Down the Garden Path

Clinton Blames MoveOn for Caucus Losses - The Trail @ Washington Post

The article and the ensuing comment board fight is another in a series of fine ways the Washington Post cannot seem to control the vitrol of the anti-Obama crowd. First off, either make an item like Sen. Clinton's accusation that MoveOn has intimidated voters a real article or find something else to write about. Second, these boards need moderators; serious moderators who actively read the posts and are swift about removing offending post or reprimanding those who continue to essentially shout at people. If those of the anti-Obama crowd want to continue with their lies, insinuations and general lack of logic then they can do it elsewhere. I would like to go to the Post's site and not feel like I'm in some backwater message board flame war. Being a regular reader of comic blog Newsarama's message boards I've seen some good flame wars. But the board is moderated and done so in a highly fair way, removing posts that are either "have you stopped beating your wife" style post or ones that continue to revive points or 'facts' that have long been dismissed. It's not hard but if the Post is too lazy or cheap to hire a moderator then they shouldn't open the boards to the masses. It become a graffiti site and nothing more. This is the reason why I rarely read The Trail series since it's poor journalism mixed with even worse comment threads. I think after this one I'll just pass on anything else posted to The Trail.

Seizing the Radio Station

You Got To Get (Get) That (That) Dirt Off Your Shoulder - Spencer Ackerman @ Attackerman

Of course Ackerman was on it with the Jay-Z reference. It's moments like that one which will end up on a montage reel of President Obama's tenure. By the way, the rest of the speech was good to, particularly the jabs at Sen. Clinton; subtle and not overplayed or egregious.

ABC Debate

So I'm not going to round up all the links to the various posts I've read over the last hour on tonight's debate. It's all too ridiculous honestly. I've watched several of the debates over the last few months and this debate was by far the worst. Not only is that the consensus among the bloggers but among ABC viewers as well. For ABC News to focus on such trivial issues nearly the entire time was wasteful and just plain stupid. My brain is just drivel at this point. A waste of two hours of my time that I will never get back. I hope ABC burns during the night.

The Horse Only Looks High When You're On Your Knees

Candidate on a High Horse - George Will @ Washington Post

Now there are several problems with Will's op-ed in this mornings Post that irked me (not surprising). First and foremost was his attitude that Sen. Obama's comments on the bitterness of Pennsylvanian voters might have some merit to them. As Sen. Obama himself has said, that bitterness has come from a quarter century of broken promises on bringing new jobs to the region. So after being essentially lied to by the last three administrations, it's only natural to think that the electorate of a particular state might hold some animosity against politicians making the same promises once again. I don't consider such comments as condecending so much as telling a truth that hurts.
The second, and perhaps more serious problem with Will's article is the terminology he uses. All of the Marxist talk on 'false consciousness' and that, due to Pennsylvanian fasle consciousness, they fail to understand the important programs a President Obama would bring, that must mean Sen. Obama is a closested Marxist. Now if one wants to attack a candidate for being elitist then perhaps it's not the best idea to use some of the most elitist thinking as a method of attack. I know Will is an intelligent man, but rather than rely on academic-speak to bolster his argument her should take a more sanguine attitude by viewing things both from the perspective of Sen. Obama and the average Pennsylvanian voter. I don't believe that Sen. Obama was being condescending to these voters. On the contrary, I think Sen. Obama was seeking to explain why such voters hold the attitudes they do, which is far more than either Sens. McCain or Clinton have attempted.
Finally, Will completely ignores the facts of Sen. Obama's career, along with those of Sens. McCain and Clinton, in leveling his charge of elitism. Sen. Obama hasn't been a multimillonaire for much longer than a decade, if even that, and he had to work hard to get there. Sens. Clinton and McCain have spent more time in Washington and more money than Sen. Obama has ever made on their campaigns. I find these niggling facts, and Will's willfull omission of them, more damaging to his argument than his use of academic-speak and inablity to understand that Pennsylvanian voters might hold some bitterness towards politicians based on a series of broken promises.
It's strange that Will would write an article like this when I would expect a more tempered and centerist essay. That Will would resort to taking talking point from someone like William Kristol either shows that Will wasn't thinking much when he wrote the article or simply phoned it in. I expected better from Will honestly, and he's disappointed me with a disappointing essay. Really, Will is better than this.

Perfectly Flawed Watch Concepts

Bracelet Watches That Hide The Time: i/o Concept Cuff Bracelet - Trend Hunter

While I do love the concept of a digital watch designed to look like an accessory cuff, I immediately noticed a serious design flaw from the photos. Where does the battery go? More importantly, how do you change it?

The Culture of You

What is the big deal about stuff white people like? - Samhita @ Feministing

When I first heard about the blog "Stuff White People Like" I didn't think much of it, much less visit the site. I thought it was mildly amusing at most. Samhita from Feministing actually has visited the site, laughed at some things and such; but she has also dug a little deeper into the whole issue of whiteness as a culture. Her point is, a question really, does poking fun at the material goods of white culture actually further the conversation on race, or does it hamper it by perpetuating a stereotype that what white people like is uncool, thus turning what non-whites like into something cool? I think in this case the answer is a yes and no, as Samhita has arrived at as well. The experience a browser of the site might get will differ from another browser and if that experience pitches the browser out of their comfortable spot within their culture then so much the better. White culture is the dominate culture in America so it does help to call it white culture versus simply saying that it's the culture of America. For whites to even minimally understand the black or latino experience in America they must first think of their culture as a culture just the same as any other. Not to say that one must tear down their culture just to get to this point, but merely acknowledge that the dominant culture is white. What happens after that isn't something a website can control but if it can posit in a browser's mind the question of what white culture is then it will have succeeded in furthering the conversation on race in America.
The converse of this acknowledgment is actually quite negative. If by viewing "Stuff White People Like" doesn't push the browser out of their comfort zone then it has failed to further anything except the stereotype that being white is somehow uncool and being non-white is cool. It's that question of hipness that affects the browser's experience. If all the browser gets out of the site is that assumption of white culture's inherent uncoolness then the site harms the conversation on race. While I don't begrudge the operator of the site for doing what he wanted, I do think that he has the opportunity to improve race-relations if he would simply look beyond the quick joke. It's not that he has to make white culture look cool but make it look like culture period--both cool and uncool as any other culture is.

19th Century Darth Vader

Steampunk Star Wars modded action figures - - whoah! - Cory Doctorow @ BoingBoing


There are certain things in the world that instantly make me supremely happy. This is one of them.

Review: Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours

Cut Copy @ MySpace

Cut Copy's new album dropped this past Tuesday and immediately hit the regular rotation for my various media players. In Ghost Colours is by leaps and bounds better than their previous effort, Bright Like Neon Love, which is not to say that their last album was bad. Far from it. Simply put though, the additional production help from the fellows at DFA Records added that undercurrent of 70s disco to Cut Copy's heavy slabs of 80s italo-disco. So there's disco all around; some cheesy, some knee-buckling, and some that simply amazes.
What makes Colours a different, better album that Neon Love is Cut Copy's development as a serious pop act versus a disco-influenced side show. Dan Whitford's lyrics have improved while maintaining his lush, humming vocals. One could easily confuse bits of Whitford's singing with that of Morrissey yet such a comparison doesn't feel forced. The addition of Mitchell Scott and Tim Hoey in the line-up adds to the fullness of Cut Copy's sound without pushing them too far in the direction of a more traditional electro-rock act.
But it's the production qualities that mark this album. Where some of the remixes off Neon Love ended up better than the originals, such as the Digitalism remix of "Going Nowhere", it seems that Whitford has taken these lessons to heart. Working with Tim Goldsworthy of DFA and LCD Soundsystem fame has had its benefits as well. The breaks are timed perfectly and the rise and fall of each song feels seemless and appropriate. Relying mostly on live or looped drums has improved the sound as well, substituting what would otherwise have been an electric beat with the organics of analog. The bass lines also share a similar development, trending towards a disco-funk that shows Goldsworthy's influence.
I don't love this album, but I do like the hell out of it. It's a club album, for sure, but unfortunately not a car album. What I look forward to now is the slew of remixes sure to come out of this album with French producer Joakim leading the way on "Hearts on Fire". In Ghost Colours has some legs to it, both in its own right and as fodder for the djs of London, Melbourne, and Berlin.

The Green Lantern Theory Redux

The Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics - Matt Yglesias @ TPM Cafe

I know I've written before about Yglesias' Green Lantern theory but Publius over at Obsidian Wings brings it up again as a rebuttal to Fred Kagan's hit-piece against those who are calling for a withdrawal from Iraq. In essence, the Green Lantern theory is that with sufficient will any military effort America undertakes will succeed. See, the rings that gives the Green Lanterns their power is driven by will and only those with sufficient will can use the ring; this being because the ring is the most powerful weapon in the DC universe.
Translate that into American foreign policy, specifically in military affairs, and you end up with a belief that the success of any military intervention depends more on the willpower of the politicians back at home than on specific tactics or the underlying strategy. Instead of accepting the blame for any failure in a military operation, the Green Lantern believers attempt to shift the blame to those who were hesitant or outright against the effort. Their claim is the same one made after the Great War in Germany or after the American withdrawal from Vietnam--the 'stab in the back' narrative that claims the operation would have succeeded had we not these weak-willed politicians.
Publius doesn't buy it, no progressive liberal buys it and no sane conservative buys it either. You will not see someone like George Will making the same argument nor William Safire or the late William F. Buckley. Instead, I believe these conservatives would lay the blame on those who lacked the will to see the limitations of military operations and how getting the strategy and tactics correct are of the greatest importance. It's not a lack of will to go to war but a lack of will to full commit oneself to the realities of war and the necessity to adapt to fluid situations. What neo-conservatives such as Charles Krauthammer, Fred Kagan or William Kristol fail to understand is that all wars are fluid and the 'stab in the back' narrative requires something more static for there to be an actual stab in said back. They must believe that the strategy is correct and remains correct, despite any evidence to the contrary.
This is the problem with believing that sufficient will, or elán as the pre-WWI French army believed, is all that is necessary for military victory. You'll notice how quickly the French folded against the Germans in the second World War after their trenchant belief in said elán almost cost them the first World War. It's not a matter of will, but of correct and constantly adapting strategy. This is what the Kagan-types repeatedly fail to grasp and why their columns and op-ed pieces become items of derision by the rest of the pundits.

Spike Lee Brings It On

Quote of the Day - Andrew Sullivan

I'm just going to cut and paste the quote, because this shit is too good:
"The Clintons, man, they would lie on a stack of Bibles. Snipers? That’s not misspeaking; that’s some pure bullshit. I voted for Clinton twice, but that’s over with. These old black politicians say, “Ooh, Massuh Clinton was good to us, massuh hired a lot of us, massuh was good!” Hoo! Charlie Rangel, David Dinkins—they have to understand this is a new day. People ain’t feelin’ that stuff. It’s like a tide, and the people who get in the way are just gonna get swept out into the ocean," - Spike Lee

The Bloopers of Hope

Juxtaposition - Top 10 Stupid President Bush Quotes VS Barack Obama's 'Audacity of Hope' - Trend Hunter

This is just a collection of videos the fellows at Trend Hunter put together but it meshes so well. Comparing President Bush to Sen. Obama in speech-making is a bit of a no-brainer, but funny nonetheless.

Blue Feet

As Nanotechnology Goes Mainstream, "Toxic Socks" Raise Concerns; Unknown Risks From Nanosilver Cited - Science Daily

Oh great, another reason for the rise in silver prices. As if the precious metals market didn't have enough problems with a weak dollar and high oil prices, now we get this.

Frames Per Second

Working Memory Has Limited 'Slots' - Science Daily

For more than a few years now there's been a debate in the enthusiast gaming community over whether the fact that a graphics card can display a certain number of fsp's (frames per second) really matters when it reaches beyond what the eye and brain can physically process. Now, with this new study it appears that the idea that fps only matter up to a point is true. It also makes sense in terms of how we are able to recall events and the fuzziness that can occur in translating working memory into long-term memory. While working memory captures a certain number of images per second it seems the high resolution of those images degrades when shifted into the long term memory. Hence the reason why eye-witness testimony days or months after an event can differ drastically from what actually happened.
But it also explains to some extent the abilities of those who can speed read or have a 'photographic' memory. The ability to take in large amounts of data and then retain the original resolution of that data is a mark of intelligence, it seems. Moreover, since everything our eyes perceive must go through that initial interpretation process it makes more sense that the data is captured by a series of images rather than one continuous stream. There's a momentary gap between what is actually happening in reality and the interpretation our brains make of all that sensory data. Why would evolution make a mind that cannot see reality at a high level of detail unless it allowed some advantage? High resolution fps must then have been an advantage to the early human mind.

More Dodos for Your Head

The Dodos @ the Mercury Lounge 4-6-08 - Friction NYC

A surprise for me that the Dodos sold out the Mercury Lounge in New York, but not too much of one. Their brand of Elephant Six-style song composition and choice in instrument selection blends together in an amazing fashion under the vocals of Meric Long. Their instore at Good Records here in Dallas after a week of SXSW madness was still mesmerizing and smile-inducing. They provide an excellent example of how a two-person act (with the occasional help of a third player) can produce a full sound and as much foot-stomping rock as any four or five-piece group. I highly recommend their new album Visiter and their previous album Beware of Maniacs.

Make More, Pay Less

Blog Till You Drop - Ezra Klein

I don't really want to comment on the whole "blogging is a sweat-shop type of job" since there are a number of other bloggers who have and I don't have anything to add to the conversation. But Klein does make an interesting point about the apparent inequality between those who work menial jobs and the 'professional classes' who complain about how hard they worked to get to their six-figure salaries. There was a customer in the store recently who made a similar argument, focusing on taxation and how unfair it was that the rich were taxed more than anyone else. Forgetting for a moment the fact that the actual taxation rate for those making over six figures tends towards under 20%, that this woman of the professional class who doesn't have to work as much to make more money than most Americans believes somehow the system is unfairly biased against her is simply laughable. Klein sees this too when he says, "it's hard to argue that attending an Ivy League school where you smoke a lot of pot and pretend you understand Focault is more taxing than entering a service sector job right out of high school. The professional class just likes to pretend that it is in order to lay a patina of virtue and ethics over what are, in fact, amoral decisions of the market."
That right there is what makes the inequalities of this country so hard to allay. More than just the education system, it's the belief that somehow the professional class has worked as hard as the blue-collar workers that make it harder to argue for higher taxes on the rich. It's the mindset that the professional classes are equal to the working classes which cause a great deal of animosity when someone has the gall to stand up and say, "hey, they make a lot more than most and can afford to pay more in taxes." Thus we get a system where the lower and middle classes are expected to pay a proportional amount in taxes when that amount is far more substantial to them than it is to the professional class. So what if that kind of taxation pushes many families close to the brink of bankrupcy, it's only fair, right?

The Weakerthans @ the Granada Theater 4-1-08

Weakerthans @ the Granada

Went to see the Weakerthans play tonight with my sister. I haven't seen them play in a few years but it feels like I haven't missed anything in that timespan. The band was solid as always, coordinated and professional. They've added a keyboardist to the line-up and while she didn't have a big role in the sound, when you did catch her it certainly filled out the sound. But the acoustics of the Granada tended to wash her out. Otherwise the band was good. They played a good selection of songs from their entire catelogue and packed the playlist as much as they could for the time alloted them. Even the encore was planned out, featuring four songs that closed the set dead on at midnight.
Unfortunately the Granada Theater is one of those dreaded "no smoking" places so I made several trips outside for my nicotine fix. In doing so I ended up noticing a cute bartender who I chatted up for ten minutes or so. While she had a boyfriend (no love for your dear blogger) she was quite interesting so it was worth the slight embarrassment. More importantly, as she said herself, while she could make more money at other bars, she enjoyed the atmosphere of the Granada more. That kind of attitude is heart-warming since it shows that there are still people out there who would rather make less money and enjoy their job than make more money under less than desirable conditions.
All in all, it was a worthwhile evening out on a Tuesday night. That's something of a rarity these days. It was cathartic and while the show didn't blow my mind I did get a chance to truly relax. So now I'm off to bed and the sleep of a content person. I wish there were more nights like this.

When Does Virtual Become More Than Virtual?

Creepily lifelike CGI woman - Cory Doctorow @ BoingBoing

What you see to your right is a computer generated image, that's right, a CGI. Apparently some Brazilian firm was tasked to create a lifelike CGI person without falling into the uncanny valley problem. This is true hyperrealism as the image is nothing more than a simulation. Much like Rei Toei of William Gibson's Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties the image is a step toward an era of simulated actors and musicians and other celebrities. That celebrities are mainly manufactured and simulated anyway, this isn't much of a leap but that the tech is already here is amazing.

H7 Emits Roses and Pancakes

BMW Hydrogen 7 Emissions Well-below Super-ultra Low-emissions Vehicle Standards, Government Says - Science Daily

I've long heard about BMW's mythical hydrogen-powered car. Initially, I read about a dual-engine version of the 7-series that could switch from hydrogen to gasoline on the fly, but that model was strictly for Europe. I could see such a luxury car working well here in the States, specifically California where hydrogen stations are slowly being built. The dual-engine model was meant as a compromise due to the lack of hydrogen stations. And the dual-engine is a bit misleading as the car actually has one engine but runs on either hydrogen or straight petrol. So the idea of a mono-engine is a little confusing.
Despite all that, it's heart-warming to find that not only will BMW put the car into production, albeit a limited run, but that in some cases its emissions are actually cleaner than the air that enters the engine. Through my initial travels in the arena of car modification I've learned about the importance of air intakes and how clearer air works to the advantage of the engine so I'm wondering if BMW will rig a system to reuse the air emitted from the car and inject it back into the engine. It's an amazing advance in engine technology that unfortunately is limited to a few high profile people to show off the car and the tech. What's more, it makes me wonder when other companies will try their hand at hydrogen engines (I'm looking at you Audi/VW).

Ten Little Piggies

Shocking Lingerie--CamelToe Party Undies - Trend Hunter

Now Trend Hunter has a habit of focusing on the more sex-ploitation trends than anything else and I do click through to some of the articles, but this is just bizarre. Of course, that the camel toe fashion is a hit in Japan isn't much of a surprise. Still, this is beyond strange, even for Trend Hunter.

Diamonds Aren't Shaped Like Vaginas

Ivy Hymens: Why Glorifying Virginity is Bad for Women - Jessica @ Feministing

I'm not really going to comment on the linked post so much as I'm going to laugh as hard as I can at that damnable graphic. Who thinks this shit works? "Guard Your Diamond"? Who decided that this was a good idea and where can I find them so I can put a lead pipe on the back of their skull? I'm just glad that there are other sites like Feministing out there that point this ridiculous shit out. Even my cat is laughing at it.