This is a speech I’m giving to myself, mostly, with regards to my literary career, and to my “real” career, and to my financial situation generally. (Longer version of this clip here.)
But I’m also giving it to y’all with regards to the weblog awards. Hey, I don’t mind seeing Wetmachine lose to Ars Technica. It would just be nice to lose by less than ten-to-one. There are still 8 hours left to vote. We have about 240 votes, and only need another 2,000 to get back in the game. So who’s with me? Yeargh!
My Thoughts Exactly
We Are Finalists for the 2008 Weblog Best Technology Blog! Go us!
My shameless begging last November paid off!
Yes, we here at Tales of the Sausage Factory and Wetmachine generally are delighted, astounded, humbled and whatever else one says at this juncture to make the final cut for nominees as Weblog’s “Best Technology Blog of 2008.” Given that (a) Engadget has apparently won in this category every year since they started doing this in 2003, (b) Both TechCrunch and Ars Technica also do policy and have real journalists and stuff, and (c) a quick scan of all the other titles reveals that we are probably the only nominated site maintained by amateurs doing this in addition to our full time jobs, I totally expect for us to get utterly creamed.
Nevertheless, as whining pathetically worked to get us nominated, I am going to continue this fine tradition and see if it gets us a win. So I want to urge everyone who reads this to please, please, puh-leaze go vote for us! Polls close at 5 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 13. Any questions, please read the Weblog Award FAQ.
Thanks all, and stay tuned . . . . .
Revolutions and Resolutions and Revolutions
I was reading once, I think it was in an article that Douglas Hofstadter (“Doug” to us intimates) wrote, in the New Yorker of all places, about the art of translating literature from one natural language to another. At least, I think it was Douglas Hoftstadter, but maybe that’s just my fixation shining through. Maybe the article was by Dan Hofstadter, or by somebody else altogether. Puns, of course, present a great challenge to translators, and I remember the clever instance sited therein: in a translation of Alice in Wonderland, a pun on “axes”, as in, the earth spins on its axes–speaking of axes, off with her head– was turned into a pun on revolutions: each day the earth makes a revolution– speaking of revolutions, off with her head. Now that I check my Project Gutenberg, however, I can find no such instance, so maybe, like Alice, I was dreaming.
But that’s got nothing to do with Wetmachine’s being a finalist in the 2008 Weblog Awards!
Dogbark wisdom
Two cute woof-woofs from dear old Atrios, at Eschaton. ( I will link to him even though he refuses to acknowledge my existence (I hate that).)
In the most recent bark, he ironically says, Damn those unions for destroying Citigroup!!!. In the immediately prior arf-arf, he says,
I guess the Very Serious People are incapable of seeing how absurd this all is.
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.
Read THE PAINS or I will shoot you in the face
The Pains is now available for you to read, for free, online. It’s under the Creative Commons license, about which more in a moment. It’s also available for you to pre-order printed copies. I would advise your buying several copies: it’s the surest way to avoid extraordinary rendition to an undisclosed location and being subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques.
UPDATE
I’ve updated this entry with some more info about Creative Commons.
Veterans of the Peace Corps
You served too.
We thank you and salute you. And you in the Foreign Service as well. Thanks.
Wealth Transfer
According to this article in the New York Times, the baillout money that was ostensibly given to the banks to jumpstart the economy or forestall a collapse, etc, by opening up the credit spigots is not in fact, being used for that purpose.
It’s being transferred directly to the bankers.
I am, shocked, shocked!
Doggone it, you betcha, this is the most moving video of all time!
Poignant, funny, bittersweet, sweepingly cinematic, poetic, and maybe even a tad disturbing.
The Russians really do have a genetic gift for melancholy, I think. This guy may displace Pasternak! Laura from Dr. Zhivago, step aside. There is a new star in the firmament, a new heartbreaking love-object just out of reach. And her name is
Sarah!
Wah! Why Can't *I* be Michael Pollan??
The other day I was listening to Terri Gross on Freh-share, and her guest was Michael Pollan of “Omnivore’s Dilemma” (and Martha’s Vineyard hippie) fame. They were talking about his recent article in the New York Times Magazine, which was essentially about marrying agricultural policy to national health and community-wellbeing policy.
Below the fold: Ag Ec Rock Star!
Ah, Capitalism, er, Socialism, er, Paulsonism?
Boy, that sure was some crisis
Wall Street banks in $70bn staff payout
Pay and bonus deals equivalent to 10% of US government bail-out package
Imagine if we had not had the bailout bill! The Wall Street types who shit the worldwide bed might have missed their outlandish compensation! One shudders to think.
But we’re safe now; at least until their bonuses come due next year, when we’ll have to have another emergency to make sure they get paid.
-
But while the uproar has swayed much of the public to Johansson's defense at a time when #genAI is increasingly under scrutiny, this may not quite be an open-and-shut case should she decide to sue . Read the breakdown from @M_F_Rose in her latest article:
The release of @OpenAI's new digital assistant "Sky" stirred controversy after actress Scarlett Johansson alleged that the company had infringed on her rights by using a soundalike voice of hers after she'd declined to voice it herself.
Just saw @MargotSusca fantastic interview with @adamconover about the death of local news at the hands of hedge funds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N21YfWy0-bA A theme I have written about *a lot*. Like this blog post from 2018: https://wetmachine.com/tales-of-the-sausage-factory/we-need-to-fix-the-news-media-not-just-social-media-part-i/ This has been a long time in the making.
I wrote yesterday on the terrifying escalation of antisemitism in Canada, citing events just over past week. Now there is more: last night a firebomb attempt at a Vancouver synagogue. Daily antisemitic incidents is who we are now.
https://www.jewishvancouver.com/important-community-updates-may-20-2024
https://x.com/mgeist/status/1796233336203194446
Load More
We Are Finalists for the 2008 Weblog Best Technology Blog! Go us!
My shameless begging last November paid off!
Yes, we here at Tales of the Sausage Factory and Wetmachine generally are delighted, astounded, humbled and whatever else one says at this juncture to make the final cut for nominees as Weblog’s “Best Technology Blog of 2008.” Given that (a) Engadget has apparently won in this category every year since they started doing this in 2003, (b) Both TechCrunch and Ars Technica also do policy and have real journalists and stuff, and (c) a quick scan of all the other titles reveals that we are probably the only nominated site maintained by amateurs doing this in addition to our full time jobs, I totally expect for us to get utterly creamed.
Nevertheless, as whining pathetically worked to get us nominated, I am going to continue this fine tradition and see if it gets us a win. So I want to urge everyone who reads this to please, please, puh-leaze go vote for us! Polls close at 5 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 13. Any questions, please read the Weblog Award FAQ.
Thanks all, and stay tuned . . . . .
Revolutions and Resolutions and Revolutions
I was reading once, I think it was in an article that Douglas Hofstadter (“Doug” to us intimates) wrote, in the New Yorker of all places, about the art of translating literature from one natural language to another. At least, I think it was Douglas Hoftstadter, but maybe that’s just my fixation shining through. Maybe the article was by Dan Hofstadter, or by somebody else altogether. Puns, of course, present a great challenge to translators, and I remember the clever instance sited therein: in a translation of Alice in Wonderland, a pun on “axes”, as in, the earth spins on its axes–speaking of axes, off with her head– was turned into a pun on revolutions: each day the earth makes a revolution– speaking of revolutions, off with her head. Now that I check my Project Gutenberg, however, I can find no such instance, so maybe, like Alice, I was dreaming.
But that’s got nothing to do with Wetmachine’s being a finalist in the 2008 Weblog Awards!
Dogbark wisdom
Two cute woof-woofs from dear old Atrios, at Eschaton. ( I will link to him even though he refuses to acknowledge my existence (I hate that).)
In the most recent bark, he ironically says, Damn those unions for destroying Citigroup!!!. In the immediately prior arf-arf, he says,
I guess the Very Serious People are incapable of seeing how absurd this all is.
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.
Read THE PAINS or I will shoot you in the face
The Pains is now available for you to read, for free, online. It’s under the Creative Commons license, about which more in a moment. It’s also available for you to pre-order printed copies. I would advise your buying several copies: it’s the surest way to avoid extraordinary rendition to an undisclosed location and being subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques.
UPDATE
I’ve updated this entry with some more info about Creative Commons.
Veterans of the Peace Corps
You served too.
We thank you and salute you. And you in the Foreign Service as well. Thanks.
Wealth Transfer
According to this article in the New York Times, the baillout money that was ostensibly given to the banks to jumpstart the economy or forestall a collapse, etc, by opening up the credit spigots is not in fact, being used for that purpose.
It’s being transferred directly to the bankers.
I am, shocked, shocked!
Doggone it, you betcha, this is the most moving video of all time!
Poignant, funny, bittersweet, sweepingly cinematic, poetic, and maybe even a tad disturbing.
The Russians really do have a genetic gift for melancholy, I think. This guy may displace Pasternak! Laura from Dr. Zhivago, step aside. There is a new star in the firmament, a new heartbreaking love-object just out of reach. And her name is
Sarah!
Wah! Why Can't *I* be Michael Pollan??
The other day I was listening to Terri Gross on Freh-share, and her guest was Michael Pollan of “Omnivore’s Dilemma” (and Martha’s Vineyard hippie) fame. They were talking about his recent article in the New York Times Magazine, which was essentially about marrying agricultural policy to national health and community-wellbeing policy.
Below the fold: Ag Ec Rock Star!
Ah, Capitalism, er, Socialism, er, Paulsonism?
Boy, that sure was some crisis
Wall Street banks in $70bn staff payout
Pay and bonus deals equivalent to 10% of US government bail-out package
Imagine if we had not had the bailout bill! The Wall Street types who shit the worldwide bed might have missed their outlandish compensation! One shudders to think.
But we’re safe now; at least until their bonuses come due next year, when we’ll have to have another emergency to make sure they get paid.
-
- Load More
But while the uproar has swayed much of the public to Johansson's defense at a time when #genAI is increasingly under scrutiny, this may not quite be an open-and-shut case should she decide to sue . Read the breakdown from @M_F_Rose in her latest article:
The release of @OpenAI's new digital assistant "Sky" stirred controversy after actress Scarlett Johansson alleged that the company had infringed on her rights by using a soundalike voice of hers after she'd declined to voice it herself.
Just saw @MargotSusca fantastic interview with @adamconover about the death of local news at the hands of hedge funds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N21YfWy0-bA A theme I have written about *a lot*. Like this blog post from 2018: https://wetmachine.com/tales-of-the-sausage-factory/we-need-to-fix-the-news-media-not-just-social-media-part-i/ This has been a long time in the making.
I wrote yesterday on the terrifying escalation of antisemitism in Canada, citing events just over past week. Now there is more: last night a firebomb attempt at a Vancouver synagogue. Daily antisemitic incidents is who we are now.
https://www.jewishvancouver.com/important-community-updates-may-20-2024
https://x.com/mgeist/status/1796233336203194446
