Eclecticism

Sometime between September 8th and September 9th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Neal Stephenson Talks to io9 About Religion, Aliens, and Spoilers: Though Stephenson usually likes to hole up with his ideas and avoid the spotlight, he's having what the characters in Anathem would call an "Apert," a time that comes every few years when he opens up and talks to the public about his work. We were lucky enough to get a chance to talk to Stephenson during his Apert, and asked about Anathem, as well as a few questions about Earth. (Warning: There are a few spoilers ahead.)
• AKPL8S: The Alaskan License Plate Blog: Statehood photomosaic poster: I have been taking photos of Alaskan license plates since 1996. People send me photos they took, or photos of their collection. I also save photos that I find on eBay and the Internet. My Alaska photo archive currently contains over 19,000 photos, representing 15,000+ unique Alaskan plate serial numbers and vanity strings (not counting pairs). "Why?" seems to be a common question (way up there with "Are you crazy?" or "What the heck are you doing to the back of my car?") The main reason is that the more photos you have, the more you can tell about when various features of plates changed, etc. Partly for historical research, partly for collector information. But I've always wanted do something more.
• How Videogames Blind Us With Science: Videogames are becoming the new hotbed of scientific thinking for kids today. This makes sense if you think about it for a second. After all, what is science? It's a technique for uncovering the hidden rules that govern the world. And videogames are simulated worlds that kids are constantly trying to master. Lineage and World of Warcraft aren't "real" world, of course, but they are consistent — the behavior of the environment and the creatures in it are governed by hidden and generally unchanging rules, encoded by the game designers. In the process of learning a game, gamers try to deduce those rules. This leads them, without them even realizing it, to the scientific method. (via Daring Fireball)
• The Most Alien-Looking Place on Earth: Imagine waking up on the Socotra Island and taking a good look around you (let's say your buddies pulled a prank on you and delivered you there, and lets also assume that you don't have any hangover from abuse of any substances). After a yelp of disbelief, you'd be inclined to think you were transported to another planet – or traveled to another era of Earth's history. The second would be closer to the truth for this island, which is part of a group of 4 islands, has been geographically isolated from mainland Africa for the last 6 or 7 million years. Like the Galapagos Islands, this island is teeming with 700 extremely rare species of flora and fauna, a full 1/3 of which are endemic, i.e. found nowhere else on Earth.
• Ron Sims on Twitter: It’s all him: Sims is one of a growing number of politicians using venues in social media to get personal with residents and speak in their own voice – and the only one in King County to do it so aggressively. Unfiltered by press releases or media coverage, he's finding an outlet in an era of increased scrutiny.

Sometime between September 6th and September 8th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• The Cyber Crime Hall of Fame: In compiling our list, we looked for a few things: ingenuity (had it been done before?), scope (how many computers, agencies, companies, sites, etc. did it affect?), cost (how much in monetary damages did it cause?), and historical significance (did it start a new trend?).
• Big data: Welcome to the petacentre: What does it take to store bytes by the tens of thousands of trillions? Cory Doctorow meets the people and machines for which it's all in a day's work.
• Man rubbed with spices, other beaten with sausage: A stranger broke into a home east of Fresno, rubbed spices on the body of one of two men as they slept and used an 8-inch sausage to whack the other man in the face and head before he fled, Fresno County sheriff's deputies said Saturday.
• International Action Day “Freedom not fear – Stop the surveillance mania!” on 11 October 2008: A broad movement of campaigners and organizations is calling on everybody to join action against excessive surveillance by governments and businesses. On 11 October 2008, concerned people in many countries will take to the streets, the motto being "Freedom not fear 2008". Peaceful and creative action, from protest marches to parties, will take place in many capital cities.
• A DSLR Catechism: Should sound very familiar to anyone with a DSLR.
• Hi, I’m a Mac… Beep, beep!: It's pretty common, when reading discussion of Apple's “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads, to come across the comment: "Sure, they're great ads but they don't work. John Hodgeman’s PC is far more likeable than Justin Long’s smug hipster Mac." This is missing the point.

Sometime between 09:15 and 13:50, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Seattlest: Lads, Learn How To Wear Your Kilts: As with driving privileges, we sometimes believe that buyers ought to take a course in their proper operation. But that would be snobbish of us to admit publicly. Instead, we'll just parcel out unsolicited advice. The following are a few of the most egregious mistakes we've seen Utilikilted men make.
• Heart to McCain campaign: stop using “Barracuda”: "Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late '70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."
• Hard Rock Café to open in Seattle: Could be entertaining, I haven't been to a Hard Rock in many, many years. Don't even really remember when or where I went. Hrm. Anyway, this bit caught my eye: "The first Hard Rock Café, featuring "classic American" food, opened in 1971 in London. Since then, the chain has expanded to 48 countries. In addition to 125 restaurants, it runs five hotels, four hotel-casinos, four concert halls and a theme park, the corporate Web site." The corporate website is a theme park? Cool!
• Community Organizers Fight Back: Community organizers across America, taken aback by a series of attacks from Republican leaders at the GOP convention in St. Paul, came together today to defend their work organizing Americans who have been left behind by unemployment, lack of health insurance and the national housing crisis. The organizers demanded an apology from Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for her statement that community organizers have no “actual responsibilities” and launched a web site, Community Organizers Fight Back, to defend themselves against Republican attacks.
• The “Bechdel Rule”, a quick-and-dirty way to analyze media for sexism: 1. Does it have at least two women in it, 2. Who [at some point] talk to each other, 3. About something besides a man.
• Who you gonna call?: Hollywood studio Columbia is planning to revive its hit 1980s franchise "Ghostbusters" with a third film that will reunite stars Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd [along with Harod Ramis and Ernie Hudson], it was reported Thursday.

Sometime between September 4th and September 5th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Google Crom: A desktop-based deity.
• What a Community Organizer Does: So here is what Giuliani and Palin didn't know: Obama was working for a group of churches that were concerned about their parishioners, many of whom had been laid off when the steel mills closed on the south side of Chicago. They hired Obama to help those stunned people recover and get the services they needed–job training, help with housing and so forth–from the local government. It was, dare I say it, the Lord's work–the sort of mission Jesus preached (as opposed to the war in Iraq, which Palin described as a "task from God.")
• About Sarah Palin: an e-mail from Wasilla: Editor's note: The writer is a homemaker and education advocate in Wasilla, Alaska. Late last week, Anne Kilkenny penned an e-mail for her friends about vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whom she personally knows, that has since circulated across comment forums and blogs nationwide. Here is her e-mail in its entirety, posted with her permission.
• Palin’s RNC speech on track to raise $10M in 24 hours…for Obama!: An Obama aide passes this news along: "$8 million raised since Palin's speech from over 130,000 donors – on pace to hit $10 million by the time John McCain hits the stage tonight." The Palin pick energized Republicans…and has given a jolt to Democrats, too. (The RNC has raised $1m since Palin's speech.)
• A woman is a woman is a woman — and an insult is an insult is an insult: The notion that Hillary's women will automatically become Sarah's carries the implicit assumption that a woman is a woman is a woman is a woman, that disaffected female supporters of Clinton will flock to Palin because she has the right reproductive organs and never mind that, politically, the two could hardly be less alike. Never mind pro-choice versus pro-life. Never mind Iraq, Iran, gas prices, the mortgage crisis, failing schools. Chromosomes conquer all.

Sometime between September 3rd and September 4th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Print Story: Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention: The AP fact-checks the RNC speeches. FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States." THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.
• Footnotes, Endnotes, and Parentheticals That Cost Me Marks on My Thesis.: (Admittedly, I didn't read it, but I'd like to think I got the gist from the movie.)
• Sarah Palin, VP nominee: [Former Wasilla mayor] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving “full support” to the mayor.
• Cute meme-geeky easter egg in Google’s new webbrowser Chrome: This is what you see when you visit about:internets. This is freaking awesome.
• ObamaTaxCut.com: Barack Obama will cut taxes for over 95% of American families (even though more than half of American think he'll raise their taxes). What's your Obama Tax cut? Let's find out!

Sometime between 10:42 and 16:33, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Massive police raids on suspected protesters in Minneapolis: Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets.
• Amy Goodman and Two Democracy Now! Producers Unlawfully Arrested at RNC: Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Goodman's crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.
• Palin’s 17-Year-Old Daughter Is Pregnant: Steve Schmidt, the chief strategist for the McCain campaign, was surrounded by reporters and cameras as he walked through the media center next door to the Xcel Center in St. Paul, where the convention is taking place. Asked over and over when and how Mr. McCain found out about Bristol’s pregnancy, he repeated, “Senator McCain was aware” of it and called it “a private family matter.” He would not say when Mr. McCain found out or how, calling it a “private conversation.” “The fact is, John McCain had a thorough search and made the decision to add Sarah Palin to the ticket because he believes” that she “will change America,” Mr. Schmidt said. (Sadly, "changing America" probably won't involve re-thinking her "abstinence only" approach to sex ed, even with this demonstration of just how well that approach works.)
• Occasionally Plausible / And Kos I Just Don’t Care: "My problem with Kos is that it’s a cross between Facebook and a Star Trek convention. It’s impossible to navigate and just the second you think you’re getting somewhere you have to step over two guys coming to blows over the fine points of the Organian Peace Treaty." (While the time has come for me to start paying more attention to politics, I haven't had much urge to return to Daily Kos…and I think Pops just nailed why.)
• Tigh selects Roslin: For those who aren't total Battlestar Galactica geeks, that's the Republican nominee and his new VP choice Governor Sarah Palin on the left and Colonel Saul Tigh and Laura Roslin, President of the Twelve Colonies on the right.

Sometime between 12:12 and 17:19, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Tweet Scan for ‘little known fact palin’: Using Tweet Scan to track Little Known Facts about Sarah Palin. Works better than the Twitter Search version linked to in the Chicago Tribune post.
• On Twitter, McCain veep choice Sarah Palin already a folk hero: "Little known fact: the Northern Lights are really just the reflection from Sarah Palin's eyes." "Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin doesn't need a gun to hunt. She has been known to throw a bullet through an adult bull elk." "Little Known Fact: The Russians sold Alaska to America because Sarah Palin would not submit to autocracy." The above one-liners are just a few of the gems from the instant Twitter meme developed around the storied toughness of John McCain's vice-presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Some are making fun of the tales of her essential Alaskan-ness, some are celebrating it, some are doing both.
• Alter: Why Sarah Palin Is Likely to Belly-Flop: Happy birthday, Johnny Mac! You're 72 now, a cancer survivor, and a presidential candidate who has said on many occasions that the most important criteria for picking a vice president is whether he or she could immediately step in if something happened to the president. Your campaign against Barack Obama is based on the simple idea that he is unready to be president. So you've picked a running mate who a year and a half ago was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of 8,500 people. You've selected a potential leader of the free world who knows little or nothing about the major issues of the day beyond energy. Oh, and she's being probed in her state for lying and abuse of power.
• Fall Down, Go Boom: Playgrounds have gotten safer, more streamlined, and progressively worse. Now innovators are taking them more seriously than ever. (This is something I've babbled about in the past.)
• Alaska governor Palin comes from small town to national stage: The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice-presidential candidate marks an extraordinary political rise for a 44-year-old Alaskan whose previous highest elected office — just three years ago — was mayor of Wasilla, a town near Anchorage with a population of less than 10,000. (Interesting choice — it caught me off guard this morning, and it's strategically smart — but it really does make his "inexperienced" argument a lot harder to defend.)
• Mullets: Party in the back not over yet: Beautician Julea Penland is campaigning to beautify Kitsap County "one mullet at a time" by offering "Free Mullet Removal." No one has taken her up on the offer. Sadly, she says, the people who sport the once popular hairdo either love them or are in "mullet denial."