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Friday, October 10, 2003Like a lot of other people, on my way to work in the morning I tune my radio to The Bob and Tom Show. I'm not sure why, since I never find them especially funny, but like network sitcoms, excessive amounts of bourbon, or a crack whore, it's something you can do for thirty minutes when you're bored. The side effect of listening to the show is that (a) it's on the Alternative music station, and (b) I have to turn the volume waaaay up to hear it over the ambient sounds of the freeway. As a result, turning on the car after work is like that THE JUICE IS LOOSE Starburst commercial where people get blasted by a metaphorical tidal wave of flavor, knocking them into next Tuesday. Too bad I don't like alternative music much-- too many whining lead singers that sound alike. On the whole it's like that David Spade "Hollywood Minute" SNL sketch where he opined, "I saw the Stone Temple Pilots' in concert the other night. I loved them the first time I heard them... When they were PEARL JAM!!!" Although I listen to that station when they play decent stuff like White Stripes or Audioslave, mostly I listen to the Light Rock station. This, I admit, makes me a wuss. I own a couple Jewel albums. A few weeks ago I commented, "Boy that Sheryl Crow can write evocative song lyrics." Certainly Head Banging Heavy Metal Me From High School would have beaten Current Sissy Me down then and there. A byproduct of my listening habits (other than liking Steely Dan far too much) is that I hear that Counting Crows' "Big Yellow Taxi" song eighty zillion times per day. It's a decent song overall, except for that lyric Hey farmer farmer Put away the DDT I dont care about spots on my apples Leave me the birds and the bees This is utterly dumb. First off, DDT is severely restricted and would not be used in an orchard. I'm fine with that fact; I like going for long walks in the woods and would hate to dump arsenic on baby harp seals or whatever. The bigest problem, however, is that the same regulations that restrict DDT usage here are killing people in the third world. Small doses of DDT are the only effective check on malaria-carrying mosquitos. As this article explains: The World Health Organization credits DDT with saving 50 million to 100 million lives by preventing malaria. In 1943 Venezuela had 8,171,115 cases of malaria; by 1958, after the use of DDT, the number was down to 800. India, which had over 10 million cases of malaria in 1935, had 285,962 in 1969. In Italy the number of malaria cases dropped from 411,602 in 1945 to only 37 in 1968. But now that DDT use has been severely restricted, "malaria infects between 300 million and 500 million people annually, killing as many 2.7 million of them." There was even an effort by the UN to ban DDT completely. (Thanks to a lobbying effort by anti-malaria groups, DDT use is restricted rather than banned.) Not that I think Adam Duritz would know this, but I think it's illustrative of modern environmental legislation. Everyone loves the Flowers and Animals so they sign on without examining the unintended consequences of these laws. And opposing a certain piece of environmental legislation doesn't automatically turn you into a Donald Trump worshipping capitalist who wants to steamroll the rainforest to put up a 100 story highrise with a Starbucks in the lobby. P.S.-- Speaking of music, how weird is it to have The Cure's "Pictures of You" on that Hewlett Packard commercial? "When you think of obsessive, psychological torment following the breakup of a codependent relationship, think HP!" P.S.S.-- Thank you, Robert Smith. Disintegration is the best album ever! posted by Nate on 11:20 PM link Thursday, October 09, 2003Mmmm... Haggis flavored potato chips. posted by Nate on 2:37 AM link Wednesday, October 08, 2003Unless you slipped in the shower Monday, cracked your head and passed out for forty eight hours, you know by now that Ahnold won California's "Total Recall." Glenn Reynolds has an article summing up the recall effort, and how it was democratic but not republican (in the classical, not partisan, sense). I have a deep respect for James Madison and thought that the recall election went against his insights into mob rule, but GHR makes a point about how the recall can reduce the influence of special interests. (And given Madison's extensive writings about the influence of "factions," I'm not sure he'd unequivocally oppose the measure.) Also, the recall election was funny as hell. Where else can Gary Coleman mingle with action heroes, porn stars, and Obviously Crazy people? Besides Corey Feldman's house, I mean. And the way Ahnold swept to victory against a corrupt establishment brings to mind the Hamlet sequence in his underrated, bizzarre, postmodern film The Last Action Hero: "Claudius, you killed my father. Big mistake!" Something's rotten in the state of Denmark... and Hamlet's taking out the trash!!! "Stay thy hand, fair prince." (Hamlet shoots him.) "Who said I'm fair?" No one is going to tell this sweet prince good night!!! "To be or not to be? (Castle explodes in the background. Hamlet smirks.) Not to be." (My college Shakespeare professor actually showed this scene to us in class. It almost made up for excessive viewings of a prancing, semi-nude Mickey Rooney in Midsummer's Night's Dream. Almost.) posted by Nate on 7:45 PM link Tuesday, October 07, 2003Slate's Christopher Hitchens interviews the Ayatollah Khomeini's grandson, a Shiite cleric who left the Iranian theocracy for Iraq. He says, "It is necessary for religion and politics to be separated... Now we have had 25 years of a failed Islamic revolution in Iran, and the people do not want an Islamic regime anymore." He also is in favor of a "swift and immediate American invasion of Iran," and a move to social pluralism in the region. posted by Nate on 10:47 PM link The Indianapolis Colts improbably scored 21 points in four minutes against one of the best defenses ever to tie Tampa Bay on Monday Night Football. They then won after a strange "Tuck Rule" like call when Simeon Rice was called for "Leaping" on a missed field goal attempt in overtime. Leaping is when a player gets a running start to block a field goal and lands on another player's back. The ten yard penalty on Simeon Rice gave the Colts' Mike Vanderjagt, the most accurate kicker in NFL history, who hadn't missed this year, another chance. The next field goal try squirted right and may have missed had it not been tipped by defensive lineman Ellis Wyms. It doinked off the upright and snuck through for the win. I am speechless; I am without speech. Quoth Jon Gruden, "Tuck Rule, Ref!" (or something phonetically similar). posted by Nate on 1:17 AM link
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your stolen base are belong to Rickey Henderson. Questions or comments? Email nate@swankypimp.com |
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