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Rebellions & Revolutions

"Rebellion ... is a petty disturbance, an aberration, predestined to fail. Revolution is like the wheeling of stars around the pole. It is driven by unseen powers, it is inexorable, it moves all things at once, and men of discrimination may understand it, predict it, benefit from it."

-- Daniel Waterhouse speaks to Sgt. Bob Shaftoe in the Tower of London, from Quicksilver, by Neil Stephenson.

60 Senators? Don't count on it

With Barack Obama's chances of winning the White House now exceeding 95 percent and healthy gains projected for Democrats in the House, the election-day nail-biter appears to have devolved to the partisan count in 35 Senate races.

There is no doubt that Democrats will control the Senate leadership in 2009. The question is, can they cobble together a 60-vote super-majority that would immunize them from the threat of GOP fillibustering?

A casual look at the numbers suggests the Democrats are tantalizingly close. A slightly closer look, however, declares that a true super-majority is very likely beyond their reach, even in a landslide election.

WASSUP!?! (circa 2008)

Best. Video. Of. The. Week. Via Oliver Willis.

BONUS VIDEO: Hey, trying to figure out that whole 21st century media thing? Can't figure out why the old tricks just don't work anymore? Watch this video. Via Blue Ion.

AND FINALLY: We're huge fans of Michael Wesch. Interested in education? Watch this video and then read this post. Tell 'em what you think while you're there.

Speaking of FAIL...

Images removed by the author.

So that story about the black male Obama supporter who carved a B into the face of a white female McCain supporter? Turns out to be a hoax.

Had it been true, would it have reflected anything of meaningful significance about Obama or his campaign? No..

Now that it turns out to be a lie, does it teach us anything about McCain? Nope. 

So is there anything of value to be learned from this? Sure. To quote Thurber, "He Who Hesitates is Sometimes Saved." If you're a civilian with the luxury of waiting a day to express an opinion on an dodgy story, enjoy it.

Yes, Ashley Todd is a young woman in serious need of professional help. But if that "B" is actually backwards -- and not just a reversed photo (you never know) -- then an army of self-appointed wingnut big-brains just got punked by a 20-year-old Texan who hasn't yet figured out how mirrors work. Think about THAT the next time some frothy-con ranter demands that the liberal media divert your attention to their latest manufactured outrage...

History of FAIL

An Obama monkey. How cute

140

140 characters. This is the new standard for how we communicate. (76)
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I learned this weekend that this standard, which Twitter users know by heart, evolved from the original SMS protocols. (22)
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Which is how the future happens: Somebody says, "We'll keep it short, because who wants to type on a phone?" And literary prose changes. (4)
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How do we know this? We don't. But think: In the low-bandwidth past, we chewed on words, tasted them. We savored words like brandy. (9)
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In the high-bandwidth present, words and images and messages race past us faster than we can capture them. We pluck words from vast streams. (0)
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Our modes of communication change the way we think. You might as well argue with tides. (53)
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And so writers have to change, and me with them. (91)

McCain supporters v. assholes

It's a great sign for the future of the country (not to mention the future of the GOP) to see stuff like this: McCain supporters standing up to their idiot fringe and driving them away with nothing more than a video camera and a willingness to stand up to this anti-American bullshit. One confrontation in a parking lot doesn't excuse all the bizarre stuff that's been coming out of the McCain/Palin campaign in the past month, but it's a reminder not to stereotype the opposition.

We're going to win this election, which means our leaders will get to do the governing for at least the next two years. Let's remember that many people on the conservative side are honorable Americans and let's show them respect instead of partisan scorn.

We've been through a terrible time in the past eight years, but revenge and taunting won't get us where we need to go. Let's get things right this time, so that NEXT time around, these people will choose to vote for the Democratic candidate.

Porn tech, aliens & Dubya!

Just posted at The Xark Fiction Project: Five nifty sci-fi stories (typeset by me yesterday into handy home-printer PDFs) from my collection. Some of my stories have been published in one or more magazines and anthologies, but most of this first crop are stories that have never seen the light of day before. And they're yours for free via the magic of Xark's Creative Commons license!

Unscientific thoughts on biology

From an e-mail exchange with Addison, who is taking biology this semester and apparently enjoying the hell out of it (don't get him started on Calculus, though, unless you already speak it. You've been warned).

The topic: Why is biology an a priori science? Why doesn't the math work like it does in physics? Could the math work like it does in physics?

It reminded me of an old line of thinking from a few years back: If matter and energy are information, can we think of life as the organizing counterbalance to entropy? And wouldn't that make the "how" of consciousness (in the matter-and-energy-organizing sense) one of the fundamental questions of biology? So here's my reply (lightly edited):