Contra Mozilla

Thursday, August 28, 2014

A Few Good Links (vol. 14)

In follow-up to my last post--about having a lot less free time to write than I'd like--I have had a little free time for some browsing. I've collected a few interesting links, and as always wish I could actually write more thoughts about them. Instead, it's links dump time!
  1. Apparently, student evaluations have been toned down a little bit in recent years:
    Cassian, on the other hand, according to the hymn of Prudentius (cf. Peristephanon, Hymn IX), was a teacher at Forum Cornelii (named after the dictator L. Cornelius Sulla – modern Imola). He was handed over (c. 300 according to 2001 MartRom) to his pupils who tortured him to death using their writing styluses (traditus est calamis ad mortem torquendus), made of iron, reeds or other pointy hard materials with which they would draw on wax tablets, etc. The MartRom adds a note that Cassian was given to his students to be killed because, “the weaker the hand, the more painful was the sentence of martyrdom.” Today, students torture their teachers to death with PDA styluses, laptop computers and MP3 players, not to mention execrable English – but I digress.
  2. Why radical feminists are all insane--and are not the friends of women anywhere--is beyond me. But there is plenty of evidence for this thesis. Here is the latest round: a group of men in college have rendered bar-hopping women everywhere an invaluable service: they have created a nail polish which can be used to detect date rape roofie drugs. Naturally, those who hate the so-called rape culture  (and we should loath those who use date-rape drugs to have their way with unsuspecting women) are singing these young mens' praises from the rooftops. The feminist reaction to this is enthusiastic support right? Men taking some semblance of responsibility to help women to fight one particularly pernicious form of rape--that's what feminists have been urging men to do for a decade or more now, right? Apparently, not so much. The feminist line is apparently that this nail polish actually helps to contribute to rape culture. And they wonder why most men don't take their silly slut walks seriously.
  3. Speaking of insanity, apparently the police in Philadelphia have started using a little known law to begin seizing the property (including homes) of people who have never been charged, let alone convicted, of any crimes:
    Under civil forfeiture, property owners do not have to be convicted of a crime, or even charged with one, to permanently lose their property. Instead, the government can forfeit a property if it’s found to “facilitate” a crime, no matter how tenuous the connection. So rather than sue the owner, in civil forfeiture proceedings, the government sues the property itself, leading to surreal case names like Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. The Real Property and Improvements Known as 2544 N. Colorado St
    In other words, thanks to civil forfeiture, the government punishes innocent people for the crimes other people might have committed.

  4. A recent poll suggests that most Americans are insane in a different way:
    A whopping 68 percent of Americans think there should be a law that prohibits kids 9 and under from playing at the park unsupervised, despite the fact that most of them no doubt grew up doing just that. 
    What's more: 43 percent feel the same way about 12-year-olds. They would like to criminalize all pre-teenagers playing outside on their own (and, I guess, arrest their no-good parents).
  5. My friend and former editor Dr. Trasancos has an interesting little post about Adler, Bohr, Padre Pio, and angels. Refreshing after the last three links, I hope.
  6. I came across an interesting analysis of "pink" vs "blue" science fiction via John C. Wright. It's also a chance to read a short story by one of the living greats, Gene Wolfe, albeit not necessarily his greatest story.

That's it for now.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

TMM: A Few Thoughts On Research at the Small College Level

I thought  would have more time to write now that I am finished with graduate school. Not a lot more, mind you, but at least a little more. It turns out that being a new professor is a lot of work, even when your main responsibilities are just teaching classes. Or maybe I put a little too much effort into preparing my lecture notes: I seem to be the only one who regularly stays here until 7, 8, or even 9 at night (and I am usually here before 8 in it morning): everybody else goes home by 5. Of course, "everybody else" has tenure.

I look forward to that day, if it comes. I have a plan and a path to get there, but no assurance that it will ultimately work out. And they demand research, a minimum of three peer-reviewed publications (a bit of a challenge in my experience). This will ultimately require that I switch fields at least a little, because they don't have anything like enough money to buy the laser and other equipment I would need to stay in my own field. Ouch.

Many of the member of the tenure and promotion committee are people who did not themselves every have this research requirement (though many of them did do research). They got tenure, they got promoted, then they changed the rules to make those things more difficult to get. These are not necessarily complaints, only observations--I actually am really enjoying my job so far.

The nearest to a complaint that I have to offer is that this seems to be a national trend. I specifically targeted smaller "liberal arts"-type colleges because I did not want research to be a requirement of the job--and I am not alone in this desire to leave rigorous research behind. Not everybody wants to do the whole publish-or-perish thing: I'd wager that if not an outright majority, then at least a large minority do not want to have that hanging over their heads. There are quite a few people coming out of the big R1 universities who want to go to a smaller college without graduate students because they want to focus on teaching and teaching well, with research as a sort of side-gig or hobby. Research without pressure to publish immediately won't likely lead to cutting edge results. It may well lead to a return to "doing good science," that is, being more thorough and systematic in obtaining results.

It may be that soon there will be no such teaching positions available, outside of the community colleges and adjunct positions. And on a related note, "publish or perish" has been steadily pushing the scientific field to look for "flashy results" and not necessarily good science. Often the one can lead to the other, though much of the "good science" which comes in the wake of the "flashy results" never really makes it to publication. And at the other extreme, often the flashy results are not good science at all, are not the beginnings of good science--but they get published, so the more cynical scientists will pass them off as "good science" for as long as they can wring publications out of them. That truly is a tragedy.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Review of Michael Bay's Ninja Turtles Movie

I am a somewhat casual fan of Mystery Science Theater, so I have seen some fairly awful movies over the years. Most of these are technically poorly done, meaning some combination of bad camera angles, poorly synched music/mood and or timing/stunts, odd premises, large plot holes, and bad acting with even worse dialogue-writing. Most of these movies at least have the excuse of being made by C-list teams (actors, directors, writers, etc.) with low budgets: they are the type of films for which being called "B-list" is an aspiration, and to become a cult classic is the upper limit of their intended potential.

For reasons which I cannot fathom, Michael Bay is not a B-list director. Nor is Megan Fox a B-list actress, for reasons which I can fathom. And while the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie which these two have made might be billed as a summer blockbuster, it rightly belongs with the awful movies which once made Mystery Science Theater's lineup.

Normally, I would warn my readers of spoilers here, but
  1. I am writing this review a little late to warn off the opening weekend crowd.
  2. I am mostly inclined to warn people not to go see it.
  3. There are so many plot holes that I do't think I can ruin it by revealing anything.

I won't get too much into technical details: the movie was bad enough that I will focus mostly on the plot holes and similar comments. I will say that the soundtrack is forgettable (which is true to the 1990s' movies, which really were B-list). As with those movies, there is one scene in which the turtles showcase their "musical talents"—this time it's beat-boxing in the elevator, a scene which Stephen Greydanus calls the high point of thefilm, and not inaccurately. And I suppose that I should here also acknowledge the critique that others' have had about the design of the turtles: they are too big, and their faces are wrong (they really do need snouts).

Before getting to the worst, I might as well mention some of the best parts. There are a couple of scenes which are reasonably well-done as tributes. When the turtles are returning to the sewers after taking on the Foot Clan as a group for the first time, they leap from a low rooftop into the open manhole in a scenic homage to the opening title of the 1990's cartoon. Elsewhere, Leonardo slices a pizza with his katana, serving the slices to each of his brothers and ending with a single slice landing upon Splinter's head. Also, the decision to make each of the 4 turtles unique in form was a good artist choice, in my opinion: Raphael is the large and bulky bruiser of the bunch, Donatello the lanky awkward nerd, Michaelangelo the laid back surfer dude, Leonardo the athletic team captain.

So, what are the plot holes from which this spectacle suffers?

The mutants turtles and rat turn out to be a science experiment created by April O'Neil's father, who was working on a mutagen which could regenerate cells as use in an anti-dote. It turns out that the father's boss, Sacks (derivative of Kreng from the cartoons?) is planning to use this antidote (along with a poison) to hold New York hostage. He has placed the poison in a large container in an antennae tower on top of his building, with plans to release it into the city, followed by providing the cure at high cost. This plan is scrapped when the lab creating the mutagen is set on fire, and O'Neil's father is killed. The incident is blamed on the Foot Clan.

There are many plot holes here already. First, the turtles and Splinter are saved from this fire by April O'Neil as a little girl. She releases them into the sewer, where they will be "safe". Yet, April's father supposedly dies in this fire, to her knowledge? A little girl is able to enter the burning lab and get the turtles and the rat out, but a grown man is unable to make his escape? And for that matter, she never actually seems to notice that her father is in the burning lab. She is a young journalist with a knack for asking questions, yet she never really questions any of this part of the narrative?

It later turns out that her father actually started the fire because he had discovered his boss' plans for the mutagen. Sacks discovers this and shoots and kills him, presumably in the fire. He then fails to rescue the turtles or Splinter, despite the premise that in their blood is the last remnant of the mutagen, a remnant which is apparently duplicated by the turtles as they grow and which is apparently so stable that he is willing to capture them to drain their blood and extract the mutagen? And he fails to notice young April when she enters the burning lab and rescues the turtles, just as she fails to notice him?

Sacks spends the next 15 years trying to reproduce the mutagen, without success. And apparently, he has decided to keep the container of deadly toxins on top of his building ready to use without an existing antidote for the entire period of 15 years, thus endangering himself and the city for nothing. I know, he's the villain, he doesn't care about the safety of the city. But doesn't he at least care for his own safety, to say nothing of the soundness of a plan which requires sudden dispersal of the toxins which could potentially begin to leak out? Granted, the toxin has to be vaporized first, but under a liquid form it would still release some vapors which would presumably place everyone in the building at risk, not to mention that it places his grand plan at risk for being discovered when his employees start turning up dead with mysterious lesions all over their bodies.

So much for holes in the main premise. Now let's looks at some of the bizarre lapses of judgment throughout the movie. The Sacks and his mentor, the Shredder*, discover that the turtles are alive and well and thus deduce that the mutagen-antidote is still to be found in their blood. The therefore determine to capture the turtles and to drain their blood, and then to extract the mutagen from this blood. This, I suppose, makes some sense as a possibility, but in the movie it is treated as an absolute certainty, and treated moreover as if it is expected that the turtles themselves are producing more of the mutagen—the initial draining seems to ear out this assumption, since they obtain about a liter or so of mutagen from the three captured turtles.

Then comes the first inexplicable error: Sacks decides to drain all of the turtles' blood instantly, rather than keeping them captive for a period and thus being able to extract a larger quantity of antidote. He has no other sure method for replicating the mutagen**, of which somewhat more than a few liters would be necessary if he is to carry ouf his plan of providing it as an antidote for the city. Which brings up the second related bizarre lapse of judgement: after capturing Leonardo, Donatello, and Michaelangelo, the Shredder leaves Splinter for dead (can the mutagen not also be extracted from Splinter's blood?), and does not even bother to bring Raphael's supposed corpse along to be similarly drained of blood/mutagen.

Raphael then goes to rescue his brothers from Sacks, with the aide of April O'Neil and her erstwhile partner, driver, and cameraman, Vernon Fenwick. He thus comes face-to-face with the Shredder, who promptly mops the floor with him, pointing to the four cells containing three turtles, and stating that the fourth cell is for Raphael. Then, inexplicably, he abandons his fight with Raphael and leaves him for a second time, actually leaves the premises to go carry out his and Sacks' evil plans. Oh, and he does this without bothering to wait for his Foot Clan thugs to arrive on the scene to cage Raphael.

In the meantime, April and Vernon free the other turtles. These other three are weak from being drained of so much blood—but a quick injection of adrenaline solves that problem, and with no crash later! Thereafter, the turtles experience no ill effects from blood loss—a side effect of the mutagen, perhaps?

They then make their getaway, in pursuit of the Shredder and Sacks. Having the pick of a jeep and several hummers, and knowing that they will be largely going off-road in ice and snow down a mountain side, they pick... a semi-truck and trailer***. And, during the ensuing chase scene, Vernon takes a breakform driving tocheck out April's butt, which result in his plowing the truck through a snowbank. There are no words.

Next up is a rooftop fight between the turtles and Shredder, who is easily more than a match for them [4]. They then team up and play a version of their childhood game (bucky-buck or something like that), which inexplicably allows them to beat him and knock him off of the building. Donatello is able to stop the toxin's release, but the Shredder has meantime made it back onto the roof and cuts the supports holding up the tower with his magic claw-knife/remote-controlled projectiles. The turtles then support the entire antennae—all 5 tons of it—on their backs, while Leonardo tells them not to move. Given that the only other person on the roof at the time is the Shredder, so it seems unlikely that they will be relieved of this burden anytime soon.

And here is the last inexplicable plot-hole (of sorts) which I will note. Inexplicably, the turtles are able to stand still while the Shredder in his robo-armor attacks them. This is the same Shredder-in-robot-armor who was previously mopping the floor with them as a group (let alone one-on-one). Also, his missile-claws have apparently stopped working, because here he only punches and kicks at Leonardo for a few moments before April arrives with the container of mutagen to simultaneously save the day and become the damsel in distress.

The previews for this movie suggested that it wasn't going to be great. Heck, it's the ninja turtles, for crying out loud. I went in to it not expecting much, thinking that it didn't show much promise. It still managed to disappoint; and if the PG-13 rating isn't enough to warn parents that this is not a movie to bring the small ones too, then my say-so probably doesn't mean much, but this is definitely not a movie for small children. Actually, one wonders what audience this movie is meant for. I can think of few for which it is suitable, save possibly prison inmates whose sentences seem a little too light.



*By my best guess, the Shredder must be about 80 years old in this movie. Sacks is born at a military base in Okinawa, and then loses his father in Vietnam. The Shredder becomes his mentor/sensei/father replacement at this time. It is strongly implied that this is the early parts of the war, and that the Shredder is already a well-trained martial artist. Assuming that he was 25 years old at this point, and thus on the young side of being able to fill this role for the young Sacks, and assuming that all of this occurred in the first few years of the war, that would make the Shredder 75 now. For that matter, one wonders how it is that Splinter knows this backstory.

**For that matter, they never really bother to test it on human subjects to see how it works there. Apparently, litigation is not an issue in this world. Come to think of it, I don't think they ever test it in any way to see whether it actually cures the toxins at all.

***The trailer is empty, and the reason for the truck's presence at all is kind of vague.


[4] After all, Splinter learns ninjitsu from a thin book on the subject, and they learn it from him. Shredder, on the other hand, is an accomplished master ninja wearing a complete set of robotic body armor complete with remote-controlled magic knife blades.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Chesterton on Suicide

Not only is suicide a sin, it is the sin. It is the ultimate and absolute evil, the refusal to take an interest in existence; the refusal to take the oath of loyalty to life. The man who kills a man, kills a man. The man who kills himself, kills all men; as far as he is concerned he wipes out the world. His act is worse (symbolically considered) than any rape or dynamite outrage. For it destroys all buildings: it insults all women. The thief is satisfied with diamonds; but the suicide is not: that is his crime. He cannot be bribed, even by the blazing stones of the Celestial City. The thief compliments the things he steals, if not the owner of them. But the suicide insults everything on earth by not stealing it. He defiles every flower by refusing to live for its sake. There is not a tiny creature in the cosmos at whom his death is not a sneer. When a man hangs himself on a tree, the leaves might fall off in anger and the birds fly away in fury: for each has received a personal affront. Of course there may be pathetic emotional excuses for the act. There often are for rape, and there almost always are for dynamite. But if it comes to clear ideas and the intelligent meaning of things, then there is much more rational and philosophic truth in the burial at the cross-roads and the stake driven through the body, than in Mr. Archer's suicidal automatic machines. There is a meaning in burying the suicide apart. The man's crime is different from other crimes -- for it makes even crimes impossible.
GK Chesteron, Orthodoxy

I know that there are a number of people who are grieving over Robin Williams suicide--it seems that every major celebrity who dies, and especially who dies early, invokes a bit of national mourning. It is a tragedy, and depression is an unfortunate thing to struggle against.

With that said, there is something far, far worse than depression even, something for which depression is at most a symptom, though something which may exist without depression. That is despair. There is the suicidal depression which preys upon the mind and the emotions, but it pales next to that deep and dark despair which preys upon the very soul. The man who is depressed may yet find hope: but he who finally despairs has rejected hope and so is lost.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Sci Fi Musings

I watched Guardians of the Galaxy over the weekend. I'm not going to write a lengthy review about the movie--Stephen Greydanus has already done that--but it was quite fun. Spoiler: if you sit through the credits, you are rewarded with Howard the Duck. Dammit.

Also, Mike Flynn, who is among my favorite science fiction writers today, links to an interview with Gene Wolfe, who is one of my favorite authors of any genre. Well worth the read.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Six Californias

Apparently, the proposal to split California into six states is heading for the ballots in 2016. As if having one California isn't bad enough. Actually, though, I generally favor this split, and to be fair it appears that the state is split into one obviously conservative part (Jefferson in the far north),two moderate states (South and Central California), and three far left ones (based around San Fransisco, LA, and Sacramento).

I've long been a supporter of the State of Jefferson, though I'd like it to annex southern Oregon. If it did, I would probably actively pursue a means of moving there. However, I predict that if this does go on the ballot and remain there, it will likely fail--not to mention that it would probably require some approval beyond just the State's say-so.

There is an interesting alternative option, however: the idea of super-states, states, and then a federal government. Under such a system, California, Texas (with perhaps some of its surrounding states), the New England/Northeast Ara, the Heartland/Midwest Area, the Great Lakes Region, etc would be sort of superstates, consisting of a number of states which are geographically, culturally, and economically connected. Texas and California and New York and Florida would all likely need to split into a few (2 or more each) smaller states to make this really make sense, with the superstates taking on much of the power and many of the responsibilities that the federal government has taken over the years, and states being more-or less restored to a greater amount of autonomy.

The problems here are that we would need at least one amendment to the constitution to make this happen, and then the federal government would need to be shrunk again (a good thing for sure), taking on a much more limited role.Such may be an unwieldy solution, but then again, our present situation in the US is not exactly great,with too much power concentrated in the federal government, and increasingly in the hands of the courts and the President. This could help alleviate at least one of those problems.

If it isn't a fully thought-out plan, nor one likely to be implemented in reality: then it would at least make for an interesting bit of speculative fiction.