Laws of the Internet

I think I need to propose a variant of the utterly NSFW and infamous Rule 34. The variant is as follows: If there's a holiday for it, then there is a liturgy for it as well (link is SFW).

And for the record, I'd pay good money to hear that 'Gloria' sung.

Expert Opinion

Mitt Romney has said that Newt Gingrich is an "extremely unreliable leader in the conservative world".

I think we have to take his word on that. No one knows more about being an extremely unreliable conservative leader than Mitt Romney.

Sometimes it's best to defer to the experts.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

For my one reader who cares about gaming stuff, I've been playing in the public beta of SW:TOR. It's very pretty. I have a few player related problems (I've been playing solo games lately so keep trying to 'pause' with the space bar). For the rest of it, SWTOR plays much like every other MMORPG.

My major complaint has nothing to do with server unavailability (never an issue for an early bird such as myself). It's that the buttons don't work/are greyed out. I have a life. Sometimes I have to quit the wonderful game. A fair amount of in game functionality isn't working because I can not mash the buttons. It may seem picky, but this is something that should work and doesn't at this stage of the game.

My minor complaint is the lack of customization. Both City of Heroes and Champions got that right. As a result I'm a spoiled MMORPG player. It may be that more options will be added in later, so it's a minor complaint.

Student Loans

I have 'em. So do very many people. The problem I have with OWS is the idea of 'debt forgiveness'. We are all adults and we contracted for this debt. That we owe the money totally sucks, but we did get the fun of spending the money.

What does need to happen is to allow student loans be written off in bankruptcy. That isn't the same as debt forgiveness. Bankruptcy wrecks your credit rating. The value of your property gets applied to your debts. There are other consequences as well.

Bankruptcy makes sense. Forgiveness does not.

Chickenpox

Instapundit has a small blurb about parents mailing each other items infected with the chicken pox virus so they can time their child's illness. All of which is in lieu of having the child vaccinated and places the public at risk because of course the items in question are not packaged as biohazardous material.

What they haven't realized is that you can get a follow up disease later on in life if you had chicken pox as child. Little Mary or Johnny will sure be happy that they got that nasty dose of shingles. Of course Mumsy and Popsicle are probably dead by the time their grown up tots start experiencing some of the worst pain known to medicine.

I really, really hope this turns out to be an Internet hoax.

Modern Hymnology

Schori loves me! This I know,
for the canons tells me so.
Christian ones to her abhor;
she is rich, but they are poor.
Refrain:
Yes, Schori loves me! Yes, Schori loves me!
Yes, Schori loves me! The canons tells me so.

Dorsey loves me! This I know,
as he throws out all his foes,
chucking Lawrence on his knees,
saying, "No diocese for he."
Refrain:
Yes, Dorsey loves me! Yes, Dorsey loves me!
Yes, Dorsey loves me! The canons tells me so

Incest

Given the foofooraw that has erupted with the Episcopal Church's Discipline Board and the Bishop of South Carolina and the revelation that the board's attorney is a Sewanee alum, I thought I'd do a little digging.

Jospehine Hicks is the church attorney. She's also on the board of the Evangelical Education Society.

See who else you recognize. Then feel free to Google the names. You'll be astonished at how often the same names reoccur on different boards.

It's democracy in action!

How To Travel And Keep Your Stuff

I've heard it from several people. Travel with firearms. Apparently that's the single best way to make sure your stuff arrives with you. FWIW, firearms includes flare guns.

NSFW talk follows on the subject:

Deviant Ollam - Packing & The Friendly Skies from Deviant Ollam on Vimeo.

I am the 99%

From here.

Joy!

I want to have that much fun when I'm 90.

Hidden Meaning

The National Cathedral needs gobs of money to even undertake restoration. Thatere's a hidden metaphor in there somewhere.

Good Government Project

Here are some neat photographs from the Depression about the Irwinville Farms project. I used to live and work not fifteen miles from there.

Business Mystery

My laser printer is nearly end of life for its belt and drum. Replacing both would cost slightly less than $200. Currently Office Depot is selling a very nice duplexing wireless laser printer for $100. The belt for the printer on sale is $120.

I'm used to this sort of pricing for inkjet printers. When did the manufacturers start doing this for laser printers?

Eye Trouble

What the headline really said: Town Using Sensors Embedded In Streets To Detect Illegally Parked Vehicles.

What I thought it said: Town Using Senators Embedded In Streets To Detect Illegally Parked Vehicles.

My initial thought was finally someone has discovered a use for them. Which was followed shortly by a sense of crushing disappointment that the headline couldn't be true. Truly heartbreaking and probably a sign I need more sleep and possibly an eye exam.

Slaughter On Tenth Avenue

Starting out the work week with violence...

What's The Problem?

Amazon is pursuing offering a backlist subscription service for ebooks to their Prime customers. Some people find this upsetting. I'm not really sure why.

I suppose it's probably because I'm not a David Foster Wallace fan, or something.

Jonny Quest

Jonny Quest Opening Titles from Roger D. Evans on Vimeo.

This is just way too cool.

Homeopathy Works

Robb Allen has proof.

100 Years of London Style

NPR Top 100 SF Books

The NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy novels with the ones I have read in bold:

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

3. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert (First three only)

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin

6. 1984, by George Orwell

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan (First two books only)

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick

22. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke

25. The Stand, by Stephen King

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury

28. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman

49. Childhood’s End, by Arthur C. Clarke

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

61. The Mote In God’s Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb

70. The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore

74. Old Man’s War, by John Scalzi

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke

77. The Kushiel’s Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson

96. Lucifer’s Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony (The first three)

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis