Yesterday’s movie: Shallow Hal

In the Farrelly Brother’s latest low-class comedy, Jack Black (so great in High Fidelity) plays Shallow Hal. Transformed by self-help guru Tony Robbins (playing himself), lifelong supermodel junkie Hal Larsen is only able to see people by their inner beauty. Accordingly, he sees Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow) as a sexy, svelte blonde (Gwyneth Paltrow without much makeup) while others, most significantly best friend Mauricio (Jayson Alexander), see her as the 300 pounder she truly is. Hal is baffled by others’ reactions to her and when he finally is confronted with the truth, we find out if he is a real human being or as shallow as the movie title suggests. While overall I don’t think this film reaches the same level of hilarity as the Farrelly’s There’s Something About Mary, it does have it’s moments. And I have to give screenwriter Sean Moynihan and the brothers credit for making effective use of the supporting characters as mirrors, but then take most of it away for just not giving us a decent third act.

The filmmakers have set up an amusing secondary website, MasterPlayers, to let Mauricio help you out with those young superhotties.

Yesterday’s book: Earthweb

No, it isn’t a tell all about the classic developer website. Cool techie science fiction author Marc Steigler uses 1999’s EarthWeb, The Book to explore ideas about the future of the internet and politics in a world under extreme pressure and largely succeeds. Earth has been attacked four times, once every five years, by a mysterious alien race that never communicates, unless deployment of advanced munitions is considered a form of communication. The alien ships, named Shiva by Humanity, never quite succeed due to the efforts of Morgan McBride although the planet’s national governments have fallen apart in their wake and been replaced by the Earth Defense Agency. The story is pretty basic and comes to the expected conclusion, although it’s well-written and the characters are nicely developed. Steigler is more interested in his ideas, which are fairly nifty and the most significant is a new economy based on an ideas future market. That is, methods for thousands or even millions of individuals globally to provide forecasts and bet on them, to allow the most probable to bubble up to attention and the original poster to be rewarded based on the results. For example, when the actual attack on the fifth Shiva happens, several key parts of the action are suggested by forecasts posted in real time by diverse characters we’ve previously met. I was really disappointed only by one thing; Steigler just leaves us hanging as far as the longterm result of the human-alien conflict.

Veteran’s Day: A great salute

The following was published in today’s The Big Picture by Lennie Peterson; generally I wouldn’t copy the picture but since he’s quoting a great American…

image copyright 2001, Lennie Peterson

BillSaysThis linked in Yahoo! Internet Life

I noticed that the visit counter was moving pretty quickly the last day so I took a look at the referrer log and saw a bunch of hits from Yahoo! Internet Life’s Forward/Joke of the Day for yesterday. The question was the authenticity of some George Carlin jokes floating around and my site was the first one listed as part of the answer. Thanks Steve. Also traffic coming in from Google and USS Clueless.

E-bombs: the “Oh Shit” weapon

Scoble points us to this Popular Mechanics article on the E-bomb. As the subhead says, “In the blink of an eye, electromagnetic bombs could throw civilization back 200 years. And terrorists can build them for $400.” This is scary shit because we here in America, and especially in Silicon Valley, are far too dependent on electric power, computers and telecommunication to support our lives. A few of these, reasonably well-placed, could destroy us.

Cool TV: 24

A TV series that takes a whole season of 24 episodes to show 24 hours, a single day, in the presidential campaign of Sen. David Palmer. I just watched the first hour of 24 and it looks good, real good. My biggest question was what happens if someone misses one episode, will they lose the entire thread, but Fox is going to debut episodes Tuesdays at 9:00, then repeat them on FX Mondays at 10:00. This week, they also showed the episode tonight at 9:00 and will show it on FX on Sunday night as well. The website looks interesting too and it includes a minute by minute breakdown of each episode (as the episode airs).

Suggested H-1B restriction unconstitutional?

Steven points out that my suggestion could likely run up against section 1 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which requires equal protection of all people.

Since the people here on H-1B visas are given entry and the ability to work on terms and conditions set by Congress, one would think Congress has the legal ability to make those conditions as I suggest as easily as the conditions that currently exist. Steven’s point may well be valid, IANAL, but I don’t see that conflict quite so clearly. If the law requires such treatment then how come Congress could require that these people leave after six years or within four weeks of being terminated by their employer?

Further, for an example in a completely different venue, many states charge a different tuition to residents and non-residents for attending state-run colleges, thus discriminating against some people. One would think, though, after all the time this has been in effect that any possible constitutional challenges would have come to pass and yet those different tuitions are still with us.

There is a discussion going on at USS Clueless

Warning: extreme usage ahead

I suppose that one gets to be President and COO of a software company by having particularly strong marketing skills. So it shouldn’t be too surprising that John Robb would go overboard in describing the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He calls it “horrific.” This is an excellent example of the impact of extreme marketing on everyday writing.

I say, what is horrific about the legacy of American use of nukes in Japan? And I mean the legacy, not the initial use, which would be a completely different debate. From my vantage point, the legacy has been mostly positive. People really understand the devastating nature of these weapons and accordingly none have been used since. (Yes, there were a sizable number of people who contracted and died from related cancers and their individual suffering should not go unacknowledged. But how many more people, soldiers and civilians, would have died if the Allies chose a land assualt on Japan instead?)

I suppose John has read Gonzo Marketing but still needs to internalize some of the lessons. Leave out the abstract hype and stick to the facts. Note that I have nothing against John personally, never having met or spoken with him, but this kind of language usage really pushes one of my buttons.

Update: John changed the wording to say that the act of dropping nukes itself was horrific. Way to go John!

H-1B visa holders should be first fired

If that sounds rascist, it isn’t; the statement does mean that America and the goodness here should be for Americans first and for foreigners after. In Vanishing visas / Uncertain future for unemployed H-1B holders, Carrie Kirby of the SF Chronicle looks at some of the difficulties impacting these people in the current economic client. Now I would be the first to step up and say the offending companies ought to be prosecuted if the allegations are true. But I do not feel particularly sorry for the many Indian nationals (who were granted the majority of these visas in the last few years) who are having to pack up and return home; they took a gamble coming here and for awhile it paid off spectacularly, but now that bubble has burst along with the stock market.

I’ve worked with many people who came on H-1Bs and as a group they are as intelligent and hardworking as any other large group of people. Some of them have been and are my friends and when I was in a people management position I hired a few. When the U.S. unemployment rate is rising to longtime highs as it is now, however, we need to rethink some of the consequences of our generousity. I have thought about this issue for some time and I truly believe that the visa law ought to be rewritten so that employers are required to terminate any and all H-1B staffers holding the same or similar positions as Americans before any American staffers are terminated. True, this probably would have saved my own job but I felt this way long before August. We have a great country and I truly believe in sharing the bounty but the bounty must first be used to care for ourselves.

Note: Green card (permanent resident) foreigners are a grey area in this discussion. My feeling is that they should be treated the same as American citizens or perhaps be put into a third category (that is, if there are reductions required even after all H-1B holders are terminated, then permanent residents would be terminated before citizens). Also, I have consistently referred to H-1B visas but I would also put holders of the other work visas (such as Ls, issued to Canadians) in the same group.

Another controversial anti-Islam novel: Plateforme

Brendan Berhnard, writing in LA Weekly, examines a new novel about Sex Tours and Terrorism, which in an odd burst of synchronicity was reviewed in the NY Times on 9/11. Plateforme (a French title) was written by Michel Houellebecq and tells the story of a simple man, worn out by the bureacratic life in France, who travels to Thailand to take advantage of the cheap sex trade who ends up surviving an Islamic terrorist bombing there which kills his new girlfriend. The English translation is not going to be published until next year.

The protagonist goes on to develop a deep and abiding hatred for Islam and Muslims. Houellebecq, in an interview with French magazine Lire, called Islam “a dangerous religion” that, “fortunately,” is doomed to be undermined by capitalism. The author, considered perhaps the most controversial in Europe today, has been criticized heavily by the French Muslim community for being rascist and has received enough death threats to have the Paris police keep him hidden and protected in a safe house. Sounds quite interesting and I will surely be looking for the English version.

Life size Monopoly comes to San Jose

Friends of San Jose Beautiful is bringing a lifesize version of the Parker Brothers game to Guadalupe River Park in San Jose. Monopoly in the Park will be available for parties and other group use, with properties sponsored by different corporations (IBM purchased New York Avenue, Waste Management bought Community Chest) and organizations (City of San José Police Department, Police Officers Association purchased “Go to Jail”). There are even jailbird costumes for players to wear while imprisoned. Wired also has a story on the project. Given the current push of California companies and the state Attorney General against Microsoft in the antitrust case, I find this particularly amusing!

Calculate your layoff probability

The nice folks have developed the Dismal Scientist Layoff Calculator as a public service. Simply plug in your zip code, industry, occupation, last job review grade, and, if applicable, employer’s stock symbol and out will pop a percentage. For example, if you live in Pacifica, work as a programmer for Sun Microsystems, and received a middle third rating, your probability is 8.8%. Not bad. I think this is one of those unintentionally funny things in life.

Will Wheaton: Truly not lame

In a classic Slashdot interview,Wil Wheaton Responds to your Questions and shows that age 29 (yeah, I know it’s hard to believe) he’s actually learned a few lessons from being a teenage TV star. And for the three of you who don’t know, Wil played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation for the first several seasons until he went off to learn about life on a higher plane with the Traveller. Wheaton has a decent website and in this interview he responds with humor and candor to reader-supplied questions about being hated on the internet and rubbing Shatner’s belly.

An amusingly high portion of the thread posts in response say, essentially, “Hey, Wheaton is way cooler than I ever thought. And he didn’t blow his life away with typical child star crap. He even knows what a karma whore is.” But I knew Wheaton was cool, even back in the day.

Chicago terror: was this a close call? Definitely a problem

No one doubts that there will be additional terrorist incidents, the only surprise to me is that we haven’t seen more already. Perhaps the government is doing a good job? Well, I wonder if the arrest of Subash Gurung was going to be another airplane attack. Gurung was arrested Saturday before he could board a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Omaha with several long blade knives and a stun gun in his carry-on. Let’s see, he’s a Muslim from Nepal, young but not too young (27), and in America on an expired student visa holding a fake immigration employment card.

But that’s not the whole story. Gurung made it past the security checkpoint at O’Hare, but airline employees at the gate area searched his bag in a routine check and found the weapons. Argenbright Security, the largest US airport security contractor, has been cited repeatedly fo similar breeches. One wonders how members of the House of Representatives who voted against federalizing airport security are reacting to these continuing problems.

It is about Islam: A call for Reformation

Farrukh Dhondy, writing in City Journal, discusses Our Islamic Fifth Column, how British (and to a lesser extent, American) policies have allowed groups of what is now clearly the enemy to develop and thrive in our midst. The article is a little lengthy but discusses Muslim migration to Britain and subsequent alienation and stagnation of that group, the Rushdie fatwa, a little-reported attempt by a group of mostly British Muslims to bomb British targets in Yemen, the Summer 2001 ‘asian’ riots in several English cities (as Dhondy writes, “The riots had no targets, symbolic or strategic.”), and that communties response to 9/11.

All these point to a fundamental disconnect in the lives of Muslims living in Western countries, that there is a major conflict between the values of the nations in which they live and those preached by the radical Islamists. Dhondy ends by tying these threads all together into a call for an Islamic Reformation, one which allows Muslims to continue their beliefs in Allah and the Koran but also permits them to live in peace with non-believers. Otherwise, the current attacks by Al Quaeda, supported by believers in many places, will escalate into a war in which the radical Islamists attempt to impose their religious beliefs on the entire world through violence.

Via garret.

Liverpool FC: Rockin’ Anfield

With a fairly simple 3-1 victory over Manchester United, the Liverpool Reds moved into second place in the Premiership, one point behind Leeds with one game in hand, and showed that all the championships won in the last year are just the beginning of a new era. Earlier this week, the Reds shut out Borussia Dortmund to finish the first phase of the Champions League in first place in their group and draw two teams they beat in last year’s UEFA Cup, Barcelona and Roma, in the round of 16 second phase. Even with manager Gerard Houllier in the hospital and off the grounds for another two months, mad scorer Michael Owens is leading the boys for more silver.

Today’s movie: Monsters, Inc.

We scare because we care. And how true and sweet that saying really is coming from the mouths of John Goodman and Bill Crystal. You can read plenty of reviews of Monsters, Inc., so I won’t go into it here except to say that this movie is the first must see film in months. I read Friday that one of the reasons Pixar movies are so consistently good is because the actual production is so demanding and lengthy that the script has to be great to justify the effort. As an extra treat, Pixar has posted several short films to the site, definitely worth watching.

Update: Lots of people agreed with my assessment as this film took in $63.5 million in its opening weekend, setting a new record for animated films (blowing past Toy Story 2’s 1999 $57M bow) and reaching #6 for all films. Toy Story 2 ended up with a $485 million box office total and Disney execs are rubbing themselves silly with such an unexpected result. Jet Li’s The One took second with $20M and I am going to disregard some friend’s less-than-stellar reviews and see it anyway.

Tonight’s movie: Enemy at the Gates

One of the most important and painful battles in World War II was the Nazi assault on Stalingrad. The Nazis had won essentially every land battle up to that point but ran into the monster Russian winter and the ability of the Soviets to throw almost unlimited number of solder/cannon fodder at them. In Enemy at the Gates, we see a small part of that story as good comrade Jude Law matches his farm-bred sniper skills against Nazi master marksman Ed Harris. Throw in a love triangle with Law up against Communist Party political office Joespeh Fiennes for Rachel Weisz that ties in to the main plot. The end is predictable if you remember your history, but since we are so focused on the characters, well written and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, that their individual fates keep us involved right up until the hokey epilog.

Rushdie: The politics of terror are religious

Salman Rushdie, the outspoken Muslim author, writes in the NY Times that Yes, This Is About Islam. The “this” referred to, of course, is the current battle between Al Quaeda and it’s allies and the rest of the world. Rushdie’s honest appraisal follows hard on the heals of related writings by Thomas Friedman and Seymour Hersh. The picture of the political Islamists that is emerging is unpleasant, unfriendly, and in need of a massive change if we are to see the end of terror in any reasonable amount of time.