no trade claws

The Mariners shopped their stars, but reports say that management was too greedy, so the only talent we axed was our premier situational lefty, Arthur Rhodes, and the only prospect a future investment named Gaby Hernandez. Call it a Claw Crane effort.

Here are a few links to trade deadline analyses, certain to be obsolete by the end of the decade.

1. Geoff Baker, The Seattle Times, breaks down the one move the M's made, and the four biggest that they didn't.

2. Dave of USS Mariner hands out grades.

Pelekoudas gets an A for the Rhodes trade - he did quite well. He gets an incomplete for the Washburn and Ibanez situations, as both are still somewhat unresolved. The Mariners need to keep trying to move Washburn, putting him on waivers tomorrow and lowering their demands, now that the Yankees called their bluff. If they can dump him before end of August, not dealing him today won’t matter. If they keep him for the rest of the season and risk getting stuck with him, he gets an F for not taking advantage of dumping Wash when he could.

3. Jayson Stark, ESPN, gives another overall assessment, and it ain't pretty.

How could Ibanez still be there? How could Jarrod Washburn still be there? How could one-third of that roster not have been traded in the past couple of weeks?

"I'm cutting them a little slack," one rival GM said. "They're leader-less right now."

True, they have an interim GM (the well-liked Lee Pelekoudas) and a confusing ownership arrangement and an uncertain chain of command. But they angered teams they spoke to with what were widely viewed as outrageous demands. And the bottom line is that this deadline represented a lost renovation opportunity in the middle of an already-lost season. And how many lost opportunities can clubs like this afford?

Well, since the Mariners are about to pay $100 million to lose 100 games, maybe they can afford a lot more.

tweaking the constants

A while back, I linked to an article that, I figured, seriously undermined the Anthropic Principle's logic. Further monkeying with crucial constants reveals that, indeed, it's flawed to presume that we should test for "cosmic fine tuning" by changing only one variable at a time. [sub. req.]

[U of Michigan, Ann Arbor's Fred] Adams started with a simple definition of a star: a massive body held together by its own gravity that is stable, long-lived and generates energy through nuclear processes. Just three constants are involved in the formation of such stars. One is the gravitational constant. The second is alpha, the fine structure constant that determines the strength of interactions between radiation and matter. The third is a composite of constants that determines the reaction rates of nuclear processes.

Adams then cooked up a batch of virtual universes, computing a wide range of values for the three constants, each universe possessing laws of physics unlike our own. The results:

About a quarter of the resulting universes turned out to be populated by energy-generating stars. "You can change alpha or the gravitational constant by a factor of 100 and stars still form," Adams says, suggesting that stars can exist in universes in which at least some fundamental constants are wildly different than in our universe.

The possibility of life-supporting black holes, about as wild as you can get, cosmologically speaking, arose in Adams' simulations. CalTech's Sean Carroll comments:

"I don't know what it would look like or how it would work, but black holes radiate, just like stars do. Why couldn't you have life arise in the 'atmosphere' of a gently radiating black hole?"

Crazy stuff.

Those still clinging to the Anthropic Principle had better dig those fingernails in pretty tight.

I am not a spammer

Google temporarily shut down decorabilia, their robots thinking I was a spamblogger. (I wasn't alone.)

But I'm not. I promise. I am a genuine, bona fide, really real human being. I have a heart, and spleen, and endocrine system, and tibula*, and lungs, and, some would argue, a brain.

Thus, my appeal to the Google blog justice system was accepted, and my humanity was not only confirmed, but celebrated.

I am no spammer.

Although I do like spam poetry. But that is not a crime.



* Update: Error flagged, but not corrected. Let it shine like a beacon of humanity.

Board openings draw a crowd

...of applicants for the two vacant positions. Sixteen, in fact. This is fantastic [pdf], and shows how perpetual media attention on the budget crisis and fractiousness has really gotten people motivated, the best thing to come out of the last six months.

Tuesday, August 5th, the Board will meet with the candidates, the next official step in the whittling-down. I'd predict that the process wraps up by the August 25th meeting.

today's questionable links

Jason Rosenhouse asks, "What is multiplication, really?"

Nick Bilton asks, "What natural food, other than eggs, turns from a liquid to solid, when heated?"

Mark Olson asks, and I paraphrase, For a Christian, does animal extinction have a moral dimension?

Peter Wall asks, "So what does it mean when a city council 'slaps' a mayor?"

Bill Pickert asks, "Would you forfeit your capacity to make decisions regarding how you live your life in return for a guaranteed place in Heaven?"

Tara Smith asks, "Dinosaur soft tissue--just bacterial biofilm?"

Geoff Baker asks, "When's the last time two pitchers of record in the same game were on different teams the following day?"

Katherine Mangu-Ward asks, rhetorically, "Who says materialism is a bad thing?"

the "GOP Party" makes a show of force

We interrupt this summer blog hiatus for a brief Washington State Top 2 Primary Voter's Pamphlet update. Highlights include:

1. A great batch of quixotic candidates, details soon.
   
2. A motto that recalls the fun we had in 2004: "I vote, I count," thanks to 4th grader Gabriella Spring, still too young for cynicism.
   
3. The Republicans who quit the Republican party, preferring the "G.O.P" Party instead. In order of appearance: Dino Rossi, Jim Wiest, Jim McCune, Richard DeBolt, Gary Alexander, and Randy Neatherlin. Getting the wrong memo, Herb Baze "prefers R party."*
4. Our own Brendan Williams, blazing a new trail and starting his own "Progressive Democrat Party."**
   

Update: Among the GOP Party ranks in districts far from mine: Larry Ishmael, Mike Novak, Kelly White, Mark Schoesler, Steve Hailey, Norma Smith, David M. Morris ("prefers Cut Taxes G.O.P. Party"), Keith Ljunghammar (same), Bill Hinkle, Thomas Thomas (the redundancy two-fer), Jan Angel, Dave Dooley, Alex Rion, Todd Gibson, Tan Lam, Leslie Bloss, Steve Litzow, Larry Countryman, and, avoiding redundancy, Gordon Allan Pross ("prefers Grand Old Party").

*Dan Kristiansen got it, too.
**Fellow trailblazer Hue Beattie prefers the "True Democratic Party."

new homes, but not for regular folks

Just heard a radio spot for Quadrant's new community in Redmond Ridge, unfortunately called Cascara at the Villages. They're constructing "income-qualified duplex homes for active adults," provided at least one of the buyers is 55+. So, when you realize what cascara is often used for, you'll understand why the title of this post is a horrible, horrible pun.

Sorry.

At least it's not named "Lipoma Firs," like a neighborhood and golf course in Puyallup that also should have employed a Wikipedian.

"...because I have big thighs..."

When a kilt-wearing postman named Dean Peterson tries to freshen up the official USPS wardrobe, but has to run the change past conservative leadership first, who wins?

Says Brooks Bennett, executive board member of the letter-carriers union in Washington state, "In Washington and Oregon, I guess we like to see ourselves as being progressive. Things get a hearing here that might not in other places."

But at the national convention, reception was frosty from the decision-makers. At one point, Peterson was so nervous that he mistakenly said "UPS" when he meant "USPS," for United States Postal Service. That got him roundly booed.

The committee in charge of the resolution nixed the kilts, saying there wasn't much demand for them.

Peterson says it was the older members — "the fuddy-daddies," he calls them — who didn't like the kilts. He says he could see them staring at him as he wore a kilt on the convention floor.

"All you could see was dirty looks."

He vows to return with his resolution at the next national convention in 2010.

So, who wins? Why, parliamentary procedure, of course.

can't keep up with the office politics

Josh, this is for you.

Study Finds Young People Remain Apathetic About Office Politics

an egg a day

This New York Times blog entry merely confirms what I've been unafraid to believe for some time: my cholesterol--and, in all likelihood, yours, too--can handle a daily egg just fine.

As the Berkeley Wellness Letter, from the University of California at Berkeley, reported in March, eggs have an undeserved bad reputation because of their high cholesterol content. Although there are 210 miligrams in the yolk of a large egg, the newsletter notes that for most people eggs don’t raise blood cholesterol. “They may even be good for your heart in some ways,'’ the newsletter reports, noting that eggs have unsaturated fat, B vitamins and other nutrients. In addition, there is some evidence that people feel fuller after eating eggs and that regular egg consumption may boost eye health.

Since I've started eating one for breakfast at 6:15, and not just carbo-loading, it's taken me much longer to approach the hunger that used to growl up by 9:30. Now I can usually last until at least first lunch, 11:05.

Mmm, eggs.

[Via Instapundit]

counting coup and the desecration debacle

PZ Myers acquired a consecrated host and desecrated it, along with a page from the Qur'an and The God Delusion. His point: "Nothing must be held sacred." Not a blessed wafer, not a holy book, not an atheistic screed. His action prompted my brother to ponder,

My question is whether Myers’ iconoclasm is rooted in the same sort of religious impulse as the iconoclasts you mentioned. As best I can tell, it is. Myers, after all, is doing a bit more than making a truth-claim. It’s one thing to say the idol has no power–it’s quite another to tear it down as a demonstration of its impotence.

Matt's armchair anthropologizing made me think of a story I heard a couple summers ago.

An indigenous Canadian tour guide was explaining his people's custom of "counting coup." Wikipedia explains it just like he did:

Counting coup was a battle practice of Native Americans of the Great Plains. A nonviolent demonstration of bravery, it consisted of touching an enemy warrior, with the hand or with a coup stick, then running away unharmed. Risk of injury or death was involved, should the other warrior respond violently. The phrase "counting coup" can also refer to the recounting of stories about battle exploits.

It can also involve stealing items from the enemy.

To illustrate the latter version, the guide told the story of a relative, who, in the recent past, went to visit the Pope in the Vatican. While there, he surreptitiously stole a hat, and got away with it. By taking something from a powerful man, he achieved a contemporary coup.

Bravado, testosterone, adrenaline, showmanship, roguery, and spirit: the coup-taking impulse can't be reduced to a single impulse, but requires them all.

I'm not claiming Myers destroyed a consecrated host in that same vein, even though his story of the deed bears many of the hallmarks, including the desire to tell the tale around the blog-fire. My only point is that human motivation is complex.

One might even say irreducible.

Update: I almost forgot the incident that prompted the entire ordeal, which, to employ my extended armchair anthropologizing, situates Myers' action in a sociopolitical context.

photos of Tongue Mountain

The title says it all--nearly. Captions will say the rest.


This is what you see when you leave 294--a motorcycle trail that takes you most of the way--for 294A. Helpfully, someone has added text, errors in original: "NO SHORT PEOPLE BEOND THIS POINT UNLES THEY HAVE THEIR HUSBAND'S PACK ON THEIR BACK WITH SANDWICHES IN IT." Must have been a fun trip.


This is what you see if it's partly cloudy, rumored to be clearing in the future, the distant future when they'll have automatic trails that carry you through virtual vistas, and it's only cloudy if the tour guide is a jerk.


The tip of the tongue, where all good ideas lodge, and refuse to be dislodged.


There was more to see here, I've read. Next time we ascend, we won't take the long way, and we will make sure the weather report says that the nearest cloud is cowering in Canada.


But it's not so bad if you bring along a friend.



The forest, new growth since a 1935 fire, is lovely and ethereal in the mist. It is dusty and decidedly unmysterious in sunshine.


One photo of firs will never suffice.


I heartily recommend a trip to Tongue Mountain. Be sure to take the recommended trail, though. Don't get any silly ideas about challenging yourself by linking up from the High Bridge Trail. As described by the Forest Service, it is "steep in parts." It also connects to 294 way, way down the slope, which is steep through and through, so the return is a knee-killer.

he lost on Jeopardy!, baby

I, like the Comics Curmudgeon, have often been told I "Should go on Jeopardy." After reading his detailed account of the experience, my emotions in response to that suggestion are as mixed as ever.

Anyway, read it. Maybe it'll inspire you to new directions in your trivial purs--endeavors.

today's orthography links

1. Sucks to misspell your own name. Suck doubly if you're a newspaper, and infinitely if you blow it on the front page. It's one step below "The Tmise regrets the error." At least they didn't spell it "Noose." [Via Matt Welch]

2. If you misspell Obama's name, what kind of websites come up? Why didn't somebody think of this sooner?

3. The Scrabulous / Scrabble battle brings out the spelling puns.

4. Portuguese spelling is now standardized.

5. Korean prof says, we can't let the Japanese take our island. Step one: let's all spell its name the same way.

6. Miss Spelling--Tori--is writing another book. This one, titled Mommywood, at least doesn't misspell the word "Story."

7. It's "Myers." Why do almost all of his critics spell his name wrong?

confidential to The Hedgehog

When you're old enough, you should start a HedgeBlog!

parasites outnumber hosts

By anywhere from 10:1 to 1000:1, and, collectively, outweigh the biggest predators in the food web. NewScientist reports:

Put together, the parasites in each estuary weighed as much as the local fish and between 3 and 9 times more than the local birds. Parasites that "castrate" their hosts – prevent them from reproducing – had the greatest cumulative biomass and on their own weighed as much as the local winter birds.

For Andrew Dobson of Princeton University, one of Kuris's collaborators, this shows that that castration is the most effective way for parasites to survive. Castration allows parasites to keep the hosts alive while preventing them from spending any energy on their own reproduction.

I will resist all urges to draw an anthropomorphic conclusion.

four quickies

1. Man Man, Rabbit Habits
Easily my favorite album of the year, out of all the hundreds of albums I have maxed my credit cards, drained my checking accounts, and sold my soul to purchase. Actually, I've purchased the three found in these mini-reviews. I dare you to listen to "Top Drawer," then excise it from your brain. Good luck. Man Man has fun with music, and if you don't like them, you're stupid.

Warning: Contains graphic drawings. Think about the phrase "Rabbit Habits," only applied to the people in your apartment.

2. Mates of State, Rearrange Us
I bought it despite Joshua Alston's scathing review, because I heard "The Re-Arranger" and found it irresistibly itchy. I'd never heard Mates of State before, so that could be why I found this record pretty and pensive rather than dull, with only one or two minor exceptions. Let the color schemes arrive. Oh, and screw you, Coldplay. At least, that's what I'm pretty sure the first track is saying.

Warning: Contains indy-like substance. May have been produced by a label that manufactures sentiment.

3. Tilly and the Wall, O.
Tap-dancing percussion is not a gimmick. Do not compare them to Sleater-Kinney. That out of the way: A fine album full of sweet hooks, and even sweeter tapping. If you like Sleater-Kinney, and are sad that their touring days are done, you might find consolation in the existence of Tilly and the Wall.

Warning: Contains an original artwork suitable for framing.

4. Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
The only movie on the list, part of my summer of film. I won't say much more than has already been said, except to note that the "War on Terror" parallel is made pretty obvious, not only by the whole "every democracy needs a tyrant from time to time" subplot, but by the SWAT-ted up cop who, under rocket-propelled grenade attack from the Joker, notes, "I didn't sign up for this."

Warning: Contains gratuitous chuckling violence.

privacy? who wants it?

Enterprising prosecutors are now trolling MySpace and Facebook for embarrassing photos that might, say, prove that you weren't exactly remorseful for that drunken crash. In a related story, enterprising investigators, similarly fishing for leads, were blocked, at least until they found a warrant, by a librarian with more knowledge of the Patriot Act than the overzealous flatfeet.

"The lead detective said to me that they need to take the public computers, and I said 'OK, show me your warrant and that will be that,' " said Flint, 56. "He did say he didn't need any paper. I said, 'You do.' He said 'I'm just trying to save a 12-year-old girl,' and I told him 'Show me the paper.' "

Privacy is a gold standard of the library experience: you're supposed to be able to check out books or surf the web without the government reading over your shoulder.

Judith Flint's fellow librarians strongly supported her, and rightly so. After all, privacy is a right. As long as MySpaceCadets and FaceBookies post every last loving photo of their inebriated weekends, though--and, more frightening, as they start taking over positions of power--privacy is threatened, and will only become more threatened. Techno-wizardry is just too alluring.

To complete the triptych, consider what the Lacey Timberland Library now offers: the ability to check out the books you've reserved from other branches. They're shelved in a special section, and you take them home without any assistance from an employee, through the magic of self-checkout. It seems flawless, until you realize that now anyone who recognizes your first name and the first three letters of your surname can see that you're a secret Flashdance fan. It's easy: when I picked up my hold, I figured out that the books next to mine were my dad's. Wasn't malicious; his books were right next to mine, and I couldn't help noticing the covers.

I'm not saying everything you do or say or read is nobody's business. I'm a blogger, after all. But when you want something to be, will it?

Privacy. Convenience. I know where I'm placing my bet.

even better than the real thing

Reducing my carbon footprint while increasing my moral superiority, I've been walking everywhere, and sometimes riding public transit. $4.30 gas makes it worthwhile, and too much free time makes it inexcusable. I love Olympia's bus system, for the most part--a half-hour delay on the 62A, yesterday, was an aberration.

This, to my knowledge, never happens:

The transit fanboy got an official shirt, jacket and hat from two actual drivers he had befriended, Gordon said. Both drivers have been suspended as the county moves to fire them. The hat was important -- he wore it pulled down low with big sunglasses, Gordon said, theorizing that may have helped him amble past security guards at the depot....

He spent the afternoon picking up 25-cent fares along the South Beach Local. The route, which circulates around Alton Road, 17th Street, Washington Avenue and South Pointe, is a popular line.

There was no sign Harris pocketed any of the cash, no complaints from passengers. He returned the bus undamaged to the Miami Springs yard around 7:45 that night, Gordon said.

Harris, if you want a job driving the 62A from Lacey to Olympia, you're welcome to it.

[via Obscure Store]

four eyes

For the first time since high school, I own a pair of glasses. Since the summer of '96, I've happily worn contacts. Allergies finally got to me, though, so spectacles it is.

Glasses are really, really weird.