The height of their society peaked in 1969. They used militarism and socialism to put two guys on the Moon, they trotted out their public-private partnership (Concorde) to build exclusive supersonic transport for the rich. Max Faget and some other brilliant engineers designed a space shuttle fleet of ten vehicles capable of hundreds of flights a year to make access to low Earth orbit cheap and routine. And the Advanced Research Projects Agency had some geeks create an inter-networking protocol that could survive a nuclear war.
Obviously, they shot their wad, as it were, and no longer put guys on the Moon. They no longer fly supersonic transports. Their space shuttle is going to stop flying soon, if it hasn’t already. Those geeky guys went on to develop open source cryptography, open source software, and totally private economic transactions. The future we’re creating is going to be very, dramatically different. It is going to be decentralised to a fare thee well.
Right now, today, two people anywhere in the world *can* have a totally private economic exchange that cannot be detected by anyone else. And since it cannot be detected, it cannot be regulated, it cannot be prohibited, and it cannot be taxed. Even inflation cannot tax it, if the exchange is denominated in some money like silver or gold. Which means that those who dream of ruling the world sowed the seeds of their own damnation?
Jim Davidson, “Peak Culture”, Libertarian Enterprise, 2010-08-22
August 23, 2010
QotD: Peak Culture
Unmasking “The Stig”
A court case will decide whether HarperCollins can publish a book that reveals the identity of Top Gear‘s anonymous driver:
Publisher HarperCollins is in a legal dispute with the BBC over a book that reveals the identity of Top Gear‘s The Stig, BBC News understands.
Both sides appeared in London’s High Court on Monday after the BBC confirmed it was trying to halt its publication.
The Stig regularly takes to the track on the BBC Two show, but never removes his helmet on screen.
The BBC says the publication of the book breaches contractual and confidentiality obligations.
HarperCollins declined to give any official comment.
The dispute comes amid suggestions from several newspapers speculating that the character’s true identity is former Formula Three driver Ben Collins, based on the financial reports of his company.
Sex sells, even especially in MMOs
Justin Olivetti acknowledges the obvious:
The other day, a group of us in the Massively office watched the latest TERA demo video in a sort of horrified awe as the skimpily clad character ran with her fanny flying in the wind and gyrated her hips to cast a spell. It sparked an intense discussion among us as to the fine line between sexing a game up and over-sexing it just to draw in stereotypical drooling male gamers.
It’s a well-known adage that sex sells, and like it or hate it, attractive characters and skimpy outfits have been a part of MMORPGs for quite some time now. From World of Warcraft‘s seductive succubus to Age of Conan‘s topless extravaganza to Star Trek Online‘s character creation “breast slider,” game studios tend to play the sex card first and frequently to pull in customers. This is why, for example, male armor tends to always be practical (if oddly flamboyant) while female armor isn’t even big enough to protect one’s dignity, never mind one’s internal organs.
How to become an instant expert on Afghanistan
P.J. O’Rourke had a few days to visit Afghanistan and managed to become an expert on the nation, its people, and the problems they face:
Women cover themselves in public but not more than my grandmother did at Mass. An occasional down-to-the-ground burka is seen but not as often as in London. In the malls, clothing shops predominate. Men’s and women’s clothes are shinier and more vividly colored than those seen in a traditional society such as New Hampshire.
Traditionalism being one of the things that makes Afghanistan so hard for Americans to understand. We Americans have so many traditions. For instance our political traditions date back to the 12th-century English Parliament if not to the Roman Senate. Afghans, on the other hand, have had the representative democracy kind of politics for only six years. Afghanistan’s political traditions are just beginning to develop. A Pashtun tribal leader told me that a “problem among Afghan politicians is that they do not tell the truth.” It’s a political system so new that that needed to be said out loud.
The Pashtun tribal leader was one of a number of people that Amin arranged for me to interview. Tribalism is another thing that makes Afghanistan hard to understand. We Americans are probably too tribal to grasp the subtlety of Afghan tribal concepts.
The Pashtun tribal leader was joined by a Turkmen tribal leader who has a Ph.D. in sociology. I asked the Turkmen tribal leader about the socioeconomic, class, and status aspects of Afghan tribalism.
“No tribe is resented for wealth,” he said. So, right off the bat, Afghans show greater tribal sophistication than Americans. There is no Wall Street Tribe upon which the Afghan government can blame everything.
Even the worst of Afghan governments never acquired the special knack of pitting tribe against tribe that is vital to American politics — the Squishy Liberal Tribe vs. the Kick-Butt Tribe; the Indignantly Entitled Tribe vs. the Fed-Up Taxpayer Tribe; the Smug Tribe vs. the Wipe-That-Smirk-Off-Your-Face Tribe.
There you have it: the reason we all find Afghan politics so hard to unravel!
San Francisco 15, Vikings 10
Last night’s preseason game had a brief cameo appearance by Brett Favre, who only completed one pass to Adrian Peterson, and then took a big sack. Favre got up smiling after the sack, so he wasn’t hurt by it, but it was Peterson’s man who got through to Favre. Peterson needs to be better at picking up blitzes in order to stay on the field in third down situations (Chester Taylor used to do third down blocking, but he’s with Chicago this year).
Tarvaris Jackson took over at quarterback after the first series, and played the remainder of the first half. The Vikings’ offensive line didn’t show great form, allowing another sack of Jackson (that was Chris Clark’s man getting the sack) and allowing several hits on him as he released the ball. The defensive line wasn’t its usual dominant self either, as the 49ers were able to score the first points of the game against the Vikings’ starters. E.J. Henderson got his first start after coming back from a late-season injury that many thought might be a career-ender. The defensive backfield had a different look to it, with cornerback Antoine Winfield only playing one series, then giving way to second-round pick Chris Cook. The other corner was manned by Lito Sheppard and Asher Allen playing alternating series. Jamarca Sanford started at strong safety, then alternated with last season’s starter Tyrell Johnson.
Joe Webb, who the Vikings originally planned to convert to wide receiver, made a strong case for sticking on the regular season roster:
Webb, a sixth-round pick out of Alabama-Birmingham, completed seven of 14 passes for 47 yards in the fourth quarter and, more important, ran for 53 yards on three carries, including a 48-yard touchdown with 1 minute, 54 seconds left. He then showed his inexperience by getting sacked on the final play of the game for a safety.
The Vikings likely won’t get much of a look at Webb on Saturday night in their third game of the preseason against Seattle. It will be the Vikings’ exhibition home opener and, as is usually the case, the starters are expected to play into the third quarter. That will include Favre, who must get settled back into this offense after missing the first two weeks of training camp.
The problem for the Vikings is that they plan to carry only three quarterbacks on the roster, and Favre, Jackson, and Sage Rosenfels all returned from last season. Webb could be a good quarterback — given a year or two of seasoning — but he’s looked too good in his brief opportunities to risk trying to sneak him on to the practice squad, which may mean the Vikings need to hold a regular roster spot open for him.
