Question of the Day

Jockeystreet lists the 72 books that he considers to be the most influential to him. Among his authors are Noam Chomsky, Jack Keroauc, Saul Alinsky, Peter Singer, and Soren Kierkegaard. I think that this is a simply fascinating exercise. I would provide my own list, but I think that it's largely redundant after these posts.

What books have been the most influential to your thinking?

UPDATE: Blogger links are acting up again, so you may have to edit the links in your URL bar.

UPDATE x2: Okay, the links appear to work now.

Art Blogging: Kiriko Moth

Kiriko Moth is an American graphic designer and illustrator. She studied at Middle Tennessee State University in Nashville Murfreesboro and lives in San Francisco. I was immediately taken with her colorful, heavy-lined drawings, which remind me of the work of Alphonse Mucha -- and whose work Moth claims as influential. Her works are like majestic slices from unwritten fantasy novels. You can read an interview with her here.




The Mechanical Lion Only Lies Down a Clockwork Princess/Rebuilding, 2007.

Industrial Ivy, 2008.

The Dragon Ryu.

HT: io9

Question of the Day

What? Behind the rabbit?

A Love Song About Cthulhu

(YouTube Link)

“Hey There Cthulhu” is a love song by The Eben Brooks Band, from their 2007 album Karaoke Bash Vol. 3. It is about a man expressing his tender love for the Dark One and his yearning for annihilation.

HT: The Corner

Personal Laws, II

Last November, I described an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which a one-shot character had a list of 102 personal 'laws'. These were aphoristic principles that guided her life. In the past year, I've been intentional about formulating such life lessons. I keep a MS Word document on my hard drive listing these thoughts, and each one goes through a probationary period before being accepted as both true and important. Here are some of the results, including some probationary laws, with explanations:

• Don’t poke the snake with a stick. Avoid conflict whenever possible, and avoid people who are dangerous. Do not assume that you can contain their wickedness at a boundary.


• Just because you’ve done stupid stuff doesn’t mean that you have to keep on doing stupid stuff in order to be consistent. This is a reflection of Harry Browne's Previous Investment Trap. Consistency is a vastly overrated virtue, and it is better to admit that you were wrong and stop going in the wrong direction.


• Not everyone who is on your side is on your side. In a group interpersonal conflict, individuals may choose sides for purely selfish or strategic reasons, rather than those that they state openly.


• There is nothing inherently ennobling about hardship. My concept of masculinity long held that a man undertook great and challenging tasks and overcame obstacles. Suffering for a cause is noble. I now think otherwise.


• Go where the cheese is. Taken from the book Who Moved My Cheese?, anticipate that shit will fall out of the sky, and be prepared to move as conditions change. Be on the lookout for change, have a backup plan for everything, and implement it immediately when the change occurs. That you do not like the change will not prevent it from taking place.


• ‘Should be’ got nothing to do with it. Partially inspired by Harry Browne's Rights Trap, this rule asserts that just because something ought to be has no bearing on what will actually happen. Protesting violations of rights, ethical codes, or even written laws will not help you at all.

I've Finished Reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road

I began reading this novel yesterday and finished it today. McCarthy did a great job of creating this other-worldly atmosphere in which the main characters operated while still being emotionally and physically numb. The total absence of names helped me empathize with both the boy and his father. They were generic without being ordinary.

Best of all, the novel flew by quickly. Far too often authors like to impress reader with thick tomes, as though length somehow compensates for tedium. Well, it's not the size that counts; it what you do with it. And McCarthy did very well in this brief, sad, but very readable book.




I've already started on my next book, which is in the same genre: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller. So far, it appears to be set in a Catholic-esque monastery in Utah centuries after a cataclysmic nuclear war.

Harry Turtledove non-starter

The alternate history fiction of Harry Turtledove has been reviewed and discussed with some regularity over the years on this blog. As a friend of John's, and at his recommendation, I did read one of his novels, Guns of the South several years ago, and found it enjoyable enough, although I didn't follow-up on it at all. Therefore, when I was at my public library last week selecting books to take on vacation, I saw a new Turtledove title, The Breath of God, I thought "No time like the present to grab a good alternate history novel . . ."

Well, considered yourselves fairly warned - Harry Turtledove writes fantasy in addition to alternate history. I have read about 150 pages, but just won't finish it because, well, it just isn't very good in my estimation (although the fantasy genre is starting with two strikes against it in my mind anyways). I won't say anymore - just remember, reading the book jacket before buying (or checking out) never hurts . . .

Gender Discrimination in Star Trek Uniforms?

Ken Denmead points out that Starfleet uniforms are available in extra large sizes for men, but not for women:

So what would we logically deduce by this odd state of affairs? That somehow only male Trek fans wear clothes over the size of medium? Or that no woman bigger than a certain body type would/should ever want to wear a miniskirt? The only conclusion I can come to is that whoever licensed the rights to make Star Trek costumes this year made a big mistake.

UPDATE: My wife says:

"Trekkies should be glad to find any woman of any size willing to wear a uniform for them."

My Current Read: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I've just picked up a copy of Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel The Road. When my wife told me that she found the book so disturbing that she couldn't finish it, I knew that it was the right book for me. I'm only a few pages in, but it's starting out well. You can read a review of it and other favorites of the genre by James R. Rummel here.

Bombshell to be Released Tomorrow at The Zeray Gazette

Jeff the Baptist and I, posing as a pimp and a transgendered prostitute, conducted an undercover investigation. See what was captured by our hidden camera when we visited the Payne Hollow corporate offices. You're be shocked!

Here.

Tomorrow morning.

At The Zeray Gazette.

UPDATE: In retrospect, this is shady form of journalism that I should not engage in. I have no idea why I let Jeff talk me into it, or into those stiletto heels. Dan emails to inform me of his own undercover, hidden-camera investigation of The Zeray Gazette, and I think that we can both agree that we should both put away our video tapes and address the larger issues of public policy, rather than try to dig up dirt on each other.

Quote of the Day

Geek With a .45:

"Crowds are easily lead to shout for Barabbas. Wise men consider this a flaw in human nature. Others consider it a feature to be exploited."

A Few Political Notes

• Regarding the Hofstra University fake rape case, in which the woman has admitted to falsely accusing five men of raping her, I have a modest proposal: should a person be convicted of perjury or filing a false police report regarding a rape accusation, that person should be required to register as a sex offender.



• What is going on in Honduras? Much of the Right end of the blogosphere thinks that the ouster of President Zelaya this summer was an act fully acceptable under the Honduran constitution in response to Zelaya's efforts to remain in power indefinitely. The Obama Administration clearly thinks otherwise and is pushing hard for Zelaya's return to power. Why? I'd like to hear from the Obama Administration why it regards the arguments against Zelaya as incorrect.



• Steven Den Beste has an interesting list entitled "If I Could Amend the Constitution." Interesting ideas. I particularly like #4, #9, and #10. What would you put on such a list? (H/T)

UPDATE: Something is seriously screwy with Blogger. It keeps on malforming my links. So you may have to edit them in your URL bar if you click on them.

Pickup Lines for Star Wars Fans

A few selections from a great list:

12. "Hey, Beautiful. What's a nice girl like you doing waiting in line without bathing for 10 days?"

11. "Your place or my Mom's?"

8. "I may look like an Ewok, but I'm all Wookie where it counts, baby."

Intergalactic Kung Fu Zombies, Go!

(YouTube Link)

The purpose of all of the cartoons that you watched as a child was to prepare you for the nine and a half minute Intergalactic Kung Fu Zombies show. HT: Topless Robot

I Love This T-Shirt

On sale here.

If Star Wars Had Been Made By Environmentalists and Pacifists

(YouTube Link)

Author Derrick Jensen tells viewers that prior to George Lucas' re-write, Star Wars was a very different movie.

HT: BoingBoing

Reusable Pokemon-Themed Maxi Pads

Surprisingly, this is a product of Japan. So, anyway, if you're asking yourself "Why should I read The Zeray Gazette?", the answer is that you probably wouldn't hear about things like this product if you didn't.

You're welcome.

What Author Is Most Deserving Of a Nobel Prize in Literature, Yet Has Never Received One?

Last night, I posed this question to my wife, who is a ravenous consumer of fiction. She responded that she generally doesn't read the elite literature that the Nobel committee esteems, but that the fantasy novelist Garth Nix was among the most underappreciated of writers that sprang immediately to mind (she had one of his novels in her hands at that moment).

How would you answer the question? What contemporary author, in your opinion, is deserving of greater praise than s/he has received?

Star Wars Haiku

Geekery blog Topless Robot held a reader-submitted contest for Star Wars-themed haiku. Here are some of my favorites from among the winners:

Ewoks eat people.
Does this creep anyone out?
Or is it just me?

My name is Chewie.
You can stop this contest now.
Let the Wookiee win.

Oh Slave Leia, you
set the bar too high. All men
dream to be Jabba

Strong and brave leader,
And all they remember is
That damn bikini.

Chewie stands with them.
The Alliance has a rule.
No pants, no medal.

The Stormtrooper shoots,
shoots, and shoots, hitting nothing
what zen perfection!

I didn't enter the contest, but I'll try my hand at one:

A parsec is a
Unit of distance, not time
Sloppy factcheck, George

Enter your own in the comments.

First Rifle, II

James R. Rummel, a major gunblogger, kindly posted a response to my first rifle bleg. Thanks!

James is a professional personal defense instructor and his blog is filled with useful advice about keeping out of trouble. He teaches that much of self defense isn't gunslinging, but preventative measures, like having a door sturdy enough to slow down home invaders. Check it out.

Kanye West, Get Off My Blog

Gah! Stop interrupting me and begone!

Via Popped Culture

A Depressingly Accurate History of the Libertarian Party

By Robot Chicken:

First Rifle

Several experienced riflemen, such as Jeff the Baptist, have advised me to get a .22 as my first gun, instead of the Marlin .357 that had been my plan. I'm not thrilled about it, as I will barely be able to afford a first gun, let alone a second. But their arguments make sense, so I will heed them. Perhaps later I will be able to afford something heavier, such as a Remington 700 BDL.

I'm considering the Winchester Wildcat, but I know that the chances of walking into a gun store and finding a used model might not be good. So I'd like to know what knowledgeable readers think that I should look for in a used .22.

Question of the Day

Who is your favorite artist, and why?

Art Blogging: Caia Koopman

Caia Koopman is an American Pop Surrealist artist. For readers unfamiliar with that term, Pop Surrealism is a movement closely affiliated with lowbrow. But as Ms. Koopman identifies herself as a Pop Surrealist, I'll do her the courtesy of using that name.

Koopman was raised in Southern California, where she studied art at the University of Santa Cruz and became associated with the skateboarder culture. In an interview with Juxtapoz, she said of her work:

My girls are tethered to the earth by all its cycles, they are surrounded by and part of life, death and beauty....My biggest overall influence is the idea of humans being part of nature rather than separate from it.

You can get a good sense of this organic ideal in her work from these examples. Up first: Chemical Girl, acrylic on canvas, 2009.



Entomology 5 (Ismene), acrylic on wood, 2008.

Dancis, acrylic on canvas.

Freedom from the education fallacy

There have been a couple of posts on this blog earlier this year discussing the limits of the good of a humanities education. Blogger John Armstrong recently shared his thoughts in a similar vein.

I have amassed plenty of formal education (including a master's degree in which the diploma is written in Latin, which I find very pretentious, so I don't display it). In my growing up, formal education was basically a part of the cultural environment of the home - both parents with PhDs (I remember people calling asking for "Dr. ___________" and I had to ask the caller which one), and all four of my grandparents even had at least a four-year degree, with three of them holding graduate degrees. It was just always pretty much assumed that I and my two younger siblings would earn bachelor's degrees at the very least. Two of us have gone the formal education route, and the third easily could have, but had employable skills in the technology (software development) field, and he couldn't resist making good money so never finished a formal degree. My degree is in humanities; my sister's at least is a practical one in nursing, which she uses in real life.

A humanities degree has worked out for me only because I knew in college that my profession would require a certain type of masters degree anyways, so I could study whatever the heck I wanted in college - I still would have to go on a step further. If I had not known then what profession I would be entering, the degree would have left me with nowhere to go in the real world. Even though I found the subject matter interesting, I would not make the same choice now, 10 years after graduation. In fact, if I ever wanted to change professions, neither of my formal degrees would matter at all - I would pretty much have to start from scratch.

All of this on my mind because I now have the role of being a father myself. It is important to me that I be careful not to let the kinds of assumptions that were in place for me be in place for my children. The world of the next generation will only see continuing specializations in terms of professional opportunities; unless my children show a particular aptitude for humanities, I will most certainly steer them away from such a course of study. It may leave the world a somewhat less culturally enriched place, but hopefully it will spare my children impoverished existences in the kind of global marketplace that will develop during their lifetimes. The world in which I grew up, one that encouraged college as a way to secure a good life for yourself, simply is not the world that is down the road.

Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, Ask What You Can Do For Yourself

Via Dr. Helen, I encountered this marvelous Milton Friedman quote:

The paternalistic "what your country can do for you" implies that government is the patron, the citizen the ward, a view that is at odds with the free man's belief in his own responsibility for his own destiny. The organismic, 'what you can do for your country' implies that government is the master or the deity, the citizen, the servant or the votary. To the free man, the country is the collection of individuals who compose it, not something over and above them. He is proud of a common heritage and loyal to common traditions. But he regards government as a means, an instrumentality, neither a grantor of favors, and gifts, nor a master or god to be blindly worshipped and served.

For a different approach to government, look no further than Thomas Friedman, who appears to be envious of totalitarian China. That government, he informs readers, is superior to the liberal democracy of the United States:

One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century. It is not an accident that China is committed to overtaking us in electric cars, solar power, energy efficiency, batteries, nuclear power and wind power. China’s leaders understand that in a world of exploding populations and rising emerging-market middle classes, demand for clean power and energy efficiency is going to soar. Beijing wants to make sure that it owns that industry and is ordering the policies to do that, including boosting gasoline prices, from the top down.

Our one-party democracy is worse. The fact is, on both the energy/climate legislation and health care legislation, only the Democrats are really playing. With a few notable exceptions, the Republican Party is standing, arms folded and saying “no.” Many of them just want President Obama to fail. Such a waste. Mr. Obama is not a socialist; he’s a centrist. But if he’s forced to depend entirely on his own party to pass legislation, he will be whipsawed by its different factions.

Democracy (or, as we have it, a democracy within a republic) is indeed inconvenient if one wishes to force one's policy proposals on an unwilling public.

I prefer to be my own master, and that such "reasonably enlightened" folk as the China's tyrants and Thomas Friedman had no power to benefit me with their better wisdom.

Sarah Palin's New Health Care Editorial

So Sarah Palin has an editorial in today's Wall Street Journal. I don't plan to read it.

Sarah, let's talk...

I love your style. You've got a great campaign presence and you say good small-government phrases. And sometimes act upon them.

But the "death panels" post was far, far over the line of acceptable political discourse. I mean, it just wasn't true.

I'm going to guess that you got an email forward that said various inflammatory remarks about Obamacare, got angry, logged into Facebook, started typing, and clicked on "Publish" before either calming down or verifying the information.

I've done that, too. It's embarrassing and hard to live with, but it happened. And you need to take responsibility for it. Just apologize and recant the post. It's okay -- we all make mistakes. It's just important to own up to them.

After you do so, I'd be interested in knowing what you think about public policy issues effecting our country. But not until then.

Funk Me Up Scotty

(Video Link)

A BBC documentary about Star Trek vocalists William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, and Brent Spiner.

HT: Topless Robot

John's Law of Social Organization

The primary purpose of any hierarchical organization is to serve the desires of those at the top of the hierarchy.

"Well, duh, John. What's your next discovery -- that water is wet?" Yes, it should be obvious. But I am a somewhat slow-witted person, so it takes me a while to grasp such concepts.

This principle applies to any and all hierarchical organizations, for they are filled with people, and greed is a constant in humanity. So any mission statement or formally-espoused goals should be taken as a distraction from the actual purpose, which is stated above. And you should make any decisions related to organizations with an awareness of this fact.

It's not always necessary to pretend to support the mission of the organization. For example, I openly state to my employer that sole motivator is financial gain (within certain ethical parameters). So as long as I do my job well, this isn't a problem. I'm not expected to adhere to an ideology for my paycheck; I'm expected to do my job well. And I do, so I get my paycheck.

Other people may not be so fortunate and may be pressured to give lip service to some more lofty quest. Do so. Just remember to not believe it.

Why I Hate Your Website

Here are a few web design features that irritate if not infuriate me. I suspect that other netizens feel the same way, and have no idea why web designers persist in using them.

1. Auto-playing sound
Whenever I open up a website and sound starts blasting out of speakers, you make me want to beat you with a stick. I know what a play button looks like. If I want to listen to your screeching, I'll click on it. Until then, shut up. Example

2. Flash intro
No one cares about your crappy 5-second animation that takes 30 seconds to load and delays my entry into the actual content of your website. It's bad for you, too, as some search engines are confused by Flash introductions and won't index your content into search results. Example (warning: auto-playing sound effects, followed by stick beating)

3. Expanding ads
I get it: web hosting costs money, and you may want to turn a profit as well cover costs. Feel free to create huge banner and sidebar ads. Make them as big as you want -- so as long as they don't suddenly take over the screen when I hover the mouse over some seemingly-innocuous spot. And if your expanding ad plays a video, or worse, sound, then it won't be a stick that I'll beat you with. Example

4. Slideshows with one picture per page
Again, web hosting costs money. But up big ads -- as big as you want. But making me load a new page every single f&%$ing time I look at a picture does nothing but makes me less likely to visit your advertisers. Example

There are other bad website design practices. Many of these have been largely eliminated by custom (e.g. sideways scrolling, linkjacking) or technology (e.g. pop-up ads). But these are the ones that make me hate your website.

What would you, dear readers, add to the list?

Medical/Psychological Afflictions of the Cartoon World

HT: Neatorama

Did Frank Herbert's Dune Ruin Science Fiction Novels?

Via io9, an interesting observation from LibraryThing user bookmonkey00k:

Now Dune gives us a lot as well; space travel, economics, guilds, family drama, mysticism, desert people, sand worms, and martial arts. The problem, to do all of this Frank Herbert needed a lot of space, 517 pages of space, and to be fair, with the incredible amount of stuff Herbert put into the book, he needed all of it.

Now Dune went on to win all sorts of awards, and is credited by many SF fans as a personal favourite or even the book that turned them onto SF. My problem is the effect Dune had on SF as a genre. Basically, people looked at it and instead of saying, “Wow – you can have this kind of massive family drama/economic intrigue/war story/mystical journey all in the context of SF”, they said, “Dune must be awesome because it’s really long.”

So after 1965 all SF started to get really, REALLY, BIG. I mean, when I've lined up my copy of Dune with three SF books that had been written in the previous decade (Double Star and Starship Troopers by Heinlein, and Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement), all of them award winners, all of them critically acclaimed, and all of them barely adding up to the page count that is DUNE.

The trend of writing bigger SF books never stopped. Have you looked at the page count of recent SF? These things are monsters, often coming in at just under a thousand pages and the worst thing is a lot of it feels like filler, and I am not the only one to notice this.

I've never thought of substantial world-building is a liability -- and boy, did Frank Herbert bust his hump in the world-building process -- but bookmonkey00k makes a good point. It could be easy for a writer to substitute quantity for quality (a trend possibly reflected in the rise within the genre of sequels over stand-alone novels). And excessive length could raise the entry cost to a novel or a series, deterring many readers from starting.

The New Royal Enfield

I've you've read my blog for a long time, then you know of my enchantment with Royal Enfield motorcycles. A model new to the US this year is the C5, pictured above. This image came from a New York Times slideshow on the marque. Beautiful!

Yes, impractical. But beautiful. I could tell you about the technological wonder that is the C5, except that it would only be considered a modern motorcycle if you threw it back in time 40 years. Still, the sight of it is enough to make me catch my breath.

If you could own just one motorcycle, what would it be?

Make mine a Bullet 500 Deluxe.

Ethical Question of the Day

Biotechnology and genetic engineering have created ethical dilemmas that previous generations never imagined.

As an omnivore, I'm mildly concerned about whether or not the animals that I eat are raised and slaughtered in a way that minimizes their suffering.

Now let's say that scientists create livestock that are incapable of feeling physical pain:

In 2006, researchers found six Pakistani children who felt no pain due to an inactivated gene, and who constantly had bruises and cuts. One fell into the habit of putting knives through his hand and walking barefoot on coals, before his untimely death.

Still, scientists already know that humans can intellectually dissociate the sensation of pain from how much it bothers them. Lab experiments with mice have also suggested a way to disconnect that pain sensation without totally leaving animals vulnerable to a world of hurt.

All of which leads Jeremy Hsu to ask the question:

Is it ethical to engineeer delicious cows that feel no pain?

How do you respond?

Ave Maria Played on a Saw

(YouTube Link)

The musician is named Austin Blackburn. Apparently he's done a lot of performances like this one.

HT: Boing Boing

A Hot Girl Came Into the Comic Book Store

(YouTube Link)

A funny song by Tripod. Gamer chicks are rare. Hot gamer chicks? They're just a myth, so don't get your hopes up. HT: Topless Robot

Another great Tripod song: "Gonna Make You Happy".

Robowaitress Fury

(YouTube Link)
In a world gone mad, a simple robot waitress pursues revenge against the humans who attacked her. This is a film by Alex Poutiainen, who created it from a production budget of $0. I've previously featured his Rise and Fall of the Nazi Dinosaurs.

Six Unusual Works of Art

Rice Patty Drawings

Japanese farmers cut designs into rice patties to create overhead images, such as this one of Napoleon Bonaparte.


Tire Sculptures

Mexican artist Betsabeé Romero sculpts intricate designs into old tires.


Shadow Art

Tim Noble and Sue Webster create realistic shadows out of piles of trash.


Sandwich Art

Mark Northeast creates imaginative sandwiches for children.


Sand Animation

[YouTube Link] Ukranian artist Kseniya Simonova creates moving sand pictures in front of audiences. This is her depiction of the German invasion of the Ukraine during World War II.


Motionless Moving Sculptures

Dutch artist Peter Jansen creates polyamide and bronze sculptures that look like a split second in time.

I found all of these marvelous works of art in Neatorama's archives.