tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58441252011-12-27T19:22:44.596-08:00Saheli*: Musings and ObservationsSaheli Datta started this when she was a journalism student at Columbia in New York. Now she lives in the Bay Area.
*Old people call me R. New people, call me Saheli. Thanks!
<a href="http://www.sahelidatta.com"> My homepage. </a>
Specifically, <a href="http://www.sahelidatta.com/glinks.html">my links</a>.
Email me: Saheli [AT] Gmail [dot] ComSahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comBlogger10201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-767776265431538682010-05-23T13:17:00.000-07:002010-05-23T13:52:40.776-07:00Why I decided to help organize the first Hacks/Hackers Unite dev camp around the iPad even though I have concerns about Apple's policiesDan Gillmor wrote a blogpost lamenting the decision of the organizers of Hacks/Hackers to organize their first Unite Dev camp around iPad development despite the myriad problems that journalists have found with Apple's model for how content gets on the iPad. Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1160085465880118132006-10-05T14:53:00.000-07:002006-10-05T14:57:45.926-07:00Time to Move OnBlogger has been good to us, but it's time to move on. The new blog is at www.sahelidatta.com . We've been blogging for a while there, and I think we got most of the kinks ironed out. I'll be transferring over the blog roll and updating the template here as appropriate, but in the meantime, please come and visit! Thank you!Cheers,SaheliSahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1159295657288309782006-09-26T11:33:00.000-07:002006-09-27T15:04:40.940-07:00Happy 108!Today is the fourth day of the bright fortnight of the month of Padmanabha. May true good fortune be had by all the inhabitants of the Universe. . ."Every soul is related to every other soul."If, in the course of your life, you come across true, essential goodness, my advice to you is that you snatch it up and try to slip it into your heart. It's often not easy---like bringing a Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1158702283679777662006-09-19T13:59:00.000-07:002006-09-19T21:15:41.030-07:00SubversionYarrrr. It's International Talk Like a Pyrate Day. Light be running out like grog on a barnacl'd ship, so set to it, me harties! Arrrr!I bin talking like a pyrate near three days now, and my pate be addled. With all the brethren of the coast yarrin an arrin', some landlubbers growl that we be a dark and evil tide, throwing good booty after that which be real and very, very bad. Ye olde Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1158608319876972512006-09-18T12:34:00.000-07:002006-09-18T12:38:39.953-07:00Yarrrr! Harr Harr, Yaar!Tomorrow be talk like a pyrate day, and if ye be addlepated, scurvy dogs, I'll lend ye timbered visions to bring about the groggy voice. Avast and watch! Link from Michelle. Apologies to PowerPoint Bilge Rats.Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1157961962489856442006-09-10T23:46:00.000-07:002006-09-11T11:12:52.456-07:00Of Blogs and BridgesThe blogosphere can, in fact, occasionally get stuff done, and the proof was on Saturday.My friend Steven met me because he read my blog. He's also a journalist, and when he came home to the Bay Area, he asked me if I wanted to meet up. We hit it off, not only with each other, but with each other's friends, and now we work mere blocks away from each other and meet up for Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1157527631315364902006-09-06T00:21:00.000-07:002006-09-06T00:27:11.563-07:00Building 253 after the rains Building 253 after the rains Originally uploaded by Telstar Logistics. My colleague Telstar Logistics, editor and flickr maestro extrordinaire, has been documenting the abandoned military bases of the Bay Area. I thought this photo was really lovely, even without considerations of context and history---the plate glass, the shimmering reflection, the colors and contrasts, the composition. Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1157419123245287932006-09-04T18:15:00.000-07:002006-09-04T18:38:45.080-07:00Why have terrorists not struck the US since 9-11?by ColinIn the current issue of Foreign Affairs, Prof. John Mueller of Ohio State poses the obvious yet apparently subversive question is there still a terrorist threat? He points out, quite reasonably, that despite how easy it would be to terrorize the US population with, say, a single sniper rifle, we have not seen a single domestic terror attackColinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1156833133575032372006-08-28T22:47:00.000-07:002006-08-30T22:38:24.400-07:00The Right to TravelI don't normally reblog stuff from Sepia Mutiny, since they have a larger and more focused audience, but this is too important and too general to ignore. Siddhartha brings our attention to the news that the United States has denied re- entry to two American citizens--one naturalized and one-native born--unless they first agree to be interrogated by the FBI abroad without a Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1156612213208177752006-08-26T10:01:00.000-07:002006-08-26T10:10:13.260-07:00Squeaky Croonersby ColinWell, I knew it. It turns out that mice sing, probably to attract mates. Timothy Holy and Zhongsheng Guo of Wash U. in St. Louis put male mice in a teeny tiny sound booth along with cotton swabs soaked in (presumably hot) female mouse urine. The little hombres started crooning away, at ultrasonic frequencies, of course, and their songs show surprising structure. You can Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1156193122863067862006-08-21T13:35:00.000-07:002006-08-21T23:18:38.376-07:00What not to do with LN2 dewarsby ColinIn case you missed it, Birge LeConte Hall at Cal had some liquid nitrogen excitement a week ago, as reported by Arcane Gazebo. Remember, don't take large dewars down stairs, and don't leave undergrads unattended for too long at a time ...Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1156000662534817672006-08-19T07:52:00.000-07:002006-08-19T08:23:37.883-07:00Pachyderm poloby ColinThis is great: as the Washington Post reports today, North America will be represented in the World Elephant Polo Association tournament next month in Thailand by a team from the DC area. Of course, the DC team's elephant stable numbers exactly zero, and they practice by standing on a playset in somebody's backyard that's roughly elephant-height. But they have two advantagesColinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1155749708765076442006-08-16T10:17:00.000-07:002006-08-16T16:48:18.030-07:00The Birth on the Eighth Day of the MoonIt's still my favorite story. The sleepy guards of the jail, the sudden, fragrant rain, the lining up of constellations and half moon as the sun has swung completely away, leaving behind the cover of a darkness that's humming with anticipation. And then. . . Happy Sri Krishna Janmashtami everyone! "May there be good fortune throughout the universe, and maySahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1155073406029940022006-08-08T14:29:00.000-07:002006-08-08T14:43:26.080-07:00The Creatures Who Sit Around Watching While We Use Our Inner EyeSo over the years I have spent hours and hours reading and writing in my living room, and glancing out at our wide view of the north bay every now and then. My attention is frequently grabbed by something quickly moving across the blue. It's usually a bird of prey or carrion or sometimes even a hummingbird.Now I have an office Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1154719445569823692006-08-04T08:02:00.000-07:002006-08-04T14:45:34.550-07:00Popularity DialerToastyKen sent me this amusing link: A web-service that places a prescheduled callt o your phone (most likely your cell phone) with a recording of one side of a conversation. Your options are a male friend, a female friend, an affirmation monologue or a boss demanding your immediate return to the office. The idea is that you either need to seem popular, get out of meeting, get Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1154621521932956132006-08-03T08:29:00.000-07:002006-08-04T09:02:36.356-07:00Josh Wolf In JailEr, I just found out about this and am rather sketchy on the details. In late 2004 when I was thinking about learning more about video, I met a young guy named Josh Wolf whose enthusiasm and dedication to becoming a documentarian was almost overwhelming. I quickly decided that running around with a video camera was not something I felt like doing at the time, so I only hung out Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1154045652832047132006-08-02T11:01:00.000-07:002006-08-02T11:25:20.866-07:00Awesome! My Superhero Diagnosis! And Other News!Your results:You are Wonder WomanWonder Woman 90%Spider-Man 80%Superman 80%Supergirl 70%Robin 60%Green Lantern 60%Batman 55%The Flash 50%Hulk 50%Catwoman 45%Iron Man 35%You are a beautiful princesswith great strength of character.Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...Aw shucks. I was barely hoping for Catwoman, but I guess I'm notSahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1154049843626861952006-07-27T18:09:00.000-07:002006-08-02T11:13:34.786-07:00Das ist tubularby ColinI got back this week from a trip to Innsbruck and Munich, the former for work and the latter for fun. Probably the best thing in Munich is the English Gardens, and probably the best thing in the English gardens is the river surfing. At the south end of the gardens (near the U.S. consulate) the river Isar flows out of an underground culvert and washes very fast down narrow Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1154035042801751632006-07-27T13:57:00.000-07:002006-07-27T14:17:22.906-07:00Awesome! Aloo Tikki in the Financial DistrictI knew that one of my work-hood sandwich shops, EatCetera on Market, was either owned or operated by desis. There's an older uncle and his two kids who are super friendly (as are the Latina & Latino cashiers), and there's a chicken Biryani which I can't eat, of course. I usually go for the salad bar, the hefty avacado sandwich on Dutch crunch, and Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1153895654250323022006-07-25T22:11:00.000-07:002006-07-25T23:34:14.616-07:00I read the news today, Oh boy. . .Sorry about the blog silence. I realize it sounds tacky, but I was actually somewhat demoralized by the sudden and rather unexpected outbreak of war in the Middle East. To put it mildly, I'm not a big fan of bombs or disproportionate violence. The realization that's stuck with me for the last few days is that by the time the bombs start falling, it's kind of too Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152814194286586172006-07-13T11:02:00.000-07:002006-07-13T11:10:56.956-07:00Tubes!by ColinThat wily Senator Stevens (R-AK) is at it again! Not only is he chair of the Commerce, Science and Technology committee that is reworking US law on net neutrality, he's become a techno remix icon. Do listen to this at work. And here's a nice little 3-minute video explaining net neutrality. Tubes!Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152632399162403872006-07-11T08:18:00.000-07:002006-07-11T08:39:59.233-07:00Take Care BombayBlasts rock commuter trains of people going home, news courtesy of the Mutiny. It's a city I've only met as a layover, but know well as a character in my mother's funny tales and many, many movies and books. The gateway to India is at the top of my destination list, and the Maximum City shines on despite rain and chaos. My prayers and wishes for the Mumbaikers. Keep an eye on Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152618645750016562006-07-11T04:44:00.000-07:002006-07-11T04:50:45.783-07:00Moo Powerby ToastyKenIf you're a resident of Vermont, you can for just 4 cents more per kWh, get some of your electricity from dairy farms that burn methane from cow manure. Found this item via this /. article, where one commenter proclaimed the idea to be a complete load of BS. ;)ToastyKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03046500121236049524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152555719668713052006-07-10T11:09:00.000-07:002006-07-10T11:48:15.063-07:00Adieu, Zizouby ColinLike a lot of Americans who even vaguely care about soccer, I first heard of Zinedine Zidane during the 1998 World Cup, when he scored two goals in the final to beat the ur-footballers Brazil for France's first (and still only) world championship. He is a spectacular athlete, labeled by Pele as the the best player of the decade. That's why his behavior at the end of Sunday's Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152393105847912152006-07-08T14:05:00.000-07:002006-07-08T14:11:45.850-07:00Wind-assisted Freightersby ToastyKenA German company has developed a computer-assisted sail system for large ships that uses computers to figure out the optimal route. It's supposed to be able to cut fuel costs by a third.I don't really have anything clever to say about it. I just thought that picture was really cool. :) (Well, and this is related to all that cargo container post on this blog ToastyKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03046500121236049524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1152293689312885432006-07-07T10:19:00.000-07:002006-07-07T10:34:49.350-07:00Electric CarsRuchira tells us to go see Who Killed The Electric Car, a movie I also want to catch. The other day I caught a couple minutes of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom on the radio; he was talking about health care but someone asked him about transport. He conceded that now he's driven around in a City chauffered vehicle, but that before he was driving an EV1 that he liked very much and Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1151917075178610182006-07-03T00:45:00.000-07:002006-07-03T01:57:55.486-07:00Superman ReturnsI went in with my expectations on the floor. First of all, the original Christopher Reeve Superman movies were my favorite childhood movies. That's just asking for disappointment. Secondly, it feels a little weird to be ancticipating a Warner Brother's film when I now work for yet another TimeWarner company.* Finally, the buzz was all bad. Bad reviews, changed directors, apparent Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1151615097195464672006-06-29T13:59:00.000-07:002006-06-29T14:25:47.186-07:00Cephalopod Sex on the Centimeter Severed Arm ScaleHedgehog pointed me to this story in the Syndey Morning Herald, via MemeMachineGo: The male blanket octopus faces a significant gender imbalance - he is just two centimetres long, while the female of the species can measure up to two metres. . . .This reproductive arm, known as a hectocotylus, is tucked away in a white spherical pouch between its Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1151299761785513892006-06-25T22:11:00.000-07:002006-06-25T22:29:21.843-07:00ProudI didn't make it into the City today, but I thought I'd say:"I disagree. It's a debate about whether you think gay people are part of the human condition or just a random fetish. . . .Being gay is part of the human condition." Jon Stewart, debating Bill Bennet about gay marriage on the Daily Show.I look forward to the day when Pride can be all party and no protest.Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1150939096726353312006-06-21T18:16:00.000-07:002006-06-22T10:04:20.823-07:00I can't say enough good things about the Lick. (Scotto)Saturday I was lucky enough to ride someone's coat-tails into the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton (inland from San Jose). Every summer they open up the telescopes to the public for six evenings -- and you have to win the lottery to get a ticket. If you time it right, you'll show up when we did: the pre-sunset golden hour. Mt. Hamilton Scottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16389504794833794796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1150308357704454002006-06-14T10:26:00.000-07:002006-06-14T11:06:35.060-07:00Good News for Coffeeby ScottoTwo recent items caught my attention, and I don't even drink coffee:Right here in Oakland, the folks at Kaiser Permanente have reported that drinking coffee reduces liver damage. Seriously -- quoth the maven:These data support the hypothesis that there is an ingredient in coffee that protects against cirrhosis, especially alcoholic cirrhosis.Meanwhile, in Australia, Scottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16389504794833794796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1150264626946190762006-06-13T22:53:00.000-07:002006-06-13T23:02:30.593-07:00A Wookie Plays the DrumsI like the Gnarles Barkely Crazy single making the rounds of the airwaves. If you like Gnarles or Star Wars or both, you might appreciate this YouTube clip of the MTV Movie Awards, courtesy of Telstar Logistics. It's kinda crazy.Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1150243180486569492006-06-13T16:57:00.000-07:002006-06-13T17:23:55.056-07:00Relying on Dinosaursby ToastyKenIn the comments to the last post, badmash pointed out how much he liked Saheli's phrase, "I'll move my weight around myself instead of relying on dead dinosaurs."Well, Saheli, that's because they're dead, silly. It'd make much more sense to have live dinosaurs move you around, instead:Did you know? Brontosauruses emit Wi-Fi connectivity from their frontal lobes.ToastyKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03046500121236049524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1150184414940830152006-06-12T22:12:00.000-07:002006-06-13T00:59:46.060-07:00An Inconvenient TruthOn Saturday evening a bunch of us went out to go see An Inconvenient Truth. There weren't too many particular pieces of new information in it. I hadn't realized the extent to which the glaciers are melting. I hadn't really visually absorbed the extent to which the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has exceeded the levels of the last 650,000 years. I didn't know about the Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1149687838274242902006-06-07T06:43:00.000-07:002006-06-07T20:37:11.546-07:00Did Al Gore invent the Internet after all?by ColinWe've all heard and snickered at the "I invented the Internet" comment attributed to Al Gore in 1999. It's an urban myth, but one that's hung around for a while. Yesterday I got an email that cast a little more light on the background of the story:I was on the Hill as a Congressional Science Fellow in 1977-78, and worked for a rep who shared Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1149668131967079512006-06-07T01:14:00.000-07:002006-06-07T01:19:57.386-07:00Stephen Colbert Gives a Commencement SpeechIn the middle it gets a little sarcastic and satirical, Stephen Colbert the character rather than Stephen Colbert the guy. Straight funny, good stuff. But at the beginning and the end it's quite beautiful.Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1149214450267350452006-06-01T19:11:00.000-07:002006-06-01T19:31:53.360-07:00Update from New Orleansby ColinI spent last weekend in New Orleans, attending a friend's wedding in the French Quarter. The Quarter itself is high and dry, with Cafe du Monde serving beignets in the morning and Bourbon Street hopping at night. The stores near the French Market do have hurricane-related T-shirts ("FEMA: Fix Everything My Ass" and "NOPD: Not Our Problem, Dude" -- plus my favourite:Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1149039357282553232006-05-30T17:47:00.000-07:002006-05-30T18:35:57.313-07:00Lovelines I LikeI was just griping to ToastyKen about how much I can't stand LoveLine, the nationally syndicated call-in question-and-answer show about sex and relationships that's aimed at teenagers. It's gotten all kinds of press for being an effective educational tool, but it strikes me as puerile prank caller heaven, and I just can't see how it helps anyone. That's not what really bothers me Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1149030207938571092006-05-30T15:35:00.000-07:002006-05-30T16:03:28.686-07:00How Did I Miss This?!Authorities say two separate Pensacola teachers apparently made the big bucks by accepting $1 payoffs from students wanting to get out of gym class. Their names are Terence Braxton and Tamara Tootle. I think Ms. Tootle must have been destined to appear in an odd news segment at some point of her life.You might think that my titular question was an allusion to missing a Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1148974057178089792006-05-29T23:36:00.000-07:002006-05-30T00:41:37.403-07:00Memorial DayIt's almost over, but I feel the need to observe it.* It has become the start of summer, a weekend of shopping, a day for barbecuing and sailing. It is supposed to be the day we remember the battlefield dead. Oddly enough, it doesn't seem to have acquired much more gravitas in the last 4 years when we actually have known battlefield dead again. Here's a little reminder:Iraq: 2689 Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1148104507074154322006-05-19T22:19:00.000-07:002006-05-23T18:42:56.136-07:00Keep your Ayaan herby ColinRecently President Bush and other Republicans have starting sounding the tocsin on "the immigration problem". To hear them put it, a wave of brown, poor, and by implication undesirable illegals are pouring into America and corrupting our essential values. Our brave Prez is responding by sending troops to the border, to Save America From This Threat, which has Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1147799083514251612006-05-16T09:35:00.000-07:002006-05-16T10:04:43.560-07:00I'd be surprised, tooby ColinA few days ago the BBC aired a spot that's bound to be an instant classic. Guy Goma, a Congolese man at the studio applying for a technical job, was mistaken at reception for Guy Kewney, an internet music downloading expert. While Guy #2 (who is white and hirsute) sat in a waiting room, Guy #1 (who is black and bald) was taken to Makeup, plunked in a chair with host Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1147386833841305132006-05-11T15:23:00.000-07:002006-05-12T10:31:02.803-07:00SAVE CODY'SI have just found out that Cody's Books on Telegraph is scheduled to close in two months and I am beyond distraught. I went there on my first day in Northern California, years and years ago, visiting with my parents. I can still remember the bright sight of flowers in front of a bookstore. I've probably bought the overwhelming majority of my books there, and certainly almost all of my Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1147359146266972442006-05-11T07:40:00.000-07:002006-05-11T07:58:35.223-07:00Who supports terrorism?by ColinThe Washington Post today has two excellent articles related to Islamic terrorism. The first summarizes the findings of a Gallup poll in eight Muslim nations about support for terrorism. In stark contrast to the comfortable American image of terrorist sympathizers as poor, religious, and ignorant, the poll found that more above-average-income Muslims supported the 9Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1147282501212299942006-05-10T10:32:00.000-07:002006-05-11T00:45:33.716-07:00National PrioritiesThe war in Iraq is more expensive than signing and abiding by the "prohibitively expensive" Kyoto Protocol would have been, according to Cass R. Sunstein of the University of Chicago, writing in the Washington Post.Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1147208453043883482006-05-09T13:31:00.000-07:002006-05-09T16:22:39.206-07:00Arbitrary BastardizationHere's a little serious note about the American way of regarding other countries. Over at Slate's Today's Papers, Eric Umansky was discussing the coverage of Iranian President Ahmadinejad's unprecedented letter to President Bush and lack of seriousness with which the Administration read it. I haven't fully read the relevant stories, but the lack of seriousness seems not Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1146814225631815672006-05-04T23:57:00.000-07:002006-05-05T00:30:26.366-07:00Fun Stuff Since It's FridayFrom Unfogged--Apostropher gives us yet another skating video, this one simply outrageously fun, and Lizardbreath gives us pick up lines from Geoffrey Chaucer's blog, or, I should say, "GALFRIDUS CHAUCERES LYNES OF PICKE-VPPE": "-Yf thou were a latyn tretise ich wolde putte thee in the vernacular" and "Makstow a pilgrymage heere often?"Chris Taylor, one of my editors Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1146693711348452972006-05-03T14:47:00.000-07:002006-05-03T15:41:53.236-07:00A New Thought on Immigration? A Lesson From the Drug War?by ScottoRemember the war on drugs? That was a good one, because we really kicked *** and now there are no drugs. But there are bigger problems facing us today, like terrorists and immigrants. I was reminded yesterday of all the people who kept trying to frame the drug issue in supply and demand terms. We were always fighting a supply-side Scottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16389504794833794796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1146515054162156892006-05-01T13:10:00.000-07:002006-05-01T13:24:14.206-07:00Day Without ImmigrantsI've been known to gripe about the efficacy of modern protests, but I have to say that the recent wave of demonstrations and gatherings protesting the surge in harsh policies and politics regarding immigration has really made me think about the issue. I'm very impressed with the fact that on a Monday, Market street here in San Francisco is filled with a sea of white shirted Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1146470303396906282006-05-01T00:40:00.000-07:002006-05-01T00:58:23.423-07:00Stephen ColbertIs my new hero. See ToastyKen's blogpost on his White House Correspondents' dinner performance, complete with YouTube linkage.Colbert is not my hero for his political commentary, though I appreciate that unlike most political humorists he kept the hammer almost entirely on the true issues of substance--Why did we invade Iraq? What are we doing about Global Warming? What's up with Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1146406743698165522006-04-30T07:08:00.000-07:002006-04-30T07:27:11.280-07:00ElectroTapsby ToastyKenThis is an automatic bugle that plays Taps all by itself. Here's the full text of the caption:The U.S. military has found the perfect way to demonstrate that it's purely the thought that counts. This bugle emulator sits in a real bugle and plays a collection of calls, including "Taps." Due to a shortage of actual bugle players, the Pentagon had already ordered 700 of theseToastyKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03046500121236049524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1146159651250651032006-04-27T10:31:00.000-07:002006-04-27T10:40:51.280-07:00A Little Optimism By ScottoI just noticed that today is the (12th) anniversay of the post-apartheid elections in South Africa. In other words, the first elections ever held in South Africa without racially restricted voting rights.Change -- for the better -- is possible! Happy Freedom Day, South Africa! Nkosi sikelel' bonke abantu.Scottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16389504794833794796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1146021424894239012006-04-25T20:06:00.000-07:002006-04-25T20:17:04.920-07:00Off the backboard, through the Internet, across to the UN, over the Atlantic, into Africa, NOTHING BUT NETby ToastyKenA Sports Illustrated column titled, Nothing But Nets, is asking people to go donate to the UN Foundation to help buy mosquito nets for Africans to fight malaria. I can't vouch for the UN Foundation's effectiveness or anything, but I love the tie-in aspect of calling it "Nothing ToastyKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03046500121236049524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1146018049518857892006-04-25T19:12:00.000-07:002006-04-25T19:33:52.753-07:00Happy birthday to containers and Chernobylby ColinSorry to bump ToastyKen off the top of SSRBlog, but I can't let this day go by without noting the anniversary of two critical moments in 20th century history. The first is the 20th anniversary of the explosion at Chernobyl, which spewed radiation across Eurasia and killed (by various estimates) thousands to hundreds of thousands of people. It Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1145970761831477412006-04-25T05:54:00.000-07:002006-04-25T07:05:58.756-07:00Virtual Iraqisby ToastyKen You've probably heard of Massively Multiplayer Online Games like EverQuest and World of Warcraft. There's also a smaller market for MMOGs that don't center around violence. I interviewed at one such company a couple of years ago, called There. (Yes, it led to many "Where?" "There." "Where?" "There." jokes. :P) They don't seem to have done as well as Second Life, ToastyKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03046500121236049524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1145642440818091712006-04-21T10:26:00.000-07:002006-04-24T11:45:16.843-07:00One Step Closer to Being Humanby ScottoOutside of driving, nothing gets me more frustrated than dealing with the terrible customer "service" you get calling most companies. This is frequently (though not always) due to the computer voice trees they set up.If you have to deal with the same, then I heartily recommend Paul English's GetHuman.com, which offers ways to escape these computers in the Scottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16389504794833794796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1145394413063380402006-04-18T14:03:00.000-07:002006-04-18T14:15:18.696-07:00Cephalopod Sex Updateby ScottoAs much as well all love the darn things, it turns out some squid are kind of ***holes.... in general, [southern dumpling] squids tend to be solitary, unromantic animals with a propensity to cannibalise their neighbours and take sexual favours by force.Who knew? Apparently Dr. Sinn of the University of Tasmania, who studies squid personalities. Apparently, "within Scottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16389504794833794796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1145380665287417302006-04-18T10:02:00.000-07:002006-04-18T10:19:55.326-07:00Happy Survival Day, Homeland Mine100 Years today ago the city I'm in shook and burned, and the region as a whole went through a lot of shock and trauma, but it survived. Here's to survival. Be prepared, and help your community prepare.Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1145321352268320482006-04-17T17:42:00.000-07:002006-04-17T22:32:24.450-07:00Pigs now fly, planes now don'tby ToastyKenPatrick Moore, a founding member of Greenpeace, has written a WaPo article advocating nuclear power.In related news, some Chicago company is turning Lear Jets into Limos:That appears to be a CGI mockup. Here's what the real thing looks like so far.ToastyKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03046500121236049524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1144948521909020422006-04-13T10:08:00.000-07:002006-04-13T10:15:21.993-07:00 Google CalendarI'm not sure what I think of the new calendar.google.com. Admittedly by its very nature it's impossible to evaluate in a day--you have to see how it performs over an extended period of time. But the sharing of calendars immediatley strikes me as a bad idea--do I really want to know what friend-so-and-so thinks is a better thing to do than hang out with me? How many times Miss X Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1144774285629790382006-04-11T09:49:00.000-07:002006-04-11T09:51:25.646-07:00 That's So Cool!I'm still bouncy and grinning because on the way to work this morning I saw the neatest combination of cool, geeky, cute, and good--a Brompton folding bike. This lady just wheeled it over the escalator, went up with me while she told me how it worked, unfolded it, and biked away. Totally worth the trans-Atlantic, trans-continental shipping costs!!Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1144624419677061632006-04-09T15:31:00.000-07:002006-04-09T16:16:51.686-07:00The Inside Track on the 2007 Oscarsby ColinIt was pissing down rain yesterday in DC, so I spent the afternoon watching Spike Lee's Inside Man, a Denzel Washington/Jodie Foster/Clive Owen/Willem Dafoe/etc bank heist flick that gets my vote for this year's Oscar. That's not because it's a great film, because it's not, but because it's the first picture to figure out what made Crash so popular. And Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1144572858157838672006-04-08T23:27:00.000-07:002006-04-09T01:55:21.026-07:00Le SighI'm a bit worn out. I've been firing off black humored emails to my friends with rants and vignettes like this:Person, tidying up a hospital room, holds up small bottle: Is this bottle something we should take home? What do we do with it?Saheli: Well, what does the label say?Person: It says, "All kinds of dangerous."And calling them up late at night with inane requests for advice because ISahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1144345430505171312006-04-06T10:13:00.000-07:002006-04-06T10:45:59.403-07:00Ding, dong the witch is dead?by ColinIt looks like it's finally starting to happen. Five and a half years into what has been possibly the worst administration in modern American history, the calcified wall of silence surrounding the Bush White House cracked a little this morning. As reported today on the Washington Post web site, Lewis "Scooter" Libby testified to the grand jury before his Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1144309123496738762006-04-06T00:18:00.000-07:002006-04-06T00:38:43.560-07:00Four Things I Wish To Make Known1. I really like the discussion going on in the post about petroleum and breakfast, despite its cantakerousness, and I hope it continues.2. I have a lot of things to say about it.3. I'm horribly painfully busy and cannot yet organize my thoughts on the subject. So please keep it up without me.4. This video, courtesy of Apostropher at Unfogged, is simply one of the Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1143830572229464272006-03-31T10:23:00.000-08:002006-03-31T15:13:37.600-08:00The Petroleum in Your Breakfast and the Carbon Dioxide Coming out of Your ShoesPeter Slote, my first Aikido instructor and Oakland Recycling Specialist, kindly chastised me recently for even hoping that some recycled/recyclable plastic razors and tooth brushes were particularly environmentally friendly, pointing out that shipping to their east coast home and back alone consumed enough oil to be Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1143828845397601752006-03-31T10:12:00.000-08:002006-03-31T10:14:05.413-08:00Let this be a lesson to all of you. Poor Sepia Mutiny. Manish forgot to renew the domain name registration. Now they have cyber squatters. Renew your domain names!/shakes head sadly.Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1143672282440623682006-03-29T14:39:00.000-08:002006-03-30T10:27:42.106-08:00Today's News RoundupI think it's safe to say that all of your rely on this blog to keep you appraised of important events in the world, at least in the sense that I will not suffer any serious consequences for saying it. Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint.In entertainment news, beloved underwear magnet Tom Jones has been knighted, prompting the BBC to lead with the news, not that Buckingham Scottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16389504794833794796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1143555653120246662006-03-28T05:44:00.000-08:002006-03-28T06:20:53.223-08:00Four suggestions for 1000 miles per gallonby ColinI went to one of those anthropologically curious Washington events last night that involve lots of people in suits (and a few in uniform) who show up with business cards on quickdraw and looking for a free drink. Usually these are really just an extension of working hours: pols mingle, staffers gossip, and everybody tries to talk to somebody more Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1143444802931526092006-03-26T23:12:00.000-08:002006-03-26T23:33:22.946-08:00LovelyThe LA Times's Nicholas Riccardi writes about how the FBI is spending resources watching Food Not Bombs volunteers and Indymedia:The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless, the agency's internal memos show.. . .Senior Special Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1143227849791934072006-03-24T11:14:00.000-08:002006-03-24T11:17:29.840-08:00More Cephalopod Sex!A fascinating short article in Discover this month (password required, alas) addresses the genuine morphing abilities of the cephalopod family: Morphing in cephalopods works somewhat similarly to how it works in computer graphics. Two components are involved: a change in the image or texture visible on a shape's surface and a change in the underlying shape itself. The "Scottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16389504794833794796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1143132385575385412006-03-23T08:37:00.000-08:002006-03-23T08:46:25.726-08:00My WTH?! Moment of the WeekSo I was driving home, sitting in the north-facing left-turn lane of Sacramento at Ashby in Berkeley. It was about 7:15 pm, and fairly dark astronomically, but there were plenty of streetlights on. Several cars travelling west on Ashby, from my right, were turning left onto Sacramento--in front of me they twirled, and then down past my left side. Most of the cars were Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1142985022479779882006-03-22T09:00:00.000-08:002006-03-22T09:13:06.950-08:00That's Kind of ObnoxiousI know that it's considered quite chic to just adore the Economist. Oh, such a smart magazine! And I grant you that it's very knowledgable and clearly written. But whenever I'm starting to really like an issue, like it enough to consider subscribing, some line of stupid wit pisses me off so utterly that I don't pick up another one for weeks. Usually this happens on a trainSahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1142903632690250542006-03-20T17:01:00.000-08:002006-03-20T17:49:47.076-08:00Free Hao WuI don't know a whole lot more than what you will find by clicking on this image--that Hao Wu, a Chinese blogger and filmmaker, has been detained in Beijing without charge since February 22, and that he was working on a documentary about underground Christian churches in China. There is apparently some fear that the authorities will try extract information from him that will be useful Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1142885770217094142006-03-20T12:06:00.000-08:002006-03-20T12:19:20.136-08:00How Do You Say I have cocaine in Hebrew? Ask the Tibetan Monk.I culled this piece of wisdom from a link from IsThatLegal: it's a Jerusalem Post article about the dark inside humor of a group of travellers travelling in a red fire truck through the Sahara. They are two Israelis, a Palestinian, two Americans, an Iraqi, an Afghani, an Iranian, an Ukrainian, and a Tibetan, and their 16-person supportSahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1142640954908716422006-03-17T16:13:00.001-08:002006-03-17T18:02:03.866-08:00Baby Octopus AdventuresI actually already blogged this on my own site, but I just had to cross-post this here because of this blog's octopus theme:In this clip from an old Japanese TV show, [10 MB MP4] an octopus and a peanut try to get their hands on a baby octopus.Um....Found via this boingboing post.P.S.: In completely unrelated news, for anyone out there who's feeling bitter about anything, ToastyKenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03046500121236049524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1142556407329206722006-03-16T16:24:00.000-08:002006-03-16T16:46:47.403-08:00LabLit!There's a much talked about article by Michael Specter in this week's New Yorker that I have yet to sit down with. It's called "Political Science: The Bush Administration's War on The Laboratory," and from the substantial buzz I've heard about it, it contains yet another set of indictments along the lines of Chris Mooney's The Republican War on Science. One blogger who's mentioned it Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1142333249337500202006-03-14T01:36:00.000-08:002006-03-14T02:50:38.273-08:00Happy 520Tis the month of Phalgun, and the ground is whirling below a full golden moon. In a few hours it shall rise over Bengal, where so much and so many that are dear to me are waiting for its signal, and a dozen hours later it shall rise over the California hills and the bay. Between there and here the moonlight falling across the spinning planet will set off, in so many places, a most joyfulSahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1142292057932124672006-03-13T15:02:00.000-08:002006-03-13T15:20:57.993-08:00Because it's worth saying again, dammit.Some of you may have encountered this before. I myself am pulling it from the ever-absorbing Get Your War On I was browsing this weekend.Last night I was watching The Fog Of War, starring SF hometown-boy-made-good, Cal alumni and Eagle Scout Robert Strange McNamara. Good film. Plenty that could be said about this, but what got my wheels spinning were theScottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16389504794833794796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1142091912469162922006-03-11T06:27:00.000-08:002006-03-11T09:54:18.970-08:00Your own personal bug?by ColinWhile driving home yesterday through the awful Washington traffic, I found myself swearing up a storm at a maniac driver ahead of me swerving lanes without signaling. After he had zoomed off I realized it was a good thing nobody could hear me inside my car, because I would have been embarassed by what I had said. But then I glanced over to what was sitting on the Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1142025287840197082006-03-10T13:08:00.000-08:002006-03-10T13:17:40.840-08:00Blogging At A DistanceSaheli is, at this exact moment, unable to post, so she's reached out and deuptized me to put up something she'd like everybody to see: this East Bay Express article on new hope in the effort to prevent the spread of HIV, stemming from drugs that can stop an infection. SSRD will be back to put up her thoughts on this, but for the moment here's some perspective on the hope:Scottohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16389504794833794796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141964506425028602006-03-09T19:27:00.000-08:002006-03-09T20:21:46.543-08:00Eight legs. Eight sexy, sexy legs.by ColinAh, squids. I've had a cephalopod interest for a long time. Back at Berkeley one of my main positions at the Berkeley Science Review was covering the cephalopod beat, and since coming to DC I've reconnected with my old scoutmaster, world-renowed cephalopodologist Clyde Roper. It turns out this web thingie has quite a bit in the way of tasty squid facts, Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141955844128874552006-03-09T16:04:00.000-08:002006-03-09T17:57:24.240-08:00Get Movin'Not too long ago Shah Rukh Khan was interviewed by Newsweek, and he said that the reason Bollywood movies almost always feature song and dance routines is that musical theater is India's preferred genre of fantasy--as opposed to the ludicrous special effects of American action movies--because "one of the simple fantasies of Indians is that we can sing and dance when we feel like it." Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141945894051025582006-03-09T14:24:00.000-08:002006-03-09T15:13:45.563-08:00Kindness of StrangersI was totally zoned out on BART this morning, when a ruckus on the loud speakers and the groans of other passengers' shook me out of my stupor. We were being diverted away from San Francisco towards Lake Merritt--one station south of my normal Oakland comfort zone--because of a fire on the tracks. The driver dolefully announced something like, "get off this train. . this Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141857827347808202006-03-08T14:39:00.000-08:002006-03-08T14:43:47.366-08:00Only Thing Better Than a Rock Lobster is a . . .FURRY LOBSTER!!!!!link from Scotto.Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141847243915665502006-03-08T11:33:00.000-08:002006-03-08T11:47:24.030-08:00Flickr CrackStolen shamelessly from Snarkmarket, staring at this dynamically generated flickr assemblage of interesting photos from a given day is like getting a megadose of social-intellectual-sensual endorphins injected directly into your brain. Some favorites pulled out from the mosaic I got: adorably muddy kid, tree backlit by dusk, Rajastani bedecked with turban and scarf, black and white Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141785306118858472006-03-07T17:44:00.000-08:002006-03-07T18:35:06.196-08:00American foreign policy: heavy, not lightby ColinAmerican politics has been really weird lately. If you dropped from the sky into DC this week and took your political bearings, you'd conclude that Democrats are a bunch of protectionist xenophobes, Republicans value foreign liberty above domestic security, and the vast majority of the public can't stand the guy in the Oval Office. What the heck isColinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141750642080486862006-03-07T08:15:00.000-08:002006-03-07T11:15:08.950-08:00Hit and Run BloggingBy Saheli.Colin is doing a great job, but I want to put some thoughts out there before they expire.It's an essay-topic that's knocking around my head, wanting to be written so I can better articulate it for myself, and just not getting done: balance. I haven't trained at the Aikido dojo in a while, but man, that idea keeps popping up even when you leave. Like the balance Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141695388056285952006-03-06T16:58:00.000-08:002006-03-06T17:36:28.146-08:00They are not amusedby ColinAnybody who's ever seen Jon Stewart and has half a brain knows he's (a) funny, and (b) astute. He's a guy who's blessed with the humor gene and cursed with open eyes. Unfortunately, that combination got him in trouble on Sunday night when one of the most staggering collection of hypocricies on the planet sat bejeweled before him waiting to be stroked. Stewart isn't goodColinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141661924426828412006-03-06T08:18:00.000-08:002006-03-06T08:49:54.613-08:00This is a test.Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141428908977567232006-03-03T15:29:00.000-08:002006-03-03T15:35:08.990-08:00Attention Word Nerdsby Colin This is great: Paul Brians' page of Common Errors in English. My favourites include affluence/effluence, viola/voila, and of course picaresque/picturesque (“Picaresque” is a technical literary term you are unlikely to have a use for. It labels a sort of literature involving a picaro (Spanish), a lovable rogue who roams the land having colorful adventures. A landscape Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141341215777806072006-03-02T14:43:00.000-08:002006-03-02T15:37:48.966-08:00Of nukes and crackersBy ColinToday's Washington Post carried a story about a class being taught this semester at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. The class, which has about 20 graduate students, is titled "How to Build a Nuclear Bomb" and is taught by Dr. Charles Ferguson, a physicist who now works on nuclear nonproliferation issues at the Council on Foreign Relations. A "seniorColinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141154964618347732006-02-28T11:15:00.000-08:002006-02-28T11:29:24.706-08:00CIVIC's New Director En Route to IraqMany of you have read about CIVIC--The Campaign for Innocent Victim's In Conflict. Founded by Bay Area woman Marla Ruzicka, CIVIC espouses her simple yet revolutionary belief that if we--the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the world, and one that constantly blows a moral and idealistic trumpet--are going to be going around the world with Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141151542153879402006-02-28T10:25:00.000-08:002006-03-02T15:38:21.150-08:00American racism on the silver screenBy ColinSince the comments in my previous posts have gotten into the subject of American racism and attitudes towards the rest of the world, I thought I'd tell you about two recent films I've seen that deal with the subject.The first is Why We Fight by director Eugene Jarecki, a sort of less-shrill Farenheit 911 that digs into the question of what makes AmericaColinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1141064717586170882006-02-27T10:25:00.000-08:002006-03-02T15:38:46.296-08:00P.S. on PortsBy ColinTwo more items that I didn't mention about this ports brouhaha:One, several people have made the point that if our strategic goal in the Middle East is to tie Muslim states more closely into the political, economic and cultural network of the modern world, we should be delighted that the UAE wants in on US ports, not fearful. We can't very well say "Hey Arabs, stop being Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1140897923466648662006-02-25T10:52:00.000-08:002006-03-02T15:39:00.520-08:00Ports, schmortsBy ColinI can't remember the last time such a complete non-issue went from total obscurity to screaming headlines in three days flat, for entirely political reasons. Even my Hill staffer friends were left breathless by how fast this came out of left field. It's not like the purchase of Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation by Dubai Ports World was a secret; the BBC reported on Colinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09231030013670900738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1140719785278135372006-02-23T09:34:00.000-08:002006-02-24T10:51:25.530-08:00Guest Blogger!!!So I have a few things occupying my mind these days, and they're not really bloggable. I also have a few major rehauls of my web presence in mind, and some computer issues to take care of. So while I regroup and catch my breath, I thought I'd bring the guest bloggers back, in as much as they have time. But I wanted to specifically pass on some edifying entertainment in the form ofSahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1140634196484662022006-02-22T10:48:00.000-08:002006-02-22T10:49:56.506-08:00Not Good.Supreme Court refuses to hear students' appeal about college censorship.Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1139945485371897582006-02-14T10:42:00.000-08:002006-02-14T11:31:25.476-08:00Mr. Roger's MemeFrom Dark Days Ahead--a look at my zip code via the US Census. Look up your zipcode, report five facts about it.First of all, I have to say, this reminds me of the Congressional district big board on The Colbert Show.Uh, so here are five facts about my hood1) There are (or were at the time of the 2000 census) 1050 more Seniors (65 and older) than children (younger than 18) in the Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5844125.post-1139870576573722592006-02-13T14:07:00.000-08:002006-02-13T14:42:56.660-08:00CharmingZwichenzug at The Bellman spells out a charming little sequence of events:The only drawback -- and this is why the FDA has only approved Accutane for the most extreme cases -- is that pregnancies which begin while a woman is using Accutane display a disturbing tendency toward miscarriages and birth defects.But did I mention that Accutane is a miracle cure? Miracles being in high demand, Sahelihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06821121070704451663noreply@blogger.com