Tuesday, July 22, 2003

A Day Late, But Not a Dollar Short

LT Smash has another great post, this one his analysis of the Blair speech. Yes, he’s a little late on this, but give him a break - he’s fighting a war.

Snippety snippet:

It occurs to me, upon reading these words, that the current British Prime Minister is indeed a rare specimen among modern politicians:

Tony Blair is a liberal.

Well of course he’s a liberal, you say. After all, he’s the leader of the Labor Party in Britain, and they are the party of the left, and as we all know, liberals are leftists, right?

This is where the meaning of words becomes important. “Liberal” does not mean “leftist.” Indeed, most leftists aren’t liberal at all. The word “liberal” comes from the same root as the word “liberty,” which is synonymous with “freedom.” In the Eighteenth Century, when it first came into popular usage, it described those brave souls who struggled against authority to achieve greater freedoms for their fellow men. Visionaries like Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson.

Go read the rest.

UPDATE (Wed AM): Sorry about the lack of the link. It’s been fixed…

Posted by at 10:04 PM
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The Best Chips, Bar None

Who do you think makes the best tortilla chips?

I think it’s Utz - preferred variety is the Round White Corn Tortilla chip. They are, to me, the perfect chip.

Here’s where you can get ‘em. If you live outside of that blue area you may be able to get select varieties of the Utz product. For instance, I was able to get just about all of their products in New Hampshire, except for the Round White Corn Tortillas. So when I came home to Virginia, I would stock up on the jumbo bags that I would hoard, slowly opening a bag on the rarest of occasions (and never when other people would be around, I was that selfish with them) to make them last until my next trip home.

The good news is that you can order their products online, although it looks like you’re limited to “bundles” of products. I don’t have a need for the online ordering option, I have access to them at all stores in my vicinity. *gloat*

Posted by at 09:27 PM
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NCC-1701 Creator, RIP

Phern of Damaged Goods posts about the death of the creator of the Starship Enterprise. I thought my Dad would want to know.

Posted by at 09:21 PM
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DC’s Commuter Tax Idea

...is crap.

Fairfax County government officials said yesterday that they oppose a D.C.-government-proposed commuter tax and demanded an apology from a D.C. Council member who last week called Virginians “backward” and “greedy” for not supporting the levy.

[...]

“Our neighbors to the north intend to exact a new source of revenue out of the pockets of thousands of Fairfax County residents employed in the nation’s capital in order to compensate for their own financial mismanagement,” Supervisors Michael R. Frey and Stuart Mendelsohn, Sully and Dranesville Republicans, said in a joint written statement.

I don’t work in DC, thankfully. But if I did and I knew a commuter tax was headed my way, I would start looking for a job in Virginia.

Virginia has it’s own financial problems as does Maryland. We don’t need to be subsidizing the District’s failed budget. Now, there are some in DC who claim that the commuters are a drain on DC funds - I bed to differ. Rather, they help or balance it out because they pay for parking, taxis, food, supplies, etc within the city limits in a work day. Many of the things the commuter pays for are taxes already. They shouldn’t have to be taxed again.

Posted by at 01:37 PM
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Clever Poetry

Ok, I’m going to say it again, if you haven’t visited Clarity Amidst Chaos, you must. Today’s gem:

ode to a highway shoe
from afar i saw you
crumpled, mangled in the road
i barely knew you highway shoe
never heard the story you told

how you got there I do not know
brown, abandoned, and laceless
a speedbump in the traffic flow
commuters can be so graceless

is your mate covering a foot
while you lay on the road in state
once a proud strong leather boot
unknowing your inevitable, unfortunate fate

who did you know while you trod on the earth
Doctors Scholl and Martin, or maybe Buster Brown?
your Easy Spirit making room for extra wide girth
cushioning the heel as you strode around town?

your owner searches for you in his room
hopping around with one foot unshod
perhaps unaware of your horrific doom
eventually giving up with a discouraged nod

how many miles did you travel to and fro
what did you step in that needed a cleaning
what adventurous places did you reluctantly go
have you discovered your sole’s deeper meaning

you are now just a speck in my rearview mirror
you’ll be saved by a highwayman, part of a crew
picked up and set apart - you’ve nothing to fear
I will sorely miss you, lone brown highway shoe

Posted by at 01:32 PM
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It’s Too Early

This is why I have a coffee pot with a timer.

It’s also why I have a hard addiction to Venti White Mocha from The Evil Empire. It kills me that I so happily hand over my $4.18 in the morning for something I can get for next to nothing at home.

Posted by at 01:14 PM
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Insurance & Weight

I wasn’t actively listening when I heard a brief snippet of Neil Cavuto’s interview with...

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson will join us to talk about new health insurance plans that would be based on your weight, eating and lifestyle habits. Is that fair?

I didn’t hear the whole thing, so I can’t claim to know what Thompson is promoting or supporting, but on the face of it I don’t like it. My fear is that premiums will increase and it will be harder for folks to get and maintain health insurance if they do this kind of (and I hate to use this word, but it’s the only one I can think of) discrimination. Because I know plenty of skinny people who eat like pigs, have high cholesterol and high blood pressure because it’s in their family, and are completely sedentary. And I also know some heavier people who are very healthy eaters and exercise, have low cholesterol and blood pressure, but for some reason they carry more weight on their bones. So basing a person’s health plan on those things seems just a little wrong to me.

And I think this is coming out of the fact that Americans are getting fatter. Here’s my assessment of that problem:

1. We eat too much - portion size is ridiculous today. I know that at most restaurants we go to the portions served are enough to feed two or three people, not just one. But we feel compelled to eat it all to get our monies worth. Right?

2. We eat too much processed food - we don’t eat whole foods anymore and the low-fat, low-sugar, low-taste crap we’re eating isn’t helping us to lose weight or eat healthier. I’ve stopped eating margarine and use mostly butter because while it may be higher in fat, it’s real food and the fat is less “dangerous” than the trans-fatty acids in margarine. I don’t buy much low-fat food, I do buy 1% milk and part-skim ricotta and sour cream, but everything else I buy is fully loaded. Why? So that I’ll eat less of it, because I am one of those people who will see a label that says “1/3 less fat” and eat three times the serving (I’m thinking of cookies).

3. We are sedentary - we watch too much TV, play too many video games, and spend too much time in front of our computers. This is where I’m the most guilty - I’m lazy.

Posted by at 12:05 PM
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Monday, July 21, 2003

The Underblog

Darren at The Living Room is taking nominations for Underblogs. What is an Underblog?

I sometimes look for new blogs (to me) at Who links Who (for GodBlogs) and The Blogosphere Ecosystem (drawing on blogs from the whole blogosphere). Today I popped into both and decided to work through some of the blogs at the bottom of the lists (blogs that haven’t attracted many links). I had an hour or so and I got through quite a few and was really impressed with the quality of blogging going on in both the Christian blogging world and the blogosphere at large.

It got me thinking though - so many of the blogs on the lists I’ve never seen or heard of. Many of them don’t attract a whole heap of links - yet many of them are posting great material.

So I thought I’d start a campaign to unearth some of these ‘underblogs’.

Yes, it’s similar to TTLB’s New Weblog Showcase, but looking mostly at Christian blogs (at least judging from the nominees I saw when I posted my own list). Darren has two follow up posts here and here.

Posted by at 10:43 PM
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Vacations

I’m not taking a vacation per se this summer. I’m saving my leave for a trip to The Happiest Place on Earth™ with my former employer (and that’s a whole story unto itself how that came to be). I’ll be taking a day here and there for long weekends until holiday season starts.

Anyway, I bring this up because at lunch we were discussing vacations and I shared about the < sarcasm > fantastic vacation < /sarcasm > my family went on when I was in junior high. It was a fun vacation, but we had some problems along the way, with much bickering and some tears.

We never really took many family vacations. We moved. And we lived in so many places, that we never had the chance to develop any traditional places to go as a family. Besides, each move was an adventure in itself.

But when I was in junior high, we lived in Washington state, and we knew that my Dad would be getting orders for our next move soon. There was an assumption made that we would be heading back east, so one Christmas my parents decided to give us a family trip to sunny California - fully loaded with promises of San Fransisco, Hollywood/Los Angeles, DisneyLand, Universal Studios, San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, and a visit to Dad’s ship (USS Kitty Hawk, which was based in San Diego). The plan was to go during Spring Break with a couple extra days out from school after the break. We would be driving down, to enjoy the sights along the west coast.

For the rest of the story, click

Posted by at 05:30 PM
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Magic Opal

I colored my hair this weekend - to touch up the roots. I usually buy my stuff at Sally’s Beauty Supply, but I didn’t make it there, so I just bought a whole kit at Wal-Mart. I picked a color I though matched my current color and a differnt brand (I usually use L’Oreal but went with Clairol Herbal Essences).

I like this brand - it doesn’t have the typical chemical smell, it didn’t make my scalp itch, and the color is great. And my hair is softer too. Overall, I’m pleased.

And this is how boring it is today...that I have nothing to say, but feel the need to post something anyway. Maybe I’ll submit this to the Bonfire of the Vanities this weekend.

Posted by at 01:42 PM
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Sunday, July 20, 2003

Memory Lane

Alan K. Henderson reminded me that today is the anniversary of the moon landing/walk - July 20, 1969.

I have a pretty good long term memory - I can remember details from my childhood that you wouldn’t believe. My first true memory is of watching the men on the moon on TV. I was two years old.

We lived in Oak Harbor, WA. My sister was exactly one month old. My mother’s parents were visiting. I was sitting on my Granddad’s lap, watching the coverage on the console TV we had. I can’t remember if it was color or black & white, although I remember the picture being black & white, of course. I remember understanding that what we were watching was a very big deal, it was years later that I knew exactly why.

So on this day, it makes me sad to think that we somehow lost the vision and passion to continue exploring the moon, space as we did in the 60s. And in light of the Columbia tragedy this year, I’m even more saddened that we may never get that vision and passion back.

If you’re interested in learning more about NASAs quest to get to the moon, rent From the Earth to the Moon - it’s one of the best TV miniseries, entertaining and educational all at once.

Btw, my sister thinks the moon landing was made up - complete fiction ala Capricorn One. I’ve mentioned this before, but I thought I would again because she is a freak, of course.

Posted by at 11:05 PM
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Economics Bible-Style

James at Outside the Beltway has a great post about the Bible and economics - he actually refers to a post at A Fearful Symmetry.

The Bible might seem an odd place to be doing economic research, especially by someone who goes to church about once a year, and only then because that’s when my wife says the Easter Bunny comes. However, I have been thinking—in socioeconomic terms—about the Tenth Commandment.

The first nine Commandments concern the theological principles and social law: Thou shalt not make graven images, steal, kill, etc. Fair enough. But then there’s the Tenth Commandment: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”

Here are God’s basic rules about how we should live, a very brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts, and right at the end of it is, “Don’t envy your buddy’s cow.”

What is that doing in there? Why would God, with just ten things to tell Moses, choose, as one of them, jealousy about the livestock next door? And yet, think about how important to the well-being of a community this Commandment is. If you want a donkey, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don’t ##### about what people across the street have. Go get your own.

The Tenth Commandment sends a message to socialists, to egalitarians, to people obsessed with fairness, to American presidential candidates in the year 2000—to everyone who believes that wealth should be redistributed. And that message is clear and concise: Go to hell.

Then in the comments, Scott has this to say:

UPDATE: Just to clarify that the above quote is from P.J. O’Rourke. Thanks, Bill.

Posted by at 09:07 PM
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Frogs Are Great

Jared,

You might want to sit down, brace yourself…

I was wrong about Magnolia.

What a great movie. So layered and great acting - even Tom Cruise, who imho overacts a lot. John C. Reilly was wonderful and Phillip Seymour Hoffman - they are fantastic character actors. William H. Macy is amazing, in everything he does. Good, good movie. Thanks for pushing me to watch it.

So...there’s no debate here.

(Mom you will like it, but you need to wait for it to be on regular TV.)

Posted by at 07:58 PM
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Saturday, July 19, 2003

Comments or Links

I know a lot of bloggers have posted about how to get linked around the blogosphere. I’ve thought about it some this week, and I think I prefer comments from readers over links to other blogs. Not that I don’t appreciate getting linked, but I’d rather have the interaction with the folks who read what I write or rant or link.

I’m noticing an increase in the amount of comments I’m getting. Thank you for speaking up, by the way! And I welcome differing opinions from my own - I’ve had some interesting conversations here and at a couple other blogs. I’ve learned some new stuff through those debates. And I’ve learned a little more how the opposition thinks.

So tell me, what interests you more as a blogger - links or comments?

Posted by at 11:30 PM
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The Good Sgt

I’ve been meaning to add Sgt. Hook to my blogroll. I finally got around to it.

If you want a good read about a mission his unit undertook, read here.

Posted by at 10:22 PM
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