Contention in Vain

Transitioning...

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:04:00 -0500

I’m leaving Tumblr. I love Tumblr, but I’m a tinkerer at heart. Tumblr, by design, is not nice to tinkerers. Ironically, what attracted me to Tumblr in the first place is the same thing that’s driving me away.

Anyway, I’ll keep this blog up, too. Why not?

Follow the link to see Contention in Vain’s new home.

I bet these guys suck at poker

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:22:54 -0500

I bet these guys suck at poker:

Microsoft finally creates something that’s pretty effing awesome, then destroys any of its potential competitive advantage by revealing it a full year before it’s ready to hit the market. Are they masochists? Do they enjoy shooting themselves in the foot; the tortuous pain of irrelevance?

"The paradox of presidential leadership"

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 10:31:22 -0500

"The paradox of presidential leadership":

Ezra Klein, on President Obama’s upcoming jobs speech:

When planning a speech like this one, the White House has to worry about the paradox of presidential leadership. The media, the voters, and the Democratic base want the president to “lead.” They want him to “fight.” But the more he identifies himself with particular solutions, the more he poisons those solutions for the Republican Party. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) simply cannot come out and say that “the president’s jobs plan is a sensible, pragmatic package for moving America forward that correctly takes the best ideas from both sides into account.” The moment Obama mentions a policy in a big speech, it becomes that much less likely to pass a divided Congress.

Disaster politics, part 2

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:11:55 -0500

Disaster politics, part 2:

The Texas congressman blasted FEMA at a campaign stop in New Hampshire Friday and said history is on his side, citing the experience of Galveston, which is in his district.

“I live on the Gulf Coast. We put up with hurricanes all the time. In 1900, before FEMA, the local people rebuilt the city, built a seawall, and they survived without FEMA,” Paul told NBC.

A catastrophic storm hit Galveston in 1900, killing thousands.

“FEMA is not a good friend to most people in Texas because all they do is come in and tell you what to do and can’t do. You can’t get into your houses and they hinder the local people and they hinder volunteers from going in,” Paul said. “There is no magic about FEMA.”

This is beyond odd. Another Republican politician railing against disaster relief. I can think of very few federal responsibilities that are less controversial.

Presidential power

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:48:02 -0500

Presidential power:

Thomas Friedman’s August 23 column in The New York Times helps illustrate some of the tricky political scenarios that modern presidents must navigate. He addresses the dissatisfaction in many liberal circles toward President Barack Obama, particularly in the aftermath of the recent debt ceiling debacle:

For months now, Obama has been playing not to lose, keeping his own plans for a “Grand Bargain” on debt, deficits, taxes, jobs and investment vague, while waiting for the Republicans to say crazier and crazier stuff—-like promising the return of $2-a-gallon gasoline, or insisting that climate change was made up by scientists to get research grants (but politicians taking millions from oil companies can be trusted to tell us the truth on this issue), or that Texas has a right to secede. But while the G.O.P. candidates have been obliging the president with their nuttiness, it has not helped Obama’s poll ratings.

Friedman illuminates several of the key problems that Obama faces. Americans do not care about the complex logistics of pushing legislation through a divided and bitterly partisan Congress. They want results, and they accept no excuses when Washington fails to achieve significant progress on a certain issue. And it’s the guy in charge—-the president—-who gets the brunt of the blame.

Here’s the dilemma: the presidency is regarded by the public as a position of strength, executive power, and decisive command, with the ability to enact significant change by force of leadership. But in reality, the President’s powers are far more reserved. Congress is the real powerhouse. Without Congress, the President cannot enact legislation, declare war, appoint judges, etc. If Congress is determined to stop him, he cannot do much of anything, whereas Congress alone can do almost anything (in theory).

One can argue that the president’s greatest source of power is his ability to affect public opinion, which in turn puts pressure on Congress to act. That’s where liberals like Friedman argue he has failed. By losing control of the debate in Washington, he has ceded power to the opposition.

Awesome.

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:05:49 -0500

Awesome.

The real way to play Monopoly. Seriously.

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 19:29:17 -0500

The real way to play Monopoly. Seriously.:

Have you ever read the rules of Monopoly? Well, you should have:

BUYING PROPERTY…Whenever you land on an unowned property you may buy that property from the Bank at its printed price. You receive the Title Deed card showing ownership; place it face up in front of you.

If you do not wish to buy the property, the Banker sells it at auction to the highest bidder. The buyer pays the Bank the amount of the bid in cash and receives the Title Deed card for that property. Any player, including the one who declined the option to buy it at the printed price, may bid. Bidding may start at any price.

http://www.hasbro.com/common/instruct/monins.pdf

Take your time. I imagine that 99% of you are at this point exclaiming something along the lines of, “The fuck? Since when was that how you’re supposed to play Monopoly?”

Fake Monopoly is boring. Real Monopoly sounds exciting, if that’s at all possible. Unfortunately, I threw mine out a long time ago after years of dust-collecting in my closet.

I imagine this is what the end of Planet of the Apes or The Empire Strikes Back would have felt like if popular culture hadn’t ruined them for me.

Ezra Klein: What’s also important, but not evident, on this...

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:19:31 -0500

Ezra Klein:

What’s also important, but not evident, on this chart is that Obama’s major expenses were temporary — the stimulus is over now — while Bush’s were, effectively, recurring. The Bush tax cuts didn’t just lower revenue for 10 years. It’s clear now that they lowered it indefinitely, which means this chart is understating their true cost. Similarly, the Medicare drug benefit is costing money on perpetuity, not just for two or three years. And Boehner, Ryan and others voted for these laws and, in some cases, helped to craft and pass them.

Chart via NYTimes.

Is being gay a choice?

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 11:29:00 -0500

Is being gay a choice?:

Gary Greenberg:

Some gay rights lawyers point out that whatever biology’s role in sexual orientation, it should not be legally paramount. The Supreme Court has ruled that the immutability of a group’s identifying characteristics is one of the criteria that entitle it to heightened protection from discrimination (and some cases establishing gay rights were decided in part on those grounds), but, according to Suzanne Goldberg, director of the Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic at Columbia Law School, there’s a far more fundamental reason for courts to protect gay people. “Sexual orientation does not bear on a person’s ability to contribute to society,” she notes. “We don’t need the science to make that point.” Jon Davidson, legal director of Lambda Legal, agrees, adding that if courts are going to ask about immutability, they shouldn’t focus on biology. Instead they should focus on how sexual orientation is so deeply woven into a person’s identity that it is inseparable from who they are. In this respect, Davidson says, sexual orientation is like another core aspect of identity that is clearly not biological in origin: religion. “It doesn’t matter whether you were born that way, it came later, or you chose,” he says. “We don’t think it’s okay to discriminate against people based on their religion. We think people have a right to believe whatever they want. So why do we think that about religion and not about who we love?”

An extremely thoughtful, important article about science’s role in the gay rights movement.

iPad's role is like iPod, not iPhone

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:37:00 -0500

iPad's role is like iPod, not iPhone:

The iPad didn’t enter the tablet market. It created the tablet market. The iPad’s role in the tablet market much more closely resembles the iPod’s role in the digital music player market a decade ago than it does the iPhone’s role in the 2008 phone market.

Completely agreed. Agreeing with John Gruber makes me feel smart.

Barack Obama has reached his limit

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 01:41:00 -0500

Barack Obama has reached his limit:

Reuters:

“I have reached the point where I say enough,” Obama said, according to the aide. “Would Ronald Reagan be sitting here? I’ve reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this.”

This shit is serious.

"How different are taxes and spending?"

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:03:00 -0500

"How different are taxes and spending?":

Ezra Klein:

This morning, on “The Diane Rehm Show,” EPI’s Larry Mishel made a good point: The Republicans argue that increasing taxes by a dollar hurts the economy while cutting spending by a dollar helps the recovery, he said. That means they believe that taking a dollar out of a rich person’s pocket through taxes hurts demand while taking it out of a poor person’s pocket by cutting unemployment insurance doesn’t. He suggested there’s not a whole lot of evidence to support this claim.

But remember that Republicans also say that cutting tax expenditures counts as a tax increase. That implies that cutting a $1 billion subsidy for low-income housing will help the recovery while shaving $1 billion off of a tax break that subsidizes low-income housing purchases would impede the recovery. Can anyone defend that claim? Would anyone even like to try?

"So: First you get the GOP to seize the left’s third rail by daring to lay a finger on..."

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:00:31 -0500

“So: First you get the GOP to seize the left’s third rail by daring to lay a finger on entitlements. Then you demand the GOP seize the right’s third rail by violating its no-tax pledge. A full-spectrum electrocution. Brilliant.”

- Charles Krauthammer on Obama’s political maneuvering on the debt. Make no mistake. Krauthammer is pissed.

Brilliant, indeed.

Grown-ups

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 10:52:58 -0500

Grown-ups:

Barack Obama has worked tirelessly to cultivate a public perception of himself as the adult in a system filled with children. Whether one agrees with that characterization or not, it is the fundamental component of his political persona, and essential to understanding his governing philosophy. Civility, compromise, and civility define the Obama brand.

With the August 2 deadline looming, the debt ceiling has devolved into a political bloodbath of the first degree. At the end of the day, both parties know that the debt ceiling must be raised. One party will be forced to cave. So accordingly, Republicans and Democrats are fighting to claim the political high ground—and to portray the other side as unreasonable, unserious, and irresponsible. The Democrats, led by Obama, are positioning themselves as responsible negotiators ready to compromise with an intransigent Republican Party. The Tea Party-fueled Republicans are positioning themselves as principled and more serious about the debt and deficit than the “tax-and-spend” Democrats.

Who is winning?

Mark Salter, former chief of staff for John McCain:

We can complain all we want about Barack Obama’s audacity and hypocrisy. But, in this instance, he has audaciously outmaneuvered Republicans, and claimed, without effective resistance, the high ground on a core Republican issue — fiscal responsibility. Obama has, or at least appears to have, put on the table a proposal that seems practical, reasonable and bold — and which made Republicans appear truculent and small. He has, as the saying goes, done well by doing good. Now it’s the Republicans’ turn to do the same.

I’m very pessimistic about a deal passing the House. But it looks like Obama is doing a pretty good job of pressuring the Republicans as best he can. Lets hope it all pays off.

"Three in 10 Americans interpret the Bible literally, saying it is the actual word of God. That is..."

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:19:16 -0500

“Three in 10 Americans interpret the Bible literally, saying it is the actual word of God. That is similar to what Gallup has measured over the last two decades, but down from the 1970s and 1980s.”

- Fuck me. This country sucks.¹

Read Gallup’s full report.

I don’t really mean that, of course. But this does make me sad. ↩

The House will kill the "Grand Bargain"

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:40:36 -0500

The House will kill the "Grand Bargain":

Jonathan Chait:

If you’re dead set on implementing Paul Ryan’s vision of government, then a budget deal is the last thing you want. You need the national debt to reach and stay at crisis levels, so that you can persuade voters that your otherwise-unacceptable budget is the only alternative to total fiscal destruction. And you need a Republican in the White House, which is probably harder if Obama has positioned himself in the center with a successful budget deal.

Executive experience

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:48:37 -0500

Executive experience:

“[Obama] never ran anything, never did anything and we put him in the Oval Office and wonder why it’s not working,” Mr. Pawlenty said, speaking at a county Republican dinner here. “It’s not working because he duped the country into thinking he was a reasonable candidate.”

Says the guy who can’t even run his own campaign.

Obama and the 14th Amendment

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 00:32:00 -0500

Obama and the 14th Amendment:

Robert Shrum:

If Republicans reject all reasonable compromise, Obama could invoke the 14th Amendment’s prohibition against questioning the “validity of the public debt of the United States” — which has already been “authorized by law” through spending measures enacted by the Congress. Thus the president could simply ignore the debt limit. This would provoke a constitutional confrontation unequaled since Harry Truman seized the steel industry during the Korean War. But the industry had standing to sue — its property was being taken — and the suit was won in the Supreme Court. In this situation, legal experts generally agree that no one, including Congress, would have standing to successfully challenge Obama in court. Obviously, the GOP would try to mount such a challenge. As the confrontation unfolded, markets might be destabilized anyway — although certainly to a lesser degree then in the event of a default.

Invoking the 14th Amendment does not strike me as very Obama-esque. The ensuing political uproar would be deafening. Republicans would almost certainly pursue impeachment. Most importantly, it flies in the face of Obama’s persistent efforts to position himself as a moderate. Make no mistake: Obama will work very hard to squeeze out a manageable deal.

But the president also has a record of taking decisive, bold action at important moments. The most recent, obvious, and successful example is the Bin Laden raid.

Here’s my take: Obama will not talk about the 14th Amendment at all unless and until he invokes it. And that won’t be until all other options are exhausted. In the next month, he will attempt to force a deal out of the Republicans as best he can by twisting their arms on “tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.” If it doesn’t work — and I’m skeptical that enough Republicans will agree to any deal to raise the debt ceiling — he will have at least helped to expose the extent of their delusion. As the August 2 deadline draws nearer, and the full severity of this crisis has sunk into the nation’s consciousness (and when Wall Street eventually starts to speak up/panic), Obama’s stature in the debate will rise. His moment will arrive. At the final hour, Obama will swoop in and save the country from default and economic collapse.

Too romantic? Perhaps. But if Obama is considering the 14th Amendment at all, it’s probably with this kind of scenario in mind.

Thoughts on the Casey Anthony verdict

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:10:00 -0500

Watching a case unfold on cable news does not make you an expert on the justice system. Neither do years of watching Law & Order. I’m concerned that cable news and the sensationalist media is giving people a distorted view of how our justice system really works.¹

The justice system is one of the best parts of America. It’s built on the principle that circumstantial evidence cannot send a person to jail, no matter how much America hates that person.

I don’t know if Casey Anthony was guilty or not. My gut says guilty. But that’s not enough. And that’s the way America works. We’d rather let a few criminals run free than accidentally imprison the innocent.

So, let’s direct our anger toward a more constructive issue. There are plenty of them. Believe me.

Case in point: the debate surrounding the prosecution of terrorists in civilian courts. ↩

FootnotesToSidenotes is a Tumblr plugin that converts the automatic footnotes created by...

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 19:41:00 -0500

FootnotesToSidenotes is a Tumblr plugin that converts the automatic footnotes created by Tumblr/PHP Markdown Extra into sidenotes that appear in a margin next the main content. It requires no special post markup, so if the plugin is removed, the sidenotes “degrade” back to footnotes.

Why sidenotes?
Usage
Installation
- Download
License

Why sidenotes?

Many of the sites I frequent use footnotes. They are a good way to add extra information or thoughts that might not fit into the normal flow of a post. But there are a few drawbacks to using footnotes:

Most web articles, posts, etc. are not paginated, so “footnotes” are less footnotes than they are endnotes. It’s like when you’re reading a book, and the author has decided to put notes in the very back, so if you come across a reference, you have to dig through, find the correct page, and hope to God that the content of the note is worth all the trouble.
They require the reader to jump all the way to the end of the page, interrupting their flow. Links to and from the footnote make the process simpler, but they do not eliminate it.
It’s impossible to tell how essential the content of a footnote is unless you navigate to it. If the footnote is inconsequential, you’ve just wasted valuable time clicking around the page when you could have been reading. Again, the flow is interrupted, and the reading experience suffers.

As their name implies, sidenotes reside to the side of the main content, rather than at the end. They are often used in textbooks and other academic texts. Sidenotes eliminate these drawbacks because they appear right next to their reference in the text.¹

Usage

The most important feature of FootnotesToSidenotes is its ease-of-use. FootnotesToSidenotes is designed to be easy to install and even easier to use.

Key features

FootnotesToSidenotes, as the name implies, converts your posts’ footnotes into sidenotes. If you came here looking for a sidenotes plugin, you may be wondering: Why the extra step? Why are footnotes required to create sidenotes?

While the process of converting from footnotes may seem unnecessarily complicated, it’s actually much, much simpler. Here are the key features of FootnotesToSidenotes that I think make it better than some of the other “solutions” floating around out there:

Just use Markdown. You may not know it, but the automatic creation of footnotes is already built into Tumblr—or rather, it is built into Tumblr’s included PHP Markdown Engine. To use FootnotesToSidenotes, simply create footnotes using the normal footnote markup, and they’ll be automagically rendered as sidenotes. To use FootnotesToSidenotes, writing in Markdown is required. In my opinion, this is a feature, not a limitation. But if for some reason you are unwilling to write in Markdown, I am sorry, but this plugin is not for you. I do highly encourage you to give Markdown a try. You’ll come to love it.²
No special markup is needed. I’m repeating myself because I believe this to be the central feature of FootnotesToSidenotes. Create normal, run-of-the-mill footnotes in Markdown, and they’ll be converted into kick-ass sidenotes.
RSS-friendly. Your notes will still appear as footnotes in RSS feeds! Bet you didn’t even consider that, huh?
Past-friendly, future-proof. If you already have posts with footnotes, guess what? FootnotesToSidenotes will work on them, too. No editing necessary! Likewise, if you ever wish to disable FootnotesToSidenotes, all of your sidenotes will gracefully “degrade” into footnotes.
Perfect for your sidebar. Many Tumblr themes have sidebars, but other than some brief information at the top of the page, they are mostly empty. Fill them with sidenotes!
No overlapping. Your sidenotes will automatically shift down to avoid overlapping.

Limitations

FootnotesToSidenotes has a few limitations that you should consider before using. Some of these are by design. I created this plugin first and foremost to meet my own needs here on Contention in Vain.

Designed for text-intensive blogs. This plugin is designed for writers, not rebloggers and photographers. Images are supported by FootnotesToSidenotes. However, the plugin will wait for all images to load before rendering the sidenotes, so image-intensive sites will experience performance issues. I may address this in a future release (if there are future releases). Please note that images placed inside of sidenotes should be fine. In fact, from a design perspective, sidenotes are a perfect place for images.³
No support for non-numbered sidenotes. As of now, there is no way to create sidenotes without reference numbers. This is mostly because I’ve yet to come up with a way to do this that is both 1) simple, and 2) retains the advantages listed in “Key features” above. If there is one feature that I hope to eventually add to FootnotesToSidenotes, this is it.
Designed for Tumblr. Duh. But I’m sure the code could easily be modified to support other blogging platforms—especially if those platforms support PHP Markdown Extra.

If you run into any other issues or bugs, particularly browser-related issues⁴, please let me know.

How to use

Install FootnotesToSidenotes.js.

Then, you’ll need to enable Markdown in your Tumblr preferences.

To create a sidenote, use the standard footnote notation for PHP Markdown Extra. For example, here is the code that was used to render this paragraph and its accompanying sidenote:⁵

To create a sidenote, use the standard footnote notation for PHP Markdown Extra. For example, here is the code that was used to render this paragraph and its accompanying sidenote:[^5]

[^5]: It couldn't be any simpler than this. Brush up on Markdown syntax [here](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax) and [here](http://michelf.com/projects/php-markdown/extra/).

Easy, huh?

Installation

1. Download and unzip FootnotesToSidenotes_1.0.zip (7 KB).

After unzipping, you’ll need to upload FootnotesToSidenotes.js to a web server.

2. Link to FootnotesToSidenotes.js and jQuery in your theme header.⁶

<script src = "/FootnotesToSidenotes_1.0.js"></script>
<script src = "https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

3. Add `getSidenotes()` function to your sidebar

In your theme’s sidebar, add the following code:

<script> getSidenotes(postIDArray); </script>

The sidenotes will be placed wherever you call getSidenotes(). Many themes already have a sidebar, which is the natural place to put them.⁷

The postIDArray parameter is required. It is an array of IDs corresponding to each post on the page.

4. Populate `postIDArray`

In your Posts block, add the following code:

<script> postIDArray.push({PostID}); </script>

The Posts block is a section in your theme’s code that renders for each post on the page.⁸

{block:Posts}
    ... Add the above code anywhere in this block ...
{/block:Posts}

5. Tweak and customize with CSS

Use CSS to alter the appearance of your sidenotes.⁹

If your sidenotes are offset a bit lower than their corresponding reference links, remove the top margin from the paragraph elements in #sidenotes-wrapper.
If your sidenotes don’t have any numbers, set list-style: decimal.

License

FootnotesToSidenotes, Version 1.0 (1 July 2011)

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

This software is provided by the copyright holders and contributors “as is” and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall the copyright holder or contributors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.

Edward Tufte is a prominent advocate of the use of sidenotes. Richard Feynman used them in his books, such as The Feynman Lectures on Physics. ↩
Read more about Markdown and its offshoot PHP Markdown Extra. Trust me, it’s awesome. ↩
↩
This does not include IE. I don’t care about IE. Sorry. ↩
It couldn’t be any simpler than this. Brush up on Markdown syntax here and here. ↩
Obviously, you’ll need to alter this path to match its location on your server. ↩
Don’t worry if you have other items in your sidebar. The sidenotes will shift down to avoid overlapping. If you have many items in your sidebar that run down the length of your page, you should consider adding another column to your theme for sidenotes. ↩
If this part confuses you, check out Tumblr’s guide to custom themes. It explains code blocks, variables, and much more. ↩
Use the following selectors:
- #sidenotes-wrapper selects a div that wraps around all the sidenotes
- #sidenotes-p1234567890 selects the sidenotes for the post with ID 1234567890.
- #sn:p1234567890-1 selects the first sidenote for the post with ID 1234567890.
↩

Contention in Vain

Transitioning...

I bet these guys suck at poker

"The paradox of presidential leadership"

Disaster politics, part 2

Presidential power

Awesome.

The real way to play Monopoly. Seriously.

Ezra Klein: What’s also important, but not evident, on this...

Is being gay a choice?

iPad's role is like iPod, not iPhone

Barack Obama has reached his limit

"How different are taxes and spending?"

"So: First you get the GOP to seize the left’s third rail by daring to lay a finger on..."

Grown-ups

"Three in 10 Americans interpret the Bible literally, saying it is the actual word of God. That is..."

The House will kill the "Grand Bargain"

Executive experience

Obama and the 14th Amendment

Thoughts on the Casey Anthony verdict

FootnotesToSidenotes is a Tumblr plugin that converts the automatic footnotes created by...

Why sidenotes?

Usage

Key features

Limitations

How to use

Installation

1. Download and unzip FootnotesToSidenotes_1.0.zip (7 KB).

2. Link to FootnotesToSidenotes.js and jQuery in your theme header.6

3. Add getSidenotes() function to your sidebar

4. Populate postIDArray

5. Tweak and customize with CSS

License

2. Link to FootnotesToSidenotes.js and jQuery in your theme header.⁶

3. Add `getSidenotes()` function to your sidebar

4. Populate `postIDArray`