But can she run Linux?
After starting the series 6 years ago, I finally picked up the last two volumes and have finished reading the Chobits comic. I liked it a lot, and I’m glad I gritted my teeth to read eight graphic novels backwards. (I usually take in an entire comic page in a glance or two, and reading unflipped manga for me is a bit like taking your car up to 55 mph in second gear. You can do it, but it’s not comfortable.)
Y’know, only the Japanese could combine 1) a serious examination of computer emotion and sentience, and 2) innocent, adorable robot girls running around unself-consciously in mildly fetishy outfits. It kept confusing me, because between the clothing choices and the male lead’s humorous over-reactions to every situation, I wasn’t sure I was meant to be taking this seriously, but then the authors would drop back into the real distress experienced by several characters because of the difficult emotional situations they faced.
The ending doesn’t contain any real surprises, but the purpose of this tale is the journey, not the destination, and the last book makes sense of several points that I’d expected to be conveniently forgotten. I no longer trust 21st century creators to do this, so it’s a welcome change to be able to believe “we were planning this all along” for once.
In completely unrelated news, Midori has found the basket of laundry that I’ve just pulled from the dryer, and is at this moment the happiest sleeping cat in Portsmouth.
The Ringtone Choir Invisible
Cell phone is absolutely D-E-D. Dammit.
I need to either go to the Sprint store tomorrow and get a new Motorola RAZR, or succumb to technolust, and go to the AT&T store and get an iPhone. Which would cost more. But I do want one.
Arrgh, the eternal balance of thrift and desire.
Smartocracy
It’s complicated, but much against my will, I didn’t get any sleep on Saturday night. I spent much of Sunday watching myself do things, and even today. my head (while clear) is certainly in a lower gear than usual. With luck I’ll be at my usual level of coherence by tomorrow.
This weekend Starr and I watched some television programs on high-technology of the ancient world, most of it lost forever because some dictator or another felt it didn’t fit in his grand scheme. We mused that those in power over the centuries have rarely been fond of the intelligentsia, sometimes going so far as active bloody purges.
We wondered, is the animosity due to perceived threat – worry that the next revolution will come from that sector – or an insecure need to prove that the dictator’s might is greater than the thinker’s knowledge? Or might other factors be involved?
The only nation Starr and I could think of in which an enduring government has been established by (part-time, at least) scholars and philosophers is the United States; even those folks didn’t get everything right, and some would debate how well those high-minded ideals have survived the centuries. What other societies of that stripe did we miss?
We Still Choose To Go
Taking a short break from reporting on weather and virtual worlds:
Tomorrow is Yuri’s Night, the anniversary of the first human spaceflight, and of the first space flight of the Shuttle. Forty-seven years ago, a Soviet cosmonaut took mankind’s first step toward the final frontier. Twenty-seven years ago, the American space program began our first experiment with reusable spacecraft. On April 12th we celebrate a milestone which will stand as long as we reach for the stars.
There are Yuri’s Night parties in Richmond, DC, and the Raleigh area, and more all over the world – even in Second Life! The Yuri’s Night website has plenty of information about the celebrations, including a chance to win a ride on G-Force One, a plane that performs weightless simulation flights.
Our space exploration efforts have faltered in recent years, but mankind hasn’t given up; whether it be aboard an Orion capsule, a Soyuz spacecraft, or a Rutan spaceplane, a steadily-increasing number of us will have the chance to see the world from above, and dip their toes in the vast sea of stars that awaits the human race.
EDIT: jameshroberts correctly points out that our robotic exploration efforts are remarkably successful; it’s just the manned side which has faltered somewhat.
Another Bug Hunt
Starr is still in the hospital, being pumped full of fluids. Her color’s improved greatly, though she’s still tired most of the time. They have ruled out a long list of possible issues, and are now fairly confident of the earlier guess that it was a bug. Now her doctors are running tests to see which antibiotic’s the best shot.
Meanwhile, she’s keeping herself busy with crocheting when she’s awake. This hospital has some decent TV channels and limited wireless access. (No WoW, she tried. If I knew Windows software better, I’d try to work around that for her, but she’s content with her hook-work.) If anyone wants to give her a call or swing by, drop me a note and I’ll pass along the room number. I’ve been by every day and twice yesterday, but more company is excellent medicine.
Her hospital is something else. Curving, gently lit, modern-decorated corridors; a huge atrium with a fountain wall; display cases of expensive art donated by the founder. I’ve taken to calling the place “Federation General Hospital.”
Thanks for everyone’s support. It’s been helping a great deal. You guys rock.
Because it was hard, you fools
By an odd coincidence, I’ve had to deal with the “No, we didn’t land on the Moon!” claim three times in the last few days. My views on it ought to be pretty obvious: if you really want a conspiracy theory, there are far more plausible ones than that.
My current favorite argument against the Hoax: There were thousands, if not millions, of Very Very Smart people involved in the Apollo program. Either they were in on the secret or they weren’t; if they were in on the secret, then it wasn’t much of a secret, really. It’s like the “we test unusual stuff at Groom Lake” secret – the details may be foggy, but the whole world knows that it’s a government testing base.
If they weren’t on the secret, then you have all these Smart People being well paid to develop what they honestly believe will be a moon rocket – to the tune of several billion dollars. These people all think they succeeded, and they aren’t idiots – they would have noticed things like “Hey, there’s not enough radiation shielding in our design.” So, since all these people think we have a moon rocket, and we spent the money to make it, why just go ahead and make the landing? Hmmm?
As an aside – the Soviet Union at the time definitely had the technological ability to detect whether we really went or not – they were quite close to managing it themselves. If we didn’t really go, the Russians of the late 1960’s really didn’t have much motivation to help us cover it up. Unless you believe that the One World Government was already up and running by then, and the Soviet space establishment was also ordered to lie; in which case, I will choose to bow out of the discussion at this point and move on to another World of Warcraft post of some kind. Circy’s level 60 now! Woo!
The essential Moon Hoax links:
Quick and simple: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html
In-depth and pretty: http://www.clavius.org/
Start Me Up
Sometimes, people post things on the Internet that just plain make me feel glad to be living in a world where someone spent the time to make them up.
The “Lions In Kenya” and “Shirley Bassey Getting the Party Started” videos are two examples. Here’s another:
I successfully stayed up all night on Saturday night. We decided that our level 56-ers needed to hit 58 This Weekend, which we reached about 6 am. It was nice to know that I can still do that… a year of 10pm bedtimes had left me doubtful. Still, I had to down several Tums, as one of the tricks my body uses to try to get me to go to bed is surges of stomach acid. Also, I was kind of out of it the next day; so, I’ve learned from this that I can do it, but not easily.
Found a website that generates an automatically updated stat block I can use for my characters, like so…
Too bad that the servers are now far too overloaded with requests to actually function properly. (This one won’t update, it’s static.)
Local TV re-ran the Special Edition “Trouble With Tribbles” this weekend, so last night I dug out the “Trials And Tribble-ations” DS9 episode for Starr, who’d never seen it. Great fun! And then it hit me… there’s no way in heck that J.J. Abrams’ Lt. Uhura will be running around in that red minidress. Not in a 2008 feature film. I weep.
This concept is Anathema
Did you know that, as recently as the eighteenth century, “engine” meant any generic “device” or “tool”?
Of course, in the twenty-first century, “engine” almost always means “machine that provides motive power”. We still, though, have some leftover of the old meaning when we talk about someone who designs, maintains, or operates devices and tools as an “engineer”.
In the older usage, a loom might be a “weaving engine”, a crane a “lifting engine”, or a computer a “calculating engine”.
The only reason this is on my mind at all is that, while waking up this morning, and sorting and filing the loose random thoughts of a foggy brain, I suddenly heard Scotty warning that “The devices canna take tha strrain!”
…
Look, it’s not like I’m charging you admission.
Frankie Say Relax
The other day it was cold enough for me to wear my Fourth Doctor scarf to work. This morning it’s so warm I didn’t really need a jacket, and there are mightily-confused birds singing in the trees.
Elfie.org seems to have been down since yesterday. How am I supposed to see all your comments of love and adoration without my e-mail? Sob. Weep.
I was unsettled and short-tempered all weekend, and I’m not really sure why. Was it a late bout of S.A.D.? Have I been obsessing too much about my sundry responsibilities? Or was it just my time of the month? Not sure, but I’m done with it, and I’m determined that this week is going to be a week where I get things done and yet enjoy myself.
And I’m-a gonna crack this Writer’s Block I’ve been having right down the middle, yes sirree.
