Surprisingly, I don't see any tea party types worried that Romney "won" the debate by backtracking on so many of his primary promises ("If my tax cuts for the wealthy will increase the deficit, then I won't do the tax cuts.").
But that may be because in his debating style, they finally recognized him as one of their own. Romney's debating style was heavily borrowed from the creationist and climate change denying crowds. It even has a name: Gish Gallop.
It's style over substance with the Gish-Gallop crowd. As long as Romney argues like them, they don't care that he shook that etch-a-sketch and sounded like the out-of-town roofing contractor who cruises your neighborhood after a hail storm.
The Seinfeld effect
More people will read a rant about the overuse of "Really!" because of Seinfeld's hilarious letter to the NY Times editor riffing on it.
A delinquent loan
Rohinton Mistry, the author of A Fine Balance, is in Norman to receive the Neustadt prize and I went to hear him give the keynote. The entire speech was an extended metaphor that ended with his statement that "a delinquent loan can be a blessing". That metaphorical explanation of why he writes was very good, so I'll share it with you.
Mistry grew up listening to Western music, reading Western books and imbibing Western culture. Part of this was because organizations like the British Library would loan out books to anyone who registered. Besides, the consulates were all airconditioned -- no small advantage in a city like Bombay. But any loan comes due and has to be repaid. The loans of books and music and theater and culture had to be repaid and it was repaid in terms of the minds and souls of all the impressionable young people who frequented these premises. That was why Mistry emigrated to Canada. India was never going to be enough for him. He would not be fenced in.
He was, however, too sophisticated to fall into the justifications that most immigrants fell into. He would not insist that he was going to spend only a few years abroad. He was not going to believe that he could ultimately take all this family and friends and connections with him to Canada. Mistry knew he could never go home again.
Not being able to go home was only one part of the paradox. The remainder of the paradox was that home never leaves you either. He was always going to be homesick. The way he resolved this was to recreate the home, the sights, the smells of the life he had left behind and scaffolded it with language. The loan, in other words, could be delinquent -- the West would not require a clean break, and would be quite tolerant of divided loyalties -- and that would be a blessing.
Writing was Rohinton Mistry's answer to the age-old immigrant's lament.
The audience was mostly young students, in their 20s, born into the cultural milieu they inhabit. I wonder how much of this keynote they really grokked. To me, it was moving, because the extended metaphor of a delinquent loan does capture my intellectual life, captures my desire to visit India every summer, to find ways to work in India when I can.
A delinquent loan, indeed.
Mistry grew up listening to Western music, reading Western books and imbibing Western culture. Part of this was because organizations like the British Library would loan out books to anyone who registered. Besides, the consulates were all airconditioned -- no small advantage in a city like Bombay. But any loan comes due and has to be repaid. The loans of books and music and theater and culture had to be repaid and it was repaid in terms of the minds and souls of all the impressionable young people who frequented these premises. That was why Mistry emigrated to Canada. India was never going to be enough for him. He would not be fenced in.
He was, however, too sophisticated to fall into the justifications that most immigrants fell into. He would not insist that he was going to spend only a few years abroad. He was not going to believe that he could ultimately take all this family and friends and connections with him to Canada. Mistry knew he could never go home again.
Not being able to go home was only one part of the paradox. The remainder of the paradox was that home never leaves you either. He was always going to be homesick. The way he resolved this was to recreate the home, the sights, the smells of the life he had left behind and scaffolded it with language. The loan, in other words, could be delinquent -- the West would not require a clean break, and would be quite tolerant of divided loyalties -- and that would be a blessing.
Writing was Rohinton Mistry's answer to the age-old immigrant's lament.
The audience was mostly young students, in their 20s, born into the cultural milieu they inhabit. I wonder how much of this keynote they really grokked. To me, it was moving, because the extended metaphor of a delinquent loan does capture my intellectual life, captures my desire to visit India every summer, to find ways to work in India when I can.
A delinquent loan, indeed.
Innumeracy: Andrew Sullivan edition
If you see a post titled "Romney360", does this mean:
But while everyone gets their panties in a twist if someone misuses the word "literally" (on the subject of which, see today's XKCD), no one cares a hoot if someone misuses math.
To reverse course, which is what Andrew Sullivan meant to say, you do a 180.
- Romney is back where he started from?
- Romney has abruptly changed direction?
But while everyone gets their panties in a twist if someone misuses the word "literally" (on the subject of which, see today's XKCD), no one cares a hoot if someone misuses math.
To reverse course, which is what Andrew Sullivan meant to say, you do a 180.
Eerily quiet, email-wise
It has been a very quiet day today.
NOAA's email, hosted on Google, is apparently down. No reasons have been forthcoming. There are no emails coming into my NOAA address.
My personal email, hosted on GoDaddy, is down due to an attack on GoDaddy's servers by the group Anonymous.
The only email that is working is the one that comes to my OU address. That's lucky, because at the top of the pile of things I am working are two proposals that go through OU's proposals office. If I had to choose one email that needed to work today, that would have been it.
Still, it is eerily quiet.
NOAA's email, hosted on Google, is apparently down. No reasons have been forthcoming. There are no emails coming into my NOAA address.
My personal email, hosted on GoDaddy, is down due to an attack on GoDaddy's servers by the group Anonymous.
The only email that is working is the one that comes to my OU address. That's lucky, because at the top of the pile of things I am working are two proposals that go through OU's proposals office. If I had to choose one email that needed to work today, that would have been it.
Still, it is eerily quiet.
Obama recognizes a meme
As part of his campaign to motivate disillusioned young people into voting for him again, Barack Obama did a reddit interview. Reddit users posted questions, other reddit users voted up questions, and Obama answered the questions that bubbled up to the top. The interview was so popular that it essentially crashed Reddit.
There was nothing much to see in the interview itself. Nothing, that is, but a talented politician using words to avoid actually answering any of the questions. Take for example, this question/answer pair:
Wait, there is something worth noting: Obama's answers contained no outright lies -- these days, it appears that every speech by every Republican is full of lies, so perhaps it is worth noting that Barack Obama was saying only true things. He was ducking questions, but he was not actively lying.
So, anyway, the interview ended with Obama's take on the whole Reddit interview process: "NOT BAD". This is a reference to a wildly popular meme that dates back to a year ago, when the Obamas visited Britain and were caught in this pose.
See more on Know Your Meme
I suppose that some young staffer would have pointed out to Obama that there was an internet meme centered about a candid photo of him. Still, it was quite clever of Obama to reference it in a situation. So much so that one of the Reddit posters was prompted to remark:
This easy empathy with an audience is what makes Obama the talented politician he is.
There was nothing much to see in the interview itself. Nothing, that is, but a talented politician using words to avoid actually answering any of the questions. Take for example, this question/answer pair:
Question:
Are you considering increasing funds to the space program?Answer:
Notice that he doesn't actually say whether he is considering increasing funds to the space program. A lot of words on a related topic, but not directly to the question at hand.Making sure we stay at the forefront of space exploration is a big priority for my administration. The passing of Neil Armstrong this week is a reminder of the inspiration and wonder that our space program has provided in the past; the curiosity probe on mars is a reminder of what remains to be discovered. The key is to make sure that we invest in cutting edge research that can take us to the next level - so even as we continue work with the international space station, we are focused on a potential mission to a asteroid as a prelude to a manned Mars flight.
Wait, there is something worth noting: Obama's answers contained no outright lies -- these days, it appears that every speech by every Republican is full of lies, so perhaps it is worth noting that Barack Obama was saying only true things. He was ducking questions, but he was not actively lying.
So, anyway, the interview ended with Obama's take on the whole Reddit interview process: "NOT BAD". This is a reference to a wildly popular meme that dates back to a year ago, when the Obamas visited Britain and were caught in this pose.
See more on Know Your Meme
I suppose that some young staffer would have pointed out to Obama that there was an internet meme centered about a candid photo of him. Still, it was quite clever of Obama to reference it in a situation. So much so that one of the Reddit posters was prompted to remark:
This easy empathy with an audience is what makes Obama the talented politician he is.
Innocence Lost
Sunday school for the kids started today. As we turned into the temple parking lot, we saw a police car at the entrance. Apparently, the temple board was jittery enough after the Wisconsin shootings that they asked for the police presence. They didn't ask for the police presence round the clock, mind you. Only for a couple of hours a week -- times that the building would be full of children.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)