"Look more closely, though, and the “us” and “them” distinction collapses. Right-wing Christian leaders like Franklin Graham may denounce Islam as a “wicked religion,” and Muslim fundamentalists may defame Jews, but in fact their visions are far closer than either camp would admit."

"Fox isn't in any conventional sense ideological media. It's just that being anti-Democrat, anti-Clinton, anti-yuppie, anti-wonk turns out to be great television"

"Of our conflicts with others we make rhetoric; of our conflicts with ourselves we make poetry." -- William Butler Yeats

It doesn't get geekier than this

"Networked minefields detect rude attempts to clear them, deduce which parts of themselves have been removed, and signals their remaining munitions to close the hole using best-fit mathematics"
"The mines, which can hop, then redistribute themselves, frustrating the enemy and quite probably terrifying him in the process."

GoogleCookin

christmas lights - WARNING: For indoor or outdoor use only.
mattress - WARNING: Do not attempt to swallow
Anti-Personal Mine - WARNING: DO NOT EAT
Blockbuster Rental DVD - "Be kind - rewind."
Dumb Warnings

The Grue Paradox, some implications, and my take on it

What started out as one article in an obscure journal turned in to a very deep and far-ranging debate, known as the Sokal Affair. I encourage a sequential reading through all of the articles. The debate gets deeper and more interesting as it goes on. Taken together, this is one of the most fascinating things I've read in months.

loop quantum gravity

"The young dolphin gives a quick flip of her head, and an undulating silver ring appears--as if by magic--in front of her. The ring is a solid, toroidal bubble two feet across--and yet it does not rise to the surface! It stands erect in the water like the rim of a magic mirror, or the doorway to an unseen dimension. For long seconds the dolphin regards its creation, from varying aspects and angles, with its vision and sonar..."

"In Ellul's conception, then, life is not happy in a civilization dominated by technique. Even the outward show of happiness is bought at the price of total acquiescence. The technological society requires men to be content with what they are required to like; for those who are not content, it provides distractions -- escape into absorption with the technically dominated media of popular culture and communication." --Robert K. Merton, 1964

Of Botflies and Men and a very icky picture

"There is, in a word, far less understanding at the top than successive leaders have claimed, and domestic politics and short-term factors play a much greater role than they will ever admit. The world and now the American people cannot afford U.S. foreign policy's opportunistic and ad hoc character, its wavering between the immoral and amoral in practice but which official speech writers portray as rational and principled" --Another Century of War? by Gabriel Kolko

Dr. Zoe D. Katze, Ph.D., C.Ht., DAPA

Using genetic programming to emulate the cooperative food collection behavior of ants

"There once was a man who feared his own shadow and who hated his footprints and tried to escape from them. The more he lifted his feet, the more tracks he made. As fast as he could go, his shadow remained with him. Thinking he was still going too slow, he streaked like an arrow until all his strength was spent, and he died. He didn't realize that sitting in the shade of a tree would do away with his shadow, and living quietly would leave his traces to fade away." --Chuang Tzu

The dangers and effects of nuclear, earth-penetrating weapons

Just fixed the blog archives. A lot were missing, but now they're back. Browse around... have fun.