What is your favourite Christmas Movie? {Click here for my guide to Christmas movies}
Miracle on 34th Street
The Ref
Scrooged
Its a Wonderful Life
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
The Nightmare Before Christmas
A Christmas Story
A Christmas Carol
Other:
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Yes, today is twelve eighteen. What, you may ask, is twelve eighteen? Well, its one two one eight. Before you ask, one two one eight is twelve eighteen. What the hell does this have to do with anything? Everything, of course. Chaos theorists have pondered those stories carefully (specifically the Yankee Stadium incident and the mathematics of 1218), and some believe them to be central in gaining the necessary understanding of the universe.
Ironminds is simply one of the best online zines I’ve ever read. Its a never-ending source of humorous articles and commentary. Take, for instance, the groundbreaking stupid article I Duct-Taped Bull Ice Malt Liquor to My Hands or the confession of the simple pleasures taken in Best-of Lists (such as my lavish listing of Christmas Movies or my definitive Top 10 of 1999). Another Ironminds masterpiece: Joel Shitmaker. Its always nice to note that there are people out there who still recognize the galactic horror of movies like Batman and Robin…
Do we live in a “designer universe”? The laws of nature seemed fine-tuned for conscious life to emerge; if the fundamental constants of physics are off by only a hair, the universe would have been a lifeless dud (no stars, no stable elements, etc…) This reminds me of one of Thomas Aquinas’ 5 Ways (order in the universe implies an intelligent creator that we call God), and the finely tuned universe seems to support some sort of Cosmic Designer. However, the Cosmic Designer Hypothesis is only one way of explaining the improbable fine-tuning of natures laws (and it is flawed to begin with). Theres the “Big Fluke Hypothesis”, which doesn’t provide much of an explaination, and then there is the “Many Universes Hypothesis”, which claims that there are, suprise, many universes (perhaps an infinite amount), the idea being that we live in the lucky one universe where everything came together. All the theories have their own advantages and disadvantages, and its quite fun to ponder why our world is the way it is…
Why do browser companies continue to forge blindly ahead with more and more new features when they haven’t even implemented existing standards correctly? Why can’t they follow the standards process? Good questions. The answer is that browsers do, in fact, follow the standards process! The problem is that browsers are encouraged to innovate, to make up new (proprietary) features and technologies. They then act as a test market for the W3C, who evaluate the new features and observe how they work in the “real” world. They then make recommendations based on their findings. But when they change their specifications, the browsers are left in a lose-lose situation. This article will give you the rest of the low down in an objective manner. Its a frustrating situation, from every angle, and this sort of complex problem has no easy answer. I hope, for everyone’s sake, that the process is tightened a bit so that emerging technologies can flourish. On a side note, I wonder how much an open source browser like mozilla could contribute to the standards process without having to officially release a non-standards compliant browser…
Ever wonder what the airlines do with your luggage? Sure, they claim 97% of lost luggage are returned to their rightful owners within 24 hours and another 1.5% within 2 days, but what about the remaining 1.5%? Well, after 6 weeks, they sell it (and going by the percentages, this works out to be somewhere around 435, 000 bags). Apparently most of the lost bags end up in a small Alabama town at the Unclaimed Baggage Center, where they, in turn, sell the contents of the lost bags at discount prices. In case you don’t feel like hopping on a plane to visit Alabama (what would you do with your luggage?), you can always visit their webpage and buy stuff online.
The computer versus television: I don’t watch TV anymore. The hours wasted in front of the tv screen are now wasted in front of the computer monitor. Sure, I’ll throw the TV on for episodes of the Simpsons or the occasional X-Files (or possibly a Flyers game), but I’m usually doing something on the computer as well. TV just isn’t a priority anymore and I’ve noticed similar trends with those around me. Why is that? I think its because of the control you have over the web (or your computer in general). You can look up whatever you want, whenever you want, and even display it how you want. TV rigidly forces you to adhere to their schedule, while the internet gives you the power. The internet also provides a creative outlet and interactivity, things TV lacks. The internet is a much more social activity than watching the tube, and the Television industry needs to refocus its efforts if its going to regain its once lofty status…
I finished Theodore Sturgeon’s More Than Human tonight, and I was extremely happy with it. It is a book about a group of social misfits who band together to suvive, only to discover that their combined existance composes a single organism, possibly the next step in human evolution (Homo Gestalt). Sturgeon displays a poetic lyricism rarely seen in science fiction and explores what it really is to be human. Expect a review at Kaedrin soon…
Pudding-Factory Disaster Brings Slow, Creamy Death to Town Below: This article ran a while ago, but I think its the funniest thing I have ever read over at The Onion. An exerpt: “Sweet, creamy death swept through this small Illinois town Monday… burying hundreds of residents in a rich, smooth tidal wave of horrifying pudding goodness.” Priceless descriptions of the tragic, tragic horror of the delectably Choco-Licious™ death-pudding.
