I just found a movie of George W. Bush's State of the Union Address. Best spoof ever.#

Krystal got sick today. Poor thing.#

So I did what every mature 19 year old adult girl would do...and I called my mom. She left work and took me to the hospital. I despise hospitals. They have this strange combination of looming death and anxious life that just gives me the creeps. I was X-rayed (very uncomfortable, can I just say), was diagnosed with having a virus trapped (?) in one of my chest muscles, was prescribed some pain killers and sent on my way. You would think that it would take maybe an hour and a half or so. No freakin way! As if going to the doctor's/hospital isn't bad enough, they make you wait for 3 hours in 3 different rooms just to build up the tension. Now, whether or not the doctor is actually busy with another patient is irrelevant. Right?

She deserves major high-fives for putting up with it.

Kevin Lawver at nonDependant links to Richard Gayle wrote writes about governance as a web application.#

Everybody wants smaller government except the government. Everybody wants government to have a better User Interface. Everybody wants the government to be as user-friendly as Amazon. Everybody wants transparency everywhere in government: voting auditability, legislation, cloak room deal-cutting, pork, contracting, etc. And we all want the cost of government to drop like ISP pricing.

And no one wants politicians getting in the way of governance any more. At some level, we know this is possible and inevitable. But should we have to wait a couple of decades for our overdue upgrade?

Phil [Windley] observes an interesting latency factor built in to government: governments resist all management principles for 20 years after they've been widely accepted in private enterprise. He says that if you announce in a company that 20% of the people are going to be let go, everyone assumes that it will be someone else, thanks to their high opinion of their value to the enterprise. Apparently, though, if you make that announcement in government, everyone assumes they'll be part of the 20%. He's describing a culture founded on a sense of fraudulence.

Mayer Spivack asks if Emotions are the first layer of Meaning in Mind-Space.#

Feelings and emotions appear to define and determine the meaning of sensory events (or percepts). It is hard to think of any exceptions. Mathematical thinking, the realm of 'purest' logic, comes first to mind as a system of thought so removed from everyday life that emotion could hardly play any role in mathematical thinking. Were it true it might offer proof that this, at least, might be the exception where emotion holds no sway in meaning or memory. However, mathematicians are often moved or motivated by the beauty and elegance of great mathematical propositions. Mathematicians and musicians (music is a first cousin to mathematics) share similar aesthetics of form, order, proposition (musical theme), development, and resolution. Our aesthetic responses to music are rich with emotional overtones and impressions. To be motivated by these same aesthetic qualities in mathematics, engineering, physics, chemistry, or any 'pure' science may provoke deep emotional responses to discoveries of the order and patterns in the universe we explore: Q.E.D.; ahhh!

Kaye Trammell wonders why celebrities seem less worried about their safety on the Internet than others.#

I rarely put personal things on my blog. It really isn't because I don't want people to know intimate details of my life, but more that I'm smart enough to know that you really don't care.

Every "normal" blogger must decide how much she is willing to share. Taking one's real life into a public space like the Internet is a big move. You become a public figure, so to speak.

Jessi writes about basically everything current.#

I noticed a few things in the news recently. Michael Jackson is being investigated for molesting yet another underage boy, and please, dear lord, SOMEONE take those kids away from him! How in the hell does Michael Jackson have access to thirteen year old boys unsupervised? What kind of an idiot allows that to occur? If I had a thirteen year old son, you better believe I would NOT be allowing him to go hang out with Michael and Prince Jackson down at Neverland for the weekend. Interesting will be the books his own kids write once they are old enough and have had enough therapy. Unless they become serial killers, of course.

Paris Hilton is "humiliated" over the sex tape that is being shown online. While I haven't seen it myself, Graham shared a few of the more interesting moments with me - such as her pausing the festivities to answer the phone and the fact that it was shot in night vision since Paris didn't want the lights on. Which doesn't make much sense to me because she is a more than reasonably hot girl. Although I haven't seen her naked, so I don't know, maybe she has some weird labial deformity she wanted to hide. Graham said I have better boobs - but while I may agree that I have bigger boobs, I won't say better. Besides, he's biased, being in love with me and all.

Hal Macomber talks about the difficulty in speaking and the problems that language presents.#

We take our capacity for speaking for granted. We can't remember a time when we couldn't speak. It's just what we do. But communicating with language is not straight forward. We think the meaning of our speaking is clear, only to discover the listener understood something different than we meant. Humberto Maturana claims denotative meaning (precise definitions) in speaking is not possible; there is onlyconnotation (inference, nuance). He's saying that each of us gives meaning to what we hear based on the distinctions we can make, our preoccupations (concerns) at the time, and the relationship we have with the speaker. In other words, in spite of the care we give to saying what we mean, people will listen what they listen.

Pat Delaney wonders what a catalogue of commonplace books looks like.#

I'd call such an individualized directory a commonplace book: "A personal journal in which quotable passages, literary excerpts, and comments are written." Read "comments" as MARC records and you get a layman's view of cataloging. Now what does a catalog of commonplace books look like?

I'd say my commonplace will occasionally refer to your commonplace book. That is what I mean when I say that our human relationships will shape the relationships between our various directories. Maybe there will be a phone book and yellow pages, but that will be for meeting people we don't yet have any link to yet. In general though, I'll find out about your directory by the directory of a friend of mine. Word of mouth.

The Daily Kos links to a fake interview with George Bush.#

Since Bush can't be bothered to answer real questions, real newspapers are reduced to making up interviews with him. The benefit to all of this is that the made-up answers are more real than anything that could've ever come out of Bush's mouth.

[...]

BR: If, as expected, you pull out of Iraq to win re-election, does that mean that the 52 Britons killed over there died in vain?

GWB: That's one way of looking at it, ah s'pose. They died to give Iraq a secure future but a far more important future is at stake. Mine. And Donnie Rumsfeld's and Condoleezza's.

Us Republicans can't have body bags flying home in the run-up to next year's election. So we're outta there. But they didn't die totally in vain. They made a lot of Party donors very rich.

Michael Snider wonders about what makes a poem.#

Does what a poem says matter? That is, assuming that it's possible to paraphrase a given poem, does the meaning of that paraphrase matter at all to the value of the poem as a poem? We can ignore the (possibly) related question of whether there are meanings so abhorrent that, in and of themselves, they disqualify a text from being called a poem by virtue of their expression in that text: a verse text written in praise of Pol Pot, for instance, or advocating that Jews be required to wear a yellow star. But just raising those possibilities makes it clear that the paraphrasable meaning of a poem does matter.

If art, a category that a poem belongs to, is a pure expression of life and emotion, then does an artifact existing for any purpose other than emotional exchange render it not art? Must art BE the world of man, rather than ABOUT the world of man?

Jeff Jarvis on Michael Jackson.#

Sure, OJ was tried for killing people. But Jackson's a much bigger star and a much stranger star and doing anything to a child -- if he did it -- gets you a reservation in hell. This story is going to be berserk beyond anything we've ever seen.

The sheriff and prosecutor who announced the arrest warrant against Jackson just now on TV are making the big mistake of acting all jolly about it, cracking jokes about how Jackson's isn't their kind of music and how they'd advise against sleepovers at Neverland Ranch. Dumb. They're acting as if this is their moment in the spotlight when, in fact, it's a serious case. And it doesn't help that it's two doughy white guys arresting a once-black guy

Did you ever wonder how many humans have lived? Carl Haub has the answer: 106,456,367,669. That's a bunch.#

Lawrence Lessig thinks about Dave Winer's call for the candidates to protect the Internet.#

Dave Winer has rightly and nicely called for the presidential candidates to say something clear and strong about the internet and how they would propose to keep it free. And he's right that we don't yet have clear and strong positions from anyone about issues that are important to preserving the internet's freedom. [...]

That took some courage. Yet to many in the Democratic party, it showed foolishness. I've had literally scores of people write me to tell me not to push Dean or anyone else to speak clearly about issues related to IP (note to readers: fear not, all my demands of candidates for the presidency are ignored) — "don't do anything to scare away Hollywood."

This always spins me down. [...]

What made this campaign fun at the start was the thought that finally, a Democrat would wage a campaign where he said what was right and true, as the only way to win the passion of a generation. Yet apparently, cautious and careful have returned. Maybe that's necessary to win a campaign — I have no clue about that. But if that is so, I am sorry it is necessary.

RPGamer reports details on Final Fantasy XII.#

The company has also revealed more information concerning the game's setting; Yasumi Matsuno, the director of Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and development head of Final Fantasy XII, has much influenced the game's plot. It is apparent that the story takes place in a world called Ivalice, similar to the country found in Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance fame, and recent screenshots display such races from the Game Boy Advance strategy-RPG as Bangaa and Viera.

They also post new screen shots.

Jane says to get ready for technosexual.org.#

you know who you are

you have the latest iPod. you have the latest Nokia mobile phone, with the pretty camera. you fetishize your G5. everything in your house gleams. you think carbon fibre is sexier than silk. you probably masturbated to the all is full of love video.

Cory Doctorow links to The Jones Soda Company and their new flavour of soda.#

"We are really excited about the limited test launch of our new flavored Turkey & Gravy beverage. This seasonal flavor allows us to enter a new market segment, the meal replacement market. The new flavor will also appeal to new consumers, those who prefers a savory type flavor to the traditional soda flavors," says Peter van Stolk, President & C.E.O. "With consumers becoming more and more health conscious, Jones Soda's Turkey & Gravy flavored beverage is a zero calorie and zero carbohydrate beverage that can be served warm or cold with a full flavor that will meet and will exceed our customer's expectation."

The Night of the Living Dead Celebrities#

Nick Denton is looking for a few good bloggers.#

I'm scouting for editorial talent. Particularly people who can write wittily about travel and furniture. If you have a blog on either subject, or know of a good writer, email me. Rather than me tell you how I'd like to approach the categories, I'd rather hear your ideas: what you think is missing. Correspondence to nick at gawker.

Simply Live Anywhere on Dave Winer's proposal.#

I think that the crux of the issue is actually doing something. A true entrepreneur like Dave Winer knows that you need the power of a heavy jetliner to get an idea off the ground. He also knows that there are enough intelligent people reading his post who will fine-tune that initial concept. I am sure that he is also inferring to the personal privacy issues in the so-called "trusted computing" debate.

The initial hurdle is getting the message out, as most people have such complicated lives and are just to busy to care. The majority of people that have some spare time spend it in front on the TV unaware that only 5 companies are controlling the world media. They are also unaware how their personal freedom and choice is currently restricted and likely to get worse.

Richard comments on William Saletan, at Slate, who writes about how to defend gay marriage.#

Many people marry for financial and strategic reasons. That may fit under the "stability" category, but up until recently in Western history, marriage was, in some respects, a joining of families in economic or political terms. The financial reason does not necessarily have to have a bad connotation (e.g. gold-digger, sugar-mommy, etc.): people get together in holy matrimony because when you want to purchase something large—say, a house—oftentimes two incomes is better than one. Some also marry for strategic reasons, say the kings of various countries marrying off their children to the children of kings of foreign powers.

I don't object to gay marriage—it's a little hard for me to approve of it, being heterosexual and all, but I don't oppose it either. The point Saletan is making, though, is that gay marriage may need to be defended not in terms of liberal values (freedom of choice, freedom of sexual orientation, etc.) but rather in conservative terms ("family values"). Social liberals will need to use a conservative argument to convince conservatives, who will never approve of gay marriage, not to oppose it.

LWN.net reports that RMS has removed Thomas Bushnell from the head of the Hurd project because he publicly spoke against the GFDL.#

MS has now "dismissed" me as Hurd maintainer because I have publicly spoken against the GFDL, saying that a GNU maintainer must support and speak in favor of GNU policies. If this is really RMS's reason, then it means that he demands the right to control the speech of every GNU volunteer when it comes to GNU project policies. He wants not merely to set the direction, but also to require that each and every one of us publicly support a GNU policy when asked to.

I do not know what the right response is. I believe perhaps the best thing to do is to create structures for GNU project volunteers to express their opinions so that we can even find out what the GNU project thinks. Heretofore, RMS has been an able spokesman, but when he disregards the comments of volunteers (even when explicitly solicited), works against free software, and attempts to control the speech of GNU volunteers in talking about such issues, something has gone very wrong.

Jay Rosen comments on Ed Cone's definitive piece on "What's Different About Dean."#

He writes about Dean expanding politics with tools and strategies that tap the power of "community," which here simply means people doing it for themselves because they want to help Dean and participate.

With the Internet, an effective campaign creates a community that will on its own begin to market your product for you. Properly done, you won't be able — or want — to control it.

One would not want to control it. IMPORTANT IF TRUE. Think what that does to one of the most reliable "laws" of presidential campaigns: that top down control of the message and the operation as a whole is essential, the way the game is played. Think how many news stories have been generated over the years by that thesis. Think of all the "disarray" stories when the operatives at the top lose control or fight over it. There's a big narrative premise at stake:

The trick is to turn the buyers of a product, concept or candidate into evangelists, willing to take action on their own to spur demand. And the recruitment doesn't have to cost much.

Willing to take action on their own. This only happens if you don't control everything.

There is some Blogosphere meltdown over Nick Confessore's article on TechCentralStation.#

Henry Farrell of Crooked Timber:

Glenn Reynolds tells us that he just doesn't get Nick Confessore's article on TCS's connections with the Astroturf purveyors of the DCI Group. Reynolds says that he's never felt pressure to write articles in a certain way, or on certain subjects. He then goes on to treat us to some ponderous sarcasm, effectively dismissing Confessore, Marshall et al. as conspiracy theorists. Now, accusations of conspiracy theory are a bit rich from someone whobought into Den Beste's crackpot explanations of European opposition to the war. But that's a side issue. Reynolds (deliberately?) misses the main point of Confessore's article. I'm quite happy to believe Reynolds when he says that he never felt any pressure to change his writing. But Confessore doesn't say (or imply) that every article for TCS is driven by a corporate agenda.

Lisa Williams comments,

If it's happening, that's wrong. But why is it wrong? Well, it's wrong for two reasons: one, in conventional advertising-supported media, the ad for gin or gasoline or a new pharmaceutical is clearly shown to the reader AS AN ADVERTISMENT. If in fact DCI is getting paid to find authors to promote certain views in advance, then those stories are themselves paid advertisements and should be labeled as such. Secondly, if in fact those authors weren't aware that DCI was being paid up front to put out stories with a certain preselected point of view, it's terribly manipulative and abusive of that author's dignity, who is in essence being made to sell a product and star in a commercial without being told about it. Presumably if that author wanted to write press releases for a political action group, industry lobbying group, or think tank for a living, they would apply for those jobs themselves. Not to mention the fact that such jobs would pay quite a bit more than what freelance authors are likely paid for writing articles for a website.

Andrew Northrup defends TCS from the article and Josh Marshall.

Josh Marshall points to this "shocking" article by Nick Confessore which alleges to show that TechCentralStation, source of beer money for many struggling journos and webloggers, is less of an journalistic endeavor than an "astroturf" PR campaign. I quote: [...]

First of all, this is all clearly untrue. Secondly, to the extent that it is true, and to the extent that it's published by a PR firm and only started admitting this to pre-empt this article, it's a free country and anyone can say or not say whatever they want so go back to Russia since you like it so much. And thirdly, who even cares about global warming anyway, because when the Dow hits 36,000 we can just buy a new climate way better than this one. I stand by my work on TCS, and believe that people will still be looking back at the arguments I set forth in those virtual pages long, long after the checks clear.