May 31, 2009
A Tragedy In Kansas
Dear pro-life advocates:
I get your opposition to abortion. I don't agree with it, but I understand where you're coming from. That said, I don't recall any pro-choice advocates coming into churches armed with a handgun to assassinate anyone associated with your movement. Rhetoric has consequences.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:15 PM | Comments (0)
Digital Nomads
If you need further evidence that the Internet is changing the way we live, check out the Wall Street Journal article on people who manage to get on-line even though they are homeless. Some use inexpensive laptops while others get on-line using computers at libraries or shelters. And some use a little homespun ingenuity:
For Skip Schreiber, 64, an amateur philosopher with wispy white hair
who lives in a van, power is the biggest challenge to staying wired.
Mr. Schreiber tended heating and ventilation systems before
work-related stress and depression sidelined him around 15 years ago,
he says.
For his 60th birthday, he dipped into his monthly disability check
to buy a laptop, connected it to his car battery, and taught himself to
use it. "I liked the concept of the Internet," says Mr. Schreiber,
"this unlimited source of opinion and thought."
Keep in mind that the people interviewed for this article live in San Francisco, one of the most wired cities in the world. And I suspect that technological savviness isn't a skill that most homeless people possess. But computers are only getting cheaper and most major cities will eventually have ubiquitous wireless networks that are dependable and fast. Once getting on-line is as easy as making a phone call (and we're nearly there already), we'll probably see more widespread Internet use among the homeless. That may not get them off the streets, but it might make them a little more visible and connected to a society that has largely ignored them.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 12:34 PM | Comments (1)
May 30, 2009
My Contribution To Science
Ten years ago this month, I signed up as a Seti@home volunteer. I might have mentioned Seti@home before; it's a distributed computing project in which volunteers donate idle computer power to process chunks of data from radio telescopes to find potential signals from other civilizations. In that time, according to my account page, my various computers have performed 112.32 quadrillion calculations for the project. Multiply that kind of number-crunching by a couple million volunteers and you have one of the biggest computing projects ever undertaken. In an interview with Science Friday commemorating the project's ten-year anniversary, one of the lead scientists notes that Seti@home is a success whether or not it pinpoints a signal. If we discover evidence of other civilizations, it will be a profound development in human history. If we eventually realize that we are indeed alone, that will be just as profound.
In the meantime, my computer will continue to crunch the numbers, if for no other reason than that it's marginally more useful than most of the other things I make it do.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:37 PM | Comments (0)
May 29, 2009
Fonzie's Been Cloned!
I heart the internet so much, especially when it combines my love of bad 80s music with my love of MST-style humor. Here's a slightly tweaked version of the video for Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart":
That was way better than those lame pop-up videos they used to show on VH1.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:32 PM | Comments (2)
May 28, 2009
Critic At Large: The Elegance Of The Hedgehog
The Elegance of the Hedgehog is, from the very beginning, a quintessentially French novel. It contains weighty meditations on philosophy, the aesthetics of Dutch still life paintings, and the absurdity of life. And it contains the most ridiculously effusive praise for the film The Hunt for Red October that you will ever see in print. The book is a glimpse into the interior lives of two characters who inhabit vastly different strata of French society, but have much in common. Renee is a concierge of a tony apartment building in Paris where she tends to the needs of its upper-class residents, most of whom she detests. Renee possesses a brilliant mind and is a self-taught intellectual, but she is determined to keep her fierce intelligence hidden from view and is content to play the part expected of her: that of the lower-class, poorly educated working stiff. Paloma is a 12-year-old girl living in the same building with her well-to-do but dysfunctional family. Like Renee, she's bright and perceptive, but she's quite taken with the idea of setting fire to herself and burning down the apartment in the process.
Renee and Paloma are little more than familiar faces to each other when the book begins, living separate lives and thinking dismal thoughts about most of the people around them. Unbeknownst to both of them, they share a love of Japanese culture and art. And when an elegant, charming Japanese businessman moves into the building, they can barely contain their excitement.
Muriel Barbery writes with wit and compassion; her fondness for these sad, lonely characters is evident on every page. As I was reading it, I kept wondering how an American writer would have written the same story. We seem more inclined to view class as a fluid concept rather than a fixed characteristic, when we acknowledge it all. If Hollywood tried adapting this book, it would probably end with Renee and her Japanese neighbor falling in love and Paloma reconciling with her family. The book's actual ending is much messier and uncertain, which is as it should be. Perhaps this quote of Renee's best sums up the tone of the book:
Human longing! We cannot cease desiring, and this is our glory, and our
doom. Desire! It carries us and crucifies us, delivers us every new day
to a battlefield where, on the eve, the battle was lost.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:06 PM | Comments (1)
May 27, 2009
Hidden Disability
I missed earlier reports that SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor has diabetes, although it certainly doesn't change my opinion that she is eminently qualified for the job. I do find it interesting that her disability (diabetes constitutes an impairment under the ADA) is receiving such scrutiny. Other justices came onto the job with chronic health conditions, but the press was less inclined to disclose those facts to the public. Perhaps the unrestrained public discussion on Sotomayor's diabetes shows that we can openly acknowledge the disabilities of public figures instead of politely ignoring them. Or we are simply witnessing the consequences of living in the age of Facebook and Twitter, where full disclosure is the behavioral norm.
Incidentally, Sotomayor has presided over some major disability discrimination cases and her written opinions illustrate an admirable resistance to the Rehnquist Court's efforts to dilute the intent of the ADA.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:51 PM | Comments (1)
May 26, 2009
The Golden State Is Losing Its Luster
My brother lives in the Bay Area, so it was with more than passing interest that I read Paul Krugman's piece on how California is completely screwed, both economically and politically. California provides a good illustration of the schizophrenic nature of the American body politic. Everybody likes the public and social services that government provides, but nobody wants to pay for them. And so California has deficits that dwarf the actual budgets of many countries. Further complicating matters is the fact that California can't issue a parking ticket without putting it to a statewide referendum. I'm all for participatory democracy, but we elect state representatives to make decisions about spending and taxes. The people of California need to do some intensive soul-searching about what kind of future they want for themselves and stop looking to former movie stars to solve their problems for them.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:35 PM | Comments (1)
May 25, 2009
Better Than A Swiss Army Knife
In addition to being Memorial Day, today is also Towel Day. As geeks around the world already know, a towel is one of the most useful multi-purpose tools ever created by sentient hands. According to the seminal Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
[Y]ou can wrap [a towel] around you for warmth as you bound across the cold
moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble sanded
beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep
under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of
Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth;
wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward
off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast
of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't
see it, it can't see you -- daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can
wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry
yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
So before you leave for the beach, barbecue, or anywhere else, be sure to grab a towel. Mine doubles as a seat cover and a coded map to the secret stash where I keep my fake passports, hard currency, and old love letters. And remember: don't panic!
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:56 AM | Comments (1)
May 24, 2009
Critic At Large: Terminator Salvation
A Terminator movie without time travel is a bit like a football game without a touchdown. But this chapter of the 25-year old franchise is a fun ride into the post-apocalyptic future only briefly glimpsed in the previous movies. Those killer robots sure know how to build some badass-looking motorcycles and fighter jets. Christian Bale plays John Connor, who is not yet the leader of the surprisingly well-equipped human resistance (but who is already regarded with a certain amount of reverence for reasons never fully explained). The movie describes how Connor does eventually become that leader, but the story is mostly an excuse for some remarkable chase scenes and plenty of explosions. Sam Worthington, an Australian actor who plays a man with an uncertain past, is quite good and I'm looking forward to seeing him in James Cameron's Avatar.
I remember reading that this story was supposed to mark the beginning of another trilogy, but I'm not sure audiences are interested in a series of futuristic war movies. Part of the pleasure of Terminator movies is that they offer the spectacle of killer robots wreaking havoc in humdrum present-day society. The movie also suffers from a criminal lack of Summer Glau. As you might guess, I'm still a little bitter that Fox cancelled the Terminator television series.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:52 PM | Comments (1)
May 23, 2009
Look At What We Can Do
Once the weather improves, the space shuttle Atlantis will return to Earth after successfully completing its mission to repair the Hubble telescope. Let's take a moment to marvel at the mind-boggling coolness of this accomplishment. A group of people blasted off on a rocket, orchestrated a carefully calculated ballet of physics to chase down an object moving at thousands of miles per hour, plucked it out of space with a robotic arm, gave it a tune-up while working in the vacuum of space, and then returned said object to its usual orbit. A million things could have gone wrong, but somehow, everything went as planned.
Humans can fuck up on a grand scale, but sometimes we don't give ourselves enough credit.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:27 PM | Comments (0)
May 22, 2009
Why It's Broken
Uwe Reinhardt, one of the smartest people writing about health care policy today, has penned a great essay about our employer-based health insurance system and its shortcomings. After pointing out that our current system is the ugly stepchild of Truman-era politics, he discusses three big flaws in employer-sponsored insurance:
- It shields employees from the true cost of health care, which in turn gives them no disincentive to treat their health benefits like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
- It isn't portable. Lose your job and your health care goes with it.
- It doesn't treat all employers fairly. A small employer with a sick employee is going to suffer a much more sizable hit to its balance sheet than a Fortune 500 company with the same sick employee.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:28 PM | Comments (0)
May 21, 2009
Dissing Myself
By nature, I'm a pretty self-deprecating person. I'm constantly poking fun at myself, both in the confines of this blog and in the presence of friends and strangers alike. And I've tried to use it as a means to make myself seem more attractive to women. It usually seemed like an effective way to acknowledge all my oddities while also communicating that I'm generally comfortable with who I am. A new study on self-deprecatory humor confirms that it can enhance one's attractiveness, but there's a catch. It only works if the person mocking himself or herself already has a high social status. Here's the conclusion of the study's authors:
Thus, the the use of self-deprecating humor by low-status individuals
may be counter-productive, suggesting depression, defeatism,
subordination, low self-esteem, and/or low mate value. On the other
hand, if an individual has achieved high social status, they are
unlikely to have truly low conscientiousness, extraversion, or
emotional stability, and they must show reasonable agreeableness often
enough to make friends and win support. Thus, self-deprecating humor
may be a way of transiently faking inferior personally traits, to
highlight the discrepancy between the faked traits (e.g., introversion,
neuroticism) and the traits actually required to win high status.
Well, that explains why my charm offensive hasn't met with much success over the years. I haven't achieved a sufficient level of coolness to counteract all my self-mocking. Instead, I've only succeeded in confirming everyone's impression that I am, without a doubt, a huge dork.
This calls for drastic measures. Maybe I should try emulating the strong, silent type.
Well, without the whole "strong" part.
Aaargh, there I go again. I can't help myself.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:03 PM | Comments (0)
May 20, 2009
Does Marc Singer Have A Cameo?
Geeks of a certain age probably remember begging their parents to let them stay up late so they could watch V, the TV miniseries about aliens who come to Earth promising to solve all our problems but instead turn out to be fascist lizards with a taste for human flesh. ABC, adhering to the showbiz principle that what was mildly successful once might be mildly successful again, is remaking the series and giving it an updated look. Gone is the classic saucer-shaped look of the giant motherships and the big Eighties hair of the evil alien leader. The new motherships are more menacing and the evil alien leader has a cute pixie 'do. But judging from the trailer below, this new version does seem to share something with the original: a generous serving of cheese. I'll most likely TiVo this, but I won't be proud of myself for doing so.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2009
An Inauspicious Ending
Plenty of local political pundits are trying to predict how the failure of the Legislature and governor to agree on a budget (Doug Grow has a terrific article in MinnPost describing the end-of-session collapse) will affect the next round of state elections. Probably not much. November 2010 is in the distant future, politically speaking, and most voters have short memories. As long as kids aren't packed into classrooms like tuna fish and people aren't dying en masse in emergency rooms, the vast majority of people won't give much thought to the deep cuts that Pawlenty plans on making in the next few weeks. And even if they do notice, it won't be Pawlenty's problem. He's burnishing his conservative credentials for a presidential run.
The DFL got outplayed. They were planning on doing the hard negotiating during a special session, but the governor changed the rules, making them look irrelevant and confused. There's still a chance they might be able to undo some of the cuts during the next session, but for right now, it's Tim Pawlenty's world and we're just living in it.
And so ends my last entry on the 2009 legislative session. Time to shift my blogging attentions to the more pleasant things in life, like comic books and women in summer dresses.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2009
Read While Sipping A Microbrew
Since about twenty minutes ago, I have a new favorite blog: How to Impress a Hipster. This blog highlights movies, bands, artists, and other cultural ephemera and explains why hipsters are obsessed with them. As I scanned the posts, a growing sense of recognition (and attendant dread) filled my heart. It's as if this blogger had broken into my home and rifled through my DVD collection and iTunes playlist. Does he mention Blade Runner? Check. Danny Boyle? Check again. Portishead? Big fat check. I have a feeling that entries on Kate Bush, Haruki Murakami, and granny eyeglasses aren't far behind.
And this is what the anonymous blogger had to say about blogs:
Can a hipster really have a blog and still be a hipster?
A blog is like a beret, not cool unless you convince everyone around you that it is.
It should surprise absolutely none of you that I own a beret.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:43 PM | Comments (2)
May 17, 2009
Override
The Minnesota House of Representatives is currently debating an override of Pawlenty's veto of General Assistance Medical Care. GAMC is a state-funded health care program that serves people living in extreme poverty--approximately $7,000/year. Pawlenty cut funding for GAMC in an effort to close the budget gap. It's one of the more dramatic debates I've seen on the House floor. The scripture quotations are flying fast and furious. Democrats are citing the Gospel of Matthew ("whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me"). A Republican just responded by quoting Jesus ("the poor will always be with you").
I'm not sure Democrats have the votes to override, but it's clear they are pushing hard on the moderate suburban Republicans who probably have a significant number of constituents on GAMC. When this session began, everyone knew health care would dominate the discussion. That the Legislature is still debating health care in these final hours is probably fitting.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:36 PM | Comments (2)
May 16, 2009
Edict
The judge presiding over the case of Daniel Hauser, the teenage boy who refused to undergo chemotherapy on religious grounds, ruled yesterday that the boy must continue treatment (full opinion available here). The judge did consider whether Daniel had the emotional and intellectual maturity to refuse treatment, but found that he had "only a rudimentary understanding at best of the risks and benefits of chemotherapy." It's a thoughtful, well-reasoned decision that is likely to withstand any appeal the parents might bring.
Incidentally, the physician quoted in the Strib article, Greg Plotnikoff, was once my primary physician. The world is a small place.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:59 PM | Comments (1)
May 15, 2009
Weekend Playlist
It's Friday. I've got that end-of-the-week-tired feeling, but in a good way. And I have my music.
"Walking on a Dream" by Empire of the Sun: This song's falsetto chorus sounds like late-night MTV from the mid-Eighties, but I can't put my finger on exactly what it reminds me of. Maybe Blue Nile mixed with Fine Young Cannibals. And if you're under 25, those band references will probably mean nothing to you. Get thee to Wikipedia.
"DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake" by Art Brut: Art Brut's particular style of not-singing appeals to me. If you ever heard me sing (and you won't), you'd understand why. This paean to never completely growing up and pretty girls in comic book shops is the new official anthem of The 19th Floor. And it reminds me that I'm overdue for a visit to Sebastien Joe's.
"Talk to Me" by Peaches: This song packs a funky punch, even though not once does Peaches say "fuck" or reference her genitalia. This might disappoint old-school fans, but even a clean-mouthed Peaches makes me feel oh-so-dirty.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:55 PM | Comments (1)
May 14, 2009
Down To The Wire
We've reached the point in the legislative session where everyone is a little punchy from lack of sleep and a little more prone to dramatics. Governor Pawlenty just announced that he will not call the legislature back for a special session if they can't negotiate a budget agreement by Monday's deadline. Instead, he'll use his line-item veto power to carve up the budget bills that the legislature has already passed. If that happens, health care programs are likely to take a big hit. And we're likely to repeat this whole drama in a couple years (assuming Pawlenty does get reelected for a third term) because the structural imbalances in the state budget will not be addressed.
There's no reason not to take Pawlenty's threat seriously, which might prompt Democrats to attempt an override of the governor's veto of a tax bill. But Republicans are still smarting from their failure to block an override last year and they are not likely to let it happen again. A negotiated agreement would be a much better solution, but nobody is blinking yet.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:06 PM | Comments (0)
May 13, 2009
Right Of Refusal
Issues of bioethics don't often flare up in small Minnesota towns, but that's exactly what's happening this week in a New Ulm courthouse this week. The case centers around Daniel Hauser, a 13-year-old with Hodgkin's disease who is refusing additional chemotherapy treatment because it's contrary to his family's religious beliefs. Daniel and his parents are adherents of Nemenhah, a Native American faith that advocates the use of alternative homeopathic remedies. The county is asking the judge to intervene and require Daniel to resume chemotherapy.
I spent a little time just now glancing through the final court filings in the case. Daniel's attorney doesn't spend much time discussing his client's faith and for good reason. Minnesota caselaw provides strong precedent for courts to intervene when parents look to only spiritual means for a child's health care. Instead, counsel argues that Daniel's parents made a rational decision when choosing to pursue alternative medicine rather than chemotherapy. I'm not sure the judge is going to buy that argument. Most medical experts cited in the briefs believe that Daniel has at least an 80% chance of being cured with chemotherapy. Daniel's attorney offers no support that alternative medicine offers the same odds.
He might have also argued that Daniel has the capacity to make decisions about his medical treatment and is entitled to decline chemotherapy. Some courts in other states have ruled that adolescents have a sufficient degree of maturity to make such decisions independent of their parents. Making that argument on behalf of a 13-year-old (as opposed to, say, a 16-year-old) might be challenging, but it's a stronger argument than relying on unscientific "expert" testimony.
A ruling is expected soon.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:12 PM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2009
A Life Remembered
Martha Mason, who spent six decades of her life encased in an iron lung, passed away recently. Her obituary notes that she excelled in academics as a young woman, had a brief career as a columnist for the local newspaper in her small North Carolina, and eventually wrote an autobiography entitled Breath. Even though more portable ventilators eventually became available, she chose to remain in the iron lung because it "let her breathe without tubes in her throat, incisions or hospital stays, as newer, smaller ventilators might require." The obit also describes how she still managed to enjoy a rich social life that might not have been possible outside a sleepy Southern town. She had frequent visitors and hosted many dinner parties. She was one of a dwindling handful who still use iron lungs as a form of life support.
I have a hard time imagining what Mason's life must have been like on a daily basis. And that seems ironic, considering that many of you reading this blog might think the same thing about me. I don't care how many visitors she had; the isolation and immobility must have weighed heavy on her at times. But she made the most of it, which is all any of us can hope to achieve.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:33 PM | Comments (1)
May 11, 2009
"I'm A Very Visual Person. I Just Can't See."
Some of you might assume that blindness and photography are two irreconcilable concepts. Some of you would be wrong. Time is showcasing photos from Sight Unseen, an exhibit featuring the work of noted photographers who are blind or visually impaired. They're pretty great. Some have a spectral quality while others are vivid in their hyperrealism. I'm especially fond of Annie Hesse's view of the Eiffel Tower's lattice structure. She captures the light perfectly. The rest of the exhibit can be viewed here.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2009
Critic At Large: Star Trek
I knew that J.J. Abrams' entry in the Star Trek franchise was going to be a reboot of the mythology. Five television series and ten movies have created a crushing mass of continuity that would give any screenwriter a migraine. But wow, they weren't kidding about the "reboot" part. I can't say much more without revealing major spoilers, but one plot point left me agape in shock and thinking "Wow, that took balls."
And that's probably why this is the most invigorating Trek movie since Kirk and Spock went whale sightseeing in The Voyage Home. It's got all the best things of classic Trek. That shiny futuristic optimism. Cool-looking starships that get into some spectacular battles. Familiar characters with familiar quirks. And hot green women. But the movie also adds some new elements to remind us that this isn't the hippie-dippy Trek of Roddenberry's time. We see that Vulcans can be total douchebags. We see that Kirk and Spock weren't always best buds. We see that Spock and Sarek both share a thing for the human ladies. We don't see Kirk's stunt double.
I'm really curious to see where Paramount takes the series from here. A sequel is already in the works. But the original continuity still spawns countless books and comics. Will all that fall by the wayside or will the studio tend to each universe separately? It seems like keeping both up and running would create even more opportunities to cash in, but it might require the average fan to start keeping a flowchart to keep track of events.
And because I'm a hopeless geek, I'm going to allow myself one nitpick. A water turbine? On a starship? Really? I was so reminded of the scene in Galaxy Quest where, upon discovering a particularly bizarre obstacle built into the starship, one character says to the other: "It makes no logical sense! Why is it here?"
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:25 PM | Comments (1)
May 09, 2009
Media Tie-Ins
Early tweets and Facebook updates indicate that Star Trek is going to pwn my fanboy heart when I see it later today. I'm trying to accelerate time by brushing up on my Klingon and browsing Trek-related content on the web. Here are a few of the more interesting items I've come across:
The Onion pokes fun at Trekkies and their willingness to sit through some pretty awful previous movies, while also informing viewers that Gene Roddenberry created the original Trek "back in the forties or something."
Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'
In many respects, The Next Generation series was as corny and stilted as the original, but sometimes the writers managed to hit one out of the park. Slate sings the praises of "Chain of Command", a two-part episode that dealt thoughtfully with the issue of torture and remains one of my favorites.
Even the foodies are getting in on the fun by writing essays on the cuisine of Trek. And now I'm in the mood for a glass of Romulan ale.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:27 PM | Comments (3)
May 08, 2009
Word Of The Day
Sometimes the English language's elasticity can get a little annoying. The latest flash-in-the-pan neologism to get its moment in the digital sun is thrisis. A thrisis is that moment when you realize you're now in your mid-thirties and you still can't figure out who you are and what you want to be when you grow up and you can no longer ignore the fact that you're getting kind of old and uncool. Or something.
I'll confess to be a little more aware of life's complexities in the last couple years, but I'm not feeling compelled to hit the panic button just yet. My prediction: "thrisis" will have a slightly shorter half-life than "metrosexual" but slightly longer than "rickrolled".
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:44 PM | Comments (1)
May 07, 2009
The Power Of Positive Thinking
The Chicago Tribune recently ran a profile on Sean Stephenson, a motivational speaker and psychotherapist with osteogenesis imperfecta (sometimes referred to as "brittle bone disease"). Stephenson speaks in the language of self-help books--he's a big critic of something he terms self-sabotage--but one of his quotes near the article's end caught my attention:
Being 3 feet tall and in a wheelchair is about 2 percent of who I am.
On good days, my disability is about 10% of who I am. Other times, it looms much larger in my self-image. I'd be a terrible motivational speaker. "My disability is an integral part of my character, but then again, my character is more than a teensy bit neurotic" is not a message that is going to sell many books or get me on the morning talk show circuit. More power to Stephenson and his sunny band of extroversion.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:50 PM | Comments (4)
May 06, 2009
Because What I'm Really Missing Is A Few More Letters After My Name
A few of my friends are currently contemplating or actually completing master's programs in public policy, which has stirred up my own latent ivory tower leanings. I'm not sure an M.P.P. would do much to further enhance my career prospects--my law degree has served me pretty well in that regard--but I think I would enjoy wonking out with other policy geeks for a couple years. And I write a mean term paper. But school costs money and I'm not eager to saddle myself with a fresh load of debt. And, if I'm being completely honest with myself, I like only having to worry about finishing my next book club reading. I'll have to be content with listening to my friends' academic exploits and proofing their papers.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:50 PM | Comments (2)
May 05, 2009
Criminal Conduct
A proposed bill in Congress would make it a federal offense to use any form of electronic communication to "cause substantial emotional distress to a person" via "severe, repeated, and hostile behavior." Which pretty much sums up everything I've written in this blog about Stephen Hawking and Michelle Bachmann. Maybe some of us bloggers can pool our money together to hire a lobbyist to kill this thing. Because there's no way I'm doing time for making Stephen Hawking cry.
But just to be safe, I'm now accepting donations to the Mark Siegel Legal Defense Fund. Cash donations only, please. I'm not interested in your old office furniture or faded rock concert tees.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:16 PM | Comments (1)
May 04, 2009
Deficiencies
On the way home, I passed a little kid and his mother on the sidewalk. I heard the kid say "Mom, what's wrong with him?" And I thought that was actually a pretty perceptive question. A little self-analysis can be quite healthy so here's my attempt to articulate a response to the question "What is wrong with me?"
- I'm a terrible procrastinator.
- I own way too many pairs of khaki pants.
- I never read any Milton.
- I can't seem to get through a day without rolling my eyes at someone at least once.
- I get annoyed when people use "impact" as a
nounverb. - Have you seen the size of my head?
- I use the term "dude" with alarming frequency.
- When I want to relax, I backup my files.
- I can spot the differences between the original and director's cut of Blade Runner.
- I blog stupid lists when I'm desperate for content.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:40 PM | Comments (6)
May 03, 2009
The Air Was Thick With The Scent Of Patchouli Oil
Rejoice, brothers and sisters in revolution, for I have just returned from the annual Minneapolis May Day Parade and related festivities. And I have the sunburn to prove it. Our parade is notable for the colorful life-sized puppets created by the In the Heart of the Beast, the renowned puppet theater. For example: 
Pigs were a popular theme in this year's parade. 
And bears. 
And, er, dung beetles? Hey, it's May Day.
Of course, no May Day parade is complete without people on stilts.
This guy had it going on.
As did this kid.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go read all the political tracts people handed to me.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:09 PM | Comments (1)
May 02, 2009
Indie Fare
Being the predictable geek that I am, I'm looking forward to the summer's big science fiction movies such as the Star Trek reboot and the next Terminator sequel. But a couple promising trailers for smaller movies indicate that a market for original science fiction exists outside of franchise properties. District 9 is about humans and aliens struggling to co-exist on Earth, echoing earlier movies such as Alien Nation. It's filmed in faux documentary style and set in South Africa, which could provide fertile territory for subtext. Or it could result in a movie with all the subtlety of a brick to the head. Color me intrigued.
Moon looks to be a near-future tale about a solitary lunar miner who is nearing the end of his three-year contract and may or may not be going insane. It stars Sam Rockwell, an actor who embodies a sad yet goofy sensibility I've always liked. Fun fact: director Duncan Jones is David Bowie's son.
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2009
Didn't See This One Coming
Just when the president seems to be getting adept at juggling, Justice Souter hands him another ball. I have absolutely no idea who the nominee will be, but most court observers are predicting that a woman will be selected. I'm going to miss Souter: mentioning his name was always a surefire way to annoy a conservative. And conservatives are bound to say all kinds of mean things about the nominee, but they'll have about as much luck holding up confirmation as the left did with Roberts and Alito. Like I keep saying, elections have consequences.
I'm also curious about Souter's intense dislike for the D.C. social scene. I would think you could meet some really interesting people at those parties, but what do I know?
Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:02 PM | Comments (0)