Diary of the Mad Pigeon

MOGS Endorses a Presidential Candidate!

Finally, a no-nonsense candidate!

Oui Oui - The Pigeon is going to Paris

Pardon me while I bask in some glory for a second...

"Dear Mad Pigeon

We are pleased to welcome you to our International Society of Political Psychology 2008 conference as a member of the section Democracy and Civic Development and notify you that your proposal has been accepted in the program.

We are putting together an exciting program which includes over 500 paper presentations, posters, roundtables, plenary talks, and workshops. To ensure a stimulating conference, we are requesting the help of all our section members, and you may be asked to serve as a chair o  discussant in one of the panels of your section. Serving as chair entails overseeing that the session runs smoothly and productively. Serving as discussant entails offering feedback to the panel's research papers, and this task contributes greatly to the quality of discussion in each panel."

Seriously, I've been holding back on research while awaiting word on my proposal, to include requesting funds to visit Linden Labs, NCSoft and possibly Blizzard to conduct interviews and get some hands-on virtual world design experience.  I'm also filing a software variation request to get MySpace and Second Life access at work so I can get more of my work done at... well, work.

Thus I'll pour myself a nice finger of rum tonight--but I'll be hitting the books hard over the next few months!

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The Mad Pigeon has a MySpace Page!

The Mad Pigeon's Back!  Not that my occasional post last week indicated I was on holiday, of course...

My break was fantastic... I did nothing but eat and roost for 10 friggin' days!  It was a veritable cornucopia of roosting, an orgy of roosting, the roosting arts taken to the extreme.  I came, I saw, I roosted.

But alas, Spring Break is over:  the minions went back to school today, and this pigeon was back in front of the class with a lesson plan he could not recall (apologies to Rage Against the Machine).

Yesterday, though, I finally took the plunge into another social networking foray.  I made a MySpace profile! 

A work in progress of course:  http://www.myspace.com/madpigeon (anyone want to be friends?).

Admittedly, I did feel 13-years old again, but let me explain!  I figured since I was already researching the political implications of virtual worlds and have also started literature reviews on other forms of online collaboration, then the next logical step was to immerse myself in another collaborative space. 

I thought about building a new identity, but ultimately decided sticking with the Mad Pigeon motif would be simpler, allow me to share information across both sites, and further my plans for world domination help broadcast the diary to a wider audience.

Thanks to taking a down week I feel refreshed and well-preened, and I'm glad I had time to explore another forum.  Still, it's good to be back--I already have some provocative items in the queue for you this week!

Finally, last call on the Tibet Open Thread!  I thought for sure it'd stir some passions out there...

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On Aging Baby Boomers

I think MOGS will appreciate this one...

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-walt-babyboomers-blurb,0,1036393.blurb

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Sense: this make none

ganked from Uncyclopaedia

An American Government Quiz!

I scored 25/30...

http://games.toast.net/independence/

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NO! NO MAS LOS EMOS!

Mexico just may be turning things around.

Let me get this straight: Open, dialogue-sparking hostility like this can happen in Mexico, but not here? What ever happened to good old-fashioned American confrontation?

...oh, wait, it's now somehow unhealthy and inappropriate in the hands of anyone but "the downtrodden".  Whatever the hell that means. Code Pink vs. the Marines=ok. Normal people vs. Emo types=not ok. Huh?

U.S. says missile parts mistakenly sent to Taiwan

From Sam Tresler:  U.S. says missile parts mistakenly sent to Taiwan

I'm supposed to be on vacation, but I figured this was worth posting as another open thread! 

My short take, though is this is an example of either:

1) A thinly-veiled threat against China (to include nose-thumbing).  After all, we've got the Tibet Debacle, the recent Taiwan elections and the Olympics all wrapped up into a nice shiny package (pesonally, I'm all about playing the occasional "I'm not touching you!" game against China).

Or...

2) Some poor ammo commander is about to get fired. 

Reconfiguring to primary roosting status in three... two... one....

Mission successful.

Very eeenteresting....

Things that make you go "hmmmm..."

Open Topic: The Tibet Crisis

As promised, I thought I'd leave you with a nice, pleasant OPEN TOPIC while I'm off roosting over the week with my family.

With that, the current Tibet crisis seemed a meaty topic for everyone to gnaw one!  Let's see what the wires have to say:

Witnesses to Tibet violence describe scenes of horror

Cyber Attacks Target Pro-Tibet Groups

China Rejects Pelosi, Cites Support for Tibet Actions

'Most wanted' list out as China ups pressure over Tibet 

Tibet casts shadow over Vatican's China-themed Easter

Take the thread anywhere you wish:  should the US respond?  Will this affect the Olympics?  Does the world give a [PIGEONED]? 

Please feel free to add more source documentation in the comments!  Blog links are fine, too, but provide an exerpt to give other reader's some context to go on.

Have fun (if you can call discussing a riot fun), and I'll be back on the 31st of March!

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