Links posted in January 2009
January 23, 2009
Regulators approve the first embryonic stem cell study in humans. They are using some of the old Bush approved lines but I want more than anything for this trial to show amazing results so there is direct evidence that the policies of the last 8 years were completely wrongheaded.
January 21, 2009
Rhetorical foundations of the Inauguration Speechifying - from Anaphora to Zeugma.
- Anaphora, "emphasizing words by repeating them at the beginnings of neighboring clauses" -- "For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sanh." ... Also, "That's not change, that's more of the same."
- Epistrophe, repetition of the same word or words at the end of successive phrases, clauses or sentences. For example, the Yes We Can speech:
For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.
Yes we can.
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can. - Antimetabole: "The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do."
- Signifying and a Dog Whistle all in one: "They're trying to bamboozle you. It's the same old okie-doke. Y'all know about okie doke, right?". The video is worth watching -- his speech really changes when he shifts into black preacher mode.
- Antithesis: "To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." (See also this analysis
- Merism (lots of this): "And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more."
- Couldn't find any chiasmus, hendiadys or zeugma (OK so I lied in the pitch.) -- can you?
Other literary notes on the inauguration inside. [more inside]
January 20, 2009
I removed the Bush out of office countdown - it stopped working today. (Or maybe it finally worked. Not sure.) Also, twitter was slow. Was something going on?
I remember how I declared the Macarena dead when I saw Al Gore performing it.
Well, RIP, rickroll.
January 17, 2009
A longish but exceedingly frank profile of movie marketing (from the New Yorker) has plenty of gossip style goodness about the rules of making and selling movies to the public. If you ever wonder who all these crappy movies are being marketed to (and why) this article lays it out pretty bare. It is often said in Hollywood that no one sets out to make a bad movie, but the truth is that people cheerfully set out to make bad movies all the time. It is more accurate to say that no one sets out to make a movie without having a particular audience in mind.
January 16, 2009
Webcitation archive page
-- following on the AOL Hometown / Digital Eviction Without Notice debacle, I was recently made aware of WebCitation.org. I hope everyone already knows about the Wayback Machine, archive.org's searchable rolling backup of the web. This is its proactive counterpart, allowing you to immediately checkpoint the state of a web page and refer to its cached version by a permanent link.
January 15, 2009
List of Common Misconceptions - this would make a great web quiz thingy if mixed in with a strange but true list. The Counter-intuitive list is total weaksauce, though. Get to work, lazyweb.
January 14, 2009
Fry's Executive's Casino Demands - we've talked about the wonderful land of the concert rider (y'know, the legal document specifying exactly what colors of M&Ms are to be present in the dressing room lounge): from the original to the TMI-worthy to the humorously self-aware. Apparently this Fry's executive (a graduate of the Charles Barkley school of Gambling in Moderation) reading those thought, "A nice start. Some good ideas in there. But on the whole, far too little pettiness and selfish narcissism. I shall show those pikers what a list of outrageously specific demands should read like!
I mean, I know how furious flimsy coat hangers make *me*, but some of the rest of that stuff is just outrageous. [via DF]
It was nice to know ya, exclusionary rule. Special congratulations to the Reid Democrats for refusing to filibuster Alito. This Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito block is kind of an impossible hurdle to beat.
January 13, 2009
The Best Job In The World - An Australian state is offering internationally what it calls "the best job in the world" -- earning a top salary for lazing around a beautiful tropical island for six months. [more inside]
January 11, 2009
Did you know the Star Wars Theme had lyrics? That's because you don't live in Japan. Sure, sure, Nick Winters cobbled something together for his lounge act... but it doesn't bring the majesty to life like this does.
Japan's American pop culture is like the DVD version with all the deleted scenes left in. Some of them were left out for a reason. Some are just the result of a wacky day on set. But some of them are PURE AWESOME. [via my monkey]
January 09, 2009
The Recently Deflowered Girl - There aren’t really sufficient words to praise this hilarious, Edward Gorey-illustrated book of manners, "The Recently Deflowered Girl: The Right Thing to Say on Every Dubious Occasion". It absolutely blows my mind that this book was made in 1965, but, of course, the 1960s had their fair share of flagrant sexism and tacit racism.
Maybe it’s the clinical tone that the complete lack of articles affords the prose. Maybe it’s the amazingly coy illustrations or Miss H.P.’s razor-sharp wit. Whatever it is, these are the most delightfully offensive 47 pages I’ve ever seen. The irony level is staggering.
[via Good / Blog]
January 08, 2009
Jack Torrance's Book Finally Published - Axl Rose has got nothing on Jack Torrance (the author depicted in Stephen King's coming-of-age dramedy "The Shining"): his 31-year-in-the-making novel "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" has finally been self-published. There have of course been dramatic reinterpretations but no formal release until now. [via DF]
"I Will Forever Remain Faithful" - how the best rapper alive since the best rapper retired helped David Ramsey survive his first teaching year.
"In my first few weeks teaching in New Orleans’ Recovery School District, these were the questions I heard the most from my students:
1) “I gotta use it.” (This one might sound like a statement, but it’s a request—May I use the bathroom?)
2) “You got an ol’ lady?” (the penultimate vowel stretched, lasciviously, as far as it’ll go).
3) “Where you from?”
4) “You listen to that Weezy?”... The answer was, sometimes, yes, I did listen to Lil Wayne. Despite his ubiquitous success, my students were shocked. “Do you have the mix tapes?” asked Michael, a sixteen-year-old ninth grader. “It’s all about the mix tapes.” The following day, he had a stack of CDs for me. Version this, volume that, or no label at all. And that’s just about all I listened to for the rest of the year."
January 07, 2009
AOL Hometown was one of these Tripod/Geocities era sites that hosted simple web pages for people with AOL accounts. Unfortunately, as part of AOL's continually evolving business model/death spiral they decided to take Hometown offline forever. Many of these pages were quite old and represented a unique look at the early history of what people did with their space on the internet. They notified all the users that 4 weeks hence they were typing "format c:" and if you wanted it saved you'd better do it. Sockington's owner rightly believes that this was an epic travesty and that rules for "online eviction" should be in place just like they are offline. In this longer post he gives more detail and describes how he singlehandedly tried to wget everything from a dying site named Podango who gave its users 5 days warning starting Dec. 26 that they were going under. The Archive Team might spring into action more and more as small sites go down the tubes thanks to the recession. If you think it could never ever happen to the data you are asking Google or MSN or their ilk to keep on your behalf, think back to how strong AOL used to be in the days of Hometown...
Hey, eat like snake.
January 02, 2009
Muslim Family removed from airline flight - AirTran overreacts, leaves them stranded, refuses to reimburse them for rebooked travel.
The grievous solecism under question: "Where is the safest place to sit on an airplane?"