Dullroar

I was on the Parkway (that's what we Pittsburghers call the highway), listening to William Shatner's new album (it's so good because it's so bad[*]), and a guy in front of me slammed on his brakes to let someone merge onto the highway. Almost smacked right into him too, but for my cat-like reflexes. And then the same thing happened to me again at the very next exit, with totally different people. Finally, I understand why it's illegal to mount high-caliber machine guns on the front of my car.

[*] The fiancee, possibly with tongue-in-cheek, says it's good because it's good.

Posted by Andy at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

At 18th and Quarry on the South Side Slopes, there's a mural celebrating the South Side. According to the neighborhood association, it was painted by Richard Bach. It fits into the "hyper-realistic panorama" class of murals, showing people from all over the South Side hanging out, doing their thing, and generally having a good time. Not much more to say except that the mural, and perhaps the South Side itself, deserves bonus points for featuring a blacksmith (see far left of the pic) along with the more mundane shop types.

Posted by Andy at 07:55 PM | Permalink

Unbelievable: My paper was accepted at HotNets!

Posted by Andy at 10:01 AM | Permalink

Wonkette live-blogged the second Presidential debate. I've been hoping to write up my impressions about what went on, but all I really have to say is that I thought Kerry made much better points than Bush, but that I worry that there weren't any clear signs of this for people to latch onto. Why can't Bush do something really crazy like talk to people who aren't in the room or something.

Anyhow, did y'all see that Iraq's nuclear stockpile has vanished. It's official: I feel much less safe today than I did when Bush took office, or after 9/11, or ever before. This is Bush's legacy.

Posted by Andy at 11:19 AM | Permalink

There's a flash "video" for Radiohead's Creep (created by the guy who does Low Morale) floating around. In the animation, as a guy sings about a girl he yearns for yet is too much of a creep to ever have, an office full of people comes into being around him. It reminds me of my time at 61C: Here's this great company coming into existence around me, and I'm just this kid with an idea. It's the usual impostor syndrome deal and all, and for me, that animation captures the feeling of it.

By the way, let me add that I believe Creep is one of the best pop songs ever written.

Posted by Andy at 10:35 AM | Permalink

I watched the vice presidential debate last night, and I don't know what to think. Despite all the accusations thrown back and forth, the event was mostly just boring. Cheney seemed to be winning after the first half hour, but in the end, I think I'll declare this one a tie (*).

Most of the accusations in the debate seemed to be from the "technically true but misleading" category. I wasn't enough of a policy wonk to say who was more truthful, though I did catch Cheney denying he ever linked Al Qaeda and Iraq, and that's definitely a lie. Also, Cheney continued the Republican spin campaign to twist the meaning of Kerry's "global test" remark.

Regardless, I'm just sick of the distortions. Campaigns today are run in such a cynical manner, with so little grounding in the truth, it's not democracy anymore. When spin misleads people about the truth, it's a form of disenfranchisement. A vote cast based on a lie is a fraud. As a society, we reject misleading claims about the products and services we purchase. Why can't we hold our politicians to the same standard?

(*) Note that for much of the last hour of the debate, I had picture-in-picture going so I could also channel surf (caught a little Austin Powers), and so it might be the case that I'm giving Cheney extra credit because he resembles Dr. Evil.

Posted by Andy at 10:17 AM | Permalink

Check out Attack of the Nucular Moolahs for more post-debate Bush-bashing goodness.

Posted by Andy at 01:48 PM | Permalink

My highly-biased, partisan notion of what went on in the debate last night was this: John Kerry wiped the floor with George Bush. Kerry was clear, he was concise, he listed Bush's failures, and he made the case for why he'd do a better job. I'd maybe have preferred Kerry to focus a bit more on what he wanted to do rather than what Bush did wrong, but the balance Kerry hit on wasn't bad. Meanwhile, Bush looked alternately angry and frightened, and he seemed to think that the best thing he could do is bring up the flip-flop accusation over and over.

I remember my crazy right-wing nut of an officemate once said that Kerry was in trouble because he had a 20 year Senate voting record on which he could be attacked. Maybe so, but Bush has to run on a record that includes Abu Ghraib, Iraq on fire, North Korea going nuclear, and, oh yeah, Osama still on the lam.

But what the heck do I know? Bush is ahead in the polls. Sigh.

Posted by Andy at 10:35 AM | Permalink