The Raven

Tuesday, November 19, 2002

From Nazis to Neurons

Politics do make strange bedfellows. In Orange County, Calif., cops have busted 3 members of a local Aryan Nations group on a range of charges. The Raven confesses to have no love for these members of the "master race," although it is a bit unnerving that the police in this case had no probable cause. Well, no cause except that these were members of the Aryan Nations who had a penchant for bomb-making and kiddie porn.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said the action was part of a law enforcement effort to target such groups.

And AP got a piece of the story, too, running at Nando:

The charges culminated a two-month investigation opened after anti-Semitic fliers were discovered in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Were their civil liberties violated here? Probably. Will I lose sleep over it? Nope. The weird part of this story is that "authorities found a letter addressed to a white supremacist group advocating that the Aryan Nations align itself with Islamic extremists to target Jews and the U.S. government." I keep trying to picture the group picnic and it isn't working. "Abdullah? Gimme a beer!" "It is forbidden by Allah!" "Why you—

Compassion and Caring

Last weekend when we were in Palm Beach, the Ravenatrix and I were walking over to a restaurant where we had reservations. It was about a half mile from the hotel, a pleasant stroll sure to whet the appetite. We had just crested a hill at about the midway point when a car pulls up alongside us. The window comes down and from her air-conditioned comfort the driver calls to us:

"Excuse me, I'm very sorry to bother you..."

We paused, and both began to mentally prepare the usual "we don't live here" thing you say when someone in a strange town asks you for directions. We weren't prepared for what she did say, however.

"Could you please spare some money so I can get gas?"

This was a first. A motorist panhandling pedestrians for the price of petrol. I reviewed my options. A) Flip her off and keep walking. B) Shrug and keep walking. C) Fork over a buck.

What would you have done?

No Fear

Remember Francis Crick and James D. Watson? Right, the DNA guys. After winning the Nobel, Crick went on to work in some esoteric areas of biology. According to this article in the LA Times, he's turned his attention to solving the riddle of human consciousness. A few years ago, he and Caltech professor Christof Koch formulated the Crick-Koch hypothesis:

At the heart of the Crick-Koch hypothesis is a simple idea with vast implications. It is that consciousness, rather than representing some spiritual or God-given quality, is a biological process like digestion or circulation, generated by the activity of neurons in the brain.

Hardly a radical notion, but the schism between biology and neurology hasn't been bridged yet and we're still looking for a biological explanation of what "mind" is. What Crick ran into was a bias in academia against investigations of this nature, long considered "the surest route off the tenure track." That's because once you start trying to pin down what consciousness is in empirical terms, the metaphysical stuff follows closely.

Neuroscientists are contemplating the implications of research suggesting that our emotions and personalities are largely manifestations of impersonal electrochemical events in the brain: If we demystify the image of ourselves as entities with free will, if we banish from our culture a conception of the human soul as something spiritual, what kind of people will we become?

Personally, I don't accept that statement. I think we are electrochemically based organisms that have free will, but I see where the author is coming from and I understand the argument. As a side question, I wonder if a scientific definition and explication of consciousness will lead us toward the development of human-like forms of artificial intelligence?

6:54:56 PM

A Fistful of Dynamite

A great title for today's entries, but also the name of a classic Sergio Leone spaghetti western starring James Coburn.

It was not good to wake up this morning and read that he died yesterday at 74, because he was one of my archetypes. His lead in Our Man Flint was, while a bit tongue-in-cheek, the essence of suave machismo. And when they needed to cast the role of Kurosawa's Zen swordsman from The Seven Samurai in the Hollywood remake The Magnificent Seven, he bore not only a resemblance to the Japanese character, but carried himself in the same austere fashion. It has been said that if you want to know how to look good in a tuxedo, watch Sean Connery. To which I'll add that Coburn's the one to study for tips on how to be sexy in a turtleneck.

All That and a Bag of Potato Chips

Speaking of sexy, ABC appears to be going astray in their latest reality TV programming effort: a search for the "sexiest person in America." The show will be titled, Are You Hot?

According to the promo stuff, the network knows full well that sexiness is a highly subjective characteristic, so they're loading the judging panel with ascerbic-tongued smarmies who will do their best to puncture hopeful contestant egos while winnowing the field down to 16 semifinalists, who callers will then get to vote on.

But they'll have entertaining skills, right? Nope. Special talents? Nope.

You don't have to be talented to be on this show. You don't have to sing, you don't have to dance, you don't have to do anything—except think you're hot. It's good, pure fun.

The Raven doesn't think this sounds good, pure, or fun. Quite the reverse, which is why this will undoubtedly be a major hit.

Your Jail Sentence May Vary

Selling pirated software and music over the Internet is not very bright and certainly not legal. That's why the people who do this are technically referred to as "stupid criminals." That's also why they get caught. But the latest display of their idiocy are these disclaimer pages they've been putting on their storefront Websites.

"If you enter this site you are violating code 431.322.12 of the Internet Privacy Act signed by Bill Clinton in 1995 and that means that you cannot threaten our [Internet providers] or any person(s) or company storing these files. You cannot prosecute any person(s) affiliated with this page which includes family, friends or individuals who run or enter this Web site."

A googlecheck on "code 431.322.12" returns over 8,000 hits on pages worldwide, like this one for Replica Oakley Sunglasses, a bunch of scumbags who rip off Oakley copyright designs and figure this little bit of lawyerspeak keeps 'em all safe and protected. There's just one little snag:

Though the confusing verbiage smacks of legalese, the disclaimer is legally meaningless. There is no "Internet Privacy Act."

Bruce Lehman, a lawyer who worked on Internet copyright law for the Clinton administration, offers a plausible explanation for why this urban legend-based disclaimer is proliferating: "Since they're all pirates," he said, "they all copy it."

1:26:22 PM