Bleg for News

Anyone know why Jon Swift hasn't posted in nearly two months? I hope he's okay. Jon, please let us know.

Every

This is just amazing: Waxy has a collection links pointing to "Every" montages; e.g., every utterance of "dude" in The Big Lebowski and every utterance of "fuck" in Casino (two that I particularly enjoyed, as you might have guessed).

If nothing else, it's always nice to be reminded that you aren't the most obsessive person on the planet.

(h/t: Alan Jacobs)

Dimwit Antidote Revisited

Remember my earlier post, For When the Dimwits Get You Down?

Here's Richard Florida's post, with data, to substantiate his claim.

(h/t: Jonathan Stein)

Wikipedia Moves Beyond Complete

Whoda thunk we needed this entry?

(click pic to enlarge)

The only reason for the existence of this page that I can think of is as a target for Googlebombing; e.g., nude pictures of Dick Cheney.

Rather than talk about how I ended up on this page, let's instead speculate about who might volunteer to supply the "additional citations needed for verification."

The Things We Take For Granted

From an article talking about preparations for the swearing in of my new governor, David Paterson:

Because he is legally blind, ...

Yup. Knew that.

... he does not have the luxury of being able to read from a teleprompter.

Never thought about that.

The Right Stuff?

In the spirit of trying to stay out of the echo chamber, I put out one of my semi-periodic calls for recommendations for good conservative blogs on the BloggingHeads.tv forums.

What do I mean by a "good conservative blog?" It's hard to say precisely, but loosely, I mean a place where I can find viewpoints different from mine that are not just the same old liberal-bashing talking points, nor are they the ones dominated by venom, xenophobia, war-cheerleading, and general shallowness of thought. As examples of the non-good, the following come to mind: Ace, Althouse, Confederate Yankee, Instapundit, LGF, Malkin, Powerline, Townhall, and the Weekly Standard. Possible additions to this list, although I don't know them as well, include Captain's Quarters, Hot Air, and Redstate.

I already regularly read Ross Douthat, Balloon Juice, and Andrew Sullivan, although it's arguable that the latter two have been expelled for heresy by the rest of the True Conservatives.

I got back some helpful suggestions, especially from AemJeff and Piscivorous:

• American Thinker
• Professor Bainbridge
• The Corner
• The Evangelical Outpost
• David Frum's Diary
• Lucianne
• The Volokh Conspiracy

Anyone have any other recommendations and/or any feelings about the ones listed?

Of course, the go-to reasonable conservative remains the incomparable Jon Swift.

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Eerie coincidence: Just as I was double-checking my links prior to publishing this post, I saw that The Corner's most recent entry is a report of the death of William Buckley, Jr. Sort of the canonical thinking conservative, at least to some.

Inside Joke

(alt. video link)

The above is an example of a lighter moment on BloggingHeads.tv. It is not otherwise of significance, although it still makes me laugh. This post is mostly a test of embedding a dingalink.

NB: Clicking the "More Stuff Like This …" button may trigger your browser's pop-up blocker. The only thing that button does, or is supposed to do, is to open a new window and take you to BloggingHeads.tv.

[Update 2012-02-11 10:39] New embed code. Old embed code no longer works.

A very serious, thoughtful, post that has never been made in such detail or with such care

(Updated below. Twice. Thrice.)

I was just reminded by World O' Crap of Instaputz's Marching Orders, which I am happy to obey: It's a very good idea that future use of the term Liberal Fascism will call to mind the weighty author with the lightweight mind.

Happy New Year, Jonah!

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Update

2008-01-01 02:42

When I put this post up originally, we were at position 20. As of this moment: number 7! Go, bombers, go!

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Update

2008-01-02 04:49

And now, number 5! Appears without scrolling! Keep up the good work!

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Update

2008-01-03 19:58

As Instaputz notes: now at number 4!

View latest results.

Thoughts About the Kindle

You've heard about the Kindle, right? I kind of want one. (You might remember my past lust for another one of these things.) The Kindle sounds better than the Sony Reader, but at $400, it's just a little too much for me. If I were traveling as much as I used to, maybe. I really like the feature that allows you to download new books (and other content) from any location with cell phone coverage.

Three thoughts, besides wishing it cost a little less:

• I'd love it if you could "rent" books. Rather than $10 for a permanent copy, how about $1 for a lease of, say, two weeks? Ideally, a future version would work just like a library (read: free loans), but I wouldn't mind paying a buck for the convenience.
  
  
• Can you use this thing on an airplane? That is, can the wireless feature be temporarily disabled, or does it only come on when you try to shop?
  
  
• What's going to happen when someone buys one of these, loads it up with purchased ebooks, and then wants to sell it for more than $400? Sanity would say this should be no different from selling a bookcase and the books upon it. DRM lawyers, however, are not often accused of sanity.
  
  

Geography Quiz: Reflections

Looking at the comments under the recent geography quiz, I retract the blame I assigned to my mouse. I'm impressed, y'all. And embarrassed.

Continuing in the self-flagellation mode, I guess there's no sense keeping this a secret any longer:

I've been telling myself that this result was a compliment to the clarity of my prose, but that's seeming less plausible. Ten years of college, wasted.

In my own defense, Althouse rates at the junior high school level.

(h/t for the scoring link: Crankyprof)

Fun Geography Quiz

Play here.

I just missed getting to level 5 on my first attempt, which I blame mostly on my mouse, and not at all on my vast knowledge.

Thanks, Jinnet. (Who claims to have gotten to level 6, but does not deign to say how many tries it took.)

Tagged!

Too long ago, I was tagged by John. Here are my answers.

4 jobs I have had:

• Caddy
• Chauffeur
• Computer Programmer
• Carpenter

4 movies I love to watch over and over:

• Reservoir Dogs
• Pulp Fiction
• Jackie Brown
• Galaxy Quest

4 places I have lived:

• New York, NY
• New Milford, CT
• Narragansett, RI
• Northampton, MA

4 TV shows I enjoy watching:

• The Daily Show
• The Colbert Report
• The West Wing
• The NBA

4 places I have been:

• Chichen Itza
• Stonehenge
• Sistene Chapel
• Joshua Tree National Park

4 Websites I visit daily:

• NYTimes.com
• BloggingHeads.tv
• Evolutionary Middleman
• The second-best blog in the world (all others are tied for first)

4 favorite foods:

• A particular Steak au Poivre
• Tom's salad
• Robert's pasta
• Anything made by Maura or Clare or Belinda or Rieke or Nancy or that Nancy or that other Nancy

4 places I’d rather be:

• In a semi-sleazy bar, arguing politics with Christopher Hitchens
• In a semi-dusty classroom, listening to Richard Feynman talking about physics
• In a semi-gloomy dungeon, watching Dick Cheney beg a hooded figure to stop the waterboarding
• The Moon

Typically, when one is meme-tagged, one is supposed to tag others. I don't like to impose in this fashion, because as much as I like to get tagged, it turns out most other people don't share my enthusiasm. So, if you'd like to consider yourself tagged, please do so. Add a link in the commments, if you like, and I'll update this post to indicate that I tagged you. (Massive incentive: First four only!) This is kind of like preparing documents for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, I think.

Positive Insubordination?

There's an interesting article in the NYT that reports on a debate between mid-level officers over who is more at fault for Iraq: Rumsfeld or the generals?

I've been thinking about this one since the war started. Leaving aside the obvious bone of contention that the war should never have started in the first place (and hence, the blame goes to Bush and Cheney), and just stipulating that the war "had to" be fought, the question is, should the uniformed officers have spoken up more forcefully against the SecDef's war plan?

My immediate response was to say, "Of course!" But almost as quickly, you have to ask, how is it a good thing for soldiers to disobey the civilian oversight that is the hallmark of our society? One need only look at Turkey for an example of what happens when the military feels permitted to overrule the will of the people.

No resolutions, either in the article or from me. Just something interesting to contemplate and debate.

Legal Question

(Updated below)

I was looking up something in that quaint old document, the United States Constitution, and now, more than ever, I am moved to ask: How does the government get away with ill-treatment of non-Americans, given Amendment 14, Section 1?

I quote (emph. added):

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

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Update

2007-10-09 17:48

I have been straightened out on this one, thanks to Don McArthur. Further clarification in the Comments.

That was fast

From a NYT story that I read this morning:

Saying it had the right to block "controversial or unsavory" text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program.

[...]

In turning down the program, Verizon, one of the nation’s two largest wireless carriers, told Naral that it does not accept programs from any group "that seeks to promote an agenda or distribute content that, in its discretion, may be seen as controversial or unsavory to any of our users."

From a NYT story that I read this afternoon:

"The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect, and we have fixed the process that led to this isolated incident," Jeffrey Nelson, a company spokesman, said in a statement.

[...]

Mr. Nelson noted that text messaging is "harnessed by organizations and individuals communicating their diverse opinions about issues and topics" and said Verizon has "great respect for this free flow of ideas."

Flip-floppers.

Nah. That's unfair. Congratulations to Verizon for seeing the light. And I'm sure, all by itself, without any outside help.

(h/t for the update: TBogg)

Imagine No Longer

Rolling Stone has posted audio files made from tapes of an interview with John Lennon, done in December 1970. The interviewer is Jann S. Wenner, the co-founder of the magazine. Yoko Ono jumps in from time to time.

The interview, as you might imagine, is a bit low fidelity. As a voiceover notes in the lead-in to Part 1, Lennon was miked, but Wenner was not. Whoever remixed it did a nice job of boosting the volume when Wenner speaks, and I found that after a minute or two, this was not a distraction. Mostly, the only thing you notice is a jump in tape hiss when Wenner is speaking.

The interview may be a bit hard to listen to in other ways. It takes some time for Lennon to settle down and open up. After a few minutes, though, he stops sounding like he's just going through a "Tonight Show" promo bit, and honesty starts leaking out.

And then, it may get harder to listen to. The interview was done shortly after the Beatles had broken up, and a lot of bitterness comes across. There's also a boorish claim or two, some defensiveness, a few moments of stridency, and the occasional eye-roller that makes you say, "Just started doing therapy, have you?" If you still have stars in your eyes about the Beatles -- or any of them in particular -- and you'd prefer not to have your illusions shattered, don't listen to it.

No. That goes too far. It's not that awful. Or even that dishy. I'd say it's what a gifted artist sounds like if he hasn't had media training. I found it to be quite a listen. By the end (okay, as of mid-way through Part 3), I still find John Lennon an admirable human being.

(h/t: The Guardian)

The Real Scooter

The emailed headlines for today's NY Times has Vecsey's story about the now late great shortstop titled as "The Yankees' Gabby Talisman."

Gabby Talisman.

That's almost as great-sounding a baseball name as Phil Rizzuto.

I never did get to see Rizzuto play, of course, but I grew up with him in the Yankees' broadcast booth. After a while, he did become the caricature of himself that most people remember, and boy, those endless ads for "the Money Stawwwuh" on WPIX are still a scar in my inner ear.

Nonetheless, I have fond memories of him. RIP, Scooter.

_____

It turns out the headline for Vecsey's piece in the actual paper replaces "Gabby" with "Chatty." This is unfortunate. It's a good read [T$] otherwise.

There are some great pictures, attached to another story, here.

_____

Apologies to KK for not acknowledging the superiority of Pee Wee.

Creepy

Well, Jinnet would probably call it "spooky."

Following a link from her latest post, I typed in a birthday sorta close to mine, and got the following result:

You've outlived John F. Kennedy by 174 days.

If you make it 28 more days, you will outlive Judy Garland.

Economy Brought Down By One Person

Named Jinnet. Who posted this link: the Monty Python Video Wall.

See you in a few weeks.

Now this one's a bit more interesting

(Title in flow from the last post I put up)

It says here:

NASA administrators promised fast action today in response to an internal investigation that said astronauts had flown after drinking heavily on at least two occasions.

At first, I thought it might mean before flying a plane. (Astronauts at least used to be allowed to commandeer jets at will.) But, no, this is before getting on a rocket:

… Col. Richard Bachmann Jr., who headed the panel, said that one of the astronauts referred to in the findings flew on a Russian spacecraft, and another was cleared to launch on a space shuttle.

I find this hard to believe, for at least two reasons. First, the obvious one, which was alluded to by an unnamed astronaut quoted in the story: these people are practically locked in a clean room for several days before flight. I can see that it might be a game to try to sneak in a nip or two, but really, drunk?

Second, the wait for an astronaut before actually getting a flight is years. Who would screw that up, after jumping through all those hoops, and waiting that long?

This story has the smell of a hidden agenda. Your conspiracy theories are welcome. Mine is pretty tame: some politician or other insider wants to kill all crewed space flights.

And no diaper jokes.