Pot shots

My alma mater has decided that now is good time to start up a Jewish Studies program and so undergrads can now get  a Jewish Studies a minor with their bachelor's degree. Two issues: Why, with money being so tight, is the university even doing this? There are many better ways those funds could be used other than to study Jewishness. Second, this opens the door still yet further for every ethnic group, religion, race, or sexual preference and etcetera to demand their own "studies" program too.

A tech columnist at C/Net decries some guy shooting himself in his ample gut to test the effectiveness of his body armor (AKA  a "bullet-proof vest") and posting it on YouTube. I guess the thought that this moron is getting the attention that he seems to crave from people like the columnist and that it might encourage him or others like him to do it again or with bigger, better weapons didn't occur to Mr. High Tech Columnist.

If you put your Doomsday Survival Library on a tablet, laptop, or cellphone you don't have lug all those books around with you while trying to survive the apocalypse. But ah, electronics are also prone to failure, breakage, and need to be recharged at frequent intervals, so there's that. A conundrum to be sure.

Digital age pioneer Scott McNealy's admonition notwithstanding, I think it's a good idea to clear your Google web history ASAP because (as Google has duly warned us) "all your information and data is belong to us"(Google = "us") to do with what they will once their new [sic] "privacy policy" comes into effect this March. Time to just embrace the suck and opt out. Some privacy is better than none.

A fair warning: Two lines from a country music song by Josh Thompson:

"Our houses are protected by the good Lord and a gun/
You might meet 'em both if you show up here not welcome, son."

I'm thinking of having that stanza printed on a floor mat for my front porch. A gentlemen is supposed give fair warning and all.

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Frans de Waal gives us some real "political science". - American Scientist

"My second reason is a bit more political. I can’t stand the many references to biology by conservatives in this country, especially by those who do not really believe in evolution. They use biology as a convenient justification for their policies, saying that since nature is based on a “struggle for life” we ought to build our societies around selfishness and competition. They read into nature what they want to, and I feel it is my task to point out that they got it all wrong."
Why Google keeps your data forever, tracks you with ads. - Ars Technica (Nate Anderson)

California Sea Lion killed for "eating too many salmon". - Sacramento Bee (Abby Haight)

The sea lion's gluttony pissed off some local fisherman and so he had to die. A few more have been marked for death for the same reason. Kinda sad.

Facebook Can Help You Ruin One Child's Life - io9 (Grame McMillan)

If this guy's page gets 1 million hits a baby gets named "Megatron".
Chile quake moved a city by three metres. - New Scientist (Richard Fischer)

“...just please sign your organ donor card.” - Scientific American (Steve Mirsky)

Some hilarious texting while driving anecdotes.
Revealing the Source of Ritalin's Brain Boosting Benefits - Technology Review (Emily Singer)

Debating the Nordic Consensus Culture - Telos (Rolf Hugoson)

A call to end the sale of CDS - Financial Times online (Wolfgang Munchau)

Putting an end to some of these speculative financial instruments that are so destructive is probably a good idea. Great idea actually.

Physicist Says Warp Speed Will Kill You - GearLog (Jamie Lendino)

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Top 13 worst fictional corporations from sci-fi movies. - Topless Robot blog

Slumurbia - the newest trend in California real estate. - NY Times
"Come see: this is what happens when money and market, alone, guide the way we live." Live blogging the Great Recession.
Illinois senator to D.C. residents: It was a snow storm not "a nuclear attack." - The Hill
Black & Decker MSW100 Ready Wrench - Amazon.com/
"...This all-in-one wrench puts 16 of the most popular standard and metric socket sizes at your fingertips--just spin either of the tool's two rotating heads to find the right size. With no socket set to store or organize.." Maybe.
Olympic boondoggles -iSteve blog
"You would think it would be easy to make money on a sporting event where you don't pay the athletes in anything except glory, but after the 1984 LA Olympics, which made a fortune by using old stadia, it hasn't worked out like that."
Google's Buzz a big fat privacy invader - LA Times
Malcolm X's daughters talk about him. - New Yorker
Andy Warhol actually had signed it, dedicated it, and dated it, but it's still a fake. - NY Review of Books
A sci-fi podcast on how the world could end - Escape Pod
EP229: Little Blossom Makes A Deal With The Devil