Last night I saw a pretty good spanish guitar concert in Barcelona (Manual Gonzalez). The crowd was mellow and relaxed but I noticed quite a few people holding up video cameras in their increasingly tired and wobbly hands for the entire show.

Why? The quality of the video is going to be horrible, it's a distraction from your enjoyment of the moment, and it's a distraction to other people too. And are you seriously going to sit down later and watch it? Odds are very, very low.

I can't understand why anyone would get up at 5am ever, much less the day after christmas, to stand in lines at some horrid shopping mall to buy... stuff.... unneeded junk (mostly). All to save a buck. Bizarre.

Well, the video we produced in Alaska this summer is finally done, and I think it actually turned out pretty well. It's non-partisan, dosn't bash anyone, and it's actually pretty entertaining. It's not perfect, but it's fairly well done. And the narrator's voice is especially compelling. Check it out (will play right away - 12 minutes long).

US Customs is getting more and more stringent. I was yelled at for not writing my flight number down on that ridiculous piece of paper you have to fill out swearing you haven't been in contact with any farm animals while abroad. Who remembers their flight number?

Another weird thing is that, apparantly, if you are caught using your cell phone (at least at O'Hare) before clearing customs, you "risk having it confiscated". That's the warning that United Airlines gave us as we disembarked. They mentioned it 3 times, so clearly someone thinks it's a big deal. But why? I've been googling for an answer, and I found nothing.

I love this irony. I don't know what the coverage is in the United States, but this Mexican convoy has been on the TV every 30 minutes for several hours here in France, along with a bunch of people protesting at the White House. The US looks really bad to people here (and in the UK) right now, everyone keeps asking me questions about it... how could we so magnificently screw up? Are we really becoming a third world society? Is it really "every man for himself" as a rule? There's some truth to all of it is my general reply.

I got back from Alaska last week, never bothered to explain why!

It was part fun - 10 days rafting the Canning River on the north slope - and part business: A project called "Treasure America" that is trying to prove that opening the Arctic Refuge to oil exploration is not only a bad idea for environmental reasons, but also, for economic ones.

We spent about 5 days in the hamlet of Kaktovik, and another 5 chatting with folks in Anchorage about the issue. If there's anything I've learned from this experience, it's that it's extremely complex.

Still, we uncovered plenty of evidence that opening the refuge to drilling will have a trivial, at best, impact on gas prices. The only really positive outcome to drilling that I can think of is that it might allow oil sales to China that could play-down the US-China trade deficit to some extent.

But the more I study it, the more it seems that drilling would have a negative effect on American business in the long-term because it discourages innovation at the very momment when we need it most.

As for the residents of the North Slope, who have found themselves dependant on what is essentially a welfare system handed out by the oil industry, there exists a great deal of untapped potential for non-oil-based economic growth. It just needs to be encouraged. Tourism is the obvious started businss, and we helped some of the local guides establish themselves and put up a website for them. Read the latest TAP press release "Debunking the Myth of Oil Dependency in Alaska" for a taste.

Also! If you are in Boston or New York next week please come to our fund-raiser and presentation. For invite info click your city: [Boston][New York].

Another weird thing that's getting almost no press in the United States is the reveletion of some secret memos by downing street that essentially prove the whole "weapons of mass destruction" idea was a fabrication from the get-go. The UK press is all aflutter, but things are strangely silent here. Link to load of news stories, mostly obscure publications, but it was originally in the London Times.

About a month ago, someone apparantly chucked a grenede at George Bush during a speaking tour in the Ukraine. Although it was mentioned in most newspapers, it really didn't get much coverage... I find that sort of puzzling. No one seems to know if the grenede was actually thrown or was just found sitting there, nor was it's proximity to the president ever disclosed anywhere that I can find. Kinda wierd that what was probably an assasination attempt gets practically no coverage. (News stories here)

I'm proud to say I have not spent so much as a dime today. Why is it that millions of Americans got up at 5am to shop? Are they totally insane? Of all the things to do on a day off, going shopping with the hordes has to be one of the least appealing.

Ah well, what can you do? At least we're guaranteed a better president in four years. Dave G offers some words of encouragement. It's time to learn how to talk to christian fundamentalists. Invite some Mormons over, have tea. Seriously, the only way out of this mess is to start learning to communicate with "the other side" whatever that means. There are groups of idiot extremists on both "sides" of the election, but for the most part, people have pretty reasonable reasons for why they voted one way or the other. Anil Dash writes another good piece that touches on this.

One of the main reasons Bush won is that all Kerry did was bash him. "I have a plan! bashbush bashbush bashbush..." He could never stand up and say "my plan is to find a way to communicate with everyone". It was that negativity (which was capitalized upon by Republican spinsters who kept claiming Bush was an "Optimist") which brought him down in a time when people are really uneasy and looking for hope. Of course idiots like the 'swift boat veterens' didn't help matters. But so ot goes. I'm a really poor political commentator, but I felt compelled to say something.

Time for a bike ride.

I've just read, cover to cover, the California state and SF City election guides which detail the dozens of propositions on the ballot tommorow, as well as the 35(!) candidates for my district's supervisor position including one guy who lists his occupation as "political satirist". On his statement, in capital letters, it says "DON'T VOTE FOR ME". ya.

Anyway, you know what to do. Here's my enblogment for Kerry.

The word "Aussie" is used to describe someone from Australia, though in the last few years I've seen a massive increase in the use of "Ozzy" written in it's place... My theory is that this is a mistake that found its way into writing due to the way it is pronounced, possibly compounded, subliminally, by the simultaneous rise in popularity of Ozzy Osborne.

Curiously, there has also been an increase in the reference to Australia as "Oz", which is a perfectly appropriate analogy to a mysterious land of wonder far, far down under.

The question is, did the mutation of "Aussie" into "Ozzy" provoke this geographic moniker or was it the other way around?

Boston: Granted, I might feel different if I were at a star-studded gala tonight, but some extremely loud fireworks just went off (it's after midnight) which must have awakened large populations of Bostonians who are already ticked off at the inconveniences caused by the Democratic Convention here. I can't help but thing this is not good PR.

Not only that, but a good fireworks display probably costs $100,000. (which is where that $50 I sent John Kerry probably went). Why not spend the money giving out free bagels on the commuter trains and appologizing for the inconvinience? It's a sure way to win some votes! Would that be legal?

Statistics can actually be very fun. Check out fundrace.org You can enter anyone's name and find out if they've donated to one candidate or another. Even cooler, there are maps of cities pinpointing the addreses of donations which gives a interesting picture particularily if you compare Houston to Boston. It's even got data on which candidate spends more at hotels... amazing.

The cultures of the world are indeed slowly merging. At least in San Francisco's Richmond district. Today, at a restaurant called "Americana" which advertises itself as specializing in Vietnamese and Italian cuisine (seriously!), I heard a man say Shi Shi, Amigo. Or, "thanks buddy" in a heretofore unknown language I'm going to predictably refer to as Chinespanol.

This image pretty much sums many all the problems of Los Angeles, an oblivious disregard for one's affect on other members of the community, or even that a community exists. But what can you do? It's not just LA anyway. On the bright side, this morning I woke up, wandered into Bill and Jessica's backyard and picked about 10 fresh grapefruit and had myself 3 huge glasses of unbeatable juice. I also had chocolate cake for breakfast. Today is a good day.

Baboons are typically ornery creatures, fighting a lot, fiercely competing amongst eachother, and raiding other groups. A study in the Masai Mara of Kenya however, showed that when the most aggressive males of a particular troop were coincidentally killed off by tuberculosis, the remaining troop members (including new males who arrived later) evolved a more relaxed and pacific culture that persisted even 20 years later with mostly new individuals. Pretty fascinating.

[FULL ARTICLE][More general article]

There's a really long article in today's New York Times which basically attempts to describe and respond to just about every current trend and force in the physical shaping of America today. Check it out. My favorite quote concerns "living in the cultural shadow of golf" - "The perfect human being, defined by golf, is competitive and success-oriented, yet calm and neat while casually dressed"

Granted, tap water can taste terrible in certain locations, but I've always though bottled water was a bit of a scam, not to mention an obsession among certain folks. Anyway, seems some of it nothing more than tap water to begin with. (via DG)

Regardless of whether you regard brand domination with admiration or disdain, having a masterful understanding of the phenomenon is both useful and fun. Try this - "Guess the brand alphabet game".

I cannot believe how empty the lives of many Americans are. Who the hell want's to get up at 4:00AM to get to Wal-Mart and buy crap? This story is straight out of The Simpsons. Sad people, very sad.

Start a war, get nominated for Nobel peace prize! Hmm....

I ordered a new battery from Dell for my laptop today. Among the littany of questions concerning my intentions for the use of this battery (I intend to use it to power my laptop), was this:

"Q4. Will the product(s) be used in connection with weapons of mass destruction, i.e. nuclear applications, missile technology, or chemical or biological weapons purposes?" Yes/No

Umm.... no.

CNN says today: "Bush to raise terrorism threat level... for only the second time ever". Well, "2nd time ever" doesn't really mean anything if the system's only been in place for a year or so, does it? This whole thing seems like an out-of-control video game, startlingly reminiscent of the giant "defcon" scene in Wargames, but even more theatrical. The fact that this is "Breaking News" on CNN is even more startling.

This is the most impressive corporate makeover I've ever seen. Phillip Morris is now something called "Altria" which means "We're harmless and we love you"... or something like that. I'm not trying to be cynical, well slightly.

In other news, I have now spent 4 minutes blogging today. Please don't fire me.

An evil red eye floating outside a key-hole? Either someone in the art department at the USPTO has a wickedly subversive sense of humor, or our government is really starting to frighten me! (via reason)

These is the kind of demographic statistics that I love the most. This Article talks about different names people have for soda. See, I said SODA. I've never really thought about calling it anything else.

The results are actually mapped out, which shows significant regional differences. Curiously, all three places in the US where I've lived (Milwaukee, St. Louis, and California) are specifically mentioned as 'soda' stongholds. Interesting indeed!

Well, I came up with a solution to this riduculous debate about the "under God" inclusive in the pledge of allegience. I figured that if the word "MY" was inserted before "God", then it would not only satisfy people's personal freedom to interpret Gos and regligion as they see fit, but it would be ultimately pure American. Then some athiests argues with me, and now I am keep just to drop it all together. There are still plenty of other outlets to express one's religous persuasion. Too bad in this post 911 flag waving world, the court's decision to drop the phrase will probably be reversed.

Ya, so another beautiful Friday. I have been following the Monkey Man panic in New Delhi with quite some interest. There is somebody, or several somebodies, wandering around in the middle of the night in a monkey-suit terrorizing the citizens of New Dehli, who tend to sleep on their roofs to keep cool at night. The populace is so scared and superstitious that they are taking to leaping from their roofs in fear when a cry goes up in the neighborhood that the monkey man has been sighted. Two people have apparantly died by doing this, but the monkey man himself has only inflicted a few minor injuries.