The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by SBD:

Show all comments by SBD.

Posted on entry Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize ::: October 09, 2009, 07:38 AM:
Jasper @10 hits the nail on the head. Ceasing to poke the bear and getting NK and Iran back to the table (by ceasing insane brinksmanship with them) is huge. Actually trying to address climate change.

I'm surprised the Doomsday Clock hasn't been set back yet, honestly.
Posted on entry A wild and crazy idea: giving the public access to public data ::: September 25, 2009, 09:17 AM:
I'm going to partially disagree here, and then thank Novalis.

The MTA wants a share from programs and services charged for. Yes, the MTA should absolutely 100% provide, as far as it is able, up-to-the-minute routing and service information for free to the public, including free re-packagers and re-providers. On the other hand, I see no problem with the MTA insisting on a fair share of revenue made directly from its information. (This is, by the way, the structure I also advocate for legal information and reporting. I have no problem being charged for the value-add of Lexis or Westlaw, but I'm thrilled that there are, more and more, appropriately free sources for directly pulling a cite).

And thank you, Novalis -- whatever happens to the for-pay sources, I know that the free-track sources will continue to grow and improve.
Posted on entry Porn turns you gay: the implications ::: September 24, 2009, 12:47 AM:
TNH@9 These are the same people, remember, who frequently, when arguing against not stigmatizing, discriminating against, or making it government policy to "fix"/kill homosexuals, offer the argument that "if we don't forbid it, no one will be straight, because gay sex is so much better than heterosexual sex that if both are permitted everyone will go gay forever." Their self-image simply won't allow them to think that having homosexual feelings might mean that they have homosexual feelings. It's really quite insane and indicative of the total and complete lack of self-knowledge and self-examination (or desire for either) that typifies the movement.

Then of course, there's the scientific study that confirmed what many already thought.
Posted on entry Four hundred years ago today ::: September 03, 2009, 06:08 PM:
I'm still trudging through Gotham (too big to carry on subway or read comfortably anywhere but a table or desk), but it's surprising how many times the English and Dutch traded the colony back and forth, and how resolutely calm almost everyone was about it.

Also, how far back Teamster strikes really go, and how important they always were.
Posted on entry Book Wanted ::: September 02, 2009, 04:46 PM:
http://www.amazon.com/Student-Activities-Manual-Conexiones-Comunicacin/dp/0205664261

That seems to be the correct workbook.
Posted on entry Panels and parlor games ::: August 16, 2009, 12:08 AM:
Effective Policing in a Multi-Species Environment
*Samuel Vimes
Khaavren
John Stewart
Natsuki SASAHARA

The moderator and Khaavren focused mainly on effective force management and policy, while Mr. Stewart and Ms. Sasahara mostly related anecdotes from their work as officers on the beat. Unfortunately, the moderator had to repeatedly ask Khaavren to refrain from anti-H.Sapiens comments.

Long Term Planning: Getting Things Done, Eventually
*Sethra Lavode
Belgarath
Vandal Savage
Adam Pierson
Karla

Discussion ranged across "active" versus "reactive" plans of action, long term investment strategies, techniques for keeping count of generations and track of the current year, and how to pass the time between phases of prophecy, crises, rising heroes, or attempts on your life.
Posted on entry Montreal by train ::: August 03, 2009, 09:57 AM:
From the last time I took the Adirondack, yes, it can be a little late, but I had, in the non-cafe car, not only a set of outlets to myself, but a table sufficient for Dominion. I suggest boarding early as possible and getting one or a pair of said tables.
Posted on entry Forty years on ::: July 21, 2009, 08:28 AM:
Torie really did do an incredible job on this.
Posted on entry Our apples are far superior to your oranges, because oranges are green on the outside, red on the inside, and over a foot long ::: July 14, 2009, 06:42 PM:
PNH as usual says what I hoped to say better than I: when used in that manner "Hard" means "Masculine" and "Soft" means "Feminine" (I use those terms, of course, purely as constructed). Physics and math are manly, true sciences, anthropology, sociology, and language are womanly, only-true-for-a-certain-value-of-true sciences (in that they admit values of truth other than 1/0). Economics gets a bye to manliness because Men Make Money (which is how the most prolific GB SF author (I think) of recent years can be fit at all into this narrative without one's eyes springing out of one's head ala a Tex Avery cartoon).
Posted on entry A Romance of the North Country ::: May 25, 2009, 06:55 PM:
Every single thing about the whole affair was about as bizarre as could be. A giant TNH-post about the Thaw-Stanford-Nesbit-Velvet Swing events would be a perfect window to New York, 100 years ago.
Posted on entry "Principles of the American Cargo Cult" ::: February 03, 2009, 05:52 PM:
Sorry it took me so long to get back.

Responses to responses:

Avram, I think Lee is closer, but I think Lizzy @16 gets closest to a statement we could all agree on when she says to think that human action might somehow create a world without pain... it seems pretty off-base to me.

To think that pain IS removable is madness, but the reduction of pain (using pain purely as a signifier for "something bad has happened" -- everyone who stated such things as "pain has a purpose" are absolutely right, of course), is, however, a goal I can get behind. To take the playground analogy used in #34 by Michael Roberts, it WOULD be problematic to either remove jungle gyms entirely or to demand recompense for any pain caused by falling from a jungle gym, but I believe it would be reasonable to
a) Demand that jungle gyms be made with minimum dangers other than those inherent to their nature (be well built, be made of nontoxic materials, have maximum heights and minimum apetures appropriate to the ages and sizes of the intended users), in order to reduce incidences of pain,
b) prohibit actual malice (no pushing Timmy off the jungle gym),
c) instruct children in the proper use of the jungle gym ("Please do not deliberately nosedive off the top bars"),
d) minimize pain caused by likely incidents (as was done in my childhood playground after I departed from it, covering the brick with squishy stuff).
Posted on entry "Principles of the American Cargo Cult" ::: February 01, 2009, 12:37 PM:
Life should not hurt.
As an aspirational statement ("should not" as opposed to "does not") what is wrong with this?
Posted on entry Three approaches to Utopia ::: November 14, 2008, 08:50 PM:
@2: Not a myth. In fact, it's a candidate for a sort of Prachettian anti-myth, something actually true but covered by a deceptive myth or legend.
Posted on entry Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe ::: September 09, 2008, 07:51 AM:
Unless you're engaged in ongoing espionage, how is this easier than planning to be terse and generating sufficient one-time pads?
Posted on entry Biden ::: August 24, 2008, 03:06 AM:
ethan @194 the media climate in general in this country has a great deal to do with why third parties are irrelevant.

No. First-past-the-post (intensified by the state/district system in the legislature and the electoral college) has everything to do with why third parties are irrelevant (unless they manage to eat or destroy or arise shortly after the destruction of an earlier major party).

On the other hand, fusion ballot systems (like in New York State) allow third (and fourth, and ninth) parties to thrive with little-to-no media coverage unless they manage something major (positive or negative -- the Liberal party got plenty of coverage when it was imploding). The WFP is an example of how to run a progressive political organization: no false piety ego-stroking purity candidates, but they're able to extract progressive action from Dems who need them in exchange for their endorsement. When I vote for Governor, I vote on their line and get exactly what I want out of voting.
Posted on entry Gnomic Verses ::: August 15, 2008, 01:01 PM:
(1) No injected drugs
(2) No playing Bridge
Posted on entry The Ball of Kirriemuir ::: August 14, 2008, 11:04 PM:
Jack Shaftoe brought an entourage
His vagabondish crew
They pulled a train on Daniel
And on Eliza too!

Lina Inverse came to get
Some dinner and a bangin'
She ate up all the canapes
And then screwed a Gold Dragon!

Zel and Xellos came along
With that flame-haired witch
First Xellos topped and then he made
The one-third golem switch!
Posted on entry The Ball of Kirriemuir ::: August 14, 2008, 11:34 AM:
J'onn J'onzz had come to play
An ancient martian trick
Half the men and all the girls
Got f***ed by his green p***k!

Now Luffy would nae be upstaged
(The Pirate King has pride)
So while he Rogered Robin
She stroked their other sides!

Miaka brought Tamahome
Yui brought Nakago
The boys then got together
And gave the girls a show!

Pepper Pots had come alone
Or that was what she thought
She found her boss a-nailin' Rhodes
With both of their suits off!
Posted on entry Darn, these gnats are hard to swallow. Please pass the camels. ::: July 10, 2008, 06:45 PM:
Chinese Slaves (de facto if not de jure) built the western railroads. San Francisco's old Chinatown (which burned) was well-known for its slave brothels.

Teresa's working theory @56 is, from my memory, considered to be the accepted theory for the origin of American racism, in many ways a far more virulent racism than in the Old World.
Posted on entry Thomas M. Disch, 1940-2008 ::: July 06, 2008, 11:29 PM:
From wikipedia: ...as well as fighting attempts to evict him from his rent-controlled apartment.

That explains a lot. My feelings about Mr. Disch's work are mixed, but my feelings about his loss are not.

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