Tricky Dick - lessons in correlation

Dick Cheney reminds me of The Penguin from Batman. Okay, enough of that.

You probably read in the news that documents were released yesterday about the CIA interrogation techniques under the Cheney administration. Er, the Bush administration. A very long document very short: There were a few instances of suspects being threatened with power drills, staged executions, threats to kill suspects children, etc. A multitude of Geneva Convention and Human Rights violations. These were isolated incidents, but eye-opening nonetheless.

Dick Cheney has come out now and said that the documents released Monday "clearly demonstrated that the individuals subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques provided the bulk of intelligence ... [that] saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks." He uses this information to plant the seeds about why "so many Americans have doubts about this administration's ability to be responsible for our nation's security."

Okay. Here we go. Rant time. First off, this seems like a simple dichotomy: Obama's view of Ends-do-NOT-Justify-the-Means vs. Cheney's view of Ends-Most-Definitely-Justify-the-Means. Simple enough, right?

No. Cheney is using a very old and very SUCCESSFUL argument tactic. He so quickly and confidently associates the lack of a terrorist attack since 9/11 as evidential proof that threatening people with power drills and fake shooting the prisoner next door in the chest was the root cause of WHY we weren't attacked again. The problem is a common one. People tend to blur the distinction between Correlation and Causation. Cheney is trying to assert that those harsh interrogation techniques CAUSED a lack of terrorist attacks. But its not possible to prove that. There is a CORRELATION at best. There's also a correlation between Cheney's harsh interrogation techniques and my lack of any cavities from 2001-2009. With Cheney's logic - the torture is directly responsible for my lack of cavities. Only that's ridiculous. But is it really any more ridiculous than what Cheney is saying?

I guess that's up to you. DO the ends justify the means? Personally, I say no. Even IF (and that's a big 'if') you proved that torturing someone directly prevented a terrorist attack - dirty means cheapen the resulting ends. We still have a proud free country at the end of the day. Its just a little less proud. And a little less free.

Head Start - Halloween Costume

So here's my idea. I was gonna do it last year, but I think I'm gonna come through this year.

Anderson Cooper. aka "AC360"

props needed:

-Grey Pocket Tee

-White hair, done the same

-Mic

-Squinty eyes

-Kaki canvas vest with lots of pockets (optional)

Cashes Rivers on the 4th Annual "Hot List"

So every year, Juice (the altBro side of the DM Register) puts out a list of what's 'hot' in Des Moines. The main attraction is that year's "Hottest Reader" as well as a multitude of other categories. There was only one band on the list this year, and it was Cashes Rivers.

Here's the link to the online story - Cashes Rivers is about halfway down.
(Thanks to Juice and Joe Lawler for liking and supporting cool home-grown music!!)

Here's the text:

"Cashes Rivers' music can sound pretty different depending on when you catch him. On his debut EP, "The Trees Will Clap For Us ...," he played nearly all of the instruments himself, creating a full band sound. Live, sometimes it's just him and an acoustic guitar, playing sweet, sensitive and often funny tunes that reveal a seemingly older soul than his 19 years. Then there are shows like his performance this spring at Gross Domestic Product, where Cashes got around 10 friends to play with him, creating an impressive stage show that seemed more on par with indie collective Broken Social Scene than standard singer-songwriter fare.

"Sometimes when you do something as a band, then strip it to acoustic it doesn't sound right," Rivers said. "I wanted to be able to have the options to play the songs by myself and still have them sound good."

What made his big band's performance at GDP even more impressive was that it was the group's first show together, and that Rivers only had a handful of dates under his belt at that point. The Des Moines Music Coalition offered him a spot at the 80/35 Music Festival based off the performance, but Rivers ended up passing to focus on recording his debut full-length, which is due out next spring.

Was that a smart move? Maybe. Rivers spent a lot of time working on the songs from "Trees" before ever performing them live. The result was a fairly polished sound from such a young performer. He's working with Brandon Darner of The Envy Corps on the full-length, and the band seems to have taken him under their wing (Rivers ended up playing a few songs with the band at 80/35). With the new album and support from the city's most popular band, his star will only rise. Spots at GDP and next year's 80/35 are likely his if he wants them.

By that time he'll have already headlined a festival. He's closing out the revived Dogtown Fest near Drake on Sept. 26."
- Joe Lawler

500 Days of Summer

Went to a movie a few days ago and REALLY liked it. I liked the acting, I liked the premise, I liked the artistic way it was shot....

500 Days of Summer is non-linear (think Pulp Fiction) and tells a story about a guy who believes in soul-mates and true love, but finds his in a girl who believes the exact opposite. I won't go into much detail to spare those who haven't seen it yet. I just love how REAL the movie feels. Its not trying to be a fairy tale, just real life. And sometimes real life is a bitch. But at the same time - real life is an ongoing, never-ending story that gives you as many opportunities and chances as you feel like taking advantage of. This movie really points out that neither girl or boy was right - EVERYBODY has an idea of how they see the world and their expectations for it, but at the end of the day, Life is going to take your expectations and show you that you're an idiot and it has NO plans on lining up with your worldview. There's no right vs. wrong - there's only different points of view, different people living different lives following different paths, and sometimes they align and sometimes they don't. The moral of the movie (as I read it) is this: Sometimes things work out. Sometimes they don't. Whatever the outcome, the rest of the world is still out there and unaffected by your loss or gain. Good things don't last forever, but neither to the bad things. Keep your worldview and ideals close, but don't ever forget that no matter what happens, there is still a wide world out there - open ended and undetermined - waiting for you to just SEE it.

I'll be doing at least one painting stemming from this movie. Stay tuned....

Half-Life

I realize that not a single person who reads my blog is much of a video gamer. However - if you've ever thought about trying out computer 'gamez'... I want to recommend a cheap and awesome beginner's package: via Steam, you can now get something called 'Half-Life Complete" for $17. What this package contains is every Half-Life game ever made.

Half-Life is a 'FPS' (meaning you live the game through the eyes of one character in the first person) about a scientist named Gordon Freeman - you - have a very bad day at work, leading to a pretty crazy chain of events. An experiment goes a little wrong and a small singularity is created and sorta maybe tears a whole to another dimension. These games are the best video games to try to get non-gamers to play. There just happens to be a fair amount of gunplay along with realistic environment-based puzzles in a world a little too real. The storyline is never fully explained to you, and I like that. In half a dozen installments, you're still barely figuring out whats going on... These games, moreso than any other game I've played, really feel like you're living, creating, and driving a movie in the first person.

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Discussion Topic: Top 5 favorite video games (any platform)

1) Legend of Zelda (NES)

2) Half-Life 2 (PC)

3) Time Crisis 3 (huge two person arcade version)

4) Myst series (PC)

5) Bioshock (PC)

"I get these ideas!"

Humorous idea hit me this morning... wait for it.....

Rather than "Lady Gaga" its... "Baby Gaga"

Babies already don't wear pants, so its an easy costume. Bling out a onesie, throw some oversized sunglasses on the kid, maybe a fake blonde wig, and a lightning bolt face paint. I swear it'll win any costume competition this Haloween. Now all I need is to find a baby... I think I'll look for one at Coffee Bean first...

Sad Day #2

Les Paul, the father of the solid-body electric guitar, died today. There's some debate about who REALLY came up with the first solid body electric guitar, since Leo Fender is often credited as well. From what I understand, they were acquaintances and discussed ideas on a regular basis. It sounds like what happened was that Les Paul actually came up with the plans and prototype of the first solid-body electric guitar, but Fender... well, some people say that he brought it to the masses in the form of the Fender Broadcaster (the pre-curser to the Fender Telecaster). Others say he stole the idea from Les Paul and ran with it. Les Paul was foremost a PLAYER - an amazing Jazz guitarist in his own right. But he was also an innovator. He came up with ideas for delay effects, overdubbing, and multi-track recording, just to name a few. Either way, Les Paul was integral to the creation of one of the biggest interests in my life right now, so I think his death more than warrants a blog post.

Les Paul is an actual person - not everyone is aware of that. His name is more well known for its association with Gibson electric guitars. His Gibson "Les Paul Custom" model is probably the 2nd most common electric guitar in the world, second only to the Fender Stratocaster. You've probably seen the Les Paul being played by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin or Pete Townsend of The Who.

Townsend - below. The last moments of this Les Paul's life....

Jimmy Page - using a violin bow on his Gibson Les Paul