The Colorful Absence of Passion

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There must be a study somewhere that concludes few combinations are hotter than a little red on white. Another porno uses the setting of a solid white room - from walls to floors to apparently ceilings - with some loudly red couches. The rest writes itself, so long as you can confine your imagination to the bland narrowness of the politically correct.

I find a certain appropriate symbolism in it, myself. Disappearing content. The antiseptic annhilation of the soul.

xXx

The Colorful Absence of Passion

♠
There must be a study somewhere that concludes few combinations are hotter than a little red on white. Another porno uses the setting of a solid white room - from walls to floors to apparently ceilings - with some loudly red couches. The rest writes itself, so long as you can confine your imagination to the bland narrowness of the politically correct.

I find a certain appropriate symbolism in it, myself. Disappearing content. The antiseptic annhilation of the soul.

xXx

Living in a World of Ads

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Add this to the endangered list: blank spaces.

Advertisers seem determined to fill every last one of them. Supermarket eggs have been stamped with the names of CBS television shows. Subway turnstiles bear messages from Geico auto insurance. Chinese food cartons promote Continental Airways. US Airways is selling ads on motion sickness bags. And the trays used in airport security lines have been hawking Rolodexes.

Marketers used to try their hardest to reach people at home, when they were watching TV or reading newspapers or magazines. But consumers’ viewing and reading habits are so scattershot now that many advertisers say the best way to reach time-pressed consumers is to try to catch their eye at literally every turn.

“We never know where the consumer is going to be at any point in time, so we have to find a way to be everywhere,” said Linda Kaplan Thaler, chief executive at the Kaplan Thaler Group, a New York ad agency. “Ubiquity is the new exclusivity.”

-- Louise Story for The New York Times

I cannot tell if this thought is more scary or sad. It's a little like red-on-white porn, I think. No bleak, dystopian future should be without it.

xXx

Living in a World of Ads

♠
Add this to the endangered list: blank spaces.

Advertisers seem determined to fill every last one of them. Supermarket eggs have been stamped with the names of CBS television shows. Subway turnstiles bear messages from Geico auto insurance. Chinese food cartons promote Continental Airways. US Airways is selling ads on motion sickness bags. And the trays used in airport security lines have been hawking Rolodexes.

Marketers used to try their hardest to reach people at home, when they were watching TV or reading newspapers or magazines. But consumers’ viewing and reading habits are so scattershot now that many advertisers say the best way to reach time-pressed consumers is to try to catch their eye at literally every turn.

“We never know where the consumer is going to be at any point in time, so we have to find a way to be everywhere,” said Linda Kaplan Thaler, chief executive at the Kaplan Thaler Group, a New York ad agency. “Ubiquity is the new exclusivity.”

-- Louise Story for The New York Times

I cannot tell if this thought is more scary or sad. It's a little like red-on-white porn, I think. No bleak, dystopian future should be without it.

xXx

Krugman on Bush and the Surge

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Hundreds of news articles and opinion pieces have described President Bush’s decision to escalate the Iraq war as a “Hail Mary pass.”

But that’s the wrong metaphor.

Mr. Bush isn’t Roger Staubach, trying to pull out a win for the Dallas Cowboys. He’s Charles Keating, using other people’s money to keep Lincoln Savings going long after it should have been shut down — and squandering the life savings of thousands of investors, not to mention billions in taxpayer dollars, along the way.

-- Paul Krugman for The New York Times

Now, here is an example of criticizing the President and his Iraq policy that does not come off as exuberantly shrill. This is the voice of cold, uncompromising reason, talking truth to power with some genuine sense of despair.

The only thing that can controvert this argument is victory in Iraq. I only wonder whether Bush doesn't even believe anything resembling victory is possible. If not, his war policy can seem somewhat criminal.

( Krugman column )

xXx

Krugman on Bush and the Surge

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Hundreds of news articles and opinion pieces have described President Bush’s decision to escalate the Iraq war as a “Hail Mary pass.”

But that’s the wrong metaphor.

Mr. Bush isn’t Roger Staubach, trying to pull out a win for the Dallas Cowboys. He’s Charles Keating, using other people’s money to keep Lincoln Savings going long after it should have been shut down — and squandering the life savings of thousands of investors, not to mention billions in taxpayer dollars, along the way.

-- Paul Krugman for The New York Times

Now, here is an example of criticizing the President and his Iraq policy that does not come off as exuberantly shrill. This is the voice of cold, uncompromising reason, talking truth to power with some genuine sense of despair.

The only thing that can controvert this argument is victory in Iraq. I only wonder whether Bush doesn't even believe anything resembling victory is possible. If not, his war policy can seem somewhat criminal.

( Krugman column )

xXx

39

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Before taking Bo outside on the post-breakfast rounds, Monk checks the temperature, and he sees that number 39, "Fuck!"

At least it wasn't raining. But the reading was a little hard on the hands, with Monk switching "Frankenstein" from hand to hand, giving the other some relief time buried in the fuzzy warmth of a coat pocket. Gloves have not been a necessity here and one tries to tough it out, which is not something that Monk does very well.

xXx

39

♠
Before taking Bo outside on the post-breakfast rounds, Monk checks the temperature, and he sees that number 39, "Fuck!"

At least it wasn't raining. But the reading was a little hard on the hands, with Monk switching "Frankenstein" from hand to hand, giving the other some relief time buried in the fuzzy warmth of a coat pocket. Gloves have not been a necessity here and one tries to tough it out, which is not something that Monk does very well.

xXx

Tinfoil Hats, Anyone?

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New on the Internet: a community of people who believe the government is beaming voices into their minds. They may be crazy, but the Pentagon has pursued a weapon that can do just that.

-- Sharon Weinberger for The Washington Post

Here is story that conspiracy theorists can feed off forever. Ms. Weinberger writes about TIs (Targeted Individuals), as they style themselves, who believe that the government is using microwaves to force thoughts into their heads, not to mention other annoying things like playing with their genitals.

So far, this is the stuff we usually smirk at, and mentally file away with alien abduction stories. But apparently there is at least a little government interest in such technology, as excerpted below from the article.

Honestly, I just don't know if the future is for me, but then I don't find much in the present that is for me either.

___ ___ ___

For those who have doubts about the effectiveness of tinfoil hats in thwarting such governmental machinations, tookhernowhere provides us with a convincing demonstration that a little aluminum foil is all that is needed to maintain our moral autonomy - Fight the power:

http://eclectech.co.uk/mindcontrol.php

( article excerpt )

xXx

Tinfoil Hats, Anyone?

♠
New on the Internet: a community of people who believe the government is beaming voices into their minds. They may be crazy, but the Pentagon has pursued a weapon that can do just that.

-- Sharon Weinberger for The Washington Post

Here is story that conspiracy theorists can feed off forever. Ms. Weinberger writes about TIs (Targeted Individuals), as they style themselves, who believe that the government is using microwaves to force thoughts into their heads, not to mention other annoying things like playing with their genitals.

So far, this is the stuff we usually smirk at, and mentally file away with alien abduction stories. But apparently there is at least a little government interest in such technology, as excerpted below from the article.

Honestly, I just don't know if the future is for me, but then I don't find much in the present that is for me either.

___ ___ ___

For those who have doubts about the effectiveness of tinfoil hats in thwarting such governmental machinations, tookhernowhere provides us with a convincing demonstration that a little aluminum foil is all that is needed to maintain our moral autonomy - Fight the power:

http://eclectech.co.uk/mindcontrol.php

( article excerpt )

xXx