Academia
The Social Network seems bound to do well at the Oscars. Even now it's still in cinemas, if just one show per day. But even more, it's just one remarkable movie. It's arc, which the construction plays with constantly, is remarkable, if because it so well encapsulates the nature of the central character's personality, even while it also provides a framework for understanding the "internet 2.0" and just what this thing, that nobody even knows what it is yet, as is so often said in the course of the film, is. Facebook, God help us all, is the internet now, and The Social Network really is the best movie of 2010, that I've seen, anyway. I think when I get to the early 2011 crop I can expect some remarkable cinema, but still within the conventional boundaries. I'm looking forward to Black Swan and True Grit particularly, but they'll just be movies. The Social Network is an anatomy course.
27 January 2011
Unhelpful
The rhetoric, if you can call it that, employed by Shadow Finance Minister and Liberal blowhard Joe Hockey is unhelpful to the debate, even though it’s already over. We’re going to have a temporary increase in the Medicare levy to pay for the reconstruction of Queensland, “dumb”, “stupid”, or not. I take the point of Warwick McKibben that a tax increase puts pressure on the public just when we’ve been holding off an economic crisis, but notice that the good professor’s reasoning points to the idea that deficits are not in themselves bad, but that sticking to artificial deadlines and targets may be. Where the Liberal Party line is that Labor is fiscally irresponsible for its deficit spending, economic reasoning tells us quite plainly otherwise.
I will not object to the levy. Insurance won’t and can’t pay for everything. I expect the government to make cuts where it can and should already, but I’m happy to pick up a fair share. I may reduce my charitable giving, however, since the government’s going to pick up the slack for me.
The rhetoric, if you can call it that, employed by Shadow Finance Minister and Liberal blowhard Joe Hockey is unhelpful to the debate, even though it’s already over. We’re going to have a temporary increase in the Medicare levy to pay for the reconstruction of Queensland, “dumb”, “stupid”, or not. I take the point of Warwick McKibben that a tax increase puts pressure on the public just when we’ve been holding off an economic crisis, but notice that the good professor’s reasoning points to the idea that deficits are not in themselves bad, but that sticking to artificial deadlines and targets may be. Where the Liberal Party line is that Labor is fiscally irresponsible for its deficit spending, economic reasoning tells us quite plainly otherwise.
I will not object to the levy. Insurance won’t and can’t pay for everything. I expect the government to make cuts where it can and should already, but I’m happy to pick up a fair share. I may reduce my charitable giving, however, since the government’s going to pick up the slack for me.
26 January 2011
Festival!
I haven't done much of the Sydney Festival this year, my overseas trip having cut into much of the time it runs, particularly for any of the events that seemed of interest, but I headed down to the Opera House for Australia Day, and it was a madhouse, even out on the water, with more boats than you'd think could navigate through even Sydney Harbour's great expanse.
The Opera House itself is, as always, a draw, too.
But I was there for the Architects of Air show, Mirazozo. This is a kind of jumping castle for adults, would be one way to describe it. A variably-shaped inflatable set of domes and pathways, with patterned opaque and translucent panels, creating a lightscape environment experience. New-agey music piped in, but not too intrusive, and not too many people at a time wandering through. I'm really enjoying these new light-art installations.
The outside gives little sense of what the inside will be, although you may get a sense of the crowds down at Circular Quay for the holiday.
The interior was psychedelic, man.
I haven't done much of the Sydney Festival this year, my overseas trip having cut into much of the time it runs, particularly for any of the events that seemed of interest, but I headed down to the Opera House for Australia Day, and it was a madhouse, even out on the water, with more boats than you'd think could navigate through even Sydney Harbour's great expanse.
The Opera House itself is, as always, a draw, too.
But I was there for the Architects of Air show, Mirazozo. This is a kind of jumping castle for adults, would be one way to describe it. A variably-shaped inflatable set of domes and pathways, with patterned opaque and translucent panels, creating a lightscape environment experience. New-agey music piped in, but not too intrusive, and not too many people at a time wandering through. I'm really enjoying these new light-art installations.
The outside gives little sense of what the inside will be, although you may get a sense of the crowds down at Circular Quay for the holiday.
The interior was psychedelic, man.
25 January 2011
Payment Summary
The Queensland floods are a big disaster, and paying to put things right is going to cost a bundle, and it's going to cost each of us individually, most likely. So when Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey says he objects to a special levy, I wonder: would he still object if the state was held by a Liberal government? Anna Bligh, Labor Premier of Queensland, is enjoying increased popularity and approval as a result of how she's handled the situation. The Liberals aren't likely to see themselves in government there any time soon, not like in New South Wales, where a decade or more of near-as corruption and outright ineptitude have Labor on the nose quite distinctly, imperilling their prospects to the point that no one expects them back at the next election (coming soon to a polling place near you).
Although Hockey's alternative proposal, cutting spending, has the support of financial analysts, his motivation I think stinks. This is about killing the National Broadband Network program at the behest of Tony Abbott and trying to smear Labor as fiscally irresponsible.
The problem is that the NBN is good for Australia. In the short term there are jobs and in the long term there's modern high-speed internet, now an essential element of doing business, and something that the old copper wires just don't handle particularly well, especially in more remote communities where such infrastructure can be light. And for Queensland, the reconstruction effort provides a golden opportunity to start laying in the fibre optics. We need to fix those lines anyway, let's use the good stuff.
Spending cuts can be made elsewhere. There is sure to be some fat in Defense, for example. Some delays on the JSF program, a dog to begin with, wouldn't hurt.
And if I pay another .5 percent for this year, I don't mind. Just be careful with the bookkeeping, please.
The Queensland floods are a big disaster, and paying to put things right is going to cost a bundle, and it's going to cost each of us individually, most likely. So when Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey says he objects to a special levy, I wonder: would he still object if the state was held by a Liberal government? Anna Bligh, Labor Premier of Queensland, is enjoying increased popularity and approval as a result of how she's handled the situation. The Liberals aren't likely to see themselves in government there any time soon, not like in New South Wales, where a decade or more of near-as corruption and outright ineptitude have Labor on the nose quite distinctly, imperilling their prospects to the point that no one expects them back at the next election (coming soon to a polling place near you).
Although Hockey's alternative proposal, cutting spending, has the support of financial analysts, his motivation I think stinks. This is about killing the National Broadband Network program at the behest of Tony Abbott and trying to smear Labor as fiscally irresponsible.
The problem is that the NBN is good for Australia. In the short term there are jobs and in the long term there's modern high-speed internet, now an essential element of doing business, and something that the old copper wires just don't handle particularly well, especially in more remote communities where such infrastructure can be light. And for Queensland, the reconstruction effort provides a golden opportunity to start laying in the fibre optics. We need to fix those lines anyway, let's use the good stuff.
Spending cuts can be made elsewhere. There is sure to be some fat in Defense, for example. Some delays on the JSF program, a dog to begin with, wouldn't hurt.
And if I pay another .5 percent for this year, I don't mind. Just be careful with the bookkeeping, please.
24 January 2011
Binational
It's tough being a citizen of two countries sometimes. This year's US State of the Union address is scheduled for 25 January at 9 p.m., which turns out to be 26 January at 1 p.m., just when I'm scheduled to be participating in some Australia Day events. Given that my main interest in the SOTU is to see whether the new Republican House majority will engage in heckling, perhaps I'm better off catching up on YouTube or some such afterwards.
It's tough being a citizen of two countries sometimes. This year's US State of the Union address is scheduled for 25 January at 9 p.m., which turns out to be 26 January at 1 p.m., just when I'm scheduled to be participating in some Australia Day events. Given that my main interest in the SOTU is to see whether the new Republican House majority will engage in heckling, perhaps I'm better off catching up on YouTube or some such afterwards.
19 January 2011
Political Speech: Meaning & Intent
It’s been long known that when politicians speak, they use what are essentially coded phrases to convey meaning to their target audience. “States Rights”, for example, from the mouths of Republicans and their right-wing brethren is well known for being a code phrase to connote opposition to civil rights, especially for minorities, or even anti-abortion, depending on the context. It rarely refers to educational curricula, but busing instead. So when a avowedly conservative politician uses the phrase “blood libel” the first thing that comes to my mind is that she thinks all Democrats, and even most or all liberals, are Jews, and therefore not real Americans, who are, of course, Christian, and that by using this phrase she will accomplish two things: the jingoistic and racist elements of the so-called Tea Partiers will see all opposition to her and by extension themselves as alien and “anti-American”, and no one will be able to decry her usage as anything other than a smear against her without generating something like a feedback loop to increase that perception of alienation.
She doesn’t write this stuff herself. She’s got people to do that for her, and they’re not as stupid as we wish we could believe she is. Did she really mean her critics are falsely claiming she has “blood on her hands” or did she mean that her critics are blood-drinking, “protocols of the elders of Zion” Jewish liberals bent on destroying America? This is a hate-filled, angry woman, a failure as a working politician, now enjoying a means of spreading her hate without any effective opposition or recrimination. We must not let her get away with this poisoning of the discourse.
It’s been long known that when politicians speak, they use what are essentially coded phrases to convey meaning to their target audience. “States Rights”, for example, from the mouths of Republicans and their right-wing brethren is well known for being a code phrase to connote opposition to civil rights, especially for minorities, or even anti-abortion, depending on the context. It rarely refers to educational curricula, but busing instead. So when a avowedly conservative politician uses the phrase “blood libel” the first thing that comes to my mind is that she thinks all Democrats, and even most or all liberals, are Jews, and therefore not real Americans, who are, of course, Christian, and that by using this phrase she will accomplish two things: the jingoistic and racist elements of the so-called Tea Partiers will see all opposition to her and by extension themselves as alien and “anti-American”, and no one will be able to decry her usage as anything other than a smear against her without generating something like a feedback loop to increase that perception of alienation.
She doesn’t write this stuff herself. She’s got people to do that for her, and they’re not as stupid as we wish we could believe she is. Did she really mean her critics are falsely claiming she has “blood on her hands” or did she mean that her critics are blood-drinking, “protocols of the elders of Zion” Jewish liberals bent on destroying America? This is a hate-filled, angry woman, a failure as a working politician, now enjoying a means of spreading her hate without any effective opposition or recrimination. We must not let her get away with this poisoning of the discourse.
17 January 2011
Itinerary
If there's one thing I've now learned, it's that even after a major storm, there's enough snow and ice left over in the U.S. to create enough of a blizzard to shut down airports. US Airways, who have a major hub in Charlotte, NC, started cancelling flights and rebooking passengers early on Monday, facing down a big storm that had already put the lights out at Atlanta. Unfortunately, that's all they did. They ran out of de-icing solution early, so were left handing out cots and foam pallets - in the international terminal only. Even though we were scheduled to fly out from that terminal, there were no announcements at our end, so by the time we knew we were staying over, we were staying on the floor.
This is forgivable, of course, but not day two. They knew there was still ice and freezing rain, but still ran out of de-icer, even while every other airline operating out of Charlotte continued to de-ice and send planes out. US Airways couldn't even be bothered to cancel their flights until the very last minute. So that was another night learning the comfortable end of being homeless. By this time, after so much terminal food, I'd have killed for some fresh vegetables or fruit.
Well, we got on an early flight to Myrtle Beach on day three, so that was o.k., except US Airways then lost our checked luggage. Clearly, this was an operational failure. Passengers checking in that day got their luggage without any trouble. The rest of us were catch-as-catch-can, that is, US Airways didn't prioritise luggage according to re-bookings, just loaded up whatever came to hand.
Our bags did eventually show, but I lost two days of holiday as a result, not to mention the US$25 for my lost checked bag. What's the money for? I don't know.
So there I am at the end of it all, booked on a flight from Myrtle Beach to Sydney via Atlanta and Los Angeles and Guangzhao. My 11:37 flight is delayed due to "mechanical problems", and is now scheduled for 14:30. Except that flight doesn't arrive, another one, the next one, does instead. There's a seat available, so I actually make my connection at Atlanta for the flight to L.A. Based on what happens 26 hours later in Sydney, I'm guessing my checked bag didn't make the flight or the connection or the China Southern flight, even though that one is delayed by 12 hours, due to "weather in Russia". This is a lie, of course, because China Southern puts up all 500 or so of us in a hotel. Nobody puts anybody into a hotel for weather. A business class traveller I meet makes some calls and confirms the "weather" is fine, but not China Southern.
And guess where my bags are? I don't know either.
What a trip. One of the cats is missing, too. I'm still hopeful he'll turn up, but I guess I'll be calling the shelters and vets before long and wandering the neighborhood all night trying to find him.
Update: Cat's back. Something wrong with his eye, but he turned up after an hour or so of calling him and just in time for dinner. Unnecessary negativity.
Update 2: Cat's eye looks o.k. today, so no vet trip. And my luggage turned up. It seems that instead of handing it off to China Southern, Delta elected to carry my bag to Sydney themselves. It probably got here before I did, given the cancelled flight to China, but two different outfits handle baggage for Delta and China Southern, requiring someone (me) to get them talking to one another before either could work out what to do. As Casey Stengel put it: Can't anyone here play this game?
If there's one thing I've now learned, it's that even after a major storm, there's enough snow and ice left over in the U.S. to create enough of a blizzard to shut down airports. US Airways, who have a major hub in Charlotte, NC, started cancelling flights and rebooking passengers early on Monday, facing down a big storm that had already put the lights out at Atlanta. Unfortunately, that's all they did. They ran out of de-icing solution early, so were left handing out cots and foam pallets - in the international terminal only. Even though we were scheduled to fly out from that terminal, there were no announcements at our end, so by the time we knew we were staying over, we were staying on the floor.
This is forgivable, of course, but not day two. They knew there was still ice and freezing rain, but still ran out of de-icer, even while every other airline operating out of Charlotte continued to de-ice and send planes out. US Airways couldn't even be bothered to cancel their flights until the very last minute. So that was another night learning the comfortable end of being homeless. By this time, after so much terminal food, I'd have killed for some fresh vegetables or fruit.
Well, we got on an early flight to Myrtle Beach on day three, so that was o.k., except US Airways then lost our checked luggage. Clearly, this was an operational failure. Passengers checking in that day got their luggage without any trouble. The rest of us were catch-as-catch-can, that is, US Airways didn't prioritise luggage according to re-bookings, just loaded up whatever came to hand.
Our bags did eventually show, but I lost two days of holiday as a result, not to mention the US$25 for my lost checked bag. What's the money for? I don't know.
So there I am at the end of it all, booked on a flight from Myrtle Beach to Sydney via Atlanta and Los Angeles and Guangzhao. My 11:37 flight is delayed due to "mechanical problems", and is now scheduled for 14:30. Except that flight doesn't arrive, another one, the next one, does instead. There's a seat available, so I actually make my connection at Atlanta for the flight to L.A. Based on what happens 26 hours later in Sydney, I'm guessing my checked bag didn't make the flight or the connection or the China Southern flight, even though that one is delayed by 12 hours, due to "weather in Russia". This is a lie, of course, because China Southern puts up all 500 or so of us in a hotel. Nobody puts anybody into a hotel for weather. A business class traveller I meet makes some calls and confirms the "weather" is fine, but not China Southern.
And guess where my bags are? I don't know either.
What a trip. One of the cats is missing, too. I'm still hopeful he'll turn up, but I guess I'll be calling the shelters and vets before long and wandering the neighborhood all night trying to find him.
Update: Cat's back. Something wrong with his eye, but he turned up after an hour or so of calling him and just in time for dinner. Unnecessary negativity.
Update 2: Cat's eye looks o.k. today, so no vet trip. And my luggage turned up. It seems that instead of handing it off to China Southern, Delta elected to carry my bag to Sydney themselves. It probably got here before I did, given the cancelled flight to China, but two different outfits handle baggage for Delta and China Southern, requiring someone (me) to get them talking to one another before either could work out what to do. As Casey Stengel put it: Can't anyone here play this game?
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