Author: Leon

Categories
News Philosophy Politics

Unregulated dinner parties

This happened to me just tonight! My wife prepared dinner for the family, and although she has taken cooking classes in the past, I don’t think any government official ever issued her a license. Help! Help! Does anyone have a license for determining if I might suffer adverse health effects? I’d do it myself, but I’ve let my thinking license expire. Oh, man, I hope I’m not breaking some law by just asking for help.

New York City Overwhelmed by Scourge of Illegal, Underground Dinner Parties

Folks in the Big Apple are illegally eating things! The CBS affiliate in New York City today uncovered the scary, secret world of illegal, underground dinner parties.

No, this is not a joke or a parody, though it will really feel like one for the first few seconds of the clip. The news casters treat this situation with the same slightly amazed and shocked tone that they use when they cover the “underground world of raves.” You know which story I’m talking about. Every local news affiliate runs one every sweeps period.

Categories
News Politics

Half-life city scanner drops in on German chancellor

I’ve just finished playing through all the single-player Half-Life content, which offers a deeply dystopian world littered with hoving drones called City Scanners. Sounds like they are real now. How long until something like HL2’s Manhacks are flying around after “criminals”?

German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs | Ars Technica

At a campaign rally in Dresden on September 15, a small quadrocopter flew within feet of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere, hovering briefly in front of them before crashing into the stage practically at Merkel’s feet. Merkel appeared to be amused by the “drone attack,” but de Maiziere and others on the stage seemed a bit more unsettled by the robo-kamikaze.

Categories
Science

Praise Bacon! And May Bacon Be With You Always.

Escuse me, sir. Can you spare a few moments to talk about Bacon?

United Church of Bacon | Praise Bacon! And May Bacon Be With You Always.

The United Church of Bacon founders have set forth a general mission.

  • First and foremost, Praise Bacon! (Even if you don’t like bacon – gasp – all you have to do is enjoy the scent.)
  • Openly fight religious discrimination against non-religious people and demand equal rights for everyone
  • Provide wedding services to the secular people of the world
  • To encourage people to report violations of the law by church members or officials who believe they deserve special privileges while at church
Categories
Science

Drink unfiltered coffee

Reading this compelled me to make a pot of what my dad called “Sheepherder’s Coffee”, otherwise known as cowboy coffee. He learned to make coffee that way hanging out with guys in southern Idaho, and he made coffee that way every morning, frequently letting it boil over and making a mess on the stove. It takes a long time and you inevitably get grounds in your teeth, but it is the most delicious coffee.

Should you drink your coffee filtered?

Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. Arguably a key reason for this is that coffee has psychoactive properties that we may be hardwired to value, even if subconsciously. For example, it increases alertness; possibly a fitness-enhancing effect in our evolutionary past. Here the term “fitness” in “fitness-enhancing effect” means “reproductive success”, and does not mean having great athletic ability or having shredded abs.

Categories
Philosophy

Advice on getting what you want

Richard Nikoley has some advice I typically give as “be like the Internet–route around the slow nodes”.

How to Deal With Other Human Animals Who Live By Force or Quasi Force | Free The Animal

Next time you get really, really pissed off by some organization, do a self experiment in extreme self control. Take pleasure, at least, in the fact that you can. …And, upon reflection, you just might laugh out loud over the juxtaposition. Most of all, before you pick up that phone or send that email, ask yourself: what is my objective? If your objective is to make someone feel shitty, that’s easy enough and anyone can do it. Just pick up the phone or hit send from a stream of consciousness with no review or deliberation.

…Or, start a somewhat cathartic blog. …Call it “Free the Animal,” or something. :)

On the other hand, daily life is important. The more time you spend doing what you love, relishing the company of people you love, the better. You can pay for that extra time by dropping pretenses of propriety, right and wrong, demanding “justice” over minutae and hey, even giving that person on the other end of the line undeserved flattery in order to minimize time and trouble, and get what you need.

Give it a try.