tj hooker

You wonder if something that made people happy is a good enough reason to develop. You see inefficient drudgery and you want to relieve it. It's a good impulse, but sometimes it's the wrong way to look at a problem.

Funny piece by Jess Row about the Marcus vs. Franzen thing in Harpers . I recall reading Franzen's thing years ago (and Tom Wolfe's thing before that), calling for fiction that actually spoke to readers and not academe. I'm in that camp, I think the most experimental writer I actually like is Burroughs, and he's really not that "experimental." Naked Lunch is, under the insanity, a novel. When I was working on my novel (so funny to write that) formalistic issues like "what is a novel?" seemed already played-out, self-obsessed; readers aren't dumb and sort of see through that. As Row's piece points out, the experimental vs. realist thing is really corny and false, because these "experimental" writers are not living in garrets -- or out of their cars with Jack Casady -- they're heading workshops and MFA programs. And how do you account for truly great, ambitious writers who don't buy into any of that, like Don DeLillo?

Dick Morris is really rolling the dice on this weird book . What if Condi was telling the truth and doesn't to run? I don't really get who the market would be... do conservatives read Dick Morris? I mean, why would they? Maybe anything works when you use a cover image of Hillary looking pissed. I was thinking about the Karl Rove thing, and now I actually hope that he doesn't get indicted. Judith Miller's recent piece indicates that (a) since Libby mentioned Plame some 3 weeks before Plame's husband's NYT piece, they probably weren't trying to "get" Plame's husband but were just talking gossiping about how incestuous the CIA yellowcake thing was; (b) Fitzgerald doesn't have anything real, and is fishing for stuff so he'll look like the investigation was "probing"; and (c) the whole idea of reporters being jailed for using anonymous sources is wrong and bad, and anything having to do with it is bad, too (even if it costs Rove hi...

Celebration turned chaotic for friends After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans early Aug. 29, Patti Melton and sisters Mary and Kate Millosovich — three lifelong friends from Alameda — opened up two champagne bottles to celebrate Kate's upcoming wedding... Read it!

The Jacob Weisberg piece on race and Katrina is definitely a must-read. He lays out the grim Rove-ism of Bush's ignoring blacks mainly because blacks don't help the GOP win votes. He doesn't care because his political self-interest requires him not to: Compare what happened when hurricanes Charley and Frances hit Florida in 2004. Though the damage from those storms was negligible in relation to Katrina's, the reaction from the White House was instinctive, rapid, and generous to the point of profligacy. Bush visited hurricane victims four times in six weeks and delivered relief checks personally. Michael Brown of FEMA, now widely regarded as an incompetent political hack, was so responsive that local officials praised the agency's performance. It reminds me of that great Bill Clinton quote (thanks to the Has-Been for this, which comes from an old CNN piece ): This compassionate conservatism has a great ring to it, you know. It sounds sooo good. And near as I can te...

My counterpart at work just gave notice. Better job, closer to her experience, better money, closer to home. Good for her. But her leaving reminded me that the main thing keeping me here is salary. I'm uneasy when I think about this. I got here during the boom, and my salary reflects that. A fluke. But the fact that I X locks me in to staying, to get X. I can sense that in some ways my moment here has passed, but I'll stay as long as they'll pay X. Which makes me something of a whore.

The Guardian UK points to a question that sort of plagues me: why do people feel guilty about not reading? It sort of goes back to the whole "dead white men" culture war that was so hot during the 80s. Back then, conservatives treated books like flossing or vitamin E, something that must be "good for you" because it's not really pleasant in itself. The Guardian thing is more about middlebrow guilt (snobbery?) about "not reading." I have that towards myself, about not reading enough, or not reading good enough/smart enough books. Maybe it goes back to status? I remember reading something that Christopher Hitchens said about how, going from the front of a plane to the back, the reading habits change. In first class, no one reads; in business, people read beach books; in coach people read The Mill on the Floss. The people in coach are striving for status; the people in first class, hey, they've already got it, baby.

There's something to all this mediation that makes me completely lost and depressed. It's really a hopeless place, and I recall it pretty well. Then something happens that wakes you up. You're part of a network, no matter how hard you tried to get off that grid. You can't make the choice to go away, hide behind a text editor. It might take a pedestrian's four-letter words to get you to that reality. But there you go.

As I walk through This wicked world Searchin’ for light in the darkness of insanity. I ask myself Is all hope lost? Is there only pain and hatred and misery? And each time I feel like this inside, There’s one thing I wanna know: What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? ohhhh What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding?

Tired of the negativity, but always interested in the outcome of the insane act.

The new microprocessor also is expected to be able to run multiple operating systems and programs at the same time while ensuring each has enough resources. In the home, that could allow for a device that's capable of handling a video game, television and general-purpose computer at once. "It's very flexible," said Jim Kahle, an IBM fellow. "We support many operating systems with our virtualization technology so we can run multiple operating systems at the same time, doing different jobs on the system." -- Yahoo! News - Microprocessor Challenge to Intel Launched

It occurred to me that one day Chris will stop blogging his mixes. A dark day that will be.

I have mixed feelings about Snow Patrol. On the one hand When It's All Over is good. But the more recent one is kind of annoying in a huge, commercial ballad-y way that is almost unforgivable. There's a weird echo of Coldplay in all this.

Willing to hold out. The benefit of a doubt is good. Unwilling to see it any other way. Getting used to the notion of thinking like this. You get used to things. The boiler broke and the temperature is around 55 degrees. I had a cup of tea. Restless and unwilling to do gruntwork.

Strange malaise. Feeling sad and unmotivated. I doubt things that once appeared certain. And I need to read a lot about C# and get a handle on Test::More .

What we missed in boston from the NYT. Instead of scorning the event, the networks would do better by working with convention planners more closely. Both have plenty to gain... Ratings for cable news and PBS increased over the convention. If the broadcast networks had provided more coverage and given a sleeker presentation, millions more viewers might have been tempted to tune in. Conventions will never get huge ratings or make the networks money, but they only come once every four years. I completely agree. They package things even more boring than the convention and it sells. Packaging matters. And saying that the news is "not consequential" is really protesting too much, when networks now create news whole cloth in the form of reality programming. Kind of weird that they are shying away from the ultimate reality show. Why couldn't they do a sort of political Real World or something equally ridiculous?

Isn't it weird how the Woodward thing has sort of slid off Bush entirely? But everything has been sliding off.... just when I think they are missing the point, it turns out that the President is "strong on the war on terror" whether we see results or not. I still think that Iraq could hurt him, things could get worse (though I would prefer they get better and endure 4 More Years of Cheney). And Iraq could hurt him if god forbid there were another attack on US soil, or some American tourists were killed in Europe or something.

To do: A recent flurry of questions to the Perl-XML mailing list points to the need for a document that gives new users a quick, how-to overview of the various Perl XML modules. For the next few months I will be devoting this column solely to that purpose. -- XML.com's Perl XML Quickstart: The Perl XML Interfaces

A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows a remarkable turnaround in 17 battleground states where polls and historic trends indicate the race will be close, and where the Bush campaign has aired TV ads. Those ads say Bush has provided "steady leadership in times of change" while portraying Kerry as a tax-hiking, flip-flopping liberal... I worried about this. To win elective office, you need name recognition and a fundraising machine. That's it. No policy, no ideas, no political party. Just two things. Our future, peopled with celebrity Governators and political dynasties, will make today's politicians look as wise as the Founding Fathers.

NPR Executive Vice President Ken Stern told The Post that the firing of Edwards was part of a "natural evolution" that had "to do with the changing needs of our listeners." What "natural evolution"? What does that mean? And what "changing needs"? Listen, Ken, my needs haven't changed. I still want news in the morning. I still want smart features. - from Cohen in the WaPo's "Empty Talk at NPR"