Artifacting

Putting I Between Art And Facts

politics

Acceptance Speech Word Visualizations

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Above are the word clouds for the acceptance speeches from Obama and McCain (on top for you colorblind readers) that I created using Wordle. The larger the word, the more often it was said by each candidate. I think both the words “promise” and “fight” are too large for any candidate this time around.

The New York Times does a great job of visually distilling the acceptance speeches. I think of particular note is the fact that Rudy Giuliana (of all people) saying, “Of great concern to me, during those same four days in Denver, they rarely mentioned the attacks of September 11, 2001.” The total count of the time the phrase “September 11th” was said by Obama: 2, by McCain: 0.

Devil May Care

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Mike’s entry on the Advocacy of the Devil is excellent. He brings up a great point:

Nothing is more infuriating that to be on the verge of an intellectual victory with a worthy opponent and then hear them say, “I was just playing Devil’s Advocate.” The correct usage of the Devil’s Advocate does not involve just the countering an argument. The advocate of the devil is there to sharpen an idea, and therefore is actually on the same side as her “opponent”. Additionally, the use of the Devil’s Advocate needs to be invoked before it is used. To invoke the Devil’s Advocate after it has been applied is to use it to cloak mean-spirited or useless argument.

I had never thought of this before. I have used the “oh, I was just playing devil’s advocate” excuse to back my way out of a losing argument tons of times and never realized how much of an asshole I was for doing so, until I read this.

I apologize to anyone I may have ever pulled this crap on.

Threatening Weiners

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I love this hotdog homeland security threat level system. We are currently at threat level Chicago dog with the works.

    Severe Risk – Fried, Bacon-Wrapped Tijuana Danger Dog Topped With Jalapenos, Onions and Mayo
    General Risk – Microwaved Oscar Meyer Wieners on White Bread Roll with Ketchup
    Low Risk – Steamed Tofu Pup on Sprouted Wheat Roll

Students For An Orwellian Society

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Students for an Orwellian Society is a cool nationwide student group that is documenting instances of Ingsoc (based on George Orwells prophetic novel “1984”) in todays news. They also have a great T-shirt selection.