Category: Not-politics

xkcd calls it on Idiocracy.

I watched about half of it, all the while muttering You could have at least referenced “The Marching Morons,” until I more or less lost interest.  I think that this comic has helped me understand why.

idiocracy

It’s because the movie was smugly smoking crack, that’s why.  And, absent the social insight, well… Idiocracy just ain’t all that as a film.

Moe Lane

PS: xkcd is indirectly referencing something called the “Flynn Effect,” which basically indicates that average IQ scores have been going up since we started using IQ tests.  For some reason, the most obvious answer as to why – better infant and child nutrition worldwide means less brain damage – is being resisted by some; ach, well, it’s not like this is my field of study anyway, so I have no skin in the game.

For the “Not a Public Utility Files.”

I should probably take it easy today: we just crammed a month’s worth of tabloid news into a week, and it’s maybe taking its toll.

But imagine how the Weekly World News must be feeling right now.  They’re in serious danger of drowning in their stock-in-trade: no respectable online tabloid should have to cover Michael Jackson’s funeral AND Mark Sanford’s Sasquatch lover AND Ahmedinejad moonwalking at the same time. There’s just not enough space on one front page.

Apparently, the USA is ahead in its soccer game with Brazil. [UPDATED]

[UPDATE] Crisis averted. Whew!

By two points or dots, or whatever the terminology would be. This is unfortunate, not to mention a violation of the secret provisions of several international treaties: the sport of soccer exists of course for the sole purpose of giving the rest of the world something to feel superior to when it comes to the United States. Beating Brazil at the Worl…

What do you mean, the “Confederation Cup”? They have other competitions besides the World Cup? And we’re stuck with going to them? Who ordered that?

…anyway, obviously this is dangerously close to being a problem at the level of ‘diplomatic incident’ – so I apologize in advance if we win.

Moe Lane

See, this is why I don’t mind funding the National Endowment of the Arts.

You can watch the video below only if you promise to read David Thompson’s post on it first.  It’s important that you do that: it’s not fair for me to reproduce it in full here, and it’s just too good to miss.

OK, you did that?  Excellent.  Here’s the video:

OK, see why I don’t mind funding the NEA?

Precisely: if we let somebody like Teixeira just wander around loose to try to find his own food, clothing and shelter, chances are excellent that when he finally autodarwinates* he’d accidentally take somebody with a net positive use to society with him.

So, it’s not so much a government subsidy as it is life insurance.

Moe Lane

*Thank you, Charlie Stross. But for the love of God, give up the grudge, OK? They’re out of office and it’s turning out that they got it right anyway. Drop the series as a bad job and just write the next Bob Howard novel.

…oh. Right. Should have checked first. Never mind…

Psst! Do you know what gamer crack looks like?

And I don’t mean ‘gamer’ in this modern, I-have-my-own-Mt-Dew-flavor sense:

…and out of curiosity? Is the intent here really to suggest that the average World of Warcraft players are attractive young women with Poor Impulse Control tattooed on their foreheads*?

No, I mean real gamers. Ones with multiple types of dice and more pencils than erasers. Well, here it is:

Champions Online.

I own Champions books so old that they have freaking staples. Staying out of this one is going to be a chore and a half.

Moe Lane

PS:

You walk a mystical path, and are a creature of the spiritual and the supernatural. You are introspective and self-reliant, but nobody will ever question your bravery or commitment to justice.

Take the quiz!

*Literary reference.