Max: A Realistic Pimp

Max: Frank Herbert Describing Dune

Max: Do All Companies Have to be Evil?

Do All Companies Have to be Evil?

In the 1987 film Wall Street, Michael Douglas’s character, the high-rolling corporate raider Gordon Gekko, explains why America has lost its standing atop the industrial world: “The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated.” He elaborates:

“The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed—for lack of a better word—is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms—greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge—has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed—you mark my words—will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.”

In the now famous “greed” speech, we find several myths that I hope to bust in this article: that capitalism is grounded in and depends on cutthroat com­petition; that businesspeople must be self-centered and egotistical to achieve success; that evolution is selfish and only winnows and never creates; and, of course, that greed is good.

Humans are by nature tribal and xenophobic, and thus evolution has enabled in all of us the capacity for evil. Fortunately, we are also by nature prosocial and cooperative. By studying how modern companies work, we can gain insights into the evolutionary underpinnings of our morality, including concepts such as reciprocity, altruism and fairness. When we apply these evolutionary findings to economic life, we learn that Enron and the Gordon Gekko “Greed Is Good” ethic are the exception and that Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” motto is the rule. Two conditions must be present to accentuate the latter: first, internal trust reinforced by personal relationships, and, second, external rules supported by social institutions. The contrast between Enron and Google here serves to demonstrate what in corporate environments creates trust or distrust.

...

Max: Is Depression "Contagious"?

Postpartum Depression Epidemic Affects More than Just Mom

The consequences of depression inevitably reach beyond the mother. In a fog of sadness, a mother often lacks the emotional energy to relate appropriately to her baby. Overwhelming grief prevents her from properly perceiving a child’s smiles, cries, gestures and other attempts to communicate with her. Getting no response from mom, the child quits trying to relate to her. Thus, three-month-old infants of depressed mothers look at their mothers less often and show fewer signs of positive emotion than do babies of mentally healthy moms.

In fact, infants of depressed mothers display something akin to learned helplessness, a phenomenon University of Pennsylvania psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman and his colleagues described in the 1960s. In Seligman’s experiments, an animal would conclude that a situation was hopeless after repeatedly failing to overcome it—and then remain passive even when it could effect change. A similar passivity characterizes depression. “Sometimes the infants mirror their mother’s depressive behavior,” Reck says.

Max: Free (for now) Ebook

Whatever » The Big Idea: Scott Sigler


Infected is officially released next week — but until March 31st, you can get a PDF of the book to sample it for your very own, for free (how? Buy clicking this link, that’s how {PDF}). Check it out, and remember, if you like it, show your love at the bookstores.

Now here’s Sigler to explain how his book’s Big Idea involves lots of very tiny things, with some nasty ideas on their single-cellular minds.

SCOTT SIGLER

The Big Idea, Short Version: What would it be like if a tiny, sentient creature could terraform the human body, hijacking natural processes to change our bodies into an environment more suited to them?

The Big Idea, Long version: Animals are basically biological machines, capable of growth, self-repair and design modification based on changing environmental stresses. All of the processes used for those things should be able to be controlled in the human body, if we had the technology. For Infected, that technology is there, but humans are not the ones using it. The story is taking the concept of a virus, hijacking the human body’s natural processes to make copies of a simple organism, and extending that to building highly complex organisms, organisms with a pre-programed purpose and an evil, evil plan. We are a walking planet to the bacteria and arachnids that cover our body

...

Max: Oy

Equity Loans as Next Round in Credit Crisis - New York Times

Little by little, millions of Americans surrendered equity in their homes in recent years. Lulled by good times, they borrowed — sometimes heavily — against the roofs over their heads.

Now the bill is coming due. As the housing market spirals downward, home equity loans, which turn home sweet home into cash sweet cash, are becoming the next flash point in the mortgage crisis.

Americans owe a staggering $1.1 trillion on home equity loans — and banks are increasingly worried they may not get some of that money back.

To get it, many lenders are taking the extraordinary step of preventing some people from selling their homes or refinancing their mortgages unless they pay off all or part of their home equity loans first. In the past, when home prices were not falling, lenders did not resort to these measures.

Max: Bender's Great X 4000 Grandfather

Jericho: Big Belly = Kookoo Bananas!

So, as it turns out, there is now a connection between having a big belly and developing dementia later in life.

That's just what I needed. I needed more pressure to lose weight. As if it wasn't hard enough already. If I don't lose weight - I'll go nuts. Lovely.

Are only skinny people supposed to succeed? WTF? Are the rest of we fatties just doomed? God is an asshole!

This is depressing. Ima go have a donut.

Max: Test Your Power of Perception

Max: Text Support

Max: Preacher

Unshelved, a neato keen comic strip, mentioned one of my favorite comic series, Preacher.

No, I don't know why you should care.

Jericho: A Difference in Culture

Go Read This. Then come back.

No wonder the rest of the world thinks that America is a back-water!

Could you imagine the flak that would be generated if a sitting American President went through a divorce? I can't think of a President that went through divorce after he was out of office much less while they were in office!

Could you imagine the outrage if the first lady turned up with nude pictures of herself? "The first lady has boobs? She's a witch! Burn her!!!" (Not that I can think of any American first ladies I would have wanted to see naked. Barb Bush! Yeek!!!)

Yet, a divorce and some naked photos are just another day in France. Maybe a good news day - but just a day. Forgotten in six months.

Bill got a BJ or two and we've been hearing about it for ten years!

Max: One Man Mindless Crowd

PsyBlog: I Can't Believe My Eyes: Conforming to the Norm

We all know that humans are natural born conformers - we copy each other's dress sense, ways of talking and attitudes, often without a second thought. But exactly how far does this conformity go? Do you think it is possible you would deny unambiguous information from your own senses just to conform with other people?

In the experiment, people ignored the evidence of their own senses in favor of conformity. I was alone when I looked at this and ignored the evidence of my own senses because I assumed it was an optical illusion. I had no solid reason to believe it was an optical illusion. I just assumed it was because it looked like some optical illusions I have seen. Somewhere in that must lie the explanation of at least some of my major malfunctions.

Max: Career Planning Is Time Wasted

PsyBlog: Why Career Planning Is Time Wasted

Our culture worships planning. Everything must be planned in advance. Our days, week, years, our entire lives. We have diaries, schedules, checklists, targets, goals, aims, strategies, visions even. Career planning is the most insidious of these cults precisely because it encourages a feeling of control over your reactions to future events. As that interview question goes: where do you see yourself in five years time? This invites the beginning of what starts as a little game and finishes as a belief built on sand. You guess what employers want to hear, and then you give it to them. Sometimes this batting back and forth of imagined futures becomes a necessary little game you play in order to 'get ahead'.

Max: A Recent Email Exchange

Me: BTW, anti-depressants are working. Just a little stressed and more annoyed than usual at ending up exactly where I did not want to be.

Jericho: You and me both, pal.

I feel like I'm back in STL again, only this time I'm working. I hate this job, I can't find another job and I can't just leave this job.

I'm totally trapped. There is nothing I can do. To counter this, I'm dosing on my favorite anti-depressant: food. This will eventually destroy my health. I can't think of a slower way to commit suicide.

No anti-depressant is going to get me another job and until I get out of here I'm not going to feel better.

This is so where I wanted to be at age 36.

Me: Anti-depressants aren't for everyone. There is a growing reluctance to give them out to people in your spot - people with a damn good reason to be stressed/depressed. In your case, you would likely be prescribed talk therapy and/or a trip to a career counselor along with getting exercise.

For me, the anti-depressants just seem to stave off that dark, dank cavern of depression. I think I am going to have to pull myself back (or is it for the first time) to being fully functional. My job has actually helped. I used to think that work would never be as tolerable as this job is. It isn't my dream job, but at least I am paying my bills on time and getting treated with a modicum of respect. Last week was bad because I got hit with a pile of bad mojo all at once. I was not happy at being switched from 3:30-Midnight to Noon-8:30. I was less pleased that the current overtime regime requires me to be here at 10:30. Still, it would have been a lot more doable had I not been hit by the flu. I was so worn out and cranky that I took everything the wrong way and saw the schedule change as an affront to my nocturnal nature. Until I started vomiting early Thursday morning - indicating that I had the flu - the only conclusions I could reach for why I felt so shitty were either life sucks hairy weirdo ass or that I was losing my mind. Now that I am mostly over the flu, things are once again tolerable at work. Lack of Charter level work stress has helped a great deal.

There is just the rest of my health to deal with. I am not the heaviest I have ever been (I'm about 30 lbs shy of that). I am in horrible shape none-the-less and that cannot be good for my mental health. The only times I am not sitting are when I get up to hit the bathroom or grab a Coke 0, or as I like to call it "Naughty Coke".

I need to get myself in better shape. I got a small exercise bike sitting under my desk at work and am try to use it when I can. Now that the weather is getting better I may start taking walks on lunch. When I get lunch breaks again, that is. I know that if I am in better shape, I will feel better physically and mentally.

Beyond that, I am trying to make better use of my "free" time. I am trying to read more, play bass more and generally engage in constructive rather than vegetative activities.

Of course, as I saw last week, my hopes and plans can be easily lost in the fog. A little flu bug was all it took to drive me nearly to the edge last week. Part of me is waiting in fear for when I really snap. One of these days they may find me curled up and weeping on the floor because I saw a really killer bass that I will never get to play, and my brain decided that was as good as an excuse as any to rid myself of all sanity based encumbrances.

But, I could as easily get hit by a bus, get cancer or have a heart attack. Unless our Singularity friends are right, something will get me one way or another. Even if they are right, there's nothing to say I won't get killed by something we can't even imagine. I just have to figure what to do with myself in the meantime.

So, I am going to go post this...

Max: 21st Century C-64

21st Century C-64

I thought about designing something like this once. Jericho shot it down, as I recall.

Max: Throw The Goat \!!/

Max: My Brain Be Melting

Max: Odd, but Strange...

Abu Ghraib: Online Only: The New Yorker

Via The New Yorker

This week in the magazine, Philip Gourevitch and Errol Morris write about Sabrina Harman, a U.S. Army specialist who took photographs at Abu Ghraib and was convicted by court-martial for her conduct there. Harman sat for nine hours of interviews with Morris for his movie “Standard Operating Procedure.” Here are excerpts from those interviews and a clip from the film, as well as video of Morris and Gourevitch from the 2007 New Yorker Festival, and photographs of Harman and of the abuses at Abu Ghraib.

Abyss & Apex : Fourth Quarter 2007: Wikihistory

International Association of Time Travelers: Members' Forum Subforum: Europe – Twentieth Century – Second World War

Max: Cyborg Moths of Doom

Cyborg insects 'born' in DARPA project

Insects with modified body structures and embedded micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) have survived to adulthood in a US Defense Advanced Reseach Projects Agency (DARPA) programme.

DARPA wants to develop inexpensive micro air vehicles to find weapons and explosives inside buildings or caves. Mechanical and fluidic microsystems would allow remote control, could extend insect life, and provide for gas, audio and even imaging sensors.

In the latest work a Manduca moth had its thorax truncated to reduce its mass and had a MEMS component added where abdominal segments would have been, during the larval stage.

Isn't this how Mothra got its start?

Max: Fellow Whackjob

Another Whack

I believe in this beautiful country. I have studied its roots and gloried in the wisdom of its magnificent Constitution. I have marveled at the wisdom of its founders and framers. Generation after generation of Americans has understood the lofty ideals that underlie our great Republic. I have been inspired by the story of their sacrifice and their strength.

But, today I weep for my country. I have watched the events of recent months with a heavy, heavy heart. No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. The image of America has changed. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.

Continued

From a speech given by Sen Robert C. Byrd, five years ago today.

Max: Attack of Mickey

Max: Kiss Me I'm A Muppet

Max: Birth of the Universe

Max: バット男

Max: Pentagon = Pacifist Cowards

Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda not linked, Pentagon says - CNN.com

The U.S. military's first and only study looking into ties between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda showed no connection between the two, according to a military report released by the Pentagon.

The report released by the Joint Forces Command five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq said it found no 'smoking gun' after reviewing about 600,000 Iraqi documents captured in the invasion and looking at interviews of key Iraqi leadership held by the United States, Pentagon officials said.

I was once told only pacifist cowards who don't care about their family's well being hold such ridiculous beliefs.

In all non-humorous honesty, I don't see how anyone ever believed the Saddam/al Qaeda connection. My faith in certain people was shaken by their willingness to buy into such obvious bullshit. Some things said about me when I refused to drink the Kool-Aid still sting a bit. I try not to think about it most of the time. However, when the news finds time to slip such reports in between their Brittany updates, it all comes back. How many have died for this lie?

Sorry for once again failing to support the troops by pointing out the ugly truth that, regardless of how clearly brave and dedicated our military is, every troop who died in Iraq died for a FUCKING LIE.

Max: Dang Gubmint!

I worked 18 hours of overtime overtime during the last pay period. It can be a little tiring, but liking my jobs helps. It also helps that, for the first time I can recall, we are caught up on our bills and still have some money left over. Outside of groceries that money is going to stay put so we can stay ahead of the curve. If we get far enough ahead we may be able to make the first contribution to my IRA in over a decade.

The one thing that bugs me is that my deductions and my overtime pay were basically equal. As I was getting time in a half, that means that I spend 27 hours every two weeks working for the government. I and glad to pay my share, to help pay for the police, fire protection, WIC, EBT, etc. I am glad to pay our overextended, underpaid and misused military.

But there is still part of me that can't help thinking of how much better off we would be if we had that money in pocket.

Max: Dumb Ass

If at first you don't break your head, fall on your ass and twist your knee.

Max: Charlie Hunter As He Is

I would recommend skipping to about the 2:20 mark unless you like a lot of blabbity.

Max: Life in the Police State

Violent Message to a Gossip Web Site Leads to Arrest: "'I wonder if i could shut down the school … by saying I’m going to shoot as many people as i can in my second class tomorrow. I hope I get more than 50……….. For liability reasons and ip tracking I won’t leave it at that. But seriously, this site is rediculous, if it got big, and someone put the effort into writing a big long serious suicide note informing all readers that he would kill over 100 kids, they could shut down the school. Nice.'

One person who didn’t find the joke funny at all was Brittany Messenger, a sophomore at Colgate who was looking at the site as part of research for an article she was writing for the student newspaper.

She says she initially did not take the message literally, but after talking with her mother about it, she decided to alert authorities, just in case. 'You just can’t joke about this,' she says. 'That isn’t even funny for a second.'"

Let us set aside that this guy is clearly a dumbass.

You don't generally start threats with "I wonder if". "I wonder if Max would be mad if I kicked him in the balls?" is a stupid question. But it is not the same as, "Max I am going to kick you in your motherfucking balls."

Even if this is eventually dismissed in court, he has still been made to suffer by the State for practicing his rights.

Max: For The Offroading Lardass

The Tank Chair

Max: Flashback

Jericho: Possibly the Wrongest Thing Ever

Max: Baby You Can Run With The Devil

Max: You Have The Right To Remain Silent

Via Reuters

Voters in two Vermont towns on Tuesday approved a measure that would instruct police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for "crimes against our Constitution," local media reported.

The nonbinding, symbolic measure, passed in Brattleboro and Marlboro in a state known for taking liberal positions on national issues, instructs town police to "extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them."

Jericho: The Dungeon Master is Dead

For those of you that don't know, yesterday, March 4th, Gary Gygax died.

I've been a Role Playing Gamer for many years. I started off in 7th or 8th grade, some twenty two or so years ago. I've been a gamer for two thirds of my life. My first game, like most role players, was Dungeons & Dragons. My mom bought me the red D&D box for Xmas after I had begged for over a year. Funny, to this day when I think of the intrepid adventurer facing the imposing red dragon standing on top of a pile of gold coins, the image that adorned that boxed set - it still gives me a zing of excitement.

Gygax was not the only person responsible for D&D, but he is the one most associate with it. He worked very hard to see his vision continue in the right direction. Because of his work and his vision, I have had hours and hours, probably months of hours, of fun. Time spent thinking, conjuring up entire worlds out of pure imagination. Then, I got to share those worlds with my friends. Instead of going out and drinking or partying with my friends and then regretting my excesses the next day, I sat around a table with my friends and enjoyed their company and helped them help me tell a great story of adventure and action and excitement. I cannot think of a single night of gaming I regretting the next day. Gygax is in part responsible for that.

I slipped away from D&D to play other games. As did many gamers. Eventually I even came to criticize the game. Now, looking back, reading what happened at TSR and what happened to Gygax, I see some of the reasons that I criticized the game were valid. And, maybe, had TSR and, later, Wizards of the Coast, listened to Gygax, maybe the game would have been better. Now, we will never know.

No matter. We gamers have all lost something irreplaceable. I and many gamers like me owe a good portion of the fun we have had in our lives to men like Gygax, Steve Jackson and Kevin Siembieda.

Gary, we will miss you. Good Journey.

(This post will be cross posted on my gaming blog: DustyDice.com)

Max: Fonky Honky

Max: SFW? Yes, But Still

This is the best homo-erotic, S&M porn video ever.