Above the fold

Twospeed

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:58:00 +1000

I have a suspicion that the McCain campaign wants to run a two-speed attack on Obama. Firstly, there’s the “celebrity” taunts, the odd line of attack that Obama is threatening and unsuitable because he’s an effective communicator. In my view, they’re pretty clearly aimed at the Republican base, who are nowhere near as enthused, as far as I can see, with McCain as the Dem base are with Obama. Think of it as 2004 in reverse.

(As an aside: I know a lot of Obama supporters are upset about the way McCain’s been doing things. The simple fact is it was never going to be anything different, no matter who the Democratic nominee was. McCain faces an uncomfortable positioning dilemma, and the only way his people can see to get out of that hole is to go negative. “Negative”, as much as people say they hate it, often equals “effective”. Or at least more effective than anything else they’re likely to have.)

I think they are also hoping there’ll be a groundswell of chatter about “foreignness” and things like that. The bizarre business surrounding birth certificates, designed to prove. . . what, exactly?

The essential point of Geoffery Nunberg’s book, which I love, is that to modern American conservatism, progressive views are a “lifestyle choice”. Attacks on conservative pillars can be deflected by seeing an instant ring of insincerity about them. That’s I think where the birth certificate malarkey comes in … a liberal candidate who’s just a good-fer-nothing blowhard, a giant phoney. Terrible because he’s obviously a congenital liar.

The two-speed attack philosophy reminds me of a recent local candidate in Australia for whom it went disastrously wrong - Karen Chijoff in Lindsay, in Western Sydney. To summarise, local campaign volunteers distributed atrocious fake leaflets from a non-existent Islamic group, claiming their opponent supported clemency for terrorists, as well as a controversial local mufti, and wanted to build a mosque in the local area (!) They were caught, and tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, to dissociate themselves from the official campaign (the retiring MP’s husband was one of the gang; and it was patently obvious to anyone who has worked in an Australian electoral office that the leaflets were printed on a risograph, your local electorate office being the only place you’d ever find one.)

The thing was a disaster for John Howard’s re-election campaign; it totally dominated his final press conference before the polls, and obliterated any chance he had of winning. Let’s face it, there didn’t need for there to be much (more) of a ‘smoking gun’ connecting it to the official campaign; all this stupid, offensive stunt needed to do to be damaging was to appear.

I’m not in the business of providing advice to the McCain campaign, but I hope for their own good they’ve taken care of the fingerprints.

"Sometimes, the big hits are very random. But they rarely are the product of a deliberate attempt to..."

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:57:08 +1000

“Sometimes, the big hits are very random. But they rarely are the product of a deliberate attempt to game the system; they usually happen organically. Which is a long way of saying to advertisers: stop making “viral” ads and just make good ads.”

- An Original Viral Marketing Tactic: Excellence (via somethingchanged)

In my talk, I wanted to illustrate the pointlessness of designing something for its ‘viral’ potential by rickrolling the entire room and defying them to explain what made it popular. Didn’t get to it, unfortunately :(.

Actually, I’m a bit of a fighter as...

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:09:00 +1000

Actually, I’m a bit of a fighter as well.

seriouslythough:

peterwknox: getupgetout: (via justo)

One final piece of advice

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:26:34 +1000

When buying expensive new cufflinks, don’t put them in … hell, actually, I have no idea where I put them.

77. Never side against your brother in a fight.

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:31:20 +1000

(via rulesformyunbornson)

"Having a random hallway chat usually isn’t going to be a career changer. 9 out of 10 of those..."

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:03:26 +1000

“

Having a random hallway chat usually isn’t going to be a career changer. 9 out of 10 of those conversations are lightweight, but those are 9 conversations I wouldn’t have had otherwise. Plus, it’s hallway visibility, and in a gig where 90% of the days are spent holed up in meetings, that’s time well spent. And there’s the 10th conversation where I learn something huge:

Wait, the project is HOW FAR behind?

Hold it, you’re thinking about QUITTING?

By choosing to create a moment where I leave my structured day to have a random conversation, I’m creating informational opportunity, and while these moments may appear to have low initial return on time investment, you’re playing a numbers game. You’re counting on the fact that, over time, over many moments, you’re creating unexpected potential.

”

- Give me something to read: Rands In Repose: The Trickle List

"The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is..."

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:09:37 +1000

“The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous.”

- Nicole Wallace, McCain camp spokeswoman on accusations that McCain didn’t follow the rules of the Saddleback Forum, AMERICABlog

(via robotheart)

The technical term for this is ignoratio elenchi.

Barry.

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:03:00 +1000

robot-heart:

Does anyone know why conservative bloggers refer to Barack Obama as “Barry” when they want to be disparaging? Barry is a fairly common nickname. It was the name of conservative leader Barry Goldwater, an Arizonan that McCain counts among his early political mentors. From what I understand, it was a nickname Obama went by as a child and that he’s since shed, as most children shed their childhood nicknames. (My parents were Rickie and Susie as children, although neither goes by that now.) What’s so funny or degrading about it? It’s just a name.

I think the key is that it’s not his real name. Before you’re used to it, calling someone “Barack” sounds too respectful; you’re like, “what a funny name!” I’m never going to be able to pronounce that. I need a substitute.” Names not native to English quite often get this treatment, especially if they’re in frequent use. The point is, calling him “Barack” implies an effort to ascertain the correct pronunciation and use it. Conservatives aren’t going to be eager to say they’re going to a ‘lot’ of effort to talk about him.

To be fair, we nickname conservatives (Dubya?) all the time, precisely, I think, because saying “George W. Bush” implies we want to show respect and deference by using a rather unusual name. Attaching diminuitives and using nicknames is a subtle way of cutting a person down to size.

Oh, and I think he was called ‘Barry’ through most of his adolescence and youth as well, so it’s not just a childhood thing.

Complaint #266

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:15:00 +1000

whitewhine:

“After an hour on that flash game, all I get is “Congratulations!” Make something explode.”

-Whine by Nick Douglas

Currently reading this, and hearing of Musharraf’s...

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:56:00 +1000

Currently reading this, and hearing of Musharraf’s stepping down it struck me how the dictators of the world feel like a political class all of their own. Different ideologies, but similar motivations; surprising how many of them (like Musharraf) seize power in the name of (conservative/liberal) moderation, arguing that the only alternative is a government of dangerous extremists.

The anglophone states are quite odd in their inexperience with dictatorship; even otherwise robust democracies have tended to have some period of dictatorship or other.

If I were ever to write fiction, I would write about a Dictator’s Ball that united various dictators throughout history.

Also, really wish the term dictatura had caught on in English. It’s got good cadence.

"I write because for me it is a luxury which becomes the more agreeable and more evident the fewer..."

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:34:36 +1000

“I write because for me it is a luxury which becomes the more agreeable and more evident the fewer there are who buy and read what I write.”

- Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling. (via langer)

There’s no way for me to not sound wanky about this: I was just thinking about Kirkegaard and writing.

Dear tumblr,

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:08:00 +1000

Sorry I didn’t get back to you earlier. I’ve been down the coast (it was awesome, thx). But meanwhile, wow! You post all this awesome stuff and I’m probably not going to have time to look at it properly til the end of this week!

So, can you just not post anything between now and then?

Kthxbai,

Your biggest fan.

PS. THE QUALITY OF MERCY IS NOT STRNEN.

nickdouglas: Approval Ratings: The Public v. McCain. This...

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:42:49 +1000

nickdouglas:

Approval Ratings: The Public v. McCain. This homemade ad connecting McCain to Bush got about 120 thousand views since it launched on the 13th. The ad follows Bush’s approval rating as it sinks over his seven years in office, then adds the rising percentage of Senate votes in which McCain agrees with Bush’s position.

SLAM.

darran: Here’s A Map Of Nations That Don’t Use The Metric...

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:38:48 +1000

darran:

Here’s A Map Of Nations That Don’t Use The Metric System
via Mike

"If bugs and birds navigate their way around an unfamilar place by flying blindly into walls until..."

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:09:38 +1000

“If bugs and birds navigate their way around an unfamilar place by flying blindly into walls until they find the open window, how come they aren’t always smashing into trees and shit when they are flying around outside?”

- (via melanyouth)

Birds usually smash into glass, particularly reflective glass, because they can’t distinguish it from empty sky. Skyscrapers kill millions of birds every year :(.

‘Remarkable’ New Zealand PM tried to save friend’s life (via ABC News)

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:33:46 +1000

‘Remarkable’ New Zealand PM tried to save friend’s life

(via ABC News)

siddman: florencio: ryanjpointer: via www.robotwalrus.com

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:57:31 +1000

siddman:

florencio:

ryanjpointer:

via www.robotwalrus.com

kapookababy: I’m sick. Send huggles. Awwwwwwwww :(

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:12:02 +1000

kapookababy:

I’m sick. Send huggles.

Awwwwwwwww :(

The Russia/Georgia conflict in three sentences

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:09:48 +1000

squashed:

After Georgia broke away from Russia, South Ossetia and another province tried to break away from Georgia, succeeding autonomy-wise but failing map-wise. As Georgia cozied up to the United States, Russia cozied up to South Ossetia, deploying “peace-keepers” and distributing Russian passports like candy. After Georgia decided to crush South Ossetia and its rebels into submission, Russia decided to “defend the peace” … by crushing Georgia—or at least its military—into submission.

Proof that if you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it. There were a lot of reasons to dislike Jackob’s tumblr presence, but that “China” post wasn’t one of them.

buyhercandy: paperflowers: (via bigfun) I needed this right...

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:39:00 +1000

buyhercandy:

paperflowers:

(via bigfun)

I needed this right now.