Lies and the lying liars who tell them

I've been thinking about this a little since Peg said I should add it to my suggestions for an informed election. I'm sure its a good book. I think the survey results showing people get more and more misinformed the longer they watch Fox News is covered in it. What I've been thinking isn't specifically about the book, but about the lying.

All the hype lately about flip-flopping has really got me riled. On the one hand, I really think that we should not denigrate people for changing their minds. Once I thought having George W. Bush as President wasn't the worst thing that could happen. Now I've changed my mind. The thought that if someone in the face of new evidence changes their mind is in some way a bad thing is ridiculous. On the other hand, I guess what really disturbs me is the hypocrisy. They're all lying, all the time. We don't want to hear the truth. Lying makes us able to live with ourselves. Its as American as apple pie.

Show me one person who during the run up to the war didn't know we were being lied to and I'll show you someone that wasn't really paying attention. When Powell went to the UN he was spinning so hard I bet he had his own internal gravity. Lying is like air, its all around us and we need it and people that complain that there are lies should hold their breath until the lying stops and see how that works out.

And two politicians accusing each other of lying? and we get wrapped up in it? and even care a little? What's the joke? "How do you know a politician is lying? His lips are moving." Maybe it was teenagers and not politicians, but its just as applicable.

Last special, Chris Rock asked the audience "Who lies more, men or women?" We could just as effectively ask "Who lies more Democrats or Republicans?"

For men and women the answer goes like this: Men lie more, women tell bigger lies. A man's lie would be like "I was at Steve's." A woman's lie would be like "It's your baby."

Democrats and Republicans?

A Democratic lie would be like "I didn't inhale" or "I feel your pain" or "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

A Republican lie would be like "Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction."

I'll leave it to the class as an exercise to determine who tells more lies and who tells the bigger ones - and which are the every day ones and which ones ruin peoples lives.

This stuff rocks

A link of the day.

You know those motivational posters you see advertised in the airline magazines, "Successories?" They all have language like:

Collaborate
“Meeting people halfway is the most significant trip we can take. We don’t work for each other…we work with each other.”

Some of them are kind on nice in a very corporate, smarmy kind of way. I've yet to work in a place that actually diplays any of these things. Through another blog I recently found a supplier that might lead me to purchase some of these on my own. Do check them out:

http://www.despair.com/index.html

Just exactly up my alley. I thought this one would be perfect for the wall of the Oval Office these days:

Take a peek through their whole inventory. It's pretty neat.

What's Your Analysis

I have to admit I like the phrase "its not." Like I used it yesterday. It makes me giggle. I guess sometimes stupid things are incredibly funny to me.

"My head must be full of good ideas."

"No, its not."

"Now that you mention it I have been feeling a little stuffed up."

Just too much fun. I have to tell you though that the title on this post I think is even funnier. Mostly I guess because we hear it so often on the news.

"Pakistan is massing troops on their Southern border, Bob what's your analysis?"

"Well Jerry, that's when you're at the doctor and they make you pee in a cup."

I swear I crack myself up sometimes.

My head is packed full of good ideas.

No, its snot.

Today, once again, I am left to marvel at the ability of the human body to create with nothing. This has to be more than a zero sum game. Some kind of perpetual motion machine applied to material, without question putting out more matter than is going in.

Sometimes while in this state I wonder about the utility that we are missing, and truthfully downright wasting with the use of anti-histamines and decongestants. Can you envision a car that runs on snot? Fields fertilized by snot? Snot as livestock feed? Buildings built out of solid snot bricks? Engines lubricated with snot? The middle east is such a dry climate, I bet we could rule the world if we could just shift from an oil to a snot economy. Probably easier than hydrogen anyway. Do you think when the political candidates talk about "bio-mass" that they are really talking about snot? Because I assure you "mass" is exactly the type of vocabulary I would use to describe it.

Well, it can't last forever. I hope it can't last forever. Where did I leave that Allegra?

Please disregard this post. It's just the snot talking.

Where do you get your news?

Last year I went to see Al Franken speak at the Carnegie Music Hall. It was a very disturbing evening that started off with some sort of Jewish culture game show which was followed by Second City doing about an hour, followed by several CMU actors doing really very indulgent sketch comedy, and finally after what felt like three or four days Al Franken. Al and Second City were quite good. How some of our students managed to get themselves scheduled doing sketch comedy following Second City I will never figure out.

I have always liked Al Franken. I think the first time I noticed him in an appearance on Weekend Update where he declared that the 70's - the "me" decade - were over, and that the 80's would be "the Al Franken" decade. I guess it didn't really work out that way for him. Truth be told, it looks like this decade might turn out very well for him.

Anyway, one of the things I remember most clearly from his evening was a discussion of the results of tests done with people who either listen to Rush Limbaugh or watch Fox News on a regular basis. These results indicated that this particular group of people thought they were among the most informed about current issues. The results also showed that of all groups, even counting people that didn't really have any news source, that people watching Fox and listening to Rush were typically the most misinformed of anyone surveyed. He also went on to say that if you figure in how long they had been listening that there was a statistical correlations that indicated that the longer you listen the stupider you get.

Big surprise.

Which brings me to this:

http://www.business-journal.com/NoJokeDailyShowViewersKnowIssues.asp

which is an article that suggests that people that regularly watch "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central are better informed on the issues surrounding the presidential candidates than people that watch a comparable amount of network news.

I had been meaning for a while to plug The Daily Show. This seems as good a time as any. They have really been spot on on the issues this year. Plus, they just won the Emmy for best variety show and for best writing on a variety show, so I guess I'm not the only one who thinks they've really hit their stride.

With Dennis Miller having inexplicably surrendered to the dark side its good to know that there are still some available, insightful, interesting, and humorous alternatives to the more obvious right wing media representatives. Those on the right are constantly being energized by their standard bearers. In an election year we ought to do the same. I recommend that you absolutely watch The Daily Show with John Stewart. To that recommendation I would add HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, and I would go out of your way to find a way to get connected to Air America Radio and listen to Al Franken and to Randi Rhodes (and to the Majority Report with Janeane Garofalo if you're into her). The Air America link is in the margin. Work these streams into your own routine, and try to sell them to your friends. We have to get engaged this year.

School started weeks ago...

...just when will I realize it?

There's a rhythm to academia. Fall to spring, summer, fall to spring. You don't really notice it so much when you first come to teaching from the world, but it is a comfortable pace from educational days that reasserts itself once one is back within the environment. For some reason this year I am decidedly out of step.

Its not a problem thing though. So far classes haven't been effected. The actual teaching of classes is one of the easiest and most comfortable parts of my gig. Its everything else that is off kilter. All the meetings and organization that surround the actual teaching. For several weeks now that stuff has been piling up on a counter in my office while I blissfully pretend it isn't there. Would that it were true.

That will all come to end soon. It has to. Without attention the pile would just become to tall and unstable and some campus person would come and condemn my office. We can't have that. Besides, a large portion of the pile is now homework.

Do you know the worst part about homework?

If you give homework, you have to grade it.

So far in my time teaching I can't remember a time where I have not given an assignment I thought was appropriate because I didn't want to have to grade it. I could see how that could happen though. So the last couple of days I have been welcomed to my office by 26 organizational charts, 26 bid sheets, 4 show breakdowns, and 4 show estimates. All of which there are students anxiously waiting for.

Remember the Seinfeld when Newman was talking about the mail, and why postmen go insane?

"Because the mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming, there's never a let-up. It's relentless. Every day it piles up more and more and more! And you gotta get it out but the more you get it out the more it keeps coming in. And then the bar code reader breaks and it's Publisher's Clearing House day!"

Often, I feel the same way about homework.

Well, hopefully plowing through a pile of work will help me get my year kick started, learn the names, set up the grade spreadsheet, just get going. If not, well it will be like I told the thesis class today: if you don't pay attention the year will be over and you will have missed it. And then there will be a summer, and a fall and spring...

Return from Ivan

The on again off again antagonistic relationship with Verizon is off again. After four and a half days with no phone, and more irritatingly no DSL, the phone just magically fixed itself.

We were so irritated though that we made the guy come out anyway. After he checked it out he told us that our tap from the street line had become intermittent, but due to people calling us and our calling out we had managed to re-fuse the connection. But since he was there anyway he rebroke it and reconnected it again.

As a result the DSL is now running roughly 50% faster than it ever has before.

All in all I continue to realize that we came through the storm better than most. I mean, all that happened to us was a few days without a phone and now it works better than it did in the first place. Others - well others did not do as well:

http://www.post-gazette.com/journal/photos_display.asp?ID=13827

That page is a picture of several recreational boats up on the fountain at Point State Park. Seems more than one marina on the Allegheny just washed away, piers, boats, and all. One of the guys I work with went to a game at the stadium on Saturday and said they watched stuff like that wash by all afternoon. Here's another look:

http://www.post-gazette.com/journal/photos_display.asp?ID=13840

Can you imagine the phone ringing "Hello, do you know where your boat is?"

Truth be told this is really the least problematic of the things that happened here because of the rain. Many communities were really devastated. The people are trying to rally behind them. But its quite a bit to do. Scary how fast things can turn.

Fun with Photoshop

Who would have thought that to get married in this day and age that you had to be able to do digital artwork and construct web pages? I swear I think we've made many things in life more complicated than they have to be. I feel like I am doing marketing for a show.



Now all we have to do is figure out the whole guestlist thing so we know who to send these to.

Ok, well actually thats not "all we have to do" there's quite a bit more. This whole process is a real good measure of how you're going to do after the wedding. And I thought buying a house was hard. That was easy compared to this. Please feel free to expound if you have wedding or wedding planning advice.

Ivan broke my DSL

Have to write something to move Marisa down the page. So taking time away from my Sunday install crew suprevision to post from the office as the computing situation from home is, well, poor.

Ivan visited Western PA on Friday. My commute home which is typically 20 minutes was closer to two hours. Roads were blocked by floods and mudslides, and those that weren't were clogged bumper to bumper with traffic trying to avoid the floods and the mudslides. Allegheny county set an all time record for rain that day with close to 6 inches. At least the original prediction of "four days of rain" didn't hold up, even though it felt like we got four days of rain in about six hours.

All things being equal we faired very well. The gutters didn't fall off the house and the basement stayed dry. The creek out back become a swift flowing brooke and probably swelled to 10 times its normal size. We think it would have to swell to like 1000 times its normal size to endanger the house though. Considering what we see on the TV and hear on the radio others in the area got it much much worse. The borough of Carnegie had 4 feet of water on their main street. Just about all the businesses in the community were decimated.

The worst on our end? Our phone now sounds like early communication to the moon. Hard to motivate a company to repair static on the line when a significant portion of their customers have no service at all. But, dirty lines mean no DSL, and trying to use the standard modem connection got me 4800 baud which I have to say is now obsolete as far as contemporary software is concerned.

At least the cable isn't out.

So, curse you hurricane Ivan for breaking my connection with the outside world (oh yeh and ruining the lives of all those other people - that sucks too).

You make me feel like Dancin'

ah, just look what boredom, a digital camera, a net connection, and a gif animator can do.