Archive for December, 2003
Plot
Daniel Mendelsohn did not like Tarantion’s Kill Bill. Why? Because there was no “psychological motivation” and a “tenacious plot”:
For Tarantino, the movie fan who knows everything about the actors in the films he loves, it’s unnecessary to write psychology or motivation into the movies; he’s assuming that, like him, you’ll be able to fill in […]
Safety
Even though just about every blog has already covered this, the story is so upsetting, I think it needs to be repeated as often as possible. The feds fail to prosecute “willful” safety violations, even when people die as a result, and even when it happens again at the same company due to the same […]
Utilities
A good question:
So when did “free trade” come to mean the US dictating to other countries whether they can have publicly-owned utilities?
Especially when such utilities are understood to be natural monopolies - “defined in economics as an industry where the fixed cost of the capital goods is so high that it is not profitable for […]
Separation
I’ve been trying to understand how it is that the French can feel so strongly that Muslim women shouldn’t have the right to wear the Hijab (I wish they’d stop calling it a “veil”). Then, in discussing this with my brother (who lives in France), it suddenly became clear to me: In America separation of […]
Change
I can hardly bare to read the New York Times anymore. Their reporting seems to have rapidly deteriorated of late. Perhaps due to the new editor? The Sunday Magazine is a joke. Think you are going to get a story that will tell you something about the booming video game industry? No - you are […]
Recherche
This chart shows the Languages Used to Access Google from March 2001 till November 2003. There isn’t much explanation of what this means, but I assume it refers to people accessing localized versions of Google’s web page, rather than the language they use to search. After all, the number one search from Google.de (Germany) for […]
Monkeys
Do you remember this advertisement from the back of comics you read when you were a kid? I sure do, which is why my attention was caught by the NY Times headline: Harold von Braunhut, Seller of Sea Monkeys, Dies at 77. It never occurred to me that one man could be behind such […]
Enlargement
In a bold move, Governor George Pataki has proscribed penis enlargement pills for all members of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. Here you can see them discussing how much better they will perform with those extra 3 inches!
Southern
The Black Commentator called this speech by Howard Dean “the most important statement on race in American politics by a mainstream white politician in nearly 40 years.” I personally think that’s a gross exaggeration, but do I think they are correct to say that the speech is historically important for openly addressing the “Southern Strategy” […]
Aceh
The Indonesian military in Aceh is pursuing a campaign of killings, “disappearances” and beatings of civilians, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Acehnese refugees interviewed in Malaysia revealed widespread abuses in the Indonesian province, which has been effectively closed to observers since martial law was imposed in May.
…. Witnesses told Human Rights […]
An anthropologist and documentary filmmaker, 
