Shots In The Dark
Tuesday, July 31, 2024
Did Harvard Just Lose $250 Million?
Bad news for Harvard: It invested $500 million in Sowood, a hedge fund that just announced it has lost more than half of its assets.
From CBS Marketwatch:
From CBS Marketwatch:
Harvard Management Chief Executive Mohamed El-Erian suggested in December that the endowment was keen on investing more in Sowood.
"Harvard's endowment has benefited from its long-term association with Sowood Capital Management through its investments in the Alpha product and commodity funds," he said in a statement. "We look forward to deepening this relationship."
Are you worried yet, Harvard?
Are you worried yet, Harvard?
The Boston-New York Role Reversal
But first, here's another lousy thing about the Boston Globe website: They don't seem to update it during the day. Even though it's a website, it's still on the 24-hour news cycle.
Thus, even now, many hours after it has happened, there is still no news of the Red Sox trade for Texas relief pitcher Eric Gagne.
This trade interests me, for several reasons. I guess it's good for the Red Sox, but they don't particularly seem to need Gagne. They've already got the best one-two bullpen arrangement in baseball. And to get him, they're giving up two minor-league prospects and a guy who's 4-0.
In past years, this would have been the kind of trade—shipping off the future for a guy who may or may not help your present—that a Yankee GM would have made, under pressure from George Steinbrenner. But with Steinbrenner now out of the picture, Brian Cashman has had much more leeway to preserve the team's pitching prospects, which are considerable.
Of course, it's just possible that the addition of Gagne will seal the deal for the Sox, who seem to have, if such a thing is possible, an abundance of starting pitching.
But Yankees fans should be glad that Brian Cashman didn't give up anyone to get Gagne—those minor-leaguers are too good, and with a staff that includes Mussina, Pettite, and Clemens, they're going to need those young arms.
Thus, even now, many hours after it has happened, there is still no news of the Red Sox trade for Texas relief pitcher Eric Gagne.
This trade interests me, for several reasons. I guess it's good for the Red Sox, but they don't particularly seem to need Gagne. They've already got the best one-two bullpen arrangement in baseball. And to get him, they're giving up two minor-league prospects and a guy who's 4-0.
In past years, this would have been the kind of trade—shipping off the future for a guy who may or may not help your present—that a Yankee GM would have made, under pressure from George Steinbrenner. But with Steinbrenner now out of the picture, Brian Cashman has had much more leeway to preserve the team's pitching prospects, which are considerable.
Of course, it's just possible that the addition of Gagne will seal the deal for the Sox, who seem to have, if such a thing is possible, an abundance of starting pitching.
But Yankees fans should be glad that Brian Cashman didn't give up anyone to get Gagne—those minor-leaguers are too good, and with a staff that includes Mussina, Pettite, and Clemens, they're going to need those young arms.
The Decline of a Newspaper
Reading the "World" section of the Globe today, I see...
Bush, Brown commit to unified Iraq stance (By Michael Abramowitz, Washington Post) Awaiting key bills, Iraq's Parliament adjourns (By Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press) Oxfam calls for more aid to relieve country's woes (By Damien Cave, New York Times News Service) DAILY BRIEFING: Diplomat clarifies criticism of Saudis (Today's Globe) Iran slams US arms deal for Middle East (By Robin Wright, Washington Post) 'Acts amount to war crimes' (By Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press) China turns again to ancient ethics (By Maureen Fan, Washington Post) Taliban kidnappers kill 2d Korean hostage (By Sayed Salahuddin, Reuters) Philippines called hot spot for terror (By Manny Mogato, Reuters) China's military marks 80th anniversary, amid concern (By Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press) Japan's opposition party calls on prime minister to resign (By Hiroko Tabuchi, Associated Press) Taliban backers seize Islamic shrine in Pakistan (By Riaz Khan, Associated Press)
Not one piece is original to the Globe. (No, not even the "Daily Briefing," which presents itself as Globe-specific—it's AP copy.) The same is largely true of the "Nation" section.
You Boston folks probably know this, but the Globe has become a local paper with wire stories about things going on in places other than Boston....
Bush, Brown commit to unified Iraq stance (By Michael Abramowitz, Washington Post) Awaiting key bills, Iraq's Parliament adjourns (By Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press) Oxfam calls for more aid to relieve country's woes (By Damien Cave, New York Times News Service) DAILY BRIEFING: Diplomat clarifies criticism of Saudis (Today's Globe) Iran slams US arms deal for Middle East (By Robin Wright, Washington Post) 'Acts amount to war crimes' (By Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press) China turns again to ancient ethics (By Maureen Fan, Washington Post) Taliban kidnappers kill 2d Korean hostage (By Sayed Salahuddin, Reuters) Philippines called hot spot for terror (By Manny Mogato, Reuters) China's military marks 80th anniversary, amid concern (By Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press) Japan's opposition party calls on prime minister to resign (By Hiroko Tabuchi, Associated Press) Taliban backers seize Islamic shrine in Pakistan (By Riaz Khan, Associated Press) Not one piece is original to the Globe. (No, not even the "Daily Briefing," which presents itself as Globe-specific—it's AP copy.) The same is largely true of the "Nation" section.
You Boston folks probably know this, but the Globe has become a local paper with wire stories about things going on in places other than Boston....
Monday, July 30, 2024
Sharks!
It's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel! Watch it—but bear in mind that Discovery hypes the scariness of sharks in a way that doesn't necessarily do them much good.
With that in mind, the Save Our Seas foundation has a great new ad calling for folks to "rethink the shark." Take a look.
Meanwhile, in Martha's Vineyard, the annual slaughterfest known as the "Monster Shark Tournament" was won by charter-boat captain Bob DeCosta, who landed a 327-pound thresher shark.
DeCosta said the tournament protesters were only a minor distraction and they didn’t understand that in the grand scheme of things, the 20 or so sharks pulled from the water are a drop in the bucket compared to commercial shark fishing, where only the fins of sharks are sought for shark-fin soup. These commercial fishermen cut off the fins and throw the sharks, still alive, back into the water.
True enough, but DeCosta's logic isn't compelling. That's sort of like saying that it's okay to shoot an elephant because it's the poachers who do most of the damage. Well, no.
The thresher shark, by the way, is endangered. It's also a truly beautiful animal. Here's what it looks like alive...
And here's what it looks like dead....
(Why, I can not help but wonder, do these New Jersey fishermen seem to think that they've done something to be proud of?)
I know some of you readers of this blog summer on the Vineyard. How about a letter to the local paper?
With that in mind, the Save Our Seas foundation has a great new ad calling for folks to "rethink the shark." Take a look.
Meanwhile, in Martha's Vineyard, the annual slaughterfest known as the "Monster Shark Tournament" was won by charter-boat captain Bob DeCosta, who landed a 327-pound thresher shark.
DeCosta said the tournament protesters were only a minor distraction and they didn’t understand that in the grand scheme of things, the 20 or so sharks pulled from the water are a drop in the bucket compared to commercial shark fishing, where only the fins of sharks are sought for shark-fin soup. These commercial fishermen cut off the fins and throw the sharks, still alive, back into the water.
True enough, but DeCosta's logic isn't compelling. That's sort of like saying that it's okay to shoot an elephant because it's the poachers who do most of the damage. Well, no.
The thresher shark, by the way, is endangered. It's also a truly beautiful animal. Here's what it looks like alive...
And here's what it looks like dead....
(Why, I can not help but wonder, do these New Jersey fishermen seem to think that they've done something to be proud of?)
I know some of you readers of this blog summer on the Vineyard. How about a letter to the local paper?
Quote of the Day
"You have the Rolex Submariner, the summer home in the Hamptons and a Porsche Boxter to get you there. Your degree from Harvard Business School sits next to your latest plasma, digital whatever.
But do you have a pair of sleek nose-hair clippers?"
—Hitha Prabhakar, on Forbes.com
"You have the Rolex Submariner, the summer home in the Hamptons and a Porsche Boxter to get you there. Your degree from Harvard Business School sits next to your latest plasma, digital whatever.
But do you have a pair of sleek nose-hair clippers?"
—Hitha Prabhakar, on Forbes.com
Friday, July 27, 2024
He's Real!
The New Republic's Baghdad blogger has revealed himself. He's the husband of one of TNR's reporter-researchers.
So, naturally, the army is punishing him for writing about the war.
So, naturally, the army is punishing him for writing about the war.
Thursday, July 26, 2024
What's Up with Fat?
A poster below asks, What's the obsession with fat people, anyway?
Well, here's one answer: As Time magazine reports, a new study shows that fat people are less likely to attend college than thin people.
Using college enrollment as a measure of academic success, University of Texas at Austin sociologist Robert Crosnoe found that obese students had a worse experience at school than their thinner peers and were less likely to attend college, and that the effects of being overweight hurt girls far more than boys.
Time illustrates the article with a picture of a fat girl's torso.
Well, here's one answer: As Time magazine reports, a new study shows that fat people are less likely to attend college than thin people.
Using college enrollment as a measure of academic success, University of Texas at Austin sociologist Robert Crosnoe found that obese students had a worse experience at school than their thinner peers and were less likely to attend college, and that the effects of being overweight hurt girls far more than boys.
Time illustrates the article with a picture of a fat girl's torso.
Surrounded by Mud
After one week, we have been allowed back into the 02138 offices here at 110 E 42nd Street. Somewhat disconcertingly, our windows here on the 13th floor are covered with mud and God knows what else.
(Some of you will say that this is a wonderfully appropriate metaphor for the environs in which journalists labor. Who am I to disagree?)
In the meantime, we have been instructed not to open our windows.
Looking across 41st Street, I see a large black building, mostly glass. A number of its windows are covered with duct tape; they must have been cracked in the explosion. The damaged windows go as high as the 30th floor.....
Some people who heard the news accounts of this incident don't quite get what it was really like. "A steam pipe," they say. "How bad could it be?"
I wish they could look up to the floors twice the height of the one I work on and see the cracks and scars above....
(Some of you will say that this is a wonderfully appropriate metaphor for the environs in which journalists labor. Who am I to disagree?)
In the meantime, we have been instructed not to open our windows.
Looking across 41st Street, I see a large black building, mostly glass. A number of its windows are covered with duct tape; they must have been cracked in the explosion. The damaged windows go as high as the 30th floor.....
Some people who heard the news accounts of this incident don't quite get what it was really like. "A steam pipe," they say. "How bad could it be?"
I wish they could look up to the floors twice the height of the one I work on and see the cracks and scars above....
Food for Fat
I'm fatinated—whoops, fascinated—by the new Harvard study showing that obesity can be spread through social networks.
Obesity appears to spread from one person to another like a virus or a fad, researchers reported yesterday in a first-of-its-kind study that helps explain -- and could help fight -- one of the nation's biggest public health problems.
..."It's almost a cliche to speak of the obesity epidemic as being an epidemic. But we wanted to see if it really did spread from person to person like a fashion or a germ," said Nicholas A. Christakis of Harvard Medical School, who led the study, being published tomorrow in the New England Journal of Medicine. "And the answer is, 'Yes, it does.' We are finding evidence for a kind of social contagion."
Of course, this makes perfect common sense. If you hang out with fat people, you're likely to do what they do—eat more, exercise less, etc. Or at least, you're more likely to do that stuff than if you're hanging out with mountain bikers, yoga practitioners, and marathon runners.
There's some debate over whether this survey just proves the obvious. (Answer: Yes.) I also assume that fat people self-select and hang out with each other because they're less likely to feel social judgment about their weight. And, if they feel like eating a lot, then they'll have company likely to do the same, and that's just more fun than eating a lot around someone who's having a hot water with lemon.
The Washington Post concludes its article on the survey with this paragraph:
The researchers cautioned that people should not sever relationships with friends who have gained weight or stigmatize obese people, noting that close friendships have many positive health effects. But the results do support forming relationships with people who have healthful lifestyles.
Hmmm. Sounds to me like those two sentences come close to contradicting each other. If you spend more time hanging out with healthy people, aren't you likely to spend less time hanging out with fat people?
Obesity appears to spread from one person to another like a virus or a fad, researchers reported yesterday in a first-of-its-kind study that helps explain -- and could help fight -- one of the nation's biggest public health problems.
..."It's almost a cliche to speak of the obesity epidemic as being an epidemic. But we wanted to see if it really did spread from person to person like a fashion or a germ," said Nicholas A. Christakis of Harvard Medical School, who led the study, being published tomorrow in the New England Journal of Medicine. "And the answer is, 'Yes, it does.' We are finding evidence for a kind of social contagion."
Of course, this makes perfect common sense. If you hang out with fat people, you're likely to do what they do—eat more, exercise less, etc. Or at least, you're more likely to do that stuff than if you're hanging out with mountain bikers, yoga practitioners, and marathon runners.
There's some debate over whether this survey just proves the obvious. (Answer: Yes.) I also assume that fat people self-select and hang out with each other because they're less likely to feel social judgment about their weight. And, if they feel like eating a lot, then they'll have company likely to do the same, and that's just more fun than eating a lot around someone who's having a hot water with lemon.
The Washington Post concludes its article on the survey with this paragraph:
The researchers cautioned that people should not sever relationships with friends who have gained weight or stigmatize obese people, noting that close friendships have many positive health effects. But the results do support forming relationships with people who have healthful lifestyles.
Hmmm. Sounds to me like those two sentences come close to contradicting each other. If you spend more time hanging out with healthy people, aren't you likely to spend less time hanging out with fat people?
Japan's Spin on Slaughter
Japanese whalers killed some 500 minke whales in the last whaling "season." About 286 of those were mature females, and out those 286, 262 were pregnant.
But if you're trying to justify whaling, that's a good thing!
According to a spokesman for a Japanese-backed pro-whaling group, the statistic shows that the whale population is doing so well, it can afford to be slaughtered by the Japanese.
(All right, those weren't his exact words, but it's a pretty accurate paraphrase.)
And here I would have thought that killing about 750 whales, if you include the young, is bad for the whale population. Silly me.....
By the way, does anyone doubt that the attitudes in Japan that support whaling are connected to the attitudes behind that country's growing militarism? Or that it's only a matter of time till those who promote Japanese historical revisionism say that whaling is part of a glorious culture that needs to be defended against Western cultural imperialism?
But if you're trying to justify whaling, that's a good thing!
According to a spokesman for a Japanese-backed pro-whaling group, the statistic shows that the whale population is doing so well, it can afford to be slaughtered by the Japanese.
(All right, those weren't his exact words, but it's a pretty accurate paraphrase.)
"Almost all of the whales are becoming pregnant each year. This is good news. This is great. It shows that the Antarctic minke population is increasing rapidly," the ICR's Glenn Inwood said today.
"The consistent population must provide strong reassurance that the population will easily sustain a commercial quota."
[Shades of Orwell: ICR stands for Institute of Cetacean Research, the "scientific" group Japan established to justify its claim that it practices whaling only for research purposes. Inwood is its mouthpiece.]And here I would have thought that killing about 750 whales, if you include the young, is bad for the whale population. Silly me.....
By the way, does anyone doubt that the attitudes in Japan that support whaling are connected to the attitudes behind that country's growing militarism? Or that it's only a matter of time till those who promote Japanese historical revisionism say that whaling is part of a glorious culture that needs to be defended against Western cultural imperialism?
Harvard in Allston
City Council candidate Mark Ciommo writes in the Allston/Brighton Tab about what Harvard should do in Allston. It may be the most boring letter ever written. If you can stay awake to the end, the gist of it is, You can't trust Harvard.
Nevertheless, on the basis of his soporific writing, I say, Vote against Ciommo!
Nevertheless, on the basis of his soporific writing, I say, Vote against Ciommo!
Think the Sox Are Getting Worried?
They win five out of six, and the one game they lose is a 0-1 gem pitched by Josh Beckett. But the Yankees win six out of six, and now they're just 6.5 games back. It's getting hot in that AL East!
On the Barry Bonds front, cudos to Curt Schilling for coming out and saying that Bonds used/uses steroids.
“If someone wrote that stuff about me and I didn’t sue,” Schilling said, “am I not admitting there’s some legitimacy to it?”
Actually, Schilling's quote is pretty silly—there are lots of reasons not to sue even if something written about you is untrue—but the implication of it, that Bonds is a steroid-user, is certainly right.
One thing I like about A-Rod: For all his flaws, he's never been suspected of being a steroid user. And he's about to hit his 500th home run at an earlier age than anyone in baseball history. What would you pay him? (Or, better question, what will some owner pay him?)
$30 million a year?
On the Barry Bonds front, cudos to Curt Schilling for coming out and saying that Bonds used/uses steroids.
“If someone wrote that stuff about me and I didn’t sue,” Schilling said, “am I not admitting there’s some legitimacy to it?”
Actually, Schilling's quote is pretty silly—there are lots of reasons not to sue even if something written about you is untrue—but the implication of it, that Bonds is a steroid-user, is certainly right.
One thing I like about A-Rod: For all his flaws, he's never been suspected of being a steroid user. And he's about to hit his 500th home run at an earlier age than anyone in baseball history. What would you pay him? (Or, better question, what will some owner pay him?)
$30 million a year?
Wednesday, July 25, 2024
Invasion of the TKs*
Giant, or at least quite large, squid are invading the waters off California.
(By the way, the reason the squid's feeding habitats are changing and they're moving north? It's thought to be either a consequence of global warming, overfishing, or both.)
Meanwhile, pythons are invading Florida! (And no, I'm not talking about developers.)
Oh, and one of my favorite new websites, swimatyourownrisk.com, reports that Larry King will be talking tonight with people who've survived shark attacks (too bad he can't talk with sharks who've survived human attacks).
Swimatyourownrisk takes a hilarious perspective on shark attacks. (No, for real.) It revels in them.
Shark snacks on snorkeler in Hawaii! (Actual headline.)
The shark was apparently feeding on turtles and Miller says, unfortunately, he kinda resembles one.
Shark knocks man out of kayak!
“Everyone had been fishing for a while — for a good two, three hours,” said John Dale of Foster City, a member of the kayak fishermen’s club. “From what he told me, basically he was fishing and was adjusting a lure, and all of a sudden he was thrown from his kayak into the water. When he came up, he thought he had been hit by a boat, but when he looked the shark was still on the front of his kayak, latched on, gnawing on the kayak. He thought about it for a second and decided he better get back onto the kayak, even though it was still on the nose.”
Shark attacks boy in Australia! (Update)
________________________________________________________________
* This is a little (very little) journalism joke.
So is this:
"Having a new, voracious predator set up shop here in California may be yet another thing for fishermen to compete with," said the study's co-author, Stanford University researcher Louis Zeidberg. "That said, if a squid saw a human they would jet the other way."
The cool thing about the above statement is that it's actually not true! The squid in question, known as the Humboldt, is in fact extremely aggressive, and has certainly been known to attack divers nutty enough to get in the water with them.(By the way, the reason the squid's feeding habitats are changing and they're moving north? It's thought to be either a consequence of global warming, overfishing, or both.)
Meanwhile, pythons are invading Florida! (And no, I'm not talking about developers.)
Oh, and one of my favorite new websites, swimatyourownrisk.com, reports that Larry King will be talking tonight with people who've survived shark attacks (too bad he can't talk with sharks who've survived human attacks).
Swimatyourownrisk takes a hilarious perspective on shark attacks. (No, for real.) It revels in them.
Shark snacks on snorkeler in Hawaii! (Actual headline.)
The shark was apparently feeding on turtles and Miller says, unfortunately, he kinda resembles one.
Shark knocks man out of kayak!
“Everyone had been fishing for a while — for a good two, three hours,” said John Dale of Foster City, a member of the kayak fishermen’s club. “From what he told me, basically he was fishing and was adjusting a lure, and all of a sudden he was thrown from his kayak into the water. When he came up, he thought he had been hit by a boat, but when he looked the shark was still on the front of his kayak, latched on, gnawing on the kayak. He thought about it for a second and decided he better get back onto the kayak, even though it was still on the nose.”
Shark attacks boy in Australia! (Update)
He says he had his brother next to him during the attack and says he is glad he thought to punch the shark in the nose.
It's darn good summertime reading.“If I didn’t punch it, then I would have lost my leg and if it got my brother, then he probably would have died, which is a lot worse,” he said.
________________________________________________________________
* This is a little (very little) journalism joke.
So is this:
You Can't Fool the Times!
No, sirreee, those folks over at the paper of record are sharp as a tack and quick on the draw.
Days after you read about it on this blog—and I was late—the Times gets around to writing about whether the New Republic's Baghdad Diarist is a fake.
Just who is the “Baghdad Diarist”? asks the Times.
Great lede!
And they wonder why the Times is a fading enterprise......
Days after you read about it on this blog—and I was late—the Times gets around to writing about whether the New Republic's Baghdad Diarist is a fake.
Just who is the “Baghdad Diarist”? asks the Times.
Great lede!
And they wonder why the Times is a fading enterprise......
Tuesday, July 24, 2024
Frozen Out
Five days later, the Grand Central explosion has all but disappeared from the news...but meanwhile, many of us still can't get into our offices....
Quote of the Day
—"Of course they can beat Boston. Are you kidding me? Shoot, I bet those guys are already starting to look over their shoulders."
—Goose Gossage, in the Hartford Courant
—Goose Gossage, in the Hartford Courant
Monday, July 23, 2024
Monday Morning Zen
Last week, a shot of underwater towers; this week, a reef glade, filled with yellow snapper.
Last week, a shot of underwater towers; this week, a reef glade, filled with yellow snapper.
This Weekend in Baseball
Anyone watch the Yankees this weekend? 45 runs in three games. Granted, it was the Devil Rays, a pathetic excuse for a baseball team. And granted, the Yankees lost the first of the four-game series. (What is wrong with Mike Mussina?) But still...the Bombers looked pretty good.
And so did the Red Sox, sweeping Chicago. Sure looks like they've come out of their swoon. John Lester—happily cancer-free—starts tonight against an Indians pitcher with an ERA of 6.
All boosterism aside, this race looks like it's going to be a hot one.....
And so did the Red Sox, sweeping Chicago. Sure looks like they've come out of their swoon. John Lester—happily cancer-free—starts tonight against an Indians pitcher with an ERA of 6.
All boosterism aside, this race looks like it's going to be a hot one.....
It's a Revolution!
The rebellion against US News and World Report's college rankings is growing.....
Harry Potter's Magical World
So I'm reading the new Harry Potter at a restaurant yesterday—a brief break from the grind—and a white couple in their 50's, two tables away, call out, "How is it?" It's good, I tell them. Then, going home on the subway, a couple Indian guys sit down next to me. "How is it?" they ask. Later, a young woman will see the book and smile at me before turning back to her own book.
Much has been written about how Harry Potter has encouraged young people to read more. (Some say it ain't so.)
But it occurs to me that one of the very pleasant experiences of reading this book is that it returns you to a time when books were really at the heart of American culture, a mass experience. It's wonderful to have complete strangers looking at what you're reading and inquire about it. How often does reading a book connect you so easily to people you don't know, across gender, ethnicity, and generation?
This isn't likely to happen very often with books—Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours—so I'm enjoying the moment. In addition to the strange and creative stories that she has given us, this experience of being part of a community of readers is a wonderful gift from J.K. Rowling.....
Much has been written about how Harry Potter has encouraged young people to read more. (Some say it ain't so.)
But it occurs to me that one of the very pleasant experiences of reading this book is that it returns you to a time when books were really at the heart of American culture, a mass experience. It's wonderful to have complete strangers looking at what you're reading and inquire about it. How often does reading a book connect you so easily to people you don't know, across gender, ethnicity, and generation?
This isn't likely to happen very often with books—Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold 8.3 million copies in its first 24 hours—so I'm enjoying the moment. In addition to the strange and creative stories that she has given us, this experience of being part of a community of readers is a wonderful gift from J.K. Rowling.....
Kristol Clear
In the Washington Post, Bill Kristol defends his now-infamous, we're-winning-the-war op-ed. (If you want to indulge in a tragicomic laugh, it's here.)
"I've been pretty consistent, pretty upfront and straightforward about my views," he says in his downtown office. "I had the same views when they were reasonably popular as I do now when they're unpopular. It would really be pathetic to adjust one's analysis based on public opinion."
Of course popular opinion isn't the reason to change one's mind; reality is.
Kristol, by the way, is just leaving on his first actual visit to Iraq. Far be it from me to fault anyone for having opinions about the war without having been there, but it's hard to understand how someone can be quite so bullish about the war without having paid a visit.
On the other hand, maybe that's the only way one could be bullish about the war.....
"I've been pretty consistent, pretty upfront and straightforward about my views," he says in his downtown office. "I had the same views when they were reasonably popular as I do now when they're unpopular. It would really be pathetic to adjust one's analysis based on public opinion."
Of course popular opinion isn't the reason to change one's mind; reality is.
Kristol, by the way, is just leaving on his first actual visit to Iraq. Far be it from me to fault anyone for having opinions about the war without having been there, but it's hard to understand how someone can be quite so bullish about the war without having paid a visit.
On the other hand, maybe that's the only way one could be bullish about the war.....
Has TNR Been Duped?
Remember that Baghdad Diarist I quoted extensively a few days ago? The one talking about how his fellow soldier had become so dehumanized by war that he had taken to running over dogs?
Well, there have apparently been so many questions raised about the veracity of the column that the New Republic is checking to make sure it isn't a fake. A Weekly Standard blogger first called them out on it.
One military commenter writes on the Standard website: I'm not Pollyana, and ugly things happen. But my trial lawyer and my colonel BS detectors are both flashing red. To believe this crap, you have to want it to be true.
Or fear them to be true....
The New Republic says the criticisms are ideologically motivated. We'll see what happens.
Well, there have apparently been so many questions raised about the veracity of the column that the New Republic is checking to make sure it isn't a fake. A Weekly Standard blogger first called them out on it.
One military commenter writes on the Standard website: I'm not Pollyana, and ugly things happen. But my trial lawyer and my colonel BS detectors are both flashing red. To believe this crap, you have to want it to be true.
Or fear them to be true....
The New Republic says the criticisms are ideologically motivated. We'll see what happens.
Sunday, July 22, 2024
Cornel West on His New Album, Etc.
Cornel West gave an online interview via the Washington Post the other day to talk about race, politics, the 2008 campaign, and his new album, "Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations." Other performers on the record include Prince, Andre 3000 of Outkast, Jill Scott and KRS-One.
Asked to describe the album, West said...
This CD is a danceable education. Its aim is to keep alive the spirit and legacy of Curtis Mayfield. We want to bring together the spiritual and the social, the personal and the political. We want to contribute to an awakening in our culture, especially youth culture....
Here is the most interesting and, to me, most Harvard-related exchange:
Washington: Prof. West, You have blended your scholarship with pop/mass culture quite a lot over the past several years. Do you have any concerns that, unlike WEB Dubois, you are aligning yourself with lesser rather than greater cultural traditions, and that you are leading promising young black students to ignore more intellectually challenging art and music in favor of what they already frequently see on TV and hear on the radio?
Asked to describe the album, West said...
This CD is a danceable education. Its aim is to keep alive the spirit and legacy of Curtis Mayfield. We want to bring together the spiritual and the social, the personal and the political. We want to contribute to an awakening in our culture, especially youth culture....
Here is the most interesting and, to me, most Harvard-related exchange:
Washington: Prof. West, You have blended your scholarship with pop/mass culture quite a lot over the past several years. Do you have any concerns that, unlike WEB Dubois, you are aligning yourself with lesser rather than greater cultural traditions, and that you are leading promising young black students to ignore more intellectually challenging art and music in favor of what they already frequently see on TV and hear on the radio?
Dr. Cornel West: I appreciate the question. I do not believe in an either/or approach between high culture and popular culture. Instead, I adopt a both an approach that highlights the John Coltranes, Stephen Sondheims, Beethovens and Ellingtons as well as Common, Lauren Hill, Chuck D and Talib Kweli.
I continue to think that, the more time passes, the more those people who blasted West during the Larry Summers dust-up for making a "rap" cd will have to reconsider the attitudes that caused them to deride such a project and deem it unworthy of Harvard. Some apologies are owed.....Friday, July 20, 2024
A Little Baseball Trivia
American League East standings, July 19, 2024
Wins Losses WP Games Back
Boston 62 28 .689
Milwaukee 53 37 .589 9
Baltimore 51 42 .548 12
New York 48 42 .533 14
American League East standings, July 19, 2024
EAST W L PCT GB
Boston 56 39 .589 -
NY Yankees 48 45 .516 7
Toronto 46 49 .484 10
Baltimore 42 52 .447 13.5
Tampa Bay 37 57 .394 18.5
Wins Losses WP Games Back
Boston 62 28 .689
Milwaukee 53 37 .589 9
Baltimore 51 42 .548 12
New York 48 42 .533 14
American League East standings, July 19, 2024
EAST W L PCT GB
Boston 56 39 .589 -
NY Yankees 48 45 .516 7
Toronto 46 49 .484 10
Baltimore 42 52 .447 13.5
Tampa Bay 37 57 .394 18.5
Mankiw In and On the Times
Harvard economist—and blogger!—Gregory Mankiw is becoming an occasional columnist for the New York Times. But he's not sure he's happy about it—or at least about the ideological composition of the Times' new economics columnists. He writes on his blog:
Here is my proposed topic of discussion for the comments section: Is this a "fair and balanced" group? In particular, one might ask two more specific questions. First, if you count the number of these eight economists who lean left and the number who lean right, perhaps leaving out a few without any particular political viewpoint, what ratio do you get? Second, is this group representative of the range of views in the American Economic Association? Bonus question: What economist would you to have seen added to this list?
I'm not saying this to be snarky—promise—but Mankiw gets a lot of suggestions about which economists should be added. And not one person suggested Larry Summers. Serious question: Why not?
Here is my proposed topic of discussion for the comments section: Is this a "fair and balanced" group? In particular, one might ask two more specific questions. First, if you count the number of these eight economists who lean left and the number who lean right, perhaps leaving out a few without any particular political viewpoint, what ratio do you get? Second, is this group representative of the range of views in the American Economic Association? Bonus question: What economist would you to have seen added to this list?
I'm not saying this to be snarky—promise—but Mankiw gets a lot of suggestions about which economists should be added. And not one person suggested Larry Summers. Serious question: Why not?
The Craziness Continues
42nd and Park, 8:04, 7.20.07 (02138 offices to the left)
Since I know that you all are subscribers to 02138, please forgive us if you get your September issues a few days late. As I found out at 8 AM this morning, we're still not allowed to enter our building. The EPA is testing the air quality (wish I'd known that before going there), and no one's allowed to work on our block until they've signed off.
On the other hand, it's the Bush EPA, so it probably won't take very long.....
42nd and Park, 8:04, 7.20.07 (02138 offices to the left)Since I know that you all are subscribers to 02138, please forgive us if you get your September issues a few days late. As I found out at 8 AM this morning, we're still not allowed to enter our building. The EPA is testing the air quality (wish I'd known that before going there), and no one's allowed to work on our block until they've signed off.
On the other hand, it's the Bush EPA, so it probably won't take very long.....
Thursday, July 19, 2024
A Day in the Life
I was typing an e-mail to my co-workers at 02138 yesterday, working on the 13th floor in our offices at 110 E. 42nd Street, when suddenly there was an incredible rumbling, a sound more enormous and three-dimensional than anything I'd ever heard—like an avalanche of grinding, booming noise chewing up the air.
I stepped out of my office and said, "What is that?" A colleague in the next room said, "Something happened to the building across the street—everybody get out!" The view outside his window was dust and ash and smoke. The rumbling hadn't stopped.
Get out we did. I grabbed my keys, wallet and cell phone, and then dashed for the stairs. Everyone else in the building was having the same thought; I didn't see anyone waiting for the elevators.
As I sprinted down the stairs, a woman behind me was screaming. "I don't want to die today! I don't want to die today!" I heard her as I made my way down. Possibly I should have stopped to calm her down; I didn't even think of it. I had no interest in dying that day either.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, three men in ties sprinted past me going the opposite direction. "That's up!" I shouted to them. They turned around and we headed for the back door, but whatever had happened had happened right outside it, and we turned and made our way to the front entrance onto 42nd Street, directly across from Grand Central. I have never in my life been so conscious of the weight of a building overhead, the feeling of being underneath something that weighs tons and tons and, for all you know, is about to start collapsing onto you.
Thousands of people were already outside. People were screaming and running. A man in front of me was being helped by someone else; the backs of his legs were covered with blood. They looked like they had been peeled. I tried to take some pictures from my cell phone, but every time I stopped I almost got trampled. I didn't notice till later that my clothes were covered with dust and mud.
There wasn't a person there who didn't believe that a bomb had gone off, myself included. I was convinced that the building opposite ours had been blown up, and for the next fifteen minutes to half an hour, I walked in the belief that hundreds of people who worked right next door to me were now dead, and that I was a survivor of a terrorist attack. All the shades of 9/11 were present: the wall of sound, the crowds running through the streets, the air filled with sirens, the businesspeople covered with dust, the inability to make a cell call because "all circuits are busy now."
Who do you call when you think you've just survived? Who don't you call?
Now I know, not just in theory, and it is a profound knowledge.
I talked to two people on the street who thought that their building had been blown up—101 Park Avenue was the address. "What's in it?" I asked. Offices, one said. "Why would anyone want to blow it up?" (As if there could ever be a logic to such an act.) The man just shrugged, and suddenly I felt terrible, asking him these questions when he believed that his co-workers were dead. Because we no longer think that people in buildings that are attacked live; we assume that they are dead.
In the end, it was all because of a pipe. A frigging pipe.
An enormous sense of relief, of course. But I also feel an incredible anger at the city and at Con Edison, whose pipe it was. You fuckers—why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell us that pipes can explode like that, and shower debris 20 stories high and make a sound like you've never heard and never want to hear, a sound like you imagine the sound of a building crumpling to the ground would make?
Would it have made a difference? I don't know; probably not.
All I know is that I now know what it feels like to believe, even if only for a short while, that one has survived a terrorist attack, and that hundreds of people who share a street with you did not. And I know how close 9/11 is to the surface of all of us who lived through that day in Manhattan, like a bomb, planted under our skin, just waiting to go off.
I stepped out of my office and said, "What is that?" A colleague in the next room said, "Something happened to the building across the street—everybody get out!" The view outside his window was dust and ash and smoke. The rumbling hadn't stopped.
Get out we did. I grabbed my keys, wallet and cell phone, and then dashed for the stairs. Everyone else in the building was having the same thought; I didn't see anyone waiting for the elevators.
As I sprinted down the stairs, a woman behind me was screaming. "I don't want to die today! I don't want to die today!" I heard her as I made my way down. Possibly I should have stopped to calm her down; I didn't even think of it. I had no interest in dying that day either.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, three men in ties sprinted past me going the opposite direction. "That's up!" I shouted to them. They turned around and we headed for the back door, but whatever had happened had happened right outside it, and we turned and made our way to the front entrance onto 42nd Street, directly across from Grand Central. I have never in my life been so conscious of the weight of a building overhead, the feeling of being underneath something that weighs tons and tons and, for all you know, is about to start collapsing onto you.
Thousands of people were already outside. People were screaming and running. A man in front of me was being helped by someone else; the backs of his legs were covered with blood. They looked like they had been peeled. I tried to take some pictures from my cell phone, but every time I stopped I almost got trampled. I didn't notice till later that my clothes were covered with dust and mud.
There wasn't a person there who didn't believe that a bomb had gone off, myself included. I was convinced that the building opposite ours had been blown up, and for the next fifteen minutes to half an hour, I walked in the belief that hundreds of people who worked right next door to me were now dead, and that I was a survivor of a terrorist attack. All the shades of 9/11 were present: the wall of sound, the crowds running through the streets, the air filled with sirens, the businesspeople covered with dust, the inability to make a cell call because "all circuits are busy now."
Who do you call when you think you've just survived? Who don't you call?
Now I know, not just in theory, and it is a profound knowledge.
I talked to two people on the street who thought that their building had been blown up—101 Park Avenue was the address. "What's in it?" I asked. Offices, one said. "Why would anyone want to blow it up?" (As if there could ever be a logic to such an act.) The man just shrugged, and suddenly I felt terrible, asking him these questions when he believed that his co-workers were dead. Because we no longer think that people in buildings that are attacked live; we assume that they are dead.
In the end, it was all because of a pipe. A frigging pipe.
An enormous sense of relief, of course. But I also feel an incredible anger at the city and at Con Edison, whose pipe it was. You fuckers—why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell us that pipes can explode like that, and shower debris 20 stories high and make a sound like you've never heard and never want to hear, a sound like you imagine the sound of a building crumpling to the ground would make?
Would it have made a difference? I don't know; probably not.
All I know is that I now know what it feels like to believe, even if only for a short while, that one has survived a terrorist attack, and that hundreds of people who share a street with you did not. And I know how close 9/11 is to the surface of all of us who lived through that day in Manhattan, like a bomb, planted under our skin, just waiting to go off.
Wednesday, July 18, 2024
Calling Bill Kristol
I wish the conservative pundit, who is oh-so-optimistic about the war in Iraq, would read this New Republic "Diarist" from an anonymous soldier there. The theme is how American soldiers are being transformed into sickened and inhumane warriors by their experiences in Iraq.
An excerpt, in case you can't get behind the firewall to read the whole thing:
Congratulations, President Bush. You've done to the nation what Osama Bin Laden couldn't—turned Americans into beasts of a lower order than the ones we pointlessly slaughter.
An excerpt, in case you can't get behind the firewall to read the whole thing:
[This] is how war works: It degrades every part of you, and your sense of humor is no exception.
I know another private who really only enjoyed driving Bradley Fighting Vehicles because it gave him the opportunity to run things over. He took out curbs, concrete barriers, corners of buildings, stands in the market, and his favorite target: dogs. Occasionally, the brave ones would chase the Bradleys, barking at them like they bark at trash trucks in America--providing him with the perfect opportunity to suddenly swerve and catch a leg or a tail in the vehicle's tracks. He kept a tally of his kills in a little green notebook that sat on the dashboard of the driver's hatch. One particular day, he killed three dogs. He slowed the Bradley down to lure the first kill in, and, as the diesel engine grew quieter, the dog walked close enough for him to jerk the machine hard to the right and snag its leg under the tracks. The leg caught, and he dragged the dog for a little while, until it disengaged and lay twitching in the road. A roar of laughter broke out over the radio. Another notch for the book. The second kill was a straight shot: A dog that was lying in the street and bathing in the sun didn't have enough time to get up and run away from the speeding Bradley. Its front half was completely severed from its rear, which was twitching wildly, and its head was still raised and smiling at the sun as if nothing had happened at all.
I didn't see the third kill, but I heard about it over the radio. Everyone was laughing, nearly rolling with laughter. I approached the private after the mission and asked him about it.
"So, you killed a few dogs today," I said skeptically.
"Hell yeah, I did. It's like hunting in Iraq!" he said, shaking with laughter.
"Did you run over dogs before the war, back in Indiana?" I asked him.
"No," he replied, and looked at me curiously. Almost as if the question itself was in poor taste.
Congratulations, President Bush. You've done to the nation what Osama Bin Laden couldn't—turned Americans into beasts of a lower order than the ones we pointlessly slaughter.
Death and the Dogs
Have you read the news about Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick being indicted for staging illegal dogfights? It's truly horrific—and if Vick is guilty, he should be permanently banned from football.
Let me quote from the AP story:
The operation was named "Bad Newz Kennels," according to the indictment, and the dogs were housed, trained, and fought at a property owned by Vick in Surry County, Va.
...Vick and the others are accused of "knowingly sponsoring and exhibiting an animal fighting venture" and conducting a business enterprise involving gambling, as well as buying, transporting, and receiving dogs for the purposes of an animal-fighting venture.
About eight young dogs were put to death at the Surry County home after they were found not ready to fight in April 2007, the indictment said. They were killed "by hanging, drowning and/or slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."
What is wrong with people?
Let me quote from the AP story:
The operation was named "Bad Newz Kennels," according to the indictment, and the dogs were housed, trained, and fought at a property owned by Vick in Surry County, Va.
...Vick and the others are accused of "knowingly sponsoring and exhibiting an animal fighting venture" and conducting a business enterprise involving gambling, as well as buying, transporting, and receiving dogs for the purposes of an animal-fighting venture.
About eight young dogs were put to death at the Surry County home after they were found not ready to fight in April 2007, the indictment said. They were killed "by hanging, drowning and/or slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."
What is wrong with people?
China Goes Organic
Purchasers of "organic" foods such as edamame and canned beans from Whole Foods have lately noticed a surprising thing: Some of the labels on these foods show that they come from China.
(The government doesn't force food sellers to label a food's country of origin, but Whole Foods and Trader Joe's do so voluntarily.)
The only problem: Because of lax Department of Agriculture policies, there's absolutely no way to tell if that food meets the standards for being called organic.
Organic produce imported from China carries the U.S. Department of Agriculture's organic logo and is certified by private firms authorized to approve use of the label. However, consumers who view that as a guarantee that the produce is pesticide-free are mistaken. The federal rules establishing the organic certification do not include routine testing for pesticide contamination.
...China is renowned for counterfeit consumer goods and mislabeled commodities. An industrial chemical mislabeled as wheat gluten, melamine, is believed to have led to a huge recall of tainted pet food earlier this year and the reported deaths of hundreds of animals. In a country where goods ranging from Prada handbags to Duracell batteries are regularly faked, ensuring that a shipment of soybeans came from an organic field and not a chemical-treated one would seem quite a challenge....
And when you read what the certification process involves, it becomes clear that "challenge" is an understatement.
Surely this is a bad move on the part of Whole Foods, etc.....
(The government doesn't force food sellers to label a food's country of origin, but Whole Foods and Trader Joe's do so voluntarily.)
The only problem: Because of lax Department of Agriculture policies, there's absolutely no way to tell if that food meets the standards for being called organic.
Organic produce imported from China carries the U.S. Department of Agriculture's organic logo and is certified by private firms authorized to approve use of the label. However, consumers who view that as a guarantee that the produce is pesticide-free are mistaken. The federal rules establishing the organic certification do not include routine testing for pesticide contamination.
...China is renowned for counterfeit consumer goods and mislabeled commodities. An industrial chemical mislabeled as wheat gluten, melamine, is believed to have led to a huge recall of tainted pet food earlier this year and the reported deaths of hundreds of animals. In a country where goods ranging from Prada handbags to Duracell batteries are regularly faked, ensuring that a shipment of soybeans came from an organic field and not a chemical-treated one would seem quite a challenge....
And when you read what the certification process involves, it becomes clear that "challenge" is an understatement.
Surely this is a bad move on the part of Whole Foods, etc.....
Tuesday, July 17, 2024
The Republicans' Favorite Candidate?
None of the above, according to a new AP poll.
Can even the Democrats screw this one up?
Can even the Democrats screw this one up?
The Senator's Sob Story
David Vitter spoke to reporters yesterday, apologizing again for his original sin, denying his alleged previous ones, and attacking his "political enemies" for allegedly spreading false rumors about him.
Oh, and his wife chastised the media for chasing them around last week. Because a gay marriage-bashing conservative senator who's been consorting with prostitutes isn't a legitimate story, apparently.
One does admire the New York Times photo editor, however.
Also, I will forever be in awe of the first reporter who asks Mrs. Vitter if she has lived up to her previous assessment of what she would do if her husband were like Bill Clinton and cut off her husband's penis.
Oh, and his wife chastised the media for chasing them around last week. Because a gay marriage-bashing conservative senator who's been consorting with prostitutes isn't a legitimate story, apparently.
One does admire the New York Times photo editor, however.
Also, I will forever be in awe of the first reporter who asks Mrs. Vitter if she has lived up to her previous assessment of what she would do if her husband were like Bill Clinton and cut off her husband's penis.
Monday, July 16, 2024
Harvard and the General
The Jerusalem Post reports on a controversy swirling around Israel's Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, who is taking a two-month "senior management" course at Harvard which is being paid for by the military—even though Kaplinsky hasn't committed to rejoiining the military on its completion.
But here's the real obscenity. The cost of Harvard's two-month course? $56,000.
The Post doesn't say what school the general is studying at, but one presumes this is the business school. On the other hand, the general already has an MBA, with honors, from the University of Tel Aviv.
Stories like this really make you wonder about Harvard's non-profit status.....
But here's the real obscenity. The cost of Harvard's two-month course? $56,000.
The Post doesn't say what school the general is studying at, but one presumes this is the business school. On the other hand, the general already has an MBA, with honors, from the University of Tel Aviv.
Stories like this really make you wonder about Harvard's non-profit status.....
Sunday, July 15, 2024
It's Flood Season in China...
...and as a result, the mice are swarming, fleeing their homes and invading new turf, consuming years' worth of rice crops. How many mice? Billions of them. Yes—billions. And how does the Chinese government know this?
Because according to news reports, authorities have killed two billion mice, and that's only a fraction of the mice that are rampaging across Chinese rice paddies, laying waste to China's rice harvest.
One reason the mice—also known in China as rats—are swarming? Because China has damned so many of its rivers.
All countries have their environmental issues, but China's happen on such a massive scale, they are particularly fascinating—and particularly ominous.
Because according to news reports, authorities have killed two billion mice, and that's only a fraction of the mice that are rampaging across Chinese rice paddies, laying waste to China's rice harvest.
One reason the mice—also known in China as rats—are swarming? Because China has damned so many of its rivers.
Because of a drought between September and June, the lake here receded early. "It seldom rained, and this created a haven for rats to live in and reproduce," said Xu Hongbin, the current village party secretary.
But the water was already low, because the Three Gorges Dam has reduced flows into the lake, village doctor Tao Zexian said. So last month when sluice gates were opened to relieve pressure from flooding in neighboring provinces, the suddenly rising lake sent billions of rodents scurrying into Binhu, like a scene from a horror movie.
You think that's horrifying? Wait till you read about the toxic poison locals are using to kill the mice—and what else it kills. Or how the snake population, which normally controls the mice, doesn't anymore because so many of the snakes have been killed by villagers for export to Guangdong province, where they're considered a delicacy. Same thing with owls. Used to control the mice; now widely eaten in the belief that doing so helps alleviate headaches; no longer control the mice.All countries have their environmental issues, but China's happen on such a massive scale, they are particularly fascinating—and particularly ominous.
Death by Text Message
An SUV-driving girl killed herself and her four friends, just graduated from high school, when she was text-messaging on the highway.
Saturday, July 14, 2024
Hilarious/Terrifying Quote of the Day
Let's step back from the unnecessary mistakes and the self-inflicted wounds that have characterized the Bush administration. Let's look at the broad forest rather than the often unlovely trees. What do we see? ...Most important, a war in Iraq that has been very difficult, but where—despite some confusion engendered by an almost meaningless "benchmark" report last week—we now seem to be on course to a successful outcome.
—Bill Kristol, going down with the ship (and trying to take us with him) in the Washington Post.
And it gets better/worse from there. Read on! As Kristol says that Bush has been a successful president, but makes—wait for it—no mention of health care, the environment, global warming, Abu Graib, the decreasing popularity and influence of the US around the world, the fiasco that is the Justice Department, Hurricane Katrina, the implosion of the Republican majority, and Osama Bin Laden. To mention a few.
And what about Iraq? Well, "if we hadn't gone in...Saddam Hussein would be alive and in power and, I dare say, victorious, with the United States (and the United Nations) by now having backed off sanctions and the no-fly zone. He might well have restarted his nuclear program, and his connections with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups would be intact or revived and even strengthened."
Wait a second. Victorious in what? Staying in power? Well, that's like saying that if Saddam had stayed in power, he would have stayed in power.
Also....we would have backed off the no-fly zone, even though everyone supported it (to the extent that they knew it was still going on) and Bush would still have been president, therefore rather unlikely to cancel the no-fly zone?
Saddam would have restarted his nuclear program even though, well, he hadn't when he could have?
His connections with al Quaeda would have been strengthened even though he was a committed enemy of al Quaeda?
Apparently, though, the surge is working. According to Bill Kristol.
We are routing al-Qaeda in Iraq, we are beginning to curb the Iranian-backed sectarian Shiite militias and we are increasingly able to protect more of the Iraqi population.
What universe does Bill Kristol live in?
One suspects that this will go down as one of the most laughably wrong pieces of pundity of the Bush years. But it kind of makes one want to cry.
—Bill Kristol, going down with the ship (and trying to take us with him) in the Washington Post.
And it gets better/worse from there. Read on! As Kristol says that Bush has been a successful president, but makes—wait for it—no mention of health care, the environment, global warming, Abu Graib, the decreasing popularity and influence of the US around the world, the fiasco that is the Justice Department, Hurricane Katrina, the implosion of the Republican majority, and Osama Bin Laden. To mention a few.
And what about Iraq? Well, "if we hadn't gone in...Saddam Hussein would be alive and in power and, I dare say, victorious, with the United States (and the United Nations) by now having backed off sanctions and the no-fly zone. He might well have restarted his nuclear program, and his connections with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups would be intact or revived and even strengthened."
Wait a second. Victorious in what? Staying in power? Well, that's like saying that if Saddam had stayed in power, he would have stayed in power.
Also....we would have backed off the no-fly zone, even though everyone supported it (to the extent that they knew it was still going on) and Bush would still have been president, therefore rather unlikely to cancel the no-fly zone?
Saddam would have restarted his nuclear program even though, well, he hadn't when he could have?
His connections with al Quaeda would have been strengthened even though he was a committed enemy of al Quaeda?
Apparently, though, the surge is working. According to Bill Kristol.
We are routing al-Qaeda in Iraq, we are beginning to curb the Iranian-backed sectarian Shiite militias and we are increasingly able to protect more of the Iraqi population.
What universe does Bill Kristol live in?
One suspects that this will go down as one of the most laughably wrong pieces of pundity of the Bush years. But it kind of makes one want to cry.
Friday, July 13, 2024
Post of the Day
From the below item, "More on the Med School":
A few things. Flier is a much less interesting and impressive appt. than Nable would have been. For many at the hospitals and medical school, this is a big yawn appointment. Two, no way is it justified for Evelyn H. to have anyone on the payroll working on her scholarly research unless she has an independent grant for that purpose. This is completely improper and unethical. Three, big deal about the report---we've known this for years. The question is---what is she doing about it. A report is not action.
A few things. Flier is a much less interesting and impressive appt. than Nable would have been. For many at the hospitals and medical school, this is a big yawn appointment. Two, no way is it justified for Evelyn H. to have anyone on the payroll working on her scholarly research unless she has an independent grant for that purpose. This is completely improper and unethical. Three, big deal about the report---we've known this for years. The question is---what is she doing about it. A report is not action.
Friday Pick of the Week
I've let this blog feature slip a bit because, frankly, I've been working too much to have read many books that aren't about baseball, or experienced much non-athletic culture.
However, I have gotten out just a bit lately, and so I have a couple picks this week.
The first is the film Joshua. It's the story of yuppie Manhattan parents who have a 10-year-old prodigy son named Joshua, and what happens when they bring a new baby home from the hospital. Let's just say that Joshua isn't happy about it.
The film is perfectly cast, has a dark and original script, and contains a truly radical (for American cinema) idea: What happens if a child really is a monster? And not because he's the son of the devil or something, but just because he's malevolent?
And Joshua is malevolent: When a homeless man asks him for money in Central Park, Joshua looks him in the eye and says, "I'll give you five dollars if I can throw a rock at you."
How do you love your child then? What if you don't?
As Joshua says to his father, "You know, you don't have to love me. It's not like a rule or something."
Fantastic. Can't recommend it for parents of young children, but otherwise, it's the most original and subversive American film in some time.
Pick number two is the new album by Crowded House, "Time on Earth."
Crowded House is, of course, a band from Down Under founded by the Kiwi, Neil Finn, an absolutely brilliant songwriter. Check out his earliest work with the band Split Enz. Has there ever been a lovelier song than "Message To My Girl"? In it, Finn admits that he once hesitated to say "I love you" to a woman, for fear that "that would give away too much," but he has moved past that:
Now I wake up happy
warm in a lover's embrace
no one else can touch us
while we're in this place
so I sing it to the world
simple message to my girl
If you're not a fan, you may know Crowded House from their biggest hit, "Don't Dream It's Over" (which, come to think of it, might actually be that song that's lovelier than Message To My Girl).
Hey now, hey now
Don't dream it's over
Hey now, hey now
When the world comes in
They come, they come
To build a wall between us
We know that they won't win
Longtime readers of this blog will remember that I have written about Crowded House before, when the band's drummer, Paul Hester, hanged himself from a tree. In addition to being a gifted musician, Hester was really a gentle soul, and the news was terribly sad.
Now, more than two years after that event, Neil Finn has reformed Crowded House and recorded this new album, and it's a quiet gem, nothing earthshaking, just melodic, smart, beautifully crafted songs. And because of Hester, there's a wistfulness and a sorrow that deepens the album, the way that an awareness of mortality and loss infuses and adds meaning to all the most powerful art. (This melancholy strain seems a consistent theme of art from Australia and New Zealand, but there are others on this board who can speak to that better than I.)
The sentiment is most explicit on two songs, "A Sigh" and "Silent House."
"A Sigh," just guitar and keyboard, contains these lyrics:
...A sigh
From the emptiest part
It's a tender place
A sigh
is more than I can bear
This show is not fooling anyone
but it's all for you
but I think your mind is made up
And then the song just trails off, as if after the recognition of such a decision, it can't go on, can't bear to face what happens next.
Silent House is about the end of a different kind of a relationship.
I remember the years,
when your mind was still clear
All the flickering lights
that filled this silent house
Everything that you made by hand
Everything that you know by heart
I will try to connect all the pieces that you've left
I remember the years
when your mind was still clear
all the laughter and light
that filled this silent house....
Anyone who's ever known the pain of a house once shared will understand.
I love the way Finn infuses that old cliche, "everything that you know by heart," with new meaning—it's not that you know it by rote, which is what the expression usually means, but that you know a thing through your heart, the way you might feel something with your hand, or recognize it with your eyes, or take note of a familiar sound. Some things, Finn suggests, can not be explained or learned or understood unless you know them by heart. And that is both the beauty and the tragedy of the human condition: to believe in the heart, to believe in romance, to believe in love, even after one has lost so much.
"Time on Earth"—it's wonderful. Have a listen.
However, I have gotten out just a bit lately, and so I have a couple picks this week.
The first is the film Joshua. It's the story of yuppie Manhattan parents who have a 10-year-old prodigy son named Joshua, and what happens when they bring a new baby home from the hospital. Let's just say that Joshua isn't happy about it.
The film is perfectly cast, has a dark and original script, and contains a truly radical (for American cinema) idea: What happens if a child really is a monster? And not because he's the son of the devil or something, but just because he's malevolent?
And Joshua is malevolent: When a homeless man asks him for money in Central Park, Joshua looks him in the eye and says, "I'll give you five dollars if I can throw a rock at you."
How do you love your child then? What if you don't?
As Joshua says to his father, "You know, you don't have to love me. It's not like a rule or something."
Fantastic. Can't recommend it for parents of young children, but otherwise, it's the most original and subversive American film in some time.
Pick number two is the new album by Crowded House, "Time on Earth."
Crowded House is, of course, a band from Down Under founded by the Kiwi, Neil Finn, an absolutely brilliant songwriter. Check out his earliest work with the band Split Enz. Has there ever been a lovelier song than "Message To My Girl"? In it, Finn admits that he once hesitated to say "I love you" to a woman, for fear that "that would give away too much," but he has moved past that:
Now I wake up happy
warm in a lover's embrace
no one else can touch us
while we're in this place
so I sing it to the world
simple message to my girl
If you're not a fan, you may know Crowded House from their biggest hit, "Don't Dream It's Over" (which, come to think of it, might actually be that song that's lovelier than Message To My Girl).
Hey now, hey now
Don't dream it's over
Hey now, hey now
When the world comes in
They come, they come
To build a wall between us
We know that they won't win
Longtime readers of this blog will remember that I have written about Crowded House before, when the band's drummer, Paul Hester, hanged himself from a tree. In addition to being a gifted musician, Hester was really a gentle soul, and the news was terribly sad.
Now, more than two years after that event, Neil Finn has reformed Crowded House and recorded this new album, and it's a quiet gem, nothing earthshaking, just melodic, smart, beautifully crafted songs. And because of Hester, there's a wistfulness and a sorrow that deepens the album, the way that an awareness of mortality and loss infuses and adds meaning to all the most powerful art. (This melancholy strain seems a consistent theme of art from Australia and New Zealand, but there are others on this board who can speak to that better than I.)
The sentiment is most explicit on two songs, "A Sigh" and "Silent House."
"A Sigh," just guitar and keyboard, contains these lyrics:
...A sigh
From the emptiest part
It's a tender place
A sigh
is more than I can bear
This show is not fooling anyone
but it's all for you
but I think your mind is made up
And then the song just trails off, as if after the recognition of such a decision, it can't go on, can't bear to face what happens next.
Silent House is about the end of a different kind of a relationship.
I remember the years,
when your mind was still clear
All the flickering lights
that filled this silent house
Everything that you made by hand
Everything that you know by heart
I will try to connect all the pieces that you've left
I remember the years
when your mind was still clear
all the laughter and light
that filled this silent house....
Anyone who's ever known the pain of a house once shared will understand.
I love the way Finn infuses that old cliche, "everything that you know by heart," with new meaning—it's not that you know it by rote, which is what the expression usually means, but that you know a thing through your heart, the way you might feel something with your hand, or recognize it with your eyes, or take note of a familiar sound. Some things, Finn suggests, can not be explained or learned or understood unless you know them by heart. And that is both the beauty and the tragedy of the human condition: to believe in the heart, to believe in romance, to believe in love, even after one has lost so much.
"Time on Earth"—it's wonderful. Have a listen.
David Vitter to Escort Service: Call Me!
Sounds like Harvard grad and Louisiana senator David Vitter was on pretty good terms with the Washington madam.
According to the Associated Press,
A woman accused of running a Washington prostitution ring placed five phone calls to David Vitter while he was a House member, including two received while roll call votes were under way, according to telephone and congressional records.
Oh, dear. Previously I thought Vitter could survive this scandal. (He is from Louisiana.) But taking calls from a madam while you're voting on the people's business?
The good news for Vitter is that he doesn't face reelection until 2010. But if he becomes a laughingstock, can he survive that long?
And Vitter is quickly headed down that road. The DC madam raises the reasonable question that if she's being prosecuted, why shouldn't David Vitter be? As long as Vitter's in the Senate, that question gains traction. The second he resigns, it goes away.
Meanwhile, a prostitute with a criminal record (for other things) says that she had a relationship/affair with Vitter while he was married, and the prostitute's bitter ex-boyfriend (she stole his truck!) claims to have seen pictures of the prostitute with her hand on Vitter's crotch.
If those photos surface—and if they actually exist, they will—David Vitter can kiss his political career goodbye.
The more I think about it, the more I'm willing to make a prediction: Vitter resigns before the end of the month.
According to the Associated Press,
A woman accused of running a Washington prostitution ring placed five phone calls to David Vitter while he was a House member, including two received while roll call votes were under way, according to telephone and congressional records.
Oh, dear. Previously I thought Vitter could survive this scandal. (He is from Louisiana.) But taking calls from a madam while you're voting on the people's business?
The good news for Vitter is that he doesn't face reelection until 2010. But if he becomes a laughingstock, can he survive that long?
And Vitter is quickly headed down that road. The DC madam raises the reasonable question that if she's being prosecuted, why shouldn't David Vitter be? As long as Vitter's in the Senate, that question gains traction. The second he resigns, it goes away.
Meanwhile, a prostitute with a criminal record (for other things) says that she had a relationship/affair with Vitter while he was married, and the prostitute's bitter ex-boyfriend (she stole his truck!) claims to have seen pictures of the prostitute with her hand on Vitter's crotch.
If those photos surface—and if they actually exist, they will—David Vitter can kiss his political career goodbye.
The more I think about it, the more I'm willing to make a prediction: Vitter resigns before the end of the month.
Street of Broken Dreams
The M-Bomb has a nice piece in the Globe today about an Allston street Harvard promised to repair and renovate a decade ago. But didn't!
"Is this a cautionary tale as we go forward?" asked Jeff Bryan, an Allston resident who has been active in neighborhood planning. "As we go forward with the commitments that are made today, will they slip through the cracks, as well?"
Harvard's response: "We have never lost sight of the commitment to improve North Harvard Street," said Kevin McCluskey, Harvard's director of community relations, reading from a statement. He added that after years of planning with the community and city, there is a shared vision for "a much greater transformation and investment."
Want a hint how the reporter feels about the university's credibility? Re-read that quote with special emphasis on the words "reading from a statement".....
"Is this a cautionary tale as we go forward?" asked Jeff Bryan, an Allston resident who has been active in neighborhood planning. "As we go forward with the commitments that are made today, will they slip through the cracks, as well?"
Harvard's response: "We have never lost sight of the commitment to improve North Harvard Street," said Kevin McCluskey, Harvard's director of community relations, reading from a statement. He added that after years of planning with the community and city, there is a shared vision for "a much greater transformation and investment."
Want a hint how the reporter feels about the university's credibility? Re-read that quote with special emphasis on the words "reading from a statement".....
Denzel Comes to Harvard
The university has granted Denzel Washington permission to film part of his new movie inside Sanders Theater.
According to the Boston Globe,
The director/star of "The Great Debaters" -- about a debate team from a tiny, all-black college that ate Harvard's lunch back in 1935 -- will be allowed to film the debate scene at Sanders next week .
Actually, sounds like wonderful movie material.
So why do you think the university allowed Washington to film when it routinely says no to other productions?*
1) What Joe Wrinn says is true: "Sanders is regularly rented out as a music venue, so it's outside the rules that forbid filming on campus," said Harvard spokesman Joe Wrinn.
2) Big Denzel fans.
3) Jealous of Yale, where scenes from the next Raiders of the Lost Ark movie have been filmed this summer.
4) Reluctant to say no to a movie about a black debate team coming to Harvard. ("Harvard Evicts Film about Black Heroes," etc.) Instead, hoping to get some good publicity out of the whole thing.
5) Under Drew Faust, glasnost.
* Here's a hint: Who do you think called the Boston Globe?
According to the Boston Globe,
The director/star of "The Great Debaters" -- about a debate team from a tiny, all-black college that ate Harvard's lunch back in 1935 -- will be allowed to film the debate scene at Sanders next week .
Actually, sounds like wonderful movie material.
So why do you think the university allowed Washington to film when it routinely says no to other productions?*
1) What Joe Wrinn says is true: "Sanders is regularly rented out as a music venue, so it's outside the rules that forbid filming on campus," said Harvard spokesman Joe Wrinn.
2) Big Denzel fans.
3) Jealous of Yale, where scenes from the next Raiders of the Lost Ark movie have been filmed this summer.
4) Reluctant to say no to a movie about a black debate team coming to Harvard. ("Harvard Evicts Film about Black Heroes," etc.) Instead, hoping to get some good publicity out of the whole thing.
5) Under Drew Faust, glasnost.
* Here's a hint: Who do you think called the Boston Globe?
Thursday, July 12, 2024
Quote of the Day
I am not a robot. I am a human being, and also a theater major.
—Miss New Jersey (I don't know her name, not sure it matters) explains incriminating pictures that show, among other things, her boyfriend nibbling on her left breast.
The consensus public response: Give her a break, she's Miss New Jersey.
—Miss New Jersey (I don't know her name, not sure it matters) explains incriminating pictures that show, among other things, her boyfriend nibbling on her left breast.
The consensus public response: Give her a break, she's Miss New Jersey.
Yes, It's Real
Another photo of the elephant shark....slightly more accurate than the illustration below.
Understanding the Elephant Shark
The National Institutes of Health have awarded a $5 million grant to a research group in Singapore to sequence the DNA of the elephant shark, apparently because its rare genome is probably much more compact (if that's the right word) than those of most sharks.
Never heard of the elephant shark? It looks like this...
Believe it or not, we have quite a lot of DNA in common with the elephant shark, and by studying its DNA scientists hope to better understand the etiology of certain diseases in humans.
Never heard of the elephant shark? It looks like this...
Believe it or not, we have quite a lot of DNA in common with the elephant shark, and by studying its DNA scientists hope to better understand the etiology of certain diseases in humans.
More on the Med School
The Boston Globe reports on the selection of Jeffrey Flier as dean of the Harvard Medical School.
In an interview Wednesday, Flier said that his top priority as dean is to continue to oversee the implementation of the Medical School’s new curriculum, which was drafted under Martin. Flier also said that he will make many decisions on the Allston expansion and the future of biological research, and that he would like to “accelerate the integration of fundamental science and social science” with medicine.
I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, and Dr. Flier certainly sounds like an extremely accomplished man. But it's worth pointing out that the president who was not the Corporation's first choice has now appointed two deans who were not her first choice.
Why is it so hard for Harvard to fill once-desirable jobs?
Flier was selected after the head of the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, a cardiologist, withdrew as a finalist, two Harvard officials said, citing a desire to stay in Washington where her husband works. Just as Faust is the first female president of Harvard, Nabel could have been the first female dean of the medical school.
"The timing was not right for her family, but Dr. Nabel congratulates Dr. Flier and wishes him great success in his new position as dean," said NHLBI spokeswoman Susan Dambrauskas.
Meanwhile, in the Crimson Paras Bhayani and Claire Guehenno follow up on the paper's original story with a bit more.In an interview Wednesday, Flier said that his top priority as dean is to continue to oversee the implementation of the Medical School’s new curriculum, which was drafted under Martin. Flier also said that he will make many decisions on the Allston expansion and the future of biological research, and that he would like to “accelerate the integration of fundamental science and social science” with medicine.
I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, and Dr. Flier certainly sounds like an extremely accomplished man. But it's worth pointing out that the president who was not the Corporation's first choice has now appointed two deans who were not her first choice.
Why is it so hard for Harvard to fill once-desirable jobs?
The Harvard Man and the Hookers, Cont'd.
This thing ain’t going away.
—Baton Rouge political consultant Roy Fletcher
It wasn't all about dirty, raunchy, crazy sex.
—New Orleans madam Jeanette Maeir
I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary [Clinton]. If he does something like [Bill Clinton did], I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me.
—David Vitter's wife, Wendy, in 1999
Senator Vitter is with his wife Wendy and with his children and is looking forward to returning to work soon.
—Vitter staff member Joe DiGrado
I think that he was smart by going to a brothel, whether for talking or whatever. Then, he goes home and he's with his family, and he loves them -- he doesn't want to leave them -- and he just needs someone to listen to.
—Jeanette Maier
I got one.
—private investigator Dan Moldea in an e-mail to Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, upon discovering David Ritter's phone number in the records of the DC madam.
—Baton Rouge political consultant Roy Fletcher
It wasn't all about dirty, raunchy, crazy sex.
—New Orleans madam Jeanette Maeir
I'm a lot more like Lorena Bobbitt than Hillary [Clinton]. If he does something like [Bill Clinton did], I'm walking away with one thing, and it's not alimony, trust me.
—David Vitter's wife, Wendy, in 1999
Senator Vitter is with his wife Wendy and with his children and is looking forward to returning to work soon.
—Vitter staff member Joe DiGrado
I think that he was smart by going to a brothel, whether for talking or whatever. Then, he goes home and he's with his family, and he loves them -- he doesn't want to leave them -- and he just needs someone to listen to.
—Jeanette Maier
I got one.
—private investigator Dan Moldea in an e-mail to Hustler publisher Larry Flynt, upon discovering David Ritter's phone number in the records of the DC madam.
Wednesday, July 11, 2024
Flexible Flier
Because none of us should be haunted by old photographs, here is a more recent one of Jeffrey Flier, the med school's new dean.
Staff photo Jon Chase/Harvard News Office
Because none of us should be haunted by old photographs, here is a more recent one of Jeffrey Flier, the med school's new dean.
Staff photo Jon Chase/Harvard News Office
Wednesday Evening Zen
Too good not to post....
Surfing dolphins, about 300 miles north of Perth, Australia
Surfing dolphins, about 300 miles north of Perth, Australia
Taking a Flier
So the rumor below turns out to be at least 50% right...the Crimson reports that the medical school has a new dean—Jeffrey F. Flier, an expert on obesity and diabetes. (See photo below.)
His appointment came after a nine-month search that seemed to be nearing an end in late May, when Elizabeth G. Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and reportedly a top candidate for the Medical School deanship, traveled to Cambridge for a series of search-related meetings. But several weeks after Nabel's under-the-radar visit, Faust named Barbara J. McNeil, a professor of health care policy, to lead the school on a temporary basis while Faust rushed to find a permanent leader.
Hmmm. Kinda sounds like the second part of the rumor below is also correct....
The Crimson's piece seems quickly done; it's largely drawn from press releases. Meantime, here's an interview with Dr. Flier, and here's a paper by Dr. Flier suggesting that if we sleep more, we eat less.
Hmmm. Kinda sounds like the second part of the rumor below is also correct....
The Crimson's piece seems quickly done; it's largely drawn from press releases. Meantime, here's an interview with Dr. Flier, and here's a paper by Dr. Flier suggesting that if we sleep more, we eat less.
Rumor Has It...
...that Drew Faust will soon announce her pick as the next dean of Harvard Medical School—and it won't be the person who was Faust's first choice.
You Folks are Crazy
Let's see....
Squatting Egret
Waiting Emu
Rolling Bear
Sitting Hedgehog
And, of course, Standing Eagle...
Am I leaving anyone out?
Squatting Egret
Waiting Emu
Rolling Bear
Sitting Hedgehog
And, of course, Standing Eagle...
Am I leaving anyone out?
The Worst President in History, Cont'd.
Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told Congress yesterday that he was forbidden by top Bush administration officials to attend the Special Olympics because they have traditionally been supported by the Kennedy family.
“I was specifically told by a senior person, ‘Why would you want to help those people?’ ” Dr. Carmona said.
Carmona was also forbidden to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex ed, or "prison, mental, and global health issues," according to the Times.
Oh—and he had to mention George Bush three times on every page of all his speeches.
He described attending a meeting of top officials in which the subject of global warming was discussed. The officials concluded that global warming was a liberal cause and dismissed it, he said.
Who are these people, and how did they seize control of our government?
“I was specifically told by a senior person, ‘Why would you want to help those people?’ ” Dr. Carmona said.
Carmona was also forbidden to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex ed, or "prison, mental, and global health issues," according to the Times.
Oh—and he had to mention George Bush three times on every page of all his speeches.
He described attending a meeting of top officials in which the subject of global warming was discussed. The officials concluded that global warming was a liberal cause and dismissed it, he said.
Who are these people, and how did they seize control of our government?
Asia and Oceans, cont'd.
Animal rights activists are criticizing a Taiwanese chef who deep-fries carp—then serves it while the fish is still alive.
A Taiwanese newspaper says the fish dish includes a carp covered with sweet & sour sauce, its body deep-fried but its head still twitching.... The chef says the dish -- known as "yin yang fish" -- is popular in China. Chefs use it to show customers how very fresh their food is.
A Taiwanese newspaper says the fish dish includes a carp covered with sweet & sour sauce, its body deep-fried but its head still twitching.... The chef says the dish -- known as "yin yang fish" -- is popular in China. Chefs use it to show customers how very fresh their food is.
The Harvard Man and the Hooker(s)
Now a New Orleans madam says that Republican senator David Vitter, Harvard class of '83, also patronized her establishment.
"As far as the girls coming out after seeing David, all they had was nice things to say. It wasn't all about sex. In fact, he just wanted to have somebody listen to him, you know. And I said his wife must not be listening," [former madam Jeanette] Maier said.
Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle (via the New York Times) reports that Vitter's problem—well, his political problem—may be that he's presented himself as a moralist. (We've heard this story before, no?)
Vitter called for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, opposes gay marriage, and supports abstinence-only programs. He has also supported the legalization of prayer at school board meetings.
And finally, David Corn in the Nation has the best Vitter headline: A Blast from Vitter's Past. One could interpret that several different ways....
"As far as the girls coming out after seeing David, all they had was nice things to say. It wasn't all about sex. In fact, he just wanted to have somebody listen to him, you know. And I said his wife must not be listening," [former madam Jeanette] Maier said.
Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle (via the New York Times) reports that Vitter's problem—well, his political problem—may be that he's presented himself as a moralist. (We've heard this story before, no?)
Vitter called for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, opposes gay marriage, and supports abstinence-only programs. He has also supported the legalization of prayer at school board meetings.
And finally, David Corn in the Nation has the best Vitter headline: A Blast from Vitter's Past. One could interpret that several different ways....
Tuesday, July 10, 2024
Death by (Ouch) a Thousand Paper Cuts
A Washington Post reviewer suggests that Kristin Gore's new book, Sammy's House, is actually a roman a clef featuring Bill Clinton and her father.
Much of the book, Patrick Anderson says, "can only be read as an angry, down-and-dirty roman a clef in which President Wye and Vice President Gary stand in for President Clinton and Vice President Gore; we watch as the former becomes embroiled in a scandal that horrifies the honorable No. 2 who has served him loyally. Kristin Gore is a comic writer, but there's nothing remotely funny about her scathing fictional portrait of Clinton."
Gore disagrees! She writes to the Post, "I'd rather give myself a thousand paper cuts than write a thinly veiled roman à clef." Furthermore, she has only the highest opinion of Bill Clinton.
Hmmmm...if you read the review, it kinda sorta does sound like she's talking about her dad and his boss.
Much of the book, Patrick Anderson says, "can only be read as an angry, down-and-dirty roman a clef in which President Wye and Vice President Gary stand in for President Clinton and Vice President Gore; we watch as the former becomes embroiled in a scandal that horrifies the honorable No. 2 who has served him loyally. Kristin Gore is a comic writer, but there's nothing remotely funny about her scathing fictional portrait of Clinton."
Gore disagrees! She writes to the Post, "I'd rather give myself a thousand paper cuts than write a thinly veiled roman à clef." Furthermore, she has only the highest opinion of Bill Clinton.
Hmmmm...if you read the review, it kinda sorta does sound like she's talking about her dad and his boss.
Problem solved, then.
The former head of China's food and drug watchdog agency apparently accepted bribes in exchange for approving untested medicine.
So they executed him.
So they executed him.
Monday, July 09, 2024
Monday Evening Zen
Forgive the technical difficulties today—and also my tardiness–and also the poor quality of this picture; I take responsibility for two out of the three.
But if you enlarge the photo by clicking on it, you should be able to see that it's a flounder, camouflaged against a sandy bottom. Anyone know the purpose of those beautiful blue rings all over its body?
The Harvard Man and the Hooker
The phone number of U.S. senator David Vitter has turned up in the phone records of the D.C. madam.
Vitter is a Louisiana Republican, which is a mixed blessing for him at the moment. Republican: Not so good. Louisiana: If any state doesn't care....
Vitter is married, by the way.
"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter, 46, said in a statement, which his spokesman, Joel DiGrado, confirmed to the Associated Press.
Oh—he's also a Harvard grad (Lowell House, class of '83) and a Rhodes Scholar.
Vitter is a Louisiana Republican, which is a mixed blessing for him at the moment. Republican: Not so good. Louisiana: If any state doesn't care....
Vitter is married, by the way.
"This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible," Vitter, 46, said in a statement, which his spokesman, Joel DiGrado, confirmed to the Associated Press.
Oh—he's also a Harvard grad (Lowell House, class of '83) and a Rhodes Scholar.
Department of the Self-Evident
Closer Look at Alumni Giving Finds Ulterior Motives
—From the Chronicle of Higher EducationFriday, July 06, 2024
More on the Kennedy School
On the 4th of July post below, Standing Eagle offers his analysis of what's wrong with the Kennedy School. His critique seems to be that in trying to appear non-partisan, it fails to seek the truth.
Here's another take on the Kennedy School, published in Boston magazine a few years back and written by, um, yours truly.
All the idealism in the world can’t obscure the fact that the Kennedy School has big problems. It is intellectually lackluster. It is chronically strapped for money. It is so liberal it borders on irrelevance when a Republican administration is in the White House.
All of these problems stem from one common denominator: Americans’ reluctance to believe that public service requires a graduate degree from Harvard—the question, in other words, of whether leadership is something that can be taught....
A different take than Standing Eagle's, I think....
Here's another take on the Kennedy School, published in Boston magazine a few years back and written by, um, yours truly.
All the idealism in the world can’t obscure the fact that the Kennedy School has big problems. It is intellectually lackluster. It is chronically strapped for money. It is so liberal it borders on irrelevance when a Republican administration is in the White House.
All of these problems stem from one common denominator: Americans’ reluctance to believe that public service requires a graduate degree from Harvard—the question, in other words, of whether leadership is something that can be taught....
A different take than Standing Eagle's, I think....
Old Media Habits Die Hard
As we see below, Washington Post reporters—and reporters for all newspapers—don't fact-check. Here's another bemusing habit of the old media: It still doesn't get the web.
Consider this example from the New York Times, where sportswriter Lynn Zinser writes an article about Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Pat Neshek and his blog, which he used to campaign for All-Star votes.
Only one problem: Zinser doesn't actually bother to mention the blog's name or URL.
Granted, there's a hyperlink (a one-word link, eight paragraphs down) in the online version of the story, but why not include it in the paper?
Consider this example from the New York Times, where sportswriter Lynn Zinser writes an article about Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Pat Neshek and his blog, which he used to campaign for All-Star votes.
Only one problem: Zinser doesn't actually bother to mention the blog's name or URL.
Granted, there's a hyperlink (a one-word link, eight paragraphs down) in the online version of the story, but why not include it in the paper?
Quote of the Day
"Now there are more cops, and they tend to be more personable. They talk to people instead of just busting them."
—Brooklyn resident JoJo Shaffer on the difference between law enforcement under Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani, in the Washington Post.
___________________________________________________________________
Update: It's a striking quote. But Ms. Shaffer's website says that she moved to New York City in 2003, which would suggest that she's really not qualified to judge law enforcement under Rudy Giuliani, whose term as mayor ended in January 2002. WashPo, if I can find that out in ten seconds....
—Brooklyn resident JoJo Shaffer on the difference between law enforcement under Michael Bloomberg and Rudy Giuliani, in the Washington Post.
___________________________________________________________________
Update: It's a striking quote. But Ms. Shaffer's website says that she moved to New York City in 2003, which would suggest that she's really not qualified to judge law enforcement under Rudy Giuliani, whose term as mayor ended in January 2002. WashPo, if I can find that out in ten seconds....
More on China and the Environment
The tension between Chinese culture and its rapid economic modernization keeps taking its toll on the environment, whether it comes to the growth in demand for shark fin soup or villagers eating dinosaur bones.
The Boston Globe reports on the ubiquitousness of Chinese-made toothpaste manufactured with a chemical used in antifreeze.
The Washington Post reports on the potential toxicity of fish from Chinese fish farms, which now total 22 percent of all fish imported to the US (which is a majority of the fish we eat).
The fish are being raised, however, in a country whose waterways are an ongoing environmental problem, tainted by sewage, pesticides, heavy metals and other pollutants. Batches of seafood traded at the Shanghai fish market this week, for example, carried the tell-tale greenish tinge of malachite green, a disinfectant powder that has been banned in China for five years because it is a suspected carcinogen but is still commonly used.
Illegal substances like malachite green keep showing up in Chinese seafood shipped to the United States....
Many rivers in this region are so contaminated with heavy metals from industrial byproducts and pesticides, including DDT, that they are too dangerous to touch, much less raise fish in....
Pretty scary stuff. A Korean friend of mine says that Koreans simply won't buy Chinese products—they just don't trust them.
The Boston Globe reports on the ubiquitousness of Chinese-made toothpaste manufactured with a chemical used in antifreeze.
The Washington Post reports on the potential toxicity of fish from Chinese fish farms, which now total 22 percent of all fish imported to the US (which is a majority of the fish we eat).
The fish are being raised, however, in a country whose waterways are an ongoing environmental problem, tainted by sewage, pesticides, heavy metals and other pollutants. Batches of seafood traded at the Shanghai fish market this week, for example, carried the tell-tale greenish tinge of malachite green, a disinfectant powder that has been banned in China for five years because it is a suspected carcinogen but is still commonly used.
Illegal substances like malachite green keep showing up in Chinese seafood shipped to the United States....
Many rivers in this region are so contaminated with heavy metals from industrial byproducts and pesticides, including DDT, that they are too dangerous to touch, much less raise fish in....
Pretty scary stuff. A Korean friend of mine says that Koreans simply won't buy Chinese products—they just don't trust them.
More on Al Gore III
Slate today asks the question I posed yesterday: A Prius goes 100 mph? Apparently there's more curiosity about that than there is the fact that Al Gore III was arrested.
Thursday, July 05, 2024
The Hoxbys Go West
The Stanford Daily reports upon Caroline and Blair Hoxbys' decision to leave Harvard for Stanford.
The incoming professor said she was “positively thrilled” to join Stanford and wants to “contribute to this campus,” but she left some parting shots for Harvard.
“Stanford and other universities have strong leaders and they’re moving forward,” she said. “It’s hard for Harvard to move ahead if they’re in constant crisis mode.”
Meanwhile, Hoxby elaborated on the controversy she was once embroiled in, and the Crimson's report that she had criticized her critic by playing the race card.
In an interview with The Daily, Hoxby firmly denied ever making the controversial remarks, saying that the “inexperienced reporter at the time,” Javier Hernandez, had made a mistake.
“The reporter made that up or attributed someone else’s quote to me,” she said.
“That’s not my style,” Hoxby added. She also said that she disputed the quote with The Crimson in a letter to the editor and that the newspaper subsequently ran a correction.
Hernandez defends himself.
At her ice cream social the other day, Drew Faust was apparently not asked about the Hoxbys' departure....
The incoming professor said she was “positively thrilled” to join Stanford and wants to “contribute to this campus,” but she left some parting shots for Harvard.
“Stanford and other universities have strong leaders and they’re moving forward,” she said. “It’s hard for Harvard to move ahead if they’re in constant crisis mode.”
Meanwhile, Hoxby elaborated on the controversy she was once embroiled in, and the Crimson's report that she had criticized her critic by playing the race card.
In an interview with The Daily, Hoxby firmly denied ever making the controversial remarks, saying that the “inexperienced reporter at the time,” Javier Hernandez, had made a mistake.
“The reporter made that up or attributed someone else’s quote to me,” she said.
“That’s not my style,” Hoxby added. She also said that she disputed the quote with The Crimson in a letter to the editor and that the newspaper subsequently ran a correction.
Hernandez defends himself.
At her ice cream social the other day, Drew Faust was apparently not asked about the Hoxbys' departure....
Busted
Twenty-four-year old Al Gore III was arrested yesterday while driving 100 miles an hour in a Toyota Prius.
The deputies said they smelled marijuana and searched the car, Amormino said. They found less than an ounce of marijuana along with Xanax, Valium, Vicodin, and Adderall, which is used for attention deficit disorder, he said.
The incident raises one very important question: You can go 100 miles an hour in a Prius?
The incident certainly puts a damper on planning for the wedding of 28-year-old Sarah Gore with businessman Bill Lee.
Seriously, though, Al Gore's son obviously has some challenges; none of those drugs individually is that big a deal, but collectively, you could really do yourself some damage with them. Let's hope he gets better.
The deputies said they smelled marijuana and searched the car, Amormino said. They found less than an ounce of marijuana along with Xanax, Valium, Vicodin, and Adderall, which is used for attention deficit disorder, he said.
The incident raises one very important question: You can go 100 miles an hour in a Prius?
The incident certainly puts a damper on planning for the wedding of 28-year-old Sarah Gore with businessman Bill Lee.
Seriously, though, Al Gore's son obviously has some challenges; none of those drugs individually is that big a deal, but collectively, you could really do yourself some damage with them. Let's hope he gets better.
To Live and Die with 9/11
In the Boston Globe, Susan Milligan writes that Rudy Giuliani's addiction to wrapping himself in the shroud of 9/11 seems to be working, at least among Republican voters.
They have put the blunt-speaking former mayor at the top of a crowded GOP field in most polls, and his campaign said Tuesday that he raised more money in the second quarter than any other Republican candidate.
I also question the assumption that the electorate is particularly worried about another terrorist attacked, even after the recent incidents in Britain. Sure, there's always a low-grade anxiety. But I don't think anyone's living in fear, and I certainly don't get the impression that the British attacks had any major psychological impact here......
They have put the blunt-speaking former mayor at the top of a crowded GOP field in most polls, and his campaign said Tuesday that he raised more money in the second quarter than any other Republican candidate.
Political analysts say Giuliani's pitch is a powerful message to an electorate worried about another assault on US soil, especially after the recent attacks in Britain.
I think this is sloppy analysis. While Giuliani's 9/11 campaign may have given him name recognition that sometimes elevates him over other candidates, what's really going on here is that there's a weak GOP slate of candidates, and virtually all of them have taken a turn at the top of the polls. Giuliani beats Mitt the Mutt Romney and the imploding John McCain. Shocker. But Fred Thompson, a man who has spent more time as a lobbyist than he did as a senator, beats Giuliani in a bunch of polls. So Giuliani's appeal can't be that powerful, can it?I also question the assumption that the electorate is particularly worried about another terrorist attacked, even after the recent incidents in Britain. Sure, there's always a low-grade anxiety. But I don't think anyone's living in fear, and I certainly don't get the impression that the British attacks had any major psychological impact here......
Wednesday, July 04, 2024
They Eat Dinosaurs, Don't They?
From the Associated Press:
BEIJING (AP) -- Villagers in central China dug up a ton of dinosaur bones and boiled them in soup or ground them into powder for traditional medicine, believing they were from flying dragons and had healing powers....
BEIJING (AP) -- Villagers in central China dug up a ton of dinosaur bones and boiled them in soup or ground them into powder for traditional medicine, believing they were from flying dragons and had healing powers....
Scoutrage
Andrew Sullivan is up in arms over the Libby commutation, and he quotes this writing by Jeff Lomonaco, which is certainly well-said:
I also love this Times story about how the president's rationale for the commutation contradicts legal arguments that his Justice Department and legal appointees have been making in cases around the country.
In commuting I. Lewis Libby Jr.’s 30-month prison sentence on Monday, President Bush drew on the same array of arguments about the federal sentencing system often made by defense lawyers — and routinely and strenuously opposed by his own Justice Department.
The Times suggests that Bush's maneuver is going to have a significant impact on sentencing in dozens, if not hundreds, of ongoing and subsequent cases....
Meanwhile, I suspect that Bush's move will have one unintended consequence: boosting Democratic fundraising, which is already far surpassing the Republicans'.....
It is precisely out of the desire to avoid such uncomfortable questions for himself and his vice president that President Bush is likely not to pardon Libby but to commute his sentence, or otherwise keep him out of prison without fully clearing him. That would enable Libby to remain free while he seeks legal vindication through the appeals process. But more importantly, it would enable Bush and Cheney to continue the strategy they have successfully pursued in deterring journalists seeking their explanations with claims that they shouldn't comment on an ongoing legal proceeding. If Bush were to pardon Libby, he and Cheney would no longer have such a rationale for evading the press' questions - nor would Libby be able to claim the right against self-incrimination to resist testifying before Congress about the role that Cheney and Bush played in directing his conduct.
But if Bush simply commutes Libby's prison sentence without effectively vacating Libby's conviction, the appeals process goes forward and Bush and Cheney continue to have their rationale for not answering the press' questions. This strategy would also have the added benefit for Bush of eliminating the chance, however remote, that under the pressure of prison time away from his family and abandoned by the White House he served loyally, Libby himself would tell the true story of his own and others' conduct.
I also love this Times story about how the president's rationale for the commutation contradicts legal arguments that his Justice Department and legal appointees have been making in cases around the country.
In commuting I. Lewis Libby Jr.’s 30-month prison sentence on Monday, President Bush drew on the same array of arguments about the federal sentencing system often made by defense lawyers — and routinely and strenuously opposed by his own Justice Department.
The Times suggests that Bush's maneuver is going to have a significant impact on sentencing in dozens, if not hundreds, of ongoing and subsequent cases....
Meanwhile, I suspect that Bush's move will have one unintended consequence: boosting Democratic fundraising, which is already far surpassing the Republicans'.....
Tuesday, July 03, 2024
Getting off Scoot Free
So Scooter Libby won't be going to jail. I am more intrigued than outraged. Why did Bush commute Libby's sentence?
Let's assume that he doesn't think Libby deserves to go to jail. From a political perspective, that's irrelevant. Why make a decision that he knows will be politically volatile?
Two theories, I think.
One is that he just doesn't give a damn anymore about his approval ratings or what he can accomplish in his last 18 months, he's going to do what he thinks is right. And if he can't get the immigration bill—which is right—passed in the Senate, he's going to use the powers of the presidency to do what he can unilaterally.
The other is that there is a political upside to this pardon. (As opposed to, say, Bill Clinton's Marc Rich fiasco.)
Liberals, of course, will be furious, but liberals already hate Bush about as much as they can. It's the conservatives Bush cares about, and in recent months, they've been falling away from him. Pardoning Libby will, at least temporarily, energize the conservative base.
In other words, by polarizing the electorate, Bush can gain support with the only people left who might consider supporting him.
As irritating as it is to think thusly, from this perspective, I can't really blame Bush for the pardon. It would be nice if he governed from the center and tried to do things that were good for the country—but it's probably too late for that. The failure of the immigration bill showed that that this a thankless task, one that may weaken him without actually achieving anything.
So what's left? Fire up the base, baby, and smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Let's assume that he doesn't think Libby deserves to go to jail. From a political perspective, that's irrelevant. Why make a decision that he knows will be politically volatile?
Two theories, I think.
One is that he just doesn't give a damn anymore about his approval ratings or what he can accomplish in his last 18 months, he's going to do what he thinks is right. And if he can't get the immigration bill—which is right—passed in the Senate, he's going to use the powers of the presidency to do what he can unilaterally.
The other is that there is a political upside to this pardon. (As opposed to, say, Bill Clinton's Marc Rich fiasco.)
Liberals, of course, will be furious, but liberals already hate Bush about as much as they can. It's the conservatives Bush cares about, and in recent months, they've been falling away from him. Pardoning Libby will, at least temporarily, energize the conservative base.
In other words, by polarizing the electorate, Bush can gain support with the only people left who might consider supporting him.
As irritating as it is to think thusly, from this perspective, I can't really blame Bush for the pardon. It would be nice if he governed from the center and tried to do things that were good for the country—but it's probably too late for that. The failure of the immigration bill showed that that this a thankless task, one that may weaken him without actually achieving anything.
So what's left? Fire up the base, baby, and smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Monday, July 02, 2024
A Yankee Story
You may have noticed that I haven't written much about the Yankees lately. It's just been too dreary. How can a team with so much talent be so dreadful? Argh.
But I was moved by this story of a man who arranged a trip to Yankee Stadium for a friend on the verge of blindness.
The man, Aiden McGuire, wrote this letter to the Yankees:
I’d like to tell you about my best friend, Michael Sayre. Michael is a 25-year-old diehard Yankees fan. He was born with glaucoma. Recently, he lost all vision in his right eye. Right now he’s hanging on to what vision he has left in his left eye, and his doctors don’t know how long it will remain healthy.
...I’d like to take him to a Yankee game and give him the chance to experience the game like never before — to walk on the field, sit in the dugout, hear the dirt crunch beneath his feet or have him meet his all-time Yankee favorite, Don Mattingly. Nothing would mean more to Michael than to get up close and personal with the team he is so passionate about.
Michael Sayre did indeed get to meet Don Mattingly...and that, at least, is one thing the Yankees have done right this season.
But I was moved by this story of a man who arranged a trip to Yankee Stadium for a friend on the verge of blindness.
The man, Aiden McGuire, wrote this letter to the Yankees:
I’d like to tell you about my best friend, Michael Sayre. Michael is a 25-year-old diehard Yankees fan. He was born with glaucoma. Recently, he lost all vision in his right eye. Right now he’s hanging on to what vision he has left in his left eye, and his doctors don’t know how long it will remain healthy.
...I’d like to take him to a Yankee game and give him the chance to experience the game like never before — to walk on the field, sit in the dugout, hear the dirt crunch beneath his feet or have him meet his all-time Yankee favorite, Don Mattingly. Nothing would mean more to Michael than to get up close and personal with the team he is so passionate about.
Michael Sayre did indeed get to meet Don Mattingly...and that, at least, is one thing the Yankees have done right this season.
Drinks in the Yard
Drew Faust sent this e-mail at 7:30 this morning. Quite charming, actually. A nice tone.
Dear Members of the Harvard Community,
I sit here in my new office in Massachusetts Hall, amid boxes to be unpacked, letters to be answered, and books to be shelved. But the computer works just fine, and so I take this moment to write. My message, for now, is very simple. I look forward to our future adventures together with immense anticipation. I can imagine no higher calling than doing all I can to serve this great university -- and helping it, in turn, to serve the world. And I feel singularly fortunate to have the opportunity to do so in concert with all of you -- the faculty, students, staff, and others without whom there could be no Harvard.
Each of us brings something different, and something significant, to our shared enterprise. We teach, we study, we discover, we create, we make sure the lights go on and the bills get paid. We are individual members of a collective whose opportunity to contribute to the future of learning, and the improvement of the human condition, knows few equals and few bounds. That opportunity is ours to make the most of -- by aiming relentlessly high, by challenging each other and ourselves, by bridging our differences, and by drawing strength but never self-satisfaction from the past on which we are privileged to build.
On this first day in my own new role, I thank you in advance for all that I know we will undertake together.
And -- since I hope we can do so in a spirit not only of hard work but also of enjoyment -- I invite you to join me today between 4:00 and 6:00 in Harvard Yard, if you're around, for some summertime refreshments and for leisurely conversation with colleagues familiar and new.
I look forward to seeing many of you then. Even more, I look forward to our common endeavors in the years to come.
Sincerely,
Drew Faust
PS: For those of you who may be joining us from Longwood, please note that there will be additional M2 shuttle bus service to Harvard Yard this afternoon. M2 shuttles will depart Longwood at 3:45, 3:55, 4:00, and 4:10.
Dear Members of the Harvard Community,
I sit here in my new office in Massachusetts Hall, amid boxes to be unpacked, letters to be answered, and books to be shelved. But the computer works just fine, and so I take this moment to write. My message, for now, is very simple. I look forward to our future adventures together with immense anticipation. I can imagine no higher calling than doing all I can to serve this great university -- and helping it, in turn, to serve the world. And I feel singularly fortunate to have the opportunity to do so in concert with all of you -- the faculty, students, staff, and others without whom there could be no Harvard.
Each of us brings something different, and something significant, to our shared enterprise. We teach, we study, we discover, we create, we make sure the lights go on and the bills get paid. We are individual members of a collective whose opportunity to contribute to the future of learning, and the improvement of the human condition, knows few equals and few bounds. That opportunity is ours to make the most of -- by aiming relentlessly high, by challenging each other and ourselves, by bridging our differences, and by drawing strength but never self-satisfaction from the past on which we are privileged to build.
On this first day in my own new role, I thank you in advance for all that I know we will undertake together.
And -- since I hope we can do so in a spirit not only of hard work but also of enjoyment -- I invite you to join me today between 4:00 and 6:00 in Harvard Yard, if you're around, for some summertime refreshments and for leisurely conversation with colleagues familiar and new.
I look forward to seeing many of you then. Even more, I look forward to our common endeavors in the years to come.
Sincerely,
Drew Faust
PS: For those of you who may be joining us from Longwood, please note that there will be additional M2 shuttle bus service to Harvard Yard this afternoon. M2 shuttles will depart Longwood at 3:45, 3:55, 4:00, and 4:10.
Drew Faust in Harvard Magazine
With his characteristic eloquence and understatement, John Rosenberg profiles Drew Faust in this month's Harvard magazine.
Rosenberg's thesis, which would provide the theme for an interesting book:
Scholarly curiosity has motivated her research and writing, aligning her own career experience closely with that of the professors she will now lead. But her subjects and discoveries, unlike those of most of her former peers, bear an almost uncanny relevance to thinking about the culture of elite research universities. For after a century of intellectual and institutional preeminence, universities have entered an era when their assumptions and performance face questions both from within and from the wider society.
Other nuggets from the article:
—Faust was treated for breast cancer in 1988 and thyroid cancer in 1999. (Has that been reported elsewhere? If so, I missed it.)
—Faust credits Neil Rudenstine as being the driving force in her transition from scholarship to academic administration
—Faust calls "This Republic of Suffering," due from Knopf next spring, her "scholarly denouement."
—Faust wants to restart university-wide academic planning
—Faust wants the arts at Harvard to be comprehensively reconsidered, saying that this is "a world in which the arts are taking on much more importance in undergraduate life in our peer institutions."
(I think this is a nice way of saying that the arts at Harvard are lousy; so far as I can tell, there's no great shift in the importance of the arts at Yale, Princeton and Stanford.)
Faust is circumspect, as always. And as you might expect, so is the article.
Rosenberg's thesis, which would provide the theme for an interesting book:
Scholarly curiosity has motivated her research and writing, aligning her own career experience closely with that of the professors she will now lead. But her subjects and discoveries, unlike those of most of her former peers, bear an almost uncanny relevance to thinking about the culture of elite research universities. For after a century of intellectual and institutional preeminence, universities have entered an era when their assumptions and performance face questions both from within and from the wider society.
Other nuggets from the article:
—Faust was treated for breast cancer in 1988 and thyroid cancer in 1999. (Has that been reported elsewhere? If so, I missed it.)
—Faust credits Neil Rudenstine as being the driving force in her transition from scholarship to academic administration
—Faust calls "This Republic of Suffering," due from Knopf next spring, her "scholarly denouement."
—Faust wants to restart university-wide academic planning
—Faust wants the arts at Harvard to be comprehensively reconsidered, saying that this is "a world in which the arts are taking on much more importance in undergraduate life in our peer institutions."
(I think this is a nice way of saying that the arts at Harvard are lousy; so far as I can tell, there's no great shift in the importance of the arts at Yale, Princeton and Stanford.)
Faust is circumspect, as always. And as you might expect, so is the article.
Monday Morning Zen
Photo by Peter Critchell.
This photo is in honor of the baby manta ray who was born, then died, at the Okinawa Churaumi acquarium in Japan. Even though it didn't survive, the little gal—well, actually, she was born with a six-foot wingspan—has been a boon to knowledge about manta rays, which, as you can see, are dramatic and beautiful (and entirely harmless, unless you're plankton) creatures. Like, for example how female manta rays give birth (courtesy of the Washington Post):
You gently flap your glorious, 13-foot-wide wings to swim to the bottom. You rub your swollen belly on the ground for a while. Then you gain a little altitude and, with a forceful push, you eject your precious bundle as a rolled-up, burrito-like tube, which promptly unfurls to begin its new life as one of the strangest and least-understood marine animals on the planet.
Pretty cool.
Mantas are, of course, under threat from humans; they've been eradicated around Indochina because their horns are a valued component in Asian "traditional medicine."
This photo is in honor of the baby manta ray who was born, then died, at the Okinawa Churaumi acquarium in Japan. Even though it didn't survive, the little gal—well, actually, she was born with a six-foot wingspan—has been a boon to knowledge about manta rays, which, as you can see, are dramatic and beautiful (and entirely harmless, unless you're plankton) creatures. Like, for example how female manta rays give birth (courtesy of the Washington Post):
You gently flap your glorious, 13-foot-wide wings to swim to the bottom. You rub your swollen belly on the ground for a while. Then you gain a little altitude and, with a forceful push, you eject your precious bundle as a rolled-up, burrito-like tube, which promptly unfurls to begin its new life as one of the strangest and least-understood marine animals on the planet.
Pretty cool.
Mantas are, of course, under threat from humans; they've been eradicated around Indochina because their horns are a valued component in Asian "traditional medicine."
Bush on the Ropes
President Bush has been meeting with scholars and historians to try to figure out what's happened to his presidency, according to the Washington Post.
Not generally known for intellectual curiosity, Bush is seeking out those who are, engaging in a philosophical exploration of the currents of history that have swept up his administration. ..."You don't get any feeling of somebody crouching down in the bunker," said Irwin M. Stelzer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who was part of one group of scholars who met with Bush. "This is either extraordinary self-confidence or out of touch with reality. I can't tell you which."
But if you're self-confident and wrong, is there a meaningful difference?
Not generally known for intellectual curiosity, Bush is seeking out those who are, engaging in a philosophical exploration of the currents of history that have swept up his administration. ..."You don't get any feeling of somebody crouching down in the bunker," said Irwin M. Stelzer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who was part of one group of scholars who met with Bush. "This is either extraordinary self-confidence or out of touch with reality. I can't tell you which."
But if you're self-confident and wrong, is there a meaningful difference?
Sunday, July 01, 2024
The Meaning of the iPhone
It's sold out at every AT&T; store. With a few caveats, purchasers seem to love it. What they don't love is AT&T; there are lots of reports of people having trouble transferring their phone numbers, of AT&T;'s servers being overloaded, of clueless AT&T tech help.
Sigh. Does Apple have to do everything?
A thought on Apple enthusiasm. The mainstream media wrote quite a bit about people lining up for iPhones, and all the writing was bad. The tone of articles about the wait-in-liners was consistently, Can you believe these crazy people with no life? Getting in line for a phone? Clearly they are dupes of Apple. They fell for the hype.
Here is a rule of journalism from the book that I will someday write: Nothing is interesting to a reader if the writer himself doesn't take it seriously. If the articles mock or tease the subject, then it's really not an article about the subject at all, but about the reporter and his or her own preconceived notions of what is appropriate behavior. And when that happens, something more interesting is generally missed.
I didn't wait in line for an iPhone, but I understand why people did. The iPhone isn't simply a phone, of course. It's an avatar for people's frustration over years of bad design—of their irritation with buggy Windows, of crummy cell phone service, of ghastly cell phone design, of lousy American cars, of (most) digital cameras, of record companies that gouged consumers for every possible penny until they drove an entire industry into bankruptcy, of abominable AOL service becoming horrible Time-Warner cable. Enthusiasm for the iPhone is really a statement about the way we'd like to see technology and business work: brilliantly-designed, user-friendly, elegant, fun.
Or, as A.O. Scott said yesterday in his review of Ratatouille, "its sensibility...is both exuberantly democratic and unabashedly elitist, defending good taste and aesthetic accomplishment not as snobbish entitlements but as universal ideals." The iPhone is a testament to the idea that American companies can still make sophisticated products that work, and work beautifully.
And the truth is, there aren't many instances of such technology in the consumer marketplace. The iPod, of course, is first. The Mac operating system. Then Tivo. I can't think of anything else. (Wii, maybe? YouTube? The old Napster? HBO? Pixar?) But not HDTVs, not every other cell phone, not kitchen appliances, not much. (Imagine how great an Apple-made flat screen TV would be.)
The problem of user-hostile technology is particularly concentrated in the cell phone industry. I've long been amazed at how ugly most cell phones are. (How hard can it be?) Nor have I ever owned or seen a phone which had a logical, intuitive operating system. (Partly because some phone operating systems are designed by Microsoft.) And of course we've all experienced problems with reception, billing, long lines in cell phone shops, hidden fees, and so on. If there was an industry ripe for Apple, it was this one. People who waited in line for iPhones understood that intuitively. Their passion is not just a statement of support for the iPhone; it's an indictment of the industry before Apple.
People who have used Macs for a long time know this; they are not Mac addicts because the company brainwashes them, but because they share Apple's vision of products that work easily and elegantly. They are not manipulated by Apple, they are empowered by it.
In this way, Apple's products are a metaphor for the way that we would like society to work; if, say, the White House functioned as well as an iPod, we'd be in considerably better shape than we are. Some states, for example, have touch-screen voting machines that don't work. The iPhone has a touch screen that works beautifully.
It's no coincidence that Apple's classic "1984" ad has reappeared this year, transformed into an explicitly political spot. At the very least, Apple represents liberation from bad, oppressive design—spyware, for example—and in a society where we all depend on technology constantly, this is no small thing. At its most expansive, Apple represents a vision of a functioning polity.
(Similarly, you can argue that Google has betrayed this philosophy, but it's no coincidence that the company, which also has empowering technology, has the slogan, "Don't Be Evil.")
The true brainwashed, I would suggest, are the people who haven't been able to use Macs for one reason or another. They have used inferior technology for so long, they think that crashes, glitzes, freezes and breakdowns are just the way things have to be.
Over the past few years, as Macs have grown more popular, I've given lessons to a number of people switching from Windows computers. One thing I'm always struck by is their refusal to accept how easy Macs are to use. They are so accustomed to user-hostile design, they have trouble with simplicity. They want things to be more complicated.
(This is why, if you give children a choice between a Mac and a Windows machine, they will always choose a Mac. They have not been brainwashed; they have, in this sense, free will.)
It's as if you kept an animal in a cage for years and years...and then you open the door and encourage it to go free. But, scared and wary, the animal sniffs around the edges and hesitates to leave. Whether animals or humans, creatures that have lived under tyranny don't always know how to handle freedom. They take some time to get used to it. And some people will never get it.
Let me be the first to say that Apple isn't perfect and sometimes contradicts this philosophy: As Times columnist Joe Nocera points out, the iPhone battery is an issue, and Apple's handling of it isn't exactly straightforward.
But Apple is generally held to higher standards than are other companies in such matters, and that's a good thing. Its advocates expect more from Apple, and when the company falls down, the loudest cries of dissent come from the "Mac faithful," as we are known. That is why, for example, Apple switched its stance of having the iPhone be a closed system and began allowing outsiders to design programs for it. There's a back and forth between Apple and its consumers that is healthy and, well, democratic.
I would even suggest that part of the excitement of the iPhone is that it is not a Blackberry, which has become a symbol of the greed and materialism of the Wall Street class. And the manners of the people who use the Blackberry—typing away during conversations, ignoring restrictions on using it during flight, conspicuously leaving it on the table during meals —have become a symbol of their disdain for people who are less important (generally, less wealthy). If Wall Street types really don't take to the iPhone because of its touch keyboard, then that schism will become even more apparent.
I know—this kind of theory sounds farfetched, it's impossible to prove, newspaper reporters aren't going to write this kind of thing, and people waiting in line to buy a new phone aren't likely to say it.
But before you write off all those folks standing outside Apple stores as stupid or brainwashed or slacker-esque, think deeper—think different. Maybe there's a philosophy behind their madness. Maybe there's something exciting and encouraging and optimistic at work. God knows, this country needs something to work well. Its White House doesn't, its war doesn't, its social justice doesn't; people are losing confidence in the future.
The iPhone won't save the world, but it will certainly change it for the better. It manifests the optimistic promise of technology—the optimistic reality of technology—and in that sense, at a time of dismay and decline, it gives us something to believe in. When you think of it that way, maybe $500 or $600 is a small price to pay.
Sigh. Does Apple have to do everything?
A thought on Apple enthusiasm. The mainstream media wrote quite a bit about people lining up for iPhones, and all the writing was bad. The tone of articles about the wait-in-liners was consistently, Can you believe these crazy people with no life? Getting in line for a phone? Clearly they are dupes of Apple. They fell for the hype.
Here is a rule of journalism from the book that I will someday write: Nothing is interesting to a reader if the writer himself doesn't take it seriously. If the articles mock or tease the subject, then it's really not an article about the subject at all, but about the reporter and his or her own preconceived notions of what is appropriate behavior. And when that happens, something more interesting is generally missed.
I didn't wait in line for an iPhone, but I understand why people did. The iPhone isn't simply a phone, of course. It's an avatar for people's frustration over years of bad design—of their irritation with buggy Windows, of crummy cell phone service, of ghastly cell phone design, of lousy American cars, of (most) digital cameras, of record companies that gouged consumers for every possible penny until they drove an entire industry into bankruptcy, of abominable AOL service becoming horrible Time-Warner cable. Enthusiasm for the iPhone is really a statement about the way we'd like to see technology and business work: brilliantly-designed, user-friendly, elegant, fun.
Or, as A.O. Scott said yesterday in his review of Ratatouille, "its sensibility...is both exuberantly democratic and unabashedly elitist, defending good taste and aesthetic accomplishment not as snobbish entitlements but as universal ideals." The iPhone is a testament to the idea that American companies can still make sophisticated products that work, and work beautifully.
And the truth is, there aren't many instances of such technology in the consumer marketplace. The iPod, of course, is first. The Mac operating system. Then Tivo. I can't think of anything else. (Wii, maybe? YouTube? The old Napster? HBO? Pixar?) But not HDTVs, not every other cell phone, not kitchen appliances, not much. (Imagine how great an Apple-made flat screen TV would be.)
The problem of user-hostile technology is particularly concentrated in the cell phone industry. I've long been amazed at how ugly most cell phones are. (How hard can it be?) Nor have I ever owned or seen a phone which had a logical, intuitive operating system. (Partly because some phone operating systems are designed by Microsoft.) And of course we've all experienced problems with reception, billing, long lines in cell phone shops, hidden fees, and so on. If there was an industry ripe for Apple, it was this one. People who waited in line for iPhones understood that intuitively. Their passion is not just a statement of support for the iPhone; it's an indictment of the industry before Apple.
People who have used Macs for a long time know this; they are not Mac addicts because the company brainwashes them, but because they share Apple's vision of products that work easily and elegantly. They are not manipulated by Apple, they are empowered by it.
In this way, Apple's products are a metaphor for the way that we would like society to work; if, say, the White House functioned as well as an iPod, we'd be in considerably better shape than we are. Some states, for example, have touch-screen voting machines that don't work. The iPhone has a touch screen that works beautifully.
It's no coincidence that Apple's classic "1984" ad has reappeared this year, transformed into an explicitly political spot. At the very least, Apple represents liberation from bad, oppressive design—spyware, for example—and in a society where we all depend on technology constantly, this is no small thing. At its most expansive, Apple represents a vision of a functioning polity.
(Similarly, you can argue that Google has betrayed this philosophy, but it's no coincidence that the company, which also has empowering technology, has the slogan, "Don't Be Evil.")
The true brainwashed, I would suggest, are the people who haven't been able to use Macs for one reason or another. They have used inferior technology for so long, they think that crashes, glitzes, freezes and breakdowns are just the way things have to be.
Over the past few years, as Macs have grown more popular, I've given lessons to a number of people switching from Windows computers. One thing I'm always struck by is their refusal to accept how easy Macs are to use. They are so accustomed to user-hostile design, they have trouble with simplicity. They want things to be more complicated.
(This is why, if you give children a choice between a Mac and a Windows machine, they will always choose a Mac. They have not been brainwashed; they have, in this sense, free will.)
It's as if you kept an animal in a cage for years and years...and then you open the door and encourage it to go free. But, scared and wary, the animal sniffs around the edges and hesitates to leave. Whether animals or humans, creatures that have lived under tyranny don't always know how to handle freedom. They take some time to get used to it. And some people will never get it.
Let me be the first to say that Apple isn't perfect and sometimes contradicts this philosophy: As Times columnist Joe Nocera points out, the iPhone battery is an issue, and Apple's handling of it isn't exactly straightforward.
But Apple is generally held to higher standards than are other companies in such matters, and that's a good thing. Its advocates expect more from Apple, and when the company falls down, the loudest cries of dissent come from the "Mac faithful," as we are known. That is why, for example, Apple switched its stance of having the iPhone be a closed system and began allowing outsiders to design programs for it. There's a back and forth between Apple and its consumers that is healthy and, well, democratic.
I would even suggest that part of the excitement of the iPhone is that it is not a Blackberry, which has become a symbol of the greed and materialism of the Wall Street class. And the manners of the people who use the Blackberry—typing away during conversations, ignoring restrictions on using it during flight, conspicuously leaving it on the table during meals —have become a symbol of their disdain for people who are less important (generally, less wealthy). If Wall Street types really don't take to the iPhone because of its touch keyboard, then that schism will become even more apparent.
I know—this kind of theory sounds farfetched, it's impossible to prove, newspaper reporters aren't going to write this kind of thing, and people waiting in line to buy a new phone aren't likely to say it.
But before you write off all those folks standing outside Apple stores as stupid or brainwashed or slacker-esque, think deeper—think different. Maybe there's a philosophy behind their madness. Maybe there's something exciting and encouraging and optimistic at work. God knows, this country needs something to work well. Its White House doesn't, its war doesn't, its social justice doesn't; people are losing confidence in the future.
The iPhone won't save the world, but it will certainly change it for the better. It manifests the optimistic promise of technology—the optimistic reality of technology—and in that sense, at a time of dismay and decline, it gives us something to believe in. When you think of it that way, maybe $500 or $600 is a small price to pay.
