Advanced Citizenship

All I Need

nobody@vox.com(ajw93) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:09:04 -0700

Is just a little more time / To be sure / What I feel / Is it all in my mind?

I think so, Jack. The ladies are correct, you have got some extreme levels of Botox going on.

(On a related note, that girl's hair should be blonde, no? Disconcerting appearances for both of them!)

Sigh. Blackie should be getting out of prison by now, surely! Perhaps Stamos could take old Jack here aside and give him a few tips. "Take care of your forehead for me, Frisco."

(OK, so neither of them is on GH any more. But they'll always be Frisco and Blackie to me, dagnabit!)

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Interesting.

nobody@vox.com(ajw93) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:37:40 -0700

As a lifelong (so far) renter with no plans to buy (as the average house in my n'hood is about 10x my annual salary(!), I find this an interesting read. Esp. the commenters who are so upset by it. 'Someone who doesn't buy a house?! Perish the thought!'

Dudes, that 10x figure means that if I were to buy a house that is even smaller than my current place, then my mortgage would be about 3x my current rent. The two lines don't meet in a projection for something like 20 years.

It's ok. I'll stay in my place and save the difference. Maybe I'll move up higher to get a better view.

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First Obama General Ad

nobody@vox.com(ajw93) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:53:05 -0700

I especially like the ending "I approved this message because..." rather than simply tacking on a speedy "iaprvthismsg" at the end. It gives me the same warm fuzzy feeling that I got when I saw ads before the VA primary which exhorted the viewer simply to "Vote February 12". I mean, obviously, it meant, "...for Barack Obama" but I was struck by the effect of appealing to a "high-road" political style while still achieving the same old goal, simply by leaving that bit to the viewer.

Well played.

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Catching up on reading -- relativism

nobody@vox.com(ajw93) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:18:03 -0700

Interesting post.

The reaction I always have to this argument about Jefferson is this: I don't really disagree. He was unable to live up to his own ideals for basically selfish reasons. He did some bad stuff and made some pretty big honkin' mistakes.

But I want to extend things just a bit further: that shouldn't make the ideals themselves invalid, and in my book, indeed it doesn't. The same thing applies when people complain about how he sold his books to the nation to start the Library of Congress instead of donating them. True, he sold them to get out of debt. But without that, there would not have been a Library to speak of (until Lord knows when) in the first place. Personally, I am willing to forgive him his predilection for expensive French wine, and revel in the existence of the LOC. After all, he could have just sold off his library, piecemeal, at auction or something.

Jefferson was able to see and articulate a vision of what the best men in the best nation would be capable of doing. (Yes, "men". It's a valid grammatical construct -- deal with it.)

His inability to live up to his own ideals is a tragedy for Jefferson. The rest of us should take the lesson to heart: take up the ideals and attempt, as best we can, to live up to them.

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Take the light saber, leave the cannoli

nobody@vox.com(ajw93) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:11:34 -0700

Best simile and metaphor I've heard in a long time.

Iglesias ... suggested it might be possible to go after the Justice Department ... by “using the model we used against the Mob in the 60’s. You find a small fish, you threaten prosecution, you roll them, they give up the bigger fish.”“It’s fascinating to know that we’re going to be treating this administration like the Gambinos,” remarked Stewart.
Stewart ended by asking Igleaias, “Is the greatest disappointment for you that you were a guy who believed in what they were doing? … Do you feel betrayed in that sense?”
“I thought I was working with the Jedi Knights and I was working for the Sith Lords,” Iglesias acknowledged, as the audience broke into applause.
“For the audience for this show, you could not have used a better example,” Stewart concluded. “I will see you at Comic-Con 2009.”

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Too True

nobody@vox.com(ajw93) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:10:01 -0700

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

What always amazes me is that the same folks who always advocate for density, urbanization, walkability, etc., are the same folks who advocate things like plug-in cars. Which is fine, except that the two don't meet up very well! I mean, is their answer, "You live in the city, so walk/take the bus/carshare" or something? I've never seen this addressed.

For instance, I'm a good example: I live in a mid-rise apartment 5 miles from DC and park in an outdoor lot. I drive my car only a few times a month. I use mass transit to work and run errands on a bike. But I need my car to tend to family obligations.

A plugin car would be great for me (if I could be assured it would get me to my mom's house about 400 miles away -- almost exactly 1 tank of gas). Except I can't plug it in! I don't see my building's owner ripping up the parking lot to install outdoor plugs for all 200-odd spaces.

If I were still young enough I would totally write a thesis about this stuff! What to do with the car? Where does the electricity for the cars come from (I like the Appalachians with their mountaintops intact, thanks)? What about LNG/gas vs oil? What happens to the grid itself? They write themselves!! Maybe I should tell my sister...

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Terrifying

nobody@vox.com(ajw93) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:49:51 -0700

If John Yoo weren't so terrifying, he'd be hilarious.

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OH. MY. GOD.

nobody@vox.com(ajw93) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:23:21 -0700

It is like that FOR. A. REASON. people. For Pete's sake.

Via.

Now, the political structure of this country is not particularly favorable to urban areas. There are plenty of ways (the Senate, and relatedly the Electoral College) that rural areas receive disproportionate political power.

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The War on Drugs, Summarized.

nobody@vox.com(ajw93) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:57:03 -0700

Afghan officials find 260 tons of hashish

from 03.FP Passport - blogging on global news, politics, economics and ideas by Blake Hounshell

Here's a question for all you expert readers out there. What happens when you burn 260 tons of hashish?

Afghan counternarcotics officials said Wednesday that they uncovered 260 tons of hashish hidden in 6-foot-deep trenches in southern Afghanistan in what one DEA official said appears to be the world's biggest drug bust.

The hashish, found in the southern province of Kandahar on Monday, was worth more than $400 million and would have netted the Taliban about $14 million in profits, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said.

The hashish weighed as much as 30 double-decker London buses, ISAF said. The drugs were burned on site. Hashish is a concentrated form of marijuana.

Hilarious.

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Mullet Rock is hilarious

nobody@vox.com(ajw93) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:42:10 -0700

HOW it knows I'm a mullet-rock lover, I can't tell you....but it KNOWS.
==============
What is Your 80's Song?
Source: apps.facebook.com
My result: Your 80's song is: Wanted Dead Or Alive by Bon Jovi

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