Daily Kos asks how Southerners get away with displaying the Confederate flag (original). Well, you know, it is a symbol of Southern pride. Recognizing that is just as important as recognizing that US arrogance pisses off the rest of the world, sometimes. The issue here is that the Confederate flag has two meanings, and the second darker meaning is not inherently associated with the first. It’s not safe to assume that those who care about the first meaning also care about the second. It is possible to be proud of one’s heritage without being proud of slavery. It’s futile to tell an entire region that their entire heritage is crap because of one prominent blemish. ...

Yeah, so I hesitated for about half a second before pointing to NationStates. Now you, too, can run your own country with whatever policies and attitudes you like. On my first day as ruler of the Free Land of Velodrome (original), I was faced with an animal rights issue: “The increasingly militant Animal Liberation Front struck again last night, freeing dozens of chickens bound for delicious snack packs.” I had to agree with Billy-Bob Longfellow, who said “These nuts have got to be stopped. They need to face the fact people want snack packs, no matter how many innocent chickens must be sacrificed. Besides, chickens would do the same to us if they had the chance.” Sure, my economist argued that we should just tax meat-eating, but I’m not a tax and spend kind of a guy. ...

[Charlie Stross](http://web.archive.org/web/20190222120932/http://web.archive.org/web/20190222120932/http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blosxom.cgi/ (original)/) (original) and Cory Doctorow collaborated on a short story entitled “Jury Service,” which has been serialized on SciFi.com. The whole story is up now. Fun reading for geeks. Not entirely deep, though; I’d kind of have to classify it as what eluki bes shahar calls phatic text. I.e., it’s very comforting fiction. To a certain class of extropian geek, reading this is like drinking a glass of warm milk. The story is in service of the extrapolation: Huw is secondary to the cool transhuman technology. I am, alas, not compelled by Huw — I’m compelled by what happened to him. ...

British Pathe (original) has put all their old newsreels online. You can download lowres versions for free; they sell higher res versions as well. Kind of a cool glimpse into the world of British newsreels. I really like the Lucky Dip feature, which displays the info for 20 random clips.

According to the Washington Post, the CIA is torturing prisoners in Afghanistan. The best quote from the article: “‘If you don’t violate someone’s human rights some of the time, you probably aren’t doing your job,’ said one official who has supervised the capture and transfer of accused terrorists.” Fun stuff. Reportedly, the CIA has also turned prisoners over to various countries for interrogation, including Syria. Last time I looked, Syria was not near the top of our friendly powers list. ...

I am enjoying a little post-festivity relaxation; of late, I’ve desired more alone time, so this is working out very well. Mom’s headed back home to beat the storm, and my brother and his wife are relaxing at their place, two doors down from me. Whoops, he’s come up to borrow DVDs and play some Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Sadly, the game does not provide Christmas music; I was hoping, but then again, it’s not as if I ever told my Playstation what the date is. I am deeply pleased with my gifts this year. My brother got me this coffee table (or at least, that’s what I’m going to use it for); also, a tremendously cool calendar (original). Be sure to look at the detail shots, and note that it has birthdays for all the major figures in the field. I think today of all days, Population: One gets pictures. Follow the link to find my brother and his wife (all together: “Awwwww.”); the Christmas tree; and my mother’s clever Lincoln Log set that comes in a ballpoint pen (my gift, and I am smug). They are clickable, if you want the full monty. Happy holidays.

This is probably the most brutal quiz I’ve ever seen. Here’s last year’s. Here are the answers from last year. Ow. I got four this year, assuming I was correct when I think I was, but I’m pretty confident.

Ray Wallace (recently deceased) created Bigfoot. I think the moral of this story is that individuals can have a profound effect on the world. Seriously!

I’m a geek. I’ve finally given into the desire to make Population: One even more full of cute little Web gimmicks; namely, we’re PHP-based now. If this means nothing to you, you ought to ignore it, which is generally good advice around here. Unless I’m talking about politics; all that stuff is Holy Writ. Anyhow, I abashedly admit that I made the change simply so that I could implement the random quote you’ll see over there on the right of the page under the Search box. There. See it? Yeah. It’s random. ...

Funniest damn thing I’ve read in a while. Excerpt: Madame Galadriel, famous Elf Queen, Had a forbidding realm, nevertheless Is known to be the wisest woman in Middle-Earth, With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she, Is your card, the drowned Wizard, (Those are the grey robes that were his garb. Look!) Here is Eowyn, the Lady of the Horses, The lady of battle. Here is the man with many colors, and here the Staff, And here is the one-eyed Sauron, and this card, Which is blank, is something he searches for in your pack, Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find The Uruk-Hai. Fear death by Nazgul. I see crowds of people, talking about a Ring. Thank you. If you see dear Master Gamgee, Tell him I bring the mallorn myself: One must be so careful these days. ...