by PAT CUMMINGS American Digest Book Editor
Choosing a best book from 2004 is especially difficult for me. First, I rarely read books in the year they are released, because my budget tells me 10 paperbacks are a better deal for a voracious reader than two or three first-release hardbacks. Second, I read so many books, by the time December rolls around, I may not have the same emotional tie to the very good book I read in June that I have to the mediocre novel I'm reading right now.
But looking back through my journal and blog, there is one book that screams, in the voice of Robert A. Heinlein, pick me!—because in reading this book and writing the review, I was prompted to reread three other excellent (though older) books.
For Us, the Living, Robert Heinlein's first novel, has its own review. To review it properly, I reread Stranger In a Strange Land and Farnham's Freehold by Heinlein. And due to the similarity of title and venue, I was led to reread Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living.
For these reasons, Heinlein's For Us, the Living is my choice for my best read of 2004.
Continued...
Heat Shield Impact Site
12/27/04
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity gained this view of its own heat shield during the rover's 325th martian day (Dec. 22, 2004). The main structure from the successfully used shield is to the far left. Additional fragments of the heat shield lie in the upper center of the image. The heat shield's impact mark is visible just above and to the right of the foreground shadow of Opportunity's camera mast. This view is a mosaic of three images taken with the rover's navigation camera.
A look back at what seems, for now, to be worth keeping. I've lost track of how many entries there have been in the last year, but I am determined that there will be fewer in the future -- at least by me. That's the good news. The other news is that, as is common in this medium, I've compiled a list of what seems to me to be of more than passing interest from the last year's entries.
Continued...by JEREMIAH LEWIS, American Digest Film Editor
"You know, we're likely to be stuck in this desert for years..."
Flight of the Phoenix
PG-13
3.5 out of 5 stars
Perhaps it was my initial skepticism of yet another Hollywood remake that made me wary of Flight of the Phoenix, or perhaps it was my discontent with the last few films Dennis Quaid has aligned himself with; whatever the matter, I found myself surprised walking out of the theatre. Flight of the Phoenix is quite a decent little flick.
Yes, it is a remake of a 1965 film by the same name, starring Jimmy Stewart, Richard Attenborough, and Peter Finch. As remakes usually go, it has the usual updates for current events — Dennis Quaid and his copilot A.J. (Tyrese) exchange some repartee about Bill Clinton, wandering nomads turn out to be gun smugglers, and the passengers are all oil riggers. Though dialogue is less intelligent here, there's definitely more action than the original offers, and
Continued...by CHRIS LYNCH American Digest Sports Editor
Yes the Yankees just landed Randy Johnson and I wouldn't be surprised to see them get Carlos Beltran either. They are still not better than the Red Sox.
After reading Buster Olney's ESPN.com column yesterday - I had to remind myself that Buster was the beat reporter on the Yankees for many years and his "like" of the Yankees is well known. My bias is towards the Red Sox (but at least I'm upfront with that). I'll tell you how I see things and you decide.
The way I see it, when looking at the teams position by position - it currently stands:
- Red Sox - 4 (first base, second base, left-field and DH)
- Yankees - 3 (third base, centerfield and right-field)
- Tied - 2 (catcher and shortstop)
This is assuming that the Yankees sign Beltran - otherwise Johnny Damon has it in centerfield all over an aging Bernie Williams. This also grants that catcher and short are equal (arguments can be made by either side).
The Red Sox also have a substantial edge in bench depth with Doug Mirabelli and Jay Payton coming off the bench (probably the best back-up catcher and outfielder in MLB).
Tell me Buster - where is the Yankees' advantage? Is it in the fact that the Yankees will be dealing with Giambi and Sheffield steroid's questions all year? Or do the Red Sox have an advantage in that they now have the curse of the Bambino off their shoulders whereas the Yankees get to be reminded about the greatest choke-job in history all year?
Is it in age? Because the starting line-up for the Red Sox averages 1.1 years less than the Yankees (and is therefore less prone to injury).
Starting pitching? Well lets take a look.
Continued...Private donations to the Tsunami Disaster Relief Funds via
Amazon currently total $4,507,952.00... whoops, make that $4,515,897.72 in the time it took to type this entry.
And it went to $4,526,209.22 in the time it took to post this entry.
Rough estimate: $10,000 a minute. Average donation: $60.00
Before this gets out of hand, I want to be the first to note that the rumors that Teresa Heinz Kerry has bought a Georgetown mansion for Barack Obama are uttely without foundation.
FRIEND IN FLORIDA: It didn't take long. In fact, it took them less time than it ever has before.
ME: Who? What?
FIF: The UN. The bodies are still bobbing around in the Indian Ocean with more coming in on each tide, and those useless excuses for human beings are already bitching and moaning about how we're not giving enough money to help the victims.
ME: Well, they'll say about anything to take the spotlight off the mountain of crooks and fascists they've become.
FIF: My idea is that, if they're so upset about the money going to the tsunami victims, they should just take a few billion dollars out of their Bribes Accounts.
ME: Not. Going. To. Happen.
FIF: Correct, but did you ever notice how the first reaction of crooks and liberals whenever disaster strikes is to tell other people to reach for their wallets?
This guy has dropped off the radar. It seemed like a federal crime at the time but maybe he's gone off to live with Mark Rich. His defense? Yes, Down My Pants. Oh, Like You Haven't?
Anybody heard anything about this "experiment" lately? Just asking if Franken is still cashing his million dollar paycheck?
This is the story of the three Baudelaire children. Violet loved to invent; her brother, Klaus, loved to read; and their sister, Sunny... she loved to bite.
by JEREMIAH LEWIS, American Digest Film Editor
PG 2.5 stars out of 5
Lemony Snickets' A Series of Unfortunate Events is (besides the world's most complicated title for a kid's movie,) a weird, unwieldy trip into the fantastic. And strange as the movie is, it is actually quite tame compared to the antics of Jim Carrey, playing three characters in very convincing makeup.
Carrey has returned to his roots as a physical comic, yet the roles are darkthink Cable Guy meets The Grinch, with a twist of Dickinsean wicked spirit for added punch. His work gives the movie some firmness, but not enough to save the disconnected and directionless plot.
Continued...
A great man and a great teammate.
by CHRIS LYNCH, American Digest Sports Editor
The above simple fact is unavoidable. Reggie White is dead.
It is not clear whether he died from a heart attack or from complications from sleep apnia. Either way - Reggie White is dead.
In the next few days you will probably hear many testimonials on how great a man he was, how great a teammate he was, how great a man of faith he was and how great a family man he was.
You will also hear some people say "yes he is dead but..."
These are the people who would like to call Reggie White a racist for a speech he gave in front of the Wisconsin legislature. These are the people that would have you believe that Reggie White was some sort of black, ecclesiastic, athletic David Duke.
Without exception these people will never have had a moment in private with Reggie White. The
Continued...Throughout the night, the cold loomed close,
And wrapped the house in shrouds of ice.
Within, four candles lent us light,
And returned to us all that was lost.
Around us, all the village slept.
Our children safe, their breathing slow.
Four candles gleamed beside the tree,
Their flames burned long, burned low.
Then all fell silent round the house.
The snow shown blue, the shadows, slate.
You could almost hear the planet turn.
I stood alone beside my gate.
Behind me, those I loved slept warm,
Protected by the grace of God.
Before me lay the village street,
And all the roads that I once trod.
The hour was late, the morning near,
Within my house the fire was bright,
But still I walked on gleaming snow
To pray for greater light.
As a child I lived in dreams of stars,
Of peace on Earth--life's golden seal--
And this night seemed, of all the nights,
The one when all such dreams were real.
Tonight I know this is not so.
The world is not as we would wish,
But as we make it, day by day,
And this, the mystery and the gift.
The candles tell us of this gift.
The stars reflect them high above.
The gift is given to us again,
That we remember how to love.
Last night I had one of the most frightening dreams a man can have. I dreamt that someone, who hated me very deeply, got me a new computer for Christmas. I woke up screaming, but the dream persisted. The horror! The horror!
A new computer! I could just see it. It had everything: a processor so fast that it was measured in googlehertz rather than megahertz, more ram than the entire sheep population of New Zealand, a hard drive bigger than the Great Plains, and a megaplex sized-monitor capable of displaying 2.5 trillion ordinary colors at warp six and with such a blistering intensity that your eyes boiled in your skull. A broadband connection so huge it could suck the Library of Congress dry in a nanosecond. The CPU was covered in sable. The keyboard fashioned from rare woods. The wireless mouse was surgically implanted in my finger tip so all I had to do was gesture mystically.
It got worse.
[Republished from December, 2003 -- I'll be looking for it again this year. Report: It was still there.]
A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
--Eliot, Journey of the Magi
Small moments in long journeys, like small lights in a large darkness, often linger in the memory. They come unbidden, occur when you are not ready for them, and are gone before you understand them. You have the experience, but miss the meaning. All you can do is hold them and hope that understanding will, in time, come to you.
To drive from Laguna Beach to Sacramento the only feasible route takes you through Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. If you go after dark in this season of the year, you speed through an unbroken crescendo of lights accentuated by even more holiday lights. In the American spirit of "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing," the decking of the landscape with lights has finally gotten utterly out of hand.
Airports, malls, oil refineries, the towers along Wilshire and the vast suburbs of the valley put up extra displays to celebrate what has come to be known as "the season." All the lights flung up by the hive of more than 10 million souls shine on brightly and bravely, but the exact nature of "the season" seems more difficult for us to define with every passing year.
Continued...The purchase of the Microsoft vanity blog, Slate, by the Washington Post today has the b-sphere in a moderate lather. Best summed up by Hugh Hewitt with the rimshot, "[It] boils down to buying Kaus and some office furniture," the transaction points towards a trend. But what sort of a trend?
I looked about for someone to interview on this question and, since I hate to be on the phone or to travel, I decided to quote myself from my December 6 essay Building the Perfect Beast: What Is to Be Done in the Blogosphere
We've seen the standard axe jobs against the Blogosphere proliferate for a bit in the wake of the election, but those will pass. More important is the tendency of mainstream media to assimilate that which it cannot control.Continued...Already we see corporate blogs beginning and more than a few mainstream media are beginning to assign internal bloggers and Blogosphere patrols.
HERE'S FOUR OF THE MOST DYSFUNCTIONAL GIFT TAGS of our 2005 edition. There's something here for everyone on your list! Use them to tag your gift to your family and friends that are still Democrats or otherwise afflicted with BDS. It will help to lift the fog from their minds. Now that would be the gift that keeps on giving. We're not saying it will make them into (shudder) Republicans overnight, but it would put a little "in" at the front of their dependency.
All gift tags are proportionally sized to fit on those business card forms you can get for use with a laser printer. You'll have to fool around with the Print Percentage (%) to tweak them into your printer.
To use them you have TWO options:
1) Click on the image and then save the image to your drive. (No, there will not be a tutorial on this. What am I, a talking Paper Clip?)
2) Click on the link called "Download All Images" at the end of this item for a 221K PDF file suitable for printing or framing.
Hint: The little black circle is where you punch the hole and insert the string to make it a gift tag.
DOWNLOAD ALL IMAGES One sheet PDF (211K)
Pretty people have problems too.
by JEREMIAH LEWIS, American Digest Film Editor
Closer (2004) Rated R, 98 minutes 4 stars out of 5
When the Beatles sing "Baby, You're a Rich Man", the first line asks "How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?". That reminds me of Closer, the new Mike Nichols film about love and relationships between four people. Every single character in this film, down to strangers and hobos on the street, is bee-yutiful. Even their physical flaws are more attractive than the most beautiful non-movie-person's most beautiful feature.
So why is it their lives are a total disaster compared to mine? I don't have a girlfriend or a wife, I don't sleep around (I sleep straight), and I don't look like Jude Law or Clive Owen (or Julia Roberts or Natalie Portman, for that matter). Yet somehow, we're asked to
Continued...
Weis at work and at play.
by CHRIS LYNCH
Charlie Weis, the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots, was recently named to be the new head coach at Notre Dame - replacing dismissed head coach Ty Willingham.
Before we can discuss why Charlie Weis will be successful at Notre Dame, we have to deal with two issues. Obviously, there was some hub-bub about Ty Willingham being let go in the first place. Then there was the issue of Weis not being the first choice for the job.
Ty Willingham was let go because he was not winning enough games. Period. Willingham went 21-15 at Notre Dame and that just doesn't cut it.
Yes - Ty Willingham is African American but what does that have to do with anything? The people who are arguing that he should never have been let go are doing so merely because he was a black head coach - not because he was a good head coach (and wasn't it Martin Luther King who said, "I have a dream that someday I will not be judged on the color of my skin but on my won/loss percentage"?). Where were these protesters when Ron Zook got fired by Florida? Zook was 20-13 at Florida. Was there no outrage because Zook is white?
This just in from Chris Lynch, our sports editor from his site,A Large Regular
"Independent Websites"Well, I'm impressed. So much so that I am not only going to become an "independant website," I'm also bringing back my self-designation as "The Official Weblog of the Internet © ."
I want to change the way we talk. I would like to see the words "Independent Website" used in more formal settings or in discussions instead of the word "blog."
Recently I started contributing as Sports Editor for the American Digest. Now the American Digest is in the top 200 sites in the TTLB Ecosystem but saying "it's one of the top 200 blogs on the Internet" just doesn't sound as impressive as saying "it's one of the top 200 independent websites on the Internet."
I know this is like calling a garbageman a sanitation engineer but it works. I have friends who are journalists and trust me if I say that I now write for one of the top 200 independent websites on the Internet - they are impressed. However biased and ignorant it is on their part - they still hold their noses when the word "blog" is mentioned....
Of course, if you think this means I'm getting out of my pajamas, you'd be dead wrong. I might, however, start wearing a tie.
Evidence of changing weather patterns in the skies over Titan's southern region are revealed in these false color images obtained by the Cassini spacecraft's visual infrared mapping spectrometer over two recent flybys of this largest of Saturn's satellites. In the first image (left), obtained on the Oct, 26, 2004 Titan flyby, from a distance of some 200,000 kilometers (124,300 miles), Titan's skies are cloud-free, except for a patch of clouds observed over the south pole near the bottom of the image. In contrast, the image on the right shows a recent view of this same area of Titan obtained seven weeks later on the second close Titan flyby on Dec. 13, 2004, from a distance of 225,000 kilometers (139,800 miles). This image clearly shows that several extensive patches of clouds have formed over temperate latitudes. The appearance of these clouds reveals the existence of weather. -- NASA Cassini Image: Spying Titan's Weather
Times Watch, which tracks the New York Times so you don't have to, has released its New york Times Quotes of Note: The Worst of 2004.
There are so many jawdroppers and gobstoppers listed that it is difficult to pick out a favorite, but the top quote has a lot going for it.
"Abortion might be a crime in most states. Gay people could be thrown in prison for having sex in their homes. States might be free to become mini-theocracies, endorsing Christianity and using tax money to help spread the gospel. The Constitution might no longer protect inmates from being brutalized by prison guards. Family and medical leave and environmental protections could disappear."Yes, indeed, the future "World According to Cohen" is just a bleak demon-haunted landscape in which prisons fill up with unwed mothers taking their babies to term, right next to other prisons filled with Gay couples who had sex,all of which would clutter the landscape in an America where every state was just another version of Utah circa 1878. Not only that, this vast Prison/Theocracy state would be rife with random beatings of inmates in the name of God in an environment of primitive medical care and total pollution.
-- Editorial board member Adam Cohen, predicting the impact of future Bush appointments to the Supreme Court, October 18.
Sounds like Afghanistan under the Taliban. I wonder if the health plan at the New York Times covers lithium injections and family interventions. If so, Cohen might want to sign up for both.
[H/T: PRESTOPUNDIT]
by PAT CUMMINGS
American Digest Book Editor
[Note: Our new book editor, Pat Cummings, constant reader, also reviews books at his site Paper Frigate, and at Blogcritics as well. He can be emailed here.]
- Stranger In a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein
- Dune, Frank Herbert
- Round the Bend, Nevil Shute
Heinlein's Stranger In a Strange Land tops my Christmas rereading list because it considers the making of a messiah. For those who have not encountered this novel in either the original release or the 1991 uncut version (all three of you), Stranger is the story of a young man raised by the puissant Old Ones of Mars, who then returns to Earth to spread the Gospel (and related powers) they taught him. Heinlein uses the story to jab at the tabloid and main-stream press, fringe and established churches, courts and lawyers, and (of course) the government.
But along the way, the story—maybe inadvertantly, although I doubt anything ever appeared in Heinlein's work that he didn't plan with glee—underscores the original message of the Christ: love each other; and tells us in a less-brutal (because fictional) way than Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, the consequences of preaching love to those focused on money, power—or scripture.
The original novel Dune reveals Herbert's empathy with the nomadic Arab of pre-mandate Palestine. (Remember, Herbert was British.) But to reread this book today is to experience the spooky realization that the Fremen are eco-terrorists.
More to the point, the conversion of Paul Atreides to the messianic Mu'adib—conservative ruling-class heir to fundamentalist jihad leader—maps the slippery path of proselytic education, leading to the vision of all who believe differently as evil and deserving of death. Whether you see mujahideen or red state/blue state bomb-throwers may depend on today's headlines more than Frank Herbert's words.
Nevil Shute himself thought Round the Bend was his best novel. The messiah-figure of this story is Connie Shaklin, a Western-educated Malayan aircraft mechanic, whose message is the moral imperative of good maintenance of machines upon which others' lives depend;
"...Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed,The religious movement that grows up around this inoffensive and admirable dictum eventually leads to Shaklin's martyrdom—and the quiet growth of a new religion. The story shows the way a religious meme grows; in seemingly-barren soil, fertilized by the religions that precede it—and watered by the blood of martyrs.
But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need..."
(Rudyard Kipling, The Sons of Martha)
[Click to Enlarge]
A less romantic but more mind-boggling view of my home via satellite imagery. Courtesy of the amazing Acme.com ACME Mapper @ N 33.530609 W 117.76394, 1 m/p
But why?
To participate in this amazing visualization of the Blogosphere: The World as a Blog
[Click to Enlarge]
What? Real time & updating display of weblog postings, around the world
How? Weblogs.com geocoding RSS Flash Earth
Check it out. Add yours. Cover the Earth.
UPDATE: "How" to add your blog to World As A Blog is a bit obscure. Go to the world as a blog via the link above and click on "more info" for instructions. Simple and straight forward. If I can figure it out, anyone can.
Person of the Year: "For sharpening the debate until the choices bled, for reframing reality to match his design, for gambling his fortunes -- and ours -- on his faith in the power of leadership, George W. Bush is TIME's 2004 Person of the Year."
From the article: An ordinary politician tells swing voters what they want to hear; Bush invited them to vote for him because he refused to. Ordinary politicians need to be liked; Bush finds the hostility of his critics reassuring. Challengers run as outsiders, promising change; it's an extraordinary politician who tries this while holding the title Leader of the Free World. Ordinary Presidents have made mistakes and then sought to redeem themselves by admitting them; when Bush was told by some fellow Republicans that his fate depended on confessing his errors, he blew them off.
For candidates, getting elected is the test that counts. Ronald Reagan did it by keeping things vague: It's Morning in America. Bill Clinton did it by keeping things small, running in peaceful times on school uniforms and V chips. Bush ran big and bold and specific all at the same time, rivaling Reagan in breadth of vision and Clinton in tactical ingenuity. He surpassed both men in winning bigger majorities in Congress and the statehouses. And he did it all while conducting an increasingly unpopular war, with an economy on tiptoes and a public conflicted about many issues but most of all about him.
Via: EPIC News
Laguna Beach, Sunset, December 17, 2004
Photo by Sheryl Van der Leun
IN WHICH, having finally gotten my G4 back on line, I take a random walk through my Toolbar Times .
LADIES! WHY SPEND THOUSANDS ON MOOD-ENHANCING PHARMACEUTICALS when old fashioned semen exposure does the trick?
"Semen makes you happy. That's the remarkable conclusion of a study comparing women whose partners wear condoms with those whose partners don't.
"The study, which is bound to provoke controversy, showed that the women who were directly exposed to semen were less depressed. The researchers think this is because mood-altering hormones in semen are absorbed through the vagina. They say they have ruled out other explanations."
Here's one experiment many would like to replicate, and obviously calls for deeper research.
KOOKY KONSPIRACY KABAL KABBOSHES Dave Chappelle in The Chappelle Theory . Proving once again that if you have krazy ideas, the Internet is here for you.
On the other hand, it could be that he's just not that funny anymore.
MICHELLE MALKIN NAILS TIME'S LAME CHOICES to the mast with a marlin spike: "Interesting, isn't it, that Bill Gates didn't deserve the honor when he was actually creating something, but only earns Time magazine's highest praise when he's giving his money away." Why? Because if circulation keeps dropping for Time, they're going to need a billion or so from the Gates' Foundation just to keep publishing. That and the hopes of the top editors at Time for a cushy foundation job when they get booted.
THE INFINITE ZOOM via Google Video'sPowers of Ten . A filmed version of the Morrison's classic 1983 book, : Powers of Ten: The Relative Size of Things in the Universe and the Effect of Adding Another Zero
THE HYPERORGANIZED MERLIN MANN CALLS FOR A Vote: alt or option? on Flickr. Much religious affirmation or bickering ensues between the Church of the Mac and the Church of the PC. Jeff Hedglin in the comments suggests we go further in extending our extended keyboards with new keys.
So far, our keyboards have seen "Escape", "Function", "Control", "Alternate", "Option", "Delete", "Home", "Pause", "End", "Insert", and "Enter".Can I suggest some new keys?
"Action" - just do something.
"Reverse" - back out of that dangerous "Action" you just took.
"Procrastinate"
"Hide" - always a good one.
"Find"
DEMONSTRATING ONCE AGAIN HOW THE HARD-CORE LIBERTARIAN ATTITUDE makes the "Party" marginal is this warm and welcoming lead from the dubiously named Hammer of Truth "Don’t bother reading on if you voted for either Bush or Kerry last time, as the material provided is either over your head or very likely to piss you off. " Well, okay, we'll just shuffle on off and leave you with one percent of the electorate, most of whom don't vote on "principle." Play nice, kids.
YOUR WEEKLY REALITY CHECK courtesy of the brilliant victor Hanson: Lancing the Boil
"Like it or not, wars are usually won or lost when one side feels its losses are too high to continue. We have suffered terribly in losing 2,100 dead in Iraq; a vastly smaller enemy in contrast may have experienced tens of thousands of terrorists killed, and is finding its safe havens and money drying up. Panic about Iraq abounds in both the American media and the periodic fatwas of Dr. Zawahiri — but not in the U. S. government or armed forces."
You've gotta love the Axis of Panic.
Heidi of Coudal Partners came up with this snappy little solution to dealing with obnoxious cell phone users. The .pdf includes several different versions of a card that you can print, cut out and hand to cell yellers. Brought to you by SHHH! The Society for HandHeld Hushing.
(Via Cool Hunting.)
LAYING ASIDE THE VELVET GLOVES, BUSH TODAY PUT A COUPLE OF SHOTS ACROSS THE BOW OF THE MEDIAS' "GOOD SHIP LOLLYPOP" in the President's Radio Address. [Emphasis added]
Yesterday the existence of this secret program was revealed in media reports, after being improperly provided to news organizations. As a result, our enemies have learned information they should not have, and the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country.This is a heartening tone and the statement is made stronger since it is based, as so many things in the quisling media is not, on facts.As the 9/11 Commission pointed out, it was clear that terrorists inside the United States were communicating with terrorists abroad before the September the 11th attacks, and the commission criticized our nation's inability to uncover links between terrorists here at home and terrorists abroad. Two of the terrorist hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon, Nawaf al Hamzi and Khalid al Mihdhar, communicated while they were in the United States to other members of al Qaeda who were overseas. But we didn't know they were here, until it was too late.
The authorization I gave the National Security Agency after September the 11th helped address that problem in a way that is fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities. The activities I have authorized make it more likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers will be identified and located in time. And the activities conducted under this authorization have helped detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks in the United States and abroad.
Reaction among the bad Americans in the political class was swift and predictable with one notable drooler spewing the phrase "King George Bush." One is tempted to ask what part of the title "Commander in Chief" that particular idiot failed to understand but since ambition is his first and second language the answer is "all of it."
In general, the revelation of the program with the all too tedious play it has been given in order to hump some New York Times scribblers latest forgettable tome in the bookstores is one with the flatulent and ceaseless debate over "torture." Just the irritating background buzz of those who are out of power and rightly so.
The problem with the Liberal Left, the Devolved Democrats, and the Morally Stripmined Media is that when it comes to the phrase, "All's fair in love and war," their "philosophy" won't let them take that thought beyond the word "love." They're the experts when it comes to making all love fair but cannot understand the necessities of war. That's why they should be left alone to run the condom programs while the grown-ups run the army. Indeed, if they keep behaving and speaking as they do, the country will probably see to that over the next few election cycles.
In the meantime, I hope the slack-jawed members of the fifth estate will take careful note of the sentences "the unauthorized disclosure of this effort damages our national security and puts our citizens at risk. Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies, and endangers our country, " and ask themselves if the Judith Miller incarceration earlier this year was an anomaly, or if she was just warming up the cells.
No sooner had I posted the item below than a reader noted in the Comments on Dear Seth, The First Thing to Know Is to "Enable Comments!" -- "Apparently the ethereal Seth neither eats, sleeps, nor braves the elements, since his lists don't include such red-state skills as cook dinner, make the bed, or wash your clothes. Are all our thinkers being raised by wolves these days?"
A fair question to which the answer, I suppose, is, "No, those who think that they're thinkers were probably raised by parents expecting the advent of ovine avialtion before the Second Coming." Looking over Seth's list and the one's that he's plucked out of his trackbacks, I'm seeing a slight trend towards the real world, but only as far as "The Real World via MTV."
All of which brought to mind the famous quote by Robert Heinlein in Time Enough for Love
A human being should be able toIt seems to me that the items on this particular list should be among the first given to children during their formative years and, with the exception of the last, none should be graduated from high school without demonstrating proven abilities in each of them.Specialization is for insects. - RobertHeinlein
- change a diaper,
- plan an invasion,
- butcher a hog,
- conn a ship,
- design a building,
- write a sonnet,
- balance accounts,
- build a wall,
- set a bone,
- comfort the dying,
- take orders,
- give orders,
- cooperate,
- act alone,
- solve equations,
- analyze a new problem,
- pitch manure,
- program a computer,
- cook a tasty meal,
- fight efficiently,
- die gallantly.
Are there others? I think it is the height of hubris to go for 1,000 unless, like Seth Godin, you're planning on picking other's brains to help you make a tidy little PDF book for free.
How many abilities should any person have in order to get through life in a reasonable manner?
Here, at least, comments are OPEN.
Seth Godin, a man presumed to be clued, wants your help in listing : The top 1,000 things to know :
What are the one thousand teachable things that every third grader ought to start learning so she'll know them all before before she graduates from high school?He then scarcely breaks a sweat in doing, well, 20.
I imagine that he hopes the millions of others on the web compelled to make lists will chime in with the other 980. But how? Comments on Seth's site are disabled.
File under: "Wait, wait! Don't tell me."
Seth, you may recall, was on the receiving end of a rocket from Doc Searls concerning Godin's worship at the altar of Adobe PDF's vs. HTML earlier this month. Godin retreated into the cultural redoubt of "Hey, our PDFs are really pretty" in the face of Searls' observation that Godin's fabled great communication skills had failed him on this one.
This looks like another case of "CoolHandLukism" ('What we have here is a failure to communicate'). What gives, Seth? Blogs are only interactive to the extent that "comments" are turned on. They have no other interactivity available. Seems to me that if you ask a question without any means of providing an answer, you're not really asking at all, you're just preening to the converted.
A MOTHER IN A BURNING BUILDING throws her baby from the 3rd floor. Video of the man who caught it.
If it is Sunday, it means it may be hard to avoid Frank Rich. Yup, there he is in full blather mode over at the New York Times: The Year of 'The Passion'
I once asked if Frank Rich of the New York Times got his position by bribery or by begging on his knees. He certainly didn't get it from a power-packed prose style or intellect. I was assured that he didn't have the kind of money for bribery.
Today Rich is back at his favorite Kool-Aid stand where he sells large glasses of his particular brew. At hand is his latest screed against the Right in general and Christians in particular. He loves this theme and returns to it "as doth a dog to his vomit."
But the particular paragraph below caught my eye.
Frank Rich from the Left: What is this about? How can those in this country's overwhelming religious majority maintain that they are victims in a fiery battle with forces of darkness? It is certainly not about actual victimization. Christmas is as pervasive as it has ever been in America, where it wasn't even declared a federal holiday until after the Civil War. What's really going on here is yet another example of a post-Election-Day winner-takes-all power grab by the "moral values" brigade. As Mr. Gibson shrewdly contrived his own crucifixion all the way to the bank, trumping up nonexistent threats to his movie to hype it, so the creation of imagined enemies and exaggerated threats to Christianity by "moral values" mongers of the right has its own secular purpose. The idea is to intimidate and marginalize anyone who objects to their efforts to impose the most conservative of Christian dogma on public policy. If you're against their views, you don't have a differing opinion — you're anti-Christian (even if you are a Christian).
How wrong and how Richian, I thought. And then I took another look and saw that Rich was not, after all, a writer, but a bot in the Times copy computer. Why with just a few, a very few, changes it could read exactly the other way around... say...
COPY, GET ME REWRITE!
Frank Rich from the Right: What is this about? How can those in this country's overwhelming political majority maintain that they are victims in a fiery battle with forces of darkness? It is certainly not about any loss of freedom. Freedom is as pervasive as it has ever been in America, where it was declared a God-given right by the Declaration of Independence. What's really going on here is yet another example of a post-Election-Day loser-needs-power grab by the "politically correct" brigade. As Senator Kerry shrewdly contrived his own crucifixion all the way to the bank, trumping up nonexistent threats to freedom to hype his candidacy, so the creation of imagined enemies and exaggerated threats to freedom by "political correctness" mongers of the Left has its own fantatic purpose. The idea is to intimidate and marginalize anyone who objects to their efforts to impose the most liberal of Demmocratic dogmas on public policy. If you're against their views, you don't have a differing opinion — you're anti-Humanity (even if you are a Human.)
No need for the Times to hire a new conservative columnist. I'll just rewrite Frank Rich columns for them. It is so easy, I'll do it for free and an invitation to their ChanukahKwanzaHolidayC____mas Party.
If you're up to speed on your crocheting, its still not too late to whip up this perfect gift for the mathematician on your Christmas list.
Even if crocheting isn't on your list of skills, you can at least add this to your collection of unusual PDF files:
Crocheting the Lorenz manifold
Hinke Osinga and Bernd Krauskopf
Abstract: This paper explains how one can crochet the Lorenz manifold, the two-dimensional stable manifold of the origin of the Lorenz system.
"Imagine a leaf floating in a turbulent river and consider how it passes either to the left or to the right around a rock somewhere downstream."Those special leaves that end up clinging to the rock must have followed a very unique path in the water.
"Each stitch in the crochet pattern represents a single point - a leaf - that ends up at the rock."
-- Hinke Osinga
Hinke Osinga, Lorenz Manifold, Bernd Krauskopf
"At this time, we must offer every American child three nuclear missiles."
What are you doing here? Click the link and take in The Subtext State of the Union.
Pointer via Wunderkinder.org
Yet another quote for my ever expanding file marked, "Pay Attention to Peggy Noonan:"
You can get so well educated in America that your thoughts become detached from common sense. You can get so complicated in your thinking that the obvious isn't real to you anymore. -- OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan
Well, I imagine if you've gone so far as to name yourself "Project Censored" you need to find things that have been, in fact, censored. Hence this year's linked list Project Censored 2005 - Top 25 Censored Stories.
I went to the link with keen anticipation. Here, at last, would be all those stories that I hadn't heard about because of, well, censorship. Censorship, as we all know, is a massive problem in today's multi-mediaverse. So many things just never, ever, see the light of day.
But none of those things, whatever they may be, seemed to make the Year's Most Censored List at Project Censored. Of all the 25 items listed, there was not one I had not read about in some detail, as it unfolded, at some site across the Blogosphere.
Here's the first 10 listed. See how many ring a bell with you.
- #1: Wealth Inequality in 21st Century Threatens Economy and Democracy
- #2: Ashcroft vs. the Human Rights Law that Holds Corporations Accoutable
- #3: Bush Administration Censors Science
- #4: High Levels of Uranium Found in Troops and Civilians
- #5: The Wholesale Giveaway of Our Natural Resources
- #6: The Sale of Electoral Politics
- #7: Conservative Organization Drives Judicial Appointments
- #8: Cheney's Energy Task Force and The Energy Policy
- #9: Widow Brings RICO Case Against U.S. government for 9/11
- #10: New Nuke Plants: Taxpayers Support, Industry Profits
I probably missed the censorship of the "Water is wet" expose and the carefully expunged tale about how "Bush Lied." I'm sure both will be censored again next year. But I only know what I read.
Bad magazine.Rotten Idea. Worse Logo.
Would the last blogger leaving orbit, please ignite Steve Rubell's retrorockets?
Don't get me wrong. Steve's a nice man and I generally enjoy his insights, but a stopped clock is wrong all but twice a day, and Steve is not in either "Now" with his boosting of bloggers for Time's "Person" of the Year.
For 2004, I cannot think of a single person or persons that had a greater influence on society than the bloggers. Let's remind them by making our voice heard. If you think about American politics, media, business - no one, no one had a greater influence for better or worse than the bloggers. Not Osama Bin Laden. Not Sadaam Hussein. Not John Kerry. No one. The bloggers absolutely deserve to be this year's People of the Year. -- Micro Persuasion: The Bloggers Should Be TIME's People of the YearOther than being stark raving mad, what's just so wrong with this picture?
We can just mention and pass right over the psychosphere's "abusive relationship" meme, where the abused and scorned member of the relationship compulsively seeks approval from the abuser. Andrew Sullivan's got that covered and he'll be along as soon as he figures out it will boost his hit count.
We can also spare you the 3,589 words of exposition on how the secret, dark, and compulsively neurotic decisions about the Time cover are made over bong hits in the back room at Michaels. PressThink will slap that one up in less time than it takes to type it.
We could mock up an internal memo, complete with valid typefaces, but why bother ? Romanesko will have the real one with his standard disclaimer that says it should go to Tina Brown this year and every year.
We'd point out that the whole thing is just a puff piece for the dominant magazine of Time's group, People, but Jonah Goldberg has beaten us to it.
Instead we merely remind everyone out there on a keyboard and a shoeshine that "Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make insane." (Not that there aren't plenty who got into this game because
Continued...Have you ever noticed that "Why?" is qualitatively different from all the other interrogatives? ("What?", "When?", "Where?", "Who?", and "How?") Of all of them, only Why calls for interpretation of human opinion. All the others call only for fact. -- Ole Eichhorn @ Critical Section
Take a guess, get a free book. The first American Digest reader to correctly identify the American author shown below will receive, free and post paid, a copy of one of his classic tomes.
Take a look and take a guess in the comments section to this post.
Who am I?
[Members of author's family or the family and associates of American Digest are not eligible.]
Call me irresponsible but more and more I think that the single job for a writer that would most certainly condemn you to hell in this life and the next has to be reporting for Reuters. Impervious to sense and humanity, this "Service" continues to pump out what passes for "reportage" using editorial rules and filters from somewhere in "the Stone Age". I use that term advisedly.
Here's a full report that just moved over the wires from that bastion of religious peace, harmony and toleration, Iran.
Iranian Adulteress Faces Noose or Stoning-OfficialThat's it. Whole item. Starts well with a terse factual headline. Goes on in that vein with fact, fact, identified quote, fact ... and then the end. Snip.Dec 18, 2004 -- TEHRAN (Reuters) - An Iranian official said on Saturday he was waiting for orders on whether to stone or hang a woman convicted of adultery, the latest in a chain of death sentences passed against women for "fornication."
The official from Iran's conservative judiciary said Hajieh Esmailvand's prison sentence, that began in January 2000, would end in less than a month -- a jail term in the northern city of Jolfa that was always intended as a precursor to execution.
"Her (death) sentence is approved by the Supreme Court, but there are no orders to carry out the sentence. We do not yet know if it is by stoning or hanging," he told Reuters.
Hanging is the most usual death penalty in Iran but some adulterers have been stoned.
Stoning has sparked scathing international criticism, with victims being buried up to their midriffs and then pelted to death with medium-size stones that should not be so large as to kill instantly.
Well, it is nice, I suppose, to know that "international criticism" of stoning has been scathing (Although we presume that some countries in love with Iran have been less scathing than others.). But the story does leave you wondering just what that "criticism" might be. Depth to which victim is buried? Size of stones used? Number of stoners invited to the festive moment?
Also left out is the mention of any possible "international criticism" of the charming practice hanging women for "fornication." Are we to assume that stoning is so evil that the world just gives Iran a pass on the noose?
The more that you look at this example of the Reuter's Way of Journalism, the more you see the large empty hole in the middle. The place where ethics and morality should be.
Do you know someone who has trouble with tailgaters and lane changers? Just get them these balloons.
1) Inflate.
2) Attach to vehicle with tethers of varying lengths.
3) Drive like the wind and watch others just back away from the vehicle.
[Points of origin: Steel-mail to Ramblings' Journal to Charlite]
Here's the four most Dysfunctional Gift Tags of our 2004 edition. There's something here for everyone on your list!
All gift tags are proportionally sized to fit on those business card forms you can get for use with a laser printer. You'll have to fool around with the Print Percentage (%) to tweak them into your printer. All were created and built to exacting tolerances by my wife, Sheryl Van der Leun.
To use them you have TWO options:
1) Click on the image and then save the image to your drive. (No, there will not be a tutorial on this. What am I, a Paper Clip?)
2) Click on the link called "Download All Images" at the end of this item for a 221K PDF file suitable for printing or framing.
Our Free Gift from our house to your house. Let us know what you think and any reactions to the ones you use.
Hint: The little black circle is where you punch the hole and insert the string to make it a gift tag.
DOWNLOAD ALL IMAGES One sheet PDF (211K)
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by SHERYL VAN DER LEUN
A gift tag from the Holiday Boutique project. (This was one of the "normal" ones.)
I'd love to tell you that outside our house the lights are hung with restrained elegance; that bells tinkle when you walk through my fragrantly wreathed front door; and that the smell of freshly-baked gingerbread warms our charming abode, decorated as it is in this season's must-have holiday jewel tones. I would brag about the majestic Douglas Fir brushing the cathedral ceiling of the living room, and how the presents -- tenderly wrapped in handmade paper -- promise magical moments of surprise and delight on Christmas morning. You'd know instantly that in this house holiday traditions abound and that this family truly treasures the spirit of Christmas.
But I'd be lying.
Truth is, we do have a tree, but it's still out on the back porch. My husband had called me from Home Depot a couple of weeks back.
"Do you think Jackson (my 10-year-old son) will be upset if he doesn’t get to pick out the tree?" he asked.
"Hey, if he says anything we'll tell him we're moving to Connecticut where the State Appellate Court ruled that it's OK to beat your children," I said.
Planted in a bucket, it's supposed to be a "living" tree, but already it's looking a bit puckish. I wish I
Continued...by CHRIS LYNCH
My work here is done.
Pedro Martinez is set to cut his ties to the World Champion Boston Red Sox and sign with the New York Mets for a reported $56 million over 4 years GUARANTEED!
Many Red Sox fans are upset by this. Jilted seems to be the word that best fits.
Other Red Sox fans are disappointed but are trying to be philosophical. They want to echo Michael Corleone in the film version of The Godfather,"It's not personal. It's business." That's their adopted mantra.
I understand the business part of the deal. I understand that $56 million is a lot of money and that the Mets went to 4-years when the Red Sox were only willing to guarantee three. I understand Pedro, who came from abject poverty, would be hard pressed to turn down all that money. However, I do think the Mets and Omar Minaya in particular made a bad business decision with this offer. Because of the type of contracts Omar has given to Pedro and to the just better than average Kris Benson (3-years $21 million) - in the end I think Pedro will be with the Mets longer than Omar Minaya.
I understand that this is a good business decision for Pedro and I literally can hear Al Pacino's voice in my head saying, "It's not personal. It's business."
The thing is - I read Mario Puzo's book and I know that phrase has been completely taken out of context. This is what Michael Corleone actually said in the book:
"Tom, don't let anyone kid you. It's all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of shit every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it's personal as hell. You know where I learned that from? The Don. My old man. The Godfather. If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his - the old man would take it personal. He took my going into the Marines personal. That's what makes him great. The Great Don. He takes everything personal."The Red Sox offered Pedro $40 million over 3-years with lots of perks and he turned them down. I take it personal.
For seven years Pedro was the face of the team. He went 117-37 for the Red Sox during his time with the Sox (an incredible 76% winning percentage). His 1999 and 2000 seasons were among the best seasons by a starting pitcher in history. Pedro won two Cy Young Awards and it should have been three except he was held to a higher standard in 2002. Once I was the most passionate defender of Pedro. Now I have no feeling for him.
The Red Sox paid him $17.5 million this year. They have been very good to Pedro Martinez. $40 million over 3-years was an excellent offer from the Red Sox and Pedro turned it down.
I'm taking it personal.
AMERICAN DIGEST SPORTS EDITOR Chris Lynch serves his own brew daily at A Large Regular , and contributes to SportsPages.com.
Lynch can be reached at chris.lynch@gmail.com
For some time I've been hoping to find other writers of wit and worth to contribute to American Digest. Indeed, that was the original conception that I let slip away. After all, just one voice and point of view becomes tedious. One person can never hope to digest all things American in any case.
I know a little bit about a lot of things, but, with a few exceptions, not a lot about any one thing. As a result, I'd be more than open to anyone who could fill in the continental blanks in my knowledge on any given day.
If you'd like to have a go, send me a note via the email link under the flag on the right. We'll see what we can do.
UPDATE:
Two new contributors have joined American Digest with several more in the wings.
CINEMA: Jeremiah Lewis of the incisive Fringe came onboard last week, and has already reviewed two films, the fascinating and overlooked Stander , and the rapidly cooling Oceans 12.
Lewis reviews films both at his site and American Digest. He can be reached directly at jeremiah.lewis@gmail.com
SPORTS: Debuting today is Chris Lynch from his always fascinating site,A Large Regular Lynch discloses under interrogation that he is the father of four whose vocation is high tech sales management, but whose avocation is now -- and has always been -- sports.
For the past two years Lynch has also contributed to SportsPages.com.
Lynch is an unabashed rooter for all Boston teams, but tries to be fair and openminded. Especially since the Red Sox won.
Lynch can be reached at chris.lynch@gmail.com
Other voices from the realms of books, cartoons, and photography to come.
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[ Note: Several weeks ago, it became widely known that the Dutch were expanding their "euthanasia" program to formalize the previously informal murder of "inconvenient" children and other human beings at the hands of doctors. This further step down into the pit troubled me greatly along with millions of others. I spent a lot of time researching the question of how a society, inch by inch, arrives at such a degraded state in the name of sweet reason. I'd intended to write something about this, but then I found (Via As the Top of the World Turns) The Children Whom Reason Scorns written by 'Dr. Bob' at The Doctor Is In. This says all I would have hoped to say and more -- far better than I ever could.
With the author's permission I am republishing it in full on American Digest. I urge you to not only spend the time reading and thinking about this essay, but to pass it on to all those you think might also be interested. As well, I also urge you to discover The Doctor Is In for yourself.]
In the years following the Great War, a sense of doom and panic settled over Germany. Long concerned about a declining birth rate, the country faced the loss of 2 million of its fine young men in the war, the crushing burden of an economy devastated by war and the Great Depression, further compounded by the economic body blow of reparations and the loss of the German colonies imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Many worried that the Nordic race itself was threatened with extinction.
The burgeoning new sciences of psychology, genetics, and medicine provided a glimmer of hope in this darkness. An intense fascination developed with strengthening and improving the nation through Volksgesundheit - public health. Many physicians and scientists promoted "racial hygiene" - better known today as eugenics. The Germans were hardly alone in this interest - 26 states in the U.S. had forced sterilization laws for criminals and the mentally ill during this period; Ohio debated legalized euthanasia in the 20's; and even Oliver Wendall Holmes, in Buck v. Bell, famously upheld forced sterilization with the quote: "Three generations of imbeciles are enough!" But Germany's dire circumstances and its robust scientific and university resources proved a most fertile ground for this philosophy.
These novel ideas percolated rapidly through the social and educational systems steeped in Hegelian deterministic philosophy and social Darwinism. Long lines formed to view exhibits on heredity and genetics, and scientific research, conferences, and publication on topics of race and eugenics were legion. The emphasis was often on the great burden which the chronically ill and mentally and physically deformed placed on a
We steal your admission price and then we get away to do it again!
Ocean's Twelve (2004) Rated PG-13 120 minutes | 2.5 stars out of 5
In the words of a long-dead Frenchman, "Deliver me first from the pain of subjugation and oppression, second from the fear of death, and third from the waste of potential."
Okay, so I lied. I made that quote up. But the third part of it applies most ably to the poor and underwhelming Ocean's Twelve, with a cast so star-studded it makes Tiffany's look like a chocolate shop selling candy rings to school children.
What 2001's Ocean Eleven did nearly flawlessly, Ocean's Twelve stumbles and bungles through painfully, even somewhat dangerously, as plot-thin sequences devolve into silliness (Julia Roberts as the returning character Tess, who is forced to act as Julia Roberts), and characters suffer crushingly weak development (Matt Damon as the son of two thieves, who must learn not just the art and craft, but the professionalism of thievery). While it's a stretch to say that Ocean's Twelve is bad per se, it really is too much to give it any props.
Even the spunky playfulness of director Steven Soderbergh seems stale and uninspired, utilizing weak fresh-out-of-film-school techniques that would make Darren Aranofsky blush, covering for a hopelessly meandering, slow-paced steamship wreck of a script by George Nolfi, whose sole previous credit is the abominable Timeline.
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From Ole Eichhorn's more detailed examination of Titan @ Critical Section which points at NASA's interactive Saturn Spotlight - Journey to a Ringed World: Why Go to Saturn
December 11, 2004: 8:43 AM Pacific Time
TECHNORATI'S MAIN PAGE : 5,002,014 weblogs watched. 718,687,874 links tracked."Nobody goes online anymore, it's too crowded."
Going online and being online are not solitary experiences. If they were, only hermits would bother with them.
If all online was was a only collection of data bases, data dumps, bots, and a hoary assemblage of mediators/librarians/whatever ... then we'd see a lot less emotion, time, and thought expended on it. Many people read and are moved by various online interactions. Few people are moved by encyclopedias and databases although all would agree they are useful. Even if online were all of the world's records stored on an infinite hard drives and accessible to all at any moment, it would still be nothing more than a card catalogue as high as the sky. We'd use it but it wouldn't seem any more compelling than the reference section.
Quite the contrary, online is a state that evolves from the wish not to be solitary. It arises from the desire to be "connected" on a new level to others -- to their knowledge, their businesses, their tastes as they choose to reveal them, to their personalities as they choose to construct them. The gravitational attraction of online for people is other people.
WiFi cybercafes, as a group, are emblematic of this state. Where a cafe's business plan once stopped at beverages, sandwiches and pastry, one that does not offer WiFi today is a cafe heading for oblivion. Those that offer free WiFi are the one's heading for success. Touted by the cafe conglomerate Starbucks as "the third place" in American life, the addition of WiFi to this place weaves all those places into a single space that is both of and beyond the physical location in which an espresso and a laptop rests on a table.
This drive to reach throug