Archive for August, 2009

Out of the mouth of babes…

Posted: August 28, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech
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…well out of the mouth of a new graduate.

Because I have the greatest filial love for my alma mater, I write today as a sorrowful son and disappointed disciple. The Yale that cultivated my faith in the power of knowledge to move the world forward has resorted to censorship. I grieve.

As the News reports today, Yale decided this summer to omit cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad from a book about the fit of violence that swept the Muslim world in their wake four years ago. I can’t help but feel the dismay and embarrassment of a pupil watching his teacher sabotage the foundation of her credibility by betraying the spirit of her most important lesson.

That lesson, which singularly informs the work of a great university, is this: that free dialogue and the unfettered exchange of ideas fuels human progress. A great university is a place where these activities are protected and encouraged. But Yale forfeited this most basic role, pleading that it did not want to be responsible for tension that counterterrorism authorities speculate could still provoke protests and bloodshed.

(with apologies to Glenn Reynolds) You know they said that if I voted for George Bush Sarah Palin we would see censorship of art by religious zealots in this country. And they were right!

Allow me to demonstrate how it’s done.

My favorite of the cartoons

My favorite of the cartoons

No Saudi money for me! And I could really use it.

Hey I hear the president’s supporters are hiring!

A real profile in courage

Posted: August 28, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech
Tags: , , , , ,

An Art Gallery in Denmark shows Yale how it’s done:

A Danish gallery has decided to exhibit a caricature of Muhammad that unleashed a wave of protests in the Muslim world against Denmark in 2006. Citing an article in magazine Sappho, Agence France-Presse reports that the controversial caricature will be part of a larger exhibition dedicated to the watercolor works of the artist-caricaturist Kurt Westergaard at the Galleri Draupner in Skanderborg.

This is called actually speaking truth to power, as opposed to taking instruction from power as the NEA seems to be promulgating:

The NEA is the nation’s largest annual funder of the arts. That is right, the largest funder of the arts in the nation – a fact that I’m sure was not lost on those that were on the call, including myself. One of the NEA’s major functions is providing grants to artists and arts organizations. The NEA has also historically shown the ability to attract “matching funds” for the art projects and foundations that they select. So we have the nation’s largest arts funder, which is a federal agency staffed by the administration, with those that they potentially fund together on a conference call discussing taking action on issues under vigorous national debate. Does there appear to be any potential for conflict here?

Discussed throughout the conference call was a hope that this group would be one that would carry on past the United We Serve campaign to support the President’s initiatives and those issues for which the group was passionate. The making of a machine appeared to be in its infancy, initiated by the NEA, to corral artists to address specific issues. This function was not the original intention for creating the National Endowment for the Arts.

A machine that the NEA helped to create could potentially be wielded by the state to push policy. Through providing guidelines to the art community on what topics to discuss and providing them a step-by-step instruction to apply their art form to these issues, the “nation’s largest annual funder of the arts” is attempting to direct imagery, songs, films, and literature that could create the illusion of a national consensus. This is what Noam Chomsky calls “manufacturing consent.”

I guess this is the soviet Chicago way of making art.

I’ll wager that there will be no Saudi money going to the Galleri-draupner anytime soon.

Via Glenn.

You know as long as they aren’t talking about Sarah Palin…

Posted: August 28, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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…Morning Joe is you know just a fun show.

They tend not to take themselves too seriously and the humor isn’t forced. It almost seems like a Jay & Silent Bob movie without the F this or F that, ok, it has that too but only once. (The real profanity of the clip is Barnicle suggesting that the President is really “moderate and pragmatic” ah those halacon days of yesteryear when (some) people still thought president Obama was moderate.

If I could only skip every MSNBC promo it would really be good, but once they mention Sarah Palin they almost instantly revert to Full MSM mode.

Living and Dying on the Amazon Vine

Posted: August 27, 2009 by datechguy in amazon reviews, oddities, personal
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The new general Amazon Vine newsletter went up today. Shopping on it is very much like being at a mall at midnight on the Friday following Thanksgiving trying to get one of the 10 $100 laptops offered.

Basically the program works like this, based on the interests you give when you sign up, you are given a personalized list of about 10 items that you can select. About a week later everything goes on a general list and then you get a crack at it.

Last month my vine e-mail was classified as “junk mail” so I was the last of everyone to see things so I was determined this month to be ready. I checked the date on the e-mail that was junked and determined when to expect the new e-mail. I’d be ready this time…

Of course to my surprise the e-mail showed up a few days earlier than the previous month. When I saw it it had been in my inbox for 30 minutes which was long enough for both the software and the earphones (which I really could use) to be gone. Nothing else rang my chimes so I noted that the new e-mail was due today and was determined to be ready when the time came.

So This morning when I finished my errands I logged into the Amazon Vine site and kept refreshing the window every now and then.

By 2 p.m. I was refreshing every few minutes but as the 3 o’clock came I found myself distracted by the news of the day. When I finally turned my eye back to Amazon…the Newsletter was up and the race was on!

The newsletter couldn’t have been up 10 minutes but by the time I got there every electronic device and accessory was gone.

Then it came time to look at the books, My primary interest is history and I found something that looked pretty good but there was only two copies left, I clicked as fast as I could to request it but by the time I got to the confirmation page they were gone.

Deciding I wasn’t taking any chances rather than try to look through everything the moment I saw something of interest I started to click through. It was high on my priority but I was taking no chances. I clicked through and got it!

Now feeling like I wasn’t totally shut out I continued through the list and found a book on a historical event I never heard of. I read the description and it was interesting but since it didn’t have the “only x left” warning I left it open in a new tab and kept checking. I saw one or two items of interest but decided that the first one was the one I wanted. BIG mistake. By the time I went back to the tab and started the request they were down to two. By the time I finished I was too late.

Feeling resigned I checked out the list and found 4 items that seemed pretty good, three histories and one technical book. The technical book was interesting but was something I knew pretty well. One history seemed interesting but as it was written by a reporter from the New York Times guilt by association moved it back in the line.

I was down to two volumes, one on a legendary sports figure of some note and another on ethnic families and their struggles. It was a tough call but I decided to go for the book on the sports figure.

All of this took place within 30 minutes of the items showing up on the vine list. One hour later the offical e-mail listing the vine items showed up in my inbox.

But that’s ok I have to interesting items on the way and I didn’t have to worry about being trampled. Life is still good. Once I’m done the books you’ll see links to the reviews here.

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