A sentence I never imagined I'd write: I totally agree with the message from Pink's new video, "Stupid Girl."



It's a great video that makes a great point -- young women are inundated with an overriding message: What you look like is more important than who you are.

Great lyric:

What happened to the dream of a girl president?
She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent.

Perhaps some young girls will get the message. Pink certainly takes the shine off bulimia.

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Does this happen every time a "switch opens"? Or has something gone terribly awry.

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Here's the best RSS reader I've found -- it's called FeedReader. Comes loaded with a few feeds and it's simple to load new ones from your favorite sites or blogs.

It's also open-source -- which means it will be continually improved and will always be free. I love the Internet.

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This is cool:

[T]he F.A.A. projected sharply higher levels of non-airline flights in coming years because of the new planes, called "very light jets," which will seat four to six passengers. The new planes can fly almost as fast as an airliner, and at even higher altitudes, but will land easily at fields with 3,000-foot runways, half the length of those at big airports. With a range of 1,000 miles or more, proponents say the new jets will spawn a new generation of air taxis and charters that will carry travelers to airports within 20 minutes of their homes or destinations, at a price comparable to a coach airline ticket.

That final claim seems pretty dubious. How could a jet with 6 seats possibly fly passengers for the cost of a coach ticket? If it's true, this will revolutionize air travel.

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Sometimes, I have to look up words to make sure I'm using them correctly. Whew! Got this one right.

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Scroll down the right side of my page underneath the archives and you'll see my latest RSS innovation. That's right, baby. My Netflix cue as an RSS feed. Feel free to comment on my pending film deliveries.

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Informative article from CBS News about mashups -- Web sites that take content from two different sites to create unique information. One neat result: Housingmaps. The site shows Craigslist apartment listings transposed over a Google map.

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Here's a great human interest piece from CBS News courtesy Google Video. It'll warm your heart.

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This is pretty cool. Slate is using iPods as text readers. Amazing no one though of that before.

By the way, please note my RSS feeds at the top right side of the page. Click on them to add them to your homepage or use the orange radar button to add them to your RSS feeder (like FeedDemon.)

I went to an RSS seminar last night as part of my cool new job. RSS is definitely the wave of the future. The upcoming versions of Windows and Internet Explorer will both feature embedded RSS technology. Here's the wikipedia entry for those that need a quick tutorial.

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Here's a site featuring great opening lines of novels. My favorite:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

-- George Orwell, "1984"

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A good read from Peggy Noonan on the frustration of airplane travel:

What they think is: This is all kabuki. We're being harassed and delayed so politicians can feel good. The security personnel themselves seem to know it's nonsense: they're always bored and distracted as they go through my clothing, my stockings, my computer, my earrings. They don't treat me like a terror possibility, they treat me like a sad hunk of meat.

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This could be the funniest blog post I've ever read. I laughed so hard, it made my eyes water.

I found this particularly amusing:

Chasing the beers, Jello shots, meat, cheese and wine with a few after-dinner liqeuers really helps you feel light on your feet, and also eases the crushing pain of being alive.

This piece on a Renaissance Festival is incredibly funny as well.

(Hattip: The boss.)

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Wikipedia can be quite addictive. I started out reading this entry about Art Bell, who hosts a late-night radio show about UFOs and conspiracy theories. This led me to the entry on Whitley Streiber, an acclaimed horror writer who wrote a book about being abducted by aliens (long after he had achieved fame). That post led me to this guy -- G. I. Gurdjieff -- who was intent on getting humans to slow down and experience life.

You never know where you may end up while riding the wiki.

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This is my boss's aunt. She actually makes a living being being a "psychic detective." Who knew?

She discusses her aunt and other topics on her blog.

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Check out this trailer for a new movie, "A Scanner Darkly." It looks awesome.

The film is directed by Richard Linklater ("Slackers," "Dazed and Confused") but more importantly, it's based upon a novel by Philip K. Dick. I'm fascinated by this guy.

Dick wrote a bunch of obscure, but awesome science fiction novels and short stories. Many of them were turned into good or great science fiction movies -- "Blade Runner," "Minority Report," "Screamers," and "Total Recall." Sadly, he died in 1982 before he saw his work gain critical accliam. Actually, his 1963 novel "The Man in the High Castle" won the Hugo -- the prestigious science fiction award -- but he still died largely anomymous. "The Man in the High Castle," a book about life in the U.S. after the German and Japanese victory in World War II, virtually created the alternative-history genre.

Take the time to read the wikipedia entry on Dick's life. Two things from it seem clear: He was a literary genius with an incredible imagination, and he was certifiably crazy. Note the bits about the visions of pink laser beams and the Roman Empire.

I've got a another film based on a Dick novel in my Netflix rental cue. "Impostor" stars Gary Sinise, and (according to the wikipedia entry) remains true to Dick's vision more than any other film. Can't wait to see it.

By the way, I love the original title for "Blade Runner": "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep?" But, I'm told by wikipedia that Dick didn't actually write the titles of his books -- he let his editor handle that task.

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Great editorial about the misuse of federal homeland security money. As with most government programs, the best of intentions always go awry.

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I gotta make this recipe.

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I'm going to try to use the word monopsony a little more often.

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Here's a great account of a Wall Street Journal reporter's ordeal in Iraq. It was an arduous three years:

I tried to make a home in Iraq, a task that seemed feasible at first, but grew more and more difficult. In the quest for a safe place, I moved eight times. Each location was more heavily fortified than the last. For a time, I lived with other journalists in a villa with black marble floors and wood-paneled walls and a garden dotted with orange and date trees, in the upscale neighborhood of Mansur. We left that house in 2004, after, within the space of a few weeks, a car bomb exploded outside our house and several foreigners were abducted and beheaded in the neighborhood.

I respect Ms. Fassihi's courage tremendously. She and the other journalists in Iraq have provided an immeasurable service. Too many have lost their lives covering this war. But, I think this is an important point:

[T]he British security firm we hired had warned in an email that insurgents were plotting to kidnap a female American journalist and advised women not to leave their hotel unless absolutely necessary.
Several weeks later, my friend Jill Carroll, a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, was abducted in broad daylight at gunpoint as she left an interview in Baghdad.

Part of the reason Ms. Fassihi was so unsafe in Iraq -- in addition to Iraq being an incredibly unsafe place -- was that she was a reporter. Insurgents in Iraq are clearly targeting reporters. Why? To help them convince the world that Iraq is a dangerous, lawless place where we are losing the war. I'm sure many of my readers believe this perception to be the truth. But many others -- including members of our military -- believe otherwise.

One unmistakable fact remains: The insurgents are purposefully targeting journalists like Jill Carroll. Now, what purpose does that serve?

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Shortly after I started commenting on my congressman, Tom Price, I've received emails from one of his rivals in the next election. Lately, John Konop has even posted a few comments to my posts.

I welcome Mr. Konop as both a reader and a critic. I also truly appreciate his passion for politics -- running for office takes a huge commitment of time and resources. As far as I'm concerned, John Konop is a good, honorable man simply because he cares enough about this country to run for office.

That said, I don't agree with many of his views. On his Web site, two items dominate the page -- opposition to illegal immigration and opposition to NAFTA and CAFTA. I disagree with both of these positions.

I agree that we have a huge immigration problem in this country. But I don't think it will be addressed by simply building a big fence to keep Hispanics out. I think the best solution would be to grant amnesty to all the hard-working illegals in our country and to vastly increase the number of immigrants we allow into America every year. Once they get here, we should make them American citizens, teach them English, and start taxing their paychecks. With eight million illegal immigrants already here, it's pretty clear to me that we've got plenty jobs to go around.

As for CAFTA and NAFTA -- I'm for free trade. Critics argue that these agreements hurt American jobs, but NAFTA passed 10 years ago and our unemployment rate today sits at 4.7 percent. The "giant sucking sound" never really materialized. Besides, I like the idea of agreements that benefit the manufacturing economies of third-world countries even if that means losing manufacturing jobs here. I'd rather see our workers manufacturing information rather than shoes.

So, Mr. Konop, I'm sorry that I just don't see eye-to-eye with you on these issues. Given Mr. Price's recent moves regarding pork-barrel spending, my vote is pretty much locked up for 2006.

Mr. Konop, please feel free to respond to this post; however, I don't plan on engaging in a debate regarding your platform. We just don't agree -- and that's OK.

I sincerely wish you the best of luck.

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An interesting quote from Andrew Sullivan:

It will take a generation to undo the damage that Bush has done to conservatism, America's fiscal health, and the whole idea of limited government. My prediction: we will see huge tax increases soon after Bush leaves the scene. He will insist they are a betrayal of his legacy. They will, in fact, be the logical consequence of everything he has said and done. Once they get past their loathing, big government liberals may well look back on the Bush years and wonder at the miracle of how he did what they spent two generations failing to do.

Not quite sure it's that bad, but he's close.

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Fantastic reader on Perot from Martin Peretz, editor of The New Republic. For a guy nobody remembers, he's certainly had a large impact on national politics.

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Here's the Wikipedia entry on the TV show "Lost." I've never watched it, but it sounds awesome.

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I'm fairly certain that I've never seen uglier pieces of furniture.

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I've been a little hesitant to blog about the job, because so many have gotten in trouble when their blogs conflicted with their jobs. But, my boss is pretty blog-friendly; in fact, here's a link to her blog. She actually checked out this blog before agreeing to interview me. If you wondered why the political rantings seemed rather tame of late -- there's your answer.

Furthermore, here's an excerpt from one of her recent posts:

Next up is WalMart. I WONT shop there. Wont is a very powerful word. It means that I could in fact do something, I just choose not to. Walmart wont do business ethically and seeks to create quite the facade through their advertising that they are in fact, contributing to society. This is accomplished by hiring sweet elderly people to greet me at the door, hiring illegal aliens to work a bazillion hours a week with no benefits and to top it off, buying products offshore that are made by little children with no shoes on their feet. How can one shop there and not feel guilty about feeding the WalMartavore?"

Given some of my earlier posts, you can see that we don't see eye-to-eye on this issue. I, if you recall, love Wal-Mart.

And trust me, the political differences don't end there. So, suffice it to say that I'll be toning down my political rantings for the foreseeable future. No sense stirring up trouble.

As for the job, it's awesome. I'm writing and editing, but can't really talk more about it because we're launching a new top-secret product.

Here's what I can tell you: The break room sports Starbucks coffee. Plus, we grind our own coffee beans. But, we don't use a regular grinder -- we use a far-superior burr mill.

So, this is definitely the best job I've ever had -- coffeewise.

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Here's more on my favorite space project, The Space Elevator.

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Here's a Valentine my 6-year-old daughter received today. Sigh.

As I noted earlier, I find something objectionable in giving my daughter a doll with a visible midriff. The whole Bratz world continues a disquieting trend: The sexification of kids.

Apparently, not all parents agree with me.

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Wikipedia can make anything interesting. To illustrate my point, please read this entry on Governor General of Canada.

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Finally saw "Sideways" last night. What a great film. Shouldn't have waited so long to see it.

All of the acting is incredibly nuanced, but Paul Giamatti is particularly notable. Watch his reaction at the end of the film when his ex-wife tells him that she's pregnant. He's definitely an actor waiting for a breakout role. (Akin to Philip Seymour Hoffman before "Capote.")

By the way, the Giamatti's character holds a picture of himself and his late father early in the movie. It's a real picture of Paul and his father, Bart. His dad, Bart Giamatti, is more well known for being the commissioner of baseball who threw Pete Rose out of the game.

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Good article on public relations vs. advertising in the Economist. Here's a great quote: "News is what someone wants to suppress. Everything else is advertising."

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Great article on the continual rebuilding of Fenway Park:

... [A]s John Henry's group enters its fifth year at the helm, the baseball relic is undergoing a continuous makeover. Since purchasing the team in 2002, Henry's group has steadily tinkered and upgraded Fenway Park with eye on a significant renovation.

And within hours after the final out of the 2005 Division Series, workers were scrambling throughout the park as work began on the biggest project to date. With about 70 percent of the work completed, Fenway looks more like a construction site than a baseball facility.

A few years ago when I lived in Boston, they were ready to tear down that ballpark. If the state legislature had approved money for a new stadium, Fenway would be a memory.

For once, Massachusetts politicians did the right thing.

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Wikipedia can be quite intriguing. Note this entry on Hobson's choice.

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Johnny Depp has jumped the shark.

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Got this press release via email from my congressman today:

Congressman Tom Price (GA-06-R) recently introduced a resolution to amend the House Rules to attribute earmarks to their sponsoring Member of Congress. The resolution, introduced on January 31, 2006, currently has 50 cosponsors.

"The American people should be able to see who is spending their money and where it is going," said Price. "Accountability is an inherent trait of a democratic society, and Congress has the responsibility to ensure that accountability. This is just one step in a process of reform which will assure that the trust of the taxpayers is well earned."

Seems like a good sign. Instapundit says McCain's going to introduce a new reform bill in the Senate. Not sure if this is the House counterpart or something entirely different. That'd be great if Price took a lead role on pork. He could start by eliminating it from his district.

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Stanley Kaufman confirms my take on Terrence Malick:

The opinion that Malick forces on us, out of the decades since his first (and last) good film, is that he can perceive but that his purely cinematic mind, the ability to transmute his ideas into sustained films, is weak ... Malick continues to float along the edge of the American film world as an unusually intelligent personage who occasionally delivers the fruit of his meditations. But his role as adjunct philosophe is better than the films he eventually gives us.

So do I have to see "The New World" or can I just assume it sucks?

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Matt takes a job and the blogging really takes a hit, eh?

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Interesting roundup from Dan Drezner about a study of Americans and leisure time. The counterintuitive conclusion finds that Americans actually have much more free time than they did in the past. Read the whole post.

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This is what the Superbowl is all about: Overindulgence. Sweet overindulgence.

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Craigslist will start charging a fee for listings in New York City. They say the move intends to cut down rampant multiple listings in the city. Hope this doesn't extend to other cities or types of listings.

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I just checked out the audiobook of David McCullough's "1776" from my library. Rather unremarkable -- unless you consider that I simply downloaded it to my computer. I'm told it will quit working in 3 weeks. An encryption lock will keep me from burning it onto CD, so I think I'm going to have to break down and buy an MP3 player. I think I'll buy one of these too, so I can listen to my downloaded audiobooks in the car.

I'm living in the world of the future, baby. The world of the future.

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I had to learn how to podcast for my new job. After about five hours of flailing about, I finally published one. Here's me reading Sara Teasdale's "There Will Come Soft Rains."

It's a great poem, but I'll always associate it with Ray Bradbury. In one of the short stories from The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury set Teasdale's poem -- about the fact that nature wouldn't notice the absence of the human race -- against the backdrop of nuclear anhilation. It's quite chilling.

In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o'clock, time to get up, time to get up, seven o'clock! as if it were afraid nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The clock ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven-nine, breakfast time, seven-nine! ...

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The House GOP elected Boehner, not Shadegg. Blount would have been the pure inside candidate, and Boehner has made some reformist noise -- so, it could be worse.

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