too many topics,

    too little time.

Reality Bites: Worst Game Evar:
This is not a game, it is work. Games are supposed to be immersive and fun, SecondLife fails miserably at this. Most disappointing game ever, waste of downloading/patching time.I don’t care if Linden Labs sees this blog post and finds it offensive in some way, but instead of figuring out how to make it a COMMERCIAL success, they first need to make it enjoyable. If it wasn’t for school, I would have uninstalled it after five seconds.

——

A nice critique of second life from a student trying to finish an assignment in world… I think he is spot on that it is closer to work… but then… what isn’t work, in nyc… play is some of the hardest work you’ll find.

Clifford Geertz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Clifford James Geertz (born August 23, 1926 in San Francisco, died October 30, 2006) was an American anthropologist and served until his death as professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey.

——–

Clifford Geertz passed away. I first saw it at savage minds

so… there is this thing… called National Novel Writers Month. (its november) The goal is to write a 175 novel by the end of the month… that is the goal, 50000 words. I have another project or two to done in the same time… and they amount to about 50000 words. Is it possible to write 50000 words of academic prose in a month? yes, will it be any good? some will, some won’t, but if i manage to finish these drafts, I can then go on and revise them for months…. So, here is what I’m thinking. I’m going to do NaNoWriMo. I’m just going to post my word count to my blog each day. The goal is to add 50000 words of academic prose by the end of the month. It will be a challenge, it won’t be a novel, but it is 30 days of writing, some of which i’m traveling, but eh…. They key is to write, each and every day, averaging 1500+ words per day. Editing is of course, extra.

So from Nov. 1 to nov. 30. this blog will only be posting the wordcount and the wordcount of that day. I have three projects that i need to work on, but I’ll only be posting the totals. There will probably other little descriptions of what I’m doing that day too.

(part of this is also to break through the lack of confidence that i tend to have in my writing, i need to get past the ‘good’ bit and get to the ‘done’ bit)

so 50000 words… one month…

2:15 sl time. reuters sim in second life is occupied by…. hank voodoo and buridan simon… otherwise… it is a wasteland on a sunday afternoon. This brings into question many thing…. temporality and immediacy of media… to start with, but markets and identity on a second level. It just makes me wonder.

ArchiveGrid — Open the door to history:
ArchiveGrid is an important destination for searching through historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held inarchives around the world.

Thousands of libraries, museums, and archives have contributed nearly a million collection descriptions to ArchiveGrid.

Researchers searching ArchiveGrid can learn about the many items in each of these collections, contact archives to arrange a visit to examine materials, and order copies.

prototype | DLCMS:
What is a DLCMS?

This site is a prototype DLCMS (digital library content management system) built using Drupal, some standrard Drupal modules, and a couple of custom-written modules to add some extra functionality. See the “about” section for more detail.

Papers, Please! » Blog Archive » “Mother, may I?”:
Should you have to ask for permission from the government before you are allowed to get on a plane or cruise ship?
The Department of Homeland Security has proposed that airlines and cruise ships be required to get individual permission (”clearance”) from the DHS for each individual passenger on all flights to, from, or via the U.S. Unless the answer is “Yes” — if the answer is “no” or “maybe”, or if the DHS doesn’t answer at all — the airline wouldn’t be allowed to give you a boarding pass, or let you or your luggage on the plane or ship.

——–

Gahhhh! another overzealous program of fictional protections. People do not, should not, need permission to leave the country. This goes beyond the sillyness problem of security theater in airports and elsewhere and drives right down into our fundamental capacity to be citizens.

Politicizing the IRS is a Political Cancer Symptom:
The NYT reports that the admonistration is manipulating the IRS for political gain: I.R.S. Going Slow Before Election,

The commissioner of internal revenue has ordered his agency to delay collecting back taxes from Hurricane Katrina victims until after the Nov. 7 elections and the holiday season, saying he did so in part to avoid negative publicity.

The commissioner, Mark W. Everson, who has close ties to the White House, said in an interview that postponing collections until after the midterm elections, along with postponing notices to people who failed to file tax returns, was a routine effort to avoid casting the Internal Revenue Service in a bad light.

Except that it isn’t routine at all: “four former I.R.S. commissioners, who served under presidents of both parties, said that doing so because of an election was improper and indefensible.”

——-
I agree, this is indefensible. It is wrong to use tax collection or lack of for political purposes. Tax collection is about supporting the critical infrastructure of the nation, and it should never be made to appear to benefit one party or another, it benefits everyone.

:
Your rating regarding science/non-science: 7
Your rating regarding values & humankind: 8

Your position on the worldview spectrum: (8,7)

<a href=”http://www.commongood.org/worldview_quiz.htm”>worldview quiz</a>

it’s my birthday, not your birthday, mine. yep… and picasso’s… and well.. bobby knights…

United Nations Day:
The anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter on 24 October 1945 has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. It has traditionally been marked throughout the world by meetings, discussions and exhibits on the achievements and goals of the Organization. In 1971, the General Assembly recommended that Member States observe it as a public holiday

——-

Happy United Nations Day!

:
s time slides past, doling out its irreversible quanta, perpetual infantility offers us… the perfect wristwatch: shockproof, waterproof, antimagnetic, a perpetual movement which says everything about us except the single intolerable truth: that we have had it and are headed for oblivion, tick by tick.

We have had to make it up as we go along, we Big Babies. And we have not done a terribly good job. We want (don’t we?) to grow up. How? Here’s the simple answer: watch carefully, ask why, and mind our manners. It’s really that simple. How would the world be if everyone did it?
It would be grown up.
How to be an adult

Don’t be affronted Being affronted (or offended, or complaining about ‘inappropriateness’) is no response for a grown-up. Only children believe the world should conform to their own view of it: a sort of magical thinking that can only lead to warfare, terrorism, unmanageable short-term debt and the Blair/Bush alliance

——–
how to be an adult, this is a nice essay.

Los Angeles Times: McCarthyism Without Habeas Corpus:
My mother always said that in the U.S. you had the right to One Phone Call, and that if the men who rang the doorbell came for her, if something were to happen to her, she would let me know. What if there were no One Phone Call?

—–

Indeed, what if there is no habeas corpus for political dissidents? to be an enemy… of your own state. we’ve seen those movies as fictions in the recent history and now they might be more true than false… how can one have the right to their own opinion, the freedom of their own conscience… if they are not free in their own body?

Butterflies and Wheels Article:
The only difference is, this horror story occurs in a book thought to be revealed by a God who is fundamentally good and eternally just, one who rewards whom he wants, humiliates when he wants, is jealous when he feels like it, and compassionate when he doesn’t feel like being jealous. He is a lot like the trolls your grandmother told you about, only he lives in the sky, not under a bridge, and he plays tricks on people rather than goats. This God proves his might by exalting his people over other people, except in those (frequent) cases when it becomes necessary for him to spank his elect so severely they perish at their enemies’ hands. Then their enemies, with his blessing, take away their land, destroy their temple, and send them penniless into dispersion. This God seldom brings you presents; almost always sticks and lumps of coal, for which nonetheless you have to say thank you.

——-

A nice revelation for you about the history of god…. honestly, she doesn’t come when you call, and there’s a reason.

Final Report of the Invitational Workshop on the Comparative Analysis of National Research Systems:

Read the full final report (PDF, 24 pages.)

The Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge examines how research and knowledge are generated, how they are organized and how they play a central role in national development.

—-

This is an interesting, if short comparative report