Indignant Desert Birds

It’s Sunday. Sundays are for saying “fuck it, I’m getting a donut.” And then have two old fashioned chocolate donuts washed down with Funranium’s Finest “Black Blood of the Earth” super coffee. And if that doesn’t get your heart started, then lounging around in bed texting with a lovely lady will do the trick. Yes, I did just conflate the physical heart with the metaphorical one. Anyway. Sundays are for listening to the 1776 soundtrack because you are– and forever shall– be Team Adams.

This week, we Americans celebrated a crushing victory in the war against slavery by holding our annual “Thanksgiving” feast. By eating an enormous quantity of food, we remind ourselves of when our ancestors were slaves in Alabama, and had no food. This is similar to why Jews lounge on Passover. Also this week, North Korea decided to get crazy with South Korea. So the whole world waits with baited breath to find out if Kim Jong-il is really crazy enough to start a nuclear war. “Crazy” in this context is a technical term in International Relations.

Before I get started, I’m told that “evidence of a mind at work” is a standard by by which one can defend one’s self from legal malpractice. It would be a fantastic name for a legal blog.

Rob Zachny talks about being self employed and exhausted. He touches on the paradox of being fried by being paid to play games– something that most people would and do pay for the privilege of doing. The difference, I think is that when you’re being paid, there is a whole different pressure.

Sunday morning preacher talk. I am a pagan solitary practitioner (“Sol Prac”, in the parlance). Among other things, this means I have no circle (technical term for a group of pagans), and no figures of moral authority. Atheists must have this problem in even larger measure. Anyway, the linked story is about a priest who realized that he was an Atheist after he had assumed the cloth. Worst, his congregation and community seem to be rather hostile to the notion of atheism. And yet… he can offer them moral guidance. It’s an interesting dance.

I do have some religious training. Not a whole lot, but a fairly solid grounding in Christian theology, and a framework for understanding other religions. So I am utterly bemused by this attempt to re-write the founding mythos if Christianity in the mold of a 20th/21st century Science Fiction show. It’s terrible theology, but a compelling lens through which to examine both Christianity and Doctor Who.

Speaking of British Sci-fi: What does it mean that Ron Weasley isn’t black? There are more than a few dark-skinned Brits. If you’re interested in the role fiction plays in shaping our perceptions of the world around us, do read that.

Slactivist– and by now you should be reading Slactivist every day– talks about the difference between the creation story and the resurrection account. He doesn’t mention Orwell’s “politics and the English language”, but it would almost be superfluous.

That Orwell essay is about how word choice can inject or deny certain memes into the political discourse. I’ve done a bit of writing about memes this week. One of the more destructive memes in American Society is that we’ve got “the world’s best healthcare”. This is false.

A bunch of TSA agents get all whiny about how they’re ‘just doing their jobs’. You know who else was just doing their jobs? Godwin. Also: the Italian Fascist Party. The fault, of course, always rests with the citizenry who demand ever-higher levels of “security” from internal and external threats. If you don’t like what the TSA is doing, call your congressperson. In the mean time, keep harassing TSA members: the more of them who quit in disgust the more likely we are to see a change in policy.

I’ve been incorrectly using the word anticipate. I shall endeavor to correct this.

More words: The GOP vows to stop honoring kids, retirees, athletes, others. They claim that it takes up too much floor time. If they can’t get unanimous consent on a calender Wednesday for a resolution honoring the Mission San Jose High School Marching Band’s invitation to perform for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, they’re doing it wrong. And these things aren’t too expensive– the one I wrote (Diamond Jubilee) took about 20 minutes. The only thing that will be accomplished is that people who would otherwise feel a bit more special will no longer have that opportunity. Denying opportunity– that sounds like the Republican Party.

The lighter side of words: Reptiles may no longer exist. The critters are still around, but the word may soon be extinct.

I’ve loved George Orwell since before his grandchild taught me Intro to Political Science. And I’ve mentioned him a couple times in this roundup. So…read his wartime diary.

What role do and should physical works hold in a digital age? Troy Goodfellow ponders. I love my Kindle, I do! But I also love the musty smell of books.

I’ve sort of run out of interesting ways to introduce Troy’s “National Character” series. You’re either interested or not, at this point. Obviously I think you ought to be interested. So here’s Babylon. It’s a sort of ancient Manitoba.

But Brahe was far from a dry scholar. In 1566 at the age of 20, he lost part of his nose in a duel with another Danish nobleman named Manderup Parsbjerg. The duel is said to have started over a disagreement about a mathematical formula. Because 16th century Denmark didn’t have resources like the internet to figure out who was right, the only solution was to try to kill each other. For the rest of his life, Brahe wore a prosthetic nose. His fake nose was likely made of copper, although he probably also had gold and silver noses around for special occasions. If that doesn’t make you want to read the whole thing, there’s something deeply wrong with you.

Cut the crap, Hamlet Ami’s biological clock is ticking…

Seeing this, I kinda want babies too

I discovered a new music blog this week. Every day Grass houses puts up a new song for your entertainment. Some is good, some is less than good. But its a daily dose of new music.

Greatest grocery store ever.

Cats with laser beams. Because San Francisco is awesome.

Thanksgiving, Revolutionary War… all the same, right? I will go to any lengths to jamb a theme into this post! The revolution, tweeted.

The meaning of thanksgiving In Cartoon form.

There is no such thing as sexism. No sir. Certainly not at the Thanksgiving day Parade. This blindness to women’s presence is exactly what we mean by “institutional sexism”.

If you miss thanksgiving with family… they will never let you forget it

Sometimes you can’t be with family, because you’re in Bangladesh. And you don’t even realize how much you’re missing home until there’s a bunch of people around you who look like you…

Bike riders? Bunch of assholes. Mass Effect claims that it exists to challenge car culture’s assumptions of car-centric spaces. Which totally explains why they’ll keep plowing through pedestrians when there’s nary a car in sight.

This video is incredibly funny. But not 100% worksafe. It is 100% Mom safe, though. ThanksKilling Full Trailer

This week’s theme? Words and their discontents. What’s your favorite word? Leave a comment below!

Nick Cage doesn’t need words:

Tags: Uncategorized by Punning Pundit
4 Comments »

Watch the video. Hit full screen. The text will still be here when you get back. Promise

OK Go is a band I adore. Not because I particularly like their music, but their videos are enormously inventive. Time and again they capture pure energy and movement, and manage to sing to it. Neat trick. I’d almost call them Parkour videos save that they’re spending what they gain in efficiency on doing really neat things.

What’s mosts striking about their videos is how inexpensive must be to produce. The singers time is a fixed expense. The can’t cost much more than $600 all together. Assuming they didn’t hire a choreographer, that’s not an expense to pay for. The only real outlay would be the dogs– and even those might have been donated, given the “adopt dogs!” signs all over the video.

Alright, you’ve read the words. Ok? Go watch the video again.

Tags: Uncategorized by Punning Pundit
No Comments »

A friend contemplates getting wood for sheep

In my day job– when I have a day job*– I’m a facilitator of positive sum relationships. Translating that from pretentious into English: I’m in politics. By inclination and culture, I’m also a gamer. Video games, board games, word games, whatever. I really enjoy pulling the system apart and seeing how it ticks. If you think that’s not a useful skill for a public servant, you’ve been voting Republican for too long.

Most animals have their survival strategy mapped into their biology. Tigers have claws. Gazelles run very quickly. Giraffes are so big they can eat things nothing else can reach, and also apparently can kick a lion to death (I asked a zoo keeper about this one). Humans have none of these things. What we do have** are the means to cooperate with one another. Being very explicit: the song of human progress has been repeated playings of mutually beneficial games.

Of course, we rarely call interpersonal issues “games”. When management and labor sit down, they don’t say “it’s time for the contract negotiation game! The goal of this game is to maximize shareholder value by equitably dividing company revenue.” In practice, management offers a deal and the union threaten to withhold their labor.

The structures of resolution may be formal or informal. It’s rare that we think of going to Best Buy to buy a DVD player as part of a game, but there are circumstances in which our behavior is best thought of that way. And you thought you were just buying a CD.

In the long run, and Keynes’s warning not withstanding, playing non-positive sum games will lead back to the dust from which humanity sprang. Oddly, nearly every time a group of friends gets together to play games, the game has a discreet “winner”. This makes all interactions within the game zero sum affairs.

Take a game like the classic Settlers of Catan. The goal of the game (thematically) is to build the most advanced society possible. In the real world, resources are generally plentiful enough that if one society creates an advanced meme, other societies are able to replicate it fairly easily– China’s creation of a cheap, CO2-less energy source would benefit America. England hit the industrial revolution first– but the rest of the Western world got their soon, and Humanity as a whole got it within a couple centuries.

Catan has an endpoint, though. And that endpoint can only be reached by one player. This alone makes it different enough from reality that it ensures a Zero sum mindset. Players are encourage trade with one another, but each trade is a calculated gamble on behalf of players. Each player may be able to score points based on a given trade, but because only one player can win, the trade itself is zero sum. It is impossible to assume goodwill on the part of the person who proposes a trade. Remember, though: hostility is created by the rules. A different system would alleviate animosity.

What if, instead of a single player needing to reach 10 points, the game was played 3 player– with a dummy hand. Players might cooperate to get this 4th, phantom player, to 10 points. The goal would be to do this in as few turns as possible. I’m sure there are other variants that can be created to turn this game into one of cooperation. Leave your ideas in the comment section below.

Rules create competition and cooperation. Because positive sum interactions are the way that society advances, grows, and prospers, it must be the goal of a responsible government to create as many opportunities as possible for these sorts of interactions. More poetically, in the immortal*** words of the US Constitution: governments are institution to “promote the general welfare”. We just need to keep a sharp eye on the rules; everything else flows naturally.

*Resumes available on request.
** We also have the ability to create and propagate memes, but that’s not the point of this post.
*** I hope!

Tags: Uncategorized by Punning Pundit
2 Comments »

It’s Sunday Morning. Sundays are for waking up just a bit too late, dragging yourself out of bed, and doing a bit of cleaning before heading off to hang out with friends. Or, you could be wise and spend Sunday morning– all of it– sleeping before waking up at noon to see Harry Potter 7. If you’re legally inclined, Sunday Morning might be for trying to find your non-metaphorical voice.

This week, the Catholic Pope mentioned that condoms might be ok, but only if you’re a prostitute. I guess he remembered that some of Jesus’ best friends exchanged sex for money. Also this week: Canadians discovered that perhaps Space might be useful in warfare. Speaking of warfare: turns out that a nasty computer virus that has been hitting the world was probably developed by Israel for use against Iran’s nuclear program. We need some Geneva convention rules about this sort of warfare, I think. Lets make sure not to target people in hospitals…

We’re gonna start this Sunday morning off by giving thanks. We are thankful that we are human beings in 2010. Humanity is more peaceful, happier, better fed (and therefore better looking!) and more prosperous than ever before in our history. There are problems, and they look kind of awful right now. But the smart money says to bet on H. Sapien.

Human beings are, I think basically the same. At least, in large enough numbers. Our cultures are a response to human biology’s struggle with a certain set of geography, and the vicissitudes of history. If you’re designing a video game, how might you account for all that? How might you capture the “flavor” of a certain subgroup of humans in such a way that it had both verisimilitude and some historical accuracy. Troy Goodfellow looks at how designers tackle the Aztecs. Basically: they do it poorly. But for interesting reasons!

What happens if Sarah Palin Becomes President?

To those of us in North America, maps of American states are pretty common. We can probably do a fair job at sketching many of them given a fair bit of thought. Something that commonplace probably seems inevitable. We should know better. This fascinating article from Strange Maps details an America that might have been, an America in which states never fight over water rights.

Speaking of water here’s a 9 year old who swam from Alcatraz. Phft, you say. That’s not so hard. Why, the water was 57 degrees! That’s plenty of warmth to.. die quickly if you’re not wearing a wet suit. Kid’s 9 years old, and already more of an athlete than most of us…

Not that there’s anything wrong with not being an athlete. If anyone tells you there’s anything wrong with your body, yell at them a lot.

Later today– possibly even as you read these very words– I’ll have the distinct pleasure of hanging out with Funranium in his mad laboratory. There will be much Black Blood of the Earth being made.

We might play some boardgames tomorrow. Clue will not be among them. But the movie the movie was great

I have never seen evidence that people are regularly disenfranchised by districting plans which pass judicial muster. In general, if X percent of a population votes for a certain party in a legislative body than that party should have roughly that percent of seats in that body. And, aside from the vagaries of “First Past the Post” voting, that’s roughly what happens. Gerrymandering is real, but isn’t as effective or systematic as I think people think it is. Nevertheless, we Californians have appointed a commission to draw our maps, instead of letting politicians do it. here they are

Looks like the fine folks of the UK are going to change how they vote for parliament. Why they want to interfere with one of the finest voting systems known to humanity, I don’t know. I do hope, for their sakes, they leave Airedale Shotts alone.

As I said previously, now is an excellent time to be a human being. Part of the reason for that is that the patriarchy has been slowly crumbling, and it’s now a much better time time to be a woman than it has been in several millennium. It seems that when you give people more freedom, they’re able to use it in ways that improve the lives of everyone…

But if you want to reject Feminism, here’s a handy how-to guide.

I know I’m getting old: even the black holes are younger than I am

Ikea instructions are a masterpiece of design and function. They’re clear enough to not need words, and are the foundation of a worldwide design empire. They can be used for other things

The whole point of Sunday morning posts are to point you in the direction of some damned fine writing. This is some damned fine writing. Rob Zachny talks about his experiences with the game Thief. I think that even if you’re not a gamer, you’ll understand the sorts of experiences we gamers have when we do these things.

Think that’s funny? Please please for god’s sake, don’t say LOL

Memes spread for a reason. They capture the zeitgeist of a population that is ripe to get caught in it’s grip. American society has recently been infected by the zombie meme. Overthining it explores this fascination. Hint: stay out of the suburbs. Brandon Cackowski-Schnell says he’s heading there first. I almost want there to be an outbreak so that we can get some hard data on their various theories…

This week’s theme? No theme. Therefore this week’s question will be: what’s your favorite kind of tea?

Tags: Uncategorized by Punning Pundit
3 Comments »

It’s Sunday morning. Sunday mornings are for waking up on a friend’s couch and thinking “Well, I guess I’m only 32. Still not too old for this.” Alternately, Sundays are for recovering from a nasty bout of flu. On the other wrist, Sunday mornings could be for hustling off to take some kick-ass photos– because you’re a pro and that’s what it takes to do the job you love. Or it could mean doing homework.

This week, we Americans celebrated our veterans. President Obama went to India and suggested that they should have a seat on the UN Security Council. Also this week Netanyahu agreed to maybe think about possibly freezing the west-bank settlement building. Maybe. And the Shuttle didn’t launch.

Shall we start off light? Legal Rulings can be valid– even when they’re in free verse.

It’s been a week, but San Francisco’s dearest sibling (Oakland) Still doesn’t know who the next mayor will be. This is a fascinating case where the rules for electing people changed, but not campaign styles. Rules for elections matter at least as much as candidates. In fact, rules for elections are so important that changing them can shift and destroy entire parties. Two sets of rules can both be “fair”, but lead to wildly divergent outcomes. Arrow’s theorem says that both outcomes will be equally valid. Fun, eh?

There’s a really big volcano going on in Indonesia. Here are some pictures.

Speaking of things that make a permenent mark on the geography Overthinking It wonders what makes Minecraft so addictive. I’ve never played it, but I’ve heard it’s ridiculously good. I’m having a lot of fun with Civilization 5 right now. I know, I’m political guy: why should I play with diplomacy that don’t matter? Unlimited Budget. Anyway minecraft is like lego, but on a PC.

While America was busy celebrating those who served during all times of military conflict, the rest of the world celebrated the end of the Great War. At 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent. Called the War to End War, this day would mark a promise that never again would there be a Somme, or Verdun. Even after the artillery stopped firing, men would be driven mad by the memories. And a generation would know the lie of Dulce et Decorum Est.

In case my introduction to the theme wasn’t hideous enough: Here’s a bit more about The last hours of war.

Speaking of war: proper intel is important before you launch an operation. Google Map’s disclaimer is important!

Karl Smith has the perfect name for an Economist: the first name is like Karl Marx, and the last name is like Adam Smith. Bipartisan! Anyway: he proves Keynes correct, with graphs and stuff. Anyone, by this point in history, who doesn’t believe that Keynes had some directly applicable insights into how to fix our economics is deeply unserious. And not in a funny way.

If we can’t fix our economy, perhaps we should move to the cheese standard. It’s better than the gold standard, and way better than Central Standard Time.

If you went back to dying grounds of France and Flanders and told the everyone that someday there would be a huge underground laboratory that was so big it had to be dug under the border between France and Switzerland… the assumption would probably be that you’d seen too much combat. But the idea that such a laboratory could be built by an unconquered but unified Europe and exist for peaceful purposes would be laughable. Anyway. This week scientists created a small big bang in the Large Hadron Collider.

Possibly the weirdest weapon ever wielded by the CIA.

I’m a Californian. That means that I simply don’t care about Earthquakes that are below a certain size. The San Francisco Citizen declares that size to be 3.0. I’d place it at 5.0, myself.

A Spanish town 1ups the Metron’s “Walk of Game”– They’re going to name an entire neighborhood in honor of awesome games. Mario!

I love the idea of using my last words to exact vengeance on my political enemies. Beloved British advice columnist threatens Cameron with a haunting if he harms the NHS. And that’s why Obamacare is here to stay.

Bipartisanship and Healthcare Reform. This happens a lot. Remember that “Cap and Trade” was the Republican- conservative- alternative to strong environmental regulation. Now, of course, it’s thought of as one step worse than death panels.

I don’t like to link to articles from the same publication twice on the same week, but Overthinking it has a collection of the best ‘Dis Tracks’ of all time. Of ALL TIME.

Brick and mortar games retailers threaten to boycott games that use Steam to serve player needs. In order for this threat to mean anything, games retailers would have to first get back into the PC market. As Conan said to Crom: “to hell with you.”

Mr. Coates talks about cops. I’ve tried to have this conversation with actual cops– they hate being reminded that they’re fallible human beings. But really: any of us who think that the judgement of a police officer should be given deference to that of a citizen– or a victim of a police officer– is at least partially to blame in police abuse.

As early as tomorrow, Facebook could be rolling out Email. Facebook has made no secret of the fact that they want to monetize your every personal action. They constantly change their privacy policies to allow themselves greater access to the things you had declared off limits. They are among the worst of the “legitimate” internet services around. Sadly, I think they’re probably going to offer a compelling experience for a lot of people, who will decide to hop on into the facebook walled garden.

Those were some depressing thoughts. This is a funny link. It will take you 20 seconds. Click it and laugh.

The most adorable and incredible story you’ll read all day.

Tweed rap! (I don’t think it’s true, but I’m told you may want to watch this first

Question of the week: Who was the worst general in Roman history? Leave your response in the comments section below!

Tags: Uncategorized by Punning Pundit
No Comments »

(Scene from an San Francisco Riot)

It’s Sunday Morning. Sundays are for getting up early to clean the litter box, so that you can get to your folk’s house early in the morning, so that they can enjoy themselves while you run errands. Alternately, Sundays are for sleeping in. Alternately alternately, Sundays are for stressing out or possibly playing Eve online. Then again, it could be for shaving your legs and heading up to visit a friend.

This was a fantastic week to be a California Democrat. We increased our numbers, and sent even more elected officials to fight the good fight in DC and Sacramento. Not only that! We Democrats figured out how to fund a program that provides daycare for the kids of parents who get off welfare and get jobs. That’s the sort of scary socialism that scares the scared-y pants older folks who voted in the other 49 States. So… it was a bad week for National Democrats.

But a good week for Giants fans! Oh yes, the team of women’s underwear wearing, ironic facial hair having, misfits went down to good ol’ boy country and showed the world that excellence comes from being an outstanding human being. They did the home town proud.

You may have heard about the “riots” (see youtube Video above for what the “riot” looked like). In typical SF fashion, people were checking into said riots on Foursquare. I love this town.

When I say “good ol’ boy country”, I mean “Texas”. George W. used to own the team that San Francisco took apart. George the 3rd knows something about taking people apart. In his new book, he brags about ordering torture. Can we try him as a war criminal yet?

Bush does not care about human beings. And Kanye West is our Cassandra. If we follow that line of thought, it means that after West is murdered by a jealous someone or other, American will have a rebirth of justice. Anyway, Amanda Marcotte is in fine form. Click the link!

Michelle Malkin isn’t a racist. She just thinks that if you’re not white, there’s something illegitimate about your vote.

Nancy Pelosi is hated nationally, but got roughly 80% of the vote here in San Francisco. That makes here slightly more popular than the Giants. We San Franciscans love our misfits– espcially ones who prove they’re more capable than anyone else around. Nancy? She’s our kind of person. And that’s why she’s hated.

And Obama? What the fuck has he done so far?

Backing up a bit: speaking of dance riots, What songs ask you to perform the easiest tasks?

The post you’re reading this morning very nearly didn’t happen. Why? I was busy playing Civilization 5. I used This handy flowchart to help me break free of it’s addictive grasp.

Oh hey! We had ourselves a Halloween since last Sunday! Garland Grey looks at the mechanics of movie making to explain why the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was fantastic– and why modern horror doesn’t hold up.

I’m sort of addicted to mechanical explanations of social phenomenon. Troy Goodfellow literally wrote the book on why the “Realist” theory of foreign policy is crap. Here’s his first post on how games try and represent national character.

While we’re on the subject of mechanical explanations for things: why did the Dems do so badly? Nicholas Beaudrot thinks it’s because we’re no longer the party of white racists. Hard to argue too much with that.

I wish someone would offer a mechanical explanation for this data. I’d probably be headed for a breakup also– but I’m single. Never before been so happy about that

Speaking of non sequiturs: the rich have it better than you and me. How much better? Prosecutors won’t press felony hit-and-run charges against a rich man, for fear that it will interferer with his job. I’ll be honest, reading this story.. I think I’m missing something. It’s worth passing on, just in case it’s true.

How can the dilemma about global warming be best dramatized? By putting various solutions into game terms, of course. Mechanics. That seems to be today’s theme.

Speaking of Global Warming: Fred Clark thinks we should have hearings. He’s convinced that the good guys can muster more evidence than the bad guys no matter how much the deck is stacked.

Let’s just declassify some shit

Maybe Nancy only got 79% of the vote: hundreds of ballots were stolen from a polling location only a few blocks from my house.

George Takei lays the smack down:

Tags: Uncategorized by Punning Pundit
No Comments »