Preznit Qualifications

Let's take at face value for a second all the stuff around who is/isn't qualified to be President:

McCain is unqualified because he's too old.

Palin is unqualified due to her lack of experience.

Obama is unqualified due to his lack of experience.

Say hello to President Joseph Biden, the only one of the four who meets the "qualifications" being thrown around. (Odd that he's older, but not too old, and white, and male, and has been in government for a very long time.)

Somehow I don't think proposing this as a solution will make many people happy.

UPDATE: Clearly I need to stop half-assing blog posts. This was a joke/thought experiment taking into account what the campaigns and their supporters are saying about the candidates - not an endorsement on my part.

Sheesh.

Shameless - eager, even! - plug

Le Patisserie, a bakery in Corvallis, has a website.

If you are ever in Corvallis, stop by. It's amazing. The only place I've ever had better pastries is France itself.

Congratulations

are in order. My brother got a job!

What should I get him as a congratulatory gift?

(Hint: The job is in politics.)

It's Been Months in the Making: Link Dump!

Ready? Better get settled. This could take awhile.

Steampunk wallpaper

Video made from results of Google query for "biggest regret"

Neal Stephenson: Science Fiction as a Literary Genre (warning, it's a long talk)

The Education of Shelby Knox

The Best-Ever Freeware List

Giant Squid Dissection Video

1 in 4 California high school students drop out, state says

Zittrain's "The Future of the Internet" -- how to save the Internet from the Internet

U.S. Rushes to Change Workplace Toxin Rules

Video: Insurance Company Rules

Band Name Generator

Wallstats: A Visual Guide of Where Your Federal Tax Dollars Go (I want one of these.)

Spam Your Enemies (Not endorsed by me)

Toonlet, a webcomic generator

Free Fonts

63 Must-Have Grunge Fonts

HETEROSEXUAL QUESTIONNAIRE

BBtv: Joel talks to futurist Syd Mead

Olympics Televised Soccer Schedule

Notes on the Junction City Scandinavian Festival

I went to this today. It was.... interesting. You couldn't have pried my sociologist's hat off with a case of dynamite. What follows is a rather messy exposition of some of my thoughts that occurred during and after my visit. I have this feeling that based on past experience I'm not going to spend any time cleaning them up, so I'm just going to post them.

I definitely had some preconceptions/expectations going in: That it would be even whiter than the rest of Oregon (both culturally and demographically), that the people attending would be heavier than average (due to the likely food – lots of sweets, dairy and meat, with a distinct lack of fruit and vegetables), that there would be a lot of solid colors on clothing, and that the strength of the relationship between what would be on display and actual Scandinavian anything could range from decent to very, very weak., but was unlikely to be really strong.

Sadly, I feel like some of those preconceptions were not invalid. The exceptions: the crowd was no whiter than the rest of Oregon, nor more overweight (as far as I could tell on both counts). That said, I left with a lot of questions about the depth of the connection to Scandinavian culture (more on that later). The food also lacked vegetables or fruit, on the whole – the onions in the meat pies were about all I spotted. (By the way, the meat pie I had was really, really frackin' good. Then again, meat + gravy + pastry crust is hard to beat). Also, I suspect neither elephant ears nor bananas dipped in chocolate are Scandinavian in origin.... but they are fair food.

The whole preconception thing made me uncomfortable. Does holding either these preconceptions or preconceptions in general make me a bad person? Maybe..... what it does suggest is that I romanticize non-white culture, which is a very, very stupid and bad thing to do.

The other way to look at it as that the reason I was laughing on the inside for most of the afternoon (and I was) was that the culture on display was uncritically white, and for some reason, it came across as a parody to me. I just couldn't/can't believe people were genuinely (and not ironically) excited about it. That should tell you something about how I view mainstream culture in America, especially television.

An aside: Interestingly, this whole train of thought makes me think that Scandinavian culture is a component of whiteness. This is news, considering that “what does it mean to be white?” is often a question met with silence. Curious.

A second aside: I don't mean to imply that no one can be genuinely interested in the culture of ethnicities that have been assimilated into whiteness. Rather, it's the uncritical nature of the interest that gets me. After all, the older I get, the more interested I get in Irish culture – and I'm part Irish.

One question that was raised early on goes something like this: How do people continue to retain their connection to the culture of the place they came from? In this case, since the shift was, for the most part, hundreds of years ago, the question almost morphs into “in what ways, if any, does the presentation of Scandinavian culture change as the result of the time passed since one moves away from Scandinavia?”

Another question that came up: Given the history of Scandinavia as a whole, how was this particular vision of Scandinavia decided on? Certainly, my (limited) experience in Sweden looks nothing like what was at the Festival. This question I think I have something of an answer for: The culture that was celebrated was the culture present when immigrants moved to the US, more or less. Case in point: There is a Christian church service as part of the festival on Sunday morning. I saw nothing in the Festival that made any mention of the pre-Christian Scandinavia; it all seemed to be from, say, the 18th century. I would have been interested in any pre-Christian indigenous religions, for example... but, as noted, what was really on display was a particular time period/part of Scandinavian culture.

Some other things that came up:

What parts of Scandinavian culture are on display, and what are not? On display: Foods – mostly meat, dairy and dessert; art – mostly crafts, a few paintings; dance; etc. Missing: Why those things are the way they are, why they are important, what they were linked to: climate, geography, available resources, living in the rhythms of the land – and agriculture, always agriculture and the natural cycle of life in the specific region.

The Vikings – not many were on display, but how many of those wearing the horns (because very few went all-out; it was mostly the horns) think about the Vikings in terms of lives lost, people killed, etc? Not many, I suspect, as it's still perfectly acceptable in American culture to romanticize or otherwise value war, natch.

Dancing – I spent a lot of time thinking about this one, as the people I knew at the Festival were all into dance in one form or another. A friend and I talked about how regional differences in dances, individual (and clothes) were obscured by the labeling of dances by nation, for example. We talked about ways in which dances might spread. Also, I thought a lot about how to separate the fact that while the people participating in the various dances may have been having a lot of fun, and rightly so, those dances did not necessarily represent any meaningful connection to a specific culture. Of course, that notion was challenged by the obvious: How do I know that? I don't, not really, but it seems pretty straightforward when placed in the context of the Festival as a whole: Face it..... it was a celebration of surface culture. There was very little to indicate why the Scandinavian culture was the way it was, what conditions drove it, etc. (It's here that I start thinking about agriculture and climate again, as well as, for some reason, Samhain or Lammas.) Watching the dancing (and there was a lot of dancing), I was also confronted with an example of how traditions are passed on, and what traditions get passed on, etc.

Oh, and my favorite person at the festival? The hipster-ish guy with a horned Viking helmet. Somehow, it completed the outfit rather nicely. I think it was the combination of tiny, tiny hips and a helmet....

Strangest festival moment: When, as part of the evening pageantry, a group of performers danced around a witch who was tied to a stake... and on fire. I can't decide if I think that was insane and insulting, or just silly.

I want to conclude this by noting that even if I am coming across as caustic and highly critical (and I am), I still had a lot of fun. It was good to see people I know, the food was tasty, and it was definitely an interesting experience. I just couldn't take all the whiteness uncritically/seriously.

Of Hypotheticals and Listening Skills

Part of a hypothetical conversation that might have happened this morning:

Person X: So tell me about the meeting yesterday. What's the situation with Issue A?

Dennis: This is the structure of their existing plan... if we successfully pass this proposal, we can choose how to implement, either matching the existing plan or creating a whole new plan. Here are some reasons to do either, plus some likely consequences for different options.

Person X: So our proposed plan is analogous to their plan?

Dennis: No, we have the freedom to do it however we want. We never actually proposed a concrete plan, just that we get the resources to meet this existing need.

Person X: So our plan, which is analogous to their plan, is to [describes their plan].

Dennis: Actually, we don't have to stick to that, we can do any way we want. [Briefly repeats a few possibilities.]

[Conversation shifts to rehashing other parts of the meeting, the same thing happens.]

Later, in presenting this to other people:

Person X: Our plan, which is analogous to the existing plan, would....

Dennis: [Develops an ulcer on the spot.]

Two Seconds on the Blogging & Public/Private Split

I'm starting to think more and more about blogs as being a replacement for the loss of common, public space in our communities. Certainly LT, and to a lesser extent this blog, have served as spaces for (some) people to have conversations about what's going on with the LCSD.... on the other hand, given that LT and I have veto power over comments (comments being a form of speech), it sort of calls into question how public the spaces really are.

For the first time, I'm tempted to compare myself to a mall: A pseudo-public space that only exists due to the largesse of a private individual or entity. While it might have the superficial appearance of a public space where people have equal access, it's clear that someone can enforce arbitrary rules that violate some longstanding norms about access to public space.

Don't get me wrong: I think both this blog and LT have added, not subtracted, to the ongoing discussion in the community by providing some sort of quasi-public space to communicate that didn't exist before. However....

Hm. I should think about this more, but I doubt I will.

A Top 50 List

I have never heard of the vast majority of these women. The ones I am most familiar with are political bloggers, and, of course, Dooce.

Awkward?

When an old friend calls and asks for advice about a guy, and tells you she's asking "because you're a guy."

I protested to no avail that I'm not a typical guy and therefore cannot give her The Standard Guy Response (I know, right?), but it didn't matter. Also, one would think that since this guy's in the military, and I'm me, that would immediately disqualify me from giving advice.... apparently genitalia reign supreme, or something.

It was a good conversation, though, and I feel like I actually said some things that were not totally useless. I hope things work out for her.

A list of everything's that on my desk right now, in no particular order

22-inch LCD monitor
MacBook Pro (closed)
bluetooth keyboard (in use)
bluetooth mouse (not in use)
USB mouse (in use)
Computer speakers x2
1/3 full cup of coffee
three coasters
small stack of business cards I've been meaning to file
two 500GB external HDs
USB hub
iPod connector
Richard Rorty's Philosophy and Social Hope
one empty bottle of Twilight Ale
one mostly full box of Triscuits
one unused butter knife
ear buds
keys
wallet
fine point Sharpie
$15 (one 5 and one 10)
watch
mostly full tin of Altoids
one burned CD (Giants Citizen Kabuto Disc 1; it doesn't work)
empty plastic water bottle
crumpled receipt from Fred Meyer
two AA batteries in a small plastic case
the power pack for the MacBook charger
pen

Who Knew?

CASA GRANDE, AZ -- Today, Dennis Dugan formally announced his candidacy for Pinal County Supervisor in District 3.

Found via Whozat, which I heard about here.

Wordle

I've been wordled:



Click the picture to make it bigger.

(The code given to me by the world site did not work, so I had to do it this way.)

Update: As my intrepid commenter base notes, Wordle only uses the last several posts, or perhaps the main page, to generate the cloud, meaning this is a representation of what I've been blogging about recently. I wish it was comprehensive...

Moody Memes

I'll take that challenge.... but not that seriously, as you will see.

Your coma: Unplug, or keep on pluggin’? Surprisingly, I can't decide.
Superstition you can’t shake: I tend to touch a lot of doorways.
Last person you yelled at: Ooh, that's difficult. Probably my parents or brother.
Duty at work you hate: Phone banking.
Invention the world would be better off without: Television!
Actor/actress you’d trade your partner for: Um, no. Too implicitly based on looks.
Selling price for your kids: No such thing.
One thing your mom would faint if she knew about: Two words: Lawn ornaments.
Sound of the little voice in your head: The Narrator
What you do when the Jehovah’s Witnesses knock: Politely say no. Refuse materials.
Web sites you visit instead of working: Google Reader
Tylenol or Ibuprofen? Why stop at one? (Seriously, I have no preference.)
Oldest thing in your fridge: Salad dressing?
First thing you’d do if made dictator for life: Dismantle the military.
Burial or cremation? Burial - with no chemicals.
Worst vacation ever: The drive to Baker City.
Speed you’d drive if you knew you wouldn’t be ticketed: Barring gas, 85.
Best hangover cure: Coffee... probably Irish Coffee.
Sex on the first date? Yes.
Thing you say that makes you sound like your folks when you swore you never would: I repeat stories.

Random

Also, who posted all the opinion stuff to the DH website today? Whoever it is needs to go back and check the formatting. It's all mucked up.

Reader Stats

Number of unread posts in Google Reader that I intend to read right now: 726

Number of unread posts that I don't intend to read: It hits 1000 in a matter of a few days, and Google doesn't provide an accurate count above that. I bet it's over 10K now - I periodically mark everything as read just because it drives me crazy to have so many unread posts.

Number of feeds I am subscribed to (including the ~10 or so comment feeds I am subscribed to): 248

Number I actually read: Less than 100

Odds that this weekend I will choose to read the last few days' worth of posts and just mark the rest as read: High.

Note: I use Google Reader as my way of bookmarking blogs, which is why I have so many unread posts.

Blogopticon

From Vanity Fair. Check it out.

Geez, Sesame Street really does teach us about life

Found via profgrrrl, this was a question on a Sesame Street character quiz:

22. Alas, you are about to be marooned by yourself on an island. Which of these things would you rather have a lot of when you arrive?

A) Rice
B) Hope

Jeebus.

Presidential Chest-Thumping

Is this postmodern? A sign that Bush is, indeed, a Boomer?

Or is he just an overgrown frat boy?

Six Degrees of Wikipedia

I could lose a lot (more) time playing with this.

If anyone gets five or more clicks, let me know. I could only get four.

Obsidian Wings

I can't get over how fantastic the picture in the upper left and the line below the blog's title are on this page. Have a look.