Discovery of ‘tidal giant’–a new Egyptian dinosaur–reported in Science. ‘The partial skeleton of a massive sauropod dinosaur, unearthed at an Egyptian site that its discoverers call “dinosaur heaven,” makes its
debut in the 1 June issue of the international journal Science. Dubbed Paralititan stromeri, the dinosaur is one of the largest ever discovered
from the Cretaceous period (about 146 to 65 million years ago) in Africa, and may be the second most massive dinosaur ever found.’ EurekAlert!
The Irony Scare: “how did a literary device become a public enemy?” The New Republic
The left should love globalisation: ‘Opponents of globalisation may have finally met their
match. The challenge comes not from the sharp suits of the
World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary
Fund, the World Bank, or even from Clare Short, but from a
middle-aged academic who is no stranger to direct-action
techniques. He is the man accused of leading the Italian
revolutionary left in the 1970s: Antonio Negri. Thirty-odd
years after he achieved notoriety in the student revolts of
1968, his new book, Empire (published by Harvard
University Press), has been hailed as “a communist manifesto
for our times”. It is a riposte both to the Jeremiahs on the
left who see globalisation as an unalloyed evil and to the
fatalists of the right who see it as a fait accompli that we
are powerless to change.’ New Statesman
A dermatologist writes: “(The skin disease) Tinea imbricata has an ornate appearance, but its precise distribution has been poorly defined
Clinical diagnosis based on appearance of their diseased skin is that Gungan inhabitants of the planet Naboo are infected with tinea
imbricata.
Indirect evidence suggests that Gungans have had contact with human populations who have this fungal infection
The occurrence of tinea imbricata in Gungans may help answer questions about extraterrestrial interventions in human affairs. ” British Medical Journal
A banner day for neo-Nazis: “Hatewatch, the website that monitored the proliferation
of hate sites on the internet, closed last month claiming that it
had outlived its usefulness. … (But) hate groups are increasingly turning to
newsgroups and email.” Salon
“Maybe what depresses human beings is not the great roar and thrust of history, but the very opposite: its absence.” A generation without a cause: “This week, I’ve come across at least three references in the news to increased levels of depression and anxiety in young
adults. To wit: It is being reported the level of depression and other psychiatric disorders has risen in every group of 18- to
24-year-old Americans — one generation to the next — since the Second World War.
I expect you’ll be hearing more about this as two new books make the rounds. Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life
in Your Twenties by New York journalists Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner, describes the aimlessness and anxiety of this
generation of college graduates. The Myth of Maturity, an excellent book by Cambridge sociologist Terri Apter, approaches the
same subject from a more scholarly vantage point, arguing on the basis of careful study that young adults are remaining caught
in a twilight of adolescence, unable to transform their relationships into marriages and their jobs into careers.” The National Post
The sizzling sleepers of summer: “As the mainstream press promotes The Mummy Returns, Pearl Harbor and the other vacuous, shrieking offspring from its
news-tainment corporate parents, a more skeptical part of the audience has quietly been taking in more adventurous sorts of films. Below, Salon’s
critics take a look (in some cases a second look) at the season’s most compelling, if less hyped, films…”
The Pursuit of Happiness: “Lithium helped Fiona Campbell cope with her
childhood traumas, but she says, the drug brings its
own problems.” The problems are worse, or at least the price less worth paying, if as with this author the lithium recipient does not have frank bipolar (manic depressive) illness. The Guardian
Review of Warrior Lovers: erotic fiction, evolution and female sexuality: “Did Starsky have a thing for Hutch? Was Kirk in love with Spock? What if Bodie got it on with Doyle? These
unlikely plots are standard in a cult literary phenomenon known as ‘slash literature’: a genre of romance fiction
that pairs heterosexual characters from television and film in fantasy romantic relationships. (The term ‘slash’
refers to the punctuation mark — Starsky/Hutch — that unites the lovers.)
In Warrior Lovers, Catherine Salmon, an evolutionary psychologist and slash author, and Donald Symons, a
world expert on the evolution of sexuality, place ‘slash’ in the context of our evolved sexual psychology… Sticking close to the science, Catherine and Donald argue that slash provides a unique insight into human
sexuality. By comparing slash with mainstream romance, they reveal the essential ingredients of women’s
sexual fantasies. The ideal is a relationship in which the man does not lose interest as the woman’s looks
fade. Instead the relationship is a lifelong, shared adventure with a committed equal, based not on ephemeral
lust, but on enduring loyalty and trust.” AlphaGalileo
Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day points to a mind-boggling cosmological event clear across the universe. “Last March, telescopic instruments in Earth and space tracked a tremendous explosion that occurred across the universe. A nearly
unprecedented symphony of international observations began abruptly on 2000 March 1 when Earth-orbiting RXTE, Sun-orbiting Ulysses, and
asteroid-orbiting NEAR all detected a 10-second burst of high-frequency gamma radiation. … Major telescopes across the globe soon began playing along as GRB 000301C came into view, detailing unusual behavior. The Hubble
Space Telescope captured the above image and was the first to obtain an accurate distance to the explosion, placing it near redshift 2, most of the way
across the visible universe… Even today, no one is sure what type of explosion
this was. Unusual features of the light curve are still being studied, and no host galaxy appears near the position of this explosion.”
David Anderson at Metaforage wrote me that a source of his at NASA says the explosion has finally been identified. It was Trent Lott’s reaction to the news that Jim Jeffords was leaving the G.O.P.
The NPR show Marketplace has generated a simple weekly rating of our collective, subjective economic experience by polling “people-components” in various regions and endeavors. This week’s R.E.A.L. Index is 7 on a scale of 1-10.
The Boston Globe resident hi-tech weblogger DC Denison writes about the hippest hangout in my hometown; I’d never heard of it:
“The Rack, that upscale pool hall/celebrity jock hang-out next to Faneuil
Hall Marketplace, is not where I’d normally look for the latest in wireless
technology. But now that I’m here, at 7 p.m. on a weeknight, the idea is
starting to make more sense.This place is an epicenter of electronic cacophony and techno tack (stuff
that you can do technologically, but probably shouldn’t). Sports highlights
are looping on video screens, a closed-circuit TV is pumping out an
in-house channel, a Fox TV sports kiosk is waiting to capture “fan
comments,” an Internet web cam is scanning the premises, and off in a
corner a band is covering Jimmy Buffett tunes. Oh yeah, and many of the
black-clad denizens have cellphones pressed very tightly to their heads,
trying to communicate over the din. This place is electro-diversion,
short-attention-span heaven (or hell depending on your view on info
overload.)
His point in blinking to The Rack is to talk about its innovative use of handhelds:
But wait, there’s more! Last week the club shoe-horned in a fleet of small
electronic gadgets: Touchpak hand-held wireless entertainment units,
which are intended to divert and entertain customers while they are waiting
for tables: pool or dining. I picked one up from a hostess just inside the
door.A Touchpak turns out to be a standard PDA, a Compaq iPaq, customized
and loaded up with news, sports, movie clips, shopping sites, and tiny
little ads. Here’s where it intersects with Rack-land: it alerts you when
your table is ready. So it’s a beefier version of the pagers many
restaurants use.And here’s the tech angle: Touchpak uses wireless LAN technology,
which means there’s now an antenna on the roof of The Rack that allows
the restaurant to communicate with the devices in a confined area
(basically the restaurant and the outdoor patio). Because it’s a closed
system, the bandwidth can be much higher, allowing the streaming of
movie trailers, for example.For ten minutes or so, I impersonated an anxious patron waiting for a table
and used my unit to navigated between Reuters news, sports, and The
Rack’s menu (eventually The Rack hopes to allow patrons to order from
these units). It was mildly diverting, another option piled on to The Rack’s
squawking collection of electronic boxes.Note to the criminally minded: The Rack feels reasonably protected from
your larcenous inclinations. First, patrons are asked to leave a credit card
or driver’s license as a kind of deposit. Second, a tracking device sounds
an alarm, and notifies security, when a device gets too close to an exit.
Third, Touchpak is working on a system that will permanently disable
these devices when they are outside the network.”
The Rack’s site has a webcam where the curious can remotely check out the ambience during open hours. [The closest I’m ever likely to get to such a with-it place…]
How do you stack up against Nielsen’s stats on average activity by a web user in April 2001?
Popular Thyroid Drug Faces Deadline. In bizarre FDA news, the manufacturer of the drug Synthroid, which has been used for at least 35 years to treat hypothyroidism, has to file a new drug application and provide proof of efficacy and safety because its active ingredient levothyroxine has never been formally approved for use. AP
New Study Sees U.S. AIDS Rates Jump. On the twentieth anniversary of the Centers for Disease Control’s recognition of the new epidemic, a new government survey suggests that a new generation of gay men numbed by incessant AIDS warnings are contracting it “at alarming rates”. AP
Turn Buried Bodies Into Organic Soil – Scientist. “A Swedish scientist investigating the most
environmentally friendly form of burial has found a way of quickly
recycling corpses into soil enricher, the Swedish daily Svenska
Dagbladet reported on Friday.
The new green method, approved by the Church of Sweden, turns
the human body into organic matter in a few weeks compared with
coffin burial, in which the body takes between 50 and 60 years to
decompose.
It was developed by biologist Susanne Wiigh-Masak, who found that
cremation emits poisonous gases with unknown effects, making it even
less eco-friendly than conventional burial.
In the new green method, the body is immersed in a bath of liquid
nitrogen, producing up to 65 pounds of pure organic matter, which is
put into a thin, easily degradable coffin.
This is then buried near the ground surface and enriches the soil in the
same way as autumn leaves.”
“I bequeathed myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles….”
– Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass)
Is Astrology Sociology? 63-year-old French astrology columnist and astrologer to French president Mitterrand has just earned a PhD in sociology at the Sorbonne after successfully defending her controversial 900-page dissertation “The Epistemological Situation of Astrology in
Relation to the Ambivalent Fascination/Rejection of Postmodern Societies”. The news has set off a front-page storm of protest in France between academics concerned about shoddy scholarship and those who feel a maverick discipline is being scapegoated, “… between the followers of Émile Durkheim and followers of Weber. Or, to put it
another way, between positivists who rely on quantitative techniques and
objective measures when assessing social life and phenomenologists who attach
greater importance to subjective experience and emotion. ” New York Times
Scientists View New Wave of Cancer Drugs; “long-awaited payoff from decades of research into the molecular biology of cancer.” New York Times
Happy birthday, Johnny Weissmuller (06/02/04-01/22/84)
Bizarre Versions of How Nepal Royals Died: “Though the streets of Kathmandu were mostly calm, there were
occasional protests against official explanations for the massacre, first
blamed on the crown prince himself and then on an automatic
weapon exploding by accident.
‘According to the information received by us, they were injured
when an automatic weapon suddenly exploded,’ state radio
announced Sunday…. The radio announcement replaced an earlier explanation given by
officials that Crown Prince Dipendra had shot his parents and then
himself in what media reports described as a row over his choice of
bride.
The 29-year-old prince, declared king by the Himalayan country’s
privy council Saturday, was still critically ill on Sunday, the radio said.
His uncle, Prince Gyandendra, named regent since the new king was
in a coma, also issued a statement suggesting the massacre was the
result of an automatic weapon going off by accident. He was out of
town at the time of the killings.” Reuters
To the citizens of the United States:
In the light of your failure to elect a President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Then look up “aluminium” . Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up “vocabulary”.
Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up “interspersed” .2. There is no such thing as “US English” . We will let Microsoft know on your behalf.
3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn’t that hard.
4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys.
5. You should relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen, but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.
6. You should stop playing American football. There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American football is not a very good game.
The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays American” football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football.
Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game.Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005.
7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 98.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. Merde is French for “shit”.
8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 8th will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called Indecisive Day.
9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
10. Please tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us crazy.
Thank you for your cooperation.
To the citizens of the United States:
In the light of your failure to elect a President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Then look up “aluminium” . Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up “vocabulary”.
Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up “interspersed” .2. There is no such thing as “US English” . We will let Microsoft know on your behalf.
3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn’t that hard.
4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys.
5. You should relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen, but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.
6. You should stop playing American football. There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American football is not a very good game.
The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays American” football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football.
Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game.Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005.
7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 98.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. Merde is French for “shit”.
8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 8th will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called Indecisive Day.
9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
10. Please tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us crazy.
Thank you for your cooperation.
To the citizens of the United States:
In the light of your failure to elect a President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Then look up “aluminium” . Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up “vocabulary”.
Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up “interspersed” .2. There is no such thing as “US English” . We will let Microsoft know on your behalf.
3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn’t that hard.
4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys.
5. You should relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen, but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.
6. You should stop playing American football. There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American football is not a very good game.
The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays American” football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football.
Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game.Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005.
7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 98.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. Merde is French for “shit”.
8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 8th will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called Indecisive Day.
9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
10. Please tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us crazy.
Thank you for your cooperation.
The 13 Scariest White Guys in America. Don Hazen: ” The bully is back in American politics. Intimidation, dismissal of
majority opinion, denial of scientific facts and aggressive scapegoating —
these tactics have once again taken center stage. Blatant propaganda
feeds fear and distrust, and the powerful and the privileged wallow in
the spoils.” AlterNet
To the citizens of the United States:
In the light of your failure to elect a President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today.
Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchial duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, MP for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a minister for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.
To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Then look up “aluminium” . Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up “vocabulary”.
Using the same twenty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up “interspersed” .2. There is no such thing as “US English” . We will let Microsoft know on your behalf.
3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn’t that hard.
4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys.
5. You should relearn your original national anthem, God Save The Queen, but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.
6. You should stop playing American football. There is only one kind of football. What you refer to as American football is not a very good game.
The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays American” football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football.
Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game.Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). We are hoping to get together at least a US rugby sevens side by 2005.
7. You should declare war on Quebec and France, using nuclear weapons if they give you any merde. The 98.85% of you who were not aware that there is a world outside your borders should count yourselves lucky. The Russians have never been the bad guys. Merde is French for “shit”.
8. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 8th will be a new national holiday, but only in England. It will be called Indecisive Day.
9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.
10. Please tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us crazy.
Thank you for your cooperation.
“Girl pressures. Mafia beefs. High blood pressure. A difficult boss. Listen to what’s bugging two real-life New York gangsters in these secret FBI wiretaps. The ‘Frank & Fritzy Show’ is the inaugural series on The Wiretap Network, with a new episode every week. Great solution for your end-of-season Sopranos jones.
Bad Heir Day. In a New York Times op-ed piece, Paul Krugman calls the Bush tax plan “bizarre”, “weird”, “a joke. But if the administration has its way, the joke is on
us. For the bill is absurd by design. The administration, knowing that its tax cut
wouldn’t fit into any responsible budget, pushed through a bill that contains the
things it wanted most — big tax cuts for the very, very rich — and used
whatever accounting gimmicks it could find to make the overall budget impact
seem smaller than it is. The idea is that when the absurdities become apparent —
when mobs of angry junior vice presidents from New Jersey start demonstrating
against the A.M.T., or when elderly multimillionaires develop a suspiciously high
rate of fatal accidents — Congress will always respond with further tax cuts. And
if the result of all those tax cuts is to prevent the government from ever providing
the things Mr. Bush promised during the campaign, like prescription drug
coverage under Medicare or increased aid to education — well, that was also
part of the plan.”
Many in G.O.P. Remain Bullish in Face of Senate Loss: “Confronting the loss of the first
all-Republican government in nearly 50
years, after a scant four months in power,
many conservatives profess to be
undaunted… Conservatives have concluded that it is Mr. Jeffords who is to blame for the
sudden Senate power shift, not them — an argument that Mr. Lott was more than
happy to embrace on his own behalf.” New York Times Mr. Lott even admits he included Jeffords in the ‘Singing Senators’ barbershop quartet to “keep (him) feeling like he was part of the family.” [the ingrate!] And Joe Conason: Ready for Slime Time:Critics Slander
Jeffords. “These conservatives, who in previous years have welcomed every Democratic
turncoat with glee and gloating, didn’t notice how ridiculous they sounded when
they suddenly began to wail about the treachery of the Jeffords move. Nor did they
seem to realize that by spraying him with venom, they might gradually push other
moderate Republicans toward a similar crisis… Mr. Jeffords was well aware that his decision would rupture old
friendships, as he regretfully predicted the other day. After observing how his
party’s enforcers treated the Clintons and anyone else who got in their way in
recent years, he may well have anticipated the treatment he’s getting now.” New York Observer Jeffords receives death threats after party switch, accompanied by plainclothes Capitol Police since his announcement. USAToday
And good ol’ Molly Ivins says in The Nation: “When Texas sent the nation Billy Bob Forehead for President, we did, in fact, try to
warn y’all about (Karl) Rove. He not only goes after Democrats, his record of attacking
Republicans who cross him is equally distinguished. Rumor and slur campaigns are
among his favorite methods. He started using dirty tricks when he was with the College
Republicans and has since been linked to the rumors that Ann Richards is a lesbian (a
perennial for any woman in politics), that John McCain is crazy as a result of his years in
prison camp and several other notable doozies. The campaign against McCain in South
Carolina during the primaries was a Rove classic. McCain was simultaneously rumored
to be gay and a tomcat who cheats on his wife, who in turn was rumored to be a drug
addict. The news that McCain has a black daughter (adopted from Bangladesh) was
spread judiciously under the radar of the national media. Anonymous leaflets put under
the windshield wipers of cars parked at white fundamentalist churches on Sunday are
good for this purpose, as are certain radio call-in shows.”
McCain is Considering Leaving the G.O.P. Trying to build a centrist wing of the Republicans, in a widening rift with the President’s faction, and privately meeting last weekend with at least three prominent Democrats about defecting. Washington Post
FTC’s guide to identity theft [PDF download; via Red Rock Eaters]
John Shirley: along came George W: “And when I was a kid, the movie The Fly, with Vincent Price, truly horrified
me. Especially the part where the little half-fly/half-man was caught in a
spider’s web screaming, “Help me, help meeeee!” as the spider crept closer.
Gave me nightmares. And—I admit it, me a horror writer—that’s why I never
saw the Cronenborg remake.” Spark Here’s John Shirley’s web site.
Clone Snafu Suspected: ” Scientists say they’ve found a reason why cloned animals sometimes drop dead or grow huge before
their time.
The paper, published in the June issue of Nature Genetics, suggests that “DNA imprinting” — a process
that the embryo’s genes go through in the early stages of sexual reproduction — goes haywire in cloned
animals.
One critic is giving the study the thumbs down, saying it was designed poorly and that it causes more
confusion than anything.” Wired
“A woman aged 62 has given birth to a
baby boy in France and may face court action for undergoing a
fertility treatment available in neighboring Italy and England but
banned under local laws.” Mother and child are doing well. Reuters
Winning entries in The Guardian‘s SMS (short messaging system) poetry contest.
Birds sing a new tune in wireless era: “Danish ornithologists say that birds, especially Starlings, have begun incorporating the sound
of a ringing cellular phone into their own songs. So far, reports of wireless warbling have been
restricted to Copenhagen, where birds seem to favor Nokia’s classic ring tone.” CNet
Top 10s: The Guardian‘s omnibus collection of authors’ quirky lists of recommended books in various categories.
Japanese scientists report optical transistor. New Scientist
Stop demonizing cell phones! ‘A car swerves into your lane. When you see the driver is talking on a
cellular phone you shout, “Those #$@!&! things oughtta be banned!” But let’s not stop
there. If you look at what people do on cell phones, you’ll see that banning the phones is
only the beginning–there’s a lot more we should get rid of.’ ZDNet
Stones that could be Britain’s pyramids: ‘The history books tell us how the Romans brought civilisation to
the barbarians of Britain.
But yesterday an archaeologist turned that long-held belief
upside down by claiming that the ancient people of these
islands were far more advanced than any of the early
Mediterranean cultures…
“There was no great movement of peoples towards the Atlantic,
because they were already there,” he told the Hay-on-Wye book
festival yesterday. “Only recently have we begun to discover that
these people were far more advanced than those around the
Mediterranean. We have underestimated dramatically the
complexity of these people.” ‘ The Guardian
‘Defective brain’ causes impulsive acts. The BBC bills it this way: “Scientists at Cambridge University believe they
have discovered the part of the brain
associated with impulsive behaviour.” The nucleus accumbens doesn’t function properly, as evidenced on fMRI scans, in extremely impulsive people who “can’t help it.” Rats which underwent n. accumbens lesioning were unable to delay gratification. The BBC article concludes that this is evidence of a “strong biological and, therefore, genetic basis to impulsive behavior.” Extremely reductionistic and misleading reasoning. To start simple, biological does not equal genetically based. The rats’ injuries were biological but acquired, not inherited.Organic injury, especially to frontal lobe structures, often causes impulsivity; most neurobehavioral conditions causing dyscontrol are acquired but not inherited. ADHD may have a heritable component but it’s not clear if it is primarily an impulse disorder, or if it’s even one homogeneous disorder at all. I’ve been studying, treating and writing aabout adult ADHD for more than a decade and I don’t believe it is. Don’t get me started on the absurdities of the current ADHD bandwagon fad!
Doubtlessly it is not a single small structure but the concerted action of many frontal structures that helps us with being planful, maintaining set, inhibiting urges, and deferring gratification, all parts of the complex human capacity for “impulse control.”
Are readers aware that clicking on the 
icon at the end of any post can start a fertile, intelligent, enlivening and enlightening discussion on that post on the FmH mailing list?
The intolerable truth of genetic inequality: “In free Western democracies today there
are certain ideas which are so explosive that
even to acknowledge their existence
publicly is to incur the most savage penalty
from the reigning liberal establishment. You
will be labelled a bigot, a racist, a sexist, a
fascist or in some way be demonised as
intolerant. Henceforth you will have no credibility. Nothing you say will be listened
to.
You will cease to exist in current debate, except in the ridiculed fringe. Your
persecutors will be the people who most preach tolerance. Yet they are the most
intolerant of all.
In a way that is what happened to American social scientist Charles Murray after
he wrote his controversial 1994 book which linked race and IQ, The Bell Curve:
Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life. Sydney Morning Herald
“A British eating disorder organisation was today warning women
about the dangers of visiting pro-anorexia Websites and chatrooms. These corners of cyberspace are filled with people who are aware
that they have eating disorders, but see it as a positive way to live
their lives.
Many refer to themselves as ‘pro-Anna’, and swap tips on how to
starve themselves and how to hide the obsession from others.
The sites and chatrooms are often littered with pictures of terrifyingly
skinny women.
They also include photos of celebs such as Ally McBeal star Calista
Flockhart and model Kate Moss.” The Register
“When we got the first shipment we
weren’t sure that it had arrived. The worker who unpacked it
said we’d got the packaging but not the things inside.” Invisible toy doll makes money out of thin air. “The US company behind action figure Invisible Jim says it
encourages children to use their imaginations and doesn’t
take up any space.” Ananova
‘What is 666: The Mark of the Beast? Can a Christian take the 666: The Mark of the Beast? Is “www” equal to “666” in Hebrew? Can someone “innocently” or “accidently” receive 666: the Mark of the Beast? What if I “innocently” take a debit card, credit card, a vaccine, smart-card, or
biochip and it turns out to be — 666: The Mark of the Beast? Is the biochip implant The Mark of the Beast? What about barcodes and 666: The Mark of the Beast? Do barcodes really have the number 666 “hidden” in them?’
Missing in Action: what happened to the men of the 364th? “The story, whispered around Centreville, Mississippi since World
War II, goes like this: Members of the 364th (Negro) Infantry
Regiment were killed at Camp Van Dorn to silence their
relentless–and sometimes violent–demands for equality in a
segregated Army. Some swear they witnessed the shoot-out or
events that led to a shoot-out or its aftermath. Some say the
casualties were many, others say just a few. Some testimony
claims to be first-hand, much is just hearsay.” In These Times [I certainly don’t know if this is true, but if you don’t think it’s plausible, that’s another story.]
Blogging as a Form of Journalism: “Weblogs offer a vital, creative outlet for alternative voices” USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review
“Once I noticed I was on fire, I decided to relax and enjoy the fall.” Matthew Rossi’s back, finally.
Stressed Out? Bad Knee? Try a Sip of These Juices As if you didn’t know it, the juice drinks with the herbal additives with which you’ll quench your thirst this summer come from the big beverage companies and are probably no healthier than Coke or Pepsi, except insofar as they inflate your self-righteousness when you drink them. And when pressed about the veracity of the health-promoting claims they make for them, the beverage companies say things like “We don’t claim that,
it’s just a playful theme.”
For all you pious vampire fans — recognize the actor? [via MetaScene]
I can’t believe it. I finally got one of those scam letters we’re always warned about!
Subject: Investment Pact
Greetings,
It is with strict confidence and trust that I wish to contact you seeking for your assistance to help
as regards an investment opportunity. I sincerely hope that this letter will not come as a surprise to
you, or cause you any embarrassment since we neither knew each other before, nor have had any
previous contact or correspondence. I would appreciate your benevolence in giving this matter the
much-needed attention as I am presently in a difficult situation and need your assistance and
guidance urgently.I am Mrs. Ndaye Banya, wife of Maj. Timothy Banya, the former commander and head of the
Secret Unit in charge of Diamond dealing for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) of Sierra-
Leone. My husband was formerly working directly with the former Rebel Leader Mr. Foday
Sankoh who is presently in government custody. The government intends trying Mr. Sankoh for
illegal diamond dealing and especially for the killing of 21 people during a public demonstration
outside his home in May last year which subsequently lead to this arrest. As the situation is, my
husband is very much likely to be prosecuted alongside for activities in the diamond mining.The RUF is now headed by Gen. Issa Sesay who is determined in bringing peace to Sierra Leone,
he signed a cease-fire agreement with the government on Friday 10th Nov., 2000 and instructed
that peace must returned to our fatherland after nine-years conflict, pledging to allow U.N. troops
unhindered access throughout Sierra-Leone. My fear is that the government will try Mr. Sankoh
and that my husband may also be prosecuted alongside and our assets may be confiscated. Also all
accounts abroad and locally traceable to our name and families may also be frozen given the
circumstances.In view of this development, I was initially trapped with about US$20,000,000.00 (Twenty Million
United States Dollars) that is in cash in boxed containers. Through the assistance of my proxy in
collaboration with a set of Diplomats, I was able to move to this consignment out of Sierra Leone
to a Security Firm in a neighboring West African country. The money is kept and lodged in a
security vault under the auspices of the Security in a crate marked antique. For the time being it is
safe and content undisclosed.All I want you to do is to receive the said amount in your name and invest it on my behalf while
maintaining my anonymity in whatever business endeavour you decide undertaking. My situation is
very desperate, as I cannot leave Sierra Leone because of the house arrest I am under.In the light of above, I am soliciting your assistance and partnership to move this money out of the
Security Firm as both of us can make a fortune. I would require your assistance in terms of logistics
and materials to enhance the movement of the consignment from the Firm in question. Therefore,
contact me immediately, if you are able and interested in assisting me in this endeavour preferably
using my alternative email address at ncbanyand@email.com, as soon as possible.Thanks for your anticipated understanding and assistance.
Yours faithfully,
MRS. N. BANYA
Email: ncbanyand@email.com
A Note:
Each generation must out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it. (Frantz
Fanon)
I intend to send an encouraging reply; I’ll share any further correspondence from “her” with you. You could write her with excitement, saying you just heard about the fantastic investment opportunity she offered an acquaintance of yours and you wanted to get in on the action. I won’t mind that you violated her “strictest confidence”, honest.
Owning the Future: Looting the Library:
” As we plunge
into the digital realm, the nation’s 16,000 public libraries are
striving to uphold their tradition as protectors of public access to
new books and articles. But publishers, in an increasingly bald,
frontal assault on the library’s mission, have something very
different in mind: a pay-per-use model for information content
that will largely shut libraries out.The battle is being waged on many fronts, from legislative
initiatives and lawsuits to the publishing industry’s unilateral
pursuit of copy-protection technologies that will keep
users—including libraries—from sharing digital content.”
Pat Schroeder, in a former life a distinguished progressive Congressional representative from Colorado and now chief lobbyist for the publishing industry, “has been quoted as saying that
publishers have to ‘learn to push back’ against libraries, which
she portrays as an organized band of pirates!” Technology Review And: The science world is in revolt at power of the journal owners: “Scientists around the world are in revolt against moves by a
powerful group of private corporations to lock decades of publicly
funded western scientific research into expensive,
subscription-only electronic databases.” The Guardian
The Quest for Justice: Aryeh Neier’s essay reviews a number of books on war crimes tribunals, the truth-and-reconciliation commission model, and the modern problem of making a people think about their responsibility for the atrocities committed in their name. New York Review of Books
Corporate anthropology: Dirt-free research. I studied cultural anthropology as an undergraduate. Money wasn’t the reason I didn’t go into the field, but it could have been; job prospects in anthropology never extended far beyond the campus — except to things like an uneasy marriage to oil companies consulting on how to exploit indigenous people’s land rights in “culturally sensitive” ways. But now it appears anthropology has successfully, comfortably reinvented itself as a tool of the domestic corporate economy. CNN
A Brief History of SPAM®, and Spam: ‘In a policy statement on SPAM® and the Internet posted on its website, Hormel now
says that it “does not object” to use of the slang term “spam” to describe unsolicited
commercial e-mail.
Instead, the company asks only that people writing specifically about square, canned
pork follow a set of trademark guidelines.’ Wired
“You have to be courageous to publicly criticize the Church
of Scientology. The organization recently proved — again
— how far it will go to investigate, smear and intimidate
critics… Scientology claims that it has reformed
and says it should be treated like any
other church. But the Jesse Prince case
and others continue to set this church
apart.” St. Petersburg Times
State of the Art: Zeroing In on Wristwear New York Times
Bush Is Putting Team in Place for a Full-Bore Assault on Regulation. Not just in the areas of the environment and energy, but everywhere. Among other tidbits in this article is news of a Harvard professor tapped by Shrub as an appointee for a major regulatory post (whose research on risks is a favorite of big business) who believes low-level dioxin exposure is good for you. At first glance, this anti-regulatory gobbledegook might sound appealing to those of you readers who are of the libertarian persuasion, but is the corporate terrorism against our environment, our pockets and our bodies really the price you want to pay for illusory relief from government tyranny? I was pointed to this article, by the way, by Phil Agre’s Red Rock Eater Digest mailing list. Phil has started to see the new president as a four-letter word; I notice he’s begun to refer to him as “B—.”
Chinese President Jiang Zemin has also had some recent harsh words for Li’l George, says CNN. ‘Jiang is said to have called Bush
“logically unsound; confused and
unprincipled; unwise to the extreme,”
at a high level internal Communist
Party meeting. ‘ And let’s not forget the simple classical epithet, liar: Washington Post or New York Times.
Bush Is Putting Team in Place for a Full-Bore Assault on Regulation. Not just in the areas of the environment and energy, but everywhere. Among other tidbits in this article is news of a Harvard professor tapped by Shrub as an appointee for a major regulatory post (whose research on risks is a favorite of big business) who believes low-level dioxin exposure is good for you. At first glance, this anti-regulatory gobbledegook might sound appealing to those of you readers who are of the libertarian persuasion, but is the corporate terrorism against our environment, our pockets and our bodies really the price you want to pay for illusory relief from government tyranny? I was pointed to this article, by the way, by Phil Agre’s Red Rock Eater Digest mailing list. Phil has started to see the new president as a four-letter word; I notice he’s begun to refer to him as “B—.”
Chinese President Jiang Zemin has also had some recent harsh words for Li’l George, says CNN. ‘Jiang is said to have called Bush
“logically unsound; confused and
unprincipled; unwise to the extreme,”
at a high level internal Communist
Party meeting. ‘ And let’s not forget the simple classical epithet, liar: Washington Post or New York Times.
Bush Is Putting Team in Place for a Full-Bore Assault on Regulation. Not just in the areas of the environment and energy, but everywhere. Among other tidbits in this article is news of a Harvard professor tapped by Shrub as an appointee for a major regulatory post (whose research on risks is a favorite of big business) who believes low-level dioxin exposure is good for you. At first glance, this anti-regulatory gobbledegook might sound appealing to those of you readers who are of the libertarian persuasion, but is the corporate terrorism against our environment, our pockets and our bodies really the price you want to pay for illusory relief from government tyranny? I was pointed to this article, by the way, by Phil Agre’s Red Rock Eater Digest mailing list. Phil has started to see the new president as a four-letter word; I notice he’s begun to refer to him as “B—.”
Chinese President Jiang Zemin has also had some recent harsh words for Li’l George, says CNN. ‘Jiang is said to have called Bush
“logically unsound; confused and
unprincipled; unwise to the extreme,”
at a high level internal Communist
Party meeting. ‘ And let’s not forget the simple classical epithet, liar: Washington Post or New York Times.
More on the Face on Mars: an Astronomy Picture of the Day closeup. (Click on it today; link changes daily. You can find it in the archive afterwards.)
The blink below about the new ‘aliteracy’ has stimulated some discussion offline. While not solely, or probably even centrally, attributable to the computerization of our consciousness, it’s worth asking what technological advances are doing to the English language and language in general, as MIT media technology professor Michael Hawley does in Things That Matter: Waiting for Linguistic Viagra.
It’s important to communicate. It’s important to have a lingua
franca. But it’s also important to think differently. The most fertile,
thriving cultures have a balance of order and chaos, with
constant ferment. But today’s computer media are flat and
Anglocentric. Things are a bit too stuck, a bit too ordered. Both
within the machines and across the network, we could enjoy a
little more linguistic turmoil. Technology Review
By the way, my gratitude to Fred Lapides for pointing out to me this epigram by Hawley — who’s an interesting, prolific, guy — atop Mark Woods’ wood s lot: “Language is the mind’s opposable thumb.” I like that… as much as William Burrough’s comment about language being a virus… and Laurie Anderson’s immortalization of the latter in song. Looking at wood s lot today, you’ll find, from Wittgenstein: “Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.” And speaking of minor bewitchments by language, Mark, I know, you’re “Woods”, not “Wood”, so “woodlot” just wouldn’t work, but the lack of an apostrophe in “wood s lot” has always struck me like an itch I can’t scratch. [Oh, there, I just scratched it.]
“We at Literary
Kicks believe in deconstructionism as long as you
clean up after you’re done. ” LitKicks: “The site is devoted to a few experimental literary
movements that tried to uncover some deeper
truths about life. In studying the life stories of the
writers as well as their works, there are sometimes
even more interesting truths to be revealed than
are found in the works themselves… And we do not believe
masterpieces exist, nor do we want them to. We
prefer the glory of brilliant mistakes.” Four main sections cover the Transcendentalists, what they refer to as ‘La Boheme’ (Verlaine, Rimbaud, Baudelaire… and Blake), the Beats and the post-Beat Hippie writers.
Could Senate Balance of Power Shift Again? As I speculated when I noted Jeffords’ switch below, “(t)he fragile balance of power could be further altered or even shifted back in the GOP’s
favor if another senator were to switch parties or forced to give up their seat in the
Senate.” ABC News has an improbably expansive list here considering nine other fence-sitters as well as the seats of the potentially indisposed Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, which would probably go to the Democrats.
I was out of town and not weblogging on Saturday, so I missed my chance to note Miles’ 75th birthday. Fortunately, journalist and online friend (“e-friend”?) Jim Higgins wrote to point me to this article he recently wrote on Davis, which makes an important point on the lack of attention paid to Miles’ electric years from the late ’60’s onward. Higgins describes Dutch guitarist Paul Tingen’s Miles Beyond, which claims that Davis’ plugged-in years still pack plenty of influence. I’d have to say I fit Higgins’ description of “many
listeners from the jazz continuum (who) dismiss his electric
era as a mistake, a sellout, a dead end in bad odor” I make an exception for In a Silent Way, at which I imagine most electric Miles fans scoff, probably because of its transitional nature. It’s not being plugged-in per se that’s the problem for me, any more than I would’ve joined the Newport Folk Festival audience in boo’ing Dylan when he played electric. It was rather the bastardization of jazz by funkifying and rockifying it that was the problem for my tastes. I’ve been relieved that many electric jazz musicians have, more recently, migrated back to straight-ahead acoustic formats, including Miles’ former sidemen Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Bush Is Putting Team in Place for a Full-Bore Assault on Regulation. Not just in the areas of the environment and energy, but everywhere. Among other tidbits in this article is news of a Harvard professor tapped by Shrub as an appointee for a major regulatory post (whose research on risks is a favorite of big business) who believes low-level dioxin exposure is good for you. At first glance, this anti-regulatory gobbledegook might sound appealing to those of you readers who are of the libertarian persuasion, but is the corporate terrorism against our environment, our pockets and our bodies really the price you want to pay for illusory relief from government tyranny? I was pointed to this article, by the way, by Phil Agre’s Red Rock Eater Digest mailing list. Phil has started to see the new president as a four-letter word; I notice he’s begun to refer to him as “B—.”
Chinese President Jiang Zemin has also had some recent harsh words for Li’l George, says CNN. ‘Jiang is said to have called Bush
“logically unsound; confused and
unprincipled; unwise to the extreme,”
at a high level internal Communist
Party meeting. ‘ And let’s not forget the simple classical epithet, liar: Washington Post or New York Times.
Lionel Tiger on what the “Monkey Man” can teach us about ourselves Wall Street Journal
Study Casts Doubt on the Placebo Effect: “[I] n a new report that is being met with a mixture of astonishment and
sometimes disbelief, two Danish researchers say the placebo effect is a
myth… The report found no support for
the common notion that, in general, about a third of patients will
improve if they are given a dummy pill and told it is real.
Instead, the researchers theorize, patients seem to improve after taking
placebos because most diseases have uneven courses in which their
severity waxes and wanes. In studies in which treatments are compared
not just with placebos but also with no treatment at all, they said,
participants given no treatment improve at about the same rate as
participants given placebos.” New York Times
David Brake’s blog is back but it’s here, at blog.org.
NASA Captures New Images of the Face on Mars: “New high-resolution images and 3D altimetry from NASA’s
Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft reveal the Face on Mars
for what it really is.”
Scientists switch memory recall on and off in fruit flies. “Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have used a genetic strategy in
fruit flies to switch electrical activity in the insect brain on and off at will. In doing so, they have made the
surprising discovery that switching off electrical activity in the brain blocks memory recall, but not initial
formation of memory.”
Happy birthday, Bob!
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them,” said Twain. More and more Americans who can read are choosing not to. The ‘aliterates’ have less and less time, are too impatient, champion the superficial, live in a more multicultural society that is shifting from words to logos and symbols, and “base their future decisions on what they used to know,” according to one critic. Washington Post So, yes, don’t settle for reading the weblogger’s synopsis, click on the link and go to the source, indeed. But, as an inveterate reader who’s become increasingly impatient with much of what I read, it appears that the essay leaves out any consideration of the declining quality of writing as well as reading. I often find, and I hope I’m not merely sounding arrogant or deluded here, that there’s only one good idea in a written piece and, once you’ve grasped it, you’ve got it.
Annals of Ignorant Litigation: Paxil Follows Prozac into the Courtroom: “The maker of Paxil will be in a Wyoming courtroom next week to defend
its antidepressant against charges that the drug caused a user to shoot
three family members and himself to death.
GlaxoSmithKline faces the same charges that Eli Lilly and Co. has beaten
twice in court over the alleged ability of its drug Prozac to induce
suicide and violence.” PsycPort
How to Defeat GI Joe “A retired Army sergeant offers 30 handy military tips to Cobra Commander.” Daily Radar
Shrek
is not Shrek! “William Steig’s subversive misanthropy is jettisoned for winking
innuendo in the movie version of his children’s book.” Salon
The Atlantic has this opinion piece on the increasing trend toward retrospective medical diagnosis of literary and historical figures. Longtime readers of FmH have heard me notice and cavil about this trend before. This piece is not so rueful.
Why’d he do it? “Sen. Jim Jeffords has had problems with his party for a long time, but President Bush appears to have pushed him over the edge.” The April 23rd snub by wrathful Li’l George was the last straw. Also: Will Trent Lott pay for losing the Senate?
“Angry GOP moderates say the White House and party right-wingers drove Jim Jeffords out of his own party… Over the last generation, zealous conservatives have systematically purged their
party of dissidents — representatives of a moderate strain of reform Republicanism running from Abraham Lincoln to Nelson Rockefeller.” [If playing the margin is where the action is in the Senate, will we see Democratic defectors too?] Salon
Is this the face of Shakespeare? New York Times
“I just wish there had been something more to hold her here.” More on the tragic life and suicide of jazz singer Susannah McCorkle, who yielded to the hopelessness of her chronic depression. Are there some for whom it’s destined unalterably to be a terminal disease, no matter how much they might struggle? New York Times
The SurLaLune Fairy Tales Site: an attractive site containing the texts of classic fairy tales — suitable for download or printout to read aloud to your children — and annotations, histories of the tales, similar tales from other cultures, bibliographies etc. for the oral tradition scholars among us.
Juan Gonzalez on Pacifica Radio’s strong-arm tactics. “Dear Friend,
We have reached a critical point in our campaign to save the Pacifica network. Our movement is
winning, but to achieve the quickest victory possible we need your help…” NoLogo
Capture the Moment: On the uses and misuses of photojournalism. “This may be a useful time to reconsider our relationship to
photojournalism. For it is a relationship that is increasingly disturbed
and yet absolutely key to our understanding of, and bewilderment
about, the world outside our selves (and possibly, therefore, about our
inner selves as well). In our image-glutted culture, our connection to
photographs—and especially to those that record atrocities, wars,
and other manmade disasters—resembles a bad but inescapable
marriage in which one unhappy partner distrusts yet depends upon
the other. (As in so many unhappy marriages, there is a convenient
third party—in this case, the exploitative photojournalist—to blame.)” Boston Review
The Culture War Against Kids: “The culture war is not just phony, but reactionary. It commodifies powerless groups
to project a fearsome image of constantly escalating menace, suppresses discussion
of real social inequalities, and promotes repressive government solutions. Youth are
the most convenient population upon which to project damage, keeping the debate
safely away from questioning adult values and pleasures that form the real
influences on youths. In short, the culture war is not about changing genuine
American social ills such as high rates of child poverty, domestic violence, and
family disarray, but fomenting an endless series of moral panics that obstruct social
change.” A convoluted argument, unconvincingly argued, that fear of youth is fabricated. AlterNet
Fires Believed Set as Protest Against Genetic Engineering. A research laboratory at the University of Washington and several buildings at an Oregon tree nursery went up in flames, apparently simultaneously overnight Sunday night. Authorities cited “strong indications” that responsibility lay with a loosely knit radical environmental network opposing genetic modification of trees. ELF, the Earth Liberation Front, has claimed responsibility for similar acts in the past, including the celebrated torching of an Aspen CO ski resort, and its initials were spray-painted at the site of the fire in Oregon. It is unclear if there is an organizational core of ELF or if unrelated eco-radicals operate under its banner.
The Washington fire may have destroyed a significant portion of the world’s population of at least one rare plant painstakingly raised from tissue cluture at the lab. Some environmental groups have supported genetic modification of trees, reasoning that augmentation of yields from commercial tree farms will reduce pressure to log old-growth forests. However, could the alterations come to harm native forests by escaping and dominating wild types? New York Times
Senator From Vermont Says He Is Leaving G.O.P.. A Democratic majority looms as James Jeffords jumps ship, either to the Democrats or independent status. Jeffords, a moderate who often voted with the Democrats and opposed Li’l George’s tax cut proposal, was apparently offered strong, but unspecified, inducements by Dems. and Repubs. to convince him to go or stay. He’s going, and whether to the Dems. or independent, the Republicans lose their ascendency and their committee chairmanships in the Senate, and bye bye, Trent Lott. Now some of the heat is off frail 98-year-old Strom Thurmond to hang on as long as he can. New York Times
Genetically-Modified Food Spoof and NY Times Reefer Madness — AlterNet media commentary.
India: Dealing With the Dead. The Zoroastrian tradition of leaving bodies unburied to decompose and be consumed by vultures is threatened by a decline in the scavenging birds. High-tech to the rescue, with ritualistic trials of ozone generators to mask the smell (which has been offending upscale neighbors of the Zoroastrian community) and solar reflectors to hasten decomposition. Wired
Rejection of Sharon’s truce proposal. ‘Palestinians lost no time in branding Sharon’s truce
proposal a “trick” designed to divert international
criticism of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.
They said calm can only be restored after Israel halts
settlement construction.
Israel’s truce offer came a day after an international
commission, headed by former U.S. Sen. George
Mitchell, published its recommendations [overview here from CNN] for ending eight
months of fighting and restarting peace talks.’ MSNBC
Japan scientists find possible Alzheimer’s cure: “Ikuo Nishimoto, a professor of
pharmacology and neurosciences at
Keio University in Tokyo, said on
Tuesday his team has discovered a protein, which they have named humanin,
that can stop the death of brain cells that occurs in Alzheimer’s patients.” Years of testing lie ahead before approval for clinical use, of course… CNN
Bush Talks With Dalai Lama Seen by China as 2d Jab in Eye: ‘It is just “a
coincidence,” of course, that President
Bush will have a well publicized “private
meeting” with the Dalai Lama on, of all
days, May 23.
The meeting was condemned today by Chinese officials who have spent the last
week extolling May 23 as an important anniversary in the “liberation” of Tibet.
They have also been shrilly denouncing the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan
leader, as a wicked proponent of serfdom and a “scum” who wants to split the
motherland.’ New York Times [Finally, the Court Jester and I are on the same side of an issue, although of course not nearly for the same reasons…]
Picture Books about Interracial Families, via Random Walks.
Though they’re trespassers to police, stealthy subculture thrives. Urban exploration continues to exert its odd fascination. SF Gate I wrote about this in FmH early on (when I have time, I’ll search back for the relevant links…)
David Brake is back he wrote me to say, although this most recent post on his weblog is dated April 20: “Apologies for the seemingly erratic updating of this blog. It is moving from one server to another – a process I thought
would be straightforward but which turned out to be a little trickier than I had bargained for. I’ve brought this copy up to
date now and soon you will be getting blog.org from an all-new and hopefully greatly improved and reliable location.
Hurrah!”
Weblog Madness: Other Media; here’s a list of media coverage of weblogs and weblogging.
The critics ring in: The Sopranos: Violence Rises on TV, but on This HBO Show, It Makes a Point
“But while the blood, beatings and deaths have kept everyone buzzing, from
ordinary viewers to the president of NBC, the more important issue goes beyond
how much splatter appears on screen. For the first time, this season’s Sopranos
relied heavily on violence directed against innocents, especially women,
characters not involved in Tony’s mob career.And Tony’s explosion against his girlfriend put him in the center of violence
outside what his business demands. By daring to put Tony in such an
unsympathetic position, the series’s creator, David Chase, has done more than
escalate the brutality. He has kept the series honest, true to the lethal
consequences of a mob boss’s life, and refused to let audiences feel comfortable
with Tony’s career choice. In giving new meaning to the phrase brutally honest,
this season matched the awe-inspiring artistry of the first.” New York Times
And the psychoanalysts:
‘For 13 weeks the debate has intensified about what makes The
Sopranos so compelling. With tonight’s final episode for the
season–which was indeed anticipated in much the same manner
as the Super Bowl–we can answer the question. We are drawn
to the show because it is so radical in the sense that it explores
in an unflinching way some of our most troubling and deep-seated
sociocultural problems…Kafka said that psychoanalysis provided a means for secular Jews
to try to orient themselves in the modern world. Tony is in the
same position as the newly secularized Jew was of Kafka’s time.
The traditional solutions don’t work, and the best place to turn to
get one’s bearings is some form of psychotherapy. Therapy
certainly can’t provide the certitude and the consolation of
traditional religions. Like life itself, it is an imperfect process
practiced by imperfect people, and we shouldn’t pretend
otherwise. And while Dr. Melfi has come in for her share of
criticism at our hands, she has turned out to be one of the most
constructive figures in Tony’s life. At times, it seemed she wouldn’t
make it through this treatment. But she persisted, battling her own
demons along the way. And now–psychologically
speaking–we’d have to say that Tony is in a much different
position than he was when he first walked though her doors three
seasons ago. Whether he is at the same time politically weakened
as a mafia don is another story.’ Slate
Like “… jazz musicians collecting themes that sound good for a
work in progress”: Before the Big Bang, There Was . . . What? ‘…(L)ately, emboldened by progress in new theories that seek to unite Einstein’s
lordly realm with the unruly quantum rules that govern subatomic physics —
so-called quantum gravity — (cosmologists) have begun to edge
their speculations closer and closer to the ultimate moment and, in some cases,
beyond it.
Some theorists suggest that the Big Bang was not so much a birth as a transition,
a “quantum leap” from some formless era of imaginary time, or from nothing at
all. Still others are exploring models in which cosmic history begins with a collision
with a universe from another dimension.’ New York Times
