intelligent pwn

Ha Ha!

My very first real post was about "Intelligent" Design. How I do wish I'd written about it as well as Roger Ebert did while refuting Ben I-owe-my-fame-to-Ferris-Bueller Stein's film "Expelled".

props to the Princess

Christina's Festivus

first Festivus sighting!

Every year I note the first sighting of a Festivus reference that I come across, and this year's "prize" goes to Alan Sepinwall, and his call for disappointing TV for the year 2008. And, no, you cannot nominate Knight Rider, for, as Alan points out, you knew it was going to be bad from the beginning.

i got nothin'

When I first started this blog, I had nothing to say, really, so it sat idle for nearly three months while I waited for something. Turns out that something was stupidity. Now that the Bush Administration* is nearly gone, and adults will once again be occupying the White House, I'm finding that there is once again little to say.

I'll think of something, I'm sure, because this blogging thing has gotten under my skin, and the lack of stupidity (aside from the general miasma of stupidity which passes for everyday life) cannot go on, but I'm still thinking that it maybe time for a retooling of this blog. I'm thinking that it's entirely possible that Obama may actually do what the nation hired him to do, which is run the country in a responsible manner, which will mean that I can pretty much ignore politics altogether.
Or perhaps not.

Meanwhile, the economy just keeps looking grimmer and grimmer. That ought to provide me with something to discuss, at least as long as Google/Blogspot doesnt fall victim to our little Depression.


* Time was, I'd have used a snarky pseudonym like "the Bush Cabal", but lately just saying "Bush Administration" seems condemnation enough.

Christina's Christmas

I heard somewhere once that the girl in Andrew Wyeth's "Christina's World" was unable to walk, which makes the picture far more poignant. The original, I mean.

christmas greetings

memes to me

This is a quiz harvested from Samurai Frog, who in turn got it from Byzantium's Shores. The idea in front is to bold the things you've done. Incidentally, this was not a tag, I just felt like doing it on my own.
Have you...

Gone on a blind date

Skipped school in college, for sure. Not before, though, I dont think.

Watched someone die

Been to Canada

Been to Mexico once... oh wait, there was that time I crossed the Rio Grande down in Big Bend. No, really.

Been to Florida

Been to Africa

Been on a plane: a single round trip in a jet, and single flight in a Cessna

Been lost, never for long, though

Gone to Washington, DC once on a school trip (aforementioned jet flight) and once driving through in the middle of the night after a wrong turn.

Swam in the ocean: The Gulf of Mexico is like a lovely warm soup.

Broken a bone: Be forewarned, kids! Do not play tag on a metal merry-go-round in the winter. They're slippery.

Been in a traffic accident twice, but not while I was driving

Cried yourself to sleep: Of course not, I sprung from the womb full grown and manly - there will be no weeping

Been on TV when I was a college freshman, my fraternity pledge class threw a party. A news crew showed up as part of a story on teen drinking. It was a pretty good party, all in all.

Stole traffic signs: one "no parking" sign. I'm very sorry.

Played cops and robbers

Recently colored with crayons: crayons rock! They're also capable of wonderful, subtle tones... in the right hands (not mine, sadly).

Sang Karaoke

Paid for a meal with coins only

Done something you told yourself you wouldn't: When I moved south, I swore I would never say "y'all", wear a cowboy hat, or have a pair of cowboy boots. All three vows have fallen. This is in addition to the usual "that's not a toy" and "if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you want to also?" things said to your kids.

Made prank phone calls

Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose & elsewhere: milk, always milk.

Caught a snowflake on your tongue

Danced in the rain

Written a letter to Santa Claus

Been kissed under the mistletoe

Watched the sunrise with someone

Blown bubbles

Gone ice-skating: badly

Been skinny dipping outdoors: The aforementioned soupy Gulf

Gone to the movies: duh

Have a nickname: Yes. And that's all you need to know.

Body piercings


And now, just a bunch of random questions, I guess.

1. Favorite drink?

Iced tea, or a cool cup of distilled water

2. How much do you love your job?

Not much. I dont hate my job, though, I reserve that pleasure for my boss.

3. Birthplace?

Dubuque, Iowa.

4. Favorite vacation spot?

That's the kind of question that assumes that I go on vacations more elaborate than going to see a relative on a holiday. I love the mountains, I love the desert, I love the ocean, I♥NY, I love to visit my relatives. The important thing to me is not where I go, but that I do go.

5. Ever eaten just cookies for dinner?

No, that's dumb. You need ice cream, also.

6. Favorite pie?

Mmmmm, pie. I love pie. It's better than cake, for sure. Favorite? Cheesecake (which I consider to be pie), or maybe peach pie, or key lime is good. And then there's cobbler, which is pie-like and is so good warm with a scoop of ice cream. Now I'm hungry.

7. Favorite holiday?

Thanksgiving. You get food, relatives and long weekend, but without the pressures of gift-giving. Plus, it's in the fall, and that's my favorite season.

8. Favorite food?

This "favorite" thing is kind of irritating, really. I'm a grown-up, I've got a list: Cheeseburgers, pepperoni pizza, rocky road ice cream, indian food, cheesesteaks (sans bell peppers, and with pepperoni), chicken gizzards, mashed potatoes and gravy with some sort of deep-fried meat, fresh corn on the cob, spanish clementines, salsa verde, frito chili pie made with Wendy's chili, chocolate milk shakes, peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, hot dogs with mustard and pico de gayo, catfish tacos,...

9. Favorite smell?

Spring days right after it rains or cool, crisp fall nights, roasting chicken, pig farms (wierd childhood thing), fresh mown grass, wood shops, kittens,...

10. How do you relax?

Books, unless I want to shut off my brain, then TV. Google Images is fun for hours, also.

11. How do you see yourself in 10 years?

No clue. If you had asked me this ten years ago, I never would have guessed I'd be where I am.

new header

The Brother called from overseas to tell me how wrong my new Christmas header was, so I'll replace it with a new one. Hope this one's okay.

Addendum, 3:44 pm

I couldnt do it. I hope the Brother saw it, I wish I'd gotten a look at his face when he did, but I couldnt leave that there. So there's a new, cleaner one.

Theses are fun to make, by the way.

unconnected dots... again

Well, well, well. It seems that the Bush Administration had been warned ahead of time of the possibility of the current financial crisis, and had been warned in fairly specific terms:

- Regulators told bankers exotic mortgages were often inappropriate for buyers with bad credit.

- Banks would have been required to increase efforts to verify that buyers actually had jobs and could afford houses.
- Regulators proposed a cap on risky mortgages so a string of defaults wouldn't be crippling.
- Banks that bundled and sold mortgages were told to be sure investors knew exactly what they were buying.
- Regulators urged banks to help buyers make responsible decisions and clearly advise them that interest rates might skyrocket and huge payments might be due sooner than expected.

Will this be the hallmark of the reign of George W. Bush: obliviousness in the face of warning?

The administration's blind eye to the impending crisis is emblematic of its governing philosophy, which trusted market forces and discounted the value of government intervention in the economy. Its belief ironically has ushered in the most massive government intervention since the 1930s.

Many of the banks that fought to undermine the proposals by some regulators are now either out of business or accepting billions in federal aid to recover from a mortgage crisis they insisted would never come. Many executives remain in high-paying jobs, even after their assurances were proved false.

read this

My friend Burk writes about beer.