I Want To Touch It

Holy shit, I think my brain just orgasmed.

Obama v. Palin: Now Taking Bets

I was wondering when someone would suggest Gov. Palin take Sen. McCain's place in Friday's debate. Personally, I say go for it. It would put Gov. Palin before the public against the candidate who took down Hilary Clinton. Sen. Obama could simply deflect any criticism that he was too harsh on Gov. Palin by saying that since she was acting in Sen. McCain's place she should have the same tough debating skills as her running mate. It plays well for Sen. Obama in a lot of ways--allowing him to zero in on Gov. Palin's inexperience and inadiquicies while using the cover that Sen. McCain is a tough debator and Sen. Obama expected the same from someone entrusted to represent Sen. McCain in a presidential debate. The right will cry sexism but that's only after Sen. Obama slices open Gov. Palin on live national television. After that kind of evisceration, I don't think any of the undecideds will have a problem voting for Sen. Obama.

Gambler's Odds

I'm not going to bother with linking to all the blogs talking about Sen. McCain's maneuvering since it seems that just about every other post is about said maneuvering. Instead, I'm going to emulate the senator from Arizona and just shoot from the hip here.
There are several possible reasons for suspending a campaign so close to an election, even a presidential election. The death of a spouse or president would qualify and have a real touch of class to it. Suspending a campaign, just days before the first debate, on the basis that Congress and the country need the candidate in Washington D.C. to save everything just smacks of narcissism (particularly when the Senate Majority leader tells you not to come). It also smacks of desperation within the campaign and a potential financial crisis of their own. And that's only the basic political assumptions that immediately jump to mind.
Pure political gamesmanship aside, what do such actions say of a presidential candidate? What's striking about Sen. McCain's actions/gambit is the high probability of exposing yourself to the attack line of being unable to handle the every day tasks of the president and a major crisis at the same time. Not to praise the man, but even President Bush is able to do it to some degree. That Sen. McCain has opened himself to such an attack is about as close to electoral suicide as you can get without photos of the senator with a rough trick name Billy and the motel sign in the background. It's not simply the hit to Sen. McCain's experience platform, it's a controlled detonation of the image that the senator can deal with the major problems of our generation.
The other serious problem of the McCain campaign suspension is the practical issue of presidential debates. While Sen. McCain may claim the financial crisis is too important for a distraction like a debate, it comes off more as an attempt to avoid such a debate at this time. One of the comparisons being bandied about is a college student asking for an extension on their paper. While that's fine for a college student, John McCain is a major party candidate for president of the fucking United States. You don't get extensions or absences. You don't get to skip work for a day or call in sick. Is that fair? Of course not, but that's the job Sen. McCain is applying for. Now is the moment when you get to take a look at the resumes of two qualified individuals and find out which one can handle the job. Clearly, at this point, it's Sen. Obama. He's taken the Wall Street meltdown in stride, keeping in contact with the necessary people while running a presidential campaign. In point of fact, Sen. Obama is doing two jobs at once as he is still trying to keep up with his work in the Senate and run for president at the same time. In this game there are no time outs or extensions.
All of which is to say I think Sen. McCain made a major mistake today. While he may have rallied the social conservative base with his pick of Gov. Palin as his running mate, the moderates and independents still need courting. Exposing yourself to the attack of being unable to run a major organization during a crisis does not instill confidence in the undecided part of the electorate. What's more, using the financial crisis as an excuse to duck a debate only exacerbates the intensity of such an attack. Sen. McCain has exposed a serious weakness with more than a month of campaign left. The press isn't exactly his friend anymore and a good number of people are already unsure about his abilities to run the nation while dealing with the multiple crises that already exist. Sen. McCain may like to gamble but lately his bets haven't paid off in the big ways he needed them to; and as gamblers like to say, "if you play long enough the house will always win." It's just sad to see a man I once could respect fall so low.

The Philosophers Were Right

I can't quite remember which philosopher talked about this first or in the most detail (Nietzsche's a possibility but so is W.V.O. Quine), but there's a fairly respected idea that states all thought is preceded by belief. If you say something like, "The sun rises in the east," whether this is true or not you are, in fact, saying, "I believe the sun rises in the east." With scientific facts their truthfulness isn't terribly debatable but even there you have to believe the facts are true. And even when you knowingly lie you have to believe what you say is a lie.
So it doesn't come as a surprise that when studying belief and disbelief as it relates to the brain you would find the region of the brain attached to belief would act the same way whether that belief was logical or emotional. Now Sam Harris is an ardent atheist and someone who has debated Andrew Sullivan on religion so one would think that such results would please Harris. However, what the results show is that the philosophers were right to say that belief precedes all thought. And once again the philosophers lead the way in the study of the mind. I do so love it when that happens.

Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!

Gah! Cuteness overload


more animals

Holy Zombie Jesus!

Oh, this is just too good. What better way to turn a figure of reverence into irrelevance. Fucking love it.

Telling the Big Lie

I'm shocked, shocked (well, not that shocked) to find that Sen. McCain has been lying about his tax proposals as well as Sen. Obama's tax plans. Unsurprisingly, Sen. McCain's unwillingness to raise taxes while seriously cutting spending is a bit of a lark, as Joe Klein writes. Speaking through Michael Scherer and Matt Miller is Sen. McCain's economic advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who admits that the basic math of the federal budget will require any president to raise taxes in the future or face bankrupting the U.S. government. The natural growth of the federal budget, Holtz-Eakin claims, will require an overall tax increase of some seven percent by 2020 to keep up with budget inflation. And it's not surprising that such an increase of the federal budget will happen since we have a military to rebuild along with our ever increasing interest on federal debt.
So what we have here is an instance, as Holtz-Eakin describes, of the math being at odds with Sen. McCain's campaign slogans. Perhaps Sen. McCain simple hasn't been told this yet or perhaps he just doesn't care. His apparent willingness to blatently lie during this election makes the latter far more likely. Klein finishes off with the mention that Holtz-Eakin acknowledges that Sen. Obama's tax plan would actually reduce net taxes over a ten year period. How that will square with the programs Sen. Obama proposes I'm not sure. But at least people within the McCain camp realize that the sloganeering is a lot of empty rhetoric.

Reason is the Mode of Transportation

For once, Erza Klein makes a good point in the pedestrian-cyclist vs. driver argument. One of the major inhibitors to walking in a city like Dallas is that everything is too spread out. This isn't to say the city completely lacks walkable areas (Lower Greenville, Uptown, Downtown) but that most of the city planning has gone into building a road infrastructure that inclines people to drive versus walking. The bus system here is a lovely mess; although the growing light rail lines are making things easier for some. But when you have a two mile stretch of river crisscrossed by two and three lane bridges for vehicle traffic and only two rail bridges (one of which is for commercial traffic) then obviously the city planners did not have a rail system in mind. As I said, Dallas is walkable to a degree, but even then you still need a car to enjoy going to the better places in Dallas and not settling for what's within foot-distance. Cities like Irivine, CA are much the same as walking isn't sensible. This isn't about being good or bad to the environment, but about what's the more reasonable way to travel.
I'm now going to hit myself for saying that Klein has a good point.

Pussy-Lovin'

My cat is loving on everything right now and has been since Saturday. She's a fluff-ball of pure joy.

Lifting Up

I believe that it has almost been a week since I last even looked at this blog. Moving into a new apartment with your sister takes a lot out of you. All the while I've seen the stupidity of the McCain campaign ramble on, a strange ad by an oil interest group pointing out the untapped offshore reserves (all of which are in hurricane-prone areas) and Sen. Obama stir like a sleeping dragon. Oh, and I now understand what all the hype over HD TV is about.
The apartment is shaping up, after it shaped us up; I have bruises all up and down my arms. Still, my left ear is ringing and I haven't put my desktop back together so I don't have access to all my music. The comic boxes are all in place; still need to unpack my book boxes. The kitchen is stocked and soon enough the liquor cabinet will too.
For the moment, as you can imagine, new blog posts will come at a slow pace. The election is heating up though and I have two series of posts to map out about modern masculinity and consumer culture in America. The last two require a bit of research from me and I haven't read all of the material I need to yet. Plus I feel like stretching my wings a bit and being more random in what I post about. So stay tuned as vague promises of untold riches await your future.

Jockin' Jay-Z

Man charged over Gallagher attack - BBC News

You know, when I first heard about this I thought, 'Aw shit, they nabbed Jay-Z for nothing again."

Aural Explorations

So I ruptured my eardrum Saturday night (don't ask, it's too great of a story). Now I'm in this sort of aural isolation because the other ear didn't work so well before. Plus I get to wear these lovely orange foam ear protectors. But it got me thinking about a program coming on the Science Channel soon about isolation experiments and Grant Morrison's current story arc on Batman. Morrison has woven a tale of Batman's early years and his attempts to push his body and mind to their limit through a ten-day isolation experiment along with Bruce Wayne's time spent in the midst of a forty-nine day mediative isolation that supposedly puts you through the whole process of dying and being reborn. That story goes so far as to roll a rock in front of the cave Wayne mediates in.
Isolation is a strange idea. We've all heard how the blind seem to have extraordinary senses as compensation for their lack of sight. Our senses are our windows to the physical world. Without them we would do nothing but bang ourselves into things with no understanding that we've stopped nor where to move next. We would have quickly lost the evolutionary race. Isolation experiments show what happens when you selectively take away a sense and the frustration and madness that follows. We are beings meant to have sensory stimulation. Our brains devote large portions of itself to the receiving and interpreting of sensory data. Take away your senses and your brain will end up using those neurons for something else, or even fake sensation to keep itself occupied.
This is why sensory deprivation experiments are both so fascinating and so dangerous. The mind can only take so much loss of sense before it creates to sense. Stick someone in isolation for ten days or forty-nine days and you might not get the same person back out. That is the crux of Morrison's story in Batman right now. Push the mind to such an extreme and what kind of madness follows? Moreover, for a character like Batman, someone who plans for everything, what does one gain from complete sensory isolation? Morrison suggests that Batman allows himself to create secondary personae, a sort of back-up person to take over if the mind of Bruce Wayne were ever broken.
But for me, I just have a busted ear drum. The ringing in my ear isn't so bad now and I think it's healing nicely, but still I have to remain cautious as to what environments I subject myself to. It's a pain in the ass but what else can I do? Two weeks to two months is the time span I'm looking at. Luckily I already had a doctor's visit scheduled for next week.

Desperate Ads

I'll provide the link but I won't post the video that was played at the Republican National Convention this year. I'm not surprised that the current incarnation of the GOP would stoop so low. That doesn't make it acceptable though. The 9/11 video aired was another clear element of the politics of fear many Republicans currently practice. I don't like it. 9/11 was a terrible even for every American, not just the Republicans. And fighting against terrorism is a fight every American is invested in. The only thing I can conclude from the usage of 9/11 video in a campaign ad is the desperation on the part of the campaign airing it. It may be that I eventually decide to not vote for Sen. Obama but I do know that I can never bring myself to vote for Sen. McCain now. His campaign crossed a line with me that they can't call a mulligan on.

Double Mint

John Ridley over at The Huffington Post has a amusing little piece on the double standard applied to Sen. Obama and Gov. Palin. Apparently Ridley is collecting what he calls "Palinisms" as a way to highlight said double standard. This is volume two of what he promises as a series of future columns:

"Before we start, I'd like to note that I intimated in Vol. 1 that English is a Latin based language. Hondorf was among a few others who pointed out that English is "primarily German based, yes, but it is really a hybrid of Germanic and Romantic languages . . . by the way, I am a redneck."

Clearly, none of us should judge a neck by its color.

A reminder, we're collecting Palinisms here, and over at That Minority Thing.com. If you've got 'em, send 'em.

Ready? Let's begin!

If you get 18 million people to vote for you in a national presidential primary, you're a "phoney." Get 100,000+ people to vote you governor of the 47th most populous state in the Union, you're "well loved."

SoyAA says: If you are biracial and born in a state not connected to the lower 48, America needs darn near 2 years and 3 major speeches to "get to know you." If you're white and from a state not connected to the lower 48, America needs 36 minutes and 38 seconds worth of an acceptance speech to know you're "one of us."

If you give your wife a dap on stage, it's actually a "terrorist fist jab." If your daughter licks her palm so that she can slick down your youngest child's hair on national TV it's an "adorable moment." (Seriously, forget about abstinence only, teach these folks some grooming skills).

DTD SAYS: If your pastor rails against inequality in the United States of America, you're an "extremist." If your pastor welcomes a sermon by a member of Jews for Jesus who preaches that the killing of Jews by terrorists is a lesson to Jews that they must convert to Christianity, you're a "fundamentalist."

If you're a black man and you use a scholarship to get into college, then work your way up to being the president of the Harvard Law Review, you're "uppity." If you're a conservative and your parents pay your way to Hawaii Pacific University . . . you only have four more schools to attend over the next five years before you somehow manage to graduate (it might be five more schools over the next five years. No one has yet verified whether or not Palin was actually ever registered at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. But, you know how shady people are who ever attended any kind of school in Hawaii).

SeanOcali says: If you're 18, white, and get a 16 year old girl pregnant "life happens." If you're 18, black, and impregnate a 16 year old girl, you're a "registered sex offender."

If you spend 18 months building a campaign around the theme of "Change," it's just "empty rhetoric." If one week before your party's national convention you SUDDENLY make your candidacy about "Change," that's "red meat."

And your last lesson for the day:

If you are a Democrat, an Independent, or even a moderate Republican, if you're female, male, white, black, Asian, Hispanic, bi-racial, multi-ethnic, or GLBT, if you're a Jew, Gentile, Muslim, agnostic or atheist -- "Yes, we can!"

If you're a pitbull with lipstick from Alaska, "Yup, yup"

Stalin Palin

Palin's Problem - Charles Krauthammer @ Washington Post

I knew from the moment that Gov. Palin was chosen for Sen. McCain's VP slot that the blue-blood neo-cons would throw a fit. Krauthammer in particular is one who won't stand for a politician so close to the Presidency who doesn't have the foreign policy chops. This is not to say that Krauthammer would offer praise for Sen. Obama or Sen. Biden after the Palin decision, but it does put Krauthammer in a hard spot. Gov. Palin isn't a neo-con by anyone's definition and if you take a look at the churches Gov. Palin has attended you'll find a gospel of anti-Semitism and general hatred of the Jews.
What Sen. McCain did when he chose Gov. Palin was decide that he didn't need the backing of the neo-conservatives but did need the social conservatives. Problem is, if all you are doing is trying to rally your supposed base then your campaign is in serious trouble. Maybe Gov. Palin will appeal to more than just the social conservatives? Then again, she may turn just as many people away from Sen. McCain. There's nine weeks of campaigning left and one has to wonder whether Sen. McCain's gamble will pay off or break the house.

Live Blogging: John McCain

Was the bio clip selling McCain or coins, because it sounded exactly like one of those commemorative coin adverts.

9:21PM - I feel like I'm stuck in a slow-motion lecture. When McCain pauses for more than a few seconds the crowd goes into chant mode.

9:24PM - Is security that fucked up?

9:25PM - Can the crowd do anything else but chant U.S.A.?

9:29PM - So far, nothing. I'm bored. Where are the pills?

9:31PM - So McCain doesn't know the difference between strategy and tactics. Wonderful.

9:32PM - Vietnam mention: take a shot.

9:36PM - Vague promise of fixing the energy problem. Oh, and back to basics? What the fuck does that mean?

9:38PM - More "no more legislating from the bench" tripe.

9:39PM - Running down the line of rhetorics with no presentation of alternative ideas or how to achieve them.

9:42PM - Education is the civil rights movement of this century? More empty rhetoric. I haven't heard a single specific policy proposal yet.

9:46PM - Attacking Obama on not wanting to drill. Has McCain listened to T. Boone Pickens lately?

9:50PM - Oh God, he's invoking World War II. What next? The Civil War?

9:52PM - Partisan rancor? And who started that again? Pap, pap, and more pap. Oh, and another Vietnam reference: take a shot.

9:55PM - Two Vietnam references: take two shots.

9:58PM - Alright, just start downing your bottles please.

9:59PM - Finally he mentions that "enhanced interrogation" broke him. Keep drinking you bastards.

10:04PM - Now he keeps yelling at people to stand up. And that's that. I'm hitting the bottle again. Must find more pills.

Sarah Palin is the Last Starfighter

Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin
I Ain't Nothing But Tired - Spencer Ackerman

Oh, I think we finally have achieve critical mass on hilarity in this campaign cycle. Any more and the McCain campaign will explode into a comedy worthy of Kafka. Now is the time when things go from mildly amusing to outright joke.

Women Should Be Seen And Not Heard

Jason Zengerle: a small man with a small sense of rhetoric. The speech was great and went a long way to blunting both the PUMAs and the Republicans. So grow up Zengerle and get over your mommy issues.

Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty

The Great White Debate has begun anew with the start of the Democratic convention. As a reader from Andrew Sullivan's site has noted, Sen. Obama doesn't fit into any of the preconceived categories white people have created for blacks. Moreover, the PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass) folk represent that side of the party that cares nothing for advancing the Democratic agenda. It's one thing when a member of the Republican party expresses fear of a black president, it's quite another when members of the party that's supposed to support Sen. Obama won't because he beat their favored candidate in the primaries. It's really stunning to see so much hatred thrown at a man who has done everything he can to unite people. But of course, he's black so we can't trust him.

Gun, Meet Foot

McCain Would Consider Reinstating The Draft - Colby @ Truemors

Now considering Sen. McCain's past of saying one thing in public only to have his handlers tell the press something completely different, I'm not going to lose any sleep over these statements. Until reinstating the draft becomes written policy for McCain's campaign then it's just words. However, if Sen. McCain were to make the draft part of his platform then he better make sure his GOTV efforts for the elderly are running superbly. That's because nearly ever person under thirty is going to vote for Sen. Obama. Even making passing comments about reinstating the draft for a war that the public has seriously soured on is like taking close aim at your foot with a very large gun. Moreover, during the week of the Democratic convention, you don't make stupid statements like this. Sen. McCain should know better that the Democrats will easily make his comments part of their campaigns and speeches this week.

Playing Well With Others

Something to tide me over. No, not you, you don't read me.


more cat pictures

Quick Hits

A quick run-down of recent campaign items that I don't have time to expand on:
1) McCain is burning through what little money he has for the general election on campaign ads in swing states: note that I didn't say he was building a ground game for those states, just running ads.
2) Obama comes back from vacation swinging attacking McCain for false accusations of patriotism.
3) McCain's "cross in the sand" ad is attracting way too much attention from the blogosphere to stand up for much longer.
4) For all of McCain's bluster of the past month, the national polls only show a marginal change with Obama still beating McCain in many important states.
5) McCain has started talking up a new cold war with Russia after the Georgian invasion and the Russian overreaction. Lovely. When is Obama going to stand up and say this is exactly the reason why we need strong international institutions?

That's all for now. My work on counter-culture continues.

Movin' Nicely

The dining room is full of boxes and odd and ends. It's starting to spread to the living room with boxes of books and comics to sell. I should take pictures, but I'd rather wait until serious parts of the bedrooms start coming apart. The move-in date is less than a month away. Still trying to scrounge up some labor hands to help; might have to actually pay money for that part. I'm not too keen on carrying nine short boxes of comics and two long boxes up three flights of stairs, let alone all the books Lindsy and I have between us. At least we're holding off on major furniture purchases until after we move in. And then there's the cats who have taken to playing in and around the boxes. It's like a huge playground with built-in napping boards.
Despite all of this, I'm still excited about moving. Sure it's only a couple of miles away from home, but we siblings have had the itch to get out of the house for quite some time now. It'll work, but it's fast becoming a marathon. Here's to the first stage of moving out.

Quote of Yesterday

Murkasey: Law-breaking is Not a Crime - Matt Yglesias

Quoth our dear Justice League Attorney General: “not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.” Which, of course, reminds me of the old saying, "It's only a crime if you get caught." Christ, I can't wait until these jokers are out of office and can't hide behind their desks so much. This is predicated though on Sen. Obama winning the presidency; my gut still tells me yes, but we aren't voting today.

Timewave Loops

Brick Director to Get Darker in New Sci-Fi Film Looper - Meredith Woerner @ i09

From the small teaser bit of the post I'm certainly interested in seeing what director Rian Johnson can do with a Philip K. Dick inspired story. But (and you knew there was a 'but' coming) too often a director gets all the credit for a movie when the production team, and most importantly the writers, tend to get pushed to the side. Brick was already a novel before it was a movie and it needed an adept hand to translate the story into a movie script. Hopefully Johnson will have a free hand as he did when he wrote the script for Brick. I know David Goyer isn't that familar of a name but he is responsible for the stories in both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and even helped with the script for the former. A great movie requires not just a great director but a great scriptwriter as well. Both together can overcome the limitations of the acting, but even then you'll see actors rise to the occasion or the casting getting things right the first time around. Hence my expectations for Johnson's Looper are already set pretty high. I hope he can meet them.

The Newton Cops Are Coming For You

This Material Does Not Conform To The Laws Of Gravity - Annalee Newitz @ i09

This is just too full of awesome not to share. The medium is an oil laced with magnetic particles used to produce an ever-changing arrangement of sculptures that seem to toss gravity right out the window. The artist is Sachiko Kodama who adapted her love of physics into an art-form. It has a sort of TRON-like aspect to it with an easy comparison to Jeff Bridges' character's shape-shifting sidekick for part of the movie. Even so, I love the contrast between the thick, viscous nature of the oil and the sharp-edged element the magnets can create from it. This is the kind of art I would expect from the 21st century and I love it.

99 Problems

Slow times for blogging when I'm running so fast. Here's a video of my new fake rock-star girlfriend (uk version) playing her new track "Meddle." Enjoy and I'll shall return with gifts.

Catalytic Converters and You

Catalytic Converter Theft: Rising Platinum = Rising Problem - Trendhunter

This isn't news to me, but many drivers are unaware of the dangers. Platinum is often a primary component for catalytic converters as it provides the catalyst to convert harmful exhaust emissions into less harmful emissions. Along with Palladium and Rhodium, two metals often found in Platinum ore, a catalytic converter can fetch a decent amount of cash at refineries and salvage yards. The Wikipedia page on catalytic converters provides a useful rundown of what cats do and why they are a required part on nearly any internal combustion engine. There are even services now for preventing or deterring catalytic converter theft. The most common target for cat thieves are SUVs or other high clearance vehicles that don't require the use of a jack to slip under. Your average sedan on the other hand is too low for most people to fit under (believe me, even when set on jack stands it's hard to move around under a sedan). Still, it's an increasing problem and increased awareness of it helps prevent cat theft. It's not like you have to check under your car everyday to see if your cat is still there, but you'll know immediately when you start the engine because it'll sound like a prop jet is landing under your car.

Cashing in on Nu-Rave?

Lollapalooza Report: Friday - Matthew Solarski @ Pitchfork

I don't have much of a beef with Solarki's write-up of some of the performances until he gets to Bloc Party's set where he makes an ass of himself. Fortunately it's about music and not some trivial thing but his quick claim that Bloc Party's new song "Mercury" is a "meager attempt to cash in on last year's Klaxons-led new rave thing."I'm not sure what Solarski meant by this statement. You could take is a couple of ways--that the synth-laden "Mercury" is all together too club friendly for a band like Bloc Party or that the song lends itself to endless remixing as their "Flux" single did. Either way I don't see the song as a cash in attempt on a sub-genre that doesn't really exist.
Mostly because there are already several ways to classify the sound of the Klaxons, new rave (or nu rave if you want to be hip about it) existed before the Klaxons: it's called 'dance punk' or 'disco punk'. The mixture of live instruments with electronic beats and multiple synth lines has been a growing style of music since the turn of the century. Hell, you could even look back at Radiohead's Ok Computer or the Cardigan's Gran Turismo as predecessors of the sound. New rave is nothing more than another term for dance punk and while the Klaxons are very good at what they do, they didn't invent the genre nor have they placed a distinctive mark on it. I actually think of the Klaxons as one part Brit-pop and one part dance punk as their music (aside from their two hit songs "Atlantis to Interzone" and "Gravity's Rainbow") generally has an organic structure to it that joins keyboards with guitar riffs, complex drum timing and a bass pushed to the forefront.
I do think Bloc Party and the Klaxons share multiple elements in style and song structure but the bands produce distinctly different sounds based around dissimilar lyrics. Bloc Party started out driven by Matt Tong's drumming, early 80's punk riffs and 90's style call-and-response lyrics. Certainly they have expanded on their sound with their last album, the "Flux" single and the teaser song "Mercury" for their next album. The Klaxons, on the other hand, made the use of piano and backing synths part of their sound from the start. Moreover, their album Myth of the Near Future is primarily made of mournful sounding songs with dance-punk music propeling strange lyrics and vocals tinged with sadness. They even re-recorded previously released songs to fit with the overall sound of the album.
Both bands fit within the garage-punk/dance-punk aesthetic but I don't think of the Klaxons as something radically new. Even if they were, I don't think Bloc Party is trying to copy their style. Rather it seems Bloc Party is evolving their sound as any good band should. They haven't strayed too far from their original sound but merely incorporated elements found in contemporary music that allows them to toy around some more.

Why Am I So Tired?

So the McCain campaign's attack on Sen. Obama for not visiting wounded troops was baseless all along. Unsurprising, which is sad to say. It's hard to maintain your oh-so-friendly relationship with the press if you start calling them a bunch of liars. Even so, McCain's campaign is holding on to this one using anything that might hint of Sen. Obama's politicization of the troops to attack him; which, in itself is a politicization of the troops. How much longer does this silly season last before we get to the real election?

Lies As Truth

Sometimes Warren Ellis comes up with some brilliant ideas. Today, for instance, he posted a list of ideas with one in particular that I actually want to do:

"f) form band that doesn’t exist, release exquisite covers for records that will never be made, beautiful flyers for gigs that were not arranged, mp3 “previews” that are nothing but the voices of young women crooning complete nonsense in Russian"

I need to find the women to sing in nonsensical Russian but doing the fliers and album covers is easy enough. You could take it a step further and make a bunch of CD-Rs to put up along with the fliers. Can you imagine the rumor-monger that would take place among the hipsters? Oh god, I think I'm really going to do this.

Build It and They Will Come

Naturally, McArdle argues in favor of management over unions; or rather, she argues that unions are more to blame for GM's profit losses. Of course, this misses the point of GM's declining sales entirely. If you look at their line of cars there are few that compel you to buy them. And it's management that makes the decisions to produce a certain number of a type of vehicle. So if GM is sitting on a stock of unsold SUVs and trucks due to their low gas mileage then that's really management's fault, not the fault of the unions. Producing a bunch of bland sedans while maintaining their focus on SUVs and light trucks wasn't a decision the unions made. It was management's responsibility to approve car designs that would appeal to consumers, of which they haven't. Which is why European, Japanese and Korean imports are slamming them in competition.
When I bought my first car (a 2004 Audi A4) it was initially based on the stylings. That's what GM has forgotten about. If you make a sedan that turns heads on the street then you'll more than likely sell a number of those cars. It's really basic economics here. Come up with a compelling sedan design and watch the sales roll in. But if all you have are cars that look like cheap Asian knock-offs people are typically going to buy the real thing versus some fakery. It isn't about union versus management. It's about management actually doing a good job in offering cars people want to buy.

Taking the Lead Pipe to the Alpha Male

I do so love it when Yglesias and Ackerman run tag team posts. It's as if Matt takes you out at the knees and then Spencer walks in with the lead pipe and you know nothing good is about to happen. The whole idea of Sen. McCain being the jock who surrounds himself with a nerd crowd desperately seeking attention from the popular guy is a brilliant play by Yglesias. It turns Sen. McCain's aggressiveness into a sort of cult of personality in miniature. And then Ackerman comes by with the lead pipe across the skull by saying, "In Brooklyn, we call these people bitches." It's the alpha male leading a pack of boys who wish they were as 'tough' and 'strong' as Sen. McCain.
Personally, I can't stand alpha male confrontations. I just won't put up with them. It's a whole leveling of the eyes and clearly stating your point unequivocally. Most of the male customers who come in the store with this attitude don't get far with me. And they really don't like it when I tell them this is the way it is and give them the option of walking out. It's actually fun at that point since the alpha male gets all pouty and sulks away. Really though, I can do without it. Hence my dislike for Sen. McCain, even in his so-called maverick days. He comes off as someone who pouts when he doesn't get his way. To me that's a sign of personal weakness an alpha male like Sen. McCain tries to cover up with a gruff attitude. Sorry, I was born in Texas and I know real alpha males when I see them. Sen. McCain ain't one of them.

Blow-Out At 70mph

Let me see if I've gotten this straight: Sen. Obama offers a tip I hear on "Car Talk with Click and Clack" all the time to make sure your tires are properly inflated. And every day I see cars with tires that look a touch flat thinking, "Run down to the gas station, pop a few quarters in the air pump machine and save money overall on gas and tire wear." It's the simplest thing you can do to lessen the hurt gas prices are putting on us. Hell, there are specialty shops that offer to swap out the normal air in your tires with nitrogen gas. Apparently using nitrogen gas versus normal air offers significant benefits to tire wear and less maintenance as the nitrogen slips out of the tires at a far slower rate compared to normal air. And the Republican radio talk hosts are bitching about this? When mountains of data and a consensus running from the most expert auto maker to the guy who runs a little auto repair shop says keeping tire pressure at its normal level is good then I think I'll take their advice. But oh no, that's not good enough for the likes of Rush Limbaugh if the advice comes out of the mouth of Sen. Obama. It's all a liberal trick then, keeping your tires inflated properly.
How about this then? If you consider yourself a Republican let some air out of your tires. Actually, let a lot of air out. I mean, if the idea of maintaining proper tire pressure is nothing but liberal propaganda then you obviously shouldn't do it. Keep those tires low and squishy my Republican brethren. Fight back against that liberal propaganda!

The Annointed One

I really don't know what to say about this. Sheer maniacal laughter doesn't translate well over blog. Absolute ridiculousness on a grand scale that pokes as much fun at evangelical pastors as it does Sen. Obama. The McCain campaign thinks this ad will play well? It isn't technically a negative ad, but it certainly will piss off a lot of social conservatives. Does Sen. McCain not pay attention to his base at all? This ad is a joke. Someone's playing a prank. That's the only thing I can think of, other than Sen. McCain and his staff have just lost it.



Really, this ad has to come from some wacky people. The way Sen. McCain's ads have come out, it either looks like a repeat of the Democratic primary or amateur hour with a big-ass budget. These guys need to try harder. Are the ad men left to their own devices? Is there any oversight by Sen. McCain's staff that say, "You fucking morons. This is the best you can do?" Sen. McCain continues to look like he never ran a campaign before. Maybe his age is finally getting to him?

Don't Worry, We've Got It Covered

Stanford and UC Berkeley are refusing federal funds due to the limitations on research and the publication of research that are tied to the acceptance of federal monies. This is a proud day for these schools. Taking a stand against over-reaching government oversight on research is a pretty bold move and not one all universities and colleges can take unfortunately. Even so, if more of the top school move in this direction it might (emphasis on might) induce the government to lighten up on it's restrictive attitude toward research and academic freedom. It also mean that Stanford and UC Berkeley don't have to allow military recruiters on campus. I'm not really seeing a downside here. Bravo to the professors and deans of the schools for placing academic freedom over federal money.

The Quickest Route to Rebellion

I read about the DHS policy of indefinitely detaining one's laptop while going through airport security yesterday on another site I can't remember now. Plus, I was under the impression that the policy focused only on laptops but apparently it covers all sorts of data retention devices such as iPods, cell phones, PDAs, books, files and generally just about anything that one can write on or has written on. First, a little bit of snark as this policy does nothing to make me feel any safer. They should detain your brain if it's really that much of a concern and that's a whole other set of problems right there. Second, when is the DHS and TSA going to wise up to the fact that their policies do not actually help alieviate the problem of terrorists potentially entering the country. It only inconveniences regular people and causes said people to distrust the government even more. And I don't think the public can take much more distrust before they start reacting en masse.

The Decline of Men's Fashion

I'm going to have to agree with Adrianne on this one. Shorts simply don't belong in the workplace (unless you're my dad and are missing a leg). Try actually dressing like you know what you are doing for once. But this college throwback gives me the stabby-stabby thoughts. You know, the kind that makes the image of putting a fork in the neck of a frat boy delightful. Must resist urge to stab.

The Nightly News

I just finished reading The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman and am still processing the book. I caught the second and third issue last summer but fell out of comics before the series finished. Still, when I found a trade paperback, it became an immediate buy. The story is a fascinating look at modern media and how it is used more as a tool of propaganda than a source of truthful information. Plus it has a bit of the old ultra-violence thrown in for good measure. The most overt meaning I gathered from the book was the need to act when you see a serious problem. One of the best lines from the first issue is "When killing activists, never aim for the head, always aim for the heart." The book is a serious call to action when action is needed, not the sham protests of activists who have righteous hearts but little spirit to truly act. I've talked about the self-masturbatory ways of modern protesters before, but Hickman takes the argument to a new level of cynicism and derision. I highly recommend The Nightly News to anyone interested in seeing a brief glimpse behind the scenes of journalism.

One Day Fox News Will Burn By Lies

My father wanted to goad me into an argument over the campaign by claiming Sen. McCain was coming up in the polls and trouncing Sen. Obama in several toss-up states. Naturally I went immediately to Pollster.com and started rattling off trendlines both nationally and state by state. But this post by Nate Silver shows just how much Sen. Obama is gaining over Sen. McCain, even in states once deep red. Sen. McCain's own home state of Arizona has become a battleground state.
This is becoming a problem for Sen. McCain as each state he could previously count on shifts even a little towards Sen. Obama means another state Sen. McCain has to defend. Meanwhile, most of the states expected to fall behind Sen. Obama have with little movement towards Sen. McCain. At this point, according to Pollster's electorial vote map, even if Sen. McCain were to win the assured votes along with the toss ups he would still lose to Sen. Obama. This is why my father needs to stop watching Fox News.

Linus without his Blanket

I only gave Marty Lederman's piece over at Balkinization a summary glance but from what I gather Judge Bate's ruling on the Miers/Bolton case goes much further than the simple rejection of absolute immunity for anyone who closely worked with the President. Aside from that, Judge Bate's ruling rejected the administration's claim that the House held no oversight power on the executive process and that any claim of executive privilage will necessarily have to include direct communications with the president. In other words, unless Miers or Bolton were acting on order from or communicating directly with President Bush their claims of executive immunity to any questions are likely to fail. The ruling on executive privilage itself is rather astonishing as well as Judge Bates ruled unequivocally that executive prilivage is not an absolute and is not a blanket for everyone in the administration. Personally, I have the feeling that this issue will continue even after President Bush leaves office.

We Need Flex Mentallo to Square the Pentagon

Suspect in "biggest military hack" loses extradition case - David Chartier @ Ars Technica

I first caught the news of this last night while watching BBC America's news hour and naturally had the same questions several computer analysts and McKinnon's own lawyer were asking: how was a single man with a home computer and dial-up modem able to hack his way into the U.S. military's computers? Seriously, it's hard to imagine that the Pentagon and associated agencies left their computer networks open to suck an easy hack. But McKinnon did it and I think we should applaud him for his efforts versus locking him up. If Captain Anal Probe, looking for evidence of UFOs on military networks, was able to break into those networks then the DoD needs this public slap in the face. They left their networks so vulnerable that a loon could walk on in. McKinnon deserves a slap on the wrists at most.

The Savage Land is Savage to Everyone

Judge: posting shock jock clip to the web is "fair use" - Jacqui Chen @ Ars Technica

After radio host Michael Savage took a beating on his comments about autistic children it looks like he's taken another blow, this time in court, over the use of clips of his show. The Council on American-Islamic Relations used a four-minute clip of Savage's show which features him ranting about Muslims in America. They used the clip as part of a rebuttal to Savage's claims that Muslims in America are on welfare, that the Council is tied to terrorist activity and that the U.S. should deport all Muslims. That Savage has lost ad revenue due to his rants, either on the autistic or Muslims and the CAIR in particular, is only fitting. Savage has long been a voice of unreason and disinformation, constantly waging FUD campaigns on those he doesn't like. I can only hope that due to his radical stance on most issues he eventually becomes unprofitable to his corporation. Attitudes are changing in the U.S. and it seems a lot of people have no use for empty, fear-mongering rhetoric like Savage's. I count this as a positive sign for the health of the public discourse in America. Here's to hoping.

The Rightist Insurgency

US church 'killer' wrote of hate - BBC News

Lovely, a man takes a shotgun into a church and starts blasting away because he didn't have a job and wanted someone to blame. So let's play the 'blame the liberals' game once again, only with bullets and buckshot this time. Oh, and put kids in the line of fire as well. I do so hope all the rightist commentators, talk show hosts and tv pundits argue in this man's favor. He was only doing the work of Republican God. I have this deep hatred for people who can't take personal responsibility for their own faults. It lessens the chance of my being kind and helpful to them.

More from SDCC

I like all the attention Batman has received over the past months (not just due to the movie mind you) and since I've been getting closer to catching up on Grant Morrison's Batman work it's good to hear that he and Paul Dini, writer of Detective Comics, would like to stay on the book indefinitely. But that's not why I'm linking to this particular i09 article. The article itself is a good run down of how the Joker fares as a Batman villain, but Morrison hits on something that the politico-blogosphere would rather ignore. At the end of the article Morrison explains why Batman remains relevant in contemporary society:

"That's why Batman is so cool. He doesn't use guns and he still kicks your ass. That's the whole point. That's his psychology. If Batman kills everyone, he's just another soldier. We don't need another soldier, we have millions of soldiers. We need Batman."

All the commentary about The Dark Knight has focused on the film's tacit affirmation of President Bush's tactics in the war on terror--certainly on the idea of a surveillance society and the use of torture in interrogations. But right here we have one of the best Batman writers describing a Batman that runs completely counter to the pundits opinion. Perhaps I'm being overly critical of the pundits or ignoring their magnificent powers of reasoning, but I'd take the opinion of the guy who writes the regular Batman comic over theirs. I'm just funny that way. And Morrison is too, as his characterization of Batman in both his run on JLA at the end of the 90s and his current run on Batman is of Batman as almost god-like in his mental prowess. Batman still kicks and punches his way to victory, but he knows which people to kick and punch versus the random shots in the dark the Bush administration takes. Even when DC took Batman in the direction of becoming a control freak with his construction of the über-surveillance satellite Brother Eye, it was done as a way of breaking down Batman to his core drive: the desire to prevent things like what happened to him and his parents from happening to anyone else.
Much as the end of The Dark Knight has Batman taking responsibility for the actions of others, so too does the Batman of the DCU take on the responsibility of bringing the same fear he faced to criminals so others don't have to suffer. But he wants the criminals to suffer and they can't suffer if they are dead. A Batman with a gun is no Batman at all (no points awarded for pointing to the earliest issues, thank you very much). Morrison gets this, as has most other Batman writers since Frank Miller. Batman's no punk with a gun but the pinnacle of what a man of justice is.

Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader?

SDDC '08: More on Batman-Gaiman with Dan Didio - Newsarama

Neil Gaiman is teaming up with Andy Kubert again for a two-part Batman story. As indicated by both chief editor Dan Didio and editor of the Batman line Mike Marts, the story will act as a sort of capstone for the last few decades of Batman stories. The title of the two-parter is a dead givaway to what DC has in mind for the Dark Knight: Whatever Happened to the Cape Crusader. It's a direct play on the seminal story Alan Moore did in 1986 after Crisis on Infinite Earths and before John Byrne started his Man of Steel reimagining of Superman for the modern era of comics. Moore titled his two-part closure of the Silver Age Superman Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow. It is one of the most poigant comic stories you will ever read, even if you have little to no knowledge of the Silver Age Superman.
With Grant Morrison's Batman: R.I.P. concluding around October and DC's Final Crisis event story--written by Morrison as well--finishing at the end of the year, the Gaiman story is slated for January of 2009. It also means that whatever the conclusion of Final Crisis is will affect what happens after Gaiman's story. Morrison, as far as I know, will continue to write Batman afterwards but has left open the question of who Batman is under the mask. Everyone involved is staying mum about Final Crisis, Batman, and Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader with Morrison saying that he's still writing and Gaiman posting on his website that he's not talking until it's done. Still, exciting times for Batman fans. I just wonder when DC will let Morrison loose on The Flash and talk Gaiman into writing a Superman/Batman story arc.

Charlie 'Yardbird' Parker

Charlie Parker @ Wikipedia

As an addendum to yesterday's Charlie Bird music sample is today's brief tribute to the man most responsible for bebop jazz (a kind of jazz my friend and co-worker Willie T finds too busy for his playing tastes but doesn't mind listening to the man). I've taken it upon myself to help Willie remember things from his days as trumpet player for the Red Tops, a Dallas-based jazz group that played throughout the 50s and 60s. I went out and bought up several jazz records and naturally Parker was at the top of the list due to my love for his song "Koko". Bebop jazz is fast becoming my preferred kind with it's crazy song structure and tendency for unusual solos. And Willie loves it. Whenever I put on one of Charlie Bird's records Willie will pop his head up here and there to note the song title. He doesn't have to look at the liner notes, he just knows the songs by heart.
One thing I found interesting to learn from Willie came when I was looking at the liner notes for a compilation of Parker's recordings that frequently cited the date and place where a song was recorded. Every so often the place of recording was listed only as "an unknown studio in New York City". When I asked Willie about this he told me of the musician's union and how you couldn't play without union approval, or else you had to take a back door and record or play in secret. Think of the RIAA today and imagine them applying their tactics against file sharers on the playing of live music. Strange things, I tell you. Willie did say he would have loved to play with Parker but never got the chance. This was because in order to make it big in jazz you either had to move to NYC or Europe and Willie liked Dallas too much.
Still, here's to the man that makes Willie T bop his head: Charlie 'Bird' Parker.

The Internet Archive Hosts All of NASA's imagery

NASA Opens Space Image Library - Slashdot

Oh, this is very cool. Collaborating with the Internet Archive, NASA has provided access to their massive catalog of space imagery, including the Apollo moon landings, test aircraft and the amazing photography of the Hubble Space Telescope. And apparently it's already up and running. Mmm...space nerd porn. I love it.

Rose-Colored Glasses

The Limes Home Page
The Limes @ MySpace
The Limes @ Last.FM

Stumbled across this band about a month ago during an audio dive. I was inundated with music so I didn't give them much attention, but their song "Beyond Blue" kept popping up in the shuffler on Winamp. It's stuck in my head now. Such a haunting tune with a wonderful back-and-forth play between the male and female vocals, simple piano and guitar rhythm, deep rumbling drums and a ghostly trumpet in the background that ties it all together.
Apparently the band is more of a collaborative effort by members of several other bands spread across the Atlantic consisting of Toy Fight, Orouni, Mina Tindle, John Hale and Henry Sparrow. Like the Postal Service, the members of the Limes trade recordings between each other and add their own touches to them; only with a group this size it's rather amazing they can complete song of such beauty. I have yet to find any physical release and hope that one does exist if anyone can find it. As it is, I have a small, three-song sample and will continue to hunt for tracks. Wonderful to listen to on a sleepy morning.

Summerade

A brief respite from the Texas heat provided by Charlie Parker. Enjoy

Why Non-Comic Readers Should Read More Comics

An Old, Old Story - hilzoy @ Obsidian Wings

After a week of reading stories on The Dark Knight and how much it represents a none too subtle nod to President Bush's policies, I have to take the time for a rebuttal. It's a basic flaw in the non-comic reading public that transforms Batman into some psychopathic man bent on beating up criminals as a form of revenge for the murder of his parents. This kind of thinking comes from those who have missed the great Batman stories of the past and the present stories that exist parallel to, but still outside of, the contemporary world. Batman is, was and will always stand as the anti-hero. He's not the first but he is the most well-known. His form of justice and the methods he uses are sometimes nothing more than a fist to the face. But that misses the fact that Batman is also the world's greatest detective.
I can understand how the non-comic types can mischaracterize Batman when most of what they see in a movie rendition is an all-fists, no-brain Batman. Even then though the public often misses the limits of Batman; the limits Batman and Bruce Wayne place on himself in his efforts against crime. The most important part of Batman's moral code is that you do not kill people. The second is that criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot who are easily terrified by what might happen if the Batman finds them. At the start of Grant Morrison's current run on Batman, a police officer dressed as Batman shoots the Joker before the real Batman shows up. Afterwards, Robin mentions that everyone believes it was the real Batman who shot the Joker and all Bruce Wayne says is let the people keep believing that.
The tactics Batman uses against criminals to gather information does seem similar to that of the gulags or Gitmo, but the reader knows and always knows that the Batman will not kill someone. Now putting a criminal in the hospital is a different story, but one that also comes with the lesson that criminals sometimes need pressuring to reveal information. If they believed that the Batman wouldn't hurt them then what reason do they have to tell the truth? The Batman and the fear he brings only works because he exists outside of the normal institutions. Even then, Batman often lets the criminal justice system do its job. Batman is not the jury and executioner, even if he is the judge.
Another problem with the non-comic reading public's idea of the Batman is that they often don't see him wrestling with the morality of what he does. In The Dark Knight you occasionally see that, but in the comics that question is ever present. He knows there are limits to what the police can do and he understands that his actions label him as a criminal as well; one that would stand trial just like the rest of the criminals if he were ever caught. This is where the Batman and President Bush differ. The president believes that what he is doing is right and just and thus legal. Batman knows he is doing the work of justice but he also knows that it isn't legal. It's the whole point of being the vigilante--to do what normal society can't because they have a moral code to live by. Batman understands this which is why he runs around at night in his underwear smacking around crooks. He has to appear beyond moral norms or else he would get nowhere. But he is not, nor does he represent, the kind of amoral man who justifies his actions by claiming they are legal.
In other words, Batman isn't a representation of President Bush and his policies but just the opposite. That his tactics are somewhat similar isn't the point. It is that as Batman Bruce Wayne can do something normal men can't. Still, he knows that Bruce Wayne is bound by the law as well and would gladly face a trial and jail if ever caught.

Treewave @ The Conduit Gallery: Come Play with the Art Kids

Oh, before I forget again, Treewave is playing for the opening of the Dallas Video Festival this coming Saturday, 26th of July. They, or just Paul, will play at the Conduit Gallery in the Design District supposedly at 8pm. I doubt if I'll make it before 7:30 but an opening reception with W. Tucker's Fragile and Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint 13 showing along with a talk by Barney starts at 5:30. I know nothing about the video instillations but I'm keen to see Treewave play again. If you need a refresher of their sound, check the playlist below. I may have to bring a sharp blade with me. You know, just in case someone eyeballs me the wrong way.

Good News/Bad News

These Are Powers Sign to Dead Oceans, Reissue LP, EP - Paul Thompson @ Pitchfork

Ah, excellent. After getting their strong album Terrific Seasons I've tried to track down the Taro Tarot e.p. Even better, These Are Powers are coming to town and playing at a cheap club. Unfortunately, it's the same night as the Ratatat show. Divided loyalties and such.

Break into your room at night and wreck up the place!

The "Hang On" Outlet Reminds You To Unplug Your Gadgets - Sean Fallon @ Gizmodo
A bit of the 'ole in and out... - Anthony James @ Yanko Design

I have to say, this is an elegant solution to a problem most people are unaware of. I'm not like most people though, and try my best to minimize my electric impact when I'm not around to use such items. The problem most people are unaware of is the continuous power usage by devices they may believe are turned off but are merely in a stand-by state. DVD players, TVs, cellphone and camera chargers and even stereos typically switch to a low-power stand-by state when you press the off button. The only way to completely cut the power usage of these devices is to unplug them.
This is where the biggest obstacle comes in--how do you set up your plugs in a way that makes unplugging them easy and eventually habitual? Power strips are convenient enough, although figuring out with devices to assign to that power strip is bit of a logic problem. So Paulo Oh has designed an ingenious solution to the problem. It's not in production and even if it was, I'm not sure whether you would need an electrician's help or not? Still, it is a product with excellent potential. At the very least, I hope it raises public awareness to the energy drain the stand-by function of most electronic devices causes. If you can swap your light bulbs for CFLs then you can unplug your DVD player when you're not using it.

Watch Porn at $400,000

$400,000 Watches: The Maitres Du Temps Chapter One - Trendhunter

This is almost as sexy as the new Zenith watch that has a Tourbillon mechanism placed in a gyroscopic housing. Now that's just down-right dirty.

Typewriter Keys as Jewelry

Steampunk typewriter key jewelry - Cory Doctorow @ BoingBoing

I like the typewriter keys but I can't help thinking the watch movement parts are too bulky. I have to come up with alternatives than simply attaching things to mechanical movements. There are too many possibilities waiting for someone to tap into.

Cyberpunk Tech + Watches = Porn

Let Me Briefly Consult My Finger... - Zoetica Ebb @ Coilhouse

Photo taken from Coilhouse

That is far too sexy for it's own good. I mean, I love my mechanical watches and all the little moving parts, but tech like this gets me all hot and bothered. There's something deeply wrong with me, isn't there?

Looking for a New Hillary

Right Matters - Ramesh Ponnuru @ Washington Post

Hmm...Sen. Clinton's out of the race so the standard rightist attacks are unusable. Or are they? Hey, look! A black woman who talks about the evils of corporations, the black experience in America letting blacks down and how we need smarter people running things. Let's get her! We can just rehash all the anti-Clinton arguments against her. Brilliant!

Fuck the Vette

Robert Novak, Sociopath - Matt Yglesias

Apparently op-ed columnist Robert Novak hit a pedestrian while driving in his Corvette in D.C. today. Yglesias properly takes Novak to task about this but flubs it in the end by criticizing the media for using the term 'aggressive' driver in describing Novak's driving style. I'm an aggressive driver, or 'spirited' in tuner speak, and I have yet to hit a pedestrian because I follow an essential rule whenever you drive aggressively--the harder you drive the more you have to pay attention. Call it defensive aggressiveness if you will, but since rarely is anyone looking out for you on the road (be it pedestrian, biker, baby carriage) you have to look out for them.
Of course, I also have another problem with Yglesias' post; it's the sort of thing only a lover of cars would appreciate though. Why didn't Yglesias point out the fact that Novak was driving a Corvette of all things? I'm mean, really, that's just criminal. You don't let a man like Novak get a pass on driving an over-priced, poor-performing cock on wheels. Had Novak been in an actual supercar versus his fakery I could argue in his favor. As it is, Novak deserves whatever fine he gets (despite the fact that he should serve at least a few hundred hours of community service).
Still, as much as I like seeing Novak being dissed by the fuzz, I really didn't want to read another article by someone who apparently looks at all cars with a degree of disgust. Is this 'war on cars' ever going to end or does Yglesias want all drivers to swear fealty to the gods of bipeds and bicycles? Novak fucked up and I doubt even if he had killed the poor fellow on foot would Novak feel any sympathy--that is what you get with someone willing to buy a fucking Corvette after all. But all this does is give the pro-bipeds another soap-box to stand on and rail against cars. I just really don't want to hear about it for a while. When the biped crowd comes to their senses and start advocating real change to driving laws, which would include talking to drivers, then I'll take them seriously. Otherwise, their righteousness is just a lot of hot air and doesn't do anything to prevent things like this from happening again. Get off your soap box and start doing something about the problem. Christ, for someone as smart as Yglesias you'd think he'd get that part.

Ha! I'm Not The Only One Now, Bitches!

A Treasure In The Trash: $20K Diamond Earrings Found - thenewswizard @ Truemors

I haven't gone as far as going to a landfill to look for a lost piece of jewelry I accidentally threw away, but I have done the dumpster diving. It's actually not that hard to toss a piece of jewelry in the trash. Paper towels and a lack of attention are the usual culprits. We do have a test for ring sizing that came from a similar story. One of our customers was going through an old-fashion toll booth and threw her quarters in, along with her diamond engagement ring. The toll booth attendants weren't allowed to open the containers on site so by the time the quarters reached their collection point the ring had naturally disappeared. Hence, the toll booth test: if you can fling your hand out and not have the ring fly off then it's probably the right size. This is only one of many ways you can lose jewelry.

Adventures in Stupidity

Why is the TSA taking out nipple rings and pantsing amputees? - Cory Doctorow @ BoingBoing

Oh, this is a great way to improve your agency's image. I can't imagine what kind of hell would go down if the TSA tried this on my dad. I figure tasers will enter the picture at some point. And of course, the rest of the family would learn how much handcuffs hurt as we're escorted to undisclosed locations.
On the other hand, it's astoundingly stupid of the TSA to act this way. I'm rather sure the Americans with Disabilities Act will end up pantsing the TSA in court. Can you just picture the number of organizations ready to pounce on the TSA for something like this? It'll be a flurry of legal briefs and supoenas. Oh, what fun the righteous lawyers at the ACLU will have.

Troubles from a Jeweler's Bench

I fucked up a platinum setting I was making. Made the taper too narrow for the stones. At least I could melt down and reuse the metal. Second fuck up came from a gent's ring with four rows of twist bezel wire. Now I have to make new wire, twist it, flatten it, and then attach it to the ring. There's two days of work right there.
In the meantime, apartment plans closing in, I've been listening to a lot of Jay-Z and Working for a Nuclear-Free City lately and I now have enough Paxil on hand to choke a monkey. Maybe that'll calm the bastard down. Oh, and We Are Wolves own my mind right now. Must go read more Batman and Blindness.

Patient A Good Reporter Does Not Make

Well, I haven't gotten a direct answer from Rosie Swash but there is a new article on the Okereke-Lydon fight--this time with reporter Helen Pidd sharing authorship--up at the Guardian that merged the two previously disparate articles into one coherent whole. Pitchfork has a column on the fight by Amy Phillips that lists the Guardian as the first to report on the fight. And a quick Google News search reveals a litany of articles from various sites reporting slight varations of the same story; the general consensus being Lydon is a bigoted asshole while Okereke was being nothing more than an eager fan talking to one of his influences.
As I said before, I'm not sitting in judgement, either on the fight or the two conflicting articles. That said, Okereke's reported shyness with the media and Lydon's famous temper make Lydon's defense, and indeed Lydon himself, seem small and weak. Okereke, on the other hand, comes off as well-spoken and disciplined in his released statement. As it stands, Okereke appears as the better man while Lydon has a cloud of racism hanging around him. That is not the kind of image one wants to project, even if it turns out unfounded.
Meanwhile, the addition of a second and general (or non-specific if you will) reporter to the article indirectly confirms my suspicion that the two articles were written in haste and not properly merged as new information came in. I suppose I could say something mean about Ms. Swash's reporting but I think she did what she could with the facts at hand. More importantly, she got the story out in the public eye first and that deserves some praise considering the number of bloggers and reporters constantly digging for new information. So while I would have to deduct points for incomplete reporting, her scooping of the story outweighes the confusion of the two articles.

Bloc Party vs. Sex Pistols

I'm a bit confused and have been since this morning. Going through my blog reader this morning an article over at the Guardian caught my eye. Seems that Kele Okereke, frontman and singer for the band Bloc Party, got into fisticuffs with John Lydon, better known as Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. Lydon is quoted in the article as claiming Okereke was the instigator and any allegations of racial attacks by him or his entourage were baseless. Lydon goes further to say that Okereke was just looking for some publicity.
Now Bloc Party just released a new song two weeks ago on their website. And the last time I saw the band play they were still bringing in lots of people. So I don't think the band is hurting for press coverage. Besides, why would Okereke throw down with Johnny Rotten of all people? The band hasn't built itself on a rough and tumble punk rocker image so why start now?
Then I came across this posting at ultra8201 linking to another article by the same Rosie Swash of the Guardian. This new posting relates a different story that the fight "occurred on Saturday evening at the Summercase festival in Barcelona while the bands were socialising backstage." Swash reports that after Okereke asked Lydon about a renunion tour of Public Limited Ltd, a band Lydon formed after the Sex Pistols, Lydon and his entourage became aggressive with the words "your problem is your black attitude" being said before members of two other bands, Foal and the Kaiser Chiefs, came to Okereke's defense.
Clearly the two articles conflict, not just in who's side of the story you're reading, but also in their complete lack of cross-linking and information, aside from the basic fact that a fight occurred between Okereke and Lydon. After shooting a message to Richard at ultra8201 he expressed the same confusion saying, "I dont see Bloc Party pushing for press this way or initiating any arguments at all. I interviewed them at ACL and they are anything but aggressive."
So here I sit, waiting for an email back from Ms. Swash, wondering what the hell is going on. It's not that big of a deal. I like Bloc Party a lot but I don't swoon for them. And the Sex Pistols are more of an institution than a band for me. I have no particular beef with them or Lydon in particular. I just want to know why the conflict between articles written by the same person but standing in strong odds with each other? I'm reserving judgement here, both on who was at fault in the fight and over the quality of reporting. Still, this isn't the kind of reporting one wants as it's confusing and almost misleading. I hope Ms. Swash can clear things up for me.

With Smart Driving Comes Great Savings

Gas-Saving Tips for the Savvy Consumer - Sakina Rangwala & Amy Adkins @ Washington Post

As I've continued to modify my car I've placed engine efficiency at the top of my list when considering a new part purchase. The last two parts I bought were a shorter shift lever and a new diverter valve for the closed loop turbocharger. I don't have a large engine (1.8l with the turbo that produces only 170hp at stock, but probably a little more now) so the engine is rather efficient as it is. But there are ways of improving the engine's output and thus reducing the amount of fuel needed to keep it turning at certain speeds. Aside from the regular maintence there are other things one can do to improve engine, drivetrain and overall performance of nearly any consumer vehicle.
Rangwala has compiled a list of practices and ideas that can improve fuel economy along with a few misconceptions or dangerous practices one should avoid. Overall, she's put together a decent list that most drivers can follow without drastically changing the way they drive. I do have two items that I think Rangwala has gotten partially wrong. The first is the air filter. While your air filter does need replacing at regular intervals, a new air filter alone will not give you any noticeable fuel savings. But replacing the whole air intake box with a cold air intake will. As Rangwala noted, modern cars come equiped with an air intake sensor called the Mass Air Filter that typically sits right off the air box and measures the temperature and volume of air entering the car. The car's computer, or ECU, adjusts the amount of fuel entering the combustion chamber so the proper fuel-air mixture is reached. A cold air intake is designed to lower the temperature of the incoming air. Cooler air is denser and the denser the air the more you can put into the combustion chamber. The MAF and the ECU will compensate for the change in air volume and temperature by adding more fuel to the mixture. While it sounds like you would use more fuel you actually end up using less as the engine has a more efficient combustion driving the pistons. A five to ten percent increase in fuel economy is common with the replacement of the stock air intake. The cost of aftermarket cold air intakes can run between $150 and $400 but considering the price of fuel it's a worthwhile investment.
The other item Rangwala muddles a bit is the one on fuel additives. I think she should have differentiated between so-called 'octane boosters' and fuel system cleaners. Boosting octane doesn't do a damn thing for your car, particularly one that's built to take a certain octane of fuel in the first place. In point of fact, raising the octane in a car that's not designed for higher octanes can actually damage the engine. The other item, the fuel system cleaner, does help your car. By keeping the fuel system free of debris and cleaning the intake valves you end up with a smoother running engine. Of course, using a fuel system cleaner also will require that you stick to a strict oil change schedule. Some of the debris in the system gets burned off into the exhaust while some of it gets cycled into the oil system. It's not a big deal to do and the payoff is significant, even if you don't notice it.
The other items Rangwala lists are all pretty good, even if some are just plain common sense ideas. Planning your route, keeping the load in the car light, maintaining proper tire pressure and all of that are things everyone can easily do. I keep coming back to a line I read on a tuning site: you don't see fat race car drivers. Even your own weight can have an effect on fuel consumption. Weight reduction allows several other advantages beyond lessening the strain on the engine. A lighter car is a more nimble car. It is also a car that can take better advantage of serious coasting and light hypermiling. It's harder to do in an automatic-shifting car but taking advantage of downslopes and long stretches to a red light by putting the car in neutral offers significant improvement in fuel economy. The basic idea is to put physics and the laws of motion to work for you. A lighter car can coast for a long time without losing too much of its kinetic energy. Even a slight gradiation in the road can allow you to maintain your speed while letting the engine idle. Done properly you can even come off a downward slope and make it over another slope with little to no use of the engine.
While Rangwala does a decent job of rounding up the most important things a driver should take note of if they want to increase efficiency she ends on something of a sour note. It is true that buying gas in the morning will not increase the amount of gas you get she misses another point about fueling up in the morning that could improve the air quality of a city if enough drivers do it. By refueling in the morning versus after work you save the car from expelling gas vapor into the air. Have enough drivers follow this practice and the overall air quality would see some improvement. This follows with the nature of all the other items Rangwala mentions; they're all common sense ideas that just require a minimal amount of forethought. With gas prices as they are now, I hope drivers start putting that more into consideration.

The HIV and the Ex-Pat

Tis a happy day for future American citizens. I think only Andrew Sullivan can really express what the lifting of the HIV travel ban means, so I'll let his eloquence speak rather than my mangled English:

I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's one of the happiest days of my whole life. For two and a half decades, I have longed to be a citizen of the country I love and have made my home. I now can. There is no greater feeling.

Shock/horror Time

Tiff Over Espresso Protocol Spills Into Blogosphere - Joe Heim @ Washington Post

Lo, though it might offend those brave defenders of free and fair use, I have to say that Murky Coffee owner Nicholas Cho is right and patron Jeff Simmermon is wrong. Purchasing something and then using it in a way not approved by the maker of the item does not give you the right to complain about the maker. So Simmermon orders a triple espresso over ice at a gourmet coffeeshop. Denied by the barista, Simmermon orders a triple espresso and a cup of ice (ooo, clever!). Barista further chides Simmermon after ringing up the order, thus pissing off Simmermon. Angry, lengthy blogging by Simmermon commences and suddenly Simmermon, Cho and barista are looking for the stage exits. Blogowar has started and brother blogger fights sister blogger over who was right--the coffeeshop or the customer.
Here's a good rule of thumb when walking into a gourmet store: expect a gourmet attitude. Snobbery isn't just an attitude but a way of life for gourmet owners. Here's another good rule of thumb for bloggers who use the free wifi at a coffeeshop: don't piss off the wait staff. Either that or don't go back to that coffeeshop. People seem to forget that living in a service-oriented economy doesn't equate to living in a world of servants. Murky Coffee isn't Starbucks and that should have been obvious to Simmermon. So said barista doesn't have to act like a Starbuck barista. And the policies of Murky don't have to match those of a generic coffeeshop. Having a free-enterprise economy means people can open stores and conduct business with a good deal of latitude. If their way of business doesn't bring in the business then they'll have to close. Oh look! The sun is rising in the morning! Amazing, isn't it?
Murky's is still open so I think it's safe to assume that Cho has something good going on. He also apparently doesn't believe that the customer is always right; it's pretty much an axiom amongst the self-employed. The customer may know what they want but either the place they have gone is unable to do it or it isn't possible. Here's a good jewelry store example: bezel set this 3ct marquis cut emerald. In platinum? Yes. In silver? No. Why? Because it's easy enough to do in platinum but in 9 out of 10 tries you'd shatter that emerald trying to set it in silver. Far from being condescending to the customer, such a jeweler would actually save the customer from making a big mistake. Also, it's a mistake that would in all likelihood cost the jeweler. Doing good business means doing right by the customer. If what the customer asks for is something that would ultimately upset the customer (despite it being what was asked for) then that isn't good business. Cho has a particular style of making espresso. Putting that espresso over ice ruins the taste. So, store policy is to not serve espresso over ice. Wow! When I put my hand on this hot stove, my hand gets burned.
A triple espresso over ice isn't that big of a deal really. Simmermon believes this and doesn't have a problem with it. But Simmermon walked into a coffeeshop that doesn't sling just any old espresso. And barista tells him so. I see little conflict here. A bar that doesn't have your preferred beer isn't a bad bar. And a coffeeshop that caters to a particular taste naturally would try to consistently maintain that taste. Thus is the wiles of free markets that run from the giant generics to the finicky niches. Don't bitch about a niche place not having the mile-wide but inch-deep selection. Likewise, don't throw a fit when the megamarket doesn't have just the right product you're looking for.

Troubles from a Jeweler's Bench

Light blogging this morning. I want to get to work quickly and tackle a platinum wedding band I'm making. It's going well, but I'm disappointed I wasn't able to have it ready on the earliest date I said was possible. It's going to look fabulous.

Troubles from a Jeweler's Bench

I was supposed to go to the store yesterday, even though it was my day off. I was supposed to get that 18k white gold wire prepped for those earrings, and finish off another pair of 14k white gold earrings. And I was supposed to get started on manufacturing that platinum ring. I was supposed to, but the gods like their little jokes.
At least today we won't have our bull in the workshop as he's staying home again. It's always much more peaceful when he does. I can play a little Charlie Bird and Miles and perhaps some disco-punk in the afternoon to keep things chugging along. So much work to do in so little time. Plus, the boss and I need to get our act together on doing the GIA courses and get our certificates.
I plan on disappointing three customers today and ordering materials we can't really afford right now, but we need them anyway. Too much problem-solving and not enough fixing. And so it goes.

The Aura of Anonymity

Reknown Graffiti Artist Unmasked: Banksy Identified - Trendhunter

I'm actually sad that Banksy's been unmasked. It's not that he's nothing like what we expected, which is what we expected. Rather, it takes a bit of aura away from the mystery of his art. Now the interviews will roll out, he'll appear on TV's across the world and every alternative blog out there will try to get a piece on him. Banksy always seemed careful not to over-expose himself. And now that's gone.