Recently in On The Internet Category

Recently I've started watching TV on the Internet. In particular, I've been catching up on Farscape - a Sci-Fi type show that began it's run in 1999.

I believe that Farscape was originally on the Sci-Fi channel, so I never saw it because I never bothered with cable. But the show did catch my interest when it went into syndication on the public airways, shortly after the series ended. Unfortunately, it was one of those shows that only got air time at midnight on Saturdays, or some such. I only managed to watch a handful of episodes - maybe six - in a more or less disjointed fashion.

Since then, I've always wanted to see the first couple episodes to see how the show started and get the full backstory. Plus, I kind of liked the show, so I just wanted to watch more of it.

Behold, the wonder of the internet. Season one is freely available. There are still commercials, but those are about 15 second interruptions - as opposed to the 3 minute ones on broadcast TV. Really, a single 15 second commercial is pretty tolerable. Now I can finally watch this show that I've been missing for almost a decade.

The sad part here is that the entire series doesn't seem to be available. I suppose that makes sense. They give you the first season for free, but force you to pay for the rest - either by buying or renting the DVDs, or some other mechanism that I haven't discovered yet.

I don't think I'm actually ready to spend money on seasons 2-4. At least not a LOT of money. I do know a store that sells used DVD collections at a decent price, so I might look there for a set.

Although I like the show, I'm really not convinced that I'm ever going to want to watch any of the episodes more than once. Buying a DVD just doesn't make sense to me.

However, I am sure I want to watch them once! I'm glad the first year is online.

I've been really into Star Wars lately. I'm also a big fan of A Capella, so this just suits my mood these days:

Via boing boing.

So I have a lot of free time on my hands.

Ok, that's not completely true. I don't have that much free time on my hands at all. What I really have is no idea what to do with my free time. I'm really hoping some great computer games will come my way to serve as time killers, especially during the holidays and winter months in general.

I'm not trying to throw myself a pity party here, but the holidays are going to be a bit of a drag for me. I have no family to speak of; my only friends in Vermont are work friends. I'm going to be in for some serious loneliness if I can't find something to do with myself.

My hopes is that I will find a good computer game or two (and maybe some books) to just eat up those lonely times. I'm really looking forward to Fallout 3, which is due out on October 28, but in the mean time the gaming scene doesn't look to hot.

I'm trying a 14-day trial of Star Wars Gallaxies. I'm really ambivalent about the game so far. Playing any game in the Star Wars universe has a whole lot of appeal. Star Wars is just plain cool! Being able to create a character and become part of Star Wars is very satisfying for my inner 9-year-old who stared up at the movie screen in 1977 and was just blown away.

On the other hand, the interface to this game drives me nuts. When you scroll the mouse one direction or another, the cursor stays right smack dab in the middle of screen, while the scenery slides and spins around. I personally find it very hard to actually click on anything I want because this interface is counter-intuitive. The problem is that every single computer application in the universe - not just games, but spreadsheets, word processors, web browsers ... EVERYTHING - uses an interface where the cursor slides with the mouse. Perhaps I am an old dog, but I am so trained in how a mouse interface works that the alternate system in Star Wars Galaxies is a real challenge for me.

And that makes combat suck, big time.

I have crawled up the gun turret in the Millenium Falcon to fight Tie fighters, and been hopelessly awful at it. I can barely hit anything!

I've gotten into gun fights with Hutt Mercenaries and got my ass kicked because I just couldn't target any of them.

Ok, it's really cool to shoot Tie fighters from the gun turret in the Millenium Falcon, but it is so NOT fun to always miss.

Sooner or later (like 13 days from now when my trial account runs out) I'm going to abandon Start Wars Galaxies just because I can't handle the interface.

In the mean time ... can anyone recommend a good game? I don't want to put all my eggs into the single basket of Fallout 3.

An article over on ScienceNow provides a somewhat more digestible version of a study which ...

suggests that people with radically different social attitudes also differ in certain automatic fear responses.

In particular ...

individuals with measurably lower physical sensitivities to sudden noises and threatening visual images were more likely to support foreign aid, liberal immigration policies, pacifism, and gun control, whereas individuals displaying measurably higher physiological reactions to those same stimuli were more likely to favor defense spending, capital punishment, patriotism, and the Iraq War.

To summarize, the politically conservatives tend to be more susceptible to fear; they are more easily startled.

Or, if you like, "change freaks them out", which in some sense is the definition of conservative. Perhaps this study shows us nothing new.

Razib over at Gene Expression has a wonderful analysis, including the necessary statement:

Does this mean that there are genes for conservatism and liberalism? NO!!! That's just plain retarded.

Although I do find the idea intriguing that conservatives may have their world view governed by their fears, I'm not wholly ready to embrace it as fact. A sample size of 46 is probably big enough to provide hints and clues, but still to small to say anything definitive.

It's very easy to poke a few holes in the study. For example, the sample seems to have come entirely from Nebraska. Do conservatives (and liberals) in Nebraska adequately reflect conservatives (receptively liberals) around the nation? A good scientist wouldn't be willing to make that extrapolation without some evidence. (A good scientist should be reluctant to answer with anything other than "I'm not sure" or "good question" or other non-answer when posed with such question - assuming no evidence exists to support any more definitive answer).

Aside from large scale testing, to see if such behavior correlates to liberals and conservatives around the country, I'd like to see this kind of study done on people with strong religious beliefs. For one, I suspect that different religions have different correlations (which I would like to see verified or disproved). It seems that certain religions thrive on the fears of their followers, while other might not do so.

Additionally, there is already a strong correlation between religious beliefs and political parties in this country. Perhaps we are seeing another portion of the same beast.

My new favorite blog is http://wordsplosion.com/. Just go check it out and have a laugh.

Two resourceful high school students have done a rather clever investigation of some sushi in New York city. Apparently many of the stores and restaurants have been caught selling product that was not what it claimed to be.

The article does point out that the sample size of the girls' experiment is a little small to draw dramatic conclusions from, but it IS larger enough for one to be "concerned." Clearly more investigation needs to be done.

As someone who has worked in restaurants and grocery stores, I'm going to wager a guess - total guess - that the fault lies not with the stores and restaurants, but with the suppliers. Somebody far up the supply chain is pulling a fast one, but nobody has noticed all the way down.

I know from experience that certain kinds of fish can be very difficult to distinguish from others once they are cut. That is, fillets from two different fish can be almost next to impossible to tell apart, depending on the fish.

If an switch is made far enough up the line, and a fish gets mislabeled, the nobody would notice it ... ever.

This speaks for itself .... you decide what it's saying.

Here's some US laws you can scratch your head about. It's laws like these that make it clear that our government is just screwed up. Plain and simple, it's too easy to get laws passed. Here are my two suggestions to rectify the problem.

1. No law can be passed without a two-thirds majority. Specifically, a simple majority is inadequate.
2. Every law automatically expires after ten years. In order to keep a law on the books, the legislature will have to vote on it again. This will force our representatives to reconsider every law to see if it's really worth having. Of course most laws will just expire naturally because nobody wants to mess with them.