Fair enough, Kenshin. I missed that. Just wanted to defend him becuase he annoys me far less than David Brooks does with his lazy pop-sociology (exurban bobos, etc) and Mo Dowd with her lazy pop-psych (Bush's biggest problem is his Oedipus complex)... but Friedman seems to be afflicted with the same problem but in a different pseudo-academic field. Call it: pop-econ?
The use of the "golden arches" imagery is yours. Just thought that reducing what he said to a cartoonish image wasn't productive. And, I apologize for insinuating that that you had blind belief in anything, I was trying to contrast Friedman's views with those of other pundits that have been gracing the pages of the Times lately.
Is it a simple view that he espouses? Yes, of course it is, but it's a problem of the form more than a failing of the writer. These guys get paid to write columns of 500 words or so, not doctoral dissertations. In that form, Friedman tends to be more insightful and understanding than most, could be that's a pretty low bar to hurdle, however.
I don't have the answers either, but the only way out of fundamentalism or absolutism has been the decentralization of power and broader distribution of wealth (contrast India's development with Pakistan's since 1948) outside of the power elites. Easier said than done, I know, but worth a decent conversation, not a condescending counterpoint.
...as opposed to some blind belief in the power of democracy. A combined approach in reducing Western consumption of fossil fuels, in concert with attempting to foster economic stability (of the non-centralized variety) in the Middle East makes a helluva a lot more sense than anything I've heard from either the neocons or the Dems, who at this point seem to have the same vision for the region.
Huh? I didn't know we live in a world where the golden arches theory counts as insightful analysis of true understanding. Oh well.
Nice try. That's your imagery, not his. It's possible that his faith in the power of economics might be a little overplayed, but it's at least a valid perspective.
I agree with much that has been said. Tom Friedman is a free thinker that really understands the world we live in, and is capable of some pretty insightful analysis. Much better than the dunderheaded triumvirate of Maureen Dowd, David Brooks and Bill Safire (now retired from the Op-Ed pages, thank God). If you want an idiot neocon, look no farther than Brooks for tha Matter. Friedman is far from infallible, but at least he's intellectually honest. He and Bob Herbert represent the last bastions of objectivity on the Times's Op-Ed pages.
I dunno... To me Les Savy Fav is more closely linked (in sound) to the Gang of Four, but they also mix in some Mission of Burma and Fugazi type rhythms. I guess what I like about Franz Ferdinand is that they do show their influences from that era too, but they just don't sound like ONE of those bands, maybe they sound like several of them. The rest of those bands I listed above sound like tribute bands... not that I don't like them, it just comes across as a little cheap.
Franz Ferdinand, cool. You know, with all these young hipster bands if not exactly ripping off, but sounding like direct descendants of the great bands of the post-punk era (Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Siouxsie and the Banshees; Interpol: Joy Division; the Rapture: the Cure; BRMC: Jesus and Mary Chain; Arcade Fire: Echo and the Bunnymen), it's at least nice that there's one band that's doing something original. Or maybe the Ferdinands are ripping off an early 80s band I never heard of. /geezer rant
About the only way I know to prevent kids from having sex is to provide them with little opportunity to have it, or to shield them from the very idea of it.
But, how will you shield them from puberty and their own powerful drives? Clearly having kids surrounded by sexually charged images on the teevee, in the movies, magazines and billboards 24/7 isn't helping reinforce healthy attitudes about it, but curiosity about it and desire for it are very normal things.
This abstinence only thing is typical conservative bury-our-heads-in-the-sand-and-hope-the-problem-goes-away nonsense that (like "just say no") only succeeds in making the problem worse.
Have any primary school or college textbooks done much to convey the huge influence of money & corporate interests in politics?
Honestly, they should have, because despite our post-modern cynicism about our process, this was every bit the case in the last couple decades of the 19th century as it is today. Hopefully we won't need another Depression to correct it... but we probably will.
A government-subsidized (in part) network usually leaning to the left
Why is challenging mainstream views with evidence and anecdotals mean "leaving to the left"? Also, since when does not challenging pols on their statements, and uncritically retransmitting them mean being centrist or fair and balanced. To say that PBS leans to to the left is utter horseshit. This is the network that carried Buckley's "Firing Line" for years and years, if I'm not mistaken. If we are equivocating critical and "left leaning" there's really no hope, is there?
Not sure what's more lame, actually dialing the number in every area code OR leaving the angry/self-righteous outbound message at area code 678.
Considering that people have been dialing this number on a lark since 1982, I will go with the latter.
Kudos to the author in having the courage to go into the Washington Square Public Toilet, a place that, ordinarily, you would only consider if you have the worst dysentery imaginable.
For those of us old enough to remember the days before Starbucks, the Washington Square toilet, and the fifth circle of hell marked by the crappers at the NY Public Library, the Port Authority, Penn Station and Grand Central Station were all you had available to you if you found yourself in need of taking an emergency dump while walking around the city. Starbucks has been a godsend. Whatever you think of their coffee, Starbucks's proliferation throughout Manhattan had a happy consequence of placing readily available and relatively sanitary public toilets throughout the city.
I really wanted to like it, and it did start out stronly with the Arrianna bit, but ultimately it was pretty weak. Personally, I find Andy Dick to be about as funny as I do Andy Borowitz, which is to say, not at all.
Covering a guy in bacon I thought was pretty good, but really... do they have to draw dicks, and homophobic or misognynistic slogans on people? That's just stupid.
The worst thing I ever did like that was a long time ago when I was much younger and dumber than the paragon of virtue you see before you (if you could see me). It was the summer before college and a friend had one of those juvenile, weekend long parents aren't home parties. As it happens, a guy (we'll call him John... which is actually his name) was there that my friend Mike and I had some difficulties with over the preceding three years. He hung out with our group a bit, but he was a nasty guy that wouldn't hesitate to make fun a friend behind his back, or hit on your girlfriend... that kind of thing.
At any rate, John got really drunk that night and passed out on a couch upstairs. Mike and I noticed this, and huddled a bit to come up with something. The magic marker thing had been done, and that really wasn't my style.
At last, we thought of something. John was this really hairy bastard with wild thick hair on his legs (he was wearing shorts). So we found an electric shaver, and went to town in completely shaving one of his legs clean.
I'm not proud of it, but I still get a laugh when I think of the decision process he had underwent to shave (or not to shave) the other leg. He opted to shave it.
"Interesting" is in the ear of the listener, I think. I downloaded the album off of iTunes this morning and have been listening to it on and off all day. To my own ear, it's highly listenable and pleasing.
Fair enough, Kenshin. I missed that. Just wanted to defend him becuase he annoys me far less than David Brooks does with his lazy pop-sociology (exurban bobos, etc) and Mo Dowd with her lazy pop-psych (Bush's biggest problem is his Oedipus complex)... but Friedman seems to be afflicted with the same problem but in a different pseudo-academic field. Call it: pop-econ?
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
The use of the "golden arches" imagery is yours. Just thought that reducing what he said to a cartoonish image wasn't productive. And, I apologize for insinuating that that you had blind belief in anything, I was trying to contrast Friedman's views with those of other pundits that have been gracing the pages of the Times lately. Is it a simple view that he espouses? Yes, of course it is, but it's a problem of the form more than a failing of the writer. These guys get paid to write columns of 500 words or so, not doctoral dissertations. In that form, Friedman tends to be more insightful and understanding than most, could be that's a pretty low bar to hurdle, however. I don't have the answers either, but the only way out of fundamentalism or absolutism has been the decentralization of power and broader distribution of wealth (contrast India's development with Pakistan's since 1948) outside of the power elites. Easier said than done, I know, but worth a decent conversation, not a condescending counterpoint.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
...as opposed to some blind belief in the power of democracy. A combined approach in reducing Western consumption of fossil fuels, in concert with attempting to foster economic stability (of the non-centralized variety) in the Middle East makes a helluva a lot more sense than anything I've heard from either the neocons or the Dems, who at this point seem to have the same vision for the region.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
Huh? I didn't know we live in a world where the golden arches theory counts as insightful analysis of true understanding. Oh well. Nice try. That's your imagery, not his. It's possible that his faith in the power of economics might be a little overplayed, but it's at least a valid perspective.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
I agree with much that has been said. Tom Friedman is a free thinker that really understands the world we live in, and is capable of some pretty insightful analysis. Much better than the dunderheaded triumvirate of Maureen Dowd, David Brooks and Bill Safire (now retired from the Op-Ed pages, thank God). If you want an idiot neocon, look no farther than Brooks for tha Matter. Friedman is far from infallible, but at least he's intellectually honest. He and Bob Herbert represent the last bastions of objectivity on the Times's Op-Ed pages.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop music meta-poll,"
I dunno... To me Les Savy Fav is more closely linked (in sound) to the Gang of Four, but they also mix in some Mission of Burma and Fugazi type rhythms. I guess what I like about Franz Ferdinand is that they do show their influences from that era too, but they just don't sound like ONE of those bands, maybe they sound like several of them. The rest of those bands I listed above sound like tribute bands... not that I don't like them, it just comes across as a little cheap.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
Franz Ferdinand, cool. You know, with all these young hipster bands if not exactly ripping off, but sounding like direct descendants of the great bands of the post-punk era (Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Siouxsie and the Banshees; Interpol: Joy Division; the Rapture: the Cure; BRMC: Jesus and Mary Chain; Arcade Fire: Echo and the Bunnymen), it's at least nice that there's one band that's doing something original. Or maybe the Ferdinands are ripping off an early 80s band I never heard of. /geezer rant
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "What does abstinence mean?"
About the only way I know to prevent kids from having sex is to provide them with little opportunity to have it, or to shield them from the very idea of it. But, how will you shield them from puberty and their own powerful drives? Clearly having kids surrounded by sexually charged images on the teevee, in the movies, magazines and billboards 24/7 isn't helping reinforce healthy attitudes about it, but curiosity about it and desire for it are very normal things. This abstinence only thing is typical conservative bury-our-heads-in-the-sand-and-hope-the-problem-goes-away nonsense that (like "just say no") only succeeds in making the problem worse.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "How a bill becomes a law"
Have any primary school or college textbooks done much to convey the huge influence of money & corporate interests in politics? Honestly, they should have, because despite our post-modern cynicism about our process, this was every bit the case in the last couple decades of the 19th century as it is today. Hopefully we won't need another Depression to correct it... but we probably will.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "Night Ranger Photo Album"
That's a great point bernockle, with the exception Journey, though. Wasn't every song they ever recorded an awful power ballad?
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "Good Bye Johnny"
.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered"
A government-subsidized (in part) network usually leaning to the left Why is challenging mainstream views with evidence and anecdotals mean "leaving to the left"? Also, since when does not challenging pols on their statements, and uncritically retransmitting them mean being centrist or fair and balanced. To say that PBS leans to to the left is utter horseshit. This is the network that carried Buckley's "Firing Line" for years and years, if I'm not mistaken. If we are equivocating critical and "left leaning" there's really no hope, is there?
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "What Do Michael Chertoff and Alberto Gonzales Have In Common?"
They both went to Harvard. Those lousy ivy league elitist liberals.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "The results of dialing 867-5309 from every US area code."
Not sure what's more lame, actually dialing the number in every area code OR leaving the angry/self-righteous outbound message at area code 678. Considering that people have been dialing this number on a lark since 1982, I will go with the latter.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "Need to poo? "
Someone should make an applet for Palm OS to track crapper proximity and quality.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
Kudos to the author in having the courage to go into the Washington Square Public Toilet, a place that, ordinarily, you would only consider if you have the worst dysentery imaginable. For those of us old enough to remember the days before Starbucks, the Washington Square toilet, and the fifth circle of hell marked by the crappers at the NY Public Library, the Port Authority, Penn Station and Grand Central Station were all you had available to you if you found yourself in need of taking an emergency dump while walking around the city. Starbucks has been a godsend. Whatever you think of their coffee, Starbucks's proliferation throughout Manhattan had a happy consequence of placing readily available and relatively sanitary public toilets throughout the city.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "The worst, most disgusting action figures, ever"
Holy shit.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "The Speechalist"
I really wanted to like it, and it did start out stronly with the Arrianna bit, but ultimately it was pretty weak. Personally, I find Andy Dick to be about as funny as I do Andy Borowitz, which is to say, not at all.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "Shamings"
Covering a guy in bacon I thought was pretty good, but really... do they have to draw dicks, and homophobic or misognynistic slogans on people? That's just stupid. The worst thing I ever did like that was a long time ago when I was much younger and dumber than the paragon of virtue you see before you (if you could see me). It was the summer before college and a friend had one of those juvenile, weekend long parents aren't home parties. As it happens, a guy (we'll call him John... which is actually his name) was there that my friend Mike and I had some difficulties with over the preceding three years. He hung out with our group a bit, but he was a nasty guy that wouldn't hesitate to make fun a friend behind his back, or hit on your girlfriend... that kind of thing. At any rate, John got really drunk that night and passed out on a couch upstairs. Mike and I noticed this, and huddled a bit to come up with something. The magic marker thing had been done, and that really wasn't my style. At last, we thought of something. John was this really hairy bastard with wild thick hair on his legs (he was wearing shorts). So we found an electric shaver, and went to town in completely shaving one of his legs clean. I'm not proud of it, but I still get a laugh when I think of the decision process he had underwent to shave (or not to shave) the other leg. He opted to shave it.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
In "Eddie van Halen saw this and started spinning"
"Interesting" is in the ear of the listener, I think. I downloaded the album off of iTunes this morning and have been listening to it on and off all day. To my own ear, it's highly listenable and pleasing.
posted by Tommy Gnosis 19 years ago
(limited to the most recent 20 comments)