tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-286328562024-03-07T22:27:04.181-05:00The Observant DilettanteI think a lot more than I write.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger267125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-26537400914439672202021-03-14T16:51:00.001-05:002021-03-14T16:51:41.759-05:00It's the oldest question of all, George.Who can spy on the spies? Who can smell out the fox without running with him?Lacon to Smiley, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-18797427115472489062014-03-06T08:08:00.001-05:002014-03-06T08:08:53.595-05:00Getting things done.Yesterday afternoon, I listed everything that's left to do for the party, up to the point on my Big Day list where we get 16 bags of ice from the store.
The whole list came to less than half a sheet of notebook paper. Pretty cool!
Because we're doing our own cooking instead of having the party catered, I plan to finish all non-party tasks by Wednesday before the party. That way, I have three Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-3607822515543751432014-03-05T08:51:00.000-05:002014-03-05T08:51:01.784-05:00St. Urho's Day party planning: Using momentum.We hosted the Mardi Gras party on February 22, 3 weeks before our St. Urho's Day party. The Mardi Gras party was a huge success; we broke the 50-attendee mark for the first time, which was gratifying, yet which also brought its own problems.
We ran out of food and Abita beer halfway through the party. I am mortified at this, but it's what happened. We had staged for our usual attendees numberingUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-16820920512862207572014-01-22T16:18:00.001-05:002014-01-22T16:18:07.524-05:00Mardi Gras party planning.We're hosting a Mardi Gras party on February 22 this year, so it's time to get started on the planning. Here's what I've got on my general party planning list:
Six weeks ahead: Send evites to guests (check calendar); finalize menu
Five weeks ahead: Buy candles; order specialty items--food, music, decorations
Four weeks ahead: Check paper and plastic ware, restock; check bar inventory and pick Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-32035857708363500032013-12-17T20:18:00.000-05:002013-12-17T20:18:04.665-05:00I have seen the Milky Way from Mars.Panoramic image from the surface of Mars at night time. Scroll up to see the Milky Way as you've never seen it before:
http://www.360cities.net/image/mars-panorama-curiosity-night
Mars Panorama - Curiosity rover: Martian night in The WorldUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-12862815610770630752013-01-04T20:52:00.001-05:002013-01-04T21:08:48.345-05:00MAGFest, day two.MAGFest, day two.
NB: For the MAGFest program, go to magfest.org and look for the Guidebook link. Download the app, then download the MAGFest 11 guidebook.
I made three of the four sessions I planned. Work, the kind I get paid for, knocked out the morning. Speaker sessions at MAGFest are almost always good and frequently are great.
Session one: Video Game Genres
This was one of the better MAGFestUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-43880123468958031472013-01-03T16:01:00.001-05:002013-01-03T16:01:59.111-05:00MAGFEST, day one."MAGFEST?"
Yes, MAGFEST. Also known as Music and Gaming Festival 2013, also known as the BIGGEST BADASS GEEK PARTY EVAR.
We're at the Gaylord National, which is at National Harbor, across the Anacostia River from Alexandria, VA. Gorgeous hotel, top-notch service, amazing conference facilities.
Did I mention that last year, there were 6,100 attendees at MAGFEST? Yeah. Not a lot by other industry Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, 201 Waterfront Street, National Harbor38.781624 -77.01673tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-26040364231559219212012-11-19T08:35:00.004-05:002012-11-19T08:35:45.667-05:00Holidays and the Diplomat's Dinner TableDo we even celebrate holidays any more in America?We do stuff, yes: We spend money. We drink. We complain to friends. We travel, or we host others. We dread the tension and conflict. We worry.Where is the celebration in all this? Holiday commercials are supposed to represent the middle ground where conflicts and tensions have been resolved and where Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-44429454106010226082012-11-15T09:25:00.000-05:002012-11-15T09:25:04.011-05:00Age and Treachery#Skyfall #spoilers At the core of the conflict within Skyfall is age versus youth, treachery versus skill. Silva's near-Oedipal obsession with M pits his (relative) youth and skill against her cunning and experience. Bond's first encounter with the new Q goes less dramatically but highlights the same issues. Q brags that he could do more damage with his laptop while wearing his pajamasUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-46520628640651929842012-11-14T08:36:00.003-05:002012-11-14T08:36:30.738-05:00True Masks#Skyfall #spoilers A quick list of a few dichotomies in Skyfall...Trust, suspicionRevelation, concealmentPresence, absenceClarity, obscurityCulpability, innocenceInner, outerTruth, deceitSo we can order them thus:Revelation Concealment-truth -deceit-presence  Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-90732873901485297412012-11-13T09:30:00.004-05:002012-11-13T09:30:30.712-05:00The Calculus of Severine
#skyfall #spoilers #007
So I've watched Skyfall twice now, trying to get a handle on how best to write
about it.
It is rich, it is lush, it is too much for one
post.
Some ideas:
There are no opposites.
Everything is in shadow.
Damage comes from revelation, not concealment.
A transition is simply the moment when the
transitioning elements cohere.
Life is betrayal.
Happiness is Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-8460467309610384302012-11-06T21:07:00.002-05:002012-11-06T21:07:33.733-05:00Remember, remember...the sixth of November
Politics and nursery rhymes. What to make of
them? What to make of the Guy Fawkes rhyme on this #Election2012 day?
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This week...just the
Monday and Tuesday of it have been the observant dilettante's dream. Guy Fawkes
Day brought about the defacement of a few websites, but idle Twitter threats by
various #anonymous account Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-45347160990154314142012-10-25T08:06:00.002-05:002012-10-25T08:06:09.113-05:00You Are HereYou are here, shaking things up in the countries of your social media world. Just when you think you are done, there are new media topics that need more coverage.This is your downtime. This is what you do to recharge.This is your guilty pleasure.--Tip o' the hat to +Chris Brogan and his list of 100 blog post topics.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-83822386261768273612012-10-23T07:45:00.000-05:002012-10-23T07:45:34.554-05:00Doorways: Content, Reading, Writing#google #panda #writing #writers #curation Google's much-described Panda algorithm change last year and a recently confirmed update to it brought about a sea change among social media commenters. Panda's emphasis on content rather than on links gutted earlier SEO practices, yes, but the consequences of the change are still rippling through social media. People are Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-21090946741656759572012-10-19T09:22:00.007-05:002012-10-19T09:22:55.819-05:00Arise, AriseTwo prefaces: One, I am not here to discuss the political aspects of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Two, I'm quoting song lyrics in German below with translations after; the source material is at herzeleid.com. The German is not difficult; I recommend backreading it through the translations as much as possible.
Auch auf den Wellen wird gefochten
Wo Fisch und Fleisch zur See geflochten
Der eine Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-68731422463169802512012-10-02T07:58:00.001-05:002012-10-02T07:58:31.603-05:00Remixing Halloween
Halloween costumes used to be generic: Hoboes, princesses, witches, clowns. But popular culture now has us remixing so that our costumes are referential. If you're a zombie, you're not referencing generic zombies or even voodoo--you're referencing The Walking Dead, Shaun of the Dead, or if you're a black-and-white zombie, Night of the Living Dead. You can't be a vampire without Twilight/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-21095726441995843232012-10-01T07:58:00.001-05:002012-10-01T07:58:11.201-05:00Anonymous, Halloween, and Remix Culture
Today is the first anniversary of #OccupyDC, a
movement that brought less attention to itself than #OWS did by a long stretch,
but which perhaps may end up being more persistent.
But why would OccupyDC be more persistent? Weren't
the OWS protesters speaking truth to power, and doing so more directly?
Nope.
The real power is in Washington, not New York.
Like many others, I have mixed Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-76822558791422634322012-09-27T07:50:00.004-05:002012-09-27T07:50:59.083-05:00Are You an Old Testament, or a New Testament?
I assure you, I am still sane. The backstory to the
question:
Years ago, I had a friend, Rayna, who once remarked that a
mutual friend was handling an argument in an “Old Testament” fashion. I wasn’t
raised in a religious family, so it’s not familiar to me to characterize the
world in religious terms. However, the bicameral Bible—the two gods in one text—was
culturally common, so Rayna’s Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-74479367531273975082012-09-26T07:03:00.000-05:002012-09-26T07:03:01.064-05:00If you laugh at cartoons of Mohammed, you must be a scientist.A few years ago, I blogged on parody and scientific inquiry. Short version: I argue that the cultural conditions that lead to scientific thought and inquiry are the same conditions that make possible the existence of parody. Parody and scientific inquiry are similar in some ways, and both depend on an idea of truth that is independent of constraint.Yesterday's thoughts on IQ testing fall in with Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-15759455325733309572012-09-25T07:35:00.000-05:002012-09-25T07:35:00.085-05:00Are We Really Getting Smarter?Thought-provoking article by James Flynn--yes, that one--in the +The Wall Street Journal
"Modern people do so well on these tests because we are new and peculiar. We are the first of our species to live in a world dominated by categories, hypotheticals, nonverbal symbols and visual images that paint alternative realities. We have evolved to deal with a world that would have been alien to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-38747801586255492752012-09-24T08:36:00.002-05:002012-09-24T08:36:41.793-05:00The Art of Video Games: Countdown to closing.
You've got seven days, counting today, to see the Master Nerd exhibit at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. After that, you'll have to see if the aging turds on your local art museum board of directors have agreed to host this exhibit.Just buy the damn plane ticket. Then read below to discover what the exhibition was like from one of its key developers.Love,H.--"This was a triumph. I'm makingUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-62721680572995755882012-09-21T08:38:00.002-05:002012-09-21T08:38:37.923-05:00Epigenetics, DNA "Dark Matter," Free WillInteresting news this week on the activity in the "dark matter" of human DNA. Unlike the boxes of items you've got packed away in that expensive storage unit, the "junk" in our DNA isn't so junky after all. In fact, it looks like it's key to our epigenetic systems and activities.We've known about epigenetics, or the biological and environmental activation of gene expression, for a few years Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-64695180317612090282012-09-20T08:40:00.002-05:002012-09-20T08:40:21.160-05:00The Divide of the Considered Response
Is there a better way to think about social
divides?
Blame my humanities background, but I was struck
today by two articles, one by Felix Salmon on +Reuters titled "Teaching Journalists toRead" and one by +John
Scalzi titled "How to Be a GoodCommenter."
The articles got me wondering if the REAL divide
is not digital, or class-based, or any of the usual suspects, but Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-64866374185499042832012-09-13T07:36:00.002-05:002012-09-13T07:36:25.035-05:00Zombies, Contagion, and Civilization
So what's up with zombies? WTH have they been
popular?
Being eaten alive is not the problem. Contagion is
the problem.
Zombie narratives are about contagion and
collapse. The life cycle of the uninfected human has two future patterns:
Ongoing uninfection, or infection, death, and reanimation.
Uninfected humans are faced with impossible moral
choices. Infected humans are faced with one Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28632856.post-40740658807176888692012-09-12T07:12:00.000-05:002012-09-12T07:12:02.116-05:00The App-Based Economy.Money is no longer power. Time is power.Who has time for anything any more?The American economy has begun a shift to an app-based economy.What does that mean?Manufacturing has moved through the global economy and into other nations. Meanwhile, America has explored its service-based economy, then moved into its information-based economy, which is where it is now. This economy exists in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0