A reminder, for Boston-area Balloon Juicers in need of something other than our public miseries to ponder.
Tomorrow, Wednesday April 17, at 7 p.m., we got this:
Seth Mnookin and Ta-Nehisi Coates talking with David Carr, the New York Times’ media critic, on Wed., April 17, 7 p.m. in MIT’s building 6, room 120 (6-120, as folks in the Shire reckon addresses — click on the link for an interactive map). The event is running under the title “The Future of Print in the Digital Age” and is sponsored as part of the Writer’s Series within MIT’s Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing, its Graduate Program in Science Writing, and the MIT Program in Science Technology and Society. To repeat myself from last week’s notice: This should be a very smart evening; Carr’s one of the really good ones.
Note: 6-120 is a reasonably large room — about 120 seats, I think — but this is one that should get a lot of interest, so if you want to be there, allow a little extra time.
Next, the day after, Thursday, April 18, my former student Emily Anthes is coming back to MIT to speak about her new book Frankenstein’s Cat. You might recall that Emily and I had a conversation about the book last month (podcast here). Emily has taken a serious and very well researched look at the intersection of biotechnology and the animals closest to their human partners/owners/users. The result of that work is a gracefully written book that wears the author’s knowledge lightly, and argues its point — the technological manipulation of animals is both inevitable and at least potentially a benefit to both parties to the deal — with grace and rigor. She’s got a lot to say, and she says it well. If this is the sort of thing you like to engage, this will be a fine evening too. Her talk is the day is also at 7 p.m. in yet another of MIT’s utterly impenetrably named venues, 56-114 — building 56, room 114.
Fun for the whole family, with decent pizza nearby for afters. What could be bad?
(Note: I’ll be at the event tomorrow, but will have to miss Emily’s reading, as I must be off to visit a very ill relative in the mud-season be-mucked north. If you make it tomorrow, say hi.)
Image: Unknown artist, The Final Hour!” c. 1920
beltane
That Bolshevik propaganda poster is very uncivil and would hurt Jamie Dimon’s feelings if he saw it.
priscianus jr
That’s quite a poster. The legend reads “The hour is late”. The Sir Topham Hat character is labeled “capital” and the hand of the clock/sword, “communism”.
To be honest, it reflects my present feelings exactly, except that instead of “communism” I’d want the sword to read “karma”, or “justice”.
Tom Levenson
@beltane: We live in hope. ;)
Tom Levenson
@priscianus jr: Ah — I was relying on the Wikimedia Commons translation, my Russian being as non-existent as it is. Should I change the title in the post, do you think? (I.e., how good is your Russian?)
RinaX
I just found out about wingnuts splicing together a Family Guy episode out of context and claiming it inspired the bombing. Now I must say, I thought they’d maxed out my ability to be surprised at the extent of their crazy, but this one got me.
beltane
@priscianus jr: It’s really brilliant messaging and every bit as relevant today as a century ago. Tweak it a little and I could see it being used by anti-austerity protesters in Europe, much better than those Merkel with a Hitler mustache posters I’ve seen.
beltane
@RinaX: They seem genuinely afraid this time. I wonder why that is.
Spaghetti Lee
@beltane:
Certainly gets the point (edit: heh heh) across. But I’d say this is a case where the enemy of my enemy is not my friend.
beltane
@Spaghetti Lee: Of course. But looked at objectively, it is very effective propaganda. The “progressives” are always harping on messaging yet their messaging is usually just as bad as the mainstream Democrats they are criticizing. This poster is a good example of the concept of Keep It Short and Simple, probably because it was designed to influence a public that was not necessarily literate.
Redshift
Sigh. Those look excellent. I may have to move to Boston.
David Koch
@beltane: saw chuck fraud and he was wring his hands cuz his sources in congress think its domestic since spy agencies aren’t picking up any of the usual chatter that occurs before and after an attack.
arguingwithsignposts
@David Koch: chuck fraud? Is that Chuck Toad? from MSNBC?
the Conster
@David Koch:
A local Boston show had a terrorism expert on – a real one – a woman who can recite al Quaeda manuals chapter and verse – who noted that yes, al Quaeda has taught the pressure cooker bomb since 2004, but Stormfront picked up the info as early as 2007 and now the info is everywhere, and she’s leaning to domestic terrorism, so yes, wingnuts can see the train coming down the tracks toward them and spinning out of this will take more than Chuck Todd.
Suffern ACE
@David Koch: I think it’s too soon to say it, but I feel cheated by this whole damn thing. Whoever did it needs to at least drop a cd with their favorite song or a hint that they might be into sme kind of obscure hobby. We need to break up the non-stop arm chair profiling with hushed toned speculation about how a normally innocuous song like “Shine” could be sinister.
Punchy
@David Koch: But but but there were non-whites running around! That proves it’s international terrorism from Syiran. Why would Bearded Americans flee a bomb threat unless they were guilty of something?
David Koch
@arguingwithsignposts: darling, of course.
Violet
@Punchy: If browns were running away from the bomb blast scene, they’re obviously guilty. Is anyone looking at the “Al Quaeda is sneaking operatives disguised as illegals into the US via the leaky Mexican border” angle?
Yutsano
@Violet: Someone alert Louie Gohmert stat! I’m certain he’ll get right to the bottom of that conspiracy!
Morzer
@priscianus jr:
Actually, it wouldn’t usually mean “The hour is late” – it means “the latest hour” or “final hour”. In theory, it could mean “the worst hour” but this is less likely. Predicate long form adjectives in Russian normally occur after the noun, not before it.
Morzer
I might add that the TV series Zero Hour was Russianized as Последний час. “Zero Hour” would actually be a rather nice translation for the title of Professor Levenson’s illustration.
Anne Laurie
@Yutsano:
Damn. I just put up a new thread, with comments from most of the Repub regulars on the Stupid Circuit, and Gohmert wasn’t included…
Yutsano
@Anne Laurie: Well you got a decent accounting of the Stupid Brigade, so leaving out Louie isn’t really all that fatal of an error. Plus, given time and previous history, he’ll get to saying something we can all point and laugh at.
gogol's wife
@Tom Levenson:
The Final Hour! is correct. It is also correct that the top-hatted guy is labeled “Capital” and the sword is labeled “Communism.”
Cervantes
Note: 6-120 is a reasonably large room — about 120 seats, I think
FYI the seating capacity of 6-120 is 154 or 155.
qkslvrwolf
Is there a link to the event for today? How long will it last? (also trying to do dinner reservations after)
qkslvrwolf
nevermind, found (something)
qkslvrwolf
Little bit after the fact, but it was good to meet you (twice in a week)!
Also, you should check out this, and maybe pass it on to the panel members. It was really appropriate for the discussion last night, although obviously from a less “serious” perspective.