half lust / half shopping list

We need several things – a dining table and chairs, bar stools, rugs – and would very much like other things. This list below is both but the stuff above we have to get something functional pretty much right away, though we can’t afford for quite a while the stuff that is more to our liking.

• We’re pretty much dead set on this dining table from cb2.
• chairs? tricky. and we be po’.
• Rug thoughts, anyone?
• Coffee table
• Sexy couch.
• A desk for the Scott.

ooo hot

Adium 1.0 is in public beta. Adium 1.0β is mad unstable.

how will you ever please your husband?

if you cannot make aloo gobi? (also consult here and here)

I've long liked the online digsmagazine, which calls itself “a home + living guide for the post-college, pre-parenthood, quasi-adult generation” (hey! that's us! a goodly portion of the readers are grad student, surprise!). On buying a home and also decorating with what (little) you’ve got:

When you're surrounded by a mish-mash of hand-me-down freebies that are there more for basic function than because you actually gave any thought to whether you liked them, it's hard to imagine how that bland white box of mismatched furnishings is ever going to look a real home. First things first, once you've made the commitment to start decorating that is: take a good, hard look at what you've already got.

well, he's right but not...

Seth Stevenson reviews the brilliant mac ad campaign. He concludes,

But these days, aren't nerds like John Hodgman the new cool kids? And isn't smug superiority (no matter how affable and casually dressed) a bit off-putting as a brand strategy?

No, it is not. It is what the mac brand strategy is all about. Moreover, it's what any “brand strategy” is about: making people buy something because they will be part of the club of owners of thing τ. Clothes, cars, computers, that's what advertising is for. The strategy is honest about what you will undoubtedly become as a mac user: annoyed if you ever do have to use a windows machine, superior to your windowsy friends (“erm, I'm not sure how you'd make a pdf out of that. On a mac you just save it as one.” )

world cup and game theory

Always nice to see a bit of game theory make it a little closer to something people actually read:

Game theory, applied to the problem of penalties, says that if the striker and the keeper are behaving optimally, neither will have a predictable strategy. The striker might favor his stronger side, of course, but that does not mean that there will be a pattern to the bias.The striker might shoot to the right two times out of three, but we cannot then conclude that it will have to be to the left next time.

it ought to work for a subset of the population...

Girthy wieners.

The spot: An obese man is tending a barbecue grill. He's cooking some Ball Park Franks. He says he likes his hot dogs "girthy." He keeps repeating that word—claiming he likes "the way it rolls off my tongue"—as he holds the frank up to his mouth; issues a guttural moan; and wraps his lips around the big, swinging dog. In all, he says "girthy" a full seven times.

snottsdale!

Scottsdale, AZ — just a few miles from Surprise! where Scott’s parents live — is quite the happening place. First, there was the Super Sweet 16 episode where the ho dyed the poodles pink. Then, there was Ed Helms's hard-hitting investigative piece on the Pink Taco controversy. Now it’s in the Chicago Tribune:

Because image is not something taken lightly here, the cringe factor was high when MTV's “My Super Sweet 16,” featured a Scottsdale teenager.

The episode, which aired in April, showed Marc and K.K. Dubowy spending more than $50,000 on daughter Marissa Leigh's birthday party.

Marissa's party had bouncers and a $3,200 cake. She got two cars for presents (one being a "weekend" car), had three outfit changes throughout the event (one was a $5,000 dress) and had her pet poodles dyed pink to match the party's theme color. Marissa and her friends were so universally detested by viewers that a new Scottsdale moniker stuck: "Snottsdale."

pretty

Coverflow, from what I thought just a so-so list overall, of "most beautiful mac apps"

Judson here writes the same basic idea that Dawkins tries to in the (rather tedious, belabored) Unweaving the Rainbow: science offers a more beautiful and fulfilling way of approaching the mysteries of the world than religion, whose basic message is “we [should] give up.” It also sort of makes me happy to study human social phenomena – few truly believe that elections and policies are decided by a deity. (Even W. knows this; if he didn’t, he would have traded Karl for the chatechism.) She also belies her britishness pretty heavily (“Fieldwork … can also be jolly boring”).

Studying evolution has changed the way I look at nature. For knowing that all of us — oak trees and venus fly traps, starlings and brush turkeys, humans and sea urchins, not to mention bacteria harvesting light from the glowing vents at the bottom of the sea — are the products of the same ancient forces is something that brings me enormous pleasure, awe and a sense of peace. As I have learned more about other organisms, I have come to regard them (and us!) with increasing amazement and delight.

Most of all, though, I find the study of evolution to be a profoundly optimistic way of looking at the world — for the message is: despite the apparent complexity, we can understand. It’s a view of life that unshackles the mind. When we come to a difficult problem — something, say, that appears so complicated it is hard to imagine the steps through which it could have evolved — the solution isn’t to throw up one’s hands and invoke deus ex machina. It’s to imagine, to dream, to wonder: how? And then, to start to work it out.

Review of a possibly interesting perl book (but not a must-buy like Art of SQL)

Of all the popular programming languages now in use, Perl is perhaps the best suited for writing utilities — for several reasons, such as its text-processing capabilities, ease of addressing system resources, and minimal language overhead for input, output, list processing.

objectlust

IDEA (Industrial Design Excellence Awards).

i hate vegans.

Anthony Bourdain at Salon – this is tough to excerpt, but here are a couple morsels.. He also goes off on Rachel Ray!:

You've never had much love for vegans, and that doesn't seem to be something you've revised your opinion on.
Never. They're rude! ... How can you travel? Before you've even left home, you've already decided, "I reject most of the world's bounty and the expression of their hopes and dreams and culture." Some nice, possibly impoverished Vietnamese rice farmer is nice enough to offer you the one chicken he can kill a month, or a week, and you say, "Sorry, I can't"? It just seems antihuman. It's antisocial.

What was your worst meal ever?
Certainly the vegan meal I had in Berkeley was soul-destroying, and just frightening

Neato-cool!

The recently released Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a comprehensive set of APIs and tools that lets you create dynamic Web applications almost entirely in Java™ code.

harping on my statistical themes...

(slate) Reporters have so much faith in the pure power of numbers that many will inject into a piece any ones available as long as they 1) are big; 2) come from a seemingly authoritative source; and 3) don't contradict the point the reporter is trying to make.

Is Wal-Mart Good for the American Working Class?

A slate dialogue – Ehrenreich and Jason Furman. Always good.

Ok this is silly

What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage - New York Times:

"I love my husband. He's well read, adventurous and does a hysterical rendition of a northern Vermont accent [jewish grandmother accent] that still cracks me up after 12 [6] years of marriage. But he also tends to be forgetful [me!], and is often tardy and mercurial. He hovers around me in the kitchen asking if I read this or that piece in The New Yorker [aaah! me again!] when I'm trying to concentrate on the simmering pans. He leaves wadded tissues [scott!] in his wake. He suffers from serious bouts of spousal deafness [both of us] but never fails to hear me when I mutter to myself on the other side of the house. 'What did you say?' he'll shout.These minor annoyances are not the stuff of separation and divorce, but in sum they began to dull my love for Scott [aaah! his name is scott!]. I wanted – needed – to nudge him a little closer to perfect, to make him into a mate who might annoy me a little less, who wouldn't keep me waiting at restaurants, a mate who would be easier to love."

Ridiculously French

So I heard nothing from the organisers of the ECPR grad conference since submitting my proposal ages ago, only that since I was a slacker and turned it in on the deadline that I wouldn't be on one of the pre-arranged panels, submitted together.

Then I got emails this week from a panel that apparently I'm on, starting with this, which could hardly if it tried be any more French:

Dear All,
I am writing to you in connection with the First Graduate Conference taking place in Essex in septembre 2006.
We may try to decide amongst ourselves who shall act as the chair/discussant.
We could also try to find a deadline for the papers (in August), so that the papers circulate amongst us before the conference.
I suggest that instead of having one discussant for all the papers, all of us could discuss one paper. Would you agree ?

But I do love Intelligentsia

Another (last one today) from NYT:

Mr. Watts and the founder and chief executive of Intelligentsia, Doug Zell, do not ascribe to the ‘buy low, sell high’ business model. They buy high and sell high. In the coming years, both say they expect to pay 50 percent, 100 percent, even 200 percent above Fair Trade rates.

I will also note that their summer solstice blend is a unique treat – when I tasted it I thought of coffee gelato.

God I hate Thursday Styles So Much

LAME!: “Michelle Wie in her funky clothes sets the style for young women who play golf.”

oh leather people oy

“The key pieces this summer, Mr. Bunch said, are leather shorts and a harness. Actually, those are the key pieces every year. ‘It’s too hot now for chaps,’ said Mr. Bunch, who bears a tattoo on his right bicep that reads SLAVE. ‘If shorts are too hot, you can always wear a studded leather codpiece jock.’”

Yeah, let's not forget that, “complete with ‘cock-hole’ and under-strap:”

some food

• chicken korma and basmati rice
• pan-fried tofu, with lemon, garlic, zucchini, and beet greens
• red beans & rice
• green curry with eggplant
• spinach-bacon quiche
• chicken and green beans kaeng par curry

I love hypocrisy

I apparently have a thing for hypocrites – like I find them endearing or something. Here we have the French behaving every bit as we would expect a certain other person to, lacking entirely a sense of ironie.

But even as protesters sought to cast McDonald's as the embodiment of all that is wrong with fast food and American culture, the French never stopped eating its hamburgers.

Statistical Graphical Illiteracy

All of these suck at conveying the important information – that the risk of death is dramatically reduced by annual screening. The article itself talks about a different study entirely, about decisionmaking for self versus someone else (and attempts no graphical display of its findings).

future brunch foray

4 Taste Off Rush. The menu offers inspired choices like ostrich Benedict and pomegranate-banana pancakes (each $10.95).

new, indie coffee shops

[metromix]

wtf is this shit?

If I asked you "what do you think head on is" and you replied "probably a blowjob simulating gel", I would say, "well, that's what I thought it was too". But it isn't.

Caramelized Sugar Cookies

These cookies are really interesting – they're really sort of a rich cracker dough loaded with butter, that you roll out in a pile of sugar, thus impregnating the dough. The dough itself has no sugar at all, nor any eggs, so it's hard to call them a proper cookie at all. I’ll definitely be making them again, probably to serve at a party or something.

are you seriously claiming

that some overpaid idiot riding without a helmet actually deserves this serious an ethical treatment? Jessica: you study justice and democratic theory. thoughts on this nonsense?

When [NFL football player] Roethlisberger decided to ride without a helmet, what were his obligations to the larger society, in this case greater Steelerdom? And what mechanisms should there be for society — or Steelerdom — to impose those obligations?

In a democratic society, everybody benefits from other people's risk-taking. But must everyone pay for it as well? The question goes back to the founding of the country and continues to shape who Americans are as a society.

"America more than European countries prizes entrepreneurial spirit and the freedom of individuals to run risks, even if they might not turn out well," said Cass R. Sunstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago. "One reason the economy does so well is that people take gambles. And sometimes they work out badly."

And I thought making pancakes was disaster-prone! [I tried really hard to find some images or maybe the video of the commercial that shows in black and white the poor disheveled woman spattering pancake batter around the kitchen and finally, I think, grilling the cat. Any help out there?

But today, the venerable NYT alerted me to an ever more present danger:

Early-morning grogginess can wreak havoc on a person's eye-hand coordination, occasionally turning the act of dishing out corn flakes into a messy adventure…. Philippe Meert has experienced that messiness firsthand. Four years ago, while on a business trip in Los Angeles, he tried to start his day with a healthy breakfast.

Experimentation

Yes, I changed my blogger template. No, I'm not sure I like it. It's really just a stopgap until I write my own. We all know how lazy I am, but also how much I hate hard-coded widths in html. I did add the trickery to make comments show/hide directly on the page (no stupid clickthrough), but sometime over the summer I'll fix it up the way I want it to look.

chipotle cheddar grits, sautéed spinach, and broiled snapper

Today featured tasty polenta(/grits) and fish. It was an interesting effort; I worked on keeping each element distinct, such that only the spinach had garlic, and the grits had smoked pimentón and chipotle. I liked it, and plan to work on it again sometime soon. It’s also tasty as a vegetarian dish, or, I am sure, with the grits formed and fried (mmm).

Beet Risotto

Featuring fresh market vegetables of course, beet risotto is colorful and delicious.

oh yeah

I received word yesterday that, as expected, I passed my comprehensive exams (see post below).

the day of the BEAST

We went by our condo today to check on it, and also to think in situ about wall colors. We were pleased to discover that work had in fact commenced:

Moreover, one work order indicated that the hardwood floor work was to commence yesterday – the day of the BEAST. I hate cell phone pictures, but it’s the best I had today.

Science Idol

The Union of Concerned Scientists is hosting Science Idol: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest. We're looking for your creative take on the issue of political interference in science. Submit one-panel or multi-panel, print cartoons that address the misuse of science on a specific issue or in general.

european anti-GMness

Two articles in the Times on GM foods:

But European consumers and farmers generally do not want them, leaving the European Union to try to steer a Solomonic course between conflicting interests. The basic problem is that Europeans, whose food culture has developed over centuries, balk at putting biotech crops in their fields or their mouths.

Shaï

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while but forgotten. Normal catalogues are full of sultry pouts, and people wearing just one article of clothing (think Abercrombie boys in just jeans, since we all really inspect the clothing in the picture). Shaï’s brilliant catalogue does away with the pretense – it is full-on pornography, in gay, straight, and lesbian versions, to say “wear our clothes and get laid.” (Thanks, Taylor, for the link)

I am a little crazy

So we went to brunch, and to see the al gore movie, and then I hung out at Steve and Shane’s this afternoon; I went home before realizing that I didn't have my building key, and didn't really feel like just taking a shower than then the train back up there for dinner, so I rode back the way I came. It all came out to 23 miles, and it was fun. I meticulously charted it on gmap-pedometer.

foodlist

• quesadillas with cheese and refritos negros
• pasta with lemon and tofu
• pasta salad with yellow squash, dill, and tzatziki-ish sauce.
• Risotto with zucchini, asparagus, and basil
• Tortilla española and mixed greens salad
• (from last week) Tofu with chili and basil and sweet thai noodles
• barbecue baked tofu, salad, cornbread

some more on vioxx

Medical Examiner in Slate:

To test the thesis that Vioxx might help prevent bowel cancer, researchers sponsored by Merck launched a study of 2,500 patients during the course of which it became apparent that whatever the drug's effect on cancer risk, it clearly increased the risk of heart attacks and of stroke. As a result of these findings, Merck took Vioxx off the market, leading to an estimated loss of $28 billion in market value for its stock. (It's worth noting that this increased cardiovascular risk appears to be a class effect that applies to all COX-2 drugs, not just Vioxx.)

The NEJM study in question. (may require proxy or whatever)

There's a limit to how much I can tune out

And scott doesn't help much with his bizarre fascination with television. I hate it. He has these dumb-ass distractions on, which for the most part I can ignore, but then he likes to comment upon them as if I'm paying the slightest bit of attention. The present one, of course, is the end of american idol. The perfunctory Times article calls it a “monster-size celebration of mediocrity that, astonishingly, has not lost its hold on viewers even in its fifth season.”

future recipe: jeweled rice

A friend asked for thoughts on this, which didn't impress me all that much, but it did make me think of one of my favorite dishes, Persian jeweled rice.

The Great Yellow Hope

He does tend to repeat himself a bit, but Michael Pollan is dead-on about the grotesqueries of industrial agriculture (including industrial organic). Unfortunately you'll need someone's borrowed password for TimesSelect®™, but he's worth reading if you have one.

The way we grow corn in this country consumes tremendous quantities of fossil fuel. Corn receives more synthetic fertilizer than any other crop, and that fertilizer is made from fossil fuels — mostly natural gas. Corn also receives more pesticide than any other crop, and most of that pesticide is made from petroleum. To plow or disc the cornfields, plant the seed, spray the corn and harvest it takes large amounts of diesel fuel, and to dry the corn after harvest requires natural gas. So by the time your “green” raw material arrives at the ethanol plant, it is already drenched in fossil fuel. Every bushel of corn grown in America has consumed the equivalent of between a third and a half gallon of gasoline.

And that’s before you distill the corn into ethanol, an energy-intensive process that requires still more fossil fuel. Estimates vary, but they range from two-thirds to nine-tenths of a gallon of oil to produce a single gallon of ethanol. (The more generous number does not count all the energy costs of growing the corn.) Some estimates are still more dismal, suggesting it may actually take more than a gallon of fossil fuel to produce a gallon of our putative alternative to fossil fuel.

yummm, wine.

The Bottom Shelf » Blog Archive » Honey Moon Viognier (I'll be enjoying some of this with the faux tandoori chicken, I think – I quite liked this wine's cousin, the Old Moon Zinfandel, also from TJ’s and also about $6.)

Jeff Krimmel’s “The Bottom Shelf” linked above is a neat blog anyway. It’s not clear what Jeff’s field is, but the site subtitle is “a graduate student opines on beer and wine.” That’s what I do!

desperately needed: statistical literacy

This piece on Vioxx from NYT is interesting for a few reasons – none more so than for how crucial the interpretation of statistical evidence can be. Vioxx trials will involve people offering both the naïve intuition about confidence intervals (if they overlap, there's no difference; good for Vioxx) and the correct one (you need the full variance-covariance matrix to perform a hypothesis test).

I’ve long argued that basic statistics should be required in high school instead of either geometry or algebra II. It wouldn't make much difference in the case of tricky interpretations like this one, but I do think that people would be better served by a working knowledge of basic statistical theory more than by sines or Cramer’s rule.

My comps questions

Day 1: Choose one question from each section:

1. Henry Teune and Adam Przeworski argue persuasively against the use of “most similar systems” research designs. Yet it is fair to say that most similar systems designs continue to dominate in small-N, cross-national research in comparative politics. Write an essay in which you evaluate the legitmacy/utility of most similar systems designs and attempt to explain their persistence in the face of T&P’s criticisms.
2. Among the factors that make quantitative studies superior to case-based qualitative studies are their ability to deal with issues such as reliability, validity, omitted variable bias, endogeneity, and the like. But these advantages cannot be taken as a given; the authors must ensure that their research design overcomes potential pitfalls. Using the paper we have attached (Fearon and Laitin APSR 2003 [“Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War”]), critically evaluate whether their analysis suffers from these (or any other) weaknesses that would undermine their results. Tell us if you find their argument and explanation convincing, and if not, why not?
3. Sophisticated tools for the statistical analysis of multi-level data have been used in political science to make sense of a variety of theoretical problems, but these methods seem to be underemployed inc omparative politics. What are some of the advantages/disadvantages of these methods? How can they aid our understanding of cross-country political dynamics? Can you think of research programs within comparative politics where these methods could prove fruitful?

1. It is common to argue, after Schattschneider, that modern democracy cannot be understood save in terms of political parties. What might this statement mean? Under what conditions are political parties likely to bolster representation of societal preferences and reinforce mechanisms of accountability? Are there circumstances under which parties become a hindrance to democracy? In your answer, please draw from comparative research into political parties and party systems.
2. Larry Diamond argues that the consolidation of a democratic transition

   is most usefully construed as the process of achieving broad and deep legitimation, such that all significant political actors, at both the élite and mass levels, believe that the democratic régime is the most right and appropriate for their society, better than any other realistic alternative their can imagine. Political competitors must come to regard democracy (and the laws, procedures, and institutions it species) as “the only game in town,” the only viable framework for governing the society and advancing their own interests. At the mass level, there must be a broad normative and behavioral consensus – one that cutts across class, ethnic, nationality, and other cleavages – on the legitimacy of the constitutional system, however poor or unsatisfying its performance may be at any point in time (Diamond 1999, p. 65)

   Do you agree with Diamond? Why or why not? What specific processes are implicit in the theory advanced by Diamond? That is, trace in some detail the connections between democratic consolidation and the beliefs of “political competitors.” Finally, provide and example of a transitional political system that either supports or refutes the priciple hypothesis of this theory
3. Literature on comparative political development frequently refers to the capacity of the state (e.g. strong states v. weak states). What are the determinants of state capacity? What characteristics do strong and weak states have? What does it matter to theories of development? How have these capacities changed as a result of globalization

Day 2: Choose one question from each section:

[Really, for both of these blocs I thought, why bother with choices beyond (1)?]

1. Some years ago the social movement literature was challenged by scholars who argued that in postindustrial societies, “new” social movements were more important. Today, however, newly democratic societies and developing countries seem to be experiencing social movements and conflict that fit the “old” social movement paradigm. How relevant is the “new” social movement literature today and where would you find it most appropriate? What conceptual leverage do we gain from the distinction between old and new?
2. Scholars disagree about many aspects of inter-ethnic conflict, ranging from how widespread it is, to its origins, to its consequences for political systems. Take a position on these three issues (level of conflict, causes, and consequences) and analyze the relevant literature. Does effective democracy require and/or profit from cultural homogeneity? Explain how and why.
3. On of the largest and most influential literatures in comparative politics has to do with interpersonal trust. Trust is often considered as a variable with broad consequences for most aspects of democratization. For example, some believe that such trust is a fundamental building block of democracy; others assert that a primary mechanism through which cultural heterogeneity impedes democracy is the breakdown of trust in multi-ethnic societies. Even institutionalists ascribe a large role to trust. Develop a theory addressing the importance of interpersonal trust within the context of attempted democratic transitions. Pay particular attention to the interplay, if any, between interpersonal trust and trust in institutions. Also address the importance, if any, of multiculturalism in this process. Be certain to identify the myriad ways in which trust has (or is thought to have) consequences for democratization.

1. On May 1, 2004, the European Union expanded once again and now it is a political and economic union of 25 countries. While some scholars advocate the use of the comparative method to the study of the European Union, many leading EU scholars remain skeptical. Can comparative politics, with its focus on domestic political processes, fully capture the salient issues of EU political interaction? Be sure to cite specific approaches and scholars in your answer.
2. In Hegemony and Culture, David Laitin speaks of “two faces of culture,” one face ordering political priorities and the other facilitating collective action. Laitin’s work aims to merge these two aspects. Do one of the following:
   • critize Laitin’s approach; or
   • identify another work of comparative politics that onlyl employs one of these aspects of culture and discuss how it could be enhanced through integration of the other face of culture.
   Support your answer with references to other studies of political culture whose approaches you regard as worthy of emulation, or avoidance

food

• faux tandoori chicken
• pizzas with peppers, onions, and garlic
• gemelli with broccoli, peas, and ham
• beef and vegetable chili over sweet potatoes
• fish tacos
• sweet thai noodle sauce, rice noodles; fried tofu with chili and garlic

Food

• Quiche with asparagus & bacon, salad with red onions
• Stir-fried beef, ginger, bok choy, scallions, black pepper sauce
• Something with a chicken, beet salad
• Apple-lamb bratwurst, pumpernickel, salad

reason for blog decline

The firefox blogthis plugin is acting strange – my usual method of blogging is highlighting a nice quote, right-clicking, and going from there. However, the word-confirmation step is getting confused now and I don't know why. Hopefully the problem is some laziness on my part in updating firefox or the plugin.

grading makes me laugh

On this immigration exam one of the questions asks the students to integrate family immigration history with broader trends discussed in the class and in the literature.

Isaac was like many Eastern European Jews of his generation…. [His] love for education and his protestant work ethic … set the foundation for the future success of his family.

In a Tiny Queens Apartment, 70 Cats Gone, and 28 to Go - New York Times

In a Tiny Queens Apartment, 70 Cats Gone, and 28 to Go - New York Times:

"Although it is against Wiccan principles to put a harmful spell upon others, Ms. Neer said as she took out a special candle used for 'super-duper protection spells,' one may cast a boomerang spell on a harmful person to so that the harm comes back to him.

But while she has managed to stave off eviction thus far, the witchcraft is not working wonders on the cat front."

The New Yorker: Fact

Carnal Knowledge: How I became a Tuscan Butcher by Bill Buford:

"One woman stood in front of me with her arms across her chest in open disapproval. I was tempted to prop our pig against the organic wheatgrass stand. (“Mind if we leave this here while we get a cup of coffee?”)"

I love his sense of humor.

ABC News: The Great Microsoft Blunder

ABC News: The Great Microsoft Blunder:

"I think it can now be safely said, in hindsight, that Microsoft's entry into the browser business and its subsequent linking of the browser into the Windows operating system looks to be the worst decision—and perhaps the biggest, most costly gaffe—the company ever made. I call it the Great Microsoft Blunder."

foooood.

• Spinach salad, ginger dressing, broiled tofu
• potato-chorizo soup (patatas a la riojana); ciabatta
• whole-wheat pasta with chorizo and fontina; mixed greens
• Lentil soup with prairie grass farm lamb sausageli>

Hooked on a Feeling - New York Times

Hooked on a Feeling - New York Times

Yes, thursday styles is in fact utterly pathetic.

Are we next? heh

Brand U. - New York Times: "As the program's Web site explains (complete with footnotes, bibliography and quotes from the urban theorist Jane Jacobs): 'In the bustling personal-but-impersonal rhythms of campus activity, as in the streets of a big city, proprietors of public establishments occupy a special position... The SAGES cafe staff are patently not interested in providing grades or passing judgment.' And, not only that, but 'there are no compromises that would undermine the quality of our drinks.... Our chai latte is made not from a bottled concentrate, but from a fresh-brewed base made from scratch every day on site.'"

MTV's 'Super Sweet 16' Gives a Sour Pleasure - New York Times

MTV's 'Super Sweet 16' Gives a Sour Pleasure - New York Times: "Over the years, the sisters' ostentatiousness has earned them enemies. 'Some people give us dirty looks and mock us,' Divya said. 'They're just jealous.' " (Jessica pointed me to this article yesterday – it is, as promised, totally absurd. I set two episodes to record this afternoon.)

The Wallaby That Roared Across the Wine Industry - New York Times

The Wallaby That Roared Across the Wine Industry - New York Times:

"The Yellow Tail phenomenon took everyone in the wine business by surprise. In retrospect, however, it was probably inevitable. Interest in wine had been growing steadily in the United States for two decades, but the domestic industry had never had much success in meeting the need for a good, inexpensive wine to attract all these newcomers. 'There were good wines at $15 and up, but nothing between those wines and the jug wines at the bottom of the scale,' said Rich Cartiere, editor of The Wine Market Report. 'Yellow Tail, at $6, was and remains better than most American wines at $8.99 and $10.99.
'When I think of Australian wines, I think of a big, juicy, red apple,' he added, 'and that's what the American wine consumer looks for, too, even if he can't say why. Couple that with a label that's friendly — not a joke, like so many now — and excellent distribution, and you have an unbeatable package.'"

And You Thought Abercrombie & Fitch Was Pushing It? - New York Times

And You Thought Abercrombie & Fitch Was Pushing It? - New York Times:

"Dov Charney proudly refers to himself as a 'Jewish hustler.' But he is quite possibly the most unorthodox Jew in the history of the shmatte business. A complicated, charismatic and occasionally controversial figure — he is currently facing a sexual harassment suit — Charney is so acutely in tune with the cultural moment that he is somehow able to use the plain blank T-shirts that he sells to convey potent messages concerning contemporary sex and politics."

new coolest thing ever (thanks scott!)

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com
to school
café from home
café from school, my usual route

our place

I finally managed to take pictures of the condo we're working on buying in chicago. (link fixed now.)

Win a date with E.J. Dionne. By Michael Kinsley

Win a date with E.J. Dionne. By Michael Kinsley: "Or maybe I should wait and Win a Trip With Maureen Dowd. Maureen writes: 'Are you girl enough to come shopping with me and my best friend, Jill? Can you dis the defense department and find the shoe department at the same time?'"

QMV, the answer to everything!

This is the only way to fix Congress. By Juliet Eilperin: "Under Hirsch's plan, the tie-breaking chairman would be almost a redistricting dictator. He would have more votes than all the other members combined, which would block the kind of bipartisan gerrymander that happened in New Jersey. At the same time it would keep politicians involved in the process, allowing them to provide expertise about campaigning and the electoral nature of individual districts."

Listen to this. Now.

NPR : Out of Hiding, Into the World: Thembi's AIDS Diary: "Ngubane introduces listeners to her boyfriend, Melikhaya -- and recalls when she told him she was HIV-positive: 'I thought, 'What if I've also infected him? Now I've ruined my life, and I've ruined everybody's life.''"

whew

I finished a draft of my paper that was due for Andrew's MLE class. There are lots of loose ends and unfinished business – like the whole fixing the formal model – but it's not horrible, I don't think.

The gist is that strikes are a form of collective action that individuals coördinate on when they believe that their action will be pivotal to bringing about change; and that they observe and interpret imperfect signals about that probability. The empirical part is a count model looking at the number of strikes and strike-days in a given month, with covariates of who's participating and demonstrating. I find that the presence of radicals depresses striking and the presence of students is associated with an increase.

ah delightful bitchy food writing...

Why sauvignon blanc is overrated. By Mike Steinberger: "Simply put, the grape is a dud, producing chirpy little wines wholly devoid of complexity and depth, the very qualities that make wine interesting and worth savoring. For years, this offensively inoffensive grape has escaped criticism while chardonnay and merlot have been scorned. The free ride ends here."

WashU Poster Boy (eeeek!)

My Conflict class with Sunita on Wednesday afternoon, where I ate my pen contemplatively, seems to have been captured by some PR photographer.

Potato Leek Soup, salad, and anarchist pumpernickel

The Soup

Ingredients

• 4 medium potatoes
• ¼ pound bacon
• 2–4 leeks
• 4 shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• Rosemary
• Parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1½ cups whole milk
• ½ cup heavy cream

Method

Chop the bacon and place in a cold heavy pot. Turn on heat to medium; remove bacon when it's done and has rendered most of its fat. Slice the leeks, shallots, and garlic. Place in the pan and cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and sweat for 20 minutes. You don't want them too brown, but a little caremalization never hurt anyone. Cut the potatoes into about 1-inch cubes.

When everything is soft and smells yummy, add potatoes, bacon, and chicken stock. Cook, uncovered, until potatoes are soft (45 minutes?). Purée in food mill or using a handy immersion blender. Add milk and cream, and heat through without boiling.

About anarchist pumpernickel

Here's the story from the riverfront times back in 2001 about the marvelous breads made by the Black Bear Bakery Collective, including the Lickhalter Pumpernickel pictured above.

Their bread label may show a smiling bruin astride a bicycle, but the bakery's mission statement defines itself as an "anti-authoritarian, anti-ideological collective" that "challenges division-of-labor and capital-based hierarchical business." Aside from producing healthy, affordable food, one of the bakery's primary objectives is "to organize and embrace anarchic grassroots agitation, information and action."

Slashdot | Why Is Data Mining Still A Frontier?

Slashdot | Why Is Data Mining Still A Frontier?: "Scientific (and other) data is still housed in unrelated collections, waiting for some enterprising Relational Database Programmer to unlock the keys to understanding. Is RDBMS still a Brave New Frontier, or will Google make the art obsolete once they finish indexing everything?"

This is what occasioned my finally re-finding the metafilter question below – I work with social scientists who, because of their statistical training and general worldview, call rectangular tables "databases" all the time (god that irks me..) and to whom I've had to (try to) explain why relational data structures are good both theoretically (shifting of unit of analysis, forces explicit decisions at query-writing time) and practically (allows collection of data that you'd like to be able to use in the future but collection cost is high).

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies - Los Angeles Times

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies - Los Angeles Times:

"Critics dismiss such talk as a right-wing fundraising ploy. 'They're trying to develop a persecution complex,' said Jeremy Gunn, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief."

They really do thrive on and try to cultivate this absurd idea that christians don't control congress, the white house, and the courts... that they are in any way not a majority and that America is not the most religious developed country.

The Long-Distance Journey of a Fast-Food Order - New York Times

The Long-Distance Journey of a Fast-Food Order - New York Times:

"While the call-center idea has received some attention since a scattered sampling of McDonald's franchises began testing it 18 months ago, most customers are still in the dark. For Meredith Mejia, a regular at a McDonald's in Pleasant Hill, Calif., near San Francisco, it meant that her lunch came with a small helping of the surreal. When told that she had just ordered her double cheeseburger and small fries from a call center 250 miles away, she said the concept was 'bizarre.'"

Chastity, M.D. By Amanda Schaffer

Chastity, M.D. By Amanda Schaffer:

"As Michael Specter pointed out in The New Yorker last month, the Bush administration spends hundreds of millions of dollars touting the benefits of abstinence. Most abstinence-promoting programs waste the government's money funneling misinformation directly to adolescents. But one such group, the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, has another audience in mind—medical students. With the help of Congress, the institute has finagled $200,000 out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a sexual-health curriculum for doctors in training. It's a small bit of pork, but it represents the hijacking of a government agency that normally funds research based on merit. And the CDC's imprimatur could persuade medical schools to use the institute's work."

A fellow sufferer!

How can social scientists learn database skills? | Ask MetaFilter:

"I am a computer guy who has been working extensively with a couple of psychologists on a research project. I knew they were more comfortable with single-table (flat-file or spreadsheet) data representation for data storage, but in this case their study generated much data, and so highly-related data, that I convinced them to give a database a shot. Long story short: half a year later, they're still a little mystified by SQL and wouldn't be able to design their own table schemas if their lives depended on it, but they see the very strong advantages databases have over spreadsheets for their needs. Furthermore, we're writing a paper about how to replicate the study we did, and we want to include a bit about why we used a database instead of a spreadsheet and why we think anyone replicating the study should consider doing the same thing. "

Realty Bites By Douglas Gantenbein

Realty Bites By Douglas Gantenbein: "Certainly, most people realize that a 6 percent commission—or even 5 percent—is nuts, given that e-mail alerts, Web-based home tours, and other services can easily give buyers and sellers as much information as their realtors. It will be a painful change for the 1 million real-estate agents out there—alas, a number that is growing rapidly. But a little Darwinism is needed to thin out the herd, and when it happens it won't give me much grief."

Wow. This is brilliant design.

AMEICO INC. - It takes innovation to create a classic.: "Patented desk clocks with 12 slides, each with the name of two major cities; together, the 24 cities represent the 24 global time zones; to find the local hour in another time zone, simply roll the clock so that the city representing that time zone is on top."

current song stuck in my head

Dream Machine, by Mark Farina and Sean Hayes, from the Hôtel Costes 8 album. (iTunes Music Store link).

"Hello, Bangalore? Where's My Unemployment Check?" By Timothy Noah

"Hello, Bangalore? Where's My Unemployment Check?" By Timothy Noah: "The GAO also found that states were offshoring some administration of child support enforcement and—in what seems like a cruel joke at the expense of American workers displaced by cheap foreign labor—unemployment insurance!"

Anyone see the simpsons last night?

Switch Different By Paul Boutin

Switch Different By Paul Boutin:

"As a Mac nerd, I know I'm supposed to gush that this is a brilliant move for Apple and an exciting day for me. Instead, I've been struggling to figure out why a Windows boot from Apple warrants front-page play in the New York Times."

Unusual media coverage of apple was discussed over on slashdot following a Dvorak column a while back too.

Salon | Three Colors

Salon Directory:

"Kieslowski's 'Three Colors' trilogy was more than just the slickest concept album in the history of European cinema. It was a quantum leap for the medium, a reminder not only of what was possible, but what was necessary.

I'm trying at some point in the next couple of months to arrange a showing of the trilogy, since I know a few people to whom I've said, "What? We must, must watch them sometime!" This salon article from 2002 is as glowing as I always am about Kieslowski's masterful work.

The Bjork-Barney Enigma Machine - New York Times

The Bjork-Barney Enigma Machine - New York Times:

"Because the two are so artistically and personally unconventional — for the Cremaster films, Mr. Barney transformed himself into a tap-dancing satyr; for the Academy Awards, Bjork transformed herself, with less success, into a swan — is it hard to imagine them doing something as conventional as dating."

Why is it impossible to mention Björk without making some pathetic mention of the swan dress? It really wasn't bad. It was creative, and more so than most of the crap that passes for 'fashion'.

Is One Museum Honoring Cheese Really Enough? - New York Times

Is One Museum Honoring Cheese Really Enough? - New York Times

botanical garden pictures

Here (went with Alex this afternoon)
I should install Gallery at some point... until then it's just regular photoshop web pages.

menu

• Leek and potato soup with black bear pumpernickel
• Sweet potato and ginger crusted mahi-mahi, over spinach curry
• Tofu and green beans, black pepper sauce
• Something with chicken pieces (risotto? chicken salad?)

Missouri legislative highlights

: Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri

(A.1.7) Present the benefits to individuals, families, and society of a lifelong monogamous marriage between a man and a woman.
(A.1.8) Present scientifically accurate information, consistent with the provisions of sections 1.205, RSMo, and 188.015, RSMo, on the development of the unborn child from fertilization until birth, including but not limited to such developmental milestones and information that:

1. At fertilization an unborn child's life begins;
2. The unborn child's gender is determined at fertilization;
3. An unborn child's heartbeat and brainwaves can be detected during the first trimester of pregnancy;
4. The unborn child has growth and development of various body organs and limbs, fingerprints, and sensory awareness long before birth; and
5. Alcohol, drug, and tobacco use by the mother can be harmful to the developing unborn child.

(A.7) No school district or charter school, or its personnel or agents, shall provide abortion services, or permit a person or entity to offer, sponsor, or furnish in any manner any course materials or instruction relating to human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases to its students if such person or entity is a provider of abortion services.

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day

OK how funny / wrong is theDictionary.com/Word of the Day for today, my birthday. Yup, it's the last uphill milestone (25, cheaper car insurance!) before the downhill ones (aarp) start. :)

cool stuff i want

V&A - Shop: I saw someone at washu with this – and you know me and stylish, unique bags. I was jealous.

This CMYK shirt is also very much my style.

| a gay typeface? | Typophile

| a gay typeface? | Typophile: "My typographic gaydar could be on the blink."

I was checking typophile to see if anyone yet had commented on NYT's web redesign and the abundant use of Georgia.

um, duh

Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer - New York Times: "Analyzing complications in the 30 days after the operations, the researchers found no differences between those patients who were prayed for and those who were not."

hahahaha

Prosecution of Midwife Casts Light on Home Births - New York Times: "Doctors, legislators and prosecutors in Indiana and in the nine other states with laws prohibiting midwifery by people other than doctors and nurses say home births supervised by midwives present grave and unacceptable medical risks."

Dinner: Mandarin Kitchen!

This is a new Chinatown place for us – we usually go to Lao Sze Chuan, Spring World, Penang, or 'Little' Three Happiness.. Branching out, here are lthforum posts about MK. (The other places are of course worth looking up at lthforum and drooling over.)

• link1
• link2
• link3

protests!

Around downtown chicago yesterday we observed a couple demonstrations – one by the AMSA people for universal health care, and another by some group of apparent high schoolers with signs that said "finish our school" and "future voter."

My main observation on American protests: we need more ululating.

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/edacious

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/edacious: "edacious"

Software flaw? County clerk threatens to resign over issue

Salt Lake Tribune - Software flaw? County clerk threatens to resign over issue:

"Funk invited in representatives of Black Box Voting, a Washington state-based nonprofit voter rights group, to inspect the machines earlier this month. Black Box has yet to issue a final report on the machines that are slated to replace Utah's punch card system of voting at a cost of $27 million.

By the end of the Monday meeting, Diebold engineers convinced the county commissioners the discrepancies in the machines' memory are the result of testing and of additional printing fonts.

But Diebold told the commissioners that allowing unauthorized people access to the machines had violated their integrity. "

What a fucking mess! In an ideal world, all these voting machines would be open source and subject to any tests anyone wanted to do to them.

NPR : A Year to Live, A Year to Die

NPR : A Year to Live, A Year to Die: "Stewart Selman had just been told he had a malignant brain tumor, and he said he wanted to keep an audio diary."

My mom died of one of these nasty things, called glioblastoma, which has an infinitesimal survival rate. Since so much of the effects depend on where in the brain the tumor is located, experiences differ vastly.

Mozilla Update :: Extensions -- More Info:Tab X - All Releases

"Mozilla Update :: Extensions -- Tab X: "Adds a close button to each of the browser tabs, and removes the close button at the end of the tab bar."