What Margaret Mead should have said

Everyone's heard this quote: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

She should have said this: "Never doubt that changing the world requires hard work, setback, frustration, and anger. Indeed, those forces applied over too long a time are the only thing that ever has."

Nowhere near as catchy, but she probably could have said it more eloquently.

Seriously though, she didn't mean your drum circle has to visualize world peace, people.

Goodbye George, we'll miss you

This is great. Choice quote: "Not every ejaculation deserves a name."

Bed Stuy, I love you but you're bringing me down

Only the first part of that really applies, but I had to finish the LCD Soundsystem reference. :)

Exhibit A: Bergemann in her birthday girl hat

Phew, back in Denver after a whirlwind tour of the Right Coast. Meetings in Boston followed by hanging w/ the C-Berg in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. Big ups to Bergemann for showin' a guy a great time, and not even making him sleep in the streets at the end of the day!

Highlights:

1. Getting a citation for drinking beer on Crystal's stoop the first day I get there. Bad. Ass.
2. All the food! We had Mexican, Japanese, Indian, Polish, Cuban, Italian (OK, it was pizza, but it came free with the beer at the Crocodile Lounge, so shut up), Chinese, and cookie dough. Mmm... cookie dough.
3. New York. What a spectacular place. There's 25 things that are unique and great hidden on every city block. Gotta find 'em all!
4. People. Not only did John Harris come down and hang with us a bit (always a good time), but I also got to meet lots of Crystal's New York friends and one of Dan's high school friends. Good peeps to a (wo)man. As if that wasn't enough, Drew and John came down on Friday and made us drink an unintelligent amount. It's our ranch, and it's our home.
5. Crystal. One of the nicest, most fun, most willing to eat cookie dough in raw form girls I know. You rock, Bergemann.

Lowlights:

1. Getting a citation for drinking beer on Crystal's stoop. Which means it's now more problematic to drink beers on Crystal's stoop, which would be the worst tragedy ever to befall New York if 9/11 hadn't, you know, mainly happened there.
2. Not still being there.

Here's to August, a.k.a. the Triumphant Return.

Knocking On People's Doors, Which I Don't Know If I Agree With

A conversation I'm overhearing (and liveblogging) in a coffee shop in Brooklyn between the barista and some customers:

"What did you do this weekend?"
"I went to Philly, did a little campaigning."
"Oh, for the B-Rock?"
"Yeah. I've never done it before."
"What does that entail?"
"Knocking on people's doors, which I don't know if I agree with, personally. It's a bit intrusive."
"Yeah..."
"Because politics is SO sensitive, especially in this race."

We need to change this attitude. I'm willing to bet (nay, guarantee) that it's the dominant one in this country today. Don't get me wrong, it's great that Obama is turning people out to canvass who have never done it before in states they don't even live in. That r0x0rs. Go B-Rock.

BUT! If we're going to take social change to the masses, then regular people need to start feeling comfortable with interacting with other people face-to-face about politics. I think there are two components to this:

1. The annoying salesman problem: Knocking on strangers' doors because you agreed to when asked by someone else to do it (whether for money or altruism or anything in between) immediately evokes the vacuum salesman frame. We should try to shift this to a "meet new people" or "explore and discover new places" frame. White people eat that shit up. "I was back-packing neighborhoods in Philly." Response from all white people in the room: "Wow!" Not that I think minorities wouldn't / couldn't / shouldn't participate. I'm just speaking for my fellow honkies.
2. The religion and politics problem: You know, the only two things you don't bring up in polite company. This one is actually fascinating to me, because one of the things I studied heavily in college was how the evangelical Christianity movement in the U.S. had made Christianity into a totally individualistic religion. It's about whether or not you are saved, how your relationship with Jesus is, etc. It wasn't always like that. So it's ironic that the two "private" topics in this country are religion and politics. Not that that leads to a way out of this frame, I just think it's interesting.

New Orleans

Last week I was in New Orleans for a conference. It was my first time there and I have to say, I was impressed. I'd heard a lot about how great it was, some from people I trust and some from people I don't. Either way, the potential for overhype was great and I was ready for a let down.

Nope. It's sweet.

Remember right after Hurricane Katrina hit and lots of people were saying things like, "They should just pack up and move New Orleans. It's ridiculous to rebuild it." No one who's ever been there would say that. I don't care if we have to build a glass dome over it because global warming makes killer hurricanes run rampant. New Orleans is a national treasure.

Seriously, it's like a white liberal paradise. Culture! Non-threatening minorities! Food! Music! Corner shops, bars, and restaurants where you can find all four! I wanna go back.

Yes, I'm a Philistine

The second opener was better than the headliner and Across the Universe is a great movie if you've loved and lost and had 5 beers.

Fail.

Funny cuz it's...

true.

Hombres Necios

This almost makes me wish I had caucused for Clinton instead of Obama.

We've all heard those polls that say Obama beats McCain in the general but McCain and Clinton are tied, right? According to this article, the lion's share of that difference is men. They'll vote for Obama for President, but as soon as you swap him out for Hillary Clinton, they vote for McCain. WTF? Not shocking, but annoying as hell.

You'll also notice in the article that there is no corresponding shift among women voters between Clinton and Obama in the general election. A voting bloc that makes up 51% of the population who has never had a member of their group in the White House supports both candidates about equally. God forbid we cede our 200+ year political winning streak to these subversives.

I'd like to take this opportunity to, once again, apologize for the stupidity of my gender.

Three Way

Not long ago in a bar not very far away, a funny thing happened. You see, I was chillaxing with a couple of charming ladies whom I think are approximately 14x cooler than me. So far so good, right? Well, one of them, let's call her "Elana," was intrigued that I had one of these "blog" things. After I explained things a bit, her keen intellect grasped the opportunity before her. Before I knew it, she had offered to triple my revenue by joining forces and guest blogging on the Toaster. The other girl, we'll call her "Meshawn," agreed to be in on the action. Meanwhile I'm multiplying zero times three in my head.

So, ladies, I've sent you your invitations. Let's see what you've got. Elana & Meshawn, time to pony up. I think my entire fanbase would agree that the world is awaiting your debuts in the blogosphere with baited breath.

Caucusing instead

Tonight I caucased for Obama and said goodbye to a girl I'm a big fan of. I spent more time with Obama. He better not fuck me on this. Right now I'm drinking at Precinct 533's favorite bar, Gabor's. So here's to bad timing and may it leave me be.

Screwed by Bad Timing

Sunday Blues again. Tonight I'm worrying that I don't invest myself enough in my friends. Like maybe they think I'm kinda "meh" about them sometimes. Hopefully some of them know that's not the case, I'm just good at being my dad (biodad). So I've been reading all of their blogs and re-realizing how cool they all are. I'm thinking about something else too, but not yet ready to blog about it.

Anyway, here are some shout-outs to some of my friends who might read this (in no particular order):

• Dan: I miss you buddy. You've only been gone for the weekend, but I've been wishing you'd been here the whole time. Everything's less fun when you're not around.
• Crystal: I hope you move to Denver. I feel like you and I are kinda similar in that we make people work at getting under our thick skins. I'll show you mine if you show me yours. ;)
• Drew: You should also move to Denver, though I feel like that's a more remote possibility, so I'll content myself w/ regular visits. My favorite thing about you is that you're less afraid to wear your fears on your sleeve than I am. I'm jealous of that.
• Will: I like that we've reached a point in our friendship where we can cuss each other out in a totally joking manner, but still reveal just enough biting truth that it keeps us from getting too full of ourselves. I hope you know that I respect and admire your opinion. I'm not always good at making that apparent in the moment.
• Mari: I think you and I have a funny friendship where we make subtle gestures to remind each other that we're BFF but otherwise play it cool. So here, I'm making it official: You're one of my favorite people ever and I love you like a sister.
• Shelley: I sometimes worry that you don't realize how smart and kick-ass you are. Srsly. Both personally and professionally, you have your shit so together it makes me feel like a huge slacker sometimes.

Perhaps obviously, I could post one of these for each of my friends (and family, for that matter). But I think that's the bulk of my readership on here (thanks for sticking w/ me through the dry spells). If you run across this post and feel sad because you're not mentioned above, let me know and I'll add yours to the list.

Political Journalism an oxymoron?

Here is a very interesting article on political journalism and why it sucks so badly. "Yawn," you may be thinking, "I've read that one before. Several times." You're potentially right, but give this one a go.

The point, once it gets there, is that political journalism shouldn't focus on who is going to win, but on who should win. An excerpt from the end of the article:

"[T]he job of the campaign press is not to preempt the voters' decision by asking endlessly, and predicting constantly, who's going to win. The job is to make certain that what needs to be discussed will be discussed in time to make a difference - and then report on that."

Damn skippy. The article starts out by claiming that the media is a mindless beast that does horse race political coverage because that's what everyone else does. It then starts to make the case that "expertise" in this field (namely, predicting political outcomes determined by voters) is dubious at best. This dovetails interestingly with a book I read recently called Super Crunchers that pretty much debunks all form of human "expertise" where it concerns analyzing data and making predictions based on that (and instead claims that machines can make much more accurate predictions, so we should let them do the predicting while we spend our brain cells on more creative, humany things like imagining what else we could have machines predict for us).

Combining these two perspectives, one could make the case that not only is horse race political journalism bad for democracy (in the sense that it pretends to predict outcomes but actually ends up unduly influencing them), but it's also a job much better left to number crunchers than so-called political "experts" who are terrible at it anyway. How many points was Obama supposed to win NH by, again? That would then free up real journalists to cover real issues and where candidates stand on them. Imagine that.

Morey Middle School is a Drug-Free Zone

1,000 words, indeed.

uncov = douche

I recently put uncov into my feed reader at the suggestion of some friends. I found it mildly humorous at times. But seriously, homeboy is a douchebag that mostly pisses me off. So I'm calling it: uncov = fail.

Apparently at uncov it's a rant-worthy occurrence when a woman blogs about programming but not über-geekily enough for Ted's liking. Lame post here.

Keep churning out those oh-so-clever "LOLZ!!!1! FALE!!!!one!!" Photoshop abortions, gang!

Possible Explanation for Clinton's Victory in New Hampshire?

Apparently in counties where hand-counting was used, Obama won. Guess what brand of voting machines the other counties use? More info available here:
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/10/1635225

Denver election results

As I'm about to go to bed at 10 minutes until 3:00am on Election Day (technically the morning after), the local news sites are abuzz with the news that the Denver Police (including the SWAT team) have been called in to help count. Apparently, the turnout in Denver was around 47%. To put this in perspective, the last time the turnout was just barley above 40% was when a critical tax measure was on the ballot (in 2005, Referenda C & D were the hot button issues on the ballot all over the state as they proposed to temporarily overturn the Libertarian-foolishness that is TABOR). The conventional wisdom was that this election would have a turnout between 30 and 35%. Not even close.

This turnout is remarkably higher than anything those in the "know" were expecting for our fair city. Why?

I have some theories. First, I think the youth vote (18 - 35) will have played a big role in this election. Secondly, I think every age demographic has turned out more than the pundits expected. The reason being that they wanted to vote for the mayor's civic improvement initiatives (A-I). These common sense property tax increases (which amount to peanuts for Denver property owners) will enable our city to stop being penny-wise and pound-foolish and actually keep our civic infrastructure (museums, libraries, cultural facilities, etc.) up to snuff. Mayor Hickenlooper rules. Funny name, serious mayor.

So the verdict will be (you heard it here first) that young people care about their beloved Denver and that everyone in this fair city wants to see it blossom. This is what democracy looks like.

I <3 Trains...

...and so do all of you, apparently. (If by "all of you" I mean the 4 people who regularly read/comment on my blog + the random interlopers I recruited w/ my direct e-mail campaign.)

It seems like the train idea is the big winner overall for birthday ideas. I couldn't be happier about that outcome. I was afraid everyone would shoot that down since I kinda assume I'm the only "train buff" in the group. Usually train buffs (don't you love that term?) are retired old men who play with model trains in their garage. Oh to dream.

However, there's a fly in our double steel railed ointment: The scenic trains in Colorado are amazing, popular, and thus not cheap. The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (the crème de la crème of scenic trains, IMHO) costs $65 a pop. Now, I would happily pay this again and again to ride this train round trip from Durango to Silverton through one of the most beautiful parts of the generally not-ugly Centennial State. I realize, though, that this may be a little rich for some others' blood. (Or am I, yet again, underestimating the extent of everyone's closeted train buffiness?)

There are cheaper options too. Such as the Royal Gorge Railroad, which while not a steam train, still looks wicked awesome. It costs $30 per person. Sadly the Georgetown Loop Railroad is closed for maintenance, or that would be an excellent option. It's close to Denver and a steam train.

OMGWTFLOLZBBQ!!1!!one!1! I just went to the Georgetown Loop site, and it's running again! w00t! This train costs $20 per person. If we're planning to go on Saturday, October 6 (which seems like the best option) we should probably book our tickets now. And hey, if we get 20+ people to come, there are group rates! ;) I think we found a winner.

What do you guys n' gals think?

3 Cubed

On the fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand, nine hundred and eighty, a baby boy was born. That boy had a destiny. But on the way to that destiny, he would turn 27. 3³. And this semi-momentous day would occur on October 5th, 2007. Hey, that's not so far away.

So here's the deal, fools. I'm turning 27 on October 5, and you need to be there. If you live within 800 miles of Denver, then there's no excuse. If you live further than that, then there's only a partial excuse^*.

There have been a few ideas batted around for the celebration of this awesome day (some would call it a "milestone"). Here they are in no particular order:

1. Random meats served at the local Brazilian meatery. I eat meat every year on my birthday, and this place has the best of the best (we're talking rattlesnake sausage here kids). It's $38 / person, but you get a red-light/green-light indicator at your table. As long as that pooch is green, you're getting some more meat.
2. 13th Ave. pub crawl. This would entail starting at Pints at 13th & Cherokee and working our way east to Wyman's No. 5 at 13th & Vine. One. Epic. Night. of Drinking.
3. Ft. Collins brewery tours followed by Coopersmith's for dinner. If you've been there, you know.
4. Sushi!
5. Train adventure in the mountains. The Royal Gorge, the Georgetown Loop, the Durango & Silverton Narrowgauge. I don't care, I love 'em all. But a kiss (on the mouth) for anyone who hooks up the steam loco action. Followed by boozing at ye olde mountainous pub.
6. Other (please comment).

Please cleave a comment indicating which party option you prefer. I may or may not take your views into consideration.

^*The partial excuse entails the following caveat: In the event of non-attendance of my 27th birthday, I reserve the right to hold your non-attendance against you indefinitely. For example, if you are invited to Denver at some point in the future but attempt to bail out, I may say something akin to the following: "But you missed my... *sniff*... birthday. (cue puppy dog eyes)" Yeah, that's right. The eyes'll getcha every time.

Kurzweil's brain

Back in college (I know, yawn) I took a class about the broader moral and ethical implications of my chosen field (Computer Science, shockingly). A large section of it was about the future of computer science and what ethical issues we would face if someday we were able to create human (or superhuman) artificial intelligence, for example. During this part of the class, we read several essays written by Ray Kurzweil. The musically-inclined among you may recognize that as a brand name for synthesizers. That's the same guy.

When not inventing synthesizers, Dr. Kurzweil writes about what the future may look like if we continue on our present explosive growth of technology track (not in a pessimistic way, but the things he predicts are pretty wild, so you could interpret some of it in a dystopian fashion if you were so inclined).

I remember one of his most interesting essays that we read was about the nature of the human mind. The idea was that your mind was the software that makes you you and this "You" program runs on your brain (like Mozilla Firefox runs on your computer). Starting from that premise, he says that it's not that crazy to think we could build a little computer chip that mimicked the behavior of a single neuron. They are, after all, relatively simple in and of themselves. You could then take one of these synthetic neuro-chip doo dads and have a brain surgeon replace one of the neurons in your brain with it. Assuming it did its job, you probably wouldn't notice anything weird. You'd go right on thinking and feeling like you were you.

But then suppose the brain surgeon didn't stop there and just kept right on replacing your neurons with synthetic ones. Would you notice a change at any point? In theory, replacing them one at a time, you could even stay conscious throughout the procedure. Eventually, your whole brain would be made up of synthetic neurons. You'd have a computer brain. You could then upgrade that brain w/ more or faster synthetic neurons or copy the "software" (you) onto a different computer (possibly faster, more powerful one).

So then you have some interesting questions to ask at that point. What makes you, you? If you were able to augment your brain to make it faster, able to store more memories, or more accurate memories, would that mean you were no longer human at some level? What about an AI that is as smart (or smater than) a human that we created ourselves? Should it be afforded the same rights that a human would be? After all, if you were to put your mind onto a computer, you'd probably still want basic human rights like it being illegal to pull the plug on you or install Windows on you. ;)

Anyway, my friend Emily and I were discussing these things while I was staying with her in Chicago. I think it kinda freaked her out. Sorry, Emily! :) I found this site, which has all kinds of fun things to make you afraid of what the world might be like by the middle of this century. Just kidding, sorta.

And no, this didn't come up because I'm in Boulder right now. The contact high isn't that good.