by Joel Aufrecht 04:26 PM, 04 Aug 2008
I just gave up on the last of the three Foundation prequels, written by the Killer Bs (Brin, Benford, and Bear). The ideas were vaguely interesting, but the characters and plot were so wretchedly thin, serving merely as didactic mouthpieces for a not-especially-sophisticated set of arguments about destiny and chaos and humanity and whatnot. The last straw for me was this passage, after the aged Hari Seldon fears he's had a stroke:
Hari yearned for a return to unconscious oblivion, rather than discover that another portion of his brain had died. He did not want to face the aftermath—another harsh setback on the long slide toward personal extinction.
All the talk about the Laws of Robotics made me realize that this may be a suitable framework for contemplating what King Kaufman calls "The Complicated Calculus of Teams I Root for". For me, the calculus goes like this:
  1. Thou shalt always cheer for the Dodgers, whoever is playing the Yankees, the Nets, the US national womens' and men's football teams, Arsenal, whoever is playing the Blues, and the Mighty Ducks (but not the non-Mighty 2006 and later Anaheim Ducks).
    1. Thou shalt always cheer for whoever is playing the Giants, except when the Giants are playing the Yankees
    2. Thou shalt always cheer for whoever is playing the Cardinals, unless the Cardinals are playing the Yankees, or the Giants while the Giants are in contention for the NL West or NL wild card
  2. Thou shalt always cheer for the A's, the Red Sox, the Mets, whoever is playing the Cowboys, whoever is playing the Patriots, and whoever is playing Manchester United, except when such a team is playing a team defined in the First Rule.
  3. Thou shalt never cheer for or against Tiger Woods or Roger Federer or Herman Maier, except inasmuch as one may cheer for a force of nature, such as a sunset or rainbow.
Categories: Comments (0)
XML

Archive

August 2008
S M T W T F S
         
4 
10  11  12  13  14  15  16 
17  18  19  20  21  22  23 
24  25  26  27  28  29  30 
31             
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
April 2001

Notifications

You may request notification for Joel's Blog.

Syndication Feed

XML

Recent Comments

  1. Victor Koledoye: A Religion ticket
  2. Joel Aufrecht: from a senior roboticist
  3. Jeff Davis: Source?
  4. Kathryn Schild: quick question
  5. Tai Yan Lim: Trip Back Home - Joel
  6. José Rodrigues: Hello
  7. Guan Yang:
  8. Erika Graffunder: Canada
  9. Erika Graffunder: Per capita emissions
  10. Erika Graffunder: Policy - should you keep evaluating or focus on solutions