Not just the primary charade: I want that godforsaken parochial state to lose its electoral votes.
I actually had a tiny bit sympathy for this woman before reading the smarm I just linked to. Sometimes people become national laughingstocks unfairly, but this time it's richly deserved.
When did Frosty Troy* get not only a sex change but also a million times as big a sense of self-importance?
On second thought, she seems like more of a cross between Molly Ivins and Jean Teasdale.
*- If you're not from Oklahoma you have no reason to know (or care).
...but easily the two weakest links in the Hairspray remake are the two biggest names (i.e. Tracy's parents).
It's too bad there's so much focus on Mrs. Turnblad's self-image, since without that angle this is crying out to be the show that demonstrates to the High School Musical demographic how to be twice as good as HSM.
I have three comments about the Mitchell Report:
1. I find it fascinating that the only thing most people seem to care about is the naming of names.
2. In the part before the naming of names, Mitchell recommends a few solutions. Some of them are either obvious ("more education"), too vague to be useful, or both. One of the specific recognitions is to set up a permanent Department of Investigations (its actual name! - see page 37 of the PDF file), like the baseball counterpart to the office of a special prosecutor. It's hard for me to comment further given that I'd like to avoid confirming Godwin's Law.
3. Most importantly, I'm appalled by how many people want to scapegoat the MLB Players' Association for warning players about the potential adverse consequences of talking to Mitchell. The letter is here. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but the key points of that letter -- that Mitchell had no legal authority to grant anyone immunity (thus anything they told him could lead to criminal charges), and that the commissioner's office pointedly reserved the right to punish people for what they told Mitchell -- were not only quite true but also deeply consequential.
Are bettors actually picking the Patriots (and giving that many points) this weekend?
I have no desire whatsoever to be involved in sports wagering, but those of yhou who know me personally, if anyone is really interested in taking the Patriots (and giving me 24.5 points) on an informal proposition, e-mail me.
The language so inherently insecure that, instead of bothering to actually (oh, I don't know...) make it secure, Microsoft decided instead for XP to cut off your access to it by default, without any user-friendly instructions on how to set the security level properly so that you can easily use macros you wrote yourself.
Really, Bill, you can't even untar something without doing a web search and downloading a free utility?
Utter madness.
...is still the top hit for this search.
(And the latest release is still September 2004.)
Luckily, you don't need Outlook to do real work (and certainly don't need meetings, or meeting notices). Mind, the lack of Office (i.e. Excel) poses a degree of difficulty, but the data will all be recovered and the software installation will work itself out over time. (Better to have to reinstall Crystal Reports than lose a bunch of .rpt files I was too stupid to back up.)
But the point of this post isn't minor workplace griping; rather it's another plug for the good old popularity map: Now with some artist biographies (click on an artist name to see them), and with N% more Christmas music (if you're clicking around U.S. states rather than the countries of the world).
And hey, maybe next week there will be line breaks between albums' track names. (It's basically my fault there aren't.)
(But don't blame me for the editorial comments, like the subtle dig at Mannheim Steamroller. Those are third-party opinions.)
I think it's safe to say Indianapolis will win tonight.
32. Miami (0-13) (Last week: 32) The close games have given way to blowouts. (Remaining games: vs. Baltimore, at New England, vs. Cincinnati)
31. San Francisco (3-10) (Last week: 30) Relapsed into a team incapable of winning. (Remaining games: vs. Cincinnati, vs. Tampa Bay, at Cleveland)
30. Atlanta (3-9) (Last week: 31) TBA (Remaining games: at Tampa Bay, at Arizona, vs. Seattle)
29. St. Louis (3-10) (Last week: 29) Back to reality (1 of 4). (Remaining games: vs. Green Bay, vs. Pittsburgh, at Arizona)
28. NY Jets (3-10) (Last week: 28) Back to reality (2 of 4). (Remaining games: at New England, at Tennessee, vs. Kansas City)
27. Carolina (5-8) (Last week: 27) Back to reality (3 of 4). (Remaining games: vs. Seattle, vs. Dallas, at Tampa Bay)
26. Kansas City (4-9) (Last week: 25) That's six straight losses since the bye. (Remaining games: vs. Tennessee, at Detroit, at NY Jets)
25. Oakland (4-9) (Last week: 24) So predictable. The Bay Area these days make the Sunday afternoon NFL unwatchable. (Remaining games: vs. Indianapolis, at Jacksonville, vs. San Diego)
24. Baltimore (4-9) (Last week: 21) Back to reality (4 of 4). (Remaining games: at Miami, at Seattle, vs. Pittsburgh)
23. Cincinnati (5-8) (Last week: 26) I actually buy the Bill Simmons devil's advocate argument about the Bengals' unlucky schedule timing. 8-8 is quite plausible. (Remaining games: at San Francisco, vs. Cleveland, at Miami)
22. Chicago (5-8) (Last week: 19) Not the best defense of a conference championship. (Remaining games: at Minnesota, vs. Green Bay, vs. New Orleans)
21. Arizona (6-7) (Last week: 17) Fun with ITSET ("If The Season Ended Today"): The Cardinals fell out of the #6 seed not at the moment they lost at Seattle, nor at the moment Minnesota won, but rather the moment Detroit lost to Dallas. (Lions had a Division tiebreak over Vikings but MIN had the Conference tiebreak on ARI; meanwhile, ARI over DET head-to-head.) (Remaining games: at New Orleans, vs. Atlanta, vs. St. Louis)
20. New Orleans (5-7) (Last week: 20) TBA (Remaining games: vs. Arizona, vs. Philadelphia, at Chicago)
19. Denver (6-7) (Last week: 22) If you started Selvin Young in a fantasy league today, you're psychic (or in dire roster straits). (Remaining games: at Houston, at San Diego, vs. Minnesota)
18. Washington (6-7) (Last week: 16) Look at those remaining opponents: This is where Easterbrook writes "6-10" in his playbook. (Remaining games: at NY Giants, at Minnesota, vs. Dallas)
17. Philadelphia (5-8) (Last week: 15) Goalpost says "No." (Remaining games: at Dallas, at New Orleans, vs. Buffalo)
16. Houston (6-7) (Last week: 23) Sage Rosenfels will do his best to prove me wrong. Between the Texas and Vikings, I wonder which team will have the most variance in this series of polls (you'll notice other teams don't move around much). (Remaining games: vs. Denver, at Indianapolis, vs. Jacksonville)
15. Detroit (6-7) (Last week: 18) Nice ground game! This would have been a godsend to break the skid but it was not to be. (Remaining games: at San Diego, vs. Kansas City, at Green Bay)
14. Minnesota (7-6) (Last week: 14) Undefeated since I dismissed them as a terrible team. But don't believe anyone who has them in the top 10, especially if they overreacted to a win against a terrible opponent. (Remaining games: vs. Chicago, vs. Washington, at Denver)
13. Buffalo (7-6) (Last week: 13) Perfect timing for this match-up: if the Bills won at Cleveland then they'd have the tiebreak for the sixth seed. If. (Hard schedule even after that.) (Remaining games: at Cleveland, vs. NY Giants, at Philadelphia)
12. Tennessee (7-6) (Last week: 12) Moving them down would be tempting, unless you treat overtime as effectively a tie, or recognize that destroying cupcakes (as the Bills and Vikings did) isn't all that impressive. (Remaining games: at Kansas City, vs. NY Jets, at Indianapolis)
11. Tampa Bay (8-5) (Last week: 9) Good news: ridiculously easy last three games. Bad news (for seeding): Seattle also has an easy end schedule. (Remaining games: vs. Atlanta, at San Francisco, vs. Carolina)
10. Cleveland (8-5) (Last week: 11) Didn't panic. (Or did have good fortune for follow-up opponent, the Jets' upset of Pittsburgh notwithstanding.) (Remaining games: vs. Buffalo, at Cincinnati, vs. San Francisco)
9. NY Giants (9-4) (Last week: 8) Welcome back, Plaxico. (As for the rest, don't confuse the ability to induce opposing missed field goals with a skill. To be sure, that looked like a very long attempt.) (Remaining games: vs. Washington, at Buffalo, vs. New England)
8. Seattle (9-4) (Last week: 10) Matt Hasselbeck awaits a triumphant(?) playoff return to Lambeau Field. (Remaining games: at Carolina, vs. Baltimore, at Atlanta)
7. San Diego (8-5) (Last week: 7) Fifty minutes of stink-bomb, then a defining comeback. (Remaining games: vs. Detroit, vs. Denver, at Oakland)
6. Pittsburgh (9-4) (Last week: 5) If I coached a team on which some scrub guaranteed a victory, that scrub would be cut immediately. Maybe that's just me. (Remaining games: vs. Jacksonville, at St. Louis, at Baltimore)
5. Jacksonville (9-4) (Last week: 6) For playoff seeding purposes it's irrelevant whether the Jaguars have a better team than the Steelers, though it'll be fun to settle on the Week 15 field. (Remaining games: at Pittsburgh, vs. Oakland, at Houston)
4. Green Bay (11-2) (Last week: 4) You know they host the Colts in 2008, right? Can you feel the quarterback overpraise already? (Remaining games: at St. Louis, at Chicago, vs. Detroit)
3. Dallas (12-1) (Last week: 2) Good gut-check. (Remaining games: vs. Philadelphia, at Carolina, at Washington)
2. Indianapolis (11-2) (Last week: 3) Had a bit less trouble with the Ravens than New England did. (Remaining games: at Oakland, vs. Houston, vs. Tennessee)
1. New England (13-0) (Last week: 1) They're fine. (Remaining games: vs. NY Jets, vs. Miami, at NY Giants)