If you reject the doctrine of original sin and adopt a theory of progress, you reject the idea that "shit happens." If the world isn't inherently broken, bad things that happen have to be someone's fault. That person is standing on the way of Utopia, they must pay!
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
Pirate Freedom - What is Chris's Last Name?
I'm just putting this out here, because I don't know where else to ask... Slight spoiler if you haven't read Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe.
You've been warned!
Here comes...
Is Chris's name actually a serial number? He says it's too long to reasonably spell or pronounce, but doesn't (as far as I can tell) give any other hints.
We can guess that's he's some sort of clone or test-tube baby. His father never seems to particularly care for him, so it's possible he was never given a family name.
I'm not sure there's any other evidence for this, but I can't think why else he keeps mentioning that he isn't going to tell his name.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Some Drink Recipes
I'm putting these on the internet because I believe I am the first to name the following cocktails.
Whiskey Walrus
• Vanilla ice cream
• Root beer (your choice of brand; what am I, your mother?)
• American Whiskey (I like Seagram's here but again, it's no skin off my nose)
In a tall glass, place 2 scoops of ice cream. Pour two ounces of whiskey into the glass. Fill the glass with however much root beer that takes. Drink/eat, as you would an ice cream float.
Tipsy Walrus
• Vanilla ice cream
• Not Your Father's alcoholic root beer
In a tall glass, pour alcoholic root beer over two scoops of ice cream.
Other Derivatives
Brandy Walrus: substitute brandy for whiskey
Mountie Walrus: substitute Canadian whiskey
Kentucky Walrus: substitute bourbon
Groovy Walrus: substitute rainbow sherbet for ice cream, 7-Up for root beer, vodka for whiskey, a muddy field at a music festival for clothing
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
I am Reading Dayn Perry
"I am reading Dayn Perry."
One says this loosely, with non-chalance. Syllables cost nothing.
Yet something packs itself into the back of your brain, like the sodden lump of chaw that is fusing with your rear molars. It becomes a part of you so gradually you don't even notice – until the surgeon is administering ether and reminding the nurse which section of your jaw will have to go.
This prose, this eddy of words, seems not so much written by the man as emanating from him. Does the flickering streetlight in the back alley "compose" photons?
Let us, together you and I, picture the man who gives us these words. Does he speak slowly, resting his sun-battered face on a grizzled paw, dispensing bad advice through refills of cheap rye? Is he on too-good terms with an ill-intentioned barkeep?
No, there is a gleam in his words. This is no dingy public house. It is the room at the horse track closest to the betting window. His relentless gob unloads one barrel at a time, a scattershot of speech to anyone within his firing radius, and some without. His tight fists are clutching thesauruses and losing tickets, but this does not prevent gesticulation. His phrases are peppered with "haberdashers" and "indigents" and he has consorted with both, comfortably. His vocabulary is that of a mid-century tobacco advertisement. He knows "catarrh" from first-hand experience.
There's a wink in the direction of his empty highball glass, and without speech you know he's offering you better odds. The vig is an Old Fashioned. What was that bookie thinking with 7/2 on Captain's Favorite, anyway?
I am reading Dayn Perry. I will die one day, but today I am reading Dayn Perry.
One says this loosely, with non-chalance. Syllables cost nothing.
Yet something packs itself into the back of your brain, like the sodden lump of chaw that is fusing with your rear molars. It becomes a part of you so gradually you don't even notice – until the surgeon is administering ether and reminding the nurse which section of your jaw will have to go.
This prose, this eddy of words, seems not so much written by the man as emanating from him. Does the flickering streetlight in the back alley "compose" photons?
Let us, together you and I, picture the man who gives us these words. Does he speak slowly, resting his sun-battered face on a grizzled paw, dispensing bad advice through refills of cheap rye? Is he on too-good terms with an ill-intentioned barkeep?
No, there is a gleam in his words. This is no dingy public house. It is the room at the horse track closest to the betting window. His relentless gob unloads one barrel at a time, a scattershot of speech to anyone within his firing radius, and some without. His tight fists are clutching thesauruses and losing tickets, but this does not prevent gesticulation. His phrases are peppered with "haberdashers" and "indigents" and he has consorted with both, comfortably. His vocabulary is that of a mid-century tobacco advertisement. He knows "catarrh" from first-hand experience.
There's a wink in the direction of his empty highball glass, and without speech you know he's offering you better odds. The vig is an Old Fashioned. What was that bookie thinking with 7/2 on Captain's Favorite, anyway?
I am reading Dayn Perry. I will die one day, but today I am reading Dayn Perry.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Friday, July 17, 2015
Updating my Linux Machine
This post is as much for my own reference as anyone else's use. Hopefully I can at least point people in the direction of what has helped me.
Network Card
I have a RealTek network card, which doesn't play nice with Linux by default. This site solved it: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=80757#p469071
In case that link dies, the relevant portion is:
If you are using kernel 3.0 you'll notice that the /src/Makefile has a bug that causes it to install the r8168.o file instead of the r8168.ko file
The solution is simple:
After the autorun.sh finishes, just do the following:
sudo cp src/r8168.ko /lib/modules/3.0.0-1-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/
sudo depmod
sudo modprobe r8168
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
I'm not one to encourage people to leave the Church if they don't like it. To tell people to get out is to misunderstand what the Church is. No one gets kicked out of the hospital for disbelieving germ theory. The doctors just keep giving them the penicillin anyway. If you find that your relationship to the Catholic Church inside-looking-out, stick it out. I think you'll find that the grass is greener in the reflection of the stained glass windows.
That said, here's what not to do: don't tell the Church what it's supposed to be. They didn't ordain women to the priesthood in the days when powerful abbesses controlled convents and monasteries, they aren't going to start just because a woman ran the Department of State. They didn't claim two men could could marry when the emperor was doing it, they won't change their minds because Elton John is doing it.
That said, here's what not to do: don't tell the Church what it's supposed to be. They didn't ordain women to the priesthood in the days when powerful abbesses controlled convents and monasteries, they aren't going to start just because a woman ran the Department of State. They didn't claim two men could could marry when the emperor was doing it, they won't change their minds because Elton John is doing it.
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