Thought I’d share my (mostly) video game music playlist. It’s good for background music for reading or quiet working, though if you really like some of the songs the experience can be interrupting. Youtube has a 200 video limit for embeded playlists, looks like, so go here to the actual playlist page for all the … A Playlist of Possible Interest
Or possibly the new “triggered,” but not quite yet. It needs to grow. There was a time in the not too distant Internet past, where discussions and arguments devolved quickly when someone invoked the “ad hominem” fallacy accusation. Or the exchange’s devolution had already happened and the accusation was just a signpost. Whether or not … “Gaslighting” is the New “Ad Hominem”
Don’t mind me here. It’s part of my mortgage-paying job to notice and fix the things I’m gassing on about below, so none of this post is necessary. It’s all sidebar observations. Is anything on here that necessary to begin with? It’s not that Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center website is bad, per se, … How Not to Do a Convention Center Website
You don’t understand, but perhaps you do. This song kills me. Kills me. There’s an all-string version, which seems more popular, by the Kronos Quartet that was in the movie La Grande Bellezza. That one is also good, but there’s something special about it being performed a capella.
I’ve been listening to Deadlock a lot lately, since they had released a double-CD album of re-recorded or unreleased, etc., songs—an album that passed my attention on its release date. One of the songs, “Earthlings,” is from a past Japanese market release of Bizarro World. If the Japanese isn’t apparent to you during the verses … When an English-Speaking German Band Does a Song in Japanese
“A Protocol for Dying”: Time for my last article. I could probably write more, yet there are times for everything and after this, my attention will be focused on the most comfortable position for my bed, the schedule for pain killers, and the people around me. …. And so I’m proud of my real work, … A Computer Programmer Prepares For Death
I typed away at my first hackathon ever a few weeks ago: PNC’s APIFest. My team and I stayed up all night, eating any kind of computer geek food they threw at us and plugging away. Our idea was very UI-heavy, so I had plenty of work to do. I got maybe 20 total minutes … My First Hackathon
Another public service announcement type of post. 1. Press the Windows + E keys to launch File Explorer: 2. Click inside the locator bar, type or copy/paste the following path, then press enter: Control Panel\System and Security\System 3. The System info section inside the Control Panel will be shown: Of course, this is only the … The Quickest Way to Access Basic Computer Information in Windows 10
I mean, multiculturalism does exist, and has always existed. The earth has many cultures. This is self-evident. Yet, multiculturalism doesn’t exist in the way some may think it does. A story from my Facebook days. Friend Y posted about their job at X. One night, a Muslim man and his wife came in. The man … Multiculturalism Doesn’t Exist
TED Talks are the pinnacle of bourgeois cheesepuff and self-back-pattery—a ‘roided up NPR with visuals. As a prole, I’m supposed to be floored by the priesthood coming out from behind the Veil of the Holy of Holies to radiate their revelations to me. Their videos are mildly interesting at best, but this one I couldn’t … Teach Your Kids Not to be Dicks
From page 415 of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods (10th Anniversary edition, Author’s Preferred Text).
Going to backtrack a statement I made in an old Star Wars: The Force Awakens post. Rey Skywalker is definitely not a Mary Sue: 7. She cobbled together a computer from crashed ships and found a data chip with a functioning flight simulator program. She used the program in her spare time, like when she … Rey Skywalker Is Not A Mary Sue
Explanation of “Resting Bitch Face” (RBF) here. It’s simply subconcious mirroring of fashion model stoicism. If that’s what a woman exposes herself to enough, it could be at least a partial explanation, even if there’s no desire to model (heh) the model’s success, beauty, attention, etc. The mirroring may also be a modern hijack of … Theory on the “Resting Bitch Face” Phenomenon
Interesting idea from Meinl Coffee, if you can write and like coffee (the two usually go hand in hand): On March 21st, World Poetry Day, we let our imagination wonder. We dream of a place where money is replaced by emotions. A better world. For one day, we’re changing the currency in coffeehouses around the … Buying Coffee Without Money
I usually like Aaron’s thoughts, especially on economic stuff, but he’s off here. UX (user experience) isn’t testing, though it involves that (and, by the way, application testing is a dedicated position). The biggest task for UX designers is logically organizing information, the user action path, and general interface, particularly on large-scale applications and websites. … You Keep Saying “User Experience” But I Don’t Think You Know What It Means
I deleted my Facebook account. I remembered I had a GitHub account that I did little with—deleted that one, too. I had planned on doing that some time ago when they started getting infested with SJWs, but it fell off my radar. So, an informal poll. I have the Links of Possible Relevance posts that … Facebook Deleted, and a Poll
There was a survey-type of form at work I was filling out, and one of the questions was if I “needed” resource X. The few questions preceding this one had to do with resource X, and it was something I already had. Depending on how I regarded the question, it could require two different answers. … The Meaning of “Need”
There’s a pilot ordered for a Nancy Drew series on CBS: Described as a contemporary take on the character from the iconic Nancy Drew book series, the CBS project will center around a diverse, 30-something title character. A more mature version than the classic story, Nancy is now detective for the NYPD where she investigates … At What Point Does Nancy Drew Become Not Nancy Drew?
RIP, Eco. I haven’t read The Name of the Rose, his most well-known book, but it’s currently in the “to read” stack. I did see the movie version, with Sean Connery and Christian Slater, but I was too young to really appreciate it. I’ve only read Foucault’s Pendulum (free PDF here). I liked it so … Umberto Eco Just Died
So, something new. My friend Seth W and I recorded our semi-structured conversation the other day, and we decided to publish it. Seth talks about Offscreen Magazine I possibly misuse an economics term I forgot the name of the Metal Made Flesh graphic novel Kickstarter Seth talks about the Star Wars book Death Star I … I Didn’t Record a Podcast But I Might As Well Have
How did I miss this? I ignore the news, but every now and then a breastfeeding story comes up, usually because of some uppity Victorian-types making lots of noise. If the Victorian-type is a politician, all the lefty sites will be all over it. Why wouldn’t they? It’s outrage red meat. New Hampshire State Rep. … A Politician Says Stuff About Boobs
While doing research for Pale Blue Scratch, on ballet and dancing in general, I came upon this video while following rabbit trails on Google. It’s the intro for a series I had watched a few years ago on Netflix, before one of their anime purges. I have no reason for posting it, other than I … Dancing Mechas
One of the best songs, lyrically, on dealing with a tragedy. Most popular music lyrics that tackle depressing a subject focus on three certain kinds: unrequited love, death, or whatever the mental pathology du jour is popular. I don’t think I’ve heard a song deal with vocational or occupational tragedy before. Contrast this with the … Lyrics: Rush’s Losing It
At least, I don’t think it is. From the clickbaity “According To Science, This Is The Perfect And Best Road Trip You Can Possibly Take.” WITH THE HELP OF A SOPHISTICATED ALGORITHM, THIS ROAD TRIP ALLOWS YOU TO START IN ANY STATE. JUST HOP ON AT THE POINT THAT RUNS THROUGH YOUR STATE AND KEEP … Math Is Not Science
Ignore this post, since this is a “note to self” type of thing. These are based entirely on my (mis)perceptions, or on very one-sided conjectures of what other people may think. DEMOCRAT PARTY Hillary Clinton – The queen bee female candidate. “Men and women are equal, but here’s how a woman would be better as … Jay’s Guide For Jay on the 2016 Presidential Candidates
Not really a theory. Just something fun, because I can’t help it sometimes.
Facebook friend Mike Duran posted about the Bechdel Test on his wall recently. I had never heard of it, but I’m happy to report any conversation between women appearing in Pale Blue Scratch fails the test. Well, not exactly happy; I’m really indifferent toward it. However, I don’t play the gender culture war and I … The Jay Test
I just finished playing Dishonored. Good game! It was my first stealth FPS, so I had adjustment issues after gorging on Halo installments for so long. Dishonored has high art direction value, taking a lot of aesthetics from Industrial age British fashion. That, and the dystopian decay plot point lends itself well to the alternative … Dishonored Completed
I mentioned before that I thought Rey could be Luke Skywalker’s daughter, and there are theories that she could be Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter. There were hints of Obi-Wan being romantically/relationally attached to someone, in the prequels, and in the Expanded Universe (EU), Luke had children with Mara Jade. Since a lot of the EU isn’t … Star Wars Theory: Rey Will Bring Balance to the Force
There are two WordPress plugins of late that I wanted to note: UpdraftPlus – Automated WordPress backups. You can save it locally or some place online. The paid version obviously has many more options. I backup my entire directory on a once a month schedule, and I set it to sideload* the zip file to … Two WordPress Plugins: UpdraftPlus and WP Dashboard Notes
GeekxGirls posted on Kylo Ren’s lightsaber battles, and they have similar thoughts to what I’ve been gassing on about. From “Kylo vs Finn and Rey – You’re Missing the Damn Point!”, regarding his injury from Chewbacca’s bowcaster: So…after being shown the pure unadulterated hell that spews forth from this hand-held death cannon in a deluge … Kylo Ren’s Bowcaster Injury
The Kickstater campaign for the new book was rather successful. I didn’t know how it would turn out, honestly, but I had expectations that it wouldn’t make it. The bulk of the contributions came from family and friends who wanted to help out, especially the first half of the pledges. Near the end, after it … Kickstarter – Post Game Analysis
Below is a postcard I designed for Seth at Skulltoaster. I think it printed well, but in retrospect I should have made the blue colorized Seth in the background a little brighter, and emphasized his “2016” glasses a little more. Photography by Molly Hudelson.
See the original post. As if I need to add even more online commentary about this movie… I rewatched it the other night, and I paid special attention to the lightsaber fight between Kylo Ren and Rae, and I probably should revise my original thoughts. When they start out, it’s basically Rae trying to get … Addendum to Previous Star Was Post
I don’t need to mention that there are spoilers aplenty inside this post, do I? 1. Let’s get the politics out of the way first: director J.J. Abrams made openly racist comments about white people, within the context of casting—and that’s okay. He’s free to cast anyone he wishes for any reason. He’s only beholden … Random Thoughts on Star Wars: The Force Awakens
An interesting excerpt from an article last year, from the Daily Beast: “The Heart Association’s Junk Science Diet“: In fact, most people who have heart attacks don’t have elevations in bad cholesterol. They are much more likely to have metabolic syndrome—a condition that puts you at high risk for diabetes and heart disease. Metabolic syndrome … Eat More Fat
Well, to provide a tl;dr answer to the question posed in the blog title, He might shoot a lot of B.C. Egyptians, particularly first born sons. He’d also maybe shoot Canaanites—all of them. Lots of the contextual “What would Jesus do in x situation? Let’s find out,” hypotheticals end up being an ad absurdum argument, … Who Would Jesus Shoot? AKA, Stop Putting Jesus in a Clown Suit
Make me a sandwich, bitch,” is a semi-literal phrase used less as a command and more as a denigration, for obvious reasons. I came across a screenshot of someone on Twitter tweeting it, so I did some searches on the phrase, both with and without the comma. Nearly all usages I’ve seen online do no … Commas Are Still Useful
If a man has to set his passions on a subject, let it be an inconsequential thing: sports, music, food. The worst thing, if his affections for the subject become too engaged and inflamed, is a barroom brawl, an insult hurled online at a different band’s fan, or food thrown across the restaurant table. Even … Directing One’s Passions
With the news of Ridley Scott planning to direct a trilogy of films as Prometheus sequels, I intentionally fell into reading more explanations and speculations about Prometheus. I came up with two and a half more unexplained elements from the film that will hopefully be addressed. 1. This one is minor, so I’ll get it … Further Thoughts On Prometheus
I just started a membership at the local Planet Fitness. Nothing truly groundbreaking, but it’s a huge personal switch from me after exercising for years in the ol’ basement for many years. Since I’ve posted here before, though rarely, on fitness, I thought I’d share a few observations. 1. Working out in public requires a … Personal Fitness Note
I don’t normally comment on these “dawww that’s cute” type of stories, but I’ve been seeing this too much to ignore it. Story here, original Facebook post here. I was about to write it off as another useless social media story with a gratuitous selfie of Julia for maximum attention generation, until I read that … That Julia Price Story is Suspect
1. “Refugee,” much like “slave,” used in this modern context, may be wildly different than mentions of “refugee” in some translations of the Bible. X doesn’t always mean x, especially when there’s a good few thousand years worth of linguistic, cultural, and technological differences. 2. Universal moral imperatives, especially for something so complex as this … Random Thoughts on the Syrian Diaspora Issue
This isn’t actually a movie proper, but a splicing together of all the Clone Wars episodes, which were of varying length. So it’s more a succession of vignettes than anything. These are the episodes from the 2003-2005 series, not the more extensive CGI series from 2008 (titled, The Clone Wars). I don’t recall if that … Humpday Movie – Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 Series, HD)
I changed a few things on the site, to make things a little wonky. The biggest change were the drawer dropdowns I used for the navigation. The plugin seemed to take up a lot of the load time, and the experience wasn’t ideal on mobile, so I ditched it. There’s only one navigable page—the “About” … Another Site Design Update
I remember watching the Rocky movies countless times when I was younger, and I never thought the semi-iconic scene in Rocky III where Rocky finally out-sprints Apollo Creed was implicitly homosexual. Watching it now, one has to wonder how much attitudes have changed, such that the filmmakers back then (1982) never thought twice that this … Rocky and Mutual Male Touching
This has probably already been said somewhere, but given what we know from the trailers, other sources, and basic cinematic tropes, I can predict one of the crucial plot element at the Star Wars: The Force Awakens. We know Luke Skywalker is in exile for some reason. He’s in the second trailer (see screenshot above), … Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Ending Prediction
Consider this a public service announcement post, since I had some issues with getting my copy of Halo 2 to work, even after doing research online. I have an Xbox 360 E, and they require an internal drive to make original Xbox games compatible. However, the internal drive must be an official Microsoft hard drive, … How to Play Xbox Games on an XBox 360
After upgrading to Windows 10, I saw that the Mozilla Manifesto was directly linked from the Firefox’s default “new tab” screen (for the record, I’m a Chrome guy). With Mozilla’s recent dalliances with progressive politics, I wanted to see if it infected their official statement of purpose. It mostly didn’t, thankfully, but it is rather … Mozilla’s Manifesto Is Eh
After a some comments I made on one of Mike Duran’s post, “Does Christian Fiction Have a Race Problem?”, I was set to write a lot of about the politicized nature of the modern diversity concept. Stefan Molyneux beat me and saved me some writing time, so I’d advise you to watch the video below. … The Diversity Issue
A cut and paste post while I’m busy finishing up Pale Blue Scratch. I recently finished a staycation and was busy annoying everyone on Facebook with my humdrum, activities in the dense suburbs of Pittsburgh. Here they are, serialized for your pleasure—because what’s more entertaining than what an average white American male does in his … The Staycation Dad Chronicles
Though I don’t have the formal education on this, like some do, to point to primary sources, but Medieval thought in general held sin, especially blasphemy, to cause actual harm in the physical world. This puts a different spin on witch trials and inquisitions, since committing blasphemy could be considered no different than assault. One … Of Blasphemy and Trigger Warnings
Inspired both by Ed’s posts about riding out in Oklahoma County and by the fact that I finally took Functional out on a non-commuting ride this season, here’s a very photo-heavy post of the route I did with some friends/in-laws. For the Pittsburgh area, it was a very flat ride with some nice views along the … Photos: Allegheny Valley Bike Ride
Growing up with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as a favorite movie, I got the impression that slavery was all about capturing young able-bodied children for mine work. Roots sat on the head-end of my timeline but if I saw that I’d have additional prejudices about slavery. Most of us who have grown … Doubleplusungood Thoughts on Slavery
There are about four stop signs near my house on the way to the bus stop that I generally ignore. Two of them literally have no consequence if one is obedient to them or not. I guess I should explain that I’m riding my bike when I fly through these, but some people have a … The Epistemology of Road Signs
Bear with me if you’ve never seen Castle in the Sky, or you’ve forgotten it. Some time ago, on Facebook or on some message board had mentioned the odd interest the pirates took in Sheeta’s presence on their ship. If I had a clip of the relevant scenes, I would link them here, but it’s … Castle in the Sky – Sheeta and the Pirates
I listen to a playlist of video game music at work or when I’m writing. Like film scores, most of it is designed to be unobtrusive enough to help someone maintain focus on something else. There are two songs in my playlist that intruded into my attention the other day though, through tiny idiosyncrasies like … Getting Trolled By Video Game Music
If you’ve already read the post title, do I need to provide a spoiler warning? Marnie, who turned out to be Anna’s grandmother, had told her about her life at the mansion and her relationship and life with Kazuhiko during one of Marnie’s bed-ridden bouts with her chronic fevers (note that Marnie’s caretaking duties put … When Marnie Was There – Ending Analysis
I, perhaps for the last time, switched and customized the theme here at the blog, using WordPress twenty twelve as a base. I tried to get rid of as many barriers as I could, experience-wise, especially if you on a mobile device. There are more details on my UX portfolio page, for those of you … Theme Updated and Customized – Fire When Ready
Story here, if you haven’t caught wind yet. Right now there are obvious choices being talked about: Susan B. Anthony (universal suffrage is silly), Eleanor Roosevelt (wife of a former head bureaucrat) or local favorite: Rachel Carson (malaria lover). I personally have little interest in who is picked save for one reason. However, these items … Ayn Rand Should Be On the New Ten Dollar Bill
A very non-serious post. I scrounged up from different sources these three desktop backgrounds that feature the intro screen for Xenoblade Chronicles, that shows the different times of day. I had to do some Photoshop work on them to get the positioning, proportions, files size, and colors mostly coordinated between pictures. I think they’re aesthetically … Xenoblade Time of Day Desktop Backgrounds
This article raises some interesting questions. How far should a scientific discipline go in its theories of “the possible?” before it stops being a science? For all it’s been romanticized, no one mentions the study of science can be an exhausting rat race with professional jealousies and money grabs. I’m willing to believe that half … Physical Limits
Back in my day, I had an outspoken atheist professor who said at the start of every semester that if we didn’t like something in his class: “Tough shit. Suck it up or leave.” I didn’t care because he was funny and was good at learnin’ me logic and philosophy, and I actually got to … The Occident Is Doomed
I’ve come to appreciate writers that don’t characterize immoral actors in their work as complete devils. Things that are considered immoral now, but commonplace in past times, is often depicted as being perpetrated by people of ill-character and worth. I’m willing to believe people who perpetrated bad “institutions” (nearly everyone) in the past were normal … Bad Guys and Ancient Knowledge
I’ve seen Shadow Work: The Unpaid, Unseen Jobs That Fill Your Day blogged about and linked from many sources the last few days: Shadow work includes all the unpaid tasks we do on behalf of businesses and organizations. It has slipped into our routines stealthily; most of us do not realize how much of it … Why We Do Shadow Work
A breather post in between marathon writing sessions and some serious future posts. I bought a mountain bike off of Craigslist last week: a late-80s-to-early-90s Specialized Hard Rock. Functional has been in the shop for the past few weeks getting a tune up, so I thought it’s a good idea to finally get a backup … I Bought A Bike
After a bunch of plugin and theme updates, and a WordPress update, the WordPress 2015 theme I was using wasn’t playing well. That is, if you consider not showing any posts at all as “not playing well.” So I switched to the 2011 theme, which always seemed a little more stable to me than other … Switched to WordPress 2011 Theme
I don’t mean to brag, but tThis is the third year in a row I haven’t gotten sick—not the flu or anything else. This is even with living in a small house with a wife and two kids who all got sick, and with a 9-5 type of sit-down desk job. There was a time … Time To Brag About Not Getting Sick Again
Here’s a neat bit of imagery I noticed at the end of the Halo: Reach game. Some backstory (and spoilers, obviously): your player-character arrives on the scene in the beginning of Reach, on the planet Reach, as the replacement for the Spartan’s recently-KIA sixth member. Hence, your player’s name is Noble Six. The end of … Imagery in Halo: Reach
When there’s as decent amount of accumulation of snow or ice, especially on the street, and it rains, parts of the snow or ice on the ground melt and some doesn’t. It depends on the thickness of the snow/ice, how dirty it is, the grade of the hill it’s on, the type of ground it’s … A Possible Metaphor
Just Thomism talks about the Kalām Cosmological Argument, one that I’ve been iffy on: If the universe were ten minutes old, it would make sense to say it was not around 11 minutes ago, but this doesn’t mean there is a physical meaning to “eleven minutes”, and without this physical meaning it makes no sense … Criticism of the Kalām Cosmological Argument
“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.” -Henry Ward Beecher Even though Pale Blue Scratch will be a self-published book, I won’t be skimping on cover art. My friend Marcia Furman will be depicting one of the devices in a watercolor sketch for book cover. … Of Art and Light – Pale Blue Scratch Email Newsletter #3
The Ghost Box is Mike Duran’s third full novel, about Reagan Moon, a journalist of the paranormal who gets caught up, to put it mildly, in some otherwordly happenings in SoCal. I don’t dabble too much in modern science fiction or paranormal (see below), so I can only really competently comment on Moon’s first person … Book Review: The Ghost Box
I normally pay no attention to legislative news because, as Michael Corleone said, politics and crime are the same thing. Inordinately fixating on the schemes of social deviants does not reside in the realm of the sane. But since the issue of net neutrality has some personal impact as a software engineer, I have some … Net Neutrality is a Bad Idea
There are honest movie trailers and then there are honest movie posters. Here’s my honest movie poster for Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. Now get me some bath tokens! Edit: The “bath house is a brothel” theory is contentious. It’s irrelevant to the story at large; just a point of interest. Edit II: This poster is … Honest Movie Poster: Spirited Away
If you’re my friend on Facebook you’ve seen me briefly whine about Scarlett Johansson’s role in the Americanized, live-action version of Ghost in the Shell (GitS). As I’ve said on there, I don’t care much about race qua race in most contexts, but within the GitS fictional world it matters a lot. Since both movies, … Scarlett Johansson’s Race and Ghost in the Shell
I don’t write about music on here often even though I have a large background in it. There is something I wanted to note in the ceremonial passing of 2014 into 2015. Our yearly New Year’s Eve tradition is to blast the Wii with the new release of Just Dance. This past New Year’s was … Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” is a Weird Song
I posted these questions on Facebook and didn’t receive much response, though I should’ve known that site isn’t the greatest medium (*rimshot*) to field science questions that aren’t in meme format. I came across the article linked below while doing book research, and it’s actually an excerpt from a book called Transcending The Speed Of … Is There an Ether or Isn’t There?
Progress on Retardo Montalbán is going well. I should have a editable draft finished very soon. I don’t like being silent here for too long but I also despise meaningless posts, so here’s some things to mitigate that. You are currently viewing WordPress’ 2015 default theme with very little modifications on my part. I have … I Still Live
Not that I am particularly prolific on here, but I’m going to be taking a shortish break from posting while I finish up the first few drafts of Retardo Montalbán. There will be more drafts while Jill does her editing thing but that writing won’t be as rigorous or demanding…unless the bean bang completely misses … Taking A Short Break
You can buy it on Amazon. Here’s a list of things you can do with the paperback that you can’t do with the electronic version: Read 17 more stories Hold it Throw it Hide it from your babysitter Hide it from any babysitter Steal it* Steal it from Kevin Bacon** Bite it Do nothing with … Bored in the Breakroom Print Paperback Is Out
EDIT for all the people finding this post: I didn’t write the quoted text myself. It’s found at the page linked below, on the 16personalities.com site. I specifically picked the negative section because lots of personality quizzes give glowing praise as results, and the 16personalities site is one of the only ones I found that … Myers-Briggs Test Results: INTJ – The Conceited, Nit-Picking Sociopath
I am currently on the first draft stage of Retardo Montalbán, and I have onboarded Jill Domschot as the semi-formal editor of the project. We have a verbal agreement for services and payment, where I will remite payment at the end of her editing duties. So this public post carries with it the accountability factor—mostly … An Update on the Works In Progress
Spurred to action by squinty eye strain and this thread about Google Drive not having a dark theme like Gmail does, I tinkered with the CSS on the Typo theme I use here to make it mostly dark with a not-quite-white text, bucking the design trend of Apple and every website in existence that relies … Dark Is the New Black
If you would permit me a wholly web development-related post, I recently finished a translate jQuery script for my friends’ charity site, Mission to El Salvador. Technically, the script doesn’t translate the English to Spanish, but it replaces the English text and (sometimes) HTML markup. I was forced to do it this way because WordPress … Using jQuery To Translate Websites
One additional thought related to this post. The idea of universal suffrage as an absolute is a strange one if you are one to consider the state as a morally legitimate entity. I, for one, do not believe it is, so this argument is moot but I’m arguing this on a statist’s logical terms. If … Addendum to “Universal Sufferage” Post
I’m currently vacationing in Massachusetts, home to Elizabeth Warren and her corporo-fascism. A new Cheerios commercial portrays a competent dad. Interesting for its novelty but especially attention-starved social justice warriors are going to Tumblr the new paradigm. The Folly of Scientism – “Advocates of scientism today claim the sole mantle of rationality, frequently equating science … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 8
Internet friend Tim O’Neill commented on a HuffPo article on Hypatia. You can guess the tone of the story if you look at the title (“The First Female Astronomer“) and if you know how buzzy the leftoid beehive HuffPo is. Sayeth O’Neill: “Synesius of Cyrene …. asks for her advice on the design of scientific … Utterly Shocking: Recent Article on Hypatia Gets It Wrong
If Seth activated comments on his blog, I might write something like this on a recent post of his. Instead: I think it’s helpful to recognize and factor in for scale. Some software dev firms are too small to really have a “human touch” to be of value (I personally don’t think any company would … Words Mean Things
The short of it: luthier (that’s a “guitar maker,” for you public school kids) Vik Kuletski got slammed as a homophobe because he didn’t care about Cynic’s Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal’s sexual preferences, and said he personally disapproved of it but ultimately didn’t care. Reinert’s and Masvidal’s preferences were of the gayish kind and … Vik Kuletski Expresses Disinterest In Metal Dudes’ Sexual Orientation, Gets Labelled A Hate-Filled Hatey Homophobe. Hate.
Interesting fact about the Shakers. Enforcing celibacy in mixed communities would seem to be an impossible task, but the Shakers set up a strict hierarchy of Elders and Eldresses and deacons and deaconesses to enforce the sexual prohibition. Shakers who spent time outside the community were interrogated upon their return. Outside visitors were held to … The Shakers and Abstinence
Well, not really Mickey Mouse or Disney, but Lucasfilms: As of now, the official Star Wars canon consists of the six existing movies and the recent Clone Wars TV series. “These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align,” explained the announcement on … Mickey Mouse Has Force-Choked the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Chad Whitacre at Gittip posted about Julie Ann Horvath’s departure from GitHub*, and he invokes, with all the richness of proper proggy vocabulary, the secularized original sin so beloved by wealthy, white, leftoid man-dorks: Speaking personally as someone who ticks all the standard boxes of privilege (straight white male, etc.), knowing that my conversations and … Gittip On Horvath
Again from The World’s Last Night, Lewis, in a roundabout way, addresses the “all the jobs, everywhere, all the time, for everyone, forever” angle heard during election season nationwide. Such would seem to be the inevitable result of a society which depends predominantly on buying and selling. In a rational world, things would be made … C.S. Lewis On Full Employment Fetishism
I’m posting this video because I’ve just finished a playthrough of this game. I had played it on the original SNES system twenty years ago and could “sense” how good of a game it was. Since it was pre-Internet days I was pretty much he only person I knew who really got into RPGs. It … Final Fantasy 6 Final Battle and Ending
I’ve had the problem with my 2007 Macbook described here in the video, to the point where the screen didn’t light up at all. The customer service guy at the Apple store said I probably needed a new LCD lamp when in fact it’s just the inverter cable. The stores don’t carry the parts for … How To Fix A Macbook Inverter Cable, Sort Of
From an old old article in The Atlantic: “The Undertaker’s Racket“: Cemetery salesmen are also prone to confuse fact with fiction to their own advantage in discussing the law. Cemeteries derive a substantial income from the sale of vaults. The vault, a cement enclosure for the casket, is not only a money-maker; it facilitates upkeep … Funerals in America are Expensive and Weird
As promised in a post almost a month ago, I’m happy to report back that I’ve remained flu-free. There were a few days, a few weekends ago, where I thought I was coming down with a bug, but nothing came of it. Sorry, Virus Men. Go pound sand and come back next year.
Yeah, you can depict things how you like in books or film, particularly animated ones, but the main motivation behind Millennium Actress illustrates a realistic bit of attraction psychology. Chiyoko spends her entire life chasing down a man with whom she spent only about a half a day, whose face she never fully saw, because … Millennium Actress – Full Movie
A few nights ago I Skyped with a good friend of many years who is struggling with severe under- and non-employment. He doesn’t have a steady job but does odd, mostly web-based projects that come along. I’ve been in that dodge, too, earlier in life. Sometimes it springs out of mistakes you’ve made in the … Waiting It Out