Shelley explains the deal with license plates here in Massachusetts.#

Now, if you're not from Massachusetts originally, you're surely wondering why anyone would keep a freaking license plate "in the family." I mean, it's a license plate for Pete's sake. Right? Well, those of you who are natives of MA probably know a little something about the low number plate obsession around here. For the uninitiated, in Massachusetts (and possibly elsewhere?) a "low number" plate is one which is neither in the usual state plate format (in MA that being either three numbers space three letters or the more recent 4 numbers space 2 letters, e.g., "123 ABC" or "6789 YZ"), nor is it a vanity plate. So-called low number plates in MA can be any combination of numbers and letters from "1" and "Q" to "123456" and "W 123" and everything in between.

Most people here know that we have an annual state lottery in which people can vie for the opportunity to get one of these plates which, historically, were only available to politicos and, therefore, via patronage. Somehow or other, Grampy Ju probably rubbed elbows with some muckety-muck (or that guy's crony) in the Massachusetts legislature or Boston city government who passed him a plate in the "W 123" category a billion years ago.

Ben Adida refers to Bill Clinton on why the US and Europe need each other and looking beyond the sensationalism of the headlines.#

The trend line is, we are growing more interdependent. We cannot escape each other. We reap enormous benefits and assume greater risks. Your job, as a citizen of this country or some other, as a citizen of the world, is to spread the benefits and reduce the risks, to move us from an age of interdependence to a global community where we share values and benefits and responsibilities. That is the trend line.

[...]

Because the trend line is toward cooperation. Did you know that there are only two groups of soldiers in Afghanistan today, where the people live who caused September 11, who are training the new Afghanistan army -- French soldiers and American soldiers, working side by side. That is the trend line.

Geoffery wonders where the true Libertarians have gone.#

Look at all the Liberal assjockeys that post here. Not one or two of them, but ALL of them. They spew the same old Democrap bullshit. They run the same crap up the flagpole the rest of the Liberals do. They bash Bush and other prominent Republicans, but then when you turn it around and ask why it's ok for some Liberal/Demoshit to get away with the same thing, suddenly you get the "WHOA, I'm a Libertarian" response. Face it. The Libertarian Party has become the safe haven for Democraps to distance themselves from the joke of the Clinton administration

It's not even subtle. All you fucks are Liberal. Just go look through your lame Liberal arguments in half the threads here. Sorry, but you can label yourself what you like. It doesn't change who you are.

And latter writes about their advancement and growth.

The Libertarian webpage claims there are 37 public offices currently held by Libertarians in MA. Wow, that's more than I would have guessed. I dug a little deeper, and found that those 37 offices are held by 28 people. Some hold more than one office. They are pretty impressive, though. The offices held include: Plymouth Town Meeting Member, Tewksbury Sidewalk Committee, and the Swansea Recreation Commission, just to name a few. I guess that's a start.

No wonder there aren't any major scandels in this party. There aren't many major politicians. While I'll admit the GOP is far from perfect, don't go comparing the ethics of your party to mine until the big party news is something more than who's running for trash commissioner.

Xutopia posts a little bit of history about every day things.#

Clinking of glasses at a toast

Another food related, or rather a drink related anecdote is that of the clinking of glasses. In middle ages adding poison to someone'd drink was an easy way of assassinating them. It left no marks and wine was not only strong enough a drink to mask the taste it also had the right color to hide the poison. The easiest way to prevent this was by pouring some of your drink in the other person's glass and vice versa. If one tried poisoning the other both would now die. The good measure stayed and people now still cling glasses though without mixing contents.

The Japanese and photography

Today Japan has a very strong culture of tourism photography. Some jokes are even made about the Japanese taking pictures of almost everything they see. Some say that the reason for this photographic enthusiasm has to do with a law that was passed by a fearful government about one hundred years ago. The law ordered that anyone leaving the country was to bring back pictures proving he had been to the aforementioned place. The pictures being brought back to show the government proof were also shown to friends and family and the culture of photography was born.

Kieran Healy writes about Jennifer Roback Morse's thoughts on sex and marriage.#

Jennifer Roback Morse's views on sex and marriage are worth reading if you are interested in what happens when natural law theory, evolutionary psychology and conservative family values are stewed together and left to simmer in a base of visceral disgust toward homosexuals. I leave it to legal scholars to explain what's wrong with arguments from "what nature intended." Feminists can take Morse's complaint that "we have already redefined the social context of marriage in the name of equality for women" and invite her to pine for the days before the Married Women's Property Act. And the political theorists amongst us can discuss how Morse manages to get from the premise "Sexual activity and childrearing take place inside the private spaces of the home, far outside the reach of the public-enforcement power of the state," to the conclusion that it's "utterly reasonable" for the law to ban homosexual unions.

John Quiggin has his opinion changed about Jefferson, Washington, and Thurmond.#

One of the most striking historical facts I've learned this year is that George Washington freed all his slaves in his will despite opposition from his family, including his wife Martha. It's surprising and revealing that this fact has never been part of the standard account of Washington's life.

It is also one of the facts leading me to an increasingly negative view of Thomas Jefferson. The parallel between Jefferson's unacknowledged slave children by Sally Hemings and the more recent case of Strom Thurmond, on which Kieran has recently posted, is striking. (Jefferson was, quite literally, the first Southern Democrat). Until now, I've tended to vaguely excuse Jefferson's actions here as a case of personal inability to resist the thinking of the times, but Washington's example undermines this.

Michael Williams on the myth of "protecting democracy."#

Democratic power is primarily established by the right to keep and bear arms, and secondarily by the rights to private property, freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of association, &c. These rights are the foundation of a liberal democratic society, and they don't need any external management to protect them. Naturally, the self-styled "elite" would like to administrate these rights -- for the benefit of all! -- but top-down interference actually ends up making democracy and freedomless secure, rather than more. The "elite" are well-aware of this fact, and they seek to make us all less free so as to accumulate power for themselves. It's fine that they try (that's the essence of competition), but it doesn't mean they're right or that we should let them succeed.

Real Live Preacher posts part seven.#

Second, the angel told them about a savior, or a messiah, or a king, or at least someone very important. There was heated debate on the details of this message, but they did agree that this important person had been born in Bethlehem that very night. For reasons not made clear by the angel, this child was lying in a sheep trough somewhere in town. There was complete agreement on this last point.

Third, a choir of angels sang heavenly songs to close out the evening. The sheer beauty of this singing had reduced them all to blubbering idiots.

Kos at the Daily Kos calls on the Democrats to close ranks.#

The implication is clear -- Europe is evil. And Clark was in Europe. Therefore he is evil. Pretty lame, but indicative of how far the administration will go to smear our guys. Clark was testifying against a brutal dictator, in coordination with the Bush state department, and his campaign uses it to smear the general. Damn.

It just goes to show that neither Clark nor Dean will be immune from the smear attempts from the Right. Either will get hit (as would any of the other Dems if they somehow pulled a nomination out of their ---). That's why we have to fight back collectively.

The Bush fundraising letter also brings up the spectre of the evil foreigners corrupting our elections:

Jason Marshall on creating a programming language.#

The second issue is one of how far you wish to go from the beaten path. While this dictates how much work you'll have to do during the bootstrapping phase, it's really a matter of picking your battles. It takes a certain amount of hubris to believe that your ideas are compelling enough to require that someone (you) create a new language, but don't let it go to your head. You do not need to invent a novel solution to every problem in order to build a better language. Adoption requires comprehension, and you are not a member of a misunderstood elite simply because nobody can grasp what you're doing. The right solution to a problem is the one that is self-evident, the one to which people react with a "Well, OF COURSE you'd do it that way!" after you present it to them (in contrast with the obvious solution, which they can offer spontaneously). The solution that leaves people scratching their heads, or demands that they learn a whole new way to thinking, speaks less to your status as a visionary, than it does to your incompetence as a problem solver, and a teacher. I think that a lot of the antisocial behavior you see in the language community can be traced to people discounting these issues.

Erin Judge is pretty darn funny.#

I love the zany morning radio gang at my local hip-hop station, WJMN, JAM'N 94.5.

And there's one thing about them that I love most of all -- something they handle flawlessly, with penache, comic timing, and a tone that makes me laugh every time.

You see, it's clear that the stuffy overfed white guys in button-down shirts who write advertising copy have....ideas about the listening populous of the hip hop station. And they write ads accordingly, which the gang at Jammin' sometimes has the occasion to read aloud.

Brad Edmonds writes about abolishing government and road privatization.#

There are other benefits that would follow road privatization. The private roads that exist now have fewer accidents than public roads, probably in part because they're better maintained: If private road builders let potholes remain, get reputations for high accident rates, or do repairs during rush hour, they have to deal with complaints and with people choosing other roads.

Pollution and pollution controls on automobiles would be handled by road privatization. If auto pollution gets high, people living near the offending roads would sue the biggest, most obvious target: The road owner. Road owners would therefore charge higher fees for cars without up-to-date inspection stickers. Auto manufacturers would build pollution-control equipment into cars, and advertise how clean they run, as Honda and Toyota already do. They all do this already, but with government mandating pollution levels and what kind of pollution controls manufacturers use. Without government interference, engineers would be free to compete to provide different technologies to reduce costs and improve horsepower while providing cleaner burning engines. With the inspection stickers being coded to your automobile's age, manufacturer, and model, there might be a separate pollution rider on your monthly statement. Drivers of new Hondas might see a discount, while drivers of old belchers would pay fees that might be bigger than the road tolls themselves.

Cats Try to Eat Incapacitated Owner#

LOS ANGELES - A group of hungry cats began to eat their 86-year-old owner after she suffered an apparent stroke and couldn't get up for nearly a week, officials said Thursday.

Mae Lowrie, who lives with seven cats, was discovered unconscious and riddled with bite marks Wednesday night at her Panorama City apartment, Fire Department and hospital officials said.

She was listed in fair condition at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, said hospital spokeswoman Lisa Kort.

"The cats were trying to survive in the conditions that they were in, faced with the outcome they had. They did what they had to do to survive," animal control Officer Ernesto Poblano told KABC-TV. "The cats were all emaciated, very, very emaciated."

The secret behind President Bush is revealed...#

Jane writes about a very strange Japanese game.#

This is one game that won't be ported to North America or Europe. It's far too Japanese. Developed by the auteur Masaya Matsuura at his niche company NanaOn-sha (home of the inimitable Parappa the Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy), it's a game in which you write kana to the rhythm of a Japanese rap.

Yeah, it's as weird as it sounds. But more beautiful than you can imagine.

Gameplay is devastatingly simple to pick up: you use the analog stick to create words in rhythm. You move it up to ink your brush, and press down to write. If you don't have enough ink on your brush, the letter are light and hard to read; if you have too much, they letters are blotchy. If you press down too lightly you skip a letter; if you press too hard, the letters come out thick and clumsy. I've never seen a game before that made aesthetic harmony the goal of the game.

The goals of the game are reminiscent of the artistic values of "the superb aesthetes in the twilight of their rule" to borrow Helen McCullough's phrase from the preface to her translation of the medieval romance, Yoshitsune. The Heian/Nara period saw a flourishing of refined elite culture among court aristocrats. Men and women of rank judged each other on their skills in poetry, dress, and calligraphy. Mojibrobbon draws from that culture, not only implicitly through the leveling-up conditions but also through the storyline, which is written in an old-fashioned classical style and references Japanese mythology.

Godless at Gene Expression quotes Paul Krugman on Ralph Nader.#

At times Mr. Nader's hostility to corporations goes completely over the edge. Newt Gingrich disgusted many people when, in his first major speech after leaving Congress, he blamed liberalism for the Columbine school shootings. But several days before Mr. Gingrich spoke, Ralph Nader published an article attributing those same shootings to -- I'm serious -- corporate influence.

And was I the only person who shuddered when Mr. Nader declared that if he were president, he wouldn't reappoint Alan Greenspan -- he would "re-educate" him?

Many of those who are thinking about voting for Mr. Nader probably imagine that he is still the moderate, humane activist of the 1960's. They should know that whatever the reason -- your amateur psychology is as good as mine -- he is now a changed man.

John Porcaro on the most important part of relationships and how blogging can help it.#

When it all comes down to it, I'm not sure we can (or should even try to) disconnect the personal from the business. Brands are about reputation. Business is about trust and reciprocation. Contracts are covenants. Marketing is communication. Selling is a dialog. Business partnerships, even at a transactional level are about shared goals, common vision, commitment to each other.

The thing that appeals to me about blogs is that they allow a deeper conversation to occur. They reveal the person behind the words. The motivation behind the advice. The human behind the company.

To me, the biggest problem in business (and in communities, and in schools, and churches, and in marriage, and in nearly every social situation) is lack of trust. And trust can only come when people know your motives. And that can only come when people really know each other.

Ryan Overbey has new pictures up.#

Dave Winer writes about the holidaze.#

First, if this time of year makes you cheerful, have a happy. I'm pretty ambivalent. There are some things I like and some things I don't. I see the pressure to buy for what it is. Pressure, which I don't like, and commercialism, which I also don't like. I love buying nice things, but almost no one knows how to do that for me like I do. I suspect that's true of everyone.

Michael Feldman writes some nice things about a sad country,#

Nature is abundant in Colombia, and much less tamed than in North America, bursting forth in awesome splendor and variety, dominating the landscape. The land itself is rich and fertile; anything will grow. For better or worse that includes coca, poppies, pot, and a wider cornucopia of indigenous botanical intoxicants than found anywhere else on the planet, with the possible exception of a few isolated and largely unexplored river basins in the Amazon region.

The fresh fruit and vegetables are incredible. The culture is a fascinating mix of Native American roots overlain with Latin Catholicism and Caribbean Reggae. The people are friendly and engaging, and in general, like Americans. These days, as hostages.

All of these factors make the Dowbrigade very sad that he can't go back to some of his favorite haunts in Colombia. Tourism used to be their second largest source of income, wedged between Cocaine and Coffee. Now you've got to be suicidal to go there.

Dave Winer writes about Clark,#

I was hoping Clark would say [that campaigns are one-way not two-way], and he almost did. Got a lot of good pictures, not sure how I want to present them yet. Clark has become a much more compelling candidate since the last time I saw him, before BloggerCon, in Sept. Gephardt, imho, was going through the motions. Lots of laborers there. He talked about jobs and health care. Clark almost gave a schpiel about the First Amendment. He's getting close to where I want a candidate to be. Also, I really feel he could beat Bush, if he can win the nomination.

Richard links to Thomas Benton on academia and grad school.#

"Remember," I advise, "that if you go to graduate school, you are contributing to the problem by making it less necessary for universities to hire full-time faculty members at decent wages. If you have a burning passion for Victorian poetry, you can probably satisfy this passion by yourself. Force yourself to read a few dozen academic books before deciding to dedicate your life to a subject. That is what one does in graduate school anyway. Most learning is unsupervised, independent, and onerous. Why pay or work according to an institutional timetable unless one needs an academic credential?

[...]

I want to say more (but usually refrain): "Be wary of people who claim that grad school is a 'wonderful' experience, a means of acquiring the polish of culture -- a kind of 'grand tour' -- before entering the 'real' world. Professionalism obligates people to speak positively about their alma mater in public. Grad school is not all fun and personal enrichment for many people. It can involve poverty-level wages, uncertain employment conditions, contradictory demands by supervisors, irrelevant research projects, and disrespectful treatment by both the tenured faculty members and the undergraduates (both of whom behave, all too often, as management and customers.) Grad school is a confidence-killing daily assault of petty degradations. All of this is compounded by the fear that it is all for nothing; that you are a useful fool.

Richard links to Henry Farrell on "Reference Inflation."#

Professors tend to sing the praises even of their most mediocre students, and it takes skilled parsing of language to figure out who are the likely stars, and who are less suited to the rigors of a Ph.D. program. When the student himself or herself is writing the bulk of the letter, and choosing the language, the information content of the letter of reference is close to zero. You simply don't know what to think when reading it.

Some student-professor interaction is appropriate in the writing of letters of reference. If your student believes that qualities x and y are important pre-requisites to getting a particular job, it's surely reasonable for him or her to ask you to talk about the extent to which he or she possesses x ory in the letter that you write. But it seems to me that this is as far as it should go — while the student may suggest some qualities to be evaluated, the professor is fully and entirely responsible for the evaluation itself.

From the last Thursday meeting on 2003/12/18...#

My notes: As HTML and As OPML.

And more information is available on the new Thursday Meetings at Berkman Blog.

Kaye Trammell gets RSS.#

RSS will not get you more hits. In fact, your hits will probably go down because people don't have to visit your blog to read your blog. But, it will get you more readers -- & it will make them happier.

RSS isn't about what you can do for yourself, it's about sharing your ideas with someone on terms that they set. RSS enables that reader to view your blog their way -- they don't have to see your ugly template or complicated layout. They can be notified when you wrote something new. Then, they can also easily share your brilliant thoughts with their readers.

Daniel Drezner on politics and Lord of The Rings.#

Tyler Cowen blogs from a UNESCO meeting. Glenn Reynolds points out some of the positives in the post. I found this part more interesting/depressing:

[B]oth the French and French-Canadian views are allied by a great suspicion of American culture and of Hollywood in particular. I was quite surprised to hear The Lord of the Ringsmovies used as an example of how cinema reflects an American point of view. Of course the director Peter Jackson is a New Zealander. The author Tolkien was a Brit, and his stories drew on a wide range of influences, many of them Nordic. Most of the characters in the movie are not even human beings. How can this possibly be said to represent American culture in any way that is prejudicial to the Europeans?

Brad DeLong quotes an article about Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva and his successes in controlling the economy.#

Brazil's President, Once a Dark Horse, Describes a Bright Present: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, defending the unpopular pro-market policies he once demonized but which have marked his first year in office, said on Thursday that the sacrifices Brazilians had made this year would be repaid with sustained economic growth. Summing up his first 12 months as president, Mr. da Silva, the first working-class Brazilian to win the office, said his government had been forced to resort to old-fashioned fiscal discipline to stave off the economic collapse that loomed at the start of his administration.

Panicked by Mr. da Silva's past as a fiery labor leader, traders sent Brazilian bonds and the currency tumbling last fall. Banks shut off credit lines to companies, leaving the country all but dependent on support from the International Monetary Fund. When Mr. da Silva took office Jan. 1, he surprised many by choosing a market-friendly economic team that promptly reined in galloping inflation by raising interest rates and cutting more than $4 billion from the government budget. "Many believed, and with reason, that Brazil would not survive the crisis," Mr. da Silva told government ministers, lawmakers, generals and labor leaders gathered at Planalto, the presidential palace.

Brad DeLong posts part of a speech...#

In the strange 2000 election, more voters cast ballots the Democratic vision, but George W. Bush emerged in control of the government. George W. Bush and his Congress have since acted as though they are Republicans on taxes and Democrats on spending. Revenues as a share of GDP are down--secondarily because of the depressed state of the business cycle, but primarily because of tax cuts. Spending as a share of GDP is up--secondarily because of our post-September 11 military buildup, but primarily because the Clinton-era focus on keeping a lid on domestic spending has been ditched.

Dr. Frank on writing to be misunderstood.#

I almost neglected to read Ophelia Benson's latest article on the subject in the Guardian all the way through to the end; and almost missed this priceless Lewis Carroll-ish quotation from the introduction to Critical Terms for Literary Study, an anthology edited by Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin:

Theory set out to produce texts that could not be processed successfully by the commonsensical assumptions that ordinary language puts into play. There are texts of theory that resist meaning so powerfully - say those of Lacan or Kristeva - that the very process of failing to comprehend the text is part of what it has to offer.

Though it occurs in what is apparently intended as a defense against the frequent charge that the obscurity of such "theory" is deliberately contrived in order to mask its own vacuousness, that's about as clear an admission of guilt on behalf of the accused as you could imagine. And, indeed, the fact that the authors chose to compose this paragraph in praise of incomprehensibility in perfectly clear, "processable" English is in a way the best part.

Dr. Frank links to Norm Geras who posts two strange conversations about Israel and Jews that you could hear on any block.#

Joey deVilla finds a way to mention The Redhead in every post.#

Beside the bowl of chips was a couple making kissy-faces. He was an Asian guy with hipster hair, all pell-mell hair, like every Asian hipster is all those hair gel advertisement has. She was "the girl next door", white, with straight brown hair, wearing a red hoodie zipped up over a Gap t-shirt. They were a cute couple, and sort of reminded me of me and The Redhead, which made me smile. The cute couple were saying their goodbyes and slowly making their way towards the door.

Joi Ito has lots of drama going on because of sticking his neck out for security.#

The governor of Nagano ordered an security audit of their network with a focus on the Basic Residents Registry system of the central government. I was asked to take a look at the audit and provide a 3rd party opinion. Since I am on the central government panel working on the security of the Basic Residents Registry, my letter has become a bit controversial and apparently my phone is ringing off the hook right now in Tokyo. Lucky for me I'm in the US...

I'm not looking forward to returning to Tokyo.

Kaye Trammell on why the Fox Searchlight Pictures blog is crap. (No link so they don't get linky love or Google juice.)#

1. It isn't even hosted on a real server. They host it on blogspot. Don't get me wrong, blogspot is great -- if you're a teenager without server space! This is a CORPORATE BLOG for heaven's sake -- host it on the company's server!

2. The content stinks. I don't want mini press releases about award nominations or what cities a movie is in. I want real content. I want to know what it is like on a set. I want some stars to guest blog. I want to know what George Clooney asks for in his trailer. I want content that I can't get anywhere else.

3. The branding bites. Is this a film company? One tacky mouse over logo - great. Where are the corporate colors? Where is the link to the blog on main site? This blog is missing out on everything freshmen learning in marketing 101.

Doug Miller describes why he is into Realty now...#

Instead, my plan is to use market forces to my advantage. An article in this morning's Indianapolis Star concerning population growth in Indiana illustrates my point:

The growth has been particularly rapid in Hamilton County -- the state's wealthiest -- which ranks fifth among the nation's 3,141 counties for the percentage of adults holding bachelor's degrees. The county north of Indianapolis is expected to account for more than a fifth of the state's population growth through 2040.

"Indianapolis continues to attract young professionals, many of whom live in Hamilton County," Rogers said.

Hamilton County is the county I live in, and my primary marketing area. For the first time in a long time, my paycheck is dependent on selling to a growing population of affluent, educated young professionals, rather than selling into a market in decline. All of those people are going to need someplace to live. It's also interesting to note that Indiana has the highest level of home ownership, per capita, in the nation. Finally, selling homes is highly dependent on local knowledge and relationships, and as such, is damned difficult to do from India.

Doug Miller writes about preaching to the echo chamber...#

I had a longish post all queued up to publish in which I disagreed with his opinion regarding the actions of a particular group of activists. After consideration, I decided not to post it. Not because I changed my mind, or because I was concerned over the reaction (or not much, anyway), but because I decided it wouldn't really make any difference.

On reflection, I don't think I've ever seen or heard of anyone who has changed a deep-seated belief based on what they've read in a blog posting. Trying to do so may be good for increasing one's readership as everyone runs over to see what the fight is all about, but ultimately, I think it's tilting at windmills.

I'm not sure if Doug meant it this way, but here he reveals why people preach to the echo chamber: because they think that they cannot convince anyone else of their opinion. And similarly, the belief that this is true is why such preaching works and is popular. I think that most that you can hope for is to make a particular side available for the casual reader or the person who does not realize they agree. I'm beginning to believe that people often already know something at heart and sometimes need an exterior source to help them convince themselves, but it is always them doing the arguing - not you.

Curt writes about not learning anything more on the Internet and the barriers to having political conversations.#

We talked some about how to reach people and convince people, and it got me thinking. People that aren't very politically engaged relate to each other, and there's a suspicion sometimes against people that are more active. I've had two occasions recently - meeting an email friend for the first time, and a haircut - where we started talking about politics and Dean eventually came up. In both cases, there was almost a sense of embarrassment about admitting support for him. It wasn't being embarrassed about Dean per se, but about stepping away from that whole "politics is bullshit" thing. There's a song and dance that happens: "Well, you-know-I-don't-follow-politics-all-that-much..." and "I-suppose-if-I-had-to-pick-one-it-would-be..." The funny side note of that is that after I would bring up Dean, the agreement would actually be a little bit rushed and relieved. It's like people who just start dating. You get all coy, then someone says I love you, and rockets go off. (Well, sometimes.)

But the point is that it seems as if the display of being uninvolved is important somehow.

It's no wonder. People are self-protective. And there's a lot of bullshit out there. The hardest part is that when you become more politically active and actually start advocating things, you can get written off! It's like you can actually lose a bit of credibility compared to someone who isn't as involved.

Richard Tallent writes about The Passion and hopes it will have appeal to non-Christians as well.#

Some Christians would rather see a movie that "scares the Hell out of them heathens in the audience." If people reconsider their faith (or lack thereof) after watching the film, I'll be tickled pink. However, other films have used this end goal as an excuse for tossing the Jewish setting to appeal to Western viewers, tweaking the script to remove the more "challenging" parts of Jesus' teachings, adding layers of church doctrine and tradition and interpretation, and engineering the script with marketing hooks and appeals for conversion.

I, on the other hand, believe that the original story, told truthfully and without the bells and whistles of used-car salesmen, is perfectly efficacious on its own. At least for the thinking person, faith does not come from fire and brimstone scare tactics, dumbed-down "easy as 1-2-3 recipes of salvation," "just believe" answers to serious questions of science and history, Westernized social gospels, infomercial-style delivery, or sensationalized hysterics. It comes from hearing, reading, understanding, listening, studying, questioning, praying, debating, meditating, and daily application.

Matt Jones writes up a crazy vision of media commentary based on lightcones.#

The idea I had in my head was that this starscape would be simulated on a interactive (maybe flash-based?) client screensaver, which was grabbing and displaying the stars, media objects as they got located in the lightcone, and comments of others who had downloaded the connected-screensaver: memories of the programmes or other stuff that had happened that year. A kind ofgrid-blogging effort with the media as a mnemonic device to unlock people's recollections of those years: a bit like a giant distributed version of the BBC's I Love... series; and the starfield as a nice, vaguely poetic and attractive organising glue to the whole thing.

Other cool effects would be that as you got closer to our home, Sol; then stuff start to get really hectic, as the media output I guess has grown an awful lot over the 75 odd (light)years of BBC broadcasting; and the grid-blogging would start to resemble real time commentary on media...

Richard writes about an article about how everyone is a nerd now by Xan Brooks.#

The person that page-slapped me this article got, probably to her surprise, this angry email in reply: "About fucking time nerds got respect. Though being a nerd still hasn't gotten me pussy yet." In a less pissy mood, I might have mentioned the annoyance when confident, attractive, and charismatic people call themselves nerds simply because of the things they consume. Genuine Nerds consumed stuff like that long before them and then went on to produce movies like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, stuff So-Called Nerds are consuming now. Don't get me wrong though, I only started reading SF books recently, mainly because it seems to be the only genre of fiction dominated by men these days. (Also because science fiction is sometimes political science fiction in disguise, like the original Foundation trilogy.)

Point is, defining oneself based on what they consume is lame. And real nerds are the awkward ones without girlfriends, are really funny once you get to know them, but also, because of a comparative lack of social interaction, haven't figured out how not to initally come across as snobbish jerks.

He later points to Patrick writing about the same article.

The answer of course, is no. Why then? Well for one thing — and they mention this — the current generation of directors and script writers were all raised on the stuff and are just living their dreams of seeing what they dreamt of on screen. They and other fans pushed for those movies to be made, not the general public. Newly developed technologies let them show exactly what they imagined as kids when they were reading those comic books and novels, playing those D&D games. Which is, I think, the explanation for that recent popularity. When they (we) were being called nerds in school it was for liking exactly what is popular today but we were the only ones seeing it, the only ones with the vivid imagination to visualize what was written down. Not anymore.

Others couldn't understand the draw of those universes. Today it's available in gigantic technicolor IMAXed Dolbyed splendor. No wonder everyone likes those imaginary places nowadays, it's not because they are all nerds and geeks in the "obsessed with stuff" sense, everyone is just finally seeing what we saw all along.

Richard links to Barnaby on books and conversations.#

I was wondering in a dreamy way, after sitting though a seminar without again contributing anything, about there being an impossibility involved in entering a conversation. Like words written out, conversations need holes, to let you in or out. In writing, punctuation and arrangement give the holes to let you in and out of the text and if a book were one clause going on forever you'd never stop reading. Of course you would stop sometime because you'd have to stop but here's the trouble: there's never a reason to stop right here or right here and that gets you trapped. That's the impossibility in putting down a book. And the impossibility in entering a conversation looks like this.

Richard quotes a great conversation about Wesley Clark and his wife.#

Gert Clark: I liked him right away. He was very different than the men, the young man than I was used to dating. He was far more intellectual and in many ways far more innocent.

Wes Clark: We were taught as cadets that it was one of the greatest things you could ever offer a girl was a chance to come to West Point for a weekend date. And I said "well, we're going to have a swimming team picnic next week up at West Point. Would you like to come?" And she looked at me and she said "Maybe." [pause] She said I could call her. And um, I was, well, I was, a little bit, I was a little bit crushed by this. But intrigued.

The Yeti posts amazing satire that encapsulates the Democratic policy.#

After all, it's won't be my fault if I didn't plan for the future. Sure I spend too much on alcohol, cigarettes, red meat, DVD's, trips across the country and world, strip clubs, fried foods, and gambling.

But who are you to judge? We need a safety net. And if I fail, it must be the environment I was raised in - not me. So Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, prescription drugs, and hopefully free cable (good enough for prisoners, good enough for me) are all there for the taking. That doesn't even count the new entitlements we'll see in the future when Democrats kick the Republicans out for being big spenders.

Why should I take care of myself? You'll do it for me, and there are no repercussions. I just want to thank you in advance. Put me down on the Democrat list for 2030. If I haven't made myself wealthy by then, you can count on my vote.

And later not so obviously...

Recognizing that fascism requires state control of everything, the most effective way of protecting the United States from fascism would seem to be lmiting the size of government.

So if you are worried about Fascism, STOP F***ING Expanding the Government! Unless you like being a fool or a hypocrite - in which case you go right ahead and put that boot on your neck.

The problem is that the Republicans don't REALLY want to make the government smaller, they just want to make certain parts smaller and other parts much bigger. The parties are both Statist but disagree about what roles the State should perform.

Richard quotes Joe on tolerance.#

Joe on the "wall of tolerance": "why should the views of some be "tolerated" differently from the views of others? What I fear, and this is a fear felt by many with the advocacy of "hate crime" laws, is that such attempted control of actions leads to controls of thought. Physically assaulting a person is an evil thing and the person who commits such an act must be punished. But no one should have their thought process questioned when they decide who's beliefs should be tolerated and who's shouldn't. One of the prices we have to pay for living in a free society is that we must be willing to tolerate the often-unpopular views of those with whom we vehemently disagree."

Curt writes about Nader and how he is "threatening" to run.#

Nader has recently launched his exploratory bid for the 2004 election. This time around, I am 100% opposed to his running. My reasons are from years of careful thought about the nature of the electoral college, our voting system, and what it means to vote your principles. I even created a petition to ask Nader not to run, before I learned that those petitions are ineffective. Reading the petition will show my reasons why a Nader bid would be ineffective and damaging.

Nader has also been public lately, giving interviews and quotes about how he may run. This is what perked up my ears. This guy has got to know that this announcement, before he makes his case of a positive vision for America, would only elicit howls of dismay rather than cheers. Why would he do this if his aim was to build support? A better strategy would be to give a policy speech, not muse aloud about how he may run. In short, it sounds like a threat. I mean, I think heintends it as a threat.

Curt ponders on the best participation system for the Internet...#

I want a discussion system - no, a participation system - centered around three main ingredients:

Ideas bubble to the top: Anyone can suggest an idea. If it's good, it picks up steam, it gains life. Whether through linking, rating, popularity, I don't care; although I don't really like popularity because it's susceptible to the power law. Decentralized moderation is better.

Education: Ideas that are hashed out by the community are made permanent, to be reviewed by new entrants later. A curriculum dynamically grows. The documents are living.

Action Items: Discussion yields ideas. The ideas need to become action, however. Action Items are identified, and associated with projects. Discussion topics may or may not be associated with multiple projects.

Aslam wonders about the unconquered demons and Saddam.#

When the American President went to war to vanquish this monster, it was evident that, given our military superiority and prowess, he would likely be killed or captured. That we were not afforded such closure upon overthrowing him was perhaps cosmically unfair but we persevered. We did manage to ferret out this demon only to find a sorry shell of a man. But there was no doubt that this was our demon, the same one that we don't remember aiding with full knowledge of his monstrosity. The one who leads us declared him to be deserving of "the ultimate penalty." I am told that our leader is a devout man, is he trying to tell us that we are witnessing a scriptural parable? Could it be that by destroying this demon we will conquer the demon within us that aided him?