infobong.com

waves his baton

I was mildly amused when I first spotted the Sigmund Freud action figure at Austin's BookPeople, but I'm not a particularly Freudian (or Lacanian) thinker. Today, however I found a true hero wrought-in-plastic, the Michel Foucault action figure, which had me laughing spastically.

The same organization is responsible for the Theory Trading Cards, which seemed (to me, anyway) a takeoff on the old "Kid A in Alphabet Land" Lacanian trading cards. While the trading cards are amusing, the Foucault action figure is hilarious.

Update(mere minutes later):Dammit, unlike the Freud action figure the Foucault and Giddens action figures "exist only as binary bits and bobs in cyberspace." Bummer.

And here are similarly virtual Lego minifigs that look like Foucault and Judith Butler, among others. It says Butler's minifig "comes complete with Prof. Butler's Gender Workshop(tm), featuring a range of Lego hairpieces and body parts." I think that would better suit a Donna Haraway playset, but, hey, I didn't make the page.

reflexive blog stuff

Evhead is back. (Already.)
A suggestion blogs could have saved Columbia.

promotes the expulsion of mucus

I saw the headline "U.S. tells firms to pull unapproved cough medicine" and thought to myself, "Oh, they're finally banning DXM." DXM is a mildly psychoactive ingredient used in relatively small doses in most cough syrups.

Oddly enough, the ingredient the FDA is banning, Guaifenesin, is something Robo-trippers avoid. To get enough DXM to trip, you need to drink an entire bottle of Robutussin (hence the name Robo-tripping) but Guaifenesin will make you vomit, so you have to get the syrup without it. Although the FDA is pulling Guaifenesin because it's a suspected carcinogen, they're making it easier for kids to trip on cough syrup.

Thanks to the magic of

Thanks to the magic of 1-hour processing and Studio 4B's slide scanner, I've managed to upload images of Austin's ice storm while there's ice on the ground.

Frozen berries near the Sacred Cup coffeeshop.

Corporate coffee under ice.

"Yeah man, we've got the couch out on the front yard, so you should come out to the East side and chill on the snofa!"

Perhaps you can't tell from this shot, but traffic on I-35 was at a standstill after the storm.

fried pies and pickled eggs

Contrary to published reports, I woefully forgot to participate in Austin Blog Day yesterday. If its any consolation to Chip and the gang, I was pre-occupied with a paper about, of all things, a ride on the Austin bus. (It was no good, so don't even ask.) I did enjoy reading about everyone else's suggestions, particularly Chip's discussion of the Whip In, one of those completist corner stores that seems to offer every beer they can get their hands on. A while back, some friends and I discussed similar stores in Philly, the Foodery and the Wurst House, but I'm sure the Whip In outdoes both of those, since Pennsylvania's blue laws rival North Texas'.

Austin Blog Day also produced an amusing side project, namely Google-bombing David with "Chicken Molester".

ice is also great and would suffice

Okay, it doesn't look that bad outside, but today is the first snow ice day I remember at the university level. I'm certain there were days cancelled due to bad roads when I was an undergrad, but - from what I can remember from those years - attending class was not a major concern then.

This morning I caught up on reading for some classes, then I walked around my neighborhood taking pictures, finally heading over to the Sacred Cup coffeeshop.

Athough a snow day might seem fun at first, I basically have all my classes on Tuesday, so I'm missing a whole week of school today.

a surprising manhandling

Okay, you gotta love New York Times headlines like this, "Oklahoma, in a League of Its Own, Jars Kansas." And phrases like, "old-fashioned respect as the best team in the most dominant conference in college basketball." And even admissions like, "He's had two A.C.L. surgeries on his knees, and shinsplints, but... Szendrei was the player of the game." And, yes, I'm killing time at school while I wait for my bus.
Update(11:38pm):Oh yeah, I should have posted this earlier since I love this headline too, "Editor: Bush Cited Report That Doesn't Exist." I should also mention that OU has overtaken UT-Austin for third place in the basketball polls this week. Boomer Sooner!

mix it up wintry-style

We're getting some Oklahoma-type weather down here in the ATX. It was sunny and 60F yesterday, but just now I had to scrape ice off my bike as I moved it from a rack on the drag to a more secluded spot. Thinking I could ride my bike to class, I left the house late for the class I TA, but I stepped outside and quickly realized I made a questionable decision. I went back in and put on a parka shell, but I didn't have enough time to walk, let alone catch a bus, so I rode to class in a little freezing drizzle. Now that I'm out of class its 30F, and there's ice on my bike, which tells me I should just catch a bus and come back tonight with my truck. This is easily the coldest day I've spent in Austin.

19.9 gals capacity

I'm getting a new water heater installed right now. I haven't had hot water since Friday, and I was getting a little annoyed. Yesterday I took a shower at one of the gyms on campus, but I have a paper to write today, so I didn't have time to head up to school when I awoke. Instead, I've been sitting here in front of my computer, grouchy since I couldn't bathe. I called my landlord around nine, and he said, "I got your voicemail, and the work order's already in. We're not going to turn off the water until 11am, since I don't want a buch of tenants waking up without hot water." Considering this building is full of law and grad students, I'm sure there will be plenty of people waking up and showering after 11am.

Nevertheless, the repairman came about 10:30, and he was nice enough to fix the old water heater long enough so I could shower before he turned off all the water. I did not ask him to do this. Hooray hot water heater repairman!

online soapboxes

Earlier this week, I was pondering the oft-articulated question, "Are blogs journalism?" and, in order to think about this question I decided to lay out what I know for sure about journalism in order to better understand what it is we think about when we talk about "journalism."

Journalism is what journalists do. Yup, this rumination is gonna take on a rather post-modern character, but it comes with the territory. Our culture designates people as journalists, and what they do in that role is journalism. I don't think this is as obvious as it seems at first.

Journalism is a set of cultural practices. Here we get a little reflexive, but the set of these practices set Journalists apart from say, filmmakers, novelists, or White House press secretaries. We have J-schools to train our youth in this set of practices and discussions of "journalist ethics." Consumers of journalism have certain culturally defined expectaions of the work: in the US we expect journalism to be objective. This notion of "objectivity" is, in part, determined by these practices.

Journalism is practiced within a cultural institution. When a story appears in The New York Times we assume that the information is generally factual, and the reporter made an effort to portray the events as accurately as possible. The fact that The New York Times, CNN, or The Norman Transcript provides this information lends it an aura of credibility for us, the readers. Conversely, reporters for The New York Times or another outlet have a set of institutional norms and practices they must conform to in order to get their material published. These norms are probably more powerful and less transparent than the practices of journalism taught in J-School.

I'm sure there's some work done on the theory of journalism, but I've read none of it. This is hardly intended to be a comprehensive theory of journalism, either, just a way for me to understand how I understand journalism.

So, is blogging journalism? Well, its certainly something some journalists do, and its a cultural practice. However, There are few expectations on behalf of either the producers or consumers that determine the character of the content. Moreover, most blogs lack the institutional sanctioning implicit with journalism.

I suppose that some of the writers suggesting blogging is a new form of journalism could be taking a radical stances, suggesting we reconstruct our notions about what constitutes journalism, but if you're taking a stance that radical, you may as well ask "Is blogging a hamster?"

Anyway, today I read an column on the BBC site that asks, "Is Google Too Powerful?", but also treats the question "Is blogging journalism?"

The author, a technology consultant answers a definitive "no," citing institutional practices that distinguishes blogging from journalism.

Finally, The New York Times has a story about Google's acquisition of Blogger's parent company Pyra.

buy more duct tape

I'll admit that I was late to learn about the government's advice to cover windows with duct tape and plastic sheeting - I though it was a joke when I read about it on Neal Pollack - but there's something about the duct tape thing that awakens the primal Boy Scout within me. Maybe it's because preparing for war is a little like packing for a camping trip, as this clip from the Today Show suggests. Mr. and Mrs. Tom Ridge stand in a kitchen telling Jamie Gangel how normal citizen should prepare for an attack on the US. The Ridges suggest buying crap like bottled water and granola bars will prepare you for an act of war.

I've already mentioned the man from last Saturday's demonstration that held a sign that read, "Buy More Duct Tape," to simultaneously mock the Bush adminstration's preparedness advice and its emphasis on consumption as an end to economic stimulus. Well, this roundup in the Washington Post indicates that marcher may not have been so far off. According to the story, a GOP contributor makes about 46% of the duct tape sold in the US and has seen "a doubling and tripling" of sales since the advice went out.

a quintet to quench

This evening I was at the grocery store, and I was a little hungry. The store had Clif's new energy bar, the Mojo Bar on sale for $.99. Being open to new kinds of food, I decided to pick one up for an adventure. "Spicy Salsa Peanut" sounded like the tastiest flavor, but, boy, was I wrong. I couldn't eat any more after two bites; if you can imagine a Baby Ruth coated in cayenne and salt instead of chocolate, you might have a sense of what this sweet, salty, spicy confection tastes like. I'm just glad I didn't get the "Curry Cashew" flavor instead.

it's bursting with foul-ness

And for more news in the two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together department, here's a quote from a mailing list I'm on, "Man o' Man....I love The Gary Numan/Alien Sex Fiend meets Hawkwind feel they have."

adjust your weapons inspectors mandate

This site is funny, even if it takes a minute. Click the "Bomb" button if you are Donald Rumsfeld.

all-in-one data centre

I've done the numbers and I'm probably better off getting a national cell phone plan than to continue using a landline phone for long distance, so I've been doing some comparison shopping for cell-phones. Now that you can get a T-Mobile Sidekick (or Danger Hiptop, for geek-speakers) for free after rebate, I'm super tempted to get one of these devices, since I would like to also have a mobile device for checking email, since its gonna be a long time before I can get a notebook computer. On the other hand, owning a feature-rich mobile device seems a little too decadent for the m4dd4wg, so I keep delaying a decision. Just now, I found another reason I should delay my purchase: this site suggests color Hiptops are on their way. Anyway, I should probably get a cheap vanilla cell phone and shut up.

a cult of duct tape

My newest source of bloggable links is someone who barely gets online: my mom. In a phone conversation the other day, she said,
"You know that ReadyMade magazine? The woman was on NPR, telling listeners what to do with all their duct tape and plastic sheeting."
"Oh cool!"
"One of her ideas was too funny," my mom said giggling, "she said to make a duct tape wallet. Have you ever heard of such a fool thing?"
"I have a duct tape wallet, mom. In fact, a lot of people come to my site looking for directions."

In case a duct tape wallet is too basic for your skillz, here's an advanced project to use up your duct tape and plastic sheeting: a backyard hovercraft.

And finally, one conspiracy-minded protestor at Saturday's demonstration suggested the war paranoia might be part of Bush' economic stimulus plan. Although I didn't get a picture, he carried around a sign that read, "Buy More Duct Tape," sarcastically suggesting it was the way to boost our flailing economy.

democracy is a beautiful thing

In response to this weekend's protests, President Bush said today, "Evidently some in the world don't view Saddam Hussein as a risk to peace." That's for sure, I think Bush is the risk to world peace.

he had a great face

That's the twist? I had high hopes for the surprise at the end of Joe Millionaire, in fact, my guess was that Sarah was a man - or used to be one. But giving Evan a million bucks at the end of the show sure ain't much of a twist. I tend not to shout at the TV, but I was all, "Buy a house, dumbass!"

That said, the finale put a smile on my face. Evan seems like a genuinely good guy, and I'm glad he went for the sweet girl that kisses horses than that superficial creep Sarah, who reminds me a lot of someone I used to date. OK, I should get back to reading school stuff.

Update(2/18):We spent a substantial amount of time in one of my classes today talking about "Joe Millionaire." I talked for a little while how the show explicitly refers to fairy tales as a way for readers to contextualize the information presented in the show, as well as tacitly referring to shows like, "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire" and "The Bachelor" for humor. I thought that the show set up a discourse on gender and heterosexuality, since Evan is shown in homoerotic poses modeling briefs and compares underwear modeling to an addiction. Moreover, Zora was more comfortable kissing a horse on the mouth than Evan. I wondered if the million dollar reward at the end of the show was rewarding the couple for "proper" heterosexual behavior.

Regardless, this NYTimes story suggests a million dollars was a bargain, for whatever Fox was paying them for. The show is Fox' most watched show of all time, and second only to this year's Super Bowl in overall ratings. Apparently 40 million people tuned in to see the hunky "heavy equipment operator" pick his match.

this is what texas looks like

Today I joined concerned citizens around the world and took whatever action I can to stop the impending war with Iraq. Some friends and I joined a demonstration at the Texas Capitol to take a principled stand against the war. Below are some pictures from the protest.

Some activists made a maypole in the shape of a missile and danced around the phallic, pagan plaything.
I'm not sure if I was more surprised to see the president on the South lawn of the Capitol or to see flames erupting from his crotch.

My classmate Jean shot video of the action as well, but I haven't had a chance to look through the footage. If there's interesting stuff, I'll compress it, and post it here.

I took this picture from the steps of the Capitol, to try and give you lovely readers of how many people were there. I'm not sure if I have a sense of how many people were there. This Austin American-Statesman story suggests there were between 8,000 and 10,000 participants today.

After the rally, we marched down Congress Ave, to the other side of Town Lake. Congress is a major thoroughfare through downtown Austin, and we held up quite a bit of traffic. As we neared the Congress bridge, my cohorts and I looked back, and realizing there were marchers stretched back to the Capitol.

the fish with carnivorous teeth

Lately I've been loathe to blog stuff I find on bOINGbOING, but since The Ills' Kasra George Ahmadi endorses this video as "the absolute sh--", I see no reason not to. The video for DJ Format's "We Know Something..." features giant, anthropomorphic plush creatures flowing and breakdancing. At one memorable moment, a turtle casts aside his shell to bust a move.

happy v.d.

Check out the ACME Heart Maker, an old school Weblication I found via Reverse Cowgirl.

Blog Management Systems or BMs

A new version of Movable Type is out, and the Trotts have also announced a pay version or Movable Type Pro due out this summer. I have more comments at the KMBlog for my Knowledege Management class.

organizedSound 4B

Here's an event my pal Mattthew is putting on at UT-Austin tomorrow night, so I'll alert everyone out in the browsing audience:

imprudent to continue operations

Slashdot says Yamaha has decided to exit the CD-burner business, since its become, in industry lingo, "commotized." In the past, I've posted about how I've coveted a burner with their exclusive "Disc T@2" technology that uses the laser to burn images into the CD. Perhaps now they'll license the technology to everybody and their dog, bringing prices down.

fences in oklahoma

Outside Purcell

South Tulsa

South Tulsa

this is what democracy looks like

At 11:30 this morning, my classmates and I walked out of class to protest the looming war with Iraq. A demonstration was held on the Austin campus, and a larger demonstration is planned at the Texas capitol 1pm Saturday.

After leaving class, we congregated on UT-Austin's East Mall to begin the march.


The march was split into two groups. My group went West on 24th Street; turned north on Guadalupe, holding up traffic on the Drag; and finally marched up the West Mall to the tower. A rally was held on the steps of the tower on the South Mall.

There was a veritable buttload of people there. According to The Austin American-Statesman, UT said there were 2,000 demonstrators today, but it sure seemed like more than that.

pit o' useless blowhards

Lately I've become burnt out on the whole blogging thing, as the infrequency of posts here might suggest. I've wasn't quite able to articulate this disenchantment, until I saw yesterday's Pearls Before Swine comic strip. Dave Barry once suggested "the Information Superhighway was essentially CB radio, but with more typing," which may not be the case, but blogging might be AM talk radio with, well, more typing.
Part of the reason I've been interested in blogging is can allow people with unique voices to share their opinions and recontextualize mass media products, but it seems like blogging tends to attract the self-important smugsters who rarely generate their own perspectives on the world, but express opinions for the sake of group identification. Or people that seem to be intent on expressing class privilege with their digital cameras and their discussions of organizational dynamics studies.
I'm not sure if I have a point - yet - but I'm certainly starting to doubt whether blogs are democratic or even interesting.

claim kindly return

A while back, someone from the University of Washington visited this site after searching Google for "mcconnell jenks texas tulsa art." I scanned my mind to think of people I know in Seattle: Dara and Shawn come to mind. Whoever it was knows a whole heck of a lot about me - my high school, where I currently live, my hometown, and one of my avocations - to not email me. Of course, this could be that other McConnell guy that went to Jenks High School, does art crap, and lives in Texas.
Its still interesting to me, since I would expect most of the people I knew in college would think of me as a writer than an artiste and high school friends would probably assume I was some math geek or something. Weird.

Anyway, this gives me the impetus to post more artwork.

1997

2002

its just for decoration

Check out this local news clip about an after-market car mod and write a few sentences about how race and class are portrayed by this media outlet. (Via Metafilter) Woo-woo!

beat-up antique blues

Considering their paranoia about piracy, I've long wondered why the record industry doesn't move back to an analog format, perhaps vinyl or an optical-analog format like videodisc. It looks like not-so-indie label V2 has a similar idea. V2 has sent the media copies of the White Stripes forthcoming LP Elephant - on vinyl. The story's angle suggests vinyl was chosen in order to reign in pre-release piracy, but I suggest its as much an aesthetic decision on behalf of the garage-rock band.

digitally customized version

This is linked today on Slashdot, but since this blog is hosted by the University of Texas' department of Radio-TV-Film, its worth posting here. This NYTimes story describes how a Clear Channel subsidiary uses a database of sound bites from Carson Daly to create localized countdown shows for each of the radio market they serve. Engineers assemble a pastiche of soundbites to make it sound as if Daly is reading the countdown for the local audience, when in fact the petri-dish grown personality is as live as the feminine voice on the telephone network you need to start your call with a "one" or a "zero."

I'm particularly amused by this Anonymous Coward post, where the poster defines the word "Simulacrum," which I suppose is a fairly obscure concept for people who don't eat, sleep, and breath post-structuralism, then goes on to say:

Simulacra and Simulations, by Jean Baudrillard, is the book in which Neo hid his diskette. I started reading it and was amazed by the relevance of the concept of the 'simulacrum' to The Matrix.

Yeah, like the movie references the book for no reason in particular.

capitalist pigs in space

When I first read about the Columbia disaster, my first reaction was, "They're still flying those things?" I soon remembered the international space station and whatnot, but the Shuttle seems to be Jurassic tech indeed. New Republic editor Gregg Easterbrook apparently agrees it needs to go, arguing in Time that the Shuttle is flashy corporate welfare, rather than commercially or scientifically necessary. Interestingly, the piece which is currently ranked #1 on Blogdex. A cursory glance suggests most of the people linking to the piece believe Easterbrook's contentions have some merit.
What's most interesting to me is Easterbrook first articulated opposition to the Shuttle program wayyy back in 1980, suggesting then it was an impractical handout to defense contractors.

An editorial in the Austin American-Statesman echoes this sentiment. Editorial page editor Arnold García Jr. notes a 1963 verbal gaffe by President John F. Kennedy. Speaking in Houston on the space program, JFK proclaimed, "Next month, when the U.S. fires the world's biggest booster, lifting the heaviest payroll into . . . that is, payload . . ."

As befitting a space rock outlet, DrugMusic.com's dose today is inspired by Columbia's fall from space. Its an interesting mix of solemn tunes like the Carter Family's "May the Circle Be Unbroken" performed by the Spacemen 3, as well as irreverent cuts like Brian Eno's "Baby's on Fire" and Devo's "Space Junk." Since the link will rot, I've pasted the whole playlist below.

David Bowie - ChangesOne - Space Oddity [00:00]
MC5 - Kick Out the Jams - Starship [04:44]
The Asteroid #4 - Introducing... - The Admiral's Address [12:34]
Spacemen 3 - Playing with Fire - May the Circle Be Unbroken [20:55]
Amon Düül II - Wolf City - Surrounded by the Stars [24:29]
Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets - Baby's on Fire [32:00]
Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! - Space Junk [37:15]
Parliament - Live: P. Funk Earth Tour - Mothership Connection (Star Child) [39:20]
Milk - Suceeding/Receding - Space Shuttle [45:04]
Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby - Rocket Machine [47:30]
Windy & Carl - Portal - Approach/Descend [51:41]
Ride - Nowhere- Dreams Burn Down [56:14]

do you blog in hipster?

I just ran across indie-rocker Edith Frost's blog, and I was like, "Oh, big-name indie rockers have blogs now?" (OK, I was listening to one of her records, and decided to see if she had a home page.) She has a link to Jenny Toomey's blog in her blogroll, as well. I guess they can have blogs just like everyone else, but I tend to think of underground musicians as being on the other side of digital divide, or just touring too much for reliable computer access.

And Drag City has a butterfly ballot on its Web site, inviting readers to vote for their favorite twelve Will Oldham cuts for a forthcoming greatest hits LP. Here's how I voted:
Big Balls
Every Mother's Son
Horses
Idle Hands Are The Devil's Playthings
Lost Blues
Ode #2
Ohio River Boat Song
Patience
The Sun Highlights The Lack In Each
Viva Ultra
Work Hard / Play Hard