China's story: putting the PR into the PRC | openDemocracy

This is a great short article on China's public image problem as the Olympics cast a brighter light on that nation. There are some interesting solutions that are both pragmatic and relatively easy.

Megan McArdle and Dan Drezner's defense of the media - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com

Click the link for another dismemberment of the press by the inimitable Glenn Greenwald.

We are Iron Man!

We are Iron Man! A lowbrow literary mystery. - Brainiac - The Boston Globe

This article covers the origins of the Marvel character (who has a movie coming out soon) and Iron Man's connections with Black Sabbath and Ted Hughes. It has a wonderful anti-war twist at the end of the piece, too.

Bill Clinton

is a dick.

Treason and the Religious Right

This article from the Huffington Post argues that 1) the religious right have said and continue to say things far worse than Jeremiah Wright and 2) that the Clinton campaign is abetting the right-wing's smear against Obama. Good stuff.

The world's 50 most powerful blogs | Technology | The Observer

The world's 50 most powerful blogs
Alas, Historic Alley is not among them.

Hillary Clinton

I've pretty much decided that I'm not going to vote for Hillary Clinton should she win the Democratic nomination. It probably wouldn't have an impact anyway, as I live in South Carolina, which will be "in the tank" for McCain, but I voted in 2000 for Ralph Nader and even though it didn't have an impact on the "election" of Bush, I said I'd never vote for a third party candidate again. Now, I'm in a quandary, as Hillary's negative campaign has disheartened me so incredibly. If anyone who stumbles upon this entry can make a persuasive argument for why I should write in their name for President (should Hillary Clinton become the nominee), I will do so in November.

No links in this entry, but I'll be posting some about Clinton's negative campaign in the next few days. For the time being, though, I'll just put up this video from Countdown Monday night:



UPDATE (April 12, 2008): That was, obviously, posted in the heat of battle, and of course blog posts are like that. So what? Well, I've decided that even if Clinton were to win--though that increasingly less likely at this point--I will vote for her, or any Democratic nominee in November.

The Dungeon Master

I'm saddened today by the death of Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons and Dragons and thief of many of my waking hours (many of which should have been spent sleeping or going to class) during my high school and college years.

The Lizard Man Returns!

Lizard Man attacks car in South Carolina? - Boing Boing

Writer William F. Buckley dies at 82

Although I shared very few (read: almost no) political beliefs with William F. Buckley, I admired his wit and his facility with language. He was one of the few true intellectuals. The public is rarely exposed to any depth of analysis, instead being subjected to endless streams of brainless pundits, some of whom have the audacity to consider themselves the spiritual and intellectual offspring of Mr. Buckley. I grew up, at least partially because of nothing else being on TV, watching Firing Line, and I learned a lot from it.

Stuff White People Like

This--Stuff White People Like--is a great blog. The LA Times says it grew from 0 to 300k daily hits in six weeks. It's really excellent.

BIL Conference - Minds Set Free.

The BIL Conference - Minds Set Free. looks interesting. Alas, I'm stuck on the other coast.

Salon.com | News Wires

I think Castro stepped down because he won.
Salon.com: Court Rejects Domestic Spying Appeal

Cultographies

I love it when academe and one of my other loves come together, so see Cultographies, a new series of monographs about cult movies!

will.i.am video for Obama

On Wealth

Philip Slater: It's the Pathology, Stupid - Business on The Huffington Post is one of the best short analyses of wealth and the wealthy I've seen. I've not thought about the idea of the continuous pursuit of wealth as a pathology before, but it's an interesting argument.

Cinematic Titanic

Cinematic Titanic is the return of one of my all-time faves, Mystery Science Theatre 3000, or MST3K. Here's a link on the return. Yay!

San Diego

Here I am in San Diego, and I realize how long it's been since I posted. I'm posting some photos on my flickr site. Enjoy

LibraryThing | Catalog your books online

I f'ing luuv LibraryThing. I have cataloged all the books in my office. You can do up to 200 books for free. I'll be buying a life membership ($25) very soon. Check out my collection here.

Two Great Ideas

These great ideas were originally posted at one of my favorite new blogs, Rule the Web (named after the book by the same name by Mark Frauenfelder of one my other faves, Boing Boing)

Idea 1: Free voicemail from AOL, called AIM Phoneline. It's a free service if you settle for incoming calls. If you don't want to give out your main phone #, it's great. My number is 864-335-6221. Here's the link. You'll need an AOL or AIM (?) account to get the number and check your messages online, but it's free.

Idea 2: Using Twitter. I have a twitter i.d. (steplow) but it's pretty useless without a network of folks to interact with. Mark has a list of ideas for Twitter's actual real-life usefulness here. Let me know if you sign up.

Cheers!