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All about Kosovo
2008-03-19 14:54:00
A lot of Americans have heard the word “Kosovo ” but aren’t sure what it means. Some of those who know a little more on the subject are still fuzzy on the finer details. Thanks to our new friend George Turner, we now have a pretty helpful little primer to get everybody up to speed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVqJmz9DT2 E
More About: Serbia

TunesDay: video loved the radio star
2008-03-18 23:37:00
When I was in high school back in the Dark Ages we didn’t have music video channels. Kinda like today. But we did have this great show called The Midnight Special, which came on late Friday nights. In addition to live performances by a tremendous range of artists, it also emerged as the place where you could see music videos before we even knew to call them music videos. The guy who really figured this “video” thing out first, I think, was David Bowie . If you’ve seen pictures from his Ziggy Star dust era you know that he clearly understood the impact of the rock visual years before anyone else. And The Midnight Special was the place where I first saw some of Bowie’s great rock film efforts. I wonder how many future music artists and film students were watching right along with me. So this TunesDay, let’s hop in the wayback machine and review some of the Bowie clips that dazzled and amazed at least one simple, small-town boy in the 1970s and early &...
More About: Video , Radio

Merely adequate: the new superb.
2008-03-18 21:27:00
by greg stene, ph.d. As I recall things ? a while back, an excellent TV sitcom, NewsRadio, had an episode where a local publication rated the performance of the staff on the fictional radio station. The way-bombastic character Bill McNeal, played by the now dead and then-incredible Phil Hartman, was rated, ?adequate.? True to his nature, Bill began boasting of his fantastic adequacy. He knew the rating sucked, but maybe building it up might make others think otherwise. The episode could have been speaking about today?s level of creativity in advertising. Adequate. And proud of it. A short while back, I wrote a scholarly paper which went under peer-review for its reasonableness, its overall quality, and whatever. Its basic premise was that there was a shortfall of creative talent. One of the experts who reviewed the paper disagreed. The field had quite enough creatives (the creative talent; copywriters and art directors). I let that criticism burn for a while, and finally came...

Microsoft, Google and the joy of a competitorless world
2008-03-18 20:23:00
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google , believes that a Yahoo / Microsoft tie-up would be awful for the Internet. Schmidt issued the vague sequitur that we should all beware of, “the things that it has done that have been so difficult for everyone.” Of course, everyone knows that Microsoft is the Great Satan, so it stands to reason that anything they do should be regarded as automatically the equivalent of making baby stew. Here, though, it is Google - owner of 62.9% of all Internet searches ($16.4 bn in ad revenue) - which dwarfs any tie up (Yahoo-Microsoft have a combined search share of 15.7% and $ 9.8 bn in ad revenue). Could it be that Google is trying to pull a Microsoft and protect its home-turf advantage from a healthy rival? The Shock of Protectionism Recent respondents to my weekly newspaper column here in Cape Town have expressed shock - shock - that businesses appear to actively seek protection from their competitors. Such protection naturally increasing prices and hur...
More About: China , World , South Africa

And the news the media say is most important these days is ?
2008-03-18 17:50:00
Newly minted New York governor David Paterson and his wife had extra-marital affairs. Former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey says he and his wife, Dina Matos McGreevey, engaged in three-way sex with his ex-aide and driver; Mrs. McGreevey says they didn’t. Meanwhile, the McGreeveys’ high-profile, salacious divorce case remains nightly news in the Garden State. The dissection of disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, continues. On “Larry King Live,” a 15-minute, 47-second segment discusses how to catch cheating spouses. CNN’s “Quick Vote” question today asks: “If a politician is unfaithful in his or her private life, do you think that impacts their ability to be honest in public life?” (At this writing, 54 percent voted yes.) And it’s ho, ho, ho everywhere as “serious” journalists interview prostitutes, including discussion of their high-tech improvements and former ...
More About: News , Media , The Media , The News , Days

Obama: perfecting our union
2008-03-18 17:42:00
Sen. Barack Obama today delivered what will hopefully be remembered as an important speech in the history of American race relations. It is proper, as he notes, that race (and class) should be dominant topics in our political campaigns because they are so central to who we are (and to why we fail). However, it is unacceptable, at this moment in our history, that race should be an issue of division, especially among “progressives.” Kudos to Obama for a powerful statement. Here’s hoping that Sen. Clinton is unequivocal in her endorsement of the principles he sets forth today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWe7wTVbLU U Transcript here.
More About: Hillary Clinton , Union

Why did Spitzer do it, you ask? Why wouldn?t he?
2008-03-18 12:14:00
How could Eliot Spitzer be so stupid? What made him risk everything he worked and stood for? How could he betray his wife, his children, and the citizens of New York, not to mention idealists everywhere? We’ve got this whole thing backwards. The more relevant — and realistic — question is: How could he have been anything but that stupid? In other words, why wouldn’t Eliot Spitzer buy a 22-year-old? He had rationalizations by the bushel-full with which to regale himself: I’m a super-achiever with big appetites. Isn’t it all part of the same package? Politicians have always gotten some on the side. Look at my successor, David Paterson, for instance. Try walking a mile in our shoes. We just need to blow off some steam. While being governor has been a study in frustration, my accomplishments as attorney-general of the state of New York are legendary. What’s one black mark next to rows of gold stars? True, I busted prostitution rings. The owners ...

Progressives lead on national security: a responsible plan to get us out of
2008-03-17 18:27:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OchMcu4ON 0 Goldy has the details at HorsesAss. 
More About: Security , National , Democrats , National Security , Progressives

St. Patrick?s Day: wearing o? the black
2008-03-17 15:47:00
I won’t be wearing green today. Don’t get me wrong - like many Americans, I’ve got plenty of Irish blood in my veins, and I’m quite happy to celebrate that heritage. But this St. Patrick thing… Sadly, very few people have stopped to think about exactly what they’re celebrating, or whom. Patrick is credited with leading the Christianization of Ireland and it’s said he “drove the snakes out” of the place. That, of course, is metaphorical. The serpent was an ancient druidic symbol of wisdom, and the thing that was literally driven out (or killed and buried in the ground of) Ireland was the vibrant, centuries-old culture of the Celts. When a Christian missionary went into a new place it was with one goal - extinguish what he found and replace it with Christianity . We see an illuminating example of how the process might begin in Acts 17:23-34, where Paul stumbles upon an opportunity and seizes it like the last bottle of whiskey in Gal...
More About: Black

Nota bene
2008-03-17 13:11:00
Appearing weekly, Nota Bene attempts to provide an overview of the week’s news. Meanwhile, in its appendix we cull trenchant comments to articles and posts, as well as those heard in person or emailed. Nota Bene was founded by Mike Sheehan. “Obama opens up on Rezko, and it’s almost believable,” writes John Kass at the Chicago Tribune about sitting down with him Friday. Little noted, Obama also told Kass: “Unequivocally, that if elected president, he would keep U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald as the federal hammer in Chicago, no small announcement given that Rezko is on trial and Obama ally Mayor Richard Daley is feeling federal heat.” Daniel Gross reports at Slate on how our economy is viewed overseas. “International financiers are unnerved by the toxic combination of ‘misplaced assumptions about housing, a lack of necessary regulation and irresponsible use of debt with sophisticated financial instruments,’ said Ashraf Laidi, curre...

Can the Earth survive?: Weisman?s The World Without Us
2008-03-16 15:07:00
by Chris Mackowski The World Without Us by Alan Weisman Thomas Dunne Books–St. Martin’s Press 324 pp. What would the world be like if the human race just up and vanished? ?Unlikely, perhaps, but for the sake of argument, not impossible,? writes journalist Alan Weisman. Perhaps a human-specific virus wipes us out or aliens kidnap us or God raptures us away. Poof?we?re gone. Tomorrow. That?s the hypothetical premise behind Weisman?s newest book, The World Without Us. But while the premise sounds fanciful, Weisman offers nothing but cold, hard facts and a gnawing gut feeling that something is already dreadfully, dreadfully wrong. The book starts out with a fascinating look at how houses deteriorate, how cities crumble, how bridges fall. ?Back when they told you what your house would cost, nobody mentioned what you?d also be paying so that nature wouldn?t repossess it long before the bank,? Weisman says. The insidious culprit behind most of it is plain old water, which find...
More About: Earth , Survive

ArtSunday: Hidden in plain sight ? seen by many, known by few
2008-03-16 05:25:00
Imagine a great artist whose work is seen on a daily basis by hundreds of thousands of people. Yet, even though many not only enjoy, but are transported by, his triumphs, they don’t know his name. (We’re not speaking of sculptures in public places. However small, the artist’s name is usually inscribed or affixed.) It’s not that this artist is neglected. His many honors include MIT’s Eugene McDermott Award, one of the most coveted arts awards in the US, and election to France’s “Les Arts et Lettres.” Ordinarily, this author is disinclined to celebrate the most successful and wealthy. It’s just that this man’s work demonstrates the extent to which developing a public space can set the viewer’s spirit free from its earthly moorings. Yes, Spaniard Santiago Calatrava works in the field of architecture, which, in the US, is only intermittently thought of as an art by the public. We prefer form or flash in our architecture, ...
More About: Plain , Hidden , Sight

Saturday Video Roundup: whiskey tango foxtrotting around the world in rough
2008-03-15 15:53:00
In today’s special edition of SVR, S&R asks a critical question: what the fuck is wrong with you people? Let’s start here. While we watch, will somebody get Drs. Phil and Laura on the line? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzOpjBOzMq A As they say back home, that boy ain’t right. And it’s not just America, either. Check out Japan , which apparently just has nothing better to do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36w-CyqCO1 A Then there’s Chile. Your guess is as good as mine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0fvQQtkqo A This is Little Superstar, proving that India has issues, as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAhlfTKyOA 8 If Congress wants to ban YouTube, what are we going to say? [sigh] It’s nearly 9 am here, and I need a Scotch. You’re on your own. Most of this foolishness is courtesy of our old buddy Mike Smith. Who clearly needs to adjust the dosage on his medication.
More About: Video , World , Roundup

Ad recall? My ass(umptions)
2008-03-15 14:36:00
by greg stene, ph.d. This is a blog about advertising. Advertising’s built in part, on persuading people. So, as a matter of self-defense, I naturally reject everything anyone says about it and detest all considerations by everyone. If you know me (personally as a creative/strategist in the business, or as an assistant professor of advertising), you know that I really think most advertising is poorly considered, lacking in creativity, and the business rationale we use to justify most of it is pure meth - a lot of stupidity that quickly kills your company (and your budget). But I believe really smart advertising can and does exist, rarely. And I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the great work and the purely stupid stuff. Here’s something that falls in between those parameters … A recent study entered the arena of advertising’s considerations of visual attraction and retention. This is a study in fast-forward DVR viewing and it offers some really fe...
More About: Recall

Quotabull
2008-03-14 22:40:00
Does this mean Spitzer’s been a Republican all this time? ? heard in the hallway outside my office. Message to Gov. Eliot Spitzer: I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to define prostitution for my 11-year-old son. ? letter to the editor of The New York Times by Louise Hochberg of Great Neck, N.Y.; March 12. Only the lobbyists. ? New York Lt. Gov. David Paterson, when asked by the press “whether he, like [Eliot] Spitzer, had ever patronized a prostitute”; March 14. Why is his candidacy historic? Can you give me another reason why it is an historic campaign? Why are we afraid to say this? I am absolutely stunned by this whole thing. I?m not saying he isn?t qualified, never did I say that. He is very smart. He has experience issues, but if George Bush can learn to run the country, so can this guy. ? Geraldine A. Ferraro, unapologetic after resigning from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton?s campaign finance committee for citing Sen. Barack Obama?s race as the...
More About: Congress , Justice Department , Bush administration

The Case of Abraham Lincoln: how the Republican Party was created from the
2008-03-14 22:21:00
by Carol White The Case of Abraham Lincoln : A Story of Adultery, Murder, and the Making of a Great President; by Julie M. Fenster Julie Fenster?s new book is not only a fascinating look at a side of Abraham Lincoln?his daily life as an influential Illinois lawyer in the years before he became president?but an illuminating study about how he and his abolitionist associates succeeded in fusing anti-slavery Democrats and Whigs and to create the Republican party. Lincoln?s role as a wartime president tends to overshadow the fact of his crucial involvement not only in exposing his arch rival Stephen Douglas, author of the infamous Kansas-Nebraska act that opened the western territories of the United States to slavery?but in the nitty-gritty, day-to-day politicking that preceded, and was crucial to the party?s victory at the polls in the 1860 presidential election. These days there is a lot of hand-wringing about how the internecine struggle in the present election campaign may fracture t...
More About: Party , Republican Party

Prominent dingbat wants to sue Al Gore for fraud
2008-03-14 21:52:00
Hoo boy. The founder of the Weather Channel wants to sue Al Gore for fraud, hoping a legal debate will settle the global-warming debate once and for all. John Coleman, who founded the cable network in 1982, suggests suing for fraud proponents of global warming, including Al Gore, and companies that sell carbon credits. “Is he committing financial fraud? That is the question,” Coleman said. That may be a question, but I assure you, it’s not the question. “Since we can’t get a debate, I thought perhaps if we had a legal challenge and went into a court of law, where it was our scientists and their scientists, and all the legal proceedings with the discovery and all their documents from both sides and scientific testimony from both sides, we could finally get a good solid debate on the issue,” Coleman said. “I’m confident that the advocates of ‘no significant effect from carbon dioxide’ would win the case.” I can only im...
More About: Fraud

Correction: GOP?s loyalty to party trumps hate of Hillary
2008-03-14 19:56:00
by Djerrid Months ago I suggested that the Republican faithful would vote for Obama to keep Clinton from having any chance of winning the White House. It turns out they are voting for Clinton in record numbers to keep the Dem nomination battle going for as long as they can and, perhaps, set up their preferred candidate to go against McCain in the Fall. The Daily Kos has a nice rundown of how this has played out. Exhibit A: Just before the Texas/Ohio vote Rush Limbaugh urged his listeners to vote for Clinton in order to keep the “soap opera” between Clinton and Obama in the spotlight. True to form, Republicans doubled and then tripled their representation in the Democratic primaries with their votes shifting from 31% to 48% to 75% for Clinton over Obama. This is smart tactics and a win-win strategy by the Republicans. If Obama wins a drawn-out nomination process, his large financial advantage will be whittled down by all of the extra primaries and the halo knocked off his...
More About: Democrats , Party , Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton

2007 global temperature second hottest since 1880
2008-03-14 03:25:00
On January 16, 2008, Dr. James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Sciences (GISS) released the summation of temperature data for 2007 with apparently very little fanfare. Given the data collected by Dr. Hansen, the lack of fanfare itself might well be notable. But regardless, the data itself bears more public attention that it’s had. 2007 is now tied with 1998 as the second hottest year for global temperature in a century. According to the the GISS 2007 summation press release online, all eight of the hottest years for global temperature have been since 1998, and 14 of the hottest years have been since 1990. The global temperature map (shown in image above - larger version available), the Arctic and Siberia had the greatest temperature increase, between 3 and 4 degrees Celsius. This heating was responsible for, or a direct result of, the smallest Arctic ice cap since records have been kept. If you look closely at the eastern Pacific ocean in that map, thoug...
More About: Temperature , Global

Rebels. Without a clue.
2008-03-14 00:24:00
Idiots. Jonathan Walton puts it this way: I confess that I find this somewhat tragic, as I too have Southern pride. Aside from the velleity that describes the religion of the Lost Cause and the white supremacy that defines Confederate paraphernalia, there is such a rich history and heritage for Southerners to celebrate. It was Southern soil that gave birth to the original American musical art forms by way of the Negro Spirituals, blues and jazz. Then there’s the great literary tradition that includes Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor and Tennessee Williams. The South provided the modern civil rights movement that moved this nation closer to its ideals of freedom, justice and democracy for all. And we should never overlook Southern sartorial splendor in the form of summer seersucker, and culinary combinations like chicken and waffles or fish and grits! What he said. I have plenty of Southern pride, and my heritage does not depend on symbols that hurt other ...

VerseDay: the myth of the genius lost?
2008-03-13 20:58:00
This starts with Nick Drake. I wrote a piece about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions and during the course of that piece bemoaned the Hall’s selection of Leonard Cohen when artists whom I felt were more deserving, such as Drake, were routinely ignored. That got me thinking about Drake and I spent much of yesterday afternoon listening to his work to verify my claims of his artistic worthiness. Listening to Nick Drake, who died tragically young after having completed only three record albums, (yes, I know “record album” is an archaic term, but until we have a better one to describe a set of songs meant by the artist to be heard as a unified group, it’ll have to do) got me to thinking about our tendency to elevate artists who die young to a status of respect and admiration (even iconic devotion) above what their actual work justifies. Since this is a VerseDay and not a TunesDay entry, I’ll leave musicians now (with only this aside - listening to Dr...
More About: Lost , Genius , Myth

OK Go says Net Neutrality good for music
2008-03-13 16:57:00
Tim Karr has an important read for music lovers up at HuffPo. In it, he covers OK Go’s descent into Washington to promote the importance of Net Neutrality to independent musicians. The band’s success is a testament to an open Internet. OK Go was propelled to national fame via the popularity of their YouTube videos. One, a treadmill dance along to the song “Here It Goes Again,” has been viewed more than 31 million times. “If people wonder whether the music industry will benefit from Net Neutrality they can look no further than us,” said OK Go’s lead singer and guitarist Damian Kulash in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. “There really is some consensus here that Net Neutrality is good for music and good for musicians… I’m here to ask you today to preserve Net Neutrality and the openness of the Internet. I believe it’s critical to the future of music.” These days, when it seems like the dec...
More About: Music , Good

Grand Funk, REO Speedwagon, New Kids head 2009 R&R HOF inductees list?
2008-03-13 15:45:00
Oops. Sorry. I forgot this isn’t The Onion for a moment. But when you look at this list, you can see why this wouldn’t necessarily be a shocker…. We now return you to normal programming….
More About: Kids , Funk , List , Head , Grand

The Weekly Carboholic
2008-03-13 04:26:00
The March 10 issue of Business Week has a set of charts that discuss a McKinsey & Company report that discusses how best to approach reducing carbon emissions. Essentially, the approach is to start with the actions that save more money than they cost and provide the most carbon reductions for the money - things like improving the efficiency of commercial and residential electronics, changing over all lighting to high-efficiency bulbs, and improving vehicle fuel economy. Then we go and start building more nuclear plants, engaging in reforestation projects, and other high cost/negative economic return activities. The image below is one of the charts from that issue - click on it to get a larger, and more readable, version thereof. Source: BusinessWeek.com, 3-10-2008 magazine issue ———- China has received a great deal of criticism for its “one child” policy, and much of that criticism has been well earned. The policy has led to an overabundance ...
More About: Weekly

So why are gasoline prices going up?
2008-03-13 00:57:00
Today oil hit $110 a barrel and the national average cost of regular per gallon reached $3.246. Now, I’m not an economist; I only play one at S&R. But like most of you in the U.S., I watch those gasoline prices ratchet higher and higher, and I’m ticked off. How come they’re going up so fast? How come they’re so high? And why isn’t someone explaining this to me? I wish the press would spend more time telling me why prices are climbing. Yes, the press appropriately stresses the consequences of record gasoline prices on those who cannot absorb the increases. But it too often fails to point to the bad guys (we all need someone to blame, right?). Somebody’s gotta take the fall for this, many of us think. As an S&R colleague said, “As the dollar falls against other currencies, it takes more dollars to buy anything imported unless retailers are willing to eat their margins in order to keep the price steady. Oil is mostly imported.R...
More About: Gasoline , Prices

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame deserves Madonna?
2008-03-12 23:01:00
My old pal and bandmate Mike asked me to write a few lines about this, so I will: This year’s induction group for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (hereafter referred to as the R&R HOF) includes the following: Leonard Cohen, John Mellencamp, The Dave Clark Five, and The Ventures. Madonna ’s been inducted, too, but I’ll get to her in a few…. Let’s look at this group with a purely jaundiced eye (mine) for a few moments, shall we? And let’s NOT look at them as fans but as reasonable, rational creatures who know something about music, the music business, and about the traitor to music horse shit purveyor that is Jann Wenner, chair of the artist selection committee, who manipulates the selection system. The selection process has long been considered tainted, but I’ll say no more about that for now and simply assess the credentials of these latest inductees in my usual snarkily entertaining way: Leonard Cohen - Quick! Name a song he wrote beside...
More About: The Rock

The feel-good hit of the summer!
2008-03-12 22:25:00
Man, can’t wait to see this on the big screen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-u8oyZAge Y Thanks to Mike Smith for passing this on. I think his job description must look something like this: “screw around surfing YouTube all day.” Good work if you can get it.
More About: Summer , The Onion , Feel

Blame it on the performance-enhancing water
2008-03-12 15:06:00
Martin reported a few days ago on our nation’s pharmaceutically enhanced water supply, and this morning I had an odd thought. How long will it be before a pro athlete fails a drug test and blames it on the tap water? Put me down for Barry Bonds on Monday….
More About: Performance , Water , Blame

God-talk in the presidential election (or why evangelicals are voting for B
2008-03-12 14:28:00
by Dr. Lynn Schofield Clark When it’s time for politics in the U.S., it seems, it’s also time to talk about religion. So first there were stories of Huckabee’s success among evangelicals, and then there was the quelched rumor about Obama’s supposed connections with Islam (he is a member of the United Church of Christ, a liberal Christian denomination). Hillary Clinton received fewer stories about her Methodist faith, although she did speak of it at the Global Summit on AIDS at a large California megachurch pastored by Rick Warren (best selling author of “The Purpose-Driven Life”), according to one story. By far the most religion-and-politics coverage so far has gone to Huckabee. Indeed, Adelle Banks of the Religion News Service wrote a nice piece suggesting that Mike Huckabee could be a “Republican Kingmaker” due to his ability to appeal to the “new center” of the evangelical movement, which she characterized as interest...
More About: Presidential , Talk , Election , Voting , Evangelicals

Nota bene
2008-03-12 13:11:00
Appearing weekly, Nota Bene takes a step back from the news. Also, as an appendix, it culls trenchant comments to articles and posts, as well as the occasional passage from email. Nota Bene was founded by Mike Sheehan. When New York’s Governor Eliot Spitzer spit the bit, it was a loss for New York state and the Democrats. But Spitzer had been, and continues to be a problem for Hillary Clinton, as Peter Baker, blogging for the Washington Post, points out. John Nichols also weighed in on this at the Nation. Even more resounding than Spitzer’s is the resignation of Admiral William Fallon from his post as CENTCOM commander. Josh Marshall notes that he’s “leaving because he was apparently too sane for the Bush White House.” An engaging profile of Fallon in the latest Esquire, portraying him as working with Afghans to improve their lots, may have contributed to his undoing. The Fox, as they call him, will be fine. Will we? At the Los Angeles Times ecological ...