Nothing and Some More

Yes, one more time, baby Jesus came out, on time (oh the wonder of C-Section). And it's still a boy.

blasphemy:

Impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things.

Isnt' impious a nice word ?

Now that I've properly done my seasons greetings, allow me some link dumping to get back in our usual blend and boring tone.

Rolling Stone: Colbert and Stewart: America's Anchors

I don't understand why you always say, "I'm just a comedian," because from Shakespeare to Jonathan Swift, humor is the best way to get through to people.

COLBERT: Peter Cook was once asked if he thought that satire had a political effect. He said, "Absolutely. The greatest satire of the twentieth century was the Weimar cabaret, and they stopped Hitler in his tracks." It doesn't mean that what we do is worthless. It's hard to do, and people like it, and it's great. But it doesn't mean that it has an effect politically.

STEWART: Or that it has an agenda of social change. We are not warriors in anyone's army. And that is not trying to be self-deprecating. I'm proud of what we do. I really like these two shows. I like making 'em. I like watching them. I'm really proud of them. But I understand their place. I don't view us as people who lead social movements.

NYT: A Surprise TV Star Embraces His Geeky Side

Mr. Oka, 31, [...] graduated from Brown University as a math and computer science major, with a minor in theater.

The two pursuits were not, at least to Mr. Oka, as far apart as they seemed. I've always loved using both the left and right sides of my brain, Mr. Oka said. Computer programming is about looking for solutions to problems. So is acting. There is a science to comedy.

Income gap tears at Singapore social fabric

When Wee Shu Min, the teenage daughter of a Singapore member of parliament stumbled across the blog of a Singaporean who wrote that he was worried about losing his job, she thought she'd give him a piece of her mind.

She called him one of many wretched, undermotivated, overassuming leeches in our country on her own blog and signed off with please, get out of my elite uncaring face.

And of course on the blog, Such Vivid Nothing

shu-min blog closed???
After she found out that her posting dated 19 Oct 2006 was exposed, she choose to close her blog.

I am not Shu Min

Mirror of the blog post elsewhere on the Internet.

le truc du pigeon, via Steve Yegge

Get up, [get on up]: James Brown is gone.

Et pour les francophones, la version par Les éponges, Machine à sexe:

Camarade je suis prêt à me lever à faire mon truc
(Ouais, ouais, ouais)
Je veux entrer à l'intérieur, mmm, tu sais
(Ouais, ouais)
Comme une machine à sexe
(Ouais, ouais)
Le bouger, le faire, tu sais ?
(Ouais, ouais)
Est-ce que je peux te tenter ?
(Ouais, ouais)

Kottke: La bite dans la boite, mode d'assemblage et les paroles de la chanson qui va avec:

(Houhou hou) Tu sais c'est Noël et mon coeur déborde
J'vais t'offrir quelque chose qui te dévoilera ce que j'ai en tête
Un cadeau vraiment spécial; allez, vas-y, soulève le couvercle
Et jette un coup d'oeil à l'intérieur...
c'est ma bite dans la boite
[coeur: biiiiite dans la boooite]

Speaking of things in a box, Tactical Technology has launched the next edition in its NGO-in-a-box series, the Open Publishing Box, a good complement to the Audio Video Edition.

LeMonde: Internet révolutionne les habitudes séculaires des publications scientifiques

éditeur scientifique américain à but non lucratif Public Library of Science (PLoS) franchit une étape de son développement en lançant, mercredi 20 décembre, une nouvelle revue baptisée PLoS One. L'ambition de celle-ci est de créer un nouveau mode de publication des résultats de la recherche, fondé sur des outils informatiques inspirés de la tendance dite du "Web 2.0".

Also available on Open Access News, which contrasts the opening of Plos One with the end of the Nature experiment with open review.

PlosOne: A Virtual Reprise of the Stanley Milgram Obedience Experiments

Stanley Milgram's 1960s experimental findings that people would administer apparently lethal electric shocks to a stranger at the behest of an authority figure remain critical for understanding obedience. Yet, due to the ethical controversy that his experiments ignited, it is nowadays impossible to carry out direct experimental studies in this area. In the study reported in this paper, we have used a similar paradigm to the one used by Milgram within an immersive virtual environment.

mbf today: Gamics: Experimenting with Comics and Games...
introduced by a wonderful blurb on 3pointD:

Game theorist Matteo Bittanti experiments with PlanetWide Media's Comic Book Creator using Ballard, Baudrillard, The Sims, F.E.A.R, and Burnout

Et histoire de finir l'année en beauté, y'a un meme qui court dans la blogobulle2.0 anglophone, les 5 trucs que les gens ne savent pas à mon propos (ce qui je vous l'accorde n'est pas vraiment dur...)

1. J'ai eu 9/20 au bac en anglais
2. J'ai enseigné MsWord et MsExcel au Cambodge
3. J'ai un compte rocketmail encore en activité
4. J'ai emballé des cadeaux de Noël à Marston Gate
5. Ma femme est chinoise

Les cinq personnes suivantes à qui je passe le relais sont Mouche, Manur, Morgat, Tehu et monsieur Sale bête