Random
Tuesday, June 19, 2007- I’ve got a little Short Bus from Filter playing on the iTunes right now. What happened to industrial rock? There was a glory era from about 1992-1999 or so, and then it really faded away. Nine Inch Nails are still around, but they just don’t have the prominence they used to have. I blame Clear Channel Communications, because why not.
- There really aren’t many people who are happy with the direction of the United States at the moment. Whose fault is this? The media? The Republicans? The President? The Democrats? The military?I feel like our wise commentators are afraid to call out the common cause behind all of those: the citizens of this currently misguided nation. Because in our society, the people are the ones putting their government in place, consuming the media and shaping the economy, and I just can’t help but think that most peeps have been pretty derelict in their citizenly duties.
- Speaking of that, I gotta read this.
- Luckily though, you readaz are bright people. So I know you’ll go check out Slate’s new video magazine, Slate V, when it launches soon. Help a blogga out: I’ve been working like a mug to get this thing ready to go on a really tight deadline.
- It’s not quite new anymore, but I still think Dirty Jobs is one of the best cable shows in years. Watching a dude get all mudded up and covered in sludge for the sake of good television has a great, dumb appeal, but to roll Gompers-style for a minute, I gotta give it up for the matter-of-fact, highly popular, non-preachy throwback glorification of the American worker in this age of obscene fetishization of the horded wealth of the few. I didn’t like when Mike Rowe shilled for Ford, but otherwise the show is a high-quality effort to remind us bourgeois slobs that societal consumerism doesn’t come easy.Also, I like to watch people smash things.
I’m out.
I too love Dirty Jobs. That show makes me appreciate my job.
Every day I go to work and talk to people who are happy with where our country is on Iraq. It’s such a complete disconnect for me I can’t even find a starting point for dialog. One point that I would like clarification on. One individual claims that there were just as many people dying in Iraq before we went in as today. Anybody got any idea where I might find numbers to prove/disprove this?
From a study by Johns Hopkins University (http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/10/11/human.cost.of.war.pdf):
“Key Findings
Death rates were 5.5/1000/year pre-invasion, and overall, 13.2/1000/year for the 40 months post-invasion. We estimate that through July 2006, there have been 654,965 “excess deathsâ€â€”fatalities above the pre-invasion death rate—in Iraq as a consequence of the war. Of post-invasion deaths, 601,027 were due to violent causes. Non-violent deaths rose above the pre-invasion level only in 2006. Since March 2003, an additional 2.5% of Iraq’s population have died above what would have occurred without conflict.”
That’s a 140% increase in the death rate from the pre-invasion period to the 40 months post-invasion.
Rowe is one of the best show hosts that ever hosted a show. In addition to getting down and dirty, he really brings out the quirky personalities of the folks who’ve invited him to do their jobs. And he gets off a lot of awesome deadpan one-liners.
The new video service looks promising. I signed up!