Spocko's Brain

Ed Foster, IT Consumer Advocate, Dies at age 59

2008-07-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

Editor of Gripe Line at Infoworld, Ed Foster, passed away July 26, 2008

Ed Foster wrote one of the most important columns in the IT computer industry. I'm sure that lots of companies might not have appreciated him calling them out on their bad service, faulty products or restrictive End User License Agreements. But many of us consumers of computer hardware and software sure appreciated his work.

Ed wrote the kind of column that get people to subscribe. His was the column that I always turned to first. I trusted Ed. David Pogue at the New York Times has a bigger readership and Walt Mossberger of the WSJ is more influential, but Ed was the guy who cared about all the things that drove consumers of sophisticated hardware and software products nuts.

You can see in my blog title that "consumer advocate" is the second thing that I list as what I write about. Ed was an inspiration to me. He took on HUGE issues like End User License Agreements which have gotten out of control. Ed kept on exposing their draconian restrictions and suggesting better language for them. He was like my friends over at Boing Boing and EFF who care about the fine print--especially when it is used against consumers and citizens to make live more difficult or more frustrating.

Ed was a voice for the End User to the corporations. His family (and this publisher) should be so proud of him. Ed stood up for us. Read what some of his other fans had to say:

We have lost a staunch ally in the fight against industry injustices. -Rocktman2

Our industry has lost a true champion of not only what should be right but what should also be common sense - anonymous

Surely right now Ed is in heaven reviewing the fit, finish, software, and power supply to his harp to make sure it does not use DRM to broadcast its songs... econobiker

Smart corporations would use Ed as a way to easily find out what their customers were upset with. Instead of paying tens of thousands of dollars for end user research they could just go to Ed's column and see what people were unhappy about. (Of course it was public, which they probably didn't like, but since it was public they are more apt to do something than to bury it.)

There will be a hole in the page where is column lived, and there is a hole in the consumer advocate ranks today, but Ed's fighting spirit still lives on in the hearts and minds of all his loyal readers.

UPDATE: In lieu of flowers, Ed's family asks that donations be made to the Electronic Frontier Foundation in his name.

Why Amy Salit Rocks Radio

2008-07-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

I've been a huge fan of the radio program Fresh Air for over two decades. I even met Terry Gross and one of the producers, Amy Salit once. (BTW, Terry Gross is really tiny. She could probably fit right into one of my Grandmother's old radio consoles!)

In the last few weeks the Fresh Air shows they have been ON FIRE with some amazing guests and fascinating, revealing interviews.

I'm going to list the ones I'm talking about so you can listen for yourself. With a few comments from me why they are so good.

After a Stroke, a Scientist Studies Herself

Neurological researcher Jill Bolte Taylor suffered a stroke 12 years ago. While the damage caused by a stroke is often devastating, Taylor was able to make a complete recovery after becoming her own experimental subject.

This is an AMAZING story. If you only listen to one episode of Fresh Air from this list, listen to this one. Of course I'm fascinated with the brain and all its aspects and this show really explores what it is like to have a certain kind of stroke. It is also a story about being present in the moment and what left-brain / right-brain splits are really like for the person experiencing the stroke.

Terror And The Unraveling Of America's Moral Fabric

According to investigative journalist Jane Mayer, the war on terrorism may have done as much political and social damage to the United States as terrorism itself. Mayer writes for The New Yorker, and she recently published The Dark Side.

Jane Mayer has got to be one of them most fair reporters on the planet. After hearing about all the nasty stuff that Bush and Cheney have done she STILL finds a way to bring some humanity and balance to Cheney. I think I'll call her and ask if she has been booked on Rush Limbaugh, Hannity or Fox and Friends. I doubt it, they have labeled her as the enemy and don't care to hear the real story even from someone who dug deep enough to find Cheney's heart.

In 'Torture Team,' An Administration Accused

In his new book, Torture Team, international lawyer Philippe Sands argues that the Bush administration's interrogation policy constitutes a war crime.

I've been reading Philippe Sands works and listening to his interviews for a while and I think Terry's questions really stand out in this interview. Even after everything she hears and knows, she still has the same incredulous questions as a number of people. "Can this really be true? Did these people really descend into the depravity of torture in a legal, practical and moral sense?"

She asks the questions that I would envision people ask when they find out that someone they love has just been found out to be guilty of pre-meditated murder. "Really? It can't be! What proof do you have?" and "Why?" and finally, "What will happen to them now?"

I know that torture is one of my "favorite" topics and hearing about it and reading about it is so depressing for many of us. But when you listen to Sands it helps you understand how we got to this place. There is still the issue of what next. Which I think is will be at the heart of the battle for the soul of our nation.

Seymour Hersh On Covert Operations In Iran

In the upcoming issue of the New Yorker, Seymour Hersh writes that the United States may be closer to armed conflict with Iran than previously imagined.

Again, Terry is the surrogate asking questions for the average intelligent person who STILL can't believe that the Bush administration would be so radical as to start a war in Iran.

Many of us have gotten over the idea that the Bush Administration will act as rational leaders after the truth about Iraq came out. But there is STILL a handful of people who can't believe that he will attack Iran. It reminds me of a scene with Jeff Daniels and Keanu Reeves in Speed. "You shot me, I can't believe it! They're giving you a medal for shooting me, you little prick! " says Daniels. "Harry... you TOLD me to." says Reeves.

Bush told us he was going to invade. There are some who think that Bush wouldn't be crazy enough to attack Iran when Iraq has been such a disaster. Listen to Hersh explain how in the minds of Bush and Cheney the Iraq war has been a SUCCESS, so that attacking Iran will be just an extension of their success in Iraq.

Elizabeth Warren On The Rising Cost Of Credit Debt

Harvard Law professor returns to Fresh Air to talk about how credit-card debt is becoming more costly due to increased fees and interest rates. Warren is a bankruptcy expert and an outspoken critic of abusive lending practices.

Dr. Warren is great for cutting to heart of who is really behind the economic tragedies of the current policies, programs and ideologies that are destroying the middle class in America. It was Warren who talked about the way that 50 percent of the bankruptcies were because of MEDICAL bills. Not because people were drinking too many lattes. She is clear speaker and willing to challenge the views pushed by the powerful credit industry. As we watch the current credit crisis we see what happens when the financial industry "regulates" itself.

I don't know which of these producers picked the guests and did the show prep, so I'm going to list them all just to extend my thanks for their good judgment. Terry Gross is the best interviewer on radio, but her questions don't always just pop out of her head. And the questions that get created and selected for broadcast takes some serious smart work and good editorial judgment.

I suggest you take advantage of their collective insights and talent to inform and inspire you in under and hour.

Terry Gross - Host, Co-Executive Producer

Danny Miller - Co-Executive Producer
Roberta Shorrock - Director
Dorothy Ferebee - Station Services Coordinator
Monique Nazareth - Producer
Naomi Person - Producer
Amy Salit - Producer
Phyllis Myers - Producer
Ann Marie Baldonado - Producer
Ian Chillag - Associate Producer
Patty Leswing - Associate Producer
Sam Briger - Researcher

Oh and if you need something lighter to listen too, check out her interview with Robert Smigel, I'm the proud owner of his hit album, "Come Poop with Me."
C omic Robert Smigel, Master Of 'Triumph'

Triumph the Comic Insult Dog's bark may be worse than his bite: The canine puppet has been mocking Hollywood celebrities for over a decade now. Robert Smigel, Triumph's creator, talks about the furry late-night fixture and his other comedy projects

Greatest. Fishing. Video. Evar

2008-07-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I've been Marlin fishing.

This is how we catch fish on my planet. Here's the video.
(ht to ::matthew, Mc=W³ for the link)

Kids! Try this at home!

2008-07-11T14:13:00.001-07:00

Something to Cheer Us up After Yesterday's Defeet

2008-07-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Matt dances around the world. From my friends at Boing Boing.

Yes, I know I spelled defeat wrong. These are the jokes folks!

Good bye 4th Amendment. Nice knowin' ya.

2008-07-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

Maybe because it was recently the 4th of July, but it occurred to me that WE here are closer to the Founding Bloggers, er Framers, than most of the people in the House and Senate.

Who is fighting for the Constitution? We are.
Who is fighting for the rule of law? We are.

We call, we write, we fax, we fight.
We scream, we shout, we call our representatives out.

From this day forward we should all remember who was fighting FOR the rule of law and who was fighting against it.

The people who willful negated our rights should have to pay. Politically, financially and criminally.

They think that this is too complicated for Sally Housecoat or Johnny 12 pack to figure out, they think that they can hide behind the “protect the homeland” slogans. But we are not as stupid as they are.

I would be nice if, through some brave person, we find out how the spying was used against us inappropriately (spying on journalists, innocent bloggers and political enemies) we take that info back to the people who voted for this and say, “This is what you supported.”

Knowing them they will claim the Bush admin obstructed justice and used National security as shield they will claim, “We didn’t know!”

We can say, “Yes but this was your chance to know and you willfully said you didn’t want to know.”

Cheney learned the lessons of Watergate, classify everything, put everything under national security. That was why we should have kept pushing for convictions of other players after Nixon. And this will why we will give to keep working for convictions of law breakers after Bush. They have figured out a way to "get away with it" and all it takes is a couple bucks and some scare tactics. Now every lawbreaking corporation has a template on how to get away with breaking the law.

I would say I weep for America, but I am also proud of us, those who work in honor of the Constitution. The founding bloggers would be proud of us. They would yell at the press. “We gave you freedom so you could expose this crap! What the hell were you doing?!” And of course they would damn all those who voted to destroy the rights that they worked so hard to articulate and write down.

Fox "News" and how they talk about Michelle Obama

2008-07-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

Watch the video and then sign the petition to reject FOX's smears of the Obamas

One thing to note. I was discussing with Interrobang last night how the right loves to use a black person to trash a black person, a woman to attack a woman. So that is why they roll out Michelle Malkin. But what about Hannity and O'Reilly? I'm sure they have their lines down about how they are "just stating my opinion" and "the politically correct left wants to silence me!" But what does it say about these people that they are fighting for their "right" to smear and attack Michelle Obama?
What kind of person does that make them? This is what they do? They consider this their job? And this is mainstream? Sad.

The video is from Robert Greenwald of BraveNew films.

Fighting Fire with Money and Prayer

2008-07-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

Photo by ELLEN M. BANNER/THE SEATTLE TIMES

Darcy Burner's house burned the other day. The cause was traced to a faulty lamp.

I personally have put out fires that stared because of:
"spontaneous combustion" -- a hot lawnmower covered with greasy blankets.
Bottle rockets -- igniting dry grass along a highway
oil on a hot valve cover -- igniting a car engine
oil, grease and gas -- igniting a pot, a kitchen hood and a tank half filled with water

I also have seen the tragic aftermath of electrical fires and candle fires.

Fires happen.

The person whose house has burned needs the community to support them. This is what we do. This is how human communities respond. We are NOT an "every man for himself" community on the left (especially since there are a lot of women on the left!). I know many good people on the right who care for the problems of others, but often their concern is only for their immediate family or only members of their "tribe".

Darcy is a Democrat running for Washington State’s 8th Congressional District. If you can't provide financial support via ActBlue then say a prayer or think supportive thoughts. As one of my favorite grade school teachers tells me, the power of prayer is nothing to underestimate. (On a side note, for those who are interested: Patron saints of firefighters: Barbara, Catherine of Siena, Eustachius, Florian, and John of God)

If you have a blog and want to write about your concern for Darcy, please do. If it helps, simply recall your experiences of fire and loss. If you want to talk about the courage to rebuild and keep fighting, do that. If you want to write about the despair that you feel that the world is coming to an end after a tragedy great. My friends from the NOLA community bloggers have lots of stories.

My friend Gentilly Girl is still working to get her home rebuilt. The creator of FYYFF, Ashley Morris, will never get a chance to rebuild after his tragic death, but his spirit lives on in his friends who are holding a benefit in New Orleans (link). We ALL have stories of loss, hope, destruction and rebuilding to share. And that is what our community is about. We are real and electronic, far away and as close as our computer screen. We are the people we turn to when we have a tragedy and the ones we love to share our victory's with. As my good friend Athenae at First-Draft reminds us, when we get knocked down we have to get back up. And it can be hard, so we reach out a hand to help each other out.

I often write about people who want to divide us. The people for whom violence is the response to every problem. Who think that, like the Grinch, it is things that make up a life.
Things are important, but people and spirit more so.

This is how we come together on OUR side. We unite in support.

I'll never forget the support I got, financial, written, prayers, letters, blog posts, stories, fairy tales and songs. From various different skill sets and backgrounds people united to support me and to fight back.

Darcy's one of us. Let's help.

Update: I added the credit to the photo of Darcy at her home. Love the t-shirt that she is wearing. It looks like the kind of thing my brilliant nephews would request. You can get one of the t-shirt from Radical Rags

“All the President’s Men” Nixon v. Bush

2008-06-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

I just watched "All the President's Men" again. Imagine getting that story with the "National Security" blanket that this administration uses on EVERYTHING. If it isn't national security it is "executive privilege. See Addington, David

I also noticed that in the movie the reporters were "hungry". They also weren't totally "of" the community. ("The Villagers" as Atrios, Digby and others have dubbed them). They had just enough connection on the edges to get to the sources. The good stuff wasn't totally from hanging out at cocktail parties. Granted they DID have to work the circuit for some sources, but lots of phone calls and meetings. Lots of people had to be involved for that story to happen, some at greater personal and professional risk than others. I wondered, "Were those people 'citizen journalists'"?

No.

They were citizens, helping journalists.

And that is important.

Finally they had a great example of "group think" as represented by editor in charge of the foreign desk.

Scott, Foreign Editor: It's a dangerous story for this paper.
Ben Bradlee: How dangerous?
Scott, Foreign Editor: Well, it's not that we're using nameless sources that bothers me. Or that everything we print, the White House denies. Or that no other papers are reprinting our stuff.
Howard Simons: What then?
Scott, Foreign Editor: Look, there are two thousand reporters in this town, are there five on Watergate? When did the Washington Post suddenly get the monopoly on wisdom? Why would the republicans do it? McGovern's self-destructed just like Humphries, Muskie, the bunch of them. I don't believe this story. It doesn't make sense.

Doing something that the other papers don't do can be seen as leadership or foolishness. It makes you stand out from the crowd, but lots of people don't WANT you to stand out from the crowd. As my friend Dan says, "Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the grease, other times it is replaced!"

What if you found out that what was declared classified because of "National Security" was REALLY classified because it was about protecting POLITICAL Security? Would that piss you off? I know that it would piss me off. I think that is what is happening now with the FISA bill. The capitulation (or compromise as it is called) is designed to never let the public see how the "National Security" card was played for either political security, financial security or both. The people who know of the abuses, the telecoms and the political players on both sides of the aisle, don't want you to know what they knew and when they knew it.

In the movie Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee
makes a comment to Woodward and Bernstein:

Nothing's riding on this except the, uh, first amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press, and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f*ck up again, I'm going to get mad. Goodnight.

Imagine a reporter at McClatchy with some hot info regarding WHY FISA is getting passed, "If you put this out you will not only bring down the President and Vice President (the weasel out of everything), but you will bring down congressmen and women, who were sucked into the fear of the time. You will be demonized as helping terrorists and a traitor by millions. They might send you to jail for not revealing your sources. We will back you for all that. But, what we are really concerned about is that Wall Street will punish us and kiss our telco ads goodbye."

Now THAT is pressure. I don't think the corporate newspapers have it in them anymore. Everything "rational" and financial says, "No!" Breaking this kind of story seems all downside for corporate profits and the country.

Maybe this story needs to be broken by someone like the Woodward and Bernstein were in the beginning of the movie. People who were "hungry." Hungry for truth. Hungry for justice. Not worried on keeping quarterly profits up or pissing off corporations like the telcos.

If a story about just how involved the Democrats are in the warrantless wiretapping, let's not give the Republicans a pass under the "They are all doing it." line. We can't just excuse people who are ALREADY on the side of regular law breaking. Yes we expect more of OUR leaders, but just because they lowered the bar on their behavior, doesn't mean that regular law breakers should be excused. That is one thing that always stuns me. I guess breaking the law is a feature, not a bug, for the Republicans.

We took a few lessons from Watergate. People in power in government will do terrible things to maintain their power, stupid things, unnecessary things. We should be able to know what those things are, maybe they will get sloppy and reveal those things, but maybe not. When in doubt, follow the money, and look for the people connections.

Of course Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld took other lessons from that experience. Such as, "Classify EVERYTHING as secret. It's ALL National Security, if WE say it is."

Finally, Redford played Woodward in the movie. In the movie of your life who do you want to play you?

Dr. Zaius had a Birthday!

2008-06-19T23:30:00.001-07:00

I just found out that my great good friend Dr. Zaius had another birthday.
His running mate Germaine Gregarious from the The Nefarious Lair of LGPPP, Inc. (Lesbian Gangs Packing Pink Pistols) made a video for him.

Happy Birthday o' hairy one!

More Kate Pierson. Love the gloves

2008-06-19T23:02:00.000-07:00

First Shiny Happy People and now Candy. I think I'm trying to visualize what I want.
Next I'll put up something from Eddy Money.

Not How I feel, but I love Kate Pierson

2008-06-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

Watching Kate Pierson sing, dance and smile always cheers me up. Thank you Kate! If any of you run into Kate tell her that Spocko appreciates her work and has since 1981.

I put up a better quality version earlier, but it starts playing upon loading my page! I really don't like to do that to people without their permission. Very rude. Miss Manners would NOT approve.

If you do want to see a better quality version of this you can go here.

Mr. Video tells me that the version of Flash had something to do with the quality of the YouTube version. I would be nice to have a place to see good quality versions of these videos. Sadly Stage Six bit the dust.

Heaven is Other People

2008-06-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

My dad was a big believer in connecting with other people and helping them. And often that help came back to him in unexpected ways. I just helped a few strangers out with some computer-related stuff and we started talking. They reminded me that justice is possible and that some fights are worth fighting. Especially when it comes to protecting the weak. Thank you random strangers for the unexpected morale boost!

I see that the AP is now beating down on bloggers using copyright. I've seen this story before, heck I LIVED a variation of it. As is the corporate MO, they go after the people they think they can bully first. Corporate bullies. Maybe there is a category for companies. "The biggest corporate bullies." somehow I don't think Forbes or Fortune will run that list.

One theme that I picked up at the Media Reform Conference was that some media companies will use their power to prevent anyone from challenging them. We as a people NEED good media for a healthy democracy.

Personally, I try to help good journalists do their work in spite of the pressures put on them by their management. And when you wonder about the source of some of the mainstream media's problems I say, look UP to the money, not sideways to other media or down to the people for the problem.

(Hmmm, why did I say to look UP to money? Why should the money be UP? I guess I've been trained to think in that fashion too.)

Thanks for Listening

2008-06-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

I didn't have time to give whole Spocko story at the NCMR 2008 so for people who want to read some back story here are a few links.

The first big blog post from Mike Stark at Daily Kos

Excellent coverage from Media Post Tom Siebert (link)

Online Blogintegrity (link) Link to some of the offensive audio clip from KSFO hosts

SF Chronicle (link)

New York Times (link)

SF Bay Guardian (link)

CBS KPIX 5 (video link)

Guardian in the UK (link)

Pushing Rope has a great collection of stories (link)

Time Traveling Vulcan

2008-06-04T11:29:00.000-07:00

If you can't find a gravity well as big as the sun to slingshot you into the past or get back to the future, you can use one of these from the good folks at Think Geek.

As they helpfully remind us, Flux Capacitors need "1.21 gigawatts (pronounced and written in the script as "jigowatts," which was the accepted pronunciation at the time) to actually travel in time."

Oh, and if you want to get your 1.21 gigawatts from some nuclear wessels, we now know a few places that they do not and did NOT exist. But remember, in this American time line we are all guilty until proven innocent, so be careful.

Dr. BioBrain on McClellan's book

2008-05-31T12:38:00.000-07:00

I think that Dr. BioBrain has a very good response to Scott McClellan's book:

I actually disagree with the idea that McClellan should have said something when he still worked for the Whitehouse. Because when you’re hired for a job, you’re not speaking for yourself. You’re speaking for your boss. And if you don’t like what that boss has you say and he makes you say it anyway, you only have one choice: Resign. That’s it. But no matter what, you don’t get to use the position they gave you as a podium to state your own personal opinion. When a Press Secretary speaks, he’s only speaking for his boss; not himself.

I think the media were hoping that Scotty would have been braver. They wanted him to be on THEIR side. And actually when Scotty squirmed and sweated they believed that he was trying to show them the truth with out the actual words,
"Hey I'm LYING! If you just ask the exact right question I might spill my guts! You can SEE that I'm REALLY uncomfortable. I REALLY want to tell you the truth, but I can't. I'll lose my JOB!"

Why did the media think that Scott might spill his guts while at the WH?

Because they have had that experience with other people. Now these other people they talked to would sometimes accidentally spill the beans or had a response that revealed the truth. The REALLY smart ones would make it look like it was an accident, "Wow, you heard that from the source that Iraq has biolabs? Well, now that you heard that I'll confirm it as long as you don't use my name just yet." Well as we all know that info from Curveball was fed to Judy Miller and that was the same info that the WH would say they heard. So now the reporter had two sources! Thundercats are go! *

Some of the press have worked people until they cracked. But the game at the White House was different and it was because of how they White House saw the media. They were a group to be manipulated. They were a group that they would punish for trying to get information. They knew which buttons to push with the media and if they couldn't get the buttons pushed the way they wanted they went to their bosses. (See MSNBC and the firing of Donahue) it wasn't that hard. You want to keep your job? You do what the bosses want, just like Scotty. So it is really obnoxious for them to expect Scott to be more courageous then they were. It's easy to tell someone else to "do the right thing" when you don't have to pay the price for doing that thing.

I think Dr. BioBrain's ending was spot on too.

Why We Shouldn't Expect More of This From Other Bushies

It's totally unlikely that other Bushies like Tony Snow will also dish-out these sort of tales. McClellan was different from the rest of them: He was actually human. And this is one reason he was a HORRIBLE press secretary. While Ari was a cruel robot who could explain in a thousand different ways why he wouldn’t answer any questions and Snow was a mocking anchorman who truly enjoyed duping reporters, McClellan always seemed to actually struggle to answer the questions. And because there were no good answers to give, he came off real shitty. And I think that’s one reason why he’s telling all, because he really wanted to give the right answers and felt betrayed by the Bushies; which makes it acceptable to him for him to betray them.

I’m quite positive that they picked him because he had been with them for so long and didn’t feel they could trust an outsider, but he was a really poor choice. Of all the press secretaries, he was the only one I felt sorry for, even while I laughed at his poor performance. And so it’s no surprise that he’s the guy who would tell-all in a book. He was much too human for the job, and continues to act like a human. That’s not to say he’s not also a douchebag, as he totally is. But he’s a human douchebag, and that’s made all the difference.

If you want to see the good Dr's whole post it is here. (link)

Hmm. Dr. BioBrain, Dr. Zaius, clearly brains floating in jars and non-human intelligences are the more insightful beings in the universe.

*If you haven't seen the move Juno yet, do so. It's great.

Pelosi Honors California Vets who Died

2008-05-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Dignity. Respect. Honor.

Today the third most powerful elected official in America sat in a windswept plaza in San Francisco and listened respectfully as the names of California veterans who have died were read aloud in a memorial service.

She spoke too, but as one gentleman said to me. "Bunch a other politicians would speak and dash off, but not Nancy. She stayed. She listened. She honored them."

In addition to the ones who died in Afghanistan they also read the names of vets who died in Iraq and on the streets of San Francisco. Some took their own lives. We can't know all the reasons people commit suicide, but many of the vets were struggling with trauma from their experiences in war. That's a cost of war that isn't always calculated in the spreadsheets of the new weapons systems and armor.

Maybe it's because I'm a Vulcan, but I have to say that I could hear the emotion very clearly in the voices of the readers.

I heard a tall black woman with short cropped hair start crying as she read the names of war dead.

I heard a powerful dignity in the voice of an Iraq war vet as he read the names of the dead from his company.

At 12:41 pm they read the name of one of the vets from California who died in April of 2004. Name? Casey Sheehan. I jumped a bit because it was a name I recognized.

A few minutes later they read MY name.

That really sent a chill down my spine.

You know how when you are at a party and someone says your name in a conversation and you hear it out of all the background noise? In brain research we call that the cocktail party effect (that's the technical name).

Someone with my exact same name died in the Iraq war. Did he die because I didn't work hard enough to make sure he didn't have to go to Iraq? Yes.

It can be very hard to be connected to a war that is taking place thousands of miles away that has dropped off the front pages.

Maybe if I had been smarter or worked harder he wouldn't have had to go to Iraq. It's too late for him, but maybe someone with YOUR exact same name is still on duty. It makes the whole "bring the troops home" story a lot more personal if you know you are working to get YOURSELF out of Iraq.

Maybe you'd like to check to see if someone with your name died (Link) I don't know how to check to see if someone with your name is still in harms way. But given there are over 150,000, there now and more ready to be rotated over, the odds are good someone with your name needs your support in which ever fashion you feel will best show your concern.

Mind Control, The Song!

2008-05-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

I found this video when I clicked a link from a commenter over at Digby's place, The topic was Chris Matthews and members of the media praising him.
The commenter MarkC of imissfaf.blogspot.com, made a point that I've seen before but bears repeating:

What I think both Chris M. and Rick H. suffer from is a lack of appreciation of the institutional biases built into the government and media, naively assuming that personalities matter most. So whether Chris M. is a jealous Clinton-wannabe or a guilty Catholic is irrelevant to the fact that the media as a whole doesn't cover the way big business dictates the legislative agenda, and the defense industry spins our foreign policy.
MarkC | Homepage | 05.28.08 - 9:02 am

The Defense industry spins our foreign policy is an interesting comment. The industry has a lot of power and it would be nice if we as a people could say, "Hey we gave you all that money to make stuff to protect us and blow stuff up, so when the people doing the protecting and blowing stuff up are damaged, could you please use some of that money to help 'em out? Thanks, signed The American Taxpayers.

It is really sad when veterans groups have to sue the government for timely treatment for Vets suffering from PTSD and psychiatric injuries.

When someone suffers from PTSD they are suffering from a form of mind control. They can't control their own mind.

Images and thoughts are burned into the brain, overwhelming the normal processes. The chemicals of the brain interact with the synapses to lock memories in place. (The process is described in a great book, The Paranoia Switch: How Terror Rewires Our Brains and Reshapes Our Behavior--and How We Can Reclaim Our Courage by Martha Stout).

The memories and experiences are so vivid and the feelings are so strong that whenever you are up against experiences that are similar you flash back to that experience. Just the thought of being in a similar situation makes you dread it and work to blunt the memory or avoid it.

Imagine a group of people, so callous that they want to evoke PTSD in people in order to get what they want. A group of people who actively wanted people to relive their worst nightmare (9/11) in order to achieve something that would NOT help the nightmare go away. The people they want to relive the nightmare are us. Keep that in mind when you read about Scott McClennan's new book. McClellan knew.

Indy! Mind control! Crystal Skulls! Hats!

2008-05-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

Just saw Indiana Jones IV: Franchise This!

It was okay. Too much, "And this happened and then this happened and then this happened."

I was talking to my movie companion about if afterwards (which is one of my favorite things in the world to do, besides talking about books and ideas.)

I know that often we see art through the lens of our culture and our current preoccupations. I had asked NTodd and some folks over at Atrios' place if Spielberg and Lucas slipped in any subtle comments about the current world situation. Yep. In some cases it was fairly heavy handed and other cases more subtle. Directors have learned that unless you are making a message movie, you have to be entertaining (and even in a message movie entertainment helps get the message across). A good story well told can be the most powerful way to get a message across.

Ferengi Mind Control Device. Not available in stores! Send your gold-pressed latinum directly to DaiMon Bok, P.O. Box 174, Tower of Commerce, Ferenginar

A lot of this movie was about mind control (which was a supposed interest of Stalin according to a character in the movie). I thought about how real mind control is managed in today's world. For one thing it's just not CALLED mind control anymore. That is one of the tricks. What you CALL things makes a difference. Mocking and destroying perfectly good words is part of the game. Flipping meanings or redefining is another. (I'm reading Geoffrey Nunberg's new book, Talking Right which covers this in detail)

I was watching Frontline show about marketing and I saw how some of this new "mind control" is done.

Mind control that they talked about in the movie or from the late 50's and early 60's was a product of their time, they saw it as overpowering and used terms like brainwashing. Someone would force their will on people. People would have no conscious control, they would do what the controllers wanted. But that was really hard to do.

So the marketers started looking at how they can convince people that what they wanted people to do is REALLY what the people themselves wanted to do. If you dig down you can often find a thread in everyone that is selfish, mean, greedy, fearful or hateful. So they used and appealed to some of our strongest emotions to get what they wanted. They appealed to our hate, fear, greed, self-interest, ambition and pride.

Now there are whole religions that are dedicated to NOT embracing our most selfish selves. That tell us that the happiest people are those who "live for others" or care for the poor. Religions where it's not about looking out for number one, but for connecting to others who are our neighbor. There are religions where it's really about serving the will of god and not their own will.

But what if the messages of those religions get in the way of the message that the marketers really want? Answer: Find the sub-set of some religion that embraces what they want. Need a religion that says it is okay to kill people? Boom, you got it. Want to have someone on your TV show who is pro-assassination of foreign leaders? Call Pat Robertson. That is the easy way to SAY that you have a religious perspective when what the show is really embracing is a bizarre offshoot that agrees with a view the show wants to promote. And even if those views only represent 7 percent of the people in that entire religion, if they are the ones who do 99 percent of the talking, people start to think that maybe that IS what that religion stands for. Especially to those outside the religion.

I believe it was George Lakoff who talked about how think tanks and their wealthy funders on the right have no problem spending money on infrastructure and messages. The right-wing think tank's ROI for the wealthy is the spread of their ideas.

On the left they brag about how much money they give directly to help others. "Low administration costs" is a selling point. They aren't looking to provide ROI for their donors money, they are looking at how well it was spent to make the world a better place. I kind of laugh at the groups like the AEI (home of Lynne Cheney) or the "Competitive Enterprise Institute" who don't turn a profit. "Hey CEI if you were are REALLY a good competitive enterprise you would figure out a way to be self-sustaining instead of having to keep getting money from Scaife and the oil companies." Now I know that lots of groups are designed to stand on their own and make a profit, but it is just hilarious in a way that one named the Competitive Enterprise Institute doesn't.

They know that the ROI they provide their funders are the "ideas" speeches, tv appearances and op-eds that in some cases are just designed to muddy the water. No light, just mud. No truth, just FUD.

At the end of the year they just go back to the oil companies and say, "We helped convince people that fossil fuels don't really have a big role in global warming, give us more money and we'll keep up the FUD."

(Interestingly I noticed that when I read "mind control" I want to go back and change it to something softer, like persuading but I decided to keep control because the harsher sounding word connotes the more aggressive end goal of the marketers.)

No spoilers, but in the movie the desire to wield the power to control people's mind was too much for one person to handle. The quest for mind control, like the quest for gold, led to tragedy. If looks like a lot of the Indy film are about the quest for power, the desire to have it and control it, vs. Indy's quest for knowledge-- to understand it and to share it. In the movies the power has a very physical destruction on the person trying to wield it. In real life it would be easier if the person who attempts to wield too much power would just melt. Of course instant justice is for the movies, in the real world it doesn't work that way. But still people CAN see the effects of people wielding the power that they shouldn't have. Power that has been taken by force that they have no legitimate claim to.

We can't close our eyes and hope that the power will destroy the person wielding it, because we can't count on the power melting the face of the person using it. We have to act. Of course we could tell the person we are stopping that we are doing it for their own good. "Hey, put that down or your face will melt and you will die." but they won't listen. What we can do is appeal to all the people who have been damaged by the unwise wielding of power and say, "This is for OUR own good. This has to stop." And then we act. And to look good when doing it? Get a cool hat.

From Hats In the Belfry

The Armed Man, "A Mass for Peace"

2008-05-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

The Armed Man is the name of a Mass by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins, subtitled "A Mass for Peace". The piece was commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds for the Millennium celebrations and was initially dedicated to victims of the Kosovo crisis. Like Benjamin Britten's War Requiem before it, it is essentially an anti-war piece. Also like Britten's work, this piece is based on the Christian Mass which he combines with other sources, principally the fifteenth century folk song L'homme armé in the first and last movements.

The text includes words from the Islamic call to prayer, the Bible (e.g. the Psalms and Revelation), the Ordinary of the Mass (e.g. Kyrie Eleison, Sanctus), texts from authors such as Rudyard Kipling and Alfred Lord Tennyson, as well as a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing.

Wikipedia

Video by request. Thanks GradeSchoolTeach.

I am Not a Communist.

2008-05-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

I am also not a fascist.
I am also not a Stalinist.

I just want everyone to know that. I'm a member of the Democratic party.

That is all.

Teddy Kennedy's Eulogy of Bobby Kennedy

2008-05-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

After the announcement of the brain cancer of Teddy Kennedy someone directed me to his eulogy of his brother. It's beautiful and very moving.

You troglodyte homunculus!

2008-05-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

This is pretty darn funny. Behind the scenes with Bill O'Reilly's producer on Inside Edition. Here is a transcript of my favorite part.

Bill O'Reilly: "We'll do it live!"

Producer: "You can't even get it right after five takes, why would I agree to do it live?

BillO: "We'll do it live! F**k it!

Producer: No F**k YOU! We're not going to do it live

Bill O: We'll do it live. I'll write it and we'll do it live.

Producer: How are you going to write it? You can't even read it you troglodyte homunculus!

WARNING clip contains Bill O'Reilly and his producer using the f-word.
The College Humor site contains semi-naked men and women and some x-rated content.
This clip won't take you there, but be advised if you want to go to that site. Note this was NOT broadcast over the public-airwaves, which has long accepted restrictions on language and indecency with the corresponding appropriate fines.

Friday Funnies: Lamott on Colbert. Time Traveling Obama!

2008-05-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

I've read some of Anne Lamott's books, she's pretty funny. Turns out Lamott is speaking this Sunday, May 18th in Oakland if anyone wants to see her live. (link)

Another funny clip is from Colbert's story about Edward's endorsing Obama. I especially liked the ending where Colbert calls Obama out as a time traveler. Being a time traveler myself I just want to say that I don't remember seeing Obama back in the 1930's but hey, my tricorder burned out before I could scan ALL the news so I could have missed him.

Sigler's Infected Me!

2008-05-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

Cory Doctorow, at boing boing, suggested I listen to Scott Sigler's new science fiction podcast so of course I did.

I'm enjoying the interludes of imaginary high-tech biology in the podcast (RSS link here). I find some of the scenes cringe worthy because of the self surgery (shutter), so be aware this is not for the squeamish. It also has x-rated words (gasp!), but since it is not broadcast over the commercially supported, publicly-owned radio or tv spectrum, that's cool. I actually enjoy Sigler's blatant self promotion because he clearly is having fun with it.