TIL

Brains!

Plants vs Zombies Game Trailer, via YouTube.com As Halloween approaches, the zombies come out. For most people, their one universal trait is their desire to eat (human) brains, but this feature is neither universal nor particularly old. The modern zombie age began with the classic Night of the Living Dead, and director George A Romero is one of the most influential figures in the development of zombie film and literature. It’s interesting to note, however, that Romero’s zombi

5 hours ago4 min read

Eric Shaw

SpongeBob, via Wikimedia Commons I was not familiar with Eric Shaw, nor have I ever really watched SpongeBob SquarePants, though I am familiar with the characters through their impact on popular culture. According to Wikipedia, Mr Shaw is a television writer, credited with a number of episodes of SpongeBob, along with a number of other works. With that in mind, I was a bit confused when I heard the reference to Eric Shaw on Smashing Security Episode 476, in a conversation bet

Sep 234 min read

Russia Russia Russia

Flag of Russia, via Wikimedia Commons Everyone seems to need a villain. For many, that villain is Russia. I won’t go into the long, complex history, or discuss how our current geopolitical situation evolved, but I do wonder about the degree to which people have an enemy because they want or need one. Several years ago, I posted about Theory X and Theory Y, where X assumes that people are inherently unmotivated and need to be actively ‘managed’, while Y assumes people are gene

Aug 264 min read

Wonderful

Louis Armstrong, via Wikimedia Commons Louis Armstrong was one of the truly great musicians, and What a Wonderful World is one of the truly great songs. To get just a hint of his influence, have a look at his discography. Section 1 consists of releases on 78 and 45 rpm, released between 1923 (before either of my parents were born) and 1970 (when I was a toddler), while section 2 consists of LPs and EPs, released between 1944 and 1971. Absolutely unbelievable, and if you think

Jul 85 min read

Canadian Shield

Scutum – Roman shield This is a shield. Not the one I wanted to show, but a shield nevertheless. I actually wanted to show an image of the coat of arms of Canada, even though it was created long after the point at which it might reasonably have been placed on an actual shield, but I stopped when I found a notice on the Governor General’s website stating that the heraldic emblems may not be reproduced without written consent. (I strongly suspect that my using that image would

Jun 244 min read

Riding The Wave!

Cover of The Shockwave Rider, by John Brunner, 1975 I sometimes hear references to one “futurist” or another, making pronouncements regarding current trends and where they may lead, and I must confess that I have been unimpressed. My impression is that this area of study is still in its infancy, so the level of scientific rigour applied to the work ranges wildly. Sometimes, I see the incremental analysis of trends and cautious suggestions of possible hypotheses for future res

Jun 175 min read

Weaponized Incompetence?

Appointing incompetent loyalists, via Wikimedia Commons I’d really like to describe the Trump administration as an example of Weaponized Incompetence, but I really can’t. Intuitively, the term seems to fit, but it already has a definition in the psychological literature. Setting Trump aside for the moment, the term refers to strategically avoiding responsibility by pretending to be incapable so that someone else helps, takes over, or stops delegating tasks. Over time, the per

Jun 104 min read

Is it Time to Panic?

“Beware of the Leopard”, from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, via Wikimedia Commons In the classic scene from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (I refer, of course, to the 1981 TV version), Arthur Dent confronts the person trying to bulldoze his house, who explains that the plans for the demolition had been placed on display. “On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar.” “That’s the display department.” “With a torch.” “The lights had probably gone.” “So had t

Jun 36 min read

By His Bootstraps!

Cover Art, Astounding Science Fiction, October 1941, via Wikipedia.org One of my favourite stories by Robert A Heinlein , was actually written by Anson MacDonald. Early in his career, Heinlein wrote under several pseudonyms , but only one of them was “obvious”. I’m not aware of any way to link the names Lyle Monroe, John Riverside, Caleb Saunders, or Simon York to Heinlein. In contrast, knowing that Robert Anson Heinlein was, at that time, married to Leslyn MacDonald made “An

Oct 29, 20254 min read