My experiment dressing in colors other than grey has led to disaster: an entire load of laundry now looks like it’s been attacked by a photoshop filter. At least for the most part it’s an even shade of pink, I guess. And at least I now have plans for the weekend: buying new socks and underwear.
Author: Aaron Weber
Quotation
Gelwan at Follow Me Here posts a link to Kos quoting an important historical figure about “the big lie” (a term we’ve seen a lot of in relation to the Swift Boat Vets ad, a perfect example of the Bush team’s baldfaced style), and challenges us to guess who it is. As a statement, it could definitely describe our current election, except that it talks about “the masses” and “nations” in ways that place it firmly in the mid-to-early 20th century.
It sounds a little like Orwell, who’s always been one to go on about lies and truth (Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia….), but it’s too contemptuous of the “common people.” I thought Mencken, because he’s always been snide about the little guy, but it turned out to be Hitler.
It’s not clear what putative lies and liars are referred to in that passage, but I can tell you this: once HItler comes into it, all useful debate has ceased. So, best to look at that statement as long as you can before thinking about who said it, because once you start in on what’s implied by the choice of source material, you’re lost in rhetoric and noise.
I Am One of Them
Today one of the sysadmins in the office looked me up and down as I walked past. Then he said, “Interviewing?”
“No. Why?”
“You’re all dressed up.”
To me, it’s obviously not interview wear. I mean, for starters, no tie, no jacket, unpressed shirt. I’m dressed… like marketing on a regular day. Apparently I also have the same haircut as the boss, which is kind of weird. It wasn’t deliberate, but now it’s the Aaron and Charlie haircut.
I am The Bomb?
If soybeans contain phytoestrogens, would a Soy Bomb (see also the soy bomber manifesto) be something like the gay bomb that our terrorist enemies are rumored to be producing?
I Hope This Is Funny
I’ve seen this before, and you may have too, but it’s brilliant: Hall of Technical Documentation Weirdness. Not merely bad docs, but genuinely weird docs.
On the subject of strange or hilarious commercial speech (Honestly there’s a tangential connection here) I want to share Fafblog’s review of the Dunkin’ Donuts MooLatte, a beverage whose name Slate derided as sounding too much like the word “mulatto.”
(As readers ought to know, but may not, “mulatto” is considered somewhat disrespectful, (although not as bad as other racial slurs, which I will not even allude to) and is therefore deprecated in favor of the more accurate biracial or multiracial (I don’t know if you can use hyphens in there or not, but I suspect that’s a grammar, rather than sensitivity, issue. I think multi-ethnic gets the hyphen, though.))
Anyway, Fafblog says:
Fafblog… looks forward to the day when all ethnically-dubious desserts are judged by the tastiness of their character an not by the way they seem to judge the color of people’s skin. We can only hope this comes in time to exhonerate such fallen treats as the Jewlato, the Hispana Split, an the Wopsicle.
(I hope that’s funny.)
What He Said
For awhile now, I’ve been trying to explain to people how the National Association of Realtors is really a gigantic drain on society: housing is overpriced around here, and commissions are obscene, and that money could be more productively invested in things like home improvement, housing construction, junk bonds, or malt liquor and prostitutes. This is particularly obvious in Boston, where the housing crisis could probably be alleviated by replacing broker’s offices with apartments, where every FSBO seller’s phone rings off the hook with realtors trying to convince them to use an agent, and where apartment websites are filled with no-fee listings that realtors will always say have “just been rented, although there is one in the same neighborhood that’s full-fee…”
I tried to write an article about it several times in the past year, but someone else finally did it right: Douglas Gantenbein, who writes for Slate and The Economist. It’s nice to be agreed with by someone with those credentials, but I kind of wish I’d said it like that before.
Three Neat Articles
First, Observer.com notes that the NYT and the Boston Globe (because they are the same company) have, as an option in their XMS online expense reporting tool, a line for money spent on “Gunmen,” right after “Facilitators” and before “Internet.” Apparently they’re removing that, presumably replacing it with “Bodyguards.” My company uses XMS as well, but we don’t get those options in our expense list. Hotel, Internet, Meals, Travel… that’s about it, really. I guess there’s “Other” but you really have to explain that one. Putting in “I had to hire a bodyguard to protect me from the software pirates” just wouldn’t cut it. Still, I think I’d look cool surrounded by a dark-suited entourage.
Brilliant article in Slate about racism, which you should just read.
Apparently, innovative punishments for children are considered a “bizarre practice.” I wasn’t smacked around as a child, but I got spanked more than once, and as I recall, I deserved the heck out of it. Putting a drop or two of hot sauce on the tongue doesn’t seem to be that bad a punishment for, say, swearing. Probably better for them than soap. I’d be afraid of turning them into picky eaters, though, which in my opinion is far worse than sassing.
When Mom Says Go Outside….
Mom always said to go outside and quit lying on the couch or you’d turn into a couch potato or a slug or some horrible thing would happen. You never believed her, did you? You did it because she threatened you with a stick. But she was right: you can eventually get stuck in the couch and die as they try to surgically remove it from you.
Explanation, Courtesy of Dana
Dana, my friend and confidant, a Bowlie member and knower of much about Belle and Sebastian (whom I quoted previously), explains just what on earth that song is about:
There’s a lot of disagreement about what an arab strap is. As far as I can figure from what I’ve read, the etymology comes from restraining devices used on horses (Arabian horses, thus the name) during mating; the original Arab Strap was probably something like a cock ring. As such, there are cock rings out there called Arab Straps, but since there’s all this confusion about what one is, there are also strap-on dildos out there referred to as Arab Straps.
The song “The Boy With The Arab Strap” might be interpreted as being about a guy with some interesting taste in sex toys, but it’s also been interpreted as a dis on the singer of the band Arab Strap, which used to be on the same record label as Belle and Sebastian. I don’t know much about the rivalry, but you could probably find more info about it online.
