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Jan. 11th, 2014
Chess Mess
Jan. 11th, 2014 11:00 amI have dropped chess, again. I hope this will be the last time I have to do that, that I will never succumb again to the lure and temptation to play this smart-people game. I start focusing on a strategy, pursuing this and that line of moves in my imagination, and I then forget some of the most basic aspects of my position, so that I end up leaving a piece exposed and I am condemned to feel like a permanent beginner and more than a little retarded. I suppose I could make a point of pausing before a move and go back to the very first considerations of my position and make sure I am not overlooking an obvious threat, but I no longer have the heart for such vain pursuits. It is better that I focus more on my books and journals, which can still stir up the little bit of life that is left in me.
Alexander Hamilton
Jan. 11th, 2014 11:53 amHamilton was often accused of wanting to bring monarchy to America.
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If he had wanted to impose a monarchy upon America, Hamilton said, he would follow the classic path of a populist demagogue: “I would mount the hobbyhorse of popularity, I would cry out usurpation, danger to liberty etc. etc. I would endeavor to prostrate the national government, raise a ferment, and then ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm.”
-- Ron Chernow, “Alexander Hamilton”
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Chernow explains that Hamilton thought his detractors were the ones who seemed to be looking to bring down the national government and stir up revolution, particularly James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Political polarization was about as complete as it is today between our Democrats and Republicans, seeming to be just shy of open warfare.
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If he had wanted to impose a monarchy upon America, Hamilton said, he would follow the classic path of a populist demagogue: “I would mount the hobbyhorse of popularity, I would cry out usurpation, danger to liberty etc. etc. I would endeavor to prostrate the national government, raise a ferment, and then ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm.”
-- Ron Chernow, “Alexander Hamilton”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Chernow explains that Hamilton thought his detractors were the ones who seemed to be looking to bring down the national government and stir up revolution, particularly James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Political polarization was about as complete as it is today between our Democrats and Republicans, seeming to be just shy of open warfare.
Women Online
Jan. 11th, 2014 02:20 pm “I am 36 years old, I did 12 years for ‘manslaughter’, I killed a woman, like you, who decided to make fun of guys cocks. ... Happy to say we live in the same state. Im looking you up, and when I find you, im going to rape you and remove your head. ... You are going to die and I am the one who is going to kill you. I promise you this.”
-- Internet stalker, username: headlessfemalepig
Apparently this is not such an unusual message for a woman on the Internet, especially if you are a vocal feminist. (Hmm, I wonder if Sugar gets a lot of this.) Amanda Hess has written an essay on the harassment that women live with online.
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According to a 2005 report by the Pew Research Center, which has been tracking the online lives of Americans for more than a decade, women and men have been logging on in equal numbers since 2000, but the vilest communications are still disproportionately lobbed at women. We are more likely to report being stalked and harassed on the Internet—of the 3,787 people who reported harassing incidents from 2000 to 2012 to the volunteer organization Working to Halt Online Abuse, 72.5 percent were female. Sometimes, the abuse can get physical: A Pew survey reported that five percent of women who used the Internet said “something happened online” that led them into “physical danger.” And it starts young: Teenage girls are significantly more likely to be cyberbullied than boys. Just appearing as a woman online, it seems, can be enough to inspire abuse. In 2006, researchers from the University of Maryland set up a bunch of fake online accounts and then dispatched them into chat rooms. Accounts with feminine usernames incurred an average of 100 sexually explicit or threatening messages a day. Masculine names received 3.7.
-- Amanda Hess at Pacific Standard Magazine
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-- Internet stalker, username: headlessfemalepig
Apparently this is not such an unusual message for a woman on the Internet, especially if you are a vocal feminist. (Hmm, I wonder if Sugar gets a lot of this.) Amanda Hess has written an essay on the harassment that women live with online.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
According to a 2005 report by the Pew Research Center, which has been tracking the online lives of Americans for more than a decade, women and men have been logging on in equal numbers since 2000, but the vilest communications are still disproportionately lobbed at women. We are more likely to report being stalked and harassed on the Internet—of the 3,787 people who reported harassing incidents from 2000 to 2012 to the volunteer organization Working to Halt Online Abuse, 72.5 percent were female. Sometimes, the abuse can get physical: A Pew survey reported that five percent of women who used the Internet said “something happened online” that led them into “physical danger.” And it starts young: Teenage girls are significantly more likely to be cyberbullied than boys. Just appearing as a woman online, it seems, can be enough to inspire abuse. In 2006, researchers from the University of Maryland set up a bunch of fake online accounts and then dispatched them into chat rooms. Accounts with feminine usernames incurred an average of 100 sexually explicit or threatening messages a day. Masculine names received 3.7.
-- Amanda Hess at Pacific Standard Magazine
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ariel Sharon Dies at 85
Jan. 11th, 2014 07:05 pm“The war of independence has not ended,” he told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in April 2001. “No, 1948 was just one chapter.” He added: “The end of the conflict will come only when the Arab world recognizes the innate right of the Jewish people to establish an independent Jewish state in the Middle East. And that recognition has not yet come.”
-- New York Times
In Israel, I imagine that Sharon was something like our George Washington and Abraham Lincoln combined, though in my old debating circles in the liberal blogosphere, he was seen as being more like a combination of Hitler and Stalin. He was a giant figure in a confusing and bloody history.
-- New York Times
In Israel, I imagine that Sharon was something like our George Washington and Abraham Lincoln combined, though in my old debating circles in the liberal blogosphere, he was seen as being more like a combination of Hitler and Stalin. He was a giant figure in a confusing and bloody history.