Then there's the amusing news story that the Taliban, our favorite foreign religious nutballs, have banned the use of the Internet in Afghanistan. Which begs the question: There are people using the Internet in Afghanistan? Can this edict possibly affect more than half a dozen people? Is the Taliban running out of things to ban? I predict that over the next few months we'll see them ban telepathy, flying saucers, and mountain goats. Because, of course, all of those things can spread obscenity, immorality, and, undoubtedly, anti-Islamic ideas. Especially those dastardly mountain goats. Oddly enough, though, banning anal-probe wielding aliens will be the only ban that the rest of the world won't argue with. Well, the (Grey-controlled) NSA will, but not publicly.
Hrm. This being the Internet, readers might mistake my tongue-in-cheek allusions to conspiracy theories for an honest, if demented, belief in the same. Well, such is not the case. I don't believe any of that stuff. The NSA Thought Control Division can confirm that. (And they'd like you to know that NSA Rules, CIA Drools!)
Having run through my ideas, I just spent half an hour looking at two websites devoted to anime toys. I love giant robots and spaceships. You want to hurt me? Point out how I didn't buy the SDF-1 toy back in the mid-80s because it was just a wee bit too expensive. Yeah, that stings. Oh, sure: ultimately, it's just another thing, something to clutter up my desk or fill a box in the attic. But it's a damned cool thing, and more importantly, it's a damned cool thing that I don't have and which is now very difficult to find and very, very expensive. It may be crass materialism, but it's crass anime materialism, and to me there's a big difference. Beam swords, wave motion guns, and the ability to transform into a space fighter are what make that difference.
But what is it that appeals to me, exactly? I'm not sure. I suppose it's the romance of one-on-one battles, of the lone knight figure (or small group of noble warriors) triumphing over his enemies, combined with a hearty dose of future tech. But it's mainly the high tech vehicles and equipment. I buy tech books for role-playing games and movies just to pore over the pictures and descriptions. I love well-drawn graphics with lots of explanatory text, as long as the explanations don't get...no, even when the explanations get pretty silly. I love to know how things work (my parents rued the day that I discovered how to use a screwdriver), so well drawn machines, and especially cutaway drawings, draw me like a magnet.
Odd. I never really thought about it before, but "I like to know how things work" pretty much explains how I ended up being a technical writer. Well, that and a timely suggestion by Sun Ra. So, it's been a rambling column, but one which ends with a tiny epiphany. What more can you ask for?