Song for the day since Blip doesn't have an optimal version of Concrete Blonde's "Still In Hollywood." There's a reason R.E.M. were legends...

Yesterday was one of the roughest days of my, um, "professional career." I don't want to go into the details, but it involved the evisceration of a co-working in a very uncomfortable setting. Ugly. On the plus side, it may act as a motivator moving forward but for the time being, I really just want to curl up in a ball. If I am not quick to respond to mail, please be patient.

Ok, this is the second "yes/no" prompt in the last 4 days.

I'll go on record as saying "yes", it looks to me like there are animals that do, but I'm not an expert and it's entirely possible that I'm projecting.

My inner fanboy can live with stuff like this:

"@>lindsaytron I am amused/deeply annoyed that @amandapalmer and @neilhimself are the brangelina of artfags and goth kids"

More to the point, I can't even really find fault with the sentiment. I was surprised in a pleasant way that many of the pocket-celebs that I find interesting happend to find each other interesting. However, when your favorite political blog starts to get in on the act, we've offically crossed the border into the realm of the surreal.

"Stretch."

Because, apparently, I was stretching. And I liked to stretch. Of course, I have no memory of this so I am relying on the testimony of others for this answer. This is not a particularly interesting prompt.

On the other hand, isn't it a little strange to think there there was a measurable chunk of your life of which you have no memory at all? Those first couple of years? I can't remember any of it. I've seen some pictures so I know I was there. I assume I was reacting to things and learning and all the things tiny little proto-people do but the engine of cognition was wired very differently then.

I thought this might have been a more fruitful diversion, but you can only say "I got nothin'" so many ways, huh?

We've run out of interesting topics about the time I started doing this things, huh?

Ok, honestly? I listen to music on YouTube all the time. It seems like there's a better chance of finding the song you're looking for posted there than anywhere else. I very seldom watch the videos (which are, as often as not, just a static shot of the album cover). I wonder if the record companies know how easy it is to turn a youtube video into an mp3?

Of course, the problem with YouTube is that you only get one song at a time unless you play with the playlists. Pandora is better for that sort of thing. My only problem with it is that when you seed you station with a band you like, you'll get a lot of similar but (and this is key) not as good bands that follow them. That is not what I'm looking for. The only real success I've had is when I start with Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky. I wind up with a lot of very interesting, very similar bands like Tristeza. I just have to be in the mood for that kind of music.

Mostly, I guess, I'm old school in that I prefer to purchase my music, put it on a player, and go from there. So "favorite site for listening to music online" isn't an especially good prompt for me. Maybe tomorrow.

I might as well just admit that I don't really have a favorite Michael Jackson song. He's just not my cup of tea. I don't particularly dislike him, but I've never owned one of his albums and don't imagine that I will.

To show just how out of the loop I am, I remember back in the day when I was doing my first tour of duty at Camelot Music in Plano and we received the first shipment of "Thriller" albums. Yes, they were albums. Vinyl. Anyway, when I saw the title of the record, I snorted and said "Oh sure, he's a real 'Thriller.'"

I may have misjudged that one just a little bit. In fact, I was a remarkably poor judge of what would catch on. During my second stint at Camelot we got a lot of new grunge-y music after Nirvana took off. I remember referring to one of them as "a second-rate Nirvana wannabe band." It turns out that, in retrospect, I think Pearl Jam's "Ten" is probably superior to anything Nirvana did. Oops.

So, anyway, I'm afraid I don't really have any other Michael Jackson-related stories. Even though I was working at Musicland when the Jackson Five got back together to release "Victory", it was more about making fun of Tito than it was about Michael (at least to me).

I found him more interesting as a cultural artifact than as a musician. That's probably unfair, but so be it. Jackson was one of those child stars who was obviously warped by the pressure of being so rich and so famous so young. His life was so removed from the experience of most people that it's little wonder that he became eccentric. I hope that he was happy for the majority of his life and that he died that way. I kind of doubt that this was the case.

I still do this more often than I ought. There are impromptu gatherings in the courtyard of my apartment complex on a semi-regular basis and I've joined in from time to time. There is, of course, the silly game that will keep me up to the wee hours but seldom all night.

To answer the question, though, the last time was a couple of weeks ago when I was having trouble sleeping and decided to go for a walk. I love walking in the city in at ridiculous time. So much of the time, I only experience the city in a 9 am - 9 pm time frame. There's nothing wrong with that, but you miss a lot that way.

Being downtown at 5:30 in the morning is a completely different experience than seeing it during the day. The streets are full of people who are preparing for the people who will be arriving later in the morning. All manner of delivery trucks are backing through the alleys. Orange-vested men with high-power hoses are throwing up rooster tails of fine mist across the sidewalks. Catering trucks fold open like giant toolboxes displaying more breakfast tacos and orange juice than you would have imagined one could fit in such a small space. It's a completely different world, separated by time rather than space.

But, for the me, the best part about staying up all night is the way the streets look before the early morning activity starts up, when it's still dark and silent and empty. There's a ghostly feel to it, a sort of quasi-post-apocalypse city with a population of one. Without any distractions, my mind wanders and finds paths I didn't even know existed. It's an almost dreamlike experience.

Unfortunately, it's also dreamlike in the sense that I struggle to remember anything specific the next morning. A tired Jake is not usually a clever Jake and thoughts that seemed so interesting or profound at four in the morning leave only vague impressions behind.

That's ok, though. That's part of the price of pulling an all-nighter. I'm sure I won't be doing it again for at least another day or two.

*sigh* Ok, I give up. I'm having trouble getting off dead center, so let's try a few prompts to get things moving again. I'm going to try to do these "writer's block" things on a daily basis. Can't hurt, right? Man, did I ever choose the wrong question of the day to start with.

Ok, the cutest baby animal. Right. Definitely not "human." Anything but "human." *

But, based on my mood today, I'm going to go with the baby penguin. Maybe it's just because I saw March of the Penguins (or, as Stephanie calls it, "Waddle Waddle Die."), but these little suckers are almost cloyingly adorable. So there you have it.

Not the most inspirational topic I've seen, but it's a start. I should probably watch what I ask for, or we'll wind up with "Reconcile the concept of free will with that of an omnipotent prime mover" tomorrow.

* I edited this because, as it turns out, baby cockroaches look pretty much like big cockroaches, which is to say, really yucky. "Baby human" > "baby cockroach."

To get a little perspective, let's rewind the tape a little bit and revisit the 2005 Iranian presidential elections. The run-off was a contest between relatively moderate, economics-minded Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and firebrand, anti-American populist Mahmoud Ahmadnejad. Rafsanjani was the clear favourite and lead all the key polls and he seemed likely to resume the presidency he had lost in 2000. At least, until the President of the United States endorsed him. Once the U.S. made it's preference known, Ahmadnejad surged in the polls and wound up winning by an almost 2:1 margin. Unlike the 2009 election, no one disputed these results as they were very much in line with pre-election polling.

I bring this up to emphasize the effect U.S. influence tends to have on Iranian politics. There is an almost reflexiive anti-American response to any appearance of meddling. It's not just that it gives the conservative hard-liners an excuse to crack down. They could (and probably will) do that anyway. It's more important to be aware of the effect it has on popular opinion. If the U.S. were to openly support Mousavi, there is every reason to think that this would turn popular opinion against him and his supporters, just as it did with Rafsanjani in 2005.

I turn you once again to one of the best blogs going, The Edge of the American West, for a good take on the fine line the U.S. has to walk here:

That government forces accuse America of meddling in the face of Obama’s tepid public statements is not, as conservatives would have it, evidence that because the accusation will be made, we might as well meddle. It indicates that the Iranian government recognizes how politically efficacious the accusation of American intervention in Iranian electoral politics is, which means Victor David Hanson and like-minded conservatives are urging Obama to take a principled stand by playing directly into the hands of the Iranian regime. Ahmadinejad and his supporters would love nothing more than for Obama to read the lines they scripted for him.

It's a good post and well worth reading in it's entirity. The only thing I'd like to add is that it's worth noting that there's no real political gain for Obama in keeping his distance. Moderation doesn't play to any particular demographic and it exposes him to a lot of (admittedly ill-considered or worse) criticism from those who believe that freedom can only be obtained at the point of an M-16. This administration's policy of disengagment doesn't please anyone but the Mousavi supporters on the street, who happen to be the ones who are pleading for us not to get involved.

1. Not writing in journal?
2. Gaining some weight back?
3. Living space a mess?
4. Sporadic personal grooming?
5. Too much World of Warcraft?
6. Back to drinking 2-3 pots of coffee/day?

Yeah, that sounds like a total commitment to Sparkle Motion. Sounds like I've got some work to do.

Can't sleep tonight. The air inside my apartment is still and full, while on my patio, the wind is moving just enough to make it pleasant. I can hear Lori holding court on her patio, with Blair in attendance as well as a man I can only guess is Lori's new beau. Cass, Laney, and Anna (I think) just got back from a place that obviously had no small amount of alcohol. It sounds like a party in there. Jaclyn and Chris just got in as well. They went to their respective apartments, but if I heard correctly, they'll be grabbing something to eat at Chris' place shortly. And here come Nelson and Jennifer, also heading up to Chris' place.

I'm really not in the mood to join in on any of this, but I'm enjoying listening in on it.

This kind of night reminds me of sleeping outside of my grandparent's farm house in Kansas. Just a little too warm to sleep well, so the entire night was spent in a dozy daze, not quite asleep but not awake either. We just slept on cots with nothing but bedsheets under a tree I could probably identify now, but in my memory, it's just a generic tree. Sitting out on my patio tonight, I kind of wish I were out in the country, away from all this light and noise and, yeah, from my little laptop as well.

I'm feeling, right at this moment, like I've made a mess of things. I can't really put my finger on precisely what I've made a mess of which is not as frustrating as it sounds. My compass is broken, failing to point in any particular direction. I think it's just a 3:15 AM thing.

I made what I thougth was a clever joke earlier ("Using Ayn Rand as the basis for your political beliefs is like taking all your relationship advice from a guy who was molested as a child.") I like the idea behind it, but I think I phrased it poorly. The point is, Rand got to see firsthand the horrors of living under communism. It seems perfectly natural that should would develop a philosophy that was as diametrically opposed to communism as she did. Extremism tends to beget extremism. That doesn't, however, make her ideas particularly workable. Like I said, I wish I'd said it better than that tasteless formulation I came up with.

One thing's for sure, the old tunnel vision is coming back. The "focus on what is directly in front of me", clinging to the next day off work to get me through the day, stuff like that. I know this terrain, and it's annoying. The sooner I get past this, the better.

Last week, I took the new Palm Pre out for a spin. By that I mean I bought one, but more on that in a sec. Since this is the most hyped phone since the iPhone and the phone that's supposed to save both Palm and Sprint, I figured it was worth a look. If you're after a full, in-depth review, the folks at Engadget have a good one. I'll stick to my impressions.

It looks an feels gorgeous. The touch screen is bright and clear and works brilliantly. Somewhat less brilliant is the keyboard. A good keyboard is a must for me, and, while I prefer the Pre's keyboard to the Centro's, it's still a little awkward. It slides down on a curve so that the phone looks like a banana when the keyboard is out. That's fine, but it's a little unbalanced and difficult to use with one hand. It's fine for two-thumb typing, though.

The operating system is a home run. Seriously. Some of the touch screen gestures are borrowed-to-the-point-of-outright-theft from the iPhone, but that just means it's plenty intuitive. The multitasking is wonderful. It works so well you'd think it, um, came from the iPhone. The browser is as good as you could ever want on a phone, and it's got powerfully enough proccessor that there's no lag at all. The phone works beautifully, too, although Sprint's network has something to do with that.

So, um, what's the catch? I had two problems that were serious enough to make me return it to the store. I don't mind the miniscule number of apps available at launch. The phone, browser, and OS are good enough that the apps will come. The first problem was that the battery life was a cruel, cruel joke. We're talking about maybe an hour, a little more, if you're really using it. Plus, the battery gets really, reall hot. You don't want to get the Pre too far from a charger. The other problem was a little bit more technical. The phone won't sync with an Exchange server that doesn't have a valid security certifcate. Our company didn't have one, but the network admin agreed we needed one, so we bought one. Problem solved? Nope. Unfortunately, the SSL support for the Pre was down, so there was no Exchange server sync period, and no ETA when it would be working again.

With no battery life and no Exchange support, the Pre wasn't a workable option for me. But, when they get those two problems sorted, will I go back?

In a heartbeat.

I've been trying to get a grip on what's really going on in Iran before I posted anything. I'm just going to jot a few things down now-please bear with me, as these are not fully formed thoughts and I'm still working through them.

Unfortunately, mostly what I've learned is just how little I know about the situation over there. It's striking, to me, to read the text of the speeches being made on alll sides. Aside from some statements that touch on the strong national fear of foreign interference in their governance, the key players are talking to each other, not to us. It's not about us. I know that should be obvious, but a lot of the commentary I've read seems to have missed this point entirely.

For me, the key aspect of this drama is to see whether or not Iran can liberalize at it's own pace and successfully arrive at some sort of functional, 21st century government without western interference. It would be the ultimate rebuke to the neocon worldview if Iran were to emerge from this having demonstrated that they can mind their own affairs. I would hate to propegate the idea that only way a muslim country could modernize would be at gunpoint.

I don't have any clue how this ends. While it is in many ways repressive, Iran is a complicated nation. Jews are represented in the Iranian parliament. Sex change operations are common and actually supported by the clergy. The elections are vastly more democratic than what we've set up in Iraq. The country has been slowly, quietly liberalizing over the last 30 years. Unfortunately, they have a strong national paranoia about foreign influence. Given their history, that's easly understood, but it puts the U.S. in a very delicate position. Any action that is seen as trying to exert influence over Iranian self-rule will play into the hands of the hardliners and unite the country against the protestors.

It seems very likely that Ahmadinejad will remain in office. But, interestingly, he seems to have much weaker support among the clergy than he previously had. It isn't hard to speculate that, while the hardline candidate will be declared the winner, there may be some few legitimate reforms. But honestly, it's all very dicey at this stage and I'm hardly an expert.

Ever since I installed TweetDeck, I've been paying a lot more attention to Twitter. It's a strange thing, getting semi-up-to-the-minute info on your friends and a smattering of celebs in the same feed. In a lot of ways, the most interesting thing is how similar they are. Reading about Trent Reznor and Amanda Palmer sharing notes on what it feels like to be in love isn't anything that's going to change the world, but it's sweet in just how ordinary it is.

Most of the celebs I follow tweet about like you'd expect. Neil Gaiman is insightful and just off-center enough to be in character. Joe Bob Briggs writes haikus. Eugene Mirman is hilarious. Trent Reznor almost always has something of immediate interest to say. Amanda Palmer wins most of the shock value awards. Warren Ellis is, well, he's Warren Ellis, which should serve as both an endorsement and a warning. I don't know how long this sort of thing will hold my interest, but it's fun in the here-and-now.

Sometimes, they'll surprise you. Neil had a good link concerning the Iranian elections (@neilhimself: Good morning, universe. A useful Boingboing article on the #iranelection is up at http://bit.ly/iranelections). Warren comes up with some lovely music selections. And sometimes, you'll catch them chatting with each other, which is kind of a kick.

I still think Twitter is most interesting for keeping up with people I know (Benjamin wins this category, hands down), but the celeb side of it is certainly worth checking out. This feels like the end of RSS to me.

Happy birthday Simon. This one's about as anti-authoritarian as you can get.



His department has apparently cleared him of all wrongdoing. I would really like to see the mother of all lawsuits drop on this one.

Dear LiveJournal,

I haven't had much to say lately. I'm going to work through this and write things even when I don't have anything to say, but for right now, I'd just like to recognize a few birthdays.

Happy birthday (belated) to state_monkey.

Happy birthday (timely) to Simon, Marley, and Cass.

Just wanted to say that.

Ok, now to figure out what the @#$%@#$^ to say.

I've had electrical problems with cars more often than I would like to remember. I always had the impression that by constantly jump-starting my car, I was doing some small amount of long-term damage and that there would be a reckoning at some point in the future.

I'm on my third cup of coffee this morning and the neurons are just barely beginning to fire.

To the lovely and talented jennifervescent.

Making sure everyone knows it's your birthday. It's what friends do. Really.

"

In the words of an earlier Wichita resident, Wyatt Earp, you might say Tiller "needed killin'".

That's not to say his killer shouldn't be prosecuted. But it does illustrate how somebody like Tiller might be viewed."

Well, ok, I do know how I'm going to deal with it. There's no persuading, but at least I can re-up with Planned Parenthood. Here's a link in case you're of a mind to do the same.

Any time a large segemnt of our population celebrates a killing, I have a very hard time of it. I was going to compose a grand statement full of Meaning and stuff, but I just feel too sick in my heart to do it.