Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 107

Delta Rae on my mind

For multiple reasons today, so I thought I'd share with you another of their great songs



and the tease for their new album, After It All, which comes out April 7.



An unusual tease.  I'm looking forward to hearing it all.

Scary study about men and rape

Read this bit

Approximately 32 percent of study participants said that they would have “intentions to force a woman to sexual intercourse” if ‘‘nobody would ever know and there wouldn’t be any consequences.’’ Yet only 13.6 percent admit to having “any intentions to rape a woman” under these same circumstances. With the exception of one survey that was not counted because of inconclusive answers, all of the men who admitted to rape intentions also admitted to forced intercourse intentions. (Worth noting: Though the legal definition of rape varies from state to state, these researchers are using the widely agreed upon definition of the word as “intercourse by use of force or threat of force against a victim’s wishes.”)

from this Newsweek article about a December study in the journal Violence and Gender.  If you don't trust the summaries, check out the hard data in the study itself.

You may want to dismiss the study because it involved only 86 college-age men, but that's enough of a sample to be, at a minimum, disturbing.

I believe the study is at least directionally correct.  That 13.6% of the men in the study would admit to rape intentions is astounding; that nearly 32% would admit to the same thing under a different name is even worse. 

If you believe that young men going off to college understand that rape is bad, this data strongly suggests that your belief is wrong for a significant fraction of those men.  We need to keep educating men that rape is a horrific crime that is simply wrong, regardless of whether anyone would know about it.  We need to educate them that forcing a woman to have sexual intercourse is rape. 

A letter from RAINN to the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault makes the point that those college men who commit rape represent a very small percentage of the male college population.  Even if that data is true--as I hope it is--I still believe that this new study means we need to improve our education of all young men.  I don't believe education alone will stop that small percentage of young men from committing rape, but it might stop some of them, and it might increase the peer pressure on them to behave better. 

We have to try.

Today the weather here in N.C. reminded us

not to worry so much about winter and instead to remember that spring would indeed one day come.  The mid-day high hovered around 73, the sky was clear, the sunlight hit us with more strength than we have any right to expect, and a light breeze carried with it the promise of more good days to come.

If you're of a pessimistic bent, you could reasonably argue that the perfection that was today was in fact all a horrible lie.  You could point to Friday's projected high of 38 and the cooling days between now and then as proof that nature was having us on.

I don't hold with that perspective.  I increasingly believe that we must cling to the joys this life gives us, marvel at every second of them, and appreciate their beauty and their magic, because however often you receive them, they remain precious.

So today I stood for a time in the sunlight, and smiled, and squinted in the bright light, and basked in the joys this day offered.

I hope your day brought its own measure of happiness.

Coming next weekend

And I can't wait.



Seriously:  What's not to like?

The best grape juice I've ever tasted

I don't drink alcoholic beverages, which means I fail as a foodie in the eyes of some folks because I don't drink wine.  I'm okay with that.  Every now and then, though, a server who learns I don't want wine tries to persuade me to try something bottled and non-alcoholic.  I almost never bother, for it's usually too sweet to be worth the trouble.  During my second meal at Blue in January, however, I yielded to a very persuasive server because he was just so good and so nice that I decided to try some grape juice he offered.  This grape juice.

Click the image to see a larger version.
Wow, was it good!  It was indeed very sweet, but somehow not as cloying as most grape juices I've tried, and it was a lovely complement to the meal.  I've since read several folks online praising the grape juices from Navarro, so I hope to get to try more.

If you ever get the chance to taste this one, I recommend it. 

Tablets, data center tech, and an infomercial (of sorts)

Where else would you find all of these but in the newest episode of Now with PT?

Enjoy!

Yes, Furious 7 will be insane enough

If the first trailer, which began with cars parachuting out of planes, wasn't enough to convince you that Furious 7 will indeed be as insane as its glorious predecessor, this one should do the trick.



No, it's not enough that Vin Diesel drives a car through the air between buildings.  He then has to roll out of the speeding vehicle as it crashes through the second building--and his tux keeps looking good.

I am so there.

What I'll be watching in mid-March

The good folks at TED have announced the program for TED2015.  I look forward to watching those talks and engaging with my fellow attendees of TEDActive in Whistler, B.C.  The premises and speakers in this program both look interesting, and the TED organizers are clearly holding back some surprises. 

Interesting times ahead!

Oh, in case you're wondering:  yes, I'm jealous of myself for getting to attend this conference every year.

Sunday in the library with Dave and Mark

Granted, it's not as good a title as Sunday in the Park with George, but you could indeed spend part of a Sunday--March 1, to be precise--in a library (the Eva Perry Regional Library in Apex, NC) listening to David Drake and me discuss one of the giants of SF, Robert A. Heinlein.

Check out this poster for the event. 

Click an image to see a larger version.
You'll notice that our talk is just one of many such events that the Wake County Public Libraries are running.  Here's a poster that showcases them all.


That's a great selection of classic authors and a good group of local writers discussing them.  If you're free on March 1, come out and participate in the discussion; we'll be happy to see you.  If you can't make our event, try to hit one of the others.  We'll all do our best to make the talks entertaining and informative.

Cone Man gets an ally

You can't trust a Cone Man.  When
One night, the darkness beside his right arm hole sizzled like grease frying in the air, solidified, and became this.

Click an image to see a larger version.
Unwilling to let them live in the darkness, we exposed the Cone Man's new friend, the evil pelican. 



When I say "we," of course, I mean He Who Watches the Cone Man, Holden.  Holden's superb senses led him to detect this cosmic disturbance immediately and to alert us to it.  We were thus able to capture the end of the conversation between Cone Man and his new concrete friend.

Cone Man:  I don't care what you want.  If the dark lords won't make me King Cone, I'm not going to help.

Evil Pelican:  Fine.  Whatever.  As long as we restart the flow of tasty animal flesh through the portal, you'll get what you want.

CM:  I can do my part, but exactly how are you going to help?  In case you haven't noticed, you're concrete. 

EP:  What is this concrete you speak of?  I am having trouble moving, but I assumed it was simply the result of stiffness due to inter-dimensional travel.

CM:  No, you idiot.  You're made of concrete.  You can't move.

EP:  So fix it!  What else are you good for?  Get me out some flesh, and we can restart the feed line.  
 
CM:  You sand-for-brains idiot, there's no fixing it!  You need to go back and start over. 

EP:  Okay, my tall friend, exactly how am I supposed to go back, when I can't freakin' move?

At this point, Holden had heard enough.  He turned on the area lights and tried reason.



Holden:  Excuse me, my two yard decorations, but I simply cannot tolerate any further talk of feed lines, pipelines, or dark lords.  This area is under my protection, and protect it I shall.

CM:  Hah!  Your days are numbered, short and furry.  When pelican here unleashes his powers, you will bow before us.

EP:  That's right!  Don't push me, or I'll unleash my...you know.

H:  Far be it from me to dash the dreams of any creatures, but as you are both aware, the pelican is concrete and unable to do anything beyond standing there and looking rather, well, if I must say, evil.  I again insist that the two of you cease and desist all talk of menace. 

CM:  And exactly what are you going to do if we don't?

EP:  Yeah, dog-breath, what can you do?

H:  Though it saddens me to resort to force, I will if I must.  Do you really want to face the power of my yellow lasers of doom?


CM:  No!  We're cool.  Seriously.  No laser eyes.  No more threats.  Right, pelican?

EP:  Threats?  No threats.  We were just joking. 

H:  A wise choice, and one that spares you a sad, melty fate.  Though I will turn them off now...


H:  ...please do remember that I bring my laser eyes--and all of my being--to the task of protecting this world. 

CM:  Whatever.

EP:  Yeah, yeah.  So, Cone Buddy, what does concrete do all day?



And so, once again, our the Earth is safe, thanks to Holden.