He said it first

Megs and I laughed and laughed over this. You have to watch it at least three times

I'm not making this up: $150,000 for clothes, hair and makeup for Sarah Palin

As reported here:

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Here's what I wanna know. How much have the spent on hair, makeup, and accessories on John and Cindy McCain?

Honestly, the story seriously cracks me up. It just has *so* many incredibly humorous angles. What's your reaction?

my birthday

is coming up in about 17 days, on November 6th. I'm going to be 34. But I think the Spanish (and, as it turns out, Arabic) way of saying "I will *have* 34 years" is a lot more descriptive.

Thirty Four is kewl because it's the smallest number that has the property that it and both of it's neighbors have the same number of divisors.

What the hell does that mean? Well. 1*2*17=34. and 1*3*11=33. and 1*5*7=35.

That is, they all have 3 prime divisors.

Did you notice the misused apostrophe earlier in this post?

Last year for my birthday I wrote 17 of the best and/or hardest things in my story (you figure out which is which) (not necessarily in any particular order!) (and also not necessarily *not* in any particular order). (Maybe I'll do another 16 for my half birthday):

I never did the half birthday thing. So now I'm asking what you think. Shall I write another 17 best and hardest things for my 34th birthday? Or shall I write something else? Suggestions?

Today I decided that for my birthday I want a new phone. I wish I could get an I-phone, but ... it's not compatible with Verizon's network. Alas. And besides the fact that it would cost me a ton of money to get out of my contract, I rather like Verizon's network. I find I often have coverage when other people I'm with don't.

So instead, for my birthday I want the LG Dare. It looks pretty kewl. =) And they are going for about $300 on ebay.

I feel vaguely guilty for wanting one. I'm thinking--3 billion people on the planet live on $2/day or less. So I'm wanting a phone that's worth as much as half a year's wages to them? Is that right? Plus, there's also this: 426,000 cell phones are retired in the U.S. every single day. Where do they go? I mean--how many into landfills? Check out Chris Jordan's artwork with regards to 426,000 cell phones. This is part of his running the numbers exhibition. The actual piece is 60 by 100 inches. God, I'd love to see it sometime. It's currently on exhibit in Texas. Ah well.

426,000 cell phones, the number retired in the U.S. every day:



Partial Zoom


Detail at actual size

Jon Stewart clarifies his Sarah Palin remarks

For the record, I think Jon Stewart is both very funny and very astute.

""""Health of the mother""""

Does this come across to you as totally, shockingly, unbelievalby dismissive of pregnant women in the same way it does to me? I just about fell over when I saw McCain say this last night. I felt furious. My mind instantly went to my beautiful wife Megsie, who almost died giving birth to our beautiful super amazing daughter Eowyn. I hope Cindi McCain sticks up for her gender and gives McCain what for over this.

I bet this video hits 100,000 views by the end of Friday.

Have you ever played wink?

Also known as Ratchet Screwdriver, Bloody Winkum, and, among Young Friends in the New Zealand and Australia, the Kissing Game. ("Young Friends" here refers to, I believe, Young Quakers.)

I've never heard of this game before. I found it in the process of trying to learn the etymology of "hoodwink".

It sounds like a lot of fun. Does the fact that it sounds like a lot of fun to me prove that I'm young at heart?

Reading about the game reminded me of the sort of lovely communityish feeling one gets, in cultures where everyone kisses everyone else on the cheek, when one exchanges kisses with other people. I *do* rather hope to live in Argentina again, at some point in my life.

"Biblical Worldview" and "Biblical Puppy Dog"

Ran into this definition for "Biblical Worldview" from the Barna Group today. Overall, I rather like the *direction* the Barna Group is moving. But this is just obnoxious. Beyond that, "Biblical worldview" is an incompatible mixture of terms, something akin to "Biblical puppy dog". There is no such thing. There may be puppy dogs in the Bible (although I can't think of any right off). But there just is no Biblical Puppy Dog. If I were to *define* a Biblical puppy dog, my definition would certainly not be any better than *your* definition of Biblical puppy dog (although mine would probably be better written =). I don't even think either definition would be super useful. Okay, they might be useful for telling us something about what we each like in puppy dogs.

For several years, The Barna Group has been tracking how many people possess a "biblical worldview." The organization defines such a life perspective on the basis of several questions about religious beliefs. The definition requires someone to believe that absolute moral truth exists; that the source of moral truth is the Bible; that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches; that eternal spiritual salvation cannot be earned; that Jesus lived a sinless life on earth; that every person has a responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others; that Satan is a living force, not just a symbol of evil; and that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful maker of the universe who still rules that creation today.

Your advice requested.

Here's the story, in a nutshell: About two months ago, on a whim, I met up with my little sister Kat down in Auburn because I happened to be down there for another reason. She was on her motorcycle. One thing led to another, and soon I was whizzing down the freeway sitting behind her on her motorcycle, going 65 miles per hour.

It was like an ephipany. It was ... like the most ... astoundingly beautiful, amazing, delightful, .... I could go on, but you get the idea. I was thinking "This seriosquilio fucking rocks, where has this been all my life, it is now simply unimaginable to me how I could have wasted the probably 2 to 3 hundred thousand miles of driving I have done in my lifetime on a car, when I could have been on a motorcycle."

So a couple weeks later I was signed up for the evergreen safety council's two day long novice motorcycle rider's safety course. I concentrated, bringing my considerable capacity for learning to bear, and I passed both the written and driving tests at the end of the course with flying colors.

I am currently in the process of buying a used motor cycle which I went and drove the other night for about an hour and which I rather like and which is rather inexpensive, as these things go--kind of a beginner's bike, as it were.

Today I had another revelation. In many different ways, large and small, my lovely super amazing wife Megan has been communicating to me over the past couple months that she is ... very much against the idea of me becoming a regular rider of motorcycles. I think this is mostly being informed by her fear that something bad will happen to me, and is being exacerbated by her fear of the expense involved in buying the bike and the gear I need.

Now I find myself ... "torn" isn't exactly the right word. It's more of a ... wondering. Something more like Tevye with the first pair, Tzeitel and Motel, rather than Tevye with the last pair, Chava and Fyedka.

On the one hand ... This is a *big* "want to" of mine. Lately, whenever I drive anywhere in the van, I'm thinking "I could *so* be on a motorcycle. It would rock. The open air, that astounding feeling of being on the bike, etc. etc."

On the other hand, in the larger picture, my relationship with Megan is *very* important to me. Very very important. And ... marriage and relationship is sometimes about sacrificing what I want in favor of what the other person wants--"deference", as Mike Weeks taught us all those years ago.

And yet on the other hand ....

I could continue back and forth on the hands for some time here. But I think you get the picture, and no doubt you could continue the hands thing yourself for at least a few more paragraphs =).

What do you think I should do?

Arabic classes!

Today I start Arabic classes, twice a week for two hours each time, for the next 8 weeks or so.

I'm super excited. hooray. =)

HALF BREEd MUSLiN

A fellow in Barefoot Bay, Florida, has put up a homemade sign in his yard that reads: "OBAMA HALF-BREEd MUSLiN"

When you add up the capitalization along with the obsure reference to the cotton material commonly used in sheets and curtains, also called "sheeting', one is left to wonder if the author isn't rather hurting their own cause. Certainly made me chuckle.

I rather suspect anyone reading this blog already knows better. But for the record, Senator Obama is a Christian. Not that I would have any problem with it if he *were* a "Muslin".

Don't vote!

I thought this was well enough put together to merit posting.