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Politics, open government, and safe streets. And the constant incursion of cycling.

Month: February 2009 Page 3 of 4

Must See Reality TV

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On February 9, 2009

In Policy, Politics, Society

You have to see this MSNBC clip in the context of this remark from a reader of TPM:

Here’s what JC wrote: “In this clip, Nouriel Roubini and Nassim Taleb are still being treated as a circus sideshow by CNBC… They’re predicting the end of finance, and offering the only clear path out of this mess that I’ve seen offered (with the knowledge to back it up), and CNBC keeps asking them for stock tips. It’s ludicrous. Wall Street media — CNBC at least — doesn’t realize how bad this is yet. They’re stuck in a bubble where they think everything will go back to normal in a few months….”

He hits it spot on. These two guys are talking about a deep structural crisis in the world economy. And these CNBC yahoos can’t stop asking for stock tips. Really surreal.

Yeah, this post was a wholesale ripoff of TPM, but they were too on-point to do it any other way.

Producing the NFL Broadcast

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On February 9, 2009

In Distribution, Tech

I have zero interest in football, but this is a fascinating look at what it takes to transfer the action on the field to your television screen:

If the production crew of a televised football game is like a symphony orchestra, Bob Fishman is its conductor. He sits front and center in the dark trailer, insulated from the sunshine and the roar of the crowd, taking the fragments of sounds and moving images and assembling the broadcast on the fly, mediating the real event into the digital one. He scans the dizzying bank of screens to select the next shot, and the next, and the next, layering in replays, graphics, and sound, barking his orders via headset to his crew, plugging into a rhythm that echoes the pulse of the game.

10:15/Saturday Night

By

On February 7, 2009

In Music

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmzkmqvuDiE[/youtube]

House of Lords Looks at Privacy in the UK

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On February 7, 2009

In EU, Policy, UK

The House of Lords released a report on state surveillance in Britain, last week.  Among its findings:

Britain leads the world in the use of CCTV, with an estimated 4m cameras, and in building a national DNA database, with more than 7% of the population already logged compared with 0.5% in the America.

[ . . . ]

“The huge rise in surveillance and data collection by the state and other organisations risks undermining the long-standing traditions of privacy and individual freedom which are vital for democracy,” [Lord Goodlad, the former Tory chief whip and committee chairman] said. “If the public are to trust that information about them is not being improperly used there should be much more openness about what data is collected, by whom and how it is used.”

While many of the findings are themselves troubling (e.g., powers granted in the name of combating terrorism are in fact used to snag people for not cleaning up after their dogs), the existence of the report itself is encouraging.  First, it illustrates that the UK government isn’t marching in lockstep toward more surveillance.  In the past decade, it’s been alarming how easily the government has gained the ability to monitor its citizens’ most mundane activities without reason or permission.  Second, it should give some hope to those who – like me – regard Britain as a leading indicator for state surveillance and privacy policy in Europe and the United States.   If the House of Lords is sounding the alarm before the over-broad practices of the current Labour government have emigrated outward, those practices will be less likely to be met with a presumption of validity in the US and rest of the EU.

Weekend Music: Covetous Things

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On February 6, 2009

In Music, Society

Some things are eternal.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMwZ8MtxMkE[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbwN3t08Nlc[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wGMlSuX_c[/youtube]

DIY Bike Repair Shops in DC?

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On February 6, 2009

In Cycling, DC

Freewheeling Spirit wishes:

that D.C. had a DIY bike repair shop.

I’d like to see something like the Bike Kitchen in San Francisco (watch the Bike Kitchen video on youtube). Then, instead of working alone in a cramped space, I could be working and joking alongside fellow cyclists with lots of space and access to every tool I need.

I second that.   Bikes aren’t terribly complicated to work on, but very few people have the tools they need to do so easily and safely.   And who wants to buy and store tools that you’ll only need occasionally?  A DIY bike shop – say, attached to a community center – would solve that problem.   The military bases I grew up around always had something similar for cars and woodworking, and they were heavily used.  I suspect the right location would yield the same result in DC.

The Press Learns How to Ask Questions at the White House Again

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On February 6, 2009

In Distribution, Politics

Eric Boehlert has a fantastic column over at Media Matters examine the stark difference between the press corps’ approach to Bush on one hand, and Obama/Clinton on the other.   The White House press corps – which figuratively (and sometimes literally) didn’t bother showing up during the Bush years – all of a sudden decides that they’re going to demand answers to questions.   And it sure feels a lot like the beginning of the Clinton years.  Boehlert notes:

Can’t say I’m surprised about the sudden change in behavior, though. Taking the long view, I recently went back and contrasted how the press covered the first days and weeks of Clinton’s first term in 1993 with its coverage of Bush’s arrival in 2001. The difference in tone and substance was startling. (Think bare-knuckled vs. cottony soft.)

One explanation at the time of the Bush lovefest was that reporters and pundits were just so burnt out by the Clinton scandal years that they needed some downtime. They needed to relax; it was human nature. Conversely, the opposite now seems to be true: Because the press dozed for so long — because it sleepwalked through the Bush years — it just had to spring back to life with the new administration. It’s human nature.

When contrasting the early Clinton and Bush coverage, I noted it would be deeply suspicious if, in 2009, the press managed to turn up the emotional temperature just in time to cover another Democratic administration. But wouldn’t you know it, the press corps’ alarm went off right on time for Obama’s arrival last week, with the Beltway media taking down off the shelf the dusty set of contentious, in-your-face rules of engagement they practiced during the Clinton years and putting into safe storage the docile, somnambulant guidelines from the Bush era. In other words, one set of rules for Clinton and Obama, another for Bush. One standard for the Democrats; a separate, safer one, for the Republican.

Let’s be clear – I absolutely want an aggressive press corps that will illustrate the gaps between Obama’s rhetoric and action, between Congress pushing their own political interest over our public interest.  But that’s not what we’re going to be getting here, I think we’ll soon see.  Instead, we’re going to see a political press obsessed with petty slights and side issues.  And while they’re flailing away at the White House, there will be nearly no substantive examination of the breathtakingly ignorant talking points pushed by Republicans in Congress.   This isn’t a matter of bias perception on my part – there’s a substantive record to back it up.   What’s the solution?  I really don’t know.  It’s much like the financial industry, I think.  Everyone needs the lie to be true, lest they lose their place.  Perhaps it all needs to come crashing down.

But if it did, how would the country know?

Bob Mionske: The State of Cycling and the Law

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On February 6, 2009

In Cycling, Law, Policy

Bob Mionske, lawyer and long time cyclist, uses the occasion of his last Legally Speaking column at Velonews to give us a broad overview of the state of cycling and the law.  I recommend it to both cyclists and drivers.

Friday Notes: This Edition

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On February 6, 2009

In Cycling, Personal, Policy, Politics, Virginia

One of my favorite pro cyclists – Magnus Backstedt – is retiring.   At 6’4″ and 210lbs, he was proof that you don’t have to be a tiny little stick man to do well in cycling (tho’ it helps).  Good luck, Maggy.  We’ll miss you.

~

End to high times in Dubai?

[F]aced with crippling debts as a result of their high living and Dubai’s fading fortunes, many expatriates are abandoning their cars at the airport and fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans.

Police have found more than 3,000 cars outside Dubai’s international airport in recent months. Most of the cars – four-wheel drives, saloons and “a few” Mercedes – had keys left in the ignition.

I’m sure that no one could have imagined it.

~

Did you know that the US is getting new pennies next week?  I did not.

~

Fred Kaplan takes a good look at Federal archiving policy.  That might sound a bit dull, but it’s terribly important if we want to be able to ever assess the gap between what our politicians tell us and what the government actually does.

“Electronic records,” the study found, “are generally not disposed of in accordance” with federal regulations. In particular, many e-mails are “being destroyed prematurely,” for several reasons. [ . . . ]

Finally—and this is simply stunning—the National Archives’ technology branch is so antiquated that it cannot process some of the most common software programs. Specifically, the study states, the archives “is still unable to accept Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint slides.”

This is a huge lapse. Nearly all internal briefings in the Pentagon these days are presented as PowerPoint slides. Officials told me three years ago that if an officer wanted to make a case for a war plan or a weapons program or just about anything, he or she had better make the case in PowerPoint—or forget about getting it approved.

And now, it turns out, all those presentations may be lost to the ether.

~

Supposedly, Virginia will have smoking ban legislation soon.  I’ll believe it when I see it.

~

Trying to figure out what to do for your kid’s 15th birthday?  Hire the Abstinence Clown!  Can’t be that expensive, since it’s federally subsidized, and truly, the possible entertainment value is almost inconceivable.

~

I’ve been looking for a new motorcycle helmet, and I think I might have found it.

Midweek Makeover: This Is Not Irony

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On February 4, 2009

In Music

I’m a bit of a sucker for a particularly formulaic approach to covers – take a loud and expansive original and strip it down, usually by lounging it up.  And that’s what tonight’s covering artist has done with Public Image Ltd’s This Is Not a Love Song:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=6aumejrcEHs[/youtube]

And here’s Nouvelle Vague, turning out something quite enjoyable:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=RqAPbFm4tXQ[/youtube]

Thanks to P. for this edition.

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