Here's a funny collection of photos of kids horrified at Santa Claus. (Via BoingBoing.) I'll have to remember to scan and post a very old photo of me with Santa. I'm not crying, just very skeptical.
UPDATE: Just corrected some spelling. I note that there is no "e" in Santa Claus. Having written about constitutional law for a long, long time, it is nearly impossible for my fingers to type C-L-A-U-S and not instinctively add an "e." Here's a related laugh.
December 21, 2004
Free speech in Britain.
Free speech is a hot topic in Britain these days, as a Birmingham theater closes down a play that offended a religious group and touched off a violent protest.
Also:
Only last week, the comedian Rowan Atkinson led a call defending "the right to offend," against government plans to outlaw incitement to religious hatred.
Atkinson argues the law would force "creative thinkers" to bite their tongue, and so produce a "veneer of tolerance concealing a snakepit of unaired and unchallenged views."
December 20, 2004
Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays.
It seems as though everyone picked today to talk about the insidious plot to replace "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays." Rush Limbaugh: "Boy, it's a big battle this year just saying, "Merry Christmas." Mark Steyn: "Say 'Merry Christmas' while you still can." The San Francisco Chronicle: "Frighteningly retro as it sounds, the honest truth is I miss saying "Merry Christmas."
But I note that President Bush, at his press conference today, said "Happy Holidays" twice. In fact, he made no mention of Christmas, even when responding to a question that asked about troops spending Christmas in Iraq.
But I note that President Bush, at his press conference today, said "Happy Holidays" twice. In fact, he made no mention of Christmas, even when responding to a question that asked about troops spending Christmas in Iraq.
Workation and Darkmonth.
I'm not really getting my work done, but I'm not really on vacation. I'm on workation.
I don't really like this feeling. One ought to go one way or the other. Say you're on vacation and don't touch your work, or plow through that work and stop taking breaks that stretch out but don't feel that good because your inner voice keeps nagging about how this is just supposed to be a break but it's eating up the whole day. If you're going to think "get back to work" at least get some work done.
Agh! I think it has something to do with the light, that is, the lack of light. We are deeply embedded in the time of year I think of as "Darkmonth." Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice, the midpoint of Darkmonth, the darkest 30 days of the year. After tomorrow, there is, at least, the knowledge that each day has a little more light than the day before. Here in the north country, the darkest days are so dismally short. I've gotten used to the cold over the years, but never to the extreme dark. At 2:30 in the afternoon, you already feel the darkness setting in. These days have so little sense of their own existence, it's hard to take them seriously.
I don't really like this feeling. One ought to go one way or the other. Say you're on vacation and don't touch your work, or plow through that work and stop taking breaks that stretch out but don't feel that good because your inner voice keeps nagging about how this is just supposed to be a break but it's eating up the whole day. If you're going to think "get back to work" at least get some work done.
Agh! I think it has something to do with the light, that is, the lack of light. We are deeply embedded in the time of year I think of as "Darkmonth." Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice, the midpoint of Darkmonth, the darkest 30 days of the year. After tomorrow, there is, at least, the knowledge that each day has a little more light than the day before. Here in the north country, the darkest days are so dismally short. I've gotten used to the cold over the years, but never to the extreme dark. At 2:30 in the afternoon, you already feel the darkness setting in. These days have so little sense of their own existence, it's hard to take them seriously.
Bloggers promoting products.
Mickey Kaus is praising an obscure music CD that was sent to him. He's not specifically saying more free things should be sent to him, but, really, why shouldn't review copies of CDs, DVDs, and books be sent to bloggers who might write about them?
And doesn't it seem inevitable that there will be a blogger payola scandal at some point? We bloggers build up our credibility with readers over the months and years of writing. You assume if a blogger you trust says that a TV show or a movie or a book is good it's because he thinks so for purely independent and un-self-interested reasons unless he says otherwise. I don't think free review copies of things undermine this independence. MSM reviewers get free copies of the CDs, DVDs, and books they write about. A blogger has such a strong interest in maintaining credibility that he's likely to make a point of saying he's received a free copy.
But don't you think the day will come when we will hear that a trusted, seemingly independent blogger is being paid to express an opinion about a product or even a politician or important policy? Will we be horrified? Will we just stop caring what the blogger has to say? Or will we accept it, the way we accepted it when we found out about paid product placements in movies? I made my local car dealer look quite posh in this post, just because I had nothing better to do than observe my immediate surroundings (and also because I wanted to get in on the big new tire-blogging craze). But what if it were the case -- it's not! -- and you found out, that Zimbrick gives me free oil changes in exchange for disguised ads? Small potatoes, you might think. Who cares? Imagine something bigger then: a high-traffic blogger paid big bucks to back the privatization of Social Security.
UPDATE: An emailer writes that there should be a spiffy little word for blogger payola, like "blogola." Maybe we could also do with a word for blog product placement, like maybe "product blogment."
ANOTHER UPDATE: Let me just flag the recent incident of the two blogs that received $27,000 and $8,000, respectively, from the Thune campaign. This is not, I think, an example of an existing, high-traffic, trusted blog selling out, but it is a related phenomenon. I hope blog readers are savvy enough to know that anyone can start a blog, and that, presumably, many blogs have undisclosed interests behind them.
MUCH LATER UPDATE: For my discussion of this issue postdating the revelation that Kos took money from the Dean campaign, go here.
And doesn't it seem inevitable that there will be a blogger payola scandal at some point? We bloggers build up our credibility with readers over the months and years of writing. You assume if a blogger you trust says that a TV show or a movie or a book is good it's because he thinks so for purely independent and un-self-interested reasons unless he says otherwise. I don't think free review copies of things undermine this independence. MSM reviewers get free copies of the CDs, DVDs, and books they write about. A blogger has such a strong interest in maintaining credibility that he's likely to make a point of saying he's received a free copy.
But don't you think the day will come when we will hear that a trusted, seemingly independent blogger is being paid to express an opinion about a product or even a politician or important policy? Will we be horrified? Will we just stop caring what the blogger has to say? Or will we accept it, the way we accepted it when we found out about paid product placements in movies? I made my local car dealer look quite posh in this post, just because I had nothing better to do than observe my immediate surroundings (and also because I wanted to get in on the big new tire-blogging craze). But what if it were the case -- it's not! -- and you found out, that Zimbrick gives me free oil changes in exchange for disguised ads? Small potatoes, you might think. Who cares? Imagine something bigger then: a high-traffic blogger paid big bucks to back the privatization of Social Security.
UPDATE: An emailer writes that there should be a spiffy little word for blogger payola, like "blogola." Maybe we could also do with a word for blog product placement, like maybe "product blogment."
ANOTHER UPDATE: Let me just flag the recent incident of the two blogs that received $27,000 and $8,000, respectively, from the Thune campaign. This is not, I think, an example of an existing, high-traffic, trusted blog selling out, but it is a related phenomenon. I hope blog readers are savvy enough to know that anyone can start a blog, and that, presumably, many blogs have undisclosed interests behind them.
MUCH LATER UPDATE: For my discussion of this issue postdating the revelation that Kos took money from the Dean campaign, go here.
Christmas ordering on Amazon.
I was wondering why I hadn't received an order from Amazon that I'd placed on December 7th. How long can it take? I checked my account and saw that the predicted delivery date was in 2005. In my many years of Amazon shopping, I've never seen this kind of problem getting Christmas orders out before. I had to cancel the order, of course, but not before printing out the page to make a shopping list to take to my local stores.
Not guilty?
Psychiatrists can explain why someone would murder a pregnant woman, cut the baby out of the womb, and adopt the baby as her own.
[Lisa M. ] Montgomery, news reports said, showed off the baby proudly, as if nothing were wrong. This almost certainly reflects delusional thinking, psychiatrists said.
Psychosis may give rise to elaborate narrative fantasies of good and evil and voices commanding some action. The criminal complaint said Ms. Montgomery found her victim over the Internet, where a picture of the pregnant woman could have prompted any number of thoughts and plots, forensic psychiatrists say.
"In these cases a woman might have a delusion that that's my baby in that woman, she's stolen it, and if I don't rescue it she's going to kill it, and the motivation is so overwhelming that you just lose contact with reality," said Dr. Jack M. Gorman, chairman of the department of psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. "It's hard for people who've never had this kind of experience to understand, but the voices and hallucinations and demands become overwhelming."
The Autistic Liberation Front.
Some autism activists don't think in terms of curing a disease but celebrating difference.
I note that the cost of treating autism is high, and that ought to create a lot of momentum for people who argue that treatment is not desirable. But there is a big difference in interest between "high-functioning" autistics and other autistics. If the high-functioning autistics win support for the idea that they should be appreciated for their distinctive differences and that treatment is oppressive and abusive, won't that tend to undermine the availability of treatment for those who are not high-functioning? You can see why those who care about non-high-functioning autistics are afraid of the acceptance movement.
Reading to the end of the article after drafting that last paragraph, I realize that, although I tried to present both sides of the extremely complex problem, I leaned towared the liberationists by writing "autistics" and not "persons with autism." Those who want the condition treated see it as separate from the person, something they hope to remove. Those who do not say things like "describe me as 'an autistic' or 'an autistic person,' versus the 'person with...' ... Just like you would feel odd if people said you were a 'person with femaleness.' "
UPDATE: An emailer provides some very helpful insight:
ANOTHER UPDATE: The day after running the above-linked article, the NYT runs a long article about the difficulties of getting insurance companies to pay for the very expensive treatment:
A neurological condition that can render standard forms of communication like tone of voice, facial expression and even spoken language unnatural and difficult to master, autism has traditionally been seen as a shell from which a normal child might one day emerge. But some advocates contend that autism is an integral part of their identities, much more like a skin than a shell, and not one they care to shed.
The effort to cure autism, they say, is not like curing cancer, but like the efforts of a previous age to cure left-handedness...
On e-mail lists frequented by autistics, some parents are derided as "curebies" and portrayed as slaves to conformity, so anxious for their children to appear normal that they cannot respect their way of communicating.
I note that the cost of treating autism is high, and that ought to create a lot of momentum for people who argue that treatment is not desirable. But there is a big difference in interest between "high-functioning" autistics and other autistics. If the high-functioning autistics win support for the idea that they should be appreciated for their distinctive differences and that treatment is oppressive and abusive, won't that tend to undermine the availability of treatment for those who are not high-functioning? You can see why those who care about non-high-functioning autistics are afraid of the acceptance movement.
Reading to the end of the article after drafting that last paragraph, I realize that, although I tried to present both sides of the extremely complex problem, I leaned towared the liberationists by writing "autistics" and not "persons with autism." Those who want the condition treated see it as separate from the person, something they hope to remove. Those who do not say things like "describe me as 'an autistic' or 'an autistic person,' versus the 'person with...' ... Just like you would feel odd if people said you were a 'person with femaleness.' "
UPDATE: An emailer provides some very helpful insight:
Thanks for pointing out the article. Unfortunately I am rather familiar with Asperger's, as three of my children have it.
I think they are using misleading language when they speak of disease and cure. Aspergers people are essentially emotion-blind. This makes interacting with others fraught with misunderstandings, and is a substantial handicap in dealing with other people. Imagine trying to get the day's work directives from your boss when the small-talk and the assignment seem of equal importance. As far as I know there is no "cure" to give them the neurotypical understanding of body language or voice tone. But we've found that the didactic approach seems to help them figure out "what to do next."
Teaching a child protocols sometimes helps: if the other person does X, you can say Y or Z. Some people have had success teaching children how to recognize facial expressions. I'm trying to drum up interest in experimenting with using acting coaches to teach about body language.
None of these are "cures" and none deal with the various quirks that come with the Aspergers package. Quirks don't matter so much, provided you can communicate without misunderstanding. We can easily make a place in our lives for someone with an intense fascination with doorknobs; which I suppose is what they mean by acceptance. But I very much want my own children to be able to figure out when you can joke with a policeman and when you cannot.
Unfortunately the intensive training you need is exceedingly expensive, and some things work with one kid and not with another.
ANOTHER UPDATE: The day after running the above-linked article, the NYT runs a long article about the difficulties of getting insurance companies to pay for the very expensive treatment:
Insurers have long raised objections about the very nature of autism treatment. Edward Jones, a senior official of PacifiCare Behavioral Health and chairman of the American Managed Behavioral Health Association, an insurance industry group, asked, "Is this really an educational service or a therapeutic service?"
A diagnosis for autism is included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association. Treatment of some kind for most disorders in the manual is covered by health plans.
According to Mr. Jones, though, "most people feel it is a biological, neurological disorder, but that cannot be proven." He added that "we don't seem to have any biological treatment for autism."
December 19, 2004
Medical marijuana.
Although there is no Wisconsin law permitting the medical use of marijuana, a Wisconsin judge dismissed a marijuana possession charge against a woman with a California prescription to use the drug.
The future of the filibuster.
NPR reports on the future of the filibuster. There is a proposal in the Senate to exempt judicial nominations from the filibuster. Years ago, the filibuster was associated with southern Senators objecting to civil rights legislation. Strom Thurmond went 24 hours without urinating, we're told, in his diehard filibuster against civil rights legislation. So why is it so hard to oust the disreputable old technique? The theory is that the filibuster exemplifies the individualism of Senators and that they will not dare to change their institution by removing the old, ideosyncratic tradition.
From the year's person's parents.
Time's Person of the Year issue has an interview with the person's parents, George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush. (Sorry, I don't have a link for this piece in the new issue of Time.) Two things really struck me. This:
And this (answering the question what was the "low point" of Bush's first term):
[GEORGE H.W. BUSH] Remember when Ann Richards said George Bush was born with a silver foot in his mouth? And then when George beat her in his first run for Governor--I must say I felt a certain sense of joy that he finally had kind of taken her down. I could go around saying, "We showed her what she could do with that silver foot, where she could stick that now."
MRS. BUSH: Good speech material.
And this (answering the question what was the "low point" of Bush's first term):
BUSH: Michael Moore's got to be the worst for me. I mean, he's such a slimeball and so atrocious. But I love the fact now that the Democrats are not embracing him as theirs anymore. He might not get invited to sit in Jimmy Carter's box [at the Democratic Convention] again. I wanted to get up my nerve to ask Jimmy Carter at the Clinton thing [the opening of Bill Clinton's library], "How did it feel being there with that marvelous friend of yours, Michael Moore?" and I didn't dare do it.
MRS. BUSH: Darn.
BUSH: You can write that if you want. Michael Moore just slandered our family and me.
Weird problems solved.
The Sims have been having some pretty funny problems, as this update reveals:
UPDATE: I've corrected this post to reflect that "Sims" is plural. I had no call to refer them as "the Simses." Each individual, I've been assured, is a Sim.
ANOTHER UPDATE: The solution to weird problems may cause new weird problems, as my son Chris writes:
Visitors will no longer kidnap a baby or toddler by leaving the lot
while carrying them.
Maids can now clean up pizza boxes and baby bottles.
An adopted baby no longer snaps to the ground when the social worker that delivers it puts it in a crib.
Fixes the problem where the teddy bear would occasionally float after being put down.
Teens no longer get the unsatisfiable "Write a Novel" want.
UPDATE: I've corrected this post to reflect that "Sims" is plural. I had no call to refer them as "the Simses." Each individual, I've been assured, is a Sim.
ANOTHER UPDATE: The solution to weird problems may cause new weird problems, as my son Chris writes:
The Sims 2 download that's supposed to solve all those bugs actually creates, I think, new ones that are much worse. One of my Sims went to work and never came back. When they're at work, their needs continue to change (they keep getting more and more hungry, etc.), so she's literally starving to death because of her inability to return from work.
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