Summer's Over
At least in NYC, so the Flash Mob phenomenon has been officially laid to rest. Sure, there will still be mobs, although maybe only the less-than-good-natured ones seen at WTO meetings, but “Bill’s” mobs are over. I suppose I knew that once they were co-opted as a political joke in Doonesbury. The second Sydney mob sounds like it was just as fun as the first one, and now that we’re heading into summer, I wonder if there will be more? There doesn’t seem to have been much from Europe lately, so maybe the mobilization power of cell phone-internet combination has been sufficiently demonstrated.
16 September 2003
The Sunburnt Country
Melbourne is looking to enact permanent water restrictions, and I don’t imagine Sydney will be very far behind. Even though the El Niño system has dissipated for now, the effect won’t be truly felt for another year or more, after which we’ll be building towards the next one. Drought, it appears, is to be a constant. I’d venture to suggest, however, that drought can be managed in Australia, although it will take a significant and fairly long-term effort towards behavioral changes from city residents refraining from hosing the pavement, to suburbanites foregoing non-native lawns and shrubs, to farmers relinquishing the use of European traditional agricultural practices. I’d like to see apartment blocks, including mine, install a rainwater tank to support their fire suppression systems, for one example, but perhaps that’s the zealotry of the converted.
Melbourne is looking to enact permanent water restrictions, and I don’t imagine Sydney will be very far behind. Even though the El Niño system has dissipated for now, the effect won’t be truly felt for another year or more, after which we’ll be building towards the next one. Drought, it appears, is to be a constant. I’d venture to suggest, however, that drought can be managed in Australia, although it will take a significant and fairly long-term effort towards behavioral changes from city residents refraining from hosing the pavement, to suburbanites foregoing non-native lawns and shrubs, to farmers relinquishing the use of European traditional agricultural practices. I’d like to see apartment blocks, including mine, install a rainwater tank to support their fire suppression systems, for one example, but perhaps that’s the zealotry of the converted.
Hugo Redux?
Back in ’89, hurricane Hugo hit the Carolinas, and messed up a swath of coastline for some miles inland from Charleston, South Carolina all the way up into Brunswick County on into Charlotte, North Carolina. In the next three days, Isabel may do the same. Warnings to stock up on flashlights and batteries and bottled water are being issued along the Eastern Seaboard as far north as NYC and New England. Even Canada’s getting nervous, and no wonder, as the storm has hit category 5 a couple of times already, before easing off a little. It’s just as well I’m in Sydney, I suppose, since I didn’t much care for what little hurricane blow-by I got myself over the years. Mom and Dad are enjoined to supply email to good effect over the coming days, situated in the crosshairs as they are.
Back in ’89, hurricane Hugo hit the Carolinas, and messed up a swath of coastline for some miles inland from Charleston, South Carolina all the way up into Brunswick County on into Charlotte, North Carolina. In the next three days, Isabel may do the same. Warnings to stock up on flashlights and batteries and bottled water are being issued along the Eastern Seaboard as far north as NYC and New England. Even Canada’s getting nervous, and no wonder, as the storm has hit category 5 a couple of times already, before easing off a little. It’s just as well I’m in Sydney, I suppose, since I didn’t much care for what little hurricane blow-by I got myself over the years. Mom and Dad are enjoined to supply email to good effect over the coming days, situated in the crosshairs as they are.
Does QUIRO™ Dream of Electric Sheep?
O.k., it’s just a robot. When will it be a replicant, and run for office.
O.k., it’s just a robot. When will it be a replicant, and run for office.
15 September 2003
90
Way out in the west yesterday, for M.’s grandmother’s 90th birthday party. The cousin hosting lives in a nice cliff-side home overlooking some national parkland, in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. No sign of wildlife, for all the rumors of the black panther haunting the neighborhood. (Well, he’s been there for 30 years, so he probably doesn’t get around much anymore.) In any event, it was a nice time with all the family around, although it’s a mighty long trek there and back. G. got lots of nice pressies and quite enjoyed the event.
Way out in the west yesterday, for M.’s grandmother’s 90th birthday party. The cousin hosting lives in a nice cliff-side home overlooking some national parkland, in the foothills of the Blue Mountains. No sign of wildlife, for all the rumors of the black panther haunting the neighborhood. (Well, he’s been there for 30 years, so he probably doesn’t get around much anymore.) In any event, it was a nice time with all the family around, although it’s a mighty long trek there and back. G. got lots of nice pressies and quite enjoyed the event.
Eenie, Meenie . . .
7 pages of candidates on the California recall ballot. Aside from the unqualified actors running, other celebrities include Larry Flynt, the pornographer and First Amendment activist, and Angelyne, the self-promoting billboard pin-up. I still favor Georgy Russell, but only because no one I personally know is running.
7 pages of candidates on the California recall ballot. Aside from the unqualified actors running, other celebrities include Larry Flynt, the pornographer and First Amendment activist, and Angelyne, the self-promoting billboard pin-up. I still favor Georgy Russell, but only because no one I personally know is running.
12 September 2003
Totem
Every culture develops a concept of totemic animals, often hierarchical (hence the totem poles of the Pacific Northwest). This is not something that has passed away or been superseded by some more “enlightened” point of view vis a vis man’s relationship to the rest of the natural world: Russia’s relationship with bears, America’s with the bald eagle, and so forth, are the direct descendents of this ancient tradition. Here in Australia, Aboriginal tribal structure is based on “dreamings,” which have a direct relationship to the animals of this place, and the relationship between the creation beings of the Dreamtime as represented by those animals. Thus a tribe might be the “kangaroo dreaming” or “goanna dreaming” clan, bearing their own relationship to the animals and places. Individuals will also have their own personal totem animal, as North American’s are familiar with from the culture of Native Americans. It’s all very hard to describe, but where all this is leading is that although as a person of European ancestral origin I should probably have to accept “rabbit dreaming” or “cane toad dreaming” if such an option were actually open to me, I would prefer “platypus dreaming.” I’ve always loved these animals, and after watching a documentary on them, feel all the more compelled now that I’m here to see one in the wild. It’s my latest Australian mission.
Every culture develops a concept of totemic animals, often hierarchical (hence the totem poles of the Pacific Northwest). This is not something that has passed away or been superseded by some more “enlightened” point of view vis a vis man’s relationship to the rest of the natural world: Russia’s relationship with bears, America’s with the bald eagle, and so forth, are the direct descendents of this ancient tradition. Here in Australia, Aboriginal tribal structure is based on “dreamings,” which have a direct relationship to the animals of this place, and the relationship between the creation beings of the Dreamtime as represented by those animals. Thus a tribe might be the “kangaroo dreaming” or “goanna dreaming” clan, bearing their own relationship to the animals and places. Individuals will also have their own personal totem animal, as North American’s are familiar with from the culture of Native Americans. It’s all very hard to describe, but where all this is leading is that although as a person of European ancestral origin I should probably have to accept “rabbit dreaming” or “cane toad dreaming” if such an option were actually open to me, I would prefer “platypus dreaming.” I’ve always loved these animals, and after watching a documentary on them, feel all the more compelled now that I’m here to see one in the wild. It’s my latest Australian mission.
’Til Death Do Them Part
You have to admire the kind of commitment exhibited by Sally Baron: even in death, she seeks the removal of Bush II. This is the kind of final request I think deserves to be honored. Rest in Peace, Sally Baron: Defeat Bush in ‘04.
You have to admire the kind of commitment exhibited by Sally Baron: even in death, she seeks the removal of Bush II. This is the kind of final request I think deserves to be honored. Rest in Peace, Sally Baron: Defeat Bush in ‘04.
Food Products
There are many comestibles that are not food, but we eat them anyway and even express a preference for them over other actual food. Cheez Doodles™, Twinkies™, Pringles™, etc. are not food; that’s why they have a trademark. Real food, however, has also been subjected to the forces of marketing, and that’s why Red Delicious apples don’t taste the way they did once and why tomatoes are but pale imitations of what once they were. Some will have you believe that it is the force of consumer demand that has brought us to this sorry pass, but don’t you believe it. If the tomatoes on your sandwich are pale and mealy, it’s because it’s easier for corporate growers to produce such lacklustre produce. That’s why in better restaurants now you’ll see “heirloom” tomatoes on the menu (which I’m here to tell you are fantastic – I’ve got to get some seeds). Pass the ketchup.
There are many comestibles that are not food, but we eat them anyway and even express a preference for them over other actual food. Cheez Doodles™, Twinkies™, Pringles™, etc. are not food; that’s why they have a trademark. Real food, however, has also been subjected to the forces of marketing, and that’s why Red Delicious apples don’t taste the way they did once and why tomatoes are but pale imitations of what once they were. Some will have you believe that it is the force of consumer demand that has brought us to this sorry pass, but don’t you believe it. If the tomatoes on your sandwich are pale and mealy, it’s because it’s easier for corporate growers to produce such lacklustre produce. That’s why in better restaurants now you’ll see “heirloom” tomatoes on the menu (which I’m here to tell you are fantastic – I’ve got to get some seeds). Pass the ketchup.
11 September 2003
Reckoning
Two years ago I stood on a roof in Soho and watched the World Trade Center towers burn about a mile and half south. Within minutes of seeing the explosion of the second plane strike I was heading uptown on foot towards 34th Street and Madison Avenue, where my wife was working at the time, in the now ominous shadow of the Empire State Building. While there was no lack of news from overheard cell phone conversations and a balancing satisfaction in seeing the fighter jets mobilized overhead, only my purpose – get M. and get home – gave me any reason not to be afraid.
But call it the Tel Aviv Syndrome if you want to put a name to it: I am not afraid, as it turns out. Like the citizens of that city under siege, I acknowledge that there are no geographical limits on terrorism and I live with it, calmly. Is that resignation or complacency?
I grew up in the shadow of the H bomb deluge promised by the Cold War, with airline hijackings taking place regularly, and the Munich Olympics massacre, but I wasn’t afraid. I saw the Berlin Wall come down and briefly thought politically motivated mass death might become a thing of the past, but lived for a year one to two levels down from imminent attack, and yet John Ashcroft’s color-coded alerts did not instill fear in me, neither did I tremble when Tom Ridge came on television for a press conference, despite his apparent incapacity to perform the radical restructuring of law enforcement and intelligence gathering with which he is charged.
I did then and still do experience a sinking feeling whenever George Bush speaks, especially when he issues childish taunts and dares or otherwise indulges his authoritarian bloodlust, or when that grinning death’s head, Condoleeza Rice, is treated as an expert on anything current in the world. There is a different root to these reactions, however, than they would have me acknowledge.
I’m not in America – I moved to Australia about a month after the first anniversary of the WTC atrocities (coincidentally flying just the day after another radical Islamic terror group struck in Bali) – and some might suggest this is a factor in my calm. Perhaps it is, even though Australia is a partner to the U.S. in the Iraq adventure, and its conduct there and previously in East Timor has brought it the attention of Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah. John Howard and his Defense Minister, Robert Hill, tell me that Australia is a target, that a terrorist attack is certain – “a question of when, not if,” using the same phrase as is heard every day in America – but I don’t believe them, not the way they would like.
I don’t believe Bush, Howard, Ashcroft . . . any of them. I don’t believe the tapes from Al Qaeda. They seek to inspire fear, but they only inspire derision and disgust.
I know that there are those who would harm me, and I know that I am weak. I’m still not afraid. Once the world was a much bigger place and the threats against me smaller, because they lived in my neighborhood, but the world is smaller now and the threats more numerous and just as immediate. Still, I know that when I hear of new security alerts that there are more intentions at work than appear on the surface and that actually I’m quite safe – just as safe as I was before the 11th of September, 2001.
Bush and his ilk want me to be afraid so I will allow them to keep their power and privilege; they have no true concern for me. Osama bin Laden and the like-minded disciples of hate want me to be afraid so that I will cede my soul into their hands. But I know now and have always understood that the contempt and the hatred such people have for all who are not them are the greater threat to me and the rest of the world than the death and degradation they pursue. The suffering of others is as often an end as a means to these people, as it has been over the ages. When the Roman legions salted the earth of razed Carthage their action was no different than that of three dozen murderers flying their stolen planes into buildings, neither was it different from the pursuit of “tactical” nuclear weapons or stockpiling anthrax.
The examples of wealth and power begetting hate and destruction are rife through history. With each new episode we say, that was the past, the future will be different. But the past continues to rise up before us and assert its own power, one which is exerted over everyone who refuses to learn its lessons.
We cannot beat the past into submission, but we can draw those who would remain mired there into the future with us if we try hard enough. If they won’t come, let them will pass into history as others have before them by their own failure, their failure to embrace the world beyond some petty power base or short term gain. If we are truly now more aware of the world outside, we can use that to our advantage and move forward into the future with the boldness the situation requires. We can spend billions to reconstruct what we have destroyed or we can elect not to destroy in the first place and spend our dollars raising the low up, building lives instead of taking them. Two years ago I was in the midst of improving my life, and today I still am.
(See also: TNL.net's "Who were you" project.)
Two years ago I stood on a roof in Soho and watched the World Trade Center towers burn about a mile and half south. Within minutes of seeing the explosion of the second plane strike I was heading uptown on foot towards 34th Street and Madison Avenue, where my wife was working at the time, in the now ominous shadow of the Empire State Building. While there was no lack of news from overheard cell phone conversations and a balancing satisfaction in seeing the fighter jets mobilized overhead, only my purpose – get M. and get home – gave me any reason not to be afraid.
But call it the Tel Aviv Syndrome if you want to put a name to it: I am not afraid, as it turns out. Like the citizens of that city under siege, I acknowledge that there are no geographical limits on terrorism and I live with it, calmly. Is that resignation or complacency?
I grew up in the shadow of the H bomb deluge promised by the Cold War, with airline hijackings taking place regularly, and the Munich Olympics massacre, but I wasn’t afraid. I saw the Berlin Wall come down and briefly thought politically motivated mass death might become a thing of the past, but lived for a year one to two levels down from imminent attack, and yet John Ashcroft’s color-coded alerts did not instill fear in me, neither did I tremble when Tom Ridge came on television for a press conference, despite his apparent incapacity to perform the radical restructuring of law enforcement and intelligence gathering with which he is charged.
I did then and still do experience a sinking feeling whenever George Bush speaks, especially when he issues childish taunts and dares or otherwise indulges his authoritarian bloodlust, or when that grinning death’s head, Condoleeza Rice, is treated as an expert on anything current in the world. There is a different root to these reactions, however, than they would have me acknowledge.
I’m not in America – I moved to Australia about a month after the first anniversary of the WTC atrocities (coincidentally flying just the day after another radical Islamic terror group struck in Bali) – and some might suggest this is a factor in my calm. Perhaps it is, even though Australia is a partner to the U.S. in the Iraq adventure, and its conduct there and previously in East Timor has brought it the attention of Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah. John Howard and his Defense Minister, Robert Hill, tell me that Australia is a target, that a terrorist attack is certain – “a question of when, not if,” using the same phrase as is heard every day in America – but I don’t believe them, not the way they would like.
I don’t believe Bush, Howard, Ashcroft . . . any of them. I don’t believe the tapes from Al Qaeda. They seek to inspire fear, but they only inspire derision and disgust.
I know that there are those who would harm me, and I know that I am weak. I’m still not afraid. Once the world was a much bigger place and the threats against me smaller, because they lived in my neighborhood, but the world is smaller now and the threats more numerous and just as immediate. Still, I know that when I hear of new security alerts that there are more intentions at work than appear on the surface and that actually I’m quite safe – just as safe as I was before the 11th of September, 2001.
Bush and his ilk want me to be afraid so I will allow them to keep their power and privilege; they have no true concern for me. Osama bin Laden and the like-minded disciples of hate want me to be afraid so that I will cede my soul into their hands. But I know now and have always understood that the contempt and the hatred such people have for all who are not them are the greater threat to me and the rest of the world than the death and degradation they pursue. The suffering of others is as often an end as a means to these people, as it has been over the ages. When the Roman legions salted the earth of razed Carthage their action was no different than that of three dozen murderers flying their stolen planes into buildings, neither was it different from the pursuit of “tactical” nuclear weapons or stockpiling anthrax.
The examples of wealth and power begetting hate and destruction are rife through history. With each new episode we say, that was the past, the future will be different. But the past continues to rise up before us and assert its own power, one which is exerted over everyone who refuses to learn its lessons.
We cannot beat the past into submission, but we can draw those who would remain mired there into the future with us if we try hard enough. If they won’t come, let them will pass into history as others have before them by their own failure, their failure to embrace the world beyond some petty power base or short term gain. If we are truly now more aware of the world outside, we can use that to our advantage and move forward into the future with the boldness the situation requires. We can spend billions to reconstruct what we have destroyed or we can elect not to destroy in the first place and spend our dollars raising the low up, building lives instead of taking them. Two years ago I was in the midst of improving my life, and today I still am.
(See also: TNL.net's "Who were you" project.)
Cheesy Robots
I’m taking an early mark every day next week so I can be sure to get home in time for Dr. Who on the ABC. They’re starting from the very beginning, with Dr. Who battling the evil Daleks, the most inane alien robots ever devised. But evil.
I’m taking an early mark every day next week so I can be sure to get home in time for Dr. Who on the ABC. They’re starting from the very beginning, with Dr. Who battling the evil Daleks, the most inane alien robots ever devised. But evil.
www.Satan.com
The devil has a website, where you can get a quote on the value of your soul. I came in at a disappointing AUD $38,495 ($59,115 US). If I didn’t rent videos at Blockbuster, I’m sure I might have done better. Thank God I don't drive an SUV.
The devil has a website, where you can get a quote on the value of your soul. I came in at a disappointing AUD $38,495 ($59,115 US). If I didn’t rent videos at Blockbuster, I’m sure I might have done better. Thank God I don't drive an SUV.
Buena Vista
Can we please get past the issue of whether Cuba is communist or not? Every time it seems like the U.S. is going to make an effort, something messes it up. The embargo has been in place for 40 years and that’s probably 39 years more than was necessary. Certainly the fall of the Soviet Union should have allowed us to develop an entente cordiale with Fidel, not to his benefit necessarily, but certainly to the benefit of Cubans overall.
Can we please get past the issue of whether Cuba is communist or not? Every time it seems like the U.S. is going to make an effort, something messes it up. The embargo has been in place for 40 years and that’s probably 39 years more than was necessary. Certainly the fall of the Soviet Union should have allowed us to develop an entente cordiale with Fidel, not to his benefit necessarily, but certainly to the benefit of Cubans overall.
In Space, Nobody Can Hear You Moan
Yes, I stole that, but I’m keeping it, because it seems appropriate to the story about sound waves from a black hole. I don’t really get this, because I thought that black holes are supposed to be so dense that not even light can escape their gravitational pull – so how does sound? (Can it be the giant sucking sound Ross Perot promised us?) And if the sound is making the interstellar gasses out there warmer, should I pump up the bass on my stereo in winter instead of ratcheting up the thermostat? I should give up on physics now while I still can.
Yes, I stole that, but I’m keeping it, because it seems appropriate to the story about sound waves from a black hole. I don’t really get this, because I thought that black holes are supposed to be so dense that not even light can escape their gravitational pull – so how does sound? (Can it be the giant sucking sound Ross Perot promised us?) And if the sound is making the interstellar gasses out there warmer, should I pump up the bass on my stereo in winter instead of ratcheting up the thermostat? I should give up on physics now while I still can.
”. . . And Anything Else”
Why is the Patriot Act bad and why does any extension seem so wrong? Well, Slate has been running a series on the contents of the existing Act and what effect they have. A particular aspect of the law’s language that scares me is the use of the phrase “and anything else” in delineating what law enforcement may seize or search (all on a pretextual claim before a secret court). Shouldn’t laws be a little more specific than this?
Why is the Patriot Act bad and why does any extension seem so wrong? Well, Slate has been running a series on the contents of the existing Act and what effect they have. A particular aspect of the law’s language that scares me is the use of the phrase “and anything else” in delineating what law enforcement may seize or search (all on a pretextual claim before a secret court). Shouldn’t laws be a little more specific than this?
09 September 2003
Americana
I realized over the weekend that although I have a copy, I’ve never read J. P. Marquand’s novel H. M. Pulham, Esq., and since I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the conduct of living, Marquand is probably among the foremost authors to read for an understanding of how this has and has not evolved. Pulham, which I’m about halfway through, is a portrait of a particular class in a peculiar era on its surface, but because it documents a life and a society on the cusp of change and having already seen enough of change. It also exerts a degree of insight that remains useful now. Although the late ‘thirties are certainly Modern, the Postmodern world is underway, so watching Henry Pulham pass away, so to speak, you are not left wondering how his contemporaries manage to stay afloat, but if their awareness does not destroy them all the more thoroughly than H. M.’s dawning understanding will spoil him for the coming age, since they, too, are lost, despite their efforts. Looking back over my own lifetime, what little there is so far, I see the changes that have gone on around me and that have happened to me, and I wonder if every generation is the Lost Generation.
I realized over the weekend that although I have a copy, I’ve never read J. P. Marquand’s novel H. M. Pulham, Esq., and since I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the conduct of living, Marquand is probably among the foremost authors to read for an understanding of how this has and has not evolved. Pulham, which I’m about halfway through, is a portrait of a particular class in a peculiar era on its surface, but because it documents a life and a society on the cusp of change and having already seen enough of change. It also exerts a degree of insight that remains useful now. Although the late ‘thirties are certainly Modern, the Postmodern world is underway, so watching Henry Pulham pass away, so to speak, you are not left wondering how his contemporaries manage to stay afloat, but if their awareness does not destroy them all the more thoroughly than H. M.’s dawning understanding will spoil him for the coming age, since they, too, are lost, despite their efforts. Looking back over my own lifetime, what little there is so far, I see the changes that have gone on around me and that have happened to me, and I wonder if every generation is the Lost Generation.
The Public and Public Transportation
Commuter services always cry poor, because they have to spend the money they receive on keeping up and improving services instead of keeping it themselves. Yes, there is a government subsidy, and yes, it is an investment in mass transit over private vehicles. But the arguments presented to change the fare structure don’t really make sense. Persons with a low income buy single, full-fare tickets, and middle to high income persons buy weekly or even quarterly periodic tickets, which are discounted. Why is this so? Because middle and high income persons can afford to shell out a larger sum of money at one time than poor people can. A poor person who puts down $30 a week has the perceived disadvantage of not having some part of that sum to spend on daily necessities, while the higher wage earners can make it part of their budget. It is much more difficult for someone earning a marginal wage to even have a budget, let alone live by it. So how do you make fares fair? Do you remove the incentive for the middle class to use public transportation by raising periodic fare rates? That doesn’t actually help anyone, does it? You’re not going to discount the single fare ticket, are you? Instead, everyone pays the full rate and the subsidy goes away and nobody who can afford it takes the train anymore because it just got cheaper to use your own car and to hell with everybody else. Traffic gets worse, pollution increases, the rail system crumbles (more), and before long it’s L.A. and it will be decades before you can fix it. The way to fix the system is to invest in it: upgrade the tracks and trains and build more lines with more connections; clean up the graffiti while you’re at it. This can be done with the subsidy still in place. The CityRail executives will just have to defer getting richer.
Commuter services always cry poor, because they have to spend the money they receive on keeping up and improving services instead of keeping it themselves. Yes, there is a government subsidy, and yes, it is an investment in mass transit over private vehicles. But the arguments presented to change the fare structure don’t really make sense. Persons with a low income buy single, full-fare tickets, and middle to high income persons buy weekly or even quarterly periodic tickets, which are discounted. Why is this so? Because middle and high income persons can afford to shell out a larger sum of money at one time than poor people can. A poor person who puts down $30 a week has the perceived disadvantage of not having some part of that sum to spend on daily necessities, while the higher wage earners can make it part of their budget. It is much more difficult for someone earning a marginal wage to even have a budget, let alone live by it. So how do you make fares fair? Do you remove the incentive for the middle class to use public transportation by raising periodic fare rates? That doesn’t actually help anyone, does it? You’re not going to discount the single fare ticket, are you? Instead, everyone pays the full rate and the subsidy goes away and nobody who can afford it takes the train anymore because it just got cheaper to use your own car and to hell with everybody else. Traffic gets worse, pollution increases, the rail system crumbles (more), and before long it’s L.A. and it will be decades before you can fix it. The way to fix the system is to invest in it: upgrade the tracks and trains and build more lines with more connections; clean up the graffiti while you’re at it. This can be done with the subsidy still in place. The CityRail executives will just have to defer getting richer.
Press on Press
Andrew Denton had Helen Thomas on his show last night. Enough Rope is probably the best interview show on television in Australia, not just because Denton is a capable interviewer (he does ask the fluff, promotion-related questions, but also poses tougher, more insightful queries), but also because he gets more interesting guests than the shows on the commercial stations. Helen Thomas is the longest serving member of the White House Press Corp, and she doesn’t shy away from asking tough questions of every President since Kennedy. As a result, Bush II and his minions don’t call on her and make sure she’s stuck up the back of the conference room for the briefings they hold (fewer than any other administration). This is disrespectful and childish, but what else can you expect? They are afraid they will be caught in their lies. Too late, of course. I hope Ms. Thomas will get another, different administration to ask pointed questions of in 2005.
Andrew Denton had Helen Thomas on his show last night. Enough Rope is probably the best interview show on television in Australia, not just because Denton is a capable interviewer (he does ask the fluff, promotion-related questions, but also poses tougher, more insightful queries), but also because he gets more interesting guests than the shows on the commercial stations. Helen Thomas is the longest serving member of the White House Press Corp, and she doesn’t shy away from asking tough questions of every President since Kennedy. As a result, Bush II and his minions don’t call on her and make sure she’s stuck up the back of the conference room for the briefings they hold (fewer than any other administration). This is disrespectful and childish, but what else can you expect? They are afraid they will be caught in their lies. Too late, of course. I hope Ms. Thomas will get another, different administration to ask pointed questions of in 2005.
08 September 2003
First, Fill the Bathtub with Water
Then make sure you’re stocked up on canned goods. That way, when the big one hits, you’ll be prepared. This Flash™ animation tool lets you learn a little about building in an earthquake zone by setting up the construction parameters for your office block and then setting off a tremor. Stack ‘em up and watch ‘em fall.
Then make sure you’re stocked up on canned goods. That way, when the big one hits, you’ll be prepared. This Flash™ animation tool lets you learn a little about building in an earthquake zone by setting up the construction parameters for your office block and then setting off a tremor. Stack ‘em up and watch ‘em fall.
”Man, Average is Dumb”
I only ever saw a couple of American Splendor comics, but they stuck with me in a way even the X-Men never have, so when M. said she really, really wanted to see the movie, I was more than happy to go. I’m very glad I did. Although it is a sort of anti-Dogma movie, in that it uses fictional techniques to tell a true story, it is also as unpretentious as the comics and their author. Harvey Pekar’s masterwork deserves the attention it garners as a result of this movie’s success, so get right out and ensure it is successful. They may be slobs, but they care about life, man.
I only ever saw a couple of American Splendor comics, but they stuck with me in a way even the X-Men never have, so when M. said she really, really wanted to see the movie, I was more than happy to go. I’m very glad I did. Although it is a sort of anti-Dogma movie, in that it uses fictional techniques to tell a true story, it is also as unpretentious as the comics and their author. Harvey Pekar’s masterwork deserves the attention it garners as a result of this movie’s success, so get right out and ensure it is successful. They may be slobs, but they care about life, man.
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