James Joyce asks Kuro5hin.org if Ulysses is overrated.#
Since this is K5, I think now is my cue to give the story a personal touch by adding my own opinion. I read Ulysses last year in two months. (For comparison, I spent a couple of days reading the fifth Harry Potter book and a fortnight with Gravity's Rainbow; both of these are about as lengthy as Ulysses.) To be frank, I didn't find it readable. The plot didn't arouse enough interest in me to read the book on its own merits, but I managed to plod through regardless. I got bogged down for a couple of weeks in "Scylla and Charybdis" when the discussion of Shakespeare became too cloying.
Does Ulysses deserve its reputation? I'd have to say no. It's a good book, but it just feels too dry and stale in the context of now. Though it may have paved the way for contemporary literature, I couldn't honestly say that it's the number one book of the century. One of the top 10, yes, but by no means best.
The Onion reports that Osama Bin Laden has been found: Within every one of us.#
"We were so busy tracking the remaining members of the Taliban regime and freezing al-Qaeda assets that we missed what was right in front of us all along," Rumsfeld said. "Osama bin Laden wasn't hidden in a cave in the mountainous Pakistani province of Waziristan or huddled in the back of a Chitral meat-market stall. He was lurking in the blackness within us all, right there with the laziness and the jealousy."
"It just goes to show that sometimes it's easier to look for the man in the FBI dossier than it is to look at the man in the mirror," Rumsfeld added.
Kristin has an amazing experience at college.#
sometimes, school can be rough. it can make you question your major, or your purpose in life, or maybe even whether or not you should be skipping all of that reading to keep current on american idol.
and sometimes, school can be brutal. you don't question your major, you question your will to live. you even (gasp) forget about reality tv. there is no reality tv for you. you've lost your grip on reality altogether.
Flemming Funch writes about social networking and weak ties.#
Which reminds me that a few of the best networkers I know wouldn't really dream of using an online network where you list all your friends, and catalogue everything you're into. I get to think of one friend who's name I'm not even going to mention. We only talk at the most once per six months or a year. But every time we talk for an hour or so, and usually he introduces me to some concept or project or person that he carefully has handpicked for me. And each time it is very valuable and appropriate. And he wouldn't dream of just introducing everybody in his rolodex to everybody else.
So, even though there are lots of benefits from free-flowing networking and sharing a lot of things in blogs, all of those connections aren't necessarily what they seem. Some connections are really weaker than they seem, and some are more important than is apparent. And the properties of the network interface makes people do all sorts of things that might obfuscate the real story.
Aaron Swartz writes about "How Stating the False Hides the True" and has this great bit.#
So this is the Republican strategy: to neutralize their weaknesses by making them seem like matters of public debate. You can't come out and say the Republicans are bought and paid for by the special interests, because the Republicans swear up and down that the Democrats are! Just imagine if Ed Gillespie, the RNC Chairman who's often saying these absurd things, was around in the days of the Civil War:
Abraham Lincoln wants to throw the American people into slavery. By taking away our hard-earned property, he takes away our basic human rights. Why does Abraham Lincoln hate America? Why does he want to destroy our great nation by taking away our right to own slaves — a right enshrined in that most American of documents, the Constitution?
The Constitution says we are all made equal. That we should all be given an equal chance to make the best of our lives. But Abraham Lincoln wants to raise some Americans — those stupid, illiterate, negroes — above everyone else, by handing out their freedom to them. Since the founding of our country, slaves could buy their freedom, earning it through hard work, but now Lincoln wants to bypass all that and give it to slaves for nothing!
Erin Judge writes about her fantastic job, her calling, her True Path™.#
You see, dear readers, I am a personal office organization expert and daily systems operations artist. Sure, some might just say "assistant" or, worse yet, "secretary," but I feel those nominal categorizations fail to explain the complexity -- the subtle zen pleasures -- of my current (and hopefully lifelong) occupation. With my email account buzzing, the phone lines answered by my repeated rhythmic chant, and my boss relying on me for the finesse necessary to drive him through his demanding schedule, I know I've truly found fulfillment at last. I am an artist: my stapler is my paintbrush, my desktop is my canvas, and my filing system is my deity. Consistency, Security, and Efficiency are my muses, and they adorn themselves with colorful Post-It notes and paper clip necklaces.
Julie Leung: "There's got to be more to feminity than fertility. And there's got to be more to masculinity than measurements."#
Harry Brighouse links to a story in the BBC about High School diploma inflation.#
This story about the inflation of high school diplomas simply states what anyone working in a US high school knows — graduation simply requires attendance plus a modicum of obedience. Failing that, it helps to have parents who are willing to make life sufficiently difficult for administrators and teachers that they will give you a passing grade anyway. There are multiple culprits. One is the ludicrous system of having classroom teachers be the sole assigners of grades. I spent Sunday watching two teachers spend 90 minutes preparing for a meeting one of them was having on Monday with a parent of a student. The sole purpose of the meeting was to negotiate over the grade. The teacher had assigned a B and the parent was not satisfied. In the end, the parent refused to be satisfied (having recalculated the grade herself) and is insisting on a meeting with the Principal. My prediction — the parent will win, because the Principal will think — 'this is a complete waste of my time, caving on this won't make things any worse between me and the teacher, and it'll get this p-i-t-a off my back'. Total waste — about 5 hours of school teachers and principal's time. (I don't care about the student's or parent's time — lets assume that harassing teachers is their hobby).
AKMA writes about his dislike of grading papers.#
Part of it derives from my own issues, I'm sure. But another part involves the extent to which I devote vast stores of energy to building up goodwill between teacher and students, to constructing an ephemeral community of shared interest and inquiry — which seems to require a kind of attention almost exactly opposite to that required for a standard academic exercise. One reason I hate grading is that although some people write sterling papers that unquestionably enthusiastic applause, others hand in hasty schlock that they ought clearly to recognize as a transparently offhand, pro forma gesture (But do they? Will I break the spell if I say, "This is terrible, it insults our friendship for you to hand this to me?").
Blogumentary remarks on a hilarious aspect of blogging.#
Fellow bloggers, are you ever in awe of your GoogleSlayer, the +5 vorpal sword you unsheath with every post? In a flash of hot metal, crescendo and blinding light? I am.
For example, if you search on Christopher Tolkien interview (and other such queries) you're going to see Chuck's Blogumentary: CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN IS A BIG PRICK. Think about that. You have the power to declare loudly, "I think so-and-so is a big prick." And blogging nearly makes it so. At least it lodges the pricky seed into many-a fertile young cerebellum.
Mark Bernstein wonders about Atom and open source software.#
One of the key rules of running a volunteer organization is that yes, you can fire a volunteer. But it's hard, and I don't know that it would work in open source or if you'd just generate a fork every time you tried.
Matt May on the lock-in of IM networks and (soon) social software networks.#
Michael Feldman on marriage:#
Which reminds us, why are gays so fired up to get married? They should be GLAD they have an excuse to avoid this most medievil form of modern torture. And the rest of us should WELCOME those poor bastards (and bitches) to the fellowship of the miserable. Misery, after all, loves company.....
Strange Women Lying in Ponds posts a great picture from Iraq.#
This ... statue was made by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad. This artist was so grateful that the Americans liberated his country, he melted 3 of the fallen Saddam heads and made a memorial statue dedicated to the American soldiers and their fallen comrades. Kalat worked on this night and day for several months. To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms. It is currently on display outside the palace that is now home to the 4th Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped and shown at the memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas.
Alex Tabarrok links to The Economist on spam, but has a different idea in his own mind.#
This economist has another idea. The problem of spam is really a negative externality generated by the people who actually buy the products spammers offer. Thus, I suggest sending out fake spam and prominently posting the names of all those who respond..... What product to advertise in the fake spam? I suggest, "length enhancers."
ScrappleFace finds the funny in everything.#
Mel Gibson, producer of the controversial new film The Passion of the Christ, told ABC's Diane Sawyer that his movie may spark "a backlash of infectious pro-Semitism."
"Jesus was a Jew," said Mr. Gibson, "And this movie may inspire people to love Jesus. I know that pro-Semitism is shocking, but that's the risk you take when you tell the gospel story."
Ali Safavi writes about the election that nobody will win.#
It doesn't take a crystal ball to predict that Iran's ruling mullahs will be victorious in the parliamentary elections scheduled for Friday. After all, to protest the disqualification of thousands of candidates by the government's all-powerful Guardian Council, more than a third of Parliament has resigned and rival parties have vowed to boycott the voting. Still, no matter how many seats the clerical establishment gains, it will be a Pyrrhic victory — the regime is going to be far more vulnerable to the growing dissatisfaction of the Iranian public and less legitimate to the rest of the world.
Moxie writes about something... it's hard to categorize though, just read it.#
Normal looking women can always find some "flaw" in the visage of a model. Though airbrushed and well-coated in makeup, it's "look…her nose is kind of crooked if you bend the magazine!"
[...]
Today I bent a magazine photo of Kerry and it looked like he had an extra chromosome. And then I looked at it properly. Same conclusion.