I was kinda gripped by this article on Helium a few days ago. It kinda struck me as panicky and sensationalistic, or in other words, crap. Doomsday: How BP Gulf disaster may have triggered a ‘world-killing’ event

Ominous reports are leaking past the BP Gulf salvage operation news blackout that the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico may be about to reach biblical proportions.

251 million years ago a mammoth undersea methane bubble caused massive explosions, poisoned the atmosphere and destroyed more than 96 percent of all life on Earth. [1] Experts agree that what is known as the Permian extinction event was the greatest mass extinction event in the history of the world. [2]

I mean, scientists don’t run around screaming ‘DOOMSDAY!!’ like chicken little. But there was the scientific basis for a glimmering hope of mass destruction. Obviously, I’m narcissistic enough to believe that I will be one of the survivors, killing and fighting for the remaining food supplies, hoarding antibiotics and generally being a post-apocalyptic badass. A post-apocalyptic badass with a degree in español (so I can barter with the surviving Mexicans).

Sadly, it was too good to be true. Well, fuckers, thanks.

I suspect that if something on the scale of a mass extinction event is even remotely possible, there should probably be contingency plans in place, right? Howabout getting that goddamn Mars colony started, Mr. President? If an asteroid destroys Earth, Mars is a nice fallback position. And it would be even more awesome than anything the SyFy channel is showing these days.

I think science and policy need to start reflecting a general need to realize our science fiction dreams. The DEA’s budget could be used for it instead of justifying a broken prohibitionist ideal.

New items for July 15, 2010:

• Google Reader: Evidence Malfunction Could Cost Prosecutors Two Counts in Stagliano Trial

I snagged that from here, courtesy of the Libertarian Party. And the dramatic upswing in “likes” on Facebook is, well, a very good thing for the LP. Facebook seems to be this weird indicator of public opinion. People either click like on things because they genuinely like it or because it’s ridiculous and amusing. For something like a political party it would conceivably be the latter.

But look just below that. That is fucking disturbing and telling. I’m going to bet dollars to doughnuts that the immigration controversy has fueled those numbers. And my fellow ‘mericuns, y’all are on the wrong side. Also, while the number of LP fans have risen one of the best outlets of libertarian news and analysis, Reason Magazine, hasn’t. Ron Paul gained nearly as many as the LP did (30k).

Sometimes, America, I secretly hate you for not caring about yourselves. I’m like the angry father on a really great episode of Intervention, mad that you won’t listen to reason or stop hurting yourself.

Libertarian Party facebook page

New items for July 5, 2010:

• Google Reader: Diary of an Unemployed Class of ’10 Philosophy Major in New York City, Part 3

  Uh, I don’t think those credits will transfer anywhere

  Reason.tv Replay: 3 Reasons The New Financial Regs Won’t Fix Anything

  Independence Day for Newspapers

Cars with wings may be just around the corner:

WASHINGTON (AP) — If cars had wings, they could fly – and that just might happen, beginning next year. The company Terrafugia, based in Woburn, Mass., says it plans to deliver its car-plane, the Transition, to customers by the end of 2011. It recently cleared a major hurdle when the Federal Aviation Administration granted a special weight limit exemption to the Transition.

“It’s the next ‘wow’ vehicle,” said Terrafugia vice president Richard Gersh. “Anybody can buy a Ferrari, but as we say, Ferraris don’t fly.”

The Transition is a long way from cartoon dad George Jetson’s flying car zooming above traffic, or even the magical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

“There is no launch button on the (instrument) panel,” Gersh noted.

Rather, the car-plane has wings that unfold for flying – a process the company says takes one minute – and fold back up for driving. A runway is still required to takeoff and land.

The Transition is being marketed more as a plane that drives than a car that flies, although it is both. The company has been working with FAA to meet aircraft regulations, and with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to meet vehicle safety regulations.

Seriously, it’s 2010 and they can’t even get flying cars right. What the hell is the problem here, people? I’ve been waiting 27 years for a goddamn flying car and what you’re delivering is a butt-ugly plane that can also operate as a car. The exact opposite of what we want. You can join NASA in the corner and don’t forget to put your dunce’s cap on. I mean, shit, look at this monstrosity:

Is it so much to ask scientists and engineers to actually come up and develope legitimately awesome things? It’s bad enough that scientists killed time travel and many other neat things, but engineers are now out to destroy the awesome technologies of the future, too.

New items for July 4, 2010:

• Google Reader: Jonah Sux Well, shit. I had been looking forward to this. Looks like I’m saving $10.

Gillard won’t play religion card – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd was a regular at Canberra church services and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is known as a devout Catholic.

In contrast, Ms Gillard says that while she greatly respects other people’s religious views, she does not believe in God.

Ms Gillard has been quizzed on personal topics including her attitude to religion and her relationship with her partner during interviews this morning.

She says does not go through religious rituals for the sake of appearance.

“I am not going to pretend a faith I don’t feel,” she said.

“I am what I am and people will judge that.

“For people of faith, I think the greatest compliment I could pay to them is to respect their genuinely held beliefs and not to engage in some pretence about mine.”

That’s pretty cool. I don’t think we will see anything like that here in the states for a very, very long time. I think it would be better sooner than later.

Too bad most Americans think Australia is next to Germany or that they’re just like us with funny accents.

New items for July 3, 2010:

• Google Reader: Saturday Morning Cartoons: The Investigators

  Nerds Flip Out Over 'Star Wars' Walker Dog Fantasy Video Nerds includes me.

  Ancient Whale + Killer Shark = Hypercarnivorous Whale Why do all the awesome animals have to be extinct?

  The Story of Hanny, So Far

  Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse. Unless You Work in Law Enforcement.

Payscale Study says college is a poor investment | Seer Press.

But this cliché would otherwise be gradually disapproved by a recent study done by PayScale for Bloomberg Businessweek. In their study, there are a depreciating number of schools that produce graduates that would actually earn back the money that they spent for college. The study also showed that only 17 schools that produce graduates has this kind of income. These said graduates would produce incomes that would out-earn high school graduates by an average of $1.2 million return of income or ROI. The rest of the 500 schools have very low ROI. College nowadays would otherwise be considered a very flimsy investment according to the study.

I wasn’t aware that education was an investment with a necessary return. I thought the benefit of college was to be a more educated person.

Where Have All the Mailers Gone? | The New York Observer.

Alas: The practice of fiction is no longer a vocation. It has become a profession, and professions are not characterized by creative mischief. Artistic vocations are about embracing more and more of the world with your will; professions are insular affairs that are all about the profession. The carefulness, the cautiousness, the professionalism that keeps contemporary fiction from being meaningful to the most intellectually engaged people is also what is stifling any kind of response to The New Yorker. After all, kick against The New Yorker‘s conventional taste and you might tread on some powerful person’s overlapping interest. You might anger Nicole Aragi, fiction super-agent. You might alienate a New Yorker editor! Literary triumph in Manhattan is now defined by publishing one or two pieces in The New Yorker each year. That is too narrow a definition of literary triumph.

Writing isn’t art, it’s an industry. An industry that makes Twilight and Harry Potter and… some other stuff. Profitable stuff!

While I loathe the self-publishing and POD elements that sprung up in the publishing world, I can see how they’re necessary to combat the make-the-New Yorker-happy mentality. But those people will probably never reach any real notoriety. Hell, most people who go the traditional publishing route still don’t. But it’s almost universally true that if one does, one is professional about it. And that sucks.

Could the very idea of “being professional” kill America? Maybe I’m biased from my experiences with “military professionalism”, which meant always putting up the illusion that everything is good. It was all about polishing turds. Didn’t matter what you had in your hand as long as somebody could see their reflection in it.

However, professionalism is necessary because it sets standards of courtesy and etiquette. The problem is that it can overshadow the work and its quirks and nuances are so complex that the only way to avoid catastrophic mistakes is money (one could argue that those with money simply move into a different rule set).

For about a million reasons, fiction has now become a museum-piece genre most of whose practitioners are more like cripplingly self-conscious curators or theoreticians than writers. For better or for worse, the greatest storytellers of our time are the nonfiction writers. The proof? No one would dare rank them, presume to categorize them by age or exploit them as a marketing tool. Their writing is too relevant and alive.

Fiction is not dead, sir. The business of selling real, heart-felt literary art in the grand arena of the major publishing houses may be dying, but fiction itself is not. There are more people writing simply for the sake of writing than ever, and they don’t care about professional rules or, consequently, about making money off it.

Trying to view books as a commodity is not right. Because one books sells more than another doesn’t really say much about its quality. Just because a non-fiction book  requires less critical thought to extract the hidden social observations than a novel does not make it more relevant. Sadly, the easier-to-read book is more likely to sell these days.