e pur si muove

Three posts in a day! Wow! (I guess I must be too excited about growing older, hint hint.)

Today is BlogDay, and here is my contribution. Sorry, I didn’t tell the lucky 5 below, but I think it should all still be swell.

• Cosmic Variance: random samplings from a universe of ideas. This blog is a collaborative effort between five theoretical physicists, whose interests span specific topics on the frontiers of the known universe, ranging from particle physics to quantum gravity, cosmology, superstring theory, and astrophysics.
• Omeka Na Huria, by Jacob George. If you like Singabloodypore, a Singapore-focused blog that surely needs no introduction, you will probably like Jacob’s postings too. This is the best Singapore blog on Singaporean issues which I feel deserves wider circulation. See, for example, his recent post entitled Middle Finger Day.
• Waiter Rant. Now on its own web domain, Waiter Rant has been remarkably consistent in providing tales from the supercilious waiter-at-a-fancy-restaurant point-of-view. Hyphenation extravaganza aside, I learnt that the only “correct” percentage to tip is 15% of the final post-tax bill, proving generations of more-senior-and-hence-holier-than-thou Singaporeans wrong with an appeal to an authority that is hard to top. Penmanship, dated Aug 23, is an example of why I love reading this blog.
• Tales from Chambana, for keeping me from sleepless nights thinking I must be the only blogger in the Champaign-Urbana region. A personal blog that is nonetheless insightful and not one of those “today i brushed my teeth” kind of personal blog (using KnightOfPentacles‘ lingo). Amusingly enough, circulation on TWUIC alone already seems to be higher than any of the American students’ blogs whom I am aware of. Van has already beaten me to the punch with his contribution to BlogDay.
• Metroblogging Chicago. Co-authored by over a dozen bloggers, Metroblogging has been my favorite source of Chicago dirt, encompassing everything from flat-out bitching to yet more shocking exposés of American corruption to local history and architecture to restaurant reviews and what to do on my (sadly) infrequent trips to the Windy City. Metroblogging is a fantastic series of localized blogs, by the way; check out what the New Orleans have been doing since Katrina threw her tantrum. Superlative reporting, heads and shoulders over what the traditional media have been able to whip up.

And as a bonus, the Piled Higher and Deeper RSS Gradfeed: Providing academics worldwide with up-to-the-minute procrastination! One may think of it as being roughly equivalent to the Dilbert of the academic world.

OK, I should stop now before enumerating my entire blogroll.

It was brought to my attention that The Pilot n’ Jo show has been thrown the lawbook by the actions of one Dr. Richard Lim, who left comments to that effect on their post entitled Imagine. Dr. Richard Lim, who did not leave an email address or any further contact information, left four comments on the post culminating in a quotation which apparently comes straight from the lawbooks, and “advising” them to register as a political website.

Question: This is meant to be some sort of legal threat, or no? I am inclined to believe that this is not, but the situation is worth watching. P n’ J, last I heard from them, are not budging.

The whole premise of this feather-ruffling revolves around Dr. Lim’s claim that P n’ J run a political website. I am skeptical that Pilot n’ Jo should be made to register as a political website simply on the basis of hosting or providing access to a podcast of an interview, even if the interviewee is a known (and by some measures, prominent) political opposition figure in Singapore. A bunch of issues come to mind, centered around a single issue:

To what extent is a website considered a political one?

In the case of Pilot n’ Jo, the political aspect of their website (at best) centers squarely on a single post, i.e. just one webpage. Does that mean that all of us who have commented at one point or another on the political state of our nation-state have to go through the registration process, even if they were merely some expression of our own personal opinions based on some kind of contact with an opposition party figure? And does that mean that a hypothetical fourteen-year-old who podcasts an interview with his MP during a Meet-The-People session can run afoul of the law simply by posting it on his blog? Even if it contains 99 other completely apolitical posts about how his schooling years are like? How about if all the other posts on his blog are also some kind of political commentary?

(After writing all the above, I realize that Steve McD. has already posted something about this.)

This may have been passed over out of sheer non-eventworthiness, except that it happens to coincide with an article I just read in the World Peace Herald: S. Waterman, Army will crack down on military bloggers. [wph blog] Some may think I am being ridiculous for comparing the military need for OPSEC (i.e. hush-hushness) with legal threats, but I do think it reflects a general sentiment in the society at large that blogs are being taken increasingly more seriously, even by non-bloggers. US Army spokespeople have claimed that all this material going online due to MilBloggers makes it easier for enemies to compile data, but this somehow rings false to me. Unless there are undeniable instances where security was breached by posting sensitive/classified material online, material that is declassified should be perfectly fair game.

Which then segues in to the recent slamming of Tomorrow.sg (again) for being supposedly far too liberal in their linking/approval policy. (You know where to find the links.)

I have only one thing to say on the subject of Tomorrow:

I will turn 24 tomorrow.

That is all.

A summary of Katrina’s aftermath:

It was real foggy in Champaign-Urbana this morning.

President Bush authorized the release of the country’s stockpiles of petroleum to fend off scares over (still) soaring gas prices. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman confirmed the authorization in a press statement released earlier today.

Although oil prices dropped slightly after the announcement, Bloomberg still forsees the national average retail price of gas to run as high as $3.22/gal. Industry analysts are punting $4/gal.

Most of the oil production factories in or around the Gulf of Mexico are still closed pending damage assessments.

Snopes is busy debunking wild rumors circulating around apparently panicked/amused citizens regarding post-Katrina gas policy.

A summary of the American media reports about what looks like America’s most expensive natural disaster ever:

Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans earlier today, busting just about every window in the historic French Quarter, and even tearing down the roof of the Superdome where ~9,000 people were seeking shelter. Much of the Big Easy is currently flooded [pix], with many residents cowering on their rooftops to avoid drowning.

With most of New Orleans sitting in a bowl-like depression below sea level, the flood waters aren’t going anywhere until water pumps start working again, but the US Department of Homeland Security is estimating one month before power is restored to the City of Jazz.

Since the Gulf of Mexico contains something like 20% of domestic oil refinining capacity, and some oil rigs have fallen prey to the relentless winds, gas prices in America have spiked yet again. Crude oil *and* US oil futures briefly crossing over the $70/barrel mark earlier today, triggering yet another round of fretting over pump prices. President Bush is considering the use of the US’s stockpile of oil, should the situation worsen.

In other news: Jellyfish Cause Reactor Shutdown in Sweden. Exerpt:

A Swedish nuclear power plant shut down one of its three reactors Monday because of an abnormal accumulation of jellyfish in the cooling system.[...] “When there are too many jellyfish in the cooling water, the flow is hindered and we have to clean it to keep the reactor going at full effect,” plant spokesman Erik Mattsen said.

Yeah, no kidding.