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    Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
    macraven 3:17a
    Is Monsanto the answer or the problem?

    http://www.haxton.org/weblog/2009/11/10#is_monsanto_the_answer_or_the_problem

    The problem.

    Monsanto -- along with its biggest corporate rivals, charitable foundations, public researchers and others -- is forming a loose coalition of interests instigating a second Green Revolution.

    (link) [Reuters]

    macraven 2:26a
    Dances with Ewes

    http://www.haxton.org/weblog/2009/11/10#dances_with_ewes

    Well, if you've been paying careful attention to the blogroll you'll have noticed a new addition: Dances With Ewes. This is our new farm blog, with Lorraine in charge. And as I write this, she's posting some sad news indeed - we lost Jihad, our youngest Blackie ewe.

    She was one of this years mommas - we had sent her visiting last February, and she had delivered a fine ewe lamb at the end of July. She'd been in "medical" for a while - she'd been trampled, and had apparently developed an abscess on her spine (or some other CNS problem) - she'd get better and then worse. We tried everything we know, but by this afternoon she was unable to stand. We did what we had to do, and dispatched her rapidly and painlessly.

    Lorraine is composing a nice tribute and more of the tale - she's been following her saga rather closely since she launched the blog last week. She was a fine ewe, and we certainly did not want her to end like this. So go check out the tribute at Dances With Ewes, and check back there often for more of our farm news than makes it to MacRaven.

    Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
    academics_anon
    [ bigdilemma555 ]
         		8:59p
    rate my professor
     I gave one of my instructors a negative review on that site. I think they are suspicious it was me. Is there anything I can do to rectify this.
    academicpagans
    [ sanglupa ]
         		6:40p
    Power Trip
     This was inspired by, and to some degree ganked from, a post by [info]shadowthorne

    I have several questions about the nature of power. I'm interested in your opinions on the subject.

    1. How do you define "power"?
    2. Is there something inherently divisive about power?
    3. Are those who seek power destined to experience a certain amount of isolation, as mystics and writers do?
    4. Do you feel the notion of power is romanticized? Not romanticized enough?
    5. Do you believe people should reach for power?
    6. Do you believe a group of individuals who all fully express their power is doomed to fall apart?
    7. On the same token, do you believe it is possible for a group to reach for power and NOT fall apart, instead maintaining unity?

    ( My thoughts on the matter )

    Current Mood: curious
    Current Music: Juno Reactor
    academics_anon
    [ aurora_nebulosa ]
         		7:08p
    On a Lighter Note
     Salvete, omnes!

    I have, of late, become a rather frequent twitterer (primarily due to my interest in space exploration and the large community of "space tweeps" out there). At any rate, being a classics grad student, I am curious as to whether anyone out there makes it a habit to compose their tweets / converse in Latin. If so, I would quite enjoy the opportunity to continue practicing my compositional skills. (Plus, the whole "living Latin" phenomenon is just plain fun!)

    Current Music: CNN News
    txtriffidranch
         		5:47p
    Possible new venues?
     I don't have any Triffid Ranch shows scheduled for a little while: the Czarina and I are both going to be out showing plants and jewelry at Texas Frightmare Weekend at the end of April, and I'm awaiting word on whether I've officially been accepted for the Funky Finds Spring Fling in March. That said, I'm hoping that the promise of The Dallas Flea holds out. I certainly wouldn't mind another potential indoor venue for regular Triffid Ranch shows.
    txtriffidranch
         		4:28p
    "Beware, evildoer! You face the wrath of...CAT PISS MAN!"
     Many thanks to [info]greygirlbeast for reminding me why I'm glad to be out of science fiction fandom. If someone makes a cogent criticism of a lousy television series or movie, as John Pavlus does with his essay on four reasons why the motherships in the new series V don't make any sense, the nerking from the fanboys is one variation or another on "But it's just a TV show!", no matter how legitimate the complaints (for example, the audible explosions in Star Wars or the one-shot wonder of the Batplane in the original Michael Keaton Batman). However, when they're taking it seriously and someone else should say this, watch out. One does not blaspheme in the Church of Saint Spock the Pointyeared.
    wtf_nature
    [ lsclayene ]
         		8:55p
    margaretc
         		2:00p
    Talking myself out of it
     I seem to have talked myself out of going back to the irish sessions anytime soon. ( cut for emo )

    Current Mood: conflicted
    Current Music: no music for you!
    sunfell
         		11:43a
    A breath of fresh air
     Karen Armstrong is a very interesting writer. She has written many books about religion and faith- particularly the Abrahamic faiths. I have "The Battle for God" (which is about fundementalism), and am going to pick up her latest book, "The Case for God".

    Now why the heck would a zetectically oriented skeptic like me be interested in something defending 'A Case for God', when I've stated my position on the concept of "god/s/"? Because Armstrong digs down through the noise and gets to the signal- that of Mythos and Logos- which are not mutually exclusive, but which must have their own existences in order for society to function in a healthy manner. The modern religious mixture and distortion of both concepts has not been a healthy thing. It was Armstrong who clarified these things.

    This Fresh Air with Terry Gross Fresh Air interview</a> was what initially pricked my interest. After all, Zetectics require the burden of proof to be upon the claimant, and I always listen to rational argument. Here it was.

    Then, AlterNet posted an article from a Daily Kos writer about this latest book, too. Here is an excerpt:

    [...]We've turned "myth" into another word for fantasy, or lie. In doing so:

    We lost the art of interpreting the old tales of gods walking the earth, dead men striding out of tombs, or seas parting miraculously. We began to understand concepts such as faith, revelation, myth, mystery, and dogma in a way that would have been very surprising to our ancestors.

    In particular, the concept of faith comes in for a close examination. We understand faith today as a kind of blind acceptance -- like Indiana Jones stepping off into space in his quest for the Holy Grail. Religious people cheer this kind of "faith" and many Christians tout this as the one and only qualification to be among Christ's chosen. But that's not what the word translated as "faith" meant in Biblical times. It's not even what it meant when the Bible was first translated into English.

    The term used in most New Testament texts (the Greek word pistis) meant something closer to loyalty or commitment, than unreasoning belief. When Jesus chastised his followers for their lack of faith, or commended a non-Jew for having faith, he wasn't talking about some unspoken creed. He certainly wasn't praising them for seeing that he was divine. He was talking about follow-through, about living up to ideas of selflessness and humbleness. Even the word "belief" has changed from a Middle English sense of "prize" to our modern idea of "accept at face value." Imagine how different every Christian creed would sound today if we replace "believe in" with "value" and "have faith in" with "commit myself to."


    That's the meat of the matter, wouldn't you say? And it is the number one fundamental reason why I cannot bear the blatherings of the lot of modern TrueBelievers™- because they have heavily degraded and undermined the actual meaning and understanding of the words 'faith' and 'belief'. And it is why I have adopted a very rigorously skeptical attitude about all things religious- to scrape that corruptive layer of modern blindness and willful ignorance off of a valuable concept.

    I like the original kernel of the word 'belief'- it makes much more logical sense to me than the current degraded meaning. And it made me think about what I valued- my concept and theory of Small Gods, for instance. Yes, it is a relatively radical concept, but it holds its own, and without the noise and fear of conventional modern 'belief'.

    I like learning about ancient religious concepts and how modern culture has changed things. It helps to get to the root of ideas and understand where things came from In that, Armstrong has not disappointed me yet. I slot her ideas into my mind- right in between the ravings of both the TrueBelievers™ and the TrueUnbelievers™.
    sagafans
    [ janni ]
         		9:42a
    Complete Sagas of the Icelanders
     The (English translation of the) Complete Sagas of the Icelanders are once again available!

    On sale, it's in the same price range as the historical thesaurus to the OED.

    But the latter is more likely to find it's way into my library, right? :-)
    Monday, November 9th, 2009
    wtf_nature
    [ a_renunciation ]
         		10:11p
    ps238principal
         		11:05p
    New t-shirts? And they're on SALE?




    It's been a while, but I've been dutifully jotting down some tee ideas and finally finding some time to set them down on cloth. "Edward & Bela" sums up a lot of attitudes towards the current trends in vampire fiction. I forced myself to watch the movie. Really, the "sparkling" scene was one of the most dumbfounding visuals I've run across in the past ten years. I can only deal with the baseball game if I consider it to be a ham-fisted homage to the bowling scene in "Fright Night 2." But if I remember an interview with Stephenie Meyer correctly, she considers most horror movies "too icky," so I doubt she ever spent an evening on the couch with that particular bit of cinema. Anyhoo, that's my opinion, it's only one, and anyone is free to disagree. All are free to purchase a shirt anyway (grin). The other is a little ode to the thriving siege engine appreciation that appears to be sweeping the country. It's the original way to rock out, right? Anyway, Offworld Designs is having a sale until the end of December! Just type in the code "DOgooder" (no quotes, case sensitive) and get $5.00 off your order of $20.00 or more. Sparkling not included.

    The road to fame and fortune is often an odd one, though I don't think I've seen one this odd. There's a Twitter feed I've enjoyed perusing, though I hesitated to post it here as the language used on it is most unladylike. However, since it's part of a larger story, consider yourself warned. Be warned it's also funny and apt to leap from your lips as you read it to roommates and co-workers. The feed is called (in edited form) "[Poop] my Dad says," and it's hysterical. Then I see it's going to be turned into a book... and then into a sitcom. That's right, a Twitter feed is going to become a TV show. A "twitcom," if you will. There have been worse ideas and thinner premises, but if a decent "grumpy old man" show comes out of it, I figure it could have been worse. Besides, I was under the sneaky suspicion that the feed was really from a mellow version of Alan Moore... :)

    As everyone no doubt knows, I liked "Fallout 3." The makers of that game Another software company with a 'b' starting their name have has now come out with another RPG with first-person-shooter bits called "Dragon Age: Origins." I'm scared to touch this one, as Fallout sucked away more time than I'm comfortable thinking about, and it looks to have even more content. Plus it has Claudia Black doing voicework. And then there's a 'toolkit' that purports to allow users to create their own adventures. Has anyone braved this game yet and is able to report back? How all-consuming is this beast, and should mankind be wary?

    I think I will have to buy the game "Gratuitous Space Battles" when it comes out, though. That one still looks like loads of fun, especially with a subwoofer. It's like a Michael Bay version of "Star Trek," but without his usual efforts towards storytelling. :)

    While I avoid other distractions and finish recovering from my Ginger Ale Diet, here's some new stuff I've recently turned up:

    - If "Bob the Angry Flower's Guide to the Apostrophe" is too rude, there's a more polite yet still graphically pleasing version.
    - Also graphically appealing is this poem for those hapless doomed souls on 'Star Trek' entitled, 'Red Shirt blues.'
    - I think we have a winner for next year's top video game tie-in to sneak into someone's luggage before they go through airport security.
    - I only point to this "jumping brain" toy because it looks a lot like the 'Intellect Devourer' from AD&D. Also of note are these D&D Dice-headed toys.
    - Monday was Carl Sagan's birthday. Here's a tribute to his work, with videos and images both deep and amusing.
    - Mechanism 2 is similar to a game we had here previously called (I believe) "Splitter." Slice through bits of the playfield to get the glowing ball(s) to the goal.
    - There are many "free" online games out there, but some have rather shady and underhanded methods of getting your money.
    - Because this would make a cool premise for an Indiana Jones film, I direct your attention to a lost Persian Army, possibly one whose disappearance was chronicled by Herodotus.
    - Speaking of ancient history (well, in rock years, anyway), a purportedly "lost" tape of unreleased Beatles songs (which sound an awful lot like mashups of solo projects and existing songs) is available for download.
    - I'm a sucker for giant robots doing cool stuff (like invading places). So here's a film from (I think) Uruguay called Panic Attack which gives us a most compelling hulking metallic menace indeed.
    - And because I'm also a sucker for bow-n-arrow games (though I wish more "Bowmaster" games would come out), here's B.C. Bow Contest. Shoot against other prehistoric opponents with a variety of arrows to claim a trophy.
    Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
    walkyrja
         		2:06a
    Kitty Adoption Network Activate!
     This, from my friend Ashley; she and Michael live in Hamden, CT:

    I have two kittens, one black and one grey striped, who need homes. In a perfect world I'd love someone to take both, but I will place them seperate. They are both fixed, have all their shots, are dewormed and tested negative for feline lukemia.

    They spent their first three months outside and are working on being cool with people. They play, have learned how to purr and with a bit of love will make awesome house cats. The grey one enjoys burying his face in the arm of my hoodie while I'm wearing it and the black one likes to growl to himself as he eats. It is a fierce battle to decide which is cuter. If you have *any* interest contact me and I'll either have you over or dig up some pictures.

    I would keep them, but Michael and I agreed no more pets for awhile and I don't want to send them to a shelter.

    Patty Says:

    Anyone who knows anyone or any place these two little dears can be homed, please please let me know so I can get Ashely in contact. Obviously with my allergies our house is a no-go, but my heart goes out to the little fur balls....
    wtf_nature
    [ drhoz ]
         		11:54a
    macraven 4:46a
    What Computer Science Can Teach Economics

    http://www.haxton.org/weblog/2009/11/09#What_Computer_S...omics

    One of the smart guys.

    A new award-winning thesis from an MIT computer science assistant professor showed that the Nash equilibrium of complex games (like the economy or poker) belong to problems with non-deterministic polynomial (NP) complexity (more specifically PPAD complexity, a subset of TFNP problems which is a subset of FNP problems which is a subset of NP problems). More importantly there should be a single solution for one problem that can be adapted to fit all the other problems. Meaning if you can generalize the solution to poker, you have the ability to discover the Nash equilibrium of the economy. Some computer scientists are calling this the biggest development in game theory in a decade.

    (link) [Slashdot]
    Monday, November 9th, 2009
    sagafans
    [ lnhammer ]
         		6:58p
    Best starter saga
     So what's the best saga to hand to someone who knows nothing about the sagas or medieval Iceland? The best introduction to the world that will get them hooked without getting them totally confused, lost, or turned off?

    Because let's face it, while Njal's Saga is the best, it's also the longest and so most intimidating. Furthermore, it's among the most tightly constructed, with hardly any narrative fat to be trimmed from the plot's frame -- which means if you miss something, you can get just a bit lost (for scalable values of "bit"). So possibly not the best introduction. Then there's that standby of world literature anthologies, "Thorstein Staff-Struck," which is a reasonable start -- it has the style and flavor of a typical saga, and large parts of it are readily comprehensible without cultural annotations (especially Thorstein's relationship with his, er, cranky father). But while it had the virtues of brevity, it also has the flaws thereof -- a bit too short to give a full flavor of the other sagas, over just as you've taken the second bite.

    But then what? What's your suggestion?

    ---L.
    sunfell
         		2:25p
    Best Quote for a long while
     "There's no room for demons when you're self possessed"

    --Carrie Fisher
    sunfell
         		2:23p
    txtriffidranch
         		1:41p
    I'm living in my own private Tanelorn
     The good news: I think I found a perfect house, even if it means moving to the West Coast to take advantage of it. The bad news: this is the sort of place where either you have to worry about baseball-sized ball bearings patrolling the hallways, or you can hear the previous owner telling houseguests "I'm afraid so, Brad. But isn't it nice?"
    lwood
         		11:11a
    neicie
         		10:36a
    random what I'm doing
     lots of craft projects = good
    feeling fat and ugly = bad
    new terry pratchett book "Unseen Academicals" = very very good- but waiting to read it because i have-
    two new cheese fantasy romance christine warren paperbacks= good.  +yummy werewolf goodness

    current mantras-

    every day I create every day I create every day I create every day I create every day I create...

    I enjoy taking care of my family, I enjoy taking care of my house, I enjoy taking care of me
    I enjoy taking care of my family, I enjoy taking care of my house, I enjoy taking care of me
    I enjoy taking care of my family, I enjoy taking care of my house, I enjoy taking care of me
    I enjoy taking care of my family, I enjoy taking care of my house, I enjoy taking care of me...

    oh and as usual the roadkill prayer is still in effect.  I have done this every time I've seen roadkill, since spring 1995

    current version- hail to the spirit of that animal, may their soul find peace.

    This I just say once per animal, but I feel like mentioning it because There are a ton of dead dear and assorted raccoons and skunks and squirrels these days and it really bums me out.  It stands out in my mind as a huge example of the negative impact of human development on the other creatures in our environments.  We seem to be moving faster than the speed of evolution.  or something.  The animals around us can't keep pace with the speed in which we change and change our environments.  eh...  I don't think I am saying this well enough, but I think it makes enough sense.

    ok.  back to the werewolf smut and then back to the yarn.  laundrey is in a good condition and I'm going to make some chicken and string beans and hot yummy buttery crescent rolls and rice-roni for dinner. 

    I'm working on a sweater for me and I started a Thor doll today.  Yay Thor!  I haven't done a crochet doll in a few years.  so this makes me happy.  I have a bunch of red and black streaked mohair roving that i love using for the hair and beard.
    auntiematter
         		9:49a
    Very tired last night...

    Not so good to be VERY punchy/tired,  listen to NPR all day, and then allow myself to participate in a conversation about holiday gifts and the apparent "dominant paradigm" surrounding presents.  My poor brain just couldn't contain it.

    Sung to: This Land is You Land

    This gift is my gift
    That gift is my gift
    That other one there,
    It's my gift too
    Your gift is my gift
    I need more presents now!
    All your gift are belong to me


    This is my country,
    It's not your country
    You can't have health care
    You don't deserve it
    Go get a haircut
    and get another job
    All your gift are belong to me

    I need a bail out
    I want a bail out
    Give me a bail out
    or I'll break the county
    Too big to fail, yup, and
    I want my bonus too
    All your gift are belong to me

    There are more verses, but, this is the gist of it.  Yup, my brain puked. 



    Current Mood: amused
    academics_anon
    [ moll_cutpurse ]
         		9:05a
    Vita question: Outdated references?
     Hello, all!

    First of all, I am jazzed to be part of this community. I have been learning so much from everyone these past few days about GTA rights and the complicated situation behind unionization.

    My situation is this: I got my MA two years ago (Spring 2008), where two professors agreed to be my references for Ph.D. programs, but I waited until Fall 2008 (after graduating) to apply. Unfortunately, that round of apps was a bust, and I decided to stay as a part-timer at a hometown college through the 2009-2010 academic year.

    I've kept their letters on InterFolio, but my question is this: are they outdated as references? Should I be looking more toward my writing program administrator and department chair for newer references? N.B.: I am switching concentrations from literature (my MA is in Renaissance) to Rhet/Comp pedagogy for the Ph.D. apps.

    Thanks for all feedback!

    Current Mood: grateful
    Sunday, November 8th, 2009
    txtriffidranch
         		10:40p
    A partial update
     It's the beginning of many updates to be made through November (as with the poor sods involved with NaNoWriMo, I plan to write 50,000 words this month, only all of mine are going to be Plant Care Sheets and various new observations), but the main Texas Triffid Ranch site is now revised. Besides the latest Upcoming Events and Past Press page, I also have an updated Projects & Observations page, including the first Gothic Gardening column from Gothic Beauty magazine. Feel free to pass on word: as [info]mommyspike noted, seemingly every grocery store in the Northern Hemisphere is overloaded with Venus flytraps and Sarracenia pitcher plants, so if this information saves one carnivorous plant, then maybe it's not completely worthless.
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