Nice save!
I've had some awkward job interviews, but nothing like this. Amazingly, she got the job, at least according to the anonymous and self-described "fictional hiring partner" writing the blog.
Whether the tale be truth or fiction, this deponent knoweth not. But it's a good story.
Sunday, April 11, 2004
Seen on the wall of a bar in Milledgeville, Georgia:
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." -- Ernest Hemingway.
The Columbia World of Quotations confirms the existence of the statement, but attributes it instead to Charles Scribner, Jr., Hemingway's publisher. Either way, it's good advice.
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." -- Ernest Hemingway.
The Columbia World of Quotations confirms the existence of the statement, but attributes it instead to Charles Scribner, Jr., Hemingway's publisher. Either way, it's good advice.
Love those long-winded book titles!
While browsing in an "antique mall" (i.e., consignment secondhand store) recently, I came across a book by Emanuel Swedenborg with the following interesting title. (Slashes indicate linebreaks, and boldface indicates oversize type).
The Delights of Wisdom / pertaining to / Conjugal Love / after which follow / The Pleasures of Insanity / pertaining to / Scortatory Love / by / Emanuel Swedenborg / A swede.
Scortatory -- for those of you who were wondering -- means ‘Pertaining to or consisting in, fornication or lewdness’, and is formed from the Latin word 'scortator', which means 'to associate with harlots'. The English translation of Swedenborg's title, first printed in 1794, is the first known use of the word in the English language.
(I love the Oxford English Dictionary! But not conjugally, since that apparently leads to the Pleasures of Insanity.)
While browsing in an "antique mall" (i.e., consignment secondhand store) recently, I came across a book by Emanuel Swedenborg with the following interesting title. (Slashes indicate linebreaks, and boldface indicates oversize type).
The Delights of Wisdom / pertaining to / Conjugal Love / after which follow / The Pleasures of Insanity / pertaining to / Scortatory Love / by / Emanuel Swedenborg / A swede.
Scortatory -- for those of you who were wondering -- means ‘Pertaining to or consisting in, fornication or lewdness’, and is formed from the Latin word 'scortator', which means 'to associate with harlots'. The English translation of Swedenborg's title, first printed in 1794, is the first known use of the word in the English language.
(I love the Oxford English Dictionary! But not conjugally, since that apparently leads to the Pleasures of Insanity.)
Who are your customers?
The Public Library Geographic Database may be of interest to those in the U.S. who wish to know the demographics of their public library's users.
(Link taken from March/April 2004 issue of Public Libraries, in which two of the PLGD's staff shamelessly plug their efforts.)
The Public Library Geographic Database may be of interest to those in the U.S. who wish to know the demographics of their public library's users.
(Link taken from March/April 2004 issue of Public Libraries, in which two of the PLGD's staff shamelessly plug their efforts.)
E-voting follies
This story from Wired News is a damning summary of the maniacal, singleminded bureaucratic push for unverifiable "e-voting". Excerpts:
Harris discovered that she could enter the vote database using Microsoft Access -- a standard program often bundled with Microsoft Office -- and change votes without leaving a trace. Diebold hadn't password-protected the file or secured the audit log, so anyone with access to the tabulation program during an election -- Diebold employees, election staff or even hackers if the county server were connected to a phone line -- could change votes and alter the log to erase the evidence....
(Diebold's response to this discovery, as is well known, was to use legal mechanisms like the DMCA to try to forbid dissemination of this information. Meanwhile they showed absolutely zero interest in correcting the "accidental" security flaws. Meanwhile, the chairman of the company confidently promised that he would "deliver Ohio" to his political buddies.)
In addition to glitches, there are concerns about the people behind the machines. A few voting company employees have been implicated in bribery or kickback schemes involving election officials. And there are concerns about the partisan loyalties of voting executives -- Diebold's chief executive, for example, is a top fund-raiser for President Bush....
...So one day on a whim, after completing her publicity calls, Harris typed the words "stock ownership" and the name Election Systems & Software into a search engine and pulled up a slew of articles. Reading the oldest ones first because that's where companies "give information that they haven't yet thought to hide," she uncovered some startling facts.
Up until 1995, Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel had been chairman of ES&S (then called American Information Systems) before quitting the company in March of that year two weeks before launching his Senate bid. ES&S, based in Omaha, Nebraska, manufactured the only voting machines used in the state in his election the following year. According to Neil Erickson, Nebraska's deputy secretary of state for elections, the machines counted 85 percent of votes in Hagel's race; the remaining votes were counted by hand.
Hagel, a first-time candidate who had lived out of the state for 20 years, came from behind to win two major upsets in that election: first in the primary race against a fellow Republican, then in the general race against Democrat Ben Nelson, the state's popular former governor. Nelson began the race with a 65 percent to 18 percent lead in the polls, but Hagel won with 56 percent of the vote, becoming the state's first Republican senator since 1972....
It's long been a cliche for political cynics to say that one person's vote doesn't count. With the help of insecure and unverifiable voting machines controlled by political partisans, that may become the literal truth except for the one person who controls the voting software.
More from www.blackboxvoting.com, including a link to a startling article from the New York Times: Florida as the next Florida
Excerpts:
As Floridians went to the polls last Tuesday, Glenda Hood, Katherine Harris's successor as secretary of state, assured the nation that Florida's voting system would not break down this year the way it did in 2000. Florida now has "the very best" technology available, she declared on CNN. "And I do feel that it's a great disservice to create the feeling that there's a problem when there is not." Hours later, results in Bay County showed that with more than 60 percent of precincts reporting, Richard Gephardt, who long before had pulled out of the presidential race, was beating John Kerry by two to one. "I'm devastated," the county's top election official said, promising a recount of his county's 19,000 votes.
Florida's official line is that its machines are so carefully tested, nothing can go wrong. But things already have gone wrong. In a January election in Palm Beach and Broward Counties, the victory margin was 12 votes, but the machines recorded more than 130 blank ballots. It is simply not believable that 130 people showed up to cast a nonvote, in an election with only one race on the ballot. The runner-up wanted a recount, but since the machines do not produce a paper record, there was nothing to recount. [emphasis added.]
In 2002, in the primary race for governor between Janet Reno and Bill McBride, electronic voting problems were so widespread they cast doubt on the outcome. Many Miami-Dade County votes were not counted on election night because machines were shut down improperly. One precinct with over 1,000 eligible voters recorded no votes, despite a 33 percent turnout statewide. Election workers spent days hunting for lost votes, while Floridians waited, in an uncomfortable replay of 2000, to see whether Mr. McBride's victory margin, which had dwindled to less than 10,000, would hold up....
The 2004 election may make the 2000 Florida fiasco look like a toddler's tantrum if this is any indication. On the other hand, perhaps the vote-riggers will get their act together well enough to hide their tracks. Unless those pesky voters kick up enough of a political storm to force the election officials to provide verifiable, permanent, and re-countable hard copy ballots.
This story from Wired News is a damning summary of the maniacal, singleminded bureaucratic push for unverifiable "e-voting". Excerpts:
Harris discovered that she could enter the vote database using Microsoft Access -- a standard program often bundled with Microsoft Office -- and change votes without leaving a trace. Diebold hadn't password-protected the file or secured the audit log, so anyone with access to the tabulation program during an election -- Diebold employees, election staff or even hackers if the county server were connected to a phone line -- could change votes and alter the log to erase the evidence....
(Diebold's response to this discovery, as is well known, was to use legal mechanisms like the DMCA to try to forbid dissemination of this information. Meanwhile they showed absolutely zero interest in correcting the "accidental" security flaws. Meanwhile, the chairman of the company confidently promised that he would "deliver Ohio" to his political buddies.)
In addition to glitches, there are concerns about the people behind the machines. A few voting company employees have been implicated in bribery or kickback schemes involving election officials. And there are concerns about the partisan loyalties of voting executives -- Diebold's chief executive, for example, is a top fund-raiser for President Bush....
...So one day on a whim, after completing her publicity calls, Harris typed the words "stock ownership" and the name Election Systems & Software into a search engine and pulled up a slew of articles. Reading the oldest ones first because that's where companies "give information that they haven't yet thought to hide," she uncovered some startling facts.
Up until 1995, Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel had been chairman of ES&S (then called American Information Systems) before quitting the company in March of that year two weeks before launching his Senate bid. ES&S, based in Omaha, Nebraska, manufactured the only voting machines used in the state in his election the following year. According to Neil Erickson, Nebraska's deputy secretary of state for elections, the machines counted 85 percent of votes in Hagel's race; the remaining votes were counted by hand.
Hagel, a first-time candidate who had lived out of the state for 20 years, came from behind to win two major upsets in that election: first in the primary race against a fellow Republican, then in the general race against Democrat Ben Nelson, the state's popular former governor. Nelson began the race with a 65 percent to 18 percent lead in the polls, but Hagel won with 56 percent of the vote, becoming the state's first Republican senator since 1972....
It's long been a cliche for political cynics to say that one person's vote doesn't count. With the help of insecure and unverifiable voting machines controlled by political partisans, that may become the literal truth except for the one person who controls the voting software.
More from www.blackboxvoting.com, including a link to a startling article from the New York Times: Florida as the next Florida
Excerpts:
As Floridians went to the polls last Tuesday, Glenda Hood, Katherine Harris's successor as secretary of state, assured the nation that Florida's voting system would not break down this year the way it did in 2000. Florida now has "the very best" technology available, she declared on CNN. "And I do feel that it's a great disservice to create the feeling that there's a problem when there is not." Hours later, results in Bay County showed that with more than 60 percent of precincts reporting, Richard Gephardt, who long before had pulled out of the presidential race, was beating John Kerry by two to one. "I'm devastated," the county's top election official said, promising a recount of his county's 19,000 votes.
Florida's official line is that its machines are so carefully tested, nothing can go wrong. But things already have gone wrong. In a January election in Palm Beach and Broward Counties, the victory margin was 12 votes, but the machines recorded more than 130 blank ballots. It is simply not believable that 130 people showed up to cast a nonvote, in an election with only one race on the ballot. The runner-up wanted a recount, but since the machines do not produce a paper record, there was nothing to recount. [emphasis added.]
In 2002, in the primary race for governor between Janet Reno and Bill McBride, electronic voting problems were so widespread they cast doubt on the outcome. Many Miami-Dade County votes were not counted on election night because machines were shut down improperly. One precinct with over 1,000 eligible voters recorded no votes, despite a 33 percent turnout statewide. Election workers spent days hunting for lost votes, while Floridians waited, in an uncomfortable replay of 2000, to see whether Mr. McBride's victory margin, which had dwindled to less than 10,000, would hold up....
The 2004 election may make the 2000 Florida fiasco look like a toddler's tantrum if this is any indication. On the other hand, perhaps the vote-riggers will get their act together well enough to hide their tracks. Unless those pesky voters kick up enough of a political storm to force the election officials to provide verifiable, permanent, and re-countable hard copy ballots.
I am not alone...
... in using the term "fatwa" in a specialized, and perhaps too narrow, way. Arts & Letters Daily this morning pointed me to a National Journal article about the New York Times' ombudsman Daniel Okrent which contains the following phrase: "I hear that Okrent is already unpopular at The Times, that various angry staffers have issued fatwas."
The article is also interesting reading for those who are cynical about the New York Times or journalism in general.
... in using the term "fatwa" in a specialized, and perhaps too narrow, way. Arts & Letters Daily this morning pointed me to a National Journal article about the New York Times' ombudsman Daniel Okrent which contains the following phrase: "I hear that Okrent is already unpopular at The Times, that various angry staffers have issued fatwas."
The article is also interesting reading for those who are cynical about the New York Times or journalism in general.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
One last intellectual theft of the evening:
Since every one of my postings today has begun with a link ripped from somewhere else, it's entirely appropriate to close the day by doing so once again. Thanks to Fiend for the link to this survey of blogging behavior, which provides some interesting food for thought regarding anonymity, liability, and the degree to which bloggers discuss personal or private material and occasionally have reason to regret it.
And so to bed.
Since every one of my postings today has begun with a link ripped from somewhere else, it's entirely appropriate to close the day by doing so once again. Thanks to Fiend for the link to this survey of blogging behavior, which provides some interesting food for thought regarding anonymity, liability, and the degree to which bloggers discuss personal or private material and occasionally have reason to regret it.
And so to bed.
Where's E.K. Hornbeck when you need him?
The county that gave us the Scopes Monkey Trial and a 2002 lawsuit about whether public schools should include Bible Education Ministry in the curriculum is at it again:
Associated Press, March 17, 2004: DAYTON, Tenn. — Rhea County [Tennessee] commissioners unanimously voted to ask state lawmakers to introduce legislation amending Tennessee's criminal code so the county can charge homosexuals with crimes against nature.
"We need to keep them out of here," said Commissioner J.C. Fugate, who introduced the motion.
County Attorney Gary Fritts also was asked by Fugate to find the best way to enact a local law banning homosexuals from living in Rhea County....
Apparently Rhea County still needs to be dragged, kicking and screaming, forward into the twentieth century. Fortunately, the county attorney remembered reading about something called the Constitution, and the commissioners took his advice to rescind their motion. But not before providing the more civilized parts of the country with another round of amusement.
(Thanks to AaronIsNotAmused for the link.)
The county that gave us the Scopes Monkey Trial and a 2002 lawsuit about whether public schools should include Bible Education Ministry in the curriculum is at it again:
Associated Press, March 17, 2004: DAYTON, Tenn. — Rhea County [Tennessee] commissioners unanimously voted to ask state lawmakers to introduce legislation amending Tennessee's criminal code so the county can charge homosexuals with crimes against nature.
"We need to keep them out of here," said Commissioner J.C. Fugate, who introduced the motion.
County Attorney Gary Fritts also was asked by Fugate to find the best way to enact a local law banning homosexuals from living in Rhea County....
Apparently Rhea County still needs to be dragged, kicking and screaming, forward into the twentieth century. Fortunately, the county attorney remembered reading about something called the Constitution, and the commissioners took his advice to rescind their motion. But not before providing the more civilized parts of the country with another round of amusement.
(Thanks to AaronIsNotAmused for the link.)
Censorship or selection
Also ripped from the "H20 lib blog": an insightful discussion of the semantic difference between "selection" and "censorship" in the language of LibraryLand.
I'm rather forcibly reminded of the reference supervisor who refused to "select" A Clockwork Orange for the library -- even as a donation! -- or permit it to be requested through interlibrary loan, despite multiple requests, because "young people shouldn't be reading such trash."
Also ripped from the "H20 lib blog": an insightful discussion of the semantic difference between "selection" and "censorship" in the language of LibraryLand.
I'm rather forcibly reminded of the reference supervisor who refused to "select" A Clockwork Orange for the library -- even as a donation! -- or permit it to be requested through interlibrary loan, despite multiple requests, because "young people shouldn't be reading such trash."
Mother Earth News
While browsing the Waterboro Library Weblog (or "h20boro lib blog)" earlier today, I found that all the issues of this interesting magazine from the first issue in January/February 1970 to April/May 2003 are available online. Fascinating stuff. I could browse this archive for weeks, however contrary to the spirit of the magazine that might be.
Articles from the first few issues that caught my attention:
Twin Oaks (Issue #1) A description of one of the more successful experiments in consciously designed communal living. Co-founder Katherine Kinkaid has described Twin Oaks in more detail in her books, but it's useful to read a contemporary account of its early days written by soneone else. Although I personally might find it difficult to live under some of the policies of the Twin Oaks group, it's a fascinating project that still exists today because its founders were practical enough to (1) establish a workable internal economic system based on "labor credits", (2) establish a system of democratic and flexible but effective organization, and (3) use the existing external economy to support themselves by producing both physical and intellectual products that fit within their principles and were desired by the outside world. Of course, it helped that they didn't have to make mortgage payments on the farm!
Mississippi Canoe Trip (Issue #4) I've frequently thought about doing something similar, but I think I'll work up to the Mississippi by stages, rather than just taking off with no prior canoeing experience as this couple did. The Huron River seems to be well thawed out, and the weather's getting nicer....
The Compleat Gentleman Homesteads in the Bush (Issue #5). "[I]f a man doesn't have a set of standards by which to live, he is little better than a savage. As a matter of fact, Saturday in my wilderness home was always special. I planned a good dinner with wine accompanied by one of the more exciting classical records and the Toronto Scottish pipe band on the record player. After the meal — with dishes washed and wolf and falcon fed — I sat in front of the TV set, sipped cold beer (it had been in the river all day) and relaxed . . . in a suit. Just because one lives in the woods is no reason to go completely native."
Trebor and others of sound practical sense may well point out that survival, engineering or business-related advice from idealistic sources should be taken with a grain of salt, or at least confirmed through another source before betting one's life or well-being on its accuracy. For example, it seems that the wood fire-powered refrigerator described in issue #35 has some potential flaws, as pointed out by a rather alarming letter in issue #37. (Unfortunately, Allie Fox's subscription apparently ran out before he read the second letter.)
But what a source of ideas and daydreams.
While browsing the Waterboro Library Weblog (or "h20boro lib blog)" earlier today, I found that all the issues of this interesting magazine from the first issue in January/February 1970 to April/May 2003 are available online. Fascinating stuff. I could browse this archive for weeks, however contrary to the spirit of the magazine that might be.
Articles from the first few issues that caught my attention:
Twin Oaks (Issue #1) A description of one of the more successful experiments in consciously designed communal living. Co-founder Katherine Kinkaid has described Twin Oaks in more detail in her books, but it's useful to read a contemporary account of its early days written by soneone else. Although I personally might find it difficult to live under some of the policies of the Twin Oaks group, it's a fascinating project that still exists today because its founders were practical enough to (1) establish a workable internal economic system based on "labor credits", (2) establish a system of democratic and flexible but effective organization, and (3) use the existing external economy to support themselves by producing both physical and intellectual products that fit within their principles and were desired by the outside world. Of course, it helped that they didn't have to make mortgage payments on the farm!
Mississippi Canoe Trip (Issue #4) I've frequently thought about doing something similar, but I think I'll work up to the Mississippi by stages, rather than just taking off with no prior canoeing experience as this couple did. The Huron River seems to be well thawed out, and the weather's getting nicer....
The Compleat Gentleman Homesteads in the Bush (Issue #5). "[I]f a man doesn't have a set of standards by which to live, he is little better than a savage. As a matter of fact, Saturday in my wilderness home was always special. I planned a good dinner with wine accompanied by one of the more exciting classical records and the Toronto Scottish pipe band on the record player. After the meal — with dishes washed and wolf and falcon fed — I sat in front of the TV set, sipped cold beer (it had been in the river all day) and relaxed . . . in a suit. Just because one lives in the woods is no reason to go completely native."
Trebor and others of sound practical sense may well point out that survival, engineering or business-related advice from idealistic sources should be taken with a grain of salt, or at least confirmed through another source before betting one's life or well-being on its accuracy. For example, it seems that the wood fire-powered refrigerator described in issue #35 has some potential flaws, as pointed out by a rather alarming letter in issue #37. (Unfortunately, Allie Fox's subscription apparently ran out before he read the second letter.)
But what a source of ideas and daydreams.
Would you read it on a train? Would you read it in a plane?
Bookmobiles are very well and good, but as this site indicates, there are many, many different styles of traveling libraries: Bookboats, book-bikes, book-donkeys, book-camels, et cetera. In the U.S., during the Great Depression, the Works Project Administration used many different means to distribute books to remote corners of the country, including most notably the Pack Horse Library Project as described in Kathi Appelt's Down Cut Shin Creek : the Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky.
Of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is that a Book Train might make an interesting HO scale model. There were many U.S. prototypes to follow, and to cite as examples should any niggling nitpicker claim that such things "ain't prototypical". True, most of the railroad library cars were for the use of paying passengers only, but that's just part and parcel of the Gilded Age in America.
For a more altruistically inclined roving cultural artifact on rails, perhaps I could model one of the chapel cars that once plied the rails of North America bringing missionary efforts to remote areas and, in one case, serving as a semi-permanent meeting hall after the Upper Peninsula logging town of Ontonagan burned to the ground in 1896.
Thanks to the ever-eclectic Jessamyn West for the link. The Bookboat webpage is affiliated with the Prince Rupert (B.C., Canada) Public Library and "is intended to help us build support for a waterfront location for a new Prince Rupert Library and Archives." I wish them well.
Bookmobiles are very well and good, but as this site indicates, there are many, many different styles of traveling libraries: Bookboats, book-bikes, book-donkeys, book-camels, et cetera. In the U.S., during the Great Depression, the Works Project Administration used many different means to distribute books to remote corners of the country, including most notably the Pack Horse Library Project as described in Kathi Appelt's Down Cut Shin Creek : the Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky.
Of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is that a Book Train might make an interesting HO scale model. There were many U.S. prototypes to follow, and to cite as examples should any niggling nitpicker claim that such things "ain't prototypical". True, most of the railroad library cars were for the use of paying passengers only, but that's just part and parcel of the Gilded Age in America.
For a more altruistically inclined roving cultural artifact on rails, perhaps I could model one of the chapel cars that once plied the rails of North America bringing missionary efforts to remote areas and, in one case, serving as a semi-permanent meeting hall after the Upper Peninsula logging town of Ontonagan burned to the ground in 1896.
Thanks to the ever-eclectic Jessamyn West for the link. The Bookboat webpage is affiliated with the Prince Rupert (B.C., Canada) Public Library and "is intended to help us build support for a waterfront location for a new Prince Rupert Library and Archives." I wish them well.
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
I have mixed feelings....
... about this controversy, in which one of Michigan's largest law schools is suing the American Bar Association for blocking accreditation of two branch campus programs which cater to part-time and weekend students, and which have apparently met all stated ABA accreditation criteria.
On the one hand, I question whether the country needs yet more lawyers, and from a librarian's perspective, I can see how it might be difficult to make truly equal legal resources available at multiple campuses. On the other hand, a law school that is open to people who can't drop everything and attend full time for three years straight is a valuable service to anyone who has to support himself/herself and, perhaps, a family, with a full time job, but has the desire and the ability to "learn how to think like a lawyer".
I have considered trying to earn a second master's degree in order to improve my position on the academic job market, but find that many universities are too snobbish and stuck-up to even consider the possibility of tolerating part-time students. A relative of mine in Austin, Texas, has reported that the University of Texas graduate business school similarly has its nose stuck firmly in the stratosphere. It wants only full-time students who are supported by their parents and don't have to pay their own bills. Apparently people with actual ongoing hands-on business experience aren't classy enough.
My dad earned his law degree by working his tail off in evening and weekend classes while working full time as an engineer to support his family. He says that even at that time there was a noticeable hostility to part-time students, who were apparently perceived as being socially undesirable.
The ABA has refused to publicly comment about its role in this imbroglio, but it's hard to see it as anything but (1) old fashioned snobbishness and (2) turf-protection by existing attorneys who would just as soon not see large numbers of new-minted competitors enter the market.
Editorial note, 4/8: changed "supported by mommy and daddy" to "supported by their parents" in the third paragraph, because the students haven't done anything wrong and making fun of them doesn't accomplish anything.
... about this controversy, in which one of Michigan's largest law schools is suing the American Bar Association for blocking accreditation of two branch campus programs which cater to part-time and weekend students, and which have apparently met all stated ABA accreditation criteria.
On the one hand, I question whether the country needs yet more lawyers, and from a librarian's perspective, I can see how it might be difficult to make truly equal legal resources available at multiple campuses. On the other hand, a law school that is open to people who can't drop everything and attend full time for three years straight is a valuable service to anyone who has to support himself/herself and, perhaps, a family, with a full time job, but has the desire and the ability to "learn how to think like a lawyer".
I have considered trying to earn a second master's degree in order to improve my position on the academic job market, but find that many universities are too snobbish and stuck-up to even consider the possibility of tolerating part-time students. A relative of mine in Austin, Texas, has reported that the University of Texas graduate business school similarly has its nose stuck firmly in the stratosphere. It wants only full-time students who are supported by their parents and don't have to pay their own bills. Apparently people with actual ongoing hands-on business experience aren't classy enough.
My dad earned his law degree by working his tail off in evening and weekend classes while working full time as an engineer to support his family. He says that even at that time there was a noticeable hostility to part-time students, who were apparently perceived as being socially undesirable.
The ABA has refused to publicly comment about its role in this imbroglio, but it's hard to see it as anything but (1) old fashioned snobbishness and (2) turf-protection by existing attorneys who would just as soon not see large numbers of new-minted competitors enter the market.
Editorial note, 4/8: changed "supported by mommy and daddy" to "supported by their parents" in the third paragraph, because the students haven't done anything wrong and making fun of them doesn't accomplish anything.
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
On a lighter note:
Jon Carroll of the SF Gate has compiled an impressive record of editorials covering those lovely mondegreens.
Jon Carroll of the SF Gate has compiled an impressive record of editorials covering those lovely mondegreens.
Our valiant protectors
Good news! The Department of Justice is pulling out all the stops, resurrecting long-neglected laws and theories of prosecution, and devoting uncountable man-hours to rooting out shadowy networks of finance and individuals that threaten the very existence of America. 'Round the clock they work diligently, looking for incriminating evidence and ways to arrest those who seek to infiltrate our fair society with the scourge of....
Naked people.
Oh, you thought that terrorists were a bigger problem? I guess you don't hold daily prayer sessions in your taxpayer-funded office, either, you unAmerican freak!
As the Baltimore Sun article indicates, the current standard for "obscenity" prosecutions rests upon "the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision in Miller vs. California, which held that something is "obscene" only if an average person applying contemporary community standards finds it patently offensive.
But which community? Hollywood? Denver? Salt Lake City? Dime Box, Texas?
There's a simple solution, known to shady ambulance-chasing lawyers the world 'round, for juries and judges that refuse to give you the verdict you want. Simply go forum-shopping and find a community where the judge & jury will apply their standards to someone else's community:
The department's most closely watched case involves "extreme" porn producer Rob Zicari and his North Hollywood company Extreme Associates. The prolific Zicari is charged with selling five allegedly obscene videotapes, which he now markets as the "Federal Five," that depict simulated rapes and murder....
The case hangs on a strategic move by the Justice Department that could make or break hundreds of future cases. Instead of bringing charges in Hollywood, where Zicari easily defeated a local obscenity ordinance recently in a jury trial, department officials ordered his tapes from Pittsburgh, Pa., and charged him there, hoping for a jury pool less porn-friendly. (From the Baltimore Sun article linked above.)
Now Mr. Zicari's trashy productions are doubtless unpalatable to most people. But apparently the community of Hollywood doesn't consider them legally obscene. No problemo! Just apply some other community's standards that more closely match Mr. Ashcroft's own opinions. The application of this principle to the internet is obvious: whatever Mr. Ashcroft deems personally offensive is to be prosecuted or banned nationwide.
From a 2001 interview with the PBS program Frontline, as quoted in the B. Sun:
"Just about everything on the Internet and almost everything in the video stores and everything in the adult bookstores is still prosecutable illegal obscenity," [Ashcroft] said....
It's incredible that in the age of the internet, with communication of ideas and images between points thousand of miles apart reduced to a matter of mouse-clicks and mere seconds, Mr. Ashcroft intends to apply the most restrictive "community standards" he can find to all communities in the nation, with total disregard for the wishes of the vast bulk of the country. It's quite possible that a jury in East Buckfutt, Idaho, might very well convict someone of obscenity for content that wouldn't even raise an eyebrow in, say, San Francisco. It's quite possible that in some benighted one-horse town, a halfway competent prosecutor could get a jury to ban Charles Darwin as "obscene". The possibilities are endless....
Perhaps he will be equally sympathetic when Saudi Arabia demands -- in accordance with its local "community standards" -- that websites containing the text of the Christian Bible be shut down as "obscene". Or when a politically liberal, atheist community somewhere in the U.S. files suit to ban objectionable religious proseletyzing websites from the Internet. Ya wanna bet?
Good news! The Department of Justice is pulling out all the stops, resurrecting long-neglected laws and theories of prosecution, and devoting uncountable man-hours to rooting out shadowy networks of finance and individuals that threaten the very existence of America. 'Round the clock they work diligently, looking for incriminating evidence and ways to arrest those who seek to infiltrate our fair society with the scourge of....
Naked people.
Oh, you thought that terrorists were a bigger problem? I guess you don't hold daily prayer sessions in your taxpayer-funded office, either, you unAmerican freak!
As the Baltimore Sun article indicates, the current standard for "obscenity" prosecutions rests upon "the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision in Miller vs. California, which held that something is "obscene" only if an average person applying contemporary community standards finds it patently offensive.
But which community? Hollywood? Denver? Salt Lake City? Dime Box, Texas?
There's a simple solution, known to shady ambulance-chasing lawyers the world 'round, for juries and judges that refuse to give you the verdict you want. Simply go forum-shopping and find a community where the judge & jury will apply their standards to someone else's community:
The department's most closely watched case involves "extreme" porn producer Rob Zicari and his North Hollywood company Extreme Associates. The prolific Zicari is charged with selling five allegedly obscene videotapes, which he now markets as the "Federal Five," that depict simulated rapes and murder....
The case hangs on a strategic move by the Justice Department that could make or break hundreds of future cases. Instead of bringing charges in Hollywood, where Zicari easily defeated a local obscenity ordinance recently in a jury trial, department officials ordered his tapes from Pittsburgh, Pa., and charged him there, hoping for a jury pool less porn-friendly. (From the Baltimore Sun article linked above.)
Now Mr. Zicari's trashy productions are doubtless unpalatable to most people. But apparently the community of Hollywood doesn't consider them legally obscene. No problemo! Just apply some other community's standards that more closely match Mr. Ashcroft's own opinions. The application of this principle to the internet is obvious: whatever Mr. Ashcroft deems personally offensive is to be prosecuted or banned nationwide.
From a 2001 interview with the PBS program Frontline, as quoted in the B. Sun:
"Just about everything on the Internet and almost everything in the video stores and everything in the adult bookstores is still prosecutable illegal obscenity," [Ashcroft] said....
It's incredible that in the age of the internet, with communication of ideas and images between points thousand of miles apart reduced to a matter of mouse-clicks and mere seconds, Mr. Ashcroft intends to apply the most restrictive "community standards" he can find to all communities in the nation, with total disregard for the wishes of the vast bulk of the country. It's quite possible that a jury in East Buckfutt, Idaho, might very well convict someone of obscenity for content that wouldn't even raise an eyebrow in, say, San Francisco. It's quite possible that in some benighted one-horse town, a halfway competent prosecutor could get a jury to ban Charles Darwin as "obscene". The possibilities are endless....
Perhaps he will be equally sympathetic when Saudi Arabia demands -- in accordance with its local "community standards" -- that websites containing the text of the Christian Bible be shut down as "obscene". Or when a politically liberal, atheist community somewhere in the U.S. files suit to ban objectionable religious proseletyzing websites from the Internet. Ya wanna bet?
Rural retreats
Pursuant to Fiend's recent recreational expedition to a northwoods "Sugar Shack", USAToday reports that less glamorous agricultural businesses are also becoming the objects of "agritourism":
Rural life becoming tourist attraction
My more rural relatives would probably get a laugh from the idea of city folks paying good money for the privilege of picking fruit or looking at cows. On the other hand, I did enjoy my summers at the farm while I was growing up.
Pursuant to Fiend's recent recreational expedition to a northwoods "Sugar Shack", USAToday reports that less glamorous agricultural businesses are also becoming the objects of "agritourism":
Rural life becoming tourist attraction
My more rural relatives would probably get a laugh from the idea of city folks paying good money for the privilege of picking fruit or looking at cows. On the other hand, I did enjoy my summers at the farm while I was growing up.
Monday, April 05, 2004
Alternate alternate realities
The Lord of the Rings as it might have been written by Arthur Conan Doyle... or Ayn Rand... or Dr. Seuss....
The "Jack Vance" version sounds oddly like James Branch Cabell to my ear. Perhaps Carlos could comment on whether this version has captured the true Wodehousian esprit d'Jeeves?
The Lord of the Rings as it might have been written by Arthur Conan Doyle... or Ayn Rand... or Dr. Seuss....
The "Jack Vance" version sounds oddly like James Branch Cabell to my ear. Perhaps Carlos could comment on whether this version has captured the true Wodehousian esprit d'Jeeves?
A breezy ride through hell
"Elena", a biker in the USSR, has posted a truly eerie photostory about riding along the highways and through the ghost towns near the site of the Chernobyl disaster.
(Link taken from The LoneWacko Blog, who seems to have gotten it from Art Bell. Despite the latter's reputation for promoting silly theories about paranormal conspiracies et al, nothing about the photos looks implausible to me. Just grim and scary and haunting.)
"Elena", a biker in the USSR, has posted a truly eerie photostory about riding along the highways and through the ghost towns near the site of the Chernobyl disaster.
(Link taken from The LoneWacko Blog, who seems to have gotten it from Art Bell. Despite the latter's reputation for promoting silly theories about paranormal conspiracies et al, nothing about the photos looks implausible to me. Just grim and scary and haunting.)
Well, I'm back....
... and just in time, as Trebor's threatening to turn the place into a Sex Shoppe in my absence. Bad Trebor. If you want public nudity, go to Canada. Or buy the Librarians Gone Wild videotape. (Latter link courtesy of Library Underground.)
Meanwhile I'll get back to blogging about boring old politics and books and stuff.
... and just in time, as Trebor's threatening to turn the place into a Sex Shoppe in my absence. Bad Trebor. If you want public nudity, go to Canada. Or buy the Librarians Gone Wild videotape. (Latter link courtesy of Library Underground.)
Meanwhile I'll get back to blogging about boring old politics and books and stuff.
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