Mini-links
- Joan Baez – non-violence in action
- Paul Yarrow – News Raider
- Student Journalist – bends a US senator right over
- Vegetables – committing suicide
- What English Sounds Like – a 1972 song by an Italian, written to sound like it’s English
- You see a beaver in the distance – best randomly connected internet chat ever
Back-chat
Authors Archive
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From De Vaults: Selfstalk Blogtrawl No. 3
Posted on February 2, 2010 | 1 CommentThe following from 1999 is probably my first attempt at writing pastoral verse. It’s in the from of an eclogue or bucolic. It laments the succumbing of my once peaceful patch of earth to suburban soullessness, like every other paved-over, nondescript bit of sprawl. Yes,... -
A person, albeit a man, states his case.
Posted on February 2, 2010 | 1 CommentAvoid gender-specific language unless it is necessary. In particular, avoid terms such as "man", "men" or "mankind" to refer to people in general. -
A Trip to the Zoo
Posted on January 30, 2010 | No Comments -
From De Vaults: Selfstalk Blogtrawl No. 2
Posted on January 25, 2010 | 5 CommentsThe earliest example of this sonnet I could find comes from January 2008. Given, however, the reference to the Swedish Rounding System, it must have been composed sometime prior to 31 October 2006. It has all the elements needed for a great poem: Supermarkets, dairy... -
That argument again…
Posted on January 25, 2010 | 4 CommentsA very brief explanation of why "free will" is a contradiction in terms. -
Quoth the Raven, etc.
Posted on January 21, 2010 | 1 CommentTuesday was Edgar Allen Poe's birthday. It was also Confederate Heroes Day in Texas, but that need not concern us at this time. -
From De Vaults: Selfstalk Blogtrawl No. 1a
Posted on January 19, 2010 | No CommentsWith regard to the subject matter of the previous blogtrawl post, I have rediscovered this esoteric and, to date, untitled bit of doggerel which I composed ex tempore a couple of years ago for a fellow-travelling Kropotkin crossword enthusiast: As the sharpener whets the pencil... -
Governor General Michaëlle Jean
Posted on January 19, 2010 | No CommentsA clip of the Canadian Governor General on the earthquake in her birthplace. -
Wait Two Years
Posted on January 18, 2010 | 1 CommentWithin minutes of my son being born — December 18 2009 after a forty minute labour and a harrowing drive to the hospital — I asked the doctor, only somewhat in jest, if I could hop on the table and have her right then and... -
Who dares to love forever?
Posted on January 15, 2010 | No CommentsRay Kurzweil is a nutter who probably drinks his own urine, but in a recent interview with Computerworld he talks about the possibility of human immortality in 30 to 40 years. Health- and youth-maintaining nanobots in the blood, the ability to upload total human personality and memory functionality to a non-biological substrate - the stuff of science fiction is getting closer, faster. -
Suiting Up
Posted on January 13, 2010 | No CommentsHow I Met Your Mother is one of the best comedies on American television at the moment, and last night was their 100th episode. It's become an odd tradition in long-running shows to make round-numbered episodes particularly memorable (who could forget Stargate SG:1's hallucinogenic episode 200?) -
From De Vaults: Selfstalk Blogtrawl No. 1
Posted on January 12, 2010 | 4 CommentsI wrote the following on Tuesday 27 April 2004: I have five cigarettes to last me till morning: But 18 bottles of beer The Kropotkin cryptic this week vexes me. The day today is Tuesday already and I still have two more clues to get.... -
“O Vobis Praeteritos Referam Si Ego Annos” — after Vergil
Posted on January 11, 2010 | 5 CommentsYou know what's wrong with young people today? Too much not being in war. -
The Trouble with Muslims
Posted on January 11, 2010 | 3 CommentsOne of my naive fantasies is that New Zealanders are a pretty decent lot, and that while its trans-Tasman cousin may be the international home of racism, New Zealand is bit more mature than all that. Oh, sure, we've got fringe nuts like the National Front, but they're exceptions that prove the rule. And we do have a certain undercurrent of racial prejudice about the natives - but it's that nice, normal, acceptable level, like the background radiation of cellphone towers. Can't do much about it, not ideal, but we all seem to have agreed somewhere along the line not to talk about it. -
Brian Edwards on Determinism
Posted on January 1, 2010 | No CommentsBrian Edwards recently expressed his innate laziness by rehashing his views on determinism. He cites the fact that he is a "hard determinist" as support for his position on crime and punishment. Basically, because a combination of genetics and environment entirely determine a person's actions, it makes no sense to punish them. While I appreciate Dr Edwards' sentiments, I take issue with various points and turns of phrase. -
Beck
Posted on October 8, 2009 | No CommentsDid Glenn Beck Rape and Murder a Young Girl in 1990? (dot com) -
Less Lethal
Posted on September 28, 2009 | No CommentsThe G20 protests in Pittsburgh over the weekend probably weren’t as large-scale as the organisers hoped. That didn’t stop the Pittsburgh police (and the military, in umarked cars?) from responding with force. “Less lethal” force, according to police messages. They included OC gas (pepper spray),... -
Sneakers. For sneaking.
Posted on September 24, 2009 | No CommentsA new cybersecurity project is out that lets you choose for how long data lives. -
Still Accepting Backups
Posted on September 22, 2009 | No CommentsMark has finally found his Goddess. Still accepting offers. -
The Secret
Posted on September 21, 2009 | 2 CommentsA few thoughts regarding Freemasonry.
