Confusing Folks With my Accent

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

According to this quiz I have a North Eastern accent, most likely that of a New Yorker, which is funny, since I just moved here about 5 months ago and lived in the South for over half my life. And I doubt any native New Yorkers would think I had a local accent. I skew the quiz, of course, though, since I was born and raised in the Australia and moved back and forth until I was almost 20. So I basically have a Deep Southern accent.

At various times I've told people I'm from Boston or Charleston (if you've heard the Charleston accent, which is not a typical Southern accent, you'll understand why), to which they reacted with nary a doubt - though I'm not sure it'd work up here. Of course, I always eventually confess to being from Australia, but it sure is fun to watch people try to figure my accent out.

On the other hand, to be fair, far more people guess I'm originally form Australia now than did when we first came over here in 1980. Back then, everyone thought we were British. But then came Crocodile Dundee, INXS, Midnight Oil, and Men at Work and eventually Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, the Crocodile Hunter (what is it with the crocodiles?), Heath Ledger, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, and so on and now folks can generally distinguish between British and Australian, Australian and Austrian.

Though I have had two people respond when I told them I was from Australia: "Oh, Arnold Schwarzenegger!"

Um, no.

Richard Dawkins: Substitute Teacher

On YouTube: Richard Dawkins on South Park! (Not even remotely for the faint of heart.)

Arrogant Til the End

ABC News:

In brief remarks, Rumsfeld described the Iraq conflict as a "little understood, unfamiliar war" that is "complex for people to comprehend."

Well, The Taliban's back in Afghanistan. And Osama's still on the loose. We've spent billions upon billions on Iraq. And some 2839 Americans have died over there. Not to mention some 50,000 Iraqi civilians. And since 9/11 we've lost the sympathy of the world a few times over while gaining a reputation for torture and extradition and a general disregard for human rights violations.

But, yeah, it's we plebes who just don't get it, Rummy.

CEOs

What is a CEO? A CEO is someone who would like you to work twelve hours a day for the price of six. He criticizes the State and the government while going cap in hand to them for subsidies.

- from Mammals by Pierre Mérot

The Whites of Your Eyes

"Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes." That's the context we're used to hearing the human sclera mentioned in. But it turns out the evolution of our sclera may have more to do with cooperation and communication than combat. According to this week's Economist, German researchers have posited that our sclera evolved to that end. In other words, if your iris is surrounded by white tissue, it's easier for others to establish where you're looking and for you to focus on the same thing. The Economist article uses the phrase "the mutual direction of gaze" and suggests a common example: a group of men standing around a car focusing on the efforts a single male.

Other primates have darker sclera, making it markedly more difficult to determine their focus. As a result, studies revealed that non-human apes paid more attention to where where a human's head was turned, while human children followed the eyes, a more accurate way of determining where the facilitator was actually looking.

Halloween NYC Style

Kangol hat from T. J. Maxx: $9.99
Metal-rimmed aviator sunglasses from Urban Outfitters: $14.00
Cigarette holder: $6.99
Resemblance to Hunter S. Thompson: Questionable

Additional photos from NYC's 2006 Halloween parade on my Flickr site.

Massive Hypocrisy

Yet another darling of the far right and opponent of gay marriage Ted Haggard has been revealed as a hypocrite, soliciting sex from a male escort. If he ain't guilty, why'd he quit?

I already knew Haggard as an astonishingly arrogant man from this interview Richard Dawkins conducted with him in The Root of All Evil, a documentary that'll never see the light of American commercial TV over here. Of course, Dawkins owns quite an arrogant streak himself. But he ain't out there telling people what they can and can't do in their own bedrooms, whilst making the very whoopy he decries himself.

------

"There is part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my adult life." - Ted Haggard in a letter of apology to his church.

Even in his eventual confession, Haggard speaks only with contempt and a visceral disgust for homosexuality. It's sad that because of the indefensible beliefs which have infected his mind, beliefs which run rampant in our society, this man will probably never be a fully integrated human being. If he didn't do so much to hurt other gay people, it'd be even easier to feel sympathy for him.

Also makes you wonder when some young guy's gonna out Fred Phelps.

On Love

In the early pages of this humorous if acidic novel, Pierre Mérot (he's often compared with fellow Frenchman Michel Houellebecq) shares some striking thoughts on love:

We never stop loving those we once loved. But as we move from person to person, from piece to piece, we try to convince ourselves that we are slowly putting together a jigsaw that will some day show us the true face of love. And then our search will be over. But the only complete picture we have is the most recent, and that image hasn't completely erased the ones that came before. No face is forgotten, none charms us completely. Our lives, therefore, are not a succession of failures, but an unsteady edifice devoted utterly to love.

- from Mammals by Pierre Mérot

Dawkins on Colbert

Stephen Colbert interviews Richard Dawkins about his new book The God Delusion. It's something else to hear Dawkins say "The Flying Spaghetti Monster." I'm finishing up The Devil's Chaplain right now.

Part 2 of the interview. Truth be told, Colbert's a bit off his usuallly sharp game on this one. But it's got to be hard for just about any interviewer to know quite how to handle a feller like Dawkins.

Here's a couple of quotes from Douglas Adams - he of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame, whom Dawkins quotes in The Devil's Chaplain:

I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.

The world is a thing of utter inordinate complexity and richness and strangeness that is absolutely awesome. I mean the idea that such complexity can arise not only out of such simplicity, but probably absolutely out of nothing, is the most fabulous extraordinary idea. And once you get some kind of inkling of how that might have happened - it's just wonderful. And ... the opportunity to spend 70 or 80 years of your life in such a universe is time well spent as far as I am concerned.

Horrors of the Absolute

When people believe that they have absolute knowledge with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.

- Dr. Jacob Bronowski, in the documentary The Ascent of Man from the early 70s, standing in what was formerly a Nazi death camp.

Via Andrew Sullivan, watch the astonishing clip.

Baser Instincts

How sad is it for the right wing when their intellectual heavyweights are neatly and efficiently disarmed by a TV comedian? Yes, John Stewart recently left Bill Bennett a stammering mess with just a few quick jokes, which nonetheless made their point. Of course, the arguments against gay marriage and gay rights in general are generally so preposterous a child could argue against them.

But, no, even those Republicans who recognize that gay people are, you know, human beings, too, these Republicans want to have their gays and beat them, too, as Andrew Sullivan points out:

Most Washington Republicans have no problems with openly gay people. Many of them have sons and daughters who are gay, including the epitome of conservative Republicanism, Dick Cheney. Dennis Hastert has gay staff. Rick Santorum had an openly gay staffer. They have no problems with gay people. And yet their party platform is vehemently opposed to treating gay people as equal citizens or as full members of their own families.

And none other than conservative Tucker Carlson has trenchantly observed that their base is finally beginning to notice this dichotomy:

CARLSON: It goes deeper than that though. The deep truth is that the elites in the Republican Party have pure contempt for the evangelicals who put their party in power.

.... [CHRIS] MATTHEWS: So this gay marriage issue and other issues related to the gay lifestyle are simply tools to get elected?

CARLSON: That's exactly right. It's pandering to the base in the most cynical way, and the base is beginning to figure it out.

Maybe the base will stay home during the next election and we can begin the long hard slog towards getting our country back, along with all the freedoms we've so casually surrendered of late. (Apparently, even The Washington Times agrees with that last sentiment.)

Massive in the Area

Got to see Massive Attack last night for the third time (peviously in Atlanta, GA and Manchester, England). Great show with the legendary Horace Andy stealing it as usual. But surprise guest Liz Phraser held her own more than amply, too. And Daddy G (Grant Marshall) rejoined the collective after a notable absence last time the band toured.

3D (Robert Del Naja) lead the proceedings, and he's interesting to watch. He hides in the shadows much of the time, never spotlit, his dance moves limited to erratic, self-conscious herky-jerky jabs, boxing moves. Clearly uncomfortable being the center of attention, he tends to blurt out awkwardly-expressed political statements between songs before stalking off towards the rest of the band. During songs, he literally turns his back from the audience when he's not singing and even wanders back to sit/hide behind turntables after delivering his lyrics. All that body language seems suited to reinforcing the themes of isolation and paranoia that have permeated much of the Massive Attack's material since he has moved to the band's creative front and center.

Wanna Hold Your Hand

This New York Times article on holding hands makes an interesting point: that this seemingly casual behavior which was once (recently) considered a stepping stone to more intimate behavior is now more typically interpreted as a sign of commitment. So people now may feel more comfortable kissing in the early stages of a relationship than holding hands.

The article ends with this sweet little vignette:

Recently, Dr. [Gregory] Eells said, he and his 9-year-old daughter were caught in a downpour after her cheerleading practice. The two grabbed hands and raced off into the rain together. When they finally splashed over to the car, the damp girl turned her face to her father. “That was awesome,” she sighed.

Derek Van Gieson

Derek Van Gieson has updated his site with more of his lovely artwork. Now, if he'd only provide a way to buy prints online ....

Tony Kushner on Hope & Meaning

I saw a trailer for Freida Lee Mock's new documentary on Tony Kushner recently and found one quote by him particularly arresting:

It's an ethical obligation to hope. It's an ethical obligation not to despair.

Then in his favorable review of the documentary, TNR's Stanley Kauffmann quotes from Kushner's Angels in America:

Together we organize the world for ourselves, or at least we organize our understanding of it; we reflect it, refract it, criticize it, grieve over its savagery and help each other to discern, amidst the gathering dark, paths of resistance, pockets of peace and places from whence hope may be plausibly expected. Marx was right: The smallest individual human unit is two people, not one; one is a fiction.

There's some synchronicity here for me, as I heard another quote this past week, which resonates with that Marx quote - if I can remember where I heard, I'll post it, too.