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Daniel Dvorkin

[ website | The Parlor ]
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I wish my papers could be more like this [20 Nov 2009|06:02pm]
[ mood | amused ]

Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials

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I wonder if Wolf Auto provides a white sheet and pointy hat with your car purchase [20 Nov 2009|01:43pm]
[ mood | nauseated ]

http://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/WolfAuto

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apologies to anyone who's been waiting for a reply from me ... [16 Nov 2009|12:23pm]
[ mood | working ]

Very very busy doing SCIENCE! Hopefully I'll be finishing up the current chunk of SCIENCE! this afternoon, and then I can get around to a bit of (virtual) socializing.

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This is one they missed in the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny [14 Nov 2009|08:09am]
[ mood | amused ]



Okay, the actual story is pretty interesting too. But not even the opening line "E.T. phone Rome" can beat Aliens vs. Popetor: Whoever Wins, We're Saved (coming this summer to a diocese near you.)

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About that "thank you to veterans" thing ... [11 Nov 2009|11:43am]
[ mood | thoughtful ]

Every November 11th, a whole bunch of people get thanked. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that.

Every social networking page is filled with posts. Martial poems, particularly "In Flanders Field," get quoted over and over again. Car and furniture dealerships hold sales, announced with bunches of old-fashioned waving-flag banners.

This is not in and of itself a bad thing. I don't mind, and I doubt many of my fellow veterans do either. And yet ...

At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the guns fell silent on the Western Front. All wars are bad, and some are very bad; the line that had been more or less fixed in place since late 1914 may very well have been the worst ever. The US was, truth be told, a bit player in this; Americans suffered and died, but the scale of the suffering and death which Europe had inflicted on itself is still beyond comprehension. The great feats of endurance and valor which define the best parts of American military history -- Valley Forge, Fort McHenry, Chapultapec, Shiloh, Gettysburg, Belleau Wood, Bastogne, Guadalcanal, Pusan, Chosin, Khe Sanh, Wadi al-Batin -- drop them in the middle of the Somme or Verdun, and they vanish. They become background noise, minor skirmishes forgotten in the main event.

I served honorably, and most of the time with pleasure, for ten years; as an infantryman and as a medic, as a soldier and as an airman, in peace and in war, at home and overseas. My war was bad, because all wars are bad, and it left me with memories I can't shake and will never be able to, memories I could well do without. I can say, without breaking my arm patting myself on the back, that medics and infantrymen are unique in their understanding of what war actually is. Infantrymen do the killing, close-up, whites-of-their-eyes, and most of the dying as well; and medics pick up the pieces, patch up the wounded and comfort the dying, fighting a personal war which is the same in every time and place regardless of which war they're in, which group of evil old men in the halls of power has created the chaos into which terrified kids must descend.

By comparison to the best day in, say, 1916, my war was a walk in the park.

Only for a period of a few months during my entire term of service, between my arrival in Europe and the final disintegration of the USSR, did I actually believe I was defending the Constitution of the United States of America against enemies foreign and domestic. The rest of the time? It was a job. A pretty good job, mostly, sometimes a very difficult job, and occasionally a very dangerous job. A job, not a calling, nonetheless.

And when I did go to war, it was for no noble cause. Not a bad cause, you understand, but not an especially good one either. It was because evil old men far away had decided that once again, it was time for young men and women to die. Like it usually is. 1914-1918 is barely within living memory now, but that lesson should stay with us always.

So, speaking for my fellow veterans: we gladly accept your thanks, and you're welcome. Speaking for myself: you're welcome, but please always try to remember what you're thanking us for.

(x-posted to [info]peacevets)

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Sometimes, you have to do what you can [10 Nov 2009|07:09pm]
Okay. Money's pretty tight right now, and we really can't justify giving it away. But this is worth it. I made a $1 contribution to each campaign, pretty much symbolic, but it's something.

Because this really matters.

http://www.actblue.com/page/wevegotyourback

"These twenty House Democrats voted AGAINST the Stupak-Pitts pro-life amendment and voted FOR health care reform despite representing districts which lean Republican or are otherwise difficult. They're worthy of your support to show that when they stand up and do the right thing, progressives will have their backs."
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Well, I'll be damned ... [07 Nov 2009|10:31pm]
[ mood | political ]

... the House passed a real healthcare reform bill, with a (it looks like at first glance) pretty decent public option.

Of course, the price for getting enough of the Blue Dogs on board was an amendment specifically excluding abortion coverage. Grrr. Arrrgh. Even the most ardent anti-choicers don't have a legal justification for this, because HHS abortion coverage is already illegal under the repulsive Hyde amendment. But they just couldn't skip the chance to preach, now could they?

But still. Today is a good day.

Now we'll see what the Senate does. If the Rebublicans are going to filibuster, fine, make them filibuster, make them stand up there and read the phone book to an empty chamber, and meanwhile the Democrats can spend every minute reminding us, over and over, exactly who is blocking reform favored by an overwhelming majority of the American people. And sooner or later, it will come to a vote. Screw the Blue Dogs, screw the Republicans (ah, but I repeat myself) and make it happen with half the chamber plus the VP to cast the tie-breaker if that's what it takes. Make it happen. If Harry Reid can't get this through, it's time to send him to the glue factory.

Also, I was going to contribute to Betsey Markey's campaign next year. Now? She can go to hell.

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The kind of thing the internet is for [07 Nov 2009|08:49pm]
[ mood | impressed ]

http://www.3dgalaxymap.com/

It's a fairly memory-intensive Java applet, so if you're on an older computer, watch out. But ... wow. Just wow.

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the best thing they could possibly do with it at this point [02 Nov 2009|12:52pm]
[ mood | amused ]

http://www.tvovermind.com/tv-news/joss-whedon-bids-for-terminator-franchise/12479

Seriously, I was really pissed that they, um, terminated the excellent Sarah Connor Chronicles to make way for that Transforminators piece of shit.

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The logical conclusion to Guns n' Roses' entire career [28 Oct 2009|08:20am]
[ mood | amused ]

http://idolator.com/5285002/presenting-a-way-to-introduce-guns-n-roses-to-your-child-without-all-that-cussing-and-drug-referencing

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MileHiCon is over. [25 Oct 2009|10:41pm]
[ mood | exanimate ]

We are tired.

Very tired.

Good con, mostly.

Did I mention the "tired" part?

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All these kitchens are yours, except Europa. Attempt no food storage there. [14 Oct 2009|09:04am]
[ mood | pleased ]

So [info]goth_hobbit and I have committed refrigerator. The old one was dying by degrees, and a couple of days ago the lower shelf broke; normally, of course, we'd just have gone and found a replacement shelf, but we both agreed that this was kind of the kick in the ass we needed to replace the whole fridge instead of trying to nurse it along for whatever pathetic, mildly chilly life it had left. Mind you, we couldn't really afford any new appliances, but we also can't afford food poisoning.

The old fridge was white. (Or rather, off-white from years of food stains, most of them not ours.) The new one is black. It looks a little out of place in our mostly kitchen-colored kitchen (i.e., white and beige) and the way it's placed, sitting against a wall all by its lonesome, vaguely sinister. Monolithic, one might say, if one were so inclined. I feel this odd urge to bash a tapir to death with a bone. And after that ...

[hoot, jump, screech]

Ah, well, it will look friendlier once we get our rather large assortment of fridge magnets and old cartoons back up.

And it does have a fair amount more space, and of course a modern, separated, self-defrosting freezer instead of the old-school metal glacier-box. This is a good thing. It's a little noisy when it's running, but it cools off quickly and is then silent, instead of constantly making the odd gurgles and whirs the old one did. We got about the best price we could have, I think, so altogether it was a worthwhile purchase.

Also, I suspect that writing LJ posts about household appliances is a sign of impending middle age.

Okay, time to get all the stuff in from the garage before it melts. My God, it's full of food! Or will be soon.

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Is your church a breeding ground for BOLSHEVISM?!? [06 Oct 2009|07:02pm]
[ mood | predatory ]

Apparently the good folks over at Conservapedia are taking some time away from explaining how atheistic evolutionism leads to mass murder for a new and vitally important project:

REMOVING LIBERAL BIAS FROM THE BIBLE.

Nope. Not a joke.

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I appear to be full of snark today. [03 Oct 2009|09:57am]
[ mood | tired ]

If it crosses the line from "fun snark" to "jackass snark," I apologize. Sometimes I have trouble telling the difference, and I'll try to keep a rein on it until the mood passes.

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Talkin' 'bout my g-g-generation ... [21 Sep 2009|06:12pm]
[ mood | amused ]

... or they will be, in the not too distant future.



Siouxsie Sioux is 52.

Sing that to the tune of "... while the King was looking down ..." It works.

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Daniel, what is best in life? [18 Sep 2009|02:09am]
[ mood | exhausted ]

To crush your homework, to see it driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of -- no, that doesn't really work, does it?

I don't actually have to take this class, or any more classes. I'm doing this to myself.

Go me.

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Remind me why I do this again? [15 Sep 2009|10:07pm]
[ mood | working ]

[info]goth_hobbit and [info]windrose are clearly having a good time.

Me, not so much.

</whine>

Okay, time for more SCIENCE.

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Yeah, we're pretty much screwed [15 Sep 2009|03:33pm]
Machine rebellion begins: Killer robot destroyed by US jet

I wonder if I get to be Baltar?
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This should come as a surprise to no one ... [12 Sep 2009|10:04pm]
[ mood | satisfied ]

... but I suspect it will, and will no doubt prompt lots of hysterical (ha!) denials. The perceived difference in empathy between men and women doesn't really exist. IOW, it's cultural, like damn near everything except the plumbing.

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Fortunately, after my last post ... [12 Sep 2009|01:32pm]
[ mood | amused ]

... [info]gomeza comes to my rescue with this bit of brilliance. I feel better.

Now, back to doing SCIENCE!

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