You may have heard that Bob Dylan has been hosting a show on satellite radio. But you may not have heard it, because you don’t have satellite radio. Redemption is now at hand: visit White Man Stew to download archived versions of the show, which is organized around themes such as “Weather,” “Drinking,” “Baseball,” “Coffee,” “Jail,” and “Divorce” (via Philebrity Reader).
Once you’ve heard Bob Dylan introduce music by Lonnie the Cat, Blur, and L.L. Cool J, you won’t look back.
Here’s a sample mp3: Staple Singers, “Uncloudy Day” (with Dylan intro)
Dan Rubin asks why the left has been silent on the conflict in the Middle East.
I’ve said my piece about the war here and here, and I’ll say more about it when I have more to say. Plenty of liberal bloggers on my blogroll have been writing about the war; I think that the assertation that the left has been silent about it is a bit of a canard.
Speaking of war in the Middle East, Terry Gross hosted an excellent program about the subject today on Fresh Air. She interviewed Georgetown Professor Daniel Byman, who provided a remarkably even-handed, and wonderfully edifying, view of the situation. It’s well worth a listen — Byman presents Middle Eastern history and politics in all of their multi-faceted complexity. He affirms certain points currently being trumpeted by American conservatives (such as the deep connections between Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah) who are calling for more war, but he also says that Israel’s response to the kidnapping of its soldiers was disproportionate (that was the point, he argues), and that an American or Israeli attack on Iran is likely to end badly.
If you listen, please let me know whether you agree that Byman’s views were non-partisan.
Two of my daily reads, Lance Mannion and Dan Rubin, wrote about MyHeritage.com, a site that uses facial recognition software to analyze your photos and tell you which celebrities you most resemble.
I thought the whole thing was a crock until I learned that I resemble Heath Ledger (62%), Johnny Depp (59%), River Phoenix (50%), and Michael Vartan (50%). I am now MyHeritage.com’s biggest fan, even if it also pulled up Alan Alda (58%), Dan Rather (57%), and (gasp) Steven Seagal (48%). Hey — any programmer worth her salt will tell you that every piece of software has its glitches. . .
Update: If you like the Dylan shows above, also check out Down in the Flood, a podcast series by Jason Chervokas. Chervokas also writes a very fine blog called Trickster.
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11 Comments on "Odds and Ends"
Eric:
I’ve been pondering the proportionality issue recently and I’m not sure of its efficacy considering the long-running history of this conflict. Obviously, Israel’s response was disproportionate to the most recent Hezbollah act. However, I don’t believe this was just about this most recent act. There was an article a couple of days ago that I can’t find, I believe on CNN or MSNBC, about how this response came as a surprise to Hezbollah leadership. They anticipated a prisoner exchange with mediation from Europe as has happened in the past.
To me, this is why the Israelis responded more severely. There have been ongoing border skirmishes and rocket attacks from Lebanon ever since the Israelis pulled out. Well, since 1982 or 1948, really. How long was Israel supposed to continue responding proportionally before it was just too much? How many times can you let someone slap you in the face before you feel the urge to retaliate with more than just a slap of your own?
All this being said, I believe the escalation played right into Hezbollah hands. The more Israel punishes the innocent, the more innocents move toward Hezbolloah. It’s the same reason we should have never gone into Iraq.
yoko:
Glitches indeed. I tried the MyHeritage face recognition, and it said that I looked like David Arquette (70%) or Tyra Banks (60%). What the hell? :P
Mikhail:
My 21 mo. old son apparently most resembles Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (63%).
Matt:
Well said, Eric. However — while it’s true that the latest conflagration didn’t take place in a vacuum, and must be viewed within the long and troubled history of the region, I still think it matters (at least in world opinion, at least on the “Arab street”) that the response was disproportionate. To me, the salient fact is that, as you point out, the action as a whole is looking more and more like it is going to backfire on the Israelis by inflaming tensions in the region and driving more support to Hezbollah. As many people have pointed out, Hezbollah seems perfectly willing to wage a shadowy war of attrition, and Israel’s over-the-top actions mean that it’s going to be hard for them to withdraw without losing face. As Billmon has pointed out several times recently, it seems like the Israelis have put themselves in a corner.
Yoko: Obviously, the photo you submit has a lot to do with the matches you get. . . I don’t really look like any of the people named, though I’m happy to pretend I do on the internets. My advice to you: focus on the supermodel match.
Mikhail: I always thought your son was a bit of a space cadet . . .
Claire:
Matt, thanks for the link to the archived Dylan shows. I plan on checking it out.
Eli:
Dan Rubin asks why the left has been silent on the conflict in the Middle East.
Silence does not equal apathy. In my case, and I think many others, I just don’t have anything constructive to add, and I see no use in putting up a post just to say “This totally sucks. I hate it when people kill each other, and I hate it that Bush doesn’t.”
Lizzy:
The left is silent? Well, I don’t think I am going to agree with that. I have read many, many excellent entries about the Middle East Crisis. Rubin may be right in that the Democratic Party has been silent about it…haven’t read anything from them.
I guess they do not wantn to discuss it.
I was at
DLance’s blog earlier and I got to do the Heritage photo recognition.I got Robin Wright Penn and Kate Hudson, but I don’t remember my percentages and I don’t think I look like them either, although I love Kate Hudson.
Lance Mannion:
Matt,
I’m sorry, guy, but I can see the Seagal resemblance.
Matt:
Well, you know, Lance, I too am "hoping that I can be known as a great writer and actor some day, rather than a sex symbol," so there is that.
somegirl:
it’s the ‘do matt.
i wasn’t so pleased with my results. the best i got was 77% brooke shields, and i got jean paul belmondo and sylvia plath in the 50% range…so i dunno, do i look like them?
Matt:
I don’t think you look like any of them, somegirl, but take heart: one could do worse in this life than to remind people of Sylvia Plath and Jean Paul Belmondo.
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