Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 1045

All Your Worst Fears About Google Glass Are Coming True, and It's All Your Fault

It only took about six weeks for developers to take all of the theoretically creepy things the Internet dreamt up about the face computer of the future and turn those into real-life Google Glass nightmares. In addition to that creepy walking-and-stalking app Wink, Glassholes can look forward to a porn app, plus apps that that take advantage of an upcoming facial recognition API. Yes, the reality of Glass wearers surreptitiously watching sex videos is upon us: "Thanks to the imminent arrival of Google Glass porn, I just got creeped out for the first time about the prospect of a Glass-filled future," writes CNET's Eric Mack. "Now I will forever have a disturbing visual stuck in my head of the disturbing visuals that Glass users will be, well, sticking to the sides of their heads," he continues, after watching this short, pretty SFW promotional video from MiKandi, a top adult Android app provider:

For most people, however, Google's new facial recognition API presents a more terrifying scenario in terms of creepiness — you know, because of the privacy implications. The technology will enable apps to, know, remember a face, find your friends in a crowd, match your interests to other creeps at networking events, and build intelligent contact books, as Stephen Balaban a co-founder of API builder Lambda Labs explained. Some of that sounds useful, but what if you don't want your face to be recognized? Is there any escape? And surely this is only the beginning of potentially uncomfortable things that coding dorks will build into computer glasses of the future. 

But we knew this would happen, didn't we? Remember all those articles freaking about Google Glass as a huge privacy violation, so much so that legislators want to make it illegal? Indeed, the bloggers predicted this. Or, another theory: This is a self-fulfilling prophecy. All those freak-out trend stories gave developers all the right ideas for how to use Glass. Way to go, Internet. You've crowdsourced an army of cyborg creeps.

       

Does Adam Levine Hate America or Just Country Music?

Last night on NBC, Adam Levine—the tattooed, six-packed bro of Maroon 5 turned "coach" on The Voice—faced off with either all of the nation or at least the vast swath of it that loves country music. Either way you read it, Levine lost a war with a hot mic when, disappointed with the results of The Voice's top six voting, he muttered "I hate this country" live on national television.

In case you haven't exactly been following The Voice this season—we haven't, though we've been fans of country singer Amber Carrington since we heard this rendition of "Angel"—Carrington was the last of Team Adam to advance. She was "saved by America," as host Carson Daly put it—as in, presumably, the country-loving American public—while Levine's other protegées, Judith Hill and Sarah Simmons, were sent home.

Levine, trying to fend off immediate vitriol and probably save his NBC contract, attempted to defend himself by posting the definitions to "joke," "humorless," "lighthearted," and "misunderstand" on his Twitter account. But, naturally, the comment brought out the outrage. For example, one "Chuck Justice" remarked on Twitter: "Is anyone really surprised that @adamlevine said "I hate this country" on TV? He does. He's a communist. Do us a favor & leave." (Mashable has more outraged tweets.) 

Some did come to Levine's defense, including those speculating that he really meant to say that he hates "country music"—not the entire country. As Lydnsey Parker of Yahoo! writes, the show is now heavily stacked with country musicians. 

In defense of Levine—yes, we know—his comment was a dumb way to show his frustration with which of his competitors survived. (Note that comments on the YouTube page for the video kind of say the exact same thing Levine did: "Judith and Sarah are waaaaay better than Holly. WHAT THE FUCK AMERICA??!!!") Actually, the real loser in this scenario is Carrington, who now knows how her coach truly feels about her. But dumb is the operative word in this scenario. Levine should be wary about the nature of the hot mic on the reality-TV results-show stage—or any stage, what with being a pop star and all—and he should know that any time you put "hate" and "country" in the same sentence, well, things don't turn out so hot. The timing is particularly bad considering his Voice co-coach (and buddy) Blake Shelton is organizing a relief concert for victims of the Oklahoma tornado, which will appear on NBC tonight. 

       

The Mystery of the Dead Quarterback

One of the winningest quarterbacks in college football history was found dead in the Michigan woods last night after he had been missing since Sunday evening. But the circumstances surrounding his death provided more new questions than answers. The body of Cullen Finnerty, the 30-year-old former three time Division II national championship quarterback for Grand Valley State University, was recovered in the woods near the Webber Township, about 65 miles north of Grand Rapids, Tuesday evening. Finnerty was missing since Sunday evening, when he called his family and made a plea for help. 

Finnerty decided to go fishing Sunday evening after Memorial Day celebrations with his family. So he grabbed a boat and went to a family cottage in the woods. But something went wrong that night. Finnerty called his family, said he "was nervous about something," and that he was in danger, Sheriff Robert Hilts told reporters Tuesday night. He asked to be picked up. The family was worried "he might be having some kind of a mental episode - that he was either afraid or something and ran off into the woods," Hilts explained.

After days of tracking his cell phone until the battery died, and then a search party with hundreds of volunteers from Finnerty's football past, his body was finally found Wednesday evening still wearing fishing waters and hunting gear. He was a half mile from the cabin where he was supposed to stay. Hilts explained that no foul play is expected in Finnerty's death. They would have to wait for autopsy results to figure out what happened. 

Finnerty was a stud quarterback for Grand Valley State University. He won three national championships between 2003 and 2006 in the NCAA's Division II and left school with a 36-4 record. He briefly did stints with the NFL's Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens, but never got time on an NFL field. His coach freshman year was Notre Dame's current head coach Brian Kelly, who described the whole scenario as "very chilling" before Finnerty's body was recovered. 

 

       

Michele Bachmann Is Quitting Under Fire

Rep. Michele Bachmann, the notorious four-term congresswoman whose political star power, like the Tea Party movement she came to embody, has quietly faded almost as quickly as it so vehemently burst onto the national scene, will not seek reelection in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District. 

The firebrand 57-year-old tax attorney's staunch pro-life, anti-gay, anti-Obamacare, and generally anti-government positions made her a Tea Party darling who won the Iowa Straw poll in a vacillating 2012 Republican presidential primary field. But after dropping out of that race last January and winning re-election to her seat, she became ensnarled in an investigation into her campaign finances that the FBI is now joining. And as Politico's Alex Isenstadt explained just yesterday,  Democrat Jim Graves, who lost to Bachmann by just 1.18 percentage points in November and had major backing from his party, posed "the gravest threat to her political career yet" in 2014. Bachmann, who was never fully embraced by the fractured leadership of her own party, denied in a video (below) released on her Facebook page announcing the decision early Wednesday morning that either threat affected her decision not to run:

Be assured, my decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being reelected to Congress. I've always in the past defeated candidates who are capable, qualified, and well-funded. And I have every confidence that if I ran, I would defeat the individual who I defeated last year, who recently announced that he is once again running. And rest assured, this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff. It was clearly understood that compliance with all rules and regulations was an absolute necessity for my presidential campaign, and I have no reason to believe that that was not the case.

[image error]Her Democratic challenger might have been a serious enough threat to not risk a near certain future as an anti-government crusader and high-paid speaker and/or consultant, but the investigation into alleged campaign finance violations during her failed presidential campaign may have been nipping at Bachmann's heels. Minnpost.com's Cyndy Brucato reported on May 17 that the FBI was joining the FEC, the Office of Congressional Ethics, and an Iowa State Senate ethics committee to investigate whether Bachmann hid payments to an Iowa state senator who worked on her campaign, and whether "the state senator stole the email list of an Iowa home-school group from another Bachmann staffer, Barbara Hekki, prior to the Iowa caucuses in January, 2012." Bachmann was actually plagued by a tailspin of scandal from inside her campaign as her former staffers revolted against her quite publicly: In October 2011, her New Hampshire staff quit en masse, and this January, a high level-staffer for her presidential run alleged that Bachmann's financial chairman was stiffing staffers on campaign paychecks because they didn't sign a non-disclosure agreement. Her aides just wouldn't let 2012 go away.

Bachmann is also leaving as her national political clout is a shade of its former self. That's partly due to the shifting dynamics of the Tea Party, which as The Atlantic Wire's Elspeth Reeve explained in March, has shifted its attention to the likes of Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. Reeve wrote:

Why the change? They didn't fare so well in 2012. The Tea Party Express endorsed 16 Senate candidates in 2012; only four won. Bachmann's Tea Party Caucus once had 60 members, but 10 lost their seats in 2012 ... That's a pretty bad showing, given the that 90 percent of the House was reelected last year.

A survey conducted by Public Policy Polling released on May 20 showed Graves holding a slight edge, 47 percent to 45 percent, over Bachmann in the 2014 contest — a race in which Michele Bachmann, after being so outspoken on so many things she would not let go away herself, will not be participating. But Michele Bachmann, fading star or not, won't be going away completely: "There is no future option or opportunity, be it directly in the political area or otherwise, that I won't be giving serious consideration," she says in the video — all eight-plus minutes of which you can watch right here:

       

Dry Ice Explosion in a Trash Can Leads to Disneyland Evacuation

The entire "Toontown" section of Disneyland in Californa was evacuated this evening after something exploded in a trash can, prompting a ton of cops to descend on the park. That something, later reports revealed, was dry ice in a plastic bottle. No one was hurt.

The story is leading to some kind of strange phrases involving "Toontown," which, it turns out, is difficult to effectively juxtapose with any serious words. Like this one from the LA Times: "[A police spokesperson] said it was unclear whether the explosion sent shrapnel into the air at Toontown." 

The first reports came from tweeters who were apparently at the park during the explosion: 

Was sitting in Toontown at Disneyland and something exploded in the trash can. I felt the sound waves of it and Toontown is closed.

— Shawna Gonzales (@SurelyShawna) May 29, 2013

Something went BOOM in Toontown at Disneyland and now they're evacuating. #Disneyland twitter.com/theallenwolf/s…

— Allen Wolf (@theallenwolf) May 29, 2013

Then local stations picked up on the story: 

#Breaking: Explosion in Trash Can Reported at Toontown in Disneyland. Fire Crews on Scene.

— KTLA (@KTLA) May 29, 2013

[image error]

Some were less rational about the whole thing: 

TERRORISTS ARE AT DISNEYLANDTERRORISTS ARE AT DISNEYLAND TERRORISTS ARE AT DISNEYLAND TERRORISTS ARE AT DISNEYLAND

— Gleen (@Glenntertain) May 29, 2013

And once it was clear that no one was hurt, many tweeters started going for the obvious Who Framed Roger Rabbit? reference: 

Dry ice in plastic bottles exploded in Disneyland's ToonTown.No injuries reported.Nice try, Judge Doom.

— Brian Lynch (@BrianLynch) May 29, 2013

Hours after the explosion, the park got the "all clear" to return to business as usual.

       

Lisa Jackson, Former EPA Chief, Works for Tim Cook Now

One of the bigger announcements out of Apple CEO Tim Cook's appearance at the D11 conference Tuesday night was the appointment of Lisa Jackson, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to run Apple's environmental responsibility efforts. That and some other big stuff — you know, like maybe the iWatch or the iTV.

Cook was responding to a question on government attention focused on the company, which lately has been in the form of scrutiny of the company's tax dodging practices. Here's what he said, via MacRumors's liveblog of Cook's interview at the conference: 

"When you get larger, you get more attention. It comes with the territory. We're doing incredible work in the environment for example. We've been focused on that for a long time...eliminated toxins from all of our products, running data centers on 100% renewable energy, largest solar farm of any non-utility. Lisa Jackson is joining Apple...she recently left the EPA and will be coordinating efforts across the company. She'll be reporting to me."

Jackson stepped down at the end of 2012 from the EPA after a series of political disasters. She was, as the New York Times explained at the time of her resignation, something of a punching bag for the Republican-led House after the 2010 elections. She was a rumored candidate for the presidency at Princeton following her resignation, and had indicated that she wanted time to relax before taking on a new job.

At the annual All Things D conference on Tuesday night, Cook also insisted, like he did on Capitol Hill last week, that doesn't "use tax gimmicks" and hinted at "some incredible plans that we've been working on for a while." Among those may be a long rumored iteration of the Apple TV, which Cook, in an interview with All Things D's Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, said had moved over 13 million units, but that the TV experience was "not an experience that people love." The space "continues to be an area of great interest," Cook said, without offering further detail — obviously. He did take minute to semi-slam Google Glass, saying the wearable computer was "probably more likely to appeal to certain markets," even though he left the door open to that potential iWatch: "The wrist is interesting," Cook said. So there you have it: One former Obama cabinet official in at Apple, and maybe an iWatch and an iTV on the way. That big enough for you? Oh, and no iPhone Mini. Like we said: big.

       

Here's What an Al-Qaeda H.R. Nightmare Looks Like

The Associated Press found something amazing: a note from al-Qaeda, addressed to an underperforming jihadist, berating him for a laundry list of failures, including his negligence of required monthly expense reports. But the letter, as beautifully passive-agressive as it is, ended up having deadly consequences when its recipient struck out on his own. 

The employee in question is Moktar Belmoktar, who later took credit for carrying out the BP gas plant hostage situation in Algeria, and last week's attacks in Niger, killing 101 in all. Essentially, as the AP explained, Belmoktar's attacks appear to be motivated by the terrorist's disgruntlement with al-Qaeda, who repeatedly "sidelined" him. Here's what the group's North Africa chapter said to make Belmoktar snap:

"Your letter ... contained some amount of backbiting, name-calling and sneering...We refrained from wading into this battle in the past out of a hope that the crooked could be straightened by the easiest and softest means. ... But the wound continued to bleed, and in fact increasingly bled, until your last letter arrived, ending any hope of stanching the wound and healing it." 

The letter mixes the deadly with the banal: a lot of the group's complaints are about money and personality, like the worst middle manager imaginable. Belmoktar didn't file his expense reports, for instance, nor did he play nicely with his peers. And when given responsibility, the chapter's leaders didn't think he performed well (he's referred to under a pseudonym, "Abu Abbas," in the letter): 

"(The chapter) gave Abu Abbas a considerable amount of money to buy military material, despite its own great need for money at the time. ... Abu Abbas didn't participate in stepping up to buy weapons...So whose performance deserves to be called poor in this case, I wonder?"

It sounds like the chapter behind the letter had a number of other complaints. Belmoktar apparently stopped taking their phone calls, griped about his employers in jihadist forums, and refused to attend meetings that he found "useless," too.

Belmoktar, rather than wanting to leave al-Qaeda altogether, apparently decided to bypass his local chapter and try to work directly with the group's leaders. As the Associated Press explains, Belmoktar's story actually predates a new development in the group's organization, where "charismatic jihadists can carry out attacks directly in al-Qaida's name, regardless of whether they are under its command."  The letter, notably, was just one of thousands of documents found by the AP in Mali months ago. 

       

The Redskins' Owner Is Never Gonna Give Up His Trademarked Team Name

Ten members of Congress sent Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder a letter today, urging him to change the "derogatory" team name to something else. But Dan Snyder has news for them: he'll "never" change the team name, no matter what, according to a May interview with USA Today. That's even as he faces (another) lawsuit that could force the team to lose its trademark.

The Congress members, including the co-chairs of the Congressional Native American Caucus, made their stance on the name pretty clear:

“Native Americans throughout the country consider the ‘R-word’ a racial, derogatory slur akin to the ‘N-word’ among African Americans or the ‘W-word’ among Latinos.  Such offensive epithets would no doubt draw wide-spread disapproval among the NFL’s fan base.  Yet the national coverage of Washington’s NFL football team profits from a term that is equally disparaging to Native Americans.”

The legislators, led by Eni F.H. Faleomavaega of American Samoa, have also introduced a bill that would specifically cancel any trademark registrations using the word "redskins."     

$81 Million Toxic Waste Settlement Will Cost Walmart One Day's Worth of Profits

Retail conglomerate Walmart agreed to pay $81 million on Tuesday after the company admitted in a San Francisco court to dumping toxic sludge into sanitary sewers throughout the state of California and Missouri in the early to mid-2000s, resulting in children encountering ammonium sulfate powder while playing outdoors. The penalty payment is, to almost every human being, unimaginably large. But how much is $81 million to Walmart, the largest private employer in existence? Let's cut to the chase: it's not that much at all. Tuesday's payout will cost Walmart a day worth of profits.

Walmart's operating profit, according to figures made public on April 30, were $27.87 billion for the prior year. Divided by the number of minutes per year (525,949), we arrive at the amount of profit Walmart generates per minute: approximately $52,990. So $81 million (Walmart's settlement) divided by such equals 1,528, giving us the number of minutes it would take Walmart to recoup the settlement in terms of profits. And 1,528 minutes is approximately 25.4 hours, or a little over a single day. An hour past this time tomorrow, Walmart will have already earned enough to pay off their court-ordered penalty. Securing that payment, by contrast, required "a nearly decade-old investigation involving more than 20 prosecutors and 32 environmental groups," according to the Associated Press.

       

How Chinese Tourists Usurped the Ugly Americans

Ugly American Tourists rejoice, you've been replaced by the Ugly Chinese Tourist. This past week a 15-year-old teenage boy who etched "Ding Jinhao was here" into the side of Egypt's Luxor Temple has received worldwide attention, but the underlying question has been whether Ding is an anomaly or the norm? Should guards at Museo Del Prado be vigilant of its Chinese visitors? Should guides at The Met be on alert? Well, those guards and guides should always be on alert, but the answer is way more complicated, just like when it applied to Americans, than just the idea of a nation of terrible tourists. 

The Economics of the Chinese Tourist vs. The Ugly American

For the longest time Americans have held the mantle and stereotype of being the most obnoxious tourists on the face of the Earth. Some of us were too loud, others were too tacky, many were too fat, others were too demanding, and an unfortunate few were all of the above — basically people around the world found the American tourists they met offensive. But lately that caricature has been fading. "The ugly American — the stereotypically brutish, ethnocentric, bumbling traveler abroad — is dead. He's gone the way of global U.S. hegemony, the strong dollar and mid-20th century American naivete," wrote Gregory Rodriguez for the Los Angeles Times in 2011. Rodriguez points to a number of different factors as to why the "ugly American" tourist has faded: Americans are more diverse, a kind of timidity that crept in after 9/11. But it's his point about the weak dollar which resonates today. "Americans were more rude when the dollar was strong," a longtime waiter at Madrid's Cerveceria Alemana bar told Rodriguez. And if you look at the weakening dollar and the sagging American economy over the past five years, and apply the waiter and Rodriguez's logic, it wouldn't be wrong to conclude that Americans are traveling less and Americans that are traveling abroad are being more mellow. 

China is the flip side to that. The past few years have been great for China's economy, meaning more money to spend on travel. "In 2012, Chinese overtook Americans and Germans as the world's top international tourism spenders, with 83 million people spending a record $102 billion on international tourism," CNN reported last month. More Chinese tourists traveling make Chinese tourists more visible, and that gives people around the world the templates to start a stereotype. And just like the Americans who were rude and demanding when the dollar was strong, so too are the Chinese. "Rich Chinese tourists are pushing the boundaries and unfortunately some of these places are bending to their will ... Particularly the newly rich, who think, 'If I'm paying money then I'm God,'" as Mei Zhang, the owner of a Chinese travel told CNN.

The Offenses:

As Zhang explained to CNN, one of the key parts of being an ugly tourist is making places "bend" to your will. It isn't simply just being rich, it's making the place you're visiting accommodate your tastes or disrespecting local customs. There's no proof that Chinese tourists behave any differently or worse than tourists from other countries, but across the world, there are signs they are earning that reputation.

At the Louvre in Paris, there's a sign for that warns people not to defecate and urinate on the premises. It's only in Chinese, reports Quartz's Gwynn Guildford. Elsewhere in Paris, Chinese tourists have drawn the ire of Zadig &Voltaire, a fashion retailer who said in October their new 2014 hotel will definitely not be open to Chinese tourists.  In Buddhist temples in Chiang Mai, Thailand, monks and temples officials are having a hard time explaining to Chinese tourists that wearing shorts is not allowed. "Even though some of these tourists understand some English, it's hard to communicate. When asked why he and his group came to Chiang Mai during the Chinese New Year, a Chinese male in his thirties stabbed a thumb to his chest and said importantly: 'I am rich.'" reported Vint Chavala for Thailand's The Nation in February. On a Thai message board, Chinese tourists are singled out for bad driving, being loud, cutting in line, and even have their children defecate in public pools.  At Ewha Women's University in South Korea, Chinese tourists have turned the private school into a photo opportunity and regularly disregard "trespassing" signs. "When you pronounce the word Ewha in Chinese, it becomes leewha, which sounds similar to leepa, and leepa means ‘Something brings you a benefit’ in Chinese. In addition, the Chinese character Ewha means purity as well.'," reported the blog Koreabang last month.  In Singapore, as The New York Times reported in 2005, Chinese tourists became known for talking too loud. "Oh, my God ... They talk so loud I have to yell until my throat hurts," a sales clerk told The Times.  Hong Kong Airlines, as CNN reported in April, had to teach their cabin crew kung fu in order to deal with drunken passengers flying to and from mainland China. In February, a Chinese mother saw it fit to let her young boy urinate in a bottle in the middle of a Hong Kong restaurant. Many did not see her fit.  And, yes, in Egypt there's the boy who carved his name into the pyramid. 

By no means is that every incident reported, but those are just some of the biggest ones leaving their dents in newspapers and social media. 

Visiting at Home

While Chinese abroad have had their fair share of transgressions, it's also worth nothing that tourist attractions on the mainland have come under fire too. For example, the ways animals are treated in China's zoos is downright sad. Zoos can (arguably-speaking) be depressing places on their own (though not as depressing as Sea World). But in China, there have been a rash of attacks on animals there, like a psychopath biting and killing an ostrich in January or the visitors in the same month who kept trying to hit the Hangzhou Zoo's lions with snowballs or the visitors at the Shenzen zoo who all but killed crocodiles by throwing stuff into their exhibits, because they thought the animals were fake. Clearly, that behavior would not fly in a U.S. zoo. But that's a little different than visiting Buddhist temple in tiny shorts or dropping trou and human feces in the Tuileries. And it's a tad different than a Chinese man busting the glass to a Forbidden City antique.

And it's a little different than the graffiti-style vandalizing of an Egyptian pyramid. But when it comes to that unfortunate (and sort of hilarious) "Ding Jinhao was here" vandalization, that act may actually come from the bubbling up of Chinese street art, which began in 2005. Writer Carolyn Look has a good story on the emergence of street art in Beijing and Shanghai and how the counter culture fights back against the idea of China being an uncreative economic powerhouse. "Today, graffiti is a trend that is on the brink of exploding in China," Look writes. Look explains that the vandalization of Beijing's buildings, some ancient, is a positive thing, "In many ways, graffiti in Beijing has been less a criticism towards the government than towards the passivity of the public. It has forced them to literally open their eyes."

The Chinese Response

Ding's parents have apologized profusely for wrecking the relic. And that's encouraging. It'd be quite a different thing if Ding's parents said that their child did nothing wrong and did not accept any responsibility. But the broader issue is the image of China. Ding's transgressions came just days after one of China vice premiers urged the country's people to be polite. Vice Premier Wang Yang said in a statement: 

Improving the civilized quality of the citizens and building a good image of Chinese tourists are the obligations of governments at all levels and relevant agencies and companies ... Guide tourists to conscientiously abide by public order and social ethics, respect local religious beliefs and customs, mind their speech and behavior … and protect the environment.

And, as Guilford explains, China seems bent on cleaning up its tourism image: "China announced just last month that it is issuing a Tourism Law to take effect in October. That law will give travel agencies the authority to penalize tourists who 'violate social ethics,' though it’s also geared toward cleaning up the domestic tourism industry."

Still, some of mainland response of Ding's vandalization comes from a the grade-school, "well they do it too" excuse. In the wake of finding out about the Luxor vandalization came from Chinese hands, Author Abe Sauer explained that "numerous Chinese reporters pointing out that Great Wall is littered" with Western graffiti.