Waiting for Goredot

"I've decided that I will not be a candidate for president in 2004."
- Al Gore, December 16, 2002

"I have no plans plans to be a candidate for president again."
- Al Gore, June 3, 2006

Why the difference? Al is at least thinking about it.

How to Build the Locket from the Illusionist, pt. 2

Okay, here's my solution. I'm sure there are other ways to build such a locket, and some may be more elegant.

Allow me the vanity to say this is a down and dirty animation which I threw together. I can make things look pretty in 3D when I want to.

UPDATE: Here's some other takes on the design.

Way Kooky

Via Andrew Sullivan, I see this poll of 63 right-wing blogs. Look at the answer to this question:

Do you think mankind is the primary cause of global warming?
Yes (0) -- 0%
No (59) -- 100%

This is a useful exhibit in the case for the complete ideological calcification of the American right. Why should they disbelieve anthropogenic global warming, despite the nearly complete scientific consensus that has grown around it? Because the marketplace alone cannot solve this problem; you'd need to resort to government regulation and international cooperation. If you don't like the solution, pretend there is no problem.

Now granted, as Andrew points out, right-wing blogs are to the right of mainstream Republicanism. But they are, I believe, representative of the activist heart of the GOP. It is a heart which has been wrung of every drop of pragmatism and shaded thinking it ever had.

How to Build the Locket from the Illusionist, pt. 1

A while back I saw The Illusionist on DVD. I was immediately captivated by the puzzle locket that appears in the film. Would it be possible to build such a contraption? I concluded that it would be and wrote a a couple of posts about it (here and here). Apparently, I wasn’t the only one interested in the locket. My blog traffic tripled after that from Google hits on the subject.

Here’s the movie clip showing the locket in action:



Well, give the people what they want is my motto. I thought it would be interesting to create an animation showing how such a locket would work. First of all, I had to realize that there was a difference between saying “oh, I think that could be done” and actually figuring out how to do it. After a few days of obsessing, I got what I think is a workable design and made a brief (and very rough) animation illustrating it. Before posting it, I wanted to give you all a chance to solve the problem. As is often the case, working on the problem is more fun than hearing the solution.

Some guidelines when you’re working on a design:
1. When the locket is not in its heart configuration, the lid should be fixed tight.
2. When the locket comes into heart configuration, the lid should be able to slide open.
3. The lid should open from the bottom/middle of the heart shape.
4. Bonus points if you can restrict the twisting movement of the locket to 180 degrees, and the lid open to 90 degrees.
5. Extra bonus points for simple and elegant design that might conceivably be carved in wood (by someone who would have to be really talented.)

Have a go at it… it’s a fun problem. I will post my animation in the next couple of days.

UPDATE: Here's my solution: How to Build the Locket from The Illusionist, pt. 2

Completely Corrupted

Fred Kaplan is right. In 2002, the administration said they were sure North Korea was enrichening uranium. That was when they were trying to justify abandoning the Agreed Framework. Today, they are trying to bolster the case for a deal that is similar to the Agreed Framework, so they've changed their story: now they say they weren't really sure whether North Korea was enrichening uranium.

Here's Kaplan:

[This] shows that Bush and his people will say anything, no matter whether it's true, in order to shore up a political point. It means that U.S. intelligence has become completely corrupted.

It would be nice to know whether Iran is supplying Iraqi insurgents with particularly deadly explosives. It would be nice to know how far along the Iranians are coming with their (quite real) enriched-uranium program. It would be nice to know lots of things about this dangerous world. Or it would, at least, be nice to have a true sense of how much our intelligence agencies know about such things.

But we don't know how much these agencies know, because we can have no confidence in what the Bush administration tells us they know.

690 days to go. Cross your fingers and hold your breath.

Yet More Democratic Timidity

"I'm going to be very clear: Democrats will not cut off funding for our troops."
- Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House

And now we see a new poll showing that a narrow plurality of voters favors cutting off funds. Of course, now that the Democrats have accepted the Republican frame that you need to fund the troops in order to support them, their maneuvering room is limited. What possible advantage was there in ceding that ground instead of circumspectly saying "we have no plans to cut off funds"?

Can't anyone on our side play this game?

The Gore Freeze

Kos thinks the Clinton people are confident that Gore won't run. I'm not sure about that, but I do think the net effect of Gore not running -- but not dismissing the possibility of running in a Shermanesque fashion either -- is to benefit Hillary. A significant proportion of the progressive wing of the party is frozen: Kos and I are two examples. We're not going to get excited about anyone else until we know for sure Gore isn't going for it.

Al, run. But if you won't run, then in the words of Engelbert Humperdink (sung plaintively) please release me, let me go.