Weekend Miscellany

I haven't done a straight-up links dump in a while, but it's that kind of weekend, so here's some stuff:

What Would Brian Boitano Do?: Iain Jackson at Grim Amusements, who ought to get more press than he does, watches South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, and finds contemporary political relevance:

We've pretty much actually turned into the version of the US shown in "South Park", or a reasonably facsimile thereof. (Perhaps an unreasonable facsimile thereof would be a better way to put it.) OK, we're not randomly imprisoning Canadians and exeduting them because they've made all our children pottymouthed; we're randomly imprisoning Arab-looking or sounding people, whether they be Iraqi or American or foreign nationals, and threatening to execute them when we find them guilty of crimes for which we serenely ignore the fact that we have no admissible evidence, pretty much just because we can.

It's hard to be a satirist these days.

User Friendly Explains the Poincare Conjecture. Via Ethan.

The Land of Rising Conservation: The New York Times on the Japanese committment to energy conservation. It's hard to imagine that catching on here, but I like the home fuel cell idea.

Comet Could Brighten Into Brilliance: Comet McNaught is making its closest approach to the sun this week, and might be spectacular. Or it might not, tough to say. But if you're into stargazing, you might want to look for it just after sunset. Via Tommaso.

Talking, Endlessly Talking: Scott Eric Kaufman on academic blogging, from the MLA. I should've linked to this a week ago, but better late than never.

And, of course, I can't mention the MLA without mentioning Margerye Kempe at the Feest of MLA, via Geoffrey Chaucer.