Every second you're getting older

Apparently it's a rampant phenomenon, and inescapable.
At least I've got company!

(via NowThis)

It's time for another istallment of Good News, Bad News!

Because there's just too much of the latter and desperately little of the former...

Good News:
BP might actually get some comeuppance for its negligent drilling practices in the Gulf and many other places. Is it too much to hope?

Bad News:
Dispersants being used to control the spilled oil may be poisoning people who are helping with the clean-up. And presumably the rest of the ecosystem too...
(via Atrios)

Good News:
Legislation repealing the stupid Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy is about to be introduced, with support from both White House and House Democrats. No idea what it's fate might be, especially if it's framed as an amendment to something else, but it's a start!

Bad News:
The war is making you poor -- and that's before we look at what we've already spent. Does anybody even think about plans for withdrawel anymore? Are we really learning to live in a perpetual state of conflict, heedless of the price?

Good News:
Mark Twain's autobiography is about to be released this fall, after being held 100 years from his death, as he requested. There's bound to be some fun in there!
(via boing boing)

Pure Silliness:

• Tragically familiar: the sneaky hate spiral

  Eventually, the sum of the small annoyances begins to exceed your capacity for patience and rational thought. All it would take to send you over the edge into a bottomless pit of angry hysteria is just one more tiny, little thing...

  I like to take my misanthropy into solitude, preferably with trees. This is tragically incompatible with my current Life With Toddler...
  
  
• A map of Europe redrawn to reflect the lessons and injustices of history.

  In Britain's place should come Poland, which has suffered quite enough in its location between Russia and Germany and deserves a chance to enjoy the bracing winds of the North Atlantic and the security of sea water between it and any potential invaders.

  (via kottke)

Thought-Provoking:
A recent book ponders some cultural differences between conservative and liberal regions of the country, and notes some striking assumptions that often cause us to talk past each other. They write: In red America, families form adults [early pregnancy and marriage, and teens grow up because of adult demands]; in blue America, adults form families [teens are encouraged to be "smart" about sex and to wait to start families after they finish their educations]. Interesting lens for other conflicts, and the reviewer notes some other implications about our evolving society and how it treats these two paths.

Friday film fun

Baby fun, that is -- cute babbling kid singing little kid songs... Have a good weekend, all!


This one is comprehensible (ABCs) but rather subdued in affect.


This one (Old MacDonald) is brief but full of Speck personality
(and eagerness to get behind the camera to view the result).

In every white cloud, a darker lining

Financial reform passes the Senate! and it's more progressive than anybody had imagined possible. And yet...

Historians will probably conclude that the package of reforms was surprisingly modest given the depth and severity of the 2008-09 financial crisis. A harsher historical judgment might find that the political and economic power wielded by the financial industry in the late 20th and early 21st centuries was so extensive that it could weather a near total collapse of the system without having to yield its power or privilege.

-- David Kurtz (at Talking Points Memo)

Looks that way from my seats too...

Quote of the day

Childhood is not a bad smell you get to hold your nose around until it passes. It is an iteration of humanity.

- Sybil Vane
(as part of this post at Bitch, Ph.D.)

Economy -- still sick, not recovering fast

It's not just oil building up in the Gulf that's getting folks down; the economy is still tottering in the face of both unemployment and continued foreclosures. All that chat about the folly of subprime lending just hid the fact that many good-credit folks got in way over their heads. This statistic is rather grim:

One out of seven U.S. households with a mortgage ended the first quarter late on mortgage payments or in the foreclosure process, although the pace has ebbed now that unemployment appears to have peaked, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

One in seven! whew. It's gonna be a while before new buyers appear for all those houses...

Crappy health, crappy news, crap crap crap

Man, what *really* chews holes in your day/week is combinatorial childcare illness/breakdown. Sigh. Anyway, here are some things I feel compelled to blog, while simultaneously not wanting to blog any of them...

• The Obama Administration is working to undermine Miranda protections, even for U.S. citizens. All of these guys seem to think that nobody scarier than themselves will ever be in charge, and thus they are cavallier with the things that protect average folks who might find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. For my part, this makes me wonder who the Good Guys are anymore.
  
  
• More and more folks want me to join Facebook, even as it's getting less and less private as time passes. The difference between the first and last images there seems to me to represent the difference between what people *think* they're getting from social networks (the ability to socialize only with the people they want to) and what they're *actually* getting (more and more of their information made available to every search engine and third-party business interest). Appalling.
  
  
• Pediatricians come out in favor of a minimalist female genital mutilation procedure. Ok, better than a radical clitorectomy and the like, but it's hard for me to be excited by any casual endorsement of "nicking"...
  
  
• The media keeps talking about the recovery underway, but it's striking how little impact it has had on unemployment, which is not only at high rates but also for shocking durations. Eventually the carnage on Main Street is going to trickle up to Wall Street, however well insulated...
  
  
• Just to top off all the chipperness here, a little cartoon that captures the way that I take Arizona's immigration craziness personally -- not because it affects *me* right now, but because it reflects badly on what we think our nation is about. Not pretty times.
  

How to chew holes in your day

I'm not generally too consumed by tower defense-type games, but this one has pushed my obsessive button to the extreme, maybe because of the additional elements (some magic, some multiround investment, etc.). Almost forgot about the 5 zillion other things I should be doing with my time. Expect it will happen again...

(via that pesky kottke)

Quote of the day

I googled "woman cave" and got this message: "Did you mean: man caves?" At least it didn’t say, "Make me a sandwich."

- Amanda Marcotte
(here)

Happy thoughts!

Here is some general cuteness and signs of spring (all from around 26 months of Speckage). If you can't get outside today, at least you can enjoy a little vicarious seasonality...


Here's some cute kid all decked out for some serious Easter egg hunting.


And here's that same kid looking alarmingly sophisticated!


And here's my favorite of the recent spate of crafts made around our house.

Well, thanks for *that*!

As if your worries about the oil spill (and/or the state of the nation/world) weren't already bad enough...

Ahem.

(via a Medley tweet)

Bits about that oil that's gushing all over the place

• This cartoon strikes me as capturing the visceral feelings that I have in watching the oil slick widen, the coast get engulfed, and the cleaner-uppers wave their hands.
  (via a dailyKos diary)
  
  
• But this cartoon maybe gets at the deeper scariness, which involves all those reassurances that Nothing Will Ever Go Wrong (and that we can keep on Not Thinking About where our energy comes from).
  (via a dailyKos diary)
  
  
• Even scarier, and something I hadn't thought to ask, or seen anybody else discuss, is what exactly BP is pumping into the water to contain the oil -- should we really take for granted that those chemicals are less dangerous than what they're mopping up?
  (via Atrios)
  
  
• On the more thought-provoking front is this question about whether we (the larger human species, and maybe the earth too) really win if the current spill quenches interest in futher drilling off the US coast, since drilling elsewhere is so much more ecologically damaging. (Though, of course, There not Here...)
  
  
• Meantime, Rush Limbaugh takes the occasion to clarify that he's a putz by assuming that drilling miles into the ocean floor is a natural-type phenomenon. Can we take away that guy's mic already??

Quote of the day

Facebook is a conditioning system... that provides intermittant social reward for foolish disclosure.

- from this video about privacy

Idiots

Apparently the Washington Post "can't tell" Barak Obama from Malcolm X . . . Eesh

(via a BagNewsNotes tweet)

Some interesting bits (Us and Them Edition)

• Don’t talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking -- there's every reason to expect that they'd want to pillage the earth just as we have...
  
  
• Tea-bag protests through the lens of white privilege -- would we really be as calm about all this rhetoric if it were crowds of black/brown/scary folks shaking their fists?
  
  
• "I just don't like kids" is not that uncommon a position, but it's hard to look at it the same way after reading this discussion classing that stance as bigotry (be sure to read the comments, which is where the real peeling back of the language happens)...
  

Better than nothing

I've never heard anybody discuss this: giving up red meat has more than health perks -- it can produce most of the ecological benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle, because chickens are so much more efficient than cattle/pigs at making meat out of grain . . .

Friday link roundup

Infuriating

• British airways screws stranded passengers, offering a choice of nearly a month's delay or stratospheric prices for earlier flights.
  
  
• The Supreme Court is so old that even its youngest members don't really understand current technology, even though they're expected to make rulings about it.

Cheering

• Clever train doesn't stop at stations -- it picks up and leaves attachable subunits with arriving and departing passengers. Neat idea (see the video), and radically improves travel times.
  
  
• Arkansas adoption ban, passed by voters, found unconstitutional. Chip, chip...
  (via Alas, a Blog)
  
  
• The President apparently thinks that people should be able to have their loved ones visit them in the hospital and make their medical decisions. Gotta love a good "crazy socialist" who can put the power of Medicare/Medicaid behind some sane policy!
  

Interesting

• Rafe notes two ways to break news, only one of which actually leads to informing the public.
  
  
• The Civil War can be seen as a battle with three sides, the South, the North, and African-Americans.

  What you see, as the war goes on, is a gradual, and rather amazing, process by which blacks, free and enslaved, force the North to accept the cause of emancipation as their own. The logic of the war makes it unavoidable.

  A good example of a frame that changes the way you see a wide range of events, in illuminating ways. I recommend the whole thing.
  
  
• Washington, D.C., has to balance its desire to be a national monument against the benefits of becoming a modern liveable city...

  The monumentalist vision of Washington has choked nearly all urban life from the Mall and its environs. It has fashioned large sections of our city into pleasing vistas for tourists but has given the rest of us lifeless wastelands ... The monumental core should be the city's heart, not its parasite

  This issue arises in many different contexts, and in other cities as well.
  (via Atrios at Eschaton)
  

Quote of the day

You are flawed, you are stuck in old patterns, you become carried away with yourself. Indeed you are quite impossible in many ways. And still, you are beautiful beyond measure.

- John Welwood

(via whiskey river)

mmmmmmmmMOMA!

Ah, in the pre-parental days, Spouse and I often made pilgrimages to New York, to visit friends, walk the streets, and visit MOMA. It's been a long time, so thanks to YouTube for this quick eyeful of modern art. Will have to hold me for a while yet...

(via pourmecoffee)

Our great post-feminist era

One cannot help but be happy that those in positions of power are so full of wisdom and open-mindedness. [mindless gnashing of teeth]

(via a Medley tweet)

Impatient for the DVD set!

Having been completely engrossed (and appropriately depressed) by The Wire, I'm already excited for David Simon's new series, Treme, which takes on the challenge of conjuring the complicated atmosphere and culture of New Orleans. We don't pay for fancy TV channels, so will wait for Netflix to get its hands on some DVDs (or maybe we'll just spring for the set ourselves).

Meantime, here's an episode of NPR's Fresh Air that combines description and interview to preview the show. Also, I immediately wondered how Harry Shearer would feel about it, since he's a native, an opinionista, and a man who's had a lot to say about the nation's inadequate handling of Katrina -- here's his first take. I can't wait to get a look for myself!

Imagination

Wow, the number of ways in which this video is fantastic is hard to count!

Pixels invade New York
(The Tetris-block part made me particularly happy, although the vanishing subway entrances boggled my technical understanding.)

(via Travis Provick, a guy I don't even know -- yay, Internet!)

Maybe they're not teflon after all...

The GOP seems to be setting up a political pie-in-face with their opposition to Wall Street reform. Sure, their base is more wealthy than that of the Dems, but that doesn't mean they were asleep for the last couple of years (or any less angry about watching their portfolios disappear into Big Bonus)...

Tuesday round-up (= link-dump)

• A couple weeks old: Ohio Pastors File IRS Complaints Over C Street House. Weird Christian "frat house" set-up may be a taxable rent-subsidy.
  
  
• Don't Mess With Texas (Mortgages, That Is) -- they actually regulated mortgages and home equity loans, and thus avoided the worst disasters of the last couple of years. Maybe the rest of the country could learn something!
  
  
• On Flexing Your Rights. Or at Least Meagerly Trying to Hold on to Them. Advice on dealing with cops always recommends calm and courtesy -- good on a practical front, but seems to imply that the absence of meekness is an opening for aggression, as evidenced by the crazy story here of police tazing a pregnant woman on a routine traffic stop...
  
  
• When did the Senate become such a lonely, cynical place?

  "My father used to quote it: `The Senate allows you two years as a statesman, two years as a politician, and two years as a demagogue.' " He gave me a wistful look right then, and proceeded to say exactly what I’d been thinking. "And that’s actually changed. You’re now a demagogue the full six years."

  Hope we can find a way to salvage the institution.
  
  
• The Bias of Veteran Journalists

  The journalists at the press conference didn't have a bias as the term is normally used; that is, I didn't get the sense that they were inherently for or against the company or its product. They just appeared to think they knew the subject well enough, or had a set enough idea in their heads as to what this kind of story was about, that they pursued only the lines of questioning necessary to fill in the blanks of that presumed story line.

  If it's bad for product reviews, imagine what it does to ones ability to develop an understanding of the political landscape, policy, and the future of both!
  
  
• Robert Reich argues Why More Immigrants Are An Answer to the Coming Boomer Entitlement Mess. Not sure that his numbers game will convince the fundamentally xenophobic, but it's a good perspective for the rest of us.
  
  
• Think Before You Speak, a great video campaign to get kids out of the habit of using "so gay" as the ultimate put-down for things uncool. Worth watching all of the initial vids.
  [Someday, maybe we can take on the whole late-night talkshow host vocabulary, of calling people "pussy" and "douchebag" and the like, for similar reasons. But the urgency is almost certainly greater on this chosen front.]
  
  
• Just fun: Music video with a whole school as the instrument. Video and sound-mixing are a realm in which today's kids have a whole different fluency than do the middle-aged set, however computer savvy.
  
  
• Just mind-bending: This is not a spiral. Say, wha...?!

Oh, *this* is what it's like

Semi-sick kid + definitely sick usual caretaker = lots of time off and disrupted schedules for parents. Have been lucky on both counts for most of last two years, so still startled by the degree to which it throws our aspirations and energy levels for the week. Can't imagine what it's like with less flexible employment!!

Onward, ho!

Stop it, iPad-lovers!

Kind of blown away by this: Gizmodo's Essential iPad Apps
drool, drool...

(via NowThis, whom I hold directly accountable!)

Gratuitous baby-blogging

Because what could be more adorable than Speck and Daddy reading in bed together? Except, maybe, that they're both perusing guides on parenting strategies...



(This is from just about a month ago, so just over 2 years old...)

Quote of the day

The door of a bigoted mind opens outwards so that the only result of the pressure of facts upon it is to close it more snugly.

- Ogden Nash, author
(1902-1971)

(via A.W.A.D.)

Growing up

Well, it looks like the Iraqi voters have grown up politically since their last elections, refusing to vote for incumbents, political bigwigs, or religious parties as instructed, and instead picking and choosing. Look at that! always nice to see the public being smarter than they're given credit for, especially in places that we like to dismiss as primitive...

(via a BagNewsNotes tweet)

iPad intrigue

Am quite intrigued by the iPad, even more than the iPhone, both because I websurf (et al.) much more than I talk on the phone and because the bigger screen hugely increases the number of things you can do with this critter. Of course, still too big for your pocket, so some lifestyle adaptation required...

Am not a first-adopter type, but was curious to see how real people would find this gadget. The first reviews are pretty impressive and make me want to see one in person, just to play a bit. Also struck by the possible impact that this could have on publishing (see, e.g., much of this review), particularly the ability to seamlessly integrate pretty advanced multimedia aspects. The future is ever more intriguing to imagine!

Update: well, here's the counterargument on just about every front. I think he undervalues the magic of techno-love -- I mean, many of the same arguments could be made about the iPhone and many many people love it -- but he has some points too. Only time will tell.

Link deluge

Man, I have so many tabs open that I can barely scroll through them. Am sleeping poorly and thus have all kinds of time-management issues, so I guess my nuanced analyses and specialized posts are going to have to wait, and I'll just heap a bunch of interesting/disturbing/entertaining things here...

• Bad News
  
  
  1. Corporate America Still Hates Moms -- penalties for actually taking the leave that you have a legal right to (and a lot of hostility around the whole topic). Not surprising to feminists, but recurrently amazing to those who think that Everything's Already Fixed.
     
     
  2. Our water and sewers systems are crumbling and in need of serious work; this could mean we have major disasters ahead, or it could be a good opportunity to use stimulus dollars to put people to work on longterm improvements for all of us.
     
     
  3. Scary thought: a Happy Meal on a shelf shows no signs of decay after a year. I think a real hamburger would reek after a week or so, judging from my accidental trashcan experiences -- are McDonald's products that full of preservatives, or just made entirely of chemicals??
     
     
  4. Airport full-body scanners: what could possibly go wrong? Typical adolescent behavior, maybe?? Rules that presume best behavior from all participants are no protections at all...
     
     
  5. Pentagon abruptly ends tuition aid for military spouses. Because times are good!! sigh.
     
     
  6. Fed continues to ignore one of its two mandates, aggressively so...

     This is an institution that has two mandates -- price stability and maximum employment -- but admitting that you care about the latter is so controversial as to be dangerous to your chances of working at the institution. It's as if firefighters, charged with both rescuing people and putting out fires, emphasized during their job interviews how committed they were to the latter goal but promised not to rescue anyone unless the conditions were superb and it wouldn't bother anyone. Weird, wild stuff.

  7. Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling for First Time. I hope that this is a trial balloon designed to accomplish some political ends (and trusting on regulatory and activist nets to catch a lot of the proposals) rather than a representation of the Administration's real views, but it's hard not to find the headline disheartening.
     
  
  
• Good News
  
  
  1. Amanda at Pandagon has an interesting bit on how social technology is letting us keep in touch with people that matter to us in a way that the modern workplace has made increasingly difficult.

     A lot of attention is paid to the struggles people have with making friends in our isolating society, and I think that focus is important, but it’s also important to ask if the other part of the equation is that people aren’t keeping the relationships they do have healthy. A culture that expects people to use down time at work to update Facebook and text message their partners and friends is one where people are probably going to have that many real relationships to keep them buoyed. I’ll add that touching base with loved ones during the day can make a person feel less lonely overall; merely having someone at home isn’t enough if you feel like a lot of their life is mysterious to you.

     A nice counter to the constant narrative that we're all cut off from one another by our addictive little devices...
     
     
  2. Popular Science lists some high-tech medical innovations that may offer cures to a variety of pesky conditions, from genetic deficits to vegetative states. Amazing stuff!
     
     
  3. Too much to hope? Sounds like a few Republicans are disgusted by their failed obstructionism over healthcare and might want to be part of the legislative process again. Only time will tell!
     
     
  4. From the department of Elections Do Matter: Sen. Frankin assures justice for a rape victim being revictimized by military contractors. For the win!
     
  
  
• Fun/interesting bits
  
  
  1. Jon Stewart channels/skewers Glen Beck. Truly inspired.
     
     
  2. Philadelphia shows population growth for the first time in 60 years. Not to dismiss the serious ongoing problems with poverty, inequality, and so forth, but perhaps people are starting to believe!
     
     
  3. Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy, a charity encouraging small acts of sneaky selflessness -- fun and intriguing ideas and experiences.
  
  

Strange days indeed

Apparently Rachel Maddow is the scariest thing in Masschusetts, from a conservative perspective. Meantime, the GOP wants to set Nancy Pelosi on fire. New Conservatism: all about fear and intimidation?? (I guess that if it's really about women, then that's Old Conservatism. But some things just always feel fresh!)

Quote of the day

It is a serious thing to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

- C.S. Lewis

(via whiskey river)

Things about healthcare reform

There's been so much grumpy press/discussion about these bills -- crummy provisions of the Senate bill, late starts to various benefits, etc. -- that I'd gotten rather down on them. So was glad to be reminded of all the good things that came out of this battle, including some really substantive reforms that start right away. So here are a few links from recent days:

• A little column from Krugman notes that the anti-fear forces got a win against the propaganda of the right.

  This is, of course, a political victory for President Obama, and a triumph for Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker. But it is also a victory for America’s soul. In the end, a vicious, unprincipled fear offensive failed to block reform. This time, fear struck out.

  (via Medley's twitter stream)
  
  
• Ten immediate benefits of HCR. Most notable here are the end of "preexisting conditions" for children and of the vile game of recission (dropping folks who get sick). Plus some stop-gap options for other folks until better systems come into existence.
  
  
• Ezra Klein offers Who does health-care reform help? The answer in the long run is probably a lot of us, but most obviously those with suboptimal jobs and those who've had very bad luck.

  Sickness and health might be capricious, but access to health care doesn't have to be.

• Robert Reich: The Final Health Care Vote and What it Really Means:

  We will not return to the New Deal or the Great Society, but nor will we continue to wallow in the increasingly obsolete Reagan view that we don't need a strong and competent government. Today's vote confirms our hope that we can have both strength and competence in Washington. It is an audacious hope, but we have no choice.

  This is certainly not how the GOP thinks things will play out, but I hope he's right.
  
  
• Want to see how these reforms will affect you specifically? Here's a text explanation and a chart, both of which break down the changes by category of individual (employed, covered, uninsured, etc.).
  (via Atrios and Medley, respectively)
  
  
• And finally, for those always looking for a dark cloud, here's some analysis of how the Supreme Court might view this legislation, if/when cases are brought before it, given the law and given the current Justices.

To Speck at 2 (and a bit)

Well, you're officially 2 years old. The distance you've come in the last three months is pretty well captured by the fact that you can tell people both your age and your name now (at least, the one-syllable version of the latter), things you never even showed an interest in before. You speak of yourself in the third person almost exclusively, insisting "Miss [Speck] do that right now!" or answering questions like "I wonder who might have drawn this nice picture?" with "Miss [Speck]" (in a pleased tone of voice). You can tell many of your own Epic Tales now too, such as "Dentist said Miss [Speck] brush teeth!" and "Put soccer balls on shelf to keep away [from] cats!" and you narrate your way through the day with a rushing river of words. (Needless to say, when the pediatrician wondered at your 24-month visit whether you were speaking in sentences yet, we assured her that we were well past two-word telegraphy!)

Language isn't the only thing that has continued to develop; most notable is an increase in expressions of empathy. You are quick to show sympathy for things that appear weak or broken, saying "poor Yogi" or "feel better, flowers" and worrying about our neighbor's melting snowman. For a while you were fixated on a story book about a crying tot (Little Pookie), getting teary at the beginning each time and then laughing with relief as his mother made him feel better with silly suggestions. You've also picked up the words/notions of "please" (immediately put to use as a tool for better service) and "sorry" and use them appropriately.

You've taken on a range of new skills and activities, from singing songs (I almost fell over at Starbucks one day when I realized you had just said "Oh, Suzanna, don't you cry for me"), to working jigsaw puzzles (of a range of complexities), to building Hefty Things out of some wild bristle blocks you got as a present. You can play with a dollhouse for long stretches, moving its residents and visitors from one place to another and giving them lots of naps; you can drive your parents to drink with your obsession with anything sticker-related; and you sometimes dance with abandon when the right tune comes on or signs of spring get under your skin.

Other developments are more continuous. You're very nimble on the stairs now, although you seem to prefer going solo on hands and knees over standing up and requiring a grip. You continue to love books, including ever longer stories, and you especially like to point things out or find odd details in illustrations along the way. You like to feel like a Big Girl at a restaurant by sitting in a booster in a regular chair, rather than a highchair, and by brushing your teeth with your parents in the morning -- for that matter, a couple of growth spurts have removed some of your roundness and made you look a less like a baby and more like a lanky Little Kid (I'm sure this will become only more alarming). You seem to know the whole alphabet at this point, including most of the lowercase letters, and can be overheard singing the ABC song to yourself from time to time. You would like to be counting past 10, although the order of those numbers is a bit less clear to you (11, 12, 14, 16...), given their rarity in books and rhymes, but you have some counting/matching puzzles that draw you onward, so I suspect that it won't be long.

There are some rumblings that we may be in for another round of boundary-testing and other dramatic behaviors, but that could just be the tail end of your first real illness (caught somewhere a couple weeks after your birthday), which left you sniffly and grumpy for a week or so (and occasioned a rare afternoon lying in Mom's lap watching Sesame Street). Only time will tell. You've also thrown us a bit for a loop by completely upending your food preferences and quantities just when we thought we had a grip. But mostly you seem to be full of energy for play (although begging off of the playground!), enjoy most of what comes your way, and offer snuggles aplenty to those who love you. I think we're more than willing to take our chances with whatever comes our way next. Looking forward to year number three!

Is there no shame anymore?

No, not for quite some time. Welcome back, Rip VanWinkle!

(via Eschaton)

I'm feeling a little less hopey about change

Given that the Obama administration is parroting Bush talking points about super-secret spy business. Our nation gets more Orwellian by the day, recalling its history less and less...

(via Medley's twitter feed)

Friday bengal-blogging (!)

I'll bet you thought I forgot that we had cats. But no... I compete with them for couch space every night! Yes, they're still around the house, and still snuggling...



Stay warm this weekend!

Handy resource

Having trouble reaching some site, and not sure whether the problem is on their end or yours? Try Down for everyone or just me? Inspired.

(via a KoL radio commenter)

I'll admit I respond to genericism

...but this really is brilliantly done, from the music to the scenes to the lines you almost don't register, until you do. It's a trailer for every Oscar-winning movie ever, more or less.

Get back to work, me!

Man, this collection of offbeat maps/visualizations really made my morning. Just a lot of creativity and giggles there . . .

(via kottke)

Comeuppance

Stupak Gets A Primary Challenge From The Left

Saltonstall told me her phone has been ringing off the hook with calls of support from inside the massive 31-county district.

You make your bed, pal.... I wish her luck, and all of us a healthcare bill soon!

Quote of the day

"Sleep is god. Go worship."

- Jim Butcher
from dialogue in Death Masks

A bunch of links. Like a blog. Only more rushed.

• Running the numbers on Toyota safety -- these accelerator problems are still an infinitesemal risk compared with just getting into a car. I previously heard that Toyota probably had more of these because they've sold more cars, rather than because there's more per-vehicle risk.
  
  
• ID Card for Workers Is at Center of Immigration Plan -- yes, right here in the USA. Big Brother, anyone? What could possibly go wrong?!?!?!?
  (via a Medley tweet)
  
  
• Australian researchers say fat is 'sixth taste'. Fascinating how little we know about our basic functions. Expect a flurry of research on how to leverage this for weight control!!
  (via kottke)
  
  
• Study says US doctors in hospitals only wash their hands about 30% of the time -- but we sure need some complicated fixes for our medical system!!
  
  
• Schumer To Hold Hearings On Undoing Filibuster Rules. Yes, please!!
  

Pretty grim

...what counts for humor/rumination among Republicans. Rush doesn't deserve to be on the air, let alone a paragon of civic values (to those twisted enough to appreciate him). Grim stuff.

What's the use of nagging?!

A great post over at Bitch, Ph.D. points out that we can't just tell poor folks to eat healthier -- without more resources (financial, geographical, and environmental), they just can't live the magical middle-class lifestyle that we're projecting as the "healthy alternative" for them. It's easy to forget about all those non-choice factors that constrain nutrional possibilities, although they were also noted here in a general health context. Systemic problems need systemic fixes...

Please let us get something done!

Like there isn't enough already up in the air about healthcare reform -- complicated intra-party dynamics, complicated procedural dances, blah blah -- now Stupak wants to get back into the spotlight? Can somebody remind him that many, many lives are on the line if we don't pass anything???

Time capsule

What were those people smoking?

IHOP ad from 1969

Inquiring minds...

Quote of the day

Our existence is finite. The self that we have created through so many years of effort and suffering will die. And sustained though we may be by the idea, the hope, the certainty that some portion of us will eternally endure, we also must acknowledge that this "I" who breathes and loves and works and knows itself will be forever and ever and ever . . . obliterated.

So, whether or not we live with images of continuity - of immortality - we also will have to live with a sense of transience, aware that no matter how passionately we love whatever we love, we don't have the power to make either it, or us, stay.

- Judith Viorst
Necessary Losses
psychobabble

(via whiskey river)

Speaking of movies...

...The Hathor Legacy has been having an interesting discussion about how the film industry actively keeps female characters off the screen. This starts as early as how screenwriters are trained:

According to Hollywood, if two women came on screen and started talking, the target male audience’s brain would glaze over and assume the women were talking about nail polish or shoes or something that didn't pertain to the story. Only if they heard the name of a man in the story would they tune back in. By having women talk to each other about something other than men, I was "losing the audience."

The blogger was totally frustrated by the ever-shifting excuses made, and eventually threw up her hands:

I concluded Hollywood was dominated by perpetual pre-adolescent boys making the movies they wanted to see, and using the "target audience" – a construct based on partial truths and twisted math – to perpetuate their own desires. Having never grown up, they still saw women the way Peter Pan saw Wendy: a fascinating Other to be captured, treasured and stuffed into a gilded cage.

However, she does explore a subsequent question, fascinating in an industry so driven by money: Why discriminate if it doesn’t profit? Her conclusion that it's mostly about ego and self-protection fits with stereotypes we have for film industry personalities, but that seems to indicate that things aren't going to change anytime soon... Sigh.

Heh

If only the Oscar presentations could be boiled down a little like this, it might make all the rest more tempting to tune in for...

What could possibly go wrong?

I just get the feeling that formation of quasi-governmental militias in Louisiana to deal with Scary People and Other Threats might be... not such a great idea. Shades of George Wallace, anyone? (or, you know, the Katrina bridge blockade?)

Happy bits

Everything about this music video made me happy -- the song, the amazing Rube Goldberg device, and the savvy that must have gone into planning and filming it. Yay for my groggy afternoon!!

Tuesday birthday blogging

Speck turned 2 recently, with a party full of grandparents and balloons (and don't forget the presents! presents now, yes?). Given that I was doing a stint of solo parenting leading up to the event, I'm more than averagely proud of pulling off decorations and a cake...


(conjured a little spring amid the slush and cold...)


Cookie Monster, as rendered in cream cheese frosting and colored sugar...

Of course, Speck didn't eat any of the cake, and she asked Mom to blow out the candle, but she did love the singing as the thing was brought in. Really, she'd been building up anticipation of a heap of presents for several days, and she couldn't hold it in long enough to be polite about the other fol-de-rol....

Anyway, somehow we've become owners of a 2-year-old. So far, it's not at all Terrible, but rather Enchanting, but we have a whole year to regret the hubris of my saying so...

What we're not allowed to know

This description of top levels of secret information really creeps me out. There's so much invisible stuff going on that it completely upends your understanding of how the world works?! eep!

Spot on!

Or should I say stripes? How genetics works in families, a quick visual summary.

Silver lining

The economy is wheezing and GM is scrambling for survival, but at least we can wave goodbye to this monstrosity of conspicuous consumption. w00t!!

Quote of the day

The Senate is holding a hearing today where several current and former Blackwater employees will be testifying, but honestly the only way Congress would stop giving Blackwater money is if it started registering black people to vote.

- Adam Serwer

(lifted whole from Atrios)

Staying grounded

Like this little bit on staying true to yourself. Whatever your religious persuasion, there's a core you that informs where you need to go in life, and it's good to remember that and check how it's leaning.

More, yes! Like this, please!

Wouldn't it be great if Democrats could master a framing war? Especially when all the goodies are just lying out for the taking? "Bad for America, and bad for you" has legs, and seems to apply to all the crazy ideas from the Right right now. Where have you gone, Geo. Lakoff?

Good news, bad news; that's how the day rolls

These things seem cool:

• A midday nap markedly boosts the brain's learning capacity -- you don't just break even; you come out ahead! If only there were time and space in my day...
  (via boing boing)
  
  
• How Outside Groups And Vulnerable Dems Gave The Public Option A New Pulse. It still may not be part of the final health reform bill, but this is a good demonstration of how a combination of pressures from inside and outside the system can make amazing things happen.
  
  
• Clean smells promote generosity and fair play, and related subconscious phenomena that underlie our metaphors and our perceptions of the world.
  
  
• Kids Today! So Spoiled made me laugh -- and it's always just this latest generation of parents that is Doing It Wrong... (don't read the comment thread though; just too humorless.)

These things are decidedly uncool:

• Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs.
  (via Atrios)
  
  
• Your cell phone is not your friend: Law enforcement is tracking Americans' cell phones in real time—--without the benefit of a warrant.
  (via boing boing)
  
  
• The Quest for Innocence and the Loss of Reality in Political Journalism -- the more that the press tries to be "objective," the worse it does at making sure that its reporting is based in reality, with ever more surreal results.
  

Not sure what to think of this: swarming display blocks, which can disassemble and reassemble while continuing to carry information.

Out of the gate, at last

Obama Administration suggests a healthcare bill based on the already passed Senate bill, offering Republicans a chance to get behind it or face being entirely closed out of the process as the discussion moves to "reconciliation" (= Democratic bicameral discussion). They will almost certainly opt out, which means that a lot of things could happen with only Democrats in the room . . . Will be staying tuned!!

Quote of the day

I believe that we are put here in human form to decipher the hieroglyphs of love and suffering. And, there is no degree of love or intensity of feeling that does not bring with it the possibility of a crippling hurt. But, it is a duty to take that risk and love without reserve or defense.

- Allen Ginsberg

(via whiskey river)

Score one for Joe

I have to admit, I didn't see this one coming...

Edit: ah, I knew that sounded too good to be true. This is more like it. Try to score points with liberals while spearheading a kabuki exercise...

Belated Valentine

Am feeling very infatuated with Speck these days. That's not to say that parenthood is all roses -- as a general undertaking, it's all about additional responsibilities, reduced free time, and long stretches of mind-numbing repetition/explanation/negotiation -- but rather that the particulars of this one personality, and the chance to watch it develop, are enchanting. I suppose that every parent has their moments/stages of appreciation and others of more frustration, so perhaps I'm just wallowing in a little of the former.

Speck has become quite lovey, with lots of hugs and kisses to go around (and not just for her stuffed animals, as it was for a long time). That's made me realize what a long snuggle-free stretch we had. Parenting inherently involves a lot of contact, from carrying to scrubbing, but that's quite different from getting to snuggle your offspring up against you, let alone the feel of her burrowing her head into your shoulder or the sight of her open-mouthed, wide-armed grin as she runs toward you from across the room. These are good times.

Additionally, Speck's vocabulary and communicativeness have both blossomed over recent months, and she's continuing to get more companionable. Mornings no longer require full-time entertainment by one parent while the other gets ready; she can come into the bathroom and join us in brushing her teeth, talking Mom through her make-up, having her toys help pick Dad's clothes, or even sharing a shower. She also continues to like to help a lot, from throwing wet laundry into the dryer to digging at snowdrifts with her little scoop. She sings to herself in the highchair, has memorized a couple of her favorite books, helps look after a 6-month-old who comes to visit with some regularity.

I dunno. Maybe this is my replacement for pining after spring. But it feels like this is a golden time, of dependence mixed with affection, when every discovery and every millimeter of mastery is still cause for celebration and when there are so many new things to share. I'm sure I'll appreciate the greater independence that comes with increasing age, but I still think I'll miss the purity of her emotions right now, the closeness of the connection. Will do my best to drink it up while I can.


Two links:

• 10 Reasons Why I Love the Toddler Stage
  
• A recent Zits cartoon that nearly broke my heart (and maybe inspired this post).
  

Two amazing things

Evolution in real time, as birds' wings gradually change shape in the face of vast deforestation. Neat, and simultaneously a bit sad.

Shot with a green screen: this pretty much blew my mind. Even scenes filmed on location are often green-screened to allow for addition of background elements that may be pesky to arrange in real life. Lots of familiar TV shows and movies are excerpted here. Fascinating.

A tipping point

I certainly found Admiral Mullen's testimony striking and heartening:

"No matter how I look at this issue, I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie about who they are in order to defend their fellow citizens," Mullen said. "For me, personally, it comes down to integrity, theirs as individuals and ours as an institution."

But this take, that this statement might indicate the tipping point of inevitable acceptance of gays in the military, goes even further than I might have hoped. Certainly, those who've said they'd follow the lead of the uniformed officers have no further excuse for hesitance; I look forward to a growing avalanche of support for the obviously right position here!

Four amazing things

• Apparently we still keep women out of some sports both to protect the fragile male ego and/or because of some antiquated worry that they'll damage their lady bits.
  (via Atrios)
  
  
• What corporations really think of capitalism: too much competition ruins everything. waaah!
  
  
• Are we turning our kids' education into a Race to Nowhere? I sure hope not, but I can see where all the pressure comes from. Better to foster a love of learning than a fear of not living up, but perhaps best to remember that there are other things important in life, often more so.
  
  
• Here's a really blog about homelessness/unemployment from one parent's real-time perspective. An alarmingly easy condition to stumble into, hard to dig out of.
  (via Bitch, PhD)

That cheery news just keeps on coming

Commercial real estate is just starting to be in trouble, with possible repurcussions from empty storefronts to large-scale evictions from foreclosed apartment buildings. Oh, and possible failures of local banks. But wow! what a recovery we're in!

(via Atrios)

Miscellaneous snowy-day links

Because the sidewalks are now shoveled enough to take the toddler to Grandma's! woot!!

• It's hard not to be impressed by these graphs, which show that the unemployment crisis is disproportionately hitting those with less education. That's partly an explanation for why lawmakers and banksters don't seem too het up about it all; one could also imagine that it has policy implications such as Rafe suggests.
  
  
• A really interesting mental exercise: If Senators Represented Demographics Instead of States. Somehow seems unlikely we'll get anything close to that in either house, as long as corporate spending in politics is unlimited...
  
  
• I'm totally with Rafe in his frustration with constant stirring up of fear by politicians and talking heads on the right. It seems to start with terrorism, and then the worry is easily redirected onto other "suspicious" groups, and suddenly there's no talking rationally about anything. It's hard to see how to fight it when it's so effective as a(n amoral) tool. Sigh.
  
  
• Meantime, healthcare reform seems stalled while people's lives are at stake. Nobody seems to give a crap, when it's clearly a financial and humanitarian crisis right here at home.
  
  
• On a cheerier note, there are some really great videos at the Muppet Studio YouTube site. Heck, I'm just happy to know that there are still videos being made with some of these great characters -- poor Beaker!
  

Quote of the day

The point here is to take life in all its rich variety just as it is, with its ten thousand opposites, and to go along with whatever circumstances require, embracing things after their own inclination or according to chance, letting things be rather than getting in their way, and thus allowing each and every thing, each and every appearance, to pursue a meaning and purpose distinct from my own.

- Kato Totsudo

(via whiskey river)

Snowpocalypse, redux

Well, there may not have been much snow in New York this past weekend, but we had plenty here (we can't even see this much of our patio) -- something like 20 inches in 24 hours, which is enough to tax the infrastructure in even the snowbelt states, let alone here (or further south). Didn't get any video of the great dig-out (complete with Speck helping with a cat litter scoop), but I do have this video from just before Christmas, after that first big storm, when she first got to walk about in snow and wonder at it. Look, footprints!



Man, if I'd known it would really do more of this, I'd have tracked down a sled. Just hard to justify the storage space when it sometimes snows a total of 0.5 inch two times in a whole winter...

Political radar, not so much

Heckuva job, Brownie! eesh.

Obstructionism writ extreme

Yes, there's really a single Republican Senator holding up all nominations by the Obama administration until his favorite pork projects get some love. No really, and claiming it's selfless concern for national security, of course. I'm pretty sure what that guys needs. Does our government even pretend to be concerned with running the country anymore??

Time for another spine infusion

Nobody doubts that the Democrats have a hard row to hoe, in large part because of the grim economic situation that seems likely to last a long time. However, they could be doing more to pressure their opponents and keep a little political slack in their options. Let's do something with that giant set of majorities!!

For the Philly audience

Among the hot primaries this year will be that for PA governor. Get an early look at the line-up, and maybe get a question asked of the candidates, at the forum being held the evening of Thursday, February 18 -- full information here.

Tuesday link-dump

A bunch of things. What mileage a blogger with time might make of discussing such! You can tell these have been collected for a week or two, so apologies for my lost referrers.

• Wonderful meeting of history and creativity: What Would Martin Luther King Make of Twitter? (captures two sensibilities almost equally well!)
  
  
• An observation from the State of the Union, about the historical anomaly of the President's calling out the Supreme Court Justices in person.

  The Supremes are used to wafting into the House in their black robes, sitting dispassionately through the speech and wafting ethereally out again on a cloud of apolitical rectitude. It's like they forget they're there because they're one of the three branches

  Not this time!
  
  
• Things we're not hearing about Haiti: how aid is getting fumbled by administrative disorganization. A real tragedy, and maybe an explanation for all the scenes of desperation that the media so loves.
  
  
• A bit of optimism in the midst of much criticism of Obama: he's been quietly reviving regulatory agencies that can improve the lives of many if not most Americans. Score one for progressives!
  
  
• On the creepy side: a poll of Republicans reveals the depth of their ignorance and bias. A third think Obama should be impeached? for what?? Many of the results here show the power of high-publicity fringe movements.
  
  
• And finally, just as a poke at my own gizmo-ga-ga reaction, the Onion's version of Apple Finally Unveils iPad.

The 5-second rule

I just love this graphical flow-chart for dropped food, especially the acknowledgment of both logistical considerations (was the dropped thing sticky?) and conventional ones (was the observer a Person Who Matters?). And the totally random thread for some dinosaur business...

Of course, people feel quite differently about the question if it's their *kid* that's eating the dropped food rather than themselves. Which is relatively absurd, especially given evidence that dirt helps kids' immune systems develop normally. But fears and heebie-jeebies don't always yield to science!

(via a Momversation comment)

A long way to go

Economics experts keep talking about how all indicators are improving, the recession is virtually over, etc. Yet the jobs numbers keep falling, and it would take a virtual renaissance to replace all the jobs lost, let alone create enough more for the increasing population. Even in my relatively secure circles, things just don't feel better yet by a long stretch, and I was sort of perversely reassured to see this grim graph and quote:

What we see in the United States and some other economies is a statistical recovery and a human recession.

Larry Summers, Davos, Jan 30, 2010

(And now there's this too!) Let's get back to that job-creation business, folks, and stop worrying about corporate ledgers!

(via Atrios)

That's how it seems to me too

Yes, use of the filibuster has been increasing, but it really just went nuts in the last couple years since the GOP has found itself uncomfortably in the minority...

Quote of the day

The opponents of reform have found their bumper sticker, their slogan, their rallying cry, it's one word: No. You can read that on a bumper. Our bumper sticker has -- it's just way too many words. And it says, "Continued on next bumper sticker."

- Sen. Al Franken,
speaking with health care activists on Tuesday

Warm weather faces of Speck

The family went to Aruba for a stretch right after Christmas, and Speck greatly enjoyed the pools, ocean, sand, zipping around on local golf carts and buses, and all the novel fun. Here are a few shots from along the way (all at a little over 22 months).


Silly look of Speck in (Gammy's) specs...


Speck's first wading pool -- the expression stems from challenges of stepping down a step, not from any lack of enthusiasm!!! She loved it.


An inner tube lets Speck join Mom and Dad in the big pool.


Another first, the hammock ride appears to be a success!

Ah, warm weather with cool breezes -- I sure miss it! Speck seems just fine with the renewed opportunity to stomp puddles under a cold grey sky...

Virtual becomes reality

Was just fascinated by this article about how real football players are improving their performance by spending time playing video games, specifically Madden NFL football. The simulations are good enough that it's increasing offensive players' ability to read defensive positions, defenders' ability to recognize plays, and ball-carryers' ability to work the clock. Even high school and college teams are coding in their plays for some off-field practice. Amazing!

(via rc3.org)

Poem of the day

The Gift

Time wants to show you a different country. It's the one
that your life conceals, the one waiting outside
when curtains are drawn, the one Grandmother hinted at
in her crochet design, the one almost found
over at the edge of the music, after the sermon.

It's the way life is, and you have it, a few years given.
You get killed now and then, violated
in various ways. (And sometimes it's turn about.)
You get tired of that. Long-suffering, you wait
and pray, and maybe good things come - maybe
the hurt slackens and you hardly feel it any more.
You have a breath without pain. It is called happiness.

It's a balance, the taking and passing along,
the composting of where you've been and how people
and weather treated you. It's a country where
you already are, bringing where you have been.
Time offers this gift in its millions of ways,
turning the world, moving the air, calling,
every morning, "Here, take it, it's yours."

- William Stafford

(via whiskey river)

He sees you when you're sleeping...

...or at least whether or not you're taking your pills as directed. Ok, maybe there are some neat tricks to this "smart pill" technology, but it feels like just another personal boundary done away with...

(via rebecca's pocket)

Link heap, Tuesday edition

So much going on, so much frustration, outrage (post-Bush edition), uncertainty. Here's a bunch of it...

• Stupid underwear-bomber made my trip home from the holidays hellish. One anticipates another round of pointless reactionary upping of intrusiveness, further diminishing my interest in flying. The best reaction to the whole thing that I've seen is by Fareed Zakaria: Don't panic. Fear is al-Qaeda's real goal. Indeed. His suggestion that breaches of security be treated like airplane crashes -- dispassionately, with a view to learning what could be done better -- is an excellent one that will probably go unheard.
  
  
• Lots of panic, wavering, uncertainty on healthcare reform in the wake of the Great Lost Supermajority. I like Krugman here: the best way to disprove the lies is to pass something and let people see it in action. That's certainly preferable to letting things continue to suck, which will likely benefit the Republicans (and none of the public). The Washington Monthly has a telling observation about how Dems and the GOP respond to defeats; perhaps it's time to learn not to run scared, especially when poll after poll says that the public wants relief from our crazy healthcare morass...
  
  
• The economy seems stalled, with stimulus money still trickling out and unemployment stuck at the painful 10% level. Nothing more that can be done, or is it just that stable prices are more important than people's livelihoods? I'm ready for Bernanke to move along. Leaks about the Obama spending freeze (bleah) appear designed to set up some saner proposal in the State of the Union tomorrow; I hope to hear something promising on both that and the prospects of health care...

LOL

Yes, I really laughed: a typical incendiary blog post.
(Don't miss the comments!)

(via a Medley tweet)

Edit: See also this self-referential song video... Just cracks me up...
Edit2: The (now much longer) comment thread to the "incendiary blog post" above has now moved that link into my list of All-time Favorite Internet Things.

We live in odd times

Maybe America has always had its contingent of wackos. But apparently now they think they deserve some respect from the establishment too....

(via Talking Points Memo)

We could all use a little baby cuteness right now

From the latest batch of videos, now with recorded evidence of Speck talking a mile a minute...


A little game that Speck and Dad have developed, here revisited at 21.5 months...

On politics, healthcare, and closing the barn door after the horses are gone...

Nancy Pelosi has an excellent grasp on things that the average voter can afford to overlook: politics has to be done when possible, lest circumstances change in an unforseeable way. Every aspect of the painful course of healthcare reform have made that clear, including the fact that the moment might have already zipped past us.

Jon Stewart summarizes the situation best, as he so often does -- the strategic lapses, the ridiculous double standard of Washington, the head-banging frustration of it all. Gotta watch the whole thing.

No idea how the election in MA will turn out, but very much afraid that meaningful healthcare reform, one of the most pressing issues of our times, might never happen. (And then things only get worse.) Happy to be wrong!!!!!

(first link via a Medley tweet; last via Atrios)

Twitter quote of the day

No, I'm not a pessimist. At some point the world shits on everybody. Pretending it ain't shit makes you an idiot, not an optimist.

- shitmydadsays

And now for something a little lighter...

oh. my. lord.
First-person tetris. An inspired re-envisioning.
My cerebellum prepares to be rewired!! :)

(via kottke)

Three bits on Haiti

• Doctors Without Borders arrives on the scene with instant hospitals ready to inflate. Yay for the good guys! (and a good place to give funds)
  
  
• Jon Stewart reprimands the haters and those attempting to "make hay" politically from whatever response is made to this major disaster. So much putziness, so little humanity...
  
  
• The inimitable The Bag notes a color inversion of the usual media narrative, as local police help excavate trapped U.N. workers.
  

Good news, bad news, interesting stuff...

Just a few striking links for the day, escaping my usual efforts at grouping or categorization...

• I consider this report to be pretty good news. Fingers crossed.
  
  
• I really don't want to think about this scenario. Democrats need to get busy in MA!!
  
  
• Enjoyable and thought-provoking: 100 Skills Everyone Should Master, from MightyGirl. More extensive than the classic list from Heinlein, and a little more broadly applicable, even if not perfect -- probably some things there that we should all aspire to. In addition, it led me to the sublime How to Give a Eulogy. Wonderful perspective for those who foresee giving a eulogy and also for those who never will.

Nothing beats a good metaphor

The unstoppable Cory Doctorow makes a great analogy between innovation in music and the proliferation of online media, generating insight into both: close enough for rock-n-roll. Good stuff.

(via rc3.org)

Belated Christmas pics

Just finished processing a huge batch of photos and videos that spanned Christmas, some post-holiday travel, and more. Whew! Will dole them out over a couple of weeks, but thought I should start with a record of our first Christmas tree, Speck opening some presents, etc.


Here's how our tree and fireplace looked on Christmas morning. Speck helped decorate the former, and then insisted that she have some minutes to admire the lit tree each day and/or evening. "look! look!"


Speck, surrounded by yield of former presents, gets ready to "tear ope!" the next...


Surprise fun: some wacky bristle blocks from Papou.


Finally, a rare family shot from Christmas brunch with Gammy.

Quote of the day

It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between.

- Diane Ackerman

(via whiskey river)

Where good health really comes from

One of the most inspired things I've seen in a long time is this "food for thought" pyramid (pdf). It points out all the factors that contribute to our long-term well-being that don't come out of a bottle, book, or even necessarily our determination. A good reminder.

(via Alas, a blog)

Too much to hope

Lieberman is super-unpopular in Connecticut, even with the Republicans who elected him in the general last time. Still, 2012 is a long way off, and voters tend to have very short memories...

New Year's link-dump

A new year, a new decade (I leave the pedantry to others), a ridiculous heap of tabs open on my browser. Time for a clean slate! Here are a number of things, from the serious to the ludicrous, that have caught my interest in recent weeks. Apologies that I've lost track of where I found most of these!

• Face recognition software (for which, I'll admit, I don't have any application) appears to fail for black people. Oops!! I like the mix of humor and incredulity here.
  
  
• Healthcare reform isn't just an abstract policy issue -- it's life and death for people whose current coverage is running out for one or another inhumane reason. Insurers don't want to carry people with chronic conditions, even if straightforward interventions keep them healthy; I guess that the stratospheric costs of covering them after their (uncorrected) health collapses don't really matter, as long as they're off the books and somebody else's problem...
  
  
• Speaking of healthcare, there's a delicious (snarky) irony in the fact that Rush Limbaugh got such great medical treatment from HI's highly unionized, socialized medical system (i.e., one of the most progressive in the country). Sure, Rush, if we all had care like that, we probably *wouldn't* need reform...
  
  
• Atrios has some good points on US industrial policy (or lack thereof). Often the same guys who argue loudest for free-rein capitalism are those getting the most from the antiquated set of incentives and subsidies we already have.
  
  
• Amusing, and not without truth: Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy -- the complaints of this first-world modern life...
  
  
• I'm not a phone texter, yet anyway, but the value of this application is immediately obvious to me -- really, I'd like a similar application for a book reader, since I'm more likely to be reading while I'm walking my daily commute, but so far peripheral vision has been enough.
  
  
• A good tip for anybody at any time: 10 words you need to stop misspelling. Am tempted to buy the poster of this one, but that just wouldn't help with emailers and other folks in the e-world...
  (via Lou at work)
  
  
• And finally, for your amusement, a touching tribute to the lesser kudu from the late Brad Graham. I hope we'll all use the gift of another year to be the best damn kudus we can be!