| A typically cheery thought |
[Feb. 8th, 2010|07:28 pm] |
To die alone is widely regarded as a very bad, sad thing; some go so far as to say that we all die alone, in some sense.
Ironic, then, that for a good ten years or so, my great fear was that my death would be accompanied/shared by most of the Northern Hemisphere. |
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| The safe handling of mind virii |
[Jan. 26th, 2010|09:20 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
Last night I happened to be re-reading the last chapter or two of A Miracle of Science, and noted a comment that Caprice made in the epilogue: Mars has great difficulty with researching memes, for fear that they might instantly flash through the entire community via their mental link. I've been giving this problem some thought, and it really is fantastically hard, even (or especially) for planetary mass-minds. We're already in the position, in our highly interconnected society, of living in a few dozen houses and sending all our kids to the same school (and any parent can tell you the results of that); in a completely interconnected society, everyone might as well share the same bloodstream.
In order to study possibly hazardous memes in general, or one in particular, you first need to create an isolated and secure research environment; this will require finding qualified people willing to make the sacrifice of cutting themselves off from the community and take the risk of becoming infected. Also, in order to get useful information out of (and fed back to) the researchers, you have to somehow create an information channel which cannot itself become a transmission vector. This may well be impossible. This isn't like researching biological material, which can be kept contained while information goes back and forth freely; here, the information itself can be the infectious agent.
Remember, memes - real memes, not lolcats and Chuck Norris jokes and livejournal polls - want to be spread. They will co-opt "cells" of the "body" into trying to spread them: this is such a great idea, it NEEDS to be shared! Everyone should hear about it! These infected cells may end up using all means available to them to try to circumvent whatever "immune system" you put in place. A research report may be an overt hymn to the superiority of Idea X, or seeded with hidden arguments intended to lead the recipients down certain lines of thought and break down their resistance over time. It's for everyone's good, you know. We can't let a few obstructions stand in the way of Progress.
You can't make communication one-way - then you're not getting data back, you're just throwing members of your society to the virus. And you can't simply bury your head in the sand and hope that you never catch anything, ever. So what do you do? |
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| What's my motivation? |
[Jan. 18th, 2010|09:23 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  silly | ] |
The things that bubble up out of my memory...
Many years ago, near the tail end of my Saturday-morning-cartoon-watching days (I was getting older and the programming block was really starting to falter, with the networks moving most of the good stuff to weekday afternoons), there was a cartoon spinoff of ALF, chronicling some of Gordon Shumway's wacky adventures(tm) before he became (spoiler: not actually) the Last Son of Melmac and a non-paying boarder in the Tanner household. Most of it was rather un-memorable, as these things go; however, there are a few bits - from an episode where ALF/Gordon is a production assistant on a movie shoot who ends up sabotaging it - that have stuck with me, probably because they focus on a Schwarzenegger expy, Ron Fishbait. Who happens to be, in his dim and thickly-accented way, a method actor.
The director is trying to coax Ron into fighting the bad guys of the film.
Ron: What's my modivation?
Director: Here's your motivation! (*holds up mangled stuffed animal*) Look what they did to yer Cuddly Naptime Aardvark!
Ron: Augh.
Later, at the climax:
Gordon: Ron! Eat the camera!
Ron: Arrgh! (*charges, then stops in puzzlement*) What's my modivation?
Gordon: You're hungry!
Ron: Arrgh! (*chomp, gulp*) Yum. |
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| 01/11/10 |
[Jan. 11th, 2010|08:51 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  busy | ] |
Today's date is a palindrome.
(At least in American notation.) |
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| Bonny lasses requiring careful handling and lots of attention |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|10:30 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  nostalgic | ] |
Back when I played Grand Theft Auto III, I was inspired (by the then-recently-remade Gone In 60 Seconds, among other things) to name my three Banshees (blue, green and red) Caitlin, Erin and Fiona.
Question for my readers: what names have you given to vehicles, real or fictional? |
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| So here's that post with content I promised. |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|11:47 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  okay | ] |
Six months after starting the new law office job... I'm still here. There have been some rough spots, but still, I think that calls for some celebration.
Christmas was nice. Got to see all the family. I received a couple of DVDs that I asked for, a little Amazon credit, some black socks and a bath towel and the usual contents of my stocking. (It's starting to look a bit threadbare, but I'm very glad to still have that piece of my childhood.)
Some friends of mine (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) karjack and pjack) recently moved. I wish them the best of luck at their new place and look forward to visiting them there soon.
After a remarkable couple of weeks of sub-freezing cold, we're back to the usual grey, cloudy, and/or wet weather. But at least it's "warm", so to speak.
So... overall, cautiously optimistic about 2010, but also aware of how fragile the gains are and how easily it could all come undone. |
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| New thoughts on an old story |
[Jan. 4th, 2010|06:12 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cynical | ] |
It occurred to me today that "The Cold Equations" (a story I have mentioned on this journal before) is science fiction's equivalent of "Charlie on the M.T.A." - both works set out to make a point and/or complaint (about exit fares and human sentiment), both construct a scenario to do so, and both scenarios collapse under the slightest touch of scrutiny or common sense. (Poor Charlie's plight, for example, requires that he is utterly incapable of producing the extra fare, acquiring it from other persons, or exiting the system by any means other than passing through a turnstile in the customary and legal manner. The constraints of the other work are well-documented and equally arbitrary if not absurd.)
Apologies to my readers, such as they may be, for banging on this worn drum another time. I'll try to put some actual content into my next entry. |
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| My BUSINESS... is DONE. |
[Dec. 24th, 2009|03:51 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | bow down, bow down, before the power of santa | ] |
Shopping complete, ride (with brother) wrangled for tomorrow...
Now I just have to wrap everything. -_-;; |
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| More balls than just the ones in his pockets |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|05:01 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  impressed | ] |
An oddly-phrased reference on Wikipedia's featured-article list led me (as it was surely intended) to the entry for HMS Speedy, a fast but lightly-armed brig of the Royal Navy. After deciphering the link that had brought me there - it seems the ship's guns were so few and small, a full broadside's worth of shot could be carried in her captain's coat - I was mightily amused by the account of one particular naval battle.
( Slightly paraphrased from the article, and cut for length ) |
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| I don't want to alarm you, karjack, but... |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|02:51 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  scared | ] |
... have you seen this before? |
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| Writer's Block: You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch! |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|09:25 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | writer's block | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | busy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Thurl Ravenscroft extolling the Grinch's many faults | ] |
In addition to the Chuck Jones classic referenced by the title of this WB entry, I'll always have a warm soft spot for the Rankin-Bass specials (both stop-motion and cel animation). |
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| Some thoughts on a decade |
[Dec. 11th, 2009|02:36 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | nostalgic | ] |
We're in the final weeks of the 00s now, having never found a really satisfactory label for them that everyone could agree on. Some people find zero years awkward. I was born in one myself, which has always made calculating my age simple. I long looked forward to 2000, a number with mythic significance, a placeholder for The Future, the rolling over of the Great Odometer. And yet there were many times, in what I can now look back and see as the last years of the Cold War, that I had to acknowledge the non-zero possibility of me (and most of the population of the Northern Hemisphere) not living to see it.
But then, quite unexpectedly, the world changed.
And then, about ten years later, it changed again. (Though some would say it never did, and we just woke up to how it was for everyone else.)
Just when all the fuss over Y2K and when the Millennium officially began was winding down, and the last burps of hot air were leaving the tulip railroad dotcom bubble, came the single event that would define the next 8+ years for this country.
I've seen the Wall fall, and the Towers.
Interesting times indeed.
I hope the next decade is a better one. |
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| *psshhhh!* "oog!" |
[Nov. 25th, 2009|12:17 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | silly | ] |
On my way home today, I saw a van that looked just like an ambulance (large rear cabin, side equipment bins, etc) except for the missing light-bar and the Pepsi livery.
My guess is that it's used when Pepsiman has an accident in the field and has to be brought back to the shop for repairs. |
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| On fashions in names |
[Nov. 23rd, 2009|02:44 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | contemplative | ] |
One of the little things that stuck with me from the title story of Vinge's True Names and Other Dangers was, appropriately enough, about names - that at some point, "Jennifer" will have a connotation much like Gertrude and Mildred and Ethel do to our ears today. And someday (though I probably won't be around to see it) the nursing homes will be full of LaShondas and Mikelas. |
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| Well that's just prime |
[Nov. 16th, 2009|06:04 pm] |
Coming home from work today, I found myself third in a line of four bicycles waiting at a stoplight. I looked around and then asked, "Is this where we start singing 'Convoy'?"
Alas, no one responded. |
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| An okay day and a nice evening |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|06:39 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  content | ] |
Managed to remember my Amazon password, so I could place an order at work without having to wait until I got home. Got my hair cut at lunchtime (mostly in back, as short as the barber dared) and had just enough time to grab a quick burrito. A fairly quiet afternoon.
After work, I went across the Ferry Street bridge to Oakway for a friend's birthday card and gift at Trader Joe's (where I also got some tasty olives and mushrooms and juice for myself); a few groceries at Albertsons, where I ran into my brother and his kids while I was swapping out the batteries in my bike headlight for the ones I'd just bought; and for dinner, a burger at Carl's Jr.
And now I am home, warm and dry, and all is well. |
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