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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Cat Vincent's InsaneJournal:
| Thursday, July 31st, 2008 | |
| 5:24 pm | Guttershaman A brief act of self-pimping... Over on my Wordpress blog, I've begun what should be a long series of posts about my experiences as a magician in the modern age. It's called Guttershaman - for reasons which will be apparent if you read it. I hope you do. http://catvincent.wordpress.com/200 |
| Thursday, June 5th, 2008 | |
| 2:55 pm | comms down Due to the spectacular incompetence of my previous ISP - BE* Internet "Services"- I have no house internet until Monday at the earliest. (I can read email & send emergency posts like this one via Palm plus phone - just about.) Hope to see you then... |
| Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 | |
| 7:22 pm | Constantine (1990?-2008ce) My cat died today. We met in the Edinburgh Cat & Dog Home eighteen years ago. He was the only adult cat there, and while all the kittens were yowling and begging to be taken, he was calm, aloof. A Zen Master. I took one look and said, "that's my cat." On the bus home I named him Constantine - 'cos all his friends were probably dead. We were together through bad and good, lean times and good ones. He was gentle, fidgety, always knew me from anyone else who petted him, even when he finally went blind. I'll always miss him.   Current Mood:  indescribableCurrent Music: The Mercy Seat-Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds-Tender Prey |
| Monday, May 26th, 2008 | |
| 4:18 am | Moving sideways - Wordpress beckons For various technical reasons, I'm now moving to primarily blogging on Wordpress. I'll still bung the odd item up here, but mostly the goodies will be on the new blog. If you want to follow the RSS feed, it's here - or if you'd rather follow it on LJ, by dear friend pinkdormouse set up a LJ feedsite here; http://syndicated.livejournal.com/catvi Current Mood:  tiredCurrent Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most |
| Saturday, May 24th, 2008 | |
| 10:46 pm | Powers of Ten Old-school film short from 1977 that I fell in love with long ago at school. The next time someone needs the term 'order of magnitude' explained to 'em, this is what you show 'em. Here's the YouTube link (when oh when will Insanejournal allow Tube embedding??) Here's the Wikipedia summary. Current Mood:  pleasedCurrent Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most |
| Friday, May 23rd, 2008 | |
| 10:01 pm | Tragically missed opportunity BBC tells us; "Tony Blair came within moments of being killed when two Israeli fighter aircraft threatened to shoot down a private jet taking him to a Middle East conference in the belief that it might have been staging a terrorist attack." If only. I don't say that because I dislike the man - though Valen knows I despise the cuntrag - but the sheer irony overload that would have occurred if the plane had been splashed might have united the whole world, at least for a good long laugh. Current Mood:  cynicalCurrent Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 | |
| 12:34 am | Because 4GW is so 2007... The fine old conspiracy/deep history/psychotronoc/magical blog Skilluminati is back in strength. It's looking closely at 5th Generational Warfare. But Cat, you ask - what the hell is that? Well, if you've been reading John Robb - and frankly, you really should be - he's put you straight on the ethos behind 4th Generational war... the kind fought by small loosely-connected non-government groups against nation-states. The kind of war the new US doctrines about 'counterinsurgency' are devised to oppose. Which they're not doing so well at. 5GW (as Robb has occasionally mentioned) shifts the focus once again, from small but well-equipped and networked cells to 'superempowered individuals'. People with enough kit, nous and inclination to fight a nation-state or other large actor alone. And the best defence against those guys is either very resilient local systems and networks... or to become one yourself. The 'Warfare' part of 5GW is perhaps a little tricky to fully deal with. It's a lot more Sun Tzu than mere combat, as these quotes from Skilluminati creator Justin Borland show: ' We've seen a nearly infinite array of permutations of "kill the enemy" -- 5GW is something new. Harmonize with the enemy, control the enemy, use the enemy. ' ' I am unlike most 5GW bloggers in that I'm not worried about the future of the US as a global superpower. I'm writing for an audience very much like myself: post-nationalism, post-racism, post-religion human beings with no respect for authority, national borders or even the laws of physics. ' ' Peter J. Carroll, who is himself a 5GW veteran, operating under a pseudonym and re-wiring tens of thousands of brains around the world, posed this question in terms of religion. On a planet with over 10,000 actively worshipped Gods -- none of which are currently visible, none of which can be proven to exist -- how can you be sure which Divinity to bet upon? Doesn't it make more sense to invest that faith in yourself? With Skilluminati Research, I'm making the same argument on a political level. Why make appeals to power when you could build your own? You could be learning to weld, working out or reading a book with that valuable time. Why worry about your leaders when they can't actually control you, and don't care what you personally think, want or feel? 5GW is power. Specifically, 5GW is dedicated individuals exercising their power to achieve their own goals at the expense of everyone who gets in their way. I think this kind of clarity is missing from the discussion because the occult dimension of power has no place in a respectable debate, from military theory to politics to history. For thousands of years, small groups of humans using ritual magick have been controlling nations, waging wars and engaging in economic and psychological warfare. One occult warfare master who does get mentioned in military circles is Hassan i Sabbah, long a muse of William S. Burroughs and Robert Anton Wilson. I'm open to the argument that I'm only engouraging a plague of lone psychopaths declaring war on the world, but my own 5GW practice is informed and indebted to D.J. Kilcullen, author of the 28 Articles, which you should probably read right now if you haven't already. Article 26 states: "Build your own solution -- only attack the enemy when he gets in the way." As I said at the outset of this project, "my interest in 5GW (5th Generation Warfare) is rooted in it's potential for positive social and cultural change." I am investigating warfare for the same reasons I investigated psychology and marketing -- because the tools of social control will be less damaging when they're widely distributed. Executives who have power over millions of other humans are inherently dangerous -- millions of humans with executive control over themselves is where we're headed this century. The dinosaurs of governments and corporations and media conglomerates and think tanks and universities -- the old legitimate White Control System -- will not let go quietly and politely. So I think every future mutunt has a common-sense obligation to learn how to disable and disarm them as effectively as possible. This is going to be a very bumpy ride and we can all help minimize the bloodshed. ' A good interview with Justin is here. Current Mood: interested Current Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| Sunday, May 18th, 2008 | |
| 12:07 am | Fermi and firmware - Singular thoughts The Fermi Paradox is getting a fair bit of blogtime on the sites my RSS feed pulls in - for instance, there's a discussion on Jamais Cascio's blog (which Stross has a funny comment on about panspermia). Anyway... one of the main points discussed is whether or not the Singularity would have an effect on the so-called Great Filter. (Simply put - if post-Singularity civilisations simply give up on exploring or talking to outer space and spend all their time wanking in the Matrix instead, which is why we don't see any signs of advanced alien races.) This of course led to some discussion about AI - and this splendid piece by one Jacob Davies: ...the human brain already contains one Turing-compliant AI. That's you. It also contains a virtual-reality suite capable of simulating anything you can imagine. That's your mind. At present, it's simulating (as best it can) the world around you, but it's capable of a lot more than that, as dreaming or hallucinations can demonstrate. It can even do both at once, as with daydreaming. Similarly your AI suite is capable of quite-accurately modelling other personalities, which is what it does when you think about what your mother would like for her birthday or whether your boss is about to fire you for reading blogs at work. In fact, as experience with computers will tell you, there doesn't seem much innate reason why this exceptionally flexible system is limited to running one personality and one model of reality. There are obvious and significant differences between brains and computers, but for capacity I think this kind of analogy is fair: computers usually have a lot of wasted capacity, and if they can do one thing, they can usually do that thing ten times at once, or a thousand. At the very least, they can do it twice, each at half the speed. Not to mention, there are long periods when your brain is doing virtually nothing, just ticking over. So why don't we have access to a controllable VR suite? (The closest is perhaps lucid dreaming.) Why are we not able to imagine other personalities to converse with? (Except a small section of the population, for whom this phenomenon seems to cause extreme distress.) Why can we only remember 7 things? Why do some people lack the empathy required not to hurt other people? Why are some people smarter than other people when their minds are so similar? Why are other animals not able to communicate with us, or even with each other at more than a very basic level? Why do our brains start out so apparently blank, when other animals can function at birth? To me these are mysteries of just the same kind as the Fermi paradox. What you would expect - given our existence and experience - seems not to be the case. Noted mostly 'cos I think it's cool - which is why most of us blog stuff, I guess. Current Mood: very very geeky Current Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| Friday, May 16th, 2008 | |
| 12:08 am | One for the space cadets Charlie Stross opens up an interesting debate on current theories attempting to resolve the Fermi Paradox. Do look at the comments. Current Mood: pleasedCurrent Music: Doomed: Dark music for tortured souls [SomaFM] |
| Thursday, May 15th, 2008 | |
| 11:42 pm | Don't hold back Rude Pundit, tell us what you really think! Rude Pundit - bear the name in mind if you're at work - on the loss of America's capacity to be appalled by what their government does. ( It's a metaphor folks... ) I would love to think, as Rude does, that things will improve post-Bush... but I remain doubtful. Once a society has a deadened soul, it's hard to reboot it. Current Mood: cynicalCurrent Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| 11:35 pm | Sexy science - but not sexy enough? Scientific American has just run a piece on the biology of orgasm - which is cool. However... On page 3 of this piece, the following study is quoted: ' To find out whether orgasm looks similar in the female brain, Holstege’s team asked the male partners of 12 women to stimulate their partner’s clitoris—the site whose excitation most easily leads to orgasm—until she climaxed, again inside a PET scanner. Not surprisingly, the team reported in 2006, clitoral stimulation by itself led to activation in areas of the brain involved in receiving and perceiving sensory signals from that part of the body and in describing a body sensation—for instance, labeling it “sexual.” But when a woman reached orgasm, something unexpected happened: much of her brain went silent. Some of the most muted neurons sat in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which may govern self-control over basic desires such as sex. Decreased activity there, the researchers suggest, might correspond to a release of tension and inhibition. The scientists also saw a dip in excitation in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, which has an apparent role in moral reasoning and social judgment—a change that may be tied to a suspension of judgment and reflection. Brain activity fell in the amygdala, too, suggesting a depression of vigilance similar to that seen in men, who generally showed far less deactivation in their brain during orgasm than their female counterparts did. “Fear and anxiety need to be avoided at all costs if a woman wishes to have an orgasm; we knew that, but now we can see it happening in the depths of the brain,” Holstege says. He went so far as to declare at the 2005 meeting of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Development: “At the moment of orgasm, women do not have any emotional feelings.” ' (Emphasis mine.) I have to say my admittedly anecdotal experience contradicts both these points. Drastically. Again I am reminded of my wish to see a study of sexual expression run with medical fetishists - so that the whole getting-off-inside-a-MRI-machine part enhances rather than taints the study. But then again, try finding someone who fits the bill who doesn't have piercings! Current Mood: doubtful Current Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| 11:34 pm | Dollhouse trailer To make up for yesterday's awful, awful Life On Mars US trailer, here's one for Joss Whedon's new show - action, weirdness, moral questions and Eliza Dushku being hot - much better! Current Mood: happier Current Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 | |
| 11:50 pm | Oh shit, it's the US Life On Mars remake trailer Via IO9, this perfect illustration of why some things just should not be remade. Don't click if allergic to cheese... Current Mood: nauseous Current Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| Thursday, May 8th, 2008 | |
| 10:59 pm | UK 'extreme' porn ban passed Mother's porn law campaign ends (Background to the campaign here.) The woman who forced this on us, who has already said that she doesn't even believe violent sexual images had anything to do with her daughter's murder and that she was pursuing this ban for 'closure', added this charming thought: "Sometimes the freedoms of like-minded, decent people have to be curtailed because of a few others." Thanks for that. Now people who have committed no crime other than making images of legal consensual sexual activities are criminals, facing up to three years prison. Current Mood: angryCurrent Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| Sunday, May 4th, 2008 | |
| 11:06 pm | Meme time - The soundtrack of my life From my old pal Wag, this meme: (I note the American slant - we don't have prom here and so on - but still fun) If your life were a movie, what would the soundtrack be? 1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc) 2. Put it on shuffle 3. Press play 4. For every question, type the song that's playing 5. When you go to a new question, press the next button 6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool... ( Cut for length and the meme-allergic. ) Current Mood: amusedCurrent Music: Halo Theme Mjolnir Mix-Martin O'Donnell & Michael Salvatori-HALO 2 original soundtrack volume one |
| Wednesday, April 30th, 2008 | |
| 12:38 am | Albert Hoffman is dead Professor Albert Hoffman, January 11, 1906 – April 29, 2008ce. Dead at 102. If you ever did acid, you owe him a debt of thanks. If you ever liked music or art made by someone who did acid, ditto. I had the honour of meeting him at a conference in 1998. Little Swiss guy in a suit, looked thirty years younger than he was. And he glowed. Nearest thing to a Bodhisattva I have ever met. I shook his hand and asked the only question I could think of - "why didn't you fall off the bike?" He mattered. Current Mood: sadCurrent Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| Monday, April 21st, 2008 | |
| 11:32 pm | Need a wand licence in OZ Part of my Athanor field kit is a laser pointer - specifically, one tuned to the frequencies used for needle-free acupuncture. It's literally my wand. Now, if I want to carry it in Australia (Or at least New South Wales), I need a licence. Bugger. Current Mood: grumpyCurrent Music: Black History Month-Saul Williams-The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! |
| Friday, April 11th, 2008 | |
| 10:03 pm | Redshirt survival stats Many moons ago, my bro Dave Devereux and I were involved in writing a Star Fleet security manual for a Star Trek fanclub. Yes I am aware of just how sad that is, thanks. One of the things we did was to have an intro chastising James Kirk for the way he went through security officers - the now-infamous "redshirts' - on landing duty. Now, at last, here are the statistics to show just how bad redshirt life expectancy was. Q: What factors could increase/decrease the survival rate of red-shirted crewmen? Besides not getting involved in fights, which usually proved fatal, the crewmen could avoid beaming down to the planet's surface, which is inherent to their end. However, that could result in a court-martial for failure to obey orders. Besides not beaming down, another factor that showed to increase the survival rate of the red-shirts was the nature of the relationship between the alien life and Captain Kirk. When Captain Kirk meets an alien woman and "makes contact" the survival rate of the red-shirted crewmen increases by 84%. In fact, out of Captain Kirks' 24 "relationships" there were only three instances of red-shirt vaporization. The caveat to this is when Captain Kirk not only meets the local alien women, but also starts a fight among alien locals. The combination of these events has led to the elimination of 4 crewmembers (3 red-shirts). Here are the statistics: Red Shirt Death episodes = 18 Episodes with fights = 55 Probability of a fight breaking out = 70% Kirk "conquest" episodes = 24 Kirk "conquest" + fights = 16 Kirk "conquest" + red shirt casualty= 4 Red shirt death + fight + Kirk "conquest" = 3 (Via Danger Room) Current Mood: Khaaaaaannnn!!!!!! Current Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| Thursday, April 10th, 2008 | |
| 9:03 pm | End the horror! make Uwe Boll stop making movies! ' Uwe Boll, the German director behind such horrid video game adaptations as House of the Dead, BloodRayne, Dungeon Siege and Postal, has recently admitted that he would retire from making movies if enough people want him to stop. When FearNet mentioned to Boll a petition online signed by 18,000 people requesting that he cease making films, Boll responded that “18,000 is not enough to convince me.” So how much would be enough? “One million,” Boll said. “Now we have a new goal.” Indeed, now we have a goal. All we need is 980,000 more signatures on this petition and we can rid the world of future Boll-directed/produced cinematic atrocities. ' Do your bit for cinematic humanity - sign the petition. I have. 167,033 signatures so far... Current Mood: hopefulCurrent Music: Drone Zone: Atmospheric ambient space music. Serve Best Chilled. Safe with most medications. [SomaFM] |
| Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 | |
| 10:24 pm | That whole Church & State thing - you're doing it wrong From Boing, this gem: ' Illinois Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) faced off against Rob Sherman of Buffalo Grove, who objected to the state of Illinois giving $1 million to the Pilgrim Baptist Church, excoriating him for not believing in God and for having the temerity to say that the Church and State should be separate. She told him that she believed it was dangerous for children to know that atheism exists. She ordered him to stop testifying and insisted that in the Land of Lincoln, "people believe in God!" ' Yep - that's a Democrat... it's not just the GOP suffering the plague of Xtianfuckwittery. Current Mood: amusedCurrent Music: Dance on a Volcano-Steve Hackett-Genesis Revisited |