03.13.10
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:00 pm by shawnz
The elected Texas Board of Education has decided to rewrite student textbooks to represent conservative philosophy; for example, emphasize John Calvin over Thomas Jefferson and undermine the existence of the separation of church and state doctrine in the founding founder’s thoughts. Its clear that what we learn in our dogmatic education system has a profound effect on our thoughts later. In the current flare-up over Senate and filibuster reform, I’ve had friends restate, almost rote from memory, that the Senate is where the tea simmers. In other words, the Senate has always where “bills go to die.” But this is demonstrably false, as evidence shows that the Senate’s grind to a halt is a modern phenomenon. The point is simply that our childhood civics lessons are deeply ingrained. It is in every idealogue’s interest to control what makes it into the curriculum because the effects are powerful in the long run.
There is no denying that there is a large amount of arbitrariness in what is taught in history and civics classes. Every historian will have their own interpretation. But at the least, a historian would have some credentials to pick and choose, whereas these school board members are layman with a clear ideological bias. The problem is that while local jurisdictions should have control over education content, textbooks are expensive and need to be standardized. The TX problem could cause textbooks be rewritten even for areas that have no desire to adopt the right-wing curriculum these board members decided on.
A more conscious effort should be made to 1) defer to experts on decisions of curriculum and 2) utilize a wide spectrum of ideology in designing texts. In leui of these obvious fixes, however, there does seem to be a more useful fix. Students should be explicitly taught that history is not objective, but interpretation and selection based on evidence. They should be provided with examples of where an established history was written, but was wrong. And these examples should be directly related to the history the students were learning in front of them. With a philosophy of critical thinking, it wouldn’t matter what was included in the textbooks, as long as students knew the process of writing history, the power of controlling inclusion of certain histories, and the intent of ideologues.
Since this whole discussion stems for a crass desire to control the ideological narrative, this solution isn’t likely! but it would be a good idea.
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02.21.10
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:37 pm by shawnz
“Short Skirt / Long Jacket”
I want a girl with a mind like a diamond
I want a girl who knows what’s best
I want a girl with shoes that cut
And eyes that burn like cigarettes
I want a girl with the right allocations
Who’s fast and thorough
And sharp as a tack
She’s playing with her jewelry
She’s putting up her hair
She’s touring the facility
And picking up slack
I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnng jacket……
I want a girl who gets up early
I want a girl who stays up late
I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity
Who used a machette to cut through red tape
With fingernails that shine like justice
And a voice that is dark like tinted glass
She is fast and thorough
And sharp as a tack
She’s touring the facility
And picking up slack
I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnnng…. lonnng jacket
I want a girl with a smooth liquidation
I want a girl with good dividends
And at the city bank we will meet accidentally
We’ll start to talk when she borrows my pen
She wants a car with a cupholder arm rest
She wants a car that will get her there
She’s changing her name from Kitty to Karen
She’s trading her MG for a white Chrysler La Baron
I want a girl with a short skirt and a lonnnnggggggggg jacket
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12.27.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:04 pm by shawnz
Its sad that the 2009 recap follows the 2009 predictions. This blog has been left for the dustbin, and for that, i apologize. . to myself, mainly. I’ve kept this thing going for a few years now, after starting my first blog (dystopia) in 1995, so I figure why stop it now?
What is the follow-up of my optimistic outlook on 2009? Much as predicted. I think it says everything that needs to be said that Obama had to make a deal with the pharmaceutical industry that they would only be asked to give up 80 billion over ten years (so, no dice on drug reimportation). This smacks of back door dealing and wheeling, and in fact, it is exactly that. But without a deal, the drug industry would employ is massive strength in public relations and manipulation and would successfully sink any chance of passing a bill. So Obama made the deal to expand coverage, which is undoubtedly the morally justifiable action. Powerful interests are entrenched, and reform will not happen overnight. Storming the castle head on — attempting to destroy pharma’s incredible profit margin — would result in devastating defeat. And this is just one example of the many power centers in American society.
So trudge on, we will, while upsetting many in the process. The true merits of this approach will only be judged in retrospect, many years down the road.
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04.25.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:48 am by shawnz
***UPDATE - the original post just criticized FedEx. Turns out my package is UPS. That makes two flaky overnight delivery services.
I want to warn you about UPS’s overnight 10 AM service. Just because it costs you 15 or 20 bucks for this express service does not mean that UPS actually delivers your package by 10 or 10 30 AM. Save your money or find another overnight service (maybe DHL deserves another look?)
As I sit here, at 11:45 AM, waiting for my guaranteed-delivery 10 AM Coachella tickets, I am reminded of a situation a year ago, when I was waiting for the delivery of an urgent medical product for work via FedEx. Rather than come at 10:30 AM, it came at 1:30 PM, despite my urgent calls to the local FedEx dispatch office. I even offered to meet the driver half way to no avail.
I have a friend who is single-handedly trying to destroy FedEx. They once lost his license to practice, and were never able to find it. It took him months to acquire it in the first place, at great personal expense, so he was pissed. As for me, I have no desire to knock FedEx or UPS out of business, but perhaps utilizing other services and bringing attention to the fact that EXPRESS DELIVERY IS A JOKE AT FEDEX AND UPS will kick some competitive dynamics into play and cause them to improve or drop their service. DHL, this is your time to shine.
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12.04.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:54 pm by shawnz
my new friend, found at a swap meet
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10.28.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:47 pm by shawnz
I visited Minneapolis for the first time last week . . .
Things didn’t start off right as I was greeted by a Fox News store at the airport. What a silly way to make a first impression!
Maybe this is some Republican vision of what it would look like to privatize libraries . . .?
Things got better as I left the airport and noted the extensive light rail system that actually goes from the airport to the city (take note, LA!)
My friend Pat lives across the street from an old White Castle. It has been reappropriated.
Upon closer inspection, this former royal palace of burgers is now a jeweler. Get a sack of burgers, find that special engagement ring . . .
But wait, theres more! Don’t forget to bring your broken accordian . . .
The twin cities are very beautiful and I was impressed by the extensive bike lanes. Good job urban planners! There seems to be a thriving arts and music scene, and I was impressed by the sculpture park i visited with my friend Pat…
One installation was a series of quotes on stone slabs, a wittier Stonehedge. I was impressed by the following two slabs in particular . .
You’ve really got to enjoy that luxurious amount of time . . .
Nothing worse than entitlement. . .
All in all, you rock, Minneapolis!
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06.16.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:05 pm by shawnz
I’m always excited to catch shows at the Troubador, its one of the premier small rock venues in Los Angeles. And I’ve really liked “Sideways,” a single by Lets Go Sailing that has gotten some indie air play. So the combination of the Troub and Let’s go Sailing just made sense . . .
Unfortunately, i was underwhelmed by the show. “Sideways” was the only real highlight. With a violinist, celloist, two keyboard players, and the standard rock backing band, I expected a fuller live show. Instead, these elements did not do much to elevate the songs above simple, syrupy pop songs. The first song, about icicles, set the tone of cheesy simple tunes that carried the 40 minute set. But I did enjoy sitting on the upper balcony in church style pews. Halfway through the set, we relocated to the side room bar and watched the rest of the show on a tv screen.
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04.15.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:00 pm by shawnz
Finally, the long anticipated day 3 of sxsw. Less photos, more time spent at the presbyterian church that wins the award for coolest indie rock venue. I’m going to try to post to this blasted blog twice a week. That will quadruple the posting frequency, but with the caveat that baseball season has started (go cards!), so be prepared to be bored.
I started off catching The Polyphonic Spree at the DirecTV Stage. DirecTV created this fancy stage in the main convention center and booked bigger acts all day. The huge stage was quite appropriate for the 15 + members of Polyphonic, who played a show filled with synchronized hair tossing from the 6 back-up singers and a tymphony percussionist who jumped up and down from a platform. The lyrics, “The trees! The trees are growing!”, were repetitive and banal. The performance had the feel of a musical, and in the end, I wasn’t sure if the whole thing was a parody.
I scooted over to the Filter day stage for some sausage and beans, and Kave Havnevick. It was awkward seeing her in full daylight, and I don’t think the setting suited her style of music. Lately I’ve been hearing her “Unlike Me” single on the radio and have been enjoying it.
At another day tent, sponsored by some web companies (who I don’t feel the need to link, though they booked a good show and even went so far as to buy more beer around 5 pm, which was totally unnecessary but totally appreciated), I found one of my true gems from SXSW: Apollo Sunshine. This quartet was comprised of very talented multi-instrumentalists who played complex rock songs with catchy hooks. Their lead singer, with a rainbow guitar strap, played a keyboard with one hand and switched to guitar mid-song. His guitarist played a 12 string guitar, playing bass and lead at the same time. Simply amazing. And the songs were emotional outbursts that were rootsy but hard rocking. They played a rocking Beethoven song, which made me wonder who these guys really were. Talking to the band members afterwards did not reveal any clues, but I did learn that Apollo doesn’t release CD’s, just LP’s. Later on wikipedia, I found out that all the members were Berklee school of music drop outs. Now I get it! They don’t seem to tour much, although I have seem them listed for Bonarroo this summer. Definitely check them out!
Kenna played at this low-ceiling lounge about 10 blocks east of the strip on 6th. The dim lighting fit the show quite well - he almost reminded me of Tricky at the microphone. He had good energy and stage presence, and the crowd was into this set.
Unfortunately the problem with procrastinating is that I’ve forgotten the many other acts I saw on this day. There were at least 10 others. I’ll probably have one more wrap-up post, and will mostly mention the bands I have photos of.
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12.10.06
Posted in crazy insane, Uncategorized at 9:10 pm by shawnz
Only in St. Louis would a 70 year woman shoot her husband because he delivered her a warm can of Stag. She didn’t shoot once; he died from 4 or 5 gunshot wounds. Their power was out, which explains the warm beer.
Back when I was a student in St. Louis, I was in line at a Shop ‘n Save buying some groceries. The gentleman in front of me had a 12 pack of stag, and i commended him on his choice of beer. We exchanged a few words, and after he paid, he ripped open the box and offered me a can for the drive home. I took it, of course.
Stag doesn’t kill people; people kill people.
link
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