] "We are definitely going to do religious
] outreach. We're definitely going to reach out to the
] evangelical community," he said.

What part of standing up for what we believe in puts reaching out to authoritarian christians at the top of the list? The actual priority for the party is "attempt to emulate the other guys because they are doing so well right now."

[ Yeah, that doesn't make me happy, though I didn't like the other guys any better. Still, I was kind of hoping he'd roll in there and say "Will we court religious voters? Of course, because religion in america is important, but we don't believe in exploiting religion in the service of politics, and we will not do that." Pandering to the fundie element -- and yes, I am making an equivalence relation between evangelicals and fundies -- should never be part of the democratic platform. -k]

Dean elected DNC chairman - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - February 13, 2005

[ I finally got around to finishing this, so I'm finally ready to meme it...

It covers the issue fairly well, I think, for one asserting that while exclusive copyrights do a good job of providing a system of revenue for major rightsholders, and established, successful artists, exclusivity isn't a boon for unknown artists, and in fact hinders them creatively.

There's a decent discussion of the fact that digitalization hasn't actually provided all the amazing things everyone thought it was going to, and some discussion of why.

Personally, what I took out of this, aside from the things i had already concluded about copyright, was that there exists a huge potential for reputation systems which can take the noise of so many competing voices and filter it into a truly useful channel for promoting quality work, that would otherwise never get noticed. This article talks about disintermediation of the distribution channels for music -- the internet is that, the ultimate lack of mediation. What's really needed is a method of mediating which isn't based as much on the marketing dollars of the majors, but on the interests and opinions of the people who listen to the music. -k]

Artists' earnings and copyright

] Arthur Miller, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
] whose most famous fictional creation, Willy Loman in
] "Death of a Salesman," came to symbolize the American
] Dream gone awry, has died. He was 89.

It's a sad day for the theater.

Playwright Arthur Miller Dies at 89

] Second. The US disclosed its attempt to topple the
] political system in the DPRK at any cost, threatening it
] with a nuclear stick. This compels us to take a measure
] to bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal in order to
] protect the ideology, system, freedom and democracy
] chosen by its people.
]
] It is the spirit of the Korean people true to the Songun
] politics to respond to good faith and the use of force in
] kind.
]
] We had already taken the resolute action of pulling out
] of the NPT and have manufactured nukes for self-defence
] to cope with the Bush administration's evermore
] undisguised policy to isolate and stifle the DPRK.
]
] Its nuclear weapons will remain nuclear deterrent for
] self-defence under any circumstances.

They have tested numerous missiles as well. If they do have a working device, its likely deliverable. Not good.

[ Well, Japan doesn't seem to think so... In the NYT article they quote a Japanese official essentially telling the DPRK to "Roll up, Bitch". Regardless, I agreed that it's pretty clearly not a good situation. -k]

BBC | North Korea: We got nukes, phbttt

Vile wrote:
] It might be easier for me to cut off your hands and rip out
] your tongue.

[ Well, you're nothing if not consistent, but really, aren't physical threats against people you've never met, across the internet, a little silly? I have no doubt you're really a nice guy on the inside, buried beneath all those layers of whatever fashionable angsty ethos you've chosen to accessorize with. But maybe not... either way, if you can find joy trolling online and spitting blood at a roomful of coffeehouse punkers, then who'm I to argue with that, really. -k]

RE: Left-handers have different view

Vile wrote:
] As far as you go,
] k, I must say that it sucks to find that we use the same hand
] to write with. I hate being in any classification that you
] are in. In fact, I am re-stringing my guitar right now. Time
] to convert to righty. Maybe my allergies, AIDS, depression,
] drug problem, schizophrenia, insomnia, and spatial challenges
] will all go away and I will drive better. Who knows?

[ Well, don't sweat it too much, I only write lefty... everything else I do righty, so you can continue being as different from me as possible. I had no idea I had so much control... i also like eating Thai food and Sushi, and I play guitar and love music... Can i get you to stop doing those things too? -k]

RE: Left-handers have different view

] It's 20 hours before the third annual Dutch Open
] lock-picking competition will begin, but the room is
] already packed with 50 or so men and women wielding
] burglar tools and representing the international steel
] bolt-hacker diaspora.

[ Cool -k]

Wired 13.02: The Lock Busters

] Research has suggested that left-handed people are more
] susceptible to a range of problems, including allergies,
] auto-immune diseases, depression, drug abuse, epilepsy,
] schizophrenia and sleeping disorders.
]
]
] Left-handers are thought to have poorer spatial skills,
] and thus to be more vulnerable to car crashes and other
] serious accidents.
]
]
] However, a study published by The Lancet suggested there
] was no truth in the theory that left-handers are more
] likely to die prematurely.

[ They left out the fact that we're better at everything else ;)

Seriously though, this article's pretty light on content. All it says is that right and left handed people might view the world "differently" but they don't reveal any qualitative details. Differently how? Better or worse? I mean, I guess it means that if i get to choose which side of my brain takes a hit, i should chose the left side, so my language and visual skills aren't as badly fucked, but I'd like to know a lot more. -k]

Left-handers have different view

Situation:
you are driving down the road or stopped at a stop light and when you glance around you see a woman sitting alone in her car crying her eyes out.

what is your reaction?

Do you even give it a second thought?

What do you think about?

How does it make you feel?

[ I'd think about it long enough to arrive at the conclusion that life sucks sometimes, for everyone. I'd also wonder what was so bad that she broke down right there... is she overly dramatic or did something *actually bad* happen. Then I'd think about one or two things that i might be sad about before moving on, probably because I got hungry for some pizza. -k]

A question to ponder

] An argument that judgment matters but knowledge does not
] is profoundly anti-intellectual. It implies that we do
] not need ever to learn anything in order make mature
] decisions. We can just proceed off some simple
] ideological template and apply it to everything. This
] sort of thinking is part of what is wrong with this
] country. We wouldn't call a man in to fix our plumbing
] who knew nothing about plumbing, but we call pundits to
] address millions of people on subjects about which they
] know nothing of substance.
]
]
] But I did not say that Goldberg's judgment is always
] faulty. I said he doesn't at the moment know what he is
] talking about when it comes to Iraq and the Middle East,
] and there is no reason anyone should pay attention to
] what he thinks about those subjects, as a result.

[ This is Juan Cole disassembling pundit Jonah Goldberg in no uncertain terms... he says a good deal of interesting and informative things in the process, however, so I found it worth a read, even though the political rap-battle aspect didn't interest me particularly. -k

p.s. Another choice quote :
"Goldberg is hoping to Kerryize me because my position on the war can't be reduced to a sound bite. I don't really care. I'm not running for office and I'm not making any money to speak of from this punditry gig. If people can't imagine that you can hate Saddam and also think a unilateral war and long-term occupation of an Arab country are bad ideas, that is their problem."

I should add, from my standpoint, I'm not 100% with Juan on this one... it's our problem too, because misinformed people make bad decisions, and in particular use the lack of a rebuttal as supporting evidence for those bad decisions. He may be saying that it is impossible to convince the sort of people who have such a strongly held opinion otherwise, which is possible. ]

Informed Comment