World Community Grid

Inspired by sarichan, I've joined the World Community Grid, using my home computer's spare processing power to do medical research. I even joined the Pagan Power team. This is not as exciting as SETI@Home, admittedly, but probably more useful. :-)

Howls of derisive laughter, Eric

More from George Orwell, who can feel one of his moods coming on:

"In addition to this there is the horrible - the really disquieting - prevalence of cranks wherever Socialists are gathered together. One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words 'Socialism' and 'Communism' draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, 'Nature Cure' quack, pacifist and feminist in England."

[on vegetarianism] "... the food-crank is by definition a person willing to cut himself off from human society in hopes of adding five years onto the life of his carcase; that is, a person out of touch with common humanity."

These are from The Road to Wigan Pier. My gods, what would he have made of me!

Orwell doesn't explain what he finds objectionable about feminism (or sandals, for that matter), although I have seen him go into detail elsewhere about his issues with pacifism. I'd be quite interested to know if it was simply prejudice, or had some basis in the real world. I'm also curious about what the vegetarian movement was like at the time. I personally gave up meat for ethical reasons, and it was many years before I found out this was also good for my health.

(no subject)

[Poll #942287]

ETA: Discussion only, with a single catch-all posting for creative stuff, no flames, no trolls, no ship wars, no off-topic crap. Generally anal retentive tyranny of my usual kind.

Robert Sean Leonard

Does this guy get better looking every day?! And I don't even want to secks him!

Something about this moment from S2 of House literally took my breath away. I can't put it into words (nor can I recapture it).

( Grabz )

(no subject)

By contrast, here's Orwell writing decades before the organic and slow food movements, not to mention globalisation:

"As you can see by looking at any greengrocer's shop, what the majority of English people mean by an apple, is a lump of highly-coloured cotton wool from America or Australia; they will devour these things, apparently with pleasure, and let the English apples rot under the trees. It is the shiny, standardised, machine-made look of the American apple that appeals to them; the superior taste of the English apple is something they simply do not notice."