Why not us?

Categories: Politics

Hey! Why aren’t Democrats winning the culture wars? Because conservatives are supporting college Republicans like this (original) while liberals support college Democrats like this. Note in particular the differences between the Conservative Student Conference schedule and the Young Democrats Association schedule (original). On the one hand, you have a reception and a tour to Niagara Falls. On the other hand, you have lessons (or, if you like, indoctrination) on criticizing “liberal textbook bias” and becoming “a more effective advocate for your beliefs.” Also, one’s in Buffalo and one is in Washington, DC. Which city is more apropos if you want to encourage new blood to participate in the political process? ...

April 29, 2003 · 2 min · Bryant

Milk moustache

Categories: General

It’s kind of a frothy story, but the friar who invented cappucino was just beatified. Not for his caffeine-related efforts, mind you. However, cappucino is indeed named after the Capuchin order to which he belonged. You learn something every day.

April 28, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

Pod music

Categories: Typography

All Apple news sites are frantically clogged right now. Not a surprise. MacInTouch: Mac news, information and analysis (original) has some news on the Apple announcement, and I’ve pieced together some more stuff from here and there. Three new things: New iPods. Yay, 30 GB iPod. Some kind of a docking station, too, which seems unnecessary but whatever. I actually like my Firewire cable that doubles as a power cable when I go mobile so a docking station might be a step back. ...

April 28, 2003 · 2 min · Bryant

Heiress

Categories: Gaming

Patricia Hearst, post-sentencing. (Thumbnail: follow the link for a full-sized picture.)

April 28, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

High culture

Categories: Culture

Pro wrestling’s seen a lot of unusual venues — Pyongyang comes to mind. But I never thought I’d hear about a lucha libre match held at the Tate Gallery. That’s surreal above and beyond the call of duty. The wrestlers are the real deal, too; could be a fun little match. The artist, Carlos Amorales, apparently uses a lot of lucha libre in his work. I found a few scraps (original) of info (Quicktime video) on him (original). Pomopro wrestling.

April 27, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

Too much of a good thing

Categories: Sports

“We expected to see a lot of meat slapping here tonight.” I’d like to introduce the above quote as the most convincing evidence yet that the first round of the NBA playoffs should not have gone to seven games. The announcers are starting to get just a little punchy.

April 27, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

Working in Serendip

Categories: Personal

I was wandering through work today prior to some network maintenance, and happened to notice a copy of GURPS Prisoner on someone’s desk. I really like my coworkers. And my company, for that matter.

April 27, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant

This man, this war

Categories: Politics

So one frequent criticism of anti-war types is this: “You’re only against this war because Bush wants it.” Sometimes it’s phrased as “You wouldn’t be against this war if Clinton were fighting it,” which is nicely non-falsifiable. Either way, though, the appropriate answer is “No duh?” It’s perfectly reasonable to be against a specific action because of the President who’s promulgating it. For example, if Bush said “I’m going to hold an overnight prayer meeting with the cast of Bend It Like Beckham,” I wouldn’t particularly think twice about it. If Clinton said the same thing I’d think it was a rather unwise move on his part. ...

April 27, 2003 · 3 min · Bryant

Picking and choosing

Categories: Gaming

WISH 44 is all about picking games (original). How do you choose games to join or to run? What factors influence you: timing, people, system, genre, etc.? Do you weigh different factors for different kinds of games, e.g., online vs. tabletop vs. LARP? Is it a group decision or a decision you make on your own? Well, the easy answer is “yes.” I’m attracted to games based on genre and people. For a new group, the genre needs to be interesting and the people need to seem suitable. I’ve never been particularly interested in random D&D games, and I’m careful about getting into games with people I don’t know. ...

April 26, 2003 · 3 min · Bryant

Best bangs

Categories: Reviews

Via Die Puny Humans, The 25 Best American Comic Book Covers (original). Also includes the 12 worst. Beautiful stuff.

April 26, 2003 · 1 min · Bryant