Month: July 2006

perhaps universal suffrage is not the best idea

I didn’t know ’til now that some people — obvious able to navigate a computer — think that disease is caused by one’s surroundings, by one’s state of mind, not by disease. A representative sample, in response to a citation of Guns, Germs, and Steel:

How wrong you are. Native Americans died because they have been treated worse than lice. They have been chased off of their fathers land by bandits with shotguns. Their mothers, wives and daughters have been raped, their kids murdered.

The stupid little kids of the rich, they have shit for brains and cannot understand anymore that people who are living in poverty and filth die young simply because their terrible diseases are caused by their misery. You have no eyes to see that, you can only look in a microscope and say: “Hey, another virus! I found out why they’re sick! Let’s heal’em with chemo”.

But the microbes, they are not the cause of disease. They are the result.

Sorry, what did you say? I’m a fool and a Denialist? Yeah I know. And very proud to be one.

So the natives’ demise was due to their unhappiness at being conquered. If only they had been as stoic and unyielding as the foes of germ theory. A great thread of comments, if you like that sort of thing: the crazies are way outnumbered and the reality-based posters are plainly enjoying themselves.

recent reads


“The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod” (Henry Beston)
Perhaps the most lyrically written nature book I have ever read. What made it even more interesting an resonant is that I knew many of the places mentioned. My wife’s family summered there when she was younger and I was lucky enough to visit a couple of years. The nearest village to the author’s house was the place we stayed, so much of it was familiar.

But the beauty of the prose, no matter the subjects — Beston makes a dogfish an object of wonder — make this a great read.

“Gemma Bovery” (Posy Simmonds)
This was a little something I read quickly while my kids were picking out books at the library today. A riff on Madame Bovary but as a graphic novel. Nicely done, transcending the use of panels, the artist uses the whole page and has no problem using text where it works.


“Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist” (Dan Barker)
This is not what I expected. The author doesn’t spend a lot of time detailing his fall from grace, but instead musters a number of arguments and fact-filled refutations of blind belief, some of which have appeared in other places.

His rejection of faith is dealt with early on, as a matter-of-fact awakening to a need to know, rather than a need to believe. Barker is a powerful writer, well-versed in his material: one would expect that as a former evangelist, but he knows the works better now that he sees them as simple narrative than when he relied on them as holy writ. Recommended for freethinkers and even the faithful, if they think they can handle it.

And of course, a few Terry Pratchett books (Thief of Time, Jingo, Last Continent) to keep me amused.

dot.com detritus, or does anyone want an Aeron chair?

Herman Miller Aeron Chair — Large size:

Dot.com era Aeron chair, lightly used at home. No damage, low usage, clean.

I sure don’t sit in it enough to justify the space it takes up. And think of the film I could buy with the proceeds.
[update] Well, that didn’t take long. Claimed in 20 minutes. Shoulda gone for $400.

any artists/genealogists out there?

A bit disappointed:

For several months, the development team has been working on the upcoming 2.2 release. In fact, we just released the first Beta for 2.2 (version 2.1.90). We decided to try to conform to as many standards as we can, and this includes the Tango standard for icons.

Unfortunately, the coders on the team aren’t exactly the most artistic. So we have asked time and time again on our mailing lists for some help creating a few icons that meet the Tango spec.

To date, even though we have been asking for months, we have not had anyone develop icons for us. This is a bit discouraging, considering the demands made on the development team. On the rare occassion that we ask for help, none appears.

This is a great project and it’s a shame the artistic help isn’t forthcoming. I’m no artist either.

Intro to large format

I took delivery of a simple but well-designed (why but? why not and?) 4×5 box camera yesterday, and this morning was my trial by fire of loading a 4×5 film holder.

Spc 06 6043

Less frustrating than I thought: evidently, I am used to finding my way in the dark. Now, I have no idea — or perhaps too many ideas — of what to shoot. Two frames before I head back home to develop and reload: I’m seeing metalwork or other clichés of large format monochrome.

Here’s a discussion of how cameras of this design look.

Call for photos: Seattle PinHolga contest

Glazer’s Cameras is holding a combined pinhole/Holga contest ending Aug 12 [not 1, as I misread earlier]. Despite the name, both pinhole and Holga images are acceptable. And to sweeten the deal, they are offering package consisting of:

  • a new Holga
  • 2 rolls of Kodak print film
  • a few feet of gaffer tape on a 120 spool (since Holgas are notoriously leaky)
  • and the entry forms, etc. for the contest

all for $25, and the brown paper sack/camera bag comes at no additional cost.

Not a huge savings, but a nice intro to medium format and a good way to get into the contest. You could look at as as optional $25 entry fee, but it is optional.

Glazer’s for whatever reason doesn’t have any info online about it, so you’ll have to call their main store if you’re interested.