Archive for July 2006

The monthlies.

• Record Heat

  Just for the record, after returning home from the beach (Muir Beach in Marin, which, for the record, is not as nice as Stinson), it was 110 degrees (on the Fahrenheit scale) at our home at 5pm. We live on the bay, which is notably and markedly cooler than the inland Bay Area, and it [...]

• Opting Out Of Pre-Approved Credit Cards Applications In The Mail; It Can Happen To You Too (Also, 511 Sucks)

  I present to you a candidate for longest blog-entry title ever. Okay, someone at ABC News deserves a Peabody award for this: “Stop the Barrage of Credit Card Offers: The big three credit bureaus have given you a way to ‘opt out’ and stop banks from sending you unsolicited credit card offers. Call the number [...]

• Corps Reviews

  I am an engineer, a geotechnical engineer, to be exact. I have worked on (and designed) levees that are built upon poor existing soil conditions here in the bay area (that are also subject to strong ground motions via earthquakes). I have recently listened to an esteemed colleague discuss the reasons, from an engineering perspective, [...]

• In the News… GOP Follies.

  - Tim Grieve, as usual, has found a golden nugget of hypocrisy from the GOP: “South Dakota Sen. John Thune beat Tom Daschle in 2004 by making the case that the incumbent was obstructing the agenda of George W. Bush. So how would Thune run if he had to run again now? ‘If I were [...]

• Drinking Water In Earthquake Country

  Living in the middle of earthquake country (the San Francisco bay area), my fiancee and I, who are relatively new to the area (four years now), are trying to prepare ourselves for any possible ground shaking (and life-rattling) events. One of the main items to have in case an earthquake hits is also one of [...]

• Bush Top 10 (And Some More)

  This YouTube video is making its way around the internet, Dave Letterman’s Top 10 Bush moments. The top ten moments do not include, however, Bush’s love for OB/GYN doctors, his cover of The Who’s We Won’t Get Fooled Again, Bush defining sovereign (video below), and Bush sheepishly trying to escape a press conference in China [...]

• Get Your Hands Off Me

  What was Bush (our beloved president) thinking when he gave an impromptu shoulder rub to the female prime minister of Germany, Angela Merkel? I mean, where the hell did he think he was that he thought this was an appropriate gesture? Would he do the same to Condi Rice during a cabinet meeting? Maybe, I [...]

• Romper Room

  A recent post of mine is highlighted as part of the 17th edition of the Carnival of the Liberals. I, on the other hand, will also be hosting the 18th edition of the carnival in two weeks. [Deep breath. Relax. You can do this.]

• Blog-worthy Cellphone Photos

  I have taken some photos with my 1.3-megapixel cellphone camera of the filming of a commericial or whatever outside my window here in downtown Oakland, and whenever I finally get around to unloading my memory card, I will try to post them (as well as all of the other supposedly “blog-worthy” photos I have taken [...]

• Right now…

  Alright, as I speak, there is a production crew — I believe for either a movie or commercial (I can’t tell) — set up and filming below my building here in Oakland. (This is not a usual occurence so I am watching somewhat attentively — it is within my zone of eyesight, so I can’t [...]

• In the News… Gay Bush Email.

  There are three big stories out there today (not including the Israel-Hezbollah war, the Iraq war, the war on terror, and other critical issues)… – The most surprising result of the House voting down a “Gay Marriage Amendment” is the revelation that the White House doesn’t understand law: “When activist judges insist on redefining the [...]

• Fixing Baseball… Realignment.

  Every now and then, I blog about how baseball can be fixed (Major League Baseball, that is), but I think about it much more often than that. Here are my latest and greatest ideas on how to fix baseball. Thirty teams does not make sense. We have 16 teams in one league (National) and 14 [...]

• Another Ironic Twist

  I didn’t want to comment on this (because I don’t think that is that big of deal, besides that the president was speaking “with his mouth full“) but Jake Tapper made me do it… I think the majority of the news coverage of the president’s use of the s-word is overblown. What is ironic, however, [...]

• UC, I See No Students

  I had always wondered how a university or college could just begin. I mean, most schools have been around for more than 100 years, and the most recent schools seem to have all started in the 50s or 60s, not last year. Maybe that is why the newest University of California (UC) school is having [...]

• Caption Contest Returns

  Sometimes it is too easy it is not even fun anymore. Image: REUTERS / Jim Bourg

• Billy Joel @ SU

  Back in May I blogged that Billy Joel sang a song he wrote about Syracuse University during his commencement speech. Well, thanks to the proliferation of small digital camcorders and the (endless?) beauty of YouTube, here it is…

• The DailyKos Fallacy (i.e., why DailyKos does not matter)

  DailyKos is a community of seemingly well-educated and well-informed liberals spouting on about the state of the political landscape. How does this formula translate into congressional (and presidential) electoral victories for the democratic party? It doesn’t. It shouldn’t. And it never will. The readers of DailyKos are not new to voting. These readers, me included, [...]

• In the News

  - Am I the only person who has never heard of Rocketboom? I mean, Joe Scarborough knew about it. Or, was he just prepped? (That is probably the case.) – So, does this rising-oil-prices-as-a-result-of-Mideast-tension mean we should drive less or buy oil futures? – And I wish I had the balls to sue the vice [...]

• Tapper Comes To Oakland (For Kos)

  Hey, Jake. I am at work right now in downtown Oakland (it is much nicer than it sounds). Please stop by and say hello. As a liberal blogger, I have stopped in and cross-published a handful of times at the site, but I mainly stay away from the cult-like parade of lunatics that make up [...]

• California Supreme Court "Helps" Hercules vs. Walmart

  The town I reside in, the City of Hercules, has received some apparent “help” from the California Supreme Court in our epic (and widely-publicized) battle against Walmart. The Court declined to listen to an appeal filed by the Arkansas-based superstore “setting a statewide precedent [that] local governments can enact [bans on big-box superstores] to prevent [...]

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