avram | Entries tagged with blogs

Via Anyway, I found Get Religion, a blog about media bias and religious matters. Seems like a decent enough place, and I’m getting into a few discussions there, and it’s led me to a couple of conclusions about the media that I’ll get to sometime when I’m not just about to go to bed, but here’s a bit that’s too good not to pass along. The St Petersburg Times has an article about Valerie Plame — well, not so much an article as a list of facts, most not very interesting, but one that is:

She attends the same church, but not the same service, as Republican mastermind Karl Rove.

Man, what if it were the same service, wouldn’t that be worth watching, just for the icy glares?

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Karl Rove goes to church. I mean, I knew he was nominally a Christian, but I always figured the holy water would sear his flesh.

Current Music: "The Beat Goes On", Giant Sand

Best non-political blog entry: “Life and death” by Chris Clarke (via Patrick Nielsen Hayden)

Best article about political writing: “Flathead: The peculiar genius of Thomas L. Friedman” by Matt Taibbi in the NY Press. And don’t miss the Friedman-esque parodies of Keat’s “On First Looking into Chapman’s ‘Homer’” in Teresa Nielsen Hayden’s Making Light.

Best article about economics and honesty: “What the Bagel Man Saw — An Accidental Glimpse at Human Nature” (via Kottke)

Best musical response to an obscure historical note about a current event: “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” by

tahnan

Best webcomic I discovered this month: Ojingogo by Matthew Forsythe.

Current Music: "Two Young Lovers Intro: The Carousel Waltz", Dire Straits

I keep thinking I’m gonna have to give up reading political blogs. Between filthy James Lileks’s cowardly half-accusing Oliver Willis of antisemitism and Glenn Reynolds’s whining yet again about bias in the NY Times (“chief architect”, aieee, oh the pain) I feel like hitting someone and not stopping till I topple from exhaustion.

But then every once in a while I find something like a link to a story about study of scrotum shape in ancient Greek sculpture, and it all seems worthwhile.

Oh, and I found that scrotum link through Kevin Drum, who also linked to an article in the LA Times about how genetic sex differences. Apologists for sexism will gleefully jump on bits like this:

All told, men and women may differ by as much as 2% of their entire genetic inheritance, greater than the hereditary gap between humankind and its closest relative — the chimpanzee.

...but I note that it’s an article on a technical topic written by a staff writer for a general news source, and according to Grumer’s First Law of Science News must therefore contain at least one glaring error. Wait to discover what the error is before using this news to buttress your worldview.

Current Music: "Falling (Twin Peaks theme)", Julee Cruise

George Orwell anticipates the Glenn Reynolds style of political blogging at seven decades remove, in Down and Out in Paris and London:

“[...] It seems that they are correspondents for a Moscow paper, and they want some articles on English politics. If we go to them at once they may commission you to write the articles.”

“Me? But I don’t know anything about politics.”

“Merde! Neither do they. Who does know anything about politics? It’s easy. All you have to do is copy it out of the English papers. Isn’t there a Paris Daily Mail? Copy it from that.”

“But the Daily Mail is a Conservative paper. They loathe the Communists.”

“Well, say the opposite of what the Daily Mail says, then you can’t be wrong. [...]”

Current Music: "Close Your Eyes", Jump Little Children

Adam Teiichi Yoshida, self-described “ultra-conservative political commentator”, looking forward to raping some blue-state women:

That’s the future of the Democratic Party: providing Republicans with a number of cute (but not that bright) comfort women.

Update: I see from Instapundit (who at least had the sense and decency to later recognize that Yoshida’s a ranting loon) that Yoshida is at Harvard. That explains things — he’s surrounded by gorgeous, brainy Cambridge women who won’t have anything to do with his repugnant ass. No wonder he’s preoccupied with impotent rape fantasies.

Re-update: In case it’s insufficiently obvious, what I’m trying to do here is move the LazyWeb concept into the realm of social engineering. I’m kinda hoping that one of you Harvard-area readers passes word around, and makes sure that everyone Yoshida is likely to encounter knows about his little rant. I’m hoping that if he wasn’t getting any before, he’ll soon be getting even less. LazyWeb II.0 — This time it’s personal!

Current Mood: furious
Current Music: "Out of This", Autamata

You don’t all read political blogs, so I’m sure some of you haven’t seen Adam Felber’s concession speech:

More than 40% of you Bush voters still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. I'm impressed by that, truly I am. Your sons and daughters who might die in this war know it's not true, the people in the urban centers where al Qaeda wants to attack know it's not true, but those of you who are at practically no risk believe this easy lie because you can. As part of my concession speech, let me say that I really envy that luxury. I concede that.

Healing? We, the people at risk from terrorists, the people who subsidize you, the people who speak in glowing and respectful terms about the heartland of America while that heartland insults and excoriates us... we wanted some healing. We spoke loud and clear. And you refused to give it to us, largely because of your high moral values. You knew better: America doesn't need its allies, doesn't need to share the burden, doesn't need to unite the world, doesn't need to provide for its future. Hell no. Not when it's got a human shield of pointy-headed, atheistic, unconfrontational breadwinners who are willing to pay the bills and play nice in the vain hope of winning a vote that we can never have. Because we're "morally inferior," I suppose, we are supposed to respect your values while you insult ours. And the big joke here is that for 20 years, we've done just that.

Current Mood: bitter, and enjoying it
Current Music: "Zorba The Greek", Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

New (to me) website: 43 Folders
Merlin Mann dispenses organizational tricks, software pointers, and other tips on saving time and getting your life in order.

Those of you who want to get organized but lack the money or silicon thumb for a Palm might want to see his entry on the Hipster PDA: a bunch of index cards and a binder clip. Not a bad idea. Before my first Palm, I spent some time getting organized with a cheap pad of paper I carried in my back pocket. Wins out on cost and durability, but loses on indexing, search, and notification capabilities, even discounting spiffy Palm apps like Vindigo (which I use a lot). Furthermore, if you’re a disorganized person, you’re apt to just lose track of that bundle of cards. A pricey Palm at least takes advantage of the $100-lighter memory hack. And then even if you do lose or break it, you’ve got it backed up in your main computer.

( The rest of this is only useful for MacOS X users. )

Current Music: "The Face That Launched 1000 Ships", Death Cab For Cutie

Wow. Via BoingBoing, I’ve just seen the beta of TheyWorkForYou.com, a working online legislative access application. This is what Thomas should be, but isn’t. Check out this record of a debate over a Gender Recognition Bill — it’s like LiveJournal for Parliament. There’s still some UI work to be done; I can’t figure out how to get the context of the new clause that’s being debated on that page — a new clause to what? Where’s the rest of the bill?

But man, don’t you expect to see “Which MP Is Stalking You” quiz results showing up in that debate record?

Current Music: "Who", Edith Frost

Wow, remember what the Web was like forty years ago? (via Unqualified Offerings)

Current Music: "I Love The Way You Dr...", 1 Giant Leap (feat. Michael Stipe)

A pair of news links from Electrolite:

Winston Churchill’s parrot, known for squawking obscenities about Hitler, is still alive at the age of 104.

The Russian army has joined the effort to rescue ten tons of beer trapped beneath an iced-over Siberian river.

Also, CNN has apparently shown Bush’s State of the Union proper respect:
[ Chimp Gone Wild! ]

(via Escahton)

Current Music: "White Palms", Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

“As you know, Bob ...” in Making Light

“Lonesome, Lonesome” in Ftrain.com

Oh, and Derek Kim finished up “The 10 Commandments of Simon”, and has started a new piece, “Black Harvest”. Damn, that sumbitch can draw.

Current Music: "Flowers In December", Mazzy Star

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Avram's journal

Days, sketched in brief

Actually, “Valerie Wilson” is her real name

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Assholes, then balls

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Republican moral values

“I concede that I overestimated the intelligence of the American people....”

43 Folders and a bunch of Mac apps

“I yield to the hon. CmdrTaco...”

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