I've read all four of the books, and in my humble opinion, "Goblet of Fire" was the worst of the bunch. Way too much time spent on needless details of the tournament. I felt at times like I was listening to a Brit trying to explain cricket to an American--the Brit keeps going on and on, and the American's eyes start glazing over as he zones out and thinks about baseball.
I really enjoyed the first one, and recommended it to several of my friends. And I'm looking forward to the movie as well (if for no other reason than it has Robbie Coltrane in it, and he's incredible).
I'm also curious about the Hugo award... Have any other children's sci-fi/fantasy novels won the award? I would think that a separate category might be in order. Sigh... I hope that the Hugos and Nebulas don't become like the Grammys, with total sales being the determining factor in who wins. What's next, "Star Trek: The Next Generation #283 wins the Hugo in 2003?"
What wierd dialect of Gaelic is your sig in? I can't read it at all...
Sorry for the late reply, but it's supposed to be Irish Gaelic, copied out of a book lo these many years ago. Translated, it's "Kind words are like honey - sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." Proverbs 16:24
I'm not particularly religious, but I always thought it was a cool quote, and particularly apt for online discussions as a sort of flame retardant.:)
...that Akademgorodok was just a city in Alpha Centauri when playing the University faction.;)
Some of them are staffed by senior scientists
from Novosibirsk's Akademgorodok, an academic community established by Nikita Khrushchev in the
1960s to promote the growth of Soviet science.
Einstein had several children; A girl named Liserl (supposedly retarded and put up for adoption), and two sons, Hans Albert and Eduard (the latter also being mentally unstable and institutionalized).
This comment bristles with 'tude!
on
Seanbaby.com
·
· Score: 1
this site bristles with 'tude
Sorry, that one phrase in the Katz story just had me chuckling...
Wouldn't you be proud to feature that quote on *your* website? Maybe even some flashy "Bristles with 'tude" logo could be made up for sites that Katz considers to be hip, daddy-o.
Hey, I watched one of the Deep Blue matches on ESPN while sitting in a Hooters with some friends. A lot of the other customers were paying close attention as well, despite the obvious distractions.:)
I tried to address that in the middle of my post, but here's a few more thoughts... As for ancient history, consent wasn't really an issue, even among adults. Rape hasn't always been a crime punishable by the state. Other notions of human bondage and ownership came into play.
As for the age of consent, agreed, it's debateable, but there's a lot of other factors of life in modern American society that require different ages. 18 to vote or serve in the military or buy porn or cigarettes, 21 to drink alcohol, roughly 18 to get married, 16 to drive, etc*. One important issue with kids and sex is the parents--even if that thirteen year old girl consents to having sex with the 20 year old guy, the girl's parents are left with the responsibility of taking care of her and possibly the resulting child as well. (The father could be ordered to pay child support or restitution, but would not legally be allowed to marry or live independently with the girl, assuming that he wasn't in jail for statutory rape in the first place.) Or if the kid catches an STD, it's the parents' responsibility as far as medical treatment both in terms of insurance and power of attorney as to permission to give treatment.
However, there's still a big difference between children and teenagers, which is precisely why those freedoms and responsibilities are phased in beginning around the age of 16. Until we open all of the other privileges--voting, driving, drinking, etc. up to children of all ages, as well as requiring children to be employed and self-sufficient, the consent issue is pretty moot.
*Never too young to pay taxes, though! As for the ages mentioned, your mileage may vary depending on your state, etc.
It's discussed a lot, both in public and private forums. The difficulty with fiction is that murder can have lots of motives, and in the realm of comedy, there's often the joke that someone deserved to get murdered, or that someone was accidentally killed. It's a lot different to "accidentally" rape a five year old, or have a legitimate motive for doing so that enthralls the reader/viewer/etc.
And the subject's out there all over the place... From Oprah to South Park. Every time there's a legitimate case of pedophilia, it tends to be all over the news and papers (though it tends to be restricted to local media, unless the case is particularly bizarre).
The subject is being investigated, debated, explored, etc. The only difference is that a large majority of people tend to agree that having sex with children is not a good thing (especially given that it falls into the non-consensual brand of sex), and that there's few convincing arguments otherwise. (Disclaimers: yes, there's a lot of argument over what the appropriate age of consent is, and that varies with the times. At least in modern Western Civilization, actual intercourse with prepubescent children is considered abuse rather than healthy sexuality.)
Is it a taboo? Yes, so are incest, cannibalism, necrophilia and lots of other things. Unlike the topics of nudity, the Catholic Church, witchcraft, etc., these aren't so much expressions of opinion or choice but rather crimes against another human being, which is a big distinction. The fact that these are crimes doesn't in any way diminish the amount of attention and study given to the subjects, it just tends to weaken the arguments in favor of them, so you're not as likely to have "Pro-Incest Rallies" and "Necrophilia Pride Marches".
All that aside, I'll close with the following from Airplane:
Captain Oveur: Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?
and
Captain Oveur: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?
Alan Dean Foster Connection?
on
Andromeda
·
· Score: 1
I haven't actually seen the show, so I can't comment directly...
But I've heard rumors that the show contains some elements from Alan Dean Foster's "Humanx Commonwealth" series of novels, which include the great "Pip & Flinx" books. For instance, the fact that the big U.N.-style government is called the Commonwealth, and that at some point in the show they meet an insectile alien race that resembles the Thranx.
Again, I haven't seen the show, and I've read a ton of his novels, so I'm not in a position to make a decision one way or the other. Anyone out there notice a connection?
I bring this up not because I support the party, but because if he had been in favor of it, the word "Republican" would have preceded his name in every news story about it.
I generally don't think of Slashdot as left-leaning, although it's impossible to characterize the site and its members by any specific political tag. If a Republican legislature had come up with this bill, then it would have been used as an indictment of the party as a whole. Likewise, a Democratic governor who opposed it would have been championed as a hero and representative of his party as a whole. But since he's a Republican who did something intelligent, his party affiliation is left out of most stories (including the one linked above), and he's considered just an individual who made a good decision (which is really the case, I'm just pointing out the usual media portrayals with the other examples).
Rather than get into any sort of partisan arguing back and forth, let's remember this for future discussions. Responsible AND Irresponsible politicians can be found on either side of the political debate.
(Also, I'm well aware of the fact that New England Republicans are generally not lumped into the same fire-and-brimstone category as Southern Republicans.)
And let me point out that, as the owner of two dogs, while they may have superior abilities to sense smells, their discretion of how things smell is completely different. There's all that ass-sniffing of one another that goes on, and few dogs look happier than when they're excitedly investigating the smell of urine or feces left by another dog. Or rolling around on top of a dead squirrel or bird. And my dogs, in the past week, have eaten a dead turtle and a dead frog, so their sense of taste isn't great either. On the other hand, they'll stay completely away from anything slathered in delicious Tabasco sauce.:)
...as soon as it's ported to the Mac.:) This shouldn't be a major problem, as the other incarnations have come across to the Mac, although sometimes there's a painfully long delay.
I haven't played Civ 2 in a while, though I am quite fond of it. I've been spending a lot more time recently with Alpha Centauri. Although there are some problems with it, I love the unit customization, as well as the broader opportunities available with the style of government.
One thing that I'd love to see implemented in SMAC 2 or Civ 4 or whatever is an actual spherical world map. Currently the map is a cylinder; it would be nice if you could make proper use of the poles as well as having them availble as flyover routes. Also, when are we going to have a decent air unit for carrying troops? You can make one in SMAC that will carry one troop unit, but that's generally not worth the trouble. I'm looking for something like the C-141 Starlifter. Granted, you're going to have to have a decent airport on the destination side, but you'd think in the future there'd be another option besides cargo ships.
OK, the rant is over. Basically, if it's an actual Sid Meier product, I'm going to be first in line to pick it up.:)
I would suggest a Pan Galatic Gargle Blaster, though if your local barman is not equipped with the ingredients, I'm sure a beer will do just fine.
For those other adventurous souls, here's the recipe:
The Hitchhiker's Gudie to the Galaxy also mentions
alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the PAN
GALACTIC GARGLE BLASTER.
It says that the effect of drinking a Pan Galactic
Gargle Blaster is like having your brain smashed out by a
slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick. The Gudie
also tells on which planets the best Pan Galactic Gargle
Blasters are mix, how much you can expect to pay for one and
what voluntary organizations exist to help you rehabilitate
afterwards.
The Guide even tells you how to mix one yourself.
Take the Jyice from one bottle of the Il' Janx Spirit,
it says. Pour into it measure of water from the seas of
Santaginus V_Ob, that Santraginean seawater, it says. Ob,
those Santraginean fish!
Allow three cubes of Arcturan Mega-gin to melt into
the mixture (it must be propely iced or the benzine is lost)
Allow four liters of Fallian marsb gas to bubble
through it, in memory of all those happy bikers who have died
of pleasure in the Marshes of Fallina.
Over the back of a silver spoon float a measure of
Qualaction Hypermint extract, redolent of all the beaty odors
of the dark Qualaction Zones, subtle, sweet and mystic.
Drop in the tooth an Algolian Suntiger, Watch it
dissolve, spreading the fires of the Algolian Suns deep in
the heart of the drink.
A quick note, something that I actually learned from another Slashdot poster about a year ago when it comes to encoding data in DNA (sorry, I couldn't find the quote or the original poster).
You can make much more efficient usage of your DNA storage media if each letter codes for two bits:
A=00
T=01
C=10
G=11
There's also a neat science fiction story about Muslims on pilgrammage to Mecca who were getting the Koran inserted into their DNA via a modified virus. Again, I can't think of the author or title (my research skills are just suckin' today), but it appeared in a recent edition of "Australia's Best Science Fiction" or something like that.
Good points--I think ecstasy was actually invented by Merck Pharmaceuticals in Germany around seventy years ago as a diet drug, but I don't think they're exercising any patent rights over it.:) The situation with Ritalin in the schools really scares me, but I'm concerned about how long it's going to take before that begins spilling over into the private sector and other areas of life.
I'm not concerned as much about the pharmaceutical companies. I can use or not use their products as I see fit, but I am concerned if the government begins requiring or enforcing use of said drugs. I can see it now, the "Department of Behavior Stabilization" issues its 2031 revised tables on the proper dosages that must be administered to employees upon entering the workplace.
I support the decriminalization of drugs, and feel that the War on Drugs is a pretty pointless and expensive endeavor. Those ideas tend to go along with my mostly libertarian political leanings...
Anyway, I had a strange, paranoid thought the other day while reading Brave New World. If drugs are legalized, how long would it take before they're actually endorsed and promoted by the government as a way of subduing the population? Obviously this hasn't happened in The Netherlands or other countries, and it's not likely to happen anywhere anytime soon. Nevertheless, I can see how it would remain possible. Take, for instance, the use of Ritalin in the schools. For certain people with specific cases, it's a good drug. However, I think almost everyone would agree that it is overused, and it's especially dangerous when you get into situations where a kid is not allowed to attend school unless he's properly medicated.
Similarly, the drugs like Prozac and Paxil, etc... Again, I don't have a problem with legitimate medical use of these drugs, but for those who simply use them as a method of avoiding or ignoring problems rather than dealing with them, are they any worse than "illegal" drugs?
I suppose what I'm concerned about is a dystopian future in which a person is not allowed to work or go to school unless they're taking the proper combination of mood altering drugs, and one in which we go on "Soma" holidays rather than actually make good use of our free time.
All that being said, I'm looking forward to a shot of rum later tonight to wind down.;) But at least that's a personal choice, and not one that has been forced on me by an outside entity.
I've often wondered about the lack of respect for authority in schools today... Perhaps with the popular notion that the schools are horrible and that teachers don't care, there's no reason to respect the faculty. I agree with this notion to some degree (I prefer to focus on individual problem schools rather than the system as a whole), but I can see where it can lead to a general attitude of lawlessness. So if a teacher punishes a kid for something he legitimately did wrong, then it's far more fun to sue or have the parent complain to the school board, because we all know that every teacher is a moron and that precious child has never hurt anyone.
Don't misunderstand me--I'm not suggesting this is the case with Sean. It's more the fact that the bullying went on because the faculty didn't care and the bullies knew that there would be no reprecussions for picking on the kid. So they take a popular hot-button issue and use it as a weapon against Sean, knowing that it's one area where the faculty will show dictatorial discipline.
I'm just ranting here, so I apologize if this isn't as coherent as it could be. Basically what I'm saying is that, perhaps if there was an educational system that the parents and students could actually respect, that there would be a greater respect for the school's authority. Of course, that requires the schools to act in a fair and logical manner, and I don't see that happening anytime soon...
Do we see these kinds of problems in Catholic schools? I'm sure that some degree of normal bullying takes place, but it's always been my understanding that discipline has always been pretty heavy and consistent.
As for home school, that's a tough one. I was home schooled for a couple of years (3rd grade through 5th grade). It worked out well for me because I've always learned extremely well on my own, when I'm not being bothered or having to wait for everyone else. What happened was that my younger brother was given a lot more attention, so I was left in the "school room" (a converted extra bedroom) alone for eight hours a day to do my work, which I would show to my mom at the end of the day. However, this was not, in my opinion, a healthy thing for me socially, and it took me until college to form some sort of decent interpersonal skills. It can work if the parents are very well educated, if one parent stays home and is dedicated to teaching the kids, and if they keep their kids involved in enough outside activities so that they get plenty of interaction and socialization. Otherwise, I think it can be dangerous... I've seen good and bad come from other home schooled kids I knew, and the ones that came out with problems were pretty scary.
1) Hook the sled up to your cousin Carl (the one who made you eat a toad as a child), and place one hamster in his longjohns. You should see some movement immediately.
2) Does anyone else remember that idiot 80s cartoon "Pandamonium"? There were three or four pandas that could come together to form one giant panda? (Perhaps the worst Voltron-inspired ripoff ever.) Anyway, make a similarly stupid cartoon that allows a thousand hamsters to similarly meld into one giant hamster.
3) Several people have pointed out the problem of the hamsters freezing in the cold climate. There's a great solution for this problem: simply begin throwing the frozen hamsters opposite to the direction of travel. Newton's First Law will have you zipping along in no time!
4) There's also the "hamster-fired" furnace idea for a steam powered sled, but I should probably stop...
(Disclaimer: For the humor-impaired, I don't advocate cruelty to hamsters. Frankly, my husky mixed dog is laughing his furry ass off right now about the thought of hamsters as sled pullers, and the ideas are his, not mine.)
Your conversation with your dad brings up a fond memory of my high school days...
I had no intention of going to the prom. I wasn't dating at the time (didn't really date through all of high school anyway), and I didn't see any point in wasting a lot of time and money on something that I wasn't going to enjoy. My parents, of course, were aghast at the idea.
My father suggested, "If you can't find anyone to go with you, why don't you go in drag?" I damned near choked--I'm not gay, but I had several gay friends at the time and I'm sure my parents were concerned. However, given their feelings on the issues of homosexuality, I was shocked at the suggestion. After regaining my breath, I said, "What in the hell are you talking about?"
Dad replied, "You know, if you have to go to a party by yourself, you go in drag." Much laughter from me followed, with a brief explanation on the difference between "drag" and "stag".
A somewhat related story... A friend of the family had, back in the 70s, decided not to go to the prom. His father informed him that he would be attending one way or another. If the kid couldn't find a date, his father was going to go out and hire the oldest, ugliest, most strung-out prostitute he could find, and that would be his date for the evening. Needless to say, he found a date pretty quickly.:)
I've been thinking all day that perhaps the most appropriate action in this case would be for someone to create a site listing the exact same personal information about the people in the organization responsible for the original site, stating that "These people are close-minded fundamentalist morons.";)
For the record, I agree with the Court's decision today, though I disagree with the opinions and intent of the group involved. It was a tough call to make, and they didn't create a problem with future precedent.
A few other points...
As for the "yelling fire in a crowded theater" defense for limiting speech, I've often retorted with the fact that it's perfectly reasonable to yell fire if there is in fact a fire in the theater. Otherwise, you're responsible for your actions, and if you get thrown out of the theater it's your own damned fault.
As for the harassment issue by various groups, here's a personal anecdote:
My father worked in the airline industry for over thirty years. While I was in school, he was in management. Though he was in the customer service division, anytime there was a labor dispute with the mechanics or pilots or whomever, he would get targeted like everyone else in management. Car windows would get smashed, mailboxes torn down, phone calls all through the night, etc. The weirdest tactic was having multiple pizzas delivered to the house each day--didn't really bother us much, but hurt the pizza joints (we did set up an arrangement by which the only way to get a pizza delivered to our place was if they would call back to our home number and confirm the order).
These were cowardly acts of petty vandalism, and my father was not even in a position to make decisions based on the disagreements involved. The people who committed these acts were criminals, nothing more, nothing less.
Again, while I disagree with the opinions of the "alleged" union members and try to uphold the first (as well as the other first 9) amendment, vandalism is not free speech, and those persons responsible should have been caught and held liable for the damage caused. Free speech does not mean abdication of responsibility.
The same goes for these people... What they did was within the law, but they are individually responsible for whatever happens to them, even if it involves crowds of people setting up people protests outside their homes and ridiculing them for their stupidity. Likewise, there's a fine line between speech and actions... To twist a quote, "I may not agree with a word you say, but I don't have the right to beat you to death because of it."
Not trying to flame here, but industrialized agriculture is not to blame for this. There have been periodic outbreaks of foot and mouth in England every thirty or fourty years, and small localized outbreaks in the US (although vaccination programs here have worked quite well against it). The places in the world where foot and mouth disease is always present are certain regions of Africa and South America that practice "traditional" agriculture.
That being said, I agree with the fear of a monoculture, but I'm more concerned about entire states filled with a single species of corn or wheat and an airborne (or insect) plague wiping them out.
Slashdot Mirror
I really enjoyed the first one, and recommended it to several of my friends. And I'm looking forward to the movie as well (if for no other reason than it has Robbie Coltrane in it, and he's incredible).
I'm also curious about the Hugo award... Have any other children's sci-fi/fantasy novels won the award? I would think that a separate category might be in order. Sigh... I hope that the Hugos and Nebulas don't become like the Grammys, with total sales being the determining factor in who wins. What's next, "Star Trek: The Next Generation #283 wins the Hugo in 2003?"
Sorry for the late reply, but it's supposed to be Irish Gaelic, copied out of a book lo these many years ago. Translated, it's "Kind words are like honey - sweet to the soul and healthy for the body." Proverbs 16:24
I'm not particularly religious, but I always thought it was a cool quote, and particularly apt for online discussions as a sort of flame retardant.
Like fuckedcompany.com, which is from New York, IIRC? Maybe it's the New York in Canada.
Some of them are staffed by senior scientists
from Novosibirsk's Akademgorodok, an academic community established by Nikita Khrushchev in the
1960s to promote the growth of Soviet science.
Einstein had several children; A girl named Liserl (supposedly retarded and put up for adoption), and two sons, Hans Albert and Eduard (the latter also being mentally unstable and institutionalized).
http://www.usd.edu/~aelverud/advcomp/albert.html
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/aug01/voice110
Sorry, that one phrase in the Katz story just had me chuckling...
Wouldn't you be proud to feature that quote on *your* website? Maybe even some flashy "Bristles with 'tude" logo could be made up for sites that Katz considers to be hip, daddy-o.
As for the age of consent, agreed, it's debateable, but there's a lot of other factors of life in modern American society that require different ages. 18 to vote or serve in the military or buy porn or cigarettes, 21 to drink alcohol, roughly 18 to get married, 16 to drive, etc*. One important issue with kids and sex is the parents--even if that thirteen year old girl consents to having sex with the 20 year old guy, the girl's parents are left with the responsibility of taking care of her and possibly the resulting child as well. (The father could be ordered to pay child support or restitution, but would not legally be allowed to marry or live independently with the girl, assuming that he wasn't in jail for statutory rape in the first place.) Or if the kid catches an STD, it's the parents' responsibility as far as medical treatment both in terms of insurance and power of attorney as to permission to give treatment.
However, there's still a big difference between children and teenagers, which is precisely why those freedoms and responsibilities are phased in beginning around the age of 16. Until we open all of the other privileges--voting, driving, drinking, etc. up to children of all ages, as well as requiring children to be employed and self-sufficient, the consent issue is pretty moot.
*Never too young to pay taxes, though! As for the ages mentioned, your mileage may vary depending on your state, etc.
And the subject's out there all over the place... From Oprah to South Park. Every time there's a legitimate case of pedophilia, it tends to be all over the news and papers (though it tends to be restricted to local media, unless the case is particularly bizarre).
The subject is being investigated, debated, explored, etc. The only difference is that a large majority of people tend to agree that having sex with children is not a good thing (especially given that it falls into the non-consensual brand of sex), and that there's few convincing arguments otherwise. (Disclaimers: yes, there's a lot of argument over what the appropriate age of consent is, and that varies with the times. At least in modern Western Civilization, actual intercourse with prepubescent children is considered abuse rather than healthy sexuality.)
Is it a taboo? Yes, so are incest, cannibalism, necrophilia and lots of other things. Unlike the topics of nudity, the Catholic Church, witchcraft, etc., these aren't so much expressions of opinion or choice but rather crimes against another human being, which is a big distinction. The fact that these are crimes doesn't in any way diminish the amount of attention and study given to the subjects, it just tends to weaken the arguments in favor of them, so you're not as likely to have "Pro-Incest Rallies" and "Necrophilia Pride Marches".
All that aside, I'll close with the following from Airplane:
Captain Oveur: Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked?
and
Captain Oveur: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?
But I've heard rumors that the show contains some elements from Alan Dean Foster's "Humanx Commonwealth" series of novels, which include the great "Pip & Flinx" books. For instance, the fact that the big U.N.-style government is called the Commonwealth, and that at some point in the show they meet an insectile alien race that resembles the Thranx.
Some links to the conflict:1 7
http://www.andromedatvfans.com/thread.asp?b=2&t=1
And a call to action from the author in a letter to Sci-Fi Weekly (about 2/3 of the way down the page): http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue190/letters.html
Again, I haven't seen the show, and I've read a ton of his novels, so I'm not in a position to make a decision one way or the other. Anyone out there notice a connection?
I bring this up not because I support the party, but because if he had been in favor of it, the word "Republican" would have preceded his name in every news story about it.
I generally don't think of Slashdot as left-leaning, although it's impossible to characterize the site and its members by any specific political tag. If a Republican legislature had come up with this bill, then it would have been used as an indictment of the party as a whole. Likewise, a Democratic governor who opposed it would have been championed as a hero and representative of his party as a whole. But since he's a Republican who did something intelligent, his party affiliation is left out of most stories (including the one linked above), and he's considered just an individual who made a good decision (which is really the case, I'm just pointing out the usual media portrayals with the other examples).
Brief info on his political history:D N96_08_14_1ao.html
http://www.sddt.com/features/convention/speakers/
Rather than get into any sort of partisan arguing back and forth, let's remember this for future discussions. Responsible AND Irresponsible politicians can be found on either side of the political debate.
(Also, I'm well aware of the fact that New England Republicans are generally not lumped into the same fire-and-brimstone category as Southern Republicans.)
I haven't played Civ 2 in a while, though I am quite fond of it. I've been spending a lot more time recently with Alpha Centauri. Although there are some problems with it, I love the unit customization, as well as the broader opportunities available with the style of government.
One thing that I'd love to see implemented in SMAC 2 or Civ 4 or whatever is an actual spherical world map. Currently the map is a cylinder; it would be nice if you could make proper use of the poles as well as having them availble as flyover routes. Also, when are we going to have a decent air unit for carrying troops? You can make one in SMAC that will carry one troop unit, but that's generally not worth the trouble. I'm looking for something like the C-141 Starlifter. Granted, you're going to have to have a decent airport on the destination side, but you'd think in the future there'd be another option besides cargo ships.
OK, the rant is over. Basically, if it's an actual Sid Meier product, I'm going to be first in line to pick it up. :)
For those other adventurous souls, here's the recipe:
The Hitchhiker's Gudie to the Galaxy also mentions alcohol. It says that the best drink in existence is the PAN GALACTIC GARGLE BLASTER.
It says that the effect of drinking a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is like having your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick. The Gudie also tells on which planets the best Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters are mix, how much you can expect to pay for one and what voluntary organizations exist to help you rehabilitate afterwards.
The Guide even tells you how to mix one yourself.
Take the Jyice from one bottle of the Il' Janx Spirit, it says. Pour into it measure of water from the seas of Santaginus V_Ob, that Santraginean seawater, it says. Ob, those Santraginean fish!
Allow three cubes of Arcturan Mega-gin to melt into the mixture (it must be propely iced or the benzine is lost)
Allow four liters of Fallian marsb gas to bubble through it, in memory of all those happy bikers who have died of pleasure in the Marshes of Fallina.
Over the back of a silver spoon float a measure of Qualaction Hypermint extract, redolent of all the beaty odors of the dark Qualaction Zones, subtle, sweet and mystic.
Drop in the tooth an Algolian Suntiger, Watch it dissolve, spreading the fires of the Algolian Suns deep in the heart of the drink.
Sprinkle Zampbuor.
Add an olive
Drink...But...very carefully."
You can make much more efficient usage of your DNA storage media if each letter codes for two bits:
A=00
T=01
C=10
G=11
There's also a neat science fiction story about Muslims on pilgrammage to Mecca who were getting the Koran inserted into their DNA via a modified virus. Again, I can't think of the author or title (my research skills are just suckin' today), but it appeared in a recent edition of "Australia's Best Science Fiction" or something like that.
But can your job love you back?
You haven't met my wife and kids. Work is a fscking love fest compared to home.
I'm not concerned as much about the pharmaceutical companies. I can use or not use their products as I see fit, but I am concerned if the government begins requiring or enforcing use of said drugs. I can see it now, the "Department of Behavior Stabilization" issues its 2031 revised tables on the proper dosages that must be administered to employees upon entering the workplace.
Anyway, I had a strange, paranoid thought the other day while reading Brave New World. If drugs are legalized, how long would it take before they're actually endorsed and promoted by the government as a way of subduing the population? Obviously this hasn't happened in The Netherlands or other countries, and it's not likely to happen anywhere anytime soon. Nevertheless, I can see how it would remain possible. Take, for instance, the use of Ritalin in the schools. For certain people with specific cases, it's a good drug. However, I think almost everyone would agree that it is overused, and it's especially dangerous when you get into situations where a kid is not allowed to attend school unless he's properly medicated.
Similarly, the drugs like Prozac and Paxil, etc... Again, I don't have a problem with legitimate medical use of these drugs, but for those who simply use them as a method of avoiding or ignoring problems rather than dealing with them, are they any worse than "illegal" drugs?
I suppose what I'm concerned about is a dystopian future in which a person is not allowed to work or go to school unless they're taking the proper combination of mood altering drugs, and one in which we go on "Soma" holidays rather than actually make good use of our free time.
All that being said, I'm looking forward to a shot of rum later tonight to wind down. ;) But at least that's a personal choice, and not one that has been forced on me by an outside entity.
Don't misunderstand me--I'm not suggesting this is the case with Sean. It's more the fact that the bullying went on because the faculty didn't care and the bullies knew that there would be no reprecussions for picking on the kid. So they take a popular hot-button issue and use it as a weapon against Sean, knowing that it's one area where the faculty will show dictatorial discipline.
I'm just ranting here, so I apologize if this isn't as coherent as it could be. Basically what I'm saying is that, perhaps if there was an educational system that the parents and students could actually respect, that there would be a greater respect for the school's authority. Of course, that requires the schools to act in a fair and logical manner, and I don't see that happening anytime soon...
Do we see these kinds of problems in Catholic schools? I'm sure that some degree of normal bullying takes place, but it's always been my understanding that discipline has always been pretty heavy and consistent.
As for home school, that's a tough one. I was home schooled for a couple of years (3rd grade through 5th grade). It worked out well for me because I've always learned extremely well on my own, when I'm not being bothered or having to wait for everyone else. What happened was that my younger brother was given a lot more attention, so I was left in the "school room" (a converted extra bedroom) alone for eight hours a day to do my work, which I would show to my mom at the end of the day. However, this was not, in my opinion, a healthy thing for me socially, and it took me until college to form some sort of decent interpersonal skills. It can work if the parents are very well educated, if one parent stays home and is dedicated to teaching the kids, and if they keep their kids involved in enough outside activities so that they get plenty of interaction and socialization. Otherwise, I think it can be dangerous... I've seen good and bad come from other home schooled kids I knew, and the ones that came out with problems were pretty scary.
2) Does anyone else remember that idiot 80s cartoon "Pandamonium"? There were three or four pandas that could come together to form one giant panda? (Perhaps the worst Voltron-inspired ripoff ever.) Anyway, make a similarly stupid cartoon that allows a thousand hamsters to similarly meld into one giant hamster.
3) Several people have pointed out the problem of the hamsters freezing in the cold climate. There's a great solution for this problem: simply begin throwing the frozen hamsters opposite to the direction of travel. Newton's First Law will have you zipping along in no time!
4) There's also the "hamster-fired" furnace idea for a steam powered sled, but I should probably stop...
(Disclaimer: For the humor-impaired, I don't advocate cruelty to hamsters. Frankly, my husky mixed dog is laughing his furry ass off right now about the thought of hamsters as sled pullers, and the ideas are his, not mine.)
I had no intention of going to the prom. I wasn't dating at the time (didn't really date through all of high school anyway), and I didn't see any point in wasting a lot of time and money on something that I wasn't going to enjoy. My parents, of course, were aghast at the idea.
My father suggested, "If you can't find anyone to go with you, why don't you go in drag?" I damned near choked--I'm not gay, but I had several gay friends at the time and I'm sure my parents were concerned. However, given their feelings on the issues of homosexuality, I was shocked at the suggestion. After regaining my breath, I said, "What in the hell are you talking about?"
Dad replied, "You know, if you have to go to a party by yourself, you go in drag." Much laughter from me followed, with a brief explanation on the difference between "drag" and "stag".
A somewhat related story... A friend of the family had, back in the 70s, decided not to go to the prom. His father informed him that he would be attending one way or another. If the kid couldn't find a date, his father was going to go out and hire the oldest, ugliest, most strung-out prostitute he could find, and that would be his date for the evening. Needless to say, he found a date pretty quickly. :)
For the record, I agree with the Court's decision today, though I disagree with the opinions and intent of the group involved. It was a tough call to make, and they didn't create a problem with future precedent.
A few other points...
As for the "yelling fire in a crowded theater" defense for limiting speech, I've often retorted with the fact that it's perfectly reasonable to yell fire if there is in fact a fire in the theater. Otherwise, you're responsible for your actions, and if you get thrown out of the theater it's your own damned fault.
As for the harassment issue by various groups, here's a personal anecdote:
My father worked in the airline industry for over thirty years. While I was in school, he was in management. Though he was in the customer service division, anytime there was a labor dispute with the mechanics or pilots or whomever, he would get targeted like everyone else in management. Car windows would get smashed, mailboxes torn down, phone calls all through the night, etc. The weirdest tactic was having multiple pizzas delivered to the house each day--didn't really bother us much, but hurt the pizza joints (we did set up an arrangement by which the only way to get a pizza delivered to our place was if they would call back to our home number and confirm the order).
These were cowardly acts of petty vandalism, and my father was not even in a position to make decisions based on the disagreements involved. The people who committed these acts were criminals, nothing more, nothing less.
Again, while I disagree with the opinions of the "alleged" union members and try to uphold the first (as well as the other first 9) amendment, vandalism is not free speech, and those persons responsible should have been caught and held liable for the damage caused. Free speech does not mean abdication of responsibility.
The same goes for these people... What they did was within the law, but they are individually responsible for whatever happens to them, even if it involves crowds of people setting up people protests outside their homes and ridiculing them for their stupidity. Likewise, there's a fine line between speech and actions... To twist a quote, "I may not agree with a word you say, but I don't have the right to beat you to death because of it."
That being said, I agree with the fear of a monoculture, but I'm more concerned about entire states filled with a single species of corn or wheat and an airborne (or insect) plague wiping them out.