Weenie Google

Too small to use.  I've gotten a few hits from something called Weenie Google.  I'm not sure what it means, but I'm just noting it.

I don't know if this is supposed to be some sort of spoof on Google, an attempt to use Google's name, or what.  I don't see any serious anti-google propaganda here like Scroogle-Scraper has. 

Google has done amazing things - including making blogs like this one possible to get an audience.  Their current decision to shut down their China operation rather than censor their searches is a good sign.  However, while the current controllers of the giant information machine that Google has become appear to have good intentions, any organization that has a significant source of power inevitably attracts people who want a piece of that power. 

What will happen in the future when the founders eventually depart?  Will they set up a plan to break up key components of Google so future leaders can't use this growing monopoly on information for evil purposes?

UPDATE:  Also check out Epic Google,  Mr. Doob's Google Gravity, and the Revolving Internet.

Palin Announces Conversion

Boy was I surprised with this NY Times article:

Sarah Palin announced Thursday morning in Rome that she had converted to Roman Catholicism.  Flanked by the Pope and other Vatican officials, Palin spoke for three minutes and took no questions.   In her statement, Palin discussed the importance of tradition and ritual and the solemnity of the majestic robes worn by the clergy.  Vatican watchers were quick to speculate that this move might help to distract from the growing unrest about the Pope's possible  mishandling of pedophile priests.  Will Sarah Palin bring to the Catholic Church what she brought to the Republican Party? 

Palin followers were taken by surprise and some questioned how Palin had found the time to study Catholic doctrine and why she would make such a move just as her celebrity career was taking off.   Usually unreliable sources reported that she will spend the next three months at an unnamed convent.   A spokesman for the Wasilla Assembly of God did not respond to emails or voice messages.   A malleable source in the White House would only say that the President wished the best for Palin and no decisions had been reached on how to repay the Pope.  

Meanwhile,  a Palin Vanity Fair cover has appeared on the internet.

Decoupling the Capitol - Legislative Staff Spoofs Bosses

It was a big night at Centennial Hall with the big ballroom full for Decoupling the Capitol.  It was a fun night with everyone casual and playful - at least at the beginning.  Since I'm trying to get my readers as close to the truth as possible, I'd say the skits were a lot like my non-flash photos in the dark room - a few are sharp, but most were not quite on target.  But there was a lot of enthusiasm and enough liquor that most people enjoyed themselves anyway.  The Saturday Night Life crew don't have to worry about losing their jobs though.  But then they don't spend their workdays making the legislature work before they perform.  

We were in line behind Rep. Mike Doogan and the woman who lets him live with her

Around the table clockwise from front right:  Reps. Guttenberg, Seaton, Buch, Crawford, and Petersen.

Rep Gara (left)

Rep. Gardner and her husband.

Rep. Tuck (right)

I would have cropped these, but then you'd see how bad the focus is.

Rep. Dahlstrom (in red)

Rep. Thomas (left) and Al Adams

Rep. Johnson pointing to the camera.

Senator Hollis French taking a picture of his wife (I'm assuming in red) and Rep. Kerttula.

Staffer Ted in his formal wear.

Rep. Lynn just can't stay still enough to not blur.

Staffer Mike and his Intern Daughter.  

[Update 6:oopm: Pictures of what was performed on stage, posters on the tables, and content on the video screen have been pulled at the request of AK Skitters.]

Decoupling the Capitol

I'm told this event is a regular part of the Legislative Session.  It's the night the staff offer skits and spoofs of their bosses.  I was told all proceeds this year go to the Southeast Alaska Food Bank, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and AWARE.  This is Saturday night at Centennial Hall. 

In the spirit of the evening, I'm asking readers to use the comments to:

1.  Explain the title to those who aren't keeping up with Alaska politics
2.  Name the people in the pictures and what the images mean, if anything. Use the letters in the bottom picture. 

The top picture is pretty big so you can double click it to see the faces better. Who can get the most right?

I'm hoping to learn something myself from the answers.  And even if you want to be be Anonymous, please, at least, leave some sort of id in the comment.

Here are some help links - State Senate  and State House of Representatives.

Another Sign - At Vicky's Joke Shop

The last post was a bunch of signs. Here's one more.  This is the kind of humor that is easy to miss.  Was it intentional?  I didn't go in and ask. 

"Palin in Australia"

The email I got from my son was titled "Palin in Australia." This comes via Andrew Sullivan's blog at the Atlantic. It says this is a Senator Collins from the Australian Parliament. Don't have a mouthful of anything when you watch this.

Midnight Soapscum Climaxes with Year 2 Episode 5

Everything worked tonight as all the loose plot ends were tied up and lots of people and even an alien got married in the final scene. (There were so many loose plot ends, I could have missed a few. It was only tonight, my third of this year's five episodes, that I noticed a major historical juxtaposition - Obama is already the president in the runup to the 2008 election. Poetic license I guess. Too good a character to leave out just because he hadn't yet been elected.) The cast had as good a time as the audience which whooped it up every now and then. I'll just post some pictures and let you make up your own story. It can't be as bizarre as the one at Out North. (Can you spot Caribou Barbie and Todd, and Obama?) I suspect this five week production will be remembered in Anchorage theater history. A lot of outstanding - much of it young - local talent got to do some way out stuff. Five different episodes - same characters mostly - in five weeks. But you could tell that the cast and crew had bonded early on and I think a lot of future theater greats in Anchorage (and beyond) will be connected forever because they 'worked' together in this production. There were no duds in the cast and most played their roles so well, I can't imagine them as anyone else. Mama Rose Mary is only 18 years old and was the narrator whose huge presence pulled everything - including the audience - together. Tonight she even sang as part of the play. I didn't get a program again tonight and I'm not sure I can find the one from Episode 3. But this is an actor we're going to hear more about. And you can catch a bit of her persona in the bit of video at the bottom.











(It's only 30 seconds.)

Click for posts on previous episodes and other soapscummy things.

Internet Imperative and Media Disintegration

My son sent me a couple of links worth checking. I'm sure a variation of this scenario from XKCD has happened in many households of my blogger compatriots.

And J1 also sent me to Roger Ebert's blog. Here he is conveying pretty much my own concerns about bully radio talk show hosts. In this post, for example, I talk about pollution of public discourse. And I've also discussed bullying as an aspect of this. Here's a bit from Ebert:

I am not interested in discussing O'Reilly's politics here. That would open a hornet's nest. I am more concerned about the danger he and others like him represent to a civil and peaceful society. He sets a harmful example of acceptable public behavior. He has been an influence on the most worrying trend in the field of news: The polarization of opinion, the elevation of emotional temperature, the predictability of two of the leading cable news channels. A majority of cable news viewers now get their news slanted one way or the other by angry men. O'Reilly is not the worst offender. That would be Glenn Beck. Keith Olbermann is gaining ground. Rachel Maddow provides an admirable example for the boys of firm, passionate outrage, and is more effective for nogt shouting.

Much has been said recently about the possible influence of O'Reilly on the murder of Dr. George Tiller by Scott Roeder. Such a connection is impossible to prove. Yet studies of bullies and their victims suggest a general way such an influence might take place. Bullies like to force others to do their will, while they can stand back and protest their innocence: "I was nowhere near the gymnasium, Sister!"

The whole piece is worth checking out.

Better Insults

Dick Cavett writes in a New York Times opinion piece:

There are two kinds of insult. “I was bored by your book” is one kind. “Your book? Once I put it down, I couldn’t pick it up,” is the other.

Unfortunately, too many comments on blogs are of a third variety, "Your book *&%%!!(sucks!" So my challenge to bloggers and commenters is this: If you must insult someone, do it with panache. When you've written your angry response, stop. Delete it. Then attempt to rewrite it like the second one above about the book.

The longer it takes the recipient to realize that he was insulted, the better the insult.

Note: The NY Times online is free. If you can't get the link, you may have to register.

Doonesbury Competing with Millions of Narcissists

OK, this is the last post on today's LA Times. But I can't pass up Doonesbury's take on bloggers. If you don't have a Sunday paper with Doonesbury, you can double click the picture to enlarge it enough to read it.

Laughing til it hurt - Aasif Mandvi in Anchorage

Friends suggested we join them at UAA* last night to hear the Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi. As a cable-less household member, I only get to see the Daily Show when at friends' homes or on YouTube. So I wasn't prepared for this guy.


The first time he approached politics, he mentioned that (paraphrasing) 'you guys are getting a lot of attention these days .... well, I think Gravel is great too."

Later he mentioned that he's here and he's looked really hard, but "you just can't see Russia from here."

At the end, some of the people asking questions seemed either like shils or like they were auditioning. The combination of their questions and his responses had me laughing so hard it hurt, literally.



*University of Alaska Anchorage

Jokes - who wins what, and who loses what?

BD is back from the war. With an artificial leg. He's staying with an old friend while he's in DC for a short trip. Mark is gay. He makes a joke that alludes to BD's disability.

BD cuts him short.

double click on the cartoon to enlarge it

So why can't Mark joke about BD's new leg?

Power.

As a member of a group labeled "Disabled" BD is now seen as weak, as less capable, as different from the norm. Mark, as an abled bodied male, is part of the more powerful group - the group that doesn't need help, that isn't pitied, that doesn't have to talk to potential employers about accommodations. His joke calls attention to the difference between them, indirectly makes the point that Mark has more power.

BD emphasizes this when he says it's not ok for Mark to joke about his leg, "Not from you, from my peers."

Because the peers are part of the same out group. As members of an outgroup, they can actually make up their own 'in' group - people with disabilities. In the group, they can joke. It's a way out groups have always coped with their out status. Sigmund Freud wrote that humor was a way to express criticism that was "difficult so long as [it is] direct, and possible only along circuitous paths." Charles Gruner writes that, "Humorous situations can be best understood by knowing who wins what, and who loses what."

So BD turns it around.

"Sorry, Let's tell gay jokes instead. See if that helps."

Now BD is in the in group and Mark is in the out group. Now BD has more power than Mark.

When you hear people tell jokes, particularly jokes that are at someone's expense, think about "who wins what, and who loses what." Why did they tell that joke?