Danny Glasser

Don’t say “beg the question” when you mean “raise the question.”  We’ve talked about this before.

There is no “K” sound in “et cetera.”  See that second letter?  It’s a “T”.

Don’t use “impact” as a verb when you mean “effect.” Not that it’s strictly wrong, it’s just become overused to the point of cliche.

The voices one hears on NPR tend to be afflicted with a somnolent* sameness, so it was refreshing this morning to be driving to work and hear an interview with retail consultant Howard Davidowitz.  This guy could make spoken-word CDs for homesick New York expatriates or actors trying to master an authentic Nu Yawk accent.

It's not just the stereotypical pronunciations, but the now-you-hear-them-now-you-don't phonemes, the volume, the in-your-face emphasis, and the brusque politeness.  Right to the end, when he closes with, "And thanks so much for inviting me."  Classic.

* - This is the second time I've used the word "somnolent" in writing in the past two days and probably the second time ever.  The first time was in an email describing Jason Castro.

I want to buy a product that's for sale online.  The exact product doesn't really matter; what matters is that it's a relatively new product that I've never used before, so I'm not sure if I'm going to like it and want to keep it.

Every place that sells this product charges the same price, so there's no bargain hunting.  The dilemma is that I can buy it either directly from its maker (which I generally prefer to do) and get free shipping and handling and a 30-day money-back guarantee.  Or I can buy it from a high-end retailer, pay $20-25 S&H and get a lifetime money-back guarantee.  This means that I'm essentially paying an extra $20+ dollars (in this case, around 10-15% of the product's price) for an extended insurance policy and I have to decide if it's worth it.

After nearly two mostly uneventful years, our Xbox 360 appears to have succumbed to the red ring of death.  Fortunately we still have our ReplayTV to function as a backup DVR, but our ability to rock has been curtailed. 

We'll see how long it takes to get it fixed.  I will say that the self-service repair request web site was pretty easy to use, which is encouraging.

Finding the repeated Obama-JFK comparisons tiresome, I started thinking about other interesting historical comparisons.  There's the McCain-Obama comparison to the fictional Vinick-Santos election, but comparing a real election to a Hollywood-imagined one is especially silly.

How about comparing John McCain to Bob Dole in 1996?  Consider these facts about Dole:

• He is a war hero who suffered serious, permanent injuries during his military service.
• He lost the nomination to George Bush (41) eight years before winning it.
• He was a long-time Republican senator known for reaching across the aisle to pass legislation.
• He was in his 70's when he won the nomination.
• He had to fend off serious challenges from the right to win the nomination, and his electoral loss was blamed in part by failure to inspire sufficient turnout among Christian conservative voters.
• He divorced his first wife and not long after married a significantly younger and more glamorous woman.

About a year ago I predicted that I'd have an HDTV system in 2007 and specifically that I'd watch Super Bowl XLII in high-def.  I didn't quite make it, but I am finally getting close.

For most people this would be as simple as buying a high-def television and plugging in a cable TV feed via coax.  But for me it is not, and not only because I need to agonize for months about which specific TV to buy.  The key is that I've become dependent on DVR functionality, and forced to choose between DVR and SD or non-DVR and HD, I opt without hesitation for the former.  Not only that, but I want a DVR head unit that isn't noisy when it's not in use (most have a hard disk fan that runs 24x7).  I also have a strong preference for a server-based recording system (as opposed to each unit recording separately) and don't want to deal with a satellite dish-based system.

With all of these constraints, the plan worked out roughly as follows:

1. Start with a Windows Media Center PC and an Xbox 360 (to serve as the Media Center Extender).
2. Upgrade the home network equipment to Windows Vista-compatible hardware.
3. Upgrade the Media Center PC to Vista Ultimate.
4. Install a Vista-compatible OCUR HD tuner card in the Media Center PC.
5. Get a CableCARD for the tuner from my cable provider.
6. Buy an HDTV and connect it to the Xbox 360.

As is turns out, the big flaw in this plan is that, even though I had deliberately bought a Vista-ready PC in late 2006 to prepare for this, OCUR is supported only on PCs that are "Windows Vista Digital Cable compatible".  This designation requires special rights-management support on the motherboard, so I'd have to buy a fairly expensive PC to support this, even though I have a nearly new PC bought expressly for this purpose.  On principle alone I don't want to do this.

Another factor is that I'm now running Windows Home Server on my old home computer and have been very satisfied by it.  I've also had occasional annoyances with my Media Center PC, most of which revolve around the need to restart my computer while a program is recording or being watched.  Put these two together and conclude that I want to have one server computer that runs 24x7, has loads of disk space and the network bandwidth to serve up its content, and almost never needs to be restarted due to application issues.  So barring unforeseen circumstances I'd rather wait until there's a Home Server product that can also record and share TV programs and then invest in one new computer to do both.

So for now I need a plan B.  That plan is now based on a product called HDHomeRun, which will enable me to record unencrypted HD broadcasts (QAM) on my Media Center PC.  The new plan is:

1. Start with a Windows Media Center PC and an Xbox 360 (to serve as the Media Center Extender).
2. Upgrade the home network equipment to Windows Vista-compatible hardware.
3. Upgrade the Media Center PC to Vista Ultimate.
4. Buy an HDTV with a QAM tuner and confirm that my cable provider transmits unencrypted HD signals for at least the local TV channels.
5. Buy and install an HDHomeRun.

Step 1 was completed in 2006. Step 2 was completed last summer.  Step 4 was completed last weekend.  I've been putting off step 3 for months but may get a chance to do it this weekend.  I don't have a specific schedule for step 5 but it's a safe bet it will happen before next football season starts.

For the first time since 1992, I attended my local Democratic Party presidential caucus on Saturday.  I wasn't planning to attend, due to a conflict with ski lessons, but Snoqualmie Pass cooperated by closing due to heavy snow and my lesson was postponed. 

[That said, I much prefer a primary system as more inclusive, which adds personal irritation to the absurdity that is the February 19th Democratic primary whose results will be ignored.  I may vote anyway simply as a demonstration.]

I went to the caucus torn between the two front-runners, hoping that somebody there would say something that would make something click in one way or the other.  To my mind, either of the two are far superior to the alternatives on the issues that I think are important (foremost, appointments to the federal judiciary), so I'd be happy with either one.  That tends to lead me to focus on crystal ball issues like ability to get elected or to advance one's agenda once elected, but I prefer not to make decisions based on those simply because at this point they're too hard to predict with any accuracy (witness John Kerry in 2004).  On the substantive issues, I was really digging around the margins.  For example, I think Clinton has a better health care plan than Obama.

I'm annoyed by the cult of personality that appears to be surrounding Obama.  All of the comparisons to JFK are perhaps too apt, given that the JFK myth -- most notably, "Camelot" -- did not appear until he was no longer President.  For what it's worth JFK didn't get picked in his first chance to be on a national ticket, as VP in 1956.  I'm more annoyed by the implied threat from Obama supporters that they'll stay home if Clinton wins the nomination, given that the two are so close on the issues; I've not witnessed the same attitude in the opposite direction from Clinton supporters.

But when all was said and done, I thought about the Clintons' association with the DLC, and how I prefer "the Democratic wing of the Democratic party," as Howard Dean famously put it.  And I thought about Clinton's behavior on the Iraq war resolution.  Not so much how she voted on it, but how she has talked about the vote since.  It sounds more like trying to cover her bases than to stand for a principle or even advance an effective pragmatism.  So in the end I voted for Obama.

I recently learned about a restaurant named Watercress Asian Bistro.  While I have not eaten there, its name alone raises warning flags.

Let's break it down:

If this seems like idle speculation, check out what today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer has to say about a similarly-named-but-probably-entirely-unrelated restaurant:

Cilantro Asian Cuisine, with the third-highest number of red violations this year, was closed in May after "cockroaches were found crawling on cooked vegetables that were stored on a shelf," according to the inspection report.

The inspector also found shrimp stored in used containers and stacked with the bottom of the containers on the shrimp in the container below, a non-functioning oven hood and a dishwasher that wasn't sanitizing the dishes.

That was one of three inspections in which the health department found serious problems at Cilantro. Other problems included "raw fish on top of cans of soda," "dried blood on the floor" and a customer complaining of a cockroach in his or her takeout.

For contrast in both name and cuisine, consider the estimable Malay Salay Hut.

Though the TV and movie writers union is on strike, the actual effect of their absence is somewhat abstract because almost all of the affected shows have shut down production.  Without replacement writers to provide a basis for comparison, there's no tangible sense of what writers actually contribute to the production of a television show.

That's why I found it illuminating last night to watch some bonus material on the Not Just the Best of The Larry Sanders Show DVD, specifically the interview with Jeremy Piven.  Piven, who is best known today for his brilliant, steal-every-scene performance on Entourage, is borderline incoherent in the interview.  Practically every other word is "y'know", with a liberal sprinkling of "like".  In between the filler, most of what he had to say was how fabulous and amazing everyone was.

Perhaps he was having an off-day when he taped that interview, but the difference between him there versus when he has the benefit of Doug Ellin's words to say could not be more stark.

The perpetrator of the greatest non-violent crime of the 20th century has been granted the ultimate recognition by his peers.

How anyone can be rewarded for deserting Brooklyn for the West Coast is beyond me.

For years I have been told that I was a baby-boomer by nature of my birth date.  Time and again I heard the 1946-1964 range cited as the definitive boundaries.  But I've never really felt like I was part of that generation and its peculiar experiences and ethos.   I was five when Woodstock happened.  At some point during my late teens I did feel a desire to be part of that generation, but ever since I've dreaded the association.

Last year I was at a talk by Gordon Bell where he referred to a book on generational transitions called The Fourth Turning.  I read the book and found it fascinating, but was especially relieved to learn that by its definition (1943-1960), I am not a boomer.  Of course, I'm not sure I'm what they call me either, but "not a boomer" is a moniker I can wear with pride and relief.  As long as there's some money left  in Social Security when I turn 65.