Tools for Survival During a Zombie Uprising

I was excited to come across an article at io9 that referred to a zombie survival Google map, called the Map of the Dead.  It's awesome.  Enter your postal code, and it'll show you your immediate neighbourhood, showing medical locations, food and drinks, cemeteries, police, military, et cetera.  It shows gun shops too, but that's not a big thing in Toronto.

But I'd probably be screwed in the event of zombies.  Middle of large city, no real outdoors skills, wouldn't know how to handle gun or crossbow even if I had one, don't know how to break into anywhere.  Still fun to think about sometimes!

Science Fiction Surprise

Here's something I didn't expect before his death...  Ray Bradbury finally allowed Fahrenheit 451 to be published as an ebook.  He has traditionally been anti-internet, and specifically against ebooks.

Somewhat related is the subject matter of Fahrenheit 451.  Most people who read it think that the main theme is censorship, and it's not difficult to see why.  But it's not.  And you know why I know it's not?  Because Bradbury, the author himself, insists that it is not.  Rather, it is on how television and other mass media is in conflict with written literature, and is a danger to reading.  And how technology can break down communication between people.

And while I think that's a little harsh on technology (after all, reading books at the table or with family also gets in the way of talking with each other), I do consider it when you see a table of people together at a pub or restaurant, and most, if not all, are busy texting or whatever on their smartphones.

Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

I've been on an old sci-fi kick, stuff from the 60s and earlier.  In reading The Pocket Book of Science Fiction, (published in early 1943), I came across "By the Waters of Babylon," by Stephen Vincent Benét.  (Excitingly, the book itself is in near-perfect condition.  As a 69-year old paperback.  My used book store rocks hard.)   Among the better and more engaging post nuclear war disasters I've read.  But wait... 1943.  And the author actually published it in 1937 before it was included in this anthology.  Before the war.  Before the Manhattan Project was started.  No, the atom bomb was not mentioned specifically, but it felt so much like that was the disaster that I didn't even question it.

Some of the beneficial technology, I can see scientists specifically working towards duplicating the ideal described.  The end of civilisation as we know it?  I'd like to think that that wasn't a specific goal, at least not to the point of attempting to emulate an awesome story.  It's creepy that I at first assumed it was from my 1950s or 1960s literature, before checking the copyright page.

Do Germans even stand a chance?

Poking around on Steam, today's deal is on Wolfenstein.  I was playing Castle Wolfenstein by the time I was 10 years old, on the Commodore 64.

Nazis were scary (and to many, by association Germans were too) before we even learned the history of WWII in school.  (Although I did know a bit about it from a Dutch teacher who grew up in the Netherlands during WWII.  And he never called them Nazis, just Germans.)

And Nazi games in general have lived on over the years.  So that kids who don't even know about the Berlin Wall vilify the Nazis, think of the German accent as scary and evil.

From vacations outside of North America, I've learned that Germans are the bad tourists, stereotyped as the European version of American tourists.  They're known as rude, abrupt, and with no sense of humour.  By people whose parents don't remember WWII (born during or after).  It horrifies me that too much of the world at least unofficially allows an entire nation to be defined by feelings associated with a leader born in the 1800s and his people.  Even then, I can see it more for Europeans, whose countries were ravaged by the war (which wasn't just Germany, by the way, even if a major player).  Well, the older ones, who were actually affected by it in some way.

I don't know if it speaks well of my parents (who were born during the war in Allied European countries), or if they didn't notice, but I delighted in learning German in high school, especially with never really connecting with French or the Romantic languages, even with 10 years of study.  I adored my teacher, we just called her Frau.  She was hilarious and loving.  I then applied for an exchange to Germany, where a German girl would live with me for several months and go to school here, and then later in the year, I'd go there and live with her family, go to school, live life.  I could have used a bit more growing up before going, but it was fantastic.  The people were like people anywhere.  A joy for life, sometimes the best sense of humour, intelligent, fun.  Not everyone was someone I could get along with, but a hell of a lot of them were.  Until I die, I will treasure that time.

And sometimes I'm left entirely speechless when I'm told that every single German lacks a sense of humour.  Relatives who live in Europe even tell me that.  One of my cousins came really freaking close to calling me a liar when I said that many Germans have a sense of humour, a lot of them are friendly, will help you however they can.  That they can smile and be happy.  That some will go out of their way to help you.  Hell, the class I was in there in West Berlin, they'd giggle talking about the prank the previous graduating class pulled, where they disassembled a teacher's car and reassembled it on the roof of the school.

I remember smiles, I remember love, I remember happiness.

And then think back to everything kids, teens, adults get about the evilness of the Nazis (which I'm not disputing - at least of the leaders and those who really believed in the cause and knew what was going on), and how Germans aren't much better (which I am disputing).  I don't see signs of it slowing down much.  I don't care for the pope (for other reasons), but understand that he didn't have much of a choice about being in the Hitler-Jugend.  Yet he has to defend against that.  Needs it backed up how unenthusiastic a member he was, and how it was law to join.

I (think and hope) that a lot of people now realise that Russia isn't Stalin.  Do people realise that Germany isn't Hitler?  And really believe that in their heart of hearts?  I wish I were confident of that.


(And for the record, to me German sounds much sexier than French or Italian or any of the Romantic languages ever will.  It is not a universal fact that it sounds harsh or ugly.)

On "karma" and "god"

I ended a long-term relationship recently. Which is not my point today, except that when finding out the circumstances of the break-up, people try to reassure me that karma will get him. Or that he'll regret it. Or something along those lines.

What makes people believe that karma will get someone? For every example of somebody coming to ill ends, there is another of somebody who keeps going through life as they were. And really, how does it make anything better for me if the other person has bad things happen to them? Other than hoping that other people aren't taken in so completely and hurt, why should what happens to him make any difference? Only when feeling particularly vengeful is that thought satisfying, but really only in theory. If I actually believed that my wishing something bad on him had results, realistically, it'd feel worse, not better.

And then with the concept of karma. I think that most people mean it in the sense that a person is rewarded or punished according to their deeds. Who decides on said punishing? Who decides what's good and bad?

In my mind, the usual answer of “god” is ridiculous. To any rational person who has a sense of right and wrong, god is irrelevant. If her or his existence reassures somebody when they don't have anybody else, fine.  (Although I don't see how an imaginary being really helps.)  But in terms of what will happen to you, afterlife, et cetera? If it takes the concept of heaven or hell or purgatory to help you make your moral decisions, how are you in any way a moral person? If you believe that someone who believes something different from you is going to have eternal torment, how are you a good person in any conceivable way?

If not a god or something filling a similar role, I don't see how the concept of karma can work. Unless your own good or bad feelings about what you did haunts or rewards you in some way. And if that's the answer, calling it karma, some kind of conditional destiny, is stupid.  (Also, it would imply that the person had a moral compass in the first place.)  It's in the same category of Marshall's “miracles” in How I Met Your Mother.

Lack of privacy

Wow.

I don't order pizza that often, but when I do, it (was) often from Pizza Hut.

However, I went to the site today, and they've redesigned their site.  In order to navigate it at all (not just place an order), you are required to set up an account.  For example, if I knew I wanted pizza, but didn't know where from, I'd have to set up an account with all my personal information just to see what they offer and how much it costs.

Even worse, I went to send in a comment.  In order to make a comment, required information includes your first and last name, your full address, your phone number, and your email address.  The only reason I then decided to make a comment after all is because I've ordered from there, they already know who I am, and they might as well see whose business they're losing.

Because requiring all the information is bullshit.

If I merely wanted to see what they offered, I wouldn't bother setting up an account to find that out.  If I'd decided not to give them my business, why would I want them having all that personal information?  If I wanted to tell them so, why would I want them to have my email, phone, and address if I don't need to receive a follow-up?

Yes, I could send email to their customer service email, but why make it more difficult to not give all that information?  (Why is all that info compulsory?)

I left Facebook because I didn't like how they were creepy with regards to what they did with personal information.  I'm sure as hell not going to give all that and more to a pizza company just for the privilege of seeing what they offer or giving them some feedback.

Internet censoring

I may not be American, but do recognise that SOPA and PIPA could affect us all.  Terribly.

Please see this link.  And bonus, Chad Vader, the Bloggess, and others are featured in it!