thinkness - July 2003 Archives

July 2003

Color -- words from the good doctor - How could I blog for this long without having any Freud here? In a quite interesting LA Mag story on Mickey Kaus, RJ Smith cites a quote from psychoanalysis' dad: "the narcissism of small differences", which, he says, Democrats and... Posted in color , language | 0 Trackbacks | 182 Comments
Stranger than 'truth is stranger than fiction' - From a June, 2002 Discover magazine article about uninformed science popping up in media: 'Plait isn't out to lecture. His goal is to demonstrate that reality is actually more interesting than make-believe.' And you know what else? The Easter Bunny... Posted in monkey vs robot | 1 Trackbacks | 118 Comments

Dean -- still my man - Haven't slobbered on Dean for a while. [Since June 24, if you're curious.] He's still the guy. Case in point: 'The early line isn't good. Word from the field is that the impetuous Dean makes Bob Dole look soft and... Posted in political currents | 14 Trackbacks | 148 Comments
We'll get you yet, Nature - UCBerkelely Professor Alex Zettl created the first nanoscale motor. Quite small, really. Could ride on the back of a virus, which is something I've longed to do for years. Still, I get a funny feeling when they say, "Nature is... Posted in | 8 Trackbacks | 94 Comments
Pay no attention to the slick man behind the curtain - Last month I wondered why SF Mayor Willie Brown hadn't waded into the California recall game -- powerful former state speaker, forced out of SF by term limits, big ambition... Turns out he is involved with the gubernatorial game --... Posted in political currents | 9 Trackbacks | 85 Comments
Color -- life during peacetime - A Slate article discussing the movie Buffalo Soldiers, which is getting jerked around because it's anti-military or whatever, cites a Nietzche quote: "Where there is peace the warlike man attacks himself."... Posted in color , language | 3 Trackbacks | 143 Comments

Color - someone's baking bodies - or Another take on the dope on humans Good quote in David Rakoff's interview of Matt Ridley, author of Nature Via Nurture, in the May/June issue of Seed: Q: What do you mean when you write that the genome is... Posted in color | 4 Trackbacks | 98 Comments
The dope on humans - The question of what makes humanity is one that I'm thinking about frequently. All the friggin' time. And this letter to New Scientist is good input. So good that I'll retype the whole fargin' thing: Technohominids From Dennis White Now... Posted in evolution | 15 Trackbacks | 104 Comments

Corporate globalization is fun for everyone! - Hey, I've been busy. Without further adoodoo: Corporate globalization is fun! I know, I should read a little further than the NYTimes. But I was struck today by what's going on: The Great Catfish War -- a great op-ed about... Posted in political currents | 14 Trackbacks | 78 Comments

Come-unity - The Nation came out with an interesting story on Amitai Etzioni, an influential promoter of communitarianism. [I've been talking about communitarianism a fair amount, most recently wrt Asscock being a moral-majority-type, conservative communitarian.]... Posted in political currents | 13 Trackbacks | 116 Comments
Black Thursday for that asshole acting like the president - For the past couple weeks, I've been talking about how this WMD thing might actually be serious. Over a month ago I posted that John Dean article about how this could be the biggest presidential scandal since [you guessed it]... Posted in political currents | 9 Trackbacks | 100 Comments
Conan the governor - I have this creepy feeling that Ahnold is going to be the next governor of California. The NY Daily News seems to think so. This recall process is dumb, but fun. Sometimes I wish that the whole magic holding together... Posted in political currents | 3 Trackbacks | 111 Comments

Tickle thyself - This New Scientist article in part addresses that age-old question: Why can't people tickle themselves? I guess it's not that hard to figure out -- it's what I've thought for years: You know what's about to happen. But this study... Posted in psychology & consciousness | 19 Trackbacks | 84 Comments
Poetic justice? - I was just thinking about these here USofA and how we are getting bogged down in Iraq. I thought of Vietnam. I thought of the American War for Independence. A ragtag bunch of militiamen, outgunned, overmatched, using guerilla tactics to... Posted in political currents | 13 Trackbacks | 95 Comments

Color -- calm strength - I'm glad I came across a particular reason to link to this City Pages article from a [former?] friend of Christopher Hitchens' lamenting and wondering what has happened to him to make him such a bitter crank. Good story. I... Posted in color , language | 9 Trackbacks | 105 Comments
International mudslinging - Heh. The Europeans are having a fight. The Italian tourism minister published an open letter bashing all Germans, 'these stereotyped blondes with ultra-nationalist pride, indoctrinated since way back when to feel top of the class at any price.' About one... Posted in | 11 Trackbacks | 95 Comments

The production of intended effects - Okay, I'm back now in the Bay [not the land part -- the actual Bay [blub, blub]], frittering my days away in front of a computer. So breathe easy, more posting to come. I just encountered one interesting theme and... Posted in emergence | 2 Trackbacks | 106 Comments

Wow. Blogger on a Mac really stinks. I'll write ... - Wow. Blogger on a Mac really stinks. I'll write this quick so I don't have to deal with it for long. Michael Savage, repressed gay dude and mean, mad person, was fired by MSNBC for making mean, mad comments. Only... Posted in | 0 Trackbacks | 95 Comments

Revelations abound - Yes, it's revelation day here at thinkness. Michael Savage, caustic conservative radio shithead, used to be gay. Or is gay. Or wants to be gay. Or has or had man-liking tendencies. In any case, he had a touching pen-pal relationship... Posted in political currents | 12 Trackbacks | 106 Comments

Redistricting, the hot topic = confuzhon - Redistricting is all over the place now. First there was the thing in Texas where the Republicans tried to redistrict again [only a couple years after the last redistricting in 2000, contrary to age-old tradition] and a bunch of Democrats... Posted in political currents | 6 Trackbacks | 105 Comments