Month: March 2003 (Page 7 of 8)

Klaatu barada nikto

Harley: Our problems are very complex, Mr. Klaatu. You mustn’t judge us too harshly.

Klaatu: I can judge only by what I see.

Harley: Your impatience is quite understandable.

Klaatu (sharply): I am impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.

Harley (ruefully): I’m afraid my people haven?t. (with real sincerity) I’m very sorry — I wish it were otherwise.
——–

Watched “The Day The Earth Stood Still” for the first time the other night. Not a great film, but I love how it ends right when most alien invasion movies are getting started – with the alien declaring his motives for the visit. It’s so different from Hollywood dreck like “Independence Day,” where 1) aliens blow up stuff, 2) we attack them, 3) repeat. Plus it has some simplistic but easy-to-forget lessons about how there are more important things in this world than the petty squabbles we concern ourselves with. Surprisingly relevant 50 years on.

Over at CompUSA yesterday, I found myself gravitating, as I often do, to the Mac section of the store. Then I was in front of a 17-inch widescreen iMac. I find that when I get in front of a Mac, my whole body just seems to relax. It just feels right. I started thinking, exactly how much would it cost to switch back? Not that I have the money. But I was considering it.

Here he goes again

Dave Winer had another profoundly misguided thing to say about the impending war on Iraq. As usual, it’s something that seems reasonable on the surface, but betrays a deep misunderstanding of what it means to be an American.

“Our European allies say we don’t need to go to war. But what do they say to the families whose kids are going there to die? They say that they love the American people but hate our government. They don’t understand the US. Read the Constitution. Check out the first three words. It’s our government. You can’t like us and not like our government, and vice versa.”

Sorry, Dave, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Like many people I know, I love this country, but I hate what our government has done and is trying to do to it. The same goes for those pesky European allies. What the Constitution really says is that we have the power to change the government when it gets out of hand, when it goes against the things we believe in. We just haven’t gotten around to that yet.

Oh, and by the way, Dave, France, Germany and Russia didn’t send those “kids there to die.” Your President did.

The Wisdom of Marc Andreessen

The Netscape co-founder had some sage words to share during an interview with the Mercury News.

Q: Do you blog?
A: No. I have a day job. I don’t have the time or ego need.

Asked about his weight loss, he said, “I come from Wisconsin, where everyone is overweight.”

What. a. tool.

My favorite names of all time

MALE: Seamus Blackley

FEMALE: Babe Didrickson Zaharias

Designing a web site is like sculpture. Make a tiny change, upload, preview. Make another tiny change, hopefully in the right direction. Upload. Preview. Repeat until eyes melt.

Many thanks to John for his help with some thorny style-sheet-related issues with FightingBob.com. Some good stuff over at that site – please take a look if you have any interest in progressive politics. I’m especially happy that I convinced them to include a weblog as part of the site.

Some gorgeous images over at Emese Gaal’s Photote. Go there now.

Google blindness

There used to be a lot of search engines on the web. Now, it’s pretty much all Google. It’s even a verb – “Google for information on Adam Blust.” Well, after my pro-war nemesis Dave Winer linked to AllTheWeb‘s new redesign, I thought I would take it for a spin with my favorite search term, “words mean things.”

I was glad to see my own site comes up first here too. But there was also a lot of other interesting stuff I hadn’t seen before in my Google fog: a eulogy, a Trent Lott apologist, real estate tips, even a sermon.

Are there any other search engines you use frequently? What’a they got that Google ain’t got?

A few nights ago I dreamed that I once auditioned for the original cast of “Friends.” Then I was at a party with the cast, and they all got out their audition tapes to look at them. Then they brought out mine, and they all made fun of it.