The Immoral Minority

You like that song by Paris Fucking Hilton? Really?

2006-06-27T09:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I know any idiot with money and one of those voice-altering machine thingies *cough*lindaylohan*cough* can record a song, but... people are buying it. Unironically. This makes me sad. Hopefully the soothing balm of Superman Returns and The Devil Wears Prada will make the hurt go away.

And if anyone (I am pretending someone somewhere still looks at this) is in Boston this week and would like to see a fun show filled with blasphemy, full frontal nudity and a kick-ass papier-mache camel, go to www.encoreboston.org and get tickets for The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told (June 28, 29, 30 and July 1 at the BCA's Plaza Black Box theater in the South End.) I will not be on stage strutting my stuff (sorry, legions of fans), but I will be selling the most fabulous snacks ever sold in the lobby. I'm all about the glamour of the business that is show.

A dollar and a dream

2006-02-05T09:53:00.000-05:00

The welfare state gets a bad rap, in my opinion. Most people don't want a hand-out, they want a chance. Check out these interviews with homeless people about jobs.

Go Dave

2006-01-04T13:40:00.000-05:00

Happy new year everyone!

I know I'm often late to the party, but just in case you didn't catch this, it's fantastic. Good ol' Dave Letterman ripping into Bill O'Reilly. Why does that guy even bother going on talk shows? Laryngitis wouldn't do him any harm, me thinks. Check it out here: 60% of what you say is ...

Oh, Kong.

2005-12-20T10:40:00.000-05:00

[Warning: Here there be spoilers. Arrg!]

I’m sure there’s some sort of obvious comparison I can make between Peter Jackson and an 800-pound gorilla, but I won’t. But seriously? Dude has got to get an editing buddy or something, cause that shit was way… too… long. And I’m not some sort of wimp who can’t sit still; my butt didn’t even get numb. It was just too much, what with the five minute long reaction shots, the dinosaur stampede that lasted a million billion hours, and, oh my god, the TON of exposition in the beginning! We get it! It’s the depression and they are all trying to get money to buy food to eat. Get. On. The. Boat!!

Now I understand that coming off Lord of the Rings, Jackson is fully licensed to make huge epics. That does not mean that every single movie he makes has to be three bajillion hours long; Kevin Costner tried that crap, and it got old. Fast. Don’t get me wrong; Kong is a pretty movie, the effects were well done, and I did find myself, at times, totally caught up in the story. And then the scene would go on for too long, and my mind would start wandering. There were just so many plot holes.

Now, I’m not looking for realism (this is King Kong, after all) but, when a sign on a theater pointedly says SOLD OUT, and a character goes running in without a ticket and does not have an usher attached to his leg? That is crap. Ten guys + rowboat = somehow loading Kong onto their tiny ship? Bitch, please. It’s not like they came in a whaler expecting to haul back a giant monkey (yes, primate, whatever, shut up). They didn’t even have room for one extra passenger; Adrian Brody got stuck on board and had to sleep in the cargo hold. The tiny cargo hold. I could go on and on and on.

And don’t get me started on Jimmy. The anemic B-plot was a mentor relationship between two of the ship’s crew; some older guy, and a kid on the ship named Jimmy. We’re supposed to feel bad for Jimmy, cause he stowed away on the ship as a kid with a broken arm. Poor Jimmy. Jimmy is reading a book, Jimmy should make something of himself one day, blah blah blah. So we’re supposed to worry about Jimmy running around the island, tons of nameless crew members die, Jimmy survives, and then we never ever see Jimmy again for the rest of the movie, period, end of the Jimmy story. My question: why the hell did we have Jimmy? All that time we wasted on Jimmy I could have spent not being bored, which is time well spent.

I know it’s hard to tell from the ranting, but I did not hate this movie, I liked it. It was good. But it could have been great, which makes me a little sad. Note to Jackson: Love you, your work is good, but if you make another movie that is way longer than the source material requires, I will personally haul ass to the WETA Workshop™ and kick yours. Love, Shannon.

Pandora

2005-11-30T09:52:00.000-05:00

I've discovered the coolest thing yet on the internet.

Click here to check it out. You give it a song or artist name, and it generates a radio station just for you that consists of similar music. The sound quality and its suggestions are excellent.

Duane

Save Our Bluths!

2005-11-21T10:16:00.000-05:00

Agh! FOX is probably going to cancel Arrested Development, one of the best shows on television. Go here to sign a petition to keep the show on the air, or www.saveourbluths.com to find out what else you can do. It probably won't accomplish anything (just like voting against a Bush), but it may make you feel a teensy bit better for five seconds. Until you accidentally watch an episode of Prison Break and your eyes burst into flame.

This just in..

2005-11-08T22:56:00.000-05:00

The kansas state board of education approves "science" standards that question evolution. In related news, Texas has voted to ban same sex marriage.

I for one, welcome our new idiot overlords.

Shopping help

2005-11-07T15:08:00.000-05:00

This message isn't particularly political, unless you want to get into a discussion about processes of consumption and capitalist false consciousness, but then you'd be a pinko, and that would be bad. Anyway, I wanted to let you all know about this cool site my partner made. It's just in time for the holiday season....

If you are struggling to think of a gift for someone, it will help you find a good gift based on what the person already owns/likes. It may not give you the ideal pressie, but it will surely get you thinking!

Basically, it gets recommendations from Amazon, so it works really well for suggestions about books, CDs and DVDs, but can also suggest other things sold on Amazon. There is a UK, US and Canada site, so hope it helps and leaves more time for holiday cheer than stress.

Check it out and definitely pass it on... More, the merrier. Happy consumption!

Up the Amazon

HPV vaccine

2005-10-31T20:32:00.000-05:00

This isn't the first time I've gotten annoyed by this issue. For those of you late to this topic, social conservatives want to block the use of a cervical cancer vaccine that is 100% effective because it implicitly condones pre-marital sex. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

A new vaccine that protects against cervical cancer has set up a clash between health advocates who want to use the shots aggressively to prevent thousands of malignancies and social conservatives who say immunizing teen-agers could encourage sexual activity.

Although the vaccine will not become available until next year at the earliest, activists on both sides have begun maneuvering to influence how widely the immunizations will be employed.

Groups working to reduce the toll of the cancer are eagerly awaiting the vaccine and want it to become part of the standard roster of shots that children, especially girls, receive just before puberty.

Because the vaccine protects against a sexually transmitted virus, many conservatives oppose making it mandatory, citing fears that it could send a subtle message condoning sexual activity before marriage. Several leading groups that promote abstinence are meeting this week to formulate official policies on the vaccine.

Read more here .

Sometimes i wish The Rapture really would happen so that these people would be taken away to some magical place instead of staying here on Earth making policy decisions. Don't be fooled. The social conservatives will say, "Hey...i just don't want MY kids vaccinated. YOU can do whatever you want with YOUR kids".

If these people want their own kids to get cancer, power to them, but unfortunately, to wipe out a disease, everyone has to get vaccinated. Otherwise, evolution will...sorry, God will intelligently design viruses that vaccines won't work against. Thanks God.

Turd Blossom is still free

2005-10-29T17:16:00.000-05:00

A part of me was sad to hear that Karl Rove would not be facing the legal system...and, as mentioned in Slate today, it's pretty sad that the White House breathed a sigh of relief that only one of their senior officials was indicted.

At any rate, if you're like me, you're far too busy to read a 22-page indictment. The Village Voice boils it down to the good stuff, with key excerpts here .

This is what happens...

2005-10-28T19:33:00.000-05:00

Do you see Larry? This is what happens when you sic your fancy white house lawyers on The Onion for innocuous use of the presidential seal.

via Atrios

Sad 2000

2005-10-27T21:15:00.000-05:00

Graphics commemorating the latest atrocity,

here,

and here.

Giant Squid strikes back

2005-10-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

Hey, Deo. The giant squid has something to say to you.

OK, Us, you've had your fun. Now you best pay attention. Those pictures you took crossed a lot of lines, and I, Giant Squid, want to set some ground rules if you ever want me to cooperate again. Giant Squid doesn't have a lot of patience.

Not all of the pictures made Giant Squid mad. The first ones of me underwater, for example—those were all right. Nonintrusive, plenty of Japanese scientists on hand to make it legit. All in all, pretty understandable, pretty exciting even, considering that Giant Squid hadn't ever been photographed in his natural environment before. Hell, I've been a giant squid my whole life, and even now sometimes just the fact that a creature like me exists is enough to make Giant Squid ink himself. For the sake of science, Giant Squid is glad you're happy with those shots. Giant Squid saw some of them on Yahoo!'s newswire, and he's gotta say they turned out pretty well.

The rest of this heartbreaking work of staggering genius is here at McSweeney's.

the big house

2005-10-20T17:44:00.000-05:00

For the very definition of a forced smile, see Tom Delay's mug shot:

I almost feel bad for the guy. almost.

The arrest paperwork and photos are available at the smoking gun .

flying spaghetti monsterism

2005-10-17T17:06:00.000-05:00

I'm late on this one. Sorry...i never was one of those cool kids who was hep to all the fads first. I was still rolling up my pant cuffs Miami Vice style in 1992. In fact...i still do.

At any rate, I'm converting to the church of flying spaghetti monsterism. "What is it?" you ask. I first read about it in an op/ed letter in the local paper. Check it:

I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design.

Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.

It is for this reason that I’m writing you today, to formally request that this alternative theory be taught in your schools, along with the other two theories. In fact, I will go so far as to say, if you do not agree to do this, we will be forced to proceed with legal action. I’m sure you see where we are coming from. If the Intelligent Design theory is not based on faith, but instead another scientific theory, as is claimed, then you must also allow our theory to be taught, as it is also based on science, not on faith.

Some find that hard to believe, so it may be helpful to tell you a little more about our beliefs. We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us, of course, were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it. We have several lengthy volumes explaining all details of His power. Also, you may be surprised to hear that there are over 10 million of us, and growing. We tend to be very secretive, as many people claim our beliefs are not substantiated by observable evidence. What these people don’t understand is that He built the world to make us think the earth is older than it really is. For example, a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 10,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage. We have numerous texts that describe in detail how this can be possible and the reasons why He does this. He is of course invisible and can pass through normal matter with ease.

Is this joke? yep. Is it brilliant? yep. Who says satire is dead. The gran puba is Bobby Henderson, age 24, who is steadly growing more and more famous. To learn more about His noodly appendage, check out the church homepage here.

hilary vs condi

2005-10-16T21:30:00.000-05:00

What will 2009 be like? flying cars...a cure for cancer...kowtowing to our alien overlords?

The Guardian provides an excerpt from a book by Dick Morris, one of Bill Clinton's former advisors, called Condi vs. Hilary: The Next Great Presidential Race, that claims we'll see our first woman president:

On 20 January 2009, at precisely noon, the world will witness the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States. As the chief justice administers the oath of office on the flag-draped podium in front of the US Capitol, the first woman President, Hillary Rodham Clinton, will be sworn into office. By her side, smiling broadly and holding the family Bible, will be her chief strategist, husband, and co-President, William Jefferson Clinton.
If the thought of another Clinton presidency excites you, then the future indeed looks bright. Because, as of this moment, there is no doubt that Hillary Clinton is on a virtually uncontested trajectory to win the Democratic nomination and, very likely, the 2008 election. She has no serious opposition in her party. The order of presidential succession from 1992 through 2008, in other words, may well become Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton.

But her victory is not inevitable. There is one, and only one, figure in America who can stop Hillary Clinton: Secretary of State Condoleezza 'Condi' Rice. Among all of the possible Republican candidates for President, Condi alone could win the nomination, defeat Hillary and derail a third Clinton administration.

Personally, I think a McCain/Edwards face-off is more likely, but I guess two white guys facing off in a presidential election doesn't sell books.

Read more here .

Moo

2005-10-05T17:36:00.000-05:00

A bunch of guys on my ultimate team drink pickle juice during every tournament, following a hydration fad that came about a couple years ago (popularized by the philadelphia eagles, if I recall).

Well, my hometown newspaper brings news today of what is sure to be the next big thing in sports hydration: chocolate milk.

For the record, I'm sticking with H2O.

Also: bonus points to the commenter who cites the line that shows the writer has no idea what (s)he's writing about.

Giant Squid!

2005-09-29T19:26:00.000-05:00

here.

science photos

2005-09-28T11:44:00.000-05:00

Check out this year's winner of Visions of Science Photographic awards sponsered by the telegraph.

The winner was David McCarthy whose submission was an electon microscope photo of a grain of salt next to a speck of peppercorn.

Click here to read about the contest and click here to see more of the winners.

heh.

2005-09-23T15:01:00.000-05:00

Everyone in the world is probably familiar with this, but I just found out about it: google the word "failure" and hit "i'm feeling lucky."

happy friday.

oregon trail

2005-09-20T20:54:00.003-05:00

Remember those halcyon days when you trekked across the country, shot buffalo, watched your kids die of dysentery, and wrote poopie on their gravestones? I do. And I have Oregon Trail to thank. The daily hippo hilariously interviews Phillip Bouchard, creator of the game.

Read it here .

..If you really want to procrastinate, play the game on virtual apple here .

Barefoot and pregnant

2005-09-20T08:38:00.000-05:00

According to the Times, more and more women at elite schools want to stay home and raise a family instead of doing the high powered career thing:

Cynthia Liu is precisely the kind of high achiever Yale wants: smart (1510 SAT), disciplined (4.0 grade point average), competitive (finalist in Texas oratory competition), musical (pianist), athletic (runner) and altruistic (hospital volunteer). And at the start of her sophomore year at Yale, Ms. Liu is full of ambition, planning to go to law school.

So will she join the long tradition of famous Ivy League graduates? Not likely. By the time she is 30, this accomplished 19-year-old expects to be a stay-at-home mom.

"My mother's always told me you can't be the best career woman and the best mother at the same time," Ms. Liu said matter-of-factly. "You always have to choose one over the other."

At Yale and other top colleges, women are being groomed to take their place in an ever more diverse professional elite. It is almost taken for granted that, just as they make up half the students at these institutions, they will move into leadership roles on an equal basis with their male classmates.

There is just one problem with this scenario: many of these women say that is not what they want.

Read more here .

By the way, what's with the Times charging for access to their op-ed stories? I like a good Maureen Dowd rant as much as the next guy, but i'm not going to pay $50 a year for it.

dick vs bush

2005-09-16T11:09:00.000-05:00

I apologize for our absence. To make it up to you, here's a little video . The best part is Andy Dick in American flag speedos. Doesn't get better than that.

Let them eat cake!

2005-09-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

I think we're all on the same page in terms of outrage and profound sadness about the New Orleans situation, but I would like to bring your attention to these cringe-worthy statements by Barbara Bush. How does one get like this??? It boggles the mind.

Stupid and insensitive comments by former first "lady" that may make you turn to drink for solace

we should have seen it coming

2005-09-03T00:39:00.000-05:00

Here's a strangely prescient article from national geographic:

The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level—more than eight feet below in places—so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

When did this calamity happen? It hasn't—yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great.

Folks who say that no one could have predicted this are wrong. Read more here .

blithering idiots

2005-09-03T00:23:00.000-05:00

Maureen Dowd doesn't pull any punches today in her Times editorial:

Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.

Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue and attended "Spamalot" before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode.

When the president and vice president rashly shook off our allies and our respect for international law to pursue a war built on lies, when they sanctioned torture, they shook the faith of the world in American ideals.

When they were deaf for so long to the horrific misery and cries for help of the victims in New Orleans - most of them poor and black, like those stuck at the back of the evacuation line yesterday while 700 guests and employees of the Hyatt Hotel were bused out first - they shook the faith of all Americans in American ideals. And made us ashamed.

Who are we if we can't take care of our own?

Read more here .

Wow.

2005-09-02T21:32:00.000-05:00

Did anyone else see NBC's Concert for Hurricane Relief? Kanye West went on an awesome rant, then looked right at the camera and said, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

Bam!

Needless to say, they cut his mic immediately.

Finally

2005-09-02T10:03:00.000-05:00

The national guard is finally going into New Orleans.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050902/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_katrina_80

An additional article from Salon.com:

The Unraveling

The words from the Wall Street Journal are supposed to be comforting. San Francisco survived the 1906 earthquake. Chicago rebuilt after the fire. Hiroshima and Nagasaki recovered after the bomb.

But watching the events in New Orleans unfold, even through the cool light of a TV screen thousands of miles away, it's hard to feel that kind of hope. The TV camera distorts and deceives. It zeroes in on the unusual, the worst, and people inevitably find themselves putting on a show when they see the lens turn upon them. But still. The images from New Orleans are overwhelming, and the TV reporters covering it -- reporters who have, presumably, seen disasters before -- are overwhelmed. On CNN earlier today, a reporter told of watching people die in front of him. "Something needs to change," he said, "and it needs to change today." His voice cracked with anger, and the anchor back in the studio picked up on it. Why is it taking so long to get help to people, she asked. Where is the food? Where is the water? When will it come?
We are four days into this, and things are getting worse, not better. That's not how it's supposed to be. Two days after 9/11, the FAA allowed the resumption of commercial air traffic in America. In the aftermath of that attack, of the Loma Prieta earthquake in California and so many other disasters, the death toll went down, not up. Survivors returned to their lives. The TV screens were filled with tales of grief and loss, but also with scenes of neighbors helping strangers, of people coming together. That's not what we're seeing from New Orleans now. On CNN, we see bodies lying in the street. We hear the governor of Louisiana saying that she now believes "thousands" of people have been killed. We see looting. We hear that somebody fired gunshots at a rescue helicopter. We hear that a sniper is taking shots at people trying to evacuate a hospital. We read that FEMA has suspended boat rescue operations because the danger -- not from floodwaters but from people driven by chaos, desperation or their own worst angels -- is too great.

There's violence in New Orleans, some of it opportunistic, some of it borne of frustration with the pace of aid, some of it probably a spilling over of years' worth of bottled-up rage over divisions of race and class. We listened this morning as a woman, who has taken up residence near an underpass, said that she's broke, that tomorrow is payday, but that there's no place to go to pick up her paycheck and no place to spend it if she could. Other refugees -- and they're using that word about Americans now -- are stuck in temporary facilities growing unsafe and unsanitary from filth and human waste. As authorities tried to move people from the Superdome into buses that would take them to Houston's Astrodome today, a group broke free in the hopes of storming into a nearby Hyatt Regency. They were stopped by police in Kevlar armed with 12-gauge shotguns and AR15s. The mayor of New Orleans has just sent out what he's calling a "desperate SOS," saying that the city is out of resources to help 15,000 to 20,000 people gathered in the city's convention center and doesn't have a way to take them anywhere else.

"Losing Control," says the headline at the ABC News site. The New York Times warns of an increasingly "desperate and chaotic city." The New Orleans Times-Picayune says: "Unrest Intensifies." The Washington Post leads with a photo of white cops in riot gear rolling through a sea of black faces on some kind of armored transport. It looks like something out of the Third World. It's a city in the United States of America, and it feels like it's coming apart at the seams.
Does the president understand what's happening? Can he do anything about it? Cops from other states are now flooding into Louisiana, where they'll be deputized to help local law enforcement. More National Guard units are on the way. In time, they'll restore order. In time, New Orleans will rebuild. But the people in New Orleans need help now. They need food and water and sanitary facilities. They need hope that their ordeal will end soon, that they'll have something worth having when they go back home again.

It's probably too big of a job for any president, but the current one is plainly not up to the task. George W. Bush just went before the cameras with President Clinton and the first President Bush to announce that they'll launch a private fundraising drive to help, just like they did for the tsunami that savaged Southeast Asia. Bush made a nod to the need to restore "law and order" in New Orleans, but he spent most of his address talking about his efforts to keep gasoline flowing to the rest of the country. "The good folks must understand that major refineries have been shut down, which means it's going to be hard to get gasoline to some markets," the president said. "Americans should be prudent in their use of energy in the next few days. Don't buy gas if you don't need it."

It's a fine message for the rest of the country, but it doesn't say much to the people of New Orleans. They're watching their city explode around them -- they're watching conditions get worse -- and many of them are feeling, rightly or wrongly, that their government isn't doing much to help them. President Bush speaks, but he doesn't speak to or for people like them. He never has. As Bush ended his talk about gas prices and relief efforts today, Bill Clinton lingered for a moment in front of the cameras as if he wanted to say something or at least hear his successor say something more. The president walked briskly out of the room.
-- T.G.

from new orleans

2005-09-01T11:10:00.000-05:00

I received this email as a forward. I don't know if it's real or not

From: Gregory S. Henderson MD, PhD

Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 20:21:55
-0500

Subject: Re: thoughts and prayers

Thanks to all of you who have sent your notes of concern and your prayers.

I am writing this note on Tuesday at 2PM . I wanted to update all of you as to the situation here. I don't know how much information you are getting but I am certain it is more than we are getting. Be advised that almost everything I am telling you is from direct observation or rumor from reasonable sources. They are allowing limited internet access, so I hope to send this dispatch today.

Personally, my family and I are fine. My family is safe in Jackson, MS, and I am now a temporary resident of the Ritz Carleton Hotel in New Orleans. I figured if it was my time to go, I wanted to go in a place with a good wine list. In addition, this hotel is in a very old building on Canal Street that could and did sustain little damage. Many of the other hotels sustained significant loss of windows, and we expect that many of the guests may be evacuated here.

Things were obviously bad yesterday, but they are much worse today.

Overnight the water arrived. Now Canal Street (true to its origins) is indeed a canal. The first floor of all downtown buildings is underwater. I have heard that Charity Hospital and Tulane are limited in their ability to care for patients because of water.
Ochsner is the only hospital that remains fully functional. However, I spoke with them today and they too are on generator and losing food and water fast. The city now has no clean water, no sewerage system, no electricity, and no real communications.

Bodies are still being recovered floating in the floods. We are worried about a cholera epidemic. Even the police are without
effective communications. We have a group of armed police here with us at the hotel that are admirably trying to exert some local law enforcement. This is tough because looting is now rampant. Most of it is not malicious looting.

These are poor and desperate people with no housing and no medical care and no food or water trying to take care of themselves and their families. Unfortunately, the people are armed and dangerous. We hear gunshots frequently. Most of Canal street is occupied by armed looters who have a low threshold for discharging their weapons. We hear gunshots frequently.

The looters are using makeshift boats made of pieces of styrofoam to access. We are still waiting for a significant national guard presence.

The health care situation here has dramatically worsened overnight. Many people in the hotel are elderly and small children. Many other guests have unusual diseases. They are unfortunately . 'We have better medical letter. There are ID physicians in at this hotel attending an HiV confection. We have commandered the world famous French Quarter Bar to turn into an makeshift clinic. There is a team of about 7 doctors and PA and pharmacists. We anticipate that this will be the major medical facility in the central business district and French Quarter.

Our biggest adventure today was raiding the Walgreens on Canal under police escort. The pharmacy was dark and fool of water. We basically scooped the entire drug sets into gargace bags and removed them. All uner police excort. The looters had to be held back at gun point. After a dose of prophylactic Cipro I hope to be fine.

In all we are faring well. We have set up a hospital in the the French Qarter bar in the hotel, and will start admitting patients
today. Many with be from the hotel, but many with not. We are anticipating to dealing with multiple medical problems, medications and and acute injuries. Infection and perhaps even cholera are anticipate major problems. Food and water shortages are iminent.

The biggest question to all of us is where is the national guard. We hear jet fignters and helicopters, but no real armed presence, and hence the rampant looting. There is no Red Cross and no salvation army.

In a sort of cliché way, this is an edifying experience. Once is rapidly focused away from the transient and material to the bare necessities of life. It has been challenging to me to learn how to be a primary care phyisican. We are under martial law so return to our homes is impossible.

I don't know how long it will be and this is my greatest fear. Despite it all, this is a soul edif experience. The greatest pain is to think about the loss. And how long the rebuid will. And the horror of so many dead people .

PLEASE SEND THIS
DISPATCH TO ALL YOU THING MA Y BE INTERSTED IN A
DISPATCH From the front. I
will send more according to your
interest. Hopefully their collective
prayers will be answered. By
the way suture packs, sterile gloves and
stethoscopes will be needed
as the Ritz turns into a MASH

Greg
Henderson

Katrina

2005-08-31T15:24:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone's friends and family down south are well.

The Media is Dead! Long Live the Media!

2005-08-16T04:22:00.000-05:00

I know y'all get the Daily Show on the actual day it happens, but we get it with a bit of a lag, so you might have heard about this already. In any case, I think it's really interesting how military blogs are the new journalism. Check out this Wired article.

Darwin Award Nominees

2005-08-11T15:42:00.000-05:00

Okay, now I'm not one to sit around wishing criminals were more intelligent, but dude!

You just shot the prison guard that was escorting your sweetie-pie, and you're on the lam. Do you:

A) Get disguises

B) Steal a different car every 3.5 hours

C) Take a 100+ mile cab ride to a hotel and wait for the police to pick you up.

Seriously, did they NEVER watch CSI, even once? Christ.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/08/11/hyatte.details/index.html

The lovely ladies of the right

2005-08-10T16:48:00.000-05:00

OK. Add Jeanine Pirro to Suzanne Vitadamo as conservative women to whom I'm inappropriately attracted. Apparently, and perhaps only in this respect, I'm not alone.

Caution, depending on where you work, the third link might not be appropriate for office viewing.

Audioblogging

2005-08-09T19:58:00.000-05:00

This should make us all feel better about our humble blog.

A festivus for the rest of us

2005-08-09T06:30:00.000-05:00

So, I'm writing this big book report about arts festivals in the UK. And I just came across this classic quote from an organiser of one of the smaller festivals that pretty much sums up how misguided arts funding is (but at least there is arts funding here!).

"You won't get a penny out of anyone with a Bach violin concerto. If we put on a troupe of Sengalese one-legged musicians, then we'd get money from everyone – the disability people, arts people, etc. But that's not what we're about. I'm not sure our audiences want that."

I'm just picturing the Sengalese one-legged in the musician in the pub after the show. I'd buy him a pint!

Vaccines

2005-08-04T12:30:00.000-05:00

Given the millions that have died of disease over the course of human history, one would think that we'd have all agreed that vaccines are a good thing. Not so. Concerned parents who are angry about their child's autism are looking for something to blame, and that something is vaccinations. Today in Slate, Arthur Allen gives the best overview I've seen so far of the issue.

The scary thing, is that vaccines only work if everyone gets vaccinated...a few holdouts screw us all.

There's also folks who believe that children shouldn't be given new vaccines that are effective against HPV infections (that's genital warts to you and me) and cervical cancer. You can read about that in MIT's Tech Review here .

The Carnival of Culture

2005-08-04T04:48:00.000-05:00

The writer Hanif Kureishi wrote an excellent article in The Guardian today about the stultifying education of British Muslim youth. He's such an amazing writer, and the world he describes is rather scary in my opinion. Just as any closed-minded, monocultural, religious dogma is scary to me. What's also scary is the patronising Western response that can only worsen the situation. Read the piece here: The Carnival of Culture

Here's the nutshell: "You can't ask people to give up their religion; that would be absurd. Religions may be illusions, but these are important and profound illusions. And they will modify as they come into contact with other ideas. This is what an effective multiculturalism is: not a superficial exchange of festivals and food, but a robust and committed exchange of ideas - a conflict that is worth enduring, rather than a war.

"When it comes to teaching the young, we have the human duty to inform them that there is more than one book in the world, and more than one voice, and that if they wish to have their voices heard by others, everyone else is entitled to the same thing. These children deserve better than an education that comes from liberal guilt."

Does Everyone in the World Know This Already?

2005-08-02T13:21:00.000-05:00

Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas was in one of the cheesiest shows in the world: Kids Incorporated. She played the annoying blond girl, Stacy.

Seriously, WTF?

Eight Elements of an Exemplary Wedding

2005-08-01T13:13:00.000-05:00

The bride and groom are wonderful people both individually and as a couple. They are perfectly matched.1

The weather is beautiful.

The ceremony is performed by a friend.2

The flowers are wild.

The reception is at an art museum.3

The children are cute and well behaved.

There is no throwing of either a bouquet or a garter.4

The bride looks lovely and elegant whether she is sipping champagne at the reception, or munching fries at a diner.

1In spirit and attire--not to say they both wore gowns, of course, but their outfits complemented each other. Formal wear is known for being terribly polite.

2By having a friend officiate, the bride and groom can be sure their ceremony design will remain intact. My cousin had a priest who decided to throw in 20 minutes of obscure bible trivia halfway through the ceremony. I pray he was drunk.

3A kickin’ art museum. However, guests were discouraged from sloshing wine on the paintings…most inconvenient.

4Not that there’s anything wrong with that…but it's horribly tacky.

Carry on

2005-07-21T17:45:00.000-05:00

Just a wee tribute to the resolve of the British people. It really makes me realize how much Americans are wusses. We're spoiled and have an unreasonable sense of entitlement. Sprit of the Blitz, my friend, gets you through every time and keeps you getting out to the pub in the face of any and all adversity. We're Still Not Afraid

Justice?

2005-07-20T14:55:00.000-05:00

Here's what Kathleen's friend Rana's friend Phil has to say about Bush's nomination for the supreme court. I don't think I could say it like this at all, but I sure wish I could. I mean, who uses 'augurs' and 'wignut' without the least hint of irony? Not too shabby.

Based on my experience, I find him a very conservative, results-oriented judge who happens to be able enough to disguise his basically results-driven approach. By that I mean that he has strong biases and he will work very hard to manufacture a result that accords with those biases, albeit within the bounds of basic reason. That is, he is no Priscilla Owen, who will perform the vilest and most perverted unnatural acts on precedents and legislative enactments in order to get where she wants. Roberts tends not to go too far out on a limb to get to his preferred result.

What this augurs for Roberts as a Supreme is that I think he will be a pretty reliable vote for the Scalia-Thomas-Rehnquist* bloc. Given his solid Repugnican creds -- White House counsel's office under Reagan, "political" deputy Solicitor General in the Bush I Justice Department, etc. - the likelihood of him turning Souter- or even Kennedy-ish is pretty damn slim. But I wouldn't be surprised if he occasionally departed from the wolf pack here and there. I figure him as more interested in the "federalism revolution" -- that is, the devolution toward the Articles of Confederation -- than the hot-button wingnut social issues, but that doesn't necessarily mean he wouldn't vote with the Gang of Three on, say, Roe. But he could surprise.

Meanwhile, here's hoping that the increasingly nutty vitriol that Scalia is spilling in his recent opinions (or, rather, the Wall Street Journal Op-Eds he publishes in the Supreme Court Reports) continue to alienate Kennedy so much that that he inches further leftward.

*Rehnquist is clearly opting for death-at-desk, so I think we can probably count on him being in on at least the first cases in October.

Aside from that, all the hype about his intellectual firepower is pretty well warranted. As a judge, I've found him to be smart, tough, and extremely well prepared. He gets right at the heart of the issues with incisive questions. That is to say, he is more Scalia than Thomas. This, of course, makes him more dangerous than a whacknut like J.R. Brown or Priscilla Prissy-Pants Owen.

While Brown and Owen would -- like Roberts -- be reliable conservative votes on various issues, those two are so crazy and thick that they would probably have little influence beyond their votes: A Brown or an Owens would write whacknut concurring opinions saying all sorts of crazy shit that would be very unlikely to garner other votes or be cogent enough to have influence in other ways (like, say, being picked up with any seriousness in the legal academy).

Politically, this was a shrewd move, not just as the opening fusillade in Operation Knock Rove Off the Headlines. I think that Democrats in the Senate would be well advised not to attempt to launch a major war against the nomination but rather should save their ammunition for other fights (like, say, recapturing the Senate in '06 while hoping that Rehnquist has the best doctors in the world). There is no way that Roberts is not going to be confirmed. To be sure, sometimes you should fight even if you think that confirmation is a sure bet, but he does not have the kind of crazy-ass record that would allow the Dems to score any political points that way. Quite the contrary. My advice to Dem Senators: Question him hard, show as much as you can where he stands, show where he's unwilling to commit, vote against him, and move on. The Rethugnicans who actually have to run for re-election are likely to pay a price for Bush's failure to replace O'Connor with a woman. If they smoke Roberts out on any major issues (which is unlikely in any event), his appointment may cost them moderate votes as well.

In the (let's hope) enduring words of Karl Rove, I've already said too much.

time

2005-07-12T09:46:00.000-05:00

Whenever an undergrad comes into my office and shiftily moves their eyes back and forth, I figure they're either nervous or just lying to me. Now I know they're just trying to speed up time.

Mind Hacks reports on a new report in Nature Neuroscience:

Concetta Morrone, John Ross and David Burr have just reported in Nature Neuroscience that subjective time is compressed around the onset of a saccadic eye movement. Saccades are the rapid, jerky eye movements that we perform thousands of times every day (see Hack #17) to align targets of interest with the high-acuity fovea at the centre of our eyes.

Morrone’s team asked participants to compare the time interval between two horizontal bars that were flashed up around the onset of a saccade, with the interval between a second pair of horizontal bars flashed up after the saccade. Participants said the intervals felt the same when the gap between the first two bars was 100ms and the gap between the second pair was 50ms – that is, subjective time was speeded up by a factor of two near the saccade onset.

Read more here .

two fingered bill

2005-07-11T13:32:00.000-05:00

With London looking like downtown Baghdad, and downtown Baghdad looking like downtown Rocheser, it's good to know that fine web films like the Most Extradorinary Space Investigations are being produced.

While not "good" or "funny" in the traditional sense, Sarah Silverman is in the second episode starring as Jelly Roll Dubois.

plame leak

2005-07-05T08:16:00.000-05:00

Karl Rove is so screwed. Check it:

At issue is the story of a CIA-sponsored trip taken by former ambassador (and White House critic) Joseph Wilson to investigate reports that Iraq was seeking to buy uranium from the African country of Niger. "Some government officials have noted to Time in interviews... that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," said Cooper's July 2003 Time online article.

Now the story may be about to take another turn. The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper's sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House. Cooper and a Time spokeswoman declined to comment. But in an interview with NEWSWEEK, Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove had been interviewed by Cooper for the article. It is unclear, however, what passed between Cooper and Rove.

This make me giggle. Basically, this is treason in time of war. Read more here.

gas guzzler

2005-06-28T08:32:00.000-05:00

I got rid of my VW Golf. I love the car, but it was perpetually in the shop. I was in the market for a wagon, and decided to get something that would last until the next millenium: a honda or toyota. Unfortunately, neither makes a wagon, so I got a Honda CRV, a cute ute. It gets ok mileage: not great, not terrible: 22/27. All my friends say the same thing:

Friend: I can't believe you got an SUV!!

Me: It gets better mileage than most midsize cars and the same as a wagon..22/27..it does better than your subaru!

Friend: i'm really disappointed in you

Me: I can throw my bike in the back...

Friend: Are you voting Republican now?

Me: Yes.

At any rate, To atone for my sins, I'm reporting on the latest eco-vehicle: a hacked prius that you plug in. It gets more than a 100 miles per gallon. This story was reported on mixedpower.com :

By replacing the Prius' batteries with a more powerful array and recharging it using a standard electric outlet at home, engineers have enabled the hybrid to get more than 100 miles per gallon of gasoline.

"We want to get people thinking of [plug-ins] as a real alternative" in the country's long-term energy plan, said Felix Kramer, founder of CalCars.org, an advocacy group in Palo Alto.

The idea of plug-in hybrids is generating a lot of buzz in energy circles because of the work of a start-up Monrovia firm, Energy Control Systems Engineering. The firm bought a Prius and converted it with its own system.

Co-owner Greg Hanssen now tools around Southern California in the bright blue plug-in Prius prototype. The car can deliver 150 to 180 mpg for up to 35 miles of low-speed, around-town driving and can average 70 to 100 mpg on longer trips at higher speeds.

Here's the cool part:

In May, Energy Control Systems entered its Prius in the Tour del Sol fuel economy rally in New York. The car won its class by averaging 102 mpg over the 150-mile course. Hanssen said it cost $1 to charge the batteries the night before the race and about $4 for the gas it consumed.

iPod-casting

2005-06-28T08:29:00.000-05:00

The new version of iTunes is out today and it supports podcasting. This is off the AP wire:

According to Apple's Web site, version 4.9 of iTunes, the companion service to the popular iPod music player, will allow users to "select subscription options and download you favorite podcasts automatically."

Podcasts, or sound files and audio content such as radio shows, have surged in popularity since late in 2004, and will work on any digital MP3 player. The phenomenon allows users to create and upload their own audio programs on the Web which can be downloaded to multimedia players at a later date.

guns save lives

2005-06-20T15:53:00.000-05:00

i'm back. i spent the past few days out in a remote part of the Midwest, a place where i'll be soon moving. About 15 miles outside of town, there are some amateurish handmade signs that are posted every 10 feet or so, so that one can read them in quick succession while one drives. Each set of signs states that guns have helped stop criminals and terrorists and that you can read more at gunssavelives.com .

A bit frightening.

In related news, right now a couple next door is fighting, and man, are they loud. They fight fiercely and often. Pretty much everyday. I've considered calling the cops, but they're in a big apartment building next door and i haven't a clue as to where they live or whether either of their lives are in danger, and as it turns out, i'm one of those people who "doesn't want to get involved". About ten minutes ago, I heard the following:

Girl: what are you talking about?!?!
Guy:
Girl: I don't like Marvin! What are you talking about! I didn't do anything! I'm so sick of this shit!
Guy: (unintelligible)
Girl: I didn't do anything!
Guy: (unintelligible)
Girl: I didn't do anything!
Guy: (unintelligible)
Girl: (crying and moaning...i've always wondered what 'gnashing of teeth' sounded like. now i know)
Blaaammm!!

Holy shit! - I thought. Did he just shoot her? I suddenly felt guilty for wishing both of them dead. I got up and checked out the window to see if i could figure out which window it came from. I pondered calling the cops, and was feeling annoyed for being put in this position. Was it really a gunshot? The noise drove my dog to hide in the closet so it wasn't my imagination. There were no more sounds of a fight. I felt compelled to call the police, not out of concern for either of them (who i've grown to hate), but mainly out of embarrasement. If the cops show up later tonight, and wheel a corpse out of the building, and ask if anyone heard/saw anything ), and I say 'yeah, i heard them fighting,' and they say, 'Christ, why didn't you call the police,' and I say 'I don't know', and then they shake their heads as they write in their notebook, and think to themselves what a socially irreponsible jerk, and I'd think, man, they're right, i am a jerk....then I'd feel pretty terrible about it.

..and as I was thinking about this I hear muffled crying. Ahh good...no one's dead (well, he might be..i still feel off the hook). I'm guessing a car backfired....or maybe one of them fired a warning shot. At any rate, I'm thinking guns probably don't save many lives.

Embryos

2005-06-14T14:18:00.000-05:00

Man, this is disturbing, check it out:

"Imagine lying on a table at a fertility clinic. Across the room are three Petri dishes containing embryos made from your eggs. Given your genetic history, at least one of the embryos probably has a fatal blood disease. You don't want to implant the sick embryo or embryos, but the law says you have to. On a judge's orders, every one of those embryos will be inserted through a catheter into your womb, whether you like it or not.

Is this Rosemary's Baby? The Handmaid's Tale? Nope. It happened last year to an Italian woman under that country's IVF law. Today, Italians held a referendum on whether to change the law. Thanks in part to vigorous opposition from the Catholic Church, the referendum failed."

Read more here in Slate.

MJ behind bars

2005-06-09T08:42:00.000-05:00

I was looking at the AP wire today and saw an article entitled: 'Prison would prove tough if Jackson convicted'. You can read the article here .

It made me think about my own mortal fear of prison. For a while, I went through a phase where I wondered how I would survive if I got sent to the big house. How would I keep from being beaten? Could I use the bathroom in front of a convicted murdered? Can clenching prevent rape? Part of this was brought on by hearing an episode of NPR's This American Life that focused on life behind bars. This particular episode was particularly dramatic because it featured a pamphlet written by Stepehen Donaldson, an anti-prison rape advocate who eventually died of aids. The pamphlet, which you can read here describes how to survive in prison as someone's bitch. Here's a taste:

"The punk has to give up his independence and his control over his own body to his "man" as the price for this protection. He has to put out sexually in a passive role, giving up head or ass or both. This deal is never totally voluntary for the punk: it is often coercive, the alternatives are frightful, and it is motivated above all by the need to survive in a place where the punk has been marked as a perpetual target for gang-rape and other forms of abuse. But it is still very different from a series of violent gang- rapes, and, in the age of AIDS, far safer. We call these relationships "survival-driven" from the punk's perspective.

A punk often is able to choose his protector from among various candidates, especially if he is willing to put up a fight (even knowing he'll lose) or is not in a particularly rough joint, and he may be able to establish a relationship of mutual concern, which is a far cry from the pure exploitation of the sexual assaulter. It must be understood, however, that the "pitcher" makes the rules and the "catcher" follows them. In a particularly tough joint, a punk may be no more than a slave, but usually the relationship allows you some leverage or room to maneuver and have your wishes considered, as long as you respect the basic rules of the relationship.

While a jocker will never tolerate open rebellion, he usually seeks to get along with his punk and avoid an atmosphere of constant tension. He would rather relax around his punk, and over time he can and often does develop genuine affection for him and allow a considerable degree of give-and-take in the non-sexual aspects of the partnership. But the sexual part is pretty fixed and you can't really hope to get out of it.

It may be very hard for you to deal with belonging to somebody else and having to substitute for a girl and satisfy a guy sexually, but at least you only have to do it with one guy or a small number, rather than anybody who can catch you. Your risk of infection with the AIDS virus is greatly reduced, often to zero (see SPR's AIDS and the Rape Survivor). You don't have to fight at all and can avoid physical injury, and it is some comfort knowing that a dead punk is of no value to anybody. Often hooking up will improve your financial situation as well, since a jocker is expected to see that his punk gets the canteen necessities of life."

What's disturbing is that this pamphlet is meant to advise you on how to be someone's punk. It presupposes that you've weighed all the options (e.g repeated gang rapes, paying for protection, solitary, etc..), and you've come to the decision that this is the best solution: having sex in exchange for safety. Needless to say, this disturbed me in a very deep way. Watching Shawshank repeatedly didn't help either.

So is MJ going to have a difficult time behind prison? If he's in general population (which is doubtful), yeah, he probably will have a difficult time.

Global Warming

2005-06-08T09:21:00.000-05:00

The Times reports that a stooge from the energy industry that the administration put on an environmental council basically did the copyediting on government climate reports:

"Mr. Cooney is chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the office that helps devise and promote administration policies on environmental issues.

Before going to the White House in 2001, he was the "climate team leader" and a lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade group representing the interests of the oil industry. A lawyer with a bachelor's degree in economics, he has no scientific training."

Read more here .

Here's the National Academies statement on global warming.

The dude will have to abide

2005-06-06T13:06:00.000-05:00

The Supreme Court told the 85 yr old grandmothers suffering from glaucoma to go F themselves: no medicinal marijuana for you. Who would have thought that a conversvative court would argue against state rights. Seriously, WTF? Is someone growing weed in their basement for their own personal use really fall under the jurisdiction of interstate commerce? Someone out there needs to explain this one to me.

Even Forbes has an article about legalization:
"Milton Friedman leads a list of more than 500 economists from around the U.S. who today will publicly endorse a Harvard University economist's report on the costs of marijuana prohibition and the potential revenue gains from the U.S. government instead legalizing it and taxing its sale. Ending prohibition enforcement would save $7.7 billion in combined state and federal spending, the report says, while taxation would yield up to $6.2 billion a year."

Read more here .

Get your impeachment on

2005-05-31T12:28:00.000-05:00

Ralph Nader and Kevin Zeese argue that Bush should be impeached in the Boston Globe today:

"THE IMPEACHMENT of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, should be part of mainstream political discourse.

Minutes from a summer 2002 meeting involving British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveal that the Bush administration was ''fixing" the intelligence to justify invading Iraq. US intelligence used to justify the war demonstrates repeatedly the truth of the meeting minutes -- evidence was thin and needed fixing.

President Clinton was impeached for perjury about his sexual relationships. Comparing Clinton's misbehavior to a destructive and costly war occupation launched in March 2003 under false pretenses in violation of domestic and international law certainly merits introduction of an impeachment resolution"

Read more here

TV in the future

2005-05-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

Conan O'brain writes about the future of television in Newsweek:

TiVo, the digital recorder with a brain, will continue to evolve with alarming speed. Super-TiVos will arrange marriages between like-minded viewers and will persuade mismatched couples to throw in the towel and start seeing other people. Tough-talking TiVos will even confront viewers, saying, "You've watched 40 straight hours of 'Sponge- Bob'—get off the weed!"

Read more here

The Bubble

2005-05-25T07:32:00.000-05:00

I just purchased a house last week, putting me among the landed gentry. I was a little concerned about buying during the height of the housing bubble...but since I bought in Champaign, IL, which is basically in the middle of a cornfield, I feel ok about it.

For you folks living on the east and west coasts, you're totally screwed. Read about it here on a blog devoted to the upcoming real estate apocalypse. Good times.

Store Wars

2005-05-23T19:46:00.000-05:00

from a parallel universe, far far away...

Aw, You Got Your Sith in my Jedi!

2005-05-20T11:55:00.000-05:00

Okay, after seeing Revenge of the Sith twice yesterday (once at the midnight show, and then again at 5 p.m.) I'm a bit star wars-ed out, but I wanted to just go on record with a few things. It is a) better than the previous two films, b) would have been better still with a different director, and c) does contain laughable "romantic" dialogue.

All that aside, the effects were good, the wookies were used sparingly, and four-armed dudes with lightsabers ROCK. Ian McDiarmid and Ewan McGregor were the only ones who bothered to act, but they did a pretty kick-ass job. Oh, and Yoda was much less cartoony than in Clones.

And I'm pretty sure I know which sequence Speilberg directed... I'll have to look that up.

And then go watch the original trilogy about six more times.

Stay Classy, San Diego

2005-05-15T08:20:00.000-05:00

The Times is doing a special series on class in America. It's great because i can act all sanctimonious and liberal about how this county is totally divided along class lines, but then I can scramble to use their interactive graphic to see where I fit in. Don't worry folks, I'm safely in the elite.

Read more here .

A cromulent post embiggens the soul

2005-05-13T21:58:00.000-05:00

Duane invited me to post to the immoral minority about 8 mos past. Unfortunately, it got mixed up with some other messages in my inbox and I've spent all this time distracted with the immoralsorority.com. Anywho, my first post is a link to another blog. I don't know how many other folks will be excited by this linguistic analysis of Simpson's humor. But my life is richer knowing that the following is funny because it's an island violation.

Moe: You know what I blame this on the breakdown of? Society.

Apparently, Marge's trademark sound might be an example of pharyngeal constriction, but the jury is still out.

I really gotta get back to writing this grant.

Mental Steriods

2005-05-10T09:50:00.000-05:00

I've spent this morning procrastinating. I was invited to write a book chapter on experimental methods, which is quite possibly the most boring thing I've ever had to write. Sadly, it was due a month and a half ago, and I check my inbox every morning, terrified that the Editors (who are somewhere in Europe) have sent yet another polite where-the-fuck-is-your-chapter email.

Thus, the morning has been spent staring out the window, reading the Times, watching kids outside my dining room window doing bike stunts (i don't think schools quite out yet), and checking the IM for posts. I wish I had some Adderall. Joshua Foer (yes, there's a relation) describes his experimentation with it in Slate:

"As an experiment, I decided to take Adderall for a week. The results were miraculous. On a recent Tuesday, after whipping my brother in two out of three games of pingpong—a triumph that has occurred exactly once before in the history of our rivalry—I proceeded to best my previous high score by almost 10 percent in the online anagrams game that has been my recent procrastination tool of choice. Then I sat down and read 175 pages of Stephen Jay Gould's impenetrably dense book The Structure of Evolutionary Theory. It was like I'd been bitten by a radioactive spider.

The first hour or so of being on Adderall is mildly euphoric. The feeling wears off quickly, giving way to a calming sensation, like a nicotine buzz, that lasts for several hours. When I tried writing on the drug, it was like I had a choir of angels sitting on my shoulders. I became almost mechanical in my ability to pump out sentences. The part of my brain that makes me curious about whether I have new e-mails in my inbox apparently shut down. Normally, I can only stare at my computer screen for about 20 minutes at a time. On Adderall, I was able to work in hourlong chunks. I didn't feel like I was becoming smarter or even like I was thinking more clearly. I just felt more directed, less distracted by rogue thoughts, less day-dreamy. I felt like I was clearing away underbrush that had been obscuring my true capabilities."

Read more here .

jon stewart, cheesesteaks, and freakonomics

2005-05-08T12:33:00.000-05:00

i was in new york last week, where i got to see a live taping of the daily show. every college town probably has a really good, really cheap restaurant that becomes a student-favorite, and for me and duane and our friends that place was Hoagie Haven. as it turns out, jon stewart is a proud native of lawrenceville, NJ, which is down the road from princeton and hoagie haven. knowing this, i went to the show sporting my bright orange haven t-shirt. before the show, jon came out to take questions and chat with the audience. after he made one joke that people mostly snickered and grumbled at, the following exchange ensued:

JON: settle down! you might not know it from looking at me, but i'm tough. i'll fight anyone in here! except for the guy in the hoagie haven shirt.
ME: thanks jon, i appreciate it.
JON: for those of you who aren't familiar with hoagie haven, it's incredible. they have, like, the best sandwiches in the world, at ridiculously cheap prices. i just don't get it. it's not a viable economic model they're running. i swear it's a front for a russian heroin outfit.
ME: can i ask you what your favorite sandwich at the haven is?
JON: sure, i don't mind sharing that information with you at all. i like the whole cheesesteak, with lettuce/tomato/mayo. jersey style, not philly style. what about you?
ME: i've got to go with the chicken parm. just spices.
JON: ahhh, the chicken parm. let me tell you: these guys at the haven will go to frank purdue's backyard and pick out anything you want, fry it, put it on bread with a stack of cheese.... two dollars and fifteen cents.

it was pretty satisfying. and duane assures me that this story would be interesting to more than just him :)

incidentally, steven levitt, an economist from u. chicago, was talking about his new book "freakonomics," in which he describes (among other things) some research he's done that links the dramatic drop in crime rates in the early 90s to the Roe v. Wade decision. the general logic is that people getting abortions were those most likely to have had unwanted children, who are in turn the kids who would have been most likely to commit the very types of crimes that dropped off severely right about the time they would have reached the prime criminal age... he's gotten a lot of shit for this, as you can imagine, but actually remains pretty neutral about the morality of the issue and his claims. he's just a brilliant and creative economist with access to great datasets and precise models that rule out many of the other obvious factors that might contribute to such effects. he also has a terrific analysis of why most drug dealers still live with their mothers. it's worth checking out it you're interested in how econ can shed light on some of the more interesting mysteries of everyday life.

Brave New World

2005-05-07T03:36:00.000-05:00

Just some scary saturday morning fun from the FDA.... Since we all know only gay people get HIV.... uh-huh.

(from Washington Post)

FDA to Implement Gay Sperm Donor Rules

By DAVID CRARY

NEW YORK -- To the dismay of gay-rights activists, the Food and Drug
Administration is about to implement new rules recommending that any
man who has engaged in homosexual sex in the previous five years be
barred from serving as an anonymous sperm donor.

The FDA has rejected calls to scrap the provision, insisting that gay
men collectively pose a higher-than-average risk of carrying the AIDS
virus. Critics accuse the FDA of stigmatizing all gay men rather than
adopting a screening process that focuses on high-risk sexual behavior by
any would-be donor, gay or straight.

"Under these rules, a heterosexual man who had unprotected sex with
HIV-positive prostitutes would be OK as a donor one year later, but a gay
man in a monogamous, safe-sex relationship is not OK unless he's been
celibate for five years," said Leland Traiman, director of a clinic in
Alameda, Calif., that seeks gay sperm donors.

Traiman said adequate safety assurances can be provided by testing a
sperm donor at the time of the initial donation, then freezing the sperm
for a six-month quarantine and testing the donor again to be sure there
is no new sign of HIV or other infectious diseases.

Although there is disagreement over whether the FDA guideline
regarding gay men will have the force of law, most doctors and clinics are
expected to observe it.

The practical effect of the provision _ part of a broader set of cell
and tissue donation regulations that take effect May 25 _ is hard to
gauge. It is likely to affect some lesbian couples who want a child and
prefer to use a gay man's sperm for artificial insemination.

But it is the provision's symbolic aspect that particularly troubles
gay-rights groups. Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal,
has called it "policy based on bigotry."

"The part I find most offensive _ and a little frightening _ is that
it isn't based on good science," Cathcart said. "There's a steadily
increasing trend of heterosexual transmission of HIV, and yet the FDA still
has this notion that you protect people by putting gay men out of the
pool."

In a letter to the FDA, Lambda Legal has suggested a screening
procedure based on sexual behavior, not sexual orientation. Prospective donors
_ gay or straight _ would be rejected if they had engaged in
unprotected sex in the previous 12 months with an HIV-positive person, an illegal
drug user, or "an individual of unknown HIV status outside of a
monogamous relationship."

But an FDA spokeswoman cited FDA documents suggesting that officials
felt the broader exclusion was prudent even if it affected gay men who
practice safe sex.

"The FDA is very much aware that strict exclusion policies eliminate
some safe donors," said one document.

Many doctors and fertility clinics already have been rejecting gay
sperm donors, citing the pending FDA rules or existing regulations of the
American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

"With an anonymous sperm donor, you can't be too careful," said a
society spokeswoman, Eleanor Nicoll. "Our concern is for the health of the
recipient, not to let more and more people be sperm donors."

However, some sperm banks, notably in California, have welcomed gay
donors. The director of one of them, Alice Ruby of the Oakland-based
Sperm Bank of California, said her staff had developed procedures for
identifying gay men with an acceptably low risk of HIV.

Gay men are a major donor source at Traiman's Rainbow Flag sperm bank,
and he said that practice would continue despite the new rules.

"We're going to continue to follow judicious, careful testing
procedures for our clients that even experts within the FDA say is safe," said
Traiman, referring to the six-month quarantine.

The FDA rules do not prohibit gay men from serving as "directed" sperm
donors. If a woman wishing to become pregnant knows a gay man and asks
that he provide sperm for artificial insemination, a clinic could
provide that service even if the man had engaged in sex with other men
within five years.

However, Traiman said some lesbian couples do not have a gay friend
they know and trust well enough to be the biological father of their
child, and would thus prefer an anonymous donor.

Dr. Deborah Cohan, an obstetrics and gynecology instructor at the
University of California, San Francisco, said some lesbians prefer to
receive sperm from a gay donor because they feel such a man would be more
receptive to the concept of a family headed by a same-sex couple.

"This rule will make things legally more difficult for them," she
said. "I can't think of a scientifically valid reason _ it has to be an
issue of discrimination."

A Short Biography of Richard Dawson

2005-05-06T09:46:00.000-05:00

When I read Duane's entry, I misread Dawkins as "Dawson" and realized we don't have enough Richard Dawson-related content on this site.

Richard Dawson was born in Gosport, England on the 20th of November, 1932. When he was 14, he joined the Merchant Marines and served for three years. During that time he made money boxing. He had to lie about his age, and remain tough so the older guys wouldn't hassle him.

When he moved to the states, he began acting on the well-known series "Hogan's Heroes" in 1965. He played the loveable British Corporal Peter Newkirk. The show ended in 1971. Not long after that, in 1973, he became a panelist on "Match Game" and remained there until 1978. While still on "Match Game," he hosted his own show, which he is most remembered by, called "Family Feud." His trademark 'kissing all the female contestants' was one of the things that made the show a warm and friendly program, along with his quick wit, subtle jokes, and ability to make people feel at ease with being on camera. [Yeah, getting tongued by a creepy stranger always puts me at ease--shan]

In 1987, Richard co-starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie "The Running Man." Richard played an egotistical gameshow host, Damon Killian, whom many say was a mirror image of himself at one time or another, during his real-life career. [In other words, he's a dick--shan]

When Richard was 62, he hosted the third incarnation of "Family Feud" in 1994, but had only a short run.

You can read about Dick's fictional exploits here.

Dawkins Interview

2005-05-02T13:12:00.000-05:00

Salon interviews Richard Dawkins on his views of religion and evolution.

"Bush and bin Laden are really on the same side: the side of faith and violence against the side of reason and discussion. Both have implacable faith that they are right and the other is evil. Each believes that when he dies he is going to heaven. Each believes that if he could kill the other, his path to paradise in the next world would be even swifter. The delusional "next world" is welcome to both of them. This world would be a much better place without either of them."

Read more here .

apparently, it's not a matter of choice

2005-04-29T22:24:00.000-05:00

A British friend told me this story, and i could hardly believe it until i came across the article on the BBC:

"A pregnant 13-year-old girl in Florida has been told she cannot have an abortion because she lacks the maturity to make such a decision. A state court granted an injunction which prevents the girl from terminating her pregnancy. The American Civil Liberties Union says it will launch an urgent appeal against the ruling."

Read more here

darth vader

2005-04-28T15:00:00.000-05:00

If you're feeling really geeky, check out Darth Vader's blog .

W.E.B. DuBoisenberry

2005-04-26T10:57:00.000-05:00

Last year, slate's Timothy Noah reported on Dariy Queen's new drink, the Mulatte, which sounded (and looked) not unlike a name referring to bi-racial people. The story is here .

Now there's a new ice cream in town from a Swedish company called Nogger with a questionable logo that seems to have an urban flair:

Say it ain't so. Read more here .

When I visited Sweden last year, about half the teens in Lund were dressed like black kids from Brooklyn. The VJs on their version of MTV looked latina and black...no blondes at all. I'm guessing some Swedish marketing exec (with the obligatory Swedish Chef accent) said: "Da kids love the black US urban style. I got the best idea fer a campaign! You see...the kids use this word a lot..."

zap public televisions

2005-04-25T21:44:00.000-05:00

Check out a wonderfully subversive gadget here . It's a universal control that turns off any tv that you happen to be near...which means that the next time you find yourself in an airport terminal with the never-ending loop of commericals and the occasional cnn headline blaring on a tv set, you can do something about it.

John Brown

2005-04-25T21:11:00.000-05:00

I just read Adam Gopnik's review of a new biography of John Brown by David Reynolds ("John Brown, Abolitionist") in The New Yorker .

Here is a man who, as Gopnik points out, comes down on the right side of all the civil rights issues over a hundred years before movement's in the 1960s. He was a feminist, anti-slavery, and believed in equality for all people.

"...He was also, as even an admiring historian cannot deny, a man of violence and, by almost any definition, what we would now call a terrorist - a man who believed that the government of the United States should be met with violence because it supported and perpetuated opression. He believed that there were no distinctions to be made between innocent and guilty in a society determinted to perpetuation an evil...He led his sons out into the fields of Kansas at night to massacre unarmed men while their families listened, and insisted afterward that he had been right to do it: that where legislation and compromise had failed only violence would succeed."

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, and the distinction isn't black and white.

whites only

2005-04-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

The Times reports on the continuing existence of racial convenants between homeowners, which restrict who they can sell their house to. These covenants are illegal but still exist:

"RICHMOND, Va. — Nealie Pitts was shopping for a house for her son three years ago when she spotted a for-sale sign in front of a modest brick bungalow here. When she stopped to ask the owner about it, at first she thought she misheard his answer.

"This house is going to be sold to whites only," said the owner, Rufus Matthews, according to court papers filed by Ms. Pitts, who is African-American. "It's not for colored."

Read more here .

Hummer

2005-04-21T15:10:00.000-05:00

If you want to be able to power your way over traffic AND save gas, your day has come. Wired reports on a new hybrid hummer being built for the army:

"The vehicle is powered by a small, three-cylinder diesel engine and two hybrid motors. It would cost about $20,000 to manufacture and could replace a $65,000 Humvee, Almand said. The vehicles are expected to get about 50 miles per gallon, compared to the Humvee's current 11 mpg."

kitty cannon

2005-04-20T10:59:00.000-05:00

If you like kittens, then stop reading this post. You have my sincerest apologies.

If you don't like kittens then play this highly addictive (and slightly sick) game. Happy procrastination!

Ain't no way to put it subtle...

2005-04-15T09:07:00.000-05:00

This was reported in the NY Post , so it must be true. A student at Vanderbilt asked Justice Scalia during a Q&A session if he thought the government had any business legislating consensual sodomy. After the answer, the student asked Scalia whether he sodomized his wife.

Scalia, whose wife was in the audience, pleaded the fifth. That's totally a "Yes".

mad scientists

2005-04-15T09:00:00.000-05:00

The Times reports on something we already knew. Women scientists face more hurdles than men in academia:

"Mel Hochster, a mathematics professor at Michigan, belongs to a committee of senior science professors that gives workshops for heads of departments and search committees highlighting the findings of numerous studies on sex bias in hiring. For example, men are given longer letters of recommendation than women, and their letters are more focused on relevant credentials. Men and women are more likely to vote to hire a male job applicant than a woman with an identical record. Women applying for a postdoctoral fellowship had to be 2.5 times as productive to receive the same competence score as the average male applicant."

no pill for you!

2005-04-14T14:49:00.000-05:00

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Check out the newest debate over "pharmacists rights" . A number of states are trying to pass laws that allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense drugs that violate their moral and religious beliefs. This means that they can refuse to provide birth control, the morning after pill, caffeine products (if they're mormon)...you name it.

I can't help but think that this not going to screw people like me who live in big blue liberal cities with thousands of pharmacies.

the orginal implants

2005-04-12T12:22:00.000-05:00

Today's Slate has a slideshow of the history of breast augmentation. Apparently, wanting a larger chest isn't a new phenomenon. Who knew?

Hot!

bush's ipod

2005-04-12T12:19:00.000-05:00

I always find it amusing how Europeans look down on Americans for our trashy media/culture, but find the time to give us hard hitting news items like what Bush listens to on his ipod . Nice one BBC.

Lashonda Washington

2005-04-11T08:42:00.000-05:00

Slate has an interesting article today on the differences between white and black names, and the degree to which it factors into a person's success. You can read the article here . Perhaps the most interesting thing is the list of names that come with the article. Here's a list of the top 20 names for white and black girls:

The 20 Whitest Girl Names

1. Molly
2. Amy
3. Claire
4. Emily
5. Katie
6. Madeline
7. Katelyn
8. Emma
9. Abigail
10. Carly
11. Jenna
12. Heather
13. Katherine
14. Caitlin
15. Kaitlin
16. Holly
17. Allison
18. Kaitlyn
19. Hannah
20. Kathryn

The 20 Blackest Girl Names

1. Imani
2. Ebony
3. Shanice
4. Aaliyah
5. Precious
6. Nia
7. Deja
8. Diamond
9. Asia
10. Aliyah
11. Jada
12. Tierra
13. Tiara
14. Kiara
15. Jazmine
16. Jasmin
17. Jazmin
18. Jasmine
19. Alexus
20. Raven

mitch hedburg

2005-04-05T15:17:00.000-05:00

The comedian Mitch Hedburg died last week of heart failure. Usually, the media focuses on stuff i could care less about (e.g. the pope's death), but the Onion does it up right by reprinting a recent interview with him.

Here are some of his classic one-liners:

"This shirt is dry clean only. Which means... It's dirty."

"I bought a doughnut and they gave me a receipt for the doughtnut... I don't need a receipt for the doughnut. I give you money and you give me the doughnut, end of transaction. We don't need to bring ink and paper into this. I can't imagine a scenario that I would have to prove that I bought a doughnut. To some skeptical friend, Don't even act like I didn't buy a doughnut, I've got the documentation right here... It's in my file at home. ...Under "D". "

"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it. "

"I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too."

"The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall."

"My friend asked me if I wanted a frozen banana, I said "No, but I want a regular banana later, so, Yeah."

"I don't have a girlfriend. But I do know a woman who'd be mad at me for saying that."

secrets

2005-04-04T16:40:00.000-05:00

Eugene told me about a pretty interesting blog/project .

An artist had anonymous people send in a secret that they've never told anyone before. They're pretty addictive.

The Immoral Minority

2005-04-02T11:16:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure how much coverage this is getting in the States, but there's an interesting article on Iraq war veterans from The Guardian that shows how they are basically used and then spat out with nothing after the military is done with them. And just for extra kicks, it has some Brit astonishment at naivete of believing American Dream propaganda. Good weekend fun.

Media Frenzy

2005-03-25T07:22:00.000-05:00

Boy, am I glad the Daily Show is available online because I miss that show! I'm sure it would be popular over here, but they give us 'Joey' and endless 'Frasier' re-runs instead. There is no justice! Speaking of which, here's a great clip about the Sciavo case from the show, if you haven't seen it already.
Daily Show clip

P.S. I'm curious about the American 'Office' as well. I share Duane's skepticism. America does slick crime drama well, hence the 80000 CSI spin-offs. But dry humor sit-coms? The jury's still out.

the office

2005-03-24T18:25:00.000-05:00

by the way, i'm curious what you guys think about the Americanized version of The Office airing on nbc tonight. Slate pans it , but the Times loves it I have yet to see an americanized version of anything that's better than an original. Here are some examples:

Vanilla Sky (Abrir Los Ojos)
Insomnia (the fuckers changed the ending in the American version)
Coupling
Shall We Dance
etc..

am i hot or not?

2005-03-24T18:19:00.000-05:00

..so as it turns out. Schiavo's sister is pretty hot . Check out the Times photo:

Much hotter than her sister, although granted, she's not brain dead. I'm pretty much on the fence about not caring about this issue. On the one hand, she's brain dead, so she won't know she's dying when they pull the plug. On the other hand, she's brain dead, so she won't know that she's alive if they don't. Good times.

Dignity in America

2005-03-23T15:34:00.000-05:00

So what's with this whole Terry Schiavo hub-bub? Can't a woman die in peace?

So, let me get this straight, as far as right-wing policy on death is concerned, you can't die if you are in a coma/brain damaged or a collection of cells/fetus, but you can die if you are an Arab or a minority on death row? Consistency would be nice. Re-visiting the social contract would be better.

Hmmm....

Sleep well, Terry. My old friend Plato once told me, "The soul takes flight to the world that is invisible and there arriving she is sure of bliss and forever dwells in paradise."

tumbleweeds

2005-03-21T19:25:00.000-05:00

The Tommorrow People

2005-03-03T11:14:00.000-05:00

Does anyone remember that show that used to come on Nickelodeon when we were kids called The Tommorrow People. It was a very surreal show, but I found it mesmerizing as a child, and in my morning of procrastination, I'm trying to remember what it was about. Web searches have yielded little to nothing.

D

Larry Summers

2005-02-18T15:23:00.000-05:00

I took a look at the Laurence Summers transcript because of all the hooplah and the calls for his resignation. Essentially he throws out some reasons as to why women are not as well represented in math and science as men. The sad fact is that he says some pretty ridiculous things about innate differences between men and women (especially the standard deviation stuff), but what I find particularly frightening is the fact that we in the academy are completely incapable of having a conversation about issues of racial and gender diversity without someone being called a nazi.

The assumptions out there is that all behavior is based on socialization. This may or may not be true, but anyone coming down on the "wrong" side of this issue is labelled a fascist. The sad truth is that there are racial and gender disparities throughtout the academy, and we have no idea why. Part of it is probably discrimination, but in my experience, the faculty at universities are some of the most liberal people you'll find on the planet (which is probably why i'm an academic)....so what gives? If it's inadequate support for child-bearing, bias by white male senior faculty, etc...we'll never know because the questions can't be raised.

At any rate, my fellow immoral minorities, i'd like you to read his remarks and hear your comments.

Go Go Gadget

2005-02-18T14:43:00.000-05:00

For some reason my web surfing increases friday afternoons. Mobile PC Magazine has the Top 100 Gadgets of all times right here .

The Atari 2600 may not be number 1 in the list, but it is in my book.

Iron Hymen

2005-02-15T21:01:00.000-05:00

Whenever the liberal media gets me down, I check out whitehouse.org, a reliable source for cutting out the flowery language and delivering the unvarnished right-wing agenda.

For Valentines Day the good people at the whitehouse rolled out a couple sites for the kids: iron hymen and sex is for fags, complete with cool merchandise. I know what you all are getting for your birthdays.

Arthur Miller

2005-02-13T11:11:00.000-05:00

David Mamet wrote an obituary for Arthur Miller in the Times today:

DUSTIN HOFFMAN was playing Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman." I met Arthur Miller backstage after a performance. "Arthur," I said, "it's the oddest thing, but in the scene between Biff and Willy, it was as if I was listening to a play about my own relationship with my father."

I went on a bit, and looked over to see a small, distracted smile on his face. Of course, I thought. He's not only heard this comment thousands of times, he has probably heard it from every man who ever saw the play.

It is the great American Domestic Tragedy.

And "The Crucible" is the American Political Tragedy.

He wrote it to protest the horror of the McCarthy era. The plays are tragedies as each reasoned step brings the protagonists closer to their inevitable doom. We pity them as they are powerless to escape their fate. We feel fear because we recognize, in them, our own dilemmas. This is the purpose of drama, and particularly of tragedy: to allow us to participate in the repressed.

We are freed, at the end of these two dramas, not because the playwright has arrived at a solution, but because he has reconciled us to the notion that there is no solution - that it is the human lot to try and fail, and that no one is immune from self-deception. We have, through following the course of the drama, laid aside, for two hours, the delusion that we are powerful and wise, and we leave the theater better for the rest.

Bad drama reinforces our prejudices. It informs us of what we knew when we came into the theater - the infirm have rights, homosexuals are people, too, it's difficult to die. It appeals to our sense of self-worth, and, as such, is but old-fashioned melodrama come again in modern clothes (the villain here not black-mustachioed, but opposed to women, gays, racial harmony, etc.).

The good drama survives because it appeals not to the fashion of the moment, but to the problems both universal and eternal, as they are insoluble.

To find beauty in the sad, hope in the midst of loss, and dignity in failure is great poetic art.

Arthur Miller's wonder at his country and his time will redound to America's credit when the supposed accomplishments of the enthusiastic are long forgotten. His work and the example of a life lived with quiet dignity are each an inspiration. I spoke at his 80th birthday celebration, my speech a prayer from Kipling that I will, again, offer here:

One service more we dare to ask -
Pray for us, heroes, pray,
That when Fate lays on us our task
We do not shame the day.

Hitch

2005-02-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

A.O. Scott writes yet another amazing review of the new Will Smith movie....and when I say "amazing", i'm referring to the quality of the writing, not the quality of the film. Read it here in the Times.

Even Scott'srating of the film is great:

"Hitch" is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It treats sex with more gallantry than prurience, and the word most frequently heard on the real streets of Manhattan is uttered exactly once, and with a smile."

Anti-Thong Bill

2005-02-09T10:02:00.000-05:00

Having solved the problems of poverty, crime, and civil rights, the Virginia state legislature has passed a law that fines folks $50 for saggy pants that expose underwear in public. The BBC is there .

I guess police now have more power to randomly stop certain segments of the population. Guess who? Hint: It ain't white folks.

Democracy by force

2005-02-04T06:10:00.000-05:00

Murray found these awesome links showing how 'happy' the U.S. was in the 1960s when Vietnam had its first elections. Spreading democracy from the other side of an AK-47. 1967 Propaganda and Vietnam Ballot. So, about that importance of studying history thing....

On a lighter note, they do air the Superbowl over here. I knew you were wondering. No, I'm not going to watch it. Too many back episodes of The O.C. and Desperate Housewives to get through :-)

SOTU

2005-02-02T22:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I got home late and missed the big speech. Any update on the war on steroids? And how about that big mars mission? And the hunt for old whats'isname--obama?

UPDATE: I was finally able to see the speech here. Pretty powerful stuff.

How prejudice are you?

2005-02-01T18:04:00.000-05:00

This site is sort of interesting. I heard about it from on my favoriate blogs 3 Quarks Daily . It's an on-line test of your unconscious bias for or against groups of people. It's basically a categorization task...you have to judge whether a picture belongs to a person of a certain group while at the same time judging whether a word is positive or negative.

Having done it, there are all sorts of experimental problems with the on-line study, but i'm guessing the on-line version is just a demo. That said, it's pretty cool. You can see how much you hate women, blacks, gays, the elderly, etc...I haven't done all the tests, but apparently i have a slight bias against older people. Who knew.

Freedom's just another word for shut up

2005-02-01T10:55:00.000-05:00

Here's another rant from your favorite ho and mine Postmodern Courtesan about how high school students in America don't believe in freedom of the press and think the government should be able to censor the news. Who asked them anyway? Shouldn't they be out drinking, smoking, humping and buying over-priced gliterry things?

It's like a bad acid trip where pink floyd lyrics come true. All together now, 'we don't need no edu-cay-shun...'

Bush to Blacks: You're going to drop dead

2005-01-28T15:35:00.000-05:00

Ok, this article is seriously disturbing. During a private meeting with 22 black religious and business leaders, the prez said that blacks are short-changed by social security because they die earlier than whites, but pay the same in payroll taxes. I'm not clear on how private accounts fix this.

The most disturbing thing is that he doesn't give props to Chris Rock, who says that black folks should get social security at 29: 'We don't live that long - hypertension, high blood pressure, NYPD, something'll get ya'."

Veep

2005-01-28T15:24:00.000-05:00

Sorry about my long absence. I've been touring the country on job interviews, a process which is about as fun as it sounds.

You can imagine my surpise to return home and find the following photo on the AP wire. It's a picture of Cheney at the Auschwitz memorial ceremony.

Note the appropriate attire of the other heads of state. Cheney looks like he's about to plow his driveway. Is that a ski lift tag on his jacket? WTF?

Guess he won't be back

2005-01-23T17:21:00.000-05:00

Looks like Austria wants nothing to do with its most famous export these days. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy...

The Immoral Minority

are you ready for the football?

2005-01-20T22:37:00.000-05:00

Last week had the feel of a high school pep rally here in the 'burgh, as the beloved hometown Stillers (as it's pronounced here) prepared to dispatch the jets in their first playoff game. This week feels like full wartime mobilization, as the defending champion Patriots come to town for the AFC championship game. The secretaries in the dept. office have covered the door with laser-jet printed pictures of our boys, sayings from the hometown announcer, and a giant black and gold ribbon. This is not unusual. "Yellow ribbon-style" suv-stickers letterd with a black-&-gold "go pittsburgh" have been spotted. Any man or boy wearing fewer than 3 pirces of nfl-licensced apparel is regarded as suspect.

One notable byproduct of the stillers experience is the number of "fight songs," theme songs, and polkas penned in honor of the team over the years. Local radio station WDVE has collected a few of them (if you search the net, or turn on the radio around here, you can find others). My personal favorite, (i.e. the only one even mildly listenable) is the legendary "here we go" song from the 2001 season. Enjoy!