A rare glimpse

The employees of Penguin publishing explain their jobs. I work for a publisher, and I think that "editorial" and "production" subsume a wide range of jobs here, but at least you get a wide-angle view of all the steps by which a book gets from an author's head onto a bookstore shelf...

(via boing boing)

Yeowch!

A group of victims from hurricane Katrina testify in Congress about what went down, and they are unstinting in their anger and blame. In essence, they charge the government with ethnic cleansing.

One chagrinned Repuke said "Could you please refrain from calling it a Concentration Camp", to which eveacuee Leah Hodges exclaimed "No I will not! They separated children from families, did not feed us or give us water, they let people die, a woman lost her baby. And all the while trucks are going past--with no supplies--just full of soldiers with M-16s. It was like Hitler."

The link also includes some verification of some of the (new to me) claims, as that the southern parishes may have been knowingly sacrificed (their levees blown up) in an attempt to save the rest of the city. Um, wow.

Good news from the department of duh

That is, the children of homosexual couples are as well adjusted as any other children.

Patterson's and others' findings that good parenting, not a parent's sexual orientation, leads to mentally healthy children may not surprise many psychologists. What may be more surprising is the finding that children of same-sex couples seem to be thriving, though they live in a world that is often unaccepting of their parents.

(Anybody else hearing echoes of decades-old debates over biracial couples?)
I'm sure this will put the debate right to rest!

Good news, bad news (recent bits round-up)

• Good news: At last the business world is beginning to adapt to the notion that their employees need to have lives outside the office...
  (via Rebecca's Pocket)
  
  
• Bad news: Proving that sometimes the truth is no consolation, the GAO confirms that the 2004 election was stolen by electronic voting machines.
  (via MyName at dailyKos)
  
  
• Good news: Finally! some of the pharmacists refusing to fill women's prescriptions get punished.
  (via Echidne of the Snakes)
  
  
• Bad news: Federal police appear to believe that they can ask commuters for their ID without any justification other than the route the bus is following. [A creative solution for fighting back is suggested here, but there's no guarantee it would keep you out of court! (via Knotted Knickers)]
  
  
• Potentially good news: Scientists are contemplating the possibility of giving the Internet its own immune system that could respond to virus and worm attacks before widespread damage is done.
  (via Follow Me Here)
  
  
• Mind-blowing: A look at the shape of space-time . . .
  (via Follow Me Here)

Strange but compelling

Jonathon Rauch argues that politicians have an expiration date on their career arcs: they either get to the White House within 14 years of holding major political office or they never will. Probably if you're around *too* long, you either have too much history to be held against you, or so little that people wonder what you've been up to; those who are both ambitious and effective either get somewhere or somehow fail to get people excited. Or it could all be a stretch. But it feels somehow insightful instead...

(via kos)

The things that people get worked up about...

The whole "liberals are trying to kill Christmas" thing, accompanied as it was by pre-Thanksgiving carols, just blows my mind, but apparently these people are really het up, as some of those receiving "holiday cards" from the White House were angered enough to throw them away (Wash. Post; reg. required).

"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Yes, those multiculturalists are really the dregs. Respect for others! pfeh!!

(via Atrios)

The ugly just keeps piling up

Alito was a bit of an unknown when Bush nominated him -- not unknown as in No-Paper-Trail Roberts, and clearly a "real" conservative for the frothing base (read: opposed to Roe v. Wade), but a little undefined personally and politically relative to such bogeymen as Priscilla Owen or Alberto Gonzales. But over the last few weeks there's been more and more on a wider and wider range of cases, showing him to be an extremist loner on many decisions and willing to go to great lengths to uphold government rights to all kinds of powers over individuals, from the merely instrusive to the violent/lethal.

So, I've made up my mind that we don't want this guy anywhere near the Supreme Court. Here are five posts that capture most of the reasons:

1. On the war on terror (are there any limits to the government's powers?)
   
   
2. On the meaning of reasonable force (should police be allowed to shoot a suspect merely because he's running?)
   
   
3. On a woman's rights over her own body
   
   
4. On keeping minorities out of Princeton (long after the battle was lost)
   
   
5. On keeping his promises and/or showing good judgement (unwilling to recuse himself from a case involving his own mutual fund)

Update: oh, and then there's the whole creepy made-up biography business. I'm getting squicked...

Quote of the day (belated)

Sorry for the lack of dial tone today --- been home shepharding furniture deliveries around my house, and now I'm whipped (and still hoping to log some hours of work). May or may not post anything more today, but will attempt feats of brilliance for the rest of the week to make up . . .

Do not speak unless you can improve upon the silence.

-- A Quaker saying

(via Lucid Moment)

Quote of the day

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.

- Edmund Burke,
statesman and writer (1729-1797)

(via A.W.A.D.)

Surely you jest

A judge in Oregon not only doesn't convict a set of teen gang-rapists, but also he turns around and convicts the accusor for not appearing traumatized enough to fit his image of a worthy victim be credible. This leaves me totally agape. Most obviously, it will send a chill through the already hesitant ranks of rape victims considering whether to risk coming forward...

For anyone who thinks that the judge's view is reasonable, take a look at Digby's explication of the absurdity of suggesting that teenagers commonly invite group sex-fests (outside of porn and male fantasy) and Shakespeare's Sister on the wide variety of reactions to rape.

Absolutely no analogy intended

It's just about logic. Now see how easy that was?

sigh.

Theater of the absurd

BAGnewsNotes gives us a look at Bush's Iraq victory puppet show.
Freak-a-delic!!

Update: heh, see also this...

Friday frolic

I am too groggy to function. Which means it's going to be a long day. So, to blow off a bit more time before I bite the bullet, here are a few silly links to get you through the weekend.

• Somebody's keeping an archive of absurd patents. This reminds me of a board game I grew up with, called Inventors (I think) which involved real patents like an automatic hat-tipper and a light-up cat mouse-frightener. heh.
  (via Follow Me Here)
  
  
• Science unravels that age-old mystery: why do floating Cheerios clump together? You know you wanted to know.
  (via kottke)
  
  
• Here's a bunch of corporate logos on insects. No, I don't know why, leave me alone.
  (via boing boing)
  
  
• No link, just a quote:
  
  

  Bush: "The buck doesn't even slow down here."

  
  (from a dailyKos sig file, Cygjelly)
  
  
• This you really have wanted to know: if you dug straight through the earth, where exactly would you end up? The magic of Googlemapping.
  (via IMAO)
  
  
• And finally, a real weekend resource, the Beer Belly -- one that can actually smuggle your beer anywhere you want to drink!
  (via pal Bill H.)

Quote of the day

"If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things."

- Descartes

(via whiskey river)

Well, maybe times do change

Apparently Japan is considering letting girls inherit the emperorship. This is good for the current imperial family, who had a difficult time having one (girl) child, let alone committing to more, but it's even better as a symbolic gesture in a deeply sexist traditional culture -- and amazingly, 78% of the country favors the change.

(via Official Shrub.com blog)

Heh, I don't have any idea what you mean

For those of you, whoever you are, who might watch procedurals such as CSI, Law & Order, or any of the 5 trillion others, I offer this explication of the subliminal reassurances of procedural dramas. It even extends to Numb3rs and Cold Case. A couple of the parodies made me bark with laughter, to the consternation of my colleagues...

(via knotted knickers)

Volcano soon to be fed?

MoveOn is contemplating supporting a primary opponent to Joe Lieberman. With the way that this guy takes public stances against everything his own party supports, it certainly seems long overdue to me (see this prev.)... I don't know who can be dredged up on short notice, but it's worth finding out!

The Emperor has no clothes!

Finally people are noticing that, um, Iraq isn't going that well, and that some of our policies are making things worse. I mean, not our leadership, of course, but apparently the paper of record

Mr. Bush hates comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq. But after watching the president, we couldn't resist reading Richard Nixon's 1969 Vietnamization speech. Substitute the Iraqi constitutional process for the Paris peace talks, and Mr. Bush's ideas about the Iraqi Army are not much different from Nixon's plans - except Nixon admitted the war was going very badly (which was easier for him to do because he didn't start it), and he was very clear about the risks and huge sacrifices ahead.

A president who seems less in touch with reality than Richard Nixon needs to get out more.

. . .and some average citizens

There is no "debate" over torture. It is an evil at all times and all places. It is also a crime under international and national law. That makes two groups: those against torture and criminals.

Is it me, or is it getting a little warm in here?

Thursday kitten-blogging: Humor edition

Since I subjected Pixel to the indignity of publicizing her indelicate moments (here), it seems only fair to admit that sometimes Pasha looks a bit goofy too. Seems like a good day for a giggle. These shots are about a month old; she's 15 weeks old here.


Surprisingly elegant shot, despite being caught mid-butt-lick...


Much less elegant, much more tongue...


(This one included just so you can see some spots.)


Past Pasha appearances: 4, 3, 2, arrival, teaser3, teaser2, teaser1, homepage

Quote of the day (political discourse edition)

Those who put out the people's eyes, reproach them for their blindness.

- John Milton,
poet (1608-1674)

(via A.W.A.D.)