Weekend - (n) (1) the time when real life always conspires to keep you from enjoying the only two-four days you're not supposed to be working. (2) when most accidental babies are made. (3) Usually the two days in the week when the most stuff, and the least productivity, happen.
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Friday, April 10, 2009
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
26 Seconds
Cool:
(And something we should all have known, understanding fluids and densities and buoyancy, but probably hadn't put together)
(Spotted over at BoingBoing)
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(And something we should all have known, understanding fluids and densities and buoyancy, but probably hadn't put together)
(Spotted over at BoingBoing)
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NoGodTube
In response to GodTube, and problems with YouTube (votebotting, flagbotting, etc) resulting in harassment and banning (with subsequent reinstatement), there is now NoGodTube.
[Personally, I would suggest atheists, agnostics, and others interested in using the site, also put their videos on YouTube, but encourage linking and embedding to NoGodTube. This way, we still have a voice in how the YouTube community continues to evolve, and we also have a place where our videos will be easy to find and available to anyone interested.]
So, in honor of the new site, I give you the following discussion between Blair Scott and Leonard Adams, recorded in February of 2008, about Black Atheists.
/>
Parts 2 and 3 (along with the URLs to all three) are below the fold...
/>
/>
http://nogodtube.com/play.php?vid=128
http://nogodtube.com/play.php?vid=130
http://nogodtube.com/play.php?vid=131
Very interesting talk. Blair is a lot of things- Director, Founder, User of Shitty English Accents- leave him some comments, reviews, and feedback.
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[Personally, I would suggest atheists, agnostics, and others interested in using the site, also put their videos on YouTube, but encourage linking and embedding to NoGodTube. This way, we still have a voice in how the YouTube community continues to evolve, and we also have a place where our videos will be easy to find and available to anyone interested.]
So, in honor of the new site, I give you the following discussion between Blair Scott and Leonard Adams, recorded in February of 2008, about Black Atheists.
/>
Parts 2 and 3 (along with the URLs to all three) are below the fold...
/>
/>
http://nogodtube.com/play.php?vid=128
http://nogodtube.com/play.php?vid=130
http://nogodtube.com/play.php?vid=131
Very interesting talk. Blair is a lot of things- Director, Founder, User of Shitty English Accents- leave him some comments, reviews, and feedback.
Read More...
Sunday, April 05, 2009
YouTube and the JREF
If you haven't seen it elsewhere:
I don't agree, fully, with Randi; but I think the problems are with the DCMA, and YouTube's policies because of it.
UPDATE:
This, from /., seems to illustrate my point very well. It also suggests, to me, that everyone who wrote to YouTube saying they demanded an explanation and an apology was right to do so- it keeps them on their toes and, hopefully, squeamish about the policy so that they might change it if the legal situation ever changes.
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I don't agree, fully, with Randi; but I think the problems are with the DCMA, and YouTube's policies because of it.
UPDATE:
This, from /., seems to illustrate my point very well. It also suggests, to me, that everyone who wrote to YouTube saying they demanded an explanation and an apology was right to do so- it keeps them on their toes and, hopefully, squeamish about the policy so that they might change it if the legal situation ever changes.
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Saturday, April 04, 2009
Great News!
From Bad Astronomy:
"Wow, I get wrapped up in my own personal world for a coupla days, and find out I almost missed this: the Iowa Supreme Court said that banning gay people from getting married is unconstitutional."
-or-
Displayed to EVERYONE...
Hidden, except for interested readers.
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"Wow, I get wrapped up in my own personal world for a coupla days, and find out I almost missed this: the Iowa Supreme Court said that banning gay people from getting married is unconstitutional."
-or-
Displayed to EVERYONE...
Hidden, except for interested readers.
Read More...
Dollhouse
If you had the ability to erase a persona, then with the clean slate, add whatever persona you could design- and you'd shown you could design almost anything- who would you not design?
Topher? Designed. The Watchers? Designed.
If it was me, everyone working at the dollhouse would be designed. Everyone would be wiped, at some point. There'd be wheels within wheels within wheels, as Frank Herbert might say.
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Topher? Designed. The Watchers? Designed.
If it was me, everyone working at the dollhouse would be designed. Everyone would be wiped, at some point. There'd be wheels within wheels within wheels, as Frank Herbert might say.
Read More...
Friday, April 03, 2009
SOUTHLAND
There's a new show coming out, in a week, on NBC. It's nothing new: cop drama, following various police officers operating various cases. Quick to start, then develops, camera quality goes back and forth between faux COPS and production grade. Sound effects are crap- witness the first shooting, where the guns all sound like something less than caps.
Anyway, the pilot is up on Hulu, a week before it airs on TV. Because an obvious ploy for no reason is as good as a ploy with a reason, I guess. (I suppose it's to get word of mouth spurred.)
Nothing unique about it. Multiple arcs, from episodic to multi-show: something to get new viewers and keep the old ones. A mix of personal and professional, with emphasis (understand it's only the first show) on the professional. A great ensemble cast, and a heavy smell of money, so expect to be hearing raves about it soon.
Seriously, nothing unique about it. A mix of things from a hundred cop drama TV Shows and Movies, already out there- the rich-boy rookie with the hardass vet partner (overcompensating for being gay), the empathetic black female detective (taking care of her elderly sick mother) with the not quite as good younger white male partner, the "Gang life is stupid, pointless, and harmful" angle (complete with "community testimony" and "community fear"), the misogynist with a female partner, the cop on his first marriage that's about to die surrounded by hardened divorcees...
Absolutely nothing to set it apart. It reinforces the idea that stereotypes and cliches are okay, so long as they're not negative. It's crap, throwaway, dressed-up reruns with better production values. If you've been hankering for a fix since NYPD Blue dropped off, you'll probably like this. If you're a fan of the cop drama genre, you'll probably like this. If you like anything that's good and interesting, and have a memory like a goldfish (so you don't place all the old tired bullshit), you'll probably like this. Otherwise, leave it to the fans, the idiots, and the young. (caveat: For now)
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Anyway, the pilot is up on Hulu, a week before it airs on TV. Because an obvious ploy for no reason is as good as a ploy with a reason, I guess. (I suppose it's to get word of mouth spurred.)
Nothing unique about it. Multiple arcs, from episodic to multi-show: something to get new viewers and keep the old ones. A mix of personal and professional, with emphasis (understand it's only the first show) on the professional. A great ensemble cast, and a heavy smell of money, so expect to be hearing raves about it soon.
Seriously, nothing unique about it. A mix of things from a hundred cop drama TV Shows and Movies, already out there- the rich-boy rookie with the hardass vet partner (overcompensating for being gay), the empathetic black female detective (taking care of her elderly sick mother) with the not quite as good younger white male partner, the "Gang life is stupid, pointless, and harmful" angle (complete with "community testimony" and "community fear"), the misogynist with a female partner, the cop on his first marriage that's about to die surrounded by hardened divorcees...
Absolutely nothing to set it apart. It reinforces the idea that stereotypes and cliches are okay, so long as they're not negative. It's crap, throwaway, dressed-up reruns with better production values. If you've been hankering for a fix since NYPD Blue dropped off, you'll probably like this. If you're a fan of the cop drama genre, you'll probably like this. If you like anything that's good and interesting, and have a memory like a goldfish (so you don't place all the old tired bullshit), you'll probably like this. Otherwise, leave it to the fans, the idiots, and the young. (caveat: For now)
Read More...
Thursday, April 02, 2009
A Load of Honor
Honor is such crap.
Honor doesn't work unless everyone follows the same "code".
Examples:
Person A believes it's not honorable to kill.
Person B believes it is honorable to kill those who don't think it's honorable to kill.
Person B kills Person A. From a game perspective, who "won" there, for all sets of "won" that include "continued to live"?
More real-life example:
Person A believes it is not honorable to steal.
Person B doesn't consider stealing to effect honor in any way.
Person B steals Person A's Thing.
Who "won"? Hint: It's not Person A.
For all sets of providing reasons to support an argument where one person suggests "honor" as a reason, that person is a fool. A self-righteous fool, at that.
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Honor doesn't work unless everyone follows the same "code".
Examples:
Person A believes it's not honorable to kill.
Person B believes it is honorable to kill those who don't think it's honorable to kill.
Person B kills Person A. From a game perspective, who "won" there, for all sets of "won" that include "continued to live"?
More real-life example:
Person A believes it is not honorable to steal.
Person B doesn't consider stealing to effect honor in any way.
Person B steals Person A's Thing.
Who "won"? Hint: It's not Person A.
For all sets of providing reasons to support an argument where one person suggests "honor" as a reason, that person is a fool. A self-righteous fool, at that.
Read More...
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
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