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March 18, 2004
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Today's Jon Carroll
column
(actually penned by Scott Ostler) says
if you're not on the "His Dark Materials" bandwagon yet,
there's still time. It's a fantasy trilogy with the form
of young adult fiction and the concerns of regular old
fiction. It's, I dunno, Harry Potter for smart people.
Yeah! My older nephew's trying to get me to read
Potter but I have no interest -- I tell him that
stuff's way too popular for me, a sentiment he can't
relate to, at least not yet. (The wonderfully erudite
Michael Chabon review mentioned in that column is
Dust
& Dæmons in the NY Review
of Books -- but don't go there if you haven't
read the books yet, spoiler alert!)
Testimony
from one of the British nationals recently
released from Guantanamo Bay -- our torture
squad there is called the ERF (Extreme Reaction
Force). The first time I became aware of "Git-mo"
was in a Baskin-Robbins, in the early 1980s,
reading down a list of their locations worldwide.
Shortly thereafter, a former serviceman who'd been
stationed there told me about the place -- I wondered
how it could be on the island, but separate from Cuba.
He told me the territory surrounding the base was so
rugged, it provides a naturally uncrossable buffer zone. In
The
Disquieted American, an article about retired
political science professor (and former defense hawk)
Chalmers Johnson, he says
[...in 2001, the USA]
maintained 725 foreign bases in 38
countries. "Due to government secrecy, [Americans] are
often ignorant of the fact that their government
garrisons the globe. They do not realize that a vast
network of American military bases on every continent
except Antarctica actually constitutes a new form of
empire."
Another 38 he reports: we have 38 military bases on
Okinawa, an island smaller than Kauai.
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March 16, 2004
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More new products:
Mr. T
in your pocket;
USB
Swiss Army Knife (with 128Mbytes RAM); and the
two-part
Taggertrap,
composed of the Surveyor (which senses an aerosol can's
hiss), and the Stinger (which silently alerts the authorities).
Also, a
History
of the Walkman -- originally names considered by Sony
included the "Stereo Walky" and the "Sound-About." Unfortunately,
the site doesn't use the correct plural form ("Walkmen"), but
that other W-word.
Photos from another Chernobyl tourist -- a
visit
to her abandoned home town of Pripyat, now inside
the Zone of Estrangement.
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March 15, 2004
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Sartre
and Peanuts by Nathan Radke (he was on
TtBooK last
night) -- excellent! His discussion concerns 'classic'
Peanuts, now available only to the researcher -- the
reprints in the newspaper are all post-1974, well into
the 'Woodstock' period, after Schulz decided to stop
being "mean" (as he put it), and devoted his strip to
the animals.
Concerning Spain, and their election -- just read
Max.
Incidentally, these 'Socialists' who just won there?
True, they are members of the
Socialist
International, like the big liberal Partei in
Deutschland, the SPD, who're currently in power; but
they don't much resemble communists -- Kos provides some
more
info, scroll down to "Another Update."
Naturally I hate moving, such a chore. But one of its
benefits is how the task forces me to inventory and assess
all my stuff, with the subsequent ditching of low- and
no-quality items, which would otherwise be piling up
in the darker corners of my space -- I really hate that;
it's a genetic tendency of mine, difficult to resist.
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March 14, 2004
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Whew -- finished moving, again. This afternoon, the final box was
transferred, and the old apartment locked up for the last time. Most
of today was spent cleaning, in order to realize some return on my
security deposit. Landlords now expect you to maybe even wash the
windows upon departure -- hah! Used to be you didn't have to do
anything -- as long the unit was intact (no holes in the walls, major
appliances still operational, etc) you'd get back your security
deposit; but of late they expect the place to be in the same
condition as when you moved in. I can relate, up to a point -- I
do try to follow the old Boy Scout rule about leaving the campsite
in better condition than you found it; but I've learned that with
some landlords its like household chores, and women -- what meets my
standard of "clean" is never clean "enough." Therefore, I'll be surprised
if my entire deposit is refunded, so I refuse to rent one of those rug
shampoo deals from the supermarket, just on principal now, 'cause I
never have. Besides, both last time and this, I've received a move-in
special of half off the first month's rent, which amounts to more than
the deposit anyway.
These
are my kind of headlines.
Tokyo Flash has more great new chronometers -- some might appreciate
the 'maximum nerd' appeal of the
to the max with a binary
LED unit (sure, I could read it, but that would
take a little while) but I'd really like the
blue
LED watch (sold out, alas).
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March 11, 2004
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In the Napa Valley Register: the
Origins
of Trader Joe's (and why
Americans don't drink more wine).
A few links concerning today's English language:
About the
Californian
vowel shift -- the way (usually) girls speak. I
first recognized it in Southern California,
many years ago; but (typically) this article in the
NoCal-centric San Jose Mercury claims it's a
Northern thing (which is also heard in the South).
What makes the article excellent is it uses literary
dialect methods to identify and emphasize the sounds,
something I've had difficulty doing, until now. (BTW,
I loathe this accent -- fortunately, I'm not required
to listen regularly to any native teenage girls.)
Jargon:
wasian,
wapanese, and
wigger -- the
last one's like the opposite of 'oreo'... My sense is
there's a lot of them in urban Blue State America (and
to be polite, they should probably be referred to as
W-words -- or maybe Wegroes?) This
Tikkun
article addresses the phenomenon, in contrast with
Norman Mailer's 1957 essay entitled "The White Negro"
(which I attempted twenty years ago, but found
impenetrable -- the only time I've ever tried reading
him).
Finally, the
100
Most Mispronounced Words (and phrases) in English -- get 'em
right, if you want to sound educated.
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March 9, 2004
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I've finally finished up all the components of my recent
Japan trip report -- enjoy!
Meanwhile, over here in the weblog, there's not much original
content, just some newspaper clippings. For example, check the
graph in Krugman's latest, titled
Promises,
Promises -- it begins with
Despite a string of dismal employment reports, the administration
insists that its economic program, which has relied entirely on
tax cuts focused on the affluent, will produce big job gains any
day now. Should we believe these promises?
What I can't understand about employment figures we hear
in the media is how their relative lowness is often
'explained' with a footnote about people dropping out
of the labor force, giving up on the job search, and
therefore no longer being counted among the unemployed.
The 'safety net' so vilified by Republicans was shredded
by Clinton's signature on the Welfare Reform Act of
1996, so where are they going for money -- into armed
robbery?
From today's Jon Carroll
column:
Say, what about "indecency" on America's sacred airwaves? People
get all weirded out about Janet Jackson's right boob at the Super
Bowl -- do none of these people have premium cable? Did their
cultural education stop at Fibber McGee and Molly? Suddenly
it's become an excuse to censor almost everything.
Spalding's Suicide was
confirmed
yesterday... I'm reminded of
Jerzy,
another literary figure who's work fascinated me -- he also killed
himself after his health began to fail, and his fame was receeding.
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March 6, 2004
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The US Army's current promotional slogan is "An Army of One" --
right.
To compare the old enemy's Yin to our Yang, check out the 30-second
Seaman Ship
ad for the Japanese Navy (or, to be precise, their
Maritime Self-Defense Force).
From the latest William Saletan
column
in Slate, subtitled "Confidence Man"
From foreign to economic to social policy, [the shrub's]
record is a lesson in the limits and perils of conviction.
He's too confident to consult a map. He's too strong to heed
warnings and too steady to turn the wheel when the road bends.
He's too certain to admit error, even after plowing through
ditches and telephone poles. He's too preoccupied with principle
to understand that principle isn't enough. Watching the stars
instead of the road, he has wrecked the budget and the war on
terror. Now he's heading for the Constitution. It's time to
pull him over and take away the keys.
Why was he even give the keys to begin with? Steve explained it
this
way in No More Mr Niceblog:
In the 2000 debates Bush came off as a cocksure boy-man, the
captain of the football team; Al Gore sometimes talked in a
somewhat monotonous singsong, so it didn't matter that his
positions were better or that he was smarter, better informed,
and more honest than Bush -- Bush was "cooler," and that was
that. If you don't believe me, ask the media, which loved Bush
and hated Gore, and wasn't shy about saying so, especially with
regard to the debates.
In other words, according to those Noam calls the
Agenda-Setters, the choice was really between Biff
and George McFly. In related news, the 9-11 Commision's
showing some spine -- acording to the
NY Times,
they've
... decided for now to reject a White House request that
the interview with [the shrub] be limited to one hour
and that the questioners be only the panel's chairman
and vice chairman.
On today's
"Living On Earth" they interviewed
Peter Schwartz, one of the authors of the "Imagining the
Unthinkable" study on abrubt climate change which the Pentagon
requested. (That program archives whole transcripts of their
shows, incidentally; not the usual public radio shortcut of a
summary along with streaming audio links.)
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March 4, 2004
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Kuro5hin
thread discusses strategies for termination of free
credit card offers.
Awww... just finished The Amber Spyglass by
Philip Pullman, completing the trilogy of "His Dark
Materials" -- man, that was good stuff.
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March 1, 2004
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A little over a year ago I linked to a site in the UK
which was all about Monowheels -- that site has
disappeared, alas. But today's Yahoo!News has a tasty
looking
Chinese
model (which they label an unicycle -- hardly!)
RFID Tags in new US bills? Maybe something
explodes
when they're microwaved -- I haven't confirmed
this, yet. (For RFID background, another link from last year:
Tracking
everything, everywhere.)
This
Is the Moment. Since the bottom line ain't gonna
happen, my cynical, nihlistic "Atlas Shrugged" viewpoint is
confirmed: nothin's gonna improve until after the Collapse.
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February 26, 2004
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A couple links lifted from the ever-excellent
Mr Pants:
McDonald's Latest Outrage --
www.i-am-asian.com (don't
miss 50 Cups'
commentary)
and...
this. I
don't understand the Why of the subject matter
(if the school was in North Korea, sure...)
Okay, let's get serious -- here's the
latest from the 9-11 Comission's hearings:
Stewardess
ID'd Hijackers Early, Transcripts Show by Gail
Sheehy in the NY Observer -- the
comission seems to be ignoring vital information. Now,
why would they do that?
Scalzi
proposes
calling intolerant prescriptive Christians "Leviticans."
I thought they were who Jesus was talking about, the
"Scribes and Pharisees," but perhaps this contemporary
variant is deserving of its own contemptuous
name. Not that any such labeling ever does any good...
and if their religion is true, this disregarding of
His message is going to backfire big-time, as the
Zompist
explains. (Oh, and the new film? Please -- just
say no. Being a movie reviewer, Edelstein had to go;
but you can avoid this ultra-violence -- just read his
review.)
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February 24, 2004
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I remember reading about the dilemma of a recent
immigrant, dispatched to the drug store to buy some
shampoo or toothpaste, and such was their bewilderment
at the variety of choices, they left with no purchase,
thwarted by the Aisle of Plenty. Professor Barry Schwartz
addresses this syndrome (with a focus on today's
University) in
The
Tyranny of Choice:
My colleagues and I have begun amassing evidence, that
increased choice can lead to decreased well-being. This
is especially true for people we have termed "maximizers,"
people whose goal is to get the best possible result when
they make decisions. Choice overload is also a problem
for people we call "satisficers," people who seek only
"good enough" results from their choices, but the problem
is greatly magnified for maximizers.
I heard him on the radio last weekend, forget just
where -- he pronounced "satisficers" like "satisfyzers" --
I guess the desire is to relate his new word to
"satisfaction," hence its awkward spelling. His
"maximizers" suffer from what real estate agents
call "Buyer's Remorse." Read more about him in this
USA Today
book review.
ATM
scam alert, in Texas -- pretty clever!
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February 22, 2004
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Good news and bad news. First, the good:
Finally, it's ready -- more than half, anyway. Photos
from my recent trip to Japan:
Close-Up
and Sumo sections.
...and the bad?
I looked upon the face of Big Brother at a meeting last
week, and it was double-plus ungood (ugly, too). A
company called Presearch gave a presentation I attended
(only because a colleague was out sick) -- they have a
surveillance
product they propose installing on all commercial
aircraft, which works best with broadband internet (which
they said was only a couple years away, aloft) but could
even work over the Airfone. Their proprietary system modifies
its data stream's refresh rate and resolution to provide
real-time video, and they propose installing discrete
cameras on the flight deck, in the hold and in the main cabin.
Part of their demo consisted of a feed through the internet
from their office in Fairfax -- they phoned their receptionist
and had her wave at the camera in their lobby. They said
cameras can now be made as small as a quarter, which can
operate effectively through a pinhole. "If you must know, it's
scary" said one the duo of salesmen, obviously former military
men. As the Q&A began I was tempted to ask about the
schedule for installion in private homes.
Also, the Guardian
reports
about the secret DoD report (which is being supressed by the White
House) on abrupt climate change -- by 2020, the jig is up.
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February 20, 2004
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"Learned Helplessness":
Malcom Gladwell's
SUV
article from the January 12th New
Yorker -- they didn't post it on their
site, but now he's placed it on his own:
At the reptilian level they think that if I
am bigger and taller I'm safer. You feel secure
because you are higher and dominate and look
down. That you can look down is psychologically
a very powerful notion. And what was the key
element of safety when you were a child? It was
that your mother fed you, and there was warm
liquid. That's why cupholders are absolutely
crucial for safety. If there is a car that
has no cupholder, it is not safe. If I can
put my coffee there, if I can have my food,
if everything is round, if it's soft, and if
I'm high, then I feel safe.
Therefore, it's a point of pride that my vehicle
(the smallest Toyota) has no cupholder.
The
Limits of Dissent at retrogrouch.net is about a
letter from an anonymous Marine -- the responses are
the best part.
I think the saddest thing about people who think
like the author of that piece is their conviction
that anyone in the military has fought to defend
our country since WWII. They've died in their
thousands, been maimed in the tens of thousands
and it's all been for nothing but the profits of
crony capitalists and the paranoia of a misguided
people.
I couldn't agree more.
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February 19, 2004 (link updated, original not working)
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Here's what I like -- a big dose of healthy skepticism:
JFK,
9-11, and the REAL America: Tying It All Together by
Jon Phalen:
What makes you think you actually KNOW what happened
on those planes?
Until the full case against Al Qa'eda is made available
for public review, we have absolutely no assurance that
this "proof" isn't exactly like the "proof" of Iraq's
weapons programs -- IE, a big fat lie from top to bottom.
It's long, but quite worthwhile reading. Regarding 9-11,
his theory is the same as my initial reaction -- those
planes were being manipulated by remote control.
But after all that, we need some levity:
"The
Big Lebowski" Random Quote Generator.
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February 18, 2004
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New interview with William Gibson:
Squinting
at the present.
Boyd Rice's
Nine
Favorite Places -- I've been to 2 and 5, and
7 (but not through the door of Club 33) and I've
walked through 9, but I don't think that counts -- I
hear they only seat celebs on one side, and make the
tourists sit on the other.
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February 17, 2004
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The Christion Science Monitor explains
Why
the US fall election may be tart. Just "tart"? Well,
that's merely the article's title -- further down, more
realistic adjectives like 'nasty' and 'dirtiest'
are deployed.
German
commercial advertising during WWII -- knowing a
bit of the lingo naturally helps with comprehending
the copy, but it's not required, 'specially for that
top-center Mercedes-Benz ad.
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February 14, 2004
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That bozo at Peet's must've slipped me real coffee this
afternoon, instead of decaf -- it's past midnight
and I've still got the jittery feeling that Geoff calls
being 'jangly' and I'll probably have a headache
tomorrow. (It's an interesting term; when I first
heard it I immediately thought of "Mr. Tambourine
Man" and the speedy LSD feeling its lyrics evoke.)
Anyway, after the cuppa I went off to the Stanford
to see "The Thin Man" and was delighted to see the
film open with the familiar
cover
photo (it's the author) of the version I read
in 1977, while riding the express train through
Yugoslavia, from Athens to Munich -- my Grandmother
gave me that copy which must've been a faithful
reproduction of the original. None of the story was
at all familiar, except for the names and partying by
Nick and Nora -- even in my hightened, caffinated state
I couldn't follow what was going on, too many
characters -- that's usually the case with these
rapid-fire, snappy-dialog films from the '30's,
but I don't mind -- I just want to experience the
movie, its window into 1934. The same thing happened
(pleasant, bewildered confusion) when I caught a
Stanford screening of "His Girl Friday" several
years ago. I read all of Dashiel Hammett in the late
70's, and then all of Raymond Chandler; I preferred
the latter, especially Farewll My Lovely (but
'Dash's Continental Op stuff is great). So, I'm toiling into
the night, generating my new Japan page(s) -- it'll
be quite extensive, I've finally got all the pictures
ready, now I'm working on the text and the HTML.
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February 11, 2004
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Yikes!
We're hurtling into the abyss. 'Course, we all became
aware of this in the early 1970s, and unpleasant
reminders have occured periodically, ever
since -- but dealing with the oil crisis was just
too hard, and then the Reagan administration put
America to sleep, and the nation went into
denial. If you don't want a rude awakening,
just move along -- don't follow the link.
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February 8, 2004
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Great 'Ask
the Pilot' last Friday, concerning recent
transatlantic flight cancellations:
I'm perplexed by what remains a stubborn allegiance
to the September 11 boilerplate -- the notion that an
attack will follow the kamikaze skyjack script. Nothing
seems able to temper our preoccupation with knives,
sharp objects, and whether or not certain passengers
are licensed pilots.
And although he details the fear of a holiday hijacking
(in particular, the possibility of a Paris-LAX flight
being diverted into Vegas) I've heard nobody point out
the futility of such an attempt, if said 'boilerplate'
is really being followed: the 9-11 flights made such
spectacular damage because the planes were all tanked
up, having just left their respective aerodromes. After
flying across the ocean, fuel levels would be low,
minimizing the airliners' explosive capability. But
a new angle's been discovered -- from the
Guardian,
Terrorist
bid to build bombs mid-flight.
Speaking of fuel, this morning I tuned in to "Car Talk"
for a few minutes (which is all I can stand, before the
less-smart brother's laughter makes me change the
station), and they addressed the controversy I first
heard of in an email from my Dad a few months back,
where he passed along an article entitled "Gas Pump
Fires Caused by Cell Phones." Perhaps you've heard of
this... not having a 'mobile' myself, I'm somewhat
oblivious; the interesting thing to me was it's
essentially a female problem, since a study of 150
incidents showed that
Almost all cases involved the person getting back into
their vehicle while the nozzle was still pumping gas,
and
Most men never get back into their vehicle until
completely finished, and don't ever use cell phones
when pumping gas.
I found the latter observation amusing, and valid -- we're
content just to use the time to take a break, maybe
do a bit of car-leaning, study the activity on-going
at the service station, or watch the nearby traffic
flow. However, I live in California, and the car guys
pointed out how in a cold climate, getting back into
the your vehicle while fueling is sometimes necessity.
Moreover, they pointed out the wintery problem of static
electricity, and how sparks can be generated at the gas
station 'cause of that -- and yet, (my observation)
winter-time news doesn't contain reports of gas station
explosions. They also wondered if this could be an urban
myth (which is the
Snopes
conclusion) even though one can apparently spot
warnings about such posted at Shell stations (but according to
this
debunking, not stateside).
As usual, they way these things go, I discover I
missed a William Gibson booksigning up in the City
last Thursday; but realizing I have many readers in
my native land Inside the Beltway, do check him out
Monday, Feb 16 at the Bailey's Crossroads Borders
at 7:30PM -- he's scheduled for a reading, and a
Q & A session.
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February 6, 2004
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There's a two-headed baby
in
the news, in the Dominican Republic. Not the
usual Zaphod configuration, but a hideous,
double-decked mutation -- they just operated,
removing her upper storey, with apparent success.
Update
on the two-headed American girl, the 'co-joined'
Hensel twins, now twelve years old -- they were
featured in a special on the Discovery channel a
year ago, which I missed. "Co-joined" is
the politically correct term for Siamese twins,
but there's no getting around how the Hensel
girl(s) are a real Zaphod Beeblebrox (cf.
The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy).
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February 5, 2004
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Endgame
for the president? by Robert Kuttner -- and it's
a 'BFT, as I say. Related:
Calpundit
and
Orcinus
on the shrub's AWOL period, part of his shady past which
is finally getting some 'traction' in the mainstream
media. I'd like to see his drunk-driving arrests
given some of the Whitewater treatment, also.
John Kerry's
first
appearance in "Doonsebury", in 1971, when the
strip was worth reading. Refreshing and disappointing,
looking back at the old stuff -- this was way before
Trudeau adapted his weird, lazy, stupid practice of
using floating, inanimate objects to symbolize public
figures, which I find repellent.
Saw 2004's little poster at the Post Office
today, and there's some great stamps coming out this year:
Dr. Seuss in March, Henry Mancini (with a tiny Pink
Panther down in the corner) in April, black & white
photos of Noguchi stuff in June, Buckminster Fuller
(which will be the great
1964
Time magazine cover) in July, and Clouds
in October. Also, a new Nature set,
Pacific
Coral Reef, which is out now -- somehow I missed
last year's
Arctic
Tundra. I like these for the imagery left behind,
after the stamps are peeled off -- it can be cut up and
used elsewhere. And -- (pretentious fanfare)
The
Art of Disney. If you followed that link and thought,
"huh?" you're with me -- let's all sing it together:
One of these things is not like the other
One of these things just doesn't belong.
And speaking of music, Slate posted this
"Smile"
update. Brian Wilson should just retire, but
I suppose he needs the money.
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February 3, 2004
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Back from Japan 7, all is well. Details to be posted soon.
Bypass Compulsory
Web Registration -- enter a site's URL (like, for a
newspaper) and get a listing of IDs and passwords from
people who've already registered.
The BBC provides
deep links into real.com for downloading expiry-free,
spyware-free and nuisance-free versions of free
RealAudio players. They had to offer these just
to the BBC, for some reason
(details).
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January 20, 2004
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Robert Reich on the new book: Paul
O'Neill
Has Done His Country a Favor. Listening to
Terry
Gross interviewing the authors last week
was fascinating.
Christian anti-shrub site:
BushRevealed.com
This website serves as notice to Christians across
this nation that President George Bush over the past
few years has compromised his "Christian faith" by
promoting evil and openly supporting wickedness. It
is our hope and prayer that he would Repent and turn
from such blatant sin. He is not our friend and cannot
be trusted.
How and why what the media calls his 'base' can't
perceive this is baffling -- their naïveté
has placed us all into a dangerous situation. And
now, the creepy frat-boy is babbling about trips to
Mars, via the Moon -- what idiocy is this? Just as
we've finished building a true space station? There's
the place to build an interplanetary ship, not all the
way out in the lunar neighborhood. Realistically,
however, we can't afford it now, and who would benefit?
I sure won't, at least not in the short term -- if
NASA's budget isn't to be increased, and this new
direction is to be funded by cutting other NASA
projects, mine is the type they'll be targeting. Nor
will all the unemployed benefit, with American jobs
hemmorhaging to Mexico, China and India. What's
really needed at home is massive, New Deal-style
public works campaigns. Not just rebuilding our existing,
deteriorating infrastructure, but something truly
progressive -- a project to keep America rolling
after the oil runs out, and the airplanes stop
flying: a high-speed national electrified rail system.
With lots more windmills and solar panels to supply
our power. That's the sort of 'vision thing' I'd like
to hear about, from candidates in this election year.
In yesterday's lengthy disquisition on Light Emitting
Diodes and chronometers, I neglected mention of their
first appearance. James Bond films introduce new
technology to their audiences (like Goldfinger's
laser) -- such was the case in "Live and Let Die"
when Roger Moore checked his new
LED watch
in a darkened bedroom sequence, early in that film.
Related: The
Pimp
Watch is certainly cool (in an obscure way), but
it'd be much better with some blue LEDs, like for the
hour marks, maybe. Or why not go totally retro, with a
Nixie
Tube Watch?
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January 19, 2004
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After over two decades of trusty service, my old digital
clock finally died. When I first got it my friend Eddie said
"How can you buy a clock with blue letters"? (My
attempts at persuading him to refer to the display's characters
as 'numbers' always failed.) At the time (1980), the new-ish
LEDs were all the rage in clocks, their color almost always
red -- my first digital model was of this type; I'd received
that unit as a gift around '77. (Chartreuse, yellow and orange
LEDs were also available then, but it wasn't until recently that the
blue
LED was developed.) When I went shopping with Eddie and
saw the blue one, I had to have it, naturally. A close
scrutiny of the display revealed its numbers to be composed
of teeny hexagons, like a honeycomb; unlike the solid bars
of an LED (or, for that matter, an LCD) display. As with
any failing electrical appliance, I made an attempt at
repair by taking it apart, seeking out loose connections. This
enabled a close look at the digital display module -- and
to my surprise, it was encased in a flat glass vacuum tube!
We're all familiar with digital readouts of this type -- smaller
versions are quite common in microwave ovens and VCRs.
If you've got one of those handy, look closely for the
honeycomb. Today, I learned the
details
of this technology: it's called VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent
Display, rather than Volunteer Fire Dept). Anyway, since
I needed a new clock, I swung by
Fry's. Most of their
stock was ugly, back-lit
LCD
stuff, with a few old-fashioned red LED units. I was hoping
for one with green LEDs, maybe -- I know they exist, I've seen 'em
around. But of course, what I really wanted was a
blue LED model, and figured, if these were being manufactured,
Fry's would have 'em, but no. Internet searching was also
fruitless -- however, I entered the same terms into eBay,
just for kicks, and
behold!
Now I have a digital clock with truly blue 'letters' -- but
like my original, it's too bright. I solved that problem then
by gluing some blue plastic onto the front, filtering out all
but true-blue wavelengths -- but LEDs are like lasers,
monochromatic, emitting only a single wavelength; so I'm
going to have to rig something with smoky gray plastic
for this new unit... a more advanced model would have a
dimmer control. After reading all this, maybe you'd like a
digital blue clock, too -- and I know you, Internaut -- you
want immediate, on-screen gratification, and cyberspace
doesn't fail: the Arlington, Texas KoC
provides.
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January 18, 2004
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Paranoid
Shift is an essay by Michael Hasty, reaching many of
the same conclusions I've come to, myself. John
Laughland believes
in the conspiracies, and says
the real nutters are those who believe in al-Qa'eda and
weapons of mass destruction. I agree -- a
loose organization of religious-fanatic terrorists isn't
SPECTRE.
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January 16, 2004
| |
There is much rejoicing in Blogville (at least, in the
neighborhoods where I feel at home): Mr Pants is back!
(after taking a vacation, for 2003.) He's also posted a new
artifact: the
Report
Drug Smuggling Bookmark.
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January 15, 2004
|
Some travel imagery:
On this
image
map of Moscow, click for incredible panormic views
of Metro station interiors; scroll down
here
and click NEXT for a slide show of Osaka and Tokyo
night-time street scenes; and finally, Susan's
posting great bunches of South Africa photos -- in her
latest entry, they
visit
a diamond mine.
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January 14, 2004
| |
Have just gotten into
His
Dark Materials. Where
have I been? (Thanks, Jeff!) Speaking of zeppelins,
the best part of my recent "Lord of the Rings" screening
was the preview for "Sky Captain and the World of
Tomorrow" -- here's more
info
about the film, at a site devoted to British Airships.
Gross National Cool: What's
Right With Japan -- from the Asian edition of Time
magazine, last June. Don't miss the Gallery section,
via that sidebar of articles. That title is borrowed
from the Douglas McGray article in Foreign Policy
I pointed to last July. Related, sorta:
Dictionary
of Japanese perversions.
Very strange
custom
cars (two out of four, anyway) and a
motorized
recliner (!).
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January 12, 2004
| |
Because they
are
guilty.
The
Stop
Motion Studies are kinda neat.
We apologise to our customers who've been insulted by the use of this
drive-through speaker -- pranksters
strike
a Burger King somewhere in... England? Wherever
Ananova is.
To get the HTML to place this up-to-date Sesame St. homeland
security status icon on
your web page (and to see the other colors), just
click it.
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January 6, 2004
| |
Interview
with Josh "Shag" Agle, at ModCulture.
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January 4, 2004
|
Leave No NASCAR Dad Behind
features an interview with Arlie Hochschild,
UC Berkeley sociologist, who attempts to
answer the Big Why question: Why does blue-collar
America favor the shrub, even as his
country-club party favors only top management?
I remember seeing a red state/blue state US map that
was more purple, when the resolution was increased to
the county level.
Beyond
Red and Blue by Robert David Sullivan breaks the
country into ten political regions, which the zompist
purpled,
with commentary -- the Southern Lowlands may be the key area.
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December 30, 2003
|
Good post at Making Light:
Why
We Hate America. (We don't, of course -- it's merely
our more ignorant countrymen, which are hateful.)
The shrub's
Desolate
Imperium, by Bernard Chazelle.
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December 29, 2003
|
Krugman proposes
rules for next year's election reporting.
The approved story line about Mr. Bush is that he's a bluff,
honest, plain-spoken guy, and anecdotes that fit that story
get reported. But if the conventional wisdom were instead that
he's a phony, a silver-spoon baby who pretends to be a cowboy,
journalists would have plenty of material to work with.
How
to identify a fake Rolex -- or "copy watch," as the
street sellers in Hong Kong hawk them.
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December 28, 2003
| |
A bootleg favorite from the old days: MP3s of the
Beatles'
Christmas Greetings, originally sent to
members of their Fan Club.
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