Meh

I guess the charade is over. There was no way I was going to be able to maintain a blog regularly during the latter part of the semester. Academic/ life demands have taken precedence, and I must (shamefully) admit that a copy of TES: Oblivion has also somehow found its way into my computer, filling up my free hours like cancer and ruthlessly proliferating its effects to my once-free, once-pure Gloria. It's not all woe and darkness--I'm reading some great stuff (Consciousness Explained, by Dennet, for myself, and Atwood's Oryx and Crake for a class)--but I feel like I'm juggling babies trying to line up housing for next year, student loans, homework, academic projects, etc. I guess I also have a job? I'll get back to regularly posting here as soon as things quiet down; maybe as soon as two weeks from now (after the SSS conference), maybe later. On a positive note, things are blooming.

A Double Dose of Amazingness (secular humanist edition)

One and two.

Quick Plug: Battlestar Galactica

Anyone who has talked to me in the past couple weeks has probably heard of my newfound love for Battlestar Galactica. I remember hearing good things about it every so often, but being as busy as I am, I never bothered to sit down and watch it. Then I saw on Digg, in succession, this neato interview with the show's creators about the legal, economic, and moral issues that the show deals with (spoilers), and this amazing picture of the cast. Now I'm a sucker for good sci-fi; anything beautiful and thought-provoking. The Fountain, The Matrix and both Ghost in the Shell films make me happier than almost anything else on screen. Having, finally, some free time, I started watching season one of BSG online via streaming video. I got reeled in, but not blown away. Then I watched season two. Midway through the episode "Pegasus," it hit me. There was no going back. I finished the rest of the series over spring break, and am now, like a giddy schoolgirl, awaiting the start of its fourth and final season April 4th. I'm writing this post in the hope that some of you might be inclined to check it out for yourselves. Good TV is rare, and good TV shows need all the support they can get; they're too often clubbed to death by evil network executives and stupid fans. BSG is as entertaining as anything I've ever seen, and it explores societal issues in a way that doesn't make you feel like a 6th grader. Oh America.

P.S. - If you want to watch season four with me, let me know. I'll make popcorn.

Link

Shrine of the Mall Ninja
[from William Gibson's blog]

Internet Justice

I love internet justice. This is what happens: somebody does something reprehensible and word of it gets out. It gets made popular on the internet. Internet people then find the guilty party's personal information and post it everywhere, while flooding said person's social network account(s) with hostile messages and comments and contacting said person or their family directly and communicating their displeasure. Today I call your attention to David Motari, a US Soldier in Iraq who appears in a video throwing a puppy off a cliff. Here's the Digg article. The actual link to the video is down. Check out the comments (sort by most diggs) for a mirror if you actually want to see it, or just go straight to his Bebo site [now private] to enjoy the justice.

See also: Lori Drew

[Perhaps at some other time I'll attempt a more level-headed discussion of the ethical implications of this kind of punishment. It seems like there's a lot here to talk about.]

Another Tea Link

Tea Logic has beautiful pictures.