Apparently Brian K. Vaughan is either selling out or this ‘Lost’ thing may actually be good and he is the next big television writer.  Maybe both.  You be the judge. 

 

I’m sure this has been addressed by someone but I don’t have the slightest idea to find it at the moment.

Background materials:

• Two AI Pioneers. Two Bizarre Suicides. What Really Happened?
• Blade Runner’s Voight-Kampff machine/test
• the Turing Test

If someone a) created an AI that resides in the internet or b) uploaded their consciousness to the internet, then how would we know?  An persona that passes the Turing test but is not available for a Voight-Kampff test (which conveniently do not exist) would be impossible to rule out as human.  So is there some other test that has been devised?  I don’t think this is the kind of thing we should delay on.  If there exist sentient AIs now then I think it’s in our best interests to verify that fact post haste.  Many supposed AIs and ghosts in the machine have come forward and presented their existence.  I’ve always assumed that the cynicism of this age would ignore any such claims outright.  But if we don’t have a test, what other choice do we have but to dismiss the ghosts as figments of their own very human imaginations.

A few years back, Sullivan and I took a trip to the E3 Conference in Los Angeles.  It was quite a spectacle to see, and was probably one of the best times I’ve had in recent years.  Since then the E3 expo has been scaled back considerably (partly due to the people like Sullivan and I that got in for free and didn’t technically belong there), so the chance of recreating that experience is near zero.

There is something that may offer a similar experience.  I’m about 95% sure that I am going to attend the 2008 Penny Arcade Expo.  It takes place August 29-31, 2008 at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle, and aligns itself nicely with the Labor Day holiday on September 1.

From my travels to Washington DC last summer, I racked up enough Marriott points to get myself a 4 night stay at the SpringHill Suites hotel, which is about a half mile from the convention center.  Easily walkable, but if laziness abounds, then they do offer shuttle service.  I am going to reserve a room from Thursday, August 28 through Monday, September 1 at a minimum.  I may pay for a fifth night to stay there until the 2nd, giving myself a non-convention day to see a few sights around Seattle.

This is where you come in.  While the king bed in the suite will be occupied by me, there is a sleeper sofa in the sitting area that could provide a bed for another occupant.  The room is actually allowed up to 4 occupants, but there are no roll-away beds, so sleeping space is limited.  If you are an attractive female, I might be willing to share the king bed, but otherwise it’s a sausage festival on the sleeper sofa.

So, block out those dates on your calendar, and lets go to Seattle!

Between the State of the Union Address and this “The First Thanksgiving” painting I came to a realization about lying.

If you distort the truth of what happened with words it’s called “revisionist history”.

If you distort the truth of what happened with pictures it’s called “art”.

So yeah, Jesus gets painted white and that’s “OK” with the same people who want to crucify Bush for retroactively changing his reasons for invading Iraq.  Maybe W should get somebody in his cabinet who does watercolors…

I’ve seen this effect before (I write a lot of notes on receipts) but this was the first time I got a decent picture of it.  Writing on a carbon paper receipt roll with a hi-liter brings out a black carbon border around the ink overnight.  I love it.

“Kiefer Sutherland is set to be a free man beginning Monday morning, Access Hollywood has confirmed.”

I remember back to the first time I went to Wendy’s with my mom and Grandma. There were these beautiful tiffany lamps hanging bright over our faux newspaper covered table and wooden chairs. I miss the salad buffet and the old ranch dressing. I remember being tired of the “Where’s the Beef?” commercial and then being so sad hearing about Dave Thomas passing away. And then when the first Wendy’s closed (the one that was downtown across from the old COSI) that was pretty awful too.

After years of hearing that Wendy’s International may be purchased, I started wondering what life without the value menu would be like?

(To read more about the woe’s of Wending’s International you can read this recent Columbus Dispatch article.)

Not only do I love the reliability and price, I love the ridiculous amount of combinations I can create. They are nearly endless…

Coke with fries

Jr. Cheese Dlx with 5 piece nugget

Chili with Chocolate Frosty

Yogurt with mandarin orange slices

Pure yummy decliciocity and cheap!!

But more than anything, I love knowing that my straw is in the bag, that the “Medium” is really Super Biggie and too big to drink and that his daughter’s name wasn’t even Wendy.

Ha.

Happy 19th birthday Super Value menu – hope to see you turn 20!

Orson Scott Card. He wrote Ender’s Game, one of my favorite books of all time. He writes a lot on his website, HatRackRiver.com. I often enjoy his bloggings, but now I think he’s lost me for good. This post is mind-fuckingly wrong on so many levels that I had to invent new dimensions to hold the new levels.

Ch-ch-ch-check it out:

Uncle Orson Reviews Everything

To save time (by the way) here are some hi-lites:

I’ll bet that the poor kids had at least as much fun, on average, as the rich ones — and maybe more.

…many Americans will actually be frustrated that we’re doing well in the war — they may even be trying to deny it and convince people that we’re still losing.

And here’s a fill-in-the-blank puzzle that will knock your fucking socks off when you solve it:

Sometimes I think that having ____________________ was God’s last gesture of protection.

And if you can find the clue that reveals it all to be a satire of pure sarcastic brilliance, then please send me the key so I can unlock the door and escape from his maddening alternate reality.

Updated to display correctly in Firefox 

You remember that pop starlet who appeared in the ’90s and is still the absolute white-hottest center of celeb news/gossip?  How could any of us forget! Shut the fuck up about her.  Take a long dark look inside your own festering soul and find one good fucking reason you should ever mention her name again.  Guess what: you’re not being ironic.  No, you used to be, but that time has come and gone.  You, friend, are celeb obsessed and you need to kick this particular habit right fucking now.  You aren’t talking about her to mock the celebrity newswhores; you are fueling the celebrity newswhore industry.  It is a fucking industry now because you made it so. Stop reading about her, stop talking about her, stop knowing anything about her.  Purge her from your mind.  Just her; leave all your other precious celebs intact and just, for once, try to improve yourself with one eensy teensy baby step of discipline.  This is not another horseshit New Years Resolution: it is a real thing that you can really do to really improve YOUR life.  Any time you’re tempted to think about her just think of something else.  Pelicans.  The Mayflower Compact.  U-bend PVC pipes.  What-fucking-ever. The time you save not mulling over inane trivia about a trailer trash skank ought to be enough to finish your novel, build that birdhouse, and/or finish your GED.  Go get a 2nd job if you still have time to kill.  Just don’t succumb to the urge to BS about BS.  In 50 years when you’ve achieved enlightenment and become the next Pope and/or Dalai Lama you can drive your Popemobile or Lama-llama over to my cave and thank me for setting you straight.  Nevermind, I’ll save you the fucking trip: you’re welcome.  Now get out there and STFU!