We have high speed access, so I'll make this quick...

Since the title is what people find when they search for you, make it good, for everyone.

PC World's 25 worst tech products of all time which really does contain some notorious dead-end decisions.

Carnival of the Vanities is up. Not sure why Technorati and pointed me to a random webhosting site; I sure hope that Technorati isn't going to get spamlinked to death. Also, the Carnival of Satire!

Hope this wasn't too long... apparently my haiku practice is going to pay off when I redesign my web pages.

eCherry Blossom? For Me?

John Patrick has awarded one of nine eCherry awards to yours truly, for my haiku

Politics Imperfect
Politics always
trumps scientific data.
Imperial decline.

And, though I don't read him regularly, his post just a few below the awards on How to be Catholic in the DaVinci Code era is a fantastic corrective to a lot of the lowbrow handwringing

The Church itself tests my faith far more than the DaVinci Code, or Dogma, or anything that Hollywood markets to Protestant America. If you really want to test somebody's faith, if you really want to see some cages rattled, you wait until an angry, practicing Catholic makes a movie.
...
RB once asked me how I can disagree with the Vatican and still call myself a Catholic. "Isn't religion all-or-nothing?" he asked. Answer: that is a protestant attitude toward religion; I am not a protestant; no, religion doesn't have to be all-or-nothing, what an odd assumption. I guess that would explain why you'd have to leave and start your own church!

It reminds me of something which I'd more or less forgotten for a while: I'd always felt that Jews and Catholics have a special affinity. (Ignoring, for a moment, the historical relationship, because sometimes it doesn't help) There's a huge theological gulf between the two faiths, of course, but there's also a remarkably congruent attitude towards faith within them: both of us are old, diverse communities with deep and complex histories, struggling to maintain unity out of massive differences and changes; both of us have rich legal and ritual traditions that are reasonably well known but praxis which is much more varied; both of us have a decidedly simplistic and somewhat negative public image, as well as considerable internal tensions which we prefer to keep internal.

For what it's worth, like John Patrick, I used to find it easier to talk about religion with Catholics than with Protestants. I don't know that it's really true anymore; most of my on-line friends seem to be devout atheists, while I'm more of an old-fashioned Jewish agnostic. But I do empathize.

Update: Karen Armstrong is pretty much my favorite religion writer, and she's got some sharp views on modern religion, anti-religion and the wisdom of agnostic transcendant views of God. Again, she comes from a Catholic perspective, teaches at a Jewish seminary, studies Buddhism seriously and is an historian. No wonder I like her.

Separtists Unite!

These were in the Carnival of Satire a while back, because I sent them. But I don't think I ever noted them here. So....
Miland Brown's Eight Tips for American Separtists [via]:

I guess if we get creative, every part of the USA is under illegal occupation by the USA. Here is a list of tips for creating your own American separatist cause! (These tips would work for non-American parts of the world too.)

1. Look over every treaty, agreement, document, or ruling that impacts the current legal status of the area in question. Go back as many centuries as you need to find the right dirt. Can you find even a single instance where someone forgot to dot an "i" or cross a "t"? Is there any technicality (no matter how minor) that could be highlighted? If so, congratulations! You can now claim that American sovereignty is illegal under American and international law and that all subsequent legislation by the USA is not binding.

2. Has even a single American military member been in your area since the time you can "prove" American ownership of you area is bogus? If so, you can now claim an invasion happened and can throw around the word occupation. It does not matter if shots were fired. The mere presence of American soldiers constitutes an act of war.

3. Did the people of your area actually vote to join the USA? If not, claim the annexation as illegal and undemocratic. If so, did it happen after the "occupation" began? Did people (or their descendents) who were not citizens of your area prior to American "occupation" participate in the vote? If so, dismiss the election and declare it invalid as the "occupiers" rigged the election by voting too.

4. Put up a web site bolding stating your "facts." Claim to be the legitimate representative of your nation under occupation. Be sure to put up lots of pages detailing the alleged violations of international law and showing American aggression. Be sure to get your site listed in as many places as possible. Be aggressive in search engine optimization. (Create a blog or two too!)

5. Have a forum at your site. Use it to repeat your claims over and over again and link to any website or news article which in any way could be twisted to support your arguments. Ruthlessly use ad hominem attacks on anyone who posts anything you disagree with. Calling them ignorant of international law and history or even racist should do the trick.

6. Head on over to Wikipedia, learn the ropes, and start inserting your version of history in every article you find! If you are subtle, good at edit wars, and have a lot of patience, you can make a real difference.

7. If you are brave, start up your own national bank and start issuing money and loans. You can also sell passports! When you get busted, use this as evidence of continued American aggression and attempts to silence your movement. Be sure to highlight on your site the "political prisoners" the USA puts in jail. (Go ahead and sell stamps too!)

8. Distance yourself from other separatists groups. Some Hawaiians, Texans, Alaskans, etc. may be claiming occupation but in your case it is real. You may all use the same arguments but there are important differences. Also, deny you are a separatist. Since your area was never legally American, you are not separating or seceding. You are asking to be restored. Further, make clear your area never has been and is not currently legally American.

Texans and Vermonters are more secessionist than Hispanics....

History Carnival... and more to come

Part One of the History Carnival is up, a highly selective, pedagogical focus. Part Two ought to be fun. In an interesting twist, she has posted the unedited submissions in the "A submitted B at C-blog" format that blogcarnival.com provides gratis to carnival hosts. So you can see everything sent in, as well as enjoy her selectivity.....

Short, Profane Survey

Damn. (a.k.a. Silence is golden, you silver-tounged devil, you)

Uh Oh. (a.k.a. Go through channels, or go to hell)

Shit. (a.k.a. a belated Memorial Day "Thank You"....)

WTF? (aka how to p*** off everyone in one novel).

p.s.: Does anyone know why this post is getting traffic from RCP?

Voting Probability

Are you likely to vote (this is from England; translations to American in brackets):

First of all, rate on a scale of one to five your level of personal contact from political parties (C), your belief that the parties can deal with the issues (I), your parents' interest in politics (P), your perception of whether or not your vote will count (V), your sense of voting as a duty (D) and the closeness of the national contest (N). (Given these are local [midterm] elections, you should probably ignore the last one.)

Then judge on a scale of 1-3 how safe your own council [House or State House district] is (S), with 1 meaning that any party could gain overall control and 3 that the result is a foregone conclusion.

Lastly, put the figures into the equation (C+I+P+(VxD)+N)/S=X. X - geddit? - is your level of motivation to vote.

Over 15: Very likely to vote
10-14: Will vote if you can make time for it
5-9: Believe in the right to vote but are unsure whether it makes a difference
Under 5: Cannot see why you should bother

For the record, my results:

Category	out of	My score
C (contact with parties)	5	3
I (faith in parties' policy acumen)	5	2
P (parents' interest in politics)	5	4
V (vote will count?)	5	3
D (voting as a duty)	5	5
N (national contest close?)	5	4
S [House or State House district stability]	3	3
(C+I+P+(VxD)+N)/S=X		(3+2+4+(3x5)+4)/3 = 9.3

That's WAY too low for me. Unless I'm more deeply disaffected than I thought, I suspect that I'm less affected by the "perpetual local control" system of gerrymandering, and more motivated by the national race, than average.

Sorta Sequitur: I recently ran across ConWebWatch, which spends almost as much time and energy factchecking right wing spin as the Conservative Movement spends producing it. Their blog is worth a look, to get the latest.

Insects are Pretty Cool, but Photographing them is Hard

It's not easy to take good pictures of insects: they're small, fast, uncooperative or actively hostile, and most people instinctively shy away from them. I admit, I have a jump reflex, but I also have a real fascination for the beauty of small, complex things. I don't love insects, but I think they are visually intense and functionally interesting. And it's a great way to explore the limits of your camera.... Sorry if you're squirmy about these things: go read Glenn Greenwald or Anne Zook or something....

That is my skin the bug is sitting on, but I blew it off immediately after. Still, it wasn't easy holding that hand still and getting the camera out, set to macro and in position with the other one.... No idea what it is, but my bug books are pretty primitive.

Ant colonies are almost infinitely fascinating. I have no idea what these ants are doing, but as near as I can tell they are protein scavengers, not sweet eaters and not stinging ants. So, as long as they're not in the house, I don't care too much.
This mosquito is dead, yes. I have no patience for anything which tries to eat me. But when I saw that it had landed pretty much intact, it was time to whip out the dinky tripod and get a close-up. This was the best shot I got, I'm afraid. I love the long proboscis, though.

Serious Chocolate

Maya Gold is one of the best chocolate bars in existence. Not just for its darkness, which is excellent, or its spices, which are thrilling, but for its social and economic effects, which are nearly revolutionary. [via]

It's like a mini-lesson in global economics, commodities, agricultural industrialization, and developmentalism.

Wouldn't it be far easier to clear the forest, plant citrus, blast any diseases with pesticides and pump up the fruit with fertilisers? 'We've all seen what happens across the border in Guatemala,' says Peck. 'They cut everything, but we still have our trees, we have clean creeks, we have all the birds and animals with us for our grandchildren to see. The only way is to practise the system of our ancestors.'

I'm Obscure, Psychodelic, not too energetic

The Cytosol You scored 30 Industriousness, 32 Centrality, and 19 Causticity!

You're a highly-organized network of proteins, lipids, solutes, and of course, the rest of the organelles! None of the other organelles would be around without you, so don't think you're unimportant. In terms of real life, you're probably fifth business - Neither the hero, the villain, either of their romantic interests, but still a very important character. The story could not be told without your input!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 0% on Industriousness You scored higher than 42% on Centrality You scored higher than 26% on Causticity

Link: The Which Cell Organelle are you? Test

Your Personality Is Like Acid

A bit wacky, you're very difficult to predict. One moment you're in your own little happy universe... And the next, you're on a bad trip to your own personal hell!

What Drug Is Your Personality Like? [via]

We didn't start the linkage...

If this hadn't been done already, I was going to make it one of my summer projects. Yes, it's Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" with every historical term hyperlinked. here's another version, with a bit more chronological structure. There were a few terms that I had to click through myself: it really would be an interesting classroom tool.

I didn't like the song when I first heard it, to be honest, because of the slightly detached, whiny chorus. But the litany has grown on me considerably since then.