Eventually I will save the world... with my thumbs

Since we are talking about the vidya games this week, via Instapundit here are some real world applications (with emphasis added by my thumbs):

The U.S. Army has discovered a remote control gun turret that works, and cannot get enough of them. The army wants over 9,000 CROWS (common remotely operated weapon stations), but is only getting 15 a month. There should be about a thousand CROWS in service by the end of the year. . . .

But there's another reason, not often talked about, for the success of CROWS. The guys operating these systems grew up playing video games. They developed skills in operating systems (video games) very similar to the CROWS controls. This was important, because viewing the world around the vehicle via a vidcam is not as enlightening (although a lot safer) than having your head and chest exposed to the elements, and any firepower the enemy sends your way. But experienced video gamers are skilled at whipping that screen view around, and picking up any signs of danger.

In the perfect world of blogs, I would have a video clip here of the Futurama episode where Frye saves the planet from space invaders. Instead, I'll have to quote the alien general's main strategy:

Descend, and reverse direction!

Because the only thing dumber than solving a problem with a gun is failing to solve a problem with a gun

For Safety Neal: Gunfight Rulez

(found via this unsavory character)

Despite myself, I thought this one was funny:

21. Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

It's a triple.

Gather around the geek machine

And rejoice.



Update: I think Ludlow was trying to put his card in the comments, but that's just a little bit more than the law will allow. So here he is. He doesn't even own Burnout yet, and he'll never achieve my lofty ranks.

Not so dismal science

Economists start collecting data about "life satisfaction" as "measures of utility." Let me just say on behalf of non-economists... "You wern't already doing that?"

Anyway, the first result is that good government makes people happy:

Looking at the scatter plots, the correlation between life satisfaction and quality of government is remarkably linear. One interesting and seemingly robust result is that "countries with some element of proportional voting do have higher levels of life satisfaction."

No wonder we've all been so miserable of late.

That's when Russian space officials decided to pack a sawed-off shotgun aboard every spacecraft

Because of the wolves.

Does that include mormonism?

And what about those dangerous unitarians and (gulp!) deists? I think we better narrow this shit down:

State bill proposes Christianity be Missouri’s official religion

The resolution would recognize "a Christian god," and it would not protect minority religions, but "protect the majority's right to express their religious beliefs.

The resolution also recognizes that, "a greater power exists," and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, "justified recognition."

Props to the show-me state. I am sick and tired of the majority being oppressed in this country!

(KMOV, found via my new favorite blog, Posthuman Blues).

cortege

[French 'cortège', from Old Italian 'corteggio', from 'corteggiare', to pay honor, from 'corte', court, from Latin 'cohors', throng]

n.
1. A funeral procession.
2. The group following and attending to some important person.

The politics of cybernetics

"Go on," Smythe urged. "How strongly does she equate cybernetics with Communism?"

I looked at him in surprise. "She quotes Nemchinov pretty strongly on that," I said. "Her argument--I suppose she was carrying the Nemchinov philosophy--is that only the Communist system gives sufficient room to apply the combination of mathematics and cybernetics to the national economy. Pretty dry phraseology, but not the way it sounds when Tamara is talking." I grinned self-consciously. "Okay, okay, so I've got a thing about the girl."

He waved me on to continue.

"Well, according to Nemchinov," I said, "public ownership--the Communist system--is essential to setting up a single electronic network. I mean, a net that includes cybernetic systems for industry, commerce, agriculture--the works."

"And capitalism?"

"Nemchinov--according to Tamara--has it thumbs down on private enterprise."

"Why?"

I shrugged. "Something about there being an inherent barrier in private enterprise to creating the true cybernetics system on a national scale. The framework of companies, corporations, syndicates--all these spell out unacceptable interference from conflicting interests. The way Nemchinov puts it, you need almost the equivalent of ant society to create a really meaningful cybernetics system."

"Do you think his point is valid?"

I thought that one over for several moments. "Not really, I suppose. I haven't made any effort," I added, "to weigh the pros and cons of one system against the other, Tom. In the cybernetics sense, I mean."

The quoted passage is taken from chapter five of the science fiction novel The God Machine by Martin Caidin. It was published in 1968 and isn't all that good.

Pure evil or good business

Logicians know, of course, that the truth conditions for the disjunct are such that the titular sentence will remain true when both clauses are satisfied. This is often a source of confusion for students, who are inclined to think that 'or' implies exclusivity, but there you go.

Last night at about 3am I headed out to Meier to buy some necessities: blanket, pillow, toothbrush, toothpaste, aspirin, hot pockets, and antacid. On the way out of the parking lot I noticed that right across the street -- where there had been an empty field a few months ago -- a Wal-Mart had popped into existence.

This struck me as odd since I knew for a fact that there was another Wal-Mart less than a mile away. Curious, I drove by to see if the other store was still open for business. Yup.

So, basically, what's happened is that Wal-Mart has opened a new store for no other reason than to draw shoppers away from the only remaining competition in town.^[1]

Still only one Starbucks.

---------------
1 Said town being Champaign/Urbana where I happen to be this weekend, not Ann Arbor.

Don't even think about trying to cancel your card

They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.

...

Eventually, his and his wife's money was freed up. The Soehnges were apparently found not to be promoting global terrorism under the guise of paying a credit-card bill. They never did learn how a large credit card payment can pose a security threat.

Link.

Friday dumb game blogging, dumb game edition

Pixel Dash

What pizza has wrought

A relgious businessman is to spend £250 million building a porn-free town where contraception will be banned.
Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, who was raised by nuns, says it's 'God's will', reports the Daily Mirror.
Ave Maria will be run on strict Catholic lines, with no selling of porn, condoms or birth control pills, and a ban on X-rated cable TV.

There have already been 7,000 inquiries about the 11,000, homes in Florida - next to a Catholic college also built by Monaghan.

But civil liberties groups predict big legal battles over the bans.

| Ananova |

Won't anybody think of the children?

abstemious

[From Latin 'abstemius', 'abs-' away + 'temum' liquor]

adj
1. Eating and drinking in moderation.
2. Sparingly used or consumed.
3. Restricted to bare necessities.

Uninformed legal prognostications

I have two predictions:

1. The Supreme Court will uphold the 2002 gerrymander that the GOP pulled in Texas.
   
2. Tom DeLay will go to jail for shenanigans related to the 2002 gerrymander that the GOP pulled in Texas.

Discuss.

Or don't.

Superman couldn't see through it

NPR reported today on toxic levels of lead and other toxic materials in the soil in New Orleans. But wait! Katrina only stirred up the mix that was already there. Ya think? The city only sits in the eastern arc of Cancer Alley.

All that lead paint what been scraped off by gentrifying white hipsters in the Upper 9th isn't helping, either.

Ahimsa my ass

In contrast, grazing ruminants such as cattle produce food and require fewer entries into the fields with tractors and other equipment. In grazed pastures, according to Davis, less wildlife is lost to the mower blades, and more find stable habitat in untilled fields. And no-till agriculture also helps stabilize soil and reduce run-off into streams.

"Pasture-forage production, with herbivores harvesting the forage, would be the ultimate in 'no-till' agriculture," Davis said.

Davis proposes a ruminant-pasture model of food production, which would replace all poultry, pig and lamb production with beef and dairy products. According to his calculations, such a model would result in the deaths of 300 million fewer animals annually (counting both field animals and cattle) than would a total vegan model. This difference, according to Davis, is mainly the result of fewer field animals killed in pasture and forage production than in the growing and harvest of grain, beans, and corn. |link|

Two quick links

• Garance Franke-Ruta has written one heck of a take down of John Tierney. Signature passage:

  The one thing that unites these two perspectives is a commitment to male irresponsibility. Gender neutrality, in Tierney's world, could be a good thing if it allowed men to have sex without consequences and abandon their pregnant girlfriends, but is bad thing when it requires men to clean up after themselves.|TAPPED|

  
  
• Nathan Newman takes former Clintonite Donna Shalala to task for union busting at the University of Miami.

Read 'em both.