Goosebumps! GOOSEBUMPS!

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809791044/video/9048692

Short, but at least it's something.

And in case you missed it the first time, Dr. Horrible is back up on the web for free....

When PC Language Goes Too Far.

From the BBC:

"More than 90% of weapons used by the cartels originate in the US and there is evidence US citizens are joining the gangs to act as hitmen and women."

I like how they take special care to avoid discrimination against the female hit-persons. Score one for the feminist revolution! They have removed the glass ceiling from the previously man-dominated career path of professional assassin. You go girls!

Comic-Con 2008

I didn't take too many pictures. Here is an assortment of some of them.

There were some costumes I didn't get good pictures of, but wish I did, like the girl and guy dressed as Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer, or the Zaphod Beeblebrox, or Zap Brannigan. Some, like the Stormtrooper in the kilt, I'm glad I didn't get pictures of.



The only panel I got into was the BSG panel. I missed Joss Whedon's panel (on his new TV show "Dollhouse") and the Mythbuster's panel (although I have absolutely no idea what they have to do with comics), but not for lack of trying.

(Oh, btw: 600th post.)

i feel dumb.

Someone made a robot... out of Legos... that can solve a Rubik's cube.

And what have you done with your life?

It just keeps getting better.

First, Telltale Games brings Sam & Max back from the dead.

Then, they announce they're making a game based on Homestarrunner.com.

Now this?!?!?!

I swear, they couldn't be a cooler company if they were marinated in awesome sauce and baked at 1337°.

Next, they'll be announcing that they're making a Firefly game, to coincide with the release of a sequel.

*Crosses fingers*

Oh... my... word....

That is, um, yeah.... Wow. "Indescribable" may be the word I was looking for.

Well actually, it's not indescribable. It can be described quite simply as a supervillain musical comedy video blog.

Oh yeah, made by Joss Whedon, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day, blah blah blah.

(Better hurry. It's only available for free through Sunday.)

Blah Blah Google Overlords Blah Blah

I just found out that Google will host a webpage, with 100MB of space, for anyone with a Google account. I know, I'm behind the curve on everything, but check it out. My page has links to download the Gravity Simulator Joe was posting about, including a screensaver version. Warning: not responsible for lost productivity while watching planets crash into each other.

The drama continues....

My new pen-pal sent another response:

::We get signal::
::Main screen turn on::

ZAPHOD!

YOU LITTLE PUNK! What the hell are you doing posting my e-mails all over the internet. You don't think I know about it - but I do.... that is not cool.

Pissed off,
Slarti

::Launch all Zig!::
::For great justice!::

Ok, so he somehow found my blog? Since my entire readership is countable by only taking off one shoe, I find it highly unlikely that a random person on the intertubes who sent me an e-mail by accident just happened to stumble across my blog. Something else is going on here. Which of my readers is sending me fake e-mails? Don't think I won't find you out.

--Update 12:38--

The culprit has been found! The body of one "Tom Thimons" was positively identified by the elite squad of Death Troops maintained by F.U. News, and who were ordered to track down the author of the "Tom Dickson" e-mails sent to area man Joe Belland. According to witnesses, Thimons' last words, before being mercilessly gunned down were "Aahh! It was only a prank! I'm sorry! Ow, my spleen!"

Feminism vs. "Feminism".

So a little while ago, my cow-orker came into my office and told me the story of one of her friends, who had said something to the effect that she did not think of herself as a feminist. My cow-orker could not comprehend why a woman would not be a feminist. "Don't you believe in equality for women? Don't you think that we should be allowed in the work place? Don't you think that we should vote?"

It got me to thinking, though. Why wouldn't a woman consider herself a feminist? So I posed the question to the Murloc. "Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not?" "Um, not to the full extent of the word," she replied. "Sure, I'm female, I do feel we should be treated equally and should have the same rights. I think that we can be just as effective in the working environment, but I'm not about to go commando or anything. O_o"

But if my cow-orker's friend didn't consider herself a feminist and the Murloc did only partially, what do these women have against feminism?

Well, firstly, let's define feminism. I asked the Murloc what she thought feminism was: "Well, I guess feminism is an innocent word in and of it's own. I take it to mean that I am female; I have goals and aspirations; I try to strive for those goals and aspirations without losing my female persona."

Good answer, good answer. Google defines feminism as:
1. Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.
2. The movement organized around this belief.

Since Google never lies, I guess we can go with that definition. So why do some women not think of themselves as feminists?

Well no doubts when you saw the headline of this post, you thought of more than just the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. Perhaps it brought to mind things such as bra burnings, The Vagina Monologues, and quotes of Barbara Boxer talking about Roe v. Wade as a great advancement for the Feminist movement. But what about women who don't associate with these things? Are they not feminists?

I've been spending a fair amount of time on what I will call "girly" websites lately, in research of this issue. No, no, not that kind of website, perv. I mean, websites for girls, like FeministsForLife.org and ModestyZone.net. You know, the ones Mrs. Pickles links in her sidebar. Sheesh. Anyways, it seems that there are many women who call themselves feminists, who openly reject many things that we associate with the feminist movement. In fact, many of these women insist that they are the true feminists, the ones standing up for the values put forth by the early feminists, like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Anyways, it seems that there is a dichotomy between what many women believe and the ideas associated with the word "Feminism". As the great John C. Wright once wrote (and I cannot find the quote, for the life of me; an imaginary bag of marshmallows to whoever can; all I know was it was in one of his comments on what another commenter said on his blog), "most errors in philosophy come from the association of two completely different ideas with each other." This has lead me to conclude that there really are two kinds of feminism. There is what I can only think of as pseudo-"feminism", which is what we tend to think of when we hear the word. The extreme "feminism" that, in actuallity hurts women and drives them away from the word. And then there is True Feminism. The kind that not only seeks the social, political, and economic equality of women, but also strives to preserve the dignity of femininity, whereas "feminism" seems to seek equality of women by turning them into men.

Anyways, I've catalogued my observations about some of the differences between these two contradictory, but unfortunately identically-named, ideoligies on key issues.

Marriage:
--------------------
"Feminism"
Marriage is optional, at best, an encumbrance at worst. A woman doesn't need a man to achieve her goals of raising children and a commitment to one will only tie her down.

Result: There is a corresponding rise in single motherhood; without the support of a husband, women find themselves struggling to maintain a career and family; children grow up without fathers; boys grow up untaught how to behave towards women; mistreatment of women increases, ranging from sexual mistreatment to physical violence; divorce becomes more common, and similarly hurts women and children. Also, children become a commodity, a "right" of parents to have, simply because they want them; this leads to practices such as IVF, selective implantation, sex selection abortions, and other forms of child abuse.

Feminism
Marriage is intended for the protection of women and children. A husband is necessary to provide a woman with the best possible conditions to raise children. A father is necessary to provide children with the best possible environment for development.


Children:
--------------------
"Feminism"
Children are a burden that get in the way of a woman's goals of career and financial independence. A woman should achieve these things first before enslaving herself to children.

Results: Many women miss out on the opportunities of motherhood. An increased reliance on artificial birth control methods leads to increased infertility rates; this leads to "forced" fertility such as IVF, and eventually to the commercializing of children, as listed above.

Feminism
Children are a blessing. Motherhood is one of the greatest experiences any person can have.


Sex:
--------------------
"Feminism"
"Free" sex is empowering to women. A sexually active woman is "in control" of her body. It is not harmful, and perhaps beneficial, for a woman to be promiscuous.

Result: Women are devalued; they become sexual objects; men are much more easily able to misuse women; a man can sleep with, then discard, a woman at will, with no need for commitment; try as we might, the results of sex can never be truly disassociated from it, and women are the ones who have the burden; with no commitments, the man can walk away, leaving the woman on her own, or pressure her into having an abortion; this leads to an increase in single mother hood and the problems listed above. Unable to ever completely disassociate emotions from sex, women become emotionally repressed and suffer from loneliness and low self-esteem.

Feminism
Men value least that which they obtain most easily. The marriage covenant exists to protect women. A woman should not sell herself cheaply, but demand a life-long commitment of love.


Pornography:
--------------------
"Feminism"
Pornography can be liberating for a woman. Rules of modesty place an unfair burden on women and teach them that they should be ashamed of their bodies.

Result: Women are trivialized as sexual objects; men are taught to view women as objects and become incapable of showing them respect; there is a corresponding rise in sexual harassment; men develop an unhealthy view of sexuality, which no reality can satisfy; they become incapable of loving a woman or maintaining a faithful relationship; marriages are destroyed and lives are ruined.

Feminism
A woman's body should be treated with dignity and respect; modesty protects this. The body and the soul cannot be separated; any devaluation of one will affect the other; as such, it is impossible to objectify a woman's body without objectifying her.


Abortion:
--------------------
"Feminism"
Abortion is a woman's choice. It concerns only her health and reproductive freedom.

Result: Life is devalued; it becomes a commodity; the dismissal of the termination of a human life as a mere "choice" leads to an increased ambivalence towards violence at other stages of life. Women are hurt; as an act of violence against women, abortion takes a toll on them; this leads to very high instances of depression and other psychological and emotional problems in post-abortive women, including post-traumatic stress and attempted suicides. As an act of physical violence, women pay a physical price, including increases in infertility, and an increased risk of breast cancer and ectopic pregnancies. Since the majority of women who obtain abortions are morally opposed to it, this indicates that abortion is not a choice, but something women do when they feel they have no choice; woman primarily obtain abortions under outside pressure, which only increases the psychological problems caused by it.

Feminism
Women deserve better than abortion. It is a tremendous act of violence against a mother and her child that leaves emotional and physical scars for years to come. Abortion violates the basic feminist principles of equality, justice, dignity, and non-violence for all. True Feminists refuse to choose between mothers and their children, instead seeking liberty and justice for all woman, born and pre-born.

Bot or person?
You decide!

::Holonet Transceiver Activated::
::Receiving Transmission::
::Begin Playback::

"Zaphod",

Look I know your babe is hot but don't go through with it! I really think you should think this over. She's a skank thats all over youtube. You don't want to be with her forever! You only have a few days before Sat. I wouldn't tell you this unless I really cared about you!

Call Me
"Slarti"

::Transmission Terminated at Host::
::End Transmission::

It's from a "XXX XXXXXXX", xxxxxxxxxx@ymail.com (name censored to protect the guilty). The domain redirects to yahoo mail, which doesn't say much. There are no links or pictures that make it obviously spam, but it's the second mis-sent personal e-mail in as many days. I really wonder if it's just some bot trying to find active e-mail accounts. I mean, honestly, how many people can think they have my e-mail address?

Either that, or it's an e-mail that Whale Biologist - Tom Adams sent me the week of January 4th, 2004, that somehow got delayed by several years (and somehow garbled his last name). In which case, please point me to these alleged YouTube videos. I would very much like to see them.

--Update 2:32--

The bot/person/Whale Biologist of the past wrote me back:

"Zaphod,

"Hey... about my last message - I've been thinkin... if you love the girl then stick it out... cause love is stronger than glue. I'm on your side man... don't take it personal.

"Slarti"


Aw, gee Slarti. That's sweet. I'm glad you approve. Now about these alleged YouTube vids of my wife....

This will only make sense to people who have seen the Young Indy episode "Travels with Father".



Conclusion: This is not necessarily our cab.

Way to teach your son about the fallacy of the undistributed middle, Professor Jones, by getting stranded in the middle of Greece without transport. GG.

Rule #1 of e-mail:
Always, always make sure you have the correct address before clicking send.

I have to admit, this is one of the more interesting wrong address e-mails I've received. At first I thought it was some type of bot-sent spam to try and determine if an e-mail address is active, but the domain seems legit.

Anyways, in keeping with my promise about posting private information inadvertently sent to me for all the world to see, here is the e-mail I just received.

::Subspace signal received::
::Carrier wave locked::
::decoding...:::

Kathy -

This isn't my ideal way to communicate but it is the only way I can do it without screaming and crying, so here goes.

I had at least 7 people come up to me in the past 5 days and say that you told them you can't stand my Dad and that you are moving to your brother's house in Gladstone. The first couple were white trash people whose opinion holds no weight with me but the last 2 were people I have trusted my entire life. Obviously, this is true.

My question is why are you saying this to people? It has happened at more than one occasion so it is obviously more than just drunk talk. Are you planning on moving out? Wouldn't it have been better for you to let my Dad know first before you tell the entire town?

I realize that he has been hard to take recently but it really pisses me off that you have coasted off him for the last 15 years and now that times are tough you are ready to bail. He has done everything for you and Kelly and I think that you at least owe him the decency to let him know you are moving before your softball team.

As for his anger directed at you, have you ever considered that some of it may be justified? I know that I would not be happy if my 45-year-old wife was out snorting cocaine until 5 AM with Jeremy Storch. The rumors about you and Jeremy have had to reach him by now. I don't believe them because I don't think you would ever cheat on my Dad, but your behavior is inexcusable regardless.

If my Dad were out with Leanne until 5 AM you would go ballistic!

Anyway, I would like to hear your side of the story. What gives?

Shannon

::Carrier wave terminated::
::End transmission::

Wow. Just, wow. I almost feel bad telling her she sent her e-mail to the wrong person. Not as bad as posting the e-mail on the internet, though.

Apparently, I'm not the only one.

First, here is a recent post to the BBspot blog. The relevant part starts in the fourth paragraph. I found that very interesting when I read it, partially because I have the same problem, and partially because it's a common geek stereo type that is actually true in many cases (introversion).

It also reminded me of a blog posting by Mike "John Gabriel" Krahulik, the artist of Penny Arcade, in which he described his paralyzing anxiety (I'm too lazy to find the link; get it yourself). The solution given to him was anti-anxiety medication. The problem was he was too anxious about the medcine to take it, and delayed doing so for months.

Anyways, the gist of all this is that it inspired me to post this article that I wrote last March, but never posted:

::Begin Transmission::

Why do I have a fear of phones?

Ok, so I'm sitting here at my desk at work. I need to call my dentist to confirm my appointment, and to respond to the message they left me. There's just one problem: that word call.

For some reason, it would be easier for me to walk down to the parking lot, get in my car, and drive the three miles to my dentist so I could walk in the front door and ask the receptionist, face to face, what they needed to speak with me about.

I don't know why this is, but I have a fear of telephones. I have had it for a number of years, although I don't remember since when. I can remember not having it (when I was a small child), but the carefree days of my youth are long gone. Since I don't know why, I'll just go ahead and blame it on Dave and indulge a 15-year-old grudge, wherein Dave criticized me for saying "what?" a lot when I was talking to our baseball coach (who had a thick Spanish accent that was hard enough for me to understand in person) on the phone. "Don't say 'what', say 'pardon'," he said (That's when Dave was in his "criticism" phase). That probably has nothing to do with the real reason, but it's good enough for me.

This, of course, ends up being a problem when one of my primary job functions involves talking to people through the ominous onyx object sitting beside the monitor on my desk. I can handle it well enough when someone is calling me. Even though it's unpleasant, I just take a deep breath an buck up the courage. But when I have to call someone else, I tend to freeze up. If a client calls and leaves me a message, I normally check our database to see if we have his e-mail address. If we do, I will almost invariably reply via e-mail, even though this could be construed as poor customer support (a telephone message deserves a telephone reply, after all).

When it comes to my home phone, I very frequently don't answer it, if I don't want to (which is all the time). One time (at band camp) Christine called while I was eating dinner and, logically, I didn't answer it. She later called to chew me out for not taking her call (The Murloc told her I was home). Also, when The Murloc got home, she also chewed me out for not taking the call. (Me: "I was eating dinner." Murloc: "But what if it was me, calling in an emergency." Me (a day later, because of my wonderful debate skills, which allow me to think up the utterly perfect, logical, and irrefutable retort the next day): "That's why I was listening for the answering machine.") That exchange actually inspired this blog post.

The Internet, for me, is a godsend. The sheer volume of information I can get from it without having to talk to anyone is wonderful. I can shut myself out of the world and still operate. I don't know what I would have done, had I been born 15 years earlier. And, oddly enough, if the Internet fails me, I'll usually just go without the information rather than ask a person what I want to know.

There was a Pearls Before Swine comic strip from a few years ago, where Rat is making a list of the best improvements in technology. His list was something like "Fax machines, so I don't have to talk to people at the post office. ATMs, so I don't have to talk to bank tellers...." Goat pointed out how anti-social he was being and Rat made some brilliant witty retort which I have since forgotten (just try to imagine it; you'll really laugh). I realized (again, some time after reading the strip), that Rat was describing my perfect world. One where I interact only with machines, never with people.

I'm not sure why I prefer machine interaction so heavily to people-interaction (I have been known to wait in line at the ticket machine at movie theaters, even when there's no line for the box office). I usually tell myself that it's because I know the machine doesn't judge me. It won't laugh at me or look at me like I'm stupid if I make a mistake. It just happily trudges along, doing exactly what it's told. There's something reassuring in that predictability. People are an Unkown. You don't know, when walking up to a stranger, if they're going to be nice or rude. I always have to be on my guard.

Maybe this is why virtually all of my social interaction is through a computer. Most of my current friends were made from the safety of the big glowing box. Sure, there are still the risks of people laughing at me, but at least those people never see me. I can hide behind the anonymity (crudity warning) of the Internet. Now I've met a number of my friends from the game in real life, and yes, I do get anxious when meeting them for reals. Oddly, I'm perfectly comfortable interacting with them in a game, but when we have a get-together? Oh noes!

It's also interesting to note that I play as an antisocialite too. I avoid groups with people I don't know whenever possible. In quests where you have to kill a unique named mob, and someone else is waiting to kill it, I would rather wait for them to kill it, let the mob respawn, then kill it myself, instead of asking the person for a group. If Nev is in a group with me, and wants me to invite someone in the area to our group, I will almost always pass group control to her, so she can invite them.

It's interesting to note that I make friends in game as the same way as in real life. That is, through someone else. I think it was my senior year in college, where I counted how many friends I had at school that I had made independently (without an introduction from someone else). I think the number I arrived at was 2. Yep, that's right. Two. Of all the dozens of friends (many of whom were close) I did meet, only two were me going up to that person and saying "hi". (Of course, Tom was one, and he introduced me to most of my other good friends at school.) Now The Murloc has that role. All of the friends I have now were made through her. I suppose this might be how most people operate, making most of their friends through another friend, but I'll bet, though, if you graphed what percentage of a person's friends were made independently versus the extroversion of that person, what you would get would be a perfect correlation between introversion/extroversion and percentage of independent friends.

"But Joe," I hear you saying. "You don't seem the anxious type. You're always such fun to be around and are always the life of the party." I then hear you fall apart, laughing, because you just can't say that last part with a straight face. It's true, though. One thing I've learned while being an introvert is how not to act like an introvert. Sure, I can put on a fake smile and pretend to enjoy myself when at an event with people I hardly know. I've become quite good at it. But deep down, the urge to just run never really goes away.

I'd better stop here before I gradually shift onto another topic again. I could keep this up for pages, talking about my insecurities. I guess it's important to remember I am (at least I think I am) a normal, well-adjusted person. And as much as I always feel like I'm about to have a panic attack, I never actually have had one, so I must be stronger than I give myself credit for. (But if I'm acknowledging that, how can it be more than I give credit for?) Either that, or I'm just a big whiner, complaining about how much I hate social interaction, but without a real psychological phobia to back it up.

Anyways, I think I've accomplished the goal of this post, which was to find a way to delay calling my dentist for another couple hours.

::End transmission::

I realized since writing this, that there are several other ways me telephonophobia has affected me. One is that I rely on the Murloc significantly to take care of things for me. Some examples: my car is overdue for an oil change because I need her to make an appointment to take it in for me; after The Roommate moved out, we continued to pay for cable service for three TVs for about six months because I couldn't call Cox to ask them to discontinue one of the lines, and needed her to do it for me; one of the reasons that I'm wearing glasses which are 8+ years old, and several powers to weak, is that I can't find an optometrist (not that I'm looking and can't find any; I can't bring myself to look). I don't rely on her to do these things for me because I'm lazy; I rely on her because I would honestly rather pay for an extra cable box, drive on squeaky brakes, and squint at my computer all day than talk to someone on the phone.

Life imitates XKCD.

I haven't resorted to linking, the lowest form of blogging, in a while, so I'm entitled. Anyways, here's the comic:



Now, here's Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wood&oldid=224066992#Wood_in_Popular_Culture

Even funnier is the warning placed on the page: "Editing of this article by new or unregistered users is currently disabled until July 10, 2008 because a mention in xkcd is causing significant disruption in the form of useless "wood in pop culture" section additions."

--Update 11:28--

It gets better: here's the "Popular Culture" section of the "Popular Culture" article.

10d Things that, if they became public knowledge, could get me kicked out of the Geek club.
So why am I posting them on the intertubes?

10: I have never read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
9: I don't much care for tabletop games, such as roleplaying games, TCGs, CCGs, or miniatures games, and have never played D&D.
8: I have never listened to a "podcast".
7: I have never learned or used the following: JavaScript, PHP, Python, CSS.
6: I don't have a dual-boot Linux box.
5: I actually rather like Windows Vista.
4: I can't solve a Rubik's Cube.
3: I have never played a Final Fantasy game.
2: Likewise with Zelda.
1: I love all the Star Wars movies, including the prequels. And I think the Ewoks are cool.

--Update 7/7--
Thought of another one.
0: I have never edited Wikipedia.