Achenblog

Mommy's midlife crisis

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:28:30 -0500

In my dawn-patrol ritual on the back porch, the meditative moment, the contemplative pre-electronic communing with the planet in its optimistic turn toward our star, I often find myself flooded with yearning, with need, with want, with -- dare I say the word -- desire. So it was this morning as I surveyed my estate. I really, really, really wanted to cut back the crape myrtle. [Regulars here, on seeing the word "yearning," instantly thought: he's going to make a joke about wanting a new lawn mower. But I'm not so predictable!!] Being a man, particularly one past that conquer-the-world phase, is extraordinarily easy. We prune back our ambitions until they are mere goals, and then trim them some more until we have just a severe little topiary shrub shaped strikingly like the Lombardi Trophy. We learn to putter, and dither. We eyeball our stocks and gradually shift the money

Personal foul, 15 yards for Newsweek, Pinker [Updated]

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:31:48 -0500

First Newsweek had that ridiculous cover "In Search of Aliens" a few months back, a wild exaggeration of a story about the Kepler mission to find Earthlike worlds. Then Newsweek had a cover asking if your baby is racist. Now we have the Sarah Palin cover, using a sexy photo taken for Runner's World. Jon Meacham defends the decision: "We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover, which is what we always try to do," Meacham said. "We apply the same test to photographs of any public figure, male or female: does the image convey what we are saying? That is a gender-neutral standard." Ain't nothin' gender-neutral about Sarah Palin. Her sex appeal is part of the package. But that's all the more reason to be sensitive to the perils of over-leveraging that aspect of her celebrity. Newsweek over-leveraged. In a single

Erosion Roundup

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:15:03 -0500

The recent Nor'easter pounded the tar out of the Delmarva peninsula. See these pictures of Chincoteague. I'm worried about my campground at the north end of Assateague and wondering how the ponies rode out the storm. Storms regularly breach the berm (I guess you'd call it a dune except it's industrially created) that runs down the island, and the campground gets flooded, but this was no ordinary storm, lasting as it did for four days. Clearly -- obviously -- irrefutably -- I need to head to the beach today to check out the damage and blog about it, which really should only take five or six days of reporting. Also I should see how the Outer Banks handled it. And Bermuda. And the Amalfi Coast. -- Weingarten was just as mean as I was in that pundit contest that dot.com is running. Gene hates the tendency to be inoffensive and

Obama in Shanghai

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:12:05 -0500

Increasingly I want to take a sledgehammer to my laptop. It's following me, nagging me, pestering me, forcing me to pay attention to it when I really ought to be doing something healthier, like texting. I know my laptop better than I know my own children. Yesterday I was down by the river in the morning, the four-day storm had broken, the air was sparkling, and I found myself alone in what could plausibly pass for wilderness but for the rusty camp grill and the old fire ring and the two picnic tables -- and the laptop. The aircard works out there. Communed with nature, fired off some emails. Who among us has not sniffed around a woodsy park in search of an outlet? You know you have it bad when you check for a socket in the port-a-john. The other problem with the laptop is that it is a

Over the moon

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:02:15 -0500

I still feel bad that I said mean things about those pundit contestants simply because some of their stuff was so dreadful. The truth, of course, is that I'm jealous, because they're young and have a future and can become America's Next Great Pundit, and I'm destined to cover night cops in Gaithersburg. Resentment is becoming my foundational emotion. As I get older I become more and more aware of having grown up on a dirt road, a loose end in a broken family. Maybe it's because my own kids buy name-brand everything and seem to think they are to the manor born. (Or is it manner. Surely it's manor. At least it used to be manor back in my day.) My grouchiness extends to water discoveries in the solar system. I want the liquid. I don't care so much about ice and vapor. When scientists say the moon

Obama as commander

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:28:51 -0500

Here's the essay I typed up yesterday on Obama as commander in chief. It's just a quick take on the man and the moment, with an assist from some military historians. [Update: I am going to steer clear of the comments on the story, but Doug Feaver has done a great job sifting through them for his dot.comments blog.] My story: War and tragedy are putting President Obama through the most wrenching period of his young administration. Visibly thinner, admittedly skipping meals, he is learning every day the challenges of a wartime presidency. Health-care reform, climate-change legislation, the broken economy -- all are cerebral exercises compared with the grim responsibility of being the commander in chief. Two weeks ago, Obama flew to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for a surprise middle-of-the-night salute to the fallen as their bodies were unloaded from a military transport plane. He met with

Meanest man in the world

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:51:15 -0500

Got immersed in a day story and haven't had a chance to see the bloggy-punditry today in the Next Great Pundit contest. But I did read all the stuff yesterday and wrote up a critique, after which I felt horrible, just reeking of meanness, or, if that's not a word, meanitude. Here it is (click to see the version with all the links): Kevin Huffman is funny, quirky and has mastered the vernacular style that is crucial to blogging. I liked his earlier columns, too. He needs to be careful not to pound the snark key too much, but it works in the Agassi item, with the nice "Let's cane him!" pivot. Bonus points for the graphic. Huffman has lots of potential as a blogger because readers will find it easy to wade into his stream of consciousness. Question is, will readers want to stay there? Here's a basic

When to drop a dime

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:03:54 -0500

To judge from Dana Priest's amazing story this morning, Fort Hood suspect Nidal Hasan telegraphed his actions. He took a medical seminar and turned it into a political rant. He did everything but put on scary background music -- shrieking violins, etc. It's as though he was daring his colleagues to drop a dime on him. [For younger readers: There used to be these things called "pay phones." You put a coin in a slot and were allowed to make a call. Long ago, a call cost a dime. This was when woolly mammoths roamed the Earth.] We all have moments when we have to decide whether to intervene in what seems to be a weird or dicey or peculiar situation. The street-corner argument between two strangers that's getting louder and louder -- is that about to get out of control? The friend who's depressed -- will he snap out

'Government-run health care'

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:27:45 -0500

[Didn't I say, just last week, that someone should kick the computer that put Iowa at No. 1 in the nation? Yeah, they were number 1 until they ran into that perennial powerhouse Northwestern! Now we just need to do something about TCU -- whoever and whatever that is -- and the two computers that think Cincinnati is better than Alabama.] Note this line in the official Michael Steele, RNC reaction to the passage of health care bill in the House (after some world-class grandstanding and obstreperousness by our esteemed leaders): "Today with help from their liberal House allies, President Obama and Nancy Pelosi finally got what they have been creating behind closed doors these past months - a government-run health care experiment that will increase families' health care costs, increase the deficit, increase taxes on small businesses and the middle class, and cut Medicare." Never mind the throwaway

Crazy vs. fanatical

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:19:35 -0500

The Hasan story is still very murky: I'm struck by how little we know so far about what he may have been thinking and why he would have done what he is accused of. The demands of instant analysis are not always met by the supply of facts. The published facts are sketchy and contradictory (he seemed like a nice guy; no, wait, he seemed angry and weird). The discussion of possible motives has touched on two basic theories, what you might call psychological vs. ideological. Or maybe crazy vs. fanatical. See The Post story today,or Tom Gjelten's NPR report last night. Maybe this will all clear up. In the meantime, a couple of thoughts, in the category of just thinking out loud on a Saturday morning:

Another AchenBob Diavlog

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:54:17 -0500

Send in the bears

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:55:32 -0500

You may have heard the report about the bear that killed two militants hiding in a cave in Kashmir. Yep: Big ol' bear came home and found a gang of people on its home turf. Mastications ensued. From the BBC story: "The militants had assault rifles but were taken by surprise -- police found the remains of pudding they had made to eat when the bear attacked." Gosh, I hate to say this, but -- that wasn't pudding. That was a militant. Obviously this raises the question of whether the U.S. should adopt the bear strategy in all of these difficult regions, perhaps using some of the grizzlies enumerated by that USGS study McCain was so grumpy about. They got, let's see, 700 or so in the Glacier ecosystem alone. Our ally Canada could easily pitch in a bunch of bears. Sure, it's cruel, and insane, but compared to

Obama's not-so-happy anniversary

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:16:27 -0500

A year ago tonight, we saw on the streets of D.C. a lovefest for the ages. Remember? It was an explosion of euphoria. The place erupted at 11 p.m. when the polls closed out west and the networks called the election for Obama. To say that people were dancing in the streets doesn't capture the sizzling energy of the night. People were hugging, kissing, singing, chanting, whooping, hollering. Strangers went up to strangers and said: "I love you!" I took some snapshots for the web at 14th and U and, hours later, down in front of the White House. A year later, it's a not-so-happy anniversary. Yes, the Democrats can feel good that they won a House race way up in ... well, Canada. But that was kind of a freak show. The Republican dropped out. The Conservative tried the end-around. It showed a fracture in the GOP between

Caitlin's Story

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:41:58 -0500

Sometimes guest Achenblogger Caitlin Gibson today gives us an in-depth look at a heroin ring among teenagers in the Washington suburbs. It's the first of a two-part article in the Style section. Pretty scary reading for those of us with kids in the firing line. These were high achieving kids who took AP classes and won spots on the cheerleading squad and so forth. From the story: What soon became clear was that the teens had graduated to heroin from a stunning menu of drugs: ecstasy, mushrooms, LSD, methamphetamines, cocaine, barbiturates, prescription pills.... The kids called it "partying," but it wasn't really; they'd use, then mostly just sit around watching TV, listening to music, smoking cigarettes. In a basement, or a bedroom, or a car. They were together but alone, adrift in their own oblivion. Even after police interrogations and arrests, they felt little anxiety about being caught. It's

The commies

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:43:32 -0500

[Split wood last night and this morning my back is sore. Also am sore from gym Saturday. My feet hurt. When did I become an old man??? Oh, to be young like Brett Favre! Seriously, I don't know why people say you should exercise when the body quite clearly rebels against such. Are you sure that sedentary isn't the way to go? I've said it before: who speaks for sloth?] [Iowa is No. 8 in the AP and No. 2 in the BCS computers. Look very closely and you'll see that one computer, that of Peter Wolfe (methodology described here), has Iowa in the top spot, ahead of my Gators. What do the computers know that we humans can't perceive? Isn't there a way to program the computers so that they know that Iowa should not be taken seriously as a football power except in dire emergencies?] Paul Hollander's

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Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:43:32 -0500