I read C.S. Lewis’s “Narnia” books as a child, and have dim memories of enjoying them. Because of this, and because the trailers for the upcoming movie look gorgeous, I have been planning to see The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when it comes out. As preparation I thought it would be a good… Continue reading C.S. Lewis is morally incoherent
Month: November 2005
Anti-fashion
Manolo the Shoeblogger writes in The Paradox of Not Caring: “claiming to not care about the clothes, to not be concerned about what one wears, it the paradox, for the clothes worn by one who claims not to care make as much the statement as those worn by one who dresses with the purpose.” He’s… Continue reading Anti-fashion
Riots in France declared over
The Brussels Journal reports that the French government has officially declared the banlieu riots over. The article continues: Police figures are at exactly 98 cars torched on Wednesday night. This, the police say, is a normal average. Consequently the 20th consecutive night of violence was declared the last one. Yes, you read that correctly. 98… Continue reading Riots in France declared over
2wenty minutes of goo
Went to see the latest Harry Potter flick last night and got — no, I won’t say “assaulted”, I’ll say “oozed on” by the infomercials Regal Cinemas started running earlier this year, some sludge called “The 2wenty” that tries to be trendy and hip and cool and attractive and fails miserably on all four counts.… Continue reading 2wenty minutes of goo
The Ice Harvest
In 1997 I was delighted by Grosse Point Blank, John Cusack’s masterpiece about a hitman who finds himself (in both senses of the phrase) at his high-school reunion. I loved that movie for its action, its dark comedy, and a script that never stopped being wickedly intelligent for even a second. I’ve been waiting nearly… Continue reading The Ice Harvest
LISP — The Language That Will Not Die
I’ve spent large parts of the last week editing maps for a game system I’m working on. I’ve been using the GIMP graphics editor, and I’m pretty impressed with it. I haven’t found anything I can’t easily make it do — except, oddly enough, draw straight lines between defined endpoints. (I suspect there’s actually a… Continue reading LISP — The Language That Will Not Die
“How To Become A Hacker” updated.
I’ve added a pointer to Peter Norvig’s excellent essay “Teach Yourself Programming In Ten Years”. The HOWTO itself is here.
The Halloween Documents are available again
For all those who have been asking, the Halloween Documents are available on my website.
Is “Open Source Media” an abuse of the term?
A correspondent wrote me to object to the fact that that-which-was-Pajamas-Media has launched as “Open Source Media”.
Why “Commons” language gives me hives
A bit of blogging for the record here. Doc Searls wrote: “The Commons” and “the public domain” might be legitimate concepts with deep and relevant histories, but they’re too arcane to most of us. Eric Raymond has told me more than once that the Commons Thing kinda rubs him the wrong way. […] (Maybe he’ll… Continue reading Why “Commons” language gives me hives
Peak Oil — A Wish-Fulfillment Fantasy for Secular Idiots
Secularists and leftists enjoy sneering at conservative Christians who believe in the Rapture and other flavors of millenarianism. Reasonably so: it takes either a drooling idiot or somebody who has deliberately shut off most of his brain, reducing himself to an idiotically low level of critical thinking, to believe such things. The draw, of couse,… Continue reading Peak Oil — A Wish-Fulfillment Fantasy for Secular Idiots
Paris is Burning
As I predicted two years ago, in Demographics and the Dustbin of History, Paris is burning. The banlieu riots are so out of control that the French have declared a national state of emergency.