How to defeat a monster
Posted: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 4:52 PM by Will Femia
I saw this item about Bono's Liberty Medal acceptance speech being censored to remove a line about torture and clicked over to the site to see for myself. The line, at least this morning, is in both the video and the transcript. But if you've got a few minutes, give the whole thing a listen/read. I can't remember the last time I heard inspiring, thoughtful, critical yet still celebratory words about America like this. It's amazing to think there are like 20 people running for president right now but I haven't heard any of them talking like this. (Well, maybe one.)
Speaking of double checking, has anyone seen a full and accurate English translation of the transcript of that Bush/Anzar meeting published by the Spanish paper El Pais? I keep seeing stories that say "according to..." but I'd like to see the source myself. UPDATE: Found one. Here's the original Spanish.
Speaking of the spending money in Iraq, Cost of Sending 11 Missions to Mars = 1 Mission in Iraq - There were a lot of these types of "the cost of Iraq is equal to XXX" headlines last week as new budget bills for the war moved through Congress. Here's a similar one about what we can't afford versus affording the war.
Speaking of Iraq, numbers, and smacking yourself on the forehead, Blackwater by The Numbers - Find here a link to a list of grievances against Blackwater along with some other stats being discussed in Congress today.
And sorry, one more Blackwater link from TPM (owning yet another important story), the investigation of Blackwater was apparently outsourced to Blackwater.
Speaking of TPM links, a quick mail:
Great vid from Talking Points Memo tonight, apparently Iceland just withdrew the one guy they had in Iraq.
-Cammie
Scientists Invent 30 Year Continuous Power Laptop Battery - The explanation goes a little over my head, and in spite of the article's assurances I'm a little nervous about the idea of putting decaying radioactive material in my lap. As it is I keep my laptop on a wooden cutting board out of paranoia that the heat will put my soldiers to sleep. Anyway, if you're able to suspend your skepticism this sounds very exciting.
Speaking of predicting the future, The Next 25 Years of Video Games - It's not about specific games but about general trends and ideas. Fun to think about but sorry it has that pain-in-the-neck pagination. (Thanks Matt.)
Jackie Chan being brutally honest about the Rush Hour movie series. I love this line: "I spent four months making this film and I still don't fully understand the humor." I love Jackie Chan and I liked Chris Tucker in The Fifth Element but I've never seen a Rush Hour movie and I have no plans to do so. Local news here in New York ran a story about a Mexican immigrant who sends the money he makes at his job taking out the garbage home to his young family where a house is being constructed for him to return to. It's funny to think of Jackie Chan's Hollywood millions as being tantamount to putting up with a garbage job in order to bring money home.
Speaking of the cost of making movies, Using CCTV for low-budget filmmaking - On a scale from 1 to 10 this has a coolness rating of about 12. They use a special receiver to pick up wireless security camera signals and they use those signals to record their own movie. The pure version of the movie is a commercial with people holding up signs about not paying (for cameras I guess). The movie embedded in the page is cheating a little because they were able to use the security camera control room instead of hijacked signals but still really cool.
Speaking of parkour, sick.
Top Ten Reasons Airplanes and Animals Don’t Mix - Most of these are shots of what happens to planes when they hit birds. Some of the photos are gross, so be forewarned if you can't handle stuff like that. No photos of injured humans though.
How hungry are you? Portion markers in a bowl are a good idea. Reminds me a little of the coffee color swatch mug.
These two stories aren't exactly related but they brought to mind something I've been thinking about.
To what extent is presence in D.C. necessary for the work of members of Congress? If they could vote remotely, would they be more in touch with constituents? Less exposed to the influence of lobbyists and D.C. culture? Or would the whole system lock up for lack of communication?
Wow, so I guess coin stacking is a thing.
Speaking of trendspotting and "is this a thing?" ...
.... NOTE: I'm about to talk about and link to some PG-13 content as a means of exploring beauty trends. The links don't have exposed nipples or genitals, but some of the images are provocative and probably not appropriate for work even though they're not technically nudity or porn.
...as part of their sex series last week Slate put together a slide show about a new emphasis on the butt in American women's aesthetic. (NOTE: DO NOT click that J-Lo link in the text. The photo isn't all that great and the pop-ups that result are out of control.) While the prevalence of butt implants is new to me, on the whole I think the subject of "big butts" jumped the shark years ago. So, you might ask, if I'm so smart, what do I think is the new trend? As it happens, I have an answer: underboob. Underboob is sort of like cleavage, but for the bottom or side of the breast.
Recently someone on Reddit posted this photo and asked something along the lines of whether this was actually the current state of fashion. The image called to mind a recent blog I'd seen called Underboobery and also a recent American Apparel ad - not this one, but similar. (Though all their stuff is pretty tawdry so that might not prove anything.) Time Out New York magazine drew attention for its proposal of underboob as a new dictionary addition. And there are Flickr groups and other collections that use the term as a category.
As laughable as it is to think I know anything about fashion trends, I say "underboob" is a thing.
UPDATE: This is the American Apparel ad I meant.
And Bob points out in comments that a Philly radio station is hosting an underboob photo contest. See? It's a thing.
OK, the blue portion of today's entry is over...
Speaking of body image, this site did a fattened version of Britney to mock the media coverage of her VMA performance which would lead one to believe she actually did look this heavy. They also did an extreme Keira Knightley. There's probably a Worth1000 contest for this but it still makes for compelling commentary.
The Top 100 Effects of Global Warming - Some of these are a little silly. Every item has a news citation with link, so if nothing else it shows how many things are connected in the media to global warming.
Robert Scoble's description of FeedHub makes it sound almost like Pandora for text feeds. Pandora is the site that learns your musical taste as you approve or disapprove of the songs it presents in a category you request. Similarly, FeedHub takes your feeds and surfaces the stuff you care about based on what you tell it you care about over time. I don't read as many feeds as Scoble, but I do suffer from feed creep. I'll start with just a few regular reads in an aggregator and then I'll add to that list until the reader itself is too clogged to bother with. Then I switch to a new aggregator and start from scratch. If I could keep adding but not really engorge my reading list I'd be happy.
Speaking of Web app mission creep, How to quit Facebook. It almost sounds like drug rehab.
Given some of the links and discussion lately we should start a new feature called "Clicked Court" where pass judgment on stories based on the meager info we get from a random news article or YouTube video. In today's case, a cyclist gets in a beef with a bus driver and stops traffic while he waits for cops to come so he can press charges against the bus driver. Unfortunately the story is told by the cyclist so it's not exactly an unbiased account, but still, there's room here for a "he's an idiot" comment. I'm thinking there are ways to charge or otherwise make trouble for a bus drive than bringing the whole system to a halt.
Dear spy novel writers, in case you're looking for a way to hide secret codes in your story plots, consider using a photo histogram.
Here's that Sy Hersh article on the Bush administration's plans for Iran. Every time this guy writes and article he makes news with it. You can listen to military analysts on TV explain "what Hersh meant" or you can just read it.
