Quote of the Day

If you had a business strategy that worked all the time that was premised on scaring the living daylights out of people, you just keep doing it.” — Bill Clinton, in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s Political Capital with Al Hunt, about the Republican strategy for the midterm elections.

“They rediscover bin Laden every two years right before the election. If you had a business strategy that worked all the time that was premised on scaring the living daylights out of people, you just keep doing it.”

— Bill Clinton, in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s Political Capital with Al Hunt, about the Republican strategy for the midterm elections.

Political Wire

The October Surprise

It should come as no surprise if the Bush Administration undertakes a preemptive war against Iran sometime before the November election.Were these more normal times, this would be a stunning possibility, quickly dismissed by thoughtful people as dangerous, unprovoked, and out of keeping with our national character.

It should come as no surprise if the Bush Administration undertakes a preemptive war against Iran sometime before the November election.

Were these more normal times, this would be a stunning possibility, quickly dismissed by thoughtful people as dangerous, unprovoked, and out of keeping with our national character. But we do not live in normal times.

And we do not have a government much concerned with our national character. If anything, our current Administration is out to remake our national character into something it has never been.

The steps will be these: Air Force tankers will be deployed to fuel B-2 bombers, Navy cruise missile ships will be positioned at strategic points in the northern Indian Ocean and perhaps the Persian Gulf, unmanned drones will collect target data, and commando teams will refine those data. The latter two steps are already being taken.

Then the president will speak on national television. He will say this: Iran is determined to develop nuclear weapons; if this happens, the entire region will go nuclear; our diplomatic efforts to prevent this have failed; Iran is offering a haven to known al Qaeda leaders; the fate of our ally Israel is at stake; Iran persists in supporting terrorism, including in Iraq; and sanctions will have no affect (and besides they are for sissies). He will not say: …and besides, we need the oil.

Therefore, he will announce, our own national security and the security of the region requires us to act. “Tonight, I have ordered the elimination of all facilities in Iran that are dedicated to the production of weapons of mass destruction…..” In the narrowest terms this includes perhaps two dozen targets.

Continue reading…

iTunes + CD Text

Well it’s finally arrived! iTunes 7 now allows users to burn the CD text alongside their audio CDs. With more and more cars supporting CD Text, its good to see that apple FINALLY added this much needed feature.


Well it’s finally arrived! iTunes 7 now allows users to burn the CD text alongside their audio CDs. With more and more cars supporting CD Text, its good to see that apple FINALLY added this much needed feature.

SoniColumn

Ripped from Engadget: SoniCoumn is an interactive sound installation that can be played by a person’s touch. When a user cranks the handle, the column slowly rotates itself and plays the light patterns of the user’s touch.SoniColumn is one of my series of works, The MusicBox Project, the reproduction of my experience with a small music box that I happened to play a long time ago.

Ripped from Engadget:

SoniCoumn is an interactive sound installation that can be played by a person’s touch. The installation takes the form of a column-like cylinder, of a height that does not quite reach the ceiling but just high enough for one’s reach. Grids of LEDs installed inside the column light themselves on by the users’ touch and emit unique sounds. When a user cranks the handle, the column slowly rotates itself and plays the light patterns of the user’s touch.

SoniColumn is one of my series of works, The MusicBox Project, the reproduction of my experience with a small music box that I happened to play a long time ago. The lucid sounds coming from a simple play mechanism stirred me up with my old memory echoed with them. I am pleasantly and cautiously reproducing this happy experience with a small toy which was not sublime nor mysterious, but simple and easy.

Now this is freaking COOL! I highly suggest watching the video. SoniColumn