Wrong way

Normally it’s pointless to link to the Insatpundit, but it’s necessary for this quote: “They’d never dare to do this sort of thing to subcultures they’re afraid of.” That explains a lot about the regrettable rise of the British National Party.

The underlying story involves yet more heavy-handed government intrusion: Parents banned from watching their children in playgrounds… in case they are paedophiles. England is a few years ahead of America on this one, but we’re headed in the same wrong direction.

Quiet evening at home

Last night I watched It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, while reading Paul Cobley’s Introducing Semiotics during the (muted) commercials.

That’s got to mean something really profound.

Bad idea

At least that’s what I think today. “The Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab creates insight into how computing products — from websites to mobile phone software — can be designed to change what people believe and what they do.” Right. What could possibly go wrong?

Conservatives

Social conservatives should address “…not just one or two political questions, but a whole range of social problems, with an overriding concern for the importance of the family and the lives of the most vulnerable human beings. Even if today’s hot-button issues fade, this kind of social conservatism will still remain.” — Social Conservatism Is Here to Stay

Revolutionaries

“The majority of revolutionists are the enemies of discipline and fatigue mostly. There are natures, too, to whose sense of justice the price exacted looms up monstrously enormous, odious, oppressive, worrying, humiliating, extortionate, intolerable. Those are the fanatics. The remaining portion of social rebels is accounted for by vanity, the mother of all noble and vile illusions, the companion of poets, reformers, charlatans, prophets, and incendiaries.” — from The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad

“Truly bizarre”

“The State of Michigan created a shell corporation for the sole purpose of unionizing self-employed daycare owners throughout the state. Some state bureaucracy partnered with the apparently randomly chosen Mott Community College and declared this new entity to be the ‘employer’ of all of the state’s licensed daycare owners, including all the ladies who run daycare centers out of their own homes. By doing so, the State of Michigan created the possibility of having all these ‘employees’ unionize against the employer. Since evidently there is no quorum requirement for union votes, a vote of only a minority of the newly minted ‘employees’ was sufficient to create a new union, and now the women running daycare out of their homes are being charged union dues, much to their own surprise.” — The state can make almost anybody its employee?

Pakistan tries again

The government and army of Pakistan are doing something I didn’t expect. They are attacking the Taliban in South Waziristan. I hope the Pakistani army utterly crushes the Taliban this time. The London Times’ article, Pakistan army launch offensive on Taliban, notes that Pakistan’s “three previous attempts have ended in negotiated truces that left the Taliban in control.”

And the Russians are right…

“Threatening Iran with sanctions will not help progress on the nuclear issue, Russia’s top diplomat tells Hillary Clinton.” So says the BBC’s front page at 18:27 GMT, Tuesday, 13 October 2009.

The Russians are right. Threating sanctions won’t do a thing. Neither will a UN resolution, international diplomatic pressure, or a stern look. Nothing short of military action will prevent Iran from getting the bomb, and real soon now.

Secretary Clinton is right

or half right

Clinton says North Korea missile tests won’t affect talks. Of course they won’t. And the talks will not affect the missile tests either, now or in the future.

Stargate Universe

Lights out

Even if it were good, the frequency and duration of the commercials make Stargate Universe unwatchable. Last night I made it to the forty-minute mark. Some guy was having a flashback, weeping uncontrollably; I rolled my eyes, hit mute, and wandered off. It was easy to do.

At the previous commercial break I had gone to the kitchen for a glass of water; stopped at the computer to read the BBC headlines; checked the thermometer; flipped through some paperwork on the desk. When the show came back on I was already disengaging, leaning in the doorway, thinking about getting my book to read during the next commercial.

Even if it were good. But it isn’t. It’s humorless and full of angst, and only nominally Stargate. It’s Battlestar Galactica with Ancient technology. Most of the characters are unsympathetic. Some are deliberately meant to antagonize the viewer. There is an element of emotional manipulation that I can’t exactly describe, but can see and dislike.

Then there’s some kind of motif – call it Shouting In Darkness. Another TV show did this back in the nineties with Marines in Space. Galactica did a lot of it too, but at its best overcame it. The lighting is dim and poorly located; people are upset. Two guys have really bright flashlights, and they’re mad at everyone. The plot advances by running and shouting. Suddenly we’re in a glaring sandy desert. Dying of thirst, a character flashes back to a time of deep emotional distress, when the lights were out.