"'We respond to a drama to that extent to which it corresponds to our dreamlife.' David Mamet"

"'O that the spirit could remain tinged but untarnished by its strain!'
Robert Lowell"

I realized last night that I have less than 1/2 year left of my 30s.

sigh.

I'm happy enough but is turning 40 really necessary?

sigh.

Job is turning into a chore. Its funny how you aim for a target, and the powers that you cannot control redirect your trajectory.

sigh.

Where can we hide?!

This is simply awesome. Where to go? Well, the Western US is lookin' pretty safe.

Beyond 'Nation-Building' (washingtonpost.com)

This is old, but it reminds us of the vision of Iraq that this administration had:

The work in Iraq is difficult, costly and dangerous. But it is worth the risks and the costs, because if the coalition succeeds, Iraqis will take hold of their country, develop the institutions of self-government and reclaim their nation's place as a responsible member of the international community. If we succeed, we will deal terrorism a powerful blow, because a democratic Iraq in the heart of the Middle East would be a defeat for the ideology of terror that is seeking to take control of that area of the world.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A61380-2003Sep24¬Found=true

"A leader is someone who steps back from the entire system and tries to build a more collaborative, more innovative system that will work over the long term.

Robert Reich"

"'Learning organizations may be a tool not just for the evolution of organizations, but for the evolution of intelligence.'
Peter M. Senge"

"The mind thinks, not with data, but with ideas whose creation and elaboration cannot be reduced to a set of predictable values.'
Theodore Roszak"

The trouble with being poor is that it takes up all of your time.
- Willem de Kooning

Discover Music - Pandora

No way. This is crazy Cool.

"Each friend told us their favorite artists and songs, explored the music we suggested, gave us feedback, and we in turn made new suggestions. Everybody started joking that we were now their personal DJs.

We created Pandora so that we can have that same kind of conversation with you"

http://pandora.com/

"'Live on the abnormal and unheard of...sing the anguish of ultimate grief and discover the calvaries of the earth, arrive at the tragic by way of what is mysterious.'
Santiago Rusi"

News You Can Lose - What I hate about cable TV journalism. By Jack Shafer

Jack Shafer runs a great article on Salon about how much 24x7 news media sux.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2125683/?GT1=6900


… hate it when the news networks pair music with montages of newsworthy footage. The broadcasters usually avail themselves of this gimmick when they're wrapping up a day or half-day's worth of coverage. If I want emotional cues that music provides, I'll hire a therapist to coach me on when to sniffle and cry.

… hate the use of undated footage, especially when it's two or three days old, that runs as "video wallpaper" as the anchors talk about looting, the breached levee, death, destruction, or what have you. It's TV news if it's live or happened recently or is placed in context. But if I have to look at that shirtless guy with the extravagant butt-crack trying to shatter the store door one more time, I'm going to fly down to New Orleans and arrest him myself. Likewise the footage of the rescue helicopter blowing roof shingles into the air.


… hate the conspicuous lack of maps illustrating where the camera and reporters are in New Orleans, Biloxi, Baton Rouge, Mobile, or elsewhere. Not being New Orleans-savvy, I've had to rely on newspaper maps to orient myself as the action moves from the Superdome to the Convention Center to the French Quarter. Not even Slate's New Orleans-born and -bred Josh Levin could figure out which neighborhoods the heli-cams were observing.

TCS: Tech Central Station - Three Cheers for "Price Gougers"

Fabulous article on basic economics of a disaster and why capitalism, pure, raw capitalism, works best in this situation:

Let's recap, briefly, for those who never took the class, or have forgotten it. It's really simple. In any locality, when the supply of a particular item is reduced with no change in demand, or the demand for it increased with no change in supply, or supply is decreased with a demand increase, prices will go up.



This is a signal to the market. To those demanding the product, it is a signal that the supply is relatively short, and that they should perhaps rethink the level of their demand, if possible. To the suppliers, it is a signal that more of the resources must be brought to market. In both cases, it will result in a change in behavior on both parties that will restore the balance between supply and demand. Moreover, it does so in a useful, quantitative way. It tells the supplier how much expense, risk and effort she should expend to increase the supply. This calculation may even bring new suppliers into the market. It also indicates the degree to which it is sensible for the consumer to change their demand. When by fiat we pretend that the price has not gone up, it's like covering up the signposts, and we shouldn't be surprised when those supplying no longer attempt to increase the supply, and those demanding can't be bothered to reduce their usage of that particular commodity.




TCS: Tech Central Station - Three Cheers for "Price Gougers"

Homeschooling News

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/9/22005g.asp

"If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable. Seneca , (the Younger)"

"Humanity has won its battle. Liberty now has a country." – Marquis de Lafayette

Asynchronous JavaScript Technology and XML (AJAX) With Java 2

Top notch article on AJAX!

http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2EE/AJAX/index.html

"The art of leading, in operations large or small, is the art of dealing with humanity, of working diligently on behalf of men, of being sympathetic with them, but equally, of insisting that they make a square facing toward their own problems. S. L. A. Marshall , Men Against Fire (1947)"

"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor." -- Vincent T. Lombardi

The Interdictor

This blog is incredible. I've not gotten into reading other's tragedy-blogs. Iraq is too political, the Tsunami too far away...but this New Orleans thing is here. And this guy is living in the middle of the crapstorm.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/