Monthly Archives: October 2009

Politics

All Class

Michael Moore’s movie is opening this weekend. By a strange coincidence, Moorewatch and all related sites are undergoing a number of brutal DDOS attacks. This is not unprecedented.

Stay classy, you guys.

Update: Looks like a mix of DDOS and server problems, actually. More of the latter today.

'Culture'

Sign of the Times

I just noticed that the “Paw Points” I get for buying kitty litter dramatically decreased in value. A few years ago, I cashed in some points for some merchandise. It cost me 600 points, the equivalent of a dozen buckets of kitty litter. Those two prizes now cost 1700 points or 34 buckets of litter. My wife has also noticed this in gift card earnings and the size of containers in grocery stores (1/3 Gallon containers became 1/4 gallon containers at the same price).

I guess it’s better than laying people off.

'Culture', Politics, Sports

Friday Linkorama

  • For once, a heart-warming non-political story.
  • Something else non-political that will make you grin. Mike Blowers calls his shot — before the game. Blowers has been one of my favorite players since I traded for him in a computer simulation only to watch him have a better season than he ever had in real life.
  • What is this? Three non-political things in a row? Read this about the importance of feeling stupid. I’ve observed that the principal difference between people who drop out of science and people who stay is that the stayers don’t take it personally when they feel stupid. (This is not to be confused with leaving and staying in academia, where the stayers just are stupid. Oh. Wait.)
  • Is the Keynsian multiplier 1? It’s just one paper, but the idea that massive spending (or, to be honest, massive tax cuts) stimulate the economy seems on shakier ground than supporters want to admit.
  • OK, back to politics. In response to Barack Obama, the Republican Party has clearly decided to go insane.
  • I find the videos of kids singing Obama’s praises a bit creepifying — not because it’s Obama but because I find the entire Cult of the Presidency thing creepifying. But the Right Wing’s hysteria has a very short memory. Check out this video of kids praying for (or to) Bush. Now that’s disturbing.
  • Democrats have restored abstinence education funding. Why?
    • 'Culture'

    Time

    1 Comment

    I loooove time-lapse videos. When my little girl was young, we used to take pictures of her once a week in the same position to watch her grow. It stopped when we moved and she became mobile, but maybe we’ll resume one day. I think it would be incredible to get a bunch of babies and photographic them every day. Just think not only of the cool video you’d have in 30 years, but how much we’d learn about human development.

    I’ve often wanted to set up my own time-lapse cameras. I just resealed the driveway last week and wanted desperately to set up a camera to photograph it every day and watch the seal wear away and cracks appear. Do they sell time-lapse cameras? Can you buy them somewhere?