Indeed, Mr. Barnett.
December 3, 2004
Fly-over Country
How could I, a Native Texan, have missed this blog entry? Fortunately, Sarah saw it and now you can, too.
Vinod lives in Frisco–California, not Texas. But he obviously spent some of his youth, at least during high school, in Houston. He has an interesting take on my (our) home state:
I’ve always noted that Texans have a curious mix of intellectualism, anti-intellectualism, classical, and romantic. It’s a state where for every Truck driver who barely speaks English, there’s one who can engage in serious discussion of how rent control has destroyed Yankee cities and why it will never happen in Texas (an actual conversation I’ve had…).
The near absolute faith in individual freedom and personal responsibility produce a healthy skepticism for many intellectual fashions du jour (often portrayed as originating from the badlands of the Northeast or California; or even worse, their intellectual parents in Europe). One would have to imagine that the lifespan of a of an overly loud Chomsky-ite at the Texas A&M campus would be nasty, brutish, and short.
My brilliant son-in-law, Bogey, is an intellectual hairy New-Yorker (at least that’s how I always introduce him). But he is quick to say he got to Texas as fast as he could. I think much of that is with tongue firmly in cheek. They live in Austin and seem to be very happy about their location. He’s also a phenomenal guitarist, and far better on mandolin than I ever could be on guitar after some forty years of trying. He epitomizes exactly what Vinod is talking about. Bogey can play head-banger, Dylan, or bluegrass–your choice. He’s also a techno-geek. And he’s not out of place anywhere in Austin. In fact, the people of Texas are all pretty diverse, and he fits right in.
My favorite Texas-ism — every can of Lone Star beer is brandished with the motto “the National beer of Texas.” I also recall reading that Texas is the most popular place cited in Music (due in no small part to the sheer volume of country music out there).
I prefer Shiner Bock, myself. I’m not much of one for clear beer.
For those of you who think you understand those of us in the Red States, take a look at what Vinod had to say about Texans. I’m sure the folks in the rest of fly-over country feel their homes are similar, and people there have the same kind of diversity and values.
Almost.
Jason Kottke
Jason is dealing with some legal issues from Sony after they objected to his posting of an audio clip from Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings’ loss.
In the current legal climate, it may be that the whole “are blogs journalism?” debate is moot until bloggers have access to a level of legal resources similar to what large companies have.
Does anyone think the ACLU will help a blogger take on a big corporation? That was their original charter.
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December 2, 2004
Credibility
In an article for the San Francisco Chronicle, the reporter claims that Yankees slugger Jason Giambi testified before a federal grand jury that he used steroids and a human growth hormone. Okay, let’s think about this for just a minute.
Grand Jury testimony is secret, and not to be released to the public. The reporter admitted as much when interviewed by NPR this morning. He was asked how he knew this, and he declined to reveal his source, but assured the interviewer that the information was fact.
Now, let’s revisit Bill O’Reilly’s claim the other day. Bill says that MSM is more responsible than the folks out here on the internet, where anyone can throw out some kind or accusation and destroy someone’s life without any proof of the accusation. Bill, Bill, Bill… You defended Dan Rather in this way. What do you have to say about this reporter? Is he telling the truth? How do you know? Or is he simply credible because he works for an Official News Agency™? He made a claim, said he had proof, but won’t show it to us. How do we know he’s telling the truth?
December 1, 2004
Rathergate Report
DRUDGE just put up a flash:
FLASH: CBSNEWS HOPES TO MAKE PUBLIC ITS REPORT ON FAKE BUSH DOCS NEXT WEEK, SOURCES TELL DRUDGE. ‘WE HAVE A TENTATIVE RELEASE DATE OF DECEMBER 10,’ TOP SOURCE EXPLAINS…
10 December is a Friday.
Is anyone surprised?
Window to the world
Harry has a most profound assessment of the blogosphere:
One undoubtedly positive result of the explosion in online political debate through weblogs is the ability to create networks, make contacts and share ideas across borders with a previously inconceivable ease.
Perhaps this is the most important outgrowth of blogging.
Bloggers don’t make the news. There is little first-person reporting (except from places like Iraq), but the group taken as a whole offer much to public discourse.
We cover the range from far left to far right, and all opinions are available through links on the various sites. Prior to the Swift Boat Vets coming into the campaign, I had several far left blogs linked. I read them because they had something to offer. They went off the deep end then, and I dropped them. They’ll make their way back as things settle out. They will return to offering something other than bile 24/7. I have confidence in their intellect.
I learned a long time ago that none of us has all the answers. But together, we pretty much have all angles of any issue covered. As long as we can grasp that, the blogosphere will grow stronger, and in the right direction.
Project: The Game
This is a classic.
A group of Yale students donned red “Harvard Pep Squad” T-shirts and passed out colored cards to Harvard fans at the annual game. Everyone was told to raise their cards on-signal and the words “GO HARVARD” would be spelled out in Crimson and Silver.
At the signal, the fans raised their boards for this photograph:
As Jim says, “Start with intelligence. Add grain alcohol. Season liberally with “Inferiority Complex”. That is the recipe for truly fantastic college prank.”
At Camp USAFA, freshmen were often encouraged to go on “Spirit Missions” which sometimes taxed their creative juices. A couple of memorable ones:
The Academy has several X-planes on display, experimental aircraft flown in the ’50s and ’60s. One morning, everyone was greeted by the sight of one of these near the top of the Academy Chapel. After several days of discussion, the Superintendent offered amnesty to those who had accomplished the feat if only they would explain how they did it so the aircraft could be safely removed.
Another common “fun” thing was to empty some officer’s furniture onto the hill in the middle of the campus. Cadets, in the middle of the night, would take everything from his office and set it up precisely.
The Class of ’94 set a standard which will be hard to beat. At the end of the freshman year, a new class is “recognized”, which means they are no longer non-entities to upperclassmen. This involves about a week of rigorous activity, and begins on a day they are not supposed to know about. I was in the squadron area at 0300 with the upper class cadets as they prepared to roust the youngsters and get them going for the first day. As they went around banging on doors, it soon became apparent that all the freshmen were gone. The older cadets were livid, and got even madder when I simply grinned and enjoyed the prank. The ENTIRE freshman class had put together an operation in secret, pulling it off without anybody else knowing about it. To do that they had to first find out which would be the first day of “Recognition,” then build the plan keeping everyone–cadets and officers–in the dark about it. They all departed the dorms earlier and climbed to the top of the mountain overlooking the Academy where they were later found. When was the last time you heard of 1200 people keeping a total secret?
One of my friends there, a West Point grad, told me about another prank his class pulled on a Navy officer who taught there. The squid had a Triumph TR-7 which was his pride and joy. On the morning before the Army-Navy game, he saw a group charging $2 for each swing at a car with a sledge hammer. When he walked over, he found it was his car! When he went ballistic (and who wouldn’t) one of the cadets reached into his pocket to pull something out. “This isn’t your car. Yours is over there,” and handed him the keys to a brand new TR-7. They had taken up a collection beforehand to buy the new car just so they could pull this prank.