I got into LaFollette School of Public Affairs (UW-Madison), but not into North Gate.
Good News & Bad News
– February 29, 2004, 12:58 am UTCPosted in: School
Archive for February, 2004
Rachel and I saw Osama in Fremont Last Night
– February 28, 2004, 5:57 pm UTCPosted in: General
So confirming what I heard on NPR this morning, The Eyeranian says that the Iranian state news has reported that bin Laden has been captured for awhile now, even though the US and Pakistan deny it.
As he says:
I would normally ignore this, however it is hard to forget how the same source reported on the arrest of Saddam way ahead of all other news agencies. Besides, with the U.S. abandoning everything in Afghanistan outside of Kabul to tribal chiefs and occasional criminal war lord, some of them with strong Iranian connections, it’s not hard to imagine news of this magnitude being leaked to such a source.
So make of that what you will.
Speaking of which, Rachel and went to Fremont last night and saw Osama. I enjoyed it, but Rachel wasn’t so thrilled with it. Not your ideal date movie, I know, but still powerful, raw, and good. I wonder how many Afghans still have big fuck-off beards as so many of them were forced to during the Taliban era.
Things are really busy. Thesis, internship, schoolwork, the usual suspects. Tomorrow (maybe tonight if I’m feeling extra diligent) I have to get going on a Farsi translation of the article that I wrote for The Iranian in November.
Econ midterm went suprisingly well last week. Let’s see how the grade comes out. Gotta get going on some freelance stuff that I’m working on. Too busy, too busy.
Boyk’s making Aloo 65 (a vegan version of it’s cousin, Chicken 65) tonight for dinner. Yum.
iPod Trend
– February 27, 2004, 12:26 pm UTCPosted in: Tech
Macworld’s Editor Jason Snell postulates on the future of iPods:
Is this the beginning, middle, or end of a trend to photograph statues with iPods attached to them? Can the Lincoln Memorial or, more importantly, the Sun God be far behind?
But Cyrus is far from the only person walking the campus of UC Berkeley, iPod in hand. Today’s edition of the Berkeley campus newspaper the Daily Californian features an amusing opinion column by Anna Kaufman about being one of the “iPod People” around campus.
It’s good to be an iPod person. Just ask ol’ Pappy over there.
Why I love the Bay Area
– February 27, 2004, 11:02 am UTCPosted in: Foreign Affairs
It’s for the cultural events:
The Fula From America: An African Journey
by Carlyle Brown
directed by Louise Smith
March 4-27, Thursday & Saturdays, 8pm
Tickets: $15-22 sliding scale
A solo show based on writer/performer Carlyle Brown’s own travels in West Africa. The Fula From America is the story of one African-American’s search for an African identity. Set in 1981 the traveler sets off alone on an adventurous journey that takes him through Senegal, Mali, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone. From deep bush to the corridors of the African elite he finds friendship and generosity, poverty, wondrous beauty and civil war. As his adventures unfold, he finds himself on the boundary of the African-American hyphen where the question arises: how much of him is African and how much is American? The Fula From America is a powerful and hilarious drama of homcoming, relevant to any American whose culture originates elsewhere. Surprising and heart-warming, it is both a moving cultural heritage exploration and a challenge to the politically correct ideals of the “old country.”
SF Symphony plays Mahler’s Symphony No. 5
March 3, 5 – 7 ($20 student rush tickets if availible)
George Soros
March 3, 2004
7:30 pm
Students: Free
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
Hans Blix in conversation with Christiane Amanpour
March 17, 2004
7:30 pm
Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley
Joseph Nye
March 25, 2004
6 pm
Students: $5
World Affairs Council
312 Sutter St. 2nd Floor
San Francisco
Absolutely Nothing
– February 26, 2004, 12:03 pm UTCPosted in: WTF?
[Via Dan Gillmor]
You are bidding on an auction who’s sole purpose is to offer nothing. Bidders will recieve absolutely nothing upon winning this auction, save the usual emails alerting them that they have won and instructions for payment. Despite this auction being for nothing, winning bidders are still expected to pay. Buyers who do not submit payment in a timely fashion will get negative feedback. It is requested that winning bidders submit payment along with an email explanation for actually bidding money on nothing. Happy Bidding.
Current bid: $11.50
Just a Little Cyber Civil Disobidience
– February 24, 2004, 12:19 pm UTCPosted in: Tech
So I usually don’t listen to American rap, but I will say that “The Grey Album” is pretty interesting.
Today is Grey Tuesday, meaning that for 24 hours, various websites are posting DJ Danger Mouse’s “The Grey Album” on their sites in its entirety to protest EMI’s decision to censor this work. “The Grey Album” is a great mixture of The Beatles’ 1968 “The White Album” and Jay-Z’s “The Black Album”.
Anyway, if you have a few minutes, go snag it off my mirror.
Wired News also has the story.
“Knock me down one time / I’ll be comin’ back for more”
– February 23, 2004, 2:36 pm UTCPosted in: Politics
This one goes out to my buddy Aaron
I propose this song as John Edwards’ new theme song. The phrase “left and right” takes on new meaning when you take it from boxing and put it to politics. Whaddya think?
“The Contender”
Royal Crown Revue
The lights are spinnin’
I gotta get myself up off the floor
My head is ringin’
Bet they think I can’t take too much more
The crowd is howlin’
Like the ocean’s pounding roar
My legs are goin’ out
Someone up there don’t like me
Now my right and my left will decide
‘Cause they’re done with this bum takin’ dives
Now my eyes may be swollen with right hooks and tears
But I see salvation tonight
In a left and a right
Called me a kid, champ or lefty
A bowery kid to the core
Fast cars and hipster movie stars
I ain’t got none of that anymore
Now I’m down in the seventh
In the eighth my ribs are sore
In the ninth I’m staggerin’
Someone up there don’t like me
It’s a one-way ticket
Smart money’s showin’ me the door
Backed on the ropes now
Someone up there don’t like me anymore
When the crowd goes silent
One thing that I know for sure
Knock me down one time
I’ll be comin’ back for more
And the dumb false syllogism of the year goes to:
– February 22, 2004, 9:47 pm UTCPosted in: WTF?
“In San Francisco, it is license for marriage of same sex. Maybe the next thing is another city that hands out licenses for assault weapons and someone else hands out licenses for selling drugs, I mean you can’t do that,” [Gov.] Schwarzenegger said Sunday on NBC.
As quoted in the LA Times today.
Where I’ve Been
– February 21, 2004, 11:00 pm UTCPosted in: Travels
Lazy Saturday
– February 21, 2004, 4:29 pm UTCPosted in: Politics
So I’ve been procrastinating today, mostly ignoring my Econ study that I should be doing, reading my classmates’ thesis chapter drafts (to my credit I did one), and have just been messing around online and playing with my blog.
Tomorrow I will hit the Econ full-force and am going to the SLC review on Monday.
Rachel and I watched You Only Live Twice last night (well, we finished it this morning), which rocked. Ninjas flip out and kill people in the movie. I think that when they try to make Bond look Japanese, he looks more like a Vulcan, but that’s just me.
The Washington Post calls the Edwards campaign in the little-engine-that-could phase. I’d be in agreement. I’m leaning more and more towards him. As is pointed out in this Saletan piece, Edwards electibility is actually higher than you might think. Plus, he has real principled stances (ok, I’m against the death penalty and he’s not), and doesn’t seem to waffle as much as Kerry does. Plus, as
Then, there was this piece in today’s NYT about a new overhaul of federal aid. I don’t think it’s a good idea. Basically, we’ll give more money to countries whose governments respect human rights, et cetera.
African countries like Senegal and Ghana that respect civil liberties stand to benefit under the new program, according to budget analysts; the war-ravaged nations of Sudan and Somalia, however, do not.
What control does the average Sudanese have over their government? Hardly any. Why should they suffer more because of it? Yet another one to add to the complexities of foreign development. Jeez, this is hard.
Oh, and as Boing Boing points out: check out MediaChest. Here’s my profile.
Why I Love Berkeley
– February 20, 2004, 12:01 pm UTCPosted in: General
Yesterday was pretty busy. I ditched Farsi in the morning in favor of sleeping, headed over to my grandparents’ house for Thursday interviews (which didn’t happen — we had lunch and I played the doting grandson extraordinaire (ie, Mac consultant for free)), headed to Econ lecture, handed off the tickets to the John Caroll lecture to Sunaree
In exchange for “dinner” (read: two pieces of mediocre and cold pizza, a mediocre small salad, a bottle of water, a cookie and $10 to spend at any campus restaurant/cafŽ on my ID card) we (six male students, six female students) were to discuss our “Cal Dining experience” for 90 minutes as led by two outside consultants hired by the university.
First, let me just say that I think focus groups are a great concept. They provide the company with real usable information, and hopefully can use it intelligently — but even better, the group members get paid (usually a pretty good deal — I got $50 for two hours at a Microsoft focus group in LA once) to just rant/rave about a product. They don’t even have to come up with anything constructive, they just have to say why they do or don’t like a product.
Anyway, but the real interesting that happened in Berkeley was the complete dichotomy that existed between two of the most outspoken people in that focus group. One was Ms. Trans-Fat Oil and Mr. Country Club.
It became real clear real fast that she was a typical outspoken, intelligent, Berkeley “healty eater”. Over and over again she kept citing things like “40% of Americans die from high cholesterol and far, so I don’t think we should cater to fad diets like Atkins by having low-carb high-fat diets.” She also seemed to be on her own personal mission to not use “trans-fat oil”, which according to her “is a carcinogen and serves no purpose other than it saves restaurants money.”
She sat across from me.
Sitting next to me was Mr. Country Club. This guy, who didn’t ramble as much, was talking about how one time he was at the Free Speech cafŽ and he seemed to be bothered by the fact that a homeless dude came in and made a mess of one of the tables. He essentially was saying that we should keep “street people” out of campus cafŽs, et cetera. And then, out of nowhere later on, when we were talking about safety on campus at night — he was saying how we should “turn on the sprinklers to prevent loitering”. Garett rightly came out saying that some “street people” might in fact be students, and that you can’t discriminate based on perception.
And I then came out and said that I didn’t care whether or not people were “street people” or not, if you were being obnoxious, then should be asked to leave, plain and simple. Doesn’t matter if you’re a student or not, or if you’re in a suit and tie or you’re barefoot and stinky — if you’re disrupting a normal scene, then you should be asked to leave. Everyone seemed to agree with me on that.
Later on, he suggested that there should be an upscale restaurant on campus like the Faculty Club, where for $7-10, students could be served in a high-quality meal. He claimed that students really would go for that. I highly disagreed, as did everyone else, I think. After that, when we were talking about how food is generally overpriced (a general consensus) at the campus (not the private ones like Free Speech, or Taqueria Reyes) eateries, he said: “Yeah, the food is the same at the country club back home and it’s much less expensive.”
What do you say to someone like that?
But the two of them in the same room together encapsulated everything that I love about Berkeley. Their complete polarization between them, and how neither of them made any sense at all.
As Aaron
“Why do they hate us?” (Part IV)
– February 20, 2004, 10:54 am UTCPosted in: Travels
Wow. I sit before my laptop, ready to write about this really interesting Salon article about life inside the Green Zone in Baghdad, and my iTunes playlist pulls up Percy Grainger’s Colonial Song at random. Heh. Even funnier is that this song, written by an Australian, is a slow, lyrical tune which seems to me to express longing and homage to his homeland — which I doubt is much how the CPA employees feel that Jen Banbury writes about.
Anyway, let’s delve into this.
Hunkered down in their weird security zone, the Americans who run Iraq have almost no contact with the country or its people.
Great sub-hed. Obvious, but powerfully true. This summarizes just the attitude of most Americans, and particularly those in power. Here’s the thing. If we’re going to run the world (which I don’t think is our role, but whatever) — then we should at least do it right. We should at least make *some* attempt to integrate ourselves into societies that we, as Americans, find ourselves in. I’d imagine that part of the feeling that ranges from removed mystique to hatred about our country is that we do things like this — we create little isolated blocks for ourselves to exist in. A mini-America is exactly right. In Bamako (Mali), for example, the US Embassy is a complex that has its entire street blocked off, with lots of barbed wire fences and guards with big fuck-off guns. Is there anyone else in the world that has the audacity to demand this kind of situation? I’d really love Fiji or Surinam or the Gambia to demand the same kind of situation for their embassies in Washington DC.
At one end of this faux-Versailles room, Pakistani workers in white uniforms preside over steam tables that serve up traditional American cafeteria food: sloppy joes, boiled hot dogs, canned peas and carrots. A cloth-covered banquet table bisects the center of the room, offering up plastic bowls with pieces of layer cake and syrupy pie. Over a hundred tables fill the rest of the room and even extend into adjoining hallways.
I can completely imagine this scene. First of all, I think it’s fantastic that not only to the American CPA types have to eat American food, but they have to eat bad American food. Sloppy joes and boiled hot dogs would not be high on my list. Can’t they get some Chicago pizza up in there? Or some Kentucky barbecue? How hard would that be? But again, this is part of the same American superiority complex that is perfectly encapsulated in this type of situation. I was astounded (but yet still thankful for the respite it provided from local foods) by the presence of cheap hamburgers and milkshakes that were available to Americans at the US Embassy in Bamako. But yet, it’s so wrong. I guarantee you that the best blue-collar cook in Baghdad would jump at the opportunity to work in the Green Zone — and that his food would be better and cheaper than anything the CPA or Halliburton could come up with.
Oh man, and I love the kicker:
As I was leaving the marketplace, an Iraqi man held a book up to a browsing soldier. “This is dictionary,” the Iraqi man said. The soldier wagged his head back and forth. “No, no, no,” he said. “I don’t want to ever speak the language.”
I’ve been curious as to what the official number of Americans who hold passports are. I remember hearing once that it’s only 10%, but I wanted to check that with the State Department. I just called them, and they referred me to the National Passport Center, and after talking with them for nearly 10 minutes a woman told me:
“There’s nowhere that I know of that they have this information and if they did, they would not release it to the public for security reasons.”
And she couldn’t cite anything beyond “security” and “privacy” for as to why that statistic was so sensitive.
When I pressed further, and she checked with her superiors, she said:
“They do not release that information because it does not need to be known.”
HmmmÉnow I’m really curious. Maybe I’ll try their media line again later, this time as a journalist.
As a complete and total non-sequitor, Accordion Guy points out that HootersAir is in business. Whoa.
“Because straight or gay, we believe and we know many people who believe, support and celebrate the right to marriage.”
– February 19, 2004, 11:55 am UTCPosted in: General
An LJer from Minnesota had a neat idea:
Today a coworker of mine had a thought to send flowers to a random couple waiting in line at SF city hall.
He called a florist and they agreed to do it. He told them to deliver to any couple — it didn’t matter who — standing in line to get married, with his blessing. The card will read simply “With love, from Minneapolis, Minnesota.”
Once they understood, they were very touched and thought it was a great idea.
He told another co-worker who did the same thing. And now we want to start a movement. Wouldn’t that be cool if people from all over the country, gay, straight and otherwise, started sending flowers to the people waiting in line to get married.
Call it The Big Gay Bouquet call it Flowers from the Heartland. Call it whatever you want, but help us get this off the ground.
Call Flowers on the Bay at 888-217-9119 and order a bouquet to be delivered tomorrow at noon.
And Tell all of your friends to do it.
Because straight or gay, we believe and we know many people who believe, support and celebrate the right to marriage. And we’d like to show it. We’d like to see all of the people standing in line with flowers of support from all over the country.
If anyone wants to call up some Berkeley florists and do the same thing, I’d be happy to put in some money.
Oh, and the AP ran a story on Persian blogs today asthe Eyeranian (Pedram) points out.
“The Selling Out of the First Amendment”
– February 18, 2004, 7:50 pm UTCPosted in: General
So I forgot — I have an extra free ticket (UCB students [or people who can pass as students, like Maria]) for the event tomorrow night in Zellerbach, with John Carroll (one of the editors at the LA Times) and Michael Krasny, the host of KQED-Forum. 7:30 pm tomorrow night.
Any takers?
