Taegan Goddard links to The American Research Group on successful advertising guidelines. Taegan notes that most campaigns probably don't follow them, like most guidelines.#
Leahy's Law states that if a thing is done wrong often enough, it becomes right, and as a result, volume becomes a defense to error. When political advertising fails to sway voters, most campaigns follow Leahy's Law by increasing the frequency of the advertising hoping that more of what is not working with voters will somehow work when voters are subjected to more of the same.
[...]
1. Does the ad tell a simple story, not just convey information?
A good story has a beginning where a sympathetic character encounters a complicating situation, a middle where the character confronts and attempts to resolve the situation, and an end where the outcome is revealed. A good story does not interpret or explain the action in the story for the audience. Instead, a good story allows each member of the audience to interpret the story as he or she understands the action. This is why people find good stories so appealing and why they find advertising that simply conveys information so boring.
Norman Geras comments on FIFA's rule that clubs cannot go through ordinary courts of law for club related problems.#
Having no legal knowledge of such matters, I see this as a rule appropriate to an organization of gangsters. On the face of it, it appears to be designed to protect the national footballing associations against having even the most outrageous decisions or policies challenged by their members. I asked my friend Matt Kramer for his view, and he replied as follows:
My thinking was exactly the same as yours when I heard about this rule against pursuing matters in the courts. On the one hand, someone can enter into a binding settlement of a matter under which he/she agrees not to pursue litigation. On the other hand, a rule disallowing litigation altogether (before a matter has even arisen) will surely not pass muster under the Human Rights Act.
Any further light anyone can throw on this would be welcome.
World O' Crap calls bullshit on Judson Cox who criticizes a school that allows kids to learn about Islam.#
First, let's check in with Judson Cox, the young man who alerted us to the danger of those cloned pandas. He's writing about how the schools are forcing youngsters to commit blasphemy.
U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton has ruled that the Byron Union School district was not indoctrinating students by requiring them to wear Islamic garb, memorize verses from the Koran, pray to Allah and play "jihad games" as part of a simulation approach to Islamic studies. The curriculum required by the California State Board of Education utilizes the textbook "Across the Centuries," published by Houghton Mifflin, which prompts students to imagine they are Islamic soldiers and Muslims on a Mecca pilgrimage. The students are encouraged to use phrases such as "Allah Akbar," ("Allah is great,") and are required to fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
It is remarkable that our schools would teach such a course when America is fighting a war against Islamic terror and thousands of Americans lay dead at the hands of Islamic fascists. The doctrine of diversity trumps both reason and taste.
Except that nobody was "required" to do anything, since parents were given the option of having their kids not participate in the section. Oh, and the "jihad games" stuff is "a trivia board game in which students race to reach Mecca" (since Judson didn't got to public schools and so was never forced to learn about Islam, he apparently confuses "hajj" and "jihad"). The kids weren't "required to fast" during Ramadan, but instead were encouraged "give up something for a day, such as television or candy, to simulate fasting during Ramadan." But we sure wouldn't want our kids doing something like THAT -- at least, not for educational purposes.
I like the assumption that "Terror" = "Islamic Terror."
Little Green Footballs doesn't think Bin Laden deserves a trial, but Howard Dean disagrees.#
The Monitor asked: Where should Osama bin Laden be tried if he's caught? Dean said he didn't think it made any difference, and if he were president he would consult with his lawyers for advice on the subject.
But wouldn't most Americans feel strongly that bin Laden should be tried in America - and put to death?
"I've resisted pronouncing a sentence before guilt is found," Dean said. "I still have this old-fashioned notion that even with people like Osama, who is very likely to be found guilty, we should do our best not to, in positions of executive power, not to prejudge jury trials. So I'm sure that is the correct sentiment of most Americans, but I do think if you're running for president, or if you are president, it's best to say that the full range of penalties should be available. But it's not so great to prejudge the judicial system."
The only people who deserve justice are people like me.
The Binary Circumstance on the recent terrorist attack in Iran.#
In one of the most deadly acts of terror in recent years, a 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck the ancient Iranian city of Bam. No known terrorist organizations have claimed responsibility leaving officials to speculate that this diabolical act, which may have killed as many as 5,000-6,000 people and wounded another 30,000, is the handiwork of the Father of all terrorists, God, or as many know him in that part of the world, Allah.
N. Joseph Potts writes about "The Simple Life."#
On Tuesday evenings at 8:30, Fox Television airs a remarkable half-hour series evidently aimed at teenagers and young adults in the idiom of "reality TV" whose popularity has grown ever since its first appearance in televised wrestling matches. Its theme might have been found entertaining at certain other times in history such as the height of the Roman Empire, but the fact that it apparently entertains today is a comment not only on the times, but on the fruits and other byproducts of the successes of private enterprise.
The Washington Post on Florida's new faith-based prison.#
Gov. Jeb Bush told nearly 800 prisoners Wednesday that religion can help lead them to a better life as he dedicated the nation's first faith-based prison -- an institution officials hope will lead to fewer repeat offenders.
A little more than a month ago, inmates in this northern Florida prison were told that it was going to be converted to a faith-based institution and were given the option to transfer out. At the same time, prisoners elsewhere were told they could transfer in and take part in more intensive religious programs.
Amanda Butler comments on whether this violates the Establishment Clause as it would if the prisoners were given more books, liberty, or visitation than otherwise.
At the moment, faith-motivated prisoners can get more books than their Dostoevsky-motivated secular counterparts. This is part of the accomodations for religious practice mandated under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act -- to give the guy his Book of Common Prayer even if it puts him over his limit for books he can have in his cell. I'm not entirely sure how the particulars of this work, or how much it's been argued at this level, but it seems that if there's a one book limit, he can claim an exception to permit his first book (which I'll say is the the KJV) and the BCP. I'm not sure that if there's a two book limit and he's already got the KJV and the Grisham novel he's reading, whether he can get an exemption for the BCP, or if he must give up the secular work. I would think that he'd have to return the Grisham to prevent RLUIPA (or any program in a prison that was concientious about inmates' religious reading materials) from violating the Establishment Clause.
But who is to determine what's secular and what's religious? I could want to study the Bible as a literary work reflected in Paradise Lost. I could claim some novel by some sci-fi writer is my holy testament.
Tyler Cowen thinks it's kind of a good idea.
My take: Isn't this just yet another way to put the better-behaving inmates together in one place? I would expect that to improve human well-being, at least for the people I care about. But I would expect to get most of the practical benefits without the explicit introduction of religion. You do need some signal of good behavior, the question is whether religion is the only or the best option for such a signal.
Jim Moore comments on the Dean campaign's use of software.#
Dean for America, it is our policy to purchase software rather than to make it, and to work with vendors large and small to help them be successful while also pursuing our own success as a grassroots-powered presidential campaign. We strongly support small businesses for a variety of reasons, including that they are the major contributors to employment growth in our nation.
Dean for America enjoys a good relationship with a number of innovative small businesses in software and services, including MeetUp.com for meeting software, Six Apart for blog software, Envision for message boards, and Convio for CMS, fundraising record keeping and FEC compliance. We use additional small business-provided software for voter file management, email, and list management. We also use software and services from large companies including Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft. We pay market prices for all software and services.
John Robb proposes that we "support our troops" better.#
- One years tax exempt pay for a soldier killed in theater.
- Subsidized death or disability insurance equal to $1 m (this is less costly than it looks) with a strong COLA (cost of living increase). Options for more if paid for by soldier.
- Free health care (no obtuse charges -- like the one charged for food while hospitalized) for injuries suffered in theater (even if discharged).
- $1 k a month in combat pay.
- Tax exemption of pay (state and federal) for spousal income while deployed.
- Paid end-to-end travel to the home of record for soldiers on leave from a combat zone.
Lawrence Lessig in Wired on protectionism.#
When America was poor, its citizens "stole." We took the intellectual property of Dickens and other foreign artists without paying for it. We didn't call it stealing, but they did. We called it a sensible way for a developing nation to develop. Eventually, we saw it was better to protect their rights as well as ours - better because we had rights to protect elsewhere, too. But we only imposed this burden on ourselves when it made sense to do so. Until 1891, we were a pirate nation.
Things have changed. Now that we're the world's leading exporter of intellectual property, we're also the most self-righteous about the importance of protecting it globally. Indeed, we can be vicious in our self-righteousness - threatening trade wars with developing nations for the crime of being just like us. Recently, through a series of trade agreements, we have demanded stricter protection for intellectual property internationally than US law would allow domestically. (Fair use, for example, is mandated by our constitution but invisible in these agreements.)
This push to protect intellectual property is defended as just one aspect of free trade - the aspect that benefits Hollywood. Since Adam Smith penned The Wealth of Nations, we've understood that borders are best when opened and when property from one country is respected in another.
The main problem is that "intellectual property" is not really property. It is a government granted privilege of monopoly over a certain sector.
Robert Scoble on Apple Stores.#
Other things I noticed about the store: the aesthetics. The design. Let's start with the floor. It was large slats of unvarnished wood. Why is that important? Because computers tend to be cold. I'm sure that Steve Jobs and his crew spent a bit of time thinking about the floor. Wood is easy to clean, if someone spills. It wears well. It doesn't feel as hard on your feet, as say, slate. Plus, most people spend a lot of time staring at the floor. Might as well make sure that experience feels good.
Up from the floor (plenty of room to walk around, by the way, even on a crowded day after Christmas) you'll notice black wood shelves. Neatly arranged with software (almost all with the fronts of their boxes showing). Each shelf looked like a picture frame. The software was in the middle of the store. That's a big deal. Apple, in effect, was telling its customers "the Mac is about software."
The New York Times reports on Slobodan Milosevic.#
It is symbolic of Serbia's increasingly nationalistic mood that Slobodan Milosevic, the former president who is on trial on war crimes charges in The Hague, is running in the parliamentary elections here on Sunday.
Polls suggest that the most seats will be won by the hard-line nationalist Radical Party led by Vojislav Seselj, now also a prisoner in The Hague and a partner in Mr. Milosevic's war-making in the 1990's. Nationalists also won recent parliamentary elections in Croatia, Serbia's archrival, where they have just formed a government.
Mr. Milosevic, who heads the list for the Serbian Socialist Party and is thus likely to win election, and Mr. Seselj are among four leading war crimes suspects who are running for office in elections on Sunday, even though they have been indicted by the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Netherlands.
[...]
Neither Mr. Milosevic nor Mr. Seselj would be able to take a seat in Parliament, and the two were banned by the Hague tribunal from taking any active role in the campaign after court officials learned the Serbian Socialist Party had used a tape-recorded telephone conversation with Mr. Milosevic calling on Serbs to vote for it.
Jessica comments on Illegally Downloading Literature.#
If any of the rest of you want to illegally download books in order to bypass or protest the American publishing system, I recommend that you follow the librarian's advice and borrow your books for free from a library. Yes, indirectly you're still supporting the publishers, but you're also not participating in illegal activities by breaking copyright law. Take advantage of interlibrary loan programs, too. Your local library may not have all the of Philip K. Dick books, but a librarian could probably get all of them for you by borrowing them from other institutions.
Ryan Overbey cleverly notes that most American Buddhists probably wouldn't go for self-immolation.#
As Buddhism comes to the West, it undergoes all sorts of changes. Buddhism becomes a kind of fashionable psychotherapy, a hippie adventure, an easy way to rebel against Judaism or Christianity. This isn't to say it isn't useful or beneficial for those involved- only that it is a very different beast from the kind of Buddhism you find in, say, Tang China, Heian Japan, or modern Thailand.
But check out this article about a recent self-immolation by a Vietnamese Buddhist in Charlotte. My gut feeling is that self-immolation is one of those native Buddhist practices that won't be very transferable to Americans. I'd certainly be amused if Zenheads on retreat in New Mexico or Insight Meditation folks in Cambridge started dumping gasoline on their heads and burning themselves alive in protest of the Bush regime's war in Iraq, but somehow I think their conviction in the reality of reincarnation is not sufficiently developed.
Lisa Williams writes up some blogging principles, presumably for the new year.#
Kindness. I will strive to post as my best self, and to refrain from posting intemperately. I will try to remember that the people I am responding to are human beings who also have their good and bad days. If I post something that I feel is unfair or unneccessarily unkind, I will apologize and either take it down or make a new post, whichever is more appropriate. I do not intend to hide my mistakes or lapses but I will delete a post if I feel that leaving it up hurts others more than leaving up the evidence of my stupidity is worth.
Richard comments.
Lisa Williams has some blogging principles. It's important to have principles in these "post-modern" days, where supposedly everything goes. Instead of lecturing people on how or what to blog, she simply states what she's doing. People are free to follow her example, and disagreeing with her principles would be allowed, but would also be rather pointless, because, well, how would you feel if someone told you what principles to hold? Yeah, I thought so.
Larry McVoy pulls a Larry.#
Licensed under the NWL - No Whining License.
You may use this, modify this, redistribute this provided you agree:
- not to whine about this product or any other products from BitMover, Inc.
- that there is no warranty of any kind.
- retain this copyright in full.
Tony Pierce is a blog-star.#
if i cared what i looked like id spell check. id fact check. id write at night instead of during my government-mandated fifteen minute breaks. id use three dollar words like the edjumacated. id trade in my bus pass for a leased beemer. id wear abecrombie. id cut my hair. id dumb down and play fair. id simply talk about jesus. i wouldnt tear your shit up to peices.
if i cared what i looked like i wouldnt blog, id just write books. a guy can write a horrible book but he could at least call himself an author, not even pro assholes like your boy drudge wants to be called a blogger.
but i do cuz i am.
Philip Greenspun writes about the Lost Tribes of Israel on every continent.#
Tudor Parfitt, an English academic, schlepped all over southern Africa trying to figure out whether or not the Lemba people were, as some of them claimed, in fact Jews. He wrote up his travels, circa 1990, in Journey to the Vanished City. This was no easy task due to the fact that the Lemba have been illiterate for many centuries (if not forever) and therefore all of their history had to be obtained in person-to-person interviews. There are some parallels between the situation with the Lemba in Africa and the Indians and Mormons in the U.S. According to the book, southern Africa was never inhabited by literate people and for the most part never inhabited by people who built any buildings more substantial than a grass hut. When whites came to southern Africa they encountered tribes living in grass huts but also an extensive ruined stone city called "Great Zimbabwe". They didn't want to believe that ancestors of the blacks whom they were oppressing had been capable of advanced civilization and therefore a popular explanation was that people from the Middle East had come down to southern Africa at some point, built Great Zimbabwe, and left. The theory made some sense in that Arab slave traders had been operating up and down Africa's east coast for many centuries and had colonized substantial parts of the Horn of Africa.
I'm a huge fan of ancient civilizations that died out... so fascinating. What will they say about us?
Sometimes I like to step back and think about how great technology is. Kaye Trammell does as well.#
Who would have thought 50 years ago that we would be carrying around telephones in our pockets & purses then using them to make movies & do a little comparative shopping?