Month: October 2004

(Kind of a continued musing from the ‘conspiracy theory’ one below.) I wonder what responsibility those of us who, somewhat uncomfortably, wear the label of ‘postmodernists’1 bear for the current ‘reality-challenged’ mode of politics in the West? I know that my own postmodern ‘skepticism of grand narratives that claim to explain everything’ (my twist on…

It’s the perfect dismissal, the perfect conversation-stopper: ‘that’s just conspiracy theory stuff’. Heck, there’s even a bad Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts vehicle. It’s a term that’s been created over the past decade or so, and while it does have a use in naming a particular phenomenon, it also has uses in closing down debate.…

In Australia we have the great tradition of the smoko. Even as less and less of us smoke, taking a short break for a coffee and a chat is still called ‘stopping for smoko’. Stephen King noticed the phenomenon, as people are increasingly banned from smoking in the office, of the 10 O’Clock People who…

In case you don’t read it (and if not, why the hell not? the link is right there on the right of this page!), William Gibson quoted a paragraph of mine – not from here, but from the WGB forums – in his blog today for the second time in a few days. He prefaced…

It’s not always easy to come up with something interesting and original every day! But with a blog and an audience comes a certain amount of pressure to produce, even if it’s self-imposed. Obviously at the beginning there was a bit of a storehouse of ideas that had been lying around in my head for…

I know, this is skirting the edges of my ‘election-free zone’ pledge. I think I’ve been very well-behaved in ignoring the US election, even though I’m very interested in it, so I’m going to indulge myself a bit… And this is not at all about who you should vote for, or either of the candidates.…

Heard an interview on the radio today with Rex Weyler, co-founder of Greenpeace. A listener asked a question about ‘who does Greenpeace represent’, and he said that, as well as its members, the organisation aims to represent the trees and hills and wolves. He also went into a rant about ‘politicians will always promise us…

My job for today is to enter the data from a bunch of surveys I did of the parents of physics students in five Edmonton high schools and analyse the results. The surveys ask about the parents’ attitudes to physics education and physics teachers: Why is learning physics important? Who is responsible for making sure…

I’ve submitted this review of one of my favourite novels to Slashdot but it’s still pending. When I try to describe Michael Marshall Smith‘s Only Forward to people, the one-liner is usually “starts out cyberpunk and gets much weirder from there”. That doesn’t completely do it justice, but it’s a place to start. It’s impossible…

the stats on divorce and spousal and child abuse are almost exactly the same for religious people (at least for Christians) as for non-religious people. if religion doesn’t make us better people, more able to build loving, supportive families and protect them, what is it good for? or is this just what we’d expect –…

So, in theory, what I was always supposed to do was be very organised – put all my Word documents in folders and sub-folders with clear, self-explanatory names so that I could find things easily. Do the same with my e-mail messages. Of course, if you’ve seen my office (maybe I’ll post a photo or…

Scott Rosenberg’s recent ‘No TV? No problem’ reassured me that I’m not alone as a non-TV-watching freak. It’s not that I think TV is an evil influence, or anything like that, and it’s not that I feel superior to anyone who does watch it (well, maybe a little ;)) I just really don’t have time.…

(This topic was suggested by my wise friend HawK of #desperado) I really want to try to avoid making posts here that are just personal whining, or even appear to be – although it’s about me in the sense that I’m writing it, if it’s not about you too in some sense then it’s just…

I just changed the font on the blog – the ‘Lucida Grande’ was prettier (even if it sounds like something you’d get at Starbucks), but the characters seemed too close together to make it easy to read for some people, so I’ve switched to plain old Arial Narrow. If anyone knows of a pretty, legible…

Anyone played Deus Ex? In the game, the issue is a plague for which the vaccine is in very short supply. Only the government and those with connections can get any. Of course the current flu vaccine panic in the US is not the same, but I’ve already seen the editorial cartoons asking how the…

Slashdot Interview with Neal Stephenson

So, I’m in the process of applying for jobs at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and Stanford University in Palo Alto, California1, 2. We’ve been in Edmonton for four years, and my feet are starting to get itchy. I’m not sure why, but that seems to happen – get used to the new job and…

Although I’m awfully tempted, I see little point in adding my Australian-living-in-Canada two cents worth to the swirling masses of verbiage that permeate the wired world about the US election. Besides, I talk to lots of lovely, smart, thoughtful Americans online, but I’ve never yet known one of them to change his/her political allegiance, so…