time to move on

so i've taken a new job which has altered my relationship with supposedly.
if anything, i recognize the need for a skeptical mindset now more than ever.

i will do my best to continue to relate to this space on a more regular basis.

the council on foreign relations' site has a number of quality resources available.

in particular, i appreciate the backgrounders. they serve as a touching off point for familiarizing yourself with a particular issue. here's a discussion of the role of evangelical christians in american foreign policy.

Foiled again

Check out Fred Kaplan's article on Slate: "Looking for Intel in All the Wrong Places: What Washington can learn from Britain's foiled terror plot."

Alive in Baghdad

Alive in Baghdad is an attempt by 25 year old journalist and filmmaker, Brian Conley, to give voice to people living in and through the current Iraqi crisis. His idea is that instead of having Americans, or other westerners, in Iraq to tell us what is going on, why not empower Iraqis themselves to tell their stories. A key component of this is the use of sound and video. By seeing the day to day goings on first hand, we are able to remove some of the element of abstraction that is inevitable as a westerner trying to make sense of the current situation in Iraq.

You can access Alive in Baghdad's videos either through their website or the Democracy Player.

They also have a set of photos available through flickr.

Democracy Player

"Want to see the future of Net video? Download the open source Democracy Player"
Wired Magazine, May 2006

Stop squinting at tiny web video. Instead, download and watch all the best internet TV shows in one powerful application: any video RSS feed, video podcast, video blog, or BitTorrent file. Fullscreen, high resolution, 100% free and open source. New channels arrive daily in the built-in Channel Guide.

Gentle Ben

Time magazine profiles new fed chair Ben Bernanke...

"The shift is about more than clearer communication and punch lines. What's really at stake is a plan to make the Fed a more transparent and accessible institution. When Bernanke first showed up at the Fed as a governor in 2002, he started eating in the cafeteria, much to the surprise of younger economists, who weren't used to governors joining them for lunch and talking shop. When he returned as chairman in February after an eight-month stint as head of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, he resumed his lunchtime habits, not locking himself away in the Fed's private dining rooms. He plays pickup basketball at the Fed gym, posted his minivan for sale on the Fed's electronic bulletin board and showed up at the Fed's July 4 barbecue with his wife, who teaches Spanish, and one of his two children, home from college for the summer."

A strategy for resolving the conflict in Lebanon

Former U.S. Ambassador Martin Indyk in today's Financial Times:

"Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, will visit the Middle East this week, raising hopes of an American initiative to end the Lebanese-Israeli imbroglio. On the surface, a surprising consensus is forming about the necessary elements of that initiative: a comprehensive ceasefire; the Lebanese government’s authority extended to southern Lebanon; an effective international force to help the Lebanese army keep peace on the border with Israel and prevent Hizbollah’s rearming; a return to the 1949 Israel-Lebanon armistice agreement with a joint border demarcation committee to deal with outstanding territorial disputes; prisoner exchange negotiations between the Israeli and Lebanese governments; an international fund for reconstructing Lebanon; and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 on disbanding and disarming all militias.

Most of these elements were outlined in the Group of Eight communiqué and statements by the Lebanese and Israeli prime ministers. It would not take much US diplomatic muscle to secure agreement among these parties. Missing from this framework, however, is any way to get Hizbollah – instigator of the crisis – to accept it. Hizbollah has been bloodied but not yet bowed. Why should it agree to cede its suzerainty in southern Lebanon as the precursor to its disarmament?"

Fight Club

Robin Wright of the Washington Post reports:

"Israel, with U.S. support, intends to resist calls for a cease-fire and continue a longer-term strategy of punishing Hezbollah, which is likely to include several weeks of precision bombing in Lebanon, according to senior Israeli and U.S. officials.

"For the United States, the broader goal is to strangle the axis of Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iran, which the Bush administration believes is pooling resources to change the strategic playing field in the Middle East, U.S. officials say.

"Whatever the outrage on the Arab streets, Washington believes it has strong behind-the-scenes support among key Arab leaders also nervous about the populist militants -- with a tacit agreement that the timing is right to strike."

Go Bloogle!

Google plans to open an advertising center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

[photo courtesy of AP]

Calls for an Explanation

Robert Wright interviews John Polkinghorne on the anthropic principle on Slate's Meaning of Life TV. (The video's two and a half minutes long.)

Here are some of the other offerings:

"John Maynard Smith, one of the great figures in modern evolutionary biology, died in April of 2004. He was a scientist who tackled very big questions and yet maintained his intellectual humility--appreciating, for example, how mysterious is the very existence of human consciousness. He was also a scientist who anticipated his own death with impressive equanimity.

Is mysticism an enemy of rationalism? Omid Safi, speaking from a Muslim point of view, says no. (If you're wondering how a Muslim got to be an authority on mysticism: Don't forget about the Muslims known as Sufis).

Is consciousness a mystery--so mysterious as to suggest some higher purpose in the universe? Yes and no, says psychologist Steven Pinker (who more definitively solves the mystery of his hair).

Why are the world's religions sometimes at each other's throats? Huston Smith, who wrote the book on them, has an answer, and it's inspiring yet depressing."

Lost in America

New America Foundation fellow, Douglas McGray:

Speak two languages and you’re bilingual. Speak one? You must be American. So goes the old joke. But globalization means that students can no longer remain blissfully unaware. Can Americans open the classroom door, or will today’s youth be unprepared to lead tomorrow’s world?"

in the May Foreign Policy.

take a look at this

I went to see the Outwin Boochever 2006 Portrait Competition with my girlfriend this past Sunday.

It was amazing. They received over 4000 entries from each of the fifty states. Needless to say, the 51 finalists were outstanding. The works here are the first prize winner Sam and the Perfect World by
David Lenz and My Father in the Living Room of Our 10th House by James Seward.

The National Potrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum just reopened as The Reynolds Center.

Check it out.

And now for something completely different...

Here's a little Radiohead update from green plastic:

"Whew! What a last few days. Radiohead played a marathon set of 28 songs in front of 80,000 people at Bonnaroo last Saturday. According to the reviews sent to us, it was an awesome time. Bonnaroo grossed over $15 million making it the top-grossing festival in the world.

After leaving Tennessee, the band traveled North to Chicago where they played two sold out shows at the Auditorium Theatre. Reviews for the June 19th gig can be found here while last night's reviews can be found here. Many thanks to everyone that submitted!

Now Radiohead are on their way to California to play the final three stops on their North American tour. First stop will be in our neck of the woods at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley this Friday and Saturday. Hope to see you there!"

And here are some more photos of Thom and the boys that I took at last Saturday's Radiohead Show at Bonnaroo...


If you'd like to see more photos, please let me know. If you'd add a link to my blog from yours I'd be more than happy to reciprocate.

I really enjoyed hearing Big Ideas (Don't Get Any), it has always been one of my favorites. I appreciated the crowd's silence during Exit Music (I never saw a lighter light vigile quite like that) and How to Disappear. House of Cards really blew me away. I enjoyed Thom's sing-a-long to "this is what you'll get" and the crowd's spontaneous glow band light show to Everything in its Right Place. I wasn't sure what to expect with 80,000 festival fans at an outdoor venue in Tennessee. It turned out to be a spectacular event.

I hope you enjoy the photos. I'd appreciate any feedback.

50 cent in talks with Apple over low-cost computers

Mr. Negroponte, I'm afraid you have company. According to Apple Insider, hip-hop star, 50 Cent is in talks with Apple's Steve Jobs to help put affordable computers in the hand of less wealthy inner city residents.

"I'm creating a foundation that will be around for a long time, because fame can come and go or get lost in the lifestyle and the splurging," 50 Cent told Forbes Magazine. "I never got into it for the music. I got into it for the business."

From Apple Insider:

"The negotiations between the rapper and Apple are for a 'branding deal.'

50 Cent ranks amongst the world's richest celebrities, raking in over $67 million in 2005 from record sales and branding deals that include a line of sneakers, a video game and his G-Unit clothing line.

'[Jobs] is setting a new standard in the music business,' said 50's manager, Chris Lighty. 'Let's just say we get each other.'"

It will be interesting to see how this effort, both domestic and using Apple computers, compares to Nicholas Negroponte's initiative to put $100 laptops in the hands of children in lesser developed countries.

I am fascinated by the similarities and differences between poverty in the U.S. and abroad, and by what I see as the artificial separation between efforts to improve lives within the U.S. and in other parts of the world. Now that we have two independent efforts to address the growing digital divide, we may gain a better understanding of which strategies are more promising. We may also gain insight into the complexities of poverty that are country specific and those that are prevalent throughout the world.

They Call It Life

Have you seen the energy industry's response to concerns about global warming?

Well at least they're creative.

You Don't Say

Here are three things I'd like to highlight today:

Check out the World Bank's Private Sector Development Blog

It quoted Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu as saying,

"I’m of the attitude that, like in politics, development is local. You can have the grand view but if you don’t infuse the people at a grass roots level you’re playing marbles. I think what this shows is you’ve got the people, and if you just have enough confidence in them people are almost always amazing. And they’re amazing also in their resilience."

Also the Inter-American Development Bank's Mapping the Majority is a powerful tool for graphically representing development related phenomena.

Finally, I'm a big fan of google's customizable homepage. Mine includes my Gmail inbox, calendar, weather, news, etc. I'm excited about the new World Cup add-on Google has created. I'll get updated scores, standings, and highlights right from my main page. I like the sound of that.

John Mackey: Not Your Average Grocer

Whole Foods Market on 60 Minutes.

"Can you find virtue in a grocery store? John Mackey, the CEO and founder of Whole Foods Market, is convinced you can."

Watch the video

Benson Marathon June 2006

"Saturday June 3 & Sunday June 4, 2006 6am June 3 thru 6am June 5
TV Land welcomes Benson this quarter with a 48 hour marathon. Starring Robert Guillaume, this spin-off from Soap, begins as Jessica Tate sends her butler, Benson, to live with her widowed cousin, Governor James Gatling. In addition to performing his butler duties, Benson guides the governor on personal and political decisions. Watch as Benson trades barbs with Miss Krause, the no-nonsense housekeeper and Clayton Endicott III, the political aide, while showing his sensitive side to Katie, the governor’s daughter."

Unity 08

Unity 08 presents an alternative to the current US political landscape.

From their website:

"What We Believe

Unity08 believes that neither of today’s major parties reflects the aspirations, fears or will of the majority of Americans. Both have polarized and alienated the people. Both are unduly influenced by single-issue groups. Both are excessively dominated by money.

For most of the 20th Century, the contest for the U.S. presidency was waged over those “in the middle.” Recent Presidential elections, however, have not been focused on the middle but on the turnout of each party’s special interest groups – with each party’s “base” representing barely ten percent of the American people.

We believe that, while the leaders of both major parties are well intentioned people, they are trapped in a flawed system – and that the two major parties are today simply neither relevant to the issues and challenges of the 21st Century nor effective in addressing them.

As a result, most Americans have not been enthusiastic about the choices for President in recent elections, the key issues they ran on, or the manner in which the campaigns were conducted.

Therefore Unity08 will act to assure that an alternative ticket is presented to the American voters in 2008.

Local Yokels

A NY Times article about the lives of the Clintons notes that the former president frequents a local restaurant:

"They decided later that dinner would not work, so Mr. Clinton did what he often does: He rounded up some familiar faces — former aides including Joe Lockhart and Mike McCurry — and went out for a late bite at Lauriol Plaza, the bustling Tex-Mex restaurant in Dupont Circle."

Dell drops exclusive chip deal with Intel

From the Financial Times:
"Dell Computer signalled a shift in alliances in the personal computer world yesterday, saying that it would end its exclusive use of Intel microprocessors and begin buying from Advanced Micro Devices."