“Everything by Rage Against the Machine”

was the title of an essay I never wrote about Clear Channel’s banned songs list after 9/11/2001. That phrase appeared in a list of songs that were not to be played on Clear Channel stations. Rage was the only band to be completely banned. Though I imagine there wasn’t a lot of Jefferson Airplane or …

A Few Words on Apple and Fiction

Blogsurfing led me to a post by “HCI User Advocate” about his private hell in switching from Windows to Mac. Then today I learned that you can finally buy microphone attachments for 5th generation iPods. Time for an entry about Apple. When the battery died on my old 3rd generation model, I went ahead and …

My Soundbite

I’ve already had two calls from reporters today asking about the impact of cellphones, blogging, wikis, etc. on the shooting and the events surrounding it. After supplying the real answer, which elicits a “yeah but” from the reporter, I supply what I imagine are the usual answers for someone in my position, with whatever critical …

More Thoughts on Violence

This is just an addendum. When I said “Americans,” I should have said “white Americans” and middle class white Americans to boot. I think it was Jerry G. Watts who, in an edited collection on the riots following the Rodney King verdict, wrote about the considerably more precarious experience of being poor and black in …

A few words on violence

I’d hoped to write something profound on the 5th anniversary of 9-11-01 but nothing came out. Thus, I’m passing you on to Axis of Evil Knievel for commentary on that day. In the comments, he concedes that WWI may have been stupider than this third Gulf War. At this time of year, I also need …