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December 30, 2005
The year that was 2005
BBC NEWS | Magazine | 100 things we didn't know this time last year
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But what do lasers beat?
BBC NEWS | Magazine | Scissors, paper, stone - a strategic game
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December 29, 2005
That’s the way the pastry crumbles...
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December 28, 2005
Experimental Cooking
So, as I rebuild my kitchen, I’ve decided to pick up one new spice every time I hit the grocery store. This time I got some paprika. So, um, what exactly does Paprika do?
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If this isn't a hoax, it'll be damned cool!
Don't have a LAN connection, use your body - Indiatimes Infotech
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Galileo burning its way around Earth
As you may know, the EU and the US had a little spat over GPS. For some reason they didn’t like the fact that we could shut it off to non-US military applications whenever we want. So they’re launching their own
As a consumer, I like this. As someone concerned that the Chinese will start using Galileo to guide their missiles—not so much. I guess we’ll just have to see where things go...
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December 27, 2005
Typesetting award!
When did people start caring about fonts? I don’t know. If are like me, and do, well you’ll want to read
This article about the best fonts of 2005...
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December 26, 2005
New Holiday Tradition.
Yesterday my stepmom made some rather good Latkes. They were delicious. From now on, she tells us, Potato Latkes will be a new Christmas tradition. I love my family...
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December 25, 2005
Just in case you've missed it everywhere else
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Merry christmas!
What says christmas quite like Puns?
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December 24, 2005
Brief holiday thought:
Not infrequently at work I am wished, or wish, a merry Christmas. Now, Christmas isn’t a holy day to me, but it certainly is a holiday. And, all things considered I’d rather have a merry one than not. In that spirit, I will sometimes tell my customers that I wish for them to have a happy Chanukah. Because 1 Merry day followed by 7 happy ones (Chanukah and Christmas overlap this year) sounds like a damned good week to me. And since the whole thing drops off in time for New Years—like I said, a good week...
What’s odd is the reaction I get. Everyone assumes that I am being “PC”. Sample Dialogue.
Me: “Merry Christmas. And, even if you don’t celebrate it: Happy Chanukah”
Customer: (Bemused smile and wry grin) “yes, same to you. We wouldn’t want to be unPC”.
Um? I don’t think I’ve offended anyone. But I find it rather strange that they’re not just accepting that they can have a happy 7 day period which happens to fall on someone else’s holy days. I mean, I do it every year on 25 December, and whenever Easter falls*. And since the actual date of Christmas is arbitrary, there isn’t any special attachment to the date itself. Millions of Orthodox Christians celebrate it on 7 January and don’t have any problems...
Well, whatever. May your next year be a happy one. Even the days that are holy to someone who is not you...
*The first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equino. Yup. Not Pagan there. No Ma'am!
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December 22, 2005
Solstice
Earth is tilted in such a way that between the Gregorian dates of 21 and 22 December, the Northern Hemisphere experiences more hours of night than at any other period. All of which is very scientific, and has almost nothing to do with the screaming willies a seemingly endless nighttime brings to the human nervous system. Looking into the night is as close as we are going to come to looking into entropy itself. On a solstice eve, in the northern hemisphere, we can be forgiven if it seems the hour of the wolf has turned into an age...
It is not a surprise then, that holy days celebrated in December feature candles. Candles are some small way we humans have of holding back the darkness; of using our innate humanity to create spaces for ourselves to live and thrive. It may well be impossible to defeat entropy, but we will certainly try...
And that is why to us Pagans this night is different from all other nights. It is at this moment when the night is at its most dark that we must celebrate our very lives. When life itself is at its lowest ebb, we step forward and cast a small flame against the dark; in celebrating we become a small flame against the dark. Else all will be consumed...
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December 21, 2005
Too much cuteness!
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Fixing up the site a bit.
You may have noticed some changes around the site. Basically, I’ve done a bit of tweaking to make the site more readable. The font is black, and bigger. The background is also black. Any comments?
UPDATE:
Those of you with modern browsers (that is: not IE) should notice that I’ve got a new Favicon. A favicon is a picture that sits next to the URL and looks pretty. This one stays on the site wherever you’re at...
More changes to come in the next several weeks...
Posted by Andrew at 06:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Addition to the blogroll...
This blog was pointed out to me by someone I trust. And the content is good enough that I am simply sticking it right onto the blogroll. Of course, that’s relatively easy now that I am outsourcing my blogroll...
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Reconstruction photos
I have a friend in one of the war zones. I pray for my friend every damned day. I won't tell you name, rank, or even what country they are in. Indeed, I am trying to disguise even gender. I am told that they are being shot at every damned day...
Some days, though, some days my friend gets to shoot--- photos! And some of them have been sent to me. I am passing them on to you. Enjoy...
Part of me feels some intense guilt, I must admit. My friend is off in a warzone; a zone I am in favor of being a warzone. And yet—I am here. Blogging...
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December 18, 2005
money money money
theferrett: King Kong's Frickin' Huge
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Intolerable Executive Action
Imagine the founding father of your choice was having dinner with you one fine evening. First you’d be like "whoa Ben Franklin! What are you doing in my living room? Do you prefer your hamburgers medium or well done?" Then you’d have to explain what a "living room" is, and what a "hamburger" is...
Finally, however, you’d get around to asking him what he thinking about a president granting himself the authority to issue warrants for wiretaps without judicial oversight. And what, exactly, he thinks about a president doing such a thing in secret. There might be a few things in there you’d have to explain (like modern telecommunications), but ultimately he’d start darkly muttering about having a revolution. And, just so we are clear, so would Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, or just about anyone else who put their life on the line against English Tyranny...
See, our constitutional system is based—as anyone with a passing familiarity with Schoolhouse Rock can testify—on a system of checks and balances. What this means at a more technical level (I’ve got to school to study this!) is that each branch of government has a different set of incentives so that the odds of all of them wanting to do badly at the same time are low. Moreover, each person in each branch of government will jealously guard their interests, so that if one branch tries to reach too far, to take too much, the other branches will swoop down and scream bloody murder...
Which is why what Bush has done goes against the very fabric of the American Constitution. He has usurped for himself the power to act as judge—in addition to his ability to execute laws. Moreover, he has created laws ("executive orders") in secret—laws which negatively effect American liberties. This act is as intolerably as it is illegal. President Bush ought to face the full wrath of an outraged citizenry over this issue. Contact your Representative or Senator and express your outrage. If they seem unconvinced, remind them their own powers have been diminished—that’ll get their attention...
UPDATE:
This Link Has always been here. I've certainly not added it since the comment went up...
Update update:
The link above has not always been there. Saying so was my way of implying that I am an idiot for not having included it in the original post.
Posted by Andrew at 10:22 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
December 16, 2005
Webmail 2.0
I use a desktop client (Thunderbird, for those playing along at home) to keep track of most of my Email. I also have a web-based Email account Gmail. Gmail was a revolution. For those of us who have used it, the interface completely redefined the way we think Email ought to be handled. This is no mere hyperbole; the ability to add tags Email, the "conversation view" (Gmail automatically clusters email between the same people with the same subject lines) were simply outstanding...
Which is why I don’t understand why Yahoo! and Microsoftaren’t busily ripping off the interface. There are some good and useful features being introduced; both companies are managing to stick a clone of Outlook Express onto a web server. The integrated RSS feeds and calendars that both companies are bringing in will be nice...
These features, however, are evolutionary. They take established desktop applications and stick them on the web. Perhaps Yahoo! will be able to integrate Flickr or Delicious into their systems. But that’s an entry for another day...
Posted by Andrew at 10:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 15, 2005
Web two point oohhh...
So, some of my more technically savvy readers may have heard the phrase "web2.0" of late. What this refers to is a collection of rather useful web-based applications that were developed after the .com bust of 2000. What most of these applications have in common is that they allow the user (you and me!) to add context to the web...
The two niftiest tools have been RSS feeds and Tags. Both tools are ways for users to say “I want to use this content in that way"...
As an example: You can subscribe to the RSS feed (using a reader) for my site by using this link. Rather than having to look at my site every day or so, you can get notification when I’ve updated. Simple...
In a certain sense, much of the development of Web2.0 is an outgrowth of that other big web2.0 medium: blogs. In a very real sense blogs are a method of picking and choosing news and commentary; contextualizing and deepening what had previously been less clear...
I’ll be talking more about this in coming days, but I thought I’d give you guys a reference...
Posted by Andrew at 05:27 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 14, 2005
Tortured policy
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Nation Building
So, in September 2001 America begins fighting in Afghanistan. Taking the war there was a good and proper move. This fight would necessarily see the destruction of the then-current Afghan regime, and the commitment of a sizable number of US forces to occupy the country afterwards...
We pretty much immediately began discussing an invasion of Iraq, the discussing culminating in the invasion of that country in March of 2003. Our invasion was predicated on the notion that we would destroy the then-current Iraqi regime. Our forces succeeded brilliantly...
In June/July 2004, Rumsfeld just started thinking about what it would take to do some nation building. John Weidner would like to give Rummy credit for only being 3 and a half years late. Me? I think such gross incompetence is cause for dismissal...
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December 13, 2005
Blogroll changes
I’ve made some fairly substantial changes to the blogroll. All of it is backend stuff, but this will make it much easier on me to add and update the thing. If you think I skipped something, or left something out, or would like to be added, please let me know...
BTW: the blogroll is now being handled by Delicious, which is a fairly nifty tool. A lot of what I look at doesn’t end up on this site, but may start ending up over there. You can take a look at that feed by bookmarking this page...
Update:
And, wouldn’t you know it? As soon as I do this, Delicious goes down. This is the exact danger of using this method of blogrolling. I guess I’ll give it a day or so before restoring my old blogroll from backup. Delicious really does make it ridiculously easy to update my blogroll, so I want to use them if at all possible...
Posted by Andrew at 08:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 12, 2005
Time for a 28th amendment
I would like, very calmly, to propose that we fix the massive loophole in our constitution that allows congress to pass laws which the public is not aware of. I would also like, very calmly, to suggest that the whole reason we bother having an America is so that we don’t have things like "secret laws"...
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December 09, 2005
Just a little longer..
The George Bush Countdown Clock
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December 08, 2005
Poo on Scalzi
Whatever: Christopher Robin is Out There in the Woods
The story is sad. But the comments section really breaks me up:
I feel a Kenny Loggins song coming on.*sniff*
Pro writers writing satirical fanfiction. It's the new black. *g*
Posted by: elizabeth bear at December 8, 2005 02:00 PM
Wow. Have you turned into Gregory Maguire and not told anyone?
Posted by: Laura at December 8, 2005 02:08 PM
My bank account says "no."
Posted by: John Scalzi at December 8, 2005 02:26 PM
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December 06, 2005
Profiles in Courage
So, a professor teaches a class. He is intemperate enough to state that the class will not be kindly received by religious fundamentalists. In fact, he even seems to revel in that fact:
One recent e-mail from Mirecki to members of a student organization referred to religious conservatives as "fundies," and said a course describing intelligent design as mythology would be a "nice slap in their big fat face." Mirecki has apologized for those comments.
Which is stupid and wrong. Well, it’s correct. But he could and should have phrased things differently, or not said anything. Hell! Let’s go a step further; he was displaying some rather nasty intolerance issues against a religious group. Not ok...
The university made him apologize. Makes sense. Totally appropriate. But, this wasn’t good enough. Some members of the “Religion on Peace”, the one that teaches if their face is slapped that adherents should “turn the other cheek”, decided to slap back. Except that this particular group of the Religion of Peace are distinguished by their inability to tell allegory from reality. So they used actual fists...
How can they continue calling themselves “Christian”? Why should I not feel that everyone who does call themselves that is a danger to me? Some day there will be a reckoning...
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December 05, 2005
Republican Scandle Card
STATE BY STATE GOP SCANDAL SCORECARD
Yes, my folks Representative is on it...
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Priest, perhaps...
Your magical style is Priestess.
What type of magic should you practice? Take the Magical Style Quiz by Paradox
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"biblical knowledge"
XBiz - Students Trade Bibles for Porn
Posted without comment
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December 04, 2005
Ready! Aim! Fire!
I can't wait to work in a cubicle...
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December 02, 2005
Friday Cat Bloging
You’ll notice I now have a section just for cats. Click for cuteness...
First up is Janus wanting a bath. I don’t know why he wants a bath, he licks himself often enough. What else can it mean when he wanders into the dishwasher, though? Don’t worry, I had a nice fluffy towel waiting for him when he got out...
All we are is dust in the wind, Janus. Here he is watching Bill and Ted’s excellent adventure. Cat’s Laughing is the name of a band, though; I’m not sure if Janus found it funny...
I do know how Janus gets his kicks; playing cIV with me. I build cities, he tries to smash them...
Posted by Andrew at 11:56 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
lucky them...
Real Life - The Online Comic �1999-2005 Greg Dean
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Chessboxing
By Hook or by Rook - Los Angeles Times
Velcro rips. Amok slides back into his Everlast gloves, bites down on his mouthpiece, dances along the ropes. His king's in trouble, and his punches couldn't knock lint off a jacket. Stoldt floats toward him like a cloud of big hurt.
Such is the bewildering beauty of chessboxing, alternating rounds of four minutes of chess followed by two minutes of boxing. Victory is claimed in a number of ways, some of them tedious, but the most thrilling are by checkmate and knockout.
Posted by Andrew at 09:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 01, 2005
Blog against Racism
“What’s your ancestry? What’s your background, what are you?” This sort of question gets asked as a normal part of the getting to know you phase of many friendships. I’m never sure how to react. My ancestors are from many parts of Europe, mostly Italy (sorry dad) Sicily and Germany. But I’ve never felt the urge to have efficient sex or dominate the world, so obviously knowing about my German grandparent’s isn’t going to do anything. I don’t know any Italian stereotypes, so perhaps I fit those. What I do know is that I value justice; I tell people that my ancestral homeland is San Francisco...
I am what is known as “mixed race”, Italian and German. And a bit of other European things. I know, I know, that all falls under “White”, which is it’s own “race”. Ha! Ask the NAZIs if their Italian allies were the same race! And it’s not as if Mussolini didn’t make grandiose speeches about the “Italian” race. But to the KKK I’m a part of the “white” race, and that seems like a good enough definition for most of America...
Is it not obvious to everyone that “race” is a cultural construct? It has exactly the power and definition we give it. We-- and I include all of humanity—seem fixated on these arbitrary distinctions. We love to create “in” groups and make everyone else outside. It is no accident that the Japanese word Gijin and the Greek word barbarian have the same connotations of ugliness. And they both mean the same thing “those who are not us”...
The question is then: How do we go about constructing a culture which does not notice race? I have no idea. Perhaps we can’t do it; we’re certainly not on a path to do so. I think it will take conscious effort and decades of work. Barring that, if only little green men would be so obliging as to invade...
Posted by Andrew at 09:49 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
If life were magic:
What’s yours look like?
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