Ghost of a flea

The Kylie Bible

Ahh, the elusive Kylie Bible. So near. Yet so dear. Independently wealthy Flea-readers might consider this deConstruction promo book as if it was on my wish list. A snip at £224.99! I would move to any country with the correct power supply for this out-of-stock Spinning Around lamp. Sadly, I even yearn for this Kylie branded Evian water.

The Birthday Massacre: Blue

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Harry Potter sleuthing

Some theories about the shocking finale of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince may be had by following this link. Once again, if you have not read the book and plan to then best forget this post for now (via Xiaxue).

Dungeons & Dragons made simple

The Joycean complexity of Dungeons & Dragons made simple at last (via KiP).

Collins-class

A May 2002 internal report to the Australian navy, obtained by The Weekend Australian, revealed their six Collins-class attack submarines have been "plagued by far more serious safety issues than has been publicly admitted." More worrying still is troubling evidence of an "out of sight out of mind" attitude to the problem.

Cameron Stewart suggests a culture of secrecy, invaluable to the submarine service in a war-fighting context, may have contributed.

Irréductibles Gaulois

Michel Foucault is said to have been worried about the translation of his works into English. Having been written in opposition to "the know-it-all leftism of the Communist Party", it would be difficult to anticipate how his writing might be made sense of by readers unfamiliar with that context. Having worked as an academic in primarily English-speaking contexts, this is one of the most sensible things I have ever read Foucault to have said about his own work. A funny observation about authority and authorship can be credited to Foucault (and on a related note to Roland Barthes). Names like Freud, Marx or, in a telling irony, Foucault are often used to summarize a set of philosophical, political or epistemological assertions at variance with some or all of the writings of the people to whom the names had once been attached.

And academics are probably the worst offenders. I believe Foucault's thinking has suffered particularly from interpretation both literal and intellectual. I cannot say how many academics I have met who will spout this or that ostensibly Foucauldian line having never read the man even in translation, content instead to rely on the work of Judith Butler to guide them (she makes an even bigger mess of Jacques Lacan). It is a situation precisely analogous to so many in RPG fandom who, thanks to Chaosium, are conversant with the precise stats of unknowable entities such as Yog-Sothoth or Hastur but who have never cracked the spine of an H.P. Lovecraft short story collection.

Foucault's writing on sexuality has probably been the most influential facet of his work to this point (Butler is much better on this material) but sadly has been almost universally read, at least in English-speaking North American contexts, by people without the vaguest clue of the classical sources on which Foucault's line of reasoning is based. Worse still, people do not seem to consider this sort of ignorance a barrier to understanding let alone a difficulty that might usefully be addressed. Say what you like about French foreign policy but the French education system appears still to give weight to a shared resource in the metaphors of antiquity. Darmok and Jilad at Tanagra! This is perhaps the reason French scholarship finds less need to cite every little detail than is typical of English-language scholarly publication. It would insult the reader, and waste the writer's time, to explain this or that joke as an allusion to Plato. English-speaking academics, crippled by the lack of a decent education in history and an ever dwindling pool of shared myth beyond The Simpson's, have read their own cultural and moral relativism, their own sneering dismissal of meaning, into Foucault's writing. As if a street preacher with a second or third order translation of Scripture could be expected to make sense of the gematria of a priestly writer of the post-Babylonian exile.

Foucault's writing on "governmentality" suffers even more from translation. I once attended a lecture by Alain Touraine* on culture and society where, having watched French neo-fascists equate "culture" with nation and authenticity, he reversed some of his early '70s critiques of "society". The other Canadians in the audience were scandalized Touraine dare criticize "culture", a concept that has been enshrined as a blurry, mythic touchstone of Canadian political thinking. Inevitable charges of "racism" were levelled. Well, of course the Canadians had not only got it precisely backwards but had somehow contrived to get it sideways. In their insistence on the sacrosanct Being of culture they repeated the neat academic trick of having a disagreement with someone about an argument he had not made (a not entirely unfamiliar habit in the blogosphere). Quite simply, when a French academic is talking about "society" or "the State" they do not mean anything remotely like an Anglosphere complex of representativeness, precedent or the reasonable person. It is not just the words in which French theory is written that require translation for exclusively English-speaking readers but the ideas the words represent and the context in which they were representing, unfamiliar to people raised in an English-speaking polity. It seems people need to earn a PhD in order to miss a point that is so blindingly obvious.

It is with these concerns in mind that I am hesitant to express strong opinions about Foucault's writings about Iran and Islam. Jonathan Rée's "The Treason of the Clerics", source of Foucault's observation about the perils of translation, reviews Janet Afary and Kevin B. Anderson's book about Foucault's brief adventure in political journalism in Foucault and the Iranian Revolution. Rée's summary is a credible critique of Afary and Anderson's collection, one I will read regardless, but is I think more important for demonstrating an inevitable difficulty of a philosophy of uncertainty faced with an absolutist ideology. This latter way of thinking sometimes finds its expression in Marxist or feminist thought.

As they have since the triumph of the Islamists in the Iranian revolution. I am extremely sympathetic to much of Foucault's way of thinking if not with regard to the Iranian revolution. But I have become convinced these last several years it is much easier for people who have at least some sense of moral absolutes to comprehend the seriousness of the men who are trying to kill or convert us all. For all Foucault's talk of a "political spirituality" it is far from clear to me what the phrase might mean. But then I suppose that was his point. I can only hope the folks who bastardize Foucault's writing in their wicked pursuit of an absolutist relativism do not contrive to get us put to the sword for fear of offending the cultural distinctiveness of the men who wield them.

*Here is an example of Touraine's recent thinking about community, society and globalization. Interesting stuff and plenty to disagree with.

Where the Wild Roses Grow

"Do you know where the wild roses grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?"

Nick Cave says skepticism at his writing a song for Kylie Minogue was a pure idea, systematically debased. Tabloid headings like "Kylie Strips For Satanic Video" notwithstanding.

I had never heard an urban myth about Nick Cave and a London flat replete with Kylie posters and paraphernalia. But then I had not thought of "Where the Wild Roses Grow" for some time. I was reminded of it as I watched Kylie, Nick Cave and the Pogue's Shane MacGowan stumbling through a television performance of Bob Dylan's "Death is Not the End". Sublime. It turns out the song Nick Cave wrote for Kylie afforded him a long held desire to work with the Pop Pixie. A 1995 Australia Rolling Stones article quotes him as saying that shooting a video together was "close to a religious experience."

Well, I can only imagine. Watching Where the Wild Roses Grow is close enough to a religious experience. And watch the hands, you cad!

Little Britain

Despite worrying reports of the seriousness of her cancer battle, Flea-readers will be pleased to learn of Kylie Minogue's continued pluck in making her recovery. Kylie's sister, Dannii explains that "laughter is the best medicine" and to that end the two have been snuggling up to watch Little Britain.

Shapeshifters: Lola's Theme

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Wizard Challenge

I managed 7 on this Harry Potter trivia wizard challenge.

Machine Gun Vs Katana

It is not so much that the outcome of this machine gun vs katana match was in any doubt. It is how impressive the katana is as it stands up to the rounds in slo-mo. Flea-readers better informed in gunnery than I am might be able to say the kind of forces involved.

Thank you for listening

This Slate article about L. Ron Hubbard is remarkable largely for a link to the noted poet/lyricist singing "Thank you for listening". Scientology pop music experts explain the song utilizes "elements from several genres—from honky-tonk and free-swinging jazz to cutting-edge electronic rock. The result is a wholly new dimension in space opera sound." The man was clearly a genius. A genius. I know what a genius is. I know. The man was a genius.

V For Vendetta

The director of V For Vendetta says the film will retain scenes that include bombings in the London Underground. Given the protagonist of Alan Moore's graphic novel is a witty bomber taking on the fascist "Norsefire" British government this material is inevitably in questionable taste but particularly so at this time. Such is the moral inversion of romantic fascist activism and boring old representative government all too typical of some people when their specific political programme fails to find purchase in the hearts of the electorate. Given the unrelenting criticism of UK government policy and police action in response to mass murder, and what can only be described as muted criticism of those sassy jihadis, by all the usual suspects this film certainly runs the risk of further confusing the stupid.

Nor apparently is that lying trope of 100,000 dead that makes its way into the trailer. A prevailing blame the victim (or the government or the Americans or the police or just about anyone except the bomber) rhetoric means I do not hold out much hope this film will "make people think" anything except that their passive support for mass murder is somehow justified by opposition to Margaret Thatcher, hope for the future Labour government of 1983 and moronic optimism about unilateral disarmament.

More important, how hot is Natalie Portman with a shaved head? Almost too hot. That's how.

Rock Star INXS report

Last night's supposedly shocking installment of Rock Star INXS saw two contestants shown the exit instead of the expected one. All bets are off! This just shows anything can happen! One bad performance and it's all downhill from there!

The singers looked genuinely flabbergasted. Don't these people watch television? First off, I am reasonably certain I am the only person watching the show and, while I am prone to buy any old crap they might advertise, an audience of one is not going to support three nights a week of '80s Australiana indefinitely. No matter how many times the show floats that stadium audience of 100,000 fantasy figure, this is INXS we are talking about. When at this late date people are still making (arguably tasteless and hurtful, shame on you) jokes about autoerotic asphyxiation you have some rebranding to do. Barring an aesthetic epiphany (hey, we were never that great a band in the first place!) and retirement to the Outback these guys had to start kicking off more than one person at a time or face cancellation.

Second, and following the same logic, how many weeks are there until the fall season? One less would be INXS member a week was still going to leave too many would be INXS members surplus to requirements for the scheduling train-wreck on the horizon. I am shocked Mark Burnett has yet to cut to the chase and cut all the no hopers for the benefit of those of us in the reality-based reality-television community. Inked up and angsty, J.D. Fortune is the next lead singer of INXS so let's just have the camera follow him around getting drunk and having feelings. And if his inter-personal skills keep him from taking his coveted place there is always the ludicrously named MiG to do the job.

The Raveonettes: Love in a Trashcan

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Stirling Prize

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced its shortlist for the 2005 Stirling Prize. Nice, but nothing that meets last year's Gherkin gold-standard.

The Backstroke of the West

Fun with Engrish. And the Presbyterian Church (via Bow. James Bow).

Spammer beaten to death

Now there's a tagline that writes itself. Well known Russian spammer, Vardan Kushnir was found beaten to death.

Our Beer, version 1.0

At the instigation of Copenhagen-based artist, Rasmus Nielsen, and demonstrating a striking productivity, creativity and initiative given these are university undergraduate students, some Danes have created open source beer.

The Our Beer source code can be found at the Vores Øl website.

Doctor Who theme music

A BBC Radio 2 piece explores how Ron Grainer's Doctor Who theme "still sounds like the pop music of an era we have not got to yet, where all the pop music is made by robots." Also absolutely critical to learn about the role of Delia Derbyshire* in, oh, say, actually recording the theme and her pivotal, not fully recognized, role in the history of electronic music. She was a genius and deserves a posthumous award of some kind.

Daphne Oram and story of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop are also important. Once you have given some thought to their work you might take a hand at composing your own with this handy BBC Radiophon-A-Tron. Diddly-Dum and Wee Wah Woo are wonderful but Weirdly Happy brings a tear to my eye. Perhaps this only makes sense if you grew up hiding behind the sofa.

*I am amazed I have not heard Delia Derbyshire's "visionary piece", Ziwzhi Ziwzhi oo-oo-oo from "The Prophet" sampled anywhere. "Reason" is a great Asimov short story. You will soon be chanting along too (too too too).

Ziwzhi Ziwzhi oo-oo-oo-oo
Ziwzhi Ziwzhi oo-oo-oo-oo
Praise to the master,
his wisdom and his glory.

Doctor Who classic clips

These Doctor Who classic clips are a nice alternative to getting any (non-time travel related) work done. Flea-readers unfamiliar with the Who oeuvre should pay special attention to "Royal Blood" in the How Evil! section for an introduction to Flea-fav Romana. That was a great episode.

10th Doctor

David Tennant has the ideal Flea-ish look as the new Dr. Who in this BBC promotional image. Tennant is calling the look geek chic. Now to find a pair of cream plimsolls in downtown Toronto (hat tip to the Sister of the Flea).

Chemical Brothers: The Test 2002

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

A Clockwork Orange

It is hard not messel some shilarnied parents, and Bart Simpson as that lil malchick Alex, if you smot at this prodding of A Clockwork Orange. Now how about some of the old Ludvig Van, my malenky droogs?

(hat tip to the Flea's Nadsat Droog)

How it works

The computer circa 1971 (and 1979).

Thongs, public transit and civil liberty

I recently filled in a "customer feedback" form for the Toronto Public Library to thank them for installing bicycle hitching posts outside their Lillian H. Smith Branch (home of the Merril sf collection). My praise was not without reservation, however, as I pointed out that as a Toronto resident I am a patron, not a customer, of the public library.

This is a distinction I take seriously. If I want to be a customer I will go to a private business. As a library patron of a public service I have different rights and obligations than I do as a customer of a private concern, a distinction that applies not only to myself but to library staff, the character of the library's collection, its hours of operation and so forth. As a patron I am not buying a service but making use of a service to which I am entitled as a citizen, a tax-payer and a city resident.

All of these issues in mind, it is worth pointing out a somewhat perfunctory ritual I go through every time I leave the Metropolitan Reference Library branch. The Reference library is, as the name suggests, not a lending library but made up of archives, periodicals and other research materials. As such, patrons do not remove materials from the branch and, to provide some certainty light-fingered patrons should forego temptation, security guards check bags on the way out the door.

Is this a dramatic inconvenience? No. More important, is this a violation of my civil liberties? Hardly. The right of the people of Toronto to protect our archive collection from theft supercedes my right to have access to that collection without the marginal limitation of consenting to a bag check. So what precisely would be the difference between a search conducted to protect a library collection and a search to protect myself and my fellow passengers in the public transit system? I understand many people, including myself, will not be entirely comfortable with peace officers rummaging through our backpacks and there is an undeniable, if slight, loss of privacy in undergoing such rummaging. But then I think it is a stretch to suggest there is a constitutional right to using public transit under any circumstance. The TTC would not let me ride the subway clad only in a sequin, maple leaf thong or brandishing a Frank Frazetta battle axe (or both... there's your unwanted visual for the day) so I am not certain by what right I should be able to carry whatever I want in my baggage unchallenged.

Privacy is a right. But so is a reasonable expectation the TTC is exercising due care to reduce the odds I will be blown to bits by religious maniacs. The preponderance would seem to lie with protecting the latter at a slight detriment to the former. Casual observation of the subway platforms at Yonge and Bloor, or the Go Train terminal at Union Station, during any evening rush-hour suggest the horrendous casualties that could be inflicted by suicide bombers. Or for that matter by bombers less convinced of their heavenly reward. There is no need for them to engage in a "self-sacrifice operation" when they can still exploit the majority of commuters who have yet to take seriously the risk of unattended packages. I am now convinced this country will only learn its peril when the atrocity is upon us.

Women on the verge the Flea would give rubies to date even though it would almost certainly end in disaster

1. Björk
2. Winona Ryder
3. Mylène Farmer
4. Anne Heche
5. Angelina Jolie (obviously*)

*I am placing this link to Angelina Jolie naked in some early film outing as its contents may be distressing to sensitive Flea-readers in search of a plot. I cannot make out why Angelina would press herself up against a chain-link fence or why this would necessitate a blonde woman I don't recognize deciding the appropriate response would be to take off her clothes and press herself against the other side of said fence. Nowt so queer as folk as they say in't the North.

1.5 million dollars

Following Glenn Reynolds' calculations and comparing our most recent weeks' SiteMeter statistics the Flea should fetch US$1.5m from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. I could only agree to a sale at that price with the greatest reluctance.

Duran Duran: Wild Boys

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Postage paid

Jason Bell offers tips on replying to snail-mail spamming, a phenomenon that used to quite aptly be referred to as junk mail. Now I wonder if the same tactic would work with Canadian postage paid envelopes (via Gay Orbit).

Halley Research Station

A "futuristic design" has been chosen for the new British Antarctic Survey Halley Research Station. The Faber Maunsell concept looks straight-forward to build. Perhaps it was the climbing wall that sold it. I wonder if they are looking for an anthropologist...

Hans Island update

The Flea continues to report as two arctic titans clash once again over the tiny, isolated, desolate and uninhabited disputed territory of Hans Island.

Which would all be laughable if Denmark and Canada did not have rather more pressing matters of security and defense demanding their attention. Or for that matter if anybody else on earth recognized either country's sovereignty over these Arctic territories or water-ways let alone any badly defined exclusive economic zone. For the moment I expect Canada to bumble along while the Vikings rove around the place in their rather impressive Thetis-class ice-cutting frigates (supposedly fisheries OPVs).* And in irony related Arctic news, while Canada cannot decide what aircaft might best be used to assert our hypothetical sovereignty in Nunavut the Danes are buying new patrol aircraft from... drumroll please... Canada.

*On a related note: Canada has a warship! (via the Castle)

Update: July 29, 2005 Anyone wondering just where Hans Island might be when it is at home can check this CTV piece for a map. Wikipedia, ever resourceful, has a better map and the above photo first published in the ship's newsletter of the HDMS Triton, a Danish frigate. The Associated Press reports Danish and Canadian Google ad buys promoting their respective territorial claims (though I have yet to see them appear at the Flea). Canadians feeling patriotic stirrings can visit Rick Broadhead's website... just turn up your speakers.

South Park Studio

South Park Studio presents the Flea. This representation is close to 100% accurate.

Sugar Crash

Sugar Crash takes a moment to load but may be the single greatest webgame ever.

Bees: Chicken Payback

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Fuji TV Building

Fuji TV Building. So. Freaking. Cool.

Decorer

MasaManiA documents Decorer, a Japanese trend that demonstrates its lineage in Japan's fashion history, noted for muted palettes and public restraint in interpersonal etiquette.

Haado Gei

Haado Gei fans... welcome! Please come back and visit Ghost of a flea for more pop culture news. Think of it as an entertaining, free English lesson!

***

Razor Ramon "Hard Gay" Sumitani offers more of the personal restraint and caution in nonverbal interaction for which Japan is noted. It is reliably reported his somewhat less than credible leather hot-pants routine has made him "a firm favorite of Japan's fickle schoolgirl fans". These Haado Gei video clips are slow-loading so I have only seen two or three though hip-thrusting to Ricky Martin music is a recurring trope. Perhaps a Flea-reader in Japan could offer some context... though they are hilarious without understanding a word that is said.

Update: A fast-loading clip of Haado Gei in action can be found at Transbuddha.

Namie Amuro: Body Feels EXIT

I would have made Body Feels EXIT a Flea-dance but at 44 Mb only the most dedicated, high-bandwidth, too much time on their hands Flea-readers are likely to enjoy it properly.

I went in search of Namie Amuro videos after reading in Japan Today about her recent public appearance at Daiba Aquacity. But did I have any luck? Hardly. I am not certain what it means that it should be simpler to track down Danish viking metal on "the internet" than almost any J-pop video. Perhaps even media giants like Sony and so forth shudder at the thought of the bandwidth it would require to satiate J-pop's on-line audience. At least Namie Amuro's website offers a catchy loop from her latest single, "Queen of Hip Hop".

Zero Landmine

There I was innocently downloading review materials using eMule when I stumbled across Zero Landmine, a heartfelt plea to rid the world of landmines through the power of song. Suffice to say the charity anthem genre is not for me. If I could find an on-line copy I would link to it for the consideration of Flea-readers everywhere (a couple of these ads suggest the piece). No reason I should suffer alone.

This is what I get for deciding to watch anything provided the name David Sylvian or Sakamoto Ryuichi is attached. Even Cyndi Lauper does not manage to save this from its Ewok destiny. I had to download a Modesto Muñiz rendition of Nightporter from Sylvian's website to remind myself of my eternal devotion. And on the plus side clicking around lead me to this elephant in boots Chara website. Neat.

Tricky Dick

So you know Richard Nixon was a Quaker, right? Click through "to hear the greatest political song ever recorded." I freaking love that Norman Osborn hairstyle. Herbert Hoover was also a Quaker but a Gurneyite, a subject on which I should remain silent, lacking in any obvious supervillain powers and Bunnyless to boot. We're all Ranters now besides.*

*Esp. the Flea.

The Donald

I am adding this link late (12:00 EST) because I just spotted it on Instapundit but don't want to bump my Nixon photo. Having spent several years working in construction research this testimony by Donald Trump regarding the renovation costs for the United Nations building in Manhattan is fascinating.

Update: Moving the UN to the old WTC site... "Put them in on the top floor." Excellent, excellent idea even if that last detail was not the Donald's.

Blue Lagoon: Do you really want to hurt me?

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Escape from Balmoral 3D

Do you have what it takes to Defend the Faith? I found this one terrifying.

Stiff upper lick genetic, study says

It turns out Adrian Targett is not alone in belonging to a family that has not moved around much. Despite invasions, occupations and migrations by Celts, Saxons, Romans, Vikings, Normans and the rest Oxford archaeologist, David Miles says British genes are much the same as they have been since the last Ice Age.

Rain on your parade

Miss Universe, Natalie Glebova, was briefly barred from opening an event in the square outside Toronto city hall thanks to a fifteen year old city ordinance. Some folks think this displayed an unwarranted hypocrisy considering the skin on display at Toronto Pride. In fact, it only demonstrated the left-wing prudes had one last gasp in them at City Hall while the right-wing prudes on "the internet" have lost their fight to keep people from having fun at Pride. This blog has been attacked by prudes of the right and prudes of the left so I can relate to Miss Universe even if I will never remotely resemble her in a sash and tiara.

I hate to break up the, ahem, parade in comments to this scandalized post at Small Dead Animals but the Mayor of Toronto has apologized and made it clear Ms. Glebova is welcome.

So that makes Toronto intellectually and politically consistent on this subject. Which is more than I can say for many of the comments to Kate's post or, for that matter, the rest of Canada which apparently still has a lot to learn from downtown Toronto. Seriously folks, in a world where religious maniacs want to blow us to kingdom come, if you think this stuff is worth getting het up about (ha ha, I make joke) you need to get your priorities straight (har har, I slay me).

Those advocating a "Straight Pride Day" should consider the unfortunate resonance the demand has with those of scandalized folks who want a "White Pride" alternative to Black History Week. That said, the Flea says the sooner we have a Toronto Mardi Gras the better. It would be a cross to bear but if bare-breasted women in the streets and a Canadian version of the Hurricane are what it takes to quiet the anti-Pride lobby I imagine Toronto can shoulder the burden.

Update: Canadians exhibiting a natural curiosity about our winning Miss Universe entrant may want to peruse these images of Natalie Glebova doing various bikini and elephant related good deeds (and be sure not to miss Glebova's commentary on Toronto Bollywood fashion through that Miss Universe link).

Update: I think I have figured out the problem. All those socons sit transfixed at their computers obsessing over images of Pride and dangerous erototoxins have deranged their reasoning processes! Best not to keep looking and mind their own business lest they get over-erototoxed (via Instapundit).

Kate Ryan: Libertine (live)

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance. And to the video echoing with the spirit of Flea-goddess Mylene Farmer. That second one is possibly nsfw but what are you thinking looking at French pop videos at work in the first place? Hadn't thought of that one had you? No, I thought you hadn't.

I for one welcome our feline overlords

Some might say this piece suggests cats are not that bright. I think it is only one more example of cats messing with our heads (possible nsfw ads and who knows what the Dutch commentary is saying).

Google Moon

Google Earth is cool;
Google Moon is cooler.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

No spoilers

As the first signed copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince arrived in New York by armoured truck some folks already thought they knew how the story would end. One of them decided to casually mention the rumour they had heard to me some time ago and I am afraid that purported knowledge, thankfully innacurate as it turned out, coloured my reading of the book. Reports of Harry Potter spoiler related suicide are only a slight exaggeration. So, for heaven's sake, if you have not read the latest Harry Potter do not read the rest of this post let alone follow the links!

Spoilers follow:

Some have expressed the wishful view that in her latest book J.K. Rowling has taken a rhetorical stand against the "war on terror". Slate quotes Darren Cahr's reading of the novel, finding in it "a terror campaign that disrupts the lives of ordinary people and results in the deaths of innocents."

This much is true but Mr. Cahr has nevertheless missed the point. It is entirely possible, reasonable, even at times important to be skeptical of specific actions, policies or motivations of the Ministry of Magic or indeed of any government no matter how representative. Anyone who imagines a perfect bureaucracy really is living in a world of fantasy. It is another thing entirely to imagine this excuses the actions of Voldemort and his followers let alone pretend some finger-pointing at wizarding authorities substitutes for the need to confront and defeat evil directly. The Ministry of Magic may be handling the fight badly but at no point does Rowling suggest the real fight is with the Ministry rather than the Death Eaters. Quite the opposite. Slate's readership imagine itself to be too sophisticated to believe in good and evil. Fortunately, Rowling's readership is capable of grasping the simple moral fact of evil and the duty to challenge it. I am delighted a generation of children are being raised under her tutelage.

Though Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released only a few short days ago, Wikipedia is already listing continuity errors. But not everyone is content to enjoy the book. This drive-by Harry Potter spoiler video shows the depths to which some will sink to have fun at the expense of other people. The spoiler has morphed with lightning speed, a sure sign of this publishing event's place in the culture.

Update: Speculation about the identity of R.A.B. leads some to suggest Sirius Black's brother, Regulus Black.

The binnacle and the bat'leth

Details from Ron Moore's concept memo outlining the "naturalistic science fiction" of the new Battlestar Galactica and much more besides in this New York Times Magazine article (via the Neighbour of the Flea).

While I am not surprised die-hard fans of the original series would have preferred a continuation of the original story I am astonished anyone could hold on to their antipathy to the new series having actually seen it. But then these supposed die-hard fans find it convenient to ignore, or in the case of the author of the New York Times piece are evidently unaware of, the fact there already has been a continuation of the original series. In addition to the 24 Battlestar Galactica episodes of 1978-1979 were 10 episodes of Galactica 1980. This was exactly what these supposed true Battlestar fans claim to want: a continuation of Glen A. Larson's story for the most part written by Larson himself and in the case of one final, desperate episode starring Dirk Benedict as Lt. Starbuck. It was horrid. Horrid beyond belief. Take this creepy summary of that last episode, "The Return of Starbuck", for example.

Most sensible people would compare this horror to the new series, one of the best science fiction series ever produced, and admit they were wrong to doubt Ron Moore.

Charles Chibitty

Charles Chibitty, the last World War II Comanche code-talker, has died (via KiP).

Update: The Castle says, Hoka Hey!

Mustafa Sandal: Isyankar

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance no matter what.

A "cabal" of parliamentarians

Now the Senate has passed Bill C-38 and the legislation has been given royal assent the governments of Alberta and Prince Edward Island will, at long last, have to choke back their righteous indignation and issue civil marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Sounds like the work of a cabal of parliamentarians, encouraged by activist courts and abetted by a compliant media foisting a new tyranny on Canadians! Well, if you stark raving mad. Comment on the issue at LifeSite quotes Campaign Life Coalition, branching out from their opposition to abortion, waxing Klingon at a development they say "reeks of dishonour, dishonesty and public disdain". But they are just getting warmed up. To continue:

Remember: opponents of same-sex marriage say they don't hate gay people. I know for a fact some of them don't. But some of them, it should be noted, are so devoted to their opposition to same-sex marriage they are prepared to call an act of Parliament a coup or a form of tyranny. Given the real tyrannies with which our freedoms are threatened, and given their motivation by an unreasoning, implacable religious fundamentalism, this sort of language by some on the extreme Canadian right is a stupidity so perfect it approaches wickedness.

Exclusive Brethren

II Timothy 2: 19 "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

It turns out that as much as a third of the anonymous anti-gay mail barrage Canadian MPs were subject to in the run up to recognizing same-sex marriage is thanks to a single, secretive Christian sect, the Exclusive Brethren.

Writing as a fringe member of a not terribly secretive, but small and fervent, Christian sect I have to say I find all the secrecy and exclusivity most appealing. That said, their ideas about gay marriage are wrong on two counts: first, they are wrong about gay marriage, and; second, there is no point is being an exclusive brethren if, after only two hundred years, you go soft and decide to start sending out leaflets. My suggestion is simple. If you want to be a Christian and take an active hand in politics you are much better off joining the Roman communion. Catholics have been at this stuff since almost the beginning, are much better organized and certainly do not need to resort to an expired 7/11 post-box as a cover. When I was lending a hand with the Quaker food runs around Westminster we knew we might as well give up when the Catholics turned up. We had sandwiches and blankets. They had a mobile soup kitchen. It was no contest really.

Interesting fact: Aleister Crowley was raised as a member of the Plymouth Brethren (or Open Brethren) who, in a peculiar reading of I Corinthians 3:4, split with the Exclusive Brethren in the late 1840s. Crowley's family were Quakers but his father turned to the Brethren presumably in the feeling the Friends were insufficiently hard-core. And just look what that got him.

The final frontier

I was preparing a radio piece for the CBC asking sf actors what they made of their most devoted fans, their experience of interacting with their fans and, most important, just who it was the fans thought they were meeting when they approached the actors at conventions. The piece was never produced due to some unfortunate timing, my interviews were carried out a week before September 11, 2001, but I nevertheless am pleased to have had the opportunity to meet and chat with the actors behind Chewbacca, Neelix, Greedo (though not that Greedo), Admiral Motti (a bit intimidating with his Imperial guard) and Leeta, the pneumatic Dabo girl from Deep Space Nine. While I met Traci Lords she was not giving interviews but Ted Raimi was bafflingly pleased to be interviewed for a CBC piece having grown up listening to it from near Detroit. I had interviewed his friend Bruce Campbell for a National Post article so knew enough to ask him what it was like to grow up "north of Canada"...

Perhaps the main reason I am a moderately successful anthropologist is I am prepared to be a bit nosey in asking people questions and, given that many folk prefer not to be pestered in this way, it is important to have something to offer in return if only an honest curiousity about what people think. This curiousity lead me to be lying in wait for James Doohan at the bar at Planet Hollywood in the hopes I could stand him a drink and ask him a few questions. I was not quite prepared for the man when he arrived with his family. He had a presence it is difficult to describe, quite different from the raw charisma of William Shatner, but in some ways more impressive in its quiet strength. A surprise perhaps in speaking of a man best known for playing an engineer in a fanciful space opera. No surprise at all in a man who who fought at Normandy. I let the man have a drink in peace.

James Doohan has died, aged 85. This is what I wrote about him las