Nature Leseul

There are many things people do not know about BARACK OBAMA. It is every American's duty to read this message and pass it along to all of their friends and loved ones.

( The TRUTH )

My stimulus payment?

A whopping $45. w00t!

Thanks, Dubya! I'll get right on stimulating the economy with that.

So the Web filter at work has entertained me for quite a while. Whether MySpace messaging is available, for example, has always changed every other month for about as long as I've been here. More recently, I've been seeing similar behavior with Facebook messaging, Google docs, and free image hosting sites. (For what it's worth, as I write this, MySpace and Facebook messaging work, Photobucket works but ImageShack doesn't, and Gmail and Google docs are both blocked.)

I think the IT department is using Websense, which basically gives the system administrator a group of fixed "categories" of content to choose to block on the local network. So the variation in what's available and what isn't is due to the administrators of the Websense service changing what sites are included in their various lists rather than any choice by EA's own IT department.

Now, most of the blocked sites are under either the "General E-Mail" category or the "Personal Network Storage and Backup" categories. And that's an understandable thing for them to want people to block, given the need to prevent source code or other proprietary data from getting leaked. (Of course, given that you can't attach files to MySpace or Facebook messages, it doesn't really make sense for those to be blocked under that justification, but whatever.)

Looking at the Wikipedia page and the Websense company's own site, the permissions set by EA are pretty liberal—the software apparently includes categories for, for example, "Abortion" and "Advocacy Groups" which aren't enabled here, as I've been able to go to sites like Amnesty International and Planned Parenthood from work just fine.

Nevertheless, I discovered a couple of months ago—I think when I was trying to visit some sexual health site off of Google for some reason—that our IT people seem to have turned on the "Sex" filtering category. Which irked me a little bit, but was mostly just bemusing. (This is a recent change, given that I spent a few of the dreadfully boring long hours of the 2006 crunch time reading stories on Literotica, which is now blocked.)

Today, however, I got an e-mail from the Obama campaign asking for volunteers for their table at this weekend's Gay Days Expo. Curious about what that event entailed, I clicked the link, and found it blocked. (Although for some reason, the site for Gay Days in general isn't.)

Now, I obviously can't see what kind of scary content this site might have on it from here, since it's blocked. It's possible that there are enough explicit images there make the block justified, at least insofar as blocking explicit images on work computers is justifiable in the general case. (Though it should be noted that Playboy.com isn't blocked right now... WTF?) If I investigate this at home tonight, though, and it turns out that the site in question is completely benign, I think this is about the point where I need to write some angry e-mail to the IT department about Websense's "Sex" category.

ETA: Coincidentally, I just found that the Wikipedia page on sexuality and gender identity-based cultures is also blocked under the "Sex" category. (Plenty of other sex-related pages on Wikipedia are fine.) I tried to access that particular page on a public terminal here, and it timed out; the rest of Wikipedia worked fine, so it wasn't a network problem. (The aforementioned Expo site also timed out, for what it's worth.) What is so special about that particular Wikipedia entry? So strange.

Federal court rules against military gays policy

The military cannot automatically discharge people because they're gay, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in the case of a decorated flight nurse who sued the Air Force over her dismissal.

The three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not strike down the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. But they reinstated Maj. Margaret Witt's lawsuit, saying the Air Force must prove that her dismissal furthered the military's goals of troop readiness and unit cohesion.

...

Under Wednesday's ruling, military officials "need to prove that having this particular gay person in the unit really hurts morale, and the only way to improve morale is to discharge this person," said Aaron Caplan, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington state who worked on the case.

Looking at doing the Discworld party tomorrow (Monday) night at xzarakizraiia's place. Will that work for people?

Given that I probably can't make it there on a weekday until 6:30 at the absolute earliest, and that the movies are three hours each, most likely we'll pick one or the other to watch, and leave plenty of extra time for Rock Band, Mario Kart, strip Smash Bros., etc.

Not only was I unable to get to sleep until around 6 last night, but I get to work today and find that apparently it's "Bring your kids to work day," and I'm going to have to spend all day listening to their inane babbling.

What a lovely week it's been.

So there seems to be enough interest to merit organizing a Discworld movie viewing party at some point in the near future. I purchased a DVD copy of Hogfather from Borders, and have a downloaded copy of The Colour of Magic that I will hopefully be able to burn for easy viewing.

The most probable venue is xzarakizraiia's apartment, next to UCF. Each of the two movies is about three hours long; we could watch one or both, depending on how much time people want to spend on this event. Add to that however long people want to spend doing other things, like playing Rock Band and Smash Bros., eating food, having orgies, etc.

Times are flexible; I'm mostly posting to get feedback from interested persons on what a good time to do this would be. Saturday (tomorrow) is an appealing option, but that would be rather short notice for people. Weekday evenings, excluding Wednesday and Friday, are also generally available, although weekends are probably better, as then the afternoon is available and the loud noises that result from Rock Band are less disturbing to neighbors. Next week I know is exam week for UCF, so people might prefer to wait until that is out of the way.

Just let me know if you're interested and what times work for you.

Full-length live-action Discworld movies exist!

How did I miss these coming out over the past few months?

Goddess, why is BitTorrent so slow?

Edit: I have also learned that there were plans being made once for a film adaptation of Mort, up until some of the people involved made the recommendation to "lose the Death angle," because "the Death/skeleton bit doesn't work for us."

Well, I suppose it's no worse than making a film of The Handmaid's Tale and losing the totalitarian patriarchal dictatorship angle.

When I was very young, I—supposedly like most children—was convinced that there had to be a "biggest number." Numbers, logically, were like letters, in that they were both ordered sequences and they were both something people learned in school, and if you could list off all the letters, then you should obviously be able to do the same with the numbers, even if the list was much, much bigger. (Both of these lists I envisioned as rotating discs stored in a machine somewhere in China.)

Of course, I was aware of the argument (as presented on 3-2-1 Contact, among other places) that grown-ups used to prevent themselves from recognizing this fundamental mathematical truth. Take your biggest number, the grown-ups said, and add 1 to it. No matter how big N_biggest might be, N_biggest + 1 would always be a larger quantity, contradicting the premise that N_biggest was the largest number possible. Therefore there could be no "biggest number," QED. But their argument, I understood, had a fatal flaw to it.

You see, the "biggest number" was a special kind of number, so big that it defied representation by numerals and could only be expressed by punctuation. The "biggest number" was /. (The "second biggest number" was ..) And / had the special property that / + 1 = 0, or possibly -/. So, by its special nature, the "biggest number" was capable of existing without contradiction, the "plus one" argument notwithstanding.

( Sounds pretty silly, doesn't it? )

I suddenly like McDonald's a lot more.

From this morning's spam from the AFA:

According to McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner, McDonald’s will aggressively promote the homosexual agenda. In remarks on McDonald's Web site concerning the company becoming a member of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), Skinner wrote: "Being a socially responsible organization is a fundamental part of who we are. We have an obligation to use our size and resources to make a difference in the world … and we do."

The company gave an undisclosed amount of money to the NGLCC in return for being recognized as a major promoter of the homosexual agenda. In return, NGLCC placed Richard Ellis, vice president of communications of McDonald’s USA, on the NGLCC Board of Directors.

Ellis was quoted as saying: "I'm thrilled to join the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce team and ready to get to work. I share the NGLCC's passion for business growth and development within the LGBT community, and I look forward to playing a role in moving these important initiatives forward."

Unfortunately, this hasn't been reported on any reputable news sites yet, although WorldNetDaily did post some propaganda.

Makes me wish McDonald's actually had good food, so I could start eating there.

ETA: The NGLCC's site has a press release and an article mentioning this linked.

Goddess, this is hilarious:

I watched this exchange. Truly, I believed the plant would be watered. It was plant, and on Gor it had no rights. Perhaps on Earth, in its permissive society, which distorts the true roles of all beings, which forces both plant and waterer to go unhappy and constrained, which forbids the fulfillment of owner and houseplant, such might not happen. Perhaps there, it would not be watered. But it was on Gor now, and would undoubtedly feel its true place, that of houseplant. It was plant. It would be watered at will. Such is the way with plants.

Borin picked up the watering can, and muchly watered the plant. The plant cried out. "No, Master! Do not water me!" The master continued to water the plant. "Please, Master," begged the plant, "do not water me!" The master continued to water the plant. It was plant. It could be watered at will.

...

The cactus plant next to the spider plant shuddered. It attempted to cover its small form with its small arms and small needles. "I am plant," it said wonderingly. "I am of Earth, but for the first time, I feel myself truly plantlike. On Earth, I was able to control my watering. I often scorned those who would water me. But they were weak, and did not see my scorn for what it was, the weak attempt of a small plant to protect itself. Not one of the weak Earth waterers would dare to water a plant if it did not wish it. But on Gor," it shuddered, "on Gor it is different. Here, those who wish to water will water their plants as they wish. But strangely, I feel myself most plantlike when I am at the mercy of a strong Gorean master, who may water me as he pleases."

I'd been moderately curious about the Chronicles of Gor for a while. And, two chapters into a downloaded copy of Slave Girl of Gor, I already recognize every one of the clichés parodied in "Houseplants of Gor." This isn't even a distillation or exaggeration of the style; John Norman really does write exactly like that.

Okay, maybe this would be less ridiculously painful to read on a printed page, with actual paragraph breaks and stuff, than in a text file. Still, twenty-six books of prose this appallingly bad? In the hands of a skillful writer, the premise of Gor probably would be rather erotic—even if Norman does get backwards the real true natural biological order of things—but I'm puzzled how anyone could ever read this prose and feel turned on, or any emotion except uncontrollable laughter.

It doesn't help that thus far, the character of the eponymous slave girl is rather less convincing than the average Literotica story, and the philosophical material is inserted about as clumsily as the last couple of Terry Goodkind novels. Though I'll grant that I might have better luck with those elements by starting from the beginning of the series, rather than halfway through.

Test your techno tolerance! (From ladyfelicity.)

( Nothing to do with how many times you can hear "The system... is down! The system... is down!" )

Stolen from thisisjessa. Thought it was rather interesting. Unfortunately, my responses are comparatively boring right now.

( Poly questionnaire )

Fun fact for the day: In the UK, consensual BDSM activities are legally considered to be assault and can be prosecuted as such.

In the distance, there is music, and the sound of many voices in conversation. Laughing, people run through the hallways and engage in random acts of spontaneity. And I am watching from somewhere else—an all-too-familiar feeling—wondering why I am here and not there, apart rather than a part. Knowing, on some level, that to walk from here to there would be all too easy, but feeling that there, like a desert mirage, like the ever-vanishing tomorrow, will still be as distant no matter how close I come.

There is a commotion. Someone is shouting. Lost at first in the general ambient noise of the scene, the sound grows as more voices join it. Words become distinct. "Yuri!" shouts a chorus of deep male voices. "Yaoi!" cry a multitude of higher, feminine voices in response. The chant spreads through the crowd, a viral meme in fertile soil, growing in intensity until at last it climaxes in an eruption of wild cheering. Change the words, the setting, and the costumes, and the scene could be some tribal ritual, an ecstatic experience from the oldest and deepest parts of the human psyche, a celebration of shared values and the joy of living in a world in which people like us exist in such numbers.

But I am an individualist. A part of my mind is always reflexively suspicious of tribal rituals and of collective consciousness. There is always on some level the sense of "This is stupid," preventing immersion, making the rational response seem to be remaining on the outside, looking in like an anthropologist or a narrator, recording but not interfering, not becoming part. There is a feeling of detachment, of being only loosely connected to the world. A feeling that the bonds that tie me to others are too weak to draw me in and bind me to a communal awareness. A sense that it would be so easy to let go and drift away from it, to a place of pure solipsistic thought unsullied by experience. A place with only a bed, a desk, a computer, a cat, many books, and a window which one can look out but never in. A place where deep emotion is a thing of dreams alone.

On which topic, it is time for sleep.

When I heard about this last week, it was rather maddening.

This, though? Awesome.

(If you look closely at the first photo of the EA developers, you might be able to see me. I'm the 12th one from the left in the 6th row.)

The kitty didn't make it. :-(

He had some kind of blockage in his urinary tract. He'd just been collapsed on the floor since yesterday evening, since the buildup of toxins was weakening his muscles. I took off work and brought him into the vet this afternoon. They tried to operate and remove the blockage, but his heart gave out while he was anesthetized.

It's okay, though. It's just what happens. The universe is just a horrible place to live, for kitties and people.

He had a happy life, with lots of free food and things to jump on. He had more than would have been conceivable at any other time in history. The only reason why happiness is possible at all, ever, is because humans are working so hard to subdue malevolent nature and hold back the darkness. And sometimes the barriers were build are just not enough, and the darkness finds a way to invade our safe space. There's still so much to be done, before life as it ought to be is a consistent possibility for all the people and all the kitties.

( Kitty pictures cut )

Ugly weather.

Sick cat.

No girls.

Just another night, I guess.

Wow. I don't think this could possibly have been any more completely wrong.

So I was really bored this afternoon, and decided on the spur of the moment to drive out to Playalinda. It's not Haulover, but it can be pleasant when one doesn't feel like a four-hour drive.

Unfortunately, it was later than I thought when I left. I was thinking it was around 3:30, but I looked at my car's clock and saw that it was already 4:30. I drove out there anyway, assuming that the place wouldn't close until at least 6 and that I'd still have a little while to walk around there.

But when I got there—at around 5:30, and well before sunset—I passed a park ranger who made a "turn around" gesture in my general direction. I wasn't convinced at first he was actually trying to communicate with me, but then I saw in my mirror that he had nearly stopped after passing me, like he was waiting for me to turn around. So I did.

It rather annoys me when people don't enforce the rules as written.