Catching up (a little)

I'm reading 'Guns, Germs, and Steel', finally, and it is so cool. To think the principal (ordinally) factor in development of empire is living along a large east-west latitudinally inhabited axis. (Check out the simplified chart.)I buy it (until I hear different).

Wired continues it's campaign to convince us that outsourcing and free trade are Good Things with the article Revenge of the Right Brain. I happen to think outsourcing is OK, and free trade is good, for some of these kinds of reasons.

OK, and a bunch more Wired. You should be reading it (for less than one thin dollar a month if you subscribe...)

Tom Barnett's first Wired article. He got nominated for a Wired award, too.

Stop the US Mail! The libertarian in me is inclined to agree. What do you think? (If 'you' happen to be John13, I already know what you think, but feel free to shout it out anyway. I love it!)

Lessing: Why Wilco is the future of music. For the ongoing music distribution debate...

Incredi-Wil

Wil is really into the Incredibles. He also likes babies, so he likes Baby Jack Jack pretty well.



Christine thought putting an Incredibles mask on Baby Wil would be a good idea.



I decided to experiment with a costume.



Next up: Bethy as Baby Violet.

audio post: failed suicide

audiopost: The Rice Hearings, plus a regular post

update: Barnett posted on this today. I got this indictment from him in the first place.

First, he says that pre-war intell is not the answer:

this is the biggest bit of nonsense. If anyone voted to take down Saddam just on WMD, then they were stupid. After a decade of violated sanctions and all the killing he did and all the killing we did with bombings and sanctions, it was simply time to get him off the stage. Vote should have been about whether or not US committed to doing the job right, which gets us to the real questions to ask Rice.

Then he goes on to the questions that should have been asked:

The real point on her role as Nat'l Security Adviser is that her office was in charge of the inter-agency process that ran, or should have run, the occupation. If there is one single person to blame for that job, it's her, and so that is where all the questions should go. Senate plans on plopping an office of postconflict stabilization and reconstruction in State, which is a very bad idea, but it only points up that SECSTATE will, if this bill goes through, be very much the person on the hook now regarding this task. Again, since Rice did a very bad job of coordinating on the Iraq occupation, and since that office will now be her's to run, all the questions should focus on that aspect of her job--both past and future.

Tom explains why Ted Kennedy is a blockhead, which you can read for yourself. Then he gets to some more meat:

First, a quote from the Post article he's referencing:

Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), a possible presidential candidate in 2008 who voted to authorize the war, said Rice "has been a principal architect of policy errors that have tragically undermined our prospects for success" in Iraq. "The list of errors is lengthy and profound, and unfortunately many could have been avoided if Dr. Rice and others had only listened to the counsel" of lawmakers from both parties, Bayh said. "This is no ordinary incompetence. Men and women are dying as a result of these mistakes."

Then, Tom adds his closing commentary:

This is the right tone and the right focus. She was the principal architect of the occupation, by virtue of her job. Her performance has undermined our long-term prospects for success. The Bush administration did not listen well. The vast majority of the personnel who've died have died in the badly planned and badly run occupation, not in the brilliantly run war. Rice is on the hook for the occupation, not the war. That is where the focus should be.

audio post: CEO trials

Ryan, me, and Barbie playing LotR (Elizabeth took off). 

On first getting the masks in our stockings Christmas Eve. 

Christine got us all Incredibles masks for Christmas. They were Wil's favorite present. He often wears his for long stretches of time. 

Does Jordan have a legacy?

Wow. Eviscerating analysis of Michael Jordan on Slate (via kottke). While I think the author gives too little shrift to the fact that Jordan is the greatest to ever play the game, I agree with the social and character analysis. What do you think?

Paean to the Patriots

Wow, that was impressive!

Here's an interesting stat I heard on the radio today, before the game: The Patriots have the most college graduates of any team in the NFL. They play smart football. You have to be smart to play on their team. They take middle round guys and turn them into star contributors to a team. It really is like Moneyball for the NFL.

Think of all of the 'mute and glorious' Bradys whose potential has gone untapped all these years...

The Patriots beat the Colts this year the same way they beat the Colts last year: they punched them in the mouth. But this year it was bigger. The Colts came in this year as a better offense, one of the best in the history of the league. But it wasn't even as close this year as it was last year. The regaled Colts offense scored one field goal. And this year's defeat was an even bigger accomplishment by the Patriots defense.

Plus, the Patriots offense controlled the ball for three quarters. The Colts have an ok defense, but that didn't cut it.

It was the Pats good offense against the Colts ok defense and the Patriots lights-out defense against the Colts great offense. And the Patriots blew them out.

Next week will be a more balanced match-up: the two best scoring defenses in the NFL v. two good offenses.

The Patriots looked much better this weekend than the Steelers. As Phil Simms said, they imposed their will on them. And the Pats have the experience. They're the champs. I like the Steelers. They're a sentimental favorite for me. But I have to give the advantage to the Patriots (sorry Eric and Jaq). And, doing so, I declare them the favorites to win another Super Bowl.

Tonight, briefly

If you couldn't guess, Christine and the twins are at her folks :-)

An extensive unwrapping of the new iPod Shuffle. Only makes me want one more...

This 'experimental' del.icio.us interface (a la nutr.itio.us) is working well for me.

via kottke, a chapter of Edward Tufte's next book, this chapter focusing on bad examples.

Using Gmail as a second brain.

More on tags: taggregator gives you a column from Flickr and a column from del.icio.us. Whoa.

Even more on tags: Technorati's integrating them.

Elves Of Valinor Warn Of "Critical Security Flaw" In Palantír Browsers

InfoGraphic on Apple's products and how they fit the market, especially how they will be able to RULE THE WORLD!

Addicted to mashups

Or, alternatively, Obsessive downloading.

I love this kind of thing. I can't resist it. Like Pop-up videos. Are you already into it? Are you interested? If so, how should I point to all of the stuff I've looked at?

I've subscribed to the del.icio.us feed.

(By the way, if you're thinking of downloading this stuff or ANYTHING, do yourself a favor and use Star Downloader. It's free and can pull up to four downloads off of one site.)

There's a lot of stuff at Get Your Bootleg On, but you have to dig.

Don't miss My Britney (Toxic Sharona).

Pop Razors - The Power to Break Free (6MB 4:17 192kbps): Queen - I Want to Break Free and Snap - The Power.

The Beatles 'Taxman' vs the Cure 'Lovesong' = Lovetax. (Sounds like it should be a mashup of 'Lovecats', but isn't.)

DJ Prince - Hey We Will Rock Ya (DeNeo Edit): Outkast - Hey Ya (Instrumental) vs Queen - We Will Rock You (Acapella).

Body MMMBoppin': Hanson vs the Beastie Boys.

Push this party started.

There's Jay-Zeezer, if you're into either of those artists (which I'm not). I did like the Yeah in the Sun track. Also fitting squarely into the 'not into Jay-Z' category is The [Notorious] Grey Album by DJ Dangermouse (scroll down a little).

There's the whole Beastles album. djbc also has Intergalactic Robots- The Beasties vs Kraftwerk.

ccc has Revolved (Beatles-based) and mashups.

Lots of good stuff on Mashmix.com.

Here's something you never dreamed: Linkin Park v. Britney.

I'd love to get my hands on Smells Like Teen Spirit v. Bootylicious, but, alas, they took it down (and I'm not wading into kazaa...).

Poj Masta's got mostly remixes.

Mark Vidler was profiled in Wired.

There's the Kleptones, of course.

That should get you started. Let me know if you need more ideas...

Today

Jason is posting again.

The Apple iProduct send-up is funny.

kottke links a story about a guy who has the same name as Ol Dirty Bastard and lived in Brooklyn and used to get his calls. Funny.

audiopost: Wegman's

Update: Jaq has an oblique post about The Store.

A few links

via kottke, a report on prediction markets, which I'm keeping my eye on.

Matt's finally had it with Bill.

Aaron's trying to get one of those free iPods. If it works for him, I'll try it, too.

Speaking of iPods, ay, yi, yi, that new Shuffle looks pretty sweet. It's the frontrunner for next year's Christmas present. (The Mac mini looks pretty good, too, from a marketing and product niche standpoint. Not that I'm interested in buying one, because I'm not. Don't need one. And, as much as I dislike Micro$oft, I don't drink the Kool-Aid for the Cult of Mac, either. So there!)

Happy third anniversary to Matthew Baldwin. It's obvious that he hasn't been at this as long as me. *end sarcasm*

Catching up

kottke said hapax legomena is the original GoogleWhack.

If you haven't checked out Jaq's first chapter of The Promised King, you should.

Interesting. Crazy. Converting the first 10,000 digits of pi into a musical sequence. (Choose your own adventure- since you get to pick the key. More good Flash.)

Tucker Carlson got fired. Go on, Jon Stewart.