I’m sure that St. Clare, Inc. intended this to be a powerful suite of tools to improve sales and ease ordering, but, damn, who wouldn’t want to be able to…
I’m sure that St. Clare, Inc. intended this to be a powerful suite of tools to improve sales and ease ordering, but, damn, who wouldn’t want to be able to design their own industrial warning signs?
(via xBlog)
Jonathan Foreman writes from Baghdad in The Standard that the Baghdad press corps seems to be seeing a completely different Baghdad than what he’s seeing. To an amazing degree, the…
Jonathan Foreman writes from Baghdad in The Standard that the Baghdad press corps seems to be seeing a completely different Baghdad than what he’s seeing.
To an amazing degree, the Baghdad-based press corps avoids writing about or filming the friendly dealings between U.S. forces here and the local population–most likely because to do so would require them to report the extravagant expressions of gratitude that accompany every such encounter. Instead you read story after story about the supposed fury of Baghdadis at the Americans for allowing the breakdown of law and order in their city.
[…] There are frequent small demonstrations in the blocks outside the Palestine and Sheraton hotels–partly because that is where the press corps is congregated, but also because it’s an area that many Baath party officials fled to after the war began. Anyone who assumes that the atmosphere of that downtown area is in any way representative of the city would be gravely mistaken. However, many reporters have chosen to do just that rather than venture further out to places where they would have seen that far more typical and frequent “demonstrations” involve hundreds or even thousands of Iraqis gathering to cheer U.S. troops. Admittedly, some of those crowds include people begging for money, desperate for aid, or just curious about these strange-looking foreigners. “Most children here have never seen a foreigner” one Iraqi civilian explained to me, “that is why they are so excited.” Another told me with a smile, “Everyone here wanted to go to America; now America has come here!”
More irritating is the myth constantly repeated by antiwar columnists that the military let the city be destroyed–in particular the hospitals and the national museum–while guarding the Ministry of Oil. The museum looting is turning out to have been grotesquely exaggerated. And there is no evidence for the ministry of oil story. Depending on the article, the Marines had either a tank or a machine gun nest outside the ministry. Look for a photo of that tank or that machine gun nest and you’ll look in vain. And even if the Marines had briefly guarded the oil ministry it would have been by accident: The Marines defended only the streets around their own headquarters and so-called Areas of Operation. Again, though, given the pro-regime sources favored by so many of the press corps huddled in the Palestine Hotel, it’s not surprising that this rumor became gospel.
There’s more.
(via Assume the Position)
Thus it’s the right date (miraculously) for this week’s This-or-That Tuesday: the Media Edition….
Thus it’s the right date (miraculously) for this week’s This-or-That Tuesday: the Media Edition.
Yes, it’s A Blog for Galactus. Be scared. (via Scott)…
Okay, Quizilla is really cool, and power to the people to make their own quizzes, but damn if Sturgeon’s Law doesn’t apply to this, too. Folks — you want to…
Okay, Quizilla is really cool, and power to the people to make their own quizzes, but damn if Sturgeon’s Law doesn’t apply to this, too.
Folks — you want to play in the big leagues? At least look like you’re trying to follow conventions of spelling, capitalization, and other tweaky grammar stuff like that. Yeesh.
Now, excuse me while I yell at those darned kids to get off the lawn again …
(As minor proof of my thesis, compare the list above to the list of Most Popular Quizzes. I rest my case.)
Indiana Jones trilogy on DVD, come 4 November. Not as hot ticket an item as TTT, but, heck, still worth the price of admission….
Indiana Jones trilogy on DVD, come 4 November.
Not as hot ticket an item as TTT, but, heck, still worth the price of admission.
Some Italians are outraged over the … well, not new, but revised colors being used in the Italian flag. The row began when observers spotted that a new Italian flag…
Some Italians are outraged over the … well, not new, but revised colors being used in the Italian flag.
The row began when observers spotted that a new Italian flag flying outside Mr Berlusconi’s Rome office was subtly different from its predecessors. The green, they claim, is deeper, the red has taken on ruby hues, and the white has turned to ivory.
Last September the Italian Government set up a team to work out exactly what shades of the three colours should be used on Italian flags. Mr Berlusconi’s office, it is thought, may be the first to demonstrate the results.
Actually, I think it looks kind of nice. And bear in mind that the world of Italian politics whirls hyperbole up to near-orbital speeds.
Hmmmm. I assume that, somewhere, there’s a Pantone definition of the official red, white, and blue on the US flag. This stuff is important, after all.
In the newly-formed state of Serbia and Montenegro, the two republics have been rowing about how to reflect both their national tricolours in the new red, white and blue flag. Serbia has traditionally used dark blue, Montenegro light blue.
Maybe they should try green, too.
(via GoaF)
No, really. A caped crusader in Britain has reportedly been sweeping through an English town, performing good deeds and scaring off villains.The Kent and Sussex Courier says it has received…
No, really.
A caped crusader in Britain has reportedly been sweeping through an English town, performing good deeds and scaring off villains.The Kent and Sussex Courier says it has received letters from residents of the town of Tunbridge Wells, south-east of London, who saw the man fighting evil in a mask and cape.
In two separate incidents, the man reportedly rushed to the assistance of a woman and a man, who were being bothered by a group of youths. Another woman wrote to say the caped crusader had returned her purse, after it was stolen.
Hmmm. Of course, capes are really unwieldy, I’d think, in hand-to-hand combat. Hope the gent knows what he’s doing.
(via GoaF)
“All right, bøys, nice job on the pillaging at that last village. You remembered tø dø that before burning, ja? Gøød, gøød. “But, Sven, Bjørn, really! It’s all very well…
“All right, bøys, nice job on the pillaging at that last village. You remembered tø dø that before burning, ja? Gøød, gøød.
“But, Sven, Bjørn, really! It’s all very well tø go intø battle chewing on yøur shield and summoning the berserk, but, really, bøys, wøuld it hurt you tø check yøur creases, first?
“After all, we don’t just want yøur axe to be the ønly thing løøking sharp, ja?”
(via GoaF)
You know you should blog something when you get to your third paragraph commenting in someone’s blog. Andrea brings up some thoughts on the whole boycott of creative types who…
You know you should blog something when you get to your third paragraph commenting in someone’s blog.
Andrea brings up some thoughts on the whole boycott of creative types who spout off something offensive to you.
I remain ditheringly mixed on this. How much is the creator mixed in with the creation (today’s twist on McLuhan’s observation)? Assuming it’s not done within a performance (as in Andrea’s cook metaphor), how much baggage from Real Life does an actor, singer, writer, producer, or even cook bring in with them when they clock in.
If the Dixie Chicks had made their statement on Dubya during an interview, rather than during a concert, would it have made any difference?
How does this relate to the whole private life/public life thing debated during Clinton’s presidency? How does it — or should it — relate to scandels in public figures’ lives (think Pee-Wee Herman, or Michael Jackson, or Hugh Grant, or Charlie Sheen)?
How does this relate to the question of how what one does outside the office (for us sorry grunts who don’t sign multi-million-dollar singing deals) impacts what one does inside the office. Or, heck, how what one might say during a business meeting may come back to haunt you in your career if you offended someone?
At what point does what someone did while not on stage (whatever that stage is) become inextricably part of their performance? And when is it “right” for audiences to remember that? And does that “right”ness make any difference, or is it just what it is?
We accept that actors can get stereotyped by what they do in previous roles. We may consider it regretable (or we may have fun with it — “Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Baggins …”), but it’s real. Those stereotypes are difficult for actors to break out of, but we usually don’t consider it a moral or ethical responsibility of the audience to make it happen.
I dunno. I listened to one of my “Dixie Chicks” albums the other day, and didn’t feel particular dirty or disloyal or insulted. On the other hand, when it comes time for me to engage in a business relationship with them (buying one of their future CDs), my perception of them might color my willingness to do so, regardless of its relevance to the product being produced.
In the biz world, we’d call that a matter of soft skills. It’s accepted, even expected, that business gets done based not just on dollars and cents and meeting particular contractual agreements, but on relationships.
I’m not sure what the difference is — or should be — when it comes to music.
Coming soon to a nation near you? It does make me wonder what the effect of having legalized gay marriage in Canada would have on the US. Would we see…
Coming soon to a nation near you?
It does make me wonder what the effect of having legalized gay marriage in Canada would have on the US. Would we see an outmigration of gays to Canada? Canadian immigration laws are, I understand, pretty tough, but the same is true for the US, and we’ve seen oppression elsewhere redound to our benefit here as the “best and brightest” fled to the States. While I’m sure there are some who would be pleased to see gays leave the country, that’s basically a stupid and short-sighted attitude to take.
Would gay marriage in Canada increase the chances of the same thing happening here? Maybe. Not directly, perhaps — for two peoples as similar as the US and Canada, we (particularly our governments) spend a lot of time highlighting the differences. But this isn’t nationalized medicine. The drift of social conventions, the meme if you will, will have an impact. It will be difficult for folks to argue that legalizing gay marriage will lead to debauchery on the streets and the downfall of civilization when folks right across the border are doing it without any particular harm. (Granted, debauchery on the streets is a bit more difficult in Canada’s climate, but that’s a technical detail.) And, perhaps, if there are any hitches (so to speak) that develop (cf. nationalized medical insurance), we can learn some lessons from our neighbors to the north.
Should be interesting, at any rate.
(via DiscountBlogger)
UPDATE: More grist for the economic benefits mill, via JillMatrix:
[T]he big new-ideas and cutting-edge industries that lead to sustained prosperity are more likely to exist where gay people feel welcome. Most centers of tech-based business growth also have the highest concentrations of gay couples. Conversely, major areas with relatively few gay couples tend to be slow- or no-growth places. Pittsburgh and Buffalo, which have low percentages of gay couples, were two of only three major regions to lose population from 1990 to 2000.
Studies controlling for a wide range of factors also show innovation and economic vitality closely associated with the presence of gays and other indicators of tolerance and diversity, such as the percentage of immigrants and the level of racial and ethnic integration.
Why? Creative, innovative and entrepreneurial activities tend to flourish in the same kinds of places that attract gays and others outside the norm. To put it bluntly, a place where it’s OK for men to walk down the street holding hands will probably also be a place where Indian engineers, tattooed software geeks and foreign-born entrepreneurs feel at home. When people from varied backgrounds, places and attitudes can collide, economic home runs are likely.
Food for thought.
quo·tid·i·an adj. (1) Everyday; commonplace: “There’s nothing quite like a real… train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute” (Anita Diamant). (2) Recurring daily. Used especially of attacks of…
quo·tid·i·an adj. (1) Everyday; commonplace: “There’s nothing quite like a real… train conductor to add color to a quotidian commute” (Anita Diamant). (2) Recurring daily. Used especially of attacks of malaria.
I’m sure there’s someone using “quotidian” in their blog title (why, yes, there is), but it’s a great word anyway for that sort of thing. Just filing it here for future reference.
The gent who composed the theme to Gilligans Island has died. George Wyle (born Bernard Weissman, name changed by the producers) composed the tune for the 1964 CBS series (and,…
The gent who composed the theme to Gilligans Island has died. George Wyle (born Bernard Weissman, name changed by the producers) composed the tune for the 1964 CBS series (and, yes, that means we are coming up on the 40th Anniversary of Gilligan’s Island).
Wyle is quoted as once saying, “America doesn’t want great music themes. Just something it can remember.”
This kind of gets Lileks’ dander up, but I think it’s a pretty fair thing to say. Hum a few notes from a Charles Ives tune (I dare you), and you’ll have blank stares. Hum a few notes from Gilligan’s Island and you’ll get smiles and laughter and a pick-up session (complete with arguments over which ending to use). Trust me — I’ve seen this.
My prediction for the ages: the theme to “Gilligan’s Island” will go down through the years with the same stick-to-it-iveness that some of the more famous folk tunes of centuries past have carried.
Does that make it great? I dunno.
You could ask the same thing of the show. While it was often mindless, it also carried a lot of social commentary about attutides (toward sex, toward money, toward fame, toward international relations, toward human nature) held by 60s America. And there were some remarkably clever episodes — I keep flashing back to the musical version of Hamlet they performed (if you never saw it, never mind why); it’s brilliant, it makes use of some great (there’s that word again) music, and it probably served a lot of folks better at remembering Shakespeare’s play than their high school English class ever did.
So here’s to you, George Wylie. It may not have been “great,” but it sure was memorable.
I’ve been a fan of Michael Jantze’s “The Norm” comic strip since I met the gent at SDCC last year. An odd mix of “For Better and For Worse,” “Baby…
I’ve been a fan of Michael Jantze’s “The Norm” comic strip since I met the gent at SDCC last year. An odd mix of “For Better and For Worse,” “Baby Blues,” “Dilbert,” and “Calvin & Hobbes,” it’s worth reading. (And I read it every day online, since it’s not carried by either of the Denver papers.)
Just read today that the “Twelve Steps to Marriage” Sunday series is going to comic book format, with orders in Diamond this month, delivery off in July. Cool.
Anyway, thought I’d give it a plug. Check it out.
So the Sweeney Todd test, below, is the first one I’ve ever built (after 170-odd that I’ve taken). It was an interesting exercise. I used Quizilla, which basically does all…
So the Sweeney Todd test, below, is the first one I’ve ever built (after 170-odd that I’ve taken). It was an interesting exercise. I used Quizilla, which basically does all the work for you. The interface is to develop tests is pretty easy, though it’s really best that you have everything in mind you want to do up front; by default when you save a test it goes “live,” which can be embarrassingly premature.
I came up with the questions pretty quickly, though, never having worked with Quizilla before, I ran into on snag. I knew I wanted something a bit more sophisticated than the “three multiple choice questions, each answer obviously pointing toward a particular character.” Ideally, I could have some straightforward questions, some general answers, and then map the answers to the characters; ideally, if an answer pointed to more than one character, I should be able to do that.
It’s [pardon me, have to take a call, ah, it’s Katherine, okay, have to roar like Daddy Bear, okay, I’m back] only the latter that I couldn’t do in Quizilla, but I did manage to kind of anonymize the answers by simply throwing a lot of “pick as many as you want” questions out there; if my interp of a given answer is a bit off, it’s likely made up for elsewhere.
Quizilla does have a limit of 9 or 10 answers to a given question, so for some of the questions I had to break up the “pick any” answers into three groups. Should still work, though.
The images were the toughest part. I wanted to start off with the classic Victorian characatures from the original Broadway show, but tracking down others to use wasn’t trivial. Sifted through a lot of Tenniel and Nash and many others to get what I did, and while I’m not 100% happy with them, hopefully they’re enjoyable.
I’m not 100% thrilled with Quizilla’s default “HTML code to paste,” but I always modify what I put up on this page anyway from the default.
At any rate, it serves my definition of a good one of these tests: enjoyable subject, appropriate mapping of answers to conclusions (I think), and about as much meaning as you can get from one of these micro-inventories. I hope you enjoy it, too (and spread the word). I don’t expect to create another of these any time soon, but it was an interesting exercise while it lasted.
You are Sweeney Todd. Sure, life’s given youlemons, but you didn’t need to chop down thewhole lemon grove. Still, driven mad by griefand fury, you’ll make a bloody name foryourself,…
Hey, it beats a lot of the alternatives.
(And, by the by, I made this quiz. So there.)
Dammit! Where were the Marines? The decision to make the cafeterias into “no pay zones” spread through the 40-acre complex like wildfire. Soon, the hungry patrons came running. “It was…
Dammit! Where were the Marines?
The decision to make the cafeterias into “no pay zones” spread through the 40-acre complex like wildfire. Soon, the hungry patrons came running. “It was chaos, wild, something out of a war scene,” said one Aramark executive who was present. “They took everything, even the silverware,” she said. Another witness from U.N. security said the cafeteria was “stripped bare.” And another told TIME that the cafeteria raid was “unbelievable, crowds of people just taking everything in sight; they stripped the place bare.” And yet another astonished witness said that “chickens, turkeys, souffles, casseroles all went out the door (unpaid).”
The mob then moved on to the Viennese Café, a popular snack bar in the U.N.’s conference room facility. It was also stripped bare. The takers included some well-known diplomats who finished off the raid with free drinks at the lounge for delegates. When asked how much liquor was lifted from the U.N. bar, one U.S. diplomat responded: “I stopped counting the bottles.” He then excused himself and headed towards the men’s room.
An Aramark executive estimated the food “removed” from the U.N.’s main cafeteria at between $7,000 and $9,000 not including the staff restaurant, the Viennese Café or the Delegate’s Bar. The value of the missing silverware has yet to be estimated.
Oh, yeah, that’s right — the Marines don’t usually operate in New York City, let alone at the UN Building …
(via InstaPundit)
I get a little worried when a big news story becomes so thoroughly discredited, but the latest word on the Baghdad Museum “disaster” indicates it was not that big a…
I get a little worried when a big news story becomes so thoroughly discredited, but the latest word on the Baghdad Museum “disaster” indicates it was not that big a deal.
A preliminary inventory conducted over the weekend shows:
A total of 38 pieces, not tens of thousands, are now believed to be missing. Among them is a single display of Babylonian cuneiform tablets that accounts for nine missing items. The single most valuable missing piece is the Vase of Warka, a white limestone bowl dating from 3000 B.C.
A number of barracaded store rooms have been finally searched, finding some limited looting but not nearly what was initially reported. It seems that a lot of the immediate damage and theft was concentrated on the administrative offices, not the museum proper.
Investigators, still compiling information about what possibly occurred during the chaotic takeover of Baghdad by U.S. and British troops, are concluding that little damage occurred to antiquities displayed at the museum. Investigators counted 17 display cases out of 300 to 400 cases there as destroyed. Many of the items apparently were removed before the looting.
In addition, investigators have counted 22 items that were damaged, including 11 clay pots on display in corridors. Most of those damaged artifacts are restored pieces and can be restored again, museum officials told investigators.
The most significant of the damaged pieces was the Golden Harp of Ur. But investigators determined that the golden head on the damaged antiquity, feared missing, was only a copy. Museum officials confirmed this week to investigators that the original head was placed in a storage vault at the Iraqi Central Bank sometime before the war.
Now, we’ve been hearing that the existing museum inventories were very incomplete, even before the war, so I still wouldn’t think that they could categorically determine what is, or isn’t, missing or damaged.
And I’m sure that folks will start to scream cover-up about the whole thing, being that the new information coming out under US/UK auspices.
Still, I wouldn’t think that a cover-up of this sort could be kept up for long. Maybe we’ve got some serious no-news-is-good-news here. If so, regardless of partisanship, it’s really a win for everyone.
(via BoingBoing)
Looks to be a very hectic week ahead. Margie’s in the office, or at a class, all week. Me, too, of course. Some significant job stuff wheels are churning and…
Looks to be a very hectic week ahead.
Margie’s in the office, or at a class, all week. Me, too, of course.
Some significant job stuff wheels are churning and rolling and clanking away, as indicated last week.
We’ll be out of town next week — I on business, back in California, Margie and Katherine tagging along — so there’s all that pre-trip hassle to, well, hassle about.
Gotta figure out a time to go see X2. (Yes, I know it’s good. No, I don’t need to be told again. Yes, that’s why I want to go see it this week.)
Plant sale down at the Botanic Gardens Friday/Saturday.
Big Vestry-related assignment I am so behind on.
The usual cast of Things to Do, naturally.
And, of course, there are eleventy-dozen things still pending from last week.
Ain’t life grand?
Margie and I, and Rey and Jules, went to Sweeney Todd down at Boetcher Concert Hall this afternoon, a production of Opera Colorado. Much fun. Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd is a…
Margie and I, and Rey and Jules, went to Sweeney Todd down at Boetcher Concert Hall this afternoon, a production of Opera Colorado. Much fun. Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd is a fascinating tale of evil, and just as fascinating in making evil … well, fascinating, not to mention entertaining.
The production was good, if not great. Sweeney’s (Alan Ewing) upper range was a bit weak, and I didn’t care for some of his on-stage business and comportment; he came across occasionally as flip. Mrs. Lovett (Phyllis Pancella, who made the role her own, in competition with Angela Lansbury) and Beadle Bamford (Matthew Lord, who reminded us both of Odd Job) were the best parts of the show, and the other players were all pretty solid. The staging was interestingly done (lacking an “upstairs” barber shop, the lower level of the stage had to serve for Sweeney’s emporium, Lovett’s restaurant, and the bakehouse), but the lighting occasionally lacked focus. There were some problems early on with the sound system, too, muffling some of the voices, and sometimes the balance between singer and orchestra was off, too.
An entertaining game is deciding who, from a moral perspective, is the most awful character. Sweeney’s a psychopath, driven mad with grief and outrage, and willing to kill anyone who gets in the way of his revenge. Nellie Lovett’s a sociopath, utterly amoral, interested only her prosperity and romance, no matter whose bodies fall where. Judge Turpin has the decency to feel occasionally guilty, but he clearly lets his power and his passions go to his head — he’s certainly a corrupt man, and the most obvious villain.
There’s Beadle Bamford, of course, who’s a fine thug; Pirelli, who’s a mountebank and blackmailer … heck, Anthony’s a murderer, as (eventually) is Toby. Even Lucy, mythical paragon of virtue, has been turned into a madwoman; a fate that nearly afflicts her daughter (and who knows how she’ll turn out after all this).
Jeez, isn’t that depressing?
Still, paradoxically, it’s a lot of fun, and I’m glad we went.