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Showing posts from January, 2013

Programming Update

Apologies for the lack of updates here, I've been swamped by a few things: 1) I'm finally, finally  getting into the swing of my new job. The old guy is taking off, and I'm taking over the full responsibilities. It's a lot to learn and a lot of mistakes to make before I can get comfortable. 2) Our only intern bailed on us after a single day in the office, right as all the factchecking is coming in, so I'm having to do that all myself, while keeping up with #1. 3) Lastly, I got dumped and had to frantically move out of the place I was sharing with my now-ex. She had most of the stuff so I've had to put together a functional wretched bachelor kit too. I wondered about mentioning this online, but since I've made oblique references to the being-in-a-relationship thing I figure I might as well come clean. It burns like fucking hell but hey, these things happen. Further updates should follow. In the meantime, you can check out my print piece on Shirley S

Whoa.

Winter Wonderland

This, from yesterday, is the first snow I've seen since moving to DC.

Quote for the Day

"American politics at the moment is dominated by a succession of arcane, convoluted and arbitrary ceremonies performed by fakirs and zealots, fervently intoning the catechisms of long-dead sages, apparently unconcerned that they are bringing the real tasks of government to a disastrous standstill. Perhaps "banana republic" isn't the right phrase; "decadent empire" might be better. But either way, a trillion-dollar coin doesn't seem like it would have added much to the indignity." -- Matt Steinglass .

Toy Story 3's Visions of Death

I was quite impressed with this : The Dump/The Incinerator = Annihilation/Oblivion/No Afterlife at All: (Again, I don't blame anyone who thinks that no, this is actually Hell. The imagery is certainly there. I just happen to disagree, here's why.) After the possibility of togetherness but pointlessness, and the possibility of ongoing torment, comes the possibility of complete destruction. The toys react with initial mortal terror, as complete destruction is indeed an on the surface very scary concept. There are several times they could be destroyed, but manage to just barely scrape by by the skin of their teeth. But at the very end, falling into the pit, no way out, and no hope of rescue, the toys, starting with Buzz, have a change in attitude. They accept it and intend to go out together, with dignity. The look on Buzz's face seems to say it all. Even if they escaped, where would they go? to lives of unending meaninglessness? They realize that they were there for Andy, a

"By adapting our ideals later, we were able to profit immensely."

My Daily Show Appearance

For almost a whole second !! Too bad the segment was pretty lousy.

How the Platinum Coin Option Helps the President's Negotiating Position

I agree with Joe Weisenthal , the debate over the platinum coin has been the most interesting discussion in ages. Not only has it split the usual coalitions—with Josh Barro allied with Atrios against Kevin Drum, for example—it's exposed in a stark way just how primitive the economic views of much of the national media are. On this segment , for example, neither of the hosts have a clear idea of what the coin proposal even is, let alone what it would do. But Felix Salmon has a point —the coin proponents haven't been clear on the operational use of the idea. I agree that it would be a bad idea to wave the coin around and taunt the Republicans with it, they'd only be emboldened. So what should the president's strategy be? Here's my outline: 1) He should absolutely refuse to even entertain the possibility of negotiations over raising the debt ceiling. Normalizing the idea of holding the economy hostage to extract unrelated policy concessions is a terrible developme

Ship Design in Mass Effect, or, How a Staircase Destroyed the Normandy

[ Minor spoilers. ] In my continuing quest to play through years-old games so they'll run well on my crappy computer, I took a spin through Mass Effect over the weekend (it was pretty good!), and one thing stuck out at me that speaks a bit to how set design affects the believability of a setting. So you play as one Commander Shepard, a standard videogame badass, who zips around the galaxy in his own custom ship, the Normandy. You spend a great deal of time on the ship, and throughout the game something was nagging me that I could't quite put my finger on. Here's a map of the command deck: Mass Effect, like its close predecessor Knights of the Old Republic, has that Bioware interior design aesthetic where almost everything is perfectly clean and shiny, and 70-90 percent of all buildings are taken up by ostensibly ancillary spaces—catwalks, hallways, waiting areas, parlors, planters, staircases, etc. It's like they hired some architect to design "a building&q

My Thinking Evolves on Climate Change and Geoengineering

An engineered phytoplankton bloom, designed to lock carbon on the seafloor, seen from space . When folks talk about climate change for a lay audience they typically omit a discussion of geoengineering (meaning trying to deliberately lower the earth's temperature using technology), I imagine because they don't want to complicate the issue and the implications are uncomfortable. For one thing many of the strategies miss many of the worst effects of climate change; seeding the atmosphere with reflective chemicals like sulfur dioxide to decrease warming, for example, does nothing to combat ocean acidification. For another geoengineering would have to be an ongoing process, especially if we continue to burn carbon—better to use this opportunity to move to a renewable-based economy and put fossil fuels behind us. I also suspect that it seems like a bit of a cheat, a way for humanity to wriggle out of the dire consequences of its actions. But I've had in the back of my

My Favorite Things 2012

Happy New Year, everyone! This is just a list of things I enjoyed in 2012, in no particular order: 1. My new job. I'm still living basically hand-to-mouth but I really enjoy it and things seem to be progressing nicely. 2. Zero Punctuation . Yahtzee Croshaw is a funny, insightful bastard. His humor has been getting more moral of late as well (i.e., excising the gay jokes), which is great and hard to pull off. 3. New family! My sister got married this year to a guy I knew from elementary school and while they are scraping along money-wise like everyone else I know they seem in good spirits and I'm happy for them. UPDATE: They've got a cute vacation blog here . 4. Spec Ops: The Line . This is the finest piece of art I experienced in 2012, something that affected me profoundly and had me thinking about it for weeks afterwards. 5. Terry Pratchett . I'm almost completely through with the Discworld books, and for me they represent the very best of pop art. They'