The Evil Eyebrow

Category: Opinion

  • Fred Phelps and The Westboro Band of Shitheads

    The Westboro Baptist Church, led by Fred Phelps and famous for picketing military funerals (because the U.S. Military is a vast gay-love association), blaming the Columbia diaster on the United States’ support of homosexuals and abortion ,and blaming 9-11 on God’s punishment of the U.S., etc., will be attending the funerals of the students killed at Virginia Tech.

    This angers me to a degree that is very unlike me. I makes me want to drive to Blacksburgh with a hockey stick and beat that evil man within a inch of his life. However, that would be immoral, and illegal.

    I have a suggestion, though.

    About 1,000 counter protesters should show up whereever WBC arrives, surround them, hem them in (peacefully!) and not let them move for the entirety of the funerals. I don’t care if it’s 24 hours, they should be penned into one tiny spot and not allowed to leave without trying to cause physical harm to the couter-protesters. Let them sing their “God Hates Fags” songs while the families, students, faculty, and administrators attend to their grieving. We’ll keep the vicious haters away.

    Alerted by Pandagon via Pharyngula

  • Abstinence Only Eductation

    A study published this month concludes that abstinence only sex education is not effective in changing the behaviors of teens. A silver lining, if you can call it that, is that there was no measurable difference between the study group and the control group. So, the abstinence only education did not negatively affect the rates at which these teens were sexing each other up, nor did it affect the rates that they contracted sexually transmitted disease. A Bush appointee says “This study isn’t rigorous enough to show whether or not [abstinence only] education works,” but we know that the Bush administration has a long established policy of only accepting scientific evidence if it supports their preconceived notions.

    However, the people who are doomcrying the abstinence only education and the ones who are retrenching to defend it are missing an important shade to the study conclusion. There was no significant difference in the two groups, therefore education that included contraception was just as (in)effective as abstinence-only!

    That does not bode well for our current educational strategies. Or maybe it establishes that education has no power over teenage hormones.

  • Thoughts on Photography

    A web site mini-essay linked here talks about the ladder of appreciation for photographic skill. This person has a very good point. It’s easy to identify what got you to a certain skill level, but it’s more difficult to see how to take the next step. It’s just like watching professional sports. “How do they do that?” I’ve played soccer, hockey, and volleyball in competitive settings. I’ve watched baseball and hockey from up close. I am amazed at the things the professionals can do. The way Wayne Gretsky could weave down the rink with the puck nailed to his stick or Chipper Jones’ ability to see the ball come out of the pitcher’s hand or Tiger Woods’ skill in dropping a tiny white ball within inches of where he was aiming. Wow. Unfortunately, as so many people understand, sports skill can be learned, but a lot of it is inborn aptitude. No matter how much I practice, I’ll never be as good at kicking a soccer ball as David Beckham. I’ll never have the same touch with the club as Tiger Woods. And I’ll probably not have the same eye as Ansel Adams, which segues me back to the topic of this post.

    I’ve looked at a lot of excellent photography. I’ve even put a few images on film (and CCD) which could be called “good”. But I don’t have the eye. Not yet.

    As with all things, practice makes better. Poking around through internet searches for “improve photos” or “photography 101,” etc. you pick up a lot of tips*. There’s the rule of thirds, effective composition, appreciating light, using depth of field, finding uncluttered subjects, understanding how your camera works… These are all technical skills which can be improved with diligent practice**.

    But “the eye” is something more difficult. It can be learned and taught, but the best of all photographers have that something more, just like professional sports players. They can see things that the rest of us do not. Not only can they see it, but their diligently developed skills allow them to capture it in that fleeting momemt before it’s gone. How many times have you thought, “Gosh that would be a good picture! Where’s my camera?” (or “I wish I’d brought my camera”)

    I have no pretentions to a level of photography that would allow me to dispaly in galleries, or submit to professional contests. However, I am working on developing “the eye.” Hopefully, the images I post to Flickr will reflect that as time goes by.

    *One of the good ideas I came across in my internet searching was: look for photos you think are excellent, then try to duplicate them. I guarantee that there will be lot of learning in that endeavor.

    **The advent of the instant-check digital camera is wonderful for improving skills. You can see immediately how well things are doing. Half of the pain with film was taking good notes so you knew what it was you set your camera to during the shots on the roll. I love EXIF information.

  • Don Imus does not Deserve Redemption

    I was sitting in the Atlanta Airport this morng, waiting for my flight to Baltimore. CNN, otherwise known as “news channel that used to be good” was covering in detail the story of Anna Nicole Smith’s child and the DNA test proving boyfriend #4a was the father. Thankfully, after 10 minutes of that coverage, they moved along to Don Imus and his unconscionable attack on the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

    If you haven’t been listening to the news for the last week, you won’t know that Don Imus, radio talk show host syndicated by lots of people and employed by CBS, described the NCAA tournament-winning basketball team as “…nappy headed ho’s.”

    CNN’s coverage this morning is almost entirely dedicated to famous people who have jumped up to defend Mr. Imus for his inappropriate remark, including Rudy Guliani, Bill Maher, and Jeff Greenfield. Some guy who’s name I missed was playing the religious redemption card saying (approximately) “every man deserves a chance at redemption.”

    Absent the chistrian-centric overtones of that comment, I agree; every person deserves a chance to rectify mistakes that they have made. The caveat is that they don’t need to rectify that mistake in the same job.

    A public persona such as Don Imus has a responsibility to think before he speaks. An egregious remark such as the one in question should be grounds for immediate reassignment, if not dismissal, for a talk show host. Like yesterday’s posting about a blog code of conduct, “I will take responsibility for my own remarks.” That should apply to Don Imus

    And don’t get me started about Rush “The Biggest Liar in the whole world” Limbaugh.*

    *P.S. I can’t stand Michael Moore, either.

  • Blogger Code of Conduct and the Rhetorical use of Fuck

    The NY Times reports today on a movement to enhance civility in the blogosphere. This code is based partly on the BlogHer community guidelines and a draft is delineated here and here.

    This code was founded directly or indirectly due to a flamewar on a blog posting that was interpreted as misogynistic with threatening overtones (For details, follow any of those links above). I, personally, feel that a level of civility should be adhered to in any public forum where your words can be resurrected in later years, if only for your own protection. You don’t want to be twenty years down the line, running for mayor, and have someone dig up your old MySpace pages. Not good. Personal protection aside, the golden rule is always good to follow. Public discourse is not enhanced by crazy flaming.

    This brings me to a small point I’ve been meaning to write about for a while:

    Why the fuck to people write f*ck?

    I see this often in the blogosphere. It seems a bit silly. It’s not like the most harebrained 8 year old can’t figure out what f*ck means. I don’t tend to use much profanity on my blog, but I feel that a well-timed expletive has some rhetorical value in a less formal setting (which most of my blog postings are). Putting an asterisk in a swear-word is a cop out. Use it, or don’t; half measures don’t get my respect.

  • Georgia Marathon Fiasco?

    As you may have gathered from the previous postings here and here, I attended the inaugural ING Georgia Marathon last weekend in and around Atlanta. I confess some disappointment with the organization of the race.

    I know several people who ran this race and they all complained about the way in which it was operated. For one thing there was no corralling at the start line; all marathoners and half-marathoners were mixed together with no regard to projected finish time. This led to a mess at the start due to numerous passing maneuvers, etc. The Atlanta Journal Constitution, and a blog or two, reported that some water stations were out of water and/or sports drink. One runner said he detoured into a bakery and asked for salt to replenish his electrolytes.

    From my vantage point, it seemed like they didn’t think this all the way through. “How do we get runners to the start?” “How do we communicate splits?” “How do we get the half and full runners to part ways at junction?” “How do we keep the Half marathoners from getting in the way of the elites?” These would have been good questions to have answers for.

    I mention that last item because I was getting worried around the 1:30 mark. Saint Charles was packed from left to right by the mid group of half-marathoners and I was expecting the elite marathoners at any moment. It turned out I was too early in my estimate by about 20 minutes, but that 20 minutes was more than short enough for the elites to catch up to that pack before they finished. I wonder if they ran (ha ha) into any problems, but I haven’t heard anything about it.

    If you’re reading this entry and haven’t read my offer of images to all (well, most) runners, make sure you go here and find out how!

  • Amateur Day

    The state legislators A few of the State Legislators of Georgia apparently had nasty things to say about the Atlanta Police department after last Thursday’s traffic snafu in downtown.

    Rep. Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta) said. “Yesterday, you let down the citizens of Atlanta, our commuters, and our guests to these great conventions. This is simply unacceptable for the great international city that I am so proud to represent.”

    This was after reported 3 hour commutes that would normally take 1, or 30 minutes to move 10 blocks in downtown. Suffice to say, it was a mess.

    However, the implication that the Police can run out and start directing traffic and make things better is a fallacy. Anyone who has ever tried to do signal coordination on a network of criss-crossing roadways is aware that optimizing traffic throughput is a non-trivial task. Skilled professionals working in conjunction with sophisticated computer models have difficulty getting it right. Changes to one area cascade throughout the system, and if you begin with a thoroughly saturated network, the best you can hope for is that everyone is trying to leave, which blatantly is not the case in downtown Atlanta. To expect that a police officer directing traffic can alleviate congestion in a situation like that is silly. At most, they can make sure all of the available space is continuously filled with vehicles, but until those vehicles actually leave the area, there will be no relief.

    The “best”* solution would be for officers to set up roadblocks prohibiting traffic from entering the downtown area while directing them to central parking and MARTA. However, once the traffic is already in the downtown area, it’s going to be a disaster no matter what response the police enact.

    To Representative Edward Lindsey, I say that you should spend a day in a traffic cop’s shoes before criticizing their capabilities or performance.

    *By “best” I mean, of course, the solution that leaves the most free roadway. No cars, no congestion. I don’t think anyone would be happy with that solution, however.

  • Book Reviews redux

    19 book reviews on the 14th of January. 315 pages per book(taken from the Amazon.com statistics, which admittedly, contain blank pages and title pages, etc.) 5,984 pages in one day. I’m impressed, as always, by Ms. Harriet Klausner.

    Useless crap.

  • Letter to Ireland

    Grandad has written a Letter to America. I’ve responded in the comments with my take on his points.

    However, I’d like to address a letter back to Ireland.

    [Ahem]

    Hmmmm…

    Crap, I don’t know anything about Ireland. I know it’s the Emerald Isle and there’s no snakes and my friends John and Jeannette had a hell of a time climbing hills there and other pesky little things, but no real substance. In fact, now that I think about it, all I really know about Ireland is historical and filtered through the glass of anEnglishpoint of view. I know some little about Cromwell, and the Troubles. Annnnd, that’s about it.

    I suck.

    All right. The next non-fiction book I read will be some Irish history. Any suggestions?

  • Poor use of Logo

    I was popped into the Safe Roads.org website today, looking for some traffic safety data. I found this logo.
    Logo for Advocates In Action
    My very first thought was, “What is ‘dvocates in ction?’”

    I like the A-on-a-warning-sign logo, but I don’t think using it for a letter in a word is appropriate. If we’re training drivers to see and obey signs, we shouldn’t be training to interpret them as letters in other environments.

    That’s my ten cents.