Month: May 2011

James D. Schwartz breaks some more bad news:

500 hours a year – or 2 hours each day – is roughly the equivalent to what the average American worker will work in order to pay for their cars (the average is between 1.46 hour/day and 2.22 hours/day depending on which data is used). This is a substantial amount of time and cost in order to have the “freedom”, or as I like to call it “imprisonment” of automobile ownership.

Lloyd Alter checks Schwartz's math. The Economist exposes the underlying infrastructure problem:

The system is awash with perverse incentives. A state using road-pricing to limit travel and congestion would be punished for its efforts with reduced funding, whereas one that built highways it could not afford to maintain would receive a larger allocation.

The story that Scott Horton wrote last year has just won the National Magazine Award for Reporting. Maybe now, the Obama administration will allow a full and thorough and independent inquiry into the mysterious deaths at the US torture and detention camp in Cuba. More here and here.

Congrats, Scott. Now can we get to the bottom of this?

Almost two months into the conflict, Daniel Larison predicts the Libyan War will be "declared a failure":

Because the stakes are so very high for Gaddafi and remarkably low for the intervening governments, it is hard to see why he is going to yield first. The reality is that non-U.S. allies do not seem to be prepared politically or militarily to outlast him, and the U.S. is appropriately unwilling to increase its involvement in a war that was at best of tangential concern to America all along.

But this morning, CJ Chivers reports on some modest advances by the rebels. This scene does not bode well for Qaddafi:

Signs of an enemy in disarray were evident in Misurata as the rebels moved west — abandoned green uniforms, abandoned food and houses along the road with interiors full of human waste, as if the Qaddafi soldiers, under threat of air attack, had been afraid to venture outside.

Inside the shattered ruins of one compound, a petting zoo and poultry-breeding center, the unburied body of a Qaddafi soldier, at least several days old, was sprawled face down on the ground not far from a rotting ostrich, still in its cage.

(Photo: A rebel fighter celebrates as his comrades fire a rocket barrage toward the positions of troops loyal to Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi April 14, 2011 west of Ajdabiyah, Libya. Rebels exchanged artillery and rocket fire with loyalist troops west of Ajdabiyah April 14 as the confict engulfing Libya continued. By the late Chris Hondros/Getty Images.)

Nate Silver thinks the punters are under-estimating the long term political impact of killing Osama bin Laden.

Camille Dodero profiles men who like big women:

Fat Admirers (FA) have historically adopted queer nomenclature for their self-discovery stages and preferences. Men who openly pursue, prefer, and date fat women are “out.” Men who like fat women but more or less hide them from friends and family are “closeted.” Men who say they like both skinny and supersize women ones are “bisizuals,” a controversial term that’s regarded as disingenuous in various online circles.

A reader writes:

Of course it's heterophobic if that one fact is all you consider about congressman Schock. However, how many straight American men do you know who would be caught dead wearing a bright turquoise cloth belt with bright white jeans and a fuchsia plaid shirt?

You may have a point there.

Elizabeth Roberts explores the creepy world of pre-19th century barbers, who "treated and extracted teeth, branded slaves, created ritual tattoos or scars, cut out gallstones and hangnails, set fractures, gave enemas, and lanced abscesses." And of course, provided your annual bloodletting:

Bleeding was done for a number of reasons, but the basis of the ideas was that by letting out the bad or morbid blood in the body, it would be replaced by fresh healthy blood. Bleeding of patients was done in many ways, including cupping and using leeches, but the most common was cutting a patient’s vein and letting the blood flow into a small basin.

As bleeding became one of the main responsibilities of the barbers, they came to signify their presence in the marketplace with a red and white striped pole, the colors reminiscent of the blood and rags used in bloodletting. This pole was usually capped with a small basin, used to symbolize the vessel with which they would collect the blood. Later, barbers placed bowls of blood in their shop windows, to indicate that they performed bloodletting services.

Ad Vingerhoets asks:

To be honest, I think it is rather difficult to fake crying, but what some can do rather easily (including myself) is induce crying in themselves by thinking on a specific event, that they know will easily bring tears to their eyes. That means that people may cry “real” tears, but actually for a different reason than the situation they are in.

A reader in the movie industry writes:

Judd Apatow’s “populism” is known as “the way we do business around here”.  Sure, some filmmakers are more receptive than others (I don’t know Judd and can’t attest to his actual attitude toward test screenings – “recruits” as they are called because the audience is recruited per age, gender, racial, and films seen quotas), but all movies are tested, often side by side, especially if there are two potential endings, etc. This populism is nothing more than a necessary expression/process of the money side of the art vs. commerce equation. 

I love movies for the very reason that they are part art and part commerce.  Sure, part of me winces if a beautiful artistic scene/dialogue/image is altered by the reaction of the general audiences, but as I always say, if you pony up the millions for production, marketing, and distribution, be my guest to release your “art”, regardless of the public’s take on it.  Until then, don’t be a dick; test your damn movie.

Some movies are recruited only once, but others might go through the wringer up to six times. In my eight years of doing this work, I can honestly say that EVERY movie benefits from a recruit.  Sure, we get cocky filmmakers that think their baby is perfect and shouldn’t conform to what the unwashed masses think – and they can range from the indie director to the first time lucky-bastard director – but if it’s good enough for Scorsese, it’s good enough for anyone.

A reader writes:

My apartment is a few blocks south of the WTC site. I've lived in NYC since May 2001. I've been in this apartment since 2005 and been able to watch the progress of the construction. As you probably already know, they planted the first crop of trees for the Memorial park this past winter. Those trees have started to bloom. I glanced out my window this evening to see them catching the light from the sunset. The moment struck me, so I decided to capture it in the attached photo. Given the events of the week, I suppose I found a bit of poetry in the scene. I hope you enjoy it.

Below is a very recent photo of the emerging Freedom Tower:

(By Flickr user NadiaMac)