Category: Idle Thoughts

If I were God we wouldn’t have earthquakes where people live, and we especially wouldn’t have them where poor people live in already tragic circumstances.

I’m changing some things around here at home — moved the iMac into the bedroom so I can more comfortably watch internet movies on it; stuff like that. I find that Apple, Hulu and Netflix streaming videos are about equal to DVD quality. And I have the Bose Companion 3 for audio, so music and movies on the computer sound very, very good.

Until now, for several years, I had a receiver in this room with Marantz speakers. The speakers sound wonderful, but they were always a little in the way — they’re the kind of floor speakers we all had decades ago, about two-feet high.

They should go.

But I’ve had them for 34 years! They’re like family heirlooms. Giving them to charity is too cold — like giving an old pet to charity. I need to find a good home for them.

Mark McGwire admits to using steroids.

Sarah Palin signs with Fox News.

Got the software and took an early look at my 2009 income taxes. The good news is I actually had enough medical expenses last year to get a deduction. The bad news is I actually had enough medical expenses last year to get a deduction.

Also, as I pay off my mortgage the interest deduction decreases some each year. Isn’t it nice how the property taxes go up in almost perfect coordination to keep the net deduction the same?

… buy Valentine cards in December? Photo taken at Target yesterday.

I don’t know about you all, but this year I’ve traveled 584 million miles and I’m just about back where I started.

Same as last year.

If you were a pair of pillowcases trying to make a run for it, once you left the linen closet, where would you hide out?

Just askin’.

This story is beyond sad — Mexican Hero’s Family Killed. When are we north of the border going to take responsibility for some of what is happening south of the border because we like illegal Mexican imports so much?

The Last Living American Veteran of WWI is 108-years-old. He was 16 when he enlisted. There’s a 10-minute video interview.

Dan Neil doesn’t think much of Tiger Woods or professional golf. A sample:

My take-away is simply this: Sponsors, run. It doesn’t matter if you’re backing Davis Love III or Ernie Els or Vijay Singh; save your money. Honda, Deutsche Bank, MasterCard, Shell, make a break for it. For the immediate future, the branding opportunities of professional golf have been utterly vacated by l’affair d’tigre. Tiger Woods was and is the sum and whole of the game. He was and is the purest, most unalloyed product of the sport and culture of golf. And when all that is golf was cooked in fate’s crucible and poured down this young man’s gullet, the result was the perfect player who hasn’t breathed an honest breath in years, a jerk — Joe Francis with a 400-yard drive. Tiger’s failure is golf’s summary bankruptcy and indictment.

Camelot fell when Lancelot sinned against the realm. Same deal here.

Gawker tells liberals to shut up. A sample:

Remember when Bush attempted to negotiate an international climate deal, pass a jobs-focused economic stimulus, reform the nation’s health care industry, and come up with a hopefully coherent plan to end the Afghanistan war in one year? And remember how his attempts at all those things were stymied by an uncooperative and undemocratic Senate, but he still managed to make real and tangible gains on each of them? Oh, no, you probably don’t remember that because it was a joke we were making about how you have lost all sense of perspective.

Emily Yoffe explains Why, exactly, our brothers and sisters drive us so crazy.

Evolutionary behaviorists are trying to understand why it is that the emotional connection, and conflicts, between siblings can last a lifetime. The prevailing theory is that it all comes down to math. With our nearest relatives—each parent, our full-siblings, and our children, we share 50 percent of our novel genes. This overlap, and gap, helps explain the continual cycle of family love and conflict.

There’s more. BTW, don’t we share 100% of our genes with our siblings? What am I missing here?

Katherine Boehret of The Mossberg Solution explains what Windows users need to know when they switch to Mac. You might want to save this for when you switch. You will, you know?

Oh, and you can get a pretty good deal on a Saab right now. But consider this first —

Every year on Dec. 24 at 3 p.m., half of Sweden sits down in front of the television for a family viewing of the 1958 Walt Disney Presents Christmas special, “From All of Us to All of You.” Or as it is known in Sverige, Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul: “Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas.”

Jeremy Stahl of Slate Magazine elaborates.

Holy shit! Christmas is next week!

I’m watching the Heisman Trophy show and wondering if it is possible for there to be more clichés in 60 minutes.

[How come O.J. never shows up with the other past winners?]

Ephraim argues for wait-and-see in the face of what he thinks is uncertainty about planetary temperature changes. Of course, he is wrong to begin with. The data is conclusive. But even if we were to agree that it is not, his logic is flawed.

If we lack sufficient data, that means that margin for error in the existing data is greater. And margin of error is given as PLUS or MINUS.

The consensus among those that study the problem is that the temperature will rise by 2-3º F this century. Ephraim says their data is incomplete. That means their data has a margin of error of lets just say ±3º. So, maybe it will turn out that with better data and better models the temperature will actually be about the same in 100 years as it is today.

BUT IT IS JUST AS LIKELY with better data and better models that we will find the temperature will rise even more than the current predictions. The margin of error is PLUS or minus.

Doing nothing now is stupid.

Strictly hypothetical mind you: Is it OK to eat whipped cream by itself?

We’re half-way from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve.

How you doin’?

Every one of us will be one day closer to death tomorrow than we are today.

Have a nice day.

We had a small discussion hereabouts yesterday about whether Tiger Woods should talk to the police. The answer is, of course, that no he shouldn’t. He has that right. We all have that right.

He doesn’t have to let them in the house either. He has that right. We all have that right.

But I have a question about a different kind of situation. Here in Albuquerque, as in many locations, we have routine roadblocks for DWI enforcement. The one time I’ve encountered one of these roadblocks, I was asked whether I had had anything to drink. I answered, truthfully, that I had not.

Did I have to answer that question?

Shades of Cliff Clavin at the bar the other night —

A male Cliff — “Sing something from the such-and-such album, or do we call them CDs.”

No Cliff, it was and still is album. An album is “a collection of recordings.” CD is a technology. A vinyl LP was just a technology.

Female Cliff in response to a comment to the room about the influenza epidemic — “It’s OK, he’s full of antibiotics.”

No Cliffette, antibiotics have no effect on viral infections.

I see the U.S. Supreme Court has declined a cert to review the trademark protection for the name of the Washington Redskins. A group of American Indians has challenged the protection because under the law you may not trademark a racially offensive term. The group won 10 years ago before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, but the NFL franchise appealed and won in federal court on the grounds the group had not been timely in their challenge. (The name was taken when the franchise moved from Boston to Washington in 1937.)

Among my Indian acquaintances the name is considered offensive. A boss I had in Washington many years ago, a long-time Redskins fan and season ticket owner, told me he couldn’t understand what was offensive about it. He was African-American. I asked if he would approve of a racially equivalent name.

You know, the Washington Darkies.

On the other hand.

Balloon kid’s parents to be in TV show after all.

Law & Order.

I only ask one thing: Put the parents in the balloon and release it.

OK, two things: Release it with an embargo on news coverage.

I’ve been watching the ads and I think if I switch from Geico to Allstate to State Farm and then back to Geico again I can save over $1200 on my car insurance.

What, if anything, should be done by Congress or state legislators on the issue of distracted driving?

Why should phones and texting be outlawed and not GPS? Why should phones and texting be outlawed and not kids fighting over which DVD to watch? Why should phones and texting be outlawed and not people applying makeup or shaving? Or eating? Or drinking hot coffee with the lid not on right? Or listening to talk radio, which should drive any reasonable person to distraction?

Isn’t the real issue failure to control a moving vehicle and not the cause of that failure? And isn’t failure to control an offense already? Do we need more laws?

The new University of New Mexico head football coach slugged one of his assistant coaches a couple of weeks ago. The assistant filed a criminal complaint. The head coach, Mike Locksley, currently 0-4, allegedly bloodied the lip of the coach. He has publicly apologized, but the assistant is on administrative leave. And way back last spring, when he’d hardly had time to unpack his bags, Coach Locksley had a sexual and age harassment complaint filed against him. He denies that charge.

Two thoughts. Is there any other academic department besides athletics where this guy wouldn’t be fired by now? And he’d better start winning in a hurry if he wants to be a head coach much longer.