...and the war came.

I'm working on a short mockumentary video project now, and as we get closer to filming, I keep thinking back to one of my favorites of the genre: The Battle of Hoth.



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The Soft Glow of Tradition v. The Harsh Glare of Modernity

Cross-post to Open Market: Why the sanctity of the female sex is imperiled by environmental activists. Here.

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DC Free Kareem Rally Photos

Bureaucrash and friends showed up outside the Egyptian Embassy Cultural Center this afternoon to protest the imprisonment of Egyptian blogger and law student Kareem Amer. Today's DC protest was just one of almost a dozen coordinated events held around the world to bring attention to the Mubarak regime's reprehensible record on censorship and human rights.



I took several photos; the full series is here.

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In the Future, Shoulder Pads Will Rule the World

For a look back at a 1993 film (produced by AT&T!) that showed us what the world would look like today, see my review at Open Market.

Here's a delicious taste:

Connections part 6
Uploaded by donaldtheduckie

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The Simpleton's Guide to Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)



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The Simpleton's Guide to Net Neutrality

Scott Cleland of The Precursor Blog has linked to the net neutrality video. In this installment, Prof. Scammington brings you the basics on NN and its implications. Thanks to Scott for calling it "wonderfully succinct."



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The Simpleton's Guide to Ethanol



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The Coolest Origami You'll See All Day

The Coolest Origami You'll See All Day

A recent issue of The New Yorker (2/19/07) had a fascinating article on physicist and American origami master Robert Lang. Now, I've made a couple of cranes in my time, and did a passable job on an origami frog once, but the kind of projects being executed by Lang and his technologically advanced contemporaries are a mind-blowing contrast. Just remember, all of these designs are made using a single, uncut piece of paper (some as large as six feet square).

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When Metaphors Attack

This afternoon one of my distinguished office colleagues received an email from Greenpeace, responding to the President’s State of the Union remarks about global warming. In order to put us in the right state of mind to “TAKE ACTION” (Step 1: Donate to Greenpeace), the Rainbow Warriors head to the linguistic kitchen:

President Bush has let the issue of global warming simmer on the back burner of his presidency for 6 years. The scientific community and the rest of the world has heard the oven timer go off, but last night, President Bush continued to ignore the alarm as he served up a plateful of tepid solutions to a worldwide audience.

While the chef may finally have acknowledged the brewing problem, he failed to rescue the planet from the oven. His so-called solutions of “clean” coal and nuclear energy are a recipe for disaster. Well, we’re serving up a fresh new alternative to global warming with real solutions that don’t rely on nuclear energy or coal. Our plan would cut global CO2 emissions in the U.S. by almost 75% within the next 43 years. In fact, renewable energy and greater energy efficiency can deliver half of the world’s energy needs by 2050.

The President has failed to lead this country, or the world, on the issue of global warming. It’s up to Congress to pull us out of the global warming fire, and time is running out.

Hmmm…so global warming has been simmering on the back burner for six years, the timer has gone off, and Bush has served a plate of tepid solutions. Are those solutions from the global warming pot that’s been on the back burner, or someplace else? Also, if the earth is in the oven, what exactly is simmering on the stove? Wouldn’t global warming then be the oven itself? Or at least the heating element? Or perhaps even the insulation around the door? He also mentions the global warming fire – is that a grease fire somewhere on the range or is that a separate cooking fire, like over an open hearth, Colonial Williamsburg-style? Also, what does brewing have to do with any of this? I guess beer is carbonated, which is kind of a connection, but a pretty weak one.

Yes, I understand that global warming rhetoric is likely to be rife with thermal references. That, however, does not excuse writing a fundraising email which takes a litany of cooking-themed phrases and lumps them all together in a tortuous extended metaphor that makes NO FUCKING SENSE. This is wordsmithing worthy of Tom Friedman.

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Is This Template Too Humble?

I'm just getting around to reading the January/February 2007 issue of The Atlantic (cover story: "Why Presidents Lie"), and what do I find but notice of a re-design of the magazine. In a short summary credited only to "The Editors," the thinking behind the new look is described:

The design of The Atlantic has always been so self-effacing, so quietly subordinate to the magazine's stories, essays, and poems, that it seems somehow out of keeping to draw your attention to the redesign in your hands. But it deserves an introduction. This new design, the result of more than a year's preparation, grew out of concerns expressed by our readers and staff that the layout seemed a little too humble.

Ah yes, that's what life is like once one has attained the lofty perch of Atlantic editor: you spend your days sifting through emails from readers complaining about how your magazine's layout is too humble.

I'm normally a big fan of the magazine, but what on earth is that even supposed to mean? That the design wasn't noticable enough? That it wasn't as good as the stories? That it was excellent but people didn't appreciate it? And really, as long as one is capable, is there really such a thing as being "too humble"?

Clearly, their 150th anniversary ("We published Nathaniel Hawthorne!") has rotted their brains, causing them acquire Severe Pretentious Publishing Syndrome. It usually strikes solely in New York, but publications based in Boston and/or DC have been known to suffer as well.

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