Brad Warthen's Blog

Urgent call for field peas

A reader in Tennessee who apparently read this post of mine from last summer is obviously a guy who's got his priorities straight, and I'd like to be able to help him out:

I'm TN and would like to know where I can order Dixie Lee Field Pea seed for my garden.
 
Thanks Chris

Anybody know where he might be able to obtain these seeds? One of our correspondents wrote in July as follows:

A few years ago I planted a patch of these peas and I agree that they are some of the finest. I purchased my seed at Bob's Ace Hardware in Leesville, which is across the street From shealy's bbq. Also, you may want to try Consumer Feed and Seed in Lexington, which is next to Addy Dodge.

... but I don't know whether that will be helpful or not, to a guy in TN. Any other tips for a guy who knows what's good? (Actually, I'm assuming the "guy" part, and on thin evidence, it now strikes me. If Chris is a gal, I apologize.)

Excuse me for getting all earnest, but how can we interact more meaningfully here?

And yes, I mean "earnest" and not "Ernest" like in my last post, although if you'd like you can attribute the seriousness of my message here to the influence of my serious new notebook.

Anyway, I wrote the following as a followup comment on my otherwise silly, fun post on Tina Fey, and it occurred to me I should elevate it to a separate post and see if we can get a good dialogue going on the subject here. Rather than rewrite it, I repeat myself:

Funny thing is, I used to not like Tina Fey -- or Jimmy Fallon, or, going way back before them, Dennis Miller -- in their Weekend Update days.

As y'all know, I like to have fun and kid around, but I do take the news and the issues of the day seriously, and at some point I get turned off by people who day in and day out sneer and make jokes of serious issues. I mean, let's have fun and kid around, but when one's entire diet of commentary consists of such junk food, and it's all about mocking and never taking anything seriously, I think it has a corrosive effect on society. Taken at it's extreme, I think it has helped raise a generation that has trouble respecting anyone and anything in politics. The constant drip, drip of smarmy satire adds to all the partisan attack politics and tactics of personal destruction to prevent us from coming together to solve the problems we have in common -- which is what representative democracy can be all about.

Needless to say, I have NO appreciation for Jon Stewart and The Daily Show. And while I enjoyed meeting and kidding around with Stephen Colbert (see video), I can't get into his shtick, either.

But even though the Palin gag was pretty hard-hitting satire, it was so enjoyable that it caused me to have a soft spot for Tina I didn't have before.

I should also mention that I revised my opinion of Dennis Miller just from the couple of brief spots I've done on his radio show. I had always thought of him as just too much of a wise guy, too impressed with his own snarky cleverness, to be borne. But he's actually deeper than that, and pleasant to talk to.

Of course, this is just a corollary to something I've found about life -- almost anyone is a more likable, admirable person once you get past the shorthand, bumper-sticker version of that person. To know a person is to appreciate him or her more. Maybe this sounds trite, but in our 24/7 headline news/blog world, we increasingly go by the bumper sticker, and don't get into people deeply enough to appreciate them.

And just to get WAY philosophical on you.... One of my great disappointments with this blog is that I had hoped, by having this forum for going way beyond what I'm able to say and explore in the paper, I could forge some avenues where I could have more meaningful exchanges with my readers and fellow citizens about the important issues of the day -- and the people who are important players in those issues.

Unfortunately, the resistance to that is just tremendous. So much of what passes for dialogue here remains on the superficial, partisan, shorthand, bumper-sticker simplistic level. I try to say something to provoke thought, and somebody gives some standard, boilerplate ideological response, and someone else shouts the established bumper-sticker counter to THAT, and off we go on the kind of pointless partisan merry-go-round that you can read or hear anywhere in the blogosphere or on 24/7 talking head "news." And what is the point in that?

I draw hope from the fact that occasionally, we get to the point where some actual,  mutually respectful dialogue occurs between people who HAVE gotten to know each other beyond the surface here. I see this particularly with Phillip and Herb and Karen and a handful of others -- and in the past (although, unfortunately, not so much lately) from you, Randy. I even get an encouraging word now and then from bud or Doug.

I just wish I knew how to build on that. I'm open to suggestions.

Maybe I need to make this a separate post...

... which I just did.

How about it? Do you see any way we can start having conversations here that matter?

Today's computer puzzler

Last week, the folks in our Information Services department came up with a new -- well, it's new to me -- laptop to replace the one that got stolen, the one I'd had ever since I started this blog. Which is great; they've even programmed it to do cool and mysterious things my old one never dreamt of.

But there's one problem -- whenever I'm typing, suddenly my typing cursor will jump, without warning, from where I'm TRYING to type to some other random part of the page, either in the middle of some previous sentence or out of the text box completely. This happens two or three times per sentence, and it's sufficiently maddening that, as you might have noticed, I didn't post at all yesterday.

The only "explanation" I could offer is that the typing always leapt in the direction of wherever the mouse pointer was at that moment.

The folks in information services figured it out today -- the problem is that the laptop has a touchpad, and I've never gotten used to the things, so I plug in a USB mouse. The problem is that the heel of my hand, or ball of my thumb, or whatever you call the parts of the hand near the wrist, keep brushing against the touchpad. Every time that happens, it's the equivalent of a mouse click, so the typing cursor jumps to where the mouse pointer is, if you can follow that.

So all I had to do was go to the control panel, and deactivate the touchpad. Simple. Obvious. I should have thought of it.

Only one problem: There's nothing in the control panel about the touchpad. And nothing down in the right-hand corner of the taskbar, either (I'm running Windows XP). As far as this computer is concerned, it doesn't HAVE a touchpad. Except that it does.

I'm sure the folks in IS will figure this out on Monday. In the meantime, I've got a piece of cardboard over the touchpad, and that's working. But I was wondering -- between now and then, does anybody out there have any suggestions for turning the blasted device off?

Whither the blog?

Seems like this comment I put on this comment string is worth a separate post, since I'm looking for feedback:

Above we have 32 comments. Seventeen of them are by or about Lee Muller (10 by him, including the first and the last; seven about him.)

That means the majority of comments are not about the subject at hand. The subject at hand, of course, is my effort to elevate public discourse above the level of polarization and pointless shouting.

I'd like to thank Harry, Karen, Phillip, Bart and, eventually bud (once he decided not to "harp on the past") for engaging the topic positively, and Randy and David for at least engaging the topic.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what do do with the fact that most of the string was occupied with polarizing distractions? This is a serious question, because now that the election is over I'm evaluating how much energy to put into the blog, given that we are so short-handed and I'm so harried these days.

When I started this blog, I had a staff of six full-time people (including four associate editors) and one part-timer to write for, edit and produce the editorial pages. And even then it was extremely difficult to squeeze out the time from a 24-hour day to blog. Now I have three full-timers (down to two associate editors) and one part-timer in the editorial department. Finding time for the blog long ago reached the point where most people would say "impossible."

My Sunday column spoke directly to why I do this blog. It's about carving out a place that is an alternative to most of the hyperpartisan blogosphere, which reflects the style of nondiscourse framed by the parties, the advocacy groups and the shouting-head television "news." A place where people can interact constructively, and even listen to each other.

I deeply appreciate those of you who try to have a constructive conversation in spite of all the shouters in the room. Unfortunately, there are many, many people of good will who simply won't try that hard.

Anyway, anybody have any constructive suggestions for going forward?

Of course, the very first comment I get it likely to be from Lee. But after that, I'd very much appreciate some relevant feedback from the rest of you.

Smothers Brothers: Netflix always liked you best!

"You" in this case would be whoever is getting to see the 3rd season of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour instead of me.

Has anyone else had this happen with Netflix?

• First, for weeks, my queue kept saying "Long Wait."
• Then, for one day, it went to "Short Wait." My hopes rose.
• Back to "Long Wait" for another week or so.
• Then, today, it said "Very Long Wait." This was an unwelcome innovation; I'd never seen that one before.

The problem with this is that I was really hoping to have a chance to browse through the season before the election to find a certain skit, which is a political humor classic.

It starred impressionist David Frye, and he did all the characters -- LBJ, HHH, Nixon and Wallace. It was the story of the 1968 election told as the Sword in the Stone. Does anyone besides me remember it?

Anyway, they keep sending me stuff from further down in my queue, such as "Mongol," which I saw last night and which was excellent, and "Don't Mess With the Zohan," of which I saw less than 5 minutes before deciding it was the worst movie I had seen in many a year.

Do you want to be on a debate panel?

Earlier today I got this internal global message from Leroy Chapman, who as the paper's editor in charge of the political reporters does the job I once did (poor guy):

Colleagues,

The government team is assembling a panel of voters in our community to watch the presidential and vice presidential debates with us and, afterward, serve as a focus group on how the debaters fared during a roundtable discussion we'll have here at the newspaper. We will feature this panel on thestate.com and include it in our debate coverage.

Know somebody who's mad for McCain, crazy for Palin, in love with Obama and rooting for Biden? Know somebody who is undecided? Please, send them my way. Especially the undecideds.

We, of course, want diversity -- men, women, young, old, political, apolitical, Democrat, Republican, independent, black, white, brown, etc. Keep that in mind as you think of folks who might be interested.

Anticipating a fun experience. Please let anyone who is interested know we would like for them to sit on the panel for all four debates.

Thanks for your help 

So, how about it? Anybody want to apply to be on the panel? If so, you can reach Leroy at [email protected].

Don't make me come out there and "volunteer" some of you Army-style...

How did he do that?

So I was sitting in a hotel room too tired to move, and on the TV is a movie I've never particularly cared to see: "Kingpin," with Woody Harrelson and Randy Quaid.

Anyway, there was this scene in which Harrelson's character had a big bet on whether he could pick up the 6-7-10 split. Of course, you know he's going to do it. (I did it myself once when I was really into bowling back in high school.) But what floored me is that the scene wasn't cut. You see Harrelson turned toward the camera, and you see him turn and bowl, and you see the ball roll all the way down the lane, and pick up the spare, and Harrelson turns back to the camera.

So how did they do that? Was what happened with the ball and the pins faked with CGI? Was there a magnet under the ball controlling it? It looked legit. But how many takes would that have, uh, taken?

Consider this to be a test of my new theory that you can ask any question, however esoteric, on a blog, and from somewhere out there, someone will have a relevant and accurate answer. We'll see.

Desperately seeking video tech help

Today, I forgot to bring my camera to work. Normally, I remember all my school supplies (mainly because I keep them in the briefcase out of which I live), but this morning I left my Canon PowerShot A95 on the kitchen table.

Since I had two interviews this morning -- with Vince Ford, who's seeking Kay Patterson's Senate seat, and Rep. Joe Neal, defending House District 70 -- I had to stoop to a desperate measure: I used the Sony Model DCR-SR40 camcorder that the nice folks at thestate.com gave me awhile back.

This is a pretty cool video camera, with a built-in 30-gig hard drive. It shoots pretty nice video, with MUCH higher resolution than my little Canon, which is actually intended to shoot still pictures.

There's just one little drawback -- its format is (as near as I can tell) MPEG-4, and I do not have any software that can edit MPEG-4 video. Nor can I convert these files into a format that I CAN use. That means the only way I can share video with you is if I keep it really, really short and load it onto the blog unedited, as in the clip you see above, which as short as it is, almost crashed our VMIX thingie when I loaded it.

That's not terribly helpful when I want to share video with you from interviews that last 30 or 45 minutes or more.

This, I suspect, is the reason why the nice folks gave me this camera -- they couldn't figure out what to do with the files, either.

Anyway, I've wasted absurd amounts of time searching the Web for help with this problem, looking for codecs and such. Apparently, I am the first person in the history of the world to have this problem, because I'm not running into any helpful support out there.

I even got desperate enough to e-mail Sony for help, and did so, after getting through all the barriers manufacturers erect to letting you ask a direct question. Here's the only answer I've received so far:

Thank you for contacting Sony.

This message confirms that your e-mail has been received and your request is currently under review. Thank you for your patience as we strive to provide you with the best service and support possible.

Your Sony Online Support Team

... which leads me to suspect that Sony has fallen into the hands of the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation. Next, I'm going to ask them if they can provide me with a drink that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.

But while I'm waiting for my tea, I thought I'd check to see if Y'ALL have any suggestions for me. Helpful ones, I mean...

The Final Countdown: Millionth page view likely coming up Friday

Folks, for what it's worth, and whatever it means, this blog will most likely have its millionth page view sometime tomorrow. That's Friday, May 2, 2008.

Or Saturday at the latest.

I won't be exactly sure when we've hit the mark. I've got two counters going -- the one you see in the upper right hand corner of your screen (at 997,549 as I type this), and the internal dashboard one in TypePad (at 996,986). The one you see is consistently running about 500 or 600 page views ahead of the internal one. I don't know whether to believe either of them, of course.

Still haven't decided how to celebrate. I won't be able to tell who the millionth visitor is, but maybe I'll award some arbitrary prize to the first person who leaves a comment after the first counter ticks over, or after both of them have, or something.

One thing I DO know is that the big moment is likely to come when I'm too busy to notice it, Fridays being my worst days of the week.

Anyway, I'm still open to celebration suggestions...

Why do people compress files -- or use PDFs?

Here's a pet peeve. I needed to share with a colleague a handful of Word files that had been sent to me. Unfortunately, they had been e-mailed to me as a compressed folder attachment, and my colleague didn't have the unzip software.

So I had to unzip the things, save them to a folder, and then e-mail them to her.

My question is, why do people do that -- create unnecessary barriers that just make work on both ends? The total size of all these files was less than a 72 dpi photo, so there was no need whatsoever. The e-mail went out in the blink of an eye.

I can only conclude that such items are generated by people who don't know much about computers, or whose knowledge is 10 years out of date.

And another thing -- why are so many things on the Web in PDF format, which takes my browser SO much longer than HTML, and can't be searched as easily, and all sorts of other mean, nasty, ugly things? I can understand when it's an image of a document that only exists in hard copy form -- say, a 30-year-old newspaper page. But most documents these days start out in electronic form. Why not keep things simple, and keep the interaction smooth?

The usual culprits in this instance are academics.