Archive from June, 2008
Jun 30, 2008 - Featured Stories    One comment

Auto-Replace


The Carpet Bagger Report has an amusing little find about some people’s use of auto-replace. Here’s an excerpt:

But the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow website takes the phenomenon one step further with its AP articles. The far-right fundamentalist group replaces the word “gay” in the articles with the word “homosexual.” I’m not entirely sure why, but it seems to make the AFA happy. The group is, after all, pretty far out there.

The problem, of course, is that “gay” does not always mean what the AFA wants it to mean. My friend Kyle reported this morning that sprinter Tyson Gay won the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials over the weekend. The AFA ran the story, but only after the auto-correct had “fixed” the article.

Hilarity ensues.

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Jun 30, 2008 - Featured Stories    No comments

Not All Monsters Are Bad


An interesting comment on MeFi about Sesame Street:

They are all monsters, that’s the point. The show is for children, don’t forget. They are monsters the kids don’t have to fear. The show’s message for kids was “We know you’re sometimes afraid of monsters, but not all monsters are bad.

Sometimes monsters can be cute and cuddly and quirky and funny. Elmo’s a monster and he has such a cute giggle! These are the good monsters.

Not like the monster sitting next to you on the sofa, watching the TV. Not like the monster WHO TOLD YOU FOR THE LAST TIME TO STOP CRYING.

Not like the monsters who kick your toys and curse under their breath. Not like the monsters who say you stole their youth and take pills because YOU’RE DRIVING ME CRAZY. Not like the monsters who meet strange men at the door and leave you home alone. Not like the monsters who hit with their hands, or their words. Not like the monsters who come into your room at night stinking of whiskey and sweat, with madness in their eyes and a belt in their hands.

On Sesame Street, the monsters have not HAD ENOUGH, and they aren’t doing it FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.

Your monsters are not brought to you by the number 4 or the letter M. Your monsters don’t want you to come and play, they want you to LEAVE THEM ALONE.

Cookie monster is safe, and so are Elmo and the Count. Even Oscar and Bert are your friends even if they are bit grouchy or fussy. Your monsters think our monsters are harmless.

To them.

Your monsters bought you a Tickle-Me Elmo doll, didn’t they? They bought it to JUST SHUT YOU UP ALREADY. So they let you play with Elmo and make him laugh and giggle. But Elmo doesn’t just laugh and giggle. Elmo loves you, and he listens.

And he records.

And soon, Elmo is going to tell you exactly what to do.

(From MeFi. Via the Last Psychiatrist.)

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Jun 29, 2008 - Featured Stories    One comment

New Capitalist Pyramid


A pretty good updated version of the famous old capitalist pyramid (below). The difference between the two shows the difference between the realities of capitalism (and socialism as a reaction to it) in the days of Marx and today. (Click here for a larger version of the new one.)

I believe the most important difference is the globalisation of the economy and the corollary outsourcing of poverty. While in the 19th century, one could, say, take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London…


…and see the people suffering at the bottom of the capitalist heap, these days you can only really see them on TV, and even then you have to go out of your way to find out about it, and even then there’s such a long causal string between your actions and their suffering that you don’t feel responsible or potent to do anything about it. Part of that is the media, of course, which is why us Westerners are so happy to be wedged in between the soldiers and the police.

Missing from this new pyramid, I think, are the politicians, who should be standing just behind the police, as I don’t think they’re quite represented by the guy at the top (at least in New Zealand; the US is a different matter).

Here’s the old discrete-nations pyramid:

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Jun 24, 2008 - Featured Stories    10 comments

Republican New Zealand

Kum Fac’e

If the World Could Vote is one of those sites that tell us what everyone supposedly already knows. In this case, it’s that the whole world would rather have Obama as president of the US than have McCain. It’s not a new trend. After the 2004 election, there was a spate of sites featuring Americans apologising to the rest of the world for the results. There was even a bag company that included an apology in their exports to France.

In general, the developed world is to the left of US politics. Up and to the left, if you add an axis representing, say, literacy or education. And you’d expect New Zealand to follow that same trend. But here’s the curious thing. New Zealand is one of the few countries that favour McCain over Obama.

In his, we join Thailand (96% McCain), Venezuela (100% McCain) and Kenya at 100% McCain, which presumably says more about Venezuelans and Kenyans who have the money to afford a computer that anything else.

And that’s it. Human-rights paradises Israel and Indonesia are split down the middle. Israel’s split probably shows, more than anything, the level of education of Israelis, as they’ve apparently seen through the Republican spin that Obama wants to single-handedly destroy their country. Haaretz, a particularly good Israeli newspaper, commented on this even before Obama had finalised the nomination, in an interesting editorial. Probably more on that later, as the Obama smears are downright fascinating (as is Obama’s response to them.)

So, why are online Kiwis more in favour of McCain than Obama? It’s not a huge majority – 55% – but it stands out in contrast against the votes of other Western countries (Australia around 90% Obama, UK 92% Obama, etc.) Any simple answer is likely to be simplistic, but there has to be something to explain the anomaly. I doubt it’s a matter of racism, since our neighbourly International Home of Racism is sitting at 90% Obama.

I’m not going to speculate on it further – I’m more likely to chat about it on Thursday’s Wire show on bFM, around 1.30pm. But someone with their finger more firmly on the pulse might have some suggestions.

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