Thursday, October 15, 2009
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Near Dark and...Twilight?
Near Dark is one of my all-time favorite movies, a movie that files off all the sexy and drills down to the core of vampirism-as-addiction. The vampires are sadistic losers with a single driving influence in their lives and a committment to do whatever is necessary to get their fix and enjoy it while they get it.
So imagine my surprise when I read this. I realize the article is almost a year old but come on...what the hell is this guy smoking? Twilight? Really? Did he not actually watch the original? I suppose it's for the best, though. Remakes are rarely all they're cracked up to be, right? It'd probably just be a disappointment.
Maybe I'd better go pop it back in the player and make sure *I'm* not the crazy one.
So imagine my surprise when I read this. I realize the article is almost a year old but come on...what the hell is this guy smoking? Twilight? Really? Did he not actually watch the original? I suppose it's for the best, though. Remakes are rarely all they're cracked up to be, right? It'd probably just be a disappointment.
Maybe I'd better go pop it back in the player and make sure *I'm* not the crazy one.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
The Bottom
Just when I thought Glenn Beck couldn't fall any farther into hyperbole...I find this gem: Thunderf00t on Beck.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sticks and Stones
Beauty.
CNN had this up today. I hadn't noticed the verbiage used before, but Mr. Finley-Price is right, this has "Potential for Mis-Use" written all over it. As if our society isn't litiginous enough already.
CNN had this up today. I hadn't noticed the verbiage used before, but Mr. Finley-Price is right, this has "Potential for Mis-Use" written all over it. As if our society isn't litiginous enough already.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Tao Space Preview
Okay, so a friend asked me if I'd posted anything I'd been working on lately and I had to admit that I haven't. I haven't edited or proofread anything and its likely to be a bit anemic in its imagery but just for him, here are the first few pages of one of my projects:
TAO SPACE - A KUNG FU SPACE OPERA
01 - CAPELLA
“You be back before dark! There are frogs on this planet!”
The ramp hydraulics had barely stopped hissing when Capella’s booted foot made contact with the damp tarmac. The shouts of her grandfather from inside the Emerald Crane were tinny, half-hearted, and fading fast.
Capella raised one hand in an affectionately dismissive wave without looking back, her other hand occupied with a tiny Geomancer that was running streams of data so quickly she could only be skimming it for the bullet points, “I’ll be fine, I’ll bring you some Silurian whiskey when I come back.”
She never saw the odd lopsided look that crossed her grandfather’s face peering from the top of the passenger ramp, instead being pushed at by the sheer volume of activity that surrounded her once she got past the spaceport gates. A warren of kiosks selling knockoff merchandise, food, and flesh wrapped her in its tentacled embrace and she found she couldn’t pay as much attention to the Geomancer as she wanted.
A massive Vang Drun bellowed nearly into her ear as she passed and almost made her drop her little Geomancer. The creature’s terrible breath told her she’d strayed far too close to the perpetually wet thing and she scooted away from it, almost running into a throng of people going the other direction in her haste. She muttered under her breath about the Vang Drun’s terrible Mandarin and looked for a way past the mounting crowds.
The sun dropped toward the horizon as she moved into the city proper and began to navigate its labyrinthine streets and alleys. Vendors called their wares at people who largely ignored them while the thick aroma of dinner carts drifted through the space between, luring people to sample their variety of confections. Birds roosted along lines stringing up multi-purpose lanterns. Fish eyed her from tanks pressed against shop windows as she passed by, eerily reminding her of a recent visit to the Jun Yi prison to visit her father.
She wandered the streets, checking her progress with the continually updating information on her Geomancer until dusk began to creep through the streets, blanketing an ever growing portion of the city in shadow. Neon lights began to flicker to life and wan streetlights buzzed quietly as they cast their diffuse illumination across derelict streets.
Capella stuck a cookie stick in her mouth and tried to configure the Geomancer to take a new signal when she saw what she wanted. It was prominently displaying an Oracle Bone character alongside Neo-Tang codified Mandarin telling her where to find it. She made a delighted sound as she bit off the cookie stick and broke into a trot.
She weaved through the crowd, oblivious to the looks she got from those she jostled, until she found herself looking at a small storefront. The window looking in was filled with charms, the preserved body parts of animals known to have mystical properties, carved ivory and jade figurines, and even a few bones and books. Over the door frame in large characters was the name of the shop, and down the sides were the Oracle Bone characters her Geomancer had picked up.
She pushed open the door and stepped into the shop, immediately brushed by the scents of incense and potpourri. She wandered through the narrow aisles and saw the man at the far end of the shop, as ancient as she’d suspected, but unnaturally stiff. She smiled at him and he grinned back humorlessly.
“I like your shop,” she said as she began to browse a shelf full of tortoise-shells.
“As do I,” he responded.
She looked up at his tone, but he looked away from her as she did. Only somewhat put off, she looked around for his books.
“Can I help you find anything?” he asked.
“As a matter of fact,” she said, happy at the prospect that she wouldn’t have to spend an hour sifting through unorganized piles, “I’m looking for one of Su Song’s treatises on horology. Something about a celestial globe and a…an army thing.”
“Ah,” the shopkeeper said as if he’d just discovered something amazing, “The Essentials of a New Methodology for Automating the Bindings of Minor Malevolents in Tao Space!”
“That’s the one!”
“Sorry. I don’t have that one.”
“Oh,” she said crestfallen.
“I do, however, have its rather more modern antecedent, Zhong Te’s Permutations and Variations Concerning the Movement of Celestial Bodies through Hellspace.”
“Oh!” That sounded good, even if she had no clue what that was, “That’s great, I’m a sorcerer-engineer and that sounds right up my alley. Does it have any passages on stabilization when passing through multiple portal junctures during a local spiritual eclipse?”
“Well,” the man said, “I suppose you’ll just have to take a look and find out for yourself. It’s two rows over, the book with the ivory latch on it.”
She nearly skipped her way to the area he described, wheeling carelessly around a corner and nearly bumping into a short, squat creature with huge eyes and a mouth as wide as its head. It wore a spacer’s jumpsuit and the ring for its helmet was absurdly huge. It’s wide flat tongue licked its lips as two nictating membranes flicked over it’s protruding black eyes. Yae Hai.
Capella didn’t have time to scream.
TAO SPACE - A KUNG FU SPACE OPERA
01 - CAPELLA
“You be back before dark! There are frogs on this planet!”
The ramp hydraulics had barely stopped hissing when Capella’s booted foot made contact with the damp tarmac. The shouts of her grandfather from inside the Emerald Crane were tinny, half-hearted, and fading fast.
Capella raised one hand in an affectionately dismissive wave without looking back, her other hand occupied with a tiny Geomancer that was running streams of data so quickly she could only be skimming it for the bullet points, “I’ll be fine, I’ll bring you some Silurian whiskey when I come back.”
She never saw the odd lopsided look that crossed her grandfather’s face peering from the top of the passenger ramp, instead being pushed at by the sheer volume of activity that surrounded her once she got past the spaceport gates. A warren of kiosks selling knockoff merchandise, food, and flesh wrapped her in its tentacled embrace and she found she couldn’t pay as much attention to the Geomancer as she wanted.
A massive Vang Drun bellowed nearly into her ear as she passed and almost made her drop her little Geomancer. The creature’s terrible breath told her she’d strayed far too close to the perpetually wet thing and she scooted away from it, almost running into a throng of people going the other direction in her haste. She muttered under her breath about the Vang Drun’s terrible Mandarin and looked for a way past the mounting crowds.
The sun dropped toward the horizon as she moved into the city proper and began to navigate its labyrinthine streets and alleys. Vendors called their wares at people who largely ignored them while the thick aroma of dinner carts drifted through the space between, luring people to sample their variety of confections. Birds roosted along lines stringing up multi-purpose lanterns. Fish eyed her from tanks pressed against shop windows as she passed by, eerily reminding her of a recent visit to the Jun Yi prison to visit her father.
She wandered the streets, checking her progress with the continually updating information on her Geomancer until dusk began to creep through the streets, blanketing an ever growing portion of the city in shadow. Neon lights began to flicker to life and wan streetlights buzzed quietly as they cast their diffuse illumination across derelict streets.
Capella stuck a cookie stick in her mouth and tried to configure the Geomancer to take a new signal when she saw what she wanted. It was prominently displaying an Oracle Bone character alongside Neo-Tang codified Mandarin telling her where to find it. She made a delighted sound as she bit off the cookie stick and broke into a trot.
She weaved through the crowd, oblivious to the looks she got from those she jostled, until she found herself looking at a small storefront. The window looking in was filled with charms, the preserved body parts of animals known to have mystical properties, carved ivory and jade figurines, and even a few bones and books. Over the door frame in large characters was the name of the shop, and down the sides were the Oracle Bone characters her Geomancer had picked up.
She pushed open the door and stepped into the shop, immediately brushed by the scents of incense and potpourri. She wandered through the narrow aisles and saw the man at the far end of the shop, as ancient as she’d suspected, but unnaturally stiff. She smiled at him and he grinned back humorlessly.
“I like your shop,” she said as she began to browse a shelf full of tortoise-shells.
“As do I,” he responded.
She looked up at his tone, but he looked away from her as she did. Only somewhat put off, she looked around for his books.
“Can I help you find anything?” he asked.
“As a matter of fact,” she said, happy at the prospect that she wouldn’t have to spend an hour sifting through unorganized piles, “I’m looking for one of Su Song’s treatises on horology. Something about a celestial globe and a…an army thing.”
“Ah,” the shopkeeper said as if he’d just discovered something amazing, “The Essentials of a New Methodology for Automating the Bindings of Minor Malevolents in Tao Space!”
“That’s the one!”
“Sorry. I don’t have that one.”
“Oh,” she said crestfallen.
“I do, however, have its rather more modern antecedent, Zhong Te’s Permutations and Variations Concerning the Movement of Celestial Bodies through Hellspace.”
“Oh!” That sounded good, even if she had no clue what that was, “That’s great, I’m a sorcerer-engineer and that sounds right up my alley. Does it have any passages on stabilization when passing through multiple portal junctures during a local spiritual eclipse?”
“Well,” the man said, “I suppose you’ll just have to take a look and find out for yourself. It’s two rows over, the book with the ivory latch on it.”
She nearly skipped her way to the area he described, wheeling carelessly around a corner and nearly bumping into a short, squat creature with huge eyes and a mouth as wide as its head. It wore a spacer’s jumpsuit and the ring for its helmet was absurdly huge. It’s wide flat tongue licked its lips as two nictating membranes flicked over it’s protruding black eyes. Yae Hai.
Capella didn’t have time to scream.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Plan B From Outer Space
One thing I've noticed as the father of a girl is how pathologically fearful most fathers appear with regard to their daughter's sexuality. They want to hide it, defend it, squelch it. They wrongly center themselves as the guardians of something that does not belong to them, something they can only guide passively if at all.
It seems obvious to many of us, but some people still cling to the belief that they can control their child's sexual behavior. We can influence it, certainly, and we are all encouraged to do so, but the facts are that our daughters are having sex whether we like it or not, and all we can do is make sure they're taken care of properly.
Recently, Plan B was approved for...well, you can read the link. Basically, 17-year olds can get it now.
This is a good thing. Why?
According to the Guttmacher Institute:
•Most young people have sex for the first time at about age 17, but do not marry until their middle or late 20s. This means that young adults are at risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for nearly a decade.
•The proportion of teens who had ever had sex declined from 49% to 46% among females and from 55% to 46% among males between 1995 and 2002. [this is still around half]
•A sexually active teen who does not use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year.
•One in five teens whose parents do not know they obtain contraceptive services would continue to have sex but would either rely on withdrawal or not use any contraceptives if the law required that their parents be notified of their visit.
•Eighty-two percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned; they account for about one in five of all unintended pregnancies annually.
•Teen mothers are now more likely than in the past to complete high school or obtain a GED, but they are still less likely than women who delay childbearing to go on to college.
•The reasons teens give most frequently for having an abortion are concern about how having a baby would change their lives, inability to afford a baby now and feeling insufficiently mature to raise a child.
The points were cherry-picked to show that 1) our daughters are quite likely to have sex while still teenagers, 2) they are highly likely to become pregnant if not allowed access to some form of contraception, 3) if they are denied access they're likely to continue their activity unprotected, 4) teen mothers are, overall, less educated than their adult counterparts, and 5) they KNOW pregnancy at their age is a bad idea.
Even for those of us with good father-daughter relationships, our girls are not going to tell us everything. If it's hard for you to talk to her about sex, imagine how hard it is for her to do the same with you. Then imagine that she's gone and had sex despite all your carrying on about morality and responsibility and how likely does it become that she'll even consider asking you for help if she had unprotected sex or suspects she could be pregnant?
I'm going to guess that the chance is low.
The discrete availability of this pill to 17-year old girls won't help the STI front, but it may just save a few of them a lifetime of condemnation, lost opportunities, and unwanted children.
It seems obvious to many of us, but some people still cling to the belief that they can control their child's sexual behavior. We can influence it, certainly, and we are all encouraged to do so, but the facts are that our daughters are having sex whether we like it or not, and all we can do is make sure they're taken care of properly.
Recently, Plan B was approved for...well, you can read the link. Basically, 17-year olds can get it now.
This is a good thing. Why?
According to the Guttmacher Institute:
•Most young people have sex for the first time at about age 17, but do not marry until their middle or late 20s. This means that young adults are at risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for nearly a decade.
•The proportion of teens who had ever had sex declined from 49% to 46% among females and from 55% to 46% among males between 1995 and 2002. [this is still around half]
•A sexually active teen who does not use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year.
•One in five teens whose parents do not know they obtain contraceptive services would continue to have sex but would either rely on withdrawal or not use any contraceptives if the law required that their parents be notified of their visit.
•Eighty-two percent of teen pregnancies are unplanned; they account for about one in five of all unintended pregnancies annually.
•Teen mothers are now more likely than in the past to complete high school or obtain a GED, but they are still less likely than women who delay childbearing to go on to college.
•The reasons teens give most frequently for having an abortion are concern about how having a baby would change their lives, inability to afford a baby now and feeling insufficiently mature to raise a child.
The points were cherry-picked to show that 1) our daughters are quite likely to have sex while still teenagers, 2) they are highly likely to become pregnant if not allowed access to some form of contraception, 3) if they are denied access they're likely to continue their activity unprotected, 4) teen mothers are, overall, less educated than their adult counterparts, and 5) they KNOW pregnancy at their age is a bad idea.
Even for those of us with good father-daughter relationships, our girls are not going to tell us everything. If it's hard for you to talk to her about sex, imagine how hard it is for her to do the same with you. Then imagine that she's gone and had sex despite all your carrying on about morality and responsibility and how likely does it become that she'll even consider asking you for help if she had unprotected sex or suspects she could be pregnant?
I'm going to guess that the chance is low.
The discrete availability of this pill to 17-year old girls won't help the STI front, but it may just save a few of them a lifetime of condemnation, lost opportunities, and unwanted children.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
I Live!!
Sorta.
I'm not sure why I spend so much time between posts, I'm really not. But sometimes something happens that flips my switch in a way that affects me concretely rather than abstractly. That's what happened with this article:
Ars Technica on Pirates and the Music Industry
I don't have a lot more to say but: the BI Norwegian School of Management is right. No amount of denial on the part of the industry will change that.
I totally understand the need to protect copyright. As a person with the stated goal of producing marketable intellectual property and as a person married to someone producing marketable intellectual property, I don't want theft any more than anyone else. So where do I find the happy middle ground, where the music industry adopts a healthy and intelligent business model appropriate to the information age and where people share and propogate but don't steal?
I'm gonna have to think on that.
I'm not sure why I spend so much time between posts, I'm really not. But sometimes something happens that flips my switch in a way that affects me concretely rather than abstractly. That's what happened with this article:
Ars Technica on Pirates and the Music Industry
I don't have a lot more to say but: the BI Norwegian School of Management is right. No amount of denial on the part of the industry will change that.
I totally understand the need to protect copyright. As a person with the stated goal of producing marketable intellectual property and as a person married to someone producing marketable intellectual property, I don't want theft any more than anyone else. So where do I find the happy middle ground, where the music industry adopts a healthy and intelligent business model appropriate to the information age and where people share and propogate but don't steal?
I'm gonna have to think on that.
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