Merry Christmas to all...

and if you get cold, be sure you get your Snuggie...



I know I hate it when my arms get "trapped" in my blanket. I love infomercials during Christmas day programming.

Flashbacks or Flashforwards?

I would say I followed pro football most religiously during my high school years. By far my favorite player to watch was Barry Sanders, simply because he could make a 1 yd loss look like the best football play ever and he was always a threat to break it for TD. I was very disappointed when he retired early, but there's hope yet. Here are some clips of the Oklahoma AA State Football Championship game. The first one is vintage Barry Sanders... perhaps because it's Barry Sanders Jr, a freshman.

Insult to Injury

They cancel Pushing Daisies, but they can find a place for f#&@ing Homeland Security USA. Screw you ABC.

Long week...

Thanksgiving was lots of fun. I seemed to spend it playing with nephews or friend's sons and/or hanging out with people who are expecting. Unfortunately I did not get to see Luis LaMachina and his daughter, but hopefully during Xmas.

I was finally able to catch my (then) #3 ranked Louisville Cardinals play basketball on Sunday. First time this year since they don't broadcast games in Philly for some reason, and the first time I got to see the Freshman Phenom, Samardo Samuels. Needless to say, just my luck, they would lay an egg and look absolutely horrible (shooting 27% from the field including 6-30 from 3pt). Samuels was decent when he got the ball, but absolutely posterized trying to dunk when he was blocked. Here's an idea, if you can't hit a 3, try something new. Damnit basketball, you were supposed to be my outlet!

Flew back on Monday to Philly, which meant we were delayed. Had to take j to the airport for a course in Orlando on Tuesday afternoon, which means my insomnia has been with me ever since (I'm pathetic). Have been working on a paper so I've been reading multiple papers that are now a mismatch of random sentences in my head now. Finally sat down to relax last night to witness the absolute shellacking of Louisville football (0-49 at the half!). Ended up watching 'The Right Stuff' on AMC. Made me feel a little better.

Thoughts before heading home for Thanksgiving...

1. If you have a spare hour to waste, try reading this. The author found some of the people who actually saw the markets for what they were, and were probably able to make a boatload of money betting against the market. Interesting how even though they couldn't figure everything out beforehand, they were able to piece together enough details by (a) paying attention to who was getting these loans (i.e. people who can never afford to pay these loans) and (b) talking to some of the people that were actually making the sausage (especially the people that were chopping up junk mortgages and able to sell them as AAA bonds). The information was out there, few were willing to look for it. Very telling to me is Eisman's quote:

“That Wall Street has gone down because of this is justice. They fucked people. They built a castle to rip people off. Not once in all these years have I come across a person inside a big Wall Street firm who was having a crisis of conscience.”


2. The way they are currently structured, I realize that a bailout of the auto industry doesn't make sense. They definitely need some new leadership and a change in the corporate philosophy. But isn't it weird how everyone is up in arms about a $25B loan, when we seem to be shoveling that much out a week for the financial sector. At least with the auto makers I can see the results (workers employed, products manufactured).

3. I figure j will blog about it eventually, but we are both disappointed in the cancellation of "Pushing Daisies." I guess there's not enough demand for whimsy in the world. That's sad.

4. I'm looking forward to going home for Thanksgiving. It's been one of longer stretches without going home since moving to Philly. I have too many young nephews to be gone this long. They're going to forget who I am.

5. Is it just me, or is Obama dipping a little too much from the Clinton era cronies? Pretty much the entire economic team is from the Clinton team, but not from the Robert Reich side.

6. Thank goodness for basketball season. I don't think I can stand much more U of L football.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Executive Culture at GM

Last week, Mitt Romney made an appeal for bankruptcy for the Big 3 was the only way to allow them to survive.

This blog will make you feel even more unsure that even that will help without a change in the executive culture, at least for GM.

I'll admit I'm not sure what the answer is, but it most definitely should not involve the current leadership of these companies (or their private jets).

Why don't I watch the Mayne Street videos?

I like Kenny Mayne's weird sense of humor. I like to watch Sportscenter and most the games that ESPN covers. I get infuriated when I go to ESPN.com and the main page is covered with Mayne Street video stuff.

Why can't they just talk about sports? Why is this front and center? Why can't I bring myself to even watch one video?

I love Liz Lemon...

Liz Lemon from 30 Rock about the relationship she's looking for:

"I just wish I could really start a relationship about 12 years in.
You really don’t have to try anymore.
And you can just sit around together and goof on TV shows.
And then go to bed without anyone trying any funny business."

She says this as j and I sit on the couch together, goofing on the Office and 30 Rock, and j is now going to bed as I stay up to watch The Daily Show.

PostScript j and I made it in 10 years.

Colbert Report

He really gets going 2/3 of the way through, but this was pretty brilliant.

Pop Quiz...

The above map is:

A) The Presidential map of Election map.
B) The TV ratings for the 2007 World Series
C) The percentage of state population above 30 BMI in 2006.

(The answer is C)

You can really breakdown the scary epidemic of obesity through the last 20 years here at the CDC website.

Compare that map to this map:



What does it mean?

Election day nearing and other thoughts...

Election day is tomorrow, and if you are like me, you're starting to get nervous because Obama is predicted to win and you just know it's too good to be true. My own thoughts are that he should win, if it's close, we'll have to sit through weeks of tit for tat, so I'm hoping a fairly convincing win. Either way, whoever wins, it's not really the best environment to be elected because you promised a lot of things and the economy is just not set up for those programs to go through. So some quick thoughts:

1) For me the election is about whether you think that the country needs to make a fundamental change of direction. If this is the case, then you should be for Obama. If you think it's going the right direction but there have been just a few bad actors, vote for McCain. While I think Obama will largely bring symbolic change, but only incremental actual change (he's largely consensus building and risk averse), I think (hope) it will signal an end (lessening more likely) of the culture wars of the 60s. I'm sick of fighting the same battles as my parents and think that younger voters are looking for a different model of government.

2) Part of my annoyance with the Republican party is that I feel like they lambast science and evidenced based research, and therefore me. The bashing of intellectualism has also been lamented by David Brooks, conservative columnist for the NY Times. Christopher Landing has been harsh on the McCain-Palin campaign, particularly Palin, for this, and two articles ago unleashed a torrid final paragraph that makes me feel a release but also fear that it has a little too much smugness in itself and risks the same ignorance of the opposing viewpoints, particularly if is not considered "intellectual" enough. There can still be validity in populist ideas, even if they are more conservative.

Final paragraph of Palin's War on Science:

This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.

3) Charges of Obama being a socialist are way overblown. t gives a good rant on the idoicy of this argument.

4) At long last, have you no shame? Have you know decency? Where your tax dollars are going... socialism for the rich.

5) Rick Pitino had some interesting comments on what kills potential.

"There are four things that are killers of potential," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "One is drugs. Two is alcohol. Three is disrespecting women, and four is a lack of humility. You will never reach your potential if you think you've arrived before you have."

Should it be xRick Pitinox?

6) Some interesting detective work on the web for the origin of:

Rosa sat so Martin could walk.
Martin walked, so Obama could run.
Obama is running so our children can fly.

Peace. Go Obama.

My brother sent me this

My brother, e, sent me this. Even Leo knows that Cards are going to be good this year.

Our Leader...

Mayor Nutter about the celebrations for Phillies fans:

"You can be joyous. You can't be a jackass."

I knew I liked this guy for a reason.

Did it really have to be in Kentucky?

Seriously, as in Raiders of the Lost Ark:

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

Kentucky. Why did it have to be Kentucky?

Wassup? Revisited.

Saw this on the NY Times Caucus Blog. If you remember a few years ago:



Now there is an update with the same actors:



Funny, yet strangely effective.

Just under a month...

Sorry, I've been really busy between school/research, football, and the fact that t and the td maker came in last weekend with their significant others. Some brief notes:

1. I still haven't gone all the way through the Science debate answers from the previous post (full disclosure I'm a strong Obama supporter). So far, I would have to say that in question 1 (innovation) I feel like Obama gives more detail about his view while McCain gives more of a generalized bullet list of ideas that left me wanting to know his exact commitment. Most imporatnatly I liked what Obama talked about (1) attracting more people to Science/Engineering and (2) increasing funding for younger faculty/researchers. I find the latter point to be crucial as I work for a younger faculty member and have a brother that fits that profile as well. Funding for research has been very tight for as long as they've been writing grants, often receiving good scores, but not high enough to qualify for the tight pool of available grant money. This will likely have the effect of driving young faculty away from jobs where we need them to develop young scientists and technology. There are some opporunities in the private sector, but a lot of the basic science and technology breakthroughs have been developed at the academic or government intitutional level until they are able to exist in the marketplace.

On Question 2, they were both pretty close with similar plans and goals for a cap-and-trade system to control the release of greenhouse gases, but I still feel that the philosophy of "Drill baby, drill!" (which may have come after these answers) counteracts McCain's argument. The more you profess that drilling is a solution to energy, the more you demonstrate your unwillingness to catagorically change this nation's reliance on greenhouse emitting technologies.

Question 3 mentions the energy question directly. A lot of long range plans (and strangely, not a peep from McCain on Off-shore drilling) but I'm not convinced there is much you can do immediately other than change people's attitude towards driving everywhere. The only way that has worked is to have $4 gas, and neither one of these two are going to increase gas taxes to guarantee high prices at the pump. In the end, they're both hoping for technology to come up with a magic bullet that will allow us to not change our lifestyle and consume 80% less energy while doing it.

2. Found this article on Slate today, and I must say I've often felt the same way about most baseball commentary. I guess it's hard to compare because football lends itself to film breakdown so much, and baseball doesn't really have many plays (and when they do, things like hit-and-run are pretty self explanatory). Basketball can be pretty similar as well. Just putting some former players up there isn't really enough for me to feel like they are experts. Most don't have the skills (at least not for the first couple years) required to hold cognant thoughts on live television (as I would assume I would not). Breaking down film is common for football players starting in high school, so that part is pretty natural, and the communication of that is the only limitation. But it's not like they have to explain physics here, it's football and it's pretty straight forward. Baseball appears to want to just put anybody on who used to play and they can say whatever they. A weird exception for me is Rob Dibble when he used to be on the Dan Patrick show. I enjoyed his self-deprecating descriptions of life as a relief pitcher and being asked to come in just to hit an opposing player. Gave me better insight on a lot of the grandstanding and tit-for-tat in baseball.

3. It was fun having some old friends in this past weekend. t, came down from Boston with his gf k, keeps you on your toes at all times and is great for striking up conversations with random strangers. He was able to get us some unique perspective of the early congress from a park ranger at the Independence Hall here in Philly (and maybe it was even true). Apparently, people were allowed to be on the floor with the reps in the old days, but they (being Philadelphians) were a little to in your face and opinionated (and they probably booed everything; the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, syphilis) so they had to put the visitors in a gallery just to get work done. Having lived here for over 3 years now, it's not entirely surprising. I'm impressed with the ease at which k deals with t. Always good to see him get as good as he gives.

The td maker and wife were impressively able to keep up with us city folk (from the suburbs of St Louis) as we made them do a decent amount of walking and, at least once, standing while waiting to eat at Sabrina's Cafe. Unfortunately, Mrs td maker was not able to coexist with Ris (j's cat, I don't claim him) so they had to stay at a hotel, but the rest of the time was a lot of fun. Some national history and lots of good food (Reading Terminal Market, the Italian Market, and Pat's King of Steaks were raided). Here's a photo that t had a stranger walking by take...


All-in-all a fun weekend, but now I need to recover.

Science Debate 2008

I recently became aware of this website from Talk of the Nation: Science Friday (if you like science, you're already listening, if you're not, shame on you). They were pushing to get the presidential candidates to discuss issues of science. They were not able to get an actual debate, but they were able to get the candidates to reply to a 14 question survey (you can read the complete answers on the website, or the NY Times gives an overview here). I want to read all the answers before really commenting (unfortunately, I have my own science to worry about now), but I would like to hear other peoples opinions of their answers.

On a side note, someone in the lab played the song below and it reminded me that 2 of my first 3 cars had bench seating, and my Dad always had a full size truck, so I've always been kind of anti-bucket seat.



"I need you here with me, not way over in bucket seat"
(oh yeah, if you can't tell, j's out of town...)

Taking Umbrage

(Once again written without j's edits)

A few months ago, the Slate Political Gabfest had an abbreviated discussion how campaigning nowadays seemed to be two rival camps fighting over who could take umbrage with what the other was saying. And you scored more points by whoever was dealt the bigger slight. Today, Obama, talking about the McCain repackaging themselves as the change campaign, compared it to putting lipstick on pig (it's still a pig). The McCain campaign came out demanding an apology to Gov. Palen, obviously this is a slight on her due to her pit bull/lipstick comment. Well, come to find out, he wasn't discussing Palin at all, and McCain had already said the exact same thing when discussing Hillary's health care plan. Oops.



On a side note, how do other people feel about all the knocks on community organizers that came out during the RNC? During the Palin speech, I sent the following text to t "I feel like the community organizer is important to black communities. Are the shots at it latent racism?" I have since discussed it with my bro e, and read this article here from the conservative point of view. I wasn't totally convinced that it wasn't.

It's seems to me that 'community organizer' as a (job) title, is more of an urban/minority phenomenon. Their purpose is to work with the community to better its people working with people in power whether they be private or public, so that meant working with landlords, businesses, state and local government. In some ways, I agree that (similar to the article) it is similar to a lobbyist, but isn't it inherently more noble to be a lobbyist for the poor than for for large corporations? They also took exception to his taking a job and declaring himself a C.O. rather than the community selecting him. But that was the jobwe was hired to do by (according to Wikipedia) Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland. So churches pooled together to hire someone who the thought would be most effective for better their members/community, nothing inherently wrong with that (I don't think there is inherently anything wrong with lobbyists, until they get disproportional amounts of power/access and actually start writing law).

Finally, I'm not sold on their argument that we see a racial tone to it just because our preconceived notion of the C.O. is that of an African American, that was just the fault of our own experience. They are declaring that the Chicken definitely came before the egg, hopign that we will not delve deaper into the origins of the chicken. I would argue that they had to same prejudice, and by invoking it knew they were pushing some racial buttons. But maybe I'm just taking umbrage...

Forgotten weekend madness...

So recently my laptop started having some issues. First the power cord started to fray right at the plug into the computer and a crack propagated along the right hinge. Naturally this was exactly one month after the warranty/service plan ran out from Dell, so to replace it was going to be pretty expensive. It's also been running progressively slower, as everything that runs Windows seems to do with time. So after talking with Dell, it was apparent that they don't even make the back of the displays that I would have to buy in order to repair the problem. So I started researching buying a new one, although I didn't want to spend $1100-1500 for the prepackaged computers from Penn, especially since Dell and Lenovo are both releasing new versions of their platforms.

So I looked on some message boards and found a site that had some surplus Dell parts, and found my 'backsplash' (what we called the electronics part on the back of Washers/Dryers at GE). While researching how to replace the display cover, I discovered I'd be exposing my RAM as well. So I found the RAM I needed to be dirt cheap now, so I ordered 4x my current RAM and a new external hard drive to also quadruple my current capacity.

After ordering all the parts, Saturday morning, I got up early, took apart my computer, install the new components and now my laptop is fixed and running faster, and hopefully I bought 2-3 more years for it. It's amazing how good you feel when you do something not really that difficult (I am an engineer for Pete's sake) but it saves you around $1000 and it's a little out of your normal comfort zone.

Weekend madness...

So a few thoughts from this weekend. (warning, j usually proofreads, and she's asleep, please forgive my stream of consciousness writing)

1. Yesterday, j and I went up to our old neighborhood, Manayunk, to watch the Red Bull Soapbox Race. Now you might have seen their commercials where people construct creative soapboxes and race them down hills or fly off a ramp (and come crashing into water). Well, I don't know about the hills they use in those commercial, but this one is known as "The Wall," a 17% grade at parts, and I've seen estimates of 10-14% for the ~1/2 mile hill. Plus, you need to factor in the remnants of hurricane Hannah, which made the event (and the spectating) that much more adventurous. There were several interesting designs, you can find pictures here (not ours, we didn't take many trying not to ruin our camera); but our favorites included:

Great Scott!: Doc Brown going down in the Delorean after filling up "Mr Fushion" with Red Bull


The Whack-a-Mole-bile: Had a fun little act before they ran down the hill.


Cheesesteak Chariot: A cheesesteak with a bucket-o-fries trailer.


There were some scary looking tumbles (a Jacko running off with a baby carriage went down at breakneck speed and went head over heels after finishing with the best time at that point), we were completely soaked, but a good time was had by all.

2. We've recently been hooked on Mad Men. It's very differently paced (ie kind of slow/deliberate) than most shows I watch, but the main character has kind of a George Clooney appeal to him. Since we've started watching, we've been exposed to different commercials, but this is by far the best thing I never knew existed:



I never knew that General Hospital Night Shift existed, but this is great in a terrible type of way. As j said, "I thought that was called Grey's Anatomy."

3. The Louisville Cardinals can still score, if they play a team as bad as Tennessee Tech. The verdict is still out for this team, but the Big East is really down this year. So we might still have a chance to compete. The St Louis Cardinals finally started to crack (actually about 3 weeks ago, they actually won two this weekend) after a season where they've exceeded expectations. Since the All Star break, even Pujol's .375/.467/.716 can't carry this bullpen or a rotation that just missed Wainwright for too long and never really got Carpenter back. Here's hoping for both of them to come back healthy next season, where I think we can really compete again.

Have a busy week coming up, but have many thoughts about the campaign and my first campaign donation of my life I hope to blog on this week...

Careful what you pray for...

After suggesting that they pray for rain for Obama's nomination speech, and getting perfect weather, it makes you wonder what the hurricane means for the GOP? By his own logic, if it had rained during Obama, as God deemed proper, then it would be good. Then the fact that the weather was perfect and now a hurricane is interrupting the Republican Convention, I guess God must want him to vote for Obama. I'll be holding my breath.

Side note...

After hearing several times about Palin's choice not too abort a baby with Down Syndrome, I was really curious how common this was. Found this referenced in wikipedia that reviewed literature that found 90-93% of pregnancies are terminated after diagnosis of Down Syndrome. I must admit that I was shocked it was that high. Not exactly sure how I feel about that.

In search of the center?

I'm constantly on the lookout for truly unbiased reporting and political coverage. I am currently screening about 15 political podcasts, visiting various political blogs, and many mass media websites looking for anything that consistently delivers news and commentary not from talking points. I understand that people observe things from a point of view so they are naturally going to be predisposed towards one way of thinking. But it just gets old and I get tired of watching it, especially if it seems centralized where everyone is saying the same crap. Current things on my mind to illustrate this. (full disclosure, I am pro-Obama, but this race would be a lot more interesting if he ran against 2000 McCain, whom I found a far superior candidate than 2008 McCain)

Obama's nomination speech
It was a good speech. The visual of an African American being nominated as the presidential candidate with a legit shot was incredible. But I'm not sure that there will be much text from the actual speech that will be remembered. It served two purposes: (1) to give details to Obama's policies he'd like to enact and (2) to try an paint the two sides of this election as they would want us to see it (basically McCain = Bush and Obama = change). While I thought it was fairly effective in that manor, I don't believe that there was the oratory that accompanied it that we will remember for generations (nor do I think it needed to, the above subjects do not lend themselves to lines that withstand the tests of time, they are written for the moment).

Most of the initial commentaries about the speech were favorable, even from some of the Right hosts. But now there seems to be camps were Left writers are declaring its greatness (although most are just happy to see Obama showing he's willing to fight McCain) or Right columnists decrying it for not being as good as MLK's "I have a dream speech" or for not overtly referencing it (one of my podcasts, can't remember which on or I'd link it). I personally appreciated the subtle subtext as not to beat you over the head with the obvious.

In the end the speech was effective, it was good, now I'm interested to see more.


Sarah Palin's Nomination

I'll admit freely, that my first reaction to this, even though I was at least familiar with the name due to all the aforementioned podcasting, was "that was a mistake." I've been trying to find information about her, but I really don't get it. I think she helps a lot with the Republican/Evangelical base, but I'm not sold that she will help with Hillary supporters. As the Daily Show noted, she is in every way Hillary's ideological opposite (other than "internal plumbing"). I think the best McCain can hope is that they don't vote/organize for Obama.

But it's really interesting once again how ideology determines what one is willing to legitimize for someone you support vs someone that you oppose. I call this the "What if Bill Clinton had done (fill in Bush mistake/overreach here)?" You see this all the time with scandals, where it's okay/not as bad when my side does it and it is the end of the world/you sleep with the devil if the other side does it. It all wears me out.

Now I believe that it is fair to criticize Obama on experience because he is so new, and pert of his task is to convince voters that his judgment trumps his lack of experience. As little experience as Obama has, I would say it is more relevant on the national/international stage than Palin's. When they first made the announcement, I literally heard a supporter point to her (1) governorship (fine) (2) mayoral experience (still fine) and (3) her PTA experience (what?!? really?),

I went to one Right political blog and found this "Tale of the tape" between Barack and Palin. Come on, this is just ridiculous. First of all, there's just problems with math (mayor 1996-2002, then the next item declares mayor for 10 years). Then there's omissions (ignore's Obama's first job in private sector with Business International Corp; gives Palin credit for going to Kuwait to visit National Guard troops, but not Obama who spent a week going through all of these same places, visiting soldiers, draining 3s, and then got himself stuck in a damned if he did, damned if he didn't pickle on visiting the soldiers (for future reference, always err on the side of visiting soldiers); downplays work in Senate). I'm going to stop, but it just illustrates how people are willing/desire to only hear the views that already appeal to their own biases.

In the end, reading about Palin, I still think that it is a long shot. It totally takes away the experience line of attack. She genuinely seems to be a reformer and quite effective. Unfortunately, it appears that she took over a corrupt system with a constituency and other newly elected officials that were open to these changes. It is noted that she works well in bipartisan manners. Somehow I believe working with Dems from Alaska probably more like Governor of Montana (although I hope she's this entertaining), less like Dems from California or the northeast.

Interestingly, she gets credit for killing the bridge to nowhere, but I seem to remember the Federal government cut the funding first, leading to much hilarity. Evidence indicates that it was really more a lack of funds thing that killed it, not because it was a waste of money.

On an aside, on Left Right and Center on Friday, the Left wing rep compared her fight for Alaskan oil rights and more cash for residents to socialism. Actually, how is not socialism, someone explain this to me (I'm looking for the business major here, t).

Are you ready for some football?

Well it's about that time again. For those of you who don't know, I have a second profession (seen in the background below). Have two games every weekend from now until the end of October, should be fun. The last two years I've had a week off in the middle for a wedding out of town, but this year I don't get any breaks. Be interesting to see if it gets tedious. Applied for college last year, I'll get observed this year and we'll see if I get invited to move up for next season. Maybe one of these days I'll work with my brother in a college game...



On a related note, UL opens their season on Sunday vs UK. All I have to say, there are some many questions on both sides of the ball for both teams that this game is impossible to call, and may be the sloppiest game ever. Weren't we in the Orange Bowl 2 years ago?

Go Cards!

This looks very disturbing...

So I was at the store today, and saw this:



Chocolate Skittles. I have no idea on how this can possibly be good, and I have no intention of trying it. Really?!? Who's the marketing genius behind this one? The thing that works the best for Skittles is the fruity flavor with the chewiness (spelling?). I cannot think of any imaginable way that the experience with a chocolate flavor can be even swallowable (just making up words now).

On a related note, it did remind me of this linked post from thesupernicety. Probably one of my favorite non-t blogs ever.

Daily Show vs Colbert Report

I'm absolutely amazed that these shows are as funny as they so consistently. I think that John Stewart does an amazing job delivering punchlines that you sometimes would almost rather cry about. The NY Times had a great article about the show last week. Worth the read if you missed it. It made me dig up the old episode from which he is obviously trying to suppress his rage with the subject at hand (Cheney) but still manages to do a better interview than most professional journalists that I hear on a daily basis.



The past week has seen this gem... "Oh war, you're just God's way of teaching Americans geography."



I love The Colbert Report for the fact that Colbert stays in character no matter how absurd. It's amazing. This Threatdown was great, by Number 3, j and I were in tears.




Check out my poll, and vote for your favorite.

I love the interweb...

Although you do make me waste too much time...

I found this while on the NYTimes website the other day. The most recent article about renouncing his Star Wars fanhood is pretty spot on. But I then became somewhat addicted to the site as I read some previous articles because the guy has some fairly similar tastes in movies, I relate to being on the East Coast after growing up in the South/Midwest city that is Louisville (he's from St Louis), and he is a huge St Louis Cardinals fan.

I would like to point out that I do have to disagree slightly on The Phantom Menace in that the fight scene at the end between Darth Maul and Obi-wan and Qui-Gon saved the movie during the immediate aftermath because it remained the best fight scene in all 6 movies.

He writes for a website, and I've read a couple of his blogs. This one in particular is interesting because I largely had the same experience with "Rocky III" and "Tron;" and I rarely find anyone who references "The Last Starfighter." I will argue that "the Great Muppet Caper" has withstood the test of time for me. Maybe it's because my love for the simple humor of the Muppets (similar to my love for Homer Simpson), but I still love this movie.

Finally, I found this post from the first month of his blog with is absolutely hysterical if you go all the way to the end (and you are a St Louis fan)...

A few things on my mind...

1. Well, I know I'm a nerd that works in a lab all day doing science. But this is funny:



Funny thing, I'm not using epMotion, but have been using automated pipetting devices lately, and they are wonderful.

2. Further proof that I am a nerd (as if you need more), this is a pretty great article too. I particularly like the line "Slower falling objects yielded comparatively piddly explosions."

3. What happens when the phrase 'jump the shark' well, you know, jumps the shark?

4. God help me, I live in a city that truly believes that Bon Jovi actually rocks. And now that the Philadelphia Soul (which he co-owns with Ron Jaworski) won the Arena Bowl, him and his music have been everywhere.

5. This is a never ending problem of mine. If you cook burgers and hot dogs over on a grill, THIS IS NOT A BARBEQUE!!! (It's a cookout, or I'll even accept that you are grilling out) Stupid Northeasterners.

6. I know I've mentioned this before, but I love my RSS feed from Geedadelphia. They keep me updated on cool things that people do with LEGOS, and of important things like the Bacon Alarm Clock (WAKE n' BACON).

7. Finally, I miss friends like The TD Maker and t because they keep my witty banter sharp and fresh. I feel like I've worn out my best material with people at work, and they don't seem to enjoy the verbal jousting.

Day/Night Doubleheader

So, I love the fact that j is a sports fan who indulges me on my strange whims, even if I couldn't talk her in to the ultimate day-night doubleheader wedding with my friend since grade school, K and his wife A (instead we had weddings on successive days). Earlier this year, with all the talk about this being the last year of Yankee Stadium, I decided that we should make an effort to go up there before it happens (the same for Shea, but who really cares). I figured the best thing to do was to try and go up for a game during the week, because tickets on the weekend would be very expensive. Part of my scheme involved looking for dates in which both the Mets and Yankees were in town, so we could try and get them done in one shot. Then we just had to make sure j was post-call one of those days.

Wednesday, j got off of work and we drove up to New York to catch the Yankees-Twins game and then the Mets-Phillies game. It was supposed to rain, so I grabbed an umbrella, as we parked in Queens (for free) and took the subway to Yankee Stadium (number 7 to number 4)...

So here we are at Yankee Stadium
View from our seats

Attempted stitched panorama shot (poorly done)

Not that I'm a Yankees fan, but you really can't beat their history. Unfortunately we were never able to actually go down there to see everything, but here is Memorial Park from our seats.
Final score and the view of the fencing and All-Star Game logo.

We were able to see Rivera come in and pitch the final out, so that was pretty cool.
After the game, we hung out, took some more pictures, tried to stowaway onto a tour to see Monument Park, but they then denied us all because it was closed (?). Once the game ended, the stadium PA (btw, their announcer was as dynamic as the guy that does the Tom Shane jewelry commercials) played New York, New York on a continuous loop. By the third time, we were ready to run as far away as possible so I think it had its intended effect.

We took the 4 back to Grand Central Station, where we wandered around and got some dinner. I almost lost my surefire anti-rain device (having an umbrella on me keeps the rain away, without it it will rain), but a nice gentleman caught me as we were leaving. Then we took the number 7 to Shea for the nightcap. Shea was interesting, not as cool/historic as Yankee. Comes from the same mold as Veterans/Riverbend/Busch/3 Rivers. The lower part of each level is set up to be box seating, so that kind of reminded me of Churchill Downs (except with normal seats and not folding chairs).

Shea from the outside (actually on the way out)
Another poor attempt at a panorama shot.

Here we are in Shea.
Above the scoreboard in Shea, cool neon sign.

Thought this was a funny stat line after the first inning due to 4 walks and a fielder's choice, we had the rare 2 runs with no hits, no errors. Couldn't have happened to more of a wife beating douchebag, Brett Myers.
We left a little early (after Jose Reyes hit his decisive 3-run blast). On our way out, Mr Met says goodbye to j.

The rain held off all day until the ride home (even though the hour-by-hour forecast on weather.com was up to an 80% chance of rain by late afternoon). Got back late, but not unreasonably. It was a fun trip, but then again, I wasn't the one who had to be up around 5:30 the next morning. Thanks for going on these adventures with me j.

Funny how your opinions change according to your politics...

Scalia, arguing against granting the writ of habeas corpus argued that this decision:

"...will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed."
and
“The Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today.”

While when you're talking about the DC gun ban, there doesn't seem to be a problem with striking down a popular law (which will also almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed). I just think that Scalia wrote the previous statement to be inflammatory and so that he could rub that in others' faces when an inevitable attack comes; and act he was so smart to predict and if we had done what he wanted, we could have prevented it. Basically I think Scalia is an egomaniacal twit; who, like every other person out there, has an opinion and is able to pick and choose the evidence to support his belief. All the while ignoring evidence (case law and crime statistics), that points to the contrary.

On a side note, I'm not a constitutional scholar/lawyer, I don't care for guns, and never plan to own a gun; but I certainly see where you can end up with the conclusion that there is an individual write to bear arms. My personal favorite logic, which is revolutionary in nature, is that if the people are armed they can rise up to overthrow a government that oppresses the people. Any government with a constitution that incorporates the mechanism for which its people can subvert itself is outstanding in my book. I don't think this is the original intent (most likely has to do with a regulated militia for defense against foreign enemies), but I enjoy that interpretation conceptually. Let's hope that one will never have to be put into action.

Fun with Google Maps Street View...

I don't know about everyone else, but a few months ago, the Street Maps option on Google Maps started to include many streets in Philadelphia. While I do think it is a little helpful for some confusing intersections, I have been frustrated more with it's strangely addictive nature. The other day, I saw this on a website:

and I thought moving away from Louisville would cure my urban cowboy problem.

Also, interestingly, I found this at my neighbor's house:

Nothing funny about that, right? Well, that scooter was stolen sometime last summer, at night, when everyone had their windows open. No one heard a thing. So we have an idea on when this picture was taken.

Anyway, I'm going explore Route 66.

...Obama's refusal of Public Financing

So yesterday, Obama decided to forgo public financing for the general election. The first time ever for a president. Basically, by doing so he's saying he thinks he can easily and less restrictively raise more than the roughly $85M that the government would provide.

Conceptually, I'm pretty annoyed by this. I largely believe that all the money involved politics is part of the problem and this just feeds into that. I know that many (somewhere over 1M donors) and giving less than than $250 a piece. So it's not necessarily a smaller group of politically connected corporations and individuals, but more of an upper middle class grass-roots movement that are more true believers. But still, this will just further damage public financing, although the possible positive outcome it might lead to actual reforms to improve the system. Ideally a bill that actually forces broadcast stations free airtime to candidates (preferably for even minor party candidates, but that will never happen).

In the end, it's not a deal breaker for me (not with the importance of supreme court appointments being so prominent in the recent habeas corpus case that was narrowly, and correctly, decided by a 5-4 margin (Suck it Scalia!)), but it's disappointing. Especially if there are no positive changes as a result.

If only all newspaper reading was like this...

Recently the Washington Post offered buyouts to a lot of their longtime writers, some of which were accepted by such household names as David Broder and Tony Kornheiser. Peter Carlson also took the buyout and wrote his final article here on a column that reviews magazines. I never read the column, but if the old ones offered lines as funny as the quote below from this final column, then he will be sorely missed...

"In the last 12 years, there have been many changes in magazines, but some things never change. For instance, Cosmopolitan and Glamour keep running sex tips and discovering hitherto unknown sex acts pretty much every month. For all those years, I have assiduously studied approximately 2,638,419 sex advice articles, and I believe I can now boil down all their wisdom into two simple rules:

1) Insert tab A into slot B.

2) Season to taste."

“We do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard…”

(warning, this is a stream of consciousness rant composed while on the train to Boston on Wednesday. I also constantly reference 'my generation' mostly meaning people roughly 25-35, I do not claim ownership, and realize that speaking in generalities is pointless)

I will admit to being an Obama supporter ever since I lived in Chicago during his Senate bid in 2004. I like they way he speaks, I like that he is post-baby boomer, and I like his candidacy forces us to address some issues that make us a little uncomfortable. I think Hillary is very capable, and her views are very similar to those of Obama’s which are, admittedly, just left of center. While their small differences in health care have been covered exhaustively, I think that neither of them seems willing to really stand up and start the discussion that John Edwards and Kucinich were driving towards. Which is probably the politically prudent thing to do. But while I have been thinking long about looking for a transcendent leader to challenge my generation to action to solve the hard problems of global warming, inequalities, terrorism; maybe I should be asking my politicians to really discuss the tough questions of the day with the people they represent. All too often we are willing to hear canned, unmeaning answers to placate us rather that demand frank discussion of what our vision truly is for the country and the ever-shrinking world.

The quote at the top I believe is from JFK’s inaugural address. And while it was discussing the race to the moon against the Soviets, I constantly ask that my politicians ask this from me. In many ways, the people in charge of the government for my ‘adult’ life have been largely uninspiring or have often had a combative view towards government in general. Those more active or self-starting have found ways on their own to volunteer their time, money, and skills towards changing their immediate surroundings. While this is reassuring and many ways, very immediately gratifying, it is a lot harder to drive societal change one neighborhood at a time, while government appears to be made for this (albeit somewhat inefficiently if not carefully monitored).

But, in turn we should ask this of our politicians. They seem to treat us as if we can’t handle or shouldn’t be troubled with details or the truth. How come we can only get government officials to speak truthifully to anonymous sources to newspaper officials? Should that be the least of what we expect from our government? How can we ask one segment of the population to risk life and limb in war and give another segment a tax break, while we all go further into debt which my generation and our children will have to deal with. We need to discuss what is the function of government? What should be provided? Who should provide it? How do we control costs to make it feasible? We’ve pretty much determined through our history that there is a right to education, which is why there are free public schools available. Is healthcare a right? I think the popular consensus is yes for children (even if somehow Republicans can find a way to protest SCHIP). Don’t we already have national healthcare in the form of emergency care, and wouldn’t it be cheaper to treat these things before they have irrevocably progressed? What is the roll of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid? How can these prices be controlled? There is some evidence that Medicare and Medicaid do a great job at making sure that most of the money goes to patient care and treatment (something like 98-95%) while private insurance has an overhead of 18-30% (Google search, not very scientific). While Obama speech on race was to start of national discussion of race, it isn’t clear that the general public has been willing to continue it.

Politicians must be willing to discuss this with us and the media that covers it should discuss this in a grown up way (although it looks impossible nowadays). You can disagree without being disagreeable. To do a national healthcare program would be expensive, would have many vested interests (doctors, nurses, pharmaceuticals, hospitals), and that could lead to a boondoggle disaster such as the farm bill. But it also needs to compensate enough to attract the best people and spur the innovation that we expect from out doctors and medical industry, but at the same time, can we really afford to redistribute 16% of our GDP that does little or nothing as far as building wealth (ie export to the world)? I hope to discuss such issues with Tony this weekend since my knowledge of macroeconomics is minimal at best.

These things are hard, and I ask that my government challenges me and my colleagues to work towards solving these issues frankly. Failure to do so may be comforting now, but what will it do to our future?

*This might spawn more mini-rants on things that are hard that need to be solved…

Good food, really slow

For those of you not familiar to Philly or many cities along the East Coast, I've that most of our work day meals come from food trucks/carts. These are mobile, miniature kitchens that usually have gas grills, steam heaters, ice boxes on the outside for drinks, they're really quite amazing in their own right. They can offer all sorts of food (on or around campus there are carts that do breakfast sandwiches, cheesesteaks, Mexican food, Chinese Food, on sushi truck, Mediterranean, Indian), usually make it fresh in front of you, and are usually quite quick. The food is usually cheap, moderate quality, but sometimes the carts can look a little sketchy/dirty. My favorites include Frieda's which is right across the street from my building, La Comadre which no longer exist but had an amazing potato and pepper burrito, and the Drexel cart that serves the Big Fat Jimmy (Fried chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, French fries, with marinara sauce, all in a hoagie roll).

Early this semester, Cindy and I tried a new a crepes carts (there are a few of those around). Now when I say this was a new cart, I mean fresh off the assembly line new (which is rare). We came a little before the lunch rush and had lunch crepes (I believe I ordered a sausage and egg crepe and Cindy had something that was spinach and chicken). He started to fix mine, and it was clear that this guy was new, he was very deliberate (aka slow), almost frustratingly so. But he was new, i was sure he'd figure it out with time. He started putting things together, and they were all fresh ingredients, usually mark organic. He couldn't multitask to work on Cindy's while mine was cooking and he had a hard time with someone who just want to buy a drink. After 10 minutes he was done with mine and started on Cindy's. While we were waiting, a line grew and shrank, we read the other options (the dessert crepes looked amazing), he had Cindy sample some of the sauces (which were amazing), I think I grew a beard, we tried to make small talk but his heavy accent made it difficult (I thought he said he used to be in finance), and at least 20 minutes from when we made our initial order, we got our food.



Our food was great, best polish sausage I've had since leaving Chicago. Cindy said her's was good, even though the chicken was a little cartilagey. But before we could try those decadent dessert crepes, he was gone. I was worried he already gave up. This weekend while reading the paper, j asked if this article was talking about the same cart. After reading the third paragraph, I knew it was him, although I was slightly off when I thought I heard him say he was in finance. That's close to jewelry designer/sculptor, right? So apparently he moved 3 blocks north and I had no idea. Anyway, I'm looking forward to finally getting those dessert crepes, though now that he's famous, he might be REALLY slow... maybe I can order a day in advance.

I'm a sucker...

First of all, Jen and I were doing some work with the TV on last night, watching "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (EMHE) and I come away with these facts:

1. It's not a 'makeover,' they knock down a house and build a new one, roughly in the same spot. I guess they didn't want to use the title "We Knock Down a House and Build a New One in 1 Week."
2. You NEVER want to qualify for the new house in EMHE, you have lived through some serious crap if you do. I've seen families with a dead or dying parent, parents of kids with extreme diseases, people's whose houses are rotting death traps, etc. If you qualify, you've been through some rough times.
3. The houses they build are ridiculously huge and probably consume copious amount of resources to heat and cool. Not everyone needs the huge professional range (though I admit it is aesthetically pleasing). Even when they built an "environmentally friendly" house (with some solar panels), it was still huge (I mean all of these look like they are at least 4000 sq ft of living space).
   
4. Despite my philosophical problems with this show from a sustainability and false concept of the 'makeover' (I assume actually making over the house has to be more energy efficient), I'm a total sucker for this show. I'm amazed at all they do, as quickly as they do, and the stories are so poignant. I usually can't help but getting a little teary-eyed.

So there you have it, one of my guilty pleasures...

Voting Weirdness

So today is finally the PA primary election. The last 6 weeks have been somewhat annoying, but since I don't really listen to radio other than NPR, my only exposure to the advertisement deluge has been while I watched way too much TV (hey, I've been sick the last 4 days). It hasn't been too bad, got to see Chelsea on campus, but I missed the big Obama rally on Friday since j and I had tickets to the Phillies-Mets game, could have seen Hillary at the Palestra last night (right across from my lab). All-in-all, other than witnessing Barack bowl (btw, the clip I saw had him at 37 through 7, but he was coming off a spare), it hasn't been too bad. While I would have been a better bowler (at least wing it down there with some authority please), I would have been screwed as soon as I rented my size 8.5 shoes... no way the media wouldn't have laughed their ass off at my midget feet.

So on to the actual voting weirdness. First, there is a surprising opening for a state senator spot in town that has been pretty heavily advertised. So I started looking into the race to decide who to vote for and found map of the district:


Yeah, we're that little red dot in the middle. Don't you love Gerrymandering?

Finally, here is my sample ballot. Now I had to vote for my presidential nominee, but then a little further down you see where I had to vote for the delegates to the national convention who are listed by whom they are committed. What happens if I vote for Obama, but nominate a bunch of people that are committed to Hillary? I find this very confusing. Oh well, should be interesting to see the results of the election tonight, especially if it is something other than the 6-8 percent win for Hillary everyone seems to be predicting.

What's wrong with this picture?

Went to the NY Times Opinion page today. Maybe this has always been there and I just missed it, but what seems a little out of place?


Seriously?!? Girls Gone Wild? Really? That's what you've succumbed to? Now I see why The Washington Post won more Pulitzers...

10 years ago today...

I went on a date with a very lovely lady, where I was very nervous and hardly spoke (hard to believe) while my date proceeded to tell me about her time in the slammer (okay she was in city holding for not paying a speeding ticket). Luckily, we had subsequent dates and discovered that we were perfectly matched (scarily so). I still don't know what I would have done had it not worked out. t has told me more than once that I sucked to be around during the period of time when it was still up in the air.

Anyway, it's been the most incredible 10 years I could have ever imagined. I love you j, and I'm glad that we have had many friends through the years enjoy this experience with us.

Welcome Baseball Season!

Don't know what it is about baseball, but there's something about it that I just love. This coming from a guy who didn't play baseball after 5th grade and didn't pick up a glove until after Junior year in high school to play softball. Now, around this time of year I try and watch some of the great baseball movies: Field of Dreams, Major League, The Natural (still love the music), Bull Duhram (see below), or even A League of Their Own.

Meeting on the Mound


I wish I could find the ESPN spoof with the Baseball Tonight Crew. I think Harold Reynolds was Tom Hanks and Peter Gammons wore a wig as the player crying... funny stuff.


Welcome baseball season, although I do wish I would be ignoring you for another week cheering on my Cards in the Final Four, but it was not to be.

Random thoughts from a slacker blogger... part 2

So this blogging thing has taken a back seat for the past month and a half here lately. Too much other stuff going on, and I rarely feel like I have much to say...

But I'll give it a try:

1. So a little over a week ago, Obama gave his much talked about speech on race, here in Philadelphia. Since then, there has been a lot written and discussed about it. The coverage has ranged from the perfunctory (as Jon Stewart broke down the cable news coverage here) to historical, with praise and criticism. I listened to the Slate Cultural Podcast today that discussed it from the perspective of Obama's mastery of language (he wrote it himself, which is rare nowadays) comparing his style to that of Walt Whitman. From what I've seen, the people that actually sat and watched/listened to the whole speech responded favorably on the whole.

My own opinion (warning, as of now I would have to say that I'm supporting Obama) was that the speech was definitely more courageous that what I'm used to from my politicians. It would have definitely been easier for Obama to do something lighter, cleaner, and just through Rev Wright under the bus; but as many have said, he elevated the conversation by putting all the cards on the table. But as he said in the speech, this was really just the beginning. The question is, are we ready to talk about race like grownups? Are we willing to talk about the hard issues and maybe even come up with hard solutions? Where will these conversations take place?

I wish I had an answer to these questions. I found it interesting that the NY Times said that some congregations were incorporating the speech into their Easter Sermons (although, it seems that most thought it should at least be put off for at least a week, since Easter is only the most important holiday in the Christian calender). I think that getting the conversation started was tough, but to continue it is even more difficult. I live in a neighborhood that is being gentrified (ie a bunch of yuppies, such as myself, are moving in and forcing the largely black longtime residents out), but I personally like the idea of keeping the neighborhood as mixed raced as possible (I'm going to miss old Jimmy sitting on my porch, keeping an eye on the street this summer). There is a lot of things I would like to discuss with the people that have lived here for years, but I'm not really sure how to even start that conversation (see Jon Stewart with Larry Wilmore). I'm worried we're going to need a leader (such as Obama) to have to hold our hands through the whole process.

2. Just a little bit on the Rev Wright. I know he said some kind of crazy things, and seemed pretty pissed off about things; but come on, do we really take everything pastors seriously? I always thought it was interesting the way non-Catholics viewed the Pope as this monolithic power that controlled all Roman Catholics. I guess most of the people I grew up with (which includes 12 years of Catholic education) didn't really view the pope as that important. Most seemed to take the things the Pope said with a a grain of salt (oh look, he said we shouldn't use birth control, how cute, but impracticable). My maternal grandfather was a Nazarene Minister who used to deliver fire and brimstone sermons every Sunday, but he was just a normal grandfather with me that had all sorts of fun riddles and songs he liked to share. In the end, as long as a politician understand the importance of the separation of church and state, I don't really care who their preacher is.

3. View from the roof of my building taken over a year ago before they started locking the door.

4. Even though it drives Jennifer nuts, I love this dog...



Please feel free to discuss Obama's speech...

Coming up... Seven Weeks of Politicians in my Living Room

...God help us.

So after last night's results, the Democratic Primary will concentrate on the last big prize state, Pennsylvania (I think there's Wyoming and Mississippi between now and then). So now I get to be bombarded with campaign ads, talk, and rallies for the next 7 weeks (I think our primary is on April 22). While the attention might be a little fun (and yet another thumb to eye of Michigan and Florida for moving their primaries up in order to be more important, only to see that hanging back makes you the most important of all), I'm not looking forward to the rhetoric.

Random thoughts from a slacker blogger

· Last week t was in town and we proceeded to play sports everyday. I came to these conclusions:

1. I would still rather play sports than workout for my exercise.
2. I’m out of shape and should workout because after four days of ice skating, basketball, throwing football, and volleyball; I was hurting for days.
3. There is a recovery period after t leaves in which “your mom/sister” jokes persist for about 3 days.
4. I miss having friends that will play sports/talk sports/talk politics with until the wee hours of the night, but that’s my own fault for not making new friends.

· Went to Chicago this past weekend to see my nephew (pictures to follow once I go home) and thought about the following:

1. It’s cold as (fill in favorite pun/expletive here), but I still prefer it to Philly.
2. The fact that stores that are based on encased meats (www.hotdougs.com) exist is amazing, and I tip my hat to them.
3. Saw some DI NCAA men’s volleyball as Lewis University hosted a tournament that had Loyola vs UCSD and Lewis vs Cal Baptist. Apparently right side is now where you put your best skilled/biggest hitter. Other than one MB for Loyola and a Cameroon player for Baptist, the RS hitters were the most talented player on the teams. Thankfully, Lewis had a very impressive 5’10” OH, so there is still a chance for me and my progeny.
4. Speaking of progeny, j and I still am not having kids for a while. Though I think seeing the nephews makes it harder to wait, it doesn’t have that temporary fix effect anymore.
5. The Shedd aquarium is still pretty cool; but seriously, who really wants to listen to the guy babble about dolphins and who wants to see the dolphins do a bunch of tricks? (I admit to having issues with animals in captivity, but these dolphins are really cool)

· Obviously being a big Louisville fan, I’m happy with the way they have been winning (though not always happy about how, though that’s a good problem to have). Looking at the teams out there right now, there is a lot a parity in the top of college basketball right now. I think that healthy UNC, Kansas, and UCLA are the best (my own prejudice rules out Memphis); but there are 15 teams out there that I wouldn’t be surprised if they went the distance. I think Louisville is one of those teams, but my own suspicion is that we will get shot out of the tournament by a Butler/Duke-like team with no inside game but can get hot from the outside (see the Seton Hall recap).

· I hope to blog with more regularity in the upcoming weeks.

College Basketball Gameday in Louisville

By far the best sign...

Funny thing, during the morning broadcast, Jay said something about the ('86 Championship) banner hanging in Cameron (Indoor Stadium) if he could have guarded Pervis. When Nuzeguy and I went to a Duke home game in '99, there was a banner that I believe stated "No. 1, Final AP Poll 1986." Found it funny, but I guess it was before their first championship, so losing that one probably stung a lot at the time. Go Cards!

Story of U of L runner from Kenya

This is a fascinating and disturbing story about a University of Louisville runner's holiday trip home to Kenya, when everything went nuts there with a disputed election.

Funny stuff from the guy that did Super Size Me...

I saw an interview with him where he described Osama as Keyser Söze; this mythical, unseen (anymore) villain of epic proportions. I hadn't thought of it that way, but it may be an apt metaphor, either that or the Dread Pirate Roberts. Anyway, the preview was pretty funny, hopefully he'll tackle things in a similar way as he did in Super Size Me (if you haven't seen, rent it tonight). Which is entertaining, and feels less combative/inflammatory than Michael Moore.