Post hoc ergo shitty hoc

Well, it's finally happened. Corporate America has beated down the average Johnny Lunch-Pail consumer to the point where they just don't care anymore. It seems the Tivo service is going to start running banner ads while you are fast fowarding through commercials. That's right, you are going to be hit with a commercial while you have a commercial on in the background.

While this bothers me on a molecular level, irratating the very atoms of my being to the point where they've started drinking heavily and hanging out with electrons of "questionable ethics", no one else seems to care!

When I first heard about this I figured it would trigger a mass exodus from Tivo, people would flock to other services or turn their computers into PVR's. We would send out message with our subscriptions, "we do NOT want to watch commercials!" But lo for the times are dark, as the constant conditioning of Big Brother to accept and even welcome ads seems to be working.

I, for my small part, am not happy about this. I don't want to see ads (especially considering the Tivo service is an additional monthly charge) and I don't want my screen taken up with stuff when I need to see what I'm fast fowarding through so I know when to stop. Fight the power! Who's with me?

Turn for the worse

I was in one of those little magazine/tobacco shops, when I happened to read the cover of a tabloid. The headline was "Kirstie Alley: 240 lbs., too fat for sex!" Poor Ms. Alley: the headline was accompanied by an unflattering photo of her, looking like a bear standing on its hindlegs about to pounce.

So it might be that it's been a while since I've been in a regular old supermarket and seen the headlines of the tabloids by the cashiers, and this is normal now. But "too fat for sex" seems to be over the top, doesn't it? 1. OK, she's fat...but she's probably not actually too fat for sex -- I'm sure it's still physically possible 2. with what authority does a tabloid establish this kind of weight threshold? 3. not to mention if we read 'sex' as meaning gender too, a whole other set of issues...

Defending Kirstie Alley isn't really my point...It just really struck me as particularly mean spirited, a step beyond decency, even the bounds of deceny we might imagine for tabloids -- "FAT" seems to be OK. But too fat for sex is prescriptive.

Drop it, or I shall ilibate you.

From one of my students' essays on Paradise Lost:
"Through this theological collage, Milton ilibates God and further asserts the justness and fairness of His ways whilst placing the blame on man."

Suggestions for the meaning of 'ilibates'?

UPDATE: He/She used it again!
"The issue of free will accounts for the presence of evil and ilibates God of guilt."

Well that's the end of me

For those of you living under a rock, in a cave, with your head in the sand, Halo 2 came out last week. Best. Multiplayer. Game.

But now I'm really in trouble, cause Half Life 2 comes out today. Best. Single Player. Game. Ever.

So yeah, I'll see you guys in February.

Halo 2 Review
Half Life 2 Review

And I know what a lot of think about video games, but they are serious business. Not only do they earn billions of dollars a year (Halo 2 had a bigger opening 2 days than Spiderman 2) but they literally drive the computer hardware industry.

I know it doesn't seem likely, but it's true. First the AGP slot and now the PCI Express slots were designed so gamers could get better graphics cards. And the new PCI Express slot represents a fundemental shift in motherboard architecture, quite a feat for a bunch of gamers. RAM capacities, CPU speeds, hard drive size, all driven by games, cause there's nothing out there that wants more resources than a game.

Games are a huge business, and they're also a lot of fun, worth checking out.