blessed are the poor who have lawyers on their side

Surviving Germany

2006-03-20T11:12:00.000-08:00

This has to be the funniest and most true thing I've read on the web in years: The Germany Survival Bible

back.

2006-01-18T15:39:00.000-08:00

Returned from a wonderful week in New York - trying to catch up on some blogreading. Had a widsom tooth removed. School starts on Friday.

I heart Ana Marie Cox

2006-01-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

True, we are told, repeatedly, that the case has half of Washington's powerbrokers looking over their shoulder and the other half salivating for a parade of perp walks. And in Washington, a high body count gets everyone's attention (except maybe the president's).

For one thing, Mr. Abramoff may go down as the first man in American history too corrupt to be a lobbyist.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/05/opinion/05cox.html

Nick as a Gay Mormon

2005-11-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

Nick as a Gay Mormon: "

Nick writes about why he still identifies as a Mormon, even though he’s gay.

Jim Wallis Rants on American Christians

2005-11-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

Jim Wallis Rants on American Christians: "Writer takes materialistics to task."

Japanese Translation

2005-11-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

Regarding your column from this Sunday,
I have some familiarity with working with Japanese businesses, though I am young. The situation described by Mr. Gottlieb is a result of traditional stereotypes held by most Japanese - that only they speak Japanese. Japanese formality is quite rigid, and even if one can speak conversational Japanese fluently (a difficult task in and of itself), a translator is often needed to convey the nuance that is particularly important in such situations. It is typical that a Western guest will greet people in Japanese, but I think that many assume that this is only being done from rote, and not out of a precise understanding of the language. So, the western executive should probably inform his Japanese hosts that he can understand well enough the meaning of their private conversations, but still requires a translator to understand all. As a polyglot, I have been in many situations where languages other than those that I speak (of which Japanese is not one), and the more sensitive amongst them recognize that it is impolite to carry on conversations in other languages, especially ones concerning me. In any case, Mr. Gottlieb's friend is probably not crossing the line where it comes to informing the other parties, but one would hope that he is being respectable by ignoring the information gleaned from those private conversations.

(Note to self: there was self-censorship here... a surprise.)

Strunk & White

2005-11-02T08:02:00.000-08:00

I would like to hear the Elements of Style Opera. (And Nico Muhly is adorable.)

Journo Shield Law

2005-11-02T07:34:00.000-08:00

I wonder why seemingly all journalists are up in arms in support of Judith Miller and the shield law currently under consideration by the Senate. Well, I don't have to wonder - they want to protect the freedom of the press. As well they should, but we all seem to forget that the freedoms outlined in the Bill of Rights are not absolute - there are restrictions on speech, press, religion, and assembly. They are significant in that they are few, and in that they are not far-reaching or broad. And there are good reasons for them. We forget that what Robert Novak did, and was investigated by the grand jury for, was actually illegal. It was not the exposé of an illegal act, or rather, it was, but the illegal act was committed in the revelation of that name to those particular journalists. Judith Miller was not protecting someone who had, through an illegal act, exposed a different, more serious illegal act, she was protecting someone who had committed a very serious illegal act without predecessor. I don't think that journalists should have any special privilege to protect sources who act in the name of political retriubution. Besides, are opinion columnists really journalists?

2005-10-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is a fantastic commercial.

2005-10-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

oh, right, now I remember... I want this job.

Grover Norquist's Bathtub

2005-09-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

Some wonder what Grover Norquist may think of George W. Bush's spend and cut-taxes policy:

While reading John Cassidy's Profile of Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reofrm, I had to wonder: What has Norquist's conservative activism got him? ("The Ringleader," August 1st.) The Cato Institute has called George W. Bush "the biggest spending president in decads." Observers have resorted to using the term "big-governmnent conservatism" to describe what the Bush Administration and the Republican majorities in the House and Senate are doing now that they have sweeping control of the government. (And we are not by any means just talking about defense-related increased - there is also new spending in areas like the Department of Education, and new health entitlements of the sort that conservatives used to call "liberal spending.") The only thing Norquist has got from the Administration is tax cuts - well, sort of. Since President Bush is growing the government at the same time that he is cutting into its current and future revenues, we are really getting deferred tax hike.s. By some reckonings, Bush's deficit will amount to an annual four-thousand-dollar bill for each American household - a bill that we are being forced to put on the national credit card, to be paid later, with interest. Instead of trying to, in Norquist's words, take big government and drown it in the bathup," Bush has presided over an astounding flood of government. And Grover Norquist doesn't seem to realize that he's been had.

Peter Hamlin
Middlebury, Vt.
The New Yorker
"The Mail", September 12, 2005

I think that Grover Norquist couldn't be happier. Perhaps we should reformulate his "reduce the federal government so that he can 'drown it in the bathtub'" to "drown the federal government in its own debt." This isn't reducing the federal government, it's a looting of the federal government, the consequences of which are hinted at in the next letter:

If Grover Norquist's vision of drowning the federal government in the bathtub ever succeeds, he will be left with the gated community that is the logical extension of his aspirations. Private schools, private roads, privatized Social Security, private enclaves - all guarded by heavily armed vigilantes to keep out those who can't afford them. America will cease to be a great nation, because to be truly great a moder nation must grapple with the greater good - a messy concept that too many conservatives seem willing to entertain only in a Biblical contet. Quality education, meaningful health care, a cleaner environment, constructive world engagement, and cultural advancement require an active, responsible federal government and a committed civil service. All that costs money, which means that we have to pay taxes. Our focus should be on improving government, not eliminating it.

Michael Lahr
Arlington, Va
The New Yorker
"The Mail", September 12, 2005

cf Snow Crash

Shock and Awe

2005-09-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

I think that the Bush administration has an uncanny sense of timing, and in this sense, got lucky somehow. It remains to be seen what will bring down this administration, however they have been quick enough to redirect our attention from one bad thing to another, hoping that it will cause us to lose focus, because each of these individual items is soooo bad, but then we don't get the time to really focus on it, because we've moved on to the next scandal. I've probably forgotten something in this rundown...

1) Iraqi occupation keeps getting worse.
2) Renquist dies
3) Hurricane Katrina hits NOLA
4) Inept response
5) Nominate John Roberts to Chief Justice
6) Michael Brown "demoted", then resigns
7) Bush's "mea culpa"
8) Hurricane Rita approaches, different problems emerge
9) Hurricane Rita hits poor parts of Texas and Lousiana, nobody cares
10) "Bi-"partisan commission to review hurricane response failures
11) Brown discovered to be still on FEMA payroll
12) Roberts confirmed and sworn in as Chief Justice
13) Judith Miller "allowed" to leave prison - Valerie Plame in news again

I know that something has inevitably been forgotten, and the list will probably lengthen. What's most notable is that this all happened within a month.

First Time Ever?

2005-09-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

George W. Bush says "public transportation".

Update: After some brief research, it is not the first time the phrase issues forth from his mouth. The first time was in July 2001 celebrating the Americans with Disabilities Act ("They have more options in ... choosing public transportation ..."), and the second was in a June 2002 speech calling for a new Palistenian leadership ("having to avoid markets and public tranpsortation ..."). This is certainly the first time that this President has ever advocated any sort of conservation, or public transportation. (See Freaks and Wierdos)

Chad Smith is hot.

2005-09-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

I always thought so... I think I've been reading his blog for close to five years now... it hasn't been around much longer than that. There's just something about him - attractive, intensely intelligent, and oblique enough to have (I suspect) not much of a readership. He's been long connected to a-list bloggers Jonno and Richard (whom I hope is the lad in this photo - I never found either of them that attractive, but it looks like Richard was hot in 1990), and many others like the long departed Chris Paul of Chrisonomicon, the recently departed Geek Slut, and the recently returned Dean of Daily Dean, and he appears to be intimately acquainted with the up-and-comer Rocco. And he's an architect. My ultimate wet-dream: hot, smart, gay architect.

Well, now he's joined the throng of employed blogs - I'm cataleptic with anticipation in sitting and reading the seven-month backlog of entries of the newly announced tropolism.com.

I always enjoyed reading his thoughts about architecture, and kind of lament the passing of his intelligently racy writing* and two+ year long series of entries detailing the first weeks of courtship with Aaron (the current status of which boggles me), but they all leave you wanting more; not really understanding what happened.

Not that the writing won't be superb, but it definetly won't be the same, because crypticness probably does not sell well.

*It's still intelligent, but not as racy. The first two years are appropriately archived under "two years of urban mischief".

You're 23?

2005-09-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

I have a hard time believing that you are younger than I am... You're too well-travelled, and involved in so much for your (presumed) age. This is a good thing, but your style and tone seems rather world-weary for someone so young. I always thought you were cute - the tatoos and the blond streak in the hair....

Bloggers I Don't Understand: Bradford Shellhammer

2005-09-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

My god, how gay and pretentious can you get? "We cannot wait to match our Pumas with our iPods." Always going on and on about his wardrobe, furnishings and whatnot, which could be more okay under the auspices of Queerty where he's ostensibly reviewing these items, but on his blog? I don't think so. Truly conspicuous consumption. (His apartment appears to be furnished entirely by Design Within Reach.) That, and he thinks that Carson Kressly and Kathy Griffin on the red carpet is a good thing. Granted, I have different issues about the red carpet and what goes on there, but those two queens? Gag me with Jai's 12-inch cock. Then there are the horrendeously uninspired "yb 5 question interviews". "What is the key to happiness?" Bradford Shellhammer writing intelligently. (Because he can, and it's so rare.)

confusing myself

2005-09-12T16:26:00.000-07:00

So after writing this comment, I'm confused as to how I should label myself (aaugh! I hate labels! It's so post-modern!) - but I guess I'm less socialist and more capitalist than I think, but still a firm believer in the welfare state.

Life Goes On

2005-09-12T15:49:00.000-07:00

I find it odd that I'm thinking that the entire world should shut down on every future September 11th, but it didn't. So I'll rethink that, while noting that there wasn't really that much happening in re: memorials, or at least in the news, except for the one with the horrendous quote. (Missouri appears to be closing in on Kansas's title as a prime backwater... But this is funny - race/class, sex and evolution are all hot-button issues with education in Kansas.) Whosoever imomus is (I still haven't quite figured it out - a Japanophile living in Berlin, at least...) he has some very interesting things to say about what the privitazation of the Post Office (of all things) in Japan may mean. I can't agree more - but then again, I'm almost socialist. It's interesting that in Germany, where he lives, the post office, rail system, health insurance, and other systems have been likewise privatized, and things seem to be fine. I think that Germany is the only country in continental Europe where all of these services have been privatized, and they're certainly more expensive than anywhere else in cont. Europe, save Switzerland and Scandinavia.

American Red Cross

2005-09-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Guarded, but honest...

Pictures from NOLA

2005-09-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in here (can't link to the specific photo I want), there's one that really supports my idea that New Orleans' leevees should be taken down, the wetlands returned, and NOLA rebuilt as a modern-day Venice.

2005-09-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

Good Question.

How do I get sucked into these things?

2005-07-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

I watched it, and I cried at the end, too. I generally don't like to get sucked into the reality shows that appear to exploit peoples' plight, but somehow I just had to see how this ended. Even before the show started. But, it was somehow touching, and I was proud of the family that managed to overcome some major problems in just a week. I'm still skeptical about that one. Hopefully I'll never watch that trash again.

eG Forums -> [CHI] Alinea - Grant Achatz - Reviews & Discussion

2005-05-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

eG Forums -> [CHI] Alinea - Grant Achatz - Reviews & Discussion A fascinating look at a new restaurant in Chicago - bizarre cuisine. 28-course prix fixe.

blagg blogg: Look, Nobody Cares That You're a DJ

2005-05-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

blagg blogg: Look, Nobody Cares That You're a DJ

Edge City

2005-05-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

Right now, instead of doing HVAC design, I'm reading Joel Garreau's Edge City. A monumental tome, published in 1991. I ask you to consider the climate of the times: the economy has all but recovered from whatever happened to the stock market in the 80's, and is beginning it's unbeliavable (and unsustainable) rise which ended, quasi-officially, on September 11, 2001. Another item is the ungodly low price of oil, in those times. Automobile transportation is taken as a fact of life in this book, and seemingly no thought is given to the environmental, economic and political reprecussions. (Indeed, all that seems to be addressed here is economics, and only glancingly. But then again, I'm only 40 pages into 480.) Indeed, statements like "The combination of the present is the automobile, the jet plane, and the computer" are inherently dependent on oil. We've not adjusted to our new circumstances (viz. oil) to see whether Garreau's ideas will hold true for expensive oil. Fourteen years later, half of what Garreau writes seems absurd, and the other half spot-on. Somehow, social life gets attributed as that which holds the Edge City together, but that doesn't make much sense to me, yet. Quite correctly, though, he presents it as the reason why we haven't delved completly into telecommunication. I'm sure he has more to say on the social aspect, and also on the cultural, as that is sorely lacking. Having grown up between a minor edge city and the downtown of a minor metropolis, I choose the metropolis. But that's probably because what my parents do is incredibly urbane and connected to a newer idea of what an old urban center harbors: the arts, specifically, performing arts. Garreau hasn't addressed the arts at all yet, but I really hope he does. But I see another problem with his social aspect: much of what defined Jane Jacob's cities was the street life - not density, as he seems to misunderstand her. In today's world of corporate office parks, meticulously planned neighborhoods, and shopping malls, the only place where we encounter a variety of people is at the mall. Even then, we're all doing the same thing: shopping. Who really talks to their neighbors anymore? In the fifteen years that we've lived in the same house, we've gone from knowing at least half the block to maybe an eighth. In a corporate office park, there exists plenty of opportunity for human interaction, but everyone works for the same "man", and besides, you're working. Also disturbing is the architectural monotony. Though it's not done according to a wholly Corbusian master plan, it is certianly remniscient of some of the scarier elements. Just about everybody thinks that while Le Corubusier was great, he had no clue when it came to urban planning. How do I know that the photo on the front end-paper is Tysons Corner, VA? Because I have to be told so. It looks strikingly similar to Overland Park, or Independance, or outer-Chicago. The exectuive at Beneficial laments that there's no social interaction in a skyscraper - only in the elevator - but every architect who's had the pleasure (?) to design one knows this and tries to do something about it - even Corb had a novel solution (Unité d'habitation).

Anil Dash: Companies Making Laws

2005-04-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Anil Dash: Companies Making Laws

It's interesting what Anil has to say, and I agree completly. Large corporations are generally not in the habit of supporting legislation that are in support of the greater good; most legislation supported thusly is a greater bad. Hopefully, it puts them on the road to not supporting any legislation at all, but that's not going to happen. MSFT has a vested interest in breaking down monopoly regulations, and bolstering IP law. If they were to begin to advocate that individuals have the same rights as corporations (as corporations have more, and broader, rights than individuals), it could bode well. Though, the reverse is certianly true - Microsoft could have a business interest in seeing marriage laws loosened, then applied to corporations. Getting married is probably one of those few things that individuals can do that corporations cannot do without explicit consent of the state. But, "marriage laws" for corporations (regulation) is there for a reason, and I don't see much real reason why we have some of the marriage laws (and amendments) in this country that we do. Also, on the flip side, if corporations begin to persue civil-rights agendas, there are certainly some who wouldn't support MSFT's views. (cf San Francisco Accent)

Daniel Liebeskind

2005-04-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

In Berlin, I had the chance to visit the Jewish Museum. It was cool - very strange, but cool. Cindy and I weren't terribly impressed with the installations - they didn't seem to make too much sense. That said, he's a wacko. (He published an essay whilst I was living in Germany and he in Berlin, pre-Freedom Tower. find this.) The Denver Art Museum expansion is under construction, and will be finished sometime in 2006. Coolhunting links to a blogger posting construction photos of the thing, and it's the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. The connections are amazing.

How very Jane Jacobs of you

2005-04-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

Suburbia will come to be regarded as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world. It has a tragic destiny.

The End of the World!!!

2005-04-18T13:39:00.000-07:00

Things that will not destroy the world: Gay Marriage.

Xeni Jardin

2005-04-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

"wears Gucci and drives a Mercedes Convertible..." and can therefore probably pay for all their bandwidth in one fell swoop.

On a similar note, I don't think B r y a n B o y e r has much cause to ask for contributions...

2005-04-10T21:40:00.000-07:00

Also, I took the job at Nagata. Whohoo!

2005-04-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

I saw Peter Cook of Archigram & Bartlett School of Architecture lecture Wednesday - I should take notes at these things. He was fantastic. It was the best lecture in years. Hearing an Englishman speak perfect German then doing a really good (but naughty-bad) Japanese impression made my semester... Then it's off to the Folley to hear Thom Mayne speak. Who knows what to expect... (kcstar, reg req)

working on it

2005-04-01T11:36:00.000-08:00

So, if I'm actually going to try my hand at this blogging thing, I'd better do it, huh? It's been a month since I last posted, and much has happened. It wasn't necessarily because I didn't have the time to do this that I didn't, but because I just couldn't wrench myself away from (primarily) Alias and other distractions. There was the distraction of spring break, during which I did absolutely nothing, which was nice to do (well, I hosted a little soireé, but that was it), then there was the distraction of choosing a summer internship, and now the mind-numbing distraction of class has returned.

Regarding the internship, it took a long time to decide - Arup or Nagata? Well, the choice was difficult - at least I didn't have to decide upon where to live - they're both in LA/Santa Monica. Arup is, of course, Arup, and would be great to have on my resume - everyone knows who they are - one of the largest engineering firms in the world with 7000 employees at 73 offices in 37 countries. They also offered me lots of money, great housing, and the entire summer. But, I'd be doing mechanical noise control for them (making sure air conditioning systems aren't too loud), and I'd probably end up standing at the side of a highway somewhere in southern California holding a sound level meter. Ick.

Nagata, on the other hand, offered me less money, and about a month less time in LA, but they only do architectural acoustics, that is, concert halls. This is undoubtedly what I want to do. So I took their offer. Maybe I can go earlier, maybe not. We'll see. I e-mailed Arup, and they just called me this morning to ask why I didn't accept their offer. For me, it was quite awkward, and the nice lady on the phone sounded somewhat saddened that I wouldn't be coming to work for them. Well, I guess I was perfectly honest with them, and probably said too much, but it's over with now.

Now I just have to find an apartment in LA and Lawrence, and decide upon my schedule for next semester. I only need 4 classes to graduate, but it will take two semesters. If I had been smart, I probably could have taken one of those classes out of order, and graduated a semester earlier, but no use in fretting over that now. hrmh.

On to some more interesting topics, I'm going to try to write more here, and post many links on del.icio.us, and pictures on Flickr that I've been hoarding for such an occassion. Oh, and write, some, too. I don't know why I don't really like writing (probably because I'm no good at it, but there's only one way to improve, right?), but I've got some interesting things to discuss with myself.

2005-03-06T21:59:00.000-08:00

with no lights on, the contrast my laptop's screen creates with the surrouning darkness creates a tunnel - i am somewhere else. it was a beautiful day, but all i did was drive around in my new car and watch alias.

2005-03-04T22:53:00.000-08:00

I guess I should hear from Brent more often. A day later, I ran into Josh on the street, and got to talk (and flirt) with him for a while. Nice. I think he might still be interested... Though I did pop into KUI today to see Laura Rose, which was nice to see everyone else, except Brent, which was awkward. It would have been difficult to say anything to him then, as I'm sure that it will be difficult to say anything to him about it in general.

The other person I ran into today, without expecting it at all, was Mark S. I guess we have a habit now of running into each other at the most random times (and in the most random places, ie Lyon). We had a good talk, though we didn't seem to have too much to say to each other - getting started was a little difficult. I think that, for both of us, what happened in the past is now finally in the past, and we can now move on. He was supposed to have dinner with Laura and Dan and myself this evening, but that didn't, on his part, really happen. I shouldn't be surprised, and I'm not.

bastard.

2005-03-02T12:25:00.000-08:00

so, brent calls me last night, wanting to get together and do something. it's been close to a month since i've heard from the ex-boyfriend, and i thought we were more or less done.

i thought we were done because the last time i heard from him, we went out to an opera, amicably, and then had drinks afterwards. then he proceeded to act like a total asshole, by first making plans to hook up with someone after we have drinks. but, as we're having drinks, we run into my roommate cindy, and our friends corina and liz, and liz's friend josh. well, josh is absolutely adorable, and is only the, say, fifth gay architecture student i've ever met, and boy, do i want in his pants. brent is (predictably) all over him, which i can't fault him for, but he is somehow compelled to tell me all about how he's going to get with him later. not exactly what you want to hear from your ex-boyf. well, josh doesn't seem to be taking to brent (hugs me plesantly firmly as we're leaving), and we all (ostensibly) leave alone. brent takes me home, and i proceed to puke everything up, both because i hadn't had any appreciable amount of alcohol in a while, and because of the emotional trauma that i've just been through.

come morning, i find this e-mail from brent in my inbox: "sie kifft gern, und ist immer blau, also sie ist eine Zicke!", asking me what it means. (i suppose an important detail re:josh is that he was in stuttgart the year after me and speaks german very well, making him, to me, even more attractive.) it translates as "she likes to smoke and is always drunk. what a bitch!". so, of course, i assume that he slept with josh and felt compelled to somehow hint at it. but, showing this to cindy, who was also in stuttgart with me, she didn't think so, as she said that it sounds like online-translator german. (i kinda thought that, but judgement was a little clouded.) she also said that josh wasn't that interested, and said later that josh saw brent on jayhawk blvd, and gave him a fake phone number. ha!

anyways, returning to the present, i don't know what to say to brent. i think i'm going tell him that i won't have anything to do with him unless he can offer me a sincere apology. i don't really know if he's capapble of such a thing, though. hrmph. i still haven't called him back.

but for now, i have other phone calls to make: Aurp, RBDG, and Kirkegaard. i wonder how these will pan out, after Nagata has been so interested.

begin.

2005-03-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

rabbit rabbit.

blessed are the poor who have lawyers on their side

Surviving Germany

back.

I *heart* Ana Marie Cox

Nick as a Gay Mormon

Jim Wallis Rants on American Christians

Japanese Translation

Strunk & White

Journo Shield Law

Grover Norquist's Bathtub

Shock and Awe

First Time Ever?

Chad Smith is hot.

You're 23?

Bloggers I Don't Understand: Bradford Shellhammer

confusing myself

Life Goes On

American Red Cross

Pictures from NOLA

How do I get sucked into these things?

eG Forums -> [CHI] Alinea - Grant Achatz - Reviews & Discussion

blagg blogg: Look, Nobody Cares That You're a DJ

Edge City

Anil Dash: Companies Making Laws

Daniel Liebeskind

How very Jane Jacobs of you

The End of the World!!!

Xeni Jardin

working on it

bastard.

begin.

I heart Ana Marie Cox