 23 is the day when everyone needs their passports. So, if you feel like traveling to or from the U.S. at any time, make sure you plan well enough in advance to have your passport done. And smile for Homeland Security as they try to make you into a terrorist or something else because you want to vacation in France. We’re not quite to the point where cameras and microphones are listening to you, but we’ll probably get there. At least we’ll know where to come back to by the giant KFC logo on the ground.

That said, following up on a previous article linked to, there were 100 V verified waiting for the answer to a redress petition. They received no answer. Perhaps the presence of 1,000 V, if it can be managed, will provide it? What about 10,000 V?

Guy gets a refund from Microsoft for not using the Windows installed by default on his laptop. I seem to recall a User Friendly story arc about returning large volumes of Windows NT somwhere. On a different note, recycled movie billboards turned into bags and wallets. Good idea on the recycling job. I’m just not sure there are any movies I’d want to have that close to my money.

Three Days before Christmas, have a world-wide orgasm. Maybe we’ll find out that it really is a penis envy contest, and the sheer pleasure of the orgasm will wipe away the war desire. It’s a hope, anyway. Maybe since it’s admitted that George W. Bush reads the Guardian (or maybe he doesn’t and just didn’t wnat to look any more stupid than he does now), maybe he’ll read other parts of the world, too?

Putting together recycling and sexual activity, we produce... the bra that doubles as a shopping bag. Although there’s one tiny logistical problem I haven’t worked out yet. Namely, how does one remove the bra to create the bag without giving all the boys a public show?

Liberal Seagull reminds us that not all formulae work for all people - especially in satire. So Supertelevangelistic Sex-and-Drugs Psychosis works, but Left Behind's game of killing UN delegates, Jews and Atheists doesn’t. (At least, we wish it was satire. Kind of like we wish that people trying to poison the Supreme Court justices weren’t really trying that.)

For the more Sci-fi inclined among us, a pass at the Space Patrol Handbook might just be the thing needed... if only to appear on some Admiral’s collection of books.

Two good articles about the power of speech and language being bent to someone’s will. Suasive Diction shows how pronouns and certainty words are used to produce effects that may not actually appear, and The Language of Advertising Claims shows off how advertisers will do their best to get your money by making it sound like their product or service is the best, without actually telling you why. Of course, since the mere sight of money changes our behavior, maybe that’s why they want you to part with yours...

Last retort - apparently Nine in ten Americans believe in Heaven, but one in four believes there's a "Christians only" sign on the front gate. Wonder what other religions believe about their heavens.

Oh, look at the time. It’s bedtime, definitely. I’d better be able to get through class tomorrow. Water Clocks (which are neat), Moon clocks (which are neater), Pin clocks (which I would so definitely get... along with the other clocks so far), and a 24-hour hourglass, paired with the world's largest hourglass, a one-year model, all tell me, BED!

And so I go.

Comments

[urbankotq.livejournal.com]

The exponentially increasing "V" idea holds much merit, but aside from how hard that would be to pull off, I can't help but remember that one part of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where the man who shot a drunk in the street confronts the mob of enraged, masked townspeople that have gathered to dispose of him. Rifle in hand, he berates them for not having a leader--someone brave enough not to hide behind a mask--on which to focus their courage. Sure enough, without a non-anonymous rallying point, the group cannot gather the fortitude to go through with what they set out to do, and disperse with a blast from the offender's gun.

I suppose what I'm saying is that with one "V", it's the "unmasked" idea in reverse. One hundred Vs ruins it--unless you have a single non-"V" person in front of them, ready to take responsibility for the actions of the otherwise anonymous many. If such a person appears, I would strongly consider writing that person in on my next presidential ballot.

[silveradept]

Actually, I think having a single person in front would be the opposite of the message the V are trying to send - they're worried about the increasing culture of surveillance, data mining, and hyper-profiling going on, so much so that they feel that protesting governmental actions or asking for redress under their names might (and is likely to) result in them being marked as "terrorists" or "enemy combatants" and subjected to the worst abuses a govermnent determined to crush you can give.

They wear the masks because it shouldn't matter who they are. They should be able to ask the government to right wrongs without the government exacting retribution. "V" should be just as good a name as any other.

[aoanla.livejournal.com]

The ABC religion poll is interesting but incomplete; I'd have liked to see people asked about other religious groups as well as Christianity - the high fraction of moderate Protestants and Catholics who said that it wasn't just Christians to went to Heaven might have been prepared to list groups that they did or didn't also favour (or, it would have helped to show that they were totally inclusive, based on merit, if that was the case). As it is, it's not an awesome survey.

[silveradept]

I agree. It's not even close to awesome, because there's so much more they could have asked about and didn't that would have helped get context, as well as getting some good comparative data.

[przxqgl.livejournal.com]

to go along with your other "clock" links, there's also the clock of the long now, which is a mechanical clock that is intended to last for 10,000 years...

[silveradept]

I'm aware of the clock of the long now, but it never hurts to be reminded of it. I really hope that they actually manage to build it.

[przxqgl.livejournal.com]

it was my understanding that they have already built a prototype and are now in the process of figuring out where the real thing is going to go. when you have sponsors with such deep pockets, it's a lot easier to actually manifest these fantasies.

[hollygrahm.livejournal.com]

Very neat. Also impressive are the entries from the Core77/ Timex Future of Time Competition (http://www.core77.com/timex/winners/noteable.asp). My favorite in that group is Entry 1662, the Epidigital Patch.

[silveradept]

I like those ideas. Gets us thinking about time and chronometers in new ways.