Tuesday, November 19, 2002 04:00 p.m.
I have to learn 200 pages of statistics within the next three hours. Tommorrow I need to do a presentation on something related to "Mass Media." What to do? Don't suggest blogging.
From that point, I'm getting hooked up with a webhost/domain sometime soon. Maybe as a proper blogger, I'll begin to utilize spell-check applications. Until then, you'll have to make due with this stubbornly permalink-free format. And yes, I know that it's difficult. So are type-1/type-2 errors. Prioritize and judge accordingly.
Tuesday, November 19, 2002 03:44 p.m. Zoe and I have De Beauvoir fevoir. I finnished Toril Moi's flimsy The Making of an Intellectual Woman, and she's reading the real deal (albeit abridged -- to 700 pages. Zowie.) Sartre's two conditions from her were this: no monogamy and absolute honesty. And they were together, until his death, for 51 years. Semi-related, The Volokh Conspiracy links to this piece on the "Jean-Paul Sartre Brigade."
Tuesday, November 19, 2002 11:44 a.m.
Back to Megan's Law. Jerry tells me I'm wrong -- that my argument can be a libertarian one. Damn it. You know, I'm on the lookout to rebellion and revel every chance I get. This week The Economist brings up just what exactly are the law's gliches. For one thing, criminals who already "served their time" are punished dually if convicted before the law was put in place. And yes, in all fairness that is wrong. Secondly, seventeen year olds who had sex with their fifteen year old girlfriends are on the same list as child molestors.
Politech linked to this article on silicon chips for sex offenders. I guess that caps my statism on the issue.
Tuesday, November 19, 2002 11:20 a.m.
Don't forget .... this is the week of le Beaujolais
Tuesday, November 19, 2002 11:12 a.m.
Wendy Kaminer for TAP and Eric Alterman for The Nation are taking on the GOP's "trust us" policy. Says Kaminer,
You have to admire the chutzpah of Republicans who suddenly declare themselves above finger-pointing. These are the people who blamed corporate crimes on Bill Clinton's libido. (By lying about his sex life, he created a climate of dishonesty that caused corporate chieftains to steal, Republicans have lamely asserted.) These are the people who brought us the Ken Starr investigation, not to mention impeachment. These are the people who blame pornography for sexual violence, marijuana use for terrorism and the 1960s for what they condemn (when convenient) as a culture of blamelessness. Listening to them denigrate the blame game, you know what it means to be shameless...
The first president Bush has suggested that pre-9-11 intelligence failures don't merit investigation, lamenting the blame game that followed September 11 and likening it to "Monday morning quarterbacks" -- as if an investigation of the nation's intelligence capabilities could only be idle hindsight. He didn't explain how we might fix problems in intelligence that we don't bother to acknowledge and understand.
Monday, November 18, 2002 10:16 p.m.
There's a discussion group for The Nation at the Cleveland Park Library this Saturday, November 23 from 3-5 PM. Good times.
Monday, November 18, 2002 09:19 p.m. Zoe's discovered some clucking hens at The (com)Post that call themselves "The Going Out Gurus" have completely dissed Washington Interns Gone Bad.
One of the indie films screening on Friday is the vastly over-hyped "Washington Interns Gone Bad." It is notable only for it's sheer persistency.
Unless they found themselves a bootleg tape, there's no way thse "gurus" could have seen the film before the premiere. But what can you expect for YoungPro-pushers. WIGB is pretty damn funny, take my word for it --and see it next time it plays.
Monday, November 18, 2002 08:38 a.m.
Dorothy Rabinowitz for the Wall Street Journal takes on the oh-so-rigorous education Harvard Law School provides. I know a few students there. They have open book, open notes examinations. Nobody-- no matter how few classes you attend-- ever is graded lower than a C.
At Harvard Law today, skill in hard combative argument is no longer prized, nor even considered quite respectable. Indeed, first year law students can hardly fail to notice the pall of official disapproval now settled over everything smacking of conflict and argument. That perception can only have been strengthened by a new program for freshmen, called "Managing Difficult Conversations."
In the lesson books provided, students learn the importance of empathy. "Emotions need to be acknowledged and understood before people can problem solve," another lesson teaches. In a book by the program's chief creators we learn that "A Difficult Conversation Is Anything You Find It Hard To Talk About." Not the sort of wisdom that would have taxed the minds of the students. Still, the purpose of the three-hour sessions did elude one otherwise accepting attendee, who reports that the discussion leaders seemed to circle around specific issues, and that he had the feeling there was a real subject here not yet clear or acknowledged
Monday, November 18, 2002 08:02 a.m. Russia may ban barbie dolls for their negative effects on childrens' psyche. If that isn't enough, here's an article on DIY Rail travel called pionerka
Sunday, November 17, 2002 11:29 p.m.
The LA Times today has an article titled, "Cyber Dudes to the Rescue"
In another, flusher time, guys like Mark Davis would be preparing for lucrative private-sector careers. But these are not flush times, and it's a foregone conclusion that even the most tech-savvy whiz kid might have to wait a while for serious money. Luckily, the Dudes have other plans. Ready or not, Mark and his friends will soon be working for Uncle Sam. Specifically, they'll be guarding crucial U.S. infrastructures, thanks to a $30.5-million cyber-security program known as Cyber Corps.
Started last fall and funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense, the program (officially called the Federal Cyber Service: Scholarship for Service) is for juniors, seniors and a handful of graduate students. The deal: complete a degree in cyber security--which involves the study of computer systems, their flaws and techniques to protect them--courtesy of the federal government, in exchange for a two-year commitment to work for the government. Among the many agencies interested in employing them: NASA, the Navy, the Air Force, the FBI, the CIA, the Office of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency.
Sunday, November 17, 2002 08:13 p.m.
The names of the gay clubs in town are getting less and less subtle. First there was the Banana Cafe and Bachelor's Mill. Then, the Tool Shed and the Hung Jury opened shop. Now say hello to "Dik." Dan Savage is reading at the Alexandria Barnes and Nobel on Wednesday,
and while we're on this tangent, have a look at this photo of Chloe Sevigny that's making me question mine.
Sunday, November 17, 2002 05:16 p.m.
Monday, tomorrow, 5:30 at the Georgetown Law Center (120 F Street, NW,) Jonathan Chait and Kenneth Pollack are debating a war in Iraq with Benjamin Barber and William Galston at an event sponsered by The American Prospect.
Sunday, November 17, 2002 04:56 p.m. Jonathan Franzen to Poets&Writers explains the title of his new book as this, "I was flipping through [the essays] and I found, first of all, that the word "alone" just keeps appearing. And then one of the essays ended with the phrase "How to be alone." The sentence is: "The first lesson reading teaches is how to be alone." In general I feel like I'm engaged in these essays with the problem of individuality and just a sort of existential loneliness in a time of mass culture, the massively mediated experience, and somehow the solitude of both the writer and necessarily the reader is tied into my sense of how we get out of that mess."
And who am I to critique vanity if the only reason I'm browsing P&W is the (ultra-pretentious) covergirl, Donna Tartt, bears a slight resemblence to me.
Sunday, November 17, 2002 04:30 p.m.
To borrow a phrase from Alina, the subject of women and personal finances has been something of an intellectual g-spot for the past few months. So largely does the subject occupy my mind I've made many snippy comments related to my greater beliefs --comments I fear come off only like whining. I've posted this sketch on Antilove that I hope does not come off as too cynical. Check it out and tell me what you think.
Saturday, November 16, 2002 03:05 p.m.
It goes against libertarian principles, I know, but I'm very pro-"shame" as a punishment mechanism. If you rape children, your privacy should be the least of your concerns. "Paying for one's crimes" should be much more appropriatly tailored to the nature of the criminal, than generic x number of years in the big house. The Supreme Court will probably find Megan's Law to be unconstitutional. It's not a good law, but it needs a rewrite not an overhaul. Color me neo-con, but if I had children you'd bet I'd hope the gist stays on the books. Let's think of this in terms of free will and cost benefit analysis: the benefit of raping a child (no matter how fucked up you are) probably is outweighed by the cost of a lifetime as a pariah. Perhaps this cost will an provide incentive to pervs and get them to seek treatment before they unleased their shit on innocent victims. If it doesn't, well then, the person in question is not a human being but a monster, so who fucking cares what happens to him?
Saturday, November 16, 2002 12:18 p.m. US News has an article on the explosion of "sex advice columns" in university newspapers.
Besides the occassional "How to" guides, I loath them all. It implies there is a template to work from as if the object of your desires is no different from all the rest, and will act according to these rules as specified. Sure, Dan Savage is a voice of reason, but since when is Anywhere College's campus queen bee the soothsayer of human interaction? Fuck beating around the bush. If it's games you're looking to play, get an XBox.
Saturday, November 16, 2002 11:40 a.m.
In a smart move, the army dismissed nine linguists for being gay. Because, you know, Americans fluent in Arabic are in vast supply. Two of the linguists were "outted" in a "surprise inspection."
Friday, November 15, 2002 04:08 p.m. The Morning News, a charming little site, has a new essay up on a young idealist running for office on the Green ticket in Maine
Friday, November 15, 2002 10:53 a.m. Ascii Rock: Best new blog. Brilliant design, interesting content... what is not to love?
Thursday, November 14, 2002 05:42 p.m. Dennison, were you involved in this? Warhol Museum, robot fight clubs ... how can you call Pittsburg tame?
Thursday, November 14, 2002 04:10 p.m.
The other evening I watched a very bad video about a pretty necrophiliac. It's a shame as the back cover made it look very interesting. Forget suspension of belief that there much be an epidemic hitting all the young, attractive white males in the protagonist's small town ... a venereal disease, perhaps(watch out Sandra!) The one scene that stood out as perhaps the most ridicuously maudlin effort ever filmed has her in a coffee shop when the leading man walks in. She'd met him only once before and snapped at him to leave her alone because she's reading. But this time he gives her a book on embalming and she offers a shy smile. So apparently since then, he's been stalking the coffeeshop were they last met in order to give her some book. They get into a deep discussion and than Sandra confesses, "The corpses ... I make love to them." You expect him to make that face like "Woah! This girl's crazy -- I bet she'll do anything, heh heh." But instead he looks directly in her eyes and says, "It's all right."
Thursday, November 14, 2002 12:37 a.m.
It's official now, I rule. NASA will be shouting so down from Mars next year.
Wednesday, November 13, 2002 10:23 p.m.
I've been reading a book of Sarah Vowell's essays. She's lifted the bar a couple notches as far as contemporary female writers go. In a demographic overwhelmed by the "neurotic" or the vain, Vowell thankfully spares us the details of the frisson that is a new pair of shoes or the originality that is her lovelife to give us gosh -- witty, thoughtful stuff like Joan Didion did before Hollywood got to her. It's no surprise Vowell was raised in hayseed Oklahoma and Montana, there's not an ounce of noxious Amaretto Sour-sipping piety. Candace Bushnell be damned.
"As you can tell, in real life, I totally ramble and go off on these tangents that make no sense, or I have no idea what to say, or it takes me forever to think up something to say. It's just so much sloppier, and rougher around the edges, the me of real life," she tells the AV Club
And she's so cute.
Wednesday, November 13, 2002 08:00 p.m.
One of the three channels I recieve without static is MHz an eclectic world news network. They play BBC News, Wilson Center specials, and varying other internationally-oriented programming. Tonight was a special on German's economic crisim. They're beyond repair. Economists predict annual growth at one percent of one percent. Figures like that can only make a young Berliner quiver in his tutleneck and well-slung Diesel trousers. They interviewed a cute bookshop owner who had to close her old shop and open a new one across town. The reason? German labor laws make it impossible to fire anyone -- even one of the several clerks working in her shop. Laws like that have screwed the country -- but they're also getting a second look by a newly paranoid parliment. Welfare is getting a serious overhaul with many programs getting cut to nothing (anticipating too many out-strenched hands in the coming months.)
Perhaps I should take the time to spell out the surface meanings as well as the occluded allusions, offering this site as the first complete and adequate explanation of Rush lyrics in general. Analyses which are limited to just the surface layer are shallow and have little to offer. I do need to take another look at the couple of books which attempt to explain Rush lyrics -- but I already looked at them and saw nothing more than "Song A is about B, song C is about D", and so on. Such interpretations are shallow because they are too easily satisfied; as soon as the first meaning is determined, the analysis is declared complete. I do discuss the surface layer in some cases, such as when it involves the philosophy of egoism. The "layer" idea applies better to some songs than others.
He must be an objectivist. And Ursula LeGuin reads at Folger's Friday night. Tempting.
Wednesday, November 13, 2002 11:12 a.m. Freezerbox has this long article on NATO I intend to print out sometime today. Here's another article on the back-burner. "Polly Toynbee was one of the most robust liberal supporters of the war on Afghanistan. Does she still think we did the right thing? One year after the fall of Kabul, we sent her there to find out."
Wednesday, November 13, 2002 12:20 a.m. Jerry's cracked the mysterious NIPR.mil IP. They're on my site every day for whatever reason. Maybe cause I'm reading the Bamford book?
Tuesday, November 12, 2002 10:27 p.m.
Today I had the chance to replenish the "unread" section of my bookshelf. On my drive home from school I discovered a discounted book warehouse. We have tons of places like this is Boston, but this one was unfuckingbelievalbe, OMFG... when I walked in it was near closing so I made like a contestent on Supermarket Sweap.
The booty (all hardcover but one):
Wittgenstein's Poker The Adverntures of Kavalier and Clay a book on Chechnya a book on President Mugabe book on Iraq novel by Victor Pelevin (one of my favorites)
grand total: 25 dollars. I'm returning tomorrow and many, many times after that.
Tuesday, November 12, 2002 10:18 a.m. What does Nigeria need a space program for? Far from developed, only this week did the country put a ban on stoning. As far as African countries go, it's not the worst -- but that says nothing. People are dying of cholera there or starving, and the government is grossly mismanaged by whom George Ayittey calls "Swiss bank account socialists."
But now they're in the satellite business. Guess we can expect more interesting spam mail from their famous bankers
Do you find it more difficult to be funny about world events, not necessarily because it's "not a time for comedy" but because so much of what's going on seems to be self-parodic?
It's absolutely more difficult. Mostly because I get so angry that it's hard to be funny. I get shaky, and my vocabulary goes down to about sixty words, half of which are swear words. And I sound like an angry teen: "What the fuck? WHAT THE FUCK? This is bullshit, man!"
Amen.
Monday, November 11, 2002 08:40 p.m.
The government is using Iridian technology to iris-scan Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Also, the always insightful Annalee Newitz returns to a frequent theme-- technology nostalgia-- in her new column on the colorful legoland that is MIT's Media Lab
Monday, November 11, 2002 04:41 p.m.
I found this paper on Monogamy as a Prisoner's Dilemma. The concept is intriguing, but the approach is too simplistic.
Monday, November 11, 2002 01:30 p.m.
I've finnished reading The Final Days of Dr Doe by Lynda Schuster in an old issue of Granta. I was so impressed, I immediatly googled for more of her work but could come up with nothing besides this Atlantic article from several years ago. She has a remarkable capablity to describe in sobering detail the atrocities commited in now President Charles Taylor's overthrow of Samuel Doe in 1990.
Liberia has a fascinating history as it was established in the mid 1800's by freed American slaves. Encoraged by President Monroe they immitated our documents
and tried their best to create an American-style democracy in Africa. It did not come without difficulty, but from the 1960's- 1980 it was a relative success. Then Doe slipped into the President's mansion, disembowled him, and brought the nation down to hell.
It was only a matter of time before Doe would get his. He remarkably lasted ten years until the next coup. Schuster describes the hysteria of innocents mobbing the airports and bidding on already reserved flights to anywhere but there. She unflinchingly decribes the last moments of Doe, as he was videotapped while torchered to death. But within the text were thoughtful allusions to her personal life: her frustration sitting at home watching the clock while the radio was dead. A brief, but stinging rememberence of her first husband, who at twenty-five and ten months of marriage had been killed by landmine in Honduras where they were staioned as reporters. There needs to be more writers this good.
Sunday, November 10, 2002 09:57 p.m.
I'm trying to watch Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story on CBS. They should call it, Master Bitch: Robert Hanssen's Annoying Wife Story. I guess the commercial breaks indicate the target audience: it flips from Disneyworld and Slim Fast adverts. Ugh. That's one reason why I never watch tv, here's another one: I'm kind of hooked now. I'm (ironically of course) digging the scenes where Robert is lost in his thoughts. "I have such a migrane..." he sighs, and then you hear thurder, screechy music, and his father's voice echoing what a loser he's amounted to. Right now he's pleading to his wife that he'll never sell out to the KGB again. "We have to see a preist" she tells him. God bless American television.
Sunday, November 10, 2002 03:16 p.m.
If you haven't yet read the NYT article on "Total Information Awareness", do so now. The Pentagon intends on an amendment to the Privacy Act of 1974 so they can build a computer database of Americans' personal information. Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, is quoted, "This could be the perfect storm for civil liberties in America."
Sunday, November 10, 2002 12:14 p.m. The Corrections is very good. It hasn't completely restored my faith in the literary tastes of Americans, but its almost as wonderful as the hype suggests. It's a fast read, even if 600 pages long. I did skim though some parts involving the parents, but besides that I was charmed thoughout. Take a look at this passage, from the perspective of one sibling, a useless former college professor:
He deleted the email and immediatly regretted it. He had a dreamlike semi-memory of the phrase sleeping with my boss's wife. But that was such an unlikely phrase, coming from Denise, and his eye had brushed over it so quickly, that he couldn't fully credit the memory. If his sister was on her way out as a lesbian (which, come to think of it, would make sense of several aspects of Denise that had always puzzled him), then she could certainly now use the support of her Foucaultian older brother, but Chip wasn't ready to go home yet, and so he assumed that his memory had decieved him and that her phrase had referred to something else.
