Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in one in a billion's LiveJournal:

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Friday, November 20th, 2009
2:33 am	One big agglomerated post Just clearing out a bunch of tabs so Firefox will run better. Too much Javascript causes Flash to slow down, and it seems like most websites are using continuously-running Javascript, even when there's no need. Anyway. First: Mind, brain, memory, and psychology! Stereotypes loom larger as our brains get older "Two new studies suggest older people have difficulty suppressing stereotypes, which means many may become prejudiced against their will." Scientists remove amyloid plaques from brains of live animals with Alzheimer's meaning we may soon have new treatments for Alzheimer's disease. Note that the role of amyloid plaque is not discussed, so this probably isn't a cure, just a means of slowing progression. Still, worth the effort. Next: Love, gender, and sexuality! A Seal Upon My Heart: There is no law against love; nor should there ever be. Hospital Forces Lesbian to Die Alone; Judge Gives Stamp of Approval A Step in Faith: Evangelical Christian Brent Childers explains his journey from believing that homosexuality was an abomination to marching in a pro-gay march on Washington. Then: Health care and insurance! Unhealthy America: The greatest distortion about the health care debate is that reform will destroy the best health care system in the world. (requires free NYT login) Rape Victims' Choice: Risk AIDS or Health Insurance? Why is rape considered a pre-existing condition? That's way beyond fucked up -- it actually implies that if you have a vagina, then you have already been sexually assaulted and infected with every kind of STD and stress disorder imaginable. That's not the work of actuaries, that's managerial penises in neckties trying to suck every last penny out of other peoples' pockets and into theirs. A simpleton tries to understand the health care debate (commentary) Moses explains it all: The US health care system -- perhaps the best and clearest explanation anywhere of what happened to health care in the US, and why it's all fucked up. Last: Education, sociology, ecology, and economics! (Yes, they are intertwined; the healthier your mind, the better you treat others; those two factors contribute to the likelihood that you care better for the environment in which you and they live; and all of these factors contribute to your economy's ability to absorb big swings and keep providing for you.) Comic books improve early childhood literacy I remember whiling away the hours reading my dad's comic book collection. It's one of the reasons those comics are so beat up now, but I loved them thoroughly. If there are ever children in my household, there will be comics just for them. Pushed out: zero tolerance is a failed approach to school discipline, and stricter discipline for smaller problems is leading toward disaster. Nerds and Jocks -- toward encouraging smarter behavior. Remember when engineering was a prized profession? We rode that wave to the frickin' moon! It's going to take a similar shift in attitude if we want to go there again. Civilization collapsed after cutting key trees: When the Nazca people cleared forests to grow crops, their fields washed away leaving desert. Jellyfish swarm northward in warming world -- and that means less fish for us, not to mention it's yet another indicator of global warming. MPAA shuts down town's municipal wifi over a single download Perhaps we should shut down the MPAA's internet access every time it over-reacts like this? U6: 17.5% (U6 is more meaningful than the currently-used measure of unemployment, U3; U6 is also the calculation used during the Great Depression.) (Comment on this)
Friday, November 13th, 2009
3:23 pm	Hollywood is too limited for a REAL Smurfs movie -- but they could still do it today As a handful of you might have seen, my LJ friends page is titled "Siege's Friends" and subtitled "starring Christopher Walken as Gargamel". It started as a joke: Mr. Walken had just shown his serious chops at dancing in a hip-hop video beloved even of those who hated hip-hop for the sass, style, ingenuity, humor, and character therein. It showed him with depths unplumbed of possibility beyond just the prematurely-aging tough guy image you see on the surface of his movie characters. And it just came to me then. Christopher Walken would make the perfect Gargamel. He has the perfect look, and while, yes, it does play to his character stereotypes, he has the ability to bring a greater depth to the character than the cartoon perhaps ever did. But Hollywood can't do it, or at least the American movie industry can't do it if it clings to its own stereotypes, the prototypical studio executive who says "I want to do that, but just like this," whose mind is limited by the preconceptions of what he has produced before. It needs a filmmaker, a producer, someone whose view isn't quite so limited, who can work around the mistakes of scripts written by a continuing series of people who've never seen the original concept or who are limited by the strictly-for-children's focus of the phrase "cartoon series", of people who are trying to make a name for themselves by overwriting and overriding everyone else's vison. We need Peter Jackson, perhaps, or a young Steven Spielberg, still fresh and powerful and ready to awe the world. And we need to do it with real-life actors and CGI, not as a cartoon. If I could, I would. I've even got most of the plot already outlined. Here's the elevator pitch: Gargamel is an older sorceror who discovers little blue men with a curious language of seemingly one word. When he presents his initial findings to his fellow sorcerors, they scoff and intimate that he may be ill or growing senile now that he is past his youth. He storms out, swearing to bring them a Smurf and change it to gold before their eyes, to have revenge by being acknowledged for his still-powerful craft and wisdom. But what we discover is that while Gargamel clings to his small-minded oath and keeps growing smaller, the open-minded and open-hearted Smurfs, led by their wise grandfather Papa Smurf, cause the world around him to grow in heart, and even change the hearts of his fellow sorcerors who earlier disbelieved. Toward the end, we are led to believe that even Gargamel still has hope inside him, if he can just let go of the anger that has shut him away. (Comment on this)
1:49 am	Mmmm, audio worth hearing... Once I got home, I settled in to finish listening to a podcast, then after deciding I didn't want to hear what was on TV, I fired up Pandora. I've been mostly in musical bliss (or some version of feeling much better about what's entering my ears) since then. I don't really buy music anymore. Heck, even buying the Animusic soundtracks was an anomaly, but I was buying the videos as gifts at the same time, and figured I'd just get something for myself. I don't even download music much anymore, either. Heck, listening to music itself is something I don't do much of these days. And that's sad. I think it has to do with me being utterly disconnected from mass music distribution channels like radio (no radio in my motor scooter), music television (which is no longer about music, but about celebrity), and friends who talk about and share music (few did in my youth, and none do now, aside from one LJ I follow, and a couple of friends a couple of months ago). I'm not on the music-sharing websites, and so I miss out on 99.999% of popular music now. On the other hand, the RIAA hasn't received a penny from me since about ... um ... 2003? I'm helping to starve the beast. If only I wasn't also helping to starve the artists... and myself. Pandora therapy is helping, though. At least for now. (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 12th, 2009
2:20 am	If TV were a person This would be so very sadly true. (And I'd stop visiting instead of just looking for snacks and suchlike -- not that my TV diet really has anything in it these days anyway.) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
12:12 am	Worth sharing Soldiers coming home to their dogs. (video collection) (found by digitalis) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
2:32 am	NNWM exercise Act 1, Words of the Master: India Scene 1: Protagonist is on the threshold of meeting the Master. Flashback to the journey to this point, from "a comfortable life of ugly desperation and missed opportunities -- no, not just missed. Failed." Scene 2: Protagonist actually enters, and is invited to sit. Master says something like "You have come from America. You act nervous. I find that nervous Americans are best calmed with speech first. I will speak, and you may rest by listening." After a brief discussion of meditation and why prot is there (to learn from the Master), they meditate together. Protagonist cannot find a comfortable position. Finally, Master says "I will teach you. Go, finish this journey, then return to your life. I will pray for you." Protagonist is confused, but an acolyte discourages him from further inquiry, and leads him back out of the temple to his shoes. Scene 3-5: Protagonist finishes his tour of the region, but an air of confusion lingers throughout. He sees several amazing places and people, but his desire to get back home causes him to ignore most of the rest of his trip. He steps off the airplane having apparently learned nothing new. Act 2: Losing the path Scenes continue forward, but as events cause Protagonist's life to enter a collapsing spiral, he keeps flashing back to important moments related to each disaster. Eventually, he wakes up from a dream where he had been walking on a ribbon of light, with the words "Learn to listen, and wisdom may reach you" in his head. After a few abortive attempts to listen (overdoing it, basically, and thus ignoring other important things around him), he manages to overhear a pair of philosophy students in conversation on a bus. Several quotes stand out, but particularly the realization that these students are discussing the truths behind the phrase "know thyself". Protagonist ends this act with the realization that his "midlife crisis" isn't about him, but rather, about who he is without all the stuff he'd been building his life around. He resolves to first listen to himself, and find out who's really inside. [Note: during each of the next acts a formative memory from Protagonist's tour of India is recalled, causing him to eventually entirely re-evaluate his original trip.] Act 3: Learning to listen Act 4: Closing wounds Act 5: Walking the path Story closes with another visit to the temple, but Protagonist is informed that "The Master has died. If you wish, you may pay respects." He does so, and the book ends on a hopeful note, with a vision of walking on a ribbon of light. -- I suspect I'm going to have to do some serious research on India if I want to make this brief outline convincing once it's fleshed out. Also, 50,000 words? Is about 37 densely typed 8 1/2 x 11 sheets (or A4 if you like), at about 24 words per line, 55 lines per page. I can write five pages or so in a week, maybe eight pages or more if I stretch it; that's one college level essay per week, basically. I'd best get cracking if I want to score high: 8pp/wk = 24pp on Nov 30. But at least with a good outline, I can just keep filling in levels of detail until I've properly described a penny (so to speak; the reference is from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, for those who didn't catch it). (Comment on this)
Monday, November 9th, 2009
10:40 pm	NaNo rambling So. We're almost ten days into NaNoWriMo, and after much thought, I think I do have an idea I could work with. Problem is how I can turn it into a novel -- but then, everything about this challenge has been a suggestion. If you reach 50K words by Nov 30, you win. But that's just a suggestion. You can go over, or you can just do your best and shrug. Completing whatever work you've started could be put off until next November, or you could just keep working until you're done. Or, ultimately, you could sign up and just sit there, blocked, until the month is over. But a good idea is a good start forward. I'll call it "Words of the Master". Basically, I now have to set up a protagonist to go on a journey for enlightenment (not of, at least at first) and encounter someone who becomes his master and spiritual guide -- except that after the first encounter, the master is not materially present in the protagonist's life. Perhaps I'll have more than one protagonist. There are a lot of things I could do with that. As for finishing? Well, that's one exercise I'm going to have to perform eventually. Best to learn how before my own life's story is done. (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 8th, 2009
12:53 am	On misfortune My sister has been going over the Biblical book of Job recently, and in considering that story myself, I was drawn to a tangent on how and why misfortune occurs. I don't explain misfortune or suffering as expiation of sin, as some have believed (thus making beggars and flagellants holy). I also don't believe that misfortune is a sign of sins committed, which is just a theology of guilt by association (ref. "Catholic guilt"). But I do believe that misfortune can be a result of sin or darkness taking hold of you, trying to relieve its own pain by having you share in it. As such, I have no problem ejecting such darkness and seeking to climb out of misfortune by whatever means are available. I have compassion even on the darkness; but you cannot enter the light unless you feed the light within you, whether by forgiveness or by other means. Trying to relieve the darkness by pushing it on another just feeds the darkness, especially if they don't know how to release it themselves. As the third stage of the litany of forgiveness states, share your Sorrows with those who have Love; but as everyone knows who has experienced burnout, or sickness from stress, there can come a time when one has taken on more sorrow than is wise to carry. This is why coping mechanisms should include a way to release and relieve not only one's personal sorrows, but also the sorrows which others have shared with you. Prayer for others, for example, does at least as much for you as for them, for this very reason. You can't generally catch sin by being near it. But you can end up taking on troubles if you aren't careful about keeping a balance between involvement and self-protection. It's okay to help! Just don't stick your feet in the mess without a good pair of boots. (Comment on this)
Friday, November 6th, 2009
1:12 pm	Holy freaking WOW Someone fund this kid and the orchestra he's hiding in that squeezebox! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
11:43 pm	And we're paying for this how? I understand that there are programs for medical insurance where you pay into a fund, and you can pay out of that fund to cover any medical expense you might have. At least, that's how it's supposed to work. I've learned, however, that there is an incentive for the managing company to deny care and limit access to that fund: they get to keep what's left over at the end of the year. And I think that's plain wrong. Any company that manages a fund like that should make its profits some other way. They should never get to take the fund away. Instead, those who payed into the fund should receive its contents, or the amount left over should be rolled over into a new yearly fund. The actual amount in the fund must be available for any expense of medical benefit, or withdrawal to be placed elsewhere, depending on what payment-matching schemes are also in place (perhaps if the contents of the fund are withdrawn, any matching funds paid in by one's employer then revert to the employer in proportion to the amount left in the fund, limited by the amount paid in). Sadly, until we invent non-profit insurance agencies, or update the contracts for these medical funding plans, that's how they'll all behave: with greed instead of care. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
6:16 pm	Viewership advice: anime science For those of you who have watched or intend to watch Astro Boy, please do not think of it as science fiction. You WILL be disappointed. It is techno-fantasy, and has nothing whatsoever to do with actual science or rigorous application thereof. In fact, if you watch "sci-fi" themed anime, you will discover that much of it is actually techno-fantasy. Forget strict applications of anything but theme; the only thing you should worry about (aside from the age of the target audience) is whether the show is internally consistent. Without internal consistency, the only value techno-fantasy has is as parody (ref. Excel Saga). With, the plot and theme take precedence over "intelligent" or scientifically plausible material (ref. Cyborg Number 9, Astro Boy). In summary: if you want actual sci-fi, watch something else. If you enjoy techno-fantasy, rock on. Thank you for your time. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 1st, 2009
1:24 am	Head full of fluff And now for the rest of what's in my head. I've had lyrics brewing for "Seventh Alloy" for a while now. Very New Agey and uplifting stuff. I'll share 'em with y'all sometime. Speaking of New Age crap, I'm finding myself desiring to consult with a spiritual elder. Not on the subject of religion, however, aside from why certain limits exist. I want to refine, repair, and unlock my true abilities. Sensing some energies and being able to shovel spiritual sludge is all well and good (damn that stuff splatters), but it's like always riding a bicycle with a bent wheel when you know there's a beautiful, powerful sports car in the garage just waiting for you to grab a wrench and dig in. Then again, it's the one skill that begs me to explore it, since it offers nearly limitless information as long as my brain can interpret it correctly. Also, these days just having the ability means I can know that I haven't been abandoned even at my worst and loneliest times. Unfortunately, nobody I know wants to sell me the mechanic's guide because they all think the owner's manual is all I need. If that were true, I wouldn't be trying to take the frickin' thing apart! And.. um. I'm finding myself still walking a lonely road. Everything I'm doing lately is all about trying to hide from that. Well, that and the freezing weather that's coming up. And the unwillingness to clean anything at home, which has got to be stress related (including stress from the miserable energy at home) because when I feel good, I like to make things around me better -- but when I feel worn down and miserable, I go hide from it. And that's another thing. Every time I feel out of sorts, I go hide from things, and I don't always catch myself doing that. This is a broken coping mechanism, because nothing gets done. And willpower doesn't break me out of it, because if I'm hiding, I don't have the will to go confront whatever it is anyway. I feel like I'm wasting my life trying to find whatever it is I should have been doing five years ago, or even longer. And every roadblock between me and my path, internal or external, either frustrates and pisses me off or causes me to whine and despair. Yes, I know the world has to catch up. But I'd at least like to have an idea how long I'm supposed to wait, and where I should be looking or working in the meantime! I don't mind finding my way. I just want a map so I don't wander off and get hit by a metaphorical car again, or shrivel up in a desert I couldn't see until I passed the last cactus, or freeze to death when a situation turns cold. This whole "invisible bumper cars" concept where I wander aimlessly blindfolded makes me intensely unhappy. It's not even as good as playing "hot or cold" or locating a signal at a ham radio gathering, because there's no clue offered as to which way I should be facing. Just "please hold". Maybe I don't get enough of that on the phone or something? Let me repeat the big important line here: I feel like I'm wasting my life trying to find where I should have been five or more years ago. Before I got stabbed in the mind's eye by some random asshole stalker ghost. Back when I had a chance of actually figuring out what the hell was going on without screaming and crying at someone who may or may not be telling me to look elsewhere. Maybe I should just go back to that point and try to pick up from there. It's not like someone would try to poison my spirit again, since word really should have gotten around by now that pumping that garbage into me only makes me stronger and more naturally resistant to it, plus I can now selectively eject a lot of it from my system, plus my body naturally ejects stuff that's making me sick. Not to mention I have this thing about trying to locate my attackers (and being more and more successful at it). You know. Making a good offense out of my defensive abilities. Anyway, aside from the first couple things, all this shit is just "me me me". So... is there anything up with any of you that you'd like to share here? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
1:04 am	Been reading too much I've started to miss reading. Consider that, if you will. I don't mean that I've lost my ability to read, or that I've been unable to read things. More that I miss reading books, and not blogs or tweets. I really do spend as much time reading other peoples' stuff as I would on a really good mystery, sci-fi outing, or fantasy adventure. If I can't read it all every night, I feel like I'm falling behind and I want to read everything I've missed, which is a good formula for creating an ever-present feeling like I just can't catch up. I want to sit down and settle in, involve myself in a subject or a character, wash myself into that world and let this one vanish. I want to forget that I'm always falling behind online. So, I will. Going forward, if I fail to catch something online, then unless it's part of a series I really want to read, or something of similar importance, I'm just going to let it go. I have better things to do with my life than feel inadequate over the continuous wild outpouring of digital text which has taken over my life and allowed me to stress out over having to drink it all in before I sleep. My give-a-fuck filters must be improved, so that I'm giving a fuck over more important things than this, and tossing out the stuff that's just weighing me down. And I'm going to go find a book or two to read, if I can remember anything I wanted to get hold of. Heck, I should go browse the library for a while, see if they have anything in my areas of interest that might be worth my time. To sum up: less net, more life. Oh, wait. I don't have much life... Maybe I need to play more games, to forget that little fact? Oh, wait. My consoles have been out of reach or packed away for the past three years or more, and every place in the area that I've ever gone to play games (of any type!) with someone has closed up within a few months of me finding it. Not to mention, I have exactly one local friend. And his console only has one controller. Also, I have no weekends, since that's when my work wants me the most. Maybe I should beg off work to finally catch an IU home game? Surely they wouldn't close Memorial Stadium... but that's wishful thinking. I've seen the pattern. Bloomington doesn't want me to play. Which leaves me... in limbo. I need a book. (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
10:33 pm	Memoratus: creatures of worlds past Today, I saw someone who reminded me of a creature that wasn't quite a wild boar, but whose face had some of the light-boned height and delicacy of prehistoric deer (Neanderthal pig-deer?). An image came to me, with a name and further description. Creature: Niig'ch (KNEE-gitch -- the soft G is an important glottal, but not accented) Description: A boar-like creature with a taller, more delicate face, including a snout rounded like a tapir's (but not extended or protruding); it has two tusks jutting upward from its lower jaw. The niig'ch has dark markings around its eyes which make them look sunken in, and a shock of dark, spiky hair atop its head, which becomes a mane fading down its back; the rest of its body is covered in a coat of coarse, mostly greyish hair. It has no external earflaps (just an ear ridge), and correspondingly dulled hearing. It has a tail, short and stubby. A mature niig'ch weighs sufficient for a strong male sapient to carry only one a moderate distance (a mile or so) home from hunting, but three or four yearlings can be easily carried once killed. Their hides are tough, and make good footwear and heavy jackets when cured (but their habitat tends to discourage heavy clothing in general). ( Further description of body structure, mating, habitat, and behavior ) From the description above, it's pretty clear that niig'ch are (or were) fairly intelligent creatures, able to recognize many individuals and species, as well as using pack tactics against their enemies. With this in mind, they must have been pretty damn tasty for so much effort on the part of predators and hunting by sapients. Then again, if you don't have springs in your legs or maybe an atlatl, you might as well not chase after the antelope/springbok type critters. Go for what runs at the same speed you do -- and if it turns on you, you might have a chance of getting away. It's not like niig'ch can climb trees, after all. Also, their predators must have been highly colorful, possibly with a tendency to strike from a place where motion is less important than color differentiation (such as from above, as some dragons might). However, with motion being so important as to warrant an entirely separate eye structure, there must have been a number of ground-based predators as well. If you want to develop game statistics for a niig'ch encounter, you are welcome to do so; I do ask that you forward a copy to me if you use them. In D&D terms, they are Medium-size creatures relative to common sapients (children will be Small for the first year or so). Males have slightly better protection but are about the same strength as females for purposes of wrestling with them (or struggling out of a trap); male tusks do more damage due to regular sharpening. They attack with a slash and bite pattern, trying to rip in and then tear away. There may be as many as 40 individuals in a herd, with as many as a dozen attendant males. Encounters with a lone male may have a chance of leading patient observers to the herd (about 1 in 5, or 20% of males are bonded or courting at any given time). (Comment on this)
3:51 pm	Free Stuff: Paragraphs as prompted! It took a while, but finally, here are the five paragraphs I've written thanks to the prompting of my audience. Participate next time, and you too can give me something to write about! For barbarakelley, who gave me ragtime and upcountry: I love the sound of ragtime music, with its generally up-tempo feel and multiple themes per song. It's great as travelling music, or as background for doing housework, among other things. Ragtime, incidentally, has always been an upcountry musical form, taking only minor influence from folk and country music. I would consider it an early form of jazz, distinct from the rhythm and blues that so many people think of when they think about jazz. ( Read more... ) (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 19th, 2009
10:39 pm	ER flu trends in US Weekly numbers over the past four months, for emergency room visits for flu-like illness in the USA, in line-graph form with trend markers (upward arrow, level square, downward arrow). http://www.isdsdistribute.org/ Looks like Indiana is trending sharply upward this past month. Might be smart for folks to get vaccinated soon. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
2:49 pm	Prompt a paragraph! Today, I am taking a few hours here and there to write. You, my audience, get to provide me some prompts, the things I'll write about. From each set of prompts I'll write a paragraph, a minimum of three sentences coherently constructed and organized together. Prompts may be one to five words of any kind. You can ask for a certain kind of paragraph if you want (descriptive, comparative, persuasive, and so on); if you elect not to ask, I'll choose whatever seems to fit. Because I'm doing this for fun, you can expect me to avoid a conventional approach to certain combinations of subject and method. This is the post for you to comment on if you want to join in. I'll be taking prompts until midnight Eastern time. (advertised on freestuffday) (13 Comments |Comment on this)
3:12 am	3 cats, 1 steak (straight out of splodefromcute) (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
11:12 pm	Free stuff: Prompt a paragraph Thursday This Thursday, I'd like to take a few hours and write. You, my audience, will provide the prompts. From each set of prompts I shall write a paragraph, a minimum of three sentences coherently constructed and organized together. Prompts may be one to five words of any kind. You can ask for a certain kind of paragraph if you want (descriptive, comparative, persuasive, and so on); if you elect not to ask, I'll choose whatever seems to fit. Because I'm doing this for fun, you can expect me to avoid a conventional approach to certain combinations of subject and method. Just look for the post Thursday and comment there if you want to join in. I'll take prompts until midnight Eastern time. (cross-posted to freestuffday) (Comment on this)
3:52 am	Politics makes so many things backwards Dalai Lama to not meet with US President -- at least, not until after Obama's scheduled meeting with Chinese leaders. Frankly, I would like to see China own much less in the way of US interests, so that their influence on US politics is diminished. I'm glad that's on the President's agenda. But I would also like to see an autonomous Tibet, and that's probably still not happening anytime soon. Not until the idea of personal autonomy in China applies to more than just the highest levels of military, government and business. (Comment on this)