In spite of the fact I've seen a ton of movies this year, I've fallen way behind in my reviews. I'll try to catch up, but here's one that's worth catching. I Love You, Man. Even though he had nothing to do with it, it's a Judd Aptow-like comedy.
Paul Rudd plays Peter Klaven, a real estate agent who's engaged to Zooey, played by Rashida Jones. They are perfectly in love. Zooey has a lot of girl friends but Peter has no real guy friends. He's not socially challenged, he just always got along better with women and never really bonded with men. After overhearing Zooey's friends talking about an unbalanced wedding party he decides to make some guy friends. Jason Segel plays Sydney Fife, a serial bachelor and partial man-child. They meet at an open house Peter is running and start hanging out together.
To capture the tone of the film, I'll call these man dates. The film describes forming platonic male friendships as if they were romantic ones. None of the characters are idiots or morons but they are awkward in all the mundane moments of friendship. Paul Rudd was perfect and Jason Segel wore a cardigan like Lebowski wore a robe. Rashida Jones was adorable. A large supporting cast also that does a very good job. There are a few twists at just the right times to keep things interesting.
I laughed out loud many times. This is probably the most fun movie I've seen so far this year.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Computational Legal Studies
Daniel Katz and Michael Bommarito have started a blog called Computational Legal Studies. "The Computational Legal Studies Blog is an attempt to disseminate legal studies that employ a computational or complex systems component. We hope this venue will serve as a coordinating device for those interested in using such techniques to consider the development of legal systems and/or implementation of more reasoned public policy."
It's lots of pretty graphs about political stuff. I suspect I'll be linking to it again.
It's lots of pretty graphs about political stuff. I suspect I'll be linking to it again.
Batteries Made From Viruses
MIT team touts sci-fi style "virus battery" "It might sound like something out of a science fiction film, but researchers at MIT reckon they have developed a way of making batteries from genetically engineered viruses that promises to reduce the cost and environmental impact of a wide range of battery technologies, including those used in electric cars."
Obama Law Nominees Attacked By Right, Ignored By Left
Dahlia Lithwick wrote The radio silence continues as the far right targets Harold Koh.
Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School, is President Obama's pick for Legal Adviser of the State Department. His biography is impressive and I note he "worked as an adviser to the Office of Legal Counsel in the Reagan Justice Department." The crazy right wing nuts at Fox are saying he "calls for US courts to apply Sharia law".
Lithwick writes: "And yet by my most recent tally, every one of the anti-Koh rants dutifully repeats a canard that first appeared in a hatchet piece in the New York Post by former Bush administration speechwriter Meghan Clyne. She asserts that Koh believes "Sharia law could apply to disputes in US courts." The evidence for her claim? "A New York lawyer, Steven Stein, says that, in addressing the Yale Club of Greenwich in 2007, Koh claimed that 'in an appropriate case, he didn't see any reason why Sharia law would not be applied to govern a case in the United States.' ""
"The New York Post today published a letter from Robin Reeves Zorthian, who actually organized the Yale Club dinner to which Stein refers. In that letter, Zorthian writes that "the account given by Steve Stein of Dean Koh's comments is totally fictitious and inaccurate" and that she, her husband, "and several fellow alumni ... are all adamant that Koh never said or suggested that sharia law could be used to govern cases in US courts." Why should we believe her and her colleagues over Stein? Well, for one thing, Koh in all his academic articles and many public statements has never said anything to suggest some dogged fealty to sharia"
Another Obama pick is Dawn Johnsen, nominated to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the Dept of Justice (which is a Assistant Attorneys General title). She used to have this position in the Clinton administration and is now a constitutional law professor at Indiana University. She faces a possible filibuster ostensibly because the right is saying "that a 20-year-old footnote in a brief Johnsen had authored 'equated pregnancy with slavery'" but really it's because she was an outspoken critic of Bush.
Lithwick says "I'm doubly bothered by the radio silence in the mainstream media because Johnsen and Koh represent two of President Obama's bravest choices. Both have been outspoken critics of Bush administration excesses, and they have done so openly and unequivocally. They were willing to use strong words like torture and illegal long before most of us could bring ourselves to do so...If we cannot bring ourselves to loudly support nominees like Koh and Johnsen, we deserve whoever it is that actually can be confirmed in this climate."
Digby adds: "If there were any chance that Johnson and Koh could actually be denied their places, I would guess that the liberal blogosphere would be intensely engaged. But from what I understand, the filibuster threat on Johnson is just hot air and that nobody takes the nutty Koh critics seriously...It's horrible that people have to put up with this, of course. But the modern conservative movement has a malignant, destructive impulse at its very core that will persist in doing this no matter what. It works for them. Right now, out of power, they don't have the capacity to really affect the outcome but they do it anyway to keep their paranoid loathing simmering until they can once again get traction."
Last night I think I figured how to combat the crap that is Fox News and Limbaugh and their ilk. The right deserves a legitimate source of news they want. They won't start listening to Air America or watch MSNBC, that won't lure them from Fox. But a real news organization that wasn't a propaganda arm might and it would certainly help to raise the level of debate.
Harold Koh, dean of Yale Law School, is President Obama's pick for Legal Adviser of the State Department. His biography is impressive and I note he "worked as an adviser to the Office of Legal Counsel in the Reagan Justice Department." The crazy right wing nuts at Fox are saying he "calls for US courts to apply Sharia law".
Lithwick writes: "And yet by my most recent tally, every one of the anti-Koh rants dutifully repeats a canard that first appeared in a hatchet piece in the New York Post by former Bush administration speechwriter Meghan Clyne. She asserts that Koh believes "Sharia law could apply to disputes in US courts." The evidence for her claim? "A New York lawyer, Steven Stein, says that, in addressing the Yale Club of Greenwich in 2007, Koh claimed that 'in an appropriate case, he didn't see any reason why Sharia law would not be applied to govern a case in the United States.' ""
"The New York Post today published a letter from Robin Reeves Zorthian, who actually organized the Yale Club dinner to which Stein refers. In that letter, Zorthian writes that "the account given by Steve Stein of Dean Koh's comments is totally fictitious and inaccurate" and that she, her husband, "and several fellow alumni ... are all adamant that Koh never said or suggested that sharia law could be used to govern cases in US courts." Why should we believe her and her colleagues over Stein? Well, for one thing, Koh in all his academic articles and many public statements has never said anything to suggest some dogged fealty to sharia"
Another Obama pick is Dawn Johnsen, nominated to head the Office of Legal Counsel in the Dept of Justice (which is a Assistant Attorneys General title). She used to have this position in the Clinton administration and is now a constitutional law professor at Indiana University. She faces a possible filibuster ostensibly because the right is saying "that a 20-year-old footnote in a brief Johnsen had authored 'equated pregnancy with slavery'" but really it's because she was an outspoken critic of Bush.
Lithwick says "I'm doubly bothered by the radio silence in the mainstream media because Johnsen and Koh represent two of President Obama's bravest choices. Both have been outspoken critics of Bush administration excesses, and they have done so openly and unequivocally. They were willing to use strong words like torture and illegal long before most of us could bring ourselves to do so...If we cannot bring ourselves to loudly support nominees like Koh and Johnsen, we deserve whoever it is that actually can be confirmed in this climate."
Digby adds: "If there were any chance that Johnson and Koh could actually be denied their places, I would guess that the liberal blogosphere would be intensely engaged. But from what I understand, the filibuster threat on Johnson is just hot air and that nobody takes the nutty Koh critics seriously...It's horrible that people have to put up with this, of course. But the modern conservative movement has a malignant, destructive impulse at its very core that will persist in doing this no matter what. It works for them. Right now, out of power, they don't have the capacity to really affect the outcome but they do it anyway to keep their paranoid loathing simmering until they can once again get traction."
Last night I think I figured how to combat the crap that is Fox News and Limbaugh and their ilk. The right deserves a legitimate source of news they want. They won't start listening to Air America or watch MSNBC, that won't lure them from Fox. But a real news organization that wasn't a propaganda arm might and it would certainly help to raise the level of debate.
8 Simple Ways to Improve Typography In Your Designs
"Here are 8 simple ways you can use CSS to improve your typography and hence the overall usability of your designs."
Franz Kafka International Airport
Another brilliant piece from the Onion News Network
Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport
Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport
10 Shows That Should Return Next Fall
Television Without Pity lists10 Shows That Should Return Next Fall (But Might Not). I agree with Better Off Ted (each of its 3 episodes were very fun), Dollhouse (Friday's was their first great episode) and Kings (anything with Ian McShane). I also think Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is getting better.
What do people think of the other shows on the list. I gave up on Fringe after two episodes, is it worth watching? I've tried Chuck a few times and I don't see the appeal. I have no interest in Rock of Love or Celebrity Apprentice.
What do people think of the other shows on the list. I gave up on Fringe after two episodes, is it worth watching? I've tried Chuck a few times and I don't see the appeal. I have no interest in Rock of Love or Celebrity Apprentice.
Judge Harvie Wilkinson on the Demise of American Journalism
Judge Harvie Wilkinson on the Demise of American Journalism.
"A Baltimore cop sends a ‘memorandum’ to the Baltimore Sun that’s critical of the Baltimore Police Department’s handling of a highly publicized murder and ensuing standoff. After the Sun publishes an article based in part on the officer’s memorandum, the cop who sent the memoradum is demoted and later forced to retire. The cop sues the department, alleging a violation of his First Amendment and due process rights. Ultimately, a highly regarded federal appellate judge who also happened to a newspaperman in an earlier life, devotes a lengthy section of an opinion in the case to the demise of American journalism. David Simon, wanna take a crack at this?"
It's worth a read, as it's a nice (short) summary of the current transition state journalism is in.
"A Baltimore cop sends a ‘memorandum’ to the Baltimore Sun that’s critical of the Baltimore Police Department’s handling of a highly publicized murder and ensuing standoff. After the Sun publishes an article based in part on the officer’s memorandum, the cop who sent the memoradum is demoted and later forced to retire. The cop sues the department, alleging a violation of his First Amendment and due process rights. Ultimately, a highly regarded federal appellate judge who also happened to a newspaperman in an earlier life, devotes a lengthy section of an opinion in the case to the demise of American journalism. David Simon, wanna take a crack at this?"
It's worth a read, as it's a nice (short) summary of the current transition state journalism is in.
Which URL Shortening Service Should You Use?
More than you ever wanted to know about Which URL Shortening Service Should You Use?.
These are commonly use with services like Twitter that only allow 140 characters in a post, sometimes long URLs don't fit. Joshua Schacter writes on url shorteners. Cory Doctorow sums it up as "URL shorteners like TinyURL are a bad idea, because they make the web more fragile, dependent on the shortener services as central points of failure. They also assist spammers, undermine googlejuice, and expose users to security vulnerabilities."
These are commonly use with services like Twitter that only allow 140 characters in a post, sometimes long URLs don't fit. Joshua Schacter writes on url shorteners. Cory Doctorow sums it up as "URL shorteners like TinyURL are a bad idea, because they make the web more fragile, dependent on the shortener services as central points of failure. They also assist spammers, undermine googlejuice, and expose users to security vulnerabilities."
Campaign Contributions to Senators — TARP Edition
Visualizing the Campaign Contributions to Senators in the 110th Congress — The TARP EDITION is a wonderful graphic by the Computational Legal Studies blog.
"Three Important Principles: (1) Squares (i.e. Institutions) introduce money into the system and Circles (i.e. Senators) receive money (2) Both Institutions and Senators are sized by dollars contributed or dollars received (3) Senators are colored by Party." A more detailed description is here.
"Three Important Principles: (1) Squares (i.e. Institutions) introduce money into the system and Circles (i.e. Senators) receive money (2) Both Institutions and Senators are sized by dollars contributed or dollars received (3) Senators are colored by Party." A more detailed description is here.
Friday, April 03, 2009
A Young Pulsar Shows Its Hand
A Young Pulsar Shows Its Hand "A small, dense object only twelve miles in diameter is responsible for this beautiful X-ray nebula that spans 150 light years. At the center of this image made by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is a very young and powerful pulsar, known as PSR B1509-58, or B1509 for short. The pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star which is spewing energy out into the space around it to create complex and intriguing structures, including one that resembles a large cosmic hand. "
My Train Experiences Are Never Like This
Rachel Maddow tweeted this YouTube video, Op zoek naar Maria - Dans in het Centraal Station van Antwerpen it's quite fun.
Then I saw that T-Mobile did something similar at the Liverpool station earlier this year. Also a lot of fun.
Then I saw that T-Mobile did something similar at the Liverpool station earlier this year. Also a lot of fun.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
March Torture Articles
Here are some articles from last month I finally got around to reading on the Bush administration torture policy.
In US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites, Mark Danner reviews the International Committee of the Red Cross' Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody. The review is really long, so I read Brian Tamanaha''s summary, No More Debate About Whether We Tortured.
"This article by Mark Danner in the New York Review of Books ends the debate over whether we tortured. Danner's article is based upon a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which interviewed prisoners. The report explicitly concludes that we "tortured" a number of prisoners. But don't take the ICRC's word for it. Read the extensive accounts by the prisoners of their treatment and decide for yourself (although they were kept in isolation, their accounts substantially coincide).
On Sunday, the Washington Post wrote, Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots. Bush described Zubaida as "al-Qaeda's chief of operations" but he wasn't even an official member of al-Qaeda.
"When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the White House to get those secrets out of him. The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al-Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads. In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said."
digby commented on the article. "Dick Cheney is going to hell. But we knew that. And so are Bush and Rice and all the rest who insisted on torturing Abu Zubaida, a brain damaged man who was so desperate that he made up fantastical terrorist plots just to make the torture stop. They not only committed a war crime, they made us all less safe by sending investigators all over the world on wild goose chases."
Dan Froomkin comments on it too, in Bush's Torture Rationale Debunked. "Zubaida wasn't a major al Qaeda figure. He wasn't holding back critical information. His torture didn't produce valuable intelligence -- and it certainly didn't save lives."
"All the calculations the Bush White House claims to have made in its decision to abandon long-held moral and legal strictures against abusive interrogation turn out to have been profoundly flawed, not just on a moral basis but on a coldly practical one as well."
In US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites, Mark Danner reviews the International Committee of the Red Cross' Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody. The review is really long, so I read Brian Tamanaha''s summary, No More Debate About Whether We Tortured.
"This article by Mark Danner in the New York Review of Books ends the debate over whether we tortured. Danner's article is based upon a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which interviewed prisoners. The report explicitly concludes that we "tortured" a number of prisoners. But don't take the ICRC's word for it. Read the extensive accounts by the prisoners of their treatment and decide for yourself (although they were kept in isolation, their accounts substantially coincide).
On Sunday, the Washington Post wrote, Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots. Bush described Zubaida as "al-Qaeda's chief of operations" but he wasn't even an official member of al-Qaeda.
"When CIA officials subjected their first high-value captive, Abu Zubaida, to waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods, they were convinced that they had in their custody an al-Qaeda leader who knew details of operations yet to be unleashed, and they were facing increasing pressure from the White House to get those secrets out of him. The methods succeeded in breaking him, and the stories he told of al-Qaeda terrorism plots sent CIA officers around the globe chasing leads. In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said."
digby commented on the article. "Dick Cheney is going to hell. But we knew that. And so are Bush and Rice and all the rest who insisted on torturing Abu Zubaida, a brain damaged man who was so desperate that he made up fantastical terrorist plots just to make the torture stop. They not only committed a war crime, they made us all less safe by sending investigators all over the world on wild goose chases."
Dan Froomkin comments on it too, in Bush's Torture Rationale Debunked. "Zubaida wasn't a major al Qaeda figure. He wasn't holding back critical information. His torture didn't produce valuable intelligence -- and it certainly didn't save lives."
"All the calculations the Bush White House claims to have made in its decision to abandon long-held moral and legal strictures against abusive interrogation turn out to have been profoundly flawed, not just on a moral basis but on a coldly practical one as well."
The Mark-to-Market Myth
In The Mark-to-Market Myth The Baseline Scenario argues against relaxing the accounting rules.
House Approves FDA Regulation of Tobacco Products
House approves FDA regulation of tobacco products "(AP) -- The federal government would for the first time have regulatory powers over the tobacco industry under a bill the House approved Thursday after years of campaigning by anti-smoking forces."
Seriously? The FDA couldn't regulate cigarettes? Let me guess, they were neither a food nor a drug. Who made them put those warning labels on all the packs?
Seriously? The FDA couldn't regulate cigarettes? Let me guess, they were neither a food nor a drug. Who made them put those warning labels on all the packs?
Obama, and the Queen of England vs Copyright
The EFF wrote iPods, First Sale, President Obama, and the Queen of England where they try to answer the question of whether Obama broke copyright law when he gave Queen Elizabeth an iPod filled with music. "You know your copyright laws are broken when there is no easy answer to this question."
"Of course, no one thinks that copyright owners are going to send lawyers after either President Obama or the Queen over this. But none of us should want a world where even our leaders--much less the rest of us--can't figure out how copyright law operates in their daily lives."
"Of course, no one thinks that copyright owners are going to send lawyers after either President Obama or the Queen over this. But none of us should want a world where even our leaders--much less the rest of us--can't figure out how copyright law operates in their daily lives."
Is Solitary Confinement Torture?
Solitary Confinement: Possibly Torture, Definitely Hell comments on the story on solitary confinement by Atul Gawande in this past week’s New Yorker that asks "is it torture?".
"The answer isn't a categorical 'yes,' but it's probably not a categorical 'no' either--it is plausible that some cases of solitary confinement in the U.S. might qualify as torture under international law."
"All that said, of course, this legal question about torture isn’t really the main point of the article—Gawande isn’t suggesting that prison officials be brought up on torture charges, but rather that we rethink the policy of throwing tens of thousands of prisoners each year into solitary confinement."
"The answer isn't a categorical 'yes,' but it's probably not a categorical 'no' either--it is plausible that some cases of solitary confinement in the U.S. might qualify as torture under international law."
"All that said, of course, this legal question about torture isn’t really the main point of the article—Gawande isn’t suggesting that prison officials be brought up on torture charges, but rather that we rethink the policy of throwing tens of thousands of prisoners each year into solitary confinement."
Podcasts of 2008 Nebula Best Short Story Nominees
StarShipSofa is a free sci-fi podcast. They've posted audio book versions of the Nebula Best Short Story Nominees 2008.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Franken Wins Favorable Court Ruling in MN Senate Race
I just don't understand this, Franken Wins Favorable Court Ruling in Minnesota Senate Race.
"A three-judge panel ruled that only 400 absentee ballots — far fewer than Mr. Coleman had sought — should be examined for possible counting. If the ruling stands, it could be devastating for Mr. Coleman, who trailed his Democratic challenger by 225 votes out of some 2.9 million cast and had hoped that nearly 1,400 absentee ballots might be recounted...After seven weeks of deliberations, the court said it would decide which of the 400 ballots would be counted in open court by next Tuesday."
Seriously? 7 weeks to decide to count only 400 of 1400 ballots? There were only 2.9 million votes cast and that was nearly 5 months ago. There are 2,592,000 seconds in a month, do the math. Why can't Minnesotans count?
In 2000 Gore wanted limited recounts and Bush wanted no recounts. If they had done what Gore requested Bush would have won. If they had recounted all the votes throughout Florida Gore would have won. It's an election, get all the vote counts right.
"A three-judge panel ruled that only 400 absentee ballots — far fewer than Mr. Coleman had sought — should be examined for possible counting. If the ruling stands, it could be devastating for Mr. Coleman, who trailed his Democratic challenger by 225 votes out of some 2.9 million cast and had hoped that nearly 1,400 absentee ballots might be recounted...After seven weeks of deliberations, the court said it would decide which of the 400 ballots would be counted in open court by next Tuesday."
Seriously? 7 weeks to decide to count only 400 of 1400 ballots? There were only 2.9 million votes cast and that was nearly 5 months ago. There are 2,592,000 seconds in a month, do the math. Why can't Minnesotans count?
In 2000 Gore wanted limited recounts and Bush wanted no recounts. If they had done what Gore requested Bush would have won. If they had recounted all the votes throughout Florida Gore would have won. It's an election, get all the vote counts right.
Boston Area Surveillance Cameras
The Somerville Journal reports City officials install surveillance cameras around Somerville.
"Somerville is not alone in its quest to spy on city streets. This year, government officials plan to install nearly 100 new surveillance cameras in nine cities and towns in the Greater Boston area with federal grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Somerville, Brookline, Cambridge, Quincy and Winthrop — all municipalities that previously did not have surveillance cameras — now plan to install the surveillance equipment, according to government officials.
The 95 new cameras come at a price tag of $4.6 million, which includes the cost of developing a wireless network that connects the public safety agencies in the region, according to Jennifer Mehigan, a spokesperson for Boston Mayor Tom Menino."
"Somerville is not alone in its quest to spy on city streets. This year, government officials plan to install nearly 100 new surveillance cameras in nine cities and towns in the Greater Boston area with federal grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Somerville, Brookline, Cambridge, Quincy and Winthrop — all municipalities that previously did not have surveillance cameras — now plan to install the surveillance equipment, according to government officials.
The 95 new cameras come at a price tag of $4.6 million, which includes the cost of developing a wireless network that connects the public safety agencies in the region, according to Jennifer Mehigan, a spokesperson for Boston Mayor Tom Menino."
April Fools
TechCrunch has a collection of April Fools jokes on the web.
I really like the Guardian's that they will switch from publishing on newspaper to just using Twitter. " Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters"
I really like the Guardian's that they will switch from publishing on newspaper to just using Twitter. " Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters"
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