Monday, August 06, 2012

Sentential Links

Links....

:: It's this kind of ignorant trash that sets feminism back decades. Women who defend this book are, however unwittingly, participating in some of the most blatant misogyny I've ever witnessed, giving the impression that some women enjoy being debased, abused, and controlled (outside of a consensual dom/sub relationship). (Thank God I'm hearing awful things about 50 Shades of Gray now...if only more people had told me what an awful book Twilight is....)

:: That's something I've been thinking about lately. As much as I love adventure stories, I've never been a risk taker. Presented with the easy way or a potentially more rewarding, but harder way, I've always taken the easier way.

:: You didn't set out to get rich as a favor to the rest of us.

So stop expecting a thank you note.
(Couldn't agree more. The whole "Bow down and thank your Job Creating Overlords!" thing that we've got going on is utterly nauseating.)

:: Er...your brother got killed in a mountain-climbing accident! (In context, this is actually really funny....)

:: What I like most about all three Batman movies is Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon. The character developed a lot over the course of the trilogy and the whole storyline revolves as much around him as it does around Batman. While the flashy action scenes are usually left to others, I get a kick out of every single minute of screentime Oldman has. That man can say more with taking off his glasses than others with a five minute monologue. (I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm eternally fascinated by Gary Oldman, when he turns up in stuff.)

:: I've made no secret of the fact that I often feel a little lost here in the 21st century, but at moments like this, when technology gives us the opportunity to share things like this with the people who are making it happen, and the people all over the world who also get excited by the thought of something we built setting down on another freaking planet... god, it's all so amazing. It almost makes up for nonsense like whether or not eating mediocre fast-food chicken sends the proper political statement.

:: The news these days is filled with polarization, with hate, with fear, with ignorance. But while these feelings are a part of us, and always will be, they neither dominate nor define us. Not if we don’t let them. When we reach, when we explore, when we’re curious – that’s when we’re at our best. We can learn about the world around us, the Universe around us. It doesn’t divide us, or separate us, or create artificial and wholly made-up barriers between us. As we saw on Twitter, at New York Times Square where hundreds of people watched the landing live, and all over the world: science and exploration bind us together. Science makes the world a better place, and it makes us better people.

It’s what we can do, and what we must do.
(Amen. Oh my God, Amen.)

:: I tell you these summer days passed by with saddle, foot, and bow are becoming legend in my own life. I adore every hoof mark, stride, and knocked arrow.

And the very best part?

It's Monday.


More next week. Or not.

(Actually, maybe not...I have family visiting from out of town this coming weekend, so posting may not happen much. You are warned. Heh!)

More next week!

3 comments:

??? said...

Thanks for the linkage :) One of these days I'm going to write an entire post about Oldman - I've been a fan for 20 years now (at my age, there are not that many things I've been doing or liking for 20 years...). I doubt I can pull it off as beautifully as Sheila O'Malley does when she writes about actors or Elvis, but I can give it a try.

Roger Owen Green said...

The problem with supporting science - which I DO, don't get me wrong - is this pervasiveness of pseudo-science which denies climate change and allows humans to be walking with the dinosaurs 6000 years ago; this makes real discovery unnecessary, since the "faith-based" brand makes trips to Mars, e.g., unnecessary. The Lord's coming back soon, and we'll have all the answers we need soon.

New York Erratic said...

@ Roger:

Actually working on a list of things that would vastly improve science.

Example: maybe we should issue grants to universities or institutions rather than individuals. I know in the OGL lab we have 3 GCMS's that cost a total of about 2 million dollars - none of which work properly and have only been used sporadically in the last 5 years. Chem, even other labs in EaES have their own dumpy, not-working, barely used $500,000-$1 million dollar machines.

If the machines were centralized at the university we could spend a lot less on individual machines and could afford to hire a tech so that the machines were always working properly.

There's a huge lack of efficiency. Throwing more money at the problem won't produce better science without efficiency. It'll just burn money. Furthermore, the individualized grants allow one wacko to publish some papers (e.g. "global warming doesn't exist and the recent heating is due to space aliens"), which of course gets picked up by the news.