Thanksgiving with football, Coraline, World of Goo
This month, my “Lazy man’s Thanksgiving dinner for two” post from last November has, rather appropriately, become one of this blog’s most popular. With wins this weekend, both the Oregon State Beavers (8-3) and the Penn State Nittany Lions (11-1) stayed on track for a rematch in the Rose Bowl. OK, now I have some […]
Seven years in Oregon (and SecondLight, air cars)
I’ve lived in Oregon for seven years now. So, how true is the myth that all atoms in the human body get turned over, or regenerated, every seven years? Has my body become 100% Oregonian? Well, the seven-year-regeneration idea may actually be true of some cell types, on average, but probably not all. According to […]
Election buzzwords: Goodbye and good riddance
Looking at the bright side of the past eight years, if either Gore or Kerry had been named King of America, then the chance of the U.S. electing someone as dynamic and sophisticated as Barack Obama in 2008 – from either party – would have been greatly diminished. And we’d still be in a politics-as-usual […]
Halloween election and financial conspiracy theory
Well, Halloween officially ended a few minutes ago. So, Happy Belated All Hallows’ Eve. With the November election imminent, I hope everyone has either voted or will be voting by Tuesday (well, unless you are a moron). If you’re an Oregon resident, hopefully you voted against all five measures put on the ballot (again) by […]
MLB 2008 payrolls, Repo! and randomness
Considering the outcome of this year’s Major League Baseball playoffs, it’s time to mention MLB payrolls. Of the 30 franchises, the three teams with the highest payrolls (New York Yankees, New York Mets and Detroit Tigers) did not make the playoffs. In fact, the Yankees actually eclipsed $200 million this year. What a waste. The […]
Bipolar stock market, pandemic flu, Alaska
Are you ready for three sarcastic statements, each with a supporting chart or graph? All right, hold on. Let me channel my inner Comical Ali (AKA Mohammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, former Information Minister of Iraq). Some called him Baghdad Bob. Ready? Here we go: 1. The stock market is not exhibiting symptoms of bipolar disorder. That’s […]
Autumn cats: Conehead cat and Smokey (Part two)
This is a continuation of Autumn cats: Part one. This autumn, in addition to transporting furniture and boxes of crap we’ve accumulated into our new house, we’re contemplating moving two or three stray cats with us. These planned acts of kindness clearly put us on the road to becoming crazy cat people. Read part one […]
Mail Goggles and late night talk show hosts
I have a couple of amusing email-related links to share. If you have a problem with late-night drunk emailing, Google has a solution for you: “Mail Goggles: A breathalyzer test for your Gmail.” Similarly, do you know people who overuse smilies and exclamation points in emails? Do they happen to worship cats? Are you aware […]
Wall Street failure, rainbow pantsuits, Nintendo
I don’t really have a coherent theme for the dump of random content below, except it all amuses me. I’ll start by saying there’s really no better media venue to consume the latest political “news” than through The Daily Show, and the opening skits of Saturday Night Live. They’ve both been especially good lately. This […]
Music, YouTube memes, cell phone science
Jenny Lewis has a new album out called Acid Tongue. Okkervil River and UNKLE released albums this month too. I’ve been enjoying Beck’s Modern Guilt, featuring Cat Power. Johnny Cash died five years ago last week. The current Nine Inch Nails tour performances are apparently awesome, with a sophisticated trio of transparent “stealth” screens and […]