Logical fallacies to use and abuse.
June 1, 2006
May 30, 2006
Fecal Transplant
Clostridium Difficile is without a question a nasty little pathogen that you don’t want to meet. It’s the leading cause of diarrhea in hospital patients and is transmitted through nasty little spores that can only be eradicated using bleach. But that’s not the least of it, as the cure for chronic symptoms is stomach-churningly gross.
May 18, 2006
A Little Coup
Fascinating story of white supremiscists, a would-be dictator, a small island, and a failed coup attempt.
May 8, 2006
Grant McLennan, RIP
The world lost one of its greatest songwriters when Grant McLennan died yesterday. I’m sure this will raise the profile of the Go-Betweens somewhat. It’s a shame that sometimes that is what it takes. Nevertheless McLennan left behind a enviably broad and deep catalog of songs. If you’ve never heard them before, there are nine proper Go-Betweens albums. Quite a lot of music for anybody to discover.
May 3, 2006
May 2, 2006
Mission Accomplished
While looking at for the Stephen Colbert video, I happened upon this depressing update on “Mission Accomplished.” Did you know what V-I day (Victory in Iraq Day) was three years ago?
Was it funny?
Stephen Colbert didn’t exactly kill at last night’s White House Press Association Dinner. The response was lukewarm and it clearly put him off his game. Perhaps the situation is just to painful to laugh at. Daily Kos has a transcript of the event.Â
April 27, 2006
Lizzy Mercier Descloux
I’m absolutely in love with the music of Lizzy Mercier Descloux. Her records have been hard to find and have been long out of print – but that’s no longer an issue as ZE Records is planning on re-releasing her entire discography. The no-wave “Press Color” and worldbeat “Mambo Nassau” have already been available, but this month sees the release of “Zulu Rock” recorded in Johnanesburg in 1984 and “Best Off” a collection of tracks from her six albums. Her music is unique, idiosyncratic, and quite a bit of fun.
April 25, 2006
Jane Jacobs
Jane Jacobs died today and I’m sorry to see her go. I probably can say anything about here book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” that hasn’t already been said, but I will try. For me, the book is about two things; how the ‘experts’ can get everything wrong and how a astute observer can still contribute new and fundamental insights to a field of human knowledge regardless of their expertise. Jacobs wrote about whatever she pleased and was the ultimate gadfly – an amateur and a woman challenging experts in male dominated fields. She will always be one of my heroes.
Boing Boing Sucks
Have you had just about enough of BoingBoing‘s ‘whimsy’ and the navel-gazing of the site’s authors. Finally come to the realization that the site is nothing but a platform for the self-promotion of its vapid authors? The backlash was boung to come sooner or later and come it has. Boing Boing has spawned two hate sites. The first is CorySucks.com, which uses an algorithm to calculate just how much Boing Boing author Cory Doctorow’s posts to the site suck. Then there’s XeniSucks.com, a much more personal site dedicated to attacking Internet flibbertigibbet and self-described ‘tech journalist’ Xeni Jardin.