February 2008 Archives
Science fiction can't make this stuff up: http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzz/Teenager_Deterrent.
From the company website:
This is a British company, but stay tuned for my legal analysis should this product cross the pond.
From the company website:
The Mosquito™ ultrasonic teenage deterrent is the solution to the eternal problem of unwanted gatherings of youths and teenagers in shopping malls, around shops and anywhere else they are causing problems. The presence of these teenagers discourages genuine shoppers and customers’ from coming into your shop, affecting your turnover and profits. Anti social behavior has become the biggest threat to private property over the last decade and there has been no effective deterrent until now.The scientific explanation:
It seems that there is a very real medical phenomenon known as presbycusis or age related hearing loss which, according to The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, "begins after the age of 20 but is usually significant only in persons over 65". It first affects the highest frequencies (18 to 20 kHz) notably in those who have turned 20 years of age". It is possible to generate a high frequency sound that is audible only to teenagers.The sales pitch:
Is your business suffering from anti social youths driving your customers away or generally causing damage or nuicance?My company would have succeeded if it wasn't for those pesky kids!
Are you bothered by crowds of teenager’s hanging around your street and making life unpleasant?
Mosquito™ ultrasonic deterrent can solve your problem.
Purchase Mosquito™ now!
This is a British company, but stay tuned for my legal analysis should this product cross the pond.
I swear, sometimes it seems like every school I attend gets noticeably cooler immediately after I graduate.
I saw Paul Thomas Anderson's film There Will Be Blood tonight. It was beautifully filmed and superbly acted, most notably by the reliably brilliant Daniel Day Lewis.
His character, Daniel Plainview, a turn of the century oil prospector, and Paul Dano's, a local farmboy become evangelist preacher, serve as a remarkable pair of foils in a uniquely American tale of capitalist greed and uneasy religious fervor.
I'm consistently surprised at Day Lewis's ability to transform himself for each role he plays. The effort and nuance he puts into his craft isn't fully obviously until you see him in real life: a soft-spoken man with long, tousled hair, an aristocratic British accent, and a uniquely stylish sartorial bent. Compare this with characters like Christy Brown, Bill the Butcher and now Daniel Plainview and you see the breadth of ability he has. Is this ability alone, the ability to so transform oneself into a fictional character, physically, tonally, and morally, the mark of a great actor? No, but it is perhaps the most obvious indicator that you are seeing one at work.
Day Lewis's personal story is an interesting one. Prior to 2002's Gangs of New York, he had taken a three-year sabbatical from acting, during which he reportedly returned to an earlier passion for woodworking and eventually apprenticed to an Italian shoemaker. According to rumor, he traded the cobbler acting lessons in return for room and board. As the story goes, the cobbler later became a traveling performer with the Commedia dell'Arte.
A search for "Daniel Day Lewis" on YouTube produces a few clips worth watching.
To me the other star of the film was the musical score, written by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. The music is engaging from the very beginning, adding drama where you might not expect it and lending a somewhat bone-chilling air to the work as a whole.
The movie was, as I said before, well-acted in general, but it's hard not to focus on Day Lewis alone, because he steals the show again and again. The final scene of the film is one that stays with you.
His character, Daniel Plainview, a turn of the century oil prospector, and Paul Dano's, a local farmboy become evangelist preacher, serve as a remarkable pair of foils in a uniquely American tale of capitalist greed and uneasy religious fervor.
I'm consistently surprised at Day Lewis's ability to transform himself for each role he plays. The effort and nuance he puts into his craft isn't fully obviously until you see him in real life: a soft-spoken man with long, tousled hair, an aristocratic British accent, and a uniquely stylish sartorial bent. Compare this with characters like Christy Brown, Bill the Butcher and now Daniel Plainview and you see the breadth of ability he has. Is this ability alone, the ability to so transform oneself into a fictional character, physically, tonally, and morally, the mark of a great actor? No, but it is perhaps the most obvious indicator that you are seeing one at work.
Day Lewis's personal story is an interesting one. Prior to 2002's Gangs of New York, he had taken a three-year sabbatical from acting, during which he reportedly returned to an earlier passion for woodworking and eventually apprenticed to an Italian shoemaker. According to rumor, he traded the cobbler acting lessons in return for room and board. As the story goes, the cobbler later became a traveling performer with the Commedia dell'Arte.
A search for "Daniel Day Lewis" on YouTube produces a few clips worth watching.
To me the other star of the film was the musical score, written by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. The music is engaging from the very beginning, adding drama where you might not expect it and lending a somewhat bone-chilling air to the work as a whole.
The movie was, as I said before, well-acted in general, but it's hard not to focus on Day Lewis alone, because he steals the show again and again. The final scene of the film is one that stays with you.
Having just mentioned the Electoral College in passing, I thought I'd take a moment to point out the Every Vote Counts Amendment, which Boston Confidential officially endorses.
A proposed amendment to the Constitution, Every Vote Counts would, if ratified, effectively abolish the Electoral College and allow for the President to be directly elected by the people of the United States.
Despite what your "short ballot" might imply, when you go into a voting booth and vote for the President, you are in fact voting for a number of electors who are not constitutionally required to vote as they have pledged (though the law of your state may require them to). There are many arguments for and against the continued existence of the College. A comprehensive discussion of the relative merits of each is beyond the scope of this post. The amendment, however, is worth reading if you feel, as I do, that the President should be elected popularly.
I am continually pleased to see Massachusetts Congressman William Delahunt's cosponsorship of this bill.
A proposed amendment to the Constitution, Every Vote Counts would, if ratified, effectively abolish the Electoral College and allow for the President to be directly elected by the people of the United States.
Despite what your "short ballot" might imply, when you go into a voting booth and vote for the President, you are in fact voting for a number of electors who are not constitutionally required to vote as they have pledged (though the law of your state may require them to). There are many arguments for and against the continued existence of the College. A comprehensive discussion of the relative merits of each is beyond the scope of this post. The amendment, however, is worth reading if you feel, as I do, that the President should be elected popularly.
I am continually pleased to see Massachusetts Congressman William Delahunt's cosponsorship of this bill.
The New York Times has posted an excellent guide to the awarding of delegates in each state for the presidential primaries and caucuses.
The guide also provides links to the latest polling results. Poll results* for the Democrats in Massachusetts show Obama ahead of Clinton by two percentage points, 46 percent to 44 percent, although the margin of error is +/- five percent.
If you need a refresher on the differences between primaries and caucuses and pledged and unpledged/superdelegates, this is a good place to start.
* Much of the election polling in Massachusetts is conducted by Channel 7 News and Suffolk University, my alma mater. Government students can actually participate in the polling if they take the right classes. I was a Government major myself, but preferred writing lengthy essays on Lockeian theory and scathing diatribes calling for the abolishment of the Electoral College to the hands-on stuff.
The guide also provides links to the latest polling results. Poll results* for the Democrats in Massachusetts show Obama ahead of Clinton by two percentage points, 46 percent to 44 percent, although the margin of error is +/- five percent.
If you need a refresher on the differences between primaries and caucuses and pledged and unpledged/superdelegates, this is a good place to start.
* Much of the election polling in Massachusetts is conducted by Channel 7 News and Suffolk University, my alma mater. Government students can actually participate in the polling if they take the right classes. I was a Government major myself, but preferred writing lengthy essays on Lockeian theory and scathing diatribes calling for the abolishment of the Electoral College to the hands-on stuff.
