"You're not entitled to a pain-free execution"

Apparently, Ohio's Assistant Attorney General Thomas Madden has no concern about whether his state's method of murdering its prisoners is tantamount to torture.  Madden is clearly no better than those he despises.

McGuire "made sounds"?  You're not supposed to make conscious sounds if you're allegedly unconscious.  McGuire was almost certainly awake and aware for all 25 minutes of torture he endured.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=262933145

Noam Chomsky on Ariel Sharon's death

With his typically brilliant wit, Chomsky sums up Sharon's existence in one sentence.

“[T]here is a convention that you’re not supposed to speak ill of the recently dead, which unfortunately imposes a kind of vow of silence because there’s nothing else to say–there’s nothing good to say,” Chomsky said.

Incineration without incarceration

Just what exactly is wrong with India's society that rape is an everyday event by the dozens or even hundreds?  And now this one.

On October 26, 2013, a sixteen girl was raped.  She went to the police to file a report.

On the way home, she was raped a second time.  Whether the attackers were the same or different is unknown.

Then on December 23, 2013, she was attacked again, burnt alive by two people connected to the rapists (either friends or family).

Make only one resolution: Don't make resolutions

New Year's resolutions are pointless.  No, I'm not saying change is bad.

Rather I'm saying, If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right now.  

Edward Snowdon: “I already won."

Every time this man talks, he impresses me all the more.

“For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished,” Edward Snowdon said. “I already won. As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn’t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself."

“If I defected at all,” Snowden says, “I defected from the government to the public.” 

Prostitution is effectively decriminalized in Canada, but it could be worse

The Surpreme Court of Canada has struck down all laws regarding prostitution, most of which were based on "nuisance laws".  By striking down the laws, the court has effectively decriminalized prostitution (there's a difference between decriminalization and legalization).  If you think this decision is bad, it could be worse.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/12/20/supreme_court_of_canada_strikes_down_federal_criminal_prostitution_laws.html

I'm no fan of legalized prostitution, though I'm also onside with full protection - legal and physical - of those who sell sex.  Those who sell should be allowed to work (yes, it is work) in positions of safety.  Legalized brothels with security guards would prevent violence and other crime perpetrated against sex workers.  And it also protects the Johns, since they don't have to worry about "some psycho with a knife".  (Then again, if they're so worried, why aren't they buying a porno magazine and servicing themselves in safety?)

Those who sell sex are not the cause of the problem.  Prostitution exists because there is a demand for it.  If you want to stop prostitution, if you want to prosecute someone involved in it, target the Johns.  No Johns, no prostutition.

Happy New Year

The Julian Calendar may say December 21st, but to me, this is the start of the New Year.  This is the day of the winter solstice, the day when the Earth is at its perihelion, its closest point to the Sun.

Yes, we are closest to the Sun now.  So why is it winter in the northern hemisphere?  Because the northern half is pointing away from the Sun, thus receiving less heat and light.  It is summer in the southern hemisphere, which is actually warmer than summer in the north.

We are definitely exhibiting a northern bias, aren't we?

Buck the trend.  Start your year on the winter solstice, not eight to ten days after.  Calendars are arbitrary enough, make the starting point of the year meaningful.

Twenty years on, I'm still in the MOOD for DOOM

On December 10, 1993, a two megabyte file was uploaded by a six-person software company in Texas onto the computer systems of University of Wisconsin–Madison.  What was done as a favour by U W-M's sysadmin turned into an event which crashed their system.

DOOM was released.  And the world would never be the same again.

DOOM was remarkable as a computer game in four significant ways:

1) It was the first widely-popular First Person Shooting game (FPS).

Yes, there were others before it (Catacomb, Wolfenstein 3D), but it was DOOM that popularized the genre and changed gaming.  The sense of being in the game was unlike any other on the market.  The only other widely player first person types of games at the time were car racing games.  DOOM added fear and paranoia, sound and lighting to make gameplay seem almost real.

2) It proved that shareware was a viable and profitable method of distribution

DOOM's shareware release (today, it would be called demoware) meant people could download the program and play before paying, able to get a taste without buying the whole meal.  And because the meal was so tasty and new, people did pay.  Sure, there was a shareware market and distribution system, but it was used mostly by individual programmers, not large computer companies who continued to sell programs in packaged boxes.

3) DOOM introduced modding to the world

Other people had modded games before id (e.g. Ms. Pac-Man), but DOOM made it easy for less technically proficient people to create and insert their own graphics, sounds and level design into the game, something never before possible for most.  Modding spawned (pun definitely intended) its own industry of add-ons that people made and sold.

4) DOOM introduced networked gaming

Before DOOM, "multiplayer gaming" meant either taking turns (playing until you "died" and then handed the controller to another player until that person "died") or two players looking at the same screen with the same view (or worse, a top/bottom split screen with a smaller view).

DOOM's appearance meant that two people could now play against each other with full computer power to themselves.  And not just separate machines, but separate viewing and playing.  It meant you could play someone across a room, in another room, another building and eventually, another country.  DOOM make the internet a near necessity for multiplayer gaming.

----------

Whether you like DOOM or not, you have to respect its place in history and its influence.  Just as the Lord Of The Rings movies could not exist without Dungeons and Dragons, so too could today's gaming not exist without DOOM.

DOOM is likely to remain popular for the next decade given John Carmack's decision to release the source code.  There are many high quality ports of DOOM still in development, with additions of sound, graphics, player movement and many other features.  And with the plethora of fan-made WAD files to use, there's no end to customization.  DOOM is nowhere near the end of its playability.

DOOM World has a list of ports to various computer systems including DOS, Windows, Macintosh, Linux and several others.   ZDOOM, Brutal DOOM, and Chocolate DOOM are among the more popular and recently updated versions.

http://www.doomworld.com/classicdoom/ports/

One genius maniac obsessed individual person went so far as to create a Flash side scrolling verion that can be played in a browser.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/470460

Three women held as slaves for decades were victims of religion

Why am I not surprised?

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/man-accused-of-london-slavery-claimed-he-was-christ-and-took-thousands-from-followers-29791349.html

Man accused of London slavery 'claimed he was Christ and took thousands from followers'

The head of the Maoist sect accused of keeping three female slaves tried to convince his followers he was like Jesus Christ and persuaded them to hand over thousands of pounds for the revolutionary cause, a former activist claimed yesterday.

The women are a 30-year-old Briton, named in reports as Rosie Davies, 57-year-old Josephine Herivel from Belfast, and a 69-year-old Malaysian, confirmed by that country's police to be Siti Aishah Wahab.

Defining stupidity

I watched a documentary on stupidity.  It posed the question of "What is stupidity?" but never defined it, probably because it's too nebulous to define.

The best definition I can think of is this:

stupidity (n.)

1. To act in contradiction to reality, facts, and/or one's own interests

2. To deny and ignore reality and facts in pursuit of one's desires or ambitions

It's not a perfect catch-all, but it fairly well describes things most educated would call stupid:

• "daredevils" and other physically dangerous acts
• religion, creationism, climate change denial, political hypocrisy
• obsession and fanaticism (music, movies, sports, etc.)

Buy Nothing Day is here at last

Novermber 29th 2013 is Buy Nothing Day in North America.

Novermber 30th 2013 is International  Buy Nothing Day.

https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/

http://www.ecoplan.org/ibnd/

Do your part by not doing what corporations want.

Buy Nothing Day isn't just anti-corporatism, it's pro-environment.  There is too much waste, too much consumerism, too much "disposable" junk.

Stop buying things that you throw away.  Buy better quality stuff, and use it until it wears out.  My last cell phone was four years old before it broke from everyday use, long after it was "outdated" in terms of features.  ("Outdated"?  No, I could still make phone calls and still receive calls.  It worked.)  And I still use the laptop computer I bought in 2006 because it works too.  I use it for recording TV shows.

What happenes when the "legal system" is more corrupt than the criminals?

What happens?  The corrupt members get a slap on the wrist.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mass-chemist-gets-3-to-5-years-in-drug-lab-scandal/

Mass. chemist gets 3-to-5 years in drug lab scandal

A chemist at a Massachusetts drug lab who admitted faking test results in criminal cases pleaded guilty Friday to obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence in a scandal that has jeopardized thousands of convictions.

"Jeopardized thousands of convictions"?  Excuse me?  How about the dozens or possibly hundreds of innocent people who were falsely convicted?  Or does the stenographer assume the accused are all guilty?

Feminist Frequency and Tropes vs Women: 4 for 4

Anita Sarkeesian has hit for the cycle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYqYLfm1rWA

http://www.feministfrequency.com/

"Ms. Male Character" is the fourth in her series on video games and tropes against women.  Some try to question her methods and conclusions (she is not another Malcolm Gladwell, thankfully), but her arguments are sound.  They are provocative and eye opening, definitely worth a viewing.

Amanda Berry is alive, and Sylvia Browne is dead

People say when someone dies, you should only say good things about them.

Sylvia Browne is dead.  Good.

Browne's track record of "prediction" was so bad that random dice rolls produced better results.

http://fox8.com/2013/11/20/tmz-sylvia-browne-dead-at-77/

There are thousands of other frauds willing to cheat the uneducated out of their money, but at least Browne won't be doing it anymore.

It's a start, but we're only part way there

Kids are starting to see that using epithets is wrong, and are not using them anymore.

That's good, but are they calling out others who do it?  It's not enough to stop yourself.  Stop others if you know it's wrong.  "Don't do that," is the least you can say.

Assaulting and/or killing cyclists is a "minor" offense

In the New York Times on November 9, writer Daniel Duane asked, "Is It O.K. to Kill Cyclists?"

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-to-kill-cyclists.html

The anecdotes mounted: my wife’s childhood friend was cycling with Mom and Dad when a city truck killed her; two of my father’s law partners, maimed. I began noticing “cyclist killed” news articles, like one about Amelie Le Moullac, 24, pedaling inside a bike lane in San Francisco’s SOMA district when a truck turned right and killed her. In these articles, I found a recurring phrase: to quote from The San Francisco Chronicle story about Ms. Le Moullac, “The truck driver stayed at the scene and was not cited.”

In stories where the driver had been cited, the penalty’s meagerness defied belief, like the teenager in 2011 who drove into the 49-year-old cyclist John Przychodzen from behind on a road just outside Seattle, running over and killing him. The police issued only a $42 ticket for an “unsafe lane change” because the kid hadn’t been drunk and, as they saw it, had not been driving recklessly.

Genetics and left handedness may finally have a proven link

A study from the UK and the Netherlands may finally end bigotry toward and the abuse of children who are left handed.  Scientists have identified a genes which makes handedness in inborn trait, and not something to be "changed" through mental and physical abuse.