August 2006 Archives

The Electric Company is even better the second time around. As a child, I never realized that the show had quite as much star power as it did: Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman, Bill Cosby, and Tom Lehrer among the cast.

Top 500 World Universities (1-100)

The Chinese rank the world's universities. The methodology appears to be heavily weighted toward the sciences.

HOV Traffic Waits for No Man, Even the President

The Secret Service spent nearly a day trying to convince Virginia traffic officials to shut down the HOV lanes — including bus service — for six hours during rush hour. Why? So that the President could drive to a fundraiser for embattled Republican Senator George Allen. Finally persuaded that stranding 22,000 commuters was not a good idea, the President took a helicopter instead.

A recent story in the Guardian confirms once again that there is no such thing as anonymity on the Internet. This is a shame, because the Web is much richer for the candid commentary that sometimes only exists under a nom de plume. In this case, blogger Abby Lee was a major figure in the blogosphere, and not only because she wrote mostly about sex. The Guardian comments:

The blog tootled along for about six months, and then suddenly went crazy. People were Googling for it at a rate that was measurable by the minute. Girlwithaonetrackmind.blogspot.com has had more than 2 million visitors, gets 100,000 readers a month, won Best British or Irish Blog at the 2006 Bloggies, and was published as a book last week (for which she got "six figures"). The book is already in the bestseller lists. So far, so successful, but so still anonymous; all anybody knew about Abby Lee was that she worked in the film industry, lived in London and got laid a hell of a lot. Oh, and we knew that she had size eight feet - much has been made of this, in the press, as if she were deliberately trying to out herself, whereas, in fact, I can personally vouch for the fact that big feet are not all that rare.

In her candid depiction of an active woman's sex life, Lee counted on anonymity to protect her job and her relationships — with co-workers, friends, family, and lovers. After being "outed" by the Sunday Times, Lee recounts on her blog that she has lost her job and faced the humiliation of having her friends and family know the intimate details of her sex life. The Guardian, meanwhile, recounts that she has been hit with a wave of sexual prudery that would have been unthinkable a couple of decades ago. But it is not necessary to approve of frequent sex with more than one partner to believe that a culture that will not tolerate anonymous writing will be poorer for it. (For example, perhaps the most famous anonymous author was Sir Walter Scott, who did not wish to reveal that he had abandoned poetry for a less reputable art form — the novel.)

While I try not to put anything on the web to which I am not willing to sign my name and which I am not willing to have my mother read, I do not pretend that my writing is necessarily richer for it.

WP: Parents embarrassed by kids' blogs - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

One more way for kids to embarrass their parents, and themselves.

The Volokh Conspiracy reports that gay civil rights pioneer Dr. Franklin Kameny has a website featuring selections of historic papers and photographs from the early history of the gay rights movement, of which Kameny was an integral part. The avowed purpose of the website, beyond educating people about Dr. Kameny's work, is to find a sponsor for a permanent home for the collection in a museum or library.

Coffee as a Health Drink? Studies Find Some Benefits - New York Times

“I wouldn’t advise people to increase their consumption of coffee in order to lower their risk of disease,” Dr. van Dam said, “but the evidence is that for most people without specific conditions, coffee is not detrimental to health. If people enjoy drinking it, it’s comforting to know that they don’t have to be afraid of negative health effects.”

Other things being equal, I should have a very low risk of liver disease and Type II diabetes in light of my coffee consumption. I just need to avoid running at high altitudes — as if.

Chinese Rights Activist Stands Trial After Police Detain Defense Team

BEIJING, Aug. 18 -- The blind rural lawyer who exposed forced abortions and sterilizations in eastern China last year stood trial Friday without his lawyers, while supporters said the case made a mockery of any effort in China to impose the rule of law.

In the face of China's complete disregard for human rights or due process, the courage of a few lawyers at least offers a ray of hope.

blackprof.com: Advice for New Law Students of Color

I wish I had read Professor Overton's advice before I went to law school. As it was, a lot of what he has to say was not apparent until I was studying for the bar.

The post also has a lively and intelligent discussion in the comments; one that illustrates incidentally that meaning is not confined to authorial intention.

Lamont Defeats Lieberman After Tight Race - New York Times

Ned Lamont, a Connecticut millionaire whose candidacy for the United States Senate soared from nowhere on a fierce antiwar message, won a narrow but decisive victory tonight over the storied incumbent, Joseph I. Lieberman, in the race for the Democratic nomination.

Hopefully, this represents the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the Democratic Party, one in which the Democrats are finaly willing to challenge the Bush machine.

I spent part of the evening at Busboys and Poets for a book signing of Spencer Overton's Stealing Democracy. Overton, a professor at the George Washington University Law School, is a coauthor of the blog Blackprof.com