neurotwitch

Sunday, December 15, 2002

My Christmas Present

I'm so excited -- Stanley got me my Christmas present early! It's a Hoosier-type kitchen cabinet, looks like maybe the Depression era, maybe later (or even earlier -- hard to tell). Don't know much about it yet, other than I've been eyeing it for more than a year and it's in need of some loving attention! Pictures coming soon! Thank you Stanley!

posted by lee on 12/15/02 at 08:41 PM
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Saturday, December 14, 2002

sierra Club is pro war with iraq

Considering the atrocious amount of damage to the environment that was done during the earlier Gulf War, you would think the Sierra Club would be outspoken and adamantly opposed to the looming war, on environmental grounds alone, and actively promoting ways to end our dependence on the Middle Eastern oil fields. But they're not. Seems like the Club leadership is not only pro-war, but is also bullying chapter members who speak out against the impending environmental disaster that will happen when the US attacks Iraq.

Jeffrey St. Clair, in Torquemadas in Birkenstocks, details Sierra Club's strong-arm tactics:

... It's not, of course. Like any other corporation, the Sierra Club's managers are obsessively preoccupied with beefing up the Club's bottom line and solidifying its access to power, the bloodstream of most nonprofits. (Read: a snuggling relationship to the DNC, supine though it may be).

So here's a warning: When you join the Sierra Club and affix your signature to that membership card you are also signing a loyalty oath.

Loyalty to what? Certainly not the environment. These days it's loyalty to the image of the Club that matters. And increasingly the desired image of the Club is manufactured by its bosses, not its members.

How important is "image" to the Sierra Club? Well, it spends more than $2 million a year and employs 25 people to work full time in its Communication and Information Services unit-the outfit's largest single amalgamation of funds ...

Okay, so Sierra Club has betrayed its mission. What is the alternative? Earth Liberation Front? Greenpeace? The Nature Conservancy? The point is, there are plenty of alternatives to an organization that seems to exist mainly to sell calendars and be able to get the good seats at political fund-raising dinners. Check out EnviroLink to see what's out there.

posted by lee on 12/14/02 at 10:11 AM
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Friday, December 13, 2002

Not for the dumb or the navel gazers

Stanley and I finally got a chance to see Solaris -- good thing we went since, at least around here, it appears it's headed for oblivion.

I read the novel (by Stanislaw Lem) the movie is based on so long ago I had forgotten the plot, for the most part, but not the mood. I watched the Russian version, which Stanley dug out of some now-defunct videostore -- I watched the entire movie while Stanley snored away. I thought the Russian version was so stupefying boring that the reviewers who claimed it's a masterpiece just don't want to admit that they fell asleep. "Oh, it's Russian, and there's Philosophy in it, and it's Existential, and therefore it must be a Masterpiece [even though I didn't understand it | fell asleep | screwed while it was on | knit an entire sweater]," they wrote [thought].

As we were going in to the theater, the ticket guy sneered at us. Hmm. I wondered side of the bell curve he falls under. If somewhere on the downward slope, that didn't bode well for the movie.

This movie is excellent. I found it fascinating; the two hours seemed to fly by. The mood was true to what I remember of the novel. The music was perfect. I actually got to think while watching a movie -- how damned wonderful! After it was over I realized why so many people didn't like it: it requires thought, there are no car chases, there are no martial arts, and it takes the time it needs to develop the story. No pabulum for the ADHD generation in this movie.

The acting was superb and the movie was beautiful just to watch. It touched on chords of irony and regret and, yes, existential questions. It leaves a hundred questions unanswered: it's up to the viewer to find the answers, if there are any answers. The impact is subtle, and you don't really notice it until the credits start rolling and you're sitting there saying, "but, but ... " Clooney is good. I believed his fear and confusion and sadness.

Did I have any problems with the movie? Well, really only a couple. I disliked the way Davis played Snow, and Solaris, while beautiful, didn't look like a water world to me.

I would like to see it again within a couple of months to catch the bits I know I must have missed. That, for me, means I like it very much indeed since, unlike Stanley and my nephew Ben (who could watch the same movie a hundred times in a month and be happy about it), I usually prefer to wait years before seeing a movie again. I might even, and this is very rare for me, buy it!

posted by lee on 12/13/02 at 09:33 PM
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Oh, this looks promising

Froogle (ha ha--geddit?) is Google's still-a-baby search engine for finding stuff to buy. Very cool -- when they get it fully functional, it will actually be worthwhile. I've wanted something like Froogle for quite some time now -- it's very frustrating to have to wade through hundreds of info-only sites looking for that one site where I can actually buy Hoosier cabinet pulls, for example, and not just read about them. I have no doubts Google will get it right.

posted by lee on 12/13/02 at 08:41 AM
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Wednesday, December 11, 2002

Gel (Good Experience Live) Conference 2003

Register for the Gel Conference (Good Experience Live), May 2, 2003 in NYC. Find out the details and get a discount if you buy your ticket early. When you buy your ticket, please type in "Lee Fleming, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)" where the form asks who referred you. Pretty please.

posted by lee on 12/11/02 at 05:15 PM
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it makes as much sense as any other explanation ...

'Haves' know NASDAQ, 'have-nots' can eat yak by Dave Barry

What lies ahead for the U.S. economy? Will it remain strong? Or will it collapse? Will all the Internet billionaires go broke and be forced to use their Palm Pilots to kill rats for food? Wouldn't that be great?

To answer these questions, we need to understand how the U.S. economy works. We'll start by following an imaginary dollar bill on its fascinating journey as it circulates through our economic system:

Our dollar is "born" in the U.S. Mint when a blank piece of paper goes into a printing press and comes out with a picture of George Washington and a pyramid with a weird eyeball. It then travels, with millions just like it, on a conveyor belt to the office of the Treasury Secretary, who sits at his desk 24 hours a day with a pen and a huge bottle of amphetamines. After he signs the dollar, he places it into circulation by tossing it out the window behind him. At this point we lose track of it. All we know is that it eventually winds up in the possession of Bill Gates.

(read the rest by following the link!)
This is from Mark Hurst of Good Experience.

posted by lee on 12/11/02 at 01:00 PM
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it’s not as easy as it looks

A game, Fly The Copter from South Coast Diaries - Seethru Zine. I won't tell you my best score -- it's too embarrassing.

posted by lee on 12/11/02 at 09:30 AM
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Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Secretin, apparently, doesn’t work

I was sorry to see this story about the effectiveness of secretin in the treatment of autism: Hormone's Benefit To Autistic Unproven (Newsday). Secretin hit the world of autism like a bomb in 1998-99, when Stanley and I were involved in analyzing research data for a physician involved in treating autistic children. There was so much hope that it was the answer. So many desperate families begging to get just one dosage of it for their autistic child. It's so sad that it doesn't appear to be the answer. Or even the glimmer of an answer.

posted by lee on 12/10/02 at 09:17 PM
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Monday, December 09, 2002

chronophotography

Chronophotography is the name tienne-Jules Marey (1882) used to describe the time (chronos) photographs of movement sequences. According to Chronophotographical Projections. This is a fascinating site, found by following a thread on Meta-filter about pictures of bullets frozen in time to this link posted by Ray Girvan. This site has an amazing collection of animations on it. The site was made by, I think, C. Lucassen (it's hard to find, let alone read, the website creator's signature!) Some pages are difficult to read even if they are gorgeous -- just stick with it. The illustration in this entry is a low-res version of a very fine gif animation by the site author illustrating an entry about Lucien Bull. (Oh, I could spend a long time on this site ... alas, I need to pay the bills.)

posted by lee on 12/09/02 at 10:04 PM
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Poopdex - yet another blog tracker we never needed

Popdex : the website popularity index launched, when? I don't really know. Recently, I guess. Oh, I just looked at the Poopdex blog -- Dec. 7th it seems (what an icky blog - Shanti, remember, hubris). Already blogged all over, but of course I have two cents to add. I thought it was kinda cool, until I read this by Shanti Braford, creator of the site:

Should a link shoot straight to the top just because a bunch of little-known sites linked to it, or can the ranking be based on the importance of the sites linking to it? This is where I would like to take Popdex...

Now, what I want to know is, what consitutues an "important" blog, fer cryin' out loud? The ones with the biggest buzz? The ones most people link to? The ones that get visited the most? (And how could you tell?)

Ah well, wish I had that much spare time on my hands.

posted by lee on 12/09/02 at 08:53 PM
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