Nate Edel's blog
We really need to get over this whole “Mr. Nice Democrat” thing. We don’t need post-partisanship, or less partisanship… we need BETTER progressive partisanship, and candidates who will give the strong rhetorical and ideological boots-in-the-rear to the conservatives.
It seems like Democrats only do that in the primaries… and that’s exactly the time when we don’t need it, since it gives ammunition to the other side. But against the Republicans, there should be no mercy.
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Tombstone Deep Dish Pizza, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with vending machine pizza, and with high-fructose corn syrup, and with trans-fatty acids, and with all the beasts of the earth.
Must go look. It’s horrific. Frozen pizza vending machine. Ugh.
Ok, there hasn’t been much political discussion this time around, mostly because I’m getting most of my political news via the same half-dozen Democratic blogs that you probably are. This time, though, I had to comment on McCain’s VP choice… not because I either approve or disapprove but rather because a meme that popped up around her was just too amusing.
And that’s the subject line of the title: “VPILF,” which is the latest spin off of “MILF”… now, if you have been sitting under a rock since “American Pie” came out, “MILF” means “Mother I’d like to (expletive deleted)” … and well, VP for Vice President.
To an extent, Gov. Palin is on the younger side and has courted a “sexy” image in the press (see for example, her appearance in Vogue), but… what does this say about how seriously she’s going to be taken on the stump?
I tried Cuil today, and was generally unimpressed – Google still does a much better job of finding the relevant pages, whatever the index size. Further, in the absolutely critical job of ego-googling myself, Google has a lot more of my personal web pages indexed… as opposed to LinkedIn or various index sites referencing my pair of grad school papers, or the one annoying of all, sites mirroring various USENET groups and old mailing lists I post or posted on.
The one very amusing thing that Cuil DID find was a recent LJ/blog post critiquing a graph in the first of my two grad school papers: Your Graph is Bad and You Should Feel Bad
As an aside, there is a rather lame blogmeme sitting in my lifejournal (cubicle_hermit) which will probably be erased, but for those interested, you might look now.
Sorry for the lack of updates. Meanwhile, why not look here:
Resolutions… If I Ever Become a Vampire
(which astute readers will notice is in the same spirit as the Evil Overlord List)
Warning, movie reference that will be a spoiler both for that movie and the mid-season ep of BSG, below the break.
Heh. At least we got mentioned:
The Public Elites
Some schools didn’t make our list because their students are too good. The best of the best.NEWSWEEK’s Challenge Index is designed to recognize schools that challenge average students, and not magnet or charter schools that draw only the best students in their areas. These top performers, listed below in alphabetical order, were excluded from the list of top high schools because, despite their exceptional quality, their sky-high SAT and ACT scores indicate they have few or no average students.
[snippage to lower on the page]
Hunter College High School, New York City: College prep school that serves grades 7-12 and is tied to the City University of New York system.
Oddly enough, Bronx Science got better sounding coverage than Stuyvesant, and Brooklyn Tech wasn’t mentioned at all.
(This was accidentally set as a Page, rather than a Post. It was originally posted on May 19th)
Found via a post on the Flyertalk OMNI board:
04.28.08 | Chicago
Driven to the Brink
A new analysis shows that high gas prices are not only implicated in the bursting of the housing bubble, but that the higher cost of commuting has already re-shaped the landscape of real estate value between cities and suburbs. Housing values are falling fastest in distant suburban and exurban neighborhoods where affordability depended directly on cheap gas.
Read the press release here.
Download the full study here.
The full study is not super-long and is well worth a read.
Well, if you’re British…
New UK Office of Government Commerce logo
Don’t want to hotlink the logo image, so go have a look, tilt your head left, and get a laugh.
I Am A: Neutral Good Human Wizard (4th Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength-12
Dexterity-13
Constitution-11
Intelligence-16
Wisdom-14
Charisma-11
Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.
Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.
Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard’s strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.
Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)
This has been on my facebook page for a while, but I saw I could embed it here, so here you go…
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| From Recent Miscel… |
Marie said it would make me look like an egg. It sort of did, although this photo (taken after about 60 hours’ re-growth) doesn’t really show it.