June 2007
YouTube Philosophy: Martin Heidegger (Part I)
There are no subtitles, but I think that perceived lack actually has a supplementary quality, though I can’t put my figure on what it is yet. Behold, “Im Denken unterwegs”:
As a reward for your continuing dedication:
iPhone First Impressions
Even though I didn’t want to bother covering the iPhone, as it’s basically saturated the MSM over the past few weeks, Alex’s battery-life article is behind the New York Times’s pay wall, so here’s a comprehensive run down of iPhone first impressions from John Gruber of Daring Fireball. Anyone interested in purchasing one should give this a read as it contains a lot of pros and cons not mentioned in more prominent reviews (such as David Pogue’s).
Steve Jobs Is A Battery Fiend
According to an article in today’s Times, the iPhone, which has already broken the golden calf rule, seems to be breaking an unwritten rule of cell phones: you should be able to take the battery out and replace it at the store, for less than 50 dollars. The lithium polymer battery on the iPhone does not come out and wears out after 300 to 400 charges, which for many people will be after their two year warranty is up. It wasn’t funny with the iPod, and it’s not going to be any better when people find that they have to pay 80 bucks and lose their phone for weeks to get a new battery when the problem was known from the start.
Why would Apple commit such mischief? Joe Nocera, the author of the aforementioned article, probably got it right when he said that Mr. Jobs expects that people buying iPhones are going to want a new phone in two years anyway. While that may be true, it’s a shitty way to run a business.
In light of such overwhelming evidence, even a clown like Bryan Klausmeyer would have to question Steve. iHope.
This is, The End of All Hope
Just in case you were tired of him, John McCain has one thing he’d like to remind you of… From the desk of John McCain, who was in the navy:
Dear McCain Supporter,
There are many reasons to support John McCain, but as we approach this quarter’s fundraising deadline tonight at midnight, let me remind you of just one of them…
John McCain is the only candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton.
If you haven’t already done so, I hope you will make a last-minute donation to help our final push before the deadline. Please also pass this message along to your friends and family to remind them of the stakes in this election.
The clock is ticking…
Now sure you might be saying, “Is there any backing for this statement?” and sure, I might say, “no,” but that assertion has the same validity as their’s so the question is… did your mind just get blown?
Steady Strain?
I can’t say I was thrilled when one of my so-called “friends” signed me up for John McCain e-mail updates, but I decided to keep them coming for interest’s sake. Today that decision was rewarded, for I have now learned a thing or two about rigging— one of the most interesting subjects involving ropes.
Dear McCain Supporter,
In the Navy, we often talk of the need to keep a “steady strain” on the lines between ships, to avoid a sudden jerk or movement that could easily snap the line. I’ve always believed a “steady strain” is essential not only at sea, but in life as well.
Politics certainly is not a business of calm seas and light breezes. More like a ship in a storm, in campaign life we ride the high crests and sail through low troughs. I’ve been at the very top and I’ve suffered through the challenges of the bottom. It is through those experiences that I know we must keep the “steady strain.” Our campaign today has already experienced some of this rollercoaster ride, but I strongly believe the “steady strain,” made possible by a strong grassroots organization in the early primary states, is the path to victory. …
Correct me if I’m wrong, but shouldn’t a metaphor help explain a situation to an audience instead of alienating them with bizarre naval jargon? I think it’s fairly obvious that John McCain just wants to remind you: He was in the navy!
China Passes a Sweeping Labor Law
China’s legislature passed a sweeping new labor law today that strengthens protections for workers across its booming economy, rejecting pleas from foreign investors who argued the measure would reduce China’s appeal as a low-wage, business-friendly investment designation.
Damn those dirty Chinese and their growing respect for worker’s rights! Hilarious that the biggest cries for the return to both virtual and actual slave labor in China are foreign investors, multinational companies and America. God bless globalization.
The Strange Case of Chris Benoit
At first I wasn’t really interested in covering this story (for those that don’t know, Chris Benoit, the former WWE wrestler, recently murdered his wife and son and then killed himself), but things have just gotten a whole lot stranger.
Apparently, Benoit’s biography on Wikipedia had the report of the murder 14 hours before the bodies were found by police. Even stranger, the IP traces back to Stamford, Conn., where the WWE is based.
UPDATE: The editor-in-question has issued a public apology, claiming the edit was just a huge coincidence. Huh.
Catch-22: The Real Threat
Catch-22 is a work that the world’s ruling cabals need to keep closer than their friends. It is no surprise that military academies banned it when it was first published, and it is even less surprising that it’s now part of the required course-load at these institutions. Catch-22 is a book full of ideas that threaten the government, the military-industrial complex, and any other force that exerts unreasonable authority over individuals in the name of a greater interest. Joseph Heller undermines historically sacred concepts that act as modes of control throughout the world, and he does it with thorough, robust, intellectually impressive arguments that happen to also be funny as hell. The steadfast soldier becomes a maniac who shoots mice with heavy weapons in his spare time, the wise general becomes a fool concerned only with his own aspirations of higher stature, and the symbol of authority turns out to be nothing more than a pimp with a good sense of fashion. Heller has a keen eye for bullshit and an ability to make us really see the dark, hypocritical underbelly of the arguments and ideals we were raised to believe were infallible. All the arguments he presents have been explored before, but what Heller does is really hit those points home in rapid fire using a unique style of juvenalian satire.
Use of Race in School Placement Curbed
Well, it’s all over the news. It seems that support for affirmative action is now on the decline (have we reached the 25-year-bridge O’Connor spoke of?) This was a rather tragic quote I found in the New York Times:
“While I join Justice Breyer’s eloquent and unanswerable dissent in its entirety, it is appropriate to add these words,” Justice Stevens wrote. “There is a cruel irony in the chief justice’s reliance on our decision in Brown vs. Board of Education.”
It’s tempting to side with the dissenters as someone who labels their self a Leftist, but I feel as though the two opinions are presenting a false choice. I would choose the third choice, which is that, instead of perceiving inequality through the prism of race (almost strictly reserved to African-Americans), we should instead opt to perceive it through socioeconomic inequality (which is the power structure through which racism structurally manifests itself, and the real threat of racism is almost always the structural one), something that Americans find much more difficult to do. Thus, affirmative action seems like a copout and a distracting nostalgia of the Old left, given that zeitgeist racism is against Mexican-Americans (or Mexicans and Latin Americans in general).
We should also keep in mind that it is not just minorities who suffer from socioeconomic discrimination and thus the true enemy is not a race (though, as a caveat I should say that white racism still, obviously, exists), but a class enemy, or rather, “the” class enemy (the bourgeois aristocracy). Affirmative action and race-based policies, instead of elucidating, obfuscate this fact.
We Claim Sea Floor, Moon
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has made an astonishing bid to grab a vast chunk of the Arctic, giving himself claim to its vast potential oil, gas and mineral wealth. His audacious argument that an underwater Russian ridge is linked to the North Pole is likely to lead to an international outcry.
Too bad the Dominion of Melchizedek has already claimed the last free slice of Antarctica. But since Russia is a “real country” they might be mavericks/rogues and declare that Melchizedek’s claim is invalid. But take note, Russia:
Military note: the Antarctic Treaty prohibits any measures of a military nature, such as the establishment of military bases and fortifications, the carrying out of military maneuvers, or the testing of any type of weapon. However, scientific research or any other peaceful purposes such as DOM’s Antarctic Research And Development Board is encouraged and is eagerly sought. DOM’s firm stance against nuclear testing in the Pacific is testimony to the DOM’s international focus banning the use of weapons of mass human destruction.
Any fighting will have to be an unorchestrated bare knuckle brawl with no home base, much like a perilous game of tag… FREEZE TAG!
UPDATE: CANADA OWNS US ALL
Sergei Priamikov, of Russia’s Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute… warned other countries could make counter claims. Canada “could say that the Lomonosov ridge is part of the Canadian shelf, which means Russia should in fact belong to Canada, together with the whole of Eurasia[.]”
YouTube Philosophy: Chomsky vs. Foucault (Part II)
The debate rages on; does human nature stem from society and custom, or does society and custom stem from human nature? Find out (or not) in today’s exciting conclusion of Chomsky vs. Foucault (or: Dracula vs. Buddy Holly).
John Edwards Explains For Young Americans
In a recent interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews, John Edwards defended himself from attacks by Ann Coulter, and also defended using her quotes in his fundraising. Chris Matthews was there to help with this nugget:
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you about how you explain this kind of — it wouldn’t be a tit for a tat — this nastiness the other night, to your older daughter, your college-age or actually law school-age daughter, Kate? How do you explain these kinds of things that happen in politics?
J. EDWARDS: You know, I think the truth is, Chris, I don’t need to explain it to Kate. I mean, because I think she’s extraordinarily mature for her age. She understands that these sort of things go on in politics, that you have to — if you care about what we’re doing — as to what we’ve always — Elizabeth and I have always taught our children: If you care about what you’re doing, if you want to make the lives of other people better, sometimes, if you’re going to do it politically, which is what we’ve chosen to do…
Well it’s good to know that Chris Matthews and John Edwards have faith in the youth of America. I wonder at what age we should assume someone is familiar with political reality? Kate is, of course, mature for her age, so I think after the rest of us complete our post-graduate degrees or pass the bar we can be part of the “understands the meanness of the world” club.
Countdown To Zig-A-Zig Yah
The Spice Girls are making a comeback today. Having seen Spice World and having heard most of their catalog, I can safely say I will be familiar with this comeback. I am lukewarm with anticipation for this expected event. Here is my list of least favorite spice to most favorite spice with a short analysis for each.
YouTube Philosophy: Chomsky vs. Foucault (Part I)
Today’s subject: justice vs. power. Oh, and anarcho-syndicalism.
Child of The Corn: A Midwestern Perspective
In the context of an ever globalizing society, the gravest threats to the stability of the American public often go unnoticed in the digital bazaar, creeping silently into our very homes and ruthlessly smothering all that we hold dear as Americans while we dream our sweet, sweet dreams. From Bin Laden to Zawahiri, the list of notorious enemies continues to blossom in the dark depths of this decaying world; now the greatest threat to our prosperity and happiness has emerged, one that is poised to rip the social fabric of this very nation apart at the seams. As a result, our society will be plunged into a chaotic, primordial wasteland that would leave Thomas Hobbes stating simply, “Damn!” I’m speaking of course about Harry Potter.
Humans Have Spread Globally, and Evolved Locally
Another interesting anthropological article, this time from today’s New York Times. It’s based on kind of a ‘duh’ premise, which is that
Historians often assume that they need pay no attention to human evolution because the process ground to a halt in the distant past. That assumption is looking less and less secure in light of new findings based on decoding human DNA.
I’m not really sure that strawman is at all valid, but it makes a good setup for the rest of the article’s premise. Either way, the thing that I found most interesting was the little map of human DNA geographic distribution. Here’s a small version which, if you click it, will, in fact, enlarge!
It’s interesting to see how this map also correlates to language distribution (aside from the obvious migration patterns that made extinct certain languages and ethnic groups).
YouTube Philosophy: Jacques Derrida (Part II)
Derrida on “Love and Being.” Enjoy?
Adam Kotsko on Generalizations
A very insightful and understated analysis of generalizations, with a particularly scathing analysis of how racist big Others function in American society:
At its most insidious, this “nuanced” form of racism amounts to an accusation that it is really the black people who are all a bunch of racists — they hate whites, they don’t want to join the cultural institutions we’ve so generously opened up to them, we bend over backwards and look what gratitude we get…. These “subtle,” supposedly “non-racist” points are the way white racism circulates in more respectable circles today; the figure of the openly racist hick provides a nice inoculation against feelings of guilt (“I’m not some hick racist — but I’m just saying…”).
The claim that one is not personally a racist thus completely misses the point. Despite the violence they sometimes engage in, the people who are self-consciously virulent racists are arguably the least dangerous on the grand scale — it’s actually the continual disavowal of the existence of racist structures that keeps them inscribed in the white symbolic order. That is to say, it’s precisely because no individual white person directly “is” racist that “white people” are racist.
Viewing American Class Divisions Through MySpace and Facebook
A highly suggested read by Danah Boyd. Here’s the kernel of the argument:
The division around MySpace and Facebook is just another way in which technology is mirroring societal values. Embedded in that is a challenge to a lot of our assumptions about who does what. The “good” kids are doing more “bad” things than we are willing to acknowledge (because they’re the pride and joy of upwardly mobile parents). And, guess what? They’re doing those same bad things online and offline. At the same time, the language and style of the “bad” kids offends most upwardly mobile adults. We see this offline as well.
Of course, this shouldn’t come as a real surprise given the fact that Facebook started as a college-student-only website (originating at Harvard). The far more disturbing conclusion, which this article does not get into, is the class stratification in regards to what Facebook supplements (in the Rosseauist sense of the word): education itself, which can be observed apropos the aforementioned closed-community (Facebook) and the inherent class divisions it has subsequently produced. But rather than attempting to mediate or agitate class divisions vis-a-vis social networking websites, the digital-symbolic divide should serve as a warning to bridge the class-gap in American education. The perfect representation of this socioeconomic (and racial) divide is the Duke rape case, the outcome of which, tragically, was both obvious and expected.
(Thanks to Eric Tobis.)
Rise of Man Theory ‘Out By 400,000 Years’
The Times Online has an interesting article today about some new archaeological findings in North and East Africa that suggest Homo erectus took up settled life 400,000 years earlier than previously thought. Here’s an excerpt:
The accepted timescale of Man’s evolution is being challenged by a German archaeologist who claims to have found evidence that Homo erectus — mankind’s early ancestor, who migrated from Africa to Asia and Europe — began living in settled communities long before the accepted time of 10,000 years ago.
The guy who made the discovery and is positing the claim, Professor Helmut Ziegert, has a great quote:
The first archaeological revolution in fact was not triggered by anatomically ‘modern humans’ in the neolithic, or indeed in the technological and cultural revolution associated with the upper palaeolithic, but by Homo erectus, upright Man, an altogether different ancestral species making waves at the dawn of humanity.
YouTube Philosophy: Jacques Derrida (Part I)
This might be a bit Overt of me, but so be it. Today’s lecture by Jacques Derrida is on the fear of writing. Enjoy.
Infinite Thøught Sums Up ‘Materialism Today’
Here’s a good excerpt from infinite thøught’s “hysterical materialism” post apropos the Materialism Today Conference at University of London Birkbeck, which featured Slavoj Zizek and Alain Badiou:
The Materialism conference was fundamentally flawed and floored by fundamentalists - Christian of course: John Milbank’s weird Daily Mail-ish clerical Schmittian fantasy for a Feudal nationalism delivered in a bellowing windbaggish way was deeply reactionary and a pompous flirtation with fascism. It is not enough that we are all ‘anti-capitalist’: we are not the same kind of anti-capitalists as you, ‘sir’, nor will we ever be!
(Via An und für sich)
Icky Thump: Review
When was the last time you knew where your home was but couldn’t find the door & you wished you had never left your sweetheart under that big brown tree & you don’t know whether it was you or your guitar that was selling pecans to pidgins & everyone’s eyes you didn’t trust?
AFI Updates Top 100 American Films List
While there are some long overdue changes (Vertigo moving up from 61 to 9) and a several judicious additions (Do The Right Thing and Bladerunner), there are quite a bit more baffling ones, for instance: Saving Private Ryan, Toy Story, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Titanic and The Sixth Sense. Who votes for this shit? There’s no fucking way Lord of the Rings is better than Taxi Driver.
On the other hand, it’s not as though these “Top Whatever” lists ever had any actual grounding in reality (e.g., U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100 Universities). Interestingly, the updated Top 100 list is now removed from the AFI’s website unless you register for one of their stupid, useless accounts. Maybe instead of concentrating on how to get more advertising money on their website through user registrations, they should devote more than three hours a year to rethinking what films should go in the list to begin with. Or, better yet, abandon the whole project because it’s an unbelievable waste of everybody’s time and completely self-defeating.
(Via Daring Fireball.)
New Web 2.0-ish Dylan Compilation Album
As if we didn’t need anymore Bob Dylan compilation albums, Columbia Records has announced another new one!—but wait, it’s different! How so? Well, as if we didn’t need anymore proof that Web 2.0 is just a meaningless marketing buzzword, they’ve also announced that the final tracklisting will be “greatly influenced by impassioned fan lobbying” (uh huh…). One look at the ridiculously obscure selections made by Dylan fanatics over at the Dylan Pool just goes to show that (1) another Dylan compilation album is a terrible idea and (2) having Dylan fans vote on the songs is an even worse one. Good job, Columbia.
Rolling Stone’s Rock & Roll Daily blog (which is where I got a bunch of these links from!) then asked its readers to respond with their own suggestions for the album, some of which are great (ridiculous and/or completely irrelevant):
Marty P does his best to combine Comic Book Guy with Yoda, resulting in the supremely idiotic post below:
How about the sound of Bob’s resperator when he breathed in the bat poop dust? That would be better than anything he tried to sing. Most overrated ‘artist’ in all music history, bar none. On this there can be no debate !!
Scotty plays amateur psychoanalyst, but is unknowingly entangled in his own scathing wit:
its always funny all the people who are so angry with the fact that their life sucks that they want to get onto a “Bob Dylan news section” on the INTERNET and complain about something as mundane as their views of Bob Dylan….get a life people…
Sy attempts to form a coherent thought, joke:
yu know i realli love dylan a whole lot, but i dont need 2 have 24 hour news about every single thing he does or is happening. every day there is a new dylan story out on rollingstone.com and im gettin tired of it. Breaking news: Bob Dylan has just sneezed. more info after the jump.
And, my favorite, Dirty Marty writes not once, but twice, and in all caps so you know it’s important:
CORRINA, CORRINA OUTAKES
Maybe Masked & Anonymous was just a way to alienate his stupid fan-base, like when Zizek lauds totalitarianism and The Fountainhead…
UPDATE: The more I think about it, the more this additional greatest hits CD might actually be advanced, especially given the “technology” aspect of it (having users vote on the songs). Hmm..
Summer Solstice Draws Crazies Out of the Woodwork
From The Times/AP:
STONEHENGE, England (AP) — Druids, drummers, pagans and partygoers welcomed the sun Thursday as it rose above the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge on the longest day of the year — the summer solstice.
Clad in antlers, black cloaks and oak leaves, a group of druids cheered and danced at the Heel stone — a twisted, pockmarked pillar at the edge of Stonehenge.
This is probably my favorite quote:
”I love the whole vibe, and the energy, and the fact that these stones, that they are alive, they do breathe, and they do grow … and they’re massive!” she said.
Damn you, New Age obscurantists and neo-pagans! And lest we forget the druids! Oh, the druids! I bet Stonehenge was a prehistoric quarry site (or perhaps a “Hello!” to the Tralfamadorians). Crazy New Agers tend to resemble Ray Walston’s Uncle Martian (or perhaps you prefer Christopher Lloyd from the critically acclaimed film?)
News from the Future
You might have noticed this yourself if you visit the Howler using the Safari browser or if you have a RSS feed for CNET. In case you were some of the lucky people who are now unaware, the XBOX 360 is getting a next-gen ‘Pac-Man.’ Kinda cool right? Now, imagine if I told you this every single time you saw me, and you were one of those people I see everyday. Imagine if that was the first thing you heard me say whenever I entered the same room, or hell, even within earshot of you. Annoying, yes?
For All of You Budding Ornithologists
One of today’s editorials in The New York Times makes an urgent plea to citizens of the world following the Audubon Society’s report last week that the average decline of 20 selected bird species is 68 percent. Here’s a good part:
In our everyday economic behavior, we seem determined to discover whether we can live alone on earth…The trouble with humans is that even the smallest changes in our behavior require an epiphany. And yet compared to the fixity of other species, the narrowness of their habitats, the strictness of their diets, the precision of the niches they occupy, we are flexibility itself. We look around us, expecting the rest of the world’s occupants to adapt to the changes that we have caused, when, in fact, we have the right to expect adaptation only from ourselves.
Hmm.. I’m tempted to care, but, on the other hand, birds are not mentioned in the Constitution and protecting them just leads down the slippery slope of socialism!
The Pressure’s Building
Environmentalists the world round have just received a powerful new weapon - the air-powered car. The car in question, the CityCAT, designed by Indian auto-giant Tata motors should hit the Indian market in August 2008 at a price of just $12,700. The specs of this vehicle are a green wet dream and an auto-enthusiast’s nightmare: it takes just two dollars of electricity to fill up the tank with compressed air, and this gives the car a range of 125 miles and a top speed of 68 mph1.
Read more on The Pressure’s Building…
- World’s First Air-Powered Car: Zero Emissions by Next Summer, Popular Mechanics, June 2007. ↩
A Rattletrap East German Icon Has Its Day Again
An entire Times article devoted to the Trabi, the quintessential symbol of East German social democracy and the objective correlative to ostalgie. I’ve kind of wanted one ever since I saw it in Redaktion-D.
Insurgency, Decaffeinated
One of the major crises facing the U.S. occupation of Iraq is that of the insurgency, and even without being aware of the ideologico-political specifics of the insurgency itself, it is obvious to anyone who at least reads newspapers (or even more passively, catches a glimpse of network news whilst waiting for one’s plane to board) that the conflict is embroiled in an almost impossibly complicated paramilitary brawl—a civil war—, ranging from former Ba’athist loyalists to Marxist revolutionaries. Perhaps then it is interesting to note, as Mahmood Mamdani eloquently does in his The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency, the problematic differentiation between the civil war in Iraq and the civil war in Sudan, namely in the Darfur region.
The Auteur Candidate
Mike Gravel’s influences include David Lynch and Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests. I’m intrigued simply because he’s willing to take such risks.
Japanese Gundam Bubbles
Here, watch this YouTube video, but first, do two things:
- Skip past the first 6 minutes unless you want to see a bunch of middle aged men play soccer with robots.
- Mute the damn thing. I can’t stand the reporter. Don’t worry about the content, I’ll tell you everything you need to know.
So anyway, the game those Japanese kids are playing is called Gundam: Bonds of War. You get 3-4 friends and you take over all these machines in an arcade. Congrats, now you guys are a unit. Using the power of the internet, competing groups of friends can do battle with each other in what looks to me to be a really bitching giant robot piloting experience. I want an American release so bad, but we don’t have arcades anymore. Truly, we are missing out.
Also, if you can read Japanese, this web site looks semi-official.
Giant Bird-Like Dinosaur Fossil Found in China
Despite its girth, the Gigantoraptor was no match for 40 foot Japanese animatronic robots found in the late Cretaceous period
Scientists have uncovered a huge surprise in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China: the fossil skeleton of an unusually robust bird-like dinosaur that lived 70 million years ago. The animal appeared to be a young adult 25 feet long and weighing 3,000 pounds and, if it had lived longer, would probably have grown even larger. Paleontologists said the discovery contradicted widely-held theories that carnivorous dinosaurs got smaller as they evolved more bird-like characteristics. But they emphasized that the new specimen did not challenge the theorized dinosaur-bird link.
Gigantoraptor erlianensis, named after the Erlian basin in Inner Mongolia in which it was excavated, is considered to be more of an “exception to the rule” of gradual size decrease than a contradiction of it. Of note in the article is the theory that it retained minimal amounts of feathers for courtship rituals despite hindering heat dissipation (with an analogy to the ostrich). I wonder if it will be included in the new Creationist museum?
Smooth Performances
Remember that month when we were basically a YouTube filter? Well, here’s three you may have missed.
First, it’s Bob Dylan performing Hava Nagilla on public television. Amazing, no? (Thanks, to this place.)
Then, the raspy French funk of Nino Ferrer.
And finally, and amazing performance of a truly underrated Bowie song on Jonathan Ross.
Hilton Humiliation and the Penal System
If one wanted to sell magazines to old people, one could simply put a picture of Paris Hilton on the cover with the words “Generation Hilton” next to her. Then include some statistics that say things like “today’s generation is crankier than ever” and “they have too much sex.” Control over generational representation seems to be gained only when the generation is almost dead– see Greatest Generation. Until then we’re likely to suffer a litany of attacks about our propensity to use computers, play hip-hop and wear white belts with that “I just don’t care” swagger. Meanwhile as the baby boomers approach their golden age, the news services are sure to tell us how great Buffalo Springfield was and that the 60s were the most important time in the history of America.
Nerves Might Run On Sound
Andrew Jackson (no, not the former U.S. President) and Thomas Heimburg from the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark have taken a stab at solving some of the inconsistencies found in the Hodgkin-Huxley model, which, to put it simply, states that nerves run on electricity. Here’s the gist of the WIRED article:
Their theory, published in the Biophysical Journal, explains how nerves and anesthetics work as follows: Nerves are made of lipids that are liquid at body temperature. A yet-to-be-defined mechanism creates high-pressure, semisolid waves that move through the cells, delivering messages. Anesthetics, they suggest, lower the temperature at which lipids become solid, making it difficult for the waves to form, thereby preventing nerves from sending pain signals. They also suggest that as the waves travel, they change the shape of the cell membrane, producing the electrical pulse that scientists currently mistake for the primary function of nerve cells.
Like the Aquatic-Ape theory, there’s still no empirical evidence to support these claims, but it’s a very intriguing theory nevertheless.
Don’t Stop Believin’!
Did Tony get whacked? Maybe. But you definitely did:
The audience got whacked! We never saw it coming, just like Tony always said about a hit. Cut to black…no sound…we’re dead. Brilliant ending.
Sigh.
Where Are The Frogs, Mr. McCartney?
Paul McCartney looks like he’s going to the top this weekend with a number one selling Starbucks album. Longtime fans like me can’t help but sigh when we think of the quality of his earlier work. When did he become part of the machine working for the man? Let’s take a look at his pure glorified artistic genius of days past, when it was all about the music:
Seriously though, Paul McCartney is a genius. One of the single greatest contributors to popular music. His music endures the test of time… but only through the power of SATAN!
If you think I am being ridiculous, then consider the fact that Paul McCartney did the same exact thing on his 1971 album, RAM. Pictured to the left is Paul McCartney’s 1971 album cover. One may contend that there is a vast difference between a goat and a ram; but, if you research the subject of witchcraft, you’ll learn that BOTH animals are extremely popular in witchcraft. Look again at the definition from the Encyclopedia Mythica of a goat…((The Beach Boys and Satan))
Zizek and House
I found this interesting analysis of television’s House on An und für sich (which, to those who don’t speak German or know about Kant, translates to “the thing in itself”/”object(s) of inquiry”/”noumenon”). Here’s the Kantian proposition of the argument:
House confronts him with the basic falsity of his stance. Yes, from the perspective of everyday values, the truly medical man does appear to be a moral monster. The solution, however, is not to pretend that this is not the case, but to fully embrace it in order to be as ruthlessly (in the strict sense of “mercilessly,” as when Foreman submits the patient to extreme pain in order to save the patient’s brother) effective as possible. Only by deriving his enjoyment directly from the medical situation is House able to perform purely and truly as a doctor — everyone else, with their concern for factors that are “pathological” with regard to the medical situation (gratitude of patients, etc.), not only fails to face the moral monstrosity that medicine really is, but also compromises their very medical judgment.
If you like House and/or “thinking” (I think that excludes most of our Ron Paul commenters), you should read this article.
Reasons I Don’t Support Ron Paul
He’s all the rage on the internet (as if that mattered) but I’m troubled by leftist friends who swoon over Ron Paul without really exploring his policies. Then again, a lot of them aren’t on his main website, which is where a quick Google search and OnTheIssues.org came in handy. Sure, he’s the only Republican who’s right on Iraq, but here are some reasons I don’t support Ron Paul:
Scientific American Asks: Why Are We Hairless?
Indeed, the same question I often find myself pondering at late hours of the night. Regardless, Mark Pagel, head of the evolutionary biology group at the University of Reading in England and editor of The Encyclopedia of Evolution, suggests that
…ancestors to modern humans became naked as a means to reduce the prevalence of external parasites that routinely infest fur. A furry coat provides an attractive and safe haven for insects such as ticks, lice, biting flies and other “ectoparasites.” These creatures not only bring irritation and annoyance but carry viral, bacterial and protozoan-based diseases such as malaria, sleeping sickness, West Nile and Lyme disease, all of which can cause chronic medical problems and, in some cases, death. Humans, by virtue of being able to build fires, construct shelters and produce clothes, would have been able to lose their fur and thereby reduce the numbers of parasites they were carrying without suffering from the cold at night or in colder climates.
Personally, I’m more of a fan of Aquatic-Ape Theory (which they thankfully mention in the article). Just look at the Rhesus Macaque—they’re such good swimmers! Maybe one day they’ll have some sort of evidence to support their claims, but until then we can keep dreaming. (But on a more serious note, I still find Stephen Jay Gould’s Neoteny theory a bit more convincing than either of the aforementioned ones.)
Apple And The Art of Innovation
The cover story of this month’s print edition of The Economist is all about Apple (see above title). The article is okay, but for all of the great covers that they have, this has got to be the least artistic and least innovative of any of them. Oh, and the thing about the previously failed attempt at a music phone is not true, all Apple did was license a mobile-version of their iTunes software for Motorola.
Here’s a good excerpt:
Apple illustrates the importance of designing new products around the needs of the user, not the demands of the technology. Too many technology firms think that clever innards are enough to sell their products, resulting in gizmos designed by engineers for engineers. Apple has consistently combined clever technology with simplicity and ease of use. The iPod was not the first digital-music player, but it was the first to make transferring and organising music, and buying it online, easy enough for almost anyone to have a go.
And on a separate note, even though Bill Gates might be the more philanthropic of the two, Steve Jobs is still way better. “To the best of my knowledge, in the last decade or more, Jobs has not spoken up on any social or political issue he believes in—with the exception of admitting he’s a big Bob Dylan fan.”
Way better.
CONFLICT! Music’s Future
With sites like Wikipedia, Digg and YouTube coming into their own in the last few years, the power of collective groups on the Internet has received its fair share of press. While the power of collectives may be on the rise, the recent White Stripes leak and subsequent backlash from said band has highlighted an often overlooked sacrifice to collective power—individual artistic control.
“Hero’s Health Card”
Catching up with the Democratic debate a few nights ago, I thought I’d highlight one of the more bizarre promises the candidates made. Apparently, Bill Richardson is calling for something called a “Hero’s Health Card” for veterans which will allow them access to any hospital they choose.
Health Care
Governor Richardson believes in universal health care to provide quality, affordable coverage for all Americans. His plan would give people the choice to keep their current coverage or obtain coverage through an existing, well-established program. The Richardson plan can be paid for without raising taxes and will not create a new bureaucracy. The plan will also ensure our Veterans have the quality health care they deserve by providing them with a Hero’s Health Card, meaning they can get care at a provider of their choice instead of traveling long distances to the closest VA facility.
They’ll also be recieving free candy in the mail, and special “Hero’s Pants” at JC Penny. No word yet on when the “Get out of Iraq free” cards will be issued.
Stop Her Now: An Exploration
In Matt Taibbi’s latest article in Rolling Stone, “Giuliani: Worse Than Bush,” he mentions an anti-Hilary group called Stop Her Now.
“Chris Henick, formerly Karl Rove’s most trusted deputy, is now a key aide at Giuliani Partners, the security firm set up by the mayor to cash in on his 9/11 image. One of his top donors, Richard Collins, is a longtime Bush supporter who was instrumental in setting up “Stop Her Now,” a 527 group modeled on Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that will be used to attack Hillary Clinton. And the money for the smear campaign comes from the same Texas sources behind the Swift Boaters, including oilman T. Boone Pickens and Houston home builder Bob Perry.’”
Above the Influence of Reason
The Office of National Drug Control Policy, headquarters of the Above the Influence campaign, is the kind of kafkaesque governmental office that you’d expect to find in Catch-22. According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, 1.2 billion dollars were spent between 1998 and 2004 on anti-drug campaigns, with no discernable effect. Turn on the TV, and you watch regular teenagers turn into pancakes from smoking pot. Go to Above the Influence’s website, and you can see the strangely offensive mock nature-documentary “Stoners in the Mist”. This campaign is the publicity front of a War on Drugs that ends up sentencing African-Americans 74%1 of the time even though they only make up 13% of the population. Milo Minderbinder must be making a cut somewhere. Don’t get me wrong; these commercials are hilarious, and an important part of marijuana culture. But I’m sure 1.2 billion dollars could have gone to better effect than giving a few stoners a laugh.
Read more on Above the Influence of Reason…
- War on Drugs Unfairly Targets African-Americans, St. Louis Post-Dispatch 12 April 2000. ↩
Barack Obama and the Culture of Life
Barack Obama’s health care proposal is the kind of bouquet you would buy at CVS if you were running late to a date: you’ve seen each flower before, it seems mildly appealing at first, and clearly a lot of thought has gone into making sure it doesn’t offend anyone. But you’re going to spend a lot of money and you’re not going to get the results you want. As you go home disappointed that night, you’ll realize that you should have spent the time and money, gone to a florist, and gotten a real bouquet instead of looking for a quick, popular fix. I can only hope that the American people won’t put out for this kind superficial gesture, despite Barack’s undeniable “study session hook up” appeal. With a palpable change of winds gripping Washington, it is time for America to open up a serious and complete dialogue about our health care system. In the wake of Jack Kevorkian’s release from prison,1 it is time to face the fact that any serious and complete dialogue will have to involve a discussion of values and not just efficiency.
Read more on Barack Obama and the Culture of Life…
- Kevorkian Is Released From Prison, New York Times, 1 June 2007. ↩