The Hackenblog

Electricland – the cover: Click for larger image http://bit.ly/bUZraN

Demise of (mega)bookstores (but not books): “When I was growing up, record stores were a place you could hang out…. http://bit.ly/bDntPu

Are you a Madame du Pompadour fan? Ever wanted to know more than that she liked little green velvet ottomans, jewels and Louis XV? Well, here’s your chance:

By Chad Denton

Now on sale as a pdf for a very reasonable $5 a copy.

I hope there was nothing, y’know, important in that box. Though my inner consumer is screaming, I can still hear that this box has a nice beat.

Who knew?

The Father of the California Referendum: Hiram Johnson

“… Hiram Johnson, who had never before run for office, to seek the Republican nomination for governor. He was a risky choice. A volatile man prone to black moods and even suicidal fantasies, he had exchanged blows with opposing lawyers in the courtroom and called for retributions against jurors if they were to let off the San Francisco labor boss Reuf. (The jury, thus threatened, voted to convict.) In a letter to a friend, Johnson confessed that he did not possess the right temperament for public office.”
Page 26, California Crackup. How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It, by Joe Mathews and Mark Paul, University of California Press, 2010, ISBN: 9780520266568

You could rewrite this as:

“… Meg Whitman, who had never before run for office, to seek the Republican nomination for governor. She is a risky choice. A volatile woman prone to black moods and even violence toward her employees. She also never bothered to vote most of her life. If she had a friend, she might confess in a letter to that poor devil that she did not possess the right temperament for public office, if she had enough introspection, character and guts to realize it.”

But that’s not what it says, is it?

Jerry Brown for Governor.

Please God, if you have any mercy left in You for California.

You can…you can get beef jerky in a chocolate bar…

I never wanted that before, but now…hm.

Chocomize

But this doesn’t make me want to buy a VW. Still, it’s FUN.

(via)

By not reading their source material closely enough.

So, Unhappy Hipsters, usually a very amusing site usually devoted to mocking pretentious twits with too much money that’s not making them happy and very strange architectural taste as well, labels this photo:

The last vestige of a once-promising gentrification.

“The last vestige of a once-promising gentrification.” I think to myself, “Hm, there’s no unhappy hipster in this photo, perhaps I should click on the link for more information.” And here it is:

“Architects: buildingstudio; Location: New Orleans, LA, USA; Design Team: Coleman Coker, David Dieckhoff, Varuni Edussuriya, Tom Holloman, Jonathan Tate; Client: Neighborhood Housing Services; General Contractor: Evolution Builders; Project Area: 960 sq ft; Budget: US $116,000; Project Year: 2010; Photographs: Will Crocker & Undine Prohl

“This affordable home arose out of the post-Katrina re-housing effort in New Orleans for an inner city neighborhood in dour [sic] (they must mean dire, ED) need of new places to live. buildingstudio was working with an affluent client in Boulder, CO who voiced great concern for the lack of effort being made in New Orleans after the storm. As result we asked if they’d be willing to contribute toward an affordable home for a Katrina refugee. Not only did the clients generously give their own money, they invited their friends and colleagues to participate towards the cost of constructing an affordable home. The total sum contributed was $50,000.00. This generous contribution allows Neighborhood Housing Services, who promotes and markets low-cost properties in economically-strapped neighborhoods of New Orleans, to offer the house at a vastly reduced rate. buildingstudio, contributed its full design and coordination services as well.”
Alligator / buildingstudio, by Nico Saieth, Arch Daily, June 3, 2010

Up until now I’ve enjoyed reading Unhappy Hipsters, but I don’t think their blogging mission is to mock affordable and sustainable housing for anyone, especially those who’ve lost their homes due to some horrible event.

$116K might sound like a lot of money in some parts of the country, but I’m looking for a house in the less swanky, very less swanky, part the city of Los Angeles and 960 sq ft, 2 bd, 2 baths, start around $300K for a “fixer.” If I could get an Alligator house for half or two-thirds that price, I WOULD.

I read a few of the comments at Arch Daily, but thought this one worth blogging:

“I like this, but is this really what the people of New Orleans want? Is this truly their aspirational housing model?”

This person has obviously never been homeless and might not have much of a heart either. I don’t think the Alligator house was forced on anyone. Most people I know have aspirations in housing that are affordable and livable. The Alligator house meets both of those criteria. And, as a bonus, your friends will always be able to find your house.

Note: The Arch Daily article seems to contradict itself. In one paragraph they write “And while the best intentions went into these, they’re disappointingly constructed. This limits their lifespan and undermines the long-term viability of the neighborhood.” and then in the next one, “The home, meeting hurricane resistance requirements, has insulated windows with an efficient thermal envelope to lower utility bills. Exterior walls and roof are clad in factory-painted, preformed metal siding for ease of maintenance and long-term durability.” So, which is it? “Disappointingly constructed” or “long-term durability”?

Note2: I hate architecture, really I do. I just want something I can get a reverse mortgage on when I’m old and gray.

Well, I was trying to leave a comment for danah boyd on her Facebook and “radical transparency” (a rant) post, but the comment spam catcher kept telling me I was doing it wrong. So I gave up and put it here. If danah does drop in, thanks for this post, and here’s what I would have commented if I could have commented:

“I never wanted to be on Facebook because it used to be elitist and I’m too hip for that kind of thingy. Then a pal went there because she and her kid were getting stalked on Flickr (of all places), so I bit the bullet or something and got an FB account. Then I published a book and FB accounts are de rigeur for authors these days (yes, I know it’s stupid, but this is how little authors grow into might oaks or whatever, via FB, Twitter, the whole slippery, shallow mess).

“Anyway, I have never liked FB and I’m mostly just crossposting from my blogs there. But the FB/Zuckerberg attitude toward everyone is a little sociopathic. Especially the Zuckerberg’s comment about having 2 (or more) webdenities as “lacking integrity.” Zuckerberg is a ninny and a cretin, no offense to ninnies and cretins, he probably doesn’t understand the joy of masked balls, noms de voyage, and noms de plume. And I’m sure Samuel Clemens and Mark Twain, Mary Anne Evans and George Eliot, Amantine Dupin and George Sand, Marilyn Monroe and Zelda Zonk, and many others would join Karmen Ghia and I in saying: Fuck you, Zuckerberg.

“Thanks for the information in this post, danah, glad you’re writing so accessibly about this stuff.”

And, y’know, this is making Yahoo look really good. Please don’t blow it, Yahoo, thanks in advance.

Oh, and for more horrors of Facebook, there’s this: Facebook is not your friend. If you care about your privacy and that of your real friends, unfriend Facebook now. We are its product, not its customers, by Andrew Brown, Guardian, May 14, 2010 or thereabouts

And the fabulous Bruce Schneier, always ahead of the curve, on Privacy and Control, April 6, 2010

I think Mr. Schneier makes an interesting point in passing that the internet has changed the definition of privacy in the same way airplanes changed the definition of travel-time or any new technology changes the way we think about something we’ve become accustomed to. Privacy used to be what people with good manners didn’t invade. Now it’s about not getting stalked. Is this progress? How the hell would I know?

Also: You know, I recently saw Minority Report, and really really liked it, which I didn’t think I would, and highly recommend it, which I do without hesitation. The retina scan marketing impressed me, and not in a good way.

Full disclosure: I usually like usually Tom Cruise in films. It’s the idea of Tom Cruise that I dislike.

“IF TOM HORNE, Arizona’s superintendent of schools, wants to fight threats to English-language proficiency in his state, he should probably start with his own website. The site’s front page currently features a video showing ‘a [sic] L.A. teacher’, and a quote from a Tucson teacher criticising the Los Angeles teacher’s ‘incindiary [sic] rhetoric’. The hullaballoo concerns Mr Horne’s bill to ban ethnic-studies programmes in Arizona public schools, which was signed into law on Tuesday. Mr Horne says the bill is targeted at the Tucson school district, which offers electives in Mexican-American, African-American, Native-American and Asian studies which are taken by about 3% of the student population. TalkingPointsMemo’s Justin Elliott reports the law is part of Mr Horne’s campaign for the Republican nomination for state attorney-general, in which he is pitting largely white, conservative Phoenix against largely Hispanic, liberal Tucson.”
Banning ethnic studies, by M.S., The Economist, May 14, 2010

The 2010 Arizona Attorney General Election.

Not that California has anything to be proud of, but if this guy gets elected AZ AG, it’s just going to get wackier and wackier in AZ.

www.hackenblog.tumblr.com, also on the sidebar.

I know, another microblog, but I think I like it better than Twitter (I know, that’s not saying much, but still).

And if Swanksalot is doing it, I have to do it, too. I just hope he doesn’t jump off a cliff or something.

Oh, and The Wapshott Press has a Tumblr account, too: www.wapshottpress.tumblr.com, for those of you interested in such things.

Both of these Tumblr accounts aggregate from this webpage for the Hackenblog, and from www.WapshottPress.com for the Wapshott Press. There might be some occasional independent Tumblr action, but very occasionally. I can barely keep up as it is; thank God for RSS feeds.

Hm…remember when Apple put a computer in every classroom in California? ePub will get children on every iPad in America. Or something. Maybe I’m overreacting. That happens sometimes.

But this is for real: Free Children’s eBooks for Any Reader.

And real good for authors, too:

“Citing changes in the publishing business and a desire for more control over the publishing process, Wideman said, “I’ve been thinking about alternatives for a long time. I like the idea of being in charge. I have more control over what happens to my book. And I have more control over whom I reach.” Wideman also noted his ‘distaste’ for what he called mainstream publishing’s ‘blockbuster syndrome’–the tendency for large trade publishing houses to focus their resources on books with bestseller potential.”
Adventures in self-publishing: John Edgar Wideman, MobyLives, March 8, 2010

The first big-ish author I saw do the self-publishing thing because he wanted to get the work out there was Dean Baker’s The Conservative Nanny State (ISBN: 978-1-4116-9395-1), also in bookstores and free pdf (I think, though, Lulu.com pdf’s aren’t so free anymore). Although I have some issues with Lulu.com, they do make it really easy to get your book out there.

And, y’know, that’s the main thing, the most important thing. If you look at the book I’m hawking Dr. Hackenbush Gets a Job (sorry, I have to mention it as often as possible), and read the back cover, at least four publishers said they liked it but couldn’t figure out how to market it. I mean, maybe they were just being nice to my agent, but talk about risk adverse to the point of impotence. Well, welcome to the 21st Century and the P.O.D world. My book is published, those editors and buy a copy since they liked it so much and amen to that.

Recently, I had the rather strange pleasure of listening to Lawrence Weschler, the author of many fine books and essays, speak at Occidental College. One of the least charming things Mr. Weschler said was to take a swipe all this P.O.D. “crap,” as he called it, that people are uploading to bookstores on and off line. He said that P.O.D books are poorly edited, as if check-out fiction and bestsellers are edited with a microscope, thanks a lot, Mr. Weschler. Considering how much time, effort and money goes into editing a Wapshott Press book, I was somewhat offended by this blanket condemnation of publishers who run their list through P.O.D. services. Wapshott books are often better edited than the crap big publishers put out there. And it is crap because at Wapshott I publish work that I feel should be published, and, yes, because of the limited financial risk involved and my day job, we can do that. But good work that no other publisher would take a chance on (or were turned down by established publishers, such as The Wizard’s Son and Dr. Hackenbush Gets a Job), is available at the Wapshott Press. Yes, it’s well edited, but most of all it’s damn fine writing and it’s out there and available. The Wapshott Press also reaches out to writers with three journals: J Bloglandia, Storylandia, and Erotique because I can. I also think some internet writing should be in a different media, so work that’s previously been on the internet is published in these journals before it vanishes from cyberspace for one reason or another. If the work does vanish: some websites last forever, but as we learned from Yahoo pulling the plug on Geocities, sometimes they don’t. I think the greatness of old school American publishing has been in taking on books that might not be money-makers because old school editors put the work before the dollar. Nowadays, it’s up to small and micro-presses to do that. This might not be the most elegant solution, but there might not be an elegant solution considering modern publishing’s economic situation, the post-literate society, and the consumers’ dilemma of so many media choices and so little time. But this is not my problem, my problem is publishing the best books I can at the Wapshott Press in the best way possible for the work, the author, and for me. The rest is just the deluge.

Anyway…

P.O.D. is the future if only because, except for blockbusters, it’s too expensive to print, house and distribute print runs. Sorry, it just is, and the blockbuster will always be with us, but how many and for how long can it alone support the big publishers? I don’t know and, moreover, I don’t care.

And here ends the sermon, cats and kittens.

“Contra Costa County officials are drafting a letter to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names opposing efforts to change the name of Mt. Diablo, the beloved landmark that rises above the East Bay.

“The county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday against two requests to rename the 3,849-foot peak, in part because of a groundswell of local opposition.

“Arthur Mijares, a devout Christian, had filed paperwork with the federal board to change Mt. Diablo to Mt. Reagan, arguing that the current name — diablo is Spanish for ‘devil’ – is profane and offensive to Christians.

“A separate request had been filed to change the name to Mt. John Muir.

“Lara DeLaney, senior management analyst with the county administrator’s office, said the letter will go out Friday and will also convey that supervisors ‘were saying no to any name changes that come up.’

“The federal board will address the issue at a future meeting.”
Contra Costa County officials oppose renaming Mt. Diablo after Reagan, by Maria L. LaGanga, LA Times, February 24, 2010

Leave Mt. Diablo alone. It’s not hurting anyone.

So, as some of you might have noticed, I’m publicizing this book

like crazy. According to publicist Chase Wang of BAM! Marketing, Publicity & Promotions, social networking is the new book publicity. So I’ve been social networking like a motherf*cker (not, please notice, as a motherf*cker, just like one), and here’s the proof:

Hackenbush.net
Twitter
Facebook page (due to weird crossposting issues)
Facebook fan page (also due to weird crossposting issues)
MySpace
and even
LinkedIn of all things

So, for all things Hackenbush, see above. Any suggestions for more social networking or book publicity would be very welcome. I’m working on contacting book clubs, but it’s still in the planning stages. The book officially release on March 3. Check out the Where to Buy page now if you can’t wait. In addition to buying information, there’s a free pdf.

It was hard to tell if social networking had instilled an instinct to compulsively pose, or if there was actually a photographer at the end of the living room.
from my new idols at www.UnhappyHipsters.com

Yeah, social networking…wonder if I’ll end up like this from Hackenbush.net.

Since I still do some Hackenbush related blogging here, I’ve added a feed from this blog to the Hackenbushville Twitter (yes, and may God have mercy on me) account. It’s all for the book publicity on Dr. Hackenbush Gets a Job. There’s a free pre-launch pdf there and, as ever, there’s a synopsis here.

By the way, this blog and it’s predecessor were the original Hackenbush novels blog when I thought they were going to be published sooner and by someone else. And, like I said, occasionally I still do some political smart-ass, wise-cracking Hackenbushesque blogging here so no one (on Twitter) shall be spared. Oh well.

If you want to follow the Twitter updates (no, I will not use that word, thank you very much) without actually being on Twitter, they’re way down the sidebar on this blog and at the top of the Hackenbush.net blog. It’s just the way we live now; if you can’t say it in ~140 characters then fuck you. Unless you’re clever like me and aggregate your blogs there. Muwhahahahahahha!

Note: Graymatter on the original Hackenblog (way back in 2003) was a damn good blogging platform for a long time for me and I thank them for it, but Word Press is working better for me now. But I still have fond memories of setting up my first Graymatter blog. Sigh. How the internet years go by.

Weaponized.

(via)

Weapon Brown and Blockhead’s War are so great they make me do the Snoopy dance. (How humiliating.)

“Fairey himself admitted that he didn’t use The Associated Press photo of Obama seated next to actor George Clooney he originally said his work was based on — which he claimed would have been covered under “fair use,” the legal claim that copyrighted work can be used without having to pay for it.

“Instead he used a picture the news organization has claimed was his source — a solo picture of the future president seemingly closer to the iconic red, white and blue image of Obama, underlined with the caption ‘HOPE.’ Fairey said that he tried to cover up his error by submitting false images and deleting others.

“The distinction is critical because fair use can sometimes be determined by how much of an original image or work was altered in the creation of a new work. If Fairey didn’t need to significantly alter the image he used — in this case the solo shot of Obama — then his claim could have been undermined. Fair use cases also may consider the market value of the copyrighted material and the intended use of the newly created work.

“‘Shepard Fairey has now been forced to admit that he sued the AP under false pretenses by lying about which AP photograph he used,” said AP vice president and general counsel Srinandan R. Kasi. “Mr. Fairey has also now admitted to the AP that he fabricated and attempted to destroy other evidence in an effort to bolster his fair use case and cover up his previous lies and omissions.’”

~snip~

“The “HOPE” image has appeared on countless posters, stickers and buttons. It has appeared in several books and in numerous museums, including a mixed-media stenciled collage version added to the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.”
Artist admits using key AP photo for ‘HOPE’ poster, AP, October 17, 2009 (pdf here because Yahoo doesn’t keep things long. (Sorry, AP, you know where to send the C&D letter)

I think Shep needs to grow up. HE sued the AP for a picture he used without permission? This guy wouldn’t last five minutes in the music industry.

I rather hope this won’t be the symbol of the Obama administration: taking other peoples ideas and disguising them badly as your own and then getting mad when you get called on the carpet for it. I like Obama; I don’t like Shepard Fairey.

Here’s the post this is updating:

“Most well known for his ‘Obey Giant’ street posters, Shepard Fairey has carefully nurtured a reputation as a heroic guerilla street artist waging a one man campaign against the corporate powers-that-be. Infantile posturing aside, Fairey’s art is problematic for another, more troubling reason – that of plagiarism.”
Obey Plagiarist Shepard Fairey, A critique by artist Mark Vallen
Written on the occasion of Fairey’s Los Angeles solo exhibition, Dec., 2007.

My respect and admiration for Mark Vallen grows every time he posts. And, yes, even things in the public domain have to be credited properly. It’s only right.

“Send a letter to the North Korean Government via its representative to the United Nations, asking for amnesty for Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
What do I say?

To ensure that letters remain respectful in tone and do not antagonize the North Koreans, we suggest using the following template. Just copy the text below and add your name and location before sending.”
Free Laura Ling and Euna Lee

I cannot imagine much of anything worse than a North Korean prison.

UPDATE! Whoo-hoo! Big Dawg saves the day!

“SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea said on Wednesday it had pardoned two jailed American journalists after former U.S. President Bill Clinton met the reclusive state’s leader Kim Jong-il, a move some analysts said could pave the way to direct nuclear disarmament talks.

“Clinton’s spokesman said the former president had left Pyongyang with the two reporters and they were flying to Los Angeles.”
Clinton, U.S. journalists leave North Korea after pardon, By Jonathan Thatcher, Reuters, August 4, 2009

Good heavens.

Is there some kind of pubic topiary movement afoot? First there was this:

Now this:

(via)

I think the hairless pussy was a little overkill. And I think the line about “tulips on a mound” could be misconstrued as well.

You know, I don’t remember commercials about shaving your pubic hair on TV prior to 1987 when I quit watching TV. Of course, now I’m watching commercials on the internet, which is pretty odd if you think about it. Oh never mind.

I’ve always loved this show. Rest in peace, David, you were brilliant in “The Long Riders,” too.
(more…)

I wonder:

“Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel are among architects singled out by US-based organisation Human Rights Watch for the ‘abuse and severe exploitation’ of construction labourers occurring on their projects at Abu Dhabi’s luxury Saadiyat Island development.

“In an 80-page report published last week, entitled The Island of Happiness: Exploitation of Migrant Workers on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, Human Rights Watch found that, despite slow improvements in timely payment of wages and labour conditions, abuses such as passport withholding and fines are still occurring.

“Under government developer the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), Saadiyat Island (‘Happiness Island’ in Arabic) is being developed into a £17 billion tourism and cultural centre, comprising a Nouvel-designed Louvre, a Guggenheim by Gehry, Foster + Partners’ Sheikh Zayed National Museum and Hadid’s Performing Arts Centre, all yet to be completed.

“Human Rights Watch called on the architects, and institutions such as the Guggenheim and the Louvre, to obtain enforceable contractual guarantees that construction companies will protect workers’ fundamental human rights.”
Darkening Dubai. Architects named in human rights row, by Christopher Sell, Lebbeus Woods, 28 May, 2009

MichelleMauk.com rules so hard!

Laurel Sutton explains it all to you.

Catchword Video Cafe for people like me who are interested in this stuff, but too lazy to actually, y’know, read about it. The only thing that could make these videos better would be car chases and blues numbers, like The Blues Brothers, but, alas, it’s been done.

“After Donald Rumsfeld testified on the Hill about Abu Ghraib in May, there was talk of more photos and video in the Pentagon’s custody more horrific than anything made public so far. “If these are released to the public, obviously it’s going to make matters worse,” Rumsfeld said. Since then, the Washington Post has disclosed some new details and images of abuse at the prison. But if Seymour Hersh is right, it all gets much worse.

“Hersh gave a speech last week to the ACLU making the charge that children were sodomized in front of women in the prison, and the Pentagon has tape of it. The speech was first reported in a New York Sun story last week, which was in turn posted on Jim Romenesko’s media blog, and now EdCone.com and other blogs are linking to the video. We transcribed the critical section here (it starts at about 1:31:00 into the ACLU video.) At the start of the transcript here, you can see how Hersh was struggling over what he should say:

“‘Debating about it, ummm … Some of the worst things that happened you don’t know about, okay? Videos, um, there are women there. Some of you may have read that they were passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at Abu Ghraib … The women were passing messages out saying ‘Please come and kill me, because of what’s happened’ and basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young boys, children in cases that have been recorded. The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. And the worst above all of that is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror. It’s going to come out.’”
Hersh: Children sodomized at Abu Ghraib, on tape, by Geraldine Sealey, Salon, July 15, 2007

This is old news, but I wonder if these are among the images the President Obama won’t let us see. I think we have to see them so we can know what our country did and, hopefully, never do again.

Yes, it’s been a while.

I have PTSD. I take medications for anxiety and depression. I refilled my anxiety medication prescription on April 15th. I noticed that the pills were a different color, called the pharmacy, and found out that the brand I’d been taking for more than two years has been recalled. Oh. Okay. All of my medications are generic. No big deal.

Within a week, I noticed constant, building background anxiety. Then irritability, unwillingness to exert myself, anticipatory anxiety, sleep difficulties, all slowly building towards a very bad place I don’t want to revisit.

Fortunately a tiny bit of my brain suggested I research this. What I found was bad.

About half the people who take the brand of anxiolytic I had on hand liked it. Half said it did nothing. This is pretty consistent through all psychiatric drugs; nothing works for everybody.

But I found information on what’s called the 80/20 rule. The FDA’s regulations on generic drugs allow for as much as 20% more active ingredient and as little as 80% of the brand name – a 40% spread.

http://www.fda.gov/cder/ob/docs/preface/ecpreface.htm

People are suffering because of it.

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/archives/generic_drug_problems/report_generic_drug_problem.php

It appears to be a problem across the spectrum of medication. All kinds of doctors and patients, physical and psychiatric problems, complain of variable effectiveness.

I was able to call my doctor and get a prescription for the brand-name anxiolytic. It’s going to cost me money (it’s not on the Formulary, of course), but I can afford it. I hope it works. What if you can’t afford it? What if you don’t have insurance?

What if one of the medications I take for problems that don’t have immediate perceivable changes – cholesterol, blood pressure, glaucoma – isn’t working?

Celestine Arnold at psfk.com

A clip of Welsh shepherds who dress their sheep up on LED-studded vests and herd them in elaborate formations that resemble fireworks displays from above.