httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYlCVwxoL_g
Man, I missed that guy. This should be interesting….
Author Archives: Court
The Anti-anti-bullying efforts by US Christian Right-wingers
Call me idealistic, but for some reason I never cease to be amazed at the depths folks will go to. Certain Christian groups in our wonderful southern neighbour are actively lobbying AGAINST anti-bullying laws because they want to include terminology that would make it perfectly ok to bully if the kids were TAUGHT that being gay/different/whatever was wrong: “…would have exempted bullies who acted out of “a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction.”
I’m speechless, can’t really believe this crap. So I won’t even bother writing my own thoughts on this particular topic, but instead I will use quotes from the following links to write this post:
Christians Fight for Their Children’s God-Given Right to Bully Gay Kids
The Bully Backlash: How the Christian Right Is Attacking Efforts to Help Kids
“In Michigan, lawmakers attempted to insert a provision into an anti-bullying bill that would have allowed bullying only on the grounds that it was being done based on a “sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction”. Thankfully it was tossed out after a national outcry.Â
“A number of groups that claim to represent the “Christian viewpoint” have come out in vigorous opposition to anti-bullying initiatives, and their opposition has to do with a fundamental question about exactly what we think bullying is.”
“Senate minority leader David Schapira, a sponsor of his Senate Bill 1462, called her a “legislative terrorist”. “Cathi Herrod, an unelected lobbyist (from a Christian right-wing group), killed a bill that would protect all Arizona kids purely because of her intolerance of gay kids.”
“To be sure, the notion that the anti-bullying initiatives are driven by “the homosexual agenda” – a phrase that conjures the vision of gay hordes aiming to seduce children into lives of abomination – is preposterous. But the sense that anti-bullying initiatives involve teaching children “acceptance” of LGBT peers, to use the word of the Concerned Women of America, is not. If you want the school to tell students to stop harassing kids like Jacob Rogers because they are gay, you have to let them know, at some point, that the school thinks it’s OK to be gay.”
Is anyone else really tired and depressed right now?
Recursive Nerdery
As some folks might recall, Minecraft was a favourite at our house, and from time to time it comes back and there’s lots and lots of building and fun. I think it still is one of the more amazing and enjoyable games you can find out there, and really lets you use your imagination. So I started to follow the games’ creator on Twitter, because I’m a nerd and that’s just what you do. Naturally I was pretty interested about his recent mention that he was launching a new game.Â
It’s called 0x10c.com (who knows how to pronounce that, but whatever) and you can read the thirty words that are known about it at this point here.
The thing that is boggling my mind is the revelation that while it’s a space game where you fly around in a spaceship and do things, you will essentially be required to program your own computer before your spaceship will do anything. He’s building a fully functional 16-bit computer INTO the game. Everyone will have one. You have to use the in-game computer to operate your in-game spaceship. You might be able to hack into other people’s in-game computers, build in-game networks, develop an in-game Internet, start an in-game online music company selling in-game songs… anyway you get the idea. This kind of recursive nerdery is really baking my noodle at the moment. While he promises that non-programmers will still be able to play and enjoy the game, I can’t help but think that folks like me would just be the helpless sheep waiting to be slaughtered by the elite 13 year old nerds with far greater skills than mine. In fact, there are a host of nerds who right now CAN’T WAIT for the creator of this game to start developing it, so they can start developing thjngs for this in-game computer. Does anyone else find this ridiculous?
This kind of nested matryoshka doll kind of thing is what will eventually end us all in an as-yet-unknown, but certainly fiery noisy and painful way. The universe doesn’t like recursion that much. Sitting there, using your comically oversized and underpowered brain (a computer) to use your actual computer that connects to many many computers (the Internet), in turn connecting to a computer running this game, in which you then use a game computer to connect to other game computers, at some point the universe says “Enough, ok I messed up, let’s start over.” and we are done for.
Or it could just be a lot of fun. One or the other.
Batman is real
Man, I have to say that this is some of the most selfless, amazing and genuine goodwill I have ever heard of. This guy dresses up as Batman and visits terminally (or seriously) ill kids in hospitals.
He’s got a Lamborghini kitted out as the Batmobile (until his $250 000 custom made car is ready), has a professionally made Batman suit, the whole deal. He recently got some Internet attention because he got pulled over by the police for not having his regular plates on while in costume, which prompted this article about his reasons for dressing as Batman. This is a pretty classy guy doing some actual good, hard to not get a little misty reading it. Nice job.
Math is hard
There’s no way this guy is still married. The reality of the situation is that this girl either really really doesn’t understand math, or is putting us all on very convincingly. I can’t decide if I am cynical enough to believe that she really doesn’t know the answer.
It’s still entertaining as hell, and this guy’s obvious glee should have tipped her off, right? I mean, come on.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhm7-LEBznk
From Boing Boing
Being Drunk and Tired Makes You Smarterer
Apparently being drunk or tired (maybe both?) is really good for making creative, intuitive decisions. The idea is that an alert brain is bound more closely by logic and reasoning, while being drunk or tired more closely simulates brain damage (I’m not making this up, read the story) and means that you will consider a wider range of solutions. This is pretty neat. I can’t decide just how I would apply this knowledge to my regular day job, but if I had a couple of beers I bet you the answer would come to me right away….
I kid.
Enjoy the article, some fun puzzles in there too.
Note that driving a car, operating heavy machinery, open heart surgery, and flying a blimp do not require creative thinking, and should probably continue to be done while sober and rested. Just a thought.