Splicing Cables

Dear interweb collective mindshare thingie: does anyone know the difficulty involved in splicing the cable of a computer speaker setup? I’m talking about replacing the male plug that you plug into the computer. The one attached to my speakers is damaged or something, and thus annoying me with its partial workingness. Thing is, I don’t want to completely wreck the speakers by slicing the plug off, only to discover that splicing is impossible.

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Masters of Horror

via Jeff Ford:

This Friday, December 2, at 10 PM, Showtime will be airing the latest installment of its Masters of Horror series, which will be an adapataion of Dale Bailey’s International Horror Guild Award-winning story, “Death and Suffrage” (F&SF, Feb. 2002). Also, rumor has it Showtime will be doing one of its free weekend previews just in time, so you should be able to watch the episode even if you don’t subscribe.

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Voice or No Voice?

I came across a disturbing quote today–completely innocently and free of context, in a short piece on quotes from military leaders. The quote was disturbing not because of the content, but of who is saying it, and how it sounds eerily like our present situation here in the United States:

Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.”

And who said this? Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials.

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The Exquisite Agony of Caffeine Deprivation

Ug.

Decided this week to try to cut down on my caffeine consumption, and to eventually all but cut it out of my diet. Even though I haven’t gone cold turkey–I’ve just cut way back, I’m already feeling the effects of withdrawal. I’ve got that nasty, localized caffeine headache that comes and goes, and sometimes just comes and stays.

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