internets.rob
Picking those weedy flowers
you saw
on the side of the highway.
30 Jul 2010
29 Jul 2010
23 Jul 2010
“ Of course the anti-wiretapping statute that the Maryland state police cite is designed to protect private persons from having their phone conversations monitored without their consent (you know, the sort of thing that the folks at Fort Meade now do routinely). The idea that it would protect a public official in the course of the performance of his duties in a public place would probably come as a shock to the legislators who authored this measure. The way the prosecutors have construed the statute, shooting ordinary news footage is turned into a criminal act.
— Scott Horton, Tales from Stasiland: The policeman’s right not to be on YouTube.
It’s hard for a liberty-loving and law-abiding citizen to determine how to regard so-called law-enforcement officers in a place that allows this kind of thing (it’s happened in Portland, too). On the one hand, there is respect for the uniform and the office, and on the other, there is a fierce desire to be treated with that same respect with regard to one’s rights.
It’s hard for a liberty-loving and law-abiding citizen to determine how to regard so-called law-enforcement officers in a place that allows this kind of thing (it’s happened in Portland, too). On the one hand, there is respect for the uniform and the office, and on the other, there is a fierce desire to be treated with that same respect with regard to one’s rights.
22 Jul 2010
» Red Families, Blue Families, Gay Families, and the Search for a New Normal
An incisive article by Jonathan Rauch in which he distills ideas on the red and blue state norms of family, adulthood, sex, and child-rearing. This article is lengthy, but worth reading, for it goes far beyond the typical rehashing of the idiocies of “the other side” that passes for commentary on most blogs (mine included) and tries to address some of the cultural whys that lead to these ultimately political differences. [Via Sully.]
» bringtheruckuss: how to be a human
alaskamiller reblogged bringtheruckuss:
stop giving a fuck. if you find yourself feeling self-conscious or shy just evaluate all of the fucks that you are currently giving, consider the merit of each of these fucks, and if no use of these fucks can be found then maybe you should stop giving so many fucks to so many people.I know the mathematical formula to how much fuck a fucker should fucking give but I don’t give enough fuck to tell you fuckers about it. Fuck you.
21 Jul 2010
“ I lived awhile without you,
darn near half my life.
I no longer see our unborn children,
born to you my unwed wife.
But yesterday I had a vision,
beneath the tree where we once talked,
of an old couple burning
their love letters so their children
won’t be shocked.
darn near half my life.
I no longer see our unborn children,
born to you my unwed wife.
But yesterday I had a vision,
beneath the tree where we once talked,
of an old couple burning
their love letters so their children
won’t be shocked.
— Greg Brown, “Spring Wind,” off the Dream Cafe album
Some days it seems like memory is a kind of illness.
Some days it seems like memory is a kind of illness.
19 Jul 2010
» "The Guard's 176th Wing is leaving Kulis, its home off Raspberry Road for more than 55 years, and moving across town to new quarters on Elmendorf Air Force Base."
The times, they are a-changin’. Sad.
14 Jul 2010
I write like…
Exhibit A:
I write like
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
Exhibit B:
I write like
William Gibson
William Gibson
Exhibit C:
I write like
George Orwell
George Orwell
All via: I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!
Key: (in reverse order)
Exhibit C: an Orwellian blog post about Sam Harris’s book
Exhibit B: a Gibsonesque blog post about the stupid iPhone 4.0 theft story
Exhibit A: an email to my boss discussing tech support planning in depth. (Yes, I write about IT topics with a Shakespearean flair.)
I’m not sure this thing works as advertised.
12 Jul 2010
» Ta-Nehisi Coates on Sara Mayeux on Johannes Mehserle on Oscar Grant
Or rather:
- Johannes Mehserle on how he feels about shooting Oscar Grant
- Sara Mayeux on restorative justice vs. retributive justice in our broken legal system
- TNC on the problem (unfairness) of police power in our legal system
All of it worth reading and contemplating. I like posting about this topic with this link-within-a-link/quote-within-a-quote style because it exposes the oniony layers of this issue.
11 Jul 2010
“ When McCain told Newsweek earlier this year that he has never considered himself a “maverick,” it sounded like another confession under duress, with the Tea Party standing in for the Viet Cong.
— Jacob Weisberg, The saddest senator: Why John McCain has become so painful to watch.
True torture lovers, all.
True torture lovers, all.
