The Politics of Intellectualism

It is a very old saw that America's Right likes to tell of its Left, that the latter is full of elitist intellectuals, while the former is comprised of lovable, down-home, we-don't-need-no-book-learnin' types. This story is ironic, because the appeal of, and appeals by, modern social progressivism are almost entirely emotional and pre-intellectual; it is the Conservative Movement that builds grand theories.

iPhone 5 and Its Missing NFC

There's a scene in Will Smith's movie "Hitch" in which two hipsters try to impress a woman by rattling through a list of the top new restaurants and venues in the city and pronouncing each one in turn to be disgusting. I thought of that scene as I read a stream of articles on the new iPhone 5 this past week. These articles generally agree on two points:

1. Compared to the previous-generation iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5 has a processor that's twice as fast, networking that's twice as fast, a camera that's twice as good, a screen that's 20% larger, and a brand new look -- while reducing weight and improving battery life. It also ships with a new generation of iOS. Together, these new features make the iPhone 5 exactly the same as the iPhone 4S, which is just. so. boring.
2. The new iPhone also has a completely new dock connector, which compared to the previous one and to competing technologies is dramatically smaller and thinner, which in turn allows devices to be smaller and thinner. It's also faster, more flexible, and easier to use. This reckless abandonment of nine-year-old technology is a scandalous insult to Apple customers and to democratic values, demonstrating once and for all the cynical depths to which Apple has fallen following the death of Steve Jobs, may God have mercy on his soul.

Disgusting.

What Government Is For

Americans are going to hear a lot about The Proper Role of Government in the coming months as we work through this election season. As one who is prone to over-analysing just about everything and naturally distrustful of the very concept of the political party, I thought I ought to lay it out myself.

Any just government must provide its citizens with four critical services.

Brutal Onion Coverage of the Republican Convention

From this past week:

• Things That Shouldn't Be Said In Modern Society To Be Said At Least 1,400 Times At RNC
• RNC Builds Levee Out Of Poor People To Protect Convention Site
• GOP Convention To Feature Strong Lineup Of Conservative Women Listeners
• Gay Marine Beaten To Bloody Pulp To Fire Up RNC Crowd
• Romney's Acceptance Speech To Avoid Mentioning Personal, Professional, Religious, Political Life
• Best They Could Get Accepts Republican Nomination
• John McCain Just Blew His Brains Out During RNC Speech

"Tonight we come together in this hall to support the next president of the United States, Mitt Romney," said McCain, who then shook his head, wiped beads of sweat from his brow, and muttered "Mitt Romney" to himself in a tone that many identified as troubled and confused. "Mitt Romney is a, uh ... is a man of great moral character who stands for the sort of values this great party embodies—fairness, tolerance, giving the average American a chance. Mitt Romney is a hero."

"Folks, I can’t do this," McCain added. "I just can't do this anymore."

Yes, a Federated Twitter Is Possible

Dan Wineman asks whether a federated Twitter is possible (via John Gruber). By this he means whether it is possible for a network not governed by a single authority to provide a qualitatively similar experience to Twitter. In his words:

• Immediacy: if a post has been made by someone I follow, I can see it in my timeline right away (or close enough that I don’t notice the difference).
• Chronology: posts always appear in order by time posted.
• Monotonicity: timelines grow only from the top; older posts are never retroactively inserted.

The short answer is Yes.

The slightly longer answer is It Depends.

The much longer answer follows.