A Quick Shot of Healthcare, Part 4 – Deconstructing Sarah Palin . . . Again
By Brian | September 9, 2009
On the eve of President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress regarding healthcare reform, the former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, has written an Op-Ed piece in the Wall Street Journal. What follows is an object lesson both in how news media must be consumed these days, and some enlightening facts (enlightening to me, at least) about the current healthcare debate.
Categories: Political Rantings | 24 Comments »
Obama’s Speech – Reaction from the Constituency
By Brian | September 8, 2009
Since President Obama’s speech today was directed at the nation’s school children, I took an informal poll in my house (sample size: two)
Brandon (age 6), before the speech: The President is speaking at 12 noon? What about kids on the west coast? Will they still be asleep?
Brandon, after the speech: If the President asks for help all the time, then we can too.
Avery (age 9), after the speech: If the kids with all those challenges accomplished their goals, then we should accomplish our goals more easily than them. Not easily, but more easily.
Avery, when asked if Barack Obama should visit his elementary school one day: I’d rather he wait until next year and visit our middle school, because when you’re the youngest in the school, you get to sit closest to the stage during an assembly, and then I’d be the first one to shake his hand when the speech is over. If he visited our elementary school this year, I’d be way in the back.
Categories: News and/or Media, Political Rantings | 2 Comments »
Respect the Office
By Brian | September 7, 2009
Four years ago, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I wrote this about the way the nation was treating President George W. Bush:
This is a bad sign for our country. Much as Watergate lifted the
Categories: Political Rantings | 32 Comments »
Inside Baseball
By Brian | September 3, 2009
I’ve just returned from my first indoor baseball game – the Minnesota Twins played host to the Chicago White Sox in the soon-to-be football-only Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome here in Minneapolis. I realize domes have been around for a very long time, and that almost all of them are retractable nowadays, but since it was my first time, I feel the need to crack wise about it anyway.
And so, without further adieu, here is a list of the Top Ten things overheard today in the Metrodome during the Twins/White Sox game:
10. Good afternoon, sports fans, it’s a beautiful day for baseball here in Minneapolis, or at least that’s what I’m told by the folks who’ve been outside recently.
9. Tickets to the Twins game today? No thanks, it’s a beautiful day and we’re going to the zoo. Save the ballgame for when it’s cold & rainy.
8. Welcome to the ballpark. Before taking the field, please remove your shoes – we’ve just had the carpet cleaned.
7. Speaking of the carpet – you know how when you mow the outfield grass in a baseball stadium, you wind up with those horizontal stripes that reflect which way the mower was riding? Is it really necessary to put horizontal lines on AstroTurf? I mean who, exactly, do they think they’re fooling?
6. “Take me in to the ballgame, Take me in to the crowd…”
5. Ground ball to third base, the third baseman fields it . . . and calls for the five-ball in the corner pocket.
4. Only 12 more home games until the first game canceled due to severe weather…
3. Of all the available colors, why in the name of all that is holy would you make the roof the same color as a baseball?
2. Dome, Sweet Dome.
…and the number one thing overheard today in the Metrodome during the Twins/White Sox game:
1. We might not win it all this year, but wait ’till next year. Sky’s the limit!!
Categories: Sports Talk | 5 Comments »
The zoo that is our backyard…
By Brian | August 29, 2009
Since we moved to suburban New Jersey, we’ve seen geese, deer, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, and various species of birds and insects making their way through our backyard. I’ve always thought of it as both a beautiful display of nature’s variety as well as an inconvenient, and occasionally dangerous, pest problem.
That said, I’m not sure how I feel about three wild turkeys hanging out in our backyard this afternoon. When I went outside to photograph them, they made their way into the woods, so I didn’t get too good a picture (as it is, this is heavily photoshopped to highlight the turkey – damn those natural camouflage abilities of wild animals!)
Anyway, we’ll see if this guy has the nerve to show up around November…
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 5 Comments »
Ikea Takes an Allen Wrench to its Branding
By Brian | August 29, 2009
What could cheap furniture maker extraordinaire, Ikea, do that would create reactions like this?
“Ikea, stop the . . . madness!” – Tokyo
“Horrific!” – Dublin
“It’s a sad day” – Typophile Online Forum
“The . . . community feels betrayed. If a company like Ikea can make this mistake, you have to wonder who is going to lead . . . ” – Bucharest
“Words can’t describe my disgust. It’s a bit like using Lego to build a skyscraper, when steel is clearly a superior choice.” – Melbourne
“It’s like taking the family sedan off-road. It will sort of work, but ultimately gets bogged down” – London
What have they done? Have they made faulty furniture? Supported an unpopular political candidate? Employed child slave labor to write cryptic instructions in Swedish for unsuspecting American bargain hunters? What could Ikea have possibly done that would surpass the death of Ted Kennedy on Twitter’s Trending Topics page?!?
Categories: The World Wide Weird | 4 Comments »
Yankees Chasing Records: A-Rod and Jeter
By Brian | August 27, 2009
Rooting for the Yankees has always meant more than aiming at the current year’s World Series; the bigger picture has also included their place in baseball’s history. This era is no exception, with the principal players being Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. Here’s a quick analysis of where they stand with regard to home runs and hits, respectively:
Alex Rodriguez is chasing Barry Bonds’ lifetime home run record of 762 home runs. He currently stands in 9th place with 575, at the age of 34. Interestingly, if he ends this season with 30 home runs, and then hits 30 in each of the next six years (when he’ll be 40 years old), he will end the 2015 season with exactly 763 home runs. Given that A-Rod has averaged 42 home runs per year since 1996 (his first full year), I’d say 30 per year until he’s 40 is very doable. Of course, if he continues to average 42 per year, then he’d end the 2015 season with 847. If this year is any indication, though, that’s likely a stretch goal at best.
Derek Jeter’s story is not as encouraging. Pete Rose holds the all-time hits record with 4,256 hits. Derek, at the age of 35, currently sits in 59th place with 2,704 (NOTE: the hits category is much more dense than the home run category – Derek’s next 25 hits move him up seven slots). If Derek ends this season with 200 hits, and then averages 200 hits until he’s 40 (the 2014 season), he will end his career with 3,735 hits, putting him in fourth place all-time, just 36 hits behind #3 – Hank Aaron, and 521 hits behind Pete Rose. To reach Rose, he’d have to continue to average 200 hits until he was 43 years old (2017). Add to this the fact that Jeter’s averaged 194 hits per year since 1996 (also his first full year), so 200 per year is not a slam dunk like A-Rod’s 30 home runs per year seems to be (barring injury, of course). Not that fourth place on the all-time hits list is anything to sneeze at, of course, but #1 is looking pretty bleak right now.
Categories: Sports Talk | 4 Comments »
New York City Sights – 30 Rock: A First Look
By Brian | August 26, 2009
Walking past NBC Studios on the way home today, I saw them filming an upcoming episode of 30 Rock. Here are a few pics. It seems the NBC pages are going on strike (led by Kenneth the Page, of course…)
Keep an eye out for these scenes in the fall!
(Click each picture to see it full size)
Categories: Primetime TV | Comments Off on New York City Sights – 30 Rock: A First Look
Kennedy’s Death Provides a Lesson in Bad Partisan Politics
By Brian | August 26, 2009
The recent death of Senator Edward Kennedy marks the end of a tremendous political career, steeped heavily in accomplishments that benefited average, “working class” Americans across his almost forty-seven years in the Senate. The “Lion of the Senate” would even occasionally cross traditional political lines to accomplish his goals, as he did in 2002, working with Republican President George W. Bush to pass the No Child Left Behind Act.
So it is more than a little bit ironic that the aftermath of his death is about to demonstrate to us all how petty, partisan politicking can significantly and negatively impact the American people.
Categories: Political Rantings | 4 Comments »
Talk about your typos…
By Brian | August 25, 2009
There’s this guy in my office who generates a weekly report every Monday morning and sends it out in advance of a weekly meeting, where it’s discussed. This week, the guy is on vacation, so late yesterday, we had to scramble to have someone else generate the report before the meeting today.
The guy who volunteered to do it received the request very late in the day, but wanted to make clear his willingness to help when he returned to the office today. Here is the full text of his e-mail to me (except, of course, his signature):
Brian – I will try to reproduce in the morning.
Now, ya see, this is more information than I needed. Unless he was trying to tell me he’d be late to work today?
Categories: Random Acts of Blogging | 3 Comments »
