Still an hour left

Election Day today! Races are big in some places, small in others, but part of the job of Citizen wherever you are!

Twitter silly of the day

I hate paying bills... Son, don't say "me too." I didn't say that looking to relate to you. I said it instead of "go away".

- shitmydadsays

Poem of the day

Choosing to Think of It

Today, ten thousand people will die
and their small replacements will bring joy
and this will make sense to someone
removed from any sense of loss.
I, too, will die a little and carry on,
doing some paperwork, driving myself
home. The sky is simply overcast,
nothing is any less than it was
yesterday or the day before. In short,
there's no reason or every reason
why I'm choosing to think of this now.
The short-lived holiness
true lovers know, making them unaccountable
except to spirit and themselves - suddenly
I want to be that insufferable and selfish,
that sharpened and tuned.
I'm going to think of what it means
to be an animal crossing a highway,
to be a human without a useful prayer
setting off on one of those journeys
we humans take. I don't expect anything
to change. I just want to be filled up
a little more with what exists,
tipped toward the laughter which understands
I'm nothing and all there is.
By evening, the promised storm
will arrive. A few in small boats
will be taken by surprise.
There will be survivors, and even they will die.

- Stephen Dunn

(via whiskey river)

What is and isn't news

Many journalists seem consternated by the White House's challenging Fox for the bias in its news coverage, as though They Could Be Next. I'm sorry, but Fox is more than quantitatively different from other network and cable organizations -- it isn't just biased, it (1) fakes its own news events (funding the "Tea Partyers," for example), (2) circulates GOP talking points without critique or context, and (3) reports the crazed ideas of its commentators as things that "are being said," as though any sane person elsewhere might be discussing such notions. Analogies with MSNBC just don't fly.

Anyway, I think that Rafe is onto something when he says that the Whitehouse is bothering to make statements about Fox's problems to put the other networks on notice that they shouldn't view such Fox-generated fluff as real news.

That’s the reason behind the White House is calling Fox News out — they can afford for Fox News to be what it is, but they don’t want the New York Times or CNN to factor the priorities of Fox News into their own editorial judgement.

Indeed. The insider-driven nature of contemporary news coverage is bad enough just because of the goldfish-bowl culture of DC journalists, without their getting sucked into the fake news business by the bottom feeders among them.

Friday foot-fethish-I-mean baby photo

I'm way overdue for uploading new photos, not least current Halloween costumey goodness, but life has just been beyond me lately. Hopefully some recent ones will trickle into the electrons soon, but meantime, a little sentimental out-take...

It's fun to be a woman today

• Female boomers may be the driving force for fundamental reform in the healthcare system, demanding support for all of the informal caregiving that they do at home -- and the country may be best served by "upping their game" rather than trying to substitute professional services for such a large sector of unpaid care.
  (via a Medley tweet)
  
  
• On the other hand, insurers find women pesky, and routinely charge them more for insurance -- you know, either they want birth control or they need maternity care; either way it's just more bother for the corporate guys. (And that's not even considering whether they have the "pre-existing condition" of having had a C-section at some point in the past!)
  (via Atrios?)
  
  
• Here's a point that can't be made too often: Stop Talking About Work+Life Flex Solely in the Context of Women -- not just because there are men who would like to take care of their families (or already are), but because it ghettoizes these issues as outside the mainstream, which they clearly are not. Lots of people benefit from increased workplace flexibility.
  (via a Medley tweet)
  
  
• We fancy ourselves enlightened, but comedy is no place for women, writers at least. Part of the way that insider cultures serve to exclude without the need for overt biased intention, and that societal sexualization of women makes it impossible for colleagues to think of them in any other way. Among other things.
  (via a Medley tweet)
  

Strategic randomness

For anybody who likes to think about strategy, game design, and/or what makes things fun, I recommend this long but fascinating exploration of randomness and how it interacts with cleverness and strategy to make games fun and varied. Lot of interesting insights there on games you know, some you don't, and how similar problems can be approached in very different ways. And so forth.

(via some discussion or Tweet from the Asymmetric staff)

Jammin' babies

Inspired: techno-pop tunes made from baby videos. I especially liked the percussive sneezing... (and really, all that baby spam should be serving *some* artistic end! hah!)

Friday baby-blogging

Has been a long time since I uploaded new Speck pics, let alone posted any. So, photos from about a month ago (thus 19 months old), when Mom managed to get her for an end-of-season visit to the Smith Playhouse playground again. Lots of colorful goodness there...


Climbing through a circular doorway


Deep in concentration on an abacus-type toy


Just like this face, scoping the options for where to go next...

Happy fall weekend, all!

Twitter quote of the day

The baby will talk when he talks, relax. It ain't like he knows the cure for cancer and he just ain't spitting it out.

-shitmydadsays

Random Tuesday linkage

• A spiffy story on how just about anything can be negotiated, from minor purchases to major projects. Amusing and amazing.
  (via kottke)
  
  
• Written for geeks, but really true of just about anyone: the value of finding Your People, a group that's not quite the same as your best friends.
  (via Medley)
  
  
• Things you don't want to read about the economic realm:
  1. Next Asset Bubble Could Come Sooner Than You Think -- the ripples of herd mentality
     
  2. How Wall Street is making its billions -- free government loans, invested in government bonds -- i.e., lending the government its own money for a couple of % gain with no positive effect on the economy as a whole.
  (I think these are both via Atrios)
  
  
• Dora The Explorer Matters To Boys, a sign of her success at proving that children will identify with protagonists who are cool and get to do neat things.
  
  
• The Obama administration realizes it has better things to do than fight states over medical marijuana, and tells federal prosecutors to get busy elsewhere. Imagine.
  
  
• And, a little art story that gets at several kids of coolness, including the inspired performance itself and the fact that anybody in the world can see a performance from Ukraine's Got Talent. Ah, the Internet era!
  

Hilarious bit for Monday

For it's own sake, but even more because of all the parental paranoia and development-tracking that I and all my fellows wallow in, I love this McSweeney's edition of What to Expect. That is to say, I nearly snorted my morning tea.

(via kottke)

Quote of the day

There is so much baggage we burden ourselves with over the years that keeps us from seeing things the way they are. Some baggage we carry with us for a single thought, some for years, and some for lifetimes. But there isn't one piece that isn't our own creation.

- Bill Porter (Red Pine)
Zen Baggage

(via whiskey river)

Going shampoo-free

Just wanted to take a moment to confess/proclaim that I've joined the "no-poo" movement. That is, I no longer use shampoo to wash my hair. There are a lot of reasons one might do this, from the environmental to the economic, but I did it because some combination of middle age and parenthood had left my hair so dry and lifeless that I was thinking about cutting it all off. I'd bumped into some discussion of giving up shampoo (using either all-conditioner, or a combination of baking soda wash and vinegar rinse, instead) and finding that one's hair was healthier, fuller, and altogether easier to deal with, so I figured I had nothing to lose by trying.

If anybody's curious, here are two decent links to explain the reasoning behind giving up shampoo, as well as how to go about it and what to expect: Ditching shampoo a dirty little beauty secret and The No-’Poo Do. Until the 1970s, the idea of washing your hair every day (and then conditioning, to partly make up for the harshness of shampoo's stripping effects) was unheard of -- this is an American norm that marketing folks created, so we shouldn't just accept it without examination, even if we like all the smells in the morning...

Well, it's been a couple of months now -- I slipped once and tried the medicated shampoo when my allergies had my scalp really bothering me, and I immediately repented, seeing how slaughtered everything looked as a result. Still tweaking some details, like how much soda/vinegar should be in those solutions, how best to keep it convenient in the shower (let alone for travel), etc. -- but my hair has been so much fuller and happier that people have actually asked me about it. It took a couple of weeks for my hair to adjust to not having all of its oils stripped again and again, and I've added a boar-bristle brush to my evening regimen, but otherwise it's just basically the same old me, clean but unscented, and healthier than before. There may still be a haircut in my future, but it won't be because it's all about to fall off!

Twitter funny of the day

Politics doesn't stop at the water's edge. It just pauses there for a moment because of surface tension.

- HunterDK

Friday link-dump

Things I appear not to be blogging, but want to:

• Expand transit, and all the housing nearby becomes very popular -- couldn't this become a positive feedback loop, beneficial to all concerned???
  Edit: ah, it can lead to displacing the poor and elderly. Bummer.
  (via Atrios)
  
  
• Imagine a composite photograph you wish you could see? Just make a sketch and the Internets can work their magic. Mind-blowing.
  
  
• Gradual evolution of the angry right-wing: conservatives rewrite the Bible so that, of course, it supports their views. Parody dies, violence and hatred continue to grow. Creep-tastic.
  (first link via Medley's twitter feed; second from Atrios)
  
  
• More environmental arguments against beef -- putting it in terms understandable by those of use who choose transit, turn off lights, and generally try to Make Things Better. Sigh.
  (via Atrios)
  
  
• Was more than surprised to hear about the Nobel Peace Prize -- some sense is made of it here, as well as telling contrasts between the reactions at home and abroad.
  (via Medley's twitter feed)

Have a good weekend, all!

Science can be art

A lot of silliness is made by "autotuning" various speeches and clips, to varying effect. Thus far, I have been unmoved, but this montage of Carl Sagan really worked for me -- his philosophizing fits well with emotional music, and the net effect is sort of joyous....

DNC steps up

Running an ad for healthcare -- my favorite quote: "...when health care is treated as a privilege, only the privileged receive it." Amen. More please!

Quote of the day

It is a mistake to suppose that birth turns into death. Birth is a phase that is an entire period of itself, with its own past and future. In other words, every moment of living is full and complete. It's not leading to something else. It's not in the process of turning into something else. It's absolutely complete in and of itself, and all of time is included in that one moment of experience. If we were able to live it truly enough, we would feel the weight of it.

- Norman Fischer
Birth and Death

(via whiskey river)

Keeping up with a toddler

Recently Spouse and I are making a circuit of local playgrounds, trying to figure out where they are and which are worth visiting. And, obviously, Speck comes along on these outings, to provide her own perspective (and help us calibrate the equipment's age-appeal). And sometimes we tie in a local restaurant or other outing of interest to the parents involved, especially if it's one we don't otherwise get to.

So, up in the Fairmount neighborhood there's a restaurant we've managed to visit on maybe 2-3 (successful or rained-out) playground visits, the last one over a month ago. The last time, we sat outside in their side patio, and I threw some biscuit crumbs for a family of hungry sparrows, much to Speck's amazement and delight. This time (Sunday afternoon) we sit in front, almost inside the restaurant, totally different chairs and setting. But when I offer Speck some of the complementary corn muffins, she immediately indicates the ground, a tossing motion, and even points to the distant bend where the patio begins. Feed the sparrows, silly Parent!!

Nineteen months old, and hadn't been there in a month. I didn't even remember the sparrows. This stuff blows my mind every time.

So much to convey, so little time

Totally
hilarious:
The Mom Song.
Parenting in a nutshell, at least after the diaper age... (what does it mean that I got teary in the middle??)

(via a local parents' support group)

Twitter giggle of the day

You're like a tornado of bullshit right now. We'll talk again after your bullshit dies out over someone else's house.

-shitmydadsays

Grim statistics

Total unemployment + underemployment is close to 17% this month. That's some ugly stuff...
But the recession is over! over!!

(via Atrios)

Hard to imagine

...but this blog is 5 years old today! Who'd have thought I'd still consider it such a vital way to express/record my thoughts and discoveries, from Bush rage to parental photodeluge. Thanks to all who showed the way -- here's hoping I'll still be around in another 5!

Unexpected consequences, edition X + 1

Wow, talk about things you'd never think of (but that sort of make sense in retrospect): hybrid cars hit more pedestrians and bikers because they're so silent! Reassuringly or hilariously, manufacturers are considering adding car sounds to their cars' electric modes (rather like a sulfer smell is added to household gas lines) so they're more easily perceived...

(via rc3.org)

Framing

Just love this: More Americans Believe In UFOs Than Oppose A Public Option . . .

(via an email from MoveOn)

Life on (in?) the information superhighway

We hear lots about how texting ruins grammar, the Internet makes us dumber, the next generation is bound to be idiots. Or something like that. In the last couple of weeks, have encountered two articles making the opposite argument, that by writing more in a more public context, a larger percentage of the population is becoming comfortable with writing prose and with using it to make arguments and effect change.

• The first looks at college Stanford student writing and finds that a huge percentage of it occurs outside of class assignments, meaning that this generation is writing more than any generation before them.

  Before the Internet came along, most Americans never wrote anything, ever, that wasn't a school assignment. Unless they got a job that required producing text (like in law, advertising, or media), they'd leave school and virtually never construct a paragraph again.
  
  But is this explosion of prose good, on a technical level? Yes. Lunsford's team found that the students were remarkably adept at what rhetoricians call kairos—-assessing their audience and adapting their tone and technique to best get their point across. The modern world of online writing, particularly in chat and on discussion threads, is conversational and public, which makes it closer to the Greek tradition of argument than the asynchronous letter and essay writing of 50 years ago.

  This may or may not generalize to all levels of education (I suspect that Stanford undergrads are not very representative), but I think it's true that even the less "literate" are jumping in and expressing themselves, which has to be good for their flexibility of thought. Only time will tell.
  
  
• The second article traces the tendency of the public to decry any new technology as spelling the end of civilization...

  I start with Plato's critique of writing where he says that if we depend on writing, we will lose the ability to remember things. Our memory will become weak. And he also criticizes writing because the written text is not interactive in the way spoken communication is. He also says that written words are essentially shadows of the things they represent. They're not the thing itself. Of course we remember all this because Plato wrote it down -- the ultimate irony.

  This author notes that many technological innovations have given more people access to the means of "publication" and gradually reduced the gatekeeper function of scribes, then publishers, etc., until anybody can be an "author" to some kind of audience.

  Opening up writing to new voices can’t be a bad thing. We’re seeing this spiral. The more people use technology, the more people communicate, the more people in power become concerned with how to control that use. There are two forces pushing against each other. ... [I]t’s similar to what happened when printing presses became a major means of communication or when radio and TV became major communication players. How do you license, how do you control what gets said on the air?

  It's also worth noting that he talks explicitly about kids outgrowing their use of emoticons and becoming (rather rigid) users of standard grammar and punctuation, thus dismissing one of the standard arguments made against all that texting and chat. Various other interesting bits there too.

Apologies to whoever referred me to these articles -- I sort of think one was from Follow Me Here and the other from Atrios, but that's just a guess...

Tuesday baby fun

In the last month or so, Speck, who loves carousels, finally asked to move from the stationary seats (usually a bench) to the animals that move up and down. She watched the other kids intently for her last couple of stationary rides, weighing the move. Here are her first two such outings, recorded for posterity...


On the fancy horses at the historic carousel at the Please Touch Museum.


On a leopard at the Philadelphia Zoo's rainforest carousel.

Thanks to Papou for being there to catch the waves and take the pics! :)

Tuesday giggle

Legislators' amorous emails, as performance art. Good contrasts of style . . .

Occasional reminders never hurt

Sen. Al Franken reads the 4th Amendment of the Constitution to a Justice Department official giving testimony before his committee. Apparently the Constitution is rather passe these days...

(via a Medley tweet)

Who's looking out for the Big Guys?

All this talk of protecting the little people, who's worrying about the Fat Cats? A touching tribute to insurance executives and... all they do.

Today's schadenfreude

Ah, legislators, the law of unintended consequences has kicked your butts. Let's start rewarding the well-behaving instead of the well-connected! Heck, let's make this take effect in my hometown! :)

(via Medley via Greenwald)

Imagine that!

When women opt out of their jobs to become full-time moms, their future prospects take a hit, not only in their derailed career paths, but in the lack of options when the economy tanks or their husbands take leave...

For the major media that romanticized opting out as the soothing solution to the stress of juggling work and family, the devastation that choice has left in its wake represents merely another story. But for the women who got sold a bill of goods and gambled their futures without understanding the risks they were taking, losing that bet turned out to be the biggest mistake of their lives.

I'd like to say that They Should Have Known Better, but in our "post-feminist era," the wealth of pressures from family and media, as well as the impression that women's woes have been fixed, mean that many young women aren't even aware of the real data, let alone prepared to apply it to their own lives. Nobody wins in that situation, not even the kids whose welfare os supposed to be at root of the decision.

(via Atrios)

Poem/quote of the day

We'll never get there,
Time is always ahead of us,
running down the beach, urging
us on faster, faster, but sometimes
we take off our watches,
sometimes we lie in the hammock,
caught between the mesh
of rope and the net of stars,
suspended, tangled up
in love, running out of time.

- Barbara Crooker
In The Middle

(via whiskey river)

More celebration of our post-racist society

Just don't bump into cranky cops. Because near-deadly force makes a great come-back.

Friday frolic: kid vids from summer fun

Finally got around to uploading a smattering of Speck videos from the summer. Thought these two would be fun for the general viewer and also capture some of her current personality...


Chasing bubbles at the wedding reception in Scotland (at 17 months)


Stomping puddles! oh, the joy!! (17.5 mo)

The status quo is not acceptable

A new study shows 45k people die from lack of decent health insurance every year in the US:

"We're losing more Americans every day because of inaction ... than drunk driving and homicide combined," Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters.

And yet homicide is an epidemic that we have to address, and lack of insurance... eh, they should have planned better. This is a moral issue, people!

Today's fun with science

Always wondered about the accelerating expansion of the universe? Perhaps it's really just that the progression of time is slowing . . . It's hard not to be curious about the point at which time ceases to advance. But, um, it makes my mind reel.

(via Follow Me Here)

Flying -- 100 reasons to avoid it

Atrios is onto something here. I've been flying for some 35 years, and just in the last couple have I started taking the Hassle of Getting There into account when contemplating trips -- will I be there long enough to justify two degrading and frustrating security passes? Is the speed really preferable to, say, the comfort and cleanliness of a train? Could I go somewhere nearby and nearly as nice (see: Montreal for Paris, etc.)? And that is for somebody who doesn't strictly have to count pennies when planning a vacation. The airline industry might just have to start caring about its passengers again, lest it find itself freed from any need . . .

Paved with good intentions

What could sound more friendly than "dolphin-safe tuna"? Turns out it's actually a bit of an ecological disaster in practice...

(via kottke)

National blogger cares more than local politicians

Cory Doctorow excoriates the threatened closing of Philadelphia's library system. It's a wonderful tribute to what libraries represent to individual users and vast cultures...

(via a Medley tweet)

That so-called liberal media

Just trumpeting those crazy liberal ideas again... Sigh.

Suggestions to keep one up at night...

Just

say

NO!

The more things change...

...the more the South continues to play the white master/subservient black man game. They've spent centuries building the layers of coded language so that even the mildest comment carries unmistakable resonances to its intended audience...

mmm, makes you feel good about America, don't it?

Some things, what needs linked

• Discussions about penalties for drunk driving need to take into account that bars are largely built into a car culture (like stadiums built in the middle of seas of parking lots) -- perhaps there is more than one way to reduce this problem!
  
  
• In a similar vein (that is, Missing the Point), I hope that civic planners take note that Phoenix's new transit system is being used mostly by non-commuters, even though that's never what they plan around. Everyday life much? (Atrios doesn't even mention such inconceivables as closing down transit service on July 4 when you live in a region whose primary tourist draw is rooted in our national history, not to mention large celebrations thereof.)
  
  
• Our military contractor system is screwed in a number of ways, from financial costs to oversight to moral problems to stealing our best military folk. But, um, what to make of there being more contractors than military personnel in Afghanistan?!?!?
  
  
• Tomorrow night is a big Obama healthcare speech. I understand where this writer is coming from in claiming that Obama needs not just (or even) to win the policy war but to restore the hopes of his many onetime supporters that he can provide Leadership and Big Picture Inspiration to our national discourse.
  
  
• Echidne notes livingroom elephants in our discussions of work and parenting -- note, for example, the lack of the term "working father" in common parlance.
  
  
• Finally, while I'm at it, somebody go read this extensive review of Mac OS snow leopoard and tell me whether I should upgrade. I mean, that's a lot of research for a $29 piece of software that offers no front-end benefits!

Quote of the day

Let me keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.

- Mary Oliver
Messenger
Twi Chi

(via whiskey river)

Holiday baby-blogging: forms of play

Not pictures from this weekend, but a wash of color and fun in which Speck demonstrates high points of a toddler's forms of summer play:


Speck in her UV-proof bathing suit and water shoes, enjoying the little sprayers at a fantastic local "sprayground" designed to cool the city's kids.


Here Speck enjoys a little finger-puppet book on the train with Dad.


This is an understated photo that captures a high level of fun: stomping puddles. Speck, in water shoes, surveys the wealth of puddles beckoning from our (dead-end) street...


A colorful finish: Speck climbs through a series of elevated blue tubes, one feature among many fantastical climbing structures at a refurbished Tot Lot in Philly.

Conduit for "facts"

It's great that the media isn't our only source of facts about the healthcare debate -- oh wait, crap. I guess it's stuff like this that keeps the debate so elevated...

(via Atrios)

Twitter giggle of the day

At some point this will sink in: "bipartisanship" does not mean saying thank you when someone pees on your shoes.

- HunterDK

What are we doing to our country?

Sort of horrifying stories:

1. A third of young workers (under 35) are living with their parents because of low wages and/or lots of debt. Almost that many are living without insurance, and not by choice. These are people putting their lives on hold because of forces larger than themselves... (via Atrios)
   
   
2. Meanwhile, many LAX employees -- from pilots to baggage handlers -- are living in trailors in a parking lot by the airport between shifts. It's a grim, grim lifestyle, presumably nobody's first choice. (via Bag News Notes)
   
   
3. Thousands of Americans are moving to Mexico for the health coverage. Surely that should convince some unbelievers that things aren't perfect here at home...

But, you know, things are just great here, because we live in a just world and thus everybody deserves whatever they get . . . [sound of head banging desk]

Privilege, liberalism, and Ted Kennedy

There have been many tributes to and examinations of the life of Ted Kennedy in the last week, but the one that struck me was this musing by Bitch, Ph.D., on what it means to come from a wealthy and powerful family and also care deeply about the poor, underprivileged, and weak.

Therein lies the strength of true liberalism, I think. And the defense, if defense is needed, of "liberal elites" as such. The privilege of the elite can and should be the privilege of working to lift others.

It's not something that one sees all across the political spectrum anymore, or really anywhere along it -- all the more difficult, then, to see a major torchbearer fall by the wayside just when one of his causes (healthcare expansion) might finally be in play. All the more reason for the rest of us to step up . . .

Edit: should add this excellent Ted Kennedy word cloud that gives a pretty good sense of his priorities.
(via a Medley tweet)

Things that wig me out

Have been increasingly disturbed by the shows of violence, vitriol, and prominent armaments among conservatives lately. It reminds me of this discussion of eliminationism, also creepy with overtones of totalitarianism. (yay!) But back then it was the swagger of the empowered (how dare you question us?!), while now it is the fearful spitting of threatened animals, a sometimes more dangerous beast. Anyway, I'm not sure I have much to contribute to the discussion, but I have read and bookmarked a bunch of articles and bits related to this issue, and now present them here:

• Troubled History -- the uncomfortable historical thread of political violence in the American right
  
  
• The Guns of August -- an op-ed by Frank Rich on recent visibility of guns at healthcare forums and the pundits who encourage the nuts
  
  
• In America, Crazy Is a Preexisting Condition -- more in a similar vein by Rick Perlstein, looking at the remarkable consistency of this element across many decades
  
  
• Out of Control -- are right-wing demagogues unleashing forces beyond their control?

Chipper, chipper stuff...

Friday lighter bits

1. What your tattoo locations say about you. Snark-a-mundo.
   
   
2. Consequences of gay marriage. Made simple for the dim-witted.
   
   
3. Imagine if the Presidential Medals of Freedom were given to reward lifetime achievements of the highest order! That might just make one feel inspired. Crazy!
   

Friday healthcare links

Have been piling up a bunch of compelling stuff over the last week or two, but apparently not getting together the umph to blog it. So here is the healthcare heap:

• An op ed by Gawande and others talks about critical steps to better healthcare, focusing on how to make the actual medical system work better (and cheaper) rather than on the insurance end. THis will surely be the next step for healthcare reform (as Masschusetts is already facing), so it's good to see the experts exploring real possibilities.
  
  
• Might Democratic legislators have realized that there can be no true bipartisan approach to this issue? The GOP is pushing for concessions but virtually promising that it will still vote against the bill -- if so, let's get something decent on the table and do it without them!!!
  
  
• In a similar vein, Robert Reich boggles at the seeming power of the Gang of Six to decide the fate of this effort in the Senate. Let's not leave it to them -- we all have a stake here!
  
  
• George Lakoff bemoans the failures of the Obama publicity machine -- that is, he notes that healthcare reform really needed to be sold to the American people, using all the framing and persuasion tools at hand, rather than trusting to dry policy arguments and letting the opposition set all the terms of the media discussion. Perhaps not too late, so I hope somebody in power reads his thoughts on this!

I hope that we're going to see some serious movement on all this next week, especially from the Democrats. Maybe that recent show of progressive spine can get a little momentum going!

To Speck at 18 months

Well, this summer has been a busy one and initiated you as a Real Traveler: you went for a long weekend to Mom & Dad's college reunion (by car), to visit Grandma and Grandpa for 5 days on Cape Cod (by train), and for a week to Glasgow for an old pal's wedding (by plane) and were a trooper on all fronts. You weren't too taken with your travel bed/tent initially -- picture Mom and Dad sitting outside their hotel room listening to you scream for an hour and regretting having come out without their shoes (thus being denied the opportunity to take turns getting a beer downstairs) -- but after you had a little time to get used to it for a few naps at home, it became an old friend and a refuge in strange places. Throw in the beloved stacking buckets and a few familiar books, and you could tell we when were officially in a New Home Base and start making it your own. Our trips were, of course, studded with visits to Assorted Playgrounds and other recreations, but in return you were a good sport about spending long stretches exploring reunion tents, city squares, art fairs, and even a sizeable museum with minimal complaint, and you took the shifts of routine in pretty good stride. By the end of the longer trips, you tended to become a little clingy and wanted to keep your flock in sight at all times, but otherwise you were pretty open to novelty.

On more usual developmental fronts, you've expanded your initial steps to a confident brisk walk, with particular interest in pushing your boundaries with irregular surfaces, small curbs, and ramps and bridges of all kinds. Now we often bring you along to the playground or store on foot (although it can be nice to have a stroller available in case you wear yourself out, if for no other reason than that your parents can't always carry you all the way home without collapsing themselves). So far you're very careful to stay on the sidewalk (even when that curb looks enticing) and to offer a hand for crossing streets, so we feel ok about letting you roam with us in the city -- if you become a racer later on, that could change. You even cooperate in avoiding puddles and mud, trusting that we'll give you other opportunities (in more appropriate clothes) to do some serious puddle-stomping for the joy of it -- both our street and the zoo have great stretches for that.

You still haven't launched your major production of speech. The old favorites Hi and Mama/Dada (often combined for dramatic effect: Ma ma ma... da DAT!) have been joined by EIEIO (closer to YiYi but clearly recognizable as a call for a round of Old MacDonald), uh-oh, a sarcastic teen-type Da-ad, and "gee!" which appears to be "seeds!" (used for a variety of Very Funny Things of the sort for which You Had To Be There). You also shake your head and nod, and use signs for finished, hot, and broken. All enough to satisfy the pediatrician; your parents fully expect that you'll wait a while yet (judging from your facility with nonverbal communication, and your relative lack of experimentation with sounds) and then probably come forth with a rush of language all at once when you decide it's time. Should be fun to watch!

Firsts in the last few months:

• First kisses. You first kissed Golden Bear, then your parents, in Scotland, and then you got a bit more cagey about it. However, you often kiss your stuffed pals when you haven't seen them in a while, and you sometimes have your toys kiss one another. Meantime, most of us have to make do with your blowing a kiss on your way up to bed.
  
• You learned to play hide-and-seek, also in Scotland, due in part to the prime geography of our rental apartment. Somehow the way that you and your dad mutually developed this game seemed to involve your just naturally picking a "home base" to which you would return while your victim hid again (and then called out repeatedly while you searched), which amazes me. It was also a big hit on Cape Cod, where your grandparents' house is largely on one floor; sadly, our own house is mostly vertical in design, which means we won't get much of this game at home.
  
• You visited your first beach. After some initial caution (including a long stretch of standing in one place while adapting to the strange movement of sand under one's feet), you got into the scene wholeheartedly, running back and forth between the dry sand and the waves (to coat and wash your hands) and shoveling sand back into the sea. Will have to do more of this!
  
• You became a musical tyrant, not just learning to recognize your Mother Goose Rocks CD, but insisting that it be played over and over (and to the exclusion of all other music)! Amusingly, you have developed dances and games for many of the tracks, turning about for the Hokey Pokey, playing knick-knack on our shoes and door, dancing your fingers for Where Is Thumbkin, etc. This attachment also means that having the beloved CD on my computer (or a round of Old MacDonald in the car) offers a way to calm some storms in unfamiliar places, which is good. Of course, having these tunes constantly in our heads can be a pain, but I always have pesky tunes in my head, so hard to complain much.

On other fronts, lessee... you apparently grow your teeth in bunches, having waited another couple of months before launching 5-6 at once, to some distress. Beyond toyful kisses, you have a sort of empathetic response to many toys and books, from offering Golden Bear a drink to trying to comfort Curious George in a story by helping him look for a missing bunny; you've also started moving little animals around in elaborate games accompanied by narrative (if wordless) sounds. You've learned the idea of blowing -- whether to cool foods, inflate an air mattress, or produce bubbles -- but do so ineffectually, with an incredibly endearing sort of goldfish-mouth motion. You eat mostly recognizeable foods, including a bowl of cereal at breakfast (although eaten manually) and a couple of acceptable Indian dishes (briyani and korma); we have no pretenses, however, of getting our act together for dinner in time to include you, so we also stock various versions of pasta, some much-loved spinach patties, and Mom's special pumpkin muffins. You have adopted O as your pet letter, and will point it out at almost any opportunity, on signs, in books, on plates in the ground; you sometimes notice other letters, but O is your touchstone for contact with the written word. Finally, the hot weather has brought some visits to playgrounds with various kinds of water sprayers, and even though you sometimes grimace or hold your arms over your head, you have definitely decided that you love getting wet. We now have special water shoes (for sprinklers and puddle-stomping) as well as a UV-protective swimsuit, so you're pretty much ready for anything!



What none of these externalities capture is how much the last few months have made you into a more companionable presence. Not only can you tell us a bit about what you need or want ("are you hungry?"), but you create games to play with us, show enthusiasm for going places, and frequently snuggle up or give us a hug. I know that language will really propell that sensation forward, but already it feels a bit more like we have a fun little person in the household. Can't wait for the next round!

Tuesday Twitter quote

GOP defends health care like it defends marriage - by making it hard to get and scaring those who already have it.

- Medley

Quote of the day

So strange, life is. Why people do not go around in a continual state of surprise is beyond me.

- William Maxwell

(via whiskey river)

A guy I'm really tired of

...is Joe Lieberman. It's really going to be great to have him as part of the conversation over health reform. (On our side, yup!)

(via Talking POints Memo)

Must be the cool air

Gotta love this ad for Maine equality. Made me tear up...

(via a Medley tweet)

Friday baby pics

Really, I have such cute ones from Speck's introduction to the beach, that I'm already "over" these other shots. But those (and some videos) are still stuck inside the camera until my life ebbs a bit, so these will have to, um, tide you over....


Speck enjoying the view from a garden gazebo
(site of the wedding reception)


The real fun of the gazebo was picking up scattered gravel and throwing it back down to the (gravel-covered) ground below. This was good for a serious stretch of entertainment!


Since I promised some blokes in kilts, here's Dad watching over Speck at play, modeling the kilt that he rented for this (Glasgow) wedding. The view over his shoulder gives you a sense of the idyllic setting...

Color me unsympathetic

...when chickens come home to roost. There's no need for a grocery chain CEO to take a position on health reform, let alone one that's patently misguided and in opposition to the opinions of most of his customers. Brand loyalty is a fragile thing...

(via Atrios)

Old things made new

You'll never see the alphabet the same way after hearing Big Bird sing it all as one word. Really. And, hey! classic first-season Sesame Street revived on YouTube! Gotta love it . . .

Latest stirrings on healthcare

Was pretty bummed to come back from vacation to the pronouncement that the Obama folks might be turning their backs on the public option. (I'm still bummed, even after reading lots of tea-leaf analysis of whether it means Slight Weakening or Complete Abandonment of support.) Am extremely heartened this morning to see a rare show of spine from House progressives on this issue. I've lost all ability to tell what's real opinion broadcasting versus kibuki for the media (i.e., was Obama spurring some legislators to show themselves, rather than leaving him as a lightning rod? or is that too Man Behind the Curtain?), but I'm happy to see that we're not leaving all the discussion to misinformed or crazy wackos on the right. ("Keep government out of my healthcare, and don't touch my Medicare!" sigh)

Via a tweet from Medley, this no-nonsense checklist of the options for healthcare reform -- not a policy pick-and-choose, but a chance for opponents to be clear about what they really do or don't want for the system. Love the status quo? If not, here's what's left...

Update: John Stewart, about Obama's inability to stay on-message: "Yes we can! unless you think maybe we shouldn't...?"

Ack

Multitasking, the game. You start with one goal/game, and then periodically another one is added. Your fun/stress ratio may vary!

(via kottke)

Four bits on healthcare

More on not taking your health insurance for granted at face value:

• Digby takes a typically insightful look at how the insured are losing what they've got, either acutely when they get sick or gradually through dropping of coverage and upping of prices.
  
  
• A fellow parent offers this chilling example of a couple discovering that their carefully chosen insurance has so many loopholes that they owe $20k for a perfectly normal baby delivery. We shouldn't be slaves to fine print; there should be a sane minimum for what must be covered.
  
  
• From a different antle, this blogger compares single-payer versus socialized medicine, using Canada and Britian as examples. Illuminating and also very amusing!
  
  
• Finally, Chris Bowers hopes that the media will get away from photos of right-wing frothers interrupting town hall meetings and back to what this debate is really about: "average Americans struggling against a powerful, for-profit health care financing industry." Wait, you want substance? and/or sympathy for the common man? crazy!

Off to visit some relatives -- have a good (long) weekend!

Quote of the day

It is not life and wealth and power that enslave men, but the cleaving to life and wealth and power.

-Buddha
(c. 563-483 BCE)

(via A.W.A.D.)

Tuesday link-dump

Man, I have a lot of interesting tabs open, and just no time, what with all the summery comings and goings and novel baby traveling. Anyway, here are a smattering from the last week or two -- maybe they'll create order all on their own! Apologies that I can't remember where I first heard of any of these...

• Taunter unscrambles the misleading statistics given by insurers to make it seem like they don't just drop people for having the temerity to get sick. That's about exactly what they do!

  If, as I suspect, rescission is targeted toward the truly bankrupting cases – the top 1%, the folks with over $35,000 of annual claims who could never be profitable for the carrier – then the probability of having your policy torn up given a massively expensive condition is pushing 50%. One in two. You have three times better odds playing Russian Roulette.

  (emphasis in original) This might remind you of this story that I blogged a month or so ago. Touching stuff.
  
  
• Robert Reich explains the deal with the Devil that the Obama administration has made to get the pharmaceutical companies to support his health reform agenda -- basically promising never to negotiate lower drug prices for public insurance customers. Because why should the populace benefit? Sigh.
  
  
• What could make the average citizen more chipper about this year's bank bailout than to learn that numerous banks paid out more in bonuses than their entire net income

  Why did this happen? Because, according to Cuomo, when times were good the bankers rewarded themselves based on performance. When the economy started to sour — they decoupled the bonus structure from reality and kept rewarding themselves.

  That's right, folks! from your pocket to some failure-steeped executive! wheeee!
  
  
• The Democratic establishment wants me to support Arlen Specter in next year's primary because he's an old warhorse and likes us now. But it's rather telling that his voting record shifted blue only when he had a threatening primary opponent. Let's just let the process play out, ok?
  
  
• Another reminder that abduction is a distant threat for children, especially when compared with everyday car trips and other risks. Hard to remember that sometimes if you watch a lot of police procedurals...
  
  
• Finally, to end on a bit of an up note, I offer this story of a ducked fight that saved a marriage -- really, it was a bit of a heroic effort to leave ego aside and see the bigger picture over a stretch of time, allowing the troubled party to find his way back. Still, a rare story of when determination can overcome hurt and alienation.

Tuesday baby blogging

Went on our first overseas trip with Speck about two weeks ago, and it went remarkably well. Stayed in a little apartment in the city for several days and then trekked into the sheep-studded countryside for a castle-based wedding (and old pal catch-up) extravaganza thereafter. Photos from the first half have been processed, so some shots of Speck in sunny settings for your enjoyment.


Getting settled, Speck defies gravity with stacking buckets.


More getting settled, the ubiquitous camera funtime.


A favorite outdoor pursuit: pointing out all the O's in signs.


A first: holding hands with Dad to explore a park.

Next time: blokes in kilts!

When progress backfires

I have to say that I felt a pang of recognition in reading this observation about the lack of current action by healthcare supporters. It's bad, because this is a really important fight and our apathy is leaving the field wide open for the right-wingers, who in fact do feel panicked and in a corner. It's good to think that the Good Guys could be pricked to action if it appears that the tide is turning and healthcare reform is about to die, but the bigger danger is that either (a) public opinion will have been wrecked by the deluge of misinformation by that point, or/and that (b) the bills could be gutted of much of what's most important but not rouse us to action because "they're still such a great improvement." We need to get on our feet now, while Congress-critters are still doing their "listening" tours to figure out which way the wind is really blowing.

Twitter quote of the day

BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE, PEOPLE!
He can handle Kim Jong Il, now sic 'im on the Dem Senators.

- Medley

Tuesday haiku

scent of rain —
all the ways
we failed each other

Nora Wood

sultry afternoon —
wingtip laces
work loose

Scott Mason

ants working late
in the afternoon sun . . .
a drifting contrail

Raquel D. Bailey

(from the Heron's Nest, Volume XI:2)

I get by with a little help from my friends

I just love this photo of Julia Child on camera, with a hidden multitude to hand her things and who knows what else. It's good to remember that even the most impressive of experts and idols are standing on the shoulders of their predecessors, staff, families, and other invisible support networks -- who knows what magic we ourselves can create with a little such leaning!

(via a BagNewsNotes tweet)

More pink phones, more pandering!

Great cartoon on how Hollywood pitches movies for women -- that is, pathetic parodies of femininity and feminine desires, etc. About right, meh. Reminds me of how extensive "study" of women and their needs results in products exactly the same as those for men but tinted pink. Pleeez.

Sine qua non

This list of consumer protections that should be part of healthcare reform seems like a no-brainer, but given the scarcity of brains on Capitol Hill these days, that doesn't mean much. Still, sanity please!!

(via Atrios)

Adventure

We're crazily heading out on an international trip this evening, baby and all her equipment in tow. Should be fun, unpredictable, interesting. Will see old friends, introduce Speck to new accents and odd foods, master driving country roads on the wrong side... Meantime, I leave you a little babycake to tide you through my absence.


What next?!

Let's just tighten this up a bit

Am quite impressed by Vanity Fair's proffered edit of Palin's resignation speech -- not for the snark value, but to see what a difference in impression would be made if somebody who cared about words got to polish her speeches, even maintaining her intent. Actually, am most wowed by the edits in green, representing factual corrections by the research department -- Lincoln, Johnson, no biggie!

(via rc3.org)

Sorry kid

One look at this picture is enough to convince me that Speck will never be allowed to drive. Or at least, not until she's 25. Oy!

(via a BagNewsNotes tweet)

Poem of the day

Generations

Our stories lie down in the orchard,
their time is not now, but something is
coming, something is going away. They

rise to the stars, and wait to be told.
There are listeners who know how little
we know, how much we are feeling.

We had to go our own way, a little off course,
always, no matter how specific the directions
seemed at the time. In this universe if we're lucky,

we will live in our children's stories,
their tales that will turn us to legend,
some absurd truth that has nothing to do

with our plans, our meticulous records.
No matter what stories we discard or keep,
they will give us a life we cannot imagine.

- Jeanne Lohmann
The Light of Invisible Bodies
Beyond the Fields We Know

(via whiskey river)

Our "post-racial" society

It reminds me a lot of our "post-feminist" era -- that is, complete crap. Just ask prominent Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., who appears to have been arrested for Getting Your Key Stuck While Black (and then being offended by the fact that police were called). I'm guessing that the black businessmen who got stopped every day going across the bridge from St. Louis to East St. Louis because their cars were too nice (charge: Driving Nice Car While Black) back when I lived there are just feeling the post-profiling love today too! It's a whole new world, man!

Sigh.

(via a Medley tweet)

One and done

We're just old and feeble, so the thought of doing the newborn thing again is almost inconceivable, let alone doing it with an energetic and attention-desirous toddler in the house. Anyway, in tribute to That Which Shall Not Be Done, I enjoyed this description from Dooce of her current household's level of functioning (with newborn and preschooler):

I mean, we've sort of got a rhythm going, one where the drummer and guitarist are playing two different songs, and the lead singer is just making up words as it goes along, and the sound is just awful but we're calling it "art."

Ah yes, that sounds very familiar . . . (am also reminded a bit of this Calvin & Hobbes cartoon)

Man, that really wrecked my morning

You just gotta feel good when your country tortures children in order to further pressure their parents (to, um, confess anything we say). I want not to think about it, but as a nation we just can't afford to give in to that instinct.

X steps forward, Y steps back...

Healthcare, and whether we can get anything done... (well, and/or quickly)

• A bunch of centrists putzes in the Senate explictly want healthcare reform to move more slowly. Because what's a few dead poor folks against getting some more spotlight/pork? grrrrr....
  
  
• Meanwhile, Obama perhaps brings some of that heat to the issue, claiming that a desire to delay is a defense of the status quo... More please!

Great minds

Enjoyed this little clip (mostly). Can we get that first guy into some kind of important role? And, um, can we get that last guy off the *&%#! TV?!?!?

(via Talking Points Memo)

Morning thoughts

Am almost entirely skipping coverage of the Sotomayor hearings. I guess it's in part because it's pretty clear that she's going to be confirmed -- making all of this pure kibuki -- and also because, while extremely qualified and rumoredly sympatico with Obama, Sotomayor is also pretty moderate as possible nominees go. So I'm not that invested in getting every glimpse of her in action or leaning in for applause lines.

This also brings me back to the thought that Obama really needs to light a fire under the healthcare reform business. Too many of his moves so far have been tailored to avoid spending much (or any) of his political capital and popularity -- thus the avoidance of action on gay issues, the careful selection of a noncontroversial Court nominee, and many other delicate maneouvers -- so that it could all be available on this one critical issue. He needs to weigh in in no uncertain terms so that (a) it has a chance of getting done before the August recess (and the chance of everything backsliding with a view towards fall elections) and (b) he can gear up the rest of his game on other fronts. I realize that he's working under the dual burdens of (1) a struggling economy that probably needs more stimulus before it will turn around and (2) the selective lens of the media, which is much more interested in Michael Jackson (or insert the issue/celeb of the day) than in whatever speeches Obama may be making to generate momentum on healthcare, but that's just how it is. There are a lot of sharp minds in the White House; they should be able to energize this more completely. Get moving!

Light a fire...

Robert Reich argues that healthcare reformers need to hurry, or the momentum and will behind the effort will yield to election fears and other pressures. Eep!

So much hatred, so few outlets

I gotta say, the right wing is a really creepy place these days. There are "journalists" and bloggers fretting over what an Obama daughter is wearing (or perhaps her hairstyle), and now a soldier who contests his deployment to Iraq on the basis that Obama wasn't born in the US and thus isn't a legitimate Commander in Chief. Or something -- who really wants to know what's in these people's minds?!

Quote of the day

There is no greater gift to an insecure leader that quite matches a vague enemy who can be used to whip up fear and hatred among the population.

- Paul Rusesabagina,
humanitarian (b. 1954)

(via A.W.A.D.)

Friday baby faces

Three moods of Speck, from recent days (meaning 16+ months)...


Giggling grin


Givin' some attitude (it's my *cracker*, dawg!)


Off-line stare...

Have a good weekend, all!

Twitter quote of the day

From Hunter, as usual...

Breaking: John Ensign, Mark Sanford resigning to spend more time with other people's families.

Heh...

What goes around...

The U.S. is holding up some anti-drug payments to Mexico because they're torturing suspects. Needless to say, the Mexicans find this standard a bit hypocritical . . . Imagine.

(via rc3.org)

Oh yay!

Nothing chippers my Friday morning like gloomy economic forecasts!

This economy can't get back on track because the track we were on for years -- featuring flat or declining median wages, mounting consumer debt, and widening insecurity, not to mention increasing carbon in the atmosphere -- simply cannot be sustained.

That sounds right, but it also sounds like the best place to keep your money secure may be under the mattress after all. Grim times.

A few things that need blogging

Ah, the pressure of unblogged tabs. If you're lucky, they sometimes cohere. Other times, they just need attention! So here are some worthwhile things:

• At last some good news on health care reform, not least that Obama himself says that a public option must be created.
  
  
• Speaking of healthcare, here are two examples of how our current system misfunctions, one over a small expense, and the other showing how you may have to lose your job and your solvancy before you can get your needs attended to. (And can I just point out the ludicrosity of that latter example? Man, this system is broken!!)
  
  
• On a different note, a dKos diarist looks at two recent news stories that remind us of how unions can save lives if they can get some workplace safety concerns addressed.
  
  
• And, unrelated to all of the above, a neat visual that draws on history to help catalyze (and recognize) ongoing societal change.
  (via Bitch, Ph.D.)
  
  
• Finally, just for the snark: a very clever hacked transit sign that rags on my local transit agency for all of the least desirable experiences it offers to its riders. hilarious!
  (via Albert)

Happy hump-day, all!

I want it!

This cool concept phone. Yes, I'd gladly have something that acts only as a phone, if it could be that small (and thus disappear into my pants pockets). I already have a camera, and nobody that I need to call on short notice could be relied upon to receive text, so make this thing already!!

A second opinion

Apparently the updated Senate plans for health reform are much more reasonable in terms of cost than the initial estimates (based on incomplete plans). Perhaps this will dissipate some of the panic that has been driving so many legislators to flee this very popular and desperately needed effort. Here's hoping!

(via Atrios)

In honor of my previous post

Speck spends a little floor time with Dad -- here they've been looking at photos on her camera, but clearly there were blocks, puzzles, and other fun just before this...


(Also note the armload of critter pals)

A father is a parent

The subject line of this post seems like a truism, and yet in our society, dads who spend substantial time with their children, while increasingly common (at least in my generation and younger), are still treated as a bit of an amusing anomaly. This does a disservice to all involved.

Scour the parenting forums on the Internet and you’ll find the common lament that "DH" (darling husband) expects a medal whenever he "babysits" junior for a few hours. I have little sympathy for DH in these cases, but maybe a step in the right direction would be to stop using language that suggests hired help — to stop referring to DH's job in the same terms as somebody who could legitimately stick his hand out at the end of his shift and demand a tip. DH isn’t babysitting, he’s parenting, and just changing that one word changes, for me at least, all sorts of connotations.

Indeed. Dads shouldn't feel like oddballs at baby/parent classes, whether it's yoga or music or just supervised play, and they shouldn't need handholding or head-pats to get through a day. Parenting works best as a team sport, and men's participation, and the acceptance of same, will increase when they're treated as regular teammates, not subs.

(via kottke)