Pushing Upward

Every dog has his day, and a good dog might just have two days

2011-07-01T13:21:00.001-05:00

2011-06-24T13:30:00.000-05:00

Debtors' Prisons

2011-06-08T10:38:00.005-05:00

The best part about living in our panopticon, though, is how incompetent it is:

Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts as a S.W.A.T team barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.

. . .

As it turned out, the person law enforcement was looking for was not there - Wright's estranged wife.

Of course, accidents like this must be allowed when S.W.A.T. teams are looking for public threats, right?

The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife's defaulted student loans.

Just call it a "learning experience."

UPDATE: Dale! Cristina! Where did your story go? Alas, much like an h in Cristina's name, we can pretend it was never there. Commenters at Randy Balko's blog found these two articles, though.

Thinking Corporately

2011-06-08T10:03:00.003-05:00

I called attention to the phrase "think corporately" last post*, as I am obviously antagonistic to such an idea. Literally, the phrase can be benign, much like an enormous and unsightly growth protruding from your neck can be benign; you just might have to by slightly larger shirts. Anyway, here is a timely example of thinking corporately:

NBC lost about $200 million on the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and anticipates losing about $250 million on the 2012 Summer Games in London.
But that did not stop the new conglomerate of Comcast-NBC Universal from putting in a winning bid of $4.4 billion for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia; the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro; and the 2018 Winter and 2020 Summer Games, for which the host cities have not yet been determined.

*not really, but close enough.

Verbating

2011-06-08T09:12:00.003-05:00

In the middle of an article in the New Yorker about our wonderful panopticon, I see:

[General Michael Hayde, director of the NSA] then sent out an agency-wide memo, in which he warned that several “individuals, in a session with our congressional overseers, took a position in direct opposition to one that we had corporately decided to follow. . . .

Of course the decision was made "corporately." In 21st Century America, is there even an alternative to thinking corporately? Unorthodox vocabulary seems to be another trait of Men In Power (MIPs?):

Soon after he showed up, he says, Steven Tyrrell, the prosecutor, walked in and told him, “You’re screwed, Mr. Drake. We have enough evidence to put you away for most of the rest of your natural life.”

Mr. Drake will be a free cyborg, though. It is a tragedy, this failure of our legal system.

Never Happen Here

2011-05-27T15:38:00.001-05:00

Things are happening in Spain, but I guess it is the summer semester, as BLCKDGRD keeps saying, so only a few people are on campus.

Me accepting me

2011-05-27T13:11:00.002-05:00

Not sure why the clip cuts off so aburptly, but maybe it is just me. Via thecubsfan, I find a clip of Cassandro on a BBC morning show. Rihanna, minus her pants, was on Good Morning America this morning. Perhaps I should watch more television in the morning.

Clawing . . . Gasping

2011-05-27T11:10:00.003-05:00

Drowning in rain or withering in heat, death is upon us. Bleached bones of a faithful servant, long past useful. Like a Georgia O'Keefe: New Wu-Tang Clan album coming out next month.

Slag

2011-05-02T08:31:00.003-05:00

When some scary old guy is shot in the head, people have things to say and I wish I could also join in with something to say. Is it insightful to say "blah blah blah terrorism still?" I will, if needed. Some upper torso on the television was talking to a head. The two were discussing how the military (presumably they meant "soldiers in the military" but they said "military") felt about Osama's death, presumably unaware that the two of them were often referred to as "journalists" and have the entire information collecting apparatus of a large television network at their disposal. How is a rarely updated blog to compete?

Rock Bottom

2011-04-29T16:23:00.002-05:00

From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

A man seen in a YouTube video being beaten and sprayed with pepper spray by a St. Louis police officer has been charged with misdemeanor assault.

. . .

Joyce said what the video did not show was Ginger grabbing onto Ries's ankles and refusing to let go, even as Ries struck him on the legs with his baton. She said that is deserving of an assault charge, over resisting arrest.
"If you watch wrestling, that's a move that knocks people over," Joyce said.

If you watch wrestling, hopefully you know that the outcomes are predetermined, or as some would call it, rigged.

Dispatches from Beyond

2011-04-29T13:48:00.001-05:00

Argentinian electoral politics are the new craze, and our only hope for the future.

If Only I Were a Poet

2011-04-11T09:12:00.003-05:00

If I were a poet I could probably come up with some fitting verse about the beauty of this tractor, or maybe use the video to illustrate some point about the cruelty of our world. However, I am too busy for poetry, and too tired.

Bears repeating

2011-03-04T19:17:00.003-06:00

Really, it cannot be said enough that "our" government is speeding past the point of hypocrisy into a previously incomprehensible realm of pure contradiction.

On Wednesday, the Army announced 22 additional charges against Private Manning, including “aiding the enemy.”

The charge sheet did not explain who “the enemy” was. . .

I guess they know them when they see them. I await with some anticipation the new ground in legal thinking in which we are told that revealing the enemy aided will grant them further publicity, thus aiding them even more, so the prosecutor has a legal duty to not mention their name in court documents.

Who was the first human being to look out a window?

2011-02-25T18:00:00.002-06:00

I wrote this book for myself, and even that I can't be sure of.

- Roberto Bolano, in his introduction to Antwerp

Not having read anything but 2666 and a few short stories previously, I checked out a stack of Bolano's books a while ago, and just started reading them. Tragically, I seem to have chosen the best first. (it is the shortest)

2-line Movie Reviews #1: Monsters

2011-02-22T13:41:00.004-06:00

Gareth Edwards's Monsters is definitely not disaster-porn, and does an excellent job depicting real, human reactions (alongside institutional reactions) to impending apocalypse. It is, however, emotion-porn and the main characters drag it down into the contrived almost too often to be enjoyable.

Tyranny with style

2011-02-21T11:11:00.002-06:00

Eye of the Storm is correct to point out that reactive, repressive government responses are not limited to the Middle East, Africa or the Persian Gulf, or the rest of the world outside of China in general, but tell me China doesn't have a delicate style to their scenes of repression:

At one point, the police surrounded a young man who had placed a jasmine flower on a planter outside the McDonald’s, but he was released after the clamor drew journalists and photographers.

Also, is it hypocritical to wish his line about us (or U.S., if you prefer) harboring a just so secret desire to emulate China garnered further development?

Thought Clutter

2011-02-21T10:21:00.002-06:00

While I like the name of the blog, this post is not so much identifying any new emotions, much less *breathlessly* emotions created by the internet, as much as they are accounts of inner experiences, using previously existing emotions to describe new situations. Like, waiting for the bus is similar to waiting for the train is similar to waiting for the Pony Express is similar to waiting for returning Crusaders. Here is another "new" emotion: the aching knowledge that you need to come up with a pithy blog post to get Digg's attention to drive up GoogleAd rates.

You didn't have to tell it like it is!

2011-02-18T20:35:00.002-06:00

While I am busy making purposely inane predictions about a child's game turned national opiate, Feral Scholar connects the ~~dots~~ pyramids.

Baseball Predictions #1

2011-02-18T16:17:00.002-06:00

One of the most humanizing rituals in the world of sports punditry is the constant flood of predictions. There is, of course, the incessant augural columns on division and league winners, but sports seasons, and baseball in particular are long and full of all the mundaneness of any other aspect of life. This gives plenty of material for our syndicated seers to divine deep meanings from. So, in an effort to create without creativity, I will be making numerous and near-constant predictions on anything even tangentially related to baseball this 2011 season.

Baseball Prediction #1 - This was the biggest week of news for the St. Louis Cardinals.

First, a brief description of all the news:

1) Cardinals refuse/neglect/prove incompetent in their attempt to sign an extension for World's Greatest Baseball Player Albert Pujols. The local, daily mouthpiece of Cardinals' ownership has a few different deals supposedly offered, while a local radio gadfly reported the Cardinals presented a shockingly low offer.

2) Stan Musial is awarded the Medal of Freedom after a successful campaign by St. Louis sports fans, perhaps finally removing a humongous chip from their shoulder.

3) Jim Edmonds retires. The probably-not-a-Hall-of-Famer (unless there is a Hall of Fame of running into the outfield wall/diving onto the warning track) just signed a minor league deal to return to the Cardinals, but hurt his foot before reporting to spring training.

Any one of those three stories could have fueled the local media for at least a week. I think it is safe to say that no 7-day period will have three stories objectively (????) as big as this week. Even if you think "insulted free agent opts not to re-sign with cheapskate and chronically average team" is a big story, and it happens in the same week as a World Series victory, that is only 2 of 3.

Every clock I hang on my walls quickly grinds to a halt

2011-02-17T12:06:00.004-06:00

I used to blog (Digression: I hate that word as a verb. I know one should try to avoid hate, for a variety of reasons, and even then one should try to avoid hating the inconsequential, like words, but I hate that word as a verb.) about synchronicity. While reading this, I received an email referring to a class from 14 months ago as "upcoming." If only I would get such second-chances.

Anyway, in this present, I have to consistently remind myself that with age, wisdom does not come to all. Nearly everything I have written in the past seems putrid when I read it today. Vocabulary peacockery masquerading as insight. I still look back on the finality of the writer's block that hit me about 10 years ago with frustration, though. Every once and awhile a real gem would shine through, even if it were a brief clause. Was that all wasted time, though? I mean, I remember looking at beaches or mountains or simply the serene joy of riding a back around a foreign town without any worry of necessary appearances. Sometimes I, too, think 'i could have been writing or reading this or that.' I don't publicly flail myself for having such digressions, though. We live in an age of fetishes. Reading, formal education (and how to organize it), our own lives, etc. This list is as long as their are ideas. In my young age, with my gray hairs, I have learned that life is happiest not spent focusing too closely on what one is doing, rather than doing it. (with all connotations intended)

The Dude Abides

2011-02-16T10:06:00.004-06:00

One thing I like about 6thor7th and Rojonekku is that they are both blogs about normal people trying to maintain a grasp on humanity in an increasingly automated and digitized world. I guess it should come as no surprise, then, when Ethan acts like a human being.

Albertmageddon

2011-02-16T09:51:00.003-06:00

There is a certain logic to thinking that paying a (~~probably~~ possibly) 45 year old man $30 million to play baseball is crazy, but there is also logic behind the idea that it is nice to have the Best Player in Baseball on your team, and all money is fake so who cares anyway?

Don't want this.

Reading Recommendations

2011-02-16T09:00:00.002-06:00

Why wait for the new edition of The Revolution of Everyday Life? In fairness to the bizarre recommendation matrix Borders must use, one of those books is on my desk at this moment. I'm not very confident that I will "like" it.

Illuminating

2011-02-14T14:47:00.001-06:00

David Keene the founder and out-going chairman of C-PAC told the gathering that the most entertaining way to communicate the C-PAC messages of liberty, free enterprise and conservativism [sic] would be to simply have Ray Stevens sing all evening.

Undoubtedly.

Strikeforce 2/12/11 Recap

2011-02-14T08:33:00.002-06:00

The craggy Urals
drowning in sticky red blood.
This is Fedor's face.

(Link may be NSFW. It is kind of bloody.)

A further thought

2011-02-11T18:43:00.003-06:00

Then again, Obama, if we are to judge him by his public statements, does seem to honestly believe that the replacement of a MBA-carrying, self absorbed, power worshiping, ultimately timid and uncaring despot with a J.D.-carrying, self absorbed, power worshiping, ultimately timid and uncaring despot through establishment and establishment-serving mechanisms was some revolutionary moment in history, or History even. I can imagine that, in that mindset, a revolution in favor of wage-slavery seems entirely plausible.

Late to the party

2011-02-11T18:38:00.003-06:00

At least I am not so tone deaf:

I'm also confident that the same ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit that the young people of Egypt have shown in recent days can be harnessed to create new opportunity, jobs and businesses that allow the extraordinary potential of this generation to take flight.

I'm also confident that the same ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit that the young people of Egypt have shown in recent days will not find adequate expression working in call centers, or whatever the president ~~thinks~~ hopes is going to happen there.

2011-02-09T09:44:00.003-06:00

From The Museum of Eterna's Novel (The First Good Novel) by Macedonio Fernandez

The moment the reader falls into Hallucination, that ignominy of Art, I have lost rather than gained a reader. What I want is something very different, which is to win him over as a character, so that for an instant he believes that he himself does not live. This is the emotion for which he should thank me, since until now no one has thought of procuring it for him.

But what is the book? The City of Dreadful Night? William Skidelsky doesn't like biopics or bio-pics, although I'm not entirely sure why. Is "fictionalizing" history that abhorrent? If so, is it more or less abhorrent than "fictionalizing" the present? Mankind has always harbored a great number of fools and morons, and current trends in revisionist history-as-entertainment are unlikely to have any noticeable effect on this particular trait of our species.

An option: read good novels and enjoy them. Think about how they affect your day. Maybe even decide to view each coming day through the lens of a beloved book. Today is The Trial and tomorrow is Grendel.

Evolution

2011-01-27T12:37:00.003-06:00

At first I was like:

But then I was like:

More Bread!

2011-01-26T14:40:00.002-06:00

In political action inspired by the people in Tunisia, Egyptians get in on the bread and protest craze! More photos here.

This guy

2011-01-26T10:37:00.002-06:00

This guy is the best. In the U.S., he would have instantly been shot for brandishing a loaf of bread in such a threatening manner. It is the price of freedom. Hopefully the Tunisians do not have to learn this. Here is an amazing collection of photographs taken in Tunisia recently.

Worries assuaged; Math problems persist

2011-01-26T09:41:00.004-06:00

In case you thought the U.S. military forgot its compassionate side:

On Monday, U.S. military officials also strongly denied allegations that Manning, being held in connection with the WikiLeaks' release of classified documents, has been "tortured" and held in "solitary confinement" without due process. . . He is confined to his single-person cell 23-hours per day, permitted one hour to exercise, permitted reading material and given one hour per day to watch television.

See? Not torture.

2011-01-19T10:38:00.004-06:00

As always, our poor children:

Growing numbers of students are sent to college at increasingly higher costs, but for a large proportion of them the gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and written communication are either exceedingly small or empirically nonexistent. . . They might graduate, but they are failing to develop the higher-order cognitive skills that it is widely assumed college students should master.

Widely assumed? Even accepting that, whatever shall we do? How can we possibly make every college graduate as smart as the author of this paper, who seems mystified that college graduates are often dunces and that the college diploma is a just a license to work in an office, rather than at McDonald's? It is a dilemma.

EDIT: I should point out that Exhibit A uses this paper to take a pot-shot at people majoring in business & education (If bolding a line in a quote can be read as an endorsement), in the midst of posts about business and education.

Cold Gettin' Dumb

2011-01-14T14:43:00.003-06:00

“I believe that if Dr. King were alive today, he would recognize that we live in a complicated world, and that our nation's military should not and cannot lay down its arms and leave the American people vulnerable to terrorist attack,”

All The News That's Fit For Large Print

2011-01-12T09:20:00.003-06:00

Reminder: the New York Times is the print equivalent of Pat Boone's No More Mr. Nice Guy.

However, I do enjoy living in the 1890s thru 1910s. International Anarchist Syndicates are detonating bombs in Europe and Nihilism is corrupting American youth.

No New Movies in Hollywood

2011-01-10T08:55:00.002-06:00

Has anybody seen this movie? I thought it was popular, but it seems like nobody has seen it before. Or, maybe there is some newer remake starring G. Gordon Liddy as Travis Bickle where where his apartment walls are covered with Wall Street Journal editorial pages. "Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take the marginal tax rate anymore."

At least not at Christmastime

2010-12-17T16:50:00.003-06:00

Via Stumplane, a "bad Santa" gets control of Harrods's (a department store of some sort, I presume) light display. Is it mandatory they find a Midwestern American to supply the appropriately austere quote:

“Honestly, I am disgusted, ” said Irene Rider, 59, from Gary, Indiana. “I was with my grandchildren. We had just gotten off the bus. I said ‘look everybody’ and pointed up to the lights – but you know what the lights said? They said f**k off. And that is not an appropriate message for a child. At least not at Christmastime.”

Maybe on Easter?

Frownland

2010-12-17T15:51:00.003-06:00

Not to steal BLCKDGRD's gimmick, but it seems that Captain Beefheart has died. IOZ posts Bach, I'll post Beefheart:

Appropriate

2010-12-16T12:09:00.003-06:00

IOZ continues to document the prevalence of sadomasochism on the internet.

Trouble

2010-12-14T13:28:00.002-06:00

Reviewing my notes in preparation of my oft-delayed final, I come across my notes on the beloved Contracts Clause:

Hey, CC! What's going on?
Oh, word? That is cold blooded, CC! You know, my cousin was in a similar situation, where he thought he had a dope job at this warehouse uptown, near the river. It turned out that the whole thing was some front for a slave-prostitution ring! Now, I know my cousin has done some ill shit in his day, so it seems a bit funny that he would have no idea what was actually going down at that place, but I'll believe him when he tells me that he didn't. Anyways, the whole place got shut down. He said he was pulling up to work one day, and saw cops everywhere, arresting people and shit, so he just left.

As above, so below

2010-12-03T18:20:00.003-06:00

Our haute couture high-priests at NASA did not discover an alien life-form, or even a life-form that is created from completely alien material, what it found was a life-form that can eat trash.

Formative Years

2010-12-03T17:12:00.003-06:00

I believe this was the first issue of Mad Magazine I ever read. I have vague memories of seeing this issue, but I am pretty sure I saw the Batman issue first. September 1989 would indicate that my development in these matters may have been a little slow (I was 8 then), but I suppose I still turned out alright.

Spend more working hours here.

Shocked into speech

2010-12-01T14:38:00.003-06:00

I thought about even deleting this blog. I should have.

US Marines Shrug Off Afghan Anger at Civilian Killings

Indeed, tribal elders regularly complain to the Marines about the killings. Officials said no investigations would be taken on the basis of the elders complaints, and said the fact that the elders haven’t been killed by the Taliban was “proof” that they were in league with the Taliban and the complaints were a trick.

Proof. It's a fact. Look it up. I don't even like Kids in the Hall, but the horror of this story has thrust them back into my mind.

It's a mad house! A mad house!

2010-11-19T17:16:00.002-06:00

John Cole seems to think that Matt Taibbi is the sane one in a mad world because he "looks around him and reacts to evidence and data." If 40% of Taibbi's electorate really are crazy, is it really sane to keep arguing with them?

Funhouse Mirrors

2010-11-04T10:35:00.003-05:00

Via the ever amusing Balloon Juice, here is an excerpt from an editorial at Esquire:

The problem is that one side plays by its own rules in a universe of its own devising, with its own physical laws, its unique economics, and its own history and theology, and that universe is now devouring the real one.

*GASP* There is a monster in that mirror!

Most Important Election Ever - The Results Are In!

2010-11-03T10:44:00.003-05:00

As predicted, votes were cast and buttons were worn. People on television continue to say things. If you have a job, you probably had to get up and go to work this morning. Maybe not, though. As the most important election ever (yet), the results will have a huge impact on everything from how many people the U.S. will kill today to the price of tea in China:

Reaction across Asia to the U.S. elections on Wednesday was muted . . .

Or, maybe not.

2 + 2 = 5

2010-10-29T13:07:00.002-05:00

Why wait until the election is over? Via BLCKDGRD, I see that the nightmare ray is already up and running. Ian Welsh is right, the next four years likely will play out like that, no matter which team is involved. This is not "San Francisco will clown on Texas," it is "Whomever wins the World Series will play at least 35 1/2 innings of baseball."

Spooky Halloween Costume #4 - The World Series Without New York (or similar television markets)

2010-10-28T10:08:00.002-05:00

A ghost of a zombified ghoul. Do they even have televisions in Texas? San Francisco? Is that really a city, or just a boogieman created by Ralph Reed? Who could possibly have known that baseball teams existed outside of Boston and New York? Even if you did know, would you want to watch a baseball game that does not prominently feature Taco Bell spokespeople?

2010-10-28T10:03:00.002-05:00

BLCKDGRD says "I will be glad when it's next Wednesday." Of course, this could just be the result of a disturbingly cheery outlook of life, or maybe he is just excited about the DVD release of an old made-for-TV movie starring Mr. T, but, given the context of his post, I think I can assume he will is growing weary of being told how important it is he votes on Tuesday, and Wednesday will represent the end of this tirade. It won't. Of course, being told to vote will momentarily subside, but it will be replaced. The chattering classes will not stop, and their parasitic ideas will still infect the brains of seemingly normal people who will become disturbed and terrified by one Republican after another. My prediction: liberals will be upset by one Congressional investigation after another, complaining about how hard it is for poor Mr. Obama to accomplish anything now. "Cognitive dissonance" will became the slightly misunderstood phrase of the day. And nobody will even notice that the Giants beat the Rangers.

Spooky Halloween Costume #3 - Life Under a Republican Congress

2010-10-28T07:51:00.002-05:00

Sort of the gorgon sister to the Medusa of our last costume. Can you even imagine what life would be like with a Republican dominated Congress? Among the many horrors we may endure are wars, both overt and covert, increasing government interference with individual liberties, an escalation of deportation, and shitty Batman movies. Truly a nightmare world.

EDIT: Added link.

Spooky Halloween Costume #2 - Guy Without Health Insurance

2010-10-27T14:30:00.002-05:00

A modern twist on the centuries-old legend of the vampire, Guy Without Health Insurance is a similar ghoul that presents a charming, almost comforting facade which hides the monstrosity that lurks beneath. Therein lies the true horror of such a creature: they may look and act just like us, but underneath the almost too-human characteristics resides a monster that refuses to work at a menial, soul-crushing position for the benefit of joining some sort of sick lottery that only pays out if you suffer a catastrophic injury or contract some little known disease. Thankfully, a Democratic Congress and President were able to band together and strike back at this beast, and all it took was an even larger increase in the insurance premiums for the rest of us!

Spooky Halloween Costume #1 - Blown Calls in Sporting Events

2010-10-27T08:43:00.004-05:00

An ever present nightmare for sports fans around the world, or at least those paid to make noise over radio waves, Blown Calls in Sporting Events represent the perfect storm of our 21st century fears: incompetent authority mixed with a denial of technology. The only method of defeating such a monstrosity is almost too painful to even contemplate: accepting that accidents happen and that IT IS JUST A GAME!

2010-10-18T14:32:00.002-05:00

Again with the IOZ:

Somebody at SMBIVA criticizes anarchy, sort of using IOZ (or, at least words that IOZ chose to put on his blog) as a starting point/almost an example, which prompts IOZ to respond, which prompts comments along the lines of both "why are mommy and daddy yelling?" mixed with "why would two people want to spend time exchanging ideas with one another?"

Is this a product of our catering-to-the-individual consumer culture, or has heated discussion always been frowned upon as a "legitimate" pastime?

I'm a wanted man

2010-10-12T15:19:00.003-05:00

IOZ is responsible for this, and of course uses the best line as his post title. If anything sums up how I feel on almost a daily basis, it is the final line: "Play Renegade or something, I've got to get myself together."

Bacon's Man

2010-10-07T11:44:00.002-05:00

The 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa. As swine, I am unfamiliar with his work, but Scott Horton just published Bacon's Man on his blog. I am relatively unmoved by prestige of a Nobel Prize, but if the rest of his work is as juicy as that piece, I may have to take a bite.

!!!

Mummies

2010-10-07T11:16:00.002-05:00

If I were a mummy I would be very frustrated with the lack of respect I receive. Vampires and werewolves seem to remain popular. Mummy popularity has definitely waned, perhaps to an all-time low. Pharaohs used to be very popular people, which is easy to understand given that they built impossible structures and snake-fought Moses and talked with extraterrestrials. Mummies used to live in what are now museums, and now live in what are museums. People used to travel to see them, and were presumably impressed by what they saw. People now travel to see mummies, and are presumably impressed by what they see. Every time I see a mummified Egyptian I am impressed by how small they are, and also remember hearing that Cleopatra was really not attractive, although that may have been Roman propaganda that has survived the decline of their empire, albeit without the mummies.

Never Forget

2010-09-14T12:25:00.000-05:00

Regressions

2010-08-20T10:06:00.002-05:00

Via IOZ (as always), if you think reading a NY Times article about "20-somethings" and the difficulties they face is akin to Viet Cong torture, make sure to avoid the NY Times' 20-something year old kids talking about said article. I mean, Ipads actually make life more complicated, you know? I mean, maybe it is harder being torn between "conservative values" and casual sex than being literally torn apart by robots raining missiles on my village? Maybe it is because I am about to leave my 20-somethings (and really, comparing my situation as a 29 year old to that of a 20 or 21 year old is really ludicrous on its face) that I feel so little sympathy for the closeted and comfortable children of our elites who are looked upon as indicative of an entire age group, but maybe, instead of wasting time and our world's increasingly depleting resources on such inanities the Times could write about something a bit more pertinent? Like, bee beards?

2010-08-17T13:25:00.002-05:00

Via ladypoverty, here is Dick Armey's Tea Party Manifesto:

The criteria for membership are straightforward: Stay true to principle even when it proves inconvenient, be assertive but respectful, add value and don't taking credit for other people's work. Our community is built on the Trader Principle: We associate by mutual consent, to further shared goals of restoring fiscal responsibility and constitutionally limited government. These were the principles that enabled the Sept. 12, 2009 taxpayer march on Washington to be one of the largest political protests in the history of our nation's capital.

This is fine and all, and especially appreciated coming from a former political office holder, but why must the Tea Party declare war on English?

2010-08-16T15:32:00.003-05:00

Of course, initial reports were misleading, at best:

President Obama has abolished the position in his White House dedicated to transparency and shunted those duties into the portfolio of a partisan ex-lobbyist who is openly antagonistic to the notion of disclosure by government and politicians.

Anyway, BLCKDGRD points me to two posts from The Anti-Moderate. The 2nd, chronologically speaking, says

In other words, if you can find another, better way to publish some idea — publish it that way. And if you have something that can’t be published any other way — before you publish it on your blog make sure you ask yourself if it should be published at all.

Yeah! This internet has too much crap on it! The 1st post details what some stupid blog idea of the author's would contain. Lists! Speaking of lists, IOZ notes this list of overrated authors. Amy Tan! Mary Oliver! Way to take down those sacred cows!

(Could I have found a better way to publish this idea? Is this even an idea? If it is an idea, is the internet even a good place to put ideas?)

Small pleasures for a working stiff

2010-08-13T12:01:00.002-05:00

While articles about just how hard it is to get paid well while propping up a dawdling empire (sort of a sociopath Reginald Jeeves) tend to escalate the blood pressure, I am glad for the aesthetic components of sentences like

Norm Eisen, the White House ethics czar, has been nominated as ambassador to the Czech Republic

if nothing else.

Vuvuzela Revolution

2010-08-12T09:58:00.002-05:00

Let a thousand vuvuzelas bloom:

When I was 19 or whatever, I bought The Carnival. My reaction was "ok, what?" Then I bought Ghetto Superstar, and did not think The Carnival was that bad any longer. Anyway, Wyclef has made a career making derivative and mundane music that the NPR set can safely digest. See this, for example. Hip-hop is best when it incorporates and transforms existing elements, not when it blandly spits them back out. See:

2010-08-10T12:23:00.002-05:00

The 39-year-old, originally from Belgrade, passionately believes units of information – not particles – are the building blocks of humanity and everything that surrounds us.

But fear not: he is "a quantum physicist at the universities of Oxford and Singapore." Rather than some lunatic, of course. Snark aside, I have wrested enjoyment out of many a perfectly miserable day by getting high and reading yet not quite understanding these theoretical explanations of reality. I love how once every 3 months or so "real" scientists occassionally pop into the press and tickle our brains with these sorts of theories. I also love how GoogleMan's statements seem to indicate that we are creating a new InfoGod every few days.

Reading Lessons

2010-08-09T10:23:00.002-05:00

Here is a nice, short essay about e. e. cummings. It seems to imply that cummings is somewhat neglected in the literature world. I have no way of verifying this, and even if I agreed I'm sure somebody that disagreed could provide ample evidence contrariwise. Regardless, cummings is one of my favorite poets, and just over the weekend I glanced at a used Complete Works of e. e. cummings. Years ago, I briefly kept a blog about synchronicity. Anyway, IOZ questions the Times' reading comprehension, and wonderfully so.

Fuck Off Friday #1

2010-08-06T09:18:00.002-05:00

It's Friday; fuck it.

2010-08-04T13:38:00.002-05:00

Scott Horton brings my attention to this article about why a society must be judgmental about certain actions. In the article, Berkowitz laments our lost ability to label an action as right or wrong, using the current President's failure to prosecute the previous administration's torturers, the inability of news outlets to use the word torture lest they appear judgmental and the rise of plea bargains and mandatory sentencing in criminal trials as evidence of this lost ability. While all of these may be regrettable developments, I do not think our society has lost the ability to judge the behavior of others. In fact, these seem to illustrate that society has passed judgment on such behavior: it is OK to get caught up in a nationalistic fervor and torture people in the name of national security, news outlets are to serve as PR machines for the ruling classes and nobody likes to serve on juries. I remain somewhat sympathetic to Berkowitz's point of view, but it strikes me as hopelessly naive. In a culture that demands an exact, scientific approach to children's games, literature appreciation and all other matters that used to enjoy a grey area, it should not be surprising that we demand the same automization of our criminal procedures. Efficiency is key, not results.

Lucha in the afternoon #4 Black Terry & Negro Navarro vs. Solar & Mano Negra

2010-07-31T14:17:00.002-05:00

This is probably from 2007, but I'm not certain of the exact date.

Haiku

2010-07-30T08:39:00.003-05:00

Poetry and Power share
the same preference:
delivery, not content.

Lucha in the afternoon #3 Brazos vs. Los Tres Fantasticos

2010-07-28T13:22:00.000-05:00

The Brazos (El Brazo, Brazo de Plata and Brazo de Oro) vs. Los Tres Fantasticos (Kung Fu, Black Man, Kato Kung Lee)

Not sure of the date.

Noise

2010-07-27T08:20:00.002-05:00

Nobody likes noise. Nobody likes noise. Nobody likes noise.

2010-07-22T09:18:00.003-05:00

This glowing orb is the lobster-like, deep-sea amphipod Phronima, which produces a barrel-shaped, gelatinous home around itself.

Of course he does. Who wouldn't? Harper's daily Links post led me to some amazing creatures, and a new way of looking at fruit. Phil, at Segunda Caida, seems to have discovered some new cache of old wrestling videos on the internet. If only I could discover some time.

A Saviory

2010-07-21T09:56:00.006-05:00

Potential good news in the world of vuvuzela acceptance:

Teen sensations Brenda Song and Justin Bieber have reportedly inked a major endorsement deal with an upcoming candy in the works.
The candy the sensational young stars have supposedly agreed to endorse is the tentatively titled, Vuvuzela Balls, which is yet to be released.

The bold was in the original article. Will this be the vuvuzela's Sun City? Probably not. Rather than glibly pass along some stupid news article/press release, I actually followed the story back to its source.

The source of the story is not even a boring press release, but instead what appears to be a 21st Century Howl:

Teen sensations Brenda Song and Justin Bieber have agreed to appear in a commercial for the new candy called Vuvuzela Balls.

The bite size sweet morsels taste a little bit like M&Ms except more chocolaty, shell-less, and a little bit noisier.

The candy was developed by Hans Von Stuppenhauser, a German candy confectioner who lives in Pittsburgh.

But who was born in a German Concentration Camp, Stalag 7713. Von Stuppenhauser has been credited with inventing other candies.

Such as Gummy Skunks, Jolly Farmer, Hot Damn Tamales, and Raisinets on A Stick. In the commercial for Vuvuzela Balls, Brenda is shown wearing a tiny little bitty shocking pink bikini.

And Justin is shown wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs official swimsuit. The happy teenage couple is walking along the beach.

At Pensacola, Florida. Suddenly Brenda comes upon a Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Tar Ball. She bends down to pick it up thinking that it is a big chocolate ball.

Justin slaps her hand just as Brenda is about to put the damn tar ball in her mouth. He tells her not to eat it because it’s a friggin tar ball and not an edible chocolate ball. In the next scene Brenda and Justin are shown riding a golf cart along Pensacola Beach and passing out samples of Vuvuzela Balls to the scantily clad young teenage girls.

Greatest minds of some generation, at least. Here is the better A.U.A.A. track:

2010-07-20T08:24:00.003-05:00

I am fairly certain that some people read an article about a man "hallucinating" clowns attacking his house, and chuckle about people daring to diverge from consensus reality. I read the story and worry about my future. Perhaps the only thing more frightening than clowns attacking your family would be if nobody else could see them.

The Taste, The Portions

2010-07-14T14:06:00.003-05:00

I cannot think of one consistent principle I could adhere to without any sort of caveat. Well, except for this:

2010-07-14T10:05:00.001-05:00

2010-07-13T12:21:00.004-05:00

BLKDGRD said we live in Moronistan. He is right. If Joan Walsh was really an "editor and a writer," one imagines she would be familiar with comparisons, whether metaphorical or via some other method, and what they are commonly used to express. Instead, she gives us so many words about whether Lebron James is really a slave or not (spoiler: not really, but kind of?). The Big Lead was just lamenting the lack of sports things to talk about at this time of year, seemingly oblivious to the opportunity to exercise silence. Anyway, here's IOZ on the press's role in our lives, and a short review of John Carpenter's They Live.

2010-07-13T09:34:00.002-05:00

British Scientists are concerned about shrimp that are ingesting Prozac (or becoming "hooked" on it, according to the headline) and are then unconcerned about avoiding predators. The article does not mention if they are concerned about this behavior in other animals exposed to Prozac.

New World Order - Same as the Old World Order

2010-07-12T10:20:00.004-05:00

Some ~~literary website~~ website about books is starting a project to read "difficult" books. Like others, I've never quite understood this idea of reading something that you don't enjoy. I also don't understand the idea of "difficult" books. There are words on a page. Read them. If they do not make sense, read them again. If they continue to not make sense, move on to the next set of words, if they were enjoyable. If they were not enjoyable, put them down and move on with your life.

In other news about people unable to enjoy activities without some ulterior motive, Roy Edroso captures some conservatives' reactions and over-reactions to the recently ended World Cup. I did not think of myself as much of a soccer fan when this began, but then I realized that soccer is fairly boring, and I like boring things. I also love vuvuzelas. Putting aside opinions about soccer itself, is there anything more loathsome and juvenile than sports radio hosts relishing in delight as they explain that they don't pay attention to soccer? These are the same people that cover golf - a game that business men get drunk and make deals over - as if it were the height of athletic endeavors. I understand that their boss probably enjoys it, but they (in this case, certain voices on FM 101.1 WXOX) cover it with a zeal that betrays indifference on their part. Anyway, returning to the question: is there anything more embarrassing than grown men relishing sticking out their tongues and yelling "no" just to get a reaction out of the rest of the world? Yes. It is the city of Cleveland throwing a collective tantrum over a basketball player signing a contract with a new team.

2010-07-09T14:24:00.001-05:00

But who will play Jericho?

2010-07-09T10:29:00.003-05:00

In the UAE, the vuvuzela has been restricted. Is this because of possible connections between the vuvuzela and the shofar?

Misunderestimated

2010-07-07T15:04:00.001-05:00

Do not assume you know what the research behind the Dunning-Kruger Effect really shows, lest you prove it true.

The B-Boy King

2010-07-07T12:21:00.003-05:00

ESPN's Adam Schefter says Lebron James's press conference tomorrow evening will be one of those "I remember where I was" moments. First, a quick list of "I remember where I was" moments that I have memories of:

The Space Shuttle Challenger exploding

The student demonstrators in Tianenmmen Square

The Berlin Wall falling

The attacks on the World Trade Center

Truly an athlete signing some ridiculous contract belongs in such company. Schefter's regretable comparison could be explained away as a company man trying to drum up ratings for his network (as I presume ESPN will be airing the pronouncement in its entirety. King James, indeed) were it not such a common trope for media weasels of all stripes to use. Similar to facebook's usurpation of actual contact, the media seems to feel that it much easier to tell us that whatever they are meekly relating back to us is "history" (as opposed to the future, I suppose) and we should pay extra close attention to it. I am not sure, so I would have to ask Ted Koppel, but did the Greatest Generation need to be told "listen up, this is important" when they heard Pearl Harbor had been attacked? Now that I think about it, how did they even know it happened without Twitter?

For the Children, of course

2010-07-07T12:12:00.001-05:00

Of course vuvuzelas are being used to smuggle drugs. Of course.

Lucha in the afternoon #2 Fishman vs. Mascara Sagrada

2010-07-07T12:09:00.002-05:00

Fishman vs. Mascara Sagrada, mascara contra mascara, from August 27, 2000, at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.

Shhh

2010-07-07T10:10:00.002-05:00

I work in a library. It is the noisiest job I have held. It is probably because I work for peanuts.

Catching up

2010-07-06T12:21:00.002-05:00

Brock won, America/the police state won. Vuvuzela Bolero does not result in any deaths.

Lucha in the afternoon #1 Fishman vs. La Parka

2010-07-01T14:34:00.003-05:00

Fishman vs. La Parka (now known as LA Park)

I think this is the February 2, 1996 match, from Queretaro. Fishman's second is Juventud Guerrera, and La Parka's is Rey Mysterio Jr.

2010-07-01T08:11:00.003-05:00

Ethan at 6th or 7th captures Digby's satori. In doing so, he references this post at A Tiny Revolution about money and debt-reduction being more important to some than actual human beings. Broadsnark then links to an article about the increasing reliance and enjoyment of drone warfare by roughly the same crowd, or their friends at the very least, with this choice quote:

"Valor to me is not risking your life," the colonel told the reporter. "Valor is doing what is right. Valor is about your motivations and the ends that you seek. It is doing what is right for the right reasons. That to me is valor."

UPDATE: Why not just militarize everybody? Since we have Twitter and Facebook, Afghanistan may as well be next door:

Department of Defense Directive 1404.10, dated January 23, 2009, set up a "Civilian Expeditionary Workforce" that would "be organized, trained, cleared, equipped, and ready to deploy in support of combat operations by the military; contingencies; emergency operations; humanitarian missions; disaster relief; restoration of order; drug interdiction; and stability operations."

For those of you without a calendar handy, Barack Obama took office on January 20, 2009. I guess he quickly got the hang of the job.

2010-06-30T13:33:00.001-05:00

Vuvuzelas are banned from UFC 116 this Saturday.

As the world prepares for the greatest heavyweight title fight of the past two decades, the Ultimate Fighting Championship® made a stunning announcement today that will undoubtedly have a global impact.

Undoubtedly, as the rest of the world was apparently unaware that white males without any channels to properly funnel their aggression find vuvuzelas annoying.

Go Brock!

RELATED:

Lessons learned

2010-06-30T12:59:00.000-05:00

http://www.stltoday.com/news/us/article_bcbfb703-8462-52f6-a9fe-c244042809d4.html

Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the police sergeant who arrested him last July after a confrontation outside his home both missed opportunities to "ratchet down" the situation and end things more calmly, according to a review of the case released Wednesday.

Perhaps Gates simply could not reach the opportunity, as his hands were restrained.

The report suggests that Crowley could have more clearly explained what he was doing and why he was doing it, especially after being shown Gates' license and university ID. For his part, Gates could have used a more respectful tone to address the officer.

Of course! If only people were not so rude to police officers, we would not have an incarceration rate comparable to that of Rura Penthe. For what it's worth, the report is available here, although I cannot fathom a crime horrendous enough to warrant reading this as punishment.

Information Clutter

2010-06-30T11:08:00.000-05:00

This:

is exactly what is wrong with our "information culture."

2010-06-30T10:48:00.000-05:00

Tyler Cowen, at Marginal Revolution:

I do not see why we are discussing [proposed/rumored cuts in government spending, and correlations with similar government policy moves in the 1930s, as mentioned in this NY Times article] without placing monetary policy at the center of the analysis.

Perhaps I should just link to this article in every post? Perhaps we should also place our government's fondness for expensive jaunts through foreign lands in our discussion, too. Perhaps, and this may be extreme, but perhaps we should finally realize that making stupid decisions in one realm of life may have consequences throughout our entire life.

2010-06-30T08:29:00.000-05:00

Reader, Mark Derry is saying that you are not really my friend, at least in the classical sense of the word. He also says that nothing need be tweeted right away. But wait! Here is A.J. Jacobs, about to embark on the journey of actually telling the truth (who does such an abhorrent thing anymore?), and telling us all about it! Trying to reconcile the two: why would I want to tell the truth if nobody knew I did? What Would Jesus Tweet?

I have my qualms about society's need/demand to be constantly connected, but I am a crank. To that end: while I find the ever-connected somewhat vacuous and creepy, the opposite side of the coin, be it neo-conservatives celebrating their "slow-food" meals as a novel concept or Organic-fetishists can be equally abhorrent. I like to think that normal people know that the Internet is primarily a place to waste time while at work, and actually can look their family in the eye when at home. While I cannot provide the news from 100 years ago, I do swear to never be the first to bring anything to your attention!

An Average Bear

2010-06-30T07:32:00.000-05:00

At Stop Me Before I Vote Again, Michael Smith posts a story about a bear biting a man in Kentucky, and the resultant nannying of the state. Smith concludes with [spoiler]:

I think the bear was an exceptionally good bear, and ought to get the Ursine Medal Of Honor.

Maybe, but what is his batting average?

Lie Games

2010-06-30T07:21:00.000-05:00

Russians living in America were asked to write essays about American politics for the Russian government, but who isn't looking for an excuse to conjure images of Boris & Natasha?

2010-06-29T14:41:00.000-05:00

Arthur Sibler has an excellent post on "l'affair Wiegel," in which he links to Marc Ambinder's post on the same subject. All of this is very inside baseball, with a case of characters that would shame the rogue's gallery that is the Baseball Hall of Fame, but Sibler extracts a telling quote from Ambinder's post:

[The listserv in which the entire tryst started is/was a] members-only coffee shop where people who take ideas seriously, who want access to people who take ideas seriously, could test their own ideas before they refined and presented them to the public.

Sibler comments on the obvious delusions of a personality that would say such a thing. I merely pass along this article, which seems to hold similar insights.

The Beginning Part

2010-06-29T09:27:00.000-05:00

Here are some other blogs I like to read:

Who Is IOZ?

BLCKDGRD

ladypoverty

Segunda Caida

The Cubsfan's Luchablog

This humble blog will attempt to continue the fine tradition of lamenting humanity's humanity, grousing about baseball and enjoying high and low art. My goal is to attract some readers that will both boost my ego and introduce other distractions into my life.