Although I am sure I am not the first man to have this insight, shortly after my daughter, Justine, was born I remember holding her and nuzzling her then small and delicate head. The odor of a young baby is difficult to describe especially with a dusting of baby powder, but I recall thinking on more than one occasion that if a men's cologne company wanted to corner the market it would isolate and bottle the aroma. It could be marketed under the name "New Baby." I was sure the scent would prove to be irresistible to women.
Now Rickey James at the invaluable SciScoop reports that a scent emitted by one woman can stimulate desire in women around her. The catch is that she has to be breastfeeding.
Not immediately useful, we still remain certain that manufactures of men's cologne will be drawn to this discovery like flies to honey. You can smell the profits from here.
From a monumentally important press release by the University of Chicago: Breastfeeding women and their infants produce a substance that increases sexual desire among other women, according to research at the University of Chicago.
"This is the first report in humans of a natural social chemosignal that increases sexual motivation," said Martha McClintock, the David Lee Shillinglaw Distinguished Service Professor in Psychology at the University, and the lead researcher in a team at the University's Institute for Mind and Biology. Chemosignals are substances that while not necessarily perceived as odors, nonetheless have an impact on mood and menstrual cycles when absorbed through the nose.
Diebold Global Election
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Wally O'Dell, Diebold CEO, top right.
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"Polygyny is therefore also relevant to terrorism. Young males even in monogamous states are volatile, prone to violence, and inclined to risk-taking. Whatever the religious incentives are for a young man to commit suicide, they will be all the more attractive if he believes he will never attain a wife. He dies a hero, is provided with wives in heaven, while his earthly family or group benefit from his death. It is probable, Rubin says, “that we humans have evolved tendencies to be particularly altruistic to kin in situations where we as individuals cannot breed anyway.” The suicide bomber whose family is promised money or new furniture is respecting this kind of altruism. Islamic polygyny is therefore a force tending to inflame a sense of desperation and increase violence in the Middle East and elsewhere."From: Denis Dutton, Darwin and Political Theory
"What where the milestones of the first 10 years of online news? So asked Mark Glaser in Online Journalism Review a while back. Off the cuff, I'd say the defining element was the perception of the newspaper industry vs. the perception of the pundits.
1994: Curiousness vs. it'll change everything;
1995: Nervousness vs. you HAVE to do something;
1996: Dabble your feet vs. go full out or you'll be dead;
1997: Where is the meat vs. it takes time, and build communities;
1998: Still where is the meat vs. go multiplatform publishing;
1999: How do you play the stock market vs. you are in the content business;
2000: Who can we buy, merge, or partner with vs. whoa, is this ever taking off;
2001: It is not panning out vs. look closely where it does, imagine 9-11 without;
2002: Cut the weight vs. don't stop believing;
2003: Not where our problems really are vs. you'll never solve them without understanding it."
From: Poynter - E-Media Tidbits by Norbert Specker
Pointer via: [PressThink]
Imaginary Interview File: Terry Gross and Al FrankenIt's possible to do a political interview with a satirist whose politics you support. Terry Gross, host of NPR's Fresh Air, says to Al Franken...
TerryGross: Al Franken, thank you for joining me on Fresh Air. I must confess at the start that when I read your books I find myself laughing and nodding my head. So we aren’t coming from different places. We agree on a lot of things going on in the country today, and like anyone else I enjoy seeing certain people skewered. You skewer them, and I’m a satisified Franken customer.
But it makes me curious about what you are at this point in our culture. You began in comedy, now you have many media projects. You have branched out into social criticism, with a political bent, and you have a big audience. You say you do satire, and so do some others. Some object to that label, I suppose because they take you more seriously.
Good catch by bitter sanity regarding the origin of "iron curtain" in a document on Foreign Affairs interviewing John Foster Dulles. Does anybody know the answer?
But apart from its general merit as a historical document, I noticed this bit (emphasis mine):"It is difficult to say what is going on, but in general the Russians are acting little better than thugs. They have wiped out all the liquid assets. No food cards are issued to Germans, who are forced to travel on foot into the Russian zone, often more dead than alive. An iron curtain has descended over the fate of these people and very likely conditions are truly terrible. The promises at Yalta to the contrary, probably 8 to 10 million people are being enslaved."
The "iron curtain" phrase has generally been attributed to Churchill, in a speech the following year. Did Dulles originate it? Or was it in general circulation this early?
Mark Steyn again proves himself to be a sane man in:With friends like the Saudis . . .
"So how come two years after Sept. 11 groups with terrorist ties are still able to insert their recruiters into America's military bases, prisons and pretty much anywhere else they get a yen to go? It's not difficult to figure out: Wahhabism is the most militant form of Islam, the one followed by all 19 of the 9/11 terrorists and by Osama bin Laden. The Saudis -- whose state religion is Wahhabism -- fund the spread of their faith in lavishly endowed schools and mosques all over the world and, as a result, traditionally moderate Muslim populations from the Balkans to South Asia have been dramatically radicalized. How could the federal government be so complacent as to subcontract the certification of chaplains in U.S. military bases to Wahhabist institutions?"Here's an easy way to make an effective change: Less Wahhabism is in America's interest. More Wahhabism is in the terrorists' interest. So why can't the United States introduce a policy whereby, for the duration of the war on terror, no organization directly funded by the Saudis will be eligible for any formal or informal role with any federal institution? That would also include the pro-Saudi Middle East Institute, whose "adjunct scholar" is one Joseph C. Wilson IV. Remember him? He's the fellow at the center of the Bob-Novak-published-the-name-of-my-CIA-wife scandal. The agency sent him to look into the European intelligence stories about Saddam Hussein trying to buy uranium in Africa. He went to Niger, drank mint tea with government flacks, and then wrote a big whiny piece in the New York Times after the White House declined to accept his assurances there was nothing going on. He was never an intelligence specialist, he's no longer a "career diplomat," but he is, like so many other retired ambassadors, on the House of Saud's payroll. And the Saudis were vehemently opposed to war with Saddam."
Hugh Hewitt has more on the increasingly vile backstory to the hit job on General Boykin:
The story behind the Times' story this morning is quite odd. In the Richard T. Cooper piece on the Times' front page it is stated that "Audio and videotapes of Boykin's appearances before religious groups over the last two years were obtained exclusively by NBC News, which reported on them Wednesday night on the 'Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.'" This is clearly intended to convey the idea that the story is derivative of the NBC reporting.Check HughHewitt.com for full column.An MSNBC story on the General tells the story differently:"NBC News military analyst Bill Arkin, who's been investigating Boykin for the Los Angeles Times, says the general casts the war on terror as a religious war."
I interviewed Arkin today and discovered that he developed the story on his own initiative as a columnist for the Times, and he decided with the full knowledge and approval of editors at the Los Angeles Times to provide NBC News with the story so that NBC could run the story before the paper ran Arkin's op-ed and the front-page story. He stated that the idea was to get the story some pop by using the audio and video.
The Los Angeles Times thus gave away a scoop on a story that ended up on its front page. Why would it do that? It may have a precedent in the world of journalism, but to me it stinks. Didn't the Times engage in manipulation of the news to increase its impact on the audience? Or did the paper need cover for the story and gave it to NBC in order to generate that cover
===
UPDATE: Living national treasure, James Lileks, gets the whole thing down in a few choice paragraphs in The Bleat
I might have gotten my can hauled into the office for this:"Boykin is also in a senior Pentagon policymaking position, and its a serious mistake to allow a man who believes in a Christian 'jihad' to hold such a job." It's a quote from an LA Times piece about this Pentagon official accused of speaking honestly; you can find the whole story at Hugh's site. I'll leave the particulars for others; I'm interested in the sleight-of-hand the columnist pulled here. The guy he's quoting didn't use the word "jihad."The columnist put the word in quotes to signal that the guy didn't use that word, you see.
Got it. Oh, I can imagine that conversation with the boss I'd have if I did this:
So you wrote that he believed in a Christian jihad.
(Coyly channeling Michael Palin in the dock as a professional Cardinal Richelieu impersonator) Ah did that thing.
But he didn't say that.
Exactly? Well,he meant, it though.
He meant it.
Yes, and that's why I put it in quotes.
Quotes. Which are usually reserved for, you know, quotes.
Right, but I used them here to set the word apart. You know, show that it was a paraphrase.
By using the means we use to indicate direct transcriptions.
Well, sometimes, sure. But I meant them more as, you know, those air quotes you do with your fingers?
So in the future should we have a picture of you with your fingers in the air to indicate that the quote is not, actually, a quote?
Look, the point is true. The guy wants a jihad; look at what he said -
Why look at what he said, when we can just ask you to describe the general aroma? You moron! There's one standard in this business, and that these little curvy things, these dots with hooks, mean we are using the words of the person we're talking about. WORDS.
According to the BBC, these are the best of the worst.
1. Laptop shot in anger
2. PC thrown out the window to destroy evidence before police arrived
3. Laptop fell off a scooter and was run over by truck
4. Laptop dropped in bath while doing company accounts
5. Stolen PCs rescued after three weeks in a river
6. Red wine spilt on laptop over dinner
7. Server rescued after running unchecked 24/7 for years under layers of dust and dirt
8. Computer thrown against a wall
9. Latte-covered laptop rescued
10. Laptop left on car roof as owner drives off
From: Odd mishaps cause computer grief
Other than the obvious E-Rage in the shooting incident, all of these seem rather mild; seem, well, very "British," very Fawlty Towersesque.
Here in America, I've seen keyboards ripped from their CPUs and used as weapons in office cat-fights. I've witnessed grown men of IT departments weep when asked to rescue computers that have had a half a can of spray glue emptied onto their motherboards. Once I had to find my way into the bottom of a New York air shaft to reclaim a computer that had mysteriously leaped 12 stories to its death from an office ledge (The computer's owner had been requesting a new machine for two years.) And as for the laptops being maimed by lattes, well.... it is safe to say that the new proximity of WIFI, Starbucks, and laptops could be one of the prime factors in the IT turnaround in the manufacturing sector?
Jack Reno at edge raises an interesting point in response to this morning's lead editorial in the New York Times:
THE TIMES OPINES:
"The men held at Guantnamo naval base in Cuba are prisoners of the United States, and they should be treated in the highest tradition of American justice.....Why are the men still without trial, still without rights? The Bush administration has two justifications. One is, in essence, self-defense: in the war on terrorism, in which the security of the United States is in mortal danger, normal rules cannot apply. The other, more narrow, is about legality: the Taliban and Al Qaeda are not combatants in traditional or legal terms, and are therefore not eligible for the protections due to prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. [New York Times: Opinion]"
Why are the men still without trial?" The Times conveniently misses the fact that the men are prisoners of war. In general, POWs are not released before the end of hostilities. As far as I know, that hasn't as yet happened. POWs are sometimes exchanged for the opposing sides POWs but, as far as I know, that hasn't happened yet. POWs are not tried as individuals unless there is some reason to believe they are guilty of specific war crimes.
What is being proposed by the Times other than a feel-good moment for the editors? That the men be tried and sentenced? For what? For being on the losing side of a war that is still in progress?
As far as I know we don't try men for that as criminals but detain them until the fighting is over. The fact that the war's end is unclear is not unusual. War's end is always unclear. What is clear is that these men, again, are not criminals but enemy combatants. Surely the Times doesn't want them tried and sentenced for such a thing. Trying a POW as a war criminal is known as a "Show Trial" -- and while the Times would probably relish the opportunity to cover 660 show trials, it would not be in "the highest tradition of American Justice" to hold them.
The Current Mayor of San Francisco is on the Left
"... the day before the election, I was feeling really defeated. Bush is President, and Schwarzenegger would likely be my governor -- what next, Sponge Bob Square-Pants as my mayor?"-- Anne LamottGiven that Anne lives in San Francisco, this would be an improvement.
Facing subscription cancellations in the thousands over his newspaper's pre-election mugging of Schwarznegger, editor John Carroll issued this lame claim:
"In the long run, I believe this will strengthen the paper's relationship with the readers," he said, because they will respect the paper's commitment to the truth.But will they respect you in the morning, or just stiff you the price of a paper and walk?
From: Times faces lingering feelings of bias / Schwarzenegger backers still angry over groping articles
CA Secretary of State - Vote2003 - Map - - Shall Gray Davis be recalled?
Click to enlarge.
"Explanation: "Yes" and "No" are each identified with a color/pattern combination (see legend). The color/pattern combination in each county indicates whether the majority of voters in that county voted "Yes" or "No". The number in each county indicates the percentage by which the majority of voters voted "Yes" or "No" in that county. "
Prediction: If the colors and numbers above tell a story (And they do.), and if Gray Davis is out of a job (And he is.), and if Citizen Davis wishes to remain in politics (What else can he do?), then a quick perusal of the numbers tells us what Davis's next move has to be. With 80% of San Francisco voting to retain Davis, Willie Brown had better be looking over his shoulder.
Come to think of it, are there any Indian Casinos in San Francisco? And if not, why not? Frisco's been tribal for centuries.
From OpinionJournal's Political Diary
The Los Angeles Times maintains that California's recall is too close to call, and even a broken clock is right two times a day. But we don't think so. The pro-Arnold recall will win by a decent margin. Pundits will be quick to pronounce a political earthquake. But, remember, political earthquakes are when voters behave in ways not prescribed by pundits.Since his name was first floated during California's electricity crisis three years ago, Arnold has been inevitable. He sensed it. We sensed it. And sit tight for what might be an even more startling second act: Arnold as Governor. His standout confidence in his own leadership and (just as importantly) in the followership of others could make him a phenom not just at the ballot box but in office.One advantage of being a candidate drafted from another walk of life by voters fed-up with the current crowd is that those same voters accept that you did things and behaved in ways that you wouldn't if you'd spent your life perfecting your "political viability," in the words of one lifelong pol. What sticks out now is the aplomb with which he handled allegations of loutishness with women, at once admitting and minimizing the incidents, and only seeming the more inevitable for it.
First the libertarians did the Internet. And you know what happened then. Now they're on their way to New Hampshire. Be Afraid. Be Wery, Wery Afraid.
The Free State Project has chosen New Hampshire[Kuro5hin.org]Unnoticed by the wider public, a group comprising some 5000-ish libertarians has voted New Hampshire as their "Free State". Now they plan to recruit another 15,000 members, and relocate there en masse.
"People are saying 'Thank God you stayed in the race,'" McClintock told MSNBC-TV.
The Weekly Standard takes a look at the meaning of the absentee ballots in Postcards from the End
SOME THOUGHTS ON TODAY'S VOTE: Davis could win, but it's more difficult than the media would have you to believe. Let's suppose turnout is as strong as expected--in the neighborhood of 10 million votes. That means Davis needs 50 percent of today's vote, plus one, to win. Right? Wrong. Some 2 million absentee ballots already have been cast--and mailed in before Arnold was hit with the groping and pro-Hitler allegations. If those ballots track with the pre-groping polls, Davis will be lucky to pick up 44 percent of those 2 million-plus votes. That means Davis has to win 52-53 percent of today's walkup to defeat the recall question. No poll has him close to that.
Friedrich at 2 Blowhards (Can they possibly switch to a new name?) posts an amazing summation of what's happened to all that tobacco money that was supposed to make life better in: Policy Break: 5 Year Anniversary of the Tobacco Settlement. The short form: You didn't really expect the sick, the young, the lame and the halt to get one red cent, did you? You did? Fool.
The private tort lawyers who participated in the MSA and have been awarded well over $10 billion in fees. (For a scathing look at these fees and exactly how they were awarded, you should check out this American Lawyer story here.) And beyond the actual cold hard cash, the tort bar has been inspired by the fact that Americans tamely submitted to a significant tax increase imposed by litigation (unlike the old fashioned kind that requires, you know, elections and voting and stuff.)What an unholy trio -- politicians, tobacco companies, and tort lawyers. Maybe next time the public will look a little more askance when these Three Amigos come calling, bearing so-called public health gifts.
As an acquaintance of mine remarks—“You know, I get more cynical every year, but I just can’t keep up.”
North Korea Says It Is Using Plutonium to Make A-Bombs
With nuclear talks expected in weeks, North Korea said today that it had completed reprocessing 8,000 spent fuel rods and is using the plutonium to make atomic bombs.But with an eye to a "red line" unofficially drawn by the Bush Administration, a North Korean diplomat said in New York that his impoverished nation would not export its bombs or its bomb-making capacity to other countries.
The lucid David Warren writes in "Next" that the evolving nature of the war means fewer announced missions and more clandestine operations.
The reality is that the Bush administration now finds itself in the position of the one adult in a room full of unhappy children. The adult carries responsibilities that none of the children fully understand. A mortal threat presents itself to adult and children alike, but only the adult appreciates this. He must find a way to proceed in spite of the children's very active non-cooperation.I realize this is not a flattering account of the spectacle of the "United Nations" at work, but it is unfortunately true. And it is the most useful analogy I have found to guess how the Bush administration must proceed, given the nature of its actual problem -- an enemy vowed to the destruction of the West, which will stop at nothing, and must soon be armed with unimaginably lethal weapons and nearly undetectable methods for delivering them.
My impression from speaking with several administration, especially Pentagon, insiders, and by observing what one can discover of the extension of U.S. operations overseas (through the securing of basing and landing rights and other joint agreements), is that we should expect the field struggle against international terrorism to disappear off our television screens. The media have been discovered to be an enemy, pure and simple, and no attempt to brief or include them in operations makes any sense. Indeed, shaking off media attention is now intrinsic to the strategy.
Moreover, it has been discovered that for both political and tactical reasons, it is counter-productive to build up forces in any one location. Since this is necessary to full-scale invasions, full-scale invasions have to go. They only give the enemy a chance to prepare his resistance, whether directly or indirectly.
Thought provoking as always, the insightful Michael J. Totten writing on The Paradox of Terror tries to come to terms with an unsettling recent poll.
Three different countries were recently polled, and respondents were asked whether or not they were satisfied with their lives. The three countries were Israel, the United States, and Canada.Totten speculates briefly on why this should be so and reaches the conclusion that terrorism is an utter failure if it seeks to create unhappiness in a society.Now. Ask yourself which of these three countries is probably the happiest, and which is the most distraught. I would have guessed Canadians would be happiest, followed by Americans, and then Israelis. And I would have gotten it exactly backward.
In Israel 83 percent say they are happy.
In the United States 64 percent say they are happy.
In Canada only 45 percent say they are happy.
That is as it may be, but the item made me remember Louis.
Louis was a close friend in college when I was at Berkeley during the mid to late Sixties. And yes, it was all that you've heard about it and more. There are those that say that if you remember the Sixties, you weren't there. That is as it may be, but I remember them all too clearly. One of the things I remember is Louis' paranoia.
Louis was a radical. Louis smoked a lot of weed. Louis dropped a lot of acid. Louis started, and had no little success with, a publishing company that printed up a lot of radical images that proved very popular. As a result, Louis was paranoid. He was paranoid about his politics. He was paranoid about his stash. He was paranoid about his money. He was paranoid that "they must bust in early May,/ Orders from the D.A."
Louis was a history major, and Louis was an American Jew with communist parents. As Louis said, "I've got my reasons to be paranoid and they're not little ones."
These were paranoid times, with reason, but we all agreed that in terms of the Paranoia Olympics, Louis took the gold in a very crowded field in Berkeley.
Time moved on and, as usually happens, everyone in our little radical set drifted apart. I moved to New York and lost track of everybody. Then, one day at my magazine job, my phone rang. It was Louis, checking in after about 10 years.
We arranged to have lunch and catch up. "Where can I take you? I've got a killer expense account." "Doesn't matter," Louis said, "as long as it's kosher." "Kosher?" "Kosher. You know I'm a Jew, but now I'm really a Jew."
We met somewhere down near Hester Street at some blintz palace. Louis walked in looking tanned, rested, ready and decidedly unparanoid. In fact, he looked confident and happy for the first time in living memory.
He guided me through the menu and told me about his life since leaving Berkeley. In short, he'd gone back to Israel under the law of return and was living in Tel Aviv working for the Jerusalem Post.
I was flabergasted. "Louis,' I said, "let me see if I've got this straight. You are the most paranoid person I've ever known."
"Was."
"Okay, but you were, right?"
"Right."
"So, as a paranoid, pot-smoking, acid-head, radical communist Jew, you've moved to the one place in the world where it is most dangerous to be a Jew?"
"You got that right."
"Louis, have you gone finally insane?"
'No. I've gone sane. Israel is the best place to be if you're a paranoid Jew."
"Really. How come?"
"It's simple really. Isreal is the one place on earth where, if you are a Jew, you really KNOW who your enemies are. It's not vague. They're right there. You know where they live. At last, I'm someplace where I know what is what and who is who. Plus there's an extra benefit."
"Oh yeah? What's that?"
"They give you a machine gun."
Click for Larger View
"The Kuiper belt formed more than four billion years ago when the solar system was just taking shape. Slow-moving gravel-sized debris at the solar system's edge gradually coalesced through gravitational attraction, eventually forming objects with a land area equal to large American states (a, b and c). Early in its history the Kuiper belt was a flattened disk (d), but later something—perhaps a passing star—disrupted the disk, accelerated the KBOs and sent them into more highly inclined orbits. Today the Kuiper belt is relatively thick (e), and when the fast-moving KBOs collide they break into smaller pieces (f)."
An intriguing illustration and caption from:American Scientist Online - Discovering the Edge of the Solar System (Subscription Required)
Recent discoveries suggest that planets larger than Pluto may exist in the outer reaches of our solar system.If you were to fly a spaceship to the outer edge of our solar system, just beyond the orbit of the planet Pluto, you would eventually pass through a field of icy bodies called the Kuiper Belt. Some of these are fairly small, about the size of a house, but others are nearly half the size of Pluto, itself a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO). The KBOs are interesting for a couple of reasons: They appear to be remnants from the formation of our solar system, and they're the source of the short-period comets, those that take less than 200 years to go around the Sun.
Right to left: Koran, Insect Mind, Automatic Weapon
Try to imagine, if for only a moment, the insect mindset that gibbers and crawls behind the smiling and proud face above. He's getting ready to "live the dream," to 'Just Do It,' to launch himself on "a mission from God." His calling? To strap on a belt of explosives, kiss his two children on the forehead, bid his wife goodbye, and head downtown to kill Jews. Men, women, children, infants, babes in the womb .. it is all grist to the chittering insect soul of this man and his supporters and compatriots. Who is he? Why he is a "a man of God", an exponent of the religion of submission and peace. He is the father of two children, but that doesn't stop him from viewing other chidren as just so many vermin to be exterminated.
Mask, a 29-year-old imam from the West Bank city of Hebron, blew himself up aboard a Jerusalem bus on Tuesday, killing 18 people, including five children, in an attack claimed by the Islamic militant group Hamas.His wife, news reports say, was pleased he had at last fulfilled his dream of martyrdom. Ah,the Occupied Mind of the Good Islamic Wife.He left a wife and two children, as well as an unfinished doctorate in Islamic law.
Belsen, Dachau, the Gulag, the Killing Fields, the Towers, Jerusalem -- they all attracted and employed men like this; men happy in their work and proud, damned proud, to be killing. They and their masters have always been the same and the only answer to their ambitions has always, in the end, been the same. These are people with whom negotiations are futile; who live only for the death of Israel and the Jews. This is their only goal. All their protestations and excuses are merely ploys to gain time and arms in order to make their ultimate extermination of their enemies complete.
And people like this are said to be "owed" a state of their own?. Really? Where? Is there a Hell deep enough for those whose conception of God's work is this?
Perhaps, on some near or distant day, when "the Road Map for Peace" has been chucked into the dumpster of history, Israel can feel free at last to seek out every individual who harbors the "dream of martyrdom" and make their dream come true.
One really good reason to never run for office in America is exemplified by Mickey Kaus' moment of smarmy spew today at The Dam Bursts in California - Plus: Three post-Leno recall questions.
If you were Arnold Schwarzenegger and were preparing, by your own admission, to combat womanizing rumors, would it be a good idea to describe your wife as "the greatest wife in the world ... a fantastic partner"? [Emphasis on wildly unromantic word added.] ... Just asking! ...Say rather "Just salivating!," Mickey.
Yes, it is open season on taking apart every single statement by every single political candidate word by word in order to squeeze out every ounce of pure nonsense . We began this season with the (Where Are They Now?) Sixteen Words. Mickey's reduced sixteen to one. Way to go, Mickster!
The way I see it, this is just an intellectual's way of hopping on the mud train just before Drudge and Company pull it out of the station.
If Arnold were gay, guys like Kaus would salute his use of the word "partner."
Arnold Schwarzenegger announces a carnival every day
Arnold Schwarzenegger ended the suspense and said he would run in California's recall election, awarding Republicans his marquee value in their campaign to oust Gov. Gray Davis. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein ruled out a run, labeling the election "more and more like a carnival every day.''
Jeff Jarvis and other blogging vets and assorted news junkies are up in arms because it is "such a slow news day in the papers." Well, I'm here to give them a clue. Try GoogleNews. GoogleNews never heard of a slow news day. Right now, if you blast on over to GoogleNews you'll find that: (Take a deep breath):
Indonesia Sees Similarities in Bombings while Anglican Leaders Warn of Global Schism Over Gay Bishop as a Team of Seven Marines Lands in Liberia just in time because US Scientists Develop New Vaccine Against Ebola Virus, but those pesky Italians win race to clone a horse at the very same moment another person discovers an American Wedding Is Depraved which stimulates the announcement that Feinstein won't run in recall election due to the fact that Israel Frees 335 Palestinian Prisoners in response to whhich the AFL-CIO Sets stage for October meeting; Gephardt has inside track on Markets Treading Water at 9,000 Mark clearly due to US Conducts More Raids in Northern Iraq making some so angry that Indian Lawmakers Seek Ban on Sale of Two US Soft Drinks which is foolish because World Trade Center Debris May Cause Pregnant Women to Deliver Smaller Babies but, relax, we know that doesn't bother our celebrities when we learn that J.Lo and Ben Look Forward to Next Film
Whew, I'm bushed and it isn't even September 11, 2003.
WASHINGTON - Amid talk he's being urged to jump back into the presidential race, Al Gore has arranged to speak out on Iraq to a large anti-war group at New York University on Thursday. A Gore spokeswoman insisted, "Truly, honestly, he's not planning on getting back into the race."
Actually, now that Howard Dean has invented the Internet, Gore can just, well, MoveOn.
This Just In:
RIAA Opens Detention Facility for Suspected File Sharers
Huge Compound Can Handle 3 Million File Sharing Suspects and Their SupportersMojave, CA /DenounceNewswire/ -- 25 July 2003 -- Citing lackluster results in its aggressive Subpoena-the-Family campaign, The Recording Industry Assocation of America, or RIAA, announced today it was escalating the war against music file sharing even higher by opening its massive detention facility in the high desert of Movaje, CA. The facility, designed to indefinitely detain up to three million people suspected of illegally or even legally sharing music files on the Internet, consumes 4,000 acres of the desert region some 70 miles north of Los Angeles....
"Bill, how about a nice steaming
cup of STFU?"
The problem with being a bad comedian is that the more your jokes bomb, the more you start to think they are "serious ideas." Bill Maher, the man known for TV shows in which he proves again and again that he is not funny, has taken to writing "think pieces" in order to keep his hand from attacking him between bombs. His latest entry into the "Deep Thoughts of Bill is: Recalls Are for Cars, Not California Governors in which we are treated to observations like:
Now, I'm not saying that I like Davis. Being enthusiastic about Davis would be like saying your favorite food is straw.Translation: "Please don't think I'm really this stupid."
But he fought for his country in Vietnam and won a fair election, and he's entitled to his term.Actually, the law, Bill, states that he is entitled to his term unless he is recalled. Being a Vietnam Vet has nothing to do with it. But don't confuse yourself with a law that millions of people understand.
Maybe he's a lousy governor, but he was the one elected by voters who bothered to show up at the polls. Their efforts shouldn't be undone by disgruntled shoppers signing a petition on their way out of Target.Yes, Bill, those pesky downmarket citizens that shop at Target. So much human detritus to those like you who shop Rodeo Drive. And they also fail
to watch your shows, which are so senstive and caring and amusing, right? Right. It is nice to know you don't count yourself as a man of the people any longer, since it is clear that the people don't count you as a man worth watching... or even a man.
Anyone who thinks this recall is some great affirmation of democracy should review early American history. This is precisely the kind of direct involvement by the howling masses that the framers wanted to avoid.The fact that the framers also made it possible for the states to draft items such as the recall laws is probably lost on an entertainer so out of touch with the howling masses that he makes Bill Moyers look like Oprah.
And it'll really help the state economy, too, when investors realize our political system is on par with Belize.If this is the Maher vision of the investor mindset and how simple they are, I'm glad he's a bad comedian and not working for Merril Lynch. He could keep the Recession deepening with only one day of trading.
Oh, and a recall election will cost the state up to $35 million. Money we would otherwise just waste on schools and roads.I'm sure Bill and his friends could raise that much and much more just by agreeing not to make another Gigli anytime soon. Seriously, Bill, more than $35 million has already been wasted on you by several Television organizations and you still seem to be using up oxygen on th planet. Please stop with the plaints about the cost. Everybody with an IQ north of room temprerature knows $35 million is chump change unless you can get it in your personal account.
And we'll still have to have a regular election in March.Bill, Bill, Bill... listen closely and try to understand the meaning of these two simple words: "So what?"
But this really isn't about elections at all. This is about a congressman named Darrell Issa, a Republican car alarm magnate who wants to be governor and has spent $1.5 million of his own money to fund the recall effort.Hey, we weren't expecting you to reach for your wallet, and Barbra is busy suing helicopter pilots, and did you really think things were done by quarters dropped in jars in Circle K's? Somebody's got to write a check for these things. And, given the lack of success you've been having as a joker, they probably didn't think you had it to spare.
P.S. It is, Bill, about an election. Watch for it. Don't forget to vote unless you're too busy taking a meeting to pitch your next series 'Politically Incomprehensible."
(Hat Tip to: Matt Welch, a sane man, for leading me to Maher's blatherfest.)
ScrappleFace: Dem Poll Shows Neptune is Center of Solar System
Dem Poll Shows Neptune is Center of Solar System (2003-07-29) -- A poll released today by the Democrat Leadership Council (DLC) shows that 93 percent of Democrat politicians believe that the planet Neptune is at the center of our solar system.
Roughly the same number think that the sun is on "the far right" side of the solar system.
The survey also shows Democrat politicians believe...More at the amazing Scrappleface site
It's not nice to mess with memories... as Susan Clancy discovers in "A Bad Trip Down Memory Lane" by BRUCE GRIERSON in the Sunday Times Magazine.
==
The "mystique of mirrors" is reflected upon in Mark Pendergrast's book Mirror, Mirror in the Chronicle Book Review: "...how could he be sure that Kelley wasn't actually conjuring with the devil when the specter in the glass ordered the two men to swap wives for the night?" Which makes us think that that particular mirror was simply a few centuries ahead of its time.
==
"We have to honor those who had “political misgivings,” because dissent is a virtue too pure to be stained by truth. Nevermind that the end result of those “political misgivings” would have been another generation of Afghan daughters beaten with bats for winking at a cute guy. Those “political misgivings” would have assured that any young Afghan woman who stepped outside her house and asked to be educated would be whipped with 2 X 4s by the Committee for Flaming Theocracy Gynophobe Committee.
But that can’t be said. People who were wrong for the right reasons will always get a pass."
-- James Lileks
==
Stating the Obvious: "Stop and think, if in 2001, or in 2000, or in 1999, we had gone to war in Afghanistan to deal with Osama bin Laden, and we had tried to say it's because he's planning to kill 3,000 people in New York, people would have said, you don't have any proof of that" - Paul Wolfowitz
==
Get Me Rewrite! HEADLINES nobody saw coming: "Crime down, but prison costs up" - San Francisco Chronicle. "US troops in Iraq 'are terrorist magnet'" - UK Guardian. "Protestors target global trade talks" - BBC NEWS "Arab Stations Reject U.S. Criticism They Are Biased" - Reuters
"An Agreeable Person is One Who Agrees With Me."
It is always gratifying to see my odd opinions and observations confirmed by more distinguished sources. Not that any of my insights are particularly new, they just, at times, reflect those that are in the wind. Some time back I overcame my addiction to the New York Times and took up a subscription to The Wall Street Journal. While I always find the Journal to be agreeable, it was especially agreeable this morning when it agreed with several observations I made just last week.
In today's Wall Street Journal editor emeritus Robert L. Bartley writes:
I frankly doubt that Mr. Keller will succeed in restoring objectivity or balance to the Times newsroom. Former executive editor A.M. Rosenthal, actually a conservative, had a hard enough time. Then too, the current tone and culture are the work of publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., who remains in charge at the sufferance of his family.
Last Friday, I expressed the same sentiment with less concision:
Raines may be gone, but ... the Moose still has his job.The origin of the shrunk-wrapped mindset that controls the Times .... is to be found, as all newspapers policies are to be found, in the office of the Publisher.
.... Raines was given the boot because his actions and inaction had directly threatened the Publisher's job. It was, at the end of the day, a situation that evolved into either Howell or Pinch. In that case, adios Howell. Every time.
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. (aka 'Pinch') is the person responsible for the tone and the direction of the Times .... As long as he remains at the wheel, and there is no reason to believe that he will soon be gone, the Times will continue, at bottom, to reflect the attitudes and aspirations of the privileged liberal social milieu that created him.
Elsewhere Bartley notes:
The opinion of the press corps tends toward consensus because of an astonishing uniformity of viewpoint. Certain types of people want to become journalists, and they carry certain political and cultural opinions. This self-selection is hardened by peer group pressure. No conspiracy is necessary; journalists quite spontaneously think alike. The problem comes because this group-think is by now divorced from the thoughts and attitudes of readers.
While I agree with Bartley's conclusions, the cause I ascribed last Wednesday was somewhat different when I somewhat seriously proposed that the workers in Big Media suffered from industry induced ADD / HD:
The recent events here at home in the political circus that is known as "Lots of Democrats Running Around Begging to Be President," and abroad in the collective media hallucinations known as "All is Lost in Iraq Because We Won," underscore the fact that ADD has infected and taken over the media.The terrible truth is not that so many people working in the media are biased towards wanting the United States to fail all the time and everywhere (although there are more than a few who do). That is merely one of many obvious truths about media people. No, the terrible truth is that nearly 100 percent of media professionals are infected to the marrow of their bones with ADD / HD. And not just the "stars" but the whole pack of them, root and branch.
The truth is that most revel in their ADD / HD media jobs simply because these are the only jobs and careers open to them that promise both wealth and fame.
Similar symptoms but a different diagnosis. That's why it is always good to get a second opinion. Especially one that you agree with from the agreeable Mr. Bartley.
Ad Age notes that TV GUIDE is getting a makeover. Besides a new logo which Publisher John Loughlin hailed as "a contemporization" that would "not radically" change it, the Guide hopes to staunch the circulation hemorrhage (off 40% in the last decade) by finding, at last, a point of view. The new editor, Mike Lafavore, said "There was a bit of a feeling among some people that the magazine didn't really have a voice or a point of view, didn't take a strong stand on anything." A "bit" by "some?"
When is the last time you read a TV Guide for the articles? Or for the pictures for that matter? Or for the listings? Or at all? Indeed, in this age of endless TV menus at the tip of your remote, exactly what purpose does a magazine of TV listings serve? None, I'd say, except perhaps to add to George Costanza's father's collection. It'll take more than a facelift and an attitude implant to save this title from oblivion.
Ad Age also tells us that Nissan, in another effort to capture that oh-so-fickle-"multicultural youth"-market, is starting a campaign where it will be defacing its own outdoor billboards. Yes, the age of institutional graffiti is upon us. The True Advertising agency is the one that thought up this little stinker.
More Spam for You and More Spam for Me: An instant poll on AdAge.com asked where the poll voters thought marketing companies would put their telemarketing budgets after the Do-Not-Call lists took their big bite. The winner was "E-Mail" with 41% of the vote. Bet you saw that one coming.
Secret Cabal of Bored Headline Writers
Plots to Drive Americans Insane
Yes, only a deep national fascination with Kobe Bryant's Wandering Johnson can save us now.
Headlines gleaned from a brief search of Google News:
The Yellowcake Blame Game - CounterpunchLet Them Eat Yellowcake - American Daily
Yellowcake-gate -- Ariana Huffington
Silliness and yellowcake - Washington Times
What Is Yellowcake, Anyway? - Slate
No Yellowcake Walk - National Review
The Yellowcake Debate - New Orleans Times-Picayune
Did Bush Add Icing to the Yellowcake? - Le Sabot Post-Moderne
Goodbye Yellowcake Toads - Velociworld
Yellowcake or Fruitcake - Balloon Juice
Have your Yellowcake and eat it too - Backporch Beer
Yellowcake Rising - Village Voice
Yellowcake Remix - Wall Street Journal
War, lies and yellowcake - This Modern World
US Administration Served Iraqi Yellowcake - Greenpeace International.
Ellison Lashes Out At Conway; Berlusconi: 'Regret' On Nazi Gibe
We know that Conway recently called Ellison "sociopathic." but that's no reason for Ellison to "Nazi" him and that Italian guy.
From Forbes
This just in from Dave Farber's Interesting People via Ramblings
Go to Google and type "Weapons of Mass Destruction" and then click "I'm Feeling Lucky".
Chris Kathman's sharp article The peasants are acting like emperors! highlights the persistant obnoxiousness of recording industry executives as they launched their latest phase in their no-win war against file sharing.The position of these Class A Hypocrites is that getting music for nothing from friends, associates, acquaintences or people promoting their taste in music is "stealing." Perhaps it is, but since these record company bozos haven't shelled out a penny for their grossly overpriced products since the dawn of time, how would they know? Kathman, once an insider, lays out their heaping sack of dirty laundry when he writes:
For the last few years, top executives from all the major record companies have been giving interviews in which they criticize consumers for doing exactly what the execs have been doing for years - getting music for free. I was in the loop for a couple years, when I was writing about music for a free weekly, as well as a major daily newspaper, in Los Angeles, many years ago. And I can tell you none of these characters paid for anything, ever.The bookcases in their offices and their homes were (and are) filled with product that they receive for free as a matter of course. They would not dream of ever paying for recorded music, themselves, with very few exceptions. But now that the average consumer can download a ripped file from the Internet, you'd think it was the end of Western Civilization, from the way they talk.The false piousness of their pronouncements on this subject really offends me. I assure you, back in the day, if somebody at Record Company A wanted a copy of the new LP by so-and-so and the such-and-suches, they would shout at the secretary to call their good friend at Record Company B and have it messengered over, with the fee for the messenger charged to the artist signed to Company B! Maybe it took a little longer than getting an mp3 off the web now, but my point is that they did not go down to their local record store and pay list price to nobly support the artist who they claimed to be interested in.The truth is broader than that. Freebies throughout the media are as deep as the ocean. Many people in the music, book, film, and television industries have been battening off freebies for decades.
Those that doubt this and are in New York City are invited to take a visit to the Strand Bookstore and note how many "review copies" grace the shelves in the basement. From the publisher to the "reviewer" to the Strand -- sometimes within 24 hours and always with a little cash in hand to the 'reviewer."
Brit Hume, who should know, has some insightful things to say about the mindset of media professionals in the United States today. His speech, "The American Media in Wartime," confirms what many already have observed, but coming from an insider it is all the more relevant.
Ted Koppel, one of the finest journalists of our generation, said something the other day that quite astonished me. Ted was an embedded reporter in Iraq, and after he came home he had this fascinating conversation – at Harvard, I believe – with Marvin Kalb. He spoke with real generosity about the American officers and enlisted men that he dealt with, and how able they were and how good they were and how effective they were. But he went out of his way to make a point of distinguishing between them and the policy makers in Washington. About the latter he said, “I’m very cynical, and I remain very cynical, about the reasons for getting into this war.”Cynical? We journalists pride ourselves, and properly so, on being skeptical. That’s our job. But I have always thought a cynic is a bad thing to be. A cynic, as I understand the term, means someone who interprets others’ actions as coming from the worst motives. It’s a knee-jerk way of thinking. A cynic, it is said, understands the price of everything and the value of nothing. So I don’t understand why Ted Koppel would say with such pride and ferocity – he said it more than once – that he is a cynic. But I think he speaks for many in the media, and I think it’s a very deep problem."
Link thanks to Donald Sensing
Midday Scan / Sunday, June 22, 2003
Yes, it's the same old song, but it seems so different since Yasser's been gone. Doesn't it?
Quartet resolute on Mideast peace
Israelis kill top Hamas member in West Bank
AMMAN, Jordan (CNN) -- Representatives of the so-called Mideast quartet presented a united front Sunday in support of the road map for peace in the Middle East, despite an increase in violence in the region."We have to keep moving forward," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters after meeting with leaders from the United Nations, the European Union and Russia as a World Economic Forum was getting under way on the shores of the Dead Sea.
A roadmap that leads straight to the shores of the Dead Sea? Haven't we been through this movie before?
Time to ramp up opium and marijuana production yet again in Afghanistan and Mexico.
US to Drop Limits on Drug Imports by Poor Countries
VOA News
22 Jun 2003, 15:01 UTC
The United States has agreed to ease restrictions that limit the ability of poorer nations to import patented drugs used to treat life-threatening diseases.
Such as boredom, ennui, and a crawling need for a shot of dope.
D-oh News of the Day, Week, Month, Year...
Amazon.com wild about Harry Potter
Web bookseller gets 1.3 million advance orders
Puh-lease! Wake us when it is all over. In fact, 1.3 million orders seems a bit light
to us. After all, you are dealing with Internet users and Internet users are known for their passion for fantasy and science fiction if not for the breadth of their wardrobes.
Which reminds us. Why are we still lolling about in our pajamas and ratty bathrobes at noon?
Yet Another Big BO Surprise Nobody Saw Coming.
'Hulk' Turns Box Office Green with $63 Mln Bow
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - That's fairly Incredible."The Hulk" became the latest comic book hero to open at No. 1 at the North American box office, selling about $62.6 million worth of tickets in its first three days of release, its distributor, Universal Pictures, said on Sunday.
However, the opening for the jolly green giant falls far behind that of Marvel Comics stablemate "Spider-Man," which set a three-day opening record of $114.8 million last year. It also trails the most recent Marvel entry, "X2: X-Men United," which opened with $85.6 million last month. Among all films to open so far this year, "The Hulk" ranks at No. 5.
The film, reportedly budgeted at more than $150 million, was directed by Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee, who scored an international hit with his last project, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
Okay, okay... money equals must-see movie. We get it. We get it. But what's this about Hulk and a Green Bow? Tie? Bustle? Just the facts, please.
Instapundit Posting Pace Plugs Up Internet
Mysterious Net traffic spurs code hunt
By Robert Lemos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Worm? Trojan? Attack tool? Network administrators and security experts continue to search for the cause of an increasing amount of odd data that has been detected on the Internet.Security software firm Internet Security Systems (ISS) on Thursday declared victory, saying that a new hacker tool that scans for paths into public networks was responsible. But many other security professionals--including those at Intrusec, the company that originally tracked down the hard-to-find code--believe that ISS jumped the gun.
The real culprit likely is still out there, said David J. Meltzer, founder and chief technology officer of Roswell, Ga.-based Intrusec.
"It is possible that (the tool's code) is causing some of this traffic," Meltzer said. However, he added, key differences between the data that was captured by security professionals and data created by the code suggest that the hacker tool isn't the original culprit. "That would leave us to believe that there is something out there that is creating the (data) packets that isn't this Trojan."
However, the security researcher hastened to add that the traffic seen by network administrators isn't ominous. It merely has piqued the curiosity of quite a few researchers.
Pleading emails from ATT, UUNET, and other backbone services to pundit-at-instapundit.com went unanswered as usual and were forwarded to andrew-at-andrewsullivan.com before being redirected to lileks-at-lileks.com who promptly sent them on to fark.com where they were Photoshopped into oblivion.
