At Marina del Rey Ritz for birthday weekend. Kids abandoned. Caution bewinded. Free drinks and appetizers devoured. Balcony view gazed upon. Going out? Nah. Room service and relaxation. And Spamalot tomorrow. You're only over the hill once.

Before writing my thoughts on Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide To American Consumer Culture by Carrie McLaren and Jason Torchinsky, I should note a few disclaimers.

I know both of the authors.  One is a refugee from the music industry who occasionally appears on NPR to discuss advertising, mind control, and consumer culture.  The other is a comedian who writes for The Onion.

The book is based on a number of essays written in the highly regarded but defunct glossy magazine Stay Free! Many, many years ago, before Stay Free! was highly regarded, glossy, or defunct, I was one of a number of people who wrote for it.  In those days it was a two color "zine" circulating in college towns in North Carolina that covered music as much or more than its later concerns of how the advertising industry encourages us to manipulate ourselves.  While nothing that I wrote, or even thought, appears in Ad Nauseam, I am sort of proud of this parody of a noxious Gap ad rampant in the 1990s, which did appear in Stay Free!:

One of the authors (I won't say which) is married to my co-blogger Charles.  Charles played no role whatsoever in writing this review, nor do I care about offending him if anything that follows does so.  But you shouldn't necessarily believe that.

I received my copy of the book for free.  I paid nothing for it. My review has been delayed because my wife commandeered the copy.

All that said, I still would have bought it, based on what I knew of the authors' writings and ideas.  I recommend that you buy it.  You should view this recommendation skeptically, in light of what I told you above.  You should view this recommendation especially skeptically, because of what I told you above.  If I were just some liar, or book reviewer, I wouldn't have mentioned any of it.  I'd just tell you that this is a well-researched, uproariously funny, book about why and how you have trained yourself to buy stuff you don't need, or even want.

So I must really want you to read this book.

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It's not that I'm not enthusiastic about Patrick's suggestion, immediately below, to see a send-up of Plan 9 From Outer Space. I am, really.

But right now, I'm enjoying a live stream of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte, courtesy of Siemens, from the Salzburg Festival. It costs a few bucks, but is well worth it. It's nostalgic for me, because I saw Cosi at the Salzburg Festival with my parents about 25 years ago. The Salzburg productions are always top-notch. I won't be able to listen to the whole thing, thanks to conference calls, but at the least I'll get through the set-piece finale of Act I, which is one of the most brilliant and beautiful half-hours of opera out there.

Do any of you people know where these individuals learned to shoot? Private Joker!

Sir, from Mystery Science Theater 3000, Sir!

From Mystery Science Theater 3000!  Outstanding!  Those individuals showed what one motivated Mystery Science Theater fan and a bad movie can do!

The ultimate shooters.  The ultimate fish.  The ultimate barrel.

On August 20th, the lead writer and stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 take on Plan Nine From Outer Space. At theaters all over America and Canada.  I am so there!

Thanks to Kathy Shaidle for the tip.

Making your way in Cambridge Mass, takes everything you've got.
Taking a break to talk to the President sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go
Where someone know you were abused,
and journalists alway looks for news.
You wanna be where you can see,
Professors and cops are victims,
You wanna be where the press reports
Dictum.

Those who worried that a President Obama wouldn't be ready for "prime time" can rest assured, he is.

As to whether his priorities are in order, well…

While I'm not a fan of the notion of "imperial presidency," the impending White House beer summit among the President, Henry Louis Gates, and Sergeant James Crowley makes Bill Clinton look like Augustus Caesar.   What's worse, most of the press is reporting as though this is the way a President is supposed to spend his time.

NPR, was it really necessary to tell me, 4 times in 30 minutes on this morning's drive to work, that Obama will be sipping Bud Light, while Gates will enjoy a Red Stripe, and Crowley will drink Blue Moon?

You could at least have brought on the special correspondent for beer snobbery to explain how each man's choice reveals his psychological weaknesses.

I'd intended this morning to to write about yet another cop shooting yet another family pet (hat tip: Jag), but that's old hat, and anyway it's Atlanta, where the police shoot nonagenarian ladies. So what's another dog?

I'm glad I saved my outrage, or I wouldn't have had any to spend on this:

The tasing took place on July 24 at the Dollar General Store on Azalea Road. A store manager called police and said that a man was taking too long in a restroom. Antonio Love was using the restroom, because he had stomach problems. He is deaf and mentally handicapped. Police officers tried to get Love to open the door, but his mother said he could not communicate with them. Officers pried open the door, but Love kept trying to shut it. He told his mother he thought the devil was trying to get him. Officers then used pepper spray and tased Love to get him out of the restroom.

Mobile Police Officer [name unknown, but when it is I'll see to it that Google knows it forever] tased a deaf, mentally retarded man because he was sick and couldn't leave the bathroom.  Sorry Mr. Love, it wasn't the devil.  It was just your friendly neighborhood policeman.

TASER International, and advocates for the use of its products, claim that Tasers provide a non-lethal alternative to the use of firearms for officers who feel threatened.  The nonlethality of Tasers is debatable.

But one thing is certain.  The Taser also provides an alternative to the policeman's former alternative to lethal force: Talking.  Asking a suspect, or just a troubled person who needs some peace in a rest room, what's going on, and does he need help?  Calming people down.  Defusing tensions, whether it's from violence, or from a ledge, or just getting a guy out of the bathroom.

There was a time when a policeman was expected to act as something of a psychologist, to talk troubled people through problems, because his only alternative was deadly force.  With the advent of the TASER, "shoot first and ask questions later" is no longer a black joke.

It's standard police procedure.

I blogged before about the British Chiropractic Association's thuggish libel case against Simon Singh, and what it said about the appalling state of England's libel laws. Today many bloggers, in solidarity with Singh, are reprinting his article. So here it is. If you have a blog, reprint it to demonstrate your commitment to free speech and defiance of censorious laws and the thugs who take advantage of them.

Some practitioners claim it is a cure-all, but the research suggests chiropractic therapy has mixed results – and can even be lethal, says Simon Singh.

You might be surprised to know that the founder of chiropractic therapy, Daniel David Palmer, wrote that "99% of all diseases are caused by displaced vertebrae". In the 1860s, Palmer began to develop his theory that the spine was involved in almost every illness because the spinal cord connects the brain to the rest of the body. Therefore any misalignment could cause a problem in distant parts of the body.

In fact, Palmer's first chiropractic intervention supposedly cured a man who had been profoundly deaf for 17 years. His second treatment was equally strange, because he claimed that he treated a patient with heart trouble by correcting a displaced vertebra.

You might think that modern chiropractors restrict themselves to treating back problems, but in fact some still possess quite wacky ideas. The fundamentalists argue that they can cure anything, including helping treat children with colic, sleeping and feeding problems, frequent ear infections, asthma and prolonged crying – even though there is not a jot of evidence.

I can confidently label these assertions as utter nonsense because I have co-authored a book about alternative medicine with the world's first professor of complementary medicine, Edzard Ernst. He learned chiropractic techniques himself and used them as a doctor. This is when he began to see the need for some critical evaluation. Among other projects, he examined the evidence from 70 trials exploring the benefits of chiropractic therapy in conditions unrelated to the back. He found no evidence to suggest that chiropractors could treat any such conditions.

But what about chiropractic in the context of treating back problems? Manipulating the spine can cure some problems, but results are mixed. To be fair, conventional approaches, such as physiotherapy, also struggle to treat back problems with any consistency. Nevertheless, conventional therapy is still preferable because of the serious dangers associated with chiropractic.

In 2001, a systematic review of five studies revealed that roughly half of all chiropractic patients experience temporary adverse effects, such as pain, numbness, stiffness, dizziness and headaches. These are relatively minor effects, but the frequency is very high, and this has to be weighed against the limited benefit offered by chiropractors.

More worryingly, the hallmark technique of the chiropractor, known as high-velocity, low-amplitude thrust, carries much more significant risks. This involves pushing joints beyond their natural range of motion by applying a short, sharp force. Although this is a safe procedure for most patients, others can suffer dislocations and fractures.

Worse still, manipulation of the neck can damage the vertebral arteries, which supply blood to the brain. So-called vertebral dissection can ultimately cut off the blood supply, which in turn can lead to a stroke and even death. Because there is usually a delay between the vertebral dissection and the blockage of blood to the brain, the link between chiropractic and strokes went unnoticed for many years. Recently, however, it has been possible to identify cases where spinal manipulation has certainly been the cause of vertebral dissection.

Laurie Mathiason was a 20-year-old Canadian waitress who visited a chiropractor 21 times between 1997 and 1998 to relieve her low-back pain. On her penultimate visit she complained of stiffness in her neck. That evening she began dropping plates at the restaurant, so she returned to the chiropractor. As the chiropractor manipulated her neck, Mathiason began to cry, her eyes started to roll, she foamed at the mouth and her body began to convulse. She was rushed to hospital, slipped into a coma and died three days later. At the inquest, the coroner declared: "Laurie died of a ruptured vertebral artery, which occurred in association with a chiropractic manipulation of the neck."

This case is not unique. In Canada alone there have been several other women who have died after receiving chiropractic therapy, and Edzard Ernst has identified about 700 cases of serious complications among the medical literature. This should be a major concern for health officials, particularly as under-reporting will mean that the actual number of cases is much higher.

If spinal manipulation were a drug with such serious adverse effects and so little demonstrable benefit, then it would almost certainly have been taken off the market.

Simon Singh is a science writer in London and the co-author, with Edzard Ernst, of Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial. This is an edited version of an article published in The Guardian for which Singh is being personally sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association.

Via.

There are a lot of fun toys on the iPhone. Games, crossword puzzles, etc. But the best app I have found takes me back to my childhood. It's MLB.com At Bat. And, it lets you listen to the radio feed of any game being played, from either the home or away broadcast team. It's some of the best $10 I have spent in a good long time.

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Via BoingBoing: your government at work. Part one: the General Services Administration spends lots of time and money elaborately designing, then constructing, a simple border crossing in New York. Part Two: the GSA decides to dismantle the big "United States of America" sign, because it's too tempting a target for terrorists:

“At the end of the day, I think they were somewhat surprised at how bold and how bright it was,” said Les Shepherd, the chief architect of the General Services Administration, referring to the customs agency’s sudden turnaround.

“There were security concerns,” said Kelly Ivahnenko, a spokeswoman for the customs agency. “The sign could be a huge target and attract undue attention. Anything that would place our officers at risk we need to avoid.”

Architects, bureaucrats who have committee meetings about what to tell architects, sign assemblers, and sign dismantlers remain employed, I guess.

Now that this is getting press, the people involved will get get buried in WHARGLBARGL from various corners both reasonable (it's moronic and wasteful) and stupid (OMG it's unpatriotic!). But such disputes tend to conceal underlying issues, such as the fact that a 21-foot-high bright yellow sign looks like ass in the first place.

During the Democratic National Convention, Joe Biden used a call and respond catch phrase with the crowd to effectively juxtapose the differences between Barack Obama and John McCain. Sadly, six months into the Obama administration Biden's words have a different effect on me. "That's not change. That's more of the same." True dat, Joe.

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Some people thought Sarah Palin's goodbye speech was a little meandering.

It sounds great when William Shatner reads it.

That's one definition for the term "culture shock".

Experts have said that some massively multiplayer online games, in which players battle enemies for weapons and rewards, are as addictive as crack cocaine.

Dr Richard Graham, a consultant psychiatrist at the Tavistock Centre in London, is so concerned that he plans to provide online therapy for youngsters who are spending so much time playing these games that they have lost touch with the real world.

In the real world, as opposed to the World of Warcraft, there are thousands of problems and maladies far more insidious and threatening than a 40 man dragon, where a good psychiatrist could volunteer his time.  Something tells me that Dr. Richard Graham is fishing for a grant, or a television gig, or a slot on a parliamentary advisory board.  Call me cynical.

But if he follows through Dr. Graham is about to get a lesson in culture shock.  He might characterize World of Warcraft players (among whom I number, level 72 on a character created in April and progressing to 80 without playing a Death Knight, thank you very much) as victims who have been entrapped by an online Skinner Box, where virtual community prestige and the rewards of "leveling" and online property replace the pellet.  He intends to enter the World of Warcraft, to save its addicted players from themselves.

World of Warcraft players on the other hand, who may suffer from the false consciousness of not wanting to be saved, might characterize Dr. Richard Graham as a clueless n00b who should be ganked as often as possible, or a sucker who could be scammed into buying this sweet Spectral Tiger Mount code I just happen to have.  He'll probably play a Priest, with half his talents spread around the Holy tree, and the other half in Shadow.  And he'll stand in the flames, if he ever gets that far.

I just long to meet Dr. Richard Graham, some late night, alone, at the Arathi Basin blacksmith node, so that he can educate my Felguard about the perils of addiction while I educate him about the perils of Shadow Bolt.  Anyway:

Dr Graham said that some players were so addicted to these massively multiplayer online games that they played them for up to 16 hours a day, leading them to neglect their social lives and education.

He has called on Blizzard Entertainment, the company that makes World of Warcraft, to waive or discount the costs associated with joining the game so that therapists can more easily communicate with at-risk players in their preferred environment.

“We will be launching this project by the end of the year. I think it’s already clear that psychiatrists will have to stay within the parameters of the game. They certainly wouldn’t be wandering around the game in white coats and would have to use the same characters available to other players,” said Dr Graham.

“Of course one problem we’re going to have to overcome is that while a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they’re probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft.

You don't say, Dr. Graham?  While I think it unlikely that Blizzard is about to give Dr. Graham a free account, I do agree with him that most of his staff are going to be horrible at playing the game.  They'll manage their talents unwisely. They'll stand in the flames.  They'll spam Barrens chat asking about Mankrik's wife.  That is, when they're not spamming Alliance /trade with messages like, "Addicted to World of Warcraft?  Feeling there's a larger world out there you're missing?  Talk to me.  I'm a trained psychiatrist.  I'm here to help."

The odds of that working out are roughly equivalent to those of Michelle Pfeiffer showing up at a downtrodden inner city high school, and succeeding in her goal of teaching gang members about Dylan Thomas.

Or worse,  some small subset of Dr. Graham's staff might actually learn to play.  They might become good at the game.  They might, like an addict savoring his crack, come to enjoy it.

Who will save them?

Not everyone gets to live in paradise. Some people have to live in Chicago. Living in Chicago isn't cheap, so if your apartment sucks you probably need to vent about it. And sometimes you need to vent 140 characters at a time.

Amanda Bonnen needed to vent her frustration that her landlord, Horizon Group Management, didn't seem to care about the mold in her apartment. The 20 followers on her twitter account saw Ms. Bonnen tweet "… Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment is bad for you? Horizon realty thinks its okay."

Then Horizon Group sued her for libel.

There are signs that Hardt Stern & Kayne are not experienced libel practitioners, chiefly that they allege that Bonnen's statement was "liable [sic] per se," but also that their website notes that they typically represent "automobile dealers and real estate developers". I wonder, when Horizon Realty Group turned to Hardt Stern for "cost effective, logical, creative and commonsense litigation services," if they expected to be counseled to brew up a massive shitstorm that resulted in the whole country – instead of Bonner's 20 followers – knowing that they had a moldy apartment and an indifferent management company. The long list of fields in which Bret Rappaport claims expertise does not include libel law, nor does it apparently include damage control. Perhaps he should stick to wildflowers.

Since being sued, Bonner has closed her twitter account, a chirpy chronicle of a happy-go-lucky girl for whom things keep going wrong (See the suit here: Twitter lawsuit Horizon Group Realty v Amanda Bonner). On May 4, she tweeted "abonner Isn't into this whole legal process thing". She had no idea.

Via The Awl

Pity Congressman Collin Peterson (D-MN), who committed the ultimate political blunder — he said what he thought.

Peterson had been quoted in an online story about conspiracy theorists, saying "25 percent of my people believe the Pentagon and Rumsfeld were responsible for taking the twin towers down. That's why I don't do town meetings."

Now, I think that Peterson is exaggerating when he suggests that 25% of his constituents are conspiracy theorists. However, he's probably on the money when he suggests that 25% of the people who would want to spend their time at one of his town meetings are conspiracy theorists. And that's a lowball figure. Bear in mind we live in this nation:

Overall, 44 percent of the respondents said they believe in ghosts, 36 percent say UFOs are real while 31 percent believe in both witches and astrology. About a quarter believe in reincarnation, or "that you were once another person," the survey found.

It would be interesting to see if the Truthers are more or less likely to believe in UFOs.

But back to Rep. Peterson. His regrettable honesty raises a question central to our federal republic: do we want our politicians to govern based on what they think is right, or based on what a cognizable percentage of their constituents think is right? To paraphrase Senator Huska, do crazy people deserve representation too? Back in the 1990s, they heyday of militia-promoted conspiracy theories, Idaho Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth famously urged investigation of black helicopters on the grounds that a number of her constituents believed in them. Was she right?

If she is, and we govern that way, someday the Truthers and the UFO-believers are going to form a coalition government. That should be entertaining.

Recently the Obama Administration tapped Arif Alikhan for a high-level job in the Department of Homeland Security. This generated considerable handwringing among some bloggers. The tumult is centered around not just the fact that Arif is apparently a devout Muslim of Indian and Pakistani roots, but that his appointment was praised by CAIR (the Council for American-Islamic Relations) and that he recently attended a fundraiser for MPAC (the Muslim Public Affairs Council).

Arif and I were at the U.S. Attorney's Office at the same time. He's a friendly acquaintance, not a close friend. However, let me say this: I have no qualms whatsoever about his appointment. Arif was — and is — liked and respected by prosecutors and by the federal law enforcement community. That's not a notably liberal group. He was known as an intelligent, capable and diligent trial lawyer, investigator, and supervisor, who pushed innovations in prosecuting computer crime. Once I left the U.S. Attorney's office and joined the defense bar, I learned that he was regarded as tough but fair by the other side — something that prosecutors should aspire to. I never heard a bad word spoken about his honesty, loyalty, or ability. I have no doubts about his ability to do any job handed to him at DHS, and no doubts that he will work skillfully and sensibly for the security of the nation.

I had no idea that Arif is a devout Muslim. It simply wasn't an issue when we served together as prosecutors. And I don't care. To be perfectly blunt, I don't believe that all of the complaints about him linked above are about MPAC and CAIR, rather than about him being a Muslim. We have not, despite the best efforts and arguments of some, reached a point in this nation where religion disqualifies anyone for public service, and I hope that we never do. I don't agree with many of CAIR's positions, but an endorsement by a group does not equate to endorsement of a group.

My sincere congratulations go out to Arif.