March 2002 Archives

Geocities is cutting off Blogger access, so no updates until we get new digs.

Can I get one of these? Please?

Debbie sent this in from the History News Network:

Evidence that history is richly ironic: Last Spring CLS Publishing -- a famously anti-Clinton organ ("The Clinton Atrocities," "Davidian Massacre," etc. etc.) -- sent out a flier advertising its latest publications. Among CLS's pithy observations ...

"As of the date of this production (June 21, 2001), since Clinton left office, there have been no terrorist bombings of World Trade Centers, US Naval vessels, US embassies, or federal buildings; no major airplane crashes and no untimely deaths of government officials -- unlike ANY five month period during the entire 8 years that the Clintons were in power."

"My trip to Asia begins here in Japan for an important reason. It begins here because for a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."

More design stuff.

This job application letter to the Saudi's PR firm must be read to be believed.

This is the most flatteringly unflattering portrait of intense geekdom since Trekkies (which you all must see, if you haven't):

They go outside in white canvas space suits trimmed in duct tape. Their helmets are made from plastic light fixtures and white bullet-shaped trash-can lids. In their habitation module (the thing that looks like a silo), they sit with their laptops late into the cold desert night, typing up reports of simulated Mars disasters.

For another example of the Clinton Administration's appalling performance in the face of evil in Africa, see Samantha Power's book "A Problem from Hell" on the lack of a response to the Genocide in Rwanda, or just read the article she wrote on Rwanda online. (To be fair, the point she makes is that the US consistently sticks its head in the sand when confronted with genocide, so Clinton is far from unique in this respect). You might also be interested in the interview with the author in the Atlantic Monthly online as well.

I've been meaning to write this for ages, since the last criticism of Jesse Jackson showed up in this blog. In a nutshell, Jesse Jackson was sent to Sierra Leone to help negotiate a peace treaty between the RUF and the government. The RUF are very bad people. Back then they would train child soldiers, and have them engage in horrible attrocities. They would chop off peoples arms as a warning. Jackson twisted the government's arm into not only making peace with the RUF on fairly favorible terms, but put the head of the RUF - Foday Sankoh - in charge of the nation's mines. Since the war was largely driven by diamond profits, this was criminally negligent. Of course the RUF rearmed and restarted the civil war, and the US denied any involvement in the agreement they brokered. I can't go on - it just makes me too angry.

When I was in Freetown I was asked "Why did the US send Jesse Jackson to us?" as if he was one of the seven plagues visited upon Egypt. Worse than Chamberlain, since he knew what he was dealing with - he just didn't care. I think this arrogance was rooted in his belief that he could work with anyone, and that nobody is beyond redemption ... and as a consequence he didn't stop to think about what Sankoh and the RUF would do with the power he was giving them. There is an amazing appalling story of Jackson at the African/African-American summit where he led a room full of African leaders in repeating the phrase "I AM SOMEBODY" - for some reason he doesn't seem to have considered the fact that a lack of self-esteem is the least of these guys problems.

For the best essay on Jackson in Sierra Leone, click here to read what the TNR has to say.

How can anyone deal with the monster who did this ? Intentionally hacking the limbs off of people - children ?

Blogs have been in the mainstream press recently. The debate goes on: does this represent a revolution in journalism & publishing? Or does it merely enable thousands of people to navel-gaze?

If you miss last week's episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, here's what happened: the Nerds start making her hallucinate (again), but this time she hallucinates that she's in a mental institution, and has spent the last six years hallucinating her life as a Slayer. So: which is hallucination, and which is "real"? Colin takes on the conundrum:

>so, what was your take on last week's episode (the asylum)?

I watched it again last night (it stands up to a second viewing) and really enjoyed it. As to the "what's real" question, I'm not sure what the verdict of the boards is, but my personal position is A) the hospital was the illusion and Willow is real (okay, that second bit is partly wishful thinking) and B) even if that's not Joss and Marti's point, it doesn't really matter. We're still going to live on in the Buffy universe, as we know it, so I'm not going to feel all betrayed and nihilistic about the underlying reality of the show. I'm feeling all betrayed and nihilistic about the underlying reality of reality, so I prefer to keep my Buffy dreams alive.

This is as far as I'll get into the Twilight Zone: It seems to me the two primary arguments you can make, based on narrative structure (what we see/what we're shown), center on two scenes. (The rest are inconclusive; a wash, basically.) One would seem to imply that what I'll call "Buffy's world" is real (where there are monsters); the other seems to imply that "Mom's world" is real (no monsters, just doctors).

The scene that implies Buffy's world is real is the brief statement by Jonathon, something like "Your demon's got Buffy tripping like a Ken Russell film festival." Buffy isn't present in this scene, which takes place in the middle of the show, before she's "cured," that is, before she chooses a world to be in.

The other scene, of course, is at the very end, after she's chosen to be in the world of Willow et al, and there's a pull from inside the hospital room out through the tiny window of the door. Buffy *is* present in this scene (physically, at least), but it's not her point of view. Until this point, all of Institutionalized Buffy's scenes were her direct experience. This is part of the trick of the episode. Let me explain.

With Jonathon's comment, David Gutierez, the writer, first reassures us that Mom's world is just a dream, and that the demon juice is indeed giving Buffy paranoid fits. This scene jibes with the logic of the show for the past six years; there are always scenes going on, even when Buffy is not physically around. (But of course, it's the logic of the past six years that is about to be called into question.) At this point, we are confident that Buffy's world is real.

At the end, however, Gutierez gives us that scene which appears to be "objective," from the point of view of some heretofore unknown omniscient narrative entity. (The Uber-Joss, perhaps.) We instinctively think we're seeing "reality" because we've pulled back from Buffy as she appears in Mom's world, and it *seems* like an authentic narrative construct (it's at the end of the show; it "feels" definitive; Institutionalized Buffy has "chosen" the other reality). Simple, right? It's all been a big dream.

But wait...

If Mom's world is real, we can logically conclude from the scene with Jonathon that Institutionalized Buffy's hallucinations allow her to see events that are outside her direct experience (and if true, she's presumably a fine director, editor, costumer, and lighting crew, in addition to being the Slayer and Head Writer).

Now then, if Institutionalized Buffy can have 'out of body' hallucinations based on her schizophrenia, then CERTAINLY Demon-poisoned Buffy is allowed them. Indeed, Poisoned Buffy's hallucinations were what the whole show was about. Is there any reason Poisoned Buffy couldn't have a hallucination that was separate from Institutionalized Buffy's point of view? Tit for tat, it seems to me.

Recall, at this point, that Buffy never did take the antidote; at the end of the episode, she's still susceptible to hallucinations. SO, there's no reason in the world to assume -- EVEN THOUGH IT "LOOKED" LIKE "OBJECTIVE REALITY" BECAUSE OF THE WAY THE CAMERA MOVED -- that the last scene of the episode was "actual reality" and that the whole thing has been a dream. There's not even any reason to assume that, as we move forward in the show, we need to worry about whether the Uber-Joss's perspective is going to pop in again. It's not. THAT reality was all just a dream. As it turns out, Poisoned Buffy has a nice directorial style herself.

Besides (and here I'm borrowing from the show's own logic) what's more likely: that a bunch of whipsmart writers would crank out six years of great TV and then throw us a brain-teasing curve? Or that they'd crank out six years of great TV and imply that it's all for naught?

Like I said, A) Willow is real and B) if not, it doesn't matter.

Keep in mind this is an episode-specific analysis, and discussing this season's villain arc (wherein Reality Itself is the Big Bad) would take us other places. This episode refracts quite nicely with the whole nightmare of growing up and facing the "real world." But I'm confident that, in the context of the whole season and the whole show, Buffy's choice to stay and fight is one she's making in *her* real world, Sunnydale, where the show lives and where our heroes are heroes, no matter how grown up they get.

I said I wasn't going to go on like this, but dammit, you asked the magic question. Just don't get me started on whether Miss Calendar is really dead. (I'm still waiting for her spinoff.)

-- Colin

Of course, if Slayer-world is a Buffy hallucination, then we also have to assume that she's hallucinated a complete spin-off on another network. Now that's what I call imaginative overdrive.

Not that I would want it all to be fake, but imagine this: before Mom-world Buffy goes bonkers, she sees the movie "Buffy The Vampire Slayer". Which is the seed for her whole six-year freakout. [Cue Twilight Zone music.]

this is just out...

* The Stinkers
Two days before the Oscars, this site will announce its own movie awards -- for the worst of last year's cinema. While you wait for this "winners" (if you can call them that), browse the lists of past honorees. Make sure you also check out "100 Years, 100 Stinkers: The Worst Films of the 20th Century."

I just checked this morning, and the big "winner," in a near-sweep, is Tom Green's opus 'Freddy Got Fingered' for Worst Film, Worst Sense of Direction, etc. Mariah Carey also took "top" prize for 'Glitter.'

The other, and better-known, bad-movie awards are the Golden Raspberries, or "Razzies." They don't announce their "winners" till tomorrow (Saturday).

-- CMM

And if you haven't yet, take our Oscar Trivia Challenge!

Yet another reason for me to leave Geocities ASAP. (Other than the fact that they're kicking out the blogs.) This ad showed up on this site a few minutes ago:

What exactly is that apostrophe doing there? Are we supposed to fill in the blank? Is this subliminally telling us to buy Australian beer? Would that I could sic the Militant Grammarians of Massachussetts on them.

Well, you know what they say about Harvard women... Props to Andrew "Benedick" Sullivan for the story.

Looks like an interesting exercise — read a book, release it into the wild, and then track its progress from reader to reader. Kind of like the Georgers. Maybe I’ll sign up.

Thanks to James over at It's A Mystery for pointing to this article by John Spong, the retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark. Spong takes Fox's Bill O'Reilly to task for suggesting that slavery was a good thing for African-Americans:

Interrupting [Al] Sharpton regularly, as he does every guest, [Bill] O'Reilly demanded a yes or no answer to what he regarded as his ultimate test of truth. "Are black people better off today in America than they are in Africa?" The assumption behind such a question is that blacks should be thankful that they were forcibly enslaved, since it proved to be good for them.

For Debbie's birthday, the Lanes generously gave her The Avengers Complete Emma Peel Mega Set on DVD. Wow! All 51 episodes with Steed and Emma. Who needs cable?

So yesterday Ben was continuing to work on crawling. At 7 months, he's primed to go, and can do a tolerable job of getting from here to there with a combination of rolling, scooting, and something-that's-almost-crawling. Then we noticed that he was trying to crawl directly toward the picture of Diana Rigg on the DVD box. All I can say is, you're exhibiting good taste in women, kid.

*That's "B" for baby (or Ben, I suppose). Emma Peel was a play on "M Appeal," or Man Appeal, which Ms. Rigg certainly had in spades.

DIY police sketches.

HELLO my poem is...

Vindigo has, with little fanfare that I’ve heard (but I’ve been away), decided to cloak its transition from a free to a paid service in the raiment of an upgrade. “NEW: Vindigo 2.0!” shouts the subject line, but “Only if you pay $20.00” whispers the body text some three Page Downs into the email. Vindigo was one of the few remaining great free PDA services — that we all knew we were getting for a limited time — but it’s sad to see it go anyway. Seems like the only ones that fall into that category now are AvantGo and Blogger, and I’m not too sure about them.

Colin's been sending us all kinds of stuff: An editorial by James G. Wilson (not to be confused with James Q. Wilson) which tears Trent Lott a new one; an article about the Denver cops keeping tabs on nuns and other criminal extremists; and an editorial in the Concord Monitor on the stolen election.

Teenage Terror Humor.

[excerpt]
Their bedrooms are "ground zero." Translation? A total mess.
A mean teacher? He's "such a terrorist."
A student is disciplined? "It was total jihad."
Petty concerns? "That's so Sept. 10."
And out-of-style clothes? "Is that a burqa?"

I was waiting in front of Film Forum for my date, along with half a dozen other guys waiting for theirs. As I often do in a free moment, I pulled out my Palm and started answering e-mail or reading a novel or playing a game or what have you. Palmless, these guys paced, looked up and down the street, took their hands out of their pockets and put them back in, and generally and unsuccsessfully tried to look comfortable doing nothing.

Suddenly I had a flashback: Radnor High School dance, circa 1987. One of the DJs from MMR (my education in classic rock) is playing something like Billy Idol's "Mony Mony," or "Shout" from Animal House. In the cafeteria, everyone's doing the white boy dance, which basically consists of 1) jumping up and down, 2) shuffling your feet, sort of in time to the music, and 3) playing air guitar. I am standing outside with a friend, dateless and alienated as only a 17 year old can be. "You know," I said, "we should really be smoking now." Of course. Now I get it. That's why you smoked: so you didn't look like an idiot standing around doing nothing.

These guys outside Film Forum wouldn't have looked like idiots if they were smoking. They would have looked at least purposeful if not cool. Then it hit me: the Palm is the geek's version of the cigarette.

A wordless and interesting blog.

Ishbadiddle has been reviewed by Candice over at Pick Me. I was curious what they'd think. As expected, Ish got fair marks for content, but needs much work on layout, graphics, navigation, etc. Suggestions, critiques, and offers for free design can be left in the comment box below.

The Florida DMV has demanded that a man return his license plate because it is "obscene or objectionable." It says ATHEIST.

A spokesman for the DMV said, "There is a venue for people's free speech on automobiles and that's a few inches below the license plate," he said. "That's a bumper sticker." This, of course, is from the same DMV that offers Right to Life license plates. Email the Florida DMV and let them know how stupid they're being. [Note: See their retraction below.]

Pop Quiz: Can you determine which license plate is free speech?

or

?

UPDATE: They reversed themselves. Either cooler heads prevailed, or the press story embarrassed them into it, or my email was so persuasive they were moved to change. Hmmmm...

--- DMV wrote:
> Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 07:34:50 -0500
> Subject: Re: atheist license plate
>
> Thank you for your comments regarding the recall of the personalized plate configuration "ATHEIST". Upon further review by management, the decision to cancel this personalized plate has been reversed. It has been determined that the plate does not fall within the criteria of an obscene or otherwise objectionable plate.
>
> The department is reviewing license plate recall procedures in order to avoid recall errors and better serve our customers. A departmental review board will be formed to review all license plates recommended for recall prior to the recall of the license plate. The personalized license plate "ATHEIST" would have qualified for review by such a committee.
>
> Again, thank you for taking the time to express your concerns regarding this matter.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Division of Motor Vehicles
>
> >>> Mike Everett-Lane
> 03/18/02 02:30PM >>>
> I am writing to express my concern over the DMV's decision to revoke Steven Miles' "ATHEIST" license plate. According to your spokesman, quoted in the St. Petersburg Times, "There is a venue for people's free speech on automobiles and that's a few inches below the license plate," he said. "That's a bumper sticker." I do not understand how Steven Miles can be denied the use of his license plate for free speech, while your agency permits the use of the license plate as free speech for the "Choose Life" campaign.

Nancy sent us this:

French Intellectuals to be Deployed in Afghanistan to Convince Taliban of Non-Existence of God

The clean-up portion of the ground war in Afghanistan heated up yesterday when the Allies revealed plans to airdrop a platoon of crack French existentialist philosophers into the country to destroy the morale of the remaining Taliban zealots by proving the non-existence of God.

Elements from the feared Jean-Paul Sartre Brigade, or 'Black Berets', will be parachuted into the combat zones to spread doubt, despondency and existential anomie among the enemy. Hardened by numerous intellectual battles fought during their long occupation of Paris's Left Bank, their first action will be to establish a number of sidewalk cafes at strategic points near the front lines.

There they will drink coffee and talk animatedly about the absurd nature of life and man's lonely isolation in the universe. They will be accompanied by a number of heartbreakingly beautiful girlfriends who will further spread dismay by looking remote and unattainable to everyone else.

Their leader, Colonel Marc-Ange Belmondo, spoke yesterday of his confidence in the success of their mission. Sorbonne graduate Belmondo, a very intense and unshaven young man in a black pullover, gesticulated wildly and said, "The Taliban are caught in a logical fallacy of the most ridiculous nature. There is no God and I can prove it. Stop pouting, Juliette, I am talking."

Marc-Ange plans to deliver an impassioned thesis on man's nauseating freedom of action with special reference to the work of Foucault and the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Humanitarian agencies have been quick to condemn the operation as inhumane, pointing out that the effects of passive smoking from the Frenchmens' endless Gitanes could wreak a terrible toll on civilians in the area.

Comics & gaming through the lens of a lesbian. And her glasses.

I just noticed that Ish is on falsepundit.com's Daily Links list. There are some other ones there I've got to check out, including a CSS tutorial I really need... Thanks, David!

Recently read this on Stratfor.com (palm version):

"It appears that Operation Anaconda began after U.S. commanders received intelligence from warlord Zadran (also known as Badsha Khan), who controls much of Khost, the province east of Paktia."

How, exactly, did our forces end up in Conan the Barbarian's Hyborian world? Just thought I'd ask.

From an article on Orlando Airport's experimental security systems:

One system, the Rapiscan Secure 1000, uses low-energy X-rays to search a person through clothing. When Rapiscan project manager Bryan Allman scanned himself, a plastic knife hidden in his shirt pocket was detected.

However, the outline of his body — every inch of it — also was clearly visible. Mindful of the machine's revealing nature, airport officials refused to put a woman in the scanner.

Security officials said the scanner would only be used when a passenger shows an "anomaly." Also, the security worker examining the scan would be the same sex as the person being searched.

Warning: Graphic X-Ray. Thanks, Sandra!

On Tom Tomorrow's blog, he talks about the now-infamous Ted Rall cartoon Terror Widows. He also points to a Salon article by A.R. Torres, whose husband died on September 11th, reacting to Rall's piece. (A piece of what, I won't say.) And you can read Rall's defense on his own site. I'll say what I said before -- it's fine for him to talk about the money, and question the size of the payments that have been made to victims' families. But when he says they're not grieving properly (and insinuates that the money wipes out their grief), he's beyond the pale. Nobody can tell you how to grieve.

Despite the clear problems we had in our election, there is no way we can compare them to the problems of the Zim election. See this BBC article for a succinct description of the myriad problems in Zim.

I hadn't checked out Ethel the Blog in some time, which was certainly a mistake. Read up on how the war on terrorism relates to India, Pakistan, and Oil; to Enron and Cheney, and US control of the region. Also pointed me to this article by Pat Buchanan. Remember during the presidential appointment election, when Pat was making sense? He's doing it again, this time about our latest nuclear sabre-rattling:

Does the United States claim a right of first use of atomic weapons against any "rogue state" that develops a weapon of mass destruction? If so, where does the president get the authority to launch such wars? Or was this document leaked to intimidate the "Axis of Evil"? Is it perhaps a product of the Office of Strategic Influence, the now-defunct disinformation agency of the Pentagon?

Via Arts & Letters Daily, an essay by Michael Walzer in the upcoming issue of Dissent: Can There Be a Decent Left? A hard look at how the Left has lost its way, why it's gone wrong in the war on terrorism, and what it should (and could) be doing.

What's next, the war on terror square dance ?

[NB: You can see the movie of same; DB linked it here. Also, thanks to Matt F-B for referring us to this clip of Ashcroft's 1995 album, "Gospel (Music) According to John." Sample lyrics:

Go own, download the MP3. You know you have to.]

US Doesn't Recognize Zimbabwe Election, Bush Says

"We do not recognize the outcome of the election because we think it's flawed," [Bush] told a White House news conference.

"We are dealing with our friends to figure out how to deal with this flawed election," he added.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said earlier on Wednesday the election result did not reflect the will of the people. "As a result, Mr. Mugabe may claim victory, but not democratic legitimacy," Powell said in a statement.

Oh, the irony... Thanks, James!

If you have the chance, go see Cymbeline at BAM. (It's up until the 17th.) Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare's plays that's performed little and read less. There are so many Shakespearean tropes (cross-dressing, mistaken identities, false deaths, forbidden love, a plotting queen, tests of fidelity) that it seems like WS put several previous plays in a blender to make this one. But this production, from the Globe Theatre, turns the play into a delight. Six actors portray several dozen parts, with no lighting, no scenery, no costumes (they're all wearing white pajamas). Only two percussionists, a minimum number of props, and the audience's imagination set the scenes. Despite what the NYT reviewer says, it's remarkably easy to follow who's playing what part: they indicate by reading the stage directions aloud ("Enter the Queen!") or more often, by their body language. Mark Rylance, in particular, is positively protean as he switches between the princesses' two suitors: the thoughtful but jealous Leonatus, and the boorish Cloten, whom Rylance plays as a sort of Marlon Brando Neandrathal. The whole thing is quite funny, and the tragic parts are well acted, and the final scene where everything is revealed is just marvelous. Today's review in the Voice says that "the naked stage, close quarters, and tabula rasa costuming seem an invitation for maximum audience engagement and projection." Which put me in mind of another such invitation, from Henry V:

Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hooves i’ the receiving earth;
For ‘tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings.

Found this story on randomWalks:

Team picks white man mascot to make point. A group of Native Americans at the University of Northern Colorado have named their intramural basketball team the "Fighting Whities." My high school's mascot was the Radnor Raider, and at every game some guy would dress up in an Indian head-dress and whoop it up. Needless to say the mascot did not reflect the ethnic makeup of our school in the Main Line of Philadelphia (home to the Merion Cricket Club and the Devon Horse Show). Props to Solomon Little Owl for getting national attention on this. There's a follow-up story here.

Random family history fact: Greeley, Colorado, where this story is reported, was home to my grandfather and great-grandfather. How 'bout that?

One Lonely Krimpet
Tasty Baking Company's Mascot, Kirbee the Krimpet, Is Looking for Another Snack Cake Friend to 'Call His Own'

Did we really have to know about the sex lives of snack cakes? And does this raise the whole "if Goofy is a dog then why does Donald (or is it Goofy himself? Mickey?) have a pet dog (Pluto)? Why would animals have other animals as pets--or was Walt asking us the deep question about ourselves (who don't like to think of ourselves as animals)? And why doesn't Donald Duck wear pants--especially because he has a girlfriend (Daisy)? Don't these people at Tastykake realize how deep the rabbit hole goes? And it isn't like the name Tastykake isn't already waiting to be sexualized (or at least made into someone's drag queen name). I don't even want to think about the oral sex ramifications of this...

[NB: It's Mickey who owns Pluto, I think. What I find just as disturbing as the thought of Krimpets getting it on (can I ever eat a jelly-filled the same way again?) is the general idea of Food Mascots urging you to eat them. Remember those commercials where the M&Ms commit cannibalism? Over at the Institute of Official Cheer, where you'll find the Orphanage of Cast-Off Mascots, James Lileks has some thoughts on "The Anthrophagy Problem":

Patrick sent this article in on the plight of the Andersen partners. As I suspected, there will be so many claims on the assets of AA that the partners won't end up with much:

"Regardless of whether Andersen can arrange a rescue by another Big Five firm, partners can expect to lose the equity they have paid into the firm — hundreds of thousands of dollars each."

By the by, the Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon in today's Voice does a spot-on mapping of Enron to The Producers -- well, they'll need someone to replace Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock. Does anyone know if Ken Lay can sing?

Enron accountant Andersen is apparently in talks to sell itself to fellow Big 5 firm Deloitte. Why would someone buy Andersen, with all the liabilities that are sure to accrue as a result of it's "creative accounting" relationship with Enron? Because Andersen is trying to sell only its assets--not its liabilities. Hm... Creative accounting to hide liabilities while allowing company insiders to profit from the sale of assets. Doesn't this sound exactly like the kind of thinking that got them into this mess?

-- DB

[NB: I'm not sure how "creative" this accounting is -- if the Andersen partners use the revenues from the sale to pay off their debts. The only liability that can't be paid off, of course, is the political & public relations liability. Which is presumably why they're going to erase the Andersen name from existence.]

Stuart D. wrote:

Why doesn't the world feel about America the way Americans do? Some food for thought...

"America now accounts for 36% of global defence spending ...the largest portion of global defence spending seen by a single country. Not even the Roman Empire could claim so much."

"The $48 Billion increase in the Pentagon's fiscal 2003 budget is close to one and a half times as much as the entire annual defence spending of Britain or France. America's defence spending now exceeds the 15 next-largest military budgets combined."

US Military budget: $379 Billion
Iran, Iraq and North Korean ("Axis of Evil") military budgets combined: $12 Billion

Excerpts taken from "The Independent", Friday February 8, 2002

[NB: Keeping the World safe for Democracy: Priceless. How did they figure the military budget of the Roman Empire, anyway?]

In Coney Island no less! This is my favorite news story of the year so far.

"For many years, the keepers of the Brooklyn penguins believed that these romantic trials and tribulations took place only between the male and female penguins in the exhibit. Recently, however, they discovered that one more variation on the love theme was represented in the mix -- and had been there for years. A blood test revealed that Wendell and Cass, an inseparable pair of 15-year-olds known for a tidy nest and enduring lust, were both male. It didn't surprise the aquarium folks, but the media got excited and recently outed the adoring and oblivious couple."

The HBS story you posted missed the most laughable point of the whole Segway corporate mobilization. According to the Wall St. Journal, Dean Kamen has sent lobbyists across the nation to obtain a loophole from the usual state, or local, prohibitions against riding on the sidewalks. (Based on what I see on city sidewalks, I can't imagine that NYC has such a law.) Kamen's desired legal loophole would allow on sidewalks the riding of "electronic personal assistive mobility devices" that are "self-balancing."

Kamen also likes to say that these are not vehicles, they are "magic sneakers." Which only makes me wish that Kamen would sell actual inflatable sneakers that I could bounce around in.

...does this mean that Tony Bennett will be our next attorney general?

At last, the first ishbadiddle post I found myself. Also very cool is this movie from ifilm which is the reason I went there in the first place.

-- DB

Re: Jackson. I have no truck with the man, for reasons I'll discuss further in a longer and far more harsh post. However, when I clicked through on Shakedown, I found myself on Amazon, intrigued by the list of books it recommended if I liked "Shakedown". Here they are:

Customers who bought this book also bought:

Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News by Bernard Goldberg
At Any Cost : How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election by Bill Sammon
The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization by Patrick J. Buchanan
Uncivil Wars: The Controversy over Reparations for Slavery by David Horowitz

I guess I find that all alarming. At the very least, Timmerman is only preaching to the converted. Speaking of race, what's up with the "Black History Quiz" site ? I don't have a problem with somebody pointing out that there were black slaveowners, and indeed black supporters of the south, but I'm a bit surprised by who the sponsors of the site are, and even more so by the books they use as supporting evidence, especially "The South was Right" advertised on the Dixienet website. Unfortunately, the whois no longer gives useful information - who do you think is really behind the Black History Quiz site and why ? [The dixienet site is fascinating btw]

Trip has some bad news, which we've unfortunately been expecting. He posted about it here. Trip, if you're reading this, know that our hearts and our thoughts are with you and your family.

People suck. This is possibly the worst news story I've read since the Georgia crematory. . . . Germans develop "Painstation" video game. . . . Fort Bragg soldier killed as Army fails to master new communication technology: the telephone. . . . Judge sends man to his room with no TV. . . .

M_____, who helps keep this site from leaning completely to the left side of your computer screen, writes in:

For those who believe in tooth fairies... and contemporary civil rights leaders, the new book Shakedown : Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson by Kenneth Timmerman is a must-read. Jackson, you'll recall, is the booty-chasing "civil rights leader" that (black) Congressman J.C. Watts was talking about when he coined the term, "Race-hustling poverty pimp."

From a review:

"He calls himself an advocate for "the poor" -- but lives more lavishly than the CEOs from whose companies he extorts millions. He pretends to represent the interests of blacks -- but consorts with African dictators who oppress their own citizens. He claims the title of "Reverend" -- though he was never ordained. Who, then, is the real Jesse Jackson? According to veteran investigative reporter Kenneth R. Timmerman, he is little more than a modern day highway robber who uses cries of "racism" to steal from individuals, corporations, and government ... and give to himself."

* Here's a vignette we're dying to see on the ABC broadcast of Sunday's Ford's Theatre Presidential Gala: When Stevie Wonder sat down at the keyboard center stage, President Bush in the front row got very excited. He smiled and started waving at Wonder, who understandably did not respond. After a moment Bush realized his mistake and slowly dropped the errant hand back to his lap. "I know I shouldn't have," a witness told us yesterday, "but I started laughing."

A veritable raft of articles about blogging has extended even to la France, where Serge Courrier writes a fairly laudatory article about the freshness of blogs and just how darn keen they are. (Article in French. Pseudo-translated. Thanks to Karl for this one.) Contrast to the much-talked about Dvorak article (maybe mentioned by this correspondent earlier in this blog, I dunno) which 37 Signals paraphrased as seeing many blogs as one big daisy chain. (Well, they used a different metaphor than daisy chain, but people with kids read this blog.)

I got the following email from Michelle B. today:

A Nobel Prize Judge of the Peace Prize is trying to get enough "signatures" on a petition (e-mail counts) to revoke the Nobel Peace prize that was given to Arafat in 1993. They need at least a million signatures.

Please go to the following web site and add your name: www.revoketheprize.org

Please send this mail to all your friends.

Dear Mr. Rall:

What can I say? Ususally I like your editorial cartoons, even if I don't agree with them. But I just don't understand what drove you to do "Terror Widows". What were you thinking? That just because the widows and widowers of the victims of the September 11th attacks are seen as beyond criticism, that you therefore must criticize them? What is there to criticize? You may think that they're getting too much money from government, from charity, from insurance. Even if that were true, does that mean you have to portray them as money-grubbing and heartless? Do you really think that is how the families of the murdered feel? Such a portrayal completely negates any political point you might possibly be making. My estimation of you as a political commentator has fallen about as far as it can go.

Sincerely,

Mike Everett-Lane

Tip of the mouse to LGF for pointing this out.

Thought this might be interesting reading for Ishbabiddlers. But maybe that's because I think Steven Emerson is a complete freak. Excerpt:

Sept. 11 obviously proved that one militant Islamic fundamentalist group does pose a deadly threat to the United States. But Emerson wants us to think they all do, and that they're working together -- yet there is no evidence to support either claim. In fact, with the exception of al-Qaida and the group that carried out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, none of the groups and organizations Emerson denounces have ever carried out terrorist attacks against America, nor does Emerson present any evidence that they intend to do so. Nor does he provide any evidence that the terrorists who carried out the 1993 and 2001 attacks were welcomed by the American Muslim community at large, were shielded while they plotted their attacks or assisted in any way. Finally, there's nothing in "American Jihad" to suggest any American-based Muslim organization had anything to do with, or had any advance knowledge of, the attacks.

I much enjoyed your piece on bookspotting on the trains. I thought you might be interested in the MTA Bestseller List, where I and my intrepid contributors list the books we've seen most recently on the subway.

I have yet to spot anyone reading Native Speaker, although your wife might be pleased to know that I saw someone reading Can You Forgive Her? recently.

-- Mike Everett-Lane

Some overdue additions to my Overheard page are up.

This was in the New York Times this morning, in an article on the last-minute soft money grab by the parties:

Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has become one of the most sought-after fund-raisers in Republican history, welcomed in places where no New York mayor, in office or out, has raised money before. He is headlining a "Salute to America's Heroes" this month to raise $5 million for House Republicans.

The Washington Post also reported on the GOP fundraiser, which is going to be held tomorrow:

Lt. Jack Ginty, vice president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, criticized the fundraiser today. "It's just in bad taste to run a campaign of 'Salute the Heroes' and use the money for political campaigns," said Ginty, who narrowly escaped the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. Ginty said the dinner could have honored just Giuliani for the job he did as mayor. "Everyone's being called a hero," he said. "I was in both collapses, and I'm not a hero. . . . The heroes haven't come home." . . . . "Suggestions that this event is inappropriate are offensive," said GOP congressional committee spokesman Steve Schmidt. "Mayor Giuliani is an American hero, and we are thrilled beyond words that he will play a role in the coming campaign."

As a New Yorker who's long been critical of Giuliani, I was deeply impressed with his leadership after the attack. It's the kind of job he was meant for. He should know better than to capitalize on the deaths of thousands by attending this fundraiser. Don't ever let them tell you that the Republicans haven't used this war for political (and monetary) gain.

Laura & Matt sent this over:

Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis of Evil," Libya, China, and Syria today announced they had formed the "Axis of Just as Evil," which they said would be more evil than that stupid Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of in his State of the Union address.

Axis of Evil members, however, immediately dismissed the new axis as having, for starters, a really dumb name. "Right. They are Just as Evil... in their dreams!" declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. "Everybody knows we're the best evils... best at being evil... we're the best."

Diplomats from Syria denied they were jealous over being excluded, although they conceded they did ask if they could join the Axis of Evil. "They told us it was full," said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"An Axis can't have more than three countries," explained Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "This is not my rule, it's tradition. In World War II you had Germany, Italy, and Japan in the evil Axis. So you can only have three, and a secret handshake. Ours is wicked cool."

THE AXIS PANDEMIC

International reaction to Bush's Axis of Evil declaration was swift, as within minutes, France surrendered. Elsewhere, peer-conscious nations rushed to gain triumvirate status in what became a game of geopolitical chairs.

Cuba, Sudan, and Serbia said they had formed the Axis of Somewhat Evil, forcing Somalia to join with Uganda and Myanmar in the Axis of Occasionally Evil, while Bulgaria, Indonesia and Russia established the Axis of Not So Much Evil Really As Just Generally Disagreeable.

With the criteria suddenly expanded and all the desirable clubs filling up, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, and Rwanda applied to be called the Axis of Countries That Aren't the Worst But Certainly Won't Be Asked to Host the Olympics; Canada, Mexico, and Australia formed the Axis of Nations That Are Actually Quite Nice But Secretly Have Nasty Thoughts About America; while Spain, Scotland, and New Zealand established the Axis of Countries That Be Allowed to Ask Sheep to Wear Lipstick.

"That's not a threat, really, just something we like to do," said Scottish Executive First Minister Jack McConnell.

While wondering if the other nations of the world weren't perhaps making fun of him, a cautious Bush granted approval for most axes, although he rejected the establishment of the Axis of Countries Whose Names End in "Guay," accusing one of its members of filing a false application. Officials from Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chadguay denied the charges.

Israel, meanwhile, insisted it didn't want to join any Axis, but privately, world leaders said that's only because no one asked them.

Speaking of which, the speechwriter who came up with "Axis of Evil" was allegedly canned when his wife bragged about it in an email:

Guess W had some axes to grind over that one.

I felt out-of-sorts this weekend. Didn't know why. Something...just...seemed...off. After a bit of soul-searching, I realized what it was! Here it has been three months since the launch of "IT", of "Ginger", of the "Super Scooter", er, I mean the Segway Human Transporter (it's not a scooter, it's not a scooter), and I haven't heard a breath of late about the device that will be revolutionizing human transport like nothing since the combustion engine.

I was excited to see that the revolution is afoot. Police, as part of their ongoing drive of the past 10 years to make sure that their officers look completely ridiculous on patrol, are giving it a try as a way to make Faneuil Hall and Manchester, N.H. safer places. Meanwhile, Amazon.com is auctioning the first three builds of the consumer model, and the price tags are already hefty with a month to go. Okay, so its not July 1776 or October 1917 just yet, but I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for the first one gliding down St. Marks nevertheless.

I was very surprised to find out that the NYPD still has very limited religious exemptions for their dress code - namely while kippot are now allowed, turbans are still not. This came up recently when two Sikhs were discharged for refusing to shave and wear the uniform cap [article].

There is a net petition to appeal to Bloomberg to change the policy, given his recent inclusive stances, I'm hoping that he responds. While I know that net petitions are of limited use in twisting politicians arms, it would be great if any of you who agree could click through, that way the Mayor will know that this is more than a sectarian concern.

"I think I just thought it would be a fun fling," she says at one point. "I judged him in the sense of thinking, 'Well ... oh OK ... whatever. You know, I'm young ... it's the president ... he's cute. It's kinda cool. Irresponsible ... but cool.'"

-- Monica Lewinsky, in the new documentary Monica in Black and White (quote from review)

"A security guard at the Millenium Hilton hotel, near the World Trade Center site, admitted yesterday that he had lied when he told investigators he had found an aviation radio in a safe in the room where an Egyptian student was staying on Sept. 11." [article] Can you imagine if the guy had gone before a military tribunal ?

Meanwhile, in the heartland:
"Sheriff Jim Dupont of Flathead County said officers who raided the trailer of the man, David Earl Burgert, in early February found 30,000 rounds of ammunition, body armor, plastic explosives, machine guns and other weapons." [ article ]

Now for some reason - both of these stories are buried deep in the paper. And the article on the terrorists in Montana, isn't listed amongst the articles in the "A Nation Challenged" section. Fact is - we will continue to treat terrorists differently, depending on where they hail from. Cheney can suggest leaving the Guantonamo bay detainees incarceraited indefinitely, without trial, something you can only do with POWs, which Cheney says these aren't. Who knows - maybe the Egyptian student might have ended up as one of them. (However, they are now allowed to tie their bedsheets into turbans on their heads after a major protest). But these guys in Montana - they can't even supress the news of the arrest long enough to decrypt their files. Where's all of the "experts" who were arguing in favor of torture before ? If these guys had brown skin and were planning to kill police, this would be a major news story. But as is ... GRRRRRRRRRRRR

Oh yes - and the shadow government (and its costs) will go on as long as the "war" does, a war we continue in places like the Phillipines where a bunch of hijackers once met bin Laden's brother-in-law 10 years ago, or something like that. Or in Georgia. And until we're done - the war continues. And anyone who criticizes its conduct is called "divisive" (Much in the same way that only the widows can criticize Guiliani in NYC, but nobody on the left dare do so).

A parting shot:
"No one starts a war — or, rather, no one in his senses ought to do so — without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to achieve it." Von Clausewitz

Say it ain't so!

The Musee Mecanique is a national treasure. Peter and DC, the impresarios of San Francisco's Theatre Tremendo, introduced us to this hall of wonders. For a handful of dimes and quarters, you can while away hours with the greatest antique arcade collection: moving dioramas, fortune telling typewriters, pornographic nickelodeons, games of chance and skill, and of course, Laughing Sal. Laughing Sal is this huge mechanical fat lady who laughs. And laughs. And laughs. It's this sort of maniacal laughter that goes on and on and on, and just when you think she's done, she gasps for air and laughs some more. [This guy has recorded it.] All the while she is lurching back and forth. Remember that clown doll from Poltergeist? This is much, much scarier. Write to the Park Service and let them know that Laughing Sal can't be silenced!

And speaking of fan clubs, see here
[A Kiwi friend of mine sent these to me after I told her the story of Russell Crowe's thuggish behavior at the BAFTA awards. No I don't go surfing the web for this stuff]