Thwackum & Square

A Much-Needed Laugh

2009-11-15T17:44:00.002-05:00

I love Boing Boing. And I love the fact that this product exists. And I love the fact that the need for said product is lovingly chronicled here (with greatest hits here).

Lazy blog post you say? Yup. It's been a pretty nasty weekend, but I thought I'd share one of the few things that made me laugh.

Hieroglyphics!

2009-11-14T11:00:00.003-05:00

My daughter brought me a code today made up of food items that she had used to write a message. I was seized by a sudden moment of uber-geekiness, and explained to her that this was similar to the hieroglyphics that the Egyptians used to write back in the day. (You know, the day, thousands of years ago?). One of the things about being a parent is you can try to sound smart about something you know nothing at all about. She was mildly interested so I googled hieroglyphics and showed her some examples. She wandered off, officially bored by her fathers pedagogy. But I kept reading. Turns out, the system of writing makes some kind of sense! I mean, at least based on this one website, you can readily grasp what they were doing when they were writing it - what meant what (at least in terms of the alphabet, there were a few thousand characters that were not the alphabet that would be harder to figure). Anyway, it was a fascinating 10 minutes, even if my daughter wasn't there to hear it, so if you've ever wondered what they're reading on "The Mummy" check it out.

Really well written response to a book I won't be reading

2009-11-10T23:13:00.004-05:00

You guys know I've read Freakanomics, and liked it generally. You also probably know that they've got a sequel out - Superfreakanomics. And based on the buzz, I'm not planning on reading that one. From what I've been reading about the book, they've kind of gone off the edge of reason with the same kind of thinking I have complained about in the past - Post-hoc thinking. Essentially what they're doing is picking a set of data, looking at it selectively, and using it to make some point instead of systematically examining all of the facts or, better yet, conducting an experiment to see if their guesses are right. I feel weird critiquing the authors because, having read the first book, I've concluded that they're brilliant. But brilliant people can make intellectual asses out of themselves and one of the things about pop (i.e., non peer reviewed) writing is that you can get away with being a really big intellectual ass and still sell lots of books (sound familiar Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Beck??). So, brilliant or not, I'm not planning on plopping down $30 more for the book.

One of the things that people are really fired up about it their stance on climate change. Of course a very hot button topic, and they're brave to take it on. But that doesn't make them right. I've read some excerpts from their chapter, and a load of replies, and by far my favorite post on the subject is this one. I like it because it's well written, it's very clear, and it does a great job of illustrating just where post-hockery can get you. So if you've got a second check it out - it's enjoyable and educational all at the same time. A veritable Oreo of a critique. Enjoy.

And so it begins...

2009-11-10T16:24:00.001-05:00

At 9:00 this morning I was supposed to have a deliverable (code that converts a file from one thing to another thing). At 9:00 I found that the person who was going to write the code was patiently waiting for another human to do something. I lit a fire under the human who hadn't done his thing, and ever since it has been a process of shepherding things across one little tiny bridge after another. It's like herding cats across bridges built out of matchsticks.

And it's now 4:00 and we are only theoretically further along than we were at 9:00.

Wheeeee!

Don't Tell Him How Awesome He Is!

2009-11-09T15:28:00.000-05:00

My colleague just got a promotion...except that nobody told him. Sssssssh! Don't tell anyone, but Rich is awesome!

Flu sucks

2009-11-09T14:45:00.003-05:00

That has to be one of the most subtle, and surprising, post titles I've ever written, if I do say so myself.

So just an update - I've had the flu the past week. It could be H1N1, it probably is because 1) I don't usually get the flu and 2) I got my seasonal flu vaccine a month ago, and 3) I had all the symptoms. But whatever strain it is, I had it in the middle of a business trip and it was quite unpleasant. When I got home, starting to feel better, by the way, I started coughing so much that my wife sent me to Urgent Care where I found I had picked up an ear infection and bronchitis on the way. The doc was optimistic that it will all clear up soon at this point, and I suspect he's right, but in the mean time *blech*.

One of the things that bothered me the most about the whole experience was that I got to be Typhoid Shifter bringing plague to all of Atlanta, everyone on the plane flights, my roommates for the conference, and so forth. At least one of my roommates, my boss actually, did get sick. Definitely a good way to earn brownie points.

So I should add some deep thought, witty observation, or interesting fact to keep this from being a "guess what I had for lunch" post but, well, I can't think of anything. So, it was sausage and noodles with a granola bar. So there.

The Peacock Needs Some Color

2009-11-07T23:48:00.002-05:00

OK, so full disclosure. I'm a white girl of Irish heritage. I don't tan so much as glow like a traffic light when exposed to the sun. So I'm probably not the best person to bring up this particular topic. There's no tactful way to say this, and this will be exceptionally tactless, because I suck at politics. I apologize, but I really think it's a point worth making, so try to give me the benefit of the doubt.

I love great television. So I love Friday Night Lights. This season, the big plot turn (and it's a good one) is that Eric Taylor has been banished to coaching the football team for East Dillon, the "poor" high school.

Even when Eric was coaching the Panthers, the racial mix of the show was a little weird. I did not grow up in Texas, but I did grow up in New Mexico, and at least once an episode I would wonder where on earth all the Hispanic people were. Let's face it, if this were really Texas, they would probably outnumber the white people on the show. We had the nurse who took care of Matt's grandma representing the entire Hispanic adult population of Dillon, but I remember only one Hispanic student, and I'm not even sure he had any lines. I'm not the only one who's noticed--lots of affectionate reviewers and viewers would prefer it if our suspension of disbelief was taxed only by the insane plot line involving Tyra and Landry committing a crime with virtually no consequences, and not by the regular assertion that nobody in Dillon speaks Spanish except for high school Spanish class.

So I was really excited when the show took this turn of having Eric lose the Panthers coaching job to the truly Bond-villainish father of JD McCoy. I saw it as NBC taking the criticism on the chin and being proactive about it, and using it to fuel some kick-ass drama. I was naive enough to think that some of the kids who live in Texas might not be white, and that some of these not-white kids might go to East Dillon High.

The producers do seem to be aware that East Dillon might have a different demographic. And they have summoned their casting talents to find some really terrific African American actors (including "Wire" veteran Michael B Jordan). This is awesome. I love Smash, and I think Gaius Charles has a big career ahead of him, and if they want to launch another three or four or ten talented African American actors, I'm behind them 100%. Yay, NBC. But Dillon is in Texas, not Georgia. The absence of Hispanic culture in Dillon is frankly getting egregious. These kids would be at that school. And we all know there's talent out there. Hell, Glee takes place in friggin' Ohio and has a more diverse cast--and those kids have to be able to sing. Get out there and raid Telemundo, NBC. Or better yet, get your butts to Texas and find yourself some actual Texas talent.

Sorry--I'll put the soapbox away now and return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

One of Those Weeks

2009-11-07T21:54:00.002-05:00

One of those weeks is coming. Just to clarify, it's the kind of week where you bring your own coffee maker to work because you won't have time to go downstairs for coffee. Fortunately we haven't actually gotten to the point of fitting ourselves with catheters yet--maybe next project.

My boss actually sent me home early on Friday because we all know that next week is going to suck. It's going to be really, really awful. This is because although we are only a couple of weeks away from the now-pushed-out delivery date for our project, we keep finding defects, some of which won't even be ready for re-test until Tuesday, so we have an unbelievable number of tests to run in an unbelievably short time frame.

So, you know, posting may be light.

And if you see posts...well, that means that we've found so many problems that we've had to stop working. So hell has been briefly postponed. So that's not good either.

In an effort to prepare myself I went to Brooklyn today. I walked around in the fall sunshine and got my hair done. I went to an off-Broadway play in the afternoon (it wasn't especially good, but it was better than cleaning my house, which was definitely the alternative). Tomorrow I'm working out and finishing cleaning my house, because if I get it clean tomorrow it will stay clean until the project is over, because I'll be lucky if I see it for a week. And that'll be a big relief when I finally emerge from the Zone of Evil.

Any and all tips for survival in the Zone of Evil are welcomed and appreciated.

I am an economist!

2009-11-06T13:01:00.001-05:00

Well, okay, maybe not. But my experience is now officially mirrored by employed Americans everywhere, as noted by an actual economist on Marketplace.

Another Reason I'll Never Be a Serious Journalist

2009-11-03T19:46:00.002-05:00

Personally, I wouldn't have done this story without using the phrase, "toe-pick!"

So true...

2009-11-02T19:57:00.000-05:00

Cool song...

2009-11-01T16:19:00.001-05:00

A colleague/friend of mine gave me a running mix right before the marathon. I didn't listen to it in the marathon, but did listen on the drive to/from. IT has a few songs that caught me by surprise. As in they were very good. Here is one of them, by Tom Waits. I gather he's been around for ever and ever but I never listened to him. Maybe that was a mistake. He has a scratchy tired voice that is very appealing in the context of this song, and the lyrics are pretty cool. It took me about forever to figure out what he was saying. What's not to like?

Jacks!

2009-11-01T08:58:00.003-05:00

Here are the Halloween Jack-o-lanterns. I'll let you pick which is which:

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T17:04:00.002-04:00

Halloween is a favorite holiday. It's got it all. It's got candy. It's got parties. It's got activities after dark. It's got things you do with your family. It's got things you do with your friends. It has skeletons and bloody scythes. Yes, it has it all.

For me, Halloween also has about 5 hours raking leaves, mulching them, and putting them into big yard waste bags. It has blisters. It has burning eyes from all the leaf dust. It has no time for lunch, much less workign out. It has that tired feeling you get from a job that is not well done, but done, and that gives you only the satisfaction of knowing your lawn is less likely to grow mold over the winter.

But it also has pumpkins! We had a bumper crop of Jack-o-Lanterns this year and if I'm not too lazy I'll post some small pics of them later. Each of us carved one. My own has a neurotic, weepy/scared face which just suited my mood today. One daughter's is kind of angry skeleton and the other's is Frankenstein's monster on acid, and my wife's is just demonic. No wonder my poor orange guy is all freaked out - he keeps weird company.

I hope everyone reading this, imaginary or not, has a fun and enjoyable Halloween, with just as much candy as you like and no more fright than you can handle. And remember - if you eat too much candy, you can always run it off tomorrow *place demonic laugh here*

Torchlight Update

2009-10-31T16:55:00.003-04:00

In the interest of being fair, let me say that I've got Torchlight up and running on my PC. After thinking about it, and checking their support forums, I found that there were two issues. One was that the installer puts MS C++ Redistributable 2008 on your PC even if you happen to have that same redistributable or, in my case, a full version of MS C++ 2008 installed already. That was creating the Buffer Overrun error. I fixed that by removing the redistributable that the installer had put on the machine. The other was that good ol' Norton was detecting the program as some kind of threat and not allowing it to connect to the internet for program registration. I can see why it might do that, I've seen it happen before with small press applications. But what bugs me is that Norton Firewall would then decide that ALL attempts to access the internet were malicious and thus, I would be unable to access the internet with any program after trying to start Torchlight. Which would lead to a shut down, and all the rest. I got around that by turning the firewall off long enough to get the thing registered, then put the firewall back on (so I wouldn't get caught with my electronic pants down). Fortunately, the program does not access the internet other than for registration, so it doesn't keep hanging. Also fortunatley, it looks like the developers are already working on a patch that may address this or other issues.

So far, the game seems quite enjoyable, but I haven't gotten to play it much because I spent all my playing time getting it to run. But I have played it enough to know that it does not suck (so far).

AdamThinks.com - There's An App For That

2009-10-30T22:57:00.002-04:00

I happen to think this is hilarious. The iPhone seems like a cool smartphone, and mad props for innovation, but Apple's opportunistic decision to selectively waive its normally fanatical dedication to proprietary technology to sell apps (which coincidentally help sell iPhones) just burns my cookies.

But maybe Torchlight does?

2009-10-30T00:07:00.002-04:00

I frigging HATE IT when programs won't run. I actually got enough work done at work today that I had a night off. I was going to spend it playing this new game, Torchlight, which looks to be just the bee's knees. I'd love to tell you about it but, well, I can't. Because I can't get the fragging thing to run. When I try it first gives me a buffer overrun error, then essentially freezes my internet connection and then won't allow me to enter in the verification codes because it can't access the damned internet. It can't access the internet because it's f*ing up the goddamn connection! The conflict seems to come with the MS C++ redistributable package or something. I've spent an hour and a half trying to figure it out, with many MANY system restarts, and nothing. Not one piece of luck. What an INCREDIBLY frustrating way to spend $20 and an evening. @#$!@

Others are playing the game, and liking it, so I'm assuming it's a weird combo of my system set up and the software. They just released it so eventually they may get enough people with this problem that they'll post a fix. Or not. RIght now I'm too annoyed to care. If I had purchased a boxed version of the game, I would have set it on fire by now.

So I'm just fooling around on the linux box for the moment. Even though the hardward is a bit buggy, and even though I'm finding linux to be confusing as hell (cause I'm just not that used to it or saavy with this stuff), it's VERY stable and that makes me love it.

MS Visio doesn't suck

2009-10-29T22:24:00.002-04:00

It's always a treat to find a MS program that doesn't suck. I'm currently writing this on my linux box which, although it does reset itself from time to time due to a bad heatsink on the mobo, boots SO much faster due to not being an MS program :o) But I spent a lot of time today using MS Visio and I have to say, it didn't suck too bad. Visio is a drawing program, mostly for diagrams, flow charts, and that kind of thing. Like EVERY MS program, you do quickly have to get out of all the templated, pre-set crap that they assume will just be soooooo helpful, and get to where you can tell it what you actually want it to do. But once you do that it works. I'm doing some diagrams for an upcoming presentation where I'm reporting on this SEM/CFA modeling (if it would mean anything to you, you'll know what that means) and I've seen people do diagrams in Word, in Powerpoint, and now (myself) in Visio and so far Visio is my favorite. The arrows go where I want them, it's easy to insert text for each path you draw, circles are circles, squares are squares. It doesn't take too much to make me happy.

So, if you happen to need to do a bunch of path diagrams and you have access to it, Visio is not a bad way to go. If you don't, just use the Openoffice.org Draw program - that will work almost as well. When I used it in a grant application though I found that it's figures tended to be a bit fuzzy and weird on printout.
There ya have it. Geek out, world.

Have I mentioned how much I hate spiders?

2009-10-27T22:15:00.002-04:00

I think I may have mentioned how much I hate spiders. So tonight I'm watching The Biggest Loser on my fat ass, which is conveniently located on my sofa. And I look over and there's a large unidentified object on the ground. And it's vaguely spider-shaped, but it can't be a spider. I mean, it just can't. Because it's huge. Forget a quarter. This thing is the size of half a dollar bill. I dogleg around behind it, and damned if it isn't a spider. Like the kind that come on plastic rings this time of year. Only he isn't on a plastic ring. He's on my carpet. And turns around so that he's watching me.

So I did what I always do in these situations. I called someone who's hundreds of miles away. The last time this happened, a spider effectively treed me on the sofa and I called my friend in Arizona. Yeah--I lived in New Mexico at the time. As the spider bobs up and down trying to figure out just how much silk it's going to need to immobilize me while it sucks my body dry, my friend is like, "Honey, I can't do anything. You know if I lived even 20 miles away, I'd come running, but you have to sleep before I can get there. Hit it with a shoe." It wasn't until hours later when my then-husband arrived and shrieked like a teenager in a horror film that he believed how big the spider was. (My ex-husband killed it with a shoe. He was a good man that way.)

This spider could eat that spider for lunch. And would--because, you know, they're cannibals. And I got divorced, so there's nobody to kill the spider.

I run back to the sofa and call my cousin's husband. "Bill, Bill. There's a spider in my house so big that he casts a shadow. And he's watching me."

"Well, he's probably not watching you, because he's a New York spider. I don't think you have poisonous spiders out there, do you?"

"I didn't think we had giant spiders, but the survey says yes we do."

"Do you have a New York Times?"

"No. I read it online."

"Oh, well then you'll have to get a book and wrap it in paper."

Genius. I wasn't fooling around. I got an encyclopedia so big that when I put it in a Trader Joe's bag, the handles of the bag tore off. The spider, no fool, got under a chair. It took me five minutes of coaxing from thousands of miles away to move the chair and throw the encyclopedia at the spider. And I kid you not, it made him really mad. Instead of his legs being out in creepy-crawly mode, he shooped them up under his body to make himself really tall and threatening like the tripods in War of the Worlds (except an octopod). Not to be deterred, I got the Oxford Guide to the Bible and threw it in another Trader Joe's bag. (He must not have been doing very well for all his big show, because he stood there looking mad as hell while I did this.) I was a little concerned, because it wasn't as big as the encyclopedia, but it turned out that greater maneuverability was an asset.

At least, I think it was. I'm scared to pick up the bag. And all the hair on the back of my neck stands up when I look at it. I'm counting this as my workout for the evening because my heart rate was definitely in the fat-burning zone.

NMA's new album

2009-10-27T00:00:00.002-04:00

New Model Army! They're at it again. Woo hoo!

For the unenlightened: NMA is a British once-punk band that's been around for decades. They have a substantial cult following, not only in Europe (where I gather they're better known) but here in the States as well. Their music started punk and softened and broadened a bit over time. One of their albums from the 90s (Thunder and Consolation) was once described to me as a cross between Pink Floyd and Depeche Mode, which was funny to me for a few reasons. First, I was very fond of both of those groups (and still am very fond of Floyd). Second, because I doubt NMA feels at all influenced by either. But somehow the description worked. By the way, if you were looking for an album to introduce you to NMA, I'd probably go with Thunder and Consolation. Maybe just because it was my first exposure to them and it totally grabbed me, but I've always thought that it was one of the most immediately appealing albums.

NMA is one of those bands who has been around long enough to change. Which is cool. Their sound has definitely evolved. It's matured, moderated, grown more complex, a bit less angry. But they're also a band who has stayed very true to themselves. They still sing about the social issues and socialist themes that made it hard for them to get visas to tour the US on a few occasions. Their lyrics, which have always been a huge strong point, are still awesome. They still rock. I think at some point I'll try to get into more about their songs and lyrics. One of the many many items in the "future post lists."

But anyway, the boys have got a new album out, as of last month. Today is a Good Day. No, that's the name of the album. I've only gotten to listen to it a little bit so far, but it sounds good. You can get it for $9 from an Amazon download, a $35 import (if you're stateside) cd, or you can order direct from their website. Or you can ignore this and go about your business.

So what's with all the econ cr*p anyway

2009-10-26T23:49:00.003-04:00

Really, when you come right down to it, why read any economics book? What do you care, right? You're not all about money, are you? That would be lame. You don't want to be one of those money people, do you? You don't want to be a money-grubber! Perish the thought, and pass the credit report.

So why on earth have I been trying to read the mainstream, pop-econ books I've been reading?

Well, I'm glad you asked! Because I have a few answer for you. First, econ is not the study of money! Second, it has some interesting implications and explanations, and finally, because it freaking matters. Read on, dear readers, for more!

Alright, so maybe I exaggerated a bit - econ does study money. Surprise. But. But more than that it's the study of human behavior. Specifically, it's the study of how people allocate resources in response to incentive. That sounds boring, right? Well consider that "resources" is anything you have - your time, your interest, your activity. And incentive is anything that influences your behavior - a smile, a piece of candy, a PR in a race, that good feeling you get when you donate to NPR. So at its broadest, there isn't that much difference between economics and many other social sciences - psychology, sociology, maybe even anthropology (not sure on that last - I've never studies anthro). But those things are interesting. Why? Well, if you read half the posts on this, or any other, blog they're about why do people do the freaky crap that they do. Why do I do the freaky crap I do? Why do even weirder people do even weirder things? Why do pepole act so goddamn stupid? These are the questions, dear IR's, and econ has answers. Maybe not the rigth answers, definitely not all answers I agree with, but interesting answers. So one reason to read at least pop-econ is that it's interesting.

Now even my brief reading of econ has found that it does explain some things. Here's an example. Why do special interest groups have so much power, and why do we end up with so much "pork" in government spending? Well, it turns out there are very rational (and I think good) explanations for how this occurs and they come right from economics. Unfortunately, I just tried to write them down and it came out in the electronic equivalent of whale vomit, all over the screen, so that'll wait for another post. But for now just take my word for it - it has some good explanations.

So now you know it's interesting, it explains things, why else?

Well, because it matters. I think I've ranted on this before, but here you go again. I have talked before about how taxation is the implementation of a people's (society's) will. And that's why taxation should matter to all of us, whether we like taxes or not, can afford them or not, they represent how we as a people are acting. I still buy that, by the way. But the implication is that the people express their will through the economy (Taxation) which means we express our will through the allocation of resources. And when you think about it, the allocation of resources is probably the single most powerful thing that societies do. Does the king get all the resources? Do all people share equally in the resources? Is it based on merit, inheritance, effort? These are all about economics, and these things all matter. And what economics, in theory, should do is give us a way to study how our decisions about these things actually work. In other words, if we set up a policy to tax this, or incentivize that, to achieve a goal, how well does that policy work? Those are the questions that really matter, the ones that need to be asked. And the ones that economics should help with.

Even in my very brief reading in this area I'm already seeing 1) the reasons some things are being done in the government, 2) where some people (commentators, politicians) seem to be just dead wrong, and 3) some possibilities for how things could be done different. I'm not quite arrogant enough to figure my quick reads have got me wise enough to tell everyone what to do (I was already that wise, doncha know?) but I do feel I've got some new insights.

Everything I've said, by the way, is my endrosement for "Naked Economics" by Wheelan. It's readable, it's basic, it's interesting, and it's more of the core ideas than Freakonomics or the other books I've read. Highly recommended.

So now that you know why this is so damn interesting, you may want to ask "Does all that insight change Shifter's life?" Nah. Not a bit. But that's a whole different question, and a different post, and probably on someone else's blog.

Life Without Multitasking? Scary!

2009-10-25T21:43:00.002-04:00

I almost never buy magazines. I used to subscribe to a couple, but when they began to pile up around my home in great, unread, teetering piles, I decided enough of that was enough and stopped subscribing. Now I subscribe only to the New York Times Book Review, which at least stacks up into small, unthreatening unread piles.

Last month I bought a Real Simple magazine. I have no good explanation. Real Simple magazine almost never involves anything real simple. I remember, a long time ago reading an interview with someone associated with The Simpsons. The guy said he loved finding advertising where the ratio of words to lies was 1:1--the example he gave was Country Crock. "It doesn't come from the country and there is no crock." Real Simple is right up there. On the front of the issue I bought, for example, is a beautiful frame handbag. It is a two-thousand dollar Prada bag. That says it all to me.

Nonetheless, in the magazine was an article called "Stop the Madness! One man's quest to go from manic multitasker to zen unitasker in one month flat." It is a testament to my multitasking addiction that it took me from September to nearly November just to find the time to read the article. But I really did enjoy it, for several reasons.

For one thing, I really feel for the dude as he struggles to corral his brain into unitasking. I do not remember the last time I ate a meal in my own home without watching television. If I turned off the television, I would probably turn on the radio. I don't shower with the radio on, but that's only because I don't have a shower radio. The concept of just concentrating on food is something that I do only at a restaurant, partly because I'm not a great cook...probably partly because I only pay attention to food I haven't prepared myself. Just taking the time to sit and read the article without doing something else was a struggle.

I also really identified with his struggles with meditation. He says he falls asleep while meditating, too--it's as though my brain has two speeds, trying to do too many things at once, and off. My brain sees meditation as time I've set aside to listen to it natter about all the depressing things that I really don't want to hear it blather on about. It's time for it to bring my unfiled expense reports to my attention. Time for it to explain why nobody loves me (yes, I know it's wrong, which is why I really hate it when it brings it up--it's like having the same argument that nobody wins with your spouse for like the 9000th time in a row). Time for it to explain how much I suck at my job. Blah, blah, blah.

And the culture of interruption at work, which he doesn't mention a lot, probably because he works from home, is something I hate and yet passively endorse by buckling like a belt to the constant pressure to be instantly available to everyone at work all the time. Instant messenger is a wonderful boon at work, but it's also the worst interrupter ever. People are allowed to interrupt you if you're busy, or in a meeting, or whatever. Last week during a critical activity that couldn't be delayed, I put "Do Not Disturb" on my messenger, which is apparently a crime against nature. 8 people messaged me to tell me that my messenger was on "Do Not Disturb." Thanks, folks. I needed that bulletin. (I'd have logged out, but then I'd be forced to talk to the developers in India on the phone. There is one specific guy I work with there whose written English is easier for me to grasp than his spoken English, and my written English is less idiomatic than my spoken English, so IM is what we've agreed works best. See? Boon. And yet...)

I found the article interesting (and also? hilarious!), and I'm off to try to meditate before bed. Assuming I don't fall asleep.

Well said, Mr. Krugman

2009-10-21T22:35:00.001-04:00

As part of my dabbling into economics I've been reading the odd blog or two. Paul Krugman is an economist who has some nobel thing or other going for him and who blogs prolifically. He tends to talk to other economists as far as I can tell, so sometimes it's hard to follow him closely, but his post here was succinct and to the point. And right on.

Joss Whedon on Glee

2009-10-20T23:29:00.001-04:00

Joss Whedon, musical talent extraordinaire, is going to do an episode of Glee. He claims he won't kill off any of the characters, but I'd watch anyway.

Church of Chuckology? Where do I sign?

2009-10-19T22:46:00.002-04:00

This morning on NPR they did a story on radical evangelist atheists--you know, like Richard Dawkins. It was a moderately disturbing story about how these people believe that religion is actively dangerous and must be actively opposed by rational men and women of the world, and the slightly absurd notion that this militant view is causing a schism in the atheist community. (Dude, as schisms go, that's not really going to make it into the top ten, is it? I mean, you've got your Urban VI, your Martin Luther, hell, even your Henry VIII. But the guy who separated the unbelievers from the less strident unbelievers? I find it hard to believe that's real schism material.)

For the record, I'm not real sure I disagree about the danger of religion. Religion is many things--a comfort, a blessing, an incentive to make the right decisions, and an awesome tool for, well, tools who want to control politics, abase women, and excuse appalling injustices on pretty much every continent except Antarctica. But I'm an agnostic, not an atheist (you have to have much healthier self-esteem than I have to be an atheist--I could never be so full of myself to claim absolute certainty that there is no God), and far be it from me to oppose people--and there are plenty of them--who truly want to make their faith a force for good in their lives and the lives of others. I reserve the right to make fun of them sometimes, but that's about as militant as I get. And I think a lot of agnostics and atheists envy the truly devout their faith, even if they think it's a divine madness. Let's face it, it seems pretty comfortable to know what's going to happen to your eternal soul.

Sometimes I kind of wish I could join a religion. Unfortunately my experience with Catholicism left me so mistrustful of organized religion that my one try at attending a Buddhist meditation retreat nearly gave me a panic attack. In case you didn't know, Buddhists are about the least "militant" sect out there. You go to a Buddhist temple and they're like, "have a cup of tea. We do this. If you'd like to do this, you should stay. If not, well, at least you had a nice cup of tea." They are definitely not out to recruit you or control your thoughts--they'd be pretty happy to observe their own thoughts, thanks. But there was a bit of the meditation where they chanted together, and it reminded me so much of mass that I just had to leave--it was all I could do to keep from crawling out of my skin before we got to a moment where I could flee without disturbing other people.

So it is with great interest that I read that Chuck Lorre is starting a religion that is, if you will, informed by Buddhism, but which probably doesn't involve synchronized chanting and probably doesn't involve getting dressed up or going anywhere. Yay Chuckology!

All of which is just my way of saying:
The Big Bang Theory is awesome.
Wil Wheaton is also awesome.
Wil Wheaton and Sheldon in a duel to the death? It may not be communion with the eternal, but I was totally there in the moment.