Well there's not.
Oct 31, 2008
Oct 30, 2008
No. But it is slightly less irrelevant if you live in an electorally small state or in a "swing" state.
Here's a map of vote relevancy.
Godspeed, Max. Your Vote seems to be 10 times more likely to matter than any Oregonians. Sadly, your state remains, overall, irrelevant (at least according to Ptera).
Oct 29, 2008
While Ptera was busy at some Palin rally yelling Terrorist, Traitor, Socialist, Wee Hitler, or some other Appalachian psycho-babble, I was at a coffee shop using his laptop to update my Facebook. I found this in his bookmarks:
Margaret and Helen, but mostly Helen talking shite about Sarah Palin.
More incisive than even the Sports Guy!
Oct 28, 2008
Its time to get on the bus once again. Men vs Culture will be riding the Pre-Holiday Hellraiser BarFly Bus on November 22nd. Whether you're a Men vs. Culture contributor or an avid Men vs Culture reader, come one, come all.
Tickets can be purchased here: http://www.barflymag.com/event-140.html. Be sure to get your ticket soon as these have been known to sell out.
Ouch. As if W's endorsement wasn't bad enough, the Washington Post reports that Al Qaeda has now endorsed John McCain as well.
The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof states that Al Qaeda prefers a McCain victory because it boosts their recruiting numbers:
An American president who keeps troops in Iraq indefinitely, fulminates about Islamic terrorism, inclines toward military solutions and antagonizes other nations is an excellent recruiting tool. In contrast, an African-American president with a Muslim grandfather and a penchant for building bridges rather than blowing them up would give Al Qaeda recruiters fits.
Oct 27, 2008
Oct 26, 2008
Oct 25, 2008
Oct 23, 2008
The most accurate pollster from '04 shows Mcain down just 1.1% with 11.7% still undecided. The last days will decide this race. President McCain is on the way!
Take note, amateur liberal economists, the working class supports McCain while the rich and poor support Obama. My guess is all those people in the 75-250K bracket are happy to have the over 250K take the tax burden off their hands. As for the under 30K - screw them, they're idiots.
Oct 22, 2008
Well then, clean them up. But how you ask? (Okay you probably are not asking yourself how, but I'm going to tell you any way). That's a good question. You could buy one of those expensive and harsh soaps like Lava, but do those even work? Who knows, not me. Instead you can use this wonderful method I've discovered during my adventures in restoring an old truck.
What can this fabulous method be? Well first let me explain a few things. First I am by nature lazy and forgetful. What's that have to do with anything? It means that I'm not about to run to the store to buy some fancy hand soap, and when I'm at the store for other reasons, I'm not likely to remember that I need that fancy hand soap. And those two things mean that I'm forced to clean my greasy, filthy, rusty, paint covered hands with items I find around the house.
You may know that probably that strong soap you have is dish detergent. After all, it is meant to clean greasy and baked on food stuffs from pots and pans. How does it work on 50-year old car grease? Not all that well. It does work, but it requires a whole lot of scrubbing. Hand soap? Even worse. Simple Green, undiluted works pretty well (in fact many people use undiluted Simple Green to clean grease off of their engines). But Simple Green falls under the lazy and forgetful excuse.
So what's a dirty boy to do? Using a little of that scientific knowledge stored away in my vast brain I remembered that old cliche: like dissolves like. And what happens to be sitting on my counter near by the sink but a bottle of veggie oil.And I discover the solution. Wet your hands, sprinkle on some veggie oil, rub vigorously, add some dish soap, rub some more, rinse and repeat as necessary. And boy does it work. In fact it will even remove fresh (and I do repeat fresh) spray paint.
How can this be? It's simple actually. Going back to like dissolves like, veggie oil is a non-polar liquid. Grease is a non-polar semi-solid. Grease dissolves easily into oil. Water is a polar liquid. Non-polar does not dissolve into polar. But dish soap is a more complex molecule with both a polar and a non-polar end. This allows the soap to encapsulate the oil and dissolve into the water. Down the drain and off your hands.
And there you go, clean hands and probably more than you ever wanted to know about how I spend my weekends.
Oct 21, 2008
Joe Biden compared Obama to a young JFK who faced a major crisis early in his administration by saying Obama would likely face the same and blah blah blah forgot John McCain is old enough to have joined the military to ride horses.
Republican John McCain told voters in this key electoral state Tuesday he was personally tested by the same kind of crisis that Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph Biden warned Barack Obama will almost certainly face if elected president.
McCain recalled being ready to launch a bombing run during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which Biden said over the weekend tested a new President John F. Kennedy and was the template for the kind of "generated crisis" the 47-year-old Obama would face within six months of taking office.
"I was on board the USS Enterprise," McCain, a former naval aviator, said in the capital city of Harrisburg. "I sat in the cockpit, on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise, off of Cuba. I had a target. My friends, you know how close we came to a nuclear war."
As the crowd of several thousand began to swell with cheers and applause, he added with dramatic effect: "America will not have a president who needs to be tested. I've been tested, my friends."
Haha, imagine how the Cuban Missile Crisis would have gone had JFK ordered McCain to make a nuclear strike and he crashed his plane instead. Whoops.
Oct 20, 2008
Still having difficulty deciding who you want to vote for President? Maybe this will help.
Actually, it won't. It does however express some of my frustration with undecideds. And now that I'm on the topic, I'd like to mention how I don't like register people to vote campaigns. Here's what I think, if you don't care enough to bother registering to vote on your own (which I know, does entail filling out a form AND mailing it), then I think you should not be voting. Just like if you don't know anything about current events (outside of what happened on Desperate Housewives) then you shouldn't be voting either.
More is not better.
World War I
Perhaps you thought we've moved on? Think again.
Oct 19, 2008
Book reading at Powell's Monday night.
Please bring all our research and discussions to be considered in the public forum.
Also, please suggest JGW's new name for SWPL.
Oct 17, 2008
Inticed by the 50 percent off coupon in the mercury, I made the mistake of going to a newly opened bar/restaurant. The place looked promising, at first. I cannot describe how bad the ambiance is. Everything is made of coated pressboard. The actual tables are plastic coated pressboard, which are actually kind of neat. It literally looks like they went to Home Depot and got some clear coat and sprayed it all over shit. Lame. We ordered food and a beer. The beer took ten minutes. Unlike most opening, there was an ample, if not excessive, amount of servers. 10 minutes, ok. Then the pizza took half an hour. Fine. But our fries came after our pizza; clocking in at 40 minutes. 40 Minutes for fries?! Then we get the bill. The 50 percent off coupon was 2 dollars short of being 50 percent. It was more like 35. We left a bad tip, which I rarely do but. So anyways, what a shitty dinner. The pizza was mediocre at best. They do however have about 8 flat screen TVs that play sports, 2 shuffle board tables and 3 pool tables with a huge amount of seating. It might be ok to go grab a beer and play some shuffleboard. I would stay away, at least for a while, unless you don't care about service, shitty pressboard everything and mediocre food for reasonable (but not great) prices. It is non-smoking for those who might be pregers or adverse to that. Just my 2 cents.
It's book review time, and I think I'd like to tell you all about my current favorite new author: Tim Powers. I was introduced to him by Mr. A Joker on my birthday since he gave me a copy of one of his books: Three Days to Never. Check out this description.
When 12-year-old Daphne Marrity steals a videotape of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure from her grandmother's house, neither she nor her college-professor father, Frank Marrity, have any idea that the theft has drawn the attention of both the Israeli Secret Service and an ancient European organization of occultists -- or that within hours they'll be visited by her long-lost grandfather, who also wants that videotape.
And when Daphne's teddy bear is stolen, and a blind assassin nearly kills her father, and a phantom begins to speak to her from a switched-off television set, Daphne and her father find themselves running for their lives through a southern California in which magic and the undead past are dangers as great as the guns of living assassins.From ancient prophesies about Israel to the secret lives of Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein, this breathtaking novel throws a suburban father and daughter into the midst of an ancient supernatural battle.
Sounds pretty good. And it was. Powers does a good job of keeping the mystical things just mystical enough without going over the line to the point where you have no idea what is going on. His research is detailed, as he draws on real events and writes the story to explain how they all might be related. So, after enjoying that novel, and having received a gift card to Powells, I went ahead and picked up another of his books. Declare.
As a young double agent infiltrating the Soviet spy network in Nazi-occupied Paris, Andrew Hale finds himself caught up in a secret, even more ruthless war. Two decades later, in 1963, he will be forced to confront again the nightmarethat has haunted his adult life: a lethal unfinished operation code-named Declare. From the corridors of Whitehall to the Arabian desert, from post-war Berlin to the streets of Cold War Moscow, Hale's desperate quest draws him into international politics and gritty espionage tradecraft -- and inexorably drives Hale, the fiery and beautiful Communist agent Elena Teresa Ceniza-Bendiga, and Kim Philby, mysterious traitor to the British cause, to a deadly confrontation on the high glaciers of Mount Ararat, in the very shadow of the fabulous and perilous Ark.
Again sounds great. So far I am only half way through this one, but I have to say I'm loving it. Even better than Three Days. These aren't novels that will change your life. But if you are looking for an interesting, detailed, and entertaining story I can think of few better. Tim Powers is a thinking man's Dan Brown, though that's probably still an insult to Powers.
Men, I'm back to help you fight the War on Culture. Now that I'm out of the Chinese government's firewall, I can once again access all the blogs I want to, including this one. In honor of my recent trip to Asia, I thought I'd give a report of what I found delightful over the past two weeks and what I found atrocious. Now, I could go on all day about SARS masks, knee-high boots, peace signs, pushing in crowds, and "hello sir watch handbags dvds lady massage", but since JGW loves food so much, I thought I'd limit the topic to my culinary experiences. So, here goes:
Sensation: Kimchi
Kimchi kicks pickled cabbage’s ass. Kimchi kicks sauerkraut’s ass. Kimchi kicks coleslaw’s ass. Kimchi kicks batman’s ass. I think kim chi is loosely defined as “everything.” I think maybe it has to be vegetables and it has to have some spicy stuff on there, but that’s about where the limitations end. And, eating kimchi saturates your cloting with it's aroma, so you can enjoy it for days!
Abomination: Stinky Tofu
First, you gather up some slippery fish guts. You let them rot for a few days. Then you feed them to your cat and wait for your cat to puke them up along with a hairball. You slather that shit all over a piece of tofu, burn it really well, and PRESTO, stinky tofu. I asked two separate dinner groups, one in Japan, and one in Korea, whether they had heard of such a dish. The response was unanimous in both groups: they knew what it was, and even THEY disliked it. But, the Chinese group I was with scarfed the vileness down like it was cheesecake. Pteradactually, I don’t want to hear any nonsensical comparisons to peanut butter.
Sensation: Shochu
Not quite sake. Not at all vodka. But somewhere in between. The next time you see Jay Gee Whiz he may be standing in a silk dragon covered bathrobe drinking Shochu martinis.
Abomination: Soy Milk and Orange
I’m not sure what tempted me to grab a small shot glass of this and try it at a Japanese hotel buffet, but I regretted it.
Sensation: Short Ribs
All the beef in Korea seems to be imported from Australia, and it always states that on the menu. I can’t imagine how many pounds of ribs are delivered by plane to Korea every day, but the Koreans find Short Ribs so delectable that any import price is worth it. I tend to agree with them.
Abomination: Coffee
Oh, asian coffee, why do you tempt me so? You get me so attracted with your coffee-like smells only for me to discover you’re not coffee at all. You’re more like tea with coffee flavoring. And, even worse, you’re what they call American-style Coffee. It gets much worse.
Sensation: Pear Brulee
I don’t know what the hell they put in this stuff, but it had Jay Gee Whiz acting like some kind of food crazed maniac. Japanese diners looked on in horror as this lummox of an American clumsily tripped over chairs and stray children in making repeated trips to the buffet to grab multiple teacups full of this heavenly substance. I’m wondering if I can find this in the US, and if it will taste the same. I doubt it.
Abomination: Maxican Chip with Beef Salsa
As I sat alone in a deserted bar on a Friday night, an English traveler bellied up to the hotel bar next to me and ordered this dish, desperate to find some food after midnight. He paid the equivalent of $25 for it. It was titled exactly as it says above. A few bites in and he recognized his poor judgment.
Sensation: Cheap Ass Seafood
Yeah, I know, they probably caught whatever I'm eating out of the local river that is colored red and smoking from all the pollution. Or, they may have poached some protected species out of Australian waters going against some international law in doing so. But, it’s so damn cheap and so damn delicious. Got to eat all of it while I can.
Abomination: Fried Chicken Feet
How about you just serve me deep fried scales? I’ll prefer that, thanks. This must be some sort of Chinese joke on unsuspecting tourists.
Sensation: Green Tea and Johnny Walker
I had to end this on a sensation, as the good far outweighs the bad in Asian cuisine. So I'm ending with Johnny Walker and Green Tea - east/west fusion at its finest. If you don't know now you know.
CAPTION: Most striking in the debate was the contrast of the two candidates side by side. US Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (R-AZ) reacts to almost heading the wrong way off the stage after shaking hands with Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) at the conclusion of the final presidential debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, October 15, 2008. (REUTERS/Jim Bourg)
Oct 16, 2008
Since you all are huge gamblers, you probably have already heard of Intrade Prediction Markets, which allows you to buy shares in futures for such fun things as "will the US economy go into recession in 2009" (currently buying at 78.5, or in other words if you buy a share at $7.85 and the economy does go into recession then you win $2.15!).
Of course it shouldn't come as a surprise, but you can also bet on who will win the election. Anyone have a guess as what the current prices of shares are?
Obama: 86.2
McCain: 15.1
Ouch. I can only hope the voting goes that well for Obama.
Oct 14, 2008
Has Jesus come back to swim the earth?
Scientists say they now have the second confirmed case of "virgin birth" in a species of shark. The shark pup was born to a mother that had not had contact with a male shark in 8 years. After DNA testing they determined that the pup had no genetic material from a male.
Oct 13, 2008
Oct 12, 2008
Oct 10, 2008
Since the MvC readership is in general so well read, educated, intelligent, and up-to-date on major events I will assume that y'all have heard all about the raging mobs at recent McCain/Palin rallies (if not, check out Jeremy's post below). Crowds booing and yelling things as McCain or Palin mentions this supposedly important connection between Obama and Ayers, or even the New York Times.
At first this just seemings like the usual right wing tactic of diverting attention from important issues into emotional ones that can't be argued intelligently. Then you start noticing the things being said by the audiences:
"When you have an Obama, [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and the rest of the hooligans up there going to run this country, we have got to have our head examined. It's time that you two are representing us, and we are mad. So, go get them," one man told Sen. John McCain at a town hall meeting in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
"I'm mad. I'm really mad. And what's going to surprise you, it's not the economy. It's the socialists taking over our country," another man said.
Palin told the crowd that she sees "a pattern in how our opponent has talked about one of his most troubling associations."
One member of the Palin audience in Jacksonville, Florida, Tuesday shouted out "treason." And at another rally in the state Monday, Palin's mention of the Obama-Ayers tie caused one member to yell out: "kill him" -- though it was unclear if it was targeted at Obama or Ayers.
At several recent rallies, Palin has stirred up crowds by mentioning the "liberal media." Routinely, there are boos at every mention of The New York Times and the "mainstream media," both of which are staples of Palin's stump speech.
Some audience members are openly hostile to members of the traveling press covering Palin; one crowd member hurled a racial epithet at an African-American member of the press in Clearwater, Florida, on Monday.
And at a McCain rally in New Mexico on Monday, one supporter yelled out "terrorist" when McCain asked, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" McCain didn't respond.
So far, neither Palin nor McCain have explicitly called on their supporters to tamper down the attacks.And it starts to look like rabble rousing in its worst form. True, right wingers have frequently resorted to this style tactic in the past, but has it ever been this blatant? As David Gergen said:
"There is this free floating sort of whipping around anger that could really lead to some violence. I think we're not far from that. I really worry when we get people -- when you get the kind of rhetoric that you're getting at these rallies now. I think it's really imperative that the candidates try to calm people down."
And it got me thinking about something Space Zombie said a few months back, that he didn't think Obama would survive if he became the Democratic nominee. At the time I thought he might have been overstating the situation, now... I'm not so sure. It's one thing to ignore inappropriate comments (like calling a presidential candidate a terrorist), another thing entirely to start threatening someone's life. It seems that two simple minded fools are stirring up a hornets nest that they can't hope to control.
Oct 9, 2008
Apparently there are only two countries stupider than the US.
And Africa is either very apathetic or not wired.
Oct 8, 2008
No wonder candy is so yummy.
--From My Favorite Blog.
Oct 7, 2008
Listening to McCain try to come off as intelligent makes me realize how dumb I am for actually listening. Tonight's debate reminded me I wanted to rifle through my old Harper's to find a quote I remember thinking was funny. But then McCain stopped speaking and I subsequently wised up: just go to the website and do a search. Who wants to read through all those magazines after a bottle of wine a good liberal might go through during a presidential debate? This is from a hearing early last year in the House on the CIA's extraordinary-rendition program:
DELAHUNT: You know, you are really tough on
Senator McCain. You said he is "a little man
with mediocre intelligence, a taste for bullying,
and an appalling temper who thinks the
presidency is his birthright."
SCHEUER: Sir, he is a perfect example of a man
who is tremendously courageous and patriotic,
but that does not necessarily correlate
with brain power.
Connect these dots:
- "An electronic voting machine in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, on Friday revealed a programming error that would not have counted thousands of votes for president in this Democratic stronghold."
- "15,000 new voters risk having their votes thrown out because new registrations have not been entered in the state's system yet."
- "Starting in October, the 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team--fresh from full battle mode in Iraq--is being called upon, as an on-call federal response force, to help with civil unrest and crowd control in the US."
A lecture by Naomi Klein on the followers and logic of Milton Friedmanism in the present day economic situation presents very perceptive takes on current political economy. You will need nearly an hour to listen to it.
Oct 5, 2008
Oct 3, 2008
Manzanar executive evacuation order:
--Ptak Science Books
In 1942, the United States government ordered more than 110,000 men, women, and children to leave their homes and detained them in remote, military-style camps. Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of ten camps where Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were interned during World War II.
--Way to go, FDR.
Space Zombie loves to find good examples of great web design. Here is one of the the best websites I've seen in a while.
Modern conservatives are good at over-simplifying complicated issues, boiling them down into misleading ideals and spending a long time working themselves into a lather by talking about how said ideals are being trounced upon. Listen to talk radio or Bill O'Reilly.
Modern liberals are good at over-simplifying complicated issues, boiling them down into misleading ideals, and telling jokes to ease their troubled minds. Listen to comedians or Keith Olberman.
But some people want to put their feet in their other mouths, or other foot in their mouth, or maybe they just like sucking on other people's toes.
A couple movies are coming out that seem to have liberals and conservatives heading to the other side of this (admittedly, false) talk/joke dichotomy.
Conservative director David Zucker (Naked Gun, Airplane and a bunch of other not funny movies) is coming out with a movie that is intended to skewer liberals via a Michael Moore parody and various other hilarity. I can't wait. To not see this not funny movie.
Liberal Bill Maher hates religion so he made a movie where he reportedly picks on some of the more ridiculous religious leaders to show how bad religion is. A shallow over-simplified approach that will have the preached-to-choir all in a lather, one imagines. I can't wait to see this completely insight-free take on religion with a bunch of other atheists. See, church isn't the only place to see gatherings of people who have no need to test their faith (or lack thereof).
A more convincing approach, debating the views of the best of religious leaders, like perhaps the Dali Lama or high-level theologians in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam would be more interesting. But its clear Maher isn't up for the challenge. But maybe I'm wrong about the whole aisle crossing thing and his aim is to stick to what liberals are good at - comedy.
Maverick, maverick, maverick, maverick, maverick...
Like it? Check out his archive: Tom the Dancing Bug, by Ruben Bolling
Oct 2, 2008
Some of us will soon be fathers to babies and others of us may be planning on it in the future. While parenting styles change some things are fairly set in stone. Here are some key lessons for caring for a baby. I won't say its all you need, but it gets you a long way there.
Oct 1, 2008
Cleaner coal and Cuban nickel, brought to you by Canadian mining outfit Sheritt International.
With markets collapsing, put your money in metal that will withstand the test of time (and Congress).
You will see from its stock quote chart that after years of steady growth, Sheritt took a precipitous plunge at the end of June. This was due--from what I can tell--to depressed global metal prices and second quarter earnings that did not live up to expectations. Sherritt currently costs a near five year low of $5.69, down from a 52-week high of $18.04.
It is important to note that Sherrit's collapse preceded Hurricane Ike, which ran smack dab into Sherrit's joint operations in eastern Cuba, but caused only superficial damage to refinery facilities. The hurricane did nothing to slow the decline of the stock price.
Cuba is in a dire economic situation after two hurricanes did five billion dollars in damage to the already small economy and devastated crops which is now causing scarcity, hunger and price gouging. Cuba will desperately need an influx of foreign currency, so it is surely to prioritize the restoration and renewed operation of its nickel plants at Moa. The plants are just starting to come back online now, so the current Sherrit stock price is probably rock bottom.
Sherrit also has progressing nickel and cobalt mining assets in Madagascar and, of course, Canada.
While environmentalists might be leery of investing in an earth raper, Sherrit has recently developed a plan to build activated carbon plants which reduce mercury and other harmful emissions.
At less than 1/3 of its all-time highest value--which was built up to over years of solid development, not some fluke peak--it seems that Sherrit has nowhere to go but up. Unless the world simply stops making steel and building airplanes.
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