Word of the Day: Antimetabole

(h/t to Juliet Lapidos of Slate)

Antimetabole (according to Dictionary.com: An`ti*me*tab"o*le\, n. (Rhet.) A figure in which the same words or ideas are repeated in transposed order.

At the conventions alone:

We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. - McCain

In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change. - Palin

People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power. - B. Clinton

Great antimetabole of the past:

You have seen how a man was made a slave; you shall see how a slave was made a man. - Frederick Douglass

Ask not what your country can do for you —- ask what you can do for your country. - JFK

Fantastic rhetorical device, and I'm so delighted to be able to put a name to it.

What the Left does right

I'm a week late commenting (and complimenting) Sarah Vowell's op-ed which appeared in the Week in Review section of last Sunday's NYT. Here is how it begins:

ON Monday night at the Democratic National Convention, Caroline Kennedy introduced a tribute to her uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, by pointing out, “If your child is getting an early boost in life through Head Start or attending a better school or can go to college because a Pell Grant has made it more affordable, Teddy is your senator, too.”

To my surprise, I started to cry. Started to cry like I was watching the last 10 minutes of “Brokeback Mountain” instead of C-SPAN. This was whimpering brought on by simple, spontaneous gratitude.

Vowell relied on Pell Grant's to get through college. The grant wasn't enough to pay her way or to let her get out of working. It simply meant she had to work ten fewer hours a week.

Ten extra hours a week might sound negligible, but do you know what a determined, junior-Hillary type of hick with a full course load and onion-scented hands can do with the gift of 10 whole hours per week? Not flunk geology, that’s what. Take German every day at 8 a.m. — for fun! Wander into the office of the school paper on a whim and find a calling. I’m convinced that those 10 extra hours a week are the reason I graduated magna cum laude, which I think is Latin for “worst girlfriend in town.”

I recommend reading the whole article, which is moving and well argued. The Pell Grant Vowell recieved changed her life, without representing too large a fiscal burden for the government (Vowell has since paid back her Pell Grant many times in the form of the increased income taxes she pays on her increased income).

The Pell Grant program is one of the best governmental programs I can think of. It's not a hand-out or a "special right," it just helps hard-working, motivated students clear one bureaucratic hurdle so they can succeed on their own merits. Government governs best when it clears obstacles out of the way of hard-working people who are doing the right thing but just need a boost.

So next time you go knocking the Dems, think about a world without Pell Grants. It's a world that makes it that much harder for poor students to go to college and compete academically with their peers, a world that makes it harder for children to escape the misfortunes or poor decisions of their parents. It's a world in which Assassination Vacation was probably never written.

I don't think any of us prefer that world.


UPDATE: I've just noticed that both posts that I've tagged "verklempt" are about Teddy Kennedy. Just mentioning.

Pandering? For me? You shouldn't have!

Science Debate 2008 prepared a list of 14 questions for the candidates, and today, Barack Obama's answers went up (h/t i09). Among the highlights:

As president, I will lift the current administration’s ban on federal funding of research on embryonic stem cell lines created after August 9, 2001 through executive order, and I will ensure that all research on stem cells is conducted ethically and with rigorous oversight . . . I believe that it is ethical to use these extra embryos for research that could save lives when they are freely donated for that express purpose.

Specifically, I will implement a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary: 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. I will start reducing emissions immediately by establishing strong annual reduction targets with an intermediate goal of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

And my favorite:

[I will] strengthen the role of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) by appointing experts who are charged to provide independent advice on critical issues of science and technology. The PCAST will once again be advisory to the president. (emphasis added)

Needless to say, PCAST got booted under Bush.

I'd rather leave (Bristol's) baby in the corner

...because I'd rather talk about this.

Arguing that religious faith is pertinent inasmuch as it relates to character is one thing, but (according to this NYT profile her mayoral campaign took it way too far.

The traditional turning points that had decided municipal elections in this town of less than 7,000 people — Should we pave the dirt roads? Put in sewers? Which candidate is your hunting buddy? — seemed all but obsolete the year Ms. Palin, then 32, challenged the three-term incumbent, John C. Stein...

“Sarah comes in with all this ideological stuff, and I was like, ‘Whoa,’ ” said Mr. Stein, who lost the election. “But that got her elected: abortion, gun rights, term limits and the religious born-again thing. I’m not a churchgoing guy, and that was another issue: ‘We will have our first Christian mayor.’ ”

“I thought: ‘Holy cow, what’s happening here? Does that mean she thinks I’m Jewish or Islamic?’ ” recalled Mr. Stein, who was raised Lutheran, and later went to work as the administrator for the city of Sitka in southeast Alaska. “The point was that she was a born-again Christian.”

Palin wasn't just skillfully using the wedge issue for personal gain; it appears that questions of faith make too big a difference in her governing:

In her speech to the Wasilla Assembly of God in June, Ms. Palin said it was “God’s will” that the federal government contribute to a $30 billion gas pipeline she wants built in Alaska.

Her religious rhetoric is not just a veneer to sugarcoat policy choices, it is the basis of those choices. Time is reporting that:

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

Please let me know when the talking heads leave Bristol alone and start discussing these choices. When faith trumps facts on issues of public policy, you're damn right it's a character issue.

Mental Health Break: It was a dark and stormy night...

This blog has been dark for a few days as I moved back to school and caught up with many of these guys. Normal blogging will resume tomorrow, but one delightful item had to be addressed today.

For those unfamiliar with the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, it is named for Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who began his novel, Paul Clifford, with the following famous (and wretched) line:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Since 1983, the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Competition has sought out the worst opening line to a work of fiction (the line is not required to actually be part of a novel and is usually invented specifically for the competition).

So, congratulations to Mr. Garrison Spik, the winner of the 2008 contest, who was profiled in today's NYT. His opening line follows:

Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped ‘Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J.’

Welcome back.

Palin Supports Teaching Intelligent Design in Science Class

Palin's remark is reported in full at the Anchorage Daily News

That's all

Liveblogging: Clinton/Biden

9:07 - coming in late from dinner, but luckily Bill's applause went way over

9:10 - "My 8 years in office convinced me Barack Obama is the man for this job." Apparently, those 8 years took about 8 months to kick in.

9:13 - "Barack Obama is ready to lead... is ready to be POTUS" Check. Bill's in the clear.

9:15 - You have to feel a little bad for Hil, as she watches hubby praise BO and his "excellent VP pick"

9:16 - "People across the world have always been more impressed by the power of our example than the example of our power" Fabulous line

9:20 - Nicola, Bill always hits his stride when he gets to talk about people. He's not putting that on, he really does get that energized by empathy

9:22 - "Third time is not the charm" got a smile from Michelle. No word on whether she was thinking of the Bush dynasty or the Clintons

9:23 - Comparing Obama's youth to his own is a smart (and gracious) move for Clinton

9:25 - Bill nailed it. And he's still a rock star

9:29 - From MSNBC: "Elvis was back in the hall tonight"

9:31 - I'd blog about the coverage during the gap, but I have to return this copy of Watchmen tomorrow, so I need to finish it tonight.

9:34 - It's a tough gig, speaking right after Bill Clinton, so it must have been hard to decide whether to give the slot to Mark Warner or John Kerry. Can't make them duller on delivery.

9:44 - Kerry's actually gotten off some good lines. I was a little harsh before.

9:46 - I actually feel a little bad for Kerry, too. It's not as tough for him as for Hil, but he must be a little jealous that everyone loves his talking points... as long as they come out of Obama's mouth

9:47 - Can retired servicemen and women still wear their uniforms? It seems like if the general the Dems just brought out were a man, she'd have suited up

9:50 - Looked it up, she is eligible to wear her uniform

9:55 - Biden won't be on for half an hour. I'm taking a break

10:21 - The shakycam effect on the Biden montage is strange

10:25 - Overall, the quality of the Biden vid is way below Hil's

10:26 - Michelle is crying as Beau Biden speaks

10:27 - I like Biden, but not part of Washington is ridiculous. It's not a bad thing to have an experienced veep to help push through your agenda

10:29 - News Flash: Obama is no longer the most popular person on facebook. Michael Phelps out touched him.

10:30 - Biden looks delighted. Finally a Dem without reason to be bitter

10:31 - Biden is choking himself up. Still manages to quip about his wife being the only one who can leave him speechless. Quoth my mother, "He's going to be a pip."

10:33 - Leave off, Will. That moment about his son was very real and sweet. I'm sure Biden's big mouth will give them other options

10:35 - Biden's mom is also in tears. It's a three-hankerchief speech

10:36 - "[My mom] told me to go out and bloody their noses" Cut to his adorable mother mouthing "It's true"

10:37 - I'll admit, "everyone is your equal" is a pretty creepy philosophy

10:39 - Second John/George "freudian slip" of the night. It wasn't funny enough to do twice

10:41 - "Work is more than a paycheck, it's respect" Dead on.

10:44 - John McCain was his friend, even though that was fairly restrained (for Biden)

10:45 - The Dems need to sync up on what data their drawing their percentage of time McCain voted with Bush. Biden just said 95%, but Kerry said 90% earlier.

10:46 - Would it kill Biden to say 'more of the same' in rhythm so he can stay in sync with the floor-chanters?

10:47 - "Any country that out teaches us today will out compete us tomorrow" Another good line

10:48 - It's not looking too good in Pakistan, "the central front of the war on terror." The coalition government is fragmenting, and the likely prez has a history of mental illness

10:51 - Way, way too hawkish on Georgia. I don't know what the Dems are thinking

10:53 - Biden's done, but Obama's on the way

10:55 - Obama's on stage, and the hall is going wild. Anyone got a stopwatch to contrast with Clinton?

10:57 - Hillary gives a very ironic looking "Thank you" to Obama's comment that she "rocked the house." Surprisingly, hothead Bill pulls off a better reaction shot for his compliment

10:58 - That didn't really merit trotting him out. Ah well, at least I get to listen to the Boss singing "The Rising"

10:59 - "The Rising" sure beats Hillary getting played out to "Love Train" earlier today

11:00 - MSNBC apologizes to me for spoiling Obama's 'surprise' appearance.

11:01 - Looks like all is over. Time to sign off and check out that episode of Project Runway I just taped

Kudos: Ted Kennedy

I had noticed that there was a stool positioned behind Ted Kennedy (it went unused) when he delivered his speech at the Convention on Monday, but I had no idea that, in addition to still feeling the effects of his chemo, Kennedy came to the convention straight from the hospital, where he was being treated for excruciating kidney stones. The full story is in today's New York Times.

Although he was not released by his doctors until two hours before his speech (and was instructed to come right back to the hospital when the speech was done), Kennedy insisted he would not skip the speech or, as Bob Shrum suggested, read a three sentence statement.

At this point, I'm sort of up for a national health care plan that involves Ted Kennedy just coming to your house and willing your illness away with his colossal badassery. Wow.

Hopping on the liveblogging wagon

10:10 - Rachel Maddow and Pat Robertson agree, the Dems (esp. Warner) should be making someone angry. Robertson says, "Where's Cheney? He has an 18% approval rating; it's a free shot!"

10:13 - Highest praise for Warner comes from Mark Shields who said something approximating: It was pretty good for someone who's generally known as a crappy speaker. My mom asks, "Why put him as the keynote?" I assume it was part of the deal with the Clintons. Well played, Hil.

10:35 - Finally, the delegates are showing a little life. They were so muted for Warner.

10:37 - Picture of young Bill Clinton with dark hair quite cute. Surprising that they captioned him "Hillary's Husband"

10:39 - Strange to use "Weekend Update" as a testamonial in the Hillary montage

10:46 - Hillary's going down her list of unity buzzwords, but I'm mostly just encouraged by the fact that CNN spent an entire news segment looking for Hillary Holdouts at the convention without finding any

10:51 - "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits" just became the new name of at least six bands

10:56 - Hillary's speech doesn't seem pro-forma. The "what are you in this for" is the absolute best she could have done

11:03 - Hillary: It makes sense that Bush and McCain will be together at the convention...
McCain: No! Didn't you hear? We're there on different nights! It doesn't count

11:05 - Harriet Tubman was also known for saying, "If you don't keep going, I'll have to shoot you."

11:09 - Speech is over. Hillary was pretty much perfect for what she needed to do. Now I'm off to Comedy Central for less fatuous coverage

Why Hillary's speech doesn't matter as much as you think

I know those PUMA people are raising a stink and vowing to vote for McCain, and McCain's new ad "Passed Over" certainly implies that he's courting them. It's possible that some of those voters will stay home, but it is inconceivable that they will defect to McCain.

Obviously, it makes no sense to switch sides if you believe in Hillary's positions, since Obama's are virtually identical, but some die-hards are claiming that they (and womankind) have been disrespected by Obama and the DNC and at least McCain is behaving better than that.

The video below (a mock-up I whipped together in ten minutes, so please don't complain to me about artistry), would disabuse them of that notion pretty darn quick if it were remade with actual production values by a group not directly orgainized by Obama.


So, although I'm hoping Hillary sells it tonight, I'm not too fussed.

Joe Biden is really growing on me

He's just been very personally endearing this week. First, there was this article in the New York Times:

After Senator Barack Obama tapped him on Saturday to be his vice-presidential running mate, Mr. Biden introduced Jill Biden to the world this way:
“My wife, Jill, who you’ll meet soon, who’s drop-dead gorgeous..."
That was classic Biden. He’s still said to be head-over-heels in love with her after more than 30 years of marriage, and proud, if slightly intimidated, by her multiple degrees... After [Jill] defended her thesis, she arrived home to find signs in the driveway. One said: “Congratulations Dr. Jacobs-Biden.” The other: “Dr. and Senator Biden live here.”

Then, tonight at the convention, during Teddy Kennedy's speech, they kept cutting to Biden, whose eyes were welling up with tears in perfect sync with my mother's.

And now look at me, I'm all verklempt.

No gauze-filtered montage for the gays

NBC laid the human interest stories on pretty thick during the Olympics. From the one-legged swimmer to Misty May's lost wedding ring, the stories ranged from inspirational to trite, and it seemed like NBC's pursuit of moving montages was unstoppable.

Until Mathew Mitcham won gold.

Mitcham, an Australian diver, was the only non-Chinese athlete to win gold in any diving event, so his win was newsworthy by any standard, but NBC's coverage conveniently skipped over the fact that Mitcham was the only openly gay man at the 2008 Olympics. NBC also, unusually, did not show footage of his mother and his partner reacting to his dives. NBC was not the only media outlet to ignore Mitcham's sexuality, and the omissions can't just be chalked up to time crunches. The New York Times's article the next day also did not mention Mitcham's orientation or his stuggle to raise money to bring his partner to Beijing to watch him dive.

OutSports.com summed it up pretty well:

It’s a big story. The only openly gay male athlete in Beijing pulled off one of the great upsets at the Olympics in a spectacular fashion. If he had had cancer, or if his parents had been killed in a car crash when he was 2, or if he had just proposed to his girlfriend, they would have mentioned it. But they never showed him hugging his boyfriend, never mentioned it. They referred to “personal problems,” but I’m afraid they decided Matthew’s sexuality was off limits. A real shame.

Fun Fact: if all of the 14 openly LGBT athletes were a country, they would rank just behind Romania and hold a commanding three medal lead ahead of Greece.

Measles is catching (again), just like hysteria

Parents, brush up on your three C's (cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis) and get your kids ready for bed-rest. The Measles are back! (Just don't let the fact that no treatment exists paired with the 1 in 1000 death rate faze you.)

In an age of superbugs, you might wonder what crazy new mutation has let the measles come roaring back, but the resurgent measles are no different than the old-school measles that we last saw circa the turn of the century in The Lawrenceville Stories (the prequel to, and suprerior of Dink Stover at Yale).

The measles are back because today's parents are refusing to innoculate their children against measles, mumps, and rubella out of a fear that these vaccines could cause autism. The most popular arguement is that thiomersal, a preservative used in some vaccines, can trigger autism spectrum disorders, but this assertion does not hold up scientifically.

Remember, thiomersal and other mercury-containing preservatives were phased out starting in 1999. If there really were a causal link between these vaccines and autism, autism rates should have dropped in the decade following the phase-out. This did not occur.

A few other theories have been advanced, but none has been recognized by the scientific community. Vaccines and autism are not causally related, even though there is a correlation. Children are vaccinated at about the same age they begin to exhibit symptoms of autism, so it is not surprising that parents feel there is a connection.

Parents who don't vaccinate their children aren't just putting their own children at risk. Vaccinations benefit from herd immunity, i.e. that mass vaccination helps protect everyone, even the unvaccinated, by making it almost impossible for the virus to find a host to spread through. Parents who don't vaccinate their children chip away at the herd, putting even vaccinated individuals at risk (since no vaccine is 100% effective) as well as endangering infants too young to be vaccinated.

According to the New York Times, the back when vaccinations weren't common," each year nearly 4 million people in the United States were infected, 48,000 were hospitalized, 1,000 were chronically disabled and nearly 500 died."

Meales may be the tip of the iceberg. It is the most contagious of the childhood diseases, so it is the first to reemerge, but mumps and rubella may follow. The government and medical officials should reach out to parents to encourage them to vaccinate their children. Parents who refuse endanger their children and everybody else's.

Obama is done Biden his time

ABC is reporting that a special Secret Service detail is on its way to Biden's house, so that's that. I'm pretty happy. Biden does have a tendency to put his foot in his mouth, but he's a smart guy and will shore Obama up on the experience gap.

Plus, I'm totally charmed by this story from David Brook's column today, titled "Hoping it's Biden:"

Biden’s most notorious feature is his mouth. But in his youth, he had a stutter. As a freshman in high school he was exempted from public speaking because of his disability, and was ridiculed by teachers and peers. His nickname was Dash, because of his inability to finish a sentence.

He developed an odd smile as a way to relax his facial muscles (it still shows up while he’s speaking today) and he’s spent his adulthood making up for any comments that may have gone unmade during his youth.

Mystery solved! (I've been wondering about that smile since 2003) And I certainly admire his determination.

Continuing the trek through the Uncanny Valley

The term Uncanny Valley was coined by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970 and refers to the feeling of unease or disgust when humanoid robots or CGI characters are too good to look obviously fake or cartoony, but just inhuman enough to make you uncomfortable (e.g. the Tom Hanks zombie in the film The Polar Express).

One animation company thinks their CGI-fu can make it out of the valley (hat tip to i09). The video is below:



Is it convincing? Squicky? Try showing it to someone who doesn't know what's up (and skip the opening sequence, natch). For more information check out this article from the Times (of London, not New York).

Invade, kill their leaders, and convert them to Libertarianism

Jeffrey Gettleman's article in today's New York Times suggests that what corrupt, war-torn, 14-governments-in-17-years, Somalia needs is some good, old-fashioned localism.

Many Somali intellectuals and Western academics are pushing an alternative form of government that might be better suited to Somalia’s fluid, fragmented and decentralized society. The new idea, which is actually an old idea that seems to be enjoying something of a renaissance because of the transitional government’s shortcomings, is to rebuild Somalia from the bottom up.

It is called the building block approach. The first blocks would be small governments at the lowest levels, in villages and towns. These would be stacked to form district and regional governments. The last step would be uniting the regional governments in a loose national federation that controlled, say, currency issues and the pirate-infested shoreline, but did not sideline local leaders.

“It’s the only way viable,” said Ali Doy, a Somali analyst who works closely with the United Nations. “Local government is where the actual governance is. It’s more realistic, it’s more sustainable and it’s more secure.”

Sounds good, but I look forward to a follow-up article where someone explains how you implement a bottom-up strategy from the top down.

Weekend Arts: Keeping it in the Family

This post is of particular interest to Yale Mafiosos (though all theatre afficianados are encouraged to read on).

This week, I have had the pleasure of seeing two shows written and performed by Yalies at the NYC Fringe Festival. I had seen Usher in several incarnations at Yale, and it has gotten better every time. Usher is a musical adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Molly Fox and Sarah Hirsh.

In the musical, James (Casey Breves) is invited to the estate of his university friend, Roderick Usher (Ben Wexler) to paint Roderick's final portrait. During his time in the Usher home, James discovers that Roderick is spinning a web of lies to keep James from seeing his childhood love (and Roderick sister) Madeline (Claudia Rosenthal). These events are overseen by the malevolent portraits that haunt the Usher home.

The show is brilliantly executed. As at Yale, Casey and the rest of the cast do a brilliant job bringing life to cleverly-sketched characters and well-painted portraits. Casey's angelic tenor produces notes so beautiful that I was on the edge of my seat, hardly daring to breathe for many of his songs, and he is well matched by Claudia's haunting soprano. Fox and Hirsch give all their actors great material to work with. (Pariticularly good turns from Aaron Lee Lambert and Danielle Ryan as the Ushers servants in the song "Water and Gruel" and, in the chorus, Emily Jenda shines (without pulling focus) every moment she is onstage).

But perhaps the best recommendation for the show comes from the man on the LIRR platform this morning who complemented my singing (I couldn't get Usher out of my head). Since the only person I usually get singing complements from is my tone-deaf father, I have to assume he was moved by the songwriting prowess of Fox and Hirsh.

Usher has 4 performances left:
Sun 17 @ 4:15
Tue 19 @ 4:30
Wed 20 @ 7
Fri 22 @ 10
In addition, audio and video clips are available at the Usher website at http://www.usherthemusical.com/

The other Yale show at the Fringe is @lice in www.onderland, a dance/multimedia show based on the Lewis Carroll story. It is very difficult to translate a story so dependent on textual jokes to an essentially silent medium, but the production includes some charming moments. The two dancers who embody the Caterpillar is particularly inspired. For now though, my favorite Alice remix is still Alice in Quantumland.

@lice in www.onderland has 3 performances left:
Mon 18 @ 7:15
Tue 19 @ 5:15
Fri 22 @ 9:45

Gold Tarnishes: Chinese arrest British Reporter

British reporter John Ray was assaulted and arrested by Chinese police for covering a "Free Tibet" protest in Beijing. His video is below.

Fiber Fix and CAPTCHA Tricks

I'm planning to post on consumer-owned fiber in more detail, later, but I wanted to respond to Nikki's post at TechRepublican. Talking about the FCC's ruling that reprimanded Comcast for strangling P2P traffic, Nikki said,

It's tempting to fall back on our old friend Let The Market Decide. After all, if Comcast throttles BitTorrent traffic, the BitTorrent folks use a different ISP, Comcast loses market share, and eventually it changes policy. Voila: market signals triumph, seed rates soar, and everyone gets a pony.

But it's not a free market.

Most Americans are confronted with a duopoly (at best) when choosing broadband providers, and the infrastructure is so expensive that it's hard to break into the market. Without meaningful competition, consumers can't push for better service. I can get my high-speed Internet from Comcast, with all its attendant issues, or I can use dial-up.

Happily, consumer owned cables could make competition among ISPs possible. This article from Ars Technica lays out the basics of the idea.

In this plan, consumers would own the "last mile" of high speed fiber cable that linked their house to the larger fiber bundle. Since ISPs could enter a market for the lower start up cost of installing a main pipeline, rather that connecting up hundreds of houses. If consumers are linked to two pipelines and can decide, month to month, which provider they prefer, the ISPs will actually have to compete with one another. More on this, later.

~~~

Meanwhile, this Ars Technica article is just straight-up awesome. When scanning old or damaged texts, researchers are often frustrated, as the computers are unable to acurately read many words. Now, those researchers are outsourcing the job to humans in the form of CAPTCHAs.

CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) are used to make sure the person filling out an online form is really a human. (The word verifications that blogger uses are a prime example). Since only humans can accurately identify these scanned words, the researchers can correct errors without anyone having to do additional work.

(Neat Bonus: these recycled CAPTCHAs (reCAPTCHAs) are actually better at filtering out bots than ordinary CAPTCHAs, since the distortions introduced by the scanning process are not the result of pure mathematical formulas, and are harder to undo.)

It's a Gay old time in the YA section

Michael Gross's article, "Has Manhunt Destroyed Gay Culture?" on Out.com tells a pretty depressing story (hat tip to David Broockman). Gross terms Manhunt " the world’s fastest-growing gay website, which is quietly abetting a revolution in social and sexual mores, under the slogan “get on, get off." The whole article is worth a read, but here's a particularly choice excerpt:

I began wondering about this connection at a dinner party on Martha’s Vineyard when the host asked why, during the past decade, so many national political victories and legal reforms -- an employment nondiscrimination act, a hate-crimes bill, repeal of the military ban, marriage or civil unions -- have remained beyond our grasp. A fashion photographer from Texas drawled, “I think it’s because so many of us spend so many hours of so many days online, doing things that make us feel ashamed of ourselves.”

During the 15 years since America Online men-4-men chat rooms introduced mass-market online cruising (earlier Internet cruising technologies, like IRC chat rooms, were mostly for techies), some aspects of our lives have become more visible than ever. We are ubiquitous in mainstream culture; we are out to our families, friends, and employers; we’re able to hold hands in public, in some places, without having to worry that we might get beaten up; and some states and cities now permit gay marriage or civil unions (more will inevitably follow now that California has joined Massachusetts). As this wave of enculturation advanced, AIDS treatments made the ravages of that disease less visible and dispelled the sense of crisis that strengthened our connection to each other in the 1980s. These factors, along with straight gentrification of gay neighborhoods and the growth of the long-tail economy, hastened the decline of many urban gay enclaves, and the demise of many bars, businesses, and social groups that gave structure to gay life.

“The implications of that trend are enormous,” says Jeffrey Klausner of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. “It means that gay men who were once socialized in brick-and-mortar establishments, surrounded by other people, are now being socialized online.” Gay men still go out as well, but our nightlife habits are very different than they were 12 years ago. Jeffrey Parsons, professor of psychology at New York’s Hunter College, says his unpublished research confirms the common sense that “when guys go to bars, they’re going to be with their friends, not to meet new people.”

There is an offline analogue to Manhunt: the LGBT bookshelf in any Barnes and Noble. If you peruse this shelf, you will find that it's composed of at least 80 percent erotica. The nonfiction is also mostly sex-themed. I'd assume the writing probably isn't worse than straight erotica, but the troubling fact is, like Manhunt in the dating scene, this seems to be all there is.

Happily, for books, anyway, there may be a generational shift. There is quality LGBT writing out there, but most of it's in the YA section. Empress of the World, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and especially Nancy Garden's Annie on my Mind. All are well written YA that could stand proudly alongside many other books in the YA canon.

And that's the other part of the problem. Mainstreaming LGBT YA makes it difficult to find, since only the extreme works are in the LGBT aisle. It might be that kids growing up on high quality YA, but not if they think the erotica is all that's out there. Similarly, alternatives to Manhunt may exist, but be so mainstream as to be unremarkable. The best hope is to raise awareness of other paradigms and role models.