Archive for February, 2007
Thus spake Evil Overload
February 22, 2007 at 2:08 pm
And there was much rejoicing:
“On Thursday, Google, the Internet search giant, will unveil a package of communications and productivity software aimed at businesses, which overwhelmingly rely on Microsoft products for those functions.
The package, called Google Apps, combines two sets of previously available software bundles. One included programs for e-mail, instant messaging, calendars and Web page creation; the other, called Docs and Spreadsheets, included programs to read and edit documents created with Microsoft Word and Excel, the mainstays of Microsoft Office, an $11 billion annual franchise.”
Link (stolen from Kottke)
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 6:19 am
This won’t exactly be the first time you’ve heard television blamed for the bulk of society’s ills, but a roundup of psychological and physiological research has demonstrated that long hours spent staring at a screen (regardless of content) may be a significant contributing factor to the following: Autism, Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, obesity, ADD, decreased metabolism, and myopia. Additionally, staring at a flickering screen for hours affects melatonin levels, which disrupts sleep patterns, leads to the early onset of puberty, and may increase the odds of cancer-causing mutations.
Link (via Warren Ellis)
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Thus spake Sheni
at 5:57 am
Thus spake Sheni
at 5:48 am
Thus spake Evil Overload
February 20, 2007 at 7:03 am
Imagine the Balkanization of America:
“SOMETHING interesting is happening in California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to have grasped the essential truth that no nation — not even the United States — can be managed successfully from the center once it reaches a certain scale. Moreover, the bold proposals that Mr. Schwarzenegger is now making for everything from universal health care to global warming point to the kind of decentralization of power which, once started, could easily shake up America’s fundamental political structure.”
Link (via Kottke)
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Thus spake Ennui
February 18, 2007 at 5:43 am
Thus spake Evil Overload
February 16, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Thus spake Evil Overload
at 6:44 am
This article, excellently written, offers a good explanation as to why so many people are in such crap moods these days. And it’s not the usual “I’m isolated, the world’s gone crazy, pop culture sucks, etc” rant. On the contrary, we’re miserable because we have more control over our lives than ever:
The problem is we’ve built an awesome, sprawling web of technology meant purely to let us avoid annoying people. Do all your Christmas shopping online and avoid the fat lady ramming her cart into you at Target. Spend five thousand bucks on a home theater system so you can see movies on a big screen without a toddler kicking the back of your seat. Hell, even rent the DVD’s online so you don’t even have to mess with the confused kid working the register at Blockbuster.
Get stuck in the waiting room at the doctor? No way I’m striking up a conversation with the smelly old man sitting next to me. Plug the iPod into my ears and have a text conversation with a friend, or play my DS. Filter that annoyance right out of my world.
And that would be awesome, if it were actually possible to keep all of the irritating shit out of your life. But it’s not. It never will be. As long as you have needs, you’ll have to deal with people you can’t stand from time to time. But that skill, the one that lets us deal with strangers and tolerate their shrill voices and clunky senses of humor and body odor and squeaky shoes, is being burned right out of us. Our Annoyance Immune System is being weakened. So what encounters you do have with the outside world, the world you can’t control, make you want to go on a screaming crotch-punching spree.
Link (via Sentient Developments)
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Thus spake Evil Overload
February 15, 2007 at 7:03 am
V.S. Ramachandran, a noted neuroscientist, has put forth the theory that human consciousness actually arose out of our ability to anticipate the thoughts and actions in other humans. In other words, the same pathways you use to get to know another person (known in neuroscience as “modeling”) are also used to create the idea of yourself within your own brain. Read on:
How does all this lead to self awareness? I suggest that self awareness is simply using mirror neurons for “looking at myself as if someone else is look at me” (the word “me” encompassing some of my brain processes, as well). The mirror neuron mechanism — the same algorithm — that originally evolved to help you adopt another’s point of view was turned inward to look at your own self. This, in essence, is the basis of things like “introspection”. It may not be coincidental that we use phrases like “self conscious” when you really mean that you are conscious of others being conscious of you. Or say “I am reflecting” when you mean you are aware of yourself thinking. In other words the ability to turn inward to introspect or reflect may be a sort of metaphorical extension of the mirror neurons ability to read others minds. It is often tacitly assumed that the uniquely human ability to construct a “theory of other minds” or “TOM” (seeing the world from the others point of view; “mind reading”, figuring out what someone is up to, etc.) must come after an already pre- existing sense of self. I am arguing that the exact opposite is true; the TOM evolved first in response to social needs and then later, as an unexpected bonus, came the ability to introspect on your own thoughts and intentions.
Link
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 6:44 am
I swore I would never re-post another Boing Boing entry, but this I can’t resist: a rant from a former writer for Gizmodo against crap gadgetry, the people who buy it, and the people who blog about it:
I gave up two years of my life writing about gadgets for this site. Waking up every morning at 5 AM, chewing up press releases to find the rare morsel of legitimate information, chasing down “hot tips” that ended up being photochops of iPods with reflections of genitals in the touchscreens.
And you guys just ate it up. Kept buying shitty phones and broken media devices green and dripping with DRM. You broke the site, clogging up the pipe like retarded salmon, to read the latest announcements of the most trivial jerk-off products, completely ignoring the stories about technology actually making a difference to real human beings, because you wanted a new chromed robot turd to put in your pocket to impress your friends and make you forget for just a few minutes, blood coursing as you tremblingly cut through the blister pack, that your life is utterly void of any lasting purpose.
Link
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Thus spake Evil Overload
February 12, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Finally, a damn voice of reason in this silly debate:
Flocks of the Christian faithful in the US will this Sunday hold special services celebrating Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The idea is to stand up to creationism, which claims the biblical account of creation is literally true, and which is increasingly being promoted under the guise of “intelligent design”. Proponents of ID say the universe is so complex it must have been created by some unnamed designer.
Support for “Evolution Sunday” has grown 13 per cent to 530 congregations this year, from the 467 that celebrated the inaugural event last year. Organisers see it as increasing proof that Christians are comfortable with evolution.
Link
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Thus spake Ennui
February 10, 2007 at 10:03 pm
So I know that I should have posted pictures by now. I’ve been here a month already! But I have been too darn busy and the weather has been shite, so the camera stays home where it’s dry(ish) and warm(ish) and safe(ish) from harm. But I already promised Sheni that I would take it out with me as soon as I can.
Until then, please enjoy the view from the Gravity Bar. If you are very keen, you might see me.
Also, here’s a bit of Mock the Week for you to enjoy.
Slainte!
P.S. I will be here this afternoon if anybody needs me. =)
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Thus spake Evil Overload
February 9, 2007 at 6:36 am
Note to self: send to boss, employees.
“Recent research shows it could be the grumpy workers who are actually a company’s most creative problem-solvers, said Jing Zhou, associate professor of management at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University.
It’s the happy, cheerful folks who tend to think things are going well and that there are no problems to be solved, she said. They’re less likely to be pondering potential pitfalls and often don’t see problems until there is a crisis.”
Link (via Arbroath)
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Thus spake Evil Overload
at 6:15 am
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