Igor hooked me into watching the two-day, four-hour season premiere of _24_. I’m debating whether I’ll continue to watch. Slate asks, “How many other cultures have shows on the order of 24 and Sleeper Cell—programs that convert blasts of terror into pops of corn? Does it happen in places where things blow up with some regularity? Do they unwind with such stuff in Tel Aviv or Thailand? Has Penélope Cruz ever slipped into a cat suit to battle Basque separatists? Or can an everyman like Jack exist only in this decadent superpower?“

Today’s _Times_ editorial is really, really good. It gives both needed (legitimate) criticism of the Bush Iraq policy and concrete recommendations for what needs to be done to disengage American peacefully without further destabilizing the Middle East. It also places the burden of history solely on the back of Congress — Bush has done his part, now Congress *must* act. First graf: “It was surreal how disconnected President Bush was the other night, both from Iraq’s horrifying reality and America’s anguish over this unnecessary, mismanaged and now unwinnable war. Indeed, most Americans seem far ahead of the president. They understand that what the country urgently needs is for Mr. Bush to chart a way out of Iraq that also limits the chaos that will be left behind.”

US deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs Cully Stimson has called on American companies to boycott law firms that represent suspected terrorists. He also claimed (obliquely) that the firms themselves are being funded by terrorists. This is the guy (and lawyer) we have running our military prisons? Someone who doesn’t believe in one of the core values of American democracy, the right of the accused to have competent representation in a court of law? ( _WaPo_ originally broke the story.)

Hex is the British answer to Buffy, but a better name might be Fluffy

Once my TiVo got properly programmed by Comcast I discovered that I have BBC America, on which I’ve found a little guilty pleasure called _Hex_ which is sorta a crappy British version of Buffy, only with demony angel things instead of vampires, and a telekinetic but silly quasi-witch as the heroine (well, until they kill her off because the actor wanted to do other things after the absolutely *grueling* pace of filming a modern, 5 episode drama for television, thus screwing up the series and forcing the writers to make things even more non-sensical, but that’s another blog entry entirely). Anyway, Defenestration Magazine (what?) offers a fun (if a bit lengthy) synopsis of the entire series if you want to enjoy a bit of British TV without actually having to watch it:

bq. We meet Cassie. She’s beautiful, but shy–which translates to her wearing neutrals and being boring as hell. She says things like “Why?” and “I don’t understand.” and sometimes she tempestuously tosses her head and says “You don’t understand!” Oh, she’s so fiery!

They spend a lot of time summarizing season 1 (the five episodes) and then, once things get silly(-er), devote much less ink to the 13 episodes of season 2, which, although I haven’t yet seen them, I gather is what they deserve.

This morning I heard this cute and funny little story on NPR about technology and social interaction: “When a folder called ‘Anna’s Music’ mysteriously popped up on NPR reporter David Kestenbaum’s computer — with music that he absolutely loved — he followed a trail that led to an awkward encounter at a neighbor’s house.”

In Japan, reaction to Apple’s fancy new “iPhone” is muted, because most of the features have been around for a while on phones at a far lower price point (and third generation wireless capability, which offers faster data transfer rates than Apple’s phone). There are various crummy reasons why the US is so behind in mobile technology. I suspect in a few years we’ll get to where Japan is today. And, of course, much can change in three years, in directions one might never expect.

My Macworld predictions

Ha, cause I have some deep insights and inside info, right? Not so much. Just a few thoughts:
* No iPhone, or if there is, it’ll be VoIP only (there are about 100 reasons why Apple can’t just poof into existence a new phone network, and while its possible they’ll just release a handset that cell carriers can market, doing that while still maintaining the Steve Jobs “perfection” seems difficult/unlikely.
* Lots of fun new home-networking gear. Pre-N routers will replace AirPort Extreme, Express may receive an update as well, the “iTV” product will launch and have Pre-N support as well.
* HD content in the iTunes store and playable on the iTV.
* Perhaps another piece of “Apple in your living room” kit.
* New features for the video on the iTunes store, such as closed captioning and alternative-language tracks and menus and chapters (hope, hope).

That’s about all I can think of. Maybe a ultra-portable, but that’s unlikely. We’ll see in a few days. If there is an amazing “one more thing” I feel like its most likely going to center around digital media in the home, although I suppose Apple could boldly surge into some as-yet-identified new market. Really don’t think it’ll be phones, though (he says, preparing to eat his words).

*Edit 8 Jan 11:54pm*: If the _WSJ_ says there is going to be a phone, then I guess there is going to be a phone.

No secret that I love Costco. I like Whole Foods almost as much. Both companies have good values and good labor practices, and make business decisions that pay off in the long-term. Sad then to see Whole Foods being battered by a short-term-focused market, because their same-store sales are up a _mere_ 8% this year. Daniel Gross in _Slate_, however, things that the company is still a good investment, and if I had any money to put in the stock market I’d go along with his recommendation.

Tweaking

I’ve been playing and tweaking and refactoring and have come up with version 7 of the AgBlog design, and I’m pretty happy with it. It solves a few problems and works better on larger monitors. But now I have to code it, and that is something I’m dreading. I’m almost inclined to switch to the beautiful and clean WordPress Hemingway theme instead (with a few tweaks) and save myself all the headaches of writing good cross-platform standards-compliant XHTML, something I haven’t done in over a year. Check out the Hemingway theme and tell me what you think.

_CS Monitor_: “Some 20 universities and colleges have decided to allow undergraduates of the opposite sex to share an on-campus room. Most quietly made the move in the past five years[.] […A]dvocates for the new arrangements say sexual intimacy rarely plays a role with those who sign up. Instead, for a younger generation it is increasingly common for men and women to just be friends. And some gay and transgendered students welcome the chance to avoid same-sex roommates whom they may not be comfortable around, or who may not accept them.”

All Creatures Great and Small

Dr. House on _House_ tells us that everyone lies. I doubt that applies to animals. But also, they don’t talk.

Is it weird that we expect any well-trained veterinarian to be able to diagnose and treat a broad gamut of ailments across dozens (hundreds?) of different species? I noticed Jake exhibiting some mild muscle spasms on his back and near his right rear leg and Googled for it, coming up with this interesting clinical question about another cat exhibiting similar (but more advanced) symptoms, along with ten responses suggestion methods of diagnosis and treatment. Many of the things they discuss sound very familiar — tox screen, MRI, thyroid test, urinalysis, etc.

The lay person who occasionally watches medical TV shows has some basic understanding of the range of expertise and stored knowledge necessary to be a good doctor, not to mention the insane amount of specialization necessary in modern human health care. Does the same level of specialization exist in animal care? I really doubt it. And it is clear from the discussion at that link that treating an animal like a cat can be just as complicated as a human.

Then again, the amount of money we are willing to spend on animal care pales compared to human care, so maybe it doesn’t really matter — the cat may have some very complicated and specialized disease, but in the end its most likely just going to be euthanized anyway, I doubt in animal medicine there is any concept of “heroic measures.”

*Addendum:* Wikipedia tells us there is some degree of specialization.

From a Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility press release: “In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is ‘no comment.’”

Fantasizing

I’m finding myself becoming a big fan of Neil Gaiman after reading (and being enthralled by) _American Gods_ a little while back and now having finished his freshman novel _Neverwhere_. Both are a sort of fantasy exploration written in oddly placid yet quirky styles, the first dealing with the gods of our past abandoned to roam American unworshipped after having been brought here by settlers and then forgotten by their offspring, and the second exploring a mysterious “London Below” horror world made up of bits and pieces of London trapped throughout time and coexisting in a strange magical fantasy realm. In both stories (and, I gather, his next work, _Anansi Boys_) the protagonist is an average joe drawn into a dark underworld he neither knew existed nor finds easy to accept.

I’m pondering whether I’m enjoying the fantasy genre in general or only Gaiman in particular, as well as which of his works I should pick up next (probably the aforementioned _Anansi Boys_), as my occasional dippings into his _Smoke and Mirrors_ short story collection have not always left me fulfilled.