When Nerds Collide

“Many geeks can tell you stories of how they and a few like-minded companions formed a small community that achieved something great, only to have it taken over by popular loudmouths who considered that greatness theirs by right of social station and kicked the geeks out by enforcing weirdo-hostile social norms. (Consider how many hackerspaces … Read more

The Kuleshov Effect

“In Kuleshov’s view, the cinema consists of fragments and the assembly of those fragments, the assembly of elements which in reality are distinct. It is therefore not the content of the images in a film which is important, but their combination. The raw materials of such an art work need not be original, but are … Read more

The nice thing about the “Rule of Law” framing for an argument …

… is that it’s a really easy way to get people to ignore thinking about the ramifications and consequences of the particular situation, focusing their attention instead on the general opprobrium for the principle of order. The mind gets caught thinking about whether laws, in theory, are good on the whole, and forget to think … Read more

CLYNK™

LOL: “CLYNK brings the power of the sharing economy to the world of punitive incarceration.” http://ift.tt/1xuFg0U Have you ever wondered why city, state, county, and federal governments waste countless millions of dollars on the simple task of keeping the criminal element locked up and off the streets? Have you… Click here for the full article … Read more

What’s in a name?

Information about your likely voting preferences, for one. Did you know over 80% of people named Willie vote democrat? Here’s stats on “Ian” You can search for your own name (and do lots of other interesting experiments) here. via Facebook

My fun Autumn camping trip

I’ve been on a relaxing vacation for the last couple of weeks, and I figured a fun thing to do would be to go out camping and enjoy a little peace and quiet.  So I reserved a cabin way downstate, near Springfield, in the Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish & Wildlife Area. And it was … Read more