Google drive? I already have one, and it's called GMail

I was underwhelmed by this report about a putative "GDrive", that is, an online file repository managed by Google.

I don't get it. There already is such a thing; it's called GMail. I use GMail as a file archive all the time, and GMail's excellent search feature -- fast and accurate -- enables me to find my file without having to create and navigate a file hierarchy.

Worrying. This is how Microsoft went bad: they took something that worked just fine, for example Microsoft Word 4.0, and gilded it until it's almost unusable -- meet Microsoft Word 2007! Now I have to keep a laptop around running Windows XP and Microsoft Word 2003 for the rest of my life, so I can actually format a document and trust it to come out the way I want it to. Google, don't go down that road.

technorati: Google

Fakin'

A review of the thriller Taken suggests:

Neeson looks incredibly young and fit .. and he's obviously relishing the chance to play a cold-blooded action bad ass. If the film does well enough, this could easily turn into a Liam Neeson franchise.

Right... the sequels might be called "Makin'," in which he infiltrates the Mafia; "Rakin'," set in Las Vegas; "Shaken," in which he investigates a corrupt construction company which has cut corners on the foundation of a super-skyscraper in an earthquake zone; and the finale of the franchise, "Achin'," in which he plays an aging secret agent who... well, it writes itself.

Critical Mass in Bangalore

Hey, look: there's a Critical Mass ride in Bangalore! What with their choked traffic and lack of sidewalks, it makes sense.

technorati: bicycles, commuting, critical mass

Focus on the Fundies: Skeleton springs out of Haggard's closet

The other shoe has dropped in the latest Ted Haggard scandal, as the young former congregation member of New Life Church publicly discusses how Haggard masturbated in front of him, offered him pills of some sort, and confided that "You can be a man of God and have a little bit of fun on the side."

Meanwhile, Haggard himself appeared on the Oprah show, his successor at New Life Church revealed that Haggard had several inappropriate relationships, and a Colorado Springs bail bondsman and amateur investigator is looking into the financial and legal aspects of l'affaire Haggard.

To top it all off, Haggard's wife Gayle told Oprah that he'd told her years ago that he struggled with same-sex attractions, or, as she put it, "some thoughts."

This story is truly a gift that keeps on giving.

technorati: Ted Haggard

Focus on the Fundies: Ted Haggard may have another skeleton in closet

Now that disgraced former pastor Ted Haggard is promoting an upcoming HBO documentary about his 2006 outing and firing, the folks at his former church are none too happy about it. The current head of the congregation, seemingly resentful that Haggard is back in the public eye, has revealed that a former church volunteer alleged a consensual gay affair with the one-time evangelical superstar.

The documentary, by Alexandra Pelosi (daughter of the House Speaker), premieres on HBO this coming Thursday.

A Colorado Springs religion columnist separately interviewed Pelosi and Haggard, and also uncovers an odd note. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denied she ever met Haggard after the disgraced preacher said in an interview in US News and World Report that she comforted him while her daughter was shooting the film. Here's the statement from her office.

technorati: Ted Haggard, New Life Church, Colorado Springs

Interview with Yiyun Li -- the personal and political

Yesterday I interviewed author Yiyun Li, whose new novel The Vagrants is the best literary novel I've read in a long time. Get used to me mentioning it, because it's one of those books you feel everyone who appreciates great writing should read.

One of the questions I addressed in the interview has to do with her intention in depicting the lives of people living in a provincial Chinese town in 1979, a few years after the close of the Cultural Revolution. She depicts those lives as very grim, filled with brutality and violence. Some of the details on the smaller scale strike one as particularly heartless, as when she talks about a family where the parents, disappointed after having six female children, don't even bother to give names to the youngest three, who are referred to as Little Fourth, Fifth and Sixth. Other details, about the way the government treats political prisoners, are violent in a more physical way -- for example, they stage a "denunciation ceremony" for a political prisoner, and cut her vocal cords before the rally so she can't shout any counter-revolutionary slogans in front of a crowd.

Given this cruel picture, I asked the author if she intended the book to be an indictment of Chinese society, and she answered very forcefully:

I don't have any intention for the novel to be an indictment of anything. That is a big NO. NO. NO. The situation may seem Chinese and specific to this era, but if you look at history, horrible things happen all the time. Brutality and violence happen all the time. On all scales. I can't shy away from that if I am writing a book.... My story happens to be set in China, and the characters happen to be Chinese. But if you read, say, Toni Morrison's novels, would you say she is depicting an unfairly negative picture of America?

I replied, "Certainly negative, but I would not say unfairly so." But there's more to say. Most Americans are secure enough in their views of their country that they don't object to negative, yet fair, criticism. I don't think China is yet secure enough in its reputation to feel the same way. You'll remember how sensitive they were last year to criticism of their human rights record, and how they took pains to ensure that the picture of China -- during the Olympics, at least -- was a positive one.

Regardless of her intention, I wouldn't be surprised if some people see Li's book as an indictment of Chinese society. But she went on to say:

I think that is a very narrow way of looking at literature... a very soviet, socialist view of how literature should represent certain things. I feel that as a writer the only people I feel responsible to are my characters. And I would need to treat them very fairly.

Of course, that's the right approach for any artist to take. But what strikes me is that, as far as the content of her book is concerned, she feels her first allegiance is not to either the country of her birth or her adopted one -- one she had to struggle to stay in, as I mentioned yesterday -- but to her book's characters.

I admire that very much, and I found much else to admire in the book itself, as I state in the interview.

technorati: writers, Yiyun Li, China

Today's fake: Recorded classical piece played at Inauguration as musicians sawed

Remember the little scandal at the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, when a pretty girl lip-synched while an uglier girl with a prettier voice sang behind the scenes? Something of that fakery was in action during Tuesday's inauguration when Yo Yo Ma, Yitzhak Perlman and two other classical musicians played an adaptation of Aaron Copland. Positioned high above the VIPs, the quartet was actually playing -- but what came out of speakers and was heard on television was a pre-recorded version of the piece, because it was so "wicked cold" -- as Ma put it -- that they didn't want to risk weather-related screeches.

Sigh.

technorati: inauguration

Thursday

Today I interviewed author Yiyun Li, whose new novel The Vagrants I just finished reading, and can't say enough good things about. It'll take me a little bit to edit and post the interview, but in the meantime you can read a short profile of the Oakland writer, or read this 2005 Washington Post article about her struggle, ultimately successful, to stay in this country.

technorati: Yiyun Li, books

Chief Justice, new president get a do-over

"Out of an abundance of caution," and after several experts said it might be a good idea, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the new president met at the White House today for a do-over.

"Are you ready to take the oath?" Mr. Roberts said.

"I am," Mr. Obama replied. "And we're going to do it very slowly."

I think this whole "abundance of caution" thing could be a great idea. Imagine, if some people in the Bush administration had gone over some of their snap judgments and knee-jerk reactions "out of an abundance of caution," we might not be in the mess we're in today.

If only the Chief Justice subscribed to the New York Post

Did you cringe when Chief Justice John Roberts murdered the Presidential oath of office when swearing in Barack Obama? If only he were a New York Post subscriber, he could have brought it as a cheat sheet:



Who says newspapers aren't important anymore?

technorati: inauguration, Obama, oath of office

Burden of surrendering reins of gov't too much for Cheney

Cheney Pulls Muscle and Is in Wheelchair

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney pulled a muscle in his back on Monday while moving boxes and will be in a wheelchair for Tuesday's inauguration ceremony.

The White House press secretary, Dana Perino, said Mr. Cheney was helping to move into his new home in McLean, Va., when he injured his back. His doctor recommended that he use a wheelchair for the next couple of days. Ms. Perino said Mr. Cheney was all right otherwise.

"The vice president is looking forward to being there for tomorrow's historic inaugural activities," she said.

Quiz: What was Cheney really doing when he threw his back out?

    a.) Shredding incriminating documents
    b.) Trying to shift responsibility for his crimes to someone else
    c.) Trying to lift his administration's poll numbers above historic lows
    d.) Trying to get that weird grimace off his face
    e.) Loading his shotgun in order to stage a "hunting accident" tomorrow

technorati: cheney

Focus on the Fundies: Congressman, two others 'anoint' Capitol doorway

As workers readied the inauguration stage in front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 7, a right-wing Georgia congressman and two evangelical ministers prayed over and anointed with oil the Capitol doorway that President-elect Barack Obama and other dignitaries will pass through on Inauguration Day.

Georgia Rep. Paul Broun, who introduced an anti-abortion bill days later after Congress convened for the first time, was accompanied by two far-right ministers: Rev. Rob Schenk, a long-time anti-abortion activist and head of something called Faith and Action in the Nation's Capital, and Rev. Patrick Mahoney, also an anti-abortion activist and director of something called the Christian Defense Coalition.

An aside: clearly, the thing to do if you're a right-wing Christianist "activist" and all-around media whore is not to have your own church, but to have your own non-profit foundation in Washington DC, so you can do things like anoint the Capitol and appear on Pat Robertson's CBN.

Don't invite Mahoney to any inaugration parties, as he is fasting until Inauguration Day in solidarity with poor people "as well as the 50 million innocent victims of abortion."

technorati: Congress, Schenk, Republicans

A dick to the end, Bush snubs Helen Thomas

Buried in this masturbatory CNN piece about Bush's final press conference, in which the network's White House reporter spends several minutes discussing whether or not the president purposely mispronounces her name, is the note that in his candid farewell to the press, Bush snubbed 88-year-old Helen Thomas, who has covered nine presidents and is regarded as the dean of the White House press corps.

technorati: Bush, journalists, Helen Thomas

Today's fake: man fakes his death, but really badly

If you're going to fake your own death on Monday, don't rent a storage locker in your own name, leave your getaway vehicle there, and let the manager know "I'll be back for it Monday night." So that when you bail out of your private plane and it crashes, obviously with no one in it, and the motorcycle disappears on schedule, people won't totally know what happened.

Actually even before people knew about the getaway motorcycle:

"When I heard there was a plane crash, my first reaction was, this had to be staged," Tom Britt, a friend in Indiana, told CNN affiliate WRTV in Indianapolis. "[My] initial reaction was, 'I bet he wasn't in it.' That turned out to be correct. My second reaction was, he's trying to escape the pressure that was compounding on him."

Could the guy have been any more transparent? Ow, compounding pressure!

Prosecutors in the guy's home state of Indiana promptly issued a felony arrest warrant for the bungler.

Oops, forgot about those rabbits

Australian wildlife managers decided to remove the feral cats from an island to protect the native bird population. Oopsy: without the predatory cats, the rabbit population exploded and consumed the island's vegetation where the birds lived. The result was "widespread ecosystem devastation, and decades of conservation effort compromised."

Those Australians are kind of famous for their brilliant decisions involving wildlife, aren't they? That decision to import rabbits in the first place worked out fabulously.

Focus on the Fundies: Ted Haggard promotes HBO doc

Ted Haggard appeared yesterday before the press to promote the HBO documentary about him, "The Trials of Ted Haggard." (An ironic title, by the way, since Haggard has never been charged with any crime despite admitting to buying and possessing methamphetamine.)

Among the entertaining statements and revelations made by the formerly influential Colorado Springs megachurch pastor:

• Haggard, who preached against homosexuality before being outed as gay, now thinks "sexuality is confusing and complex." Clearly, he learned that lesson the hard way.
• Haggard has softened his views on gay marriage, saying that government should fully recognize the union between any two people and that churches are wrongly fighting a "war" over the word "marriage."
• Speaking of his firing and the way he perceives he has been treated since the scandal, he says he "knows about hatred than I ever dreamed" -- a statement that epitomizes his self-pitying view. Other pitiful statements include the satisfying "At this stage in my life, I'm a loser—a first-class loser" and "It is a sad story... I made myself sad; I made everybody that loves me sad."
• The "spiritual solution" to his fall "was not enough;" he also needed "secular therapy methods."

In a separate story from the dozens covering Haggard's HBO press conference, the Colorado Springs Gazette said the current pastor of Haggard's former church has discharged him from the severance agreement, one of the terms of which was that Haggard would not discuss the scandal publicly. The generous severance package hasn't kept Haggard from saying that his firing from and subsequent treatment by New Life was the equivalent of being told "Go to hell," and complaints like that have some former supporters angry. "The fact that he's attacking the church or New Life Church, when they did so much to help him and his family, is below the belt," said H.B. London, one of the Focus on the Family pastors assigned to "rehabilitate Haggard after his firing.

technorati: Ted Haggard, HBO, documentary

Satire is Dead: Army sends out "Dear John Doe" letters to dead soldiers families

The Army is apologizing for sending out letters to the families of dead soldiers beginning with the words "Dear John Doe..."

The situation evokes the famous passage in Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" where General Dreedle wants to send out letters that say "Dear Mrs., Mr., Miss, or Mr. and Mrs.: Words cannot express the deep personal grief I experienced when your husband, father, or brother was killed, wounded or reported missing in action.'"

Unintentionally echoing Dreedle's sentiment, Brig. Gen. Reuben D. Jones, Army adjutant general, said, "There are no words to adequately apologize for this mistake or for the hurt it may have caused."

technorati: Army, letters, Catch-22

Eight years' work on her book paid off

On the SF Metroblog, I just posted an interview with novelist Nami Mun, whose work I was alerted to through the blog of another Korean-American writer, Alex Chee.

I hadn't heard of Mun, but she is a Pushcart Prize winner. According to the book deals log on Publishers Marketplace, Mun's book sold in a "significant" deal, which is between $250K and $500K, but she did work on it for eight years. Say she got $250K for the book, that's about $30,000 a year.

Her multi-city book tour has just started, and I hope it goes better than that other guy's.

technorati: writers, book deals, Nami Mun

Focus on the Fundies: Set phasers to stun

I was loath to join in the howling condemnation of Obama's choice of celebrity pastor Rick Warren to say a prayer at the Inauguration, but it has been good for something: it's given more visibility to Warren, whose renown across America has been limited to other evangelical Christians. Take a look at this hit piece by Christopher Hitchens on Slate (courtesy 3 Quarks Daily). Hitchens himself is hard to stomach, so I like the spectacle of some snaggle-toothed leftist hawk tearing into the soft belly of the Midwestern megachurch ringmaster. Before Hitchens chokes on his own indignation, maybe he can tackle a few more people on my list. Could you take a look at this guy, Chris?

technorati: Rick Warren, Christopher Hitchens

First rain of 2009

Just to check in for the new year -- yesterday, a cold dry day, we visited friends a few blocks away, and they served us apricot tart made from fruit from their garden.

This morning it was raining gently. I went to Morning Prayer at St. Gregory's as usual, and there was a fellow visiting from out of town who had just been given Sara's book for Xmas, so he was excited to meet her.

I'm looking at this as a four-day weekend, and those are the best. Will try to get some writing-related work done... tomorrow.