Guy Noir

Fin.

2006-02-19T14:03:00.000-05:00

My personal news: Things are going very well for me. Ask me about them, and I'll tell you more.

My blog news: I'm done posting here. Although this was occasionally amusing, I never put in the effort to make it a worthwhile project. I am disinclined to do so in the future. Let's continue our conversations in person.

Thanks for reading.

The city that loves you back (2)

2005-12-30T19:09:00.000-05:00

More sandwich-related violence in Philadelphia:

Latricia Logan was on her way to get a sandwich at a grocery when she heard gunfire near 17th and Huntingdon Streets, police said.

[...]

Yesterday's shooting was especially hard, Marcel Logan said, because after the shooting, employees in one store would not open the door when Latricia Logan asked for help, and in another store, no one called police for her.

Previously: Sandwich dispute turns deadly

Res ipsa loquitur

2005-12-30T17:39:00.000-05:00

The very last file in my new backup scheme is this one:

    John/writing/dubious facts

I have no idea what it contains, but I can’t bring myself to look.

Perfect together

2005-12-22T12:38:00.000-05:00

Our acting governor is choosing a new state slogan. The finalists are:

New Jersey, Expect the Unexpected

New Jersey, Love at First Sight

New Jersey, Come See For Yourself

New Jersey, The Real Deal

New Jersey, The Best Kept Secret

I prefer the last one. It makes me think of Jimmy Hoffa.

Why use filtered water?

2005-12-13T20:15:00.000-05:00

My Powerbook drank about a cup of water yesterday morning and I am now blogging from it. I consider this a victory against the universe.

Other than blow-drying it for three and a half hours (!) yesterday afternoon, I haven’t made any repairs. Before the blow drying, it didn't start up at all, and first thing this morning it froze immediately after booting. But like a trusty old lawnmower, it started on the second try. It seems to be okay: my data is all there, the display is fine, it prints via USB, it does wireless networking, it writes CDs, it plays music, it charges the battery. The one thing I haven’t tried yet is to turn it off and back on again. I’m apprehensive about that.

The repair shop was not optimsitic about the combination of water and laptop. They said they have replaced logic boards ($800) on water-damaged machines, only to have other components fail soon after. They claim that water leaves a visible stain on the logic boards, although I haven’t looked for myself. (Perhaps my $8 investment in a Brita water filter has now paid off?)

I will do a daily remote backup of this machine for the rest of its life, whether that is days or (hopefully) years. It is my primary computer and I need my data. Previously, I backed up only monthly.

I'm fairly pleased with my reaction to the incident. I’ve sometimes gotten very angry about careless technological errors. There was the month I left my ATM card in the machine three times in a row. Soon after getting this computer I dropped it on the floor, giving it a “split lip” that I now pretend is adorable. I vented both those times.

Now, I’m actively trying to be calmer about my life. The universe is large and I am small. I have many reasons to feel frustrated, but more reasons to feel fortunate. So I didn’t get angry this time. It helps that the laptop is working again. It will help even more if it is working next week.

Should you write a letter to the editor?

2005-12-08T19:20:00.000-05:00

I wrote one to USA Today, er, today. Here is an excerpt from the automated response to my email:

Your opinion is important to us. If your letter is one of those selected for publication, congratulations. The competition for space is keen.

Regretfully, although we would like to publish all of the 800 to 1,000 letters we receive weekly, we are unable to do so.

I applaud USA Today for stating its number of submissions. It proves that the competition is not all that keen.

Assume it’s only worthwhile to write a letter to the editor if it has a decent chance of being published. USA Today chooses from 160–200 letters per day. Assume (conservatively) that half of the letter writers are cranks, plagiarists or just poor writers. So they’re really selecting from only 80–100 publishable letters.

Today, USA Today printed 5 letters, which is probably about average. That means that they print 5 or 6 percent of the usable letters they receive. And this is the largest circulation newspaper in the country! The odds are still against your letter getting published, but if you have something to say and write reasonably well, you have a good chance of success.

Conclusion: There is no inherent reason not to write a letter to the editor. (It still might not be the best use of your time, but only you can decide that.)

Navel-gazing postscript: Before today, I’ve written just three letters to newspaper editors. My batting average is .500 at the New York Times and .000 at the Cornell Daily Sun. Go figure.

70-3

2005-12-03T17:08:00.000-05:00

You better believe I’ll be wearing my “Don't Mess With Texas” T-shirt on January 4. Unfortunately, since I’ll be in cold country (or at least not Pasadena), the shirt will have to stay under a sweater.

A “hunger to build”

2005-11-23T18:39:00.000-05:00

Adam Frankel, a junior speechwriter for the Kerry campaign, lists the top ten political lessons he learned (of the idealistic kind). There’s nothing exactly new here, but they’re worth reading because some of them get forgotten. For instance: “Anger is not enough.” And how about: “There’s a big difference between mudslinging and drawing a contrast.”

Of course the most important lesson for me was: “The world is run by 20-somethings.” Well, I’ve still got a few years!

Ways to crawl to a halt (#1)

2005-11-17T13:45:00.000-05:00

First in an occasional series of GN features.

How to Write Slowly:

Develop an exaggerated notion of the importance of what you are writing. Agonize over its every nuance, especially while you are not actually looking at it.

Remember that it is very important to write at a propitious time. Feeling tired? Feeling blue? Best save it for morning. Got errands to run? Didn’t sleep well? You’ll do better in the evening.

Ambiance is also important. Everyone knows that only certain environments are conducive to expression. (You did know that, right?)

Blog instead. Better yet, think about the fact that you haven’t blogged lately. Worry about whether you should have set up a blog in the first place (see also point 1).

Consider passing on the whole thing. After all, it’s not going well at all.

Other suggestions?

O deer

2005-11-15T21:49:00.000-05:00

Dear Pennsylvania deer,

Many apologies to you. But it wasn't my fault ...

Sincerely yours,
Toyota

Antigonish

2005-10-31T00:01:00.000-05:00

Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn't there;
He wasn't there again today,
Oh, how I wish he'd go away!
—Mearns

True scene

2005-10-13T17:25:00.000-04:00

A reception room in a government office. Gray carpet, gray chairs. The sound of rain. It is a few minutes before two o'clock.

A Man walks up to the counter and speaks to a young woman behind the plastic window.

Man. How much is this going to cost?

Young Clerk. A hundred fifty dollars —

Man. Oh boy. I thought you said it was one twenty five.

Young Clerk. It's a hundred twenty five for the request and twenty five for processing. Now, do you want it expedited?

Man. What does that mean? I mean, I know what expedited means, but —

Young Clerk. If you get it expedited, you can get it tomorrow. If not, we send it out in three weeks.

Man. I can’t get it today?

Young Clerk. If you had come before twelve pm, we could have done same day. It's too late now.

Pause.

Young Clerk. That will be a hundred seventy-five dollars, fill out this—

Man. A hundred seventy five dollars, I thought before you said a hundred fifty.

Young Clerk. There’s a twenty five dollar fee for expedited.

Pause.

Young Clerk. Take one of these forms.

Man takes the form, sits down next to me and starts to work on the form.

Man (To himself? To me?) I wish I had gotten here before two.

A few minutes later, the man walks up to the counter and addresses a somewhat older woman. The Young Clerk has left the area.

Man. I just want to say, I got here before two. I'm only going to say it, I got here before two. It's only two ten now and I’ve had time to read this form, fill it out, and that's got to take more than ten minutes. So I had to be here before two.

The Older Clerk is silent.

Man. I just had to say it, I was here before two.

A Voice, from the back room. What was at two?

Man. The other woman said that I could get this done today if I came in before two. I just had to say, I was here before two.

Older Clerk. You want this done same day?

Man. Yes.

Older Clerk. We can do it same day until three.

Pause.

Man.I can see you are in a position of — authority. Why did she — the other lady — say two?

Older Clerk. Who said that? I'll talk to her. We can do same day up until three. (She takes the man's papers.)That’ll be two hundred dollars.

Man. Two hundred? Oh man. Every time I come up here, it’s another twenty five. She told me a hundred seventy five.

Older Clerk. That's not for the same day service. Same day is twenty five extra.

Pause.

Older Clerk. I'll break it down for you, it’s a hundred twenty five for the request, …

The city that loves you back

2005-10-12T17:06:00.000-04:00

Sandwich dispute turns deadly for Brewerytown deli worker:

The customer said he wanted the sandwich prepared a specific way, which irritated the employee, who said he did not need to be told how to make a sandwich, according to police. Police said they did not know what type of sandwich was being prepared.

Warranty rhymes with free

2005-10-10T17:50:00.000-04:00

So the problem was the hard drive. And they must have been right, because here's what happened. They put in a new hard drive, and then it didn't work because there was a problem with the RAM. So they fixed the RAM. And since I had a new hard drive, my computer worked again. I'm glad they figured out I needed a new hard drive.

UPDATE 10/21: I should have titled this post "I'm glad they didn't have to fix the logic board."

I changed my mind.

2005-10-06T15:17:00.000-04:00

I'm all for evolution. Although really I'm more of a Murphy's man, myself.

It was Col. Panic, in the computer room, with a monkey wrench

2005-10-05T01:23:00.000-04:00

I don’t talk about them much, but I have strong opinions about human-computer interface design. I am also a lifelong Macintosh aficionado, and I believe that Apple Human Interface Guidelines: The Apple Desktop Interface (1987) is a neglected classic.

One of the original ideas for the Mac was that it would be an "appliance" computer, whose users would exclusively experience its simple graphical/spatial "surface" rather than its complicated digital/linear innards. Over the years, Apple has leapt through hoops to maintain the illusion of simplicity, even though its modern operating system has Unix under the hood, making it achingly nerd-worthy.

Although this illusion is often beneficial and even elegant, many computer-savvy people interpret it as condescension. I think this feeling of being condescended to is the source of much of the hatred of Macs that's out there. Although I generally disapprove of that response, let me tell you now: Sometimes, I understand how they feel.

Case in point, the following error message, which has been showing up on my Powerbook at boot:

It would be polite to call this a "headscratcher." Now, it turns out that this screen indicates something known as a kernel panic, a Unix term for a certain rare kind of system error. The interesting thing is that Apple has changed the error message. In earlier versions of OS X, a kernel panic caused potentially useful diagnostic information to be displayed, like this:

The information previously displayed is now logged to an obscure location (especially unhelpful if, as in my case, it is impossible to boot the computer and read the logfile). Fitting into bad Apple stereotypes like a huckster into a plaid suit, this change (a) prettied things up while (b) hiding any useful information and (c) stating the infuriatingly obvious. We mustn't frighten the users.

You can witness the evolution here. Myself, I'd prefer some intelligent design.

More Kinky thoughts

2005-09-25T12:50:00.000-04:00

Army Reserve officer Kris Alexander, on the ground for Hurricane Rita in Texas, asks:

I'm no big fan of Rick Perry, but do we really think that "Governor Kinky" is remotely a good idea? Government counts and governing well is hard. How about we start asking Kinky some tough questions to see if he’s really the guy who we want running things the next time a CAT5 is rumbling towards us?

It's hard to argue with that. I have assumed that (a) most folks who vote for Kinky will be people who would not vote if he weren't running, and (b) there won't be a lot of them. But I haven't been paying attention to Texas politics lately, so I might have it wrong.

"Why the Hell Not?"

2005-09-21T17:00:00.000-04:00

Should it annoy me that Kinky Friedman's campaign animation is just as shallow as what it criticizes?

Naaah. At least it's shallow with style.

Once in five blue moons

2005-09-18T19:15:00.000-04:00

I thought I noticed something unusual in ESPN's score ticker last night.

Clinton Global Initiative

2005-09-14T14:27:00.000-04:00

I will be joining other City Year members and alumni by helping out at this conference later in the week.

UPDATE 9/15: Actually, I won't be. But I wanted to.

The expiration of four years

2005-09-12T14:33:00.000-04:00

In Washington yesterday afternoon, I stopped by the Lincoln monument. Apparently I just missed this nearby event, although I saw workers breaking Clint Black's stage down.

I return to visit Mr. Lincoln in order to read his two speeches engraved on the walls. Although his monument is always crowded, few tourists bother to read his words.

Only one other person read the Second Inaugural Address with me yesterday. But this passage seemed especially relevant on 9/11/05:

Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

Reflection on Floodweiser

2005-09-08T19:55:00.000-04:00

Astrodome and beyond by ioerror.

Why did private enterprise appear so ready in the face of catastrophe compared to government? One reason is our lower expectation. Companies like Wal-Mart and Anheuser-Busch aren't required to do anything, so whatever they contribute (click on the image for an example, via Boing Boing) tends to reflect very well on them. By contrast, to paraphrase Tom Delay's floor speech this afternoon, it's hard to provide for whole populations after a crisis, as government (along with the Red Cross, etc.) is expected to do.

This difference in expectations should not, I think, excuse the government's inadequacies, nor should it diminish the laudable actions of corporate donors.

Disasters and democracy

2005-09-07T18:26:00.000-04:00

The basic protection of citizens is a fundamental responsibility of government. Furthermore, since 9/11, "security" has been one of the dominant themes in American politics. But Katrina has revealed failures, at several levels, of government preparation for crisis.

Tyler Cowen argues that this is a structural problem of democracies: elected politicians generally lack the incentives to do disaster preparation right. If this is the case, the current outrage over the Katrina aftermath won't translate into adequate planning for future threats. Politicians will continue to be more interested in appearing serious in the short term than in implementing serious, long-term strategies to prevent and mitigate future disasters.

One way we can do better is to create institutions that depoliticize and professionalize our crisis preparations. On the federal level, we already have a model in the Defense Department's Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which makes politically difficult decisions of national importance in a "objective, non-partisan, and independent" manner. Why not develop a similar mechanism to review FEMA/DHS priorities and readiness?

Forewarned, forearmed?

2005-09-06T13:09:00.000-04:00

Astrodome Floor by zcasper.

This morning on the radio, I heard a party hack make the following claim: The NOLA levees were designed to withstand only a Category Three hurricane, but that was an engineering decision made in the 1960s, and therefore the President was not responsible for the late and current suffering.

Is there a logic class we can sign this guy up for? Maybe at Tulane?

Of course the Bush administration was not responsible for decisions made decades ago. But once forecasters predicted that Katrina would strike NOLA as a category four or even five hurricane, government was obliged to prepare for the predictable breach of the levees and the flooding of the city. Only if the breach of the levees was not foreseeable would government be blameless.

Evacuation vs. relief

2005-09-06T00:52:00.000-04:00

CCG Spencer, New Orleans, 9/1/05
USCG photo

You'd be forgiven for concluding from the news that government cares more about corporate property than about human lives. Even as the state of Louisiana deployed National Guardsmen against looting in New Orleans, it banned relief agencies from entering the city.

From the Red Cross website:

The state Homeland Security Department had requested--and continues to request--that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

Don Boudreaux interprets this statement to mean that

government apparently feared that the Red Cross would deliver relief with too much success. Why else would people choose not to leave a destroyed city, and even want to return to it?

Let's get this straight. Relief workers were kept out of NOLA, not because it was inaccessible, but because their entry would have been contrary to a post-disaster plan which prioritized evacuation over relief. This remained the case even while that plan was stumbling and direct relief could have saved lives.

Still not sure? Try this passage from the Times-Picayune's important open letter to the President:

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Wal-Mart allowed in, but not the Red Cross?

Disgrace

2005-09-02T00:34:00.000-04:00

The latest news is harrowing:

New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday as corpses lay abandoned in street medians, fights and fires broke out, cops turned in their badges and the governor declared war on looters who have made the city a menacing landscape of disorder and fear. (From the AP.)

Some half-formed thoughts before I go off-line for a few days:

Reports of the disaster relief, such as it has been, contain both tales of heroism and of shameful incompetence. The same goes for the preparations before Saturday and before Tuesday.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that many of New Orleans' poorest (along with a smattering of other unfortunates) were left to fend for themselves or die, particularly due to inadequate evacuation efforts, both before and after the levees broke. The fact that this situation was unintended makes society no less culpable, reduces our disgrace not one bit.

As for the dead: what do we, as a society, owe to their memories? What comfort, and what explanation, can we offer to those who mourn them?

The "second-worst-case scenario"

2005-08-31T14:51:00.000-04:00

In times of disaster, people think of the small things.

Tattered by gjcharlet.

My friend Todd writes from Tulsa: "I called my house [in New Orleans], and amazingly the phone still works. That has to be a good sign."

Another friend emailed me from her refuge in Alabama. Among other things, she is "weirdly grieving out of all proportion for the books I left behind."

A third friend, whom I haven't heard from in a while, works at the Times-Picayune, which I have been reading. I too think of small things, like whether he was on one of the delivery trucks that evacuated T-P staffers after the roads became impassable for cars.

(Terry Teachout has been linking to Katrina-related blog reports.)

HAHA - LOL

2005-08-30T14:12:00.000-04:00

Actual New York licence plate, seen on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Political wisdom of the day

2005-08-23T10:41:00.000-04:00

Novelist Walter Kirn, guest-blogging on Andrew Sullivan:

This red-blue thing isn't real: it's a grid put down on the landscape by lazy pundits in order to foster a conflict that isn't there so the poeple who profit from conflict can work their way with us.

I suspect that far more of politics is about the interests of jostling factions of the political class than those of us who follow it prefer to admit. Red-blueism doesn't just overlook those interests, it obscures them, to the public's detriment.

Walter follows with a fascinating snapshot of Montana culture (his home state).

A "very different way of measuring success"

2005-08-22T20:12:00.000-04:00

The editors of the Washington Monthly have a new ranking of colleges and universities. They "asked what colleges are doing for the country" by measuring their contributions to social mobility, to scientific and engineering research, and to community and national service.

Their top ten:

1. MIT
2. UCLA
3. UC-Berkeley
4. Cornell (Go Big Red!)
5. Stanford
6. Penn State
7. Texas A&M
8. UCSD
9. U. Penn
10. Michigan

The Monthly's editors admit that their formula is imperfect. True enough, but it's great to see a popular (well, sort of popular) measure of higher education based on social outputs rather than inputs. By contrast, a school's ranking in U.S. News is determined mainly by its financial resources and the SAT/GPA numbers of the entering class.

Of course, the most important thing is that Cornell does much better than in U.S. News.

Toward a theory of tolls

2005-08-21T17:08:00.000-04:00

Recently observed:

Bronx to Queens, by Whitestone Bridge: $4.50
New Jersey to Manhattan, by any tunnel or bridge: $6
Brooklyn to Staten Island, by Verrazano Narrows Bridge: $9

I'm glad that I don't believe that prices express intrinsic value. But can anyone explain the last one? Seriously?

Oh, and by the way:

NYC to NJ, by any tunnel or bridge: Priceless.

Another day, another library

2005-08-15T19:59:00.000-04:00

I go to a different research library, again to concentrate on my work and look up a few quotations. This one is on a university campus. On a Monday evening in mid-August, the campus is quiet, its library more so.

The plush lounge where I seat myself is decorated with memorabilia of the Class of '37, which apparently paid for these luxurious furnishings — couches in leather and handsome cloth, even a grandfather clock. My only company are two or three young women (graduate students?) and an older man in a tee-shirt and khakis (a professor, maybe?). The picture of scholars, we all keep our heads down, typing into our laptops.

Me too. At least, until the older fellow across the room loudly whispers at his computer: "Fuck ... fuck .... god damn it ..."

Do ... not ... procrastinate

2005-08-11T12:52:00.000-04:00

I am sitting in a research library facing the public internet terminals. The scholarly atmosphere helps me to concentrate on the work I need to do.

One man in front of me was watching television commercials for drug store products: Sudafed, Benadryl and Listerine. I really want to know why, but can't figure out how to ask.

A woman opened up a journal article on JSTOR, left her bag on the seat and disappeared for an hour. Now she's back.

Another woman was reading blogs, but now she's gone.

Who am I to throw stones? On my own laptop, I'm blogging, too.

Under new management

2005-08-06T16:45:00.000-04:00

There's a deli at 43rd and Baltimore that used to be called The Wurst House. It has recently been renamed The Best House.

Both names were a stretch.

Dilemma in the big tent

2005-07-30T18:42:00.000-04:00

Bill Frist made some political waves this week by endorsing federal funding for more expansive stem-cell research.

This must be a dilemma for any Republican politician on the national stage. Certainly, there are a lot of culture-of-life types who oppose this research, and they are influential in Frist's party. But I think back to my experience canvassing in Austin last fall. Occasionally I would speak to Republicans who planned to vote for Kerry. More often than not, Bush's stem cell policy was their reason.

Apparently, Frist is coming back around to his pre-2001 position (in 2001, Bush offered a compromise supporting research to support only using existing "lines" of stem cells). So, if all else fails, maybe Frist can say, à la Kerry, that he opposed stem cell research before he supported it.

A flow to things

2005-07-25T21:54:00.000-04:00

In Sally Potter's Yes:

– The dialogue is in rhyming iambic pentameter;
– The characters are never named;
– There is a "one-woman comic Greek chorus";
– Dialogue comes interspersed with inner monologue and soliloquy;
– The longest speech is that of a dead woman.

So don't expect "realism." But the film is a treat! The verse shouldn't scare you off — it is neither particularly difficult nor excessively distracting. By foregrounding the formalism inherent to storytelling, the verse contributes to a film whose sum is far greater than its parts. The cast, too, is excellent, with strong performances by Joan Allen and Simon Abkarian (in his English-language debut), who play lovers caught up in the cultural conflicts between East and West.

Unfortunately, the conclusion of Yes is marred by an unconvincing and politically convenient solution to the characters' dilemmas that comes even as language, the staff of this film's life, recedes. Perhaps Potter lacked the stomach for a difficult ending, but the conclusion does suggest a certain despair over the power of language, otherwise celebrated in this film. Just how seriously can we take the final idea, that " 'no' does not exist. There's only 'yes' "?

Despite its flaws, Yes is a grand and mainly successful experiment. I hope that more filmmakers will follow Potter in daring to tell new stories through older forms. (And perhaps more poets should try it, too.)

Seven

2005-07-24T21:32:00.000-04:00

Eighty-two hours, thirty-four minutes, five seconds.

Armstrong paid tribute to his closest rivals and his team.

The yellow jersey by bristley.

"I couldn't have done this without the team behind me - I owe them everything," said the American.

"Ullrich is a special rival and a special person and Basso is almost too good of a friend to race - he may be the future of the Tour."

[...]

"This is a hard Tour and hard work wins it. Vive Le Tour."

An exceptional athlete of exceptional graciousness.

Learning from angry men

2005-07-24T16:12:00.000-04:00

The 1957 film 12 Angry Men is said to be one of the great liberal movies of all time. In this jury-room drama, Henry Fonda (Juror #8), a high-minded, liberal architect, persuades eleven peers to acquit a young man on trial for murder. Juror #8's triumph is an idealized version of the liberal American creed in action. The film's enduring appeal comes from its fascinating portrayal of the dynamics of a small and "angry" group. (In that sense, its appeal is similar to that of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)

Because we live in a time when liberals are in the minority, I'm interested in how Juror #8 persuades his peers. His approach offers today's liberals a useful lesson. Fonda's early speeches emphasize the mitigating factors of the defendant's troubled childhood and inadequate legal defense (an apparently liberal stance), but he only becomes persuasive when he casts doubt upon the prosecution's witnesses. This should not surprise us — not only would jurors not change their worldview in a couple of hours, they should be expected to vote based on the facts of the case regardless of their sentiment.

This observation can be applied to a recent political debate, the choice to invade Iraq. Following the example of Juror #8, opponents of the war failed to gain much support — although they did gain attention — by attacking the motivations of the Washington political class or the military-industrial complex. Their more persuasive arguments directly rebutted arguments for the war and offered compelling interpretations of its likely costs and benefits.

The disagreement in 12 Angry Men is over guilt and innocence; debates in political life are about virtue, feasibility and tradeoffs. In both cases, however, successful arguments are likely to be those that are narrowly drawn and closely linked to evidence. Our politics may inform our viewpoint, but it is not fellow liberals whom we need to persuade. We are more likely to convince others to accept our well-founded views on individual issues than to buy into our entire outlook at once. Understanding this should, furthermore, force liberals to recommit themselves to themselves to "reality-based" politics.

Of course, when folks find themselves repeatedly agreeing with liberals, however, they will tend to become liberals themselves over the long haul. In recent decades, the conservative movement has certainly converted millions of Americans in this gradual manner. A savvy liberalism that is both rehabilitated and persuasive will begin to reverse this process.

What makes America great

2005-07-14T18:04:00.000-04:00

At the Borders in Mt. Laurel, you can buy a Book of Mormon for $24.95.

Next thing you know, they'll be selling water in bottles.

Moorestown: Best town in the U.S.

2005-07-11T19:22:00.000-04:00

Devotion by Guy Noir.

So says Money magazine. This is a good excuse for me to add some more of my pictures from last month. Moorestown really is a fine place with a honest sense of civic pride. It has also managed to maintain an identity despite the rapid and homogenizing suburbanization of Burlington County.

Thanks, Judy, for the tip.

What a lot of photos I've posted! I didn't expect that when I started blogging. ~~More "serious"~~ Less photogenic posts to follow (I think).

UPDATE: The reaction from Maine!

There's many a river that waters the land

2005-07-10T11:58:00.000-04:00

Brazos Street by colorcritical.
Used with permission.

Here in Philadelphia, the streets are named after American trees, in order from hard (walnut) to soft (pine), north to south. In Austin, which I've been missing a bit lately, the names are from Texas rivers. There's an old song about those rivers that I heard recently, returning me to my time there.

Verse 1:
We cross the wild Pecos,
We forded the Nueces,
We swum the Guadalupe,
And we followed the Brazos;
Red River runs rusty,
The Wichita clear,
But down by the Brazos
I courted my dear.

The full lyrics. (I'm not aware of Little, Sabine or Sulphur streets. The rest can be found in Austin.)

Ich hab noch einen Koffer in Berlin.

2005-07-09T22:22:00.000-04:00

Today's object of desire: Ampelmann merch. Here he is in action:

Originally uploaded by Luke Robinson.

In Solidarity

2005-07-07T13:40:00.000-04:00

London 7.7.05

17
Originally uploaded by pevee.

Is the flag Republican?

2005-07-04T21:10:00.000-04:00

Lawprof Althouse and other discuss the (assumed) politics of displaying the flag.

One of the first things I learned while canvassing for Kerry last fall was that I could usually tell, just by looking at a house, whether the occupants of a house were Republicans or Democrats. The most reliable sign of a Dem house was creative gardening, especially if it was somewhat overgrown. The most reliable sign of a Repub house was an American flag in the yard.

Pots and flags

Sure, the flag belongs to everyone. But the right wing has claimed the flag as a symbol just as liberals have shied away from it. This is the wrong idea and liberals (and leftists) should resist it. In other words, we should place our beliefs and values within the American tradition, rather than allowing the folks with different ideas to claim that tradition for themselves alone.

This was on my mind when I took the Moorestown flag pictures. I bet these folks on Second Street are Democrats, and they have the right idea.

Happy Independence Day, everyone.

Moorestown flags

2005-06-28T00:21:00.000-04:00

A grand recent day for the Grand Old Flag.
(4 pics)

Oil war gaming

2005-06-27T19:28:00.000-04:00

Do any of the following events seem particularly unlikely?

(1) Instability leading to oil company withdrawal in Nigeria.
(2) An unusually cold North American winter.
(3) A minor terrorist incident aimed at Westerners in Saudi Arabia.
(4) A terrorist strike on an oil port in Alaska.

I didn't think so, either. These were the components of a recent energy crisis simulation (like a war game) enacted by former government officials. The results: not good.

Newspaper coverage of the event was poor. Fox News seems to have done the best, both in print and on the air (.wmv). Also, Dan Markel has some interesting observations from the audience.

Temping

2005-06-27T17:52:00.000-04:00

Yes, I got the memo. I know, I know, we're putting cover sheets on all of our TPS reports now before they go out.

An end to the world

2005-06-26T23:23:00.000-04:00

Billy Graham preaching today at his Crusade in Queens:

Almost everyone today understands that we're approaching a climactic moment in history. There's going to come an end to the world. Not the earth, but the world system in which we live, which the Bible calls "of Satan."

What's he talking about in the first sentence, peak oil? According to the Times,

He simply cited a few national headlines—the disappearance of an 18-year-old Alabama girl in Aruba, the three children in New Jersey found dead in a car trunk last week—as evidence that end times are near.

People have been predicting and preaching the end times for thousands of years! Can't Graham do better than this for evidence? I know I could.

Wikipedia Sunday

2005-06-26T22:44:00.000-04:00

Here is a list of alternative, speculative and disputed theories. An old favorite: orgone theory. A new one: polywater.

How does the Wikipedia, which anyone can edit (although a few people become banned), handle controversial topics? Suprisingly well, thanks to cultural norms and a variety of dispute resolution procedures. For instance, the list above is currently being voted on for deletion, and its neutrality and factual accuracy are being "officially" disputed. It's fascinating to see democratic (e.g. voting), anarchic (e.g. open editing) and other formal and informal mechanisms result in (usually) worthwhile articles.

Academic coercion

2005-06-23T13:10:00.000-04:00

Lt. Gen. Roger Brady commenting on his report on allegations of religious discrimination at the Air Force Academy:

There were cases where people have said things from a lectern that were overreaching, forgetting their position, that put cadets in an untenable position, in terms of, "Gee, am I going to pass Physics 101 if I don't agree with that."

From the American Association of University Professors' Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure:

Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no relation to their subject.

AAUP was dead right on this one, 65 years ago. And I thought liberal (athiest, Marxist, ...) professors were supposed to be the ones indoctrinating their students.

I'm assuming that this particular example was poorly chosen by Lt. Gen. Brady. If the Air Force Academy has such lax standards that grades in a physics class, of all subjects, could be tipped by the politics of faith, it has far more serious problems than have been reported.

Deep Springs College, June 17-20

2005-06-23T12:10:00.000-04:00

sunrise

My first visit, thanks to the Telluride Association Convention.

Gentlemen, “For what came ye into the wilderness?” Not for conventional scholastic training; not for ranch life; not to become proficient in commercial or professional pursuits for personal gain. You came to prepare for a life of service, with the understanding that superior ability and generous purpose would be expected of you, and this expectation must be justified. —L.L. Nunn, February 17, 1923

McCarran

2005-06-16T22:50:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting in the Las Vegas airport. There are slot machines. Lots of slot machines. I have four quarters in my pocket. You do the math.

I'll be at Deep Springs through Monday. I doubt I'll do any blogging there, but there'll be pictures when I get back.

The court of public opinion

2005-06-15T13:22:00.000-04:00

In a 2-1 ruling, an NJ appellate court held that gay marriage is not required by the state constitution. This decision will be appealed to the state supreme court.

Steve Goldstein, who leads Garden State Equality, is happy about the ruling, reports the Inquirer.

The appellate decision means that gay marriage will not be an election-year issue, and that's a relief, Goldstein said.

"We think we're in terrible shape, both because of public opinion, which is in favor of gay marriage in New Jersey, and because of all of our years of work on this issue," he said.

If Goldstein really believes gay marriage won't be an issue in the governor's race, he's probably wrong, given the national prominence of the issue.

The candidates' strategies will be interesting. Forrester knows that emphasizing "cultural" issues is dangerous, but if he entirely neglects the cultural-conservative wing of his party he risks losing the Schundler voters. If Forrester decides to punt, will Corzine choose to take advantage of the apparent popularity of gay marriage around these parts?

No GPA left behind

2005-06-15T13:15:00.000-04:00

Delsea Regional High School, here in South Jersey, had a problem:

"We were seeing GPAs decline, and we wondered what we could do about it," principal Joseph Sottosanti said.

So Delsea decided to stop holding midterm and final exams, instead relying on "projects, papers and presentations."

Sure, this is a great way to inflate grades. After all, finals are hard -- they force students to demonstrate knowledge of a whole year's material, not just what teacher taught last week. And some people aren't very good at high-stakes tests. But I don't see the educational purpose.

In an ideal world, kids would spend the time they would have spent cramming by doing stimulating, creative and challenging projects. Why don't I think that's happening at Delsea? The article has a photograph (not available online) that gives a hint. The caption reads: "Delsea freshman Tatyana Eades makes a piñata for a Spanish project."

What is the "larger strategic question"?

2005-06-14T15:53:00.000-04:00

Very little of substance has been reported regarding Jeff Lehman's sudden resignation from Cornell's presidency. Lehman's "airplane flying to Bali" metaphor doesn't cut it.

Yesterday, in an interview with the Sun, Lehman elaborated, but only slightly:

I understand why people are hungry for more detail, but the way I've come to think of it is this: There's no small, no single incident or decision or disagreement that was pivotal or decisive. There is a larger strategic question that is still open, and I don't want to put that out in public, because I think that could distort the way that is discussed by the board. I think that it's become clear to me that I'm not the right person to lead that internal conversation in a way that is effective.

So there is, in fact, a major policy debate taking place at the highest levels. It's a shame that the major players in this -- Lehman and Peter Meinig -- aren't talking. A university ought to be run in the spirit of open debate. In the academic context, legitimacy is created by the inclusion of stakeholders, if not in decision-making then at least in decision-spectating. In other words, the Board of Trustees is not the only group with a right to discuss Cornell's future.

Openness, so strikingly absent from this weekend's news, once seemed characteristic of Lehman's presidency. It was the spirit behind his impressive Call to Engagement.

So, President Lehman and Chairman Meinig, we deserve to know: What is Cornell's "larger strategic question"?