The Dreaded Lurgy - A Survey
Is there something in the air? I haven't seen or heard any mention on TV in the mainstream US media, but that's not a surprise as I generally try to avoid them anyway (give me EuroNews and the Beeb any time!), but I'm curious as to whether anyone else has been feeling a sort of physical malaise lately (like over the last couple weeks). Robin and I have been hit pretty badly - in my case, not enough for me to take sick days but enough to leave me punchy and unable to really think that clearly for the most part. A few of the symptoms seem to include interrupted sleep (I had insomnia two nights running last week), muscle aches, a few allergy-type things like stuffed-up nasal passages... Anyone else out there going through this sort of thing? Any definitive diagnoses floating about?
Monday, October 13, 2003
Monkey Mind Control
No, it's not another bad Ahnuld joke. It's a cool study I found out about via Kevin Raybould. And here's the Google news search result, if you want to check out all the angles.
No, it's not another bad Ahnuld joke. It's a cool study I found out about via Kevin Raybould. And here's the Google news search result, if you want to check out all the angles.
Cool Things About the Blogs on my Roll, Part 1
I've promised this for awhile, and today being a totally boring day at one of the relatively few offices open in NYC I figured it was as good a time as any to finally get this list together. It's by no means complete, I didn't want to force myself to muse about some of my more recent blog discoveries just to say something (please bear in mind folks, if I didn't love your blog you wouldn't be on my blogroll!) but I wanted to at least start this general appreciation sum-up. I'll go through the Top Six first, then as many of the News+Views as strike my fancy, going alphabetically by first name.
Neil Gaiman - The layout and colors, the openness, the kindness, the wonderful wry British humor.
Wil Wheaton - The sheer poetry of some of his entries, the wonderful sardonic look at the Hollywood game, the infectious geeky delight with life, his willingness to experiment and bare his soul at the same time. (And hoorah, his comment section is back!)
Tom Tomorrow - The way he can make an observation in a sentence or two that would take me a few paragraphs, his brilliant cartooning, his self-effacing self-promotion (I'm informed he's not actually shy, just unwilling to suffer fools gladly, so I guess I'm on the "Put Dan on The Daily Show bandwagon" now), his healthy skepticism, that when he e-mails me it gets me all giggly like a schoolgirl 'cause I've followed his career, like, forever.
Mark Evanier - His wealth of wisdom about so many topics from politics to entertainment, the way he seems to be friendly to and about everyone, his facility with language, his knowledge of all things California and many things NY (particularly Broadway shows), his sensitive and informative eulogies to famous people who deserve to be memorialized, his new layout, his wonderful anecdotes, his (I hope) forgiving nature now that I've corrected the error of not writing him in previously...
Peter David - His entry headers, his lively comments section, that I can hear his voice when I read his entries.
Steve Chaput - Hey, he's my ex-husband and still my friend, I have all kinds of reasons I like his blog.
Adam Felber - His New Yawk no-bullshit attitude, his funny set pieces, his plugs for his performances, his comments section.
Ampersand - His unabashed feminism, his thoroughness in his multi-part blog entries (like the current one about the wage gap), his generosity to his friends, his chatting about his home.
Anne Zook - Another blogger who can say in a sentence or two what would take me forever (which should amuse her because she also has a lot of wonderfully long rants), her comprehensive news roundups, her overall political sensibility which matches mine a lot, her blog design.
Atrios - His sheer volume, the earned respect he commands from other bloggers, his amazingly active comments sections, his twists of phrase, his news scoops, his general humor.
August Pollak - His sleeping kitty animation, his hilarious bluntness, his youthful energy, his weekly 'toons and the illos on his entry, his sick humor.
Avedon Carol - The great balance she strikes between the serious and the silly, the great perspective we get from the POV of an American living in Britain, her literacy.
Aziz Poonwalla - His esoteric essays about a world about which I know too little, his intense focus.
Barbara O'Brien - Her great daily Hot Links, her Instant Condi Rice picture.
Betsy Devine - The fellow-blogger in-jokes I don't understand, the wonderfully bad jokes I do understand, the observations on foreign customs.
Bill Connolly - His ability to zero in on stuff that I don't see anywhere else in the blogosphere.
Billmon - His layout, his well-thought-out analysis.
Bob Goodsell - His reprinting of good editorial cartoons.
Brooke Biggs - Her internationalist sense, her new layout, her photo albums, her invaluable insight.
Bryant Gries - His layout, his top bar quote, his readability, his patience with actually reading right-wing nonsense.
I think that'll be it for awhile, I got through most of the A's and B's. Stay tuned for more; I'm determined to get to all the reasons I love Tish Parmeley as soon as possible!
I've promised this for awhile, and today being a totally boring day at one of the relatively few offices open in NYC I figured it was as good a time as any to finally get this list together. It's by no means complete, I didn't want to force myself to muse about some of my more recent blog discoveries just to say something (please bear in mind folks, if I didn't love your blog you wouldn't be on my blogroll!) but I wanted to at least start this general appreciation sum-up. I'll go through the Top Six first, then as many of the News+Views as strike my fancy, going alphabetically by first name.
I think that'll be it for awhile, I got through most of the A's and B's. Stay tuned for more; I'm determined to get to all the reasons I love Tish Parmeley as soon as possible!
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Mahajob?
I never did get a chance to pass out my résumé at the NY blogger gathering but, just to let prospective employers know, Barbara O'Brien of Mahablog is also looking for work. Here's her résumé, which I found kinda cool 'cause it means I think I may know her from when I worked here. Good luck to the both of us!! Also, via Barbara's daily (and wonderful) Hot Links list, my favorite Dude, Where's My Country? book excerpt is reprinted in Rolling Stone.
I never did get a chance to pass out my résumé at the NY blogger gathering but, just to let prospective employers know, Barbara O'Brien of Mahablog is also looking for work. Here's her résumé, which I found kinda cool 'cause it means I think I may know her from when I worked here. Good luck to the both of us!! Also, via Barbara's daily (and wonderful) Hot Links list, my favorite Dude, Where's My Country? book excerpt is reprinted in Rolling Stone.
Rent-A...Excuse Me?
I don't care if she is a performance artist, I still found this damn funny. Via Avedon Carol.
I don't care if she is a performance artist, I still found this damn funny. Via Avedon Carol.
NY BloggerCon, Day Two
When NY bloggers get together (at least in "my" area of the NY blogosphere) we generally don't charge $500 a person and have lectures in college halls. We go to a restaurant or gather to shoot the shit and have a picnic/barbecue in someone's backyard. Yesterday was the latter.
The day after the very successful NY blogger dinner (see previous posts), Julia H of Sisyphus Shrugged and her husband John hosted about a dozen of us, including Seth "Talking Dog" Farber and wife Liz, MadKane and hubby Mark, Patrick "Electrolite" and Teresa "Making Light" Nielsen Hayden, Mary Beth "Wampum" Williams, Dwight "late of PLA" Meredith, Julia's brother George and of course the girls "Her Majesty" and "The Loquacious Pup." As Julia and John and Her Maj live way the heck out in Queens (in a lovely quiet neighborhood which certainly inspired me to consider looking around there before our current lease is up) it was about an hour and a half commute from Riverdale, made even longer by the sudden discovery that the Manhattan-bound subway was bypassing my station and passengers had to "go up to go down." Which wouldn't have been so bad, except the lone turnstile entrance to the "uptown" line wasn't working correctly, and folks were backed up halfway down the stairs because their MetroCard swipes weren't registering properly, and we had to double-up because some people's cards just didn't work at all (mine did after about a dozen patient swipes) and I missed at least two trains just trying to get onto the platform. Yes, weekend mass transit can sometimes be an adventure, but it wasn't like I was on a strict timetable, and I was actually happy to ride up to Van Cortlandt Park because it's the first local place where I've seen the leaves actually turning and it was quite colorful and pretty. But I digress.
Since Julia had promised a possible viewing of the Yellow Submarine DVD, I wore my Marx/Lennon shirt with the following image:
This Beatles-related page explains a little more about the Marx/Lennon stamps from the Republic of Abkhazia. I have a fair number of these stamp sheets left over from when I bought them in bulk to sell to Firesign Theatre fans back when I was publishing FAlaFal, and I figured this would be the most appropriately appreciative type of group to which I could give some away as pressies. My relief was palpable that they didn't even ask who The Firesign Theatre are, and I was delighted to impart the news that the 4or5 are still recording and have had lots of new stuff out in the past few years. Maybe I can get a few of them to show up on the Thursday chats now...
Mary Beth had to take off fairly soon after my arrival, but I still got to hear about her tomato-growing and -canning prowess of which I'm in awe (I possess, to put it mildly, something of a black thumb), and from her and Dwight about Temple Grandin and her amazing hug machine. It was a pretty cool and esoteric crowd, and the cross-conversations reflected that. As I've said previously, it was like we've all known each other anyway, so everyone's comfort level was pretty high; there was just the formality of "oh, that's what you look like" to get out of the way. (And I found it way cool that all the women there were of substance, both physically and intellectually!) Theresa (with whom I was delighted to finally talk at length, as we have a lot of friends and experiences in common even though we'd never met) said she'd pictured me as a redhead; oddly, so had Robin before we met! So it's settled, I have to "go red" again before Mid-Ohio Con. The left-leaning group didn't touch on politics as much as one might expect, although I enjoyed Madeleine and, I think, Julia getting all catty over Maureen Dowd. Mad and Mark told the story about their adventure in the Utah mountains. Theresa talked about cataplexy and narcolepsy, as well as her fascination with the pathology of people who live in garbage houses and amass tons of neglected animals, which of course led to talk of tigers (see the links in this entry). Everyone seemed to get down with their bad selves singing along to this, and I felt bad that Robin was too exhausted to come with me because he and Patrick would have had a great time swapping obscure Beatles trivia. By the way, we never did get around to watching Yellow Submarine, but no complaints as I had a wonderful time, John's grilled sausages and chicken and Julia's pasta salad were delicious, Mad and Mark's wine was superb, the bourbon cherries and wine-drenched mushrooms were amazing, and the company was stupendous. Guys, we have got to do this again real soon! Thanks so much, Julia and John, for your lovely hospitality!
What? Oh yes, of course I took pictures. Here's my montage. As with Friday's dinner, if anyone wants the full-sized, higher-res, uncropped versions of any of these pictures, just e-mail me.
Update: Check out Mad's song about us! And Julia's going to find us a house, it seems. :) Dwight talked MB into hosting this year's Koufax Awards (yay!), and driver extraordinaire Seth weighs in as well.
When NY bloggers get together (at least in "my" area of the NY blogosphere) we generally don't charge $500 a person and have lectures in college halls. We go to a restaurant or gather to shoot the shit and have a picnic/barbecue in someone's backyard. Yesterday was the latter.
The day after the very successful NY blogger dinner (see previous posts), Julia H of Sisyphus Shrugged and her husband John hosted about a dozen of us, including Seth "Talking Dog" Farber and wife Liz, MadKane and hubby Mark, Patrick "Electrolite" and Teresa "Making Light" Nielsen Hayden, Mary Beth "Wampum" Williams, Dwight "late of PLA" Meredith, Julia's brother George and of course the girls "Her Majesty" and "The Loquacious Pup." As Julia and John and Her Maj live way the heck out in Queens (in a lovely quiet neighborhood which certainly inspired me to consider looking around there before our current lease is up) it was about an hour and a half commute from Riverdale, made even longer by the sudden discovery that the Manhattan-bound subway was bypassing my station and passengers had to "go up to go down." Which wouldn't have been so bad, except the lone turnstile entrance to the "uptown" line wasn't working correctly, and folks were backed up halfway down the stairs because their MetroCard swipes weren't registering properly, and we had to double-up because some people's cards just didn't work at all (mine did after about a dozen patient swipes) and I missed at least two trains just trying to get onto the platform. Yes, weekend mass transit can sometimes be an adventure, but it wasn't like I was on a strict timetable, and I was actually happy to ride up to Van Cortlandt Park because it's the first local place where I've seen the leaves actually turning and it was quite colorful and pretty. But I digress.
Since Julia had promised a possible viewing of the Yellow Submarine DVD, I wore my Marx/Lennon shirt with the following image:
This Beatles-related page explains a little more about the Marx/Lennon stamps from the Republic of Abkhazia. I have a fair number of these stamp sheets left over from when I bought them in bulk to sell to Firesign Theatre fans back when I was publishing FAlaFal, and I figured this would be the most appropriately appreciative type of group to which I could give some away as pressies. My relief was palpable that they didn't even ask who The Firesign Theatre are, and I was delighted to impart the news that the 4or5 are still recording and have had lots of new stuff out in the past few years. Maybe I can get a few of them to show up on the Thursday chats now...
Mary Beth had to take off fairly soon after my arrival, but I still got to hear about her tomato-growing and -canning prowess of which I'm in awe (I possess, to put it mildly, something of a black thumb), and from her and Dwight about Temple Grandin and her amazing hug machine. It was a pretty cool and esoteric crowd, and the cross-conversations reflected that. As I've said previously, it was like we've all known each other anyway, so everyone's comfort level was pretty high; there was just the formality of "oh, that's what you look like" to get out of the way. (And I found it way cool that all the women there were of substance, both physically and intellectually!) Theresa (with whom I was delighted to finally talk at length, as we have a lot of friends and experiences in common even though we'd never met) said she'd pictured me as a redhead; oddly, so had Robin before we met! So it's settled, I have to "go red" again before Mid-Ohio Con. The left-leaning group didn't touch on politics as much as one might expect, although I enjoyed Madeleine and, I think, Julia getting all catty over Maureen Dowd. Mad and Mark told the story about their adventure in the Utah mountains. Theresa talked about cataplexy and narcolepsy, as well as her fascination with the pathology of people who live in garbage houses and amass tons of neglected animals, which of course led to talk of tigers (see the links in this entry). Everyone seemed to get down with their bad selves singing along to this, and I felt bad that Robin was too exhausted to come with me because he and Patrick would have had a great time swapping obscure Beatles trivia. By the way, we never did get around to watching Yellow Submarine, but no complaints as I had a wonderful time, John's grilled sausages and chicken and Julia's pasta salad were delicious, Mad and Mark's wine was superb, the bourbon cherries and wine-drenched mushrooms were amazing, and the company was stupendous. Guys, we have got to do this again real soon! Thanks so much, Julia and John, for your lovely hospitality!
What? Oh yes, of course I took pictures. Here's my montage. As with Friday's dinner, if anyone wants the full-sized, higher-res, uncropped versions of any of these pictures, just e-mail me.
Update: Check out Mad's song about us! And Julia's going to find us a house, it seems. :) Dwight talked MB into hosting this year's Koufax Awards (yay!), and driver extraordinaire Seth weighs in as well.
Saturday, October 11, 2003
Bilingual Blogging from Iraq
"Hello," reads the e-mail. "My name is Thierry Robin. I'm a freelance reporter and a member of the ABIR association. I will go on a trip to Iraq from 8th to 22nd of October and I will blog from Baghdad about women's rights (in French and in English)... With other members of ABIR, we will bring material to a dispensary and an orphanage. We will also meet Hanaa Edward from the local NGO 'Al Amal' and other persons involved in the promotion of women's rights in Iraq. It will be an opportunity for me to make several reports with the aim of catching people's attention about the appalling fate of Iraqi women and girls: Sexual violences, abductions and murders are widespread, preventing the women from taking part in the postwar society. If you feel concerned by this burning issue, feel free to mention my weblog." At last, a chance to brush up on my French whilst learning new stuff at the same time! Highly recommended.
"Hello," reads the e-mail. "My name is Thierry Robin. I'm a freelance reporter and a member of the ABIR association. I will go on a trip to Iraq from 8th to 22nd of October and I will blog from Baghdad about women's rights (in French and in English)... With other members of ABIR, we will bring material to a dispensary and an orphanage. We will also meet Hanaa Edward from the local NGO 'Al Amal' and other persons involved in the promotion of women's rights in Iraq. It will be an opportunity for me to make several reports with the aim of catching people's attention about the appalling fate of Iraqi women and girls: Sexual violences, abductions and murders are widespread, preventing the women from taking part in the postwar society. If you feel concerned by this burning issue, feel free to mention my weblog." At last, a chance to brush up on my French whilst learning new stuff at the same time! Highly recommended.
About Last Night...
Some impressions on the NY blogger gathering, now that I've gotten some sleep.
I don't know what other gatherings have been like, but with this particular group a lot of personality shines through in their blogs, so when you meet them it's absolutely like you've already known them and you've simply "forgotten" what they looked like or something. And it's qualitatively different from meeting folks I know from other Internet venues like Usenet or message boards; even though you can certainly glean a number of things about people from reading comment threads, with blogs you're going out of your way (relatively) to seek out that person's writing because you're eager to read what they have to say, so it's more analogous to visiting their home than meeting them at a party where other folks are milling about.
The food at Brothers Barbecue was wonderful, and I highly recommend the place. But I was a bit surprised to see a Southern-style restaurant with no grits on the menu... And Rocco's on Bleecker, where some of us went afterwards, has the tastiest-looking desserts around, although they didn't have my first two menu choices...
MadKane is just about how I pictured she'd be, very Earth mother-ish (that's a compliment) and so infectiously bubbly! And her mom's better (on the proper meds now) and her parents have relocated comfortably to NC and we were both amazed and amused at how much you can know about people you've never met just from reading their blogs. She also mentioned that she's the one who talked Steve Bates into doing a blog, so thanks again, Mad!!
Did I mention that Dwight Meredith (link not at sidebar because *snif* PLA is no more, but he does do some guest-blogging from time to time) came up all the way from Atlanta? And he's very cute, with the warmest smile! His writing always seemed so far above me, and him being a lawyer and all, that I guess I thought he'd be more staid or something, and he wasn't, he was so incredibly friendly, with that real Southern charm! And he complimented me about my blog, which totally blew me away because I still can't get over when people do that (especially people who write so much better than me, which was, um, just about everyone there last night).
Jim Capozzola is more wiry than I thought he'd be, but other than that his personality definitely seemed to fit his blog. Also a great smile. And give this man a job, now! (For that matter, someone please give me one too...) We had a great conversation about how we both love Philadelphia. I don't visit nearly often enough, it's just an NJ Transit/SEPTA ride away after all...
Julia H is taller than me! I'm about 5'8" which I think is a little taller than average, and I love when I meet women who are taller than me (although I think I'm rounder than her). And she calls her daughter Mary Rose "a force of nature," but she's no less of one herself. I look at her and see the kind of person I wish I could be. She's got tremendous presence. We spent a lot of time talking with her brother George ("because he's the Procrustiest!"), who has a wonderful wry sense of humor and a great deadpan delivery.
Seth Farber reminded me of a quieter Woody Allen without the creepiness. He admits he's running out of Beatles songs to use as blog headers, and I suggested he get Penny Lane out of the way by plugging my blog (as that song is, after all, whence the pun originates). He then informed me that reviewing other people's blogs is what he used to be known for, which I didn't know 'cause he's fairly recent to my blogroll, so he asked me what my favorite dog breed was (I think I said "golden retriever and terrier" because in my punchiness I couldn't remember "American cocker spaniel" or "Irish setter" but I did remember that Teenie, our family's dog when I was growing up, had some retriever in her) and one other question that I don't even recall now (hey, I said I was going on two straight insomniac nights, didn't I?) and then said he'd do a review of this blog. Robin suggested that after he runs out of Beatles titles he can start on the solo stuff...
I think Mary Beth Williams and I were the only ones there to have gone through the 2003 Blogathon, and we agreed that she was allowed to have guest bloggers for parts of that because she has four kids and I don't. :) I didn't talk with MB or with Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden as much as I would have liked, but there's always next time!
And my goodness, there just must be a next time, mustn't there?! Next time I want to see Tom Tomorrow and August Pollak, and meet Jerry Bowles and Maru Soze and Adam Felber and Barbara O'Brien and Lesley and Lisa English and Elaine Frankonis and I'm sure there's other folks I'm leaving off my "wish list" but you get the idea. Thanks again to Jim and Julia for a wonderful time! Scroll down a bit to click on the link to pictures from the event.
Some impressions on the NY blogger gathering, now that I've gotten some sleep.
And my goodness, there just must be a next time, mustn't there?! Next time I want to see Tom Tomorrow and August Pollak, and meet Jerry Bowles and Maru Soze and Adam Felber and Barbara O'Brien and Lesley and Lisa English and Elaine Frankonis and I'm sure there's other folks I'm leaving off my "wish list" but you get the idea. Thanks again to Jim and Julia for a wonderful time! Scroll down a bit to click on the link to pictures from the event.
This One's For Calpundit
The persuasive power of Kevin Drum never ceases to amaze. Because of his mention yesterday of my cat-blogging from last week as well as my job search, I got my highest one-day hit count ever. I figure 563 unique daily visitors may be just a drop in the bucket to someone whose comments sections can elicit over 100 responses per entry and who was ranked, last I looked, at #6 on The Truth Laid Bear's Ecosystem, but it's not something I'm used to at all. :) So, since I was out at the NY Bloggers gathering last night (about which more anon) and returned too tired to get anything else besides that picture page up, here's my belated Friday Cat Blogging TM Kevin Drum for the week. They're ready for their close-ups. On the left, Amy nestles quite comfortably inside my computer table's cubbyhole. On the right, I snapped the camera whilst holding Datsa and loved the way the extreme close-up of his head made his green eyes blue.
The persuasive power of Kevin Drum never ceases to amaze. Because of his mention yesterday of my cat-blogging from last week as well as my job search, I got my highest one-day hit count ever. I figure 563 unique daily visitors may be just a drop in the bucket to someone whose comments sections can elicit over 100 responses per entry and who was ranked, last I looked, at #6 on The Truth Laid Bear's Ecosystem, but it's not something I'm used to at all. :) So, since I was out at the NY Bloggers gathering last night (about which more anon) and returned too tired to get anything else besides that picture page up, here's my belated Friday Cat Blogging TM Kevin Drum for the week. They're ready for their close-ups. On the left, Amy nestles quite comfortably inside my computer table's cubbyhole. On the right, I snapped the camera whilst holding Datsa and loved the way the extreme close-up of his head made his green eyes blue.
Friday, October 10, 2003
BloggerCon, NY-Style
Just got back from the wonderful NY blogger gathering organized by (Philadelphian) Jim Capozzola and (Queens resident) Julia H, where Robin and I had a terrific time! I always like being able to put names to faces, and what with so many eloquent and fascinating folks the conversation flowed more than the alcohol! Here's a page of pictures. You'll have to guess who's who, I'm really really tired after two straight nights of insomnia and my brain isn't working. Present were Jim, Julia - along with her brother George, her husband John and her daughter Mary Rose - MadKane and hubby Mark, Mary Beth Williams (all the way down from Portland ME!), Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Seth Farber, Dwight Meredith of the much-missed PLA (all the way up from Georgia!), Dave Yaseen, and a number of folks not on my blogroll like Ryan and I apologize for neglecting to recall any other names but I really need to go to sleep now. Thank you again, Jim and Julia!
Just got back from the wonderful NY blogger gathering organized by (Philadelphian) Jim Capozzola and (Queens resident) Julia H, where Robin and I had a terrific time! I always like being able to put names to faces, and what with so many eloquent and fascinating folks the conversation flowed more than the alcohol! Here's a page of pictures. You'll have to guess who's who, I'm really really tired after two straight nights of insomnia and my brain isn't working. Present were Jim, Julia - along with her brother George, her husband John and her daughter Mary Rose - MadKane and hubby Mark, Mary Beth Williams (all the way down from Portland ME!), Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Seth Farber, Dwight Meredith of the much-missed PLA (all the way up from Georgia!), Dave Yaseen, and a number of folks not on my blogroll like Ryan and I apologize for neglecting to recall any other names but I really need to go to sleep now. Thank you again, Jim and Julia!
Bring It On, Bill
Very funny entry at the Mahablog featuring folks writing to challenge Bill O'Reilly's boorish behavior on Fresh Air. Update: Paul Krugman's article today is all about Lessons in Civility. Because, you know, liberals are ever so much ruder than conservatives, I guess...
Very funny entry at the Mahablog featuring folks writing to challenge Bill O'Reilly's boorish behavior on Fresh Air. Update: Paul Krugman's article today is all about Lessons in Civility. Because, you know, liberals are ever so much ruder than conservatives, I guess...
Another Reason to Go to Sleep After The Daily Show
NBC Supports the Politically Partisan Leno (by the way, I got to this one using my new Google toolbar, which I'm totally loving and which lets me search Google News and has a "Blog This" button which accesses my Blogger edit window instantly; trés convenient and yet another reason to stay with Blogger/Blogspot!)
NBC Supports the Politically Partisan Leno (by the way, I got to this one using my new Google toolbar, which I'm totally loving and which lets me search Google News and has a "Blog This" button which accesses my Blogger edit window instantly; trés convenient and yet another reason to stay with Blogger/Blogspot!)
How Can You Mend a Broken Heart
Via Julia H comes this link to a study where "Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles have discovered the human brain reacts to physical and emotional pain in the same way." This is not good news for someone like me whose first emotional reaction to new situations is usually panic, on top of being something of a hypochondriac as well. :)
Via Julia H comes this link to a study where "Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles have discovered the human brain reacts to physical and emotional pain in the same way." This is not good news for someone like me whose first emotional reaction to new situations is usually panic, on top of being something of a hypochondriac as well. :)
Fuller Frontline Story
Rob watched Truth, War & Consequences last night and thought it well worthwhile. He mentioned that, as of this weekend, you can watch the full program online here, including longer interviews than some of the snippets aired, and so you can. And later this morning (at 11 AM Eastern), the show's producer, writer and director Martin Smith will be live on washingtonpost.com to discuss the film.
Rob watched Truth, War & Consequences last night and thought it well worthwhile. He mentioned that, as of this weekend, you can watch the full program online here, including longer interviews than some of the snippets aired, and so you can. And later this morning (at 11 AM Eastern), the show's producer, writer and director Martin Smith will be live on washingtonpost.com to discuss the film.
The Fighting Jesus
Insomnia leads me back to the blogroll. Digby led me to this Salon article whose author seems to be channelling Leni Riefenstahl: "Californians...have elected as governor not a man but a symbol, a symbol of strength perfected by the will into a kind of triumphal capitalist beauty." Yawohl! Says Cary Tennis, "I have been thinking about Schwarzenegger as a man with the appeal of a violent Christ..." Hey, I was there when the SubGenius thought of that first...
Insomnia leads me back to the blogroll. Digby led me to this Salon article whose author seems to be channelling Leni Riefenstahl: "Californians...have elected as governor not a man but a symbol, a symbol of strength perfected by the will into a kind of triumphal capitalist beauty." Yawohl! Says Cary Tennis, "I have been thinking about Schwarzenegger as a man with the appeal of a violent Christ..." Hey, I was there when the SubGenius thought of that first...
Thursday, October 09, 2003
RIP Neil Postman
Found out via Atrios, who linked to this obit from the Toronto Star. Via Google's news site, here's the NY Times obit.
Found out via Atrios, who linked to this obit from the Toronto Star. Via Google's news site, here's the NY Times obit.
Cool Archaeology News
Via Trish Wilson, which led me to a Google news search: The remnants of a 6th century synagogue have been found in the Albanian coastal city of Saranda. Unfortunately, I can't get an English version of the press release on the Hebrew University's website and my Hebrew is way too rusty to do an effective search, so no pictures as of yet...
Via Trish Wilson, which led me to a Google news search: The remnants of a 6th century synagogue have been found in the Albanian coastal city of Saranda. Unfortunately, I can't get an English version of the press release on the Hebrew University's website and my Hebrew is way too rusty to do an effective search, so no pictures as of yet...
Say What?
Just when I thought I was getting the hang of Cockney rhyming slang, Gianna introduces me to Strine. I think my head may explode soon. (I wonder, has anyone made a list of all the translation-into-wacky-speech sites out there? What with Talk Cockney and the Shizzolator and the Splendidiser and, um, this, there must be dozens of fun sites out there based on Nick Donaldson's Universal Translator. Sounds like a job for an enterprising young linguist! Ah, I remember when I was one of those...) Update: Via PinkDreamPoppies at Ampersand's blog, this one translates perfectly good writing into meaningless babble.
Just when I thought I was getting the hang of Cockney rhyming slang, Gianna introduces me to Strine. I think my head may explode soon. (I wonder, has anyone made a list of all the translation-into-wacky-speech sites out there? What with Talk Cockney and the Shizzolator and the Splendidiser and, um, this, there must be dozens of fun sites out there based on Nick Donaldson's Universal Translator. Sounds like a job for an enterprising young linguist! Ah, I remember when I was one of those...) Update: Via PinkDreamPoppies at Ampersand's blog, this one translates perfectly good writing into meaningless babble.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Left Talk
The overwhelming victory of Ahnuld in the California gubernatorial recall election has many lefty bloggers quite upset. I was hoping against hope that the "no on recall" vote would pass, as Ahnuld's ascension would be meaningless had that happened, but I guess I'm not really surprised that he won. As Robin observed, people like to vote for a winner, and Ahnuld's public image has been that of a winner for a few decades now, despite (or perhaps, for some perverse supporters, because of) his propensity for sexual assault and other power trips. That doesn't make the voters idiots, at least not in my opinion. And can't we possibly make any cogent points about our disappointment with the outcome without calling them morons?
Over at TalkLeft, Jeralyn Merritt has the opposite situation - she writes of the election, among other things,
I guess this is understandable - after all, I too disagree with Jeralyn dismissively characterizing the public discussion of Schwarzenegger's criminal behavior once he declared his candidacy as a mere "smear campaign." I also disagree with her asking people to give her money or a computer so she can carry on her hobby, as well as with her deletion of my Labor Day comment taking her to task for same (prompting this), and hey, I even find her use of the first-person plural (the royal and/or editorial "We") pretentious. But you know something? TalkLeft isn't about me. It's about what Jeralyn finds important to discuss, and it's got at least one item that I find of vital interest just about every day. To me that's more than worth an occasional rolling of the eyes and shaking of the head. I guess every lefty blogger needs to decide things like this for him or herself, but various clichés leap to my mind involving forests and trees, babies and bathwater, and cutting off noses to spite faces, not to mention the immortal words of Frank 'N' Furter when Janet Weiss expressed a lack of attraction for men built like Der Terminator: "I didn't make him for you!" Not everything on TalkLeft is "for you" or for me, but I still find enough there that's "cherce" to retain Jeralyn on my blogroll for the foreseeable future.
Essentially, it's called agreeing to disagree.
Update: Some nice ruminations on the California recall election by Peter David and Barbara O'Brien and Julia H.
The overwhelming victory of Ahnuld in the California gubernatorial recall election has many lefty bloggers quite upset. I was hoping against hope that the "no on recall" vote would pass, as Ahnuld's ascension would be meaningless had that happened, but I guess I'm not really surprised that he won. As Robin observed, people like to vote for a winner, and Ahnuld's public image has been that of a winner for a few decades now, despite (or perhaps, for some perverse supporters, because of) his propensity for sexual assault and other power trips. That doesn't make the voters idiots, at least not in my opinion. And can't we possibly make any cogent points about our disappointment with the outcome without calling them morons?
Over at TalkLeft, Jeralyn Merritt has the opposite situation - she writes of the election, among other things,
Arnold gave a great victory speech. He reached out, he was sincere and he had a good message. And he had Maria, his biggest asset. We give his speech an A.Well, this engendered one of the more controversial backlash comments section I've seen in awhile, with at least three people informing her that her entry has led them to drop her from their blogrolls or un-bookmark TalkLeft.
He wanted this job, he campaigned like crazy for it, and he earned it. The good cheer on the stage was infectious. We hope he maintains his passion and does great things for the state of California. We know we'll disagree with him on certain issues, particularly his support for the repeal of the law granting drivers' licenses to undocumented residents, but there isn't any politician we'd agree with on every issue.
Finally, we're glad the smear campaign failed. It was irrelevant, trash politics. We're glad he won. Congratulations, Arnold, you earned this.
I guess this is understandable - after all, I too disagree with Jeralyn dismissively characterizing the public discussion of Schwarzenegger's criminal behavior once he declared his candidacy as a mere "smear campaign." I also disagree with her asking people to give her money or a computer so she can carry on her hobby, as well as with her deletion of my Labor Day comment taking her to task for same (prompting this), and hey, I even find her use of the first-person plural (the royal and/or editorial "We") pretentious. But you know something? TalkLeft isn't about me. It's about what Jeralyn finds important to discuss, and it's got at least one item that I find of vital interest just about every day. To me that's more than worth an occasional rolling of the eyes and shaking of the head. I guess every lefty blogger needs to decide things like this for him or herself, but various clichés leap to my mind involving forests and trees, babies and bathwater, and cutting off noses to spite faces, not to mention the immortal words of Frank 'N' Furter when Janet Weiss expressed a lack of attraction for men built like Der Terminator: "I didn't make him for you!" Not everything on TalkLeft is "for you" or for me, but I still find enough there that's "cherce" to retain Jeralyn on my blogroll for the foreseeable future.
Essentially, it's called agreeing to disagree.
Update: Some nice ruminations on the California recall election by Peter David and Barbara O'Brien and Julia H.
Meme Warfare
Two interesting articles brought to my attention this morning. Via an e-mail from Cat Simril Ishikawa, this Salon article about his longtime acquaintance Kalle Lasn and his latest venture in culture jamming. You probably know the drill - if you want to read the whole article you need to click through an ad to get a Salon Premium Day Pass, which today is sponsored by the good folks at The Well.
And speaking of shaking up memes, Neil Gaiman points to this great Bookslut column about comics by Karin Kross, which impressed me so much that I've added Karin's own blog to my Kultcha section on the sidebar. My favorite bit: she quotes some good comics reviews, and then notes that "in each case, the bad reputation of the comics form is brought up again, ostensibly with the intent of demolishing it by demonstrating that there really are good comics out there. This sort of thing has been going on since Art Spiegelman won the Pulitzer for Maus. (Which, mind you, was 11 years ago.) To these critics, and to all others who are listening, I have one thing to say. Stop it... please, please, I beg you, stop it already with the condescending asides like these here. They do not help. They only reinforce the idea that the comics form as a whole is unworthy of serious consideration." You go, Karin!
Two interesting articles brought to my attention this morning. Via an e-mail from Cat Simril Ishikawa, this Salon article about his longtime acquaintance Kalle Lasn and his latest venture in culture jamming. You probably know the drill - if you want to read the whole article you need to click through an ad to get a Salon Premium Day Pass, which today is sponsored by the good folks at The Well.
And speaking of shaking up memes, Neil Gaiman points to this great Bookslut column about comics by Karin Kross, which impressed me so much that I've added Karin's own blog to my Kultcha section on the sidebar. My favorite bit: she quotes some good comics reviews, and then notes that "in each case, the bad reputation of the comics form is brought up again, ostensibly with the intent of demolishing it by demonstrating that there really are good comics out there. This sort of thing has been going on since Art Spiegelman won the Pulitzer for Maus. (Which, mind you, was 11 years ago.) To these critics, and to all others who are listening, I have one thing to say. Stop it... please, please, I beg you, stop it already with the condescending asides like these here. They do not help. They only reinforce the idea that the comics form as a whole is unworthy of serious consideration." You go, Karin!
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