July 2009 Archives
MIT SIPB November 1982 Minutes
In the olden days, if you wanted to use a computer at MIT, the Student Information Processing Board had a slice of time on the MULTICS system to dole out. The very early stirrings of Project Athena are evident in the report on the Committee on the Computing Environment at MIT.
Nina Munk on Hard Times at Harvard | vanityfair.com
How the smartest people on the planet messed up the management of their massive endowment by playing the same stupid financial games as everyone else.
A handy-dandy bingo card for tracking all of Obama's straw man arguments and rhetorical crutches during his health care speech.
iowahawk: One Giant Leap: Come on America, Let's Put a Congress on the Moon
"If America wants to get back on the right track, scientific space mission-wise, we need to once again pick an inspiring, audacious goal, and man it with the kind of inspirational crew to make it happen. At long last, let us realize mankind's most cherished dream -- sending the entire United States Congress to the Moon by 2010."
Circumcision is the best proof of God's existence?
challies.com: The New Shape of World Christianity
Tim Challies reviews Mark Noll's new book, The Shape of World Christianity, listing some of the startling facts in the book: "This past Sunday more Anglicans attended church in each of Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda than did Anglicans in Britain and Canada and Episcopalians in the United States combined--and the number of Anglicans in church in Nigeria was several times the umber in those other African countries. This past Sunday more Presbyterians were at church in Ghana than in Scotland, and more were in congregations of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa than in the United States."
Long story with lots of examples of innovation: "One extreme case is the East Valley Tribune of Mesa, Ariz., which went from publishing seven days a week to Wednesday, Friday and Sunday in January; dropped Saturdays in May; became a free paper and pulled back from some distribution areas; and slashed its staff by some 45 people -- cutting half its payroll."
And what is ethanol doing to your big automobile engine? "Employees at the shop regularly rebuilt carburetors gummed up from the so-called "varnish" that builds up from unstabilized gas left sitting in engines. But since ethanol started being added to fuel sold in Florida in 2007, the power-equipment pros were seeing something new: metal parts crusted up, plastic parts stiffened and cracked, and everything rubber, including the tips of needle valves, deteriorated."
Disney: Hegemonic enemy of queer pedagogy - Crunchy Con
The sad fact is that crazy ideas like these from the academy find their ways into our public schools:
"Queer pedagogy is primarily about disrupting and destabilising the cultural binaries male-female, sex-gender, heterosexual-homosexual explicit or implicit in these normalising discourses that operate to constitute and perpetuate artificial hierarchical relations of power between their constructed polarised opposites."
From the same report: "Interestingly, a close friend gave her six-year-old niece a Barbie to add to her extensive collection. This Barbie was different, many hours were spent 'queering' Barbie up.... Barbie's hair was cut short, she had several tattoos, a nose and nipple ring, black leather clothes, and so on. Despite all the effort put into this performance, this 'Queer Barbie' lasted less than a week--she was found defrocked and mutilated (missing limbs), hidden at the bottom of the cupboard; 'Queer Barbie' was well and truly reprimanded for her gender 'slippage' and was ostracised from her more respectable hetero-feminised cousins."
RELIGION; A Man of the Cloth - The New York Times
Making cloth kosher is a growing industry:
"Little-known outside the Orthodox Jewish community, the law of shatnez prohibits the wearing of any garment that has a mixture of lamb's wool and linen. These days, the testing of clothes, rugs and even upholstery is on the rise as more people adopt the Torah's prescribed regulations....
"On his desk sits the primary tool of his trade, a microscope, which is used to examine microfibers. Like an excitable child playing with a chemistry set, Rabbi Aronovitch placed a fiber from Mr. Coleman's collar on a slide, then squeezed a droplet of olive oil on the fabric to separate the threads."
(Via Ron Coleman, who is quoted in the story.)
The Lunacy of Our Retreat from Space by Charles Krauthammer on National Review Online
"Michael Crichton once wrote that if you told a physicist in 1899 that within a hundred years humankind would, among other wonders (nukes, commercial airlines), 'travel to the moon, and then lose interest . . . the physicist would almost certainly pronounce you mad.'... Fourteen months from today, for the first time since 1962, the United States will be incapable not just of sending a man to the moon but of sending anyone into Earth orbit. We'll be totally grounded. We'll have to beg a ride from the Russians or perhaps even the Chinese.... But look up from your BlackBerry one night. That is the moon. On it are exactly 12 sets of human footprints -- untouched, unchanged, abandoned. For the first time in history, the moon is not just a mystery and a muse, but a nightly rebuke."
YouTube - Tea Party commerical by an Alabama teenager.
The world has underestimated the will of the American people time again. A professionally done bit of video, all in support of a Tea Party in Trussville, Alabama.
Lone Star Stories - Can't Buy Me Faded Love by Josh Rountree
Alt-history brings together Bob Wills and John Lennon. Now available in book form.
The Internet is like alcohol in some sense. It... - Sid Burgess - FriendFeed
"The Internet is like alcohol in some sense. It accentuates what you would do anyway. If you want to be a loner, you can be more alone. If you want to connect, it makes it easier to connect"
Forty Years Ago Today - The Flight Of Apollo 11 (Wizbang)
A link-rich summary of the space program leading up to Apollo 11. "Apollo 11, the culmination of the United States space program that integrated the talents of over 300,000 scientists, engineers, skilled crafts workers, pilots, astronauts, and countless other professionals, was the mission that would finally achieve the goal set forth by President John F. Kennedy in 1962 -- "landing a man on the moon, and returning him safely to the Earth.""
Blog Oklahoma / Blog / Twitter hash tags, the weather, and a proposal
Kevin Latham's proposal on how to use hash tags to tweet about weather, alerts, and other emergency situations in Oklahoma.
The Americans know this will end in schism | Tom Wright - Times Online
The Anglican Bishop of Durham, N. T. Wright, says that the Episcopal Church in the US has broken with the Anglican Communion. "Ways must be found for all in America who want to be loyal to [the Anglican Communion], and to scripture, tradition and Jesus, to have that loyalty recognised and affirmed at the highest level."
"We all have all kinds of deep-rooted inclinations and desires. The question is, what shall we do with them? One of the great Prayer Book collects asks God that we may 'love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise'. That is always tough, for all of us. Much easier to ask God to command what we already love, and promise what we already desire. But much less like the challenge of the Gospel. "
Open Mic at the iMonk Cafe: What Might Boys Read? | internetmonk.com
Many, many good suggestions, beyond Harry Potter and Narnia.
Hot Air » Blog Archive » Good news: Sotomayor confuses "eminent" with "imminent" -- twice
Why did Pres. Obama nominate Emily Litella to the US Supreme Court?
Tulsa Metro Baptist Association directory of churches
A listing of 153 Southern Baptist churches in and around Tulsa.
The end of the breaking news -- as we know it | Monday Note
Gossip site TMZ is redefining breaking news coverage. Why TMZ's paid tipsters aren't much different than MSM sources ("...there is no such thing as a totally disinterested informant. Every reporter knows it: when a source comes to you, the act is always the result of a well-defined motivation. It can be frustration, revenge, or ambition.") Via @jackshafer.
Tulsa weatherman Lee Woodward grew up in Arlington, Texas, in one of the city's most historic homes. The house has been restored, and Lee and his brothers recently returned to reminisce about their childhood in a home that also served as the office and surgery of their father, eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist Dr. Valin Woodward. The McKinley-Woodward home was built by their grandfather in 1893. (Via Tulsa TV Memories.)
4-Block World: Too Smart To Fail
What do Robert MacNamara and Barack Obama have in common?
Outwit your inbox - Washington Times
Good advice from Randall Dean, author of Taming the E-Mail Beast, on minimizing e-mail distractions, dealing with e-mail, and making it easier for your recipients to deal with your messages:
"People who constantly check e-mails and phone calls have a 10-point hit on their IQ -- as if you missed an entire night's sleep, or more than double the loss from smoking a marijuana joint."
"Turn off those e-mail notifications. I reset my automatic send/receive parameters to get e-mail every 90 minutes, so I can have blocks of time to get actual work done."
"If you're sending an e-mail, make it extremely clear in first two to three sentences what you want receiver to both know and do with e-mail. Stop sending FYI e-mails, which leaves a lot of room for error and misinterpretation."
(Via Dawn Eden at Conservative Grapevine.)
ConservativeHome's Platform: Maurice Saatchi: These are our values
A distillation of conservative policy values, in honor of the 35th anniversary of the Centre for Policy Studies, founded by Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph.
"It is wrong that the majority of people in Britain are financially beholden to the State. This makes the State the master; the complicated tax and benefit system the chief instrument of its power.
"A paternalist government, based on the benevolence of a ruler who treats his subjects as dependent children, is the greatest conceivable despotism and destroys all freedom."
University of Tulsa 1972 yearbook ads
Brown-Dunkin downtown is gone, but they've added stores in Muskogee and Oklahoma City's Shepherd Mall. Sandy's has expanded to 5002 N. Peoria and 38th & Harvard. Fewer ads than the 1968 book, it appears.
Remember the "Tulsa's Front Door" sign at Tulsa International Airport? There's a picture of it on p. 15.
University of Tulsa 1968 yearbook ads
Ads for local eateries, bookstores, banks, employers, florists, jewelers, and long-lost names like Brown-Dunkin Department Stores (Downtown, Southland, Northland), Froug's, and National Bank of Tulsa.
Anyone remember Simler's Varsity Center? A cozy looking place that was replaced by an ugly three-story dorm.
The sins of Sarah Palin - Yahoo! News
"Palin announces she is quitting her job as governor of Alaska, and she catches everybody by surprise. What is up with that?
"Where were the leaks and the trial balloons? Why weren't the media alerted so they could have predicted it?
"When you do what the media have predicted, you are 'savvy.' You are a 'skilled' and 'adept' politician.
"If you surprise the media, however, you are 'out of control' and 'bizarre' and even 'egotistical.'"
Daredevil - The Atlantic (July/August 2009)
Garry Wills remembers William F. Buckley.
YouTube - Aerosmith Guitar Hero Opening Act - KMOD Tulsa - Sweet Emotion
Please click through to YouTube and watch my nephew's video! He's in third place and gaining ground!
CentreRight: The Queen costs us each a mere 69p a year - and she wants all MPs to know it
Turns out that it's cheaper to be ruled by a monarch than a messiah.
About that Sarah Palin resignation thing ... (Wizbang)
Oklahoma City's Michael Laprairie explains why Palin's outsider appeal hurt her with the professional political class:
"We know that John McCain's campaign staff harbored a lot of resentment toward Sarah Palin. Perhaps jealousy is a better word. Palin immediately eclipsed McCain on the campaign trail, simply by being herself.... She politely, but firmly, refused to be turned into a puppet by the McCain campaign staff. And that burned them up.
"In spite of the wholesome nature ascribed to political outsiders, within the world of politics outsiders are thought of as foolish amateurs, and their ignorance of the system is considered to be a dangerous liability by political veterans.... I think Palin was somewhat prepared for the attacks from Democrats.... But I don't believe that she was prepared to be handled in such a rough and patronizing manner by staffers from her own party.
"I think Palin learned an important lesson from her vice presidential candidacy: the Washington, DC political establishment did not like her, and no one -- not even the national Republican party -- could be trusted to back her if she decided to pursue a Senate or Presidential candidacy.
"I always believed that Sarah Palin entered politics to make a real difference. That's why she got involved in her local school board, then ran for city council and mayor. When she was appointed Chairperson of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, she refused to go along with the "good old boy" system and eventually filed ethics complaints against Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner Randy Ruedrich and former Alaskan Attorney General Gregg Renkes. Both of these men were Republicans, and Sarah's commitment to ethics above party politics is a marvel that few political figures are capable of. (Honestly, can you imagine Barack Obama taking on the Chicago Democrat political machine in a similar fashion?) I think we can take Palin at her word when she says that being a lightning rod for the Republican party has severely crippled her effectiveness as an elected leader."
RealClearPolitics - HorseRaceBlog - Maybe She Doesn't Want To Be President
Jay Cost makes the should-be-obvious point that seems to have escaped many in the right-wing blogosphere who dumped on Sarah Palin on Friday.
"My guess is that Palin had not seriously considered a run for the top job when McCain came calling last August. After all, the governorship of Alaska is a lousy perch from which to start a run for the White House. In fact, of the 150 governorships and Senate seats - I'd say that being governor of Alaska is the worst place to begin....
"It's important to remember that it was John McCain who invited her to the national stage.... She was there by his request. Since her introduction to the nation - it hasn't gone all that well for her. Her performance generated mixed reviews.... Worse, she and her family have become fodder for wild speculation from irresponsible bloggers, salacious stories from celebrity magazines, groundless ethics complaints from political opponents, lousy jokes from late-night comedians who should have retired a decade ago, and criticisms from former McCain flacks looking to deflect blame for the haphazard, incoherent campaign they ran. You would have to really want to be president to press forward in the face of the headwind she has faced.
"It's hard to blame her for doing what she did on Friday, although many critics still managed. If I were in her shoes, having been asked by my party's nominee to accept the vice-presidential nomination, then having been put through the wringer the way she and her family have, I wouldn't want to run for the presidency. I wouldn't want to run for reelection as governor. And I too would be inclined to resign altogether. One difference between her and me: I would not have been as gracious as she was last Friday."
Free vs Freely Distributed « blog maverick
Interesting piece by Mark Cuban. The gist of it is that you can make money with free content as long as you can control how people get it.
Another well written piece of his on another topic: Advice to recent grads and other job-seekers. Sensible, but not common sense. Probably ought to add him to my blog aggregator.
This is a great but brief, nine-point analysis of why blogging is very different than when it first became hot five years ago. One big overarching point -- blogs aren't connecting to each other the way they once did. The only thing I see missing -- RSS aggregators like Google and Newsgator have changed the way readers interact with blogs.
(I found this on Twitter, of course, via @sissywillis.)
Op-Ed Columnist - The Best Kids' Books Ever - NYTimes.com
Nicholas Kristof's recommendations include The Hardy Boys series, Anne of Green Gables, The Wind in the Willows, The Prince and the Pauper, and the Harry Potter books, plus a bunch you may never have heard of. In a blog entry, the Kristof children offer their own book recommendations.
The Greenroom: It Always Has Been About Trig
"If Sarah Palin had aborted Trig, the left would have been okay with it. If she hid Trig offstage and out of sight, all would be good. But treat the child as you would any other child, and that cannot be tolerated.
"There is something about a Down syndrome child in plain view which has exposed the moral and emotional bankruptcy of the left-wing of the Democratic party. And they hate Sarah Palin because deep down, they hate themselves for being who they are."
The Judge Report - Fifty Years
From the New York Post: "Drive through nearby run-down Amsterdam [N. Y.] to see the product of 50 years of state economic development efforts." Robert N. Going replies:
"If left to our own devices and own resources and own markets, I wonder what Amsterdam would have looked like today?
"In 1970 alone more than 27 million dollars in outside funds passed through here and not without a little corrupting effect....
"I remember one of the great problems our outside experts were attempting to solve for us was the critical problem of traffic jams in our downtown.
"That's the one project at which they were sensationally successful."
Field of Schemes: An anniversary few noticed: 100 years & Forbes Field
"Now remembered as a small intimate ballpark that has long since been demolished, at the time Forbes Field was the most massive monument to professional sports ever built.
"It was built entirely with private funds, and it ushered in a sort of competition among team owners to build similar ballparks, places like Fenway, Wrigley, Comiskey, Ebbets, and Navin in Detroit....
"My theory: Now that the real ballparks of a bygone era have inspired construction of numerous "retro ballparks," MLB is not wedded to keeping the old dinosaurs around. In short, Fenway and Wrigley have served their usefulness in prompting the kind of new construction that has made team owners around the country lots of money. If dumping them for shiny new models is in the cards, MLB would not have a problem with that."
SCTV Guide - Features - Great White North Set
Good Canada Day, eh? Great White North backdrop rescued from a dumpster.
