I just finished reading Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho, by Jon Katz. It's a fairly interesting book. A great true story of hope about how two hopeless kids could change their lives using the skills they acquired with computers. It's very typical of Jon Katz: making heros and martyrs out of geeks and holding them up as the people who will change the world. I think that this opinion has some merit, but it's a bit sensational for me.#

One section I thought was very interesting was when Jon talked to Jesse about his opinions on politics and what he thought about the outside world - outside from cyberspace that is.#

Making computers work requires a particularly rational mind. Programming, the installation of software, getting computers to speak properly to one another, all require very particular languages, protocols, and conventions--in sharp contrast to the emotional, visceral, manipulative drama of the political system. Jesse could hardly comprehend a Congress that would care about a president's sex life. Or one that passed a Communications Decency Act to ban dirty language on the Internet.

He actually refused to believe me when, some months later, I informed him that the House had passed a bill allowing public schools to post the Ten Commandments. Why should he pay the slightest attention to a system like that? Where did these people get the gall? He wasn't inclined to fight it or change it, he simply had nothing to do with it, blocked it out. He didn't know who the mayor of Chicago or the governor of Illinois were, nor did he care.

He saw himself as a citizen of the Net, a separate nation with rules, boundaries, and traditions of its own. He was free to go where he pleased, take what he wanted. Other than paying for bandwidth, which he bitterly resented, he was subject to no regulation, no taxes, no restrictions on his ability to say what he wished. [pg. 86]

And later, about the aftermath of the Columbine fiasco and the following media circus, Jon Katz reflects on the many emails he was sent from geeks across the country.#

These messages were, in different ways, all saying the same thing. A humane society truly concerned about its children would worry less about oddballs, computer games, and clothing, and more about creating the kind of school kids would never dream of blowing up. [pg. 178]

The logic that this argues against is the same logic used to support both the War on Drugs and the War on Terror. Rather than fight the root causes of these problems and deal with rehabilitating their victims, we instead fight the symptoms of the problem while ignoring that something is fundamental amiss with our society. A society that allows the idea that only violence and abandonment are the answer to your problems to take root.

Krystal links to an amazing video.#

Matt Stoller writes about the transformation of campaigning - although not politics.#

I'm trying to understand how the two political parties consciously use the internet to further their agendas. It's not a simple task, because the internet, as a pathway for generic data packets, is many things. The operative thesis of this series is that there are essentially three things that accompany the digitization of politics. One, politics is becoming more 'testable' because of a much faster feedback loop, and thus more responsive. Email response rates are just one of thousands of ways you can test political engagement. Two, methods matter more online. People will now remember that it's hard to login to a candidate's web site, as well as his position on the environment. Three, alliances, both informal and formal, are now low cost, which means that the era of true coalition politics is here. The Wall Street Journal Op-Ed page can link toBlogsforbush.com, while Dean can link to Punx for Dean, both at no cost to themselves and at high benefit for the small parties.

Michael Hanscom links to The Lords of the Rhymes: "We put hobbit rap back on the map."#

Kaye Trammell is interviewed by Tracy Kennedy.#

Have you ever had any negative responses to your blog - in the comments perhaps, or via email?

Honestly, the only disagreements people have had with me have been very well-thought out posts (on their own blogs) explaining exactly why I'm wrong. You can't complain about that. I love Lasica's comment on Dan Gillmor's blog: "If you publish a blog, you're self-published. That means you're the publisher. That means you can fire the ass of any punk editor. When the readers send in corrections or criticism, I just call it fan mail."

Seth Gordon wonders if Isaac was retarded.#

First, it makes sense. The theory doesn't match the hagiographic style of midrash that is so popular today, and it violates Maimonides' principle that you need a Ph.D. in theology before God hands you a prophet's license. But if you look at the plain text of the Torah, assuming that Isaac was retarded makes a pattern of his life story easier to understand.

Except for his prayer on Rebecca's behalf and his blessings for his sons, Isaac relied on his memory of how his father behaved to solve every problem he encountered, and never sought to face any challenge that his father had not previously faced. When famine struck Canaan, Isaac wanted to go to Egypt, just as his father had done, and only changed his plan because God told him to. On meeting Avimelekh, Isaac passed his wife off as his sister, just as his father had done. To get Jacob safely away from Esau, Rebecca told Isaac that Jacob should marry a woman from outside Canaan, just as Jacob's father had done. If this reliance on memory and trusted advisors was the best that Isaac could do, and God protected him from any circumstance that would have presented him with a challenge that could not be met in this way, then this pattern of behavior is less surprising, and the exceptions tell us even more about Isaac's character and priorities.

The Daily Kos has some reporting on whether Hillary and the Shrub is tougher.#

However, by pointing out that Hillary Clinton and Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) are touring Baghdad today, this story leads to an interested question: why is Baghdad too unsafe for Bush but not for Hillary Clinton?

U.S. senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed spent about 10 hours in Baghdad on Friday and planned another day in Iraq on Saturday after overnighting out of the country. On Friday, Clinton traveled between the airport, coalition headquarters and another U.S. military base in a convoy of civilian SUVs with an escort of Humvees and Apache helicopters.

Why is it so inherently unsafe for Bush that he has to fly in under darkness without anyone except a handful of top aides and Secret Service and military personnel in the know, then hide out at the airport for a couple of hours with 600 troops, but Hillary Clinton and Jack Reed can drive around the city and meet with American troops, international officials and Iraqi leaders? Do the Iraqis who were supposed to greet out soldiers with cheers and flowers like Hillary Clinton better than George W. Bush? Or is Hillary just better able to defend herself?

Another interesting note: Bush planned his trip after he learned that Clinton was going in the next day.

Stefan Sharkansky wonders about Islam.#

It's well known that Islam is a Religion of Peace. Fair enough. But then why does the Saudi flag have a sword just below where it's says that "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the Messenger of Allah"?

Our religion is so much better.

Little, Yellow, Different links to a really odd commercial.#

Jonathan Rentzsch writes about what he likes and dislikes about Objective-C, the only C-family language I like.#

Jane dreams.#

i dreamt that one of the annoying people on gamegirladvance pissed me off so much i sent him a letter. i wrote, "thank you for your comments. i appreciate that you're contributing to the dialogue. however, there are times when your valid points become submerged under your penchant for personal attacks, unneccesarily snarky jibes, and reactionary language. this isn't the sort of communication i'd like to foster at gamegirladvance, and as editor it's my job to moderate the tone where possible. i would like to keep gga censorship-free - however, it's also my duty to elevate the terms of the dialogue. i would like to invite you to participate more deeply and thoughtfully."

Ryan Overbey on Papists and Lamaists.#

Looks like the Dalai Lama has visited the Vatican, though his papist counterpart gave him the cold shoulder. Whenever the Dalai Lama visits the Pope, I think of all the fantastic 19th century scholars who thought of Tibetan Buddhism as a kind of Buddhist Catholicism. Check out this quote from an 1835 essay of Isaac Jacob Schmidt, who argued for independent development of the Lamaist system:

just as the earlier semi-barbarism of Europe in its time produced the papacy out of Christianity, so, under equal conditions, the semi-barbarism of Asia, which continues until today, could not find it very difficult to produce a similar dominating priesthood out of the considerably older and no less dogmatically constructed Buddhism, and that it was not at all necessary for one to assist the other. Every spiritual corporation, just as soon as its power is able to reach a certain height and to govern and dominate the benightedness of the ignorant masses arbitrarily through the mental predominance of an elevated culture, will not fail to demonstrate similar manifestations at any time in any country, but these manifestations must gradually grow more obscure and disappear eventually just as soon as the inheritance of all humankind, namely the spirit of examination, discrimination, and knowledge, gradually achieves maturity. (Quoted from Lopez, Prisoners of Shangri-La, p. 35.)

I miss the days when scholars could write with this kind of frank criticism of religious traditions, and with such naive optimism in anticipation of mankind's future Enlightenment. Now we clumsily hide our theological ambitions behind a refined veneer of philological and historical detachment. Sad.

The book he quotes, Prisoners of Shangri-La, is a great book about the history of Tibet and how opinions of it evolved over time.

Michael Feldman also reports on this.

A spokesman said this was because it was a brief courtesy visit and the content was exclusively religious, although other such visits with religious leaders have been listed. The Dalai Lama later said he had no problem with the Vatican's attitude.

"That's the right description. It was a short visit," he said. "My main purpose [was] my expression of admiration and appreciation for what [the Pope] has done and his dream. In spite of his age and difficult physical condition he's really determined for peace and religious understanding." The Vatican has difficult ties with Beijing. Chinese Catholics are not allowed to recognise the Pope's authority and must join a state-backed "patriotic church". Relations between China and the Dalai Lama have appeared to thaw in the past 18 months, but China still objects to governments talking to him.

Jessica on communication and committees.#

I find it ironic when I reflect back on how many group projects we had in library school to prepare us for committee work in our careers. In the midst of all that preparation, I can't remember any of our professors taking time to teach us about how to run effective meetings and committees. Come to think of it, we didn't learn that much about communicating and public relations in any formal manner, either.

Richard links to John Rockwell on artists who just NEED to make art.#

John Rockwell: "In our day, artists — writers especially — have found new outlets in the magical world of Web sites and Internet blogs, or e-mail messages to their friends detailing their travels and thoughts. The sheer outpouring of words on the Internet, words that are sometimes thoughtful and artful and even sometimes read, gives evidence of an enormous need on the part of vast numbers of people to pour themselves out creatively, whether the results are paid for or even seen or heard by others."

The article is about art and fame and I, like Rockwell, am absolutely impressed (blown away, in fact) with those who create—be it through writing, painting, singing, designing web sites, what have you—because because they can't not do it.

Richard links to some great articles about munny.#

Frank Rich on conspicuous consumption.

If it's sex you're looking for, America's two most widely viewed porn videos of the year, starring Paris Hilton and L. Dennis Kozlowski, are nothing if not limp. Ms. Hilton's unimaginative exhibition, still playing on an Internet site near you, is as darkly lighted as a faded stag reel from the silent era. [...]

But of course we want to see these videos anyway. Their real pull has to do with capital, not carnality. Money remains the last guilty pleasure in America. The obscenely rich engaging in conspicuous consumption or conspicuously idiotic behavior is the only excess that hasn't lost its power to amuse, titillate and shock. People watch Paris Hilton make a fool of herself because she's an heir to the $300 million Hilton hotel fortune, not because her wares top the thousands of competitors in this country's overstocked erotic supermarket.

Sharon Zukin on American consumer culture.

While the most coveted trophies may change from year to year, the ritual does not. During the past century, America has transformed itself into a shopping nation. Since the 1870's — the dawn of mass-produced consumer goods — new stores, products and promotions have continually surrounded us with visions of abundance and supplied us with the means to fulfill our dreams.

Low prices reflect democracy. Brand names represent our search for a better life. And designer boutiques embody the promise of an ever-improving self. Yet Americans have made a Faustian deal with the culture of shopping, and especially with bargain culture. The retail prices may be low, but the social costs are high.

Richard links to an article by Emily Eakin in the New York Times about John McWhorter on the destruction of high culture and language.#

"We in America now are an anomaly," Mr. McWhorter said over lunch at a restaurant in Midtown Manhattan this week. "We have very little sense of English as something to be dressed up. It's just this thing that comes out of our mouths. We just talk."

Mr. McWhorter, 38, a professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a policy research group in New York City, is hardly the first to complain about Americans' brazen disregard for their native tongue. But unlike many others, he says the problem is not an epidemic of bad grammar.

Tony Pierce on Buy Nothing Day and selling.#

today is buy nothing day. im not sure why youre not supposed to buy nothing but i think it has something to do with the fact that today is the biggest shopping day of the year.

and about fucking up the program.

interestingly, this year i actually have something that im selling, and buy nothing day makes me wonder if im trying to sell so many that i get rich, or am i simply trying to offer something cool to people?

I just pre-ordered Tony Pierce's Blook II, you should too.#

Joi Ito on 'love hotels' of Japan.#

I was listening to a marketing presentation the other day and learned an interesting fact. As most of you know, Japanese homes are very small so even married couples often go to "love hotels" to make love. Churn and customer retention was traditionally very low because most couples like to experiment with all of the interesting features in the variety of hotels. Recently some love hotels started providing rental lockers, which at first sounds a bit counter-intuitive. Married couples found it convenient to store adult toys and other things that they didn't want their children to find in these lockers. These lockers created a relationship between the customer and the hotel and dramatically increased customer retention. Now these lockers are used to store all sorts of "Not Safe For Home" things.