Tim Anderson on how to not look like you are “not evil”.
Goodness only knows how this is going to be received back in Silicon Valley.
Current Affairs
Teaching Hatred
It hasn’t been a good month to be in school in America. Chris Garcia reports that there have been six school shootings in the last 30 days. There may have been more. But one in particular stands out. Last week in a town near Los Angeles a 15-year old boy was shot dead. His killer was a 14-year-old boy who attended the same school. News reports suggest that Brandon McInerney killed Lawrence King because King was openly gay and/or transgendered.
Continue reading
The Economist on Visas
This week the UK newspapers have been busy printing scare stories about how the US is about to abandon the visa waiver scheme for European passport holders. This is, of course, all diplomatic brinksmanship and highly unlikely to happen as The Guardian might wish, but it is a real row. The Economist puts its version of the story out here. US readers might want to take note of this:
…this reporter has spoken to a fair number of European security and counter-terrorism officials over the years, none of them softies and many of them instinctively pro-American. But they all had horror stories about the arrogance and aggression of their American counterparts. A senior American official, asked by this reporter about this a few months ago, groaned, and said he could do nothing about his colleagues from the Department of Homeland Security, who were, in his words, beyond reasoning with.
I think you need a new government, guys.
Sorry Day
I try to stay out of Australian domestic politics. I only lived in the country for two years, so I really don’t have much right to pass judgment. Nevertheless, I am very happy about current developments. I shall let one of my Australian friends speak for me.
Threats of Secession
This one is for my American friends. I know how you love hearing about all things Scottish, so here is a little political tale for you. As you probably know, the Scottish National Party is currently in power in the Scottish Parliament (albeit by a very thin majority). Naturally they are doing all that they can to advance the cause of Scotland against the perfidious English.
Well, the town of Berwick, in the far north-east of England, has long been a bone of contention between the two countries. It has apparently changed hands at least 13 times. And it may do again. According to the BBC there are moves afoot to encourage the good burghers of Berwick to secede from England and re-join Scotland. This would have a number of advantages for them. Firstly they would be able to choose to be ruled by a proper Socialist government rather than a bunch of Margaret Thatcher wannabes masquerading as the Labour party. Also they are a good deal closer to Edinburgh than to London, which would probably mean that being Scottish would be of economic advantage. Naturally English nationalists are up in arms. Thankfully there is no suggestion that the matter be decided on the field of battle at Murrayfield on March 8th, because the way the Scots have been playing the poor people of Berwick would be surrendering already.
Organlegging
One of the staple themes of cyberpunk is that in “the future” people will make money by selling their bodily organs (or by stealing other peoples). Well, we are in the future, and organlegging is apparently big business in India.
the police said the scale of this one was unprecedented. Four doctors, five nurses, 20 paramedics, three private hospitals, 10 pathology clinics and five diagnostic centers were involved
And this despite the fact that it is illegal.
Brief Political Interlude
Not being a US citizen, I’m trying to stay out of the Presidential circus. However, I couldn’t resist linking to this post on The Economist’s blog which explains why the Republican candidates can’t be trusted to run the economy. Money shot for most of the world:
Last night’s Republican presidential debate was representative. Candidates displayed a number of disconcerting opinions on current economic topics. They expressed deep discomfort with foreign trade, repugnance at labour mobility, ignorance of the workings of monetary policy, and routine incoherence.
And special money shot for Kevin:
In terms of additional transportation system capacity per dollar spent, improved rail service would beat new highway lanes hands down.
I do, however, have a sneaking suspicion that what The Economist thinks is bad about the Republican candidates is going to cause some staunch Democrats to conclude that maybe Republicans aren’t so bad after all. Funny stuff, politics.
Antichrist Seen in Parliament
For such a non-religious country (particularly in comparison to the USA) it always seems odd that the UK still has an official state religion. I suspect that this is only because the Queen is officially head of the Church of England and it might cause a constitutional crisis of some sort if Parliament told her to stop being so. Of course this doesn’t stop the occasional enterprising MP from introducing a motion to “disestablish” the CofE. One such motion was submitted yesterday. By some useful quirk of the House of Commons filing system it ended up being motion #666.
Last Post of the Year
For most of the planet it is already 2008. Here in California we have only a few minutes of 2007 left. There will, of course, be come people out in the Pacific for whom the old year still lingers, but I don’t suppose that I’ll be reading any of their blogs, so here goes with the end of the year.
My prize for the best New Year post of 2007 goes to John Coulthart who linked to this web site devoted to the unfashionable idea of thinking long term.
Now you may think that this sort of thinking is just the sort of nonsense that rich and foolish people in San Francisco get up to, and to a certain extent you are right. I’m pretty sure that the Long Now folks make a lot of their money through expensive seminars. But if you have a look through their site you’ll also come across this fabulous essay (PDF) by Michael Chabon which puts the case for the long term rather better than any of the futurologists. It also proves, if the question was still open, that Chabon is indeed what fandom likes to call “one of us”.
And now I have just enough time to go and pour a glass of Balvenie before the fireworks start.
A Train Post for Kevin (with Robots)
Well, the Japanese may or may not be building giant fighting robots to protect us from UFOs, but the Russians are most definitely building androids. No, this is not a robot army intended to invade the USA, nor is it a cunning plot to create citizens programmed to believe in Communism. The androids are apparently to be put to work maintaining Russia’s railways. Why they need to be able to talk and dance is unclear, but given how fond the Russians are of SF, perhaps we should not be surprised. Maybe one or two of Russia’s new metal citizens will be allowed to attend next year’s Eurocon, Mr. Putin, please.
Americans Declare Independence
Via Chris Roberson I learn that the Lakota people have declared independence from the USA. Whether anyone in Washington will actually pay any attention to this is another matter, but the Lakota do seem to be taking this very seriously and have their legal arguments lined up. Sadly this isn’t going to help with my visa problems. The Lakota appear to be only extending citizenship rights to people who are already legal residents of the territory that they claim (parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming), and I have yet to see any announcements about immigration policy. They do have plenty of land, but I suspect that the promise of no taxes will result in a huge queue of US citizens at the border.
Japan to Defend World from Aliens?
According to recent news reports, Japan’s Defense Minister is concerned that his country has no plans for dealing with alien invasions. Kevin and I rather hope that he will recommend building a corps of giant fighting robots (though whether they should be crewed by cute teenage girls is a debatable point). Of course such defense systems will need to be tested, so perhaps Godzilla could be persuaded to visit Tokyo to give them a work-out. It would make good TV.
Congratulations, Australia!
Pause for Thought
I’ve been having a quick spin through the blogosphere looking for other Transgender Day of Remembrance posts and I came across this:
I also want to see the day that killing a transgender person is not seen as socially acceptable behavior and the person who does so gets the same level of punishment as someone who kills a non-transgender person.
Yes, actually, that would be nice.
Remembrance
Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance. This is an event that began eight years ago in San Francisco and has since spread to many cities around the world. It asks us to spend a few moments remembering those people who have been killed because their gender expression was somehow different from other people’s social norms. This is, of course, not an issue that many people are aware of, so here are a few brief numbers:
- In the USA transgendered people have roughly a 1 in 12 chance of being murdered, as compared to 1 in 18,000 for the general population (HRC)
- A UK survey of almost 900 transgendered people found that more than a third had attempted suicide at least once (PFC)
There’s not a lot you can say after numbers like that.
The Price of Political Consistency
The Guardian brings the happy news that a coalition of extreme right-wing political groups in the European Parliament has collapsed because they all hate foreigners so much that the individual national groups won’t speak to each other.
Hey, at least they are consistent. Remember that next time you berate your MP or Congresscritter for changing his mind.
World, what world?
I was somewhat depressed to read this article in The Guardian which explains that British schoolchildren know even less about the world outside of their country than American kids. My depression was slightly lifted by the discovery that in fact Welsh, Scottish and Irish kids are better informed than their American counterparts, but they get dragged down by the ignorant English. Even so…
Hey, when I was a kid our teachers made darn sure that we knew a foreign language, and if I had ever gone on vacation to somewhere that they spoke Latin I’m sure I would have got on just fine with the natives.
The Goddess and The Pit
Today I have been a tourist in New York. I have seen the Very Big Statue. I have seen the Island of Entry. And I have seen the Very Big Hole.
Looking at a map of New Your it is easy to assume that you can see Lady Liberty from where the World Trade Center once stood. Doubtless you could see her from the top. But this area is some of the most expensive real estate in the world. There is a veritable forest of office and condo blocks between Ground Zero and the water. Maybe we should knock them all down too. Then we might remember that we have lost faith in the Goddess with her bright torch, and instead have taken to worshiping a steaming pit.
Royal Murder Mystery Deepens
No, no, I’m not talking about Princess Diana, I’m talking about a rather longer-running murder investigation. Officials in Egypt have recently announced that Pharaoh Tutankhamun was not murdered, as had been previously believed, but in fact died as a result of falling from his chariot while out hunting. Well, that’s all very well, but how, I ask, did he come to fall? Was his chariot being aggressively pursued by Hittite paparazzi keen to get a picture of him missing a shot with his bow? Was he being targeted by vegan eco-terrorists who objected to his decimation of the local wildlife? Or was his charioteer, far from being drunk as some tomb inscriptions have claimed, actually in the pay of a rival for the throne? I think we need a full scale investigation here. And as this will obviously require an all-expenses trip to Egypt so that the important sites can all be visited, I hereby volunteer to serve on the jury.
Panty Power
Yes ladies, your panties can be used to advance the cause of world peace (or at least help the unfortunate people of Burma). Who would have believed that a bunch of rich, powerful generals could be so easily scared. More details here.
So I wonder, what would be the effect of sending panties to Bush & Cheney? Would they recoil in horror too? Would they wear them? Answers on a postcard (or in the comments) please…