Words are Weeds http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/ en Copyright 2009 Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:49:13 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.25 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Last night's debate Watching the presidential debates last night was only made tolerable by participating in The Uptake's
live blog. I also tried to follow on Twitter, but the constant stream of messages just gave me vertigo. I don't think I'm up to that kind of multitasking. I love the live microblogging, though, especially as I read comments over at the Uptake that were thoughtful, sharp, funny. I was also interested in reports of audience reactions from people who were blogging from bars and coffee houses.

For me the defining moment came at the very end, with everybody trying to get in front of the camera and Tom Brokaw annoyed because the candidates were blocking the teleprompter:

Having taught rhetoric and debate for many years, I have very low expectations of what they call "debate" in a presidential election. Brokaw kept scolding both Obama and McCain for not staying within time limits, but it just reminded me he could've scolded them for so many other reasons. Not really answering a lot of the questions, for one. Repeating the same old talking points. All in all, I wasn't very impressed with Brokaw as moderator for the non-debate.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2008/10/last_nights_debate.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2008/10/last_nights_debate.html politics Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:49:13 -0600 But where are the funny cats? http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/09/but_where_are_the_funny_cats_1.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/09/but_where_are_the_funny_cats_1.html media Sat, 15 Sep 2007 10:36:22 -0600 I Can Haz Theory? Josh didn't start it, but this is definitely his fault:

Donna Haraway, LOLTheorist:

lolcat930523.jpg

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/07/i_can_haz_theory.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/07/i_can_haz_theory.html Tue, 31 Jul 2007 11:47:14 -0600 La Nueva Cocina On a Stick?
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 blog it
]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/06/post_2.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/06/post_2.html Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:35:05 -0600 Free Butter Boy and Butter Girl! twins-packaging.jpg

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/05/free_butter_boy_and_butter_gir_1.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/05/free_butter_boy_and_butter_gir_1.html Sun, 13 May 2007 09:31:36 -0600 Scenes from Hell annunciation.jpg

Lynn Randolph, Annunciation of the Second Coming, oil on canvas, 1995.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/05/scenes_from_hell.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/05/scenes_from_hell.html politics Sat, 12 May 2007 10:25:34 -0600 "The Basics" for Cats and Dogs http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/04/the_basics_for_cats_and_dogs.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/04/the_basics_for_cats_and_dogs.html media Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:36:13 -0600 The banana that leaves the bunch gets skinned This Sunday in the New York Times:

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Mistakes Were Made
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The item that caught my attention was about Chiquita Brands International (formerly known as the United Fruit Company). According to the item, Chiquita was "fined $25 million to settle charges that it illegally paid a right-wing militia to protect its banana plantations in Colombia." "Behind the News" didn't provide the most satisfactory explanation:

"Much of the countryside is beyond government control, and it is not unusual for foreign companies operating there to buy protection from shady groups."

Is the reader supposed to accept this explanation because it's common knowledge that part of the world is violent? Would it have been all right if Chiquita bought protection, but not from "drug-dealing terrorists"? But what kind of "shady groups" would pose a threat to a fruit plantation? Competitors? Unions, perhaps?

The Chiquita Web site is rife with irony and historical revisionism.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/03/the_banana_that_leaves_the_bun.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/03/the_banana_that_leaves_the_bun.html media Sun, 18 Mar 2007 09:42:24 -0600 Baudrillard, um, "dies" "Dying is pointless. You have to know how to disappear." More on the disappearance of Jean Baudrillard...

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/03/baudrillard_um_dies.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/03/baudrillard_um_dies.html theory Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:35:10 -0600 Well Played, New York Times http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/03/well_played_new_york_times_2.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/03/well_played_new_york_times_2.html media Sun, 11 Mar 2007 18:14:27 -0600 Reorganizing My Library http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/03/reorganizing_my_library.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/03/reorganizing_my_library.html social software Sat, 10 Mar 2007 19:44:02 -0600 Finally! DSCN0231.JPG

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/02/finally_1.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/02/finally_1.html Minnesota Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:06:55 -0600 Not Harmony, but Unleashing Creative Dissonance http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/02/not_harmony_but_unleashing_cre_1.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2007/02/not_harmony_but_unleashing_cre_1.html politics Sat, 24 Feb 2007 19:30:54 -0600 On the nature of style "Words are weeds--pioneers, opportunists and survivors..."

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2006/12/on_the_nature_of_style.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/clopez/wordsareweeds/2006/12/on_the_nature_of_style.html theory Thu, 14 Dec 2006 04:09:06 -0600