Ticklish Ideas

Moore's law was first in print 40 years ago this week. From Nature's article: "[as components get smaller] the cost of doing a job electronically drops so dramatically that a Gameboy now has more computer power than was carried aboard the Apollo 11 Moon mission."

I'm having my usual reaction to sensible moderate commentary from another country: "Aha, my views aren't out of whack with my fellow humans, just with my fellow Americans."

Scaryduck spent last week in a "First Aid for the Warzone" training, which primarily addressed ways to cope with damage created by Americans with guns. In comments the discussion veered off to focus on what a 7mm (.275) bullet does to a can of tomatoes or a human shoulder, even (especially?) through a car door. Er.

Remind me, why is it a good thing that there are 65,000,000 privately owned handguns in the US? I know I heard someone explain it once . . . .

My dad is worried that because I'm not married-with-2-kids, I will grow old and become Eleanor Rigby. The "undiscovered for days and partially eaten by her pet cats" meme is a strong one. So I'm making a public announcement that this story didn't bother me very much. I imagine we die like we live.

From the Guardian: Forgotten man lay dead in flat for six years

Gordon Lishman, the director general of Age Concern England, said: "The appalling case of Ken Mann is extreme, distressing and shocking to us all."

Tim Hager at Up & Coming Magazine has made a "when I'm king of the world" list that includes:

And no more ridiculous cell phone rings. We are going back to "brrring,
brrring." . . . You are not original. You are 35 and have the theme from A-Team
coming out of your pants.

I listen to music while I'm out walking my dog - when I'm feeling restless, I zoom around the radio dial looking for a surprise. Sometimes I find one. There is an actually independent radio station 60 miles from here that plays new music (rock and punk mostly), and as I zoomed past a couple of weeks ago they hooked me with a song that sounded like Bowie-as-produced-by-Eno. It was a weak signal so I stood still to hear the rest of the song, and was glad that I had guessed right about the station because the deejays say what they're playing between songs (remember when all stations did this?). It was Louis XIV's single "Finding Out True Love is Blind." I bought the album on payday. Fun fun fun! Many of the songs are derivative, but I don't seem to mind. These guys have listened to a lot of glam - Marc Bolan, Ziggy-era David Bowie, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack for a start - and the sound isn't quite their own yet. The lyrics are very very naughty - sometimes in a dirty-sexy-good way, sometimes obnoxious - but hey, it's rock and roll.