Category Archives: Aside

As _Scrubs_ — remarkably — wraps up its fifth season, a few tributes are coming out, including this one in the _Ventura County Star_. Now that the show is on summer hiatus, it won’t be returning until midseaon next year, which is quite a while to wait after that cliffhanger ending. Drat!

Why did Apple choose those hideous “glossy” LCD screens for their new MacBook consumer laptops? Ars Technica says its because consumers are idiots who say “ooh, shiny!” and plunk down their credit cards. Okay, fine, just as long as I never have to choose between cost savings and a good screen — oh wait, I do.

The daily abuses suffered by baristas — I guess I’ve contributed to this. The three times in my life I’ve been to a Starbucks I’ve found the sizing confusing and just asked for a “medium,” as it should be (cause really, they actually do seem to believe in the concept of “extra extra large.” The hell?). Sorry folks, that’s not going to change.

The _New York Times_ analysis of President Bush’s speech yesterday on immigration paints it as a calculated approach that could very well backfire, but that Bush is pushing because it is an issue he has experience with and believes in through his time in Texas. When I was listening to the speech it struck me that, for once in recent memory, the President was actually advocating what sounded like a sensible middle path, doing the standard political thing in attempting to appeal to various factions and bring them to the bargaining table while still putting forth a plan based on his “deeply held convictions” or whatever — i.e. what he *promised* to do way back in 2000 when he said he would “change the tone” in Washington. Having seen him over and over again behave in profoundly misleading and hypocritical ways, I can’t put much stock in Bush’s pledges this time around, nor do I expect he has the political capital to really bring his plan to fruition in the highly fractous House (see: Social Security reform), but I guess I can admire the effort, at least a bit. Ah, to put forth too little, way the hell too late…

Christopher Hitchens on Holland’s shameful treatment of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I need to do some more reading into the fascinating/scary subject of modern racial politics in Europe. I’d especially like a book that gives a broad overview of the last 58 years (or so) and perhaps does some compare/contrast with American thought on the subject. Anyone have reading suggestions?

_H BOMB_, billed as “Harvard’s magazine about sex,” just posted on the HCS jobs list looking for people to help with their web site. You may recall the controversy surrounding their first issue, which, while portrayed in major media as a pornography rag, appears from the preview on their web site to be pretty much exactly what they promised (think Nerve, not Playboy). Seeing as they’re planning a purely online edition this year, one can safely assume that Harvard’s decision to deny them funding has not changed. Too bad.

Boston Squares is an attempt by two Tufts students to create a directory of Boston businesses organized by town square. Slick site with wiki-like editing. I’m finding things in Davis and Harvard Squares that I never knew existed.