« November 2004 | Main | January 2005 »
December 30, 2004
Donate.
Aright, here’s the deal:
Before I donated, I checked my account. I had US$20 to my name. That’s it, just US$20. I sent along US$5, or 1/4 of my wealth. If I can send them US$5, you can send US$10; the average donation as of the time I post this is US$64.44. Skip lunch some day next week if you have to...
Sorry for being shrill...
(Thanks to Asymmetrical Information for the link...)
Posted by Andrew at 04:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 28, 2004
Bitch test
I AM 25% ASSHOLE/BITCH!  I may think I am an asshole or a bitch, but the truth is I am a good person at heart. Yeah sure, I can have a mean streak in me, but most of the people I meet like me. |
Posted by Andrew at 03:33 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
We hateses malwere providerses
that's a bad transliteration of Golum, I admit...
A Very Public Service Message.
Surely you know that such an admission would likely get you punched in the nose more than once, depending on how many people are in earshot and how long it takes the whispers of "Hey, that fat guy by the snack table, the one who keeps double-dipping his chips, just said that he writes spyware for a living!"
Posted by Andrew at 01:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Say it ain't so
Cash-strapped city closing its libraries
Although Salinas appears to be the only city to proceed with closures, the bleak situation facing so many libraries worries Carol Brey-Casiano, American Library Association president and Director of the El Paso Public Library.
Posted by Andrew at 10:41 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 27, 2004
Reviews (books) Old Man’s War
The best Science fiction writers consistently write about believable human societies springing up from unbelievable roots. In this way, Sci-fi is the tool by which humanity can be examined in a variety of counter-factual conditions. It isn’t just about killing bug-eyed monsters-- it’s about why. I can’t claim John Scalzi is a great Sci-fi writer; he has simply not developed the body of work necessary to prove the point “consistent”. But his book Old Man’s War is certainly good Sci-fi in any meaningful sense...
Let’s ignore the laws of physics-- Mr. Scalzi does. They aren’t important in this book. Of course one inch tall humanoids couldn’t be conscious. But who cares? What is of actual import is how the main character interacts with them. Drill sergeant strait out of central casting? Why not? As long as we can conceive of and believe that drill sergeant. Mr. Scalzi can get away with thrusting cliché’s into his stories because they are not the point of the story, merely backdrops against which the larger themes are allowed to develop...
Those theme develop from page one, damned near word one: the need for family. Time and again, we see the main character pulled away from his family, and pushed into situations where he is left rudderless and alone. And time and again, we see him reach out to those around him, finding love and companionship...
It would do Humanity no irreparable harm if, in 500 years, this book is utterly forgotten. After all, we have only a bare few of the plays of Aeschylus. My own life, however, would be the poorer had I not the opportunity to read this book...
Rating: 4.5 bug eyed aliens out of 5.0 bug eyed aliens. I’ve read better from Heinlein, but I’ve read worse from him as well. Just go buy a copy already!
Posted by Andrew at 02:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
More from Mozilla
Mozilla's Lightning to strike Outlook?
Yes, I avoided the obvious pun. I may be the Punning Pundit, but I can show some restraints. I keep them in the nightstand...
Anyway. About two weeks ago, I was thinking to myself about the possible future for Mozilla. Since it was mid finals, though, I didn’t post about it. My thinking went something like this:
FireFox is a wonderful browser, the best on the web. Thunderbird is an awesome lite Email reader. If you are using the Microsoft equivalents of these programs, for the Gods’ sake, switch (yes, Marcie, I am writing to you!)...
However, I keep going back to Outlook for my Email needs. It isn’t all that special with Email itself, but its Calendar program is one of the most useful pieces of software I use. Outlook also has a very nice Contacts system. Name, Email address, Phone number, IM name, Picture, Birthday. All there...
And the fact that Outlook coordinates the various parts of itself is the killer feature. For instance, if I tell Outlook’s Contact manager what my sister’s birthday is, Outlook will add that to the calendar-- and give me enough advanced notice to actually buy a present. Ever since I called my Step-mother a month and a half late to wish her a happy Birthday (thinking I was only calling a few days late!), I’ve started using this feature...
When I saw that Mozilla was working on the Sunbird calendar program, I was happy. It certainly isn’t mature yet, but it is well on its way. The problem is that Sunbird won’t be integrated into Thunderbird-- leaving all my information separate. Sorry, family, I’m forgetting birthdays again...
So, the Lightning project is welcome news. If done right (and the current Mozilla team has a habit of doing things right) I can cheerfully ditch Outlook in favor of a heavy-duty, free Email client. Who could ask for more?
Posted by Andrew at 01:56 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 22, 2004
What is America’s Central Story?
Sorry I haven’t been able to get this question below, and don’t have a whole lot of time for it now (believe me when I say I’ve killed a few minutes thinking about it at work!), but I believe that America’s Central story is the same line your mother handed you:
If you work hard and are dedicated, you can do anything you want to.
The American government is dedicated to getting obstacles the hell out of people’s way. The American Right thinks that government itself is the greatest obstacle. The American Left thinks big business is. We centrists fear them both...
Discuss!
Posted by Andrew at 10:41 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
December 18, 2004
Apparently history teaches...
In U.S., 44 Percent Say Restrict Muslims
... nothing...
Posted by Andrew at 01:20 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
December 17, 2004
Age old question answered
style.org > Estimating the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow
Posted by Andrew at 12:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
An idea whose time has come...
Posted by Andrew at 11:56 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 15, 2004
Always the last to know...
Police shoot and kill man on campus
I have no idea about why this happened or what may have caused the man to start shooting. But since it’s my neck of the woods...
Posted by Andrew at 12:22 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
December 13, 2004
Method to my Socraticness
I thought I should put something up to amuse you. Here is a paper I wrote on Socrates...
Any society lives and dies by its central story, what Gramsci called the “Sorelian myth”. When belief in that story wanes, society tends to do so as well. A clear example can be found in Gideon’s story of Roman History: when Christianity rose, belief in the old gods correspondingly fell. The Roman Empire fell shortly afterwards.
Thus an attack on the fundamental values of a society is also an attack on that society itself. The name for an attack on society is “treason”, and most societies view it as punishable by death. When Socrates used his eponymous questioning style on the youngsters of Athens, he caused them to question not just truth, and justice, but also the Athenian way. His trial, while ostensibly over supposed atheism, was in fact about a series of related issues, including atheism, yes, but also inciting the young to rebellion. It is for these reasons that Socrates was put to death. It is for these reasons that the Greeks were correct to put Socrates to death, as he was guilty of treason.
(more after the jump)
It is difficult to pin down exactly who Socrates was; if he had any writings of consequence they have been lost for so long that even the memory of them is gone. What we know of him comes chiefly from Plato and Xenophon, with Plato being considered the more reliable (Russell 84). He was also fictionalized in the play The Clouds by Aristophanes. Socrates did not feel that this portrait was very flattering, and mentioned so at his trial. It is difficult to pin down just what Socrates said and did, much beyond a bare biography and a method. It is useful to examine his method.
Athens had just lost a war, its imperial swagger, and democracy itself. Athens was not in a good way. It was this post-war disaster that Socrates beheld, and it was pre-war values that he questioned. His very method of questioning would serve to drive the sane mad-- indeed it continues to drive prospective law students to suicide even several millennia later. How, then, did this odious little man become beloved by history? He had a penchant for asking the right questions.
Socrates believed that everyone contained within them all knowledge, and that careful questioning would reveal this knowledge. So he would stand on the street corners and harangue passers-by, attempting to elicit understanding. Anyone with older siblings is familiar with his techniques: he would start with the assumption that the questioned was wrong (or, at least that Socrates was correct), and nitpick any answer until ignorance was admitted . Meanwhile Socrates’ students (Plato et al) would stand around and snigger. While this may not be sufficient reason alone to have put Socrates to death, it certainly did not endear him to the jury when the time came.
Still, the questions themselves deserve a moment. Socrates was concerned with discovering the best social system, how leaders are chosen, how children might best be educated. He was concerned with the fundamental truths of the universe, from which everything else might be derived. They were useful questions, But perhaps not well timed.
What was the underlying philosophy of Athens at the time of Socrates? Certainly the democratic impulse of the Athenians must be taken into account. Democracy springs from the belief that humans are fundamentally capable, able to make their own decisions based upon good information and reason. Juries were huge, chosen by lot, and unpaid. Every position was up for election-- including General. The Athenians believed themselves capable of anything.
Greek art must also be considered. Classical art is full of human beings seen at their best, muscles rippling with prowess and ability. Every four years, the cities would send young men out to the Olympic Games to watch them compete, with a profound, nearly mystical belief that they were watching the crème of human achievement. Physical perfection and mental discipline: even when they fell short of this idea, the ideal itself was worth holding to and struggling for. And then came Socrates.
Socrates was accused of evil. He showed this charge baseless. Socrates was accused of corrupting the morals of the youth. He pointed to the crowd of his students and asked which of them was corrupted. Socrates was accused of poor logic , the logical circles he ran around the prosecution was more than enough to put paid to that notion. Socrates was accused of studying things, this charge was laughable. Most famously, Socrates was charged with being an Atheist. He answered this one so firmly that it is impossible to believe a jury could have convinced him of it. Yet Socrates was convicted.
After having proved all the accusations against him groundless, on what bassis might he have been convicted?
But of the many falsehoods told by them, there was one which quite amazed me;--I mean when they said that you should be upon your guard and not allow yourselves to be deceived by the force of my eloquence. (Plato)
It is precisely this eloquence on which he was convicted. Time and again during his trial Socrates picked out and picked apart a prosecutor and his arguments. In the course of proving his innocence, Socrates demonstrated for the jury the exact quality for which he was to be executed.
It wasn’t merely his eloquence, but rather what Socrates used that eloquence for: “there were few citizens to whom he had not proved how little they knew, how badly they reasoned, and how ill-founded were their most cherished opinions.” (Rostovtzeff 187). Perhaps in other societies this might not be worthy of a capitol punishment. In the Athens of Old, it certainly did.
In attacking each of the citizens in turn, in showing them that they weren’t as smart as they thought they were, Socrates was attacking the very foundations of Athenian society: the belief in the innate capability of humanity.
If the Athenians believed that people were capable and good, Socrates went around exposing the lie of that belief, or rather-- exposed that no one could out-think him in calling it a lie. The fact that he would not use his obvious wisdom and take upon himself a leadership role within the city must have galled the citizens especially. Here was a man who would not do his basic duty but only be a self-described “gadfly”.
Even so, he was given the option of death or some other punishment. It was his right to choose what that alternate punishment might be. He chose one so insulting to the city, one that so undercut their sense of values that the jury voted for death in an even higher ratio than had voted for his conviction (Russell 93).
There are many forms of treason: selling arms to an avowed enemy, giving information or help to a nation that wishes to destroy your own, defecting with an army. These are the things men commonly call treasonous, and for them Dante reserved the most punishing level of hell. There are other ways of committing treason however. Perhaps the most vicious is to take the most cherished assumptions of a society, not the small ones, but the ones which form the axiom of the entire civilization, and show them to be false. It was this exact crime which Socrates committed, it was this exact crime for which he was convicted, and it was this exact crime for which he was put to death. The only real pity is that he never put his obviously amazing intellect to better use.
Posted by Andrew at 09:44 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 08, 2004
I would like to associate myself with the comments from my colleague a the Washington Monthly
(Which is a fancy way of saying “me too”)
Kilgore is part of a remarkable phenomenon: the radicalizing of the center left. He's part of a crowd that includes people like Paul Krugman, Al Franken, Howard Dean, Atrios, and, um, me: liberals who are basically fairly moderate in policy terms but who have been appalled to discover that what seems unthinkable actually appears to be true. The modern Republican party really does seem to want to wreck the federal government.
I am a fairly conservative guy fiscally, with a strong sense of Moral liberalism. This used to make me part of the Republican Party. Sometime around 1997 I looked around and realized that the Republicans had shifted so far to the right that I was now a Democrat. Indeed, looking back on it I realize that I was always a Democrat: in my youth I’d been sucked into believing the lies that the Republicans were telling about themselves...
So I am by default a moderate Democrat. I believe that government can solve and has solved problems. I believe that careful and judicious study of the issues is exactly what Democracy demands of us. The Republican party specifically distains both notions. While they deserve the hell they are creating within our nation, I don’t deserve to head their with them, do I?
Posted by Andrew at 11:41 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
December 05, 2004
HHGttG
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- The Official Movie Website
Several years ago, a friend gave me Mp3 versions of the entire audio book for the Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy. It shows up a lot in my itunes Playlist. The Hitchhiker’s guide is a wonderful, silly, slightly morose story about a universe gone mad. Or, perhaps, it is about our world, blown up to universal proportions to have its silliness examined. This movie looks like none of that...
There are 5 books which comprise a trilogy for Gods’ sake! Watch this trailer and tell me if it seems like that. The fact that they had to do it over Mr. Adam’s dead body should tell us something...
Thanks to Dazed_and_Confucius Whose fault this movie isn’t...
Posted by Andrew at 11:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Language Question:
How does English get by without a second person Plural?
Posted by Andrew at 01:47 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
December 04, 2004
Can someone explain to me...
... why this thing has a funnel?
Good Vibrations | GV SLIP INSIDE REFILL 16 OZ
It claims that the funnel is there to refill the bottle. I don't belive it...
Posted by Andrew at 11:45 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 01, 2004
Yes, by God!
Over the past few decades, it has become increasingly obvious that Religious Fundamentalism is a world-wide problem, which has the stated aim of undoing the good works of the last several centuries. The problem isn’t as bad here in America, the Republican Party does not favorably compare itself to the NAZI party (like India’s BJP), nor could a strait out fascist gain 20% of the vote (as in France’s most recent presidential election)...
Nonetheless, Rev. Falwell managed to blameme (as a pagan) for the 9/11 attacks. Nonetheless, the Left Behind books are among the best selling in the world over the past Decade. Nonetheless, Christian Fundamentalism is a mockery of not just American Values, but Christian ones as well. Make no mistake, the Pharisees are at the door, indeed, the Pharisees have posted gaurds at the door to ensure that only they get to pray. We human beings cannot afford for them to win. It’s nice to see Christians taking up the Call to arms to defend their faith against the Heretics...
Posted by Andrew at 10:11 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack