A blog that used to be about things

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Vuvuzelas are banned from UFC 116 this Saturday.

As the world prepares for the greatest heavyweight title fight of the past two decades, the Ultimate Fighting Championship® made a stunning announcement today that will undoubtedly have a global impact.


Undoubtedly, as the rest of the world was apparently unaware that white males without any channels to properly funnel their aggression find vuvuzelas annoying.

Go Brock!

RELATED:

Lessons learned

http://www.stltoday.com/news/us/article_bcbfb703-8462-52f6-a9fe-c244042809d4.html

Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the police sergeant who arrested him last July after a confrontation outside his home both missed opportunities to "ratchet down" the situation and end things more calmly, according to a review of the case released Wednesday.


Perhaps Gates simply could not reach the opportunity, as his hands were restrained.

The report suggests that Crowley could have more clearly explained what he was doing and why he was doing it, especially after being shown Gates' license and university ID. For his part, Gates could have used a more respectful tone to address the officer.


Of course! If only people were not so rude to police officers, we would not have an incarceration rate comparable to that of Rura Penthe. For what it's worth, the report is available here, although I cannot fathom a crime horrendous enough to warrant reading this as punishment.

Information Clutter

This:



is exactly what is wrong with our "information culture."
Tyler Cowen, at Marginal Revolution:

I do not see why we are discussing [proposed/rumored cuts in government spending, and correlations with similar government policy moves in the 1930s, as mentioned in this NY Times article] without placing monetary policy at the center of the analysis.


Perhaps I should just link to this article in every post? Perhaps we should also place our government's fondness for expensive jaunts through foreign lands in our discussion, too. Perhaps, and this may be extreme, but perhaps we should finally realize that making stupid decisions in one realm of life may have consequences throughout our entire life.
Reader, Mark Derry is saying that you are not really my friend, at least in the classical sense of the word. He also says that nothing need be tweeted right away. But wait! Here is A.J. Jacobs, about to embark on the journey of actually telling the truth (who does such an abhorrent thing anymore?), and telling us all about it! Trying to reconcile the two: why would I want to tell the truth if nobody knew I did? What Would Jesus Tweet?

I have my qualms about society's need/demand to be constantly connected, but I am a crank. To that end: while I find the ever-connected somewhat vacuous and creepy, the opposite side of the coin, be it neo-conservatives celebrating their "slow-food" meals as a novel concept or Organic-fetishists can be equally abhorrent. I like to think that normal people know that the Internet is primarily a place to waste time while at work, and actually can look their family in the eye when at home. While I cannot provide the news from 100 years ago, I do swear to never be the first to bring anything to your attention!

An Average Bear

At Stop Me Before I Vote Again, Michael Smith posts a story about a bear biting a man in Kentucky, and the resultant nannying of the state. Smith concludes with [spoiler]:

I think the bear was an exceptionally good bear, and ought to get the Ursine Medal Of Honor.


Maybe, but what is his batting average?

Lie Games

Russians living in America were asked to write essays about American politics for the Russian government, but who isn't looking for an excuse to conjure images of Boris & Natasha?

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Arthur Sibler has an excellent post on "l'affair Wiegel," in which he links to Marc Ambinder's post on the same subject. All of this is very inside baseball, with a case of characters that would shame the rogue's gallery that is the Baseball Hall of Fame, but Sibler extracts a telling quote from Ambinder's post:

[The listserv in which the entire tryst started is/was a] members-only coffee shop where people who take ideas seriously, who want access to people who take ideas seriously, could test their own ideas before they refined and presented them to the public.


Sibler comments on the obvious delusions of a personality that would say such a thing. I merely pass along this article, which seems to hold similar insights.

The Beginning Part

Here are some other blogs I like to read:

Who Is IOZ?

BLCKDGRD

ladypoverty

Segunda Caida

The Cubsfan's Luchablog

This humble blog will attempt to continue the fine tradition of lamenting humanity's humanity, grousing about baseball and enjoying high and low art. My goal is to attract some readers that will both boost my ego and introduce other distractions into my life.