Nov 2006
I Support Your Regime
11/25/06 10:22 Filed in: Humor
Apartheid can be defined as "an institutionalized
regime of systematic oppression and domination by one
racial group over any other racial group or groups
with the intention of maintaining that regime." I
would like to talk briefly about one such regime.
Imagine that there is a place where members of one genetic background outnumber another by a factor of 20 to 1, yet are dominated by the smaller group. The regime identifies itself as being for the benefit of this minority, and rarely even publicly acknowledges the existence of the majority as residents. The majority residents do vital work for the benefit of the whole, but get no respect. Most of them live in a ghetto where raw sewage runs through the main throughway. Sometimes, in the name of putting down insurrections by invaders or rebels, chemical warfare is used, with collateral damage of slaughtering countless numbers of the subjugated majority. The ruling minority rationalizes that this is fine, the majority multiplies like mad anyway, soon their numbers will be restored anyway.
Where is this regime? Closer than you might think. This regime is: YOU!
You probably think of yourself as a single being, but of course in grade school you also learned you are made up of cells. As a adult, you have about 100 trillion cells, each with your DNA. So, we can also think of ourselves as a nation, population 100 trillion, of these cells. But it turns out they're in the minority. Your actual population is closer to 1 to 2 quadrillion -- you have 10 to 20 times as many bacteria as you do your own cells! By a census count, most of you isn't even you! The majority of these bacteria live in your large intestine (and can you imagine a worse ghetto?).
So of the regime that is you, only 5% is composed of... well, you. The privileged few with the "right" genetic makeup to be in the upper class, for whose benefit the regime is run. For that matter, the part of nation-you that I am communicating with is the brain cells. The elite of the elite. Of the 5% ruling minority, about 1% of those are brain cells. Of those 90% are glial cells -- sort of supporting functionaries. Only 10% are neurons, the upper .005% of your population. Of course, of those many are doing other things -- breathing, listening to the dog snore in the corner, remembering what you need to do tomorrow, whatever. The you that is receiving this is the true ruling class, a fraction of that one hundredth of a percent. If you were America, they'd be equivalent by percentage to perhaps a few hundred people. The part of you that is reading this is like the couple hundred most powerful people in the country.
So congratulations! You are the ruler of your own apartheid state. Untold quadrillions toil in your service. You are The Man!
You'd just better hope you can keep the masses down. I mean, if those low-class bacteria in your large intestine decided to revolt, the results would be... well, revolting.
Imagine that there is a place where members of one genetic background outnumber another by a factor of 20 to 1, yet are dominated by the smaller group. The regime identifies itself as being for the benefit of this minority, and rarely even publicly acknowledges the existence of the majority as residents. The majority residents do vital work for the benefit of the whole, but get no respect. Most of them live in a ghetto where raw sewage runs through the main throughway. Sometimes, in the name of putting down insurrections by invaders or rebels, chemical warfare is used, with collateral damage of slaughtering countless numbers of the subjugated majority. The ruling minority rationalizes that this is fine, the majority multiplies like mad anyway, soon their numbers will be restored anyway.
Where is this regime? Closer than you might think. This regime is: YOU!
You probably think of yourself as a single being, but of course in grade school you also learned you are made up of cells. As a adult, you have about 100 trillion cells, each with your DNA. So, we can also think of ourselves as a nation, population 100 trillion, of these cells. But it turns out they're in the minority. Your actual population is closer to 1 to 2 quadrillion -- you have 10 to 20 times as many bacteria as you do your own cells! By a census count, most of you isn't even you! The majority of these bacteria live in your large intestine (and can you imagine a worse ghetto?).
So of the regime that is you, only 5% is composed of... well, you. The privileged few with the "right" genetic makeup to be in the upper class, for whose benefit the regime is run. For that matter, the part of nation-you that I am communicating with is the brain cells. The elite of the elite. Of the 5% ruling minority, about 1% of those are brain cells. Of those 90% are glial cells -- sort of supporting functionaries. Only 10% are neurons, the upper .005% of your population. Of course, of those many are doing other things -- breathing, listening to the dog snore in the corner, remembering what you need to do tomorrow, whatever. The you that is receiving this is the true ruling class, a fraction of that one hundredth of a percent. If you were America, they'd be equivalent by percentage to perhaps a few hundred people. The part of you that is reading this is like the couple hundred most powerful people in the country.
So congratulations! You are the ruler of your own apartheid state. Untold quadrillions toil in your service. You are The Man!
You'd just better hope you can keep the masses down. I mean, if those low-class bacteria in your large intestine decided to revolt, the results would be... well, revolting.
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So, camera solos are MacOS?
11/23/06 11:00 Filed in: Humor
I put up some photo albums, including some
fun with Apple's Photobooth
application/toy.
Also, I decided to turn some of my odd camera phone photos into a game of Worst Ever. You don't know how to play Worst Ever? Here's how!
(Yes, I know they are blurry. Yes, I know I'm not playing the game exactly right because the photos are already interesting.)
Also, I decided to turn some of my odd camera phone photos into a game of Worst Ever. You don't know how to play Worst Ever? Here's how!
(Yes, I know they are blurry. Yes, I know I'm not playing the game exactly right because the photos are already interesting.)
Overheard On The Net
11/22/06 23:20 Filed in: Humor
Rise to Vote, Sir
11/15/06 09:36 Filed in: Technology
Election Day was last week. I will let others comment
on the results and the politics. I'm sure you've
heard enough of that by now. But, I'd like to comment
on the election itself. I wrote previously about my first
experience with electronic voting machines. I
don't recall what kind of machine was used last
time, but this year it was an iVotronic. Googling suggests it
was last time as well, but this year's machine
seems different than what I remember. The user
interface was fast and the touch screen was
pretty accurate. What's not different is that I
still have no idea if my vote was counted
accurately, or at all. Read
More...
Another thing duct tape is not good for
11/13/06 18:31 Filed in: Humor
People from NASA engineers to photographers to
campers know the power of Duct Tape. It's a miracle
product. It helped save the lives of the Apollo 13
astronauts. People have used it for all kinds of
crazy things... even clothing and wart removal
(Really! A medical study found it was more
effective than conventional treatments!). There
are whole web sites devoted to
enumerating the uses for the stuff. Read
More...
iChanged
11/11/06 12:02 Filed in: Apple
(or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the
Mac)
I mentioned earlier that there were some "life changes" underway. If you asked most people to list "major life events", they'd probably come up with things like births, deaths, marriage, divorce, moving, changing jobs, etc. Some good, some bad. All of mine were of the "good" kind fortunately. One of mine was changing jobs, and maybe I'll write more about that later. Another major change is one that is missing from that list, one that most people wouldn't think of, but that is pretty major for a guy like me: changing platforms.
Read More...
I mentioned earlier that there were some "life changes" underway. If you asked most people to list "major life events", they'd probably come up with things like births, deaths, marriage, divorce, moving, changing jobs, etc. Some good, some bad. All of mine were of the "good" kind fortunately. One of mine was changing jobs, and maybe I'll write more about that later. Another major change is one that is missing from that list, one that most people wouldn't think of, but that is pretty major for a guy like me: changing platforms.
Read More...