This article (complete with photos!)
This article (complete with photos!) about hooking up a Samsung SCH-3500 mobile phone to a Palm device leaves me hot and bothered.
« August 2000 | Main | October 2000 »
September 30, 2000
September 29, 2000
The wireless Web is like
The wireless Web is like it was in the old days when we were tapping into bulletin boards with a 300- baud modem.NYTimes: The New Wireless Web
"If you look at this
"If you look at this potato head, the only thing missing is a watermelon," Moniz-John said.
"If I saw it first, I would have said, 'We need to correct this,'" said Schumpert.
"He's a potato. That's why he's brown," Szarko said.
Mr. Potato Head Statue Said Racist
bonus links
The Story of Little Black Sambo
the story behind "The Story of Little Black Sambo"?
mammy: her life and times
the blackface stereotype
the liberation of aunt jemima
aunt jemima, rastus, and uncle ben: the advertiser's holy trinity
orientalism and asian americans
the minstrel show
the minstrel show's contribution to folk music
blackface minstrelsy and mark twain
talking to kids about racial stereotypes
the Shiny Apple is
Analyzing a Starbucks as a
Analyzing a Starbucks as a stage for this violating drama is interesting-- you are using the theatrical elements of their designers. They wanted the implication of theater, but no real play, no real action. Starbucks exist in a de-politicized and de-narrated hush. In creating these over-heard dramas you are standing in the way of the Starbucks-controlled Muzak which anthologizes music from around the world but deletes all the political songs. Somehow you hear Bob Marley in your local Starbucks, but not his political songs, of course. Amazing.From the previously linked site-- great stuff!
"Mickey Mouse is the
"Mickey Mouse is the Anti-Christ." I read two stories about this guy on the same day in Mother Jones and Adbusters a few months ago. Now a director - Richard Sandler - that MK and I met at the Vegan Bakery is making a movie about him. Oh yeah, Richard also has another pretty neat movie.
originally posted by zagg
The Las Vegas Convention and
September 28, 2000
The Garden Report -- beautifully
The Garden Report -- beautifully designed weblog of sorts. thanks, thirteen.
Enlightening interactive exercise: Find out
Enlightening interactive exercise: Find out if you would survive as a poor, single mother.
For some context, check out this article about an American University professor who assigns this exercise to his students: "we can all agree that poverty is bad; that’s not controversial. I want them to think hard about what specific policies would end child poverty, how much they would cost, and how to get a bill to pass."
She taught her students that
She taught her students that it was all right to judge one another based on eye color. But she did not teach them how to oppress. "They already knew how to be racist because every one of them knew without my telling them how to treat those who were on the bottom."In 1968, fourth-grade teacher Jane Elliott demonstrated that racism is learned behavior by dividing her class according to eye color, and assigning positive attributes to brown-eyed students and negative attributes to blue eyes. She observed the artificially disadvantaged children suffer drastic hits to self-esteem and academic performance, while the faux elite thrived. Thirty years later she is still involved in the Sisyphean task of unteaching racism to white people.
I'm a minority myself: a
I'm a minority myself: a Jew. If the mascot was a Jew, that would be great. A . . . little old man with a yarmulke -- great.The Student Council at San Diego State University has voted to retire longtime athletic mascot Monty Montezuma whose routine involves entering the stadium through a tunnel in a cloud of smoke and waving a flaming spear. "The issue then goes to the University Senate, a group of faculty members, administrators and students." For more info on racist sports mascots, see this open directory project directory.
And now, for your edification,
And now, for your edification, the man who did ask "Why not?" and bought all 50 (see dj's post below, 9/26/00).
"Time to Vote! is a
"Time to Vote! is a non-partisan organization with a simple mission: to persuade employers to give their employees either the morning or the afternoon off from work on election day, November 7th, 2000 so that they may participate in the electoral process." Makes sense to me... I'll certainly be out of the office for part of that Tuesday. If my employer gives me any trouble they'll just have to find someone else to sling HTML for them.
September 27, 2000
"To put it in terms
- "To put it in terms of the coming election: If the only
thing keeping you from voting for Nader is an
aversion to a Bush presidency, then you are not only
accepting the continuing corruption of the political
system, you are giving it your go-ahead. You are
also tacitly agreeing that the establishment of a
viable third party is all but impossible. The Orwellian
aspect of this self-inflicted cycle of defeat is no less
ironic for being obvious. The establishment of a
viable third party rests solely in people's willingness
to break, vote by solitary vote, the chokehold of the
two-party system."
Don't forget to vote in November.
They will keep your money.
Today's bubble: Impress your co-workers
Today's bubble: Impress your co-workers with a fine desktop from chickenhead.com.
MEEE-OWTH
September 26, 2000
My essay wan't an essay
My essay wan't an essay at all. I took the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence and replaced various Lifes, Liberties and Pursuits of Happinesses with Instant Replays, TrickPlays and Pursuits of TiVolution. And it still won.TiVo claims to be giving away 10 14-hr units a day in an essay contest -- which can't be true, considering that about 3 dozen Metafilter readers have won today (see above), myself included. The catch is that you have to give them your credit card info and pay at least $9.95 for one month of service -- not bad considering the 15GB hard drive alone has got to be worth more than ten bucks. I'm going to be spending some time with the Hacking the TiVo FAQ to see if I can't turn this thing into a 52 hour beast.
If you're interested, the contest claims to judge essays on humor, creativity, and content (discussion of TiVo features) but lots of winning entries barely include the word TiVo at all. The real question is: how do they pick the losers?
The Post's Marc Fisher sticks
The Post's Marc Fisher sticks it to D.C.-area TV networks today for neglecting to carry Virginia's senatorial debates. Right on! While we're on the subject, have you read this great interview with Robert McChesney, who makes a living out of sticking it to the corporate media? And did you know that media activists were recently picketing the National Association of Broadcasters in San Francisco, in protests that should be regarded as equal in importance to the IMF/WTO protests?
Check out the photo gallery
Check out the photo gallery accompanying this article about the one-year anniversary of the Ikonos satellite. "These images show the Great Pyramids of Egypt; California's Hollywood sign; the Olympic Park venue in Sydney, Australia; Hoover Dam; London's Millennium Wheel; San Francisco Harbor; Hong Kong Harbor; Mecca, Saudi Arabia; and a before and after of the bombing of Grozny, Chechnya. "
Lisp for the Mac
I love this idea. Even
I love this idea. Even though I don't like PJ that much, I immediately want all 50. Why not?
September 25, 2000
The new edition of the
I take it back
I take it back about the dream team. Someone please send me a tape of this dunk!
He took off from the free throw line and leaped over New York Knicks center Frederic Weis. Over. Like shorts got caught on buzzcut. Over.
I think that most people
I think that most people in Denmark find the death penalty very foreign. I'm not saying that Danish people are more humane than others, just that it's a tradition foreign to Scandinavians. Punishment altogether is illogical but I suppose you have to have punishments if a society is going to work. The death penalty doesn't seem like a punishment, however, it's more like revenge and it's dangerous to allow the state to have anything to do with revenge. I'm deeply against the death penalty. On the other hand, execution scenes are God's gift to directors. They're very efficient. If you're going to be a martyr you have to die...
-Lars Von Trier
At Wednesday's Dancer in
At Wednesday's Dancer in the Dark press conference, Bjork's performance was compared to Hilary Swank's in last year's Boys Don't Cry.from reel.com
And Bjork replied, with that pixie-ish look of innocence she wears so well, "I'm sorry ... but who's Hilary Swank?"
Imagine if Britney Spears made
Imagine if Britney Spears made an unbelievably catchy pop song about the prison-industrial complex. That's how the movie Bring it On is. I can't think of a single mainstream movie that has dealt with white privilege in such an even handed and straightforward manner. I love that movie. And it's not even the best movie I saw this weekend!
September 24, 2000
truth in advertising @ nike.com
truth in advertising @ nike.com -- spread the URL fast, it's not long for this world.
Astronomers are looking at the
Astronomers are looking at the biggest sunspot in nine years, but what's a lay-person to do? Slashdot posters recommend projecting the sun's image onto cardboard through reversed binoculars, or just looking at the sun in the morning or evening when it doesn't hurt so bad. By clicking anywhere on the screen you agree not to hold randomWalks responsible for stupid things you do that damage your eyes.
Whatever name it assumes, table
Whatever name it assumes, table tennis has come a long way since its introduction as a genteel, after-dinner alternative to lawn tennis in 1870s England. Today, players compete for big money, wield high-tech rackets and volley the ball at speeds up to 160 kilometres per hour. Table tennis has become the world's largest participation sport, with 40 million competitive players worldwide and countless millions playing recreationally.From the official Sydney 2000 Olympic Games table tennis site.
The game, which debuted in the Olympic Games in 1988 at Seoul, began with cigar-box lids for rackets and a carved champagne cork for a ball. Today, players use specially developed rubber-coated wooden and carbon-fibre rackets and a lightweight, hollow celluloid ball. Various rubber compounds and glues are applied on the rackets to impart greater spin or speed.
Indeed, some glues are banned from Olympic competition — they make the ball travel up to 30kmh faster.
September 23, 2000
Do black residents of (wealthy)
Do black residents of (wealthy) Scarsdale get abused by the police? No. When people have economic power in a community, they get their calls returned.I'm disappointed but not surprised by Nader's take on racial injustice. It's apparent that though his heart is in the right place, he just doesn't get it. Wealthy black residents of Scarsdale may wield economic power in their own community, but when they drive the New Jersey Turnpike or walk the streets of NYC or step into a shopping mall or do any of a zillion other everyday things, race trumps class and they become Black people first. Nobody asks about the size of your bank account before they peg you as a dark-skinned criminal. Many don't even look at your shoes. God forbid you should dress down in jeans or athletic gear. Ralph, racism is more than just a by-product of class division -- it's a tool white people use to perpetuate the class structure. thanks, considered harmful.
Carl Rowan passed this morning.
Carl Rowan passed this morning.
Clearly the NBC spokeswoman did
Clearly the NBC spokeswoman did not say she wasn't interested in Democracy, or that it was a question of contract value. The Baseball games have to be televised, there is no question about that. If you put the Mariners v. Yankees on one channel (if the season ended today that would be the matchup) and Gore v. Bush on the other - there is no question what I would rather watch.
Adbusters: Is Democracy Working?
How to create Aquafied design
Reuters 09/22 6:34PM -- NBC,
Reuters 09/22 6:34PM -- NBC, which in August bid for the exclusive right to host a presidential debate, said on Friday it would broadcast a baseball game instead of the first showdown between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush. "We have a contract with major-league baseball. You don't seriously think we have any interest in democracy, do you?,'' said NBC spokeswoman Barbara Levin. "If we were offerred more than the value of the baseball contract, we would be televising it.''
In two apparently unrelated incidents,
In two apparently unrelated incidents, 100 monkeys stopped traffic in northern India after one was hurt in an accident, and 3 monkeys pelted cars with fruit on I-95 near the Virginia-North Carolina border. I don't know about you, but I'm already scared. Now can you imagine living in a city that's also home to thousands of wild monkeys?
The astonishing story of genetic
The astonishing story of genetic research on humans, which took 10 years to uncover, is likely to shake the world of anthropology to its core.
Ghost in the Machine is
Ghost in the Machine is pointing to a fun Star Wars Episode II spoiler, but don't you dare blame me if you click through to it.
September 22, 2000
New Lynda Barry comic about
New Lynda Barry comic about a tough acid trip.
"Going my way?" your vehicle
"Going my way?" your vehicle will bleep in autospeak. "Indeed," responds the living room on wheels in the left lane. And the two will hitch up and rocket toward their common goal together. This technology will conserve fuel and may save lives, but the pleasure of driving as you know it will be gone. That's something you should know.What You'll Need to Know In 2020 That You Don't Know Now -- also Discover mag, also from kottke.
20 Ways the World Could
20 Ways the World Could End from the just-so kottke.org.
September 21, 2000
Now, one can argue that
Now, one can argue that the last thing the world needs is a series of novels for young people that glorify sex and mayhem. Or one can argue that getting young people to read, whatever they read, is an important end in itself.
Or one can argue that the New York Times should quit covering race and hip-hop altogether because they are incapable of avoiding racist essentializations and stereotypes.
Sources close to the Nader
Sources close to the Nader campaign say representatives of the progressive politician are talking to the Fox network about somehow including him in the first debate, scheduled for October 3, via simulcast. The candidate would sit before cameras, fielding the same questions the debate moderator puts to Bush and Gore. His answers then could be aired with clips of the debate.The Village Voice: Nation: Crazy Like a Fox
Seltzer said his office spent
Seltzer said his office spent the summer searching for cover photos that would illustrate greater diversity at UW, where minorities are 10 percent of the 40,000 students enrolled. When he could not find one, he approved adding Shabazz's photo to the crowd scene.Black-White Issue Leaves University Red-Faced (washingtonpost.com) -- Diallo Shabazz, whose picture was digitally added to a shot of white students cheering at a football game, is a "prominent African American student activist who has never attended a UW football game and is deeply involved in efforts to promote campus diversity."
S-Bomb - perhaps you should
People often ask my wife
People often ask my wife and me whether we want a boy or a girl. We always say "either", but we always mean "both."
We've heard of intelligence and
We've heard of intelligence and emotional intelligence, but what about spiritual intelligence? Gary Zukav is spiritually brilliant. He frequently appears on Oprah, from which I assume (accepting all implicit risks) that his audience consists largely of women. Which is too bad, because men have quite a lot to learn from this man as well, and it would do a world of good (being, unjustly, a man's world) if every man did.
How could a Ralph Nader
How could a Ralph Nader story be interesting? He has been turned into the national scold, just as I am referred to as the national gadfly (I assume that's because 'intellectual' is too difficult a word to spell). He has been made the bore of all time.... But he's not boring, he's presented as a bore, as a nag. [The corporate media] have made him the bore of all time. [They] could just as easily have made him interesting, but it did not serve the purposes of General Motors -- the first big corporation to go to war against him -- so he's really marginalized.I've been upset about Gore Vidal's remark that Kerouac's On The Road is "not writing but typing", but this Salon.com interview (realaudio) has brought me to respect him a great deal -- his insight into the state of politics in America is rather piercing. Not only that, but the man speaks (for the most part) in complete sentences! Do you know anyone who can do that? Try it for a little while, it's harder than you think. U: After I wrote this post I realized I'd confused Vidal with Truman Capote (Vidal's got the interview, Capote the remark). The story is that Kerouac gave Vidal head one time, or maybe the other way around. Either way, Vidal rocks.
Now when you get somebody really exciting who talks about change, like Jesse Jackson, they start playing hardball. Imagine smearing him as an anti-Semite? I can imagine as anti-white you might make a case -- but an anti-Semite is about as wild as you could get from Jesse Jackson. But the point is, "Eliminate him!", "Eliminate him!". You get rid of anybody who wants to make change.
September 20, 2000
DJ, the rabbit is
|
DJ, the rabbit is NOT awesome, and you know it. Did that rabbit volunteer to glow in the dark? Every time
you call something like this awesome (or buy/eat an animal product, or ride a horse, or go to the circus, or ride a merry-go-round, etc),
you're sending a message to the people around you and the "people" who provide these "services" that it's okay to exploit and
dominate animals. I'm always sad when "activists" don't see the "parallels" between the way they don't treat humans and the way they do treat non-humans.
Why not laugh at racist jokes? Why don't you lock up your mother in a stall and milk her until she dies? Why shouldn't that "scientist" perform his glow-in-the-dark experiment on prisoners? Why bother to have pets while you eat their cousins? Why Vegan? |
|
September 19, 2000
I can envisage somewhere about
I can envisage somewhere about 2050, when the greenhouse really begins to bite, when people will start looking back and saying: whose fault was all this? And they will settle on the Greens and say: 'if those damn people hadn't stopped us building nuclear power stations we wouldn't be in this mess'.James Lovelock (Gaia hypothesis) shares some provocative thoughts with The Guardian.
Jesus. This makes me want
Jesus. This makes me want to cuss twice in one day on randomWalks. A record. But I won't. Instead I'll just say "hey! look!"
I hate the goddamn dream
I hate the goddamn dream team. I love the NBA, but watching Americans beat up the rest of the world in a sport we invented is not fun or entertaining. But it is fun when another country beats us at a sport we invented.
Following the correct technique is
Following the correct technique is important, Gerberding said. If you’re in a public restroom with a towel dispenser, first pull down the paper so you have a clean sheet waiting with which to dry off. Then run the hot water and vigorously scrub for at least 15 seconds, making sure to ‘get all the nooks and crannies’ — that is the folds of your hands as well as cuticles and fingernails that can trap dirt and germs.Visitors must wash hands for 30 seconds after reading randomWalks.If the wash basin has a foot pedal, be sure to use it, she added.
A simple trick, she said, is to say the alphabet to yourself while washing — by the time you reach the letter ‘Z,’ your 15 seconds will have elapsed. Health-care professionals should wash for 30 seconds.
If the washroom has an electric hand-dryer rather than a paper dispenser, use your elbow to turn it on, Gerberding added.
Good old-fashioned soap will remove all the debris, she said, expressing concern that the newer antibacterial products on the market can give people a false sense of security — an extra cost for little gain.
‘The goal is to physically remove germs, not kill them,’ she said, ‘so unless hot water is not available, chemical products are not necessary.’
"GFP Bunny" gives continuation to
"GFP Bunny" gives continuation to my focus on the creation, in art, of what Martin Buber called dialogical relationship, what Mikhail Bakhtin called dialogic sphere of existence, what Emile Benveniste called intersubjectivity, and what Humberto Maturana calls consensual domains: shared spheres of perception, cognition, and agency in which two or more sentient beings (human or otherwise) can negotiate their experience dialogically. The work is also informed by Emmanuel Levinas' philosophy of alterity, which states that our proximity to the other demands a response, and that the interpersonal contact with others is the unique relation of ethical responsibility. I create my works to accept and incorporate the reactions and decisions made by the participants, be they eukaryotes or prokaryotes. This is what I call the human-plant-bird-mammal-robot-insect-bacteria interface.Eduardo Kac's GFP Bunny site
September 18, 2000
The Microsoft Keyboard
The Microsoft Keyboard
originally posted by dm8k
No time for cute intros.
September 17, 2000
NPR highlights from recent weeks
NPR highlights from recent weeks (audio; requires RealPlayer):
- learning to drive at 41
- get your signs on route 66
- brooklyn sightings
- feb 11 story on iron chef --
"in this bowl the challenger is adding squid ink to a combination of fresh cream, granulated sugar, egg yoks, garlic, milk and ginger juice -- a mixture he is now pouring into the ice cream maker!" - pickle juice the next sports drink
- exorcist re-release
- too many skunks in santa fe
- 9 year old Peruvian adoptee reports on her recent visit to Peru
- high school starts too early; most teens sleep deprived -- i've been saying this for years...
- wild chili peppers of war
- NPR 100: Patsy Cline's Crazy
- fall movie preview
- thoughts on the history of wine and beer
- aussie (pron. "ozzie") lingo
The Simpson clan lives in
The Simpson clan lives in two parallel francophone universes. Where American Homer visits the Kwik-E-Mart, French Homère goes to the supermarché and Quebec Homère shops at the dépanneur du coin. Where American Homer describes his shrewish sisters-in-law as the "gruesome twosome," French Homère labels them les sorcières Siamoises (the Siamese witches), in Quebec, they're called deux airs de boeuf (the two grouches). In France, the only two Simpsons characters who were not assigned standard French accents are both dark-skinned: Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the immigrant Kwik-E-Mart clerk, and Homer's black co-worker, Carl. Though Apu hails, according to plot, from India, he has been given a quasi-Arabic accent by the French. "A lot of corner shops are owned by people from North Africa or Lebanon. There is even a slur in French, 'On va chez l'Arabe,' meaning, 'We're going to the corner shop.'" As for Carl, his voice has been pidginized - though not in any easily identifiable way. The darker-hued pair gets special treatment in Quebec as well, but there, Apu's accent sounds more like Haitian Creole spoken à la Québécoise. And Carl's voice, hardly what one might call ebonical in the English original, becomes "the Québécois stereotype of the black immigrant 'nèg.'"Caste of Characters by Jonathan Kay.
War, divorce, and global warming...
War, divorce, and global warming... possible Clinton moves in October?
September 16, 2000
Behind the Candy-Coated Shell, Mac
September 15, 2000
All the people gave
All the people gave an applause that paid And out of speakers I did speak I wore my sneakers but I'm not a sneak My Adidas cuts the sand of a foreign land with mic in hand I cold took command my Adidas and me both askin P we make a good team my Adidas and me we get around together, rhyme forever and we won't be mad when worn in bad weather My Adidas.. My Adidas.. My Adidasstandin on 2 Fifth St.
funky fresh and yes cold on my feet
with no shoe string in em, I did not win em
I bought em off the Ave with the tags still in em
I like to sport em that's why I bought em
a sucker tried to steal em so I caught em and I thwart em
and I walk down the street and I bop to the beat
with Lee on my legs and adidas on my feet
and now I just standin here shooting the gif
me and D and my Adidas standing on 2 Fifth
My Adidas..
My Adidas..Now
me and my Adidas do the illest things
we like to stomp out pimps with diamond rings
we slay all suckers who perpetrate
and lay down law from state to state
we travel on gravel, drit road or street
I wear my Adidas when I rock the beat
on stage front page every show I go
it's Adidas on my feet high top or low
My Adidas..
My Adidas..Now the Adidas I possess for one man is rare
myself homeboy got 50 pair
got blue and black cause I like to chill
and yellow and green when it's time to get ill
got a pair that I wear when I'm playin ball
with the heal inside make me 10 feet tall
my Adidas only bring good news
and they are not used as selling shoes
they're black and white, white with black stripe
the ones I like to wear when I rock the mic
on the strength of our famous university
we took the beat from the street and put it on TV
my Adidas are seen on the movie screen
Hoyywood knows we're good if you know what I mean
we started in the alley, now we chill in Cali
and I won't trade my Adidas for a ??
My Adidas..
What's up with the backlash
What's up with the backlash against Oprah's book club (Sep 13 and Sep 14)? Has she ever recommended a bad book? Maybe she has; I certainly haven't read them all -- but as far as I'm concerned, anything that gets people reading is a Good Thing, and to get millions of people reading this language's greatest living novelist is certainly beyond reproach.
All of the people who
All of the people who are so paranoid about their information being collected by the supermarkets should consider this idea which I just came up with. If a website was set up where you could select your supermarket, and then send in the bonus card that you signed up for and received, and in return receive another bonus card for the same chain from some other random person around the country, that would throw off their tracking quite a bit.Donkeymon offered this up on metafilter but it's too good an idea to leave there. Unfortunately, it's never gonna happen -- but what could happen is I could go to the grocery store and try to trade cards with random shoppers while picking over peppers, considering cereal, ferreting out frozen foods, or lingering in line. Even better would be to get a few friends to each sign up for a handful of bogus cards at a few different stores several weekends in a row, and then hit the parking lots passing out Anonymous Shopper cards, proclaiming "You own your history, habits, choices and tastes! Subvert the economy that profits off of your private life!" Can you believe that Whole Foods Market has the gall to call them "loyalty cards"?
The most creative piece of
The most creative piece of mail I received in response to the essay also was the most confused. In a padded envelope from Clement, Minn., came a brand-new can of Kiwi Shoe Polish, black. Because there was no note or letter, I have to guess at my correspondent's message, but I assume the person was suggesting that if I felt so bad about being white, I might want to make myself black. But, of course, I don't feel bad about being white. The only motivation I might have to want to be black -- to be something I am not -- would be pathological guilt over my privilege. In these matters, guilt is a coward's way out, an attempt to avoid the moral and political questions. As I made clear in the original essay, there is no way to give up the privilege; the society we live in confers it upon us, no matter what we want. So, I don't feel guilty about being white in a white supremacist society, but I feel an especially strong moral obligation to engage in collective political activity to try to change the society because I benefit from the injustice.Adding Robert Jensen's two essays, White Privilege Shapes the U.S. and Why the System of White Privilege Is Wrong, to Peggy McIntosh's Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack brings the count of accessible literature about white privilege to ... 3. If you're white and haven't yet commited yourself to ending racial injustice, read these essays and then ask yourself why not? thanks to BoyCaught for the link to an About.com article on white privilege.
Thinking about growing a beard?
Thinking about growing a beard?
Read this.
originally posted by dm8k
Literary Kicks' Beat News page
Literary Kicks' Beat News page has been updated with word of a handful of new books including another collection of Kerouac's letters and a book about the so-called Beat Hotel in Paris. Also check out another beat news page at the second best Beat Generation site on the web.
According to this Chinese Gender
According to this Chinese Gender Calendar (handily Web-ified), if my wife were ovulating today, I'd have a baby boy in nine months. By the way, this method of predicting your child's gender worked for my mother-in-law for all five of her children. It also correctly predicted my first daughter would be a girl.
September 14, 2000
We have today what almost
We have today what almost amounts to an imperial medical profession. Doctors are for the most part still taught to see their roles as dictators, not collaborators. Patients are expected to be subservient, to do what they're told. In fact, doctors today frequently talk about patient "compliance." They assume the patient's role is merely one of obeying, rather than one of growth and responsibility.The dominator approach has produced a medicalized society where parents who feed their children junk food and then take them for yearly checkups are considered to be doing the right thing. And where people who eat bacon and eggs for breakfast and then take cholesterol-lowering drugs are viewed as responsible. Every day, women who have obediently followed the rules say to their doctors, "I can't understand how this happened to me; I've come in for exams every year; I've had regular mammograms; and yet now I've got cancer."
The Life on Purpose Institute interviews John Robbins, author of the excellent vegan cookbook May All Be Fed, about his latest book. Titled Reclaiming Our Health, it's a wonderful book that delves into medical mythology and explores motives behind unsound medical practices.
If he didn't work in
If he didn't work in comicbooks, Chris Ware would be famous by now. And he may yet be — after being selected for the Smithsonian's design triennial, and having his work published in the New Yorker, his first general-trade book, "Jimmy Corrigan: Smartest Kid on Earth," (Pantheon, $27.50) will appear in September.From the intro to Time Magazine's interview with Chris Ware. Time also has a short article about the Jimmy Corrigan story. Buy Chris Ware comics from Fantagraphics or from your local independent comic store (try Big Planet Comics if you live in the DC Metro area.) xblog rocks.
"This is like welcoming James Joyce into the ranks of novel writers," says Art Spiegelman, another New Yorker artist and the author of "Maus." "This new book seems to be another milestone in the demonstration of what [comics] can be."
"s o u l t
"s o u l t o o l s is a set of icons for your macos or windows computer. What perhaps makes this set a little bit different from the others is that they are only in black and white. Oldschool flavour, a bit sentimental but hopefully still with a fresh look." F-R-E-S-H! thanks, xblog.
That instrument the Beach Boys
Mac OS X early adopters
Mac OS X early adopters will want to read MacWorld's Beta Survival Guide and to keep an eye on MacFixIt's regularly updated Troubleshooting Mac OS X report. Those who like to get their hands dirty might want to read MacAddict's guide to restoring developer tools to OS X public beta. Unfortunately, until ars technica weighs in, the closest thing we've got to an overview of the OS is MacWorld's OS X: The Full Story.
September 13, 2000
behind the curtain will be
behind the curtain will be a collection of image galleries capturing 24 hours in the lives of a bunch of webloggers (five dozen have signed up so far). I don't so much buy the idea that there's anything inherently interesting about webloggers, but I do think photography is interesting -- I'm participating mostly as an excuse to take some pictures.
If you don't already waste
new iBooks, Mac OS X Beta
September 12, 2000
Here's some really good news
Here's some really good news for veggies and vegans about our brains.
originally posted by zagg
BIGWORDS.com - I think they're
BIGWORDS.com - I think they're selling something, but just go read their online comic "Bee". It's good stuff.
Until recently, I'd never been
Until recently, I'd never been able to keep a plant alive. When my wife and I moved in to our apartment this summer we picked a couple of plants from a nursery and decided to have a go. Though my dream (Every Room A Garden) is still far from reality, one of the plants we chose, a Coleus, turns out to be so easy not only to grow but to clone that we've got 4 baby plants potted and 3 clippings rooting in tap water, waiting for a home. Anyway, the twist: Coleus turns out to be psychoactive.
September 11, 2000
How to Use an 18%
How to Use an 18% Gray Card for better photography.
Recently, the McKinsey corporation said:
Recently, the McKinsey corporation said: "American food giants recognise that Indian agro-business has lots of room to grow, especially in food processing. India processes a minuscule 1 per cent of the food it grows compared with 70 per cent for the U.S...".Vandana Shiva lectures on globalization and poverty.
It is not that we Indians eat our food raw. Global consultants fail to see the 99 per cent food processing done by women at household level, or by the small cottage industry because it is not controlled by global agribusiness.
S11 primary sources: S11 organizing
S11 primary sources:
S11 organizing site
World Economic Forum
S11 photos from indymedia
"If you care about people, you don't hit 'em with your batons," says an S11 protestor to police in this realvideo clip.
Great audio on this realvideo clip -- "Nonviolence!"
S11 secondary sources:
protestors win first round
September 10, 2000
If you loved The Matrix,
If you loved The Matrix, you'll hate Matrix Wazzup and Matrix Farting (c'mon, you know you want to click it.)
"Here's a video of a
"Here's a video of a Ferrari test driver blowing the engine on a $275,000.00 car." It's at the very end. Yikes!
I’m actually looking forward to
I’m actually looking forward to being liberated by childbirth. While my fellow expectant mothers anticipate losing mobility and independence, I can’t wait to be off bed rest and carry my baby and his hundreds of accoutrements through the house and out into the world. I’ll be free!Sidelines is a network of support groups across the country for women and their families experiencing complicated pregnancies. It has lots of information on bedrest, including this article about a silver lining.
How I wish I'd had
How I wish I'd had a digital camera in nyc.
George W. Bush just started
George W. Bush just started campaigning under the banner of a new slogan, "Real Plans for Real People," the WP notes. Today's Papers can't help but notice the similarity to the Beef Council's old slogan, "Real Food for Real People." If the new Bush catchphrase doesn't work out, TP has a recommendation for another meat-inspired one: "Bush: The Other White Candidate."Usually when Scott Shuger's away, Slate's today's papers is a bit of a disappointment, but Chris Suellentrop penned a fun edition on Saturday titled United Nations College Fund. The most interesting story mentioned is the Washington Post's Calif. to Pay College Tuition for Neediest about a plan to send anyone in CA with at least a B average who belongs to a family of four earning $64,000 or less to college on a full scholarship, a plan I like very much. Apparently, California -- the most populous state -- is able to do this because of a $12 billion budget surplus.
The "Big Brother" houseguests are
The "Big Brother" houseguests are walking out together on Wednesday's live episode -- a decision reached by consensus Saturday morning. At this moment, the guests are announcing their individual intentions to "voluntarily exit" to the CBS crew as we watch chickens peck the ground outside. Salon shares the details of the real "Big Brother" story.
September 9, 2000
Why didn't anyone tell me
Why didn't anyone tell me how stunning Apple's new monitor is?
Of course, if "you don't
Of course, if "you don't find CD cover art essential to owning an album," consider subverting the corporate economy with a real buycott that bypasses the RIAA and supports the actual artists.
Whatever happened to album art
Whatever happened to album art (which has to be seen at 12"x12" to be appreciated properly)? Do hip hop records use the space well? What's the best art ever included in a CD jewel case?
$129 for an I-Jam walkman
$129 for an I-Jam walkman that lets me listen to mp3s on a CD-R I burn at home(of which I already have six) or a player that accepts CompactFlash cards (which I already use in my digital camera)! These are two tempting machines. Whenever I discover my lifestyle doesn't have room for wearing headphones and a portable, I know it's time to reevaluate. My minidisc has served me well, but unfortunately transfering mp3s onto the discs is an analog process. I love it, but I doubt I'll make that mistake again.
9:00 Bored Diner NewsRead by
9:00 Bored Diner NewsI recently stumbled across TV Go Home -- source of the above listing -- and wanted to share it with you. Yes, you, and you alone. Everybody else thinks I'm talking to them but I'm not. I'm talking to you.
Read by a man idly picking wax from a restaurant table candle while his fiancee stares at her napkin.
This annotated guide to Dennis
This annotated guide to Dennis Miller's cultural and historical references just might be enough to get me watching football.
September 8, 2000
l??????????l l??????l l????l l????????lKodama &
l??????????l l??????l l????l l????????lKodama & Hana
One day I hope to
One day I hope to learn how to drive.
My appetite for vicious, mad
My appetite for vicious, mad beauty is strong today. It exceeds my desire to sit at a desk and work. When I feel this way, I often think of Pablo Neruda's great poem "Walking Around." Which I can't find on the Web. So go get a good translation and read it. In the meantime, these Odes will have to do.
New Lynda Barry comic at
New Lynda Barry comic at Salon: cicadas and suicide.
September 7, 2000
It's been too long since
It's been too long since I read through the American Movie site. What a great movie that was. I watched part of it with some friends last week and I will never stop loving it. I can't believe some people don't like the scene where Mark helps his uncle in the bath. I love that scene. I also love the scene fuck I love all the scenes.
Our big corporate owners, infected
Our big corporate owners, infected with the greed that marks the end of the 20th century, stretch constantly for ever-increasing profit, condemning quality to the hindmost ... compromising journalistic integrity in the mad scramble for ratings and circulation.Walter Cronkite is such a butt-kicker. I love him.
You know, it is Louis
You know, it is Louis Armstrong's centennial year, if you go by the July 4, 1900 birthday he liked to promote. (It's been proven that that wasn't actually his birthday.) So what are you doing about it? If the answer's nothing, here's a good way to start: get the recent reissue of his complete Hot Fives and Sevens recordings, easily some of the best music of the century. It's also where jazz as we know it began.
Salty, boiled soybeans-in-the-pod were a
Salty, boiled soybeans-in-the-pod were a regular treat when I lived in New York, but I haven't had much luck finding them here in Virginia. Now, thanks to the Post, I know how to grow my own edamame. Now if only I had some land... and it were Spring.
Also read about Thai basil, ugly tomatoes, and the July 4th Southeast Asian marketplace and festival at Wat Lao Buddhavong Sala, a nearby Lao Buddhist temple, all from the Post's Gourmet Gardener.
How to close your Amazon.com
How to close your Amazon.com account.
Why to close your Amazon.com account:
September 6, 2000
I often become totally overwhelmed
This is where I used
This is where I used to live.
This is how I think
September 5, 2000
Know what "jumping the shark"
Know what "jumping the shark" is? I didn't either. It's the moment when the quality of something begins to decline--forever. Find out more about the term, and read about the moments when popular TV shows jumped, if they ever did.
Does anyone still eat Loma
Does anyone still eat Loma Linda canned vegetarian products? Check out the remarkably unappetizing serving suggestion on the bean and peanut Sandwich Spread label. I'm pretty sure I ate their veggie hot dogs when I was young. Much tastier than today's Tofu Pups or Smart Dogs, these faux franks were full of flavor and came in a can. Our supermarket has a little zone devoted to this stuff at the back of one aisle, but I don't think those cans have been touched in ages -- the labels have got that "years and years of direct fluorescent light" look, and the one can I grabbed was covered in dust.
A Concrete Vision: Oshogbo Art
A Concrete Vision: Oshogbo Art from the 1960s is a very nice exhibit of art from the Nigerian town of Oshogbo, on display now at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art. The artists involved with the movement found some exciting ways to merge community-building, religion, topography and art, and it's well worth reading about. I noted some ties between the Nigerian artists and other 20th-century artistic phenomena, including the work of Jean Dubuffet, American folk art, and Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau, which reminds me of the Oshun shrine.
I'd compare this Washington Post
but come on nedlog, they
but come on nedlog, they didn't have to try that hard!
Al Gore more progressive than
Al Gore more progressive than Nader? Nader an anti-gay candidate indifferent to the poor and minorities? It seems absurd on its face--and yet it haunts Nader.The Washington Post tries its darndest to be disillusioning about Ralph Nader today, mostly by stringing together some half-thought-out anecdotes and impressions, and then wrapping it up with a pointless mention of Diogenes. It's one of those articles the Post seems to specialize in--a wishy-washy effort to be pointed that turns out to be all surface and little substance. Kind of like my posts to this page.
"What's related?" asks Netscape. "Similar
"What's related?" asks Netscape.
"Similar pages," says Google.
September 4, 2000
For the first time in
For the first time in human history, children are born into homes where mass-mediated storytellers reach them on the average more than seven hours a day. Most waking hours, and often dreams, are filled with their stories. Giant industries discharge their messages into the mainstream of common consciousness. The historic nexus of church and state is replaced by television and state.Media scholar George Gerbner founded the Cultural Environment Movement, which presses for decentralizing and democratizing media. His "Why CEM?" letter is especially worth reading.These changes may appear to be a broadening and enrichment of local horizons, but they also mean a homogenization of outlooks and limitation of alternatives. For media professionals, the changes mean fewer opportunities and greater compulsions to present life in saleable packages. Creative artists, scientists, humanists can still explore and enlighten and occasionally even challenge, but, increasingly, their stories must fit marketing strategies and priorities.
[Ahem] As society is little
[Ahem] As society is little more than a consensus about the relative importance of common myths, the absence of new stories makes for a monotonous and confining culture. So those people who have the hardest time writing -- because their experiences are undervalued and their self-confidence often low -- consequently have the most new material to add to the Tapestry O' Tales. Writing a book is a political act, and because it's entertainment, it's a subversive one. If it's successful, the potential to cause individual change is several magnitudes higher than selling Socialist Worker on the streetcorner. Ed Abbey's The Monkeywrench Gang spawned Earth First!, so don't underestimate the power of a good story to imagine itself into reality.The No Media Kings website is a step-by-step guide to DIY book publishing -- great stuff!
295 Bowery is an interesting
295 Bowery is an interesting place.
A modest proposal in the
A modest proposal in the Washington Post: We Need Less Labor, More Days. A slightly less modest proposal: FUCK WORK. And if you've never read it, today's the day to read The Abolition of Work by Bob Black.
September 3, 2000
Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide
Tyler Cowen's Ethnic Dining Guide -- long list of ethnic restaurants in the Northern Virginia area. Cowen's got a great thing going, but he would do better to keep his ethnocentric attitude out of his reviews.
Blog of Holding is a
Blog of Holding is a Dungeons and Dragons weblog by the author of Considered Harmful.
Stuff to listen to --
Stuff to listen to --
- John Lithgow's The Remarkable Farkle McBride -- eccentric actor is also an eccentric children's author
- NPR's Robert Siegel and ABC News reporter Robert Krulwich discuss hip hop, mistaking their racism for age and musical taste. -- listen to Siegel and Krulwich chortle and guffaw about their ignorance of black culture.
- You're Not Alone: a CD of "household sounds intended to evoke the presence of a non-existent partner"
- Thesis: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho's proximity to several white supremacist communities has spawned a culture of aggressive tolerance. -- But is there such a thing as too much tolerance?
- The Street Performer Protocol, or Busking in the Digital Economy -- considers the economic experiments of Stephen King and Brit prog rock band Marillion.
- NPR 100: Doors' Light My Fire a tribute to John Coltrane
- Home Birth -- Ina May Gaskin, President of the Midwives Alliance of North America and Dr. Yvonne Thornton, Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at
the University of Medicine and Dentistry of N.J. debate the safety of home childbirth.
Sources: NPR's All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Talk of the Nation
Recent Robot Wisdom highlights: a
Recent Robot Wisdom highlights: a possible cause of Gulf War Syndrome, and the food of the future.
We ought to be able
We ought to be able to learn a lot about the globalization of power by keeping an eye on the upcoming s11 protests in Melbourne, Australia. Sites to watch for early updates include indymedia melbourne and Green Left Weekly's s11 site.
Time spent with my wife
Sears presents... the school uniform
Sears presents... the school uniform superstore.
Tip for Mac-based mp3ers: SoundJam
Tip for Mac-based mp3ers: SoundJam is nice for listening to streaming audio (i.e. f188 or squidradio), but SoundApp is extremely stable for those .mp3s on your hard disk (doesn't even skip) -- not to mention that it's free as in beer.
September 2, 2000
You cannot simultaneously prevent and
You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war. -- Albert Einstein
Our approach is both pro-peace and anti-drug -- William Jefferson Clinton
WAR IS PEACE -- George Orwell
In the US, for over 20 years, to be against drugs is to be for the War on Drugs ... That so many in the US do not immediately object to this flagrant display of Newspeak is a disgrace. -- Bijan Parsia
Please Email me if you've
September 1, 2000
Issac: Yeah, we are! Jeremy's
Issac: Yeah, we are! Jeremy's fuckin' wasted! It's hard for us to keep that dude sober. Like most of the time, he can't even play these days. It's like we'll start a show, and he'll be so wasted, he'll just hit the drums a couple of times and fall over. It's awful, but it's funny. We've been makin' him do speed so he can stay awake and shit, and he's doin' a good job. You saw today he was drunk. He drank a whole fuckin' fifth of vodka on the way over here and shit. And we were like, "Jeremy, Jeremy. Fucking take this speed."Living it up with Modest Mouse, over at Pitchforkmedia.com. This excerpt kind of reminds me of something else really great:Jeremiah: Oh, I gotta go swimming, man. I'm so stinky.
Zak: ... Me and my friend Joe have both broken our hands on each other's heads. It's just like burning yourself or whatever. It's just like doing something really nice for someone else and you get a feeling of goodness to yourself.Natural highs and more, from Open Letters.Cheryl: Is there a place on your head where you prefer to be hit?
Sam: It's usually in the forehead.
Zak: Anywhere from like my temples forward and mid-eyebrows up, but sometimes I like getting punched in the cheekbones really hard.
The Boondocks get funnier and
The Boondocks get funnier and funnier every day. Read today's over at Okayplayer. Yesterday's was great too: "Are you sure it's not too late to vote for that basketball player?" That's how I feel. Also, I never knew about this controversy. Also check out the science page. Also don't forget...
lots of updates on no
lots of updates on no more prisons today.
Why am I composing this
Why am I composing this post on my Palm using the AvantGo Client for Blogger? Because I can, silly. Hmm, a few bugs (and typos) but this is dangerous -- it could drive me to finally buy a portable keyboard and wireless connection.
The web could use more
The web could use more weblogs like Subterranean Notes, which seeks out great art on the web so I don't have to.