Pick a team

I haven't understood the rush to end the Democratic primary -- it seemed to me that most voters felt good about their options and would unify behind the winner. But watching the spin and hatchet jobs of the last couple of weeks has changed my mind; enough muck-raking leaves everybody looking distasteful. So I think it's time for Hillary to cut it out. Her odds are long, and if she wants to hang in the race, she at least needs to stop arming the Republicans for the larger war.

Apt

Another score for long-gone Dodd, another political word-game. Can we wrap up this primary already?

Totally engrossing project

So far, she's enchanting to watch, very good-natured, and totally resetting our sense of the passage of time. Still at hospital, feeling more human, home tomorrow. More at a later date . . .



Update: more photos accruing here...

Reporter out!

Looks like our number has been called, so it's time to go off and have a baby. There will surely be pictures almost immediately, and certainly sent by email to many of our closest friends and family, but no idea what the delay will be in getting them up here. Either way, wish us both luck; we hope to be making introductions in a couple of weeks! Ciao!

The end of an era

The significance of this is not what it would once have been, and yet it will resonate for many: Fidel Castro resigns as President of Cuba. Will be interesting to see whether his brother really takes things in a new direction.

I just need five minutes of your time...

Apparently the Congressional Research Service reports that the Iraq war/occupation is costing $222,000 per minute these days -- that's over $1 million for every five minute web-surfing break you take today. Can anybody honestly tell me that with the meter running that fast, there aren't better uses for the money? (Can you say that with a straight face to those just losing their contaminated Katrina trailers and no housing in sight?)

Can't we all just get along?

Fantastic parody of foreign war reporting as applied to territorial housecats, via the Onion. I especially like the analysis of the strategic significance of several prime regions . . .

So confused

Wait, Congressional Democrats have done two good things? (That is, pass a motion of contempt against Meiers and Bolton in the US Attorney firing scandal, and actually stand up to Bush on illegal wiretapping and baseless fearmongering.) Whence the sudden infusion of spine after so long?

Interesting path-crossing

Might Uhuru have left Star Trek if not for Martin Luther King? Amazing. (I must be feeling mushy, because this made me teary.)

I'm always just behind the curve

Apparently there are scholarships available for students who blog, about politics or other select topics. A decade or so too late for me, but still cool.

Pink cellphones were the beginning of the end

Want to target a female demographic? No research or understanding needed; just color your product pink! Want to talk to women about things they care about? Don't try to find out what those things are; they're already "given" to be cooking, babies, and, I dunno, nailpolish.

All of these brilliant insights are captured in this Girl Gamer magazine debut (appropriately skewered by ds Fanboy). It makes me want to hurl. I think the models they were looking for are here or here, and maybe an appropriately sexy piece of equipment would be ... this? And I'm not even trying that hard, let alone hoping for profits. What maroons!

(via Xoverboard/Some Guy with a Website)

Quote of the day

We do not receive wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can make for us, which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world.

- Marcel Proust

(via whiskey river)

Well, when you put it *that* way...

August captures my frustrations over the Congressional FISA fight (should the President's power to wiretap Americans be limited? should the telecoms that handed over your info be held accountable?) with this analogy. Apparently threats from a powerless President still trump the rule of law for many of our representatives. How depressing.

Technically speaking

A technical reviewer test-drives colored pencils. Quite amusing...

(via boing boing)

Get your geek on -- for good!

Wow, am both amused and impressed by this array of science-themed tattoos. I thought about a tat while in graduate school, and I have to say I never considered going with something work-related, but I also respect people who are bold in their geeky immersion to that degree. (I especially like the sea urchin embryo series, but some of the molecular diagrams have to win for pure geek content.)

(via kottke)

One man's disarray...

I'm with those confused by the media narrative that somehow an elongated primary decision process is bad, that it means a party in disarray, blah blah. I mean, obviously, a party can be in a civil war even when its candidate is a foregone conclusion (see: Republican infighting over the vote-worthiness of McCain). And one can have a close-fought series of primaries that allow everybody to be excited and involved without thinking that either of the two choices is a disaster in any way (see: current Democratic race). Medley put it well yesterday:

Two strong candidates, an engaged and participating Democratic electorate -- where's the bad, again?

That's about right. I can see that once you have a clear frontrunner, you can turn to collecting funds for the general, and directing your attacks and criticism at the nominee of the other party -- both of those are important. But I think that continuing to be driven to make yourself available to voters in numerous states, talk about your plans and vision, and get people invested in an outcome are all really good for carrying momentum into the bigger battle anyway. Plus, it's that much more visible coverge before the media starts picking the candidates apart again, which helps keep people from getting disillusioned long before the election comes. I dunno, maybe I'm just naive, but it's exciting to think that my late-April primary may still be important in this race, and I suspect I'm not alone.

Dog and pony show

A political analyst in Rolling Stone writes that the disappointing performance of Congressional Democrats since they took power isn't just a symptom of the unified Republican opposition, but the result of insincere dedication to the very issue that brought them into the majority:

In and around the halls of Congress, the notion that the Democrats made a sincere effort to end the war meets with, at best, derisive laughter. Though few congressional aides would think of saying so on the record, in private many dismiss their party's lame anti-war effort as an absurd dog-and-pony show, a calculated attempt to score political points without ever being serious about bringing the troops home.

It's certainly felt that way from the outside, but hearing it confirmed by insiders is still very disheartening. Perhaps Markos is right that the only way to make this party pay attention to the demands of their constituents is to hit them with viable primary challenges until they start to follow through on their promises. That's certainly a lot harder for everybody than just doing the right thing because you have the opportunity now . . .

Also disturbing is this charge:

Rather than use the vast power they had to end the war, Democrats devoted their energy to making sure that "anti-war activism" became synonymous with "electing Democrats." Capitalizing on America's desire to end the war, they hijacked the anti-war movement itself, filling the ranks of peace groups with loyal party hacks. Anti-war organizations essentially became a political tool for the Democrats — one operated from inside the Beltway and devoted primarily to targeting Republicans.

I think there are plenty of avenues of anti-war activism that are running full throttle, but if the media gets distracted by some high-profile sham efforts, it definitely makes everything harder there too. Bitey bite bite!!

(via local Drinking Liberally troublemakers)

Neat idea

Some Japanese cities have installed these streetlights that harvest solar and wind power to fuel themselves. They seem like a great idea -- in Philly, they'd save not only the cost of the power at night but also the (nontrivial) cost of digging up the street or sidewalk to run the underground wiring. Plus they look pretty striking. Spiff!

(via Rebecca's Pocket)

An amazing photograph

Almost indescribable: a dew-covered insect captured in incredible detail. Wow.

(via kottke)

New toy Friday

I thought I'd be blogging some two-legged pets today, but then yesterday Fed Ex brought me a little surprise to help while away the time until Speck arrives (and, really, to improve my experience of random bits of time after she's here): a new Mac Air.


Click the image above if you want a little slideshow that captures the
step-by-step fun of opening up the boxes and seeing what's inside.

Once I turned it on, I stopped taking pictures and just got to fussin', but I might add some action shots (and other angles) later. I gotta say, the display is really striking, which somehow I hadn't considered. This weekend, I guess I'll figure out which of the many files on my iBook and tablet should really be centralized on the new laptop (especially since I intend to set it up to back up automatically to a wireless TimeCapsule drive).