Thu. September 1, 2005
There Was a House in New Orleans
Otis Redding will have to change the title of his signature tune to the "House of the Rising Flood." New Orleans Faces New Threat from Breaches in Levees. After hurricane Katrina, 80% of New Orleans is under water, some by as much as 20 feet. Basically, the entire city is flooded, and until the dikes are rebuilt the work of pumping the water out cannot even start.
This is a disaster of the first order. The scope is just unbelievable. But the sad part, really, is that it is a man-made disaster. That's because for 300 years New Orleans -- like most of Holland -- lies below sea level, and has been protected by an intricate series of levees holding the ocean and Lake Ponchetrain away. That, in turn, means that the Mississippi River can no longer flood into the delta and deposit sediments and nutrients. So over the years, New Orleans is also sinking further down as the old alluivial sedimentation compacts.
As Mike Tidwell explained Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast --
Civilzation did not make the hurricane. But it is the urbanization and engineered river flow that allowed New Orleans to exist in the first place that has produced its current devastation.
Mon. August 29, 2005
Java Man
According to an academic study released at a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society, coffee is really good for you. As PhysOrg.com described,
Well, that either means that Americans have no other real antioxidants (and lots of free radicals) or that coffee is hardly the evil toxin that the media have in most cases made it out to be. So drink up, America. At $6 a cup for a Starbucks-type double latte, at least you're putting something healthy into those stomachs of yours.
Thu. April 28, 2005
Not Again
I gotta tell you, this is getting frustrating. Every time I find a new, pretty young actress to fantasize about, she goes off and hooks up with some buff hollywood hunk. I mean, first it's Jennifer Garner getting engaged to Ben Affleck, now it's Katie Holmes shagging Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise Dating Actress Katie Holmes [ABC News.com].
There they are in Rome, holding hands. Too cute. Well, if I were a woman, I definitely would not throw Tom out of my bed. But Katie, you really shouldn't piss on the dreams of all your secret admirers!
Mon. April 11, 2005
Santo Subito
Even as a Jew, I deeply admired Pope John Paul II, feeling that his humanity, charisma and courage more than overshadowed his conservative (actually, reactionary) views on issues like opposing condoms for AIDS prevention. This is a man who helped topple Communism in his native Poland (born Karol Jozef Wojtyla and a priest there for decades) by suporting Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement and helped the Roman Catholic Church, for the first time, apologize for its silent acquiesence during Hitler's Holocaust of World War II.
Now that he has passed away, an old, stooped and silent man, the cry in St. Peter's square is "sainthood now" (Santo Subito in Italian). John Paul II on Fast Track for Canonization? [Catholic World News]. Whether he's got enough living and posthumous "miracles" for beautification is questionable, as is the whole idea of religious miracles, but the man was indeed a saint. The conclave should make him one officially.
Wed. March 23, 2005
Over the Edge
I am skiing in Telluride, Colorado this week, so little time for posting. It should be noted, however, that once I got out of Washington, D.C., Congress in fact passed a statute on the Terry Schiavo case. So, obviously my mere presence was what alone was blocking this revolting exercise of pure partisan political power!
Fri. March 18, 2005
Mercy
Thank God, it's over. The judge presiding over the Terry Schiavo case ruled in her husband's favor early Friday afternoon and rejected a request from U.S. House of Representatives attorneys to delay the removal, which he had previously ordered to take place at 1 p.m. EST. Brain-Damaged Woman's Feeding Tube Removed [ABCNews.com]. Michael Schiavo was at his wife's side when the tube was disconnected, making good on his pledge to her years ago that neither would let the other live on as a vegetable.
Love conquers politics. Mercy triumphs. And Terry gets to pass on peacefully to whatever lies beyond life. A happy ending to a tragically sad story about the right to die and political hypocrisy.
Fri. March 4, 2005
The Law Isn't the Answer
Everyone remembers being in high school and rebelling against authority, including the facists who run such institutions with their hall passes and dance chaperones. Apparently, today things are even more restrictive, including breathalyzer tests administered routinely during the school day. Sobriety Tests Are Becoming Part of the School Day [NYTimes.com].
What I find most interesting, however, is not that this stuff is occurring -- that's just an update of the battles waged between teenagers and teachers since James Dean in the 1950s -- but that communities are themselves rebelling against the exercise of such intrusive school authority. The courts routinely uphold almost all steps schools invoke against students, regardless of the privacy implications, on the ground that minors do not enjoy the same First Amendment rights as adults and that schools act in loco parentis (in the place of the parents). But as the Times reports, "such policies easily survive legal challenges, but often crumple under community opposition."
That's a good example of why the law is not always (indeed, rarely) the answer to social problems. It's also an illustration that even parents, of which I am now one, can sometimes live up to the ideal of "Do as I Do," not just "Do as I Say."
Mon. February 28, 2005
Snow Days
Once upon a time -- in a world far, far away -- a "snow day" meant there was too much snow on the ground to make kids trudge through a blizzard. Now, it apparently means that there's snow predicted for later, because this morning all schools in the Washington, DC-area were canceled even though there's no snow on the ground and none falling from the sky. As my son celebrated at 6:00 a.m. today, it's a "prospective snow day." That's the reason some folks call this place "Washington, The Nation's Weather Wimp."
Update: It's now 2:00 p.m., snow showers are falling but because the temp. is 34F, nothing is sticking to the ground. Once again, much ado about nothing.
Thu. February 24, 2005
Dark Matter
Readers of this blog (whoever and how few you are) may recall that I am a big fan of theoretical physics. Now one of the biggest problems with the Big Bang theory -- which has been proven by remnants of microwave radiation and a red shift in receding galaxies -- is that the amount of known matter in the universe is just a small fraction of what the equations predict. (Perhaps a bigger problem is what was "before" the Big Bang, but that's a metaphysical question, as time was created by the Big Bang so there was no "before.") Physicists theorized that there was a lot of "dark matter" in the universe, perhaps in black holes, that had as yet been undetected.
Well now it has been found. Astronomers Detect First Invisible Galaxy [MSNBC.com]. An entire galaxy that is invisible, 500 times the mass of its visible "twin." As Carl Sagan would have said, "billions and billions" of dark stars is a lot of dark matter. Once again, the theoretical mathematics of Einstein and his heirs has been proven correct, decades later, by experimentation and observation.
It's a weird and wonderous thing, the scientific method. But it works.
Wed. February 23, 2005
It Never Rains in California
Unlike the 1972 pop song by Albert Hammond, it's not true that "it never rains in Southern California." The media is all over the story of the recent storms in Los Angeles and Orange County, what with mudslides, houses falling off cliffs and other spectacular images. Deadly S. California Storm Rages Into its 5th Day [USAToday.com]. But the truth is that February is always rainy in California -- north and south -- something Easterners simply don't understand. They see pictures of the San Gabriel mountains, snow-capped around greater L.A., and think that's what the basin looks like year-round.
In reality, February is the time to bring umbrellas, ponchos and very bright headlights. Once, when I lived in Del Mar in North San Diego County, it was so foggy in the early evening (the "marine layer" never burns off in the winter) that I could not even find an exit off the freeway.
Now it's true that these rains are much more substantial than in the past 15 years. But it always rains in the desert in the winter. Things are just backwards in California. Winters are green, summers are brown, and Republicans are moderate. Welcome to California -- do not back up, severe tire damage.
Tue. February 22, 2005
You've Come a Long Way
The story was about a significant constitutional case concerning private property rights and eminent domain before the U.S. Supreme Court. But buried in the text was the observation that with the absence of Chief Justice Rehnquist due to illness and another Justice (Stevens) missing due to a travel snafu, that "created an opportunity for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the most senior remaining justice, to become the first woman to preside over an oral argument at the court."
The significance of this moment was its relative insignificance. Meaning that 20 some years after she became the first woman on the Supreme Court, O'Connor's assumption of the presiding role at the Court was not treated as anything extraordinary. That illustrates the extraordinary social changes wrought by the women's rights movement, which began with Betty Friedan and blossomed in the late 1970s. When I was in law school (1978-81), it was the first time that women made up nearly 50% of the student body. I remember celebrating Myra Bradwell Day, named after the first woman who was admitted to the bar as an American lawyer (after unsuccessfully appealing her initial denial to the U.S. Supreme Court) in 1870. Now it's no big deal to have female lawyers, women judges and even women presiding at the Supreme Court. The same Supreme Court, mind you, that wrote about Bradwell, "The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many occupations of civil life....The paramount destiny and mission of women are to fulfill the noble and benign office of wife and mother. This is the law of the Creator."
Holy revolution, Batman! John Riggins, of Washgington Redskins fame, once drunkenly quipped to O'Connor "Loosen up, Sandy baby." I think it's more appropriate, now, to say -- like the old cigarette ad (or the newer Fatboy Slim CD) -- "Sandy, you've come a long way, baby."
Mon. February 21, 2005
Gonzo is Dead
Last night Hunter Thompson, author of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas ("A savage journey to the heart of the American dream"), preeeminent practitioner of self-styled "gonzo" journalism and the inspiration for this blog, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his ranch in Woody Creek (Aspen), Colorado. Hunter S. Thompson Takes His Last Trip, Echoing Hemingway [MercuryNews.com]. Amid all the obituaries, many ask how a man who lived so hard could commit suicide, without even leaving a note.
That's not a quandry; it's perfectly in character. Given his exccessive consumption of drugs and alcohol for 30+ years, it's a wonder the man made it to 65 at all. And it seems that Thompson planned it himself, spending an intimate weekend with his kids and shooting himself in the kitchen while his wife was working out at her health club. Once the fun was over, Thompson often made clear, he wasn't going to stick around and watch the janitors sweep up.
Suicide is painless. It only hurts those left behind. Yet as Albert Camus wrote in The Myth of Sisyphus in 1942, "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide." Indeed, it may be the only rational way to exit this insane world of ours.
Goodbye, Hunter. You died like you lived. Gonzo is dead; long live gonzo.
Update: Like Markos of The Daily Kos, there's only two authors for whom I have gone out of my way to read everything they've written -- Hunter S. Thompson and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Actually, there are five for me, since I've also read everything by Michael Chrichton, Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum.) Oh well, serendipity is all we've got folks. Enjoy life while it lasts.
Thu. February 17, 2005
Bloggers Don't Do It Daily
Well it's 500 posts for me at Fear & Loathing since this blog was launched in March 2003. That's an average of 1.378 days between entries, or just a little under one a day (689 days since inception). Not bad for a part-time gig slotted into the busy life of a practicing lawyer, but also not the "do it daily" ideal -- for whatever that's worth -- of the blogosphere.
Wed. December 29, 2004
Tsunami Devastation
The tragedy in Sri Lanka, India and southeast Asia from Monday's tsunami is just overwhelming. A death count that started at 10,0000 is now seven times as large, and photos of the destruction left in the massive wave's wake are astounding. Disaster's Toll Soars to More Than 76,000 [washingtonpost.com]. Relief officials say that what is needed most from Americans is money. So please give generously to UNICEF, especially because 1/3 of the dead are children.
Update: This thing is expanding before our eyes. In less than 10 minutes, the death toll is now up to 100,000 people. And victims are starting to scavenge beaches for scraps of food while scores of corpses rot in the tropical sun.
Fri. December 10, 2004
Every Sp*erm Is Sacred
A professor of urology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook has completed a study indicating that laptop use may interfere with male fertility. The findings are that "scrotal hyperthermia is produced by both special body posture and the local heating effect of laptop computers." Meaning that if you put it over your cohones, a notebook computer will fry your seed. Wearing boxers is not enough anymore, young man!
Fri. November 19, 2004
Whip It
This story reports on how technology is now being used, after several thousands of years, to develop sex toys for men, not just for women. Pushing the Male Envelope [Wired News]. Thank goodness for sexual equality. We've come a long way, baby!
Mon. October 18, 2004
Screwing With Your Sleep
"Sleep medicine experts have successfully treated a rare case of a woman having sex with strangers while sleepwalking." [NewScientist.com]. Now why would they want to "cure" something like that?
Wed. October 6, 2004
Politics is a Dirty Game
You know you're either getting old, or just have worked too long "inside the Beltway," when your friends are forced to resign in a political scandal. Phone Group Head Resigns After Uproar [washingtonpost.com]. This is a first for me. Maybe time to reconsider priorities.
Disclosure: I have represented ALTS, the trade group in question, in the past but had nothing to do with this fiasco.
Fri. October 1, 2004
Non-Area Area Codes
An interesting article in the "metro" section of the New York Times observes that "Cellular phones, changing governmental regulations and new Internet technology have torn area codes from geography, allowing people to have phone numbers with area codes distant from where they live. Though not new, the trend has kicked up a pitched debate among a colorful collection of technological pundits, telephone historians and Web preachers who specialize in the topic."
All of this started in a case I handled in 1995, in which New York and the FCC authorized the 917 area code -- known formally as a Numberiing Plan Area or "NPA" -- to be assigned on a non-geographic basis, so as to include cell phones and pay phones. That of course was before the days of ubiquitous wireless phones and unlimited roaming, which as the Times points out have made even geographic area codes non-geographic.
Now, get this. Some sociologists call this "a deeply confusing development." Come on! When the Bell System moved from geographic exchange or central office codes (the first three numerals of a 7-digit telephone numer), like "Murray Hill 5-0154," to direct dialing like "679-0154" in the early 1950s, many folks saw that as an unsettling change. Poignant and nostalgic, perhaps, but disturbing, no. Telephone numbers and geography have not been synonymous for years. Harkening back to the old days is nice in sepia-toned movies and memoirs, but not in today's fast-paced, interconnected world.
Tue. September 28, 2004
Sick of (In) the 'Burbs
A new study by the Rand Corp. finds that people who live in suburban sprawl, such Atlanta, Denver and many other American metropolitan areas, are more likely to report chronic health conditions than those in compact urban cores like New York or Boston. Feeling Sick? New Study Suggests Urban Sprawl Is Partly to Blame [LATimes.com]. Folks who reside amid urban sprawl showed increased reports of hypertension, arthritis, headaches and breathing difficulties, among other chronic health conditions. Sedentary, car-dominated lifestyles and air pollution appeared to be contributing factors.
So the suburbs may be sickening, really. In contrast, the study found no link between suburban sprawl and a greater incidence of mental health problems. Now that's depressing!!
Wed. September 15, 2004
21st Century Foxes
By a lopsided vote of 356 to 166, the British House of Commons today decided to outlaw the centuries-old tradition of fox hunting in the UK. Tally-No to Fox Hunting [IHT.com]. The vote followed an emotional debate between supporters, who called fox hunting barbaric, elitist and hopelessly outmoded, and opponents who accused the government of intruding on people's civil liberties and trampling on their rural way of life.
Well I for one think this is just stupid. It's not like foxes are an endangered species. I am not a hunter, but it is indisputable that hunting is mankind's principal occupation -- that which distinguished us from the apes and led to all of human evolution -- so what's the difference between hunting deer with high-powered rifles and hunting foxes with dogs? (None, actually, and so the British IFAW animal welfare group crows about polls showing that 76% of people said they wanted hunting with dogs to be banned and 82% said deer hunting should also be illegal.) Societies everywhere raise domesticated animals (cattle, sheep, etc.) solely for the purposes of killing and eating them. Isn't it just as barbaric to raise animals that are destined never to live and only to be slaughtered, in cold blood, so human beings can eat? At least the foxes have a sporting chance, which is more than one can say for cows.
Meanwhile, the whole controversy has spawned threats of civil disobedience by hunters, security breaches by protesters in Parliment, and a looming constitutional crisis -- since the House of Lords has repeatedly rejected bans on fox hunting. As Frank Furedi of spiked.com puts it well:
Sun. September 5, 2004
Lucky Man
This is the lead to an article in Xinhuanet, a Chinese online publication from the Xinhua News Agency, the official state and worldwide news agency in China.
Probably the most sympathetic, informative and human coverage of this story in any media outlet. This heart disease stuff really can and does strike without warning. Bill is indeed a lucky man. And even communists have a sense of humanity from time to time. Maybe it's the flip-side of their political cult of personality, but they do care about people in a way that the mercenaries in U.S. media don't. Most media here just wondered whether Clinton's recuperation and inability to campaign for John Kerry woud change the presidential elections. But wonder of wonders, even Dick Cheney has a heart.
Sat. July 24, 2004
Cockroaches Going Extinct?
As a former Manhattan resident, who suffered through the ignominy of roaches following me to three other cities to which I later moved -- and infecting my brother's apartment after he took possession of a teak credenza that had lived in New York City with me -- this story warms my heart. The Roach That Failed [New York Times]. It appears that the development of hydramethylnon bait (commercially sold as Combat) in the mid-1980s has been so successful that there have been "90 to 95 percent reductions in cockroach populations, across the country."
So the insects that have lived with mankind since the ancient Egyptians and can survive a nuclear bomb are finally on their way out. Now if only we can do the same thing with the other major scourge of human beings -- mosquitos.
Thu. July 22, 2004
Gay Marriage and Judicial Jurisdiction
The question of federal court jurisdiction to decide the constitutionality of acts of Congress has always been a thorny legal and political question. One of my law professors, the famed (and late) Herbert Wechsler, pondered long over whether Congress can legitimately withdraw jurisdiction for the federal judiciary to determine constitutional questions in specific classes of cases. (He also represented the New York Times in the famous Sullivan case about First Amendment limits on libel prosecutions, participated in the Nuremberg war crimes trials after World War II, and developed the influential "neutral principles" branch of constitutional jurisprudence, to which many African-Americans and others object vehemently because Wechsler concluded that the landmark Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation decision was invalid.)
The rather esoteric legal argument is whether, having created the federal courts -- since the Constitution only commands one Supreme Court -- and vesting them with jurisdiction, there are any constitutional constraints on Congress acting the other way. Some say the equal protection clause prevents withdrawing jurisdiction over specific kinds of cases involving what the Supreme Court way back in 1938 called "discrete and insular minorities." Others take the position that Congress has plenary (total) power to decide what, if any, cases the federal courts can decide.
Now the issue of gay marriage may take this question from the realm of hypothesis to reality. Today the House of Representatives voted to remove federal court jurisdiction to decide challenges to the "Defense of Marriage Act." That legislation (28 U.S.C. 1738c) provides:
The bill passed today would disallow any federal court from deciding whether Section 1738c is constitutional. This frames the question quite clearly. Of course, it's just a cynical election-year ploy, as the Senate has rejected a consitutional amendment outlawing same-sex mariages and the House failed to pass legislation on the merits. So the House majority assumes -- probably rightly -- that withdrawing judicial jurisdiction is easier than winning on substance.
This is a lingering, but fundamental, issue about separation of powers in the U.S. that has been dormant for decades. It was also the question Prof. Wechsler posed in the final exam for his 1981 "Federal Courts and the Federal System" class at Columbia Law School. Perhaps Wechsler will finally get his "day in court." Too bad he hasn't lived to see it.
Tue. July 20, 2004
You're No Good
Reacting to news stories that Linda Ronstadt was roundly booed off-stage and then fired by the Alladin Casino for making nice comments about Michael Moore during her show, morons.org observes ironically "we all know that True American Patriots go completely batshit insane and start angry mobs whenever somebody says something they don't like." Ah, tolerance is something special, but just something some Americans forget about from time to time.
Wed. July 7, 2004
Grandparents and Evolution
Old people may hold the key to human civilization, say US researchers who claim to have found evidence that, about 30,000 years ago, many more people started living into old age. Human Race's Survival Could be Chalked Up to Experience. Apparently, as ancient homo sapiens began living longer, the development of grandparents allowed more food gathering, parenting expertise and overall experience to be passed on to later generations.
So the white hairs have value after all. Cool.
Fri. June 4, 2004
Tiananmen Square
Today marks 15 years since the Chinese communist government cracked down on democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in Bejing. The New York Times reported then that "[b]y ordering soldiers to fire on the unarmed crowds, the Chinese leadership has created an incident that almost surely will haunt the Government for years to come."
Surely true, but it seems that commerce and consumer goods have moved China into a more modern political position, something the democracy movement could not do successfully. Cell phones and cars -- the Chinese "economic miracle" -- may just be better at spawning political change than the famous student who bravely faced off PRC tanks in 1989. Of course, the Bejing government is heavily censoring satellite TV news reports on the Tiananmen anniversary. So what has really changed?
Wed. May 26, 2004
Suicide Is Painless
A U.S. Appeals Court on Wednesday ruled that a Bush Administration directive seeking to stop Oregon doctors from helping terminally ill patients commit suicide was unlawful and unenforceable. The decision by the 9th Circuit held that Attorney General John Ashcroft overstepped his authority when he ordered Oregon doctors to ignore a state law -- the "Oregon Death with Dignity Act." both passed and then later reaffirmed by voters via referrendum -- that allowed phyisicians to prescribe lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients who wished to die. [Reuters.com].
The specific legal question addressed was not whether physician-assisted suicide is appropriate, but rather only who decides, states or the federal government. In a switch much like 2000's Bush v. Gore case that decided the presidential election, a liberal majority relied on principles of federalism to find that medical practice is an issue on which states have the final word, while the dissenting conservative judge argued that the Attorney General and the Constitution permit federal regulation of medical practice when it involves controlled substances. (The full opinions are here.)
The dissenting judge was J. Clifford Wallace, for whom I clerked in 1981-82. He is an independent, tremendously principled and courageous jurist. But I find it ironic that Judge Wallace used decisions extending the scope of federal power to override what he and other conservatives have for years championed, namely the limited nature of federal authority vis-a-vis traditional state activities regarding health and safety (known in legal parlance as "police power"). I think he's wrong here, but I have and always will greatly respect his legal judgments even when they disagree with mine.
The one point on which I violently disagree with with Judge Wallace's dissent, however, is his claim that the majority's decision overrides the democratic process. Seems to me it's really the other way around. Ashcroft disregarded the state democratic process to issue a federal edict. When state voters affirmatively decide, twice, to allow physician-assisted suicide, what right does the federal government have to step in and change that? And even if the feds have the power, isn't it contrary to everything America stands for to have the courts permit it to do so -- particularly when there is no constitutional barrier to state law -- in the face of a democratically approved law in an area of traditional state concern?
The next battleground of this issue will be the many cases certain to arise regarding gay marriage. It will be interesting to see whether the same, ironic switch between liberals and conservatives happens here, as well. I suspect the answer will be like the case last year in which the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote, overturned Texas' law criminalizing homosexual sodomy. It will be treated almost as a no-brainer.
Wed. April 21, 2004
The End of Males?
Last year I blogged about the incredible shrinking Y chromosome. Now genetic researchers have created a female mouse with the genetic material from two mothers. But Mr. Big from Sex and the City, I think, proves that males are needed more than ever...perhaps just not for reproduction any more.
Tue. April 6, 2004
Flush the Ducts
This is just too good to resist. According to a recent research study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, frequent ejaculation helps to decrease a man's chances of developing prostate cancer. [MSNBC.com]. So if your woman isn't giving you any......now there's a health reason for whacking off.
Of course, other stories pointed out that "on average, the men overall had four to seven ejaculations a month." And you thought men were obsessed with sex? That's a pittance. We're talking basically once a week, like church. Let's get with it, boys!!
Sat. April 3, 2004
Right Principles
Left and right are political labels used more often to demean character than to illuminate public policy. Take this cogent insight from Lee at Right Thinking From the Left Coast.
You can agree with Lee, as I do, without being a right-wing conservative. Sadly, the lack of principles in American politics today transcends the blue-red divide. They're all a bunch of hacks.
Mon. March 29, 2004
One Year Ago
It has been one year since the U.S. invasion of Iraq -- Iraq One Year Later [MSNBC.com] -- and this blog is also one year old today. My first post from March 29, 2003 was a short one, saying that I did not know whether Fear & Loathing would turn out to be a quickly passing fad or a personal journal. I don't think it's really either -- more focused on technology, politics and popular culture than my own individual life traumas -- but that may make this blog a little more interesting to my tiny, devoted cult of readers (all 10 or so of you) worldwide.
Happy birthday Fear & Loathing!
Wed. March 17, 2004
A 10th Planet?
For years when I was young I was fascinated by the planets and the solar system. This has led to a deep interest in cosmology and relativity, but still is based on those majestic other worlds that, in space terms, lie right in Earth's own backyard.
This week's announcement of the discovery of a 10th "planetoid" -- dubbed Sedna for an Inuit goddess because it is so cold -- orbiting in an eliptical path many millions of miles outside Pluto throws everything into chaos. Pluto's Planet Status Could be Jeopardized by Sedna Discovery [Yahoo! News]. The mini-planet has an eccentric 10,500-year orbit that ranges between 8 billion and 84 billion miles (12.8 billion and 134 billion kilometers), which is much farther away than the existing nine planets and an outlying ring of frozen cosmic leftovers known as the Kuiper Belt.
For decades after Pluto's discovery, no other objects were discovered beyond Neptune. In recent years, however, other round objects about half Pluto's size have been detected in the Kuiper Belt, much closer than Sedna. And Sedna itself is so far from the Sun that if you were standing on the surface of Sedna today, and you held a pin at arm's length, you could cover up the entire Sun with the head of that pin.
So is this new discovery a planet or not? The International Astronomical Union is set to decide by establishing standards for what constitutes a planet (size, distance from the Sun, shape of orbit, etc.) I tend to agree with Michael Brown of CalTech, who first spotted Sedna. "Either Pluto is not a planet, or many other things are planets," Brown said today. "Which is a better choice? I want my planets to be more special, not less special, so I favor Pluto not being a planet. Emotionally, though, I have to admit that I have grown up thinking Pluto this special odd-ball planet at the edge of the solar system. While I now know scientifically that Pluto is less special, it's still hard to let go."
Mon. March 8, 2004
Revenge Is Sweet
I beat the crap out of my old law firm today in court. Fun!! Like old Joe Kennedy, "don't get mad, get even."
Mon. February 9, 2004
Back In the USA
No, they never sang that Chuck Berry classic (unlike Roll Over Beethoven), but The Beatles are a hit once more 40 years after their first appearance in the USA on the Ed Sullivan Show. Here's an interesting list from CNN of the 40 best Beatles songs of all time. Boy, they were good. Yesterday's Grammy winners Beyonce and Outkast will be long gone in a year or two, but John, Paul, George and Ringo will rock on for many more decades.
Fri. January 9, 2004
A Mission for NASA
President Bush is set to announce that he will challenge NASA -- in Kennedy-esque fashion -- to develop a permanent manned outpost on the Moon and land human beings on Mars within a decade. Conservatives are lauding this. Says Adam Keiper in the National Review Online, "the president is going to give NASA what it needs most: a vision worthy of America." Whether or not they are genuine, these sentiments may reflect an emerging consensus that America's space efforts need to be focused less on hauling stuff into orbit (read, "Space Shuttle") and more on exploring new worlds (read, "Mission to Mars"). Captain Kirk can't be that far behind after all.
Wed. January 7, 2004
Princess Di
So while the British coroner starts an inquiry into the death of Princess Diana in her Mercedes limousine in Paris six years ago, the London tabloids have now released a letter allegedly written by Diana in the months before her death claiming that Prince Charles was planning to have her killed in a car accident to clear the way for him to remarry. Accusations Swirl Around Diana Probe. This is good stuf. Sick, but good!!
Fri. January 2, 2004
The Top 10
One of the more fun annual year-end lists is Google's report on its "top ten" searches. For 2003, they say that Brittney Spears and Harry Potter were 1-2, followed by The Matrix, Shakira, David Beckham and 50 Cent. Even if one digs deeper, looking only at new searches, the results -- Laci Peterson, Kobe Bryant, etc. -- suggest that the Internet reflects our celebrity and crime-obsessed culture. Technocrats used to say "The Internet changes everything." I don't think so!!
Fri. December 19, 2003
What A Day
I was watching World News Tonight on ABC last evening, and could not help but notice the tremendous diversity and importance of the stories in the news these days. The intelligence consequences of Saddam Hussein's capture for infiltrating the Iraqi resistance (and vice-versa), two rulings by US courts declaring unconstitutional the detention of US citizens, and foreign captives at Guantanamo, as "enemy combatants" without due process, the conviction of Lee Malvo (the teenage Washington sniper) for terrorism-murder and rejection of his insanity defense, the indictment of Michael Jackson for child sexual molestation, and a new strategy of "disengagement" from the Palestinians by Israel in response to the collapse of the Bush "Road Map" to peace.
Those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head. December 18, 2003 may not be a day to live in infamy, but with some more like this the world is going to continue to be a very exciting -- and dangerous -- place
Wed. December 17, 2003
Learning To Fly
They spent two years laboriously reconstructing a copy of the Wright Brothers' first powered airplane, but today -- the 100th anniversary of that first flight -- our modern 21st century engineers couldn't get off the ground and flopped in the mud at rain-soaked Kitty Hawk (now Kill Devil Hills), North Carolina [Reuters]. Shows how ingenious Oriville and Wilbur really were. The world has changed a lot as a result of their invention, mostly for the good, but it's still a place where 90% hard work isn't always enough to compensate for the lack of 10% inspiration. Apologies to Thomas Edison for butchering his aphorism.
Wed. December 3, 2003
The Known Unknowns
Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld's aphorism that there are "known unknowns" has won this year's Foot In Mouth award. BBCNews.com The whole bit is worthy of a Saturday Night Live skit:
It's so good I plan to use it in a settlement meeting for one of my litigation cases tomorrow!!
Sat. November 29, 2003
Black Friday
Retailers call it "Black Friday" because it has traditionally marked the day of the year when they get out of the red and start to profit. Others call in insanity and a crass reminder of the commercialism pervading American culture. But I've got to say that one hasn't really lived until you've braved the mall crowds in the early pre-dawn hours on the morning after Thanksgiving in suburban America.
I paid tribute to the shopping gods at 6:30 a.m. yesterday in Alparatta, Georgia -- surrounded by good old boys, SUVs and a surprisingly diverse mix of racial and ethnic groups. Oh yeah, we bought a few things, too.
Fri. November 28, 2003
A Day of Thanks
Thanksgiving is a day of family, food and fun, but it is also a time to reflect on life and, from time to time, actually give thanks for the bounty of our times. 
In modern America we tend to forget about the holiday itself between the parades, football games and Twilight Zone marathons. As a country we've got a lot for which we should be thankful.
That goes for me as well. I practiced a few random acts of human kindness today, and maybe made a few other lives a little better in the process.
Wed. November 19, 2003
Face Plants
Skiers know the term "face plant" well, meaning a frontal fall into the snow, head-first. Now, British scientists report that a face transplant may be technologically possible (and actually easier than reattaching a severed finger). Face Transplants Possible But More Research Needed [Reuters]. The physicians hope face transplants will help seriously disfugured patients with the psychological effects of facial injuries and defects. But I am still having trouble telling John Travolta and Nicholas Cage apart in the movie Face Off. Reality follows fiction once again.
Wed. October 22, 2003
In the Twilight Zone
Victims of the Washington Sniper shooting spree yesterday were forced to undergo questioning from the accused himself, who (until this morning) was acting as his own lawyer. Witnesses Face the Surreal -- And Muhammad [washingtonpost.com]. They descibed the experience as a "separate, surrealistic thing, . . . like 'The Twilight Zone.' It was a feeling you can't explain. Defendants aren't supposed to cross-examine you. It was an insane situation." To sit three feet away from someone who has shot you with a high-powered rifle, anonymously and randomly, has go to be Daliesque, at the very least. A "Hallmark Moment" it's not.
Tue. October 14, 2003
Justice and the Sniper
A recent immigrant to America asked me this morning why it took "so long" for the Washington Sniper case to go to trial. (The trial starts today in Virginia Beach.) Muhammad Pleads 'Not Guilty' in Sniper Trial [washingtonpost.com]. I answered that the Constitution allows criminal defendants here much greater rights than in any other country and that 12 months was quick for pre-trial proceedings in a major U.S. criminal prosecution. Still, I would like to see John Allen Muhammad fry.
This well-written piece captures the incredible paranoia and fear that were pervasive one year ago here in Washington, D.C.
To hold an entire metropolitan region hostage for 3 weeks by randomly shooting innocent passers-by, and all for mere ransom demands -- money -- is about as sociopathic as one can get. To top it off this guy brainwaished a teenager to be his trigger man.
Everyone deserves a trial. Some are just a little anti-climactic. Here's to hoping that John Allen Muhammad meets the fate he so clearly deserves.
Fri. September 26, 2003
They're All Dying Young
After Warren Zevon and John Ritter, one could have hoped for a break in shockingly young deaths of entertainment stars. But today Robert Palmer died of a heart attack in Paris.
Another personal favorite, Palmer combined R&B, rock and island reggae into a unique, classy style, with hits such as "Simply Irresistible." He was only 54, but lived hard. So I guess I need to look out for myself in six years or so. Ah, the anxiety of aging strikes close to home at moments like these.
Tue. September 23, 2003
Desperate Disney?
Tim Goodman, TV critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, says that ABC (owned by Disney & Co.) is a "desperate and clueless network" for continuing the "8 Simple Rules" sitcom starring the late John Ritter. One Simple Rule: Don't Support ABC's Cruelty. Goodman writes that
Well and truly correct. But the current episodes are in the can and one can hardly blame ABC for trying to salvage their leading show. I suspect the new scripts will more likely be almost a tribute to Ritter, and a reminder of the fragility of life, than a maudlin effort to reap returns from his sudden passing. At least one can hope.
Thu. September 18, 2003
Lovely Little Isabel
Hurricane Isabel moved inland this evening. Despite dire predictions and massive closings, including the entire federal government in Washington, DC, 
once again this storm has proved that the weather wonks are Chicken Littles. A "catgeory 5" this ain't, that's for sure. A little wind -- 30 mph here in Northern Virginia -- and a bit of rain, but hardly anything to get worked up about. Of course, I am writing this on a battery-powered laptop, as the electricity is out. Just a wee touch of adventure in an otherwise very forgettable hurricane.
Fri. September 5, 2003
Building Bridges
The American Society of Civil Engineers has given United States infrastructure -- roads, bridges, water systems, etc. -- a "D-" grade and warns we may be in for a chatastrophic failure. American Infrastructure Gets Poor Grade [ABCNews.com].
So let me get this straight. America is spending billions repairing and improving infrastructure in Iraq, that we spent untold billions destroying in the first place, and now our own stuff is crumbling. Someone needs to get their priorities straight. Listen up, President Bush!!
Tue. August 26, 2003
Watch Out Priests
I've been away for a couple of weeks in August, but life goes on. Sometimes even the bad guys get theirs, though, as the following vignette shows.
Earlier this week, defrocked pedophile priest John Geoghan of Boston was killed in his cell while serving a nine-to 10-year sentence for assault and battery on a 10-year-old boy. The former Catholic priest was accused of molesting nearly 150 boys over three decades and became a catalyst for the clergy sex abuse scandal that shook the foundations of the Roman Catholic Church. [CBSNews.com]. Geoghan was defrocked in 1998 and charged in December 1999 with raping and molesting three boys. The Boston archdiocese eventually settled civil lawsuits filed by 86 of Geoghan's victims for $10 million.
A fitting end, I say. Ah, and to think that robbery, murder and even rape are tolerated, perhaps celebrated, in prison, but pedophelia is a no-no. Those convicts may have no morals, but their sense of justice is inspiring.
Fri. July 25, 2003
I Have A Dream
The National Park Service has added a small memorial plaque on the Lincoln Memorial steps at the precise location where Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963. Carving Out a Place in History [washingtonpost.com]. Very appropriate. Very cool. Shows how far this country has really come in the past 40 years on race relations. A little late, but clearly not too little.
Thu. July 10, 2003
This Is Serious
Seems that evolution has been a problem for us men in more ways that one. The "Y" chromosome -- the essence of maleness -- doesn't recombine during mitosis, so it is passed on whole from father to son over the generations. The Incredible Shrinking Y [IHT.com]. What this means is that the Y has been "sheeding genes furiously over the course of evolutionary time, and it is now a fraction of the size of its partner, the X chromosome." Holy penis envy!!
Mon. July 7, 2003
Fear of Acronyms
A new study by AMD, the chip maker, finds that consumers are intimated by the techno-babble associated with PCs and other high-tech devices. Perhaps the most signficant conclusion is that the PC industry is not getting the full value of their advertising dollars because "only slightly more than half of PC users understand the term 'megahertz' -- which is used in a vast majority of personal computer advertisements." Technology Jargon Frightens Joe Public [PC Pro]. This is undoubtedly the biggest surprise of all, because the one thing everyone -- expecially the Windows PC crowd -- assumed is that buyers know that faster is better. Turns out they don't know what fast is and can't even understand the speedometer!!
The larger issue is techno-phobia on a mass scale, epitomized by all those flashing clocks on VCRs. We are raising a society of spoon-fed morons, whose knowledge of everyday devices is steadily declining. What's the difference between knowing that bleach removes stains from clothing and that MP3 players depend on a certain bitrate to reproduce music with clarity? Maybe TV advertising of the former plays a part, but I think that consumers increasingly are afraid to learn about technology. For those neanderthals who are proud of the absence of technology in their personal lives, well, that's like putting your head in the sand. Their grandparents probably felt the same wey when refrigerators replaced ice boxes and when electric lighting replaced gaslights.
Tue. June 24, 2003
Urgency Addiction
Most of us, myself included, dread commuting in today's traffic environment, especially in regions like my own Washington, DC, which has the third-worst highway congestion in the nation. Buddha on the Road [washingtonpost.com] Perhaps we can all learn to chill out. We've done it in our lives in general, so maybe de-stressing drive time is a good idea.
Well, I don't know if I would go that far!!
Fri. June 13, 2003
Gagging the Bloggers
BBC News headlines its article "gagging the bloggers." One might think the story would center on the pedantic drivel of pre-teen bloggers and the cultural consequences of online therapy diaries. But the article is really about how blogging is the technology-empowered eiptome of personal expression, which has serious political and civil liberties consequences in many nations.
Power to the people. That is really what the Internet is all about.
Wed. May 28, 2003
One Month Without Sun
I live in the Washington, DC area, and today marks an important anniversary. It has been one month since there was a sunny day here. On a Clear Day . . . [washingtonpost.com] So this is what it feels like to live in Seattle? No wonder they invented Starbucks.
Tue. May 27, 2003
What Goes Up Must Come Down
The New York Yankees have lost 12 of their last 13 home games -- the worst such streak in the franchise's long history. In contrast, as a group Yankee pitchers began the season 16-0. That pace may have been unsustainable, but since then Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina have each lost three times and 40-year-old David Wells is nursing a leg injury. No sooner did Derek Jeter return from a dislocated shoulder than center fielder Bernie Williams went on the disabled list with a knee injury that could cause him to be out at least a month. Oh, and the Red Sox hammered Clemens to deny him win 300 on Monday. History Not on Side of Yanks, Clemens [washingtonpost.com]. Things are just not right in Yankee-land. Is it time to panic?
Thriller Broke
It's gotta be hard to blow through $500 million, but Michael Jackson seems to have done it. E! Online News - King of Pop Going Bust? So he'll have to finance his plastic surgery on credit from now on. It's a shame. And shameful. A waste of what once was a real talent.
Thu. May 22, 2003
Our Tiny Blue Dot
First Picture of Earth From Mars. Sure makes you humble about one's place in the universe.
Wed. May 21, 2003
Curing What Ails You
Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman seems a little different than Senator Joe Lieberman. The latter was a paradigm of fiscal responsibility, but the former proposes to spend $150 billion on basic medical research to cure a whole host of diseases, from cancer to AIDS. Lieberman Wants Disease Cures [The Advocate]. Now I am all for subsidizing medical research, but this is a bit too posturing for my taste. As a nation we are spending so much on health care already with Medicare and Medicaid, curing the stuff we already can, that there's no way we can afford any more cures!!
Mon. May 12, 2003
Really Bullshit
Plan to Harness Power of Manure Draws Interest [NYTimes.com] Yes, in Chino, California they want to build a plant to convert lots of cow manure into methane and then burn it to make electricity. Makes one reminiscent for the old days of coal tar and gas lights, I guess.
Sat. May 10, 2003
The Old Man Is Dead
New Hampshire's "Old Man of the Mountain," the state symbol for hundreds of years, finally succumbed to old age this week [CNN.com], sliding off the face of the White Mountains. 
-- Daniel Webster
This was more than just a tourist attraction. It defined that area of New England in a way that few natural wonders ever could. I remember being six years old and seeing the Old Man with my own father on day trips from Boston, and much later doing the same thing on my own while in college. A never-ending source of wonder has ended. Long live the Old Man of the Mountain.
Fri. May 2, 2003
Life Cannot Get Worse in Russia!
Maybe I was wrong about Pravda when I blasted them for pussyfooting around on political assasinations. Wild Wild East. Today, the venerable Russian daily carries an interview with Duma leader Yaroslav Shvyryayev, who says that "I am often asked when life will be better in this country. I think that our life won't get worse, that's for sure." [Pravda.ru]
Beam me down, Scotty, there's intelligent life in Russia!!
Thu. April 17, 2003
Spam, Spam and More Spam
Always On includes a post by Phil Goldman, founder and CEO of Mailblocks and former co-founder of WebTV, commenting that spam is killing consumer e-mail and that the Web portals -- which dominate consumer e-mail -- are doing nothing about it. The State of Consumer Email: Consumers Deserve Better :: AO
Well, I think that Mailblocks is doing nothing, too. Filtering and blocking e-mail is a quixotic exercise, because spammers proliferate domains and e-mail addresses and because doing so only increases the chances that good e-mail will be filtered out. Mailblocks requires human confirmation, from the sender, if a "from" address is not in the recipient's address book, which of course just makes getting mail from new people -- like prospective clients, long-lost childhood friends, etc. -- problematic.
Goldman does say:
Now I can agree with that entirely. See Suing Spammers.
Mon. April 14, 2003
Browser Wars Redux
Apple adds features to Safari browser | CNET News.com
Apple Computer this morning released an updated beta version of its Safari Web browser as part of a reported effort to "distance its software environment from Microsoft's." Apple says that:
Many folks, myself included, felt that the network effects characteristics of the software industry meant that the browser market had already "tipped" decisively to IE. Which would suggest that there is little reason for anyone, including Apple, to innovate in the browser space. So what is going on here? Platform independence perhaps, but it is unclear what the commercial benefits are (if any) that accrue to Apple from developing a new browser. Having said that, I am indebted to Steve Jobs and am rapidly becoming a devoted Safari user.
Fri. April 11, 2003
End Of An Era - The Concorde
The Concorde may prove to be not only the world's only supersonic commercial aircraft, but also its last. It's being retired by Air France and British Airways.
A sad day for technology, a great day for the tree-huggers, but overall just another change in fashion. With the economic collapse of the airline industry, airlines are switching focus from fast to cheap, and from big to efficient. See Why economists don't fly Concorde. As if we needed to be told that there's no more romance in flying. Duh!!
Tue. April 8, 2003
The Second Superpower - Googlewashing
Is worldwide public opinion, or more precisely, a "Second Superpower," wielding the power to make or break international foreign policy regarding the conduct of the Iraq war? In The Register, analyst Andrew Orlowski explains that is less important than how the phrase came into general use, and was transformed, almost overnight as a result of blogging and the virtually instantaneous transmission of global information made possible by the Internet.
Saying that what started out as an Orwellian reference from 1984 has been repurposed in just 42 days from an anti-war analysis (in the N.Y Times) into a politically-neutered description of the information commons, Orlowski concludes that this sort of "Googlewashing" is permitting a relatively small handful of bloggers to "disappear" information for the masses:
So, there you have it. Not only does Google allow people to get information more quickly than ever before, it also allows people to lose information more quickly than ever before!!
Sat. March 29, 2003
Can the Caps Survive the First Playoff Round?
The Washington Capitals have not shown a great deal of desire or skill this season, as they limp into the playoffs.
For Caps, Win May Prove Big Down Line. "OTTAWA, March 28 -- Any team to prosper deep into the playoffs can recall nights when obscure players rose to unexpected heights, taking their teammates along with them. The Washington Capitals harbor thoughts of such a postseason run this spring, and suddenly their least heralded players are leading the way." Washington Post.
Welcome to My Blog
It doesn't seem right to begin this process without an appropriate welcome.
Weblogs, also known as "blogging," are based on a new technology that with the benefit of RSS and XML, supports the collection of linked, related information in a free-form manner -- a little like stream of consciouness. Blog definition. Having just launched it, I do not know what Glenn's Blog will turn out to be. Perhaps a quickly passing fad. Perhaps a longer term journal substitute. Only time will tell.
Posted by glenn at 10:00 PM