The top 12 'Top 10' lists of 2007
Brilliant set of links from Mark Morford.
January 9, 2008
The World Question Center — 2008
The World Question Center — 2008:
WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY?
So far, 165 contributors, including Alan Alda, John Baez, Greg Benford, Aubrey de Grey, Ricahrd Dawkins, Ray Kurzweil, J Craig Venter …
Interesting …
e.g. Stewart Brand
[...]
The message finally got through. Good old stuff sucks. Sticking with the fine old whatevers is like wearing 100% cotton in the mountains; it’s just stupid.
Give me 100% not-cotton clothing, genetically modified food (from a farmers’ market, preferably), this-year’s laptop, cutting-edge dentistry and drugs.
The Precautionary Principle tells me I should worry about everything new because it might have hidden dangers. The handwringers should worry more about the old stuff. It’s mostly crap.
(New stuff is mostly crap too, of course. But the best new stuff is invariably better than the best old stuff.)
[via Mark Morford]
Yes! You can live in San Francisco for not much money at all!
Monica (of Sexploration with Monica) sleeps around housesits.
January 8, 2008
January 6, 2008
Dirty Tricks? Who would’ve guessed? (the Democratic campaign)
I was trolling through political blogs and sites today for commentary on the political debates last night.
There in a comments tail, some someone posted an AP article that slammed Obama, followed by a paean to Clinton.
ASSOCIATED PRESS-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has lot of explaining to do.
He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. He supported allowing retired police officers to carry concealed weapons, but opposed allowing people to use banned handguns to defend against intruders in their homes. And the list of sensitive topics goes on. With only a slim, two-year record in the U.S. Senate, Obama doesn’t have many controversial congressional votes which political opponents can frame into attack ads. But his eight years as an Illinois state senator are sprinkled with potentially explosive land mines, such as his abortion and gun control votes. recent land purchase from a political supporter who is facing charges in an unrelated kickback scheme involving investment firms seeking state business. Abortion opponents see Obama’s vote on medical care for aborted fetuses as a refusal to protect the helpless. Some have even accused him of supporting infanticide.
[End excerpt. No indication that the article wasn't quoted in full. ...]
I checked out the AP reference. The reference isn’t a current reference but a reference to a Ryan Keith article from January 2007. This is how it reads:
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may have a lot of explaining to do.
He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. He supported allowing retired police officers to carry concealed weapons, but opposed allowing people to use banned handguns to defend against intruders in their homes. And the list of sensitive topics goes on.
With only a slim, two-year record in the U.S. Senate, Obama doesn’t have many controversial congressional votes which political opponents can frame into attack ads. But his eight years as an Illinois state senator are sprinkled with potentially explosive land mines, such as his abortion and gun control votes.
Obama _ who filed papers this week creating an exploratory committee to seek the 2008 Democratic nomination _ may also find himself fielding questions about his actions outside public office, from his acknowledgment of cocaine use in his youth to a more recent land purchase from a political supporter who is facing charges in an unrelated kickback scheme involving investment firms seeking state business.
Obama was known in the Illinois Capitol as a consistently liberal senator who reflected the views of voters in his Chicago district. He helped reform the state death penalty system and create tax breaks for the poor while developing a reputation as someone who would work with critics to build consensus.
He had a 100 percent rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council for his support of abortion rights, family planning services and health insurance coverage for female contraceptives. [...]
Notice the slight changes? Notice where the AP quote in the comments tail stops?
Should you care? It’s only dirty tricks.
If you pop / Obama “lot of explaining”/ into Google, you’ll find a variety of people quoting the excerpted AP article in the comments tails at various news and blog sites.
Dirty tricks? We have
- Davey (Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun)
- obama flip flopper (CNN)
- Sherry Lansing (ed. sure)(Boston Globe)
- jonnie62 (politico.com)
- Cary (The Atlantic)
- dyck21005 (WashingtonPost)
and on …
Come on Cary Sherry Lansing Davey dyck … Clean up your act. Either Clinton approves of what you’re doing (wouldn’t be a surprise) or you’re an overly ambitious volunteer.
Either way you’re doing no favors.
Clare T. Newberry
Over at Grapes 2.0 the Sour One is taking a poll asking what we think is the “Most beautiful children’s book”.
I’ve answered, have you?
In my answer I mentioned both Chris Van Allsburg and Clare T (Turlay) Newberry as favorite author/illustrators (although beautiful illustration doesn’t seem to be the ultimate intent of the Flemish poll that triggered all this yakyak).
I first encountered Newberry’s books when I was a page at the San Jose Public Library back in the early 70s. Shelving books in the Children’s Room one day, I came across Newberry’s book Smudge and promptly fell in love with her cat/kitten sketches.
Check out what I’m talking about. I love the way she was able to convey the cat-ness of the cats and kittens and the texture of their fur.
And for those Blog365-ers
In spirit I’m with those Blog365 folks, but I won’t be signing up because (1)I’m not a signer-upper for the most part and (2)I don’t want to be so engaged that I freak when I get hit by a bus and wind up in the hospital and can’t blog for a couple days and spoil my up-til-then-pristene record.
And for those keeping track, I’m still 100% as of Day Six of the year. My “blog” entries between Jan 1 and Jan 6 were in the form of tweets, which get pasted up over there in the righthand sidebar.
Just soze you know.
High Heels And The Body
Sociological Images: Seeing Is Believing: High Heels And The Body
AKA why I wear walking shoes everywhere — unless I’m home, in which case I’m barefoot.
If I’m going to an event/venue that frowns on walking shoes (drinks at the Bankers’ Club comes to mind), I carry a purse big enough to carry heels to the venue and to pop my walking shoes into when I change footwear on arrival. …
His nibs worked with someone long ago who wore HIGH high heels everywhere until eventually she could not wear flat shoes without pain because her leg muscles (gastrocnemius muscles this illustration shows) had shortened in reaction to the abnormally high heels.
Barefoot girl, me.
(via Jason Schultz, Law Geek via Lori Dorn, HR Lori via a tweet from Laughing Squid)
January 1, 2008
New Year’s wishes.
In 2008 may you have warm sunshine to bask in, blue skies overhead and a light heart.
Update: (n.b. Yes, that is what la tour’s color was. The sun was setting over <<<< to the west, you see. …)