August 2009
Jay Quits Conservatives... Alert The Pollsters
Posted by on Monday, August 31, 2009 in - 4 comments
I got an email about this. A mass email but still an email. Our pal Jay is moving to the Grits. I can't say I have had my suspicions that he would go this way as I usually think disgruntled Tories would move to a solution farther to the right. Jay explains: • As regular readers will already know …
Blogging About Blogging About Blogging
Posted by on Saturday, August 29, 2009 in - 5 comments
The years are long past when anyone with a life wrote about their blogging as if it was, you know, somehow important - so it is with great mirth and sympathy for Kateland that I read her post about a comment on the bizarre and troubling case of Suaad Hagi Mohamud being rejected by something called …
Friday Bullets For The Last Of August
Posted by on Friday, August 28, 2009 in - 13 comments
Well, that was fast. My 47th summer. WHAMMO. Next week is all new cords, jostling in the hallways and anxiety attacks over homework no one will care about weeks from now. Summer failed us this year with only one hot spell. June seems so long ago yet the weather is pretty much returned. What to do …
2010 Olympics Already Set New Record!
Posted by on Thursday, August 27, 2009 in - leave a comment
You could her it in the voice of the delegates from the moderately tyrannical military dictatorships. "But what about my delegation's champagne budget? What about our escorts? We can't be giving money away to athletes at a time like this!!!" What was all the fuss? • In an extraordinary move …
Don't Cross LA Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg
Posted by on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 in - 2 comments
Yikee-doodles! • Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg told Brown that he could be sent to state prison if he violated any terms of his sentence, including an order to stay away from Rihanna for the next five years. Brown will serve his sentence in his home state – Virginia – and his …
My Cultural Family Emblem Sullied And Used
Posted by on Monday, August 24, 2009 in - 10 comments
What other nation has to put with this, gets to be treated like a Geico caveman? So nice to see MacLeod of MacLeod dress tartan being shaped like a coin purse, then used as scant clothing and then used to illustrate cheapness, getting a free meal. Because that is what we do, we Scots. We hunt out …
British Style And The Times And Us
Posted by on Monday, August 24, 2009 in - 2 comments
I grew up with various images of Britain. Being a child of immigrants, I was struck from an early age by the different fonts used in UK documentation. Something stouter and jolly about it. Apparently, The NYT thinks that British fashion ain't what it used to be: • Even the grouchiest grumblers …
Sports + Technology + Progress = Really Stunned
Posted by on Saturday, August 22, 2009 in - 1 comment
Duh. No one asked me.
Friday Bullets For The Sleep Deprived Of August
Posted by on Friday, August 21, 2009 in - 6 comments
A massive wave of thunderstorms and deadly tornadoes. Let's all sleep in the basement. Where the boy can kick in his sleep. Where the girl can give dream land play by play by talking in her sleep. Where the tot can get up at 6:15 am. What fun. Oh, you're still on summer holiday? Friday is still a …
Thing I Never Thought I Would See #257987
Posted by on Thursday, August 20, 2009 in - leave a comment
Wow. As in "wow - never thought I would be in the basement waiting for the tornado spawning storms to pass through.". Wow. • Update: red means better or worse... I can never recall...
Google Joins Hot Model In Crushing Web Privacy
Posted by on Thursday, August 20, 2009 in - 2 comments
How's that got a good search engine attention grabbing headline? What is it about? • Google spokeswoman Tamara Micner would not comment on how Google saw the case affecting its blogging service. But in a prepared statement, she said, “We sympathize with anyone who may be the victim of …
Very Good Point About Life In The North
Posted by on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 in - leave a comment
I had never thought of this before: • ...unlike southern communities, running away from a troubled home life is no option for northern teens, he said. "We have no runaways. Where can you go?" he said. • I don't know what turns on the point but I suppose it applies to more than just teens as …
Syracuse Football Does The One Thing They Can Do
Posted by on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 in - leave a comment
How? By naming former Duke basketball player Greg Paulus as their QB for the upcoming season: • After one week of summer camp, Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone has named Duke transfer student Greg Paulus as the team's starting quarterback, according to a press release issued by SU Athletics late …
My First "Hey Neato" Olympic Story
Posted by on Monday, August 17, 2009 in - leave a comment
Like you I crap all over the Olympics and then I watch them wall to wall when they are on. I know. Sure there are tip pot dictators running the show but it's just sports, right? Seems like the next one is in Canada, well sort of, and is only months away. I say sort of because every other country …
At The Fountain In Downtown Marshall Michigan And Stuff
Posted by on Sunday, August 16, 2009 in - 1 comment
I got this photo last Tuesday as I popped into Marshall Michigan near the Indiana border. The town has a diamond shaped square, if that makes any sense, with this colossus of a fountain. Didn't stop to read the plaque. I should have as I wondered why a town of under 6,000 souls had such a monument …
Indiana: River to BBQ to Notre Dame to Silver Hawks
Posted by on Thursday, August 13, 2009 in - 1 comment
Such utter tourist we were yesterday. From walking by the river killing time before a hall of fame opened, to sucking back fantastic BBQ (the barnyard special at the Double T), to wandering around Notre Dame, to hitting the ugly hotel swimming pool with the eastern European 1973 paint scheme, to …
Indiana: I Was This Close To Joe Montana
Posted by on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 in - leave a comment
What to do on a Wednesday morning in South Bend? Well, we are a couple of blocks from the College Football Hall of Fame so it was worth a shot. These things can go a number of ways but little did we know that Joe Montana would be in the house. It was a private get together but we left about when … read more »
Indiana Means Tuesday Which Means Peanut Butter Pie
Posted by on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 in - 3 comments
So far, the food of the eastern mid-west is not so much different as altered. This morning I had a cherry burger that had a patty that was half beef and half chopped cherry. It was mostly indistinguishable but, still, had half the red meat. Lunch included chicken and noodles which is chicken … read more »
Michigan: Lugnuts v. Dragons at Oldsmobile Park, Lansing
Posted by on Monday, August 10, 2009 in - leave a comment
We left when it was tied in the sixth due to yawning breaking out. But it was a good game and as swell a field as I ever saw. The park is recessed with street level in the outfield being beyond and above the fence. Another pennant for the collection. Another hat for my head.
Friday Bullets For August And That Creeping Feeling
Posted by on Friday, August 7, 2009 in - 4 comments
I don't think we saw 30 C this summer. I don't mind. I also don't mind days without smog. It's a clear still 13 C out there now. You can almost hear the wiff-wiff-wiff of new corduroy just a few weeks away as kids trudge back to school. Twitter took a whack this week but who cares. And who is that …
Being Surprisingly Popular This Summer
Posted by on Thursday, August 6, 2009 in - 1 comment
Summer is usually the dead zone for blogging and maybe that is part of what is going on but the Gen X 40 brand has pushed its way up to #11 on the list of Canada’s Top 25 Political Blogs for the summer 2009. We have to be honest about a few things: • This is truly driven by the beer blog, the …
With Friends Like These - Who Needs Grits?
Posted by on Wednesday, August 5, 2009 in - leave a comment
It's not the normal beginning of the day to have a thought for our Prime Minister's feelings. I am far from really disliking the guy but there is definitely a manufactured layer of neutrality between me and him. I blame him. I am not sure who he blames. Yet when I hear stuff like this it does make …
What To Write When The Fatigue Creeps In
Posted by on Tuesday, August 4, 2009 in - 5 comments
Creeps in? More like has moved in with an entire Mayflower van lines truck. Sooner or later diapers catch up to you and there is nothing left to do but remain unconscious for as much of the day as possible. So it's a bit like waking after weeks asleep that I read about this summer's spike in …
I Like To Eat And I Like To Watch TV
Posted by on Sunday, August 2, 2009 in - 4 comments
Interesting article in the NYT magazine this morning on the rise of TV cooking shows and the concurrent collapse of cooking in the home: • But here’s what I don’t get: How is it that we are so eager to watch other people browning beef cubes on screen but so much less eager to brown them …
