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In the video game Fallout: New Vegas, there’s a very important item–a kind of MacGuffin, really–that looks like a platinum poker chip, but which turns out to be a data storage device.

Well, a fan of the game actually took it upon himself to build a working platinum chip/data storage device. Pretty cool.

Actually, they apparently do mass-produce platinum-colored data storage devices that are about the size and shape of a poker chip. Amusingly, I discovered this fact after I had already played New Vegas, and I did what must have been quite a comical double take upon seeing it.

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I just started reading George Orwell’s book Homage to Catalonia. It’s a fascinating read for a host of reasons, not least for passages like this:

“When a man refused to obey an order, you did not immediately get him punished; you first appealed to him in the name of comradeship. Cynical people with no experience of handling men will say instantly that this would never work, but as a matter of fact it does ‘work’, in the long run.”

I confess that, when I read the first line, I myself thought “that would never work”.

What amazes me most about the book so far, though, is how witty Orwell could be, given the fact that the period he is describing–like most of his life, really–was quite miserable.

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National Review has an interesting piece on the“American exceptionalism” issue. They argue:

“The liberal case begins by confusing exceptionalism for jingoism…. It is true that most Americans, and a disproportionate number of conservative Americans, consider this country to be the greatest nation in human history. But what believers in American exceptionalism affirm is a different proposition: that there are distinctive features of American society and governance — of our creed and our culture — that have contributed to our success. That view does not entail any obligation on the part of our leaders to believe in our country’s superiority to other nations, let alone to proclaim it constantly, as the liberal caricature of our view would have it.”

Pardon me, but that view seems to me to be a distinction without a difference. If, because our “creed and culture” are different we are more successful, then it is implied that we are better than other countries.
And if American exceptionalism does not mean we are better than other countries, then what is the point of constantly  worrying that Obama is ruining our exceptionalism? There’s no reason to complain that Obama wants to make us more like “social democracies”  of Europe unless you think that being more like the “social democracies” of Europe makes us worse off.
They are trying to get out of the “jingoism” charge, but in so doing they are effectively rendering their original complaint meaningless.

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Peter Hitchens, brother of Christopher, has an interesting post on his blog about how modern Western technology only functions in optimal conditions, whereas older, less sophisticated stuff–as made in Eastern Europe–works in all sorts of conditions:

“That’s why, if a conventional Third World War had ever been held, the USSR would probably have won. NATO planes would have been grounded by drizzle. Soviet MiGs would have flown in all weathers in huge numbers. NATO tanks, with their superb fire control, would have suffered ceaseless computer glitches. Soviet tanks, crude and simple, would have lumbered on regardless and kept shooting.”

Weaponry aside, it is an interesting issue that I suspect comes up in the design philosophy of all sorts of things.

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While (still!) reading about the WikiLeaks affair, I was listening to some music. The song “Disorder in the House” by Warren Zevon and Jorge Calderon came up in the shuffle. It contains these lines:

“It’s the Home of the Brave and the Land of the Free;

Where the less you know, the better off you’ll be.”

Anyway, I was thinking of doing a post on my opinion of WikiLeaks, (as opposed to just tweaking the Republicans and Tea Party like I’ve been doing) but it’s kind of hard, largely because I’m not sure what my opinion is yet. It’s a complex issue.

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How ironic would it be if, as suggested by prominent Conservative writer Charles Krauthammer, Julian Assange were prosecuted under the Espionage Act of 1917; an act originally endorsed by the Conservatives’ hated foe; the alleged “Liberal Fascist” Woodrow Wilson?

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The Republicans/Tea Partiers are really beginning to show their true beliefs on this WikiLeaks thing. You know, you’d think they would be worried about “too much government power”; but no, they’re calling for imprisonment (or more severe punishment) for Julian Assange.

In contrast to this, Ron Paul said: “In a free society we’re supposed to know the truth. In a society where truth becomes treason, then we’re in big trouble. And now, people who are revealing the truth are getting into trouble for it.” (It’s good to have an actual libertarian around so people know what one is like, as opposed to the Tea Party crowd.)

Don’t get me wrong; I think these leaks pose a damned serious National security threat, and we ought to put a stop to it. But I also think that “WikiLeaks-must-be-destroyed, violently-if-need-be” is an odd stance to take for people who keep saying that “the government that governs best governs least”.

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“Equipped with the right brains and education but wholly out of the habit of using them.” That was how H.P. Lovecraft described Robert W. Chambers in a letter to a friend.

I often think of this quote when reading Thomas L. Friedman’s columns. He has interesting ideas, but he also has extremely stupid ideas. On top of that, I’ve always found his writing style quite poor, though many people disagree with me on that.

Anyway though, I liked Friedman’s latest column, which imagines what it would be like if China’s cables were leaked via Wikileaks. This little thought experiment is rather interesting, even if he does play it mostly for humor:

 “Americans are now fighting over how “exceptional” they are. Once again, we are not making this up. On the front page of The Washington Post on Monday there was an article noting that Republicans Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee are denouncing Obama for denying “American exceptionalism.” The Americans have replaced working to be exceptional with talking about how exceptional they still are. They don’t seem to understand that you can’t declare yourself “exceptional,” only others can bestow that adjective upon you.” 

Forgive me a bit of blogger vanity, but I’m glad somebody else pointed this out.