Check out A Misconception by Pessimists by Philip Slater.

Consider the opening volley:

Many of my colleagues on the left are never so happy as when they can proclaim that things are getting worse. They’re addicted to the tragic role of the voice crying in the wilderness, and won’t ally themselves with anyone who might contaminate their more-left-than-thou image.

He proceeds to go on to lay out some fairly convincing arguments about why Washington, D.C. is such a hard place for Progressives to actually make progress. That stuff is interesting, but largely unsurprising, and the list seems far from complete (for instance, the risk of differentiation vs. the safety of obscurity isn’t mentioned).

What really gets me is the following quote:

It’s well-understood by modern business that new ideas always come from those uncommitted to the status quo–from outsiders. Why, then, do people on the left persist in expecting social change to be brought about by Washington insiders? Washington is the absolute last place to look for new ideas. By the time a new idea percolates down to Washington and is proclaimed as such, it’s old hat to the rest of us, and by the time it’s been implemented it’s so watered down as to be merely a slight variation on an old one.

One of the things that I like about MN’s state legislature is that it’s a part-time gig: it only makes $30k/year and most legislators are employed outside of the legislative body (cite). This means that the people writing the laws are living in the real world, and actually deal with people day-to-day who aren’t partisan sycophants. These are citizen legislators, and I think that’s the kind of people the Founding Fathers had in mind when they drafted the Constitution.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Some warped examples of LOLCode from Scratchpad’s lolcats post, which was one of the originals I bumped into when first introducing myself to the idea.

So, for example, “hello world” could read as:

    HAI
    CAN HAS STDIO?
    VISIBLE “HAI WORLD!”
    KTHXBYE

Iteration would be handled like this:

    HAI
    CAN HAS STDIO?
    I HAS A VAR
    IM IN YR LOOP
         UP VAR!!1
         VISIBLE VAR
         IZ VAR BIGGER THAN 10? KTHXBYE
    IM OUTTA YR LOOP
    KTHXBYE

Note with below, “BTW” marks comments, and “VISIBLE” = “print”.

    HAI
    CAN HAS STDIO?
    I HAS A VAR
    GIMMEH VAR
    IZ VAR BIGGER THAN 10 O RLY?
      YA RLY
          BTW this is true
          VISIBLE “BIG NUMBER!”
       NO WAI
          BTW this is false
          VISIBLE “LITTLE NUMBER!”
    KTHX
    KTHXBYE

This may need to be a RUM programming language after-party entry, just for shits.

Popularity: 3% [?]

According to this, the oft-rumored X-Files movie sequel is finally getting moving.

Lord knows we’ve heard rumors that a script was on the way before. So what makes this different? “This time,” says Duchovny, “I really am supposed to get the script next week. And I’m looking forward to seeing what (Chris) did.

The X-Files franchise is one that didn’t so much jump the shark as catapult wildly over an impressive display of flaming great whites with lasers on their heads. I had the good fortune to stop watching the series just early enough to completely not get the first movie, and since me and my DVR have been catching up, I can’t say I’m all that impressed. It just got to be too much. The scary hints, dark alley conversations, and ominous overtones were substituted out in favor of gradiose plotlines, alien attackers, and soap opera character plots.

Despite that disappointment, I’d go to a new X-Files movie if it came out. Guess I’m just a sucker that way.

Edit: Promising news on the plot front…

Last April, in an interview with Britain’s Empire magazine, Anderson said that film would stay away from the series’ (and first film’s) sometimes tortured mythology.

“All Chris says is that he wants to make a really scary horror, like a stand-alone episode,” said Anderson, who has kept busy with film work, including last year’s The Last King of Scotland. “I don’t think they’re interested in touching on any of the conspiracy stuff.”(cite)

Popularity: 2% [?]

The “consulting ad” my wife and I came up with just before the 4th of July.

Popularity: 2% [?]

I’ll be singing lead for the Bryn Mawr Men’s Chorus, a slightly expanded version of the Cedar Lake 7 gospel choir, during church this Sunday. My lead is on the traditional gospel song “Lead Me, Guide Me”, and we will also be singing the spiritual “Bye and Bye”.

Everyone is welcome — no cover charge, and there’s plenty of seating.
10:30 AM, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church
Directions are at http://www.brynmawrchurch.org/contact_us.html

Popularity: 3% [?]