Frozen ToothpasteFrozen ToothpasteA blog of ideas. All stripes, colors, and sizes, but ideas. Articles
In Defense of Wikipedia
2007-12-04 19:16:00 For those not following closely, it’s probably news that Wikipedia ’s management structure—Wikipedia has a management structure?—is being critiqued because of what The Register, an online technology newspaper, said was new evidence that “the site’s top administrators are using a secret insider mailing list to crackdown on perceived threats to their power.” You can read all ... More About: Defense
Review: Downfall
2007-12-03 19:23:00 There has always been a great deal of idle speculation about what it is that people find so fascinating about Hitler’s Germany. My favorite theory—which hardly makes it correct—is that people want to understand what allows people to do such depraved things to each other. That people probe the Holocaust looking for ways that we ... More About: Review
OPW: I Used to Be but Now I Am
2007-11-30 18:37:00 On today’s “Other People’s Words,” “I Used to Be but Now I Am” by Ted Berrigan. I’m not sure I can pin down what exactly it is that I like about the poem, but I just know that I like it. I used to be inexorable, But now I am elusive. I used to be the future ...
Dispatches: Lying Well
2007-11-29 21:29:00 Steve Finch has finally gotten around to filing another report. He asked that this one be filed under: “Is every lie a deception?” HOLLYWOOD — In a town made famous for the lies it tells to both itself and the world, this reporter found something quite expected: a class about lying well. The surprise wasn’t finding ... More About: Lying , Dispatches
Governing is Campaigning
2007-11-28 18:13:00 Mark Halperin, a political writer for Time, got a great deal of flack for a recent column in the New York Times. The column, entitled “How ‘What It Takes’ Took Me Off Course,” consists primarily of Halperin sharing the revelation that there is a difference between the campaigning for president and being president. As he ... More About: Campaigning
The Myth of the Magic Bullet
2007-11-27 22:29:00 I’ve long been seeking one thing—a song, a poem, a quotation, even a book—that once found will magically save all people—save them from their greed, their fear, and their unnecessary antipathy for one another. One day I met my anti-prophet, who told me this: I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t exist, it can’t exist, and ... More About: Magic , Bullet , Myth
Review: Helvetica (Documentary)
2007-11-26 20:30:00 Helvetica is a documentary about a typeface with the same name. That typeface is also the one in which this post’s green headline is written. And to simplify the coming discussion, I want to make clear that Helvetica is a documentary and Helvetica is a typeface. The essential goal of Gary Hustwit’s Helvetica is to examine ... More About: Documentary , Review
OPW: Norman Mailer on America
2007-11-23 23:16:00 Norman Mailer died two weeks ago, and so I’m slow on the uptake. But I’d rather quote something interesting and out-of-date that timely and uninteresting. So on today’s “Other People’s Words,” what Norman Mailer told Charlie Rose about his country in 1998. You know, I think we live in the most exceptional country ever for a ... More About: America , Norman
Happy Thursday!
2007-11-21 22:46:00 I’d planned on writing something today, but when, on rising, I was greeted by four inches of accumulated snow my resolve to do so quickly cracked and eventually crumbled. Already somewhat interested in making Thanksgiving (it’s tomorrow in United States) an extended break, I was unable to do any serious thinking. So, Americans (and perhaps non-Americans ... More About: Happy , Thursday
On Being an Egomaniac
2007-11-20 22:28:00 I can’t avoid the feeling that writing on this blog is an incredibly egoistic activity. I want to tell you about myself. About my opinions. About a story I dreamt up. All of its about me. Now I can, and maybe should, concede that this is the nature of writing. That you can fundamentally only write ...
Review: The Bugle (Podcast)
2007-11-19 20:53:00 With the Writers Guild of America still on strike, the absence of late-night commentary on politics has been missed. Though the quality of the commentary was rarely exceptionally high, late night comedians did provide a useful and informative diversion for those less tempted to read the papers (like myself, most of the times). So while looking ... More About: Review , Podcast , Bugle
OPW: ?The Necessary Brevity of Pleasures?
2007-11-16 19:14:00 Today’s “Other People’s Words” is a poem about, well, “The Necessary Brevity of Pleasures.” It’s by Samuel Hazo. Prolonged, they slacken into pain or sadness in accordance with the law of apples. ; One apple satisfies. Two apples cloy. ; 0; Three apples glut. Call it a tug-of-war between enough and more than enough, between sufficiency and greed, between the stay-at-homers and globe-trotting see-the-worlders. Like lovers seeking heaven ...
?Working to Live? and Other Lies
2007-11-15 18:30:00 You hear the complaint a lot: “too many American live to work when they should really be working to live.” The dichotomy always rang false to me, and I finally figured out why. The first problem is that this, like most dichotomies, is completely false. To demonstrate this, I’ve compiled a short list of the inane ... More About: Live , Working , Lies , Workin
Was Reagan A Racist?
2007-11-14 18:30:00 One presidential candidate is lighting up the New York Times Opinion page with impassioned attacks and defenses. No, it’s not Barack Obama, Ron Paul, Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, Jon Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, Dennis Kucinich, or Mitt Romney. It’s Ronald Reagan . The crucial question of the day, if you’re reading the New York Times Opinion pages at ... More About: Racist
Professional Human Beings
2007-11-13 20:47:00 I’m not even sure where I first heard the term “Professional Human Beings,” but it’s an idea I can’t seem to shake. I often think that the world needs more Professional Human Beings. But I should be clear: this is different than needing more “professionals.” Professional Human Beings are people who spend their time being the ... More About: Fess
Review: Yesterday, Raking Leaves
2007-11-12 19:38:00 I’ve reviewed quite a few movies in the time I’ve been writing reviews here. I’ve also managed to talk about a few books, a few podcasts, a few web-only video projects. But all of that has been, to varying degrees, frustratingly pedestrian. So today, something truly unusual: a review of my time raking leaves yesterday ... More About: Review , Yesterday , Leaves , Aves
OPW: Woody Allen on What?s Good in Life
2007-11-09 17:34:00 Today’s “Other People’s Words” is both short and unconventional. It’s a quote taken from Woody Allen ’s Manhattan, in which his misanthropic character beings to think about what’s good in life. Technically, it’s the character Isaac Davis who says the line, but with it written by, directed by, and spoken by Woody Allen , I think the attribution ... More About: Life , Good
The State of the Unions
2007-11-08 19:33:00 Believe it or not, there was a time and when the rich and greedy — let’s make them monocled as well — captains of industry had something grave to fear in these United State s beyond the possibility that their indefensible tactics would be caught and stopped by government oversight. There was a time when the ... More About: Unions , The State , State of the Union
The Ron Paul Phenomenon
2007-11-07 17:50:00 For those who don’t know, Ron Paul is a Republican candidate for president. His “netroots” are bigger and stronger than any other Republican candidate, perhaps stronger than any other candidate. Any positive story about Ron Paul that makes it to Digg or Reddit is almost certain to make the front page. All of this begs the ... More About: Phenomenon
Technology and Trivia
2007-11-06 19:35:00 It’s not unlike a mosquito constantly buzzing near your ear, this idea that we’re killing ourselves with technology. Everyday, it seems, we hear with disdain about people who don’t know their own phone number, don’t know their friend’s number, don’t know how to drive across town without GPS navigation. These things, we’re told, are proof ... More About: Technology , Trivia
Review: The Wind that Shakes the Barley
2007-11-05 18:58:00 The first half of Ken Loach’s The Wind that Shakes the Barley can easily be seen as a justification for terrorism and a condemnation of torture—the obvious reading for an American in a country now more or less obsessed by the topics. If justifying terrorism seems a hard thing to do, The Wind that Shakes the ... More About: Review , The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Taking the Week Off
2007-10-29 21:05:00 Though I don’t like doing it, I’m taking the week off. I’ll be back next Monday. While I’m away, how about a few reruns? They’re mostly fiction, and mostly my words, and some certainly could have been better. But the important thing to remember is that if you’ve never seen them, they’re new to you. ... More About: Week , Taking
OPW: ?They?ll? by Cheryl Denise
2007-10-26 17:54:00 On today’s “Other People’s Words,” a poem by Cheryl Denis e about the feeling that society desires conformity above all else. And about maybe leaving it behind. “They’ll” take your soul and put it in a suit, fit you in boxes under labels, make you look like the Joneses. They’ll tell you go a little blonder, suggest sky-blue tinted contact lenses, conceal that birthmark under your chin. They’ll ...
Dispatches: The Evolution Party
2007-10-25 19:15:00 Our roving correspondent Steve Finch has finally gotten back to us with another story. He asked us to file this under “Wouldn’t it be scary if…” Elkhart, Indiana — The rise of the Evolution Party and it’s unconventional platform has left at least a few unsettled and scratching their heads. The leader of the small political ... More About: Dispatches
Considering the ?FairTax?
2007-10-24 19:32:00 Until recently, I wasn’t aware that “progressive” had an opposite. Surely, many Democrats would prefer that Republican or conservative were seen as opposites of progressive, but they’re not. “Regressive,” I now know, actually is the opposite of progressive, at least in taxes. (And in hindsight, I feel dumb for not having thought of that.) This is ... More About: Consider , Erin
The Serenity Prayer
2007-10-23 19:34:00 When you look around at the world, it’s easy to be angry. There are socio-political problems all over: Darfur, Myanmar, Iraq, China, Zimbabwe, North Korea, Somalia… the list could go on and on. There are also the scourges of poverty and hunger that never seem to leave us. And the more mundane but pervasive problems ... More About: Prayer , Serenity , Pray
Retroview: Tacky the Penguin
2007-10-22 18:58:00 Lacking anything terribly interesting to review, I’ve decided to write a retroview of a book I liked when I was young, Tacky the Penguin . Rereading it today, I’m sorry that I didn’t notice it sooner. Helen Lester’s Tacky the Penguin is a rather unabashed reappropriation of the major idea in The Ugly Duckling. Sure, Tacky’s just ... More About: Guin
OPW: The Ethics of Belief
2007-10-19 18:54:00 Since I’ve been writing about ignorance, I thought a quote on a similar topic was in order. This quotation is from W. K. Clifford, an atheist philosopher and mathematician, who argued that faithis both irrational and immoral. You can read the (almost) full text of “The Ethics of Belief ” online, if you’re interested. It was ...
Distinguishing Among the Ignorant
2007-10-18 19:32:00 My recent piece entitled “Ignorance is Dangerous” was essentially an angry condemnation of ignorance and the ignorant. In that piece, however, I failed to adequately distinguish between many types of possible ignorance and levels of it, which is essentially my aim here. The first distinction that must be made is one that is, at best, implicit ...
A New Environmentalism?
More articles from this author:2007-10-17 19:01:00 As you probably know by now, Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize last week, sharing the medal and the money with the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change. This seems to have triggered some new press for consideration of the idea of what it means to be an environmentalist. Though few dispute the idea that concern ... More About: Environmentalism , Envi , Mentalism 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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