Day: November 11, 2004

Xbox NeXT?

So tells us that the next Xbox models will be called “Xbox Next”.
Hmmm. Next? Like, NeXT?
I had the pleasure of using some of the first-generation NeXT’s during my misspent college youth. These were deeply weird machines: optical drives as primary storage (in 1989!); ultra-cool black cube design, and a UNIX-variant OS wrapped in a GUI that did screen display via Postscript (!!!). And oh, yeah, the pre-release versions we worked on had a tendency to, as a colleague was fond of saying, “crash like an Indy car.”
I learned OS development and assembler on those things, which probably explains a lot…

Memo to the Left:
Time’s Up

From: N.Z. Bear
To: The Left
Re: Getting your shit together

Alright kids. It’s been over a full week now. I left you alone and let you have your pity-parties. Hopefully you’ve had a good long sulk and gotten it out of your system.
But now, it’s time to get your asses back to work. You might not expect me to be saying this, but here’s the bulletin: this country needs you.
We need intelligent voices to criticize the policies of this — of any — administration. We need differing viewpoints; different ideas about how to deal with the tremendous challenges that history has decided to toss at this generation. We need the balance that a liberal perspective can bring to the debate about where this country is going.
We do not need you sulking in a corner, muttering darkly about homophobic theocrats.
But the first thing you have to accept is that opposition in itself is not a policy. You’ve skated along for the past year by presenting “Bush screwed everything up, Kerry will fix it” as your sole platform. That’s no longer a viable answer (in truth, it never was).
George Bush is President, and he is going to keep being President for another four years. That’s not going to change. So telling us how much he sucks is irrelevant. Telling us how stupid the portion of America which voted for him is: also irrelevant. Discussing secession and to hell with those red states: well that’s just plain stupid, forget about irrelevant.
What is relevant are answers. Solutions, not a list of problems. Declaring that Iraq is a mess is easy, and worthless. Telling us what we should do to fix it is harder, but far more worthwhile. Don’t like the operation in Falluja? Fine: how else would you stop the terrorists? Think we should involve allies more in Iraq? Great. How?
Our nation is at war. We are not screwing around; this is not a game. A better decision now means fewer people die later. It’s that simple, and that’s why we need your help. You will think of things that this administration and its supporters won’t — and can’t. If you can get past the knee-jerk urge to slam Bush because — well, because he’s Bush — you can make a contribution to the safety and welfare of this country. Assuming that still matters to you, even with a Republican in the White House for four more years.
So put away the bottle, and get your game face back on. Bring your best arguments — but leave the chimp jokes and paper mache puppets at home.