The Year In Ideas

The New York Times Magazine 2007 Year in Ideas is out! Start reading -- I just did.


My favorite so far: The elimination of the left-hand-turn.

A Bet

Resolved, that the Senate Judiciary Committee votes to cite Karl Rove and Josh Bolten for contempt of Congress, and forwards the Contempt citation to the full Senate by Dec 14, 2007.

Pro: Bob
Con: Steve
Terms: 1 LCB.

Bubble? What bubble?

The LA Times asks the most pertinent question about the housing bubble: How Low Can They Go? For anyone owning real estate in greater LA, the accompanying graphic must be rather terrifying:
How terrifying? Assuming a good 5% annual appreciation from 1988 (this is not inflation adjusted, after all) it looks to me like we should have had a median price of $352k in 2008... meaning the dropping won't be done before we hit a 30% decline. (Just 12% of that digested, so far.)

Oof.

It's Official! I live in Mile End

I've been trying to figure out the name of the neighborhood I live in. I'm in a weird boundary point. There's no question I live in Montreal. There's no question that the official "neighborhood" I live in is the Plateau. But I thought I lived in the Mile End when I bought the place, while others say "No, I think Mile End does not extend south of Laurier." The problem is, there's no official designation for Mile End -- it exists only in people's minds.

It exists there for a reason. The indisputable center of Mile End -- between Park and St. Laurent, along St. Viatuer and Fairmont, is a cool area. It hosts the 2 kings of bagels in Montreal, amazing Italian cafe's, bars of nightlife, and clubs where the recent Montreal sounds (think Maroon 5 and Arcade Fire, among others) emerged. So, you know, I kinda wanted to live there.

According to the Montreal Gazette, I do. The Gazette (Montreal's largest English language daily) is doing a 3 part piece on Mile End, and today, it defined the area:

Built up in the early 1900s on land vacated by the Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition grounds (Jeanne Mance Park and north to St. Joseph Blvd.), residential Mile End consists largely of two- and three-storey row housing - duplexes, triplexes, small apartment buildings and a few single-family homes. The traditional boundaries roughly follow the H2T postal code area: Mount Royal Ave. to the south and the CPR railway tracks north of Van Horne to the north, Hutchison St. to the west and St. Denis St. to the east (although some residents claim St. Laurent Blvd. is the limit).

So there it is! I'm in it! woo hoo!

Bush the Jacobin

Bob's friend Francois (U. Montreal) had an NYT Op-Ed this week comparing President Bush, and his Administration, to the Jacobins of revolutionary France.

Definitely worth a read.

Fluorescent bulbs considered wasteful

Consider the rap that is currently being given to ordinary, incandescent light bulbs (by groups including one co-recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize): They're so wasteful, 90% of their energy goes into heat instead of light! Replace all your bulbs with compact fluorescents - you will be helping to save the Earth and, on top of that, your electricity bills will go down enough to pay for the new bulbs 10x over by the time they wear out!

All true, of course... unless you heat your house. If you heat your house, then the "wasted" heat from an incandescent bulb isn't wasted at all - instead it, umm... heats your house. Replacing incandescent bulbs with more-costly fluorescents may make you feel better, but for those months when you have the heat on, your electric bill will not decrease one iota - nor your carbon footprint.

Something to think about, especially for those living at high latitudes...

(N.B. This point is not original with me, but I forget where and how I first saw it made.)

Not Cooperating

This is one of those bizarre crime articles which appear in the Montreal Gazette [link] .

This guy had his legs crushed, by an SUV which pinned him to the wall outside a strip club. The article says the victim is not cooperating with the police.

And that's it! Articles like this appear all the time. Somebody gets hurt something awful, they're not cooperating. Also, the Gazette never prints the names of victims (here, it says he's from a tony suburb of Montreal) -- even if they are murder victims.

So, we've got:

* no name for the victim
* no address for the crime
* no quote from the police, how they intend to investigate a crime where the victim isn't cooperating.


This is the level of reporting on crime in Montreal.

Now, what do *you* think is going on? I think this is organized crime, and the victim had pissed off someone further up the chain, and knows better than to hand them over to the cops.

Fashion Forward

For those of you who might not think fashion can be political .

Guys' Bathroom Etiquette

In the wake of a couple of embarassing bathroom situations involving steadfastly non-gay Republican politicians, Frank Cerabino at the Palm Beach Post has some advice to offer regarding guys' bathroom etiquette:

Lesson No. 2: When in doubt, assume that the guy in the next stall hasn't been struck by lightning.

Really worth reading the article in full (tip of the hat to Josh Marshall at TPM for pointing this out).

New Music in 2006

Distribution has been delayed somewhat owing to Claire's arrival back in March. Choices and reasoning:

Corinne Bailey Rae

One of the year's breakout artists - as one writer put it, "Norah Jones learned how to rock!" Unfair as that characterization may be, I find it irresistibly apt... especially as I was never able to board Ms. Jones' jumbo-sized bandwagon, despite several attempts (kept falling asleep and getting thrown off).

Akon - Konvicted

Breakout artist #2 - several of his collaborations scaled the charts, and the album reveals that Akon's presence on these was no accident... indeed, his co-headliners are probably penning him the thank-you notes.

My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

Independent darling for 2006, new White Stripes album notwithstanding. Also the best concept album in years.

Aventura - God's Project

Where did they come from and why aren't they playing on my radio yet? As one of the music commentators at Slate said, "Un beso was one track I just couldn't shake off my iPod this year."

Justin Timberlake - FutureSex / LoveSounds

One of two sophomore efforts this year; at least as enjoyable as his debut (see the picks for 2003), now with 20% more sophistication.

James Brown - Love Power Peace (Live at the Olympia, Paris, 1971)

The natural "in memoriam" selection for the year - the hardest working man in show business, and obvious inspiration for the preceding and succeeding artists, in top form.

Beyonce - B'Day

The other sophomore album for 2006 shows Beyonce assuming her crown as queen of hip-hop - and thus, effectively, queen of all pop. Lest we forget, she also wrapped Dreamgirls last year (and includes her main ballad here, to remind us).

Dixie Chicks - Taking the Long Way

The most famously political pop group of the Bush era refuses to stand down. As our Texan President descends below 30% approval it is worth remembering how much courage that took back in 2003.

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

The only repeat artist from last year is the omnipresent Danger Mouse... I believe that "Crazy" has now been covered by more performers in less time than any single since "Yesterday".

Why I am not buying an air conditioner this summer

I got back to Montreal Thursday from six weeks in Seattle, and I stepped into the average
Montreal Summer: right now, my place is 31C (88F) and humid -- peak temperature for the summer, but it remains that way all night (that fantastic insulation which comes in oh so handy during the -20F winter nights).

My first thought: go get that air conditioner. I had two at my old place on Mont-Royal (bedroom, living room) that were old but sufficient; last summer, you'll recall I lived the troglodyte lifestyle in my sous-sol sub-let (un-AC'd) while I awaited the condo I already owned to empty out. I had become conditioned to live in 68F comfort, and I don't see why I should have to put up with this for the 6-8 weeks it lasts here.

For those of you who haven't yet visited me in Montreal, I bought a place last summer, and I'm loving it (even if I haven't painted it inside yet).



However, it has no air conditioning, at all. And, it's on the top floor, to where all the heat in the building traverses (again, great during winter time). It has everything I want -- except that A/C, it seems. So, I started researching, and I found my solution in the recipes section of the NYTimes.

Wha? Well, I'm putting off the purchase, because I came across a drink so cool and delicious, that I'm just stocking up on it, and that seems to be all I need. It's Iced Coffee.

Now, I know what you're thinking -- you've had it at Starbucks, it's okay, but you're not going to be replacing your A/C with it any time soon (and sure, I'll break down too and get the A/C later). But this Iced Coffee is special. It's unique. It's not like Starbucks. Because it's cold brewed.

The article's author described their first taste of it being due to a self-effacing coffee aficianado friend who kept politely declining their home-made iced coffee. The author eventually broke down and asked, "Why don't you ever drink my iced coffee?" and the pal staved-off, dithered, and finally admitted that he could no long stand to drink iced coffee unless it was cold-brewed.

You see, most places (and most homebodies) simply take the stuff they brew using their drip machines, put it over ice and hand it to you. Or, take their drip machine coffee, and put it in the fridge for later use. This makes for a bitter brew when it's encoldened, hardly the thirst-slaking smooth-drinking fistful for which summer heat begs. And it turns out, to make the sweet cold elixir of the angels, it is easier than making a pot full of drip.

Cold brewed coffee is familiar to anyone who's passed through New Orleans (I have not), where it is the summer standard. To make it: use 1/2 lb ground dark coffee and 2 quarts of room temperature water in a non-reactive container (glass pitcher, or a stock-pot). Mix, cover, and let sit for 12 hours on a countertop. Decant into another container, straining out the grind (I use a coffee filter). Voila, that's the base, ready to go; it will keep in your fridge for 2 weeks (I use mason jars). When you want Iced Coffee, pour into a glass with ice filled to the brim (but not packed). The dissolving ice lightens the load and cools the coffee. Add cream/sugar to taste. You will not drink a smoother, more delicious ice coffee anywhere.

Notes:

1) I use Maxwell House (and I usually wouldn't touch the stuff) and get great results, so no need for fancy coffee beans here.

2) "New Orleans" style iced coffee requires you make it almost double strength: 1 lb of ground coffee to 2.5 quarts of water, letting sit for 12 hours, decanting and straining into a storage container (again, non-reactive surfaces only!) Mix 1-1 with water, and/or cream.

Economics Do Not Lie

What does it mean to own an iPhone?

They're almost a month out now, and you can by them, readily, for $500 retail. When someone pulls them out in public, they're a superstar in the room -- the sudden silent attention of every eye.

And not just every eye, but every other designer in the world, too, such as Louis Vitton, who now makes cases to put the iPhone in (see them
Here ) for $225-$1120.

What? The case costs twice as much as the iPhone? So the thing meant to protect the iPhone and extend its life (presumably) is twice as much as the thing itself. In other words, you could wear the iPhone out, throw it away, and by another, and then another, and that's when you'd break even with just buying the case to protect the first one. Does this make economic sense? Only if the iPhone is more valuable than its price indicates.

Josh Marshall for Pulitzer

I'm just getting my noms in early -- Josh Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo should receive a Pulitzer prize for his work on the US Attorney's Scandal -- and thus become the first full-time blogger to win the Pulitzer prize.

An Existential Question for the GOP

As always with the GOP, it comes down to domestic political power, to all appearances their only reason for being. Washington Post today, Page A1:

House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in Iraq is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months.

Note the many possible concerns of a thinking, feeling human being that were not expressed: Their worries for the Iraqi people. Their concerns about whether the Iraq war is worth its ongoing cost in American lives (including their constituents'); in Iraqi civilian lives; in dollars. Their concerns about the continuing explosion in the deficit ($200B per year) that the war has created, and the global rise in Islamic radicalism that it is fueling. Any question of whether having our troops in Iraq right now does more harm than good.

No. Their only expressed concern is this: If the situation in Iraq does not improve, the Republicans will be thumped again in November 2008. In all likelihood, a majority of those present in the room with the President will be voted out of office.

Which raises my existential question for the GOP: What is the purpose of domestic political power if it does not allow you to raise these questions of ultimate ends – the lives of innocents; the good of the nation; the best and wisest uses of American power – in person, with the President of the United States, on one of the so-rare occasions when you have the opportunity?

New Fave Album

A little while ago on KCRW I heard Sergio Mendes'es remake of his bossa-nova hit "Mas Que Nada" that he did with the Black Eyed Peas and thought it was such a great mix of something old, classy and cool with something new, funky, and cool that I bought the album. It soon became my new favorite album: a lot of Bossa Nova mixed with rap (I never would have though it would work so well) and some cool, mellow stuff like a track with Stevie Wonder.

Quebec Anti-Anglos At It

We interrupt this solid month of rememberances of Gerry Ford to bring this other recollection from the 70s:

The Quebec Sovereigntist group, the FLQ, which carried out a string of bombings in the 60s and 70s in Quebec, is threatening to kill English-speakers in Montreal, for the month between February 15th-March 15th.
> They're targeting West-Island locales where people gather -- shopping malls, highways, and specifically businesses with signage which is not French-first, that sort of thing. It's not really clear what's bringing this out now. In the last election, the Sovereigntists did poorly -- following a scandal which brought down the ruling Liberal party, most Quebeqers changed their vote rightward -- to the Conservatives, who now rule Canada -- instead of leftward (ie., toward the sovereigntists, in the form of the Parti Quebecois).

So, other than this being horrendous, I'm not horribly worried. I live downtown, not on the West-Island (although, strictly speaking, by French Montrealers standards, downtown is the West Island). Sure, I work at the prime English language university downtown, so, maybe that's a target. Even so, the police don't believe the group is necessarily capable of carrying out the attacks; and I'm sure publishing that in the paper just discouraged the FLQ, and they'll probably just give up.

yikes.

2007 + 1 = 2008

It was only today that I realized - it is less than a year until 2008, the year we elect the first post-Bush President.

(Ford knew about lame duckhood - after the Nixon pardon, when his 70% approvals dove to the twenties... the current occupant does not have the sense to go as gently.)

The Onion as Prophet

Apropos our former President, I wonder what he would make of the transformation of the satirical publication The Onion from humor rag, to political commentary, to out and out prophet.

They're running a special feature marking six years of W, and it's a wonder to behold: Link.

A Month of Ford

In honor of the former President, all posts this month will be explicitly Gerald Ford-related.

A moment of silence, please, while we contemplate his contributions to our nation as President, football player, golf fanatic, and inflation-fighter.