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Dharma Wants YouI have to admit it's hard to get worked up about the new Lost ARG (Dharma Wants You) based on the artistic bankruptcy of the last one, but here's hoping.
By the way, any of you fine folks ever read Pattern Recognition? You'll find it spookily relevant.
Anyway, check this out (from the Dharma Wants You site):
As noted by astute Egoplex readers and Lost aficionados a couple posts back, the Orchid Dharma logo is the regular logo inverted (or rather, turned inside out). The logo above is the Orchid logo rotated a couple of notches counterclockwise.
Readers asked me to comment on the i-Ching/yin-yang dynamics in that earlier post. I made a stab at it, but this latest variation suggests to me that they are just screwing around without any particular rhyme or reason (from a Taoist standpoint).
There might be some tricky business going on vis a vis a combination lock-type puzzle, but I can't say with any degree of certainty that there is a metaphysical hook here.
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D.C. Madam FilesThe U.S. Postal Inspection Service has released about 40 pages of material under the Freedom of Information Act related to its investigation of Deborah Jean Palfrey, the so-called "D.C. Madam" who died in an apparent suicide earlier this year.
The USPS refused to release information on the D.C. part of the case, citing a FOIA exemption that allows case files to be withheld if there is a "reasonable chance they will interfere with ongoing law enforcement proceedings." According to ABC News and other sources, several well-known and senior government officials were among Palfrey's clients.
However, Palfrey was arrested and convicted as the result of an earlier investigation in California, during the 1990s. Information on that case was released, including copies of checks and correspondence related to Palfrey's California prostitution ring and a fairly graphic affidavit in support of a search warrant, describing informant accounts of what life was like as a prostitute working under Palfrey's direction. Informants who worked as prostitutes for Palfrey said they charged $200 an hour for a regular call, half of which went to Palfrey.
"Palfrey told (the informant) she didn't have to do 'kinky stuff ' like being 'tied up or beaten up', if she didn't want to, but if she did, it would cost the client extra," the affidavit states.
Another informant showed up for a job interview after responding to an ad for an escort service.
The informant "was told by Palfrey that hers was a full service escort service, and then was asked by PALFREY, 'How open minded are you?' Palfrey told (the informant) she would be sent to male clients and her job was to make the men happy and not let the men be disappointed." The second informant became involved in violent encounters while working for Palfrey, many details of which are redacted.
Click here for the files
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Supposed toAt this point, it's pretty clear that much of Lost is concerned with things happening the way they are "supposed to" -- possibly the most repeated phrase on the show.
We know some things were supposed to happen and did happen (I will be short for now):
Desmond was supposed to go to the Island and push the button.
Locke was supposed to find the Pearl hatch.
Some of our heroes were supposed to be on the plane.
Charlie was supposed to die.
We also suspect that some things were supposed to happen, but didn't:
Locke was supposed to come to the Island sooner.
Charlie was supposed to die before reaching the Looking Glass.
Locke was supposed to find the Pearl rather than the Swan.
Eko was supposed to stop John from destroying the Swan.
And we have been told (by sources of varying credibility) that some things are NOT supposed to happen.
The Oceanic Six were not supposed to leave the Island.
Jack is not supposed to raise Aaron.
Aaron is not supposed to be "raised by another."
So what else was supposed to happen? And what wasn't? And if something wasn't supposed to happen, are we seeing the universe "course-correcting" as the show goes on? Methinks if you figure out these questions, you figure out Lost. Here are a few of the more pressing ones:
Was Flight 815 supposed to crash?
Was Christian Shepherd supposed to die?
Who is Aaron supposed to be raised by?
Was Sarah supposed to be cured by Jack?
Finally, who defines "supposed to"? In the case of Aaron, for instance, we've heard a few different things about where he's supposed to be and in whose custody. The Locke hatch saga is quite unclear as well -- Was he supposed to find the Pearl and never the Swan? Was he supposed to save the Swan or damn it? Was he supposed to go to the Island as a boy?
Are we getting conflicting messages about what is supposed to happen?
Are there two sides (or more) issuing these "supposetahs"?
Can we discern a pattern in the supposetahs?
Can we discern a pattern of course-correction in relation to failed supposetahs in what happens on the Island?
Some memorable "supposetahs"...
S1E19
Locke: We didn't find this by accident. We're supposed to...
Boone: Oh, we're supposed to. We're supposed to find this, right? We're supposed to open it, right? Then tell me something, John, if we're supposed to open it, then why the hell haven't we opened it yet?
Locke: I don't know, Boone, but we're supposed to go to this place. We're supposed to find that plane. Will you come with me?
S2E3
Locke: This isn't... this isn't what was supposed to happen!
Jack: What was supposed to happen?
S2E22
Charlie: Well, what about the church? You said we were supposed to be building it together, man.
Mr. Eko: I am supposed to do something different now.
S3E3
Locke: I'm going in there because I'm supposed to go in there.
S3E8
Ms. Hawking: Because it wouldn't matter. Had I warned him about the scaffolding, tomorrow he'd be hit by a taxi. If I warned him about the taxi, he'd fall in the shower and break his neck. The universe, unfortunately, has a way of...course correcting. That man was supposed to die. That was his path. Just as it's your path to go to the island. You don't do it because you choose to, Desmond. You do it because you are supposed to.
S3E17
Desmond: The flashes don't happen exactly how I saw them. The picture changes. I was supposed to let you die, Charlie.
S3E21
Desmond: Maybe I keep seeing you die because...I'm supposed to take your place.
Charlie: You and I both know. You're not supposed to take my place, brother.
S4E5
Desmond: No, this is wrong! I'm not supposed to be...
Desmond: I'm not supposed to be here.
Desmond: I'm not supposed to be here!
Desmond: I'm not supposed to be here! Open this door! Open this door!
Daniel Faraday: No, no, no. Not right now, Desmond. Where are you supposed to be? Where are you in 1996?
The final quotes, I think, bear elaboration. The reason we know Island weirdness is at work is when someone is NOT where they are SUPPOSED TO be, whether it's Walt, Christian, Yemi or a black horse. So supposetahs aren't just action-commands -- and you can see this in the above quotes -- they are also about being where you ought.
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Hey JM! Sorry to post an off-topic comment but I'm curious to get your insights about the changing trigrams on the Orchid logo. Do you attach any significance to this? Is there any relevant change in meaning? Or do you suppose it's simply a prop error? I figured that, if anyone would be able to answer this question, it's you. Looking forward to your reply!
Hi, BM -- I am out of town on business for a couple weeks, but I hadn't noticed the change. Will look at a screencap when I have time and get back...
I am a huge fan of yours JMB. Also a fan of BM. I believe we now have proof the trigram arrangement has changed.
Original Logo
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:TheOrchid.png
Ben's Parka Logo
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Bensparkalogo_Final3.jpg
Logo at Dharma booth at ComicCon SD
http://www.lostpedia.com/images/6/6f/Comic-con_OGR2.jpg
I wait in anticipation of your interpretation.
Thanks!!!!
Thanks, KG!
The Orchid logo is an inverted version of the regular Dharma logo. The trigrams are upside down relative to the normal King Wen arrangement.
From the perspective of the i-Ching that means processes are running in reverse -- i.e., time is flowing backward or more accurately, it's "out of joint." It's not perfectly backward because several of the trigrams don't change when you reverse them, so only four are "flipped."
There's no traditional meaning for this arrangment which doesn't appear "in nature," so to speak. It is more a case of suggesting that the normal functioning of process, change, time or the universe in general is not running under normal parameters.
Good catch!
The Kudo's for the catch is all BigMouth's. I cannot wait to see both of your interpretations of this new information. Plus all the great info coming in from ComicCon.
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Firefox Resource-Hog: A Solution For Your CPU Usage?If you're like me -- and I know you are, because you're almost certainly coming here from Google -- you have a problem with Firefox. Or rather Firefox is creating a problem for you by consuming all your Windows XP system resources, eventually hanging up and completely freezing.
The problem was bad in 1.5 and worse in 2.0, in my experience. And Mozilla clearly couldn't give a crap. When you go to their "support" page for this problem, you get the standard help desk line -- it's not our program, YOU are doing something wrong. Denial, denial, denial...
They offer several suggestions. I tried them all, and no luck. Then I went surfing and tried everyone else's solutions. No luck. Finally, I took one of those random stabs in the dark. The fact I am typing this in a Firefox browser is testament to the fact that it works (so far). It's far from perfect, but it's temporarily stopped me from switching to Opera. (For how long, I cannot say.)
The Mozilla help page mentions running programs in compatibility mode. Specifically, it claims that running Firefox in compatibility mode can create excessive CPU consumption. So I checked, but I wasn't running in compatibility mode, so that wasn't the problem.
After exhausting all other possibilities (disabling extensions, browser cache, etc.), I decided to defy the support tips and to run Firefox in compatibility mode for Windows 98. I've occasionally found this tactic useful with other balky apps.
It appears to have worked. So here's how to proceed.
1) Start Firefox in safe mode. Disable all add-ons and reset all user preferences. I have been re-enabling add-ons successfully since the fix, but it's prudent enough to take them out first.
2) Go to the Firefox exe file (or just your start menu short-cut). Right-click on the icon and select properties.
3) You'll see a few tabs. The one you want is "Compatibility." Check the box labeled "Run this program in compatibility mode for:" and select "Windows 98/Windows Me" from the dropdown box. It will look like this:
4) Restart Firefox.
5) Note: You can try this part first if you want. Type about:config into the address bar of Firefox.
6) Type "browser" in the filter field.
7) Make the following changes (basically you are disabling all disk cache functions):
browser.cache.disk.enable -- set to false
browser.cache.memory.enable -- set to false
browser.sessionstore.enabled -- set to false
browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash -- set to false
8) Close all Firefox windows and wait for the process to finish of its own accord. You may be tempted to terminate the process from the Task Manager. Don't.
When I followed these steps, I found myself with a reasonably functional Firefox 2.0.0.11. Your results may vary. I've seen plenty of suggested solutions which the author claimed were a sure fix, but which did not work for me.
But for all of you who have been struggling with this, I suspect any hope of a solution is better than what you've been finding so far.
Full disclosure: The cache change will cause page loading to be a bit slower (even on DSL). CPU consumption is still a bit on the high side while actively loading pages (70-80 percent), but nothing like it was before (i.e., Firefox 2.0.0.x was completely unusable before).
After a few hours browsing, I have noted that the CPU usage is creeping upward. Rebooting the browser fixes that, but again, not ideal.
Leave a comment here to let me know whether this worked for you. If nothing else, let us add to the massive amount of Internet rumination on this topic.
Good luck!
(Given the vast pervasiveness of this problem, I will gladly accept tips from any who are moved to do so. God knows, I would have paid one to fix this problem. You can find a donate button on the top right column of my i-Ching page.)
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Ugh, I had this same problem. Have you upgraded yet to Firefox 3? They seem to have resolved the memory issue, and I haven't had any other problems, though I hear some people are encountering bugs.
I have indeed upgraded and it works a lot better.
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Superman/Doomsday Dead On ArrivalI found myself grateful for the 99-cent weekend rental sale on Amazon Unbox today, after I decided to check out the first in DC Comics' new line of animated movies, Superman/Doomsday.
It's sure not worth more than 99 cents. In fact, it may be 98 cents overpriced.
The animation was just all right, unimaginative, barely dressier than the current TV show and considerably less inspired than Paul Dini's first run on Batman. But it's the writing that really kills this product dead.
It's billed as an adaptation of the Death and Return of Superman, but that is a flat-out lie. There are two similarities to the comic story -- 1) big ugly monster and 2) Superman dies. Comics readers will recognize nothing else from this movie.
The story is a disaster from start to finish, ineptly adopting Silver Age nonsense like Superman robots (in this case, looking like a refugee from the Nutcracker) and the Man of Steel trying to develop a cure for cancer from his Fortress of Solitude.
All of this is presented in a ham-handed, charmless manner (see Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman if you want to see it done right).
These too-childish bits of ridiculousness are out of place in a movie that's generally unsafe for kids. While the gore level is low, the movie features an astounding number of violent deaths, including children. While not explicit, the relationship between Lois Lane and Superman is unambiguously sexual -- despite the fact that she enters the movie unaware of his real name. (Lois, you ignorant slut!)
James Marsters shows glimmers of promise in his voice performance as Lex Luthor, but never really delivers. The unctuous and menacing Adam Baldwin (whom I loved in Day Break) is woefully miscast as Superman, although he has some nice moments as Superman's evil clone.
What, you don't remember that from the comic? Well, that brings us full circle. The story is a clumsy mashup of half a dozen superhero cliches and a few random elements lifted from Knightfall. I should mention the pacing, although it seems like overkill. It sucks -- enough so to bear mentioning amid all these other complaints.
Too scary and violent for children, too silly and shallow for adults. Maybe an OK fit for extremely undiscriminating teenagers, but I wouldn't bank on it. Let's hope the upcoming adaption of The Judas Contract fares better.Labels: Amazon, Comics, DC, Doomsday, Superman, Unbox
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Thanks for the heads up! And I came by here to check out more ominous stuff you've covered. Glad to see I'm not the only educated, passionate and writerly (not as accomplished as JM) 40-year-old unashamed to still enjoy a GOOD super hero story! And OK with trashing a poorly done version. Kudos!
Hey, we all gotta kick back and have some fun once in a while. I was bummed about this one, since I'd been looking forward to the long-promised DVD series. Anyone out there checked out the Marvel animated movies?
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Benoit Killings Rattle Boston Wrestling SceneMy story for the Boston Globe on the local impact of the Benoit killings is posted on Boston.com. There are also two sidebars, which I have posted separately. You can get to all three stories -- "A Distant Tragedy Could Affect Boston Wrestling Community," "Chris Benoit--Before the Killings, An Icon to Insiders" and "Drug Deaths Haunt Boston Pro Wrestling Scene" -- through the link below.
Story and sidebars
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Director's Cut on ObscenityI've posted some material on NowPublic that was cut from my story in the Globe earlier this week on a new linguistic study of obscenity. This is the unexpurgated version -- with all the real swear words! Whoohoo!
On a separate note, what do you all think of NowPublic? I've been posting over there for a while. I like the idea in principle -- in practice I get the same or more readers working with one of my established sites like this or Intelwire.
Do you like seeing some of my longer pieces over there? Should I just be working off the Egoplex site in some manner? Or should I re-imagine this site to make it generally easier to sift through the content, including with some kind of interface for a more seriously constructed article vs. a blog post?
I like the individual pieces of Egoplex, but they aren't particularly consistent (which may be more appropriate given the concept of 'egoplex'). I'm not sure I am branding myself in the most effective way (in the marketing sense, not the hot iron sense).
Feel free to post your feedback below.
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The Swearing Study...My latest science story for the Boston Globe...The National Science Foundation is paying more than $200,000 for a study whose results may be unprintable.
The grant's title, "Expressive Content and the Semantics of Contexts," doesn't sound exciting, until you figure out what "expressive content" means.
Christopher Potts , a linguist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, will catalog and analyze the use of obscenities, vulgarities, and racial epithets as well as titles and honorifics. All are words or phrases that express emotion, or whose absence can convey an emotion, such as disrespect.
Click here for full story
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Middle Eastern TVI've posted a story over at NowPublic.com on how television is subverively introducing Western values in the Middle East. But there's a twist -- you won't believe which country is producing the most progressive content. If you enjoy the story, please do link it, leave a comment and/or register a vote in its favor.
Read the story
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Massachusetts So-Called Health Care SolutionAs a Massachusetts resident, allow me to say a few words about the state's alleged "health care solution," which is currently going into effect amid fawning media kudos to would-be President Mitt Romney.
The idea behind government in general is that our tax dollars and other resources (like fees) are pooled to promote the general welfare. The argument over exactly what constitutes "general welfare" pretty clearly outlines the difference between the right and left segments of American politics. Health care is as hotly contested as any single issue within this ouvre.
I cannot conceive of how someone comes up with the idea of forcing citizens to purchase a product from a corporation under the penalty of law. And make no mistake, that's exactly what is happening here.
Critics of nationalized healthcare argue that it's "intrusive" for government to simply provide healthcare to the people. But forcing people to purchase healthcare independently is far, far more intrusive than outright socialism. It takes money out of your pocket and puts that money into a vested corporate interest -- the health insurance industry, easily the most bloated and wasteful corporate bureaucracy in existence.
The health insurance industry exists for only one reason -- to perpetuate the profits of the health insurance industry. It ties up trillions of dollars in cash reserves -- money that could be used to create new companies -- and it is responsible for the employment of hundreds of thousands of people (both in the companies and in hospitals) whose sole productivity function is to serve the bureaucratic demands of the health insurance industry itself.
It's an ourobouros of an industry sector, constantly eating its own tail. It ties up and wastes trillions of dollars -- each YEAR -- and only a fraction of that money is actually spent on its purported goal of providing health care to people.
Using the law to force citizens to purchase ANYTHING from a private company is plutocracy, plain and simple. And forcing citizens to support the most devastating waste of resources in human history is just obscene.
Worst of all, this strategy exists solely for the sake of polemic -- so that policymakers don't have to "socialize" medicine.
Instead, they are "capitalizing" the insurance industry at the expense of citizens.
It robs us of a choice far more fundamental than the spurious "provider choice" issues deployed to sink the Clinton Health Plan more than a decade ago. In Massachusetts, it's now illegal "not to buy."
Capitalism works in an environment of maximum freedom, and that most emphatically includes the freedom to opt out. This health care "plan" incorporates the worst elements of socialism and captialism into something less effective than either.
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More on BenoitDan Wahlers on Chris Benoit...
Chris Benoit was one of my heroes, he was someone that I looked up to for his work ethnic, and the way he carried himself. He was such a class act, the kind of guy you wanted to pattern yourself after. There are few wrestlers that I respected and admired more than him. But that illusion was shattered this week. It was shattered into a million pieces. I will never think of Chris Benoit the same way. And that makes me very sad, and hurts me down deep in my heart and soul.
Three lives were ended this week, a brilliant career was forever stained, a wife and mother lost her life, and a 7 year old boy will never get the chance to grow up, and experience all the best that life has to offer. His live brutally snuffed out by his very own father. There are no words in the English language or any other language to express how deeply sad I am about this, and how much I wish this never happened,
and I had been watching Chris Benoit defend the ECW World Title for the first time last night, instead of writing the most heart wrenching, painful column I
have ever written.
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Chris Benoit...I've reduced this for a time, because I'm working on a story related to the Benoit tragedy. I will post links when available.
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I was never really a huge benoit fan, but I know what you mean. You can look back when you think of guerro and say "yea, he was cool" cuz the way he went was maybe more acceptable. But now, when you think of benoit your only gonna think about how he killed his wife, kid and HIMSELF! How sad. Such a disapointment. Now if Shawn Micheals, triple H or even bret heart dies....Im gonna give up on wrestling forever!
*eclipsemod
this is tragic, truly. however, i find faux wrestling an incredibly stupid entertainment vehicle, an opiate for the masses. it's a distraction for people not to think criticially, not to think at all rather, so that our government can get away with murder and thuggery throughout the world. prefessional wrestling is part of the pornography of violence, and does nothing positive for any of us.
Faux wrestling is no stupider -- in principle -- than any of the other forms of entertainment we choose, whether action movies, soap operas, "real" sports or Fox News.
In principle.
In actual execution, of course, WWE is grotesque and crass and often idiotic.
The thing about Benoit, see, is that he was one those rare peformers who elevated it above the pornography of violence. And that just makes it all so much worse.
I do not, however, think the commenter's link between the politics of violence and the show business of violence holds up here.
I will point out that wrestling was at an all time boom during the height of the Clinton administration. It hovered near industry lows through much of the jingoistic orgy of the Iraq War buildup. The direct linkage you're trying to propose here doesn't hold up well to scrutiny.
HE KILLED HIS FAMILY!!!!
This is real not fake.
When will WWE realize some of these roid users are crazy? Stop this insane crap.
It's definitely real.
The steroid issue will be addressed in the days and weeks to come, I am sure, especially after the toxicology reports come out. It's probably too simplistic to just blame this on steroids, but it's also important to look at that head-on.
I just watched the press conference. They said there were prescribed steroids in the house, but I was surprised that they didn't say anything about investigating the prescriptions.
I started watch wrestlingabout a year ago.. Benoit was injured and didn't care much about him. The big hero was Matt Hardy. But then Benoit made a return against Ken Kennedy winning the championship! I was stunished by that guy who seemed to be so small compared to many off the others. He did in that macth sail up as my big favourite, making Matt Hardy look like some kind of dumb skinny thing. I loved Benoit and to be honest, I did actually start cry when I saw the Tribute to Benoit show today!
*Vegard
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Followers of Omar Abdel Rahman made overtures to U.S. diplomats one year before the radical sheikh entered the United States on a visa approved by a CIA officer.
During several meetings with diplomatic officers at the U.S. embassy in Cairo, members of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (The Islamic Group) provided extensive details about the operations of one of Egypt's most notorious terrorist organizations.
Initiated by al-Gama'a in 1989, the meetings were aimed at creating a dialogue with the U.S. in the hopes of eventual, unspecified cooperation. The initiative was based on a perception that the U.S. enjoyed similar cooperation with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Less than four years after the approach, an al-Gama'a terror cell led personally by Abdel-Rahman bombed the World Trade Center in New York City.
The meetings are described in secret cables from the U.S. embassy in Cairo, which were declassified and released as part of a Freedom of Information Act request by INTELWIRE.
Click here for full story
April 1989 State Department cable (PDF)
May 1989 State Department cable (PDF)
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