I’ve had them say “You can do whatever you want, it’s SciFi, it doesn’t have to make sense.”

Well, that explains a lot about the last couple of decades of science fiction on television.

Slashdot Interviews: J. Michael Straczynski Answers Your Questions

"I am the senator.
You are the citizen.
You need to be quiet."

Although he disputes it, North Carolina state enator Tommy Tucker is reported to have uttered this rejoinder to a challenge from a local newspaper publisher.

There was a time when we thought our society was engaged in preserving a "government of the people, by the people, for the people." Perhaps that is still true, but it is disappointing to be confronted with the possibility that some of these "of the people" people no longer consider themselves just people.

Tommy Tucker . . . Confronts Publisher . . . 

And, in other news, I hereby nominate myself for an award for excellence in the field of award self-nomination. Thank you, thank you.

Our esteemed state legislators do not always give us our due through their efforts as statesmen, but they usually partially remedy that deficit by serving as bad examples deserving public ridicule.

State Rep Honors Himself with Resolution

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Here is an interesting and valuable blog focused on covering news of retractions in published scientific research. The authors refer to it as "a window into the scientific process." I see it as a buttress supporting transparency and accuracy in the scientific publishing process. 

A lot of things can go wrong when people are doing science. Retractions are not always the result of misconduct or incompetence. Browsing through the posts affords even a casual reader some insight into the difficulties surrounding modern academic research practices.

Retraction Watch

Oz the Great and Powerful is an entertaining and visually captivating "unofficial" prequel to The Wizard of Oz.  Although the scary parts are probably too intense for the very young, most everyone else should find plenty to enjoy in this $215 million Disney spectacle.

Rachel Weisz provides a particularly well-nuanced performance as Evanora, a malevolent and deceitful Wicked Witch. Michelle Williams is guileless and charming as Glinda the Good Witch, a role for which she seems utterly perfect. Mila Kunis is at first winsome, and later ruthlessly implacable, as the grievously betrayed Theodora, Wicked Witch of the West.

James Franco, adept at insincerity, seems a bit off-key in those moments when the plot doesn't call for it. Bruce Campbell is wasted and mostly unrecognizable as an over-costumed Winkie Gate Keeper. 

In the end clever contrivance and showbiz spectacle trump real but strangely artless black magic--an unsurprising subtext affirming entertainment industry sensibilities and bemeaning the threat of true wickedness.  

Oz the Great and Powerful

Ever dedicated to addressing the issues of greatest significance to Kansans, the Senate has passed a bill removing switchblades from the state's list of banned weapons. Jayhawkers have long been disadvantaged by the inability to legally own bladed cutting tools that can be opened with a single free hand  It is truly touching to know that our state legislators have persevered in this important work, despite the hardship of not being able to differentiate deadly blades from women's shoe heels.

"He said committee members also had a hard time defining what a stiletto is because the company that manufactured knives under that name has long since gone out of business and the word stiletto is also used to describe a type of heel on women’s shoes."

When it comes to debating firearms legislation issues, the variety of possible meanings of "gun" must certainly represent an insurmountable obstacle for the definition-challenged solons of the Sunflower State.

Shinola is an obsolete brand, too. Let's hope that future Kansas legislative agenda do not entail adducing the distinction between it and certain animal husbandry by-products. 

Bill legalizing switchblades passes Senate

"In certain kinds of writing, particularly in art criticism and literary criticism, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost completely lacking in meaning."
George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language", 1946

One may expect to encounter this sort of thing in many of my blog posts, too.

"The [US] federal government, which is among the world’s largest producer [sic] of electronic waste, disposes more than 10,000 computers a week on average."

We've been manufacturing a lot of tech stuff that we have no idea what to do with when we don't want it any more. Abandoning it in large piles turns out to be unhealthy and unwise. Economic incentives to recycle have largely vanished.

"A little over a decade ago, there were at least 12 plants in the United States and 13 more worldwide that were taking these old televisions and monitors and using the cathode ray tube glass to produce new tubes. But now, there are only two plants in India doing this work." 

Should consumers/end-users bear any of the burden of this "glass tsunami?"

Unwanted Electronic Gear Rising in Toxic Piles

Assuming that conclusions based on research involving Western (and mostly American) subjects can lead to a fundamental, universal understanding of human nature is a major mistake made by anthropologists and psychologists, according to this new analysis.

"Given the data, they concluded that social scientists could not possibly have picked a worse population from which to draw broad generalizations. Researchers had been doing the equivalent of studying penguins while believing that they were learning insights applicable to all birds."

We Aren't The World

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Live your life, do your work, then take your hat.
Henry David Thoreau 

A worthwhile blog, featuring posts about law, freedom, social criticism, popular culture, and more. Interesting topics appear regularly here.

Popehat