the Greater Nomadic Council

L'Orage Vient

Just a quick note to lament the fact that I don't have a nice camera. There is a gigantic storm approaching--the dark clouds are almost here--and I wish I could show you guys a pic. As it is though, I will be unplugging all electronics until it passes. The house is battened down, the car's in the garage, and I'll be on the back porch. Envy me, suckers!

Update:
This is as good as I can get. The image is about forty-five minutes after the heaviest stuff passed my house. It wasn't all that damaging of a storm, but some very dramatic lightning.

Update again:
Guess I was wrong about it not being damaging. A little north of here, some cars were swept off the road and it looks like there were at least two fatalities.

More on Adjuncts: The Brutal Market in the Humanities

I thought this post from Michael Berube might interest you guys. But then SNW beat me to it! Nevertheless, check out what MB has to say....all of his links are worth following, including a handy Village Voice summary of the situation. Much of the discussion surrounds the death of the popular Invisible Adjunct blog, which was written by a historian lamenting the hopeless market in the humanities and working as an adjunct. In the end she gave up looking, left academia, and stopped writing the blog.

Entries like this one are very compelling indeed--most of her "Academic "Job Market" entries are worth reading, including the very interesting commentary that follows, where a variety of former academics weigh in. Here's a typical sample from the blog...

But how much worse to spend five or six or seven years! At a time when you could be building a viable career, and also creating a life for yourself (which might involve marriage, maybe having a child or two, possibly even buying a home or at least moving into a half-decent rental), you are toiling away in relative poverty, perhaps accumulating debt, and living under conditions of massive anxiety and insecurity. You must delay and defer so much of what many people (perhaps including yourself? be honest, now) would consider a decent, livable life, and without even a reasonable chance that it will all be worth it in the end. And I'm not talking about fame and fortune, the pursuit of filthy lucre and lots of it, but just the basics of a modest middle-class life: say, a living wage with health insurance. Be still my bourgeois heart.

And where I had once rather looked down at those who were busily pursuing jobs/careers/marriages/family out there in the real world while I engaged in something loftier and more pure... Well, let me conclude this overlong entry by saying two things: First, if I had to do it over again, I would not go to graduate school; and second, I try hard, really hard, not to hold it against those undergraduate professors of mine who encouraged me to go to graduate school and who actively discouraged me from going to law school because I was "too smart" for a legal career. Ach. I was smart enough, I suppose, in the booksmarts way, but it turns out I was actually rather stupid: not smart enough, that is, to not listen to such silly advice.

It’s really a very big discussion, and though this post is really long, it could be 5 times longer. Let me start with Berube's commentary. Although I don't disagree with anything he says, I find it a little silly when an academic star like Berube attributes his initial ability to find a job to "dumb luck". I don't doubt that luck played some part in his success, but when you look at the guy's CV and some of his prior blog posts about his daily life, it becomes crystal clear that the man is a fucking engine—a workaholic churning out essay after book after essay while raising a family and keeping up a teaching load, in addition to a blog and a more than healthy interest in politics.

Ultimately, I think it really does have to do with how smart you are, how hard you work and have worked, and how willing you are to relocate. In short, how much you deserve to be a successful academic is directly proportional to how much you want it. Take the case of Invisible Adjunct--she lives in New York and presumably isn't able to relocate since she has a successful lawyer husband. She must be aware that New York is the worst place in the world for people looking for tenure track academic jobs. Clearly, she isn’t prepared to move, which is completely understandable. But even given the geographic constraints, her case is still hard to believe, since she has showed herself smart and capable enough to launch a successful blog that became something of a rallying point for adjuncts everywhere. Still, I have to wonder—how much could she have accomplished if she had devoted all that blogging time to research on the Scottish Enlightenment? How many articles did she publish in the last year or for that matter the last 5 years?

The only conclusion that makes sense to me is that whether one gets a job comes down to the sacrifices you are prepared to make for the profession. It is true that most new graduate students hardly understand this, even if their mentors make every effort to ram it down their throats. I remember Mark telling me an anecdote about a buddy of his whose professor told him flat out "Don't do it! It's too much work!" That’s probably going a little too far, but maybe that’s what someone should have said to Invisible Adjunct.

I suppose there are 2 primary categories of the naïve grad student. First of all there are the normal, innocent bastards who think being an academic is a normal bourgeois career (it isn't) that pays relatively well (it doesn't) with good work hours (absolutely no way). They think that if they simply do what they're told to do (get good grades and write their dissertation) things will fall into place. This type will either sink or swim--either they learn the individualistic academic work ethic and pump out as many articles as possible (certainly, love for the subject matter is a big help here) or they are spit out with a Masters or even worse, produce a mediocre PhD followed by a near hopeless job search. I have occasionally encountered such mediocre dissertations when researching a paper—you wonder how it ever got into book form, or why the examining committee didn’t burst into laughter over the well-organized and well-structured stupidity of the argument.

And then you have an even freakier type of grad student idiocy (and I fear I fall into this category). That is, those who view/viewed academia as an escape from the "real world", a negation of mainstream society in favor of a monk-like existence with real parallels to a spiritual life, except with lots of coffee and hot undergrads with perky breasts. Left among themselves, this type of grad student is contemptuous of the anxieties and hang-ups of mainstream society. He/she has "a healthy lack of interest in consumptive patterns of the middle to upper-middle class", as one defiant Invisible Adjunct commentator puts it. Their lives are devoted to the higher, unsullied realm of mental masturbation and literary tiffs, in addition to proving that, when you think about it, philosophers should rule the world. Unfortunately, these sorry poetic souls soon find out that 1) the contemporary university is a bureaucratic system that is becoming increasingly rationalized and subject to the process of supply and demand, 2) the only way to hack it in the humanities is to develop a severe work-ethic characteristic of Puritans, med students, or novelists. Either way, you have to work your ass off and become a creature of the system to survive, unless you are some kind of mad genius.

Being part of the 2nd group, I am slowly coming to understand academia for what it is, and realize that I've either got to ratchet up the work ethic or take my hot ass somewhere else. In order to have a chance, we grad students have to remain in close competition with one another and constantly be asking ourselves how our research is valuable within the context of a supply and demand academic market. Hence the question emerges again--how badly do you want it?

For me, this is the answer to the adjuncts who bitch about the lack of opportunities in their chosen field (such people are incredibly numerous and annoying here in Germany, where the economy is in a total funk and may never recover), no matter how obscenely junior academics are treated in comparison with other bourgeois professions. The attitude that everyone is fucked because there aren't enough jobs is suggestive of a passive, victimized attitude toward work, where one doesn't know what one is doing when one makes decisions, since one's decisions are largely based on the advice and pressures of the system. Of course, I’m just as much of a systematic product as anyone else. But I think I realize that if I'm unhappy with the academic job market, there are 2 choices—1) work harder or 2) do something else. I am reminded of a scene in the movie "Comedian" (about Seinfeld) where the annoying up and coming comic whines to Seinfeld about how all his friends are doing better than he is, how things are so hard, how he isn’t making it… Seinfeld is incredulous and replies "What the hell are you talking about? It's not about making it. This is a special life.......Is there something else you'd rather be doing?"

I think this passage applies to any tough field, including academia. People have to get it through their heads that a PhD means jack shit if they can't teach and can't write interesting books. When it comes down to it, the less our profession is invested with institutional mediocrity, the better.

But don't get me wrong, I believe the professional structures in the humanities must be changed to provide an ethically acceptable as well as realistic solution to the problem. Clearly, the first thing they can do is cut back drastically on the number of Ph.D students admitted and the number of teaching assistantships available (the MLA has been agitating for this for years). In the case of German, they should take the money paid to T.As and hire full time Introductory German teachers. Ideally, these people would have M.A.s and be the type of person who loves and is great at teaching foreign languages, but doesn't have any overwhelming interest in literature or research. This type definitely exists, and many of them would enthusiastically prefer working on a university campus rather than a community college or high school. They would be prepared to take a relative pay cut to do so. And they tend to be much better teachers than grad students whose interests are elsewhere.

I think a similar strategy could help meet the demand for English Composition instructors and cut back on English TAs as well, although in the case of Composition, English PhDs might want the job (these days, many community college teachers have PhDs anyway). Again, an experienced, well-qualified professional is going to do a better teaching job than a bewildered 1st or 2nd year grad student.

Basically, relying on adjuncts and producing too many PhDs in order to take advantage of cheap PhD labor is unethical and exploitive, and the profs need to pressure admins to do something about it. Humanities departments around the country need to face the facts and get with the MLA program, even if it means cutting their beloved graduate programs.

Indivisible Adjunct

Since we're all either aspiring academics or unapologetic brainiacs, I thought I’d do a bit of a transplant of a discussion that I first noticed via O-Dub. The Village Voice recently published an article on the academic job market, a seemingly perennial topic of hand-wringing in the librul press. Appropriately, at a time when grad students are slowly unionizing, Wal-Mart is getting blasted for not providing health care to its legion of part-time workers, and outsourcing to India is a political hot potato, the focus this time around is on the increasing reliance on adjunct faculty to fill the holes left by the decline in tenured positions and/or the rise in student populations. The adjunct massive claims that it is the downtrodden plebeian underclass of academia, while this blithely irresponsible tenured monstrosity thinks they could all use a few years down a coal mine to put things in perspective.

The one thing that strikes me in much of this reading – it seems widely acknowledged that adjuncts do little or no research and writing. Is this because these are people primarily interested in teaching, are they just uninterested in research? It seems like common academic knowledge these days that a book is pretty much a prerequisite to tenure – are the adjuncts just people who can’t get with the program? And as I told Mike, I don't think this sort of question invalidates my position against the overuse of adjuncts - there are both general and individual causes that can be in effect simultaneously.

A couple of bonus links:

A discourse on the history of the current crisis.

One of the adjuncts gets dissed hard by a community college administrator.

Blog Design

As you can tell, we're doing a minor redesign of the site, so apologies if something broke for you. I'm done for now though, so if something is still broken or just looks bad, please let me know the problem along with what screen resolution and browser you're using. One thing you don't need to mention is the IE bug that's causing the entries to drift to the left the farther down the screen you scroll. I'm still trying to figure that one out so if you know how to fix it, please let me know. Also, any suggestions you might have are welcomed. Thanks.

Abortion and Catholicism

Read this post from Alas, a Blog. In it, the author argues that it is possible for Catholics to support pro-choice policies on the basis that they may actually reduce abortions compared to anti-abortion policies. My vast ignorance of Catholic doctrine notwithstanding, it seems to me that the only objection to this could be that since abortion is unequivocally wrong according to church teaching, any policy that does not condemn abortion is also wrong, regardless of the practical outcome of those policies.

So, I have some questions for our informed Catholic readers (or our Catholically-informed ones). Is this the case or does the church allow for a consideration of the practical effects of such laws? If it doesn't, then how do you reconcile the fact that anti-abortion laws may actually increase the number of abortions with the desire to stop them? If you can consider the effects of these laws, then why condemn Catholic politicians such as Kerry for being pro-choice?

Nerd Heaven

I imagine every scientist and mathematician worth their sodium chloride already knows about this, but for interested layfolk, such as myself, this server is a revelation. I probably can't understand even the abstracts of 90% of these papers, but the wealth of scientific knowledge here is staggering.

La Révolution des Crabes

Here's an entertaining video about crabs. Even if you don't speak French, the animation and music make it worth watching. It's about the crab's inability to change directions, a crab philosopher that decides they're all slaves to their shells, and a crab who discovers the truth accidentally in an emergency.

(via Aeiou)

Bush's Failed Foreign Policy

The administration's high-handed style and its gratuitous unilateralism have embittered even those most likely to embrace American values and invited opposition even from those with most to gain from American successes. All around the world, fewer and fewer people accept that any connection exists between their aspirations and the principles Washington preaches.

This is from a recent article by Samuel Berger that details how Bush's foreign policy has alienated our allies and weakened our ability to fight terrorism, stabilize Iraq, and embark on any new campaigns if needed while laying out a comprehensive plan for a Democratic president.

Even if Bush wanted to repair our alliances he would be incapable of doing so at this point. He has become such a polarizing figure that few leaders can afford to be seen as his ally regardless the issue. Kerry, however, regularly declares his intention to rebuild these strengthening alliances. He would provide the United States with another chance to bring in substantial support from other nations and to help legitimize the occupation of Iraq. Bush's policies only weaken our efforts against terrorism and our international influence. For that alone he must go.

Are You Serious?

And as long as I'm bashing bloggers, let's move on to the liberals. Eric Alterman and Matthew Yglesias have further demonstrated the limitations of punditry by arguing Gephardt is the most logical pick for VP. Yes, I know...bizarre.

Unlike MY, I actually like Gephardt. And I won't dispute that Gep is a pro or that he is a relatively "safe" choice. However, I don't see how he strengthens the ticket. No, he isn't going to win Missouri for the Dems. Despite pouring his entire a massive war chest into nearby Iowa, he placed a distant 4th. Unless Missourians are extraordinarily state-centric, there seems little reason to believe having Gep on the ticket is going to make a significant difference.

And while I grant that Gep might "energize" labor, those who care enough to respect Gep's record are already tuned into the process and committed to voting Kerry. There are other ways Kerry can make sure the labor bloc works for him and helps GOTV. I can't help being amused by this new Washington/Boston/NY fantasy that there are a bunch of old blue collar dads who mistrust Kerry and will only change their minds if a nice old coot who is one of them like Gep is on the ticket. As for old wizened coots, Bob Graham is a genuinely likable guy, and extremely popular in Florida.

Whatever benefits Gep brings are overshadowed by the amount of people turned off by the inevitable media portrayal of two unpopular, wizened insiders. In a world where many non-voters are non-voters because they hate politicians, the Democrats need some fresh charisma to help bring out new voters and win over women and youth. In any case, Edwards has already demonstrated that he can do well in the Midwest. IMO, Edwards is the better choice for speaking to the marginalized, and most importantly, for making an impression on TV.

Andrew Sullivan: Moron or Lunatic?

It seems Andrew overdosed on the medication this week...

FALLUJAH AND NAJAV: As David Brooks noticed today, these two cities contain the entire future of the attempt to break the back of Islamist terror and Muslim autocracy. Right now, they're the only stories that really matter.

It's true. Al Qaida, Iran, Muslim autocracy, Baathists, Shiites, and everybody else in the grand Islamofascist conspiracy are rushing everything they have to those cities. It's now or never. It's time to wipe the motherfuckers out, and let's make sure to we take out their idols as well.

Indeed, according to his latest article "Reasons to be Cheerful"...
We do not yet know the details of the battle in Fallujah. But I predict it will be remembered as one of the most critical modern battles in the war on terror. In a matter of days, the insurgents were killed in vast numbers in classic urban warfare. The ratio of U.S. casualties to insurgent casualties was roughly one to ten. What should have been done very early in the invasion - the wiping out of the Baathist thugs and their Islamicist allies - was finally accomplished.

That is, until this week, when all of our enemies have reappeared in new numbers. Thank God for our vastly superior killing technologies.

Whether he is a moron or a lunatic, the fact that many acutally consider Sullivan a moderate and that people still take him seriously underlines just how morally and intellectually sick the conventional wisdom is these days.

The Religious Policeman

For an insider's view of Saudi Arabia, check out The Religious Policeman blog. It has some pretty fascinating details about censorship, weddings, public executions, and other things.

Road Hogs

Help the slow and stupid hedgehogs cross the road.

(via Snooze Button Dreams)

Kerry's Restless Intellect

As a senator, Kerry seeks advice from many quarters, examines all angles, raises every doubt. At freewheeling debate sessions with his Capitol Hill staff members, he had a habit of keeping them guessing about his positions; sometimes they would not know how he planned to vote even as he walked onto the Senate floor.

Read the article. I imagine the truth about Kerry is, as usual, somewhere between the two characterizations. He could very well be a nuanced intellectual who makes some decisions based on political calculations. Still, given everything that I've read about him so far, I'm inclined to think most of his apparent self-contradictions are due to his understanding of the complexities inherent in many situations. Given that the mainstream news media do an execrable job of reporting the details of any issue, preferring instead to find the simple and ultimately obscuring explanation, it's not hard to imagine that the logic of Kerry's positions is often misrepresented by thirty second soundbites. Combine that with the Bush administration's frantic attempt to turn every aspect of his past into further evidence of flip-flops and the truth is obscured even further. The challenge for Kerry, as the article points out, will be to compress his positions into coherent, consistent bits of easily transmittable slogans and catch phrases. Unfortunately, along with focus and curiosity, our nation seems to have forgotten Emerson's admonishment that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

Monocle HUD to Help Cyborgs

US firm Microvision has developed a system that projects lasers onto the retina, allowing users to view images on top of their normal field of vision.

Although the idea is nothing new, the technology looks like it has advanced significantly. Combine this with the wearable computing research that's been done at MIT and other places and you have an entirely new way of experiencing the world, one that Dr. Mann has lived for almost 30 years.

People Are Insane . . .

. . . but brilliant. I can certainly see the attraction of building your very own Dalek. Especially one that allows you to get inside, drive around, shoot water at passers-by, and process your voice through a ring modulator. But man, the amount of work this guy put in to accomplish that wonderful dream is truly nuts.

Yglesias Discusses T.S. Eliot

Matthew Yglesias takes Senator Byrd to task for misreading T. S. Eliot. However, I don't think Yglesias gets it quite right either. The lines in question:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

As interpretation, he writes:

Now as I read it, the point here is that April does three things. First, it breeds lilacs out of the dead land. Second, it mixes memory and desire. Third, it stirs dull roots with spring rain.

While I think it's great that he's trying to correct a perceived misreading of one of the major poetic works of the 20th century, his reading isn't very good. It's a rather superficial one concerned only with the process of spring, mischaracterizing the actions listed as distinct phenomena. As I read it, the lilacs, the mixture of "memory and desire", and the stirring "dull roots" are all different aspects of the same thing, the blooming of lilacs.

The dull roots are the roots of the lilacs whose growth mixes "memory and desire", the metaphysical heart of the passage buried between two concrete images. The memory referenced can be read as many—winter in the form of "dead land", the previous spring, last year's lilacs—as can the desire—the lilac's desire to break out from "the dead land" and blossom, the longing of lovers in springtime, and, paradoxically, the desire to regress, to return to the memories evoked. Naturally, as with any poem, these associations are not exhaustive, but the specter of winter and past springs along with the ache of longing combine to make Byrd's description of the "mournful April lilacs" somewhat accurate. The cruelty consists in the limbo-like nature of the lilac's existence, longing for something yet to be achieved while still mired in the past.

Of course, "The Wasteland" is such a rich poem that this reading also ignores many of the themes and deeper complexities, but I hope I've at least pointed to some of them. The problem with Yglesias' interpretation is that it is seeking a plot to explain the given lines rather than dealing with the poetic content. His interpretation isn't wrong, just misguided in its concern with the less important aspects of the passage.

I'm Gonna Rock Right Now.

I’ve got a little treat for you guys. Actually, a very little treat. Check it:

Curse the Darkness – “Starving Heart”

This is me – I produced, wrote, engineered, and mastered it. It’s strictly demo quality, and the levels are a bit low, but you get the idea. It was made using a Roland MC-808 (that’s the sampler, not the drum machine), recorded to a Tascam 4-track to add vocals, and then dumped to a PC. It’s that last part that I’m ridiculously excited about - after a few years of having it languish on a four-track, I’ve finally got a way to get my music out for people to hear without messing with somebody else’s studio or whatever. For about the next week, I should be posting a track every day over at my blog, so stay up on it.

Thanks to M for helping make this possible.

Update: Sorry to any who had trouble downloading this, I forgot to change the access settings on my web folder.

You Are A Crackhead. Why Don't You Own A Crackpipe?

On Wednesday morning I emerged from my girlfriend's building by U.N. Plaza to find that you had sawed the tops off both the sparkplugs on my motorcycle. At the time, I had no idea why anyone would do that. Other than the sparkplugs, the bike was untouched.

From a Craigslist post titled Hey Crackhead.

(via Boing Boing)

Da Vinci Invented Programmable Car

It is the world's first self-propelled vehicle. It was designed to operate as a robot and could travel for about 40 meters. It featured a programmable steering and a brake that could be released at distance by an operator with a hidden rope

Is there anything Da Vince didn't invent? Read the rest.

Notes from the Equator

My parents live on Bioko Island, near Malabo in Equatorial Guinea--a tiny country with a gigantic (but secret) GDP due to its recently-discovered oil and natural gas reserves. Because they just had their elections, I thought I would share an email I recently got from my mother:

19 April 2004

Good Morning,

We spent a hot, steamy night in our room last night. The power went out about 7:30pm and although having no light wasn’t a problem, no air conditioning makes for some very uncomfortable sleeping. We stayed outside as long as possible since the room was like a sweatbox. The two windows are on the same side of the building and naturally, the slight breeze was coming from the opposite direction. The men worked for several hours on the generator and were unable to get it going. They are still working this morning and it looks like it will be several more hours. The kitchen couldn’t open for breakfast and may not be open for lunch either. The freezer and chillers need to stay closed to maintain temp as long as possible. It will be a real shame if all that food is spoiled before we get power again. The offices are on a different power source for now, so we can work and make coffee. With all the good food we’ve been having, missing a meal or two won’t hurt. I do wonder what is being done for the men who work in the field – they need the calories.

Sunday was a good day. Your Dad and [name excised] and I took a drive along the east coast of the island. We were headed for Riaba, but the roads were so bad that we only covered 40 kilometers in 4 ½ hours. We visited several villages and although all of them were very poor, some were much worse than others. We received a friendly welcome in most villages, but the poorest village had the most dispirited people who seemed to lack the energy for even a wave of the hand. This village also had what we think may be an orphanage near a church, but there were no adults around so we were not sure. We will probably go back another time and see what we can find out. Many of the houses are built of scrap wood and tin and most had dirt floors. Those that are cement or concrete are very old and in such disrepair that they appear unsafe. There are no glass or doors so there is no protection from mosquitoes, flies or other pests.

We had hoped to get down to the beach, but had no success finding a road through and were reluctant to leave the vehicle unattended in order to hike the paths. We stopped to watch some small children playing in one village and I gave them a ball we happened to have in the truck. They were excited to have it and gathered around to see what we were about. We counted about 7 kids and since we had a bag of suckers in the car we gave them each some candy –suddenly there were children coming from every direction. We must have passed out 30 suckers and received lots of smiles from the kids and their parents. Then they began bringing us baskets of mangoes – we accepted some and with a smile waved off many more. I think they would have loaded the truck with fruit. One man came to me and all I could understand was that we were a “blessing.” He had more to say and was so earnest I asked [name], who is from Mexico to translate. There was so much commotion that we left before I heard what the man wanted. It turns out his wife is pregnant and ill and he wanted us to help her. I felt so bad that I couldn’t understand him in the first place, and then was unable to help. I hope we can be a blessing to these people in some way – I just need to figure out how. A few pieces of candy to the children is a nice gesture, but it won’t fix the roads, bring fresh water, jobs, education or healthcare.

It is ironic that on our drive we happened to cross paths with several election campaign vehicles. The candidates were passing from village to village with electric bullhorns exhorting the people to vote next week. They were plastering walls with posters and handing our t-shirts and other campaign materials. Each promises to make EG a better place, but all but one of the 13 ‘approved’ parties is paid by the current government, and only rubber stamp its policies. The one man who is brave enough to oppose the status quo has been jailed, tortured and beaten, but still speaks out. I’m surprised he hasn’t ‘disappeared’ as so many others have over the years.

We are still having mostly sunny weather; rains come in the afternoon, but have only slowed work a couple of times. We see plenty of lightening nearly every night, but the rains must be falling elsewhere.

Incidentally, as with my other posts, I would prefer that their names and my name remains anonymous. Cheers.

Green with Ivy

Another reason to envy the Ivy-Leaguers: while the shameful drinking habits of the undergrads at my alma mater might periodically get local media attention, the ambitions of Princeton inebriates get nationwide celebrity attention. Thanks to Paul Newman, Princeton students may be cutting back on their drinking. A great man, that Newman. From The Hustler and The Color of Money to Cool Hand Luke and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (okay, Road to Perdition sucked...), he has taught us how to be badass while pool sharking, chain-ganging, and rejecting Elisabeth Taylor. Now, he's teaching Princeton students how to say No to 24 beers in 24 hours. God bless you, Brick.

Human Virus Scanner

Find out what memes you've been infected with. I tested positive for Linux, Junk Food, Religion, Windows, vi, FreeBSD, Politics, Hippyism, Environmentalism, and Macintosh, with quite a few others that I might potentially have (including Pokemon and Prog Rock).

(via Language Log)

Kerry's Life in the Navy

Though he doubted that the war could be won, and by now felt certain his role in it was wasteful and idiotic, he and PCF-94 fought on with astonishing valor and even foolhardiness. In one of the operations, sensing an enemy ambush, he grounded his boat, took off with an M-16 rifle, and ran down and killed a VC trying to arm a B-40 rocket launcher before he could fire. "He (Kerry) saved the day and our lives," Fred Short, one of his crewmen, said. Kerry won a Silver Star for his valor, pinned on his chest by Admiral Zumwalt himself.

Read the rest.

Outta My Way, Nerdlinger!

Oh man, this is getting scary. Thanks to Mallarme’s kindly enabling, I’ve spent my evenings for the past few weeks wrestling with an intransigent box of circuits – and I’ve found I’m kind of enjoying it. Now that I have a powerful computer, I’ve also been increasingly drawn, moth-like, to computer games that will use that power to make complex patterns of flashing light. A few days ago I found a game called Neverwinter Nights at Half Price Books for ten bucks – I’d heard it was good, so I picked it up.

It turns out this is the NERDIEST COMPUTER GAME EVER – and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s an RPG, for a start, but it goes far beyond the levels of nerdishness found in even such classic dorkfests as Ultima, Wizardy!, or Everquest. How does it do this? Funny you should ask . . .

Essentially, it would appear that NwN (a game this nerd-oriented must inevitably be referred to by an acronym) is the ultimate translation of Dungeons and Dragons to a computer environment. While it does contain a straightforward, linear “quest” component, this pales in importance next to the powerful toolset that it includes, which allows users to construct their own quests. Most importantly, these quests can be played online by small groups cooperatively, and many can be administered in real time by a Dungeon Master. If you never played D&D as a kid < coughliarcough >, the Dungeon Master is essentially a performance artist whose responsibility is to improvise the conversations, battles, and other events that make up a game of D&D, and the inclusion of that role is what really differentiates NwN from the games that came before – while those games provided battles and quests for players, there’s nothing like a real human coming up with new and surprising parameters for you as you play.

Every aspect of the game is fully open to tweaking by users. There are a ridiculous, almost unwieldy number of expansion quests, new creatures, new character models, etc. available at this site, which is just the largest of many.

We’ve been talking about nerdiness a bit lately, so I just wanted to share – I’m disturbingly excited by the concept of this game, though I doubt I’ll ever do more than dip a toe into the hugeness of its potential. Everyone’s abuzz about Massively Multiplayer games, but at least in concept it seems that this might be getting it closer to right – not just throwing a bunch of strangers onto a server, but allowing a small group to share a truly immersive, collaborative experience.

Spell-lympics!

As a follow-up to some recent discussion, both on- and off-blog, on spelling here in these the aughts, I present a little quiz. I'm no George Plimpton, but I missed only three. (I would tell you which ones, but I don't want to spoil it for the rest of you wordsmiths.)

To the wordmobile!

Even More on Blogging Academics

The always interesting John Bruce chimes in on the discussion . He writes:

Thousands of people chasing around looking for "literature", all wrapped up and tied with a bow, just not as stuffy as an English Department tea. They might even let some non-Ph.D.s, post, from what I gather, if they can find a way to control it. I'm glad some of the 70-odd visitors I get here in a day find what I'm writing more interesting than that! I have a feeling that the few of us actually putting -- what the heck do you call this? -- up on the web had better stay as far away as we can from the word "literature". Or even "fiction". Nobody over at the English Department would notice, anyhow.

He seems to think that what's being advocated is a place where English Literature PhDs can navel-gaze and theorize in real time, while largely barring the riff-raff from posting at all, forcing them to be content to watch the intellectual fireworks from the sideline. I agree that such a situation would be less than useless, but I don't think that's what Erin O'Connor and others are suggesting.

Academic journals already fill that need quite well and do so better than a blog would. In fact, trying to have a serious academic discussion on a blog would almost guarantee that no new ideas were discovered. Since publishing and research are the currency of the academic world, no professor interested in career advancement would share new research or ideas in any meaningful way.

That aside, what I think is actually being advocated is simply a vibrant community of people who love literature discussing it with like-minded people. They would be like the teaching aid blogs I suggested earlier, but for a broader audience. They would certainly not be "all wrapped up and tied with a bow" as John suggests, but essentially online book clubs that take advantage of the Internet's ability to bring people together from distant locations.

Perhaps some people might find such discussions boring, but for those of us who love to discuss literature it would be a wonderful thing. Whether or not anybody "over at the English Department would notice" is beside the point.

UPDATE: John Bruce responds to my response by pointing out that the current examples of this sort of blogging are "redolent of in-groupery and self-congratulation." Maybe that would happen after all with a literature blog, but I think there are enough readers outside of academia who would like a place to discuss what they're reading to prevent that. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems worth a shot. He also thinks "that people actively using the language for anything remotely like an original and creative purpose will have better ways to occupy their time," but I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. Part of being a writer is reading and thinking about what you've read. Having a forum to discuss these thoughts would seem to be a boon to writers, not a distraction. Still, his skepticism should serve as a warning and preventative for anyone undertaking such a project.

Your Tax Dollars At Work . . . for the RNC.

from BoingBoing:

"Tex sez: "It appears that our tax money is being used to spread RNC propaganda.
Go here to this taxpayer-funded site and read at the bottom. These lines are there:

America has a choice: It can continue to grow the economy and create new jobs as the President's policies are doing; or it can raise taxes on American families and small businesses, hurting economic recovery and future job creation.

Now go to this page. Go down to the bottom. In bold in the next to the last paragraph you will read:

America has a choice: It can continue to grow the economy and create new jobs as the President's polices are doing; or it can raise taxes on American families and small businesses, hurting economic recovery and future job creation."

At the moment, both still seem to be up. Not a bombshell, but certainly disturbing that Treasury is enthusiastically regurgitating propaganda.

Werk

Here's an interesting sound experiment. Requires Flash and sound.

(via Die Puny Humans)

Imperialism. Back in a Big Way?

Recently we had a little discussion where the topic of imperialism came up. Indeed, 'empire' and 'imperialism' aren’t just the territory of Marxists and postmodern academics anymore. Imperialism is back in a big way. Sometimes it’s called "liberal", sometimes "neo-". Sometimes plain "imperialism". Anyway, it has experienced something of a resurgence among neocons, with Max Boot's cover article for The Weekly Standard in 2001 a key early document. Josh Marshall provides some background.

For me, the wittiest proponent of imperialism is Niall Ferguson, whose article for TNR back at the beginning of the Iraq occupation is something of a classic...

His conclusion? "Saying one thing and doing another is precisely how imperial democracies behave." Well, I guess that's one way to look at the admin's lies. Indeed, "only hypocrisy will solve America's current dilemma."

Perhaps the best article I’ve read on the topic also appeared in TNR. Back at the beginning of the occupation, before pretty much everything he wrote before the war had been verified time and again, John Judis issued a thoughtful rebuttal on the resurgence of praise for Theodore Roosevelt's imperial ambitions for America. Judis does a good job of tracing the real difference between contemporary neo-imperialism and traditional liberal internationalism.

In addition, John Nichols provides more contemporary reading on the topic.

And finally, perhaps we should take heed of that good old imperialist Kipling, who had words of warning for TR

Take up the White Man's Burden --
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard.

For myself, I don't think imperialism is bad in itself. And for the record, I believe France, England, China and Russia, like the US, are all neo-imperialist powers as well. Indeed, Eastern Europe is so concerned about the resurgence of the Russian Empire (the term some politically aware Eastern Europeans use when referring to the Soviets), that they are prepared to send a tithe of their youth to Iraq in order to curry favor with the US. Indeed, US hegemony has reached a historically unprecedented level, and this fact will, quite naturally, continue to transform relations with the rest of the world.

Certainly, imperialism *can* be an instrument for progress and *can* foster the conditions under which real self-determination can take place. But like all *sane* people, I am very skeptical whenever I hear the argument that one nation's coercive force will lead to another nation's betterment. In addition, I feel that a crude imperialism based on coercively advancing national hegemony both on a military and economic level (as advocated by many “neo-imperialists”) is intrinsically linked to a type of paranoid nationalism that not only makes future wars much more likely, but also undermines the international solidarity that I feel is necessary to deal with the great issues of the day (environmental challenges, globalization, controlling population and combating poverty, etc.)

It’s time for an honest public discussion on the question before us—are we going to be “neo-imperialists”, “liberal internationalists”, or “isolationists”? Are we, as a country, self-aware enough to finally accept our role in the world, or is continuing to mislead the populace on the true nature of American hegemony a necessary evil?

More on the Failures of Reconstruction

Iraq's chances of seeing democracy succeed, according to the memo's author—a U.S. government official detailed to the CPA, who wrote this summation of observations he'd made in the field for a senior CPA director—have been severely imperiled by a year's worth of serious errors on the part of the Pentagon and the CPA, the U.S.-led multinational agency administering Iraq. Far from facilitating democracy and security, the memo's author fears, U.S. efforts have created an environment rife with corruption and sectarianism likely to result in civil war.

You can read the rest here.

(via Daily Kos)

The Weird, Wild Culture of Sororities

If you, like me, enjoy having your prejudices confirmed, you'll probably like this - Alexandra Robbins went undercover in sororities around the country to bring us stories about vomit-clogged plumbing systems, breast-size contests, unreported rape, ruthless psychological gamesmanship, and other true myths about American sororities. Some of what she reports is mildly amusing, some of it is titillating, and a lot of it is really disturbing. It's discouraging that the girls in the Greek system are ultimately the willing accomplices and equally degenerate counterparts of the boys.

On a lighter note, I'm profoundly grateful to hear that at least some sororities really do have evenings of naked frolicking and "experimentation." Thank you, Alexandra Robbins. Thank you.

London Booted

On the heels of the Grey Album comes a mash-up of The Clash. They're asking that you donate money to one of the charities they link to in exchange for the download.

(via Boing Boing)

The Asian Vote

Does anybody know anything about it? I was looking at this recent Zogby poll and discovered that Asian support for Kerry comes in at 81 percent compared to two percent support for Bush. I had no idea that the Asian vote was so one sided. That's comparable to the black vote which supports Kerry over Bush 84 to six. So does anybody know if it's always been that way? And if so, why?

Surprised to see this

Really I am. The Washington Post fronts the results of its latest poll which indicates popular opinion trending toward Bush. I just can’t figure out the American people. The poll reveals that "President Bush holds significant advantages over John F. Kerry in public perceptions of who is better equipped to deal with Iraq and the war on terrorism." And we learn that "Iraq and the war on terrorism have surged in importance, and ranked with the economy and jobs as top voting issues." In the head to head question Bush beats Kerry 48 to 43 with Nader drawing six percent (which seems high to me). All this is a reversal of trends in last month’s poll yet it comes after a month in which "Nearly 100 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq . . . more than in any month since major combat ended last year." Not to mention a full scale media blitz promoting the Richard Clarke book. What makes more inexplicable the simultaneous rise in Bush’s numbers and rise in the importance of Iraq as a voting issue is that people appear to be unhappy with the job Bush is doing there.

Barely half said going to war with Iraq was the right thing to do, while nearly as many -- 46 percent -- said it was a mistake. In the past year, the proportion who view the war as a mistake has tripled. Six in 10 said the United States and its coalition allies are "bogged down" in Iraq.

Just over half believed the administration does not have a clear plan to deal with the growing unrest, unchanged from March. Two in three said the number of casualties in Iraq is unacceptable, the highest reading since the war began 13 months ago.

Withdrawals

Question: Now that Honduras and Spain are set to withdraw troops from Iraq, will the left make political hay of the collapse of the coalition?

If nothing else, we can thank the war in Iraq for teaching American high school students their first seven-syllable word: unilateralism. This has been an immediate and constant criticism of Bush, prompting this memorable response from Bush in this year's SOTU:

Some critics have said our duties in Iraq must be internationalized. This particular criticism is hard to explain to our partners in Britain, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, the Netherlands -- (applause) -- Norway, El Salvador, and the 17 other countries that have committed troops to Iraq. (Applause.)

Now that the coalition is thinning and Bush looks vulnerable (but still leading polls 51% to 46% among likely voters), does his opposition find a valid place for Spain and Honduras in the greater discussion of failure in Iraq?

More on the Matrix

To follow up the surprisingly lengthy discussion we had about The Matrix last week, here's another critique of the trilogy that discusses the structural problems of the films.

Cuban Trumps the Don

Mark Cuban, the approachable billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, will give away a million dollars this summer on ABC's "The Benefactor." Mark has always seemed like a cool guy, and from the time he first bought the Mavs, he has been clear on his rules for giving away money. In his first year of ownership, I saw him on some news program (I can't remember if it was local or national) opening fan mail and talking about how he will sometimes write a check for people that write creative letters or have clever ideas. I don't know exactly what the show is going to be like; I know that he could make up the rules anyway he wanted, because it is his money afterall. About all he's said is "You don’t need special talents. I’m not looking to find out who is the grossest, funniest, prettiest, smartest or able to go without food or water the longest. The right person is going to get on my good side at the right time, and whoever that is is going to walk away with a check from me for one million dollars."

If you caught even two minutes of Donald Trump's "The Apprentice" recently, you could tell that Trump is an arrogant megalomaniac. In a Chicago Sun-Times article (which I couldn't find on West, so I don't know the date), Trump implied that Cuban's show is a copycat. Here's the fun part: Cuban's blog (recently comment-enabled) fired back. Among other things, Cuban tells an amusing story of Trump condescending to him at a party:

Back in Jan of 1999, I went to a SuperBowl party at Mar-a-Lago. I was there with some friends who had brought me along. I happened to bump into one of the founders of Yahoo by your pool and was talking to him when you walked up. It was just your typical, short meet-and-greet, but what you said left a lasting impession [sic]. You told us that “someday, maybe we could sit up there with the rich people” as you looked up to a 2nd floor patio that had a smattering of people eating their diner. Someday, Donald.

That anecdote is particularly funny considering that Cuban now has more liquid assets than Trump. I watched parts of the final episode of "The Apprentice," and this is pretty typical of Trump's demeanor at the celeb golf tourney. Cuban continues:

I used to wear a suit to work every day. I worked hard so I wouldn’t have to. I bought a big house so I could throw a football and play whiffleball in it, rather than show it off. I don’t play golf, I work out. I don’t have an entourage, I have friends. You talk about how much you are getting paid per episode, I talk about the fact I’m not. You need to make more, I have enough. But those are little things.

Where we are 180 degrees different is how we deal with business partners. You talk about how your problem casinos are just 1 pct of your net worth. I would feel like shit if I had a failing business with partners that were going to lose money and would talk about what it meant to my partners net worth, not my own. Heck, I won’t even let friends invest in any of my companies until I’m certain they will make it. How in the world can you pay yourself while shareholders take a beating?

How can you not like this guy? Even if this post is a little bit of an overreaction, it's nice to see someone in the business world strap a pair on and take a couple of public shots at the Don. I don't have any real comments about this, and I'm sure there won't be any reaction from the Trump camp (if he even hears about it), but I wanted to point it out to you non-metroplexians.

Bribing Your Way In

Here's an article on how to bribe, er, tip your way into exclusive restaurants.

(via The Modulator)

Protocol Policy Protocol Memo

From the creator of Get Your War On comes The Unstoppable Filing Technique. Thrill to the fast-paced action of flying memos! Keep your desk clean or risk death!

(via Aeiou)

Red Vs. Blue

Okay, this has been around a while, but I happened to watch a bunch of episodes over my long, lazy weekend, and damn, they really are hilarious. For fans of Homestar Runner and Platoon.

Technology and Academics

Over at Critical Mass, Erin O'Connor wonders why non-academic literary blogs are more exciting than standard academic literary study. Cup of Chica replies that blogs make any discussion more "exciting" due to the immediacy of the medium. On Crooked Timber, Brian Weatherson thinks graduate students need more technical skills.

Although all these posts lament, on some level, the dearth of technical skills shown by those in the humanities, I think it's just a case of generational lag amplified by a fetish-like love of the printed page, the physicality of books. I would expect the next generation of graduate students to be fully versed in blogs and the other technical solutions mentioned on Crooked Timber. This would lead naturally to blogging, or whatever blogging evolves into by then, as the obvious choice for out of class discussions and more in-depth study of the works covered in lecture. Still, expecting future generations to be up to speed is no reason to be sanguine about the current one's lack of skills.

As for myself, a blogger and aspiring academic, the connection between teaching and blogging couldn't be more evident. Once I'm finally being exploited as a source of cheap teaching labor, I plan to set up a blog for each class and strongly suggest, if not outright require, that each student visit it and comment at least once during the semester. By virtue of being written rather than spoken and unlimited by the time constraints of a class, I would expect such blogs to be much more conducive to in-depth discussions of the works being studied than lectures. Naturally, the lecture period is necessary for laying the groundwork for such a discussion and teaching the essential elements of the texts, but I would love to see the blogs used as forums for more discursive study.

UPDATE: At Pharyngula, PZ Myers complains that the discussion is only about blogging in relation to literary studies, ignoring other disciplines. He also links to a bit of an anti-blog rant in the process that argues academic blogs wouldn't help anything.

Opinion Duel

Perhaps this has already been discussed but I think the new site Opinion Duel, a joint project of National Review and The New Republic, looks like it will be pretty cool. It will be a place for writers from the two publications to debate a specific topic within a set word count limit. Jonathan Chait says in the opening entry, "I've long believed that our political discourse needs more places where liberals and conservatives can engage each other without merely preaching to the choir." Amen to that brutha. I’m sure some on the left will be a bit incredulous towards the idea that TNR adequately represents the liberal view given their position on Iraq. Nevertheless, I think TNR (at least from this conservative’s perspective) continues to be one of the clearest and most cogent voices on the left and one that has the best chance of engaging the Right. Chait fired off the first salvo this morning on the topic of intelligence failures prior to 9/11 and to what extent the Bush administration should be held accountable. Ramesh Ponnuru will respond this afternoon.

Future Tracking

People are disappointed with the future they're living in. Since 2001, the refrain has gone up, louder year by year: "This is the future. Where's my flying car? Where's my fucking jet pack?" Pre-millennium, we were living in an unprecedented density of imagined futures, and we assumed it was all waiting for us around the corner. And here we are, around the corner, and none of it is standing here.

A meditation on the future that didn't happen, the non-predictive nature of science fiction, and the rapid flow of time.

Negotiations Break Down

Oh great. Fighting between coalition forces and the Medhi army has started outside of Najaf. I wouldn't be surprised to see the militia try and lure our forces into the city in order to spark a general uprising. If that were to happen, Ali al-Sistani would have almost no choice but to call for jihad against the occupation forces or risk losing all his credibility, according to one report. However, another claims that al-Sistani's talk about Najaf was not an ultimatum, but advice. Either way, let's hope things quiet down and the negotiations start back up soon before Iraq explodes.

NRO Criticizes Bush

Would an editorial with this kind of criticism have been thinkable from NRO a year ago? The key paragraph:

Since the conclusion of the war, the Bush administration has shown a dismaying capacity to believe its own public relations. The post-war looting was explained away as the natural and understandable exuberance of a newly-liberated people. (Now some Coalition officials suggest that a crackdown would have sped the reconstruction.) Secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld denied the obvious reality of a guerrilla resistance and compared it to urban street crime in the United States. Every piece of good news has been hailed as turning the corner, even as the insurgency has remained stubbornly strong.

Naturally, being NRO, the editorial goes on to make claims like "[t]he first step [in Iraq] is dealing harshly with our enemies". Even so, seeing outright criticism of Bush in a strictly partisan publication like National Review marks the larger change of sentiment towards Bush. Reporters, as shown in the latest press conference, now ask pointed, difficult questions (causing Bush to furrow his brow silently for half a minute). Life-long Republicans plan to vote for Kerry in November. Independents and other swing voters think Bush's defining personality traits are arrogance and stubbornness. The control over Bush's image that Rove and company managed for the past few years is quickly slipping away.

Coming Soon: Stephen King's Kerry

The presidential race is heating up. And at this point, it’s anybody’s game. So, who will be ready to take the oath, and who will be sent home in disgrace? Matthew Baldwin gives us a preview of what we can expect this fall.

Funny stuff, especially the picture at the end.

How to Eat Cicadas

From the Washington Post, Cicada: The Other, Other White Meat. Though I won't be eating them, cicadas are one my favorite parts of the late spring and early summer. Just sitting outside in the heat, listening to their soporific clicks relaxes me immensely. The crescendos and diminuendos of their song seems to gauge the strength of the wind and harmonize with the soughing trees.

Vocabulary Lesson

Apodyopsis - The act of mentally undressing someone

There's more.

(via Bookslut)

More Strong Talk From Kerry

Buried inside this New York Times piece (via TNR's &c.) is this exchange:

In a town-hall-style meeting attended by more than 400 people, with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Representative Charles B. Rangel beside him, Mr. Kerry came under attack from the left when a retired professor of mathematics, Walter Daum, questioned him on Iraq.

"You said, `Stay the course,' but what the U.S. is doing is bombing hospitals, bombing mosques, killing hundreds of civilians," Mr. Daum, 64, said. "Is that the criminal course you want to stay? It's an imperialist country fighting an imperialist war. At one time you opposed an imperialist war. I'm old enough to have done that myself."

Mr. Daum, who called himself a socialist, continued: "People hate George Bush. But by the end of your presidency, people will hate you for the same thing."

As several people in the audience hooted in support, Mr. Kerry answered: "I have consistently been critical of how we got where we are. But we are where we are, sir, and it would be unwise beyond belief for the United States of America to leave a failed Iraq in its wake..."

It's good to see Kerry smack down this sort of extreme leftist ridiculousness with a strong, yet sensible response. Even though Kerry has yet to provide specifics for his plan in Iraq, something the right has begun criticizing him for, he clearly understands how crucial it is that we succeed now that we're there.

Besides, the situation there will very likely have changed by the time he's elected president. Ignoring the fact that he clearly has the right attitude towards Iraq in favor of clamoring for unimportant details is just another rhetorical trick in an attempt to discredit Kerry. If anyone should be providing a detailed plan for Iraq, it's Bush. Unfortunately, he's not doing that. He doesn't even know who will take control of Iraq on the rapidly approaching June 30th. Of course, who needs details when you're strong, confident, and always right?

Air America's Financial Problem

Anna posted a good summary of why Air America got yanked in Chicago and L.A. Short answer: they're getting screwed, but fighting back.

Skateboarding Dog

Though his skills aren't all that hot (not even a single ollie, much less a kickflip), it's pretty funny.

(via Oxblog)

Fat-Derived Stem Cells Heal Brain Fracture

Michael Longaker of Stanford University in California and his team showed in mouse experiments that so-called adipose-derived adult stromal (ADAS) cells purified from a rodent's belly fat could be coaxed to heal a skull fracture too large to mend by itself.

Not only does this further show the potentially enormous benefits of stem cell research, but it suggests that human adult stem cells might be viable for medical research. That would make the scientists, the patients, and those who oppose fetal stem cell research all happy at the same time.

Human Brain Implant Trials

The melding of man and machine has long been a staple of science fiction. Indeed, the participants in Cyberkinetics's clinical trial, who have not yet been chosen, will have a cable sticking out of their heads to connect them to computers, making them look something like characters in "The Matrix."

If the success of trials in monkeys and rats is any indication, then this could be a huge boon to the paralyzed. But I wonder, how long until the morbidly obese start getting their tv remotes implanted in their heads?

Neocon Bingo

Play it today.

(via mimi smartypants)

The Bush Administration's Character Flaws

Andrew Sullivan writes today:

It's worth saying here what we now know the president got wrong - badly wrong. There were never enough troops to occupy Iraq. The war-plan might have been brilliant, but the post-war plan has obviously been a failure. We needed more force and we needed more money sooner. The president has no excuses for not adjusting more quickly to this fact: he was told beforehand; he was told afterward; but he and the Defense Secretary were too pig-headed to change course.

Compare this with John Kerry's strategy for post-war Iraq:

But to maximize our chances for success, and to minimize the risk of failure, we must make full use of the assets we have. If our military commanders request more troops, we should deploy them. Progress is not possible in Iraq if people lack the security to go about the business of daily life. Yet the military alone cannot win the peace in Iraq. We need a political strategy that will work.

I think Kerry's strategy is exactly right. He combines the current tactical military needs with a longterm political solution. It's obvious we cannot afford to pull out of Iraq before a stable, legitimate government is in place, yet the Bush administration continues to threaten just that in service to its amoral political calculus.

Its consistent inability to revise plans to fit new facts is one of the largest and most dangerous flaws of this administration. Combine that with instinctual secrecy and the naked political calculation that affects nearly every issue and it's clear that this administration is simply incompetent. Regardless of whether you agree with Bush's policies, he and his administration cannot be trusted to honestly and effectively implement them. Thankfully, it seems that many open-minded Republicans are waking up to these facts and refusing to support this debacle of an administration any longer.

UPDATE: Kevin Drum elaborates on the mishandling of the war.

Congratulations Tammy and Greg

It's taken me a while to get the wedding pictures, but I finally go them today (thanks Chris) so a belated congratulations to the newly betrothed. The picture is below the fold.

Another First-Hand Account of Fallujah

What I can report from Falluja is that there is no ceasefire, and apparently there never was. Iraqi women and children are being shot by American snipers. Over 600 Iraqis have now been killed by American aggression, and the residents have turned two football fields into graveyards. Ambulances are being shot by the Americans. And now they are preparing to launch a full-scale invasion of the city.

This report features a lot of overlapping details with the one I blogged earlier. I wonder what affect all these snipings will have on the negotiations with the insurgents. I wish I knew more about what's happening over there. As it is, the news for the past week has been more confusing than illuminating.

The Matrix Ending

Hello,
Well I hope everyone had a good egg day.
So here I am at work and one of my co-workers let me watch his Matrix Revolutions DVD.
Now if I remember most people didn't like the ending so I was wondering what you guys thought about it.

Decoding the PDB

Now that we have seen the content of the PDB we know [Richard Clarke] was telling the truth when he said that President Bush and Condoleezza Rice did not make fighting Al Qaeda a priority prior to 9/11. At a minimum, the details in the 6 August PDB should have motivated Rice to convene a principals’ meeting.

This is from a Republican CIA veteran who wrote numerous PDBs himself. And in case you haven't read the August 6th PDB yet yourself, here it is.

First Hand Fallujah Account

Yesterday morning an American journalist snuck into Fallujah and has posted what he's seen today. A key quote:

Nothing could have been easier than gaining the good-will of the people of Fallujah had the Americans not been so brutal in their dealings. Now, a tipping-point has been reached. Fallujah cannot be "saved" from its mujaheddin unless it is destroyed.

The accounts of ambulances being fired on and women and children being shot are disturbing. Even so, I don't know much about the author other than that he's been consistently anti-war so it's possible he is slanting the focus of his entries. Still, British officers are condemning the American use of force as "not proportionate and... over-responsive to the threat". Given all the bad news from that area recently, Mahajan's account could very well be accurate.

(via Metafilter)

On-Off Sliding Block Puzzle

As part of my stealth campaign to convert this into an all-puzzles-all-the-time blog, here's a nice sliding block puzzle. Tip: Once you see how to easily transpose the 'n' and the 'o', it's fairly simple to solve the puzzle in 44 moves.

(via Boing Boing)

The Nerd Test

I'm ashamed to say that only 47.61904761904762% nerd blood flows through my veins. Wait. Maybe I should be ashamed I have that much nerd blood.

Japanese River Puzzle

Here's a more complicated version of the classic animals-crossing-a-river puzzle. Just click on the big, blue circle to play. You must have an adult on the boat each time and you cannot leave them alone with children of the opposite sex (creepy, no?) or leave the prisoner alone.

(via Aeiou)

Shootout at Blackwater

The Armed Forces Journal Shootout serves as a sort of tradeshow for weapon-and-ammunition manufacturers and military buyers.

Sounds a bit boring until you realize you can watch a potroast explode in slow motion.

(via Gizmodo)

The Beatles are Coming

Something like the zombie site that SNW posted a few months ago: a day-by-day account of the Beatles trip to America (I think--I've only just now found it, and haven't really looked through it yet.) It turns out that "blog" stands for "Beatles Log." Who knew?

Subservient Chicken

This has to be one of the strangest ad campaigns ever. Boing Boing has a number of funny comments on this.

UPDATE: Someone has reverse engineered the chicken to find out all the commands.

Italian Town Spontaneously Combusting

Ok, maybe it's just the electronics, but still, it's weird.

Iraq Roundup: Part 2

The New York times reports that the uprising in Iraq is much more widespread than the Bush administration has lead us to believe and is not limited solely to Sadrists. There's even some evidence that Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist group, is backing the insurgency. Furthermore, the Sunni uprising is growing and not limited to Baathists anymore. Even worse, the Sunnis and Shiites have begun uniting in their resistance. Some of our allies are reconsidering their roles and pulling back support.

However, negotiations with al-Sadr have begun via proxy. Still, his forces control parts of three Iraqi cities and have kidnapped several Japanese and Korean civilians.

Juan Cole provides more details about what happened yesterday. Steve Gilliard discusses the tactical situation (scroll down to "Things Fall Apart") and argues that force alone will not win. Andrew Sullivan, on the other hand, claims we need "a monopoly on violence" in the country. He also links to an interesting Baghdad-based blog.

Here at home, GOP dissent grows. O'Reilly calls the current fighting a "second war in Iraq". Kevin Drum discusses this some more and wonders "if anyone could have made [the occupation] work".

The only thing clear to me right now is that the situation has deteriorated, threatens to get even worse, and nobody knows what we should do.

UPDATE: A memo purported to be from Sadr calls for a stop to the fighting.

2ND UPDATE: An account of how many followers Sadr actually has that contradicts the Bush administration claim of a few thousand.

Streakers

Mildly nsfw--small pics of some sports streakers. I was browsing some Norwegian websites and ran across it, okay? Geez...

Tilt Mazes

Fun little mazes.

(via GeekPress)

Star Wars Pub Crawl

Stormtroopers cannot hit anything, including their own mouths. You gain an extra dark side point for each drink that a significant quantity is spilled down your chin.

I will someday con all of you into accompanying me from bar to bar in the guise of Wookies, Bounty Hunters, and Storm Troopers. We will engage in "duels" to see who can down beers the fastest, and distribute light side and dark side points accordingly. We will travel from one bar to the next in formations according to our chosen interplanetary conveyance.

Until that glorious day, you can still read about it.

Background on al-Sadr

This entry by Dan Murphy in the CS Monitor blog provides some excellent background on al-Sadr. It's a shame we didn't arrest him after assassinating al-Khoei, but that's only in hindsight. The decision at the time to leave him alone for fear of enraging the Shiite population was probably a prudent one, despite the violence he has caused. However, now that he's shown what a destabilizing force he can be, it's good to know we aren't hesitating to take him out. I hope we quell the Mahdi army quickly and capture al-Sadr. I think a quick, but fair trial for him could only help our image there, whereas his death in fighting might only make him a martyr in the eyes of those Shiites inclined to sympathize rather than condemn him.

Iraq Power Transfer Snark

Yes, nothing says "we're not going to cut and run" like a steadfast commitment to cut and run, on a date determined solely by the advent of election season.

The normally apolitical defective yeti takes a couple of swipes at Bush.

Fallujah Roundup

Given all the action in Fallujah recently, I think a brief news roundup is appropriate.

Earlier today, U.S. forces fired missiles at a mosque in Fallujah. While this seems to have been a necessary and reluctantly taken step, it won't help our image with the Iraqi people. So far, the Pentagon is looking into it.

Juan Cole speculates that a number of the problems in Iraq can be traced to the power struggle within the administration between Cheney's office and the State Department.

In somewhat heartening news, the Christian Science Monitor reports that many Shiites think Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army is dangerous and want the U.S. to take them out. In fact, a small group of Shiites pleaded with al-Sistani yesterday to help rein in al-Sadr.

David Adesnik asks if the current chaos is a result of the U.S. not taking al-Sistani's demands seriously.

And finally, an account of what the battle looks like to our soldiers.

UPDATE: Slate is running a series of articles titled "Dispatches from Iraq" that provides some more details on the situation.

2ND UPDATE: Over at Baghdad Burning, River writes that "[i]t's like the first few days of occupation again… it's a nightmare and everyone is tense."

f*** F**k F**K YOU GEORGE BUSH

In case you haven't noticed, we're getting totally reamed in Iraq. This is on the verge of becoming a full-scale war (as if it hasn't been for the last year). In fact, in the past couple of days, with death tolls at 12 Tuesday and 7 Monday (give or take), I think we may be up around the daily average during the invasion. I'm genuinely scared about what might happen next, and very glad that I'll be both in grad school and over 25. Some advice - if you're poor or a member of a minority, move to Canada NOW.

On the plus side, hatred for the occupation seems to be uniting Shiites and Sunnis.

In marginally related news, Bill Clinton has accomplished, with no official standing, something that George Bush couldn't/wouldn't do from the bully pulpit - made AIDS drugs affordable for Africans.

Debate Dummies

Mark Kleiman has a funny suggestion for Kerry since Bush isn't ready to debate him yet.

Sesame Street Trivia

For its 35th anniversary, see how much Sesame Street trivia you've absorbed.

Bored Boy

Check out Letterman's website and click on "Big Show Highlight" to catch footage of the "bored boy" being interviewed and watching the video clip of his reactions to Bush's speech. Bush even wrote him a sympathetic letter, which he reads aloud. Hysterical.

Air America

You've probably heard about the new national liberal radio station. Talk radio is not my thing, but I tuned into a few shows over the Internet to see what all the fuss is about. Here's a quick review.....

"Unfiltered" is a mildly interesting mix of personalities (including Chuck D!) that had some funny good-humored jabs at right-wingers and a discussion on bringing hip-hop into politics while I was listening. John Mellancamp was also on--I didn't feel that he was interviewed very well, but then I'm splitting hairs. The concept for the show seems interesting enough and I hope it finds an audience.

"The O'Franken Factor" failed to really grab my attention--the co-hosts don't have great chemistry and O'Franken obviously needs to work on his radio delivery. The show seemed to work when O'Franken resorted to pure comedy--such as imitating Rush Limbaugh delivering personal advertising messages or going into a Stuart Smiley routine. But he just doesn't seem to have political commentary skills.

This TNR article does a good job of summarizing the problems with Al's show. Namely, his politics are moderate, nuanced, and friendly to the DLC, which doesn't really translate into controversial and exciting radio. In fact, he was an early Kerry supporter. Thus, Franken devotes a lot of radio time rebutting those who would lump him in with the inane clichés about left-wingers peddled by right-wing talk radio. He assures everyone he loves the troops and is constantly abroad entertaining them, etc. In short, Franken seems too decent a guy for this business. IMO, he should try to find a way to mix an SNL format with helping the Democratic Party--maybe something along Maher's line.

Randi Rhodes, however, is clearly a professional here. In the past, I have listened to her impressive archive of interviews with all kinds of interesting public figures before she went national this week. IMO, Randi isn't a likable personality. She seems hopelessly arrogant, impatient, and irritating-the real left version of O'Reilly (or was that Hannity?). In fact, one wonders why she has loyal listeners at all, until one realizes that if someone as repulsively mediocre as O'Reilly can become a fucking millionaire, then Randi certainly can. Undoubtedly, she has a certain presence on the radio and that is what matters. But unfortunately she prefers the sound of her own voice to the sound of her guests, whether they are Neal Pollack or Bob Graham.

Interestingly enough, I was listening when our occasional commentator Anna got through to Randi to report her impression that Nader supporters at the Crawford rally were actually largely conservatives. Randi promptly interrupted her to thank her for actually taking notice and moved on to the next call before any actual discussion took place--I wonder, Anna, did you find that rude or did you in fact have nothing more to say about the matter?

Anyway, Randi managed to make some waves on the first day by successfully driving Ralph Nader to hang up (get your schadenfreude kick here-via Sullivan). Randi makes liberals look like morons in the exchange, shouting down a 70-something year old man. Still, I can't deny enjoying hearing Ralph get so flustered, and this is why Randi could be a big success. Controversy is a lot of fun.

Seemingly, Ralph figured Randi was a "populist" who might be useful to him. Indeed, one of Ralph's recurrent talking points is nostalgia for the progressive populism of the early 20th century and what it might accomplish now. I do of course agree on the need for widespread working class mobilization to face today's problems. Hence the question--are people like Randi Rhodes the way to do this? If so, what sort of Left will be mobilized? Could it bear resemblance to the Right mobilized by Rush and Sean?

As someone who sees the Move-On/Dean phenomenon as the ground for a working class politics of the future, I am inclined to feel that the blogosphere will reject Randi's style. But we'll see.

In any case, Ralph got the quote of the day
"Is this the way you want to start Air America? Do you want it to be Hot Air America?"

With Randi as the business model, this may be a pretty apt title. There is no question that Randi Rhodes=guaranteed fireworks.

As for "Majority Report" with Janeane Garofalo, I've never been awake to hear it because of the time zone differences. I'd be interested in what you guys have to say about this and all the other shows.

Administrivia

Blogging is likely to be very light to nonexistent for the next few days. Most of us will be attending a wedding. Congratulations Tammy and Greg.

Archivox

For the francophones I present Archivox, a collection of recordings of French literature read aloud.

(via Aieou)

Language, Poetry, and Programming

In an interesting bit of blog synchronicity, 2blowhards feature a post today about how language shapes our thoughts and perceptions of the world while God of the Machine compares poetry and programming. How are these related? Other than the fact that they're both discussing language, they both focus on the constraints inherent in languages, be they human or computer, and wonder about the differences and similarities between them.