Eclecticism

Sometime between September 11th and September 12th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Tax Plans (that’s one for you, nineteen for me): There’s a graph that Obama supporters are sending around, showing the differences between the Republican and Democrat tax cut proposals. It shows that Obama is not in fact planning to raise taxes – he’s planning to cut them for all but the very, very rich. I couldn’t help but notice though – the graph is still massively weighted towards the interests of the super-rich…one of the brackets represents one thousandth of the population. So let’s make this a bit more accurate – let’s keep all the brackets, but draw it to scale. (via Waxy)
• Maurice Sendak’s Concerns, Beyond Where the Wild Things Are: Was there anything he had never been asked? He paused for a few moments and answered, “Well, that I’m gay.” “I just didn’t think it was anybody’s business,” Mr. Sendak added. He lived with Eugene Glynn, a psychoanalyst, for 50 years before Dr. Glynn’s death in May 2007. He never told his parents: “All I wanted was to be straight so my parents could be happy. They never, never, never knew.” (via The Republic of T.)
• Mashups: The Future Of Music?: Mashups can be kind of a gateway to "trick" people into listening to music they wouldn't normally hear, and exposing them to different aspects of culture (and pop culture) they wouldn't otherwise be paying attention to. When a rock fan in their 30s or 40s hears a familiar '80s song, but then hears an unfamiliar pop or hip-hop vocal from some Top 40 artist, they're being exposed to current pop culture that they perhaps normally avoid. The same goes in the opposite direction — kids today get to hear older music because it's mashed up with the current stuff they enjoy. It's practically a musical education… or getting people to expand their boundaries of taste.
• Top 11 Reasons a Star Trek Marathon Is a Bad Idea: 4. Confirms your suspicion that bolting an eyepatch to your skull would look totally cool. (via TrekMovie.com)
• Chillax: If it works like a word, just use it.: Whenever I see "not a real word" used to stigmatize what is (usually) a perfectly cromulent word, I wonder why the writer felt the need to hang a big sign reading "I am not confident about my writing" on it. What do they imagine the penalty is for using an "unreal" word? A ticket from the Dictionary Police? The revocation (as the joke goes) of your poetic license? A public shaming by William Safire? The irony is that most of these words, without the disclaimer, would pass unnoticed by the majority of readers. (via Gruber)
• Roger Ebert on Sarah Palin: The American Idol candidate: I think I might be able to explain some of Sarah Palin's appeal. She's the "American Idol" candidate. Consider. What defines an "American Idol" finalist? They're good-looking, work well on television, have a sunny personality, are fierce competitors, and so talented, why, they're darned near the real thing. (via Gruber)
• The GOP Loves the Heartland To Death: For decades now we have been electing people like Sarah Palin who claimed to love and respect the folksy conservatism of small towns, and yet who have unfailingly enacted laws to aid the small town's mortal enemies. Without raising an antitrust finger they have permitted fantastic concentration in the various industries that buy the farmer's crops. They have undone the New Deal system of agricultural price supports in favor of schemes called "Freedom to Farm" and loan deficiency payments — each reform apparently designed to secure just one thing out of small town America: cheap commodities for the big food processors. Richard Nixon's Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz put the conservative attitude toward small farmers most bluntly back in the 1970s when he warned, "Get big or get out." (via A Crank's Progress)

Sometime between September 10th and September 11th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Stormtrooper’s Lament: (via Unlibrarian)
• Roger Ebert looks at the cinematic choices of political candidates: Everybody is making lists of the questions the candidates should be asked during the debates. My question would be: What's your favorite movie? As my faithful readers all know, the answer to that question says a lot about the person answering. It could be used as a screening device on a blind date. Among other things, it tells you whether the person has actually seen a lot of movies, and I persist in believing that cinematic taste is as important as taste in literature, music, art, or other things requiring taste (including food and politics).
• Washington State OAHP WISAARD: Welcome to Washington’s on-line searchable database for State and National Register properties. The Washington Information System for Architectural and Archaeological Records Data (WISAARD), allows users to search for listed properties via a map or a text query. (via Seattlest)
• Ten things you don’t know about the Earth: Below are ten facts about the Earth — the second in my series of Ten Things You Don’t Know (the first was on the Milky Way). Some things I already knew (and probably you do, too), some I had ideas about and had to do some research to check, and others I totally made up. Wait! No! Kidding. They’re all real. But how many of them do you know? Be honest. (via Kottke)
• Heinlein’s Fan Mail FAQ: Heinlein engineered his own nerdy solution to a problem common to famous authors: how to deal with fan mail. In the days before the internet, Heinlein's solution was fabulous. He created a one page FAQ answer sheet — minus the questions. Then he, or rather his wife Ginny, checked off the appropriate answer and mailed it back. (via Slashdot)

Sometime between September 8th and September 9th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Neal Stephenson Talks to io9 About Religion, Aliens, and Spoilers: Though Stephenson usually likes to hole up with his ideas and avoid the spotlight, he's having what the characters in Anathem would call an "Apert," a time that comes every few years when he opens up and talks to the public about his work. We were lucky enough to get a chance to talk to Stephenson during his Apert, and asked about Anathem, as well as a few questions about Earth. (Warning: There are a few spoilers ahead.)
• AKPL8S: The Alaskan License Plate Blog: Statehood photomosaic poster: I have been taking photos of Alaskan license plates since 1996. People send me photos they took, or photos of their collection. I also save photos that I find on eBay and the Internet. My Alaska photo archive currently contains over 19,000 photos, representing 15,000+ unique Alaskan plate serial numbers and vanity strings (not counting pairs). "Why?" seems to be a common question (way up there with "Are you crazy?" or "What the heck are you doing to the back of my car?") The main reason is that the more photos you have, the more you can tell about when various features of plates changed, etc. Partly for historical research, partly for collector information. But I've always wanted do something more.
• How Videogames Blind Us With Science: Videogames are becoming the new hotbed of scientific thinking for kids today. This makes sense if you think about it for a second. After all, what is science? It's a technique for uncovering the hidden rules that govern the world. And videogames are simulated worlds that kids are constantly trying to master. Lineage and World of Warcraft aren't "real" world, of course, but they are consistent — the behavior of the environment and the creatures in it are governed by hidden and generally unchanging rules, encoded by the game designers. In the process of learning a game, gamers try to deduce those rules. This leads them, without them even realizing it, to the scientific method. (via Daring Fireball)
• The Most Alien-Looking Place on Earth: Imagine waking up on the Socotra Island and taking a good look around you (let's say your buddies pulled a prank on you and delivered you there, and lets also assume that you don't have any hangover from abuse of any substances). After a yelp of disbelief, you'd be inclined to think you were transported to another planet – or traveled to another era of Earth's history. The second would be closer to the truth for this island, which is part of a group of 4 islands, has been geographically isolated from mainland Africa for the last 6 or 7 million years. Like the Galapagos Islands, this island is teeming with 700 extremely rare species of flora and fauna, a full 1/3 of which are endemic, i.e. found nowhere else on Earth.
• Ron Sims on Twitter: It’s all him: Sims is one of a growing number of politicians using venues in social media to get personal with residents and speak in their own voice – and the only one in King County to do it so aggressively. Unfiltered by press releases or media coverage, he's finding an outlet in an era of increased scrutiny.

Sometime between September 6th and September 8th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• The Cyber Crime Hall of Fame: In compiling our list, we looked for a few things: ingenuity (had it been done before?), scope (how many computers, agencies, companies, sites, etc. did it affect?), cost (how much in monetary damages did it cause?), and historical significance (did it start a new trend?).
• Big data: Welcome to the petacentre: What does it take to store bytes by the tens of thousands of trillions? Cory Doctorow meets the people and machines for which it's all in a day's work.
• Man rubbed with spices, other beaten with sausage: A stranger broke into a home east of Fresno, rubbed spices on the body of one of two men as they slept and used an 8-inch sausage to whack the other man in the face and head before he fled, Fresno County sheriff's deputies said Saturday.
• International Action Day “Freedom not fear – Stop the surveillance mania!” on 11 October 2008: A broad movement of campaigners and organizations is calling on everybody to join action against excessive surveillance by governments and businesses. On 11 October 2008, concerned people in many countries will take to the streets, the motto being "Freedom not fear 2008". Peaceful and creative action, from protest marches to parties, will take place in many capital cities.
• A DSLR Catechism: Should sound very familiar to anyone with a DSLR.
• Hi, I’m a Mac… Beep, beep!: It's pretty common, when reading discussion of Apple's “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” ads, to come across the comment: "Sure, they're great ads but they don't work. John Hodgeman’s PC is far more likeable than Justin Long’s smug hipster Mac." This is missing the point.

Sometime between 09:15 and 13:50, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Seattlest: Lads, Learn How To Wear Your Kilts: As with driving privileges, we sometimes believe that buyers ought to take a course in their proper operation. But that would be snobbish of us to admit publicly. Instead, we'll just parcel out unsolicited advice. The following are a few of the most egregious mistakes we've seen Utilikilted men make.
• Heart to McCain campaign: stop using “Barracuda”: "Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image. The song 'Barracuda' was written in the late '70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The 'barracuda' represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there's irony in Republican strategists' choice to make use of it there."
• Hard Rock Café to open in Seattle: Could be entertaining, I haven't been to a Hard Rock in many, many years. Don't even really remember when or where I went. Hrm. Anyway, this bit caught my eye: "The first Hard Rock Café, featuring "classic American" food, opened in 1971 in London. Since then, the chain has expanded to 48 countries. In addition to 125 restaurants, it runs five hotels, four hotel-casinos, four concert halls and a theme park, the corporate Web site." The corporate website is a theme park? Cool!
• Community Organizers Fight Back: Community organizers across America, taken aback by a series of attacks from Republican leaders at the GOP convention in St. Paul, came together today to defend their work organizing Americans who have been left behind by unemployment, lack of health insurance and the national housing crisis. The organizers demanded an apology from Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for her statement that community organizers have no “actual responsibilities” and launched a web site, Community Organizers Fight Back, to defend themselves against Republican attacks.
• The “Bechdel Rule”, a quick-and-dirty way to analyze media for sexism: 1. Does it have at least two women in it, 2. Who [at some point] talk to each other, 3. About something besides a man.
• Who you gonna call?: Hollywood studio Columbia is planning to revive its hit 1980s franchise "Ghostbusters" with a third film that will reunite stars Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd [along with Harod Ramis and Ernie Hudson], it was reported Thursday.

Sometime between September 4th and September 5th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Google Crom: A desktop-based deity.
• What a Community Organizer Does: So here is what Giuliani and Palin didn't know: Obama was working for a group of churches that were concerned about their parishioners, many of whom had been laid off when the steel mills closed on the south side of Chicago. They hired Obama to help those stunned people recover and get the services they needed–job training, help with housing and so forth–from the local government. It was, dare I say it, the Lord's work–the sort of mission Jesus preached (as opposed to the war in Iraq, which Palin described as a "task from God.")
• About Sarah Palin: an e-mail from Wasilla: Editor's note: The writer is a homemaker and education advocate in Wasilla, Alaska. Late last week, Anne Kilkenny penned an e-mail for her friends about vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whom she personally knows, that has since circulated across comment forums and blogs nationwide. Here is her e-mail in its entirety, posted with her permission.
• Palin’s RNC speech on track to raise $10M in 24 hours…for Obama!: An Obama aide passes this news along: "$8 million raised since Palin's speech from over 130,000 donors – on pace to hit $10 million by the time John McCain hits the stage tonight." The Palin pick energized Republicans…and has given a jolt to Democrats, too. (The RNC has raised $1m since Palin's speech.)
• A woman is a woman is a woman — and an insult is an insult is an insult: The notion that Hillary's women will automatically become Sarah's carries the implicit assumption that a woman is a woman is a woman is a woman, that disaffected female supporters of Clinton will flock to Palin because she has the right reproductive organs and never mind that, politically, the two could hardly be less alike. Never mind pro-choice versus pro-life. Never mind Iraq, Iran, gas prices, the mortgage crisis, failing schools. Chromosomes conquer all.