PSoTD

Today's Question:

For those who decorate for Christmas, what do you put at the top of your Christmas tree?

It seems on target. They are isolating Bush and the neocons, pitting their words against military Generals and the wishes of the Iraqi leadership. Finally, the meme: we should leave so Iraq can begin healing. I see Bush's speech dropping him a few more points, regardless of the news media's incompetence in coverage. The President's image isn't going to be Commander-In-Chief, but Incompetent-In-Chief.

Kerry: The President is not dealing with reality.

Feingold: The President is confused.

Look for those terms to resonate, especially Feingold's. Who doesn't believe that?

Sometimes I like to do Technorati searches on terms and get a flavor of the blogtopia. Wanna know what sucks?

Public School Education, The Darkness of Winter, Cell Phone Service, Reality, Purdue Basketball, Nicorette, Subsidized Housing, Hollywood, Smoking, Losing Your Tickling Video Clips...

and so on. I would recommend not doing a "sucks search" on Technorati, you would not believe how many AOL, MSN and GreatestJournal.com entries you find... and many of them kinda, well, you know...

When government revenues diminish, and budgets get tight, one of the first things at risk for cutting or reduction are the processes for informing the public about government activity. I'm not saying there isn't merit for looking at best practices and efficiency, and cutting the number of newspapers a county may advertise in may be a worthy idea, but changes should be based on effective distribution of information, not on budgetary squeezes.

And then there's this question - is a newspaper more likely to reduce news coverage of a county's activities if the county is no longer a paying client?

Let me be the first to cast some, at least here... So the Rolling Stones are going to play at halftime at the next Super Bowl.

Obviously, the Super Bowl entertainment decisionmakers keep searching for new lows. Rolling Stones? Does anyone even care? Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... This choice was truly Panic in Detroit (sorry, D.B.).

In a way, the decisionmakers are quite limited. They are tasked with the job of bringing in someone for spectacle, for pizzazz, for grab. And no more of those bare tits, either. Well, Jagger can flash, and maybe he should have Justin Timberlake run on stage and rip off his spandex top just for the pathetic "humor". But still, the Super Bowl folks are quite limited - talent and performance are not important, just name and draw, regardless of how many decades past relevance that name and draw are. Hell, if the Estate would allow it, the Committee would drag the coffins of Elvis and Sinatra onstage and let starlets rake their fingers through their dusty contents all the while having the Vienna Boys Choir perform Blue Suede Shoes and My Way on kazoos.

Because that, my friends, would draw eyeballs for halftime. And so, I think we should all email the Super Bowl Entertainment Committee, and request Dead Entertainers Interpreted by Eunuchs. Because it really can't get much more boring than The Rolling Stones.

And I gotta say, it's pretty damn invasive and pretty damn annoying, particularly the Privacy Service. I'm not enthralled that they discontinued the definition updates for my previous version in a fashion rather sudden to me. I would have paid the upgrade price for them to continue maintaining the definitions for a year, particularly since I just updated my subscription in July...

The Privacy Service and the Spam Killer on McAfee are just overkill, they slow down my email software and change the damn POP server settings every time I start up, and so far I haven't spotted a general override. Disabling Privacy doesn't seem to work, it is enabled every time I start up...

grrr...

I'm adding the following to the blogroll, just because I wanna...

Localfeeds: Harrisburg, PA

Night Bird's Fountain

And... I added Random Thoughts earlier this month but forgot to mention it.

Thanks!

Okay, today's question is a test of your television viewing past.

What old kids' television show ought to be brought back with a Christmas special? And what would the story be?

Good news for photographers like me...

BLURRY snaps could be a thing of the past with the development of a digital camera that refocuses photos after they have been taken.

The camera could be useful for action shots taken by sports photographers or for CCTV surveillance cameras, which often produce fuzzy shots due to poor lighting.

In an ordinary digital camera, a sensor behind the lens records the light level that hits each pixel on its surface. If the light rays reaching the sensor are not in focus, the image will appear blurry.

Now, Pat Hanrahan and his team at Stanford University have figured out how to adjust the light rays after they have reached the camera. They inserted a sheet of 90,000 lenses, each just 125 micrometres across, between the camera's main lens and the image sensor. The angle of the light rays that strike each microlens is recorded, as well as the amount of light arriving along each ray.

Software can then be used to adjust these values for each microlens to reconstruct what the image would have looked like if it had been properly focused. That also means any part of the image can be refocused - not just the main subject.

Of course, probably not good news for my wallet...

On the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks' heroic act of civil disobedience on that Montgomery bus. Read more here.

Avedon has a bit of an explanation of her Bra of the Week feature. Well worth the read. What the world needs is more playfulness, including the sexual and apparel play with friends and those we're even more intimate with... Play is one of the best ways that humans share joy, whether the play be a joke, a game, a tease, or activity more passionate.

It could have just been a car accident.

Rep. Tim Murphy, one of two members of Congress treated at a military hospital after a weekend accident in Baghdad, said Monday that wounded soldiers told him the United States should remain in Iraq.

Murphy appeared at the event in hiking boots and sported a small bandage on a cut above his right eye. He said he is still experiencing soreness in his neck, arms and back.

Murphy, 53, said he was traveling on a back road to the Baghdad airport with Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga., on Saturday night when an oncoming vehicle sideswiped the small armored bus in which they were traveling.

Yeah, maybe it was just some innocent accident on the way to the Baghdad Airport. Wonder if that bus had a protective convoy. Of course, you gotta wonder how heavy the bus was, since it was toppled by a sideswipe.

And you gotta wonder how close the Bush Administration is to losing a civilian American elected official in a visit to Iraq.

When they fired Steve Mariucci.

But the Lions still don't know what they're doing if they won't fire Matt Millen as GM.

There's a chorus of Can Can Matt Millen out there: Oregon Commentator Online, Thomas P. M. Barnett, Earlblog.net, Deadspin, amongst others...

So...

How many pounds do you figure you added on over Thanksgiving holiday?

10 days in California is a long time, but now we're back to Central Pennsylvania. A couple of things before I start resting from the redeye...

Big thanks to Dylan and jane for guest posting while I was gone - and the same for ericthek. Interesting posts and they kept them coming, too.

A couple of observations while in California:

San Francisco Airport is a kickass airport. 180 degree change in my customer experience there last night from any other time I've been there. I am impressed.

Folsom, California has grown like a field of weeds since I was there last. We have two friends who have settled their families there. The place looks nothing like I remember it.

Downtown Sacramento was beautiful last weekend - leaves still on the trees but changing colors.

I know the snow and freezing temperatures are coming, but I'm still glad to be home.

I ran across a really interesting article, “Bloggers’ Expectations of Privacy and Accountability: An Initial Survey,” by Fernanda B. Viegas. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 10 #3 (Apr 2005): article 12. It available freely on the Internet here.

We as a society have come to some general understanding of personal space in a public setting. Unless an elevator is crowded we don’t stand close to each other. Smoking is prohibited in many public spaces. We have decided it violates our privacy when our social security numbers are used on everything from student id cards to health insurance cards.

The blogosphere, though, is still sorting through these things. A sense of what is private and what is public blurs in online journals. Where does someone’s virtual smoke end and where does our personal space begin? We’ve all read about people who lost (or found) jobs by virtue of their blogs. Many of us have heard about people who lost friends or significant others because of something written on their blogs. This isn’t really new. I remember Ma telling me never to put anything in print that I wouldn’t want to see in the newspaper the next day. When I was in college the student newspaper ran a photo of an elected student government official nude, from the back. It was taken and published with the man’s permission. Stories circulated about him nearly (or actually) losing a job when someone mailed the photo to his post-college employer.

Viegas looks at some of the emerging social norms among the 492 bloggers surveyed in January, 2004. They may not have been the most usual bloggers, as most had been blogging for over a year and only 10% were under 20 (46% between 21 and 30, 28% 31-40). A little over 40% said they had gotten into trouble over something written in their blog either to some extent (34%) or frequently (6%). One passage that really struck me was this:

Bloggers write not only about themselves but often also about other people with whom they interact. When asked whether they sought other people’s permission to blog about them, 66% of respondents almost never asked permission, and only 3% said they always asked permission first. Interestingly, only 9% of the survey respondents said they never blogged about people they knew personally.

This one also stood out for me:

Nevertheless, most bloggers must rely on limited indicators of past actions (access logs, comments, and trackbacks) in order to form a mental picture of who is reading their posts. This paucity of clues indicating identity and presence can cause distorted views of readership to emerge. For one thing, bloggers may begin to perceive the people whose presence is more tangibly obvious (e.g. commenters) as their entire audience.

And later:

This has significant implications for privacy in the sense that, once people start thinking about a small part of their readership as the whole of it, they may customize their postings for that particular group of people. For instance, if all the comments a blogger gets on his site come from close friends, he might forget that his actual readership is broader and might start blogging about things that he would only talk about with close friends.

75% of the bloggers responding to the survey thought they could not be sued for what they wrote.

These are issues I have struggled with as well, from both sides of the coin. Once I have posted an entry, even if I edit or delete it later, the original post can still be reposted or quoted by someone else somewhere else. When I blog I try to always be conscious of the fact that anyone I write about could read it or that the people who know me could read it. In part this is because a few of the people I interact with or whose lives intertwine with mine in some way blog and more than once me or mine has appeared in these blogs. In one case I have minimized my contact with someone because of how people were described in their blog. In one case it was me being described in less than glowing terms, in others it was people I care about. We were not mentioned by name but by circumstance described it was obvious. In another case the blogger was so mean spirited that I just didn’t want to be around them anymore, even if they were pleasant in person. In a third I have changed my route on a weekly trip because if even a small percentage of the things I have read about happening in that house actually happen I don’t want to be anywhere near it when the bullets start to fly. I doubt any of these people are aware that I know of their blogs because none of them use their full names (although some use photos).

If I know of these people I can only assume that at least of few of my readers know me, in addition to those I have told and who may stop in from time to time. There have been times when something interesting has happened and I have wanted to blog about it but could not shake the nagging feeling that it might infringe on someone else’s privacy. In some cases I have changed some of the details and gone ahead, but wondered if it was wrong to do so. If something is said in public it seems okay to blog on it, but if it was said in private or in a personal email I don’t, unless permission is explicitly given, but in the future I might. I struggle and want to stay on the right side of the line but am aware that I may have sometimes crossed it. As a parent I struggle with what can be said about my children. Much of my life revolves around them but their stories are their own and I try not to talk about them too much. Someone I knew years ago has a blog and discusses her children’s lives in detail and while I enjoy reading it, I wonder how her children will feel when they get older about this information floating around out there or how they will feel about some of the comments she has made about their father.

More than most people I am aware of how permanent the Internet is. Yes things do disappear but someone persistent enough can often find them again. Dumb questions I asked on listservs back in 1990 are still out there and come up every once in a while when I am looking for something else. It never fails to crush my ego when they do.

The digital social norms are still forming; I think Viegas’ article is a fascinating snapshot of what they were in early 2004.

(cross posted to Above Average Jane)

YOW!

AccuWeather is predicting a colder and snowier winter than normal, but municipalities and heating businesses say they are prepared for whatever Mother Nature has in store this season.

“It looks like were going to have a colder and much snowier than normal winter across most of Pennsylvania,” said John Dlugoenski, a meteorologist for AccuWeather in State College. “We can say with pretty good certainty it will be snowier than normal.”

Dlugoenski said we could have up to as much snow as the winter season of 1995-96, based on weather patterns. That season, 62 inches of snowfall was recorded in Reading, while 77.6 inches was recorded in Harrisburg.

I like snow, but I can't say this news is being enjoyed in our household...

Okay, I've had it, wasn't bad, but I don't think I'll have anymore.

Today's Question:

How did you spend the Friday after Thanksgiving?

My sister-in-law is a chef in California's Bay Area. Short of winning the lottery or marrying a man of means, I see no way she'll ever be able to buy a house in the Bay Area. This is no knock on her nor a suggestion she do either of those things, just a reality check on the price of housing and the wage structure of many of the service industries, from teachers to printers to pickle salespeople. California is building a permament Apartment Class unless something drastic happens to the real estate marketplace.

Today's Inquirer includes an article on Montgomery County Commissioner Jim Mathews plan to run for PA Lt. Gov. He intends to formally announce on Dec. 7th. I wonder what the story is behind this one.

Let's say everyone's sitting around eating turkey and conversation fades. You need to think of something quick to get it started again. Try this:

What is the most effective but strangest ice breaker you've ever heard? Mine is "childhood pets I inadvertently killed." It has brought grown men and reserved women nearly to tears with stories of trying to teach kittens to swim (caught a cold and died) and stroking hamsters after being told not to (probably natural causes but the guilt set in anyway). The one about the duck is too tragic to mention.

Normally I don't drink alcohol but a couple of times a year, usually at an extended family gathering, I have a glass of wine. Today was the day. Can you tell?

Because there may be a shortage of them by Christmas...

I really can't feel sorry for people who move somewhere and then decide they want something that was there BEFORE THEY WERE changed because it somehow inconveniences them...

From Yahoo!:

Michael Fisk is a street fighting man. And the street he's fighting is named Dicks.

Fisk, who lives on Dicks Street in the Los Angeles suburb of West Hollywood, has gone to city hall to get the road's name changed -- saying that its slang meaning has made life difficult for homeowners.

"Since we moved in four years ago its just become such a hassle," Fisk said. "It's embarrassing. Something definitely needs to be changed. I realize that it's a man's name, but words change meaning, and this one has."

Dicks Street is in a neighborhood that fancies first names for its roads, with Keith and Norma among the choices.

Fisk, who collected signatures on a petition from more than half of the residents on Dicks Street, has so far been met with a lack of interest from city officials, who say that changing a street name is too much work.

Don't like the name of a street? Don't move to it...

I'm just popping in for a few, but thought I'd add a question of the day based on this story snippet:

Dora the Explorer, Scooby-Doo and Mr. Potato Head are set to join this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but high winds could threaten the festivities.

Today's question: What popular - or unpopular - cultural images would you like to see as big balloon displays in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

If you want to visit an enigma representing America, visit Disneyland. It has been 20 years since the last time I visited Disneyland, and much has changed in that time. Of course, much has also remained the same. There is a genius about Disney in their development of attractions that is both admirable and creepy at the same time, mostly because it deals with mass control of individuals as crowds for purposes of leveraging spending. You can look at what Disney has done, for example, to make standing in lines for over an hour more interesting and acceptable, and there is a certain creativity in it. But, you must also remember, they intend for those individuals to spend that hour in line waiting for that 90 second ride, and they don't plan on spending much to do that.

Three days ago I looked forward to a return visit to Disneyland. Today, I look forward to not returning again for at least 20 years. I like people. I like amusement parks. I don't like the volume of people that Disney squeezes into their amusement parks. I'll take Knoebbels.

I used to say that Steven Soderbergh has done wonders for George Clooney's career, but I'm beginning to wonder if the reverse isn't true.  Clooney has proven himself to be a vivid, insightful and fresh filmmaker who is capable of directing an interesting film even when the script isn't written by Charlie Kaufman.

Before jumping into the film itself, it is worthwhile to mention that "Good Night, and Good Luck" has immediately placed itself in a small group of modern films which have chosen black and white.  Watch "Raging Bull", "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "Pleasantville" (which you could, understandably, remove from this list, as it's use of black and white is a gimmick, even if a highly effective one), and "Good Night..." and you have all the proof you need that color is not a prerequisite for a film to be visually arresting.  Clooney, together with Cinematographer Robert Elswit, have made a film which is so pleasing, visually, that you almost hate it when they have to move to establishing shots.  That's not to say that there is anything particularly innovative done here.  It is filmed and edited in a language that modern cinema-goers will automatically recognize and feel at home with, despite the film's unmodern look.

But this isn't just a technically proficient film, it's also engrossing and informative, even as it raises questions about its own point of view and authenticity.  There are those who argue that the film unfairly and incorrectly implies that, in Erin Brockovich-esque fashion, Murrow single-handedly took down McCarthy.  It is, of course, not true.  McCarthy overreached, and was largely responsible for taking himself down.  Murrow, however, has forever been associated with McCarthy and with an evolutionary change in journalism.  How strange, then, that a film who's subject matter is the difficulties involved in ethical journalism, especially when it comes to loggerheads with things like terrorism, patriotism, and elected officials, might itself be questioned along those same grounds.  Could it be in any way intentional?  With a lesser filmmaker, I might be inclined to say no, but Clooney has proved, to me at least, that he is not a lesser filmmaker, but a deliberate and thoughtful one.

As has been often mentioned, McCarthy plays himself through an excellent use of archival footage.  It's not Forrest Gump-like trickery, either, but a skillful use of all of McCarthy's television appearances which can only be achieved from a complete knowledge of what there is to choose from.  During McCarthy's famous appearance on Murrow's show (which serves as a stark contrast to journalism today.  They "gave" him the show with no comment or questioning, something which would never happen today), Clooney zooms in on McCarthy's face.  This has the opposite affect than you'd imagine.  Instead of bringing us closer to McCarthy, what is highlighted is the static and visual distortion from the old archival footage, and the fact that you are watching one of the most important and formative moments in the history of early television is inescapable. If John Kennedy was the first to understand the power that television could have in governing, it was only because McCarthy and Murrow had made television important long before.

Chuck's post (which is a clearinghouse of links to some great additional reading on the subject) points out that the film is really multifaceted, in that it takes on the obvious (McCarthyism, advocacy journalism), but also the parallels to the issues of today (terrorism, dissent, the PATRIOT Act, etc).  It's one of the problems with journalists today: They are so used to, when taking a side (despite if the story merits a one-sided portrayal), getting lambasted by one political party or the other for being a mouthpiece.  We've arrived at a point where journalists aren't willing to take on domestic stories which might be controversial.  Point out the dictatorial tendencies of a middle eastern or African government in a country which no one ever heard of, win a Pulitzer.  Point it out about your own government, and you'll receive the ire of politicians and gasbags with talk radio shows (on both sides of the aisle).

The film is bookended by a speech that Murrow gave when receiving an award from the Radio Television News Directors Association, and his parting words are really the theme of the film and the lesson for today's journalists:

To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're   too complacent, indifferent and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one   reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even   if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and   this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then   the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole struggle is lost.

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire.   But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to   those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great   and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and   indifference. This weapon of television could be useful.

I’m so glad Dylan posted the entry he did. There is something I’ve wanted to write about for awhile and this provides a good catalyst.

The nurse’s office at my kids’ elementary school keeps some extra clothes on hand in case the younger children have accidents. It recently came to my attention that they had very few girls underpants (don’t ask me how I know this). Next time I was in a store that carried them I bought some to give to the school. It was hard to find regular briefs. There were plenty of bikinis and low cut styles, but very few briefs. Fortunately no thongs.

This past summer just about your only choices for fall girls’ sleepwear were character related (Dora, Disney Princess, etc.) and things like looked like Gaborwear, feather boas, opaque negligees, and so on. So much for flowered flannel nighties.

This spring look at the shorts being marketed for little girls and little boys. Boys’ shorts are nearly knee length with lots of pockets for rocks, dead chipmunk parts, cards (Pokemon, YuGi’Oh, baseball), and so on. Girls’ shorts have inseams about 2 inches long, made of spandex, often with side slits and with no pockets. What message does this send? It might as well all be made by the House of Hootchie Mama.

Look at toys. The hot new items for girls are Bratz Dolls. They are big eyed, curvy, thin, dressed in clothes with most midriffs showing, and usually stand hipshot. If you look hard enough you can find Ello’s (sort of like Legos for girls), and computer games like Barbie as Rapunzel where Barbie has to redecorate the castle, and find the missing jewels in order to rescue Prince Stefan. In the great majority of games and movies aimed at girls there is a love interest. Games and movies aimed at boys tend not to. What is this teaching? That girls are incomplete without a boyfriend?

I wonder how much of this attitude is created by marketers and how much is responding to research on what girls want. I only know that I don’t like it very much.

(cross-posted to Above Average Jane)

I watched the 60 Minutes report last night about what things are like in some parts of New Orleans. Despite some of the good news I've been reading lately about businesses opening back up in the famed French Quarter and that there will indeed be a Mardi Gras in 2006, the 60 Minutes report sort of brought things back into the sad reality of what is happening in my favorite city.

The Lower Ninth Ward section (at least, the part they showed on camera) appeared to be a pile of gray dust, eerily reminiscent of New York right after 9/11. One man who inspects homes for the city knows what victims are going through, since he is also one of them. From the outside, his house looked like it wasn't in bad shape. On the inside, it was a whole different story. Flood waters trashed his home's interior and now the walls are covered in mold.

Still, progress is being made. It's just going to take a lot of time and money. One of the questions that came up in the report was that old "Should we even bother rebuilding a city that is going to be surrounded by water in 90 years?" song we've been hearing since Katrina hit.

I fear that some of these same people who question whether we should rebuild one of America's most diverse and culturally significant cities see no problem in spending similar amounts of money and time going to war in Iraq. The American spirit is about helping our own and our neighbors when disaster strikes. We face adversity and we rebuild bigger and better.

After the San Francisco earthquake, we didn't question whether or not people should abandon their city for fear of another quake. I never hear anyone in Washington trying to tell folks in Florida that they shouldn't live in such a high-risk region for hurricanes. That's not what America is all about.

New Orleans deserves our compassion and our best efforts to help it return to its glory. It's going to take some time, but it will be worth the wait.

I’m in restaurant management. I’ve been managing since August 2004, but I’ve been waiting tables for about 8 years. The past 4 have been at my current restaurant.

It is a upscale, white-tablecloth steakhouse located in one of those wealthy suburban towns which is fairly newly developed and, as a consequence, is full of younger, more recently wealthy families. Good for business, and it provides someone who is not of that ilk an interesting sociological look into that arena.

This time of year, as Texas provides roughly one month of beautifully warm weather which makes it a pleasure to spend as much time as possible outside before the excruciating assault on the sweat ducts by summer, brings the Suburban women in their low-cut, high priced, “let me show off the body I bought this winter” attire. Not that I’m complaining.

There is such an artificiality about Dallas, but there is a different kind of it among the more affluent sections, and it seems to be about more than keeping up with the Joneses. The women are almost all married with families, but there is a premium on looking like you are single and virginal (but not too virginal). There are all the old stereotypes about certain kinds of women and what they do to align themselves with men and money, and it has become more clear to me over the past couple of years that the obsession with physicality among the female population of the suburbs is less about getting men with money as much as it is about keeping the men they have happy with being seen with them.

I wish I knew where that mind set came from, and the above is certainly not the case in the middle class circles that I grew up and exist in. But, in the more affluent areas of the DFW metroplex, and specifically in the one that I spend my days in, I can count on one hand the number of independent women who feel comfortable hob-nobbing with the WASP-y upper crust in our city.

Unfortunately, it begins feeding into the younger generations all to quickly. It is not unusual to see 16 to 17 year old girls with breast implants, bought for birthdays or graduations. There are already stunning and thin hostess at our restaurant who obsess about reducing their body fat so they can make the cheerleading squad. I see young girls running around in such revealing outfits that, if they’d been allowed when I was in high school (which was not that long ago), they’d have been suspended at worst and the center of derision by fellow students speculating on their lack of chastity.

And, I was disheartened to hear that the school district for the suburb in question has banned a large number of books, one of which was Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening,” which was one of the most influential books on this middle class boy growing up in a conservative family and state when I was in high school. If ever there was an example of a book that can do so much good for such young and developing minds, it is that one.

The women’s movement has made great strides over the past 20 years, but I fear the great hurdle still has to be overcome in the form of some of the most powerful (because of their wealth), and least progressive population who are perfectly content to live in their traditional, white-bread societies while propagating a sexualized, diminutive position for the women in their midst.

Ok, since Wayne isn't around to ask, I figured I'd take the liberty to give you all a question:

How do you help relieve stress in your life?

This past summer I had a lot of stomach problems and they were directly related to stress. Since then, I'm trying to find new ways to cut down on stress (and the medical bills it causes).

Jane again.

My inner Star Trek geek stays closeted on my own blog but maybe I can let the flag fly a little over here.

For those who like online quizzes, take this one to see which science fiction character you are. The quiz says I'm Yoda. Let's see -- short? check, shuffling? check, a little pudgy? check, hair is often funny looking? check. Hmmmm, maybe there's something to this after all. Now if only I could raise airplanes out of lakes by lifting a hand (or make the laundry fold itself or something)....

Jane reporting in. I'm pleased to be guest posting at PSOTD.

The Valerie Plame affair is not the first time Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been involved in a leak. In 1992 when he was at the Dept of Defense, the defense guidance document, considered so sensitive that not even the Congress could get a copy, was leaked to the press not only once but twice, in different drafts. Libby was called before a Congressional committee to explain what happened. This is a very brief except from Defense Planning, Guidance and Security Issues (Hearings before the committee on Armed Services United States Senate, 102nd Congress, 2nd session, June 3, 10, 16, and 18, 1992). (Y 4 AR5/3:SHRG 102-834). More excepts are available here.

Chairman Nunn: Do you believe the entire document has been leaked?
Mr. Libby: It is the claim of the reporters who reported it that the entire document of the two different drafts have been leaked.
Chairman Nunn: Has there been any investigation started as to who leaked the document, how it was leaked?
Mr. Libby: As I responded to the committee, and you noted earlier, I know of no investigation being done. I have consulted the appropriate officials and been advised that none is underway.
Chairman Nunn: None is underway
Mr. Libby: Correct, sir.

It does seem like the guy has a history with this sort of thing.

This is one of those moral dilemmas I face every year. Should I do at least some of my holiday shopping at Wal-Mart? My brain usually says no but my wallet likes to say yes.

It's funny, I was having a conversation about the company the other day and they really are a Jekyll and Hyde type of business. It seems like for all the bad they do, they also have done their share of good as well.

Good:
-Brought immediate aid to areas affected by Katrina (it was reported that 13 Wal-Mart trucks made it into New Orleans before even one bit of help from FEMA arrived).
-Allow a lot of charitable causes to camp outside their stores for donations.
-Donate a lot of money to kids in need.
-Prices are usually cheaper on everyday items.

Bad:
-Pay employees squat.
-Give employees squat for healthcare.
-Buy the majority of their merchandise from places outside the US.
-By opening a Super Center on every block, they chase local businesses out of town.
-Would rather close a store than allow employees to form a union.
-Stores tend to resemble a zoo at feeding time.

Personally I just hate going in there because of their tiny aisles jammed full of crap and customers. I suppose that if I try to boycott every company that does more harm than good, I'd probably never shop again. Heck, I'd never buy gas again!

Still, this holiday Wal-Mart won't be getting any of my money (regardless of what my wallet says).

Dylan from Something Requisitely Witty and Urbane.

Sometimes, you don't even have to work that hard to find some serious fault with people, because they write the kind of thing that lets you know that you never have to take them seriously again.

Because Wizbang's Jay Tea, already a self-proclaimed "thinker", sure has his thoughts figured out when it comes to torture.

Rob from Say Anything brings up Senator John McCain's constant push to ban torture by the US government. It's a fine, noble sentiment, and certainly understandable from a man who spent literally years being tortured by the Vietnamese government, but is it really such a good idea?

I think not.

Not that I really need to show you anything beyond this, but it gets better:

For one, McCain says he wants to do it because he believes it would improve America's image abroad. I think that is a laudable aspiration, but utterly futile.

A classic self-reinforcing position: We could try to make our image better abroad, but they hate us anyway, so what's the point?  Of course, torturing them is one of the reasons they hate us in the first place.

Further, "niceness" is seen as a sign of weakness in many cultures.

Luckily, we're in no danger here.

Being accommodating, obliging, considerate, and conciliatory sends the signal to some people that we are willing to yield on many issues, that a show of strength will convince us to back down rather than stand up for our beliefs.

Because the issue is, of course, etiquette.  I mean, if they can't understand why we're sicking dogs on them or tying them to boards and simulating drowning, well... it's just more proof that these are "the wrong kind of people" with no manners at all.  I'll bet they put their elbows on the table too.

Also, let's look at the most famous case of "torture" by the United States -- the Abu Ghraib situation. It was an aberration, a violation of several of our existing laws and rules and policies, and those responsible were tried, convicted, and punished. And let's not forget how the story first broke -- in a press release put out by the military. The Army itself aired its own dirty laundry, giving all those "investigative journalists" a huge leg up on the "scandal."

Some personal photos sent back home from a soldier to his friends had a little something to do with this too.

Look, a good many people, on both sides of the aisle, are upset that America has turned to torture, but it has happened because too many regular Americans, who are otherwise viewed as thoughtful, have given in to the too easy, vengeful, "Those fuckers deserve it," mentality while the rest of us are mourning the loss of the country we love.

That's the thing about allowing torture at our hands: It isn't about the enemy, it's about us.

From Reuters:

Joseph Wilson, the husband of outed CIA operative Valerie Plame, called on Thursday for an inquiry by The Washington Post into the conduct of journalist Bob Woodward, who repeatedly criticized the leak investigation without disclosing his own involvement.

"It certainly gives the appearance of a conflict of interest. He was taking an advocacy position when he was a party to it," Wilson said.

So how long will The Washington Post drag their feet? Aren't the rest of their reporters getting damn embarrassed by this?

Today's question:

What's your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?

By the way, you can look and respond to any of the daily questions by simply going here.

Like Tom Kovach, Democrat for the 18th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.

I know it makes little difference to the owners of the Post, but just for the record, I'm not linking to any articles from the Washington Post until they fire Bob Woodward, or at least put him on administrative leave until they figure out just how much he screwed their credibility in the Plame story, and their general coverage of the Bush Administration. And then fire him. There's a cancer on the punditry at the Post, and it should be removed. I will, however, link to articles in other newspapers that reference the same content of Post articles.

Like I said yesterday, I'll be on the road quite a bit over the next ten days, and I have a few new guest bloggers to join the irregular crew:

Dylan from Something Requisitely Witty and Urbane has agreed to pop in and post during my absence. Take a look at Dylan's site if you haven't been there before... it is as advertised.

Pennsylvanian bloggers ought to already know about above average jane, but that's not the case yet, and she deserves wider readership anyways. Thanks Jane for helping out while I'm gone.

Finally, both ericthek and lyzurgyk will be posting also. And I will be checking in from time to time to throw out something - you can take the boy from the blog, but...

You would think that the modern nude protest would have began in a warm weather climate. You would be wrong...

Naked Protest and the Politics of Personalism (PDF)

In the Canadian winter of 1903, members of a Christian sect called the Doukhobors became the first modern naked protestors. Similar to the Anabaptist/Mennonite sects of Western Europe, the Russian Doukhobors rejected ecclesiastical hierarchy, traditional Orthodox liturgy and modern forms of social organisation in favour of individual spirituality, radically simplified worship and anti-modern communitarianism. To some degree, their heterodox attitudes were tolerated by church and political authorities. But when, in 1896, they made bonfires from their own weapons to protest conscription in the Czar’s army, stiff repression was inevitable. By 1899, as many as 8000 Doukhobors fled the post-bonfire crackdowns for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Considering conditions in the failing Czarist regime, Canada was probably an improvement, especially for a group that had little interest in political revolution. Even so, radical Doukhobor emigrants calling themselves the Svobodniki (Freedomites) or ‘Sons of Freedom’ soon began agitating again, moving outside of their settlements to spread their radical understanding of the gospel. Initially, the Svobodniki punctuated their preaching marches by untethering their animals, discarding their metal tools and starting bonfires of leather. By 1903, the Sons of Freedom had added nudity to their repertoire, seeking through nakedness to walk with the simplicity and moral purity of Christ. The Doukhobors brought their nude proselytisation to surrounding towns, where beatings and jailings only served to fortify their religious zeal. For the next fifty years, public nakedness remained a central aspect of their proselytisation and political dissent.

This sounds like a movie waiting to happen.

When I was a kid, baseball was my favorite game. And I must admit, for sheer watchability, NFL football runs close to this sport as my favorite.

But to play? To coach? For the excitement of the college and high school tournaments? To try to inspire others to participate as well? It's basketball, hands down. You can actually practice - for value - by yourself. It only takes one other person to have a game, but as long as you have a full court, you can keep adding players. Equipment needs, beyond the court, are cheap. The game itself is fairly simple. I play Wednesday nights in a "35 and older" league, and there are guys in their 50s and 60s playing basketball, and playing very actively, and with a joy that I hope to have when I'm that age (which won't be that long).

So, as a basketball fan - I think these kinds of stories are great, and the world needs more of them...

Wheelchair basketball more than a game

Nothing could change the fact that Kaylah Ray's life was altered after being confined to a wheelchair two years ago due to Transverse Myelitis, a neurologic syndrome.

Devastated by the condition, Ray lost the passion to do anything. But thanks to ABLE Youth, she found that passion along with the drive to keep on pushing.

"I didn't think I'd be able to do none of the same things I did before being in the wheelchair," Ray said. "But then I got into ABLE Youth."

Ray is one of the 30 kids that are involved in the Nashville-based ABLE Youth program that held the 2005 Music City Hoopfest at the Patterson Park Community Center Saturday in Murfreesboro. ABLE Youth (Athletes Building Life Experiences ) is a program that gives physically disabled youth the chance to participate in structured sports and recreational activities as well as teaching them how to be independent.

"This program isn't all about sports, that's just the gravy. We teach the kids how to live," program founder Rick Slaughter said.

At the age of 17, Slaughter was injured in a car accident that forced him into the world of wheelchair athletics. Slaughter became quite the wheelchair athlete, traveling across the country for various competitions. Once he settled down in the Nashville area, he started to hear the complaints that many of the disabled youth had about not having the chance to take part similar activities as their peers — he knew he had to do something.

"I was very lucky to go the places that I went," Slaughter said. "These kids can't sign up at their schools for their teams and that's so important. The smiles I get when I hand out jerseys are priceless."

The Music City Hoopfest was the first basketball tournament of the year for the Music City Thunder, ABLE Youth's team. The Thunder's Varsity (age 14 through high school) team took third place in the tournament and the Prep (13-and-under) team took second. Teams from Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina took part in the event.

Dan Onkst, event coordinator, was extremely happy with the turnout, but his happiness was secondary on the day.

"The kids love it," Onkst said. "They love getting to show what they can do."

That competitive spirit is a big part of the program. Slaughter knows that free passes aren't handed out in life and prepares his students for the real world.

"I did not want this to be a baby-sitting service," Slaughter said. "You have to be motivated. You have to want to compete. In life, you have to compete whether you want to or not."

And it's that philosophy that has been one of the biggest benefits to the kids, said Karen Taylor, Kaylah's mother.

"It has built her self-esteem," Taylor said. "It has brought her from a 'I-can't-do-anything' world to a 'I-can-do-whatever I want to do' world."

Today's question:

On an average day, how many blogs do you check out, either by reading or viewing through an RSS reader?

I'm probably going to build a Pennsylvania Cable Network blog in December to provide a venue for comments on programming and content there, particularly the Pennsylvania government programming/content. I don't plan on becoming a full-time viewer of their programming, so I could use some help with posts. Let me know if you're interested in helping as a posting contributor, thanks!

From the Seattle Times:

Text of Bob Woodward's Statement

On Monday, November 14, I testified under oath in a sworn deposition to Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald for more than two hours about small portions of interviews I conducted with three current or former Bush administration officials that relate to the investigation of the public disclosure of the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

It appears to me that the Washington Post has a Judy Miller problem of its own now, with Bob Woodward. The guy has been spoonfeeding his opinion on the Plame case in the press, mostly to the benefit of the Bush Administration, and never, ever letting on that he was involved.

Washington Post: follow the Miller example. Shitcan Bob Woodward. He is a pawn. Do him a favor, and release him from the value that allows him to be so used.

TalkLeft: Is Bob Woodward the Next Judy Miller?
Media is a Plural: Woodward: Mr. Run Amok?
NewMexiKen: Judy Woodward
Marc Cooper: Who does Woodward think he is? Judy Miller?
The Left Coaster: What do Bob Woodward and Judy Miller have in common?

You can almost feel sorry for Woodward. Almost. Fire him.

I'll be doing a lot of travelling the week of Thanksgiving and my blogging will be intermittent. I have a few guest bloggers lined up while I'm out which ought to provide some darn interesting reading during that time - and I'll introduce them tomorrow.

The travelling comes at a good time in my experience as a blogger. After a year of pretty active blogging, I'm starting to feel some sense of depletion over my blogging. I'm feeling a bit... scheduled and scattered in my content matter, if that makes sense. I don't think I'm coming up to a wall, but definitely a thick hedge. I would like to focus more on some of the issues that are of interest to me, but it takes a lot less time to find an interesting article, post the highlights and make some comments than it does to actually think out the entire content - and point - of a post.

So, while I'm on the road, I'll be thinking about where I want to go with this blogging activity. I do want to continue it, but this is a good time to think it through a bit further. Anyone who wishes to share their experiences in a similar situation - that is, anyone that has blogged up to a certain "wall" and kept going - please post. I'd be interested in reading your comments.

And it's natural? Imagine!

Australian scientists say they have stumbled upon a plant-based treatment that stops termites dead in their tracks.

Two years of testing has found that the post contains a plant extract called false sandalwood that repels the insects.

"In fact they'll stay on the other side of the barrier and starve to death rather than move through to the feed," Associate Professor Spooner-Hart said.

Researcher Albert Basta says if termites are exposed to the extract, they die.

What's really interesting is how they found out about false sandalwood.

But University of Western Sydney Associate Professor Robert Spooner-Hart says the discovery of a lone fence post in a paddock in central Queensland may hold a solution.

"It had been there for between 50 to 75 years," he said.

"It was the only fence post that hadn't been attacked in the area and of course, the question was why."

And another question is why false sandalwood was on that post. Was this anti-termite knowledge known 75 years ago that has been forgotten or ignored? Or just a lucky accident?

Check it out. If only Richard Dreyfuss had this...

The announcement of old television programs becoming available on demand via the Internet brings up today's question:

What old television show would you most be willing to pay to download and view?

Kitty Carlson has found his Republican cat toy in the catnip-stuffed embodiment of Karen Hughes. Meow!

From the Denver Post:

Colorado women - whether college-aged, coming into retirement or someplace in between - are increasingly giggling their way through in-home, Tupperware-style sex-toy parties in which gal-pal saleswomen coax away inhibitions by passing around products with names like Glow Boy, Honey Bunny and Magic Monarch.

Sexual-health experts, along with the companies profiting from these grown-up girls nights, say their wildfire popularity reflects an evolution away from the sexual revolution when women simply fought for the freedom to express their sexuality without retribution, to an even more open-minded approach to intimacy. Today, women want control over what happens in the bedroom, and couples realize lasting relationships blossom from lasting sex lives.

During the past three years, the number of Colorado women working as sales consultants for the Las Vegas-based company Passion Parties Inc. jumped from three to 111. Each of them totes creams, perfumes, gels, toys and lingerie to between two and eight all-female shindigs per month. And the Baton Rouge.-La.-based company Slumber Parties has 180 consultants working in Colorado with some visiting as many as four parties a week.

For years, I have thought less than highly about Longaberger Baskets and Tupperware for their "friend marketing" structures. But to see their idea applied to sex toys, outfits and other ways to spice up the bedroom hours makes me see them in a new light. Could there have been a Slumber Parties without a Mary Kay cosmetics blazing the consultant path ahead of them? I wonder.

From the People's Daily Online:

Women account for just 10.3 percent of board seats in the Top 50 Global banks and China outpaced US in this field, while women comprised 65 percent of bank employees, according to a new study from Corporate Women Directors International on Friday.

China outpacing the US with combined female board participation of 20.6 percent compared to 17.3 percent for the US banks ranked in the Top Global 50. The study also looks at the Top 100 US banks, where women do not fare any better with 12.2 percent representation, according to the report.

Some highlights from postings from the blogroll's "S" Bloggers:

Courtesy of Cookie Jill at skippy the bush kangaroo, we learn that squirrels have complex language, particularly when taking care of the nuts in the White House.

Penguin on the Track! Penguin on the Track!

Speedkill has discovered that Thanksgiving is being phased out.

Sumo Merriment and sunsetchaser both weigh in on Edwards' admitting he was wrong on the Iraq resolution.

And... are you planning on going to the most polluted Olympics in history?

Today's question:

How many homes do you think you will own in your lifetime?

The sports media allows their reporters to vote on various awards and recognitions for participants, from MVPs to Hall of Fame to sports team rankings, etc.

Why doesn't the Washington DC Press Corps do something like this? Say, once a month, they get together and vote for the government official MVP (or MVS, for Most Valuable Source) for providing the press with information of value for the news? It could be Bush, it could be someone from the Congress, it could be some lowly staffer at an important Department... why not give the rest of us some insight on who they are finding valuable for reporting on a month to month basis?

I was just reading the AP story about the capture of David Ludwig, accused of murdering the parents of Kara Beth Borden and then kidnapping her, when I found this paragraph:

It was the second violent incident in a week in normally quiet Lititz, a Lancaster County village known for quaint shops, local artists and Sturgis Pretzel House, which bills itself as America's first pretzel bakery.

There are lots of businesses in Lititz. How did Sturgis Pretzel House get free advertising in an Associated Press murder article? What possible value does the blurb "bills itself as America's first pretzel bakery" have for the point of this story? Bizarre.

I just did a search on Technorati about the Pretzel House. 3 posts in the past 173 days - including one today quoting that AP story. I'll check again tomorrow.

Update: Tada! One day later, Sturgis Pretzel House shows up here and here and here in blogs, just for starters. Product placement in AP reverberates in blogs.

In this case, asked in Arkansas:

Has the Arkansas Democratic Party lost its soul?

The article makes a good case for the official "party" being squeezed by Republicans on the right and Progressives on the left, leaving the "Party" with little definition beyond claiming the "big tent" scenario. Sooner or later, the "Party" is going to have to decide which way lies governing success and quit trying to play the middle, because the middle is getting skinnier every day.

If you saw the cover of last week's issue dedicated to the Baby Boomers turning 60, I hope you agree with me that Newsweek couldn't have been more vapid in their image selection if they tried. The great majority of people on the cover are from the entertainment industry - Stallone, Liza Minelli, Candace Bergen, etc. Did these people actually pay Newsweek for the spot? Otherwise, why promote them as indicative of Baby Boomers turning 60? They're tinseltown. And then there were a few politicians - Bill Clinton and George and Laura Bush.

Is this what the baby boomers want to be remembered for - these kinds of individuals? I think not. Newsweek, once again you present the most feeble shallow image of a story that you can find.

Others weighing in on this cover: Creative Ink, 50-Plus Marketing

Okay, you can't expect an 108 yard return of a missed field goal for a touchdown every week. But that Chicago Bears defense is really fun to watch.

It's about time the pushback started.

Weary of feeling silenced by a culture dominated by organized faith, nonbelievers in Southern Arizona - and across the country - are coming out.

Atheists, agnostics and others who fall outside mainstream religion are forming their own organizations - a move counterintuitive to some in a group of individuals accustomed to the periphery. But nonbelievers both locally and nationally say it's time join together, step up and get some respect.

"I hear people wonder how atheists can be moral. I just think things are getting really ridiculous," said 26-year-old Mary Adde, a University of Arizona graduate student and atheist who is part of a new campus club for nonbelievers.

In addition to the UA club, a local chapter of the international Center for Inquiry - a support and education group for nonreligious people - formed earlier this year, and members already are sponsoring local movies and debates and writing letters to Congre