Deleting that Palin post won’t make those questionnaire answers go away, Eagle Forum Alaska. Welcome to the world of googlecache and screensave. Palin is ignorant of basic historical facts on at least one question that she does understand (#11), and… Read More ›
technology
I missed this – Fairfax totally losing the plot
They sacked Mike Carlton on Friday from his regular weekend column gig with the SMH because he refused to submit a column for publication while the journalists and editorial staff were on strike (in response to the announcement that 5%… Read More ›
Advice to bloggers: use a webmail account for those off-blog interactions
Because if you use your primary email account, one where your user id might contain your full name and perhaps other identifying details in your sign-off block, you might be setting yourself up for cyberstalking woes. There are weird folks… Read More ›
SF Sunday: reproduction
I’ve been thinking of various books I’ve read where a pivotal part of the Strange Land aspect of the narrative has been a style of reproduction that varies from the human norm – either technologically transformed human reproduction, or else… Read More ›
Fun with blogs and Christian Kerr, who doesn’t understand them
Christian Kerr was never my favourite Crikey! contributor back in the day, so I wasn’t especially aware of his opinion on many issues due to mostly skipping his byline (basically I avoided anything by him that was not straight political… Read More ›
Question OTD: What makes for a blog that excites you?
I’ve totally nabbed this idea from this post at Feministing, although I’m putting a bit of extra spin on it, because I like a bit of analysis alongside my lists of links. For those of you who use feedreaders, which… Read More ›
Wednesday Links
Shakesville has this amazing photo of the Olympic torch and the full moon. And from the comments: International Table Tennis Federation vice president Claude Bergeret, miffed with the lack of popularity of his sport, proposes a solution: “We are trying… Read More ›
Now this is what I call a netroots base
Running for Office: It’s Like A Flamewar with a Forum Troll, but with an Eventual Winner Sean Tevis’ innovative method of raising internet fundraising in his venture to oust and replace his current State Representative (basically equivalent to one of… Read More ›
SF Sunday: machines and freedom from slavery
From my Quotes File (which you can see serving up random quotes at the bottom of the sidebar):
The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture, and contemplation become almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure, and demoralizing. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends.
Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)
I find the search for the perfect robot society a continuing feature of SF novels,
Bedside Manner
I shared this on my eljay the other day, and thought some Hoydenizens might appreciate it. ‘Tis a conversation I had with my son, known online as The Lad, the other day after school. I wish I could adequately communicate the tone of voice and the flourishes.
“Hi. I’m Doctor Lad.”
“Hi, Doctor.”
“I’m going to have to take an X-ray. Zzht. zzp, zzp, zht. Ohhhhh.” [serious look]
Hoyden About Town 