| British humor has much to answer for |
[Jul. 25th, 2008|05:04 pm] |
A: women would have it so much easier if they simply liked to sleep with nice guys
B: har
B: in comparison to women, i'm positively sane in my choices. I LIKE to sleep with nice girls.
A: i mean, i'm a nice guy
A: but if i act like one i'm not getting any sex
B: pretty much. My entire relationship experience has been learning not to be a nice guy.
B: this is what happens when you let women choose instead of using the mating system that has worked for the last few thousand years of complicated networking and family.
A: hah
A: that's pretty profound
B: god bless america, for bringing capitalism to dating.
B: i mean, just think, most of civilization our mating structure has been determined by rational choices, and we're back to monkey infatuation. Which we know scientifically is a temporary device designed to make you overinvest long enough to get you truly fucked.
B: because humans believe in sunk costs:P
B: more appropriately, why don't women approach relationships with Tit for Tat?
B: ...well that makes tit for tat sound even more perverted than usual
A: haw
B: Unless provoked, the agent will always cooperate If provoked, the agent will retaliate The agent is quick to forgive The agent must have a good chance of competing against the opponent more than once.
B: That's pretty much how men opperate:P
B: ...sometimes, i think once you're in a relationship, women actually operate on the Tit for Two Tats strategy.
B: or maybe i mean two tits for one tat |
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| 365.38 |
[Jul. 25th, 2008|01:50 pm] |
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| faces of fashion |
[Jul. 25th, 2008|03:32 pm] |
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| *** |
[Jul. 25th, 2008|10:39 am] |
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Мобильник – новая современная форма бестактности. |
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| The Geneva Conventions Redux |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|11:32 pm] |
Once again (reposting this from like 5 years ago):
Convention III
Art. 4. A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:
(1) Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict, as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.
(2) Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:[ (a) that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; (b) that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; (c) that of carrying arms openly; (d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.
(3) Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.
(4) Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews, war correspondents, supply contractors, members of labour units or of services responsible for the welfare of the armed forces, provided that they have received authorization, from the armed forces which they accompany, who shall provide them for that purpose with an identity card similar to the annexed model.
(5) Members of crews, including masters, pilots and apprentices, of the merchant marine and the crews of civil aircraft of the Parties to the conflict, who do not benefit by more favourable treatment under any other provisions of international law.
(6) Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war.
The Geneva Conventions and war crimes framework is meant to apply to 1) uniformed regular troops and people assisting such and 2) their crews and 3) people taking up arms in unoccupied territories, all engaged in open combat with markings distinctly identifying them as the enemy.
It does not apply to 1) covert operations 2) spies 3) people otherwise out of uniform 4) foreign combatants not representing a government 5) adventurers & freelancers 6) people conducting non-open warfare 7) Al-Qaeda 8) Anyone fighting against US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan since provisional governments were first put in place. 9) Anyone else not obeying the conventions
The general gist under the Geneva conventions has been that if you're not a regular soldier, in uniform, or not otherwise part of the official state sanctioned apparatus, you can indeed be tortured, have your toes pulled off, be dipped in battery acid, or have any other horrendous imaginatives visited on your person. If you're not fighting on the behalf of a recognized government, the conventions (which by their nature have to be between two or more nations) simply do not apply. Being a spy caught in enemy territory has never been a pleasant experience. A lot has been made of how this or that clause of the Geneva Conventions has been violated, when the simple indisputable fact is none of it ever applied in the first place. |
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| 365.37b |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|06:57 pm] |
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front seams |
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| 365.37 |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|06:52 pm] |
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back seams |
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| more fyi on recent lj shenanigans |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|06:35 pm] |
There have been lots and lots of posts linked via ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) metafandom in the last couple of days about partly_bouncy, who appears to be intent on ignoring peoples' requests to keep their personal information quiet. Seems she's trying to promote a Wiki she runs, and has actually been quoted asking her friends to deliberately stir up wank (screencaps here via an excellent post HERE) in order to drive up the hits on her Wiki, so venture capitalists will think it's popular, and give her money.
Unlike some, I have no problem with the idea of people profiting from fandom, depending on *how* they go about it. If they're honest, and respect the people they encounter on LJ and elsewhere, I don't think it's necessarily so horrible to make a profit by creating an online resource centered on fandom. If it's at the expense of behaving like a human being (e.g., getting people to provide content for your site, and then refusing repeated requests not to link pseudonyms to legal names) however, people like p.b. don't deserve a dime from anyone. |
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[Jul. 24th, 2008|04:16 pm] |
The best of Cutler Anderson architects / text by Alicia Kennedy, Theresa Morrow and Sheri Olson.
I wish I'd been able to find larger and better photos, because I love this sort of architecture. If I had a ton of money, I'd buy a house like one of these, and/or pay this firm to design one for me. I like wood. Lots and lots of wood.
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| the beginning of wisdom |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|07:01 am] |
There comes a point in the life of most that you realize you, yourself, and everything you love will one day be dust, and that you aren't going to live forever like you once assumed. Some of the finest people I've known are those who've known beyond a shred of a doubt that they would die young because those are the cards they were dealt, and had this awareness from a very young age. The things that truly matter are the thoughts we've had, the thoughts we have, and the thoughts we will have. And when you get down to the fundamentals? The only thing we can truly master is how we think and feel right now, at this present moment. This awareness is the start of wisdom. |
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| Californian insolvency |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|05:18 am] |
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Since the collapse of socialism in the USSR, Cuba, North Korea, China, and others, I've been waiting for a Western power to implode in spectacular fashion due to big government spending, powerful unions, high taxation driving away businesses, and stupid minimum wage laws. I'd always figured it would be the UK or France. It's looking like it's going to be California though, with its $20 Billion budget deficit and counting. The Californian government has really only gone on as long as it has on the backs of below the table immigrant labor bringing large amounts of productivity into low end sectors of the economy that would have otherwise been priced out of the market long ago. The Inland Empire is well on its way to becoming the next Detroit. California is the seventh largest economy in the world. It's going to be a lesson for all. |
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| All-a-Twitter |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|11:54 pm] |
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| Trivia |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|02:24 am] |
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If you want to know what historically are the safest locations in America to a mathematical certainty, look at where the national insurance companies have decided to place their headquarters. |
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| The buck stops here |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|01:30 am] |
I sure have had my hands in a lot of critical code and planning documents over the years. Significant portions of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan are mine. My forte was largely getting information from here to there, reliably, and that the data would be persisted, preserved, and accessible in case of blackout, hurricane, or nuclear war. I've had my architectural hands in the Toronto Stock Exchange, the NYSE, the NASDAQ's settlement systems, money transfer networks of most of the world's largest banks, AT&T's, Sprint's, and T-mobile's text messaging and telephony systems, Skytel, the Apple Store (what, it shocks you that Apple has some of the most infallible engineering on the planet?), Federal Express' package tracking system, and the baggage handling systems, utility companies, distribution logistics of the nation's largest wholesalers and retailers, and the prescription and insurance mechanisms behind a lot of pharmacies and insurance companies. It had gotten to the point where I was constantly being called at 4am to figure out the latest disaster that had blown up whenever and wherever. When Rita and Katrina hit at the same time, I'd decided I'd had enough.
The sizing and scalability issues are unbelievable, and you've got to figure out things like geographical failover, changing hardware and software requirements as bugs creep in from dozens of vendors, and cross compatibility between all of them. If oil stops running? Contingency plans. If certain key personnel go down in an airplane crash? Contingency plans. No electricity for a year, anywhere? We've got plans for that too. Keeping things up and running is an enormous task whose knowledge is concentrated in surprisingly few individuals who actually know the nuts and bolts of how everything works, everywhere, because someone needs to if we start falling apart on a regional or national level. A lot of entities are deemed too large to fail, and it's not limited to the financial world by any stretch of the imagination.
I look at the people responsible for the technical oversight and monitoring of the nation's (and even international) critical infrastructure today, and damn if half of them aren't people I used to personally work with, either as superiors, colleagues, subordinates, or clients. WE are the people responsible for keeping things from falling apart. Gods are we in trouble. |
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| Бернард Вербер |
[Jul. 24th, 2008|09:46 am] |
Женщины живут в ритме волны.
Настроение их переменчиво.
Когда женщины начинают падение, их спутники впадают в беспокойство и пытаются скорее решить их проблемы, чтобы замедлить это движение вниз. Таким образом, мужчины не дают женщинам опуститься окончательно и коснуться дна, для того чтобы взмыть вверх. И женщины продолжают волнообразное движение над пропастью, не достигая дна, от которого они могли бы оттолкнуться для рывка.
На самом деле, когда женщина жалуется, она не просит мужчину остановить ее падение, она хочет лишь быть выслушанной. Ей нужен свидетель события: ее погружения, ее контакта с дном и ее возращения наверх. Но мужчина начинает немедленно паниковать. Он хочет доказать, что он достаточно силен для того, чтобы остановить происходящее. Как будто человек может остановить волну! Мешая свободному падению, он лишь мешает и последующему подъему. Он действует как лекарство, принимаемое при первых признаках простуды. Медикаменты сбивают температуру и не дают организму достичь степени нагрева, убивающего микроб.
Не надо бояться падения и высокой температуры. Если не обращать на это внимания, то, что опускается, само поднимется, то, что нагревается, само охладится. Нас скорее должно беспокоить тело без температуры. И женщина, постоянно пребывающая в покое. |
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| 365.36 |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|07:03 pm] |
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| 365.35 |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|07:03 pm] |
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| Bloody doctors |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|06:44 pm] |
It's a bit dark and rainy now, but fortunately the heat went a bit! This morning I finally managed to get my blood sample taken for the medical tests- this time I also had a silly reaction but different.
The nurse did a pretty good job distracting me (and there was a tv in the room) so I had no problem whatsoever during the taking of the sample (although I was thinking in the back of my head, "It's taking so long!"). She actually took 2 vials of blood. So no problem during, but then after she put a band aid on and I saw the 2 vials of blood and then I felt it coming again, I got sweaty and clammy all over! I didn't let anything on though this time so I just got up and walked to my car- felt only slightly dizzy while walking to my car in the parking lot, but then once in the car turned on the airco, got some fresh air, and then felt fine. Although I did go home to change shirts, my back was all wet! Isn't that weird!
I do think by the way that this is the very first time in my life ever that I've had a blood sample taken (and I never donated blood either). |
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| John Edwards alleged to have affair by National Enquirer |
[Jul. 23rd, 2008|05:32 pm] |
http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2008/07/john-edwards-af.html
Hey, what's an election without a sex scandal? The National Enquirer actually tends to have a pretty good track record about such things, because they get sued to hell and gone if they're wrong. Does it matter anymore? It certainly didn't in 1992, although Edwards goes a little bit further in that he supposedly fathered a child. You've got to feel sorry for his poor wife, who's also battling cancer. Doubtless she'll be standing behind him in a show of solidarity while he makes his mea culpa speech. Rielle Hunter is a substantial cut above Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones, though not quite the looker that Donna Rice was. Oh, for those days of old when Presidents went after the Marilyn Monroes of the world. |
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