Foo 2.3

Foo 2.2

Camel, 3 pm.

David did a thorough job of covering our session here. We probably should have maintained some more control so things were more structured, but there's something just unnatural about maintaing control while talking about a campaign that's not about control. If that makes any sense.

Can you tell I got less than five hours sleep?

Foo 2.1

Most frequently heard comment at Foo Camp: "I have no idea what I'm doing here—everyone here is so much smarter than me."

It's pretty damn cool to be around 200 people who're all thinking that.

Foo 1.1

Why we love 'Making Light'

Sorry to bother you, but could someone with a solid knowledge of German either confirm or deny that the word losung means “password”, “fewmet”, and “scriptural text”?

Button for Dean

Food porn

Foo!

It looks like someone let the cat out of the bag, so I guess we can mention now that we'll be spending the weekend at Foo Camp. It looks like it'll be a blast with lots of thought-provoking content and people.

One gripe for the O'Reilly people: how come your directions page only lists how to get there from the south and east? I can understand skipping west (the campus is close to the coast) but there's some of us who do live north of y'all.

Also going: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Mentioning but not going: 1, 2. Anyone else?

Clark: Not Ready to Run?

We watched much of the Democratic candidates debate last night. Thanks to the wonders of ReplayTV, we got to skip the dull or foolish parts, which would be, respectively, pretty much any time that Lieberman or Kucinich were talking. I mostly watched what Clark, Dean, Edwards, and Kerry said, as these are the candidates that I would prefer. I was especially interested in Clark, because I haven't seen him speak much. And from what I saw, he may have been a general, but he's not ready for the majors. Last night, he didn't handle his opponent's attacks that well, and his own positions were nothing to write home about.

I want to like him, and I recognize that he's a smart, sincere public servant. But as I said to Dori, "This guy just isn't making the sale." Now, I'm working for Dean, so that's my bias. But I want to like Clark, if for no other reason than that I want a backup candidate if Dean fails (it's Edwards, I think). But Clark's just not giving me enough reason to do so.

Kos on political process

If you read one thing today.... hell, if you read one thing this week... or better, if you read one thing we ever recommend you read, go read The blogosphere and political process over at the Daily Kos.

People can now use technology (blogs, meetups, message boards) to get educated, download posters, and get motivated to head out into the offline world to evangelize for their candidates or causes.

And the beauty is that given the manpower and money such a netroot operation exerts on a campaign, those elected officials are now beholden not to Enron, or Halliburton, or Indian Casinos, or prison guard unions, or any other entrenched interest group. Rather, they are beholden to the people. No matter how I look at it, this is the promise of true participatory Democracy one step closer to reality.

And lots more like that, so I don't want to give it all away. Just go read it, please. And then you'll understand (if you haven't gotten it already) why we're so enthused about the Dean campaign.

Panther for $20

1xRTT service on OS X

Welcome to Hell, Arnold.

An immediate and unexpected transition to a new gubernatorial administration is unprecedented in the state's history. Literally thousands of Davis appointees could get the axe by the end of the year. More worrisome, the new administration will be responsible for replacing some 13 cabinet members, many more agency heads, and another 200 staffers in the governor's office. Finding, vetting, and selecting those people in a month will be a Herculean task for Schwarzenegger. The problem is that the business of California government will grind to a halt until he does. The former head of Davis's transition team likened the scenario to an "assassination." And because Republicans have been out of power for five years and don't hold a single statewide office from which to draw talent, the process could drag on.

Compounding Schwarzenegger's problem is the lack of moderates in the legislature with whom to cut a deal. And the idea that the "force of his character"--as one Republican termed it--would allow him to ride roughshod over Democrats is a farce. The last round of redistricting packed all incumbent legislators into airtight partisan districts; the result has been ideological extremism on both sides--legislators who have no desire, will, or need to compromise on anything.

In short, Schwarzenegger doesn't have a friend in town, a majority in the legislature, a staff, a mandate, or a vision. What he does have is a multi-billion-dollar deficit and a whole lot of powerful Democrats who think he's George W. Bush with worse grammar.

I ask, I get

I ask for gift suggestions (see below) and instead, I get a gift! Today's mail brought us a copy of Dancing Barefoot, autographed by Wil Wheaton, courtesy of my brother Todd.

Dunno what the occasion was (my belated bday? Tom's early bday? just 'cause we're loved?), but thanks!!!

Clark's campaign manager quits

Meryl vs. McAfee

Need suggestions for Tom

Okay, folks, I have a problem, and I'm hoping that y'all can help me solve it. Tom's birthday is coming up in less than three weeks, and I'm having trouble figuring out what to get him. His Amazon.com Wish List consists of (after a few purchases by me) things that are all either too expensive or not out yet, so it's no help.

Got an idea on something he'd like? Let me know in the comments, and thanks!

Eolas's result

I voted, have you?

Get out and vote

50 reasons not to vote for Arnie

First Post!

This is my first post with my shiny new laptop. I'm a happy camper.

And about all I'm going to say about the setup process is that I'd pay $250+ for a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner if it came with a manual (thereby saving me and Tom about 20+ hours of work and much tsurris), but without the manual, nada.

Lisa versus Arnold