Thus Ate Zarathustra

"No philosopher came close to solving the problem of guilt and weight until Descartes divided mind and body into two, so that the body could gorge itself while the mind thought, Who cares? It's not me."

Woody Allen (2007) Mere Anarchy. New York: Random House. p. 142

Anti-anti Western Legislation

From today's Arizona Republic:

"Arizona public schools would be barred from any teachings considered counter to democracy or Western civilization under a proposal endorsed Wednesday by a legislative panel.

Additionally, the measure would prohibit students of the state's universities and community colleges from forming groups based in whole or part on the race of their members, such as the Black Business Students Association at Arizona State University or Native Americans United at Northern Arizona University. Those groups would be forbidden from operating on campus."

The article continues.

National Security For Kids!

There's a paper in here somewhere...

America's CryptoKids! Yes, that's the NSA's Kid's Page. Check out the biographies of all the colorful animated characters!

Ready Kids! That's the Department of Homeland Security where you can learn readiness from the mountain lion family of colorful animated characters!

And then there's the CIA's Kid's Page (with it's rough, spy v. spy animation)

And then the FBI's kids page, with a host of animated characters (though none as slick as the NSA's, I must say. FBI has Shirley and Darrell, our doggy guides, and Maureen and Jose--I'm longing for Mulder and Scully).

Can anyone think of others?

New Books

New books coming across the threshold:

Alexander R. Galloway and Eugene Thacker, The Exploit: A Theory of Networks (2007, Minnesota) [thanks to Greg S. for the heads up on this one].

Paul Dourish, Where the Action is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction (2001, MIT) [time to send the library's copy back]

Rich Ling, New Tech, New Ties: How Mobile Communication is Reshaping Social Cohesion (2008, MIT).

Movie Meme: Take 2

A number of films are still left to be identified from the earlier post. I've added some hints to help this along. See the earlier post.