infobong.com

take a stance

I reckon that its worth mentioning that the editorial board of The Baylor Lariat the student newspaper at the world's largest Baptist school, has come out in favor of gay marriage by a 5-2 vote. How is it that Baylor students are more liberal than the Democratic presidential condenders on this issue? I wonder how they feel about shellfish - do they know God hates shrimp?

gtmba-austin

Last weekend, Josh hosted a party at his little apartment complex featuring my pals in Numbers on the Mast. As NOTM were spreading their ambient cheer, a few kids were shouting and engaging in horseplay, I scolded,

"Hey guys, this is like ambient nerd church. You're supposed to be quiet!"
NOTM member Trey added, "This is ambient nerd church! Shhhh!"

When I lived in West Philly, a local organization the Philadelphia Ambient Consortium - Music and Noise (PAC-MAN) used to put on monthly shows at the Rotunda, a deconsecrated church owned by UPenn. In emails, I used to related glowing accounts of the "ambient nerds" and their "services." Although Josh' party lacked the ambience of PAC-MAN, here are a few shots from the Austin version of Ambient Nerd Church:

states greater burdens

Observers on the left have criticized the Bush administration for labeling people who oppose its policies, such as anti-war protestors and environmental activists, as "terrorists." But the Bushites discursive peculiarity took a surreal turn today when Education Secretary Rod Paige called teachers' union the National Education Association a "terrorist organization." Damn, its bad enough that terrorists can be your next-door neighbor or electrical engineers, but now those wild-and-crazy schoolteachers are tantamount to Osama Bin Laden.

This Guardian story has been blogged in plenty of other places, but its worth posting here, just to make damn sure everybody sees it. Bush is not only ignoring the scientific community and the Environmental Protection Agency in his denial of global warming, but it appears the "wartime president" is ignoring the Pentagon as well. A leaked Pentagon report contends global warming is real and presents a greater threat to global stability than Bush' beloved terrorists. Between this dissing of the Pentagon and Bush' attempt to cut combat pay to soldiers in Iraq, it seems inconceivable that any military person would support this former National Guardsman, but apparently there are servicepeople out there that still do.

multi-constituency commission study

In case any readers are wondering what I'm reading in my coursework this semeseter, (Yes, this is making the bold assumption that I have any readers) one of the articles for next week, "Business and Bias in Public Policy Formation: The National Civic Federation and Social Construction of Electric Utility Regulation, 1905-1907" by Patrick McGuire and Mark Granovetter, is posted online. Enjoy and discuss!

long-form, long-in-the-making

NOW with Bill Moyers is easily one of the best shows on TV. I make a point to carve out part of Friday night to watch the show, since its one of the few shows on air that treat issues like media consolidation and grassroots organizing. Sadly, Bill Moyers has said he will leave the show after the current election cycle. I've noticed David Brancaccio, who recently came from PRI's Marketplace has taken on a larger profile on the show, interviewing marquee guests and sometimes anchoring, so perhaps the show will continue after Moyers leaves.

don't mess around

Yesterday, I emailed a few friends this helpfile from Polaroid Customer Support, which answers the burning question, "Should I really shake it 'like a Polaroid picture'?" Watching CNN at the gym this morning, I saw that the network had picked up the story, reporting Polaroid's advice without a shred of irony. This struck me as ironic, since I assumed that the helpfile, like this one from Compaq regarding the location of the "Any Key," was an in-joke for the aumusement of support personnel.

The story notes Polaroid photos should be placed on a flat surface as they develop. Moreover, the story contends, 'lay it on a flat surface like a Polaroid picture,' doesn't sound nearly as cool." I beg to disagree: I can totally imagine an R. Kelly song with the lyrics, "I want to lay you on a flat surface like a Polaroid picture."

signature required on delivery

My mom got me new kitchen knives for Valentine's Day. She learned it would arrive late, so she told me about it one day on the phone. I was like, "Did you send it via USPS or one of the commercial carriers?"
"Oh, I didn't think about it. UPS and whatnot is a pain?"
"Its a bitch. You have to wait around for them, and you have to build your schedule around their's. The post office is so much better; you can just ride your bike over to the post office and pick up your package; with UPS and FedEX you have to go out to the airport."
"Ohh, I should have asked."

On Monday, UPS left one of their tell-tale yellow markings outside my door, and left another last night. It said they would make a final attempt after 5pm today, when I will be holding office hours in Studio 4B. I called them this morning, and the clerk was unwilling to delay the delivery; I had to receive it tonight. After a series of questions, I was like, "Ok, can you deliver it to my work?"
"Sure, what's the address?"
I was reluctant to have knives delivered to school, but I kluged an address for 4B, and, after she entered it, she was all, "OK, we will deliver that to the studio Thursday night."
"Ugggggh! I won't be there Tomorrow. I'm in grad school, so my schedule is different each day."
"Well would Friday work?"
"I'll be at home Friday night?"
She sighed, and said, "OK, let's deliver it to your house Friday night."

I guess I got my problem solved, but it doesn't resolve the issue of why in the Sam Hill do retail mail-order organizations use UPS and FedEX? The private carriers work fine if you have a receptionist or a shipping clerk, but their customer service for residential customers is stone cold crappy. In contrast, our lovable socialist postal service has friendly employees, easily understood delivery practices, and convenient locations. UPS has a deal with USPS for sharing airplanes; it would be nice if they could make a similar deal hold packages at your neighborhood post office, instead of making people drive out to the airport.

untapped potential of blogs

I have a class today that meets once a week, and, as I'm getting dressed, I worried about what I wore last week, lest it looks like I only have one T-Shirt. "What did you wear?", I thought to myself, and I opened a new tab in Mozilla. I suddenly realized I was about to check online to find out what I wore last Tuesday. To the best of my knowledge, this information is not published online, unlike, say, my bus schedule or the hourly forecast for Austin. Maybe this is an untapped application for blogging; if I'm fastidious about blogging my sartorial selections each day, I can alternate outfits, rarely repeating the clothes in a class.

best rapper collide

A few weeks ago I saw DJ Danger Mouse's The Grey Album in the record store, thought "huh?" and filed it away in my memory bank. Now, I've learned that its a concept album remixing The Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's Black Album together; thanks to legal action by media giant EMI, its been pulled from shelves; and, good lord, it is tight. Illegal Art has the whole darn album posted online in mp3 format, with more discussion of the controversy surrounding the record.

fake and garish

I watched the Grammy Awards Sunday for the first time, I think, ever. Now that I'm in school doing the media studies thing, I think its important to expose myself to mainstream culture, so I listen to the radio and occassionally watch stuff like the Grammys. I enjoyed the first number I saw, the "Church of Funk" Medley with Earth, Wind, and Fire; George Clinton; the Outkast, and others. However, the final number of the show left my mouth agape. Andre 3000 emerged from a bright green space tipi, wearing mock Native American dress. I was so shocked, I had to grab a few screenshots:

And the DJ wore a warbonnet!

I was shocked. Shocked, that CBS would allow something this ugly in the wake of Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. I mean, who cares if a singer's boob comes out while dancing, when stage numbers are exploiting racial stereotypes? Apparently, many Native American groups agree with my white ass, calling the costume and set design, "offensive and demeaning," and equating it with blackface.

links in the background

I love Mozilla Firebird; its runs better on Windows XP than Microsoft's IE, and I appreciate the end-user customization it allows through themes and plugins like RSS Reader Panel. So, of course, I downloaded the latest version of the browser, now called Mozilla Firefox. I loads with no "Back" or "Forward" buttons on my machine! And I can't seem to add them to the navigation panel. Obviously, the browser is unusable for me until I figure out how to get my "Back" back. Has anyone else run into this issue?

technologies of self

Since I'm blogging about not blogging, I might as well mention that I'll be speaking on a panel discussion titled "Blogs, Blogs, Blogs" on Friday as part of the Transparencies technology and culture conference. Although its tempting to fill up 15 minutes about not blogging, I frankly don't think that will cut the mustard. If you're in Austin, and you wanna check it out (its free), the panel is at 1PM in the Chicano Culture Room of the Texas Union.

I've gotta say I was a little chagrined when I saw the titles of the other papers at the conference. For some time I've felt a little dorky using titles, where I saw something cutesy, insert a colon, and then actually describe the paper. For example, I titled a paper something like, "Geek Your Mind: Weblogs and Personal Publishing Online." Its fun to come up with those titles, but it just seems so... presumptuous.

Then I read this article in The Chronicle of Higher Education criticizing the colon-title format, and I vowed to concoct descriptive, concise, and, most of all, colon-less titles. I was pressed for time when I needed to come up with a title for my blog presentation for Transparencies, and I discovered it is surprisingly difficult to come up with a simple title for a paper. I racked my brain for a few hours, finally coming up with "Social Aspects of Weblogs." However, the other panelists at the conference seem comfortable with the long colonic titles, and now I feel small and puny with my four-word title.

about mattresses and bikes

My old pal Samantha says I need to update my blog more often. I agree. Hmmm. I've sort of forgotten about this musty old thing. Maybe I should turn this into a conceptual blog, where I only blog about feeling guilty about not blogging, friends begging me to blog more, and ruminations about the absurdity of blogging. It seems so modernist, tho.

Interestingly, the top link on Blogdex right now is a Kuro5hin thread titled, "Why your Movable Type blog must die." Right now it doesn't seem like I need any encouragement.

abhors a vacuum

Well, there's nothing on the site right now, so I'm gratuitously adding a post. There are things I think to blog, but I don't seem to get around to it. I'll try harder, I swear.