Some more satirical posters...
This blogger has created some entertaining posters about a certain voting manufacturer who Shall Not Be Named.
Considering said company's track record of using "aggressive interpretations" of the DMCA and other intellectual property laws to silence criticism, one wonders how long the page will be up.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
BlöödHag
This band has been mentioned several times on the LU list. Anyone out there heard them, or know anything about them?
This band has been mentioned several times on the LU list. Anyone out there heard them, or know anything about them?
Am I Blue?
Nope.
What Color is Your Brain?
brought to you by Quizilla
Nope.
What Color is Your Brain?
brought to you by Quizilla
At work or in school: I work best by myself. I like to focus on my ideas until my desire for understanding is satisfied. I am easily bored if the subject holds no interest to me. Sometimes, it is hard for me to set priorities because so many things are of interest.Link shamelessly stolen from Lady Crumpet.
With friends: I may seem reserved. Although my thoughts and feelings run deep, I am uneasy with frequent displays of emotion. I enjoy people who are interesting and of high integrity.
With family: I am probably seen as a loner because I like a lot of private time to think. Sometimes, I find family activities boring and have difficulty following family rules that don't make sense to me. I show love by spending time with my family and sharing ideas and interests.
Perhaps the third time will be the charm
The Oxford American, the self-styled "Southern magazine of good writing", which has already used up two of its designated number of lives, announces that it is once again back in publication, this time in association with the University of Central Arkansas. The New York Times seems to be growing sarcastic about their on-again, off-again existence, though:
Here's the dealbreaker: will there be any more Music Issues?
Editorial note, 6/2/04: The OA's new FAQ page provides some answers.
The Oxford American, the self-styled "Southern magazine of good writing", which has already used up two of its designated number of lives, announces that it is once again back in publication, this time in association with the University of Central Arkansas. The New York Times seems to be growing sarcastic about their on-again, off-again existence, though:
The Oxford American, the Southern literary magazine born again more times than a backsliding Southern Baptist, has found salvation, and resurrection is expected in November.... The OA, as it is known, will switch from bimonthly to quarterly and will operate as a nonprofit entity, something at which it is experienced. The OA had the odd distinction of being the only magazine this year to win a National Magazine Award after it had closed.I really do wish them the best. They're like that talented and ambitious hard-luck cousin whose brilliant plans always seem to fall just short of solvency. Do you suppose they'll honor the remaining issues on my old subscription and the gift subscriptions I gave away before their most recent demise?
Here's the dealbreaker: will there be any more Music Issues?
Editorial note, 6/2/04: The OA's new FAQ page provides some answers.
Is this our culture?
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interesting (and free) essay about the disturbing similarities between the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs and what Rush Limbaugh calls "good old American porn".
Ypsi-blogger Mark Maynard has made similar comments, as here.
I believe wholeheartedly in the freedom of expression and of the press. Even so, it's disheartening that so many people, given those freedoms, choose to dive straight into the gutter and stay there. Unfortunately, the perceived legitimization of violent and pseudo-violent porn has a tendency to desensitize people to real sex crimes, just as constant exposure to airbrushed, impossibly idealized "soft porn" tends to desensitize people to the actual sexuality of real live human beings. The antidemocratic Alexander Hamilton once famously said "Your people, sir, is a great Beast." Was he right?
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interesting (and free) essay about the disturbing similarities between the notorious Abu Ghraib photographs and what Rush Limbaugh calls "good old American porn".
Ypsi-blogger Mark Maynard has made similar comments, as here.
I believe wholeheartedly in the freedom of expression and of the press. Even so, it's disheartening that so many people, given those freedoms, choose to dive straight into the gutter and stay there. Unfortunately, the perceived legitimization of violent and pseudo-violent porn has a tendency to desensitize people to real sex crimes, just as constant exposure to airbrushed, impossibly idealized "soft porn" tends to desensitize people to the actual sexuality of real live human beings. The antidemocratic Alexander Hamilton once famously said "Your people, sir, is a great Beast." Was he right?
Spam steganography
A week or two ago, I stuck this URL in my briefcase with a cryptic label, "Blogworthy". I guess it is at least mildly interesting, and if I commit it to the blog that's one more loose piece of paper I can throw away. Yay!
Spam Mimic
A week or two ago, I stuck this URL in my briefcase with a cryptic label, "Blogworthy". I guess it is at least mildly interesting, and if I commit it to the blog that's one more loose piece of paper I can throw away. Yay!
Spam Mimic
Controversy in New Mexico
Hard lessons from poetry class: Speech is free unless it's critical
This blogger has been following the story closely, and apparently got a response from the school district.
Hard lessons from poetry class: Speech is free unless it's critical
This blogger has been following the story closely, and apparently got a response from the school district.
"Persons of skill will recognize numerous other embodiments of the invention as presented herein...."
It appears that Clear Channel has claimed a patent on the concept of producing digital recordings of a concert for sale immediately after the concert. Discussed here and here and probably elsewhere.
Seems to me that fans of the Grateful Dead, among others, have been doing this kind of thing for decades. I'm not sure exactly what C.C. is claiming as a novelty here. Considering how much verbiage in the patent is devoted to piously declaiming against evil "bootleggers", and that C.C. is already filing lawsuits to stop bands from recording and selling live CD's of their own concerts as described here, it doesn't look like a good development.
It appears that Clear Channel has claimed a patent on the concept of producing digital recordings of a concert for sale immediately after the concert. Discussed here and here and probably elsewhere.
Seems to me that fans of the Grateful Dead, among others, have been doing this kind of thing for decades. I'm not sure exactly what C.C. is claiming as a novelty here. Considering how much verbiage in the patent is devoted to piously declaiming against evil "bootleggers", and that C.C. is already filing lawsuits to stop bands from recording and selling live CD's of their own concerts as described here, it doesn't look like a good development.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
A peek around the corner...
... at what may lie ahead if Bush wins the election this fall:
U.S. preparing for military draft in spring of 2005
From UtneReader (and other sources):
... at what may lie ahead if Bush wins the election this fall:
U.S. preparing for military draft in spring of 2005
From UtneReader (and other sources):
After the champagne popping from Washington to Crawford, Texas subsides, a re-elected President George W. Bush would reinstate the military draft sometime next spring. Legislation is already on the table in both the House and the Senate, in the form of twin bills S 89 and HR 163, "in order to staff up for a protracted war on terrorism...."The bills in question -- S 89 and HR 163 -- can be looked up here.
Muskogee school district reverses rules on religious headcoverings
An update on a news story that I discussed several months ago. It's easy to mock and rail against silly rules; it's equally important to acknowledge when those responsible for them have the common sense to repeal them. (Even if it is under threat of a lawsuit....)
An update on a news story that I discussed several months ago. It's easy to mock and rail against silly rules; it's equally important to acknowledge when those responsible for them have the common sense to repeal them. (Even if it is under threat of a lawsuit....)
It's baaaack....
Looks like the Republicans are once again trying to sneak parts of the discredited "PATRIOT 2" bill through Congress, this time by attaching them to the fiscal 2005 intelligence authorization bill. As described by the American Library Association's Washington Office Newsletter and in this news story, the bill (HR 3179) would automatically issue gag orders for all "national security letters", expand the penalties and enforcement of such gag orders, and permit the government to "conduct secret surveillance on suspected terrorists or spies without proving that they have any affiliation with a foreign government or terrorist organization."
Is it a coincidence that this follows just a few months after this incident, in which the Bush Administration's enforcers in the FBI were forced by unfavorable and unwanted publicity to back off on their demand for the membership rolls and other internal information about a left-wing activist group? If your administration's activities displease the public, why, then, just outlaw public knowledge of them! Simple, right?
How, exactly, enquireth your Humble Correspondent, is this compatible with democracy?
For an administration that brags so much about its devotion to Christian morality, the Bushies seem much more interested in hiding their activities under bushels than in the intellectual implications of Bible verses such as John 8:32: You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Looks like the Republicans are once again trying to sneak parts of the discredited "PATRIOT 2" bill through Congress, this time by attaching them to the fiscal 2005 intelligence authorization bill. As described by the American Library Association's Washington Office Newsletter and in this news story, the bill (HR 3179) would automatically issue gag orders for all "national security letters", expand the penalties and enforcement of such gag orders, and permit the government to "conduct secret surveillance on suspected terrorists or spies without proving that they have any affiliation with a foreign government or terrorist organization."
Is it a coincidence that this follows just a few months after this incident, in which the Bush Administration's enforcers in the FBI were forced by unfavorable and unwanted publicity to back off on their demand for the membership rolls and other internal information about a left-wing activist group? If your administration's activities displease the public, why, then, just outlaw public knowledge of them! Simple, right?
How, exactly, enquireth your Humble Correspondent, is this compatible with democracy?
For an administration that brags so much about its devotion to Christian morality, the Bushies seem much more interested in hiding their activities under bushels than in the intellectual implications of Bible verses such as John 8:32: You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Of palms d'or and Michael Moore
Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary 9-11 wins the top prize at one of the world's most prestigious film festivals.
But will Americans be allowed to see it?
Moore may be a bloviating blowhard, but dammit, I want to hear what he has to say and make up my own mind.
Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary 9-11 wins the top prize at one of the world's most prestigious film festivals.
But will Americans be allowed to see it?
Moore may be a bloviating blowhard, but dammit, I want to hear what he has to say and make up my own mind.
Attention readers: your IP address has been demanded by the FBI....
... if you clicked on the link to Bev Harris's Black Box Voting website (www.blackboxvoting.com) in a posting on this blog earlier this year. For further details see this story at Seattle Weekly; for wildly erratic discussion, see Slashdot. Harris is the activist whose criticism of the flaws of electronic voting machines has been instrumental in leading states like California to ban machines which do not produce a voter-verifiable audit trail.
Diebold, Inc., headed by Bush fund-raiser Walden O'Dell, yesterday announced to that it intends to keep churning out the machines.
Have a nice day.
Editorial note, 5/26: corrected minor factual error.
... if you clicked on the link to Bev Harris's Black Box Voting website (www.blackboxvoting.com) in a posting on this blog earlier this year. For further details see this story at Seattle Weekly; for wildly erratic discussion, see Slashdot. Harris is the activist whose criticism of the flaws of electronic voting machines has been instrumental in leading states like California to ban machines which do not produce a voter-verifiable audit trail.
Diebold, Inc., headed by Bush fund-raiser Walden O'Dell, yesterday announced to that it intends to keep churning out the machines.
Have a nice day.
Editorial note, 5/26: corrected minor factual error.
Time keeps on tickin', tickin', tickin'....
As some of you may already know, Your Humble Correspondent is now working two different jobs in a desperate effort to stay above the ever-rising sea of credit card debt and ward off the menacing specter of two upcoming months of unemployment thanks to a certain university's policy of not keeping low-ranking library staff on the payroll all year. As a result, I haven't really had the time to devote as much attention as I should to writing about the things that I think about the most.
What, you thought off-the-cuff comments about television miniseries-in-production were the only thing on my mind while the Iraqi prison scandal and Diebold voting machines were making headlines 'round the world?
Don't know me very well, do you?
Unfortunately, those topics demand more focused thought than I've been able to muster while charging back and forth between two jobs. Although the following noirish quote from Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely deals with a different aspect of the truth-seeking business, it pretty well portrays my attitude toward life these days:
As some of you may already know, Your Humble Correspondent is now working two different jobs in a desperate effort to stay above the ever-rising sea of credit card debt and ward off the menacing specter of two upcoming months of unemployment thanks to a certain university's policy of not keeping low-ranking library staff on the payroll all year. As a result, I haven't really had the time to devote as much attention as I should to writing about the things that I think about the most.
What, you thought off-the-cuff comments about television miniseries-in-production were the only thing on my mind while the Iraqi prison scandal and Diebold voting machines were making headlines 'round the world?
Don't know me very well, do you?
Unfortunately, those topics demand more focused thought than I've been able to muster while charging back and forth between two jobs. Although the following noirish quote from Raymond Chandler's Farewell My Lovely deals with a different aspect of the truth-seeking business, it pretty well portrays my attitude toward life these days:
I needed a drink. I needed a lot of life insurance. I needed a vacation. I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun. I put them on and went out of the room.Since I have tomorrow off, I'll try to use that time to get some of this stuff off my mind and into the ether instead.
Farewell to RefGrunt
After a year of chronicling the day-to-day grind of library service, Ref Grunt has retired his blog, saying that updating it had become a chore rather than a pleasure. I can understand the feeling, but I'll still miss his laconic chronicles.
After a year of chronicling the day-to-day grind of library service, Ref Grunt has retired his blog, saying that updating it had become a chore rather than a pleasure. I can understand the feeling, but I'll still miss his laconic chronicles.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Desideratum
Another review in the Feb. Locus caught my eye:
Ironic, huh?
(Insert regularly-scheduled observation about the difficulty of archiving electronic publications here. Y'all know it well enough I don't have to type it again.)
Another review in the Feb. Locus caught my eye:
In Stephen Dedman's "Desiree" the protagonist is a lonely high school boy named Sebastian. A friend gives him a piece of shareware called "Venus", which purports to create your ideal mate online. Sebastian plays along, and finds himself very attracted to the girl simulated by the program -- in many more ways than physically. But of course she's not "real" -- and what's more she's shareware, and if he can't pay for her she'll be deleted....Unfortunately, the story appears only in an e'mail magazine called Oceans of the Mind, which appeareth not in the mighty tomes of WorldCat. The teaser from their website is tempting, but not enough to lay out $19.95 for a year's subscription. So I guess I will just have to hope that the story is one day published in "meatspace", rather than exclusively in virtual form.
Ironic, huh?
(Insert regularly-scheduled observation about the difficulty of archiving electronic publications here. Y'all know it well enough I don't have to type it again.)
A voyage to Earthsea?
While dredging through the debris covering my desk, I came across the still-unread February issue or Locus. Good thing I noticed it, too, because right there on page eight was a photo of Ursula LeGuin, with a caption stating that "the miniseries based on the first two novels of her 'Earthsea' saga for the Sci-Fi Channel has been given the green light to begin production in New Zealand this Spring." A little more digging (on the web, this time) led to more information and an invigorating interview in the Guardian in which the GrandMistress herself discusses the miniseries, Dr. Who, dreams, and other stuff:
What will matter more than cosmetics, in any sense of that word, is whether the series manages to capture the psychological subtlety of LeGuin's work. Yes, Ged is a wizard-in-training, but his reasons for his journeys and tests are a bit less obvious than a game of Quidditch, and the far-flung, culturally fragmented archepelagoes of Earthsea are more varied than Hogwarts Academy.
While dredging through the debris covering my desk, I came across the still-unread February issue or Locus. Good thing I noticed it, too, because right there on page eight was a photo of Ursula LeGuin, with a caption stating that "the miniseries based on the first two novels of her 'Earthsea' saga for the Sci-Fi Channel has been given the green light to begin production in New Zealand this Spring." A little more digging (on the web, this time) led to more information and an invigorating interview in the Guardian in which the GrandMistress herself discusses the miniseries, Dr. Who, dreams, and other stuff:
Q: Perhaps you feel a bit out of step with your contemporaries?By casting Danny Glover, Kristin Kreuk, and Isabella Rossellini in leading roles, the producers seem to be paying at least some attention to LeGuin's description of the people of Earthsea as primarily dark-haired and dark-skinned. Of course, the main character may look a little pale by comparison....
UKL: Why should a woman of 74 want to be "in step with" anybody? Am I in an army, or something?
What will matter more than cosmetics, in any sense of that word, is whether the series manages to capture the psychological subtlety of LeGuin's work. Yes, Ged is a wizard-in-training, but his reasons for his journeys and tests are a bit less obvious than a game of Quidditch, and the far-flung, culturally fragmented archepelagoes of Earthsea are more varied than Hogwarts Academy.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Reason's June issue, again.
Courtesy of the LU list: the L.A.Times' May 18 story about the June issue of Reason magazine. My copy hasn't arrived yet, natch....
Courtesy of the LU list: the L.A.Times' May 18 story about the June issue of Reason magazine. My copy hasn't arrived yet, natch....
Library stuff
This webpage supplies access to Booklist book reviews from 1995 through 2003. Its author seems quite discontented with the ALA's Booklist webpage, which supplies selected current reviews but summarily announces that "As of April 2003, Booklist reviews are no longer being archived on the Web site. Turn to the print Booklist for complete review coverage."
It remains to be seen how long the non-ALA-sanctioned "backdoor" to the archived 1995-2003 reviews will remain active and unblocked. Yup, everything's available for free on the Internet, and always will be... who needs those musty old printed copies....
This link ripped from www.librarian.net, which also has some interesting links to articles about the new Seattle Public Library building. (NYT evil-registration-required article here, New Yorker here, some photos here.)
I'm not all that impressed by the appearance of the building, but I am intrigued by the New Yorker's description of the architects' arrangement of the bookstacks:
Melvil Dewey meets Frank Lloyd Wright!
This webpage supplies access to Booklist book reviews from 1995 through 2003. Its author seems quite discontented with the ALA's Booklist webpage, which supplies selected current reviews but summarily announces that "As of April 2003, Booklist reviews are no longer being archived on the Web site. Turn to the print Booklist for complete review coverage."
It remains to be seen how long the non-ALA-sanctioned "backdoor" to the archived 1995-2003 reviews will remain active and unblocked. Yup, everything's available for free on the Internet, and always will be... who needs those musty old printed copies....
This link ripped from www.librarian.net, which also has some interesting links to articles about the new Seattle Public Library building. (NYT evil-registration-required article here, New Yorker here, some photos here.)
I'm not all that impressed by the appearance of the building, but I am intrigued by the New Yorker's description of the architects' arrangement of the bookstacks:
The architects saw that in most older libraries, where books are stored on rows of shelves on separate floors, collections are arbitrarily broken apart, depending on the amount of space available on each floor. But since the Dewey Decimal System is a continuous series of numbers, they reasoned, why couldn’t books be stored on a continuous series of shelves? And what if the shelves wound up and up, in a spiral? They saw that it was possible to design stacks in the manner of a parking garage, with slanted floors joined in a series of zigzagging ramps. The stacks, which the architects named the Spiral, take up the equivalent of four floors in the middle of the eleven-story building. They are open, which means that you can browse.
Melvil Dewey meets Frank Lloyd Wright!
More wisdom from Grand Rapids
Another tidbit gleaned, long after the fact, from my belated browsing of long-stockpiled issues of Locus: WOOD-TV, an all-"news" television station in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the Calvinists roam the streets like roaring lions, has deemed Asimov's Science Fiction to be (horrors!) an ADULT publication, and they are SHOCKED that it would be included on a list of magazine subscriptions available through a school fundraising program, right alongside such sterling family-oriented publications as Esquire, Vogue, GQ, and Elle.
Asimov's response here. Discussion at Analog here.
Hold it... wait a minute... something's happening here! I feel an insidious force seeping out of the computer screen. It's coming from the WOOD-TV webpage. It's making me think like their reporter! Suddenly, I see sex and nothing but sex, everywhere I look! Aigghhh....
(Long silence.)
Heh. Heh. Huh. WOOD-TV. (giggle.) They said "wood". Heh-heh! Heh-heh!
(Whap!) Shut up, assmunch!
Heh, heh....
Another tidbit gleaned, long after the fact, from my belated browsing of long-stockpiled issues of Locus: WOOD-TV, an all-"news" television station in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the Calvinists roam the streets like roaring lions, has deemed Asimov's Science Fiction to be (horrors!) an ADULT publication, and they are SHOCKED that it would be included on a list of magazine subscriptions available through a school fundraising program, right alongside such sterling family-oriented publications as Esquire, Vogue, GQ, and Elle.
Asimov's response here. Discussion at Analog here.
Hold it... wait a minute... something's happening here! I feel an insidious force seeping out of the computer screen. It's coming from the WOOD-TV webpage. It's making me think like their reporter! Suddenly, I see sex and nothing but sex, everywhere I look! Aigghhh....
(Long silence.)
Heh. Heh. Huh. WOOD-TV. (giggle.) They said "wood". Heh-heh! Heh-heh!
(Whap!) Shut up, assmunch!
Heh, heh....
Shut up, they explained.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports (Subscriber link):
The purportedly confidential information? Well, here are the paragraphs containing information attributed to Ms. Bondanella that were published in the Jan. 16 Chronicle:
So. According to the Bush appointees at the head of the NEH, not being comfortable with an agency's procedures, and acknowledging that administrators have political agendas, constitutes "confidential information", the revelation of which warrants "civil and criminal penalties"?
Sounds like standard operating procedure for the most secretive, bullying, and corrupt presidential administration in recent history.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports (Subscriber link):
The inspector general of the National Endowment for the Humanities is investigating a former NEH employee for allegedly leaking confidential information to The Chronicle for an article it published on the agency in January.
The inspector general, Sheldon Bernstein, sent a letter to Julia C. Bondanella, a former assistant chairman for programs at the endowment, in March, accusing her of disclosing information about grant applicants and employee matters. Ms. Bondanella, now a professor of French and Italian at Indiana University at Bloomington, was quoted in a January 16 article about flagging -- the practice of marking controversial applications, often for projects dealing with sexuality, race, or gender, for further review.
The letter threatened Ms. Bondanella with civil and criminal penalties, said her lawyer, David Colman....
The purportedly confidential information? Well, here are the paragraphs containing information attributed to Ms. Bondanella that were published in the Jan. 16 Chronicle:
Still, at least one NEH insider insists it is politics, not merit, that is now driving many decisions in the review process. Julia C. Bondanella, an old friend of Mr. Cole's at the Indiana University at Bloomington, who joined her former colleague as the endowment's assistant chairman for programs in 2001, left after just one year, in part because she felt that ideology influenced the grant-making process.
"Obviously, any chairman is going to have a political agenda to some degree," says Ms. Bondanella, who has since returned to academic life in Bloomington. "I wasn't comfortable with the way in which applications were being reviewed."
So. According to the Bush appointees at the head of the NEH, not being comfortable with an agency's procedures, and acknowledging that administrators have political agendas, constitutes "confidential information", the revelation of which warrants "civil and criminal penalties"?
Sounds like standard operating procedure for the most secretive, bullying, and corrupt presidential administration in recent history.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Bad Baby Names
I know several people who have pursued the urge to procreate. Fortunately, few of them have come up with any candidates for these lists. Or, noticably, this one.
Thanks to Louise for the link.
I know several people who have pursued the urge to procreate. Fortunately, few of them have come up with any candidates for these lists. Or, noticably, this one.
Thanks to Louise for the link.
Missed my chance
In belatedly browsing through the April issue of Locus, I read an interview with Gordon Van Gelder, editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which contains the following comment:
"After Kris Rusch left F&SF in 1996, Ed Ferman contacted me about the job. We had worked together on the 'Best of F&SF' anthologies, and that's how he knew me. Kris told me Ed believed the ideal age to become editor was about 30...."
Between that and a former co-worker's recent discussion of the fact that she edited the re-issue of a major series of young-adult novels in her twenties, it's pretty clear that I've missed whatever chance I might have once had for literary or editorial immortality. As luck would have it, this comes just as I start seriously reconsidering whether I should be in the library profession at all. (Five years of beating my head on various brick walls with no discernable results would tend to suggest that my talents lie elsewhere, if such talents can be said to exist at all.) I guess I'll go through the formality of applying for an associate-editorial position at this magazine, but not actually expect to receive any response other than the standard canned form letter. After all, I am Past My Prime and have No Relevant Experience.
Moving on from the depressing topic of (not) earning money to the vastly more entertaining topic of spending it, I looked through Locus's calendar of upcoming science fiction and fantasy conventions, and noticed that the Mythopoeic Society, students of J.R.R.Tolkien, C.S.Lewis, and Charles Williams, and publishers of Mythlore magazine, are holding their 35th annual MythCon just down the road this year. And guess who's coming to dinner?
At least he's older than me, and I can pretend my relative lack of achievement is due to being Too Young.
In belatedly browsing through the April issue of Locus, I read an interview with Gordon Van Gelder, editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which contains the following comment:
"After Kris Rusch left F&SF in 1996, Ed Ferman contacted me about the job. We had worked together on the 'Best of F&SF' anthologies, and that's how he knew me. Kris told me Ed believed the ideal age to become editor was about 30...."
Between that and a former co-worker's recent discussion of the fact that she edited the re-issue of a major series of young-adult novels in her twenties, it's pretty clear that I've missed whatever chance I might have once had for literary or editorial immortality. As luck would have it, this comes just as I start seriously reconsidering whether I should be in the library profession at all. (Five years of beating my head on various brick walls with no discernable results would tend to suggest that my talents lie elsewhere, if such talents can be said to exist at all.) I guess I'll go through the formality of applying for an associate-editorial position at this magazine, but not actually expect to receive any response other than the standard canned form letter. After all, I am Past My Prime and have No Relevant Experience.
Moving on from the depressing topic of (not) earning money to the vastly more entertaining topic of spending it, I looked through Locus's calendar of upcoming science fiction and fantasy conventions, and noticed that the Mythopoeic Society, students of J.R.R.Tolkien, C.S.Lewis, and Charles Williams, and publishers of Mythlore magazine, are holding their 35th annual MythCon just down the road this year. And guess who's coming to dinner?
At least he's older than me, and I can pretend my relative lack of achievement is due to being Too Young.
Monday, May 17, 2004
Copyfights and "hoarding"
Copyfight is another interesting blog about intellectual-property law at the dawn of the "digital millennium". This passage from Lawrence Lessig's recent appearance on behalf of the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act is quite interesting. Consider the following:
Larry: We're in the middle of a transition in the way people get access to content. The natural way now is to hoard. If the FCC doesn't screw it up, we could imagine that people in the future are persisently, ubiquitously connected. People would no longer need to be database managers. In that world the incentive to hoard goes away. Structure of access changes dramatically.
For "hoard", read: "assemble and maintain personal and institutional libraries." It's strange to think about it this way, considering the mutual hostility that exists between IP barons and librarians, but the existence of copyright law is one of the factors that necessitate the existence of widely-distributed libraries of books and other material in hard copies. Much published material from before the 1920's is readily available in full text on the Internet via Project Gutenberg and a myriad of other sources. The relative scarcity of legally available commercially-published material from more recent years is largely due to the requirements of copyright law and the threat of legal sanction should it be violated.
If, in some utopian Lessigian future, most seekers of information are indeed "persistently, ubiquitously connected", and the vast bulk of published information is readily available via that connection, many budget-minded academic and political administrators will predictably want to abolish the "cost center" of maintaining a library. After all, one might argue, it's just an expensive money-pit that duplicates what's already available for free.
Will readers' aesthetic preference for solid, printed books for personal reading be enough to keep libraries and bookstores open in such a world?
What about the need for stable and widely-distributed copies of documents of political or cultural importance? Jasper Fforde writes humorously about fictional villians removing characters from classic novels and otherwise wreaking havoc with the worlds inside books. His books are fantastic and funny because, after all, everyone knows that no one can suddenly and unilaterally alter the contents of every printed book, every copy of a newspaper or magazine, or every physically discrete CD or DVD or VHS tape in the world. But what about a world in which such hard copies were scarce, not readily available through libraries, or not published at all, or if the archived text existed only in a few centralized electronic fileservers? Several recent episodes have demonstrated that both private corporations and political rulers are all too eager to retroactively edit the published record when given the opportunity to do so by having that published record centralized in one easily-altered electronic archive. And of course, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four provided a warning, sixty years ago, of the uses to which a centralized "Ministry of Truth" might put its control over information.
Unfortunately, I'm skeptical of the impact that aesthetic pleasure or the vital-but-unremunerative need for redundant and independent recordkeeping will have on squinting budget-keepers or smoothly cynical political administrators. In my experience, library and university administrators are all too willing to pass the buck to other institutions, frequently without any concern for whether those unspecified other institutions are able or willing to take it. Public libraries blithely assume that academic libraries will pick up the slack; small and medium-sized academic libraries blithely assume that the Big U.'s and the state libraries will pick up the slack. Big U.'s predictably resent the resulting "parasitical" use of their collections, and state governors blithely (or cynically) abolish the state libraries when it suits their political purposes to do so.
This being the case, should librarians suppress their natural gag reflex and, in order to protect their profession, line up in support of the likes of Jack Valenti in their attempts to lock up intellectual property behind virtual electric fences and concertina wire? Or nobly follow the principle of free and open access to information toward a destination that may spell political doom for their institutions and their jobs? And, incidentally, abolish the very idea of a stable, reliable published record that isn't subject to political or mischievious tampering?
Copyfight is another interesting blog about intellectual-property law at the dawn of the "digital millennium". This passage from Lawrence Lessig's recent appearance on behalf of the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act is quite interesting. Consider the following:
Larry: We're in the middle of a transition in the way people get access to content. The natural way now is to hoard. If the FCC doesn't screw it up, we could imagine that people in the future are persisently, ubiquitously connected. People would no longer need to be database managers. In that world the incentive to hoard goes away. Structure of access changes dramatically.
For "hoard", read: "assemble and maintain personal and institutional libraries." It's strange to think about it this way, considering the mutual hostility that exists between IP barons and librarians, but the existence of copyright law is one of the factors that necessitate the existence of widely-distributed libraries of books and other material in hard copies. Much published material from before the 1920's is readily available in full text on the Internet via Project Gutenberg and a myriad of other sources. The relative scarcity of legally available commercially-published material from more recent years is largely due to the requirements of copyright law and the threat of legal sanction should it be violated.
If, in some utopian Lessigian future, most seekers of information are indeed "persistently, ubiquitously connected", and the vast bulk of published information is readily available via that connection, many budget-minded academic and political administrators will predictably want to abolish the "cost center" of maintaining a library. After all, one might argue, it's just an expensive money-pit that duplicates what's already available for free.
Will readers' aesthetic preference for solid, printed books for personal reading be enough to keep libraries and bookstores open in such a world?
What about the need for stable and widely-distributed copies of documents of political or cultural importance? Jasper Fforde writes humorously about fictional villians removing characters from classic novels and otherwise wreaking havoc with the worlds inside books. His books are fantastic and funny because, after all, everyone knows that no one can suddenly and unilaterally alter the contents of every printed book, every copy of a newspaper or magazine, or every physically discrete CD or DVD or VHS tape in the world. But what about a world in which such hard copies were scarce, not readily available through libraries, or not published at all, or if the archived text existed only in a few centralized electronic fileservers? Several recent episodes have demonstrated that both private corporations and political rulers are all too eager to retroactively edit the published record when given the opportunity to do so by having that published record centralized in one easily-altered electronic archive. And of course, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four provided a warning, sixty years ago, of the uses to which a centralized "Ministry of Truth" might put its control over information.
Unfortunately, I'm skeptical of the impact that aesthetic pleasure or the vital-but-unremunerative need for redundant and independent recordkeeping will have on squinting budget-keepers or smoothly cynical political administrators. In my experience, library and university administrators are all too willing to pass the buck to other institutions, frequently without any concern for whether those unspecified other institutions are able or willing to take it. Public libraries blithely assume that academic libraries will pick up the slack; small and medium-sized academic libraries blithely assume that the Big U.'s and the state libraries will pick up the slack. Big U.'s predictably resent the resulting "parasitical" use of their collections, and state governors blithely (or cynically) abolish the state libraries when it suits their political purposes to do so.
This being the case, should librarians suppress their natural gag reflex and, in order to protect their profession, line up in support of the likes of Jack Valenti in their attempts to lock up intellectual property behind virtual electric fences and concertina wire? Or nobly follow the principle of free and open access to information toward a destination that may spell political doom for their institutions and their jobs? And, incidentally, abolish the very idea of a stable, reliable published record that isn't subject to political or mischievious tampering?
"Pagan fun in Y...."
Carlos forwarded me this link recently, with the tagline "Pagan fun in Y." The official website of the program discussed is available here.
I dunno. With programs like "Sex & Spells: Gender and Political Activism in the Witchen Community" (by "Macha Nightmare"), it's indubitably pagan, but I'm not so sure about the "fun" part. Since the conference registration fee is $125, I doubt that I'll find out any more than that.
Pablo "the Blogless" will no doubt be interested to know that the American Friends Service Committee LGBT Issues Program is a supporting sponsor.
Carlos forwarded me this link recently, with the tagline "Pagan fun in Y." The official website of the program discussed is available here.
I dunno. With programs like "Sex & Spells: Gender and Political Activism in the Witchen Community" (by "Macha Nightmare"), it's indubitably pagan, but I'm not so sure about the "fun" part. Since the conference registration fee is $125, I doubt that I'll find out any more than that.
Pablo "the Blogless" will no doubt be interested to know that the American Friends Service Committee LGBT Issues Program is a supporting sponsor.
The Book Bound in Pale Leather?
A rather grisly little artifact from the collection of the Boston Athenaeum.
A rather grisly little artifact from the collection of the Boston Athenaeum.
Friday, May 14, 2004
More on H.R. 107, The Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2003
Some testimony from Wednesday's hearing is available from the website of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The comments of Gary Shapiro, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Consumer Electronics Association, are particularly enlightening:
"... One of the central failings of the DMCA is that it preserved fair use as a defense to copyright infringement, but more perniciously created the new crime of circumvention without a fair use defense. As a result, even if no infringement occurs when a consumer simply unlocks something he or she owns, he or she could be held liable under the DMCA. The Boucher-Doolittle bill would bring the two statutes into harmony by imposing liability under the DMCA only when it also exists under the Copyright Act...."
Some testimony from Wednesday's hearing is available from the website of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The comments of Gary Shapiro, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Consumer Electronics Association, are particularly enlightening:
"... One of the central failings of the DMCA is that it preserved fair use as a defense to copyright infringement, but more perniciously created the new crime of circumvention without a fair use defense. As a result, even if no infringement occurs when a consumer simply unlocks something he or she owns, he or she could be held liable under the DMCA. The Boucher-Doolittle bill would bring the two statutes into harmony by imposing liability under the DMCA only when it also exists under the Copyright Act...."
Huzzah!
Four Minnesota colleges (Macalester, Carleton, Gustavus Adolphus, and St. Olaf) tell the Dutch Pirates to walk the plank.
Now is the time for all good academics to publish via Public Library of Science, SPARC, or other open-access venues. We'll sink the scurvy dogs yet. Or at least force them to offer more flexible access plans and scale back their monopolistic profit margins to a level consistent with economic reality.
Four Minnesota colleges (Macalester, Carleton, Gustavus Adolphus, and St. Olaf) tell the Dutch Pirates to walk the plank.
Now is the time for all good academics to publish via Public Library of Science, SPARC, or other open-access venues. We'll sink the scurvy dogs yet. Or at least force them to offer more flexible access plans and scale back their monopolistic profit margins to a level consistent with economic reality.
I have found the perfect woman for Carlos.
She's smart, exotically attractive, and has a sarcastic sense of humor. She's a Christian and a conservative thinker with an intellectually active professional job. She's single, and she lives within a reasonable driving distance, just across the Red River in Oklahoma. (Hey, that IS a reasonable driving distance by Texas standards!)
Unfortunately, like most such women, she's fictional.
She's smart, exotically attractive, and has a sarcastic sense of humor. She's a Christian and a conservative thinker with an intellectually active professional job. She's single, and she lives within a reasonable driving distance, just across the Red River in Oklahoma. (Hey, that IS a reasonable driving distance by Texas standards!)
Unfortunately, like most such women, she's fictional.
Yes, I know it's a cheap shot...
... but I still wonder whether the CornCam really represents what Iowans do for fun.
Link found on Letters to Myself, the weblog of Jon Hansen, author of numerous sf/fantasy stories (including Tales of the Plush Cthulhu, linked below), harborer of feline armies, and (like so many good bloggers) a librarian. If any of you freelance writers out there are getting depressed by rejection letters, his blog and these stats will either depress you tremendously or give you solid proof of the tough odds that all freelancers face.
... but I still wonder whether the CornCam really represents what Iowans do for fun.
Link found on Letters to Myself, the weblog of Jon Hansen, author of numerous sf/fantasy stories (including Tales of the Plush Cthulhu, linked below), harborer of feline armies, and (like so many good bloggers) a librarian. If any of you freelance writers out there are getting depressed by rejection letters, his blog and these stats will either depress you tremendously or give you solid proof of the tough odds that all freelancers face.
Little Bag o' Horrors
The Plush Plagues: almost as much fun as Plush Cthulhu!.
(Thanks to Louise for the link.)
The Plush Plagues: almost as much fun as Plush Cthulhu!.
(Thanks to Louise for the link.)
Thursday, May 13, 2004
From the Truth-is-Stranger-than-Satire Department
I've commented before on how difficult it is to satirize the current political situation, especially the doings of the Bush administration. No sooner does someone come up with a cleverly exaggerated version of a Bush policy than the Bushies come thundering across the plains and surpass it in some dunderheaded way.
Remember when The Onion satirically announced that the Patriot Act forbade discussion of the Patriot Act?
Guess what.
Washington Post story here. (If their website demands registration and you're tired of telling them that you're a 105-year-old Bahrainian woman who makes $10 billion a year in research and development, click here.) ACLU press release here. The usual erratic Slashdot discussion here.
I've commented before on how difficult it is to satirize the current political situation, especially the doings of the Bush administration. No sooner does someone come up with a cleverly exaggerated version of a Bush policy than the Bushies come thundering across the plains and surpass it in some dunderheaded way.
Remember when The Onion satirically announced that the Patriot Act forbade discussion of the Patriot Act?
Guess what.
Washington Post story here. (If their website demands registration and you're tired of telling them that you're a 105-year-old Bahrainian woman who makes $10 billion a year in research and development, click here.) ACLU press release here. The usual erratic Slashdot discussion here.
Music to blog by
As I type this, I'm being serenaded at the reference desk by a jazz quintet from the university's music department. This is one of the projects instigated by the library's music and audiovisual librarian. Previous projects have involved having solo musicians play guitars or more esoteric instruments in the library lobby.
The jazz players are quite good. It's a bit strange, sitting in the echoing, largely empty three-story-tall atrium of the library, being treated to a sultry saxophone arrangement of "The Shadow Of Your Smile." But it's a kind of strangeness to which I suppose I could become accustomed. Now if only the student workers could bring me a decent glass of Scotch.
As I type this, I'm being serenaded at the reference desk by a jazz quintet from the university's music department. This is one of the projects instigated by the library's music and audiovisual librarian. Previous projects have involved having solo musicians play guitars or more esoteric instruments in the library lobby.
The jazz players are quite good. It's a bit strange, sitting in the echoing, largely empty three-story-tall atrium of the library, being treated to a sultry saxophone arrangement of "The Shadow Of Your Smile." But it's a kind of strangeness to which I suppose I could become accustomed. Now if only the student workers could bring me a decent glass of Scotch.
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Imaginary numbers
... or, the study of real economies in unreal places. (Link found via www.aldaily.com).
"Then he performed one final analysis: The Gross National Product of EverQuest, measured by how much wealth all the players together created in a single year inside the game. It turned out to be $2,266 U.S. per capita. By World Bank rankings, that made EverQuest richer than India, Bulgaria, or China, and nearly as wealthy as Russia.
"It was the seventy-seventh richest country in the world. And it didn't even exist.
"Castronova sat back in his chair in his cramped home office, and the weird enormity of his findings dawned on him. Many economists define their careers by studying a country. He had discovered one...."
Reason magazine has discussed related matters.
... or, the study of real economies in unreal places. (Link found via www.aldaily.com).
"Then he performed one final analysis: The Gross National Product of EverQuest, measured by how much wealth all the players together created in a single year inside the game. It turned out to be $2,266 U.S. per capita. By World Bank rankings, that made EverQuest richer than India, Bulgaria, or China, and nearly as wealthy as Russia.
"It was the seventy-seventh richest country in the world. And it didn't even exist.
"Castronova sat back in his chair in his cramped home office, and the weird enormity of his findings dawned on him. Many economists define their careers by studying a country. He had discovered one...."
Reason magazine has discussed related matters.
Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act
Hearings were held today on House Resolution 107, a proposed law that seeks to roll back some of the over-reaching elements of the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Jack "What's-Fair-Use?" Valenti was on hand to do his usual schtick. VCR's, Boston Strangler, sky is falling, yadda yadda yadda. Some actual human beings were there, too. A recent Action Alert from the ALA's Washington Office Newsline discusses key points of the bill and identifies key Congresscritters, with contact information for those interested. Lawrence Lessig's commentary from his blog here (with links to .pdf's of the proposed law and his testimony on its behalf.)
Hearings were held today on House Resolution 107, a proposed law that seeks to roll back some of the over-reaching elements of the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Jack "What's-Fair-Use?" Valenti was on hand to do his usual schtick. VCR's, Boston Strangler, sky is falling, yadda yadda yadda. Some actual human beings were there, too. A recent Action Alert from the ALA's Washington Office Newsline discusses key points of the bill and identifies key Congresscritters, with contact information for those interested. Lawrence Lessig's commentary from his blog here (with links to .pdf's of the proposed law and his testimony on its behalf.)
Busy weekend
Though Pablo seems to think my quietude over the past week is because of a lack of anything to blog about, it just tain't so. Last weekend was busy but fun, since a good friend from one of my past lives was in town for a library-related conference. Despite unexpected road traffic, perfidious restaurant reservation-takers, drizzly rain, and general confusion, a good time was had by... well, at least by me. (Hope you get over that cold real quick, Good Friend!)
Views and mini-reviews:
I probably won't be headed back to the Blue Nile in the near future. Its unusual fare and manner of presentation (no silverware!) are interesting to experience once, but not so captivating that I'll be coming back on my own behalf.
The Firefly Club, on the other hand, does warrant future visits for its jazz music and classic nightclub atmosphere.
If you're planning to go to the Real Seafood Company in A-Squared, don't believe their telephone message-taker when he says that reservations aren't needed. We ended up waiting for nearly an hour after hearing that. What other people were eating looked good, but all we were able to get were appetizers at the bar.
Perhaps that's just as well. Perhaps pangs of hunger help one appreciate the Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht's and Kurt Weill's sardonic 1928 musical remake of John Gay's startlingly modern 1728 play The Beggars' Opera. I'd like to think so, anyway.
I visited The Performance Network's theater a while back when they hosted a dramatic reading of Not About Heroes, a two-man play based on the writings of Wilfrid Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. It's a small theater. The audience is quite close to the stage, and there's little room for lavish, Broadway-style productions. The Performance Network players turned this to their advantage by doing an intimate, small-scale version of The Threepenny Opera. Some actors portray multiple roles, and one doubles as showman/announcer, introducing the play, barking out the titles of upcoming musical numbers, and opening and closing the curtains with great sweeping swashes of vaudevillian gusto. The musicians are visible on stage, sometimes supplemented by a member of MacHeath's gang who conveniently happens to carry an accordion, and are occasionally directly addressed by the actors. The Threepenny Opera is a play that's quite aware it's a play, and this production uses that fact to great advantage, combining it nicely with the shock-value of lyrics like The Ballad of Sexual Slavery; MacHeath's and Jennie's romantically nostalgic duet about "that bordello we called Home Sweet Home,"; and the Cannon Song in which two ex-soldiers boisterously reminisce about how much fun it was to slaughter any fellow "who looked brown or yellow".
As readers of this blog know, I perversely enjoy irony and bitterness and satire, so it should come as no surprise that I enjoyed this production immensely. It's great black-comedic fun. I'd see it again, and I recommend it to anyone else who happens to be in the area.
After that, we closed the evening with coffee and tea and tapas at... well, where else? (The music was a bit too loud, and the service less than stellar, but it just wouldn't be right not to go there, under the circumstances.)
Busy summer
Meanwhile, it looks as if I have a busy couple of months ahead of me. I was offered a part-time reference job at a public library about 30 minutes' drive away. This means I'll be working about 60 hours a week and juggling competing schedules through the end of June, but the alternative is to be unemployed and without any income whatsoever come July. Or to make a good impression in one of the two interviews scheduled for tomorrow (one with another local public library, one with a big 'ol private research university way down south in North Carolina.)
Though Pablo seems to think my quietude over the past week is because of a lack of anything to blog about, it just tain't so. Last weekend was busy but fun, since a good friend from one of my past lives was in town for a library-related conference. Despite unexpected road traffic, perfidious restaurant reservation-takers, drizzly rain, and general confusion, a good time was had by... well, at least by me. (Hope you get over that cold real quick, Good Friend!)
Views and mini-reviews:
I probably won't be headed back to the Blue Nile in the near future. Its unusual fare and manner of presentation (no silverware!) are interesting to experience once, but not so captivating that I'll be coming back on my own behalf.
The Firefly Club, on the other hand, does warrant future visits for its jazz music and classic nightclub atmosphere.
If you're planning to go to the Real Seafood Company in A-Squared, don't believe their telephone message-taker when he says that reservations aren't needed. We ended up waiting for nearly an hour after hearing that. What other people were eating looked good, but all we were able to get were appetizers at the bar.
Perhaps that's just as well. Perhaps pangs of hunger help one appreciate the Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht's and Kurt Weill's sardonic 1928 musical remake of John Gay's startlingly modern 1728 play The Beggars' Opera. I'd like to think so, anyway.
I visited The Performance Network's theater a while back when they hosted a dramatic reading of Not About Heroes, a two-man play based on the writings of Wilfrid Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. It's a small theater. The audience is quite close to the stage, and there's little room for lavish, Broadway-style productions. The Performance Network players turned this to their advantage by doing an intimate, small-scale version of The Threepenny Opera. Some actors portray multiple roles, and one doubles as showman/announcer, introducing the play, barking out the titles of upcoming musical numbers, and opening and closing the curtains with great sweeping swashes of vaudevillian gusto. The musicians are visible on stage, sometimes supplemented by a member of MacHeath's gang who conveniently happens to carry an accordion, and are occasionally directly addressed by the actors. The Threepenny Opera is a play that's quite aware it's a play, and this production uses that fact to great advantage, combining it nicely with the shock-value of lyrics like The Ballad of Sexual Slavery; MacHeath's and Jennie's romantically nostalgic duet about "that bordello we called Home Sweet Home,"; and the Cannon Song in which two ex-soldiers boisterously reminisce about how much fun it was to slaughter any fellow "who looked brown or yellow".
As readers of this blog know, I perversely enjoy irony and bitterness and satire, so it should come as no surprise that I enjoyed this production immensely. It's great black-comedic fun. I'd see it again, and I recommend it to anyone else who happens to be in the area.
After that, we closed the evening with coffee and tea and tapas at... well, where else? (The music was a bit too loud, and the service less than stellar, but it just wouldn't be right not to go there, under the circumstances.)
Busy summer
Meanwhile, it looks as if I have a busy couple of months ahead of me. I was offered a part-time reference job at a public library about 30 minutes' drive away. This means I'll be working about 60 hours a week and juggling competing schedules through the end of June, but the alternative is to be unemployed and without any income whatsoever come July. Or to make a good impression in one of the two interviews scheduled for tomorrow (one with another local public library, one with a big 'ol private research university way down south in North Carolina.)
"Looking for something to blog about?"
Pablo, seeing that I have not posted a message since last Thursday, helpfully offers a conversation-starter in the form of a link to an essay by "Reformed" writer James B. Jordan advocating forced mass conversion of entire nations, to be followed by establishment of a "Biblical theocracy" and imposition of the death penalty on adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, "heretics", "blasphemers", "seditious persons", "teach[ing] against Christianity or against the church," and, apparently, just about everybody who fails to be James B. Jordan.
"Discipling the nations means extending the theocratic rule of Christ from the one nation of the Old Creation, to all the 70 nations of the world. What else would a first century Jew have understood by the command? Some kind of Baptistic individualistic person-by-person evangelism? Gimmeabreak. Genesis 10 gives us the 70 nations (which are now a lot more!), and then God selects one nation to theocratize. Now that theocratization is to be extended to all...."
The floor is open for comments, as always. I find it difficult to take this kind of frothing-at-the-mouth seriously. After all, any fool who bothers to actually read what Jesus said and did can plainly see that "some kind of Baptistic individualistic person-by-person evangelism" is exactly what Jesus did. It even occurred to me, while reading this essay, that the whole thing could be a mischievious parody of state-religionism, like "Landover Baptist Church" or the collection of Biblical quotations that the West Wing's scriptwriters put in the mouth of their fictional President Bartlett. Unfortunately, and embarrassingly, the author seems to be sincere, and a substantial number of misguided or consciously hypocritical so-called "Christians", including our Attorney General and President, apparently believe something quite similar. So do these folks. And these. And these. And these....
As for me and my house, my reaction to this kind of proposal is the same one that Jesus made when this kind of earthly "kingship" was offered to him on the pinnacle of the Temple.
Get thee behind me, Satan.
Pablo, seeing that I have not posted a message since last Thursday, helpfully offers a conversation-starter in the form of a link to an essay by "Reformed" writer James B. Jordan advocating forced mass conversion of entire nations, to be followed by establishment of a "Biblical theocracy" and imposition of the death penalty on adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, "heretics", "blasphemers", "seditious persons", "teach[ing] against Christianity or against the church," and, apparently, just about everybody who fails to be James B. Jordan.
"Discipling the nations means extending the theocratic rule of Christ from the one nation of the Old Creation, to all the 70 nations of the world. What else would a first century Jew have understood by the command? Some kind of Baptistic individualistic person-by-person evangelism? Gimmeabreak. Genesis 10 gives us the 70 nations (which are now a lot more!), and then God selects one nation to theocratize. Now that theocratization is to be extended to all...."
The floor is open for comments, as always. I find it difficult to take this kind of frothing-at-the-mouth seriously. After all, any fool who bothers to actually read what Jesus said and did can plainly see that "some kind of Baptistic individualistic person-by-person evangelism" is exactly what Jesus did. It even occurred to me, while reading this essay, that the whole thing could be a mischievious parody of state-religionism, like "Landover Baptist Church" or the collection of Biblical quotations that the West Wing's scriptwriters put in the mouth of their fictional President Bartlett. Unfortunately, and embarrassingly, the author seems to be sincere, and a substantial number of misguided or consciously hypocritical so-called "Christians", including our Attorney General and President, apparently believe something quite similar. So do these folks. And these. And these. And these....
As for me and my house, my reaction to this kind of proposal is the same one that Jesus made when this kind of earthly "kingship" was offered to him on the pinnacle of the Temple.
Get thee behind me, Satan.
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Not that he's, like, shy or anything.
From Reason magazine's review of In Denial: Historians, Communism, & Espionage:
"When Hoover Institution historian Robert Conquest used newly available data from the Soviet Union to update The Great Terror, his account of Stalin’s murderous purges of the 1930s, his publishers asked for a new title. "How about I Told You So, You Fucking Fools?" Conquest suggested...."
From Reason magazine's review of In Denial: Historians, Communism, & Espionage:
"When Hoover Institution historian Robert Conquest used newly available data from the Soviet Union to update The Great Terror, his account of Stalin’s murderous purges of the 1930s, his publishers asked for a new title. "How about I Told You So, You Fucking Fools?" Conquest suggested...."
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Hail, fellow traveler!
GreenTuna just posted a clever and entertaining account of a recent trip Up Nort'. Much cleverer than mine, I'm afraid.
GreenTuna just posted a clever and entertaining account of a recent trip Up Nort'. Much cleverer than mine, I'm afraid.
"At its worst, [Y] is like Twin Peaks without the beauty. At its best, it is a wonderful, magical place, full of potential and heart."
By way of an article from Utne Reader, I recently found out about Crimewave, a locally-published 'zine that covers vital matters of public interest like ElvisFest, Daniel Pinkwater, and rural convenience-store hell. One of the two editors also has a weblog in which he discusses weird drinks, editorial policies, and the stuff he finds tossed into his backyard, just down the street from the local strip club.
Checking the catalogs of a few local libraries, I found no indication that any of them subscribe to this entertaining little journal. WorldCat indicates that it exists in the holdings of one -- count it, one -- library. In Wisconsin.
I can't help but consider that to be an indictment of the collection development policies of libraries in southeastern Michigan. Of course, it's also an indictment of my own local-area cluefulness that I had to find out about it through a nationally-published magazine.
By way of an article from Utne Reader, I recently found out about Crimewave, a locally-published 'zine that covers vital matters of public interest like ElvisFest, Daniel Pinkwater, and rural convenience-store hell. One of the two editors also has a weblog in which he discusses weird drinks, editorial policies, and the stuff he finds tossed into his backyard, just down the street from the local strip club.
Checking the catalogs of a few local libraries, I found no indication that any of them subscribe to this entertaining little journal. WorldCat indicates that it exists in the holdings of one -- count it, one -- library. In Wisconsin.
I can't help but consider that to be an indictment of the collection development policies of libraries in southeastern Michigan. Of course, it's also an indictment of my own local-area cluefulness that I had to find out about it through a nationally-published magazine.
Monday, May 03, 2004
No takers
The Calumet depot, referred to in a previous post, is back up for sale on eBay, this time at a reduced price.
The Calumet depot, referred to in a previous post, is back up for sale on eBay, this time at a reduced price.
Maybe Barnum was wrong
"Huron State" is in the news again.
It's hard to see how such publicity could be anything but bad, especially when budget-controlling state legislators, unionized university faculty, and local news media are already fuming over the University House controversy.
"Huron State" is in the news again.
It's hard to see how such publicity could be anything but bad, especially when budget-controlling state legislators, unionized university faculty, and local news media are already fuming over the University House controversy.
President Cheney?
The historical stereotype of American vice-presidents, as described in this book and others, has been of has-been and never-will-be political hacks selected partly on the basis of their purported ability to attract votes from geographical or political sectors of the population different from the man at the head of the ticket, but most importantly, for their all-important inability to outshine The Big Man in the Number One slot. (Remember Dan Quayle?)
The present administration appears to be an exception. Bob Woodward's latest book reportedly confirms what many have suspected for a long time, especially since the administration insisted that President Bush could only meet with the 9-11 commission under his supervision... er, in his company: Dick Cheney is the real president, the one who makes the policy decisions and provides the intellectual direction for the administration.
Total Information Secrecy
This makes it all the more disturbing that, as discussed in Common Dreams and the New York Times, the administration has doggedly and persistently insisted on total secrecy about his activities and the influence of his energy-industry cohorts. But this has been a consistent theme of the Bush administration, not just in dealing with Cheney's and Bush's oil-industry connections, but in all aspects of its activities. John Ashcroft has ordered government staff to ignore the Freedom-Of-Information Act; the Education department website has been peremptorily scrubbed of all documents that don't support the president's policies; and Bush seems to be determined to replace the existing National Archivist under circumstances that have aroused the suspicions of the Society of American Archivists, the American Library Association, and others. Meanwhile, as reported in Salon, the National Council for Research on Women claims that a number of reports dealing with women's issues have been "disappeared" from government websites.
This goes beyond mere spin-doctoring. As the Common Dreams article says, "What Mr. Cheney is defending, in other words, is a doctrine that makes the United States a sort of elected dictatorship: a system in which the president, once in office, can do whatever he likes, and isn't obliged to consult or inform either Congress or the public."
That's not compatible with democracy.
Bush delenda est. Cheney delenda est.
The historical stereotype of American vice-presidents, as described in this book and others, has been of has-been and never-will-be political hacks selected partly on the basis of their purported ability to attract votes from geographical or political sectors of the population different from the man at the head of the ticket, but most importantly, for their all-important inability to outshine The Big Man in the Number One slot. (Remember Dan Quayle?)
The present administration appears to be an exception. Bob Woodward's latest book reportedly confirms what many have suspected for a long time, especially since the administration insisted that President Bush could only meet with the 9-11 commission under his supervision... er, in his company: Dick Cheney is the real president, the one who makes the policy decisions and provides the intellectual direction for the administration.
Total Information Secrecy
This makes it all the more disturbing that, as discussed in Common Dreams and the New York Times, the administration has doggedly and persistently insisted on total secrecy about his activities and the influence of his energy-industry cohorts. But this has been a consistent theme of the Bush administration, not just in dealing with Cheney's and Bush's oil-industry connections, but in all aspects of its activities. John Ashcroft has ordered government staff to ignore the Freedom-Of-Information Act; the Education department website has been peremptorily scrubbed of all documents that don't support the president's policies; and Bush seems to be determined to replace the existing National Archivist under circumstances that have aroused the suspicions of the Society of American Archivists, the American Library Association, and others. Meanwhile, as reported in Salon, the National Council for Research on Women claims that a number of reports dealing with women's issues have been "disappeared" from government websites.
This goes beyond mere spin-doctoring. As the Common Dreams article says, "What Mr. Cheney is defending, in other words, is a doctrine that makes the United States a sort of elected dictatorship: a system in which the president, once in office, can do whatever he likes, and isn't obliged to consult or inform either Congress or the public."
That's not compatible with democracy.
Bush delenda est. Cheney delenda est.
Fundracing
Want to know which political candidates your neighbors or co-workers donated money to? Check 'em out at www.fundrace.org.
Not too surprisingly, George H.W. Bush (retired) donated to another fellow with a similar name, while Albert Gore (author, self-employed) seems to be playing the Democratic field, donating to both Howard Dean and John Kerry.
Pretty neat, huh? Unless, of course, you want to donate money to a political candidate who is despised by a vengeful boss, your "significant other", your family, your landlord, your preacher/priest/bishop/rabbi/mullah, etc., without getting fired/dumped/disowned/evicted/threatened with everlasting hellfire in retaliation.
The site also has various maps by county and by major cities.
Want to know which political candidates your neighbors or co-workers donated money to? Check 'em out at www.fundrace.org.
Not too surprisingly, George H.W. Bush (retired) donated to another fellow with a similar name, while Albert Gore (author, self-employed) seems to be playing the Democratic field, donating to both Howard Dean and John Kerry.
Pretty neat, huh? Unless, of course, you want to donate money to a political candidate who is despised by a vengeful boss, your "significant other", your family, your landlord, your preacher/priest/bishop/rabbi/mullah, etc., without getting fired/dumped/disowned/evicted/threatened with everlasting hellfire in retaliation.
The site also has various maps by county and by major cities.
Rebate scams
Ed Foster's Gripelog confirms what I've suspected all along: those "rebate" offers on computer and electronic gear are a consciously-calculated scam.
Ed Foster's Gripelog confirms what I've suspected all along: those "rebate" offers on computer and electronic gear are a consciously-calculated scam.
Back from Up North
Functionally, last week's trip up to da U.P. and back was an out-and-back trip to retrieve stuff from a storage compartment. Officially, due to the quirks of the truck renting company's pricing structure, which charges for mileage if the truck is returned to the originating outlet, but allows unlimited mileage for a "one-way" rental to a different outlet, it was a one-way rental from Ypsi to A-squared, a distance of about five miles. The fact that that one-way rental just happened to go by way of Marquette and run up 1000 miles is apparently of no concern to their computer system.
Since I've been driving a fullsize pickup truck for the past few years, I'm not entirely unfamiliar with trucks. But a 15-foot truck is a different beast, especially when it comes time to belly up to the gas station. By rough calculation, the Great White Whale got about 10-11 mpg empty, and considerably less when loaded down with 3000 lbs of books and assorted junk.
Now if I could only find enough bookshelves to avoid having to pile the books on the floor.
Functionally, last week's trip up to da U.P. and back was an out-and-back trip to retrieve stuff from a storage compartment. Officially, due to the quirks of the truck renting company's pricing structure, which charges for mileage if the truck is returned to the originating outlet, but allows unlimited mileage for a "one-way" rental to a different outlet, it was a one-way rental from Ypsi to A-squared, a distance of about five miles. The fact that that one-way rental just happened to go by way of Marquette and run up 1000 miles is apparently of no concern to their computer system.
Since I've been driving a fullsize pickup truck for the past few years, I'm not entirely unfamiliar with trucks. But a 15-foot truck is a different beast, especially when it comes time to belly up to the gas station. By rough calculation, the Great White Whale got about 10-11 mpg empty, and considerably less when loaded down with 3000 lbs of books and assorted junk.
Now if I could only find enough bookshelves to avoid having to pile the books on the floor.
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