dangerousmeta!

Houston Chronicle:

2008-05-15T22:33:00-07:00

“A former photographer for The Galveston County Daily News was acquitted Wednesday of a charge that he interfered with police by refusing to stop taking pictures of an arrest during the city’s Mardi Gras celebration in 2007.” First Amendment, upheld.

Reuters:

2008-05-15T21:31:00-07:00

Americans leery of bicycles despite gas price jump. “This is the U.S. and people will kill you out there riding your bike ... [snip] ... I would not take my life in my hands and ride a bike.” Sad, but this quote is quite representative of exactly why many won’t consider bicycling. Automobile drivers don’t consider bikes ‘vehicles’ and legitimate users of the roadways. When a bicyclist is picked off by an automobile, the legal ramifications are frankly astonishing. The driver can be completely at fault, taking a legal walk while the bicyclist resides in pieces in a tomb. Start at the Miller case, and read the next page or so. Bicyclists are widely considered to be ‘asking for it’, and it is an attitude that needs to be harshly reversed through Federal, State and local legislation.

SF New Mexican:

2008-05-15T20:15:00-07:00

“Keep an eye on your picnic basket, Boo Boo. Hungry bears descended on Santa Fe today ...” Just FYI, t’ain’t no grizz in NM.

The Economist:

2008-05-15T19:21:00-07:00

Big Pharma sets its sights on developing countries. It will be interesting to see how they fare before such entities as this.

BBC:

2008-05-15T19:13:00-07:00

Oldest known bust of Caesar found. The lower part of his face is so lined, it is “divisa in partes tres.’

Why does everything suck?

2008-05-15T18:00:00-07:00

Adobe Introduces P2P Flash Player, Kills CDNs. “… baking p2p into Flash means *all* web video sites will be able to deliver video using minimal central server bandwidth. As a result, the largest and best CDN customers will disappear, or at least will radically reduce their needs because, in effect, every video website will have the low cost of operation of Joost.”

Inside Higher Ed:

2008-05-15T17:58:00-07:00

The Bachelor’s Degree Is Obsolete? “I keep looking for the Justice Department officials — the Nicholas Katzenbach, the John Doar, the Burke Marshall — or someone who will stand up for equality and against a federal system that allocates tens of thousands of federal dollars in tax benefits and other subsidies to students at Yale and Williams and Harvard while arcane rules and impenetrable paperwork prevent a student working two jobs at a community college from receiving a $4,000 federal Pell Grant.” Hear, hear.

Time:

2008-05-15T17:55:00-07:00

Can Cannes Still Do It? “Long gone is the time when Americans felt required to have a pretense to culture, let alone the real thing.” *cough* *cough* ...

Globe and Mail.CA:

2008-05-15T17:54:00-07:00

“Canada’s broadcast regulator plans to hold hearings into whether ‘new media,’ such as online TV, radio and mobile video, should be regulated.”

The Dutch …

2008-05-15T17:50:01-07:00

retake Manhattan, courtesy Amstel Light and the Dutch Reclamation Society. Supporting establishments on, of course, Amsterdam Avenue.

Too bad I’m not in NYC ... though I’d probably be thoroughly harangued by a Stuyvesant look-alike for ordering a Guinness.

NY Times Home & Garden:

2008-05-15T16:29:00-07:00

The promise of green paint. Soon as I read that, I got the shivers. I still get the horrors over the avocado-green appliances, flooring and glossy paints of the ‘70’s. But no, this is about lower- or no-VOC paints. In areas that tend to attract mildew, the use of natural paints is a problem yet to be solved. Everywhere else, they’re wonderful, IMHO. We’re lucky to have BioShield right here in Santa Fe. Water cleanup, no smell - so you can paint in the dead of winter with windows closed - what’s there to complain about?

NY Times Home & Garden:

2008-05-15T16:14:00-07:00

Making Their Own Limits in a Spiritual Partnership. “You are in each other’s faces 24 hours a day. [snip] You must deal with your anger or your jealousy.”

Later: Dizzy, at MeFi, has the bottom line on this.

Reuters:

2008-05-14T23:44:00-07:00

”Greenhouse gases are at higher levels in the atmosphere than at any time in at least 800,000 years, according to a study of Antarctic ice on Wednesday that extends evidence that mankind is disrupting the climate.” in the meantime, polar bears are now on the endangered species list, the first mammal placed there by global warming.

Reuters:

2008-05-14T23:33:00-07:00

Power your iPod or charge your mobile phone with ... wait for it ... your solar bra.

Chronicle of Higher Ed:

2008-05-14T21:02:00-07:00

Measuring the ‘Aeneid’ on a Human Scale: The first translation by a woman renders the tenderness in Virgil’s war epic. “In what appears to be a first, however, a woman has finally tried her hand at bringing Virgil’s dactylic hexameters to a modern, English-speaking public. This month Yale University Press publishes a blank-verse translation by the poet and classicist Sarah Ruden.”

Perhaps, “With such words she prays, with such lamentations the most wretched sister speaks and speaks again. But he is not moved by any lamentations, nor does he hear any voices gently; the fates oppose, the god stops the man’s kind ears ...”

New York Magazine:

2008-05-14T20:25:00-07:00

The Mysteries of the Suicide Tourist. “New York has a certain grim, practical allure ...”

Art of Manliness:

2008-05-14T18:48:00-07:00

100 Must-Read Books: The Essential Man’s Library. Not a bad list; I like the fact they put “The Art of War” and “Don Quixote” next to each other. A subtle tinge of the ironic. When I briefly worked on Wall Street in the 80’s, I encountered many Quixotes reading Sun Tzu. I’d include “The Practical Cogitator” to introduce young men to the habit of thinking, early on. It’s even more important in these short-attention-span times. Four books on Teddy Roosevelt is a bit much; he’s an admirable man, but swap one out for the current excellent bio of Aaron Burr.

In looking at these as an overview, I can’t help but feel all these books dance around the issue of male atavism, never hitting the nail clearly on the head in such a way that an individual is guaranteed to understand their own male instincts and the control/management thereof. Exactly why does the solo hero, beating the odds, surviving unsurvivable perils, man-as-master-of-his-own-fate, always resonate so strongly? This is not to critique AofM; just the various authors, books and plots. Whether you work it out on a bike, weights, tennis court, golf course, hunting ... all men have a primitive streak that must be managed one way or another (or not, in the case of some bloody novels). Novels tend to dance around the issue, whereas biographies may touch upon it ... but neither ever clearly label it.

Maybe I’m wrong, maybe science has passed this theory long ago. I believe one must respect the id, give it room to neanderthalize in appropriate venues. The result is that men are generally happier and nicer to be around.

The nearest list I can find for women (in the short time I have to look), is this one: The 100 most influential books by women. If readers find a definitive list of “100 must-read books for women”, put ‘em in the comments.

PDN Photo Annual 2008:

2008-05-14T18:17:00-07:00

Coinky-dinky. Just got it in the mail, now it’s online.

The Economist

2008-05-14T18:15:00-07:00

redesigns their site. I liked the feel of their old one better .. but perhaps its just familiarity.

Variety:

2008-05-14T17:17:01-07:00

Dumber demographic rules TV, D.C. “As the Democratic primaries slog onward, Harvard law alum Obama has been pilloried for elitism. While his oratorical eloquence has drawn comparisons to the bygone days of Robert Kennedy, opponents hammer at perceptions that he alienates key voting blocs. On CNN, Democratic strategist Paul Begala disparagingly described Obama’s coalition as ‘eggheads and African-Americans.’”

Yet we desire our children to be smarter: Guardian, Benefits of bedtime reading.