REALITYCHEX.COM - Pre-Inaugural Events 2009

The Wires

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Hubris. One would think that a married man smart enough to start up and operate his own tech company was also smart enough to know that you don't take your girlfriend to a public concert where the equipment includes a jumbotron -- unless you want to get caught on the big camera with your arms around said girlfriend. Ah, but for Andy Bryon, CEO of A company called Astronomer, and also maybe his wife, Wednesday was a night that will live in infamy. New York Times link. ~~~

New York Times: “The New York Times Company has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for use in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms, the company said on Thursday. The multiyear agreement 'will bring Times editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,' the news organization said in a statement. Besides news articles, the agreement encompasses material from NYT Cooking, The Times’s food and recipe site, and The Athletic, which focuses on sports. This is The Times’s first licensing arrangement with a focus on generative A.I. technology. In 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, for copyright infringement, accusing the tech companies of using millions of articles published by The Times to train automated chatbots without any kind of compensation. OpenAI and Microsoft have rejected those accusations.” ~~~

~~~ Marie: I have no idea what this means for "the Amazon customer experience." Does it mean that if I don't have a NYT subscription but do have Amazon Prime I can read NYT content? And where, exactly, would I find that content? I don't know. I don't know.

Washington Post reporters asked three AI image generators what a beautiful woman looks like. "The Post found that they steer users toward a startlingly narrow vision of attractiveness. Prompted to show a 'beautiful woman,' all three tools generated thin women, without exception.... Her body looks like Barbie — slim hips, impossible waist, round breasts.... Just 2 percent of the images showed visible signs of aging. More than a third of the images had medium skin tones. But only nine percent had dark skin tones. Asked to show 'normal women,' the tools produced images that remained overwhelmingly thin.... However bias originates, The Post’s analysis found that popular image tools struggle to render realistic images of women outside the Western ideal." ~~~

~~~ Marie: The reporters seem to think they are calling out the AI programs for being unrealistic. But there's a lot about the "beautiful women" images they miss. I find these omissions remarkably sexist. For one thing, the reporters seem to think AI is a magical "thing" that self-generates. It isn't. It's programmed. It's programmed by boys, many of them incels who have little or no experience or insights beyond comic books and Internet porn of how to gauge female "beauty." As a result, the AI-generated women look like cartoons; that is, a lot like an air-brushed photo of Kristi Noem: globs of every kind of dark eye makeup, Scandinavian nose, Botox lips, slathered-on skin concealer/toner/etc. makeup, long dark hair and the aforementioned impossible Barbie body shape, including huge, round plastic breasts.

New York Times: “George Clooney’s Broadway debut, 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' has been one of the sensations of the 2024-25 theater season, breaking box office records and drawing packed houses of audiences eager to see the popular movie star in a timely drama about the importance of an independent press. Now the play will become much more widely available: CNN is planning a live broadcast of the penultimate performance, on June 7 at 7 p.m. Eastern. The performance will be preceded and followed by coverage of, and discussion about, the show and the state of journalism.”

Page Links

MLK Day of Service

Michelle Obama & Jill Biden work at a community center putting together goodie packages for the troops.

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Photos of preinaugural events are on the Inaugural Gallery page on the dropdown menu un Photo Galleries on the navigation bar just below the masthead.

The parties. (Not my strong suit.) The Sleuth reports on Arianna Huffington's A-List bash where Sting sang "Every Breath You Take," the stalker song often misinterpreted as a love song. Anne Schroeder Mullins on the Arianna party. And on Al Gore's Green Ball at the National Portrait Gallery. At the Kennedy Center, not one but two bigs shows, one headlining Aretha Franklin & the other Wynton Marsalis. Muhammed Ali salutes Barack Obama at the Bluegrass Ball. Celebs at the Creative Coalition dinner. The arty Big Shoulders party ended when the police showed up. Best of all, Dana Milbank takes a wry look at Hollywood on the Potomac -- the Return.

The official release on Barack Obama's dinner honoring John McCain. The Caucus story here. Photos. "Not invited was Mr. McCain's running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska." Barack Obama's prepared remarks at the "bipartisan dinner honoring John McCain."

The Caucus: Michelle Obama & Jill Biden at the children's concert.

Pool report on Barack Obama's dinner honoring Colin Powell (doesn't say much).

Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire on Barack Obama's National Day of Service. Washington Post story, with video. New York Times story here.

Barack Obama thanks volunteers:

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Do not miss Joe & Jill Biden on Oprah. Jill lets the cat out of the bag! It's great & it's news:

Comments from a couple of sharp Caucus readers on Jill Biden's Oprah-induced revelation (see link to video above):

I guess that disease which destroys the connection between the brain and the mouth is contagious.-- Michael Feldman

'If you’re secretary of state, you’ll be away, we’ll never see you, you know.”'-- Jill Biden. That’s the very same argument Bill used to encourage Hillary to take the job. -- Shooting from the Lip

Another Caucus reader points out that this story is not exactly news. Joe Biden made similar, but more nuanced, comments to the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza back in October. Link to the Lizza story.

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Barack Obama is helping renovate the boys' dorm in a D.C. emergency shelter. Joe Biden brought doughnuts for everybody at the Habitat for Humanity home he helped build. Michelle Obama & Jill Biden are putting together goodie bags for troops.

Barack Obama makes his first stop on the day of service at Walter Reed Medical Center. Uninformative pool report.

Barack Obama issues a statement honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Bloomberg: Barack Obama issues a call to service. The video of his speech in the left column of this page.

Washington Post: Obama, Powell ask Americans to participate in national day of service on Martin Luther King Day, January 19, the day before the inauguration. Updated story. With video.

Barack Obama promotes USAService.org:

Michelle Obama talks about her family's plans for volunteering:

The Washington Post's interactive party map is excellent.

Sunday Concert

If you're interested in the party scene (I'm not) here are a few sources.(A year later, most of these stories have disappeared.) There seems to be general agreement that the best A-List bash Sunday was Maureen Dowd's, so crowded Tom Hanks & Bruce Springstein couldn't get in. Jennifer Lopez seems to have been the star of the Latino Inaugural Gala. Here's more from the Boston Globe. And the scoop on the Declare Yourself Ball.

Los Angeles Times story on the Lincoln Memorial "We Are One" concert. Washington Post: the "We Are One" concert. New York Times story here. The Caucus here. Like me, commenters on the blogs want to know what happened to Gene Robinson, who was supposed to give the invocation.

NBC has a very good slideshow covering the day here. And here's Politico's slideshow.

Update: the Caucus blog now explains what happened. Nonfunctioning speakers were a "technical difficulty." But the fact remains that the inaugural committee scheduled Bishop Robinson (a) before the HBO broadcast was to air (at 2:30 pm) and (b) before the Obamas & Bidens arrived (at 2:52 pm). We Are One.*

*As long as we are heterosexual.

Here is the text of the Rev. Robinson's prayer.

Update: there's a pretty good amateur video of the invocation here.

More: Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star has a good post -- he says NPR has some 'splaining to do, too. One of his commenters who attended the concert said the sound systems were working fine immediately before & after Bishop Robinson's invocation, but not during it.

Ben Smith of Politico does some excellent reporting on this issue (at the CW's request). First, he reports that the Presidential Inaugural Committee takes responsibility for not broadcasting the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson's invocation. Second, Smith reports the PIC has ensured that when the concert is replayed on the Mall to entertain the crowds Tuesday, the Rt. Rev. Robinson's invocation will be included. New York Times: story here.

Barack Obama speaking at the "We Are One" concert at Lincoln Memorial.

Transcript of Barack Obama's remarks.

Link to Politico's video of Joe Biden's speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

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Joe and Jill Biden attended mass at Holy Trinity, where John F. Kennedy worshipped.

Washington Post: Barack Obama, his wife and daughters attended services at the historic 19th Street Baptist Church. With video.

Update: pool report on the Obamas' arrival inside the church.

Update from the pool: the sermon.

Barack Obama will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery Sunday morning.

AP Update: Obama, Biden honor war dead at Arlington.

Washington Post: Springstein does a soundcheck at the Lincoln Memorial Sunday. Includes video.

Saturday Whistlestop

The Bidens and Obamas on the rear platform as the train pulls out of the Wilmington station.

Here's an excellent video of the whistlestop tour the inaugural committee made:

New York Times slideshow here. MSNBC has quite a good slideshow here. The Chicago Tribune's slideshow is good, too.

Washington Post story here. With video.

Tens of thousands gather in Baltimore's War Memorial Plaza to greet Obamas, Bidens; train made rolling stop in Edgewood first. Link to photos.

Jen Miller of the New York Times mingles among the well-wishers at Edgewood. A few good photos, too.

President-Elect Obama speaks in Balitimore:

Here's the transcript of his prepared remarks.

Washington Post: "huge turnout for a hometown hero."

Text of Obama's Wilmington speech.

Mark Silva of the Swamp on Joe Biden's remarks.

Early afternoon pool report. 11 am ET pool report.

Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times Caucus: the Obamas are "on track for the White House." Washington Post story here.

AP story: Barack Obama and his family begin their train journey to Washington at Philadelphia's 30th Street station; Obama cites founding fathers and calls for "a new Declaration of Independence" in his remarks.

Transcript of prepared remarks.

Pool report: Obama arrived in Philadelphia Friday afternoon.

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The Obamas and Bidens will be taking an historic train car on their Philadelphia-Washington trip -- the Georgia 300. Here's the story from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen. Photos of the interior of the Georgia 300 here and here and here.

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