Obama / Clinton by the bills

What better ground to judge a legislator than on their legislation?

A former Democratic fence-sitter decided to research the "empty rhetoric" v. "history of accomplishments" debate framing the contest between the two contenders by going to the Library of Congress website and looking up the legislative history of Senators Obama and Clinton. Remarkably, this library makes "records" which can be "examined" by the "public" over the "internet." It's also a place where you can rent books for free! It is a magical place.

Anyway, the results of her research are inelegantly (but comprehensively) summarized on a post to Daily Kos. Its well worth a skim. Or if you are the type who only has the patience for executive summaries, she sent $100 to Obama.
February 21st, 2008 / 0 Comments / Tags: bills, obama, clinton, cash money

Infrared is the new black

For all your nefarious acts of frameless urban aestheticism -- day or night -- look no further than the amazing power of infrared LEDs. Although you can't see the light they emit, a few infrared LEDs placed near your face (on, say, a necklace, nose ring, ear ring, headband or spectacles) will shine brightly in the spectrum that just so happens to blind CCTV cameras.



As posted on BoingBoing.

February 21st, 2008 / 0 Comments / Tags: safety first, LED, surveillance, urban guerilla

Obay!

Whimsical and subversive, adverts for anti-thought medication "Obay" have been appearing at bus stops around Toronto. I caught one on my walk to work the other morning but was too bleary with morning tunnel vision to manage a response other than "whaaa?"



And then I didn't give it another thought until I saw a Digg story about it today. Which makes my diagnosis and daily medication all to obvious.



But I trust that my sense of locality is, in fact, intact. Because while I registered the ad, it only registered as an ad, and was accordingly dismissed by my brain as junk. And indeed, it is apparently the first in a two-part campaign for some Ontario college thing. Viral marketing and all that.

Besides which -- I distinctly recall how fat and fluffy the snow flakes were today, the one that landed on my glasses, and the way it all stacked in a lattice upon the ambient slush.

February 18th, 2008 / 1 Comment / Tags: subverts, mindfuck, too early for funny, locality, snow

Unicorn vs. Rock 'n Roll

I have it on good authority from insider sources that an internal debate is raging within EcoJustice Canada with respect to this newly proposed logo.



Which is awesome.

February 16th, 2008 / 0 Comments / Tags: unicorn, ecojustice

Love: Inside and Out

With equally disturbing and hilarious affect, artist Kent Rogowski turns ordinary teddy bears inside out and then restuffs them.

   

The vulnerable and apologetic rejects that result are probably the best critique of romanticized nostalgia yet. The truth of our cuddling affections is marked by scared stitches, percolated stuffing and dangling appendages, all of which expose an indifferent process of mechanized production. Love for sale.

Some of the bears appear to be attached to exotic life support systems as if they've gone full circle in their life cycle: loved, abused, disused, then forgotten. The squeeze box that once elicited giggles now takes on the appearance of a ventilator as the patient attached gasps for one last squeeze by someone who cares.



The never-meant-to-be-seen side of the teddy ultimately reflects the uncomfortable question of objectified love back at the consumer.



February 5th, 2008 / 1 Comment / Tags: teddy bear, nostalgia, toys, love, aesthetics, artists

Dear Margaret

In her 2007 Massey lecture series "The Ethical Imagination", Margaret Sommerville makes some funny claims. Chief among them -- and implicit in the title -- is that there is an ethical imagination (rather than a multiplicity) and that this new and bold style of thinking is somehow summed up in that good old concept "the natural."

On one hand this gives society some tools with which to question genetic engineering experiments gone wild (a good thing). But according to Margaret, it also negates gay marriage as affronting a child's right to be raised by a father and mother.

Suspicious, no? An "open-ended ethics" that plays like an Aristotle remix?

Lo! The January issue of Developmental Psychology news flash reveals that the social concept of marriage carries a whole set of expectations and meanings that effect gay and straight equally:

"TUESDAY, Jan. 22 (HealthDay News) - Same-sex couples are as committed and happy in their romantic relationships as heterosexual couples, find two studies in the January issue of the journal Developmental Psychology.

The authors of the studies say their findings challenge the stereotype that same-sex relationships aren't as healthy or secure as heterosexual pairings.

In the first study, researchers at the University of Urbana-Champaign compared 30 committed gay male and 30 committed lesbian couples to 50 engaged and 40 older married heterosexual couples, as well as dating heterosexual couples.

The researchers found that all the couples had positive views of their relationships, but the more committed couples (gay or straight) resolved conflict better than the heterosexual dating couples.

The belief that committed same-sex relationships are "atypical, psychologically immature, or malevolent contexts of development was not supported by our findings," noted lead author Glenn I. Roisman. "Compared with married individuals, committed gay males and lesbians were not less satisfied with their relationships."

Roisman added that gay males and lesbians "were generally not different from their committed heterosexual counterparts on how well they interacted with one another, although some evidence emerged the lesbian couples were especially effective at resolving conflict.""

February 5th, 2008 / 0 Comments