IF A GREAT MUSICIAN PLAYS GREAT MUSIC BUT NO ONE HEARS . . . WAS HE REALLY ANY GOOD?

It's an old epistemological debate, older, actually, than the koan about the tree in the forest. Plato weighed in on it, and philosophers for two millennia afterward: What is beauty? Is it a measurable fact (Gottfried Leibniz), or merely an opinion (David Hume), or is it a little of each, colored by the immediate state of mind of the observer (Immanuel Kant)?

"No one has been more critical of sunny progress reports that defied realities in Iraq."

umm, moron or complete moron?

cbs got a big fat gift today as the field collapsed leaving tiger woo at +3 in the final pairing for tomorrows final round of the masters. be there and be square.

Sir! no Sir!

Possible solar cell breakthrough. We'll see when they hit production.

"BAGHDAD - Iraq's top corruption fighter said Wednesday that $8 billion in government money was wasted or stolen over the past three years and claimed he was threatened with death after opening an investigation into scores of Oil Ministry employees."

its snowing.

every time i turn on msnbc they are teasing some american idol story and its not even on their networks. i dont get it. 13 year old girls are not major consumers of the news unless tuckers turn on dancing with the stars brought him all whole new audience! (im trying to resist calling that idol dude with the hair "queer bait" but i cant think of any other term which satisfies the truth and my distain so perfectly. deride me if you must.)

i dont know if its some new edict but theres some prick of a traffic cop giving out tickets to motorcycles locked up to the fence on the allen street mall (the median). first they removed the benches so that the human flotsam would move elsewhere (although now noone has any place to sit) now this. im still waiting for that glorious revitalization project that they wasted money crowing about two years ago.

super sunday with the return of sopranos last season followed by season premier of entourage.

dont know about that dukes O hazzard tv show but just saw the dukes movie on tv (blech) - it was funny seeing them mediate that confederate flag on the roof of the general lee issue. blame it on cooter.

rip calvert deforest

the last thing i saw him in was a ground trip to mexico bit - he wasnt enjoying it

bushies continue to give scum a bad name.

It's almost too perfect.

When Justice Department official William Moschella was asked why the Department had fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, he told Congress that “Iglesias had delegated to his first assistant the overall running of the office. And, quite frankly, U.S. attorneys are hired to run the office.” Internal documents from the time show officials planning to accuse Iglesias of being an "absentee landlord" to justify his firing.

Iglesias did, in fact, leave the office for 45 days each year. But that's because he's a a captain in the Navy Reserve -- something that was no secret to his superiors.

So now the Office of Special Counsel is investigating whether Iglesias was wrongfully terminated due to his reserve duty, Newsweek reports. It is against the law for employers to discriminate against members of the U.S. military.

Posted to backspin by dave 4-05-2007 7:12 am [link] [1 comment]

despite a recent hiatus 30 Rock is renewed for second season. pretty funny as sitcoms go these days. alec baldwin is quite good in it.

and someone better put bill on suicide watch as his tuesday nights just got bleaker.

and for the ab-faber in you, some new shows on the beeb.

friend of mine just mentioned today that his cab driver in bermuda has built a $500,000 a year business shuttling corporate clients around the island. perhaps he should open a baghdad branch as fearless hacks charge upwards to $3500 for a seven mile jaunt to the airport. all that and more at playboy steve clemons after dark.

i havent watched it but here is a lengthy alexander cockburn interview on book tv available for your online delectation.

From now on all digitalmediatree matters will be resolved with this 101 gesture version of Rock Paper Scissors.

April 02, 2007 — IDG News Service — A news conference in London later Monday by Apple's Steve Jobs and EMI Group could see the announcement that the first of the four big music labels will ditch digital rights management (DRM).

Ever since invitations went out to the event, scheduled for 1 p.m. local time (noon GMT) at EMI's London headquarters, speculation in the media and online has centered on two possibilities: the Beatles catalog coming to the iTunes Music Store, or EMI ditching DRM. The latter is fast becoming the favorite, especially after The Wall Street Journal said such an announcement would come at the event.

DRM is applied to many downloads to prevent illegal copying or sharing of the content, but it also prevents legal copying and can tie users into a certain product or technology. For example, Apple's iPod won't play DRM-protected songs purchased from anything but the iTunes Music Store, while owners of Creative Technology's devices aren't able to use the iTunes store because those downloads are incompatible.

Jobs called for an end to the use of DRM on music files in a blog-like posting on the Apple homepage in February. In it he argued that consumers would benefit because any player would be able to play music from any online music store and not be restricted as it is currently.

"This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat," he wrote.

google T1SP

not that id buy it anyway but this is really annoying.

bible battles now on the history channel.

“Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam.”

revs at work (ted kaczynski roolz!)

they link to greenwald so i dont have to. i cant imagine a worse president than rudy (other than the one we have). and despite the national polls which having him beating the three top dems head to head (but not state to state although that may be true as well), the rethugs are still pushing fred thompson hard in the media (or the media is pushing him hard on the wingnuts) which leads one to believe they dont really have much confidence in rudy long-term.

Takeout-Style Sesame Noodles

1 pound Chinese egg noodles (1/8,-inch-thick), frozen or (preferably) fresh, available in Asian markets

2 tablespoons sesame oil, plus a splash

3½ tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons Chinese rice vinegar

2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste

1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated ginger

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons chili-garlic paste, or to taste

Half a cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/8,-by- 1/8,-by-2-inch sticks

¼ cup chopped roasted peanuts,