It's December 26
Dec. 27th, 2006 12:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silveradeptSo it’s the day after Invictus Sol. There was quite the present haul and it’s not totally finished yet. But the gifts have been fantastic so far and they show now signs of getting any less cool. Anyway, my presen to you is a list of links.
I also have to introduce a new being into the mix. I’m not entirely sure how this one came about - perhaps LJ does some sort of TrackBack in automation, but through hook, crook, or sufficient mention, I’ve managed to get![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hweimei, the creator and maintainer of Exploding Aardvark, whose impressive work is raided by The Cabal, and thus by me, regularly. Say hello, and if you don’t mind, could you tell me how you found me?
President Gerald R. Ford, the only unelected President, President from Michigan, and University of Michigan alum, has perished at the age of 93. So who is now the oldest living President?
It hasn’t been fitted with a mind control device for sinking ships with yet, but researchers have captured a gigantic squid. Unfortunately, the squid died. If there’s more of those, and we can find some way of creating a good way of making calamari great-tasting for all of us... nah. We’ll probably overfish them and rather than solving world hunger, we’ll create more of it.
The war policy’s not doing to well, either. Another Congresscritter does “open mouth, insert foot” by suggesting that American soldiers convert all the Muslims to Christianity. I somehow doubt it’ll be any more effective of a strategy than the current one, though. As the writer notes, it’s playing into the hands of the people who promote the war as a Christian crusade. (Well, I think there’s a strong crusade component to it, too. Still, it’s not going to do them any favors if they keep making it true, or more true.) They’re still worried about Muslims here at home, as the continued interest in Obama's heritage and naming continues to dog the media.
I don’t think it’s a particularly American thing - maybe a certain regional area, but there’s a lot of other places that are very fond of heir meat, too. It comes with side effects, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The link is to a summary article in the Independent - cows and ranching contribute significantly to greenhouse gases and deforestations. So the veggie option is not necessarily just for your health. (As in all things, though, moderation would probably assist the problem quite a bit.)
Finding other intelligent lifeforms may be a bit more of a problem than we think - the entire galaxy might have planets and stars that could fit the criteria for intelligent life. So if we could narrow down the parameters, or find somewhere else that will have intelligent life for another template, that would help.
Another one of the Blues Brothers cast died - James Brown passed away. So no more of the reverend Cleophus James. Hopefully, he’s dancing and singing in his preferred heavenly afterlife.
I’m not sure it’ll help the absentminded like myself, but in terms of growing older and fearing the loss of one’s mind, mental exercise performed regularly may help stave off mental degradation. So doing the crossword or Sudoku in the morning with the paper may very well make it possible to keep your wits about you.
A British professor says that we'll all be cyborgs one day. I’m not sure that the benefits currently outweight the possible ethical problems. If we’re going to go Ghost in the Shell, we need to have really good firewalls and ICE at a minimum, I’d say.
The library could very well expand its holdings... or one could be old-fashioned with the e-texts downloaded... or something, with the Espresso - a device that will print, align, bind, and produce two complete books of less than 550 pages in under seven minutes. I wonder how good the binding’s on it, though - it’s no good if you don’t have it around for sufficiently long enough to actually read it. And then possibly read it to your kids.
The furor continues, of course, over a vaccination designed to stop a strain of virus that can develop cancer later on in life, because its ideal age is 12 or 13, and some people worry that this will encourage sexual activity in young children. I’d like to know how getting a vaccine will encourage sexual behavior, but in this country, it’s virginity or death, and anything that deals with sex, even if it’s trying to prevent ills, must be an encouragement to have sex. I’d like to live in a sane country, please.
Exploding Aardvark’s put two and two together and came up with five or six with a few links around to the marketing of the princess to the elementary school crowd . Tapping into the market that says “I want to look just like the girls on TV” by making little princesses out of all the girls - but it’s the glamorous girls that get the play - not Mulan, not really Ariel (she’s a bit risque for the target market). And then there’s the other part, Club Libby Liu, which is marketing the “attitude” portion right along with the lip gloss. It’s make-up and dress-up for the young girls, just with a name and accompanying price tag attached. I’m not sure the princess look is the right idea, with this kind of aggression in marketing. (Funny. I always found Mulan to be the best of the Princess collection. She’d make an excellent Princess of Heart.)
The Senator from Massachusettes sounds off on flip-flopping policy, or rather, why it’s a bad idea to not flip out over a flop of a policy, like Iraq has been. I wonder whether this is the “I could have done better” letter. But I would have liked to have see whether he could have done better.
Perhaps helping with my own peanut allergy, there's some trials underway that say small amounts of exposure could very well assist in overcoming food allergies.
And the last bit for tonight - The 2006 Foot-In-Mouth Awards, from Wired. Taking the worst of the quotes about technology and putting them all together in one big black hole of suck. Hopefully, everyone had a good Sol Invictus.
I also have to introduce a new being into the mix. I’m not entirely sure how this one came about - perhaps LJ does some sort of TrackBack in automation, but through hook, crook, or sufficient mention, I’ve managed to get
hweimei, the creator and maintainer of Exploding Aardvark, whose impressive work is raided by The Cabal, and thus by me, regularly. Say hello, and if you don’t mind, could you tell me how you found me? President Gerald R. Ford, the only unelected President, President from Michigan, and University of Michigan alum, has perished at the age of 93. So who is now the oldest living President?
It hasn’t been fitted with a mind control device for sinking ships with yet, but researchers have captured a gigantic squid. Unfortunately, the squid died. If there’s more of those, and we can find some way of creating a good way of making calamari great-tasting for all of us... nah. We’ll probably overfish them and rather than solving world hunger, we’ll create more of it.
The war policy’s not doing to well, either. Another Congresscritter does “open mouth, insert foot” by suggesting that American soldiers convert all the Muslims to Christianity. I somehow doubt it’ll be any more effective of a strategy than the current one, though. As the writer notes, it’s playing into the hands of the people who promote the war as a Christian crusade. (Well, I think there’s a strong crusade component to it, too. Still, it’s not going to do them any favors if they keep making it true, or more true.) They’re still worried about Muslims here at home, as the continued interest in Obama's heritage and naming continues to dog the media.
I don’t think it’s a particularly American thing - maybe a certain regional area, but there’s a lot of other places that are very fond of heir meat, too. It comes with side effects, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The link is to a summary article in the Independent - cows and ranching contribute significantly to greenhouse gases and deforestations. So the veggie option is not necessarily just for your health. (As in all things, though, moderation would probably assist the problem quite a bit.)
Finding other intelligent lifeforms may be a bit more of a problem than we think - the entire galaxy might have planets and stars that could fit the criteria for intelligent life. So if we could narrow down the parameters, or find somewhere else that will have intelligent life for another template, that would help.
Another one of the Blues Brothers cast died - James Brown passed away. So no more of the reverend Cleophus James. Hopefully, he’s dancing and singing in his preferred heavenly afterlife.
I’m not sure it’ll help the absentminded like myself, but in terms of growing older and fearing the loss of one’s mind, mental exercise performed regularly may help stave off mental degradation. So doing the crossword or Sudoku in the morning with the paper may very well make it possible to keep your wits about you.
A British professor says that we'll all be cyborgs one day. I’m not sure that the benefits currently outweight the possible ethical problems. If we’re going to go Ghost in the Shell, we need to have really good firewalls and ICE at a minimum, I’d say.
The library could very well expand its holdings... or one could be old-fashioned with the e-texts downloaded... or something, with the Espresso - a device that will print, align, bind, and produce two complete books of less than 550 pages in under seven minutes. I wonder how good the binding’s on it, though - it’s no good if you don’t have it around for sufficiently long enough to actually read it. And then possibly read it to your kids.
The furor continues, of course, over a vaccination designed to stop a strain of virus that can develop cancer later on in life, because its ideal age is 12 or 13, and some people worry that this will encourage sexual activity in young children. I’d like to know how getting a vaccine will encourage sexual behavior, but in this country, it’s virginity or death, and anything that deals with sex, even if it’s trying to prevent ills, must be an encouragement to have sex. I’d like to live in a sane country, please.
Exploding Aardvark’s put two and two together and came up with five or six with a few links around to the marketing of the princess to the elementary school crowd . Tapping into the market that says “I want to look just like the girls on TV” by making little princesses out of all the girls - but it’s the glamorous girls that get the play - not Mulan, not really Ariel (she’s a bit risque for the target market). And then there’s the other part, Club Libby Liu, which is marketing the “attitude” portion right along with the lip gloss. It’s make-up and dress-up for the young girls, just with a name and accompanying price tag attached. I’m not sure the princess look is the right idea, with this kind of aggression in marketing. (Funny. I always found Mulan to be the best of the Princess collection. She’d make an excellent Princess of Heart.)
The Senator from Massachusettes sounds off on flip-flopping policy, or rather, why it’s a bad idea to not flip out over a flop of a policy, like Iraq has been. I wonder whether this is the “I could have done better” letter. But I would have liked to have see whether he could have done better.
Perhaps helping with my own peanut allergy, there's some trials underway that say small amounts of exposure could very well assist in overcoming food allergies.
And the last bit for tonight - The 2006 Foot-In-Mouth Awards, from Wired. Taking the worst of the quotes about technology and putting them all together in one big black hole of suck. Hopefully, everyone had a good Sol Invictus.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 06:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 06:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 07:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 09:50 am (UTC)*guesses who it is before even clicking the link: Kevin 'Cyborg' Warwick*
*clicks the link*
*facepalms along with every other reputable scientist at the mention of Warwick's name*
Seriously, the guy is an embarrassment. A fame-grabbing charlatain who goes for cheap publicity stunts and makes outrageous claims. God along knows how the guy got to be a professor, because nobody else seems to.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 09:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 03:31 pm (UTC)Surely you've met at least one professor with Ol' Kev's personal tendencies? I know I have.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 04:36 pm (UTC)Mulan is actually one of the Disney "princesses," but she is always shown in the girly outfit instead of her fightin' armour.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-27 07:50 pm (UTC)The worst thing that can come from this is that people, inside and outside the country, actually believe that the military might actually do that kind of thing. ¬_¬
no subject
Date: 2006-12-28 02:36 am (UTC)I was saying more than Mulan is an underappreciated Disney Princess, because she goes out and kicks ass, rather than waiting for someone to do it for her. Plus, compared to Aurora, Cindy, Belle, and the bunch, she feels a little out of place in the Princess line. I feel like she and Ariel were added on just for the marketing potential.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-28 02:38 am (UTC)Those Senators are probably about as well-versed in law and the Constitution as the President is, if not worse.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-28 06:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-29 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-29 03:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-29 03:41 am (UTC)