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Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Posts for April 2007

May 2

By the way, NARAL gets a lot of flack (Chairman Kos and Oliver Willis spring to mind) for supporting republicans sometimes. Well, that might be tactically suspect, but the reason they do that is that there are many dems that aren't pro choice, or when it comes to stem cells, even pro progress. And of course its apparently unthinkable for dems to ever use a fillibuster to stop a horrific republican appointment to the Supreme Court...sigh. This really is a fight between reason and superstition. I wish the secularists in Turkey all the luck in the world. They have a right to be worried. That's a fight worth fighting here and abroad.

Back from the Avian Flu Around the Internets

The underreported story of the day that should frighten you more than Al Q: your food supply may be contaminated. Eat up. I will stick to crackers.

Now there's a book they won't teach you in college. Won't be assigned a lot of Ivan Illich (whole text of Deschooling Society here) and Paulo Freire either. This first paragraph from an alternet article from Barbara Ehrenreich reminded of the late John Holt. Here it is:

Higher Education Conformity
Barbara Ehrenreich, Barbaraehrenreich.com

Is a college degree really a sign of competence? Or is it chiefly a signal to employers that you've mastered the ability to obey and conform?

More quotes from John Holt:

  • "The most important thing any teacher has to learn, not to be learned in any school of education I ever heard of, can be expressed in seven words: Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners."
  • "It's not that I feel that school is a good idea gone wrong, but a wrong idea from the word go. It's a nutty notion that we can have a place where nothing but learning happens, cut off from the rest of life."
  • "Education... now seems to me perhaps the most authoritarian and dangerous of all the social inventions of mankind. It is the deepest foundation of the modern slave state, in which most people feel themselves to be nothing but producers, consumers, spectators, and 'fans,' driven more and more, in all parts of their lives, by greed, envy, and fear. My concern is not to improve 'education' but to do away with it, to end the ugly and antihuman business of people-shaping and to allow and help people to shape themselves."

"Two Idiots Get a Forum"

Now here's a weird call I got and I got it twice. Somebody called me and there was this recorded question about this new Wal Mart that's being built in the East Hills area, but then it turned into one of those sleazy pressure calls which pointed out that the Walmart might impact (I wish I had recorded it) the black owned Giant Eagle across the street. It's overall impact is "We don't want to put the black owned Giant Eagle out of business do we? Come on." Using my ace reporting skills I'm going to guess that these calls were funded by the black woman who owns that Giant Eagle. I guess its meant to create some kind of groundswell of support against the Wal Mart. But we need jobs around here.

On second thought: These would be evil Wal Mart jobs where they don't like unions or costlier long term employees. Here's a crazy idea: could you talk to Costco? The crazy ones that pay 16 an hour and provide healthcare and support the democratic party, individually anyway.

The evils of water privatization and of road privatization. Froth offers a genteel take on the latter issue.

12 important laws every blogger should know.

Rage Against the Machine doesn't like President Bush. I don't need hanging or shootings you pinko commies. Just simultaneous impeachment. Let's restrain ourselves a bit.

April 26

First response to the debate: I'm voting for that cranky dem ex senator from Alaska, even though I wasn't aware that Alaska had an ex dem senator. He's kind of a radical in that he's ruling out nukes as a first strike weapon. Back to reality: still torn between Obama and Edwards. Related: I'm probably voting for the Agent Ska endorsement slate because a 20 year old has better sources in local politics than I do. And one more thing: The Sith iz kewl! I'm sending her this action figure cause that's what girls like:

Important Youtube update about what's happening in the electoral fraud story from Mark Crispin Miller or: The most important story of the new century that no one respectable covers.

April 24

Speaking of Rudy Rucker and Posthuman Blues, here's a snippet of a great short story called "Postsingularity Outtakes" published online. Around part 6 I start getting lost but it reads cool:

1: The Singularity. The Singularity happened when, encouraged by his business backers, President Dick Dibbs sent an eggcase of nants to Mars. Nants were self-reproducing nanomachines: solar-powered, networked, capable of gnatlike flight, and single-mindedly focused on transforming all available material into more nants. In a couple of years, the nants had eaten Mars, turning the red planet into a Dyson sphere of a duodecillion nanomachines, a three-millimeter-thick shell half a billion kilometers across, with Earth and the Sun trapped inside.

The stars were hidden by giant ads; in daytime the ads were a silvery background to the sky. Dibbs’s backers were well-pleased. And behind the scenes the nant swarm was solving a number of intractable problems in computer science, mathematical physics, and process design; these results were privily beamed to the nants’ parent corporation, Nantel. But before Nantel could profit from the discoveries, the nants set to work chewing up Earth.

Its part of online science fiction effort called Flurb.

My old amsat new world disorder pal Jason Lubyk is up to some new tricks. I interviewed RU as well some years ago. Hard to listen to the podcast but I found the part about changing your own skin color pretty cool. I'd go for an all black or blue look, with white line tatoos...I borrowed this blurb from Doc Menlo.

Jason Lubyk Returns to the Blogosphere

(with an interview with RU Sirius)

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Weekend Around the Internets

I think, and I might be off by about a dozen or so bodies, 400 Iraqis lost their lives this week. Try reading the last week of Juan Cole and not weeping...

Posthuman Blues is my featured weblog. I'm skeptical of the alien abduction stuff, of course, but this person seems to be a member of my karass so....Check out this youtube presentation from Way Way out science fiction writer Rudy Rucker. I reviewed one of his books here.

Story about those new mean 'ol atheists.

A very good update on novelist Jonathan Lethem written by Cory Doctorow. Features a review of his newest novel. Lethem also has some interesting ideas about copyright.

The very sad history of the war against pot, arguably a miracle plant that we should be exploiting. You might notice that I've added a few NORML ads to my tv station above.

Update on David Sirota's progressive network.

"The Inexplicable Enrichment Of Bush Cronies"

April 17

Well the shootings were horrible. And an English major. I think I speak for all English majors in that we don't think he represents us. I used to think this was just another reason to support gun control. I no longer think this for a number of reasons. One, gun prohibition would work just as well as drug prohibition, which means that it works great if you're trying to create a criminal cartel that makes lots of money selling guns. He probably could've gotten better guns off the street and cheaper too. Two, I no longer trust my government. I want the right to buy a gun in case things go south. I admire the White Rose society but I think I prefer a more Alamo/300 like exit. Three, I don't think the answer is everybody having a loaded gun at all times but I wish ballistic shields (I favor the Baker Batshield for pathetic and predictable fanboy reasons.) and bullet proof vests were as easy to get as loaded weapons. Ditto for rubber bullets. Elsewhere: comparisons to the shooting and what's happening in Iraq. And oddly good coverage from Boing Boing here and here.

April 16

Monday Morning Around the Internets

Two good posts from the People's Republic from Pittsburgh. One is about how Bill announced that he won't be making an independent run (He had to take a deal for that ever elusive councilmanic chairmanship I just know it..) and after you read this post you might find yourself asking why would I ever support Bill Peduto again? I mean really. Two, there's a piece about a letter from Catherine McNeilly--that he discovered on a WTAE blog (They do real news on television?..I had no idea. I'll have to start reading that.) that she apparently paid for if I'm reading this correctly. Short version: despite the settlement nothing has changed in the mayor's office. I guess he's Don Imus in his twenties. What a great several years we have ahead of us...

Tonight was the first great Sopranos episode I've seen in awhile. Plotlines for the future: they dig up Mr. Pink's body and desecrate it...? If the New York boss kills Christophuh would Tony really mind? A New York vs. New Jersey war? Is that possible? Who's Doc? Also great: Jericho (Best black character ever. He's black see so no one notices that he's the smartest guy in town. Sure, he knows morse code, is an expert shot but nevermind those nappy headed people...), The Shield has been great, and Heroes will soon return. I watch a lot of tv. I'm also creating my own channel here. The goal is to create early MTV which you could watch for hours because the music was so good.

I didn't go to Flux but Agent Ska did. She has pics. Over in the comments I make a humble proposal: Pittsburgh and Braddock should switch mayors. Pittsburgh would be much much better off. John should run for something higher. Period.

Briggs has become "The Great Black Hope". Did you ever think that the conditions of poor white men in Eastern Europe are tougher than even for black men in the US? Something to think about.

Shocking news on the delusion front: Abstinence education doesn't prevent premarital sex. Really.

Interview with the person who created an x prize for a fuel efficient automobile.

April 15


April 15

What Should Be Posted April 13

I got a letter in my comments section. I'm printing it whole:

Harvey Pekar and his Pittsburgh illustrator Ed Piskor will speak and show some work at Slippery Rock University's Kaleidoscope Arts Festival http://academics.sru.edu/HFPA/kaleidoscope/performers.htm on April 20th at 12:30 p.m.. Does anyone at this site have some suggestions about how we can best get the word out to those who'd like to be there. Should be fun.

Well I could mention it here on the frontpage and feature Ed's work. Comics people know Harvey Pekar of course. You might know him from that cool film that came out and which was pretty good.

I have nothing to say about Don Imus. Nothing. But I did read this on another site which summed up what I didn't write about Imus.

Imus Is Wrong, and Gone, On Race. What About Friedman and Pollack on Iraq?

Don Imus is a racist. Much as I love him, I can see it in him. And yes, we're all racists; but Imus stepped in it bad, and it will be fascinating and good to see him reform. I wish him well.

At least he apologized and is doing time. What about all the journalists who were wrong on Iraq? The Rutgers women held a press conference saying Imus hurt their feelings. What about all the American and Iraqi families destroyed, torn apart, blown to the wind, etc., by one of the greatest mistakes in history? Hordes of journalists out of desire for influence and status peddled the administration's lies and distorted reality to rationalize attacking Iraq. Tom Friedman saw the war as good because of suicide bombers in Israel. Ken Pollack didn't see any real strife between Sunnis and Shi'as, and neither did Kristol and Kaplan, and none of them thought the Israeli occupation had any bearing on the case. I could go on and on.

At the very least they showed terrible judgment. Last year I watched Pollack rationalize one or two of his errors before the Council on Foreign Relations. George Packer sought to excuse his credulity, wishy-washily, in Assassin's Gate. Don't they owe us a lot more? Don't the New York Times, Washington Post, and WSJ owe us investigations of their conduct and sourcing? The only reporter to suffer professionally for getting us into this horror is Judith Miller. Shouldn't there be more?

April 12

I am just a huge Kurt Vonnegut fan. I'm not surprised by his death, however, in that he was a manic chain smoker. A pack a day guy at least. Its amazing that he lasted until 84. I also think he died creatively about 23 years ago, right after the publication of Deadeye Dick. His sixties stuff is definitely the best. Recommend Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater and his short story collection Welcome to the Monkey House. Oh, and Slaughterhouse 5 is great too. He also wins my award for best science fiction title ever: The Big Space Fuck. Here's a collection of Mr. Vonnegut's best quotes over the years. By the way, if you're linked to certain people on the Internets they are probably a part of your Karass, which is defined as "A group of people who, unbeknownst to them, are collectively doing God's will in carrying out a specific, common, task. A karass is driven forward in time and space by tension within the karass."

  • Human beings will be happier — not when they cure cancer or get to Mars or eliminate racial prejudice or flush Lake Erie — but when they find ways to inhabit primitive communities again. That’s my utopia.
  • Mere opinions, in fact, were as likely to govern people's actions as hard evidence, and were subject to sudden reversals as hard evidence could never be. So the Galapagos Islands could be hell in one moment and heaven in the next, and Julius Caesar could be a statesman in one moment and a butcher in the next, and Ecuadorian paper money could be traded for food, shelter, and clothing in one moment and line the bottom of a birdcage in the next, and the universe could be created by God Almighty in one moment and by a big explosion in the next— and on and on.
    • Galapagos (1985)
  • I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it’s a very poor scheme for survival.
    • London Observer (27 December 1987)
  • There is no way a beautiful woman can live up to what she looks like for any appreciable length of time.
  • I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I’m dead.
  • And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."
    • "Knowing What's Nice", an essay from In These Times (2003)
  • We're terrible animals. I think that the Earth's immune system is trying to get rid of us, as well it should.
    • On Humans, in an appearance on The Daily Show (September 2005)
  • …I have wanted to give Iraq a lesson in democracy—because we’re experienced with it, you know. And, in democracy, after a hundred years, you have to let your slaves go. And, after a hundred and fifty years, you have to let your women vote. And, at the beginning of democracy, is that quite a bit of genocide and ethnic cleansing is quite okay. And that’s what’s going on now.
    • Appearance on The Daily Show (September 2005)
  • I do feel that evolution is being controlled by some sort of divine engineer. I can't help thinking that. And this engineer knows exactly what he or she is doing and why, and where evolution is headed. That’s why we’ve got giraffes and hippopotami and the clap.
    • On Evolution vs. Intelligent Design, on The Daily Show (September 2005)
  • (talking about when he tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope) Oh, she says well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, and ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is, is we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore.
  • I don't think there would be many jokes, if there weren't constant frustration and fear and so forth. It's a response to bad troubles like crime.
  • People hate it when they're tickled because laughter is not pleasant, if it goes on too long. I think it's a desperate sort of convulsion in desperate circumstances, which helps a little.
  • If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

    THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
    FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
    WAS MUSIC

What should have been published April 11

Better Late Than Never Around the Internets

Possible Cure for Diabetes Using (Presumably) Adult Stem Cells. I'll take it. Related: Bob Casey won't back expanded stem cell research. Translation: Vatican shamans have more say over American science policy than scientists. This is also another edition of why Richard Dawkins is a mean ol atheist. Also related but it's not clear to people yet: US no longer number 1 in innovation.

Incredible Solar Cell Breakthrough and yet another incredible solar cell breakthrough. Too bad our country is run by oil barons. Note: Notice these aren't American breakthroughs. Go on. Notice it.

Everything You Wanted to Know About How We Fraked Up Iraq But Were Afraid to Ask

Rad Movie of Green Arrow Breaking out of Negative Zone Prison Green Lighted (So to speak.)

Profile of Spaceports to Come. We hope.

April 8

Its Easter Sunday which means that its a good time for atheist blogging. First up Blog Against Theocracy: Here's the petition I signed:

We, the undersigned, call upon elected and appointed officials to join us in reaffirming America's religious freedom by demonstrating a commitment to the following:

  • Every American should have the right to make personal decisions -- about family life, reproductive health, end of life care and other matters of personal conscience.

  • American tax dollars should not go to charities that discriminate in hiring based on religious belief or that promote a particular religious faith as a requirement for receiving services.

  • Political candidates should not be endorsed or opposed by houses of worship.

  • Public schools should teach with academic integrity and without the promotion of religious preference or belief.

  • Decisions about scientific and health policies should be based on the best available scientific data, not on religious doctrine.

We join together, as the most diverse nation in the world, to commit ourselves to defending and preserving this freedom.

Related: Sam Harris on Faith vs. Reason.

Speaking of Christian Jihads, how goes it in Iraq? Here's this gem from Undernews:

BRITISH GOVERNMENT SCIENTISTS CONFIRM ESTIMATE OF 650,000 IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS

RICHARD HORTON, GUARDIAN, UK - Our collective failure has been to take our political leaders at their word. This week the BBC reported that the government's own scientists advised ministers that the Johns Hopkins study on Iraq civilian mortality was accurate and reliable, following a freedom of information request by the reporter Owen Bennett-Jones. This paper was published in the Lancet last October. It estimated that 650,000 Iraqi civilians had died since the American and British led invasion in March 2003.

Immediately after publication, the prime minister's official spokesman said that the Lancet's study "was not one we believe to be anywhere near accurate". The foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, said that the Lancet figures were "extrapolated" and a "leap". President Bush said: "I don't consider it a credible report".

Scientists at the UK's Department for International Development thought differently. They concluded that the study's methods were "tried and tested". Indeed, the Johns Hopkins approach would likely lead to an "underestimation of mortality".

The Ministry of Defence's chief scientific adviser said the research was "robust", close to "best practice", and "balanced". He recommended "caution in publicly criticizing the study".

When these recommendations went to the prime minister's advisers, they were horrified. One person briefing Tony Blair wrote: "Are we really sure that the report is likely to be right? That is certainly what the brief implies?" A Foreign and Commonwealth Office official was forced to conclude that the government "should not be rubbishing the Lancet".

The prime minister's adviser finally gave in. He wrote: "The survey methodology used here cannot be rubbished, it is a tried and tested way of measuring mortality in conflict zones".

Now, read the above post and follow it to this conclusion. Froth, who's in law enforcement , says what you would think (I wonder if Froth could say what these guys are saying...? Just an open question of curiosity (On second thought, all of those guys are retired I think)...) he would say about the issue. But a couple of points: First, we don't know that POG has done this. I don't see how they could do it even if they wanted to. Everyone is watching them. Two, I could see where somebody could look at the war and come to the conclusion that non violence hasn't worked. I suppose if we march another four years we can watch another half million Iraqis/Iranians die. I'm sure the marching will make us feel so much better. Three: Froth makes an argument that the marines are just doing their duty and following orders. If I recall, the "I'm just following orders" defense didn't go over too well in Nuremberg. And, quite frankly, it shouldn't have. Who but the most naive and simple among us think we're fighting for democracy over there? We're there to steal their oil and terrorize the populace into submission. It is a volunteer force? They can take responsibility for their actions, right? They're legitimate targets of the resistance....

April 5

Light posting until the weekend, obviously. I have updated my channel though.

Correction: Jeff Simmons, just back from touring in Spain, writes in to tell me that he was never NEVER married to Jill West. My bad as they say. I probably read it on the Internets and thought it was true. More from that email from Joff when I have more time to write...

April 2

Today is my birthday and blogging will be light. Here is an appropriate video here. Three hour version of Manufacturing Consent.

Was leaning strongly toward Edwards until he betrayed bloggers, and atheist bloggers at that. Now, I was leaning toward Obama, until he said that we should get rid of the timelines in the spending bill. This tells the world that there's no difference between the parties. None at all. And not a decent third party in sight....Edwards and Obama are even again.

April 1

I've quit blogging and I've joined a monastery. Imaginary beings in the sky rule my world, or at least the part of the world I was born in. Besides, I just can't go "negative" anymore. Or at least that's what I said after I took the deal for City Council Chairman.

And now: This special message about the dangers of communism.

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