Scripturient

Should you run for municipal council?

2012-09-11 2012-09-11 Collingwood / Media Issues / Municipal Politics5 Comments

There’s a poll online asking if a resident should run for council next election. I believe I understand the intent, but decision-making by poll is not effective leadership. Internet polls, in particular, are weak, inaccurate, easily manipulated, and ignore necessary demographic constraints – they are unacceptable as the foundation for any serious decision. Sure, you want public input for major issues, and you are legislated to get it on some planning matters. Council tries very hard to be as open and transparent as possible. But in the end, you get elected to make decisions. You can’t keep deferring while you … click below for more ↓

Do “psychics” make you laugh or cry?

2012-09-10 2012-09-10 Balderdash & Hoaxes / Faith / Religion / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

A small handout for a local “psychic studio” that arrived in my mailbox offers “Superior PSYCHIC and Spiritual Cleanser.” I never know whether to laugh at the silliness of these people or cry over how they continue to bilk gullible, superstitious fools. We are still so Medieval in our thinking, in so many ways. Here’s an entire “studio” – apparently a one-stop shopping centre for balderdash where you can go and get all your superstitions cleansed, or whatever it is they do (aside, that is, from cleansing your wallet…). Apparently having a “studio” is all the rage among “psychics.” You … click below for more ↓

Zellers closing mall store is another blow to local economy

2012-07-30 2012-07-30 Canadian Politics / Collingwood / Municipal PoliticsLeave a comment

Collingwood’s main anchor store in the Blue Mountain Mall, Zellers, will close by March, 2013, according to a story in this week’s Globe and Mail. It is one of 29 scheduled to close in Ontario, and one of 64 across Canada. As the Globe and CBC pointed out in their stories, with an average of 100 people per store, that means a net lost of around 6,400 jobs, Canada-wide. The impact locally is much greater. 100 jobs in a community of 20,000 people is a lot, even if most are part time. Many retail outlets and supermarkets here offer only … click below for more ↓

The lingering wisps of memory, the subtle newness of a moment…

2012-07-26 2012-10-09 Language & Grammar / Science & Technology2 Comments

“Can the simple act of recognizing a face as you walk down the street change the way we think?” Thus opens a story posted on Science Daily. “Or can taking the time to notice something new on our way to work change what we remember about that walk?” Intriguing questions. The act of recognition, the act of discovery; both can change how we both process information about an act, and how we create a memory of it. This novel finding suggests that our memory system can adaptively bias its processing towards forming new memories or retrieving old ones based on … click below for more ↓

Super-fast evolution: new species in just 6,000 years

2012-07-25 2012-07-25 Pets & Animal Behaviour / Science & Technology2 Comments

According to a recent story in Science Daily, new species of sea stars may have arisen in as little a time as 6,000 years. Researchers studied the diversity in DNA sequences from sea stars of two related species to estimate how long it has been since the two species diverged. Their results showed a range from roughly 6,000 to 22,000 years ago. That rules out some ways new species could evolve. For example, they clearly did not diverge slowly with genetic changes over a long period of time, but were isolated quickly. Over the last 11,000 years, the boundary between … click below for more ↓

The rise of the tenor guitar

2012-07-23 2012-07-23 Arts / Musical Instruments / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

Tenor guitars have been around since the 1930s, possibly a few years earlier*, but they’ve never had a big following compared with six-string guitars. That seems to be changing, and I suspect it’s in part due to the incredible popularity of that other four-string guitar derivative: the ukulele. In the past six-twelve months, I’ve been seeing more tenor guitars on the Net, including several new custom tenor guitars made by talented luthiers. New sites about tenor guitars have sprung up, too. Both new and vintage tenors are showing up on eBay in what seems to be increasing numbers. There’s even … click below for more ↓

Yet More Quotes with False Attributions

2012-07-13 2012-07-13 Balderdash & Hoaxes / Books & Reviews / Language & Grammar / Memes; Internet & Social6 Comments

It seems a good week for mis-attributed Francis of Assisi quotes. Someone on Facebook posted an image with the following quote: “He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist. St. Francis of Assisi” That’s simply “Francis of “Assisi” for the non-Catholics among us, of course. But even without the questionable transformation of mortal flesh into an immortal, supernatural being, Francis didn’t write those words. This quote was written by Louis Nizer, an … click below for more ↓

And again, more mis-attributed quotes online

2012-07-04 2017-01-17 Arts / Balderdash & Hoaxes / Books & Reviews / Memes; Internet & Social5 Comments

“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled.” Allegedly by Mark Twain, but unlikely, and not found in any published source I have of Twain’s quotations. Online sources, of course, don’t count as authorities because they lack all credibility. As one person commented on Yahoo, The fact that “Quora attributes it to him” is worthless. Quora is yet another one of those idiotic “quote websites” that misquote and misattribute things all the time. Note that Quora doesn’t bother to give an actual citation — what book was it from, what page, etc. Without a full … click below for more ↓

The Oldest Art: 40,800 Years Ago

2012-06-20 2012-06-20 Arts / History & Biography / Science & TechnologyOne Comment

Paleolithic paintings in El Castillo cave in Northern Spain date back at least 40,800 years — making them Europe’s oldest known cave art, according to new research published June 14 in Science. That’s the lead to a fascinating story about the origins of art. Cave art seems to have been practiced 10,000 years earlier than previously thought. That age could make the artists either the first modern humans or even Neanderthals. That latter possibility is pretty exciting. We know from burials found in the Middle East that Neanderthal people practiced ritual burial and made musical instruments. This find suggests that … click below for more ↓

The Decline of Information Quality

2012-06-19 2012-06-19 Arts / Balderdash & Hoaxes / Media Issues / Memes; Internet & Social / Social Order & Disorder / Uncategorized2 Comments

I’ve been troubled the last year or so by the increasing amount of trivial crap that is being presented on media sites as news, rather than what it really is: shallow gossip, pseudoscience, trivia, anecdote, voyeurism and personal experience. As titillating as some glitterati’s wardrobe malfunction might be, it is not front page news. In fact, it isn’t worthy of the description news even when relegated to a more appropriate location, buried deep inside the site. Gossip belongs with the horoscope, cartoons and word-search puzzles. Nor is a cute animal in some anthropomorphic posture news. Kitten and bunny wrestling? Why … click below for more ↓

More Facebook Mis-quotes

2012-06-12 2012-06-12 Balderdash & Hoaxes / Language & Grammar / Memes; Internet & Social / Social Order & Disorder2 Comments

Saw three images (“posters”) on Facebook today with “quotes” I’m pretty sure are mis-attributions. As usual, I feel compelled to check out their validity. First is one allegedly by “St. Francis of Assisi.” This would be simply “Francis of Assisi” if you’re not Catholic or don’t believe in saints or canonization. One day I’ll post a blog piece about canonization and its politics, but not now. The quote is: “What we are looking for… is what is looking.” That seems one of those gooey, touchy-feely New Age thoughts, and Francis never said anything even remotely close to that. The late … click below for more ↓

Diablo III: Hype or Gaming Excellence?

2012-06-09 2012-06-11 Memes; Internet & Social / Science & TechnologyLeave a comment

The hype was huge and long. Diablo III was rumored, hinted at, promised, delayed, and even denied for years. Then it was embraced when it finally arrived after more than a decade’s hibernation since the success of Diablo II, released in 2000 (and 16 years since the original, released in 1996). Good technique for raking in the money: the anticipation meant huge sales initially. The spammers love it, of course, because it provides a wonderful, accessible platform for scams through its live in-game chat system that allows them to post text ads promising in-game gold and experience points in exchange … click below for more ↓

Patronage: Canada’s Shame

2012-06-06 2012-06-06 Canadian Politics / Municipal PoliticsOne Comment

Patronage is the dirty secret behind most nations and governments. It’s a shameful, embarrassing, corrupt and very undemocratic practice in which friends, supporters and benefactors get plum contracts, jobs, appointments, cash, perks and bonuses. These are usually parcelled out not on the basis of achievement, ability, or talent, but rather simply because of political cronyism. Canada is no better, and probably somewhat worse than most Western nations in how its governments practice this loathsome act of onanistic rewards. But unlike many more democratic nations, Canada maintains an official, government-sponsored body for patronage: the Senate. Our patronage Senate is something you’d … click below for more ↓

The Tin-Foil Hat Brigade in the Lab

2012-06-02 2012-06-02 Balderdash & Hoaxes / Faith / Memes; Internet & Social / Social Order & Disorder2 Comments

You have to admire science. Nothing is beneath its inquiring eye. When I read that students at Berkley U had seriously investigated the nature of the ubiquitous-in-the-wingnut-community tin foil hats, I had to smile. Once again, science saves the day. Bad news for the wingnuts. While research didn’t prove tin foil hats will stop the aliens from eating your brain, it did suggest that the hats may amplify certain frequencies that may be in the control of either governments or corporate interests. According to the researchers at berkeley.intel-research.net/arahimi/helmet/, The helmets amplify frequency bands that coincide with those allocated to the … click below for more ↓