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Articles:

• New modern music in Cambridge: Xenia Pestova and Gabriela Diaz perform Bunk and Xenakis at a BMOP Club Concert — Last night (Feb. 9, 2011) we attended what was perhaps the most interesting program of any concert I've attended in the Boston area: works for toy piano, piano, and violin, performed with competence and gusto, all but one accompanied by tape or live electronics, and all but one by young, living composers
  2011-02-09 10:41:42
• Weekend Festivities, or Jon Stewart and the Illusion of a Two-Party System — I feel that the enthusiasm and attendance we saw amongst self-described progressives at the Rally to Restore Sanity and Keep Fear Alive this weekend are some of the most troubling displays ever of corporate monopolization of political discourse in the United States. I see this as evidence that cults of personality and media spectacle have come to replace intelligent discussion and objective evaluation of policy in the modern left, though I hope I'm wrong.
  2010-11-05 16:39:02
• My first attempt at casting concrete — I've wanted to play around with concrete for a while -- it seems pleasingly plastic, sturdy, and amenable to DIY. I finally found a good opportunity two weekends ago. Here's what I learned.
  2010-09-01 10:15:01
• Testing and mocks using Rails Plugins — A while ago, I embarked on a work project that entailed refactoring a Rails application into a plugin, containing most of the core functionality, and a set of applications that used that plugin. Given how easy Rails makes a lot of test-driven development, I was somewhat surprised to find a lack of discussion or documentation about best practices for pain-free testing of both the core plugin and the applications -- so I figured it out myself.
  2010-03-09 17:44:42
• Christian Tetzlaff at NEC Jordan Hall, January 31, 2010 — A great program and a human performance full of musicianship and drama...
  2010-02-02 09:33:48
• Coakley vs Brown, and the inexorable rightward trend of the Democratic Party — I was reading a post on Pamshouseblend about a "secret" LGBT strategy meeting from last week, and related rumors that, in the wake of Coakley's defeat, the administration and congressional Democrats will shy away from their recent fierce advocacy (har har har) of progressive social issues. I'm left wondering, once again, whether the Democrats are actively aiming for ineptitude and further defeat.
  2010-01-20 17:08:36
• Setting the client IP address in a Ruby on Rails integration test — This is here because either my google-fu is even worse than I thought, or there's no clear explanation of this on the web. Maybe next time I search for it I'll come across my own solution here!
  2009-12-15 15:01:38
• Proposition 8: The End of Liberty in California — It sounds increasingly as though the California Supreme Court will rule to let Proposition 8 stand. If this happens, it will mark the end of civil rights in the state. What this potential ruling means is that privileges of any group are not protected by a framework of rights -- for there are no longer any inalienable rights in California. Privileges like marriage, liberty, and freedom of speech are simply at the whim of a bare majority.
  2009-03-27 11:06:48
• Rails session_store/file_store bug — If you set the session_store in your environment file to use :file_store, and attempt to stick any non-string values in your session, you'll get an error. Either don't store non-string objects in session, or don't use file store.
  2009-01-30 12:16:08
• Protesting Proposition 8 — Along with several thousand other people, we attended the Prop 8 protest in Boston yesterday
  2008-11-16 11:30:19
• The 2008 Election and Ballot Propositions — Un-American and cynical vehicles for bigots to weaken constitutions; evidence that we've learned little from centuries of civil rights progress; and the failure of American progressives to build coalitions and protect their own interests
  2008-11-10 11:53:57
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Hate — My donations to the No on 8 campaign -- which used my money to coordinate its communication and "education" efforts about California ballot proposition 8 -- were not tax-deductible, because they were political in nature.
  2008-11-07 14:43:03
• Why I'm Not an Obama Fan — Friends, acquiantences, and strangers have assumed that I was an Obama supporter often enough that it's time for me to articulate why I'm not.
  2008-06-05 17:12:24
• We're doomed — MoveOn just endorsed Obama for president. I've got the same sinking feeling I had when it became clear that Kerry would be the democratic nominee.
  2008-02-01 16:02:36
• Upgrade problems: PHP and Leopard — After upgrading to Leopard, PHP doesn't work. It took me a while to figure out why.
  2008-02-01 15:39:10
• Flag Day Phew: Marriage Survives a Vote — On Thursday June 14th, the 40th anniversary week of Loving v Virginia, legislators in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention voted (surprisingly) not to put a measure on the ballot that would have allowed straight people to vote to change the Constitution to make marriage discrimination against gays and lesbians legal. (Got that all?) I tried to visit my Representative, and saw a bit of a circus.
  2007-06-15 18:20:31
• You all know that Rudy Giuliani has a thing for dressing in drag, right? — I assumed it was common knowledge that Giuliani, Republican front-runner for the 2008 presidential nomination, had a long record of cross-dressing - but I was recently talking to a bunch of people who hadn't heard about this.
  2007-06-11 22:09:16
• Two Down - Marriage for... some more. — New Jersey's Supreme Court today announced that "committed same-sex couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes," because of the Equal Protection clause of the NJ Constitution. The ruling leaves to the Legislature the decision of what to call these benefits, and so falls short of the "separate is never equal" conclusion reached by the Massachusetts SJC - but this is still a big deal. Forty-eight states remain that embrace bigotry.
  2006-10-25 15:28:31
• Dante (restaurant review) — 40 Edwin H. Land Boulevard, Cambridge
  2006-08-30 08:40:58
• The Dangers of the Activist Executive: Bush "has lodged more challenges to provisions of laws than all previous presidents combined" — The Washington Post reports 'a bipartisan panel of legal scholars and lawyers assembled by the American Bar Association is sharply criticizing the use of "signing statements" by President Bush that he applies as a means of ignoring or not enforcing laws passed by Congress... 'The panel members described the development as a serious threat to the Constitution's system of checks and balances, and they urged Congress to pass legislation permitting court review of such statements.'
  2006-07-24 16:55:42
• Doing What's Right: America's Visionary Legacy — What is the American legacy -- the American Dream? We've seen a lot of strident debate lately about the makeup of American families and the definition of marriage; about whether gay Americans may lay claim to civil rights, or whether heterosexuals have a state-given right to exclude others from the state-given protections they enjoy; and about whether the courts will continue to have a Constitutional obligation to interpret laws passed by legislative bodies, ignoring or overturning those which they find to be in violation of the Constitution which covers their jurisdiction -- or whether the role of the courts will profoundly change in this century. While we will certainly continue to see and hear this debate for the foreseeable future, what I haven't noticed is much attempt to put the dialogue we are witnessing right now in the context of other, similar dialogues that have challenged America in the past -- to move beyond covert references to Loving v Virginia and Brown v Board of Education, and note that America's history is defined by the gradual broadening of freedom and equality to encompass ever more of her people.
  2006-06-13 14:01:53
• Tucson Immigration Protest, April 10, 2006: Bush Will Respect Their Moral Authoritah — An amazingly well-organized and peaceful protest mounted by immigration activists, with Right on their side, shows that politicians who'd bet on voter apathy and naivete could be in for a surprise.
  2006-04-11 00:30:33
• The Happy Consequences of a Betrayal of American Idealism? — The news this weekend is filled with accounts of hundreds of thousands of people marching in California, Arizona, and Georgia yesterday and today, in opposition to Republican legislation to make being an illegal immigrant a felony, and criminalize providing assistance to illegal immigrants. How does this square with American ideals and history, and "huddled masses yearning to be free?"
  2006-03-25 17:44:21
• Gargoyles on the Square (restaurant review) — 219 Elm Street, Somerville, Massachusetts
  2006-03-24 13:50:19
• Upstairs on the Square (restaurant review) — 91 Winthrop Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Harvard Square)
  2006-03-21 13:37:23
• Vinny's at Night (restaurant review) — 76 Broadway, Somerville, Massachusetts
  2006-03-21 10:47:25
• Petit Robert Bistro (restaurant review) - Some of the worst service in Boston — Kenmore Square, Boston. I've only ever had one restaurant refuse when I asked to send back a bad bottle of wine. Petit Robert Bistro is that one.
  2006-03-11 21:10:53
• Seeking classical musicians in Boston — I want to do more chamber music. I want to do musically and technically challenging 20th-Century repertoire. I don't want to do this for weddings or gigs, I want to do it for my technical and musical chops. Is there any interest?
  2006-03-08 12:52:14
• c75's Restaurants Map — Our friend Tracy is working at this geo-startup called platial.com, and now that they've gotten their UI cleaned up, I'm happy to present a map of restaurant reviews on the site:
  2006-03-07 11:02:06
• An Exercise in Government — Give this a try, quick: go google the US Constitution, and see how long it takes you to find the whole text (articles and amendments) on a .gov site.
  2006-03-03 13:11:27
• News from the Future — (Tuesday, February 17, 2009) Yesterday, February 16, 2009, the President signed into law the No Fetus Left Behind Act for Protecting and Valuing Life. The law carries an automatic sentence for women convicted of failing to bring a fetus to term, for any reason. The sponsor of the law, Congressman John Hostettler of Indiana, said, "This legislation will help save thousands of children in America each year. We're very proud that the President had the conviction and vision to sign this bill into law." Opponents voiced objections, which Senate Majority Leader The Revered Fred Phelps said were "treasonous, murderous, and un-American."
  2006-02-12 12:01:10
• Brasserie Jo (restaurant review): Relatively inexpensive French food in downtown Boston — http://www.brasseriejo.com/, The Colonnade Hotel, 120 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02116
  2006-01-27 10:37:07
• People who consider thinking something taxing and to be avoided shouldn't write computer software — I read an article on Cafe au Lait this afternoon that really has me worried for the future of the programming industry. The author thinks that test-driven development can replace development where the person writing the code attempts to fully understand the problem before programming a solution. I think this is incredibly wrong-headed. Is this an April Fool's joke?
  2006-01-25 16:25:17
• The 4723 MC Bee Phono Cartridge from 47 Labs — Or, a little hand-built stereo cartridge from Japan that my friend Erik says looks like a dragon licking up delicious vinyl grooves. Especially those scrumptious jazz ones.
  2006-01-18 21:40:13
• Templating Languages and Windmills — I recently read a decent little article on templating languages by the guy who wrote Rails, and it helped me to articulate some of the things that have always bugged me about Java templating languages (Turbine, WebMacro, Velocity, and pretty much any system involving extensive use of Taglibs).
  2006-01-18 21:24:43
• Kistler Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2001 — We had our first bottle of the Sonoma Coast in a long while recently, and were reminded why we hold Kistler in such high regard.
  2006-01-07 14:26:38
• The Rendezvous (restaurant review) — 509 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA
  2005-12-29 11:57:48
• 0, 1, or Many, and the "It Couldn't Happen Here" paradox — I was talking to a coworker today about last week's news-revelations about the American rendition and subsequent torture of the (innocent) German terrorism suspect to a CIA facility in Europe. My coworker was updating me on some aspects of the case that I hadn't heard -- how the suspect was reportedly turned away at the U.S. border when he flew back to give a press conference about his ordeal. I pointed out that that was politically convenient for the administration, and that that sort of border control (turning away artists critical of official policy) had been going on for a while now -- and that the U.S. was, more and more, starting to resemble a totalitarian, Stalinist state in that regard. Like many of the self-professed liberals I've talked to, he took umbrage at that suggestion. I responded by saying "But the techniques are all the same -- it's just the scale that's different." He admitted that that was the case, which got me wondering.
  2005-12-13 07:48:32
• With open-source boosters like these, Microsoft doesn't need help dissuading corporations from investing in open-source software — I remember well what a nightmare configuring products like JBoss is -- scant, and usually self-contradictory or just wrong, documentation; "support" fora that seem to exist solely as an ego-trip for the megalomaniacal pointy-headed Gods of the One True Way of Open Source; and configuration settings that change from version to version for no good reason, costing their poor users hours of lost time for nothing.
  2005-12-06 15:29:10
• Meme of the Week: No more special rights for heterosexuals — I'm tired of heterosexuals strutting around flaunting their special rights: property inheritance recognized at the federal level, power of attorney when they travel to other states, etc. Enough.
  2005-11-29 13:20:24
• Fun with USB Microscopy and Tiny Diamonds — I just got a USB microscope. It's a Digital Blue QX5. After connecting it up to the Mac with miXscope (highly recommended), I started taking some pictures. It seems like a great idea, and it's a lot of fun, but the optics and controls, sadly, could be better.
  2005-11-28 15:36:23
• Tagging is Cool — I've finally started playing with del.icio.us, after my friend Ed suggested I try the browser Flock for bookmark management. I'm much more excited about social bookmarking than I anticipated, and I think del.icio.us is the first compelling application of tagging I've seen.
  2005-11-16 09:07:35
• Wikipedia and the Myth of Objectivity — I was poking around on Wikipedia this afternoon, and happened to look at a page I'd edited a couple months back. Since then, someone had edited it again, removing many of my additions, and adding new ones containing factual and grammatical errors. I'm prompted to think about the nature of distributed information systems like this.
  2005-11-12 13:58:19
• Spire (restaurant review) — 90 Tremont Street, Boston
  2005-11-10 17:44:12
• CityZen (restaurant review) — The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 1330 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC
  2005-11-10 14:46:33
• DIY Audio - I kind of want to build a tube amp kit from Audio Note — I remember back in the 90s reading an early issue of Listener magazine, in which Art Dudley described building the Audio Note Kit One, and gushed about its single-ended 300B goodness. I've wanted one since then.
  2005-11-04 11:31:21
• A quick guide to the liberal blogsphere — During the height of the recent Plame-gate speculation, a friend remarked to me how out of touch he felt about all the rumors and innuendo floating around. Where was I getting all the dirt, he wanted to know?
  2005-11-03 14:18:23
• Bush's new Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito, thinks it's A-OK for employers to use racial profiling in hiring (2005-10-31 08:46:19)
• A brief history of Ultimate Fighting — Klambtroob posted recently wondering what was the most successful style in Ultimate Fighting -- known also as MMA or "Mixed Martial Arts." I asked my friend Jimmy what he thought. We used to work together, and he had this picture of himself next to his desk from Grappling magazine, where he's smiling and holding a guy in a headlock while punching him in the face with the other arm.
  2005-10-28 15:22:01
• Predictions? — Amidst the swirling mess of rumors, I think: Cheney's taking a fall. Libby, too. Beyond that, it's a lot tougher to say.
  2005-10-25 09:00:37
• The Linn Numerik Digital-to-Analog Converter: Laying down old-school beats, accurately placed to the picosecond — In which I talk about my experience with jitter in CD replay, and attempt to explain why "bits-is-bits" sounds to me like baloney
  2005-10-21 09:39:06
• Interview with the founder of Guerilla News Network, Stephen Marhsall, on Democratization of Media (Part 2) — In the second segment of my interview with GNN TV founder and film maker Stephen Marshall, we covered his two first feature films, Aftermath and Battlegound: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge. Both films leverage Marshall's mastery of what he describes as the "MTV esthetic." Both films are also very controversial.
  2005-10-17 13:33:08
• Interview with the founder of Guerilla News Network, Stephen Marhsall, on the Democratization of Media (Part 1) — Part 1 of 3: I interviewed Stephen Marshall, founder of GNN.TV, and film director (see: http://www.bioneers.org/conference/gnn.php). The topic was "Democratization of Media," though we covered tons of materia
  2005-10-17 09:11:43
• Chakra — I'm trying to figure out the price of the Linn Chakra 6100 amp
  2005-10-15 01:09:08
• Sundman's Krog (restaurant review) — Eteläranta 16, Helsinki
  2005-10-14 16:16:56
• Osushi (restaurant review) — 10 Huntington Ave (in the Copley Westin complex), Boston, Massachusetts
  2005-10-13 15:18:32
• Hapa Izakaya (restaurant review) — 1479 Robson Street, Vancouver, British Columbia
  2005-10-13 14:53:47
• Barbara Lynch extends her dominion to the sea: B & G Oysters (restaurant review) — 550 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts
  2005-10-13 14:33:02
• Parkside (restaurant review) — 1906 Haro Street, Vancouver, British Columbia
  2005-10-13 14:24:31
• Sauce (restaurant review) — 400 Highland Ave, Somerville, Massachusetts
  2005-10-13 13:52:54
• Out of the Blue (restaurant review) — 382 Highland Ave, Somerville, Massachusetts
  2005-10-13 13:49:46
• Bonfire (restaurant review) — 50 Park Plaza, Boston, Massachusetts
  2005-10-12 15:35:50
• The Butcher Shop (restaurant review) — 552 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts
  2005-10-12 15:30:52
• Sugar and Spice (restaurant review) — 1933 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Porter Square)
  2005-10-12 15:28:36
• No. 9 Park (restaurant review) — 9 Park Street, Boston, Massachusetts
  2005-10-12 15:24:17
• Rustic Kitchen (restaurant review; Porter Square, not Fanieul Hall) — 1815 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts
  2005-10-12 15:20:30
• Middlesex Lounge (restaurant review) — 315 Mass Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Central Square)
  2005-10-12 15:10:45
• Central Kitchen (restaurant review) — 567 Mass Ave, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Central Square)
  2005-10-12 15:07:44
• Audubon Circle (restaurant review) — 838 Beacon St, Boston, Massachusetts
  2005-10-12 15:05:06
• Aquitaine (restaurant review) — 569 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts
  2005-10-12 15:02:08
• What's sauce for the gay goose... — What's the distinction between when something's funny and when it's offensive? When it's gay, it's funny! Ha ha ha.
  2005-09-21 10:41:24
• Bush and Katrina — The one thing that the federal response to the hurricane devastation makes clear is that, under Bush, the nation is utterly unable to deal with a disaster -- be it natural, or terrorist-made.
  2005-09-08 05:31:04
• Breaking News! Republican contradicts self, party! — So, the Fuehrer of California has pledged that he'll veto the landmark legislative decision, the first in the nation, granting marriage rights to all Californians. I'm having trouble figuring out just what the consistent Republican message is on the relationship between judicial activism, the legislature, and the "will of the people."
  2005-09-08 02:56:27
• Tourist impressions of Helsinki — I'm sitting in the park behind our short-term apartment. It's a sunny day, one of the last perfectly beautiful days of Summer. A chill, fallish morning has warmed, and now everyone's stopped to bask in some of the precious sun on her way home from Work.
  2005-09-01 04:56:53
• You know what some of us don't like about this country? Capitalism. — I don't object to the notion of an individual or a corporation making a reasonable profit for goods or services. I object to the notion that a megacorporation's profit is more important than providing health care to a society's people. And I get ripped when my insurance company (Harvard Pilgrim), time and again, in ever more vile ways, treats me like a criminal if I have the gall to use the services I pay for to get a prescription.
  2005-08-23 10:12:40
• I'm ready for the next Google — The quality of normal Google search results for the kinds of searches I do has decreased markedly over the last couple of years, and Google doesn't seem to be paying attention to the usability or effectiveness of their bread-and-butter product any more.
  2005-08-18 14:40:08
• Helsinki — Here we present photos of Brian's trip to Helsinki
  2005-08-15 11:16:23
• Word: Still Sucks — I've been having to use Microsoft Office a lot lately for work. I'd had a pleasant respite, but I'm starting to remember all the little things that drove me nuts about it. Today, I find one that, I think, neatly encapsulates everything that's wrong with Microsoft's products.
  2005-08-08 14:43:10
• The internet fulfilling its potential: Amazon now sells sheet-music Acrobat downloads — I was looking for recordings of the Paganini Caprices, and I found a link to some downloads on Amazon. I was excited.
  2005-08-07 16:45:52
• Cocoa Java frustration and "Could not connect the action" error — I frequently get errors like this:

  2005-08-03 15:00:28.675 [project name][10486] Could not connect the action [method name]: to target of class NSObject

  when I compile my projects in XCode. The cause may not be what you'd expect.
  2005-08-03 15:19:31
• A new favorite red wine: 2002 Acorn Sangiovese — We get this from "our wine guy," Win Rhoades, up at South and Vine at 261 South St in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We've been drinking it for a while, but it's only recently that it's started to open up, revealing hiterto unkown heights of California Sangiovese bliss.
  2005-08-01 09:54:56
• A Restaurant to Avoid: Guida's Coast Cuisine, in Concord, MA — Brian had read great things about Aigo, and we were in Concord visiting his sister at dinner time, so we thought we'd check it out. We should have ordered a pizza.
  2005-08-01 09:26:41
• Gramercy Bistro, in North Adams, MA (restaurant review) — After hearing an amazing set of performances at the Bang on a Can festival at Mass MoCA, we needed food. We stumbled into the nearby Gramercy Bistro, and were pretty pleasantly surprised.
  2005-08-01 09:09:12
• Welcome to the T — Republican presidential fave Mitt Romney tried to hop on the subway yesterday to reassure folks that things are safe, but had no idea what a token cost. THEN he got harassed by a homeless guy wanting to know if he's running for president AND a locally infamous cat lady.
  2005-07-22 10:36:46
• In search of a good camera phone — I want to upgrade my phone. This weekend, I was informed that my phone was bulky and old-fashioned, to which I say "pfft." But I would like something with a camera and all that jazz. I'd hop on the Ericsson t610 bandwagon, if Brian's second one hadn't failed spectacularly (it won't charge, and it screamed when you made a call, back when it still could). What should I get?
  2005-07-20 10:51:46
• Bush Treason and related memes for the week of 7/18/05 — Treason. Leaking of classified information. Obstruction of justice. Perjury. Lying to Congress. Lying to the American People. Lying to the White House Press Corps. Lying to go to war. Bush lacks credibility. Bush is a traitor.
  2005-07-19 12:35:22
• A Zen Koan for the 21st Century — What is the sound
  Of no one using your application?
  2005-07-11 12:51:21
• Memes for today — In the wake of today's nightmarish coordinated terrorist bombings in London, here are the things American progressives need to be pointing out. And I don't say these things to be flip; I say them because George Bush and his administration have made the world more dangerous since 9/11, and the U.S. Congress has to do something to fix our counterproductive responses.
  2005-07-07 15:44:52
• Oh Canada! — Vancouver seems like a clean, modern, progressive utopia to me -- at least in the Summer. It has a very high urban density, which is self-evidently the result of enlightened planning. Skyscrapers cover the city, and they're not ugly, dilapidated concrete monstrosities; they're sleek and functional and organic and complicated and almost entirely glass, to reflect and refract the gorgeous light from the sound and the surrounding mountains. Prices -- for food, at least -- seem very reasonable in Vancouver -- shockingly cheap compared to large American cities. The politics seem enlightened (in the sense that yes, there are major North American cities where the two most pressing urban problems do not seem to be the threats of gay marriage and medical pot), and everyone seems very relaxed and happy, for the most part. Ultimately, I start to wonder where the Soylent Green connection is, to pay the karmic price of this much chill, down-tempo love; I half expect someone to run through the streets shouting "Stop! BC bud is made of people!"
  2005-07-07 11:52:55
• The Smoking Gun — After weeks of fascist apologists debating what the meaning of "is" is in the Downing Street Memo, the Times of London leaks a memo from July 21, 2002, in which Ministers are urged to help create "the conditions necessary to justify government military action" in Iraq, and a timetable is laid out for the illegal invasion.
  2005-06-14 11:27:33
• Preaching to the Choir, or, On Ideological Consistency — Liberals have this wacky notion that ideological consistency is important in contemporary American politics. They seem to believe, in the face of all evidence, that being consistent in their messaging is a prerequisite for winning.
  2005-06-08 16:23:44
• Oh no, MacTel, or, my take on the Apple PPC to Intel thing — I've read a lot of buzz about what this means for Apple and for its users, and (I know this is a shock) much of it strikes me as pretty naive.
  2005-06-08 10:40:12
• Progressive Insurance isn't actually progressive — In which the insurance company appears to violate Massachusetts law by refusing to recognize same sex marriages when generating insurance quotes.
  2005-06-07 09:06:38
• http://www.supportford.com/ — Yesterday, MSNBC published an article (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8047423/) by Alex Johnson about the American Family Association's boycott of Ford Motor Company because of its sponsorship of GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation. In the article, aside from getting the name of GLAAD wrong, Johnson seems to be quoting from the AFA playbook. He does not cite a single source from an opposing viewpoint, and also writes "the quantifiable impact of a boycott based on Christian principles is all but impossible to assess," as though all Christians share the AFA's principles.
  2005-06-01 09:20:46
• This Week's Meme: Forced Pregnancy — As in, the fascist Republicans currently controlling the U.S. Government envision a world in which women are carriers of spawn, forced breeding machines with fewer rights than the fetuses they carry. Think that's going too far? It's already happening.
  2005-05-02 10:36:53
• You Will Respect Mah Moral Authoritah! — So, the grand ole Catholic Church has chosen Pope Benedict XVI Hitler Youth to succeed John Paul II. I guess when the Church cites its "moral authority" from now on, there will be no room for doubt that they're really talking about the "moral authority" to imprison and execute Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, and other moral deviants.
  2005-04-19 13:56:29
• Death Solves All Problems — I'm coming to believe perhaps I was off the mark in comparing Bush to Fascist Germany, c. 1930. Not, as fascist apologists and blinkered faux-liberals might hope, because I think "it's not as bad as all that," or that we're not rushing headlong down the path to becoming a totalitarian state. Rather, because I may have been comparing the present "conservative" movement to the wrong totalitarian state.
  2005-04-15 14:44:09
• Film Labs in or around Cambridge — Anyone got suggestions for a place that can do: good E6 processing; 6x6 developing without scratching my film; and reasonably-priced CDs from slides?
  2005-04-09 09:21:07
• The Point of It All — I think what people don't get when they work themselves up about Congress wasting its time on the non-issue of Schiavo is: what it is that it's actually useful for Congress to do in this situation -- for the betterment of Congress, that is, and for the people it serves (and no, that's not you or me.)
  2005-03-23 17:04:30
• I don't want to be The Apprentice -- or even meet him. — I hate The Apprentice. I abhor all that it stands for -- above all, the nagging suspicion that, unbeknownst to the producers, and despite all of the behind-the-scenes editing, staging, cutting, prodding, and general deus ex machina bullshit, it really portrays corporate life far more accurately than most people expect. It's surely more metaphorical than an actual representation of day-to-day life in the workplace; but it hits the heart of the matter.
  2005-02-10 09:38:23
• The c75 Record Store Guide — Our guide to the best vinyl record shopping we've found. Why vinyl, you ask? I respond, why CD? Why make the record company execs rich for their luddite practices and their abuse of the artists they claim to be "protecting," for their myopic views and least-common-denominator marketing? Why pay $18 and up for a music format that will never sound as nice as good old vinyl, particularly for reissues that are remastered differently than the artists intended, if the record companies ever bothered to issue them on CD in the first place? I'd rather pay $3 or $5 for the original obscure, rootsy, personal music, pre-DRM, pre-jewel-box, with 12x12" album art and legible liner notes.
  2005-01-19 13:23:30
• The Extremist DAC (2004-12-16 15:27:31)
• The evil, Republican-elite-controlled press wages war on civil rights and dissidence in the name of a phony mandate — The culture war is real. We may not know it -- those of us who use our brains to try to further and better humankind, and think rationally -- but we're being attacked on many fronts. We must not just sit back, as we are prone to do, and assume that, for a change, this will all pass, that it will blow over, and that, afterwards, the Democratic base will still support a party which does nothing for us. It may blow over -- but it will hurt a great many, now and for decades to come, before it does.
  2004-12-02 17:08:37
• Thoughts on an Opposition Party — I was reading on Kos about the chair of some "family values" hate machine spewing forth about how moderate Republicans like Lincoln Chafee should no longer be welcome in the Republican party, as they were Republicans in name only. I wonder whether it's in progressives' best interests to try to convince politicians like Chafee to join the Democratic party.
  2004-11-16 14:05:23
• Footsoldiers in the Culture War, here are your weapons — As a followup to my last big article, I'd like to do two things: come at my whole argument from a slightly different angle, and start aggregating memes I think progressive Democrats need to disseminate.
  2004-11-09 15:28:38
• The spelling of my name — Why can't people get it right? They murder it when I say it to them, and even when they see it in print.
  2004-11-08 16:29:13
• A Call to Arms — My Blueprint for a Progressive Takeover of the Democratic Party and the Nation
  2004-11-05 09:54:37
• Post-Debate Analysis — After hearing Mr. Bush's comments, I realize that the reason I have had trouble finding hi-tech jobs in the last couple of years is because my secondary school failed me. If only, instead of going to the sister-school of Phillips Andover, where Mr. Bush went, I'd gone to a N.H. public school in this age of unfunded no-child-left-behind. God, that shoddy secondary school experience, attending classes with the sons of U.S. Senators, where parents' weekend brought fleets of Bentleys and Ferraris...
  2004-10-14 13:50:48
• Why does the MBTA suck so bad? — I seem to remember a time when getting on the Red Line wasn't like boarding the slow train to Hell. But days like today, I'm not so sure.
  2004-10-12 09:07:39
• Do you believe in the transformational power of liberty? — Do you see that beautiful valley of peace spread out below the mighty mountain we've conquered? Are you with us, or with the enemy? Or are you an activist judge?
  2004-10-01 09:15:37
• Memo to the press: Bush's Flip Flops are real, not Kerry's — In the light of the recent big news that Kerry's flip-flops are a right-wing fabrication (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/09/23/MNGQK8TI8O1.DTL), here's my own tribute to Dear Leader.
  2004-09-23 14:17:01
• One more thing — Among all the hoopla surrounding the "revelation" that Bush failed to serve his country even in the impossible-to-get-into-for-mortals Air National Guard unit he was assigned to after blatant string-pulling by his family, there's an important piece of context we should remember.
  2004-09-13 14:30:00
• Mac OS X, Firewire drives, and chgrp and chown — Eeep! I can't chgrp any files or directories on a firewire drive on my server. Help!
  2004-08-30 15:23:06
• Half-Assed Hungarian — Okay, this is geeky, and probably only of interest to a few programmers who hate their jobs. You know the so-called Hungarian style of naming variables? Then read on.
  2004-08-19 14:23:24
• Cursed TiBook — Last night we decided to rent a couple DVDs and, since the living room is in the midst of rearranging, just go into the bedroom with the air conditioning and watch them on the laptop. We discovered that my TiBook 867 won't mount DVDs.
  2004-08-15 19:12:00
• Poor Julia — Julia Child died early this morning. We'll miss her -- she seemed to be a rare example of an almost totally positive person, and enriched our lives.
  2004-08-13 12:36:46
• A Cynic's Commentary on Technical Interviews — My aphorisms and assorted notes on the state of the IT industry in 2004
  2004-08-04 17:45:11
• What Is Discussion? — The Problem is not that reasonable people don't change their minds, for they do. The Problem is that there are so very few reasonable people.
  2004-07-21 15:05:56
• On the Media — A lot of things have been bouncing around in my head since my husband and I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 this weekend, but I think the most persistent and important is what this movie, and the vague and frequently inaccurate reviews of it, say about the role of the media in 2004.
  2004-06-29 16:57:42
• Moviegoing — Go see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911.
  2004-06-27 18:44:54
• The Bush Economy — A rash of surreal encounters with professional ineptitude leaves our protagonists feeling like maybe the runaway economic success of America circa Bush II, combined with the worthy moral standards set for business by the highest echelons of government, are not entirely dissociated
  2004-06-17 21:54:04
• Yay, Apple! — Two weeks ago, the screen on my Titanium PowerBook G4 snapped off. After a long call to AppleCare, and an anxious wait, I've got my 'Book back, with a new screen, and a new top bezel! In the end, I'm happy I sprang for AppleCare, and a lot of my faith in Apple's approach to support has been restored.
  2004-06-11 18:06:24
• Misunderestimating Ronald — In these days of media amnesia, where patronizing, superficial factoids have been replaced by factvoids -- blatantly untrue statements included either deliberately or through ineptitude, and leading to partisan conclusions -- it may be useful to remember a few things not widely reported by those memorializing the Gipper.
  2004-06-08 21:59:59
• Rant: Documentum — For the record, and my own sanity, I here state that Documentum is the least proficient software vendor it has ever been my misfortune to deal with. From staggeringly hostile "customer support," to inept product development and lagging schedules, to outright disdain for the computer platforms their customers use, everything about them shouts ineptitude.
  2004-05-27 13:51:25
• We're married! — People keep asking me how it feels: it's exactly like before being married, with the added bonus of having stood up before my friends and family on a beautiful day to tell them how much my husband and I love each other, and then having celebrated the event with them. In a word, awesome.
  2004-05-26 09:05:04
• Go Cambridge! — At midnight on Monday, May 17th, Cambridge City Hall began accepting notices of intent from same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses.
  2004-05-24 11:05:45
• Happy Desegregation Day —

  Brian writes:

  We were couple 243.

  Aaron and I have just returned from applying for one of the first fully legal same-sex marriages liceneses in the United States. The news coverage I've read so far barely captures the momentous sense of the scene at Cambridge City Hall last night and this morning -- the raw energy of the crowd, the excitement of the city officials as they worked all night, the spontaneous singing, the flamenco guitarist breaking into an acoustic version of Stairway to Heaven at 4am -- and I'd like to try to record my perspective for anyone interested.

  
  2004-05-17 19:44:29
• A guide to cvs on windows — I've had the amusing task, lately, of setting up a cvs (Concurrent Versioning System) client on a Windows 2000 Professional machine, to access repositories shared with other clients running Mac OS X. For the enlightenment of anyone out there trying to do something similar, here's what I've learned.
  2004-05-10 15:02:18
• Words — A walk through the dictionary, with help from the world wide web.
  2004-04-30 13:29:52
• Brought to You by the People Who Got So Offended at that Prospective MoveOn Ad Quoting Hitler — Anyone who still has doubts about the idols of the right might be interested to know that Bill O'Reilly and his guests are busy quoting Hitler these days. The question is, do they even realize it?
  2004-04-01 10:01:20
• Vindication of long-held suspicions is good for the ego — In which our hero discovers that his career objective, should he choose to stay in the becoming-hideous IT field, might best be summed up as "Mentat."
  2004-03-24 10:26:22
• The Stars' Tennis Balls — The location of our team at work has been changed. In fact, we're now in a different building altogether. Whenever the higher-ups have moved my office in the past, it's been a Bad Thing, so I'm worried.
  2004-03-22 15:32:16
• The Bush Christ — An examination of Bush's rapid and scary descent into Unio Mystica...
  2004-03-15 17:01:43
• My Career As A Hermit — Ah. Peace. Quiet. Solitude. No, I am not talking about the cottage. I am talking about a career as a professional hermit: a writer, a stay-at-home-dad and an online marketing geek.
  2004-03-03 16:49:51
• Exciting Times — As more officials around the country announce that they will start issuing marriage licenses, it's becoming clear that we can't go back from here. With powerful politicians too evil or terrified to back it, the tide of gay marriage is a true grass-roots movement, and I think it's only a matter of time until marriage rights are recognized across the whole country. Or we have a civil war. Either way.
  2004-03-03 13:27:53
• Kerry has stabbed us all in the heart — It's impossible to tell what his personal feelings on the matter may be, because his official opinion shifts with the polls, but I think his support for an anti-gay amendment to the Mass. Constitution will open a lot of eyes on the true left.
  2004-02-27 09:39:19
• Adventures in Hi Fi, continued — I just put together a stereo for the kitchen out of Rega, Naim, and Linn equipment I had sitting around. It's much better than I expected, and relatively cheap, too.
  2004-02-23 11:30:14
• The 52 Top SEO Tips – here are 10 of them — Here is some solid information webmasters can use to climb the search engine rankings. Those who wish to do so can still get good rankings that send targeted customers.
  2004-02-20 23:17:52
• Alternatives for Business Travelers — An article about accommodations for business travelers, especially alternatives to the traditional hotel stay.
  2004-02-20 23:11:24
• Gay Marriage Should Be The Biggest Election-Year Issue — Lots of talking heads, nominally on both sides of the issue, are shouting that gay marriage mustn't be a big issue this election year. They're on the wrong side of history.
  2004-02-17 09:05:18
• My Titanium Powerbook Battery Saga — Or, how a friend with a MacFixIt account turned me on to a scary way to save me the $130 it would have cost to buy a TiBook battery when mine suddenly failed
  2004-02-10 10:01:50
• A Different World — It's 4:50 PM. I'm sitting on my friend's patio in Tucson, copying pictures to the laptop from my flash card. There's a faint, summery smell of barbecue in the air; I can hear birds flitting about chirping, cars driving by, a chainsaw in the distance... And I wonder again: why is it that people think it's worth living in the northeast?
  2004-02-07 18:54:16
• The top underreported stories in this election year — What should we think when the major news media outlets seem unencumbered by their supposed role as protectors and watchdogs of the public, and are merely mouthpieces and PR representatives for the interests of the mega-corporations which own them?
  2004-01-27 12:29:01
• The roots of political division? — My new theory about people and their world-views, in which I think name-calling is very useful.
  2004-01-13 14:29:34
• An Absurd Asinuation: President Bush's Earpiece — Description of 12/15 Bush press conference and questions on 9/11 foreknowledge
  2003-12-22 02:38:09
• The End of Reason — The neoconservative movement seeks to end all rational debate by claiming sole ownership of an objective view of reality. Where do they get off?
  2003-12-19 12:15:49
• Verizon Wireless Is Evil - A Tale of Bad Customer Service and Phone Problems — I have a new theory about the failure of the U.S. to adopt the GSM mobile phone technology. It has nothing to do with infrastructure, and everything to do with greed.
  2003-12-18 15:26:23
• That's the Christmas spirit — : There are many good ways to keep the Christmas spirit alive all year. There are also some very poor ways to keep that spirit alive. (But aren't those the most fun?)
  2003-12-17 14:03:21
• The official "parenting" cheesecake recipe — Recipes look so easy on cooking shows and fancy cookbooks. But what if somebody wrote a recipe the way it was actually used?
  2003-12-04 16:48:12
• Tales from the Cubicle Farm — Wherein we learn what the makers of software like Turbine and Cocoon have to learn from Volvo
  2003-12-03 16:04:00
• Imagine — (with apologies to Lennon). Let's play turn the tables on our detestable Mormon guvner, and see where he stands.
  2003-11-20 08:57:51
• Take your bibles and thump them back home — Two words for the out-of-town bible thumpers who have been flooding Massachusetts for the past few years: go away.
  2003-11-20 08:47:35
• Massachusetts Fails Us Yet Again — The Massachusetts Supreme Court declined the opportunity to make civil rights history today, and chose the spineless, bigoted way out. I'm still waiting to save up the cash we need to leave this allegedly "liberal" state, and for the legislature to adopt a new state motto: "Less Progressive than Belgium!"
  2003-11-18 13:39:50
• New Music — I need to get motivated and start writing music again. To get into thinking-about-music mode, here I present what I've been finding stimulating lately.
  2003-10-27 19:35:19
• Muscle pain and children do not mix — This column is about pain. I guess that's what makes it so funny. Go ahead and read it to see what I mean.
  2003-10-22 12:24:24
• A "Taker" Searches for Happiness — There are two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. Takers eat very well, but givers sleep better at night. The Happy Guy discovers just how hard it is to be a giver.
  2003-09-17 16:09:11
• Self-Replicating Social Systems — Or, on the Nature of Society, and the Endless Struggle between Good and Evil
  2003-09-16 21:00:42
• The News Hour and Gay Marriage — I suppose I should be happy I watched the "News Hour with Jim Lehrer" coverage, and not, say, Fox "News" (not like I watch it, anyway), but still... I have a couple requests of conservatives and fundamentalist christians and catholics.
  2003-07-31 18:57:05
• Anyone Got Screws? — I'm searching for screws to attach Herman Miller Eames shell chairs (DAX, DSR, etc.) to their metal bases. Anyone got a source for these? Or just dimensions?
  2003-07-27 19:51:54
• They say you get back what you put out. I think that's a crock. — People continue to disappoint me on an almost daily basis. I don't think it's because I'm an inherently cynical person -- I think people are just irrational and untrustworthy and duplicitous. Some people, anyway. Intellectually, I know this. Why, then, doesn't my behavior reflect such knowledge?
  2003-07-25 13:28:11
• Prep School — This week, we got a visit from some friends of Rocky's, who were on their way to a Deerfield reunion. I have suddenly been struck by the very extrovert nature of nearly all the people I've ever met who went to a crusty prep school, including my own.
  2003-06-07 13:00:56
• The Armpit of Massachusetts — I'm sick of living here. Obnoxious little brats on the street get out of middle school and shout obscenities whilst beating one another up and vandalizing cars on the way home. Drunken hicks repeatedly key my car. I've got one word for all of this: Karma.
  2003-05-29 14:52:18
• The Most Subtext since Spiderman — X2, the second in the presumed X-Men trilogy, gives us a relativist, anti-authoritarian allegory that references both homosexuality and the Bush administration's War on Rights, while setting box-office records. What could be better for a summer blockbuster?
  2003-05-05 09:38:27
• Don't buy Apple laptops -- they might start fires — Rocky's 2nd "Pismo" power supply, three months out of warranty, shoots sparks. Apple won't replace it. Our exposure to PowerBook "reliability" has been unimpressive.
  2003-04-28 11:00:32
• Protesting II — On Saturday, March 30th we joined a mass of about 10,000+ people on the Boston Common to say "Hey, we're pissed off that people are being made to die in our name."
  2003-04-07 17:49:19
• Vinyl Roolz, Dudez! — I've been experiencing the frequent frustrations and rare pleasures of listening to good old vinyl records in a pretty serious way for about eight years now. After lots of futile attempts to banish irritating end-of-side distortion and dust bunnies, by happenstance and with the help of my boyfriend and internet strangers, I've finally stumbled into Nirvana.
  2003-03-21 17:48:16
• Protesting the War — On Saturday, February 15th, we go to the anti-war protest at Park Street in Boston. We conclude, to grossly generalize, that White People Are For The War, Black People Much Less So. Cabbies aren't at all.
  2003-03-04 11:49:42
• Midori at Symphony Hall — Saturday, February 15th, 2003, we heard Midori play the Sibelius concerto with the Boston Symphony. (Part two in my "catching up on overdue c75 content" series)
  2003-03-04 11:47:07
• More Fun with Computers — Shortly after I wrote the previous article, my PowerBook (G4 867, bought in November) hard drive began making the dreaded Grind of Death noise as I was checking my email. After much cursing, I come away with a surprising observation -- Apple customer support has amazingly fast turnaround times.
  2003-03-04 11:15:08
• I've Had It With Computers — OS X sucks. Everything else is worse. I don't want to spend my whole life squabbling with dumb machines just to make them work right. Time saving inventions my foot. Let's go back to slide rules.
  2003-01-16 09:28:25
• Thoughts on Aught Three — Indulge me for a bit of cliched speculation about what's coming in the new year, and what I'd like to see happen: I haven't been writing much, but there's a lot of nebulous stuff floating in my head that cries for the clarification that comes from writing it down.
  2003-01-02 15:40:01
• My Bad Roomate — From the series "Little Sublet of Horrors": a criminal moves in, and not even the FBI can get him out.
  2002-10-28 13:26:03
• google [heart] circa75.com — A much-maligned reranking by google rockets c75 to the top of the charts
  2002-10-09 16:24:46
• An Edward Buk Ulreich biography and timeline — Circa75.com presents an ongoing research project into the life of Eduard Buk Ulreich artist, painter, illustrator, and WPA muralist
  2002-10-02 14:25:38
• Fun with Walter — I never thought a termite inspection could be so invasive, making me feel naked and totally exposed to a complete stranger.  Walter, as he introduced himself, looked like a man fit to change tires at Wal-Mart.  He was sent to check my place for any return of the termites that had once eaten my walls and shit on my bed.  His inspection consisted of walking around looking at every inch of my personal living space with an oversized Maglight and his carefully trained eyes. 
  2002-09-10 10:02:04
• I'm pissed off. — I found a picture of myself sitting at my desk in my old employer's office. Shocking. I was a different person. Rather, I am a different person.
  2002-09-04 08:14:58
• Speaking of service... — Last week I was going to link up http://www.isobarik.circa75.com/ -- my new (well, six-month-old, really), all-singing, all-dancing java beta of the site. I did. The next morning I couldn't get to my server. A dramatic saga ensued.
  2002-08-21 07:44:07
• Subtext Friendly — Or, "I just saw Spiderman."
  2002-05-15 22:03:59
• We Make Great Waiters — Eavesdropping on a surprising conversation between some crusty old men
  2002-04-08 13:12:59
• Failings of Computer Science — I had a good basic education in CS, but it failed in one pretty central way, and, judging from all my experiences in the industry on the East Coast, the educations of my comrades (such as they were) were much, much worse.
  2002-04-02 16:53:40
• Previn and Gil Shaham at the BSO — Last night we attended a performance of Vaughan Williams' 5th Symphony and the Beethoven Violin Concerto with Andre Previn conducting and Gil Shaham soloing.
  2002-03-23 11:42:39
• The Indigo Girls — I would say "More lesbians than I've ever seen under one roof," if I hadn't been to see Margaret Cho at the Wang last Fall. (From the I've-been-meaning-to-post-this-for-three-months-now dept.)
  2002-03-02 09:27:32
• The Circa75 Index for February, 2002: DMOD — The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth
  2002-02-05 10:36:53
• Americans Like It Big — A foray into the dark underworld of the warehouse store shopping experience
  2002-02-04 16:43:22
• Funny coincidences — So plastered over every Boston news rag this morning is how this gym worker gave social security and credit card numbers of customers to "terrorists." Guess what gym worker filled out the paperwork when I joined Bally's...
  2002-01-31 15:02:26
• Gosford Park — Good acting. A good cast, doing more than resting on their laurels. It's like we've travelled back in time to 1992!
  2002-01-14 11:36:17
• In the Bedroom — At the movies, preciousness is, unlike in "The Phantom Menace," only a temporary evil, relieved by bloodshed.
  2002-01-13 14:53:59
• The c75 restaurant guide: Davis Square, Porter Square and beyond — Circa75 reviews our favorite and not-so-favorite restaurants in Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston.
  2002-01-09 07:51:15
• Having a Happy Life — I always wonder whether there are people who are capable of just viciously rearranging everything in their lives until they're perfect.
  2002-01-08 15:06:30
• It's a frightening time to be a pacifist — Or even someone who can simply view the actions of diverse political groups through the same lens.
  2001-09-17 16:35:41
• In search of competence — Why is it that incompetence flourishes? I live in what many people would term the intellectual capital of the U.S., yet everywhere I turn I encounter people who appear to be basically incapable of doing their jobs.
  
  2001-06-07 17:00:40
• Introduction to Good Web Design — or, how little professionals really know about design, usability, and fitness-to-purpose.
  2001-04-23 11:06:59
• Another Reason Not to Support Monopolies — I had this weird display issue, peculiar to IE running on Windows, with a web site I was working on. I had lots of fun tracking it down.
  2001-04-20 10:22:57
• Jerking Off for Fun and Profit — Adventures in the wild world of anonymous sperm donation
  2001-03-23 12:03:44
• Bigots bigots everywhere, and not a one can think — There are days when politics piss me off. There are days when work irks me. There are days when it seems like the world's out to get you. And then there are days like this.
  2001-03-23 11:04:58
• The Gay Tax — My adventures in getting domestic partner health benefits at work
  2001-02-23 14:39:28
• The Wide World of Fat Chicks in Armor and Horns — A friend recently asked for some suggestions for getting into the whole classical music thang via recordings. I wrote up my reply in an email, and Rocky suggested it would make a good article, so here it is -- my suggestions for starting to listen to classical.
  2001-02-22 15:55:18
• The Vacantly Smiling old Fart Memorial Send-off (2001-01-24 12:38:31)
• Ideological Differences — From the series "The Hypocrisy of Contemporary Republicanism in America"
  2001-01-18 16:49:32

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