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Aliens Enter the Conversation

Bill Humphries — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 08:00:00 +0000

[ via John Redford ] Greg Beaty’s “geek love prose poem” on aliens and culture (high and pop):

Aliens enter our lives to save us, because somebody must, and Heinlein is dead.

Why are we pre-disposed towards conspiracy theories?

Bill Humphries — Fri, 21 Mar 2003 08:00:00 +0000

[ via Interconnected ] The Economist reports on recent work on why people latch onto conspiracy theories. Human brains may have evolved to look for casual, and not subtle, explanations of the phenomena we observe. If we see a big effect such as an assassination, a disaster, or a war, but there’s no obvious corresponding large cause, then we tend to doubt the known facts and look for our cigarette smoking person.

Responses to Yesterday’s Posts

Bill Humphries — Thu, 31 Oct 2002 08:00:00 +0000

Over at W6 Daily, Phillip responds to my links from yesterday. And no, there’s nothing funny in the break room coffee at Apple, aside from it being undrinkable.

Nutter v. Nutter

I compared Rall and Lileks because I thought both theories were silly. Serial killing isn’t Al Quida’s MO, they go for the mass murder (heck, they were blowing up planes full of Soviet civilians back when I was in High School). I didn’t realize that Lileks was writing before we knew who the prime suspect was. Yet, this idea that ‘Liberals’ would ‘explain away’ the shootings contingent on the shooter being Al Quida annoyed me.

The West Coast Docks Lockout

The confrontation between the shippers and longshoremen was, until the Feds got involved, an even match between powerful interests.

And the longshoremen’s current brief wasn’t over losing jobs to automation, but the ablity to claim those new jobs created by automation as in the domain of the ILWU. It’s a power thing. Heck, the shippers show up at negotiations with beefy guys in shades who pack heat. I don’t know what the other side does for security. But it’s not “Norma Jean”.

I quoted Daniel’s comment because I thought it was funny.

The Economics Nobel

I wasn’t even thinking about the Peace Prize when I wrote that up. :) Back when I was an economics grad student, we were always reminded that the Economics Prize wasn’t a real ‘Nobel’. It’s endowed by the Swedish Central bank, unlike the other science, arts, and peace prizes funded from the Nobel estate. However, the winner does get to go to prize ceremonies with the King and all the pomp. And like the other science awards, a jury of peers judges it. I thought the Top 10 list was a good ‘last laugh’ on the matter.

It could be worse, there’s no Nobel prize in math, but the Physics winners use the tools that the mathematicans develop.

I understand that at Cal and other schools, both Nobel Laureats and Fields Prize winners get great parking.

Apache Benchmarks

Yes, good stuff, but I’d like to compare Sablotron with the other XSLT engines they tested.

Nutter v. Nutter

Bill Humphries — Wed, 30 Oct 2002 08:00:00 +0000

Ted Rall and James Lileks appear to be in a tight race for conspiracy theory of the month.

Rall: those evil Republicans killed Wellstone.

Lileks: those evil Muslims ran the DC Sniper.

Small planes crash without help, and violent men end up in a bad way. Here’s a dollar, go buy an Occham’s Razor at Long’s.

FBI: Anthrax killer ‘is US defense insider’ or a character from an Oliver Stone movie

Bill Humphries — Mon, 19 Aug 2002 07:00:00 +0000

A forensics researcher at the FBI who helped chase down the Unabomber and revealed the ‘anonymous’ who wrote the Clinton satire Primary Colors told the BBC that the person responsible for mailing anthrax spores throughout the Eastern Seaboard last fall is most likely a well connected individual in the defense and intel communities. Furthermore:

Controversially, Prof Foster says the killer is likely to be highly patriotic individual who wanted to demonstrate that the US was badly prepared for an act of biological terrorism.

Okay kids, how many times do we have to remind you that the ends don’t justify the means?

Followup: Cam points out that 40 years ago, plans were made to ‘create’ acts of terror in the US, and blame those on Cuba, in order to justify an invasion of the island. Woah, sounds too much like an Oliver Stone movie.

VillainSupply.com

Bill Humphries — Fri, 21 Jun 2002 07:00:00 +0000

[ via FoRK ] The online superstore for everything you need to take over the world, or just extort “one million dollars” (pinky at corner of mouth) from the UN. You’ll find uniforms for henchmen, sexy assassins, antimatter and other doomsday devices at the site. Their webmaster is the preserved head of a Nazi in a jar, and Ken Lay is their customer of the month.

Holy Roller Launches Anti-Mac Jihad

Bill Humphries — Sat, 20 Apr 2002 07:00:00 +0000

[ via Backup Brain ] So a bunch of creationists learned that Richard Dawkins used a Mac back when he was writing The Blind Watchmaker. This got them all het up.

Then they saw the BSD mascot. And then they saw the Darwin mascot.

Update: Okay, okay, it’s pretty clear by now (28 April 2002) that the site was a hoax. Someone wrote in to say it was put together by the folks who do “Landover Baptist Church.” So good work, you pressed everyone’s hot buttons there. But you know, I bet there are sites out there, that say similar things, but aren’t parodies. [ cue X-Files music ]

Former New Zealand chief claims Quayle threatened him

Bill Humphries — Thu, 28 Mar 2002 08:00:00 +0000

I bet the really funny part was when Quayle called directory assistance to find Tony Soprano’s number.

You have disrespected the ‘Bing, Mr. Prime Minister.

There is no Bovine Illuminati

Bill Humphries — Mon, 04 Feb 2002 08:00:00 +0000

The Bovine Illuminati is a project by one of the loons I work with on ConJose. Fnord.

Fun with cyveillance.com

Bill Humphries — Fri, 25 Jan 2002 08:00:00 +0000

[ via the Muted Horn ] For kicks and grins, check your server logs for vists from 63.148.99.224-63.148.99.255 — a block of addresses belonging to an outfit called Cyveillance. They sell a service monitoring the Web for companies worried about what people are saying about them online, so don’t go saying a certain antidepressant will turn you into Keith Henson, or a clam, or something like that.

Opportunities for fun abound. Try denying the address block. Or redirecting requests from the block to your favorite fringe/conspiracy theory site.

American Kooks

Bill Humphries — Fri, 27 Jul 2001 07:00:00 +0000

The thrust of the editorial in Salon is familiar: the rest of the world is really starting to worry about the US’s problem with exceptionalism. Oy, but what makes it interesting is the analogous domestic situation Ian Williams uses to introduce it.

This week the City Council of La Verkin, Utah, was forced to reconsider its recent ordinance that banned residents from flying United Nations flags, and required anyone who worked for the U.N. both to post notices advertising their infamy and to file reports on same with City Hall.

EU takes Echelon Threat Seriously

Bill Humphries — Tue, 29 May 2001 07:00:00 +0000

EU MPs are taking Echelon as a serious threat, and now encourage Europeans to use encryption.

Conspiracy buffs blame Pearl Harbor on FDR

Bill Humphries — Sat, 21 Apr 2001 07:00:00 +0000

David Greenburg says that Pearl Harbor was the “JFK” of the GI generation. Just as many people deny Oswald acted alone, there were plenty of people then and now who claimed that the Imperial Japanese attack on Hawaii was a “plot” by FDR to get the US into WWII. Greenburg reports on the history of Pearl Harbor conspiracy theories in Slate.

Norman Fell: Comedic Genius, Superspy, Antichrist

Bill Humphries — Tue, 27 Mar 2001 08:00:00 +0000

Our esteemed comrade Benjamin Kite has written the definitive secret history of Norman Fell, who was more than just the wacky landlord in “Three’s Company.”

Britain in fear of killer belly dancers

Bill Humphries — Sun, 17 Dec 2000 08:00:00 +0000

[ via the Shan Monster ] Back in the day, we’d use a FemBot to liquidate critics of the regime. But these days the Supreme Leader wants us to use Middle Eastern dancers.