conversated and perpetrated by David Ham.

Christopher Hitchens Submits to Waterboarding

Having written a piece for Slate that drew distinctions between "torture" and "extreme interrogation", and having gotten a lot of flak for it, Christopher Hitchens agreed to submit to waterboarding. The title of his piece about the experience for Vanity Fair summarizes his conclusion.

I was completely convinced that, when the water pressure had become intolerable, I had firmly uttered the pre-determined code word that would cause it to cease. But my interrogator told me that, rather to his surprise, I had not spoken a word. I had activated the "dead man's handle" that signaled the onset of unconsciousness. So now I have to wonder about the role of false memory and delusion. What I do recall clearly, though, is a hard finger feeling for my solar plexus as the water was being poured. What was that for? "That's to find out if you are trying to cheat, and timing your breathing to the doses. If you try that, we can outsmart you. We have all kinds of enhancements."

Via BB.

How Safe Marriage Must Feel, With Guardians Like These

This week, some Republican Senators reintroduced the Federal Marriage Amendment, which, of course, "protects" the institution by making it illegal for gay couples to marry. But check out who's sponsoring it:

But the funny part is looking over the list of the 10 original sponsors. Most of the names are predictable — Brownback and Inhofe, for example — but there are two others whose names stand out: Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho).

Yes, two of the principal sponsors of a constitutional amendment to “protect” marriage include one far-right Republican who hired prostitutes and another far-right Republican who was arrested for soliciting gay sex an airport men’s room.

Via TPM.

Finally, War Crimes Prosecutions for Iraq

Boris Johnson, recently elected mayor of London, describes his impending prosecution for war crimes in Iraq.

Is it Bush or Rumsfeld or Cheney? Have they found a member of the American administration to take the rap for the disgusting scenes in Abu Ghraib?

Is it Blair, brought to book after the Commons failed to impeach him? Is it Alastair Campbell, unrepentant sexer-up of the dodgy dossier? No, my friends, we are not so lucky. None of the major players is going to be arraigned for the Iraq disaster, and the long arm of the law is instead reaching out - incredibly - for me.

I am informed by my friends in the Metropolitan Police that I am shortly to become the one and only Western politician to be brought to justice for crimes committed in Iraq. My transgression? I have somewhere in my possession a cigar case that once belonged to Tariq Aziz.

Via MeFi.

Brand New Worlds To Conquer

Gruber posits--correctly, I think--that the big story of today's iPhone 3G launch is the iPhone/iPod Touch platform. But bigger than this, I think, is that Apple is getting better and better at presenting everything they make as part of a platform.

Look at the iPod. It's not just a device, and never was: it is, broadly, how digital music works. (As an aside, I am always impressed to look back at things Apple does and see what a long view they have. For example, iTunes, the Mac application, was released in January 2001; the first iPod wasn't released until nine months later.) By itself, the iPod would have been problematic, like it was for all the other MP3 players of the day; you'd have to get the music off the CDs, store it on your computer in some way, and handle sync to the device. But at Apple, design is how it works. You're not buying shiny-new-device, for its own sake; you're buying listening-to-digital-music. iPod is actually iTunes + iPod + iTunes Store.

The AppleTV is a platform that has been slower out of the gate, and is still beset by some problems, but that could yet become a success. The platform they're aiming at here is enjoying-digital-video. It's more difficult because movie and TV files are gigantic, even with today's ever bigger and cheaper hard drives, and thus harder to store, download, and transport. But as a way of buying, watching, and storing movies, iTunes + AppleTV + Mac is not such a bad way to go. The only thing keeping me from buying it is price and selection--I get more from my $13.99 Netflix account, in selection and quantity, than I could from iTunes. But they could add movies, get the studios to agree to lower prices (*cough*) or open up the AppleTV--an API that would talk to Netflix or Blockbuster, say--and bring me into the fold.

And now there is MobileMe. Despite its unfortunate branding, this is a much better value than mac.com/dotMac ever was, and a more compelling platform. If you think of it in the terms of its predecessors--it's online access to all your stuff!--it may not seem like a big step up. But if you look at it as a platform, it's a good bit more attractive. It's All-My-Computer-Crap-In-One-Place. With the introduction of two key features, push sync and Exchange support, you now have, on your phone:

• a phone
• all your contact info
• your music and TV shows
• your home and work calendars
• your home and work email
• your photos
• all your Web bookmarks, and a browser to view them in

All synched automagically. And that's just the AMCCIOP stuff--that's not even counting all the video games and Google maps with GPS and new App Store gewgaws.

With today's new offerings, Apple now has a music platform(iPod/iTunes), a video platform (don't laugh, AppleTV could be big and strong one day!), and an everything-else platform, which is the Mac itself.

And what about the Windows machine at work? You can access your MobileMe apps through Windows Safari (released, what, a year ago?), your documents through MS Office for Mac or Apple's own iWork apps, and now your work email and calendar through your iPhone. The tectonic plates for a work platform are drifting inexorably together.

Tom Waits Press Conference

Via MeFi.

The One That Got Away

Last night, biologist PZ Myers tried to attend a screening of Expelled, a creationism propaganda film. Myers and Richard Dawkins appear in the film, and both have criticized it, saying they were duped into appearing in the film and were told that it would be entitled "Crossroads" and would be a debate on creationism vs. Darwinism. More in this thread at MeFi.

Anyway:

I was standing in line, hadn't even gotten to the point where I had to sign in and show ID, and a policeman pulled me out of line and told me I could not go in. I asked why, of course, and he said that a producer of the film had specifically instructed him that I was not to be allowed to attend. The officer also told me that if I tried to go in, I would be arrested. I assured him that I wasn't going to cause any trouble.

I went back to my family and talked with them for a while, and then the officer came back with a theater manager, and I was told that not only wasn't I allowed in, but I had to leave the premises immediately. Like right that instant.

I complied.

They did, however, allow his wife, daughter, and guest to attend the film. His guest was Richard Dawkins.

Via DF.

Star Wars by Saul Bass

Star Wars opening credits, if Saul Bass had done them.

Via kottke.

Operation Chinese Fire Drill

Wired's Danger Room blog is having a contest to name the government's operation to shoot down this supposedly bunk satellite. I read about it at BB and thought their connection to last year's incident of the Chinese shooting down one of their own satellites was apt. I submitted the above title as my entry--vote me in and I'll let you ride the pony I'm expecting to win.

Adam Howell on Pixish and Spec Work

Adam Howell also dislikes Pixish's promotion of spec work, and so does the AIGA.

Via DF.

Derek Powazek Launches Pixish

Derek Powazek has launched Pixish, a new site for bringing together artists and people or businesses who need art. The setup is apparently this: Publishers or businesses create a project for which they need art, and set a deadline and offer a prize or payment. The community votes on which is the best piece, similar to how Threadless works, and the publisher/client chooses one and awards the prize to the winner.

It's a great looking site, and Mr. Powazek has built several successful online creative communities in the past (you might say he wrote the book on the subject). I'm not sure about this one. Not being an art-creating person myself, I can't speak to this personally, but I don't know if I'd like the idea if I were. A cardinal rule as a designer is don't do spec work, don't give away free creative, and it seems to me that's what this encourages. Publishers get to see a lot of free work, and artists hope their piece can stand out among the dozens or hundreds of entries for the same project. I'll be curious to see how the site works in practice, but if I were an artist, I think I'd want a community that set the scales to benefit me as much as the clients.

That said, I know Mr. Powazek's heart is in the right place, and it's a great looking site. It's clear and friendly--I've already expended many more words in describing it than they themselves needed. Check out Derek's post about how Pixish happened and then go and get yourself a Pixish account and try it out.

Love the name BTW.

Obama Speech on Religion and Politics

Here is the keynote address Obama delivered to the Call to Renewal"Building a Covenant for a New America" conference, from June 2006. It's from long before the campaign began, so it doesn't have the music his speeches from the campaign have had. It is nonetheless a thoughtful and compelling speech about how progressives can find common ground with people of faith.

Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values. It requires that their proposals be subject to argument, and amenable to reason. I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.

Here's a transcript.

Via MeFi

Romney Bails

For the first time ever, I can't wait to watch Fox News--I can't wait to see how they handle the reality that Romney has left the building. The right wing commentariat (to borrow Tim Russert's coinage) can't stand McCain, but they also can't seem to take Huckabee seriously, as well they should not). It'll be interesting to see which happens first: McCain making some kind of symbolic overture to the hard right, like a speech at Bob Jones University; or the Limbaughs of the right eating shit and coming out for McCain. I hope it's the latter, and again, I can't wait.

Videotape

Thom Yorke sings "Videotape" from In Rainbows.

Via Monoscope.

Dean Kamen's Luke Arm

Dean Kamen, most widely known for inventing the Segway, is working on a prosthetic arm inspired by the one Luke had in the Star Wars films. I saw a video of Kamen's presentation at TED a little while back. It's a great talk--he describes what the man from DARPA asked for (the arm is being designed under a DoD contract for use by returning veterans with amputated limbs), and he remembers being incredulous and doubtful that it could be done, but the kind of language he uses to describe the design problem hints at how much he was already thinking about it.

Here is a video of a tester of the arm, whose lost both arms at the shoulder 26 years ago. He picks up car keys, stacks cups, and drinks from a stemware glass. Video

Via Make.

Lessig video on why he supports Obama

Larry Lessig has an excellent video describing why he supports Obama. I found it interesting that he addressed the fact that there are very minor, if any, policy differences between Obama and Clinton, and dismissed it, in the first few minutes. He spends the rest of the 20 minute video describing character differences.

Lessig also supports Obama for his specific policy positions, as he describes in this post from last November.

If you liked Obama's speeches but weren't sure if it was reason enough to vote for him (this was my situation), check out both posts.

Via Waxy and MeFi.