Monday Start

Up early. Appointment with dentist made for tomorrow. Discovery of Dreamweaver and Fireworks CS4 beta after just purchasing CS3 upgrade suite. Yet more rain.

And columnist Charles Krauthammer is still a nitwit.

The Church of the Environment - Seattle Times - 01 June 08

"If you doubt the arrogance [of environmentalists], you haven't seen that Newsweek cover story that declared the global warming debate over. Consider: If Newton's laws of motion could, after 200 years of unfailing experimental and experiential confirmation, be overthrown, it requires religious fervor to believe that global warming — infinitely more untested, complex and speculative — is a closed issue."

Newton's laws of motion have been overthrown? Are environmentalists calling for an end to global warming research now that it is a "closed issue"? I wonder if Mr. Krauthammer thinks that it's a "closed case" that smoking causes lung disease or HIV causes AIDS. Of course there's always uncertainty in knowledge but to base any kind of policy on increasingly thin threads of uncertainty, especially when deadly catastrophic failure is the most likely outcome, is preposterous.

Monday Start

Up early. Appointment with dentist made for tomorrow. Discovery of Dreamweaver and Fireworks CS4 beta after just purchasing CS3 upgrade suite. Yet more rain.

And columnist Charles Krauthammer is still a nitwit.

The Church of the Environment - Seattle Times - 01 June 08

"If you doubt the arrogance [of environmentalists], you haven't seen that Newsweek cover story that declared the global warming debate over. Consider: If Newton's laws of motion could, after 200 years of unfailing experimental and experiential confirmation, be overthrown, it requires religious fervor to believe that global warming — infinitely more untested, complex and speculative — is a closed issue."

Newton's laws of motion have been overthrown? Are environmentalists calling for an end to global warming research now that it is a "closed issue"? I wonder if Mr. Krauthammer thinks that it's a "closed case" that smoking causes lung disease or HIV causes AIDS. Of course there's always uncertainty in knowledge but to base any kind of policy on increasingly thin threads of uncertainty, especially when deadly catastrophic failure is the most likely outcome, is preposterous.

Meghan Daum Rocks

Intro for latest essay below.

In the Context of No-Context - LA Times Op-Ed - 31 May 08

"If there's anything that sends me into a vortex of nihilism and despair faster than getting a Shania Twain song stuck in my head, it's starting to think about 'Within the Context of No-Context.' The seminal essay, by George W.S. Trow, is a doomsday prophecy about the corrosive effects of electronic media. It's also turned out to be a massive understatement.

Still, it takes a week like the one we've just had to be reminded of its prescience. Taking up the entire feature well of one issue of the New Yorker in 1980, 'Within the Context' predates the blogosphere. It's pre-MTV, pre-24-hour news cycle, pre-reality show. Despite the relative innocence of the era, Trow sees TV as an agent of psychological and cognitive destruction. 'The work of television,' his central argument states, 'is to establish false contexts and to chronicle the unraveling of existing contexts; finally, to establish the context of no-context and to chronicle it.'

And to think he wrote that having never read Gawker or watched Fox News or 'The Daily Show.'

Don't get me wrong, I like watching video montages of President Bush using the word 'awesome' as much as the next person. But I'm also beginning to wonder if taking words and phrases out of context, of putting them into manufactured 'meta' contexts, has stopped functioning as a national sport and become something closer to an official language.

Meghan Daum Rocks

Intro for latest essay below.

In the Context of No-Context - LA Times Op-Ed - 31 May 08

"If there's anything that sends me into a vortex of nihilism and despair faster than getting a Shania Twain song stuck in my head, it's starting to think about 'Within the Context of No-Context.' The seminal essay, by George W.S. Trow, is a doomsday prophecy about the corrosive effects of electronic media. It's also turned out to be a massive understatement.

Still, it takes a week like the one we've just had to be reminded of its prescience. Taking up the entire feature well of one issue of the New Yorker in 1980, 'Within the Context' predates the blogosphere. It's pre-MTV, pre-24-hour news cycle, pre-reality show. Despite the relative innocence of the era, Trow sees TV as an agent of psychological and cognitive destruction. 'The work of television,' his central argument states, 'is to establish false contexts and to chronicle the unraveling of existing contexts; finally, to establish the context of no-context and to chronicle it.'

And to think he wrote that having never read Gawker or watched Fox News or 'The Daily Show.'

Don't get me wrong, I like watching video montages of President Bush using the word 'awesome' as much as the next person. But I'm also beginning to wonder if taking words and phrases out of context, of putting them into manufactured 'meta' contexts, has stopped functioning as a national sport and become something closer to an official language.

Furniture Cleaning Question

One of my neighbors moved out yesterday and was giving away furniture he'd had in storage. So I helped myself to two cloth covered Lazy-Boy recliners, two Mastercraft of Omaha overstuffed chairs, four wooden chairs with bow backs and one wicker rocking chair. The two Lazy-Boys seem to have some funky stuff on parts of them. Some just the usual stains and some that looks a bit like mildew. Does anyone have a recommendation for cleaning these things? I'm thinking that Stanley Steamer does that kind of thing and would do a good job. They are in pretty good shape other than that.

Furniture Cleaning Question

One of my neighbors moved out yesterday and was giving away furniture he'd had in storage. So I helped myself to two cloth covered Lazy-Boy recliners, two Mastercraft of Omaha overstuffed chairs, four wooden chairs with bow backs and one wicker rocking chair. The two Lazy-Boys seem to have some funky stuff on parts of them. Some just the usual stains and some that looks a bit like mildew. Does anyone have a recommendation for cleaning these things? I'm thinking that Stanley Steamer does that kind of thing and would do a good job. They are in pretty good shape other than that.

Anti-Nuke Headwinds Build

Looks like folks are starting to tune back into this issue. Lots of fun stuff to read where once it was Few-and-Far-Between-Land. Lots of lovely tidbits in this presentation.

Nuclear Bomb - Salon.com - 02 June 08

"Lew Hay, chairman and CEO of FPL [Florida Power & Light], said, 'If our cost estimates are even close to being right, the cost of a two-unit plant will be on the order of magnitude of $13 to $14 billion. That's bigger than the total market capitalization of many companies in the U.S. utility industry and 50 percent or more of the market capitalization of all companies in our industry with the exception of Exelon.' This, he said, 'is a huge bet for any CEO to take to his or her board.'

In January, MidAmerican Nuclear Energy Co. said prices were so high it was ending its pursuit of a nuclear power plant in Payette County, Idaho, after spending $13 million researching its economic feasibility. Company president Bill Fehrman said, 'Consumers expect reasonably priced energy, and the company's due diligence process has led to the conclusion that it does not make economic sense to pursue the project at this time.'"

"How expensive have nuclear plants become? So expensive that Duke Power has been refusing to reveal cost estimates for a nuclear plant for the Carolinas, saying it would reveal trade secrets. I kid you not."

Anti-Nuke Headwinds Build

Looks like folks are starting to tune back into this issue. Lots of fun stuff to read where once it was Few-and-Far-Between-Land. Lots of lovely tidbits in this presentation.

Nuclear Bomb - Salon.com - 02 June 08

"Lew Hay, chairman and CEO of FPL [Florida Power & Light], said, 'If our cost estimates are even close to being right, the cost of a two-unit plant will be on the order of magnitude of $13 to $14 billion. That's bigger than the total market capitalization of many companies in the U.S. utility industry and 50 percent or more of the market capitalization of all companies in our industry with the exception of Exelon.' This, he said, 'is a huge bet for any CEO to take to his or her board.'

In January, MidAmerican Nuclear Energy Co. said prices were so high it was ending its pursuit of a nuclear power plant in Payette County, Idaho, after spending $13 million researching its economic feasibility. Company president Bill Fehrman said, 'Consumers expect reasonably priced energy, and the company's due diligence process has led to the conclusion that it does not make economic sense to pursue the project at this time.'"

"How expensive have nuclear plants become? So expensive that Duke Power has been refusing to reveal cost estimates for a nuclear plant for the Carolinas, saying it would reveal trade secrets. I kid you not."