New Blog

Ok. here's the beta of the new blog.

Re/Creating Tampa

My Gamma Blog Empire

I'm slowing moving all my blogging interests onto one site. the alienintelligencer domain will now contain most of my blogging efforts. It is currently in "gamma" release which is my term for something that isn't even ready for a beta release. The top page will cover pop science, humor and whatnots on the internet. Sibling pages will contain restaurant reviews of Tampa (as well as posts on food and dining, and book reviews of books about food, like Michael Pollan). Greening Tampa will be about urban design and the efforts to turn Tampa into a sustainable city. More will be added, but it's all gamma right now.

I just printed out the first draft of my thesis. I'm not particularly ahead of the game, but neither have I fallen behind. It looks like I should have a completed thesis by the end of the month. And then begins the month of cocktails!

Tips on How to Speak/Lecture

Lecture Tips from Patrick Winston

Video of a lecture on how to lecture. Some good tips for those uncomfortable in front of an audience.

Sleep Replacement

When will we live in a world of open-source pharmaceuticals?

Not only will sleepy grad students have to wait for a decade or two until orexin A hits the market, but it will probably only be available by prescription.

When can I just download this stuff and print it out?

"A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests.
...
Orexin A is a promising candidate to become a "sleep replacement" drug."

Bucket

The complete Walrus Bucket saga.

Shorter version here. (If you don't know what any of this means start with this link.)

Strawberry Cheetos

Sometimes I fantasize about opening a little shop. Perhaps I'd rent obscure movies and documentaries, or sell breakfast tacos all day long. One element of this fantasy that remains consistent is the display case of snack items not normally seen in the US that I would sell. Strawberry Cheetos, for example.

And Poutine chips.

And Wasabi Flavoured Indonesian Shrimp Chips.

I Write to My Senator

Last time I forgot to copy my message, so this time I'm copying and pasting here. If I get a response I'll put the two together.

Here's my email to Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fl) -

Senator Nelson - Previously you wrote to me that

"I introduced an amendment to the bill which would have taken away retroactive immunity from the telecommunications companies..."

And yet I see you voted nay on the Dodd amendment which would "strike the provisions providing immunity."

Will you be releasing a statement to clarify this seeming contradiction? Why would you introduce an amendment taking away retroactive immunity, then vote against an amendment that would take away retroactive immunity?

Thank you,
David Davisson

The rule of law, or the rule of men?

Permanent Kitten

I don't know if this appeared first at Wired or at Next Nature, but it's a strange future that lies ahead.

"Next year, expect a transgenic cat, which will remain kitten-size throughout its life."

BTW, check out Next Nature for some mindbending future strangeness.

Unnecessary Censorship

I don't think I've ever watched the Jimmy Kimmel show, but this clip is pretty funny.

Periphery-to-Periphery and Wallerstein Critics

Anyone know of any good critics of Immanuel Wallerstein? I'm finding little that isn't completely ahistorical.

I probably have enough stuff right now to string together a thesis about itinerants, but what I want to bring out is their role in state formation/political integration/cultural exchange. I want to argue that there's a lot going on in periphery-to-periphery exchange that gets overshadowed by over-reliance on a core/periphery model.

So far the thesis is coming together quickly. All that preliminary work is paying off. I may be delusional, but I think I may have my first draft by the end of the month!

From Yahoo to Google

I got my first Yahoo! email address ten years ago. It's still my primary address. Four years ago I started paying Yahoo! every month to serve as my ISP for another page I maintain.

When Yahoo! beta was first released I switched over, but quickly switched back because it seemed half-baked. When it was rolled out again I switched, but again quickly returned to the standard.

A few weeks before I heard the acquisition rumors I decided to switch to Google as my primary email and portal.

I've been a Yahoo! advocate for years, but this year they lost me for good. The new beta upgrade is actually a downgrade. Where once Yahoo! held hundreds of my RSS feeds, it now demands that I cap at three hundred, and then won't recognize when I drop to less than that. As an ISP Yahoo! will not allow me access to MySQL, and the customer service has zero explanation, except that they know it's a problem with some clients. Beyond that there is no attempt at a solution or a expectation of when the problem will be resolved. Not only that, but getting customer service is nearly impossible.

Will Google be better? I don't know. Some friends tell me I shouldn't even use a web-based email, but should switch to Thunderbird, or another email client.

As far as reading the internet goes, I think I'm off Yahoo! and replacing it with a mix of del.icio.us, bloglines, and Google.

Passed

I finally got word today that I passed my comprehensive exams. I think I'll go out for dinner.

Welease Womney

In Monty Python's Life of Brian there's a scene where the rabble is mocking Pilate's speech impediment by asking him to release people who have the letter R in their name.

Pilate: Whom would you have me welease?
Man: Welease Woger!
Crowd: Yeah! WELEASE WOGER! WELEASE WOGER! Hahahahaha.
Pilate: Vewwy well. I shall welease woger!
Crowd: Yay. Yay.
Cntrian: Sir, eh. We don't have a Woger, sir.
Pilate: What?
Cntrian: Eh, we don't have anyone of that name, sir.
Pilate: Ah. We have no Woger.
Crowd: Aaaaaah.
Man: Well what about Wodewic then.
Crowd: Yeah. WELEASE WODEWIC! WELEASE WODEWIC!
Pilate: Centurain. Why do they titter so?
Cntrian: Just some, uh, jewish joke, sir.
Pilate: Are they... swagging me?
Cntrian: Oh, no, sir!
Pilate: Vewwy well. I shall welease Wodewic!
Crowd: Waaahahahaha.
Cntrian: Sir, we don't have a Roderic either.
Pilate: No Woger, no Wodewic.
Cntrian: Sorry, sir.
Pilate: Who is the Wog...
Who is the Wodewic to whom you wefer?
Man1: He's a wobber.
Crowd: Ahhhhahahah.
Man2: ... and a wapist.
Crowd: Ahahahhahah!
Woman: ... and a pickpocket!
Crowd: Aaah no. ssssssh.
Pilate: He sounds a notowious cwiminal.
Cntrian: We haven't got him, sir.
Pilate: Do we have anyone in our pwisons at all?

Eventually Judith runs up and demands that Pilate release Brian. Everybody joins in on the joke, believing Brian is another joke name with an 'R' in it. It turns out there is a Brian in prison and he is scheduled to be released.

I think of this scene when I see the faux (presumably) enthusiasm among the left for a Romney campaign. Atrio, Kos, and Josh Marshall are all faux-enthusiastic supporters of a Romney campaign. They remind me of the rabble in the Life of Brian scene. Evidently a Romney campaign strikes them as utterly hilarious.

I, on the other hand, like the hyper-serious Judith, am not sure what the joke is. Maybe, like Judith, I showed up too late. But I feel pretty confident Mitt Romney is going to be the next president of the United States, and the thought of it doesn't make me chuckle.

The Second World

I've never been a fan of Wallerstein's core/periphery model, and I'm spending some time this semester making sure I understand his argument. My most immediate dislike comes from its binary nature. It seems like a restatement of the 1st world/3rd world model of the world. The problem with 1st world/3rd world thinking, however, is the neglect given to a presumed 2nd world.

Coincidentally, while I have this percolating in the back of my brain, I came across Parag Khanna's analysis of the decline of US geopolitical power, "Waving Goodbye to Hegemony." Khanna meditates on the changing nature of "second-world" nations and how they are aligning themselves geopolitically.

It's a great, thought-provoking piece adapted from his forth-coming book, The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order.

Jack Handey Reminds Us That History Is Not Dull

"Many people think that history is a dull subject. Dull? Is it 'dull' that Jesse James once got bitten on the forehead by an ant, and at first it didn't seem like anything, but then the bite got worse and worse, so he went to a doctor in town, and the secretary told him to wait, so he sat down and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and then finally he got to see the doctor, and the doctor put some salve on it? You call that dull?"

–Jack Handey

Forthcoming Projects

They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the crimson tide
Call me deacon blues

-Steely Dan

While I am writing my thesis I'm also putting together a couple of other projects. One is a community-oriented web site, and the other is a work of history. Since I'll be writing for a popular audience instead of an academic audience I decided to do a work of political history. But, instead of writing about the winners, I'll be writing about the losers. On the one hand this will be a series of biographies, anecdotes and vignettes, but on the other hand I hope to inject a meditation on the meaning of loss and losing in US culture and how ideas of losing have changed over time.

Right now I'm assembling a bibliography. Any suggestions on political loss, or on losing in general?