… and then I started watching Firefly on Hulu. Yes, Hulu, even though my Firefly DVDs are literally within reach.
Ow.
•July 31, 2009 • 7 CommentsSome time last week, I fell asleep on the couch, on my side, neck on the high arm bolster. I’ve regretted it ever since.
Last night, just to sit at my computer I had to take some ibuprofen for the muscle between my neck and shoulder. Today, I keep doing what self-massage I can, but you’d be surprised at how difficult it is to really work your own muscles (ha ha) without leverage. It does a little good, but not a lot.
I doubt I’ll actually do it, but I need to find some time with a pro.
From Joystiq:
•July 30, 2009 • 1 CommentRe: Halo ODST (coming late September):
Sci-fi nerds are in for a real treat, as Fillion is joined by some other space-faring actors, including Firefly co-stars Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk as Dutch and Mickey, respectively. And there’s everyone’s favorite Cylon, Tricia Helfer as Dare. The Joystiq staff is fairly certain that Romeo is played by Nolan “Nathan Drake” North, too.
Sounds like some pretty sweet voice acting. Who’s gonna come over and watch me play? (Actually playing with me is even better, but I’ll take what I can get!)
An awesome, well-linked article about the Chiropracty Drama
•July 30, 2009 • 1 CommentApparently, one guy wrote an article critical of the claims of Chiropractors that they can fix anything from exzema to colic with spine adjustments.
The British Chiropractic Association sued him for libel, costing the reporter hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend himself, flying in the face of the actual way that medical science works (sometimes-brutal criticism and rebuttal).
The case and its chilling effects on science have been reported by a dozen publications, including the British Medical Journal.
The article itself is being reprinted by a number of publications, in solidarity. The Chiro organization publishes their rebuttal, and The Guardian documents how that rebuttal was demolished by science bloggers point-by-point using primary references to dispute their claims. Within 24 hours.
An international petition against the BCA is signed by journalists, scientists, doctors and Stephen Fry.
The Advertising Standards Association sues the BCA for some of their claims based on lack of substantiation and truthfulness.
Not only do I love this story (it has everything!), I love this article by The Guardian. Not only do I love the summation and the perspective, I love the linking! So many times I’ve read something from a reputable online news publication and they’ve not linked to their references and sources. I hate that crap.
We could go on, but there are lessons from this debacle – beyond the ethical concerns over suing in the field of science and medicine – and they are clear. First, if you have reputation and superficial plausibility more than evidence to support your activities, then it may be wise to keep under the radar, rather than start expensive fights. But more interestingly than that, a ragged band of bloggers from all walks of life has, to my mind, done a better job of subjecting an entire industry’s claims to meaningful, public, scientific scrutiny than the media, the industry itself, and even its own regulator.
PS I hope my Chiro, Dr Maria, won’t be mad! *grins* She’s a sweetheart, and has never tried to sell me on non-spinal benefits, either.
89x morning show – RIP?
•July 30, 2009 • 15 CommentsI really wish I could get the 89x streaming to work right now, ’cause I’m reasonably certain I was just listening to them get canned over the air.
Apparently someone was in the bathroom with the lights out at their station, and they did a whole show on it, interrogating people in the office and the like, saying he might have been masturbating. Then they got an email from their boss telling them to lay off, and they took callers on whether that was kosher or not.
Now, they’re often jack-asses, but when I’ve had enough of NPR, they’re the only thing on the air that isn’t boring as hell. This time, they were stupid as hell.
If anyone is listening, I’d love to hear the blow-by-blow gossip.
Protected: “IKEEEA, you’re breakin’ my heart, I’m beggin’ you please to come home …”
•July 27, 2009 • Enter your password to view comments.•July 27, 2009 • 6 Comments
Yes, that’s right. “To the fist of many to come”. I totally want that for my anniversary cake with blue_lucy.
Various things
•July 27, 2009 • 2 CommentsI know some of my friends have mentioned wanting to pick up Photoshop – I thought I’d mention that Newegg.com is selling Photoshop Elements 7 for 50 bucks until 1pm today, which is about 30 bucks cheaper than usual. It’s not the full-fledged Photoshop, but some people only need something like that.
Did you know that crows hold a grudge? This morning’s NPR told me that people who put tags on the feet of baby crows are subsequently haunted throughout the greater region by cawing, circling crows. It’s because one crow starts up a fuss, other crows pick it up and remember your face. When they see you elsewhere, they can be with a completely different group of people, and they will single you out, and those other crows will remember you, too.
Add witty comment here. ;)
I think I’ve been sleeping funny, the muscles in my neck leading to my shoulders are killin’ me. At least I g to bed around 1, which is as good as I can usually expect. ;)
I missed my baby this weekend – she was on call at the hospital, and I stuck to the D, so. I -did- get to hang with myopicgreen for dinner and a little comedy with silver_bits (I still have no idea who that girl was!), and I hung out with silverbriar and her boy Robbie, who is remarkably well-behaved at 9 months.
I think I had something to say this morning, but it’s gone now! Sorry! :D
Dara O’Brian on bullshit:
•July 25, 2009 • 7 Comments“Anyone who’d answer the difficult questions in life like ‘What happens after I die, or how can I stop myself from dying, with an easy, bullshit answer, and you go “well do you have any evidence for that”, and they say “Well, there’s a lot more to life than evidence!” …. get in the fucking sack. “
Seriously. Scientific method or go home. It’s not some list of procedure designed for The Man to keep you down. It’s not a routine created to reinforce one particular group of ideas over another.
It’s the best known way of perceiving, documenting and repeating an experience so that you and everyone else can understand better how our world works. It’s the closest we can come to eliminating personal bias, and it allows strong, supported ideas to survive while ideas that can’t resist argument or contrary evidence are refuted.
Scientific methodology has been practiced in some form for at least one thousand years. It was not designed nor intended to attack religion of any sort. Just like scientifically derived and vetted evidence contradicts some information written in the bible, it also contradicts previously believed information from scientific communities, from corporations, and from our government – which have an interest in having you believe what they want you to believe.
Every time I hear someone disbelieve evidence derived from, say, radiocarbon dating or glacial coring with the phrase, “I just don’t believe they’re right”, I kind of want to shake them, turn them around, and point them to the world. “Go! Prove your point. Here is the evidence gathered up to now. Start anywhere you like, with any assertion, and make a difference.”
It’s a method of inquiry that empowers skepticism, that says “I won’t agree with you until you show me that it is so in a way that I can then repeat myself.”
I greatly respect a person’s spirituality – there is plenty of room for religion and science to work and understand the world together. I just don’t understand how anyone can see conspiracy in freely available information that they can interpret or refute themselves. I don’t understand how a conversation can go like this (silly example): “We understand gravity to work this way because every test we’ve devised has proved it to be so, and every test we’ve devised to prove it is not so has failed.” “No, it doesn’t.” “Show me how it works, then.” “I don’t have to.”
I may be ranting at this point. There is no scientist worthy of the name who believes they understand completely how the world works – if they did, there would be nothing left to do. It is a noble, difficult and sometimes thankless task of helping humanity understand itself and the world we live in just a little better, one step at a time.