Saddam bin Laden

You almost have to admire the way the administration has managed to blur (erase?) the line between 9/11-Osama-Al Qaeda and Saddam-Iraq. Just by mentioning the two in the same sentence enough times, people are beginning to believe that it’s all the same thing.

-How many Iraqis were among the 9/11 hijackers? None.
-Are Osama and Saddam working together? No. They hate each other.
-Did Saddam have anything at all to do with 9/11? No.

But we are a suggestible people. It reminds me of a great book I read in a college psychology class, “Influence” by Robert Cialdini.

Cialdini did experiments where people asked others for favors, like permission to cut in line at the copy machine. He found that if people included the word “because” in their spiel, they were much more likely to get the other person to agree. This was true even if they didn’t really give a reason: “Could I cut in line? Because I need to make some copies.” People hear the word “because,” and their brains assume there’s a good reason for the request.

Same thing with Saddam and 9/11. Mention them together often enough, and presto! Influence. Cialdini would be proud.

Some great writing by Jimmy Carter and Gary Kamiya about “the mess we’re getting in,” as Darryl Worley put it.

Andy “Mark Twain of Our Generation” Rooney’s eyebrows are now growing so long, they droop down in front of his eyes like some sort of hairy clip-on sunglasses. Does anyone else want to reach through the TV and snip them off with pinking shears?

Memo to Andy: Yes, Andy, we’ve all noticed that they’re putting less stuff in boxes at the supermarket. We already knew that in 1988, when you did the first in your “coffee cans have less coffee” series. Your Pulitzer is in the mail.

Combination Orwellian/Freudian quote of the week

“But in the name of peace and the security of our people, if he won’t [disarm] voluntarily, we will disarm him, and other nations will join him — join us in disarming him.”

-President George W. Bush, at his second ever prime time press conference

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.