Potpourri Catch-Up

Various things I can’t afford to write full blog entries about right now, but that passed by while I was on vacation.

THE GOOD

• How To Discover Classic Doctor Who In 3 Easy Steps… – To the extent that I know Doctor Who, I agree with these recommendations. 
• Magic teaches us about human cognition — UPDATED – This is very cool … how neurology and cognitive studies are illuminated by how we respond to stage magic.
• EFF forces spoon-bender Geller to eat crow over bogus… – Gleeful clapping both for slamming Geller and tossing a goofy copyright/DMCA claim.
• O’Reilly Rejects Right-Wing Defense Of Big Oil’s Massive… – Yes, nearly unheard of that I’d agree with Bill O’Reilly on anything. I’m also amused that Karl Rove would conveniently cite the virtues of government programs that Bush and the Senate GOP have been blocking.
• BgPatterns Generates Tiled Desktop or Web Site Backgrounds… – Marked for reference.
• How it Feels to Fly a Jetpack [Jetpack Flight] – I’ll never actually get to do it, I’m sure, but it sounds so cool!
• Suburboddity – Small doings in small towns.
• Eureka Carpark Melbourne – Very cool to see, though I’m not sure it wouldn’t be way too confusing.
• New OTA site [denialism blog] – What? A non-partisan governmental office that can offer advice on science and technology to Congress and the White House? Where’s the fun in that?

THE BAD

• DMCA does not apply to US government, which can crack… – On the bright side, maybe that means that the Library of Congress can legally break copy protection as part of their charter.
• On Desecration and Perjury, Libel, and Desecration – The whole brouhaha has been intensely annoying, as disingenuous and explicit rudeness vie against a woeful lack of understanding about what Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion actually mean. It’s ironic that folks who insist that Freedom of Religion means their beliefs have to be respected have no trouble vocally and fervently condemning others as immoral and damned.
• Clueless Gingrich Claims Inflating Car Tires Properly… – It’s unclear whether the GOP leadership is being just stupid or assuming the American people are. There’s a pending blog post about this …
• Fiscal Conservative – While it’s a simplistic analysis, if you’re going to claim the title be prepared for the nuance. Either it’s just rhetoric or you need to expect ot be judged by results.
• Abortion protest ethics – It’s a lot easier to simply argue that Evil Abortionists should be sent to prison; easier, at least, than having to face what should be done to the Evil Abortion-Seeking Ex-Mothers. Maybe because the protesters know too many sisters, mothers, daughters, or friends who’ve made that hard decision …
• Hershey’s “Kissables” No Longer Legally Considered… – Given how dubious Hershey’s “milk chocolate” (or milk chocolate in general) already was, this is saying something.
• The Sky Is Falling … On American Values! – Yeah, heaven forbid that Muslim workers in a pretty awful business should be allowed to negotiate what holidays they get to take off.

THE UGLY

• Damn, now we’ll never find out – It will take decades for paranoia about this Administrations penchant for secrecy and anti-science to subside to the normal level of suspicions about any government.
• DHS border policy: we can steal anything from you,… – I feel safer! Really!
• Cheney’s argument for not releasing innocent detainees:… – Feeling safer! Safer!