Riba Rambles: |
|
LiveJournal
Saturday, December 21, 2002
Posted by Lis Riba at 11:55 AM
 Yet more news about the INS detentions at Alas, a blog (as seen on Atrios). The blame may not entirely lie with the INS (as much as everyone loves to blast them). Quoting the New York Times, "Justice Department officials in Washington dictated the rules of the program and gave local authorities little leeway to determine who should be detained or released." And we know how much respect Ashcroft seems to have for civil rights... Hmmm... Anyway, lots more good reading in both pieces. Posted by Lis Riba at 12:00 AM
Today is the 21st of December, the winter solstice, my half-birthday, and the anniversary of Ian's and my first real date. We had been friends for a long time before (I met him when he was dating my best friend) had drifted apart, and then grew close again. Sometime in October, I decided I wanted to date him, and we talked about it, but nothing really happened until December 21st. I had joined an RPG being run by a friend of Ian's (who I now count as a friend of mine, as well). On the drive home, that night, we talked and talked and talked... <contented sigh> And we're still talking. I know that it may seem based upon Ian's and my journals that we argue a lot, but we also love each other very much. I think I'll just close this entry by repeating our wedding vows. We wrote them ourselves (at the insistence of our rabbi), and maybe this will help others to understand our relationship:
Ian, I love you. And everything that I said under the chuppah those 3 1/2 years ago still holds true today. Friday, December 20, 2002
Posted by Lis Riba at 11:45 PM
Via Atrios, these are the papers the Muslim immigrants are being arrested for filling out improperly. Of course, at the same time as this is going on, the U.S. is also trying to reach out to Islamic countries by advertising what wonderful lives Muslims in the U.S. lead. Bad timing? Also courtesy of Atrios, by way of the Drudge Report, Dr. Laura's mother was dead for months before anyone noticed she was missing. Now, I do feel very sorry for the woman, but I used to read the Dr. Laura newsgroup regularly, mostly because I found intelligent conversation there about current affairs. And almost none of us actually liked Dr. Laura or her radio show. She was one horrid woman, who never practiced what she preaches. No need to just take my word for it, read the FAQ. At any rate, I feel very sorry for her mother. On a lighter/better/more personal note, we just had dinner at Teddywolf and Tigerbright's house, also with Ayesha, Bikergeek, Tendyl and her SOs. Teddywolf is a foodgod -- he served a huge meal, and everything was delicious. Let's see if I can remember everything at the table: Tigerbright's homemade challah, salad with homemade dressing, two chickens with potato stuffing, seared tuna, pasta with alfredo sauce, deep-fried marinated battered beef, applesauce, green beans, homemade pickles... And it was all so good; we ate 'til we were stuffed and still kept looking longingly at what was still on the table. Ian made the cupcakes from the latest Cook's Illustrated, and they were a big hit. [After we waited a while for our stomachs to settle, that is.] All in all, a very pleasant evening. Posted by Lis Riba at 2:45 PM
Sad news: On our daily walk, Ian and I went to the Bookmarkit Bookstore, a local store selling used/rare/antiquarian books along with other antiques. Wonderful place. But unfortunately, they're apparently not earning enough money to pay their rent, so will be closing their doors on January 5. I wish to urge everyone in the area to head on up to Melrose and check them out. [Hey, JG! They've got some Humphrey campaign posters for sale!] Their address is: It's a really great place, and I'm sorry to see them go. [First Avenue Victor Hugo, and now this -- will there be any used book stores left open to the public? I know many have gone to online-only stores, but that can't duplicate the pleasures of random discovery and browsing... Meanwhile, an interesting blurb in rec.arts.sf.fandom, courtesy of Michael R Weholt. Quoting:
You can read more at NPR story or through Americans for Insurance Reform. By the way, Ian's been talking a bit recently about Corporate personhood, a concept with which we both have a bit of trouble. Eventually, I want to read Thom Hartmann's new book, Unequal protection: the rise of corporate dominance and the theft of human rights. In the meantime, he raised an interesting question on our walk. If corporations are legally considered persons, then is a hostile takeover akin to slavery? A curious question for a Friday afternoon... Finally, Ian and I have decided to go see Singin in the rain at the Regent Theatre in Arlington at either 5:15 PM or 7:30 PM on Sunday. The more, the merrier, so if anybody else reading this is also interested in seeing it, let me know and we can make plans to go as a group. [Sitr will be playing through December 25th. Further details here.] Posted by Lis Riba at 11:20 AM
News flash: And, Lott's stepped down as Majority Leader, but it looks like he's staying in the Senate. Right now, Frist is the only declared candidate. Should be an interesting weekend for the Sunday gasbags... Posted by Lis Riba at 9:40 AM
So, let's see. I read the right tea leaves yesterday, and Frist is after Lott's job. Please read the link I posted earlier about him. He may not have Lott's racial baggage, but he's no prize either. And, it looks like the Congressional Democrats are pulling together an alternate tax plan to that of the GOP's. Nice to see that they are taking this quiet time to regroup and take the initiative. Hmm... links to Volokh's archives don't appear to be working, so I hope they won't mind if I quote them directly: A GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY TO PROTECT PRIVACY?: According to today's N.Y. Times, the Pentagon commissioned a secret study of how technology can be used to protect privacy. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, the government has just released the 23-page report summarizing the study's findings. Among the conclusions: "Privacy of personal data is an absolutely essential element of any information system that carries information about American citizens." On the other hand, Slashdot is pointing to a different NYT article about a Bush proposal for Internet monitoring and user surveillance. Yet, Wired points out that many municipalities are passing legislation repudiating some of the worst offenses of the USA PATRIOT Act. It feels like a teeter-totter as we try to get our priorities straight and find the right balance. More good stuff (information, I mean, not good news) on the INS roundups from Atrios (now one of my dailies) and through him on Eriposte. I know he's an acquired taste, but Krugman's got a good column about how the administration has lagged behind in all the important policy issues we're dealing with. And an eww on mixed priorities. buying SUVs earns bigger tax deductions than buying more energy-efficient vehicles. Let's hope this loophole gets closed pretty quickly. Locally, Romney's bluff has been called regarding the state's deficits. He lied during the campaign that the budget was good enough that he wouldn't have to raise any taxes or cut services, and the voters fell for it. I was fourteen when Reagan used the same technique against Mondale. The candidate who was actually honest with the voters lost. This sucks. I have, on occasion, thought about running for public office, and I like candor. I understand the need to lie or deceive under certain circumstances (such as national security), but I don't think running for election and selling yourself to the voters is a sufficient reason. I suppose this is yet another reason why I'm probably unelectable. On the home front, Ian's reading some favorite cartoons from Arlo and Janis. We're probably heading up to Vermont on Saturday, since our 5-year-old niece invited us so politely and we haven't seen her in too long. And a big, public, thank you to my Mom and Dad for sending me their old DVD player as a holiday gift. Thank you! I love you both! Thursday, December 19, 2002
Posted by Lis Riba at 9:40 PM
A few more newsy-links for the evening...
Meanwhile, Ian and I stopped at the bookstore to pick up the latest issue of Cooks Illustrated. [I love that magazine! And the TV show, too.] We flipped through Bill Maher's new book, When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden, which I definitely want to read at some point. [It's very popular at the moment, so I'll have to figure out which library network I want to issue a hold request through.] And, then I spent part of the rest of my evening reading more Harry Potter fanfic. All-in-all, a pretty dull, but typical, night. Posted by Lis Riba at 4:10 PM
[Okay, readers may have noticed a change in tone over the last couple days. I do an awful lot of web wanderings and find many interesting tidbits. In the past, I've mostly shared them with Ian or kept them to myself for later conversations, but I'm going to try posting more of them here. I've always admired newsbloggers like Joshua Micah Marshall and coveted their readership/influence/careers. I'm going to continue writing about my personal life, but when I find interesting links, I'm going to try to spread more of them. Please let me know if you like this trend or not.] Cool! This Modern World, another blogger I e-mailed about the INS arrests has also blogged about it. And he points out that Atrios has been giving the story a lot of coverage. Hopefully this will only gain exposure and then the policy will shrivel under the light of scrutiny. Another news blog that I don't read often enough is The Note. It's long, but there's a lot of good material in there, including the important question: "We wonder what senior Democrats are doing behind the scenes on Lott, but we wonder more: are they using this time under the radar to prepare and regroup on other issues?" and some hopeful news about Americans' priorities in the current economic crisis. "Most Americans say they believe an economic agenda focused on rebuilding schools, bridges and roads would be more effective at reviving the economy than further tax cuts." I wonder whether anyone in the administration is listening. In lighter news, here's another interesting article (not about news) seen on Arts & Letters Daily on P.G. Wodehouse, grammarian of genius. They rank him near Shakespeare in terms of his inventiveness regarding the English language, including his ability to coin words. This put me in a mind to read more of his stories. And for sheer silliness, This Modern World also describes some disturbing Japanese characters, including Ultra-cute character Tissue san and Beer fairy "Beer chan" and "Chibi beer chan" (complete with Flash animation). Also on the site is Droopy Panda (animated). They're just plain wrong, though I don't think they're quite as bad as Kikkoman or Nimoy's "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins". Still, these are pretty bad -- view at your own risk. I'll close with this sentiment from LiveJournal. Too true, too true... Posted by Lis Riba at 11:55 AM
Fortunately, the war on terror is big enough that every news organization can find its own angle worthy of investigation. USA Today has taken on air marshalls -- or, more accurately, how the program is being run so poorly that its putting people's lives at risk. Interesting (and disturbing) read. Meanwhile, after my last journal entry, I e-mailed Matt Drudge and several other newsbloggers informing them of the Muslim roundup by the INS. And now, barely an hour later, the Drudge Report is reporting "Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up in California." Dunno if there's a direct cause and effect, but I'd like to think I've done my part to spread the awareness about these. Posted by Lis Riba at 10:15 AM
Okay, here's an even less-reported-upon news story worthy of outrage. 500 - 700 Muslims were jailed in Los Angeles when they complied with a new immigration law that they must register themselves (due to their countries of origin). The INS is being incredibly tightlipped about what's going on; the ACLU and others are in a justified uproar over the outrage. [Hmm. Catch-22 for immigrants: Register and they arrest you; don't register and they arrest you for not registering.] Unsurprisingly, checking Google News for the story shows it's not being reported in the U.S. media. But here's the coverage from BBC, Phillipines and Brunei. Oh, wait, the LA Times is on the case (since it's local) but its pages require registration. [I found out about this from Ian, who saw it reported in several people's LiveJournals. And this after I finished skimming thru the Boston Globe, New York Times and Washington Post. There's something else seriously wrong here.] Still, spread the news! PS: Ian just pointed out that as part of the recent Homeland Security bill, the INS has been abolished. [It's being split into two separate agencies.] So, without an INS, who is there to appeal to?? Posted by Lis Riba at 10:00 AM
In the news: Just thought I'd share a few tidbits found in my morning web wanderings: Here's a disturbing and under-covered news story: The U.S. allowed a North Korean ship to bring its cargo of Scud missles to Yemen, when there's a high likelihood they're going to resell them to someone less friendly. Also from the New York Times, want an advanced peek at what it'll look like driving thru the Big Dig? Meanwhile, back to l'affaire Lott, the Washington Post is reporting that "[i]f Lott survives, Bush might have a harder time moving his agenda through the Senate, Republicans say, because Lott is unlikely to forget" the president's harsh treatment of him. The Republicans seem to be caught in a no-win situation. If they oust Lott, there's a good chance they could lose control of the Senate; if they keep him, they'll be damaged and still may not be able to pass their agenda. [Incidentally, "New clues to ancient Mississippi culture "in today's Christian Science Monitor has nothing to do with Lott.] Also, some Republicans are pushing Bill Frist as the next Senate Majority Leader. But, he too has some clouds in his closet; given how important health care is, you might want to read this before he gets the nod, in order to possibly protest intelligently. Finally, I know that e-mail activism isn't the most effective, but Working Assets is conducting an e-mail Call to Action to House Speaker Hastert, called Don't Scrooge American Workers Out of Unemployment Benefits. You can send their form-letter e-mail as easily as entering your name and address, or you can customize the letter however you see fit. [Unlike some e-mail petitions where you can't see the wording you're agreeing to.] I'm in this boat, as are a lot of other unemployed Americans. I'm not asking anyone to do this, but I want to make people aware that it exists. PS: Buffy -- video -- please!? Wednesday, December 18, 2002
Posted by Lis Riba at 5:50 PM
Random meanderings: Oh, cool! According to Slashdot, "NASA has heard from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft for the first time since March. Unfortunately, it is too faint to get scientific data from the craft. Considering that the craft is twice the distance from the Sun as Pluto is and that it has spent 30 years subjected to space, this is amazing!" I have to agree. BTW, I guess I will write briefly about Real Genius. A long time ago, I started hunting down the MP3s to compile a soundtrack to Real Genius. I've now got all the tracks but one. If anyone can help me find a song called "The Tuff Do What?" by Tonio K, I'd be most appreciative. That's the only one I'm missing. I'm also realizing that Real Genius is probably one of the most quoted movies among geeks. Princess Bride and anything by Monty Python are up there, too. Still, for a while I checked some of the movie memorabilia shops to see whether anybody had a Real Genius script, because it's so eminently quotable, and I'm simply horrid at recalling exact quotations. Really cool (and funny) Xmas sight gag here! [As seen on Obscure Store.] Meanwhile, it looks like Lott's end may be near. Today's big <font size="+7"> Drudge Report headline is Now Lott complains about White House leaks. And according to Reuters, though J.C. Watts "had earlier said Lott's apology should be accepted, [today he] said if he was Lott he would step aside." Not long now. The key question IMO is whether he waits for the big GOP meeting in January or steps down preemptively this year. Timing is important, because if he steps down this year (the next 13 days), the state will have to hold an election within 90 days to replace him. If he holds on until 2003, then the governor can appoint a replacement who can keep the seat until the next regular election. The governor is Democratic, and he's presumably going to appoint another Democrat, which could shift the Senate back to 50-50 parity. And if the Democrats can shift any other moderate GOP Senators to follow Jim Jeffords path, we could get two more years of Democratic control, and some check on the GOP's powers... Okay, this is interesting; PLA is sponsoring "Koufax Awards for the best of left of center blogs." If you're new to political blogs, these might provide some good starting places to look. Plus, some interesting quotes from BlueStreak's blogs of the week. [This is more or less how my mind works at times, jumping from one topic that catches my interest to another. I just found online dictionaries to the imaginary languages of Watership Down and Caveman. I guess you really can find anything online. That worries me about DARPA's plans for Total Information Awareness, but information goes both ways, and geeks have been searching out information on TIA head John Poindexter. Which reminds me, did you hear the one about the spammer being inundated with junk mail? Who first said that turnabout is fair play? At any rate, I rather enjoy taking a random walk through the Internet, with my imagination as my tour guide. I hope you enjoyed this little sample of my thought processes. Oof! I just reread this paragraph, and see yet another reason why Ian says I remind him of Jordan from Real Genius.] And, finally, does anyone have last night's Buffy on video? Please? I'm gonna keep asking until I can see the episode, so better to surrender sooner, rather than later. Posted by Lis Riba at 2:10 PM
Getting back to politics again, here are a couple great articles I've seen recently: First of all, corporatism in government is bad when it gets in the way of our legitimate aims. Apparently, the folks in charge of our Iranian Voice of America equivalent feel that we'll be better off selling pop music to Iranian youth, rather than continuing the more political broadcasts which have actually been effective at raising democratic protests. Ugh. And if you're concerned about increasing concentration among the US media giants, one of the FCC commissioners is trying to raise awareness about this issue and is holding public hearings. He spoke on last week's On the media; you can listen to the story or just read the transcript. It's an important story that hasn't been getting as much coverage as it should (partly because those covering the story are also those with the most to benefit). In better news, I like this opinion piece which uses Trent Lott's current problems to suggest that instead of apologizing after the fact, maybe we should take the initiative to have fewer things to apologize for. Meanwhile, there's some good political discussion going on at my friend TeddyWolf's journal, including a link to a David Brin piece. And, finally, I just finished my 172nd book for the year. If I could just manage to read 11 more books in the next 13 days, my average would exceed a book every other day. [Right now, I'm at 1 book every 2.05 days.] But I'm not going to push it. I have too many other things to get done, and not enough quick books on my plate to make the goal worthwhile. PS: Sorry to be repetitive, but anybody in the Boston area have last night's Buffy on tape that I can watch? Posted by Lis Riba at 10:00 AM
Yawn. Last night, we went to a double-feature of Weird Science and Real Genius at the Brattle. I don't have too much to say about them, beyond recommending you read Ian's reviews. PS: I'm still desperate to see last night's Buffy! Please, can anybody lend me a videotape that I can watch!? Posted by Lis Riba at 12:30 AM
Movies were great; more on them (possibly) in the morning. However, D'oh! I forgot to tape tonight's Buffy! Anyone in the Boston area have a copy that I can borrow and watch before the next new episode? Thanks a ton! Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Posted by Lis Riba at 1:56 PM
Okay, this is an odd news story. Remember Barbie's big "Math is hard" controversy? Well, apparently "the more women worry about how they look, the less mental energy they have for other things?like math." Psychologists asked male and female undergrads to try on either a sweater or swimsuit in a makeshift dressing room with a full-length mirror. Quoting from the article, "[The students] were told that the idea of the test was to measure whether or not they liked the garment better after wearing it for 15 minutes. So, rather than let those 15 minutes go to waste, they were then asked to take a 20-question advanced math test, supposedly as part of a separate study." To sum up, women scored the lowest when wearing swimsuits, although choice of outfit did not affect men's scores. Very interesting. [The story's apparently being reported in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, but the abstract hasn't been posted to the site, yet.] Speaking of Barbie, it looks like the architect Barbie is winning over the librarian Barbie. No big loss as far as I'm concerned. I mean, librarians are spending so much time trying to fight for better public image and break the pink-collar stereotypes, that while a librarian Barbie may be fun, it may not be best for the profession. And, continuing the chain of thought to librarianship, Jessamyn West of Librarian.net is "pissed off at the PATRIOT Act today and the culture of fear that is pervading this country lately, as well as the complicity and lies that librarians are expected to add to it." So, she's posted Five Technically Legal Signs for Your Library. I'm greatly amused, and want to spread the meme! Posted by Lis Riba at 11:10 AM
More politics: In the comments to my previous entry, Tigerbright asked my opinions on the Democratic lineup. Since I just realized that her post is locked, I thought I'd just repost my comments here:
FWIW, the political blogs I regularly read include Talking points memo, Instapundit, This modern world, MediaLog, Media Notes, Medianews, Altercation, Tapped, Kausfiles, Electrolite, plus other blogs that I don't have bookmarked but link to through some of these sites' link listings. I also tend to peruse the daily Globe, New York Times, Washington Post (and specifically their Politics page), Christian Science Monitor, Salon (yes, I'm a paid subscriber and feel it's worth it), and Slate. Posted by Lis Riba at 9:30 AM
Taking advantage of the Trent Lott distraction, the White House is talking further about taxing the poor. Fortunately, some people are doing their best to keep this story in the public eye. And here's a good debunking of one of the pro-tax Republican's claims. [O]utgoing White House economic adviser Lawrence B. Lindsey told the AEI tax forum that the 12.4 percent Social Security levy should not be considered when tax burdens are calculated [because] the Social Security tax is ultimately returned to the taxpayer as a benefit. ... William W. Beach, an economist at the Heritage Foundation think tank, said ... it was a dangerous argument for a Republican to make. "Do I allow defense spending to offset my income taxes since I like to be defended? Do I allow road taxes to offset my profits taxes because I use the roads?" he asked. "If you do start down that road, it's hard to see anything as taxes." Between this and the Lott story, it seems that the Republicans are busy knifing each other in the back, even without adequate Democratic opposition. And the word of the day, boys and girls, is schadenfreude. Meanwhile, we called back the animal control people we hired last month to rid our house of squirrels. Apparently, they've still got traps on our fire escape and have been regularly clearing the beasties away. They've found the hole, but it's up near the third story window where it's too treacherous for them to reach with their ladders. We're going to ask our tenants' permission to go into their apartment and put traps outside their window, which should hopefully clear up the problem once and for all. [Oh, another squirrel-induced nightmare Ian and I both had last night. The critters were burying acorns in our insulation, and come springtime we have giant trees sprouting through our walls. Fortunately, I don't think that's actually possible.] Posted by Lis Riba at 8:20 AM
Well, after a couple weeks of peaceful sleep, the squirrels have returned. And, when you're awakened at 2 AM by scritching in the walls, your mind pictures strange things:
Sigh. and Yawn. Meanwhile, continuing my IASAG observations, I was in the library yesterday returning a mass of books I used in my final papers. Although I wasn't intending to check anything out, I wandered over to the new book rack, and found the new Fiona Buckley mystery. [I discovered and read all her other books last December and January.] The IASAG moment was that I recognized the teeny picture of Mary Queen of Scots on the spine; pulled the book out and noticed a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, thought "oh, cool! another Elizabethan mystery!" and only then noticed the author's name. Let's see. Over the weekend I took a roll of film's worth of pictures of my beloved cat, Boopsie. I don't know if any of the photos will be any good, but we'll see once I get them developed. Because it'll take so long to see the results, I don't know how good this practice will be in improving my photography technique. I suppose that's one positive of digital cameras -- instant feedback. Ian and I also finally saw Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets. Good film. Having just rewatched the first movie on video a couple days ago, the kids have noticeably aged -- and improved in their acting. Kenneth Branagh was a hoot! And be sure to stay for the (excessively long) credits; there's a final gag at the end that shouldn't be missed. As compared to the book (which I also recently reread), once again, it felt like the story was on fast-forward. But the cuts and changes were intelligent ones. [Although the very final scene seemed overly mawkish and sentimental, and could easily have been trimmed.] Also, for anyone who's interested, tonight the Brattle Theatre is running their double-feature of Weird Science (at 7:30 PM) and Real Genius (at 5:30 and 9:45). And Singin' in the rain opens at the Regent Theatre in Arlington tomorrow for a one week run. Finally, for truly gaudy Xmas lighting that has to be seen to be believed (though they can probably be seen from orbit, they're that excessive) folks in the Boston area should head over to Lynn Fells Parkway between Route 1 and Melrose. There's a whole stretch of several blocks that's positively blinding. [Their electric bills must be enormous.] They actually get caravans of tourists gawking at their houses, and we recommend going to see it as cheap entertainment. TOP |
Copyright © 2002 - 2009 Elisabeth Riba,
All Rights Reserved