I for one welcome our spunky new overlord

Rachael Ray is everywhere. It’s getting to the point where I can’t pass the salty snack aisle anymore without seeing her perky gaze. Of course, her ubiquitousness has predictably sparked some bloggy backlash. I opened up my favorite rag, City Pulse, and came across this little gem:
“Lansing Woman’s anti-Rachael Ray site gains national attention”.

Now, I read through both the article, and scrolled a little through the site itself. Now, granted, I’m not exactly the world’s biggest Rachael fan (see my “30 Minute Blotto: The Rachael Ray Drinking Game” post at the old blog), but they’re slagging on her a little harder than I think she deserves. Yes, the garbage bowl is irritating.

Honestly, I think that there is a place on Food Network for a cook. For the most part, she makes stuff normal people would make. I think that if she gets people out of restaurants, cooking more at home, and feeling confident in the kitchen, it’s a good thing.

I don’t think she’s quite the menace that these fine folks are pointing out. I think that as far as corporate whoring goes, Emeril still is the head whore. How much money do you think Aquafresh paid him to tout their disgustingly flavored toothpastes? (This is the only reason I'm glad Emeril exists.) Occasionally, she does give some bad advice, which is why it’s important to get a second opinion by watching other shows, particularly Good Eats. Alton Brown does a really good job dispelling foodie myths.

But, hey, I’ve got an even better idea. Let’s say we call a truce and go after the real enemy. I think you know who I mean. Yeah, that’s right….the real King Midas in Reverse, Sandra Lee, who takes delicious food items and semi-homemakes them into crap!

Does the Prez use Lemon Pledge to polish his legacy?

According to the fine folks at the New York Daily News, George W. Bush and his supporters are attempting to gin up some donations for a super-mega-presidential library in Dallas. Better than the average prez library, the so-called "Institute for Democracy" will be for the express purpose of "legacy polishing." Main targets of the fundraising efforts are ritzy "heiresses, Arab nations, and captains of industry." (These folks are said to be able to pony up "10 to 20 million" a piece.) Other smaller donations are also expected (in thousands instead of millions). Here's a quote from one of the story's sources: "It's so much bigger than anything that's been tried before. But the more you have, the more influence [on history] you can exert." The ultimate goal is for "Bush partisans...determined to have a massive pile of endowment cash to spread the gospel of a presidency that for now gets poor marks from many scholars and a majority of Americans." Ahh....more wonders of the faith-based presidency. You know, I wonder...the product certainly didn't sell this fall....why do they think that it'll sell now? That is one seriously past-date product, and it won't pass the sniff test.

Early global warming?

I've been out lately, enjoying some unseasonably warm weather. It's a little freaky, really. Normally, I'd be gearing up for the outdoors like one of the characters from A Christmas Story -- like I was going deep sea diving! I didn't even have to wear gloves today. Yesterday, we were putting up our Xmas decorations in 50+ degree weather. I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts. It's supposed to be a lot colder by the weekend. Some smart aleck will try to say that this is one of the supposed benefits of global warming. However, I'd say that I'd rather have snow and a nice healthy garden this summer, than warm weather at the end of November.

He's Losing It!

"You still don't get it, do you? I'm going to tell you something, and whether or not it's plausible given the world you come out of is your problem. I am not 'running' for president. I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen." -Newt Gingrich, in Fortune

You'll need the smelling salts after this....

I often browse through the excerpts over at Salon's Daou Report, just because it's an easy way to keep tabs on what's happening in Blogistan. Tonight, I read something jaw-droppingly stupid. There's a righty blog that was pointing out that you could get John Conyers' blog in Arabic Oy vey. Take a look at this map showing Rep. Conyers' district. I think you might want to sit down before I tell you this. See Dearborn on the map? Dearborn contains the second-largest Arab-American population (second only to NYC). Not only that, but you can also get the Conyers website in Spanish. Sheesh.

Midweek Political Roundup

- I told you that Carl Levin as head of the Armed Services Committee was a good thing. According to Salon's War Room, one of the first things Levin plans to do is investigate Bush's "extraordinary rendition" program.

- The Republican members of the Senate have voted to resurrect Trent Lott as their new Minority Whip. I'm sure Senator Lott is a very nice guy (seems like it when he visits The Daily Show), but he has really embarrased himself by some of the stupid stuff he says. I'll go further: Lott is essentially the Republican John Kerry -- lovely man personally, good at the politicking and backroom deals, but always shoots self in foot publically. Though at least Kerry's not a closet racist.

- James Carville is apparently trying to depose Howard Dean as the head of the Democratic National Committee. Carville thinks that the DNC were holding back money that they should have ponied up for some minor congressional races. Carville wanted Harold Ford (yeah, that guy) to take over. I'm not a big fan of Ford myself, as I think he's a phony. (Not that Bob Corker was any less of a phony, mind you.) Carville didn't succeed, but he's complaining to the press. He referred to what he thoughts were Dean's missteps as "Rumsfeldian." Harsh! If Dean made any missteps, it was not dealing with the Republican Congressional Committee's incessant robocalls (though it took folks awhile to catch on to what was going on). I think that otherwise, he did pretty good.

Good news, bad news

The good news is that we threw a lot of bums out in the election. The bad news is that there are still plenty of bums in office. I'm counting third-time winner Mike Rogers as a half a bum, as he does have good ideas from time to time, and now that his party's no longer in power, won't be a special interest bitch.

The good news is that Don Rumsfeld stepped down/retired/got fired. The bad news is that three Michigan soldiers died this weekend, and I saw funeral announcements for at least one previous one.

The good news is that Jennifer Granholm will stay governor of our fine state. The bad news is that it looks like George Perles got elected to the Moo-U Board of Trustees. As if everything wasn't "all football all the time" on campus already...!

The good news is that Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker of the House. The bad news is that we're either stuck with John Murtha or Steny Hoyer as Majority Leader. It's hard to choose -- Murtha's a great spokesman on Iraq, but he blows on the corruption issue. Hoyer just reeks on the Iraq issue.

The good news is that Carl Levin is now the chairman of the Senate's Armed Services Committee. No bad news here!

Robo-Called?

The hot story beginning this weekend and continuing throughout the day today over at the TPM sites was not Ted Haggard, but the GOP's robo-call strategy. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has put a lot of money into calling constituents, faking that they are from the opposition candidate -- say, for example, the calls that folks in Illinois are getting that are hinted to be from Tammy Duckworth's organization. Apparently, they're doing this in close races all over the country. (No word yet though if a similar GOP organization, say the National Republican Governors, are responsible for the anti-Granholm calls.) Should you get one of these calls, record it if you can, and write down all the relevant information (candidate, the group paying for the call, etc). Then report it to the good folks at Talking Points Memo.

I love this graphic!

(Hat tip to The Disembodied Head of Dick Devos -- I'll miss you after the election, buddy.)

Don't look now, but Amway's being sued again! (Cross-posted from Mich Lib).

And don't forget: vote tomorrow! Remember Dick DeVos is a quitter! (If he wins, he just might quit and run for prez......eeeew.) He makes me look back fondly on John "Potato Face" Engler.

Posting Gap

Wow...I hadn't realized that it'd been so long since I posted here. Yes, I have the new Sims 2 expansion pack, and it has pretty much taken over my evenings.

Still keeping half an eye on the MI gov race -- Granholm is up ten in the latest polls. Not a surprise really. DeVos is just regurgitating the latest Republican talking points. (Then again, taking into consideration how much money this guy has, he probably is setting the agenda!)

This is just a quickie. I'm off to watch Lost momentarily.

Granholm vs DeVos (Debate No. 1)

Yeah, I suck. I've been very busy lately, and haven't had the time or energy to devote the blog.

I just finished watching the gubernatorial debate. Oh, man...now I really don't like Dick DeVos. What a twitchy little weasel! Granholm had a tough job tonight, having to come out and face questions about the high unemployment rate here in the state. Michigan now has the highest unemployment rate -- woo hoo -- we're number 1! But I think she gave a reasonably good answer, and the 21st Century jobs initiative sounds like a good program (especially that alternative energy bit). I don't know if it was just me, but I think I caught DeVos in a lie, not once, but twice (the second time was the bit about his disclosure forms that he said "went back to 1997," but then he tried to deny it later). I think that he's going to be like Louie, the Guy with the Annoying Catch Phrase, and instead of "I wanna dip my balls in it!" it is "I wanna get Michigan back on track." Go check out the delightful "Liveblogging Debate #1" over on the Disembodied Head of Dick DeVos. (Also worth a look is the "Hooray for Amway" ditty.)

A Walk Down Maple Street

I don't watch Keith Olbermann, but I might have to start. What he said on his show last night was freakin' brilliant. And the parallel between what's going on now and the Twilight Zone episode The Monsters are due on Maple Street is one that a lot of people have drawn. Not to mention, I love Rod Serling. Who else could write: "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own -- for the children, and the children yet unborn."

Let's not forget the aliens in that episode. They hadn't really done anything to the folks who lived on the street. All the aliens did was shut off their electricity. The neighbors themselves did the rest. Please keep this in mind the next time some network trots out another Bin Laden tape. He wants you to act scared. So does our president, for political purposes. They profit from your fear. Fear is not a luxury we can afford.

Mike Rogers Muck

I’ve been a fan of TPMmuckraker since it started in February. What I didn’t expect is to see my representative there! But there he is, Mike Rogers, at a fundraiser aboard a yacht, sunglasses precariously hanging from his polo shirt. It seems like our fair representative was the recipient of the generosity of a yachting lobby (the National Marine Manufacturers Association). Muckraker also gives a link over to Political Money Line, who points out that Rogers held two fundraisers on NMMA yachts in ’01 and ’02. Sadly, NMMA had to stop giving out these “contributions” earlier this year because of what they termed the “‘poisoned’ atmosphere.” So I guess finding this out makes sense – I guess he wants to help his rich friends out.
I’ve tried to like him, I really have. He’s done some good things (this is actually quite forward-thinking, for example). He’s been our state representative here in the 8th district for three terms (he’s currently running for his fourth). Before, I could pretend that we both had the best interests of our state in mind, though we disagreed on what that would be. No more – I don’t trust him now. Jim Marcinkowski’s starting to look better all the time.

Down Payment Now, Apocolypse Later

“There’s Someone living in all those cottages – the Silent Partner in Thomas Kincade’s business empire, and a cheap source of inexaustable light to boot. Together, they cut an irresistable deal for the discriminating art consumer: down payment now, apocolypse later.”
(Larry Cosentino, “The lights are on, but nobody’s home,” Lansing City Pulse, June 12, 2002)

For a long time now, I have loathed Thomas Kinkade. I never understood why he inspired such devotion in his fans. I’d met someone once who worked at one of his gallery stores, and she told me that there was a woman there that took her hand and told her that she thought that Kincade was a blessing from God. Honestly.
I usually try to cut people some slack for their artistic tastes. I know stuff I like some other folks don’t, and vice versa. A good chunk of art is audience reception. When I like a piece of art, I usually like it right away – I just get it. When I don’t, it’s usually because I either don’t think that the artist was able to get his/her “message” across, or because I think the particular piece of art is a cynical ploy (I feel this way about Jeff Koons, except for his shiny 60’s vacuum). With Kincade, it was more than that – there was an almost predatory feeling in his work. He knew who his market was, and he pandered to their every whim, exploiting their beliefs and their lack of connection to nature so that he could unload some chintzy canvas. He didn’t even paint a lot of his works, but had assistants who did the touch ups.
On reading this story on Tuesday, all my suspicions about Mr. Painter of Dreck were bourne out, plus more. Allegedly, his company is being investigated by the FBI for bamboozling his Signature Gallery owners out of their money. According to some of the former owners, Kincade and his associates would use the “God hook” in order to get people to sign on to their big scheme. Not only is he a hack artist, he might also be guilty of trading on his religion to make a buck.

The French Kicks are toe-tapping

I’m not much into new music. I hardly ever listen to the radio at all. I’m more likely to turn on NPR than the local popular music station. I haven’t even listened to the Impact in a long time, and that used to be my station-du-jour back in my student days. Which is why it’s so strange that I’m really loving this new French Kicks song, “So Far We Are.” What a great song! I’m not quite as wild about the video (what’s with the fruit?), but it’s still pretty cool.

So...Very....Tired

Work has been kicking my butt lately. It seems like all the editors collude to all catch up on their huge backlogs at the same time. Which means that I get an avalanche of email. It makes me think of that Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns goes to the Mayo Clinic and his doctor is trying to stuff those stuffed germs through a miniature doorway. Very little gets through. Then to top it off, I had some irritating email. It was a really nitpicky request, and I haven’t answered it yet, lest I tell the offender that I don’t have time for that crap at the moment, and that s/he is a cobag and can eat it! (Thanks a lot, Pinko Punko.)

Even better, on the ride home after work, the buses were packed. I was lucky enough to get on the third one that came, and it was packed shortly after that. I know I shouldn’t complain, as increased ridership is a good thing. But they’re either going to have to get either more or bigger buses. Or better still, light rail transit between campus and the capitol. That’d be so sweet! But for now, I’m stuck riding home crammed in like a sardine.

I felt better after I got home and went to check on my garden. There’s something very calming about sniffing basil. No, really. I’d rub it on my wrists and wear it as perfume if it lasted long enough.

Fun with CSS Templates

Apologies for the lack of posts. Yes, I am indeed a slug. Though not quite as sluggish as usual. I have been working on the blog's template. After trying to re-invent the wheel, and realizing that wasn’t going to work, I decided to try to alter an existing template. I chose the “Compute” template from the Blogger templates site.

I’d forgotten what a pain in the butt CSS is to work with. It’s been a while since I played hack and crack, so I’ve unfortunately forgotten a lot of stuff. I was impressed that I remembered how to download a .css file from a website. (Woohoo!) I do like this one better than the other one I had –this one seems more functional. It will take me quite a while before I get this in the shape I want it to be though. Wish me luck!

Ready or not, here comes the fall

Today was the last peaceful day I’ll have at work for awhile. Not that my job will change much, but everything surrounding me will. I walked campus, already noticing a slight increase in traffic. Tomorrow is the day the students come back. I’ll be surrounded by all sorts of people: bored returning students looking for a welcome back party, fresh-faced kids leaving home for the first time, harried parents dropping off their pride and joy, and even more harried professors typing up a syllabus at the last minute. I always enjoy the quietness and solitude of the summer months. It’s nice to wander through campus in full bloom. It’s almost like sleeping – there’s a dormancy happening, and we’re taking a rest. Then fall comes in with a rush of energy. There’s always something happening. The sidewalks are full of students rushing off to somewhere. It’s time to get back to the business of teaching and learning.

Things that make me mad

Conspiracy talk: The three men arrested earlier in Caro were apparently remanded to federal custody today. However, the terrorism charges they were initially held on didn’t hold up. They apparently are being charged with fraud and conspiracy, in connection with the van full of cell phones.

Live free or die: Meanwhile, On Point’s first show today asked the question, “Should the FBI be structured more like MI-5?” I couldn’t stand listening to Richard Posner. As a federal judge (7th Circuit) and a guy who might someday write a legal opinion that affects me personally, it really bugged me that he’s so willing to give up everybody’s civil rights. Unfortunately, there were a few callers who were willing to do that too (provided that they didn’t get busted for not paying child support). Fortunately, they were outweighed by the number of callers expressing their strong opinion on keeping them.

Happy anniversary, Katrina: We're quickly approaching the one year mark since Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the South. Here we are wasting money on b.s. cases (see first story above), yet people in southern Louisiana and Mississippi are struggling to put their lives back together. Wasn't it Trent Lott who had the house in Pascagoola, MS, that was blown over? I'm sure at least he has a house again.

This is your brain on music

One of the best parts of my job is that I get to interact with some interesting researchers. Occasionally, I even get to hear them on the radio. The most interesting so far has been Daniel Levitin. He’s an associate professor in three departments (psychology, music, and neuroscience) at McGill University. He also used to be a record producer and sound engineer. He was plugging his new book on the NPR show On Point. It was a surprisingly accessible hour. Where else could you hear Stevie Wonder, Rolling Stones combined with the mention of neuro-oscillators and basal ganglia?

Terrorists on a Bridge?

Now we have our own little fake “terrorism” scare here in Michigan. Over the weekend, three Texans were arrested in Caro with a van full of TracPhones and a digital camera with Mackinac Bridge photos. Supposedly, the phones were to detonate bombs, and the pics were the target shots. However, I have several problems with this scenario:

1. The Mackinac Bridge is not really a strategic target. Okay, we here in Michigan love our “Mighty Mac,” but there are certainly more important targets (oh, say the two international bridges or the Detroit-Windsor tunnel). The bridge does get quite a bit of traffic, but much of it is tourist traffic between the two penninsulas. Even if there was an attack and the bridge was damaged, there are still the Mackinaw/St. Ignace-Mackinac Island ferries that could take on the traffic.

2. The structural integrity of the bridge. If you ask most state residents, they do find it a little unnerving to drive across. However, in the nearly fifty years since the bridge has been opened, there has only been one high-profile accident. This involved a Yugo flipping over the safety rails and into the straits during a bad winter storm. (It was nearly quite literally blown over!) Being the convergence between two of the big lakes (Michigan and Huron), the weather there can be quite severe, particularly in the winter. The bridge is built to withstand snow, sleet, hail, freak marine storms, and high winds.

3. The Bridge Authority. The MBA has always done a stellar job taking care of the bridge. They monitor the weather, traffic, and the bridge conditions very carefully, and will not let anyone cross if they perceive that something is wrong.

4. If they were going to Mackinaw City, they were headed the wrong way. As you'll see from the .pdf map, Caro is a little out of the way.

Actually, the area around Caro is the home of terrorists. But they’re homegrown. Just one county away is the Nichols family farm (in Decker).

Why Quisp Conspiracy?

I don’t know what made me think of it. I hadn’t thought of it in years. But a couple of summers ago, I thought of Quisp. My mom used to buy it for me. It was my favorite cereal when I was a really small kid. Okay, I wasn’t so crazy about the actual product, but I was crazy for the cute little alien mascot. Quaker had taken it off the market in the late 70’s, and I never saw my purply-pink pal again.
I asked my sweetie, Scott, if he remembered the cereal. I figured he would. Not only is he the same age as I am, but I figured if my mom could buy it in our podunk grocery store, he would have at least seen a box of it on his hometown shelves. However, not only had he not heard of Quisp, but he thought it sounded phony. Until he found the website.
Not more than a couple of weeks after that, we were watching tv, and they showed Quisp! They not only showed the box of cereal, but also a stuffed Quisp.
“See,” I said, pointing triumphantly at the television, “I’m not making this up.”
“I think you’re behind this. It’s all part of a conspiracy,” Scott poked fun at me.
“Yeah,” I said, “not only did I go back in time to get Jay Ward to draw him, but I also had him invent Quake too.”
Since then, it’s become sort of an injoke between us. He says now that he can’t admit the cereal exists, because then he’ll enter some sort of crazy Matrix-like world. We’ve seen it on a couple different programs since (including as a prominent backdrop on a sitcom). He even made the snazzy box of Quisp for my Sims 2 game. Nice, eh?

Greetings!

Welcome to my untriumphant return to blogging. Some of you might remember me from my previous blog (Synaesthesia). When I was last blogging, it was in the heady days before the 2004 election, and I was hopeful that my fellow citizens would turn over a new leaf and vote Kerry/Edwards into office. No such luck. We’re still stuck with that other guy.
I’ve missed having a blog. There were several times during the last couple of years that things have happened and I thought to myself, “Damn, that would have made a great blog entry!” Not to mention, I could always use the writing practice.
I believe that my mistake during my original blog was that I worked on it nearly every day. It became quite an obsession. Of course, I was paying for that one, and wanted to make sure I was getting my money’s worth. With a free one, I won’t feel that kind of pressure. But I have decided to update it at least once a week for sure. I also hope that I can do some more longer-form kind of things on here. So I hope that you come on back! (At least for the explanation of the name. :)