The Dave's Daily

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 12:58:00 +0000

Bergman Moves On

His films are obviously not for everyone, but I thought I'd give one a shot about 20 years ago and rented Wild Strawberries. Nearly incomprehensible to this then-20-yr -old. Ten years later I gave it another go with Virgin Spring, and wow, I had a big ol' paradigm shift about art.

Not to get too dramatic, but to me his work was like a cirrus cloud above the big boom and lightening of the Rambos and Titanics.

And So Does Tom Snyder

I searched through several stories and columns about Snyder, and this one stuck out as being succint, entertaining, and it refelcted both the man and the Tomorrow show in ways that rang true for me. Best quote: When he was inexplicably paired with John Lydon, the petulant punk-rocker who once led the Sex Pistols, Mr. Snyder’s farewell remarks were withering. “It’s unfortunate that we are all out of step except for you.”

Cute Little Kittens!

Phew! All that death and darky-dark stuff... I need to escape to the pretty land of cute, cute kittens!

Quotation of the Day

In the world to come, I shall not be asked, "Why were you not Moses?" I shall be asked, "Why were you not Zusya?"

-- Rabbi Zusya

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 14:00:00 +0000

To r de Fr nc

Michael Rasmussen is the third rider to be cast from the race due to doping and doping-related charges. Like Floyd Landis last year, Rasmussen is claiming innocence, but it appears he lied to his team managers about where he was when he missed two drug tests.

The riders who've been banned this year all had won at least one stage in fairly dramatic fashion, holding off the rest of the pack and sometimes sprinting out far ahead of everyone else. Vinikourov did it the day after "blowing up" in a stage, very similarly to Floyd Landis' eyebrow raiser last year. It's not completely unfathomable that a rider can bonk one day and zoom out in front the next, but wouldn't it make more sense to stay at or near the head of the pack? At least, that's how Lance did it.

Volunteer Match

Who would you like to serve? This site helps track down positions within your zip code where you can volunteer. I did a search and found everything from a 3-day stint doing festival set-up to weekly office work at a senior center.

Maps Galore

Maps! Maps! Maps!

Quotation of the Day

"I'm not funny. What I am is brave. "

-- Lucille Ball

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:15:00 +0000

Rewriting History

Yesterday the story was that during a photo shoot Leibovitz had asked the Queen the take off her tiara, saying is was too...

And that was as far as she got. The Queen cut her off and "stormed out". Now, the BBC is saying that was not the case. (Or....was it???)

Blank Slate With Tar

The Dutch have started taking down all road signs and found that it actually increases safety and traffic flow, while reducing overall traffic speed. Should we try it here?

Tour De France

A Spaniard is still in the yellow jersey after 5 stages, but the "real racing'" hasn't started yet. The silence about last year, Floyd Landis, doping, etc, is absolutely deafening. Bunch of crashes this year, more than I've ever seen -- bad juju?

Quotation of the Day

Old Jewish lady: ... And what do you want to be when you grow up?
Six-year-old girl: A shampoo girl.
Four-year-old boy: A hooker!
Mother, smoking: I like it when they have low expectations about life.

From Overheard Everywhere

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 01:10:00 +0000

In Short Bursts

Jack Handey's site (finally) featuring all of his Deep Thoughts, a DT of the Day, audio of Jack reciting his pieces, and more. I can only take so much, but that little bit can set a delightful tone that can last for, well, minutes.

Deep Thoughts on Israel's Right to Exist

A dip into the Israel-Palastine debate, and one that I can understand. It's not inflammatory, a welcome relief. Apparently David Mamet wrote a book that incorrectly quoted Noam Chomsky on Israel's right to exist. (That's SO Mamet!)

Talk about a can of worms. I'm hesitiant to write what I really think here for fear of coming up on some wacko's search under Holocaust Deniers. Not that I deny the Holocaust...(Would saying 'I'm not a Holocaust Denier because have a picture of my grandfather liberating one of the camps' be like saying I'm not racist becuase I have a black friend? I sure hope not.)

I'm still undereducated about 1947, so this was some helpful dialogue.

More: Blog: Realistic Dove Candid, constructive commentary on Israel, the Arab-Israeli conflict, America’s Middle East policies and their domestic political context.

Literary Feedback Loop

From the 'Writer's' discussion forum on Craigslist. Check out the first piece, "Revelation", and its follow-up, "ii". Then read the feedback from "<->". It contains some of the most eloquent and succinct instructions I think I've ever read. Or, you may've just caught me in a mood.

Quotation of the Day

"The nice thing about being a celebrity is that when you bore people, they think it's their fault."

Henry Kissinger

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 18:05:00 +0000

He Just Might

Aware that he may step into the wide open race for the White House, former strategists are sounding out a shadow team that could run his campaign at short notice. In approaching former campaign staff, including political strategists and communications officials, they are making clear they are not acting on formal instructions from Mr Gore, 59, but have not been asked to stop.

[Note: It's not too late to order your "Al and Hillary 2008" bumper stickers! -- Ed.]

Limited View Over Dell

Like most computer makers, Dell switched nearly entirely to Vista-based systems following Microsoft's mainstream launch of the operating system in January. However, the company said its customers have been asking for XP.

The Week Online: One Week Only!

Awesome rag. Check it out of you haven't heard of it.

Quotation of the Day

"This world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel."

-- Horace Walpole

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:40:00 +0000

Insert Inappropriate Reference To 'Ring of Fire' Here

Johnny Cash's longtime lakeside home, a showcase where he wrote much of his famous music and entertained U.S. presidents, music royalty and visiting fans, was destroyed by fire on Tuesday.

First Retail Terabyte Drive

Hitachi's 7K1000 is both the first terabyte drive in retail and Hitachi's first 3.5-inch drive to use perpendicular recording (that basically means it records your files vertically, as opposed to horizontally to allow for more storage space). For $399 you get exactly 931.5GB of storage space.

[The first Macintosh (1984) had 128K memory: 128K X 73,000 = 932G -- Ed.]

Microsoft Bows To Apple's Obvious Decision-making Superiority

In February, Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs stirred up controversy when he called for an end to DRM in an open letter to the industry published on Apple's Web site. At the time, Microsoft responded harshly to Jobs' statement -- a Zune spokesman called it naive and irresponsible -- but now the company seems to have literally changed its tune.

Microsoft's apparent change of heart on selling DRM-free music came in response to Apple's deal earlier in the week to sell unprotected content from recording company EMI Group PLC. The company previously claimed that DRM was necessary for current and emerging digital media business models.

Quotation of the Day

"Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset, and he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet, and also, you're drunk."

-- Jack Handey

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 16:04:00 +0000

NPR: New Power Radio!

In its desperation to attract younger listeners, National Public Radio has engaged in a "visioning process" centered around a programming initiative code-named Zack. The first Zack-inspired programming will make its debut this fall.

Over the weekend, a disgruntled NPR employee -- call him Deep Voice -- leaked a secretly made recording of a recent Zack brainstorming session to Media Guy. An excerpt:

Male Staffer No. 1: Wow, so words like "Iraq" and "President Bush" and "Alberto Gonzales" don't appear anywhere at all, do they?

Leader: Keep in mind that RedEye was surely heavily focus-grouped. I think we can learn from Tribune executives' findings that young people today are --

Female Staffer No. 2: Stupid?

Male Staffer No. 2: High?

[Note: This might be satire. -- Ed.]
[Note: The last note might be ironic. -- Ed.]

Papal Progress: He Finally Gets It!

Addressing a parish gathering in a northern suburb of Rome, the Pope said that in the modern world many people, including some believers, had forgotten that if they failed to "admit blame and promise to sin no more", they risked "eternal damnation - the inferno".

Hell "really exists and is eternal, even if nobody talks about it much any more".

Musings on Literary Laziness

"Is it always a good thing to read an entire book? When I was a graduate student, it dawned on me that I often had the most intelligent things to say about books I'd only half- or quarter-read. I was surprised by my observation — it didn't seem to make sense. But it just seemed to work out that professors preferred my insightful and trenchant comments on, say, the first part of Tristram Shandy than on the whole wandering thing.

In that way, a little knowledge can be a practical thing."

Quotation of the Day

As Albert was a late talker, his parents were worried. At last, at the supper table one night, he broke his silence to say, "The soup is too hot."

Greatly relieved, his parents asked why he had never said a word before. Einstein replied, "Because up to now everything was in order."

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:43:00 +0000

Google Stays Smart

Google said on Wednesday it would begin routinely purging its data banks of information that identifies search engine users in order to better shield their anonymity.

Google will delete information from "cookies," bits of software put on computers to track website visits, as well as erase portions of the IP addresses that identify which computer a person is using to get online.

How Does The World Feel Right Now?

Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world's newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases "I feel" and "I am feeling". When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to the period, and identifies the "feeling" expressed in that sentence (e.g. sad, happy, depressed, etc.). Because blogs are structured in largely standard ways, the age, gender, and geographical location of the author can often be extracted and saved along with the sentence, as can the local weather conditions at the time the sentence was written. All of this information is saved.

The result is a database of several million human feelings, increasing by 15,000 - 20,000 new feelings per day. Using a series of playful interfaces, the feelings can be searched and sorted across a number of demographic slices, offering responses to specific questions like: do Europeans feel sad more often than Americans? Do women feel fat more often than men? Does rainy weather affect how we feel? What are the most representative feelings of female New Yorkers in their 20s? What do people feel right now in Baghdad? What were people feeling on Valentine's Day? Which are the happiest cities in the world? The saddest? And so on.

[Caution: Potential Major Waste of Time -- Ed.]

How Does The World Feel Right Now About Darfur?

"If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” This statement uttered by Mother Teresa captures a powerful and deeply unsettling insight into human nature: Most people are caring and will exert great effort to rescue “the one” whose plight comes to their attention. But these same people often become numbly indifferent to the plight of “the one” who is “one of many” in a much greater problem. It’s happening right now in regards to Darfur, where over 200,000 innocent civilians have been killed in the past four years and at least another 2.5 million have been driven from their homes. Why aren’t these horrific statistics sparking us to action? Why do good people ignore mass murder and genocide?

A recent study conducted with Deborah Small of the University of Pennsylvania and George Loewenstein of Carnegie Mellon University found that donations to aid a starving 7-year-old child in Africa declined sharply when her image was accompanied by a statistical summary of the millions of needy children like her in other African countries. The numbers appeared to interfere with people’s feelings of compassion toward the young victim.

Quotation of the Day

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you were born in it."

-- George Bernard Shaw

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 13:50:00 +0000

Depends On What Your Definition of Hypocrite Is

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group.

Not So Fast, Mr. Smarty-Pants Population "Expert"

The human population has swelled so much that people alive today outnumber all those who have ever lived, says a factoid whose roots stretch back to the 1970s. Some versions of this widely circulating rumor claim that 75 percent of all people ever born are currently alive. Yet, despite a quadrupling of the population in the past century, the number of people alive today is still dwarfed by the number of people who have ever lived.

More Like 'Daylight Screw-Up-Everything Time'!

On 8 August 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning in 2007, DST begins on the second Sunday in March, this Sunday 11 March, and ends the first Sunday in November.

This change in DST requires that every computer, mobile device, many software applications, servers, or other piece of electronic gear that automatically updates its time based on the old settings apply an update.

[It's another Y2K-type thing. Might be nasty. - Ed.]

Quoation of the Day

"To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph."

-- Mark Twain [How he got his name]

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 18:42:00 +0000

Your Own Private iDaho

Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is planning to buy its own nation in an attempt to circumvent international copyright laws.

The group has set up a campaign to raise money to buy Sealand, a former British naval platform in the North Sea that has been designated a 'micronation', and claims to be outside the jurisdiction of the UK or any other country.
The Pirate Bay says it is the world's largest 'bit torrent tracker', and is a popular way of sharing music, films, software and other copyrighted material online. It has been under the scrutiny of authorities in Sweden and around the world for some time.

[The story behind the island is hilarious. -- Ed.]

Cruise Beckons Beckhams

Scientology's chief cheerleader Tom Cruise helped tempt David Beckham to L.A., fueling speculation the soccer ace and his wife may become the church's next celebrity converts. Beckham said yesterday a late-night phone chat with the "Mission: Impossible" star helped seal his decision to move stateside.

"I talked with [Cruise] for about an hour last night and an hour the night before," Beckham said. "I asked him for his advice. ... He's a very wise man and a very good friend of mine. To have his experience and have him explain some things to me, that's a big favor."

[Movie idea: "Soccer balls on the plane! Soccer balls on the plane!" -- Ed.]

The Rockridge Institute

The Rockridge Institute is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to strengthening our democracy by providing intellectual support to the progressive community. We partner with advocates, activists, and policy professionals to articulate the system of American values and ideas and reframe public debate.

Our goal is to empower people to effect positive change by reframing the public debate and facilitating consensus toward progressive policy goals. We do this by applying the discipline of cognitive linguistics to reveal the underlying frames and assumptions that structure American political discourse.

[Founded by George Lakoff, author of “Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate”. -- Ed.]

Quotation of the Day

“'They were intending to announce it in January after all the tour dates had been finalised. They are speaking to venues about booking dates in May and June. Everyone who knows about it is incredibly excited because they were a legendary band.”

-- Unnamed source, on the possible (read: probable) 30th anniversary reunion tour of The Police

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:47:00 +0000

Bobby Neel Adams: Artist

“Much of Adam’s photographic work addresses the transformation of the human body by aging and circumstance. In the late 1980s he began a photomontage technique he termed, ‘photo-surgery’, in which [photographs were altered through manual excision, collage, and sometimes defacing of the subject.”

Ask Metafilter

Participants needed: ask anything of everyone, someone answers.

My sister is in Italy - and is trying to use an italian (Wind) SIM card in her American cingular GSM phone. It's asking her for a PAC and PIN number - which she doesn't know. What does she do? [more inside]
posted by kickingtheground to technology at 9:08 AM PST - 0 answers

What are some religions or philosophies that teach that at death (or any other time) one's discrete soul is absorbed into a greater entity such as God and so the individual is no more?
posted by partner to religion & philosophy at 8:57 AM PST - 0 answers

Greek US Embassy Attacked

Local residents called in to state television saying they had felt the explosion. However, a US embassy spokesperson said that no injuries had resulted from the blast.

Quotation of the Day

“Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.”

-- Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 02:42:00 +0000

But I Thought They Were All Drinkers

One hundred percent of banknotes in the Republic of Ireland carry traces of cocaine, a new study has found.

The study also found that higher value banknotes, such as 20 and 50 euros, were more likely to contain greater traces of the drug.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 03:11:00 +0000

For What It's Worth

Marc Faber, who predicted the U.S. stock market crash in 1987, said global assets are poised for a "severe correction'' and it's time to sell.

"In the next few months, we could get a severe correction in all asset markets,'' Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York. "In a selling panic you should buy, but in the buying mania that we have now the wisest course of action is to liquidate.''

Faber, founder and managing director of Hong Kong-based Marc Faber Ltd., advised investors to buy gold in 2001, which has since more than doubled. His company manages about $300 million in assets.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 01:31:00 +0000

Learn More About Net Neutrality

"Network Neutrality" -- the First Amendment of the Internet -- ensures that the public can view the smallest blog just as easily as the largest corporate Web site by preventing Internet companies like AT&T from rigging the playing field for only the highest-paying sites.

But Internet providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to gut Net Neutrality. If Congress doesn't take action now to implement meaningful Net Neutrality provisions, the future of the Internet is at risk.

[You wouldn't want to have to actually PAY for Dave's Daily, would you? ; ) -- Ed.]

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:59:00 +0000

A Brilliant Move, Say Multilateralists

Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he'd take his oath of office on the Koran -- the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 08:36:00 +0000

Made It Funky

James Brown has died at the age of 73. He performed over 100 shows this year.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 18:20:00 +0000

Leaders of Israel and Palestine Suddenly Chatty

"Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are holding talks in Jerusalem. The meeting is taking place at Mr Olmert's residence in the city.

Both said recently that they want to re-start peace talks, but both sides have also played down the prospects for any rapid progress."

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 18:16:00 +0000

Carter on Carter on Palestine

"The ultimate purpose of my book is to present facts about the Middle East that are largely unknown in America, to precipitate discussion and to help restart peace talks (now absent for six years) that can lead to permanent peace for Israel and its neighbors. Another hope is that Jews and other Americans who share this same goal might be motivated to express their views, even publicly, and perhaps in concert."

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 02:13:00 +0000

David Byrne on Geoffrey Miller on Art and Evolution

Geoffrey Miller ("The Mating Mind") posits that the ability of our minds to charm, seduce, captivate and enrapture — via artistic work, conversation, language, dance, sport — gives proof to potential mates that not only are we physically appealing, which can be assessed relatively quickly, but that we might have deeper levels of genetic fitness beneath the visible surface. Art, amongst other pursuits, is, according to this idea, one of a number of gauges of deeper fitness, creativity and skill. The maker may have genetic fitness not immediately apparent, especially given the fact that the typical creative person’s uniform is not a power suit. If he or she can afford to expend mucho time and energy on aesthetic pursuits, for example, the person must be doing O.K. in order to be able to “waste” such time and effort. That is, they have time and energy left over from basic survival. (I simplify.)

[For some killer playlists, check out DB's "Radio". Current is Soul/Gospel. -- Ed.]

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 03:38:00 +0000

Why Santa Doesn't Do Voiceovers

[Sometimes it's really like this. -- Ed.]

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 20:57:00 +0000

Jane Finally Got Him Offa That Crazy Thing

Joseph Barbera, one half of the team behind such cartoon classics as The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo and Huckleberry Hound, has died, aged 95.

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 20:49:00 +0000

Cure For The Smirk?

Vice President Dick Cheney will be called as a defense witness in the CIA leak case.

Cheney, who would be the trial's most anticipated witness, has said he may be called to testify. If so, prosecutors could ask how the White House responded to Wilson's criticisms. Cheney was upset by Wilson's comments, Fitzgerald has said, and told Libby that Plame worked for the CIA.

That conversation is a key to Fitzgerald's perjury case. Libby testified that he learned about Plame's job from a reporter.

[Much hand-wringing! -- Ed.]

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 08:35:00 +0000

What The Kids Are Watching

Clearification, starring New York comedian Demetri Martin, is a clever 6 part online video series that is essentially an viral marketing campaign for Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista. The interactive website features wonderful artwork by Michael Gillette and the the videos are kind of like a Wes Anderson film, mixed with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Napoleon Dynamite.

This is by far the most humorous and well executed thing I have ever seen come out of Microsoft. [Second that. -- Ed.]

noreply@blogger.com (Dave) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:58:00 +0000

Canadian Mice Can Eat Candy Again!

In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a Toronto hospital say they have proof the body's nervous system helps trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the disease that affects millions of Canadians.

"I couldn't believe it," said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. "Mice with diabetes suddenly didn't have diabetes any more."