Frozen ToothpasteFrozen ToothpasteA blog of ideas. All stripes, colors, and sizes, but ideas. 
Articles
Infinite Information
2008-04-22 19:54:00 Perhaps I’m the only one who hadn’t realized before, but there are over six billion people in the world. Those people are, at a given time, in 6 billion different places, doing 6 billion different things, and thinking six billion different thoughts. That means that each second, 18 billion potential — but very inexact — data points are being ... More About: Information , Infinite
Review: Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?
2008-04-21 18:56:00 Dr. Seuss’s Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? is a book I knew by title long before I took the time to read it. I should also note that I think the question posed by the title is one that’s is critically important to ask of me and people like me. People ... More About: Review
Taking a Week
2008-04-14 19:59:00 I’ve been thinking about taking a week off from this space for a while, and I finally reached the point where such thoughts become the official plan. I shall be back next week, same as ever. More About: Week , Taking
The Protester?s Imperative
2008-04-11 19:37:00 prakhar Be heard, provoke consideration, but never — never 212; be perceived as impetuous. The second the public at large sees you are a bigger problem than the problem you’re protesting about, you’ve lost. These thoughts of mine were provoked in no small part because of the amount of coverage that recent protests along the path of the Olympic torch relay ... More About: Protester
OPW: Mo Udall and John McCain
2008-04-10 18:41:00 This story seemed an apt and serendipitous follow-on to my post of yesterday, so here it is in today’s “Other People’s Words.” This is an excerpt recently shared by Slate, which they saw as a rather illustrative portrait of John McCain. It comes from from a decade-old article by Michael Lewis in the New York ... More About: John McCain
Of Politics and Compassion
2008-04-09 20:15:00 If I were to elevate one flaw I have above all the others, it would be that I am not nearly compassionate enough. This is not to say that I’m exceptionally brutal or mean, merely that I see in myself the same flaw I see in the vast majority of others. The easiest example of this ... More About: Politics , Compassion
On Being Small
2008-04-08 20:03:00 Tub Gurnard I was just looking at some tilt-shift photos. For those who’ve never seen any (some samples are available here and here, and of course, above), the technique is a way to make real sights look like they are tiny models. Beyond simply being clever and looking cool, the technique can force you to look ... More About: Small
Review: Born Into Brothels
2008-04-07 18:41:00 Born into Brothels is about children growing up in a red light district in Calcutta (now Kolkatta), India. What I wasn’t expecting is the extensive amount of outside intervention that is really the story of the film. Some would see this as an intolerable rebuke of the documentarian’s principal directive: to document. This is to ... More About: Review
OPW: Robert Kennedy on the Death Of Martin Luther King
2008-04-04 18:23:00 Today is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King , Jr. Inspired to find the words Robert Kennedy spoke in Indianapolis that night by Ron Klain’s account of the events, I’ve presented them below. Much of the speech is available on YouTube (if you don’t mind Italian subtitles). I have bad news for you, ... More About: Death
This One?s About Fear
2008-04-03 19:48:00 Just-Us-3 The TV was showing Today — one of those typical morning fluff shows — when I woke up. They were talking to a fourth or fifth grader who rode the subway alone. You should probably know that I’ve (1) never ridden any subway alone and (2) never ridden a New York subway alone. But I was amazed this merited ... More About: Fear
Prosperity, Then Peace
2008-04-02 19:27:00 Tracy O (ASA) I recently wrote about how globalization could make the world a much safer place. The logic is essentially this: countries that have significant business interactions are much less likely to go to war. A China that relies on exports to the West probably won’t start a war with anyone, and a West ... More About: Peace , Prosperity
Some Days
2008-04-01 19:11:00 Some days I have nothing planned for this site and start to worry about it far too much. In worrying about it far too much, almost every idea I have feels forced. The ideas feels forced because (1) they are a little forced, and (2) this pointless stress tends to make me hyper-aware of any ... More About: Days
Review: Lake of Fire
2008-03-31 18:33:00 Lake of Fire is filmed in black of white. It’s worth noting that like all films we term “black and white,” its actually rendered in various shades of grey. And Tony Kaye’s documentary about abortion in America is careful to show that the issue’s history and moral questions are not black and white. Lake of Fire ... More About: Review , Lake
OPW: ?Far Out on the Uncharted Arm?
2008-03-28 17:44:00 And now, the immortal words that began two of the five books in Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy quintilogy. In case you were wondering they’re The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western ...
Criticism is Like Cancer
2008-03-27 18:25:00 Ken Woolridge (AND) Criticism , like cancer, grows rather naturally and is fully dependent on its host. It’s growth is predicated upon a relatively healthy host and a benign environment in which it can grow unimpeded. Lest we spend too long developing that story, the important way that criticism is like cancer is that it comes in two ... More About: Cancer
What?s Wrong With Talking?
2008-03-26 18:14:00 NYTimes.com A character like William Kristol is often caricatured by America’s left. Since he joined the New York Times’s Op-Ed staff, he’s provoked even more ire for both invading what’s usually seen as “home court” as well as being, well, not spectacular (even if no columnist is). His huge factual error of last week deserved the ... More About: Talking , Wrong
Considering Conspiracy Theories
2008-03-25 17:57:00 Daquella manera I’ve been thinking recently about conspiracy theories, and I have a theory about them. A couple in fact. I should also note that I’ve done no research, so these theories about the theories may be either well-known and verified or obscure and unlikely. It seems to me that there are two primary reasons that people ... More About: Conspiracy , Conspiracy Theories , Theories
Review: Raining McCain
2008-03-24 17:50:00 In her 1964 essay — if one can call an enumerated list an essay — ”Notes on ‘Camp,’” Susan Sontag delineated what she called the Camp style. Though nearly every example she gives is obscure to me, the essential traits of camp are clear: it’s exaggerated, it’s methods overwhelm its message, and it thereby becomes a parody of itself. “Raining ... More About: Review
OPW: “The Aliens”
2008-03-21 18:20:00 A slightly different poem than usual. “The Aliens” is from the famously tortured Charles Bukowski, and it wears that fact on it’s sleeve. I suppose that even though I don’t really empathize with the poem, it seemed an apt follow-on to the dissatisfied commentary I presented yesterday. you may not believe it but there are people who go through life with very little friction or distress. they dress well, eat well, sleep well. they are contented with their family life. they have moments of grief but all in all they are undisturbed and often feel very good. and when they die it is an easy death, usually in their sleep. you may not believe it but such people do exist. but I am not one of them. oh no, I am not one of them, I am not even near to being one of them but they are there and I am here. If you’re interested in a different style of presentation, try out this rather good animation of the poem.
?And ParodyMyself?
2008-03-20 17:45:00 I’ve become a parody of myself. I think it started — the day I was born is too easy an answer — on August 16, 2007. That was the fateful day when I made a posting schedule for this site. Then I made the mistake of following said schedule. Looking back on what I wrote that day, I find it terribly ... More About: Parody
The Problem ofIraq
2008-03-19 18:49:00 soldiersmediacenter There’s been a lot of talk recently — especially among America’s chattering left — about how dire it is that Americans have forgotten about Iraq . Today being the five year anniversary of the invasion, what better day is there tackle the issue? I, one who listens quite often to the chattering left, have forgotten about Iraq. I’m wondering how ... More About: Problem
How I ForgotIraq
2008-03-19 18:49:00 soldiersmediacenter There’s been a lot of talk recently — especially among America’s chattering left — about how dire it is that Americans have forgotten about Iraq . Today being the five year anniversary of the invasion, what better day is there tackle the issue? I, one who listens quite often to the chattering left, have forgotten about Iraq. I’m wondering how ...
If You Get theChance?
2008-03-18 18:06:00 Ctd 2005 If you get the chance, be sure to watch the snow falling on a mid-March evening. It may be unexpected, and it may be delaying the spring you’ve been anticipating. You should still make sure that you look out the window as the sun you haven’t seen all day sets. Be sure to notice ... More About: Chance
Review: For the Bible Tells MeSo
2008-03-17 18:17:00 For the Bible Tells Me So, a recent documentary by Daniel Karslake is an interesting beast. Through at least the last twenty minutes, my eyes were wet and my nose was running. And though that’s surely a sign of something that’s emotionally resonant, I’m not without reservation in recommending it. After the obligatory footage of traditional views ... More About: Review , The Bible
OPW: What the Uneducated Woman ToldMe
2008-03-14 17:19:00 Today’s Other People’s Words is a nice — if a little bleak — little poem by Christopher Reid. That she was glad to sit down. That her legs hurt in spite of the medicine. That times were bad. That her husband had died nearly thirty years before. That the war had changed things. That the new priest looked like a schoolboy and you could barely ; hear ... More About: Woman , Told
The FirstDraft
2008-03-13 18:52:00 Syma Sees (AND) Finding Forrester was one of those movies. The kind that I enjoy, but can easily see why so many others don’t. It’s the kind of movie light on logic or reality, and heavy on the emotion. And Sean Connery’s character is, well, odd. However you or I feel about it, there’s one thing I do ... More About: Draft
Globalization asEntanglement
2008-03-12 18:06:00 JohnLeGear (ASA) Globalization has bad rap. Some of it is, no doubt, deserved. The practice is great at giving us (in the “rich world”) poorly made plastic doodads that we don’t need, but at prices we can’t resist. By doing so it’s probably increased the amount of raw materials needlessly wasted, and encouraged the desire for ...
Thinking About Thinking
2008-03-11 18:39:00 CMP73 I noticed recently that I do this rather strange thing. I’ll think thoughts, and then I’ll restate them again as if I were speaking them. Even when I’m not speaking. Even when I’m the only one around. It’s as if I have to “say” everything in order for me to have really thought it. That is, if I have to choose what to do, I immediately know that I have three options, about dinner for example, and what they are. But not until I articulate those options as if I were saying them aloud am I “done” and able to make the choice. Certain that I’d noticed this phenomenon before, I went looking for it. This is how I explained it about two years ago (my apologies for it’s roughness): for example, i do this thing where while i’m brushing my teeth or something my brain has two separate things running. one is basically what i would be saying out loud. it’s rather articulate and reasonable. and then t... More About: Thinking
Review: Gone Baby Gone
2008-03-10 18:08:00 Though I’m not in the habit of review relatively recent and well-known movies (that reason is articulated here), Ben Affleck’s directorial debut in Gone Baby Gone was so unexpected that I couldn’t ignore it. I, like the vast majority of people following along, have at times dismissed Mr. Affleck as a talentless hack who got lucky and didn’t deserve his fame. If Gone Baby Gone accomplished nothing else, it put such thoughts to rest in my mind. Gone Baby Gone is about ugly things, the seedy underbelly of crime and criminality that so many people and films seem drawn to. But what exists in it is something deeper and more textured not only than I expected, but than I thought a crime movie could be. Where it’s different than other crime movies is this: rather than giving us a clear resolution of justice or injustice triumphant, it asks baldly what justice means? Is it better, the film asks, for a good outcome that comes through unsavory means or a ... More About: Review
OPW: THEBLOGWEEMADE
More articles from this author:2008-03-07 19:19:00 This is an odd installment of “Other People’s Words,” because even though the words are good, they’re not the primary thing I want to draw your attention to. What I want to have a look at this charming site, called “THEBLOG WEEMADE.” As the name suggests, it features drawings by young children. And the reason, ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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