Thou Shalt Not Subject Thy God To Market Forces!


Well, I now have fresh insights into the evil lure of Objectivism, following a few, probably urban legendish, threads on Usenet. The context is a class on Philosophy, specifically Metaphysics, where the class is instructed to write essays for or against the existance of holes (yes, holes). Obviously the purpose was to establish the idea of how to argue about wether something exists, and assorted framework thereon. The Objectivist, of course, who was, if real, no doubt merely taking the class to be an ass, turns in a paper with a hole cut out of it, and the note "This IS a hole."

This amuses me. If it weren't for the fact that Objectivism, like every other philosophy, boils down to Yet Another Unified Theory Of Everything and a passel of drivel-headed morons parroting the same empty phrases without bothering to think about what they mean, there might be something to it. I'm certainly in favor of any philosophical system which considers Metaphysics to be crap.

I need to be a cult leader, I think. Surly Bastardism could be the next big thing. The insidious evil of $cientology, the outright surl of Objectivism, the open-yet-hidden money-grubbing soul of talk-show Christianity... All with the sensible, down to earth nature of my cult of personality. I'll let you know how it turns out.

In other news, I finished watching the first of two boxed sets of the anime TV series Fushigi Yugi on DVD. Mmm. DVD. Sure, it's not only anime, but shojo anime (or "girl's" anime, which is distinct from shonen or "guy's" anime, in that there's always a love triangle, there's more of a plotline, the fighting is more often stylized instead of the full-on whupping off ass that pops up in shows like Dragonball Z, and half the problems in the show would be solved if someone smacked some sense into the heroine), but it still pulsates with coolness, plus villains who cheerfully plan circles around the increasingly irate good guys. None of this "they come at us in the same old way, and we'll see them off in the same old way" stuff. It is a show of surl.

In the "wacky world news" department, a company has apparently developed a method to make DVD discs degrade when used, to be used in the rental market. It's DivX all over again, only with extra chemical goodness. apparently, this company developed a chemical that's put on the disc that is 'activated' by the DVD player's laser. Or maybe degraded. Anyway, this allows the company to make discs which can only be used for a certain length of time, and then they become un-playable landfill.

Great. Someone's re-introduced "laser rot" as a feature. There's nothing quite as pathetic as a product that's intended to break. But then, this is the same corporate America that brought us the Jar-Jar Binks candy tongue. We're all quite well aware that they'll spread for any innovation that promises more money and more control for them. I mean, god forbid people should have access to DVD movies in perpetuity.

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