march madness

You knew it had to happen. Spring is just around the corner and behind that Easter. So here to welcome in another season of life is the inflatable 10-foot tall chick-rabbit.

Forget for a moment that bunnies don't lay eggs, nor have wings and that chicks don't have large, floppy ears. The fact that chicks aren't sexually mature enough to lay eggs, and when they (chickens) are capable, they rarely lay eggs a third the size of their body, seems trivial. Instead, think of it like this. If folks are still spending money on such frivolities, there's hope yet that we can still rely on rebuilding our economy through mindless consumerism.

why settle for anything less than world domination?

Stand up on your feet
'Cause your life is short as hell
You could be dead tomorrow
Today may be your

Last chance to believe in yourself
Your last chance to yell
Your last chance to be good to yourself
Your last chance to drink from life's well

Was the recent induction of Shooting Star into the Kansas Rock and Roll Hall of Fame timed to coincide with the announcement of the 25th anniversary Spinal Tap reunion tour “Unwigged, Unplugged, and Undead.”? Maybe not, but I think we can agree on one thing. What both bands hope to accomplish can be summed up in two words, "World Domination!" They've got the adoring fans, now they just need to find more sponsors.


Shooting Star, whose highest charting single was #82 on the Billboard Top 100 back in 1989, are frequently described by themselves and their fans as a band which verged on superstardom. The band recently released Live from Ameristar Casino.

So drink from the well
Oh yeah

Drink from the well
Oh yeah
Yeah

Drink from the well

jesus on the main line

Tell Him what you want.

Jon Stewart's much touted interview with MSNBC host of Mad Money, Jim Cramer came to pass this week with more hype than the return of the Friends cast to television. Stewart's show has been calling out Cramer in recent weeks for his role, or more precisely, his lack of a role, as an unbiased business reporter. Instead of talking about some of the writing on the wall, Cramer's show was more of a non-stop, razz fest on the joy of unfettered, free-market capitalism. Watching Mad Money is a bit like watching a young Louis Rukheyser, if Louis Rukheyser had spent ample amounts of his investment earnings on cocaine and dressed like a croupier.

Unfortunately, it's not as though MSNBC was a lone wolf in the land of myopic dreams and cars that get 20 mpg. The same argument, that journalist failed to do their job, could be leveled against most everyone (outside of Democracy Now) who covered the the war in Iraq and much of the Bush administration. It was only in about year six of Bush's two-term reign did the tide in the mainstream media shift against Bush. Many of them are still too scared to take on the war in Iraq, lest they offend our troops. Although doing a show from mid-town Manhattan in the shell shock of 9/11 made them initially cautious as anti-war activists, to the Daily Show's credit, they were on the stink earlier than most.

Here's what I find amusing, if not troubling. People are acting a though a great secret has recently been revealed to them -- capitalism is just a giant pyramid scheme. Have they just previously chosen to ignore the underlying premise of social security, retirement accounts, and houses that double in value every seven years?It's a system that can only work if more and more people come in at the bottom and support those who have gone on before them. There are enough pink Cadillacs still rolling on the streets to prove this point.

Everyone is fine and happy with this system so long as their 401k plans continue to earn 10 percent per annum. And if they earn 20 or 30 percent per year, then that earns them the right to buy bottle service and fuck who they want. Yet they rarely stop to ask themselves, is there some God-given right to double-digit returns on investments? Unfortunately many, especially many Americans, have come to believe this to be true.

sports au naturel

Swiss golfer, Henrick Stenson, proves that golf is the only professional sport where one is permitted to play in your underwear. I really think he's just trying to get a Jockey endorsement.

However, there are several amateur sports where folks take the au naturel approach. For instance, there's the little known sport of ice chopping whereby naked men, wielding only an axe, courage, and a shriveled penis see who can chop the fastest route across a frozen river.



Then there's probably the craziest sport ever invented, naked skateboard luge, where, and this is no joke, people lie down naked on a skateboard and attempt to ride down steep and winding hills. A few summers ago, while walking home late one night, my friend and I heard the distinctive sounds of wheels on pavement coming in our direction. We stopped and waited. In a few seconds, around the bend came a person lying prone on a skateboard. They whizzed past us gathering speed and we marveled as they leaned and guided the streaking board expertly down the broad hill and evenly around curves. Once they went out view, we both looked at each other and asked incredulously, "was that person naked?" Sure enough. We found a spot near the top the hill and watched for the next hour as one after one crazed young adults stripped and took to the hill wearing only sneakers.

The fun only stopped after a car blindly approaching from the opposite direction nearly ran over one of the lugers as they passed each other in the middle of the road. The driver stopped when he got to the top of hill, jumped out of the car, and shouted, "you're going to get someone killed!"

To which I replied, "hey, did you happen to notice that person wasn't wearing any clothes?" The driver gave me a puzzled look, got back in his car, slammed the door, and burned rubber as he drove off. Spoil sport!

Henrick Stenson image Getty Images

astana to ride 2009 tour of missouri

Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, whose most significant accomplishment in office has been what he's done to elevate professional cycling as a premier event in the state, announced today that Team Astana has committed to the 2009 Tour of Missouri. Astana is the most powerful stage-racing team in the world and includes Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, and Andreas Kloden among its members.

The Kazakhstan Team Astana joins American teams Charmin-Chilpolte and Columbia High Road, Swiss-based Cervelo Test Team, and Italian Liquidgas as having committed to race come September. Ten more slots will be filled in the coming months but the stage is already set to have some of the best riders in the world competing in the 3rd annual Tour of Missouri.

It will likely be the end of the summer, after the Grand Tours, before Astana announces it's lineup. I'd be surprised to see Lance Armstrong ride this race, but you never know. It just might be the final swansong of his much ballyhooedcomeback training ride.

peace officer

Josh Myers, Deputy Sheriff of Coffee County Alabama, offers one of the better arguments for controlling assault weapons on our nation's streets. Deputy Sampson's wife and 2 month-old child were killed by a gunman wielding among other weapons, an AK-47. The gunman was able to fire several thousand rounds at family members, former employers, and random encounters on the streets of Sampson, Alabama. Eleven people, including the gunman who eventually shot himself, died in the rampage.

skeptical of the skeptics

Just because the Bush Adminstration has left the building doesn't mean that science isn't still being obfuscated and politicized by ideologues. Case in point, the 2nd International Conference on Climate Change. The conference is being sponsored by the Heartland Institute, a group whose mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. One would have thought that the last 8 years would have dampened unfettered market love for most things, including science, but my guess is that most of those in attendance have taken huge hits in the stock market and are plenty pissed about it.

The groups real beef appears not to be with the science, but with the money. So in an effort to discredit the science, they label proponents to global climate change as "radical environmentalists" and "anti-business".

If global warming is indeed a crisis, billions of dollars taken from taxpayers will flow into the coffers of radical environmental groups, giving them the resources and stature to implement other parts of their anti-technology, anti-business agenda. None of that money will go to actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This explains the paradox that even though the scientific community is deeply divided over the causes and consequences of global warming, every single environmental advocacy group in the U.S. (and probably the world) believes it is a crisis.

The conference suggests that elite scientists, economists and others specializing in climate issues will be in attendance - no doubt giving props to white folk who just can't get jiggy wid the notion that it's getting hot in here. Those other specialists will no doubt be quoted widely by the likes of Hannity, Limbaugh, and other fat cat mouthpieces in the coming weeks.
attack of the skeptics

the zeitgeist: sarah palin explains life, love, and why she loves the jonas brothers

Everyone seems to be after the zeitgeist. Last year The Dark Knight was advertised as capturing the zeitgeist of our nation which I suppose was meant to suggest that everyone is corrupt and chasing evil, even if that means our own demons, so why not plunk down a 10 spot and forget that the End is Near.

But once the calendar flipped into '09, regardless that the economy had yet to follow suit, TDK quickly lost much of its vulgar charm. Suddenly it seemed everyone, even politicians who formerly complained about our sound bite culture, were all a Twitter. The book, due this the spring, will surely be more than 140 words.


But beyond the marketing campaigns to define cool, the moment does not stand still even as we are tempted to rest. Therefore, google to the rescue. The same software that allows the government and industry types to track your every whim provides an estimator of the moment, or the moment just passed. Look at the most frequently searched terms over the past the year and the zeitgeist is defined for you. I'll warn you though, it can be depressing. Here's the 2008 top ten list.

Fastest Rising (Global)
1. sarah palin
2. beijing 2008
3. facebook login
4. tuenti
5. heath ledger
6. obama
7, nasza klasa
8. wer kennt wen
9. euro 2008
10. jonas brothers

Even though Sarah Palin topped the 2008 list it's not completely depressing. The top two searches involving the string What is? were what is life? and what is love?. Apparently we haven't completely lost our minds although one is left wonder how many folks are in love with Sarah Palin and believe that she was sent her to explain the meaning of life.

Note that Tuenti, nasza klasa, and wer kennt wen are Spanish-, Polish-, and German-language social engineering sites along the lines of facebook. So it would seem that, the zeitgeist never really changes from year-to-year or culture-to-culture. People just want to hook up with one another and will use whatever tools are at hand to try and do so.

zeitgeist! from google

when I grow up i want to save the world

"like let's say, let's say law school doesn't work out, this will probably be my second choice" middle school student Thomas Escarpeda speaking about an engineering career on KC Currents, 1 March 2009

The other morning, while consuming my daily dose of yogurt, granola, and radio news, I came upon a piece about a new program to increase interest in engineering as a profession. There's been a wealth of stories to suggest the US has fallen way behind in science and engineering education but the peeps coming through the door at the House of Many Rivers, Volcanoes, and Earthquake Maps is any indication, one needs a Master's degree just to be qualified for the tech position. Either that, or once hired, firms decide they really don't like the independent thinking that employing scientists brings to an organization so after a few years of questioning along the lines of "has anyone in this organization ever tested whether or not on-line safety training actually reduces accidents?" they are told that perhaps they are better suited for a career in 'sales'.

The radio piece explored a learning approach whereby middle and high school students are allowed and trusted to tackle open-ended problem solving. It makes for a noisy classrooms, provides higher-level critical thinking, and has been around, as a concept, for years. It works, but requires dedicated teachers, even more dedicated administrations, and students bent on learning. All skills which can be taught but the 'teach to the test' approach has to be thrown out the window which can make some teachers, not to mention parents and students uncomfortable.

Education programs designed to train engineers frequently seem to focus on building robots. Robots are cool, who doesn't love a robot, but this kind of thinking tends to perpetuate the idea that robots are going to save the world. Which is kind of at odds with the notion that perhaps it's going to be left to humans to save the world.

"the first thing we do is hire all the lawyers to kill the engineers. Then we kill the lawyers." [paraphrasing Henry VI, Part 2 | Act IV, Scene 2]

Now generally I'm a nonviolent person, but one would have to agree that many of the messes that we find ourselves in can be traced back to either shitty engineering designs by folks who apparently never take a walk in nature, or attorneys suing for the right of unfettered capitalism to profit from toxic materials (and assets). I think if we're going to train a new generation of more robust thinkers, then science and engineering programs ought to spend as much time having students explore other ways of thinking, such as art, as they do with the 'facts'. Facts are really the best approximation given the data at hand. Science is the story that binds these elements together.

Why do you never hear a child say, "you know, when I grow up I want to be a poet, and if that doesn't work out, then maybe a playwright." If the world is to be saved, who would you have save it?

kc currents
project lead the way

what to give up for lent on a friday in march

There's a great scene in Doubt where Sister Alyosious has invited Father Flynn to her office to talk about a 'situation'. Tea is served and the Father asks for sugar, which takes the stern, uncompromising Head Mistress a few minutes to find because the the sugar bowl is hidden in the back of her desk. To the sister's surprise the Father takes 3 lumps of sugar and when he asks the Sister if she'd like some, she remarks, "no, I gave it up last year for Lent."

To which the Father replies, "well, it mustn't have been much of a sacrifice."

What are you giving up for Lent and OK, if you're not of that persuasion, for the economic stimulus plan?

I suggested giving up insanity, at least until Easter or the economy turns, but my friend was against it. Instead, she recommended something considerably more pedestrian yet sacrificial, like reading. Seems a bit severe, if not entirely problematic. Movies? I might give up movies. I've watched more movies in the last 3 months than books I've read. A sure sign that something might be amiss in the universe. Recently I've been catching up on some interesting television dramas that are now on cd, "Mad Men" and "The Wire". Proof that if you build good dialogue around chain-smoking or heroin addiction, you've got yourself a winner.

Maybe I'll give up Brussels sprouts. I just recently learned to love them, so maybe I could live without.

picking cotton, finding forgiveness

The act of complete forgiveness seems to be one of the more difficult human struggles. I think most of us have something, or someone, that we just can't quite forgive of their transgressions. Once you hear the story of Ronald Cotton and Jennifer Thompson-Cannino you may come to realize that if these folks can forgive one another (and themselves) and become friends, then true forgiveness is possible for everyone.

joint this i believe essay
picking cotton, the website

war is over

John Stewart and Computer G analyze the end of Iraq War, formerly known as "Mission Accomplished". The answer might surprise you.

homer simpson explains the financial crisis

AIG, known affectionately by those who care as American International Group, posted the largest quarterly loss, $62 billion, in history last Friday. If that seems like a lot of money, it is. Total AIG losses for the year were $100 billion. And how much money is that? $100 billion is larger than the gross domestic product of 70 percent of the world's countries. Seventy percent of them!

To prevent the collapse of AIG, the government infused them with another $30 billion today. That money is in addition to another $150 billion already given to AIG in the past year by the US government. According to experts, of which I am not one, we must help AIG lest the entire western way of banking collapses at our feet. Given the way things are happening, maybe it's time it did.

one of the experts?

So the government now owns 80 percent of the assets of AIG and we (read: the government) apparently don't know where the money went in the process because AIG isn't talking. And for those keeping score at home, 80 percent would seem to be sufficient to classify this transaction as 'nationalization'. Now if I only get myself to tell my other self, whether or not nationalizing this company was in my own best interest then I can be satisfied that I made the right decision. Until that happens, I'm placing my trust in Homer.

post-apocalyptic brunch plans

I don't know who has a more compelling argument these days for the end-of-time, the Republicans, or Pastor Bob, but are you ready? And more importantly, are your children ready? Here's how you can make certain.



In our next installment we'll examine some nifty brunch ideas for a post-apocalyptic world.

mac claire mc

claire mccaskill: the lizzle jizzle sizzle of the senate

Ok ok. Mom's upset that I was rude at Pres speech re:tweets.For the record I tweeted bfor,at very begining,& after speech.I wanted to listen
7:12 AM Feb 26th from TinyTwitter

Classified briefing on Afghanstn and Pakstn. Serious challenges.
8:39 AM Feb 25th from TinyTwitter

Great speech. Right tone.Right message of bold action and budget restraint. My favorite line: "We are not quitters."
7:28 PM Feb 24th from TinyTwitter

Pres just hailed the Recov Act. Sen Spector was a lonely Republican when he stood to applaud.
6:25 PM Feb 24th from TinyTwitter

Quite an ovation.The warm greeting between Pres Obama & Sec Clinton makes me proud of our democracy. What a difference a year makes.
6:20 PM Feb 24th from TinyTwitter

Now Supreme Ct. I did big wooohoo for Justice Ginsberg. She looks good.
6:04 PM Feb 24th from TinyTwitter

the rise of controversy

Controversy is good for art, but it may be better for the price of art. There's a web site with the funny name of Expresso Beans that tracks the cost of art. Run by volunteers, the site is focused primarily on graphic art and allows one to quickly and easily see how costs fluctuate over time. Or, if you're buying or selling, what a fair price might be for the work.

Take the famous (or infamous) Shepard Fairey/AP HOPE poster. A signed offset print originally sold for $30. Over the last six months, the same poster has been selling for an average price of almost $3,000; a thousand percent return!. That figure is based on 323 transactions from a print run of 600 so many of the 600 have been sold at least once. Looking at the chart, one can see several bumps: a small one when Obama received the Democratic nomination, a larger one when he won the general election, and another bump near the inaguration now sustained by the AP copyright infringement case.

My guess is that the ultimate price of the print is directly related to the size of the settlement.
expresso beans

my new facebook friend, president barack obama

People can complain all they want about things not being that different under President Obama, and I share part of their fear. But it's early yet, really early, and there's a whole lot of stuff that needs doing. But after all, let's face facts, he's the President, not all 535 members of Congress and if we really want change, most of those folks need to go because they spend too much time raising money and listening to lobbyists.

But I do know this. Obama is the first President to send me emails. Funny thing. It's not surprising to be getting an email from the Prez. The hundreds of emails I got during the campaign may have something to do with my lack of surprise and sure, the new ones are going out by the million so I'm not that special. And some could argue that he's just trying to control the story and that's part of the motive behind the e-blast, but I say, hey, it's 2009, shouldn't the President communicate with the American public using the same tools they use to communicate with each other?

Seems a no-brainer. Nice to have a President with a brain.

excerts below:
------------------------------

m.o.i.
Last night, I addressed a joint session of Congress for the first time.

To confront the serious economic challenges our nation faces, I called for a new era of responsibility and cooperation. We need to look beyond short term political calculations and make vital investments in health care, energy, and education that will make America stronger and more prosperous well into the future.

...a few highlights from my address...

Central to this plan will be a renewed commitment to honesty and transparency in government. Restoring our country's economic health will only happen when ordinary citizens are given the opportunity to hold their representatives fully accountable for the decisions they make.

I look forward to continuing to work with you as we bring about the change you made possible.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

space moment: major tom, captain bowie, flight of the concorde

Given the recent failure of the NASA satellite to achieve orbit, here's a moving tribute to space travel by Flight of the Concorde.

worth more than armstrong's bike

Velonews is reporting that the following items were stolen from cyclist David Zabriskie's home while he was busy finishing second in the recent Tour of California. For those of you aren't cycle-crazed, Zabriskie is a four-time US Time Trial Champion, captured stage wins in each of the Grand Tours, and holds the record for the fastest time trial in Tour de France history (avg. speed 54.68 km/hr [33.97 miles/ hr]. Think about the last time you rode your bike at 34 miles an hour and weren't going down a steep incline. Try doing if for 19 km.
zabriskie tweet
this is partial list of items reported stolen:
• Black 2008 Subaru Outback, Utah plate A189NC
• Black 2006 Toyota Scion, Utah plate 094VWM
• Giro D Italia Race Medal
• Olympic Seiko watch
• Beijing Olympic ring (silver) with initials "DZ" engraved ($4,000)
• Olympic Time Trial Bike, plus 12 other bikes (combined value of $100,000)
• Cervelo (black/red) bike frame - team issued ($5000)
• Tag Heuer watch ($6,000)
• 7 Marvel sideshow statues ($11,000)

Photo by Frank Steele via Flickr

charles darwin and president obama, linked by a g-string

At first glance this might appear to be pandering to your base senses. However, unpon closer inspection, you'll come to realize it's actually a rare form of politcal protest practiced at Carnivale by Viviane Castro. This approach might renew your interest in history or thwarting US attempts to commercialize Amazonian resources.