Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Target illustrations

Target ads adorn our hall; we framed a bunch from the New Yorker issue. For Halloween, David Pescovitz at Boing Boing sez:

Target is using really cute illustrations in its Halloween campaign. Yopo77 posts a Flickr photo set of some in-store displays here. And the Target site has a fun little animation here.

Here’s an OSX icon set based on the illustrations.

Neighbors already have a giant lighted blow-up pumpkin and witch and the Christmas section at K-Mart opened last week.

Drum on Bush on Oil

Kevin Drum says Bush’s comments on oil conservation “show off practically everything that’s wrong with his governing instincts:”

First, he talks about conservation but asks only that people “pitch in.” He is unwilling to propose any serious government action to reduce oil use.

Second, he talks about environmental restrictions disliked by the energy industry. On this score, unlike the first, he is happy to propose government action.

Third, at the end of a discussion directed solely at oil use, he suggests that nuclear power is part of the answer, seemingly oblivious to the fact that nuclear power is a source of electricity, an industry that uses virtually no oil. Increased use of nuclear power would have no effect on oil consumption at all.

From the frying pan

Into the fire:

A leading Republican donor and fundraiser was elected chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting yesterday, tightening conservative control over the agency that oversees National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service.

Cheryl F. Halpern, a New Jersey lawyer and real estate developer, won approval from the CPB’s board. She succeeds a close board ally, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, who stirred controversy earlier this year by contending that public broadcasting favors liberal views. Tomlinson’s term as chairman had expired, but he will remain a member of the board.

The board also elected another conservative, Gay Hart Gaines, as its vice chairman. Gaines, an interior decorator by training, was a charter member and a chairman of GOPAC, a Republican fundraising group that then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) used to engineer the GOP takeover of the House in 1994.

With the changes, conservatives with close ties to the Bush administration have assumed control of every important position at the agency, which distributes about $400 million in federal funds to noncommercial radio and TV stations and is supposed to act as a buffer against outside political influence.

I hold out virtually no hope for Public Broadcasting ever becoming what I believe it should be.

Let’s all watch now for the new conservative arguments in favor of it.

Climate change & hurricanes

I’ve believed that Global Warming is real and responsible for climate change for as long as I can remember. So you know what side I come down on in the current debate.

What I’ll be interested to see the shift in public opinion on the topic in the months ahead. After storms and the coming winter’s heating bills, I expect a big one.

UPDATE: It was 106° in Texas on Saturday, where the fall heatwave continues today and 400,000 have no power.