Blog or Not?

I Also Heart Russ Feingold

2006-05-18T20:06:00.000-05:00

Via Pandagon:

Feingold Tells Specter Off w/r/t Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment

It's like Gore and Feingold are having a competition in political awesomeness. I am seriously torn about whether I should be driving to Nashville or Madison in a year.

I Heart Al Gore

2006-05-16T19:36:00.000-05:00

Go. Watch.

The sound you hear? Maureen squealing like a little schoolgirl.

Activism for the Lazy

2006-04-17T21:50:00.000-05:00

Because Free Speech is Important

Many of you in the literary blogosphere probably know all about this, but for those of you in the political blogosphere...

The Italian province of Perugia has arrested a journalist for muckraking.
From his co-writer Douglas Preston:

My dear colleagues,

Today, the police came and arrested Mario Spezi, my close friend and
writing partner. They lured him outside his apartment in Florence
with a false story and manhandled him into a car. I spoke to his
wife, Myriam, and she says the police refused to show an arrest
warrant and refused to let Spezi call his lawyer. It later turned out
the arrest had been ordered by "Gides," a special police unit led by
Michele Giuttari. Spezi was taken to Gides headquarters for
questioning and, as far as I know, was then taken to Perugia and
imprisoned.

The accusations against Spezi, according to press accounts, are
slander and defamation, disturbing the public order, and obstructing
a criminal investigation. He was, essentially, arrested for doing his
job as a journalist. One news report says that he is also being
charged with an unsolved murder that occurred thirty-one years ago --
an utterly absurd charge.

Spezi's and my book, DOLCI COLLINE DI SANGUE, is slated to be
released in Italy by RCS Libri on April 19. The book criticizes
Michele Giuttari as well as the Pubblico Ministero of Perugia,
Giuliano Mignini, who is in charge of the investigation Spezi is now
accused of obstructing. As many of you know, I was taken into custody
last month in Italy by detectives from Giuttari’s unit, and
interrogated for hours by Mignini about our journalistic activities
related to the book. In the end I was slapped with an “avviso di
garanzia” for perjury and allowed to return home.

It is no coincidence that this arrest comes just twelve days before
the release of our book.

As of this writing, the U.S. State Department has asked Judge Mignini
to clarify my legal standing in Italy, and, as I understand it, to
explain on what grounds I was taken in for questioning and charged
with perjury. But what happened to me is nothing: Mario has taken the
full force of this astonishing abuse of power and his freedom as a
journalist and a human being hangs in the balance.

I ask all of you, please, for the love of truth and freedom of the
press, come to Spezi’s aid. This should not be happening in the
beautiful and civilized country that I love, the country that gave
the world Galileo and the Renaissance. Many of you belong to
organizations such as PEN or other writer’s organizations that could
bring pressure to bear. Others of you have blogs that could spread
the news.

Letters (always respectful in tone) should be addressed to:

Roberto Castelli
Il Ministro della Giustizia
Via Arenula, 70
00186 Roma
Italy

Giuseppe Pisanu
Il Ministro dell’Interno
Piazzale Viminale
00184 Roma
Italy

Italians care a great deal what Americans think. I have seen early
press reports in Italy and much of it is filled with dismay at this
treatment of one of Italy's most respected journalists. This is not
"business as usual" in Italy and it can be reversed, if we make a big
enough noise.

Thank you so much for your previous support, and I am deeply grateful
for anything you can do.

Doug

Go. Write. I'll even supply you a letter:

Your Excellency,

I was gravely disappointed when I learned journalist Mario Spezi had been arrested for slander, defamation, obstruction of investigation, and disturbing the public order by the “Gides” unit led by chief Perugian prosecutor Michele Guittari. I understand that the provincial government of Perugia has previously attacked Spezi on spurious charges; moreover, I understand that Spezi’s forthcoming book “Dolci Colline de Sangue” criticizes the role that Guittari played in the investigation of the Florentine serial killings of the 1970s and 1980s. To my eyes, at least, it appears that Guittari has arrested Spezi for the grand offense of critical journalism.

I have always admired the Italian people’s great contributions to the arts and sciences, from Fibonacci and Dante to da Vinci and Galileo to Fermi and Fellini. It would be a pity if this legacy were stained by overarching officials attempting to deny freedom of expression. I understand that Article 21 of the Italian Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, and I ask you to defend this freedom. Thus, I urge the (Ministry of Justice/Ministry of the Interior) to press for the removal of all charges against Mr. Spezi.

Respectfully yours,
(Name)

Copy it into a word document, figure out which office you'll send it to first, print, address an envelope (put "Your Excellency" in front of the minister's name, they like that), add 84 cents of postage to the envelope, and repeat for the other office.

See, wasn't that easy?

(cross-posted in various forms to various message boards, etc.)

Time to pull out the world's smallest violin

2006-03-06T17:02:00.000-06:00

for John Menges, recently out of a job because he won't dispense the morning-after pill.

Except that unlike the women of Collinsville, IL, where Menges's counter at Walgreens was the only game in town for overnight Plan B, Menges has options:

"He could work in a hospital or a mail-order facility or a nearby state [Menges works in Illinois, near St. Louis--MC]," said Robert Buerkl, a pharmacy professor at Ohio State University and an expert in industry ethics. "Why would you want to work in a place where people get in your face?"

I'm not really sure why. Apparently Menges doesn't want to dispense the morning-after pill because he believes it can prevent a fertilized egg from adhering to the uterus, even though there's no scientific evidence for that occuring. (Personally, I prefer my pharmacist to base his or her medical opinions on science, and not on anti-contraception pamphlets, but that's just me.) There are plenty of Catholic hospitals in the St. Louis area which would be more than happy to have Menges as a pharmacist; why is he setting himself up as a victim?

Shameless Candidate Plug

2006-02-23T21:32:00.000-06:00

I'm sure all of you know about Cook County Hospital--it's one of the most famous public hospitals in the nation; it's the hospital of last resort; it's the hospital on ER. Unfortunately, it--or rather, as it's now called, Stroger Hospital--is being mismanaged by the Cook County Board of Commissioners' President, John Stroger. (Yes, he named the hospital after his family.) Currently the Cook County public hospitals are severely understaffed; a baby died in the hallway at Provident Hospital because the staff was too busy with other patients. And yet Stroger does nothing.

But Forrest Claypool will. Vote in this primary for Forrest Claypool, for a government that all of Cook County can be proud of.

Bloggers Have Brought Down A President

2006-02-21T20:46:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, it's Lawrence Summers, not Bush.

And now will come the complaints that feminazis attack any academic who doesn't conform to their beliefs. Yes, well, if you're the president of America's most famous university, saying something that controversial can result in economic consequences--such as alumnae withholding their annual donations. I'm sure that Dr. Summers as an economist understands how people express their political beliefs through the pocketbook.

UPDATE: A few days ago I was wondering if Lawrence Summers's rather pronounced tendency to put his foot in his mouth was due to a mild case of Aspberger's Syndrome. Apparently some at Harvard were already considering that theory, noting everything from his table manners that would shame a first-year to his habit of falling asleep during lectures by world leaders.

Those who live in Buckingham Palace shouldn't throw stones

2006-02-20T18:56:00.000-06:00

An British MP is trying to prevent Pakistani Britons from marrying their first cousins. Seems that there's a pretty large incidence of genetic diseases among the Pakistani population in Britain, much of it stemming from the common practice of marrying relatives. Now, my first thought to this was: "Wait, marrying your cousin is legal in Britain?"

Then I suddenly remembered: Victoria and Albert. First cousins whose great-grandchildren included the hemophiliac Tsarovich Alexei of Russia and the epileptic, possibly slightly autistic Prince John, "the lost prince".

So if we're going to ban cousin marriage in Britain, let's ban it for all Britons--including the most celebrated cousin-marriers of them all, the Royal Family.

Carnivale of the Couture VII: If I had $10 million dollars...

2006-02-19T18:43:00.000-06:00

(Much of this has already appeared in the Manolo's comments.)

From the half-U of C blog I am Fashion comes Carnivale of the Couture VII, which asks us the following question:

Suprise darling! You have just won the lottery! How will you, the super fabulous fashionable blogger, spend your US$10m winnings? Tell us all about your money-spending plan!!

My first thought upon seeing this was: Bespoke suits that'll actually fit both my shoulders and my hips, in various neutrals, some of them with vaguely eighteenth-century influences. Cashmere-wool for winter, linen-wool for summer.

Of course, one can't wear suits alone, so next comes top-quality, expertly-fitted and tailored blouses and lingerie, and shoes with toebeds that are actually the width of my toes--perhaps handmade? I'm sure there'll be some that I can buy off the rack, including a couple of pairs of black suede sneakers that don't automatically scream "I'm an athletic shoe!". And yeah, I suppose I'll see whether or not designer jeans are any better than what I have now, I'll buy more cashmere pieces, and try to hunt down a mattifying, high-SPF, oil-free, non-comedogenic, aloe-free (my face doesn't handle aloe vera well) moisturizer.

But really, the above doesn't even begin to approach $10 million dollars. So then comes Phase 2: Expanding everyone's clothing options through investing in a small start-up company that makes moderately-priced, well-made professional clothing for women of a wide range of sizes and figure types, in quality fabrics and (mostly) classic colors, with free alterations. It's a complaint that many women of my (and other) generations have voiced--see Almost Girl and the Crescat Sententia fashion archives--but it's something that has not been adequately addressed by the fashion industry. To quote everyone's favorite spinster aunt, I blame the patriarchy.

I'm Back

2006-02-19T18:39:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the hiatus; I was feeling drained of words--but now, I feel like expressing myself again. The blog's going to change; I've realized that the political world needs me more as a actor in the real world than a commentator in the virtual world. However, I've still got a lot to say on politics--as well as feminism, fashion, culture, etc. And I'm really not sure that I care whether or not A-List bloggers read this; I'm essentially doing this for myself and because it's a useful outlet to get my words out (and if I ever do feel like pimping a post to A-listers, it's convenient to have an actual blog.)

Again, on Kass

2005-10-30T00:28:00.000-05:00

Kass's main objection with modern hormonal contraception seems to be that it's interfering with nature. However, the initials "M.D." after his name tell us that he's a physician--his job is to thwart nature for human purposes. Maybe contraception has changed the definition of womanhood, but couldn't it also be said that caesarean section, forceps, and other innovations in obstetrics that have saved countless women's lives also changed the definition of womanhood by lowering the mortality rate for women in childbirth? Furthermore, could we also not say that antibiotics and antiseptics have changed the nature of humanity by making our lives considerably less "nasty, brutish, and short" than Hobbes observed in the 17th century?

Kass is conflating biology with destiny--but biology hasn't been destiny since humanity gained consciousness. What is a tool but an attempt to transcend our physical limitations? Biology is our starting point, but we each craft our own endpoint.

Side effects include annoying Leon Kass

2005-10-29T23:35:00.001-05:00

Not only does hormonal female birth control greatly reduce the chances of pregnancy, regulate and moderate the menses, and clear up mild to moderate acne, it also, according to Blog or Not's favorite bioethicist Dr. Leon Kass, redefines the meaning of our own womanliness by separating reproduction from sex, and thus "free from the teleological meaning of her sexuality [....] her natural maternal destiny".

A few thoughts:
--If destiny can be thwarted by minute amounts of estrogen and progesterone, or even by a thin piece of latex, then destiny is weak.
--If womanliness is defined by openness to a "natural maternal destiny", does that make nuns not-women? As a correlary, would it mean that women who were actively trying to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization "super-women" because they're trying to seize their "maternal destiny"? Wait, nature doesn't want them to have children, so they're thwarting nature. But does that mean that those women aren't women? I'm confused.
--If a man can define woman's essential nature, can a woman define manliness? Does it require an M.D.?

Perhaps the answers to these questions will be coming in Part III of "The End of Courtship".

Where No Man Has Gone Before

2005-10-24T16:52:00.000-05:00

Apparently NASA officials are worried that romantic relationships formed during long-term missions to Mars could jeopardize the missions themselves--and by "long-term", they're talking about at least 30 months long with only seven other people to keep you company--so they're trying to figure out how to minimize the impact.

But what about the larger problem--that of sticking only a few people in a tiny space for more than two years? The record for a continuous stay in space is a little less than 438 days--and that's on Mir, where there would be some turnover. Trips to the Antarctic can sometimes last as long as three years, but usually there's at least fifteen people on the base, there would be base turnover, and when all else fails one could go and chat with the penguins. While our Martian astronauts may be able to take long, solitary walks on the Red Planet, I don't think they'll have any lifeforms other than a few terrestrial microbes for company--unless NASA decides that they need to study hamsters in low-g environments.

Plus ca change...

2005-10-09T15:31:00.000-05:00

George Polgreen Bridgetower, Polish-born English violinist of African-European descent, 1778-1860. Inspired Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata, called "the Abyssinian Prince" as he was rumored to be descended from African royalty.

Prince (Prince Rogers Nelson), American musician and composer of African-European descent.

Hoosier Daddy?

2005-10-04T17:17:00.000-05:00

Apparently Indiana state senator Patricia Miller wants to know:

An interim legislative committee is considering a bill that would prohibit gays, lesbians and single people in Indiana from using medical science to assist them in having a child.

Miller said the state often reacted to problems and that she wanted to be proactive on this issue.

"We're not trying to stop people from having kids; we're just trying to find some guidelines," she said.

Well, let's see. In cases where an unmarried (in Indiana) person literally can't have a child without medical procedures--be it from slow sperm count, irregular ovulation, previous cancer of the testes/ovaries--it looks like the state would very well prevent this person from having a child. And if Senator Miller is trying to create some moral guidelines for in vitro fertilization based upon the ideal of the one mother/one father family, she's in the wrong business. Doesn't she realize that impossible-to-fulfill moral guidelines based upon increasingly scarce ideals are what churches are for?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not opposed to all restrictions on scientific means of conception--while I don't see what interest the state has in governing whose sperm enters whose egg, I'd agree that barring convicted child molesters from claiming legal parentage of a child is within the state's interest. But shouldn't this hold for all children, be they conceived in a uterus or a petri dish?

"The Most Brilliant Man I've Ever Met"

2005-10-03T10:22:00.000-05:00

is, according to Bush's latest pick for the Supreme Court... Bush himself.

Now, I disagree with Scalia on pretty much everything, but at least he's actually his own man on the Court. And yes, Thomas does exhibit evidence of independent thought sometimes. And I can understand why Bush would want to appoint someone whose opinions are similar to his own. But a syncophant? And someone who has never been on the bench OR held high elected or appointed office (as in the case of Chief Justice Earl Warren, who had been previously been Governor of California, and rumored to contest Eisenhower in the Republican primaries)?

The President's supporters should hope that this is a stunt. Otherwise, George Bush has shown himself mentally unfit to be President, and no one in his Cabinet has the courage to play damage control.

This post has been revised from its original version

Why do men get all the good fashion magazines?

2005-08-18T12:14:00.000-05:00

Vogue is launching a new publication aimed at men, entitled (surprise!) Men's Vogue, and it already sounds better than most of the wood pulp product packaged as women's fashion magazines:

The articles Mr. Fielden commissioned - a number of them from New Yorker writers like John Seabrook, Nick Paumgarten and Michael Specter - suggest a robust appetite for a literate, adventuresome life. There is a profile of the painter Walton Ford [....]

George Clooney is on the cover, photographed on the set of the Edward R. Murrow biopic he directed. And though there is plenty of fashion in the magazine, it takes a moment before you realize that it is all shown on so-called real men, not models. [Emphasis added]

Wait a minute. Men get to look at relatively sensible clothing on men who don't make all of their money off their appearences, and we women are stuck with outlandish couture displayed on skeletons with breasts? When was the last time Sarah Hepola had a piece in Elle? And if Saul Bellow can be the muse for Men's Vogue, why hasn't someone created a mass-market glossy inspired by Camille Paglia?

Because it would get no ads, that's why--look at Bust, a magazine which has nothing against buying clothes and cosmetics and even discusses them in small amounts, but whose only advertisers are small Internet concerns. One could argue that Bust has chosen to preserve its editorial integrity by eschewing mainstream advertising, but I've seen rather brutal reviews of products in other ad-driven glossies. So why should CoverGirl be so reluctant about advertising lipstick in a thoughtful female-oriented magazine? Then I realized--CoverGirl isn't selling lipstick. It is selling hope for love.

The ads of cosmetics and women's clothing companies don't send the message "I'm a cute product! You'll like me! Buy me!" as much as "I can help you get a man! Buy me!" Yes, some men's clothing ads are aimed at showing the effect their cotton polos have on women, but ads for men's business clothing say "I can get you a corner office" instead of "I can get you a supermodel". Men's cologne advertisements are perhaps the only portion of the men's ad market aimed exclusively at sex appeal; unlike women's cosmetics and fragrance ads, they are brutally honest about this aim.

However, the advertisments' (and the magazine's) aid in procuring love and happiness must never be too good, or else women, having succeeded in finding mutually fulfilling relationships, will no longer feel as much pressure to try twenty shades of lipstick or buy a new copy of Glamour every month in hopes of learning "Twenty New Ways to Attract a Guy"--because she's already mastered the rules of attraction. The only readers of the magazine will be this year's crop of inexperienced teenage girls, who will abandon the magazine after extracting all of the editors' wisdom. Thus, the relationship advice in magazines must seem deep enough for an trusting reader to consider it helpful, but it must be shallow enough to keep the reader dependent on the magazine's future advice.

Were American women to fully internalize feminist sensibilities, they would not stop shopping for clothes, cosmetics, and skin-care products--but they would buy what they wanted. Fashion would become a realm for play as much as a preparation for the battle for the sexes; both sexes would primp for nights out, but pointy-toed stilletos would be eschewed for something cute and podiatrist-friendly. Maybe this would drive the fashion industry to actually produce decent professional clothing for women--say, a charcoal wool suit at a fair price?

The Intern Wears Garanimals

2005-08-12T17:08:00.000-05:00

Last month, Kameron Hurley proposed a workplace where children would act as interns, prompting criticism from Amber Taylor. Now from News of the Weird I find:

Also in June, the BBC reported that under a system in India that guarantees a job for one relative of any government employee who dies while in service, children as young as five are currently working at Indian police stations; their responsibilities are largely confined to filing and serving tea.

While I like the idea of a short person bringing me a Spode teacup full of Earl Grey, I fear competing for my current shred-and-file position with children, who demand ridiculously low salaries and could actually get away with asking for an hour off for naptime.

Okay, the Hiatus is Over

2005-08-10T09:25:00.000-05:00

So I tried OurWord.org, and while I may do some cross-posts there, I think I'll keep my own domain. Why? Simply put, I need my own space. I've just started working with the Cegelis campaign, and I feel I need a base of operations for various Internet outreach projects.

Besides, I just found out that Proof is being released September 16. Now, this news could fall under the general rubric of feminism in the academy, as it is about a female mathematician, but most of the context for my obsession with this movie started when my high school calculus teacher went to its premiere on Broadway and told all of us about it, then when a friend of mine saw a production at his college, and finally... when it began filming at Chicago.

So if I weren't at work, I'd be squealing for joy, then watching the trailer, then squealing some more.

But now I must shred.

Quasi-Retirement

2005-07-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

I'm putting the Blogger blog on hiatus for now; I feel too isolated at an independent blog. I'm currently blogging at Our Word--hopefully I'll see some of you there.

This guy's running for Governor. Of Florida

2005-06-02T09:50:00.000-05:00

This is easily the gayest (by which I mean "most homosexual") thing I have ever seen.

Media Lost All Sense of Satire; Film at Eleven

2005-05-31T13:59:00.000-05:00

I probably would have fallen for this:

Doctors Call For Redesign of Knives to Reduce "Knife Crime"

had I not received this just a few hours before:

"Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials"--published in the British Medical Journal

"Conclusions: As with many interventions intended to prevent ill health, the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials. Advocates of evidence based medicine have criticised the adoption of interventions evaluated by using only observational data. We think that everyone might benefit if the most radical protagonists of evidence based medicine organised and participated in a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, crossover trial of the parachute."

Who said doctors didn't have a sense of humor?

Go sign

2005-05-18T14:57:00.000-05:00

Petition against the nuclear option

No one expected the American Inquisition!

2005-05-13T21:56:00.000-05:00

To be headed by the Archbishop of San Francisco, no less--before you get your hopes up, the anti-gay Archbishop of San Francisco.

Yep, it looks like they're about to launch a full-scale attack against The Gay. One thing is still unclear--whether the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith will adopt "California Uber Alles" as their anthem.

Maybe we're testing the wrong people

2005-05-12T16:31:00.000-05:00

This quarter, I've been taking a class on the history of the development and use of IQ tests. Yesterday, after discussing the possibilities of culture-fair tests and coming to the conclusions that such tests would be very difficult to create for a broad culture, one guy suggested that we stop IQ testing entirely. "What's the point of ranking people instead of making everyone better?"

This idea is, to me, rather revolutionary. But it makes sense on some level. Why do we need to have tests in the first place? Because of bias in teacher evaluations, etc. But isn't that the teacher's fault and not the students' Similarly, No Child Left Behind tries to discern teacher performance by testing the students. But what if one year the teacher gets a high-performing class and the next year the teacher gets a low-performing class?

Maybe we're testing the wrong people. Maybe we should be testing--or peer reviewing, or something--the teachers instead of the students. I think we've all had a teacher who really sucked. Mine was my seventh-grade algebra teacher, who spent a third of the year playing on his computer. We had to have tutoring for a couple years afterwards to undo the damage. And my school district actually cared about our performance. I'm not sure what other school districts would have done. But even the smartest students of my middle school had to go in for tutoring--what about less talented or less motivated students? One bad teacher could set them back for life.

The cultural background of teachers is more homogeneous than the cultural background of their students; ergo, it would be easier to create some sort of testing situations that would be fair to each teacher--teaching various sample classes, or demonstrating their teaching skills to a "peer review" panel, etc. We can't change the student body of the schools, but we can change their teachers.

Hunting Season...

2005-05-04T20:18:00.000-05:00

is about to begin.

Watch as the University of Chicago becomes transformed into a 24-hour party... as soon as I finish my paper on marginalia. And in between working on items on The List (to be released in less than four hours).

ISCAV HUNT! SCAV HUNT! SCAV HUNT!

Procrastination

2005-04-30T20:20:00.000-05:00

I am:
12%
Republican.

"You're a tax-and-spend liberal democrat. People like you are the reason everyone else votes for guys like Reagan or George W."

Are You A Republican?

Best. Activism. Ever.

2005-04-29T00:56:00.000-05:00

This definitely ties with the World's Longest Protest Physics Lecture--here's the full story from Talking Points Memo and Sean Carroll.

I think my friend's dad worked on this

2005-04-26T19:32:00.000-05:00

As you all know, Blog or Not? is committed to delivering information on the latest scientific developments. This one is super-awesome, and even better, is from Oak Ridge, TN, where I grew up.

And science marches on.

Perennial Optimist

2005-04-23T16:57:00.000-05:00

I'm beginning to feel a bit optimistic about Benedict XVI--mainly because he likes cats and cats like him. I figure that has to be a good sign.

Those who would destroy liberty to preserve democracy

2005-04-21T13:49:00.000-05:00

deserve neither.

Brooks' latest:
"The fact is, the entire country is trapped. Earl Warren and his colleagues suppressed that democratic integration debate the nation needs to have. The poisons have been building ever since. You can complain about the incivility of politics, but you can't stop the escalation of conflict in the middle. You have to kill it at the root. Unless Brown v. Board is overturned, politics will never get better."

Okay, Brooks didn't write that. I actually substituted "Earl Warren" for "Harry Blackmun", "integration" for "abortion", and "Brown v. Board" for "Roe v. Wade". And to be fair, Brooks probably favors Brown v. Board. But his logic is faulty. If the Republican Party really wanted to ban abortion, or at least make it a states' issue, they could introduce a constitutional amendment into the House and Senate. Just because Alabama wants jurisdiction inside a woman's uterus doesn't mean the federal government has to grant it to them.

Chicago Chick

2005-04-19T20:24:00.000-05:00

There walks amongst us a distributor of Jack Chick tracts.

I saw two stacks of them at the front of the Reynolds' Club tonight, and thumbed through one of the tracts, "The Executioner"--relatively inoffensive, as it didn't invoke the Proctocols of the Elders of Zion or call the Pope the Antichrist*. Just a story about an asshole who goes to death row for murdering a guy but whose mother chooses to die in his place, and then "Accept Christ Now!" I actually didn't feel contaminated by bigotry after reading it.

But still, the appearance of conversion tracts among the art-show postcards and copies of the Maroon is a bit odd. Are students distributing these things? Probably not--that sort of thing is a bad cultural fit with our student population. It's probably some random religious zealot--unless Jack Chick Publications found out about the 2003 Scavhunt item "A Jack Chick tract castigating the University of Chicago" and decided to ~~take revenge~~ try and save our souls.

*Let's withhold judgment on Benedict XVI for now, okay?

Control

2005-04-14T15:09:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago I was chatting with some friends when the Terri Schiavo case was brought up. One girl noted that it would've been weird had Ms. Schiavo been pregnant while in a persistant vegetative state.

Suddenly it all became clear:
Terri Schiavo was a womb unconnected to a will. Unfortunately for many of the more militant pro-lifers, most wombs tend to be connected to some sort of human individual with her own ideas about life. Now, outlawing abortion is one thing--but will it stop abortions? Not entirely--the rich will go to Mexico, the middle class will use herbal concontions, and the poor will ask their boyfriends to hit them in the stomach.

Really, the only way to make sure a woman won't have an abortion is to make her a prisoner. But guards can yield to sympathy or be bribed with sex or money. The only way to ensure that a person is truly imprisoned is to remove all control of her body from her--including ways to communicate. That is, to put her in a permanent vegetative state. It's better than The Handmaid's Tale.

Why would people who profess to be for life be for such a thing? Let's not kid ourselves--do you really think Tom DeLay is interested in life? He's interested in control. What better way is there to control someone from the time they're born than to start when they're conceived?

I realize that this thought experiment is unlikely to occur. However, it's probably closer to the desires of the radical theocrats than the "eliminate God in all facets of life agenda" is to leftists' desires.

And now for a word from Rome...

2005-04-05T20:52:00.000-05:00

Catholic canon law states that if the cardinals so choose, anyone who can become a priest or a bishop can become pope--that is, every non-married Catholic male on the planet. That's a lot of candidates--far more than the 118 voting cardinals everyone agrees makes up the "remotely possible" field, of which only about ten or fifteen are in the "will actually get votes" field*.

But everyone's focused on the likely candidates. Let's examine some of the more-famous candidates of the former group, shall we?

Bono--Wait. He's married, and he might not even be baptized Catholic. But wouldn't Bono make a great pope? It's time the Irish got a pope, and Bono is a great humanitarian and musician who's certainly very popular in both the First World and the Third World. On a more frivolous note, his papal name is a no-brainer, his sunglasses would look great with the miter, and The Edge could serve as papal secretary of state.

Fr. Andrew Greeley--Actually is eligible, and has already been ordained, so being made a bishop shouldn't be any problem. Like the previous pope, he's intellectually-inclined and a best-selling author; moreover, he's made firm moral statements on sexual abuse within the Church and the war in Iraq. Plus, he's promised to resign after making a few small adjustments in canon law (extending the priesthood to women, making priestly celibacy optional, that sort of thing... nothing really bearing on the teachings of Christ). After a twenty-six year long papacy, it'll be nice to have a short one.

A member of the Kennedy family--Following the grand tradition of the great families of Italy each having a go at the papacy, perhaps the cardinals should start with the great families of other nations. We'll start with the Kennedys, but we can then move onto the von Hapsburgs, the Grimaldi, etc. If the Church wants to be imperial, let it BE imperial!

*The full membership of this field will be known only to God and the cardinals who count the votes; however, early exit polls suggest Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria will probably be in this field.

Is the Party Over?

2005-03-30T23:46:00.000-06:00

We've all seen the scenario where after a wild, drunken night of partying the protagonist wakes up with a hangover, a trashed apartment, and just when they think things can't get worse--they've got a stranger in their bed and they can't remember how they got there. Cut to an expression of Oh, shit, how the fuck did I get here?

Which may be what the saner members of the Republican Party are now feeling. First there's voter remorse--realizing that while George Bush (or that sixth shot of tequila) seemed like a great idea at the time, it was a mistake. Then comes the realization that the Christian Right they had in bed wasn't just sort of crazy, they're certifiable.

But will this lead moderate Republicans to more temperate ways--e.g., not getting into bed with everyone willing to support a certain economic policy? Not taking shot after shot of sickly-sweet platitudes?

Do frat boys become moderate drinkers?

I once noted in a course paper that political parties function almost as religions; neurological research indicates that people achieve similar states when participating n religious ceremonies as they do when under the influence of certain drugs. If a political party can become a religion, could it also become an addiction?

Dr. Wolfowitz Goes to the World Bank

2005-03-16T17:00:00.000-06:00

The President is recommending everyone's favorite Deputy Secretary of Defense to be head of the World Bank. While I'm not a big fan of The Wolfster, I'm relatively optimistic. First, as Yglesias points out, the World Bank doesn't have the capability to start wars. Secondly, Wolfowitz has already done some work on development, namely, his Ph.D thesis analyzing nuclear desalinization in the Middle East. It's wonky, chart-filled, and obsessed with oranges--perfect for a World Bank President.

Fun with Memes

2005-03-12T22:56:00.000-06:00

Bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama (Space Center)/ Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida (the six weeks after my birth)/ Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa (just passing through)/ Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee (still my permanent address)/ Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /

Go generate your own!

Fast Times at the CLSC

2005-03-11T20:06:00.000-06:00

1. When it is muddy out, do not try to walk downhill in the mud, unless you want to wear mud on your pants.

2. A UC ID is an efficient tool for scraping off said mud off pants.

3. On second floor of Cummings (e.g., where the elevators always stop even though there's no one there): a flyer visible from the elevator showing a rendering of the molecule, and an e-mail address to send identification of the molecule. First right answer gets a beer.

Creation of a Blog Think Tank?

2005-03-10T15:58:00.000-06:00

I've realized I'm not effective at changing the world by myself through this blog. Yes, I'm linked to and complemented by fellow travelers, but I don't have the firepower to change the world by myself. Frankly, none of us in the left blogosphere do, even the famous ones--"Yglesias who?" is the response most non-bloggers would give to the question, "So, what do you think about Yglesias's last post on Social Security?"

So there's obviously a surplus of creative progressive voices without real power. On the other hand, there's a deficit of progressive think tanks and other ways of grooming young progressives.

Solution?

Let's create think tanks.

Each town could have its own little blogging thinktank, comprised of a bunch of affiliated bloggers who meet for coffee or something every week and discuss politics. No, it's not the Brookings Institute. But it's more than we've got now.

You can take away my blog... FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS!

2005-03-04T19:36:00.000-06:00

(Via Mouse Words): The FEC may soon consider blog links to political donation sites as political advocacy subject to campaign finance laws.

Which has me wondering: Just how much is a link worth, anyway? Obviously a link from Daily Kos to the Dean campaign would be worth more than a link from me to the Dean campaign, as Daily Kos has about a million eyeballs daily and I'm lucky to break a hundred on the Sitemeter. But what about a link from Kos to me (e.g. "Maureen has more information on donating here") and about a million other bloggers? And how do you clearly mark the line between advocacy and information? "I'd really like you to support the Dean campaign... oh, by the way, here's the link to my Dean for America site."

Maybe we'll have Scalia asking what a blog is.

The True Moral Majority

2005-02-17T15:56:00.000-06:00

I think it's morally wrong to let children go without health care just because their parents have made [EDIT] monetarily unwise career choices.

I think it's morally wrong for a teacher to make a child feel bad because she doesn't share the religious faith of the majority of her classmates.

I think it's morally wrong for the president to lie his way into war.

I think it's morally wrong to force a rape victim to carry her rapist's child.

I think it's morally wrong to rape and torture prisoners of war.

I think it's morally wrong to execute over 300 people on Texas's Death Row and then talk about "a culture of life"

And so do most Americans. And so does the Democratic Party. And it's time we talked about these moral values as we live them, instead of letting others define the moral agenda of our country.

Well, that's one way of announcing it

2005-02-12T17:27:00.000-06:00

In the New York Times, a soldier is making a big announcement.

The Look for Fall 2005: The Prepubescent Victorian

2005-02-11T22:06:00.000-06:00

See the collections of Peter Som, Rebecca Taylor, and Cynthia Steffe (okay, hers is more postwar prepubescent).

It's the high-waisted, above-the-knee coats, I think. Empire waists always make women look rather flat-chested, in my opinion, and when you pair it with an above-the-knee skirt--a skirt length suitable only for the youngest girls in Victorian times--and thick, curve-concealing fabrics, the overall effect is infantilizing. And creepy.

Americans are Larger than Europeans, Continued

2005-02-06T17:25:00.000-06:00

While reading Phoebe's notes on "The French Paradox" (or why Americans are heavier than Europeans), I was reminded of my ill-fated trip to H&M yesterday. Their clothing is not tailored for my (admittedly larger than average) American body. Nor are their adorable spring cloches built for my (admittedly larger than average) American head.

Okay, Now You Really Suck

2005-02-05T01:53:00.000-06:00

Maya Keyes comes out, and Alan Keyes kicks her out.

You know, a few days ago I was able to name a few things I respected about Alan Keyes. I respected that he loved his daughter although he didn't agree with her, and I respected that he spoke his mind*.

I think I've lost those few shreds of respect.

(BTW: kick a few bucks her way, okay?)

*Although before the news today, I thought there was the possibility that Keyes was faking it as part of his job as a deep cover secret agent for the CIA.

Some brief impressions of the State of the Union

2005-02-04T00:31:00.000-06:00

--Dennis Hastert looked constipated through the entire address--even Cheney cracked a smile (or an approximation thereof) at times. Your party's in power! Be happy!

--Asbestos claims? Is that really such a big drain on our legal system? Shades of 2004's "steroids" sentence.

--Again, the Federal Homophobia Amendment gets a shoutout so the Christian Right (TM) won't revolt.

--Condi's indigo suit is really cute; Laura's looking sort of puffy lately.

--Bush outlines his plan for Social Security to go the way of the Edsel; Democrats boo. Apparently, we're starting to learn from Great Britain how an opposition party should act.

DEMOCRAT REACTION SHOTS (from NBC):
--John Kerry: Polite anger
--Hillary: Polite irritation
--Barack Obama: Polite academic skepticism.
--Joseph Biden: Taking notes--or was he doing the Washington Post crossword puzzle?

And finally, THE KISS!

POST-GAME SHOW: The Democratic Response

--Harry Reid is adorable--"birth tax" is brilliant. Nancy Pelosi? She's holding her eyes open a little too wide.

Catchup!

2005-02-04T00:12:00.000-06:00

Has it really been that long? [Yes--ed.] Well, I got sick, and then my Internet connection died and I just fixed it, so...

Okay. Here are some updates:

THE VEGETARIAN EXPERIMENT: Ended last Thursday when I ate some "gyros" from BJ. Felt guilty about eating a mammal, but then realized that I care more about human rights than animal rights, and I'm more effective when I eat animals. I can't save the world.

Coming up... SOTU madness...

Needlework for Nerds, Part Two

2005-01-26T01:09:00.000-06:00

A crocheted hyperbolic plane.

It's purdy.

The Vegan Experiment is Dead. Long Live the Vegetarian Experiment!

2005-01-24T15:57:00.000-06:00

The Vegan Experiment ended last night around midnight, when prompted by hunger pains I wolfed down a protein bar that I knew had milk solids in it. Screw giving up dairy--I don't have any ethical quandaries about dairy or eggs, and my body functions better with animal protein*. But since I do have unsettled ethics regarding the consumption of mammals and birds, I've decided to go ovo-lacto-(and perhaps pesco, as I don't think fish have moral agency)vegetarian until Thursday.

Lunch: One and one-half Boca Burgers with piece of Cheddar cheese, mixed greens with walnuts, tofu, olive oil and balsalmic vinaigrette, whole-grain bread, milk, coffee, Diet Pepsi

Mid-afternoon snack: Some kind of protein smoothie juice drink thing.

*Apparently this is partially hereditary: In his Commentaries, Pope Pius II notes that the common people of Scotland eat much meat and fish, but little bread or wine (in contrast to the common people of Italy). I'm predominantly of Irish and Scotch-Irish blood--I don't do well on high-carb regimiens.

The Vegan Experiment--Meal One

2005-01-23T18:52:00.000-06:00

Whole wheat pasta with spinach, olive oil, garlic salt, pepper, and this "Parma!" stuff made from walnuts and yeast. Applesauce. Sugar-free soy milk, cappuccino flavored.

I had tried to find tofu at three different small grocery/convenience stores in Hyde Park--the Maroon Mart, University Market, and Harper Foods--and was unsuccessful. At University Market I encountered a deli clerk who didn't know what tofu was, which reminded me that veganism is a classist exercise. Pretty much anyone at any income level can become an ovo-lacto vegetarian, or even a lacto-vegetarian--eggs, milk, and cheese are inexpensive when compared to meat--but the myriad protein substitutes required for a healthy vegan diet are expensive, and not covered by food stamp programs.

I was discussing this with a vegetarian friend* when preparing the above meal, and he asked if I was going to be vegan for a long time. When I replied, "only until Thursday", he then launched into his Rant on Vegans, the core of which is "Vegans are sanctimonious and want to convert everybody"; offshoots include "Vegans claim that they invented vegetarianism in Berkeley" and "They're out Gandhi-ing Gandhi". Admittedly, the vegans I met with this morning do seem infused with a missionary-esque zeal... but I shall withhold further judgement until dinner on Monday.

*Who shall remain nameless, as he may show up for free food during Vegan Week.

The Vegan Experiment--Introduction

2005-01-23T14:19:00.000-06:00

Currently it's Vegan Week here at Chicago, meaning that the Vegan Society is even more aggressive in its campaign for an animal-free lifestyle. They make it really tempting--they give you free food from Cedars of Lebanon, the Chicago Diner, and other cool places, plus free product samples. All you have to do is pledge to be vegan for a week.

So today (after brunch--cheese ravioli, ham and cheese omelette, salad with bleu cheese, cow's milk), because I felt guilty about taking free samples of non-dairy "Parmesan" topping and Dr. Brommer's soap while still eating meat--I pledged to be vegan for the rest of Vegan Week (until Thursday). Now, I'm probably not the person best adapted for going vegan. I'm slightly hypoglycemic, and I try to eat low-glycemic carbohydrates. At the dining hall, this usually translates into eating a rather good quantity of meat. I appreciate the vegetarian rational for not eating meat--given the right resources (read: really good cheese), I could see myself easily adapting to an ovo-lacto lifestyle with the occasional humanely-farmed steak--but I really don't see the moral injunction against drinking milk from well-treated cows on a family farm somewhere in Vermont.

However, I do have a stockpile of soy milk (it was on sale at the Co-op), beans, brown rice, frozen spinach, olive oil, whole-grain or low-carb pasta, and various spices. If I buy a packet of tofu and some canola oil today, I might be able to do this.

Needlework for Nerds

2005-01-21T01:16:00.000-06:00

The worlds of mathematics and crochet intersect when British mathematicians crochet a Lorenz manifold model.

Via SuperNaturale

Finally, the truth about sex-based differences in mathematics revealed!

2005-01-19T01:23:00.000-06:00

This is a short outline of a rather neat little hypothesis I've had cooking for awhile, reawakened by the Summers controversy. Enjoy.

1. The only area of brain function remotely related to science or mathematics where men consistently out-perform women is in three-dimensional spatial reasoning. I'm not sure how much of a role this plays in biology, chemistry, and physics, but as a mathematician I can state with a high level of confidence that the skill remains utterly unused until multivariate calculus--a level of math usually reached (if at all) in college*.

2. The (incredible shrinking!) gender gap in mathematics begins to appear around middle school; hence, three-dimensional imaging cannot be used to explain the gender gap.

3. One factor which does impact mathematical performance is iron levels; a study shows that mildly anemic teenage girls scored lower on math exams than their peers. Often such anemia occurs due to menstruation.

4. The mean age of menarche in the United States is 12.43--right about middle school!

The hypothesis suggested by 2, 3, and 4--that lower math test scores in adolescent girls are primarily the result of menstruation-related iron deficiency--fits the evidence we have so far quite nicely, whereas Dr. Summers's vague incantation of "innate gender differences" seems--dare I say it?--unscientific.

*[But doesn't this affect college students in math?--ed.] In my experience, probably in multivariable calculus and linear algebra, but not to a degree where computer visualizations couldn't help. In more theoretical math (as well as more theoretical physics), everything you know about the planet Earth goes out the window. However, an area of science that seems to me quite reliant on spatial reasoning, the molecular and chemical biosciences, is full of female Ph.D candidates.

I have never felt happier about the U of C

2005-01-18T16:00:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's freezing, and difficult, and people mistake us for UIC all the time. But at least our university president isn't horribly embarrassing:

The president of Harvard University prompted criticism for suggesting that innate differences between the sexes could help explain why fewer women succeed in science and math careers.

[...]

Summers said the comments were made ``in the spirit of academic inquiry'' and his goal was to underscore the need for further research to understand a situation that is likely due to a variety of factors.

[...]

``It's possible I made some reference to innate differences,'' he said. He said people ``would prefer to believe'' that the differences in performance between the sexes are due to social factors, ``but these are things that need to be studied.''

Why am I suddenly reminded of those "studying too hard will atrophy your ovaries" arguments produced during the nineteenth century? (Or the related arguments which said that mathematicians and physicists required robust, manly bodies.)

He also cited as an example one of his daughters, who as a child was given two trucks in an effort at gender-neutral upbringing. Yet he said she named them ``daddy truck'' and ``baby truck,'' as if they were dolls.

You mean we can cite personal anecdotes to support general arguments about all of humanity? Sweet! You know, I won the American Mathematics Competition in my high school when I was a junior--I beat out people who had the equivalent of one and a half years of math instruction on me. And yes, Dr. Summers, my school was co-ed.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a logic problem set to complete.

(Maureen Craig is a third-year undergraduate student majoring in mathematics at the University of Chicago)

UPDATE: Hanna Gray, President Emerita (and one of my professors), believes Summers was misinterpreted. That may be the case, but Dr. Summers really should have reflected upon the fact that although he was explicitly speaking as an independent economist, his thoughts implicitly reflect on Harvard University.

UPDATE: More on Prince Harry's Nazi Costume

2005-01-16T13:44:00.000-06:00

(Via Josh Cherniss by way of Phoebe Maltz): Apparently Harry didn't originally want an Afrika Corps uniform*--he wanted an SS uniform.

Is there a way for Parliament to remove someone from the succession for being "deeply, deeply embarrassing"? I mean, if they can bar Catholics from it in one go....

*a uniform which, despite being used by an evil, evil regime, was worn by soldiers in Africa who did not directly participate in the Holocaust; furthermore, this costume would have been more appropriate to a "Colonials and Natives" party.

It's the Reg!

2005-01-13T01:34:00.000-06:00

Gapers Block has just posted a rather unusual view of the Reg, one which actually makes it look--oh, wait, it still looks like a Stalinist prison. But an elegant Stalinist prison.

Reason #101, 263 why limited monarchy is a Good Idea

2005-01-12T21:11:00.000-06:00

Witness Prince Harry's fine sense of political acumen as he wears a Nazi costume to a fancy-dress party.

Now, I don't think this is an indication of anti-Semitism on the Prince's part--there's a certain style cachet to the uniforms of evil empires (witness the Sovietski catalog*). But a civilian without a government position can get away with this sort of thing--he's representing himself, not a nation. Besides, if my great-uncle were a well-known Nazi sympathizer, I'd try to distance myself from that sort of thing no matter what my position.

Sadly, Harry may become King of England (and Scotland, and Wales, and...) one day, as William's reluctance to lead a royal life is well-known. Yet William shows better political judgement than his brother, as shown by his choice of a "lion and leopard skin print top and tight black leggings" for the party. What? The Tudor men wore tights, and don't even get me started on Prince Albert's proclivities for tight white trousers without underwear (as documented in Victoria's diaries during their courtship).

*Although the USSR was only truly diabolically evil during Stalin's reign.

Northsiders. Can they ever see beyond their own backyard?

2005-01-11T22:49:00.000-06:00

Apparently not.

Gapers Block claims that "[i]f you ever shopped at your very own grocery Co-op, well, you probably didn't do it here [in Chicago]." Funny, what about the Hyde Park Co-Op Markets? Okay, so they're not that great, and they're not all granola-y, but they're still a co-op.

So what group of people wants to make this "new co-op thing" a reality in Chicago? The residents of the "Logan Square/Humboldt Park/Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village area". Is it just me, or do those neighborhoods make Lincoln Park seem outwardly focused?

The "Grammer Police" Award

2005-01-09T15:00:00.000-06:00

I, Maureen Craig, do hereby nominate myself for Feministe's 2005 "Grammer Police" award on the basis of the following:

1. My status as a grammar god

2. My tendency to have footnotes regarding grammar and gender

Wouldn't a nice gift certificate do?

2005-01-05T01:05:00.000-06:00

Via The Morning News, I see that Harper's has re-printed an 1992 article from Handgunning magazine complaining about how damned difficult (and illegal) it is to surprise a loved one with a shiny new Colt .357 magnum under the Christmas tree. Now, there are a lot of Christmas gifts you can't put under the tree--the actual trip to Hawaii, the Lexus, the--oh, wait, I guess you could put "performance art" under the tree after the kids go to bed. So I'm not sure why people are so upset about this. But I'm from Tennessee, and I know that many people are concerned about this issue. So here goes.

This may surprise some of my readers, but I have held and fired guns. I have watched people buy guns. And although I've no intention of ever buying one myself, I've figured out that buying a gun is a really personal thing. You've got to figure out how it feels in the hand--you want something where the balance fits your hand, not the hand of your brother-in-law. (Rather like shopping for pens at Levenger in Marshall Field's on State Street, come to think of it). It's like buying a bra as a gift, except more expensive and you can't pull the trick of buying the same gun in a different color.

But let's say you want to buy someone a gun that you know they're going to like (because they keep trying it out at the gun store/shooting range). You can just give the store the money for the gun and have them keep it until they pick it up after Christmas. Then you can take a picture of the gun, put it in a pretty box, and watch the delight upon your loved one's face on that special occasion as they see a picture of their new shotgun waiting for them tomorrow at Hank's Firearms. It's just like dropping the Lexus keys in the stocking, except with a few more legal forms.

Lamest. Update. Ever.

2005-01-03T23:30:00.000-06:00

What kind of pirate am I? You decide!
You can also view a breakdown of results or put one of these on your own page!
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

From the New York Times

2004-12-28T15:38:00.000-06:00

December 28, 2004
President calls for $100 million in tsunami relief; indicates more money may follow.

WASHINGTON--In an unprecedented address to the nation televised on Monday, President Gore called on Congress to immediately earmark one hundred million dollars for relief efforts in south and southeast Asia following Sunday's earthquake and tsunami.

"My fellow Americans--in the past few years, our nation has received more benefits from the Earth than it has for at least a century. By harvesting energy from the Sun and from the atom, we have created 100,000 new jobs and now produce 80% of the energy we consume. Nature has been good to us.

However, Nature has its dark side--we have seen devestation in Florida this past year, and now we see an even greater tragedy in Asia. Tens of thousands are dead; hundreds of thousands are now homeless.

Through our ingenuity and resources, we were able to rebuild most of the affected areas in Florida within a month. I believe we have an obligation to lend a hand to our fellow citizens of Earth in their rebuilding efforts. Therefore, I call upon Congress to pledge one hundred million dollars over the next three years to relief efforts in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, and other affected countries."

Support is high among the American people for this grant; in a Roper poll, 65% of those surveyed indicated support for the President's proposal, with only 31% indicating disapproval. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have expressed approval for aid, although some feel that the President is perhaps being "unrealistic" in the amount of aid.

Should the aid be granted, it will be (adjusting for inflation) the largest American foreign aid grant since the Marshall Plan.

(Inspired by SKBubba's "Year in Review")

That would be the second option

2004-12-20T10:30:00.000-06:00

You are a true Chicagoan! You've probably lived
here for a long time, or are thoroughly
obsessed with the city and its history.
Congratulations! Maybe you should run for
office.

Are You a True Chicagoan?
brought to you by Quizilla

(Via Gapers' Block)

Philip Pullman sells his soul to the Demiurge

2004-12-09T13:51:00.000-06:00

I think everyone remotely connected to the geek subculture has heard about the "Han Shot First!" Star Wars controversy, which raises the question of how much control an author has over the content of his/her previously published text. Now comes Exhibit B: Philip Pullman's willingness to write God out of the screenplay for the movie adaptation of His Dark Materials (see Baude, Farrell, Taylor for more complaints)

This isn't just about who shot first in a bar; this is about the heart and soul of a novel. His Dark Materials is based upon the idea of rebellion against the ultimate authority--a God reminsent of the Gnostic idea of the Demiurge*. It's a fun thought exercise in "If God turns out to be the major asshole that fundamentalists portray Him as, what would you do about it?". The fact that God is a petty tyrant in Pullman's multiverse says nothing about the nature of God in our multiverse--it only reveals what we, deep in our hearts, feel God should be*.

I've gotten off topic. But the fact is that my faith in God wasn't challenged much by Pullman--I was disturbed, sure, by the anti-theistic tone, but considering the character of God in the book, I'd say it was justified. However, my vision of God doesn't look anything like Pullman's character--although I'd admit that there are some Americans whose vision of God are more reminiscent of the Demiurge. Maybe it's time that those Americans face up to that.

And I suppose that if Pullman is worried about funding, Michael Moore could probably pitch in.

*A "Roman Calvinist" demiurge rather than a Jewish demiurge.

**There are some who contend that Pullman is working in an anti-C.S. Lewis vein; however, I think that there's a similar strand in their theology: When a character in The Silver Chair is told that his God, the lion Aslan, doesn't exist, he admits that maybe he doesn't, but he'll still keep believing in his benevolent God. Pullman's characters resist God only when it turns out he's malevolent. There's a sense in both books of morality existing outside of God; that rather than God dictating the rules of morality, the rules of morality dictate who should be God. And if the entity at the job isn't adhering to these rules, you have a right not to serve that entity.

Semantics and Gay Marriage

2004-12-06T23:34:00.000-06:00

I've observed that there are a fair number of people who are comfortable with the substance of same-sex marriage, but not the name; hence the politician who supports civil unions but not same-sex marriage. On the other hand, "civil union" is a sterile term without history or warmth, while "marriage" implies the building of kinship.

From Respectful of Otters I found a link to a gay-based ministry in Britain that was once an ex-gay ministry, but later realized that God didn't want people to change their sexuality in order to know Him [sic]. Anyways, when speaking of gay relationships, they used the word "covenant", citing the relationships between Ruth and Naomi, Jonathan and David.

Hmm. Maybe there is a third way. And a bonus--we get to steal a word from the conservatives!

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

2004-12-05T17:38:00.000-06:00

Don't worry, new posts will be up soon.

You can pry away my VCR...

2004-11-22T20:51:00.000-06:00

from my cold, dead hands!

Apparently our Congresscritters have thrown a provision into the proposed Intellectual Property Protection Act (don't you just love Newspeak?) that would prohibit private parties from skipping over commercials when they record a TV program.

Yes, that's right. They're coming for your TiVo. Then what's next--your VCR? Your CD burner? That microcassette recorder you use for classes?

It gets worse: They're also trying to ban the "share" feature on iTunes.

Please contact your representative here, and your senators here.

First in the Pandagon.net series of Republican outrages of the week.

Filibuster Time!

2004-11-14T23:14:00.000-06:00

Oooh, lookie. Apparently Senate Majority Leader Bill "I Heart Cats" Frist wants to get rid of the ancient and revered Senate tradition of the filibuster.

We will not take this sitting down. I urge all of you to call your Senators and ask them to filibuster such a proposed change in the rules. In addition, I have been pondering the creation of Filibuster Kits for Democratic senators. These kits would include a Norton's Complete Works of Shakespeare, a bottle of No-Doz, and throat lozenges.

Suck on it, U.S. News!

2004-11-12T23:38:00.000-06:00

The University of Chicago is number 13on The Times' (of London) peer-reviewed list of the greatest universities of the world. Mangez de merde, Ecole Normale Superiéure!

Interesting...

2004-11-10T23:31:00.000-06:00

that Ken Mahlman, Bush campaign manager and candidate for the RNC chairmanship, has never answered direct questions from reporters regarding his sexuality. I don't know about where y'all are from, but in Tennessee, if a straight man's asked about his sexual orientation, he'll answer; in Illinois, he'll probably sandwich his answer between a "I don't think that's really relevant" and a pledge of support for the gay community. But I'm not sure if there are any places in America where it's considered inappropriate or shocking to admit one's heterosexuality if asked. Mr. Mahlman's above the draft age, so it's not like he needs a backup plan in case of the draft. Really, it's all very peculiar--queer, one might say.

It's all too real

2004-11-10T22:19:00.000-06:00

Via Dorothy at The Chaff, the story I've been wanting to write since seeing Alan Keyes in person.

We're Number Six! We're Number Six!

2004-11-06T16:39:00.000-06:00

Popular Science magazine rates being a demolition worker at Oak Ridge's K-25 the sixth worst science job in the world. I grew up several miles from the plant--here's hoping asbestos and uranium didn't reach that far.

"The Vision Thing"

2004-11-05T21:48:00.000-06:00

Inspired by TAPped, I've decided to take a stab at creating some sort of simple phrase which can serve as the "Compassionate Conservatism" of the Democratic Party:

--"We are committed to giving Americans back control over their lives"
--"Culture of Respect"
--"You have the power!"--stolen from Howard Dean.

Please comment.

My hometown is really creepy

2004-10-30T21:27:00.000-05:00

Introducing... the Anderson County Sherrif's Department Jail Webcam.

(Okay, I grew up in Oak Ridge, not Clinton. Close enough.)

Via Cruel Site of the Day

Prompted by Josh Marshall...

2004-10-30T15:07:00.000-05:00

and his post here, I have decided to share my thoughts on Kerry and Bush's response to Osama: I could see Kerry himself leading a Special Forces unit into the Afghan-Pakistani hinderlands. Meanwhile, Bush would be cowering in a bunker, his body hunched over in fear--until Karl comes in and tells him it's time to pose in front of the fighter jet. Wuss.

Wait a minute...

2004-10-29T22:16:00.000-05:00

isn't bin Laden left-handed? And didn't the Saudis indicate that bin Laden was grateful for our help in the '80s, after the Lebanon fiasco?

And frankly, he sounds almost rational. Too rational.

Do not read this in the Regenstein...

2004-10-22T19:30:00.000-05:00

or else you will:
a. squeal with delight and pump your fist in the air
or
b. cry out "Nooo!"
and, in both cases a and b, piss off the guy on the computer next to you.

Drezner has spoken.

The Draft Is Coming ! The Draft is Coming!

2004-10-19T01:04:00.000-05:00

The Selective Service is updating its plans for drafting healthcare workers in a case of a national emergency that swamps the military medical corps.

Apparently the memo warned agency officials to be discreet, because '"overtures from Selective Service to the medical community will be seen as precursors to a draft," and that could alarm the public.'

You think?

The article goes further to note that the military is concentrating on registering specialists in various areas, not on drafting everyday civilians. That makes me feel so much more secure.

Time to order the sign...

2004-10-16T19:09:00.000-05:00

Drezner's probability of voting for Kerry is at 80%.

Would it be too unscholarly for the Political Science Department to unfurl a massive "UC PoliSci For Kerry" sign on the east side of Pick?

I thought "Demos" meant "People", not "Men"

2004-10-13T02:03:00.000-05:00

Remember George W. Bush claiming that Saudi Arabia was going to be moving towards democracy*? They're excluding half the population, because they won't be able to have women's polling places. Haven't these guys ever heard of voting absentee?

(Via Matt Yglesias at TAPPED)

*And yes, I'm quite aware that the original Greek democracy was all-male, as well as every "democracy" up until the late nineteenth century. We're not in the nineteenth century.

Plus ca change...

2004-10-07T20:28:00.000-05:00

I'm writing a paper on early modern English politics, and I'm so tempted to put anachronistic comparisons into the paper, which I won't--okay, I'm putting a sentence in about how Catholicism was Restoration England's version of the Red Menace and/or the Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy: a threat that scares the hell out of people even when demography and reason are against it. But I can't shake the feeling that early eighteenth-century elections feel like stories I've heard about mid-twentieth-century Chicago elections--bribery, patronage, recommendations from your landlord and your priest, and free booze.

And Michael Moore's getting into trouble for giving underwear to people who register to vote? The only thing I could see pressing charges against him on would be sex discrimination, because I think a three-pack of men's white briefs may cost more than a three-pack of ramen noodles, depending on the brand of ramen.

Shorter Obama-Keyes Debate

2004-10-02T01:22:00.000-05:00

OBAMA: Jobs. Government's duty to keep its promises. Housing. Funding for NCLB and other federal regulations. Yes, there are problems with police abusing their power sometimes, but most cops are dece--(interrupted by guy who should really get a weblog instead of raving about the police state during every debate; weird little period when I almost felt like crawling under the pew, but things calmed down.) Giving people a fair shake. I'm going to try and do my best for all of you.

KEYES: Abortion. Unborn children. Decaying culture. Family values. There's no such thing as separation of church and state. We need to bring the church back into our lives. No, I am not going to answer the question about my daughter's sexuality--I didn't say that about Mary Cheney! You're putting words into my mouth! Abortion! Prayer! I didn't support apartheid! Condoms don't work! ABORTION!

Although, I do have to admit, Keyes is an excellent speaker. I almost hope he stays in the state when he loses the election, because for all his fanaticism, he's kind of fun. But not in a "I'd like to vote for you" kind of way.

There are some things money can't buy

2004-09-30T23:47:00.000-05:00

Best debate moment:

BUSH: "Of course we're after Saddam Hussein -- I mean bin Laden."

Just to recap:
War in Iraq: $200 billion dollars
"Re"-election campaign: Probably between $200-$250 million in the final reckoning.
Mixing up your two main enemies: Priceless.

Debate Wrapup

2004-09-30T23:38:00.000-05:00

Kerry kicked ass. On substance, he was pounding Bush into submission, hammering point after point; on style, he was strong, confident, serious yet at ease. He felt presidential. Bush, on the other hand, was at times almost sputtering. His forehead was wrinkled, he smirked in some of the reaction shots, and he was leaning into the podium, making him look even shorter. (We all noticed how the split screen showed Kerry and Bush at eye level to each other, but Bush's podium was significantly higher? Yep.)

I don't get it

2004-09-28T14:45:00.000-05:00

If you're a homophobic conservative and your daughter's a lesbian, and you're running for Congress, you don't call homosexuals "selfish hedonists", okay? You just don't.

It's All About Dick

2004-09-20T16:16:00.000-05:00

Or, A Modest Proposal Regarding the Concerns Over Comparative Masculinity in the Presidential Candidates

(WARNING: The following is intended as satire. Those with delicate sensibilities and/or a deficient sense of humor should probably skip this post.)

Much of the presidential campaign has been focused on how much more "manly" one of the candidates is than the other, and I'm sick of it. I don't care how well a president can fill out a flight suit, ride a motorcycle, throw a baseball, or shoot a deer, and I believe many of my fellow Americans also feel this way. Unfortunately, there are many other Americans--mostly men, but women as well--who feel that we need a "manly" president to project a tough image to the terrorists. Perhaps Osama bin Laden really would be intimidated by a man he perceives as more masculine than he; he seems like his views on leadership are rather primitive.

Maybe it's worth a shot. But how do we determine, between Bush and Kerry, who is the alpha male? Sports contests have been proposed, but the two men excel at different sports. Kerry is an avid hockey player and windsurfer; Bush is a fine runner and cheerleader. Perhaps a shooting contest would be the fairest test; both men have been courting the hunting-and-fishing vote. But we're all influenced by Freud here; we all know what the guns really stand for.

That's right. I'm proposing that instead of wasting six more weeks with masculine posturing and enough chestbeating to make Sylvester Stallone blush, we go ahead and just get out the rulers already. We'll have a bipartisan panel of doctors do the examinations and report to the American public in deference to the candidates' modesty.

Presidential Prayer Team Endorses Deist

2004-09-16T16:20:00.001-05:00

Following the lead of a commentor at Jesus's General, I visited the Presidential Prayer Team website, a site devoted to making sure that God influences our leaders through divine intervention. So imagine my surprise when, as this week's focus on "Our Godly Heritage", the Editors turned to Thomas Paine's Common Sense:

Thomas Paine was an early American patriot--an author whose writings helped to fan the flames of the American Revolution. Though some of his later writings questioned God and His existence, causing Paine to fall out of popularity with Colonial leaders, his influence on the movers and shakers of the Revolution was no less significant. In his document Common Sense, Paine acknowledged God's hand in the Revolution. It hit the streets shortly after King George declared that the Colonies were in rebellion to the Crown of England and rode a great wave of popularity with common people and revolutionary leaders alike. So stirring were his words that George Washington ordered that Common Sense be read aloud to the troops at Valley Forge. Paine's words, excerpted below, convey the absolute faith in God and reliance on His providence that was demonstrated by so many of America's early leaders:

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheaply, we esteem too lightly; 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.

The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Where, say some, is the king of America? I'll tell you, friend, He reigns above!
--Thomas Paine

I wasn't sure if the editors of the site had read one of Thomas Paine's later works, the anticlerical The Age of Reason, which is definitely not a favorite work of the Christian Right. So I called up their hotline and spoke with one of their staffers, noting that Paine's views on religion didn't seem to mesh with the PPT's views. She told me that she'd get back with the editors.

It's odd, though, how the phrase, "The only king of America is God" can be interpreted in two different ways. One way, a rather theocratic way, is that God is in charge of America in a way that God isn't in charge of other countries; I believe this interpretation is the one which the Presidential Prayer Team would like to push. The other interpretation, which is based upon the Deist views of God popular among most of the Founding Fathers, is that God was the Grand Architect and Rulemaker of the Universe; God is the only absolute power which has dominion over America. But as God's manifestation on Earth is limited (in Deist eyes) to Nature and Nature's laws, the only laws by which the American public are absolutely bound are the laws of nature. Unfortunately, the "laws of nature" is a rather muddled-up concept, with some claiming that the "laws of nature" forbid homosexuality (even though we've seen gay penguins) while those of a more scientific worldview point to "laws of nature" such as gravity's inverse square law.

Addition to Life's Soundtrack

2004-09-16T01:20:00.000-05:00

This song's been replaying over and over again in my head. Go listen.

Then listen again.

Then obtain the song, either through legal or illegal means, and send copies to all of your friends. Including the Republicans.

Radio Silence Until Tuesday-ish

2004-09-11T13:03:00.000-05:00

Please feel free to browse the links on your left.

Coming Soon: The Burton-Judson Cafeteria Survival Guide

An Arrested Protester Weighs In

2004-09-04T13:11:00.000-05:00

Go read right now.

Thrift Store Economics as Evidence of the State of the Economy

2004-09-03T14:46:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to get rid of some of my family's old clothes--Dad's rather nice, but too small suits from the seventies, Mom's "It came from the eighties" specials, and the last remaining pieces of evidence of my regrettable sweaters-with-kittens/suburban soccer mom phase that lasted about three weeks in sixth grade. I bundled them up and brought them to a "hip" resale store, thinking that the seventies' suits would be appreciated by their retro-themed men's department. They took a few ugly-enough-to-be-hip pairs of pants but ignored the brown corduroy and the green flannel.

Today I tried to take the women's stuff to what I had thought was a rather staid women's consignment shop; the kind filled with kitten sweaters and '80s jackets during the Clinton adminstration. They still had some of the old-style stuff there, but I was informed by the staff that they had been instructed to be more selective in what they carried as their store was nearly full to bursting. They were nice enough to give me the numbers of two consignment shops they felt would be more likely to accept some of the pieces, but one of them informed me that they had instituted similarly restrictive policies, and the other one had consignment appointments booked for the next three weeks. Moreover, as I was trying to get rid of the clothing at the other two stores, I was surrounded by people both buying and selling clothing.

The point of this? People who ordinarily would have given their old clothing to Goodwill or the Salvation Army are now trying to sell it all to resale and consignment shops. But why wouldn't people sell their clothes anyways? I have two answers. One is that people feel that they're contributing to charity when they give old clothes to Goodwill, which provides both a feeling of warm satisfaction and a tax write-off. In this economy, more people are feeling the need for immediate cash and less need for tax write-offs. The other reason has to do with perceived value of time--it takes a fair amount of time to prepare clothes for consignment; you have to get the wrinkles out of them, put them on hangers, and get rid of that old ketchup stain from two years ago. In a tight labor market, most people value their time more and therefore aren't willing to put in a lot of effort for the small amount one gets for most secondhand clothing. (Consequently, it would make sense that in a tight labor market a higher percentage of those who put their clothing on consignment were by-choice stay-at-homers, who are more likely than the general female population to buy kitten sweaters.)

Hence, these shops are experiencing a supply glut. (They've also seemed to experience a concurrent increase in demand, but I don't believe it's equivalent to the supply increase.) Before this supply glut, the supply of sellers for resale shops was low enough so that said shops would be forced to buy most clothes that were in good shape and within their target market. Thus, while in richer times a shopper would have found cool stuff at Goodwill and kitten sweaters at consignment shops, a shopper will now find cool stuff at consignment shops and kitten sweaters at Goodwill.

Demanding Satisfaction

2004-09-02T15:36:00.000-05:00

On Hullabaloo I found out that Zell Miller apparently wanted to challenge Chris Matthews to a duel : "I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel". This brings more credence to the theory that Zell Miller is channelling the spirit of Andrew Jackson--Jackson, as you may recall, was an ardent duelist who actually killed a man for insulting his wife--along with the whole betrayal-of-people-who-fought-for-you thing** and race-tinted populism.

Anyways, enough Jackson. Wouldn't it be cool if Miller and Matthews did duel? Of course, I'm not advocating violence--there's too many people dying because of politics already. What I am advocating is a nice, competitive bout with blunted fencing-style swords, Paintball guns, fisticuffs, or oratory. Of course, Miller must follow the proper challenging procedure, as immortalized on The Simpsons:
1. Slap opponent with glove
2. Say in commanding voice, "Sir! You have insulted my honor! I demand satisfaction! I challenge you to a duel!"
3. Wait for acceptance, whereby your opponent names the weapon to be used.
I believe that historically there have also been the naming of seconds and the scouting out of a beyond-the-law local involved. However, as no one dies during this duel, we can hold it at Madison Square Garden after the Republicans clear out of there.

Come to think of it, this would be a good tool to use whenever anyone utters offensive remarks--challenge them to debate using the language usually associated with dueling. The Southern Poverty Law Center could challenge the KKK to a debate and put their nonexistant manhood on the line; Bill O'Reilly could challenge Al Franken' Mary Cheney could challenge Alan Keyes. All duels, of course, will be broadcast on the Internet, if not on television.

*History Lesson: Rachel Robards nee Donelson was married to a cheating, absentee husband when she fell in love with Jackson; when the two of them heard that Mr. Robards had gotten the divorced finalized, they married. Whoops--the divorce hadn't been finalized yet. The situation was resolved, but Jackson always remained touchy about insults to his wife's virtue.

**History Lesson 2: About five hundred Cherokee fought with Jackson against the Creeks during the Battle of Horseshoe Bend during the war of 1812; among these was the warrior Junaluska, who is credited by many historians with saving the battle for Jackson. Then came the Trail of Tears in 1838, where every Cherokee the US Army could find in Appalachia--including those who had fought alongside Jackson twenty-four years earlier--were rounded up and forcibly marched to Oklahoma; a third of them died. Junaluska walked back to North Carolina from Oklahoma; in 1847 the North Carolina Legislature gave him a large tract of land, a hundred dollars, and state citizenship for his service to the United States.

Giuliani's Speech

2004-08-30T22:37:00.000-05:00

What an asshole.

In contrast, John McCain was the epitome of statesmanship; part of this is probably to do with his friendship with Kerry and another part probably to try to push Bush into actually being a decent guy.

The New York Times Endorses Mullets. Plus--David Brooks, New Democrat

2004-08-29T22:45:00.000-05:00

The New York Times has created a monthly style magazine supplement, "T", which reads like a short version of Vogue with a slightly higher content-to-ad ratio. (It still took me 68 pages to get to actual editorial content--perhaps in line with fashion magazine standards, but rather disconcerting for the Times.)

The magazine does, however, feature an interactive component: Step-by-step hair styling, something I remember most from . Informed of the way to create the new rockabilly-inspired pompadour in vogue (one which the magazine assured me was "the look that scored at Tuleh's fall 2004 show"), I took my brush and a few bobby pins and got to work taking the front part of my hair, twisting it, pushing it forward, and pinning it. Result: An imperial-looking face and front--surrounded by improbably casual hair. The New York Times had given me a mullet.

I pinned up the rest of my hair in a French twist, and the style came together in excellent Gibson Girl/Madame X fashion. But what of the poor women who will keep the rest of their hair down, as the Times suggested? And what will David Brooks have to say about this convergence between Red America and Blue America?

(Speaking of Brooks, wasn't that NYT Magazine column of his almost a precis for a New Democrat economic policy? Eliminate the call for vouchers and the DLC would swoon; put in a few words toughening labor policy and giving more help to the homeless and I'd swear he'd stolen a Barack Obama policy paper.)

The permutations of gendered language

2004-08-28T16:16:00.000-05:00

For the first time I visited Zoe Vanderwolk's Greenpass, a blog that comes highly recommended from Pandagon, and written by a woman besides. I highly encourage all to visit. (Why, yes, I have been reading Victorian etiquette books lately, how did you guess?)

Anyways, I found out that apparently there's a new blog devoted to rebuking liberal bloggers for "sexist" language, Des Femmes. Recent posts chastise Steve Gillard for calling George Bush "a gutless bitch" and a "puss[y]", Atrios for saying that Bush wasn't a "real man" (and therefore not brave), and Digby for describing Tony Blair as "Bush's bitch".

The thing is, I'm not sure that most of those examples actually are sexist. "Bitch" is becoming an epithet hurled at both sexes (still more women then men, though). As for the assertion that the use of the phrase "real man" to constitute bravery automatically makes bravery a gendered attribute--I think we're dealing with an inclusion-exclusion problem here. While bravery is, according to Atrios, one of the essential attributes of "real men", that does not mean that bravery is not an essential attribute of "real women", nor does it imply that anyone who is not a "real man" is automatically female. There's a difference between being male and being a man. Moreover, Bush has tried to fit himself into the "manly man" mold of masculinity (flight suit, "Bring it on"); the fact that he's a coward automatically shows that this act is a lie, and the "man" is nothing more than an immature frat boy.

That being said, I do censure those who use the word "pussy" to mean "coward". I don't believe that a body part which has to stretch to accommodate a head the size of a grapefruit is an appropriate symbol for cowardice.

He may be part machine, but...

2004-08-24T20:18:00.000-05:00

Dick Cheney proves he's not a total tool by yielding to his love for his daughter and publicly opposing a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Everyone seems to be spinning this story differently, though--ABCNews (the link above) claims that Cheney agreed for the need for the amendment, while SFGate.com claims that Cheney was merely stating that the President dictated administration policy.

Jeez, and they're not even unionized

2004-08-21T19:46:00.000-05:00

It was bad enough when Wal-Mart removed chiropractic coverage from their health insurance plan. Now the company's offering unlicensed physical therapy in nine Colorado stores. Apparently it's meant to piggyback on the success of in-house opticians--but unlike the "exercise trainers" at the back clinics, opticians actually test your vision, give you a custom prescription, and are licensed. Is Wal-Mart too cheap to hire real doctors?

Yes. Yes, they are. Next thing you know they're going to be training the guy from Sporting Goods in how to set broken legs. But on the plus side, you get your plaster cast for only $75.

A Crazy Theory about A Crazy Candidate*

2004-08-19T21:42:00.000-05:00

A commenter at Pandagon points out that Alan Keyes could have run against Barbara Mikulski in his home state of Maryland, but felt the need to run for the Senate in Illinois, a state in which he's spent no great amount of time. Later, I remembered some post connecting Alan Keyes with Allan Bloom... and a crazy theory began to spin.

FACT: At Cornell, Alan Keyes's intellectual mentor was Allan Bloom; he followed him to Paris and to Harvard**. (Via AlterNet) Bloom probably instructed him in the same Straussian philosophy he learned from Leo Strauss at the University of Chicago. Later, Bloom went back to Chicago and taught many generations of Straussians. Additionally, Keyes worked with fellow Straussian and Bloom acolyte Paul Wolfowitz at the State Department during the early eighties.

THEORY: Suppose it's 2004, and Straussians across America are nervous about the meteoric rise of Illinois State Senator Barack Obama. Why? Because he's a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School--and he's got a chance to become the first UChicagoan President of the United States. Having a liberal represent the University of Chicago on a national level is bad for the Straussians--Allan Bloom had made it seem like the University of Chicago was the last academic bastion of conservatism. Obama and his Hyde Park supporters make it clear that the Straussian home base is in the hands of the enemy. They need to get it back--but how? When the Republican candidacy is vacated, Keyes steps in to win back his mentor's turf--not just the University, but the entire state of Illinois.

*Shamelessly stolen from Mike Murphy's "Crazy Times Demand a Crazy Senator" suggestion for a Keyes lawn sign in the Weekly Standard.

**Those who have read Ravelstein know what kind of stuff Bloom did in Paris. I can't wait for someone to bring this up in debate: "Ambassador Keyes, your mentor, Allan Bloom, was a homosexual. How do you feel about that?"

Hello, my name is Maureen

2004-08-19T19:43:00.000-05:00

and I'm a biblioholic.

I'd estimate I've been a biblioholic for, well, most of my life--at least since I was five. In third grade, I'd sneak Baby-Sitters Club books under my desk during spelling tests and read during the breaks between words. When I'm desperate, I'll read practically anything to get my fix--crappy magazines, the "Thrifty Nickel" want ads, fanfic, even (oh! the shame!) the pages from the "Look Inside" feature at Amazon. Sometimes, after I go a few weeks when I've done relatively little reading (just an average of 100 pages/day for school, and an hour or two or three on the Internet per day--really not that much), I go on a book bender. Last bender, about a week ago, I gulped through two novels in about six hours. Granted, one was a reread, and in the other one I skipped some parts, but still. Man, did that wreck my system.

Although I've never gone to the extreme of buying a book in triplicate, I have been known to read entire books while sitting in a bookstore (I'm so cheap, and I feel guilty when I spend money on books when I don't need them); I've checked out books which I own but do not have with me out of the library (hey, I used White Smoke to brush up on my papal politics); I have read The Well of Lost Plots when I should have been writing a paper on the German welfare state. I have unintentionally ignored family and friends while reading, and I have (gasp!) read while on the job.

But is this addiction comparable to alcoholism? I don't think so--while I admit to being rather heavily attached to books, and even fit the Baudian Biblioholic Criteria*, I've never caused anyone any pain through this addiction. I've never neglected family, friends, work or school because of reading, I've never gone into debt for my addiction, and I can resist the call to books when absolutely necessary. [UPDATE: Will Baude points out that harm to others is not a requisite part of alcoholism. This misperception gives alcoholism a stigma which biblioholism doesn't have--even though both drinking and reading are dangerous during driving**. I'd still argue that alcoholism is more likely to cause harm to others than biblioholism, but that's really an argument of probability, not of quality.]

Although it's a telling sign that when I tried to find a "peaceful place" during meditation, I felt restless on a beach, next to a mountain spring, in a prairie--but felt at ease when I placed myself at Harper Memorial Library.

*Excepting the "interfering with social engagements"
**A friend once told me that on long Interstate trips through the plains, her dad would put the car on cruise control and read. I'm not sure what the effect of Books on Tape on driving is, but at least it leaves one's vision free.

We're Number One! We're Number One!

2004-08-16T20:33:00.000-05:00

According to the Princeton Review, the University of Chicago has the "best overall academic experience for undergraduates" (Login required; check bugmenot.com once they get back online)

In related news, the Physics correspondent reports that a certain institution's number one ranking for "best quality of life" is erroneous. Says the Physics correspondent: "It is heavily affected by #10 :Their Students Never Stop Studying."

Wait, I've Read That Before

2004-08-16T19:22:00.000-05:00

As many have previously stated, The Village eerily resembles a certain young adult novel; fewer people have noted that it also rips off Plato's Republic--you've got your noble lie, your council of guardians (as in Plato, both men and women), your restriction on outside influences.

However, 2004's most egregious movie-plot-theft from literature is... the upcoming National Treasure, starring Nicholas Cage as a man trying to protect some sort of Masonic/Egyptian/Christian treasure by stealing the map to it--which happens to be on the back of the original copy of the Declaration of Independence. Clues to the treasure appear on U.S. currency and apparently the Founding Fathers (TM) had something to do with the hiding of the treasure in the New World. It's like the star-spangled version of The Da Vinci Code/Angels & Demons/Foucault's Pendulum!