Beware of geeks bearing coded references Met a new guy tonight, wife's friend's husband. Fortyish, geekyish. Sent out a geek dogwhistle, making a veiled (ha) reference to the Federation's abjuring cloaking devices at the Khitomer Accords. He didn't get it. But he works for a video game company and just come back from a RPG conference. So definitely same level, different vectors. Then we shared a deep cut Cryptonomicon reference ("Gomer Bolstrood furniture") and all was right with the world.

If you enjoyed this post, go read Ready Player One.

PS - just googled it and my dog whistle was out of tune. It was apparently the Treaty of Algeron that prohibits the Federation from developing cloaking technology, not the Khitomer Accords. So I am hereby exposed as a geek poseur. The shame, the shame.  ¶ 9:23 PM 1 comments

  Ken Auletta Doesn't Get It Ken Auletta's take on Google (as heard on Fresh Air) is totally lame. What he's missing is the fact that the dominance of print media was an accidental artifact of the limits of information technology at the time. There was nothing good about newspapers intrinsically except that they were the only way to get timely, text-based information. Now they are not. Get freakin' over it.  ¶ 9:52 AM 0 comments

  So sad that Molly Ivins is dead... ...because I would have loved to read the 800 word response to Bush's quote from a recent "exit interview" in the Houston Chronicle:

"I did not really anticipate the harshness of the rhetoric here," he said. "It was so different than Texas. In Texas, we treat each other with respect."

For a man who was governor of Texas, I guess he never spent much time in the Lege...

  ¶ 12:00 PM 0 comments

  Be very afraid NYT Magazine: "Before hanging up I asked Obama about his favorite movie, “The Godfather” — specifically, which character Gibbs most reminded him of. Obama mentioned the Robert Duvall consigliere, Tom Hagen. “And I’ve seen a little bit of Sonny in him once in a while,” he added. "

The punchline here is that Obama's favorite movie is "The Godfather." Obama is Michael Corleone. The quiet and deadly Ivy-leaguer.

Holy crap.  ¶ 4:39 PM 1 comments

  Why would Obama Lieb him alone? Yes, Joe Lieberman is a duplicitous whiney little punk.

But guess what?

There are only 40 Republican Senators as of today.

If Chamblis and Coleman lose in GA and MN, there will be 58 democrats, 40 republicans, and Joe and Bernie Sanders.

Quick quiz - what would Obama rather have?

a) Joe Lieberman punished

or

b) A filibuster proof majority

In case anyone was wondering whether Obama was a political party animal or a focused pragmatist, there's your answer.

Now, if the democrats get 60 seats without Joe in 2010, he might be in trouble....  ¶ 9:59 PM 1 comments

  HRC for SecState? I've seen some surprise that Hillary is reportedly considering taking Sec of State in the Obama admin. Not sure why this should be surprising. I don't believe she wants to be a senator forever. She's obviously more interested in the exec branch, and she doesn't seem to have the drive for electoral politics. If she can be Sec of State for 4-8 years, she'll be almost 70 by the end of it, at which point she can semi-retire and become a permanent part of the Washington establishment. What's the surprise here?  ¶ 8:50 AM 0 comments

  City on a Hill From far away, this is how it looks: There is a country out there where tens of millions of white Christians, voting freely, select as their leader a black man of modest origin, the son of a Muslim. There is a place on Earth — call it America — where such a thing happens.

(NYT today)

America is peopled by the descendants of unreasonable hopers. Of people who left blood and soil for hope, and of people brought here in chains who were somehow able to find hope here.

Hope.  ¶ 12:45 AM 0 comments