A New Day Will Soon Dawn

I can't believe the day is finally here. It's December 11th, 2009 (No matter what Blogger tries to tell you to the contrary). In eighteen and a half hours a woman in a funny hat will put a piece of cloth around my neck, I will walk across a stage in some silly-looking clothes, and someone will hand me an empty cardboard tube. And then I will be a Master. A Master! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!!!

Law of Diminishing (Internet) Returns

If you note the trend of my blogging, from its beginning in late 2007 to its recent renaissance at the end of 2009, you will see a progressive decline in frequency. I blame this on all my non-readers out there. If all of you would just read my writing and comment on it, I would be writing progressively more.

That said, I think all Web 2.0 media work this way. You start out with a burst of prolific content creation. Then, when your content is inevitably (at best) tepidly received, you slowly lose interest in investing in its creation. Eventually you give up altogether or, as I have done, go on hiatus for months at a time until something inspires you to give it a try again. Don't ask me what's inspiring me to give blogging another go. Escapism? Fear of separating from my friend group of the past six years? The result of several thesis-intense months? Who knows?

We Are Visual Creatures

I read this article today detailing the ongoing legal battle over whether to release photographs of abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan. President Bush had refused to release the photographs after they first came to light. President Obama had initially reversed this decision, but after some apparently very persuasive arguments from the military, Obama changed his mind and signed a law forbidding the photos' release.

As I read, I kept asking myself, "Why are the president and the military so afraid of releasing these pictures?" The article took its sweet time answering that question. Finally, within the last few paragraphs, the article mentions that the photographs could pose a danger to troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan because of the effect they would have on perceptions of those troops in the region. This, despite that fact that the contents of the photographs are known to the public (they are described in the article). Also public knowledge is the fact that some of the soldiers in the photographs were prosecuted for the actions recorded by the camera.

Apparently a verbal description of a photograph is nowhere near as damaging as the image itself. The people in the region must be aware that such abuses have taken place. Yet months of discussion of the abuses and resulting prosecutions will supposedly have a far lesser effect on people's perceptions than a few seconds of glancing at visual proof of those abuses.

How did our government and military come to this conclusion? I'd think that the Abu Ghraib scandal had a lot to do with it. Those abuses and the name of the prison where they occurred are forever etched into the memories of anyone who spent even a mere minutes looking at the Abu Ghraib photos. We learned then that images are much harder to erase from people's minds than words.

Seeing is believing, the saying goes. I think that for humans you could also say "seeing is remembering." The government is right to fear the power of images. Whether they are right to let that fear restrict the public's access to information is another case.

All Too Familiar

Check out this article on MSN.com today: http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/cityarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=11292324 .

So, I noticed some place rather familiar on their list of extremely Red cities (no, not Provo). And, note the state where three out of four of their reddest cities are found. *sigh* No wonder all my friends want to move to Portland....

Flip-Flopping

So, during the last presidential election (2004), I was woefully politically unaware. I didn't even bother to vote, though in my younger self's defense, I was not in the country during the election. However, things have changed around here (in my brain, I mean). Now I have opinions, and goshdarnit I mean to share them!

Here's the deal. Last election, John Kerry (who, sadly, seemed to stand for nothing), was tarred blacker than black with the "Flip-flopper" brush. Buying into the hype, I jeered at him along with the rest as someone who just couldn't make up his political mind. Unlike Bush, you know, who ALWAYS knows what he wants.

Moving right along to 2008, this idea of "flip-flopping" has been slung gleefully at both McCain and Obama. I mean, they both (gasp!) changed their positions on Iraq, right?

So, someone explain to me please what's so bad about changing your mind! Doesn't it make a lot more sense to change your position on something when you are confronted with new and illuminating information? Isn't it bordering on insane not to change your position when new information comes to light?

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd rather have a president who is willing to change his mind now and then if he discovers the facts are different than he previously believed. That sounds a lot more sane than hunkering down on your platform and doggedly clinging to it, no matter the consequences, no matter the reality (War in Iraq, anyone?).

Of course, it would be a problem if politicians went around changing their minds only when it was advantageous to their advancement. Promoting a position you disagree with is not only dirty politics. It's downright nutty. Prove to me that Obama and/or McCain only change their minds when it's convenient, and then I'll ridicule them with you. Other than that, I'll call "flip-flopping" what it is: thinking.

Shocking But True!

Technology is, admittedly, a fickle friend. I myself am often quite mystified by it. And yet, there come those times when technology just comes through for you. You make an idiotic mistake, something even a third grader knows better than to do, but hey! It's OK... Technology's got your back.

So, here's how it went down:

Tonight I did laundry, as I often do in the middle of the night when I realize I literally have nothing (not smelly) to wear tomorrow. I went to take the wet clothes out of the washer and all of a sudden, there it was: that ominous oh crap clinking sound. I cringed. I looked. And yes, sitting innocently on the slick metal bottom of the washer lay my flash drive. Oh, dear flash drive! How I have loved thee! How I have used thee and abused thee! And I thought, at that moment, "This is goodbye."

But, no! Some friendly techno-angel (Wireless Wizard? USB dongle goblin?) was watching over me. Lo and behold, when I sadly plugged old flashy into the USB port, just to make sure, you know, just to confirm the worst, it's happy little green light started blinking as usual. What! Surely....surely not. No, I cannot allow myself to hope... But, wait! Look! Yes, it's really true. The icon for the flash drive is now, unmistakably, available on my desktop. Oh happy day! (With joyous glee we will away and merry be...) (A trophy to anyone who can name THAT reference! Michelle, that excludes you...)

Of course, I did what any sane technology user would do. I immediately backed up all the files I have on my flash drive... on my computer... whose files I have backed up on the flash drive... Something here's not quite right....

Career Prospects

Today in class, one of my two fellow classmates asked our professor, a certain Dr. D, if he had graded a recent writing assignment. He responded that, no, he had not yet had a chance to grade them but he had had a chance to enjoy them all. And, he added, on the basis of our work on that assignment, he was proud to announce that he believed all three of us had bright futures ahead of us as...yes, you guessed it...writers of trashy historical romance novels. No, no, we were not affronted. It was a compliment, you see. And now I am so relieved. I have put my mind at rest because, at last, my career path has been decided. Thank heavens!