Connexions 20080824

[aesmael]

I wonder very much about continuing these. If I did not, then I would say nothing of most of what I read, and give it less thought than if I attempted to find words for each. If I did not, I would read more, and quicker. I cannot quite shake the feeling that posting these is a pointless mechanical activity, a task continued because it was once set.

These links do not form an entirely honest record. There are items I have read and not noted because I did not wish to give the tacit approval of a link and did not know how to express or form criticism of the content in question.

The reason the majority of these are from shared items is, of course, that I have resolved to first become current with those before reading material of my own subscription.

About.com: Agnosticism / Atheism

1. Bias and Vested Interest: Interpreting Facts Unreasonably [Well, yes. I strive to avoid this but on good days do not pretend I achieve it.]

Dispatches from the Culture Wars

1. Even More Political Chutzpah [I suspect most people do not investigate such claims - I know I tend not to, and rely on information provided by those who do.]

Google Reader shared items

1. Mysterious White Rock Fingers on Mars [via gentle_gamer. Mars may not be my favourite planet (which is? none, really, the overexposure of Mars or any other location seen as a prospect for life grates on me) but areology is fascinating!]
2. Because I can't help but make a LIAR out of myself [via soltice. I agree with this post. That photo is far too pretty for me to quite believe. Really, flower-filled meadows? Wild grass is brown, not green, and never contains flowers. This sort of scene is about as fantastical to me as the elves and snow I read of in stories.]
3. Inflation Theory Takes a Little Kick in the Pants [via soltice. The people commenting (at least at first) do not seem have understood what they read - the main claim is that a previously thought clear test for inflation has been found to produced by other sources too, and thus detection of this gravitational radiation cannot easily be taken as confirmation of the theory.]
4. Industry execs sound IPv6 alarm - is the sky really falling? [via soltice. Mm. I tend to be wary of people saying we have plenty of time to deal with a foreseen problem. Often, it seems solving it takes longer than projected.]
5. HP Mini-Note gets unboxed, causes extreme jealousy [via soltice. Presumably this computer is a big deal.]
6. Let's all pack up and move to Great Britain [via soltice. Odd seeing posts from feeds I have subscribed to shared by other people, and not reading them more directly. this comment sort of seems on the nose to me:
   
   "Us Brits aren't precisely an areligious lot - most of us have some sort of faith, but it's so vague and noncommittal that it passes for atheism.
   
   You know the kind of thing - "I believe there's something comforting out there but I don't know what it is and whatever it is I'm not going to let it affect my life. It's just nice to believe sometimes."
   
   So, when Brits say they're afraid of "religion", what they're really afraid of is passionate religion. And seeing as Anglicanism is by definition almost never passionate, they're afraid of other religions being passionate. And in practice that means...Islam.
   
   When my countryfolk talk about the evils of religion, they're talking about mosques, the Quran and ramadan. But what they're thinking about is bombs.
   
   So you see we're not so elightened after all."]
   
   Pam's House Blend
   
   1. NYT article on convention bloggers features Pam's House Blend
   
   
   theinferior4+1
   
   1. Border Crossings

Comments

[pazi-ashfeather.livejournal.com]

Bias Article:

Mm, yes. It is very tiresome to see people argue fervently that some given party is wrong because they have a bias -- with the implication that one's own perspective is an objective, neutral default. Bizarre, that people should seriously believe the notion that having personal motivations for an argument is somehow deceptive.

Re: Political Chutzpah:

I wish I could say this shocks and appals me, but nothing humans do surprises me much anymore...

Re: Other things:

What an interesting areological mystery, and quite pretty. Find myself hopeful that you will possibly someday continue your astronomy studies...

The beauty of Washington compels you. Move here. We have pretty things!

Interesting that symmetry breaking might also create gravitational radiation. Those first few commentators appear to have read just a bit too quickly.

Have noticed from working that IPv6 appears to be nearly unused, but I was not aware that it may be a matter of some importance. We can hope it will be implemented before Shub-Internet eats us all?


The computer is a bit cute, but I would rather see computing technology be treated as a vital resource every bit as necessary as food and water, rather than an explicit consumer product. Also, I want an uploaded nanotech-enhanced pony.

Is always vexing when Americans of an intellectual stripe seem to feel that moving abroad would solve all their problems, even if I myself would also like to live in some other society for a time (possibly on a permanent basis). "When you die in Canada, you die in real life."

My thoughts on the genre matter are not well-developed, but the article intrigues me. My own writing is often difficult to classify, and while I am fond of the label "speculative fiction" it seems to come across as pretentious to some, or possibly an apology for writing genre fiction with traditional sci-fi or fantasy themes. Is interesting, though, that some forms of work are simply pigeonholed as less legitimate for their contents, with no regard to the technical quality of the writing. Sturgeon's Law does not only apply to fantastical stories...

[aesmael.livejournal.com]

What you say of bias reminds me of arguments when the subject of oppressed groups comes up, that often the voices of members of those groups are disregarded as being biased. It seems odd to me that people who have a personal stake in a matter should be ignored specifically because the matter is personal to them, and only those who will be unaffected by decisions made in whatever direction get to be taken seriously.

Of Political Chutzpah, yah. Wish that were some sort of shock to an informed me.

Washington is reputedly beautiful indeed and I would love to see for myself. Although most of that repute comes from you...

It would be wonderful indeed if I did continue my studies. Planetology is probably the field I would want to go into, as I have long been fascinated with sub-stellar objects.

Surely to be devoured is inevitable?

Mm, but you do not believe this will solve all your problems. It just happens to be a thing you would like to do.

[aesmael.livejournal.com]

I let people assume (or so I assume) that my tag 'sf' relates to science fiction but actually I was intending it to encompass speculative fiction. I like the term speculative fiction because I tend to want my science fiction hard before I can comfortably call it science fiction, and speculative fiction lets it just be a story with no such worry about the particulars of the content. It bothers me a lot to see works disregarded simply because of their genre, although I do admit I am less drawn to non-speculative fiction because the world portrayed will operate under the same rules. The ones I read most recently held my interest well enough though...

It is also disappointed to see a respected literary author claim that a clearly science fictional work she has written cannot be science fiction because it contains no robots or Martians. I feel everyone is done a disservice by such remarks and the ideas behind them.

I think, too, that Romance stories could do with a bit more respect. Hopefully this is not only from having recently realised a couple of my stories could qualify as having strongly romantic themes.

Interesting what you say about computing as a necessity. Suspect this is something which will shift over time. Certainly hope so, and think if / when such a shift in attitude occurs it could produce some interesting shifts in design.

[flynnacatri.livejournal.com]

Up to you if you continue them. I like to see these, because I find things for myself - of course,w hen i am busy, I skip right past.

But are you ever likely to want to read them again? In that case, these lists are useful. But if you are only doing them in order to push a sense of achievement/out of duty...

[aesmael.livejournal.com]

Not intending to come back to these. Mainly posted so others might find interest in them, so I can share little thoughts on things for which I am not motivated to write at length and without making a dozen little posts through the day. An exercise in dialogue, I suppose.

If I decide I do not have to do this, but may if I desire to, that might work.