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Halting State, Charles Stross — Despite the level of his output, Charles Stross is about as far as one can get from SF formula. His works range from exploring the concept of the Singularity to an award-winning alternate history series to a spy agency dealing with Lovecraftian opponents. Halting State, his latest novel, is a near future tale that doesn’t really fall into any of these categories. Told alternatively from three viewpoints (police officer, forensic accountant and gaming programmer), corporate shenanigans meet gamers meet national security and digital infrastructure. While perhaps not Stross’s best, he still intrigues the reader using both intellect and readability.
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, Jeffrey Toobin — Between the retirement of Sandra Day O’Connor and the appointment of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, this is already a book about a Supreme Court that was, not a Supreme Court that is. Although focusing largely on the last several years of the Rehnquist era on the Supreme Court, Toobin catches the Supreme Court in its most massive and significant transition in decades. Yet this also allows Toobin a unique opportunity to compare the Rehnquist era with the early days of the Roberts Court. In so doing, the book shows just what a dramatic and revolutionary change is occurring there, one that has serious and dire ramifications for the nation.
The Varieties of Scientific Experience, Carl Sagan — It might be unfair to classify Carl Sagan with the so-called “new atheists.” Although they rely on reason and logic, they tend to roundly condemn religion itself. In contrast, while Sagan relied on his strong belief in scientific method and knowledge, he tried to remain a somewhat more objective observer. That approach is demonstrated in lectures he gave in 1985 for the Gifford Lectures on natural theology, lectures edited and published here by his widow, Ann Druyan, last year on the 10th anniversary of Sagan’s death. Sagan’s approach, in fact, is such that it’s probably not fair to call him an atheist. Although it looks like he leans toward atheism (“The alleged natural theological arguments for the existence of God simply are not very compelling”), Sagan is, more accurately, an agnostic. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” is a long-standing mantra Sagan reiterates during a question-and-answer session at the lectures. Given Sagan’s almost inimitable style, this is a very readable scientist’s eye view of the core theological issue — the existence of God and his role in the universe.
“Science” is only a Latin word for “knowledge.” And it’s hard for me to believe that anyone is opposed to knowledge.
Carl Sagan, The Varieties of Scientific Experience
I was originally going to do a somewhat lengthy post regarding the first item below but suffice it to say that while the rhetoric is extreme and pessimistic, a sad truth underlies it.
- One of the better politically oriented blog posts I’ve read in a long time: The Barren, Deadly Wasteland that Is Now Our Life.
- In the interest of some balance, so to speak, I also happened to come across a more optimistic view from a longtime activist. (Via.)
- South Dakota’s best new political blog? If you don’t think so, you’re a poopyhead! (Of course, as PP notes, most of us have long ignored — years for me — the twin’s “nonsensical rants.”)
- The rush to create best books of 2007 lists continues.
- At least these library looters had some class and taste.
- Direct marketers discover library books. To look on the bright side, not only does it raise money for the libraries, it would provide more junk for me to stuff and mail in the postage page response envelopes that come with credit card solicitations.
- In the event you hadn’t noticed (or even looked), the offical State home page was updated last week. Whether it’s an improvement may depend on what you’re looking for. And while it may have been there before, I notice the disclaimer page says, “Links to external web sites and pages may be removed or replaced at the sole discretion of the State, at any time without notice.” I presume this hearkens back to the State Library controversy several years ago.
[T]hat’s essentially how I feel about life: full of misery, loneliness, and suffering — and it’s all over much too quickly.
Woody Allen, Annie Hall
- No wonder a chill was running down my spine most of the day.
- A CJR essay makes a cogent argument that “journalism needs a rhetoric beat.”
- Britannica Blog has a very interesting post on why the written word has “no real information value” for communicating with an extraterrestrial civilization.
- Colbert may be done but I’m still dreaming of a Jon Stewart-Bruce Springsteen ticket.
- Words Without Borders gives some love to the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program.
- The WaPo‘s Book World, meanwhile, takes us around the world in 25 books.
- Given there’s nearly two months left, tain’t it a little early to be coming up with a best books of 2007 list?
Look here brother,
Who you jivin’ with that Cosmik Debris?
“Cosmik Debris,” Frank Zappa, Apostrophe (‘)
This post has been simmering for well more than a month now and, while I hate to admit it, the recent long home stand of the Stampede brings it to fruition. The games reminded me all too painfully of songs that absolutely drive me nuts.
I’m not talking annoying, somewhat obnoxious or even mere hatred (i.e., anything by Celine Dion or any disco tune). I’m talking about songs that make you want to pound your head against a brick wall to ease the pain or that would cause you to crack almost immediately were they used to interrogate you. Undoubtedly, there’s a number of such songs I’ve been fortunate enough not to have heard for a while so they don’t come to mind. But here’s a selection of some of my “winners,” including two special categories:
General:
- “Do You Feel Like We Do,” Peter Frampton. It’s almost impossible to believe such pablum could come from a guy who was one of the founders of Humble Pie.
- “Mickey,” Toni Basil. The video alone, played unremittingly when the song was popular, is yet one more reason cheerleaders are hated.
- “Muskrat Love,” Captain and Tennille. Even the title causes me to cringe.
- “The Sweet Escape,” Gwen Stefani. This certainly may be the most irritating song of the 21st century. Any time this comes on a radio (which is far, far, far, far, too often) within earshot I feel like Dustin Hoffman in the infamous scene from Marathon Man where his teeth are drilled without any anesthetic.
- “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” Leo Sayer. Vomiting, yes. Dancing, no.
“There Oughta Be A Law” — a category where Congress could actually do something useful and pass a law banning these songs from any sporting event or public gathering:
- “ChaCha Slide,” DJ Casper. An example of the odor that can come from exercise facilities.
- “The Chicken Dance.” At least “The Hokey Pokey,” which is far superior, tends to be limited to youth activities.
- “YMCA,” The Village People. The song sucked when it came out. It has not improved with age.
The first two in this category are played at most Stampede games. Were it not for the fact I would miss the rest of the game, I would be likely to dive from my seats and impale myself on a hockey stick each time they are played.
Award for Excellence: Virtually anything from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which has ensured that a special place in hell has been reserved for the BeeGees.
Extraordinary how potent cheap music is.
Noel Coward, Private Lives
BoingBoing pointed me to an interesting little tool over at Gracenote. Once known as CDDB, Gracenote provides the service a lot of music software uses to obtain album information. When you insert a disc into the CD or DVD drive on your computer, the software may very well connect to Gracenote to populate the title, track and artist information and the like.
Gracenote’s site now has a map showing the most popular albums and artists for various countries and the states of the U.S. based on the inquiries to its database. As it’s based only on those queries and you generally wouldn’t need to obtain the info for a particular CD more than once, it’s certainly not the most accurate assessment of popularity. Still, it is interesting. As of the time I checked, here were South Dakota’s top 10 artists:
- Carrie Underwood
- The Beatles
- Rascal Flatts
- Garth Brooks
- Pearl Jam
- AC/DC
- Metallica
- Linkin Park
- Nickelback
- George Strait
Six other artists, including Seether and Kanye West, were on the top 10 album list but not among the top 10 artists. Only Underwood (with two albums in the top 10), Rascal Flatts and Nickelback appeared on both lists. Overall, it seems there’s a few head bangin’ metal cowboys in the state.
But all the knowledge in the world is of no use to fools
Title Track, Eagles, Long Road Out of Eden
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