Googlebombing!

Grassroots strategizing is not just for the Christian Coalition anymore! Actually it looks like the Christian Coalition's day is done anyway, and rising up from the left are GOOGLEBOMBERS. Who are these googlebombers I mention? Technosaavy Progressives who are a step ahead of you, and more importantly, Rove. Slate covers them in an interesting article today about their tremendous (and successful) impact on elections this season. Brilliant!



It is double pleasure to deceive the deceiver.
-Niccolo Machiavelli

For the sake of procrastination

Fun personality quizzes website here.

After coming back to work from the repair shop where I learned that my car needs an expensive new alternator and will soon need timing belts too, I needed a good distraction; something to make me feel better about getting raked over the coals by a large pile of depreciating metal with complex computer codes. What did I find? Masturbatory personality quizzes. So I while I may feel lousy about the fact I am spending about a grand just so I can drive home for Thanksgiving, I can feel good about the fact that the Web can ascertain I have a good soul, am very Leo, a good friend, well traveled, a movie buff, and best of all- guess what American City I am:

You Are Boston

Both modern and old school, you never forget your roots. Well educated and a little snobby, you demand the best. And quite frankly, you think you are the best. Famous people from the Boston area: Conan O'Brien, Ben Affleck, New Kids on the Block

What American City Are You?

Cheers to South Africa

I'm happy to share the following statement re: the overwhelming passage of a new marriage law legalizing same-sex marriage by the South African Parliament:

"The roots of this bill lie in many years of struggle. . . . This country cannot afford to be a prison of timeworn prejudices which have no basis in modern society. Let us bequeath to future generations a society which is more democratic and tolerant than the one that was handed down to us."

-South African Defense Minister Mosuia Lekota, as quoted by the Associated Press via Boston.com


Hope the sentiment spreads!

uhh... this is one approach to take, I guess...

CNN is reporting that scientists have presented a very -unique- idea of a possible method to combat global warming at this year's UN Conference on Climate Change: more air pollution. I don't know if this is just ironic postulating or what.

This is the theory: deliberately eject a layer of air pollution into the atmosphere in the hopes that it will "shade" us from the sun and assuage further greenhousing effects, which grow exponentially. It's kind of like the homeopathic approach of fighting "like with like", just on a scale the size of our solar system and with the future of life on Earth at stake.

Not exactly the solution we all might hope for, but it certainly does has shock value going for it, I guess. Slightly less ideal than simply capping emissions and using renewable clean energy... Definitely thinking "outside the box" on this one... Wonder what Al Gore thinks.

It's November 14th!!! Can You Believe It!?!

Today has to be one of the least interesting days in history all year. I have done my research, would like to present the following list of the the most interesting things I could find out about November 14:

• Moby Dick was first published on this day in 1851
• Teddy Roosevelt became the first US President to visit a foreign country- he went to Panama in 1906
• The first visit by a Pope to the White House happened on this day in 1979 (John Paul II)
• Michael Jackson's video for Black or White premiered on Fox on this day in 1991
• In 1993 Don Shula became the "winningest" coach in NFL history. Well maybe this is only notable to me because I have felt a personally connection with him since having been to his restaurant in Key West.
• Birthdays: Claude Monet, Boutros-Boutros Ghali, Aaron Copland, Condi Rice, Prince Charles (not even any notable celebrity birthdays to speak of)
• In 2004 Iran announced it was voluntarily and temporarily suspending its uranium enrichment program in response to international discussions. Hindsight being 20/20 maybe these talks could have been taken a little more seriously, because now...
• In 2006 (today) Iran announced its uranium enrichment program is close to reaching manufacturing capabilities, and officials report they expect it to be fully operational and capable of fulfilling Iran's power needs within the next few months. Another rogue state will soon join the nuclear club. So what happened to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty exactly?!

Also, FYI Mercury's Retrograde period is coming to a close this week- enough reflecting, time to start acting! :)

Waiting vs.Kneading...

My ever-vigilant friend Brian gave me the heads-up on a brand new breadmaking innovation that I am SO excited about. I rarely endeavor to make bread because it is so labor intensive, but this new recipe invented by Jim Lahey of the Sullivan Street Bakery takes all that labor (kneading) out of the equation altogether. I hear the naysayers- how could this be, you might be asking. Time! The answer is time! The kneading is necessary to create the right gluten environment for the bread to rise, but the same gluten conditions can be affected simply by using instant yeast, and giving the yeast enough time to work the dough on its own. So simple it's brilliant! Here's a link to the article with the recipe from yesterday's New York Times. This recipe has me so excited I may just splurge on a Le Creuset dutch oven so I can try it out right away. TheyARE having a bakeware sale for Veteran's Day this weekend anyway, so it'll only cost an arm rather than the usual arm-and-a-leg. I'll let you know how the bread turns out....

Out with the old and

on with the new!

On to greener pastures. It's election day; America is making changes and so too am I. For one, I'm kicking my passive job search into an active one. I've been gathering too much moss at my present job. Looking to stay in legal for the time being, but I want a job to feel good about going to and working at- a job less about fighting and more about solutions, such as dispute resolution, mediation, negotiations, conciliation....

And while I'm at it, might as well get a new apartment. Love living in Davis, but want to continue to do it with a roommate. It would be ideal to save some money and have an apartment with a dishwasher :)

So let me know if you have any leads for jobs for me or apartments in the Davis area....


________
We know what we are, but know not what we may be
-W. Shakespeare
_________________

Telling it like it is...

If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend that you check out "Insulting Our Troops, and Our Intelligence" by Thomas Friedman, which ran in the New York Times on this past Friday, November 3, 2006. And so does Bruce Springsteen. Here's a free link to the article courtesy of the Brucespringsteen.net website.

I can't state it any more succintly or perfectly, nor would I even try.

Go ahead, pour yourself another...

Well the news really couldn't get any better for wine and cheese lovers like myself. Brilliant scientists have undertaken a study of pairing red wine with fatty foods (in mice, but that's really neither here nor there) and have found that drinking lots of red wine leads to a long and healthy life, or something like that. Is the wine industry behind all these studies or something, because the news just keeps getting better as far as the health benefits associated with drinking red wine. Not that I'm complaining, or course.

For the full story, click here.