There is so much rule-rewriting out there I’ve decided that the Calvinball Play of the Week needs two awards, one for politicians and other people in the news, and one for bloggers.

The Newsmaker Calvinball Play of the Week will be posted here at Random Fate, and The Weblog Calvinball Play of the Week will be posted at my “immoderate” weblog, Radio Saigon.

Nominations for both continue to be soliticed, email them to:

coptw - at - randomfateDOTnet

(the address has already gotten spam email, by the way… argh!!!).

Don’t forget to send in questions for the resurrection of the blog-interview at Basil’s Blog. (By the way, I’m on the list, you can send in questions to basil.interviews-at-gmail.com, but be sure to tell him who your questions are for, he’s got a lot of folks in the queue)

Technorati Tags: weblogs, weblog interviews, blog interviews

…can be found in this story at the Politics Blog at News.com:

September 21, 2005 9:57 AM PDT
Criticize photo radar program, get framed by cops?

When a Canadian journalist dared to write a column criticizing the photo radar program used in Edmonton, Alberta, the local cops apparently decided to get even.

Staff Sgt. Bill Newton looked up the name of journalist Kerry Diotte in an ostensibly official-use-only police database, found Diotte’s license plate and home address, and asked his colleagues to look out for Diotte’s BMW convertible, according to a report Wednesday in the Edmonton Sun. (Diotte is a columnist for the newspaper.)

The cops tracked down Diotte in a bar and planned to nab him on drunk driving charges. But he took a cab home instead. Now Sgt. Newton is — appropriately, it seems — facing a disciplinary hearing.

Do you need any more evidence?

There does not have to be any organized attempt by some shadowy force for government or people within it to abuse the rights of the individual.

Too much power is dangerous, in any hands.

Technorati Tags: commentary, opinion, governmental power

…than heavy drinking and rewarding bare female breasts with beads.

The Music of New Orleans

Link via BoingBoing.

Technorati Tags: music, New Orleans

A major American city, rife with governmental corruption, is struck by a natural disaster and ordered to evacuate, seemingly cut off from the rest of the United States, where eventually the major landmarks are painstakingly reconstructed with federal money in tribute to the rich history of the city.

New Orleans starting in early September, 2005?

No…

Gotham City starting in the late 1990s.

The parallels are fascinating…

Technorati Tags: random thoughts

I’ve always had a good memory for irrelevant factoids, such as why the British and the Japanese drive on the left side of the road when most of the rest of the world drives on the right side.

While working out some of the technology and designs that would be needed in a large space station/orbital colony for a science fiction story I’m writing (yes, I’m still working on it to post here!) where rotation is used to simulate gravity, I realized something that would be a factoid if such a structure were ever built.

The factoid: Because of coriolis effects, all the toilets would have to be lined up where men would “aim” parallel to the spin of the space station, otherwise they would miss… (I’m sure some women would say they miss too often as it is!)

What an odd thing to realize while working out a realistic future technology…

Technorati Tags: random thoughts