Ex Bibliotheca

The life and times of Zack Weinberg.

Thursday, 17 April 2003

# 8:20 AM

on returning to the haunts of one's youth

Today I walked to Mr. Mopps, which is a toy store on MLK at Rose, here in Berkeley. They have the most amazingly ridiculous stuffed lion in their front window. When I was a small child we used to go there all the time, but I hadn't been there since. I remember its being much bigger. I'm not sure if that is because I was so much smaller then, or whether the huge area (fully half of the building) that's now employees-only used to be open to the public. I have this vague recollection that Mr. Mopps was shut down for some time in the mid-nineties, and probably changed ownership at least once; perhaps that has something to do with it.

While it is clearly an excellent place to go for toys for children, I didn't see anything there that really grabbed my interest. I wasn't really looking to buy stuff, but even then, I can go into a place like Games of Berkeley not looking to buy stuff and still find nifty things. I guess I'm not the target customer anymore.

On the way back it started to rain lightly. Walking in light rain, without a jacket, is one of those things that's more fun than you remember, when you're all grown up and bored with toy stores. But I'm glad to be reminded, now and then.

things that make me grumpy

Teresa has a pair of posts relating to the war in Iraq and its aftermath, titled And this is evidence of...? and Reading comprehension, and other problems. Reading the two of them back to back I end up wondering why I still live in this country. It grows increasingly harder to apply Hanlon's Razor to the Iraq situation and to all the other things that the present administration has pulled. And if it isn't incompetence to blame, if Bush and Rumsfeld and fellow cronies have a plan they are operating by, then its goal is not one I will stick around to see accomplished.

Except that there isn't anywhere to go, really. If the government of the USA wanted to transmogrify itself into a global hegemony it could succeed. There would be a lot of blood spilt and a lot of ideals gone by the wayside, but I am not sure anything could stop it. And at that point the only thing to do is hang out in the desert trying to hitch a ride on a passing UFO.

I think my personal last straw will be the outcome of the 2004 elections, and in particular whether there will be reason to believe that they are rigged. (The fix might already be in, depending on what the makers of computerized voting machines are up to. I am not optimistic.)

things that make me cheer up again

Discover Magazine has a feature on thermal depolymerization, which looks like a solution to a very broad category of chemical- and biological-waste problems. And furthermore, the design principle (totally closed cycle) is one that will hopefully gain more currency in the broader field of chemical engineering, if the pilot plants are successful. Less toxic waste is always a good thing.

And, this bizarre yet fascinating piece of Flash art. I'm not sure how many sub-animations there are, or how interactive they are, or what. I could spend hours playing. But I really should go to bed now. (This link courtesy of Diane Duane's weblog. If you've never heard of Diane Duane, go immediately to your friendly local bookstore and acquire a copy of The Sword and the Dragon; you will not be disappointed.)