I had no idea until today that there were five of you. It's kinda nice to know you're out there. Guess I should be more prolific. But I'm curious. What happens once you become a follower? Do they tell you when there's a new post? Cuz that would be cool. Otherwise, I'm thinkin' what good is it except for my vanity. Do you think I should ask my FB friends to be followers? Or would they then get spammed with every post? I mean there was a time when I did 20 a day, now I'm thinkin' 20 a month would be a lot. FB sort of became my new Contrarienne, shortened version, but only because I play a lot of Lexulous and Scrabble.
Any feedback?
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Teenage Brain On ... Life
You've probably heard that the brain continues to mature into the early 20s, but haven't read much about it.
This month's National Geographic devotes a cover to the topic, and here's an exchange between a neuroscientist, the author and others.
I'm bookmarking this and I've just reserved Barbara Strauch's book about us fogies.
As if I didn't have a big enough pile on the counter.
This month's National Geographic devotes a cover to the topic, and here's an exchange between a neuroscientist, the author and others.
I'm bookmarking this and I've just reserved Barbara Strauch's book about us fogies.
As if I didn't have a big enough pile on the counter.
Monday, September 12, 2011
American Jobs Act
I don't know why they have to turn basic info into PDFs, but that
s what they did with the state impact info. To save you the trouble, I have copied and pasted for Washington. For the rest of it, you're on your own.
THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT: IMPACT FOR WASHINGTON
The American people understand that the economic crisis and the deep recession weren’t created overnight and won’t be solved overnight. The economic security of the middle class has been under attack for decades. That’s why President Obama believes we need to do more than just recover from this economic crisis – we need to rebuild the economy the American way, based on balance, fairness, and the same set of rules for everyone from Wall Street to Main Street. We can work together to create the jobs of the future by helping small business entrepreneurs, by investing in education, and by making things the world buys. The President understands that to restore an American economy that’s built to last we cannot afford to outsource American jobs and encourage reckless financial deals that put middle class security at risk.
To create jobs, the President unveiled the American Jobs Act – nearly all of which is made up of ideas that have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans, and that Congress should pass right away to get the economy moving now. The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: put more people back to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans. And it would do so without adding a dime to the deficit. The American Jobs Act has five components:
1. Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow
• The President’s plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in wages, providing broad tax relief to all businesses but targeting it to the 98 percent of firms with wages below this level. In Washington, 150,000 firms will receive a payroll tax cut under the American Jobs Act.
2. Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America
• The President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job. Of the investments for highway and transit modernization projects, the President’s plan will make immediate investments of at least $741,100,000 in Washington that could support a minimum of approximately 9,600 local jobs.
• The President is proposing to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. These funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, and will provide $627,800,000 in funds to Washington to support up to 8,500 educator and first responder jobs.
• The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs. Washington will receive $365,100,000 in funding to support as many as 4,700 jobs.
• The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. Washington could receive about $20,000,000 to revitalize and refurbish local communities, in addition to funds that would be available through a competitive application.
• The President’s plan proposes $5 billion of investments for facilities modernization needs at community colleges. Investment in modernizing community colleges fills a key resource gap, and ensures these local, bedrock education institutions have the facilities and equipment to address current
workforce demands in today’s highly technical and growing fields. Washington could receive $83,900,000 in funding in the next fiscal year for its community colleges.
3. Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs.
• Drawing on the best ideas of both parties and the most innovative states, the President is proposing the most sweeping reforms to the unemployment insurance (UI) system in 40 years help those without jobs transition to the workplace. This could help put the 133,000 long-term unemployed workers in Washington back to work.
• Alongside these reforms, the President is reiterating his call to extend unemployment insurance, preventing 46,200 people looking for work in Washington from losing their benefits in just the first 6 weeks. And, across the country, the number saved from losing benefits would triple by the end of the year.
• The President is proposing a new Pathways Back to Work Fund to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in growth industries. Pathways Back to Work could place 2,600 adults and 6,900 youths in jobs in Washington.
4. Tax Relief for Every American Worker and Family
• The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last December by cutting workers payroll taxes in half next year. A typical household in Washington, with a median income of around $60,000, will receive a tax cut of around $1,860.
5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President’s Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan.
• To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.
s what they did with the state impact info. To save you the trouble, I have copied and pasted for Washington. For the rest of it, you're on your own.
THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT: IMPACT FOR WASHINGTON
The American people understand that the economic crisis and the deep recession weren’t created overnight and won’t be solved overnight. The economic security of the middle class has been under attack for decades. That’s why President Obama believes we need to do more than just recover from this economic crisis – we need to rebuild the economy the American way, based on balance, fairness, and the same set of rules for everyone from Wall Street to Main Street. We can work together to create the jobs of the future by helping small business entrepreneurs, by investing in education, and by making things the world buys. The President understands that to restore an American economy that’s built to last we cannot afford to outsource American jobs and encourage reckless financial deals that put middle class security at risk.
To create jobs, the President unveiled the American Jobs Act – nearly all of which is made up of ideas that have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans, and that Congress should pass right away to get the economy moving now. The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: put more people back to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans. And it would do so without adding a dime to the deficit. The American Jobs Act has five components:
1. Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow
• The President’s plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in wages, providing broad tax relief to all businesses but targeting it to the 98 percent of firms with wages below this level. In Washington, 150,000 firms will receive a payroll tax cut under the American Jobs Act.
2. Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America
• The President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job. Of the investments for highway and transit modernization projects, the President’s plan will make immediate investments of at least $741,100,000 in Washington that could support a minimum of approximately 9,600 local jobs.
• The President is proposing to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. These funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, and will provide $627,800,000 in funds to Washington to support up to 8,500 educator and first responder jobs.
• The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs. Washington will receive $365,100,000 in funding to support as many as 4,700 jobs.
• The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. Washington could receive about $20,000,000 to revitalize and refurbish local communities, in addition to funds that would be available through a competitive application.
• The President’s plan proposes $5 billion of investments for facilities modernization needs at community colleges. Investment in modernizing community colleges fills a key resource gap, and ensures these local, bedrock education institutions have the facilities and equipment to address current
workforce demands in today’s highly technical and growing fields. Washington could receive $83,900,000 in funding in the next fiscal year for its community colleges.
3. Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs.
• Drawing on the best ideas of both parties and the most innovative states, the President is proposing the most sweeping reforms to the unemployment insurance (UI) system in 40 years help those without jobs transition to the workplace. This could help put the 133,000 long-term unemployed workers in Washington back to work.
• Alongside these reforms, the President is reiterating his call to extend unemployment insurance, preventing 46,200 people looking for work in Washington from losing their benefits in just the first 6 weeks. And, across the country, the number saved from losing benefits would triple by the end of the year.
• The President is proposing a new Pathways Back to Work Fund to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in growth industries. Pathways Back to Work could place 2,600 adults and 6,900 youths in jobs in Washington.
4. Tax Relief for Every American Worker and Family
• The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last December by cutting workers payroll taxes in half next year. A typical household in Washington, with a median income of around $60,000, will receive a tax cut of around $1,860.
5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President’s Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan.
• To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
TPM Attacked
Apparently by the dweebs of Anonymous, whose reputation is to only do it for the laughs. It is speculated they were pissed when TPM published the mug shots of the 14 colleagues (co-conspirators, fellow nerds?) who were arrested earlier this year regarding other computer attacks, maybe even the credit card companies who dropped the donor arrangements with Wikileaks. Anonymous like Wikileaks.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
And Don't Slip
Andrew Sullivan has an ongoing discussion of infinity going, and I grudginly am bookmarking because I "should" try to understand this stuff.
(In fact, I have a Neflix envelope on my desk containing the Nova segment on fractals. But only because I think they're pretty.)
My favorite comment so far:
(In fact, I have a Neflix envelope on my desk containing the Nova segment on fractals. But only because I think they're pretty.)
My favorite comment so far:
One of the keys to math is not looking down.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Last Week It Was RNA
and cancer. This week it's microbes and bacterial disease. I'm thinking the whole genome thingie is changing the earth on which I stand.
Haiti was swept by cholera after last year’s earthquake. Cholera had not been seen in Haiti for more than a century. Why the sudden epidemic?
The scientists quickly sequenced the genome of the bacteria in Haiti and compared them with known cholera strains from around the world. It turned out that the Haitian strain was different from cholera bacteria in Latin America and Africa, but was identical to those in South Asia.
So the researchers concluded that the earthquake was indirectly responsible for the epidemic. Many relief workers who came to Haiti lived in South Asia, where cholera was endemic. “One or more of these individuals likely brought cholera to Haiti,” Dr. Waldor said.
Can Burning Man Survive
its transition to non-profit status?
What's that you say, you thought it was just some spontaneous hippyesque happening that just grew, like Alice eating the mushroom, every year out in the desert, then quietly slunk away in a haze of...well a purple haze for suure, duude.
Yes, that's what they wanted you to think.
Some images.
What's that you say, you thought it was just some spontaneous hippyesque happening that just grew, like Alice eating the mushroom, every year out in the desert, then quietly slunk away in a haze of...well a purple haze for suure, duude.
Yes, that's what they wanted you to think.
Some images.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Hang In There
I well remember the 60 Minutes interview with the (MIT, I think) researchers who had done enough work on resveratrol to convince them to incorporate and seek venture capital. They ultimately sold out their company, staying on board to direct the work.
The prospects for useful anti-aging drugs on the market were 5-15 years, they said, so just stay alive, Boomers, and you may benefit.
Voila!
The findings “demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of designing novel molecules that are safe and effective in promoting longevity and preventing multiple age-related diseases in mammals,” Dr. de Cabo and colleagues write in Thursday’s issue of the new journal Scientific Reports.Of course, no telling how much it could cost but there's a case to be made for the reasonable cost/mass market profit model vs. the rich-people-only/premium market.
The drug is one of a set of chemicals designed by Sirtris, a small pharmaceutical company in Cambridge, Mass., to mimic resveratrol — the trace ingredient of red wine thought to activate protective proteins called sirtuins.
I Know It's Crazy
but I allow for that. Here's the thing, cancer researchers are talking about the microbes that appear to occupy our bodies at a pretty dense ratio as if these other organisms might...oh, I dunno...be doing things we not only don't understand, but hardly even recognized even a few years ago.
It's science fictiony, really. Not that they have controlling intelligence or anything. Or do they? What is our unconscious, anyway?
On top of that, there's the particle physics people and the notions of multiple universes not out there and big but somewhere close by, but really, really small.
Time for bed.
It's science fictiony, really. Not that they have controlling intelligence or anything. Or do they? What is our unconscious, anyway?
On top of that, there's the particle physics people and the notions of multiple universes not out there and big but somewhere close by, but really, really small.
Time for bed.
As they look beyond the genome, cancer researchers are also awakening to the fact that some 90 percent of the protein-encoding cells in our body are microbes. We evolved with them in a symbiotic relationship, which raises the question of just who is occupying whom.
“We are massively outnumbered,” said Jeremy K. Nicholson, chairman of biological chemistry and head of the department of surgery and cancer at Imperial College London. Altogether, he said, 99 percent of the functional genes in the body are microbial.
...The enemy inside us is every bit as formidable as imagined invaders from beyond. Learning to outwit it is leading science deep into the universe of the living cell.Just a metaphor, you say? Bwahahaha.
What This Site Needs
Monday, August 15, 2011
Atwood's Not Worried
So I'm not going to worry either. She knows more than I do, a lot more.
Shall we make her an honorary contrarienne? Let's.
Shall we make her an honorary contrarienne? Let's.
What do you make of the need to perform one's life on Twitter and Facebook?
Margaret Atwood: It is just an extension of the diary. There is a wonderful book called The Assassin's Cloak which takes diary entries from all centuries and arranges them according to day of the year. So you can turn to January 1, and there will be an entry from Lord Byron, and there will be one from somebody during World War II, and there will be one from Brian Eno. And then on January 2, there will be somebody else.
People used to perform their lives this way to themselves in their diaries and through letters to other people. So, for me, anything that happens in social media is an extension of stuff we were already doing in some other way. It's all human communication. The form that most closely resembles the "tweet" is the telegram of old—which also was limited, because you paid by the letter. So they were also short communications very rapidly sent.
All of these things, the postal service, et cetera, they're all improvements or modernizations of things that already existed earlier in some other form. Even African tribal drums, for instance, could send very complex messages over great distances. They were very rapid, they were very well-worked out, and communications could go like wildfire using that medium of communication.
All of this stuff is what we do now, but it's not different in nature from what we have always done, which is communicate with one another, send messages to one another, and perform our lives. We've been doing that for a long time.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
My Faith Is Waivering
Krugman is not alone. The White House does, indeed, have its head up its ass. This wrong on so many levels.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Kittehs Ownz Intertoobz
<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7uBZRE5mXpc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
UPDATE: The embed is screwed up so here's the link. It's worth it.
UPDATE: The embed is screwed up so here's the link. It's worth it.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The Brown Paper Bag
Josh Marshall is positively poetic today and the topic is The Donald.
Yesterday was a day of jagged events coming together in unpredictable and surreal ways. Like one was how CNN had Donald Trump on air to provide financial commentary just as President Obama's scheduled 1 PM press appearance was pushed back to 1:30 PM, giving the Donald 30-odd minutes to riff and predict and generally get lost in the brown paper bag of his own imagination.Nice.
The White Mouse
The most decorated female in World War II, Nancy Wake worked behind enemy lines in France and with the French Resistance. She was the Gestapo's most wanted. She died on Sunday in Australia, where she grew up.
She initially refused offers of decorations from Australia saying "The last time there was a suggestion of that I told the government they could stick their medals where the monkey stuck his nuts. The thing is if they gave me a medal now, it wouldn't be love so I don't want anything from them".It's been a tough few days for Honorary Contrariennes.
Monday, August 8, 2011
I Well Remember Bernadine Healy
Long a leader in women's health, her star lost some luster when, as head of the Red Cross during 9/11, the organization was caught using some of those donations for other purposes.
I did not know until today that she had also been entangled in the vaccine/autism controversy.
Maybe it was the brain cancer.
I did not know until today that she had also been entangled in the vaccine/autism controversy.
Maybe it was the brain cancer.
Charlotte's Preggers
She hung there from my ceiling in the same place next to my chair for almost three hours, not moving. She is, after all, feeling heavy and tired.
When she stirred, I found an envelope for her to rest on, cut the cord, and took her outside. I am not sentimental about the skinny little striped ones, they do not survive if I find them in my house. But I have a soft spot for the white ones, which usually lurk in the center of some of my favorite flowers. I like to think they keep the aphids off the roses. Charlotte probably came in on something I made into a bouquet. Now she's back where she belongs.
Are You Neurotic Or Psychotic?
A psychotic thinks 2+2=5.
A neurotic knows 2+2=4. And hates it.
Today, some believe, the hidden hand of who really runs the country made a margin call. That's all. Carry on.
Hint: John Paulson
(No, I never heard of John Paulson either. Here's Wiki:
A neurotic knows 2+2=4. And hates it.
Today, some believe, the hidden hand of who really runs the country made a margin call. That's all. Carry on.
Hint: John Paulson
(No, I never heard of John Paulson either. Here's Wiki:
John Paulson is not related to former Goldman Sachs CEO and U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.[3][6]Paulson was ranked 39 on the 2011 Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people [1] with a net worth of almost $16 billion.[1]Between 2009 and 2011 Paulson made several charitable donations including, $15 million to the Center for Responsible Lending, $20 million to New York University Stern School of Business, $15 million to build a children's hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador and £2.5 million to the London School of Economics for the John A Paulson Chair in European Political Economy.[7][8][9]Paulson has contributed $140,000 to political candidates and parties since 2000, 45% of which went to Republicans, 16% to Democrats, and 36% to special interests.[10]Paulson, his wife Jenny, and their two daughters live on the Upper East Side of New York City. He also has homes in Southampton, New York and Aspen, Colorado.[2]
Sunday, August 7, 2011
I Think I'm In Love
First of all: what is work? Work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth's surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid. The second kind is capable of indefinite extension: there are not only those who give orders, but those who give advice as to what orders should be given. Usually two opposite kinds of advice are given simultaneously by two organized bodies of men; this is called politics.Bertrand Russell, In Praise of Idleness
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Whatever Became of Kit Seelye?
Who, you might ask? (Or is it whom?)
I thought the byline sounded familiar at the top of a mostly ho-hum little featurette last week in the NYT about the multi-tribe annual canoe trip that Pacific Northwest tribes were in the middle of paddling. But I quickly forgot about it.
Then today, an only slightly more informative feature on Japanese internment (does it mention the action was likely unconstitutional? I don't think so) marking the official opening of a memorial on Bainbridge Island, across from Seattle.
Is that the same Seelye, I wondered again, and this time decided to check out at an old reliable source.
I hardly ever read Bob Somersby anymore, although his sharp, exhaustive diatribes against the long trail of blatant offenses to factual reporting by mainstream journalists was part of my daily diet during the hyper period of the run-up to the 2008 election.
Somersby's ongoing chronicle of shame for lazy, corrupt and incompetent practices of some of the top players in my former profession features an impressive memory that he can seemingly link up at will so that people like Seelye stand naked and eviscerated.
But he's an acquired taste. I lost the stomach for living in a constant state of irate and abandoned him along with Glenn Greewald and a few others when my system began rejecting bile as a steady diet.
(I went cold turkey. I often wonder if many on the far right have ever tried that with Limbaugh and the rest and how it's working out for them. Me, I haven't been this serene since the night lo these many years ago I inhaled my last portion of the magical burning resin. But I digress.)
I looked up The Daily Howler, but Somersby's still not searchable, his site still looks like something out of the Clinton era, which it is. Forced to Teh Google, I found Somersby's extensive Seelye chronicles paraded down the pages, one after another.
I chose at random the Media Matters announcement that she had been promoted only four years ago to NYT web political reporter, probably part of a since-abandoned new business model. Who keeps track anymore?
I quit Romenesko's media insider blog along the way, too. My internet tastes are more quirky and eclectic these days. And more meaningful than the sketchy fortunes of the buggy whip makers newspapers have become.
(I sort of regret that, now, after finding the Romenesko link for you, which leads today with a take-down of NPR's handling of gay cure therapy. NPR is such a sad, disgusting story. I love my jazz station, but quit their news altogether. Many of my friends still think they're trustworthy. Mark the term "false balance," and a new quote from Robert Reich the other day during a fruitless debt ceiling debate. Oh, God, why did I watch that? Oh, right, I was waiting for The Daily Show. "Halfway between right and wrong is not truth," he said, which the PBS interviewer happily seconded while letting the right-wing mouthpiece, disgraceful economist John Taylor, continue to prattle...what? nonsense? no, silliness? no, lies)
The point of all this. The NYT has apparently encased Kit Seelye in bubble wrap and dumped her here on our beaches, hoping we would think it was a new Twin Peaks filming. Is it a demotion or is it a part-time gig during her semi-retirement by which she gets to keep her health coverage in a region more amenable to human habitation than the increasingly unbearable weather back East?
Or is there something more sinister afoot? Only time will tell. (Okay, huge Craig Ferguson overdose this week. I highly recommend every show he's done from Paris.)
(I love the term, back East. Many times a day, I find myself calculating the time in New York, wondering if TPM will update a favorite before they close for the day.)
Hi Kit, I'm lookin' at you. Consider yourself warned.
I thought the byline sounded familiar at the top of a mostly ho-hum little featurette last week in the NYT about the multi-tribe annual canoe trip that Pacific Northwest tribes were in the middle of paddling. But I quickly forgot about it.
Then today, an only slightly more informative feature on Japanese internment (does it mention the action was likely unconstitutional? I don't think so) marking the official opening of a memorial on Bainbridge Island, across from Seattle.
Is that the same Seelye, I wondered again, and this time decided to check out at an old reliable source.
I hardly ever read Bob Somersby anymore, although his sharp, exhaustive diatribes against the long trail of blatant offenses to factual reporting by mainstream journalists was part of my daily diet during the hyper period of the run-up to the 2008 election.
Somersby's ongoing chronicle of shame for lazy, corrupt and incompetent practices of some of the top players in my former profession features an impressive memory that he can seemingly link up at will so that people like Seelye stand naked and eviscerated.
But he's an acquired taste. I lost the stomach for living in a constant state of irate and abandoned him along with Glenn Greewald and a few others when my system began rejecting bile as a steady diet.
(I went cold turkey. I often wonder if many on the far right have ever tried that with Limbaugh and the rest and how it's working out for them. Me, I haven't been this serene since the night lo these many years ago I inhaled my last portion of the magical burning resin. But I digress.)
I looked up The Daily Howler, but Somersby's still not searchable, his site still looks like something out of the Clinton era, which it is. Forced to Teh Google, I found Somersby's extensive Seelye chronicles paraded down the pages, one after another.
I chose at random the Media Matters announcement that she had been promoted only four years ago to NYT web political reporter, probably part of a since-abandoned new business model. Who keeps track anymore?
I quit Romenesko's media insider blog along the way, too. My internet tastes are more quirky and eclectic these days. And more meaningful than the sketchy fortunes of the buggy whip makers newspapers have become.
(I sort of regret that, now, after finding the Romenesko link for you, which leads today with a take-down of NPR's handling of gay cure therapy. NPR is such a sad, disgusting story. I love my jazz station, but quit their news altogether. Many of my friends still think they're trustworthy. Mark the term "false balance," and a new quote from Robert Reich the other day during a fruitless debt ceiling debate. Oh, God, why did I watch that? Oh, right, I was waiting for The Daily Show. "Halfway between right and wrong is not truth," he said, which the PBS interviewer happily seconded while letting the right-wing mouthpiece, disgraceful economist John Taylor, continue to prattle...what? nonsense? no, silliness? no, lies)
The point of all this. The NYT has apparently encased Kit Seelye in bubble wrap and dumped her here on our beaches, hoping we would think it was a new Twin Peaks filming. Is it a demotion or is it a part-time gig during her semi-retirement by which she gets to keep her health coverage in a region more amenable to human habitation than the increasingly unbearable weather back East?
Or is there something more sinister afoot? Only time will tell. (Okay, huge Craig Ferguson overdose this week. I highly recommend every show he's done from Paris.)
(I love the term, back East. Many times a day, I find myself calculating the time in New York, wondering if TPM will update a favorite before they close for the day.)
Hi Kit, I'm lookin' at you. Consider yourself warned.
I'm Switching Majors
From Brain Stuff to Gut Stuff, because it suddenly seems our second brain research is yielding a helluva lot of new, confusing, disturbing results.
Enough to qualify for the first-ever Contrarienne Two Quotes O' Teh Day.
Enough to qualify for the first-ever Contrarienne Two Quotes O' Teh Day.
(I originally meant it as a joke, but I think that was the most profound thought I've ever had.)
posted by mantecol at 4:16 PM on August 5 [2 favorites]
posted by mantecol at 4:16 PM on August 5 [2 favorites]
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Time For Bacon
Fucking bleak is what it is.
Oh, laugh. Yeah, there's that. Bacon seems easier.
So in practice, we can pivot to talking about jobs, hoping for the best and perhaps using it as a political cudgel (though that seems quite dubious under the current conditions). But in practice, in reality, we appear to have no plan to do anything on the jobs front that has any prospect of passage in the Congress until 2013 at the earliest.I just bought a bunch of cheap bacon and I'm going to have a sandwich now because what else can you do?
Oh, laugh. Yeah, there's that. Bacon seems easier.
Monday, August 1, 2011
The Deal
TPM's got a good summary and the comments are useful as well.
What the country really needs is a large stimulus -- aid to states, big infrastructure programs and so on -- with an eye toward fiscal consolidation later in the decade. The White House argues that budgetary concerns so dominate the political landscape that new deficit spending right now is out of the question, and only possible in the future if preceded with consolidation measures like this one. But part of the reason Washington is so primed for austerity now is that the White House let that faction of the establishment seize the initiative. It didn't necessarily have to be so.Mistakes were made. Will we live to fight another day? I guess, she said, limping away, sucking her bloody knuckles, eyes downcast, in need of water and rest.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Where's That Clean Bill?
The true believers at TPM had me leaning with them hoping that in the end a clean debt ceiling bill would come out of all this. But I don't see how it can if the precedurals take so long. Unless.
Unless, maybe, um, somebody in the Senate puts up a companion bill with Reid's, triggered to follow his for a vote in the House if his should fail. Can they do that?
Then, if the Senate rejects whatever the House may, emphasis MAY, pass today, the House rejects Reid's bill, there's one more fallback. Clean. No cuts, no revenues, no two-step, election polluting process.
Thing is, I doubt the House would pass that either.
And that puts O exactly where I and many Democrats including Big Dog believed we'd ultimately be, with the 14th Amendment and fuck the courts.
Invoke it, pay the bills, there.
Let the R's get bogged down arguing some obscure issues the media can't keep afloat for more than a 10-second sound bite and in the meantime there's this and this and this missing blond girl and Rupert and earthquake.
So, now that I've worked it all out in my head I see at last it's all about the news cycle.
Unless, maybe, um, somebody in the Senate puts up a companion bill with Reid's, triggered to follow his for a vote in the House if his should fail. Can they do that?
Then, if the Senate rejects whatever the House may, emphasis MAY, pass today, the House rejects Reid's bill, there's one more fallback. Clean. No cuts, no revenues, no two-step, election polluting process.
Thing is, I doubt the House would pass that either.
And that puts O exactly where I and many Democrats including Big Dog believed we'd ultimately be, with the 14th Amendment and fuck the courts.
Invoke it, pay the bills, there.
Let the R's get bogged down arguing some obscure issues the media can't keep afloat for more than a 10-second sound bite and in the meantime there's this and this and this missing blond girl and Rupert and earthquake.
So, now that I've worked it all out in my head I see at last it's all about the news cycle.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Why? Boehner Can't Deliver The Votes
And more at TPM.
Meanwhile, Asian markets open at 2 p.m. (EST?) Sunday.
Meanwhile, Asian markets open at 2 p.m. (EST?) Sunday.
Today In Other News
I've been avidly reading the back-and-forth on the debt ceiling debate over at TPM with my confirmation bias firmly at work agreeing with those who claim it's all just a show, Kabuki if you will, with Obama knowing full well the R's will never say yes in the end and we'll be back to the so-called "clean" lift, some version of the McConnell/Reid "plan," what everyone knew was the end game but the process has left the R's looking like total morons to the general public, especially the general public that regards itself as independent voters.
A Huffpo report (they do report, sometimes quite well) says the speed bump was a matter of $400 billion disagreement, peanuts.
We'll see.
In the meantime, Amy Winehouse has died, presumably an overdose. I think I saw her perform on SNL. She was talented, lost and doomed.
And then there's the famine, of course.
Think I'll go to the market. Shorty will like that.
A Huffpo report (they do report, sometimes quite well) says the speed bump was a matter of $400 billion disagreement, peanuts.
We'll see.
In the meantime, Amy Winehouse has died, presumably an overdose. I think I saw her perform on SNL. She was talented, lost and doomed.
And then there's the famine, of course.
Think I'll go to the market. Shorty will like that.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Stock I Should Have Bought Dept.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Comment O' Teh Day
Someone at MetaFilter has a post today of a somewhat amusing parenting blog/cartoon. But, as usual, the comments are better than the original topic.
From Daddy-O:
From Daddy-O:
When my children were young, I would threaten them with NPR if they got too rowdy in the car. They especially hated Car Talk.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
I Was 15
on July 17, 1959, and had never heard of her.
Side issue, how come City Lights owns the rights to O'Hara's poetry? Odd. Ferlinghetti was amazing. Oh, wait, he's still alive, 92.
Frank O'Hara
Side issue, how come City Lights owns the rights to O'Hara's poetry? Odd. Ferlinghetti was amazing. Oh, wait, he's still alive, 92.
It is 12:20 in New York a Friday
three days after Bastille day, yes
it is 1959 and I go get a shoeshine
because I will get off the 4:19 in Easthampton
at 7:15 and then go straight to dinner
and I don’t know the people who will feed me
I walk up the muggy street beginning to sun
and have a hamburger and a malted and buy
an ugly NEW WORLD WRITING to see what the poets
in Ghana are doing these days
I go on to the bank
and Miss Stillwagon (first name Linda I once heard)
doesn’t even look up my balance for once in her life
and in the GOLDEN GRIFFIN I get a little Verlaine
for Patsy with drawings by Bonnard although I do
think of Hesiod, trans. Richmond Lattimore or
Brendan Behan’s new play or Le Balcon or Les Nègres
of Genet, but I don’t, I stick with Verlaine
after practically going to sleep with quandariness
and for Mike I just stroll into the PARK LANE
Liquor Store and ask for a bottle of Strega and
then I go back where I came from to 6th Avenue
and the tobacconist in the Ziegfeld Theatre and
casually ask for a carton of Gauloises and a carton
of Picayunes, and a NEW YORK POST with her face on it
and I am sweating a lot by now and thinking of
leaning on the john door in the 5 SPOT
while she whispered a song along the keyboard
to Mal Waldron and everyone and I stopped breathing
Frank O’Hara, “The Day Lady Died” from Lunch Poems. Copyright © 1964 by Frank O’Hara. Reprinted with the permission of City Lights Books.
Source: The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara (1995)
Source: The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara (1995)
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
What A Cliffhanger
I was about to go put on my lawnmowing jeans and get busy, but what should appear, but Obama daring the R's to touch the third rail.
That's right, forget that 14th Amendment bullshit, he said our Social Security checks may not be issued next month.
Within hours, McConnell was being quoted as saying something along the lines that the R's will go along with raising the debt ceiling WITHOUT spending cuts. TPM is scrambling to get more as we speak.
From what I've seen of both McConnell's incomplete story and the Boehner quote from this morning, they're falling back on trying to blame Obama for whatever, a pretty weak hand, not even a pair of two's, really.
My take, Mitch is afraid to burn his fingers or, OR, he and his buddies read Ezra Klein's blog from yesterday ( or was it Sunday) and realized Boehner had walked away from a huge deficit reduction that their math whizzes had missed, and that was going to hurt big time next year. Hell, even now, in some of the smaller elections.
Even that mealy-mouth David Brooks told them they may not be fit to govern.
That New York defeat could have been just the beginning. The first Wisconsin recall election is today. The D vying for Harman's seat in Cali is safe by the latest measure and the R's were hoping they had a chance.
Wait, is that the sound of dominoes falling or is that Obama scooping up everything on the table?
I know, but I can dream can't I?
I want my team to win, and I agree that despite the extension of the Bush tax cuts last fall, he snookered the opposition (minority opinion, I know). I want this to be a gigantic trap that will kill the neocons, the Tea Party and the rest of the schmucks for good.
I want Obama to make history with this.
Stay tuned. Do I dare leave my seat?
That's right, forget that 14th Amendment bullshit, he said our Social Security checks may not be issued next month.
Within hours, McConnell was being quoted as saying something along the lines that the R's will go along with raising the debt ceiling WITHOUT spending cuts. TPM is scrambling to get more as we speak.
From what I've seen of both McConnell's incomplete story and the Boehner quote from this morning, they're falling back on trying to blame Obama for whatever, a pretty weak hand, not even a pair of two's, really.
My take, Mitch is afraid to burn his fingers or, OR, he and his buddies read Ezra Klein's blog from yesterday ( or was it Sunday) and realized Boehner had walked away from a huge deficit reduction that their math whizzes had missed, and that was going to hurt big time next year. Hell, even now, in some of the smaller elections.
Even that mealy-mouth David Brooks told them they may not be fit to govern.
That New York defeat could have been just the beginning. The first Wisconsin recall election is today. The D vying for Harman's seat in Cali is safe by the latest measure and the R's were hoping they had a chance.
Wait, is that the sound of dominoes falling or is that Obama scooping up everything on the table?
I know, but I can dream can't I?
I want my team to win, and I agree that despite the extension of the Bush tax cuts last fall, he snookered the opposition (minority opinion, I know). I want this to be a gigantic trap that will kill the neocons, the Tea Party and the rest of the schmucks for good.
I want Obama to make history with this.
Stay tuned. Do I dare leave my seat?
Monday, July 11, 2011
Oooh, Spy Stuff!
http://www.metafilter.com/105426/Stux-to-be-you
I've been in love with the whole Stuxnet story ever since news broke (last year?) that some very clever, complicated, etc. computer worm/virus has set Iran's nuclear program back significantly. Oddly enough, the Iranians ultimately acknowledged it.
There are a couple new articles out, one on Wired and one in Vanity Fair, about the whole thing, but I don't read many long pieces anymore.
But there's links to them and a really fun discussion of it all over at MetaFilter if you want.
(See that link at the top? Blogger is fucking with me.)
And just to make thingsinteresting all Day of the Condor, two Iranian nuclear physicists were attacked just recently on their way to work, one killed.
UPDATE: Aw, shit, nevermind that first link. Mefiers so far hate the new articles and the thread to read is from last November. And fun.
I've been in love with the whole Stuxnet story ever since news broke (last year?) that some very clever, complicated, etc. computer worm/virus has set Iran's nuclear program back significantly. Oddly enough, the Iranians ultimately acknowledged it.
There are a couple new articles out, one on Wired and one in Vanity Fair, about the whole thing, but I don't read many long pieces anymore.
But there's links to them and a really fun discussion of it all over at MetaFilter if you want.
(See that link at the top? Blogger is fucking with me.)
And just to make things
UPDATE: Aw, shit, nevermind that first link. Mefiers so far hate the new articles and the thread to read is from last November. And fun.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Babies
is available as instant play on Neflix for those rainy days. ( I only came here to see how Google+ looks, and find they've changed everything on Blogger. Will take some getting used to. I have trouble with change. I don't see what anybody needs with Google+ though if you're already on FB. Maybe that's just me.)
UPDATE: Huh, I screwed up Goggle+ — because it's not clear to novices, you geeks! — and you probably don't care anyway. But what did you do to my Blogger link? Oh, well.
UPDATE: Huh, I screwed up Goggle+ — because it's not clear to novices, you geeks! — and you probably don't care anyway. But what did you do to my Blogger link? Oh, well.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Muskegon, MI
I regret that I didn't spend more time there when I had the chance. In fact, if I ever go back, I am now resolved to see more landscape. Wonder what the beaches are like in Muskegon. What tribe was the name taken from? Who invented ice fishing?
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Stimulus
Krugman has some big hedge fund guy coming out for a big stimulus. So I harbor in my heart of hearts the need to believe that Obama will invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling, the Democrats will suddenly find they have all kinds of chutzpah and hammer the Republicans into the ground and in 2012 there will be a groundswell turning Congress back over to the Democrats, the majority of them progressive and they promply pass a giant infrastructure stimulus.
But Ferlinghetti is 92 and still waiting, so I guess it could go some other way, right?
But Ferlinghetti is 92 and still waiting, so I guess it could go some other way, right?
Saturday, June 25, 2011
It's One Of Those Days
warm but cloudy, so you can smell the air. Much to my surprise, butterflies actually come out even when the sun does not, and I have a recipe for bacon jam!
Now you have it, too. Try it with celery. Bwahahahah.
IRL EXPERIMENTAL BACON JAM
Ingredients:
... (this part I'm super sure of)
bacon (any kind, I used applewood smoked, but whatever) - 1 lb
yellow onion - 1 large - peel and thinly slice
garlic - 3-4 cloves - peeled and chopped (I just did them in a julienne)
... (the rest... well... the amounts are kind of variable. To quote my
grandma, "How much? However much you want!")
strongly brewed coffee - 1/2 cup?
maple syrup - 1/4 cup + I think I tossed in another glug later
brown sugar - 1/3 cup, sort of lightly packed
apple cider vinegar - 1/3 cup
bourbon (totally optional but I mean COME ON) - 1/4 cup - I used Maker's Mark
black pepper - 1/2 teaspoon (maybe? I just put in a bunch, I could have put in way more)
chili powder - 1/3 tsp - mine was ancho but I don't think it matters
smoked paprika - 1/4 tsp - I think I could have added more of this, it smelled great when cooking but I'm not sure you could taste it
cayenne - I might have put in a pinch of it but I was scared to put in too much
Instructions:
1. Cook the bacon. You want it fully done but not tooooo crispy. Do it in batches so it has lots of room. Once it's done, put it aside on a paper-lined plate. Keep about 2-3 tbsp of the fat and discard the rest (into a container you WILL keep in the fridge to cook other awesomely flavoured things!).
2. In the bacon fat you've kept, cook the onions and garlic. You want to do it on medium low, so as to keep the onions translucent - you don't really want to brown them.
3. So maybe 8-10 minutes later, the onions should be done. Throw in all the rest of the ingredients, EXCEPT the bacon. Drop the heat down to low and mix it all up.
4. From low, bring it to a boil and let it boil for 2 minutes or so.
5. Meanwhile, chop up the bacon into 1/2 inch or so pieces. You could also have done this earlier and cook it in pieces, but I'd have done that with slightly larger pieces.
6. Once it's boiled, throw in the bacon. Stir it up and drop the heat again.
7. Let is simmer, uncovered for about 2 hours. You can adjust seasonings throughout this, but remember that it will cook down and concentrate flavours. Check it every once in a while (20 minutes maybe?), stir a bit and if it starts to dry out you can add a bit of water. I did that once, but probably out of paranoia than actual necessity.
8. It's done once the onions are basically melting almost away and the liquid is left as a syrup. Take it off the stove and let it cool for 5-10 minutes.
9. Throw it into a food processor (which I don't have, so I used an immersion blender, which worked okay but man, that is one of the more disgusting culinary things I've done and, remember, I have a recipe I often make that includes jello, cool whip, cabbage and mayo so I know what I'm talking about) and chop it up. You want it spreadable but still chunky and you want the bacon still recognizable.
That's it! This made 1 and 1/3 jars of the stuff. I'm sure you could easily scale this up. It should keep in the fridge for about a month, based on what I've read.
I've also seen recipes that included adobo and/or siracha and other things. So whatever flavours you want you can probably achieve in the mix.
Now you have it, too. Try it with celery. Bwahahahah.
IRL EXPERIMENTAL BACON JAM
Ingredients:
... (this part I'm super sure of)
bacon (any kind, I used applewood smoked, but whatever) - 1 lb
yellow onion - 1 large - peel and thinly slice
garlic - 3-4 cloves - peeled and chopped (I just did them in a julienne)
... (the rest... well... the amounts are kind of variable. To quote my
grandma, "How much? However much you want!")
strongly brewed coffee - 1/2 cup?
maple syrup - 1/4 cup + I think I tossed in another glug later
brown sugar - 1/3 cup, sort of lightly packed
apple cider vinegar - 1/3 cup
bourbon (totally optional but I mean COME ON) - 1/4 cup - I used Maker's Mark
black pepper - 1/2 teaspoon (maybe? I just put in a bunch, I could have put in way more)
chili powder - 1/3 tsp - mine was ancho but I don't think it matters
smoked paprika - 1/4 tsp - I think I could have added more of this, it smelled great when cooking but I'm not sure you could taste it
cayenne - I might have put in a pinch of it but I was scared to put in too much
Instructions:
1. Cook the bacon. You want it fully done but not tooooo crispy. Do it in batches so it has lots of room. Once it's done, put it aside on a paper-lined plate. Keep about 2-3 tbsp of the fat and discard the rest (into a container you WILL keep in the fridge to cook other awesomely flavoured things!).
2. In the bacon fat you've kept, cook the onions and garlic. You want to do it on medium low, so as to keep the onions translucent - you don't really want to brown them.
3. So maybe 8-10 minutes later, the onions should be done. Throw in all the rest of the ingredients, EXCEPT the bacon. Drop the heat down to low and mix it all up.
4. From low, bring it to a boil and let it boil for 2 minutes or so.
5. Meanwhile, chop up the bacon into 1/2 inch or so pieces. You could also have done this earlier and cook it in pieces, but I'd have done that with slightly larger pieces.
6. Once it's boiled, throw in the bacon. Stir it up and drop the heat again.
7. Let is simmer, uncovered for about 2 hours. You can adjust seasonings throughout this, but remember that it will cook down and concentrate flavours. Check it every once in a while (20 minutes maybe?), stir a bit and if it starts to dry out you can add a bit of water. I did that once, but probably out of paranoia than actual necessity.
8. It's done once the onions are basically melting almost away and the liquid is left as a syrup. Take it off the stove and let it cool for 5-10 minutes.
9. Throw it into a food processor (which I don't have, so I used an immersion blender, which worked okay but man, that is one of the more disgusting culinary things I've done and, remember, I have a recipe I often make that includes jello, cool whip, cabbage and mayo so I know what I'm talking about) and chop it up. You want it spreadable but still chunky and you want the bacon still recognizable.
That's it! This made 1 and 1/3 jars of the stuff. I'm sure you could easily scale this up. It should keep in the fridge for about a month, based on what I've read.
I've also seen recipes that included adobo and/or siracha and other things. So whatever flavours you want you can probably achieve in the mix.
Friday, June 24, 2011
It's Been Awhile Since They Sent Me A Poem
I really like. I really like this one. I know, it's crazy.
Q & A
by Terence Winch
Q. How important is theory in this poem? It seems as though
it just starts, goes nowhere, tells us nothing we need to know.
A. The concern here is with necessity, not fact. The poem could tell
you everything you wanted to know, but doesn't.
Some poems begin in the rinse cycle. This one goes right to spin.
Q. We noticed how marvelous the upper strata of the poem is. It suggests
the appeal of authoritarian faith in the old-fashioned
middle class. Did you write it on a train?
A. One day I heard laughter coming from some mysterious source. First
I thought
it came from several people who were stuck at the bottom of a well.
Then I speculated it could be a group of teenagers on the level right above me.
After a while, however, I wondered if it might actually be weeping.
I got out my address book and started calling around. In fact, people
were crying when I managed to get in touch with them. Where are
your social contracts now, I snarled, your precious theses on the absolute?
I averted my gaze as their beliefs unraveled.
Q. We can't help but notice how you seem to be suppressing what you
really mean. Are you naked in this poem?
A. I have these pastes and mud packs that I smear all over me, so I'm
never really naked, even when I have no clothes on.
The same thing goes for this poem.
It's beautiful, stark, totally blank, yet colorful, like a sin
you're considering but haven't yet committed.
Q & A
by Terence Winch
Q. How important is theory in this poem? It seems as though
it just starts, goes nowhere, tells us nothing we need to know.
A. The concern here is with necessity, not fact. The poem could tell
you everything you wanted to know, but doesn't.
Some poems begin in the rinse cycle. This one goes right to spin.
Q. We noticed how marvelous the upper strata of the poem is. It suggests
the appeal of authoritarian faith in the old-fashioned
middle class. Did you write it on a train?
A. One day I heard laughter coming from some mysterious source. First
I thought
it came from several people who were stuck at the bottom of a well.
Then I speculated it could be a group of teenagers on the level right above me.
After a while, however, I wondered if it might actually be weeping.
I got out my address book and started calling around. In fact, people
were crying when I managed to get in touch with them. Where are
your social contracts now, I snarled, your precious theses on the absolute?
I averted my gaze as their beliefs unraveled.
Q. We can't help but notice how you seem to be suppressing what you
really mean. Are you naked in this poem?
A. I have these pastes and mud packs that I smear all over me, so I'm
never really naked, even when I have no clothes on.
The same thing goes for this poem.
It's beautiful, stark, totally blank, yet colorful, like a sin
you're considering but haven't yet committed.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
I Want To Believe
That when guys like this start pumping for a big stimulus (see Summers earlier, but primarily about payroll), there's some behind-the-scenes Kabuki at work, a build-up that eventually will turn into enough of a consensus to turn the economy around before it's too late.
Spoke to a knowledgeable woman yesterday still in her 40s who believes she will not have Medicare at retirement. She probably believes she won't have Social Security either.
In other words, I want to believe there's a long game.
Spoke to a knowledgeable woman yesterday still in her 40s who believes she will not have Medicare at retirement. She probably believes she won't have Social Security either.
In other words, I want to believe there's a long game.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Science Humor Is Not An Oxymoron
Spongiforum squarepantsii, for instance.
There apparently are some slime-mold beetles named
There apparently are some slime-mold beetles named
- Agathidium bushi
- Agathidium cheneyi
- Agathidium rumsfeldi
- They, however, have never held public office.
- More at Mefi.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Spanish Grrrls!
Carving the Mountains from Juan Rayos on Vimeo.
Note: I have found the load slow and frustrating on Vimeo, but worth it. Just click to start, then pause. It continues to load. Just put your cursor back on the video to check progress, then play when fully loaded. Maybe there's an easier way. And maybe I'll try to find it some day.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
I Would Like To Go Somewhere Foreign And Tropical
before I die of this fungal infection we're calling summer. Sullivan featured Maputo, Mozambique on his View today. It looks nice. Sigh.
When I'm Desperate For More Distraction
I also read these. I'm not saying they're always great, but they tend to calm anxieties.
1. http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/
2. http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/
3. http://www.metafilter.com/
4. http://www.aldaily.com/
UPDATE: Oh, hell, I forgot to link. Guess I got rusty. Just go to the (Mostly) Daily Reads at right. Sorry.
1. http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/
2. http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/
3. http://www.metafilter.com/
4. http://www.aldaily.com/
UPDATE: Oh, hell, I forgot to link. Guess I got rusty. Just go to the (Mostly) Daily Reads at right. Sorry.
If You Missed The Tony's
Links to most of it is here along with discussion.
I am totally impressed with the talent, starting — and ending — with Neil Patrick Harris.
I wish I could see every show.
Just try a little taste, I guarantee you'll like it.
I am totally impressed with the talent, starting — and ending — with Neil Patrick Harris.
I wish I could see every show.
Just try a little taste, I guarantee you'll like it.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Hi
I've been away awhile. Well, not away, just otherwise occupied although not productively unless you count twisting my foot while mowing the lawn and diddling in the garden productive. I count it as entertainment.
So I too often put things I think are cool on my FB page, but few of my friends read Contrarienne and few of you are on FB so I will try to crosspost more often because I don't want to let Connie die just yet.
Anyhoo, everybody's saying Larry Summers is for more stimulus but that isn't really what he said apparently. I tried to link to his new Financial Times column in which he supposedly said it but FT doesn't like me. It says I'm registered and then it says I'm not and I'm too cranky to resolve it.
Now Summers is what Krugman calls a Very Serious Person (VSP) and he's partly to blame for this economic mess, so I gotta figure he's putting one up the flag pole or throwing some at the wall to see if it's sticky and if there's real Kabuki here, then we'll see some more stimulus at some point because even Cantor is backtracking on the debt ceiling now and I'd love to be a mouse in Obama's golf bag when he's out on the course with Boehner, because I don't think that insta-tan holds up well when your blood pressure suddenly falls into anaphalactic shock territory. At least I'm hoping Obama will just make a threat that can't be ignored and even help Johnno cover his ass during the retreat, because that's what it will have to be. I should have gone into politics. It all seems so clear to me.
But out of the TPM discussion I got this great Comment O' Teh Day:
Cheers, Cnne
So I too often put things I think are cool on my FB page, but few of my friends read Contrarienne and few of you are on FB so I will try to crosspost more often because I don't want to let Connie die just yet.
Anyhoo, everybody's saying Larry Summers is for more stimulus but that isn't really what he said apparently. I tried to link to his new Financial Times column in which he supposedly said it but FT doesn't like me. It says I'm registered and then it says I'm not and I'm too cranky to resolve it.
Now Summers is what Krugman calls a Very Serious Person (VSP) and he's partly to blame for this economic mess, so I gotta figure he's putting one up the flag pole or throwing some at the wall to see if it's sticky and if there's real Kabuki here, then we'll see some more stimulus at some point because even Cantor is backtracking on the debt ceiling now and I'd love to be a mouse in Obama's golf bag when he's out on the course with Boehner, because I don't think that insta-tan holds up well when your blood pressure suddenly falls into anaphalactic shock territory. At least I'm hoping Obama will just make a threat that can't be ignored and even help Johnno cover his ass during the retreat, because that's what it will have to be. I should have gone into politics. It all seems so clear to me.
But out of the TPM discussion I got this great Comment O' Teh Day:
The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference between theory and practice but in practice there is.Later today I will post two cool new web sites you should know about, but I hafta go graduate from respiratory therapy. Let's see, shall I wear the crown or the purple graduation cap. Maybe both.
Cheers, Cnne
Friday, June 3, 2011
Viral Today
Monday, May 30, 2011
I Thought The Weekend Was Going Well
too. Then the weedeater broke. And the dryer. And my glasses fell apart.
I tried the internet, but there is no consolation apparently.
Thanks, Andrew Sullivan, you brighten my day.
Remember, I read it (once in a while) so you don't have to.
Oh, and Palin's not running. So there's that.
Just stay away from TV news.
Thanks, Lawrence O'Donnell (MSNBC) and Jonathan Miller (Politico, it's not what he said, but what he didn't say.)
'Too Big to Fail' in 80 Seconds from Joe Mande on Vimeo.
Climate change, you know you want it.
I tried the internet, but there is no consolation apparently.
Thanks, Andrew Sullivan, you brighten my day.
Remember, I read it (once in a while) so you don't have to.
Oh, and Palin's not running. So there's that.
Just stay away from TV news.
Thanks, Lawrence O'Donnell (MSNBC) and Jonathan Miller (Politico, it's not what he said, but what he didn't say.)
'Too Big to Fail' in 80 Seconds from Joe Mande on Vimeo.
Climate change, you know you want it.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Honorary Contrarienne
My fitness mentor, Hilary Metzger, celebrates Rhody Fest each year by walking in the 7.5-mile marathon.
This year, she won the coveted "Words Per Mile" trophy, an honor she devised and awarded to herself. I believe the established record is something in the neighborhood of 7,000 words total.
Inspired, I attempted to top my personal best record of most baby carrots miniature Tootsie Rolls consumed on the 4-mile drive home from the grocery store and, of course, beat myself. As usual.
This year, she won the coveted "Words Per Mile" trophy, an honor she devised and awarded to herself. I believe the established record is something in the neighborhood of 7,000 words total.
Monday, May 23, 2011
DNA
UPDATE: Apparantly I left out the links when I originally posted. They're added now, and worth following.
Some folks over at MeFi really miss Douglas Adams, whose initials are DNA and who was born in Cambridge the same year ... well, you know the rest.
Anyway, this is the anniversary of one of the Adams accomplishments, his death or the publication of one of the books or somethings and someone found one of his speeches that was, like him, a lot of fun, and this quote popped out. For your entertainment and enrichment.
Some folks over at MeFi really miss Douglas Adams, whose initials are DNA and who was born in Cambridge the same year ... well, you know the rest.
Anyway, this is the anniversary of one of the Adams accomplishments, his death or the publication of one of the books or somethings and someone found one of his speeches that was, like him, a lot of fun, and this quote popped out. For your entertainment and enrichment.
There are some oddities in the perspective with which we see the world. The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be, but we have done various things over intellectual history to slowly correct some of our misapprehensions. Curiously enough, quite a lot of these have come from sand, so let's talk about the four ages of sand.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
The Trouble With Psychopaths
is that they can gang up on you. I say that in all seriousness. I believed then and I believe now that I once worked for two psychopaths at the same time. How did I survive?
They don't cooperate well with others, even others like themselves.
That should be question #21 on the test.
They don't cooperate well with others, even others like themselves.
That should be question #21 on the test.
Jane Mayer vs. The World
Mayer may be the best journalist working today. One of her highest skills is good sourcing, which means she's trusted by people who probably don't trust anyone.
She's trusted because she has not only good intentions, but good judgment. I love that. In my silly, small way, it was also my professional goal.
This story on an N.S.A. renegade is such good leg work it seems almost mundane.
She's trusted because she has not only good intentions, but good judgment. I love that. In my silly, small way, it was also my professional goal.
This story on an N.S.A. renegade is such good leg work it seems almost mundane.
Binney says that an N.S.A. e-mail database can be searched with “dictionary selection,” in the manner of Google. After 9/11, he says, “General Hayden reassured everyone that the N.S.A. didn’t put out dragnets, and that was true. It had no need—it was getting every fish in the sea.”
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_mayer#ixzz1N0fhwkmn
Monday, May 16, 2011
Do No Harm
Someone I admire, respect and love angered and disappointed me today.
But I had to go to the library. Not only did I find all the poetry books I've been craving, the Montaigne biography I'd ordered, but...Also. Life is good.
But I had to go to the library. Not only did I find all the poetry books I've been craving, the Montaigne biography I'd ordered, but...Also. Life is good.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Comment O' Teh Day
On a rainy day, what could be better?Over at a fairly technical discussion of type face criticism on MeFi, is a good example why I love MeFi. (That and the enlightening discussion of iconic font designer Eric Gill, who had an incestuous relationship with his sister, sexuallyy abused his children and had "an experimental connection to his dog.")
This is probably the whitest thing I've seen in years. Talk about your first-world problems.
(I actually found the article reasonably interesting, but then I fit the criteria given above)
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:04 PM on May 15 [1 favorite]
A Worthy Goal
I am trying to get at something so simpleThis is from a poet named David Berman, who Andrew Sullivan cited today with a different but equally worthy quote.
that I have to talk plainly
so the words don't disfigure it
and if it turns out that what I say is untrue
then at least let it be harmless
like a leaky boat in the reeds
that is bothering no one.
It's from 2003 and there are no comments on the site.
Can't help but wonder what became of Berman.
I would post the entire thing, but it's long. And very good.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Ingrid Bergmanngr
Saw this yesterday and it stayed with me. The barely restrained passion is breathtaking. Forgot what a good actress she was.
Another Silly Time-Wasting Thing
to do on the internet.
Look in on Andrew Sullivan's View From Your Window Feature every Saturday (I love Saturdays although I missed This American Life Today and, wait, I have to turn on Radiolab), recognize nothing (okay, I got Paris once) and read all the selected answers on Tuesdays. People really get into it and it's sort of a mental puzzle for world travelers. I don't mind being an armchair traveler at all. Who wants to go on an airplane anyway?
I think today's is Cannes for no other reason than that I want to go to there and the film festival is there this week and one of my young FB friends who wisely left off newspapering and took up publicity is there and sending pictures of her breakfast. She likes the new Jack Sparrow movie, by the way, but then, she's young.
Look in on Andrew Sullivan's View From Your Window Feature every Saturday (I love Saturdays although I missed This American Life Today and, wait, I have to turn on Radiolab), recognize nothing (okay, I got Paris once) and read all the selected answers on Tuesdays. People really get into it and it's sort of a mental puzzle for world travelers. I don't mind being an armchair traveler at all. Who wants to go on an airplane anyway?
I think today's is Cannes for no other reason than that I want to go to there and the film festival is there this week and one of my young FB friends who wisely left off newspapering and took up publicity is there and sending pictures of her breakfast. She likes the new Jack Sparrow movie, by the way, but then, she's young.
Friday, May 13, 2011
DNA
(Note: I have gone to some trouble — some, not a lot — to reconstruct a post that strangely and inexplicably disappeared just as it was being saved on Wednesday. Blogger went down and stayed that way much of yesterday. They called it maintenance problems. I call it uncanny.)
Douglas Adams, whose initials are DNA and who was born in Cambridge in 1952, the same day as...well, you know the rest, is receiving another periodic revivals over at MeFi. I guess May 11 was the 10th anniversary of his death, but book publishing anniversaries are also popular.
In the comment thread to the post calling attention to this piece was a cite to a speech of his I plan to keep in reserve. Because I will need it.
Douglas Adams, whose initials are DNA and who was born in Cambridge in 1952, the same day as...well, you know the rest, is receiving another periodic revivals over at MeFi. I guess May 11 was the 10th anniversary of his death, but book publishing anniversaries are also popular.
In the comment thread to the post calling attention to this piece was a cite to a speech of his I plan to keep in reserve. Because I will need it.
The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be, but we have done various things over intellectual history to slowly correct some of our misapprehensions. Curiously enough, quite a lot of these have come from sand, so let's talk about the four ages of sand.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Josh Marshall Hearts Newt Gingrich
There are a lot of right-wing performance artists now, but Newt invented the genre. Sort of like the let's-look-back at the first rappers.
And that's Gingrich, not a politician or even a mere huckster, but something much more than that, a right-wing performance artist who for a critical decade or so overlapped with the real world of electoral politics and ascended to the highest echelons of power. The almost appealing slasher barging in on the carefree picnic day of our political life.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Web Site O' Teh Day
The Library of Congress now has its full archive of historical sound recordings available online.
It's called the National Jukebox and this is Arthur Prior's band playing Temptation Rag.
It's called the National Jukebox and this is Arthur Prior's band playing Temptation Rag.
Graphic Proof
I'm tempted to make a bunch of posters of this and slap them up everywhere. Maybe I will.
Sorry I can't make images fit, but click through at bottom or the link above.
![]()
Via: Medical Billing And Coding
Sorry I can't make images fit, but click through at bottom or the link above.
Via: Medical Billing And Coding
Just Sayin'
A harmonic oscillator in classical mechanics (A-B) and quantum mechanics (C-H). In (A-B), a ball, attached to a spring (gray line), oscillates back and forth. In (C-H), wavefunction solutions to the Time-Dependent Schrodinger Equation are shown for the same potential. The horizontal axis is position, the vertical axis is the real part (blue) or imaginary part (red) of the wavefunction. (C,D,E,F) are stationary states (energy eigenstates), which come from solutions to the Time-Independent Schrodinger Equation. (G-H) are non-stationary states, solutions to the Time-Dependent but not Time-Independent Schrodinger Equation. (G) is a randomly-generated superposition of the four states (C-F). H is a "coherent state" ("Glauber state") which somewhat resembles the classical state B.
Some generous guy named Steve Byrnes contributed this gif to Wikipedia's entry on quantum physics, which I finally looked up today and, sure enough, it's all about math. Except when it's not.
...according to the theory of quantum decoherence, the parallel universes will never be accessible to us. This inaccessibility can be understood as follows: Once a measurement is done, the measured system becomes entangled with both the physicist who measured it and a huge number of other particles, some of which are photons flying away towards the other end of the universe; in order to prove that the wave function did not collapse one would have to bring all these particles back and measure them again, together with the system that was measured originally. This is completely impractical, but even if one could theoretically do this, it would destroy any evidence that the original measurement took place (including the physicist's memory).
Monday, May 9, 2011
Good Poem Today
I intended to stop republishing whole poems in a nod to copyright and all that. But then I realized hardly anybody but you — and you, and you — reads this blog so if they find me and tell me to desist, I will. If they threaten to sue, I will desist and laugh.
Blue Dementia
by Yusef Komunyakaa
In the days when a man
would hold a swarm of words
inside his belly, nestled
against his spleen, singing.
In the days of night riders
when life tongued a reed
till blues & sorrow song
called out of the deep night:
Another man done gone.
Another man done gone.
In the days when one could lose oneself
all up inside love that way,
& then moan on the bone
till the gods cried out in someone's sleep.
Today,
already I've seen three dark-skinned men
discussing the weather with demons
& angels, gazing up at the clouds
& squinting down into iron grates
along the fast streets of luminous encounters.
I double-check my reflection in plate glass
& wonder, Am I passing another
Lucky Thompson or Marion Brown
cornered by a blue dementia,
another dark-skinned man
who woke up dreaming one morning
& then walked out of himself
dreaming? Did this one dare
to step on a crack in the sidewalk,
to turn a midnight corner & never come back
whole, or did he try to stare down a look
that shoved a blade into his heart?
I mean, I also know something
about night riders & catgut. Yeah,
honey, I know something about talking with ghosts.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Viral Dog Video O' Teh Week
I have never had so many friends share one of my found videos before. Of course, it is raining really hard, not much to do.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Introducing Hahn-Bin
Should have put this up weeks ago, but sometimes I forget about Contrarienne. And you.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
I Was Told There Were 18
Some Corgis were mated with dachsunds (most notably Pipkin, who belonged to Princess Margaret) to create ‘Dorgis’.Now I am better informed. I notice she allows them to jump up. Encourages them even. I am doing the right thing.
At present, The Queen owns four Corgis: Linnet, Monty, Willow and Holly and three Dorgis: Cider, Candy and Vulcan.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Jack Bauer, Inc.
Kept hearing the talking heads tell me last night how we'd be hearing a lot more about J-SOC in the coming days.
The day came and Spencer Ackerman came through. Have admired his reporting since earlier days at TPM. Journalism is not dead.
Ed. "Hey, Spence, we need 50 inches on JSOC toot sweet."
SA. Here.
Silent squirrels, indeed. McCrystal. Extreme rendition.
So far no one has plugged in the Panetta/Petraeus thingie in light of what we now know was going on.
Hey, Spence.
The day came and Spencer Ackerman came through. Have admired his reporting since earlier days at TPM. Journalism is not dead.
Ed. "Hey, Spence, we need 50 inches on JSOC toot sweet."
SA. Here.
Silent squirrels, indeed. McCrystal. Extreme rendition.
So far no one has plugged in the Panetta/Petraeus thingie in light of what we now know was going on.
Hey, Spence.
My New Motto
You cannot make the dead man write what you want.Rec'd this morning from my daily poetry service, a quite lovely piece — featuring chocolate — by Marvin Bell who
Live as if you were already dead indeed.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Because Of Roger Ebert
I was motivated to learn how to get my computer to speak to me in the morning.
I wanted Vicki to greet me when I turned the computer on, but that's a little down the road. But all I have to do is highlight a piece of text I keep on my desktop, press the selected keys and I get the greeting I composed.
I love it. he makes me feel good.
Why have I lost the ability to use cap s? Vicki?
I wanted Vicki to greet me when I turned the computer on, but that's a little down the road. But all I have to do is highlight a piece of text I keep on my desktop, press the selected keys and I get the greeting I composed.
I love it. he makes me feel good.
Why have I lost the ability to use cap s? Vicki?
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Quote O' Teh Day
All a person is in the end is a story you tell yourself.Possibly Charles Fernyhough, a developmental psychologist
I heard it on Radiolab today but missed the reference. Am thinking about making Radiolab my daily meditation. Using Beulahland didn't work, it always made me cry.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Oh, THAT Wedding
The hats because, why not?
So what if they're never worn again, the museums will appreciate a chance to do a fun show.
Now, on to the gown.
So what if they're never worn again, the museums will appreciate a chance to do a fun show.
Now, on to the gown.
What Wedding?
Hi, I'm back. Was worried for awhile that I was't worried. Hope you're still out there.
You owe it to our neighbors to read something about Canadian politics every few years.
Here it is. Uh, because there's an election going on that could change things radically.
Then again, maybe not. It's Canada.
You owe it to our neighbors to read something about Canadian politics every few years.
Here it is. Uh, because there's an election going on that could change things radically.
Then again, maybe not. It's Canada.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Tina Fey, Honorary Contrarienne
Janet Is-She-Still-Alive? Maslin does a nice profile, er, book review.
“Only in comedy,” she writes, about interviewing for a writing job on “Saturday Night Live” in 1997, “does an obedient white girl from the suburbs count as diversity.”
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Here, Have A Death Cookie
Possibly the most engaging thing I have read in months. And I read a lot.
“The risk you take has a feedback effect on the unconscious,” he says. “The unconscious will give you ideas and it wants you to act on them. The more courage you have when you act, the more ideas it will give you.”
Malcolm X Redux
There's a new book I'd really like to read, but the author's story is remarkable as well.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Should We Read Susan Sontag?
Maybe not. Maybe read about her instead.
“She had the death that somewhere she must have come to believe that other people had from cancer,” Rieff writes, “the death where knowledge meant nothing, the will to fight meant nothing, the skill of the doctors meant nothing.”
Sunday, March 20, 2011
For A Good Read, Try NYT
while it's still free.
But I digress.
My mouth is watering over this.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/nyregion/20turanos.html?_r=1
But I digress.
My mouth is watering over this.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/nyregion/20turanos.html?_r=1
Like many classic New York tales, the story of Mr. Kruger and his shadow family involves love, money, conflict and real estate.
It is a story of an internecine political world of favor-trading and access-peddling.It is a story of an obscure waterfront expanse of garish mansions and decadent cars, a pocket of wealth unreachable by buses and subways and unseen by most city residents.And, now, it is a story of unwanted attention.
I'll Be Bouba, You Be Kiki
Tried to read all this review of the hot new brain book but, I'll be honest, it was long. So I skimmed. Basically I wanted more summary, less discursive analysis. But, as always, a lot to ponder.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda
Here's the list of things I knew I should buy. But what did I do? Oh, probably blew it on new clothes or something.
1. Netflix
2. Apple
3. Google
4. Amazon
5. Starbucks
1. Netflix
2. Apple
3. Google
4. Amazon
5. Starbucks
February's Over, Time To Pull Up My Palin Pants
After the nationally recognized Palin-free month, the LA Times gives me reason to be grateful for good journalism again.
And one of Andrew Sullivan's readers comes through with some enriching info.
So also grateful for the internet.
All of which gets me to thinking about the NYT's new paywall, which goes into effect for people like me on March 28. Already there's a Twitter account to help us circumvent it.
I wouldn't have known about the LA Times piece without Sullivan who, among other things, is what is known as an aggregator. He and his staff find stuff, then pass it along.
Which means the LAT got a whole lot of new eyeballs on that one story at least.
So, how do they monetize it? I don't think the paywall is the answer. I think, just as advertisers pay for hits, so should readers.
It's an idea that's been kicked around, don't know the ins and outs of it, although the technology is probably there.
But I'll admit it, I'd pay a couple bucks a month for what I read now, which they would automatically deduct. But not $15 a month for the NYT.
Some will, though. But probably not enough. Felix Salmon, a much-quoted financial analyst was headlined somewhere recently claiming he's done the math, and it ain't gonna work.
Maybe he's wrong and the NYT is right. Or maybe, as I suspect, the "passive-aggressive white males" in charge got hold of an idea, liked it a lot, and couldn't let go of it even when they knew it was a loser. Or maybe, more likely, they have a power structure designed to help them suppress any information that runs counter to their egos. Egoes? Can't remember.
This is how I believe the world operates.
I don't like it, but I must accept it.
Or go crazy.
And one of Andrew Sullivan's readers comes through with some enriching info.
So also grateful for the internet.
All of which gets me to thinking about the NYT's new paywall, which goes into effect for people like me on March 28. Already there's a Twitter account to help us circumvent it.
I wouldn't have known about the LA Times piece without Sullivan who, among other things, is what is known as an aggregator. He and his staff find stuff, then pass it along.
Which means the LAT got a whole lot of new eyeballs on that one story at least.
So, how do they monetize it? I don't think the paywall is the answer. I think, just as advertisers pay for hits, so should readers.
It's an idea that's been kicked around, don't know the ins and outs of it, although the technology is probably there.
But I'll admit it, I'd pay a couple bucks a month for what I read now, which they would automatically deduct. But not $15 a month for the NYT.
Some will, though. But probably not enough. Felix Salmon, a much-quoted financial analyst was headlined somewhere recently claiming he's done the math, and it ain't gonna work.
Maybe he's wrong and the NYT is right. Or maybe, as I suspect, the "passive-aggressive white males" in charge got hold of an idea, liked it a lot, and couldn't let go of it even when they knew it was a loser. Or maybe, more likely, they have a power structure designed to help them suppress any information that runs counter to their egos. Egoes? Can't remember.
This is how I believe the world operates.
I don't like it, but I must accept it.
Or go crazy.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Just In Case You Were Wondering
Krugman isn't worried about the economic impact. I notice he didn't mention the nukes.
So, back to Japan: I’m terrified about the possible loss of life; nervous about the disruption of world production; not worried at all about the impact of Japanese borrowing on world bond markets.
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posted by mantecol at 4:02 PM on August 5 [1 favorite]