the Greater Nomadic Council

French Without Tears

...is the title of this essay by Luc Sante in Threepenny about the pleasures of the French language.

(via Languagehat)

Another Convert

Paul Boutin makes another case for switching away from IE:

The latest version of Firefox, released this Monday, has a more professional look, online help, and a tool that automatically imports your bookmarks, history, site passwords, and other settings from Explorer. Meanwhile, all-conquering Internet Explorer has been stuck in the mud for the past year, as Microsoft stopped delivering new versions.

The article also lays out the steps you'll need to take to install the browser and your plugins. He does, however, leave out my absolute favorite plugin: mouse gestures. From looking at our logs, I know that most of you still use IE. It's time to get with it, folks.

UPDATE: Even the Department of Homeland Security thinks you should switch.

Saddam in Prime Time

Set your TiVo.

A Bush Comeback Redux

Here's a bit of evidence for my theory that part of Bush's upswing in the polls results from a false sense that our involvement in Iraq will rapidly be scaled down due to the recent power transfer. I expect a mild weakening in Bush's support once those believing this are disillusioned. Of course, it's possible Allawi will defy expectations and successfully and quickly "take full responsibility for the security of [Iraq]" which would be an enormous boost for Bush.

New Webcam Technology

i2i, in development at Microsoft's research lab in Cambridge, UK, is a two-camera system which very carefully follows an individual's movement...

This means it looks as if users are looking each other in the eye.

Although this is pretty cool, I generally don't even look at the webcam image of others when I'm chatting with them, particularly if we're doing a voice chat. I'm usually playing chess or browsing the web while talking, but it'd be pretty cool if they thought I were paying them rapt attention instead.

(via Techdirt)

Evolutionary Pressure

Monkeys and apes who are good at deceiving their peers also have the biggest brains relative to their body size. The finding backs the "Machiavellian intelligence" theory, which suggests the benefits of complex social skills fuelled the evolution of large primate brains.

If this doesn't count, I don't know what does. The best response to this is Warren Ellis's though: "I fucking told you people. The Filthy Monkey, It Plans."

UPDATE: Here's a more in-depth look at the evolutionary pressures leading to our large brains.

What Has Changed?

Juan Cole discusses the challenges facing the new Iraqi government while noting that, given the considerable overlap of officials between the "new" government and the Bremer-appointed IGC, not a whole lot has actually changed. Not only that, but there's a question of exactly how much sovereignty we've granted the new government. However, they do have one advantage: Iraqis support their new leaders. Let us hope that will allow Allawi and the other leaders enough time and goodwill to overcome the many difficulties they face as they prepare the country for elections.

Two Glib Responses to Hitchens

Byron Crawford is easily my favorite blogger, an angry and whip-smart cuss whose analysis is uniformly cutting, and whose wildly offensive digressions into hilarious slander are still somehow insightful. While he currently holds down the grill station at White Castle, he will be famous in about three years (or will at the very least be a writer for the Daily Show). In a great post, he responds to Christopher Hitchens' scathing/babbling response to Fahrenheit 9/11 by both deconstructing his flaccid arguments and accusing him of redirecting at Moore the rage that resulted from a recent dissatisfying blowjob.

Similarly, Ollie Byrd uncovers the shocking truth - Jim Morrison is alive, and he's writing for Slate.

Co-Operation

For the curious, it seems likely that this will be where I’m living next year (in Summit House, apparently the larger and quieter of the two houses). It will be strange to return to life in a co-op, but there’s really no other practical solution for me to find a place without a pricey, otherwise pointless flight back to Iowa City. More importantly, I’m genuinely curious to see a co-op system different from the young, chaotic and populous examples in Austin – in this system, apparently most of the residents will actually be older than me, so hopefully that means I get to be the messy one for once. Read on to learn a little more about co-ops.

In looking for links to provide background to this post, I’ve been somewhat astonished to find a dearth of resources describing the principles and practices that have been the frame for such a large part of my life. The best rundown comes courtesy of North American Students of Cooperation, a nonprofit with a specifically educational mandate which is the largest umbrella organization for college-town housing coops. These are, notably, different in purpose and especially tone from the large urban coops which are essentially glorified condos and serve mainly to save residents money, while leaving their lives at a relatively normal degree of separation. The coops I’ve grown up with are designed to change residents’ lifestyles, promote efficiency by allowing them to share both facilities and cleaning tasks, and provide an intentional, controlled community of individuals, either like-minded or, depending on the individual system, not.

There are hundreds of small co-ops across the country with thousands of residents. Most are centered in college towns, and even there it can often seem like the co-op ideology has a tenuous hold. For all the annoyances I encountered when living in a deeply flawed coop system (which has since turned itself around markedly), I found the experience life-changing, and it’s a bit disheartening to see that there aren’t more and better organized efforts to promote cooperation as a viable lifestyle choice outside of traditional college enclaves. There are some, though: The newly formed Cooperative Housing Coalition is working to monitor and support coop-related legislation, while NASCO is the most successful organization at promoting the construction of new coops. As might be easily inferred from the sometimes squalid conditions of Austin coops, cooperative principles are prone to thrive under straitened economic circumstances, which CHF International is promoting.

Related: Co-Housing is sort of like co-ops for the middle-aged, consisting of groups of adjacent houses intended to mimic small-town life. I’m not terribly familiar with it, and I’m sure the overt principles are noble, but I’m inclined to reflexively disparage it as a trendy dalliance of those who are mostly white, wealthy, and particularly guilty about their indulgent lifestyles.

Five Pounds Silly Putty

You can copy a lot of comics with this.

What you've been waiting for.

ME!!
Well here it is folks, my very first blog entry. No fancy links, no cute/funny/sick pictures, just a few notes to update my fellow Patriots on how I am faring in the Big Apple.
Things have taken a turn for the awesome. I just picked up a fine new corporate job working for JP Morgan/Chase financial management. I get to look cool going into my fancy Fifth avenue high rise with my badge. No one on the street has to know I'm a temp :)
I have volunteered to work at the Republican national convention, and it promises to be interesting one way or the other. If it doesn't get bombed I'll still enjoy hearing the speakers, including McCain, Giuliani, Cuomo, and even Arnie.
Side note: Tammy's director is an ex guitarist from Foreigner. We hung out the other night and I felt like I was witnessing a behind the music, or where are they now.. Will post further developments.
Well lemme know if you have any questions, requests, or other.
Love
me

More on the Economy

Curious why public perception of Bush's economic policies is still poor despite the 1.4 million jobs added in the last ten months? This article has some answers:

Something has plainly broken down in the American job creation machine. The supply of new jobs has been nowhere near sufficient to keep up with the supply of new workers—not for the past three years and not for the past 10 months.

Not only that, but "real wage growth has been decelerating since the end of 2001" according to this post. As Ruy Texaira writes, "[t]rust the people: they know what they're experiencing."

Desperation

Only two days left and he hasn't yet had a single bid. It's funny that he doesn't even know if he's going to get a bit of split mutton or have his chimney swept out.

Update: It looks like eBay killed the auction (or the guy may have become discouraged and cancelled it). It was an 18-year-old male selling his virginity to the highest bidder, male or female. I checked late last night and there was one bidder: for a dollar.

Rampant Destruction

Check out these photos.

(via Metafilter)

Pacman: Mon Frère, Mon Semblable!

People like Pacman because the little yellow head reminds them of themselves. Life is a confusing maze with pointless goals. Get as much done as you can without some technicolor ghost named Clyde chomping on your ass.

The Clumsy Grammarian

Louis Menand delivers a furious storm of rabbit punches to the throat of Lynne Truss, author of the recent hit grammar book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves," which, it turns out, has its own share of problems:

"The first punctuation mistake . . . appears in the dedication, where a nonrestrictive clause is not preceded by a comma . . . The preface, by Truss, includes a misplaced apostrophe (“printers’ marks”) and two misused semicolons . . . About half the semicolons in the rest of the book are either unnecessary or ungrammatical, and the comma is deployed as the mood strikes."

Via God of the Machine

The Beginning of a Bush Comeback?

As the obsessive poll watchers know, Bush's numbers have been stabilizing lately. I speculate that it's a combination of a mild post-Reagan glow, the slowly improving economic news, and a sense that our involvement in Iraq is coming to an end. However, as Josh Marshall points out, we can expect to keep seeing this sort of fluidity in the polls for several months, so this could be nothing more than a temporary uptick. Given that Bush's job approval is rather low, support for the war in Iraq continues to drop, and any Reaganesque glow Bush may have been illuminated with will quickly fade, I would be a little surprised to see his numbers continue to rise.

Vulgar Poetry

PZ Myers is out of his considerable depth. He suggests that poetry has a habit of avoiding the coarse, preferring instead to describe the clever and inspiring. Of course, his intelligent readers have already disabused him of this notion (I suspect PZ didn’t really think this was altogether the case anyway), but I thought I’d mention it in this space for some more discussion. My first thoughts were of Poe, Simic, and even Whitman—that sagacious old tapette. I’m sure anyone, even readers of Pennywise, could offer a swarm of poets that write censurable stuff, but I’m thinking more of the nature of poetry. As a spoken art form, isn’t poetry vulgarity itself? Poetry has never been written by kings, but by beggars—it is the expression of the people. That’s why Galway Kinnell gets to write things like this:

I have heard you tell the sun, don't go down, I have stood by as you told the flower, don't grow old, don't die. Little Maud,

I would blow the flame out of your silver cup,
I would suck the rot from your fingernail,
I would brush your sprouting hair of the dying light,
I would scrape the rust off your ivory bones,
I would help death escape through the little ribs of your body,
I would alchemize the ashes of your cradle back into wood,
I would let nothing of you go, ever,

until washerwomen
feel the clothes fall asleep in their hands,
and hens scratch their spell across hatchet blades,
and rats walk away from the cultures of the plague,
and iron twists weapons toward the true north,
and grease refuses to slide in the machinery of progress,
and men feel as free on earth as fleas on the bodies of men,
and lovers no longer whisper to the presence beside them in the
dark, O corpse-to-be ...

And yet perhaps this is the reason you cry,
this the nightmare you wake screaming from:
being forever
in the pre-trembling of a house that falls.

Fun With Politics

Fun? I know many of us are suffering from burn-out, and it's not even convention season yet. Rekindle your love of red-and-blue maps with this game (via Wings and Vodka). You can make your own candidate, use some models, or play with past candidates, like Harold Stassen and Thomas Dewey in 1948, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford in 1976, or that Kennedy guy in, like, 1985 or something.

Thomas Frank is Awesome

The editor of The Baffler and author of perhaps my single favorite book about culture (The Conquest of Cool) has a new book about the red state/blue state divide. A brief excerpt was recently published in (I think) The Atlantic Monthly, and I may break down and buy this one.

(Salon subscription or Day Pass required)

TV Makes You Grow Breasts

Yet another reason to not let kids watch television:

Children who watch a lot of television produce less melatonin, new research suggests - the "sleep hormone" has been linked to timing of puberty.

As a result:

“Girls are reaching puberty much earlier than in the 1950s. One reason is due to their average increase in weight; but another may be due to reduced levels of melatonin,” suggests Roberto Salti, who led the study. “Animal studies have shown that low melatonin levels have an important role in promoting an early onset of puberty.”

Girth is Good

In a further sign that we're living in the End Times, Ball Park Franks are now tapping into the repressed homosexuality of beer-drinkin', red-meat eatin', NASCAR-watchin', Bush-lovin' men to sell hot dogs. Giirrrrthy.... mmmm!!

Hot Potato

We just couldn't wait:

The United States handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days earlier than expected Monday, aiming to forestall guerrilla attacks with a secretive ceremony formally ending 14 months of occupation.

How stable can things be if we have to do this in secret? Also, one thing that I have yet to see mentioned—these Iraqis willing to risk their lives in order to help run the country deserve some praise. Certainly many, if not all of them must have a significant desire for power, but I would like to think that they also have an honest desire to see Iraq become a stable, democratic nation. Maybe if our politicians had to risk more we wouldn't need to so regularly bemoan their ridiculous partisanship, pettiness, and small-minded proclamations. Of course, I know very little about the character or motives of the new Iraqi politicians, so this is all speculation. My inner cynic tells me they're all just as bad as our politicians, if not worse.

UPDATE: Just to clarify, I'm not criticizing the administration for turning over sovereignty early. It's a pragmatic decision motivated by a recognition of the danger to Iraqi government officials. However, along with being a bit surprising given the administration's tendency to prefer ideology to reality, it's still indicative of the instability and fighting plaguing the nation.

2ND UPDATE: The news looks like it was broken by a blog. So, now blogs are scooping mainstream news media?

3RD UPDATE: Juan Cole speculates that "the Americans must have developed intelligence that there might be a major strike on the Coalition Provisional Headquarters on Wednesday if a formal ceremony were held to mark a transfer of sovereignty."

Large Sodas, Small Bladders, and Long Movies

For anyone who's ever held it in until their bladders almost burst just to see every scene, this should be funny. Actually, it's funny to everyone*, so go read it.

*with a properly calibrated sense of humor

The First Anti-Aging Drug?

According to this article, resveratrol, a compound found in red wine, has the potential to become the first effective anti-aging drug. Even so, I think I'll just continue drinking mine. It's a lot more enjoyable than taking a pill.

Farenheit $22 Million – A Review of the #1 Movie in America

First, let's get one thing straight – this film is a documentary. Those who have argued, in the runup to the release, that it was not, that it was some other manner of creature, made the assertion on the grounds that Micheal Moore produces biased films designed to advance his own political agenda. Even before the film's release it was painfully obvious that these arguments were, first and foremost, based on elaborate and counterintuitive convolutions of the word "documentary," interpretations that would have essentially required any film worthy of the label to be made by throwing a dart at a map, setting up a camera at that location pointed in a random direction, then releasing two hours of the unedited footage: anything else apparently constitutes bias, and no documentary can, according to the anti-Moore camp, be influenced by its maker's opinions. These theories were, equally obviously, motivated by a political agenda at least as overbearing as Moore's own. By saying "It's not a documentary," what those who originated the argument (and equally those who fell victim to and repeated it) were really saying was "This film is nothing but the rambling fantasy of a liberal nut – there's no need for you to pay attention to it or take it at all seriously."

But now that the film is out, we don't need to rebut these arguments by referring people to Webster's or digging for their own dark motives. All we need to do is cajole them into actually watching the movie, which is as firmly within the formal tradition of the documentary as anything this side of "Wild Kingdom." Moore himself appears in the film a scant two or three times, and there's only one brief interlude of one of his trademark 'stunts' – in this case, he attempts to get members of Congress to enlist their children in the military, with predictable results. "Roger and Me" this is not – Moore's personality comes through in the filmmaking, but not in his physical presence and direct pronouncements. You don't even hear very much of him during the multitude of interviews with Ex-FBI agents, congressional dissidents, and foreign policy experts that form the core of the film.

For many leftists, Fahrenheit 9/11 will be an abridged recap of known facts and figures, starting with the theft of the Florida election and moving forward from there. Its main value for me, aside from the concentration of all of this material into one convenient package, was being able to see the main players in action. It may be that I already know the story and have formed opinions on the characters, but Moore's footage (including most notoriously Bush getting literally shifty-eyed just moments before announcing the war in Iraq) provided me with a deeply disturbing window into the souls of the current administration. Bush's verbal incompetence has been well documented, but Moore focuses instead on his overwhelming venality, his absolutely habitual reliance on his name and position to carry him through with little or no effort on his part. From "Bring it on" to "Now watch this drive!" to "I'm here to take somebody's order – whatta you want, Stretch?", Bush's attempts at folksiness come across, in the context of the corruption that Moore covers, as crass attempts to alternately gloss over his ignorance of even the most basic policy information, and his gross abuse of the American people's trust.

The instance of this abuse that Moore focuses on most closely is the array of deep and disturbing connections between the Bush dynasty and Saudi Arabian money men – and the bin Laden family in particular. I won't recap the intricacies here, but the statement that the bin Ladens have collectively invested roughly a billion and a half dollars in the various endeavors of the Bush clan is well supported. The specific connections between Saudi money and Shrub's early oil ventures are particularly damning – why, after all, would investors from one of the world's most oil-rich nations invest so heavily in a company whose main product was dry wells, if not to gain access to the CEO's vice-presidential pater? In return for these regular and vast injections of venture capital, Moore outlines the levels of access the Saudis were granted, including most notoriously the acceleration of the bin Laden's exodus from the U.S. on September 13th, and the explicit and sickening orders given to the CIA and FBI to stop pursuing leads that pointed to any Saudi complicity in terror attacks. It is on the matter of those September 13th flights that Moore seems to come closest to bending the facts; He explicitly states (and shows in official documents) that the flights did not leave until September 13th, when airspace was re-opened, but the phrasing of these statements is smudgy enough to imply that the bin Ladens got to ignore the line, rather than just getting to move to the front of it. It's a slight slip, but it has already proven to be enough for Bush's desperate legion of toadies to latch onto as a means to discredit the film, and as such it would've been preferable if Moore had been more cautious.

From the basis of the Saudi connections, Moore goes on to paint a broader picture of the frankly nauseating entanglements between Republican power brokers and, it would seem, anyone willing to wave dollar bills in their faces. The Carlyle group and Halliburton controversies are fairly well-trod paths, with Moore's reporting based largely on the previous work of Greg Palast. One new wrinkle came in the form of video of a contingent of frankly thuggish Taliban officials visiting the Bush governor's mansion in early 2000, as Bush worked to burnish their image and smooth negotiations that would have led to a moneymaking natural gas pipeline being dug through Afghanistan. As hopefully most of you are already aware, it was Carlyle group adviser Hamid Karzai who was ultimately awarded the presidency of Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion, and the pipeline deal was among the first items to cross his desk. All of this is presented using documentary footage and copious documentation. Why, it must be asked, has the Democratic Party not made greater hay of this particularly egregious example of our president blithely setting aside any pretense to supporting democratic ideals when it was convenient and potentially profitable for his friends?

The second facet of the film's message is much more overtly emotional, but the emotion that Moore presents to us is still absolutely factual, and these are facts that may have been even more effectively suppressed by the Bush administration and the media than was the esoteric new-fangled bribery of our government by a foreign power. What Moore presents to us is the utterly devastating anguish of a woman who lost her son in a Black Hawk crash in Iraq. Part of a strong military heritage, including her father, brothers, and daughter in addition to her lost son, this woman is presented by Moore as representative of the segment of the population that has been perhaps most victimized by Bush's war, and in fact ill-conceived wars through history: the working-class patriots who give their children to defend a country which does little to reward their gifts. Though it takes the death of her son, this woman wakes up to the ways in which she and her family have been taken for a ride by the leaders of the free world, and the emotional peak of the film comes when Moore films her visit to Capitol Hill. It's both discomfiting and revealing to see this very sane woman energized by the marginally coherent anti-Bush screeds of an addled homeless woman – she is obviously hungry for any chance to speak the language of those who have seen through the veil. It is conversely invigorating to see her respond with eloquent anger to another woman who describes the anti-Bush claims as "a setup." While it's impossible to forget her pain for even a moment, I'm sure I'm not alone in slightly envying her response to the woman: "My son is dead. Tell me that's a setup."

I'll be the first to admit that "Fahrenheit" is far from a great film. Despite the occasional funny juxtaposition and one or two more aggressive moments, it conforms to the standard documentary format to an almost stultifying degree. As noted, this was absolutely necessary for the film to withstand its critics and have its intended effect, but I imagine it will also limit its long-term relevance. Made with a very definite and timely agenda, it's uncertain whether "Fahrenheit" will ultimately stand as anything like the definitive account of the subject at hand. Further, with any less compelling subject (say, frogs), it would not have been nearly as gripping – it might even have been trite. But as it is, at this moment in time, the film is absolutely vital, whatever side of the aisle you're on. I'm not sure whether its current success will be sustained, though, as I'm not sure that many who still support Bush will willingly go into the theatres. The pain and righteous rage of a dead soldier's mother is just one of a multitude of things in this film that those who persist in supporting Bush and his cabal would prefer to simply ignore, slapping their hands over their ears while shouting "It's not a documentary!" like some alchemical mantra that will somehow transmute bullshit into fluffy clouds. As the box-office returns this weekend have shown, though, there's a substantial chunk of America out there that's willing to listen.

Vintage Album Covers

Check out these vintage jazz album covers. It interesting that they're all from a rather limited palette—lots of cyans, blues, and reds—but still very cool. Being a chess nut, I really like this one.

(via Conscientious)

Clinton's Presidency

There have been two excellent posts about Clinton's presidency recently. The first, from Mark Schmitt, discusses the shift in strategy between terms, arguing that he didn't start triangulating until the second. The other, from Randy Barnett, points out the failed potential for a transformation of the Democratic Party Clinton represented.

Another Reason IE Sucks

Users are being told to avoid using Internet Explorer until Microsoft patches a serious security hole in it.

If you're still using IE, this is one of many reasons to switch to something better.

Comparative Statistics

Via BoingBoing, here's a fun site called NationMaster:

a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, World Resources Institute, UNESCO, UNICEF and OECD. Using the form above, you can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics with ease.

Enjoy.

Guys and Gals

As usual, 2blowhards has a great discussion going. This time, it's one that classifies men into two types: those that love women for being women and those that consider women as something of an accessory. It started with some off-hand comments in this post about "Neuromancer", which prompted a followup. That post has now been replied to by an even longer post.

I certainly agree that most American men find women to be something of a necessary evil, great to look at, lust for, and sleep with, but otherwise frustrating and inscrutable. Part of this is likely the eternal disconnect between male and female modes of thought being amplified and exacerbated by our technological culture. As more information and gadgets have become available for men to obsess over we've seen the rise of the geeks and wonks. We like our toys; we're in awe of their magic and sleekness. In a slightly modified form, these are two of the primary qualities in women that the 2Blowhards discussion chides modern American men for ignoring. Has technology taken over some niche in the male mind that once was reserved for women?

Another point made is that American men no longer care much about "seeking-the-poetry-in-women," that is, discovering and exploring the fascinating ways they differ emotionally and intellectually from men. Perhaps part of this is like a bad hangover from too much feminism—repeatedly hearing that there's no difference between men and women must have some effect, after all. However, I think Michael suggests another possible cause in his terminology. It's been well-observed that most Americans are now what you might call sub-literate. That is, they're more than capable of reading and writing (however poorly), but completely bored by literature and the arts in general. Unfortunately for them, poetry and other arts have, throughout their histories, been repositories for the best and most lyrical explorations of and paeans for women. As an appreciation for the arts can deepen one's understanding and love for its subjects, is it at all surprising that a decline of interest in artistic beauty comes at the same time we see a similar decline of fascination with women as natural expressions of the same?

Also to be considered is the pernicious saturation of unflattering portrayals of both men and women in the media. We've all heard the regular criticisms of the pressures super-models and their impossibly waif-like appearances put on women. Consistently assaulted by these unrealistic expectations, they lose confidence in their own attractiveness and desirability; unfortunately for them, confidence is a key component for finding someone attractive. However, men, too, are affected by these images. We're subtly trained to find that sleek, lithe form—mirrored in the cool lines of our gadgets—to be the ideal woman. Then there are the buffoonish men seen in practically every modern sitcom—the insensitive louts, the ignorant fools. Is it any surprise television has been hemorrhaging viewers in the male 18-35 demographic?

Of course, all the blame does not rest on men. Another point the Blowhards make is that many women nowadays "aren't lesbians but they don't like men." In other words, they view modern men as little more than ornaments as well. It's like an arms race—the less men find women worth their time as conversation partners and mysterious, fascinating, necessary Others, the less women will care to see the same in men.

The Science of Baby Supermen

One of my favorite science bloggers, PZ Myers, discusses the mutation relating to the child's condition.

Photos of Darfur Destruction

Satellite photos show the extent of destruction in Darfur. Around 56,000 houses have been annihilated, 10,000 to 30,000 people have already died, and estimates of 350,000 deaths due to disease and malnutrition over the next nine months are considered conservative.

Cat Blogging

For some brand-new digital camera fun, click on through.

Zoe, the eldest and fattest.

Echo, the psychotically violent and, paradoxically, most affectionate.

And Lily, the youngest and fluffiest.

Alright, NOW let's talk about media bias.

In case you haven't noticed (and you would be forgiven, considering that as usual the Guardian is the only one covering this hot potato), the draft is coming back. This is not hype, this is not overreaction. The bills are currently in committee. They're recruiting draft board officers right now. There will be no higher education deferments.

I have a 19 year old brother.

Economics Roundup

There's a lot of chatter lately about job growth or the lack thereof under Bush. Clearly, things are improving compared to the first couple of years of Bush's reign, but not much and not enough.

The Gadflyer points out that "fewer than 6,000 net new jobs" have been created per month in the last nine months.

The Campaign Desk lists some blogger criticisms of how the news media is covering economic news.

One of the links in that article is this Brad DeLong post discussing the difference between an improving economy and a good economy while pointing out that we still only have the former.

However, Pejman thinks the news isn't that dire and praises a USA Today article criticizing Kerry's honesty in discussing current economic misery.

Whiskey Bar, on the other hand, laments another example of economic ignorance on the part of the news media while confirming Kerry's statement that wage increases are not keeping up with inflation.

Still, there is some encouraging news on the horizon, but it's unclear if the number of jobs companies plan to add matches the optimism of the article. It only states that the percentage of companies planning to add jobs is rising, not actual numbers. Even so, a higher number of companies hiring is bound to be a good thing whether it's enough to make up for lost jobs or not.

UPDATE: Brad DeLong and Matthew Yglesias pile on NRO's economic writing.

Addiction

Speaking Truth to Power

An anonymous CIA veteran staffer has this to say about how bin Laden views the war in Iraq:

Anonymous: "If you're familiar with that wonderful Christmas movie, ‘The Christmas Story’ (sic), at the end of the day, Ralphie getting his air rifle even though his mother was worried his eye would get shot out. It's a terrific gift [to bin Ladin]."

The rest of the interview is much more serious in tone, though for some of us what he's saying has a definite "Well, duh" quality to it - it didn't take a genius to see from pretty much the beginning that Iraq was a distraction from the task at hand, pursued for reasons of personal vengeance rather than national security, and justified by a web of flimsly half-truths and verbal legerdemain. For others, these will come as shocking revelations. Shocking, I say!

For The Deutschlander in All of Us

A drinking game, of a sort. See how far you can stumble home from the pub!

Via SE(NSFW)

1 + 1 = God

Sadly, this guy doesn't seem to be kidding. He really thinks the formula he posts proves that it's more likely God exists than not. No need for faith when you have (silly, unfounded) math, I suppose.

UPDATE: This just in! 111 x 6 = 666, definitive proof that Satan exists too!

Baby Superman

A five year old in Germany "can hold seven-pound weights with arms extended, something many adults cannot do."

(via die puny humans)

Nader May Not Make Arizona Ballot

The Arizona Democratic Party thinks it has found enough invalid signatures to keep Nader off the ballot there.

The Mystery of Time and Space

Here's a long, moderately challenging interactive puzzle.

Neurobabbling

For a great example of digressions being more interesting than the ostensible point of a post, read this.

Beastie Boys Virus

There are reports that the new Beastie Boys CD installs DRM software on your system without consent:

According to a recent thread at BugTraq, an executable file is automatically and silently installed on the user's machine when the CD is loaded. The file is said to be a driver that prevents users from ripping the CD (and perhaps others), and attacks both Windows boxen and Macs.

I hope the Beastie Boys were unaware of this idiocy. Otherwise, yet another once cool band has joined the dark side.

UPDATE: In the comments, someone points out that the Beastie Boys don't like it either, but it's the policy of their label.

Rat Replacement Kidneys

Stem cell research continues to advance:

Scientists have previously shown that embryonic tissue transplants can be used to grow new kidneys inside rats. In their latest study, though, they put the new kidneys to an unprecedented and critical test, removing the rat's original kidneys and placing the new kidneys in position to take over for them. The new kidneys were able to successfully sustain the rats for a short time.

Creepy, but potentially life-saving research.

Perdido Street Station

I’ve just finished reading Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. This book is the apotheosis (or, from a certain perspective, the nadir) of my pre-grad school wallow in frothy, joyful genre art from comic books to novels to video games. It’s a fantasy book, presenting a world populated by strange humanoid races who exemplify various ways in which humanity views and constructs itself – but this is an utterly different world from Tolkein’s, drawing on modern and postmodern mythology and self-image to create something truly wondrous and new, without the stench of death that clings to every high fantasy story written since 1970. In Mieville’s seething city-state of New Crobuzon, a nascent industro-chemical revolution nuzzles with “thaumaturgy” capable of sculpting liquid water and refashioning living flesh into terrifying, cruel new shapes.

Though perhaps a bit too fashionably squalid (a fetish clearly drawn from cyberpunk SF), the world is clearly recognizable as an analogue of our own, full of calculating political intrigue, interracial strife, and a brutalized underclass. On top of all that, the plot of the book is intricate and compelling - though it’s really funny hearing fantasy fans compare it to War and Peace, when it’s a bit closer to, say, The Sum of All Fears. The language is much closer to fantastic tradition than the setting, wavering from straightforward description to slightly highfaluting psychological rumination to, in a few scattered spots, a kind of romantic moon-gazing poesy that comes off like a medieval Dave Eggers at eternal climax. So yeah, it may not be rocket science, but it’s still pretty darn smart and well-written for fantasy, and I can’t recommend it enough if you’re looking to massage the intersection between your imaginative pleasure centers and higher processing nodes.

Mieville’s also a socialist, which I’m sure is a real fucking radical stance when you’re ENGLISH.

This. Is. Jeopardy!

Here's an interesting if somewhat short article on how Jeopardy contestants are chosen, along with some ruminations on how the show's values contrast with the shallow materialism of mainstream America.

By the way, in case you haven't been watching, Ken Jennings won again yesterday and extended his winning streak to 14. He's won a total of $471,759, an average of $33,697 per game. Watching him play is just sick—he's a force of nature, steamrolling the other contestants. It's not uncommon to see him with his $30,000+ total and the other two under $5,000 at the end of the game.

Cracking Down Doesn't Always Work

Remember a few months ago when there was heavy fighting with Moqtada al-Sadr's militia and many wanted us to go in to Najaf and other cities to wipe them out? Remember how they complained that we had essentially surrendered the city to the insurgents, that our policy would only show cowardice and embolden our attackers? I wonder what they say now:

Al-Hayat reports that previous disputes between Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and junior cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have now been completely resolved.

And:

Australian Broadcasting reports that a hard core of Mahdi Army militiamen still holds the shrine of Ali in Najaf, but that the US military has decided against trying to go in and sweep them out. (Good move.) The young Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has called on his militiamen to leave Najaf, and substantial numbers have...

This is good news even if there are still some difficulties to be worked out. I wonder if those that crowed for us to take out al-Sadr, but have decried the media's poor coverage of good news in Iraq—two groups, but with substantial overlap between them—will gladly report this.

Nooo! My Ducklings!

Funny picture via defective yeti.

Implied Lies

More on Bush's implications that Iraq and al-Qaeda worked together:

The point, as it so often is in politics, isn't what those in the administration actually said with all their link talk; it's what they implied.

Since it began talking about invading Iraq, this administration pushed two main lines of argument as justification. First, Iraq needed regime change because the government there was amassing or had amassed weapons of mass destruction. Second, Iraq was likely to use those weapons against the US or sell them to someone who would because it was part of the Al Qaeda-led jihad against the United States.

Read the rest.

UPDATE: Kevin Drum points out the paucity of the administration's best evidence for Iraq/al-Qaeda links.

2ND UPDATE: Matthew Yglesias discusses exactly how the Bush administration implied that Hussein and al-Qaeda were working together.

First Private Space Ship

This first privately funded spaceship made it into space yesterday. Here are some pictures.

UPDATE: New Scientist reports on some potentially dangerous anomalies that occurred during flight.

Mormonism

Here's a few Mormon beliefs.

Ninja Gaiden for XBOX

As if in vindictive rebuttal to my post about the relative ease of today’s video games, fate cajoled me into renting a copy of Ninja Gaiden yesterday, then playing for a few hours (I swear, it wasn’t that I’m lazy or self-indulgent or anything – it was Fate, plain and simple). As has been observed, it is a hard, hard, hard motherfucking game. It demands the same degree of precision and execution as a Contra, and makes you dredge up the pattern recognition skills you used in the side-scrolling, stage-boss fighting good old days. On top of that it places a completely modern level of storytelling and atmosphere, and most importantly a complex, subtle fighting system not unlike that found in the best one-on-one fighting games, but reconceived for the one-on-many realm. You get things like chained combos, smooth connecting leaps from one vanquished enemy to the next, bonuses that vary depending on how gracefully you defeat your enemies – I could rhapsodize about the fighting alone for quite a while. But the point isn’t just that it’s hard - the sense of satisfaction that you get from mastering the system is unlike anything you’ll get from a more typical modern button-masher.

So yeah, if anyone wants to experience the greatest action/adventure game of your nephew’s generation, kimono my house in the next few days.

That's "Doctor" Sex Kitten

Will Darfur Spark an International Conflict?

Chadian Arabs are being recruited by the Sudanese militias. The Head Heeb writes:

This has the potential to disrupt an already-fragile cease-fire as well as further internationalizing the conflict and, in a worst-case scenario, turning it into a regional ethnic war

Note, however, there is something you can do. Donate to Oxfam and specify that it's for the Sudan Crisis Relief Fund.

Human Batteries

Another cool innovation in medical science.

Modigliani

On Slate, Mario Naves writes a review of a new Modigliani exhibit at Manhattan's Jewish Museum which he calls "the first major museum exhibition devoted to Modigliani in more than 50 years." Looking at the online gallery though, it looks to be the same collection I saw at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth about a year ago. I guess since the Kimbell is a small museum, the author either didn't know about the exhibit or didn't consider it a "major museum exhibition." However, considering that the Kimbell is often called one of America's greatest small museums and the building itself, designed by Louis Kahn, is considered a landmark piece of architecture, ignoring their exhibit is unjustified. Other than that, the article, although short, is a good introduction to his art. I particularly enjoy his lush colors and excellent nudes.

These Softbatch Kids Today

So, as part of my odyssey into the world of BitTorrent, I downloaded a package of nearly 300 ROM files for the original, 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, along with the programs to play them on my computer. This is every NES game ever released, or extremely close to it. Last night I played a little Contra, a little Ninja Gaiden, a sprinkle of Ikari Warriors, and I came to an inevitable, grim conclusion - since my childhood, games have gotten much, much easier.

Now, obviously this is a conditional statement. Early games were certainly simpler - I doubt there were any non-sports games on the NES with a learning curve longer than ten minutes. You just have to figure out whether A is kick and B is jump, or vice versa. But if newer games require a mastery of twelve buttons and their subtle combinations, older games required a zen-like state of no-mind amidst an unrelenting shitstorm of bullets, ninjas, MiGs, cannonballs, aliens and laserbeams. You have to track, in the average NES shooting game, about eight different objects at any given time, figuring out your best path for simultaneously surviving and destroying. Lassitude is not rewarded - in fact, it is punished rather brutally. The typical early shooting game gives you no life meter - one hit, and you're toast. Maybe two if you've been lucky enough to pick up a flak jacket or energy shield. You do get three or so "lives," and each time you use one up you get regenerated at the same place. But once you use up your last life, it's all the way back to the beginning of the level.

And if you have to do that more than a few times, you go back to the start of the game - none of this pussy "memory card" bullshit. In my day we sat down and played a game straight through - it was physically draining and bladder-punishing. If you got called home for dinner, you paused that bitch until the next day, threatening the younger kids with unimagined tortures if they so much as looked at the console. The weak were not tolerated, as I experienced when I was cold-shouldered during a particularly high-volume 10 Yard Fight session. This produced a fierce interpersonal rift that raged for a good ten years, and remains somewhat tender to this day. It was a merciless time. But I doubt any kid these days gets the kind of deep, soul-filling satisfaction I experienced when a friend and I beat Contra without a cheat for the first time. They were terrible times - you feared for your life every playing moment, your heart was in your throat, the trenches were full of mud and malaria and god knows what else. I still occasionally find my thumb frantically twitching when the sliding doors at the supermarket make that "pwish" sound - so much like the cries of the Mother Brain.

But as traumatic as it all was, as brutal as things could get, the camaraderie we had back then, it's not something you can really experience today. When it was time to save the President, you had to know you had a genuinely Bad Dude at your side, not some weak-fingered pretender. Friendships were forged under fire.

God, I miss it.

Putin's Motives

One of the big stories today is Putin's claim that:

Russia gave the Bush administration intelligence after the September 11 attacks that suggested Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq was preparing attacks in the United States

But why is he just now saying this? I'd be surprised if there is anything to this. If the Bush administration had credible intelligence to suggest that Iraq had been planning attacks on the US, they would have shouted it until their lungs collapsed.

Is This a Lie?

Via DailyKos, we find out that Bush recently said:

This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaida.

Of course, when we went to war on Iraq, he said this:

I have also determined that the use of armed force against Iraq is consistent with the United States and other countries continuing to take the necessary actions against international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Is there any doubt that this was purposefully misleading? Didn't the Republicans lambaste Clinton for overly clever semantics? Even if the two statements don't directly contradict each other when read strictly literally, it still counts as an attempt "to create a false or misleading impression", in other words, a lie.

UPDATE: Some instances of Cheney making the connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq.

Prelude to the Tour

Some developing headlines from the Tour de France, which starts a little more than two weeks from now:

Vinokourov, third in last year's Tour, has been forced out after tearing shoulder ligaments when he crashed Monday in the Tour of Switzerland.

Beloki is out also. This is the Basque rider who crashed spectacularly last year, finished second in the 2002 Tour and third in 2000 and 2001. According to CNN, Beloki says that he has had some physical problems in his training, and will focus instead on the Tour de Spain in September. The Guardian somewhat disingenuously titled today's headline "Beloki Pulls Out of Tour in Drug Row," but the drug in question is a cortisone-containing allergy medicine that he has taken since he was a kid. I think it's more likely that he is unprepared for the Tour due to his physical problems, and either way, it is misleading to conflate Beloki's problems with that of the Italians--which brings me to the next quickhit.

Patrice Clerc is calling for three riders from Saeco, the top-ranked team, to drop out of the Tour after an AFP report that involves some intercepted cellphone calls, a blood-booster called EPO, and a character named Ali the Chemist. The French team Cofidis is also being pressured to drop one of its riders after a drug trafficking investigation. So far, nobody has left.

The headline you guys have probably heard about is Lance Armstrong suing some journalists over a recent book that alleges Armstrong uses performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong has dealt with this stuff before, of course, in the last several Tours. In several of the mountain stages last year, where the spectators are closest to the riders (remember Armstrong losing his pedal once?), some of the fans jumped very close to him and yelled "Dopeur!" on his way up the mountain. For the most part, he has ignored the claims, and they haven't really damaged his reputation, but this time Armstrong has decided to sue. One of Armstrong's former assistants claims that Lance asked her to dispose of syringes and to give him makeup to conceal the marks on his arms. The accusations have been published in "L.A. Confidentiel, les secrets de Lance Armstrong."

So far, Ludwig's favorite rider, Jan Ullrich, will compete in the Tour. He won in 1997, is currently leading the Swiss Tour, and is always a monster on the mountains.

Speaking of mountain stages, on July 17th, 19 theatres across the US will show one of the Pyrenees stretches live on the bigscreen.

Another View of the 9-11 Report

On NRO, Andrew McCarthy questions a number of the report's claims and provides some interesting information pointing towards links between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Essentially, his case rests on an indictment of Bin Laden from 1998 and the fact the Tenet has not retracted statements he made only a few months ago linking the two. Given that Tenet recently resigned in disgrace, I'm not sure how much weight we should give to any of his testimony, but it is puzzling that the recent report doesn't address it. As for the 1998 indictment, all it claims is that al-Qaeda and Iraq had a non-aggression pact, but McCarthy does not provide further evidence for this. Even if true, there is a significant difference between non-aggression and active cooperation, the latter being a large part of the case for war.

Overall, the article is a worthwhile read as it provides a counterpoint to the report, but it fails to convincingly show that the war against Iraq was a pressing necessity. Certainly, Hussein was a problem that would have eventually required action beyond containment, but there still seems to be no evidence that he should have been such a high priority given the many other more credible threats to our security that we are now effectively unable to deal with. The war against Iraq remains a distraction based on neoconservative fantasies, not a rational approach to combatting terrorists.

UPDATE: Winds of Change provides a few general criticisms of the report as well.

Language Map

This map from the MLA "illustrates the density of language speakers in zip codes and counties" for many different languages. Neat stuff.

(via Language Log)

The Truth Will Out

Anyone reasonably alert already knew a long time ago that Bush was either misinformed or flat-out lying about connections between Iraq and al-Qaeda. Maybe this will finally wake up the rest:

George W. Bush... says that Cheney is right to claim that there were long-established ties between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, witness Abu Musab Zarqawi. Thus the wiggle room between "falsehood" and "crude and simplistic view" that Murray was attempting to buttress collapses under the weight of George W. Bush's words.

Even if Bush wasn't lying, do we really want a president this incompetent and habitually misinformed?

Avast, Ye Mateys! Intellectual Property, Off The Starboard Bow!

I'm sure you guys are already all over this, but I just downloaded it last night and, wow, BitTorrent is wicked awesome. Last night I got started on packages containing, for example, 32 Happy Tree Friends episodes, 17 Lil' Flip mixtapes, 204 8-bit NES games, and an episode of Babylon 5 (just to, you know, fit in). They should all be resting secure and complete on my hard drive by the time I get home tonight. Browsing the torrent tracking sites is like taking a trip back to 1996, when you could still download MP3s off the web (Remember that shit? Crazy!). You can get TV shows, multi-album packages, movies, even XBOX games (it's enough to make a nascent nerd consider a chip mod). I recommend getting onboard now, before the man figures out how to shut down the directory sites. I'm going to need another hard drive. And soon.

Le Guichet du Savoir

Ce service est vraiment unique et utile (mais seulement pour les francophones). Selon l'auteur de Aeiou, le service vous permettre de posez n'importe quelle question et «un bibliothécaire y répondra dans un délai de 72 heures en documentant sa réponse.»

Prom

I am in the car with my girlfriend, sporting an ill-fitting tuxedo, fighting heart palpitations, and questioning my overall sanity as we drive to meet my date for prom. I am a man in his mid-20s who pays his own rent, purchases his own toothbrushes, accumulates his own debt. My date is a 17-year-old high-school senior who could easily pass for 12, a young woman for whom the recent past means middle school.

The article is pretty funny, though not finished yet. I'm waiting too see what happens after the prom when he unleashes his latent dirty old man on the poor, unsuspecting, "my-friends-take-it-up-the-butt" teenager.

Voting Results: "F*cking" Will Not Change

F*cking, Austria has voted not to change the name of their town. "Everyone here knows what it means in English, but for us F*cking is F*cking - and it`s going to stay F*cking - even though the signs keep getting stolen." The measure was not expected to pass in part because of the distasteful alternative proposals: "Felching," "Fisting" and "Ponyplay" were all voted down. Read more here.

The Pistons' Off-Season Moves

How did they build a championship team? Like this.

Mongolia Today

The name of a man is a numbing blow from which he never recovers. —Marshall McLuhan

In the 1920s, everyone in Mongolia lost their last name. The ruling Communists wanted to "eliminate the clan system, the hereditary aristocracy and the class structure." In 1997, a law was passed requiring everyone to choose a last name, but it caught on slowly, and there are still 10,000 people without last names. Now, the government is offering incentives for people to choose, and, not surprisingly, the most popular surname is that of Mongolia's most famous warrior, Genghis Khan.

NPR did a piece a few months ago about the rebirth of popularity of Genghis Khan among the young people. Evidently, after years of insouciance, Khan has emerged as a pop-culture icon--decorating lunchboxes, inspiring fashion, and now thousands of new names. The country itself is going through a bit of a renaissance. I don't know much about it, but I know the legal system is being overhauled. The Chief Justice of the Mongolian Supreme Court visited our school last semester because they are modeling their courts after the Texas system (presumably because of the similarity in size). A strange choice, given that Texas has two Supreme Courts (the SC and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals are both courts of last resort), but the Texas model is probably more easily translated to a small country than would be the US federal system.

The Job Redux

A follow-up. Last week, I interviewed with a much larger firm for a Fall externship. They have an entire floor in one of the downtown towers--I was taken around the office, introduced to various people, and shown where my office would be (it would overlook downtown; my current office overlooks the river). Even though my current firm expects me to work through the Fall while I am in school, I am anxious to get to a larger firm, so when this firm offered me the job, I was considering it. I also have an interview in September for a Spring (final semester) externship with this firm--the largest in the city. The problem is I have only one "pass/fail" hour left, and so could accept only one externship.

My options, then, are 1) keep this current job, which pays well, through the fall, and then hope to get the externship with the largest firm in my last semester, or 2) keep this job through the summer, the larger firm in the Fall, and try to get volunteer or paid work with an even larger firm in the Spring.

I made my decision yesterday...

I chose door number one. When I went back to that firm to let the hiring partner know of my decision, I told her my problem and that I regretted not being able to accept the position. She said that they would be hiring a different extern in the Spring semester also, and that I wouldn't have to re-interview for that. So, even if nothing comes of my September interview, I will have a good shot at a large firm externship in my final semester. (It will also be nice to get paid through the Fall semester).

I never told my current firm that I was interviewing with anyone else, and now I'm glad that I didn't.

More From Equatorial Guinea

EG has a new Prime Minister. Miguel Abia Biteo is from the ethnic minority of the country (but a majority on the island on which my parents live) and is one of the few men in power who are not related to the ruling Obiang clan of the Fang people. However, because Biteo was appointed by the President, I doubt this will signal any real change in the politics of corruption.

Pistons Win

In a ROUT.

Computerized Legs

Now even triple amputees can run in and win races. The legs look pretty cool, too.

Hey, Fatty, I Got a Movie For Ya!

Even if you're not on the whole dieting/weightloss headbuggery, Women's World thirty pounds in thirty days insanity (and I don't imagine many of our readers are), Fit Day is a pretty cool site. It allows you to log your food for the day, then breaks down your caloric and nutritional intake. You can also, if you're getting ambitious, log your physical activity and compare your calories spent to calories consumed. Most disturbing of all, you can compare your height and weight to a normative chart - which is how I discovered that I am, at six feet tall and 190 pounds, overweight. But I also found out that, on a non-drinking day, I typically consume fewer calories than I expend. Which, in total, means that I'm fat because I party too hard. God Damn it.

A Critique of Pinker

For anyone who's read Pinker's "The Language Instinct" (which is just about anyone who's taken a linguistics course), this critique of his evidence (or "evidence") should be interesting. It's not a repudiation of his theories—just some important caveats amateurs might have missed when reading the book.

The Future of Books

2Blowhards, a consistently excellent site, has a discussion about book expos and the evolving design of books. In it, the author suggests:

FWIW, one reason I usually hold back from conversations about what's a great book and what's not is that all the candidates proposed are usually long prose narratives written to be read straight through. And I'm not convinced that, 80 years hence, many people will be spending much time with these books. I can't imagine why they would be. (By the way, I'm not talking about whether I approve of this or disapprove; I'm an enthusiastic book-reader myself. I'm trying instead to be a responsible forecaster.) Based on current developments, it seems to me very likely that, in a few decades, the reading of long-prose-narratives-meant-to-be-gone-straight-through will have become a very specialized and rare taste.

It's an interesting idea and there's certainly some evidence for it, but I'm skeptical. Anytime someone proposes a tectonic shift in anything as entrenched as narrative form, especially when they're proposing it based on some nascent aspect of technology, they're usually exaggerating. Not purposefully, of course, but our ability to extrapolate trends seems to skew towards extremes. I suppose those are just the easiest to see. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the form of many books shift to a less linear one, but it seems unlikely that will become the dominant form. More likely, it will be absorbed as just another way of writing a book. Popular, perhaps, but not a sea change. Long prose narratives have been with us since the beginning of human culture. The drive to tell and to hear stories is a strong one and unlikely to be erased by fancy design techniques.

However, I'm just talking about fiction in general. I think the point they're making is more for non-fiction, information-based books. In that particular case, if people find that such forms make information easier to access and ideas clearer, then I see no reason why it wouldn't be widely adopted. Few people are interested enough in any given field to read long, narrative-like studies on the subject unless the author is particularly gifted. Of course, since the post also points out the small subset of books that literature and, by extension, fiction comprise, perhaps the claims of a radical shift in the structure of books isn't so far-fetched. Maybe we'll go through a period where a majority of non-fiction works are written that way, then see a gradual tapering off to some equilibrium where that form is just another tool, used only when effective, not the default.

Canto do Brasil

Take a tour of four different locations in Brazil. Make sure you have your sound on.

Kerry Bashing

Curious about what the next scandal will be? Look into the future.

Local Fascism

This is how it begins. One little step at a time.

A death threat here. A fistfight there. An act of vandalism here. An assault there.

Keep adding them up, and pretty soon something takes root. Something dark and hateful.

I don't know what else you can call this.

Four Reasons to Vote for Kerry

Obviously, there are many more excellent reasons, but here's four important ones.

It's So True...

The Onion strikes again. Absolutely devastating satire of Kerry.

Why Do So Many Young People Hate Their Country?

The other day I happened upon an old Czech newspaper. With God's guidance, I have translated the lead editorial. Enjoy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 23, 1989. Prague

Why Do So Many Young People Hate Their Country?

In the past few days, most of us have seen the protests at Vaclavske Nam on television. None of us know quite how to react. It is a deeply tragic situation. As the commentators all too generously explain, the young people on the square are naïve, inexperienced, and ill-informed about how the world works. They rarely read newspapers and aren’t aware of their history. Egged on by capitalist propaganda, many of them believe ending socialism and reconstituting imperialism will be the cure-all for existential ills. Even worse, we see these protestors cruelly mocking the police and army officers, who are only doing their job and trying to keep order.
Seeing this spectacle before us, it’s hard to know what to do. It is all too clear that our enemies know our weaknesses. The openness and tolerance of our society is being used by the imperialists to corrupt us from within. Thus our quandary—why do so many Czech young people allow themselves to become willing tools against their own interests?
Strung out on drugs and decadent Western music, these youth don’t seem to be thinking about much at all. A particularly exasperating characteristic of these protestors is how old and worn-out their slogans are. You would think they could come up with something new since 1968, yet they continue to repeat the same decadent, hippie gibberish over and over again. Their silly posters proclaim “Freedom for the Prisoners of Conscience” or “Democracy”! What are these young people thinking? Do they think at all? Any 10 year old knows that the only thing democratic about imperialist nations are the decisions made in corporate board rooms. And don’t they notice the number of German agents mixed in their crowds and grasp who is really calling the shots at these “demonstrations?”
A case in point for how morally barren these protesters have become is their astounding capacity for moral equivalence. They have the audacity to claim the Soviet republic of Afghanistan is morally equivalent to the American puppet state of South Vietnam! As if the fight for freedom and equality in Afghanistan can be compared to an aggressive war of exploitation! One particularly witless protestor on the Vaclavske Name actually called Czech “censorship” a form of fascism. How does one even reply to such nonsense!
Many of us justly blame the parents of these misled youth—they shouldn’t have allowed them to listen to treasonous music and smoke mind-numbing marijuana. Rather, a well-nurtured young person should have a healthy interest in national service. Still, responsibility for our young people extends beyond the home and to all of us—it goes to the very heart of what we value as a community. It is everyone’s responsibility to encourage young people to get involved in the Pioneers and eventually consider labor service.
Watching the footage on television, the startling difference between the clean-cut, patriotic police officers and the protestors is enormous. One needs no extra sentimentality to see that the former are young men who love their country and are loyal to the ideals of socialism. And the latter are everything are school system has tried to prevent—unkempt, resentful, and bullying young decadents, easily attracted to the lure of crowds and romantic illusions, having left behind loyalty to country and the value of hard work.
How do we produce more patriots and fewer dissidents? How can we stop these young people from hating their country?
We have to start asking ourselves—exactly how has our educational system failed to instill a basic patriotism and sense of collective history in our youth? Why don’t our young people realize that the imperialist nations they idolize gave Hitler their blessing to destroy our beautiful republic? Why don’t they understand that if the Soviet Union hadn’t fought for us, we would still be living under fascism? These young people seem to long for the humiliating days of 1968 when the Soviets sent in troops to save us from anarchism. And most disturbingly of all, they have forgotten the lessons of Vietnam, where their beloved imperialist powers carried out genocide on a daily basis. In short, they long for a past era long since discredited.
Given the irrational, decadent and borderline imperialist ideas espoused by these ruffians, it should come as no surprise that their leader is the decadent playwright Vaclav Havel, who publishes nihilistic gibberish on a regular basis--naturally devoured by his unthinking devotees. This is the same Havel who is in league with “The Plastic People of the Universe”, that gaggle of drug addicts that regularly slanders our tolerant national leaders as “pigs”.
How long are we going to tolerate counter-revolutionaries indoctrinating hypnotized and drugged audiences with treasonous nonsense? If we do nothing, those who hate freedom and equality will destroy us from within. They take advantage of our weakness—the freedom and tolerance of socialism. They destroy our most precious resource—our youth. When are we going to do something about it?

McCain rejects the Vice Presidency

The Democrats best shot at an easy victory was torpedoed recently. My instinct tells me he was Kerry's first choice, and that McCain seriously considered the offer. Unlike many Democrats, I hoped McCain would accept, because a bipartisan ticket might help Americans regain confidence in government and it would virtually assure victory in any case.

Now that it's over, I'm disappointed McCain has failed to seize his moment in history. On the other hand, I'm also a bit relieved. Sure, McCain has always fought the good fight for a more representative political process and recently he has converted to the Democratic side of the aisle on many environmental and budgetary issues. Still, coming from someone hostile to imperialism, chauvinism, and nationalism, today's international climate doesn't seem like the right moment for a man who idolizes Teddy Roosevelt to be so close to the presidency. McCain is surely a humane and responsible man, but judging him by his rhetoric, he might be ideologically inclined towards aggression if he had the power to enact it.

Another Mistake in Iraq

Although it feels almost like piling on at this point to continue pointing out the administrations many mistakes in post-war Iraq, this one seems particularly relevant given the problems of the past few months with Moqtada al-Sadr's militia:

US officials believed "Najaf was ready for elections and that the theocrats would have done poorly." But even if the Sadrists had won the election, their movement may have developed very differently over the past year if they could have built their political power by spending public funds for local reconstruction, rather than by recruiting soldiers for armed resistance.

To a certain extent it may be unfair to suggest that the administration should have known better in this particular circumstance, but, as the article also points out:

The decision not to allow local democracy in Iraq during the past year might be defended by an argument that Iraq lacked the basic internal security that democracy requires. But such arguments are difficult to fit with our Administration's expressed optimism that elections will be feasible in January 2005.

I doubt the decision to prevent local elections had anything to do with long term planning. Almost every decision in Iraq has seemed like improvisation born of ignorance and hubris.

Nader Qualifies in Arizona

Blech. Nader seems to have qualified for the ballot in Arizona, a swing state worth 10 electoral college votes. What a raging egomaniac. If he were truly interested in breaking the two party stranglehold on our system, he'd be lobbying for a reform of campaign financing that would prohibit fund-raising entirely and promote equal government financing for all candidates who can get on the ballot. Instead, he's more interested in trying to play spoiler so he can continue seeing his name in print. And now I've just gone and added to the problem (as if Nader reads this blog).

UPDATE: According to Kos, the volunteers checking the signatures are finding 37% bad signatures. Also, 92% of the signatories are Republicans who are, apparently, willing to win 2004 in bad faith. Of course, that wouldn't be any different from 2000, now would it?

Even More on Media Bias

I just found an excellent essay on media bias and why claiming it's "liberal" or "conservative" is simple-minded and useless:

Is the news media biased toward liberals? Yes. Is the news media biased toward conservatives? Yes. These questions and answers are uninteresting because it is possible to find evidence--anecdotal and otherwise--to "prove" media bias of one stripe or another. Far more interesting and instructive is studying the inherent, or structural, biases of journalism as a professional practice--especially as mediated through television.

You can read the whole article here.

Reefer Calmness

On Sunday in Lisbon, England and France will meet on the football pitch. England's famously fanatical supporters might be a little less aggressive, however, due to the Portugese police policy of allowing the fans to spark up before the game.

Pot-smoking fans have been assured they will not be arrested, cautioned — or even have their drugs confiscated.

Drunk fans will be refused entry, while Johnny High gets a free pass. The logic? "Alcohol makes fans fight. But cannabis smokers will be shaking hands and singing along together." Natch.
(Via Drudge)

Reading Minds

More on the brain implants front:

The researchers then asked them to perform motor and speech tasks—such as moving their hands, talking and imagining—and used this to correlate parts of their brain to movements.

They then asked the patients to play a simple computer game in which they moved a cursor up or down towards one of two targets.

By imagining movements or imagining saying the word "move," the patients were able to control the cursor with thought alone.

Something Surprisingly Unsaid About the Remarkable Ronald Reagan

He was an outstanding point guard.

Kitty's World

While looking for some worthwhile Brazilian blogs (apparently, there aren't any), I came across this monstrosity. I suggest we redesign the GNC to look more like it.

Schmies Vocabulary Test

Here's a 200 word vocabulary test with some great words on it. For reference, I only got 175 correct, a score I'm sure some of you will demolish. At least I have a pretty long list of new words to learn now.

A Humanitarian Hawk and Sudan

On the situation in Sudan, Dean writes:

All the rhetoric about saving the Iraqi people from Saddam and torture chambers is morally bankrupt in the face of inaction in Sudan. Genocide, torture, rape, displacement, and starvation are all occurring on a huge scale. What needs to happen is that some very prominent people need to call attention to the ethical contradictions in this issue.

Although I'm not sure I agree with everything his post, this statement is beyond reproach.

The Marshal of Mirth

No, I'm not talking about Jimmy Durante. Who is the funniest conservative voice out there? Who competes with Franken and Maher? Ben Stein is pretty proud of his red stripes, but I suspect that dry character voice he uses is actually his personality. I nominate P.J. In the most recent Atlantic, he writes:

Do some liberals feel as if they're guarding the net while their teammates make a furious rush at their own goal? NPR seems more whiny than hectoring, except at fundraising time. There's supposed to be a lot of liberal advocacy on TV. I looked for things that debased freedom, promoted license, ridiculed responsibility, and denigrated man and God—but that was all of TV. How do you tell the liberal parts from the car ads?

Media Distrust

Yet another poll from the Pew Center about the media is out. In this, they prove that Republicans are overly paranoid in perceiving media bias and lack of trustworthiness. 23% of Republicans trust what they hear on C-SPAN. Democrats don't fair much better, but at least they don't run around claiming media bias every five seconds.

The Art of Bushido

The goal of life is awareness; the goal of awareness is freedom. If the people of a foreign land do not wish to be free, it is the duty of the armchair warrior to force them.

Read and receive enlightenment.

(via Michael Bérubé)

Le village Azthath

Via Aeiou, a dark interactive city.

Lysergic Diethylamide

I always believed John's story, that Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds was a silly coincidence. I mean, they told all the stories about meeting the Queen while high, the dentist dropping acid in their tea, the scene from A Hard Day's Night where they are all skiing and Ringo and Paul (I think?) ran off into the woods laughing their heads off to spark one up, et cetera. Why would they lie about the origins of this whimsical song? Anyway, now Paul has copped to it in an interview with Uncut magazine.

Now I don't know whom to believe...

(Via Sully)

Reagan and the Robe

Michael Dorf writes about Reagan's impact on the federal judiciary in today's FindLaw. Aside from O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, and Rhenquist, Reagan appointed the two most famous current appellate-level judges: Kozinski and Posner. Dorf contrasts the President's famous compassion with that of his appointees, and concludes that "the most profound impact of the judges Reagan appointed was to reduce the role played in the law by the compassion for individuals that so many people admired in Reagan himself."

Dancing With Cats

Do you have a fat cat? Do you want to deepen your inter-species bond? Then maybe cat dancing is for you. But remember this advice from one of its practitioners:

One of the great barriers to dancing effectively with your cat, is allowing your thoughts and prejudices to interfere. I find ten minutes of deep purring completely stops skeptical thoughts by connecting me with my feline spirit within.

I can easily see how those pesky thoughts would get in the way, thoughts like "I can't believe I paid for those cat dancing classes. All my cat wants to do is sleep and lick herself."

(via BoingBoing)

Do You Know the Bagel Man?

In 1984, when his research institute fell under new management, he took a look at his career and grimaced. ''I was sick of every aspect of the whole thing,'' he says. ''I was discouraged. I was tired of chasing contracts. So I said to management: 'I'm getting out of this. I'm going to sell bagels.'''

His economist friends thought he had lost his mind. They made oblique remarks (and some not so oblique) about ''a terrible waste of talent.''

An interesting story.

(via Mahalanobis)

What Good Is Love?

Let this cartoon try to answer. You'll need sound.

(via Aeiou)

Stalin and the Duke

An interesting article on Josef Stalin, John Wayne, Sergei Eisenstein, and Tarzan. Read how Stalin wanted Wayne shot (presumably a retribution for The Barbarian And The Geisha) and how Khrushchev rescinded the order.

More Water on Mars

They've found yet more evidence that Mars once had (or still has) water. Now if they'd just find some bacteria or something.

A Letter from Iraq

I recently received an email from a friend stationed in Iraq. Since he's given me permission to reprint it, I thought I'd share:

How's it going? Sorry it's taken so long to respond. You know, you cracked me up when I read the last sentence in your email because I'm living in the Sunni Triangle. It's okay. We've laid the smack down here enough times that the citizens, the nice people and tribal leaders, are beginning to see the light and realize that if they stand up for themselves they can exert pressure on the bad guys to cease their operations. Basically a handful of bad guys will cause strife for an area. Money is also a big weapon in our arsenal and it's impressive to watch it being wielded. Just because we are here does not mean we have to dole out the money that everyone knows we have committed to a fight. Tribal and local leaders acquiesce to our conditions when we hold back money if we feel they are harboring the outlaws more than they are helping us. It sounds harsh but you really have to deal with Iraqis and the Arabic culture to understand how complex and un-Western their culture is. It's a hard lesson to learn when an Iraqi leader makes a promise to you in the interest of community peace and prosperity then backs out for whatever reason. It makes us look bad regardless because we are the outsiders. It's tough. Your average American Muslim is still American and yet to find any similarities between them and the Muslims here. Our cultures are so diverse that it's ridiculous.

I don't feel pity for the Iraqis, as much as I do compassion. It is shocking how miserable life is here and many don't realize just how bad they have it. Ignorance is bliss goes the saying, but man...what happened here because this is not a blissful ignorance. The "average" Iraqi you see on TV fighting the US Army is literally too stupid to do otherwise. They are too poor to do anything else, especially when foreign fighters are paying them to target Americans. It's not unlike how anti-Semitism was used to fuel the Nazi rise to power and dominance of Germany leading up to WWII. It's tragically fascinating.

But anyways... needless to say, since I have time to ruminate and attempt to enlighten you I am not doing too badly. I have exactly 8 months to go from today and it's a reason to rejoice. Of course I could be extended like 1AD in Baghdad. I wouldn't mind because it's an extra 1 grand/month for every month above 12 that I'm deployed. That's reason enough to find a job to extend my stay. Who knows.

Liberal Empire

Along the lines of a discussion we had in the past, Michael J. Totten discusses the claims of the United States as an imperial power:

I hate the word empire when used to describe the United States. If the US is an empire, it sure is empire-lite. We are not expanding the borders. It’s hard to have colonies when you don't have any colonists. Aside from Iraq for the next three and a half weeks, we do not administer foreign countries.

But if someone wants to use the e-word to describe America, I’ll let them get away with it as long as they define it in a way that describes the world as it really is.

Wankers

You've read stuff like this before, but these are particularly funny because of all the lovely English euphemisms for onanism. Safe for work, but your guffaws might give you away.

The Epigrams of Martial

This is an ambitious project:

On this blog I intend to present the Latin text and an English translation of all the epigrams of the first-century AD poet Marcus Valerius Martialis, better known to the English-speaking world as Martial. By my reckoning there are 1565 epigrams together with the five prose prefaces - which at a rate of one a day will take the better part of four-and-a-half years to cover.

Genocide in the Sudan

I was seeing with my own eyes what I had been hearing about for several months: Children are dying almost every day in refugee camps in eastern Chad, despite a vigorous international effort to get food, water and other essentials to the more than 100,000 who have fled in fear from the Darfur region of neighboring Sudan.

It sounds like Rwanda all over again. Naturally, since it's happening in Africa, we won't hear much about it in the mainstream media. It's certainly not going to make the front page anywhere, but Gary Farber is exactly right when he says:

President Bush and Secretary Powell should be putting all possible pressure on both Kofi Anan, and the members of the Security Council, for a Resolution, and directly on the Government of Sudan to put a stop to this horror

I wonder what the chances of that happening are. It'd certainly be an excellent way for Bush to get some good press while doing the right thing, but the administration seems a bit distracted by all its recent roosting chickens, not to mention the necessary Reagen hagiography that will consume this next week. This is the sort of situation where I would whole-heartedly support military action, but I'm afraid nothing will be done in time.

The Aurelian

"In these impossible dreams of his he visited the Islands of the Blessed..."
     -Vladimir Nabokov

He spun his life
pinning dead butterflies—
train tickets to wild lands
where insects flutter aimless

He trapped his life
in a dark shop
selling erasers to schoolboys
and growling at his meek wife.

Terrifying to uproot
even the most unsatisfying life—
the routine of despair
substitutes for peace.

He escaped his life
and took the first steps
to collect the flitting colors
of Spanish fields—

A stroke and a collapse
among winged eyes sparking.
Gravity pinned him
cold to the floor.

Ronald Reagan

Of course you have already heard that the Great Communicator is dead. The New York Times has a nice set of articles already; I'm sure there will be more to follow. For me and people of my generation (born 1977), Reagan was the president when we first began to learn about politics. Throughout our first years in school, he was the man on the inside cover of our government books, and his picture was in every school's hallway.

I recently got a couple of books of his letters and I look forward to reading and learning more about him in the coming weeks. Politics aside, Reagan led an amazing life.

Iraq as a Failed State

The Fund for Peace reports:

In the six months reviewed in this report, Iraq descended into what may be described as a failed state syndrome, a condition in which a number of trends reinforced each other to produce spiraling conflict that the country has little or no independent capacity to stop. A year after the invasion, Iraq is as shattered as it was the day that Saddam Hussein was overthrown, the main difference being that organized militias and terrorist groups have gained a foothold they did not have before.

It seems to me that overthrowing a nation's government will necessarily give one a "failed state" at least temporarily, but the report, which is available in PDF format, is not simply about stating the obvious. The recognition that Iraq is a failed state is only a starting point for an in-depth analysis of the situation.

The report details where the occupation went wrong, what chances were missed, what schisms exist in the nation today, and analyzes a number of possible outcomes. The report also states that the next six months are the "make or break" period:

The tipping point that will determine whether the country will move toward constitutionalism or chaos will be evident over the next six months. If the trends we are tracking improve over that period, then Iraq may have a chance of recovery.

However, it also points out some of the problems with the plan for a transition government, while noting that it is the only politically viable solution at this point:

Considerable attention has been focused on the caretaker government coming to power on June 30. Based on a U.N. plan, it is supposed to run the country on a day-to-day basis and prepare for elections to be held by January 2005 for a national assembly. Much can be said for turning over administration to Iraqis, particularly if they are technocrats. It could de-politicize the situation somewhat, providing a cooling off period before elections. However, there should be no illusions about what this transition actually represents. It will not be the end of the occupation, for U.S. and Coalition Forces will likely be present in large numbers for months to come. The new entity will be sovereign in name only, as it will not have the power to make laws that are binding beyond its term of six months, when elections are to be held.

Overall, the report does not contradict the tentative signs that things in Iraq are improving, but cautions that, of the potential outcomes, a successful one is one of the least likely. They suggest that the most likely is:

After the withdrawal of coalition forces, either by invitation of the interim government or following elections, civil war breaks out along sectarian lines, prompting neighboring states to intervene. Military occupation or covert action follows by Iran, Turkey and/or Syria, each aimed at claiming a sphere of influence in Iraq. Internally, local militias wield control, backed by respective patrons. This could lead to the entrenchment of militant groups or militias under the patronage of neighboring states or a de facto partition of Iraq.

Although I wrote in my comments to sleepnotwork's previous post that things seem to be improving now, I wonder if it is only the calm before the storm. The poor post-war planning has seriously exacerbated problems that may have been otherwise minimized and controlled. From the forewarned looting of Iraq's national treasures to the crack down in Fallujah to the Abu Ghraib tortures, we have squandered most of the Iraqi people's good will towards us. If the occupation had been better executed perhaps the Iraqis would not now be in such a rush for us to leave. That, in turn, would have reduced the influence of radicals such as Moqtada al-Sadr and allowed us more time to help the people establish a legitimate, strong government and peace-keeping forces of their own. I hope that the groundwork we have laid to date has not fatally undermined the future of Iraq. I'm still optimistic that it hasn't, but the possibility must be considered. If things turn out badly, it will be the direct result of Bush's mismanagement. If they turn out well, it will be in spite of him and his neoconservative cabal.

Should We "Stay the Course"?

The Nation has pointed out over the past couple of months that this is not the noble stance that the president seems to think it is. In their view, to stay the course in the face of a widening cycle of violence and bitterness is bullheaded stupidity by any other name. Anyone near a library should absolutely go check out the May 24th issue, which has a sort of roundtable with various pundits laying out exit strategies. Those who claim that we must establish stability in the region fail to grasp that our very presence is contrary to stability. If we were truly looking out for the Iraqi people, a measured withdrawal, leaving them to make decisions for themselves, would be the obvious answer. Instead we're giving them a sham sovereignty as we hustle to build a permanent military installation, while imposing restrictions on the oil industry and a 15 percent flat tax. I've long been of the camp that however strongly I opposed the war itself, the situation as it is requires follow-through. Now, I'm not so sure - things are clearly only being made worse by our continued presence, and the administration's efforts to re-establish control by clumsy use of force look more and more, even from thousands of miles away, like a bid at empire.

Edit: This is actually a fairly upbeat look at training an Iraqi counterinsurgency force. Of course, I'll bet you a dollar some of these guys will take what they've learned and use it to kill Americans, but that's just the way it goes. The important point is I may have spoken too soon, or at least too boldly.

World's First Quantum Cryptography Network

The first computer network in which communication is secured with quantum cryptography is up and running in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Here's the article.

PsychoPong

A frustrating flash game via Metafilter.

ArtLex

The ArtLex Art Dictionary provides "definitions for more than 3,600 terms used in discussing visual culture, along with thousands of supporting images, pronunciation notes, great quotations and cross-references."

(via Languagehat)

Map of Springfield

Ay Carumba! Some Simpsons fans mapped Springfield. Sadly, "[d]ue to the many inconsistencies among episodes, the map will never be completely accurate." Damn that Conan O'Brian.

(via GeekPress)

Chinese Democracy

This is crazy. I first clicked on the story because it sounded like a joke: "Lone Man Stages Brief Demonstration in Tiananmen." Is it really a demonstration if it's one guy and it didn't last long? After reading the story, however, it's more ludicrous, and less funny, than that. The Chinese police monitor the Square on "sensitive anniversaries," and this guy simply kneeled down to pray and was quickly removed. Demonstrations should only be broken up when they are hippies, or are protesting the WTO, not when it's just one reflective old man at the foot of a monument. Someone needs to teach the Chinese what Democracy is all about.

D-Day Disinformation

Winds of Change has a fascinating post on the Allies use of disinformation to help make D-Day a success. Having just finished Cryptonomicon, which has a character working on the decryption efforts at Bletchley Park and another in the field creating disinformation, I'm becoming more and more interested in the intelligence aspects of WWII.

Bush All Lawyered Up

When I first read about Bush retaining counsel for the Valerie Plame case, I didn't think it was nearly as big of a deal as a number of liberal bloggers. It's completely uncontroversial to consult with a lawyer when you may end up being questioned in a trial. It turns out, Bush might need a lawyer more than I thought:

Witnesses told a federal grand jury President George W. Bush knew about, and took no action to stop, the release of a covert CIA operative's name to a journalist in an attempt to discredit her husband, a critic of administration policy in Iraq.

You can read the rest of the article and decide for yourself. It's still entirely possible that there's nothing to this. After all, we all know that it was Cheney's office, not Bush, that outed Plame. Maybe Bush knew more about it than suspected, but we'll just have to wait for more details before we can be certain. Still, witnesses before a grand jury? Unless they're all perjuring themselves, things look bad for Bush.

UPDATE: Atrios points out in passing that "Capitol Hill Blue...[is not] a trustworthy source". So, let's wait and see if this story about the witness testimony gets picked up elsewhere.

Health Care Reform

Brad DeLong has a good post up about Kerry's health care proposals. On Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen responds with some minor quibbles, but thinks it's a good idea overall. You can find the details of Kerry's plan here on the sidebar.

Better Than GMail

Been waiting for someone to invite you to have a GMail account? AventureMail offers 2GB of storage for free, twice that of GMail.

More on Objectification and Sexuality

A good article in today's NYTimes on Las Vegas strippers. While I, as I've mentioned, don't think pornography is inherently bad, I'm pretty thoroughly repulsed by the stripping industry. In my imagination, at least, there's a big difference between the controlled environment of a porn shoot, where everyone at least potentially knows one another, and the ongoing chaos of a strip club, where strangers pour in and out and the stripper's job is, much more clearly than in porn, to be anyone other than themselves. For porn actresses (and actors) the audience is an undeniable fact, but they're not in the room with you, while strippers have to literally spend every evening fending off attacks from customers who are, at least in the majority, scumbags. Of course, my only experience of being in a strip club was in Mexico, which is obviously a bit of a different environment, but you can discern pretty clearly from this article alone that it's not something most dancers enjoy.

I have no idea what this means for our previous discussion, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Winetalk

The linguists at Language Log take a look at the vocabulary of winetalk. Since they've been posting on the topic for months, I'll just include some of the latest posts. They're a heady, sharp mixture of acidic humor, earthy insight, and vanilla-scented speculation; overall, a well-balanced offering.

Dr. Jon Stewart

Comedy. The man that first put The Toadies on a late-night show (remember the Jon Stewart show? the coffee table was a hockey rink) has pitched a gem at William and Mary. You'll have to read the entire thing, but here's a quickhit to get you in the mood:

I’m sure my fellow doctoral graduates—who have spent so long toiling in academia, sinking into debt, sacrificing God knows how many years for what, in truth, is a piece of parchment that in truth has been so devalued by our instant gratification culture as to have been rendered meaningless—will join in congratulating me. Thank you.

Frog Cam

"This vivarium includes as many as nine different dart poison frog species and 75 living frogs."

Frog watch here.

(via MetaFilter)

Best Football Team Ever

It's official. The Cowboys are the best franchise of all time. Now let's just hope Julius Jones can run.

Complicating, Engendering, Problematizing: Textuality in Redstripe and the Labial Addiction of Echolalia in Beauty

Finally: a study that explains my remarkable development.

The Berg Conspiracy

More on the execution: this article doesn't really take sides, other than raising some questions regarding the video, but it links to articles that are clearly partisan, or even absurd (one blames the Zionist conspiracy in the media). For my part, I can't bring myself to watch the tape a second time to determine whether these questions are valid or not, but I certainly would be interested in an analysis from someone who can.

An excerpt:

Among the many curiosities raised on the web about the fanatical five are:

· They are well-fed, fidgety, and reveal glimpses of white skin.

· Their Arabic is heavily accented (Russian, Jordanian, Egyptian).

· An aside in Russian had been translated as "do it quickly".

· One character wears wears bulky white tennis shoes.

· The man on the far left stands in the familiar "at ease" military posture.

· The men's scarves are worn and tied by people who "haven't a clue", says conspiracy theorist Hector Carreon, like actors in Hollywood movies.

· There is even a voice at the end that seems to ask in English, "How will it be done?"