thinkness - June 2003 Archives

June 2003

Monday 30 June

Second-best grass ever - New Scientist published a little piece on a grass genetically engineered to be hypo-allergenic. It's still years from marketability, but interesting. Consumer-oriented GMOs? Is it possible? Much more on this later...... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 15 Trackbacks | 89 Comments
Who wants some Vietnam? - Lots of people have been saying that maybe Iraq is a quagmire, a new Vietnam. Well, the US military's been spreading a little of that itself. Like when it uses Wagner's The Ride of the Valkyries as its theme music... Posted in political currents | 23 Trackbacks | 131 Comments

Friday 27 June

Dowd kills Thomas - I guess I'll catch up on something that I was obsessing over that day Blogger died. [Is there a song about that? And we were singing, bye bye...] I usually find Maureen Dowd's columns in the NYTimes to be insipid,... Posted in political currents | 12 Trackbacks | 87 Comments

Thursday 26 June

Sometimes you get more than you pay for - I was just starting to really give up on Blogger. I figured hey, it's free, made for dumb people who know no html, what do you expect? But then they just went and changed it and it's waaay better. Impressive.... Posted in | 0 Trackbacks | 89 Comments

Tuesday 24 June

Like father, like son - Unbelievable. Speaking of getting in with Beltway Democrats, Dean said, "It is a bit of a club down there... The Democratic Party, all the candidates from Washington, they all know each other, they all move in the same circles, and... Posted in political currents | 1 Trackbacks | 111 Comments
Will an honest man... - George Will -- whom I once liked because he wrote well about baseball and then came to dislike because he's a conservative tightass -- is the first conservative pundit I've seen to raise serious questions about the WMD bullshit [while... Posted in political currents | 8 Trackbacks | 96 Comments
Let's get 'em, Larry - Some corporate asshole recently tried to tell Lawrence Lessig that every good idea coming from the 'open' and 'free' movement will be co-opted by corporate assholes and exploited. This is an affront to my faith in and hope for cooperative... Posted in emergence | 0 Trackbacks | 97 Comments
Yes, I'm slobbering on Dean again - Slate says something I've tried to say for a long time now: Dean isn't really all that liberal. I think that image people got into had to do with the fact that he's from a liberal state and signed the... Posted in political currents | 0 Trackbacks | 79 Comments
My brother says The Economist used the 'total recall' ... - My brother says The Economist used the 'total recall' joke before Safire did. Who knew.... Posted in political currents | 8 Trackbacks | 92 Comments

Monday 23 June

Better living through genetic modification - Japanese researchers have concocted a GM coffee bean that has significantly reduced levels of caffeine. More on this to follow.... Posted in evolution by and for the people | 12 Trackbacks | 95 Comments
Deep regret -- real entertainment - This is an old story that I meant to post long ago. The NYTimes ran a good expose on how CBS tried to secure exclusive rights to interview Jessica Lynch by using owning-company Viacom's ability to make her a star... Posted in language | 8 Trackbacks | 80 Comments
Color abounds - There's so much color in this Safire column about the Davis recall effort I don't know where to start. Yes I do: Yesterday my brother said that people would start saying that if the cali gubernatorial recall effort succeeds and... Posted in color , language | 9 Trackbacks | 111 Comments

Friday 20 June

What would Orwell say? - Kinsley says there existence of WMD in Iraq has already been proven. Sorta. "Are there weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Sure there are—in every sense that matters, reality not being one of them." Gaahhhh. You may have to read... Posted in political currents | 9 Trackbacks | 85 Comments

Thursday 19 June

Put me in coach -- I'm ready to kick ass - On day 91 for the search for WMDs, I just figured out how the stupidass Democrats can really push the WMD scandal further. A lot of people have been saying Yeah, they pumped up and twisted the reports on WMDs,... Posted in political currents | 8 Trackbacks | 122 Comments
Novelty items - This is a good new feature from Scientific American called Staking Claims that examines some recent quirky US patents and writes little blurbs on them. Critical that it includes the patent number -- very good for a practical, inquisitive readership.... Posted in | 0 Trackbacks | 101 Comments

Wednesday 18 June

Goooooooo community! - A little while ago I highlighted the communitarian/libertarian axis that can be used as a lens to view political views, and how hard-core conservatives and liberals often end up nearby in the communitarian camp. In that vein, damn-conservative Senator Sam... Posted in political currents | 15 Trackbacks | 169 Comments

Tuesday 17 June

Look in the dictionary under 'clusterfuck' - Add this to the enormous list of stuff that's gone wrong in the aftermath of the US' recent wars: Iran is now gaining sway over western Afghanistan by providing electricity. Yes, the same Iran that has started beating reformist student... Posted in political currents | 4 Trackbacks | 293 Comments

Thursday 12 June

Anarchy! Woohoo! - So it seems that Cali Governor Gray Davis might actually get recalled next year: one poll says 48 percent of voters would vote to recall today while 41 percent would vote against. This has precipitated something of a free-for-all in... Posted in political currents | 8 Trackbacks | 185 Comments
Here comes my man - His name is Dean. Howard Dean. For a few years now I have been wondering why Democrats can't seem to deliver fairly simple, straightforward, convincing messages about how badly the Republican Party sucks. Dean says: "When Ronald Reagan came into... Posted in political currents | 2 Trackbacks | 179 Comments

Wednesday 11 June

Deep regret -- my bullshit meter's going off the charts! - A federal judge just made a decision that broadened attorney-client privileges to include client-PR flack communications. Just more bullshit, if you ask me. Also sort of ridiculous to think that people who can afford PR losers will get an edge... Posted in language | 3 Trackbacks | 425 Comments
The BS attack on affirmative action - I thought about this Jayson Blair thing for a while and what it means about affirmative action. A post from Mickey Kaus just helped me figure out where I really stand on it. He says, "I'd say Blair did about... Posted in political currents | 2 Trackbacks | 149 Comments

Tuesday 10 June

More on WMD - The Christian Science Monitor is really good. They're the only paper I see today looking further into the WMD bidness. Interesting points: maybe this WMD inquiry will never go far because the war went so well. So even if Bush... Posted in political currents | 5 Trackbacks | 138 Comments
The truth is out there - ...And it's not really that hard to find. Tapped points out that conservative activists are pretty up-front about what they are trying to do with their tax-cut strategies of phase-ins and sunset provisions -- make it politically infeasible for Democrats... Posted in political currents | 0 Trackbacks | 190 Comments

Monday 9 June

Feelin' peachy? - Former Nixon legal advisor John Dean says the WMD debacle may be an impeachable offense: "This is the first potential scandal I have seen that could make Watergate pale by comparison." I think he may be breathing a little too... Posted in political currents | 6 Trackbacks | 185 Comments
New thought on thinkness - I am going to be including more scientificky stuff on thinkness from now on for some reasons of personal interest. I'm going to try to steer toward 'what-does-it-mean' kinds of analysis/observations about science and technology. This article in Metropolis Magazine... Posted in | 6 Trackbacks | 179 Comments

Friday 6 June

Two-way street - I know I post a lot of stuff from Slate. I know. Truth be told, I really like Slate. Kinsley might be my favorite political columnist. Now Slate has started ganking my stuff, too, so I'm starting to feel better... Posted in political currents | 1 Trackbacks | 190 Comments

Thursday 5 June

Get ready for 'bulls---' - This is what I think is going to happen with the WMD hunt in Iraq: The US will eventually find a little bit of something that is almost definitely part of a no-no weapon system. They'll say See, there are... Posted in political currents | 11 Trackbacks | 201 Comments

Wednesday 4 June

A shocking display of self-awareness - '"I'm the master of low expectations" and "we accomplished what I hoped we'd accomplish."' -Dubya in the NYTimes on Middle East peace process... Posted in political currents | 23 Trackbacks | 181 Comments

Tuesday 3 June

Color -- ain't that the truth - Finally I'm getting a Texan into my color chronic section: 'Error runs around the world before the truth can get its boots on.' I should probably just troll Ivins and Hightower columns to get color bits. Or I could just... Posted in color , language | 0 Trackbacks | 245 Comments
Color -- processed programming - FCC Commish Jonathan Adelstein on the new, more permissive ownership rules: 'If this is the toaster with pictures, soon only Wonder Bread will pop out.' By the way, if you read the comments from the five commissioners [available at FCC... Posted in color , language | 1 Trackbacks | 213 Comments
Best story ever - Oh, this is just too cool. Salam Pax is real, and Slate has a dope story on the guy. If you weren't obsessing over the news, Salam Pax [I would call it a nom de plume de guerre] runs a... Posted in political currents | 19 Trackbacks | 213 Comments

Monday 2 June

Communitarians unite! - Didn't take long before I came across another textbook example of conservatives and liberals unified by their communitarian leanings. Steven Pinker writes in the Globe ideas section: 'In his book ''Our Posthuman Future'' (just released in paperback), the conservative thinker... Posted in color , language | 2 Trackbacks | 403 Comments
All the bases - There is bad news afoot. The FCC voted to scrap some of the rules limiting concentration of media ownership. This story has lots of interesting points. Point the first -- Color -- he's back already After the US hit its... Posted in political currents | 2 Trackbacks | 168 Comments