Muntader al-Zaidi is still in jail. You should be angry.

[HuffPo]: The Darkness before the Dawn (and how to lift it)

Virtues of a Proportional Response

In the debate, Dukakis flubbed badly a question on capital punishment (transcript below, video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF9gSyku-fc).

Bernard Shaw (moderator):
Governor, if Kitty Dukakis [his wife] were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?

Dukakis:
No, I don't, and I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life

Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing, used a Dukakis flub as inspiration for his show (and not for the first time) when staffer Toby asks President Bartlet a similar question in debate prep:

TOBY
Mr. President, this next question is on capital punishment, which you oppose:
If your youngest daughter Zoey was raped and murdered, would you not want to see
the man responsible put to death?

BARTLET
First of all, it's important to understand the President doesn't make that
decision, though he appoints the Supreme Court Justices who do
so. What... any... um... All right, I'm not going to say that. I'll just go right to... No, I don't. I think you know that I'm opposed.... [sighs] Let's not do that. I haven't seen any evidence that it's a deterrent, and there are more effective... In my state...

TOBY
What's the matter with you? I just mentioned your daughter being murdered, and you're giving us an answer that's not only soporific, it's barely human! Yes, you'd want to see him put to death. You'd want it to be cruel and unusual, which is why it's probably a good idea that fathers of murder victims don't have legal rights in these situations.

Criticizing Israel's response to Hamas's rocket attacks in no way means denying the legitimacy of the feelings that are spurring it. To expect Israelis to live under constant attack with equanimity is as unreasonable as expecting the father of a murdered daughter not to wish her assailant dead. In the United States, we have a legal system to step in and restrain the vengeful father, despite his understandable and natural passion. Israelis desperately needs someone to step in and restrain them before their actions harm their nation's prospects for peace even further.

An expanded post on the situation will follow tomorrow.

(thanks to WestWingTranscripts.com)

Ratios without Rationalizations

1 : 100 :: Israelis killed : Palestinians killed

2 : 5 :: Palestinian civilians killed : Palestinian militants killed

1 : 5 :: Palestinian children (under the age of 16) killed : Palestinian militants killed


If Israel is determined to ignore or rationalize the above, perhaps it will be chastened by the below:

1 : 1 :: Population of the Palestinian Territories in 2040 : Population of Israel in 2040

(first set of data from the AP's reports of UN estimates, second from the Washington Times

Polly Want a Legal Status

The miniature horse pictured above is notable not only for being fairly adorable, but for serving as a service animal, just like a seeing-eye dog. An article in today's New York Times Magazine reports on the expanding definition of 'service animal.' The new uses of animals are clever, none more so than the assistance parrot named Sadie which talks Jim Eggers's down from his bipolar rages:

Eggers’s [bipolar disorder with psychotic tendencies] has landed him in court several times: a disturbing-the-peace charge for pouring scalding coffee onto a man under his apartment window who annoyed him; one-year probation for threatening to kill the archbishop of St. Louis. Sadie is one of the few things keeping Eggers from snapping.

Sadie rides around town on Eggers’s back in a bright purple backpack specially designed to hold her cage. When he gets upset, she talks him down, saying: “It’s O.K., Jim. Calm down, Jim. You’re all right, Jim. I’m here, Jim.” She somehow senses when he is getting agitated before he even knows it’s happening. “I still go off on people sometimes, but she makes sure it never escalates into a big problem,” he told me, grinning bashfully at Sadie. “Now when people make me mad I just give them the bird,” he said, pulling up his sleeve and flexing his biceps, which is covered with a large tattoo of Sadie.

Unfortunately for Eggers and Sadie, the line between 'service animal' (allowed to accompany its owner into public places) and 'therapy animal' is largely unclear. The Department of Justice has proposed limiting the definition of 'service animal' to “dog or other common domestic animal,” specifically excluding “wild animals (including nonhuman primates born in captivity), reptiles, rabbits, farm animals (including any breed of horse, miniature horse, pony, pig or goat), ferrets, amphibians and rodents.”

Rather than attempt to create a bright line definition that could put Eggers and other innovative patients at risk, the DoJ should sign off on a broader definition of service animal, contingent primarily on a doctor's affadavit and simply hold users accountable for the reasonable behavior of their animals in public. The law is not meant to be twisted to preempt every extreme, improbable case.

Start the New Year with a Smile

According to the New York Times, the Thai police have found a novel way to improve relations with civilians.

Thailand is nicknamed "The Land of Smiles," but, of late, the Thai police have found it hard to keep smiling. The solution they hit on lies below.

“They have to put on a mask because a smile doesn’t come naturally anymore,” said Ammar Siamwalla, an economist who keeps a close eye on the mores of his countrymen. “Normally people smile. You don’t have to put on a smiley mask.

“But these past few years that smile has worn thin because we are all angry at each other and willing to show it.”

So, what's your metaphorical Thai-smiling-mask to keep you pleasant for the new year?

Live from Middlebury... Muggle Quidditch

Posting on more serious subjects will resume after T-giving break.  Til then, from io9:

The Intercollegiate Quidditch Association or (IQA) held the [Intercollegiate Quidditch World Cup] at Middlebury College (where Muggle Quidditch originated in 2005). Right now over 150 colleges have Quidditch teams including Boston University, Vassar, Bucknell University, Tulane, Oberlin and Emerson College.

The promotional video, with an explanation of the mechanics of the game, is below:

All Politics is Tragedy, but some of it's staged

Ever since the election, a lot of people have framed the McCain campaign as a classical tragedy. To achieve what he thought was his greatest desire, he gave up his soul and was left with nothing.

Playwright Wendy Weiner has decided to chronicle the struggles of a different plaything of the gods in her new play Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy With a (Somewhat) Happy Ending.

The concept, according the the NYT review is:

Hillary (Mia Barron), when she is still a girl dreaming of an adulthood in which a woman might pursue the presidency, pledges her devotion to Athena. Aphrodite, jealous, makes it her business to thwart Hillary, her principal weapon being the slick, charming Bill Clinton (Darren Pettie).

It's as good an explanation for the Clintons' marriage as any I've heard.

Thanksgiving Mental Health Break

The American Association for the Advancement of Science has just announced the winners of its annual "Dance Your PhD" contest. Applicants must convey the crux of their research in a 3-4 minute dance video posted to YouTube. Below is my favorite of the winners, "Resolving Pathways of Functional Coupling in Human Hemoglobin Using Quantitative Low Temperature Isoelectric Focusing of Asymmetric Mutant Hybrids" by Professor Vince LiCata of LSU.




(The rest of the winners are at http://gonzolabs.org/dance/contestants/)

Naked people sell tickets. Naked emotions sell shows

This was a pretty theatre-packed weekend for me. Happy Now? was closing at the Yale Rep, a friend of mine was playing the title role in a untranslated production of Racine's Britannicus, and all Yale was abuzz about the musical being staged by the Dramat, which featured naked boys singing (but not Naked Boys Singing!).

I'd already seen The Full Monty on Broadway, and my opinion of the show was pretty much unchanged by the Dramat's production. The songs are instantly forgettable, and the plot does not progress except by sudden starts and improbably out of character shifts. Certainly, on the basis of the written script, it was the least thought-provoking of the three shows I saw.

But the last time I saw The Full Monty, it wasn't during a recession.

The six leading men (and particularly Miles Jacoby as protagonist Jerry Lukowski and Matthew McCollum as his best friend) managed to bring real, wrenching emotional depth to the cardboard cutouts of characters they were handed by the script. Jacoby was most affecting before the stripping plot really gets moving, when he and his fellow laid-off steelworkers feel trapped by their sudden misfortune.

Jacoby and the other men don't just miss their paychecks after the layoffs. Losing their jobs means losing part of their identity and part of their purpose. Their despair and desperation are palpable. The show shifts tone when Jacoby's character decides that he and his friends can regain their dignity by becoming strippers, but by the time my eyes had recovered from the strategic backlighting in the final scene, I kept thinking about the downtrodden men from the first act.

Secluded at college, my experience with the economic meltdown has mostly been limited to following policy arguments among the blognoroti. I really hadn't thought about how the effects of these decisions were being felt across the country until I saw those brilliant boys playing men leading lives of quiet desperation. And after having watched Jacoby stand alone on the stage, pinned down by a spotlight and keening in shame and grief, I only wish that kitschy, underwritten songs could solve their problems.

After the honeymoon, the crazy in-laws

Following closely on the heels of yesterday's post on encouraging headlines in the wake of Obama's election comes, unsurprisingly, a jubilant message from Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an organization which claims links to Al Qaeda. The message included the expected, gleeful pronouncements of Al Qaeda's power and condemnation of Bush's foreign policy decisions, but one part of the message was a little unexpected.

“On behalf of my brothers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Chechnya, I offer you what is better for you and us: you return to your previous era of neutrality, you withdraw your forces, and you return to your homes,” Mr. Baghdadi said. “You do not interfere in the affairs of our countries, directly or indirectly. We in turn will not prevent commerce with you, whether it is in oil or otherwise, but with fairness, not at a loss.”

Faris bin Hizam, an expert on Al Qaeda, said the offer of a trade relationship had struck a new note. “How can he call for establishing a relationship with the United States if it withdraws?” Mr. Bin Hizam said. “The main principle of Al Qaeda prohibits any relation with infidels.”

I'm sure Mr. Baghdadi will be in trouble when his apparent love of the infidel gets reported back to his superiors, but maybe they'll be merciful. It's obvious Obama Fever is more infectious and more powerful than anyone suspected.

(link from the NYT)

The honeymoon goes on

The sleep deprivation is just starting to win out over the Election Day high, but with headlines like this from Friday's New York Times, even late night election viewing/problem set doing/computer coding can't keep a spring out of my step.

Obama Victory Alters the Tenor of Iraqi Politics

Iraqi Shiite politicians are indicating that they will move faster toward a new security agreement about American troops, and a Bush administration official said he believed that Iraqis could ratify the agreement as early as the middle of this month.

“Before, the Iraqis were thinking that if they sign the pact, there will be no respect for the schedule of troop withdrawal by Dec. 31, 2011,” said Hadi al-Ameri, a powerful member of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a major Shiite party. “If Republicans were still there, there would be no respect for this timetable. This is a positive step to have the same theory about the timetable as Mr. Obama.”

In Rare Turn, Iran’s Leader Sends Letter to Obama

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran sent an unusual letter congratulating President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday for his victory in the American presidential race, even though the two nations have had no diplomatic ties for nearly 30 years... this is the first time an Iranian leader has congratulated the winner of an American election, at least since the Iranian revolution.

None of these developments represent magical fixes, and it's important to remember that President-elect Obama will be coming into the White House facing an economic crisis and two wars. But it's just so heartening to see how this change is making it easier for other countries to engage with us, so that there exists at least a hope for progress.

The prodigal governor may yet return

No, not Mitt Romney. He's well and truly over. But we may be seeing more of Ms. Palin (if not Tina Fey's impression) soon.

The count goes on (and on and on) in Alaska and Ted Stevens still has a razor thin lead over his challenger. Despite his seven felony convictions, the Alaskan people seem determined to return him to the Senate. But even if he wins the race, it's unlikely he'll remain a senator. Both McCain and Palin have called for him to step down, and Republican as well as Democratic senators have threatened to expel him.

An open seat in Alaska cannot be filled by appointment, so Palin can't just pull a Cheney and take the position for herself. The seat would be filled by a special election, and Palin has the name recognition to pull it off.

The votes are still coming in, and Stevens may lose his lead when all the absentee ballots are counted, so it would behoove Ms. Palin to wait until the election is called before she places orders for "Senator Maverick in 2012" posters.

Barack Obama was your new jetpack

There's been a lot of talk about the repercussions of electing an black president (as it appears we are about to). Will it be an inspiration for black people, bad for black people, or even good for white supremacists?

Jonathan Messinger sees a stranger problem. Like hovercars and jetpacks, black presidents have been a common shorthand in science fiction.

As many have said before, the function of a black president in film and TV has largely been used to signify some sort of alternate reality. It often shows up in various forms of science-fiction or fantasy, whether we’re talking about The Fifth Element or O Presidente Negro. Now, if Obama wins, I’m guessing that we’ll have to see science fiction turn to gay presidents for their alt-universe qualities. I look forward to it.

GOTV gets dirty

...and I'm not talking about mudslinging.

Circlet Press, a publisher that describes itself as the "intersection of erotica and science fiction, fantasy, and futurism," has decided that there may yet be a way to get apathetic voters engaged with politics: offer them free porn.

Email a copy of a receipt from a campaign contribution, and Circlet will send you a sci-fi themed, erotic novel. Now's a little late to be mounting a last minute fundraising drive, so it's unclear how much of a difference Circlet thinks it can make. Since it's McCain who's in desperate straits, he's best hope there really are a number of sci-fi fans out there, ready to campaign for Tigh/Roslin rather than sticking with Roslin/Airlock. Either way, it should be a fun demographic dust-up.


(h/t to i09)

Liveblogging the last debate

10:07: "I think [the Supreme Court] has made a lot of bad decisions... I'm a federalist, let the states decide." Sounds like the Supreme Court is going to get a turn in the bathtub, once McCain finishes drowning the government.

10:04: I believe McCain just equated cosmetic surgery with organ transplants.

10:01: Yes, McCain, it's surprising that Obama is claiming to be levying a fine of $0 on Joe, the much maligned plumber, but use your words to express your disbelief. Holding perfectly still with your mouth open and blinking rapidly is a little too literal.

Barring any big moments, I'm signing off. Looks like it will be status quo ante bellum, with Obama's coolness playing well opposite McCain's agitation.

9:47: Look, I'm a fan of nuclear power, much more so than for "clean" coal, but "No problem" is a little flip, McCain

9:33: Obama talks about the "Kill him" remark, McCain takes umbrage that Obama doesn't recognize that "the best people in the world" come to his rallies. Then he says he's quite put out about the t-shirts people wear at Obama rallies.

9:25: People yell "Kill him" at Palin rallies because Obama didn't agree to Town Hall debates?

9:24: Obama said McCain never breaks with Bush on economic issues. McCain responds with a list of non-economic breaks.

9:23: The FoxNews line got the only laugh of all three debates.

9:21: The more defensive and desperate McCain looks, the better off Obama looks. As long as he stops smirking.

9:19: If McCain is proposing dropping the tariff on sugarcane ethanol, he must really be pulling out of Iowa

9:17: An across the board spending freeze?!? Really?!? So we, what, just stop paying Medicare doctors if treatment rates go up?

9:17: McCain is sill shilling for PUMAs.

9:15: Obama going through the budget line-by-line is still a laughable idea. Plus, without a line-item veto, it's hard to see what he'll accomplish.

9:14: Good to have someone point out that the $700 billion isn't meant to be a gift.

9:11: McCain hates redistribution. But if he keeps characterizing it as "spreading the wealth around" I fail to see how that's an effective attack.

9:08: "Senator McCain, do you want to ask Senator Obama a question?"
"No."
Wait, really? I'm calling an Obama win right now. What a terrible first impression.

The numbers are in, and the libertartians are losing

Mostly, I get my distilled datasets from FiveThirtyEight.com's sabermetric analysis, but there's something pretty thought-provoking at the end of the NYT/CBS poll that was just released.

The poll shows a 51-39 split for Obama and McCain, respectively, when third party candidates are counted. The real interesting data comes when you look at who's defecting for third parties.

	Democrats	Republicans	Independents
Barr/Root	0	0	2
Nader/Gonzales	2	2	4
Other	0	0	1

I'm not exactly what message the GOP is supposed to get when more partisans are deserting for Ralph Nader than for the Libertarian candidate and Ron Paul write-ins put together. Not abolishing government in favor of reducing it to the size where they can drag it into the bathroom and restrain it with a governmentally mandated seatbelt, perhaps?

That's hardly the worst of it for the Republicans.

	Republicans
McCain/Palin	81
Obama/Biden	11

One in ten registered Republicans are planning to defect to the Dems. That's five times as many as are planning to shift to Nader, and, if you want to get cute, infinitely many as are going to vote for Barr at this level of significance. So what message is the GOP establishment supposed to take home? Be more like the Democrats?

All these guys are doing a fine job planning the revolution, but, even with McCain in crisis, no one's really fleeing the two-party system. And, even as an ardent Obama supporter, I can't say that a world where dissatisfied voters just ping-pong back and forth between the two established parties is one I really enjoy living in.

So, libertarian-leaning, crunchy, or pomo- conservatives, what now? Bow your heads and pray "Next year in the Ballot-Box, not the blogosphere?" Cause from where I'm standing, this year is as much a failure for you as for the GOP.

[I realize the formatting is fouled up, by my HTML skills have proven insufficient. If anyone has suggestions, feel free to comment.)

Shining a spotlight on Apple's shenanigans

Apple will be releasing a new line of notebooks tomorrow, but, if you want to take a break from checking for Chinese leaks on tech specs, developer Peter Hosey has just finished updating the iPhone App Graveyard, (h/t Ars Technica which memorializes the apps that Apple has kicked off the App Store, and thereby placed off limits to everyone whose iPhones and iPod Touches aren't jailbroken.

Some of the dead are victims of copyright problems like Tris (a Tetris remix) while others fell afoul of Apple's apparent no-absurdism policy (I am Rich, an app that cost $999.99 and displayed a glowing, red jewel on the iPhone screen above the words "I am rich"), but only one of the dead apps has me boggled.

Freedom Time displayed a countdown to George W. Bush's last day in office above the words "...until the end of an error." Apple dropped the app, claiming it was defamatory. (They also supposedly booted a Bushisms app, which only showed actual Bush quotes for the same reason. It does make you wonder if Bush can sue himself for defamation of character.)

Steve Jobs responded to criticism by saying,

I think this app will be offensive to roughly half our customers. What’s the point?

It's puzzling that Jobs thinks that his business won't succeed if he allows anyone to sell anything that might annoy some fraction of his target population, particularly when he could make money when Democrats buy the app.

Ah, well. Guess that puts the kibosh on writing an app to display the image below whenever the user navigates to the iTunes store.

Shame on you, Maureen Dowd's editor

When you're as famous as Maureen Dowd (though she's been getting her butt kicked by Gail Collins on the witty, incisive op-ed front for more than a year), it's easy to lose your grip on your ego. That's why the NYT has editors to check the pomposity and indulgence of columnists.

So where was Dowd's editor when she decided to write half of Sunday's op-ed in neologistic Latin? Sample pararaph:

Vilmingtoni, in Ohionem, McCain’s Mean Girl (Ferox Puella) defendit se gladiatricem politicam esse: “Pauci dicant, O Jupiter, te negativam esse. Non, negativa non sum, sed verissima.” Talk about lipsticka in porcam! Quasi Leeus Atwater de oppugnatione Busii Primi ad Dukakem: “non negativus, sed comparativus.”

Sorry, Dowd. Pixtrem transiluis. (You have jumped the shark)

Spelunking in the Uncanny Valley

The android is modeled on a real five-year-old and was created by the Intelligent Robotics Lab at Osaka University. The researchers are focused on using androids to create "geminoids," android doubles remotely controlled by their dopplegangers to lend a human presence to telecommunication. Even leaving aside the uncanny valley problem, the utility of transporting specific robots to teleconference is kind of insane. This will only really work with some kind of cheap matter fabbing unit on site. Till then, just revel in the strangeness, and hope the geminoids dont have a plan.

(h/t to io9)

I need hyperlinks in meatspace

My day started off terribly, since I had forgotten the NYT had collapsed the Metro Section into section A, and spent quite a while looking for it.

Therefore, I'm especially appreciative of online media and hyperlinks today and will now proceed to furnish a number of them. David, Kate, Ferny, and I are guest blogging at HuffPo today. HuffPo has set up a symposium here on the recent YPU debate R: Blogs are good for democracy.

My post is here, so enjoy! (But please keep the number of comments mocking my previous HuffPo post on Harry Potter to a minimum)