May 24, 2008

fotD21

Books and a bike. I so need a vacation.

bring in the appeasers

Balloon Juice is consistently one of the best political blogs out there. With three or four contributors, it cranks out many more posts than I can read, and I want to share most of the posts that I do get to with friends and idiot acquaintances alike. A recent one, 'Barack Obama: Kinda Like a Nazi Appeaser,' summed up the recent lecture Bush made in Israel about Obama talking to black hats and others that want to take away our foot massages, saying they were appeasers akin to the ones who tried to negotiate with the Nazis (ten to one he couldn't come up with the name 'Chamberlain' in that context if his life depended on it, but whatever).

Since I read that post, I've learned two new things: one is that when Bush made the speech in Israel, the Israelis were conducting quiet negotiations with neighbor Syria, a state sponsor of terrorism. So he was basically equating the victims of the Nazis with, um, Nazis ("breathtakingly cynical" is how the NYT described it - if I were an internet researcher, I'd track the appearance of the word 'moron' before and after January 20, 2009 to see how much its use diminishes.) The other thing I learned is that Obama shouldn't be so quick to invoke Kennedy when making the point about the importance of using all elements of American power including tough, direct diplomacy; in Kennedy's one foray into discussions with Krushchev, he got his ass verbally handed to him, leaving Krushchev with the impression he was an immature lightweight that could be walked all over to the tune of putting nuclear missiles in Cuba. The danger in direct diplomacy, which I support, is overconfidence in your own abilities. I hope Obama's ready.

Back to Bush, the Balloon Juice article wrapped up nicely:
I think we should have a national celebration when this criminal leaves office. I mean a truly national celebration, with fireworks, street parties, city proclamations, etc that would be televised all over the world. I want President Bush’s last day in office to be the most humiliating experience of his life – one where the American people show him how absolutely jubilant they are that he is no longer the leader of this country. We could call it “National Thank Fucking God Day” or something like that.
Hallejulah.

May 23, 2008

How can a group of smart people look so dumb?

An article in the NYT about Ford's 'surprising' bad news following its surprising good news of profitability just last quarter, in which it announced a three-month profit of $100M.


"Ford… will accelerate plans to bring small cars and crossovers it sells in
international markets to North America." [So, will the people people
with 'I work for Ford, I drive a Ford' license plate frames and 'Lost your job
yet? Keep buying foreign' bumper stickers buy cars made by Ford in
France?
]

Mulally: "What we're really trying to do is understand what the real demand
is going to be going forward."

'…the striking shift by consumers from trucks and SUVs into smaller cars
and crossovers now appears to be "structural in nature" rather than a short-term
reaction to gas prices.

"We needed to act now," Mulally said.

"They had no choice but to do this now," said Joseph Phillippi of New
Jersey's AutoTrends Consulting.

Now? How about three or four years ago when all the indicators pointed toward rising gas prices, a housing bubble, and increasing environmental legislation and public concern? If Ford had spent as much on negotiations with Toyota to license their hybrid technology in their SUVs, pickups, and cars as they did on marketing useless E85 engines with 20 year old fuel efficiencies, they'd be lining up perfectly with the market right now, looking at an inevitable shift toward car production but without the cliff-like drop of truck sales.

I've learned that if you think everyone in a medium to large organization is stupid, blind, or inept you probably don't know the whole story. There must be reasons for why Ford positioned itself so that its only strategy is to react after the market shifts predictably. I just can't believe that any of them, given their performance the last few years, could have been good enough to justify this outcome. I have a morbid fascination with the repeated missteps and flaccid reactions of the Big 3, given the devastating effect they're having on my town and state. I feel like a deer watching the forest bursting into flame all around it, too fascinated by each spark to pack up and leave.

May 22, 2008

Chad is the HULK!

I've thought for a long time Ed Norton would be perfectly cast to play Angry Chad should he do anything movie-worthy, and tonight I caught a commercial for the new Hulk movie, starring Mr. Jack's Wasted Life himself.

...All along I thought this whole 'Angry Chad' thing was more of a normal, cranky, 'why are people so stupid?' kinda angry...

Curse you, NETFLIX!!

Oh, that damned paradox of life: when you have the time, you don't have the money and when you have the money, you don't have the time!!

If I got hit by a car tonight and faced a really looong in-home convalescence, I'd buy the Netflix Player tomorrow and eviscerate my queue. Seriously, I'd kick its ass. All 243 entries.

The Job

They're filming a Shem Betterman stage-to-screen black comedy down by the Leland today (is the City Club still there? it's been years). According to the assistant we talked to, it was slated to be filmed in Kansas, but better incentives brought the film to Detroit. At one point she had to get a woman's attention who was crossing the street, so she ran crouched over toward her, sure to line herself up behind a tree as if she were avoiding a sniper even though the filming was across the street and half a block away. Turns out they have to be careful about reflections in the window behind the actors. I suppose that's a great selling point for a city like Detroit as opposed to Vancouver, LA, NY, or pretty much anywhere else: we've got the architecture of the big cities with almost none of the traffic, so probably less cost for the production company. She also mentioned that there's an Eastwood (maybe Dirty Harry) movie coming to town soon, too - Gran Torino - the name alone makes me think catching some of that filming may be pretty cool.

A blog mentions the actors in The Job (Ron Perlman, Joe Panoliano...) and a couple of the comments made a great visual connection: Perlman, Will Ferrell, and Tom Waits look like brothers. Perlman and Waits are the same age, and Ferrell could be the little brother who's almost an only child due to the 18 year age difference, spazzing out for any attention he could get.

UPDATE: Big day downtown - my brother in law mentioned that Bill Clinton is having lunch at Opus One today.

May 19, 2008

you're not as smart as you think

I'm often reminded that if I've thought or wondered about something, many other people have as well, and at least one or two of them have actually developed some sort of product/answer/blog about it. Sometimes I really enjoy this, as when it's about some interesting political or intellectual point, sometimes not so much, as when it's an idea for a business that I thought would be fun, new, and profitable (not that I have a bevy of investors and lawyers waiting in the wings to make that happen anyway).

Today's reminder, though it could be turned into a product, is one that just makes me happy to see that yes indeedy, someone's working on this. Being from Michigan and interested in green technologies I've been wondering about the flip side of heavily-insulated, or highly-reflective, or even vegetative roofs (all 'cool roofs'); they make great sense during the summer air-conditioning season by keeping the inside of a building cooler in the first place, but in the winter they rob the building of any benefit there may have been in that passive warming. It's the same problem with passive solar heating with windows; in the summer they have to be shaded all the time. But roof systems, unlike windows, aren't easily uncovered or tinted. Unless they're thermochromic. If the roof can change color based on the outside temperature, it can selectively absorb or reflect heat. Cool, in an exceedingly green and nerdy way. Eventually (a viable product is likely a decade away), the roofs of entire neighborhoods in the north could shift imperceptibly from heat-hoarding black to a field of reflective white.

May 18, 2008

Duh?

The world, existence, humanity is nothing more than energy of one form or another.  A variety of spacial plaines that can, at times, co-exist within each other.  In this regard I don't find the Vatican astronomer acknowledging  the Big Bang Theory and the possibility of extraterrestrial life being a plausible scenario to be a surprise. 
I've never been one for the trappings of modern religion....too much voodoo and "faith" and crazy fanaticism for my tastes, but, I've always thought that "ghosts" exist in some fashion while not believing in god or an afterlife.  That and the idea or belief that life from other worlds or universes have found their way to our own have been firmly rooted in my mind from an early age.  Energy can be imprinted on a landscape and dimensions can co-exist within in one another and, due to a variety of possible circumstances, can reveal themselves on the present. This only lends credence to my own belief in this regard. Advanced life exists and has had the ability to have found it's way to our own world. This in my explanation of the unexplained. I still find it bothersome that to this day "god" had to be the one to pull the trigger to get this show on the road.  Modern religion is nothing more that a failing big business attempting to put a plausible spin on its own fiction in order to keep the silly masses quiet and to keep the money flowing for as long as possible. 

May 15, 2008

Can it be?

I don't know why the NYT ran this piece on long-time Representative Barney Frank, but I'm glad they did. Especially in Detroit, we need to hear once in awhile about the solid, smart, hard working people that are sometimes elected to office.
“Barney has been very fair,” said Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California and one of the most conservative members of the House. “I think that I have been treated more fairly, and a number of my Republican colleagues have been treated more fairly, since the Democrats have become the majority than I was treated by my own leadership.”

Mr. Frank politely interjected, “I know the gentleman joins me in looking forward to continued years of such treatment.”

May 13, 2008

goodles?


If you're not a daily (or hourly) user, be sure to check out Google on May 22nd (image by Paul Massicott, which reminded me of Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth).

May 3, 2008

the new DIA

Just got back from our first visit to the DIA since the remodel - fantastic. As many times as I've been there, it seemed like there were new things to see in every gallery and down every hall. The addition(s?) flow seamlessly with the old building and I found myself asking M on more than one occasion, 'Wasn't this outside before? Is this new?' Even the cafe is a huge improvement, with more and better food (they'll grill a filet for you on the spot and/or you can raid the salad bar) at lower prices.

To top it off, becoming a member, which we briefly discussed and dismissed on the drive there, was a no-brainer: state tax break of 50%, free admission to the Ash Can special exhibit (well worth the price of admission even if we'd paid for it), free tickets to the upcoming Monet special exhibit, and discounts at the cafe, film theater, and gift shops.

The DIA is easily one of the best things about Detroit. Even setting aside any cheap shots you'd be tempted to stick in there, it's a world class institution that's been made all the better by the recent changes. Go.

May 1, 2008

Why didn't I get into advertising?

Every morning I wake up and, groggily, flip on the radio to either a local AM news station or NPR. Usually, when it's the AM radio news I get to listen to Emery King narrating a commercial or several for The Detriot Medical Center. Most people locally have heard them and the commercials typically revolve around some severe medical situation or condition where the individual is near deaths door and, after treatment at The DMC, makes a wonderful recovery and goes on the lead a productive life. The commericals usually end with "when it's important head to The DMC". The result of listening to these nuggets of joy are that they make me wonder if I'll manage to live through the day and that a better ending to the commercial would be "when it's an emergency Run to the DMC".