Destination of the mystery trip was.......

Telluride, CO. My cousin, who lives in Boulder, has friends that live in Telluride (year-round residents) and has being trying to get us to come visit for a couple of years now. I've been to Telluride to visit with my cousin and her friends once before, but C has never been. Even if it had been a disaster, just getting away from the the over 100 degree weather in Dallas would have made it worth the trip. But we had a great time. Warmer than expected weather, rained just once, altitude didn't really effect us and really enjoyed the 4th (which is a HUGE deal in Telluride). The only negative was that I was promised a TomKat sighting, but from what I understand, they either weren't there or even if they were, they don't venture out from their 100 acre compound all that much. A few of the highlights:

• 2 bighorn sheep standing just off a road, frozen like statues.

• numerous deer sightings when C and I would walk in the mornings.

• birthday dinner we cooked and ate overlooking the golf-course with the mountains in the background, windows open, sun setting, great wine and even better birthday cake.
  

• driving a float in the 4th of July parade.

• sitting as close as we could to the fireworks that night, soot falling on us and feeling the concussions of the fireworks that didn't quite make it high enough.
  

• riding a motorcycle that had been modified to all electric - max speed supposed to be 18mph, but was (per the owner) " a bit more than that".
  

• hiking up a trail above town (elevation change of 1,000 ft) to a waterfall and in the course of 10 minutes, having bright sunshine, rain and hail, then sunshine again.
  

• the free gondola that goes from the Mountain Village above Telluride (where we stayed) into town that runs year round, from 6am to midnight. Even carries bikes. Awesome view and the easiest way to go back and forth.
  

We want to go back, C especially to ski. We just need to find a way to make getting there easier and quicker (much easier said than done). I want to go back for the 4th again, but this time I want to be on the float, not driving it!

Here are some pictures:


The view from the 2nd floor deck of the house we were staying in





The float I was driving, the Liki Tiki. It won funniest float. Last year they won Best in Parade.





"Men without Rhythm", doing a Blues Brother routine during the parade.





Me, driving the float, pointing to C and my cousin, telling the little kid to shoot them with his squirt gun.





Me, drinking from my fake Rum bottle. The real stuff was being enjoyed by the adults on the float during the parade.





"Irrational Exuberance", the group that won Best of Parade. Their theme was "Party like it's 2006" and they were sooooo funny. My favorite sign was "In Madoff we Trust". The ladies were wearing VERY skimpy, madri gras type outfits. It was difficult for me driving, as I was getting distracted and my co-pilot kept telling me stuff like..."don't look at that little blonde over there, wearing white and just coconuts".





Looking back from the 13th green. The house in the background was were I stayed on my first trip to Telluride back in the late 90's.







Many references in the parade to the failing economy. While Telluride is in some ways very conservative and traditional, it is also very liberal. Not many GWB fans that I ran across.





The town only has 2,500 residents, but George Clinton was going to appear at their Civics Center in a couple of weeks. The tax rate here is unreal.

Autotune news

I suspect I'm late to the auto-tune-the-news party, but just in case you haven't seen this:

More first drafts

of movie lines:

There was no a**-gazing

No, Pres. Obama was not staring at the 16 year old's a**. Video here.

Twitter as frivolous entertainment

In my continuing saga of evaluating Twitter, I report that there is fun to be had with public word play.  Here's one where people imagine the first draft of famous movie lines (random batch presented here):
Another was to replace a word or part of a word in a common title or phrase with "tran" or "tranny". Examples

• Tranny Get Your Gun
  
• Tranny Hall
• Tranmerican in Paris
  
• I Left My Heart in Tran Francisco
  
• Trancakes, with maple syrup

These are both games that pre-date Twitter, I do believe, but they suit Twitter pretty well.  Feel free to play along with either/both.

Update:  Here are some more (better) movie lines (4th one down for M):

Burr Oak Cemetery

K's grandmother is buried here. Or was.

Columbine

I can still remember where I was and what I was doing when I first heard about the events at Columbine High School. I was driving up the Alaska Highway in British Columbia listening to CBC radio when they broke in. Then, for several days, the CBC offered all type of analysis on why this phenomenon always happened in the States, but not in Canada (and why it would never happen in Canada. But, a few days later, it did). And while the "facts" at the time seemed to stand up months and even years later, what you think you know about the what and why is probably wrong. This book has been compared to In Cold Blood and I think that is a disservice to Truman Capote. Dave Cullen is not a storyteller (at least to the degree that Capote was), but he is enough of one to make this novel very compelling. I wish he had been able to speak to the parents of Harris and Klebold, because their seemingly total ignorance of what their kids were not only thinking, but doing, is almost incomprehensible. I know that my parents didn't know everything I did, but I don't think I could have amassed an arsenal of guns and bombs that I kept in my room, basement (if I had one), and garage without them finding something. The author had access to surveillance tapes, diaries, friends, teachers, police - everyone. While the events of that day were and have been labeled as a "shooting", it wasn't and it neither was it planned to be. And to think that no one had a clue or inkling that these 2 boys were heading in the direction they were is also false. Cullen also tries to explain the motivations behind why many of the misconceptions about what happened that day continue to be fostered by everyone from the police to the survivors and the families of the victims. This is a tough read, yet I found myself not wanting to put it down.

Gone Tomorrow

I have to give credit where credit is due. Our former SSJ brother turned me on to Lee Child and the Jack Reacher series. There are 3 series that I read religiously: this one, the John Sanford Prey series, and any Tom Clancy that features Jack Ryan. Sadly, it's my understanding that due to some legal issues, there won't be any future Jack Ryan novels from Clancy, so I'm left with just 2 series. But that's OK, because they are both good enough and published often enough to satisfy me. While Child's descriptions of how guns or silencers work, or how long it takes certain caliber bullets to reach their target can get a bit tedious, I can overlook that. I love Reacher and while I know that no one person can get into this many dangerous and bizarre situations, I can also overlook that fact. Just as I overlook that Minneapolis/St. Paul can't have that many serial killers and freaks as described in the Prey series. I really enjoyed the opening of this novel - a decision that has to be made in seconds is described over numerous pages based upon a checklist created by the expertise of terrorism experts. And that decision unleashes a chain-of-events that takes Reacher from a late-night subway ride back to the 1980's and a secret that not only individuals want kept quiet, but governments and terrorists as well. The plot sounds complicated, but Child does a great job of moving the story and keeping you guessing. My only complaint was that I thought the "secret" wasn't that big of a deal, for any of the parties trying to keep it hidden. I think most people realise that yesterdays friend could be tomorrow's enemy (or visa versa) and especially over the period of 20-30 years. But, the journey and the story certainly made up for that small complaint. I can't say that I dislike any of the Reacher series - but I can say that Gone Tomorrow is certainly one of my favorites.

A Reliable Wife

This is another of the Parade magazine recommendations that I was enticed to check out. The 3 or 4 sentence blurb in Parade mentioned Wisconsin, trickery and betrayal, a gothic tale of romance and seduction. I admit - I was hooked. Then I started reading it and to say it was slow would be an understatement. And the love scenes were straight out of the Bronte mold. Think Wuthering Heights, but set in northern Wisconsin. Thankfully, it wasn't as long the Bronte classics, but it seemed like it was. The only thing that keep me going was the "trickery and betrayal" angle, but that went away about half-way thru. This might be more of a "chick book", but my Mom even said it was "strange" and "a bit slow". If you are into the Bronte-style novel and lengthy descriptions of snow or rooms or houses or "gothic seduction", then this is the book for you. If you aren't, then I would say keep away and definitely be wary of Parade magazine.

Do I just not understand?

This short little gem in the DMN caught my eye today. Am I the only person who thinks that if a toll road is losing drivers, you might want to lower the tolls, not raise them? The tolls were raised not too long ago and gee, guess what, less drivers. So the answer that the toll authority comes up with now is to raise tolls again. And in about 4-6 months, when they do another survey and see that driver ship has gone down again, I wonder what they will do?

In the not-too-distant future, most of the major and mid-major roads in the DFW area are going to be be either totally toll roads or some combination of mostly toll lanes and some free lanes. 635 (the main loop around Dallas) will have "smart toll" lanes that will price-adjust during peak hours and/or high volume in the free lanes. Perhaps the ultimate answer for low driver ship on toll roads is to make every road a toll road. Then the "nervous" bond holders will not have to worry so much.

Missing Somali men

Here's the latest on the investigation into the missing Somali men:

In late 2007, when the first of about a dozen Somali men from Minnesota began to travel to their homeland to fight in a bloody civil war, a tempest was building in the Twin Cities Somali community. Many Somali-Americans were upset about Ethiopian troops that invaded their homeland.

A Twin Cities group called the United Somali Diaspora organized and videotaped the rally, in November of 2007, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The main purpose was to raise awareness of the Ethiopian invasion.

But one keynote speaker, a middle-aged man in a cream-colored suit, seemed to cross the line.

Zakariya Abdi, who was bent on pushing the Ethiopians out and taking down Somalia's transitional government, encouraged Somalis in Minnesota to fight.

"Enlist yourselves. Come to see us in Asmara," Abdi said to the crowd. "Let us get to know each other. We will offer training. Then whoever wants to fight for two months, like the Eritreans used to do, can then go back to school."

Minneapolis airport terminal signage

In follow-up to my earlier post about the names of the airport terminals in Minneapolis, here's the resolution of the issue:

A Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) committee voted Wednesday to support spending about $2.2 million on signs that would re-brand Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport's Lindbergh Terminal as “terminal 1” and the Humphrey Terminal as “terminal 2."

What is more helpful is that they'll list the airlines on the signs in affiliation with their respective terminals. If they'd just do that, they could keep the Lindbergh/Humphrey names on the signs.

Unnecessary quotes

Here is a site devoted to pictures documenting the unnecessary use of quotation marks. (H/t Ezra's Twitter.)

Neopolitan pizza

is all the rage everywhere now apparently. Here's a plug for the best Neopolitan pizza in Minneapolis, owned by a friend of mine. He opened it about a decade ago, so he was several years ahead of his time.

Is anyone else wondering

if Michael Jackson's (and I use that apostrophe in the legal, not biological, sense) kids were spawned from Lisa Marie's eggs? I see Elvis in them. They have otherworldly bone structure. And when it comes to MJ, no hypothesis is too whacky.

I can't believe NOTHING about Sarah on SSJ

I'm gone for a few days and almost totally cut-off from the news of the world with one exception: Wimbledon. Thankfully, no MJ. And when I get back to a newspaper yesterday, I see where Palin has "resigned" (i.e. quit). And there is not one word on SSJ about that?????

I read a great piece in the paper I saw by Maureen Dowd on this - it was so right on. If I get motivated, I'll try to find it and link it.

Where is Scooter on this? Where is "Anonymous" who was the biggest SP cheerleader around?

UPDATE: link to Dowd op-ed.

Placebo touring US

Placebo will be in Dallas at the House of Blues on Sept. 26.

Back from the mystery trip

Can you guess where we went based upon these:

Free shaping III: Training dog to flip a light switch

Here's a two-part video on how to train a dog to flip a light switch using free shaping:

Free shaping - a boxer learns to bow

Here's a video example of free shaping wherein a boxer learns to bow:


Update: here's another. In this one, the trainer just uses a marker word "Yes", rather than the clicker.



Update II: Here's yet another. This one is good because it shows the dog getting completely off track. Also shows the use of "jackpot" treats.

My Radio Silence

Sorry about the lack of activity on my part especially with so much juicy stuff going on of late.

The reason: I'm moving to Athens, TX!

When my folks moved there the summer before my senior year (they graciously allowed me to move in with a friend and graduate from Skyline High in Dallas...provided I move in with them the next year and make up the time with the family by attending JuCo there, formerly Henderson County Junior College--Hick Jick--now Trinity Valley Junior College), I swore I'd never be a small town guy.

Thirty years later and I'm moving behind the Pine Curtain.

Free shaping

There are at least a couple different ways to teach a dog a new behavior. The most commonly used one is "lured" shaping, where you move a treat in front of a dog's nose, the dog follows the lure and does the behavior you want as a result. Then you reward the completed behavior. You gradually remove the lure and add a word or hand gesture to cue the behavior. For example, to teach a dog to sit, you hold a treat in front of the dog's nose and raise your hand upward and slightly behind his head, and he'll sit to be able to see the treat in your hand; when he sits, you give him the treat; then you add the command and voila the dog can sit on cue. Adding a marker like a clicker to let the dog know the instant he's done the right thing speeds progress. Lured shaping is an efficient method of training, but it is pretty dull and unimaginative for the dog.

"Free" shaping is done without any lure and is much more stimulating for the dog. You have a behavior in mind that you want to teach. You break it into tiny increments in your mind; when the dog offers the tiniest increment of its own free will without any prompting, you mark the behavior (e.g. with a clicker) and reward your dog. The dog figures out what behavior got the reward and will try it again. After a few rewards for the first increment, you then withhold the reward until your dog achieves the next increment. The dog "discovers" what the next increment is by trying things. For example, to teach a dog to back up, you might click/reward when the dog stands in front of you; once he's doing that, you might click/reward for staying standing; then you might click/reward when he moves any paw backwards; then you click/reward when he moves two paws backward; then you click/reward when he moves all paws backward; then you click/reward when he takes a couple full steps backward. In the midst of all this, the dog is offering all kinds of behaviors that you don't want, and you just ignore those. The dog keeps trying things to find out what works and keeps stringing the increments together to build on what worked in the previous increments.

The very first free-shaping training is very slow going. The dog just doesn't understand what the whole process is about. He stares at you wanting some direction and can't figure out what to do to get a treat. But I've seen this demonstrated with service dogs who were accustomed to being trained with free-shaping and it was astonishing how fast they would figure out really complicated behaviors. I saw a dog learn to flip a light switch in about 10 minutes. And the kind of exploration and problem-solving that dogs must do in free-shaping is ideal for service dogs who need to think and act, not merely respond, to do their jobs.

Karma and I tried free-shaping for the first time this past week as part of her agility training. I was supposed to teach her to back up. We accomplished that, but somehow I've trained her to walk in a circle around me before backing up. At first she sat and stared at me for long spells. It took her a long time to figure out that trying things was the only route to doing the right thing and getting the treat. But once she got the idea of that, it was fun to watch her mind work to come up with what she thought she was supposed to do. "I'll try lying down; I'll try rolling over; I'll try getting on the wobbly board; I'll try getting one piece of mail off the mail stack and taking it to the crazy lady; I'll try barking; I'll try sitting down with more determination; I'll try getting my food dish". Next up, teaching her to back up onto an inclined plank. I think it'll be easy now that she's got the idea.

Happy birthday to LJ

Today? or tomorrow? (LJ's FB says today, but it looks like SSJ has celebrated on July 2 in the past.)

Gangsters in Minnesota

In honor of Johnny Depp's upcoming movie about John Dillinger, the Strib published this article about the month that Dillinger spent in the Twin Cities in 1934.

Dillinger cut a brief but intense swath through St. Paul in early 1934, an era when St. Paul was the safest place in America for gangsters, thanks to the "O'Connor system." Police Chief John O'Connor had made a deal with crooks: They would receive police protection if they checked in upon arrival, paid a small bribe and promised to commit no crimes in St. Paul. . .The ironic upshot of the "system" was that St. Paul's citizens lived in a safe environment, despite occasionally recognizing the face at the next restaurant table from the post office walls.

One can tour gangster hotspots in St. Paul on Saturdays. Caves in the sandstone bluffs along the Mississippi were used by gangsters for storing alcohol and for clubs.

Outdoor college Big Ten football, a lovely fall day, a cold beer...

Nope. No cold beer. There will be no alcohol served in the TCF Bank Stadium, the new home for the University of Minnesota's football team.

I hadn't realized that the Big Ten had previously banned sales of alcohol to students at Big Ten sporting events, so even that old-news part of this story is news to me. College football without beer (or hot chocolate with peppermint Schnapps for cold days). Does not compute.

Colbert on the census

Stephen Colbert tweets about the census:

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon, was a book club pick that I had pitched on the basis of the enthusiastic recommendation from our former blog brother. It won the Pulitzer in 2001. I was initially reluctant to give it a try since Chabon's Wonder Boys is one of my all-time most despised books. (I just can't bear that whole self-indulgent trite sub-genre of novels BY middle-aged, writer/lit professors ABOUT a middle-aged writer/lit professor going through a midlife crisis involving cavorting with an 18-year old female student. Blech. I spend the whole book yelling at the author through the pages: "WRITE SOMETHING! You -- your id, your ego, your angst, your psyche -- are nowhere near as interesting as you think you are.")

But I loved Kavalier & Clay. It's richly imagined and brilliantly executed. You know it's not merely good, but great, in the chapter where the boys work out the backstory for The Escapist and you see them drawing from their life experiences (maybe consciously, maybe subconsciously, maybe both).

There's endless material to ponder metaphysical meaning in the themes of chains/suffocation, escapism and superheroes. I'm particularly tickled that each character is handed their "key" by another: Sammy's job offer to Rosa is her key to escape her boredom at suburban momhood; Sammy's key is a Congressional hearing at which he's involuntarily outed; Joe's key to reentering the lives of Sammy and Rosa is presented by events put into motion by Tommy. This mirrors the Houdini escape, described in detail, in which Houdini's wife supplies a key with a glass of water to undo a particularly tough lock. Obviously, too, superhero stories are all about people being saved from their plights by another. (Ayn Rand fans: this isn't a novel for you.)

Also delightful is the fact that the Golem, made of clay, seems to Joe to weigh more after it crumbles than it did in its original shape. Sammy and Rosa's house is on "Lovoisier" street. Lovoisier was a French scientist who recognized the principle of the conservation of mass. I don't know what I'm supposed to understand about the meaning, in the story or metaphysically, of the Golem gaining weight while disintegrating, but I'm mulling it over. Thoughts, anyone?

Concert vs Performance

I was reading this article on Michael Jackson in the Daily Mail yesterday and this particular portion struck me:

"It is worth noting that the O2 Arena has the most sophisticated lip synching technology in the world – a particular attraction for a singer who can no longer sing. Had, by some miracle, the concerts gone ahead, Jackson’s personal contribution could have been limited to just 13 minutes for each performance. The rest was to have been choreography and lights."


I've heard that the cheapest ticket for these series of concerts was going to be $81 - and that got me thinking, why would anyone pay that amount of money to see someone basically dance around and "sing" for only 13 minutes? In my mind, a concert is an event where all the participants are doing what they are supposed to do - musicians playing, singers singing. A performance, on the other hand, can be a combination of this - some musicians playing, some pre-recorded music. Some singers singing, some pretending to. If you go to see a band, say like U2 or Radiohead, you are going to a concert. If you go see Britney Spears or Madonna or Michael Jackson, you are going to see a performance. And I think it should be marketed as such.

I'm nor naive enough to know that even bands such as U2, Radiohead, The Who, etc. use some pre-recorded music, but does anyone really believe that Britney or Michael or Madonna can dance like they do AND sing AND never seem out-of-breath when singing? It's a sham and for me, I'd feel ripped off to pay high prices to basically watch a live music video. Then again, perhaps those who go see these performers know what they are seeing and don't care. They want dance moves and costume changes and video and the "songs" and "singing" is immaterial.

MJ and Jermaine

We've broken out our Jackson 5 this evening. I'm thinking the same thing I think every time we do so: Jermaine was underrated.

And Michael really was amazingly skilled.

[Exhibit A re Jermaine being underrated: I'll Be There]

This and that....

1) Of course the media is focusing on the sexual aspect of Gov. Sanford story. But for me, the most interesting aspect is the whole disappearance and cover-up. Did he REALLY think he could just vanish for 10 days and no one notice? That if he had, and stuck with the Appalachian Trail hiking story, that the media wouldn't have wondered why they couldn't find anyone who actually met him on the trail? Or that he didn't look like he got a tan? It's one thing for your estranged wife and staff not to know - but your security people? What a complete idiot!

2) I was driving around a few days before Sanford he got back from Argentina and was listening to Mike Gallagher, who of course was going out of his way to defend Sanford about "wanting to get away to recharge his batteries" by hiking. That he was a great, moral, Christian, conservative and that is why the "liberal"media was getting all over his case. I wish I could have listened to his show when the truth (and I don't believe that the WHOLE truth is out yet) came out. Wonder how that crow tasted?

3) I am so apathetic about the death of Michael Jackson. He was a freak, a train wreck - someone who makes Brittney Spears look normal. And even if he was found not guilty of sexual contact with a minor, his admitted behavior with young boys was sick. As sick as the parents of these kids allowing them to spend the night with Michael. I never believed that he would actually show up and perform in London, but I didn't think it would be because he died. And with his as freaky as he is sisters, I can only imagine what his funeral will be like.

4) Having our 3rd day of 100 degree days today. Summer is here I guess. At least I'm no longer in Houston (104 there yesterday). All my outdoor activities are now done before 9am and after 8pm. I feel like a shut-in.

UT baseball

A Twitterer's observation:

Big month coming up for me

Not that anyone probably cares, but July is going to be a big month for me. A trip in the early portion (won't say where now, but should have some good pictures and I've been promised "some type of interaction" with a MAJOR celebrity). I will say that the last time I was at this location (and it was at this time of year), I was at a party and was part of a conversation with (by then)ex-General Norman Schwartzcroft. He was an interesting guy - very soft spoken, very non-military looking. While I was part of the conversation, everyone wanted to talk about the Gulf War. All he wanted to talk about was bears and wolves. Not killing them, but capturing and relocating them.

In the middle part of the month, I will be attempting to get my Texas Concealed Handgun license. My father has been on me for a few years now, wondering why I haven't gotten it. He has one and does carry almost all the time. I don't plan on carrying, except when making long car trips. I can't even remember the last time I actually fired a handgun, so it has been suggested that I go to a range at least one time before. Aim wise I don't think I need to, but since I'll be using a semi-automatic for the test and have never fired one before, it's probably a good idea.

And finally, at the end of the month, I will be taking a basic motorcycle riding class. I've been wanting to do this for a many years and since I'm still in the midst of my mid-life crisis, now is the time. The successful completion of this will waive the riding portion of DPS motorcycle license test.The goal here is to get my motorcycle license so that when C and I are at our place in Wisconsin, I can ride up there. I'm not planning on getting one of those huge touring bikes, just something to tool around with (going to the post office, going into town, going to a lake/river, etc.). No long trips, no sidecars, nothing like that. And absolutely never riding down here in DFW.

Chirp

Twitter

CNN is getting its news from Twitter. The reporters and anchors right now are reading tweets on the air that come, apparently, from Iran.  

I've spent some time the last few weeks getting acquainted with Twitter, trying to find ways to make it useful or to be entertained by it.  It's a work in progress for me.  One of its powerful feature is being able to send photos with a tweet.  Lots of people use their phones to take and upload pictures for their tweets. It's these photo posts from Iran that are most compelling since they effectively authenticate the messages.  (Apparently, the Iranian government has had a difficult time preventing tweeting.) Another useful Twitter feature is its tagging/searching capabilities that allow you find all tweets on a topic (e.g. #iranelection), turning Twitter into a worldwide bulletin board organized by topic.

The subtitle*, by the way, is from a blog entry about a Twitter event. There's a long story behind it that I'm embarrassed to know all about and which I'm sure isn't of interest to normal people, so I'll spare you the details (presently almost accurately here).  In short, the Twitter world went nuts a few evenings ago, with people posting the hashtag #dannygokeyisadouche** in large enough numbers that it became the topmost trending topic on Twitter, more popular than the hashtag #iranelection which had been holding the top spot for days.  Of course, the gokey incident was just a silly internet event; but it was also a mini-anti-homophobia movement; a cathartic digital shout of "oh no you don't" to people hating on those who don't conform; and an example of the dangers of showing your true (bigoted and impolite) colors on Facebook etc. or being related to someone who does same. 

*You enter it wearing a pith helmet, thinking you’re on a fine, jolly new adventure, tally-ho, and you exit battered and bruised, wearing a busted football helmet and mismatched body armor and pads, clutching your cyberclub studded with nails.

**Danny Gokey was a contestant on Season 8 American Idol.

Update 6/21/09 11:15 am: NYT Week in Review comments on Twitter and its role in informing the world about events in Iran.

Oh noooooo

I have something (wingnutty) in common with Michelle Bachmann. I refused to take the detailed census last time around. It wasn't so much that I was afraid of where the information would end up. I just didn't think the government had any business asking me the questions they asked.

Go Longhorns

I hear (from one of my partners who is a UT alum and who has a daughter now at UT) that UT's baseball team has a college world series game tonight against Arizona State.

Bear: Age 20 months

From dshort.com, as of the end of trading June 12:

Apple, snake, Adam

Adam's concept for the Rolling Stone cover was Adam and Eve, Garden of Eden, tree of knowledge, challenging concepts of right/wrong. He envisioned an apple, too.

Support for same-sex marriage by state

Here is a super cool graph illustrating support for gay marriage, by state, over time (since 1994) showing:

1) Support for gay marriage has increased since 1994 in every state.
2) Support for gay marriage has tended to increase at a higher rate in states that started out with relatively high support in 1994. (Texas follows this pattern; Minnesota is an exception.)
3) Utah sucks, IMHO.

Here's a a little taste of the graph:


[Update moments after posting: Scratch the sentence about Texas and Minnesota. I could explain my error, but it's not that interesting.]

Non-profit insurance for health care

Last Friday, we discussed Greg Mankiw's criticism of the public plan option for health care.

Ezra yesterday interviewed Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) about "a 'potential compromise' on the public plan: A system of federally-chartered co-ops that could offer a non-profit alternative to the for-profit insurance industry. In this telling, the co-ops preserve the central feature of the public plan -- they're a competitor to the traditional insurance industry -- but are free from the baggage of government control."

Newsweek tries to explain my Adam Lambert obsession

A Newsweek blog on pop culture tries to explain why women of a certain age "love Adam, truly, madly, deeply, in a kind of weirdly Mrs. Robinson sexual way". (Warning: includes incorrect use of "begs the question".) The author consults a professor of psychiatry and presents these hypotheses:

1. Women are biologically attracted to masculine features in men for a fling, but feminine features when looking for a mate, and Adam has both.
   
2. Adam's onstage exhibitionism is a powerful aphrodisiac because it caters to our inner voyeur.
   
3. It all goes back to childhood when we wanted to have everything and anything whenever we wanted. We think Adam has it all and we want to be like him.
   
4. Adam taps into the rebel that we once were but have now repressed (and, by the way, we covet his wardrobe).
   

Adam talked about the masculine/feminine distinction in the Rolling Stone article, telling a tale of a limo driver who, thinking he was all open-minded and tolerant, said something to Adam about not having a problem with Adam because Adam isn't "girly". Adam finds that sentiment "ignorant" and asks "Why can't some men have strong feminine sides? Does that make them less of a man? I don't know why our society has such an emphasis on masculinity and femininity - it's really gross. I don't think you're truly sexy until you don't care about that."

One could cite oodles of examples of how Adam exhibits a blend of masculine/feminine. Most obviously, there's the eyeliner and nail polish on the one (feminine) hand, and chains and heavy leather boots on the other (masculine) hand. But one of my favorites is more subtle. There's a video of Adam greeting an actor backstage after seeing Hair on Broadway when he was in NYC a couple weeks ago. Adam said to the guy, "F--k, you made me cry." Crying at a Broadway musical and admitting it: feminine (stereotypically). But the use of the expletive: masculine (stereotypically).

I might add some other things to the list of reasons Adam is appealing to women:

1. Watching someone do something they're spectacular at is a beautiful thing. Competence is sexy.
   
2. His onstage exhibitionism requires bravery and we're biologically wired to respond to displays of courage. Ditto for his vocal risk-taking. Ditto for his forthrightness (or lack of filter) when he speaks.
   
3. Because he's so open about things the rest of us tend to keep to ourselves, we suspect he'd be unfazed by our deepest darkest secrets. He'd be the ultimate confessor (one who hears confessions) since he is the ultimate confessor (one who confesses). The other contestants identified Adam as the "camp counsellor" of the group, the one they go to with personal problems.
   
4. The color in his voice, particularly on the high notes, reminds those of us in our 40's and 50's of rock stars who were popular when we were teenagers so he transports us back to teenager-hood and teenager-hood was all about BOYS!!!
   

The Newsweek story concludes that our fandom is healthy. (The author might reconsider if she looked at my Safari history.)

Another blow to productivity

First Chapters of books.

Storm last night

So I'm on the phone with C (she was in Shreveport, LA on business) around 7pm when I think I hear the tornado sirens going off. I had just been outside a couple of minutes before and while it was cloudy, no rain and no wind. I walk outside and within 10 seconds, the wind starts blowing at what seems like gale force. I go back inside and turn on the TV radar and this huge red blob is streaking from the west towards the DFW airport (near where we live). Then the rain starts and after about 5 minutes, the wind totally stops. Super calm, weird looking sky. Then the rain and the wind start again and as I'm looking out the back window towards our pool, I see 2 big branches break off from the tree behind us and partially fall into the pool! The picture you see here was taken this morning. Last night, during a lull, I went out and used shears and clippers to cut the branches that were hanging in the pool. Took about 30 minutes and right when I finished, the rain and wind started up again. You can see some of the cut limbs and branches on the right side of the picture.





So when I see the tree limbs in the pool, I call my neighbor, asking if he has a saw. At that point, I didn't know how big/thick the limbs were. As I'm talking to him on the phone, I hear another crash type sound. I run to the front window and a huge part of a tree that is just on his side of our property line is down. This is the 3rd time this spring/summer that part of this tree has broken off during a storm. These pictures were also taken this morning:







The thunder and lightening late last night/early this morning was unreal. It was like a strobe light going off for hours. I was going to start cutting up and cleaning up in the back, but the rain/lightening has started up again. I also have a visit planned with the folks behind us - that tree has been the bane of my existence for years and I'm going to try my best to convince them to cut the damn thing down.

Re: Re: Minding the gap

Scooter, for you....C was as enamored with "way out" as I was with "mind the gap".

Re: Minding the gap

On my first trip, I was asking for directions in a train station and was told to go, "Way out." He pointed in a direction. 200 yards later I still had no idea where I was going until I noticed they didn't have "exits," they had "Ways Out."

Heat transfer: meatballs and ice

I have a heat transfer question. It's a mother/daughter argument ready to happen and I need backup.

My mom is transporting 10 pounds of frozen Swedish meatballs (in 4 bags) from Minneapolis to Bismarck by car tomorrow. That's a six-hour trip. The objective is to keep them frozen. She's purchased a small cooler. The cooler is exactly the right size for the meatballs, with no space left over for ice. The question we face is whether the meatballs will fare better if she fills the single cooler with meatballs and no ice, or if she buys a second cooler and fills the two coolers half with meatballs and half with bags of ice.

I'm thinking the heat transfer coefficient of the meatballs is lower than that of ice (i.e. that meatballs thaw more slowly than ice cubes melt, given equal surface area in identical environmental temp), and further that the meatballs have less surface area that the ice cubes and therefore she'd be better off filling one cooler with frozen meatballs. I KNOW she's not going to believe that such a thing could possibly be true.

I could well be wrong about the comparative heat transfer coefficients of meatballs/ice (opinions, please), but if I'm right about that, then I'm right about the cooler conclusion, am I not?

I guess there's one other factor to consider. The meatballs, being bigger than the ice cubes leave greater air space between/amongst them than a bag of small ice cubes would, and that would result in faster heat transfer/thawing. That favors the two-cooler plan.

Images from Great Britain

I'm so bad about keeping up with what I've posted or not. I thought I had put some pictures on here, but I guess only the one. I'll pick the best or most interesting and start today....







I know this isn't very interesting, but when riding the Underground, this phrase is broadcast before, during and after every stop. After about 3 stops, it drives you crazy. After a day or 2, all I would do while riding the train was just repeat this over and over in my "trying to sound like, but awful" British accent. I drove C crazy doing that.












This is the London Eye - which when described to me didn't have much of an appeal. But it was super cool and even though it was foggy the day we did it, you still could see all over the metro London area and I thought foggy pictures captured what London looks like. The pods would hold about 20 or so people and it took about 30-35 minutes to make a revolution. If I remember correctly, all the parts were built and/or came from foreign countries - nothing from the UK.





This is Henry VIII. Well, not really. At Hampton Court, they do a recreation of his marriage to Jane Seymour. You get a "wedding invitation" and a listing of events and while you are touring the grounds, you run into the wedding party. Earlier, C and I were walking down a hallway and Henry came around a corner and talked to me. He asked me if I was there for the wedding ( I said no, but congrats anyway). He said OK and said he hoped I enjoyed "his" house. The funny thing about this picture was that there was a group of people in front of them and one of them asked the guy with Henry if he was Wolsey. Henry got upset and told the guy that he should address any questions or comments directly to the King, not to underlings. The tourist apologized and Henry told the underling he could answer (he wasn't Wolsey, though I can't recall who he said he was). C and commented that this whole production was the ultimate Renaissance Fair.





Taken on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. Really doesn't need an explanation....and no, C nor I tried any.






The "Old Course" at St. Andrews. The weather was horrible - very windy and raining off and on. Yet, no one complains and you just play. The wind was blowing from left to right on the 1st tee (and in the face of the golfers), so it was fun watching the tee shots. Of the 3 groups we saw tee off, only about 3 of golfers got the ball in the air. I could do that - I DO do that. So I could play this course and not feel bad. The prices aren't that bad and there are like 6 courses (the "new" course is over 100 years old, which cracks me up). I wanted to run out and stand on the bridge, but was afraid that the caddies or officials would get me.





This was taken somewhere in the Scottish Highlands. If I saw this picture, I would never guess Scotland. It looks more Germany or Austria to me. We just drove around on this day and hit every type of weather (rain, sun, cold, warm, windy, calm). It was so British, so Scottish.

Free market in troubled assets and banks owning troubled assets

Ezra notes this about market effects on pricing of the troubled assets and the banks holding them:

One odd argument I stumbled upon while reporting out the PPIP story yesterday that has relevance to this chart: Part of the story behind the crash in lending earlier this year was that large investors apparently sat on their money hoping that the banks would have to unload troubled assets at fire-sale prices. They didn't want to invest in normal opportunities because they sensed the possibility of extraordinary opportunities. "I know a bunch of hedge fund people who thought these things were screaming bargains," recalls Douglas Diamond, a banking expert at the Chicago School of Business, "but would become even bigger bargains soon."

Now it looks likely that the banks that own these assets are going to try -- and might even succeed -- at holding these things to maturity. Which means that it might be the banks holding the assets, rather than the assets themselves, that are the bargain.

Adam's Rolling Stone cover and interview

Here's the highly anticipated Rolling Stone cover:



I want a giant poster of it for the living room. It could use a bright red apple, though, I think.

This drops officially on Friday, but will be on newstands in some cities tomorrow. News reports today all over the place describe many interesting tidbits that will appear in the RS article, beyond the (yawn) "I'm gay" profession, for those who are interested in Adam beyond his music.

On Kris (Popeater):

Lambert even goes on to share his feelings toward sharing a living space with 'Idol' champion Kris Allen. He says that when the show moved them in together, "I was like, 'Oh, s--t, they put me with the cute guy.' Distracting! He's the one guy that I found attractive in the whole group on the show: nice, nonchalant, pretty and totally my type – except that he has a wife. I mean, he's open-minded and liberal, but he's definitely 100 percent straight."

On coming out to his (very sweet) parents (Popeater):

Adam's father Eber caught his 13-year-old son looking at gay pornography on the family computer, and turned to his wife and said 'It's official.' Later, Lambert's mother asked if he had a girlfriend. He said no. She asked if he had a boyfriend. He said no. Then she asked if he wanted a boyfriend, to which Lambert replied "Yes, that would be nice." "Suddenly, it was like a wall dropped, and we started gabbing like crazy," Lambert says.

On pot, Ecstasy and cocaine (USA Today):

At 21, he was in a European tour of Hair for six months. That was when he dyed his hair black. In Germany, he started smoking pot and tried Ecstasy. But he does have limits. Among his dislikes: cocaine.

On funguses: (NY Post):

"I was looking for something and I wasn't sure what it was. [After experimenting with] certain funguses, I had a psychedelic experience where I looked up at the clouds and went, 'Oh!' I realized that we all have our own power, and that whatever I wanted to do, I had to make happen."

On the now-famous pictures of him in drag and kissing Brad Bell (TVGuide.com):

"I've only dressed in drag three or four times — and of course I took pictures, because I looked amazing — but I don't tuck and I don't wear breasts, that's not me," Lambert said. "Sucking my boy's face? Yes, that I will own."

For anyone who is uninitiated about, but interested in, the Kradam bromance, here's an excellent primer, complete with slow-motion gifs of the boys in their best Kradam moments. It's a beautiful thing.

[Update at 9:45 pm: readable scans of the pages of the RS article can be accessed here. Click on them to enlarge.]

Why isn't Stephanie posting about this??

Her man, Adam Lambert, declares his sexuality. I'm shocked...shocked, I say!!

Tasing a 72 year old woman

I think this guy is toast.

Oh, this is a good idea...

Ugh. Can't believe I voted for this guy. Ok, I can believe it but this is just hideous.

From mysanantonio.com:

Saying the greatest threat to the country is not a recession or terrorist attack but liberal media bias, Rep. Lamar Smith on Friday filed papers in the House to create the Media Fairness Caucus.

Smith said the caucus, consisting of roughly a dozen lawmakers, would point out liberal bias in mainstream media stories and pressure news organizations to be accurate, objective and fair.

In an interview on the Fox News Channel, Smith, R-San Antonio [and some of Austin, oh, the gerrymandering] said he didn’t want to “be radical, but to me, the greatest threat to America is not necessarily a recession or even another terrorist attack.”

“The greatest threat to America is a liberal media bias, and I think that because if the American people don’t know the facts, they can’t make good decisions and if the American people can’t make good decisions, then our democracy is threatened,” Smith said.

If the Americans don't know the facts? Any American who can't get all sides or just the facts is simply lazy. Media bias= recession/terrorism! Yikes. What the heck is this Rethug thinking? B---h all you want but "pressure" the media? If you complain about the FCC and the "fairness doctrine," you should be disqualified from this kind of idiocy. I'm sure he'll be screaming over any gun control proposals the Dems may put forward. Is the 1rst Amendment not as important as the 2d?

Crock Pot Chili Verde

IFA offers a crock pot chili verde recipe and recommends that it be served with homemade cornbread.

Pace

Sheesh. I have to look this up every single time. Maybe if I post about it I'll remember.

From Dictionary.com:

Pace

–preposition

with all due respect to; with the permission of: I do not, pace my rival, hold with the ideas of the reactionists.

SSJ: One in 7.4 million

NYT on failed or abandoned blogs:

According to a 2008 survey by Technorati, which runs a search engine for blogs, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. That translates to 95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned, left to lie fallow on the Web, where they become public remnants of a dream — or at least an ambition — unfulfilled.

The latest on the missing Somali men

From the Strib: A second one of them has died in Somalia. (The first committed a suicide bombing.)