Why I won’t be reading Dave Eggers: I caught Christopher Lydon on NPR’s The Connection talking today to this 24 year-old new literary darling and author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (for those of you that are not yet aware of the buzz, yes, that’s the title, not my blurb). He also edits the literary quarterly, Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and its net-spinoff, Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies. One caller to the radio talk show, fawning all over Eggers, made it sound as if his writing has single-handedly taken us past postmodernism and out the other side “to something clear and simple,” or something to that effect (it turns out the caller was part of Eggers’ little literary clique and a contributor to his magazine). To judge from his interview, simple at least is right! Lydon quickly realized that he wasn’t going to get any scintillating answers to his questions, beyond repetitious echolalia, so he began to lead Eggers around by the nose affirming points that Lydon wanted to make in the interview. Is this what they mean by the self-referentiality they apply to his work?? (I thought I liked self-referentiality ’til now…) It was uncomfortable to see Lydon squirm to maintain the obligatory stance that his current guest was the best thing since sliced bread, and to see Eggers eating it up, despite the fact that it was probably the least self-reflective interview I’ve heard in a long while. Not a literary movement I’ll be following, or a bestselling buzzbook I’ll be buying, I’m afraid. And if another nail was needed in the coffinlid, Eggers is equated as wunderkind with NPR’s This American Life host Ira Glass, to whose show he has apparently contributed. Glass is a smug self-satisfied commentator whose profundity I can’t see impressing anyone more than himself. Someone has described This American Life as driveway radio — you sit in your driveway when you arrive home, unable to bear shutting the car off ’til it’s over; but, even as an inveterate NPR listener, I scramble to turn the radio off when Ira Glass comes on. (And I’ve written to my local NPR station saying I won’t contribute to them anymore as long as they use Ira Glass’ demeaning and smarmy spots, based on gleefully shaming hapless non-contributing listeners, in their fund drives.) Maybe I’m just too old for these Gen-X’ers who think they’ve seen and realized it all. Listening to the interview with Eggers, it seemed he emoted mostly angst about having to live up to the adulation. It was hard to see what he’d ever have to offer in the way of a second book, unless it was something spun off of that angst…(And in case you were wondering, I don’t feel particularly ashamed in admitting that I don’t feel particularly awful about generating a diatribe like this without reading the book.)
Author Archives: FmH
Galileo swoops by volcanic Io
“Jupiter’s strange moon Io is
literally bursting with volcanoes. Dozens of active
vents pepper the landscape, which also includes
gigantic frosty plains, towering mountains and
volcanic rings the size of California. The volcanoes
themselves are the hottest spots in the solar system
(not counting the sun) with temperatures exceeding
1800 K. The plumes, which rise 300 km into space, are so large that the Hubble
Space Telescope can see them from its low Earth orbit.”
I’m on an arts rip today, it seems. As the Grammies approach, recording companies are raking in the cash.
But record executives say they can’t recall a bleaker time in pop music creativity. “They don’t like the
music, they don’t get it, and they’re horrified that people like
Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera are becoming stars,” said
Jeff Pollack, a programming consultant for more than 100 U.S.
radio stations. Are they elitists out of touch with mainstream taste? Or is mainstream taste no longer anything but what market forces make it?
Ain’t No Problem: A West Virginia linguistics professor says that heavily dialectical speech is no sign of lack of intelligence. And his detractors want his resignation.
N.Y. arts group refuses regulations ‘The New York Foundation for the Arts has pulled out of administrating a major city-sponsored art project this summer to paint and display 1,000 fiberglass cows. The city had sought to have the foundation impose a rule on artists stating: “Designs that are religious, political or sexual in nature will not be accepted.”‘ [Arts Journal] First of all, after the wonderfully creative, zany and at times magical Chicago cows (which I was pleased to get to see), how derivative is this? I mean, why not thousands of fiberglass cats, or rats, or something? And hasn’t Rudy Giuliani learned anything from the city’s embarrassment in the Brooklyn Museum controversy? Update: Hew Orleans is doing fish.
Portal of entry to the latest upgrade of the Jargon File, the canonical dictionary — and more — of computer/techie related terms. It also includes essays on such topics as “Jargon
Construction”, “Hacker Writing Style”, “Lamer-speak”, and appendices that include hacker
folklore, an extensive bibliography, and a portrait of “J. Random Hacker”. Netmeg.net offers one of the
better Jargon File search interfaces.
I’m on an arts rip today, it seems. As the Grammies approach, recording companies are raking in the cash.
But record executives say they can’t recall a bleaker time in pop music creativity. “They don’t like the
music, they don’t get it, and they’re horrified that people like
Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera are becoming stars,” said
Jeff Pollack, a programming consultant for more than 100 U.S.
radio stations. Are they elitists out of touch with mainstream taste? Or is mainstream taste no longer anything but what market forces make it?
Ain’t No Problem: A West Virginia linguistics professor says that heavily dialectical speech is no sign of lack of intelligence. And his detractors want his resignation.
N.Y. arts group refuses regulations ‘The New York Foundation for the Arts has pulled out of administrating a major city-sponsored art project this summer to paint and display 1,000 fiberglass cows. The city had sought to have the foundation impose a rule on artists stating: “Designs that are religious, political or sexual in nature will not be accepted.”‘ [Arts Journal] First of all, after the wonderfully creative, zany and at times magical Chicago cows (which I was pleased to get to see), how derivative is this? I mean, why not thousands of fiberglass cats, or rats, or something? And hasn’t Rudy Giuliani learned anything from the city’s embarrassment in the Brooklyn Museum controversy? Update: Hew Orleans is doing fish.
Portal of entry to the latest upgrade of the Jargon File, the canonical dictionary — and more — of computer/techie related terms. It also includes essays on such topics as “Jargon
Construction”, “Hacker Writing Style”, “Lamer-speak”, and appendices that include hacker
folklore, an extensive bibliography, and a portrait of “J. Random Hacker”. Netmeg.net offers one of the
better Jargon File search interfaces.
Critics Slam Judge’s No-Pregnancy Sentence: putting a womb in state custody.
Critics Slam Judge’s No-Pregnancy Sentence: putting a womb in state custody.
‘And here’s today’s space weather forecast…’ “Space weather has joined earthquakes, hurricanes and gales in having official scales of severity. The worst events on the scale are accompanied by some severe impacts on human activities.”
‘And here’s today’s space weather forecast…’ “Space weather has joined earthquakes, hurricanes and gales in having official scales of severity. The worst events on the scale are accompanied by some severe impacts on human activities.”
Evidence of Mystery Particles Stirring Excitement and Doubt: Researchers at the University of Rome have stirred both doubt and excitement by reporting evidence of a heavy particle predicted by supersymmetry theory. Proof of the existence of this particle could account for the long-sought “dark matter” that may make up at least 70% of the mass of the universe. It would be exciting evidence of the validity of the supersymmetry hypothesis, a possible first step toward the holy grail of a “grand unifying theory”.
What I Saw at the Revolution by Donald Trump:
“I leave the Reform Party to
David Duke, Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani. That is not
company I wish to keep.”
Evidence of Mystery Particles Stirring Excitement and Doubt: Researchers at the University of Rome have stirred both doubt and excitement by reporting evidence of a heavy particle predicted by supersymmetry theory. Proof of the existence of this particle could account for the long-sought “dark matter” that may make up at least 70% of the mass of the universe. It would be exciting evidence of the validity of the supersymmetry hypothesis, a possible first step toward the holy grail of a “grand unifying theory”.
What I Saw at the Revolution by Donald Trump:
“I leave the Reform Party to
David Duke, Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani. That is not
company I wish to keep.”
“Fight the Real Enemy”: “Now, if I were to go out and take down some Internet sites, I wouldn’t waste my time with Yahoo! That’s for kids … which is what you are, cyberstupids. It’s pointless. There are sites out there that are begging for a large, steaming serving of whupass. If you had any guts, cyberwussies, you would make a new list. And the ten sites below are where I would start.”
Winning entries from the Adbusters Creative Resistance Contest:
“…we challenged people to
create social marketing concepts that best represented their
concerns about the world we live in. Here are some of the
best. The contest generated submissions from over 300 people
around the world: activists, students, graphic designers,
illustrators, photographers, painters, filmmakers, digital
artists, writers and poets. Their entries ranged from spoofs
to caustic commentary and included everything from school
projects to guerrilla protests. All of the submissions were
designs to change the way people think and act.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu: ‘Our country did not go the way of Nuremberg, to bring the perpetrators
of such crimes to trial…Our country rejected the other extreme of a blanket amnesty, as
happened in General Augusto Pinochet’s Chile….
Our country chose a middle way of individual amnesty for truth. Some
would say, what about justice? And we say retributive justice is not the
only kind of justice. There is also restorative justice, because we believe
in Ubuntu — the essence of being human, that idea that we are all
caught up in a delicate network of interdependence. We say, “A person
is a person through other persons.” I need you in order to be me and
you need me in order to be you.’ [via iBoy]
Honoring a Heretic Whom Vatican ‘Regrets’ Burning. Freethinkers and atheists gathered to honor Giordano Bruno in observance of the four hundredth anniversary of his burning at the stake. Bruno, a Dominican priest whose scientific investigations led him to believe that the universe was infinite and the teachings of the Church irrational, refused to recant to save his life. ‘The pope has marked this Holy Year as a time for the church to
apologize for past errors and excesses, from the Inquisition to the
persecution of Jews. Today, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican
secretary of state, said the church “regretted” that it had resorted to
violence in Bruno’s case, but pointed out that Bruno’s writing was
“incompatible” with Christian thinking, and that he therefore remains a
heretic.’
A coronal mass ejection is headed for Earth:
“Yesterday, a medium-sized solar flare erupted from a sunspot group near the
middle of the solar disk. It was accompanied by a
coronal mass ejection (CME) that appears to be
headed directly for our planet.
>
There’s no cause for
alarm — CMEs aren’t dangerous to people — but this
one could trigger beautiful aurorae and other
geomagnetic activity when it passes by our planet
around February 20.” [via Abby, thanks]
“Fight the Real Enemy”: “Now, if I were to go out and take down some Internet sites, I wouldn’t waste my time with Yahoo! That’s for kids … which is what you are, cyberstupids. It’s pointless. There are sites out there that are begging for a large, steaming serving of whupass. If you had any guts, cyberwussies, you would make a new list. And the ten sites below are where I would start.”
Winning entries from the Adbusters Creative Resistance Contest:
“…we challenged people to
create social marketing concepts that best represented their
concerns about the world we live in. Here are some of the
best. The contest generated submissions from over 300 people
around the world: activists, students, graphic designers,
illustrators, photographers, painters, filmmakers, digital
artists, writers and poets. Their entries ranged from spoofs
to caustic commentary and included everything from school
projects to guerrilla protests. All of the submissions were
designs to change the way people think and act.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu: ‘Our country did not go the way of Nuremberg, to bring the perpetrators
of such crimes to trial…Our country rejected the other extreme of a blanket amnesty, as
happened in General Augusto Pinochet’s Chile….
Our country chose a middle way of individual amnesty for truth. Some
would say, what about justice? And we say retributive justice is not the
only kind of justice. There is also restorative justice, because we believe
in Ubuntu — the essence of being human, that idea that we are all
caught up in a delicate network of interdependence. We say, “A person
is a person through other persons.” I need you in order to be me and
you need me in order to be you.’ [via iBoy]
Honoring a Heretic Whom Vatican ‘Regrets’ Burning. Freethinkers and atheists gathered to honor Giordano Bruno in observance of the four hundredth anniversary of his burning at the stake. Bruno, a Dominican priest whose scientific investigations led him to believe that the universe was infinite and the teachings of the Church irrational, refused to recant to save his life. ‘The pope has marked this Holy Year as a time for the church to
apologize for past errors and excesses, from the Inquisition to the
persecution of Jews. Today, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican
secretary of state, said the church “regretted” that it had resorted to
violence in Bruno’s case, but pointed out that Bruno’s writing was
“incompatible” with Christian thinking, and that he therefore remains a
heretic.’
A coronal mass ejection is headed for Earth:
“Yesterday, a medium-sized solar flare erupted from a sunspot group near the
middle of the solar disk. It was accompanied by a
coronal mass ejection (CME) that appears to be
headed directly for our planet.
>
There’s no cause for
alarm — CMEs aren’t dangerous to people — but this
one could trigger beautiful aurorae and other
geomagnetic activity when it passes by our planet
around February 20.” [via Abby, thanks]
Life is hard for TWA Flight 800 skeptics.
Reality Ain’t What it Used to Be: Robert Anton Wilson ponders thirty-five years’ legacy of Bell’s Theorem.
A World Community of Old Trees: an eco-art project in progress by June Julian.
R.U.Sirius interviews Stephen Gaskin on Al Gore, cannabis, and hypocrisy. I’ve followed Gaskin’s pilgrim’s progress since the ’60’s as one of the enduring honest presences in the counterculture whose actions are on the scale of his words.
Biar Witch Project sequel lost in the woods seeking product promotions.
According to a promotional packet entitled “The
Blair Witch Franchise,” kids will soon be able to play
four different “Blair Witch” PC and PlayStation
games, read “Blair Witch” comic books, collect
“Blair Witch” trading cards, and play with “Blair
Witch” action figures designed by “Spawn” creator
Todd MacFarlane.
The packet also promises “Dozens of New Licensed
Products — Computer Accessories, Jewelry, Apparel,
Leather Goods, Stationery … and many more.”
Life is hard for TWA Flight 800 skeptics.
Reality Ain’t What it Used to Be: Robert Anton Wilson ponders thirty-five years’ legacy of Bell’s Theorem.
A World Community of Old Trees: an eco-art project in progress by June Julian.
R.U.Sirius interviews Stephen Gaskin on Al Gore, cannabis, and hypocrisy. I’ve followed Gaskin’s pilgrim’s progress since the ’60’s as one of the enduring honest presences in the counterculture whose actions are on the scale of his words.
Biar Witch Project sequel lost in the woods seeking product promotions.
According to a promotional packet entitled “The
Blair Witch Franchise,” kids will soon be able to play
four different “Blair Witch” PC and PlayStation
games, read “Blair Witch” comic books, collect
“Blair Witch” trading cards, and play with “Blair
Witch” action figures designed by “Spawn” creator
Todd MacFarlane.
The packet also promises “Dozens of New Licensed
Products — Computer Accessories, Jewelry, Apparel,
Leather Goods, Stationery … and many more.”
International experts worried about U.S.-based Internet racism
‘Experts at a U.N. meeting Wednesday said Wednesday that the United States could
do more to curb the use of the Internet for racist material while upholding freedom of speech.
“New forms of communications technology such as the Internet are being used to support the dissemination of racial hatred,” Mary Robinson, the U.N.
High Commissioner for Human Rights, told participants in a three-day seminar on racism.
Speakers noted the legal challenges of controlling Internet content in, and originating from, the United States, where the First Amendment of the
constitution guarantees freedom of speech.
There are an estimated 250 to 400 self-proclaimed hate groups in the United States with their own Web sites.’
NPR’s Instrumental Bits Become an Online Music Show
“Although NPR makes some of its on-air shows available on
demand through its Web site, the leap by a major radio
organization into Internet-only programming helps validate
the concept of using the Web to “narrowcast” to a smaller
listener base. The eclectic material heard on “All Songs
Considered” might have limited appeal among NPR’s 600
member stations, which can be as rigidly formatted as their
commercial counterparts. Yet the show can still reach an
audience by going online.”
A High-End Top 30 List: Myths About Nietzsche: review of Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins’ new book this “most popular philosopher of the 21st century.” [New York Times]
International experts worried about U.S.-based Internet racism
‘Experts at a U.N. meeting Wednesday said Wednesday that the United States could
do more to curb the use of the Internet for racist material while upholding freedom of speech.
“New forms of communications technology such as the Internet are being used to support the dissemination of racial hatred,” Mary Robinson, the U.N.
High Commissioner for Human Rights, told participants in a three-day seminar on racism.
Speakers noted the legal challenges of controlling Internet content in, and originating from, the United States, where the First Amendment of the
constitution guarantees freedom of speech.
There are an estimated 250 to 400 self-proclaimed hate groups in the United States with their own Web sites.’
NPR’s Instrumental Bits Become an Online Music Show
“Although NPR makes some of its on-air shows available on
demand through its Web site, the leap by a major radio
organization into Internet-only programming helps validate
the concept of using the Web to “narrowcast” to a smaller
listener base. The eclectic material heard on “All Songs
Considered” might have limited appeal among NPR’s 600
member stations, which can be as rigidly formatted as their
commercial counterparts. Yet the show can still reach an
audience by going online.”
A High-End Top 30 List: Myths About Nietzsche: review of Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins’ new book this “most popular philosopher of the 21st century.” [New York Times]
BBC News | EUROPE | Pinochet ‘brain damaged’: The Spanish press
and ABC reportedly have extracts from the crucial medical report
into the former Chilean dictator’s health which prompted British Home Sec’y Jack Straw to say he intends to allow him to return home. Pinochet, who has diabetes and a pacemaker and has reportedly suffered two recent strokes, is said to have extensive frontal and temporal lobe dysfunction from progressive cerebro-vascular injury. A medical analysis in lay terms explains this.
The Peculiar Practice of Dr. John Ronald Brown: The story of a California back-alley surgeon convicted of murder after his patient died in the aftermath of the amputation of his healthy leg on demand, apparently to gratify the patient’s bizarre sexual fetish. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of this graphic and disturbing story.
Music lovers ‘have fish to thank’: Researchers suggest that a vestigial part of the vestibular system passed on evolutionarily from fish to humans, and without significance to normal hearing, is sensitive to loud sounds at the frequencies that predominate in music. We may have fish to thank for the pleasure we experience in listening to loud music.
BBC News | EUROPE | Pinochet ‘brain damaged’: The Spanish press
and ABC reportedly have extracts from the crucial medical report
into the former Chilean dictator’s health which prompted British Home Sec’y Jack Straw to say he intends to allow him to return home. Pinochet, who has diabetes and a pacemaker and has reportedly suffered two recent strokes, is said to have extensive frontal and temporal lobe dysfunction from progressive cerebro-vascular injury. A medical analysis in lay terms explains this.
The Peculiar Practice of Dr. John Ronald Brown: The story of a California back-alley surgeon convicted of murder after his patient died in the aftermath of the amputation of his healthy leg on demand, apparently to gratify the patient’s bizarre sexual fetish. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of this graphic and disturbing story.
Who’s Alive and Who’s Dead: “the site that helps you keep track of which famous people
have died and which are still alive!” Journalists can avoid those embarrassing gaffes; you can settle those arguments with friends or family; search for your own name…
Urban Legend Machine: Generate your own.
Music lovers ‘have fish to thank’: Researchers suggest that a vestigial part of the vestibular system passed on evolutionarily from fish to humans, and without significance to normal hearing, is sensitive to loud sounds at the frequencies that predominate in music. We may have fish to thank for the pleasure we experience in listening to loud music.
Are you part of a Newer, Lonelier Crowd? [New York Times]
Who’s Alive and Who’s Dead: “the site that helps you keep track of which famous people
have died and which are still alive!” Journalists can avoid those embarrassing gaffes; you can settle those arguments with friends or family; search for your own name…
Urban Legend Machine: Generate your own.
Are you part of a Newer, Lonelier Crowd? [New York Times]
Seeing Is Deceiving ‘”Once upon a time, Antonio J. Mendez, 59, a lifelong student of the “accumulation of millimeters” that form the human identity, could alter your appearance so profoundly that not even your mother could tell who you were.
Though his disguises often had to work only for a day, or an hour, or a split second, his audience could be extremely judgmental. A sloppy job could mean death.
Nine years ago, Mendez, the son of a Nevada copper miner, retired from the CIA after a quarter-century. He had worked his way up from the lowly forgery unit–bogus signatures, altered documents, counterfeit currency and the like–to become head of the espionage agency’s division of disguise, with a rank equal to that of a two-star general.
He created some of the CIA’s most elaborate, if little-known, productions–the ploys, skits, scams, masquerades and sleights of hand designed to dupe foreign agents and enemy surveillance teams. His specialty, he writes in a new memoir, “The Master of Disguise,” was “exfiltration,” wherein endangered persons are whisked away from bad guys and taken to safety.’
Astrobiology: on interplanetary biotic transfer.
Paul Davies (Imperial College London, UK) presents a
review of current ideas concerning the seeding from elsewhere of
life on Earth.
The latest issue, as always, of the Flummery Digest fires refreshing potshots — or at times withering blasts — at the absurdities of political correctness, excess regulation, and our litigation-proneness each month.
Slow Down: If your car sports a transponder for “Fast Lane” (MA), “EZ-Pass” (NY), or a similar automated toll collection system, read this. Apparently they are monitoring the speed with which you pass through the tollgates. It also occurs to me that they could determine from the time interval between your entry to and exit from the tollway whether your average speed exceeded the speed limit. [via CamWorld]
Seeing Is Deceiving ‘”Once upon a time, Antonio J. Mendez, 59, a lifelong student of the “accumulation of millimeters” that form the human identity, could alter your appearance so profoundly that not even your mother could tell who you were.
Though his disguises often had to work only for a day, or an hour, or a split second, his audience could be extremely judgmental. A sloppy job could mean death.
Nine years ago, Mendez, the son of a Nevada copper miner, retired from the CIA after a quarter-century. He had worked his way up from the lowly forgery unit–bogus signatures, altered documents, counterfeit currency and the like–to become head of the espionage agency’s division of disguise, with a rank equal to that of a two-star general.
He created some of the CIA’s most elaborate, if little-known, productions–the ploys, skits, scams, masquerades and sleights of hand designed to dupe foreign agents and enemy surveillance teams. His specialty, he writes in a new memoir, “The Master of Disguise,” was “exfiltration,” wherein endangered persons are whisked away from bad guys and taken to safety.’
Astrobiology: on interplanetary biotic transfer.
Paul Davies (Imperial College London, UK) presents a
review of current ideas concerning the seeding from elsewhere of
life on Earth.
The latest issue, as always, of the Flummery Digest fires refreshing potshots — or at times withering blasts — at the absurdities of political correctness, excess regulation, and our litigation-proneness each month.
Slow Down: If your car sports a transponder for “Fast Lane” (MA), “EZ-Pass” (NY), or a similar automated toll collection system, read this. Apparently they are monitoring the speed with which you pass through the tollgates. It also occurs to me that they could determine from the time interval between your entry to and exit from the tollway whether your average speed exceeded the speed limit. [via CamWorld]
Defend Your Medical Data: The ACLU is mounting a campaign for public comment on the national medical privacy regulations proposed in November 1999 by the Clinton Administration. A previous accumulation of over 2,400 comments solicited by the ACLU was refused by the Dept of HHS on a technicality.
The ACLU says that the current proposed regulations are a reasonable first step and that their position is to encourage the government to take them further. However, from my vantage points both as a health care provider and a concerned citizen, they sound like ominous and objectionable privacy erosion!
The regulations dismantle real legal barriers to law enforcement and government access to medical records. Law enforcement agents would obtain patient records with simple written demands to doctors, hospitals and insurance companies without the necessity for judicial review or the issuance of a warrant. A patient would receive no notice or opportunity to contest the demand. The failure to require patient consent to release of information erodes the bedrock principle that patients own their medical records and must authorize the disclosure of their medical information or if they so choose, decline to give access.
Police would be free to browse all computerized medical records to seek matches for blood, DNA or other health traits. The proposed regulations in essence facilitate the creation of a government health databank. Although the system may initially be established to support “functions authorized by law,” the regulations themselves state that “government data are notoriously susceptible to expansion and abuse.” A major concern is that patients, when faced with the realization that government agencies might have access to their medical history, would avoid needed treatment or lie about their history.
Other recent ACLU concerns include support for Senator Patrick Leahy’s proposed federal legislation to protect innocent people sentenced to death; and an initiative against racial profiling in traffic enforcement, the nationwide problem euphemistically referred to as being stopped for “driving while black.”
Defend Your Medical Data: The ACLU is mounting a campaign for public comment on the national medical privacy regulations proposed in November 1999 by the Clinton Administration. A previous accumulation of over 2,400 comments solicited by the ACLU was refused by the Dept of HHS on a technicality.
The ACLU says that the current proposed regulations are a reasonable first step and that their position is to encourage the government to take them further. However, from my vantage points both as a health care provider and a concerned citizen, they sound like ominous and objectionable privacy erosion!
The regulations dismantle real legal barriers to law enforcement and government access to medical records. Law enforcement agents would obtain patient records with simple written demands to doctors, hospitals and insurance companies without the necessity for judicial review or the issuance of a warrant. A patient would receive no notice or opportunity to contest the demand. The failure to require patient consent to release of information erodes the bedrock principle that patients own their medical records and must authorize the disclosure of their medical information or if they so choose, decline to give access.
Police would be free to browse all computerized medical records to seek matches for blood, DNA or other health traits. The proposed regulations in essence facilitate the creation of a government health databank. Although the system may initially be established to support “functions authorized by law,” the regulations themselves state that “government data are notoriously susceptible to expansion and abuse.” A major concern is that patients, when faced with the realization that government agencies might have access to their medical history, would avoid needed treatment or lie about their history.
Other recent ACLU concerns include support for Senator Patrick Leahy’s proposed federal legislation to protect innocent people sentenced to death; and an initiative against racial profiling in traffic enforcement, the nationwide problem euphemistically referred to as being stopped for “driving while black.”
February 13 is the 55th anniversary of the Valentine’s Day 1945 firebombing of Dresden Germany, one of the most ignominious and little-recognized moments of the Allied war effort. This was the single most destructive air raid in history, far surpassing the toll inflicted on Japan in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to come that August. At least 130,000 — some estimates place the figure as high as 300,000 — were killed when, in a three-day period, 3,400 tons of explosives & incendiaries were dropped, reducing six square miles of the city, famed for its artistic heritage and devoid of significance to the German war effort, to rubble. Many Allied officials were outraged–Germany was clearly on the verge of collapse, and the raids apppeared designed to inflict maximal civilian casualties on this city filled with refugees fleeing the advancing Soviet armies on the eastern front. It is far harder to argue in the German instance, as some do in countering antiwar revulsion about the use of the atomic bombs in Japan, that the attack was important to hastening the end of the war and may have saved lives. Kurt Vonnegut’s horror about Dresden apparently motivated the writing of Slaughterhouse-Five. On the other hand, the firebombing of Dresden has apparently become a rallying point for Holocaust deniers and other far right historical revisionists who focus on putative Allied war atrocities as “the real Holocaust of WWII”.
Today’s edition of The Daily Bleed, which I logged somewhere below, provides the above two links in its item about the Dresden anniversary. I have written to the listmaster asking him whether these links were included inadvertently or intentionally; if you’re interested, I’ll let you know how he responds.
February 13 is the 55th anniversary of the Valentine’s Day 1945 firebombing of Dresden Germany, one of the most ignominious and little-recognized moments of the Allied war effort. This was the single most destructive air raid in history, far surpassing the toll inflicted on Japan in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to come that August. At least 130,000 — some estimates place the figure as high as 300,000 — were killed when, in a three-day period, 3,400 tons of explosives & incendiaries were dropped, reducing six square miles of the city, famed for its artistic heritage and devoid of significance to the German war effort, to rubble. Many Allied officials were outraged–Germany was clearly on the verge of collapse, and the raids apppeared designed to inflict maximal civilian casualties on this city filled with refugees fleeing the advancing Soviet armies on the eastern front. It is far harder to argue in the German instance, as some do in countering antiwar revulsion about the use of the atomic bombs in Japan, that the attack was important to hastening the end of the war and may have saved lives. Kurt Vonnegut’s horror about Dresden apparently motivated the writing of Slaughterhouse-Five. On the other hand, the firebombing of Dresden has apparently become a rallying point for Holocaust deniers and other far right historical revisionists who focus on putative Allied war atrocities as “the real Holocaust of WWII”.
Today’s edition of The Daily Bleed, which I logged somewhere below, provides the above two links in its item about the Dresden anniversary. I have written to the listmaster asking him whether these links were included inadvertently or intentionally; if you’re interested, I’ll let you know how he responds.
Is Net Dyslexia a disease?
You’ve got to marvel at this elaborate and inventive joke.
Is Net Dyslexia a disease?
This idiotic poll claims to assess Americans’ attitudes on The Best/Worst Ways to Die. However, take a look at the way they constrain the question: “If you had to choose one of the following ways to die, which would you choose: drowning, fire, car accident, disease, gunshot,
plane crash, or other?” Most polltakers chose “other”.
N.Ireland Politicians Throw Down Gauntlets. Britain’s suspension of the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland leaves a power vacuum likely to be fertile ground for hardline extremists who might end cease-fires that would
completely spell the end of the hopes of the 1998 Good Friday pact.
The New York Times today reports that a State Dept. review found it unlikely that Gen. Pinochet’s Chilean junta would have gone ahead with the 1973 murders of two Americans, Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, without a nod from the CIA. The two were supporters of the overthrown socialist government of Salvador Allende. The Horman family’s search for information on the deaths was dramatized in the 1982 film “Missing” with Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon playing the parents of the missing American.
“At best, (the CIA) was limited to providing or confirming information that helped motivate his murder by the government of Chile. At
worst, U.S. intelligence was aware the government of Chile saw Horman in a rather serious light and U.S. officials did nothing to
discourage the logical outcome of government of Chile paranoia,” the Times report said. Facing pressure from Congress, the State Dept. ordered the review in 1976; it concluded that it was “difficult to believe” that Pinochet would have proceeded with the executions without U.S. encouragement that they would not have serious repercussions to U.S.-Chile relations. President Clinton ordered the declassification of the material after the 1998 arrest of Pinochet in London.The CIA continues to protest its innocence.
You’ve got to marvel at this elaborate and inventive joke.
This idiotic poll claims to assess Americans’ attitudes on The Best/Worst Ways to Die. However, take a look at the way they constrain the question: “If you had to choose one of the following ways to die, which would you choose: drowning, fire, car accident, disease, gunshot,
plane crash, or other?” Most polltakers chose “other”.
N.Ireland Politicians Throw Down Gauntlets. Britain’s suspension of the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland leaves a power vacuum likely to be fertile ground for hardline extremists who might end cease-fires that would
completely spell the end of the hopes of the 1998 Good Friday pact.
The New York Times today reports that a State Dept. review found it unlikely that Gen. Pinochet’s Chilean junta would have gone ahead with the 1973 murders of two Americans, Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi, without a nod from the CIA. The two were supporters of the overthrown socialist government of Salvador Allende. The Horman family’s search for information on the deaths was dramatized in the 1982 film “Missing” with Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon playing the parents of the missing American.
“At best, (the CIA) was limited to providing or confirming information that helped motivate his murder by the government of Chile. At
worst, U.S. intelligence was aware the government of Chile saw Horman in a rather serious light and U.S. officials did nothing to
discourage the logical outcome of government of Chile paranoia,” the Times report said. Facing pressure from Congress, the State Dept. ordered the review in 1976; it concluded that it was “difficult to believe” that Pinochet would have proceeded with the executions without U.S. encouragement that they would not have serious repercussions to U.S.-Chile relations. President Clinton ordered the declassification of the material after the 1998 arrest of Pinochet in London.The CIA continues to protest its innocence.
On this date in 1963, Sylvia Plath died, a suicide, in London, age 30, on her third attempt.
Dying
is an art like everything else.
I do it exceptionally well.
I do it so it feels like hell.
— “Lady Lazarus” (1962)
On this date in 1963, Sylvia Plath died, a suicide, in London, age 30, on her third attempt.
Dying
is an art like everything else.
I do it exceptionally well.
I do it so it feels like hell.
— “Lady Lazarus” (1962)
Man Charged in Decade-Long Abduction Case
“A Japanese man alleged to have abducted a schoolgirl and hidden her in his room for almost a decade in the home
he shared with his mother was arrested on Friday, police said.”
Man Charged in Decade-Long Abduction Case
“A Japanese man alleged to have abducted a schoolgirl and hidden her in his room for almost a decade in the home
he shared with his mother was arrested on Friday, police said.”
A new issue of the Center for Disease Control’s Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, which tracks new and reemerging infectious diseases worldwide, is available on the web. Current topics include coccidioidomycosis, Norwalk-like calcivirus infection, TB, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis.
Michael, we never knew you wanted to be a stand-up comic too:
“Robert Downey Jr. is the finest actor of his generation. He can do anything and we hopefully will have him around for a long time to come.” — actor Michael Douglas, on his “Wonder Boys” co-star Robert Downey Jr., who is serving time for using drugs in violation of his probation.
Daughter probes Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: A new documentary by his daughter is a career tribute to the semi-obscure legendary folksinger and one-time protege of Woody Guthrie. ‘Interviewee Kris Kristofferson tells her, “I never met anyone who was so enchanting on subjects I didn’t give a damn about.” Indeed,
Elliott is delightful company: a master at spinning tales, killing time, even doing drop-dead parodies of musical styles he doesn’t fancy.
But pic does arrive at a wistful half-catharsis when Jack, cornered at last by his exasperated daughter, confesses they’ll “never uncork
the secret” of why he’s been a less-than-ideal father. He is what he is: a rambler, albeit a marginally more settled one these days,
based in Northern California…, buoyed by belated accolades, including a ’95 Grammy for his first
recording in 20 years, and a ’98 National Medal of the Arts handed over by President Clinton himself.’
United Colors of Sleaze and Exploitation: ‘Missouri’s attorney general has sued Italian clothing maker Benetton for alleged fraudulent
misrepresentation in gaining access to four American death row inmates who later appeared in the company’s ad campaign.
Attorney General Jay Nixon said that when prison authorities in Potosi, Missouri, granted permission they were told that Benetton’s
“We, On Death Row” project was sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and that interviews done with
the inmates were intended for an article for Newsweek magazine.
“Instead, we find out that the project is a part of a Benetton advertising campaign, and the photographs and interviews are being
used in an ad campaign that includes billboards, videos and a 90-page supplement to be distributed nationwide in magazines,” Nixon
said.’
Do you know somebody on a protease inhibitor who needs to know this information immediately?
“One of the most commonly used herbal remedies, St. John’s wort,
substantially reduces blood levels of the HIV-fighting drug indinavir, and may cause treatment failure in
some HIV-infected patients, US researchers report.” [Reuters]
Nelson Mandela celebrates the 10th anniversary of his release from 27 years of political imprisonment by the U.S.-backed South African apartheid regime for “high treason” .
>
Unveiling a plaque at a new monument in Mvezo, part of rural Transkei, where he was born July 18, 1918, the son of a chief’s adviser. (photo: Juda Ngwenya/Reuters)
A new issue of the Center for Disease Control’s Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, which tracks new and reemerging infectious diseases worldwide, is available on the web. Current topics include coccidioidomycosis, Norwalk-like calcivirus infection, TB, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis.
Michael, we never knew you wanted to be a stand-up comic too:
“Robert Downey Jr. is the finest actor of his generation. He can do anything and we hopefully will have him around for a long time to come.” — actor Michael Douglas, on his “Wonder Boys” co-star Robert Downey Jr., who is serving time for using drugs in violation of his probation.
Daughter probes Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: A new documentary by his daughter is a career tribute to the semi-obscure legendary folksinger and one-time protege of Woody Guthrie. ‘Interviewee Kris Kristofferson tells her, “I never met anyone who was so enchanting on subjects I didn’t give a damn about.” Indeed,
Elliott is delightful company: a master at spinning tales, killing time, even doing drop-dead parodies of musical styles he doesn’t fancy.
But pic does arrive at a wistful half-catharsis when Jack, cornered at last by his exasperated daughter, confesses they’ll “never uncork
the secret” of why he’s been a less-than-ideal father. He is what he is: a rambler, albeit a marginally more settled one these days,
based in Northern California…, buoyed by belated accolades, including a ’95 Grammy for his first
recording in 20 years, and a ’98 National Medal of the Arts handed over by President Clinton himself.’
United Colors of Sleaze and Exploitation: ‘Missouri’s attorney general has sued Italian clothing maker Benetton for alleged fraudulent
misrepresentation in gaining access to four American death row inmates who later appeared in the company’s ad campaign.
Attorney General Jay Nixon said that when prison authorities in Potosi, Missouri, granted permission they were told that Benetton’s
“We, On Death Row” project was sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and that interviews done with
the inmates were intended for an article for Newsweek magazine.
“Instead, we find out that the project is a part of a Benetton advertising campaign, and the photographs and interviews are being
used in an ad campaign that includes billboards, videos and a 90-page supplement to be distributed nationwide in magazines,” Nixon
said.’
