Potpourri CL

I haven't done one of these in awhile, but I'll keep the links to a minimum, for your sanity's sake, and mine.

Science fiction writer Charles Stross has a provocative essay on why space exploration is inherently incompatible with the libertarianism that seems to pervade so much of the pro-space community.  It's not that I disagree with most of Stross's individual points, but I think he's missing a crucial aspect of the appeal of space exploration, even among non-libertarian white males, which is simply the romantic notion many human beings have of going "where no one has gone before," which includes more than a little "frontier narrative."

I found an intriguing paper via Facebook that links creativity to law-breaking. I have a very long response to this paper in the works, but I'm a little on the sleepy side to finish it this evening. The truth is out there.

From Lin: Interesting conflict of values in the whole "green power" debate: if those giant windmills kill hundreds or thousands of bats, birds, etc., which faction of the environmental movement wins that debate?

From Karen: a personal website for one of folks who designs cool things for Hollywood.

From Martin: a wiki for those interested in commercial space.

Oh, here's a shock (sarcasm font ON): Huntsville has been rated among the top 10 geekiest cities in America.

From Antoinette: celebrity commentaries on the stupid stuff you see on TV.

From OpenCulture:

• An interview with Jorge Luis Borges recorded before the eminent SF writer died.
• Harvard University has released an open-source program to help scholars create project-related web sites in a hurry.

From Jerry Pournelle: some remarks on the Tea Party movement and its effect on the American political scene, as well as other matters.

From Jim P.: The top ten human-hating ecologists.

From Mom: a time-lapse video showing the "progress" of unemployment across the country. Note the "bright" spots in the underpopulated Great Plains and just outside Washington, DC. If those are the choices...think I'll tough it out here in Huntsville. The taxes are lower and the weather's warmer.

I'm probably going to lose my battle against my buying urges on this one: a Star Wars sun shade for the dashboard.

From Janel (a.k.a. FemiFist): some suggested links if you need to do web tracking of your marketing efforts.

And I think that'll about do it. Have a good week, everyone. Keep the chaos down to a minimum on your end, and I'll try to do the same on mine, 'kay?