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  13. <channel>
  14. <title>Homo Sum</title>
  15. <atom:link href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
  16. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog</link>
  17. <description>humani nil a me alienum puto</description>
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  26. <title>The Great Eostre Mystery Hunt</title>
  27. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2017/04/16/the-great-eostre-mystery-hunt/</link>
  28. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  29. <pubDate>Sun, 16 Apr 2017 15:44:45 +0000</pubDate>
  30. <category><![CDATA[Storytime]]></category>
  31. <category><![CDATA[easter]]></category>
  32. <category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
  33. <category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
  34. <category><![CDATA[mystery]]></category>
  35. <category><![CDATA[puzzle]]></category>
  36. <category><![CDATA[sarah]]></category>
  37. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=4000</guid>
  38.  
  39. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">As is an occasional tradition at our house, this year we did a &#8220;mystery hunt&#8221;, where I prepare a series of clues, each pointing to the location of the next. The final clue identifies the location of the prize. The ladies work together to decipher these clues and outsmart &#8220;Mr. E&#8221;. In order to complete this year&#8217;s hunt, some of&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2017/04/16/the-great-eostre-mystery-hunt/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  40. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As is an occasional tradition at our house, this year we did a &#8220;mystery hunt&#8221;, where I prepare a series of clues, each pointing to the location of the next. The final clue identifies the location of the prize. The ladies work together to decipher these clues and outsmart &#8220;Mr. E&#8221;.</p>
  41. <p>In order to complete this year&#8217;s hunt, some of the stuff they needed to know (or be able to find):</p>
  42. <ul>
  43. <li>Smokey Robinson lyrics and/or the plotline of Pagliacci</li>
  44. <li>Greek mythology and traditional iconography of statuary based on it</li>
  45. <li>the value of Pi to 32 decimal places</li>
  46. <li>how to use a known ciphertext to crack a substitution cipher in characters in another alphabet, and then use that cipher to decode unknown text</li>
  47. <li>how to recognize GPS coördinates, and use them to identify a location at a 1m resolution</li>
  48. <li>how to extract embedded text strings from a printed QR code</li>
  49. <li>how to translate from Latin to English</li>
  50. <li>how to translate a simple rebus embedded in a frame of a digital video file</li>
  51. <li>how to solve a bunch of more traditional, goofy riddle clues</li>
  52. </ul>
  53. <p>It took them just under an hour.</p>
  54. <p>(I guess I&#8217;ve got to up my game next time, and make some of these things actually <em>hard</em>.)</p>
  55. <p>My favourite of the clues was actually the one that identified a particular episode of Once Upon A Time (the show Sarah is currently working her way through), and a timecode in it. I had edited the file on our media server to overlay that second with a couple of images so, if you were watching at the specific time code you would have seen this:</p>
  56. <p><a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2017/04/vlcsnap-2017-04-16-11h24m21s445.png"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4002" src="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2017/04/vlcsnap-2017-04-16-11h24m21s445-300x173.png" alt="" width="300" height="173" srcset="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2017/04/vlcsnap-2017-04-16-11h24m21s445-300x173.png 300w, https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2017/04/vlcsnap-2017-04-16-11h24m21s445-768x443.png 768w, https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2017/04/vlcsnap-2017-04-16-11h24m21s445-1024x590.png 1024w, https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2017/04/vlcsnap-2017-04-16-11h24m21s445.png 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a>I thought that would be one of the easier ones to decode, but the ladies spent longer on that, and actually had to resort to a thesaurus, than they did on many of the ones I thought were much harder.</p>
  57.  
  58. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  59. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/easter/" title="easter">easter</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/family/" title="Family">Family</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/games/" title="games">games</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/mystery/" title="mystery">mystery</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/puzzle/" title="puzzle">puzzle</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/sarah/" title="sarah">sarah</a> <br /> </div>
  60. </div>
  61. ]]></content:encoded>
  62. </item>
  63. <item>
  64. <title>How To Sharpen Pencils</title>
  65. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2015/03/20/how-to-sharpen-pencils/</link>
  66. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  67. <pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2015 19:06:15 +0000</pubDate>
  68. <category><![CDATA[One-and-done]]></category>
  69. <category><![CDATA[comedy]]></category>
  70. <category><![CDATA[happyfunball]]></category>
  71. <category><![CDATA[pencils]]></category>
  72. <category><![CDATA[video]]></category>
  73. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3983</guid>
  74.  
  75. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">HOW TO SHARPEN PENCILS from Pricefilms on Vimeo. Tags: comedy, happyfunball, pencils, video <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2015/03/20/how-to-sharpen-pencils/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  76. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/60718161?title=0&#038;byline=0&#038;portrait=0&#038;badge=0" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> </p>
  77. <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/60718161">HOW TO SHARPEN PENCILS</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/pricefilms">Pricefilms</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
  78.  
  79. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  80. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/comedy/" title="comedy">comedy</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/happyfunball/" title="happyfunball">happyfunball</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/pencils/" title="pencils">pencils</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/video/" title="video">video</a> <br /> </div>
  81. </div>
  82. ]]></content:encoded>
  83. </item>
  84. <item>
  85. <title>Whooping Cough</title>
  86. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2015/03/19/whooping-cough/</link>
  87. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  88. <pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2015 04:33:56 +0000</pubDate>
  89. <category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
  90. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3967</guid>
  91.  
  92. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">Whooping Cough is making a comeback As a child I spent one Christmas in hospital, in an oxygen tent, with &#8220;Whooping Cough&#8221;. Having experienced that, I&#8217;ve been thrilled for decades that the disease was more-or-less gone. I&#8217;ve been happy, on the rare occasion when the disease was referenced among people my age to have them laugh at the foolish, and&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2015/03/19/whooping-cough/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  93. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://medium.com/matter/your-cough-might-kill-this-baby-368c8c6d0a26">Whooping Cough is making a comeback</a><br />
  94. As a child I spent one Christmas in hospital, in an oxygen tent, with &#8220;Whooping Cough&#8221;. Having experienced that, I&#8217;ve been thrilled for decades that the disease was more-or-less gone. I&#8217;ve been happy, on the rare occasion when the disease was referenced among people my age to have them laugh at the foolish, and old-timey, sounding name. It enrages me that the stupid anti-vaccination trend is bringing it back.</p>
  95. No tags for this post.]]></content:encoded>
  96. </item>
  97. <item>
  98. <title>Bertrand Russell &#8211; Face To Face</title>
  99. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/11/30/bertrand-russell-face-to-face/</link>
  100. <comments>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/11/30/bertrand-russell-face-to-face/#comments</comments>
  101. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  102. <pubDate>Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:34:31 +0000</pubDate>
  103. <category><![CDATA[Meta-blogging]]></category>
  104. <category><![CDATA[embed]]></category>
  105. <category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
  106. <category><![CDATA[philosophy]]></category>
  107. <category><![CDATA[Russell]]></category>
  108. <category><![CDATA[youtube]]></category>
  109. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3856</guid>
  110.  
  111. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">The internet today brought me this Youtube clip, which shows old Bertie being interviewed in 1959 (and therefore at the age of 87) on a BBC show called &#8220;Face To Face&#8220;. I quite like his advice for people a thousand years hence. Tags: embed, history, philosophy, Russell, youtube <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/11/30/bertrand-russell-face-to-face/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  112. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The internet today brought me this Youtube clip, which shows old Bertie being interviewed in 1959 (and therefore at the age of 87) on a BBC show called &#8220;<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009q2t3">Face To Face</a>&#8220;.</p>
  113. <p>I quite like his advice for people a thousand years hence.</p>
  114. <p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1bZv3pSaLtY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
  115.  
  116. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  117. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/embed/" title="embed">embed</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/history/" title="history">history</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/philosophy/" title="philosophy">philosophy</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/russell/" title="Russell">Russell</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/youtube/" title="youtube">youtube</a> <br /> </div>
  118. </div>
  119. ]]></content:encoded>
  120. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/11/30/bertrand-russell-face-to-face/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  121. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
  122. </item>
  123. <item>
  124. <title>Some poems never lose topicality</title>
  125. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/11/12/3851/</link>
  126. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  127. <pubDate>Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:38:16 +0000</pubDate>
  128. <category><![CDATA[One-and-done]]></category>
  129. <category><![CDATA[beautiful things]]></category>
  130. <category><![CDATA[poem]]></category>
  131. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3851</guid>
  132.  
  133. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">And now, from the &#8220;what I&#8217;m reading while waiting patiently for ant&#8221; pile: Every Day by Ingeborg Bachmann War is no longer declared, but rather continued. The courageous has become the everday. The hero is absent from the battle. The weak are moved into the firing zone. The uniform of the day is patience, the order of merit is the&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/11/12/3851/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  134. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>And now, from the &#8220;what I&#8217;m reading while waiting patiently for ant&#8221; pile:<span id="more-3851"></span></p>
  135. <blockquote><p><strong>Every Day</strong><br />
  136. by Ingeborg Bachmann</p>
  137. <p>War is no longer declared,<br />
  138. but rather continued. The courageous<br />
  139. has become the everday. The hero<br />
  140. is absent from the battle. The weak<br />
  141. are moved into the firing zone.<br />
  142. The uniform of the day is patience,<br />
  143. the order of merit is the wretched star<br />
  144. of hope over the heart.</p>
  145. <p>It is awarded<br />
  146. when nothing more happens,<br />
  147. when the bombardment is silenced,<br />
  148. when the enemy has become invisible<br />
  149. and the shadow of eternal armament<br />
  150. covers the sky.</p>
  151. <p>It is awarded<br />
  152. for deserting the flag,<br />
  153. for bravery before a friend,<br />
  154. for the betrayal of shameful secrets<br />
  155. and the disregard<br />
  156. of every command.
  157. </p></blockquote>
  158. <p style="align:right;">&#8211;translated by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Spoken-Collected-Ingeborg-Bachmann/dp/0939010844">Peter Filkins</a></p>
  159.  
  160. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  161. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/beautiful-things/" title="beautiful things">beautiful things</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/poem/" title="poem">poem</a> <br /> </div>
  162. </div>
  163. ]]></content:encoded>
  164. </item>
  165. <item>
  166. <title>As goes the myth&#8230;</title>
  167. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/12/as-goes-the-myth/</link>
  168. <comments>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/12/as-goes-the-myth/#comments</comments>
  169. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  170. <pubDate>Wed, 13 Oct 2010 03:14:11 +0000</pubDate>
  171. <category><![CDATA[Political]]></category>
  172. <category><![CDATA[economics]]></category>
  173. <category><![CDATA[lying]]></category>
  174. <category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
  175. <category><![CDATA[republicans are fucking nuts]]></category>
  176. <category><![CDATA[USA]]></category>
  177. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3848</guid>
  178.  
  179. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">It shouldn&#8217;t be any surprise to you that I often agree with Paul Krugman&#8211;I&#8217;m both rational and occasionally shrill. For instance, I see a lot of sense in the compressed argument Krugman makes here, in his recent editorial: And right now, by any rational calculation, would be an especially good time to improve the nation’s infrastructure. We have the need:&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/12/as-goes-the-myth/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  180. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It shouldn&#8217;t be any surprise to you that I often agree with Paul Krugman&#8211;I&#8217;m both rational and occasionally shrill.</p>
  181. <p>For instance, I see a lot of sense in the compressed argument Krugman makes here, in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/opinion/08krugman.html?_r=2&#038;hp">his recent editorial</a>:</p>
  182. <blockquote><p>And right now, by any rational calculation, would be an especially good time to improve the nation’s infrastructure. We have the need: our roads, our rail lines, our water and sewer systems are antiquated and increasingly inadequate. We have the resources: a million-and-a-half construction workers are sitting idle, and putting them to work would help the economy as a whole recover from its slump. And the price is right: with interest rates on federal debt at near-record lows, there has never been a better time to borrow for long-term investment. </p></blockquote>
  183. <p>But regardless of whether or not you agree with the notion that increased government spending is a rational response to economic slowdowns (I&#8217;m not really interested in getting into that argument&#8230; again) you have to acknowledge Krugman&#8217;s point about the mythology of America. It used to be rational to discuss America as a country that built itself amazing things&#8211;the Hoover Dam, The Eerie Canal, the interstates&#8230; Hell, every major city had things you could point at as examples of &#8220;American Know-How&#8221;. Now&#8230; well, in the rare cases where this kind of project happens at all, it&#8217;s not a shining beacon, it&#8217;s a comedy of corruption and errors. ( <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig#Problems">cough</a> ).</p>
  184. <p>And what does that mean?</p>
  185. <blockquote><p>So here’s how you should think about the decision to kill the tunnel: It’s a terrible thing in itself, but, beyond that, it’s a perfect symbol of how America has lost its way. By refusing to pay for essential investment, politicians are both perpetuating unemployment and sacrificing long-run growth. And why not? After all, this seems to be a winning electoral strategy. All vision of a better future seems to have been lost, replaced with a refusal to look beyond the narrowest, most shortsighted notion of self-interest. </p></blockquote>
  186. <p>Yeah, that&#8217;s pretty grim.</p>
  187. <p>Without the myth, to pull the people together, to give drive and direction, things fall apart.</p>
  188. <p>The only thing worse would be if the myth was lost, and there were people who pretended it wasn&#8217;t: demagogues who wrapped themselves in the hollow shell of the myth while taking the very actions that destroyed it. But, of course, thing aren&#8217;t <em>that</em> bad. </p>
  189. <p>Snort.</p>
  190.  
  191. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  192. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/economics/" title="economics">economics</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/lying/" title="lying">lying</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/politics/" title="politics">politics</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/republicans-are-fucking-nuts/" title="republicans are fucking nuts">republicans are fucking nuts</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/usa/" title="USA">USA</a> <br /> </div>
  193. </div>
  194. ]]></content:encoded>
  195. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/12/as-goes-the-myth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  196. <slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
  197. </item>
  198. <item>
  199. <title>Aside: Perverted Secretions</title>
  200. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/11/aside-perverted-secretions/</link>
  201. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  202. <pubDate>Mon, 11 Oct 2010 05:20:59 +0000</pubDate>
  203. <category><![CDATA[Aside]]></category>
  204. <category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
  205. <category><![CDATA[parenting]]></category>
  206. <category><![CDATA[sarah]]></category>
  207. <category><![CDATA[vintage advertising]]></category>
  208. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3844</guid>
  209.  
  210. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">Sarah and I recently made our way through the first Barnaby Grimes book: Curse Of The Night Wolf. We quite enjoyed it and will probably seek out others, by the way. However, I had to do some deep background explanations on the concept of the various quack medicinal tonics of the time period, as Sarah isn&#8217;t really up on her&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/11/aside-perverted-secretions/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  211. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Sarah and I recently made our way through the first <a href="http://www.stewartandriddell.co.uk/barnaby/index.php">Barnaby Grimes</a> book: <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Barnaby-Grimes-Curse-Night-Wolf/dp/0385751257">Curse Of The Night Wolf</a>. We quite enjoyed it and will probably seek out others, by the way. However, I had to do some deep background explanations on the concept of the various quack medicinal tonics of the time period, as Sarah isn&#8217;t really up on her historical snake oil salesmen. I was able to do it, with some helpful reference to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076538/">Pete&#8217;s Dragon</a>, but it took some explaining. When I saw <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/vintage_ads/2228472.html">this vintage ad for Melachol</a>, my immediate thought was to show it to her as an illustration of the concept. Fortunately my parenting brain did kick in before I did that, and suggested to me that I might be better off not having to explain &#8220;functional impotence&#8221;, &#8220;irregularities of menstruation&#8221;, or &#8220;perverted secretions&#8221; at this time. (Actually, I&#8217;m not sure I could explain that last one.)</p>
  212.  
  213. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  214. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/books/" title="Books">Books</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/parenting/" title="parenting">parenting</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/sarah/" title="sarah">sarah</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/vintage-advertising/" title="vintage advertising">vintage advertising</a> <br /> </div>
  215. </div>
  216. ]]></content:encoded>
  217. </item>
  218. <item>
  219. <title>An eclectic bit of bookery</title>
  220. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/10/an-eclectic-bit-of-bookery/</link>
  221. <comments>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/10/an-eclectic-bit-of-bookery/#comments</comments>
  222. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  223. <pubDate>Mon, 11 Oct 2010 03:03:37 +0000</pubDate>
  224. <category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
  225. <category><![CDATA[authors]]></category>
  226. <category><![CDATA[beautiful things]]></category>
  227. <category><![CDATA[benevolent surrealism]]></category>
  228. <category><![CDATA[emma bull]]></category>
  229. <category><![CDATA[free]]></category>
  230. <category><![CDATA[lucifer]]></category>
  231. <category><![CDATA[poetry]]></category>
  232. <category><![CDATA[recommended]]></category>
  233. <category><![CDATA[science fiction]]></category>
  234. <category><![CDATA[shared world]]></category>
  235. <category><![CDATA[Steve Brust]]></category>
  236. <category><![CDATA[things to buy]]></category>
  237. <category><![CDATA[things to read]]></category>
  238. <category><![CDATA[Walter Jon Williams]]></category>
  239. <category><![CDATA[will shetterly]]></category>
  240. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3839</guid>
  241.  
  242. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">It&#8217;s been a while since I closed the various &#8220;book stuff&#8221; tabs, so let&#8217;s take a run through those, shall we? I came to this by the Lord Dunsany connection, but I don&#8217;t think you need to be on that page at all to enjoy H. E. Gowers&#8217; HASCHISCH HALLUCINATIONS, posted over at the blog of master-designer-and-artist-of-the-eldritch John Coulthart. I&#8217;ve&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/10/an-eclectic-bit-of-bookery/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  243. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s been a while since I closed the various &#8220;book stuff&#8221; tabs, so let&#8217;s take a run through those, shall we?</p>
  244. <ul>
  245. <li>I came to this by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Plunkett,_18th_Baron_of_Dunsany#Writings">Lord Dunsany</a> connection, but I don&#8217;t think you need to be on that page at all to enjoy <a href="http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2010/10/04/haschisch-hallucinations-by-he-gowers/">H. E. Gowers&#8217; HASCHISCH HALLUCINATIONS</a>, posted over at the blog of master-designer-and-artist-of-the-eldritch <a href="http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/about/">John Coulthart</a>.</li>
  246. <li>I&#8217;ve been enjoying <a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/fiction/faq.html">Charlie Stross</a>&#8216; series of posts on books he will not write. All of them have been interesting, and several have made me a bit sad I won&#8217;t get to read the books, but <a href="http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/09/books-i-will-not-write-4-escha.html">this one</a> is the most interesting of the bunch, d&#8217;apres moi.</li>
  247. <li>I don&#8217;t normally enjoy reading reviews in any sense except that of building anticipation for some of the works reviewed, but I positively enjoyed reading <a href="http://www.tnr.com/book/review/the-storytellers">Ellen Spitz&#8217;s review of the Grimm Reader</a> on its own merits. Look at this prose:<br />
  248. <blockquote><p>Not quite like ancient myths, which use nymphs and satyrs to explain recurring natural phenomena; nor like fables, whose timeless moral lessons are parlayed through the escapades of animal characters; nor like legends, which exude the pungent aromas of one particular locale and its history, fairy tales are stories spun into gold at the wooden wheel of a miller’s daughter: stories made to summon wonder, horror, enchantment—and not necessarily anything more. Uncanny in the purest sense of the word, which is to say, both bizarre and familiar at once, they are meant to be told, not read, and they truly possess an inexhaustible power. Children hold on tight, turn pale, close their eyes, and beg for more.</p></blockquote>
  249. </li>
  250. <li>Last week I probably read two dozen posts or articles discussing <a href="http://www.locusmag.com/News/2010/09/ralph-vicinanza-dies/">the recent death of literary agent Ralph M. Vicinanza</a>, who was apparently the agent to a good portion of the true luminaries of the F/SF world. Many were touching, but none quite so much as <a href="http://www.walterjonwilliams.net/2010/10/ralph-m-vicinanza-1950-2010/">Walter Jon Williams&#8217;</a>. It&#8217;s not long, but it&#8217;s kind of what I imagine an agent who was good at his job, and also a decent human being, would want to see written.</li>
  251. <li>On a much more upbeat note, <strong><a href="http://ellen-kushner.livejournal.com/326691.html">THERE&#8217;S A NEW BORDERLANDS BOOK</a>!</strong> I have no idea how this will sell generally, the original being very much a product of its time, but it doesn&#8217;t have to sell to me cold&#8211;I&#8217;m pretty deeply invested in my memories of the earlier books. I&#8217;ll be curious to see if the setting has stayed where it was, culturally speaking, or if it&#8217;s moved with the intervening years into something that&#8217;s more on the border of now.</li>
  252. <li>I&#8217;ve mentioned before that one of the exceptions to my &#8220;not really enjoying reviews for themselves&#8221; thing is <a href="http://www.tor.com/community/users/bluejo?task=displayAllConversations">Jo Walton&#8217;s body of work writing reviews at Tor.com</a>. I always enjoy these, partly because they are well written and partly (I suspect) because Jo&#8217;s tastes seem to align closely with my own. Consequently I was delighted to see her take on Lisa Goldstein&#8217;s first adult novel: <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/10/the-ghost-of-revolution-still-prowls-the-paris-streets-lisa-goldsteins-the-dream-years">The Dream Years</a>.  Man, I loved that book&#8211;I came to it a bit later, when Goldstein had a decent backlist, and after reading The Dream Years I tore through them all (even <a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2005/02/11/pseudonymous-synchronicity/">the pseudonymous ones</a>). I might have <a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2009/05/05/goldstein-interview-and-story/">mentioned that before</a>. Check out the review, then if it tickles your fancy at all check out the book&#8211;it&#8217;s great. Hell, I&#8217;m excited right now thinking about the fact that she (finally) has <a href="http://www.tachyonpublications.com/book/UncertainPlaces.html?Session_ID=new">a new book</a> coming out soon. </li>
  253. <li>While we&#8217;re speaking of Jo&#8217;s reviews, I would be remiss if I didn&#8217;t note that she&#8217;s doing <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/10/not-a-moment-to-be-lost-patrick-obrians-aubrey-maturin-series">a book-by-book reread of Patrick O&#8217;Brian&#8217;s Aubrey/Maturin books</a>. I love those things&#8211;I think I last mentioned them in a general writeup of <a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2008/12/27/with-a-bit-of-history/">good historical fiction</a>. So far I&#8217;ve only seen <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/10/it-could-not-have-fallen-more-happily-patrick-obrians-master-and-commander">a specific writeup on the first book</a>, but in addition to the fun of reading the writeup, it also pointed me <a href="http://www.cannonade.net/map.php?Post_Captain">here</a>, where I can see <a href="http://www.cannonade.net/map.php?Post_Captain">detailed map</a>s of all the sailing in each of the books. Man I love the Internet sometimes.</li>
  254. <li>Sometimes when <a href="http://whatever.scalzi.com/2010/10/02/when-the-yogurt-took-over-a-short-story/">you read a story</a>, you can just tell that the author is &#8220;not losing a bet&#8221; (maybe with himself).</li>
  255. <li>Another favourite author <a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/index.php?s=hal+duncan">here at Homo Sum</a> is <a href="http://notesfromthegeekshow.blogspot.com/">Hal Duncan</a>, perhaps as much for <a href="http://notesfromthegeekshow.blogspot.com/">his blog</a> as for his fiction. Papaveria Press has just put out <a href="http://www.papaveria.com/the-lucifer-cantos/">a tiny-but-lovely edition</a> of his <a href="http://notesfromthegeekshow.blogspot.com/2009/07/lucifer-cantos.html">Lucifer Cantos</a>&#8211;which same poems are available <a href="http://notesfromthegeekshow.blogspot.com/2009/07/lucifer-cantos.html">free to read on the web</a>, but without the same physical object appeal of course. The photos online look lovely, and I&#8217;ve snatched up a copy. I just <a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/index.php?s=%22proud+and+unrepentant%22">can&#8217;t resist Lucifer</a>, apparently.</li>
  256. </ul>
  257. <p>..and that&#8217;s not even half the book stuff windows, but it&#8217;s enough for tonight.</p>
  258.  
  259. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  260. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/authors/" title="authors">authors</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/beautiful-things/" title="beautiful things">beautiful things</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/benevolent-surrealism/" title="benevolent surrealism">benevolent surrealism</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/books/" title="Books">Books</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/emma-bull/" title="emma bull">emma bull</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/free/" title="free">free</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/lucifer/" title="lucifer">lucifer</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/poetry/" title="poetry">poetry</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/recommended/" title="recommended">recommended</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/science-fiction/" title="science fiction">science fiction</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/shared-world/" title="shared world">shared world</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/steve-brust/" title="Steve Brust">Steve Brust</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/things-to-buy/" title="things to buy">things to buy</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/things-to-read/" title="things to read">things to read</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/walter-jon-williams/" title="Walter Jon Williams">Walter Jon Williams</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/will-shetterly/" title="will shetterly">will shetterly</a> <br /> </div>
  261. </div>
  262. ]]></content:encoded>
  263. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/10/an-eclectic-bit-of-bookery/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  264. <slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
  265. </item>
  266. <item>
  267. <title>Aside: Northern Lights Are Cool</title>
  268. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/09/aside-northern-lights-are-cool/</link>
  269. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  270. <pubDate>Sat, 09 Oct 2010 18:56:06 +0000</pubDate>
  271. <category><![CDATA[Aside]]></category>
  272. <category><![CDATA[One-and-done]]></category>
  273. <category><![CDATA[Science and Technology]]></category>
  274. <category><![CDATA[astronomy]]></category>
  275. <category><![CDATA[something great]]></category>
  276. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3836</guid>
  277.  
  278. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">Why yes, I do believe I will be showing my daughter the cool videos from AuroraMax. Nice to see (a tiny, tiny slice of) my tax dollars at work for something cool. Tags: astronomy, something great <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/09/aside-northern-lights-are-cool/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  279. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Why yes, I do believe I will be showing my daughter the cool videos from <a href="http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/auroramax/">AuroraMax</a>. Nice to see (a tiny, tiny slice of) my tax dollars at work for something cool.</p>
  280.  
  281. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  282. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/astronomy/" title="astronomy">astronomy</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/something-great/" title="something great">something great</a> <br /> </div>
  283. </div>
  284. ]]></content:encoded>
  285. </item>
  286. <item>
  287. <title>Up there with Obi Wan</title>
  288. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/09/up-there-with-obi-wan/</link>
  289. <comments>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/09/up-there-with-obi-wan/#comments</comments>
  290. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  291. <pubDate>Sat, 09 Oct 2010 12:28:35 +0000</pubDate>
  292. <category><![CDATA[One-and-done]]></category>
  293. <category><![CDATA[history]]></category>
  294. <category><![CDATA[journalism]]></category>
  295. <category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
  296. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3834</guid>
  297.  
  298. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">I was recently pointed at an article in the Telegraph about how Druidry has just been recognized as a religion in the UK. The article ran with headline &#8220;Druidry recognised as religion in Britain for first time&#8221; and subhead &#8220;Druidry has been recognised as an official religion in Britain for the first time, thousands of years after its adherents first&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/09/up-there-with-obi-wan/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  299. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was recently pointed at <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8036952/Druidry-recognised-as-religion-in-Britain-for-first-time.html">an article in the Telegraph</a> about how Druidry has just been recognized as a religion in the UK.</p>
  300. <p>The article ran with headline &#8220;<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8036952/Druidry-recognised-as-religion-in-Britain-for-first-time.html">Druidry recognised as religion in Britain for first time</a>&#8221; and subhead &#8220;Druidry has been recognised as an official religion in Britain for the first time, thousands of years after its adherents first worshipped in the country&#8221; and the text of the article starts out like this:</p>
  301. <blockquote><p>The Druid Network has been given charitable status by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the quango that decides what counts as a genuine faith as well as regulating fundraising bodies.</p>
  302. <p>It guarantees the modern group, set up in 2003, valuable tax breaks but also grants the ancient religion equal status to more mainstream denominations.</p></blockquote>
  303. <p>So there seem to be two things there: some kind of formal recognition of &#8220;Druidry&#8221; as a religion, and then specific granting of some tax benefits to a particular small (250 people) organization under the aegis of this newly recognized religion.</p>
  304. <p>That&#8217;s lovely and all&#8211;I mean if <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/10/09/jedi_knights_achieve_official_recognition/">the Jedi are recognized in the UK</a><footnote>Yes, I know that what the Charity Commission recognizes and what&#8217;s on the Census are two different things, but let me have the joke, OK?</footnote>, it&#8217;s probably OK to let the white-robed Stonehenge types be recognized as well.</p>
  305. <p>But&#8230; it is kind of sad that the article (and all the other ones I could Google on the story) just seem to take on faith that Druidry as practiced by these people (and the other few thousand who claim it) bears some connection to the &#8220;ancient religion&#8221; who&#8217;s adherents first worshipped &#8220;thousands of years&#8221; ago. Because that part is bunk. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-druidism">Modern Druidry</a> is a made-up thing based on some (later proved incorrect) Romantic ideas about what the old school druids were. </p>
  306. <p>Here&#8217;s <a href="http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/article_index/d/the_druids.aspx">the British Museum</a>&#8216;s comment, but you can find a ton of confirmation with a bit of research:</p>
  307. <blockquote><p>Modern Druids have no direct connection to the Druids of the Iron Age. Many of our popular ideas about the Druids are based on the misunderstandings and misconceptions of scholars 200 years ago. These ideas have been superceded by later study and discoveries. In particular, there is no link between the Iron Age Druids and the people who built and worshipped at Stonehenge, Wiltshire. This ancient monument was part of a religion that ended before the Iron Age began.</p></blockquote>
  308. <p>Good on the Druid Network for getting their religion recognized&#8211;I consider it as valid as all the others<footnote>Which, if you&#8217;ve been paying attention, you will know isn&#8217;t actually saying much.</footnote>&#8211;but boo to the &#8220;journalists&#8221; who would rather write the lovely sounding &#8220;thousands of years&#8221; headings than actually, you know, inform people. While the practices and beliefs of modern day Druids may well be commendable it would be a shame if getting this recognition just reinforced in the general public the faulty idea that there are directly connected historical roots to those practices and beliefs.</p>
  309.  
  310. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  311. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/history/" title="history">history</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/journalism/" title="journalism">journalism</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/religion/" title="religion">religion</a> <br /> </div>
  312. </div>
  313. ]]></content:encoded>
  314. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/09/up-there-with-obi-wan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  315. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
  316. </item>
  317. <item>
  318. <title>Aside: I learned a new thing</title>
  319. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/08/aside-i-learned-a-new-thing/</link>
  320. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  321. <pubDate>Fri, 08 Oct 2010 22:19:36 +0000</pubDate>
  322. <category><![CDATA[Aside]]></category>
  323. <category><![CDATA[One-and-done]]></category>
  324. <category><![CDATA[booze]]></category>
  325. <category><![CDATA[hypocrisy]]></category>
  326. <category><![CDATA[language]]></category>
  327. <category><![CDATA[philosophy]]></category>
  328. <category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
  329. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3832</guid>
  330.  
  331. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">Now that I have learned of it, I will be desperately searching for appropriate places to work the phrase &#8220;if-by-whiskey&#8221; or &#8220;if-by-whiskey fallacy&#8221; into my everyday communications. Also, the canonical example of it is pretty great. (And apparently old men in Mississippi don&#8217;t mind having a nip in the morning.) Tags: booze, hypocrisy, language, philosophy, politics <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/08/aside-i-learned-a-new-thing/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  332. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Now that I have learned of it, I will be desperately searching for appropriate places to work the phrase &#8220;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If-by-whiskey">if-by-whiskey</a>&#8221; or &#8220;if-by-whiskey fallacy&#8221; into my everyday communications. Also, the canonical example of it is pretty great. (And apparently old men in Mississippi don&#8217;t mind having a nip in the morning.)</p>
  333.  
  334. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  335. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/booze/" title="booze">booze</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/hypocrisy/" title="hypocrisy">hypocrisy</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/language/" title="language">language</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/philosophy/" title="philosophy">philosophy</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/politics/" title="politics">politics</a> <br /> </div>
  336. </div>
  337. ]]></content:encoded>
  338. </item>
  339. <item>
  340. <title>The Great Red Eye</title>
  341. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/08/the-great-red-eye/</link>
  342. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  343. <pubDate>Fri, 08 Oct 2010 14:24:29 +0000</pubDate>
  344. <category><![CDATA[Science and Technology]]></category>
  345. <category><![CDATA[astronomy]]></category>
  346. <category><![CDATA[image processing]]></category>
  347. <category><![CDATA[internet]]></category>
  348. <category><![CDATA[science]]></category>
  349. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3830</guid>
  350.  
  351. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">One the great myths&#8211;in the sense of &#8220;stories we tell ourselves to understand the world&#8221;, not in the sense of &#8220;lie to be disproven&#8221;&#8211;of the Internet is how connectivity and open access to data enables all kinds of things to happen. One of the great myths of science is that sharing data allows for the pool of knowledge to continue&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/08/the-great-red-eye/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  352. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2010/10/red_spot.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="The Red Spot of Jupiter, scaled down image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2010/10/_red_spot.jpg" title="The Red Spot of Jupiter, scaled down image" alt="The Red Spot of Jupiter, scaled down image" width="400" height="300" class="aligncenter"/></a></p>
  353. <p>One the great myths&#8211;in the sense of &#8220;stories we tell ourselves to understand the world&#8221;, not in the sense of &#8220;lie to be disproven&#8221;&#8211;of the Internet is how connectivity and open access to data enables all kinds of things to happen.</p>
  354. <p>One of the great myths of science is that sharing data allows for the pool of knowledge to continue to grow&#8211;one of the few true commons that we still have.</p>
  355. <p>And that image you see above is a nice illustration of both of those myths. It a scaled down version of a new image of Jupiter&#8217;s Red Spot that was created by an Icelandic amateur, working from Voyager image data.</p>
  356. <p>Yes, I said Voyager&#8211;images that have been available for 30+ years, and now that access to them is relatively easy, interested people can work with them and produce things like this image. An image which is arguably better than any we&#8217;ve ever had before.</p>
  357. <p>The picture up top is a little 400px thumbnail that blows up to an 800px version, but <a href="http://www.planetary.org/image/jupiter_vgr1_grs_4x3_mosaic_p_67pct.jpg">the actual image</a> is&#8230; rather larger.</p>
  358. <p>Details are of the creation of the image, and some other related images, can be found at <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002644/">the Planetary Society blog</a>. </p>
  359.  
  360. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  361. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/astronomy/" title="astronomy">astronomy</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/image-processing/" title="image processing">image processing</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/internet/" title="internet">internet</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/science/" title="science">science</a> <br /> </div>
  362. </div>
  363. ]]></content:encoded>
  364. </item>
  365. <item>
  366. <title>He should have talked to Kubrick</title>
  367. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/07/he-should-have-talked-to-kubrick/</link>
  368. <comments>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/07/he-should-have-talked-to-kubrick/#comments</comments>
  369. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  370. <pubDate>Fri, 08 Oct 2010 00:49:50 +0000</pubDate>
  371. <category><![CDATA[One-and-done]]></category>
  372. <category><![CDATA[broken]]></category>
  373. <category><![CDATA[death]]></category>
  374. <category><![CDATA[futility]]></category>
  375. <category><![CDATA[insanity]]></category>
  376. <category><![CDATA[philosophy]]></category>
  377. <category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
  378. <category><![CDATA[singularity]]></category>
  379. <category><![CDATA[spirituality]]></category>
  380. <category><![CDATA[the bad crazy]]></category>
  381. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3827</guid>
  382.  
  383. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">I have just lost a couple of hours to a suicide note. And I barely dipped my toe in. Here&#8217;s the background on the young man who killed himself after spending a huge amount of time preparing a 1900+ page suicide note that works out a philosophical justification for suicide based on a kind of existential nihilism. But if the&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/07/he-should-have-talked-to-kubrick/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  384. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have just lost a couple of hours to a suicide note. And I barely dipped my toe in.</p>
  385. <p>Here&#8217;s the <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/09/27/book_details_motives_for_suicide_at_harvard/?page=full">background</a> on the young man who killed himself after spending a huge amount of time preparing a 1900+ page suicide note that works out a philosophical justification for suicide based on a kind of existential nihilism.</p>
  386. <blockquote><p>But if the 1,905-page suicide note he left is to be believed — a work he spent five years honing and that his family and others received in a posthumous e-mail after his suicide last Saturday morning on Yom Kippur — Heisman took his life as part of a philosophical exploration he called “an experiment in nihilism.’’</p>
  387. <p>At the end of his note, a dense, scholarly work with 1,433 footnotes, a 20-page bibliography, and more than 1,700 references to God and 200 references to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Heisman sums up his experiment:</p>
  388. <p>“Every word, every thought, and every emotion come back to one core problem: life is meaningless,’’ he wrote. “The experiment in nihilism is to seek out and expose every illusion and every myth, wherever it may lead, no matter what, even if it kills us.’’</p></blockquote>
  389. <p>(lots more at <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/09/27/book_details_motives_for_suicide_at_harvard/?page=full">the article</a>)</p>
  390. <p>Towards the end of the note, it&#8217;s author expresses things quite concisely:</p>
  391. <blockquote><p>After systematically interpreting my emotions are material processes for at least a year and a half, the cause of life simply lost its cogency.</p></blockquote>
  392. <p>There are a couple of standard reactions when a very smart person really internalizes that life is inherently meaningless. One is a hard turn to religion. Another is to find it incredibly funny. Yet another is to develop a kind of &#8220;that just means I have to bring my own meaning to it&#8217; philosophy. Sadly, being kind of broken by it is not terrifically uncommon for people who don&#8217;t tend to one of the other paths.</p>
  393. <p>Being kind of broken in a way that leads to preparing a couple of thousand pages of treatise explaining your conclusions and then following through on them&#8211;without engaging with another person<footnote>A living person, in an interactive engagement, I mean. It&#8217;s clear from the note that he was engaging with the ideas of a lot of people through the history of philosophy.</footnote>&#8211;is, however, terrifically uncommon.</p>
  394. <p>And it&#8217;s uncommon in a way that kind of fascinates me. If I&#8217;m not careful I&#8217;m going to end up first reading that whole thing, and then trying to rebut it. (A similar thing happened to me with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exegesis_%28book%29">Dick&#8217;s Exegesis</a>, and I&#8217;m not interested in going down that kind of rabbit hole again.) I&#8217;ve already spent too much time reading his expression of the argument that technological nihilism <em>is</em> God, and that the Singularity might be a way to sidestep the &#8220;equality problem&#8221; of all choices being equally meaningless.</p>
  395. <p>You can read the note, or download it in PDF form, from <a href="http://www.suicidenote.info/">here</a> (and I do think it&#8217;s terrifically weird that the newspaper story mentions the website, but doesn&#8217;t cite it.)</p>
  396.  
  397. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  398. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/broken/" title="broken">broken</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/death/" title="death">death</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/futility/" title="futility">futility</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/insanity/" title="insanity">insanity</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/philosophy/" title="philosophy">philosophy</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/religion/" title="religion">religion</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/singularity/" title="singularity">singularity</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/spirituality/" title="spirituality">spirituality</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/the-bad-crazy/" title="the bad crazy">the bad crazy</a> <br /> </div>
  399. </div>
  400. ]]></content:encoded>
  401. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/07/he-should-have-talked-to-kubrick/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  402. <slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
  403. </item>
  404. <item>
  405. <title>As a &#8220;face man&#8221;, I find this comforting</title>
  406. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/07/as-a-face-man-i-find-this-comforting/</link>
  407. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  408. <pubDate>Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:13:22 +0000</pubDate>
  409. <category><![CDATA[Science and Technology]]></category>
  410. <category><![CDATA[academic papers]]></category>
  411. <category><![CDATA[cultural differences]]></category>
  412. <category><![CDATA[evolutionary biology]]></category>
  413. <category><![CDATA[gender]]></category>
  414. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3822</guid>
  415.  
  416. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">So, did you see that recent paper in Evolution and Human BehaviourI fixed the spelling for them there. about the different ways that men and women evaluate attractiveness in potential long- and short- term partners? You&#8217;d remember the title: &#8220;More than just a pretty face&#8220;. If you didn&#8217;t, or don&#8217;t want to follow the link, here&#8217;s the abstract: Studies of&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/07/as-a-face-man-i-find-this-comforting/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  417. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2010/10/boxes.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Face boxes and body boxes"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2010/10/_boxes.jpg" title="Face boxes and body boxes" alt="Face boxes and body boxes" width="200" height="395" class="aligncenter"/></a></p>
  418. <p>So, did you see that recent paper in <a href="http://www.ehbonline.org/">Evolution and Human Behaviour</a><footnote>I fixed the spelling for them there.</footnote> about the different ways that men and women evaluate attractiveness in potential long- and short- term partners? You&#8217;d remember the title: &#8220;<a href="http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/Group/BussLAB/pdffiles/pretty_face_2010.pdf">More than just a pretty face</a>&#8220;.</p>
  419. <p>If you didn&#8217;t, or don&#8217;t want to follow the link, here&#8217;s the abstract:</p>
  420. <blockquote><p>Studies of physical attractiveness have long emphasized the constituent features that make faces and bodies attractive, such as symmetry, skin texture, and waist-to-hip ratio. Few studies, however, have examined the reproductively relevant cues conveyed by faces and bodies as whole units. Based on the premise that fertility cues are more readily assessed from a woman’s body than her face, the present study tested the hypothesis that men evaluating a potential short-term mate would give higher priority to information gleaned from her body, relative to her face, than men evaluating a potential long-term mate. Male and female participants (N375) were instructed to consider dating an opposite sex individual, whose face was occluded by a “face box’ and whose body was occluded by a “body box,’ as a short-term or long- term mate. With the instruction that only one box could be removed to make their decision about their willingness to engage in the designated relationship with the occluded individual, significantly more men assigned to the short-term, compared to the long-term, mating condition removed the body box. Women’s face versus body information choice, in contrast, was unaffected by the temporal dimension of the mating condition. These results suggest that men, but not women, have a condition-dependent adaptive proclivity to prioritize facial cues in long-term mating contexts, but shift their priorities toward bodily cues in short-term mating contexts. </p></blockquote>
  421. <p>While I&#8217;m not terribly surprised to find that men behave like dogs when explicitly looking for a one-night stand, I am comforted to see that most humans gravitate to the face when selecting with the longer term in mind. This means I am not as unusual as I sometimes feel when people<footnote>men</footnote> discuss their &#8220;breast man&#8221;/&#8221;ass man&#8221; status. Of course I&#8217;m probably still a bit of an outlier with respect to the weight I give to hair when judging attractiveness.</p>
  422. <p>Anyway, while the results are interesting, I&#8217;m skeptical that they say anything about evolution necessarily, and I&#8217;d explain why, but <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/27/men-look-at-women-s-bodies-is-evolution-at-work.html">Newsweek has already done that work</a> for me:</p>
  423. <blockquote><p>The study may provide new insight into people’s romantic preferences today, but critics say the findings may tell us more about Western values than about human biology—which may often be the case with research that attempts to assign evolutionary motives to modern behavior. Indeed, the study looked only at 375 college students on one campus, the University of Texas at Austin. Massimo Pigliucci, an evolutionary biologist and philosopher at Lehman College of the City University of New York, says that further research across cultures and time would be needed to make a compelling case for evolution’s role in the results. Moreover, Pigliucci suspects that some cultural forces are at work. “We live in a society where it’s OK for a man to look at a body, but for a woman it’s considered a little beneath her to be interested in physical appearance,” he says. “I would be surprised if that were true in a culture where there are no TV ads and where people go around naked on a regular basis.”</p></blockquote>
  424. <p>I wonder what kind of experiment you could do to distinguish evolutionary preferences among sexes from socially programed ones?</p>
  425.  
  426. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  427. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/academic-papers/" title="academic papers">academic papers</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/cultural-differences/" title="cultural differences">cultural differences</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/evolutionary-biology/" title="evolutionary biology">evolutionary biology</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/gender/" title="gender">gender</a> <br /> </div>
  428. </div>
  429. ]]></content:encoded>
  430. </item>
  431. <item>
  432. <title>Aside: Harper government in &#8220;bunch o’ douchnozzles&#8221; shocker</title>
  433. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/06/aside-harper-government-bunch-o-douchnozzle-shocker/</link>
  434. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  435. <pubDate>Thu, 07 Oct 2010 03:12:41 +0000</pubDate>
  436. <category><![CDATA[Aside]]></category>
  437. <category><![CDATA[Head-Explodes]]></category>
  438. <category><![CDATA[Political]]></category>
  439. <category><![CDATA[fuck you stephen harper]]></category>
  440. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3820</guid>
  441.  
  442. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">Speaking of governmental douche baggery, don&#8217;t think that my lack of constant complaint about Harper and almost EVERY DECISION he makes means I&#8217;m not constantly enraged&#8211;I&#8217;m just deep in outrage fatigue at this point. Everywhere I turn there are utterly reprehensible decisions. Sending Canadian citizens to serve time in US prisons for things that aren&#8217;t crimes in Canada, refusing to&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/06/aside-harper-government-bunch-o-douchnozzle-shocker/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  443. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Speaking of governmental douche baggery, don&#8217;t think that my lack of constant complaint about Harper and almost EVERY DECISION he makes means I&#8217;m not constantly enraged&#8211;I&#8217;m just deep in outrage fatigue at this point. Everywhere I turn there are utterly reprehensible decisions. Sending Canadian citizens to serve time in US prisons for things that aren&#8217;t crimes in Canada, refusing to do anything to help Canadian citizens threatened with death or torture in other countries, pushing terrible copyright legislation, pretty much everything about the G20 handling, indefensibly stupid action on the census (oh, and Tony, if <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/census/article/871359--even-one-dissenting-canadian-enough-to-kill-long-form-census-says-clement?bn=1">one citizen&#8217;s complaints are enough to change government policy</a>, well, I&#8217;ve got a LOOONG list for you), <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2010/09/29/federal-scientists-media-government.html">Lysenkoist interference with science</a>, and&#8230; well the list goes on. Can we kick these bums out yet?</p>
  444.  
  445. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  446. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/fuck-you-stephen-harper/" title="fuck you stephen harper">fuck you stephen harper</a> <br /> </div>
  447. </div>
  448. ]]></content:encoded>
  449. </item>
  450. <item>
  451. <title>What the hell, Obama?</title>
  452. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/06/what-the-hell-obama/</link>
  453. <comments>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/06/what-the-hell-obama/#comments</comments>
  454. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  455. <pubDate>Thu, 07 Oct 2010 02:59:53 +0000</pubDate>
  456. <category><![CDATA[Head-Explodes]]></category>
  457. <category><![CDATA[Political]]></category>
  458. <category><![CDATA[civil liberties]]></category>
  459. <category><![CDATA[creepy things]]></category>
  460. <category><![CDATA[disgusting]]></category>
  461. <category><![CDATA[hypocrisy]]></category>
  462. <category><![CDATA[law]]></category>
  463. <category><![CDATA[obama]]></category>
  464. <category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
  465. <category><![CDATA[USA]]></category>
  466. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3817</guid>
  467.  
  468. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">If you&#8217;ve read here over the last year, you&#8217;ll know that I&#8217;ve pretty much lost all hope that Obama is going to fix things&#8211;I&#8217;m willing to live with &#8220;won&#8217;t make it worse&#8221;, and clearly he was a better choice than the alternative, but I am labouring under no illusion now that he&#8217;s going to actually undo all the evils of&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/06/what-the-hell-obama/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  469. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you&#8217;ve read here over the last year, you&#8217;ll know that I&#8217;ve pretty much <a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2009/10/05/aside-more-obama-issues/">lost</a> <a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2009/09/16/not-up-to-par/">all hope</a> <a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2009/05/26/putting-it-in-context/">that</a> Obama is going to fix things&#8211;I&#8217;m willing to live with &#8220;won&#8217;t make it worse&#8221;, and clearly he was a better choice than the alternative, but I am labouring under no illusion now that he&#8217;s going to actually undo all the evils of the previous administration.</p>
  470. <p>But it still kind of breaks my heart when he not just fails to fix a problem, but actually goes out and does wrong.</p>
  471. <p>Let me <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/25/secrecy">quote</a>:</p>
  472. <blockquote><p>At this point, I didn&#8217;t believe it was possible, but the Obama administration has just reached an all-new low in its abysmal civil liberties record.&nbsp; In response to <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/08/30/assassinations">the lawsuit filed by Anwar Awlaki&#8217;s father</a> asking a court to enjoin the President from assassinating his son, a U.S. citizen, without any due process, the&nbsp;administration late last night, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/25/AR2010092500560.html?hpid=topnews">according to <em>The Washington Post</em></a>, filed <a target="_blank" href="http://static1.firedoglake.com/28/files/2010/09/100925-Al-Aulaqi-USG-PI-Opp-MTD-Brief-FILED.pdf">a brief</a> asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit without hearing the merits of the claims. &nbsp;That&#8217;s not surprising:&nbsp; both the&nbsp;Bush and&nbsp;Obama administrations have repeatedly insisted that their secret conduct is legal but nonetheless urge courts not to even rule on its legality.&nbsp;&nbsp;But what&#8217;s most notable here is that one of the arguments the Obama DOJ raises to demand dismissal of this lawsuit is &#8220;state secrets&#8221;:&nbsp; in other words, <em>not only does the President have the right to sentence Americans to death with no due process or charges of any kind, but his decisions as to who will be killed and why he wants them dead are &#8220;state secrets,&#8221;&nbsp;and thus no court may adjudicate their legality.</em></p></blockquote>
  473. <p>This is particularly egregious because Obama is a smart guy, so he doesn&#8217;t get the Bush-pass of &#8220;he doesn&#8217;t understand the ramifications&#8221;&#8211;hell, dude was a professor of constitutional law: he SHOULD KNOW BETTER. If anyone should understand &#8220;checks and balances&#8221; and the limits of government power&#8230; (Not to mention the specific constitutional issues around the requirement for treason to be proven via due process, and that nobody gets killed without it&#8211;see <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/25/secrecy">Greenwald&#8217;s article</a>.)</p>
  474. <p>I also find this argument especially bitterly ironic in light of Obama&#8217;s stated position on transparency.</p>
  475. <p>Let me quote <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/25/secrecy">Glen</a> again:</p>
  476. <blockquote><p>If the President has the power to order American citizens killed with no due process, and to do so in such complete secrecy that no courts can even review his decisions, then what doesn&#8217;t he have the power to do?</p></blockquote>
  477. <p>I&#8217;m just <em>disgusted</em>. With Obama. With the advisors who are telling him this is the right way to go. With the people who support it. With anyone who doesn&#8217;t understand just what allowing this means about a society.</p>
  478.  
  479. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  480. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/civil-liberties/" title="civil liberties">civil liberties</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/creepy-things/" title="creepy things">creepy things</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/disgusting/" title="disgusting">disgusting</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/hypocrisy/" title="hypocrisy">hypocrisy</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/law/" title="law">law</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/obama/" title="obama">obama</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/politics/" title="politics">politics</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/usa/" title="USA">USA</a> <br /> </div>
  481. </div>
  482. ]]></content:encoded>
  483. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/06/what-the-hell-obama/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  484. <slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
  485. </item>
  486. <item>
  487. <title>It&#8217;s Really Not Plausible</title>
  488. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/04/its-really-not-plausible/</link>
  489. <comments>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/04/its-really-not-plausible/#comments</comments>
  490. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  491. <pubDate>Tue, 05 Oct 2010 03:14:09 +0000</pubDate>
  492. <category><![CDATA[Storytime]]></category>
  493. <category><![CDATA[Family]]></category>
  494. <category><![CDATA[parenting]]></category>
  495. <category><![CDATA[photography]]></category>
  496. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3815</guid>
  497.  
  498. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">I find it highly unlikely that something this cute could share a significant portion of genes with me. (Of course, if you talk with her for a while, and find out that she&#8217;s full to the brim with the good crazy, then you might start to believe she&#8217;s actually my kid, all appearances to the contrary&#8230;) Tags: Family, parenting, photography <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/04/its-really-not-plausible/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  499. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I find it highly unlikely that something this cute could share a significant portion of genes with me.</p>
  500. <p><a href="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2010/10/2cute.jpg" rel="lightbox" title="Too Cute At The Zoo"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/wp-content/images/2010/10/_2cute.jpg" title="Too Cute At The Zoo" alt="Too Cute At The Zoo" width="400" height="320" class="aligncenter"/></a></p>
  501. <p>(Of course, if you talk with her for a while, and find out that she&#8217;s full to the brim with the good crazy, then you might start to believe she&#8217;s actually my kid, all appearances to the contrary&#8230;)</p>
  502.  
  503. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  504. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/family/" title="Family">Family</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/parenting/" title="parenting">parenting</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/photography/" title="photography">photography</a> <br /> </div>
  505. </div>
  506. ]]></content:encoded>
  507. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/10/04/its-really-not-plausible/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  508. <slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
  509. </item>
  510. <item>
  511. <title>Suprising Exactly No One</title>
  512. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/09/28/suprising-exactly-no-one/</link>
  513. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  514. <pubDate>Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:51:35 +0000</pubDate>
  515. <category><![CDATA[Political]]></category>
  516. <category><![CDATA[economics]]></category>
  517. <category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
  518. <category><![CDATA[USA]]></category>
  519. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3813</guid>
  520.  
  521. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">Guess what the newly released Census data shows? U.S. income inequality at its highest level since the Census Bureau began tracking household income in 1967. The U.S. also has the greatest disparity among Western industrialized nations. There&#8217;s more at the article, like this: The top-earning 20 percent of Americans — those making more than $100,000 each year — received 49.4&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/09/28/suprising-exactly-no-one/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  522. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Guess what the <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCuYeWPyl7zqXPWi1Ck9mmYyAr7wD9IGP99G1?docId=D9IGP99G1">newly released Census</a> data shows?</p>
  523. <blockquote><p>U.S. income inequality at its highest level since the Census Bureau began tracking household income in 1967. The U.S. also has the greatest disparity among Western industrialized nations.</p></blockquote>
  524. <p>There&#8217;s more at <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCuYeWPyl7zqXPWi1Ck9mmYyAr7wD9IGP99G1?docId=D9IGP99G1">the article</a>, like this:</p>
  525. <blockquote><p>The top-earning 20 percent of Americans — those making more than $100,000 each year — received 49.4 percent of all income generated in the U.S., compared with the 3.4 percent earned by those below the poverty line</p></blockquote>
  526. <p>I kind of like the <a href="http://investmentwatchblog.com/the-gap-between-the-rich-and-the-poor-grew-to-the-widest-amount-on-record-in-2009-according-to-newly-released-census-figures/">quick analysis at InvestmentWatchBlog</a>. I want to quote all three paragraphs, but since that&#8217;s the whole post it might seem sketchy. I&#8217;ll just grab the ending:</p>
  527. <blockquote><p>Who wins? No one in the long-run, but in the short-run, certain wealth individuals benefit significantly on both ends of the equation.</p></blockquote>
  528. <p>This might explain why Harper wants to neuter our census&#8211;it&#8217;s harder to maintain ideological fictions when the hard data shows exactly what the actual, not ideological, results of your policies are.</p>
  529.  
  530. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  531. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/economics/" title="economics">economics</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/politics/" title="politics">politics</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/usa/" title="USA">USA</a> <br /> </div>
  532. </div>
  533. ]]></content:encoded>
  534. </item>
  535. <item>
  536. <title>Aside: An example for North America to ignore</title>
  537. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/09/27/aside-an-example-for-north-america-to-ignore/</link>
  538. <comments>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/09/27/aside-an-example-for-north-america-to-ignore/#comments</comments>
  539. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  540. <pubDate>Tue, 28 Sep 2010 03:57:47 +0000</pubDate>
  541. <category><![CDATA[Aside]]></category>
  542. <category><![CDATA[crime]]></category>
  543. <category><![CDATA[law]]></category>
  544. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3810</guid>
  545.  
  546. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">Did you know that Portugal basically decriminalized all drugs in 2001? Take a guess what the results have been over the intervening decade. If you guessed that the results would be a drop in drug use, a drop in HIV cases arising from drug use, and a big jump in people in treatment programs, you&#8217;d be right. (I wish there&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/09/27/aside-an-example-for-north-america-to-ignore/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  547. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Did you know that Portugal basically decriminalized all drugs in 2001? Take a guess what the results have been over the intervening decade. If you guessed that the results would be a drop in drug use, a drop in HIV cases arising from drug use, and a big jump in people in treatment programs, <a href="http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html">you&#8217;d be right</a>. (I wish there was more in the article about the presence or absence of effects on criminal cash flow arising from the presumable price drop in a decriminalized environment.)</p>
  548.  
  549. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  550. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/crime/" title="crime">crime</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/law/" title="law">law</a> <br /> </div>
  551. </div>
  552. ]]></content:encoded>
  553. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/09/27/aside-an-example-for-north-america-to-ignore/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  554. <slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
  555. </item>
  556. <item>
  557. <title>QOTD: Kubrick does philosophy</title>
  558. <link>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/09/23/qotd-kubrick-does-philosophy/</link>
  559. <comments>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/09/23/qotd-kubrick-does-philosophy/#comments</comments>
  560. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mr. McLaren]]></dc:creator>
  561. <pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:39:02 +0000</pubDate>
  562. <category><![CDATA[Smart Things]]></category>
  563. <category><![CDATA[philosophy]]></category>
  564. <category><![CDATA[quote]]></category>
  565. <guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/?p=3807</guid>
  566.  
  567. <description><![CDATA[<p class="excerpt">Here&#8217;s a quote from Stanley Kubrick, in a Playboy interview, that captures a number of ideas I&#8217;ve liked for a long time (there&#8217;s echoes of Russell, zen, and Lovecraft in there) in a lovely formulation: PLAYBOY: If life is so purposeless, do you feel that it’s worth living? KUBRICK : Yes, for those of us who manage somehow to cope&#8230; <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/09/23/qotd-kubrick-does-philosophy/">Read more &#8594;</a></p>]]></description>
  568. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here&#8217;s a quote from Stanley Kubrick, in a Playboy interview, that captures a number of ideas I&#8217;ve liked for a long time (there&#8217;s echoes of Russell, zen, and Lovecraft in there) in a lovely formulation:</p>
  569. <blockquote><p><strong>PLAYBOY</strong>: If life is so purposeless, do you feel that it’s worth living? </p>
  570. <p><strong>KUBRICK </strong>: Yes, for those of us who manage somehow to cope with our mortality. The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay begins to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their <em>joie de vivre</em>, their Idealism—and their assumption of Immortality. As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But if he’s reasonably strong—and lucky—he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s <em>élan</em>. Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can forge a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation. He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining. The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death—however mutable man may be able to make them—our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfilment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light. </p></blockquote>
  571.  
  572. <div class="taxopress-output-wrapper"> <div class="st-post-tags ">Tags:  
  573. <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/philosophy/" title="philosophy">philosophy</a>, <a href="https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/tag/quote/" title="quote">quote</a> <br /> </div>
  574. </div>
  575. ]]></content:encoded>
  576. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.chrismclaren.com/blog/2010/09/23/qotd-kubrick-does-philosophy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  577. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
  578. </item>
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