Yesterday I Twittersnarked David Lynch's Dune — Click the link above, but you'll have to scroll down and view older tweets. I may stick this into a blog post of its own later.
Augmented Reality Maps — A TED talk video. (Via
nwmage.)Sex-change surgery and universal grammar — A Language Log entry of interest to those concerned with gender reassignment, law and language.
How do you regulate Wu? — Ben Goldacre on regulating the dangers of alternative medicine.
Far-Right John Birch Society 2010 — A discussion of current conservative politics, and the John Birch Society's co-sponsorship of the CPAC conference. [The founder of the society] had called President Dwight D. Eisenhower a "conscious, dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy" and that the U.S. government was "under operational control of the Communist party." Sound familiar? Substitute "socialism" and/or "terrorism" and you have the daily Republican talking points on Obama. Buckley argued that such paranoid rantings had no place in the conservative movement or the Republican party. Back when conservatives had principles, maybe.
Joe Stack Hailed as Hero in American 'Patriot' Resurgence — Let's see, are the Patriots socialist? No. Liberals? No. Progressives? No. Centrists? No. Who could this be celebrating a murderous act of domestic terrorism committed by an angry white male? Wait, wait, I know! Conservatives!
Man who crashed plane into Austin IRS building part of decades-long line of tax protesters — his views on taxation follow a long line of protesters who believe tax laws don't apply to them. Yet amazingly even tax protestors use roads and bridges, call 9-11, enjoy the benefits of national defense and public health. Which are otherwise paid for by the Libertarian fairies? Always a good reason to commit murder, that.
Conservative Is Not Opposite Liberal: That's Totalitarianism — Timothy Ferris with an interesting article on classical definitions. I am however suspicous of anyone who creates false equivalency by claiming Bill Maher is the progressive's Glenn Beck. Beck's marketshare and mindshare is 10X, possibly 100X Maher's, and Maher isn't exactly at the core of liberal-progressive thought, unlike Beck's second-only-to-Limbaugh place in the conservative dialectic.
Hold Onto Your Underwear: This Is Not a National Emergency — Under the circumstances, you would never know that Americans living in the United States were in vanishingly little danger from terrorism, but in significant danger driving to the mall; or that alcohol, tobacco, E. coli bacteria, fire, domestic abuse, murder, and the weather present the sort of potentially fatal problems that might be worth worrying about, or even changing your behavior over, or perhaps investing some money in. Um, yeah. But political pants-wetting wins more GOP votes.
?otD: Ever play chemo side effecs bingo?
2/20/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0 minutes
Body movement: (forthcoming suburban walk)
Hours slept: 9.75
This morning's weigh-in: n/a (forgot to weigh)
Yesterday's chemo stress index: 7/10
Currently reading: [between books]