Archive for March, 2009

SF Writers Say Smart Things: Irvine On Literary Taste

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

We have very nearly succeeded in turning reading–that most active of cultural activities–into a passive extension of mass media. Alex Irvine takes a quick swing at the kind of literature produced when about half of potential writers don’t read for pleasure. I actually wanted to quote the whole second paragraph, but since the post was [...]

Not just a sappy Dad post

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

There you see Sarah receiving her first belt at her taekwondo class. The final part of her belt test involved kicking through a board. I expected it to be some kind of styrofoam or balsa or something–she’s only four years old after all. But no, it was a pine plank, and a decently thick one. [...]

Eight links make a post

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

And now, for another exciting post of links and short comments: I’ve always been aware of having been gifted with a pretty powerful attention span. I have always kind of assumed it came from becoming a reader at a very young age, but I guess it’s equally plausible that things are actually ordered the other [...]

March 9, 2009 2:17 pm

I just received the strangest phone call.

I answered and a recording told me that I had received a text message from a Rogers Wireless subscriber. Then recording then ended and a text-to-speech system read out the content of the message. Apparently Rogers hasn’t invested heavily in TTS, since the message sounded like SAM reading text on my Commodore in the 80s, but that only made the whole thing weirder.

The content of the message?

“The power of Christ compels you. The power of Christ compels you. The power of Christ compels you. The power of Christ compels you.”

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You can see it everywhere you look: people just ain’t no good

Sunday, March 8th, 2009

Hmm… A study by the Ponemon Institute found that more than 59 percent of those surveyed kept corporate data after leaving their jobs. The survey, which was sponsored by Symantec, included responses from 945 adult employees who had lost or left a job in 2008. The most commonly stolen pieces of information were e-mail lists [...]

Minor Meditations On Religion and Neurobiology

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

There’s lots to think about in the write up on recent studies into the relation between neural wiring and the concept religion at the New Scientist. A really simplified version would be that the brain has a couple of built in biases that make the concept of religion arise almost naturally. One is that we [...]

March 6, 2009 10:34 pm

Note, I am rescinding the previous statement about the ultimate snack food. The One True Ultimate Snack Food is now the Luxure Cashews from Natursource. That is all.

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What I’ve been up to

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

As you might have guessed from my continuing absence, work has not slacked off yet. However, that’s not the only thing that’s been contributing–real life has also been hopping a bit. A short summary: Sunday night Trish and I took Sarah to a sleepover, and then went to dinner and a show. Or maybe “a [...]