hippoblog

Better than Starting Over

Imagine if nothing ever gets done at the WTC site. What if it remains a negative space that people point to and gawk at. Now that's a resonant memorial.

Blocks: Seeking the Sublime in the Simple to Mark 9/11

By the corporation's own checklist, every finalist met the program. Though the plans "have technical challenges that would need to be resolved during the normal design process," the corporation reported, none were "fatal flaws."

Yet the plans seem to have left people hungering for something else.

"There is a remarkable sameness to these designs," said the New York metropolitan chapter of the American Planning Association.

"None provide a well-designed urban public gathering space, none make use of the artifacts from the World Trade Center buildings and none convey the urban and international texture of the place that made it a target for attack.

"There is nothing that evokes the experience of those further away watching the second plane hit and the towers coming down. There is nothing about those who labored in the pit or those who ministered to the rescue workers. Most glaring, the designs as they stand do little to recall the actual horror of the destruction of the towers or the void left at ground zero."

In general, said Michael Kuo of the Municipal Art Society, the public feels the designs "did not communicate really what happened here, at this place" and "did not go beyond the victims to reflect the sense of community that held us together after our city and our lives were torn apart." Mr. Kuo is the planner of the Imagine New York program, which has gathered the views of more than 300 people at public meetings and more than 2,600 people through an online survey.

Most of the missing elements cited by critics were not required by the guidelines. And it is hard to imagine that the designs would have turned out appreciably better with a 10- or 15-point program. Instead, it seems likelier that the plans would have grown even more diffuse.

By contrast, the 9/11 memorials that have touched the public have been unplanned, straightforward and simple. Kevin M. Rampe, the president of the development corporation, recalled them last week when he introduced the finalists. "It began with the first flower laid gently on the steps of Trinity Church," he said, "the first candle to flicker in Union Square Park, the first heartfelt message inscribed on the viewing platform overlooking ground zero."

It continued with the installation in Battery Park of the damaged "Sphere for Plaza Fountain" sculpture by Fritz Koenig, salvaged from the ruins of the trade center. And with "Out of the Dust," an exhibition at St. Paul's Chapel about its ground zero ministry, which has drawn 854,000 visitors.

It continues in the "missing" fliers still posted outside St. Vincent's Manhattan Hospital, at Seventh Avenue and 11th Street. It continues at Broadway and Isham Street in Inwood, where a dented steel cruciform salvaged from the trade center site stands outside the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd.

More than anywhere, it continues at ground zero.

The opening this week of the new PATH station has created vantages that the public has never had before, from within the foundations of the trade center. The walls of the open-air station are patterned on the viewing fence along Church Street, said Robert I. Davidson, chief architect of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. People have responded by gravitating to the edges of the station to catch a glimpse of the site.

The extraordinary number of visitors who circulate around the site every day suggests that a memorial already exists. And while a permanent remembrance at the trade center site must be more than exposed structural ganglia in a 70-foot pit, it also suggests that the competition might have yielded a more resonant result by being simpler and more centered on the place itself.

That would not have satisfied all the demands, unless one were to start thinking of the memorial collectively - the sphere, the pit, the chapel, the wall, the cross, each and every firehouse and all the other unplanned shrines where 9/11 has already been marked. Because in some respects, while the city has been planning a memorial, the memorial has already been built.

The process is already the memorial.

* Ray, 11/27/2003 09:57:43 AM

Yeah but these nukes are different

Bush OKs New Nuke

Among the many items tucked away in the $401 billion defense authorization act was a $15 million three-year research project by the Energy and Defense departments to create the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator.

The legislation repeals a decade-old ban on research into low-yield nuclear weapons.

The controversial new weapon would consist of a hard-nosed rocket able to penetrate 20 feet into the earth with a small-scale nuclear bomb, modified from an existing nuke, that would go off on a delay - so that it would explode at the deepest point.

Critics say that such a bomb would cause massive collateral damage if it were ever used, and that just introducing it might mean an end to the ban on underground nuclear testing.

They also say the whole idea of building small-scale nukes - the RNEP would be 5 kilotons - would blur the distinction between conventional and nuclear war.

Of course, it's all about 9/11:

But defense officials said they're seeing a trend toward deeper and harder bunkers being built by enemy forces, as well as caves. The underground shelters are used for command and control operations, and even stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.

Adm. James Ellis, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, testified that the deepest bunkers cannot be destroyed by the biggest conventional bombs, even the 4,000-pound "bunker-buster" that recently smashed a 60-foot-deep hideout in Baghdad.

"Our enemies seek to inflict mass casualties, without fielding mass armies. They hide in the shadows, and they're often hard to strike," Bush said at yesterday's bill-signing ceremony.

"The terrorists are cunning and ruthless and dangerous, as the world saw on September the 11th, 2001, and again in Istanbul last week.

"Yet these killers are now facing the United States of America, and a great coalition of responsible nations, and this threat to civilization will be defeated.

"Right now, America's armed forces are the best trained, best equipped and best prepared in the world. And this administration will keep it that way," Bush said.

"The bill I sign today authorizes $400 billion over the next fiscal year to prepare our military for all that lies ahead."

...because, y'know, those planes that took out the towers and the Pentagon, they were bunkers.

* Ray, 11/27/2003 12:31:31 AM

Dankehosen

Student group devoted to pants examines society from the 'bottom' up

It was a cold and snowy afternoon, and Erica Eads looked on in horror as a man wearing shorts crossed Washington Avenue in Stadium Village.

"That would be a pants-appropriate situation," she said.

And Eads should know. She's president of Tengo Pantalones, a newly registered University student group dedicated to discussing situations in which pants are appropriate.

Eads and two friends in Comstock Hall came up with the idea over dinner earlier this month. The trio made it official when they paid the $15 registration fee at the Student Activities Office, using quarters that were originally meant to pay for club secretary Charles Swan's laundry.

"I thought it was funny and kind of different," said Sara Ferguson, the Student Activities Office employee who received the quarters.

Tengo Pantalones -- Spanish for "I have pants" -- now has 40 members, and the three founders said they have no idea what to do with them.

They've talked of holding a large forum with all its members to discuss pants, in addition to a clothing drive for pants, which would not accept capris, shorts or skirts.

"We deal with pure pants only," Swan said.

The group said society does not often address pants-related issues.

"At Taco Bell, they have a sign that says 'No shirt, no shoes, no service,' but it doesn't say anything about pants," Eads said.

One thing the founders said they want to do is keep the club apolitical.

"Pants have nothing to do with abortion, religion or racism," Eads said.

Nor do they want to be preachy.

"They need to want help themselves before we can do anything," said treasurer Kelly Frush, referring to the man wearing shorts in the snow.

They do, however, dream of a pants-related infomercial that could some day air during a U.S. president's State of the Union address.

"We're really, really random when we talk about things and sometimes that gets translated into reality," Swan said.

* Ray, 11/27/2003 12:25:19 AM

Look over there! [drill drill]

Some developments in the world of energy. First of all, the Energy Bill is still on hold because of the MBTE giveaway:

George W. Bush, the President, and Republicans said the energy bill was needed 'for the sake of our national security and economic security.' They tried to sell the bill by suggesting it would create 800,000 jobs while boosting U.S. domestic production of coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy.

However, one prominent Republican, Sen. John McCain from Arizona, attacked the bill as a '1,200-page monstrosity that is chock full of special interest giveaways' that include subsidizing corn farmers by doubling the use of ethanol in gasoline.

But the final straw came over a controversial part in the bill that would protect manufacturers of MTBE, a gasoline additive, from lawsuits. MTBE is thought to have contaminated drinking water in many states and cleanup is estimated at US$29-billion.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California, called the special protection a 'get out jail free card' for MTBE producers.

Mr. Bush tried to push through the bill this week by calling on Republicans to remove the MTBE provision but met resistance from Rep. Tom DeLay, the House of Representative's majority leader, and Rep. Joe Barton. Both are from Texas where much of MTBE is made.

So, while no one's really looking, why not poke holes in Alaska?

The Bush administration intends to open 8.8 million acres of Alaska's North Slope to oil and gas development, including areas considered environmentally sensitive.

Not to be outdone, British Columbia tries its hand at being awful.

B.C. parks will be opened up for private-sector resort and lodge development under a bill introduced in the legislature Tuesday.

Greeted with horror by environmental groups, the bill also sets out the rules for directional drilling for oil and gas under parks.

* Ray, 11/26/2003 06:17:03 PM

Awarding Nothing

P. Diddy demands award

Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs threw a mogul-sized fit backstage at VH1's 'Big in '03' awards when he found out he was only an award presenter, not an award winner.

'Puffy showed up at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles with a huge entourage,' our source said.

At last week's taping, 'He was supposed to present the 'Big Styling '03' award to Ashton Kutcher, but when he got backstage he asked what his award was. VH1 told him he was only presenting and that he wasn't getting an award.'
Combs allegedly freaked out, and said: 'I am not going on stage unless I get an award!' To calm Combs - and to save the show - VH1 execs answered: 'Well, what do you want?' To which Combs replied: 'I want to be the Big Maverick - give me the Big Maverick '03 award!'

VH1 hastily complied. Fans can tune in and see Combs happily accept his cup-shaped award 'with no engraving' on Sunday.

* Ray, 11/26/2003 03:40:53 PM

Bullfighter

Oldie by goodie: Deloitte's Bullfighter. Plugs into Word and Powerpoint and spots meaningless jargon.

Download

* Ray, 11/26/2003 01:01:16 PM

Sing Along, Everyone

Aha. It's begun. Scrap the finalists.
The Impossible Burden of the WTC Memorial | Metropolis Magazine

I am surprised that no one has directly challenged the LMDC's unhealthy relationship to time. So I offer an alternative vision, a ninth plan: for now, stop the memorial process. Designate an area on the WTC site for the memorial, wait at least five years, and then conduct another competition for a permanent tribute. Between now and then, have temporary, changing memorials. Perhaps, after more time has passed, all of us will have a clearer idea exactly what we're memorializing.

* Ray, 11/26/2003 10:23:06 AM

Morning Car

A sleepy Thunderbird.

* Ray, 11/26/2003 09:16:43 AM

Photomontage-ish

A Lisbon bus falls into a crater after heavy rains in Portugal.

Iraqi Shia Muslims are watched by an American tank as they pray on the first day of Eid al-Fitr

A couple images from the BBC's scrapbook.

* Ray, 11/25/2003 02:02:16 PM

Shh, I can't hear the train

Midnight train to silence: Boston hushes its subway musicians

Starting Dec. 1, subway musicians will no longer be allowed to plug their instruments into electronic amplifiers or play electric keyboards, saxophones, and other horns.

Transit officials say it's a matter of safety - that loud music can drown out messages warbled over public-address speakers. But musicians and their fans say the regulations could dry up the income artists collect, a dollar at a time, and silence songs that make commuting bearable - or at least distract passengers from the strain and stench of subway life.

The rules are sure to transform Boston's true underground music scene, which up to this point has been one of the nation's least regulated. In New York and Atlanta, musicians must audition and sign up for slots; Toronto singers pay a $114 fee; in London, musicians need licenses to croon to commuters 'minding the gap.' And in Washington, D.C., they're banned altogether: The only songs in travelers' heads are those they're singing to themselves. For Boston musicians, these free-wheeling subway stages were a last foothold of melodic latitude - theirs for a song.

* Ray, 11/25/2003 02:00:00 PM

On again, off again

Dell to Stop Using Indian Call Center for Corporate Customers

After an onslaught of complaints, computer maker Dell Inc. has stopped using a technical support center in India to handle calls from its corporate customers.

Yeah, but I've had plenty of nigh incomprehensible support calls with southern speakers. What is Dell going to do about them?

* Ray, 11/25/2003 01:58:51 PM

PC PC

LA County bans use of term "Master/Slave" (verified by Snopes)

Subject: IDENTIFICATION OF EQUIPMENT SOLD TO LA COUNTY
Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 14:21:16 -0800
From: 'Los Angeles County'

The County of Los Angeles actively promotes and is committed to ensure a work environment that is free from any discriminatory influence be it actual or perceived. As such, it is the County's expectation that our manufacturers, suppliers and contractors make a concentrated effort to ensure that any equipment, supplies or services that are provided to County departments do not possess or portray an image that may be construed as offensive or defamatory in nature.

One such recent example included the manufacturer's labeling of equipment where the words 'Master/Slave' appeared to identify the primary and secondary sources. Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label.

We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment or components thereof that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature before such equipment is sold or otherwise provided to any County department.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation and assistance.

Joe Sandoval, Division Manager
Purchasing and Contract Services
Internal Services Department
County of Los Angeles

* Ray, 11/25/2003 01:54:44 PM

Exploiting Everything

Technological Dub Erases a Bush Flub for a Republican Ad

When President Bush laid out the potential threat that unconventional weapons posed in Saddam Hussein's hands last year in his State of the Union address last year, he became tongue-tied at an inopportune moment.

The line read, 'It would take one vial, one canister, one crate, slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known.' But Mr. Bush stumbled between the words 'one' and 'vial.' And when at the word vial, he pronounced the 'v' as if it were a 'w.'

Yet in a new Republican commercial that borrows excerpts from that speech, Mr. Bush delivers that line as smoothly as any other in the address, without a pause between 'one' and 'vial,' and the v in 'vial' sounds strong and sure.

Republican officials acknowledged yesterday that the change was a product of technology. The line, they said, was digitally enhanced in editing 'to ensure the best clarity.'

* Ray, 11/25/2003 01:25:00 PM

Billy, Janeane, Zinn, all the good guys

* TELL US THE TRUTH * ended its tour in DC last night. How come no one told me they played Boston this week?

Headliners Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, and the Nightwatchman (former Rage Against the Machine and current Audioslave member Tom Morello in his Johnny Cash-Leonard Cohen guise) swing from the left. Boston University professor emeritus and longtime activist Howard Zinn set the tone by slamming "a little gang of people who have taken over this country." And MC/comic Janeane Garofalo dryly noted President Bush's "lack of intellectual curiosity... which is not so good for a president."

* Ray, 11/25/2003 01:07:35 PM

Anti-Capitalist Operating System v2.0

From the Anti-Capitalist Operating System (worth a full look):

*****START YOUR OWN SPAM CAMPAIGN USING THIS EMAIL!***** >From the Desk of: Mr Doxa Crewn DEPARTMENT OF MINING& NATURAL RESOURCES. NIAMEY - REPUBLIC OF NIGER RE: BUSH OUT OF AFRICA! AND OUT OF OFFICE! Honourable Friend: Let me begin by emphasising that this is not a ruse to extract moneys from you, nor to fool you into sending me your personal information. I obtained your email address from a database of people who are deeply concerned about the current state of our world. I write to you on a matter of the utmost global importance. Let me explain. My name is DOXA CREWN. Until recently I was a petty bureaucrat in the DEPARTMENT OF MINING AND NATURAL RESOURCES of the REBUBLIC OF NIGER. In early 2002 I was approached by an American gentleman claiming to be a member of the CIA with close connections with the BUSH administration. To cut a long story short, he offered me the sum of One Million United States Dollars (US$1,000,000) to testify that the government of NIGER had sold uranium to the goverment of IRAQ. Of course a complete falsehood. He convinced me that this was of the utmost importance and that I would understand later. After a great deal of pressure and intimidation, I accepted because my country needs the money desparately. On reciept of the cash I donated the money to charitable organizations. Later, I was horrified to see how global events unfolded and and how the concocted evidence was used to justify an evil war against IRAQ. The president himself used the concocted evidence in his State of the Union address. If I had known I would never have participated in this shameful fiasco. This war in Iraq is unjust. This MADMAN BUSH must be stopped. And he has the audacity to come to this continent and pretend to offer us help when in all reality he means to subject us to the logic of capital as either sweatshop slaves or as passive consumers. He has come as a colonizer. Honourable friend - listen to his words, they mean the opposite to what he actually says. When he says peace he means war. When he says aid he means domination. We in NIGER, in AFRICA, can do little to stop him. But you in America are closer to the sseat of government. Please, please, do all you can to remove him from office. Impeach him, call your congresspersons, vote against him, TAKE TO THE STREETS. Do something. Together We Can Defeat Bush. Please forward this message to all who may be interested. Yours in desparation and sincerety, Doxa Crewn Niamey, Republic of Niger p.s. something of relevant interest is at: http://twcdc.com/programs/stop_bush/stop_bush.htm

* Ray, 11/25/2003 10:45:16 AM

To every time its art. To every art its freedom.

0100101110101101.org stages a prank that fools all of Vienna. Nike Ground > intro

* Ray, 11/25/2003 10:39:42 AM

Greedy Joe

Fox exec admits Joe Millionaire 2 sucked

Fox wasn't so lucky with this series. A top executive of the network acknowledged to reporters Monday afternoon that 'we got greedy' in ordering a second edition of 'Joe Millionaire.'
In nine months, it plunged from being one of TV's most surprising successes to the new season's most spectacular flameout.

'Our instincts told us from the very beginning that `Joe Millionaire' was a one-time stunt and I think we got greedy,' Sandy Grushow, Fox television entertainment chairman, said on Monday.
About 40 million people watched in February when hunky Evan Marriott revealed to the woman he picked that he really wasn't the millionaire. The series as a whole drew an average of nearly 23 million viewers.

Some critics doubted that the show's concept would bear repeating, but Grushow said in February, 'we're obviously optimistic that it will perform extremely well when it returns.'
But despite moving the show's setting to Europe to find gullible women, audiences have yawned. This season, the series has averaged 6.5 million viewers (ranked No. 85 for the season), with 5.4 million tuning in last week, according to Nielsen Media Research.

'We tried to sneak it by the American public a second time and we got called on it,' Grushow said.

* Ray, 11/25/2003 10:22:19 AM

God speaks

Bullet wounds KKK initiation participant

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) -- A bullet fired in the air during a Ku Klux Klan initiation ceremony came down and struck a participant in the head, critically injuring him, authorities said.

* Ray, 11/25/2003 10:19:21 AM

Batteryless Windmill

Mini-turbine brings 'green power for all'

The winds of change will blow a little stronger this morning when a small Scottish company launches Britain's first wind power system designed to be fitted on almost any roof or wall to supplement electricity from the grid.

Just two days after Britain's biggest offshore wind farm started generating electricity off the north Wales coast, the designers of the tiny domestic unit believe they can provide up to 15% of the annual electricity needs of an average house for a one-off cost of £750 - bringing green electricity into the price range of most families.

The machine, a 3ft by 2ft sealed box with three blades which face into the prevailing wind, is backed by the energy minister, Brian Wilson, who is a paid consultant for Windsave, the company behind it.

Unlike old-style domestic wind generators, which needed a lot of land, sat on top of poles and drove pumps and a few bulbs for farmers and backwoodsmen, the machine does not need batteries to store the electricity. Instead, it tops up the existing mains supply.

* Ray, 11/25/2003 09:54:53 AM

Graves House Kits

Beginning early next year, the celebrated architect and designer Michael Graves, who has already created a one- room pavilion sold by Target, will make a pair of simple, customizable house designs available nationwide at a middle-market price. Customers will be able to go to the Web site of the manufacturer and distributor, Lindal Cedar Homes, pick from a range of online options and order a kit (assembly required).

* Ray, 11/25/2003 09:52:31 AM

Taking a Step Back

Something we've all been thinking. Rethink The Type Of Memorial We Want

The fault is not with the designers, but with the process. Everything about the rebuilding of Ground Zero, and the memorial in particular, has been rushed. With a Republican Governor and Mayor, there is only one date that mattered to the rebuilding process: the opening of the Republican convention in New York next August. The laying of the cornerstone for Liberty Tower and for the memorial has been preordained to occur when George Bush rolls into town.

But although some might like to blame it all on the Republican Party, there were even more fundamental flaws in the process. The focus of the program guidelines was on recognizing the individuals who perished, and not about how future Americans would understand 9/11 and might move forward. As a result the jury has chosen eight beautiful designs for a cemetery, but no designs for a living memorial to 9/11. Our obsession with building increasingly more clever, and complicated, memorials to remembering individuals who lost their lives in disasters has steered us far away from an older way of thinking about memorials, one that looked more toward a common future than to individual loss.

* Ray, 11/25/2003 09:48:30 AM

Must try: Japanese Scotch

And the best Scotch is . . . Japanese, says Canada panel

After the bagpipes faded and the blind taste test of single-malt whiskies was over, the winning dram was clear -- a 20-year-old Nikka Yoichi, distilled in Hokkaido, Japan.

* Ray, 11/24/2003 03:25:27 PM

Triumph, Rock on

IFILM - Triumph the Insult Comic Dog: I Keed

I thought my CD was done
But that's not what they say
"Do an insult track, we need it for radio play"
Cram in the names, I'll take a long hard pee
Time to mess up the biz like an MP3

American Idols, that's who I look for
In the poop section of my local record store
Ruben or clay, oh which should I pick
It's like choosing which puddle of vomit to lick

And when I want something even more fruity and fake
I look up 'N' for N'Sync or 'T' for Timberlake
So many skills Justin's making a buck at
Does he rap? Does he sing? He doesn't know what to suck at

Now as for the bitches, let's give Britney thanks
For the face that launched a million pre-teen skanks
You were a virgin, that had to be hard
You've had more bones in your mouth than a St. Bernard

I keed, I keed!
(He just make a little joke)
I joke with you!
(LIttle dog, little joke)
I keed, I keed!
(He just make a little joke)
Yeah, you're a great actress too
(Little dog, little joke)

Now let's go to Wal-mart where they won't sell my CD
That company's nuts are in a jar in aisle 3
But you can see Christina in all her sluthood
It's like watching porn but the music's not as good

I want to stuff my TV's crotch with a dollar
Still I'd hump you if I could wear my flea collar
You're looser than my poop after eating Honeydew
Only 50 Cent's been plugged more than you

And yet you're too old for Fred Durst to desire
He's checking out the cast of "Lizzie McGuire"
Soon Fred will try to get Mandy Moore
To open for him, and I don't mean on tour

You're not the first, Durst, poor R Kelly
His videos premiere at the LAPD
I believe they set up an innocent guy
You know what else? I believe I can fly

I keed, I keed!
(He just make a little joke)
I joke with you!
(LIttle dog, little joke)
I keed, I keed!
(He just make a little joke)
I believe Michael too, yes.
(Little dog, little joke)

Now look how friggin cool those guys from the Strokes are
Their riffs are three times as old as my jokes are
Hey White Stripes guy, is that your wife or your sister
Shouldn't you be playing country music, mister?

Hey Coldplay, maybe you should be Coldsore
Back when you were U2 I liked you so much more
Somehow your song "Yellow" reminds me of pee
I think 'cause when it's over, it's a big relief to me

Now Pink, is that your hair or a tattoo?
I didn't know Supercuts had a drive-thru
Yo Nelly, what kind of name is that?
That's about as gangsta as an easter bonnet hat

And Snoop says he's clean now? You make the call
The guy's higher than Billy Joel's Cholesterol
Snoop, there's only room for one dog, putz
And I can rap, can you lick your own nuts?

Poop Diddy, are you in show business still?
I didn't know wearing a suit was a skill
J Lo, J Lo, the giant tail-o
For a doggy's nose, thst's the Holy Grail-o

Shakira's butt's fine, but it won't hold still you see
I sniffed Elton John's tush just for all the history
I sniffed J-Lo's ass and got too touchy-feely
She let loose a bomb that was bigger than "Gigli"

I keed, I keed!
(He just make a little joke)
I joke with you
(Little dog, little joke)
I keed, I keed!
(Nothing wrong with your butt)
I even like...I don't like Affleck
(Nothing wrong with your butt)

Avril Lavigne punk queen, now there's a kidder
Go back north, Celine needs a babysitter
Philip Glass, atonal ass, you're not immune
Write a song with a fucking tune

And on the list of pussies, don't leave off MTV
I scared them and Eminem so they gave the hook to me
Slim Shady, why do you find me so scary?
We're just two regular dudes who banged Mariah Cary
Wipe off that frown, just do without it
Hey my mom was a bitch, but I don't go writing songs about it

I keed, I keed!
(He just make a little joke)
I joke with you!
(Little dog, little joke)
I keed, I keed!
(He just make a little joke)
You know I never meant to hurt you
(Never meant to make you cry)

I keed, I keed!
(He just make a little joke)
It's a joke you see!
(Laffy, laffy, laffy, ha, ha)
Let's stop hating each other
(He just make a little joke)
Leave the pooping to me
(Rock it to me, sock it to me)

Rock it to me, sock it to me
Rock it to me, sock it to me
Rock it to me, sock it I'm a rapping dog
And I'm here to say
Rappa rappa rappa
A tappa huppa huppa

I kid.

* Ray, 11/24/2003 03:21:54 PM

How to love Joss Whedon

Philip B. Gaines 'Firefly' project: a fan DVD made for fans by fans, slightly dorky fans, but fans nonetheless.

It is my intention to write, from a layperson's perspective, a textual commentary on the significance and meaning of this television show. Basically, this means that I will explain why Firefly is one of the most evolved bits of drama that I have ever seen. My final project will involve the translation of this text into multimedia format. It will be accessible. The writing style will be aimed for the less academic audiences of Firefly, and the multimedia editing will roughly correspond to the style of the TV show.

* Ray, 11/24/2003 03:20:17 PM

Turkey and the religious Al

Thoughtful, informed comment on the attack in Turkey. Back In Iraq 2.0: Istanbul bombers Turks and Kurds with ties to al Qa'ida? Not Likely

* Ray, 11/24/2003 03:10:49 PM

Statistics, take them for what you will

At least one in three Americans believe that George W. Bush should face impeachment for misleading the public and Congress about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction to create support for war on Iraq.
...
Currently 47% of those polled know that Saddam's Iraq had no connection to the 9/11 attacks, up from 36% in a Retro Poll last April. Of that 47% who are now clear on this fact, 52% favored impeachment. Even more dramatic was the strength of support for impeachment among those who know that the Al Qaeda-Saddam connection was also a media-government fabrication, based on little evidence. Of the still small 32% who know that Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda were never partners a whopping 73% favor impeachment and 78% think the U.S. should not have invaded Iraq. (54% of the total sample said the U.S. should not have invaded Iraq which is consistent with recent findings of major polling organizations).
...
The poll sampled 165 persons from 38 states. 51% were women and 49% men. 61.5% had European-American backgrounds, 11.5% African American, 12.2 % Latino, 1.3 % Native American, 1.9% Asian-Pacific, 9% decline to state. Highest state sampling included California (10.8%), New York (8.9%), Texas (7.6%), Ohio (5.7%), Illinois (5.1%), Pennsylvania and New Jersey (4.4%).

In related news, Reuters reports that the number of US soldiers dead now exceeds the number killed in the first three years of the Vietnam War.

* Ray, 11/24/2003 03:04:57 PM

Immortal Delicacy

Red sea urchin 'almost immortal'

The red sea urchin found in the shallow waters of the Pacific Ocean is one of the Earth's longest-living animals.

The small, spiny creature can last for more than 200 years with few signs of age-related disease, a US research team from Oregon and California has found.

The animal, which grows to more than 15 cm across, grazes on marine plants and uses its spines to deter predators.

'No animal lives forever, but these red sea urchins appear to be practically immortal,' said Dr Thomas Ebert."

Now, if a creature really were immortal, would it be ethical or not to eat it? On the one hand, it'd be one of the only forms of population control, but on the other... what is the other hand? It feels wrong, at least.

* Ray, 11/24/2003 02:57:51 PM

The Return of Secular Al

Boston.com / A&E / Music / CD reviews / Al Green: I Can't Stop
Overall very good reviews at Amazon

* Ray, 11/24/2003 02:51:20 PM

Music and Algorithms, two favorite subjects

It's All About the Algorithm, Baby!

One Spanish company, Polyphonic HMI (www.polyphonichmi.com), has created Hit Song Science, an application that can take any song and break it down to its mathematical core. If you're like me, you probably didn't even know that pop music has a mathematical core, but it does, and apparently this can be used to determine a song's "hitability."
...
The technology was first developed when researchers at Group AIA, the parent company of Polyphonic HMI, decided to analyze the entire music universe. The company took the approximately 3.5 million songs that have been released commercially since the late 1950s and ran them through a computer.

"When we plotted all the songs on a map, it looked like the Milky Way system," said Tracie Reed, vice president of North American operations for Polyphonic HMI. Later, the company stripped out just the songs that had been top-30 hits in the past five years. "We realized that our beautiful Milky Way no longer looked like the Milky Way, but like a series of constellations," she said.

Within those constellations, the researchers noticed distinct patterns for hit music and found that a popular song could be grouped within one of 18 clusters. Songs within a cluster are similar mathematically, though they won't necessarily sound similar. In fact, it could theoretically be possible for Enya and Metallica to be in the same cluster, though they obviously sound nothing alike. However, even if you do like wildly divergent sounds, there's a good chance that your favorite songs will belong to the same cluster.

I guess we're stuck with I-IV-V forever now. Eh, works for me.

* Ray, 11/23/2003 11:55:18 AM

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