February 24, 2005
Dylan, Mathematician?
"I know there are groups at the top of the charts that are hailed as the saviours of rock'n'roll and all that, but they are amateurs. They don't know where the music comes from," he wrote, adding, "I wouldn't even think about playing music if I was born in these times... I'd probably turn to something like mathematics. That would interest me. Architecture would interest me. Something like that."
Speaking of Bob, this is my final effort to find people to drive down to the Vegas show on March 19th. My Bob concert fund is empty because I saw the Berkeley show last year, but if I could split the cost with some people it might work. E-mail me. I'd actually like to see him in Denver with Merle Haggard since my dad often listened to Haggard's music when I was a kid (and he's been listening to this album which isn't too bad) but the dates don't work for me.
24 Feb 23:38 | Link | Category: Music
Current Playlist
This month's (late) installment doesn't flow very well, but it's it's the most coherent playlist I could cobble together from what I've been listening to during memorable moments.
| The Decemberists - Shiny >> Yet another damned fine Decemberists tune. |
| Dealership - Forest >> This is a beautiful, quirky little pop masterpiece with cool lyrics and keyboards that remind me of listening to certain old Cure songs. |
| TV on the Radio - Dreams >> I hate to give this band even more exposure, but I've been listening to this song constantly so it really deserves a mention. |
| Death Cab For Cutie - Title and Registration >> A moody song with little sonic touches that help paint a picture. Solid indie rock that is what emo wishes it could be. |
| Longwave - Best Kept Secret >> I really dislike the vocals in this song, but I still can't get enough of the guitars. |
| Blonde Redhead - Equus >> During the first few listens, I found this song slightly grating. In subsequent listens, I came to realize it's unusual in a striking, impressive way. |
| The Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along The Watchtower >> What can I say? It's my favorite version of the classic. Pure perfection. |
| Supergrass - Beautiful People >> A perfect song for those days when you're in a relatively good mood, but still feeling slightly misanthropic. |
| Built To Spill - Big Dipper >> One of many little slices of genius from Doug Martsch and Built To Spill. I like the lyrics. |
| Luna - Still At Home >> This beautiful tune was actually written (and sung) by guitarist Sean Eden. Luna sound better than ever. (As for this being their last album, I'm still in denial.) |
| Galaxie 500 - Instrumental >> This was part of the soundtrack to my life many years ago. It resurfaced during a random spin of the iPod and has been in heavy rotation since. |
| Lambchop - The New Cobweb Summer >> I don't know why a song for a lazy late summer afternoon is showing up on my list in February, but lately I've been playing this one constantly. Dreamlike imagery, weird lyrics ("the link between profound and pain covers you like Sherwin-Williams"). It's a mellifluous masterpiece that might take some time to grow on you (especially if you don't listen to Lambchop very often). |
| Barbara Manning - Stain On The Sun >> The guitar, Manning's voice, and those great dissonant horns make this a cool cover of the Bevis Frond original. Manning's music is an acquired taste for some, but this one should quickly grow on most anyone. |
| Red Hot Chili Peppers - Midnight >> I've been playing "By The Way" quite a bit lately, for the first time since the summer of '02. I have lots of favorites from that album, so this one is a slightly random choice. I like the part in the intro. right after the strings. The lyrics are good, too. |
24 Feb 21:25 | Link | Category: Music
February 23, 2005
Scientific voice stifled in Bush administration
This isn't remotely surprising, nor is it news (I mentioned it last July). Scientists are complaining that the Bush administration is allowing fewer scientists to be heard in policy discussions, and is cutting money for research and advanced training.
"In previous administrations, scientists were always at the table when regulations were being developed," she said. "Science never had the last voice, but it had a voice."
23 Feb 11:31 | Link | Category: Current Events, Opinion & Thoughts, Science
February 16, 2005
Cavehouse, anyone?
I noticed a link to this cool cave house for sale in Spain, and it reminded me how I've always wanted to live in a strange house like that. Most times when I see unusual houses - built into caves & rocks, partially or fully underground, and sometimes just with unique architecture - I'm always the one who most sincerely wants to live in them. There's a house near where I live that is partially underground and seems to consist of two large concrete cylinders (almost like large water tanks or reservoirs). I've wanted to check out the inside of it for years. (However, the fact that it's almost consistently for sale or rent makes me think it must be more fun to look at it than live inside it.)
Anyway. I'm not really sure why I felt the need to share that with all of you.
16 Feb 11:42 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits
Climate Change: Menace or Myth?
I noticed an informative article on the climate change debate (from New Scientist) called Climate change: Menace or myth? and thought I'd pass it on.
16 Feb 11:37 | Link | Category: Science
February 10, 2005
What happened to sci-fi films?
I just caught part of Red Planet on TV... reminded me what an awful film it was. The fiction part was bad - screwy plot, awkward dialogue, etc. The science part was even worse. The Pathfinder radio, the artificial gravity, the radiation burst, the "nematodes"... I could go on and on. How about when the geneticist PhD talks about A, G, T, and... P. (Maybe he got one of those Internet doctorate degrees, or maybe cytosine will be renamed in the coming decades.) It's not that sci-fi films must be accurate, but if set 50 years in the future, it's probably a good idea to consult with someone. (Maybe they figure the moviegoing public is so scientifically illiterate as not to notice it or be annoyed by it. Maybe they're right.) But even the glaring goofs and errors could be overlooked if the rest of the film was worth watching. Anyway... if you haven't seen that one, don't.
It got me thinking: Have there been any decent sci-fi movies in this decade? We're halfway through, and I can't think of one. (Feel free to e-mail me if I'm overlooking one... it's late and I should be sleeping.) The last good sci-fi movies were probably The Matrix and Gattaca... and that's going back eight years. Plus, during those eight years we suffered through a long list of painful films... even the remakes were bad (Planet of the Apes, Solaris, etc.). A few were promising, but ultimately disappointing (A.I., Minority Report).
I'm hoping - begging - for someone to come along and save the genre by making a stunning masterpiece. Is that really so much to ask?
10 Feb 23:14 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
Artist at The End of The World
I would love to visit Michael Heizer's "City" in the Nevada desert (but Heizer won't let anyone visit until the work is completed, whenever that is). A couple of articles for you to read: A Sculptor's Colossus of the Desert and Art's Last, Lonely Cowboy. (Look at both slide shows.) The news about Yucca Mountain rail line and other developments is distressing:
And in the end the work, which possesses him and drives him and other people crazy, is the only thing that will count -- if it isn't spoiled by the nuclear rail line or if Heizer doesn't blow it up first.
10 Feb 18:16 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
Sugar On My Tongue
I was eating lunch (at 4 p.m., nothing's changed) surfing through the channels on the TV when I came across MTV2, and much to my confusion, Trick Daddy was rapping to a Talking Heads b-side. That's just too weird. (Also, it's kinda sad that I instantly recognized that stupid Talking Heads song.)
Talking Heads: Sugar On My Tongue (Audio)
Trick Daddy: Sugar (Gimme Some) Video - Real / WMV, Audio
Now I'm just waiting for someone to remake Popsicle, another obscure Talking Heads b-side. That could be even more interesting (see the lyrics).
10 Feb 16:21 | Link | Category: Music, Video
Pageant of Decades
Kid Oakland of The Daily Kos wrote a great post about New Year's Day in 2000, using R.E.M.'s 1986 album Lifes Rich Pageant as a sort of soundtrack.
All six of us went quiet, looking out the windows and listening to the songs. It seemed like they'd been written for us and that moment: cynical, dubious, hopeful, anthemic, mysterious, cryptic, mournful.
That album holds a special place in my memory. Hopefully some of you will relate to the post like I did. (Those unfamiliar with the album should check out the review mentioned in the article and buy the album.)
10 Feb 14:18 | Link | Category: Music
Michael Behe
Michael Behe, a writer I've mentioned previously (here and here), wrote an Op-Ed for the New York Times the other day called Design For Living.
Paul Myers shot it down so well (lots of interesting reader comments, too) that I don't feel the need to add anything.
10 Feb 14:09 | Link | Category: Science
Safari workaround for IDN spoof
Mozilla, Safari, and Opera (and IE if you have an IDN plugin installed) are all susceptible to a (potentially) very serious security problem. You can get the details and test your browser here.
A reliable temporary fix for Firefox users can be found here. As yet, there is no fix for Opera (their original response was that they believe the feature is working properly and plan no changes).
Most sources will tell you there's no solution for Safari users, but I found one. Just download and install the free Saft Lite (from the folks who brought you Saft) and you'll get a warning if someone tries to spoof you.
10 Feb 13:10 | Link | Category: Technology & Computing
February 8, 2005
Vintage Vandals
From The Wurst Gallery comes Vintage Vandals. "Each artist was asked to find a framed piece of artwork at their local thrift store and manipulate it into a piece of their own."
08 Feb 18:53 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment
2008 Campaign
Finally, a ticket we can all get behind: Kirk / Spock '08
08 Feb 18:43 | Link | Category: Humor
February 2, 2005
The Absolute Bottom 50 Blogs
From Chickenhead comes the list of absolute bottom 50 blogs (in the same fine tradition as the absolute bottom 50 college courses and Hallmark holidays).
Sadly, some of them are uncomfortably close to a description of this weblog:
- MyCompulsivelyUpdatedLinksToTheNewYorkTimes.com
- IAmBoringAndIfYouAreReadingThisSoAreYou.com
- GeorgeWBushMakesMeSoMadIStartedABlog.org
- TheSameKookyKrazyStuffEveryoneElseIsLinkingTo.com
- ElectronicManifestationOfMyStruggleToBeRelevant.com
These are my other favorites:
- BourgeoisBohemianHipster.com
- PuttingMyLiberalArtsDegreeToSomeUse.com
- FailedJournalist.com
- IronicPopCultureReferencesObscuringAnUtter- LackOfInterestingOpinions.com
- RegurgitatingShitIJustHeardRushLimbaughSay.us
- RegurgitatingShitIJustHeardAlFrankenSay.us
- HotNewConsumerGadgetAdvertisement.net
- TheOnlyWayAnyoneWillEverReadMyHorriblePoetry.org
- VelvetClad.ChunkyGothGirls.com
- PompousRuminationsOnMinutia.org
- ThePissyPontificatingProfessor.com
- MyMostIntenselyPrivateThoughtsAndSecrets- ForAllTheWorldToSee.com
02 Feb 23:07 | Link | Category: Humor, Technology & Computing
Potty Mouth
I had a much-needed laugh today while reading the weblog of Ayelet Waldman. Instead of rudely duplicating the entry here, I'll just point you to the actual post.
02 Feb 21:30 | Link | Category: Humor
Is it time for the U.S. to reconsider nuclear energy?
After the 1979 incident at Three Mile Island (which coincidentally occurred about two weeks after the nuclear power plant coverup/disaster film The China Syndrome opened in theaters), the U.S. nuclear power industry fell into a torpor that was further deepened by the Chernobyl disaster.
In Nuclear Now!, Peter Schwartz and Spencer Reiss offer an argument for waking it up.
Schwartz and Reiss note that in the 25+ years since Three Mile Island, we've searched for alternatives to fossil fuels, but each year we excavate 400 million more tons of coal than did back then, "light it on fire, and shoot the proceeds into the atmosphere."
Not only do fossil fuels drive climate change (a matter over which even some Pentagon experts are scared shitless), the authors note that coal-burning electric plants "have fouled the air with enough heavy metals and other noxious pollutants to cause 15,000 premature deaths annually in the U.S. alone." They also claim that coal-fired plants release a significant amount radioactive material into the air and mention that 5200 Chinese coal miners died in accidents last year alone.
Burning hydrocarbons is a luxury that a planet with 6 billion energy-hungry souls can't afford. There's only one sane practical alternative: nuclear power. We now know that the risks of splitting atoms pale beside the dreadful toll exacted by fossil fuels. Radiation containment, waste disposal, and nuclear weapons proliferation are manageable problems in a way that global warming is not."
The authors say conservation and efficiency are not enough, because energy is "not a luxury people can do without" and note that "the developed world built its wealth on cheap power." Demand for energy will continue to skyrocket, they say, referring to an MIT study that forecasts worldwide energy demand could triple by 2050. "China could build a Three Gorges Dam every year forever and still not meets its growing demand for electricity."
The article details the various promises and failings of renewables, but this probably sums up their ultimate conclusion:
Jesse Ausubel, director of the human environment program at New York's Rockefeller University, calls renewable energy sources 'false gods' - attractive but powerless. They're capital- and land-intensive, and solar is not yet remotely cost-competitive. Despite all the hype, tax breaks, and incentives, the proportion of US electricity production from renewables has actually fallen in the past 15 years, from 11.0 percent to 9.1 percent.
By contrast, they say, nuclear power is thriving around the world. In the U.S., the nuclear power industry hopes to hold on to a 20 percent share of the rapidly growing US power market, but the authors say it's not enough. "We should be shooting to match France, which gets 77 percent of its electricity from nukes."
What about nuclear energy's serious problems such as costly plants, risk of accident, the vexing problem of radioactive waste, and the danger of spent nuclear material falling into the wrong hands? Schwartz and Reiss offer solutions, some of them more satisfactory than others. (For example, the best they can come up with for radioactive waste is "interim storage," saying that we just need to put it somewhere long enough to let it cool down and let us decide what to do with it in a hundred years.) Nevertheless, their ideas are worth consideration, since climate models based on carbon dioxide levels expected later this century predict temperature increases 1.5°C to 4.5°C or - God forbid - even more, if recent simulations from climateprediction.net are accurate. (Let's just hope they're not.)
Schwartz and Reiss say the ultimate goal is "dethroning King Coal" and pushing nuclear power until something better comes along. They provide four steps to increase the momentum: Regulating carbon emissions, recycling nuclear fuel, rekindling innovation, and replacing gasoline with hydrogen.
It's an interesting article and an interesting argument, despite its flaws. Read it (and look at the charts) and let me know what you think. (Was it just PR for the nuclear power industry? Is there validity to their argument? Is it flawed? Is their characterization of renewable energy innacurate?)
You might also be interested in the companion article, Green vs. Green.
02 Feb 21:12 | Link | Category: Current Events, Science
February 1, 2005
The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America
Last night, I wasted some time browsing through TIME's selection of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America.
The writeups on a few of them really made me cringe.
Take Howard and Roberta Ahmanson, savings-and-loan multimillionaires whose private philanthropy has funded, among other things, "an institute linked to the antievolution intelligent-design movement." Over the years, they've been accused of having "an extremist agenda, mostly because a onetime pet charity advocates the Christian reconstructionist branch of theology that says gays and other biblical lawbreakers should be stoned." But - phew! - they've distanced themselves from that one... the follies of youth... well, middle age... whatever.
Then there's David Barton. "The 51-year-old Texan's thesis: that the U.S. was a self-consciously religious nation from the time of the Founders until the 1963 Supreme Court school-prayer ban (which Barton has called 'a rejection of divine law')." He's buddies with Tom DeLay ("whom he has advised on the Pledge Patriot Act, which seeks to keep the phrase 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance") and was "tapped by the RNC during its election sprint as a liaison to social conservatives."
If you ever watch Larry King Live, you've probably seen James Dobson (several transcripts here). Not only is he "advocating policies calling for a ban on gay marriage and for restraint of the judiciary" but he's also "threatening to target Democratic Senators at the polls if they don't vote the way he likes on President Bush's judicial nominations." At the moment, he's embroiled in the current SpongeBob controversy. (Wow, I can't believe I'm even using 'SpongeBob' and 'controversy' next to each other... but then I've used 'Tinky-Winky' and 'controversy' next to each other, so why am I surprised?)
Tim LaHaye (a Bob Jones graduate) is a paranoid fundamentalist (sometimes referred to as a "kook" or "lunatic"). In recent years, he's finally achieved wild success, building a literary empire around his apocalyptic "Left Behind" series (which - I can personally vouch - are quite inexplicably popular even in Mormon suburbia). Intrepid readers are advised to read this disturbing article about LaHaye's past and present.
When I got to the page about Joyce Meyer, I first laughed at the photo. Then I laughed at the text. "She is a traveling road show with a multimedia connection to followers. Meyer, 61, offers a gospel of prosperity that promises that God rewards tithing with his blessing. But her own conspicuously prosperous lifestyle—which, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, includes a $2 million home and a $10 million jet—concerns some Christians." "Meyer says an [IRS] investigation does not worry her, and she continues to deliver her uplifting message on more than 600 TV stations and 400 radio stations as well as in 70 books and scores of stadium-filling appearances."
Finally, there's Senator Rick Santorum. He's the senate's third-ranking Republican who "regularly taps evangelical broadcasters and activists to help mobilize support for their common agenda," and regularly and vocally takes "the point position against gay marriage, abortion rights and judges who defend either." He's best known for his "verbal attacks on gays and supporters of abortion rights." You might remember him for his comments on homosexuality (and his fascination with "man on dog"). (See also: The Daily Show's Senator Rick Santorum mp3 clip.) According to TIME, Santorum has presidential amibions. "'Never say never,' he says—music to evangelical ears."
01 Feb 10:02 | Link | Category: Current Events, Opinion & Thoughts